Week-end review

I like posts with pictures- but I'm being lazy- that and I don't really have many to post. It'll have to come later.

This week has been crazy. Mike went to CA for a conference. I was WAY stressed about it. I don't like being alone. Ok, I know, I wasn't REALLY alone, I had three little kids with me. We did good on Monday- keeping really busy- but as the week went on, it was harder to keep the troops entertained. Can't go to the pool by myself with two sort-of swimmers and a baby, hard to go to the park in 100 degree weather, you can only go to the library with kids so many times before it loses it's appeal, etc. I did what I could and so did they. Grandma Winslow and Matthew watched the kids on Mon. then Beth and Chad watched them on Wed.- both while I was at my show. What made it hard was the sleep- or lack thereof. The kids wake up with the sun, so going to bed at midnight (or beyond) doesn't settle well when kids get up at 6:30 (and while I'm on sedatives). Wed and Thurs were the worst. Brayden started getting sick so he didn't sleep well either. By Thurs night I was SO very tired, but luckily, Mike got to come home early and arrived at 1am on Fri morning. We switched off with the baby. Since he got back, I got the cold Brayden has. Serves me right for sharing all my food with him :) We had fun yesterday though- met our friends from college (the VanDrimmellen's) at a splash park, took naps, and had a fun evening of treats and a movie.

My sister, Mandi, called sometime last week and asked if Ty and Anna could come up for this week. Beth and Chad are going up for Darek's b-day so they have a ride. We had a few things to weigh, but we decided it would be a good thing for them to spend a week with their cousins. It is summer after all. They left this morning and the house is really quiet. I always get stressed- thinking of the worst possible scenarios and all. I hope they are safe. I still have Bray here to keep me busy- just not as busy as normal. I remember when I thought one kid was a lot of work- HA! I wish I had known back then that it wasn't.

Anyway, one week without Mike- now one week without my kids. When do I get to leave? :)

Some pics and projects....

I think the blog Gods have heard my cry. It took about half the time to upload those photo's. Awesome! Thought you might enjoy some pictures that aren't of my nasty toe :) These are just pics of summer I guess. I mentioned that we've been doing projects- some of these pics are of those projects. Ok, how 'bout I just let you look..... Ok, is he not the cutest? He got this monkey for his b-day and LOVES hugging it. Ahhhhhh!
These are rain sticks we made from a wrapping paper tube cut in two. I covered them in paper and taped up one end. They put golf tees through the tube. We poured in lentils and rice then taped up the other end. They colored and stickered the project. It was fun.

We did a shrink film project one day. I wanted to make necklaces or something out of the finished product, but my kids just wanted to play with them. You can buy shrink film at craft stores and the film comes with instructions. Kids love it.

Swimming in the backyard.

This is how Dad plays with water.

Brayden loves anything to do with water. He'd live in it I think.

We are participating in the summer reading program at the library. Every Monday they have something fun to do there. This past Monday was "Being Creative With Home Depot". Oh yeah- free stuff. They gave each kid an apron, a project of choice, and a hammer. My kids picked the tool box to put together. Lots of chaotic fun! The next day we painted the boxes then Dad gave each kid some real tools to carry around. That worked until Brayden found the tools and started hitting the walls with the screw drivers. Now we just have pretend tools :) More project postings to come......

Update

So a lot has happened in the past little while. The much anticipated job issues are finally resolved. Mike will be full-time at the HS next year which leaves the part-time Sunrise position open. We need me to work and my application has been in for a few months as we've waited for the opening. There were 4 or 5 people who applied for the job. I was a little nervous interviewing just because I didn't know the principal and honestly, in all the jobs I've had down here, this is my first "real" interview. I had met unofficially with my bosses before, but I always just had the job, so I was never worried. This time I felt like I had to really fight for the position. I didn't have to fight too hard. I was offered the job on the spot. We both are very happy to have the "extra" (though not so extra) income that will start in Sep.

In other news, Mike was released from his many callings (except ward organist- go figure) and called to be the ward clerk. Not so sure how I feel about it. He's gone all morning on Sunday and then every Thurs. night. That'll be interesting once school starts up again. I think he likes the calling. It's a good one for him. He's so organized and keeps everything together. I, on the other hand, was released from my calling as RS secretary. It felt more like I was kicked out. It was handled badly and I'm gradually getting over it. I don't have a calling right now and it actually works out right now because Brayden is walking and into everything so I am in the halls most of the time anyway.

The kids have been enjoying summer. Anna is loving not having her hair done until absolutely necessary and Tyson has the Gameboy stuck to his hand. Don't worry- I'm still a jerk of a mother and don't let that happen all the time. Brayden LOVES having his daddy around. They have become best friends. It's been fun to see how Bray has grown up these last few weeks. He has a darn cute sense of humor , loves to play telephone, catch, chasing, or anything that involves Tyson. He's turning into a little toddler. Not a baby anymore.

Anyway, I've been fairly insane lately. Don't know why. I think I need school and schedules again. It just helps my mental status. Ok, so there's the not-so-interesting update.

If you have a weak stomach, scroll down quickly....

Pretty nasty eh? The dead skin fell off the other night along with part of my toenail. It acutally looks a little better now. Stupid toe

Brayden's B-day......

