What a Busy Christmas Break!!

We have had such a busy Christmas break and it is just FLYIN' BY! We started it this way:

Oakley sang in a 4-6 grade Christmas Choir this year at the elementary. She LOVED it. (She is the one in red in the middle row.) You can't tell by the excitement on her face :) but she really did love it and they sounded SO GOOD! At their first performance I cried! I was so glad it was an outside....in the dark performance so no one could see what a baby I was!
This is our annual Hawkins FHE! We played "reindeer" games! This one was hilarious!! We also ate yummy food and had the kids dress-up to be in the Nativity.
We had a WONDERFUL Christmas full of presents, food and family! We always read the story of baby Jesus out of the bible on Christmas Eve and this year we followed it up with the Joy to the World DVD. The next morning we flew through the presents. Dallin especially....he wouldn't even get the paper completely off one before he would start on the next one. This was also the first year that Ry and I got to sit back and just watch. We have always had a baby that needed coaching in opening presents and Laiklie did her part beautifully this year!
We got to spend time a few days after Christmas with our VERY BEST FRIENDS (no photos to prove this happened) that came to visit from West Virginia.
We decided on a spur-of-the-moment decision Monday night to take our kids to SLC to see the lights at temple square. We, of course, did some swimming and hottubbing at the hotel. We got to see our Utah cousins, and we got to be "a little part" of moving Senovio (one of our workers that is fighting cancer) from the hospital to an apartment. The kids thought it was great to see him.

We spent time at the "I AM A CHILD OF GOD" exhibit in the Museum and got to see the giant Moroni that our kids love to see when we go to SLC. We also got to see the lights that we went to see. We had so much fun spending time as a family - even on such a quick trip.

We have had a great Christmas break so far and we are not looking forward to returning to school! It is always so fun to have the kids home and to spend time together reflecting of the reason we celebrate Christmas!!

My Christmas Craftiness

When I was little the thing that I HATED the very most was when my mom would give away HOMEMADE gifts, whether it be for birthdays or Christmas, I HATED it. After I got married I heard Ryan's mom make the comment once that she loved when her sisters family had their name for Christmas because she knew whatever she gave them would be homemade. Hmmmm!! It made me think about what exactly "homemade" was. Maybe my mom knew something I didn't know. I realized (as an adult) that homemade means so much more than just the "gift." When you receive something that has been homemade, alot of time, thought and love has gone into whatever it is you have been given. So, each year I like to do atleast a few homemade gifts. I really think about the person I am making for and try hard to decided what they need most, or what fits them best. Sometimes it is something simple - like a hooded towel, and sometimes it is more elaborate like a homemade boardgame (which by the way.....it SO FUN!). This year I have made just a few things - nothing hard, but as simple as it is it was made with LOVE!!

This magnet board is one I made for my sisters new house. We have her families name for Christmas - I figured Christmas/House warming gift.

These are the magnet boards I made for my nieces and nephew on Ryan's side. I thought they turned out SO CUTE! (It is hard to see in the pic how cute the colors and big foam letters really are!)

I have also sewn pillowcases and hooded towels. I have made a few vinyl signs and dehydrated a bunch of fruit to fill jars with. I have made some magnet nativities for some close friends and my VT ladies. Sometimes homemade takes a little extra time when Christmas is already so CRAZY, but I have never regretted making something with my own hands for someone I love.

And......Here is just a little something my kids made - thanks to grandma for the kit!!

Go Ahead and Share

So, alot of you have commented on my Dear Santa letter and want to copy it. You have also commented on my writing skills and abilities. Just so everyone knows I DID NOT WRITE THE SANTA LETTER!!! I am not talented at writing at all. I got it as an email last year and loved it so I kept it to post here. I didn't think anyone would assume I wrote it. I don't know who wrote it, but nobody has to give credit to me when you post it on your blogs!

