Must be a busy mom. . .

So this morning, we were scrambling to get the boys out the door for the bus. You'd think after a snow day yesterday that we'd have everything in order, but that would be like "normal". hehe I had to put shoes in backpacks (have to wear boots now that we have snow again) and find a matching pair of mittens and a hat (somehow Taite only had 1 mitten). We got them out the door and I had a short time to exercise before showering and getting ready to take the van to have the oil changed (it's under warranty, so don't want to void it or anything). The van was scheduled for 10:30, so I called Monica to see if she wanted to do lunch. I was trying to think of a good place to go in NW Rochester and remembered that her favorite place was a Sushi place. I had a small sample of sushi at Card Club in January and was curious to see if I would like more! Who better to go with than an expert (okay, obviously, with a name like 'Monica' she's not Japanese, but she is somewhat of a "sushi snob" ~ her words, not mine LOL)! She picked me up when I dropped the van off (she was totally looking for an excuse to get out of cleaning ~ hehe) and the restaurant didn't open until 11, so we went to Target! I got a case (yes, I think you would call it a case) of freezies for Brayton after his surgery and I even remembered to get snack for Brayton's class ~ not due for a couple of weeks :-) (Bray has to bring it for the week he returns after surgery and I figured I'd get that off my list of things to do!). We went to Sushi Nishiki and I LOVE IT!!! I'm glad I took Monica! We had 3 different rolls and the first two we (technically, I didn't know ~ Monica did) knew were good and the 3rd we decided was okay, but we wouldn't order it again. I feel like a sushi geek because I could totally see myself having it for supper in the same day! Yes, it was that good! Monica said it's only good at Sushi Nishiki, so I won't waste my time and $$$ ~ I'll just follow the direction of the Suchi Snob ~ oh! I love that name for you Mon!! LOL If you are ever in town and wondering what 'we' would recommend, it's the Fire Cracker Roll & Sushi Nishiki Roll (that one should be easy to remember) and you have use the wasabi too! Oh, so good!

After lunch, I picked up the van, got some wine and came home. Chris had a package that we had to ship certified, so that means, I was off again to pick up the boys from school (always a little bonus for them ~ you know, a little extra time with their momma! ~ (did I mention I'm drinking Lambrusco as I'm typing? hehe). I even remembered to bring the snack for Brayton's class when I went to pick up the boys (I was totally on top of things today ~ or so I thought!) so I brought that into the school and helped Brayton pack up his backpack to head home. As I'm helping him he says "Mom! You sent me to school with two different shoes!" I looked (no, I didn't believe I would make a mistake like that!) and sure enough! I had two different shoes in his bag!Now, in my defense, I was throwing shoes in his backpack quickly and when just looking at the soles, they are both yellow and black. . . BUT . . . when you look at them from the top: (yes, they do both fit him! I know they look like they are completely different sizes too!) His teacher said that no one would ever notice because both shoes are black/gold (bless her heart) :-)
Then this afternoon I remembered I was supposed to write on this name tag what was Brayton's strongest Nationality and I totally forgot about that! I felt bad, but Mrs. Bendzick said that he said he didn't know and then he said "Wait, I am from the United States of America" so with his yellow highlighter in his desk, he wrote USA on his name tag. He's so cute!

After school Taite wanted to call Grandma to see if they could come over to play. When we got there (of course she said 'yes') Grandpa was headed to a hockey game with Sonja & Greg (yes, the Sonja who sent the email with the Texan hunter and Greg who was not in that picture) so Taite wanted to go, Brayton wanted to stay with Grandma. Well, now Chris and I are home enjoying wine and a little snack ~ something I concocted to remind me of the Sushi place (not quite the same) but I used crackers, horseradish, avocado, smoked Gouda cheese and drizzled soy sauce on top. They didn't taste bad, but the combo of wasabi and soy sauce was yummy! So, that is all that today entailed. . . hope yours was just as eventful and full of laughs, as mine was! Have a great weekend! (forgot to mention that we did see a woman (young) fall in Target because she had awful shoes to walk in! I think she was embarrassed, but it was totally Funniest Home Videos material! I can laugh now because she isn't standing/laying right here!)

Emails

Today I received an email about Gardasil. I had no idea the adverse effects of that "vaccination" but here is one local woman's recap of how her daughter is doing:

For those of you that don’t know, Alyssa received the first vaccination in May 2008 and has been very sick since. Her Doctor (Dr. Trites listed below) tells us she is one of the lucky ones because she is not paralyzed. NOT PARALYZED. Can you believe that? Every time we take her to the hospital we never know how much worse she could be. Due to the vaccine, she has contracted the following illnesses:

1) POTS – Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (http://www.nymc.edu/fhp/centers/syncope/pots.htm). She is both a fainter and her heart races – double wammy.

2) Dehydration – she drinks about 140 oz of fluids daily and eats about 1/4-1/2 cups of salt daily. She still can’t stay hydrated.

3) She if fatigued most of the time.

4) Her ferritin level is extremely low (should be 29 and she’s at 8). This is the “reserve iron” levels. We’ve been trying to bring it up since May 2008. She’s not anemic, but she could be easily. She’s monitored carefully.

I realize none (well, maybe Jen does) of you knows Alyssa, but I at least want to forward this to others! Always investigate what someone wants to give your child! I can honestly say, I am mostly one of those "if the Dr. said to do it. . ." and my husband is NOT, so I need to be more like him.

Aaaandd on another note . . . I received an email that included a funny picture:
After I viewed the picture, I had to go to the bathroom, so I just left it up on my screen. Taite happened to be in the office on Chris' computer and asked me "Mom, what are you doing looking at a picture of a guy in a pool, drinking a beer, hunting?!" I said "well, it's just an email that Sonja sent me." His reply:

"WHAT?! THAT'S GREG???!!!"

