Kids do the darndest things

You may have already seen the video Barry posted on his facebook page, but I had to share the story anyway. After church this past Sunday, we were all sitting around in the living room. Out of the blue, Jaye starts wailing and saying, "My nose! My nose!"

Of course we asked, "did you put something in it?" And she sheepishly nodded. Really? We both looked in her nose and couldn't find anything, so then Barry went searching for the flashlight. What was that? Something green was stuffed up there pretty deeply.

Thinking back on what she had been playing with earlier in the day, I realized it was a flower bud from fake flowers, about the size of a kidney bean. Seriously, how did looking at this weird green thing connect to the thought, "hey, this would be fun to painfully shove up my nose"? We tried the old trick, plug one nostril and blow, but apparently Jaye doesn't have a strong pair of lungs. It didn't budge.

Immediately, my thoughts were, "well, I guess we have to go to the Doctor on a Sunday." But my husband, in his stubborness assured me, "I can get it out." (I didn't believe him, but let him try anyway.) With a pair of tweezers he manuevered the bud around until he found the hole, where it was attached to the plant. He said, "I need something that would fit in there," and left in search of something.

When I saw him pull out my sewing box, I started protesting. "You are NOT going to shove a needle up our daughter's nostril!" But Dr. Dad was supremely confident in his skills, and chose to ignore me. As he walked closer, I (in the calmest voice I could muster at the moment) told Jaye to cover her eyes and don't look. I held her down,while she covered her eyes, and watched as my husband started the removal.

All I could imagine was the social services questioning us at the hospital, while we tried to explain that the bleeding from her nose was caused by a needle that we put in there! But while I was fantasizing the worst-case scenario... POP! The bud came out with a beaming proud smile by my husband with that look of "I told you so."

Jaye was so shaken. She just laid there for a few minutes silently.

Well good. I'm glad she was shaken. Maybe that'll will stop her from doing that again.

Dedicated to my friend.... Virgil's

If there's one thing I've learned about parenthood... it's that you WILL make mistakes no matter what. When you're pregnant with your first born, you idealize about being the perfect parent. But the perfect parent doesn't exist. Not in the terms of NEVER making a mistake, anyway. 

There comes a time when your kid will do something that makes you think, "wow, I shouldn't have taught him/her that" or "maybe I shouldn't have let them do that."

For example, we allowed Grayson to jump and climb all over our couches. At the time, we thought, "my parents never let me play on the couches and I never understood why. MY kid is going to play on the couch." But NOW, I understand why.

Our couch looks like a rabid puma came to play with it. Plus, NO OTHER parents let their kids play on the couch, and that concept is really hard for my kids to grasp at other people's houses. 

Parenting mistake # one million- Letting my kids play on the couch.

Probably going to be parenting mistake # one million and one- teaching my son to belch while drinking soda.

Substory- Barry and I discovered the most amazing root beer here in Rexburg. It's frothy, and delicious, and amazing, and suddenly no longer in production. We're devasted, like a member of our family is gone. So we've been on an expedition to discover the next best root beer. At least once a week, we come home with a case of bottled root beer, in hopes of replacing our dearly departed friend, "Virgil's".

Back to original Story:

So we're sitting together eating lunch and trying out our new root beer (which failed in the flavor department), when Barry accidentally releases a carbonated burp. Naturally, our five year old, with a sense of humor like a five year, old starts giggling his head off. And so naturally, my husband (with the sense of humor of a five year old) has to show off his skills by letting another one fly. Grayson is absolutely dying... and so of course, I just have to get in on this action. (I have some pretty mad burping skills myself, I was raised with all brothers after all.)

Now everyone at the table is laughing, even the one year old (bring on the emotional scars, poor girl!). Grayson is just begging to try the burping soda and so finally I let him take a swig. And just like magic, out pops a sweet novice burp. It might as well have been a gold medal in the olympics burp, Grayson was so proud and excited.

So we kept going. And kept laughing. Until I thought, "Hmmm... probably shouldn't have taught him that."

But for the moment, it was disgusting... and magical.

(And for the record, my son told me I was a "Super Burper Man". Apparently, I have a super power. Jealous?)

# 5

So after Barry got paid for donating plasma earlier this week, we headed to Idaho Falls to a party store so Grayson could pick a theme for his birthday. We were there for what seemed like FOREVER (stores always feel like forever with three kids in tow), and Grayson just couldn’t make up his mind. We were all leaning toward a “knight” party, so we browsed through the costumes for cheap swords. After seeing everything, Grayson asked, “can I have a costume party?” And so the long drive to Idaho Falls was not in vain… we had a theme. Finally.

We invited just a few friends over this time, as opposed to the usual GIANT barbeque we traditionally have. But it was a lot of fun! While driving home from I.F. (as the locals call it), we asked Grayson what kind of cake he wanted. He was looking out the window and saw a tree… so his answer was, “A tree cake?”