Dear Santa,

I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the pediatrician's office more than my doctor, sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with a red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years. Here are my Christmas wishes: I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze, but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store. I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy. If you're hauling big ticket items this year, I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music, a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone. On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes, Mommy" to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools. I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your sister," because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog. If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a styrofoam container through a window in a bag with a clown on it. If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be to much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family. Well Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my daughter saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think she wants her crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table, but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.
Yours Always,
Mom
P.S. One more thing....you can cancel all of my requests if you can keep my children young enough to always believe in Santa!

What have I been up to?

So, I feel like I am behind in blogging.....so.....here is a little update. A few months ago I started babysitting my niece one day a week. It works out great that I pick her up from Kindergarten and then Rhett and Laiklie have a friend for the afternoon. A lady in my ward heard that I babysat and asked me to watch her baby 3 days a week also. Since she was willing to let me tote the baby along with me everywhere I go I decided it would be fun to have a baby in my house again.Introducing Jade! Jade is such a sweet little girl. She was born premature weighing a whoopin' 1 1/2 lbs. She will be one this month, but is still in 3/6 month clothes. She is so tiny and so much fun! You might notice the bump on her nose in the picture. It is a birthmark that the doc says will go away as she grows. They may have it removed with plastic surgery when she is older if it doesn't go away like they would like. She has the most beautiful black eyes and hair!
We have also had our family pictures taken recently. This one and the one on my sidebar are my favorites....well, atleast all 4 kids were looking in the right direction anyways.:) You mom's know how family pics go.
When we did our pictures I also had her take some of our hands so I could make this. I am going to have it printed really big to hang in my home. I LOVE IT!
We have been busy with getting ready for Christmas. We do have the tree up, but no pictures of it yet. I will post when I take some. We have 2 Christmas Choir recitals and a Christmas dance recital in the next few weeks. We have been busy, busy - like usual, and truthfully, I wouldn't have it any other way!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I LOVE this time of year. I love Fall. I love the Holidays. I love remembering to take the time to recognize my blessings. I love spending time with family and friends. I love the anticipation and excitement of Christmas. I love the feelings of once again becoming close with the Savior as we reflect on his birth and his life.

We had a great Thanksgiving. We went to Ryan's grandparents home. They just recently got home from their mission and so it was nice to be able to see them again. Just as we were about to leave Ry's grandma called and said that since our kids were the only great grandkids coming if they wanted to they could sit in the hot tub. So....ummmm....the vote was unanimous....it was a DEFINITE YES!!

How could you not have a good Thanksgiving spending it this way?

We also got to go to my parents new home for the evening - which is always fun! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and realize just how truly blessed we are!

The Outfit of Choice

Anybody that knows us knows that Laiklie is as stubborn as they come. She turned 3 about 2 months ago, but you would never know it by the way she acts. You would think I was dealing with a 15 year old!! She is very into clothes.....that is.....the clothes that she LIKES! She LOVES swimsuits as we all know. She LOVES dresses too. About 3 weeks ago I made all the swimsuits disappear for the winter. She has reverted to wearing dresses daily now because of it. The other day we fought for 30 minutes about wearing pants. She had on a tanktop dress and I told her that it was cold outside (20 degrees to be exact) and if she was going to wear a dress she had to wear pants or tights under it. I finally held her down and put on the tights, and she of course, ripped them off. So....she ended up wearing a pair of sweat pants, because those aren't levis. She has decided over the past couple days that any pants that aren't levis are okay. I knew there was going to be issues this morning when there were no more options but levis that were clean. So.....this is the outfit she chose to wear.

Yes, these are the exact tights that she fought me about for 30 minutes the other day. The hot pink and purple hearts look great with the cream and blue top, right?? We high 5'd this morning because she actually put something on her legs and it was no big deal, .....until.....I had to go to town. Ya, she wouldn't put a skirt over the tights, so EVERYONE in K-Mart got to see her pony panties right through the tights. How EMBARRASSING!! And this is just the fight about pants - you should hear some of the fights about her coat. :)

Gobble, Gobble

This is my little pilgrim and indian! Rhett made his indian clothes at preschool this week and Kiana (my niece I watch once a week) was wearing this outfit when I showed up at the school today to eat "Thanksgiving" lunch with the kids!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Can we say "Bad Hair Day!"