Again, I have to stress: you gotta love it!

Read when you've got a minute :-)

Okay, so on Monday, Chris left for his business trip to Chicago/Michigan and he's supposed to return tomorrow (pray the weather holds off!) Taite had his last basketball practice/scrimmage Monday night. It was at 7, so my mom came over to put Bray to bed at his normal time (I fed her too, so it was somewhat worth it on her part, even if the soup was lukewarm ~ oops :) When Brayton got home from School, I did snap a few pictures of his smile (note the front tooth). I cannot do the teeth pulling thing. I have to cover my ears because it just gives me goosebumps thinking about it! You can imagine how gross I thought his tooth was like this! I think he was a little upset by that but it stuck out at such an odd angle! He slept with it like that and on Tuesday morning wanted it pulled out because he couldn't each much at school the day before because of his tooth (I imagine he was afraid to bite down on anything. . .think about it ~ never knowing what was crunchy in what Cheese Quisadilla) I was going to have coffee with Monica, so I told him if he wanted it pulled we'd have to stop at Grandma's house (she could've just pulled it the night before since she was at our house) so she could pull it (while I covered my ears, of course) The tooth came out very easily and there wasn't even much blood because it was so loose.



Here is his smile after pulling that tooth: Kinda looks like a pumpkin smile, but he doesn't like it when we say that.
Coffee with Monica was great! We get together when one of our hubby's is gone (usually it's mine LOL) and we never run out of things to talk about. We had to have coffee on Tuesday because I happened to glance at my calendar and had almost forgotten about Brayton's doctors appointment scheduled for this morning at 8:30! Boy am I glad we went. . . he saw the ENT (quite a character! Mon, I wish I'd had my camera, a picture of Bray with his Dr. would've been so like you) :) to see if his adenoids were swollen. He did a series of things (looked in places, had Bray try to breathe through his nose for a whole minute, etc.) to see if he had the signs of swollen adenoids and then we went for an x-ray. I wish they would've given us a copy. . . it was amazing how little space there was in the nasophayngeal airway (looked it up on the Internet). I'd say there might have been a 1/4 of an inch is all that the air was passing through. There was some fluid on his ears, so the Dr. wants to play that one by ear (no pun intended, well, maybe there was ~ it's just so cool to come up with something like that LOL). He said when Bray is in surgery, he'll make an incision in his ear drum and depending on what comes out (sticky, heavy vs. clear, watery) he will or will not put tubes in at that time. So on March 10th he's having a adenoidectomy. He has a couple of pre-op appts next week and then he'll be out of school for a whole week just laying low (good thing he loves to play the games on the computer). After that week, he can go back to school, but no phy-ed or physical activity. And then he'll be a new boy! Hopefully he'll get a full nights sleep and he'll probably grow an inch or two from all the restful sleep he'll get!! Chris and I are, of course, glad to have a solution for Brayton's activity a few weeks ago and his purple under his eyes and lack of sleep (although, for as poor of sleep as you have to assume he gets, he is really a super kid!) We just wish we'd have done this a long time ago. . . how long has he been suffering?? The ironic thing is adenoids are about as big and they will be when a child is around 6 and they start shrinking after that so adults don't really have them anymore. I think it's a sign though that since his are as swollen as they are, they need to be removed. A good note is that his tonsils looked fine, so the Dr. doesn't want to take those out because that is a much more difficult surgery to recover from. We LOVE Dr. Erbach! I'm glad he wants to make sure Bray's hearing hasn't been harmed by this fluid, but he doesn't want to over do it either since it will be worse for Brayton. He also just recommends alternating Tylenol and Advil for pain meds, so we don't have to dope him up with heavier stuff. They said if the alternating doesn't work though, that we can just call in for an Rx. Dr. Erbach is the same Dr. that Taite had when he had his tubes put in. When we took him in to take them out Taite didn't have a clue why we were there, but when Dr. Erbach was done, Taite told him "I hate you" ~ we still loved him because of the tubes our ear infections and trips to the Dr were over!!!

Okay, so I have a couple of new favorite websites. The first one has come about with the illnesses we've had here lately. It's kidshealth.org/kid . It is sooo cool and explains all kinds of stuff about bodies in easy to understand terminology. I know, I'm not a kid and neither are you, but it's still nice to be able to read something as complicated as how our body works/gets sick and not have to think too hard to understand it. LOL My other new fav. was actually brought to me by Monica ~ well, she has it on her blog: www.woot.com They always have a daily special of one item and some days they have a woot-off it's called and that is many items that are super deals, but once they are gone, they move to a different product. It's not so much the deals that I like (I've never bought anything ~ I just go there for a laugh), it's the description of the item. Most of the things they list are techy in nature, so today's woot of a stand-up golf bag, isn't typical, so to that, they provide alternative uses for this stand-up golf bag:
The TaylorMade Tourino Stand Bag is designed to be carried backpack style, with straps and a built-in stand for when you set it down. Yes, it will naturally work with your clubs if you’re a golfer, but you know what else it will hold? Your toy swords. Foam katana, plastic Schweizersäbel, even all those cardboard gift wrap tubes, you’ll fit them all comfortably into the TaylorMade Tourino Golf Bag.

I know you are smiling, so I'll leave you with that smile :) (My favorite comment is about the gift wrap tubes!)

Oh, I forgot!!

I just read Monica's blog and it had a cute picture of Matthew and what he wore for hat day. I took a picture of Brayton too on hat day and forgot all about sharing it! I would straighten his hat out and he'd put it right back to how it is in this picture ~ gotta love it!!!

GOOD MORNING!

