3 - 2 - 1 ... BLASTOFF

So, this week is spring break and the kids are out of school. They are only out until Wednesday though so we really wanted to take them to do something fun...but the BLIZZARD yesterday ruined that for us. We weren't left with many options, so we ended up just taking them in to Blastoff today. It is a huge indoor play land. They had so much fun running wild and I had a great time letting them use some of their energy somewhere besides in my house.: )Ball throwing!!
This is Rhett and his cousin Kiana.
Dallin

Oakley

And where is Laiklie you ask??

Laiklie sat on my lap and kicked and screamed and hit me for atleast 35 minutes because the one rule that they have at Blastoff is the kids must wear socks - and Laiklie hates socks!! I felt terrible. Finally Oakley convinced her to put them on and go play and once she had them on, she had a great time. What a stubborn little lady. I am not looking forward to her as a teenager.

Gardening

Where you have a plot of land, however small, plant a garden. Pres. Kimball

This is the first year in all the years that we have done a garden that Ryan has gotten interested and is wanting to help. I am so grateful for his help because he actually knows how to grow things...and I don't. We went and bought some seed the other day and for Family Home Evening we planted some of the seeds to start in our house until it is warm enough to plant outside. The kids thought this was GREAT FUN!!

Parents should plant deeply the seed of the work ethic into the hearts and habits of their children.

Joseph B. Wirthlin

As we finished planting Rhett said, "Mom, nusing (nothing) is happening!!" I am praying that at least a few of the seeds come up so he can see the fruits of his labor.: )

I am ready to admit...

So, about a week ago I decided to start an experiment and it wasn't something I was committed to, it was JUST an experiment. Because I wasn't committed to it I have only told my sisters, my mother and a couple of my cute little friends and that was it. I have kept this secret... and... since it is going SO well I am now committed and have decided to admit:

WE ARE POTTY TRAINING!!! AHH!!

I decided to just try it out and see if she was anywhere near ready and she has done AMAZING!! It is like she just gets it.

One problem though...she WON'T WEAR UNDERWEAR! Notice all the underwear thrown all over the floor. She will put her jeans on bare butt and wear them that way. Can you say...chaffing?? Because she will not wear underwear we have a bunch of buttcrack pictures. (See below) (Sorry it won't rotate again...I don't know why my computer does this. I HATE IT!!)
We are still questioning what to do on Sunday. We CAN NOT take her to church with a dress and no underwear. We have convinced her to wear them a few days, but who knows if Sunday will be one of those days.: ) What a little stinker!

Happy St. Patricks Day

So, today is a Happy St. Patricks Day, but just a few years ago we had not such a happy one. This is Oakley's story:

March 16, 2006 Oakley brought home from school the class pictures that had been taken about 2 weeks earlier. The class picture was perfect, but she also brought home one of those individuals that our photographer always takes as extras that they send home hoping you will buy. In her individual picture I could see that her skirt was wet and questioned my then 5 year old kindergartener about it. She responded after alot of questioning and a few tears that she had peed her pants. I asked why she just didn't ask to go to the bathroom - not only was she terrified of her teacher, but she HAD gone to the bathroom just before they lined up to take the pictures and still - while standing in line peed her pants. So, I start thinking back on the past couple weeks and realize that she has been going to the bathroom an excessive amount. Sometimes 4 times a night - at Wal-Mart we usually went when we arrived, half way through shopping, and on our way out the door. I decided that she had to have a bladder infection.

So, March 17, 2006 (St. Patricks Day) Oakley heads out the door in her cute green shirt for school because she didn't want to miss the party her teacher had planned for the day. I picked her up early from school to take her to the doctor. When I told her teacher I was taking her in for what I thought was a bladder infection her crusty teacher said, "ya, she has been going to the bathroom alot lately." I was like - WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL ME!! Anyway, in my head I thought that we would run to the doctors and since I left the boys at home with Ryan we would go get some ice cream. The day didn't go at all like I had planned.

I explained to the doctor what I thought she had and they had her pee in a cup. He came back and told me there was sugar in her urine and that we are not suppose to have any sugar in our urine, so he wanted to poke her finger to check her blood sugar level. So after the finger poke he came in and told me that her blood sugar was high enough that their machine wouldn't even read it. So, he wanted to draw blood out of her arm to confirm, but was 100% positive that my sweet little girl had Type 1 diabetes. He told me that he was sending us to the diabetic specalist in town and that they would most likely admit her to the hospital because her blood sugar was so high. At this point I was thinking...okay, we will go to the specialist and he will get her blood sugar under control and we will be back to normal. I had no idea that life would never be the "normal" like we had known ever again.

