Seattle Trip

We had some friends, the Smiths come visit. They were actually headed up to Seattle for the weekend.  Lisa ran in the Seattle Marathon so we tagged along to hang out with them. Matt got off work a tiny bit early so we could get up to Seattle in a timely manner. Once we got there and checked in to our hotel, Lisa, Ryan and their boys headed to downtown Seattle to pick up Lisa's runners packet. We decided to go for a walk to dinner. Matt looked up the Cheesecake Factory the second we got there, since he knew that's where I would want to go. 

Emma is a "fun" kid to sit next to at restaurants. Poor Matt got the pleasure this time. Notice her foot up on the table. Sheesh. 

Maylee wanted a picture too of course. She was looking at herself instead of the camera :) 

Ty got a photo with me too. This was the first REAL meal that he had eaten since his surgery and he actually did pretty well. He ordered grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and broccoli and he ate pretty well! All our food was tasty and Matt said since all the kids ate so well (especially Ty) that he could order cheesecake. When in Rome right? So Ty weighed all the options and went with Fresh Strawberry. He ordered and paid all by himself and we got it at the front desk so it could be take out. 

Luckily last minute we brought two strollers for the girls. Ty and Matt had a great time racing home. I was just trying to keep up. Walking that far up hill so fast right after eating a big yummy meal of chicken and pasta about put me over the edge! 

The next morning we grabbed breakfast at the hotel. Ryan was able to get text alerts on Lisa's progress. She started off pretty quick, running just over 7:30 min. miles, but then slowed down to about 10 minutes miles. It was quite an impressive feat for her considering she is 10 weeks PREGNANT! Amazing. Anyhow so we tried to time it so we didn't sit along the race route with littles for a long time. We took off and tried to get there about 30 minutes before she finished. 

Wwwwweeeeelllll turns out traffic getting downtown was a nightmare. I don't know how long it took us to get there and park, but it was a long time. She had finished the race by the time we even parked and we had to still walk about 5 blocks. 

Ryan was bummed, since he hasn't ever gotten there in time to see her finish. She ran it with her mom though, and her Dad was there on his bike riding back and forth to all the spectator locations. So she had family there but it was still sad that we missed it. 

We eventually met up with her and her parents. We hung out around the race venue for a while just relaxing and soaking up the sun. 

When we looked up the weather before we left it was supposed to be a high of 70 and partly cloudy. Well it was only 10:30 am and definitely hotter than 70. Well at least it felt that way. Ty was having a hard time that I didn't pack his swim suit so he could play in that MASSIVE sprinkler dome thing behind them. Everyone rolled up their pants and walked around down there. 

We started to go and Matt and Ryan decided they wanted to go up the elevator of the space needle. Well Lisa and I weren't going along for the ride, since it was $26 per person and $15 per kid. Emma, Lisa, Carson (their youngest) and I waited while the rest of our group went to the top. Matt took a few pictures of the view, and Ty told me he really liked it. 

Afterwards we walked over to a pizza joint picked up some early dinner and headed home. The kids did surprisingly well for having such a busy day with no naps. The night previous we stayed in a hotel room where we incidentally booked a room with two STANDARD size beds instead of two queen beds. By far the smallest beds Matt and I have tried to sleep on. Emma ended up in bed with me, with her feet in my face and Matt slept half on the foot of the bed where Maylee and Ty were sleeping. It was a pretty rough night :)

Sunday we just relaxed and tried to re-coup from the quick trip to Seattle. The kids all played well together and we got to chat more with the Smiths. It was good to see them for their quick weekend trip and we were glad we could tag along for a little tourism in Seattle. 

Weekend fun?

Yes, that question mark is on purpose. We had some fun times and some rough times over the last week. 

Nate and his family came up on Thursday. Nate, Kelly and Amber left on Friday morning to go to Olympia. Kelly was shooting a wedding up there for her sister in laws sister. We watched Tanner, Dallin and Ashlyn on Friday and Saturday while they were gone. 

Ty's recovery has had it's ups and downs. I think having Tanner and Dallin here was good at some points, to keep his mind off the pain and play a little. His cousins were really good at understanding why Ty is eating so many Popsicles and drinking Gatorade instead of eating a regular breakfast, lunch and dinner. Ashlyn, Maylee and Emma had a grand ole time being with each other and I only heard the occasional drama or tattling. 

Friday was Dallins Birthday. He got to choose the movie (a daily occurrence this last week, I am nervous for when I'll have to wean Ty off media...) Dallin chose Despicable me 2. He chose dinner, which was Waffles with Strawberries with scrambled eggs. Problem was, Matt ended up working 2 hours late and we ran out of eggs. Dallin was so cute, he kept saying "we can all go to the store..." Well I wasn't about to brave walmart with 6 kids 7 and under while pregnant, that is how you end up on those FB post labeled "Guess what I saw at Walmart!" Dallin kept telling me his mom does it all the time. My response was that Kelly must be super woman. 

