Too Loud Crew

Sierra's Music Project

2010-11-18T16:51:00.000-05:00

My Bikers

2010-05-03T14:00:00.003-04:00

Aspen & Sierra have signed up to do a bike ride to Louisville this Summer. If you don't feel like Google mapping, that is about 160 miles going the side road route. The youth leaders in the ward that we share a building with have put this together and have invited our ward's youth to participate. They will ride down to Louisville in 2 days; going 75 miles one day and 85 the other. Once down there, they will sleep for the night, and then get up and do Baptisms for the Dead at the Louisville Temple.

The girls are super excited to be able to go on this adventure and I have been so proud of their accomplishments so far. They have done a couple of 10 mile rides, a 26 mile ride, and a 31 mile ride. Do you really want to be jealous? Neither one of them has complained to me yet about being sore! Sierra did take a bit of a spill on the 31 mile ride this past Saturday and scraped up her arm and knee, but nothing to really write home about. She also had a bruise on her ankle, but hasn't really had a problem with it.

They have LOVED every minute of riding and I hope that we can keep it up even after the big ride to Louisville. I wish I could have done it with them, but these rides are mandatory, and I still have class on Saturdays. Hopefully, I can start riding with them when I'm done, but most likely won't be going on the big ride.

Thomas and I are just beaming with pride and know that they will really cherish these memories that they are making!

PS. It is BEAUTIFUL out here in Indy, and we LOVE visitors!! *Hint**Hint**Wink**Wink*

Can't be fixed...Story of our lives...

2010-04-01T12:58:00.003-04:00

Aspen had an appointment today with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. It took us about 3 months to get in. The reason we were taking her had sort of resolved on its own, but I thought we better go and make sure everything was okay. Last summer, we noticed that Aspen had a lump on her kneecap that was probably the size of 2 marbles. It was kind of gross looking and she could grab it and squeeze it...double gross. After about a month, it started to send shocks up and down her leg. We took her to the pediatrician and she made us an appointment with the surgeon, but the earliest appointment available was for 3 months later. Gotta love it!

So this lump has kind of just diminished slowly over the last month and really isn't there anymore. At her appointment, they ordered xrays to make sure everything was okay, and by the time the Dr. came in to see us she looked pretty annoyed with us for coming to have her look at something that wasn't there. Wah, Wah, right?

While the nurse was asking us questions before the Dr. came in, I asked her if we could also have the Dr. look at Aspen's feet. Aspen is very pigeon-toed and looks like she has really flat feet. Well, a nurse practitioner came in first and asked Aspen if she could sit in the "w-sit." It's where you kneel down, but then spread your legs outward and sit on your bottom on the floor. I knew exactly what she meant because Aspen sits like that ALL the time! Aspen shows her, and I hear the NP just hum and nod...not usually a good sign, huh? She then watches Aspen walk up and down the hall, and checks her legs and hips while she lays down on the bed. By this time, I knew something was up.

The NP said that Aspen has Femoral Anteversion. Uh...what? It's when the femur is twisted. That is what cause the knees and feet to point inward. She said the being able to sit in the "w-sit" comfortably is a tell tale sign. Apparently 90% of kids who have it grow out of it by age 10. Yeah, well, we all know my kids don't ever grow out of the stuff they should. She goes on to say that the only way to treat it is with a VERY painful surgery that they absolutely won't do unless the child is in severe pain from it. Basically, the slice the femur bone and twist it back to where it should be. OKAY...she can live it!! She did say that doing ballet really helps kids with this condition. As soon as she left, Aspen turns directly towards me and says, "I am NOT taking ballet!"

Ballet focuses on turning the feet outward, which is why it would help.
Aspen can do this move, but completely opposite. She turns her toes inward all the way and then puts her feet one in front of the other.

Marina came with me and she was doing really well and being super patient sitting in the chair. Well, towards the end of the visit, she slumps out of the chair in complete boredom onto the floor straight into the, you guessed it, the "w-sit!" Both the Dr. and the NP look at her funny and then look at me and say, OH...she's got it too! Nice.

Fashion Show Pics...as Promised!

2010-03-29T19:39:00.022-04:00

Aspen with the whole group before the show started. She is in the back left hand side.
Don't they look ready to ROCK?!?

Oh sure, she strikes a pose backstage....

AND...here we go!

She had a GRIP on that necklace!

Sorry that they weren't in any kind of order, but I GAVE UP after messing with it for so long!
Can you believe this girl is ONLY 13?!?

Divine By Design

2010-03-28T17:11:00.008-04:00

Last night, Aspen was invited to be a part of an awesome program put on by the Stake Young Women's (YW) Presidency. It was a MODEST fashion show called Divine by Design. Talking about how we are designed by our Heavenly Father in his Divine wisdom. Aspen felt really special for being invited to be in it, especially since only a handful in the whole stake were chosen. The fashion show was before the YW General Broadcast last night, and tied in really well with all that the General YW Presidency and Elder Uchtdorf had to say. The leaders in charge of the fashion show had no idea that the General President and Elder Uchtdorf would bring up the same theme, so it was just a really nice night and went together perfectly!

They really went all out for this program and I was completely surprised at what they had planned. Before the fashion show started, one of the leaders talked about how the media is distorting our views about beauty and how FAKE they are in their advertising. She went through lots of time periods and discussed how certain fashions were "in style" and how the media played into those fears that women have about their bodies. She talked about how plastic surgery is really popular now and how that may be as crazy as when the Chinese women would bind their feet to be smaller. I think it made complete sense and I know that she had all the girls' attention in that room. She showed a couple of videos that showed how a picture of a model can be so distorted and how when you look at and think about how beautiful the model is, you really are not even seeing the real person! Here is one of the videos by the Dove and their campain for real beauty.

She also talked about this picture that Ralph Lauren had as an ad. I mean this model doesn't even look human anymore after all of the photoshopping!

There was another video that she showed, but I can't find it. It was just a really nice program with a great message. I'm glad that Aspen and Sierra were able to be there last night.

I got some video of Aspen walking the runway, while a friend of mine took some still pics. I'll post those as soon as I get them. She was so super nervous, but still had fun! She did GREAT!! The first time they modeled their hair that they had done by professionals, then they modeled a casual outfit, and then they modeled a Sunday Best outfit! She thought is was so funny that the hair people told her she had a beautiful mane...ha ha! I'm so proud of her & so glad that she got to spend a couple of days with some great girls getting pampered! Everyone came up to me all night telling me how beautiful she is, which I of course already know!

It's About Time

2010-03-07T11:11:00.004-05:00

Ryker is FINALLY beginning to lose some teeth! He is so overly excited. It's just adorable! He lost one on the bottom a little while ago, but he lost another one yesterday. His adult teeth are starting to come in behind his baby teeth. They're tired of waiting, I guess. He has an adult tooth on the bottom coming in under his tongue. The picture of the one below was starting to wedge his loose front tooth and wouldn't let it come out. It's been loose for awhile, but it's just been stuck on the one side. So, yesterday we decided it needed to come out. Ryker couldn't pull it, and didn't want us to pull it, so Thomas suggested to Ryker that we wrap a string around it to try and get it out. He did, and he pulled and pulled and it came out! His face was priceless! He was so proud of himself!

AWESOME GIVEAWAY!

2010-03-05T15:41:00.002-05:00

Hey Everyone!

My good friend over at www.sewmanybooks.blogspot.com is doing an awesome GIVEAWAY!! Get on over there to enter (CLICK HERE to go directly to the giveaway post) and tell her that Jamie sent you! Don't forget to reference my name people!!

What are you waiting for? GO NOW!!

Brace Face!

2010-03-03T19:30:00.003-05:00

Aspen got her braces on today! I think she was a little excited, but didn't want to show it too much. After she came home, she didn't hurt hardly at all. I kept asking her because I KNEW it was gonna hurt. Sure enough, about 5 hours later it hit her like a brick wall and she was in tears! Poor thing! She looks great with them on and I'll be glad to have ONE kid in braces done with and FOUR more to go. I was told awhile ago by our dentist in Vegas to start saving because ALL 5 kids were gonna need them. Boy, was she right! We definitely got the bad teeth genes in this family, for sure!

Valentine's Day FUNdue

2010-03-03T19:08:00.002-05:00

On Valentine's Day, I decided to start a NEW tradition! We had FUNdue for dinner. We kept it a secret from the kids, and then when we told them what it was and gave them directions on how to eat it, they had a BLAST! They just couldn't get over the fact that we were gonna let them dip their dinner all night. I had a lot of fun putting it together and am so glad that the kids enjoyed it.

First, we had a Cheese FUNdue! We dipped cut up french bread and cut up ham into it. Here's the recipe for the cheese. It was super yummy! I doubled this, but I really shouldn't have. It made a LOT! I got the recipe from HERE, but changed the cheese. I used half Swiss and half Cheddar.

Non-Alcoholic Cheese Fondue

1/2 lb. Swiss Cheese
1/2 lb Cheddar
2 Cloves Garlic
3T Flour
2T Butter
1 1/2 cups Milk
1/2T Lemon Juice
1/8 tsp Nutmeg
Salt & Pepper to taste

Peel garlic and slice the cloves in half the long way so the most inner surface is showing. Rub a heavy saucepan with two halves of the garlic for flavoring. Rub the fondue pot with the other two garlic halves.

Grate the cheese and mix with 1 T. of the flour.

Melt the butter in saucepan over medium-low heat. Add rest of flour. Stir well till smooth. Add about ½ cup of milk and stir till smooth. Slowly add the rest of the milk, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens to about the consistency of light cream. Add a handful of cheese and keep stirring. Let the cheese melt and then add another handful and stir until it melts. Repeat the process until all the cheese is melted.

Once all the cheese has been added and the mixture is smooth, you can stir in the nutmeg, salt and pepper. Finally, add the lemon juice. Stir well till the mixture is smooth once again.

Then I added the cheese from the stove to a crock pot. It worked out really nice!

Eat Immediately!!

Then we moved onto the Meat FUNdue. We started off putting chicken broth into a Frydaddy. The chicken we cooked in there tasted GREAT, but the broth kept trying to boil over. So, we emptied out the broth and put in some oil. It worked great, but didn't taste as good as the broth, but it was still YUMMY! The kids got a little bored waiting for their meat to cook, so this wasn't their favorite course.