I came across these pictures the other day and they made me laugh. I hope it gives all of you a good giggle! Who doesn't need a good giggle every once in a while?

Happy Birthday "Big D"!!

Yesterday, November 7, my big boy Dallin turned 7. Dallin got the nickname "Big D" when Rhett was 2 and insisted on being called Dallin. So, to tell the two apart we had Dallin (Rhett) and Big D (Dallin). The nickname has now turned into just "D." Dallin is one of my very best helpers. He whines sometimes about why he has to do everything, and I just remind him that it is because he is so fast at doing it!! Dallin was my only surprise delivery. I had to be started with all 4 deliveries because I couldn't go into labor on my own. Dallin was scheduled for November 8th and at about 3:30 pm on November 7 I got a phone call from my Doc. He said the hospital was overbooked for the next morning but if I was there by 5 today he could start me. I actually got to feel what some ladies feel going into labor. I hit panic having to make early arrangements for Oakley and hurrying to pack my bag and tracking down my husband. Ryan was still in college at this time so I called his cell phone but he didn't answer - thinking that baby was coming tomorrow so no worries. I called again....no answer. Finally I had to call one of the college's main numbers and they sent campus police to pull Ryan out of class. (How embarrassing!) By 11 pm though, we had handsome man Dallin weighing a whopin' 9 lbs. 2 oz.

Dallin has been so sick over the past few weeks that it was nice to have something fun and exciting just for him. He has been counting down the days until he could get the long awaited........pocketknife!! He had a fun birthday and it was so nice having it on a Saturday so they had all day to play. We are so blessed to have Dallin in our home and love watching him grow!

And back to the couch...

And once again Dallin is sick. He had the swine flu all last week and then felt great last weekend so on Monday I sent him back to school. He has seemed fine all week and then about 2:30 this morning he woke me up and was BURNING UP! I took his temp. and it was 105. It scared me to death. He was breathing funny on top of that, so I ended up sitting by him for a couple hours just listening to him breath. Anyway - we were off to the doctor this morning and after checking him out he has strep throat. I think his little immune system was still just weak enough that he caught this really easily. It was a relief that it wasn't more swine flu type stuff and that we are only confined to the house for 2 days instead of 7-10. HOPEFULLY - this is the end of the sicknesses and not just the beginning!

Halloween Around Here

Around here nothing prevents Halloween from happening....not swine flu (like Dallin has)....or throw-ups (like Oakley had)....not anything!! Although, we were confined to our house for most of the week we still had alot of Halloween fun. We were lucky that the kids got sick on a short week at school so they didn't miss as much work, especially where one whole afternoon was just Halloween party. We had to forego things like the Halloween Carnival this year - which actually there wasn't a single tear shed over this...I was surprised, but I think the kids understand that it is the same year-after-year and we can just hit it next time it comes around.

These are my pride and joy. This is the first year EVER that I have actually grown a pumpkin. I attempted many other years, but this is the first year we succeeded. We were so excited to have so many - and I must admit that I think they are BEAUTIFUL. They are all nicely shaped and such pretty orange color (well, except for the two greenies!).

We had a night of fun pumpkin carving. Laiklie is sitting in front of Oakley's pumpkin...duh mom! Pay a little attention please when behind the camera!

These are our new fun Halloween gloves from Grandma Hawkins. Yes, Laiklie did get a pair, but trying to get her to actually wear them is a different story.

We were told with Dallin to keep him in for 7-10 days. So, we have been very obedient until yesterday. I decided that with trunk-or-treat being outside and Dallin not having to touch anyone that he could go. We didn't stay for the dinner afterwards, but the kids had a great time and filled their baskets. The picture doesn't show any of their costumes very well. Would somebody please send me a memo next year before Halloween reminding me to take the "family costume photo" with the kids standing up so you can actually see their costumes!! Oakley was Miss America - and a beautiful one I might add. You can't see her banner due to the pumpkin she was holding, but silver puff paint makes a great banner. Dallin decided to be Frankenstein after he saw the milk jug head I made. He looked SO STINKING CUTE! We got more comments about his costume than any others. Rhett changed his mind over and over and finally decided on Superman just minutes before it was time to leave. Laiklie and I went through the entire (I am talking big) dress-up box and this grass skirt was what she was willing to wear. I was pleased because it was a costume which was a step-up from last year.:) She was my cute little hula girl! We had a great Halloween and here is hoping you did too!!

