Collector

    I am beginning to get a tad bit concerned that I am raising a future star of the show Hoarders. Have you ever seen that show? I am always shocked and amazed when I catch an episode, and think to myself, “How does this happen? How does a person’s house fill up with that much stuff. I don’t get it. And then I walk into my son Ben’s room, and I start to understand.
    You see, the kid loves to collect stuff. And on top of that, he values everything people give him. This can create the perfect storm. God forbid I should throw away that scrunched up pipe cleaner under his bed, or the leaf that is disintegrating on his bookshelf- he found them at school one day. I had to put my foot down on his rock collection the other day when I realized that ½ our gravel driveway was now in tupperware containers under his bed.
    He sleeps on the bottom bunk and the top is where he keeps all his special stuff so Katie can’t touch it. I   don’t usually care what it looks like up there, but the other day I thought I’d check for trash. OH. MY. WORD. He has a collection of dum dum wrappers  (apparently he’s saving them up to trade in for a telescope? ), he has a box full of my old coupons that I’m pretty sure he thinks can be used for cold hard cash, a huge pile of pinecones, carpet squares, egg cartons filled with life savers, feathers, dave’s old trophy’s, pipe cleaner art, a vase filled with old flower petals. People, I could go on and on. I did remove the Cheezits that I’m guessing he had laid out for his stuffed animals to eat.
    I’m gonna cut the kid a break, though, because he’s not the first amazing man I’ve known to have this affliction. My dad valued all of his collections, and was notorious for his boxes filled with old deodorant balls (he always swore he had some project in mind for those beauties). My wonderful husband loves to collect things too, and I am not allowed to recycle ANY Folgers coffee cans (you never know when you might need one, apparently).
    So for now I’ll just try and embrace the Christmas coffee mugs Ben bought at Goodwill and are SO SPECIAL, the dollar store trophy’s he keeps next to his bed, and the old chuck e cheese tickets he can’t part with. Because I love him, I love his imagination, and I know that if I draw him a picture he will cherish it forever. I do think I’ll have him clean his seashells though, our house shouldn’t smell like saltwater….

Birthday Party

Emma had a very fun birthday weekend. Her birthday was on Friday, so she took a bunch of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts for her class (her fave). Then Ben, Kate and I got to go eat lunch with her at school. Nana came up and we headed for Panda Express (her favorite dinner place), and then got ready for the big Party on Saturday! Wow, I didn't realize 8 year old girls could be sooo loud..my ears are still ringing :) But when all was said and done, I think the party was a success. She said it was the very best weekend of her ENTIRE life (maybe a bit dramatic :) and she informed Dave that night that there were now 363 days until her next birthday..the girl is hard-core! :)

                                                                  Emma and Dad

                                                               All of her buddies!

                                                      All of her friends being CRAZY!

                                                  I don't think she's excited AT. ALL.. :)

                                                            Singing Happy Birthday!

                                                                   Nana and Emma
Love you Emma!!!!

Katie's surgery

   I sat down to type out this post and realized that it was EXACTLY a year ago today that Kate had her first strep throat infection. She was just over a year old and broke out in weird red bumps all over her body. She was miserable. We were trying to get through Emma's birthday party when my mom called (she was watching Kate during the party) and said Katie was getting worse. Dave and I took her to urgent care where we seemed to stump everybody. No one was quite sure what was going on with her. Finally, the ER doctor decided to do a strep test, just to rule it out, and there it was- strep.
  Since that day 1 year ago, she has had 6 strep infections and countless colds and rashes. Been a rough year for all of us. About 2 or 3 months ago she quit sleeping through the night, and was up 2-4 times EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. Not cool...We realized that she was snoring VERY loudly and the ENT Doctor suggested that she was never able to go into a deep sleep because of her tonsils and adenoids. So, they scheduled her for surgery at Doernbecher Children's Hospital to get this taken care of!
  So now, one year later, we are getting ready to celebrate Emma's birthday tommorrow and hopefully this will be a new start for Kate. I can't wait to see how happy she will be once she recovers from the surgery! Here are a few pictures from the hospital...

 She was not allowed to eat or drink after midnight the night before, and she didn't go back for surgery until after 1pm. SO, this combination made for a VERY unhappy little girl. This was the worst part for Dave and I. She was begging us for something to eat and drink all morning...Ahhhhh...so hard! this pic says it all though, she was NOT happy with us :)

She did try and make the best of it though :) I love her....