After the chicken, we had DESSERT! It was so good, and definitely the kids' favorite course! I used white chocolate because some in my house aren't big on the regular chocolate. (That would be ME & Aspen!) The white chocolate was HEAVENLY! Seriously...the kids were in heaven! We dipped strawberries, marshmellows, pound cake, pretzels, and bananas. I got the recipe HERE, and we followed it exactly!!

Ingredients

1 cup heavy cream
1/2 stick unsalted butter
2 (12-ounce) packages premier white morsels

In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine cream and butter. Bring mixture to a simmer, stirring constantly. Remove pan from heat. Add white morsels. Stir until melted and smooth. Cool slightly. Transfer to a fondue pot, chafing dish, or ceramic bowl. Serve immediately with sliced apples, sliced bananas, strawberries, cookies, pretzels, and pound cake.

It was so much fun and

I'm so glad I started a new tradition!

School, School, School.....

2010-02-13T11:34:00.002-05:00

Literally.....

We have been so focused on Thomas' school, my school and the kids' school that not a whole lot else has been going on. There is pretty much NOTHING new and exciting going on in the Garyson home! It's been challenging, to say the least, the last few months. I go back and forth at least 5 times a day on whether I should just send the kids back to a regular public school or just tough it out and keep them in their charter school.

Aspen would really like to get back into sports and friends. She has also told us how she likes her teachers teaching her and not us. Sierra is completely opposite! She would rather be completely at home and not have to go into school at all. That worries me a little as I don't want her to become a hermit! Ryker and Harley get tired of having MOM tell them what to do and what not to do, but for the most part they are doing quite well. I've started giving them checklists of all the school work needed to get done in the morning, and they love doing it "on their own" and checking it off as they go. Marina, well, she is tired of having everyone home, and NOT having everyone's attention at all times. I mean, if they're home, they should be paying attention to her, right??

Thomas is plugging away at his Calculus, Chemistry and CAD classes. It's starting to get SUPER tough, but he is doing a great job staying focused on the future and working really hard to understand all of it. He has a tutors for calculus and chemistry, but I'm not sure if they are really helping. He NEEDS a great tutor! Hmmm...where to find one, though....

I am taking 3 online classes, and a chemistry class on campus. PLUS, I just got into a class at the hospital here to become a Unit Secretary! I am SUPER DUPER excited and the first class was really fun. I can't wait to finish and be able to get a job in a hospital nursing unit and get some experience with nurses. OH, well, that's new....I hated all of my business classes, so I decided to try nursing! It's quite a big step for me, as I NEVER thought I would EVER want to be a nurse. (I'm not too keen on needles.) But, I've talked with several nurses and it just feels right. For some reason, I just keep coming back to it! So, I thought, let's give it a try! I am also still babysitting, so I keep busy with my school, the kids' schooling, babysitting and helping to run the Primary in our ward!

So, now you know why I don't update as much as I'd LOVE to. Hopefully, soon, this will all be worth it! There is a faint light starting to show......

Trip To DC

2010-01-25T22:23:00.002-05:00

Thanksgiving morning after my parents headed out to Jerusalem, we packed up and headed out to DC. I love that we live here in Indy and can drive there. There is absolutely no way we all could have gone to visit my brother if we didn't live so close. And by so close, I mean about a 10 hour drive away. Which is still fairly close.

Before we could even leave, we had to break into our house! Yup, you heard right. We locked up ALL of the doors, and since we had rented a van, we left all of the keys to the cars hidden in the house. Well, the keys to the house are also on those key rings. We realized it too late, and had to figure out how we should go about getting in. Thomas ended up having to go up in the attic in the garage, walk across the rafters to the back of the house and bust down the drywall sealing up the attic access in our room. Definitely NOT as easy as that sounds!!

So, after all that hullabaloo, we were on our way. The trip wasn't bad at all, and the kids did great! As lond as we had movies, they were GOOD! We got there that night, and just relaxed and played with cousins for the night.

The next day, we decided to go to Mt. Vernon, which is George Washington's home. I am so glad we went! I love going places where my kids will enjoy themselves, but also learn a TON while they are there. If you're ever in DC, go to Mt. Vernon. I think you should go, at least, once.

The next day, we headed out to the National Mall. We did the Museum of Natural History first, and then we walked around the Mall to the Air and Space Museum. My kids LOVE the movie Night at the Museum, so they really enjoyed finding all of the stuff that was in the movie. Then we walked back around to our cars, and headed to the Lincoln Memorial where a few of us jumped out and went up and took pictures.

Sunday, we woke up, got packed and headed home. It took us about 2 hours longer than going because of an accident, but it was so worth it to go! We loved spending some one on one time with my brother and his family, and hope to get together with them once more time before they head out for Cairo Egypt for a few years. We will definitely miss them!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Harley's Baptism

2010-01-25T21:58:00.002-05:00

We had a wonderful day for Harley's Baptism. It was so nice to have some family come. We are so proud of Harley and are just loving being her parents. She got her new set of scriptures the night of her Baptism and started reading them. She didn't put them at all that night. It was so sweet! We definitely missed those who couldn't come, but we're so thankful you could all be there in spirit. Enjoy the slide show!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Getting Ready for the Big Day

2010-01-14T15:52:00.003-05:00

Wow! I can't believe the day is almost here. Harley is 8 now, and will be baptized this Saturday. My 2nd to youngest child will be baptized! How is it possible that my kids keep getting older, and yet, I stay so young?!? Ha ha! We're so excited to see her take this big step in her life and couldn't be prouder of the young woman she is becoming. We will miss those of you who can't make it, but I know that your hearts will be with us on Saturday. I will try to remember to post pictures soon after.

Family Pics

2009-12-08T23:15:00.002-05:00

While Grandma & Papa were here, we decided to have them help us take some family pictures. We had a lot of fun and got a couple of good ones!

Which is your favorite?

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Aspen

2009-12-04T21:02:00.003-05:00

While Grandma and Grandpa Neel were here visiting, we all got to attend Aspen's very first Young Women in Excellence program. It was really fun to go and see everyone who participated, but we couldn't wait to see Aspen perform on her guitar. She's been taking lessons since the middle of September, so almost 3 months. I can't believe how well she is doing. She loves playing and has started to write some of her own songs with Sierra. It's really nice to see them get along and do something together that they both love.

Aspen will probably kill me when she finds out that I posted this, but I know that her other set of grandparents and ALL of those aunts and uncles would love to see it. She did awesome and we're so proud of her. Her friend helped her sing last minute because Aspen was super nervous! I'm so grateful that she is surrounded by such wonderful young women in the ward and we love that she hopped up to help her.

Enjoy!!

White Turkey Chili....Mmmmmm....

2009-11-09T21:24:00.002-05:00

I have been trying to clear out my deep freezer and get all of the meat used up that's in there. So, on Sunday, I decided to cook up the turkey that has been buried in the bottom of it for awhile now. I really wanted to make this chili, so that was motivation enough to get it cooked up. I can not even begin to tell you how yummy it was! Seriously, I think it's one of the best meals I've made to date...which really isn't saying much, but who cares??

CLICK HERE to see the original recipe. Those of you that know me, even a little, know that I left out the onion and the green chilies. I also didn't have any white pepper or chile flakes. So, I just didn't add any white pepper and I substituted chili powder for the flakes. The recipe also says to use a food processor to process one of the cans of beans...I just used a fork and mashed it up really good.

This chili is just the right amount of heat. It's not spicy at all, but it has a little chili kick to it!

So here is the recipe, exactly how I made it...

Slow-cooked White Chili
• 2 15.5-oz cans north white beans, -keep cans separate, you'll be adding them one at a time- rinsed and drained
* 1 can cannelloni beans (white kidney beans)
• 32-oz fat-free chicken broth
• 3 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 T chili powder
• 1 t ground cumin
• 1 t dried oregano
• 1/8 t ground cloves
• 1/8 t cayenne pepper
• 1 T black pepper
• salt (as needed)
• 3 cups pieces of cooked turkey (you could also use chicken)
• 1 can kernel corn
• 3/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt
• sour cream
• shredded cheddar cheese

1. Pour one can great northern beans and the one can of cannelloni beans, broth, chili powder, turkey and corn in a slow cooker on high heat.
2. Combine the other can of great northern beans with the rest of the spices (garlic, cumin, oregano, cloves, cayenne pepper, and black pepper) and mash up with a fork. Add a couple ladles of broth from the slow cooker. Keep mashing until it’s a smooth paste and then pour in the slow cooker.
4. Cook on low for about 4 hours (if you’re in a hurry, it’s not all that necessary to cook that long, but heating all the ingredients together helps with blending all of the flavors).
***If you want to freeze it, do it now, before adding the yogurt.
5. Just before serving, pour the yogurt in and stir.
6. Ladle into bowls, top with a dollop of sour cream and/or shredded Cheddar Cheese.

ENJOY! All of us did....yes, even the kids loved it!!

Apple Orchard

2009-10-14T17:14:00.002-04:00

One of the parents in the kids' school put together a field trip to the apple orchard. We had never been, so we were so glad that we were able to make it. We drove about 45 minutes south to a really fun orchard. The kids got to pick apples, go on a tour, and learned so much. Did you know that there are like 65 different types of apples? This particular orchard had 7,000 trees and every spring they bring in about 400,000 bees to help pollinate them. It was really fun. It was also beautiful there. The Fall colors are really starting to show on all the trees.

The kids really enjoyed everything there. They had farm animals and some pretty cool swings and then they had this slide. Thomas said it looked like it was made from some storm drain pipes. It was pretty tall, but there was NO curve at the bottom. So, you always knew when someone came down, 'cause we could hear a "OH!" Then they would come out holding their backs saying how it hurt, but 2 seconds later went running back up to go again. It really was hilarious!!

I've never in my life had an apple dumpling before, and for some reason, I thought they were noodly like chinese dumplings. Anyways, I bought a couple of pans from them, and I have died and gone to Heaven! WOW! They were awesome! We also got some fresh apple cider which tastes like you're biting into an apple. YUMMY! We've decided that we need to take Thomas down there in the next week or so, just so we can get some more.