First of all, I have a pet peeve. If that shocks you, then get off my blog because you obviously have no idea who I am. Ok, the above mentioned peeve is how stinkin' long it takes to upload pictures. I could have cleaned my whole house in the time it took to get these pics on.
Second, I have to put this picture on. Isn't it awesome. I love these little kids. My kids adore Alex- obviously.
Third, but most important, my baby had his first party! He was pretty oblivious to it all. He seemed less than interested in the cake, presents, and least of all, the decor, but he did LOVE the company. He was a little flirt and showed off all of his tricks. If you're a Facebooker, then you've seen some of these, if not, here they are. Thanks to all of you who partied with us. We had fun and were happy so many people were able to come.

The theme was "King of the Jungle" so I made these animal footprints and put pictures of him through his first year on the prints.

The petting zoo.

It was also the place to put presents. Spoiled rotten- just the way we like 'em.

He wasn't so sure what the whole "opening presents" was all about. I opened most of them for him.

He didn't care until this present. He was SO excited about this gift. We had to hide it from him so we could finish the rest of the presents.

See- bored out of his mind.

The cakes. The big one for the guests, the small one for him. They say "Happy Birthday to our King of the Jungle"

So cute. I was ready for the digging into the cake, the messy face, the destruction.........

.......but he hated it. That's as far as we got. No messy first cake photo's. I was bummed.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRAYDEN!

A bloody toe and the White Trash Zoo

Ok, first- the toe. I was doing a dress rehearsal for "Annie" last night. It ended at midnight, I gathered my stuff, and started up the concrete stairs out of the theater (this is an out door theater in case you are not familiar). The steps are different sizes and you have to be careful when going down or up, but more so when you go up. I've already tripped once. Well, it happened again, but this time I torn open my toe. OUCH! It was dripping blood and when I sat down to examine it, it was obvious much damage had been done. The whole side of it was a blackish, purple color and the pain was horrible. I sat there holding it with napkins for 20 min. until the bleeding stopped. A friend got some first aid supplies and I wrapped it up. Friends helped carry my stuff to my car and I limped out of Tuacahn. I got home at about 12:30 and woke Mike up to access the damage (he's usually good at knowing if it's in need of an ER visit, doctor the next morn., or home treatment. He told me to go to the ER so I did. Holy CRAP it hurt! I was there for two hours getting it soaked and waiting for the Dr. to decide if the damaged tissue should be removed or not. They think the tissue will probably die, but in good faith (and to save me some pain) they left the tissue, glued my toe back together with liquid adhesive and steri strips, and wrapped it tons of times. Stupid and embarrassing. Thought I'd take a picture of the wrapped up foot, not the nasty, oozing, toe...... Part two- The Las Vegas Zoo. It's more like 3 acres of animal cages. They really try to make it inviting and nice, but there's an obvious need for funding and WAY too many pigeons roaming the grounds (and plenty of bird poo to go around). Can we say hand sanitizer? So, we had our picnic there and stayed for a few hours. The kids really enjoyed it. The favorite thing for both the older kids were the millions of little chicks EVERYWHERE! They were dang cute. Tyson wanted so desperately to catch one. It was a nice place to visit once, but I think we'll opt for the SLC Zoo next time.

Some of the aboved mentioned chicks.

The kids at the turtle exibit.

Tyson wouldn't pet or feed the goats, but he did get close enough to one of them for this picture.

Anna loved the goats. She fed them right from her hand. Again, HAND SANITIZER!

I love these birds. They were roaming freely.

Flamingo's and turtles greeted us at the enterance.

The billions of diease carrying pigeons stalking my kids. We made the mistake of getting some bird food.

The lion. A fav.

Our Projects

The kids and I started our summer projects this week. On Monday, we made popcorn trees. So easy, cheap, and fun. Construction paper, twigs from outside, some tacky glue, and popcorn. The best part was eating the leftover popcorn at the end of the project. Yesterday we made chocolate covered pretzels. I melted chocolate chips (cheaper than melting chocolate you buy at stores), we dipped the pretzels in the chocolate, let them dry on wax paper, and now we have a fun snack so whenever. Tomorrow we are going to make "Penny Cleaner". Fill a Dixie cup half way w/ vinegar, add 2 tbsp of salt, and drop in a penny to see what happens. I found most of the projects online. I go for cheap to free ideas and they work so well (and they fill the long summer days!).

Our ONE YEAR OLD!

Today is Brayden's BIRTHDAY! His very first one! We are not celebrating today because we want to wait until all of the fam can join us, so we are having his party on Sat. @ 2. We've just hung out and chilled today. The theme for his party is "King of the Jungle", so we are going down to Vegas tomorrow and take him to the Zoo for the first time. Needless to say the other kiddos are pretty excited too. Then Sat we'll do the presents, cake and all. We took some video of the little man and are attempting to upload it to blogger (this takes FOREVER-does anyone else have that problem?). Anyway, if it uploads, I hope you enjoy. We sure enjoy him and can't believe it's ben a year. What a sweet boy he is and he is just what we needed in our family. We love his laugh, his constant smile, his cute curls on the back of his head, his stumbling walk, his open-mouthed kisses, his cuddles, playtime (and sleep time), and that he is a very healthy and happy little boy. Happy Birthday Brayden. We love you SO much!