Can you tell? :) This was right before they gave her the "sleepy" meds so she could head back for surgery

Here she is in the recovery room. So so sleepy and tuckered out..

After she woke up they moved her to her own room and Ben was such a big helper..

Dave stayed the night with her in the hospital (I don't think he slept- AT. ALL.) At about 11 the next day she got to come home! We love you Katie, and hope you start to feel sooo much better!

You know you need it mom

   Well, even amidst the chaos that has been the last 3 days, I can’t help but pause and share another proud mommy moment with you. I can’t think of a better way to put this so I’ll just say it: We’ve been trying to teach Ben how to wipe himself (ya’ll know what I mean so I’m not explaining any further). This TOTALLY grosses him out, which is pretty bizarro to me (I mean, really? You don’t think it grosses ME out??) So, in an effort to ease him into this harsh reality, we decided that we would help him in the morning (when he apparently can’t do it without gagging), and then he would have to do it himself in the afternoon.
 This afternoon he came running up to me and said,
 “Mom, I gotta go #2 so bad!”
  So I told him to go. Himself. Alone.
  He says to me, “Mom, I’ll give you a quarter if you come help me. I have the money in my room.”
  I just laughed and said, “Go for crying out loud!”
  So a few minutes later I hear him calling from the bathroom, “I AM DONE!”
  I yelled back, “You do it yourself!”
Then he yells back, “Come on, you know you need that money!”
Again, I couldn’t be prouder right about now…..

Don't give in..Don't give in..

     Recently I came to a conclusion. I  resigned myself to the fact that I will always be surrounded by animals (and no, I’m not talking about the kids…or Dave).  For some reason, Dave and I are total suckers when it comes to pets. It’s a scary combination. You see, Dave actually loves taking care of animals, and I like the idea of animals. Do you see the difference? When I see a puppy, reality slips from my grasp. Soft music starts playing as my eyes lock with the puppy. I envision a scene out of a  Norman Rockwell painting where my kids are frolicking in the meadow with this sweet bundle of fur.

   And many times, while I am in this nostalgic stuper, my family takes advantage of me. They know I am easily swayed while in this delicate state. I give in. I wholeheartedly believe their promises. “I’ll feed it every day!” “I won’t ask for anything else ever again!” “Mommy please, I’ve been wanting ants my whole entire life!” “Snakes are really cool mom, they’re not freaky!” “My friend has 2 ferrets and says they are so awesome!”. These are just the ones I hear from the kids. Dave is much more subtle in his attempts, therefore much more convincing. He says things like, “It really won’t be that much trouble, and I can do most of the work.” Or this one “It will be good for the kids to take care of a pet”. I AM A SUCKER..
   Our old yeller dog is our one true success story. He’s been with us from almost the beginning, and has the best personality. It’s just too bad the kids think he’s boring. I guess he’s just too normal for their taste. The bunny we got for Emma was high on something ALL THE TIME and eventually “ran” away to a beautiful farm somewhere. We’ve also had a guinea pig, hermit crabs, frogs, 2 other dogs, chickens and lots of fish. They are currently trying to convince me that turtles are very cool. I once held an ant farm in the car for 4 hours (that’s how much I love Ben).
   This brings me to present day. Ben apparently loves birds. I’ve strongly put my foot down about birds in my house. It’s a no. When I see birds I do NOT hear the soft music playing. I do not picture a Normal Rockwell. I picture a scene straight out of the Alfred Hitchcock movie. He was bummed, to say the least, but he’s adapted. He has “pet” birds that live in the tree outside our house. He’s pretty sure their names are Blue and Rainbow, that they’re married, and are planning to have a couple kids this spring. He made them a bird feeder, and every day takes them some pretzels, fish crackers and occasionally an oreo cookie to sustain them.

   Another strange development started 4 days ago. He goes out with a pretend microphone to give them the weather report. I eavesdropped the other day by cracking his bedroom window. He was talking loud and looking up into the tree. “Today’s gonna be really windy, maybe some snow, so you better stay in your nest all day guys”. Wow. The kids a die-hard. I yelled out at him “Hey, while your out there tell your friends in the tree to quit pooping on our cars!” He passed along the message.. Stay strong my friends, stick to your guns. Don’t let your kids convince you to do something crazy like I’ve done 5000 times….

