tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22110002592475906342024-03-04T23:49:13.187-08:00Stanley PieUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger132125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-56613448960863311962016-01-25T11:00:00.001-08:002016-01-25T11:00:40.549-08:00Pictures<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We played tag about a month and a half ago in the front yard,</div>
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but most of the pictures turned out super blurry. So</div>
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here's a good one of Baker.</div>
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<img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggoZbY87oWIAlbEDZEEI1xjha0ATQOSp7WCsdw_glxQ54dd3q7TcVsv0bElQR9ybrmmKSQBtryC8RKxMJdowX8cFyJeAwiQTTWxuWSY2VAPPY1OVIgZrS2KIRZPjX-_jp_0cr3RFQBQHI/s320/DSC_0210.JPG" width="320" /> </div>
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Last summer we signed the girls up for a running club.</div>
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I wasn't too happy about the price, but we committed and they had fun</div>
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during the practices. We only went to one meet, but we didn't sign the</div>
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girls up for any competition, so they were just there for the group photo.</div>
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But during the season, they had a color run that the whole family was invited</div>
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to participate in.</div>
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Here's how everyone looked before the race.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIFr9YvavSjuIF0BO6JAmxLOMzJQ_BhqjpDuqqqMzornylYPaXC1g99VAFzrADv3CoDQOKIdMH48PiDVnN151EBEHTYgxcnKluuZTE6zU5ac6A8ol_elATGqG1FKXUpH5Y_ZT5mRj5bF0/s1600/DSC_0073.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIFr9YvavSjuIF0BO6JAmxLOMzJQ_BhqjpDuqqqMzornylYPaXC1g99VAFzrADv3CoDQOKIdMH48PiDVnN151EBEHTYgxcnKluuZTE6zU5ac6A8ol_elATGqG1FKXUpH5Y_ZT5mRj5bF0/s320/DSC_0073.JPG" width="211" /></a></div>
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There were tables set up to get yourself covered in chalk before the race started,</div>
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and it took some convincing of all the kids to actually do it.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_uuLUGN4z-DMzDBY9-ciECf7bIwMHniwBrQg1UUmpRqSQdNY7JkCu5anojEL86BJdTBws_4_MsuRd-Qi7PzDOb5cG96lm9dNb079k1emjrVL0dD3E_tijWCdGs79NEkjJqBUoJBuF2rU/s1600/DSC_0076.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_uuLUGN4z-DMzDBY9-ciECf7bIwMHniwBrQg1UUmpRqSQdNY7JkCu5anojEL86BJdTBws_4_MsuRd-Qi7PzDOb5cG96lm9dNb079k1emjrVL0dD3E_tijWCdGs79NEkjJqBUoJBuF2rU/s320/DSC_0076.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJpqDTj_RBHQtJH7zbnIRzQPBPF436Q5bRNaLJ14wii-9bIgOqYiB0QlAzzaTKCQuenFNFvIavTc1bBRiKvua-KO3GRkHdG_vBs26swZpphs7DJCbcuLBqDRE0iMXUqhg9g3As8Pa-MGM/s1600/DSC_0090.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJpqDTj_RBHQtJH7zbnIRzQPBPF436Q5bRNaLJ14wii-9bIgOqYiB0QlAzzaTKCQuenFNFvIavTc1bBRiKvua-KO3GRkHdG_vBs26swZpphs7DJCbcuLBqDRE0iMXUqhg9g3As8Pa-MGM/s320/DSC_0090.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOX0GD5eb7iif_jdTFg87Oh9GYtPG5rAqWiDmD7RDQGpHi0UlGZTCnahMLMSQl4U-TaIjugBDF-NRKUyuhq5RSBiqyp59SVgBsZQY3FW47dbHoNuE2HPdNaBxpdJ1avU8ZDlT2kNibgHY/s1600/DSC_0091.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOX0GD5eb7iif_jdTFg87Oh9GYtPG5rAqWiDmD7RDQGpHi0UlGZTCnahMLMSQl4U-TaIjugBDF-NRKUyuhq5RSBiqyp59SVgBsZQY3FW47dbHoNuE2HPdNaBxpdJ1avU8ZDlT2kNibgHY/s320/DSC_0091.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Baker and I waited halfway through the race for everyone to come by.</div>
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Here's how Daddy & Grayson showed up.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBjX8xTMyAjFoYQ_2qOJ869x4orizTgL6od3Bn5X-40iKwDogS3kWHW3XpLkiTALvipWXMPGl37cK4UgNlASZGHBXtyyc26N37dR8ihDMUw8b8O8h369QA1T39ZI3hj_-rn_4akSRrszI/s1600/DSC_0119.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBjX8xTMyAjFoYQ_2qOJ869x4orizTgL6od3Bn5X-40iKwDogS3kWHW3XpLkiTALvipWXMPGl37cK4UgNlASZGHBXtyyc26N37dR8ihDMUw8b8O8h369QA1T39ZI3hj_-rn_4akSRrszI/s320/DSC_0119.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Scout wouldn't smile after the race was over.</div>
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But she really had a great time.</div>
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She turned out to be an excellent runner.</div>
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I'd probably sign them up for it again this year if it wasn't such a</div>
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huge time sucker....</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg63fu4axnZSuBqbQJ499TGXWV2siEFC7pOrELtR-pD1WAIc9Z7IaNIkRlEJ_n4quUVmNFQB91GQMs57cOromB38K_pvVkc9U0VmEDZsZONWvWG-28T45rjZ71JndKuUSovZ9bE-2y6F5A/s1600/DSC_0131.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg63fu4axnZSuBqbQJ499TGXWV2siEFC7pOrELtR-pD1WAIc9Z7IaNIkRlEJ_n4quUVmNFQB91GQMs57cOromB38K_pvVkc9U0VmEDZsZONWvWG-28T45rjZ71JndKuUSovZ9bE-2y6F5A/s320/DSC_0131.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk0cDLWwEW31AfOhpHfy-5Y6Jb4_w-gVirPkNLxJUbeKuGl8Qi1xWK9wzrxRjNuhIiTY_yGHIyv3AvHoifGt2p-0Rau8iuHtXvw0f3Hm8u08OOpy4NpG1L6RnLYHL8IVmsELJjnKJOGps/s1600/DSC_0144.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk0cDLWwEW31AfOhpHfy-5Y6Jb4_w-gVirPkNLxJUbeKuGl8Qi1xWK9wzrxRjNuhIiTY_yGHIyv3AvHoifGt2p-0Rau8iuHtXvw0f3Hm8u08OOpy4NpG1L6RnLYHL8IVmsELJjnKJOGps/s320/DSC_0144.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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We planned ahead and had some garbage bags ready for the car ride home.</div>
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Obviously I need to take more pictures of everyone, and upload some from my phone.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-63621850313071086372016-01-21T09:57:00.001-08:002016-01-21T09:57:05.966-08:00More on Poppy<div style="text-align: center;">
We've now had Poppy home with us for two whole months! </div>
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And she hasn't had to be admitted for anything,</div>
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which is big cause for celebration, I think.</div>
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She has had a few setbacks, like needing a blood transfusion in</div>
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December, but it went well and we haven't noticed any complications.</div>
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And one of these days she is supposed to start weekly iron infusions</div>
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(iron through an IV) so she shouldn't need another transfusion, but</div>
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we are still waiting for the call that said everything is set and here's when</div>
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she needs to come in, but we haven't had that call yet.</div>
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It's pretty frustrating, because her iron count keeps dropping and if she doesn't get</div>
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an infusion in the next week, I think she'll need another blood transfusion.</div>
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Which we were really hoping to avoid.</div>
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We also have a new home care nurse. I was sad to see the last one go - she</div>
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was great. And my first experience with our new one was less than</div>
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stellar, but when she came yesterday, I liked her more. So maybe we </div>
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were both having a bit of an off day that first visit.</div>
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The home care nurse comes once a week to do a blood draw and</div>
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to change the dressing on Poppy's broviac line.</div>
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It's nice that I don't need to do that - I am willing to if we are told</div>
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by our insurance company or whoever makes that decision, and</div>
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I feel confident that I can do it if it was an emergency situation,</div>
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but I am very thankful that I don't have to for now.</div>
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It's nice to just be the one to keep Poppy preoccupied and be on</div>
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binky duty. She is really good at keeping still and being</div>
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happy whenever she's had a home care visit, so I mainly just </div>
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keep her arms away from her chest when needed & pop the binky back in.</div>
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She has also started physical therapy. We have two different places helping her.</div>
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One is through the school district. Because of her vision problems,</div>
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she qualifies for a vision teacher to come out twice a month and help</div>
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her learn things. We've only had one visit, and it was mainly an </div>
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introductory thing. But her other PT is through the hospital.</div>
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She has an irregularly shaped head, so she qualifies to have some visits for a few months.</div>
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The goal is to help her with muscle control so she can be mobile</div>
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and have her head reshape so we can avoid needing a helmet.</div>
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That lady was great. And Poppy tolerated the work very well.</div>
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Although she starts to cry anytime I start to put her in the positions</div>
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I was asked to work with her with - even before I do anything else, just getting</div>
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her ready. So I still do it, but we are slowly building up.</div>
