Elijah

One of these days I'll get him to smile in front of the camera.
He really is a happy little guy, I promise. I just figured I hadn't posted a pic of my babe in forever so I tried to get him to smile for a picture, but it wasn't happening. :p He's been so awesome all week for me while his siblings are at school. He sure is happy to see them when they get home though. I'm just grateful he's been his cheerful little self and not whiny and sad like I was told to expect. He really does have an awesome smile. I'll catch it on film one of these times. :p

ready... set... go!

I was able to get my camera talking to my computer, so here's a shot of LV on his first day of school. He's absolutely loving it, and we're starting to adjust to the new schedule. He's got the nicest teacher and a familiar face or two from the neighborhood.
I'm still way tired, but that just seems to be a permanent thing these days. Thankfully Elijah is easy to please and is doing okay with the others all gone to school. LV has been so ready for this, and is off to a great start. Hooray little Vern! I'm so proud of you. :)

Back to School

Yesterday was LV & B's first day of school. Little Vern was so excited! Elijah and I walked him over & I took a bunch of pictures. When I came home and went to blog about it my camera wouldn't talk to my computer. I don't know if something is wrong with the cord, the camera or what but yeah. I'm hoping to get it figured out today. It's almost time to walk LV over for day 2 though, so it'll have to wait until this afternoon.

Happy Tuesday!

Sunday is meme day :)

The One Word Meme:

You: Tired
Home: Ugh
Life: Good
Family: Crazy but Awesome
Mood: Pensive
Want: Chocolate
Need: Excedrin
Love: Kiddos
Like: Pepsi
Tunes: Daughtry

Now there's a lazy Sunday meme. :)
Have a great day!

Quiet time.

We got to meet Little Vern's teacher today during his assessment over at the elementary school. I think he's less afraid and more excited now, though he keeps reminding me that I have to walk him there every day. Yes I know sweetie, don't worry. Brandon starts on Monday too. I think he's a little less excited, but at least he got the schedule he wanted and hopefully he'll somehow get out of the "mandatory locker share" that made him a little grumpy. He doesn't want to have to lug everything home every day since it's such a long walk, but a shared locker assignment? Eeeew. We shall see. Hopefully it works out okay. It'll be a busy weekend getting last minute stuff for him like we did for Kirsten last week.

It's been crazy busy here. I went a day without my WoW subscription, which while it was a bummer was good timing to get some things (like the entire house lol) in order. Sadly I can't say that it's done yet. And I still haven't been playing much even though it's back up. There's just so much to do. Four kiddos home all day all Summer long makes things fall apart quite thoroughly. Hopefully they've enjoyed the break though. I've been regretting that I let them stay up late all Summer long - the adjustment to the new schedule is kicking our butts. I've been constantly tired lately anyway, so yeah.

I did get some quiet time today. I got to go for a walk by myself to get Brandon & I some Slurpees. Just me, some sunshine, my mp3s and a pina colada-coke concoction. Sheer bliss. Hoobastank played, and The Reason fit so well with my thoughts that I figured I'd share it here. I've always loved this song, but it hit home somehow today. I'm glad it did - I got to look up the video to share and um, mmmmm - I didn't realize that the lead singer had such a cute baby face, and um yeah. Yummy.

P.S. I'm going to be playing with my template for this blog to see if I can condense the ever growing archives and play with the elements some. I'll keep my colors the same I think though. We shall see. Sorry if it looks wonky while I tweak it.

Twas the night before 5th grade

...and we had quite the scare.

Kirsten came running down to Vern last night with a hurt wrist that LV had stepped on. He took one look at the bump and told her "it's broken." They showed me. I agreed. We splinted her forearm and I covered for Vern in the run he'd been in on WoW while he drove her to the ER. I was contemplating how her first weeks of school would be with a cast on her right arm. Yeah, she's right-handed.
The xrays showed that her bones were perfectly fine and that the bump was a cyst. Apparantly it's common for children to have cysts in their soft tissue, and that's what this is. We have no idea why it only appeared at the surface after she'd been stepped on, and how something so big could hide in the first place. I mean, it's pretty big. The good news is that she's fine and went to school today cast-free. She was brave at the ER, and only cried when they told her it was a cyst. (There was some explaining that there are different kinds of cysts and that she does not have cancer like her grandpa.) If it ever bothers her we can have it removed. No prescription, no cast - just a cool blue hospital bracelet to show off to her friends today. Whew.

A meme for Sunday

What's the last thing you ate?
Does a glass of water count? oooh, I had a fudgesicle last night. :) I'm still figuring out what to have for lunch.
Name something you say daily.
"I love you" to my kiddos.
What color is your favorite t-shirt?
black
What book are you currently reading?
I just finished the Redemption of Althalus by David & Leigh Eddings last night. A lot of my friends have been reading Eclipse. I'm itching to read that series and see what they're all talking about.
Name 3 things on your bathroom counter.
Um, my hairdryer, Brandon's hairspray & tp. Share the most recent picture of you. Run and take one if you don't have one ;)
I've already shared it, but the b-day shot is the most recent. Here we go bw for variety. lol I promise you don't want me grabbing my camera right now. Let's just say it's hot & I'm comfy. ;)
Name something you do daily.
Uh, brush my teeth. I'd like to say play WoW, but with the pain I've been having I've actually not been playing as much.

Have a great day!

My (not so) little girl.

