Later that day...

After BittyBit attended her first princess party, we stopped by Grandma Connie's house and visited with Breanne and Liam before they left town. Liam is the kids' cousin and right now he lives far away, but when Tayton and Breanne relocate back to Texas from Tennessee sometime in the next few years, it will be fun for them to get to know each other better. When I was younger, I always wished I had cousins my age.That evening we had yet another princess birthday party to attend, this one for our friend Jordan. Check out that cake...amazing! It was so much fun to see Jordan tear into her presents. I think she would have had more fun if she had taken her nap earlier, but she's already little miss independent.

What a cutie.

Sweet & Sassy

I know, I know, it has been forever since I posted. I've been trying to go to bed at a reasonable hour, since I have to be responsible and awake early to get ready for my new job every morning. I've also started clipping coupons, and I spend much of my evenings trying to stay on top of that hobby.

Almost a month ago BittyBit attended a friend's birthday party. I was a little skeptical before I went, because I'd been told it was a dress-up party, makeup and all, and I was expecting my daughter to look like some sort of JonBenet Ramsey clone when we were finished. The making up mostly consisted of fingernail polish, hairspray, and glitter. It was actually a really cute party and I'm glad I let BittyBit go (and that someone else was paying for it, I don't even want to know what something like that for 12+ four year olds costs!)

Here are some pictures from the celebration.

The birthday girl
The painting of the royal nails...
This was the best part of all...All of the little girls were boogeying to techno versions of the hokey-pokey and other formerly mellow children's songs. Then they each walked down the catwalk one by one as their names were announced and were crowned with their very own princess tiara.
The princesses in all their glory.
About 2/3 of the way through the party, LittleMan decided he'd been exposed to enough estrogen and demanded some fresh air. As soon as Tyson put him down on the sidewalk, he took off running. He's a smart kid, he can see when he's outnumbered and he chose the path of least resistance!

Stevie's party

I am a week behind on my posts, but my brain is just starting to calm down after a week and a half of training at my new job. The computer system there is very complex, but I'm getting it, slowly.

A week ago Friday was our friend Stevie's 4th birthday party. We packed up the car and headed over to Mike and Stacy's house to celebrate. There were tons of parents and little ones there, and the party was lots of fun.Check out that last pic. I was so proud when my kiddo disappeared and I realized that she went to the potty all by herself (it's never happened without assistance while we've been out in public). She was so excited to see the rest of the presents being unwrapped that she ran out in the living room half dressed. What a goofy girl.And here's LittleMan entertaining at the party: quite possibly the next Harry Connick Jr.

New Job

I am exhausted. I heard about a job opportunity on Sunday at church. I interviewed on Monday, then again on Tuesday, and I started my new job today. I woke up at 6:00, got to work just before 8:00, learned so much that my head felt like it was going to explode (until 5:15pm). I made it home by 5:30, scarfed down some dinner, then headed up to the church to teach scouts at 6:00pm. At 7:00 scouts ended and Young Women activities began, but Tyson was in charge of the YW activity, teaching self defense. I stayed to be his attack dummy, so we got home at about 8:45pm. I saw my son for 5 minutes in the morning before I left, and my daughter for 15 minutes after work while I was eating dinner. They were in bed by the time I got back from church tonight. I miss my kids and wish I didn't have to get a job, but I think that the Dr.'s office where I'll be working is full of nice people and will be pleasant enough. Now I'm dragging myself off to bed so that I can do most of this all over again tomorrow.

Hey Zepp

So my daughter's Sunday school teacher came up to me after church when I was retrieving BittyBit from class and said, "Your daughter is so cute. She talks to me in class and is like 'Hey Zepp' and asks me a question." Later BittyBit asked me, "Mom, can Zepp come to our house and play with me?" and as we were leaving the chapel she shouted,"Bye Zepp!" At my church we usually call people Brother or Sister and then their last name. I guess she dispensed with the formalities and just cut to the chase.

Here is a double page layout I did of my brother in law's wedding. I removed the journaling for their privacy. Click on each of the previews to view it larger.

Credits: Template by Simply Yin, White background paper by Weeds & Wildflowers Designs Follow Your Bliss Kit, Red paper for ribbon from Chris Greiser's Love in Paris kit. Font - Black Chancery.

