Tweezer Adventures

I have had two tweezer adventures this week, and have come to the conclusion that if there is one tool that is essential for all mothers to have, I think I'd have to say tweezers:

Adventure 1: 

Sean and his friend Ray were upstairs in the playroom, when Ray came downstairs crying.  At first I thought maybe the boys were fighting, but he had his finger up his nose and told me there was something stuck there.  I felt his nose, but didn't feel anything, and had him try blowing, but as Ray said, "Only boogers" came.  So I got a flashlight, and took a look, and sure enough something was up there.

As we were heading upstairs to retrieve the tweezers, Ray tells me, "Sean-o has something in his nose too."  

"Sean!" I called. "Do you have something in your nose too?"

He replied, "Yeah, but I'm not scared like Ray."

??  um, still good to tell your mom if there is a foreign object stuck in your nose.

So I brought those boys into my bathroom and had them lay on my lap.  Sean went first (since he wasn't scared, and I thought it might help Ray out to watch Sean undergo the procedure.)  With Arthur's special headband flashlight, (I don't know the official term) and my tweezers in hand, I was ready to go.  A few minutes later, the extractions were complete, and this is what came out of those boys' noses:

They are these random little lego pieces.  They were up there pretty good, too. 

 Adventure 2:

While I was teaching a piano lesson this week, Hayden (who is no longer napping, much to my sorrow) suddenly began crying and came limping into the living room.  I could see he'd gotten something stuck in his foot, but I couldn't really tell what.  Again, I went for the tweezers, but he was in a lot more pain than the other boys were and wouldn't let me get it out.

I decided to just hold him until my lessons were done, since we were almost done with the last lesson.  After my students left, I went to investigate.  I found a box of toothpicks had been emptied onto the floor, and concluded that he had stepped on one and that's what was in his foot.  It had broken off very close to the skin, so much so that it was impossible to grab even with my trusty tweezers.

I tried soaking his foot in salt water,  hoping it might draw out the toothpick enough for me to get a hold of it.  He hated the salt water, so that didn't last very long.  Then I tried again, multiple times, to hold him still enough to get the toothpick out, but he was just thrashing around and kept saying, "Don't get it out! Don't get it out!"

Finally, I thought to call my neighbors and see if somebody could come hold Hayden for me while I tried to get it out of his foot.  Simone, answered the phone. She is a darling and very tiny cheerleader, so I asked, "Is there anybody home who is strong enough to hold Hayden still for me while I get a toothpick out of his foot?"  She said, "Oh yeah, Olivia is here!  She'll be right over."  Olivia is a couple of years older than Simone, plays basketball and softball and yes, she is a strong girl.  Thank heaven!

When Olivia got  here, she held Hayden for me like a straight jacket, but he was still kicking his foot around and screaming, so for several very long minutes, I just kept trying to get a hold on that toothpick.  I'd just about given up when Olivia suggested trying to numb his foot with ice and the try again.  So we numbed it for a little bit, and then went back to the couch to try one last time.

This time, I finally was able to get a little bit of a grip on the toothpick stub.  I think it took me something like 2 eternal minutes (the minutes seem REALLY LONG when your little boy is thrashing and screaming his head off) to keep grabbing and grabbing and pulling it out little by little, until finally we got it out!  And it was at least 1/4 inch long jammed straight up into his foot.  No wonder, that little guy was crying.  I felt so bad for him, but once in was out, he felt soooo much better.  

Here is Hayden a day after his injury, and you can see the little red hole where the toothpick resided for almost an hour of his life.  He keeps telling me that his "owie is all better!"

I feel so thankful for Olivia, bless her heart, and for the good ole' tweezers!

Little Red Caboose

Mom told me it's about time I got some new pictures up on the blog.  We've been busy with lots of stuff, but I haven't been taking very many pictures lately.  However, here are a few from our Family Night this past week.

This year, Arthur is playing softball with a team called "The Saints."  When the games are early enough, we take everyone down to watch.  This Monday night his game was at 6:30 so we brought the crew down to cheer for their Dad.  Unfortunately, the younger kids don't really get it, and were more interested in the "Little Red Caboose" that is sitting there at the fields.  Maybe as the season gets on, they'll get better at cheering.