Uh, yeah. Not happening, dude.

I wanted to resurrect the dragon cake I made a few years ago, but Barry told me to keep it simple (He knows me so well), so I went with a basic, number 5. It turned out pretty cute… although I really need to invest in some better food coloring. That blue color just wasn’t working for me.

So, there were ten kids in all. We were pleased to see that some of the parents even dressed up (we invited them to on the invitations). Grayson wanted to be a pirate, Barry wore his batman shirt with Grayson’s little cape, and I wore Jaye’s little angel wings, halo, and a whole lot of glitter. Oh and I should explain, originally Jaye was dressed as a princess, but when she saw Grayson pull out HIS costume box, she wanted to be Jinga, this guy from the cartoon “Beyblades”. So that’s what Jaye is dressed up as… I’m sure you couldn’t tell.

After everyone arrived ( a half hour late, haha), we announced, that since Grayson was a pirate, the kids needed to find his pirate treasure. I gave them the first clue, a picture of the basketball hoop, and thus they were off on a quest for treasure… AKA- a bag of goodies hidden behind the dumpster. (Classy place to hide stuff, right?)

Then they did a race that Barry and I created. Two kids had to race each other on those little push car toys to some buckets, in which they then had to throw two wiffle balls. After they got the balls in, they ran over to a water bucket, filled up their squirt toys and had to knock down a stack of cups with water. I was surprised at how big of a hit, that little race was. The kids wanted to keep playing that, over and over. Barry was such a trooper and reset the cups every time.

Afterwards, we did the traditional piñata. (I just looooove Pinatas! You probably didn’t know this, but we made a piñata for the adults to hit at our fourth of July Party. Awesome! Anyway...)

Grayson seriously wanted a Pikachu piñata (from Pokemon for you non-nerds), so his awesome mama made this pretty good one (for a first try), Pikachu. Even though the handle fell off after the second hit, masking tape saved the day, and all the kids got a turn.

Wow, Grayson’s birthday is getting pretty epic… this is a long blog post! But anyway, following the piñata, we squeezed everyone back into our apartment for cake, ice cream, presents, and those little confetti poppers. And then to end the party, we gave out Costume Awards. So that’s it. Grayson said it was “the best birthday, ever!” I practically had to force the kids out of their costumes for bed time.

I will consider it a job well done then.

<-------Grayson's birthday present from us and Mema          and       B- Pa
               

(The prettiest Jinga ever!)

The big ONE

Look! After four months, I have written a blog! Crazy, I know! But after our family reunion last week, I feel a renewed drive to keep in touch with everyone. So I thought I would post a few pictures from Laycee’s FIRST birthday. I can’t believe she is one already! And I can’t believe we want MORE kids! I thought for sure we’d be done after her… but we just love our family so much, I guess it needs to be bigger. (And no this is NOT a pregnancy announcement, I’m just rambling.)

Anyway, I am soooo grateful to my Mom (and Dad, but mostly my Mom) for always making a big deal about our birthdays (and all holidays for that matter). And I am so grateful that my husband has allowed that tradition to carry over into our family.

Since we were in Alabama so close to Laycee’s birthday, we originally weren’t going to do anything for Laycee’s birthday. But that just didn’t sit right with me, so last minute, we decided to have a “family party”. So, yesterday, we did a quick and stressful photo shoot then took the kids to this fun zone play place in town (because one year olds loooove jungle gyms and arcade games, right?) And then we went to see “Brave” (because one year olds just looooove sitting through movies, right?) Following the movie, we went home and had a little party. Barry had taken the older kids to the Dollar Tree to pick out presents for their sister, so Laycee unwrapped her presents and then we had cupcakes.

It was such a fun day… even if our ONE YEAR OLD had no idea how to party on her birthday!

Now onto to party number 2 this Saturday. Grayson is FIVE!!!! SHEESH!

                                          
                                  


                                                                          The photo shoot. I don't know how I missed that hair glued to her face :P

                                       At the Fun zone, riding the bucking bronco. This horse was crazy.

                                                        As you can tell, Laycee "loved" it

                                    Laycee with her birthday presents from Grayson and Jaye

                                                                  Lovin' the cupcakes

Happy birthday to us!

       Easter weekend was amazing! Instead of buying each other gifts for our April birthdays, Barry and I decided to buy tickets to the Hale Centre Theatre in West Valley City, Utah. (I'm sooooo lucky to be married to a lover of Fine Arts!!!!) So, if you know me and Barry, we HAD to pack a punch into the two day trip (saving weeks worth of plasma donation money to afford it). On Monday, we took our kids to the Hogle Zoo with family and DEAR friends, ate lunch at The Olive Garden, took our kids to the Church History Museum to see the interactive Book of Mormon exhibit for kids (SO FUN!), then walked around temple square, then to the splash pad at the new City Creek (across from temple square), then dropped the kids off with family, went to Leatherby's for AMAAAAAZING Ice cream! And lastly, on to see "Zorro: the Musical" with our DEAR friends. (My apologies to other friends who are just as dear, that we were unable to visit!!!)