We eventually got the ingredients we needed and ate dinner a little later then planned. Afterwards I made cupcakes. Dallin wanted Pokemon pokeball cupcakes, the best I could do was vanilla with white icing and red sprinkles. 

Dallin had been telling me about how cool ninja turtles were all day, so we got him a talking Leonardo TMNT. I think he liked it. 

Saturday in the morning the kids got dressed and headed out to OMSI. That wasn't a good activity for Ty, since he was still supposed to be doing quiet less energy consuming activities. So Matt took Tanner Dallin, Ashyln and Maylee there. Ty, Emma and I stayed home. I worked on a few hairbows for the ward auction later that night while Emma took an early nap and Ty watched How to Train Your Dragon. Before Matt left he looked up some movies and we decided to take him to How to train Your Dragon 2 so he wouldn't be stuck at home while everyone else was having fun at the museum. After Emma got a decent morning nap we headed over to see the movie. It was good. Emma was fairly busy, but not a nightmare and I brought a ton of snacks for her so it worked out all right. 

Here are the hairbows I made. 

We all got home at about the same time for a late lunch. After lunch I started on the cinnamon rolls for Fathers Day and the ward Auction while also finishing up the hairbows. 

We were running late but got a quick dinner and headed over to the church. I think all the kids had fun, well all but Ty. He sat on my or Matt's lap the whole time with his blanket whining. Poor kid. 

Nate and Kelly got back with Amber late on Satuday Night. Sunday was Father's Day, nights have been a bit of a blur... Maylee's allergies have kicked up and her eyes are super itchy and gooby. Her nose is runny and she lets you know it when she can't breathe at night, on top of Emma's usual shenanigans of waking up at 4 am thinking she's good to go... All while Ty is waking up every 3 hours or so in a terror that his throat, ears or neck hurt. In all the chaos (that the N spence family seemed to sleep through well enough) I forgot to pull the cinnamon rolls out to raise at 4 am like I usually do. 

I did salvage them a bit by quick raising them in the oven and we were able to eat them for breakfast. Matt stayed home with Ty that morning, we had had enough and pulled out the big guns on him, liquid Vicodin instead of just alernating ibuprofen and Tylenol. He responded well to the medication, meaning he told me if the temple were a clock then at six o'clock the tip of the temple would scrape the ground. He was higher then a kite and not in pain. 

The rest of us went to church. Earlier that week we made the "smart" desicion of taking away Emma's pacifier. It made for some fun nights and church she was alllllll over the place. Again I finally got her quiet by letting her munch on snacks. Church was great, I was sad that Matt missed it since it was Father's Day, but I made sure to get him his treat and his prize. The relief society planned it all and had moms send pictures of fathers with their children. They had a big display table of various dads in the ward with all their kids, it was really cute. I couldn't find a more recent, better picture... But this one is adorable so it worked. 

We got home and Matt and Ty had cleaned up the whole house, prepped for dinner and started watching a movie! We ate lunch, kids took naps and played and we made burgers and grilled chicken with watermelon and chips for dinner. I think it was enjoyed by all. 

Nate got to sample Matts favorite burger (with the sausage queso on it) he said he liked it. That's queso is addicting. 

I snagged a few questionnaires at church as well for the kids to fill out for Matt. 

They gave some pretty cute responses. I didn't coax or change anything. I just wrote the answer exactly as they said it. I did clarify if they didn't understand the question but that's it. 

Sunday was also Ambers First Birthday. I kept wishing her a happy birthday... I don't think she got it haha. I bet Kelly has a cute photo session planned for her soon. She was so cute scooting around after Emma. At one point Emma started crawling and scooting on her bum right along with Amber! 

Matt decided he needed some cookies after the kids went to bed, so he started making his delicious chocolate chip cookies. Well, somehow the back small burner was turned on low. No one noticed, I hadn't used that burner for days and days so it must have been accidentally bumped. Matt had our flour plastic container sitting on top of it, it took about 30 minutes, but eventually it burned through. We didn't smell burning plastic until after the incident. It took quite a while but eventually Matt got it cleaned up enough and made his cookies. I snagged one and tried to get some sleep. Ty was awake with me so I wanted him to go to bed at a decent time as well, and not watch Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol. I think it was about 10:30 or so. 