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We had a great Christmas break - and pretty much finished remodeling the kitchen.</div>
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I took some pictures, so hopefully soon I will get them up on here.</div>
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I LOVE it. The kitchen feels so different and I feel really good when I go in there.</div>
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And I have more of a desire to keep it clean and nice.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-15020549649181269882015-12-05T20:51:00.003-08:002015-12-05T20:51:50.346-08:00Updates on Poppy<div style="text-align: center;">
She came home on November 16!!</div>
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It has been a great, tough, awesome, challenging,</div>
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turbulent, stressful, and blessed almost-three weeks!</div>
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On Sunday, November 15, my husband stayed overnight at </div>
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the hospital. It's a requirement to allow the nurses/drs</div>
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to see that you are capable of taking care of your child before they</div>
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send them home. They both got about 3 hours of sleep. I came up </div>
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on Monday morning around 10 and then it was a long day</div>
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of waiting. And no sleep. Poppy didn't sleep for</div>
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longer than 20 minutes at a time, and those times were rare.</div>
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Needless to say, we were nervous to bring her home. And talked about waiting</div>
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a few more days, but after talking it out, we decided that it was the best</div>
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thing to do it that day.</div>
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So then we kept waiting. Since she's on TPN & isn't in the</div>
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hospital where someone on staff makes it up each day, we had to wait</div>
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for our home care company to make some, deliver it, teach us (3 hours) how to</div>
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manage it. This was finally done around 9pm. </div>
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And like it tends to, discharge took a while. We left the hospital at 10 pm,</div>
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and got home at midnight.</div>
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We put Poppy in her crib and went straight to sleep.</div>
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Until she cried at 2:30.</div>
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I went in to take care of her and discovered that she had kicked the</div>
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gtube out of her stomach!!</div>
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And since we haven't yet been trained on how to put it back in,</div>
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we headed for the ER.</div>
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Luckily, we made it there quickly.</div>
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They were able to put the same one back in the hole before it started closing up too much.</div>
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Phew.</div>
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The nurse that helped us could tell that we were tired, stressed, and super worried.</div>
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She kept telling us that we were doing a good job taking care of her on our own.</div>
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It may not have been very believable, but it was sure nice to hear.</div>
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For the rest of the time, it hasn't been too bad.</div>
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She typically sleeps all night, takes at least two long naps on most days,</div>
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and the medications/nutrient stuff isn't as scary as it seemed at first.</div>
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We are all still adjusting, and it's about to get even more difficult</div>
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because my mom is headed home next week.</div>
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It has been so great having her here to help out for 9 WHOLE WEEKS!!</div>
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We have never had anyone stay with us to help us out with</div>
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a new baby, and it is amazing! Especially someone </div>
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who will do all the laundry, cook most of the meals,</div>
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clean the house, babysit, do homework, and all kinds of stuff.</div>
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We even did some of my projects that have been sitting around.</div>
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And took 2 full car loads to the DI trailer.</div>
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When we took Poppy in for her first check-up on the Friday after discharge,</div>
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the dr couldn't believe that she was the same baby.</div>
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She was so calm and quiet. I guess she just needed</div>
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her family. And to be out of the hospital environment.</div>
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Another tender mercy.</div>
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So what's the diagnosis?</div>
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Well, there are many.</div>
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And it's probably not over yet.</div>
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She has Short Gut Syndrome, or Short Bowel Syndrome, depending</div>
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on who is talking.</div>
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She has a gtube coming out of her stomach.</div>
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She has a central line in a jugular vein for the TPN.</div>
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She is missing part of her corpus callosum (in the brain), has</div>
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several gray nodules on part of her brain, and also has</div>
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polymicrogyria in a section of her brain.</div>
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The results/effects of the brain diagnoses are tough to know right now.</div>
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It could mean that she has developmental delays, is prone to seizures,</div>
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or nothing. Only time will tell.</div>
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She also has a problem with her optic nerve, but I can't ever remember</div>
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what that is until it's written or someone says it.</div>
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We are seeing an opthalmologist in February, so hopefully </div>
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we will know more then.</div>
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We are also meeting with some more specialists in the future.</div>
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She is a great girl.</div>
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We love having her in our family.</div>
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And we are so excited to have her home!!</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-17873268038415640652015-11-03T19:08:00.001-08:002015-11-03T19:08:57.136-08:00Changes<div style="text-align: center;">
Poppy wasn't able to come home, afterall.</div>
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She had several fits of unconsolable crying over the weekend,</div>
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one of which lasted for about 5 hours. We weren't around for it & the </div>
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nurses passed her back and forth among them, but nothing could help her.</div>
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They felt like she was in pain because of the way she was</div>
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acting when she was crying & the shrillness of the cry.</div>
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So we were happy to be told during rounds that they wanted her to stay longer</div>
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to try to see what could be done for her.</div>
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And we had been feeling like they were kind of pushing us out a little too soon, also.</div>
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They didn't have a solid feeding plan in place & we haven't yet been</div>
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told much about how to take care of her g-tube,</div>
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and she hasn't been gaining any weight since she's been transferred.</div>
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She is still hovering right around 6 pounds. </div>
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So as difficult as it is to have her still in the hospital, especially one that is 90</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
minutes away in good traffic (and using the carpool lane), we are</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
glad that she's getting the extra attention that she seems to need right now.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And her doctor called me tonight to say that she has a fever,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
which if she was home would force us to the ER, so we are extra glad</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
that she's there. Having a broviac line puts her at extra risk of </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
major problems with any fever, so anytime that she has one in the future,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
