SAD ARMS

Carly just started playing with my soft fleshy arms (Okay, okay--she was playing with the fat on my arms!) and she thought it was kind of funny. I told her to stop, that it was making me feel bad. She turned and looked at me really seriously and said, "Mama, your arms are sad?"

I can't decide whether it's more ironic or funny how our children seem to have a way of speaking the truth without really meaning to . . . Now where is that blasted gym pass? Lol!

PROBABLY BETTER GET YOUR MONSTER STORY STRAIGHT . . .

in your mind before you start working it on the little ones. I thought I had done this but I didn't follow through. So, tonight as I'm putting Carly to bed she tells me she's scared of Monsters in her room. I told her there weren't any. (Years ago, I heard of one parent who got a spray bottle of plain water and labeled it Monster Spray and used it in her daughter's room at night to rid it of Monsters when she got scared.) I always thought I'd use this approach.

Not having the bottle fixed up and handy, I blundered stupidly when she told me again, "Mommy, Monsters in here, I scared." I said, "No, there aren't any Monsters in here, they all went home." Yah, say it with me, "UH OH"! This perked her little mind up and she got worried about the Monsters having a home and a Mommy and, okay well, you see where this is going. She wanted to have a long conversation about Monsters and their scary homes and Mommies and whatever else her little two and a half year old mind could come up with. Gah! This Mama started doing the Backtrack dance as fast as I could and it wasn't easy. Lol! Finally, I got her mind on something else, though and got out of Dodge. Can't wait till tomorrow though. I'm sure we will get to continue our monstrous conversation . . . Now where did I put that Monster Spray! :}

MY MONSTER SCARED ME!

I was sitting on the living room floor for a couple of minutes tonight doing something while Rob and the kids were watching an old kids video that had church songs on it trying to teach them to Carly. All of the sudden I realized she was hiding between our two couches underneath a table next to me. She was saying, "My monster scared me." I'd never seen her do that before. I hadn't been paying much attention to what was on the video so I had to ask everyone else why she might be hiding. It took them a minute to figure it out, and me another couple of minutes to coax her out. Apparently one of the little kids characters in the video put on a mask to tease someone just briefly and it scared Carly. She thought it was a Monster and ran and hid! Pretty funny! Sometimes my Monster scares me, too! Lol!

FUN DAY, WORN OUT KIDS

Today was good. We slept in, met up with Rob's brother and his kids and went to lunch and of course, a play land! Then we went miniature golfing. It was Carly's first time. She had minimal interest in staying with the course but lots of interest in running around with her cousins. As long as the end result was fun--we were fine! The rest of us stayed the course and the guys were going to add up the scores once we got home. Funny thing, I never heard those scores. I'm pretty sure that means I won and they just didn't want to let on. What do you think? :/ Hee hee hee!!

We got back from golfing and the brothers took the older girls and went target shooting. I kept the younger kids and they played and watched cartoons here. I made cookies and had pizza ready when they came back. (I know, I know--what a good wifey I am--lol!) Then everybody went downstairs to play video games. Over all I think Rob had a good post birthday celebration. At least he better have! :)

Carly didn't have a single nap today and really, for her, had relatively few meltdowns. She was really, really tired when I put her down, though. Hopefully, she will wake up in a good mood tomorrow. Guess we will see! We may never do that again!

Have a great Sunday everyone!

THE WEEKEND IS HERE! THE WEEKEND IS HERE!

Daddy is home! He has the weekend off! Boy are we excited! We are so happy to have him here and are hoping to have some fun this weekend. We didn't really get to do much to celebrate his birthday or Jon's so we may go bowling or miniature golfing or something fun like that. We just want to do something together.

The kids and I went on a walk today with a friend of mine and her kids. It went great until it was time to come home and then Carly had a melt down. She likes to go places and have fun, she just doesn't like the fun to end. I'm not sure how to solve that problem for her. I think they call it LIFE. She didn't even want me to unstrap her from the stroller when we got home. I guess she thought if she stayed strapped in I would have to keep moving it. But, I had to bring Jonathon in and then, eventually she had to come, too.

It's too bad we don't realize when we are little how much we really need those naps and appreciate them. After lunch she took a really long nap and got up in a great mood. I took a shorter one when they were both down and I was jealous hers was so long! Why didn't I appreciate those better when I was young? Why? Why? :)

Anyway, off to have fun with hubby and the kids! Toodaloo!

MY SWEETY IS HOME AGAIN

Rob came home again tonight! Yay! He has been gone this time since Sunday. Way too long! He has really had a spell this last little while of his job taking him away from home from several days to a week at a time. It's not usually like this but they have just been on overload!