Well Sunday night was the night that I threw in the towel, between my allergies, Ty nearly suffocating me with him constantly wrapping his arms around my neck while he sleeps, Emma waking up about 3 times and Maylee needing help wiping her eyes to get the swelling down and goobies out, I think it was 5 am that I announced quite loudly that I didn't care if the whole house woke up, but that I was going to bed. Luckily only Matt heard that exhausted announcement and took the rest of the "night" shift. Later I felt bad, since he didn't end up coming home for lunch since work was so busy that day. Nate Kelly and their kids left around 10 am or so to meet up with other cousins in Eugene. I cleaned up the house a bit then all of us took naps, like 2-3 hour naps. It was glorious! Poor Matt came home super tired but muscled through a work out and doing a few odds and ends while I ransacked the fridge for left overs to serve.

Yesterday was a better day for Ty, not great but better. I am hoping today he is closer to normal and that he will stop babying his voice and speak normally. Right now it comes out as a high pitched whine. We catch a few phrases here and there with his normal voice though so hopefully we're near the light at the end of the tunnel with his pain and soreness. Oh and Maylee seems to be doing better plus Emma I think is fully adjusted to no paci. Whew! 

Now I've been trying to catch up on everything, bills, cleaning, laundry... You know the good stuff.

Special Edition Matt Post: Ty's Surgery from a Fathers perspective

(Matt didn't tell me all this this morning on the phone or when he brought Ty home... glad he didn't I would have lost it a lot sooner. Get your tissues out, it's a doozey folks)

I was given one of the best Father’s Day gifts I have ever received, by the ultimate Father.  I was given a glimpse of the pure love my Heavenly Father has for each of us, from His perspective.  How did he do that, you ask?  The same way he always teaches His children, through experience.

Ty turned 5 yesterday.  And what better way to welcome a birthday than through a painful and scary surgery.  Ty needed to have his tonsils removed.  I have always been less emotional about these types of things, so Mickie and I agreed I should take him in for the surgery.  We showed up at 7am this morning to the doctor’s office.  He knew why he was there, so naturally, he was nervous and did not want to go in.  We said a prayer in the car and ask Heavenly Father to bless the doctors and bless Ty.

Ty followed me into the offices and matched me step for step.  He would shrink behind my leg when the nurses asked if he was Ty.  The kind nurses walked us back to a pre-op room and the nerves finally caught up to Ty.  He sat in my lap and held me as tight as he ever has.  He cried and would not let the nurses put little socks on his feet, instead of his crocs.  They tried every bribe in the book, but Ty has never done anything because others have been able to trick him.  He does things when he is ready and this time he was not ready.

The nurses left the room and gave us some time to sit and talk.  We read a book and I could feel his body start to relax.  But soon, the anesthesia doctor came in and began to tell me how the operation would go.  I think he thought Ty was deaf or wouldn’t get it, but he spared no details as he told me about the surgery.   I asked if I could accompany Ty to the operating room so that I could be with him when they put him under. “I’m sorry, no; we can’t allow parents in the room.”  His explanation didn’t matter and I hardly heard the reason why.  I could only feel Ty tighten his grip on my shirt.  As he left the room, the anesthesia doctor turned and said, “the nurses will be right in to take Ty back.”

What was there to say at that moment?  I knew my son was scared and I knew he realized his Dad would not be with him. There was nothing I could say that would make that fear go away.  Moments later the nurse walked in.  Ty flinched and reached for my neck.  His big blue eyes now swelling with tears looked up at me and said, “No.”  In his eyes was pure fear and at that moment, I wanted to grab him up and run for the exits.  I could not let my first born son go through this.  I knew it would not be easy and the fact that he needed to do it on his own broke my heart.  The nurse looked at me and said, “we are almost ready, I will be right back to take Ty with me and you will go to the waiting room.”

I took Ty and stood him up in front of me.  I looked him deep in the eyes and said, “I need you to do this and I need you to be brave.”  A simple plea from a helpless voice came, “please Dad, I don’t want to go in there.”  I promised him that I would never make him do this if it was not necessary.  I also told him that as soon as he was done, I will come and get him.

The nurse opened the door and asked if he was ready to go.  A slight pause and then I witnessed a courage I presume few have ever witnessed.  He grabbed his blanket and walked passed all three nurses into the operating room.  I found out later, from the nurses, that he did everything they asked him to do and was an ideal patient.

As I was sitting in the waiting room, amazed by my own son’s courage and faith, I had a thought planted in my mind; I’m sure by the spirit.  I thought of when Joseph Smith went to Carthage to deliver himself up to the pretended requirements of the law, two or three days previous to his assassination, when he said: “I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer’s morning.   This led me to think of the Savior, when he pled to the Father to have His bitter cup removed, but ultimately submitted to the will of the Father and fulfilled all righteousness. 