we will have to get to the ER as soon as possible and not leave until</div>
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several tests are run to make sure that things are ok.</div>
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</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-45643093190184807052015-11-01T14:07:00.002-08:002015-11-11T11:15:04.450-08:00Tender Mercies<div style="text-align: center;">
I have been neglecting this blog for a long time (at least two years). But I have been thinking of so many different posts for the past few weeks (and two years), and I finally decided it's time to get back on here. Some of you probably know we added child #5 to our household</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in September. We sure love this girl!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
She has had a super rough start in this world, and has a long, tough battle ahead of her.</div>
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But she's doing so well and has made many, many improvements.</div>
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And a lot of things have been going very right.</div>
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We are so thankful.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In 1 Nephi 1:20, Nephi talks about the 'tender mercies of the Lord'. That phrase</div>
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has been on my mind a lot & I wanted to get on here and acknowledge some of them.</div>
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<br /></div>
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When I was 34 weeks along in this last pregnancy, I went into labor. Since I have</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
braxton hicks contractions quite often, I wasn't sure if what I was feeling was</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
real or fake. We decided to err on the side of caution and headed to the emergency room</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
that night. On the way to the hospital, I realized that the contractions were</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
probably real & several hours later the doctors decided they were real & admitted me.</div>
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It was definitely a tender mercy that labor didn't start until that day, because once you</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
are 34 weeks, they won't try to stop labor.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
It was also a tender mercy that the friend that I called to see if she could come over</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
while we headed to the hospital wasn't busy. Her husband was off that day/night/next day</div>
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from work & she said she was available to stay all night if she was needed. And she was.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The labor was hard and long. And I've blocked out quite a lot of it from memory.</div>
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But I was able to get up and go to the bathroom several times, which was great. </div>
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It was nice to not feel like I was chained to the bed.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I was also able to not choose to have an epidural. I have had them before, but my recovery</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
time after the deliveries without an epidural have been so much better and faster.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And that's what I was hoping for (and was given) this time around.</div>
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I did opt for some strong medication (fentanyl) to take the edge off, </div>
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which worked very nicely. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
An amazing thing about her coming early is that my in-laws were able to come<br />
over on Saturday and take care of our kids at home until Wednesday.<br />
They were able to because they had planned a camping trip for the weekend & my<br />
husband happened to call them as they were getting all their things together.<br />
Being the amazing parents they are, they changed their plans & came<br />
over to help us out. It was a huge help - we didn't have to worry at all about the kids,<br />
my husband didn't have to feel like he was needed at home & at the hospital,<br />
and we didn't have to ask our friends to sacrifice their whole weekend.<br />
It was perfect timing. Another tender mercy.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We knew to expect problems with this baby because my doctor had seen some things</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
that concerned him during my 20 week ultrasound. So he referred me to a specialist</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
group, who diagnosed me with meconium peritonitis. Which basically means</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
that for some reason the baby's bowels were dilated (too big) & the meconium</div>
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was likely leaking out into the abdomen. Knowing this beforehand allowed us to choose</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the right ER to go to - the one at the hospital that had a better NICU & a team of</div>
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surgeons that would be able to operate if we needed them to. This was a tender</div>
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mercy because I was able to be in the same hospital & we also had some </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
warning that there might be problems.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Our cutie girl was born around 4:30 am Saturday morning.</div>
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She weighed just over 4 pounds, which is great for 34 weeks. </div>
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We had a NICU team set up in the room waiting to see if she would need anything,</div>
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and as soon as she was born she was handed over to them. They cleaned her up,</div>
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looked her over, stuck a tube down her throat to clean out her belly, and then let me hold her for</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
about 2 minutes. <br />
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It was awkward to hold her because of where she was placed & I had my IV in that hand. But it was</div>
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so nice. She was awake and happy. Then they took her to the NICU to see</div>
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what else needed to be done.</div>
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<br /></div>
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They did a contrast study (dye that shows up in an x-ray) & it showed that there were problems with </div>
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the bowels. So they sent her up to surgery. It was a long wait. I think</div>
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it was about three hours long. Our surgeon was wonderful.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
She ended up sewing the large intestine together at the top, removing some pieces of the small</div>
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intestine that weren't connected to anything (the body absorbed most of what was missing), and </div>
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put in an ostomy from the duodenum. This came out of Poppy's belly button. She also</div>
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placed a g-tube to the stomach.</div>
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</div>
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The next day, we agreed to let them put a PICC line in. Since Poppy</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
didn't have a digestive system, she had to have all her nutrients through an IV.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
This is called TPN (total parenteral nutrition). And using a PICC line (basically</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
an IV that fits into a vein & can last for weeks at a time) enables her to be 'fed' without</div>
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the nurses putting in a new IV line every day or so. </div>
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</tbody></table>
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</div>
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</div>
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It's now 7 weeks later.</div>
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Poppy has had two more surgeries, both in October.</div>
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The second surgery was to put in a broviac tube (this is an IV tube that goes into</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
an artery - hers is currently placed in a jugular vein - for the TPN), change the g-tube to a</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
better kind, and connect the small intestine to the stomach. This surgery also went very well.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
She only has 11cm of small intestine (the average newborn has 250cm). And it's connected </div>
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to the duodenum, which is much larger than the small intestine, so she can't eat much, or be given much through her g-tube.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The last surgery was because her broviac started leaking. Somehow it came out of the vein and </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the TPN wasn't getting to where it needed to be. So the surgeon had to put in a new one.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But he was able to use the same jugular vein, which was wonderful.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
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Since TPN causes liver damage, she has had to have a lot of lab work done.</div>
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One of the main things they watch for is her bilirubin count. She had jaundice initially</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and was given phototherapy. Which made for some great pictures.</div>
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</div>
