Book Review Time

So I have found myself really enjoying a number of books lately. So I thought I would let others know about them incase they may be interested in them too. These are not novel books, but more informational books. So the first book is...

The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule

I have always wanted to be more creative when it comes to letting my children do crafts, and such. So I found this book and just LOVE it. It talks about how to help facilitate creativity in your home with your kids. It talks about simple things like keeping the crayons, and paper accessable. Plus things like providing musical instruments for the kids to play. And tips on how to display your kids artwork. As well as encouraging parents to draw along with their kids. Now of course I'm not able to do everything. But I have gotten a lot of good ideas from this book that I have and will impliment in our home. And I have to say, just sitting down and drawing with your children, to enjoy it and not expect some masterpiece is tons of fun too.

So I recommend it and say it is worth a look. So go check it out from your library.

Pictures

Now if I just keep the pictures maybe I will forget about everything else that happened and look at the pictures and believe that we had a wonderful Halloween. :)

Mr. Jack o' lantern survived the fall and made it to the front porch, minus the stem.

Michael as, of course his most favorite thing in the world, Lightning McQueen. And of course he had to wear his hat backwards, because that is how daddy wears his hats. (And thanks to Nancy for letting us borrow this costume)

Emma as our baby chicken. Very cute, and thanks to Lori for letting us borrow this costume. :)

Some cute knee high socks that I bought cheap and made into baby leggins for Halloween.

Our happy time carving our pumpkin.

Cute, adorable Emma sitting on our front porch with the pumpkins, prior to carving. :) (she is loving having her picture taken, and will now pose for me when the camera is out.)

Good times, with our pumpkins on the front porch.

I do have to say I love the Fall. :)

Our Halloween

So Kent and I have never been really into Halloween. Before we had kids we didn’t do anything, but buy candy and pass it out. Maybe it is because we are both the youngest (him of 6 and me of 5) so by the time we came along our parents were tired of Halloween and didn’t do much either. Anyways, we are not Halloween people. I LOVE fall, and love to decorate for fall, but really not much with Halloween. But when Michael came along I felt obligated to give him some Halloween experience. So we carved the pumpkins and he dressed up, and I would take him around the block to trick or treat.

But this year has not been so much fun and I really have found more that I don’t like about Halloween than I like. I’m sure my sour disposition has more to do with what happened than Halloween itself, and maybe next year I will have a better disposition and happier outlook.

This year I had been sick for the entire week prior. Making Pumpkin carving, and all things Halloween, fall to the bottom of my priority list. The days were TV/movie days as I rested and tried to feel somewhat normal, tried to keep the house not a disaster, and think of something to feed the kids that would be remotely healthy. After a week of being sick I decided to see the doctor to make sure it wasn’t strep throat or the swine flu (although I doubted that; however my niece who babysits my kids as I tutor does have the swine flu, luckily due to my cold tutoring had been canceled the last week, and (crossing my fingers) I don’t think we have gotten it).

So Thursday I went to the doctor’s office, and due to my own mix up didn’t have a babysitter for my kids. And due to the banks mix up they had canceled my debit card so I had to find another card to pay at the doctor’s office. I was told from the doctor I only had a cold so I got in the car with the kids to go home to found that the battery on my car died. So I called my sister-in-law to jump start my car, only to find that it wouldn’t even jump start (the battery was TOAST) so I got a ride home from her. When Kent got home he had to buy a new battery for the car, and realized that one of the headlights on the car was also out, he bought the headlight, but as he was getting sick too he didn’t feel up to fixing that at the moment.

Friday I was feeling better and thought things were looking up. I went to the store for much needed groceries, and it felt good to get out of the house. Then Michael and I worked on our cutting skills as we cut out paper jack-o-lanterns and ghosts. I think that was my favorite part. I decided that pumpkin carving was either going to happen then or not at all, so Michael and I carved one of the pumpkins (thanks to Tracy for giving us 3 huge pumpkins from her garden!) while Kent was at work and Emma slept. As I went to put the jack-o-lantern on the front porch with the other pumpkins I slipped on the wet steps carrying the 10 pound jack-o-lantern. The jack-o-lantern survived, the stem broke off, and the flower pot below was toast. My back and side have the bruises to prove I'm not making this up. After that I was DONE with pumpkins, and the others did not get carved at all.

Kent got home and was sick as could be, so I dressed up Michael and Emma and us three went to the ward trunk-or-treat. It was ok, but somehow I felt like I was teaching my kids to beg for candy… I just didn’t like it. It seemed like a bunch of kids running around as fast as they could to get all the candy they could before it was all gone (which only took 30 min. for everyone to be out of candy!). Michael of course liked it and Emma enjoyed the candy too, she would not let go of her bag for anything!

