Free time? what free time?

So I have sent the kids off to school and every day this week I have had morning appointments. I have managed to wash and put away laundry and cleaned Hannah's room on Mon, Tues something weird happened and I didn't do anything around the house but make dinner, Yesterday I cleaned the living room and vacuumed the living room, both stair cases and halls and Hannah's room and I made real lasagna for the first time in 3 or 4 years. The weather has cooled off considerably and I am freezing today but my plan is the yard today.

Kelsea went to the doctor today. They froze a wart that started from an infection in her finger and gave her a tetanus shot because she is past due for that. We followed up on her meds. She is doing fantastic and is going well. She cried with the shot though and then she bled like you wouldn't believe. I brought her back to school and she wanted a note so she wouldn't have to play in Orchestra. She is having volleyball tryouts this week and hopefully she will manage through that. Last night I had a parent meeting sprung on me. I hate that. They planned it at the last minute.Weds are the worst day of the week for them to do that. I went to the meeting and the lasagna sat on the stove for a half an hour. But it was the perfect temp to eat by the time we got back. I had to make sure there were a few pieces left for Lee Joe for when he got home. The girls would have ate the whole thing if I let them. It was yummy!

I was impressed with Amber! She took some initiative and had two of her classes flip flopped. She went to the counselor on her own at the end of the first day in High school. It took until Weds for it to become active but she is really happy about the change. One of the funny things is almost every class now is with our Doctor's oldest son. I don't think this is a problem for either Amber or Matt. I think they like each other in their silly sophmoric way. Matt is one of the only boys at the church dances that will ask Amber to dance. Wink wink. I was Matt and Amber's "preschool teacher" when they were both almost 5.

No complaints from Kylee or Autumn. THey are in their happy elementary world. They were sad when I said I wouldn't be working at the school and a few of the other kids were sad too. It was sweet. But I will be back to volunteer in the weeks to come.

Tonight 4 of the girls have something going on at 6pm in 3 different directions. Somehow we will figure it out and we will see if Lee Joe will be around. Typically he is not so it is all me.

I went to Port of Subs for Lunch today with Hannah. Have I mentioned that it is my favorite place to eat?

I got my haircut on Tuesday. Everyone that notices says "you got your hair cut" and then that's it, so I am assuming it may not be as flattering as my last haircut that nobody said a word about. Oh well, I like it.

We have added another creature to our zoo. We found a healthy live baby mouse and at a loss as to how to deal with it, mind you we are a house full of creature loving girls, we turned it into a pet. It's name is Mort and last night he discovered it's wheel and is getting use to people. We believe our cat has taken care of other members of it's family so it could be an orphan(two dead adult mice and one injured baby in the past month). Little orphan Mort. Add him to the mix. Hamsters Cheeseball(formerly known as Polka the 2nd) and Dot the 2nd. And our prize champion mouser cat Socks and the best example of big and little-Buddy(part Great Dane) and Spot (part poodle and japanese chin- a jap-a-noodle or Chin-a-poo) our dogs.

There is life at the Lay zoo.
I should get something done.

The good, the bad and the ugly

Good- School started today, I am staying home with Hannah this year and sort of Home schooling preschool with her.
Bad-School started today-the beginning of afterschool run around, I can't afford to put Hannah in preschool because I am staying home with her this year.
The ugly-I have been fighting a stye for 3 days now and my shoulder went out last night when I was sleeping, I feel like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Call me Quasi for short.

Anyways, we went to the fair Friday night. We saw the Peking acrobats-they were fantastic and we saw some performing baboons, no really they were performing baboons with the red shiny butts. The kids thought they were great fun too. We resisted the rides because of our Lagoon trip we told the girls we wouldn't do rides. Hannah had the hardest time. We saw animals and smelled animals galore. It was fun and on our way out to the car we saw a baby raccon in a tree. Not technically a part of the fair.

Saturday Kylee and Autumn got their long awaited computers from Computers for Kids. They got a refurbished pentium 3 computer with moniter and keyboard and mouse for $45. They didn't get to play on them when we got home because we had to run to the pool for the last day of swimming for the summer. We got home, finished setting up computers and the little girls were in game heaven. Lee Joe and I went on a mini date to port of subs and ate it at the park.

Sunday we had an Area Authority visit primary. So we had the Stake presidency, Stake primary presidency Bishop and his presidency all visiting primary and I had to lead music. Oh my. It was fine and the kids were all good as gold.

Today, the first day of school will be my last day of work at the school. I will be there a whole 2 hours since it is early release saying hi and see you around to all the kids.

There you have it with my swollen eye, stiff back and the highs and lows of our existence in Idaho. The good the bad and the ugly.(I think my vitamins and exercise and absence of children is helping my sense of humor)

today

If you want to find out if your kid has ADHD try this-give them a medication that is suppose to make them drowsy-they will get very excitable. If you want to calm them down, Give them something with Caffiene. Dylan had Dimetapp before he came over yesterday. That is why he was SOO hyper. I forgot the about the caffiene if I would have remembered I would have happily given him a soda. He is calmer today.
We had fun at the pool yesterday. THe pool we went to was really big. THere was hardly anyone there. My 4 oldest and Dylan had great fun on the diving boards. Dylan Amber and Kelsea all did flips off the boards. Kylee and Autumn had some great Attempts. Kailyn had a scare earlier this summer off the diving boards requiring a life gaurd rescue so she had no interest. She played with Hannah and they all had great fun on the huge water slide at that park. The pool was so big and empty I was able to swim some laps.

Amber has quite the schedule this year. Accelerated English, accelerated Math and accelerated Chemisty, Spanish 2, band and seminary. Kelsea got into a program to help her in accelerated classes this year so she will have accelerated English and Math and a tutoring class to help her manage those classes. She has the same math teacher this year. SHe has Health and orchestra and history with the better history teacher.
Kylee, I think has a good teacher. At her school the 4th grade teachers there are excellent. I think she has a couple of close friends in her class. Autumn has the same teacher Kylee had last year. I loved her. 1 of Autumn's 2 best buddies are in her class. The other one is in Gate. I am hoping that this year is good year. I think it will be challenging for the 2 oldest. I hope Kelsea can cope. 8th grade was very challenging for Amber.

I really need to clean house and pay bills today and I am having a HUGE procrastination problem today. I have a stove that has been pulled out and it needs lots of attention. It has been sitting in the middle of my kitchen since last night. I guess I should get busy since it is noon now and I haven't done a thing.

Leavitt Reunion Pictures

Kylee, Jaden, Hannah, Lee Joe, Loren,Autumn, Tyler paddling to the boat.

Amber and Verl on the Wave runner. This one had a pretty view.

Randa and Gwen. Brenda in the back round.

Pictures

I have to tried to download pictures 3 times now and it won't work. Hopefully Devanie can help me out. She is so helpful that way. I am ready to try and get DSL hooked it up. I can look into that once school starts. Yesterday we found a dead mouse-Socks trophy I suppose- in the living room. THeir was a dead bird when we got home from the Utah trip. Later I helped the neighbor across the street save a fledling dove. It probably won't make it though. It has a broken wing. A cat got it. Mine doesn't cross the street.
I had Dylan and Kailyn over since Melissa started school and Kelsea dressed him in Nylons and a skirt and makeup. He thought it was funny. We went to dinner with Grandma and did more school shopping. Today Amber and Kelsea got their hair cut. I am toting 7 kids around today and Dylan is in rare form-or should I say typical hyperactive boy form. we went to the park and the car wash as the girls hair was done. He was dressed in a dress and nylons today. I will take them to the pool to give the boy a place to exert himself. I am sure I will be ready for school to start by the end of the week. I am actually ready today. What I really want is a nap. Dylan is ready to GO NOW.

Leavitt reunion

We made it to the Leavitt reunion this weekend up in Donelly. We stayed in Lee Joe's bosses cabin(double wide 70's trailer with added snow roof). Up there at Darren and Carrie's cabin we met up with our hosts and Wade, Verl Brenda and Rachel and Loren, Jared Michelle and their 4 kids, Kim and Gwen and Creshaun and her 2 boys,Andy and Grandma. We visited around the camp fire then took Jared and Family to our cabin. THe next morning we had breakfast and took two giant tractor inner tubes and other beach stuff to the lake with 11 kids to the beach. My oldest 2, Rachel, Wade and many of the adults and GRANDMA rafted the Payette river. Kim was the only one who fell overboard on the last rapid. Kelsea and Darren were having a water fight but Darren had the unfair advantage hiding behind Grandma. Mandy and Jason and their baby Lilly showed up and Grandma Lay(Randa) made it at about 3. WHen Carrie came back we were able to ride the Wave runners they borrowed from some friends and all us women took turns giving kids rides. I guess Grandma Leavitt rode one the day before. She was quite daring this weekend. Randa decided to give one a whirl herself. All the guys got back and took a few rides on the wave runners before they relized they were out of gas. Amber and Kelsea each got one ride before they had to trailer the wave runners. We stayed on the beach from 11 to 7:30. We had dinner, We became a mosquito banquet before we hunted down the bug spray. Andy and Wade had discussions about growing mustaches and telling jokes about opera singers on the tiolet. We packed up to go home. The girls got to make smores with Reeses peanut butter cups and the verdict was very very yummy. We left there at 11:30 and made it home at 1:30am.

We are seriously tired today. Throwing 7 of us into the shower and attempting to make it to church by 9am. We all made it before 9:30. We are also pet sitting for 2 families this weekend. There was BYC for the girls, a general priesthood meeting for Lee Joe, A meeting with the Bishop for me, a seminary meeting for Amber and Lee Joe and I and I think it was the busiest Sunday ever. Somehow we all squeezed in a nap.

I was paid very high compliments from the Bishop and his counselor on 2 separate occasions today on our girls.