Kids say the funniest things.

Fishing for compliments
This morning at Church my daughter and I had the following exchange:

BittyBit looked at me and asked: Momma, what's that on your lips?
Mom: It is called lipstick.
BittyBit: Why do you have lipstick on?
Mom: So that I can look prettier at church...do you like it?
BittyBit: No, it makes you look like a clown.

The moral of the story is don't ask a three and a half year old what she thinks unless you really want to know!

Scrapbook layout
Here is a layout I completed for the Weeds and Wildflowers Birthday celebration a month or so ago. These pictures are from BittyBit's first birthday and if you look closely at the pictures where she is opening the presents, you can see the rash on her cheeks that she got from eating the red sprinkles on the cupcakes.The template is by Courtney Wilson, and everything else is by Weeds & Wildflowers.

Best. Party. Ever.

I just went to a Twilight book party and it was so much fun. All of the attendees were Twilight fans. The party was a themed birthday party for the main character in the book, Bella (whose birthday is actually today, or would be if she was real). There was tons of good food to munch, great games, trivia, and of course debate over who Bella really belongs with. I have never been to a book themed party before, but this was a blast. I'm not giving too many details here because I totally plan to rip off the party idea and have Amy help me throw my own! Check out Amy's blog in a day or two for more pictures and a better description.

Hurrican Ike

We have some friends in South Texas who had to evacuate to escape from Hurricane Ike. There was supposed to be heavy thunderstorms here, but we just got light rain and some wind. We are thankful to avoid the brunt of the storm, and our prayers are with all of our friends and all of the other people who have been affected by the hurricane and related storms.

VA Hospital

Several people mentioned veteran's benefits for my dad, since he served in the military. I looked into what I needed to get him benefits, then I went spelunking in his apartment to try to find the correct forms. I knew they would be in his Book of Remembrance, where he keeps all of his important documents, but I didn't know if I'd be able to find it in his apartment. My dad doesn't like to throw anything away, so it was quite a job to sort through things and locate the book. No one had seen it in three years. I was able to find the paperwork I needed, so I then called the hospital to make sure I had everything, then Jenni, my aunt Judy (who is here for a few days from California), and I took my dad to the VA hospital last night. We left the hospital at about 1:30am, but he was admitted and we knew he'd be taken care of. Now we fill out a ton more paperwork and hopefully get some sort of referral to a rehab center for stroke patients and maybe some assisted living or nursing home resources. At least we have a bit of help with all of this now, as the VA Hospitals definitely take care of their veterans.

My dad's sister arrived from California today to see him. Tyson and I went with the kids to pick her up from the airport. We headed over to the hospital, but on the way over, I received a call from Derek saying that the hospital was about to release my dad. The last thing that I'd heard was that they put a scope in his veins this morning to search for blood clots. Apparently they didn't find any, so they decided to release him.

I have a big problem with this, because hospital staff told us not to make any arrangements for his care because they had no idea what was wrong with him. Then they release him without giving us time to prepare anything. While I was talking to a member of the hospital staff, trying to argue against his release until we could talk with a doctor, Tyson was in the room talking to my dad. He didn't even know what year it is. He can't walk unassisted, and he can't even cut up his own food. I was told that my dad had already been released, so if we wanted him to stay longer, we would need to pay out of pocket up front. We wouldn't have known they were releasing him if Derek (my brother in law) hadn't called the hospital to learn the results of the tests they ran in the morning. What kind of hospital releases a stroke victim who can't take care of himself, without even notifying the family?

We took him to my sisters house for now, because he can't be by himself. We are trying to arrange to have someone with him all day, but he really needs more help than we can provide, and I don't know what we can get for him on his fixed income. He had another stroke almost as soon as we got home. I don't know what to do for him. This is the worst.

My Dad

Recent events have threatened to turn me into a no show on the blogosphere again, so I thought I'd give a little update, just in case I do disappear for a while.

