Vacation

So we got back from vacation a little over a week ago, and I MISS it! I am ready for it to be warm again. I am done bundling up the kids in coats, it takes so much longer to get in the car. I also miss having someone cook for me. For those who don't know, we were on a cruise, and oh my gosh its hard to come back and try to feel motivated to cook something. A week of five course meals is a little difficult to match, especially coming back to a house with no food. We did finally grocery shop today so maybe I will be a little more motivated to cook when I don't have to be so creative. I also miss the sun. You know that happy warm feeling that just makes you smile...well the gray days need to end. Ian has a little people music CD with a song call "Mr. Golden Sun" I keep singing the line, "Mr. sun, please come out and play with me". So on that note, here are some beautiful pictures to remind me of happy, well fed days. Oh, one more thing, I ate the last of my girl scout cookies and now I want to cry. :(

Brett's dad with a remarkably happy Corban (a rare occurance)

Ian playing in the "dirt" as he calls it in Grand Caymen

Brett, Corban, and I at the Tulum Ruins outside of Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Ian and Brett at sunset in Key West, FL

No ENT!!!!

This morning the boys both had doctor's appointments to recheck their ears. We have been doing this at least once a month since October, it usually turns out to be about every two weeks though, and this was the final check before heading to the ENT for a two for one ear tube special. Well, drumroll please..............THEY BOTH PASSED! Well passed isn't really the right word, but I couldn't think of a better one. So, Ian's ears are finally okay, he even really did "pass", well had normal scores, for both tympanograms (really don't know how to spell that). The doctor and I did a happy dance together. Corban's tympanograms were not yet in the normal range, but good enough that she is positive that they are on the way to being there. Still, I am so excited that I put the print outs of the tests on my refrigerator! (Laura, this is my version of a 100+ spelling test). We are, however, not done with the every other week doctor's visits. Corban has a really weird diaper rash that won't go away, and the doctor couldn't stop staring at it with a confused look. So now we are treating him for both ringworm and an eczema related rash. What is it with my boys and weirdo rashes?!

Bragging About Me!

Okay I have to brag because I am so proud of myself. We have been home less than 48 hours and... all of my laundry is done AND put away! YAY!!!! Even better, the suitcases are already in the garage where they belong. Usually in our family this doesn't happen until 2 months after we return and then they just get packed again.

Time Out

I found out this morning that maybe, just maybe, the concept of time out is becoming clear to Ian. Whether or not its actually changing his behavior is another story. I walked into the living room and he came running toward me and said, "Mommy, Mommy, cars are on time out." And sure enough, he had turned all of his Cars movie cars over with their faces into the ottoman, so they couldn't see him. (Brett started the whole face to the floor for time out and I really like it, it makes it so Ian can't see all the action going on around him). We will have to see if Ian's cars are learning anything from their time spent on time out.

Happy Recovery, Flaming Kitchen

So apparently, Brett thought that since I was feeling better and about to actually start doing dishes and laundry again, that I needed a big project to do...

Tuesday night, we were going to try cooking something new, Jagerschnitzel, a german dish that is to die for. Anyway, Brett will tell you its my fault that this happened, cause I "made" him mad and he was distracted, but that's really not the case. We actually don't really know why this time the oil in the pan burst into flames, but it did. It happened so fast and I was thankful we were in the kitchen at the time and saw it happen, cause if we were in the living room like we normally are, we wouldn't have a kitchen. Also, if we hadn't happened to buy a fire extinguisher on clearance at walmart, we wouldn't have most of a house.

It went from, "umm brett, its on fire" to Ian screaming and running into the other room and the house billowing with 4 feet of smoke with the smoke alarms blaring in less than a minute. Luckily, Brett actually knew how to use the fire extinguisher, cause I was squeezing the wrong lever and was a bit ditracted making sure Ian and Corban weren't freaking out (really more like, I was freaked out and would have been the idiot running to hide in the closet in the darkest hallway in the house, rather than out the door in to the party in all those third rate horror films). So while Brett, was our own personal firefighter, the boys and I huddled outside on the back porch.