Girls Camp Recap

I wanted to share the goofiness of my girls. TO start with, before the girls left for camp a few weeks ago the YW president asked my girls to come to her house and record a CD for the girls in our ward to sing to during their skit. The song was Haikilau with lyrics about girls campy-lau. I went to pick up Amber and Kelsea and went into their basement and in it was a real recording studio and 2 sets of drums and a bunch of electric guitars. WOW. THey made us two copies for each of my girls and one for YW president for girls camp. So they cut their first CD. On our way out the YW president showed us pictures of her husband with long hair in an 80's band and then a picture of him with Eddie Van Halen. Of girls know nothing of that stuff and it was good laugh for them. I asked Lee Joe if her husband was active in church and he said yes. I don't get to know many people in primary.

So they went to camp, they did their skit in front of the stake. The YW president thought Kelsea might have had turrets or tics or something because everytime she looked at Kelsea she was reacting to shooing mosquitoes away. Kelsea is just really goofy like that. Before the skit they had a hula hoop contest. Amber and Kelsea won and I think Kelsea beat Amber. So they were to hula hoop in the skit. Amber and Kelsea hung out together most of camp. In the end when they gave awards Kelsea got the spaas award. Amber got the "she makes it look easy" award for her hula hooping skills. When the Jr leaders sang their song to the rest of the girls one of the lines was "we wish we could hula like the Lay's" I was pretty mortified when the girls told me how they started the testimony meeting. I guess Kelsea let one rip and couldn't stop laughing for a while. I suppose they leave quite the impression wherever they go together. I hope Kylee and Autumn are as much fun like that when they get that age. But nobody can beat Kelsea in this family for goofiness and giving us the best laughs. She is the only person that can get Amber to laugh out loud.

Lagoon a rama

We set a goal to leave at 6am Sat. We left at 6:30. Not bad for a family of 7 that got up 5:45. It is a4 1/2 drive. We got to Lagoon at 11:30. We started out in the water park but for us it wasn't the greatest feature since we have Roaring Springs here and I couldn't keep up with Hannah in the little kids pool. After that Lee Joe took the 4 oldest and I went with Hannah on the rides. All four girls road roller coasters and everything else and had a blast. I took Hannah on all the little kid rides and we road the train about 3 or 4 times. We cleaned out all our drinks in the cooler and had to go to the car to refill it. It was pretty hot but not the worst. Lee Joe and all the girls roa rattlesnake rapids as it was getting dark and they got pretty wet. but they didn't have to wait in line very long. Just before 11 Lee Joe and Amber and Kelsea rode the old wooden rollercoaster about 4 more times and Kylee had one more shot at it before it closed. We debated on coming home afterwards Sat night. Lee Joe decided we should stay. I didn't bring my camera because I thought were making it a day. We had a hard time finding a motel. We finally found one in Ogden right across from the temple there but it was one of the dirtiest motels-aside from the sheets and towels. We couldn't be that choosey at 1:30 am.

We left by 10 and the plan was to find Lee Joe's grandparents' grave. I wanted to hit a store before we left Ogden. Lee Joe wanted to wait until we got to the part of town where his grandparents were. After we past numerous Wal-marts and Smiths and everything else next to the freeway-we were out of drinks completely and he wanted flowers-. We could not find a store after we exited the freeway. Almost 2 hours later, instructions to a wal-mart we never found, we found a store like Win-co, but no flowers and minimal selection. Everyone in the store but us and some of the checkers were hispanic. We got back on our road to the cemetary . Guess what we found? a Smiths and an Albertsons! I had been wondering if people in that part of town even ate anything but fast food. So we found flowers finally. We found the cemetary no problem. Finding the grave took about 45 minutes even in the very tiny cemetary because we couldn't remember where to look. We found it. The headstone was very nice. If I had brought my camera knowing we were going to do that I would have taken pictures. Now I remember I have a picture phone. Sorry.

We made it to Temple square at the time I hoped we would be headed home. We toured the conference center. Lee Joe has not seen it in person before. The girls and walked around the outside when we drove to Connecticut 3 years ago. We toured the inside. It is beautiful and is amazing at the size of the place and how pretty it is. It is full of art and the roof is landscaped with trees and other plantings and all sorts of water features. We heard the organ. Amber was impressed(our organ player) as were the rest of us.

We walked temple square. It is full of sister missionaries from all over the world there to answer questions or translate in any language. My girls were impressed and enjoyed the visit there. We only made into one visitor center. I told Lee Joe we should save the other for our next visit because we were all exhausted by then anyways.

The ride home was full of strife from a bunch of exhausted kids. Hannah told us all day how she wanted to go back to Lagoon. This morning everyone slept until 9:30 except for Amber who had band camp at 8am. No rest for the weary-Kelsea went to Roaring Springs with a friend who had an extra ticket, Kylee went to the pool with a friend. I took the 2 youngest to Wal-mart. Lee Joe is side working tonight. Hannah is still telling me how much she wants to go back to Lagoon. I think we are going to take it easy tonight.

short and sweet, I hope

Have to be quick, We are leaving to go to Lagoon in the morning bright and early and we aren't packed yet.
Weds I played Volleyball again for the first time in over a year I think. I brought Amber. It was fun. THen I went to IHOP afterwards with the friends at 10:30pm. I was out till midnight. I was coming down my street and there were a bunch of cop cars that lloked like they were in front of my house. THere were 4 parked behind a red car that was parked in front of my house. It scared me at first because Lee Joe was also out late and the car was red-his car is red. Anyways I was able to pull into my driveway and in my yard the police officer was rewarding a drug sniffing dog in my yard. I walked in the house and Amber and Kelsea had been watching the whole thing. In the end they arrested one of the women and the other drove off in the car.
Kelsea got her braces off THursday!! I will post pictures of her pretty teeth later. Amber has another month. Kelsea only had hers on since October. She doesn't like the temporary retainer.

So spontaneously we are journeying to Utah because we have no other time to do it before school starts. I already bought the tickets to Lagoon at Costco so there is no turning back now. Lee Joe is getting the oil changed in the van before we leave. The other day I looked at the oil change reminder to see how close we were to needing one and at that moment the spedometer matched the mileage on the reminder-Creepy

I won something off a candy wrapper the other day! Do you think I should send in the wrapper to the nestle people? It will cost me .39 cents to claim my 48 cent prize. Hmm, why bother.

Amber and Tennis

Amber played really really well only having just started playing tennis this year.

punchline: Now we know why---->

We had fun

Here is catch up from last week. Mon I took the my 3 youngest to Wal-mart and then dinner at Port of subs and Mcdonalds. Port of subs is my FAVORITE right now. The headache did ease up but I felt like a sloth the rest of the day.
Tuesday it was so nice. I trimmed 5 bushes in the front and mowed and called it good. Devanie and I took the girls to the pool even though it was little cool. THey all had a blast and then we went to Carls Jr for dinner. SOme of the fun stuff there wasn't working so it wasn't as much fun.

Weds was perfectly pleasant as well. We took the girls to free lunch in the park just a little ways down the road from us and one of the libraries did story time. The girls all got pencils and a twisty dog or cat. THen they played on the equipment. At 2 we got in the car and went to the other park where the pool is down the road from us and had snowcones and then swam. We managed to get Sierra confident enough to hold her breathe and try swimming for rings underwater after she watched my girls. Hailey is so funny how all right she is doing her own thing. We came home and took it easy the girls had fun in the sandbox some more.
THen Devanie left Thursday morning. I did something with the little girls before everyone came home and we came back the oldest girls were home filthy and exhausted. Last year they were so cranky I was ready to send them back. This time wasn't so bad.

Lee Joe barely recovered from camp and went out with the elders that night and then Friday he took the 3 youngest camping and I took the two oldest clothes shopping. We also went to krispy kreme before we came home and in the morning we hit the mall. THe best deals of the weekend were a pair of Mudd jeans for Amber for $7 and pj basketball pants for $6. We found a pair of Adidas tennis shoes for Kelsea for $25. My purse handle broke while we were out so I got new purse too. Kelsea had a pair of pants, jeans and a white shirt. SHe bought a shirt and a cami. Amber didn't get as much because she is getting in between sizes right now. She bought herself a shirt. We will need to hunt for her some more. Kylee got two outfits even though she wasn't there. I found capri pants for her at old navy for $3.99. Autumn got a pair of pants.

Lee Joe came home exhausted. He napped some Saturday when I was making dinner. On Sunday he out napped me. He slept for more than 3 hours.

Other than that it has been real quiet. We have had free lunch in the park for 4 days now. Saves me from having to do it. I will have Kailyn for 2 days while Melissa is in Texas bringing Dylan home. It is 100 degrees again today. Kailyn can't swim because she has stitches on her ear. But the kids are having a good time.

Van is back Hooray!

The van is back!! $3200 later. ouch. With the van came a housefull of visitors. 11 girls, 1 baby boy was the kid head count. We went to the pool on Sat. The kids played themselves to exhaustion. It's always funny to take that many girls to church. Sunday the 100 degree temps broke and it is beautiful outside. It's in the 80's. We had a bunch of great laughs Sunday night between Grandma, Lee Joe, Devanie and I . I did real well with migraine prevention on Sunday. My head started to hurt about 10:30. I thought it would go away by morning but no it was worse than ever. It feels like my head wants to explode. It's a major sinus thing so I slept all morning, until 1:30. It has only eased up so I don't feel like I am going to throw up. I didn't get to say goodbye to Amber and Kelsea as they left for girls camp this morning, Lee Joe left with them-he told me goodbye-and I didn't get to say goodbye to Grandma and Molly's girls before they left. But Devanie will be back with her 3 later today. So we will be down to 6 kids between the 2 of us. We might all be able to fit around my table just fine now. I really wanted to do some yard work while the weather outside is perfect. Hopefully I can kick this thing sometime today. Yay! The van is back!

Now we are--

We have been back and trying to lay low. It has been over 100 degrees everyday since we got home. It seems the borrowed Lay car shifts worse the hotter it is so we don't go far. We have been to the pool several times. Bought school supplies on Friday. We ate lunch at Carl's Jr and they had the coolest play place, all the girls loved it. I have read 3 books since school got out.