Angie Seaman Photography Giveaway!!

2009-10-13T13:26:00.001-04:00

I have been following Angie Seaman and her photography for a while now. She is super talented and has given me some inspiration to go and learn more about photography. She is giving away a fun new camera in the next few days! So, get on over there and comment on her blog to be entered!

CLICK HERE TO GET TO HER BLOG!

It's Fall!

2009-10-01T20:22:00.000-04:00

The weather here has been so nice the last week or so. I'm not sure if I'm ready for Winter, but I do love Fall. The leaves are starting to change, and there is just that crispy smell in the air. I just love it! Our ward has a little playgroup that tries to get together once a week or every other week. Today, we went to the Fall Festival at Waterman's Farm. I just had Marina and 3 other little ones that I watch. I think Marina liked that none of her older siblings got to come. It was our little secret, and she kept it! She didn't tell anyone else that we were going. So funny! Here are a few pics. I didn't get too many because I was holding a baby for most of these. (I think I did pretty well, if I must say so myself!!) We got to go on a hayride out to the pumpkin patch where the kids got to pick out their own pumpkin. Marina had to make sure that she got one with a good stem so she could carve it like an elephant. Grandpa Jim taught them that a few years ago, and it has stuck! They only try to find ones now with long curvy stems. She kept telling everyone that she found an elephant one, but nobody understood what she was talking about! Anyways, it was a lot of fun, and I can't wait to get back there and go again with all the other kids. Next stop....apple picking!!

Off With Her....

2009-09-26T10:17:00.006-04:00

Training Wheels!!

Disclaimer: These videos are kinda long with the important parts at the beginning. I just kept the video rolling.

By the way...Marina came in this morning around 7am asking to go out and ride her bike!! She's so proud of herself...and we are too!!

Another One Bites The Dust

2009-09-16T19:20:00.002-04:00

My Hillbilly

2009-09-13T15:32:00.004-04:00

Harley is quickly becoming our toothless wonder! She has just lost another tooth. It was one of her top front ones, and the other one is not going to take much longer to come out either. She also has some more loose ones on the bottom! She's not going to be able to eat if she keeps this up!

Oh, and Ryker is NOT all to happy about Harley loosing all of her teeth. He has yet to even get a wiggle!! He'll be 9 in November and we don't see him losing any teeth in the near future. Poor kid. When he saw Harley pull her tooth out, he just let out this sad sigh. I keep telling him, he's gonna be missing teeth when he goes out on his first date!!

Aspen starts Volleyball

2009-09-13T15:31:00.000-04:00

Aspen started playing volleyball!! She's been asking to play since before we moved to Indy, but I haven't been able to find any youth leagues. Well, I found one. It's takes us 45 minutes to get there, but we found one! Ha Ha This organization has a club volleyball league, but we just have Aspen in their recreational league. We don't have the time or the money to start doing travel ball! She did a summer camp with them during the summmer and loved it, so we signed her up for the 5 week league. They hesitate to call it a league, though, because it's just their own group of girls. They just end up playing more scrimmage type games. She does get more of a "training camp" type atmosphere, though, since it's just them. I really love the group of people involved in this, so that makes the drive for us worth it. It'll be over October 3rd, so I know she'll be sad, but hopefully they'll have other programs like this soon.

Under The Sea

2009-09-06T22:24:00.004-04:00

We had a great Under the Sea Party for Marina's 5th Birthday. It all came together so nicely! We spent about 4 hours and used over 1500 feet of streamers to make it all happen, but it was totally worth it.

When Marina's friends arrived, we had them color a coloring book that I had put together until everyone had arrived. "Everyone" included 11 4-6 year olds! It was crazy and loud, but super fun. After they all arrived, we ate octopus hotdogs, goldfish crackers, and blue jello w/ fish gummies. The octopus hotdogs were a hit! Do a search on Youtube for them to see a tutorial. They are super easy and the kids got a kick out of them.

Then, we played lots of games. We played "Fish, Fish, Shark" (Duck, Duck, Goose), we let them jump up and down on bubble wrap, we had crab walk races, and mermaid races, pinned the crown on Ariel, and did the limbo. Aspen and Sierra had lots of fun taking that over and helping the girls.

Then, we opened presents. Thomas certainly had all the girls' attention! Obviously, all of the presents she got were totally girly, and so as she opened each one, he would say things like, "I love to wear those!" or "Those are my favorite!" She got blendy pens from her cousin, and Thomas said, "Ooooh, I'm gonna color in my underwear with those!" Thomas said it was the most fun he's had in awhile. He LOVED all the No's and giggles and looks he got from all the girls.

After we opened presents, we made these sand art seashell necklaces. Only, we didn't use colored sand, we used colored sugar!! They turned out really cute, and the girls, of course, didn't mind that it was pure sugar. Then we sang Happy Birthday, and ate the ice cream cone cupcakes that Marina helped me make. They turned our really yummy, and the icing that I found was awesome!! You gotta try it!! It's from Pillsbury and it's called Easy Frost. I loved it, and it made frosting the cupcakes a breeze.

Then the girls just played with balloons and did the limbo until their parents came to pick them up. Overall, I think it was a complete success, and am so glad that we could make Marina's first "friend" party a memorable one! I am going to be trying to take some better pictures of how we decorated. We changed the light bulbs in the room to blue ones, so the pics came out really dark. The ceiling really looked like waves when we had the fans blowing on the streamers. It was so fun!

Wish you all could have been here!

Happy Birthday Lil Red!

2009-09-03T08:06:00.003-04:00

The Birthday Countdown Has Begun!

2009-08-27T11:13:00.006-04:00

I can NOT believe that I haven't posted since MAY!! Holy Moly!! Believe or not, that's mostly because there just hasn't been much going on around here. Just the same old same old. Well, that's about to change as the birthday marathon is about to begin. We've got a birthday to celebrate EVERY month through December, and in December we've actually got 2!

Marina kicks off the marathon with her birthday in just 7 days! She's been waiting a LONG time for this. She is really bummed now, though, because she finally understands that just because you turn 5 doesn't automatically mean you can start kindergarten. Yep...she misses the deadline here in Indianapolis by 2 whole days! Bummer!

Marina has never had a "friend" birthday party, so we decided that turning 5 is a pretty big deal, and that it would be fun to let her have one this year. We've been tossing ideas around for some time now, and have finally decided on an Ariel-Under the Sea party. Today we made her invitations to hand out. We had lots of fun, and I think they turned out so adorable!

Pure Indiana Beauty...and, yes, it really is that green here!

2009-05-16T23:55:00.003-04:00

I Got Nothin'!

2009-05-06T17:50:00.003-04:00

I've been trying to think of something I could post about lately, and I got nothin'!

Everything in the Garyson household is pretty much the same old same old. I'm still babysitting, the kids are rushing to get all of their assignments finished before school ends the first week of June and Thomas is finishing up his semester at school.

One thing I guess I could share is that Thomas got a job with FedEx as a package handler at the airport. He had to leave his job during the day because they were not working around his school schedule very well and, right now, school is our top priority. He will be loading and unloading planes that come into the hub. We are really excited for him to have this job...#1 because it will bring in a little bit of money and #2 it will give us some much needed insurance. They have an awesome benefit package for part timers which even includes tuition reimbursement up to $3000/year. That'll help!! He'll be working 3-4 hours Mon-Fri between the hours of 10p-5a. So, the sleeping arrangement is something we are gonna have to work on, especially since he will still be in school full time. We are so grateful for this job and hope it works out just the way we hope!

We'll be in Vegas from June 13th -23rd to see my brother and his family. They just adopted a beautiful baby girl from China and we can't wait to go and see them!! The kids will have a busy summer spending time with grandparents and going to camps and such. Thomas will be taking classes all summer and I will be babysitting, of course!

Well, hopefully I'll have something blog worthy to post soon!!

Caught!

2009-04-23T23:19:00.004-04:00

It's 11pm and all the kids are safe and soundly in dreamland. I come out of my room to tell Thomas to stop studying and come to bed, when I see what is really keeping Thomas awake so late.......

Look at that face....boy has totally been caught!!!

Grace

2009-04-16T08:35:00.003-04:00

There is a family that I knew growing up that had twin boys. These twin boys are both married now to 2 wonderful ladies. One of the twins has had 2 biological children that have both passed away due to 2 different diseases. The other twin has one healthy girl (born the same day as the other twins daughter) and another little girl who has Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, which is what the other twins son died from. I know it's kinda confusing, but it is so heart wrenching and heart warming at the same time. These 2 families have gone through so much.

Grace had heart surgery at only a few days old and had to spend the first 90 days of her life in the hospital. After being home for only 4 months, she had to go back for some more heart surgeries and other countless procedures which kept her in the hospital another 2 months.

Well, now Gracie's family has the chance to get professional pictures done. This is a huge deal, as Gracie's non-existent immune system has prevented them from being able to go and get professional pics done. This would give them chance to finally have some nice family pictures.

So please go HERE and vote for Grace! You can use as many email addresses as you have, but only use each email address once. I used my 2, Thomas' and the my 4 older kids' who have theirs.

Thanks for reading and helping!!

If you would like to read more about Grace, go HERE! And you can read about the other twin's amazing family HERE!

Playing Catch Up...

2009-04-14T20:59:00.006-04:00

There a couple of things that I haven't posted about, that I would like to mostly for journaling sake....Enjoy....

A few weeks ago, Ryker received his Bobcat award in Cub Scouts. He LOVES going to scouts and was so proud of his very first award! A few things he did to earn his Bobcat was to cook the family a meal all by himself and do the dishes and he made the birdhouse he is holding. I just love that he loves scouting. I know that it will be a great benefit to him in his life and I hope he continues to love it!
There have been some really beautiful days in the last month here in Indy, and we took advantage of them!! One night, we put a picnic together and went to the park. The kids had fun shedding their winter coats and enjoying the nice weather.

Easter was pretty laid back. We invited a cute little family from our ward over to eat with us, which made it so much less lame for us! The kids had a blast eating and playing with their adorable daughters and we had fun having some adult conversation for once. The Easter Bunny came and filled their baskets with sweet goodies and something else, as you'll see in the pics! So funny!!