Daddy and Hayden playing catch after the game.

The amazing "Little Red Caboose."

Shepherds and Superheroes

1. Shepherds

This last Monday for family night, Dallin was in charge of the lesson.  He used the Friend Magazine to choose his lesson topic, which was about how Jesus is like a Shepherd, and we are like the sheep.  And how Jesus looks for the lost sheep (us) and wants them to be with him so they can be safe and happy.  We also talked about what it meant to "feed his sheep," and how if we love Jesus then we will help him find and feed his sheep.

Then for the activity we played hide 'n' seek.  (Although not intentional, it tied in very nicely with the lesson topic.)  I thought I was being pretty clever to hide next to the black entertainment center, since I was wearing a black shirt that day.  I figured it was like camouflage.  But as Dallin came into the family room he looked around the corner at me completely unsurprised and said, "What-up Mom.  I knew where you were because of your black bump."  Guess I'm really starting to stick out.

2. Super Hero

Today I took Sean in to get the last shot he needs before school, and as is our tradition, if the immunized person is brave, we get ice cream at McDonald's.  And since Sean didn't even whimper, he talked me into letting them play on the McDonald's playground.  I don't like those playgrounds because they are all those tunnels you crawl through and it's impossible to get your kid out if they choose not to come down.

Well, Hayden crawled in before I'd even paid for the ice cream, so when I got in there, I heard him crying desperately because he'd gotten stuck somewhere, and didn't know how to get down.  So Sean was a very good brother, and went to find him and help him come down.  I loved seeing how patient Sean was with Hayden as he led him out of the play structure.  Hayden's cheeks were tear-streaked when he finally emerged from the slide, but his smile just lit up his face when he realized he'd made it out!  I told Sean what a good brother he was to rescue Hayden from being stuck.  And Sean said, "I was like a super hero, Mom, because that's what superheroes do--they rescue people!"

And so we see that Shepherds and Super Heroes have a lot in common.  They rescue people (and sheep) who are lost or stuck or scared or who've wandered somewhere on their own and wish they hadn't.  (Sean was MY super hero today too, because if I'd have gone in after Hayden, there's no saying if I could actually fit back out.)

3.  Lastly, on an unrelated topic, Sean made me smile the other day when he YELLED to Hayden, "HAYDEN, IF YOU DON'T STOP YELLING, THE SPIRIT WILL GO AWAY FROM OUR HOUSE!!!"  Although he was kind of missing the point, I'm glad that he remembers some of the little "life lessons" we talk about throughout our days.  I guess sometimes they really are listening even when it seems like they aren't.

3 a.m.

It snowed yesterday.  It was the last day of April, and it snowed!  So naturally, I worried about my garden--last year we didn't get fruit on any of our trees because there was a freeze while the blossoms were on.  So this year, I was watching carefully and was so happy to hear the bees busily at work on all our fruit trees.  And I've been checking to see the blossoms turn into tiny little peaches, cherries, apples and pears!  There are so many we will definitely have to thin them out.  So if this weather destroys my fruit again, I'm going to be SO SAD!!!  In addition to the fruit, we've already planted tomatoes, peppers, basil, and berries.  So far everything has seemed okay, except the peppers--I think they prefer much hotter weather than we've been having.  So I figured for good measure, I would cover the plants with grocery bags so they wouldn't freeze.

Well, last night I woke up to hear the heater come on--it hasn't come on for a  month or more, so it smelled kind of funny.  Well, as I lay there in my nice comfy bed, it dawned on me that if the heater was coming on, it was probably pretty cold outside.  And I'd totally forgotten to cover the plants!  So I lay there for probably a half an hour, debating whether or not I should go out and cover them.  I knew I'd be kicking myself if I didn't do it and they died.  So I lay there a little longer counting in my head how many grocery bags I'd need, and rationalizing that if the heater didn't come back on, I'd just not worry about it.  But the heater did come back on, so I left my warm bed, put on my robe, and a jacket, and went outside to cover my precious plants at 3 a.m.

