A Nose Bleed in the Nose Bleeds

 A couple of weeks ago we took the whole fam out to a Diamondbacks baseball game.  Brad's work was offering a deal on a block of tickets so we decided to give it a go.  It was a 5:00 start which meant we would  hopefully make it through most of the game, but it also meant walking from where we parked to the stadium in 114 degree heat.  Needless to say, by the time we got to our seats, we were all drenched in sweat.  The seats were actually super close and we had a great view.  We were on bleacher seats which means that our space gets infringed upon rather quickly since 3 out of our 5 ticket holders have fairly small bums.  After an inning or two of feeling squished and having no room for the kids to move around, we were about to call it quits.  Then I had the most brilliant idea.  Straight across from our seats was a whole upper section of empty chair seats.  We decided to pack everyone half way around the stadium again and park ourselves in this vacant section where the kids would have plenty of room to stretch their legs and be loud.  On our way over we made a stop at the kids play area.  Sadie was too tall to go in, but was able to go to a different area with Brad where she hit a few balls in a batting cage.  After our time was up there we grabbed a couple bowls of ice cream and headed up into the nosebleed section.  Everyone was much happier here.  We enjoyed ice cream, watched the action on the jumbo tron and had  a great time.  Right before the 7th inning stretch, the heights got to Brinlee and she toppled right over into the row of chairs in front of us.  Poor girl ended up with a pretty big bruise on her nose.  She recovered quickly though and was just fine when it came time to sing "Take me out to the ball game."  At the top of the 8th we called it a day and started our long walk back to the car in only 110 degree heat this time.  It was a fun family outing and a great lesson in being flexible and adjusting.

Gratitude Smack Up Side The Head

(This pic doesn't really have much to do with this post, other than it is of Brinlee smiling rather than throwing a mega fit, and for that I am grateful!)

I have been kind of a whiner lately.  Not really to anybody other than myself, but still a whiner.  Brad was out of town all last week for work.  He was only supposed to have to go quarterly, but this was his 4th trip this year so it has been more frequent than we thought.  I try to start the weeks out on a positive note when I know he is going to be gone.  Unfortunately, I woke up with a nasty cold Monday morning which kind of did me in on the positive front.  I was so worn out by the time bed time rolled around that I was shorter with the kids than I would like to admit.  We made it through the week though and picked Brad up on Friday.  You know when you are sick and then you feel better and you are so grateful for your health.  That is how it is when Brad is gone.  I almost forget how nice it is to have another set of hands at crucial times of the day -dinnertime, bedtime, bath time.  Then yesterday I was making a lovely turkey breast for dinner and right before I started dishing up everyone's plates, Drew turns pale and runs to the bathroom and well you can imagine the rest.  Suddenly my appetite was gone.  After I tucked him into bed, I came in our bedroom and dramatically fell onto our bed asking Brad why our kids can't just be healthy 100% of the time.  He didn't hear me and asked me to repeat what I said.  I was about to say it again when I remembered something.  One of the evenings last week while Brad was away I was browsing blogs.  I happened upon one of a girl I knew in high school.  We weren't really great friends, but it was still fun to check out her life through her blog.  I quickly realized that things were not good for her and her family as of late.  A couple of months ago she had her 4th baby who was born with severe medical problems.  It was a total shock as they though everything had been fine during the pregnancy.  The baby has had a lot of tests to try to diagnose her, but there are still no answers.  My heart broke as I read through post after post of this girl I knew from high school struggling to find answers for her sick baby as well as taking care of three other children at home.  Another thought then came to my mind of some friends of ours who have just recently experienced a job loss.  They are doing everything they can to get back on their feet, but still are frustrated with their current situation.  I feel for them and want to do anything I can to help them.  I realize that first off I need to stop being a whiner.  My life is great!  That doesn't mean that I am not allowed to get stressed when I have requests from 4 little people coming at me all at once and I am the only adult around to help.  It doesn't mean that I have to love cleaning up barf.  It just means that I need to look outside of myself and my situation and see others around me who have their own set of trials(most of the time much bigger than mine) and instead of comparing myself to them or having a pity party for myself, do something for someone else.  It is very easy to get in our own bubbles day to day.  To think that my life is so hard.  Why am I having to deal with this?  Why does so and so have it so much better than me?  The truth is that we really don't know other peoples situations completely and it really doesn't matter.  When I serve others, when I pray for someone else, when I think about how I can improve someone else's situation, I find that I am happier in my own life.  I am able to acknowledge all the good that I have in my life and show my gratitude by helping someone else.  So there you have it.  Smacked upside the head by some gratitude.  Now I am on to the rest of my day and hopefully I will carry this lesson with me as I go.

A Good Sign??

