Saturday is a special day

This morning Karyl went to Lowe's and built a catapult - and if you ask her what she built, she will tell you (she has a thing for remembering long words!!). She had a blast and it is such a wonderful way for her and Daddy to spend some time together without Mommy around!

Then, tonight we had a "Minute to Win It" party with Greg's family (don't worry, I'm only putting pictures of Greg, Karyl and I....). It was SO MUCH FUN!!! Seriously, if you have never seen the show, go to their website and you can get all the instructions for the games they use on the show. GREAT party games!!!

This is the game where you put an Oreo cookie on your forehead and then using nothing but your facial muscles and some creativity you have to get that cookie in to your mouth....

For this one Greg and I went against each other....you had 36 cups....you had to stack them up without falling over, and then put them all back in a pile by sliding the cups down the side...It was harder than it looked on TV but fun to try.

And I won by 8 seconds....

For this one you had 15 cups on the table in front of you and using only the expelled air from a balloon you had to knock them off....it was fun, but I was out of breath afterwards!!!

This was the game where you have 6 nuts on a small stick...you have to stack the nuts one at a time on top of each other with only one hand...this was a god one!!

Even Karyl got in on the fun...we modified a few of the games so she could give them a shot. She stacked the cups and slid them down, and then she used the baseball in the nylons to knock over a few water bottles....we didn't even bother trying to get her to wear the nylons on her head like the adults had to do!!

I have some catching up to do....

Wow, I guess I've been so busy with everything else that blogging just hasn't been at the top of my priority list these past feww weeks....I think that's OK since the kids, husband and house are the things taking priority, right??

I have pictures....and I am just going to post them below with short, witty and possibly sarcastic commentaries for your viewing pleasure (and I'll try to get dates too....for posterity adn future reference and all that....)

April 17 -

Greg and Uncle David putting wood boards in the Attic for storage...I was told it was like 150 degrees up there. I know, you're wondering what on earth got David up there in the heat and messy insulation?? Note the pneumatic tool in the second picture - Offer Uncle David a chance to play with the nail gun and he's there!!

April 21 -

Day at Disneyland - We met Greg's cousin Jennifer and had a blast with her and her boyfriend Jordan for a few hours. We see her often enough there that everytime we mention we're going to Disneyland Karyl asks "Is Jennifer going to be there??" This time she was and she and Jordan definitely made us laugh...a lot. Thanks guys!!!

Yes, you're seeing it right....the trams have doors on them now!!! The funny thing....the doors don't "lock" per say - you just pull the handle like a regular door and could open them mid-ride. My question is, what moron actually fell out of the tram, prompting this interesting addition??

Look at those blue eyes!! It's rare that he sits still long enough to really look at those baby blues, let alone long enough to take a close up picture of them....they amaze me every time I see them!!!

As you can tell, there wasn't much sun out that day while we were there, but the boys being boys decided they wanted to ride Grizzly Rapids....one of those rides where you are guaranteed to get wet....and they rode it 3 times!! Boys will be boys....luckily I don't think either of them caught pneumonia!!

Karyl loves Minnie, she is the only character that she will actually get close enough to take a picture with....I still don't know what Goofy and Mickey did to tick her off, but for now Minnie has her sole affection.

April 26 -

That's right, just a few days later we were back....

Suddenly she wanted to be photographed with anything and everything...every few minutes I would hear "Mommy, take a picture of me with _______" we had fire hydrants, the "O", and lots of other things she insisted I whip out the camera for!!

May 8 -

The Lowe's Project for Mother's Day....I have some very pretty pink and white flowers in there now....

May 18 -

In 6th grade I broke my pinky finger with a handball - it snapped it all the way back so it touched the back of my hand....in High School I had knee surgery and about 3-4 days after the surgery I fell down a flight of stairs at home....About a year ago I developed gallstones and had multiple attacks....Each one of those pains seemed worse than the one before....until this...

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Please ignore the ugly toenails and dry skin...my feet have been in sandals for the past few days and I've been too lazy to break out any lotion...and the adhesive from taping the toes together has been leaving dirty marks anyways....

Now - I will be taking another picture tonight to post....

I wasn't going to because the bruising and swelling was starting to FINALLY go down and it wasn't throbbing and I was going to try to put on my tennis shoes today - and then this morning at about 12:15 am I got up to see who was sending Greg a text (Thanks David) and I hit my toe on a metal stepping stool we have in our bedroom (That's right...a step stool - without it I can't reach the stuff hanging in the closet). It hurt more than when I originally broke the stupid toe. It brought tears to my eyes, and a few choice words.....the really sad part is that I hit the stool so hard it woke Greg up and all he saw was me leaning over cursing myself for being so short and needing the step stool and trying to gain enough sense back to stumble back to my side of the bed.