Aspen is growing up so fast! I'm still getting used to the fact that she gets to go to Young Women's every week, and then they send her home looking like this.....

Aspen is pretty much the only active Beehive, and I'm pretty sure there are only Laurels with her. So, the other girls are much older than her and they just adore dressing her up and doing her make up. I thought it was cute, but she can still wait awhile before looking like that on a daily basis. I think Thomas almost had a heart attack when she walked in. All I could think of was how her Papa was gonna strangle her and any boy who even thought about looking twice!!!!

I Have Furniture on My Eye!

2009-04-01T16:03:00.002-04:00

Okay, well, maybe not furniture, but an infection. Marina keeps telling me that there is something wrong with my eye and that there is furniture on it. She also thinks that Chapstick has something to do with it...don't ask me why!

Anyways, yes, this is my 2nd eyelid infection in 6 months. Apparently, I have baffled my optometrist. She said that it is pretty rare to get it once, let alone MORE than once, so close together AND in the exact same eye! UGH! It hurts so bad, and has made my eyelid swell up so big. It's not pink eye at all, as my eye itself is just fine. But, if the infection gets too bad, it can spread to my brain. Yea, that kinda scared me! I am on some antibiotics and hopefully, the swelling will go down fairly quickly like last time.

Why me???

Lost Generation

2009-03-28T23:08:00.003-04:00

They showed this video tonight at the Mother/Daughter Dinner before the YW General Conference. I just love it's message. Enjoy!

Say It On A Sign

2009-03-26T22:30:00.001-04:00

My sister in law had a link to this site on her blog and I just thought I'd share! (Plus, it gives me an extra entry into the give a way!!) Yup, go to this site and enter to get a FREE sign! I just scrolled through most of them, and they are super cute. Have fun!!

http://www.sayitonasign.net

Heavenly Experience

2009-03-25T15:13:00.003-04:00

We had such a great time at the cabin last weekend. It was nice to get out of town (only 45 min.) and not have anything to worry about. The kids had lots of fun playing outside and in the hot tub. When we got there, there was a note telling us about the friendly neighbor's dog that like to come and visit the guests and bring his friends. They even left dog treats in a canister on the counter for us to feed them. The kids really were in heaven after meeting those dogs. Frances and Lucy came and hung out with us for most of the day on Saturday. The kids were just begging and begging to take them home with us. Thank goodness for me, they already had owners!

The kids couldn't wait to get into the hot tub, and frankly neither could I. It felt so good to sit and relax all my aching muscles in there. Some day, I'll get my own, but for now 2 days with that one had to do. Thomas and Ryker LOVED hanging out in the basement and playing pool. Ryker was so adorable trying to maneuver that big ole pool stick around.

Later Saturday afternoon, we decided to go into the sleepy town of Nashville, Indiana to get some homemade ice cream. I saw an ad in a little magazine for it. I had no idea that there was such cute shops to go window shopping in. The kids had lots of fun walking around and taking in the country shops and sites. They were really freaked out, though, by the life size dolls that were in the ice cream parlor and really played a piano. I must admit, they freaked me out as well!

During the day on Saturday, we played lots of fun things. We brought all kinds of palls and raquets and bubbles. We had a blast just playing all day together. Then Saturday night, Thomas built a fire. The kids had a little too much fun helping him with that! Plus, right around that time Marina got real crazy! She hadn't taken a nap in two days, and it was certainly starting take its toll. Just watch these videos...oh yea, this girl NEEDS her naps!!

There were also journals on one of the side tables next to the couch, where all of the guests would write down there experience there in that cabin. It was fun to read how everyone's trip went. One guest awhile back started a "money" game. They hid like $15 in one dollar bills all around the cabin, and the next guest was to try and find it and then sign the dollars and re-hide them and add more dollars if they wanted to. Supposedly, there was about $30-40 when we got there. We only found $10, and we searched every where. I couldn't believe some of the places we found those dollars. One was up in a crack betweent he cieling and the logs of the cabin. I just happened to notice it while sitting on the couch! Aspen had to climb on a chair to get it. The kids definitely thought that was one cool game!

We loved it there and the kids keep asking if we will be able to go again. I definitely can't wait to go again!!

Heaven is Less Than 24 Hours Away

2009-03-19T20:49:00.004-04:00

This week is Thomas' spring break. We really wanted to get out of town, but all of the hotels were gonna cost us an arm and a leg because now that there are 7 of us, we have to get 2 rooms in most hotels. Plus, then we would have had to pay for whatever recreation we were doing. Well, I found this totally last minute...like yesterday! For 2 nights it will cost us the same as 2 hotel rooms. BUT, we get the added bonus of NOT having to pay for any additional recreational activities, like an amusement park.

We are renting a cabin named "Almost Heaven." We told the kids that we were gonna go down there without any Nintendo Ds or Psp or computer and just spend some quality time together as a family. It is 3 bedrooms, has a hot tub, pool, pool table, fire pit, horseshoe pit and is on 5 acres that we get ALL to ourselves!! We plan on taking our groceries with us to make all of our meals there and not leave the entire time. It truly is gonna be Heaven!

Happy St. Patty's Day & Happy Birthday Papa!!

2009-03-16T23:44:00.005-04:00

I had a lot of fun getting the kids' lunches ready for St. Patrick's Day. It took some doing separating all of the green items out of their groups, but I love doing fun things for them!! Leprechauns are also leaving the kids some Lucky Charms and green milk for breakfast. I can't wait for them to see!!

I also want to wish my daddy, a.k.a. Papa, a Happy Birthday!! I miss being able to sit and talk and hang out with him on almost a daily basis like we used to be able to do when we lived in Vegas. Anyone who knows Papa, knows that he is the "Real Deal!" He is so caring, understanding, loving, extremely generous, kind, funny, talented, smart and the best Papa my kids could EVER ask for! I am eternally grateful for everything he, and my mom of course, has done for me and I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to be their daughter. It's been a rough/weird year in more ways than one, and I'm just so incredibly happy to call him my Daddy!!

Happy St. Patty's Birthday Papa!!!
Can't wait to see you in June!!!

What a Quack!

2009-03-12T14:26:00.003-04:00

Harley did this quacking last week and I thought it was super funny!! I have NO idea where she came up with it....

THEN, of course, Marina had to try it! This is even better....

Face Numbing Smiles

2009-03-01T19:41:00.003-05:00

Aspen, Ryker and Harley had to go to the dentist of Friday. Aspen was supposed to have 4 teeth pulled to get ready for her braces, but only ended up having 2 pulled that day because it was so painful. She'll have to go back and have the other 2 pulled in a few weeks. Ryker and Harley had cavities that needed to be filled. When they came home, I couldn't stop laughing because these were their smiles.......

Seriously...I was in tears from laughing so hard. Don't worry, I wasn't laughing at them, I was laughing WITH them because they couldn't stop either the minute they looked in the mirror!

Priceless!!

A CROC of a deal!

2009-02-20T00:34:00.002-05:00

I just finished buying all of the kids Crocs for $4.98 each!! I am super happy about this deal! It is at www.finishline.com. The shipping is a bit outrageous, but even with it, the deal is still pretty good. They also have a deal going on that if you buy $75 worth of stuff that your shipping is free. So, seeing as I have so many kids anyway...I bought a few extra pairs to get me up to that point.

I ended up getting Ryker 2 pairs of Crocs for $4.98 a piece and then I also got him some Pumas that were on sale in a bigger size for him to grow into. I got Harley & Marina 2 pairs of crocs (a regular kind and some maryjanes for $4.98 a piece) and I also got them some mammoth ones in a bigger size for next winter. The mammoth ones were $9.98. I also got Aspen and Sierra some regular ones for $4.98 each too. They are in women's sizes now, and there wasn't much selection for them.

Anyways, just thought I'd share the great deal. The Finish Line website was so slow today and the server kept going down, so if you are going to try and get some of these, be ready to be patient!!

Can You Guess What Movie Marina's Watching??

2009-02-15T19:04:00.003-05:00

Marina just put in a movie. We asked her which one she picked out, and here is what she told us....

Marty and the Gas Yard

So...can you guess which movie she is watching??

My Future Fashion Designer

2009-02-10T10:46:00.002-05:00

Aw, man, this girl CRACKS me up!!

Starting To Feel Better After 8 Injections....

2009-02-07T15:10:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, I went to have some more injections done on my neck. These particular ones were diagnostic, in that if they work, then the Dr. will know that "burning" my occipital nerve again will also work. He didn't sound too optimistic about it, which made me kinda sad. See, this is a last ditch effort for me to get any relief from the constant pain I am in. (Constant is NOT exaggerated either.) Basically, he said that most people who have their nerve burned do not grow it back. He said that only 10% of those that have had it done DO grow it back. He has agreed that I am most likely in that 10%. Now, when he said that I got a little happy thinking good, this should work and then we'll just burn it again. I guess not, he was not very optimistic that these would work. He said most people that have their nerves grow back, have them grow back all tangled up and in different spots than where they were originally. This means that he wouldn't be able to find where they were exactly to go in and burn them. So, if I get pain relief from these injections, then that means that they grew back where they were before and that he can go ahead and burn my nerve again.

So, I agreed to go ahead and do them, when he said,"Now, I have to do 8. 4 on each side of your neck." I don't think I said a word for about 2 minutes. I had no idea that there would be that many. In Vegas, they always put me to sleep for all the injections, so I don't ever remember getting that many at once. Here, in Indy they have never put me to sleep. So, I wasn't too excited to go through that. They gave me some extra medicine, just to help me relax and he went to work. It was VERY painful, but somehow I got through it. Immediately after, I got a horrible headache, and became very nauseas. Immediately, I started getting upset knowing that this probably didn't work. The Dr. came in to make sure I was going to be okay, and told the nurse to get me some medicine for the headache. She came in and shoved 2 Percucet in my mouth. Now, most everyone that knows me, knows that I don't take pills very well at all. So, I almost threw up just from having her put those in my mouth. I took one out, and tried to take them one at a time. Still didn't work....I still threw them up. TMI, I know.