Last night we had a crazy weird storm here in the hot Arizona.  I guess it was maybe a monsoon- I don't know.  The wind was whipping around so fast and strong that trees were bending completely in half. It was loud.  So loud that I was sure it would wake my slumbering children. But it didn't.  I laid in bed listening to the craziness outside and didn't have to get up once to calm a child.  I drifted off to sleep myself around 10:30, but it didn't last.  At 1:30am Brinlee wandered into our room saying that she needed to go to the bathroom and that the bathroom light wouldn't turn on.  I thought maybe she was sleep walking so I took her down to the bathroom only to discover that she was right.  The light wouldn't turn on- and then it clicked- my brain- not the light.  The power had gone out.  Oh no- not this again.  (Last year in hot hot July we lost power for quite a few hours leaving us hot and sweaty and grumpy.)  So I grabbed a nearby flashlight and took her to the bathroom and tucked her back in bed.  I was sure she would put up a fight about her room being so dark since the night light wasn't working, but she went back just fine and quickly fell back asleep.  I on the other hand laid in bed going over what I would do if this outage lasted as long as the one last year.  I was starting to notice the increase in temperature as well.  Arizona in August is equivalent to hell I think.  Even at night it only cools to around 90 degrees or so, so you definitely notice it when your a/c is  not working- even if it is the middle of the night.  Well luckily an hour or so later the power kicked back on and I was again able to fall back asleep in my comfortably cool house.  In the morning the kids were quick to run in and tell me that their alarm clocks were broken and they didn't know if they could get out of bed yet.  I explained to them what happened.  We reset the clocks and then began the morning routine of getting ready for school.  Just as they were starting to eat breakfast, the first call came.  It was Drew's teacher informing me that the power at the school was still out and school would be canceled for the day.  This was kind of strange since we live in very close proximity to the school and we had power.  I was just happy that our power came back on and we were  not going to be home all day in a hot house with no tv, computer, basically everything my kids think they "need" to survive.  Before I could get the words out of my mouth to tell the kids what was up, the phone rang again.  This time it was an automated message from the school with the same news.  After that call I told the kids they could finish breakfast and then go change out of their uniforms since there was not going to be any school today.  I expected a hooray or a yippee, but instead I got... tears.  What????  They both went on and on to tell me how much they love school and how I am so boring and don't I know they have testing this week and Drew was going to get to be line leader today and on and on and on.  After extoling the virtues of school to me for 5 minutes, I finally cut them off and said two words, "happy meals??"  That was all it took to turn those frowns upside down.  A promise of chicken nuggets, fries, and a toy for lunch made all the difference.  Everyone adjusted pretty well after that- with the exception of Brinlee who has gotten used to being the older one(aka the boss) at home during the day and didn't really appreciate Sadie taking her place back.  We are all eagerly awaiting the phone call from the school this afternoon letting us know that the power has been restored and that there will in fact be school tomorrow.  I guess it is a good sign that they took the news so hard.  It probably won't always be that way so I will take it while I can get it.

My New Scent

Though we haven't started the rigorous after school routine yet filled with homework and spelling words, we are a little more strapped for time now than we used to be.  Case in point: Cole spit up on me about 3 hours ago. It wasn't a little spit up either, it was enough to make me smell ripe for lack of a better word.  I kept thinking I would go change my shirt, and then something else would happen or someone else would need something.  After a bit, I forgot all about it.  I caught a whiff of myself now and then and remembered the incident, but only for a moment before I was combing hair, or getting someone a treat for eating their dinner well, or tickling someones back.  Sadie was sitting very close to me as we read our scriptures.  She leaned in close to cuddle up and then backed off a bit.  This happened a few times.  After we finished up reading, she whispered to me, "mom, did you get a new kind of lotion today?"  I told her no, why?  She then kindly told me that I didn't smell very good and that she was hoping it wasn't a scent I had actually paid money for.  I told her that Cole had spit up on me earlier and I had forgotten to change my shirt.  Her response was priceless, "I sure wouldn't forget to change my clothes if I smelled like that for very long."  It gave me a good laugh, and then I went upstairs and changed my shirt.

First Day of School- 2012

Yesterday was the first day of school!  This time I sent 2 kids out the door for the day.  We had some pretty big excitement going on here in the morning.  I think Sadie and Drew were all ready to go a good hour before it was actually time to leave.  At least it gave me plenty of time for pictures.  All morning Sadie kept telling Drew that she would show him his spot on the playground and then go find her spot.  He wanted nothing to do with this plan.  He said he would be fine on his own.  As they jumped out of the car at the drop off spot, he grabbed onto Sadie's hand and made sure she was going to show him where to go.  He likes to play like he is a tough guy, but in the end he needed his sister.  They walked away- holding hands- and I drove off with only 2 kids in the car.  I had a great and efficient day at home here with Brinlee and Cole.  I exercised, read my scriptures, made cookies, prepped dinner, and then before we knew it, it was time to pick up the kids.  They each had a great day and were able to tell me the names of 2 friends they had made(our goal for the day).  They were just as happy to get out of the car today and I am hoping their days have been just as good as yesterday.  I on the other hand have had no where near the productive day as yesterday.  I spent nearly 2 hours at the pediatricians office for Cole's 1 year appointment.  Then had to run in to Target which turned in to a much longer trip than I had planned. Oh well, hopefully I can get back on the horse tomorrow.  Hard to believe we are at this point of having a 3rd grader and a kindergartner.  I am so happy that they are loving school and hope it continues on this way!

Cole Turns 1

My last little baby turned one yesterday.  I had bitter sweet feelings all day long.  He is acting like such a big boy now and not much of a baby.  He is finally finally sleeping all night in his crib.  He has transitioned from nursing to a sippy cup with flying colors.  On the other hand, he is still pretty cuddly, especially when he is tired.  He still only has 2 teeth.  And he still takes 2 really great naps each day.  We started the day by letting him check out his new presents.  We got him this cozy coupe truck that looked a lot smaller on the package. Lucky for him, he had plenty of people to push him around.  Cole loves food, so all day long we let him try lots of new foods.  Sadie helped me make these cute pirate cupcakes.  Cole dug right in and had finished a whole cupcake before I even had the chance to get pictures.  Since it was his birthday, I decided to let him have another which he polished off just as quickly as the first.  Cole really is the perfect ending to our family. Everyone adores him so much and never seems to tire of him.  It will be a little strange to only have him and Brinlee home during the day starting this week as the kids go back to school.  I think Brinlee will love the big sister role and will step right in to take Sadie's place while she is gone.  Happy Birthday Cole Brayden Phillips.  We sure love having you in our family!