Miraculous

So, today for the first time in history....All currently residing in this house were asleep simultaneously for 1 hour. It was a miracle of all miracles. It would have lasted a lot longer but some DUMB realtor decided she needed to ring the doorbell 4 times just to tell me she might need to bring someone by and would that be okay...HELLO, there is a phone number on the sign for a reason. Total Bug! oh well it was good while it lasted! Walker and Ella did sleep for a while longer....so I guess that was good..

Jumping Beans

Who knew beans really did jump?? Yesterday as I was doing some pre-wedding shopping for dresses for the girls...I got a call from Ella's preschool informing me that Ella had a bean jump in her nose. WOW! I thought, I guess there really are Texas Jumping Beans. How amazing. She wouldn't change her story. The bean just went ahead and jumped right in her nose. They had tried to make her blow it out, no success. They thought that a bulb syringe might get it out, so Walker and I headed to the school, bulb syringe and all and before we got there she had gone ahead and cried that silly ol' bean right out of her nose. So, the bean was freed without a visit to the doc, which I am very grateful for! Ms. Robin even saved the bean in a baggie for us. That is one jumping bean that has jumped it's last jump. YIPEE!

So, lesson learned, beware of the Texas Jumping Beans...

Eventually I got it out of her that the bean got put in her nose because she thought it would be funny! That's my Ella!

Long Time Coming

It has been forever since my last post and so much is going on...I guess that is why I haven't posted in so long. I will have to update the Halloween pics at a later date, when I have more time that is. But I thought I would just update a few of the highlights of the past few weeks.

Halloween was a total blast. Tarin went as Super Tarin, Ella was, you guessed it, Jezelle from Enchanted, and Walker was a puppy (we won't tell him it was a Lady costume from lady and the tramp) He just thinks he was a puppy. Al came over as well as our good friend Jen. The kids all ate as much candy as they could stomach for one night and we just hung out outside, the weather was beautiful. Jen and Dan harassed the kids that came by and we all just visited. It was fun!

Tarin was elected her classroom mayor. We found out on a Thursday that she had made it through the primary's. She needed to give a speech on Friday to her classmates so they could decide if they wanted to elect her. So, immediately we called Nana and she came up with a great poem that Tarin immediately memorized and we made some cards that said "Let Tarin the "Star-Burst" into service as your class mayor. We attached a starburst and off she went. She apparantly did a good job because she won. We are proud of her. I think it was a great boost of self confidence for her. Her teacher has been doing a great job teaching them about the elections and everything. They had a classroom vote on Election day for whom they thought should be president. He has been reading a little about each candidate each day from the newspaper. Once they got all the information he gave them, they then formulated their own opinion. Like the rest of the state of TX, McCain won her class over, but that was no forecast of the future, I guess.

Dan is still a traveling fool. It has been crazy, and it will continue to be that way until we figure out what we are going to do. This weekend I am leaving the kids with a friend and going to Tulsa with Dan. We are going to look around and see what we think and what we like. It should be interesting. I am getting really good at the whole sigle parent gig...given, i don't have to go out to a job everyday. Not cooking dinners is kindof nice. The kids are happy with whatever, so I make something for myself at the beginning of the week and then live on it for the rest of the week. It rocks.

I will update more later with pictures and everything.

Necessary Evil

I don't know why, but I decided it was time for flu shots around this house. Our pediatrician was doing a clinic last night so I thought I would get them all done at once. Dan, of course, is out of town, so this was going to be me flying solo. I had mistakenly told the girls that they could get the flu mist because they have gotten it the past few years. They were okay with going for that one reason. So, we got there and the nurse pulls out three shots.
I mentioned that the girls wanted the mist and of course, they were out! OH NO! Ella immediately starts screaming, Tarin is hiding her head in the corner crying and trying not to listend toe Ella's screaming and Walker just cries because his big sisters are. I literally had to lay on top of Ella while the nurse gave her a shot, Tarin is crying hysterically and Walker has no clue what is going on, but is upset because his sisters are. Shot one complete, and Ella didn't even know it had happened. She told Tarin "look Tarin, it didn't even hurt." Tarin wouldn't take her word for it and was still throwing a 7 year old sized tantrum in the corner.

Walker was up next, I pin the boy down, but the nurse didn't realize how strong this one is and his leg got away from her. Walker screams and leaves with two pin pricks, but is done. Unfortunately we couldn't find the binki to calm him down, so he will just have to cry until he is done crying. (The bink was in my pocket the whole time! Arggg!)

