three sick ones

julian was home from school monday and tuesday with a fever but the fever didnt slow him down much. he still did all of his school work and a book report and turned them in today. last night carmen woke me up at 3am. being so tired i pretended it was a dream and told her to go back to bed. she woke me back up a few minutes later saying she felt sick so i got up and put her to bed on the couch. when isaiah woke up this morning i realized he too had a fever, much higher than carmen's so i gave him the last of the medicine and after i showered i went to the store to stock up on both tylenol and ibuprofen. three sick kids. not much fun but at least isaiah isnt jumping off the walls. im trying to fight off the illness by taking my vitamins and emergen C. I dont know what they have because other than that one incident of Isaiah throwing up, none of the kids have thrown up. They seem pretty normal other than the fever and Isaiah is less active. my best guess is that nick and i will end up sick in about a week when the kids are back to their super active selves.

on monday hillari brought home julian's school work folder. on the front of it there was a sticker that said, "We missed you today!" and on the inside stickers that tell us where to put the homework and which folder is of papers to keep home. Now the folder they sent is one of the mass folders they send home with all the kids who have been absent. Julian thought it was a direct message from his class and as he read it out loud he said, "Mom! My class missed me today! Awww! I missed them too!"

Yesterday, julians second day off, I sat with him all day working on homework because thats what he wanted to do. When he needed a break he would stop and play a game or watch a movie then come to me and say he wanted to work some more. He is such a good kid.

Fatigued

Nick's been having a rough time at work lately so to cheer him up I took him to lunch at TGIFridays on Friday. (9/25/09) We LOVE sweet potato fries! After we were done we went and paid a bill (ick) then we parted and Nick left to work and I did carpool duty and picked up the kids. From there we went to Fry's and did some shopping. Wow. I even had a Fry's employee ask me mid aisle if I 'got it.' Now because of Nicks work schedule I cant avoid going shopping with all the kids. Ive had people tell me that I should go in the morning while hes home but if hes home hes probably asleep and then the kids would be watching themeslves and when hes awake, the precious time we have together I dont like trading in for a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk. On Saturday I took the two littlest boys with me to finish up my shopping while Nick watched the older two at home. Wow again. When I got home I cleaned up and then it was our turn for babysitting. We had ten kids in our home for three hours and they were all pretty well behaved. It went a lot smoother than we were expecting because of how tired we were, but things went smoothly AND we managed to keep the house clean!

On Sunday Julian woke up first at around 8. I told him to grab a poptart and go play. When Isaiah woke up I asked him to go open the gate (yes my 2 year old gets gated in his room) and then I heard Carmen wake up. I kept going back to sleep. After sleeping in til 10! YES 10! I woke up wondering why Isaiah wasnt bothering us. Julian and Carmen can go all morning without bothering us for more than a snack but Isaiah usually comes in and pulls us out of bed so he can tell us about baseball, basketball, golf, football, soccer, and bowling. Well I walked downstairs and saw Julian and Carmen playing quietly with toys in Julians room. I asked where Isaiah was and before I got a response I spotted Isaiahs legs on Carmen's bed in the next room over. I walked in there and poor, poor Isaiah was snow white face up on Carmen's bed covered in vomit, laying in vomit, next to vomit! He managed to roll his eyes toward me and groan "Mama." I had a vague memory come to mind of Julian coming in this morning saying that Isaiah was hungry and that he had gotten him a chocolate pop tart. And there it was, all over Isaiah- and Carmen's bed- the chocolate pop tart. Good thing Carmen's mattress has a removable cover. I threw Isaiah in the shower and though I dont do laundry on Sunday, the washing machine and I had an emergency laundry session. Now because I didn't get a picture of him (too graphic, and I was busy trying to clean up) I recreated the scene. The only thing missing was the pink pillow that was next to him (also covered in vomit). But yeah, this is pretty close to what it looked like. At least I got to sleep in!

I sent Nick to church with the two oldest kids for sacrament meeting and while they were gone I showered and took care of the boys and prepared dinner and made snickerdoodles for Nick to take to the families he home teaches. He was a little concerned when he texted me from church to ask if I could make cookies and I told him we were out of chocolate chips. He has probably never seen me bake cookies without chocolate. We love our chocolate, but the snickerdoodles turned out fantastic and I found a recipe that didnt ask me to chill the dough (I hate waiting).

And this is all that was left today, Monday morning. On Sunday evening we took the kids out play in the yard then go ride bikes. Elias had a lot of fun while I was holding him, not so excited about the stroller though. And to complete a busy Sunday, I made a big dinner so thankfully Nick washed the dishes! Isaiah is well again but now Julian has a fever. Nick had a dentist appointment today and was told he needs oh, $3000 worth of work (but Im not buying it, so again, Im looking for another dentist). Lets hope for a better week than last.

From the tabletop to the diaper bottom

Well we upgraded from our 4 seat cottage style dining set to a 6 seat cottage dining set. We sold our old one on Craigslist for $50 and bought our new one for $80 Now we all fit!