Already it has swelled again and has new bruises...so later today should be interesting.

I'm seriously considering how important the fourth toe is....and whether or not I could function without it. I have a bad habit of stubbing my toes because I don't always look where I'm going when I'm in the house...and this was the second time I'd stubbed the toe since originally breaking it, but that time wasn't nearly as painful or forceful as this morning.

On that happy note - here are a few cute pics of Freddie from Thursday - he fell asleep in the Living Room for the first time (he had gotten up early) and I had to take the chance to get some cute pictures.....

Geez, is it May???

OK, so it's been a whole month since my last post - I know, what a loser I am, right??

In all fairness, up until about 3 days ago I had been through like 13 different stages of sick - all of them involving some VERY swollen tonsils, lots of headaches and generally just feeling like crud.

After the first week of misery I sucked it up the beginning of April and went to the doctor's - he laughed (as always) that I waited so long and suffered and wrote me a prescription. The pills were huge and I don't do well with even tiny old Advil...so now I was miserable and had to swallow a giant pill. I did it, but after 10 days I had dropped most of the hacking cough and still had the worst sore throat of my life.

So, what did I do?? All the moms out here will know exactly what I did - did I go back to the doctor's?? Nope, because that would require another copay and an extra drive in to Orange County that I didn't want to bother with - I just sucked it up and mentally threatened my tonsils to deflate. Did it work?? Yeah, right...

While the cough and generalized stuffiness were gone, I still had the nagging sore throat, and now I could feel lumps and after about 2 weeks of having to take Children's Chewable Tylenol before bed just to fall asleep (that's right - the chewable stuff, I told you, I can barely swallow Advil when my throat is in perfect working order) I gave in. I couldn't handle it anymore and I took a look - I think poor Greg thought I had a tumor - everything was raw and red and there were white patches everywhere (I know, ewwww....). So, I called the doctor and was reminded that sometime it pays to keep the same family doctor that you've had since you were 4 years old - he gave me a small lecture about waiting, called in another prescription and here I am, about 4 days later and no sign of a sore throat!!!

So, the reason for the detailed medical history - partly to make excuses for not posting, and partly because I'm out of work for the day and I'm still in Medical Transcriptionist mode....it's an evil place in my head that involves words like jejunostomy and cholecystectomy and I usually can't shut it off until 2pm, which is when I would be done with work.

Oh, and for those of you who made it to the bottom of this sad, sad post - In other news....

Our big screen TV died on Saturday, Karyl came in to tell me that the TV was broken and I thought maybe Freddie had reached over and pushed a button. When I went into the living room I smelled something burning and we just assumed it was the neighbors since we had all the doors open (we get an AWESOME cross breeze!!). Well, the TV picture was tinted blue (not an option I could find to reset in the menu) and I soon realized the burning was coming FROM the TV.

It was quickly unplugged and we were left with a burning smell that lingered for a day or two. We now have our old bedroom TV (I think it's like 17 inches) in the living room. It makes us giggle every time we walk in because where the King of all Big Screens used to reside is a tiny little TV...with a lot of wall showing behind it.

We have to squint to read the guide.....

And then on Sunday I noticed water dripping from under the sink - luckily I noticed it right before bed because I opened the cabinet and everything under the kitchen sink was swimming. Yep, the kitchen faucet had decided to quit too. Long story short - my amazing husband went in to action and last night not only did he replace the ENTIRE faucet (base and hose and pull-out head) but we somehow stumbled upon a wonderful employee at Home Depot who rather than making us order the part we needed, said if we brought back the old faucet they would do an even exchange for the new one!! So, we now have a BRAND NEW faucet, for free, and it looks beautiful!! The old one was corroded because the previous owner didn't take care of it but it had been there just long enough that I couldn't get it all off. Now I get to start all new - I can't WAIT to do dishes tonight. Even the water pressure is better....and this new one doesn't have the annoying ball joint to leak from.

Ah, the joys of home ownership - replacing your own leaking faucet and not having the money to replace your big screen when it gives up the ghost. Oh, and if ONE more person tells us that "now you can get a bigger and better TV" I WILL slap them. When we bought that TV we were both working and just about to get married - back then we had what I like to call unlimited big screen TV funds. Almost 5 years later and we have 2 kids, a minivan and a mortgage - that means no more big screen TV money....although we did get a great rate on refinancing, and we figure that makes up for the payments on the van....still, no big screen.

Now, I need to get the kids up so they can watch Spongebob at a much smaller scale than they are accustomed to...good thing they are too young to complain!!