What a day!!

4:30 am Up to give Dallin Motrin and put in a load of laundry (I couldn't go back to sleep - that is where the laundry came in.)
7:30 am Up again to get Oakley ready for school and out the door
8:15 am Shower
9:15 am first trip to the school to deliver stuffed ticket envelopes for Halloween Carnival
9:30 am Drop Rhett off at preschool
9:40 am Dallin to the doc - positive swine flu test off to the pharmacy
11:30 am finished running for tonights enrichment and pick-up Rhett from school
12 - 1:30 pm Inexpensive Christmas Ideas final details for tonights enrichment I am incharge of
2:00 pm back to school to deliver second round of ticket envelopes
2:40 pm finally found one H1N1 vaccine in Dubois that the lady is willing to hold until 4 O' Clock for Oakley
2:50 pm track down the bus mid-route to grab Oakley and sped fast as possible to Dubois
3:45 pm Oakley vaccinated for Swine Flu (I cried all the way to Dubois because this is such an answer to a prayer - my only other option was to stand in line all day tomorrow - leaving one boy with swine flu and two other kids with who knows who??)
4:00 pm ran to the school in Dubois to see my mom - I can't go to Dubois and not see my mom
5:25 pm back home to do relish plate and load car with enrichment stuff
6:30 pm to church set up and do enrichment
8:45 pm back home to put kids to be

Finally a break!! I am so glad today is over and that we got medicine for Dallin and Oakley so that hopefully he will feel better soon and Oakley won't get it. I am also counting my blessings that we were lucky enough to get the last of only 15 vaccinations that they did appointments for so there was no waiting in line. I am grateful that we had a great turn-out of ladies (30+) at the enrichment I was incharge of. It has been a very emotional day and I am ready for a day where I have NOTHING TO DO!!

Welcome to the Museum

This post is dedicated to my friend Hollie!

About a year ago when Hollie found out that we heat our house with a coal furnace she could not believe that people actually still in this day and age have coal furnaces...that people actually shovel coal into a fire to heat their house. She suggested opening my basement as a museum for tours.:) I promised her that I would blog about the coal furnace for all to learn and enjoy...without me having to clean the basement. I agree with Hollie that coal furnaces are as old as the hills. My sister's comment the first time she saw it was - "This really is old...like the olden days!" Yes, it really is old...like the olden days. It is the one thing (other than just one bathroom) that I really hate about this house. We have had to learn ALOT over the past 10 years about how to work and run a coal furnace. For instance...you can't adjust the thermostat. You set it at about 72 and sometimes you are smoldering hot and sometimes very chilly. We either open windows or grab some blankies...but we NEVER adjust the thermostat. Why you ask? Well...when you do it causes the coal furnace to back-up. What is back-up you ask? When extremely stinky, thick black smoke comes billowing out of every crack of the furnace. It can take a very long time to get the smell out of the house. The "furnace is backing-up" are the 3 most dreaded words in our house. So, how do we look at having a coal furnace (since we actually have zero other options where we live!) as a positive thing? We have heard over and over in our "How to be Prepared" class at church that coal is the very best way and is going to be the cheapest way to heat homes in the future. :) So...we really are just a step ahead of you - I guess infact that would make us...well...not a museum at all.

Here us how it works:

This is the truck delivering coal to the coal room.

I (yes -me...Ryan has a bad back remember) shovel the coal into a bucket and dump it into this. It is called the Hopper. I usually have to put 3-5 buckets full every night.

The hopper pushes the coal slowly into this - the main part of the furnace and after the coal burns it turns into clinkers that I get to take out every night also.

