WHATCHA DOIN' BABY?

I DUNNO. I have no idea what Carly is doing here but she does it a lot lately. I think she is trying to figure out how to stand on her head or become the next Gumby or something like that. She is a funny little girl. She is feeling much better on this new round of antibiotics. Thank Goodness!

THIS IS MY LITTLE CHARMER . . .

SQUIGGLY IS FOUND! WHAT A RELIEF! NOT!

Of course, Squiggly happens to be a garden snake--so for me at least that is all tongue in cheek! Rob, Julie, Uncle Steve and the cousins LOVED finding Squiggly. They practically threw a party. I wondered what all the commotion was and when I went to see realized Rob had invited Steve and the kids up because Squiggly, the long lost baby snake had grown up and come home! Weird, eh? I agree with you, but all of them are charmed by this little guy. He has two brothers we haven't seen since they were babies either. They can stay gone as far as I'm concerned but I'm sure the guys will kill the fatted calf if they show up! They love snakes. (What's wrong with them?)
Anyway, this little guy has gone from being about 6 inches long to 2.5 feet long. That's big enough for me--now go AWAY! Don't tell Rob I said that,O.K?

WHO KNEW THERE WAS A CLOWN-FACED MASK?

So, turns out the medical company that brought us the nebulizer was holding out on us! One of my friends has a young son with Asthma and she was telling me how much easier it is to use the nebulizer with a mask on it. She said her son had a mask that was an elephant with a trunk or something like that. Cute, huh?

I've had a couple of other people tell me that having a mask made all the difference with their little kids, too. We have just been holding it up to her nose and trying to get her to hold still enough to breath in the medicine. That's what they showed us and of course, she did it for them perfectly. Not so much for us! Anyway, I decided to call the company today to see if they had any masks for kids to go with this nebulizer we have and sure enough they did. The lady on the phone said they had a cute little clown face and I could come right over and get it for no charge! She said if she'd had a driver in she would have delivered it to me! Wow! It's been there the whole time and someone's been holding out on me! Oh well, now to see if Cute Clown face makes it all better. I sure hope so! What a week!

APPLAUSE TO JULIE!

Guess what? Julie was named by her peers as one of the top four musicians in the 9th grade! She also received a superior rating on the song she wrote for the Composers Festival. We are very, very proud of her!

IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?

No, but we should keep one here because baby girl is still sick! We went to see the Doc again. The lungs were better. The ears were not. So, on to another medication. I just want something to work. My little girl's ears are causing her so much pain it is hard to watch--oh, yes and listen to!

YESTERDAY

Do you ever have the feeling you've done things when you haven't? That'z how I have been this past week or so. I could have sworn I did my blog last night but when I looked this morning there was nothing there for yesterday. How weird! I've done that a few times in the last couple of weeks. I'm going to blame it on the pollens in the air.

Carly's earache is no better and the tantrums are no better either. She hurts and she lets us know! She goes from happy baby to crying baby in nothing flat! Poor girl. I've already called the doctor this morning but he isn't in today so I don't know if I can get any help for her today or not.

We are both full of snot! That's such a pretty thought, isn't it. I think I'll leave you with that image in your head. Cool eh?

MY NEW FAVORITE PAINTING

This is the painting Rob gave me for Mother's Day. We have a small one for now but we are going to get a larger one. He wanted to make sure I liked it first. I LOVE IT!

Greg Olsen is the artist and he is one of my favorite religious artists. Carly loves it, too. Isn't it gorgeous!

DATE NIGHT

Rob and I had a date tonight. Okay, well, Rob, Carly and I had a date tonight--so we invited Uncle Steve along. We went out for fajitas. It was fun. Just getting out is the fun part. Julie had a Young Women's night out--so we were free to play.

Carly is still having a hard time with her asthma. Mommy is having a hard time with her own allergies and asthma, too. The pollens are really bad outside right now.
I just heard on the news that doctors have a ton of cases popping up in children.