On Sunday we drove to Eagle for Wade's Eagle Scout ceremony. He turned 18!! Oh my. We saw Dawn and her baby. She is CUTE! and we saw Heidi too. THey asked Amber to play piano. They wanted to sing God bless America and they didn't have music. Amber spent about 10 minutes figuring it out and they asked me to lead the music. We got through it. The closing song had music so that one went better. I guess it was a good thing we showed up.
Sat and today I helped my neighbor primer her house. They have been prepping it for some time now. I figured I better help them paint or they would be painting until Christmas. It took me two hours to roller the main front wall of their house. They were like "WOW, your fast" I went over today and rollered most of the back wall of their house in an hour and a half but it got too hot. It was a good way to loose a bunch of water weight. UGH. I was very smelly though.
I must go out and get some stuff for dinner. Maybe we will go to the pool tonight. Lee Joe is still side working and working out in this heat. He says it doesn't bother him. I suppose he is use to it.

I forgot-

One very important thing I forgot--THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!
To all the very helpful people involved in the rescue of us and our poor van.

Love to you all!!

We made it home!!

First of all I changed my comment settings so Thomas can comment now.

After the wonderful, crazy exhausting time we had visiting, it turned into the most expensive and then miserable trip on the way home. About 16 miles outside Lovelock the transmission had a heart attack and gave up. We limped along to the turn around and then back to Lovelock somewhere between 5 to 20 miles an hour. One person stopped to help and was able to find us the number to a tow truck in Lovelock-which was ridiculously expensive so we choose limp along mode. Grandma and Grandpa Lay caught up to us before we made it to Lovelock. How sad for us but we reminded the girls that we were probably traveling along at the Pioneers pace. Like it was consoling. But we still had air conditioning so we weren't miserable. I got a good night sleep with the girls-they got the good night sleep, I got a restless night because it is typical for me away from home. We were looking forward to swimming with Devanie in Carson but once Lee Joe realized it would be a few days to get the van fixed he decided we would turn around for home once we dropped the van off. I have been so sad to leave a vehicle behind. I really really like my van.

So miserable, hot, sticky, crowded and grumpy we were off at the same time as the day before. We passed the dreaded break down spot with no mishap and got home at 11:00pm our time. At one point I told all the girls in the back to sit on their hands and be quiet. Kelsea got home grounded from TV and Nintendo and was told to weed the garden as one of her punishments.

Needless to say home was never a more welcome sight. And our dogs were in near hysteria when we walked in the door. But I enjoyed the visit, the girls had a great time with all their cousins and aunts and uncles-and soon to be uncle.

Autumn's hair

Locks of Love

CRAZY!!

I will start with today and somehow move backwards. Amber Had her last day of Summer school PE. Hooray!! We went to the mall.Some friends of ours that moved out towards Payette a few months ago stayed the night last night with four of thier little kids because their oldest son(makes 5 for them) fell on the 4th of July and fractured his skull. He was life flighted to Boise and spent a night in and a day in ICU. He was still in the hospital today but in a regular room and expected to be released.

On the 4th, we had a birds nest in the lowest branch in our tree with 4 babies in it. Most of the babies were old enough to adventure around the tree. We were trying to see if there were any babies left and one shot out of the nest and on the ground. we spent several hours trying to catch it and we put it back up in the tree after dodging the parents diving at us. The paretns actually chased it out in the road. We put it back. THe little thing clung to a branch above the nest when a nasty nasty thunderstorm blew in. We watched it cling to the branch, it sure hung in there. I guess the parents lost track of it though because they never came back to feed it. THe next day I found in the bush and we spent some time again trying to catch it. We did and put in the tree again. But didn't realize the parents weren't caring for it anymore. My neighbor later brought the baby back again. It crossed the street into her yard. After I put it back in the tree and it fell out right away I knew it wasn't going to be all right. So I took to the bird center for animals in distress. We went to see the center yesterday. I thought the girls would think it was neat how they cared for all the baby birds. THe girls were scared mostly and Kelsea said they smelled bad. They were scared of the chickens. I thought it was neat. SO the baby will be all right. I am such a mushy animal lover.

So I spent the 5th then visiting my friends in the hospital and rescuing birds. THe 4th I tried to throw a 3 guy bar b q birthday party. Matt wasn't coming. We did a 2 guy party. Lee Joe was side working until 6:30-an hour and a half late. I was chasing a baby bird while we waited for him and I got food ready and then the storm rolled in. 5:45 raining like it does in Texas with lightning. Can't bar b q. My sister and her kids and david's kids and his nephew and my mom are all there. The storm eases up but it still raining. I put the bar b qs in the gazebo, Lee Joe is finally home, then he picks Kelsea up and on his way home a belt slips off the van when he gets home. We finally eat, sing happy birthday and presents are opened,it stops raining and weather clears up,van gets fixed, buy fireworks-9pm now. Light some off and then everyone but me(not good with fireworks) goes to watch the show at the baseball field down the road. Game runs really late, fireworks are after the game, everyone gets home after 11 and I was home to get the call about my friends son while I am home.

Lee Joe for his birthday got a genuine swiss army knife, small version swiss army knife and some accesories. My mom and my sister gave him a gift card and money to replace the fishing pole he bought for himself at Christmas that he used once in June and it broke.
June-22-26--
My mom had surgeryon her stomach. She is recovering well. Lee Joe and I had our 16 anniversary, went to the anniversary inn. Hannah had some teeth work done in the hospital. She is prouder of her silver tooth than she should be. Kelsea went on a raft trip with the police department. We saw Cars with Grandma and grandpa Lay. 4 of the girls got to ride in hot air balloon at the Balloon rally. I had an anxiety attack that lasted several days. And I need to see a Chiropractor.

try again

Autumn's mini-makeoverbefore her major haircut. More like a major hairdo.

Stupid computer

I spent over an hour yesterday updating my blog. I got pictures to down load and everything. Great update and then the blogger site stopped responding so it is all gone now. I don't have an hour to do it today and I had problems just getting to this screen. Amber and Kelsea MAY get their baraces off today. So, life is busy, surgeries went well, Lee Joe had a birthday. I will get to it all over again later.

I need to get the picture out of the camera but we got Autumn's haircut. She was at the 10 inch mark so we were able to have it cut for locks of love. Her friend had her hair cut before school got out and I thought it would be a good reason to get it cut. Autumn's Hair is real cute. I think this morning was the first morning I really thought about her hair and missed it. I think all the curl is gone now. But it is so much easier to take care of right now.

We are working on Week #2 with the kids home. We will see if I survive-just kidding. It is still a little cool and breezy for swimming. Kylee and Autumn started a cheerleading camp today. After this week it is just summer school PE for Amber until July 7, girls camp and band camp for Amber in August.

For Father's day, Lee Joe got a pair of basketball shoes, an Easy button from Staples, Kelsea made him a Duct tape wallet and Kylee got him a little trophy.

I am still working on my office. I need to paint the window sill and bookshelf. I am getting through the closet and making more room.

Company is coming this weekend, more cleaning to do! Guess who?

Hurray for summer!!

I am so happy school is out!! We have gone swimming 2 or 3 times already. We bought our swim pass. I hope when the weather stabilizes that I can work on loosing weight by going to the lap swim. I have a back spasm from getting in the pool yesterday. It was cold and I suppose it tensed me up more than I already was and my shoulder is screaming. But my mouth is finally better!

So my downstairs office has trim and I moved the computer down into my new office. Another hurray!! And I have my dining room back! Hurray some more!! So now I need to work on moving the oodles of boxes and containers out of the garage and find a new home for all our crap. I think some of it will have to go away. The room is a real nice place to be now and my mess is only visible to me.

My job at the school is done for now. I enjoyed the kids. Here is a hug your kid and be thankful moment. There were a few 1st grade boys that I was worried about. One in particular was a little red headed boy. We would have to keep track of his absences and tardies in the office. THe week before school got out he was found by an 18 year old girl walking himself to school. She walked him up to the school 2 days, one time it was 10am and the other time it was after 9am. He had gotten himself up and ready for school on his own. He hadn't eaten and his hands were filthy and he was wearing the same clothes both days. We made sure he got breakfast before he went to his class. When we asked him about his mom he said she was lazy and was still asleep. When he was asked who else was up before he left for school he said his sister was. When we asked how old his sister was, he held up 3 fingers. On thursday I over heard the teacher and the counselor talking about him and the teacher was telling him his work wasn't that of a first grader and he needed to try harder. I had thought about it and it upset me that these adults can figure out his home life is inadequate so his school work is suffering and he wasn't getting the credit that he was getting himself to school on his own. On Friday he was absent. THe counselor called his house and got the mom to bring him to school. She thought he wasn't there because he had gotten in trouble the day before. He made it to school and during lunch I walked by his lunch tray and something I realized was an inappropriate item to see at school. He had 22 bullets on his lunch tray. I had to turn them in to the principal. I asked him if he had any others in his pockets. With his dirty little hands he showed me he didn't. THe principal called in the resource officer and they talked with the little boy. He had no idea what he had done was that big of a deal. The counselor thought he had brought them on purpose so he could be sent back home. I think she is clueless she really upset me with her lack of concern. On Monday and Tuesday the last week of school he wasn't at school but we got a call on Tuesday from a social worker. We found out he was put in foster care over the weekend. On the last day of school the social worker brought him to school to spend some time with his class. He was cleaner than we had ever seen him. His little hands weren't black anymore but shiny pink. He had on new clothes. He told me he was in foster care, his sister wasn't with him but he had a new big brother. I was so worried about him if school got out and he was still there having to fend for himself all summer. I just wonder about the little sister though and hope she is OK. It bothered me so much because I wasn't that seriously neglected but I grew up not to far from a similiar situation. I walked myself to school in the first grade and stayed home alone in Denver. My heart aches for that little boy. Maybe now he can stay a little boy for a little while longer.