For days, Carly has been asking "Where my DaDa? and telling me "I wan't my DaDa to put me to bed!" And today when I told her he was coming home she said "No, my Dada go to work." I told her he was really coming home--she could believe it today. I think he was gone for so many days in a row she wasn't sure he was really would show up today, either. But he did and we were all really glad to see him!

It got up to 100 degrees here today! At 7 pm it was still 95 degrees. That is just too darn hot as far as I'm concerned. Blech!

I picked a mess of green beans out of the garden today. Gonna cook them tomorrow. Sounds really good. Not much else to tell today. Night all.

DOCTOR DAY

Mom, Dad and I spent the afternoon making doctor visits. Mom had to have an MRI on her shoulder. They think she has torn her rotar cuff but want to have a closer look to see for sure. That was fun. I don't think I have ever seen her on Valium before. Hee Hee. Hey, I can't laugh too hard. I'm claustrophobic myself. It was cute. She was just a tiny bit dozey . . . nothing compared to Drunkel Steve. I mean, we could never rent her out for parties :}

Dad had his 6 month check-up on his knee replacement. The surgeon thinks he is doing fabulous! He'd like to see Dad gain 5 more degrees on his knee but other than that he was happier than a clam at a lobster bake about Dad's progress.

Mom won't have her results until sometime in September but I will keep you posted. Have a great day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JONO, MY HAPPY BOY!

MY BABY TURNS ONE IN A FEW HOURS!

What a gorgeous little boy! I am so blessed. He learned a new word today. I said, "Let's go!" and he said, "Go." I said, "Go, go, go." He repeated it right back to me. He even performed on command when I had him say it for Julie and Grandma. That's unheard of! He said it over and over again. He loves his Mama! Carly never really got too clingy to me. She had a short stage of it but she would pretty much go to everyone. Jonathon wants Mom. He sees me coming and gets a huge smile on his face and starts moving my way. If he's in someone else's arms he starts leaning my way.

He loves to be swung up in the air! He giggles and giggle and giggles. He has the best laugh! He dances any time there is music on. I mean, really dances--hips, bum, legs moving, arms swaying, head moving back and forth to the music. So dang cute. I love, love, love this little man! Happy Birthday Jonathon! Mama loves you all the way to your toes!

DEAR FRIENDS,

Sorry I've neglected you for a few days. Just got caught up in the few moments I had with Rob and the kids before Rob had to rush off to work again. The poor guy is really putting in the overtime these days and has been for some time now. We really can't complain too much given how hard it is out there in the world right now economically. It would just be nice to have a regular forty hour week from time to time. I would love to spend time with my honey more than the money. :)

Jonathon turns one year old in two days! I can't believe it has really been a year already. He is so big and is doing new things every day. We got family pictures taken on Saturday by my favorite photographer--my friend Lori. She is absolutely, far and away, the best photographer I've ever seen. Both Jonathon and Carly were being pills, though. Lori really had to work hard for smiles from both of them. Then, this morning at church without any coaxing Jonathon was laughing and smiling at the woman sitting behind us. She wasn't even paying any attention to him at first but he just kept working her until she did. You would have thought she had the camera and was trying to get his picture. I could have swatted him for making us all work so hard yesterday. Although, Lori showed me a few of the ones she captured on the camera and they were gorgeous! Can't wait to see them. I specifically wanted to do them now so I could have some for Jonathon's being a year old. Guess, I also captured Rob turning 50 since I scheduled it on his birthday. It's so hard to get everybody together at the same time anymore! Can't wait to show you a sneak peak!

Julie starts back to school tomorrow. Gonna miss having a helping hand during the days but I'm sure she will enjoy getting back to class. My kids have always enjoyed school. Go figure! :}

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!

Rob turns 50 today but he's still a handsome young guy to me! I'm just glad he's willing to do it first so he can tell me what it's like before I have to do it:) He's really generous that way.

We are going to go have some family pictures taken by our favorite photographer today as well. Jonathon will turn one in 3 days so these will be his one year photos as well. Can you believe he's almost a year? Me neither. He's such a cute little guy.

He's become a dancer, too, just like his little sister. Only he may even have a bit more rhythm than Carly and she's pretty good. He doesn't dance to commercial music like she did. He waits for real songs to come on the TV and then he busts loose. He is so funny. He really gets a kick out of himself, too. Hillarious to watch!

Well, if you're in the neighborhood today, c'mon by for some birthday cake!

ROB IS HOME! YAY!