Carly woke up just before 4:50 a.m. this morning and was WIDE awake--totally off schedule. She finally went back to sleep about 7:45 a.m. for a couple of hours.
She just wanted to play and run around. She doesn't even normally wake up until between 8-9 a.m. I think these meds are throwing her off. I am really hoping she sleeps through the night tonight.

I PLANTED FLOWERS TODAY

I planted Carson's Corner this evening. That's the corner on our property we put a small garden on and named after the son we lost a couple of years ago. Carly helped me. Well, help may not be the operative word. She was there and she kept pulling the tops off the flowers and then messing up the dirt. Then when I tried to water it when I was done planting she kept playing with the hose and the water and got mad when I tried to use the water for watering the plants.

Anyway, Carson's Corner looks really nice regardless of the help or non-help from little sis. I still have a couple of flower beds to plant--hopefully with not so much help.

We had a terrific barbecue with family today and then the kids (that includes the big kids like Rob and his brother) played Rock Band.

I KNEW IT! CHOCOLATE IS THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING!

M & M's, the perfect solution to getting Carly to take her breathing treatment without fussing! She's happy, we're happy and she feels better after. It's perfect. Plus, they melt in your mouth not in your hands! Actually, that little sound bite is just plain false advertising. Have you ever looked at your hands after holding a handful of M & M's? Colorful, eh? Whomever came up with that slogan was just making it up as he went! Ha! Bet he got a nice bonus!

SO, TURNS OUT . . .

Carly has a pretty bad ear infection and bad congestion that is most likely the onset of Asthma. This knowing when and when not to take them to the doctor thing is not easy. She had a couple of ear aches before and she is always tugging at her ear or her ears are really sensitive to being touched but she wasn't doing any of that this time. I had no clue it was her ears. She was congested off and on but it would come and go. She had a bad cough Friday night but it was gone this morning when I took her in--just like her temperature. It was normal too. Although, her mood was still high cranky. That's how I knew something was still wrong. You have to watch Sponge Bob to get this but I've been calling her my little Crabby Patty for the last few days. Wow, can she get unhappy!

Anyway, he started her on a baby's version of a z-pak and we now have a nebulizer (sp) and albuterol. She let the nurse do the nebulizer with her and was a perfect angel. Do you think she has done that even once at home? OH NO! It's the old "I DO NOT LIKE THAT SAM I AM" routine with tantrum and tears. It's a lot of fun every four hours for about 15 minutes--but she does feel better immediately after so I guess it's worth it.

Rob got the sprinklers put on the garden today so we don't have to hand water that anymore. Yay!

Julie went swimming with a friend and got a bit of a sunburn. I always tell my kids to re-apply the sunscreen but they don't always listen. Then Megan rolled in later with a really bad burn on her arms and legs. She had helped set up 1,500 white crosses in a cemetary for Memorial Day and did it without ANY sunscreen. Now mind you, she is as pale as I am and needs sunscreen worse than any of the other girls--but didn't bother to wear it cuz she didn't think it would take too long--right! Do we moms just talk to hear ourselves? It sure feels like it sometimes, doesn't it?

I made homemade pizza tonight and watched an NCIS marathon with the girls. That was pretty much our day. Have a fun weekend everyone and most of all remember those who have given their lives for our freedom!

NOT MUCH GOING ON

It's been a slow day. The only thing going on is that Carly is feeling worse again. This evening she started coughing a lot and got warm again. I am going to take her to the doctor in the morning. I don't know if he can do anything for her but it's been going on for over a week now--up and down and back and forth and I just want her to feel better. So, it's time we go and see. Well, it's late. So Ny-Tol. Hee Hee.

JUST A LITTLE UPDATE

Julie had her final Choir performance last night and she had a solo. She had fun and did a great job. She's sad because she is down to ten days left of school. That's really foreign to me. I certainly never felt that way--not in any grade--at least that I remember. Summer vacation was my favorite subject--that is besides recess! All of my kids love school and they are good at it, too. Although, they do have to be prodded to keep their grades up even though they are smart enough to do it on their own. It's just the constant of turning in your assignments and getting them done on time that seems to be the problem.

