Just swingin'

More Beauty...

This is my 'bearded tongue' plant. Not sure why it is called such, nothing about it's blooms look like a beard or a tongue, go figure! In any case, I think it is a beautiful flower.

Full view

When my Mom went to Arizona last month, Beau insisted she bring him back a snake. Well, a real one was out of the question, but she brought back a resin one that is so real looking it's scary. In fact, my husband, not knowing Beau had placed it in the bearded tongue plant, was mowing the lawn one day. He said he always runs into a gartner snake or two, but when he came up on this peeking out of the bush, he just about had a heart attack and was near trying to run it over with the lawn mower before finally remembering that it was Beau's fake snake. Haha!

Babysitting Class

As a child, young girl, I always loved babies! I just adored them, and still do! I started babysitting at about the age of 8 years old. I babysat a neighbors daughter that was 2 years old when her Mom had to go get her hair done, or her and her husband went to dinner. My Mom was always home, right next door, so if I had any difficulties I was able to have my Mom help me. I babysat till I was 16.
My parents placed me in a 'babysitters class', as soon as I was old enough. Then, I learned infant CPR, and the basics of caring for infants&toddlers. Alot of it was stuff I already knew, but it did make it easier for me to get jobs, with the parents knowing that I had taken this class.
So...today I was thinking about this, and called around to find out how to get my Grace into a class, being she is turning 12 this saturday, which is the general age specified to babsit, or be at home alone with other siblings in Oregon. Also, she could earn some money for summer activities with friends and family. I finally found a class, actually occurring Monday from 9a-4p. It is through the Red Cross. They said they will review: safety, care of the child, first aid, decision making skills & age appropriate play. I signed her up! I think this will be very good for her to atleast have this class, and the review, even if she doesn't end up babysitting this year. And, she will recieve a card indicating completion of the one day course to show parents that she may potentially babysit for. YAY!

Blooming Beauty

Just another day

I was asked to go in to work from 2 am till end of NOC shift last night, which is about 6:30am. I agreed to it, I really love to work. I had my hands full all day with kids, but managed to get to sleep around 10pm, and had my alarm set for 1am. Ofcourse, as always happens, I awoke on my own around 12:30am, so missed out on that extra 1/2 hour of sleep. Nobody even knew I was gone! I got home around 7am, expecting that Beau would soon be waking, but after wandering through the house waiting for someone to wake up, I decided I would try to just lie down on the couch and wait for Beau and/or Leah to wake up, BUT NOT FALL ASLEEP. It must have been around 7:30am, because, about 8:15 just as I had started to fall asleep, NOT MEANING TO, I hear 'MOMMY!' from Beau Michael, and as I go to get him, I hear Leah kicking around in her crib. They are both so sweet to awaken, Leah always says, "Hi, Mommy!" So sweetly, like she hasn't seen me in days! Beau's first words of the morning... "Hi, Mom, my stomach is so hungwy! I need some ceweal."
I got them their breakfast, and drinks, changed diapers, and then went to lie on the couch beside Beau as they watched some cartoons. I just could not shake my fatigue. My plan had been to stay awake till about 1pm when both of them lay down for naps, but my body was not wanting to wait that long! And, it ended up that we had visitors at 1pm anyway!
Drew had gone to stay the weekend with my cousin, and her kids, camping. So, she was coming back home at 1pm. I was rummy! I hate that, I feel like I am floating through the day, and nothing I said, or did seems real! But, by late afternoon, I picked up again, and have made it through. Don't think I could be a FT NOC Nurse...ever!

~
My cousin, Melissa, has a darling boy, ACE is his name. No middle name, just ACE! He's a doll! I had found an old picture of my Dad as a boy, this age, Ace is the same age as Beau, 3 1/2-ish. I told my cousin, she had to see this picture! It looks just like, or atleast ALOT like Ace to me! Amazing how that happens. See for yourself, I don't think it was me 'floating' when I noticed this...(click on photos for close up)

My Dad in 1960

Drew holding Ace, when he was probably around 8months.

