Funny Kids and a Valentine's Day Surprise

Our daily going to pick up Hyrum is so wonderfully exciting. Okay, not really, as you can tell from Danny's face, it's just the highlight of his day.
No, actually, this picture is just to show his new habit. Ever since I weened him, he's taken to the binky. Couldn't get him to take a pacifier to save my life before, but now that I don't nurse him, he has it in most of the time. Oh, well, whatever works, and it sure does make bedtime easier.

Anyway, the other day when we were going to pick up Hyrum, Emma decided that her bear needed it's own carseat and needed to be buckled up. Well, since Emma did it, then Porter wanted his elephant buckled up too. He was a little upset he couldn't have his own carseat, but having him buckled right next to him seemed to make things a bit better.

So, a couple of days before Valentine's day, Joe didn't even remember that it was going to be Valentine's Day, so I didn't figure on getting anything. Then I get these delivered to my door. I wanted to cry. I've never really cared about flowers alot, they die so quickly, but when you are apart for as long as we have been, it's hard to feel those expressions of love. I don't get a hug and a kiss everyday or him holding my hand. Thankfully, we can talk on the phone so at least I get to hear I love you everyday. But just so you can even begin to understand, this is such an amazing gift for me, because it's a showing of "I love you", and it's even better when you don't expect it. Anyway, turned out to be a great day after all. And even better, Joe will be stateside very soon; although, I think I will be going completely crazy until then.

Happy Valentine's Day

Okay, so this year, I just get to have a pity party. Valentine's day hasn't ever really been all that important to me; I don't need a special day to tell my sweetheart I love him, but since he's not here this year, I really am envious of those who get their sweetheart with them this Valentine's Day. So, hey, I encourage you to really take the time to tell your sweetheart how special you think they are. I know how blessed I am. I have the best husband in the world. He sacrifices so much for our family and this country that we all hope we can make better. I am so proud of him. I love him so much, there really aren't words enough in any language to describe just how much I love him either, so we have to suffice with such a simple yet wonderful phrase--I love him so very much. He is my bestest friend. Two more weeks and he is home!!! And, no, I'm not excited at all. ;) LOL. I am excited obviously, but I am trying to temper that, seeing as these next couple of weeks will most likely be the longest of the entire deployment. Anyway. Happy Valentine's Day Tommorrow!!

Happy Birthday Emma!!!

Happy Birthday Emma. Emma is 5 today!! I still can't believe it. Should have known back then, we were all in trouble. No, Emma is adorable. High maintenance some days but adorable. I am so thankful to have been blessed with a little girl. Of course, Emma is only excited for this birthday because she has been told all year that daddy comes home after her birthday. She keeps asking if we are going to go get him at the airport tomorrow. I've tried to explain that she still has to wait two weeks, but she can't seem to let it go. Oh well, at least it's only two more weeks.

The Birthday Party

Well today we had Emma and Hyrum's birthday party. Since Joe is gone still and their birthdays are so close, I opted to combine them this year so that I would only have to go crazy once. I have to admit that before the party I was ready to pull all my hair out. The kids wouldn't stop arguing this morning. However, the party itself, considering we had 15 kids in the house, was GREAT!! The kids were all very well behaved, they weren't too loud (which was my biggest fear), and I think everyone had fun.

We put Wall-E in so that everyone would have something to do as kids came trickling in. However, all the kids enjoyed watching so much, it just played through the entire party. We started off with pizza.

Little Reid loving that pizza, though honestly, I don't know how much of it he actually ate.
Got to love Wall-E.
Some men are secure in sitting on the girl blanket. LOL.
And some like to pilfer the big people chairs. ;)
Everyone. So cute. Waiting for me to finish getting the cake ready. They really wanted that cake!!
Cousin Reid.
The Cake!! I was going to do two small cakes, but the lady at WalMart said that if they did that it wouldn't fit, but she could make one and split it down the center. It turned out GREAT but I still have to ask, wouldn't it have been the same as two small cakes? Just me, but I really don't understand that one.
Bringing in the cake. I had 5 candles on Emma's side and 7 on Hyrum's, that way they each got to blow out their own.
They got a lot of presents, all of which they LOVED. Thank you too everyone for them. This year from me and Joe they both got Razor scooters. Hyrum got blue and Emma is dolled out in pink. They've been "practising" all through the house today. It's cute.
They came folded up and for the life of me I couldn't figure the stupid switch out. I had to be helped my son's friend; he's 6. What a sad commentary on the gap in generations.

