A Day at the ER

Dannika got her finger smashed in a door today, so we spent the day in the ER. It was the pinkie on her left hand and it took off all of the finger nail and almost the whole tip of her finger. We were at a meeting and she cried for a little bit while the other moms and I decided what to do. When we put some gauze on her finger and wrapped it up she was done crying and she started growling instead because she's such a tough girl. I decided to take her to the ER to get her some stitches, so I left the boys with my friend and took the girls with me. On the way in to town I was a little bit overwhelmed, so I called Danny and of course that made me cry. He told me to bring Annistyn to him so I could take care of Dannika, but then I remembered that my Dad had the day off. I took Annistyn to him instead and then Danni and I headed to the hospital. She cried and whimpered most of the way there, but as soon as we got to the hospital she was all smiles and stories. I told her that we were taking her to the doctor so they could fix her finger and she interpreted that to mean that she was getting a new finger. She said she wanted a blue one so that she would have a blue pinkie and a white pinkie. She found a little toy on the wall in the waiting room to play with, so I held up her bloodied hand while she played with the other one. There were a few people in the waiting room with us and they were amazed that this little girl with a blood soaked bandage was playing and talking and laughing. She's such a cutie, she just captures everyone's hearts. She found a fish tank and was counting them and telling me what colors they all were. They took us back into an ER room where we waited for a while. They all noticed the bruise on her cheek  and asked her what had happened (she was princess twirling in the kitchen, lost her footing, and hit the cupboards) but she wouldn't answer.

When we got to the room she sang and talked up a storm and when she started getting bored we played a colors game. This all happened around nap time, so she started getting tired and I sang her to sleep. She slept for about an hour and then they came in to numb her finger. My poor little sweetheart woke up to the nurse wrapping her in a blanket and the doctor poking her little finger four times to get it numb. A few minutes later they came back in to stitch her up. They took the nail off and then put four (or five...I wasn't really looking because I don't handle blood, needles, or stitches very well) stitches in the top of her finger through her nail bed. She kept trying to look, so I had to hold my hand up next to her face to she couldn't see it. I kept asking her questions about her name and how old she was and what her favorite color was and who her favorite princess was and all of that fun stuff. At one point she reached up and grabbed my other hand to put it over her face. They gave her a little orange bear which she named Princess Orange Bear and she got to snuggle up to it for the whole thing. They told me how impressed they were with her because she was so brave, she didn't wiggle around, she didn't cry very much, and they could understand every word she said even though she's only 3. I told the nurse what she had said in the car about having a blue finger, so when they wrapped her up they used the blue sports flex tape and she got her new blue finger. She was so excited. I'm so glad to have such a little trooper. They said she has an open fracture on the tip of her finger, and she has to be on antibiotics for a week.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

We had a fun December. My Grandma had her 77th birthday and we threw her a party. I got to make the rainbow jello and the rolls and they turned out great.

I love my grandparents!

Annistyn just kept watching everyone eat, so we decided to start her on some baby food.

 

She also started sitting up by herself and she rolls like a pro. She's really trying to scoot herself around to get to thing, but she hasn't quite figured that out yet.

These were our ornaments for this year. I think they turned out for not really knowing what I was doing. I'm not sure what I want to do for next year yet.

 

We got to go to Evert's blessing in Utah. It was fun to get to meet him and see him for a little while. We sure love that little guy. The kids had fun playing in Cameron's Aunt's basement. I had a hard time pulling Dannika away from the ping ball table (as she called it).

We had a wonderful Christmas in Utah. We really appreciate Andy and Amy letting us come to stay with them and we're glad we got some time to spend with Dan.

Here are the kids' new Christmas jammies.

Here are the lego trays that Danny made. He wasn't very impressed with his work, but the boys loved them and I thought they turned out great.The boys had lots of help building their star wars ships.

I made my nephew, Evert, a Christmas diaper cake. He's such a cutie!

After Christmas the Bairds came up here for a couple of days. I didn't get many pictures and Kleyn was being a pill when I tried to get a picture of all the kids with their Grandpa.

My dad came over Sunday to give the kids his presents. He gave them these little hippity hops and the kids have been bouncing around like crazy. They got cozy new blankies and The Clone Wars DVDs.

We spent New Years Eve with some of our friends, but I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures of that. I made rolls and pumpkin cheesecake and they served us dinner. It was so much fun. We hung out and played games for 6 hours. The kids had a blast running around and by the end of the night everyone's sides hurt from laughing.
The new year came too fast, but we're ready to get the kids back to school and get back into routines. We have our budget all set up for the year and Danny's happy because he got to order his gun safe. I'm kinda excited for that one, too. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the new year.