Ace, to the left of Beau, both age 2 1/2.

~

It was quite warm out today, and so the kids played in the sprinkler this evening, and I set out a wading pool for Beau&Leah to play in. We still have to get the big pool cleaned out and filled up for the girls. Leah was in a diaper, and it was full, so I just took it off. Beau, he had picked out his own swim trunks this year, SHARKS, he loves them, and so he had made sure he had them on, however, once I filled the pool, he took them off. Not sure if he was thinking like bathtime, or if it was because I had taken Leah's diaper off, but he was determined to play naked. Grace made them all an icecream cone, and the little ones would not get out of the pool to eat it, they insisted on staying in the pool. Beau took the longest to finish, and by the time he was done, his whole entire body was shivering so hard he could hardly move to stand up! He refused me to get out though, till he had finished. It had begun to cool down quite quickly by this time. Grace grabbed Leah in a towel, I-Beau, and we brought them inside to get into PJ's, but Beau had this idea that they were coming in to get dry and warm, ONLY TO GO BACK OUT AGAIN TO SWIM MORE! Needless to say, this spurred a tantrum. :(

~

When I was filling the pool up, a new neighbor behind us hollered me over. When I got close enough, she asked if I wanted some watermelon starts. She had planted many seeds, and all had taken, so she has way too many starts, and not enough room in her garden. I readily accepted them, she gave me 6. I believe she called them 'yellow star' and said they are supposed to be very sweet. I planted 3 right away in our garden, which is quickly filling in. Then, I gave 3 to another neighbor that we have been friendly with for many years, since they have not yet planted thier garden. How very nice of her that was!

Ramblings...

The other morning, Beau was going potty, as he does every morning first thing. I was getting out his clothes to wear for the day, and suddenly he yells out to me, "MOM, I TINK MY DING-A-LING IS BOKEN!" I was like, what? I ran to see why he was saying that, no problems, not sure what the deal was, but I assured him, it's NOT broken!

He has been having accidents lately, diahrrea, and so I have been putting pull-ups on him. He ran out, and so I had to put on one of Leah's 'girly' ones that I had, and he nearly refused for me to put it on him. It has the disney princesses on it, and he was not havin' it! I told him that his shorts would cover up the pull-up, and no one would see that he had princesses on. He finally gave in. But, for the past few days, he still continues to have loose stools (nurse talk there)and so today as he was playing 'in the dust', he came waddling over, and on his rubber boot, down his leg, and drip drop on the driveway was poo! Then, it drips on our porch steps,and my welcome mat. I had to wrap paper towels, double thick, around his butt and legs to get him to the bathroom! It was a mess! I just don't understand. I have placed him on soy milk to help with his exzema, and I can't see how this could be contributing. Last week, he had 3 mornings that he threw up in the night, many times, and I attributed that to having had some dairy, or eating to late in the evening. I just can't pinpoint it anymore. I have decided that only water will do till I see a change. No more juice, no soy, no dairy. I have to figure this out!

Beau, and Leah being so close in age has been a great thing. For them, and for me in many ways. Don't get me wrong, there have been some troublesome times, but for the most part, I LOVE IT! But...lately, they have been fighting like cats&dogs. It's driving me crazy! I will blame it on toddler-hood. I mean, Leah, terrible two's, Beau 3. I have resorted to time outs. In thier rooms. Short, but seperate! The main instigator is usually a small toy. Most recently, a toy train. Beau's toy train that Leah wants. Leah has her own little pink one, Rosie, but that doesn't seem to make a difference at all! AUUGGHHH!