I always thought of the lamb being led to the slaughter as an ignorant animal. I never thought of the lamb as innocent and willing to sacrifice.  Nor did I ever imagine seeing it from a Father’s perspective.  My Heavenly Father gave me a very personal experience and allowed me a glimpse of how He felt as he watched his son, willingly partake of the eternal and atoning sacrifice.  Perhaps, when Jesus was on the cross and cried out for his Father, “why have you forsaken me?” Heavenly Father was pacing in the “waiting room,” anxious for that moment when he could rush to His son’s side.

I will forever be grateful to the Son who willing gave his life for me and a Father who played an equally challenging role in allowing the sacrifice to be fulfilled.

Ty again, tonsillectomy time.

On Monday was Ty's 5 year well child check up. We switched pediatricians so since our other one (Dr. Chao) moved to South Carolina for her husbands work. We were able to switch to a Ped closer to home at the Vancouver Clinic that is only 5 minutes away instead of 20 min. away.

Dr. Miller was really great and Ty did well with everything during his check up. My favorite part was when the nurse asked if he knew his letters, he said yes... So she gave him a little wooden thing to cover up one eye while she gave him a vision test. He tested 20/30 in both eyes which is great for kids his age. As we were walking back into our room he whispers, "Mom, why was she quizzing me on my letters?" Haha he didn't get that it was a VISION test not a reading or letter recognition test. Either way he got 100% right. 

He changed into a little hospital gown, which was pretty much the cutest, I wish I would have taken a picture of him in it. Dr. Miller complimented him numerous times on how great of a kid Ty is, very responsible and a good helper with his sisters (whom I was trying to keep away from the medical equipment at that moment) and how articulate he is for such a little guy. It wasn't until the very end that I told him about getting shots. When I told him he cried and then said "wait, last time I got a shot it didn't hurt at all..." Then he stopped crying for a bit. But when the M.A. came back in with the needles he sat on my lap and scream/cried while she gave him three shots in the legs. I explained what each one was for, and how they were to help him. He was tough but still a 5 year old and cried for a little while after in my lap. Truth be told I cried for him too. I hate shots as well, so much so I still remember getting my immunizations as a child his age. Not my favorite. We talked about it again later and he doesn't seem scarred for life however. This experience confirmed that I should not go with him in two days for his Tonsillectomy. It was tough for me to sit there with his through 3 shots. 

His stats are, 38lbs (30th percentile) and 3'6" (32nd percentile). He's actually up from his 4 year check up on height, he was in the 15th percentile so the little guy is growing nicely. 

Yesterday was his Birthday. When he woke up I blew up some more balloons for him to stomp on. He loves doing it, it makes me cringe every time he does it. 

We had a fairly normal day, I watched a friends son then Ty went and played for the morning at a friends house while I ran an errand or two. More on my errand running story another day... He had lunch and watched a Magic School Bus episode or two. Matt came home for his lunch around 1:30 so Ty was ready to open his last present from Grandma Kay and Grandpa Harvey. Clearly Grandpa Harvey chose the gift and Grandma Kay wrapped it. My mom knows that Ty doesn't care if it's in a pink bag or not. 

It's Optimus Prime Beast Hunter. He LOVES it. Matts only comment was... "Thanks Harvey..." Meaning every time Ty wants to transform it he has to wait for Matt to do it because it's still too complicated for him. However it's not nearly as complicated as the Bumble Bee that Santa brought for him... So it only takes a minute or two. He has a sword and a shield and he shoots 5 different kinds of missiles. He even lights up! It's all he played with yesterday.

I took a mini nap, and the kids got ahold of my iPad apparently... 

 Later, we went to the park to play with Dax and Tess who were out of town for his Birthday Party. We came home and he requested I make Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Corn on the Cob and Watermelon for dinner. It was easy and delicious. 

After Dinner the kids rode bikes for a while. 

I tried to get one of Ty, but he's too much of a blur on his big bike now.

After bike riding the girls took a bath while I took Ty with me to Safeway to pick up his post op goodies.  He thought it was pretty cool that I let him get 3 boxes of Popsicles, Gatorade, pudding, jello and apple juice. It did take a while to fill his last prescription, which they asked for us to have on hand for right after the surgery. So while I was there I chatted with the pharmacist about my allergy issues and I got yet another kind to try. It doesn't seem to be making much of a dent either, BUT I'll give it another couple days before giving the final verdict. 