Carly had a better day today. She didn't have a temperature and she seemed to be feeling a bit better. She still took a pretty long nap and the crankiness has not gone away but other than that she is doing better.

Someone served Megan some chicken salad yesterday which normally wouldn't be a problem except this chicken salad had nuts in it. Megan is deathly allergic to nuts--so she got to make a trip to the emergency room and have a little dance with anaphylactic shock and an EPI Pen! So Carly and I met her there and brought her home to babysit her for the rest of the day yesterday. Poor thing--it really wipes her out when something like that happens. Luckily, she figured it out before she got too much of it or it would have been much worse than it was.

Rob had to go out of state for a couple of days for some work and got back today so I am a HAPPY CAMPER! Other than that--not much else is going on.

"NO"

Carly is starting to master the word "NO." She is not certain what it can do for her yet but she has it down in the form of mimicry. I think I'm in trouble here!

More Coughs and Fevers

Carly woke up with a ton of congestion today and a fever just over a hundred. I've been able to get it down a couple of times with Tylenol but it seems to creep back up after a couple of hours. Poor thing. She has been really lethargic all day and has slept a lot. After she wakes up and has a dose of Tylenol she perks up for awhile but then she heads right back into her coughing and fever mode. I'm hoping it is just a 24-48 hour bug. She was doing great last night so it's strange that she's so sick today. I just hope it goes as quickly as it came. If not, we will be heading back to the doctor's office.

WE PLANTED THE GARDEN

So Jack may actually be able to climb the beanstalk after all this year! What did we plant? Oh, all kinds of things! We planted five kinds of tomatoes, greenbeans, two kinds of squash, beats, Swiss Chard, lettuce, zuchini, cucumbers and then we are still have buy some peppers and plant them. Otherwise we are finished. Tomorrow I will take some pictures and show you. The tomatoes are all plants and everything else are seeds. We can't wait to have veggies! It's almost time for salad!

IT'S ALWAYS SOMETHING!

Today has been a funny, er, ah, interesting day. Went to church, headed down to see Rob's mom since we didn't get there on Mother's Day. (Don't worry, we had a good reason for not getting there last week.) We have looked for a day and a half for the jewelry Rob bought for his Mother. He put it in a safe place. We searched one more time before we left. Cannot find them anywhere. Shhh. Don't tell her. The jewelry will now be a birthday or Christmas present when it turns up. Rob has another plan. I can't tell you the plan or I'd have to kill you. Actually I'd just be embarrassed. But don't worry we've got the Mother's Day gift covered.

So, Rob's on-call with work today and just as we are walking out the door he gets called out. Luckily, he was able to arrange to do the service call after our visit. But our visit with his parents got interupted by some friends of theirs so it gets cut short anyway.

We decided to stop and do the service call on the way home and save Rob two hours of driving. Instead of it taking the 30 minutes he thought it would take to do the call it takes 2.5 hours. When we get out to the van to go home, it has a really bad flat. There was a metal clip with a knive edge in the tire that looked like someone had just pounded it into the tire. It didn't look like we had driven on it at all. So it was not a happy thing at all! Rob spent the next twenty minutes putting the donut spare on the van so we could make it home. The donut was almost flat--so we had to go to a close-by gas station to fill it up.

We get back on the road--not the freeway--since we are on a donut spare and then, a bell goes off and we realize we are almost out of gas. Yep, we are in my vehicle--not Rob's work one and I forgot to mention at the gas station that we might need gas. I completely forgot I was low on it--so we quickly find a gas station again and fill up. Then as we are slowly meandering home I start getting a really bad migraine and get shaky and realize I need something to eat. Now, it's Sunday and we usually don't shop on Sunday but I realize I'm in trouble so hubby finds a place to get me a sandwich. All better. Back on our way again. This is a serious comedy of errors. We shouldn't have gotten out of bed today.

Anyway, finally we get home--unload the girls, drop the van off at a shop where they can fix the tire first thing in the morning. Rob and I are just about to crawl in bed and he says, "Oh No!" I said, "What?" He tells me he has to go back over to the shop where we left my van because he left his work computer in my van! Truly, "It's Always Something!" as Rosanne Rosannadanna would say!