Today, we put up a tent that Beau had gotten for his birthday this year, it is so cute! He is so excited about this. He begged for me to do it today, his request.."If we make my tent, then Papa can stay the night with me!" Well, it's way too small for Papa to spend the night with him in, but none the less, it is perfect for Beau to play in on warm summer days...until Daddy decides it's killing his perfect lawn!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy. I love you so much! I am so blessed to have you for my Father. I am greatful for all you have ever done for me. I love that you always give me a hug as I'm leaving, even though I may seem in a hurry to shake you off. Thankyou for your unconditional love.

To my DH...I adore you. I could not imagine life without you in it. I am so proud to be the Mother of your children. Thankyou for being an honest, reliable, loving, and hard working man. HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

Friday Favorites

All time favorite books, these have been handed down from my oldest Gracie, to Drew, now to Beau. He loves them! Eric Carle is one of the best childrens book authors, in our book! Beau has each of these memorized just by memory of the photos, and colors of the animals. He calls them the 'rainbow' books, since inside each cover are rainbow watercolor stripes. Definitely worth a check out.

Babywearing

I guess babywearing is a real fad these days, when I had Beau, I started using a sling because I wanted to hold him all the time, but couldn't without a sling. I thought he would be my last, but then lovely Leah came along, and she demanded to be held. So, fortunately I still had my sling, and it recieved alot of use. I do not have any photos of my 'wearing' Leah, but I did find one I took of her asleep in the sling. I had just lifted the sling over my head, and gently laid her down on her boppy to finish her cat nap. I miss my little babies!

Today...

...as I was getting Beau dressed, out of the blue he said "Mommy I really really love you!" AWWWW! My heart melted.
...I was sitting on the front porch with Beau and Leah, they were playing with sidewalk chalk, I leaned over with my head in my hands, and Leah says "Mom, you sad?" I told her, "I'm not sad, I'm just tired honey." She says, "You not sad, you tired? Ooohhh, I hove you." And then she gave me a hug. What a sweetie!
...Beau pooped his pants...AGAIN!
...the girls had thier last day of school.
...I cut back the roses.
...we took cans back, got McD's, and went to the park.
...I locked myself out of the house LOL
...I have done 3 loads of laundry (will it ever end?)

ALERT: Thomas the Tank Engine Recall

I just found out today from my Mom, that there has been a recall on various WOODEN toy trains from the Thomas the Tank Engine line, as you know, Beau has been a diehard Thomas fan and I found 4 of the recalled trains in his collection, the fire trucks, mail car,and musical caboose. I have since removed them, and found that there are bite marks on all three, undoubtedly from little sister Leah...the problem is that the recall is over lead paint being used on these trains. She is fine, and so I am not at all worried since this is some time ago that she bit on them. If you are curious which trains have been recalled, you can click on the link below to see a detailed list of all recalled items, and contact information to request replacement trains.

Thomas Tank Engine Recall

Future BIL

My sister has always been a bit of a tomboy, no boyfriends, just focused on her life, but she has finally met someone through a dating website. He lives in Port Louis, Mauritius. Which is off the coast of Madagascar near the Indian Ocean. She has been talking to him for 2 years or more I think. This post is just to say, HI ANDY, since my sister has informed me that you read my blog. I look forward to meeting you someday in person.

To be a Nurse

As a little girl, all I ever wanted to do was work in healthcare. I love being a nurse. I love the interaction with people. I love caring for people, and the other night at work, I recieved a reminder of this.
I was in the room with a patient, administering medications. This patient became short of breath, and so I was hooking up some oxygen. He became very emotional, and began relaying to me his experience while he was undergoing heart surgery. He was telling me how he never believed in God, and how now he does. How he had died 2 times under surgery, and that he had seen the light. The light he never believed existed, but that it is REAL. He was saying how all of his life before was so stupid, he's changed. He was crying. I was going to cry too. I let him talk, I LISTENED. He expressed his greatfullness for my willingness to LISTEN.
This is what I love about nursing. Being there for these people! The one on one of it. There are times when I get frustrated, and feel so flustered, so overwhelmed with paperwork, and 'to do's', but that just goes along with it all. I cannot imagine any other job with which I would look forward to going to work everyday. I LOVE BEING A NURSE!