Happy Easter!!

I'm finally getting the Easter pics on here!!

The Easter Bunny came and visited our house and left the kids each a basket and some toys...and he even left some eggs on the lawn for Karyl to hunt for!! Karyl got up and the first thing she said was "did the Easter Bunny come last night?" She was pretty excited when she saw the baskets in the office!!

She wasted no time looking through and then asking where he hid the eggs...so we headed out to the front yard to collect the eggs that were left out there....conveniently they were filled with Karyl's favorite snacks like Fruit by the Foot and Fruit snacks!!!

Then we headed out to our parent's places to have an Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma and Grandpa B's place, and Uncle David and Grandma M even came over to watch!!

It was a fun Easter and it was nice to spend it with family. Karyl was so much fun to watch this year because she's older and understands everything, and next year she will have to compete with Freddie for eggs....he'll be a monster!!!

Oooh, I'm Crafty....

So, I've decided to make an attempt at online selling.

Please note this is only an attempt, I make no guarantees as to the outcome.

Here is the link to my Etsy shop - there are only 2 "items" in there right now. I want to make sure people are actually going to BUY the things I make before I start spending serious time and money to mass produce.

Dee's Designs on Etsy

If nothing else I have learned something very important from this experience...I am NOT a professional photographer - and my camera is strictly meant to be taking pictures of vacations and children making silly faces. I wish I had better pictures in my store, but I don't - and somehow I can't justify having our personal family photographer come all the way down here to shoot my pillowcases.

I'm really enjoying the pillowcases and have LOTS of great ideas....if you happen to have a hankering for some fun pillowcases, I take personal requests!!!

Clean Bill of Health

Yesterday afternoon we had a follow-up appointment with Fredrick's neurosurgeon to check on his skull and see if he has healed up and if his head has continued to grow the way they planned after the surgery....

And he was given a clean bill of health!! Dr. Muhonen was so impressed that his head has grown so round since he had the surgery so late (usually it is done at around 3 months - Freddie was 6 months). His head has continued to grow to the side and everywhere else it should and he has been released with only as needed follow up. When he's about 4 if he still has a small "soft spot" in the back (where the 3 skull 'plates' meet) then they'll have to go in and put some "wood putty" in the hole, but that's a minor thing.

We feel so blessed to know that he is no worse for wear after all this and that he has had what Dr. Muhonen could only describe as a miraculous recovery and outcome from his surgery. Freddie is proof that with enough prayers and well-wishes and priesthood blessings, ANYTHING is possible.

Now he just has the nifty scar to impress chicks with later in life. Luckily his blonde hair covers it pretty darn well and you don't really notice it unless you know to look for it!! YAY!!!

Church Easter Breakfast and Lowe's

This morning we headed out early (for us!!) to have some pre-Easter fun. This morning our ward had an Easter breakfast and egg hunt.

I made the chocolate cinnamon rolls that I mentioned on my Life After Diapers blog a few weeks ago....I should have stuck with the tried and true recipe for cinnamon rolls I know is awesome. Chocolate is good with almost everything, except cinnamon rolls...

Anyways, we went to the church and had breakfast, then the kids went and hunted for eggs all around the building. Surprisingly, Karyl caught on right away and walked away with a decent amount of eggs!!

Each time she picked up an egg she had to stop and check out what was in it...

I don't think Freddie was quite as excited about the eggs as Karyl was....

Then after the hunt, we headed to Lowe's, where Karyl made a Kaleidescope...it's kinda nifty for a cheesy Lowe's project!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Well, we dressed the kids in green and made some super yummy Green Velvet Cupcakes...I'd say we did our duty on this Day O' Green!!

We hope you had a great St. Patty's Day too.

The recipe for the Green Velvet Cupcakes (courtesy of my friend Jessica) is posted on my other blog, here is the link:
GREEN VELVET CUPCAKES

There I go, making trouble yet again with my opinion...

I posted this comment on Facebook last night...

"We stock up on baby food when it's on sale...I got to the checkout at Stater Bros. - Checker looked at me, back at all the jars, points and says "Is this WIC?" I had to hold my tongue and politely say "Nope, I pay for my own baby food" I was offended but yet had to laugh when I got out to the car...doesn't he know, some of us actually pay for our own children??"

Then I got lots of responses back...most of them nailing me for being insensitive or trying to tell me that WIC wasn't welfare....

