pooped

I'm fairly certain that I've used this post title in the past, but few words can accurately convey this feeling. I've spent the last two days making two giant penguin costumes. Why we suffer from Halloween procrastination is a mystery. Actually, I take that back. My children have been prepared with costumes for weeks. OK, these costumes are storebought, but still. About a week ago Jon began to wonder what he and I were going to be for Halloween. I had been thinking...well, nothing. We have dressed up only a handful of times in the last ten years, so I hadn't really been planning anything. But Thursday morning found us at the store purchasing a pattern and inexpensive fleece, and I've been sewing ever since. So I'm pooped. I'm off to take a hot bath because my dining room table is not exactly the perfect height for pinning and cutting for hours on end, and my back is complaining from the abuse. But we make a cute penguin couple. Pictures will follow as soon as I get the energy to retrieve my memory card from my sister's camera. In all the chaos of the last two days, charging my camera battery for the night somehow slipped my mind. Thank goodness for backup plans.

first kiss

I've been kissed by a boy for the first time. A handsome young thing with copper hair and brilliant blue eyes. I've kissed him too many times to count. But today, for the first time, he kissed me back.

love hate relationship

Just when I think I might actually blog on a more regular basis, I have computer drama. Which completely throws me off because I am an admitted addict who has an admitted problem when things go wrong as they have too much this year. My life revolves around this technology crammed into such a convenient package, I have no idea how I survived most of my life without it. In any case, about two weeks ago the power cord to our laptop broke. This power cord happens to be a universal power cord replacement from when the original manufacturer's cord gave out on us a year ago. In order to make it universal, it comes with about 10 different "tips" that you can change in order to make it work for your specific brand and model. One of the prongs inside the tip that we use broke off, and when the battery finally gave up the ghost, there was nothing we could do. I was not pleased at the prospect of dropping another $90.00 to purchase a new cord, so I checked in to replacement tips. Fortunately the manufacturer agreed to send me one for free. Unfortunately, our tip was the only one on backorder so we had to wait. No big deal, we have a school issued computer that we could use to make do in the meantime. That was until Friday, however, when it crashed and burned. Despite our best efforts to revive it, no amount of coaxing convinced it to find the operating system that it kept telling me was missing. Upon orders from the school, it ships back to the school and a replacement will be on it's way. Except it won't arrive until the end of next week! This morning I had two useless computers, two kids with school to do online, and too many listings that I need to do for I Heart Fabric Boutique. But, the mailman smiled in my favor today and the replacement tip arrived! Yippee! I just wish I had waited to call their teachers and leave pity party messages about our technology woes. I had to take them back about 3 hours later.

deja vu on a small scale

Disclaimer: This post contains mention of bodily fluids and functions. Don't say I didn't warn you.

What is better than four children all throwing up within hours of each other? NOTHING! Especially when the occurance reminds you of the good old days when your first child developed an unexplained case of daily and frequent vomiting. Yes, I miss those days. When at nine months he grew in to a throwing up stage that most babies grow out of at 9 months. When he would begin to cough and seconds later was throwing up all over the place. When we took him to the doctor and on the way to the appointment he threw up in the car and we had to stop and buy a new outfit and clean the carseat before we could continue. Of course the doctor didn't really know why it was happening, but he sent us to do a barium swallow to make sure all of the anatomy was working correctly. Which it was. Final recommendation? Learn to cope with it and wait for him to grow out of it. He grew out of it, after NINE MONTHS. Those nine months were filled with bowls strategically positioned throughout the house because when the coughing began you really only had seconds to spare. We traveled with a bowl in the car, which worked most of the time, but not the time when Jon's sister got married and we had to have my parents stop and buy us a new carseat in the middle of Denver because it was just a lost cause and we were already at the wedding site and couldn't leave. When we went out to eat, we asked for a spare bowl, just in case. I remember needing it at Olive Garden once, it wasn't pretty. It happened at least once a day and always for no apparent reason. Then one day he wasn't doing it anymore. But when our second came along, it was hard not to expect the same thing to happen. And I was truly surprised when it didn't. All things considered, I think he just had a very sensitive gag reflex, which he gets from me. I couldn't really swallow pills until I was almost in college and still don't like to do it. I'm fortunate that all of my children were born healthy because I just couldn't bring myself to continue trying to swallow the horse pills that they call prenatal vitamins. Don't tell me how horrible I am, I already know. Anyways, fast forward to Saturday morning when we discovered that poor Lindsey (sister-in-law) and Alexis (niece) had been throwing up all night. We considered going somewhere else, mostly to get out of their way, but they were starting to feel better so in the end we decided to stay put. Things were going well until Sunday night, when Derrick started to throw up. We were set to leave on Monday morning because Jon had to work in the afternoon. Derrick threw up several times in the night, then in the early morning Abbie joined in. I must apologize once again to Lindsey for leaving the way that we did! SO SORRY. We even stole two of their bowls to take with us in the car. It wasn't long before Grace followed suit, and then finally Reid. I sat in the back row seat, bowls at the ready, hoping to prevent any disasters on the drive back to Colorado. We managed to make it home without major incident, but not without the feeling that I had done this before. Been on high alert to catch vomit at a moment's notice. We recovered quickly, but Jon and I have been waiting for the bomb to drop on us. Still waiting, but hoping to wait in vain.

chastised

We just returned from visiting with my Utah Valley siblings, during which visit I chastised my sister-in-law Aubrye for starting a blog and then not blogging, for like a year and a half. At which point my dutiful husband chimed in to remind me that I myself have been neglectful in the blogging of our family happenings. All of the memories I have not recorded in cyberspace are a cause of consternation to him. I will make yet another attempt to repent of my errant ways.

Today Jon and Derrick ventured up to the Conference Center to attend the morning session of General Conference. It was the first time for both of them. My parents gave us their tickets, which resulted in a last minute decision to head to Utah. We had already thought about coming over this weekend, then decided not to. But Thursday night we changed our minds and Friday found me rushing around trying to clean the house, do laundry, pack up six people for a weekend trip, package and mail a fabric order and our first completed Kyoko dress, take Reid to the doctor for his one year check-up (Friday also happened to be his birthday which, thankfully, we celebrated on Thursday with the grandparents), teach piano lessons, and find someone to look in on Truman while we were gone. Jon arrived home shortly after 5:00 p.m. and I was so close to being ready, but it was not to be. We managed to get out the door about 6:00 p.m. with everything done except a giant pile of dishes in one half of the sink. SUCCESS! The drive was uneventful and we managed not to disturb the sleeping children of our wonderful hosts, Jeff and Lindsey. Unfortunately, a stomach bug crept in to their family during the night and held Lindsey captive for most of Saturday. We tried to stay out of her way by spending lots of money on Halloween costumes and eating out. Jon's favorite part of the day occured in the morning we we realized that I had managed to forget underwear and socks for Derrick and Abigail. I've got to much on my plate to be concerned with the little details, I guess! Anyways, this morning we woke up to a phone call from the family watching our dog letting us know that we then got there this morning to let Truman out, he had apparently managed to turn both of the master bathroom faucets on because they were running. We don't know how long the had been going before they got there, but thankfully the sinks weren't plugged or it could have been really BAD. Needless to say, he will be sleeping outside tonight! We leave first thing in the morning and I'm sure Jon will be ready to plan our next trip back the second we get home!