Brighter note--Kylee Brought home straight A's Autumn's report card was good-no A and B's on her report card yet. Amber and Kelsea got theirs today. Amber had 2 B and all A's but one B look like it really should have been an A and Kelsea had 2 A's and the rest B's.

Amber started summer school PE today. 3 hours of PE everyday until July 7. Kelsea is doing a 4 day camp for basketball this week Next week Kylee and Autumn will do a cheerleading camp for 4 days.

THere was more I was going to say but I forgot the rest and it is long enough now so Everyone,have a great summer!!

Well, the usual?

My life is so busy right now it has been making me sick. I spent a 2nd weekend-a 3 day weekend really sick again with mouth sores. It was so bad I couldn't talk and could hardly eat anything I couldn't go to a graduation we were suppose to go to this weekend or go to church. But Monday was nice. We got some yard cleaned up and set up the gazebo I got for mothers day on the rock patio. We bar b Q some steaks. They were so good I suffered through the pain of eating them because I was so starving for something chewier than yogurt. We have since eaten dinner in the Gazebo the last 3 days.

Last week Amber severely sprained her ankle, playing basketball again during lunch. We had to take her to the Dr again. She had her 7th x-ray of the year. 5 have been in the last 3 weeks. Two dentist x-rays, MRI, 2 on her feet. She is wearing a splint on her ankle.

Amber had an awards ceremony last night. I think she was up getting awards more than almost all the 9th graders. She got an Jr Honors society pin, MVP for JV Volleyball-award and medal, Presidential academic award, Honor roll, 3 sport award, And the Band Directors award. Her name will be on a plaque in the band room. She was hoping for that award and they gave her a plaque to hang on her wall.

Kelsea is doing well in Volleyball. She plays well. Her team has won every game she has played except for one game and Kelsea missed that game. Their last game is tomorrow. It is a very short season.

I don't mind my job except for the crosswalk, mainly because people always run the light and I would be so sick if one of those kids got hit while I was doing the crosswalk. ANd when I go to sleep at night and close my eyes I see little kids running all over the playground like a bunch of little crazy ants. But I can't do this job full time next year. I might look at part-time.

busy week

I tried to blog earlier this week but my computer was acting retarded. So here we are a long time later.

Here's the Lay family brief-
Amber, in her tournament won her first two games and lost her third. SHe would have placed had she won that round. It was close but the girl that beat her took first place. Not bad for a first year tennis player. Devanie can you post that picture for me?
Kelsea started Volleyball. She made Varsity 1. They won their first game and lost the second. Kelsea didn't make that game. Next game Mon.
Kylee Autumn and Hannah had their dance recital last night. Cute as can be. Hannah had the audience laughing with her over zealous pointing at herself with her squinty smile in the part of rainbow connection where they are to point at themselves. She is a ham! Kylee and Autumn did a really good job. Kailyn was in it too and she was fun to watch so it became a fanily event. One less activity to do! Woo Hoo!

The job has not been bad. My only complaint was this last week the temp decided to be over 20 degrees above normal. We were in the mid 90's all week. We went from 70 to 90 just like that. I spend about 3 to 3 1/2 hours outside so I have been coming home wiped out and miserable. But I have a great farmers tan going on and have lost a little weight. This week will be in the 70's again thank goodness. I have had some interesting little things thrown in . I subbed for a little bit in one classroom. I do the crosswalk before and after school, I don't like that very much. I will have to do a class with some of the more difficult kids called character academy this week. I had a couple of girls recognize me in the store. I guess I have celebrity status now in the elementary crowd. They proceeded to entertain me while I tried to bag my groceries.

Lee Joe has about exhausted himself this week. He couldn't stay up this morning to get ready for church. He has been working some long hard hours and of course it was hot to boot. So I have been running the show alone while working. Needless to say not much got done this week. It is a good 4 weeks to decide if I want to keep it up for real.

We had a nasty storm blow in Friday night and it downed trees and knocked power out. Our power stayed on our neighbors across the street didn't have power. We had a lot of dead branches in our yard. No damage for us.

The update on the baby birds. We had one left alive in the nest and it died this last week. The girls were sad but they realize it was nature taking it's course so it wasn't traumatic, like it would have been if the cat ate it.

So much for a brief. I am never at a loss for words.

GOLLY vacation is over!!

I have been so busy. Monday was laundry recovery and chase around. Tuesday I had an Appt at noon and then 4 of the girls had dentist appts. Two had cavities, two without. One needs a referrral to an orthodontist-Autumn. Hannah's fillings will be in the hospital because she has 7 and they will put her out and do it all at once. Otherwise it would have been 4 appts.

Today was fuller than I anticipated. We had a dead baby bird in the house this morning. Lee Joe took care of it before the other girls got up. We have a robin that built a nest on top of our electric meter. THe cat just can't go away and the eggs hatched this week. SO we have been concerned about the future outcome. The baby bird in the house this morning was too old to have been in our monitered nest.
Amber had an early morning Drs appt. She is going to have lump removed from her arm on June 1, she had another X-ray on her foot. No stress fracture. And she had an MRI this afternoon. She has tremors that are getting worse. Her braces are going to mess up the results of the MRI. We won't know the results from that until a few days which will be next week if we are lucky.

Amber has one more tennis match. The city tournament is tomorrow. She got a shirt that advertises she is a 3 sport girl-the whole reason she played tennis.
Kelsea is on Varsity 1 volleyball team. She is a happy camper.

I start my new job tomorrow. I am excited and nervous the main office gal will be gone so it is going to be interesting. Hannah is going to the neighbors tomorrow.

Lee Joe is back to his over filled schedule. I haven't seen him much since I have been back.

I tell you high school si going to be more expensive than jr high. I thought we were in the public school system. Amber will attend a class this summer. $110 to take one semester of PE so she can take seminary during the day. She will have to do the next semester next summer, Another $110. Marching Band camp, required attendance in Aug before school starts is $ 140. Drivers ED required for a drivers license here $ 160. We haven't signed her up for that yet. UGH, no wonder I need a job.

I'm back

I thought when I was in Clovis New Mexico that I should write a book about "How I survived my trip with my mother" We actually enjoyed each other quite a bit with all the joking that went on. My mom couldn't get us to either of my Aunts' houses without some sort of detour and they were not hard to find.

The funeral was a small graveside service. It was the first time all my aunts and uncles had been together since I was in kindergarten. There were a couple of cousins I hadn't seen since I was 7 or 8. What was really neat was my cousins children were my uncles back yard finding frogs and horny toads and that is what I remember doing with my cousins when I was there all those years ago.

We had a really pleasant time. There was a lot of nostalgia. We ate at Furrs cafeteria, Grandma use to take us there and we had to have the mac and cheese. The car trip was like when we were little going to New Mexico, just the 3 of us. I was trying to find indian dolls for my girls but they were not as easy to find as they had been when I was little. But I found some.

Lee Joe handled mr mom week well. He had a couple of curve balls thrown in. There were 2 unexpected school events. Hannah got an ear infection, he had to take her to the doctor. And there was a birthday party. He gave me a very sweet card when I got home.

We are driving and leaving Tuesday night. I will get to see some family I haven't seen since I was 7 or 8. My mom is I think looking forward to the drive with us. Lee Joe is lined out with working short days Weds-Fri. And he is lining out care for Hannah during the day. I probably won't be back until Sunday.

It is the first time Melissa and I have attended a funeral for someone in our family.

Kelsea is still trying to cough up a lung. She missed Friday morning. I left her at home last night for the big concert last night because she would have been pretty disruptive. The concert was fantastic. That is our 6th year of having kids involved in that concert. This was the first year Amber knew some of the kids she performed with.
Kylee stayed home all week and I started to get it on THursday but I have fought it off.

I gave wal-mart the news that I wouldn't be working for them. I still need to go in and give them my stuff. I start at the school on the 11th. I am very excited.

We had a hamster plan a great escape again last night. At 6 am this morning we were hunting for the escapee. She survived! She was found under Kelsea's bed. She got out of an aquarium! Our neighbor borrowed our duct tape and nothing was taped down. We got our duct tape back today.

I had sad news this morning. My grandma in Texas passed away. She had been sick and was in the hospital. We heard last night she slipped into a coma. Early this moring she passed away. The funeral is Thursday. My mom and sister and I are headed to Clovis New Mexico for the funeral. Lee Joe is going to stay here and tend kids while we either fly or drive down. That has yet to be determined. It is a pretty quiet week so he should fare pretty well.

Kelsea went back to school today after missing 6 days. All the teachers asked her if she is OK. SHe looked awful on Sunday. I could really see how much weight she has lost and she looked almost anorexic to me. I got called by the school today and picked up Kylee. She is running the fever that Kelsea started her nastiness with. Here we go again.

I moved into our new room once it I finished painting it and cleaning it all up. I tried to get Hannah's new room in order this weekend but I didn't get as far as I hoped. We did scrape off the popcorn ceiling and retextured it. I painted the ceiling tonight and the texture job looks nice. I am going nuts with the colors in her room. She really wants to help me paint. I have two walls left. Her new curtains are already up and we should be able to start getting more of her stuff in tomorrow I hope.

So I got a job at Wal-mart. I am suppose to work nights. THat is what I wanted with them. I had orientation today and was not feeing that good about it at all. I went to the school and picked up Kylee and asked them if the job opportunity there was a sure thing and she said it was so I got real excited over that so I believe that is what I should do. But now I have to call wal-mart back and tell them I have a better offer. That is so hard for me but better to do it now rather than later-when I am dead tired after working the 7 nights in a row they put me on the schedule to start out. Courage--I know I have it. I think I misplaced it somewhere.

Kelsea is still sick. Poor thing. I took her to the doctor yesterday. They tested her for strep and she was negative. It is viral and she has to wait it out.

Amber had another tennis match yesterday. I got to go. Amber played a boy that really wanted to play another match at the end of everyone elses games. You could tell he has a had some experience and she beat him!! 4-2! The tennis coach is so excited over how well Amber is doing for being a first year. She also won the other match she played yesterday too. You go Amber!!

