"New" Addition

Well, Trevor needed a little commuter car. We didnt want to spend a lot and we obviously wanted something fuel efficient. We have been looking for a few week and came upon this. It felt right so we went for it. It does need a little work (i.e. needs a spare tire, and radio.) The check engine light is on, but the guy said that he would pay for any repair that needs to be made. Trevor is going to take it in this afternoon and see what needs to be done. It is a 2000 Mazda Protege. It is clean and the previous owner kept up with oil changes and mainetance. Kyle used to have one and really liked it.

I just wanted to quickly post this, before I am gone again for who knows how long. Carter has a check up at PCH and the last time I was there it took 31/2 hours. Lucky for me, I have a great mom who is willing to watch my other kiddos AGAIN. She will also be helping me out on Thursday. That is a subject for a whole other post. McKinley and her check up. Major DR anxiety.

Happy Birthday McKinley!

Today McKinley turns 4. She is so excited about her birthday. She wanted to put up a sign and get streamers and have party hats. Well, we forgot the streamers and they had no party hats at Walmart. They only had Power Rangers ones that she was not interested in. However, we did find a tiara and princess earings and a pin the tail on the donkey game that she wanted instead. We made pink Barbie cupcakes with pink frosting and sprinkles. All she wanted to to is have a party at grandma's pool. They have other plans tonight, but they were nice enough to let us use their backyard for swimming (burrrrr) and tacos and cupcakes. She decided this weekend that she really wanted to have a party with friends. She has never had a party with friends before, so when thinking about McKinley's birthday long before Carter's surgery and not knowing how he would be, I decided to just have a little family party. It turns out Carter is fine and a party would have been fine. Oh well, there is always next year. She is such a good sport about it too. This morning when Carter woke up, I told him to tell McKinley Happy Birthday and he was a little grumpy from waking up and didnt want to. McKinley was so sweet and said "that's all right, he can just tell me later." I am so glad she is my little girl. I know sometimes I wonder why I wanted a girl so bad, but she truly is so fun and I wouldnt change her for anything. Even if she is more difficult to raise than my 3 boys combined. I Love You So Much Pretty Girl!!!

On a funny side note about McKinley. She has started calling herself "the girl." She will tell me "the girl wants bean burritos for lunch." or "the girl wants the red cup." It is so funny.

Also a side note about me. I decided last week that I was going to loose weight right? Well loose weight I did. I am down 4 lbs from last week. I am going to keep track here and if you dont care that quit reading the end of my blog on Mondays;)

Ghetto Swimming

We are ready to swim, but we dont have a pool. My mom does, but she lives 1/2 hour away and she had other things going on. It is Mom and Dad's anniversary!!! Happy Anniversary. Anyway, it is April Break and we decided to get our chores done this morning and went to Walmart for this fantastic pool. My kids had a blast, even if we couldnt get the sides to stay up very well. They probably would stay up better if there was more water in it, but I swear the water ran full blast for about 45 minutes and it got maybe half way full. We turned on the sprinklers too because the timer is not working back there and the grass was getting pretty dead. We finished it off with popsicles. They dont even know we are ghetto.

This post is by McKinley. My mom saw a little girl at Walmart yesterday and she wanted to try out her hairstyle. I didnt really want to do this unless I got my nails painted, lipstick and I could get my picture on the computer. The parts could have been a little straighter, but I had a hard time holding still. Also, some of my own cutting job is still growing out, so we had to get a little creative. There is also sparkly spray, but it doesnt show up in the picture.

I can't leave them alone for one minute.

Okay, so I was cleaning up a little and put a movie on in the kids room for Carter and McKinley to keep them out of my hair for a little while. They came in an out and I didn't really pay much attention to what they were doing. I THOUGHT they are just watching a movie, what could go wrong, right? Well, it seems that Carter got a pair of scissors and decided to cut things up. He and McKinley cut up several stuffed animals, one was a $40.00 Mickey Mouse that we just got at Disneyland and his most favorite Diego doll. Also, they got shoelaces from two different shoes and the hair of Ariel. I guess this is better than the last time they got a hold of scissors though. They butchered eachothers hair in January. McKinley is still recovering from that. Carter was the main culprit on this one so, he got the bigger punishment. He had to throw his beloved Diego in the trash. I know I am a mean mom, but I felt like the punishment fit the crime.

I am sick of this body!

Alright, so I am tired of being in this body and since they dont have body transplant and I couldnt afford to get one anyway, I decided to do something about it. I have decided to start moving more and eating less. I have done Weight Watchers before, (many times actually) and so I am just going to follow that plan. I know it well and really like it. I was on it last year when we found out about Carter's heart and I guess I just started focusing on him and not myself. I cant really afford to go to the meeting right now, but there is a lot I can do from home. I am putting it out there so, then maybe I will be accountable to all those out in the internet world ;). Here is my before picture.

This is the last time you will see me this way. I promise you, I will never post my weight, sorry, but I will try to keep posted on my success. I will be weighing in on Mondays, no reason for that, and so I will probably make a note then.

