jumbled thoughts

Jumbled thoughts of the moment...



Ben's surgery is just a few days away. The other day I thought maybe I screwed up big time because I had given him a couple doses of motrin but thankfully it was ok, just can't give him any more.

Yesterday was Ben's pre-op physical. It went fine. He is 24 pounds which is due to the meds that he is on but we are thrilled about the gain! After the appointment we had to go to the lab for a blood draw, yeah, that stunk! The place was so quiet and it still took an hour and a half because they are so stinkin slow there. And, yuck, I hate when my babies have to have blood taken. Luckily they got it on the first prick this time although the blood was slow at first and I was a bit worried. The results are in and two levels are "high, but we won't worry about them until next month". Ok, as a mom, I hate that! It's his calcium level and his platelet level. What can this mean? Well I did a quick google on the calcium and regretted it... AAARRRGGGHHH!

Trying to get a hotel room for Sunday night up close to the Children's hospital was a challenge because the local college is having graduation this weekend. One lady said, "We do have two rooms but they are both smoking, is that ok?" Um, no, not with Ben's asthma! I did find a room, it's pricey but it will do.

My mind is being consumed with the "what-if's" at times. I won't go into what they are because I am trying to keep them away. However, the doctor yesterday didn't help when she reminded me how much more Ben's asthma complicates things. We are going to a GREAT hospital, and the procedures are very routine so hopefully all will be just fine!



One more week of school for the big kids! Yeah!!! The weather has been chilly though so it doesn't seem like it is mid June.
We met friends at the park today so the kids could play. It was a bit wet and muddy but the kids had a great time. They had snacks, climbed "dirt mountain", pretended to fly away with giant leaves, swung, had snacks, got a couple boo-boos, ran around, had snacks, climbed and had a blast!
Chatting with a good friend was great and helped my mind keep busy too!

We are looking forward to lots of park play dates this summer!

Now, I need to go put my MP3 player on and do some cleaning while Ben naps and Maggie relaxes with a movie!

shock!

Yesterday when Katelyn got off the bus she was a little shocked about something. I think it may have been the huge hole in the ground outside!

Man, it made a much bigger mess then I thought it would! My vision was a tidy hole with a tidy pile of dirt next to it.

Obviously that was not the case!

We didn't let the kids play in it but they sure liked looking at it. Connor even thought we should fill it up with water so we could have our own frog pond.

So far today it now has some sand in it, that came from the HUGE pile of sand that was dumped in the middle of our front lawn (seriously pal, you couldn't have put it in a better place?!?!?), and a tank of propane. The "guy" should be coming to fill the hole in at some point today.

Luckily though, the kids now have a dirt pile down back to play in and a new giant rock that came out of the hole!!!

Look what we came home to in our driveway the other day. I wasn't really expecting it so it took me by surprise.

We are putting a new heating system in the house and this big tractor will dig the hole for the propane tank...

The kids were surprised to say the least! Maggie had the others convinced that it was ours to keep. "A man just dropped it off for us!". Actually, I think she had herself convinced as well.

They sure do like having it in the drive way and will be bummed at the end of the week when it's gone.

They, however, will be thrilled with the big dirt pile that is left behind! Don't worry, I will get some pictures of that. And maybe even my bathtub when they get done taking a bath after playing in it. Cause, you know, they will play in it and will love it. And, I don't mind that. Chris will mind a little but will get over it if I am the one to bathe the children after.

I think we should buy a farm. Our kids look good in the tractor. Of course, if it is our farm they will be in the cab and not in the bucket.

Oh, and by-the-way, their butts were filthy after sitting in it!

Connor's birthday party

On Connor's birthday we celebrated at a local environmental conservation place. It was a "pond" themed party, which if you know Connor at all, is right up his alley!
The hardest part was for Connor, Chris and I to try and figure out who to invite because there could only be 15 kids. It's crazy but that was really hard for us, especially since we have four out of the 15 right in our own family!

The kids were so well behaved! The woman who ran the party was just amazed at how well the entire group did. I wasn't suprised though, as the "teacher" did a fantastic job of keeping the kids attention!

Ben had a great time walking around, checking things out, and playing with the nets. You can't really see it but he has a frog on his shirt. It's actually a jammie shirt but, A. I didn't realize that until after I put it on him (it was a new hand-me-down that we just got) and B. It fit perfectly in the theme of the day.

I would have to say that the favorite part of the party, by far, was when the teacher poured pond water and other "stuff" into the buckets for the kids to investigate and sort.

These three boys are the same age and have been best friends since they were born! Justin, Connor, and Matt-Matt!

They used yogurt cups, plastic spoons, turkey basters, and ice-cube trays to sort the "stuff".

Even some of the kids that I thought would have no interest seemed to love doing this.