Of course, after you go for a 3 a.m. stroll outside, you don't fall right back to sleep.  I had a million things going through my head--stake choir, children's music theater, (what if we can't find a performance venue?) I hope Sean does alright at the preschool I signed him up for next year . . .  I hear someone wander into my room around 4 and get a drink of water from my bathtub faucet  (I guess it's easier to reach than the sink faucet?)--I carried Hayden back to his bed to tuck him in, more thinking . . .  laundry to fold, rooms to clean, YW lessons to prepare, find a new eye doctor for me and Dallin, piano recital next week, all interspersed with, "just relax--you can't do anything about it now. . ." It would be nice if I could physically switch my mind off.

I don't know when I finally fell asleep, but I do know it was very hard to wake up this morning.  With all that thinking, I guess I feel somewhat justified to still be in my pajamas at 11 a.m.  Better get a move-on, though.  Clearly, I have plenty to keep me busy.

Thirty

Well, I've entered into a new decade of my life, and officially joined the 30+ club.  And I have to say, it was probably the best birthday I've ever had.  Arthur spent two days cleaning the house spotless as one of my birthday gifts, took me out to dinner the night of my birthday and when we got back, our house was full of friends to surprise me!  I was so overwhelmed, I think I turned the color of that pink flower on my cake!  I had such a fun time with all those friends, and it just made me feel very special and loved that they would get together to do that for me.  

Me, holding my cake

Erin and Russ lighting all 30 candles, which, to my consolation, didn't really seem like all that many.

Beaming as my friends are singing happy birthday to me.

Blowing out the candles.  I got all but 4 in the first try.  

Maybe that means I'm 26 at heart?

Or maybe it just means that this little girl in my belly is limiting my candle blowing skills.

friends

Thanks so much to my friend Amber and Arthur for organizing such a fun party for me, and to all the friends who came to help me blow out my candles.  :)

After all the grown-ups left, we went to pick up the kids who were playing at the McEntire's house around the corner.  It was late, but they wouldn't have believed I'd actually had a birthday without cake and presents, so I blew out a few more candles, and had 2nds on cake with the kids.

This is my favorite picture.  This is what happens when a 2-year-old boy has frosting at 10 p.m.

He was on such a sugar high!  I can tell you that bed time was not pretty.

Arthur had another surprise for me that arrived on Monday.  I know he spent a lot of time on this coordinating with everyone who wrote gracious things about me, and then laying it out in this book.  (In fact, he stayed up all night getting it all put together to submit for publishing!)  Of course, I cried when I opened it, and when I read it.  :)  It's a book with notes from my parents and grandparents and all my siblings, and lots of friends, with pictures of them and me.  Arthur did a great job putting it all together in this beautiful hardbound book.  And it was so fun for me to read what everyone had said--Some of the memories my siblings shared, I didn't remember at all--(I'm glad I could help you wash that bird poop off your leg when you were little, Emma!)

Again, I was completely overwhelmed!  Thanks so much to everyone who submitted kind thoughts and memories about me.  I will read it whenever I am having a bad day, or if I need a reward for folding the laundry, or if I need an excuse to procrastinate doing my laundry . . .  :)  And thank-you Arthur for being such a thoughtful, wonderful guy.  I think I might be the luckiest girl in the world to have won your heart.  Can't wait for what the next 30 years will bring!

Great Weather, Gardening and Gloriously Messy

Here's a bit of what we've been up to lately:

1. Great Weather

Funnily enough, today as I'm writing this, it's cloudy and chilly out, (a good baking day) but other than today, we have been enjoying some beautiful weather, and of course, as soon as the sun is shining consistently, my kids think it's time to break out the swim suits and have a water party.  I think Daphne has asked me to have a water party 3 days a week for the last few weeks.  I keep telling her, it's not "water weather," just "nice-to-be-outside" weather.  Alas, if the sun is shining, (and sometimes even if it isn't) they just can't resist getting into the water.

2. Gardening / Growboxes

The last few weekends, Arthur has been working really hard to get these growboxes up and running for us to plant our garden.  Believe it or not, but here, in one of the sunniest states in the U.S. we have a sun problem in our yard--we don't get enough because of all the trees and shade we have back there.  So my garden has been pathetic the last couple of years.  It was time to get serious.

