SATURDAY AT OUR HOUSE

We spent the day cleaning the house and the garage as we listened to General Conference. (General Conference is our Church's semi-annual meeting from S.L.C. where our leaders speak and give counsel to us.) We got quite a bit done around the house. Although, it is a bit frustrating with two little ones going around behind you undoing a lot of what you are doing! Such a good thing they are cute!

Mom mentioned to me today that she thought Dad's new Parkinson's meds were starting to help a little. She thinks they have both noticed him being able to move a bit more on his own. That is great news!

Watched a movie with Rob and Julie tonight after we put the kids down. That was kind of fun. We haven't done that for a while.

We have a high wind warning again tonight. Although this one is only 45-50 mph. That is high but not as high as the one that did all the damage last time. It was between 60-75 mph. Sure hope this wind doesn't cause any problems to anyone.

Well, better get to bed. Those little ones get up early!

THE BEST NEWS TODAY . . .

Is that there is NO news today. Everything is quiet on the home front! Yay! Got through the day without any major hiccups from our little two year old. He did just fine today. We even had an early neighborhood Easter egg hunt and he was fairly good for that. Grandpa and Grandma are good. So, there really just is no news and sometimes that is the best news of all! Happy days!

JUST WHEN I WAS READY FOR A BORING EVENING AT HOME . . .

Jonathon got into something he shouldn't have and we ended up back at the emergency room. Gah! After a cup of charcoal mixed with chocolate milk, an EKG, a few blood tests, the threat of him being admitted and watched overnight and a whole bunch of monitoring and worrying--everything came back normal and they let us bring him home.

I'd say this kid is going to turn my hair gray before he gets out of these "terrible two's" but I think we all know that would be ridiculous, right? I mean, I'm much too young to go gray--O.K., O.K., what I really meant is we all know I'm already covering up those darn gray hairs! Anyway, we are SO happy our little guy is alright. It was a pretty good scare for all of us and a good reminder he is growing up and able to get into more things than he used to. Does anyone know, do they make handcuffs for two year olds? Just kidding. Lol! :)

AGE THREE, COME TO ME!

I had a rough day today. :( Not only was I not feeling well but the kids were acting up quite a bit. On top of that, Rob had a long day and was only home for 5 minutes before he had to leave for an evening meeting so I didn't get a break from them (nor them from me)and that didn't help. It seemed like it was just one tantrum after the other all day long. I've renamed our home "Timeouts "R" US" and it's only now at the end of the day I realize I should have given me the timeouts! What was I thinking?! I think a nice walk around the block would have done my mind a world of good!

Finally around 8:45 p.m. Daddy came home and helped me finish getting the kiddos in bed. As soon as we got them down we headed to bed ourselves. We were both so wiped out. As we went to fall into our beds, much to our dismay, we discovered that Jono had opened a large water bottle and dumped it out on my side of the bed. (This is the kind of stuff he's done all day long! Remember he's two!) I just about cried. The mattress, blankets, sheets--everything was sopping wet.

Rob offered to go sleep on the couch and let me have his side of the bed but I said we could put towels down or something. I was just about to have him help me lift the mattress up to see if the water had gone all the way through to the box springs and floor when Rob remembered we had a zippered on pillow top. Sure enough we checked it and the water had all gathered in the pillow top. We were able to zip it off and throw it in the dryer. The sheets, covers and blankets will have to be washed and dried but luckily we have other sets we were able to put on so we won't have to do it tonight. Don't know what I'm going to do with this boy! I thought Carly's terrible two's were bad--but they were nothing compared to what this little guy thinks of and pulls off! I'm afraid we are in for it! Age three--come to me! LOL!

MOMMY AND CARLY'S COLORFUL EVENING

Carly had another opportunity to go and model for Taylor Joelle tonight (Tuesday) and had a lot of fun. They were preparing their advertising for their new line of pettiskirts and wow, was they ever colorful! Lots of little girls in a rainbow of colors and bunches of giggles and wiggles. What a cute shoot! I think the ads will turn out adorable! In the meantime, I know one little girl who came home all dressed in purple--and very excited about the new pettiskirt, flower barrette and matching jewelry she earned for being such a good model! If you want to see all the cute girls and boys clothes and other boutique items this cute online site carries, check them out at taylorjoelle.com. It's such a creative, fun boutique for babies, toddlers and now kids up to ages 6 and 8 on some clothes items. I LOVE their site! Most of all--I'm in love with their CUTEST model!