It was amazing what they found but I would have to say that the absolute favorite was the many crayfish they found!

Ry got right up close to the yogurt cup that held a few of the crayfish.

When the thunderstorms and rain took a break we all headed out to the pond to catch some frogs. We saw quite a few of them but those frogs were smart and quick! A few times someone would catch one and the frog would quickly hop out of the net and swim away to hide.

Sierra did find a whole bunch of frog eggs though, that was really exciting.

They were a bit slimy in my opinion but the kids thought they were really neat so that's what counts.

And, although it was a frog pond birthday Connor really wanted a "How to Train Your Dragon" cake. I was excited to find a place that would make a "cupcake cake" for me which made it so much easier to pass them out.

I had a little fun with the birthday boy by putting magic candles on his cake that wouldn't blow out. I wonder, is there any way other then water to put them out???

All the kids gobbled up the cupcakes and the ice cream sandwiches!

Then we headed home where Connor opened up his gifts. We just didn't have time at the party since we were so busy doing other fun stuff! He got some really great gifts that he has had such a fun time with!

Another great birthday for a great kid!

Super-powers in a bag...

"Mama look, this is full of super-powers. You can't open it or the super powers will spill out. Then they will be all gone and then there will be none left."

"See all the bubbles? Those are the super-powers. They are super elementary powers. When you open it they will go away. They splatter out fire"

Tid-bits/Just "stuff"

This morning began way to soon! After a night of Ben waking up many times miss Maggie came in at 5:10am ready for the day. Not long after Ben was up for the day. We laid in my bed for a little bit but then gave up at 5:45, resigning to the fact that the day had begun. Oh well....



The driver's side door of my van got stuck in lock last week. After many times of getting in and out the passenger door I was able to get it unlocked. I took it to the auto body place, he fooled around with it a bit and said he would need it for a day to fix it. It got dropped off on Sunday night and was "fixed" yesterday. My mother-in-law was so kind and picked it up for us. However, when she got it to our house she wasn't able to get out! She was locked in and had to climb across the seat to get out. Guess it wasn't fixed after all. Now we have to get it back to the auto body place again!



Maggie finishes up school this week for the summer! The two older kids finish up next week. We are so excited for the summer to begin! I have to get to the town hall to register for summer programs and get our family pool pass.

Maggie has a special end of the year show tomorrow night, she is supposed to be a monkey, perfect! Then on Thursday her whole class will be taking a trip to a farm for a few hours of animal fun and lunch. Hopefully it will be nicer then it was last year when we went!

Ben is saying a few words. I think he is a bit confused though as he tends to bark to let us know what he wants. Well, that and pointing his finger at everything. His new pathetically adorable thing is when we tell him "no" he gets a sad face and lays his head down in his hands. Sometimes there is a very sad cry to go along with it too. Not adorable, but a tiny bit cute, is when he lays down on the ground and throws a fit. He hasn't perfected it quite yet but unfortunately I don't think that is too far off.



Oh, and speaking of Ben, this coming Monday is his big surgery/tests day up at the Children's hospital. I am so anxious for this to finally happen! It will be a long couple of days but will hopefully give us the long awaited answers of what is going on inside his little body. Oh, and it is good timing because he has another ear infection and one of his tubes appears to be already falling out. Two weeks ago it was the left ear and now it is the right ear. He is seeing the doctor today to see if the drops are working or if he needs to go on oral antibiotics.

Connor is loving being six although he keeps forgetting. He was a bit confused as to why he wasn't riding the bus to school now that he is six. I had to explain that he will in the fall when he starts 1st grade. He is loving all the goodies and great stuff he got for his birthday. I would say that as of today his favorite is the two frog habitats and the bug catching stuff. Tomorrow it will be something else though!

Katelyn had another field trip today and was so excited. The whole 2nd grade was heading down to the center of our town to explore all of the history it has to offer. She finished up swim lessons last night and is happy that she gets to move up to the next level. She is one step away from swim team level!!!

So, there you have it, tid-bits, just "stuff" from our every day lives....

Silly bands

Do you know what "silly bands" are??? Here is a picture of one.... They are just plastic bracelets that are in the shapes of animals and other things.
This one is a frog. Connor asked me to take a picture of it and then he said, "Ok, now go put it on Facebook so every one can see them."

Whoever invented these bands is RICH! Kids are going CRAZY for these things.

Yesterday when I was driving by a drug store I noticed on the sign it said "We have silly bands" so I made a quick turn in to get some.

This morning I gave a couple of the packages to Connor for his birthday. He was beyond thrilled! He quickly took them all out of the package, lovingly looked at each one, shared a few with his sisters, and finally put the rest of them on.

The frog one is his favorite and he thinks the glow in the dark ones are really cool!

(Boy, I wish I had invented these things!!!)