Scene: breakfast table, Brayton's one front tooth crooked, but not pulled yet
Brayton: Knock, Knock.
Me: Who's there?
Brayton: Good.
Me: Good who?
Brayton: GOOD MORNING!

It's soooo nice to have him feeling good again!!

I missed my photo op today, so again, another posting without photos (unless the boys warrant taking their picture sometime real soon). Since I missed the photo op, I'll help you to visualize it. Close your eyes (well, wait until you read all the description and then close your eyes) a 6 almost 7 year old boy dressed still in his army green colored pj's (camo bottoms, solid green top that says 'Let me sleep and no one gets hurt') with 2 teeth missing in his smile. He comes running at me with his 3D glasses on from the Dinosaur book he got a few years ago for a birthday (either his or his brother's) (editor's note here: These are yellow foam glasses that have flame looking cuts at the top of them, not just your ordinary 3D glasses) and his crown that was made when we were defending castles and make believe villains around Taite's birthday. He's yelling at me "Monster - (still missing my squiggly thing) You are a Monster" and throws soft toys that probably won't break anything in the house, but that isn't a guarantee! I love how Brayton has such an imagination. When he is playing if he finds something to wear, he just puts it on and keeps playing. Usually it's his red "fishing" hat he calls it, but not always. Like now, he just brought me some "soup" he made in his restaurant (I'll tell you more about that in a bit) and sticking out of the mug/glass is a pipe cleaner thing. I didn't know what the pipe cleaner thing was so I tried to drink the soup from the glass and pretended to be poked in the eye by the pipe cleaner (always looking for a laugh, you know hehe). Brayton laughed (good boy) and pulls out the pipe cleaner to show me it was really a spoon! He'd shaped the pipe cleaner in the shape of a spoon and it looked very good! He really likes pipe cleaners (thank goodness for garage sales or we wouldn't have so many) because he can shape them into almost anything! Back when the crowns were all made (mentioned before in this article -- hehe, as if I'm a columnist!) I am so easily distracted and humored by myself, so for that, I apologize. . . Anyway, we made the crowns to go with the light sabers we were all making out of pipe cleaners! Yesterday he did really buy himself the real thing. A genuine light saber for only $7.99! I give it a week or so before it's broke. . .

Okay, now for the recipe mentioned before. Tonight we were finally going to try Monica's recipe for a Bobby Flay smackdown worthy Grilled Cheese (Hawaiian bread and Gouda cheese - which was excellent by the way!) and I wanted a good soup to go with it (tomato was out of the question because I just threw out the tomato soup I made who knows how long ago because no one would eat it. I ended up trying the Italian Sausage Soup on allrecipes. com (funny thing about that site is no matter what kind of recipe I am searching for, I always end up with more than one recipe - this time it was classic waffles). Everyone liked the soup and Brayton liked it so much he was going to make it in his pretend restaurant -- that's when you know you've got a keeper - it's pretend restaurant worthy!! He followed me around the whole time I was cleaning up from supper waiting for me to write down the recipe in his little notebook. Then he made the soup for my while I am typing. I just finished writing down the Classic Waffles recipe for him too so he could add to his collection and contrary to what he thought there is 'milk' in waffles, not 'milk weed' and yes there are eggs in waffles - he thought that was funny for some reason. It's good to hear him laugh!

Taite was invited to a friend's to play this afternoon and when I picked him up, they were just getting to the house -- they were being pulled behind the snowmobile on sleds. Taite was sharing a sled with Gunnar and whenever their sled would tip over, Taite did a face plant. His face was all read and his black hat and neck protector were all white! He was having a blast!

While he was playing, Chris and I cleaned out the new van for Chris' business trip this week. I still didn't have all the pink puke cleaned out of the seams and the stupid mess that snow/ice/dirt make on the floor of the van is unreal!! After we were all done (it took about 2 hours) Chris thought it sounded like a good idea to not drive that van until after winter was over. That or we could add "real" all season floor mats, the ones with edges to keep the water in the floor mat and not running all over the van - these all weather mats they sell specifically for the Odyssey are really meant for down south where they might have a little rain drip off their shoes, not for chunks of snow that slop all over!

In light of being happy and not complaining, I was going to post something funny that I had thought of earlier today, but of course now I can't think of it. I'll post it later and it will seem very random, but I warned you! hehe

Okay, this morning I have been a total bum. I decided to find the photographer that a high school classmate is friends with and did a wonderful job capturing the personalities of her family. I have not been good about taking family pictures. Why, you ask? Well, for one, they are usually a lot amount of money. Two, what if my hair doesn't turn out (I know, that ones selfish!). Three, where would we take them? I don't want studio type pictures so you have to pick a location. So anyway, I found the blog of this photographer (she's on blogspot too) and started reading. I've laughed, cried, been humbled and felt normal all in this short time of reading her blog. I really don't know her, but love her. Not in some stalker kind of way, she just kind of sounds like me (i.e. to get out the door she has to remind her kids over and over to do the same thing and then yells when they don't do them) and I love the way she writes her blog ~ mostly all positives. Every once in awhile her posts are just a list of the things she loves (characteristics, feelings, etc.) about her children, individually. She'll have a cool picture of them and that is followed with the list. In light of reading her blog and feeling somewhat uplifted, I am reminded of Chris' wish for us this year. To be positive. It sounds simple, but in this economy (and LONG winter) it's more difficult than I thought. Case in point, we ran into some friends yesterday at Target and I start out the conversation with complaints about this and that. Chris reminded me (when we were at home, thankfully) :-) that no one wants to hear another person complaining. So true. . .I used to be always happy-go-lucky but this winter (maybe some hormones too) are taking there toll on me lately and Chris is somewhat afraid to ask me what's wrong. . . Not a good way to live! So, I've added some new tools or something, I forget what they are called. The first is a funny quote thing. Hard to be crabby when you are laughing. The second, I just thought was cool is a webcam thing that will show different shots from all around the world. This can be beneficial because if you see a place you are enjoying, (according to the directions) you can click on it and it will take you to that webcam (on the blog, it flashes through different locations). You can dream about being in that place or maybe the weather is crappy there and it will make you grateful for where you are :-) You see, I feel better already ~ helping you be happy! LOL