Rob has been in Nevada since Sunday. That was a long trip to fix a machine. Gah! Thankfully, he is home safe tonight. Jonathon was really glad to see his daddy. I had just put Carly down when he came walking in so she doesn't know he's here yet. I was just ready to put Jonathon down but hadn't done it yet. He got lucky.

Had a dentist appointment today. Had a root canal finished. What a joy. Actually this dentist is really good. When he gives me a numbing shot I never even feel it. I've never had a dentist that good before. This one is worth keeping.

Carly is sure glad Grandma and Grandpa are back. Don't know how she got along without them for so long. She has to visit them several times a day now to see what they are up to. Her vocabulary is really picking up and you can understand her a lot better as well. I can't believe how grown up she seems.

I will have to post some new pictures on here soon. Night all.

HERE'S THE SCORE

Grandpa and Grandma are home. Rob is still in Nevada. Steve's kidney stone has been removed! Now if we can just get Rob home we will be doing great! All is almost well :). Keep you posted. Night.

EVERYONE IS ALL OVER!

Grandpa and Grandma landed in Laramie, Wyoming tonight. Hopefully, they just have tomorrow's driving and they will be safely back home. Rob has gone to Elko, NV twice this week and unfortunately for him, he's still there. Poor guy! Hopefully, he will get to come home tomorrow. He's busy fixing machines there that just don't want to stay fixed. Aarrgghhh!

Tomorrow morning early I am taking Drunkel Steve to have his Kidney stone removed. They say it is the size of an eraser on a pencil. In case you don't know, that is really, really large! These stones are just as painful if not more than delivering a baby! They will put him under general anesthetic to remove it--and as he likes to say "go in the out door to pull it out!" Yikes! Sounds even more painful to me!

Hopefully, by the time I get him home from the hospital all my road warriors will be home. It will be so good to have everyone back. Yay! Love it when we have a full house!

SO EXCITED . . .

To get Grandpa and Grandma back home again. It's been a long couple of weeks without them. Carly always wants to know where they are. She wants to go downstairs and visit them but then I have to try to explain why they aren't there. I will just be glad when they are there again and she can go down and bug, er, I mean visit them again.

They made it as far as Nebraska today. I suspect that means a couple more days of driving for them. They are taking it kind of slow, which is good. I know they have to be exhausted. Thanks to all of you who helped them out while they were back home. I know that meant a lot to them and made their time there so much easier. Thanks so much!!

Well, I had better call it a night. More later. N.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN . . .

Grandma and Grandpa are headed back this way. Turns out they had a great time visiting with friends and family. They were thrilled to see everyone and we are excited to have them get back home to us. Can't wait!

TIRED DAY

Drunkel Steve had a kidney stone in the middle of the night last night so Rob and I didn't get much sleep. Thankfully, he's feeling much better today--not because he passed it but because the docs have given him stuff to somehow help with passing it and pain control. Thus, the reference to "Drunkel". We love it when our favorite uncle has pain meds! He's super funny on them! Yay for comedy. It comes in strange forms sometimes but still wonderfully hillarious! Too exhausted to write more though. Need some serious sleep.

DOG EAT DOG DAYS

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. It was one of those "pulling my hair out" days. I had a ton to do around the house and the little kids were both throwing their share of tantrums. Julie was gone to Driver's Ed and the little ones both wanted only Mom to hold them all day and all night long. I couldn't get anything I needed to do done. It was beyond frustrating.

Here's just one story that illustrates how my day went. One situation after another mirrored this one. I am trying to multi-task. I have Jonathon in his high chair and am feeding him while mopping the kitchen and dining room floor. I have moved everything out of the kitchen and dining room except the kitchen table and his high chair so the floor is clear. Instead of moving the dog food bowls to the living room floor, I just sat them up on the kitchen table so I could mop around where they usually sat. Uh oh!

You guessed it! Jonathon was busy eating--or so I thought. I was busy mopping and all of the sudden I heard a loud noise. It was the dog water bowl hitting the floor. All I saw was the empty bowl on the floor and the happy smile on his face. Gah! I thought, "Well, no harm done. I'm mopping. I will just mop it up in a minute. I turned my back and kept mopping. Then I heard some other funny noises. It was my cute little boy playing in the water. Yep, splashing his hands, laughing and clapping in the fun little puddle he'd created in the high chair tray when he flipped the dog water bowl on top of it before it crashed to the ground. Yep, my boy has talent!