What is a clinker? These are clinkers! These are actually small clinkers because we have just started burning for the year...clinkers can get big and HEAVY!

So - there you go...all a little smarter!:)

Lovin' Fall

I LOVE this time of year....

I love that we all have our after summer glowing skin.

I love feeling like I have a whole new wardrobe when I get to pull out my jeans and sweaters.

I love eating hot food like baked potatoes and soup after a summer without.

I love the smell of the first fire of the season in the fireplace.

I love the smell of the cows - after a summer without them it is kind of a nice smell. (for a few minutes anyway!)

I love the excitement in the air as my children anticipate the holidays.

I love the time change when it starts to get dark at 5:30 - It makes my husband have to come home. There is not alot of farming you can do after dark.:)

I love the new baby calves we get in the Fall.

I love the start of all the traditions that come with the holidays. It always brings us closer as a family when we start all of our fun holiday traditions.

This is my kids and their Hawkins cousins painting the pumpkin at Grandma's house. It is usually the start of the holiday traditions! Yay for grandma!!

My Favorites of the day...

Rhett got to go help his dad haul cows this morning. It is the first time he got to go all alone since the big kids were at school. He looked SO BIG and SO CUTE out by the semi. It is images like these that I want always engraven upon my memory!!

I have to admit...

Today I am kind of depressed!! It was one year ago today that Ryan, the kids and I boarded the big airplane for our "Back East Vacation!" We got to visit everywhere from Nauvoo to Niagra Falls to Palmyra to D.C. to Hershey Park and Gettysburg. We spent 2 full weeks in and out of hotels and squished in our rental mini-van and we had SO MUCH FUN!!

I am really sad that we can't just pack-up-and-go every year! It was such a neat trip to be able to see so many church history sites. We were able to see where the Prophet Joseph started his life, where he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, where he found the gold plates, where the Book of Mormon was first published and finally where the Prophet was murdered. We learned so much and grew from being able to experience it all. Our children had so much fun and were SO WELL BEHAVED! that both Ryan and I were amazed. We got to spend quality time with Great Grandpa and Grandma Romell that are serving a mission for the Lord. Our kids talk about this vacation and the things we saw constantly. We hear about Nauvoo from Rhett on a daily basis.

We loved our vacation and Ryan and I are counting down the days until we can go on another "Back East Vacation!"

A Much Needed Break

So, today is the start of our long 4 day weekend! WAHOO! YAY!! FABULOUS!! And any other exciting word I can think of!!! We are planning on going to my parents for a few days to spend time with family. Because it is General Conference this week I wanted to share a link I found with some different printable ideas for you and your kids. I printed a million for at my mom's house (she has ALOT of grandkids!) It is so nice to have something to keep them all entertained!:) I hope this is helpful to anyone looking for ideas. HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND AND IF IT IS AN EXTRA LONG ONE LIKE OURS SHOUT OUT A FEW EXCITING WORDS AT YOUR HOUSE TOO!!

http://alittletipsy.blogspot.com/2009/09/general-conference-activities-for-kids.html

My Baby is 3...*sigh*

Yesterday was my little Laiklie's 3rd birthday. I can't call her my baby anymore...mostly because when I do she tells me, "I not a baby, I a big girl!" She really is too!! She is growing so fast. She talks non-stop in the sweetest voice you've ever heard. She is SO POLITE always remembering her Please and Thank You's. She is as funny as kids come. She has us laughing constantly. She is also the most stubborn child you will ever meet. She does what she wants when she wants...including wearing a black skirt under her hotpink dress to church last Sunday. (I was dying!! I was praying that nobody saw the skirt under the dress thinking that her mother dressed her that way, because IT WAS DEFINITELY NOT MY IDEA!) She is determined to do things herself (just like her mom) and she hates messes (just like her mom). Ryan always jokes about how I deserve to be her mom because I was the exact same child to my mom. SORRY MOM!!