Little Scare

I called a friend and asked her if Kleyn could get off the bus with her daughter on Friday because I have some business to take care of in town that wouldn't allow me to pick Kleyn up from school, but might also keep me from being home when he got off the bus. She said that was no problem and he overheard, so I told him that he would be getting off the bus at the neighbor's house on Friday. Well, little Mr. Kleyn thought I meant today (Thursday), so he told the bus driver, which was a substitute, that he needed to get off at the neighbor's house which is 1/4 mile-1/2 mile away, even though the girl that he was supposed to get off the bus with wasn't on the bus and the neighbors weren't home because they had extracurricular activities in town after school. Kleyn had opened their door and called out to see if anyone was home, so the bus driver assumed that he was OK and inside when they took off. When Kleyn didn't get off the bus at his usual time, my little red flag went up, but there have been times that the bus driver has forgotten about Kleyn and has finished the route before they bring him back home a half an hour later, so I wasn't panicking yet. After an hour I started calling other moms to see if their kids had seen Kleyn on the bus. Three of my neighbors weren't home and they had picked up their kids from school anyway, so that wouldn't have helped. I called the school and told them that my son didn't get home and they said they would call transportation and call me right back. When they called me back they said that the teacher walked the kids out to the bus, but the driver said that Kleyn didn't get on the bus. They said that he wasn't anywhere at the school and then they asked who his friends were. I had the secretary, the principal and myself calling families that we knew to see if we could find him. I called Danny at work and he headed down to the school. Finally we got a hold of another girl on the bus that saw Kleyn get off at the neighbor's house. I went down to find him sitting on their front porch. His ears were cold and he looked confused, but it was still light out and he seemed fine. When we got home he started crying, but it was because he broke his ginger bread house that he had made at school yesterday. I'm so glad that he wasn't too far away and that we found him before we had a major panic. The only thing that concerns me is that they let him get off the bus without a note or without me informing the school. I am so grateful for the support system that we have out here and that so many people were willing to help us out and call around and help us find our son. I'm sorry for any inconvenience and worry that we caused, but thanks to everyone that was there for us with this little scare.

Little Updates

Kleyn has his first wiggly tooth and he's loving it. We took him to his dentist appointment last week and they said he had a wiggly tooth on the bottom, but he hadn't noticed it, so I wasn't sure it was really wiggly. He came home yesterday and said that it was really wiggly after he took a bite of his pizza. I'm not ready for my baby to lose his teeth yet! I want to make him this little pillow,  

but I'm not sure if I can get it done in time.

Annistyn was being so funny last night. She was laying on the floor and talking up a storm. She was flipping her little self over so fast and then she started crossing her arms over each other and wiggling around. After a few seconds I realized that she was chasing her shadow on the floor. Every time her head moved she would try to place her hands inside the outline of her shadow, but that would make her head move, so she just kept following it around in a slow circle. I don't know that any of the other kids ever did that and I thought it was so cute.

Those were my little updates for today. We are getting ready for Christmas and I got all of the presents that I have wrapped yesterday. We still have a few that will hopefully show up this week, so I have a little bit more wrapping to do and my Santa presents still need some glue and paint, but they should be ready by this weekend as well. This is what Santa and the elves are making for the boys.

Danny made the frame just a little bit different, but they look pretty much the same. I found a lego font to print their names in with vinyl. I'll get pictures up when theirs are actually done.
I also got the vinyl put on our ornaments. The pictures don't really show the crystals very well, but when they're on the tree with the lights behind them they look like shining snowballs. If I had had time I probably would have gotten some blue vinyl, but as it is, they look alright.

Friends Feast

For the last two years I have held a Thanksgiving dinner for Danny and "the guys". Josh and Kendra's birthdays are in November and December, so it's kind of a birthday dinner for them and an excuse for me to make a big dinner for all of them. This year we were gone on Josh's birthday and for Thanksgiving and we will be gone for Christmas, so we had our dinner yesterday. I got the turkey out to thaw at the beginning of the week, but then had so much else going on that I didn't even really think about the dinner again until 10 o'clock Saturday night. Just a little bit stressful. I got the turkey out to put in the brine and there were still ice crystals in the middle of it. I need to perfect my method of defrosting the turkey and placing the thermometer in the right place because I really like the recipe that I have, but it's been hit and miss with the turkey being cooked all the way through. The thermometer hit the right temperature, but Danny said that it was either because I didn't have the thermometer in the right place or that the turkey wasn't defrosted all the way. We ended up putting the turkey back in and playing with the oven for an extra hour than we were planning, but it turned out pretty good. After church I made rolls, pumpkin pie, pasta salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and "Mormon Jello" (as Brian calls the rainbow jello that my aunt taught me to make). I wasn't going to make jello because it takes an hour and a half to make and I was already trying to figure out how to fit everything in, but Brian asked specifically if I was going to make it and he sounded so bummed when I said I wasn't. He was bringing me the potatoes, so I figured I would have enough time to get it made before he got here and I had to start peeling and chopping. It worked out great and I got to send him home with some jello so he was extremely happy. We also had cranberry sauce, pickles, and pickled asparagus. Josh brought a cheesecake sampler as well and I had some lemon bars from Saturday. I didn't get any pictures because I was a little bit busy cooking and baking, but it was lots of fun and I don't think I'll ever get away with not doing it now. I might have to invite Shurell and Cody next year, though because both of their birthdays are in November and December also. :)
I have an absolute mess to clean up today, but I had so much fun and I love to cook and entertain. :) I asked Danny if he would rather have me be skinny or be a good cook and she said he would prefer the latter. I'm not sure which one I would rather have, but at least I know he likes my cooking.