We Are Sore and Tired . . .

Today we shoveled, lifted and moved dirt, pulled weeds, cut big deep weeds out of the lawn, bought plants, seeds, steer manure, flowers - all the things we need to garden with. I even sanded and painted a dresser--then went back to pulling weeds. Funny thing is there are still more weeds to pull. Hmmmm. That's really not so funny, is it?! We got a ton done today. It just seems there is always two ton to do.

REAL MOMS

You know you're a real mom when you don't have a Kleenex anywhere near you but your baby is all snotty-faced so you just wipe it away with your hand!

Our Parting Song

CARLY'S FIRST RECITAL

For lack of anything better to call it. Okay it wasn't actually a recital--it was just a group performance of what we do each week at Musik-Garten for the families tonight. Rob and the girls came and the girls actually participated with Carly and me. So without further ado I will post a video Rob took during the performance. I will post a couple more in the next few days. We had a fun time together tonight. Carly is so dang cute!

THE BIG FAT LOSER OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT!

Helen (I starved myself for the finale and I look like a skeleton) Who? Arggghhh! Gads! I can't even talk about it. I still like Tara best and she wins cuz she looks better than Helen hands down! Do I sound mean? It's cuz I'm still mad at her for treating her daughter so badly. My Mom would never have done that! Helen may have won but she will always be a loser in my book. "When someone tells you who they are--believe them." That's a great quote. Don't know who said it. But remember it. It's true.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE STEVE!

This is Rob's brother Steve with his two cute kids. We had them all over for dinner tonight. It was Steve's birthday. Lots of fun!
Steve's our crazy fun uncle. Thus, the crazy, funny, birthday hat dance! Go Uncle Steve go!
Gotta have the kiddies help blow at this age!

Love ya Uncle Steve! Happy Birthday!

ONLY ONE MORE DAY---

And we get to see who wins THE BIGGEST LOSER! I have to admit that as much as I wanted to kick Ron off I spent most of my votes to keep him on the show. I know--sounds crazy right? But there is a method to my madness. You see Ron actually wants us to keep his son Mike on the show because he believes Mike can win, and he could. Ron knows he can't win. But since Ron and Mike were such jerks to Kristin and since Ron is such a jerk in general I just can't find it in my heart to give him his way. Maybe the rest of America will--but not me! I don't want either one of them to win. I don't want Helen to win, either. She sent her own daughter home twice so she could stay. What a selfish mother! Her daughter had a lot more weight to lose, too. I think she's just as big of a jerk as Ron, just in a different way.

I'm hoping Tara wins. I think she's really earned it.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Happy Mother's Day Mom! I love you! And Happy Mother's Day to all my friends who are mom's and all my friends who spend their lives mothering. Remember the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world!

THE GARDEN SPOT

We don't just plant gardens at our house. We have to build (Engineer) a garden spot first. We (I use the term "WE" very lightly)have been building for several days now. My job is the photographer--not the builder. We aren't to the planting stage yet--or even to the filling it with dirt stage--we are still building! It's definitely going to be sturdy, though! Come on over later in the summer and have some fresh tomatoes!

THE COMPOSERS FESTIVAL

This is Julie at the Composers Festival performing a number she wrote for the judge. She performed it beautifully even though she was very nervous and it was her first time to ever participate in anything like this.

The judge loved her piece and told her it was gorgeous and very moving. We are so proud of her! Yay Julie! We love you!

WEEDING, MY FAVORITE THING TO DO!

Carly and I weeded Carson's Corner tonight while Daddy worked on making a garden in the back and Julie finished her homework! Wow, there was a lot accomplished in that sentence wasn't there? We were busy! Anyway, Carson's Corner needed weeding really badly. It looks so much better now. Once we get it planted I will post a picture. Carly liked being outside. It's one of her new favorite things.

Julie did great in the Composers Festival. I will tell you about it tomorrow and post a picture. I love my girls!

WHAT EXACTLY IS A NERVE PILL?