We got home kind of late and I put Ty to bed in his tiger PJ's. We went through the regular bedtime routine then as I was leaving he said, "mom I won't be tired tomorrow morning, so I think we need to move my Dr. visit to another tomorrow" I was hoping that he wasn't thinking real hard about it all, because I sure was, and was scared for him. I explained this was nearly the only time we could do it so it had to be tomorrow. He fretted for a moment but calmed down and I checked on him 10 minutes later he was asleep. I took his water bottle from him (no food or drink after midnight) and I tried to get ready for bed. I slept terribly. I don't know if it was the new allergy meds or me freaking out but I do t think I got more than 30 minutes of continuous sleep. Emma had a rough night too, so I kept getting up with her. 

The time finally came, and Matt got up and took Ty. Ty wasn't worried until the nurse came to get him. Matt said she was a really good nurse, she let him pick a toy and the smell that they would use I. The special mask they would give him to fall asleep. He picked a hot wheel type tank toy and apple juice as his smell. He was still worried and wouldn't go with the nurse right away, so the nurse gave them a few more minutes, which gave Matt and chance to talk to Ty some more. After a minute or two the nurse came back and Ty reluctantly yet bravely bundled up his blanket in his arms, let go of Matt and walked back to the OR with the nurse. Matt called me to tell me his was in surgery and I nearly cried thinking about it. I knew I wouldn't be able to hold it together so that was definitely something that Matt was going to have to do. Matt says he hardly held it together watching Ty walk back by himself. 

When they were done with the operation, while Ty was beginning to come out of it Dr. Mitchell came out and told Matt everything went well and smoothly. He didn't foresee any problems and didn't need to see Ty for a follow up appointment. The nurse got Matt so he could be there with Ty. He woke up not super happy about the numbing in his tongue, throat and lips. He whimpered on the way home and on the couch with us for about an hour or two. He kept saying he couldn't breathe or swallow. Understandably that would be tough if he didn't have any feeling! We were able to give him some pain medication and it seemed to help after the numbing wore off. 

He ate a Popsicle and wasn't really happy about it. But a few hours later he was ready for sherbet at lunch and more Gatorade. He was thinking he was all better and asked to go ride his bike. I told him no, so he opted for a nap instead. 

Matt took a half day off so he was headed out to work and found a pile of goodies on our doorstep. Ty went down and got them. It was a few coloring books, suckers, a little chalk board, pudding and a balloon. He was so happy! He fell asleep holding his new balloon. I moved it of course right after he fell asleep. I got a text, it was from his sweet primary teacher Tiffany who lives just down the street. She knocked but we were all upstairs. She wanted to give him a quick hug and wish him well. It made his day. 

He kept making a gurgling noise while he was sleeping so I didn't go too far. He just woke up crying and screaming... Pain meds wore off. So I'm signing off. Hope things get better for him day after day. Unfortunately they say days 3-5 are the worst. Yikes. It took me 15 minutes just to get him to calm down so he could take his medicine. I think I'm in for it. 

Thankfully our good friend Ann is bringing us dinner tonight. I don't think I'll be doing much, but cuddling for the next few days... Ty is a brave and tough little guy. I would be a mess if this were me. 

Ty's Birthday Party!

Ty decided for his birthday party this year it was all boys, and they were all going to play at Dizzy Castle. I sent out the invites and started getting RSVP's then of course he changed his mind, a billion times. "No, wait. Mom, I want to invite Lydia, Annie and Adalyn too..."
"Son, you said boys only last week and your party is tomorrow, it's too late to invite them. Plus son, Dizzy Castle ain't cheap..."
Then It was "Mom, I don't want to go to Dizzy Caslte I want to have all my friends come to our house and we can play Jake (and the Neverland Pirates) games and have Jake decorations."
In my head I am thinking, "Geez that would have been a lot cheaper buddy..." Haha regardless we stuck with the all boys Dizzy Castle party.

The boys and some of their Dads went and played at Dizzy Castle in the morning while Maylee, Emma and I prepared lunch and did a little more cleaning and decorating. The boys played until 11:30 or so and came back to our place for what Ty wanted for lunch, Pizza, chips and watermelon. After lunch Ty opened his presents from his friends.

This was Ty's first real "friend" party getting presents from numerous friends. He loved it. 

Tomorrow we will work on Thank You's. 

He got 2 new squirt guns, a monster truck, a mini Optimus Prime Transformer and a new science book. He loved all of them! I don't think I've mentioned on here how much Ty likes science. He loves books about space, dinosaurs, plants, animals, the list goes on. Our friends knew, so they gave him a book about animals and how they grow. Ty has decided that baby birds and baby kangaroos are really ugly, but baby rabbits are cute. 

We talked about what he wanted for his birthday cake. He hemmed and hawed about it, he said cupcakes then sheet cake, then Ice Cream Cake... I asked if he wanted Ice Cream or Sherbet (since he likes Sherbet more than Ice Cream) Finally I said, "Ty, when it was MY Birthday and Dad bought me a Cheesecake you ate a quarter of it (4 pieces!), do you want Cheesecake?" His response, "Yes! I like Cheescake!"