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After she was taken off the lights, her count was good for a little while.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And then it started to climb. And then stayed high. But it wasn't something</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
they could do much about - except feed her milk (which combats liver disease/high bili counts),</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
but she couldn't be fed milk because her stomach wasn't connected well. They gave her </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
1mL of milk an hour, straight to the stomach. Which helped a little, but not enough.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Her numbers were high enough that the doctors suggested she be moved to another</div>
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hospital that could provide a different type of TPN. It's called omegaven.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
It's fish oil based, rather than soy based like all other TPN, so it's not as hard on the liver.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But it's not approved by the FDA as a TPN substitute, so we had to move her to a</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
hospital that is using it in a research study.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
So she was transferred up there last week.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And the first labs taken at that hospital showed her bili levels were down.</div>
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And they have continued to stay down.</div>
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So she's coming home tomorrow!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I'm really nervous about this, but excited also.</div>
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<br /></div>
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She will still be using TPN (we are learning how to hook her up to the pump),</div>
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and we have to be super careful with her (she's still less than 7 pounds). And since</div>
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it's now the beginning of cold & flu season, she will probably only be going to</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
her weekly doctor appointments for the next few months. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
One last tender mercy that I need to mention is that my sister was able to<br />
come right after my in-laws had to leave. She stayed for<br />
two weeks and did a lot of babysitting while we dealt with all of this.<br />
And then my mom came up on October 9 & is still here.<br />
This has been so wonderful. She is doing a lot of stuff around the house for us<br />
and she watches the boys every time we head to the hospital.<br />
I know we have a lot of friends who would offer to do this, but<br />
this enables them to have consistency and be at home like they<br />
normally would.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I am so glad and thankful that she is a fighter. She is strong and calm.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And I'm looking forward to getting to know her better as we are able to bring her home</div>
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and spend more time with her.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-15230709440954754152015-02-18T17:56:00.000-08:002015-02-18T17:56:23.035-08:00Bath Time<div align="center">
We try to have bath night three times a week.</div>
<div align="center">
It's really the most that I can handle. </div>
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Getting 4 kids in and out of the tub in a reasonable amount of time</div>
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(less than an hour) is tough, and I can't do it more </div>
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often than three times a week.</div>
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And some weeks it's even less.</div>
<div align="center">
</div>
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My favorite idea of recent bath nights, however, </div>
<div align="center">
is bubble bath. I feel that it has two great</div>
<div align="center">
characteristics - the kids think it's the greatest</div>
<div align="center">
bath time invention ever & it automatically cleans half</div>
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of their bodies!</div>
<div align="center">
Win - win.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-35934589957067456922015-02-09T19:34:00.003-08:002015-02-09T19:34:43.600-08:00Book Blitz Results<div align="center">
How did the Book Blitz go in January?</div>
<div align="center">
Mine was pretty sad.</div>
<div align="center">
You might even say dismal.</div>
<div align="center">
I read a 2 whole books</div>
<div align="center">
and part of 2 others.</div>
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Sad times.</div>
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And now I'm in the middle of one for my book club and I'm</div>
<div align="center">
having a tough time with it. I like the story,</div>
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and the other book I read by this author was really good and I guess I had</div>
<div align="center">
high expectations for this one, but it's tough.</div>
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But I'm not giving up because I find the story interesting.</div>
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But it's taking a while. I might even need to renew it.</div>
<div align="center">
Which really only happens here for the kids' books and any self-help I might check out.</div>
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</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-71371485931435852422015-01-02T21:08:00.004-08:002015-01-02T21:08:58.375-08:00Book blitz again<div style="text-align: center;">
It's January, again,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(Happy new year),</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And that means it's book blitz month again.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
How many books will you read?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Last year I read 12.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I wonder if I will beat that.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I'm guessing no, but I guess we will see.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(I just started one and it's a little slow going, but hopefully I can make up for that later.)</div>
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<br /></div>
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Good luck.</div>
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<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-80783967122272046272014-12-18T18:35:00.000-08:002014-12-18T18:35:19.816-08:00Car Search<div align="center">
We are in the midst of one of our least favorite activities....</div>
<div align="center">
searching for a new car.</div>
<div align="center">
One of the problems is we don't really know what we want,</div>
<div align="center">
as long as it has a back seat.</div>
<div align="center">
It will mainly be used for getting to and from work, </div>
<div align="center">
but we want the option of taking kids along.</div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center">
The other main problem is that people want so much money for their cars</div>
<div align="center">
around here.</div>
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Seriously, most people are asking at least $1000 over the </div>
<div align="center">
blue book price, even for cars that are in bad shape.</div>
<div align="center">
I saw an ad online the other day for a car that doesn't run,</div>
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needs a ton of work, has a lot of miles,</div>
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and has body problems to top it off. They want $1500 for that thing!!</div>
<div align="center">
</div>
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When we lived in Idaho, that would've been worth about $500 or so.</div>
<div align="center">
It's a pain.</div>
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Especially since we are only available in the mornings to look at something.</div>
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</div>
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But one of these days, we'll find something.</div>
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Which will be awesome! </div>
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Because then I can meet Tomato after school and drive to get her,</div>
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instead of pushing a double stroller and walking with</div>
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a 4-year-old who slows to a snail's pace anytime she feels like it.</div>
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In the rain.</div>
<div align="center">
I'm hoping we can find one during Christmas break, which</div>
<div align="center">
would mean that tomorrow would be our last day of rain walking;</div>
<div align="center">
at least until it's my turn to get the group at the top of the hill.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-31080600875427406132014-12-03T18:25:00.001-08:002014-12-03T18:25:28.627-08:00No Scissors Allowed<div align="center">
Well, I'm sure some of you can guess what this post is about.</div>
<div align="center">
Tomato decided to cut Olive's hair several days ago. It was</div>
<div align="center">
either last Friday or Saturday.</div>
<div align="center">
And although it's about half gone, she did it in such a way</div>
<div align="center">
that you can't really tell unless you're close to her.</div>
<div align="center">
So I guess that's good.</div>
<div align="center">
But there's really no fixing it, either.</div>
<div align="center">
So we are just going to wait it out.</div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center">
I discovered hair in the garbage that morning and asked where it came from.</div>
<div align="center">
"We found it."</div>
<div align="center">
Where?</div>
<div align="center">
"On the floor."</div>
<div align="center">
And then I realized <em>how much </em>hair there actually was in the</div>
<div align="center">
garbage can and demanded to know where on the floor it was found.</div>
<div align="center">
Then I took away the scissor privileges that anyone may have had.</div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center">
And for your enjoyment:</div>
<div align="center">