Seriously?

As I was finishing up my 2.5 minute shower at 11:00am (you heard me right), I heard a blood-curdling scream. I was sure it was Katie and that I would soon be headed to the ER in nothing but a towel. Turns out it was Ben, and he came running down the hall holding his finger like it had been cut off. I feared the worst. The sobs were uncontrollable. I braced myself for something gross. As I pulled his hand away all I could make out was a tiny prick of blood. "What's wrong?" I yelled above all the hysteria (and yes, there was still soap in my hair). He caught his breath just long enough to scream, "Katie scratched me with her huge giant claw!" I looked down the hall and there was Katie peaking around the corner with apparently 10 razorsharp fingernails. OH MY WORD. Could we get more dramatic? As I put a bandaid over the dot of blood, I gently reminded him that his little sister is all of 2 feet tall and 1/2 his weight. And when he wasn't looking I did trim her nails...

What's that up in the sky?

This morning on the way to school Emma asked, "Mom, when I get home today can we play in the sprinkler? It's soooo nice outside!" Obviously, my kids have been sun deprived for so long that a 60 degree day requires swimsuits and sunscreen...

Hanging with friends

Last Saturday the kids got to see some of their very best friends, Preslie, Paige and Peyton. These girls were our neighbors for many years, and we just love em! Unfortunately it was a sad day for them all, as their wonderful grandpa passed away. We got to go to the memorial to celebrate Rick's life and then the girls came over for some dress-up and hanging out. Ben didn't want to be in the picture with all the fancy girls...

Doctor visits

   I learned a long time ago that my kids become the best truth-tellers when we’re at the Dr.’s office. Nothing is off limits and when they’re on that exam table I am completely helpless to what will come out of their mouths next. You know those yearly well child questionnaires you have to fill out? About safety, development, diet and TV time? Yeah, don’t ever fib on those, because your kids will rat you out as soon as you step in that office. Better just to be truthful from the start- then you might make it out alive.
   At Emma’s 4 year check up I marked that yes, of course my child only eats fast food maybe once a week. During our visit, her Dr. said, “And it looks like you’re doing great with fast food, only once a week.” Emma’s face kinda looked puzzled, and then she said, “We eat at McDonalds all the time.” Okay, just breathe, I thought to myself. I can get through this. Then the Dr. asked Emma what her favorite fruit or vegetable was. Emma said, “What’s a fruit?”. OH MY WORD. I wanted to crawl under the table and hide.
   At Ben’s visit last year she asked him what his favorite thing to do was. “Watch TV!” he said very enthusiastically. Hmmm.. I’m not winning Mother of the Year so far. There have been so many other things shared in the confines of that little room. “My mom lets us skip brushing our teeth sometimes when she’s really tired”. Or another little gem “One time we went a whole week without taking our vitamins!” ( Really? You really felt like you needed to share reveal that information? Right now?).
   I always feel like I want to scream “I do feed them vegetables, I really do! You’ve got to believe me,  I don’t know why they’re saying this, but I do limit screen time! Do you see I have three of them??? Do you see? They totally outnumber me here!”
    But really its no use. Their wonderful Dr. just smiles and makes notes in her chart. I’m choosing to believe she’s writing down a note to remember to pray for me.
   Today was not an exception. I took Ben in for his 5 year check-up and wisely filled out the form as truthfully as possible. Under the section on “Do you have any concerns about your child’s health you wish to discuss?” I marked NO. I didn’t really think there was. So, off we go with the check-up. Ben is charming as usual, and when asked what his favorite food is he says, “Coconut and Salmon”. Whew…. I smile proudly. He goes on to tell her how we are making superfood smoothies and then tells her that I make him work out with me sometimes. Hmmm.. She glances at me and I clarify “He wants to work out with me, for his muscles.” As if on cue, Ben flexes his HUGE muscles for her to see. So far so good. Then she says, “Well, everything looks pretty good here, it says you don’t have any concerns about him. So he’s good till next year. Do you have any concerns, Benjamin?”
He looks at her and says, “I have been having really bad headaches every day. My mom sometimes forgets to give me Tylenol.” Dang, I almost made it this time. Oh well, there’s always next check-up for me to seem like a super-mom. Here’s hoping…