I moved into our new room yesterday! Woohoo! It is like being in a new house almost. The office still isn't done. I need to scrape the ceiling and retexture it in our old room but Hannah's stuff is already in the closet. And then I get to paint yet another room. Like I am complaining. Doing little girls rooms is great fun for me.

So, I remember snow days in Jr high and high school. We haven't had enough snow in years to close school but because of the acts of violence and threats of acts of violence, Our girls have just had their first experience with a "Threat of acts of violence" day. There was a threat written on a bathroom wall at school. Today also happens to be the anniversary of the Columbine tragedy but there was a very similiar episode at local Jr high here last week. It was optional as to whether or not parents wanted to send their kids to school. We felt it was copy cat threat. Amber went to school today with only 89 other kids. It is a big Jr high. Kelsea has been sick all week so we took advantage of another day home for her.

I, so sadly, yet very neccessary right now, got a job today. Maryanne will have to let me know how she manages to work nights with kids. I will be working full time nights. I have another job opportunity at the little girls school so I might still try for that one. It doesn't start until mid May. I just need to know everyones planned dates to be in Nevada so I can ask for vacation if I stick with this job. If I decide to work at the school though I would have summer off and then I would need to apply again at the beginning of the year.

Amber had her Honor Orchestra concert on Tuesday night. They played 5 pieces, it was an excellent concert. She had several solos and by playing oboe, the whole orchestra tuned to her. So needless to say she was highly featured whether she liked it or not. Next week is the big week and the final concert.

Amber has had 2 tennis matches as well. The first one she lost her first game. Dylan asked her very loudly at the end of her match, "Who won" Amber said "She did." He replied "You need to practice more" For the whole park to hear. We all laughed so hard. Amber did too. She doesn't embarrass very easily. She won the doubles game she played after that. The 2nd match on weds she won both matches she played.

THe weather here has been beautiful the last 2 days. Sunny and 65-70 degrees. It finally feels like Spring!

Amber and Kelsea 2006

Aunt Devanie Says, "VERY VERY NICE!!"

good week

I am so glad this week has been a quiet sort of normal kind of week. Monday- dance ond orchestra. Tuesday was my day to fill. I did yard work and painted the downstairs some more. Weds-I had an Appointment. I have checked the calendar all week to make sure I wasn't forgetting and appointment somewhere else. THursday I tried to Hannah to the library for story time but they changed the time. So it was the first beautiful warm day we have had so I took Hannah to the zoo. SHe has been begging me to go there. So we had really nice time. It is so nice to have a little one that doesn't need a stroller anymore. The flooring is 100% done downstairs.Today is uneventful. I will probably paint some more after I pick up Kailyn and then Lee Joe and I are going to the temple tonight and out to dinner. I have made dinner almost all week. Next week will be super busy again.

There could be a job change in the works for Lee Joe and I may be getting a job as well. But I sure will miss Hannah if I get a day job. I am also looking at working at night. We are about to owe over $4000 for Lee Joe's surgery and he needs another surgery for the hearing aid. What is insurance for anyway?

Amber has surprised herself with her first tennis experience. She is beating kids in matches that have had a few seasons experience. She is not in the beginners group either.
The rest of the girls are doing well. Autumn and Kylee learned how serious mom is when it comes to cleaning their room. I gave them 2 evenings to clean it. At the end of the 2nd night at 8:30 I went in with a container ant put everything that wasn't up in it. CLean lanudry on their beds & toys on the floor. THey cried but we have been going through this with them for months now. Last night they got the bucket back and had an hour to clean it out and low and behold they got it done in less time. THe alarm is set for them to get up earlier in the morning so they can make their beds and do quick clean up before school. Two days into this and it is working. We will see how long we can keep it up.

The weekend

This was Autumn's big weekend. Leland and Randa came for the big event. Sat we started out the day by have an Easter egg hunt at the church. Kylee and Autumn were to be there at 9 and I was told by one of the leaders that should have known what time it started that it started at 10. I came back to the house from dropping those two off and Hannah was sitting on the bench ready to go. I tried to occupy her the best I could. At 10 to 10 I get a call from the husband from the primary president that it started at 9:30. I frantically get Hannah out the door and I am so upset. I was about to cry even, I don't do that, Because she was so excited. I invited our neighbors to come too so Lee Joe called her and she brought 3 of the 5 boys she had with her and tried to make sure that all of them got enough eggs. Needless to say I was mad that somebody there couldn't just ask Kylee what our number was so I could have been called directly since it was one of the leaders that told me the wrong time and she knew it. That was frustrating but everyone else there made sure we all had enough so the kids were none the wiser.

At the baptism, I tell you we need to get it together before these girls start getting married. Kylee's baptism, Lee Joe forgot his towel and change of under clothes so I had to run home and I missed the beginning of the baptism. Autumn's started out with her forgetting her change of underwear. I explained to her several times she needed to change into white and put another pair in her bag. SHe missed something because all she had done was change into the white underwear. We were minus the underwear in the jumpsuit. I was afraid she would go nuts but I think she had enough to occupy her brain that it wasn't an issue. We get into the chapel and I sit down and Lee Joe informs me he forgot the baptism recommend. Again, I run home. This building is not as close as our chapel. I am upset again, baptism #4 That I am running home for something we shouldn't have forgotten. I get back in time to sing the end of the opening song. SO I didn't miss as much this time. That is where I am imagining my daughters weddings and me missing something because we couldn't get it together. Note to self-make checklists in the future.
1-make list of friends and family to invite and remember to invite before the day of the baptism.
2-bring towel and underwear for child(mom remember to check)
3-DAD bring towel and change of under clothes (mom remember to check)
4-bring recommend ( mom keep in purse or in glove compartment in van)
5- a brush or comb is also nice to have.
So Autumn felt special. She is a very thinking child and she talked about the sensations and how she felt in the water. She has really bonded with her dad through this and that is always priceless. My mom came and her Grandma Grandpa Lay were there. We went to the Golden Corral. We felt like people cattle at the trough but it really was good food. My mom actually came. And she ate ALOT for her. She has been sick. She is taking medication that helps her not throw up everything she eats so she could really eat and she enjoyed it.

Sunday Autumn was confirmed and Darren and Carrie made it for the confirmation. I made a roast dinner and we had strawberry shortcake after we watched Chronicles of Narnia. We had our neighbors over for dessert as well. I arm wrestled our neighbor. He beat me with the right arm and I popped his shoulder when we arm wrestled the left. I felt bad but I warned him that I popped a girls wrist in the 6th grade during the arm wrestling championship round at our school. That was probably the last year they did that.

The flooring is 85% in the rooms downstairs. We need trim and then a little more paint. The storage closet is finished though and I am doing a great job filling it up.

Autumn's Baptism Day

Here is a picture of us all at the baptism.




Top Row: Grandma Lay, Grandpa Lay, Kelsea, Me(Kimberly), Grandma Lane, Amber, Dad(LeeJoe)
Bottom Row: Kylee, Autumn(Congratulations!!!)and Hannah

Thanks for coming everyone!

Sorry we missed the rest of the family. Love you.

Kelsea has heels on, Amber doesn't. My mom came too.

Here are the bonuses- where we live, Amber and Kelsea can walk home from their activities at the school. When the weather is nice and after the time change, the girls can also ride bikes or walk to the church on Weds. It hasn't been that nice yet. Spring brings concerts. We have one this week but both girls are in it thank goodness. Amber is in two honor groups this year and one has a concert on the 18th and then she will have rehearsals for the other group on the 25th and then the 27th os a dress rehearsal for both groups and then the concert on the 28th. Amber could take Driver's ED 7 months ago and can still take it. Our problem has been we are too busy for it now and it costs over $150 to take. And as soon as she takes it she could have her drivers license. I don't know that I am ready for that. Next year could be the problem though because the High school is not in walking distance. She only has 3 more years. Oh My!

Basically, some weeks are busier than others. I like the less busy ones. I think all the Dr appts and ortho apts and surgeries put me under and in need of the rest. I can't believe it already but the school year is almost over. I wondered if my car enjoyed it's vacation as well.

They are talking about building a new Elementary school that is near the JR High . I would so love that because that would mean less commuting to and from the elementary school. My kids could walk there too! I can't wait!

the week is over

So our Spring break is waning. I watch conference as I post. On the last leisurely day before the oncoming onslot of things to do next week.
I forgot to mention on Tuesday we saw Chronicles of Narnia, we all LOVED it.
The end of the week I scheduled pictures for Amber and Kelsea finally and got Amber to the eye doctor. They took very nice pictures. I will get them back the 17th and then I can share!
I colored my hair a dark auburn. It is called Sangria. It is fun and a big change.
Lee Joe worked in the yard on Sat. I have been getting to the painting in the bedroom here and there. Mostly touch up and trim.
It has rained a lot since Fri. I might get to try out the new lawn mower soon.
Next week-Dance, orch on Mon. Tues a band and orchestra concert. Weds YW and Activity days. Thurs-? Fri company is coming for the baptism on Sat. And that is a busy weekend ahead as well. I think I will take a nap on anticipation of things to come. And that is why this past week felt so good!!

rest is nice or is it really rest?

I have been painting the office,closet and bedroom. I stayed up Tuesday night until 3 am. Yesterday I was able to put stuff in the new closet. All that stuff has been in my living room and Family room since Sept. It is so nice. There is still flooring and and trim left to put up downstairs and I need to paint the closet and ceiling in the bedroom.
We took Kylee and Autumn's bunkbeds apart. They thought that was exciting. We have more organization to do in their room.
Hannah went to the eye doctor yesterday. Her vision has improved some. We need to continue eye dropping her good eye and eye patching it. It is suppose to be eye patched 2 hours everyday but with our busy schedule it is so crazy that is almost impossible.
Amber is starting tennis after spring break. She took the kids to the park so she could practice with some friends. She hasn't played before so it should be interesting how well she does (or doesn't do) There is nobody but me in house. Peaceful.