I bet you are wondering about Brayton. Last night after his crying out, Chris called the ER (too late for any fast clinic) to see if it would be worth our while to drive all the way to the other side of Rochester for a visit or if we should just wait until today (Chris gave him Tylenol). The nurse finally called back and said if he was sleeping, to let him be. I set up the baby monitor (yes I still have it ~ the boys do sleep all the way downstairs!) so we could hear him better if he was having more pain in the night. He slept fine and actually slept in a little this morning. His throat was looking just a little swollen and he said it didn't hurt. We are crossing our fingers and praying that it's all over. I'm thinking today if he feels up to it to go to the sledding hill as a fun family thing. It's sunny, so we better remember our sunscreen!

Another update (yep, already)

I know, it hardly seems possible that I would have something more to add just 15 minutes after my last post, but believe it! Brayton just cried out and when I went to check on him, he said it hurts when he coughs. I went to get a flashlight and looked in his throat. . .yep, looks like he has strep. When Chris was researching what he had, we learned that if one of your tonsils is infected, your uvula (the hangy down thing) will actually move away from the side that is infected. It sounds weird and looks even weirder. So, we are pretty sure (hopefully there will be no 72 hour wait) that he has strep -- well, based on what we saw AND the fact it is going through the school like wildfire! We'll keep you posted. . . on As the World Turns (I don't know why I just added that -- it seemed appropriate at the time LOL)

Just an update. . .

I am trying out Chris' new little computer. Sam's has them on sale now for $245 including shipping (plus 1% of that back on Ebates!) PLUS it comes in red! How cool would that be? I've been longing for my own laptop (it seems that everyone has one) but Chris said he's not sold on this one and why did I need one anyway? So, I'll try this one and see if I like it then maybe he'll get a different laptop and I'll have my own. It'll be white, but it's still so darn cute.

Yesterday we got and end of the week Hooray! email from Brayton's teacher! She was so happy with how he's been this week. The funny thing (well, kind of) about this is every day when the boys get home, we ask them how their day was and normally their answers were always "good", but lately Brayton's is: "Wasn't it good? Did I get an email?!" (translation: did his teacher send an email letting us know he wasn't behaving?) Poor thing. . . His head finally has "stuff flowing" and he can think more clearly and make good choices. The downside. . . (you had to know there was one) is that the coughing started last night. Hopefully it all stays loose and doesn't cause problems. Oh, and did I mention that Taite was home from school yesterday? He didn't sleep well Thursday night because his stomach hurt and Chris (who was sleeping in the chair in the living room) helped him get a makeshift bed on the floor of his room in case he had to make any dashes to the bathroom. I wasn't too sure he was really that sick, but he did stay on the couch all day yesterday and vegged out. Today he finally was up and about running around the house.

Chris is getting better with his antibiotics when he remembers to take them. They are supposed to be taken every 6 hours which is a difficult schedule to keep and with 4 per day, he sometimes takes them a little off schedule. I know this is bad to say (I'll just jinx myself) but I have stayed pretty healthy (crap, my favorite squiggly thing is missing from this keyboard!) -- no stomach bug, no flu, no strep, etc. I should probably buy a lottery ticket with my luck LOL

Well, I managed to open my big mouth and said something to Chris about spending money and now he is not going to try out for the semi-pro football team. I really didn't say we shouldn't spend money, I just said that I regretted not having professional pictures taken of the boys when they were younger (mostly because they cost so much!). So, of course, he took that to heart (or his brain) and analyzed it as we shouldn't spend any money and the Rochester football program doesn't have many sponsors so the cost just goes back to the players and they have to fund it all themselves. You would think I would learn to keep my mouth shut - (sure wish I had my squiggly line. . .) because he is always saying I say too much, but usually it's to others, not him. Maybe someday. . . Hey, I should make that my New Years Resolution next year -- haha!

Oh, I forgot to mention the other day that the boys wanted to take goulash for lunch. It's so funny because they ask only once in awhile to take a hot lunch and Chris tries to talk them out of it saying it's too much work, but I feel since I am blessed to be home, it's the least I can do (that and I have these mini Superman Thermos mugs and I got them the coolest (not literal) lunch bags from Lands End (have I mentioned I LOVE that website??)) I digress. . .I told Taite he just had to remind me in the morning (right away) so I would have time to make their lunches. He did remember and I got them all made up, including the little 'love you' note from Mom. When the boys came home, I asked them how their lunches were. Brayton could hardly spit out fast enough that only his friend Josh knew what goulash was and none of the rest of his class did! He was shocked! One boy asked Bray what it was and Brayton said his response was "really good stuff!" He has such a way with words :-) I must point out that Chris made the really good goulash!

48 hours vs. 72 hours. . .
Chris has been fighting an illness for like . . . forever! So finally on Sunday, he wanted to go to a Fast Clinic to have a strep test. The immediate result was negative and she said there was like a 10% chance he would have anything come back on the 48 hour test, but she was wrong. The only thing I don't get is they send their tests "away" (we're not sure where) and then the "away" place will call them back at Target if something shows up. We were at the clinic in the early afternoon on Sunday, but nothing showed up on the culture until yesterday at around 2 and "it just showed up!" (i.e. they had just received the call. . .) What took them so long??? He's had the feeling that knives are slashing his throat every time he swallows for 3 days when in my book, it should have only been 2 (hence the 48 hours). Chris went back to Target for his Rx and he made sure to tell them he is allergic to the Penicillin family ~ his only requirement was that he didn't have to take anything that would kill all of the bacteria in his body, including the good bacteria (he's had that before too and it wasn't fun!) So, he picked up his Rx and it says right on there that if they are allergic to Penicillin, they could have a reaction ~ the Dr.'s response. . . there's only an 8% chance of that happening! He reminded her there was only a 10% chance of him having strep too!! So far, he is doing well and no reaction to the meds! Yea!

