Tag, You are IT!!

I have now been tagged twice with this same thing so I guess I will get off my booty and do it. (Thanks Heather and Megan)

3 Joys: (In no particular order)
1. Watching a movie with my hubby after the kids have gone to bed.
2. My kids
3. A clean house.

3 Fears: (Again, in no particular order)
1. Death
2. Dying
3. Someone I am close to dying

3 Goals:
1. Help Megan finish painting her upstairs.
2. Get my craft room organized so I can start scrapbooking.
3. Run a marathon. Who am I kidding, run a mile is a more likely goal.

3 Obsessions:
1. Unfinished projects, (I hate em!) I have a hard time with other peoples unfinished projects.
2. Dr Pepper (Okay this is more of an addiction but I am obsessed with my addiction)
3. TV (Sad but true)

3 Random Facts:
1. Hmmm, well, I got ran over by a car when I was in the 9th grade.
2. I have had my cat since I was a sophomore in high school. (He is now nearly 16 years old)
3. I am crazy, certifiable, nutso. Yup, it is true!

I tag: Melanie (I cant remember if you did this already), Cheryl (Trying to give you something to post about), and...................drum roll please................my imaginary friend, Judy. (Told you I was crazy!)

My Life Savers

Thanks to my mom for coming out and watching Kutter and Payton when Maggie was born so Ryan and I could focus on getting Maggie here safe and sound. It was such a relief knowing my kids were happy and sleeping in their own beds. This allowed Ryan to get to stay with me and the baby without having to rush home or be preoccupied with the other kids. The experience was perfect and I hold you personally responsible for making that happen. Thanks mom!

Thanks to Nikki, (sorry I don't have a picture) for coming and seeing me through my first weekend with Ryan back to work and me back to work as well. I could not have done it without you. And thanks for making me so many great treats and wonderful meals. I could not have gained those 15 pounds without you! Thanks for going shopping with me even though you hate shopping. Thanks for loving my kids and for loving me despite all my "issues." You are awesome and a true life saver!

Thanks to Becky for coming to my rescue while Ryan was out of town for a week. Thanks for understanding that your sister is crazy and not judging me for it. Thanks for falling in love with my new baby girl and spoiling her rotten. Thanks for playing with Kutter and Payton and going with me on adventures. And most importantly, thanks for being there when I had no one else. You saved my life, yet again!

And last but certainly not least (I listed these people in chronological order), thanks to my other mom for coming to my aid on another one of Ryan's out of town trips. Your timing could not have been better especially with Payton breaking her arm. I nearly lost my mind with you here and can only imagine how loony toons I would have gotten had you not been here. Thanks for reading the same books over and over to my kids. Thanks for playing BINGO at least a thousand times. Thanks for doing flash cards with my kids and showing enthusiasm each time you read them like it was your first time looking at them. (By the way, does anyone know how long Pluto has been classified as a dwarf planet? Jeez, where have I been!!!) You are an amazing grandma and I was so happy and thankful you were here for us.

And most of all, thanks for raising such a wonderful son that I have the honor to be married to. He has got to be, hands down, the best person I know and he is a perfect husband and a perfect father. I know you are responsible for that so thank you so much!

You each showed up at times when I was all alone and had no one to turn to or lean on and you all let me lean on you. You are true life savers and I am so grateful to you! Loves to everyone!

Maggie's First Swim

We had a ward swim party back on June 21st. I know, that is a whole month ago but time has gotten away from me. I am trying to make up for it now. The party was a lot of fun. The kids loved it, Maggie too! I was just happy to get a chance to show off her new swim wear thanks to Aunt Jen!

This first picture, Maggie's tummy seems to be busting out of the swim suit. She is trying to keep up with her cousin Wyatt.

These next couple of pictures are of Ryan and the kids enjoying the water. Kutter and Payton were fearless and Maggie loved the water. She never even complained about it. There were a few times that I looked over and Ryan had her all the way submerged. I think he forgot that he was holding her. She did not seem to mind, but I about had a heart attack. I guess she did live in water for 9 months ......or...... maybe she is part fish. I will have to check to see if she has webbed toes, or gills behind her ears. That would explain her lack of drowning. Ha ha ha!

