typing while she sleeps...

...and as long as she sleeps, I will continue... but if she stirs, I'll have to be done... the baby needs her nap!



we've been laying low, not running around as much to allow for naps. a few things to highlight:

• my cousin's house was robbedd in the middle of the day and she lives on the corner of a busy street. Cops think it was someone who knew she'd be gone, etc. Sad.
• Same cousin and I walked to Starbucks for a coffee. They charged me way too much for a newspaper. The next day I stopped in and let them know (not because I cared about a couple of bucks but because I didn't think it was right to charge $5 when the paper clearly said $1.50 on it). They gave me the $5 back and wouldn't let me pay the $1.50. I promplty appreciated that with the purchase of a venti caramel frapp.
• Went to my class reunion. What a fun time. I'll try to remember to make that a seperate post.
• Have eaten sweet bread from the mexican bakery almost daily since we've been here. Umm, good. A few other foods I like that I've had is chips and salsa and tri tip.
• Played at the park with the kids. It was a little rough going down the slide with Bethany... I kind of drug her down and around because her arm wasn't long enough, sorry dear.
• Have played my cousin's Wii a few times. It's fun. The safety strap is important but they warn for that. Based on the bruise on Bethany's forehead, they also need to warn about your little kids standing in your swinging bath. I clocked her good and felt horrible. Sorry Bethany, again.
• Scott has gone to "school" a few times here. My girlfriend has a daycare and they do school f0r 90 minutes each morning. He loves it and I love the art he's bringing home.
• Had lunch with Dad today. Before that we went to a store that I've always loved. They have hand crafted stuff from the developing nations. I love that kind of stuff and the total cost today proved it! They are part of Ten Thousand Villages and have some really cool stuff. Plus, I like what they stand for. (They have a few places in Iowa that are tied to them, so check them out online. You can search for the store based on your zip code.)
• Saw part of the group I used to study the bible with last night. It was cool to get together with those girls. Carol, who was our leader, continues to grieve the loss of her husband that died almost a year ago from a heart attack. He was my pastor right before I moved to Iowa. I have a great appreciation for both Carol and Dave.

I think that's about it for now. The rug rats are awake and its time to head out again.

California in pictures... so far

Okay, so I uploaded some pictures from my camera. They are most recent to oldest (all 3 days worth)... The kiddos with my precious Grandma. She has had two heart surgeries in the last few months and I thank God that I had another opportunity to spend a little time with her. We ate lunch with Grandma, my cousin and my dad at a local favorite, Sal's.

Yesterday we spent the day shopping. We saw a few people briefly (my sister, my friend Amy, my uncle James) but we mostly shopped. I added a cute purse to my collection (thanks to Renae for sending me a few recently). This can double as a diaper bag and maybe even an overnight bag! It was quite the bargain at $12. Got it at a store that sells stuff the local malls don't sell right away. I also bought some cute shoes there but found out they were different sizes when I tried to put them on today. Guess I'll be going back there!

The next few pictures are from our trip to Pismo. Not seen in these pictures are Ryan (he took most of them) and my dad (I should have uploaded one more). We ate at the famous "Splash Cafe", and played on the beach. To my amazement, the only shopping I did was for a bucket and shovel since the local Wmart didn't have one.

You can't tell real well from this picture but I drew Scott's name in the sand and then he sat in the "O" for a picture.

Probably one of the most exciting parts of our trip was surprising my Grandma and Aunt Janie in the Denver airport. They had a short, short lay over so we met them at the gate and walked them to their connecting gate. We stopped long enough for a hug and a picture. Grandma's face when she realized the wacko lady that was talking to her was me: Priceless!

real quick...

Real quick update:
- we made it to CA safe and sound
- I love Enterprise car rental, we got a free upgrade to a mini van cause the lady thought we'd like that better
- Being up at 2am central time makes for a long day
- Going to bed at 8pm west coast time isn't early enough
- When you're not used to a cat in the house, and you're really tired, dealing with a cat at 11pm is not fun.  (Ashley, don't worry, Jersey was fine.  We just closed the door to our/your room to keep her from bugging the kids and Jersey didn't like it.  At 11pm, we carried the food and litter box to the garage)
- It is so good to be back home!!!!

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He's Three Much

Scott walked in the door to my mom's this morning and within a minute said: "how did you sleep last night grammy?"

It was so cute.

We often tell Scott that he's "too much". So, when you ask him how old he is, his answer was always "two much". Now that he's 3, he doesn't always know how to answer the question.

Questions for Ashley

Ashley, since you're locked out of your email, I'm pasting the email I sent you on Tuesday below:
_______

I can't believe its a week away!!!!!!!!!!!!  I feel like there's a lot to be in communication with you about, sorry I haven't done a better job of that.
 