So, I get home, and I just can't kick the headache or stop throwing up. I tried a few different medicines, put ice on my neck, then tried heat, and nothing worked. I finally called my cousin Aaron in Vegas, who is a Physician's Assistant and was also my Dr. who treated me in Vegas, and he told me what to try, and I did. So, after sleeping on and off for 24 hours, I am finally starting to "see the light." I still have a bit of a headache, but nothing like it was yesterday. I just ate, and seem to be fine. I just feel a little dizzy and my legs feel like mush.

I don't think I'll be able to tell if these injections will work until a good 3 of 4 days pass. I sure hope they do, otherwise I will most likely have this pain for the rest of my life. I hate that I have to schedule my life around pain, and am really praying that this works!! Thanks to everyone for all their kind thoughts, please keep them coming!!

I'll update more later....right now, I think I'm going to go back and lay down again.

Dear Mom and Dad

2009-02-03T20:21:00.002-05:00

Student Name: Harley
Grade: 1 and 2

Dear Mom and Dad
thank you for helping me when I get the ansser wrong. I love you to help me do my work write. I love you so much. You teach me a lot of stuf because you want me to lirn a lot. Thank you for rember to do work in las vegaise. Some times the work is hard but you help me. You are nise to us. You are the best mom and dad I ever had. you work hard to teach me. please help me get good grades. I apereashate you helping me. Thank you so much fo helping. I mostly get the anssers write. Thank you for making brekfest Lunch and Dinner. Thank you for reading storys to me. Thank you for getting trislers for me. Thank you for givving me lots of love. Thank you for taking cear of me and watching over me. You love me I love you. Thank you for tucking me in every night. you rilly teach me a lot. you have two jobs. you have to watch babys and teach all your kids icsept Marina. You teach very good. you are good to us. We love you very much for ever and ever.

Today was "Appreciation Day" at their school. So, Harley wrote Tom and I this beautiful letter. I tried to copy it exactly as written. She was so proud that she filled up the entire page. This letter was so nice to get after having such a bad day yesterday. Harley just melts my heart. She and Ryker are always writing or drawing me such fun things just to let me know that they love me.

I love you too Harley!!

P.S. "trislers" is Twizzlers!! She is totally hooked on them right now...Hee Hee!! And she is in 1st grade, but doing 2nd grade work. That is why she wrote Grade 1 and 2. Such a smartie!!

Snow Day!!

2009-01-28T10:46:00.006-05:00

The snow from the last 2 nights is the largest accumulation they have seen in 10 years. I'm pretty sure at our house we got, at least, 11-12 inches. It's been fun watching it fall...from inside the house, of course!! We took the kids out last night when there was only about 4 inches. Here are some pictures.......

This was from last night...about 3-4 inches had already fallen......

This was from this morning....about 11-12 inches......

I'm trying to convince Thomas to take them out sledding. I am watching a little boy today, so hopefully we will be able to get some pictures to share!!!

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin CHEATER!

2009-01-26T23:36:00.001-05:00

Uh, yup....that's what Ryker shouted out to one of the girls during a game of Go Fish.

Oh yea...it's that ruthless.....

Little Missmatched....LOVE it!!

2009-01-24T23:15:00.005-05:00

I just found this adorable site! CLICK HERE to go to Little Missmatched. They have the cutest socks and tights and lots of other stuff. Their socks are purposely sold in sets of 3, and each sock in the set is different. Each leg in their tights are different too.

This totally solves my problem for mismatched socks!!!

Every Year......

2009-01-23T22:42:00.000-05:00

Every year, my poor Sierra seems to get jipped on her birthday one way or another!! This year, it was the blog post. I was able to do everyone else's birthday post on their birthday except Sierra. Her birthday is December 30th, and well, with all the hullubaloo of the holidays, it just kinda gets pushed back. She did get her birthday present early, though, so I think that makes up for a late post. She got a new Nintendo DS just like the other older 3. She was so excited to get it early, because that meant that she could use it on the plane to Vegas.

Sierra is my uber smart, uber inquisitive kid! In 1st grade, she was reading at a 5th grade level and completely understanding what she was reading. If she wants to know about something she is NOT afraid to ask, and she won't stop asking until she gets an explanation or some kind of answer. There are so many nights that Thomas will go in to tuck the girls in and an HOUR later I have to go in and break up the deep converstation going on. Right now, she is reading The Lord Of The Rings Series. She even asked for the set for Christmas. How many 11 year olds have you heard asking for that for Christmas?? I'm guessing...not many! I love that she loves to learn, and I hope that she won't quit. She told me last Summer, that she really, really wants to go to Harvard. If I know Sierra, she'll be there!! (Guess I better start-a-saving!)

Here are some things that I love about Sierra.....

- She is the BESTest friend anyone could ask for! She is so compassionate and loving!
- She won't take NO for an answer.....sometimes this can be hard on me, but in other areas it makes me extremely proud!
- She has a strong will to choose the right.
- She is beautiful!
- She is an excellent artist, both in her writing and in her drawing.
- She is a GREAT sister!
- She loves ME!

So...Happy Birthday Sierra!! We LOVE you!! Keep being the wonderful person you are!!

I Can't Wait Until I'm 8...

2009-01-17T02:11:00.004-05:00

For Then I'll Be Baptized You See!

On December 27th, Ryker was baptized. We are so grateful to all of our family for taking the time to help support Ryker in this decision. We are so proud of him, and enjoy watching him grow into a fine young man.

My favorite picture of Ryker!

Ryker right before getting baptized.

These are all the wonderful men who stood in the circle to confirm Ryker.

We are so thankful to everyone who helped us make this such a special day for Ryker!

It's Official...The Weatherman Said It's"Just Darn Frigid!"

2009-01-14T22:12:00.005-05:00

Here is our 7 day forecast as of tonight. As you can see, we should only get up to 2 degrees tomorrow with a low of -14. Our wind chill temp will be around -25 to -35 degrees. Then, just like Indiana always does....a 20+ degree difference in one day! We'll even have a Heat Wave by Tuesday of next week!! Ha Ha

What's the point of this post......just looking for some sympathy from all my peeps in the desert enjoying 65 degree temps!! Doesn't this post make you want to come and visit us and hang out!! Hee Hee

2nd Week in Vegas

2009-01-12T18:28:00.005-05:00

Here we are at The Magical Forest. This is an annual activity for my side of the family. We really missed it last year, and were so glad we could go this year!

Here are the kids helping Grandma and Papa make cinnamon rolls. They had a blast. This was actually done on Christmas Eve. I just forgot to put it in my other post.

Here are some random pics from the trip....

Harley & Marina sleeping with their new Zobies! Thanks Uncle Jim and Auntie Jaimee!!
You guys gotta check these out! They're adorable!!
www.zoobiepets.com

Ryker & Jimmy ready for bed!

Me, trying to get Maddee to smile!

Uncle Jimmy reading a good night story!

The grandkids at Macayo! This is where I grew up eating at. I can't believe they are still open! Such great memories!!

I'm going to do a post for Ryker's Baptism and Sierra's Birthday. I thought they deserved their own posting. Gosh, I am getting old....Sierra is 11 now, and I can't believe my baby boy is old enough to be baptized!

Are we Jet Lagged??? NAH......

2009-01-10T23:31:00.003-05:00

This is Marina after telling me over and over how she was NOT, I repeat NOT, tired at all!!
Yea...Sure!!!

By the way, I kinda like this whole "sleeping in" thing. Man, have I been missin' out or what?? The kids have been sleeping in anywhere from 9:30am to 11am. So much nicer than when they were waking up at around 6:30am or 7am! It's a good thing we are doing this home school thing, or they would be really cranky! Although, we all slept through the alarms our first morning back. I missed hearing the doorbell for the daycare kids, and the kids missed their first day back at the Learning Center. It was all worth it!! I'm sure it won't last much longer, but I'm savoring EVERY minute of it.

Our First Week in Vegas! Hang in here with me, it's kinda long!!

2009-01-07T22:59:00.004-05:00

I have a bunch of pictures to share, so hang on tight!!

This first set are just some random pictures. Mostly with Kayslee, my niece. The kids pretty much terrified her for the first hour or so, but after that she warmed up to them like she'd known them forever. My nephew Hunter is in here too. He just barely turned 3 on the 20th, and is already taller and bigger than Marina!

This next set of pictures is of our Christmas Eve. Every Christmas Eve since I can remember we have ALWAYS gone Christmas caroling. My dad bought a little fire truck a few years back, so we take that around now. It was raining that night, so the kids didn't get to ride in it as usual. But, it was still a fun family night together.

The rest of the night was spent eating our annual Christmas Eve buffet dinner. Plus, all the grandkids helped Grandma make a gingerbread house.

This next set is of our own Garyson Christmas morning with the kids. It was a fun, quiet time for us to open presents with just our little, all right, I guess big family!

Hope you were able to stay awake during all of that!! Our second week pictures will be coming soon!!!

Ahhhh...Home Sweet Home!!

2009-01-06T01:49:00.002-05:00

We finally made it...luggage and all!! We drove into our driveway at about 1am, got the kids showered and in bed, Thomas is at the store getting some milk and other necessities, and here I sit, completely addicted to updating my blog at 1:51am. Yep, I think I need an intervention!! More to come......

No Fly Zone!

2009-01-04T22:33:00.002-05:00

Well, I guess today was just a trial run! We were officially bumped off our flight today, but our luggage wasn't. So after delays of over 2 hours, Marina almost being eaten alive by the escalator, Sierra nearly breaking her thumb, no luggage, starving children, and a wierd hotel room just off the strip, MAYBE we'll make it home tomorrow!

Again....wish us luck....we're gonna need it!!

All set to go....

2009-01-04T03:04:00.003-05:00

We had a great time these last few weeks, and I can't wait to share all the pictures and memories. We are pretty much all packed up and ready to head to the airport tomorrow afternoon. We ONLY have 14 bags/boxes/car seat to check.....nothing major!!! Should be a breeze!!! Hee Hee

Just thought I'd give you a funny image of 2 parents trying to get their 5 children, 9 suitcases, 4 boxes, car seat, 4 carry-0ns, and a partridge in a pear tree through security and onto an airplane in a timely and orderly fashion!!! (okay, okay...maybe not the partridge, but you get the idea!)