So, Oakley and I load into the suburban and I call Ryan trying to hold back the tears thinking all along that diabetes is something that OLD people get and that they have to test for weeks for not something they can know in 15 minutes, and wondering what in the world we were going to be dealing with. After arranging to pick up Ryan I call my mom, and of course reality had set in and I can't hold the tears in any longer.

Ryan, Oakley and I arrive at the diabetic specialists and they rush her back to one of their rooms and instantly get an IV started. They start explaining things to us - which was like a brain overload...it is like I heard them but it all went in one ear and out the other. They were talking about this disease that my little girl was going to have for the REST OF HER LIFE and I couldn't handle thinking of that. They continue to pump her full of 2 bags of IV fluid to re-hydrate her and they also draw blood out of the same arm the doctors office drew out of. They then go on to teach us how to give our daughter insulin shots (because it is a friday and we are going to be alone all weekend with this new disease we know nothing about). They ask Ryan if he has ever given a shot. He tells them that he is a rancher and has given lots of shots to his cows. The nurse said, "Oh, you are a pro then." Ryan tells her with tears in his eyes, "But I have never given one to my baby." So Ryan gets to give her a shot first and then they make me give her a shot. Talk about breaking a mom's heart. So, after 6 hours of sitting in the doctors office, 2 blood draws, one IV and multiple finger pricks and shots (Oakley never once crying) we finally load into the car to go home. As we drive away I tell Oakley - "Oh, honey I am sorry this has been such a long day." She responds with, "But not a bad day mom!" In my mind I am wondering what my 5 year old considers a bad day if this wasn't it.

(This is Oakley sporting her new insulin pump at 5 years old. You can see it about pulls her pants down. This was taken just a few days after we got her pump.)

So, it has been 3 years now and after alot of nights crying myself to sleep and alot of education classes we are what I would consider - pretty much professionals - on Type 1 diabetes. Oakley got her insulin pump just 1 1/2 weeks after she was diagnosed and it is similar to an IV in that it has a straw type insertion that goes into her skin and it pumps insulin into her body the way that a healthy pancreas would. We have to change her pump every three days - so one shot every three days is so much better than the 5 or 6 a day we were giving her. It is a long needle though and she still cries sometimes if we accidentally hit a muscle. We count her carbs with her meals and she checks her blood about 6 times a day and is getting to where she knows how many carbs are in some food without my help. We visit her specialist every 3 months to make sure she is growing like she is suppose to. She does very well in school, she takes piano and clogging lessons. If you looked at her lined up with her friends you would never know that she has Type 1 diabetes. She is as happy about life as if she didn't have it. Oakley has asked me many times if there is a chance she will be alive when the Savior comes because she knows that he could heal her from her diabetes. She knows that one day she will not have to have this disease anymore - if not during this life, during the next.

So, today we can say that we are finally getting back to where we think St. Patricks Day is a happy day. We are blessed to live in a time where we have so many ways to keep our beautiful girl strong and healthy. So - HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY everyone!

Clogging Competition

This is Oakley's first year clogging and yesterday was her first clogging competition. There are only these 3 little girls in her group and they have all picked-up clogging so fast and are actually pretty good for first year girls. They do two dances. The first is to the song Car Wash and these are their outfits.
They move so fast and do so much arm movement it is hard to get good pictures.

This is the second dance. Oakley is in the green. This dance is to the song Play that Funky Music. It amazes me how much these three little girls look alike. They had never even met before they started dancing. They are all so shy and quiet that they hardly ever talk even.

Excuse the bald head that was sitting in front of me please.: )

We left before they were finished giving out the awards and didn't really understand the way that they judge them or seperate them into catagories. It is all kind of confusing. So, we will find out Wednesday at class how they did. She did get a medal for going to the competition that she was excited about. It wouldn't matter if they won the entire competition or failed miserably - HER MOM IS JUST SO PROUD OF HER!!

Raise your hand...

Raise your hand if your husband is a bigger baby when he is sick than your children. I took Dallin to the doctor this morning and the doctor is treating him for pnemonia. He said it is not full fledged pnemonia yet, but that his lungs did sound terrible and didn't want to charge me the money for the x-rays to confirm. He decided since Dallin has had pnemonia atleast 2 times before that he is headed straight for it. So, Dallin is sitting on the couch using armpit farts as the sound effects to his finger pistol to shoot the guys on TV - happy as can be. Ryan on the other hand, (the one I have raised...can you see it!!) has a little sore throat, and a little congestion and is DYING in the other room. He is even sending out requests for chocolate milk with poor Dallin that really is sick. Husbands, can't live with them...and like I said, can't live with them.: )

In Rhett's Eyes...