FAMILY FRIENDS

Some good friends came to visit last week before all of our hospital stress. I didn't manage to get the photos up. Jono was already in bed but here are a couple of photo's of Carly with Aunt Maren and Aunt Tammie. Love you two!

SENDING HAPPY THOUGHTS YOUR WAY

Jono seems like he is getting a little stronger every day. We are not taking anything for granted though, and we certainly aren't taking any chances with him. He is staying home! No leaving the house for any reason other than a doctor visit. Poor little guy is basically under house arrest. It's the only way we know to keep him healthy, though. We have truly learned our lesson now.

We didn't do much of anything today--other than try to recuperate from our exhausting week. Grandma came upstairs and made dinner and some cookies, which was really nice of her considering she was probably as tired as the rest of us. I think Grandpa requested the cookies.

Hopefully, we will have a quiet week here with nothing to report but sunshine and a light breeze. Lol! That would be nice. Wishing you the same. :)

HOME WITH JONO

Jono has had a pretty good day. I think the long term meds have kicked in and he is doing a lot better. We are still giving him multiple breathing treatments but his breathing isn't so labored in between. It is such a relief to see have him home and feeling better.

It had started getting warmer and we had let our guard down a little and started letting him go places with us. It's so hard to keep him in all winter long. He gets so frustrated with being house-bound and wants to go bye-bye with us. He seems really healthy and strong generally and so it's easy to forget how easily he gets ill--especially when it is warming up outside. The docs reminded us that March and April are the worst time for RSV, Pneumonia, Bronchiolitis and other lung disorders for children. They are just running rampant right now. It was just a year ago that he was in the hospital for nearly the same thing. I keep hoping he will grow out of this--poor little guy.

When he was in the hospital Jono was pretty much tethered to the bed with all kinds of cords and monitors but as he was being dismissed he found all these fun kid things to do out in the hallway. If only--he'd been able to wander that far, he might not have hated the hospital so much! Lol! Here are some pictures of his hospital stay--and go! lol! Boy was he happy to leave!

A "JONO" UPDATE

They let us bring Jono home tonight around 7:00. He is still pretty tenuous and his breathing wears down quickly but we are so glad to have him home! He is even happier to be home. It was so sad to be in the hospital with him and have him begging me to take him home. He hates that place--even though they are really nice to him. He just doesn't like all the poking and prodding they have to do to treat him. I wouldn't either, I guess.

I will write more tomorrow. For now, we have him all tucked in and sleeping and we are two tired parents who are going to do the same for ourselves. Night all.

OUR LITTLE GUY

I just barely finished writing last night when I heard Jonathon crying and went in to his bedroom only to hear his breathing out of control. Rob and I grabbed him and drove as fast as we could to the E.R. and it's been a whirlwind ever since. They tried everything they could to get his breathing under control without having to admit him until 4:00 a.m. when they decided they needed to admit him in order to solve it. It's been a rough day but it's almost 11 p.m. now and I think maybe they are beginning to get a handle on things. They found out he has bronchialitis again. That's what he got this time last year that landed him in the hospital for almost a week. We are hopeful he will be able to get over this quickly. They have him on every treatment you can imagine. Poor little guy is so sad to be in the hospital. He just wants to come home. Please say a prayer or two for him today. Thanks all.

TODAY'S ADVENTURE

My friend Robin and I went on an adventure today. Mostly, the adventure was seeing if we could survive a long drive with a one year old, two two-year olds and a four year old. A few weeks ago Robin and I had gone to a cannery and canned a bunch of product and we needed to go and pick it up today. We loaded a bunch of heavy boxes in my van while the kids ran around--or more accurately--ran away from us--and dared us to catch them. On the way home we stopped and grabbed some lunch and took them to a park to eat and play. They liked that part. We were hoping it would tire them out for the hour drive home, but only one of them fell asleep on the way home and it wasn't one of mine.