Ryan was definitely a bunch of fun that night, we were so glad he was able to get off a few minutes early to make it to the pool. I am sure the lifeguard would have preferred he stay home. She kept getting after Ryan for throwing Kutter in the air. One time, she was trying to get his attention and he could not hear her. She ended up falling in the pool trying to get him to stop. Whoopsie!

Here is Mags just chillin after she got done with her dip in the pool. She ended up falling right to sleep. I ended up leaving her asleep in her car seat and went to eat watermelon. A little bit later, I was heading to go check on her when I noticed a man holding a baby near where she was sleeping. I thought to myself, "how funny, that baby is wrapped in the same towel that Maggie is!" It took me a minute to realize, duh, it was Maggie. He said she was crying and I looked like I was enjoying my watermelon so he was just calming her down. Whoopsie again!

Bling, Bling

I finally convinced Payton to let me at her cast. I have been offering to paint flowers on it or something since she got the cast but she refused. One day a friend of mine was trying to get her to let her put rhinestones on it. Payton matter-of-factly turned to her and said..."no, my mom is going to paint it!" So that night, Ryan got home from work and she promptly ran to him and yelled..."Daddy! Mommy is going to paint my cast!" Before she could change her mind, I was up the stairs and digging through paint to find just the right color. I love how it turned out and she is quite fond of it as well.




Payton is scheduled to get her cast off on Aug 6th. She is adamant that she does not want the cast to come off. I tell her that she will grow too big and the cast will keep her arm from growing and she explains to me that she will just stop growing then. I ask her why she does not want it off and she cries...."I love it! It is cute!" I guess I may have done too good of job painting it.

Superman!

Going.....
Going.....
Going.....
Gone!!!

Kutter and Payton just finished up swim lessons two days before Payton broke her arm. At the end of each lesson, the instructor let Kutter jump off the edge. I think he was actually trying to clear the whole pool when he jumped. There was one time that he landed on the stairs on the other side of the pool. Pretty much every time he jumped, he slapped his face on the water but he did not seem to mind.

You will notice that Payton is not in the pictures. That is because she refused to get in the pool. That was $40 well spent, don't you think? She usually loves the water but we could not get her to get in after the first day of lessons. I think she had a crush on the 19-year old hottie that was teaching the lessons. She was playing hard to get.

Note: Thanks Cheryl for allowing us all to invade your pool this summer. It was so nice to have the lessons so close to home. You're awesome!

My Princess Chose Blue?

Through all of this broken arm business, I tried to look at the bright side. I thought to myself, "at least we can get a princessy pink cast and make the most of this." Boy was I mistaken. Payton had originally wanted a red cast but I deviously told her they were out of red because I knew pink would be her second choice. My evil plan was working until the nurse broke the news to me that they were all out of pink. I wanted to punch her in the face....how could they be out of pink. So I swallowed hard and thought "well purple is a pretty good princess color too!" So I talked Payton into purple and the casting began. She was holding really still and not crying a whole lot until they started wrapping her arm in purple.

Payton screamed."I don't want purple!"

The doctor said, "you don't want purple? How about blue instead?"

I looked at him with eyes that said "are you insane!"

Payton laughed and said "Ya, blue!"

I told the doctor "NO! Just put on the purple!"

He threw the purple away and said, "it is okay, we can do blue!"

No, it is not okay. It is not okay at all. I wanted purple! I wanted to cry at the thought of my little princess in a blue cast. I was heartbroken. : ) I later asked Payton why she picked blue and she said "because it is Kutter's favorite color!" Oh, now isn't that the cutest thing ever. I had to hold back tears on that one. So now, although I would have still loved the princessy pink, I am okay with the blue. I am, however, considering the suggestions given to have her blue cast bedazzled. A little bling couldn't hurt, right?

No More Monkeys.........

Well it is official, we have the first broken bone ever in our family. And the winner is......Payton. Here are some things I have learned about broken arms that I did not know before. For example.... if your arm is broken, your legs don't work either. When Payton is in the house, she must be carried, everywhere. Next, even if you have been potty trained for nearly 2 years, when you break your arm, you cannot go potty in a big-girl potty. Also, even though you are left handed and you broke your right arm, you cannot, I repeat cannot, feed yourself. And...you are only able to drink from sippy cups. It is strange how a broken arm effects your ability to drink. Hmmm....strange. And finally, broken arms require all around you to bow down to the princess!!! If there is anyone out there that would like the opportunity to serve the princess, just let me know.