Now Michael and Emma did have the start of the cold, but I had thought it wasn’t too bad, and that they could still trunk or treat. But as we got ready for bed Michael’s asthma kicked in again (I really thought we were over it!) So the breathing treatments increased to even more than recommend because he was struggling so much. Around 10pm Michael woke up crying unable to breath. I knew he needed the oral steroids and so I took him to the local ER. The ER here is known to be bad, but I thought since I knew what was wrong and what he needed it would be ok. But no. The doctor didn’t listen to me, insisted it wasn’t breathing problems but was pneumonia and wouldn’t give us the steroid, but instead an antibiotic. So we left there no better.

On the way home in the dark, or course I got pulled over by a cop because one of my headlights was out. Mind you this is the first time I have ever gotten pulled over by a cop. But I was too TICKED OFF at the hospital to even be a little nervous. I was MAD! The cop must have noticed I was not in a good mood as he walked up I said, “I know the headlight is out. The light is in the trunk, I can show it to you, my husband was too sick to fix it, and my son had to go to the ER tonight.” He took my license, registration, and insurance. Then decided to stop another car by foot coming towards us, and let me leave with no ticket.

But the fun didn’t end there. No. Since Michael didn’t get what he needed at the ER, Michael and I were up all night, as I gave him breathing treatments every 2 hours (instead of the recommended 4 hours) because the poor boy couldn’t breathe! His pediatrics walk in clinic opened at 9 am the next morning and I was there with Michael in the parking lot at 8:30am. Luckily as they opened the nurses who saw me waiting in the car told the other 6 people that we got to go first since we were in the parking lot first. Michael saw the doctor, who realized he was beyond the oral steroid and had to give him a shot of steroid. He confirmed that the ER doctor misdiagnosed Michael. And he gave me extra oral steroids to keep on hand if that ever happened again. This doctor was worried that Michael would have to be admitted to the Children’s hospital. We went home hoping for the best but with instructions to return immediately if things got worst. Well, Michael’s breathing got a little better, yet he started to get really pail. Luckily a second dose of oral steroids did the trick and he got his color back and started to help relax his airways and he was able to breathe much better.

Needless to say Saturday was not a celebration for us. My cold came back because of being up all night with Michael. So all 4 of us are now sick. I was not in a good mood and poor Kent took the brunt of it as I insisted that he fix the headlight and put traction strips on the front steps even though he was sick. The kids did not dress up and there was no trick or treating for them. We actually only had like 10 kids come to our house. I passed out pencils ;) and Michael didn’t seem to think he was missing out as he said he did his trick or treating Friday night.

So sorry for the LONG blog and if you read the entire thing you are a true friend, and thank you for taking the time to listen to my venting and I’m sure you now know why I was not a big fan of Halloween this year. Let’s hope next year is a better one!

plant seeds

So I know I haven't blogged in awhile... our computer is in a transitional phase, but I thought I would take this minute and post something I had learned.

So with learning to garden and all that I also learned that most seeds you buy at the store are genetically altered (so they look pretty, etc) but they are only good for one year, yes, they are sterile. I wanted to be economical and save the new seeds, but then I learned that there was no point to it, unless you get the heirloom variety. So in case others of you out there didn't know that and wanted to start a garden, just a little tip. It makes me wonder though, what if WW3 broke out and we all had to do our own gardening, after the first year many people would be in a lot of trouble. So I think I'll stick with the heirloom type and save my seeds from now on.

Doing Our Thing

So we've been busy having fun. And I have to admit I have enjoyed some good books lately. I'll do a different blog post about those later. But anyways. The latest for us is....


Emma's new pants. Just finished today. She's been needing some as the weather has now turned cold, so I knitted some, combining my favorite parts of different patterns. I think they are cute, but of course have a few improvements I want to make for the next pair (I'm sure I will constantly been changing my pattern!).

Then on to the daddy time. Kent has been loving the fact that Emma now wants to cuddle with him and not just mommy. So I had to take this cute picture of the two!

And then Michael had the time of his life helping daddy wash the truck. Kent scrubbed and Michael got to spray the hose. He had a blast and both came in the house soaked!

He was very proud/ excited about his job in helping daddy!

Learning Empathy

I figure I must have been due a lesson on empathy. You see, Kent is very much a macho man. If he is injured, sick, etc. he will not complain all that much and just tough it out. So when he was having a lot of back pain, he complained some at home, asked for a few massages, yet went to work each morning and did all that he had to do. So I guess I didn't give him too much sympathy. I was fine letting him come home and go in straight to rest while I handled all the night time things, but I didn't really "take care" of him.