We got home just in time for Robin to run carpool for her other kids. In fact, she was late to get one of them so I ran to get him while she ran to get the others. When I got back with him, I started to unload the boxes but they had shifted during our drive. I put my hand up to keep one of them from falling out of the back of the van and it came crashing down on my thumb and bent it all the way backward. My thumb actually touched the back of my hand. It happened really fast-but felt like I was watching in slow-motion. It was probably shock. It hurt a ton and swelled really fast! Luckily, it is my left hand-although, I'm finding I use my left hand a lot more than I realized--especially that little opposable thumb. I was able to get into the doc but they couldn't x-ray it today so I need to go back in the morning.

On top of that Jono wasn't feeling well when we got home. His breathing was off and before the night was over he threw up a bunch of times. So, I'm just gonna say our adventure was more than I bargained for. I sure hope tomorrow is a better adventure. Lol!

p.s. Grandpa had his checkup with his Parkinson's doc today. It went well and they are going to try some new things to see if they can help him get some better movement going. :0

SPRING IS TIP-TOEING ITS WAY HERE

Nothing much happened here today. Other than Carly going to pre-school and a few errands getting run. I did take a log nap.

Grandpa went to PT and he says he set a record. He did all of his reps in 55 minutes. He came home pretty darn tired, though. But I'm guessing it was worth it to him.

I have a bunch of tulips coming up! Yay! Nothing in bloom yet, but I see a few more tulips breaking through every day. I think Spring is starting to tip-toe its way here. Spring is my favorite season and I can't wait until there are spring flowers and colors everywhere!

MAGIC HANDS

I went and got a massage today. Mom and Dad gave it to me for my birthday but I hadn't gotten it scheduled until now. It was really good. My massuese has magic hands. I always have them do the deep tissue massages to help with my migraines. So they are a bit tender afterward and once in a while I even end up a little nauseous with all the toxins that get released--but it is worth it in the end. I had lots of knots that needed working out. I still need to drink more water. More than anything, it made me tired. I just wanted to sleep when I was done.

I didn't feel much like cooking after that so we got pizza for dinner. That made the kids happy. And we even got them in bed a little early tonight, which made me happy! Double win!! Lol!

THE SEVENTH DAY

Yesterday I took the kids to their first birthday party. The mom who was giving it got sick and the dad and older daughter did their best to throw the party in her place. They did a pretty good job considering they had a bunch of whiny two, three and four year old's to work with. Trying to play games and keep that mix of toddlers interested for a couple of hours was no picnic!

I thought Carly and Jono would LOVE going to a birthday party but they both got shy and timid and it was real work for me to get them to join in with the other kids. I was really surprised. I think it will be a while before we attempt it again.

Today we went to church. It was my day to teach and I think my lesson went pretty well. It was on the Doctrine of Christ. We talked about repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, remission of sins, taking upon us Christ's name, doing good and enduring to the end. Gee, that seemed a lot easier than my lesson--and it even went quicker. :)

This afternoon Rob and I took a long nap while the kid's napped. That was long overdue. We have both been so tired. Julie was nice enough to cook dinner for everyone. She made Chicken Tetrazzini from scratch and it was delicious. It is one of Carly's favorite meals, too.

Grandma and Grandpa pretty much just rested today, too. Everybody is doing fine. Nothing much to report. Take care everyone.

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!

Stupendous, Marvelous, Wonderful, Terrific . . . Well, you get the idea, the news was AMAZING! No sign of cancer! (Yes, I do know you are supposed to capitalize the word cancer. I don't do it on purpose. I give it no respect.) Mom's first check-up was cancer free!! There was no sign of it. They are doing a urine check for cells--just to be sure but it looks GREAT! He gave her a six month check up window which is really good because they told her if there were problems they would have to check her every three months. So, now as long as the urine test comes back clean they don't need to see her back until September! We are so HAPPY here! I may have to dance on the table or something! Lol!