</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC5fQMMBlM3k2Lq5yVa6XL4kJH8wDa6pNtHpIBpj0UtLdH84zrweS7AADeD6irF30ST-N6VS31hc4nG0Dw09jTIwvns4aHnp4Vo7q0IQCoMH-yz4vwrfv2_Kxkg4Pqp7EQByq4riM0bmM/s1600/FullSizeRender+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC5fQMMBlM3k2Lq5yVa6XL4kJH8wDa6pNtHpIBpj0UtLdH84zrweS7AADeD6irF30ST-N6VS31hc4nG0Dw09jTIwvns4aHnp4Vo7q0IQCoMH-yz4vwrfv2_Kxkg4Pqp7EQByq4riM0bmM/s1600/FullSizeRender+(2).jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2DC1a9m2pTps2Yy8d0qfc88KU8U4hyphenhyphenfm9faek8fqaKMgmkxbGttuvCkBujIOfciRhMNa89iD3VQSAXtcEntthuA4IzhAyouRhPVazV4g8hF20RS3dqu15LTLGr_M-vI_BXhjmR6xuqjo/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2DC1a9m2pTps2Yy8d0qfc88KU8U4hyphenhyphenfm9faek8fqaKMgmkxbGttuvCkBujIOfciRhMNa89iD3VQSAXtcEntthuA4IzhAyouRhPVazV4g8hF20RS3dqu15LTLGr_M-vI_BXhjmR6xuqjo/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-39838225667651274172014-11-12T18:10:00.002-08:002014-11-12T18:10:30.129-08:00Sickie McSickie<div align="center">
That's what we've been up to lately...</div>
<div align="center">
I am hoping that's it for the duration, but I have</div>
<div align="center">
a feeling that the cold and flu season is just</div>
<div align="center">
getting started around here.</div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center">
Also, I had braces put</div>
<div align="center">
back on my teeth last week.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-53783850514295358162014-10-25T20:01:00.002-07:002014-10-25T20:01:20.017-07:00Family Pictures<div align="center">
We just had our family pictures taken....they turned out so great.</div>
<div align="center">
And true to life.</div>
<div align="center">
We had a photographer friend take them, and if you're in the area</div>
<div align="center">
and looking for a good photographer, let me know.</div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center">
I really, really like almost all the ones we have, but</div>
<div align="center">
I'll try to narrow it down a little so it's not too much.</div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center">
Little Olive wouldn't even look at my friend for the first little while,</div>
<div align="center">
even though she sees her in Primary every week at church.</div>
<div align="center">
But eventually she did, and we are so glad.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpWhdsNXGLcJyFlAPxBU1-X92LgZ9voM2TE3g65Hpkql8eo8Qp4f_RbHJ5kpE94VOWMckzEEWNi5WF_VKLvbYy0XldkBJsxB9KsjS2KLE8HNMFfynRjuwyAs599Lh_AtoRddM6gBA6Aco/s1600/1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpWhdsNXGLcJyFlAPxBU1-X92LgZ9voM2TE3g65Hpkql8eo8Qp4f_RbHJ5kpE94VOWMckzEEWNi5WF_VKLvbYy0XldkBJsxB9KsjS2KLE8HNMFfynRjuwyAs599Lh_AtoRddM6gBA6Aco/s1600/1.JPG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
This is my favorite of the whole family.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I can't tell which one of Sour Cream's pictures is my favorite.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Every expression is so true to life; I get them every day as he is trying to be big</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
but still struggles because he's small.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_gdptBcUMBDwsTMbcHztf67nG1RWHN9Oe2ZEzTF9zA6V0da-5MFAPwEeoUaFrx-GMKATI-uvjtbOi0IDdAzT2EhDCsziOQxuBYIm3fqbZzWChIelBy5Hdr-Yq4_dL7pmX0NII5hi_2Jo/s1600/3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_gdptBcUMBDwsTMbcHztf67nG1RWHN9Oe2ZEzTF9zA6V0da-5MFAPwEeoUaFrx-GMKATI-uvjtbOi0IDdAzT2EhDCsziOQxuBYIm3fqbZzWChIelBy5Hdr-Yq4_dL7pmX0NII5hi_2Jo/s1600/3.JPG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZWvvmo00aMuk4avDPUBZ2ig-AeQg15161Dc4OWCn2SWH6jzRefVhA6z_SSPm84Q3QjDwBfAioAc-EvKBuv4utvovUHiJX_xRzRD6PLs_T7kEkAiQ9P6oRcQ-z4Vnw1YlhXCkXvqDXJ_0/s1600/4+(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZWvvmo00aMuk4avDPUBZ2ig-AeQg15161Dc4OWCn2SWH6jzRefVhA6z_SSPm84Q3QjDwBfAioAc-EvKBuv4utvovUHiJX_xRzRD6PLs_T7kEkAiQ9P6oRcQ-z4Vnw1YlhXCkXvqDXJ_0/s1600/4+(1).JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
He finally cheered up a little when I put his brother on his lap.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqvt5W1JyOpHAByK36Mqy6Y7Cp9cMCMCBXMkjtCHNHp5G59Ug2Qs1ITtvxFuhyNOAqKFmgyQK8g96RjvYz4G_9XBo12xPiE2fOxv_uoGuF4hHacq6ocol_8sd6BsWGL04P7uV-laK8AXc/s1600/6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqvt5W1JyOpHAByK36Mqy6Y7Cp9cMCMCBXMkjtCHNHp5G59Ug2Qs1ITtvxFuhyNOAqKFmgyQK8g96RjvYz4G_9XBo12xPiE2fOxv_uoGuF4hHacq6ocol_8sd6BsWGL04P7uV-laK8AXc/s1600/6.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGNhXVAE0mKmXgoj9s7FCrM3HBj7x4wXOEJAlBCcqC4fDxHOZJfCldV_3nbCVgjyuFALTibdPy4S9aZkZhXZnj5vEtJja_j1KtVmqdQdDTzDiUrFmmI7KiEtG6GynpMeyZ9wvRJd6iKLI/s1600/8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGNhXVAE0mKmXgoj9s7FCrM3HBj7x4wXOEJAlBCcqC4fDxHOZJfCldV_3nbCVgjyuFALTibdPy4S9aZkZhXZnj5vEtJja_j1KtVmqdQdDTzDiUrFmmI7KiEtG6GynpMeyZ9wvRJd6iKLI/s1600/8.JPG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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Cheddar loves to play with his tongue, so this is perfect. </div>
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<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Pretty Tomato.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Just the boys.</div>
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<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
If only they got along this well every day.... </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcVHn7l7meqEIaelMh6DvebLC8VkTz-kXrSvcDlVbA_gZspGyXXOZGCJ2nAzkqYUnmrbirkaWhVxy4P0whFnbz0B9DHNY2cvcj3sJJyQqZv_9Zncboh1O-7U3ZWT4Y17W99JAvD_t8_kI/s1600/21.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcVHn7l7meqEIaelMh6DvebLC8VkTz-kXrSvcDlVbA_gZspGyXXOZGCJ2nAzkqYUnmrbirkaWhVxy4P0whFnbz0B9DHNY2cvcj3sJJyQqZv_9Zncboh1O-7U3ZWT4Y17W99JAvD_t8_kI/s1600/21.JPG" height="320" width="234" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And a couple more for good measure.</div>
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</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-34571192142155830572014-10-18T20:40:00.000-07:002014-10-18T20:40:58.957-07:00Preparing<div align="center">
Does anyone else feel like they need to do a better job being ready?</div>
<div align="center">
For years, we've worked on our emergency preparedness</div>
<div align="center">
a little at a time, and we have enough of some things,</div>
<div align="center">
a little of other,</div>
<div align="center">
and a long way to go in some areas.</div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center">
Today I finished my last class for CERT training.</div>
<div align="center">
It's Community Emergency Response Team; basically after a </div>
<div align="center">
disaster (not terrorist), a CERT team gets together and helps rescue people</div>
<div align="center">
and do basic first aid until the professionals are able to step in.</div>
<div align="center">
It's been really interesting and a lot different from any</div>
<div align="center">
other emergency or first aid class I've had before.</div>
<div align="center">
It's because the scope is different. With CERT, you are planning on being</div>
<div align="center">
in a situation where EMS and professional help is on the way, but it'll</div>
<div align="center">
be <em>days</em> before they can reach you.</div>
<div align="center">
So you have to change the way you help people and focus on</div>
<div align="center">
doing the most good for the greatest amount of people.</div>
<div align="center">
One thing that I really like about CERT is that</div>
<div align="center">
<strong>PERSONAL SAFETY is your TOP PRIORITY</strong>.</div>
<div align="center">
And this includes your family, so if you or your family are not okay with </div>
<div align="center">
the CERT team member leaving to help others, then you don't go.</div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center">
I will be doing the physical simulation in two weeks so I can earn my diploma,</div>
<div align="center">
assuming that I passed the written test today.</div>
<div align="center">
Which I think I did.</div>
<div align="center">
If there's a class offered in your community, you should take it.</div>
<div align="center">
It's a bit of a time commitment to take the class,</div>
<div align="center">
but it's really valuable information, even if you never help out with an emergency.</div>
<div align="center">
And even if you are not okay with touching others, or blood, or are</div>
<div align="center">
physically limited in any way, you can still have a part to do.</div>
<div align="center">
Which I also love.</div>
<div align="center">
All you need is a desire and willingness to help.<br />
<br />
You can learn more about it <a href="http://www.fema.gov/community-emergency-response-teams">here.</a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-28050654806653250642014-10-16T18:20:00.001-07:002014-10-16T18:20:11.117-07:00Pumpkin Patch<div align="center">
As soon as I decide to do better writing on here, I let myself </div>
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take a break because we had family in town. </div>
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I'm not apologizing; it was super fun to have her here & I'm sure I will</div>
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make the choice to neglect the blog the next time we have company.</div>
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Lucky for you, it doesn't happen often.</div>
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</div>
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My little sister came to visit for a week and we loved it.</div>
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It was so convenient that she chose to come during</div>
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a three-day school week when Tomato's teacher forgot the week was short</div>
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(which meant we didn't have to worry about doing any homework!).</div>
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It was great, and we definitely took advantage of nice weather</div>
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and no homework.</div>
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</div>
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Wednesday right after school, we headed off for our annual visit to the pumpkin</div>
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patch. I thought about changing the farm we have been going to, but the price is right.</div>
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All the extra activities at this farm are free, and everyone else charges.</div>
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And I really like that the free corn maze is just the right size for little kids. There's really no way</div>