Lee Joe is looking into buying an already established business. That is scary because we have been there done that with self emplyment 2 times already. We will see what happens. It rained pretty good yesterday and it looked like he rolled in a mud puddle when he came home yesterday. His coat was covered in mud. It had to be hosed off before it was put in the washer. He is such a hard worker.

busy, busy,rest ahhh

Ok, to start things off, have you ever hurt your arm pit? Yesterday I was sorting through all the wet coats and snow gear when Lee joe's coat had something stuck between to rubbermaid containers. I pulled and it released, and SMACK. The plastic pull attached to elastic hit me in my arm pit square in the tender part. It is still welted and man did it HURT. I think I will survive.

So last week, monday I told you about, Tues was the real birthday, weds kylee and autumn both went to activity days and there was piano,violin and YW for the older two girls. Thursday we had a friend party with 13 girls total. We turned all the girls into Tinkerbell. Friday there was a talent show at the church. All the girls lip synced and sang, not a true lip sync to the veggie tales belly button song. Kylee and Autumn danced their ballet dance with two other girls in our ward. The song they dance to is butterfly kisses and man it can bring you to tears being a mom or dad of girls. Then Amber and Kelsea did a skit with two other Young women and a leader. Before we went to that I was so exhausted from the week and didn't want to go at all. I did and then Sat and Sun we went up to the mountains and stayed at Lee Joe's bosses cabin (70's trailer with an add on). Melissa and her kids came. It rained and then it snowed. The snow was so deep up there it was as deep as I am tall in places. We went snowmobiling and sledding until 9pm on Sat. It was snowing and snowmobiling was hard because the snow hurt when it hit your face and it was hard to see through the helmet with the protector thing over your eyes in the dark. We snowmobiled on the lake,kind of weird knowing you are on a big frozen lake. The kids all had a blast. When I would walk up the hill I kept sinking into snow up to my knee. Talk about a great workout. We ate dinner after 10. Everyone went to bed and some of the kids were up at 7:30 ready to go again. We ate got everything together and went out again. It snowed 5 inches over night. The kids sledded and never tired for over two hours. We all took turns driving kids on snow mobiles and going for fun rides on our own. When we got back to the cabin the van got stuck and we had to push it out. We got home and boy were we ever exhausted. But it was a great time. And our office has all the doors up and is primered YAY. It is ready for paint and then flooring and we are in-I forgot it needs trim too. It looks fantastic.

It is spring break this week and we are all in for a rest and spring cleaning.

Happy Birthday Sierra!!

Hannah Mopping

Hannah Mopping

Happy Birthday Autumn

Autumn had a good birthday yesterday. We went to Wal-mart to get her ears pierced and pick up her cake. THere was a gal that was pretty new at ear piercing that did one of her ears and part of gun got stuck. She sat there so gaood and wide eyed and never cried. I didn't talk to much about it before she sat there so she didn't know what to expect I guess. Better for her though. She is proud of her blue earrings. We bought an earring holder while we were there and for some stupid reason they had just boxed up all their earrings so we couldn't get any new earrings.

We came home, I ordered pizza and then Melissa,her kids and my mom came over. She got a Monkey Dooz sparkle makeover certificate from my mom and a monkey. Melissa got her some Tinkerbell things from the Disney Store and earrings. She got a Cabbage Patch kid that shares her birthday. I couldn't find one with her name on it. The closest thing I could find was Tatum. I found one with Kylee and Hannah's name though. She got new sheets and a pillow-Care Bears. And she got a night gown and some new clothes and some cleaning stuff,she wanted that. And a tinkerbell computer game. She is going to have her friend party after school on Thursday. Spring break starts this weekend so we had to rush the friend party along. She has a coupon for Build A Bear so we will probably go there tonight and she can get an outfit. She gets to go to Activity days for the first time today.

David went to the ER again Tuesday morning. They did another CT scan and pretty much determined he had the flu. He had thought to start with that he had food poisoning from the sudden onset of symptoms. And now Melissa thinks the same thing. He went to work today. It was a doctor's office that sent him to the ER to start with and it sure was an expensive way to find out nothing. Dylan is here today sick himself.

I think we are going to Donnelly this weekend for sure. The snowmobiles are booked. The girls are disappointed it is not for longer than the weekend. There is so much snow up there I don't think we need snow mobiles to have great time.

My ceiling in the office was mudded yesterday. More dust. But I should be able to paint next week and put the flooring in. I can't wait!!

I am not getting much done today. I am dragging like turtle or something. A repair guy is suppose to come and fix our dishwasher today. Here is a tip I am going to have to pay money for-He said to use powder detergent instead of gel. And he suggested I use a dishwasher cleaning agent. Jet dry has one you stick in an empty dishwasher and run. He also told me to use the jet dry stuff and all that should help your dish washer run cleaner. It has helped quite a bit since my dishwasher was making the dishes more dirty than when they went in. It is only 3 years old.

I still can't get the blogger thing to download pictures from my computer. It is probably my computer.

This weekend

Saturday was so nice and leisurely. Our neighbor came over and textured the office. The ceiling still needs to be done but it is almost there!

I took Hannah and Kylee with me to the store while Autumn was at a birthday party across the street. We bought some kites. Hannah really wanted to go. It was really too windy but we decided to try it anyway. I found some kites from a few years ago. We went to the park down the road with 6 kites. 2 were just bought, one was fabric and the others were several years old. In 10 minutes 3 kites bit the dust. The two new ones held up but looked quite tortured in the air. The small fabric kite survived. We weren't out there a half an hour and we were all froze from the wind chill so kite flying was done. I took Amber and Kelsea to the mall and the three little girls and I went to Baskin Robbins to redeem two free cone vouchers the girls got at jump rope for heart.

I went to the mall today at 9am to walk. That is pleasant way to do it and everything is closed so it is brisk window shopping with all the other walkers. I believe I have started Spring cleaning my kitchen. Boy does it ever need it.
Today-Monday I had an interesting twist during Ballet today. I took 6 kids to Ballet. 3 mine,3 friends. As we walked in Kylee fell and skinned her knee. I had to ask the director and teacher some questions so I had her wait a minute for a bandaid, then Autumn had a problem with her toe. Then Kylee told me Hannah needed me in the bathroom. I got there and she had peed all over her clothes and the floor. I had no clothes for her to change into. And then I got a call from home while I was in the quandry over the naked child in the bathroom. Amber had a problem with Dylan and Kailyn that I needed to address over the phone. Kylee still has no bandaid, Autumn's toe still hurts and Hannah is still naked. I have to buy a leotard there even though I don't need it really except for the fact she will remain naked if I don't buy it. She is dressed, I make another call over the crisis at home. And somehow Kylee gets her band-aid and Autumn takes off her shoe so her toe won't hurt. I was about ready to resign my post as super mom. Then everything calmed down and I was flushed and splotchy from the duress. Ugh.
To end the night, my brother in law is in the hospital with either appendicitis or a kidney stone. They are still trying to determine what is ailing him. They realized they should have called me first. Hey! It's not me this week. At least not yet anyway.

Autumn is 8 on Tuesday. She gets to have her ears pierced. That will be my 4th baby baptized! Her baptism is April 8. And we will finally be done with birthdays in Idaho until June, and then there is 4.

It snowed Monday overnight and there was several inches on the ground when the kids were to get ready for school. I woke Kylee Autumn and Hannah up a half an hour early and told them if they hurried up they could play in the snow. That was the fastest they got ready for school ever. Snow doesn't usually stick around here long so it was a good thing they got to play in it when they did. I was just thinking that getting snow thei late is not typical at all. USusally on Kelsea's birthday we can play outside with no coats on. Not this year. It was even snowing again this morning. The mountains have been dumped on and the ski resorts are happy but everyone is starting to worry about the rivers with the spring runoff. We may go up the mountains over Spring break to play in the snow.

We had Kelsea's party last night. She got an idog from Melissa and I got her this funny little sweater outfit for it and an idog carry bag. She got the new Princess Peach game for her nintendo DS and My mom got her Harry Potter 4. She got pj pants and a athletic pants and some candy. Spoiled rotten. She enjoyed it though.

Kelsea stuck a ratted wig from the girls dress up box and stuck it under shirt with hair sticking through the arm holes and up through the neck and hair dangling out the bottom and she looked at me and said "I'm your husband" I laughed so hard.

Fun weekend

A realitively calm week. I started Spring cleaning I think on Thurs and Fri but it is still cold here.
Kelsea's good friend threw her a surprise birthday at her house on Friday. It was a great surprise. She hung out with 4 friends and had a great time. We further celebrated her birthday on Saturday by just the two of us going shopping. I took her out to lunch at the Olive Garden. She got a giftcard to the mall from the party for $20 and she had some money left on her Old Navy giftcard from Christmas and some babysitting money so when we came home she made out quite well with a new bedspread for her bed, 6 shirts, two pairs of long shorts, a pair of Capri's and a pair of pants. She got a CTR as well and lime green furry pillow. We are going to have the family get together on Tuesday so she will have done well for turning 13. Her birthday is Weds but there is a big stake activity that night and they sounded like they are going to make special mention of the birthday girls that night.

Kelsea had a visit to the ER Sat night. I am really tired of that place. Amber and her were horsing around and she got an elbow to her chest as she fell on my bed pulling Amber down on top of her. She couldn't get up without help and was in terrible pain. She was shaking something crazy and crying so hard. But she couldn't breathe very well. She just has a really good bruise on her solar plexus. Today she still couldn't get up on her own out of bed and certain positions cause her a lot of pain. By the end of the day there was some improvement.

Lee Joe's ear was causing him some irritation today. He is rather grumpy.

Hannah has been trying to help me with laundry. She took some clothes and started the washer. I stopped it yesterday, it wasn't full and didn't have any soap in it. Today she unloaded those clothes that were really really wet still into the dryer and put a nightgown and pair of socks in the washer and started it again. She also filled up all 4 compartments in the detergent area. I caught it in time and she got in some trouble for all the water everywhere in the bathroom and the unsupervised help with the laundry. I can't complain too much, at least she wants to help.