CAUCUS

I went to my first CAUCUS tonight. Ever. Wow. I'm searching for the word I want, I mean the one besides claustrophobic. I'm also wondering what's wrong with the plain old Primary system. There were 104 people in our precinct caucus tonight. That was up from ten two years ago and three two years before that. Apparently, a letter from church officials asking congregations to please participate in local caucuses went a long way toward participation.

Still, to me, it seems a backward and tedious process. It was long, arduous, frustrating and in the end I don't feel my views are going to be represented--which leads me back to frustrating. I would rather just vote in a primary. Could someone please make sense of the caucus system to me because to me it just seems like nonsense.

I do want to say I am very proud of my lovely Julie who ran to be a state delegate tonight. While she did not win she did a marvelous job and came in one vote short of making it to alternate. Julie was the only thing that made sense about caucus tonight. Love you Julie!

WEDNESDAY'S MONDAY!

It's been a long and not so great day. It's after 12:30 a.m. now so this will be short. The kids were on one all day long. Rob had to work late and nothing seemed to go right today. If I didn't know better I would have thought it was a Monday. Silly me, I had some shopping to do and I took a couple toddlers with me into Walmart. Gah! Yah, that won't happen again for a long time. I don't think I"ll need anything that badly ever again! Lol!

MY LITTLE GUY DOESN'T FEEL GOOD

Can't you just tell by those eyes? Poor little thing. That's not to say he doesn't look just "Mah-vah-lous" in this hat he picked out and obviously put on correctly on his head! Lol!

IS SPRING SPRINGING?

What a beautiful day! I actually took the kids out tonight and let them ride their little bike and trike over to a friend's house. They were so happy! I love Spring. I saw tulip leaves coming up all over the neighborhood. We planted bulbs just before Winter so hopefully we will have some too! Carly and I planted several dozen of different colors and some other spring flowers so it will be fun to see what actually comes up. We can hardly wait!

Mom's three month check-up since her bladder cancer surgery is coming up on Friday. She will have several tests and we should get some results that same day. So please keep her in your prayers. We are very hopeful that things are going well.

Not much else going on. Hope you are having some of this terrific weather. Take care, Nancy

A SUMMER MARCH DAY

It was 70 degrees here today! Unbelievable! It would be nice if we could have a few more days like this. The kids would love to get out and play--and maybe I could wear them out so they would actually be tired for bedtime! It was kind of a quiet Sunday here. Well, except that Rob was on-call and he did get called out for several hours. So, I guess it wasn't too quiet for him.

I baked some boneless pork ribs and made pulled pork BBQ for sandwiches and we had a yummy and fairly easy dinner. I just pulled out the potato chips for a side and made some chocolate chip cookies for dessert and everyone was happy.

Carly got to wear one of her birthday dresses to church today. She was excited--and she looked darling. I, of course, have to post a picture or two. I'm not the least bit partial to her cuteness! Lol! Okay, humor me. :)

Well, here's hoping everyone has a wonderful week !

TURN MY CLOCK WHAT??

Why is it always more fun to fall back than to spring forward? The thought of getting up an hour earlier tomorrow is making me more exhausted than I already am! Or maybe it's the toddlers doing that--can't be sure!

Julie had her state tournament today. She didn't break through to move on to nationals but the experience was good for her. She is done with Debate for the year now. Yay! They spend a ton of time away from home when they do tournaments. We are happy to have her back. I'm sure her work is too.

Jono had a bit of a breathing issue this morning so it was back to double treatments. We run tha risk any time we take him out. It's so frustrating. At least the treatments seemed to take care of it. He also had a nearly naked issue. For some reason he has decided it is a good thing to disrobe in his crib. Whenever we go in to get him up we find him hiding beneath the covers with only a diaper on. Unfortunately, the second time this happened today--after his nap, he had undone one side of the diaper as well and wet all the blankets! Rawr! The frustrating part is he has figured out how to get out of the backwards pajamas! Now what do we do? He was almost potty trained and decided he didn't want to play anymore. Gah!

It was a pretty nice day here. The temps were in the mid-fifties. It would be nice if the warm weather were here to stay. Guess we will have to wait and see. Well, no more news for today. Night all.

TUBING FUN!

I tried to post last night but our system wasn't working for some reason. It wouldn't go through and I never could get it to work. So, I will try again tonight.