So I posted this in response:

Before anyone gets too upended over my comment...I am fully aware of what WIC is - I have family members who work for WIC and I am completely aware of how the program works and how it is funded. I just get frustrated because I know of many people who use WIC who are abusing the system (and for every person I am aware of there are hundreds more that I DON'T know). To prove my point....check out Craig's list and Enfamil formula....those little cans that are being sold for about $6 a can - those are from WIC...someone who got them FOR FREE from our tax dollars is selling them for a profit....disgusting.

I've said this before and I'll say it again, WIC, like welfare, is a wonderful program that is in place to help families who fall on hard times and need some help - and to make sure that children get the nutrition they need if their parents are struggling. There was another comment on this post that was apparently deleted by the author that made some comments about not being able to breastfeed and that WIC was there to help with formula.....WIC is there to help breastfeeding moms too, but that's not the entire point. WIC is not there to cover for you just because you've discovered that you either can't breastfeed or just don't want to pay for formula now. Both of my children had to be formula fed, and with the first we had just assumed I would nurse - and when that didn't work out it was quite the blow to our financial plans that we had to buy formula. I know first hand how expensive formula is, and if you've seen our kids, they don't just drink a few ounces at a time!!! But that was our lot, and we adjusted and now plan on that added expense when we have children.

I'm not knocking anyone who's on WIC for the right reasons....so I don't want anyone to think that I'm making light of something like getting help when you need it. We all pay into WIC and welfare, and when we need the help, that's what it is there for. The problem is that more times than not, the people who do get it don't really need it, they are just taking advantage of a loophole in the system that allows them to collect. This kind of stuff is a very touchy subject for me - when my parents got divorced back in the early 90s and my mom was left with nothing but her car and us kids, she applied for welfare and was denied - because the car was worth too much....but it was paid off and my mom couldn't afford to get rid of it. We spent YEARS struggling, not having enough money for food and other necessities. My mom ended up working for Social Services after that and most of the people that pulled up to collect their welfare checks drive nicer cars than we ever did. There is a lot of abuse, and sadly those who really do need the temporary help can't always get it, but so many find loopholes and are able to abuse the system...which leaves the rest of us paying for their free ride.... See More

The reason I made the comment to the checker afterwards was because I am VERY proud to say that my husband and I work hard, and we take care of our own children. We sacrifice many of the luxuries that other people have to put food on the table. I don't get my nails done, or have salon days...we don't drive new cars or have iPhones or expensive cell phones. We don't take vacations or buy expensive clothes...all so we can take care of our kids first....there are too many people using our government resources that just do it because they don't want to sacrifice....they drive expensive cars and have expensive electronics, they wear name brand clothes and lots of other luxuries that we don't have. THOSE are the people who frustrate me the most..

But life isn't fair is it....

WIC provides Federal grants to States for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk.

This is directly from the WIC website....yes, it is money granted to the Federal Government - but it is not just available to anyone who wants it....you have to meet income guidelines to be a participant, or have a child who has special nutritional needs.

WIC is an amazing program with lots of great nutritional guidance for parents. Sadly a lot of the people who receive WIC just show up and want their check, and even get upset when they have to sit and talk to one of their dieticians about food suggestions. That is PRIME information, don't these people realize that they are getting a one-on-one consultation with a professional, for free!?!?!? I would have LOVED to have had something like that with our first kid to get ideas on how to prepare healthy meals!!!

Oh, and WIC only has a certain number of spots every month for participation...so those abusing the system are taking up the spots for the mother who really DO need the help...There is a limited amount available from Congress every month, so not everyone who is eligible can participate.

I have very strong opinions about certain things, as do most of you. I try not to force my opinion on others, and to encourage free thinking and different points of view - that is what is so wonderful about our Country, that most of us can live together and be friends, but still have varying opinions about everything from religion to politics.

I did not intend to offend anyone...but if after reading my reply you still feel that I am insensitive and/or just wrong, we'll just have to cut our losses and agree to disagree.

B-Day Bash

Alright, as mentioned last Saturday was Freddie's first birthday!!! We had a great time getting together with our family and playing games and just enjoying each other's company. We had Taco Salad for dinner (when Freddie can eat it, it will become one of his favorites!!) and I made a cake for dessert. This was my first attempt at any kind of cake decorating, so while I know it looks kinda silly, it definitely tasted better than it looked (homemade chocolate buttercream frosting...YUMMY!!) and this was my first time working with fondant (which was yummy too!!). I was too afraid to cover the entire cake with it so decided to make decorations (the unevenly paved road, rocks and letters). For my first time, I think it wasn't bad - and I used the marshmallow fondant, which sticks to EVERYTHING!!! That made it even harder to work with. Next time I do this it'll be regular rolled fondant - no sticky marshmallow!!

Anyways, here are some pics from the party, enjoy!!