This past Saturday I was clean out the van when Halllie came out on the porch to talk to me. She was wearing a short T-shirt that she had slept in. I told that she needed to get inside and put some pants on. A few minutes later when I finished my chore I came up the stairs thinking that Hallie had diligently obeyed my request only to find that instead of putting pants on she decided to fashion herself a new skirt. This
is what she came up with. She really thought that she could go out in public with this on.It gave Adam and I a much needed laugh.
My day started out with Aulden coloring on the wall of our temporary condo with marker and of course they weren't of the washable variety. Then after wrestling with my kids the rest of the morning to try to get them bathed, dressed and fed, we decided to go for a little outing to Ikea to meet a friend for lunch and let our kids play together in the play area while we did a little shopping. During lunch Sarah Jane had a major blow out - she has just started on solid foods(you all know what that means) and I of course had no wipes or a change of clothes with me. By the time I got her clothes off she had poop up to her neck. I bathed her in the sink with icy cold water, wrapped her up in a blanket and off we went to the playland to drop the other kids off to play. This is where my day got really interesting. Kids apparently have to be a certain height to get into the play area. When it came time to measure Aulden the lady working there reached over the counter, put her hand on the back of Aulden's head and said that he wasn't tall enough. I tried to show her that if you measure from the top of his head like any other normal person would do that he was clearly tall enough. She for some reason could not see what I was saying and told us that she could call someone else to come and measure him which she did. This next guy was obioulsy not going to listen to a word I had to say, refused to measure Aulden and walked off while I was talking to him... I was in complete shock at how rude this guy was to me and was very frustrated at this point. Now I know that most of you are probably thinking "it's a stupid playland - take your kids and go home - what's the big deal," but not me - I just could't let it go. So, Ikea lady calls another guy to come down and talk to me, but I still can't figure out why because he was almost as ridiculous as guy number one. I finally got him to measure Aulden and after going back and forth with him for a while he finally admitted that Aulden measured within the required guidelines but then said it was up to Ikea lady to make the call. After watching this whole ordeal which went on for probably half an hour she said "I measured him - he's not tall enough" and wouldn't let him in. Seriously?! By this time I was so upset and frustrated that while walking off I may have said a few unkind things loud enough for certain Ikea employees to hear. Aulden was so upset and how do you explain to a 3 year old why he can't go and play with his friends. He proceeded with a major melt down in the middle of the store and you can imagine all the crusty looks that came our direction. I'm just glad that they didn't call security to escort us out of the building. When we finally made it back home, i gave the kids a snack, Aulden threw up EVERYWHERE, I spent the next hour cleaning up the mess, refereed cranky kids, ate dinner, put the kids to bed and wrote a blog. And there you have my crazy day in a nutshell.
So. this morning Aulden decided thata Sarah Jane neededto dress up like a pirate and this is what he came up with - yeah that's permanent marker. I was sitting about ten feet away and didn't even see it happen.
Has it really been a year since I've written on this thing? I'm obviously terrible at this and am a horrible mother for not bragging about my children more. Sorry to all of you who are dying to know the details of my extremely exciting life - like how I spent all afternoon the other day cleaning poop off of my carpets and how I spend my days crying cause I have no clue how to manage three kids and how we had to break down and buy a mini van. Anyway, I thought the birth of our daughter was worthy of writing about and posting a few photos. So, here she is our new little bundle of joy, or should I say bundle of work. Well, which ever it is she sure is cute. Even though this is 10 weeks late - Welcome to the world Sarah Jane! She was 7lb. 6oz. and only made me endure 3 1/2 hours of labor - thanks for that one.
