This is what goes on at breakfast at my house...

Jack: What if my tooth comes out while I'm eating and I accidentally swallow it?
Dad: That would be bad
Hank: Ya, but you would just poop it out later.
Dad: That's gross.
Jack: Oooh, then you'd have to dig through the poop to find your tooth so you could give it to the tooth fairy.
Hank: No, you could just sleep with your head on the toilet and then the tooth fairy would have to dig through your poop for you.
Jack: Good idea!

Problem Solved...

Jack is currently holding onto another dangling tooth... Maybe it will fall out in his sleep.

Hank has been a little sad the last couple of days. A while back he had this tiny little stuffed bear called "Little Teddy" that he took with him everywhere. Well it has been months since Little Teddy has been involved in our lives but Hank just realized this the other day. He has been frantically looking for this bear whenever he remembers... which actually is only when it would be inconvenient or when he feels like throwing a fit... Well tonight I came up with a brilliant idea to distract him. I used the four Padington Bears from the boys' baby mobile! He now has four "Little Teddys!" Although in true Hank fashion he informed Darin and I that the real Little Teddy was smaller, wore only a shirt, and didn't have a hat. Although a little quirky, Hank is truly a light in Darin's and my lives! What would we do without his sweet, loving heart and crazy imagination!

Cheesy 80's Sitcom

This is Jack's attempt at looking for his PSP power cord and partly why I feel like I am going crazy. All of this stuff has been placed in this basket by lazy children who do not want to go upstairs. Then it is all dumped out in order to look for something that if I could guess, is probably still in there....


I am having one of those days when it feels like I just can't keep up. The house seems to be perpetually messy (despite attempts to tidy it) there is laundry that never seems to get done, the baby can't seem to play without me right next to him, and there's always one more place I need to be (5 minutes ago). I think I am just tired and need some fresh air and sunshine. My plan is to walk to lunch tomorrow. I think that may help. (Although Darin is leaving sometime tomorrow for the weekend.) I feel like I just can't catch my breath. I wish I had that super power on the silly 80's sitcom "Out of This World." She could touch her fingers together or something and stop time until she wanted to start again. Oh to be able to stop time, clean the house and sleep until I wasn't tired any more. I really think I would be a better mom and wife if I could just obtain this super power... Any suggestions how I can do this? I didn't think so...

11 months old!

Today is our Will Baby's 11 month birthday! He's such a blessing in our lives!

Super Brother!

Tonight Hank hurried through his shower so he could help give Will a bath. He ended up bathing both Will and Lily and playing with them in the tub! He is such a great big brother!

Needing some sun!

The boys chose to watch TV in the guest room this afternoon. When I asked them why they told me it was because it was so sunny in there. We are all hoping for the snow to thaw so we can go out and enjoy the sunshine!

Please!

After a month of trying to get Will to sign "please," he finally figured it out! He's not doing it quite the way I taught him. He rubs the back of his hand under his chin instead of his palm on his chest, but he is doing his own version of please! He's getting so big. I could have sworn he said "Jack" today!

It's a boy thing

Guess who's next?

Today at 2:00 I got a call from Jack who was at school. His ear was hurting... Darin picked him up and went by the infirmary. Sure enough, now he has an ear infection! We are really a mess health-wise at this house. Luckily they prescribed him an antibiotic and I didn't have to drive down and sit at Urgent Care. It is still spitting wet snow and I think over the course of the day we got 3-4 inches of wet snow. It seems to be raining now... I don't think I would have been able to drive down today anyway. The roads are slippery and slushy. Darin is speaking this weekend so it would have had to be just me and all the kiddos. Thank goodness for the infirmary! What a blessing!

Slides and sand toys...

It's snowing again....lots of snow! I am not sure the pictures do it justice. And maybe later (if we are lucky)it will rain again! Fun spring-like weather. Still dreaming of sunshine, strollers, slides, and sand toys!

Let there be light

I got new lamps for the living room the other day. Target had a large clearance sale on all of their furniture items so I got them all for 50% off. I am really happy with them. For the last week or so the living room has been without light. My ceiling fan light just stopped working. The fan still works. I called the manufacturer and they are sending my a replacement receiver for the fan. I really like the fan but it is not the best, well thought out machine. In the summer when we most needed the fan, it stopped working and we needed a new receiver. Now the light... The fan and light only work with a remote, so if I had known all of this I would have spent the exhorbitant amount of money I spent on this fan on a better working one. Oh well as they say, "hind sight is 20/20."

We are all slowly recovering. Despite having lingering coughs Will and Lily are on the mend. Hank seems to be improving and is still on antibiotics. Darin is taking tamiflu and seems only to have symptoms in his head. Jack and I have the sniffles on occasion, but seem to be holding steady.

It is snowy/rainy out. We are all sort of bored and stir crazy... I am dreaming of parks, strollers, wagons and sand toys!

Snow burn?

Today Jack slipped during recess and gave himself a snow burn I guess you would call it. He scraped it on the snow and it left a road rash type injury. He was brave and didn't let it phase him!

Ear infection...

We came down to Fresno yesterday for groceries, haircuts for Jack and Hank, and sanity for Mom and Dad. We also went to Dr. G's to see if Lily had an ear infection. The nurse at camp seemed to think her ears were a little pink. So I decided to have Will seen since he is still sick (but no fever) and Hank who just woke up that morning sick. Well he said Lily was on her way to getting better, Will was just sick but nothing needed to be treated and Hank had an ear infection! Who knew! Well I also got Darin some Tamiflu which he ened up starting this morning since he got home last night with all new symptoms.... As always, Will ended up getting a fever last night. It's never so simple that everyone can be sick at the doctor's office. I hope I make it through this without going crazy. I keep thinking I am about to get it with every runny nose or tickle in my throat but so far I have dodged the bullet. Jack is still well also.