Wish us luck....we're gonna need it!!!

We made it!!! Snow and all!!!

2008-12-19T02:15:00.002-05:00

Snow in Vegas...who knew, right? Yea, so our plan to come and have a warmer Christmas out of the snow and ice was changed a bit. Vegas had a huge snow storm yesterday. They received up to 8 inches in some parts of town! The airport basically shut down, so we weren't sure if we were even going to be able to get here today. Luckily, everything calmed down, and visibility got better, and we were able to leave and get here in a reasonable amount of delays. Nothing serious anyway. My mom was stuck in Salt Lake, and so we actually beat her here. The kids thought that was kinda funny.

The flight went really well. Marina, of course, had some "I wanna get off this plane!" moments, but would pass as soon as I could find something else to distract her. She did, however, spill her Dr. Pepper all down in between her legs and on the seat. So, she was deemed "Pepper Pants" for the remaining flight. It totally looked like she peed her pants, even when they dried. Ewwww! The older 4 just played their DSs the whole time. They really are great kids and great travelers. Marina hasn't been on very many trips at all, so she needs some more practice. (Guess that means more travels...if only!)

The kids got to see 2 of their cousins today, one that we just met for the first time. Little Maddie, who is only a few months old, and Kayslee who is almost 2 now. I think all the kids scared the living daylights out of her, but she eventually came around and was playing with them. We can't wait to see the rest of the family as they start to show up.

Thomas had his Spanish final tonight and felt good about it. He has 2 more tomorrow, and then he will join us here in Vegas for the next 2 weeks!! Yippee!! Play time for us!!

Happy, Happy Birthday Harley Dear!

2008-12-13T16:04:00.001-05:00

Today is Harley's 7th Birthday!!

I can't believe that it has been 7 years since our little, stubborn runt was born. Harley was breech, and when the doctor turned her (which is WAY more painful than childbirth) she decided to turn right back. She has lived right up to that stubborness every day of her life! She was my 1st C-section baby, and was also our smallest baby...and still is compared to the others.

Harley is a very sweet, very smart girl. She loves making new friends, and loves to learn new things. She is technically in 1st grade, but tested into the 2nd grade Math and Language Arts curriculum at their new school. She loves to read, with her favorite books being Junie B. Jones books. She also loves movies, and anything she can dance and sing to. I love anything that will get that big belly laugh out of her!

Happy Birthday Harley!
We LOVE you dearly!

Great First Day!

2008-12-11T23:22:00.002-05:00

The kids came home today EACH talking a mile a minute at the same time! It was pretty clear that they LOVED their first day.

Harley - Starts out with Ryker in his class for 2nd grade Math and Language Arts. I was a bit worried about them being disruptive while sitting right next to each other, but the teacher emailed me today to let me know how much she enjoyed them, and how they fit right in to the class. Harley then moves to her 1st grade class for Art and History. Today, she came home talking all about Vincent Van Gogh. She told me that he painted Starry Night, and that they got to "Dab Paint" just like Van Gogh used to! I was simply amazed.

Ryker - He was a little more quiet than everyone else. (He is my napper still, so it was a long day for him) What he couldn't stop talking about were the "Smart Boards." I guess instead of chalk boards, they have these computerized boards that are touch screens. Apparently it was the coolest thing ever!! He was also excited about getting to paint today.

Sierra - She really likes her teacher...Mr. McFadden, but I guess everyone calls him Mr. McFaddy! She has dove right into a history paper that is due in January, and I LOVE the process that is being taught. She has a file folder with 6 small envelopes glued on the inside. (3 on each inside side) She is to then to come up with 6 subjects, which must include a Beginning life, and ending life, and then she can choose the other 4. Her paper is on Ronald Reagan, so she has a Movie Career and Presidency envelope. Then in each envelope she must put 4 index cards. Each card must have one thought or event. So, when she goes to write her paper, she will have 6 paragraphs with at least 4 sentences/thoughts in each paragraph. She is really enjoying that!

Aspen - She was super excited about one of her teachers today that made her laugh till it hurt. I guess this lady is super dooper funny!! Aspen has recently hit a bump in her academics, but I could see today some excitement for her upcoming lessons. I think she, and Sierra, are both enjoying working at their own pace, whether that be quicker or slower. I am really impressed with the Math curriculum. Aspen and Sierra are both in 5th grade math. They are having trouble on Unit 3 with this K12 curriculum. The class is currently on Unit 6. So, we will be doing lots of catch up over the break. They were both shocked to see the kids doing multiplication of fractions. Neither of the girls had really even started doing anything with fractions. So, I know that they will have a great math base as they catch up with the class!

To answer Gwen's questions from my previous post....The classrooms look like traditional classrooms. They are very decorated and colorful. Thomas said that the rooms are a bit narrowing than normal. There isn't a kitchen. The kids need to bring their lunches to the learning center, but if they qualify for free or reduced lunches, they can get a "boxed" lunch. The school is in like an office type building/park. Thomas said it looks like it was built to be a daycare. Everything in the school is brand spanking new. This is their first school year to be open. He said it was really clean and new. Harley told me that she had 25 kids in her class. I'll ask the girls how big their classes were.

In conclusion, I am positive that this will be an awesome experience for them. I just feel like this is a great thing. It is the perfect match for any child that LOVES to learn, and that pretty much sums up my kids!!

New Adventures....Here We Come!!

2008-12-11T10:38:00.004-05:00

I have been struggling with the fact that the kids might have to move a few times before we are finished with Thomas' schooling. They haven't really had a hard time adjusting, it is probably just me wanting the best for them, and not wanting to put them through any more challenges than I have to. We have been trying to decide if I should stop watching kids & move into a cheaper place, so that I won't have to feel like I am completely ignoring them and not involved in their lives anymore. Out here, homeschooling is all the rage! Well, there was just no way I could handle doing something like that. I am in no way qualified to put a curriculum together for 4, and soon 5 different grade levels. BUT, in my searching I found a public school, here in Indiana, called Hoosier Academy (clickable link). It is a charter school run or funded by Ball State University. It is sort of a hybrid home school meets traditional brick and mortar school. And, because it is a public school it is FREE!

At this Hoosier Academy (clickable link), they use the K12 Curriculum, which is a well known homeschooling curriculum. The kids will attend school at the Learning Center in Indianapolis 2 full days a week from 8:30a - 4:30p. Then for the other 3 days, they will complete their lessons online & offline from home. They would just need to log a total of 11 hours for those 3 days. AND they could do this whenever they wanted, any day or time of day, just as long as they got their lessons done before they had to go in to the Learning Center. The school provides a computer, printer and reimbursement for internet access, and all books and supplies. They were tested for placement, and they are allowed to place students 2 grades above or below where they should be according to age. They all did a little above grade level, except Harly, who techically is in 1st grade. She tested well into the 2nd grade curriculum. So that's the curriculum that she will be doing. Aspen was just a tad bit behind in Math, so we decided to put her in the 5th grade math, even though technically she is in 6th grade. That way she can make sure to have a good math foundation before she gets to all the hard stuff. The program is easily adjusted, they can be doing 2 different grade levels in 2 different subjects. It's just so personalized.

I've been able to get a look at their lessons online, and I am so impressed! The things they will be learning in History and Art have got me super excited. I was a little overwhelmed at first, but then I found out that they do ALL of their History and Art at the learning center. So, now I don't have to teach them that at home. WHEW! Plus, all of Aspen's Composition class will be at the learning center also! So, I basically help them with their Math and Language Arts.

The lessons are all easily followed online, and there is a lot to do offline as well. I have a Teacher's Guide to follow, and it basically gives me their lessons word for word. I am also really impressd with the curriculum because they will not be "taught to the test." They do have to go on one extra website for about 30 min. a day, and that is where they will practice the standards for the state testing.

My searching for this started when the kids were out of school with their tonsils. The make-up work sent home for a 2 week period of missed school was completed in 1 maybe 1 1/2 days!! What in the world are they doing all day in school? Certainly NOT a whole lot of class work. Plus, since they ride the bus out here, they are gone from a little before 8am, and don't get home till after 4. That makes for a long day, every day! I have also learned that they were only getting ONE recess, and that recess was given at the END of the day. They didn't even get a break at lunch. They would eat lunch, and then go right back to class! Thomas and I thought that was so cruel!

I am loving this idea! This way, when we have to move to go to Purdue, the kids can still attend this academy, I will just have to drive them in to Indy twice a week. No biggie to me! PLUS, if we do get our DREAM job with the Foreign Service, we can just keep going with the K12 curriculum on a private basis, so that the kids don't ever have to interrupt their learning. I am so excited about this program, and just wanted to share! They said they have these K12 public programs, which basically means "Paid by your tax dollars", all over the country. So, there just may be one in your area!!!

I know they have one in Vegas, but it done ALL at home. There is no Learning Center that they would be able to go to twice a week. I'm pretty sure that this school here is a new concept, that isn't done in other places. I am, so far, impressed with the K12 curriculum.

So, Thomas dropped them off this morning while I was getting some nerve blocks. I'll update when they get home and let everyone know how it went! He said they were all excited when they got there. Ryker and Harley are in the same class, and I guess they walked in and sat right next to each other. So cute!!

Well, check back later!!

More to come.....

2008-12-11T00:13:00.002-05:00

The kids start a new school today! I'm super excited about it, and can't wait to share how their 1st day goes. It's a really cool concept, that I think is going to work well with all of them. I'll update after they get home, and if I'm feeling better from my Occipital Nerve Blocks that I get this morning!!

Check in later........

Kool Store...Kool Blog!!

2008-12-07T23:10:00.002-05:00

I just found out about a really cool store here in Indy, and I'm pretty sure that they have stores in other cities! It is called Ridemakerz, and basically it is Build a Bear for boys! You go and pick out a car, and then you can totally customize them. Ryker would go nuts in this store! I found out about it from a favorite blog of mine, Angelica Grace Designs. Angie always has the funnest posts, and I visit her blog, at the very least, once a day. You can check her out here...angelicagracedesigns.com/blog/!!

