Leavin' On A Jet Plane...

Horsin' Around...

When my parents came to help after my surgery, my dad brought the greatest gift ever... The Horsey Swing.

As you can see, it was joy at first swing...

Alix

Brooke

Erin

And now, most days, the bus stop lines up in front of our porch and takes turns swinging.  We are the hit of the neighborhood.   All my friends are jealous.  Some people have started building a few extra minutes into coming or leaving, since their children have to swing on their way in and out.  =)

My dad grew up with one of these swings, I grew up with a horsey swing and now my children can as well. Thanks Pop Pop.  For the swing and so much more.  We love you!  (and the swing...)

Lost and Found

I occasionally (ok, all the time) miss calls because I can't get up and down my stairs very well.  Yesterday, I was waiting for an important call and I didn't want to miss it.  So I put my phone somewhere I couldn't lose it.... (You only think you know where this going...)  Half an hour later, I hear my phone ringing.  I'm sure it's my important call, so I look for my phone.  I can't find it.  I can hear it.  Loudly.  Ringing right next to me.  I tear the couch apart, I move all the pillows and blankets.  I'm starting to panic.  I can't miss this call...  Guess where I found my phone?  

That's right.  Down my shirt.  

How I forgot I'd used my bra as a phone holster, I don't know.  

But I did get to my call just in time...

High Expectations

Brooke is pretty smart.  She's in the "nerd class" at school (her words - she's proud of her nerd status.  Strange child...).  When she was younger, she wanted to be a Roller Coaster Designer (cool, right?).  Then a Scientist/Chemist (nerdy, but cool, right?).  Now?  She wants to work in a jelly bean factory.  


I was informed of this change of career path while she was doing research for a 20 minute presentation she has to give in school (20 minutes?  The girl's in third grade.  Nerd class.  I forgot...).  Her topic?  Jelly beans.  =)
It did look pretty sweet.  Maybe we can work there together...

What Would You Have Done?

I was filling up the font for a baptism yesterday.  No problem.  The font faucet and controls are in the men's room.  Turned out to be a problem...

The font was almost full and I had popped back in the men's room to make sure the water coming out was still warm.  I was hidden away in the handicapped stall when a man walked in.  (It was WAY after church, I hadn't even worried about manly company...)  I didn't know what to do.  So I hid.  Which is to say I didn't move one inch.  I didn't want him to see my crutch (dead give away who I am these days...) or the ruffles on my shoes (dead give away I'm not a dude...).  Thankfully his business was short and he left and I decided the font was full enough, turned off the water and ran.

It seemed worse at the time to calmly walk out and surprise him, but it was also pretty bad to stay hidden....  So what would you do?

Update on Sam

It's been a little while since I last wrote about how Sam is doing, so I thought I'd fill you in...  Overall, she is doing really, really, really well.  We upped her vitamins and cut preschool down to 2 days a week instead of 4.  Which has made a HUGE difference.  I described it to one of her teachers as Sam being a cell phone and she was using 80% of her battery up at school and then only had 15% for the rest of the time.  Almost immediately after cutting back, we saw great improvements in her energy, her joy and her sleeping less.  She is happy and has more energy than we've seen in months.  It's awesome.

Not so awesome, are her stomach issues.  This picture is how she is when her tummy hurts.  Which is a lot of the time.  We had her re-Xrayed after keeping her at high doses of Miralax and she is still impacted, up high in her intestines.  She'll have days where she can't eat because her tummy feels full and hurts.  So she lays on the couch (or her mom or dad).  

 We've upped her Miralax even more and it's hard to tell if it's working any better or not, but we have an appointment to see a GI specialist up at Seattle Children's.  Hopefully we can figure out something soon.  She's so sweet and it is so hard to not be able to help her.

 But like I said, overall, she's doing great.  The best in a really long time.  I'll take it. =)

Wisdom of the Ages...

I was reading the story of King Solomon to Sam.  It's a picture book and when we got to the pictures of Solomon's temple, Sam asked if it was the Seattle Temple...

me - "No, sweetie.  This temple was built a really, really long time ago."

Sam - "So it's where Grandma and Pop Pop got married?"

Hahahahahahahahahahaha...  But aren't we glad they got married? =)

Love you guys!

Pinkalicious

Due to excess whining (not really, but it was mentioned in passing...) that the cub scouts get to "do more fun stuff,"  I organized a Pink Pine Wood Derby for our ward.  The girls had a blast. We had an amazing turnout.  21 girls, including Brooke, made and raced a car.

I love how girly they all turned out.  Mostly.  Brooke's is the one that is yellow and covered in flames...

 More cuteness...

 Brooke after the race.  She took 5th place overall.  And won the "Hottest Car" award.  (The "pink medals" were DingDongs, wrapped in pink cellophane and hung with a ribbon around their necks.  I made pink paper circles to glue on that we wrote their award on.  Cute.  And delicious...)

The dads and daughters had a fun time doing this together.  I love any time Tom gets to work one on one with Brooke.  

And Pop Pop even got in on the action, helping Brooke cut out her car while he and mum were visiting

 And the "concession stand". Popcorn, pretzels, licorice and water.  Perfect to keep the little race fans occupied...

Bowl Me Over

Who wouldn't want to take this crazy bunch (+ 1 more) to the school skate night?

It was on crazy hair day, so after the girls got home from school we crazied up the rest of the girls. (Brooke goes to a different school than the rest of the neighborhood kids, so the twins and the friends weren't all crazy-haired yet)

 Erin loves her rollerskates and is really smooth on them.  Best $1 I spent at a garage sale...

 Brooke brought her own rollerblades and looked really tall and really old.  She and her friend Adrienne really made quite an impact.  It gave me a little peak into what the next few years will bring.  And one 6th grade boy sent his sister over to see if Brooke wanted to couple skate with him. It must have been the awesome hair...

 Alix is amazingly good on rollerblades.  And falls over on roller skates.  It's funny.  She took 2nd place in the race for girls that were 7-8.  She's speedy!

LSHIC...

You've heard of ROFL, right? (Rolling On Floor Laughing - for you "oldies")  I'm making up a new one.  LSHIC.  Laughing So Hard I'm Crying.  That's how my children left me this morning.

And all because of Brooke's hair.

 It was crazy hair day at Brooke's school and this is our best crazy hair yet.

 The sheer volume of it is astounding and the color and sparkle are truly spectacular.

And later, I might just be crying when we try and comb that crazy hair...