Laiklie is beautiful in everyway. She was our surprise baby and to tell you the truth I cried and cried when I found out I was pregnant. I was not ready for another baby - but, I guess Heavenly Father knew something I didn't know at the time - and I am so thankful he did. It was while I was pregnant with Laiklie that Oakley was diagnosed with her diabetes and it was a very stressful time. I was warned over and over to not stress because they didn't want me to miscarry. Heavenly Father helped me to bring Laiklie safely into the world and I am praying he stands by my side as I get her through the teenage years - if they are anything like her 2nd year of life, I am going to need him!:)

I love you Laiklie...HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!!

2009 Pictures

For the past few years instead of taking my kids to Penneys to get their pictures done, I have just taken then out and done them myself. I am not "Worlds Best Photographer," but it is fun to take their pictures the way that I want and I can print them all for free right on my own printer. So, this is just a few of VERY MANY pictures that we took yesterday.

Full of giggles!:)

My sweet (most of the time) girls!

My big men!

Check out the side bar for some of their individuals. I took so many that I may switch them out off and on so you can see more than just these!
*I do have to say...the picture quality doesn't look great because I saved it with a low quality number to upload to blogger quicker. They are actually much better quality than they appear!:)

Rhett's the Big 5

I can't believe it has been 5 years since we first welcomed Rhett into the world. It amazes me how when you are struggling in life it is hard to take it a day at a time and when you are enjoying it it seems to fly by! The past 5 years with Rhett has definitely flown by.

So....a little bit about Rhett that maybe some of you don't know. Rhett has always been able to beat-up his big brother Dallin. Rhett is SO STRONG. An example of this - the other day I took the kids to the park and a big kid had thrown a swing up and around the top bar to make it higher off the ground. The seat of the swing was eye level for Rhett. Oakley attempted to get into the swing and couldn't, then Dallin attempted to get into the swing and couldn't. Next thing I know Rhett has shimmied up the chain and was sitting in the swing ready for an underdoggie! He is physically SO STRONG!

But.....there is a whole other side to Rhett. He LOVES Strawberry Shortcake - not the food, the doll/movie. He checks-out a new Strawberry movie every week at the library....which usually gives the librarian a good giggle. His bed is constantly covered in stuffed animals. He has to sleep with all of them or there is issues. He is always found carrying Share Bear (his purple carebear that he stole from Oakley) around under his armpit. We go very few places without her and his Nemo Fishy blanket. Rhett is the pickiest eater you will ever meet. It is possible to live and grow strong and healthy on milk and yellow chips. :) He is so shy and gets tripped over many times hanging onto my leg in public. He is finally breaking out of his shell a little - thank goodness!! He is SO FULL of life and keeps us constantly laughing with his wise cracks. We are so blessed to have him in our home and a part of out family.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY!

How Many Dryers Can One Person Kill?

The dryer that Ryan and I have been using we got 10 years ago when we first moved into our house. We got it used from his parents. They figured it would last us a year or two and then we would have to replace it....it lasted much longer than that. About a month ago though it started acting funny and for the past couple weeks it has just been living on a prayer. Finally last Saturday it gave up and died and found a new home in the garage.

Because Ryan hasn't had a single second to spare between farming and hunting on his way out the door last Saturday he told me to check Craigslist. I luckily found a dryer not far from me for only $100. (Which was a blessing because who has $500 burning a hole in their pocket right now?? NOT ME!) I ran and picked it up and Sunday afternoon Ry and his bro. unloaded it and I ran one load through it to make sure it worked. Then it sat for the entire week (I do all my laundry on Saturdays). This morning I put my first load in it and it was dead as a doornail. It wouldn't even try to work. ARGH!!! Ryan tore into the wall to see if it was electrical, but it isn't.

So - we called the guy that sold it to me and he said he has a dryer in an apartment he knows works and so he will bring us that one and trade. All I have to say is - IT BETTER WORK!