Taite
Last night Taite pulled his other canine tooth or is it an eye tooth? I'm not sure ~ I just know I can't handle the pulling of teeth! He came over to show me his new smile and it made me gag! We had to take some pictures of the boys to send to Japan so here are some of them so you can see his new smile. Chris paused a second when he looked at both boys smiling because Brayton's smile matches Taite's except that the two teeth he is missing are the ones just inside of the canine/eye teeth :-)Even though this picture is dark (my camera was NOT cooperating) you can see their similar smiles the best in this picture.

These are the masks that Hondoh sent the boys. Little Devils seems fitting some days! LOL

They each got 2 of these little guys, but Taite couldn't find his 2nd one. They were in the middle of these really good smelling bath balls ~ you know the kind ~ they dissolve in the tub and make you all soft and good smelling. Well. . . the boys couldn't wait to take a bath, so they just rinsed them off in the sink! It was full of suds, but smelled really good!

RECIPE
Tonight I was looking for some sort of quick bread to have with leftovers. We are kind of bread fanatics and our favorite recipes were going to take longer than I wanted to wait, so here is the fabulous recipe we tried tonight ~ soooo yummy!
Dilly Drop Biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking pwdr
1 Tbsp salt (this seemed like way too much, so I used half, but would even use just 1 tsp.)
1 Tsp. dried dill week
1 Tsp. onion pwdr
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Grease a large cookie sheet. In a large bowl combine the first 5 ingredients. Make a well in the middle and add the oil and milk. Stir until just moistened. Drop batter from a tablespoon 2" apart on cookie sheet. Bake 12 - 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes 10 - 12 biscuits

EBATES
We received our "Big Fat Check" from Ebates today and for those of you who I've told about and don't use it ~ you're crazy! We did a lot of Christmas shopping online this last Christmas and our check was over $43 ~ just for shopping online!!! It's so easy, you just start at the Ebates site and go to the store you want to shop at and then they credit your account for making a purchase. If you would like me to send you an email for signing up (we both get a $5 bonus for you signing up and making your first purchase) just let me know! It really is the best thing since sliced bread! LOL

BRAYTON
Today was the 100th day of school (they do all kinds of activities commemorating it) and it was a SUPER day for Brayton!!! Yea!!! We received an email from his teacher this morning and we both groaned when we read the subject line "Brayton" (this is how they are all labeled, so we assumed the worst ~ bad us!) and it was really to tell us what a wonderful day he was having!! He (and the rest of the class) each got to move their desk so they could sit by whatever friend they wanted ~ really a good sign! We were so excited! Even though he didn't get all of his spelling words right on the pre-test (did you know there is a '-' in good-bye? Me either!) even he recognized that he had a great day! I must note that his eyes aren't nearly as blue/dark underneath anymore, so him constantly blowing his nose must be clearing his head out. . .just in time for his appt. next week with the ENT. We decided to have his adenoids looked at and maybe they can be removed to help his situation.

Last night after Brayton took his shower, he and Chris were sitting in the chair watching UFC. I am not a fan, (it's ultimate fighting and last night was Ultimate Knockouts, so every fight at least one guy was knocked out) so I was reading my book on the couch. At the beginning of each round on this show, they showed the opponents and Brayton picked the one who would win (without knowing a thing about UF) every time! It was quite impressive and I told him I didn't EVER want him or Taite to participate in anything like UFC! It is so hard to watch and I don't even know these people! There is one guy on there from Elgin, MN a town just east of Rochester who does fairly well on UFC, which makes it kind of interesting because not every round ends in a KO.

Commenting
Some of you have mentioned to me that you wanted to leave a comment on here, but don't want to sign up for an account and everything just to do that. Try leaving a comment as anonymous and just sign your name at the end of the comment ~ that should work and if it doesn't, I'll look into it more. I just thought you couldn't leave a comment, but when I was leaving one the other day, I noticed you can click anonymous as an option ~ just be sure to sign your name on the posting :-)

Semi-Pro or Not Semi-Pro? That is the question. . .

For years now, Chris has had this dream of playing football again. There is a "semi-pro" team in Rochester (I believe that's what it's categorized as) and he's looked at trying out for it a few different times and chickened out each time. I know he would love to play again, but is afraid of the possible failure that might come with trying out. He's even gone so far as to "size up" the Rochester team compared to the Sioux Falls team and asked if we could live in Sioux Falls for the summer. You know me, I'm all for an adventure so I said "Why not? It would be fun!" We could live in the camper and he could play and practice with the SF team (they are a little older and look like he'd have a better chance to play) :-) Those are his words, not mine! I'm trying to encourage him to go tomorrow night because that's the try outs for the Rochester team, but he's looking like he probably won't ~ Darn! I've always wanted to date a Football player!!

Valentine's Parties & The Tooth Fairy Continued. . .

Today the boys had Valentine's parties at school. I was able to bounce back and forth a couple of times to get pictures of both boys. This is of Brayton doing the relay that I was in charge of. They had to transfer a bunch of candy hearts with just a spoon from one end to the other. The winners got a plastic heart with more candy hearts inside it ~ the problem?? I didn't know that all the kids got to take a plastic heart, not just the winners! OOPS! Some took the lesson in good sportsmanship okay, but they all felt better when they got a heart even if they didn't win :~)


This is the class taking a funny picture. Brayton is in the back row, 2nd from the left.
This is another goofy picture (all the normal ones I took, I didn't have the setting correct on, so they are all dark.)
Taite's class got to decorate their own cookie and then eat their creation.