And Elias is almost crawling. Well, kinda. He can get up on all fours and he rocks.

And Elias hasnt been a frequent pooper since he was a month old so now he can go as long at a week and a half without pooping, that is... unless he eats oatmeal. He is new to the solid foods and the solid foods go right through him (caution: picture not for the faint of heart)

I was able to save the outfit! And after I cleaned him up he was very content.

I know, this should actually be 2 blog posts, but Im trying to save myself a few minutes, its almost dinner time and I need to get dinner on our new table soon before the kids need to get to bed!

Fishing Trip: Part 1

On Saturday the 19th of September we went fishing. I spent Friday evening getting out the camp chairs, ice chests, making pasta salad and sandwiches. The kids and I went to Walmart and bought Carmen and Julian fishing rods so that each of the kids would have thier own, I even called and borrowed one from a cousin, bought tackle and bait and got everything ready. I sold stuff on Craigslist to have cash for the fishing stuff and the trip and on Saturday morning we were off! When we arrived there was no one parked next to Nicks favorite fishing spot. We were up near Tonto Village by Payson. The kids were casting lines with no hooks and it took Nick a couple minutes to get his up and ready.
And he cast his line two times.
And then it suddenly started getting darker.
And then it started to sprinkle.
And then..... not even 10 minutes after we arrived, we were caught in a sudden downpour! And I mean DOWNPOUR!I had gone to the van with Elias when it has started to sprinkle and when it started pouring Nick grabbed the kids and threw them in the van, then he threw his phone and wallet into the van, then he ran back and grabbed the chairs and rods and tackle box.By that time he was DRENCHED! He may look like he was laughing, but he was laughing at the irony. Nick has been having a hard time lately and he has come to realize that it is true, that when it rains, it POURS.

Around the time of the picture he also started Mormon cursing, you know, a whole lotta 'dang its' and 'aw mans' and 'why the hecks' and he just fell short of 'golly gosh darn it.'

These are Nicks positive and negative latelies:

Negatives

Positives

- Nick hasnt gotten his last 2 raises - Nick doesnt have a Camaro - His Corvette needs a lot of work - He hates his job - He had to miss a family get together to study for a work audit - He had a work audit - Our insurance is going super crappy next year - Our lender is ignoring our requests for a loan mod because we are current - He hates his job - He doesnt have a Harley - He has been stuck in the same position at work for 5 years - We are short on funds - He still works a night shift and has never in our married life had a day time job - We drove to Payson to fish, and couldnt

+ We are healthy + We have a vehicles that are reliable + He has a job + He has lost 15 lbs + His sister gave him money with which he bought a new wardrobe and shoes + He passed his audit tests with 100% AND the hub passed their audit for the first time in many years + The Phoenix hub is #6 in the COUNTRY! + He has a Corvette + He now owns a fishing pole + He has a pretty wife ;) + He has insurance at all! + He has a degree so after July when his tuition reimbursement term is up he can apply for another job + He got to go to lunch with us, his family, in Payson (see Fishing Trip: Part 2)

Fishing Trip: Part 2

When we came back into Payson it was sunny and Nick was soaking wet and freezing but we wanted to salvage our trip and went to Chili's. It did later start raining in Payson but by then we didn't care, we were eating indoors!Isaiah ate his Mac and Cheese but not after eating half of Nick's steak.

Julian had the Cheese Pizza and Carmen had Mac and Cheese
We made the best of our fishing trip.
And we can't wait to attempt it again!

Carmen feeding Elias Oatmeal.....

Mr Fuzzy and the basketball hoop

Carmen and I bought this picture frame and decorating kit at Target in the $1 section so we used it and had some pictures printed so that we could put a picture in it. She wants her dad to take it to work and put it on his desk. I dont know if he will go for that.

Julian has been doing very well in school. He has an A in school according to his progress report, all 100's and one 98. He is a super fast learner and also received an award this Monday for being good at following directions. It came with a coupon for free donuts or donut holes at Dunkin Donuts!

Isaiah still sucks his thumb but at least now he's off of bottles for good and sleeps in a big boy bed.

Elias will be four months on the 10th and he has been rolling for almost a month now. I can no longer leave him on a blanket on the floor to play, he ends up on the carpet in less than three minutes so often times I have resorted to buckling him in his car seat while I get important stuff done (like dishes or showering). I went to the garage today and pulled out the kids' bouncer. It is date stamped 1997 and has been through all of my kids and at least two of my mom's that I know of. Isaiah didnt want me to put the seat in it because without the seat it looks like a hoop.

When we went to Las Vegas Julian saw this kiosk where they were selling Mr Fuzzy. He has been wanting one but I promised him I would get him one from the mall here and it would be way cheaper than buying one from Circus Circus. He agreed and put off the tears. Lucky for Julian I found a cheap knock off at walmart that does the exact same thing and is really no different. I paid $2.78!! He LOVES his new toy. Isaiah thinks its real and keeps trying to squish it. Carmen thinks of it as a pet in a girlie way and so wants to keep tucking it into bed!