Happy Birthday to both my little ones. Emma will be 5 this Wednesday. I love them both and am so happy that the party turned out so well.

Tragedy at the Gym

WARNING- These pictures are a bit gross so if you have a sensitive stomach, no looky.

Anyway the other night at the gym, the kids were playing. Porter was playing on his own and Hyrum and another boy were getting rambunctious. In all the running around, Hyrum tripped over the slide and smashed into Porter. He knocked him down and Porter ended up with Hyrum's foot (in his shoes) smashed into the left side of his face. As a result, Porter bit down hard on the right side of his mouth, inside and out and on the lip. All I saw was blood, everywhere. I thought he might have lost a tooth because I couldn't see the bit marks through all the blood. After about five minutes I was able to get the blood to stop, but one of the bite marks on the inside is very deep, it looks like he almost bit completely through. Really gross and extremely painful for him. I gave him Tylenol that night and then the next morning he woke up and his whole cheek was swollen. I took him to the doctor and they now have him on antibiotics just to be safe. I also have been putting ambesol on it for the pain. He's having a hard time eating because everything causes his teeth to brush up against the sores which hurt pretty bad. He's also drooling pretty bad because his mouth is in a constant state of slightly open. He's been a pretty good camper about it all but if you go near his mouth, he definitely retreats. Anyway, at least I have the comfort that mouth wounds heal pretty quickly. So here's hoping that it doesn't get worse, that it heals quickly, and no more trips to the doctor. . .

**Note: There is another new post below!! Much happier.

Fun Times at the Gym

Every Tuesday evening, we head off to the gym daycare so that I can volunteer my two hours a week, then I have free daycare whenever I want to use the gym. The kids love it there, but what kid doesn't enjoy a big room and new toys to play with. They have a lot of fun. Danny has started to become quite attached to a few of the toys.

Porter is usually very happy, guess he didn't feel like smiling at me at this point.
Emma loves anything that plays music.
Hyrum, well this is pretty typical lately. Guess he's really turning into his mom, he's always got his nose in a book. Here he was finishing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Yup, he actually finished book 1. I was so proud of him. Now he's reading the second. He's so cute.
Here's Danny's car. He loves this thing and rides it all over the room. If he takes a break and catches someone else on it, he yells at them. He's funny because usually he's a pretty good sharer for a 1 year old. But this and the turtle in the video, he's been very possessive of.


Now, this was just too cute. We were at the gym for 2 hours, and he walked around with this turtle the entire time. He took it for a walk everywhere. Hyrum and Emma wanted to play with it too and kept trying to get him to take other things he could take for a walk and he just wouldn't hear of it. It was his little pet.

7 Years Old- Well Child Exam

It's another year. Hyrum came off good this year. His blood pressure was high last year but this year he is just fine. He's weighing in at 56 lbs and is 48.25 inches tall, which puts him at about 4 ft. Now considering he is only 7, anyone want to venture a guess as to when this kid is going to pass up his mom, who sits at 5' 1"?? Oh, well. Man I love this kid. He was so good at the doctors and got his flu shot. He was so scared to get his shot but when it took like a second he was shocked and proclaimed, "well that didn't hurt." Go figure. I've got one great kid!!

January Books

So I saw this on a friends blog that she had set a goal for how many pages she would read this year. I really don't have a specific number in mind nor would I even know where to start. But how about a goal for 2009 is to read 30,000 pages. I find that reasonable. Now this last month I've started rereading Harry Potter. I figured it had been a couple of years since I read them and I needed a break from reading things I hadn't read yet. I did get another book in there that I hadn't read yet too. So here's my breakdown for last month.

1. The Master and Margarita--335 pgs.
2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone--309 pgs.
3. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets--341 pgs.
4. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban--435 pgs.
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire--734 pgs.
6. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix--870 pgs.

January Total: 3024 pages.

Goal for February-to meet or exceed January. . .