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they can get lost in there; which tells you how small it is.</div>
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The annual growth chart.</div>
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My dwarves </div>
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Inside the maze </div>
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At the toy pile </div>
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Cheddar was thrilled to be there</div>
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Tractor time</div>
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The following poses were all spontaneous...each one has</div>
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great things, so I couldn't choose just one</div>
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Since I don't really LOVE carving pumpkins,</div>
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we let the kids choose their own from the </div>
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tiny pile (also super cheap).</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-82875777359429750452014-09-30T19:54:00.001-07:002014-09-30T19:54:42.222-07:00First Grade<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
This may shock some of you, but Tomato is in first grade</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
at the local elementary school. She was asking and asking</div>
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to go to school last spring and we decided that early elementary school</div>
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is the time to do that, rather than having us tell her no</div>
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and then ending up putting her in when things are</div>
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crazy and a drastic change from our homeschooling life. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVgYUOdH0LsOW46mH0jAPxrWsS4cra842z4_W7PrSBOMS8vsyZtCt7hIjGhKsH9kbfhfiLyplfM6ncGFulc2fFdPHTmRkpDLjG5N5TlMeiq5zdegmK1QabjTxz_BgzfD5IxpE03Ip9hYQ/s1600/1927.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVgYUOdH0LsOW46mH0jAPxrWsS4cra842z4_W7PrSBOMS8vsyZtCt7hIjGhKsH9kbfhfiLyplfM6ncGFulc2fFdPHTmRkpDLjG5N5TlMeiq5zdegmK1QabjTxz_BgzfD5IxpE03Ip9hYQ/s1600/1927.JPG" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
<div align="center">
This is the first day of first grade in September.</div>
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And here is a comparison picture from her first day of kindergarten,</div>
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which was in late March.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1yuOQZ6vClaxr5nTy0SnNrp5FkB8EhneMLdMPMTPMt-2z-8WfI4zMnUkxtwBjz7OgQpzm81jg5NuHr1pgo46twZ5xIl1uHZIlEoHSOXBEFws0rUZ20ZmJQ26xIZtAinj0vUGy1qDTrOE/s1600/1531.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1yuOQZ6vClaxr5nTy0SnNrp5FkB8EhneMLdMPMTPMt-2z-8WfI4zMnUkxtwBjz7OgQpzm81jg5NuHr1pgo46twZ5xIl1uHZIlEoHSOXBEFws0rUZ20ZmJQ26xIZtAinj0vUGy1qDTrOE/s1600/1531.JPG" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
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She kinda loves that backpack...it's one of her favorite things about going to school,</div>
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I think. She wanted a new one, but I said no way, since she only used</div>
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it for a few months last spring.</div>
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</div>
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And in other news, our new computer has arrived & I'm hoping to be a more prolific</div>
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blog writer once again. I don't know how much to do catching up,</div>
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or if I just want to start from here so it's not too overwhelming for me.</div>
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It'll probably be a combo.</div>
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I'm going to post at least once a week, though.</div>
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It's on the schedule and I'm excited.</div>
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It's nice to be back.</div>
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</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-17692953563352509492014-08-07T21:33:00.000-07:002014-08-07T21:33:00.757-07:00Crash<div style="text-align: center;">
Our computer is toast.</div>
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Unexpectedly--is it ever expected?--it's gone.</div>
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and just when I was about to listen to my blogging itch that's </div>
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been growing.</div>
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I'm hoping we will just buy a simple one that does the basic</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
functions of Microsoft office, internet, and the like.</div>
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Especially since Kidney Bean has recently quit</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
gaming.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
It'll probably be helpful to not have any bells and whistles to help keep the </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
temptation at a minimum.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Time will tell.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-7929166501887534512014-03-03T20:48:00.002-08:002014-03-03T20:48:18.694-08:00Or Else...<div style="text-align: center;">
Last Sunday morning, Tomato came to my door</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and asked if she could watch a movie before church.</div>
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I said no.</div>
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To which she replied that if I don't let her watch a movie then</div>
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she won't be moving out when Kidney Bean and I want her to...</div>
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<br /></div>
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I guess if she's still living with us in 30 years we'll all know why.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-76653147888333340272014-02-19T16:04:00.001-08:002014-02-19T16:04:24.181-08:00Valentine's Day<div style="text-align: center;">
We decided last year to make Valentine's a family holiday,</div>
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where we celebrate the love that we share together.</div>
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<br /></div>
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It was not the most loving day around our house this year, I'll admit that.</div>
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We had quite a few issues pop up throughout the day.</div>
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But the food was great.</div>
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<br /></div>
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For breakfast we had eggs in a basket with heart cut-outs.</div>
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Lunch was going to be grilled cheese hearts and some tomato soup, but</div>
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the kids were driving me crazy so they had pb&j since it was </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
faster to get ready.</div>
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For dinner we had heart shaped pizza. I picked up the </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
dough from our grocery store, and for some reason the second one wouldn't </div>
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stretch out any bigger. So we had one thin crust and one that was </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
ultra-thick. But bother were delicious. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnIlp-sOP6GT3-GVOKS1LgPA_WpkKcOIKlDONT_pLZFNbpAJInVrOAGUzCHBxabxeLSQ5ygyTyVdiZoWinjaBZ1EXtSB5u0QX68MyBvoizj9OO1A-EjaaP9jHWzRD7H6nNHAUdc9bB1eA/s1600/001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnIlp-sOP6GT3-GVOKS1LgPA_WpkKcOIKlDONT_pLZFNbpAJInVrOAGUzCHBxabxeLSQ5ygyTyVdiZoWinjaBZ1EXtSB5u0QX68MyBvoizj9OO1A-EjaaP9jHWzRD7H6nNHAUdc9bB1eA/s1600/001.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I grabbed a fondant cutter and made the pepperoni festive.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggm4B4jVzhe1aXA6EhVxw2p5KgoVjlP-I4a39gtJI8gZq90efDUN4-OZkLQI97SA6n8mh6BeYyZ6DpisNeYCoDhI92r3CrUlSjyBJNcghPK-rx1upzp1y5BPdCDse3uT5xlKgmSYNF4xA/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggm4B4jVzhe1aXA6EhVxw2p5KgoVjlP-I4a39gtJI8gZq90efDUN4-OZkLQI97SA6n8mh6BeYyZ6DpisNeYCoDhI92r3CrUlSjyBJNcghPK-rx1upzp1y5BPdCDse3uT5xlKgmSYNF4xA/s1600/002.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We had the sister missionaries over for dinner, and since it was a holiday,</div>
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we went all out. We used cutie paper plates and cups that were covered in hearts,</div>
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had some red sparkling cider along with our water/milk; and ended the evening</div>
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up with some ice cream & your choice of toppings.</div>
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The toppings were Valentine m&m's, cinnamon lips, conversation hearts,</div>
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and chocolate or caramel syrup.</div>
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<br /></div>
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It was a day of great food!</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-22955535394331534952014-02-11T10:21:00.002-08:002014-02-11T10:21:50.618-08:00New Favorite Spot<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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Sour Cream has a new favorite spot to color.</div>
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While the girls prefer sitting on the opposite side of the table from where</div>
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they eat, he has decided it's better to go to the corner of the kitchen.</div>
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilA9lbFBB543CG_7LXd6FnlFiHzIvIUy8vUfcXQD0vU9JGpQxphg2Oxwp-qh-V_hL74Q0MwrcvXf3hleTUfpJQXeiVU_bzDgbFnBg6uW17edIx0FAMfWMfWmHU76x4wlkZtCqy81Ga530/s1600/012.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I tried to sneak a picture while he was coloring, but he was turning </div>