My dad was rushed to the hospital Friday night. My youngest sister was with him and noticed that he was behaving oddly. She decided it wouldn't be good for him to drive so she drove him home. When they arrived, he was unresponsive, so she ran to get help. Somewhere in the course of things he stopped breathing, but a quick thinking office staff at his apartment complex found a maintenance man who knew CPR and they were able to revive him and keep him breathing until the ambulance arrived. When he got to the emergency room, they did a CAT Scan and told us it was likely he'd had a stroke. A few days and an MRI later, the Dr. said that he did indeed have a stroke, and it wasn't his first. They found evidence of many previous strokes located in the memory and balance centers of his brain, which would explain a lot of his behavior recently. He seems to be stable right now, but the doctors are still trying to figure out where the blood clots are located that keep causing the strokes so that they can decide how to proceed. My sisters and I have been scrambling trying to get information and figure out what to do after this.

What I've Been Up To

OK, I know it has been an extremely long time since I last posted, (hence the extremely long, picture heavy post today). I have been incredibly busy. I watched a whole lot of the Olympics. Now I'm busy watching the political conventions as the presidential nominees explain their platforms. I have to say I enjoyed the Olympics a lot more, but I know it is important to be educated about the issues.

I also received a new calling (cub scout den leader) and did a bunch of training for that. I completed some scrapbook pages. I'll come back and post those later, after I gather up all of the credits and finish the titles for a couple of pages. I have also spent a ton of time learning how to effectively clip coupons and use the sales of the local grocery and drug stores. I have already saved more than $100 on my grocery bill in the last week and a half and I got a ton of stuff for free. It's very exciting for me, and every thing else got put on hold for a while. So here is a rundown of some of the stuff that has happened during the last two weeks:

The Kids
The kiddos have been busy too. Here is BittyBit with the animal school that she set up a few weeks ago.LittleMan has perfected his walking technique and has even learned how to run all over the house.They have been playing so nicely together lately. Sister is getting so excited now that her little brother can interact a bit more. She is his biggest fan - she cheers and claps whenever he walks by himself or signs something to communicate with us. She is trying to teach him his ABC's and all the noises that animals make.LittleMan is going through a clingy phase. He screams anytime I leave the room. I mean bloodcurdling, why-are-you-beating-me screaming. It makes it very difficult to get anything done around the house, but I sure do love the cuddling that has resulted. He'll sit still in my lap for a long time and listen to a book or say nursery rhymes. We have a duck puppet that Connie brought back from a weekend trip somewhere. It quacks when you open and close its mouth, and LittleMan loves it. Here is LittleMan again after he learned how to work the mouth of the puppet. He was so proud of himself!

The House
I've been in a real "spring cleaning" mood. I know, I know, it is fall, not spring, but the feeling is there anyway. Tyson took apart the gargantuan dollhouse that Santa left in our living room last Christmas and put it in BittyBit's room. Then we moved around some of the furniture, pulled out some of the clothes that she has outgrown, and threw in a couple of toys for good measure. I'll load it all in the car and donate it after I finish with the rest of the house.

I reorganized my closet as well and today I tackled the baby's closet. I pulled out some of the gadgets that he has outgrown and made some more space in his closet.

Tyson primed the trim in the bathroom, and we are a little closer to finishing that room.

Activities
My brother in law is awesome. (Derek is awesome, not my good-for-nothing, soon to be ex-brother in law N., who had better be glad that he lives too far away for me to damage him after the last stunt that he pulled.) I had my niece over a few times in the last couple of weeks before school started. One day when Derek came to pick her up, he stayed and talked with me for a while. He realized that I could use a day out, and that his wife could use a day out, so the next day he called me and asked me to please bring my kids over that night and go out with Jenni. He even suggested that I call Julie and have her drop her kids off too so that she could join us. I think he deserves brownie points for a year for that move. :) We wandered around an outdoor mall for an hour or so then bought smoothies and talked on a park bench outside. It was a nice and unexpected outing.

My friend Rhiannon came over on Saturday to take maternity pictures. I'm a lazy bum and have only processed a couple of them, but check them out.That evening I met Julie, Shannon, and Sarah at Chili's for dessert and girl gab. Afterward Julie and I joined her sisters Lauren and Kara for Karaoke at a local sports bar. We got there kind of late, and I didn't sing, but I had fun hanging out with the other girls. I'm so jealous of Kara's dimples though!
Monday I went with the family to a Labor Day BBQ at Rhiannon's house. I got to see her house for the first time and swim in her pool, which was so nice after the hot weather that we've had lately. That night we headed over to Tyson's dad's house for another BBQ dinner. I'll admit that I was so stuffed from the first BBQ that I didn't have room for anything, but the company was nice.