Kylee and Autumn BasketBall pictures

Getting better

Kylee and Autumn are doing Jump rope for heart. Any pledges anyone? We need to know by tonight-Tuesday. Give us a call if you want to. We need the pledges(money) before the 14 or 15.

Lee Joe is getting better. He went to work Monday. The cold air bothers it quite a bit but he has a warm hat with flaps that helps. We put the arm back on his glasses yesterday so they won't fall off. So the swelling has gone down a lot. He got stopped by a police officer last night just for some silliness. The officer saw his ear and said that he has had 5 of those surgeries. So they talked ear surgeries for a while and the only ticket he got was for no proof of insurance and he just has to take that to the courthouse. The ear surgery got him out of the ticket he was stopped for. How about that. He has to walk around with a cotton ball stuck to his ear. It looks kind of funny. He has to do that for another 2 weeks.

The weekend wasn't as calm as I hoped but it was the last one like that for awhile. I got a sewing order. I am suppose to be sewing right now. What a procrastinator. Anyways, Kylee made two baskets and Autumn tried for one in their game. One of their good friends was on the other team so we were cheering for both sides. Kelsea ended the season undefeated. They won 26 to 8. Kelsea made 6 of those points. and she assisted several other baskets. She is one to watch up and coming you guys! She makes most her baskets. Amber was playing 21 with Kelsea and she didn't want Kelsea to play anymore because she was making all her shots.

I had to lead music for the stake baptims on Sat. Usually they are in the primary room. This time there were 7 kids and so it had to be in the chapel. It was scary! But I did fine. But I brought the girls with me-no Amber though, she was snowmobiling. Lee Joe felt too bad to go. But my girls started misbehaving and All I could do was sit on the stand and make faces at them. They weren't really noisy,just naughty. We walked out to go to the font and some were crying and others were defending themselves. UGh. I just found out Kelsea's Aunt Flo came to visit in Jan for the first time. And we are hitting the mood swings and PMS like you wouldn't believe. She is mean to her sisters just to be mean. She cries whenever I raise my voice slightly at her. Just awful. She acted like she was going throw a knife at Autumn when they were cleaning off the table. She is about to turn 13. It is a long road ahead. Wish Lee Joe and I luck. Can I crawl under a rock until it is over?

Last night Kylee and Autumn got their trophies for basketball. They were their first trophys and they are proud of them.

Autumn will be 8 this month!! My 4th baby baptized and I am the mom of two official teenagers. I am so old.
Must sew or I will be up late again tonight.

The only person who has called Lee Joe post surgery is your mom. He still has one good ear.

We are having a calm week. Lee Joe has been taking it easy. His ear is still gross. It so swollen all around it . He is on Tylenol for pain and it is working well, that is until it wears off. He went to the Doctor today. The doctor said he put a tampon in Lee Joe's ear. We both cringed and laughed at that kind of wording for the sponge looking thing in his ear. The Doctor said the hearing aid that might be best would be one where they put a post in the bone behind his ear. Now that would make him look like frankenstien. We have been able to find humor in it all. The thing that covered his ear and made him look like a one eared pirate actually looks like a "cup" -the guy thing. except it is round. The doctor said his ear looks good and he goes back again next Thursday. They gave us a prescription for ear drops. We called on how much they would cost-$98.00. I think we will het the doctors office up for more of their free samples.

This week since he has been home we bought a lawn mower with a couple a gift cards we got for Christmas and Lee joe's side work money. The kids activites have been manageable. And it the last week for a lot of it.

Amber brought home a note saying she was accepted in the Jr High Honor Band. So she will be in 2 groups again in the Music week Concert in April.

Funny story I read in a magazine. It was a most embarrassing moment story. This lady went to the bathroom in an airplane. She didn't realize the seat was up when she sat down so when she fell in to the toilet she flushed it on accident. When she flushed it it suctioned her to the toilet. She tried to get herself unstuck but couldn't. She had to ask a flight attendant for help. The flight attendant couldn't help her get unstuck so they had to call the captain to come and help her and he finally got her unstuck from the toilet.

I laughed so hard!! But that would be so awful. I was going to tell you another funny story that happened to someone I know very recently but I was asked not to repeat it so I will honor that and snicker and laugh to myself. Sorry.

Friday is pretty quiet. For some reason the Jr high gets out early tomorrow. Amber is going up to Donelly on a young women's snowmobile trip. Kelsea is going to stay home so she can make it to her last game and team party. Kylee and Autumn have their game on Sat and Kylee has a birthday party across the street. I have to lead music at a baptism on Saturday. Not a bad weekend ahead.

Recovery

I was about to fill out a blog when I saw a fire truck stop in front of my house. I was wondering what they were up to. I saw a guy in the front seat get out and walk to the front of the truck and he had to remove my trash cans from the road. How embarrassing.

Lee Joe's surgery went as well as could be expected. I took him in at 6:45 they had him ready to go at 7:30. He got out of surgery at 11 and we got home around 2.

It was a good thing he got the surgery done now instead of later. But he should have had it done a long time ago. Basically all the hearing bones in his ear were destroyed. The nasty thing grew to penetrate part of the bone that protects the brain. It didn't get the brain but in his ear now a little piece of his brain is exposed. THere is no chance of them restoring his hearing but hearing aids are an option. We didn't find that out about the hearing aids being an option until after the Doctor called to check on him later that night. His facial nerve is exposed and unprotected but still intact. If something happens to that nerve his face on that side would be paralyzed. All they were able to do for him is remove it and everything in his ear. They made his ear canal really large and now there is no chance the thing will come back but there is also no need for surgery again in 6 months. But every 6 months for the rest of his life he will have to have the ENT clean out his ear. and no one is to put anything in his ear ever because the risk of injuring his facial nerve is so high.

He has this lovely cup thing with an elastic band over his ear with gauze inside. I told the kids he is the one eared pirate. His ear is still there of course but it has stitches all around the back of the ear. and there is nasty drainage from his ear it is packed with foam. It is pretty gross.

The rest of yesterday wore me out. I had to make separate plans for Kailyn and Hannah yesterday. I had to go pick up his medications once All the kids were back at home from school and all their various places. The worst part of that is our insurance for medications is a joke. His antibiotic was $125 and the insurance knocked it down to $122. And that was for 10 pills!! I spent $166 at Walgreens. He is on Tylenol now for pain. After that I had someone bring us dinner and I left with Kylee and Autumn to their last basketball practice. I went to Target while they were there to get Amber some Dayquil. I didn't realize we were out when I went to Walgreens earlier. Dropped off those two in exchange for Amber to go to Honor Orchestra. My car pool didn't work out so I picked her up and went to Winco for some groceries so I wouldn't have to go anywhere today. We got home at 9:45. Everybody helped take care of Lee Joe. He was still really dizzy and groggy last night. And after 10 I changed the dressing on his bandage and got to sleep at 11. Long long day.

Today I am tired and taking the day really slow. Lee Joe is up and around a little more and he will be home the rest of the week. That is what the nurses all said and the dr. What did I say!! I think I have said plenty

Surgery Looming

I should be in bed for Lee Joe's surgery. He has to be in at 6:45 and I have to get 5 kids in all different directions after that. But we got most of our office sheetrocked this weekend and now the new bedroom is full of mess. THe closet and furnace room needs sheet rock and then mudding away we go. We had company for dinner today. Lee Joe's friend he has worked with and his family. Kelsea scored 6 of her team's 18 points on Saturday. WOO HOO! She got knocked down and stepped on in the middle of the game and started crying. She said later she didn't know why she cried. We getting into that very emotional stage with her. She cries very easily. They won in the end only by 3 points it almost became a nail biter. Kylee scored in her game and Autumn tried to shoot for the first time. No parties this weekend.

I am nervous for Lee Joe mostly now. I better get some sleep. I will blog when I have more to report and will tell some humorous stories later unrelated to us. Just a great laugh.

Quiet day

Another quiet Friday. I picked up Kailyn. That has been it so far. Amber is up in Idaho City on an Honor Society retreat for the day. They are suppose to be playing in the snow and having fun but the news reported that their water system in Idaho City is messed up so hopefully they can still have fun.

The weather here has been beautiful the last 3 days. Sunny and almost 50 degrees. I need to clean the back yard before it rains next week.

Our room is much closer to done. The window is all trimmed out. All that is left is to finish the painting. We need to trim around the closet and door and the flooring. I have a couple of tropical ocean pictures I just framed for the room. Our neighbor is going to come over and work on sheetrocking the office and closets this weekend. I just love that kind of stuff. We are "dreaming" about maybe digging out the crawl space and turning it into a basement. Lee Joe wants a pool table for some reason. I would like a separate laundry space and storage and a movie theatre room. Lee Joe could dig it out. We will see. It is fun to dream.

Whoa, where did the time go?

It is nothing less than eventful. The girls were home for a 4 day weekend. Last week was more than crazy. Friday we all cleaned house. Not that you could tell by Mon. Sat Kylee and Autumn played much better in their game. Autumn went to a birthday party and Kelsea had her game. They have won every game by a huge margin each time. I had to leave and orchestrate a rescue for my friend who got stranded on the freeway with 4 kids and I went to go get her 5th and Autumn from the party in the middle of Kelsea's game. Lee Joe worked hard all day. He took the girls to a BSU basketball game that night and I stayed home and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Sunday was my mom's birthday. We were trying to surprise her and almost missed her, she has been house sitting for her landlord.

Monday Lee Joe took Amber and Kelsea Skiing. Kelsea scared Lee Joe several times with her blasting down the mountain. She didn't know how to turn so she would ski straight down pretty fast. Her take on it was that "they took forever to get down the hill, Dad was stuck in a bush and Amber was too scared and would slow down constantly." They had a good time and came home in one piece. Kelsea said that she bruised each hip. One was when she was skiing and the other was after she turned in her skis. She slipped on some ice when she was running. Go figure.