Yesterday as I was planning for our weekend trip to St. George, Adam tells me that I need to call my brother. I asked if he knew why my brother had called and he said yes but that I just needed to call him to find out why. I immediately picked up the phone to call him and as I was anxiously waiting for him to tell me the exciting news of them expecting their third child, I instead got the way too detailed account of how he chopped off the top of his finger earlier that morning at work! I could feel the vomit rising in my throat as he told me every last little detail not once or twice but three times. I was nervously pacing through my house while biting my finger. Now you may be saying to yourself "how does a guy who manages dental offices for a job cut his finger off while at work? - that must be some paper cut!" - Well let me tell you how it happens - you take some paper out to the garbage, wait for a big gust of wind, and just as the wind is slamming the door shut - you stick your finger in the door and voila you've successfully detached the end of your finger from the rest of your body. Now ya know in case you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to lose a finger quick. So, as we were ending our half hour or so conversation about how he picked his finger up off the ground, and how he put it back on and how he was telling jokes to the EMTs and nurses to cope with the enormous amount of pain that he was in - there was a bit of an awkward moment. What do you say to someone who has just severed their finger? - "Oh wow, that really sucks!?", or "Well, I'm glad you're ok - at least the part of you that's not in the garbage!?" Anyway, that was the crazy news that ended my day yesterday - It wasn't easy falling asleep last night with all the gory images in my head. Love ya Ryan - get well soon and be more careful!
Okay - sorry to those of you who look at my blog and have had to endure listening to Dancing Queen every time you check to see if I've done an update. I feel like such a slacker mom cause so much has happened since the big dance recital. I would like to say my excuse is that I had pneumonia and strained my back which almost completely put my out of commission for an entire month, which is true, but really I was having problems downloading my pictures off my camera and am not smart enough to troubleshoot on my own. I had to wait until Adam had 5 minutes to help me, and considering how long it took to get it done - you can see how often Adam has 5 minutes to spare - I don't say that facetiously - he really is a busy man. Like I said - lots has happened, so here we go. At the beginning of July we went with Adam's family on their annual Park City trip. Lora had fun crafts for the kids, we went swimming lots and took a ride down the alpine slide where Adam rammed the guy in front of him, attempted to play a softball game before dark, and went out with the girls to get pedicures. Thanks Paul and Kathy! 
So, after park city I came home for about 4 days then took off again with the kids to Wild Wonderful West Virginia for Grandma Camp. It was so good to go back to my roots - I realized how much I miss it there except for the humidity and being attacked by bugs every time you step out the door. Anyway, it was a good time - my mom had fun activities planned for every day and by the end of the week we were all completely exhausted. We went to Carter Caves, the county Fair - where Aulden made out with a goat, a movie, a childrens' discovery museum, the library, the park, swimming, shopping for new school clothes, had a birthday party for all and had lots of fun. Thanks Mom and Dad - we had a great time!
And if that wasn't enough for one summer - there's more! Hallie's first day of Kindergarten was on Aug. 5. She looked so cute and was so excited - especially to ride the bus (Her school had to bus all the kids to a different school for the first two weeks while there was some construction going
on). When telling Adam all about her day she said it was boring but that she liked her teacher. So far, as best as I can tell, I think she's enjoying shcool and is learning quickly.
Our next big event was Aulden's 2nd birthday. He totally loves trains so we got him a train set and Thomas birthday cake, and had Adam's family over for a little party. Happy Belated Birthday Aulden - we love you so much.
Finally just a funny little note - the other day as I was putting Hallie to bed and in the midst of her "mom, one more question, mom, I need a drink of water, etc." she said to me "mom, tomorrow I want you to do something to flabbergast me!" She then told me that that meant to be surprised and then made a surprised look on her face with her hands on her cheeks. I've been laughing about that one for days. Those are the moments that I seriously live for and don't think that me or my kids would survive if it weren't for those moments.
Oh, and I almost forgot we also celebrated Adam's birthday. We went to Brian Reagan (it was hilarious) with Marsha and Brady and Lora and Josh. It was so much fun aside from all the coughing that I was doing every time I laughed and then moaning because my back was hurting - ah the joys of getting older! Anyway, then we had his family over for a raging party complete with cake and ice cream and the works - nothing's too much for my honey bunch. Happy Birthday Adam! I love you!