Simpee Habee Wonfluhfluh Chrimas Time

Dannika has been walking around singing that song for the last two weeks. I wasn't sure what she was saying, but she got the melody down pretty well so I knew what she was singing.

I was going to do a big Thankful post and get some Thanksgiving pictures up, but we got busy spending time with family and then life caught back up to me. Here are a few pictures of Thanksgiving in Washington

(pumpkin cheesecake...so good, but it cracked) 

and a few that we took of Annie for my Grandma's picture wall.

Kleyn keeps reminding me of the countdown to Christmas. I think we're almost ready, but there are a few last minute things I need to do. We got the tree up and decorated

and now I have to get the storage boxes out of the way. I got the ornaments made for this year and now all I have to do to them is put vinyl on them. I found the idea on Pinterest, but instead of putting the glue and salt on the outside, I put it on the inside.

We have a new routine for when the kids get sick. I get to sleep out on the couch with the sick kid and take care of them so that Danny and the other kids can get some good sleep. Kaleb got sick and was throwing up for 7 hours last Monday. Nobody else got sick until Saturday night when Dannika threw up, but she only threw up once, so it wasn't as bad. So far nobody else has gotten it, so I think it worked out pretty well. It doesn't make for a well rested momma, but as Danny has pointed out numerous times, I don't have to go to work and I can usually sneak in a nap somewhere throughout the day.

We have been having craft days with a group of ladies here in our ward. It's been really fun. I think it's going to become a monthly thing if everyone likes it enough to keep it going. I got my bathroom mirror painted this month and then I got some primary projects and the ornaments done this month. Next month I'm either going to focus on scrapbooks or sewing.

Kleyn is starting to read more chapter books and he's loving them. I asked him if he liked the picture books or the chapter books more and he said that he liked the chapter books more because they are more interesting. I know he struggles with reading, but I really hope he can find something that really gets his attention and he can enjoy reading as much as I do.

We just had parent-teacher conferences and Kaleb and Kleyn are both doing so well. The teachers both said they are right where they should be. I just need to keep pushing them a little bit so they don't fall behind. Kaleb is doing well with his letters, letter sounds, and his sight words. He doesn't seem to struggle with them like Kleyn did, so I'm hoping that's a good sign for him. He likes to point out all of the words he knows while we are reading at night.

Dannika is going to be in primary in three weeks. We have been bringing in the five little girls that are going to be our sunbeams for singing time. I think they'll adjust to it just fine. They look like such a fun class. Dannika loves having four princess friends to play with. She still loves to sing and knows a lot of songs and loves to make up her own. She still sneaks out to the swing set whenever she gets a chance even when it's freezing outside.

Annistyn is so ready to start eating food. She watches everyone while they are eating and if you get a spoon anywhere near her mouth she follows it with her eyes and her open mouth. She's not a really big fan of the rice cereal and I'm not sure that she's going to love the baby food, either, but she likes tiny bits of soft vegetables. I'm going to try the pureed baby food with her in the next two weeks and I guess we'll go from there. She is rolling all over the place and when she sees something she wants she knows there's some way to get to it, but she just doesn't know quite what to do yet. She gets her little bum up in the air and her face smashed in the ground, but that's about it right now. Her little bald spot on the back of her head is finally starting to fill in just a tiny bit.

Danny is still working his tail off and I always wish there were more I could do to help him. I hate feeling like he has to choose between spending time with his family and going out to his shop to work. Once he gets these big projects done that he's in the middle of he says that he'll start doing one project at a time so that it doesn't get so overwhelming. I am so grateful to him for how hard he works and how much he does to provide for us.

I am still just trying to keep up with everything and everyone. I am looking forward to another year in primary and the Christmas break. I need to work on losing weight again and I have quite a few projects that I want to work on as well. I'm going to get my sewing room and scrapbook room in working order so that I can do that in my spare time.

I hope everyone is doing well this Christmas season and that you are all safe and happy.

 

We love you! Merry Christmas!