Taite's friend, Mike, had his cookie all broke up before they even got the frosting out! Then I suggested he use the frosting as glue so he could put it back together, but he chose to sprinkle all kinds of sprinkles on it and then had to lick his finger to eat the sprinkles :)All of these Valentines are TAITE'S!


The Tooth Fairy Saga continues. . .
Last night after our conversation with Taite about the Tooth Fairy, Chris was still laughing because he thought we were going to have to sign an Affidavit for Taite before he believed us ~ little did he know how true that statement would be. . . (this is what I found when I went to get his tooth for the 2nd time)

The Tooth Fairy is no longer, er, maybe not. . .

Taite lost his tooth on the bus and brought it home in a little treasure chest that they must have on hand at the school for teeth. Tonight I was helping Brayton try to find his Bag Book for school and Taite was in talking to Chris, Chris was laughing and I figured it was about the Tooth Fairy. After I got Bray into another head-cleansing bath, Taite brought me up to our room to confirm what Chris had told him: We take the teeth (Chris even showed him one from a previous Fairy mission) and leave money ~ I didn't confirm or deny, just talked around the subject. Not quite sure if I wanted him to grow up past this stage.

At some point today, Taite's tooth split into 2 pieces so he thought he should write a little note explaining that to the T.F. While he was writing it, (Chris and I were standing there) Chris was laughing and then when he was done Chris threw down a dollar on his dresser and took the tooth. Taite studied the money a little bit and Chris said "We take the teeth, so there". Taite looked at him, took his tooth back and gave Chris the dollar back. He said "I'll see tonight. I'll see if the money is folded the same way and if it's the same amount and then I'll know!" Chris said, "Why don't you believe me? You said earlier you didn't believe in Fairies!" Taite said "That was before, but you and mom didn't say that you take the teeth (not listening again. . . ) so I believe in the Tooth Fairy!" We both laughed and I begged him not to make us stay up to take his tooth, but he still wants to wait and see. Oh, the imagination and good laugh we got out of this tonight! I'm sure it will be one that we talk about when the boys are much older too and laugh about again and again!!

This morning, already

Today we were getting the boys ready for the bus (I was wiping Bray's nose, Chris getting hats/mittens on) when all of a sudden Taite was in a panic ~ he has a loose tooth. Since Brayton started loosing teeth, we've told Taite he was done losing teeth (we sincerely thought he was!) because when the Tooth Fairy would bring Brayton money, Taite of course wanted some too. Well, after further investigation, it's one or both of his eye teeth or canines (the pointy ones) that is loose and in fact, he had not lost it earlier in his lifetime! Wish I had the camera to take a picture of his face when he thought he was losing a tooth that was supposed to stay in there! It was too funny and when he was concerned Chris says "either way, if you lost it before or not, it's coming out (as he's trying to wrestle it out as the bus is coming to our house. . .)"

So, last night we were all set to go to Winona for sandwiches at Acoustic, until. . . I was making oatmeal and looking through the free paper we get and the Hubbell House is having a special menu on Saturday for lunch: Sirloin Steak and Crab stuffed Shrimp! YUMM! We have a gift certificate for the Hubbell House from Christmas. We were thinking we'll just have to decide what we want to do for sure when I see that the Mall Cop is playing at the theater in Kasson and that pretty much finishes things off. We'll have to go to Winona another day. . . The boys have been asking to see that movie since the trailers have been playing on TV.

This morning I decided I'm a Facebook nerd! All these people who I am friends with have at least 100 friends and I am not even to 50 ~ guess that says something about how well I was liked ~ NOT! Oh, wait, Chris just told me I'm too old school when I use that word. . . Whatever!

The Cousin's Meet!

I've not taken the boys to see Josey since Bray is still stuffed up and if she were to get sick, I wouldn't want to feel responsible ~ so when they stopped by tonight, I didn't have to decide :-)
The boys were excited to finally see Josey and Brayton had to keep saying "can I see?" because he was the shortest and getting crowded out. Taite thought she was bigger than he thought she would be and Brayton thought she was smaller than he thought she would be. Bray thought she would be more like the twins' size LOL I was going to get some pictures, but she nursed almost the whole time they were here and it's funny how you forget that when they are so little they take a long time to eat :~) Next time I'll have to get pics!

Tonight Chris told me he had an idea for what to do for Valentine's Day. I don't know about anyone else, but when you have kids, it just seems that they have to fit in with our plans because everyone else wants to go out for Valentines day too! So, since it's on Saturday this year, Chris thought we could go out for lunch (less of a crowd) and make a special meal at home. He was thinking we could go to the Acoustic Cafe in Winona because I LOVE their sandwiches! I was so surprised he thought of that (for me)!!! It was so sweet of him to think so much about a lunch ~ oh, wait. . . . . . . he may have planned a lunch and we can head down to Winona early so we could get some Bloedow's first! Oh, that's it!!! It just works out that we could do some activity in between the eating we'll be doing in Winona! LOL

Well, I have to go watch the UNC/Duke game with my hubby (I have a smile on my face because I smell faintly like a baby from the short time I got to hold Josey ~ thanks Steph)!