My fence can only hold so many clothes. I know that I am spoiled. I realize that the pioneers had to hang dry their clothes all the time, but they really only had one set of work clothes and one set of Sunday clothes. I am guessing that they didn't wash their Sunday clothes very often so really they only had to put on one set of scratchy clothes once a week....not every morning and p.j.'s every night. And.......don't even get me started on scratchy towels and underwear.:)

Weird

So...we have had some weirdness at our house today. I heard screaming around 6 this morning coming from the boys room. When I got there Rhett had fallen out of his bed (not a far fall) and was crying because his leg didn't work. I was sure that his leg had just fallen to sleep so I lugged him back into bed and went back to sleep. This morning he wouldn't get out of bed and so I lugged him to the couch. (Remember I am still not suppose to lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk for another couple weeks....but what do you do when you are the mom and home alone??) Anyway - he couldn't straighten his leg. He couldn't bend it back very far either - he would only hold it in a semi-bent position. He would cry if we tried to move it at all. But, I could push all over it and have no problems. So, I knew it had nothing to do with the bones...just something behind the knee. It had pretty much no swelling...if any very little and no bruising whatsoever. I finally told him if he didn't get up and walk I was taking him to the Doctor. So he attempted to stand and tried to hobble...but wouldn't straighten it at all. When Ry got home from hunting I had him show his dad how he could walk and when he was hobbling it gave out from under him and he fell and was in tears AGAIN. So I swooped him up and off we went to the doc. They took x-rays and nothing is broken...which I assumed. The first doc thought that he must have something (I have no idea what they called it) that affects 2-6 year old boys that causes their joints to swell and get inflamed and hurt for a few days and then goes away. He wanted another doc to look though and he had no idea either. He wondered if he hyper extended it. Rhett said he maybe hurt it on the trampoline yesterday, but I didn't hear a word about it yesterday and he put his own bum in bed last night, so WE HAVE NO IDEA what is wrong with it. They sent me home with motrin instructions and told me to let him baby it and what to watch for incase we need to go back in. I guess we will see what time brings.

Since I hate to post and not put a picture - here is my cute man. I was going to post a picture of his knee....but,....since it just looks like a knee I decided this was better.:)

Oakley's Daily Fight

JDRF has a Walk to Cure Diabetes every year and this year because of my surgery we aren't going to attend, but we still wanted to share the video that we made back before we knew what we were going to do. We don't expect anyone to donate money right now because we know that times are extremely tough, we just want to make people aware of what our sweet 9 year old deals with on a daily basis. We thank all of you for all your love and support. We have had an interesting 3 1/2 years with this disease and look forward to the day....maybe not in this life....that we no longer have this as a trial. Oakley is one of the lucky ones that understands that there WILL be a life after this one that she won't have diabetes and we count that as a blessing. She is so strong and is constantly amazing us!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3-QBHmhzlA

*The pictures in the video are fuzzy - sorry

- they weren't that way on my computer when we uploaded it!:(

Preschool at the Zoo

Today was Rhett's first day of Preschool. This year for preschool I decided to join some other ladies in doing a "mommy preschool" where the mom's take turns teaching. The preschool teacher I used for my other two kids has retired and the other preschools around me were either full or I wasn't very impressed with them. I struggled driving him to town and the $75 price tag that came with an in-town preschool. I am excited to be a part of what he is learning this year but still have the opportunity for him to learn from other ladies while interacting with other children. I really think it will work out fine!
This is Rhett and the only other boy in the preschool. To begin with it was just going to be Rhett and 3 little girls, but I just happened to run onto this other mother with a boy that was looking to do a mommy preschool too. I think it was an answer to a prayer. Rhett's one and only friend Tylee - the sweetest little girl around - moved back East a few months ago. He has been really lonely without her and I think this preschool thing is just what he needed.

And these are the baby ducks. I THOUGHT THEY WERE SO CUTE!! They were probably my favorite part of the day....except the part where my sweet 4 year old wanted to hold my hand....melt my heart!! It was fun to just spend the day with Rhett. Because the doc told me nothing heavier than a gallon of milk for a few weeks I knew that pushing Laiklie around in a stroller was totally off limits - which was okay...it was nice to leave her to swath with her dad and just have a special day with my big man Rhett. I am looking forward to a fun year of preschool with him!!