Gotcha!

At Drew's birthday party, my Mom taught Beau how to put his finger just right in the middle of the water stream in the water fountain to make it spray out Then she told my Dad to come see what Beau had done, and as he walked around the corner, Beau did this, and he just lost it, cracking up laughing so hard! And, ofcourse, he had to try and do it to 'Weah' as well...his face just cracks me up!

The many things we plan to do this summer...

Go camping (atleast 2 more times)~ Go to the Washington Zoo~Go to Omsi~Go to the Oregon Coast Aquarium~Make a stepping stone together~Pick blackberries~Go fishin'~ Go for a walk~Spend time with Grandparents~Build a Pond~Go the the A.C. Gilbert Discovery Village~Go to the Enchanted Forest...again
~Watch the sun set~Finish filling in my huge collage picture frame~Start potty training Leah~Go garage saling~Sit on the porch and eat icecream cones together~Spend a day on the beach (or 2 or 3...)~Go to a Dave Matthews Band concert (MOM)~Lose 20-25 more lbs. (MOM)~ Get new haircuts~Read books together~Go to the movies~Dance around to music in our living room~Make chocolate bananas~Swing~Water balloon fights~Bake Zucchini bread ~Bake blackberry cobbler~Make fresh salsa, with home grown tomatoes/onions/cilantro/jalapeno's~Clean the ceiling fans...YUCK~Renovate our bathroom~Bird watching~Go to the Art&Air Festival to see the airplanes~HUG~Color with sidewalk chalk~Blow bubbles

Ooohhh! Bubbles!

Here is Leah going crazy over one of Drew's birthday presents, the TRILLION BUBBLES BUBBLE MAKER...

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A change for Drew...

Drew on her birthday, so pretty wearing a piece of the broken pinata on her head...before she asked me to cute her hair...

Drew, after her haircut...Dad's pretty mad, but she is thrilled with it!

Drew's 7th Birthday Party

We finally had Drew's birthday party, she had really wanted to have a pool party like last year, but the weather was set to rain, so we changed the location to a local park, very nice, with a great covered are perfect for parties...and great in case of showers...which did occur once, but very light showers. Overall, the kids had a blast, and Drew was very pleased with her Hannah Montana cake I made, as well as the Hannah Montana pinata I had made for her at a great new party store called SWEET FLOWERS floresteria...pinatas originate from Mexico, and this store makes the original star formation, it was so cute!

The Cake...by Mom

Beau, taking his first swing at a Pinata!

Drew so surprised at her present from Mom and Dad
The Crayola Rainbow Rake

Awww...what a nice card!

Pink Eye X2

I took Beau to the doctor earlier this week concerned about his eyes being so gunky, and stuck together in the morning for about 4 days, thinking maybe he just had minor irritation that would resolve itself, but the doctor said he has conjuctivitis, and so she prescribed some sulfacetamide eye gtts. The first time I administered them to Beau, he was okay with it, he was calling them 'rain drops' for his 'broken eye'. But, each time following he was fought me, and screamed so loud in anticipation. It is NO FUN trying to hold down a 3 1/2 yr old boy to give him eye drops all on your own. And, what do you know, the next morning after we started Beau on the eye gtts, Leah woke up with a nasty, gunky eye full of green crusts! So, now, 4xday, I am pinning down not 1, but 2 feisty children and attempting with all my might to make sure I get a drop in each affected eye, which I tell you, is darn near impossible! And, we still have 4 days @ 4times/day left for Beau, 5 days for Leah...AUUGGHH!

Friday Favorites

We read ALOT of books in my house! Bedtime cuddling with a book is the best! One of Drew's favorites is THE MAGICAL, MYSTICAL, MARVELOUS COAT. It is a darling story with very unique illustrations. One we love!