The process began way back in November when Arthur started removing a couple of struggling trees from the spot where the growboxes are now.   It took a few months of hacking and digging when he had time, but finally the trees and their stumps were out!  He then moved one previously constructed growbox from a less sunny spot to the more sunny spot, and built the other one from scratch.

Then we had to get them filled with dirt and steer manure and peat moss, and then he hooked them up with soaker hoses so they'd be automatically watered.

Last weekend, we planted tomatoes, basil, peppers, beans and cucumbers in them and I'm so excited now to look out my kitchen window and see my garden growing!  In another spot we planted broccoli, carrots and lettuce--cool weather plants, but since that box gets shade from the peach tree, we're giving it a try.  Also, we cleared another space for some berry bushes.  We planted a raspberry bush and blackberry bush, that have our mouths watering in anticipation of delicious garden-grown berries in a couple years!  In the meantime, I can't wait for freshly picked tomatoes and homemade pesto sauce from my basil!

3, Gloriously Messy (i.e. preschool)

Sean's Preschool was at my house for two weeks in April.  I figured I'd post about it since I like finding ideas of things to do with my kids on other people's blogs.  In fact, on the "Ocean" days, Daphne was really trying to get me to let her stay home and help with preschool, because she wanted to do the activities I had planned--so I saved stuff for her and Dallin to make the crafts when they got home.

Rainbow/Colors Theme:

For this theme, we dyed rock salt with food coloring and rubbing alcohol.  Then when the salt was dry, the kids got to scoop the different colors into empty baby food jars, and look at their "Rainbow Rocks."

We also made these cute colorful butterflies by coloring on coffee filters with markers, and spraying them with a squirt bottle.  It was fun to watch the colors blend into each other.

I painted the clothespins and glued the eyes on for the kids because I figured it would just take way too long to try and have everyone do it themselves.  Besides--most the boys have no patience for stuff like that. Here's all the stuff you need to make a butterfly-- clothespins, coffee filters, markers, water, pipecleaners, and I used some magnetic tape to stick to the back so they could go on the fridge.

They turned out pretty cute, I think.  

The kids liked playing with them before the mom's came to pick them up. 

For snack, we had rainbow jello--every color they make.

This was their favorite part of the day.  They came in from playing outside and said, "Can I have this color and this color, and this color?"  And I just wish you could see their faces when I said, "We all get, EVERY color!"  good times.

Ocean/Ocean Animals Theme:

So the biggest hit for these days, was when I filled a tupperware with sand, and buried seashells in it, and they got to dig around and find the sea shells.  Pretty messy though.  I was sweeping up sand for days afterward.

We also made these little sea urchins, after reading "A House for Hermit Crab" by Eric Carle.  I had the kids raise their hands when they saw the sea urchins in the book, and we talked about how they are spiky.  This was SUPER easy, but the kids had a really good time doing it.  It's just a ball of playdough, and a pile of toothpicks to stick into it.  Several of the boys kept asking for more "spike-a-dees."

The day we had the sand and sea shell activity, we made oceans in a bottle.  We put sand, sea shells, and some of those foam stickers that were shaped as fish, turtles and starfish in the bottle and added blue water to make an ocean. Some of the kids wanted to stick their fish on the outside instead, which worked fine as well.  Then I hot-glued the lids on so the mom's wouldn't have a mess on their hands on the way home.  

Hayden is showing the activity we did on the first ocean day.  Since I had tons of coffee filters left over from the butterfly craft, we used some more to make jelly fish.  (Hayden is an honorary member of preschool when it's at our house.  He joins in everything--even the pledge of allegiance.)

We used water colors paint this time to make colors on the filter, and I used curling ribbon from the dollar store for the tentacles and the loop on top.  The original idea was to use streamers for the tentacles which might have looked cooler, but I didn't have streamers, so I just used what I had.  You could probably use tissue paper or even yarn--whatever you have on hand.

So, there you go.  Our gloriously messy preschool projects.   (I guess not all of them were that messy, but  I needed a G-word to go with my G-themed-title.)  Anyway, some of them might be fun to do with kids during the summer.