Our flight lands at 233 on the 16th.  Kristine (last name with held here) will be meeting us at the airport to bring us car seats so we don't have to haul ours out there.  We should be in Kburg some time around 4-ish.  I don't have a clue what your work schedule is like and I was thinking (and may be wrong) that you work in Fres__.  So, we'll probably hang out at Kristine's for a while to give you a chance to get back to town.  But that's all totally up to you, I just don't want to inconvennience you (as if that's possible when we're invading your house).
 
A couple of questions I have:
- do you by some odd chance have a pack-n-play or a little crib at your house?  If not, I think Kristine has one that we've borrowed before.  I know that she uses it for her daycare so she may not be able to give it up for 2 weeks, I haven't asked yet.
- I think we'll be on the go quite a bit.  But for some down time, I'd like to just hide out at the house.  I talked to Nicole (name with held, think beautiful brown skin, big hair, loves the Lord, a year younger than me) yesterday and she wants to hang out too.  Would it be okay to invite people over to veg on the couch with?  I don't think that would happen very often because I imagine we'll be spending a fair amount of time with family and running around.
- What else should I know or be asking about... I've never stayed somewhere besides my dad's or mom's before.
 
How's the ADX picnic looking?  I did view the evite the other day.  I was totally bummed that Mandy may not be making it.  When is she due?  And Kristine, I totally wanted to see her too.  Those two were both pledge sisters so I was sad to see that it wouldn't work for either of them.  I know that Mel is in San Antonio now so she won't be home.  But, what about Deborah?  Have you heard from her?  And Natasha, does anyone talk to her anymore.  I got a note that someone named Natasha soemthing-or-other added me to facebook.  Maybe it was her, I don't know since I've not been on facebook for quite a while.
 
Where are you going to church these days? 
 
I think that's it for now.  Of course most of my questions come while I'm driving home or getting ready for work, not a time when I'm at email :)
 
Hope you're having a good week
tb

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Scott

I suppose if Bethany gets an update, so should Scott, right? Let's just say that he's daily testing my patience. The child has a few new habits that are very displeasing to this mom:
- name calling. His "names" aren't even real words but the emphasis is definitely there.
- peeing in his undies. and thinking its funny. not sure if the child comprehends that its not funny and he's just being a snot or if he doesn't get it.
- not pooping on the toilet. he holds it in people. i tell him it will make his tummy hurt and he'll have to go to the doctor. but no, he holds it. i've even threatened to not let him go to cubbies on wednesday. last night, i put some of bethany's laxative medicine (don't worry, its OTC) in his juice which he promptly sucked down. he spent some time on the potty last night and finally pooped. yes, he was proud and even carried the potty chair into my room so Bethany and I could see it. Atta boy, son.
- He can spell his name and he almost has his phone number memorized.
- He knows his key bible verse for Cubbies. His grammy has been bragging to everyone that he had it memorized the next morning. Sweet Grammy, I informed her last night that he's known it for a year now.
- Scott loves his new shoes. We're finally forgetting about the crocs that he had to wear everyday. Sorry son, its getting cold out and crocs just won't cut it.

Bethany

The past two weeks have flown by. Some have asked about an update on Bethany post seizure. I'm excited to report that she's been fine. With that in mind, here's a quick update on my little wild one's adventures:
- the week of the seizure she was really starting to stand up more and would go from sitting to standing quite easily
- while on the phone with Ryan (he was in Kansas City) I told him about the standing and he said, "is she walking". I promptly replied "no" and as soon as the word came out of my mouth, she turned around and took 3 steps before grabbing on to the quilting machine!
- Bethany is mobile people, watch out! She's not walking quite yet but she'll be there before we get to California I'm sure. She will take 3-4 steps at a time and might take more if she wasn't so excited.
- The other night she stood up from her sitting spot on the bottom stair and walked half way across the room. It was so fun to watch her accomplish the walking. She hasn't repeated that yet!
- Friday night I sat her on the piano stool to play at the piano while I cooked supper. She giggled as she "tickled the ivories". A bit later, I heard a faint whimper and came around the corner to see that she had crawled up the piano and had one foot on the keys and one foot where the book goes and was holding on for dear life. That's my girl!
- She loves to stand and play on her bed. No fear of falling the 3 feet to the ground. It scares me.
- She likes to sing the Larry Boy song. You wouldn't have a clue what she was saying if you didn't already know but its pretty cute.
- Bethany loves music. She won't hold still during church worship time. It's kind of distracting but I don't want to discourage her dancing. She also loves to clap her hands and dance any time music is playing.
- I still can't get her to sit still while in the tub. She's always trying to climb all over, drink the shower water and stick the shampoo container in her mouth.