Today finds the entire family well. The kids wrapped up the day with a team horsie ride on daddy's tummy. I had to crop the picture close because BittyBit is in a habit of "losing" her pants lately. I'll look up and she's just in her training panties and a t-shirt, which I usually don't even notice until I've taken pictures of whatever cute activity is going on and then realize that I can't post underwear pictures on the blog. That's OK, that habit is less annoying than her most recent middle of the night activities. On the plus side, she is starting to wake up in the middle of the night when she has to go to the bathroom. On the downside, she is starting to wake me up in the middle of the night when she has to go to the bathroom. 3am, give or take an hour and she's banging on my door yelling, "Mom! I have to go potty!" I have got to rig a nightlight or something so that she can take herself. She can't reach the light switch to turn on the bathroom light. We don't have any outlets in the hall, so I can't put a nightlight there. The one outlet in the bathroom is wired into the light switch, so unless I leave the overhead light on, the nightlight won't work. There has got to be a happy medium. It probably involves Tyson climbing into the attic and rewiring something, which will not make him happy, but that's a story for another day. OK, I think I'm done. I'll try not to take so long between posts next time because I don't want to leave poor Jenny hanging all the way in South Texas!

Got your tickets?

So I was just in the car with both of my children, when a commercial came on the radio. The DJ was talking about an upcoming Maroon 5 concert (which I would love to go to by the way) and mentioned that the radio station would be giving away tickets. My daughter said, "Mom, they said tickets!" "Yes they did", I replied. "Like tickets to the gun show...Mom, do you have tickets to the gun show?" she asked as she flexed her biceps. Ah, the education of children when left alone with their fathers...

Jenny's visit

My friend Jenny moved to Galveston in June and those of us who were left behind miss her immensely. Jenny was able to come back for a visit with her kids last weekend and we all got together at Julie's house on Saturday to watch the finale of So You Think You Can Dance and gab. Jenny's brother Joey even came to hang out with us for a little while, which was nice because we hadn't seen him in a while and I'm sure he had much better things to do than hang out with a bunch of silly girls.Sunday after church Jenny brought the kids over to my house and we watched the Olympics for a few hours and talked some more until the kids were completely worn out. It was so nice to be able to get together again and hang out. Hopefully soon my family will be able to go down and visit Jenny in Galveston so that she doesn't miss us all too much. :)

Finishing Projects

The master bathroom is usable. Tyson installed the sink before we went on our San Antonio trip, and his dad helped him install the commode after they got back. Tyson would have done that earlier, but he separated a rib a couple of weeks ago at Jiu Jitsu and he couldn't lift anything. Now he only has to install the wall cabinet and mirror, paint the trim around the door and window, and touch up the paint around the outlet. We are eventually going to install a glass door in the shower, but for now we're going to put in a curtain.In additional exciting news, I finished a baby quilt that I started four and a half years ago. My mom helped me design it and I cut the fabric and pieced the top together a long time ago. I didn't end up finishing it before my daughter was born and it ended up hiding in a hall closet for a year or two. I attached all the layers together and quilted it before LittleMan was born. I finished everything except the binding, then it wound up buried in the hall closet again. My ward assembled ten quilts to send to Salt Lake for the humanitarian aid store houses. We got together several times to tie the quilts. My mom is very crafty and always hand quilts her projects. I didn't even know how to tie a quilt, even though I have completed several quilts on my own before. I was motivated after helping with those other projects to finish the binding on my quilt, so I did. Here is the most recent finished product. This one was made with leftover scraps of fabric that I had in my stash.Here is a crib sized baby quilt that I made in about a week from start to finish in May of 2006. Here is the first quilt I ever made. I designed and completed this when Tyson and I lived in Florida, and I gave it to a friend of mine for her new baby.

San Antonio Vacation

We spent the beginning of last week in San Antonio. We listened to one of those time share presentations and got our hotel room for dirt cheap, plus two free tickets to Sea World. That's the kind of vacation I like! I'm currently making scrapbook pages to document our trip, so rather than tell the story twice, I'll just post those layouts as I finish them. Here is the first one:
Template by Yin Designs, Paper by Bren Boone (altered).