Update (so far this week)

Monday I had a crappy day. . . Brayton cheated during his spelling pre-test in the morning, so we received the email about that early in the day. I was so upset because obviously we aren't getting through to him on needing to behave and listen to his teacher! This required some serious action, so we surprised him by picking him up for lunch ~ he didn't have a clue that we knew about his morning. He was beaming when he saw me at the office, which just made me want to cry that much more. Why is it that I felt I had let him down when he was the one doing the wrong?? He did know that he was cheating because before the test, they had discussed not using their spelling books to cover their tests because they might be tempted to look in their spelling books for the spellings of the words. It's so difficult with Brayton because we've tried to keep him healthy, but lately his head has been very congested and that's where Chris and I are at odds. I don't think he needs to use that as an excuse, but Chris had allergies all his life, so he's more sympathetic towards how Bray is feeling and how it might affect his school work. Brayton's head is so congested that when he blows his nose, nothing comes out, but he sounds like he has a clothes pin on his nose when he talks ~ it's waaayyy up in his sinuses. Last night we tried the bath again with lots of the vapor rub bubbles in it. He was thrilled to be able to breathe through his nose last night and this morning he was actually blowing out (really gross) a lot of snot! Yeah for snot! Haha!

Yesterday Steph called in the morning to see if I wanted to take one of the free slots for a massage where Stevie works (my cousin is a teacher at the MN School of Business for massage)! It was GREAT!!!! The only weird thing was it was a deep tissue massage and I thought it would hurt (heard stories about Chris' massage in Japan), but it didn't ~ on my thigh, it felt like it tickled!! She thought it was weird because she said she was using a lot of pressure, but it still felt ticklish ~ it may have just been a reflex kind of thing with the muscle. We both giggled over it (the table is in a room with 3 others and they are all curtained off, so the music is relaxing provided everyone is pretty quiet~ we were the only ones giggling). I felt privileged to be able to fill in this open spot ~ I was a little sore from our "Dancing it Out" the other night LOL

Taite is doing great, as usual. I feel like I don't mention him because he's always good ~ Isn't that how it goes?? I tried to get Chris to agree that we should spank Taite because I don't handle Brayton's naughtiness very well and Taite was just too good, so we had nothing to prepare us! :-) Taite had basketball on Monday night and as we were leaving the school he tells me that his teacher was in a car accident on the way to school that morning (he had been home, we had supper, went to BB and at 8:15 he remembers his teacher was in a car accident. . .). I figured it was a little fender-bender, but was surprised all the details he remembered of her story ~ the car actually flipped with her and her almost 2 year old son in it. She came to school to keep her mind off the accident and no one was injured. This prompted Taite to ask a series of questions and our conversation went something like this:
T: Did you ever get into a car accident when I was a baby?
M: No.
T: Did you ever get into a car accident when Brayton was a baby?
M: No.
T: Was dad ever in an accident?
M: Yes.
T: What happened?
M: (I tried to remember the details of the big 3-car pile-up in Wessington)
T: Were you ever in an accident?
M: Yes.
T: What happened?
M: The guy I was riding with tried to cross Hwy 14 and a lady hit us, but she was going to turn, so she wasn't going very fast and no one was hurt.
T: Who were you riding with?
M: My ex-boyfriend.
T: What was his name?
M: Brian.
T: So if you would've married him, we'd have 2 Brian's in our family?
M: Guess so.
T: Why didn't you marry him? Was dad better lookin'?
M: Um, Brian was too over-protective when I would go to town and stuff.
T: Because you were so beautiful? Was he worried that some guy would fall in love with you if you talked to him?
M: (surprised he knew so much about what over-protective meant. . . ) Yeah, something like that.

Dance it out!

Do you ever feel like "dancing it out" as Christina sometimes does on Gray's? We didn't have anything in particular that we were dancing out, but that new song by Coldplay called Viva la Vida makes me want to "dance it out" ~ or hop around all crazy just for fun! Well, we all did that tonight and had some fun. Chris was surprised how much work it was ~ good exercise!

Here are a few pics of the boys taking part :~)

Oh What a Day!

Today started out normal enough (kids off to school, work in jammies, etc.). I was going into school to help in Brayton's classroom with stations (there are different activities and the class is split up and rotates to all the stations). Upon arrival in the parking lot, I met up with another mom from Bray's class. It was nice to see her because she normally helps in the mornings when her youngest is in preschool ~ super nice person who makes you feel like you've been friends all your life! Then I got into the Office to sign in and ran into another one of Brayton's friends' mom. After a little chat, we were both relieved that our son wasn't the one to bring the other one across to the "dark side"! Yesterday they couldn't behave and both of the boys got check marks. Surprisingly enough, they both were shocked when they couldn't play their electronic games! Ours said "Mrs. Bendzick didn't tell me I wouldn't be able to play my Star Wars game!" and theirs said "Well if I had known I wouldn't be able to play my DS, I wouldn't have done it!" Funny how they forget these threats from the previous check mark. . . When I got to Brayton's classroom, he was very somber. He looked kind of pale and had his normal purple under his eyes, so I didn't think too much about it. Mrs. Bendzick said he had said all day that he was just sad. He was quiet and kind of lethargic through Stations but he had been getting up early in the am, so I figured he was just tired. After school, I dropped off mail at the post office, picked up a bottle of wine (glad I did!) and then went into Rochester to get Taite the same GameBoy game that Brayton got yesterday. We got off on the ramp to go to the Game Stop store and Brayton threw up all over. He tried to hold it in, but speaking from personal experience, that sometimes just makes it worse! It was on backpacks, coat, shoes, car seat, down between the seats into the movie compartment, I mean EVERYWHERE ~ okay, not everywhere, but enough. Of course I had no paper towels, nothing but a box of Kleenexes. I sent Taite into Game Stop as I tried to clean up or salvage the situation (I believe Taite was gagging and had to get out) :~) What I ended up doing was stripping Brayton, wrapping him in a blanket and used a bottle of water to wet down the Kleenexes to wash his hands and face. He apologized (I told him not to feel bad) and then his color came back. He didn't eat much for supper and his color comes and goes, but so far that was the only "incident". The whole hour I spent cleaning up the pink stuff I kept thinking "If only I didn't have to go to Rochester to get that stupid game, I wouldn't have to clean all of this!" I still have to go back and clean up his seat, it actually stained it a little! Chris was sick (not literally) over that since we had the "work" van. I have to get a toothbrush to clean out the stitching on the seats too ~ ohhhh gross!!