Saturday, July 5th, was an interesting day for us. We were all just hanging out while Ryan was at work. I was upstairs in my room feeding Maggie a bottle and Payton came up to join me. She was sitting on the end of the bed watching TV and did not realize how close to the edge she was. She started bouncing a little and off she went. Her feet were caught a bit in the foot board so it made her nearly land on her head. Instinct kicked in and she tried to catch herself resulting in a broken elbow.

I knew immediately something was wrong. She screamed like nothing I have ever heard before and she would not stop crying. No matter what I did over the next hour or so did not calm her down. I called Ryan and told him I was heading to the ER because I was certain Payton broke her arm. He just said.."OK." Leave it to Ryan to show a lot of emotion in a situation like this. (Love ya babe!) I knew I would get there ahead of Ryan and could not imagine being there with three kids. I called my friend Bridgette and she was so willing to take Kutter so I could focus more on Payton. I loaded the kids up and drove to Bridgette's house to drop off Kutter. Her husband came out to look at Payton's arm and I noticed Bridgette taking out Maggie. She insisted on keeping her too so I could just deal with Payton. I was hesitant to leave Bridgette with such a load but so grateful that I did not have to worry about my kids, they were being taken care of. It was such a good thing I did not have Maggie because I had to carry Payton into the ER and could not have done that and carry Maggie at the same time.

I was in the waiting room only 5 minutes or so and was taken back to have Payton examined. This hospital was great, they gave her stuffed animals and just took really great care of her. Ryan arrived a few minutes later. They took some x-rays and our fears were realized, Payton's elbow was broken. All the thoughts of my little princess in a cast in the heat of the summer and not able to get wet were so sad. I felt so bad for her. The hospital splinted her arm and we have an appointment tomorrow morning with an orthopedic specialist to get her permanent cast put on. Here is one of the x-rays of her arm..................

You can see on this x-ray the break. It is pretty obvious right above the elbow. Sweet!

Props to Bridgette and Jeff

I only have a quick second but I would be a terrible person and friend if I did not quickly give props to two people that saved my day today. I will explain more about my day in a later post but have to thank the Jankowski's for truly being my heroes today. Bridgette and Jeff, you guys are awesome!! I don't know how to thank you enough for what you did for me today so I thought posting it on cyberspace for the whole world (or at least the few people who read my blog) to see would be a start. I was overwhelmed by your quick response and kindness to help me in a helpless situation. I don't know how I would have made it through the day without you. I was so glad you guys were there for me and so willing to drop whatever you had planned to come to our family's aid. You are a great example to me and showed true selflessness and pure kindness. We am so truly honored and incredibly lucky to have you guys as our friends. Thank you, thank you, thank you, infinity thank yous! You guys rock!!!

How Does He Know These Things?

Okay, so Kutter has said a few priceless "kids say the darnedest things" this past week. The first happened about a week ago. We were driving down the road and Ryan and I were having a conversation about something or other. Payton was trying to talk to me and I asked her to wait until Ryan and I were done talking. Payton starts crying and Kutter steps in like he usually does to save the day. He says to her, "Payton, Payton!! Don't worry, mom and dad are really good listeners......(pause).......well mom is a really good listener so just wait until she is done!" I was laughing so hard I almost drove off the road. Ryan is a good listener, he is just still not used to being called "dad." I usually have to say "Ryan!" to jolt him into realizing the kids are talking to him.

This next instant happened just today and it was friggin hilarious!! Payton was walking around the house in her swimming suit and from a distance, it looked as though she had her hands in her swimming suit bottoms. Kutter saw this and screamed, "Payton!! That is gross! If you put your fingers in your bum and smell them, they stink real bad!" I looked at him and thought, "I wonder how he knows this?!" Aw, these are the proud moments of being a mother. He was just helping teach his sister one of life's key lessons. That's my boy, so responsible!