So far this week I missed a doctor's appt for Amber. That is the first time ever. And we spent over 2 hours at the orthodondist today. The other craziness calmed down some and there is 2 basketball games left so that is a week and a half left of practice. Life will get peaceful for a little bit again. Hopefully we won't have any birthdays for a few weeks.

Lee Joe had his preop appointment for his surgery that will be Monday. They are going to pack his ear with foam. It will take 4 to 6 months to dissolve. His surgery is going to last 3 to 5 hours. It sounds like the recovery shouldn't be that painful and tylenol should relieve the pain. I talked to someone who's husband had the same surgery. She said after the 2nd surgery her husband's ear looked pretty gruesome right after the surgery.

I tried to get a cold on Tuesday. I felt really yucky. I took Airborne a few times and vitamins and I felt great yesterday afternoon. I kicked it!! I kicked it!!

Hannah's funny quote of the week. For dinner on Sunday we had "Gross Beast" Roast beef.

Valentines Day was very nice. Lee Joe got a Super Bowl Champions shirt and hat. He was so excited over that. Lee Joe got me a certificate for an aroma facial and manicure to Panache Day spa. He did good. We all went out to dinner together and had a nice time. The girls all got chocolates from us and the little girls got a little stuffed animal and Amber and Kelsea got cute rainbow flip flops.

I had to call Lee Joe on Mayanne's comment. It was so funny.

Lee Joe has something gowing in his ear. He has no hearing in his ear and it gets infected often. It has damaged the hearing bones in his ear. If we don't get it removed it can continue to grow and cause him to get an abcess in his brain. They are going to drill through the bone behind his ear to get to it and clean it all out. It is really close to the fluid in his ear that helps him keep his balance. If it drains out of his ear his hearing can't be restored and it will take him a week before he will be able to keep his balance. If it stays they will be able to restore his hearing, but that surgery will be six months down the road. When they do that surgery they will move his ear to get in there to see if they got everything and rebuild his eardrum. I am not looking forward to it at all. I don't like it when they hurt my hubby. He also reacts badly to pain medications and that is not a good place to deal with trauma to the body. They said he will be uncomfortable and down for a couple of days, I say it will be a week. When he recovers I am sure I will be ready for a vacation.

Happy Valentines Day!

Love to all!!

Today is much better. I had an appointment this morning and we have an ortho Appointment for Kelsea. I have been able to clean the house a little. I think we are all going to dinner tonight and Kelsea has basketball. Amber has an open house at the High School tomorrow-oh my.

A Hamster had a near death experience last night. The cat dicovered that there was a rodent in the house and knocked Kylee's cages off the shelf in her room. It is up quite high in her room but she found access off the bunkbed. I woke up to Kylee crying hysterically and the cage and litter all over everything. I was looking for the Hamster. The dog was under the bed. I was checking to see if the Hamster was with her under there when she(the hamster) peeked out from under her wheel. I trapped her under the wheel and put her in one cage while Kelsea helped me find the parts to other cage and put it back together. This was at 12:30 last night. It took me several hours to fall asleep after that excitement. I am just happy the Hamster is OK. We are going to come up with some sort of protection to keep the cat from having access and if we do it right, if the hamster gets out it won't be able to leave the shelf.

Lee Joe's surgery will be Feb 27. More about that later.

last week summary

Kelsea went skiing on Weds. She found it it was very easy and fun for her. But it was so sunny up there her face got toasted. Then to really make it a headache the bus she was suppose to ride home didn't show up when it was suppose to so she didn't get home until after 7. She was suppose to speak at new beginings. Amber stepped up and prepared a little talk for her and gave two talks. Her nose cast came off that morning to her relief. So Thursday Kelsea missed school because her face was swollen from the sunburn. She was only a little sore everywhere else. A friend of mine's son said he could tell all the kids who went on the ski trip because they were all sunburned.
Amber had a concert on Thursday.
I got a call to pick up Kylee or Autumn on Tues weds and THurs. Kylee made it all day finally Thur and Fri. THey are finally well and have made it to school all day today. Hurray!!

Friday there was a bank robbery and it put Amber and Kelsea's school in lock down. They got stuck in Science and Orchestra for the rest of the day. Amber was fine when she came home. Kelsea about went nuts. They got home an hour late from school. Then Amber had her follow up visit on her nose. I almost forgot, AMber remembered on time and we made it there right on the minute. Her nose is still a little off to the side. Not as bad though. She doesn't care. So we will wait until she is done with sports and see how she feels about then.

Saturday was unbelievable. But to sum it up Kelsea scored 6 points in the game. Her team won 48 to 5. Kylee and Autumn were cute in their game. THere was a party for Matt's daughter Ashlee. We had it at Pojos. Kelsea babysat and Amber had a party and a dance. By the end of the day I was exhausted once again especially since Lee Joe worked all day. Poor guy worked 13 hours.

Our neighbor worked on our downstairs again. We have a door in now. The closet has custom shelves and the window is trimmed out and looks good. He is doing a fantastic job.

This evening will be crazy. Lee Joe will be around to help thank goodness. All 5 girls have stuff tonight and this whole week will be crazy. I have to go so I can buy something for Kelsea she needs for her concert tonight. Let the fun begin!!

post b-day party

Amber and Kelsea went to a school dance Mon. Playing oboe was difficult so Amber missed honor Orchestra. She said that there was a blacklight in the gym and her nose glowed. One of the instructions on her after care sheet said that she wasn't suppose to smile excessively.
Kylee and Autumn both came home with prescriptions Monday
I sent Kylee and Autumn to school on Tuesday hoping they could make it. I brought them both home at 11. We went shopping for Amber even though they didn't feel well. We went to Build A bear and they made a bear for Amber with a WNBA basketball outfit and they each got and outfit for their bears. We had a nice birthday for Amber. Melissa and David gave her an i-dog, it is real cute. My mom gave her scrapbooking cds for the computer. She got clothes, a pillow topper thing for her bed, a big book of classical piano music,and the bear, I guess that was it. I am going to take her out later for a CTR ring.
Kelsea is skiing for the first time with her PE class. We will see how that went later tonight when she gets home.
Kylee made it to school today, Autumn didn't. I am just home today taking a much needed breather of a day.

I see sick people

Well it's Mon and now Kylee and Autumn are both home from school today. I think Kylee has strep. She will go to the Dr this afternoon with Autumn who is barking like a seal. Dylan wasn't feeling well either and I brought him home when I picked up Kailyn. So I get to take 5 little kids with me this afternoon to the Dr's office. It quiets down this evening a bunch. Kylee and Autumn won't be going to dance or basketball.

Sat was the overlapping game day. First Amber did some service for Honor society. Some of her friends saw her nose. A lot of her friends were sweet to her. One friend asked her what nose did she pick out? I watched some of Kelsea's game and then went to Kylee and Autumn's. Kelsea's team won 22 to 6. Kelsea scored 4 points. She was guarding a friend on the other team, she was kind and didn't guard her too tough. Kylee and Autumn were cute. Kylee was still feeling kind of yucky so she trooped through the game. she probably shouldn't have played.
We came home and super cleaned the house and Lee Joe said if we got close to done we would go look at sofas for the living room. We got close to done. I went to the stores and Lee Joe took Kelsea to a birthday party. he met me at the store and we got a great deal on a burgundy leather sofa. It is so pretty. We brought it home in time for our super bowl bash that became more of a small hurrah. Which was fine really because my house is still pretty clean. and the living room lookes so nice. It was a good excuse to go out and get something.
So sunday my sister and her family came, Matt and Ashlee came(his daughter) and our neighbors from around the corner came. And Lee Joe was so excited that his team won.

And the big, happy and somewhat depressing news is Amber is 15 tomorrow. I can't believe she is growing up so fast. And that means I am getting old. Oh my.I am really blessed with her. I couldn't have asked for a better mellow teenager. She loves her music and has a great sense of humor. We are just starting the boy and girl discovery thing and she is not consumed with who likes who. She loves church and has a natural testimony. She enjoys seminary, sings louder than the rest of the teenagers there and knows who she is. She is very responsible and intelligent. And sensitive to those around her-if they aren't her sisters. She has been so good about her nose. She is not bothered by the nose cast too much. She did say on Friday when we went shopping for button up shirts for her(she can't where pull over shirts because of her cast) she was glad since she didn't have her contacts or glasses on that she couldn't see who was staring at her nose.

We have to brush lots of hair before we go to the Dr. Everyone, have a good day!!

Amber is doing well

Thanks Devanie for helping with the picture. Amber is doing well. She is resting. She was to be there at 7:15 this morning and we got home at 10am most of it was waiting for them to call her in and then waiting to see how well she came out of anesthesia. She is tired and has the cutest little nose cast. Her friends said they wanted to sign it. We don't think so. So we can joke and say she got a nose job for her birthday. She will still be able to play her clarinet and oboe. Good thing because she has a concert next week. By the way, Amber is like a 1/4 inch shorter than me barefoot. But with some shoes she is taller. I am 5 ft 7in. Kelsea is growing like crazy lately and is catching up fast. They are both in a size 10 shoe. Kelsea's hands are bigger than Lee Joe's.

Kylee has been home sick the last two days and watching Princess Diaries 1 and 2 and Ella Enchanted. We been eating at McDonald's a lot so we can get the Strawberry Shortcake toys. I don't eat the burgers there anymore but the kids do. This weekend will be busy.

On Lighter Note

Here's our family picture.

Amber is having surgery too

Boy we are having quite a year already. Amber is having "surgery" tomorrow to straighten her nose. They are going to put her out and rebreak her nose. She also has a deviated septum. If it was Kelsea she would be freaked out. Amber is just fine except I started to think about this next week. They are going to put some sort of cast on her nose. It will probably still be on on Tuesday-her birthday. New beginnings is Weds and she is suppose to speak. She also has a concert on Thursday. We have to figure out if she can play her instruments after the surgery but she won't be able to play basketball for 6 weeks and she is having issues with that.