Well Carter broke his glasses, AGAIN! I cant even guess how many pairs of glasses he has had. He was wearing them yesterday, I got up for one minute and when I came back, his glasses were gone. I could not figure out what happened to them. I kept asking and then he told me he put them away. I went over to the counter where we put them when he goes to bed and there they were in two pieces. I had been gone only a minute. I was walking his teacher to the door. I dont know how he broke them and got into the kitchen and back to the couch that fast. So, after dinner Lincoln, Carter and I went down and ordered two new pairs. If you need glasses and dont have insurance, America's Best is a great place to get them. It is by Fiesta Mall. It is kinda ghetto, but I got two pairs of glasses with warranties for $115.00. The warranty is really good too. No matter what happens to them as long as you bring in a piece of the glasses they will give you a new pair. If you get the right sales person, you may not even need the piece of glasses. Why are we not using our warranty you ask? Well, Trevor really wanted to get his last pair of glasses, in September, from Costco. They cost a little more and had no warranty and were just one pair. These are what we got. They arent the best pictures.

Why I love Swiss Rolls

Okay, so taking children to church is a giant 3 hour nightmare. I was back to church today after our 2 week hiatus. Sitting with 4 children alone for that hour and 15 minutes feels like an eternity. Luckily, I have a wonderful friend, Amber, who often sits with me. Thanks Amber you are a lifesaver. Anyway, I started bribing my children with Swiss Rolls. I have no idea why, it is Swiss Rolls, but it is. Each week the best child during church gets a Swiss Roll after meetings. If everyone is the best, then everyone gets A roll. Not both the rolls in the package, just one roll. You would be amazed how well this works. If they start arguing or getting restless, I just whisper, "Do you want a Swiss Roll?" and it seems to get them back on track. Of course this doesnt work with Jackson and he is the hardest one, but 3 out of 4 ain't bad. I did sneak into nursery with him today. I told Trevor I would just take a calling in there so that I didn't have to feel bad about being in there, but they are yet to call me.

Here are the darlings ready for church

I promise this whole thing will not be about Carter

Well after I was "bragging" about how great Carter was doing. I was put in my place a little. When I put him to bed Thursday night, he felt a little warn, but I had given him Motrin so I figured he would be fine. Well, an hour later, he wakes up crying. I go in and he is burning up (well he was pretty warm-101.8). That is scary after surgery because of the fear of infection. I gave him some Tylenol and wiped him down with a cool washcloth. Mind you, the Office is on. I must really love that kid. Thank goodness for DVR and pausing live TV. I eventually get out of him that his ear hurts. (He doesn't speak well.) He had an appointment at the hospital for a chest Xray and cardiologist appointment the next morning so, we had a rough night but I wasnt too worried because we would be seeing the dr in the morning. Well, as far as his heart is concerned, everything is terrific! He said he thought it would be fine to start back to school as soon as we figure out what the fever was and we suspected it was an ear infection, but he doesnt do ears. We called the pediatrician on the way home and they said they could see us in a half hour. So we rushed over there. Mind you, I dropped my two little ones at my neighbors at 8:30 am and it is now 12:30. Nothing went right at the hospital or drs office, like usual. I called Trevor and he said he would pick up the kids. What a trooper! Sure enough Carter does have an ear infection! As if having open heart surgery is not enough for this kid. He certainly is my million dollar baby. I would to post a picture of all that we did today, but unfortunately, I left the camera in the car. Just use your imagination Xray machine, EKG, Oximeter, lots of stethescopes and plenty of nurses and doctors. We ran to Target to get his prescription and at lunch at 2:00 in the food court area. It was fun to sit and eat lunch just the two of us. I guess it was worth it in the end.

A funny note about McKinley. We brought a bbq to my parents house tonight. Trevor told her she had to eat her hotdog before she could have ice cream. She said she ate it and it was gone so you have to believe her, Right? Trevor even checked around where she was eating to make sure she didnt leave it somewhere. As we were getting ready to leave, we were in the kitchen and my mom stepped on the rug and noticed there was something underneath it. She flipped up the rug and there is her hotdog. It was sooo funny. I shouldnt laugh because it was naughty, but really a smashed hotdog under the rug. Again, no camera, use your imagination.

I will get better at bringing my camera because I believe a picture really tells the story!

I am NOT good at this. I just wrote a whole post and lost it somehow. I think I need lessons.

I am starting this because of the craziness of my life. Carter is what is going on right now. He had open heart surgery on April 7. He is doing so amazing. The doctors are calling him a superstar. They expected him to be in the hospital for about a week and was home in 4/5 days. He is unstoppable. I have to keep him from climbing on the counters and running around. They wanted him to take it easy for 6 weeks to allow the bone to heal. Sure! Okay, that's gonna happen. They needed to replace a valve in his heart that was repaired last when he was 7 months old. They decided to replace it with an adult sized human valve implant. They had other options (pig or cow valves.) They expect it to last about 7-10 years and then he should be big enough for a permenant mechanical valve. The human ones tend to wear out and don't grow with you. They think it looks perfect and we are hoping for the best. We are so truly blessed. I know that the blessings that he recieved and all the prays on our families behalf indeed worked. We cannot express how grateful we are for all that so many of you have done. We never would have made it through this tough time without you. Here are some pictures to illustrate out time.

Just out of surgery-Day 1

Still a little groggy- Day 2

Therapy dog came for a visit-Still Day 2

Out for a walk-Day 3

Ready to go home-Day 4
Today, In all his glory-Day 8

Hello! I am here

I have started a blog. I have spent enough time looking at other blogs, I figured it was time to spend some time on my own. Here's to blogging.