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around at every noise I made, and then once he saw the camera,</div>
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he had to get close and smile.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrPqGKnG3RpGpY9B1pRItZk4cFqGV0AwduDA2yx8LgAfWHYQKYsxxcnq61CxJbBjF9MfUOUdX89URqqvtE-gj_TUNY1ZVxtSxN-A8wx0v_ss1ldoN0hlnf6nhqtB_PL2oeuneitqJdMEk/s1600/015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrPqGKnG3RpGpY9B1pRItZk4cFqGV0AwduDA2yx8LgAfWHYQKYsxxcnq61CxJbBjF9MfUOUdX89URqqvtE-gj_TUNY1ZVxtSxN-A8wx0v_ss1ldoN0hlnf6nhqtB_PL2oeuneitqJdMEk/s1600/015.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And the closer he got, the more his smiles turned into this.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6-cTSuhcfY-T_fv6yuRubfRqqLC4dtUV9EJesGIJCoxRDQnE1vBMsEi0ipgQqw2bULE_Zslxz3HNqgbp1j1ILPy-R9dMbkq5X63pD-Ru-aA3FcnNjPT_9AhyphenhyphenRqEtGf2eqr7rGqq4jZ6A/s1600/017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6-cTSuhcfY-T_fv6yuRubfRqqLC4dtUV9EJesGIJCoxRDQnE1vBMsEi0ipgQqw2bULE_Zslxz3HNqgbp1j1ILPy-R9dMbkq5X63pD-Ru-aA3FcnNjPT_9AhyphenhyphenRqEtGf2eqr7rGqq4jZ6A/s1600/017.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-87715470539006509812014-02-01T16:28:00.000-08:002014-02-01T16:28:04.525-08:00Book Blitz Results<div style="text-align: center;">
Did you participate in January's Book Blitz?</div>
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I really enjoyed being able to read so many books.</div>
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I think my final total was 13.</div>
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Nope, it was 12.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I read quite a few great books.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
John Grisham has some newer books out, which are</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
teenage law novels all about Theodore Boone.</div>
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He's the child of lawyers and has always loved the law.</div>
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He lives in a town of about 75,000 & a there's a </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
big murder trial starting. He winds up finding some information about</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the suspect, but since the trial has started, he's not quite sure what to do about it,</div>
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especially since he promised the person who gave him the info that he wouldn't tell.</div>
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I have read several John Grisham books over the years, and</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
many of them have things that I'd rather not read.</div>
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But this was clean, entertaining, and a quick read.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
It's also the first one in a series. I'm not sure how many there are,</div>
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but we own 1 & 3, so there's at least that many.</div>
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I'm waiting on #2 from the library. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Of course, I loved the newest Ann B Ross book about Miss Julia.</div>
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She's trying to help out, but of course gets into the middle of</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
everything and finds herself in quite a quandary because she never</div>
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goes to the source of her questions and simply assumes she knows what is going on.</div>
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If you've never read one of these, I highly suggest it.</div>
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Miss Julia is filled with southern spunk and I think</div>
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it'd be pretty fun to know her. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I read two books by Phoebe Stone, about a girl who comes to </div>
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America during the early part of World War II & her parents</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
leave her in the States with relatives that she's never met.</div>
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They are excellent. On the back, they claim to be</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
targeted to 5-7 graders, but I really enjoyed it & look forward to more in the</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
life of Flissy McBee Bee Bee.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(not her real name)</div>
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<br /></div>
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And if you enjoy reading and the tv show The Bachelor,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
then you'll probably really enjoy the trilogy that starts with </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The Selection by Kiera Cass.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I will warn you, though, that the third book has not been released yet,</div>
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so if you can't stand to wait between really good books, you might</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
want to put these off for a month or two until the third one is available.</div>
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Again, it's a YA novel (my book club seems to read a lot of these).</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The story revolves around a girl, America Singer, who lives in </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the country that used to be the USA.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
It briefly gives a history of how their new land came to be; China called in </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
their loans and since we couldn't pay, they took over the country & we all</div>
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had to start working off the nation's debt.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
After a while, Canada, Mexico, & Central America all joined with us</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and sent the Chinese packing during WW3.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
So they've all joined as one nation and now have a monarchy.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Any time that there's a prince, they have one girl from each 'state' come to the </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
castle and 'compete' to become his wife.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
It's pretty good. I've heard a few people say that it's </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The Bachelor meets The Hunger Games, but I don't agree with that.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Society is quite rigid like in The Hunger Games; when the king came to power, he started</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a caste system that left a lot of people in the bottom of society & once there, you </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
don't really have much hope of moving up.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I would recommend it.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
So were you able to read a book this month?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Or more than one?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Any that you'd recommend?</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-56568519834643587122014-01-28T19:59:00.003-08:002014-01-28T19:59:46.976-08:00Check Out This...<div style="text-align: center;">
...Gorgeous blanket!!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDynoG_ZhLo_FVZs-0LTNYM3TrP9OM5-FzOO7lnd-scEScc6NG7oA2C8sRmWb0_8kouxtnoGTsgDvlNV9sB6yAUaj6ANp-71iK7zH3h7oQ0tXFf8OMmxKLPfsj_vxEb4w2a8p5pARO8uw/s1600/012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDynoG_ZhLo_FVZs-0LTNYM3TrP9OM5-FzOO7lnd-scEScc6NG7oA2C8sRmWb0_8kouxtnoGTsgDvlNV9sB6yAUaj6ANp-71iK7zH3h7oQ0tXFf8OMmxKLPfsj_vxEb4w2a8p5pARO8uw/s1600/012.JPG" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My mother-in-law made this beautiful quilt for our bed</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
for Christmas. She told us last spring that she would like to make everyone </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a large quilt and that we needed to let her know what fabric</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
we would like her to use. I told my husband about it and then promptly forgot.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Until August, when she came to visit and mentioned it again.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
So we headed to the fabric store that night, along with my sister-in-law who</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
had also forgotten all about the offer.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I went around and around the cotton section of the store, trying to decide on what</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
we wanted. Since we haven't ever decorated our own room & Kidney Bean said</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
he didn't care, the world was, if you will,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
my oyster.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I think I picked out at least 4 different combinations, but had a difficult time</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
deciding which one I like the most. And then I decided to go with the </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
pink combo. I love it.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
At first, my mother-in-law was like, "It's your quilt. You can have</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
what you want." She didn't like the combination of fabrics</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
that I had chosen. But after she cut the squares & we laid them</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
out together, she started to really like it.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My mom sent us the pillow cases and the throw pillows, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
which she made out of the same fabrics.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Here's a closer picture.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And it's super warm. We put it on our bed the night we got</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
