Sunday, October 15, 2017

15 crazy minutes

Oh Sunday. Someday it might even be a day of rest, but this was not that day! Poor little Clara threw up all over Riley on Saturday. All over him, his bed, the wall... It was not good. She had a low fever too. So she was not going to church today. Ephram woke me up this morning to let me know he had peed the bed... Off went the sheets, blankets, and his clothes and into the washer. He was put into a bath to warm up and rinse off...

We have hit the point in our family where everyone but Ephram can pretty much get themselves ready without much help. I was helping Emmaline brush her hair while sitting on my bed when Ephram left my bathroom to let me know that there was water ALL OVER THE FLOOR. Then Emma pointed out that he had poop all over the back of his pants and shirt. I called frantically to Allen that I needed help and I needed help right now.

25 minutes before we had to leave.

I sent Ephram to the kids bathroom to change his clothes. He sat down on the toilet and left a nice long smear... He had poop all the way up his back! Into the shower to clean up.

20 minutes left...

Allen tells me that the toilet is over flowing and the plunger isn't working. However, he did get the water cleaned up.  I find something that Ephram can wear and thankfully his shoes aren't wet.

15 minutes left...

Riley brings Clara to me with a massive pooppy diaper.  Ephram is almost dressed and the clothes are now in the washer. The sheets and blanket from earlier are now in the dryer. Allen tells me that the shop vac has a leak and there is now poop water all over the carpet in our bathroom

10 minutes left...

Emma can't find the talk we had just written this morning that she refused to practice... Thankfully we typed it and can print a new copy.

Leaving the house...
Clara is screaming to be picked up. I'm still in my pjs. But everyone is on their way...

I sit down in the chair with Clara and notice how hot she felt. 101. Poor girl. I start hunting around for the baby Motrin. Gave a dose and sat on the couch to nurse. She nurse a little and then snuggled in for this:
We made it! Life is never boring.

Friday, October 13, 2017

Hello Blog

It's been a long time. I've missed my blog. Blogging has fallen out of fashion, but I miss the long updates my friends used to put up in this space. So, I've been thinking about this. I wanted to return to my sweet blog. The memories I have stored here help me remember. The last couple of years have gone so fast and I don't remember much of it. So, my tiny goal, for my little corner of life is to start writing down some things to help me not loss all my moments.

It's been a crazy week. Little Miss Clara had a well baby visit on Monday. Poor girl got a bunch of shots. The doctor also detected a heart mummer. It could be nothing or it could be a big something. We have an appointment with the cardiologist next month. The funny thing is it's the same practice that took care of Emmaline when she was born. Clara has finally found her way back on to the growth chart, and there was no talk about her not thriving. She started really walking too. It's so cute to watch her toddle around. She also seems to be teething. On Wednesday she was sitting playing with a box of hostess cupcakes. She has having fun putting them into the box and dumping them out. I was helping the kids with homework. I realized she was too quiet. I turned to look at her and found this:



She had opened on of the cupcakes and was happily munch on it!


Ephram has been so fun. He is starting to read. Last night he read Fly Guy almost all by himself! I hardly got to read at all. He LOVES his class and everything he is getting to learn and do. Putting him into NWCTA was the best choice we have made for him. He is doing so well. Last month he was student of the month. It was so much fun. We got to go to the school early and have bagels. they presented him with a cute certificate, a gift card and a cool pen.

Sweet Rebeka. She is working really hard at school. It's been a bit of a struggle this year. The work is harder. Beka is loving her gymnastics class. She comes out with the sweetest smile on her face. It's nice to see her beaming. A couple of days ago I was looking through old pictures and videos and came across a video of her singing her little heart out. I think she was four. Riley is taking Latin this year. We have to do lots of drills and songs to help him learn the different ending and such. Beka has taken to the songs. Allen even recorded her and Emmaline singing the first declension noun ending song today. It's funny! We got the Halloween box out. Beka was so excited. We have two dino costumes. Beka was a dino last year and when Riley was 1 he was a dino too. Clara now fits into it!




My girl Emmaline. Her and Riley are constantly fighting. She says such hurtfully things to him. Not that he doesn't dish it out too. It just makes me sad. Emma is having a hard time. She is convinced that  one of her group teachers hates her. I'm sure she's wrong, but because Emma thinks it she wont do the work like she know she should. This week has been full of ups and downs. She was so helpful today. She tended Clara for me and put things away. Set the table and was really nice to be around once we got home. Clara just LOVES Emma. Emma takes such gentle care. I've been trying to work with Emma's teacher to help her. I guess helping her stay more organized it something I'm going to have to start doing.

Riley, oh Riley. This kid takes up so much of my mental space. This week was filled with trying to find a way to help him with Latin. He does not like his teacher and was fallen asleep in his class. He told me tonight that he uses his stress ball to stay awake now, it seems to help. I emailed the special education advisor. She finally got back to me, only to tell me that I needed to contact the director of secondary... ugh. I had cc him on all my emails regarding Latin and Science. Riley's science teacher has basically told me that his is so deficient he will not be able to do the work required in the class. She offered to tutor him for $55 an hour. We just can't do that! Plus, I used to teach middle school science. I think I might be up to the task to teach 7th grade science. I asked the spec ed people if perhaps I could have a copy of the curriculum to go over with Riley after school. I emailed Mr. Hulet (the middle school director). He replied asking for some time to look over my emails and work on a solution. I felt bad for the typos in my emails, Clara kept climbing on me! But at least he did get back to me!

I cleaned the kitchen and living room yesterday. It's been interesting to me how much better it feels for our family. I feel more comfortable in our home. The rest of the house looks like a bunch of pack rats live here. One little step at a time.

Tomorrow is Super Saturday for Relief Society. I am teaching how to make canvas temple pictures. That was a big stress this week. I order the pictures and then went to get the supplies. I noticed I was off on my estimate by over $30! I looked over my numbers again and again. Then I looked at the cost. Finally I noticed that I'd ordered the wrong size of pictures! I was supposed to order 16X20 and I ordered 20x30! The difference in cost was about $5. Plus the canvases only come in 16x20. I had to reorder the pictures and still have these GREAT BIG temple pictures! I called Allen in a panic. He calmed me down and suggested we sell them on some of the yard sell sites on Facebook.  

The big kids have next week off. We need the brake. I'm taking them up to see Demya and Benson. I'm so excited! They have a new home that looks so cute! It will be so nice to get away for a little while. Allen is going to California for a conference. I hope that goes well for him.

Well that's all for now. Just a little snippet of our life.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Clara's first Halloween and her one month photos

Sweet little Clara! She is still pretty small. She sleeps pretty good at night, so we can't complain. Ephram was a great little model for me. He loves his little sister and insisted that Mommy take a few with him and his baby!











We have a tradition of taking the kids out to do pictures of their Halloween costumes. This year we went up to Mt. Charleston. It was so cold and windy. Sadly Ephram forgot to grab his costume.. so no pictures of him. He was Superman again this year!

Emma had just finished reading The Wizard of Oz, so she wanted to be Dorthy. Riley has become a big Star Wars fan. His favorite character is Darth Vader. Sweet crazy Beka found a dragon/dinosaur costume at the second hand store and was convinced it was for her.  Finally little Clara was a little skelton.
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