     Best. Day. Ever.

     I will be posting all the pictures of our trip on facebook, but this little gem had to go on the blog. If you notice, there's a  baby elephant with his nose against a wall back there. The moment we walked up to see them, Grayson pointed at it and said, "Look, the little elephant's in time out!"

     Apparently, children annoy parents of all species. Who knew?  

Conference Weekend

     I recognize that I hardly write on my blog anymore, perhaps it's the hustle and bustle of every day life with three rambunctious children that prevents me from finding the time to hop online... but any of you who follow me on pinterest know that I'd be lying. I wouldn't be lying though, if I said it might have to do with that darned new feature on blogspot that actually shows you how many people read your blog.

That can be a little depressing.

     I'm not doing a blog to earn money, or share my craftiness with the world, but just to keep in touch with people. And apparently, I'm only keeping in touch with the one to three people who regularly read this thing. (To those readers... THANKS!)  But my mom is also trying to become more tech-saavy, so I'm doing this for you, Mom!

And because it's the only chance I get to really creatively write... I need a hobby :)

So anyway, what I'm saying is, I think I'm going to try and start blogging on a more regular basis. Just because it's fun.

     I'll start with these pictures of my homemade donuts! I'm beginning to notice that whenever I bake something that isn't on the regular menu... my family deems it picture-worthy. We get too excited about our baked goods! But in early march, I was asked to speak in church about preparing for general conference, so I tried my best to live up to my talk.

     The best part about giving the talk was the amount of people who came up afterward, to tell me the ideas they thought about while I spoke. I talked a lot about making traditions out of conference, and a handful of ward members came up to me so excited about traditions they wanted to start. For our own family, Barry suggested we try making homemade donuts.



                                    

(Jaye eats really weird, so her face ALWAYS looks like this. She likes to eat the toppings off things like donuts and pizza, because she doesn't really like bread.)

      So we spent Conference weekend eating finger foods and donuts. Grayson and I also spent about an hour cutting out pictures of Jesus from dozens of old Ensign magazines (I got them free from the public library) and during conference we all made a HUGE collage picture of them, to display for Easter. (if you're thinking, "what a great idea, Krystle!" Think again. It was so stressful! We laid out the dozens of pictures first and then I delusionally thought the kids could keep it all in place while trying to glue it all together. ANYWAY...) Then I planned a reverent stroll around the temple inbetween sessions. The wind was whipping, and it was cold, and Grayson cried the whole time because he was miserable.

Then when the last session started, Grayson looked at us, and huffed, "Is this still going!?"

     BUT, we made it through. My kids sat through almost 8 hours of conference quietly. We have a beautiful reminder of the Easter season on our piano. And the talks were so inspiring. And now I have a list of traditions we will and will NOT be continuing!

             

               (I think it's sad that we have pictures of my donuts... but not my kids' artwork!

               I will have to snap a picture of them holding it. But here is the website for the

               donut recipe if you are ever feeling ambitious. I hope you had a Wonderful

                conference too!)

Jaye can hear now!

    Jaye has been receiving toddler developmental services since October of last year. She just wasn't talking very well... or much... so the team who worked with her tested her inner ears on four different occasions. Each time, she failed the test (meaning she had fluid build-up). They made a file of all her tests and mailed it to her pediatrician so when I took her in and explained that she had failed the tympanogram several times, we could get her ears checked. 

     All the doctor did was clap his hands then said, "See... she heard that. She's fine." And sent me on my way. HUFF. (reason number one why I don't miss Carlsbad). Now in Rexburg, the new developmental team working with my daughter couldn't believe my "brilliant" pediatrician, and suggested I try an Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctor. Which we did last week.

     The Doctor barely glanced at the Tympanogram results and told me she needed tubes in her ears. So this morning, we all got up at 5:30, dropped Grayson off at a babysitter, and me and the girls drove to the Surgical Center. I was expecting a MUCH MORE traumatic experience but it was very nice.

My little trooper was scared when we first set her in the hospital bed.

 But she had an AWESOME nurse! This guy blew her up the biggest balloon glove I've ever seen!

  After that, she was as happy as can be. He even drew a happy face for her! She was throwing it to everyone, and I have to say, they were quite smitten with her.

 The actual surgery only lasted about 15 minutes, they were a little concerned because no one could get her to wake up. They thought it was because of the anesthesia, but I'm pretty sure my sound sleeper was just making up for an early morning.

So, the Doctor said the fluid in her ears caused about 30% hearing loss, and everything she heard sounded like she was underwater. He said most kids with speech delays will blossom quickly after getting tubes because they can actually hear, so I can't wait to see how my little monkey does! I just feel frustrated that I tried to fix this months ago... but I also feel so blessed we were able to get it done.