She's 10 years old today. Unbelievable. One week away from 5th grade, just shy of 5 feet tall and hitting the double digits. Kirsten will be towering over me soon and already wears my shoes. :p She's a stubborn one (we'll blame Vern... lol) and a smart one. She's awesome with her little brothers and getting better at cleaning her room. ;) I sure hope she has an awesome day today. Happy birthday beautiful! I love you. :)

August 13th

He's 16 today.I can't believe it's been 16 years. Wow. There's no trace of my chubby little babe left except the big blue eyes and likeable smile. He's as cute now as he was then though. And he's developed such an amazing strength of character & such compassion along the way. Really, I couldn't be more proud of him than I am for what he's accomplished and how he's made it through his trials so far in life. This right here is an awesome young man. I was told just the other day that there was no way I was Brandon's mom - that it was physically impossible. Ha! I have more proof than necessary and more love for this young man than that well meaning stranger could possibly know. I do wish I had a new picture of him, but he's not awake yet to bug so this old one will do for now.
Happy birthday Brandon! I hope that you have an awesome day and that you feel loved & appreciated. You are. More than you may ever know.

Anyone have any good pain remedies? My neck actually hurt worse when I woke up this morning. :o( Now not only can I not turn my head like in previous days, it hurts to hold it up period. Owie. I actually had someone make a rude comment to me yesterday about it, so I will stop complaining - just thought I'd throw one last request out there to see if there's anything I haven't tried. It really hurts.

wicked weekend

Lagoon was a blast yesterday. We're all a little sunkissed & the kiddos slept really well last night. ;) Wicked - the new ride - lived up to it's name. It was so much fun! Kirsten braved it with Brandon and I. Now there's a proud mommy moment. lol

Now to make it through the week. B's 16th birthday is tomorrow. Kirsten will be 10 on the 15th. Wowsers. Hopefully some day soon my neck will stop hurting. I don't know what I did to it but yeah, it hurts. I'm on day 3 of owieness and nothing I've tried has touched it yet :( I'm sure the rollercoaster riding didn't help, or the sitting in this chair for the kara run tonight for that matter but hey having fun is worth a little pain right? I do think I'm going to go have another hot shower and spend some quality time with my heating pad again. I hope that anyone who reads this has had themselves a good weekend. :)

sunshine, waterslides & rollercoasters

We're headed to Lagoon tomorrow with Vern's work. Any place that has rollercoasters & waterslides gets my vote on how to spend a Saturday. My kiddos are excited and frantically looking for bathing suits and such. LV brought me my shoes hoping we were headed out right when I told them. lol

Update on little Vern - I think that by tomorrow he'll be close to looking like his old self again. He's just a little swollen now. Thank goodness for Benadryl.

Happy Friday blog readers! Have a great weekend!

Yeah...

Remember that mosquito bite I mentioned yesterday? And how I mentioned that LV has always had bad allergic reactions to things? Well...
This morning he woke me up telling me that he couldn't open one of his eyes. Um, yeah. Not the pink eye I was expecting before I looked him over. I called Vern, who asked if I'd given him benadryl yet, took pictures to e-mail him since I don't even know how to describe this kind of swelling and then administered said medicine. All the while LV has been holding a cold compress to his face. (Of course when I told him to get a washcloth wet with cold water to do this he chose the hugest bath towel possible. lol) I think the benadryl is working. He looks a little more like my little Vern now and is being a trooper about being stuck on the couch with his huge wet towel. Biggest hugs to him. I think we'll make it a cuddle in front of movies kind of day. Maybe I can find us some popcorn. Thankfully he says it doesn't hurt. I'm hoping that all it takes is the benadryl because Vern is on his way to Ogden atm, and I have no way to get him to the doctor unless we walk over. Besides, he was just there yesterday. What did I say yesterday? That with LV and his reactions to things there's almost always something going on? Yeah...

You are my sunshine.

LV went to the doctor's office today for his headed-to-school checkup with a huge mosquito bite smack in the middle of his forehead. He's always had horrible reactions to insect bites. Between his allergies & sensitivities he almost always has something going on.I tend to refer to him as my walking sunshine. He has the best laugh, an always-ready smile and such a fun little personality. I'm excited for him that the school year is almost here, but I'll miss my little doses of sunshine throughout the day.

Bring on the Rain

I love me a nice thunderstorm & we've had some good ones here lately. The only problem is that rain makes me sleepy. As if I wasn't a sleepyhead already. :p

For my Sunday post I thought I'd do this photo-scavenger hunt type meme. I have a bazillion pics on my comp, so it works for me. You just have to post an existing photo for each word in the meme. I've seen folks grab photos from online, but I think I can do it with my 50+ gigs worth of photos stored here.

Love

promise

Youth

Togetherness

Expression

Quiet

Laughter

Home

(I actually have more than one home, but here's where I grew up.)

Oh Noes!

Well it's official.It's been a year since I last posted a birthday picture of myself. For the first time ever I don't really feel like advertising my age. :p When I was a little kid my mom was 35 forever. Seriously. It was the last birthday I could remember her having for the longest time and it was stuck in my head for a few years that she was that age. It's not a horrible age to be, it's just something that in my head is associated with being a grown up. Being a mom. Well obviously I am those things. I guess it just doesn't usually feel so official. lol Yeah, I'm tired and making no sense, but my birthday wouldn't be the same without a midnight-ish "happy birthday to me" post including the yearly picture. (Which as usual may or may not get to stay up for very long. Last year's didn't make it 2 weeks. It was utter pookiness. This years is iffy, but I think I hate it less. I made a bw version thinking I usually like my skin better in bw, but my kiddos voted color. It could possibly disappear, or be replaced with a different shot, or suddenly be bw. We shall see. lol)

Anyway, have a great Thursday. I know I plan on it! :o)