So we went to Costco and he picked out a plain Cheesecake instead of Strawberry Cheesecake so that I could put a big 5 on his Cheesecake with Blue Sprinkles. (Anyone know why the video quality is so terrible? I had to email myself the video from my iPad and load it on Youtube on my PC, the quality is much better on the iPad) 

He gobbled up his Cheesecake, it wasn't a hit with any of his friends though. Most of them ate about 2 bites and didn't like it. The parents were happy though, since that meant they got to take a bunch of barely touched pieces of Cheesecake home with them! Oh I didn't mention, that the rest of the families came a over for lunch, so it was boys only at Dizzy Castle then everyone at our house.

Later that evening we took him out for his birthday Dinner. He chose Red Robin. We also were going out to buy him a new 16" bike since his 12" was really too small for him, so we headed over the river to Cascade Station near the Airport.

He liked dinner, the girls liked dinner too.

Then we zipped over to Target and bought him his bike for his Birthday. Both Matt and I had been checking nearly every store for 16" bikes and both of us hadn't seen any until we realized that they were in BOXES not assembled yet. So Ty was able to pick and he chose the Yellow Magna Bike.

That evening Matt put it together.

Today he woke up and the first thing he did was go downstairs to see his new bike all put together. He couldn't WAIT to get home from church so he could give his new bike a whirl. (again whats with the junky video quality?)

As you can see he fits on this new bike much better. Maylee now has Ty's old bike with the training wheels on and Emma is now using Maylee's tricycle. Emma hasn't quite got the pedaling down, but she'll get there. Maylee is cruisin' in the 12" though.

So all in all Ty liked all his presents. His Optimus Prime is about stuck on his little hands. I can't wait to see what he thinks about the present my Dad picked out for him... if he likes the little one... he is going to love their gift! I'll get a picture of him opening that up on his real Birthday. I had to save something for him to open on his actual Birthday or else it would be a little lack luster. We were going to wait to give him his bike until his actual birthday but the day after his Birthday he is getting his Tonsils and Adnoids out and he'll be down for the following week. We figured it would be cruel to give him a bike then tell him he cant ride it for a week or two. Tomorrow is his 5 Year Well Child Check up so i'll hopefully remember to post those stats as well.

Leave no trade instructions...

On Matts voicemail message at work he says "leave no trade instructions on this voicemail, as we can not process them, thank you and have a nice day" 

Grrrrr. In my last post I mentioned about my little monster Emma. She thought she would make sure I didn't forget it. I called Matt this morning to confirm Emma's wake time, I didn't get him just his voicemail, so I left home a message, "you are lucky I can't leave trade instructions, because the youngest is on the bottom of my totem pole today love you, bye." 

I couldn't sleep last night due to my incredible lack of post nasal drainage and itchy throbbing eye balls (that isn't out of the norm) come 1:30 am Ty bursts in to tears in his room. I went to comfort him, he usually has a bad dream, this time I don't think he was fully awake because he told me he was crying because Maylee had PlayDoh in her hair. After a while he was okay and he fell back asleep and stopped wailing. 

I walked to the bathroom to grab another tissue and that's when I heard Maylee whimpering in her room. I walk in there and see her cuddled in the corner of her bed. I ask what is wrong and she said "Emma just HIT me in mine face!" Usually I would think she dreamt it, until I stroked her hair from her eyes and started tickling her back to help her back to sleep. I turned to sit next to her bed when Emma popped up and just sat on the edge of her bed. Eyes wide open. 

She bundled up her blanket and paci and took what she feels like is her spot and ONLY her spot in my lap. So yeah, little sister did whack her older sister in the face around 2 am to wake her up. 

I sat with Emma for about 15 minutes, trying to cuddle her to sleep, eventually I thought she was asleep so I laid her down and went back to my room. She cried again 3 minutes later so I went in and she was standing in the middle of her room. We played the back and forth game for about 30 more minutes before I just put her in my bed next to me (sorry Matt) and we both finally fell asleep at around 3 am. I woke up at 5:15 am to Emma walking on my hair to get out of bed. I tried my hardest to ignore her and get some more sleep. Luckily she can't open doors to go wake up Ty and Maylee that early. I think Matt may have woken up with her for sometime before he left for work because around 6 something she was jamming an empty fruit leather wrapper in my face saying "all done!" I told her to go read some more books and I'll be up in a little bit. 

Maylee must have woken shortly after and they played for a while until I rolled out of bed fresh off my 4 hours of completely interrupted sleep to find toys strewn all over my room, my iPad on the floor unplugged and uncharged, and my tissues next to my bed shredded to bits. 