AND CAN I HAVE ONE PLEASE--CUZ SOMEONE DONE GOT ON MY LAST NERVE TODAY! I remember back when I growing up once in while you would hear an elderly person who was having a bad day tell someone they needed a nerve pill! Well, by golly--someone had better pass the nerve pills--and for that matter you'd better keep them coming. My blood pressure is up and I am not happy and thank you, but NO, I do not want to discuss it--I just want to WHINE about it!

There, I feel better already! day

FINALLY--RON MAY GO HOME!

I admit it--I've been addicted to this latest Biggest Loser season and so frustrated that Ron and Helen have both been Teflon somehow. In my opinion they both should have been voted off a long time ago. Helen threw her own daughter under a bus twice. The poor daughter had more weight to lose than her mother and yet, her mother talked her into going home two different times by telling her she could do better at home than at the ranch.

Then, there's Ron who conned his way into staying with his strategy of "we've got to keep the people who need to be here most here." That is until it came to Kristin--whose mother he'd promised he'd take care of her daughter in her absence--and then he secretly arranged with his son Mike for Mike to vote her off so she wouldn't be a threat to him. Can't stand the guy!

Anyway, both Ron and his son fell below the yellow line tonight so one of them is going home. The audience gets to vote and I'm just hoping it's going to be Ron but I will be happy either way! It's about time! Ron and Helen are both losers in my book. Did I say that out loud? Oh yeah, I meant to!

For All The Awesome Moms--And Especially For Mine

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body..
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond
between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom ...

May you always be overwhelmed by the Grace of God rather than by the cares of life

PICASA MY HAIR OUT!

That's French for I'm going to tear my hair out if I have to make another collage on Picasa soon. I think I've made upwards of a dozen of them in the last 10 days with varying degrees of success. I finally finished a couple tonight (that means just now at 12:20 a.m.) I can actually use that aren't as pretty as the earlier ones but if you are not technically and graphically gifted (as I am not) then programs like this provide a challenge. You see while they are somewhat user friendly--they are also somewhat NOT! I can't wait until someone like Bill Gates gets ahold of it and works out the bugs. How ridiculous that you can't add text until after you have saved all the pictures in place and then once you've saved all the pictures and started to add text even more ridiculous that you can adjust any of the pictures or make any changes. That is why I have had to start over --again and again and again and again . . . well, you get the picture.
Pun definitely intended.

Unleash the bug catchers I say--I'm all for it! Head straight for Picasa and let me know when you are finished!

WHO CALLS AN EARLY MORNING MEETING ON A SUNDAY?!

I mean really! Oh, I'm just fake whining. We have a 7:30 a.m. meeting in the morning and it's actually one we've been wanting to get into for awhile--not the 7:30 a.m. part, mind you--just the audience/topic part. So, anyway we are actually glad to be going--as glad as you can be to see that time of day. I admit to not being a morning person.

Carly is actually doing a little better today but Julie woke up not feeling so great and Megan seems to be a little bit under the weather, too. So, I have a bunch of sickies on my hands. My poor girls!

It rained all day today. I'd normally say that would be good as the moisture is always needed--EXCEPT for the fact that we haven't had a dry enough couple of days to spray down the dandelions or weeds--and boy are they going to town. I'm really embarrassed by them. We mowed them down and even caught them in the grass catcher and the lawn looked better for, I don't know, one whole day. Now, it looks like we have gone to seed, again.
Yikes!

Well, better get my body in bed so I can get it up early. Have a great Sunday!

My Little Girl is Sick

Carly has been so miserable today. She is coughing, sneezing and snotty nosed and warm--not really feverish. She just doesn't feel good at all. She has been whining and crying all day. I feel so bad for her. She doesn't really feel like eating much. She threw up a whole bottle on me this morning but that was because of all the mucuous in her tummy from swallowing it through the night. I just hate it when she gets sick and there isn't anything I can do for her except hold her and give her tylenol. I sure hope she feels better tomorrow. It was worse today than yesterday--but I hope it will start improving. If not, we are going to the doctor!