Go check out Ridemakerz at www.ridemakerz.com!!

Funny Ryker....

2008-12-05T23:49:00.002-05:00

Poor Ryker....the only boy, surrounded by all these girls!! I think we need to work on his run....
(click on the picture to make it bigger...you'll get what I'm talking about!) I love him to death, but the boy runs like a girl!

I'm in love with this photo!

2008-12-02T19:11:00.002-05:00

If anyone knows Marina, they know that she is the biggest Daddy's Girl! This picture totally captures that love and just pure giddiness that she feels whenever he is around!

Just thought I'd share...

2008-11-30T02:11:00.004-05:00

Since we had Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday with Trent, Beth & Megan, I made everyone get dressed and we went and took pictures at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The kids had a lot of fun walking around and coming up with ideas. Thomas and I had fun just walking around and having a pretty relaxed day with the kids. I LOVE days like this!!

Update on our week!

2008-11-26T09:27:00.001-05:00

We had a great week last week! We celebrated Ryker's Birthday, Harley pulled out her own tooth, we had an early Thanksgiving dinner with Trent and Beth, and I had a very minor surgical procedure.

1st...Ryker's birthday! I still can't believe that he is 8 years old! Last Wednesday was his birthday, and Thomas didn't have to work that day. Thomas took all the kids to school, and then went and spent some time with Ryker and Harley at lunch. Out here, it is really common for parents to go and eat lunch with their kids. The have a special table set up and everything. He went and ate with Harley first, and then before Ryker's lunch, he ran and got him a Happy Meal at McDonalds. He hid it, and told Ryker to go and get all his favorite lunch items, so he could show Daddy what he eats everyday. Then, when he got back Thomas pulled out the Happy Meal and asked him which lunch he wanted. I'll let you guess which one he picked!! Thomas had so much fun there, that he has been talking about volunteering in their classrooms. That in itself is a miracle!! If anyone would have told me that Thomas would, not only want to, but that he would even have the time to do something like that, I would have laughed at them!!

That night, we let Ryker open his presents. He got a Nintendo DS and was so super stoked about it. Since Aspen got to have a slumber party, we asked Ryker if he would like to have party with some friends OR have a night out with mom and dad. I was shocked when he picked a night out with mom and dad. We wanted to go somewhere fun, so we decided to take him to Kabuto's, which is a Japaneses Steakhouse...kinda like Bennihana's or the Geisha Grill in Las Vegas. He LOVED it!! The chef even tried to get Ryker to catch some veggies in his mouth. He tried and tried but just couldn't catch it. He loved how they made huge fires, and how the chef did tricks with his knives. They even came and sang to him. After dinner, we went to Walmart and let him spend his money that Grandma and Uncles and Aunts had sent him. It was a fun night, and I love spending one on one time with him.

2nd...Harley pulled her own tooth out!! Her other bottom front tooth has been loose since we pulled her other one out, but she wouldn't let anyone touch it. Finally, on Sunday, we convinced her that it needed to come out. It was quite literally about to fall out on its own, but she still wouldn't let us touch it. We told her to just keep pulling on it, and it eventually came out. She was so excited that she did it all by herself!! (By the way, Ryker still has NO loose teeth!)

3rd...Trent, Beth & Megan came over for a Thanksgiving Dinner. On Sunday, after church, we had an early Thanksgiving dinner since Trent and Beth were going to her moms for Thanksgiving. We had lots of food and lots of fun chattin' it up with them. We feel so blessed and grateful to have them so close to us. It is a lot of fun being able to get to know them better, and get to sort of bond with with them. I should have taken a picture, though, of Thomas and Trent "spending time" together. They were both hanging out on the couch playing their own PSPs. It is so funny to watch them sit right next to each other, and yet not say a word to each other!!

4th...I had a minor procedure done yesterday. I have been seeing a doctor again for my chronic pain. He decided that we should try some more injections, and then some more physical therapy. I was a little apprehensive after I found out that I would NOT be put to sleep for the procedure. In Vegas, I was put under every time!! It wasn't as bad as my imagination had made it out to be, and I am doing really well. I don't start physical therapy until next week, since this is such a short week, but am optimistic that I will get the pain back under control. When I went in for the procedure my neck pain was at about a level 7 out of 10, and my back was about a 5. Immediately after I was down to about a 2 for both my neck and back. My neck hasn't bothered me yet since yesterday, but my back did bother me a bit last night. But, since awaking this morning I am at about a 2 for both. I sure hope the pain stays away for awhile. Being in pain day and night sure can take its toll on a person. For the last year, I would say that I have been at an 8 out of 10 for my neck, at least, 2-3 days a week!! It is so frustrating, especially with me watching kids all day. So, I am thankful that we can try and get this straightened out.

Well, I hope that everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!! Can't wait to see most of you in less than a month!!! YIPPEE!!!

Whoo Hoo!!

2008-11-22T19:05:00.005-05:00

6 months ago, even 3 months ago, I never thought that gas prices would be here.....

Now we can fill up the Suburban for less than $70....instead of the usual $150 or more!!!

8 is Great!

2008-11-19T18:10:00.000-05:00

I can't believe that my baby boy is 8 today!!

Ryker has grown up so much this year. He is becoming quite the gentleman. He loves to open doors for his sisters and I. He is doing so well in school. His teacher only had wonderful things to say about him during our conference a few weeks ago. He is such a big helper with the little boys that I watch. He just loves to get them laughing! It's crazy to think that he will be getting baptized next month while we are in Vegas. It makes me sad that he is growing up so fast, but incredibly happy that he is growing up to be such a wonderful man.

We LOVE you Ryker!!
Happy Birthday to our Big Boy!!

Family Photo Shoot Preview

2008-11-15T19:29:00.003-05:00

We went and had our pictures taken today, but the proofs won't be ready to look at until next week. So, I decided to take one myself and give everyone a little preview. I'm sure that they will look tons better than these. I took these after the "real" ones and after we went out to dinner and played a bit, so the kids aren't as "fresh" as they were for the actual shoot. Enjoy!!

I Pretty, Pretty!!

2008-11-06T19:57:00.003-05:00

Marina is totally into putting on shows and making up her own songs as she goes along. This particular day, she just kept singing this "I Pretty" song over and over. At the end of the first time she sings it, listen as she runs into the playroom and says, "Ahhh!" It was so funny. Then in the middle of the recording, she runs into the corner and "introduces" herself! Too cute, so make sure to pay special attention to that.

DISCLAIMER: This was recorded during the day, while I watch children, so please excuse the mess!!!

Halloween

2008-11-04T08:12:00.003-05:00

I just thought that I would hurry and throw in a few pics of the kids this Halloween. There wasn't a whole lot going on this year. We went to the ward trunk or treat, a neighborhood party and then Halloween night was actually pretty lame. I think we handed candy out to maybe 3 parties of kids, and our kids just went up our street. It was very quiet, but I think that was actually a good thing as we have all been so sick lately.

At the neighborhood party, there was a DJ there. Marina was dancing like crazy! It was so hilarious. There were a lot of people there dressed up as scary characters, and they would go and dance with her, and she didn't care at all. She was just glad that someone was dancing with her!! It was really dark in the tent, but if you look really hard you can see her shaking her booty! She kept getting distracted with the lights that were there too. She is so cute!!

Aspen's Bday Party

2008-11-01T19:09:00.004-04:00

Aspen's Bday party was last week. She had a sleepover with 3 of her friends. We ate pizza, painted pillow cases, had donut sundaes, sang & danced, watched movies, and then went to see High School Musical 3 the next morning. It was really fun, and I was glad to see some fun friends that Aspen is able to hang out with. Here are the highlights!

Having Fun Dancing...

A visit from Spike...
Thomas had a lot of fun scaring the girls ALL night!

Toothless Wonder!

2008-10-30T23:00:00.003-04:00

Well, it finally happened. Harley lost a tooth!! She's almost 7, and this is her first one. Can I just say how jealous Ryker is!!! My goodness, the boy will be 8 next month, and not even a wiggle!!!

I'm Spicy!!!

2008-10-27T20:22:00.003-04:00

I just HAD to share this!

At the Headless Horseman Event, while we were watching the marionette show, Marina was sitting on Thomas' shoulders. After awhile, she asked to get down because her foot was hurting. After a few moments, she let out quite a yell, and said,

"My legs are spicy!!"

I guess she took the tingling as a "Spicy" sensation!! She cracks me up!!

Aspen is 12!!!

2008-10-23T13:49:00.000-04:00

I can't believe how fast time has flown! 12 years ago, Thomas & I welcomed Aspen into our lives. After being in the hospital for 4 days before she was born, we were just so excited to begin the new chapter of parenthood in our lives. She has truly been a joy to raise, and we are super proud of the young lady she is becoming. Aspen is an awesome big sister, adventurous, funny, shy, smart, a great babysitter, and most importantly our daughter! She is also officially a Young Woman...no longer in Primary! She is totally stoked about that. I can't wait for her to experience all the Young Women program has to offer... fun weekly activities, Girl's Camp & Youth Conference, just to name a few. I wish you all could be here to help us celebrate with her!!

We LOVE you Aspen!! Happy Birthday!!

I love Halloween in Indiana!

2008-10-23T10:13:00.004-04:00

There is so much to go and do during the fall and Halloween season out here in Indiana. All at a pretty inexpensive price! We were really excited to be able to share a couple of these fun events with Aunt Trayci and Aunt Taneil too!

First off, we went to the Children's Museum's Haunted House. We didn't go last year, so we really wanted to go this year. During the summer, the library has a Summer Reading Program, and all 4 of the older kids earned a free pass to the haunted house by reading. Gotta love free!! It was really fun. At this particular haunted house, they do "friendly" hours and "frightening" hours. Basically, "friendly" is with the lights on, and "frightening" is with the lights off. Of course, we decided on the "frightening" hours!! Ryker led the way, which really surprised me. He did fine until we came to a bridge that went through a tunnel that was spinning. He thought he was gonna spinning with it, but it was just an optical illusion. That tunnel was really, really cool!! Aspen & Sierra, of course, were fine. Harley was scared to death, and I ended up carrying her through the whole thing. Marina, walked right through like she owned the place!! She must have thought we were walking around in circles, though, because she eventually asked Trayci, "Where's the out ??" She didn't say it like she was scared, just like we were lost!