We had a full day today. We met up with Rob's brother and his family and took all of our kids snow tubing today. It was Carly and Jono's first time to go. Julie has been several times. We went to a place that has a tube lift (kind of like a ski lift) that carries you on your tube up to the top of the hill. Then you get to ride your tube down the hill. It is really fun and the kids loved it! It was about an hour and a half drive but it was worth it.

After that we went to a cool burger and shake place and it was so nice that were able to eat outside. Then we came home, changed clothes and went over to the church for volleyball. It was a fun, busy day! Although, I'm certain the parents are more tired than the kids!

Julie has her state competition tomorrow! So, cross your fingers for her! She starts really early and goes until she stops moving forward (or placing) toward nationals.

Grandpa didn't have a really good day today. He had PT but he wore out really quickly. His legs are giving him a run for his money. He's hanging in there, though. I talked to Grandma on the phone while we were gone and she said he was really pale and I went down and talked to him about 11 p.m. when we got home and he looked a lot better. The color was back in his face and he seemed better. I think he tends to over due it.

Well, that's the report from here.

OUR DAY

Spent the day home with the kids and mom and dad. I  just basically did laundry and caught up on housework. Tonight I went with Julie to a local political meeting on how Caucuses work. Julie is going to run to be a state delegate and needed to understand the process. It's coming up really quickly here so she's got to get moving on it. She's pretty excited about doing it. I hope she can win. It would be a great experience for her.

We had several inches of snow overnight. The ground was covered when we woke up this morning. By about 2:00 p.m. the sun was out and most of it was melted off. It's still pretty cold but not near as treacherous out. Hopefully, we can get some warm days back soon. That would be delightful! :)

JONO IN ACTION!

ME AND MY BABY BOY

Sure love this little guy! What a little spitfire!

GIVE ME SOME CHOCOLATE AND NO ONE GETS HURT!

Carly gave her first talk today in Primary opening exercises. (That's the pre-Sunday school program where all the young kids gather to have a short message and sing songs before going to their individual classes for those of you who don't go to our church.) Her talk was a two and half minutes and we practiced it three times last night and two this morning. She did really well last night but this morning she wasn't so sure she could do it. We had a couple small meltdowns the last time we practiced it--but she pulled it together.

Her talk was about knowing Jesus loves her and being good--listening and being obedient. I helped her so she didn't have to memorize it. One little boy gave a prayer, another little girl gave a scripture and then Carly gave her talk. They all did such a good. When Carly's turn came--she did perfect! I was so proud of her. She didn't act scared at all. All I could think was "My four year old is so grown up!"

We had barely gotten home from church when she turned to me and said; "Mommy, can I have the whole candy bar you promised me now?" Hahaha! Ooops! That explains the sudden turn around from the morning nervousnes and meltdowns to the perfect performance! I forgot I offered her a WHOLE Candy bar (all to herself) if she would do it without crying! CHOCOLATE--WORKS EVERYTIME! LOL!

COOKIE CUTTER KIDS

Here are a couple photos from our visit to get Jono's hair cut. It was a really cute place called Cookie Cutters and the kids loved it! I'm sure you can see why!

MORE WHITE STUFF

Since it took me thirty minutes to get into my blog to write tonight I will make this short. I am still not sure if I forgot my password or if something in the system screwed up. I hate having to have a million password for everything. I guess it keeps our Internet stuff safer though.

I took Jono to get his hair cut today and it is so cute. I will post a picture tomorrow. I went to this cute children's hair salon and he got to pick a car, plane, firetruck, motorcycle or boat to sit in while he got his hair cut. He picked a police car. They gave the kids a balloon and sucker at the end. It also had a small play place in it for kids who are waiting. It was really cute. He and Carly really loved it.

Grandma got her hair done today too. Although, I think her chair wasn't near as cute. I'm pretty sure it does go up and down, though. I'm sure Jono would have loved that additional feature!

We got about 3 inches of snow and are getting more at the moment. Don't know what the end result will be. Only know that it is very cold. I will be glad to see the sunshine and tulips in the spring! Well, that's all for today. Night all.