After all the excitement was over, we waited for the smoke to clear a bit, opened all the widows and then packed our smoke smelling family into the car at 8:00pm and headed to our favorite little mexican restaurant in Draft and finally fed our children dinner.

Yesterday, I spent all day cleaning counters, walls, and doing 6 loads of dishes. Everything inside the cabinets has a film of smoke and fire extinguisher crud on them. So every cabinet is being emptied and scrubbed down. Cause, really I needed to do this level of spring cleaning when I have 5 loads of laundry waiting or me upstairs and dirty kleenexes strewn across the living room. But such is life. Hopefully, today, everything will be done, except the repainting and I can go back to normal cleaning. Also, we have to go to Target and get a new fire extinguisher, so that I can see if my stove works. I'm not turining it on until I have a way to put out another fire! So, Happy Recovery to Me!

Sicky Sickos

We are in a house of grossness! It started last week with Corban. Wednesday night he scared the daylights out of me when his lips and toes turned blue and he was limp and lethargic. He was breathing just fine, but I was still ready to throw naked Ian and the entire family into the car and go to the ER. But I called my doctor first, who immediately (within 2 min of calling her answering service) called me back and calmed me down. She said he most likely had a fever and was still just cold after his bath a half hour earlier. She walked me through a few other things, but the most important thing was his fever. It was 102.5 and explained a lot. We had a rough night because his fever climbed to 104.5 and he could not sleep. I took him to the Dr, the next morning, just to make sure his ears were okay (another story, but the short version is that we are currently on the wait and see if either boys ears ever get better so they don't have to go to the ENT next month) and to make sure this is just a virus. His ears actually looked good! YAY!! But poor little guy really didn't feel good and wouldn't let me put him down at all. So my arms got a bit more buff on Thursday and then on Friday I woke up with a 102 fever. Corban still had one too, but was feeling a little better and actually played a little on the floor, while I tried to stay conscious enough to make sure my children were safe and alive. Brett was able to come home early at about 5 and luckily had the weekend off. So he spent the weekend taking care of gross sick me and sort of gross Corban. He and Ian went to church yesterday and apparently Ian was a perfect angel during sacrament and just listened while he sat next to his daddy. He also wanted to wear a tie like his daddy. Anyway, I am now in the process of getting better, meaning I don't have a fever, but still feel like I've been hit by a bus! This virus is a weird one though, because not only did it start with a cough, get slammed in the middle by a high fever, somewhere during the second day you end up nauseous as heck, but starving to death, and have ow-ie stomach pains that are somewhat reminiscent of appendicitis. So, hopefully Ian's mellowness today does not mean fever tomorrow and hopefully Brett doesn't get it either. Also since we're hoping, I hope Corban and I miraculously feel so good by tomorrow that we could do jumping jacks in the rain we're supposed to get!

I'm back again

Okay, so its been quite awhile since I've actually blogged. But I think I'm back. I was so frustrated with our old computer and its stupid keyboard and not enough digital memory of something like that, that I finally gave up trying to do anything on it. Now we have a hand me down laptop that has its own issues, but its so much better than what we had. So I will try to be better, not that anyone will actually read this, but at least I can count it as keeping a journal. So quick update, my boys are getting so big. It amazes me how much language Ian has. He walks up to me and comes out with this complete sentences that just amaze me. Corban will be 10 months on wednesday, I can't believe it. He also took his first steps last week. He hasn't done it again, but it won't be long. I can stand him up and let go and he stays standing for a little bit. I just can't believe how fast it goes. I mean everyone says that, but its really true. As soon as I get this comp to let me upload pictures from my camera, I will post some and maybe a video of my boys. But, that is if I can get the comp to recognize the camera cause of course I don't have my software anymore!