I think my mom is getting a kick out of Bethany all the while laughing at me and thinking "pay back, baby, pay back..."

umm, good

I'm a simple girl, especially when it comes to food. This morning as I dropped the kids off, mom invited me to stay for breakfast. As usual, I was in a hurry to get to work and thanked her for the offer. So, like the awesome mom that she is, she made me breakfast to go. Where I come from, almost anything can go in a flour tortilla. This morning on my way to work, I thoroughly enjoyed a fried potato burrito with bacon. I know you may not think its anything extravagant and its not. But I love fried potato burritos. It was so perfect... even though I didn't stick to my "diet" for the morning.

With that said, its my boss' birthday and he brought donuts... if you're gonna sway from eating healthy, you might as well make it worth it, right?

fun with the kiddos

Last night we went to the park for a bit. Some friends were gathering for volleyball but I decided not to play. Instead I pulled the weeds in the one flower garden they have and it looks much happier now. When I was done with that and friends were all showing up, I took kid duty. We had fun. Z and B were having a "guy party" since their mom and sister were out of town. Their dad brought them toys to play in the sand and even thought to bring toys for Scott. It was such a sweet gesture. After they were done in the sand (mostly because Scott kept throwing sand at Z and B, naughty boy), we played on the swings. I wish I had a picture of it. I had 4 kids in swings and was running back and forth pushing them as high as I could, telling them to hold on tight, pushing their little butts back into the swing, pushing some more, listening to them giggle and getting quite the work out.

Not sure if my arms are sore this morning from the swingset work out or from loading fire wood on Saturday!

To be fair to the neighboring office, I really do enjoy my time there. I made myself at home and found a corner cubible with a lap top. It made it much easier to work than trying to take over the boss' office. Everyone is laid back and has fun together.

It wouldn't surprise me if in the near future I would end up helping them out one day a week or something like that. If it weren't an hour drive, I might volunteer to do it more often.

Update from the office

It's so good to be back in my own office, even if its been absolutely stir crazy all morning.

Again

In neighboring office helping again. It's been fun. I like the people here. But an interesting thing today, I've heard 3 card gambling stories in the past hour... and all at seperate times with seperate people who walk through. Crazy

New Purse

I've been wanting a new purse lately. I even stopped in a local shop that has knock-off purses. They were cute but didn't find one that wanted to go home with me. I saw a cute one this weekend but it was white and white isn't a fall color so I left it on the shelf too.

This morning I searched a bit on the net to find knock-off purses. After perusing a few, I felt hopeless. Will I ever find the perfect purse in my price range? I want one that is cute, has straps that will go over my shoulder, is shallow, and is big enough to carry all my crap (and some of the kids' too). Right now my purse is falling apart and is tall/deep so I feel like I'm constantly digging to the bottom to get to things.

As I was searching, I thought that maybe I should just make the one I want. Of all the things I have to do in the next few weeks, do you think I could find fabric and make a new purse?

Thank you Laborers

I thoroughly enjoyed my 3-day weekend. Saturday was a good day to play with the kids and give them my time rather than trying to spend the day cleaning. Sunday was a bachellorette party on a pontoon boat on the river - very relaxing and fun, followed by a nice dinner out. Got back to town in time to play sand volleyball with a few friends before I went and picked up my kiddos at their grammy's house.

Yesterday I spent about 8 hours preparing 13 meals, it was pure craziness to keep food cooking, dishes washed, etc. I managed it by myself in the morning but asked Ryan to help in the afternoon which meant the kids were left to play by themselves. It worked out just fine. Only had to intervene once!

Last night was a rough one. I was needing lots of sleep for my tired body. Ryan and I decided to watch a movie. It was a dumb funny (poor acting, etc) and I eventually gave up on trying to stay awake. Scott was up twice during the night and it was hot in our room. At 130am, I woke Ryan and asked him to turn the air on. I got 5 hours of wonderful sleep last night which was appreciated.

Here we are at Tuesday already. Yipee for a short work week.

Bummer Dude

Remember this post? I was so excited to submit a poster knowing that I had a good idea and the extra cash would be helpful in buying the new scrapping toy I want. Unfortunately, I got word today that I didn't win. Bummer dude! I gathered from the email that the winner has quite the artistic side. I'm curious to see what her poster looks like. I might have to compare the two and let you guys decide who should have won... that is unless hers is amazing.