On another fun note, we stopped at the park to play before the doctor's. We met the Brownells there and by surprise got there at the same time as the Wissinks! The kids loved playing with their good friends Ryan, Cason, and Kaley and Remi and Riley!!

The old Lily

Today we see a glimpse of the old Lily, the silly, fun one. It may just be the Motrin talking, she still has the fever when the Motrin wears off and she has a a nasty cough, but she did eat breakfast and an apple today. This makes Mom feel a whole lot better. At least there is a chance this thing is on its way out. Although Hank told me in a very proud voice today that his voice is going and he has a cough and then there's Will with the perpetual cough and runny nose to think about.

Poor Lily...

Lily is one sick little girl. She has the flu and has been sick for about three days now. She has a high fever, a bad cough and little appetite. She is very sleepy. This thing has been going around in camp and in Fresno. In fact most of our friends who we know in Fresno are also sick and we haven't seen them in weeks! The news said something like 10% of all school kids in Fresno county have the flu. Something like 19,000 of them. We even all got the flu shot this year. We are trying to avoid urgent care for that reason. The doctor said to give her Robutussin and Tylenol/Motrin and to have her drink a lot. I think she is doing okay, but it is so sad to see her so sick. Today she ate some breakfast which was good and she drank a whole sippy of gatorade. She fell asleep on our bed watching shows... so precious. Well I gotta go feed two of the other kids. Hank went with Dad to the dining hall. Jack stayed to play the PS3 while he waits for his food to get ready. We are still hoping/praying that the rest of us stay healthy.

Valentine's Day clothes and cookies!

Happy Valentine's Day!

For Valentine's Day this year Darin and I exchanged gifts. They were supposed to be $40 or under gifts, but Darin sort of broke that when he bought me my new camera. To be fair, he had been saving secretly for several months now, so he did only spend $40 that I knew about. I love my new camera so its okay I guess. He loves his gift too so it worked out okay. I ended up spending just a little more with shipping, but I got him the teapot he has been wanting and 5 new loose leaf teas to try. He was pretty excited about the gift and has tried all of them. (he opened it a few days early too) The only one he doesn't really like is the Indian Spiced Chai, and to be fair, when I first smelled it I thought "eww, dinner." So it was a nice Valentine's so far. Tonight we are having friends over for dinner to celebrate Darin's birthday. (Our birthday dinner schedule is running behind).

On another note, Lily is still pretty sick with a terrible cough, a fever, and a lack of appetite. It is kind of sad to see her so sick and worn out. Our friends little girl just went to the doctor for the same thing and he said it was the flu. I hope because Lily's had the shot that it won't last as long as this little girls... we'll have to see. I have a call into the doctor right now to see what I should give her medication-wise. Now we just have to wait to see who's next in our family to get stricken with it. Yuck...

Sick Lily

I think Lily has the flu... she has a fever and a yucky cough. A lot of people around here are sick right now so it wouldn't surprise me... We had flu shots so I am hoping it won't get too bad. I am also praying that it doesn't mean we are all going to get it... Oh yeah, Will (and the rest of us) want to thank Grandma for the fun Valentine's Day treats and clothes!

Princesses on Ice 2-7-08

Naughty Little Brother!

A glimpse into the type of brother Will is going to be...

Grandma McWatters' Birthday!

Today is Grandma McWatters' birthday. We wish we could be there to help celebrate. Hope you had a wonderful day!!!

Dancing for Daddy!

Hope this makes your day like it did mine!

Roller Derby!

The snow and weather are starting to get to the boys. The snow is not really that enticing any more as it is old, dirty, and a little icey... It is still good for tubing, but they need a parent or grown up to do it. The boys got out their old roller skates and have been whizzing around the house. I am concerned that someone is going to get hurt, maybe even me! I have no idea how they got the skates on their feet as they have now owned these same skates for about 4 years now.

Friends

Tonight I wasn't sure that I wanted to take any of my children outside this house. They haven't been very good today and I was afraid other people might see what an incredible lack of control I have over the four naughty ones. My friend Shannon offered to meet me at the OK Chalet for dinner at 5:00. This is a family tradition that we do every Friday night and we often meet up with our friends if we can. When Darin is gone I tend to stick close to home and rarely venture out with all four children, especially to a meal... Well I REALLY wanted to get out of this house and visit with people over the age of 7, so I packed everyone up, argued with my two year old about the necessity of a coat and boots in 2 feet of snow, and made it to the Chalet only 10 minutes late. My timing was excellent, because Karley and Eric pulled up at that exact moment. Karley even carried Lily up the stairs for me, which was huge, since she has been so stubborn today. They along with Shannon were able to keep the kids occupied and I was able to have some time with grown ups without going completely crazy! It was a nice night.

Not a Princess...

This pretty much says it all...

Time out for hitting...

Don't take my picture!

Will and his friend...

Today Lily was a really naughty girl. It turns out that when you stay up until 10:30 ish to see Princesses on Ice, it doesn't make for Princess-like behavior the next morning. I watched my friend's kids as I always do on Friday mornings. Normally Lily and the little girl really get along well. Today Lily spent a large portion of the time in Time Out. Later at lunch she made the most humongous mess out of her food. I was really thankful for naptime!



Darin is gone again this weekend. He is speaking at Alpine Camp near Lake Arrowhead. He won't be back until Monday afternoon. He accidently took my camera with him, so you will have to wait to see the Princesses on Ice pictures. Lily had a wonderful time and so did we. It was fun to see her get so excited.