In Rhett's eyes, these windmills are the coolest things EVER!! We took the kids for a drive to the ranch this afternoon to see how much snow was still there. Unfortunately it is still definitley winter there. I was hoping to see a little more ground because the sooner the snow leaves, the sooner we can haul cows. Ryan was hoping to see a coyote to shoot. Sadly the only one who saw anything that appealed to them was Rhett. We drive right past a bunch of these on the way and he is fasinated by them. As we drove by today he said, "WOW! They are so big when you are close to them." He says this EVERYTIME we drive by them. They really are big...I can't imagine how they look to a 4 year old.

My Week Thus Far

So this has been my week so far:
Sunday afternoon after a full day at church I received my friends little girls from their grandparents (my friend is in Cancun and I have her girls until Thursday - so I am babysitting and she is lying on a beach...can we say JEALOUS!!) The kids were all playing great and Ryan was sitting visiting with his dad when he got up to get Oakley new blood teststrips and instant back pain. Ryan has the crappiest back - if anyone knows how to get a person a fake back sign me up for that. He has back problems constantly. So he goes from fine to not even being able to stand or walk unassisted in just seconds. So I hobble him into bed and spend Sunday evening chasing children ALONE. So yesterday (Monday) Ryan is still in bed - not even able to go to the bathroom without help and I get Oakley and Dallin off to school. I hold back the tears as I talk to Ry's dad's hired hand for once again having to come down to my house to feed the cows for us (this has happened alot lately). I get to where I think things are going great until I get to enjoy changing poop out of my friends 2 year olds underwear. She is mid-potty training and doesn't want to poop in the potty for me. You cannot pay a person enough to clean poop out of their childs underwear. NOTE TO ALL PEOPLE WHO EVER WATCH MY CHILDREN: If you are ever watching my children and one of them poops in their underwear PLEASE throw the underwear away. Cleaning the poop off of their bum is enough nasty - you do not need to try to salvage the underwear too. Anyway - get the 2 year old cleaned up just in time to get Dallin off the 1st kindergarten bus and my friends little girl 10 minutes later on the 2nd kindergarten bus to leave for school. As soon as she has left I load my three children 6, 4, 2 and my friends 2 year old and my cripple husband into my suburban. Remember...he cannot walk alone. We arrive at the doctor and I haul two 2 year olds that both think they need carried, a 4, and 6 year old and my husband who cannot walk into the doctors office. I am not a person that will make two trips either - I will literally load my body with grocery sacks until I can barely walk to make it into my house in one trip - so I get everyone into the doctors...looking lovely I am sure. We sit and I entertain for a good hour plus and finally they come and give Ry a shot in his hip and a prescription and we are out the door. I ran in to get the prescription leaving Ry and children watching a movie in the car - can I get an amen for TV's in cars- and while I waited for the prescription I went to the bathroom for the first time I think all day. I did not want to leave their bathroom because for the first time in 2 days I was all alone.;) So we do the normal Family Home Evening last night with just a couple extra kids - no big deal. This morning I head out again to gymnastics this time with extra kids in tow. We make it home just in time to do the crazy kindergarten bus exchange again, and then load all the same children as attended the doctor yesterday into the car again today with the cripple husband - who gets credit for getting his own butt into the car without help today!! back into the suburban to go back to the doctor to get a machine that does electric shock therapy of some sort to his back. Yeah! It seems to be working too. Then home to fight the 4 year old for over an hour because he is at this stage where he is pushing his limits to the point that his mom can't handle it anymore. He has also discovered how to back talk...AH! Then off to piano lessons and to pick up my friends little girl from her after school program. Finally all childern are asleep in bed...so far this has been a crazy week... and did I mention - it is only TUESDAY!!! Please just pray I will survive.

My Cousin's Cookbook

So, my cousin - Nanette (that does like to cook) has started a blog called My Cousin's Cookbook. She has invited me to add recipes to her blog. So, anyone that is interested in some new recipes should definitely check it out (it is one of my blog links). There are not many recipes now, but it is growing and I can promise you that any recipe I add will be YUMMY!! Remember - I don't like to cook, so the recipes I do have and take the time to make are sooo yummy, and don't worry about not having the right ingredients for them - if I have it, you are sure to have it...remember I don't like to cook, so I don't own alot of cooking supplies!!!