it in the mail & it's been nice and snuggly ever since.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHJgsOMQLMpg-pdb4bFTFTEzpSmqa8jZJGoHAW765Vo1jxKONXDd7ZkidKo1JPdsfEAyhK0smallsZPackPxX2j-H6sFAzrTqT51pMBDXnWJVp8L7xSU5_1dcwVrDzdDxwsfepCJY03sE/s1600/013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHJgsOMQLMpg-pdb4bFTFTEzpSmqa8jZJGoHAW765Vo1jxKONXDd7ZkidKo1JPdsfEAyhK0smallsZPackPxX2j-H6sFAzrTqT51pMBDXnWJVp8L7xSU5_1dcwVrDzdDxwsfepCJY03sE/s1600/013.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
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Thanks, Mom!</div>
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Both of you! </div>
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<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-48703063196822166692014-01-08T10:32:00.001-08:002014-01-08T10:32:32.115-08:00Potty Time<div style="text-align: center;">
I do not like potty training.</div>
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But once again, the time is upon us.</div>
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I am a firm believer in waiting until my child is ready before</div>
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starting to help them learn to use the toilet.</div>
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Yes, even if it means waiting until they are four, like</div>
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my oldest was.</div>
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Olive was really interested in learning how last August, three weeks before</div>
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my due date with our youngest. But I didn't think that she'd be able to learn quickly</div>
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And not revert once the baby came, so I made her wait. But she was quite </div>
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insistent, so we let her try it when Cheddar was a week old.</div>
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But it was too difficult for me to remember to help her as often as she needed it</div>
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on top of taking care of a tiny baby. And she was having a lot of accidents.</div>
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And flooded the downstairs bathroom.</div>
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Which was the last straw.</div>
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I calmly explained to her that we needed to wait until she was a little older and that</div>
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we could try again after Christmas.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Whip hick brings us to today.</div>
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Day two.</div>
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And it's not too bad. The misses have been less than the successes,</div>
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which I call a success.</div>
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And I'm hoping it works this time around. It'll be nice to only have two in diapers again.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-33248588358473270192014-01-04T12:07:00.002-08:002014-01-04T12:07:28.639-08:00Book Blitz Month<div style="text-align: center;">
According to my list of unique holidays,</div>
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January is </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="color: orange;">Book Blitz Month</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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I looked up what that's supposed to mean and it's basically</div>
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to encourage people to pick up a book</div>
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and read at least one this month.</div>
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But that seems misleading to me, or at least not enough;</div>
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isn't a blitz supposed to be a bunch of something?</div>
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So for me, I'm taking it to mean</div>
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read as many books as I possibly can.</div>
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So far, I've finished two and am more than halfway through</div>
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a third. And I'm loving it.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Would you care to join me?</div>
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At least in reading one?</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-17176058226073203992013-12-26T20:46:00.001-08:002013-12-26T20:46:50.556-08:00New Name<div style="text-align: center;">
Sweet little Olive has requested that we </div>
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start calling her </div>
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Banana.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So we have.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2211000259247590634.post-48427820806237144342013-11-23T12:12:00.003-08:002013-11-23T12:13:27.374-08:00Friday Cookies<div style="text-align: center;">
Some of you may remember several years ago when </div>
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we tested recipes for holiday cookies.</div>
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We have decided to start it again, and I'm disappointed that</div>
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I can't find my magazine that we used a few years ago, since</div>
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there were plenty of recipes that we hadn't tried yet.</div>
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So I've been using pinterest, of course.</div>
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I will try to remember to take pictures in the future, but no promises. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The first one we tried is</div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="color: lime;">Cran Pistachio Cookies</span></b></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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The recipe I found called for a Betty Crocker sugar</div>
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cookie mix, but when we made them last week I tried using my</div>
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favorite sugar cookie recipe. I also followed the advice of some of the comments</div>
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and didn't use quite as many nuts.</div>
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And they turned out great.</div>
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Try them!</div>
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<br /></div>
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2/3 c shortening</div>
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3/4 c sugar</div>
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2 tsp vanilla</div>
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1 egg</div>
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4 tsp milk</div>
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2 c flour</div>
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1 small box pistachio pudding mix </div>
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1 1/2 tsp baking powder</div>
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1/4 tsp salt</div>
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1/2 c roasted, salted pistachio nuts - chopped</div>
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1/2 c dried cranberries - chopped (I didn't chop)</div>
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<br /></div>
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Cream the shortening, sugar, & vanilla. Add the egg and milk and mix well.</div>
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Combine the dry ingredients and then mix together. Finally,</div>
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add the nuts and cranberries.</div>
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Bake at 375 for 7-10 minutes.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The flavor we tried yesterday is</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #783f04;">Chocolate Dipped Molasses Cookie</span></span></span></b></div>
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Also delicious.</div>
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<br /></div>
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1 1/2 c butter</div>
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2 c brown sugar</div>
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2 eggs</div>
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1/2 c molasses</div>
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4 1/2 c flour</div>
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4 tsp baking soda</div>
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2 tsp cinnamon</div>
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2 tsp ground ginger</div>
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1 tsp ground cloves</div>
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1/2 tsp salt</div>
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white sugar for rolling the dough (I used about 1/2 c)</div>
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2 bags white chocolate chips (I only used one & didn't dip them all)</div>
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<br /></div>
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Cream butter & sugar. Add eggs & molasses. Mix dry ingredients together then </div>
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slowly mix into the wet. Roll into 1-2" balls, and roll in white sugar. Bake </div>
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on parchment paper-lined pans at 375 for 10-12 minutes. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Melt chocolate in double boiler & dip half a cookie into it. Place on</div>
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wax paper to dry. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Both of these recipes can be found on</div>
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<a href="http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/">The Girl Who Ate Everything</a> blog,</div>
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labled as 12 Days of Christmas cookies.</div>
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<br />
<br />
And of course we will be trying more and if the cookies are good,<br />
I'll post a copy of the recipe here.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0