I helped the kids get breakfast, and now they are watching a quick Magic School Bus Episode. Emma is most definitely getting an early nap and maybe I can squeeze one in too. She sure doesn't need to sleep as much as I do I guess. Crazy busy child! I don't think I'll miss nights like that when all my children are grown. 

Memorial Day Weekend

So I was blogging here on my iPad, and I was nearly finished with this post about Memorial Day weekend. I got up to kiss Matt good bye as he walked out the door for a church meeting I turned around to find my ever busy little monster Emma playing with my iPad. No biggy, I'll just open blogger again and all my hours worth of typing and picture loading will be saved right? Wrong. So here I am again, determined to blog. Grrrr Emma! Double the work. 

Matt had a business trip down in Arizona and was really excited that he had a little bit of free time so he could visit all his family there. He was able to drive up to Prescott and visit his grandpa, Pop, who was recovering from a bout with pneumonia and was in a hopice care home until he is strong enough to go home. They had a good chat and Dan and Mitzi and Eric and his family were able to come for a little while as well. He loved catching up and chatting, he wished they had more time together. 

Matt was also able to have Jordan and his family come to his hotel and swim with him. While he and the kids were all swimming Steve was even able to come by to introduce Matt to his fiancé Connie. Matt said it was a nice visit with them and he had a great time playing with the kids in the pool. 

While Matt was in Arizona the kids and I packed up and went down to Medford. The trip down wasn't ideal. It usually takes us about 4 hours and 15 minutes or so to get down there, this time, with construction and holiday traveler traffic it took just under 6. The biggest set back was when we came around a bend and construction was merging all the cars into one lane. It was a sudden stop with no real notice. I felt like it was uprubt but manageable and I stopped in plenty of time. I then looked in my rear view mirror. I sighed a little relieved that the Orange Scion behind me stopped just in time, but as I was exhaling I noticed the green minivan behind the Scion did not stop in time. They crashed into the back of the Scion who then rear ended me. All three of the kids were finally asleep, three hours into the trip, and now all three were wide eyed looking at me wondering what had just happened! I hopped out and looked at my bumper, no real damage. The little Scion went directly into my tow hitch and they had a nice square 6" hole punched into their front bumper. My tow hitch is a little discolored on the bottom, from black to more chrome, but nothing to take into a shop to fix, the same thing would happen if we just used the tow hitch. The girl driving the Scion was okay, as was her passenger. I felt most bad for the green van driver. She was driving a few teenagers and it wasn't her van, she was borrowing it. The van wasn't in real good shape to begin with but the owner of the van is the one who will have to end up paying for all the damages through their insurance. Yikes! Anyway, we finally made it to my parents safe and sound and it was a good time to have a lengthy chat about why seat belts are important since Maylee fights me on it every time she gets in the car. 

My parents tease Ty all the time about getting rid of the pool. Pretty sure he would die if Grandma and Grandpa got rid of their pool! He stood on the ladder while my Dad screwed it down to officially open it for the season. He jumped in moments later yelling "cannonball!" He begs for us to get a pool, I inform him if he wants to go swimming we visit grandpa and grandmas, vancouver isn't warm enough to warrant owning a pool. 

Usually it takes Ty a day or so to warm up to swimming, but not this season he was ready at all times to jump on in. 

I'm not sure what we'll do about swim lessons this summer since Mimi, his Medford teacher isn't doing them this summer and Brynn up here in Vancouver is serving a mission in japan! We may have to go the parks and rec route. 

Even Maylee was on board to jump right in! 

Matt was able to catch a flight into Medford, and meet up with us. The kids love to swim with Daddy, it's good he remembered his swimsuit (like he would forget) because I actually did forget mine! Not that I would have gotten in really since I feel like I am hitting beached whale proportions, I know I am not I just FEEL that way. 

Matt is always game for fun in the sun! 

We made sure to have Nate and his family over too. Nate and the kids hopped in the pool while Kelly Amber and I sat in the shade of the porch. 

Dallin and Tanner are good little swimmers! Sometimes Dallin would even swim without floaties on! 

I kept asking Dallin Ty and Tanner to smile for me, they never could spare a moment with all the fun they were having. 

Maylee and Ashlyn were of course, adorable floating around with one another. 

Emma was napping most of the time that we were swimming, so when she woke up Matt went and got her and sat her on the side of the pool with him. He's such a nice dad. I am surprised Emma didn't just jump in with how much she loves the water. 

Amber kept scooting on her bum closer and closer to the pool, so Nate went and snagged her so she could splash a little with her toes too. 

Maylee was always game for a photo op. 