A great idea: I often take all those book club advertisers, and keep the catalogues just to be able to take along to the library so we can look for some of the books that seem interesting to us.

Ahoy thar Matey!

Pirates Treasure Stepping Stone

I have always been one to sew, do crafts with my kids, and bake cookies for every holiday there might be! But, it's really taken a back seat the past few years, since I had Beau, and Leah, just too busy! But, I saw this great stepping stone idea in my Joann's ad, and I am determined to make this with the kids! I just think it's so stinkin' cute! I will post our finished product once we get it made!

Playin' with Picasa

I generally HATE my smile, HATE my teeth showing at all! I most always try to smile close mouthed, but this one, after playing around with Picasa2 (thanks Margo:)) I find this is actually a great shot of me and the kids, the best one actually. Forgive me for posting so many, I just think I LOVE this shot with all the effect of sepia, and a little glow! What do you think?

My Mom

Mom...
I love you very very much!

Makin' Dust!

Okay, so I am just figuring this out, how to post video's, slideshows...so I had to post his! Beau loves taking his big 'monster trucks' and makin' dust in the driveway. He is so enthusiastic about it, it's kinda crazy, but hey, he's a boy right? I should be happy he's so rugged...well, so BOY! Try to listen for his noises and giggles, it's too cute! Enjoy!
(BTW, you can just scroll down and pause the playlist at the bottom of the page to silence the music while you watch/listen)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Mommy's Here...I'm just always stuck BEHIND the camera!

Worrysome Wednesday

Things are strange right now, I am sad, worried for my Mother. She had another MRI to get a better view of the 'cyst' in her neck, which is right at the base of the skull at the top of spinal cord they found. It is affecting the nerves in her face, and causing her alot of head pain, headaches, or migraines as they may call it. She now finds out that 10 yrs. ago, which is how long they assume this to have been growing in her neck, when she first went to a DR. about migraines, it could have been detected had they done an MRI then! This is sad, infuriating, and very very upsetting to me. As a nurse, I deal with doctors, and they can be so uncaring, and don't always know what they are doing. They often look to us as Nurses to tell them what we think, or ask us what medication WE want or feel necessary for a patient, then just go ahead and sign away orders. They are supposed to be ahead of the game, and granted, they are important people, but they do misdiagnose many patients, and this being my Mother, I am, plain and simply stated, MAD!
The doctors here are not able to handle this, or operate on her, so she is waiting to see yet another doctor, neurosurgeon at OHSU to find out IF they can even operate to remove the 'cyst'.
I lost my Gma at the age of 12. She had lung cancer. I loved her dearly, she was a very important person to me. My oldest is turning 12 this month, and she is aware of my Mothers condition, and what is going on, and she cries about it. She will be devastated if nothing can me done for my Mother. As will all the rest of us. It is a very upsetting time, and I am asking all those that may read this as they are passing through daily blogs, and or friends that read my blog, please take the time to pray. Prayer can work wonders, initiate miracles...I have seen some!

Goin' Campin'

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We took the kids camping this past weekend with my parents, we finally used our 31ft. trailer we bought this year. We went to the coast, it was such amazing weather! The kids had a blast! When we first stepped out of our truck, Leah would not let go of me, she clung to me, acting very scared, but soon relaxed enough to explore! Beau took off with such excitement, and enthusiasm of the new sights around him! The giant trees, and trails! He loved it! Right beside our camp was this huge tree, and revealed beneath was a tangled web of roots which made the perfect place to climb, hide, and play in. Beau tried many times to climb it, as did Drew. Leah just kinda played inside of it!

Whiney Weah Woo

Leah, my sweet Leah, she does not last outside very long EVER! So excited about the sprinkler, she barely got wet before she was following me around saying, "Mommy...Mommy, I wan go to da house...Mommy, I wan watch puppies...Mommy, peeeaaaase?"