That's the kind of stuff my little ones pulled all day long yesterday. It's a wonder my hair isn't pure white today. (Well, if it was I would've colored it so fast your teeth would've rattled.) I'm just sayin' . . . :)

DRIVE DEFENSIVELY . . . ALWAYS

Julie is taking driver's ed now. We knew the day would come. She hasn't actually gotten behind anyone's wheel yet, she is just sitting in class listening to lectures for the time being. However, it's only a two-week, three hour a day class so it won't be long before she is actually behind the wheel of a vehicle. They do add another 10 hours of instructor/student behind the wheel time along with the thirty hours of course time. Not very generous if you ask me. They do need to drive with parents for a certain number of hours as well. Still, doesn't seem like a whole lot of training before you put a teenager in charge of theirs and other people's lives and a thirty or so thousand dollar vehicle, does it? Wow!

It's a lot to think about. I'm not just talking about Julie. I'm talking about every teenager we turn loose with a vehicle and minimum training every single day. I know one thing. My teenager will not have a cell phone so she will not be texting and driving. On top of that, she has already completed an additional course we made her take earlier in the year called "Alive at 25" that tries to help teens understand the dangers of being young and believing they are invincible. It tries to help them avoid the mistakes other young drivers have made that cost them their lives. Hopefully, doing those two two things will make a difference in our daughter's driving for the good!

Good luck out there to all you parents who are in the same situation we are--just about to send a teen driver onto the roads. And good luck to all you other drivers. My advice to everyone everyday--Keep driving defensively! :}

WHAT A BUBBLEHEAD THING TO DO

My box of dishwasher soap ran out tonight and I was to lazy to go downstairs and get another one. Afterall, I had several packets of dishwasher soap they handed me for free at Sam's one weekend. No problem, I thought, I'll just use one of those. I opened one of them up and instead of finding powder I was surprised to find a liquid. Hmmmm. Oh well, I thought, there are liquid dishwasher detergents. I glanced for a second at the directions and didn't see anything glaring so I went ahead. Started the dishwasher and went back to my bedroom. A few minutes later Rob came and found me and asked if I knew there was a difference between Dishwashing Soap and Dishwasher Soap. Oh Crud!

Turns out I didn't glance long enough at the directions or the title on the packet! We had a bunch of suds on the kitchen floor. At least Rob was standing there and caught the outpouring before it got too bad. It's been a long time since I've pulled that stunt! Hopefully I won't ever do that one again! Although, I'm sure there will be others! :}

GRANDPA PLAY MEAN JOKE--NO! NO!

Had another not so feel good day today. Wish that would stop. I did better in the late afternoon and evening but still not feeling wonderful. I think a lot of it is pollen and allergies.

Grandpa called today from White Castle at Plainfield just to taunt me. I told him he was mean. He said he just wanted me to know he was about to eat some White Castles and he was going to enjoy them. I just kept telling them he was mean. Isn't that mean? I think I could smell them through the phone.

Now I want a stromboli and a Pizza King pizza. Do you think they deliver this far? :}

AT THE END OF WHOSE ROPE?

We went back to the ropes course today. This time we took re-enforcements. Went with our kids and some family and friends. We were pretty sure we could take the place--NOT! This time we did a Zipline, the BIG swing, climbed and jumped of a really wobbly, tall tree to catch a bar and a bunch of other fun stuff. But, everybody came home tired and sore---and RARIN' TO GO BACK AGAIN!!!

I will have to put pictures up later because we are all so darn warn out. We left the little ones with my sister Susan. They had a great time, too. All in all it was a very fun day. Who says we are getting old . . . (Oh yah, well don't say it again:)!

MOMMA TOOK A SICK DAY

I sure didn't mean to, but I had to call in sick today. It's only been for the last hour or two that I've felt somewhat decent. I couldn't even crawl out of bed until about four p.m. I tried a few times and it did not work for me at all.

I had a serious migraine going with full nausea but I also had allergy eyes. I could barely even open them they stung so bad. Also, when I would stand up and try to get up I would get dizzy--so, I just kept crawling back in bed. I tried everything I could think of to get feeling better and nothing was helping--so I gave up and gave in to trying to sleep it off.

Thank goodness Rob was still on vacation and Julie is home or my poor babies would have suffered--but they didn't!

Sounds like Grandma and Grandpa are having a great time at home whoopin' it up with friends and family. Hope everyone who wants to are getting to see them.

Well, I am going to get myself to bed so I don't have a repeat of today, tomorrow! Night all.

FAMILY FUN

OK, SO I WAS WRONG . . .

Turns out my parents changed their mind and drove all the way home tonight. So, they are there now for those of you who are looking for them. Happy reunions!