So, with that said, I am READY for my Girls day out tomorrow!!! Monica (the friend I am going with) found out about the show we are scheduled to go to and it looks fun! I thought it was a play, but it's a comedy show that's traveling the nation! It should be fun!!! I am enjoying some red wine tonight after a very busy day. . .

A must see video!

I absolutely LOVE the Ellen show and don't watch it near enough! This is a clip that a friend had on Facebook and I couldn't copy it for here (plus, I didn't want to break any laws).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83JDXXKzOXg
this should take you to it, in case it doesn't, Google Ellen show clip I love Jesus but I drink a little. It is absolutely hilarious!

CORRECTION:

I need to note that the correct spelling of the new baby is Josey, not Josie.

Well. . . Finally!!

Last night at 9:50 (during Housewives of OC ~ my new fav. show!) my sister called to say that the longest pregnancy in history was over :~) hehe ~ just kidding ~ I think she just felt like that, but didn't we all? She did have a girl so my mom is finally happy! LOL

Stats
Now, I'm thinking my sister was tired after being in labor and having the baby (that or because of my head being congested) but I had to strain to hear everything she said. Josie Rose Turner weighed 8 lbs. 7 ounces and was 21" long (I'm pretty sure on the length ~ couldn't quite hear and already had to ask her to repeat some things). Steph said she was a quiet baby and I thought ~ wait until the effects of the epidural wear off ~ haha. Hopefully she'll continue to be an easy baby, I can't say I could complain about my boys ever being overly fussy (well, just that little stint of Taite's when he had colic, but getting rid of dairy for me worked, so I was happy!) Good luck sis! You know that I'll have advice for you if you want it ~ hehe!

My yesterday sucked! I can't say it any other way (excluding the phone call from my sister, of course). Along with congestion from a head cold, I got a migraine. I've not had one that the pain hung on for so long in a very, very long time. Normally I drink a whole bottle of Propel with 3 of something (ibuprofen or Tylenol sub) and then the pain goes away for the most part. It just kind of reminds me all day that it could come back ~ hovering kind of like a halo, but more like a crown of thorns! Yesterday I didn't get the whole bottle of Propel drank before laying down, so that is my only clue as to why the pain hung around for hours. . . They say that most headaches are due to a lack of fluids and I have to say if I am conscious of this and try and drink a lot when I feel one coming on, it may or may not go away. I just always have to have the ability to lay down and that with fluids helps a ton.

Cool pictures

My friend, Monica, who got me started blogging, LOVES to take pictures. I like to take pictures, but she has the lenses and everything to go along with LOVING to take pictures :-) I told her we had one cool sunset picture (she said they can't see the sunset from their house because of the other houses) so I thought I'd share our picture. I'm not quite sure why I took this picture because it seems like we've had other, more spectacular pictures of the sunset, but didn't record them. This does remind me of one of those candies, though. You know the ones ~ the huge jaw breakers that have layers of colors as you lick through them?! This picture isn't the best quality, but it's fun for us to look back on because it was taken in June of 2004 and the little evergreens you can see are now a lot bigger and soon the lawnmower won't fit between them! Of course for us it seems they never grow (knowing they really do!) but I was surprised last year when mowing that some of the trees touch both sides of the mower when I go through them. Unfortunately, these aren't the kind of evergreen that kills the grass below them so mowing around them is still necessary!

Our trees are super nice for giving us some "hiding" from the cars that drive by until they get a little east of our house and then they can see everything. I wish we'd have had some forethought to plant more trees along the east side of our property, but the little ones we did plant will grow soon enough :-) I also have to add another picture that Chris said is his favorite from building the shed because it looks like we live in a densely populated forest! Isn't it funny how a small lens can give that effect?

Chris is home and well! He got in as scheduled on Thursday night. We picked him up and went out to eat at Applebees. It's always a treat we get when he's been gone on a business trip and even though he's had to eat at restaurants the whole time he was gone, he doesn't mind because it's a treat for us. So far he's handled his jet lag very well. It said to be in the sun for the mid-day so he sets a chair in front of the patio doors and literally sits in the sun. Today seems to be starting off the roughest so far ~ wish us luck :-)

Yesterday was the nicest day we've had so far this year and it also robbed us of breaking a record for the coldest month since 1979 or somewhere around there! That kind of ticks me off because we earned that record, but all due to the very last day of the month being above freezing, we don't get it! Oh, and next week it's supposed to be cold again!

Since it was such a nice day, we went to a movie ~ okay, that's not exactly how it played out (no pun intended!). On Friday I read that Marley and Me was playing in Kasson ($4 matinees and we can get pop & popcorn for $4.75 ~ so fairly cheap to go) and I knew the boys would want to go, so we decided to go to the 1:30 showing. It was good although it was 2 hours and 4 minutes long and Brayton started squirming after 1 1/2 hours.

Chris told me that the one salesman in Japan is having a baby girl (his wife we also worked with until she got pregnant with their first child) and he wants to name her Lisa! How cool is that?! His wife said she wants to name her Reno and he doesn't like that because it reminds him of casinos :-)

Chris asked Brayton if he liked the new camera we had for this business trip so he could see Chris when he was in Japan and Brayton said he did. He added that he liked him home better though so he could see Chris in person :-) How sweet??

Have a great week and GO CARDINALS!!!