I think she got Matts skin coloring, she tans SO quickly, then again I used to tan quite easily as well, now I go from pasty to a nice pale color, I think the addition of SPF 50 to my outdoors routine has put a damper on my summer glow. Oh well, since everyone else (literally everyone except Colton in my immediate family) has had bits of skin cancer removed all ready I'll stick with the SPF 50 for me and the kids. Matt goes with SPF 15 however. 

After we all hopped out of the pool, we made the kids dinner called a sitter and headed out to dinner and a movie. We went and saw the new X-men movie. I liked it, then again I am totally a sucker for nearly any comic book style sci-fi action movie. 

The next day my Dad pulled the ticket stubs out of his pocket and got a good laugh. He put them down for me to see them and it took me a minute until I realized, they gave him the senior discount with out even asking. He's not even 55 yet! Haha going bald prematurely saved him a couple bucks I guess. :) 

Later that day it was perfectly windy, so we headed out to the elementary school to fly some kites. The kids were excited to open their kites that the Easter bunny brought. 

Emma was the best to watch, she was so excited about kite flying then she let go of her string. Matt had to go running and jumping after the string for quite a ways until it got entangled on the swing set on the playground. Luckily that happened or her kite would have been a goner! She thought it was all very funny then ran off for the slides. 

Ty is a pro at kite flying and he really enjoys it, he could do it for quite a while. My mom was flying her ship kite and Maylee was in the middle. I kept checking on her though because she only liked holding on for a few minutes at a time. 

She did like it though, when she was holding her string. 

My Dad busted out their brand new kite that they bought a while back...

Unfortunately, that is about as high as it flew, it was broken in a spot and it was more of a parachute than a kite. Cool kite though, just didn't work out. 

Let's go fly a kite! The kids really liked that activity. 

We polished off the park with the tire swing, Emma and Ty loved it, Maylee (who quickly got off) did not like the tire swing. She liked the idea of the tire swing much more than the actual motion of the swing. 

Emma was yelling Go Daddy Go! The whole time, she wanted to go as high and as fast and he could get it going. 

I will mention, by this part of the windy park experience I was wishing for death, okay maybe not death, but that I could romove my face and put it in a sterile place for a while... My seasonal allergies have been a beast this year, of course they are fairly terrible every year since we moved to Vancouver but this year has been hands down the most miserable spring/summer ever. I have tried nearly every non-steroid allergy medicine on the market, some prescription, some just OTC, I've tried quite a few homeopathic things, (neti pot? That thing is weird! Annnnd didn't work yet again, local raw honey, nope didn't work) I heard about taking actual bee pollen so I looked it up and it's not allowed for pregnant women. Pregnancy intensifies my body's reaction to seasonal allergies. It's gotten to the point where I can take two Benedryl and still be sneezy, itchy, drippy, and groggy. Doesn't solve it. Anyway, going to a blustery park on a lovely day about killed me. I went home washed my face and put a wet rag over my eyes hoping for the swelling to go down it was terrible! After dinner though Nate and Co. came back over for a mallow roast in the back yard. I just just gotten the allergies under control and Matt kept saying. "Come sit outside, Mick, it's nice and cool not even that windy it won't be that bad." It was fine for about 30 minutes maybe... Then yet again, I flared up. So I of course am not pictured for the mallow roast and didn't even have my iPad out since I could hardly see through my swollen eyes anyway haha. The s'mores were delicious on the other hand :) 

Monday Matt and my Dad went golfing in the morning and the kids went swimming again in the afternoon while my Dad did some work in the backyard. We were going to go to a playoff softball game at the high school for Joci Ellis, a girl I used to baby sit who is now a senior (crazy) but I opted out of any and all outdoor fun and stayed inside most of the day. I packed up and loaded the car while Matt took a little nap. We headed out to Outback for an early dinner (actually we tried to go to Texas Roadhouse only to find that they have MSG in EVERYTHING they serve, which it doesn't do too well with my Dad to eat anything with MSG.) we had a yummy dinner and parted ways. At about 6 I think. 

The drive home wasn't as eventful as the drive there, but it did take longer. We ran into that same construction and it was for ten miles of road work, problem was it was 10 miles of parking lot on top of that. It took us 2 HOURS to drive 20 miles. Miserable, the kids were restless and we ended up having to stop for potty breaks numerous times. Ty learned on that trip to make sure when peeing to check down stream for anyone (namely mom helping Maylee go further off in the bushes than he) ugh... Gross. I think we rolled in just before midnight.

Anyway, aside from the drive to and from the trip was nice and relaxing ( well aside from the serious allergy issues for me) and it was good to just sit for a while. 

Life got back into full swing busy as ever the next few days though. As always, I'll blog about that next :)