THE PARENT REPORT

The parents made it to Davenport, Iowa today. They are doing good. Dad even sounded a little energetic on the phone. I'm guessing he can smell the White Castles and the Pizza King pizza already! Lol! Don't expect them tomorrow though. They are going to start taking it a little slower now. I think it will be two more days before you see the whites of their eyes. I will keep you posted. Take care, N.

PONDERING MODERN DAY MIRACLES . . .

I took Jonathon to have a Well-check today at his pediatrician's office. He had to have two shots. He didn't like either one of them and he got a really insulted look on his face and cried really hard when the nurse gave them to him. I felt bad for him but only for a moment. One of the shots he received was the polio vaccine. That has given me reason to pause and praise.

I have spent the rest of the day thinking about the blessings that vaccine have brought to so many throughout the world. Thank you Dr. Salk and Dr. Sabin. Thank you Heavenly Father for inspiring these wonderful men.

I'm in kind of a unique position because I have had an intimate view of some of the damage Polio did to a human being who lived through Polio during a time when there was no cure--no such vaccine. I was born to that person after the vaccine had been found, but the scare of Polio still existed and they still weren't sure what caused all the outbreaks. My parents were cautious about a lot of things, i.e. where we swam, (no lakes, ponds, streams) only chlorinated pools, because there was a belief that some outbreaks had come through unclean water. Other kids and their families could take that chance but we couldn't. As children, we didn't understand all the caution. As a mom, the fear is much more clear.

Having gone through Jonathon's breathing struggles with him I would do anything to make him well. I'm sure my Dad's parents felt the same way. Their son had been a happy, walking, nearly eighteen month old when he was struck down with Polio--one of the first cases in Indiana. Suddenly, he couldn't walk anymore and was very sick. They were told he would never walk again. You know the rest of the story. He did walk but with a limp, one leg smaller and shorter than the other and he has always had some pain. One leg completely recovered and one didn't. In other words, he had one strong leg and one weak one. That didn't stop him from lettering in baseball and basketball. He has lived a good life and is very accomplished. I'm so proud of him.

The Polio leg now has post-Polio and it has made these later years pretty rough for him to get around easily. I can't help wonder how diffferent his life would be if he had been given this vaccine at Jonathon's age. But then, I guess our lives are what they are supposed to be. I know my Dad's struggles and challenges have shaped his character and made him who he is. I guess I wouldn't change that.

I still can't help but marvel at this modern day miracle--a cure for Polio. A blessing so big -- and so long gone from our memory that I don't think we even understand it. Love you Dad. :)

SPENT THE WHOLE DAY . . .

with my husband and kids. You have no idea what a treasure that was given what Rob's schedule has been like the last four or five months. He has rarely even had weekends off. We have the whole week together--TONS to do but still it's just nice to not have to worry about him getting called in or having to be away for hours at a time. Yay! Usually if he has time off it's because we are going somewhere. It's nice to just be home together getting things done on our own time schedule.

Grandma and Grandpa checked in tonight. They made it to Lincoln, Nebraska and are safely tucked in there tonight. They have been taking it easy in the mornings and taking off when they feel like it. So far they are having a good trip. Please keep them in your prayers. They need all the help they can get. Don't we all!

My little boy is walking all over the place. He's not really steady yet but what he lacks in "steady" he makes up for in "get up and go!" He just takes off and wobbles as fast and far as he can--which is sometimes pretty darn far. He cracks us up. He may fall down but he gets right back up and starts all over again. He's going to give us a run for our money. That's for sure.

Well, hope you have had a terrific day. We have!

ON THEIR WAY

Well, the parents are on their way back home. They took off today about 12:30 p.m. and made it as far as Cheyenne, WY. I think they are planning to take 3 or 4 days to drive it. I will keep you posted here on their progress. They didn't have any problems today and are doing well. They are excited to see all of you. I know they won't be able to come and visit everyone they want to see because Dad has to be careful getting around. (Don't tell him I said that!) Also, Mom's shoulder seems to be a torn rotator cuff. She probably hasn't told any of you that but she will probably have to have surgery to repair that when she gets back. (I tell all kinds of tales out of school when they aren't here to stop me. Yikes!) But, the good news is I hear they will be appearing daily at their old table at the local restaurant. So, please come out to visit them! I will post it here when they arrive.

K. Well, my video never did post yesterday so I still have to figure out what went wrong. I will try again another day. Have a great night or morning depending on when you read this. N.

Check back later today. Been trying to publish a video that's being stubborn! Grrr.

p.s. The parents are headed that way today.