So then the other day I woke up to find major pain when I moved! Kent was already at work and I just wondered how on earth I would be able to take care of two little ones with such pain. A long hot bath didn't help, so I set up the movies and lay on the couch while kids watched movies/snuggled with me laying down. I was lucky to get them feed and Emma's diapers changed. Luckily for me Kent was home early that day so I was able to get in to the chiropractor and learn that my tail bone was out, which gave me the lower back pain, pain in my right leg, and made it so that I couldn't bend over in the slightest. I figure God was just telling me I need to have more sympathy now empathy for my hard working husband.

Kids

Just two videos of my kids.

Emma has been so cute and hilarious as she babbles while reading a book. She moves her tongue in and out of her mouth to make the babbling noise, too funny. (and yes that is laundry you see behind her... I promise I will get to it later. :)

We had a busy Saturday, up early, Michael's swimming lessons, then trips to a few stores, since we are already out. We got home in the afternoon. Michael was asleep in the car seat but usually when I pick him up and bring him in the house he is wide awake again ready to go. So I set him down on the floor by the door expecting him to take off his shoes and start playing, but when I came back I found that he had just laid down on the floor and gone back to sleep. I guess those swimming lessons and walking all around the stores wore him out!

Harvest

We are excited about the wonderful food our little garden is producing. Apparently I didn't catch a few cucumbers in time and they got BIG. The picture below is compairing them to my hand. But I am loving all the food, now I think it may be time to can some more pickles!

Current Projects and Cute Kids

Aren't they just adorable! :)

Ok, so first I have to say my kids were just looking so cute today, I had to pull out the camera, and get these photos, and of course share them with everyone. :) Thanks for putting up with me. :)

But really I've added more to our play room. The first idea came from a comment from Andrea on her blog. She mentioned how she had a kids calendar with pictures for her kids so they knew what was coming up. Andrea, what an awesome idea! So I took it and made it work in our house.

One thing I LOVE about my home are how many big windows it has. I LOVE the windows and wouldn't trade it for anything. Yet it makes wall space limited. So to do a calendar I decided to use the window. I bought some of those chalk pens at the store and made the following calendar for Michael. (I took the picture at night because the camera can see it better). Anyways I am using it to teach Michael the days of the week, as well as the concept of today (we will move to yesterday and tomorrow in a bit). I love this concept because each morning we do our calendar and talk about the things that are going to affect Michael that day.

Next I saw these big clothes pins at our craft store. I had seen them in a nice house before, but they had purchased them at Pottery Barn I think? Anyways I wasn't going to spend the money. So I was happy to find them at the craft store. I just painted them, with Michael's help (my philosophy is that all things on the wall in the play room involve a kid in creation, or that is my goal) and wa la! No more random papers/art taped to the walls. They now have their place of honor and it looks nice too.

I have three, blue, red, and green. But here is the up close of the blue

And Michael happily painting the green one.

First Day of School

Here is Michael's picture before his first day of school... preschool that is. :) A group of us moms got together and are doing a preschool together. Michael was so excited that he got to go to school and wear his backpack. And though he knew the sisters' house that it was at first, he had never been to the house, and when we arrived he wanted Emma and I to stay in the car. He was going to go and knock on the door and go to school all by himself (according to him). Fortunatly for me I had to take them the calendar I made for the preschool, so Emma and I went with him. It was kinda sad to think he is so grown up that he can do things without me now. What a different feeling, GOOD and yet a little sad.

In other news, we went to the fair, Michael started swimming lessons, and Michael helped me in adding decoration to the toy room. (pictures of them all coming soon) And poor Michael doesn't seem to get much of a break when it comes to sickness. He got a second infection and had to get a higher dose medicine, that made him break out, head to toe, in a rash. Add that to the list of things to inform the doctors about, an allergy to medication. Gesh, wish he would at least get a little break so I could get him the few vacinations that I actually want to get for him. But at least he is getting back to normal, still on the breathing medicine, and a little ichy from the rash, but back to his loveable, energetic self.

Baby Gifts

So I just have to say thanks to all my friends having babies. First they are just so adorable who doesn't love seeing cute pictures of babies? And second, I then have a reason to make cute things for them. Now that I know the packages arrived I can share the addorable things here. :)

And of course I have to give credit for these great ideas to the wonderful crafty blogs out there. I am just so amazed at how many wonderful ideas are out there. I have added a few more of the "make it yourself" blogs to my favortie sites lists. I love that I can go there and click on a topic and find a wonderful gift to make for an occasion, or find cool things for my family. I am loving it!!!

Following are some gifts I sent out. I think they are adorable, but hey I guess I would since I made them. :)

Tornado?

yes, apparently we had a tornado in the small town just south of us by 10 min! Usually when you think of Washington you don't think of tornadoes, but I learned Washington averages 2 a year. Just crazy to me, and to think it was so close! Luckily no one was hurt and the only major loss was a barn, but it left the house unharmed. I know we have wind storms and usually lose our power 2 to 5 times a year, but tornadoes? really?