Tarin's up next...she is screaming "No, I want the mist, No I want the mist." Trying to leave the room, not listening and crying hysterically. I told her she could choose her leg or her arm. Then she chooses her arm....as soon as the needle is an inch away, she swats at it with her hand and we have to re-do the alcohol cleaning. Finally the nurse said, "sweetie, your arm or your leg?" She agreed to the arm and once she was under control and the shot was over....she says "it didn't really even hurt."

This all happened in a matter of about 6 minutes and I don't know why it stressed me out so much but it did. So, for any of you moms out there wanting to get flu shots for your kiddos, I would reccommend that you get one first (which I should have but didn't know I could) and show them that it doesn't hurt, and then go from there.

IT WAS NUTS and so am I!

Cheetah-Amazing

This has been an exciting week. Some good friends/neighbors of ours gave us three ticekts to the Cheetah Girl's concert last night. Ben and Al were gracious enough to come and watch the Boy so the girls and I could go. It was really a lot of fun! The girls were so excited and it was a great bargaining tool for me for the past week. Here are a few pics of the event!!

'Tis the Season

My kids keep asking me why the Halloween stuff is up in the stores! I keep wondering myself...could it really be October. To be honest, I cannot wait for 2008 to end. It has been a rough year for our little family and I am looking forward to a new year. Not that I am not grateful for all the good things that have happened this year, because I am, I am just ready for a whole new set of things to be grateful for. Does that make sense?

I was in Hobby Lobby a month or so ago and they already had their fall stuff on sale and the Christmas stuff was all out. I guess 'tis the season already. Someone told me that because of the economic situation in our country right now, economist are expecting this to be the worst Christmas season for retailers all around. So, who wants to do homemade stuff this year?? I DO I DO!! Anyone got any ideas? I am the least creative person you will ever meet...just ask my friends.

We did It!!

So, for about a month I have been complaining that I need one of my mom's (origionally Grandma Welling's) donuts. This time of year is when we would start to plan the annual donut/Halloween party. Over the years this party has evolved from a Halloween party for the kids pre-trick or treating to a donut/soup party for all the adults. I MISS THEM TERRIBLY! So I decided, if Carin can do it, so can I. (Although she is much better at most things than I am) So, we had the families Dan home teaches over for FHE tonight and we made them donuts. They weren't as tasty as my mom's but they were pretty good for a first shot. They got eaten. I made about 100 donuts and this is a picture of what is left after everyone left my house tonight. Given, there were some plates delivered through the neighborhood, but for the most part, the majority was consumed.

If I ever make them again, I will make the frosting a little differently and I will plan ahead to not have to feed the missionaries dinner the same night, and I won't plan a lunch for the ladies I visit teach the same day either. It was kindof a crazy day, but it all worked out and everyone left with full bellies and a sugar headache.

Ouch!!

So, this was a weekend of lessons for us...namely for miss Tarin. Friday night Dan and I went out on a date and we left the kids with a babysitter. She is a relatively new sitter and was pretty nervous I think anyway. Tarin had convinced her to get out the flat iron and play makeover with them. I am still a little unclear as to what exactly happened, but this is the result. The poor babysitter left sobbing, and I was just glad I walked in the house when I did.





So, there were a number of lessons learned, most of which I didn't even have to verbalize because of the result of a poor decision. It didn't stop her too much, she went and played her soccer game on Saturday and scored six goals. Her coach threatened to come over next Friday night and burn her other hand so she will score six next week. It is a big fat blister and hopefully it will not pop tomorrow at school. This is Tarin's first major owee. I am sure it is the first of many more to come. She has been mad about it because it hurts so much, so hopefully this will be a teaching point for many years to come. You know, this parenting thing seems to get a little harder each year. Suddenly just because mom said no isn't a good enough reason for things. I guess this is where learning the hard way comes in. I don't know if I am game for it or not.

Dan's Houston Trip

Small Things

I have two things to be grateful for today:

1. I went to a store with Walker and after I left I realized that they had charged me wrong so I needed to go back in. Normally when I put Walker in his seat, I throw my keys in the drivers seat. Walker was all strapped in when I discovered the charges were wrong, so I unstrapped him and went in to make things right. As I am leaving the store I realize that my keys are missing. The truck automatically locks when it sits for a period of time and I knew it was locked by now. OH NO! I search everywhere and THANKFULLY find them at the bottom of my bag. I was so glad that we were not stuck at the beauty supply store waiting for a locksmith.

2. After school my doorbell rang and a new friend of mine brought dinner over. She is experimenting on how to make food taste good and be fat free and I am giving one of her trial recipes a taste test. I am so grateful to be on her taste test list. She is now working on making the chocolate cake in a mug less fattening. I am grateful for new friends.