Bethany follows in Scott's foot steps

Yesterday, there was some excitement at my mom's house involving Bethany. Yesterday around 5pm, following a full day of whining, not feeling good and constant fever, Bethany had a seizure. Thankfully mom knew how to handle the situation because we learned what to do in case of a seizure following Scott's seizure a year and a half ago. The ambulance was called and and arrived but Bethany, being an infant, was referred on to a larger transport company to care for her needs. She was taken to the ER at the local hospital where they ran blood tests and watched her until her fever came down. We think it spiked somewhere around 104.4 but dropped in a matter of 90 minutes or so. Just before 8pm, Bethany was back to her normal self and was hungry and laughing at Scott.

The febrile seizure was caused by the temperature. The temperature was likely caused by the ear infection. And the ear infection was likely caused by her teething issues. All seem to be related. In the next few days she will likely be on fever reducer medicine as her body fights off the ear infection and after that she should be just fine.

Praise God that mom knew what to do with her, that the ambulance company took good care of her, that she received excellent care at the ER and that she seems to be fine. And on top of that, I specifically thank God that I had left my office and met the ambulance at the hospital and that Ryan was on his way home from Kansas City rather than being on his way there.

The kids were playing nicely in Scott's room this morning and the ambulance toy was one of many that got pulled out of the toy chest. I couldn't resist a picture of her with her little bandage thingies and the ambulance toy

Kids

Ryan has been gone since early Friday morning. In the mean time I've been flying solo with the kiddos. Ryan is helpful with the kids so its no surprise that things just haven't been the same the last few days. There are lots of little stories but only a few do I have time to share.

Friday night, kids are fed and I'm in the kitchen fixing enchiladas for Saturday lunch. At the same time I was cooking some mac&cheese for me to eat for supper. While all of this was going on, I'd been in constant discussion with Scott that if he pooped in his undies, he would be in trouble. All of a sudden when I should be mixing cheese, milk and noodles and while I have hamburger starting to cook, Scott decides that he has to poop. I'd sat him on the toilet several times with no result. So, I rushed to the bathroom and sat him on the toilet again. Being in the middle of cooking, I told him I'd be back in a minute and went back to the stove. Bethany headed his direction which would likely keep him entertained and at least sitting on the toilet. Over a period of about two minutes, I heard occassional giggles from both kids and was glad that they were entertaining each other. When I went around the corner to check on them, I was surprised at what their laughter was about. Fortunately he hadn't pee'd all over (did that the other night while sitting on the toilet, although I think he was trying to aim down; and had already pee'd in his undies and my floor just a few hours before). There was toilet paper all over the floor and Scott was grinning from ear to ear. Bethany was sitting in front of the cabinet that I tell her all the time to stay out of and was playing with mouse, hair spray and deoderant. Those little turds!

Funny Conversation

Ryan and I had a funny email conversation the other day that I want to share but I must preface it first: with each child that we've had, a few weeks prior to the birth of our baby, we've gotten a new puppy. Crazy, I know, but that's how it happened.

me: Ryan, I really want to raise a puppy for a guide dog. Here's a link:
ryan: no comment

That night I asked him if he read the email. He hadn't.

The next morning:
me: Ryan, my salary has increased to X amount. Do you think the difference is enough to pay for an adoption? [this email was sent full of sarcasm as my salary had increased by about $1,000 at the most and it costs about $40,000 to adopt]
ryan several hours later: if we adopt a puppy does that mean we need to adopt a child?

Okay, you might not find the humor in it but I did. I want to do both things and his reply perfectly fit both emails and how things seemingly work for us: puppy = a baby at our house.

Happy Friday!

WOO HOO!

I'm so stinkin' excited. We just purchased our airline tickets to California. We're going home for a full two weeks!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!

Arriving in CA: September 16th
Leaving CA: September 30th

Now the plans begin... Hume Lake, Friends, the coast, family.... woo hoo!!!!

Did you know?

Did you know that since 1884 Iowa has had a statute that makes it a crime to discriminate in public accomodations? Do you know what that means? Long before Martin Luther King Jr., this 29th state had laws on the books to treat people equally. I recently read a short piece on Edna Griffin who has been referred to as the Rosa Parks of Iowa. She and several others had a situation where they were refused service by a local drug store who was known for discriminating even though the law required all people to be served. Edna's efforts led to picketing and civil law suits against the store owner who'd previously been aquited multiple times. Eventually the store owner was found in violation and Edna was rewarded $1. After several other run ins, the store owner finally agreed to stop discriminating.

What I find totally cool about this story is two things:

1. that Ms. Griffin was bold enough to stand up for what she believed to be important. Her husband was a prominent doctor in the community and they risked his prominency for what they believed was important.
2. That the state of Iowa has a long standing history of treating people equally.