The next night, we took Trayci and Taneil to a REAL pumpkin patch at a REAL farm!! Thomas had school that night, so Trent & Beth & Megan came to hang out with us. Again, it was a really fun night with lots of fun stuff to do. I love Waterman's Farm because it is so inexpensive ($4/person) and you get to do everything inside for no extra price. Not like in Vegas, where you would probably have to buy tickets for every single ride!! The kids had fun riding the big bikes, climbing and sliding on the inflatables, going through the hay maze, climbing the hay mountain, going through 3 different corn mazes, watching the pumpkin eating dinosaur, climbing on huge tractor tires and going on a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch!! Oh yeah...all for $4!!!

Then last night, we went to see if we could find the Headless Horseman!! We thought we were gonna miss most of the crowds, but when we got there....we knew we had thought wrong. The event was only from 6:30p to 9pm. When we got through the gate, we were given a ride time of 10:15p!! What!!! Everything at this event is centered around the story of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman. They had a marionette show, scary campfire stories, a play (which we didn't get to see), and of course the hay ride to go and see the Headless Horseman. We still had a lot of fun, and just made ourselves comfortable at the playground until it was our turn. The kids found these tire swings, and had so much fun that it quite literally made them sick!! Ryker, threw up twice, and Sierra just couldn't get her bearings after she was done. The hay ride was so much fun, and they added some new scary elements this year, with skeletons and such chasing after the wagon. I couldn't get any pics of the Headless Horseman, because you're not allowed to use a flash, and well, remember it was really late at night in some dark woods, so you wouldn't have been able to tell! All I gotta say, is if you are ever in Indianapolis for Halloween, you have to go!!

Hopefully, you made it through this post!! I just love the fall season here, and I love to share it as much as I can with all of you!!!

Yeah...we're still alive!!

2008-10-14T22:50:00.003-04:00

Well...I think we are.

Have I ever mentioned that I have a red head?? I mean a true stubborn, fiesty, hot tempered, "my way or the highway" red head??

Well....I do, and her name is Marina! She's also the baby of the family, which makes it even worse!!

Let me explain...

Starting on Saturday morning, just like clockwork, Day 5 of recovering from tonsils began with a vengeance. The doctor said that day 5 would be the worst...you know what, that doctor knows what he's talking about! All 3 of the kids were in terrible, terrible pain. So bad, that I think they thought their throats were being sliced open. Ryker & Harley did great, though. They understood that as long as they were brave and took their medicine and drank lots of fluids, it would be okay. Marina...not so much!! Of course, Thomas was at school, and didn't have his phone with him. Marina was terrified to swallow, and wasn't about to! She wasn't going to swallow any medicine, juice, water, or spit, and there was no way anyone could force her. See, Marina is too young to really "get" the whole "you gotta just be brave & suck it up and do it" mentality that her older siblings understood, BUT she is also too old to be able to force anything down her throat. Trust me...I tried!! After 3 failed attempts, 2 of which ended up with Lortab Elixer in her eye, I gave up. Even when Thomas came home, he couldn't get her to take anything. Let's just say that Sunday is a big fat Ditto!

We kept telling her that all this stubborness was going get her was an all expense paid trip to the Emergency Room. Guess what, she did NOT care. In fact, at about 1am Monday morning (Sunday night) we finally told her enough was enough, she needed to go in and get some fluids. (We're pretty sure that she only peed once all day Sunday.) Guess what, she did NOT care. So, we loaded her up and drove to the hospital. Not a peep came out of her the entire ride there. She even had this look about her that said she was "calling our bluff!"

So, the doctor comes in, and says, "Well, let's try and see if we can get her to drink something." Thomas & I looked at each other like, "What?" The doctor seriously came back with a cup full of Gatorade and a popsicle, and said let's give her 1/2 an hour to try and drink something. He also explained how he had had to hold his daughter down before and force liquids, and he was sure the new environment would help her to drink. Yep, he saw it all the time. Kids come in dehydrated, and LOVED the hospital juice so much better, so they didn't have to get an IV. Guess what, she did NOT care. In fact, after about 5 minutes of hearing her scream bloody murder because we were trying to force it, he came back in and "Okay, I get that she isn't going to do it on her own. We'll start an IV." All I could think was, "Yeah...ya think!"

The nurses came in all prepared to hold down a 4 year old, that they KNEW was going to be hard to get an IV in. Guess what, she did NOT care!!! That's right, my little girl did not move a muscle, only wimpered a little. Yep, you heard me...she would rather be stuck in the arm with a needle (2 times actually, the first one didn't work...even after they moved it around and around in her arm...ewww!) than drink some juice. I guess that goes to show you how much pain she was in. She finished the hour long IV, and then we were told to get her to drink before we could go home. Nope, not gonna happen. The doctor ended up giving her 2 doses of Morphine, and she STILL wasn't gonna drink anything. After a couple of hours, she finally drank what she needed to to get released. Whew!

On the way home, we had this long conversation about how we did not want to have to do that again, and she agreed that she would be brave and drink lots of juice and take her medicine. You wanna know what she did the next day? You guessed it...wouldn't drink or take her medicine!!! I finally told her that if she wasn't going to let Thomas & I take care of her, that she would have to go and live outside, with the coyotes (yes, there are coyotes here), and take care of herself. I put her on the front porch and closed the door. She screamed for a couple of minutes, so I asked her if she was ready to let me take care of her. Her answer was still a No, so back out she went. After some 5-10 minutes, I finally got the message through. Ever since then, all I have to do is tell her that she is going to have to live outside and take care of herself and she quickly takes a drink!

Guess what....she has been drinking more than Ryker & Harley now!

Whew...after all of that nonsense, I think today we have finally turned a corner! After thier naps, they all woke up saying that they were starting to feel better. Do you know what that means? Ryker is back to being a boy and bugging all of his sisters, pretty much simultaneously!! And with 4 sisters, that's talent!!

We are getting along just fine...

2008-10-09T19:09:00.005-04:00

Well, the kids are doing fairly well. In fact, when I thought about what I would be having to go through with all 3 of them, I NEVER thought my biggest challenge would be getting them to lay down and stay down!! They are kids, though, so I know it's gotta be hard to just lay down and stay still. At least when they get up, they are doing fairly quiet activites...except for Marina's ballerina dance today! They did really well staying hydrated the first day, but the amount of drinking has consistently gone down each day. This worries me a bit, so today we have been having a contest to see who can drink the most. It worked for awhile this morning, but as of tonight, they just don't care. The doctor said that day 5 is usually the worst, so time will tell how bad this will get. It really hasn't been all that bad, especially with Thomas' sisters here helping.

Whew! We made it!!

2008-10-06T16:54:00.005-04:00

We are all home now, safe and sound, after Ryker, Harley, & Marina had their tonsils removed. It was quite an experience, and we felt like the freak show there at the surgery center. Everyone just had to come in and take a look at the insane parents. Before they went into surgery, the nurses gave them some medicine to help them relax.

Ryker & Harley definitely relaxed, and were seeing double in no time. Ryker kept asking me why there were 2 TVs. The medicine was very yucky, and Harley wasn't too happy to be duped into taking it, by the nurses putting a drop of juice with it. She wouldn't talk to them after that! Ryker was watching Dora, and looked at me me and said, "Dora is HUGE!" Just like some surfer dude on acid. It was pretty funny.

Marina, on the other hand, had a completey opposite reaction to this "relaxing" medicine. At first, she was super hyper, and literally couldn't hold still. She kept trying to stand up on the bed and bounce on it. Then, the mood swings came. She was last to be taken back to surgery, so we had quite a bit of time with her while she was on this stuff. She was quite literally laughing hysterically one SECOND, and then histerically crying the next. It was so wierd to watch your little ones act like they were on an acid trip.

It was quite the task keeping on eye on them, since there is only 2 of us, and there were 3 of them. They were in 3 different rooms, when they came out, and the catch was that none of them could be left alone in their room AT ALL. So, since Marina wasn't going to stay in her bed anyway, I held her in Ryker's room until they woke up...which didn't happen for a good 3-4 hours!! They were so zonked out. Finally, we were able to rouse them, and get them to eat a popsicle, which was one of the requirements to get to go home.

Well, now the fun begins!! They have been doing awesome, and have all had at least 6-7 popsicles since we got home. The doctor is really worried about them, and has already had his personal assistant call us to make sure everything is going okay. I, of course, forgot my camera, so you'll have to enjoy these crappy pictures from my phone. Keep us all in your prayers, we are gonna need them!!

I Love Fall Weather...

2008-09-30T16:04:00.002-04:00

especially now that I live here in the Midwest! This week it has been in the beautiful 70s, and today it hasn't even gotten above 65. Tomorrow, I hear it may not even get above 60! I love being able to keep the air conditioner off, and air out the house by opening up the windows. Before long, the leaves will be changing to awesome colors!

Enjoy looking at my new Weather Widget on the side!

It's Official!

2008-09-28T23:25:00.002-04:00

Ryker, Harley & Marina will be having their tonsils out together on Monday, October 6th. The doctor was a bit hesitant, but was willing to help us "get it over with" quickly. He admonished Thomas to take some days off of work to help me, as I will still be babysitting 5 other children every day. Well, Thomas doesn't really have any extra days off to use. So...what's a CRAZY mom like me to do?????

Well, I did the only thing a SMART mom like me could do....call the FUN aunts to come and help out!!! That's right, Aunt Trayci & Aunt Taneil will be driving our new car out (that's a whole 'nother post) and then will stay to hang out and help me get through nursing 3 whiny kids back to health! We couldn't be more excited! The kids are just over the moon about having them come and take care of them.

YIPPEE!! Wish us luck!! We're gonna need it!!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2008-09-25T10:56:00.002-04:00

Last Saturday was my birthday! I wasn't too excited, as I had been feeling pretty crappy all week. Thomas had school, so I knew it there wasn't going to be anything too exciting going on. But, when Thomas got home, he brought me a blizzard from Dairy Queen...my all time favorite!! He even put a candle in it. Then, he took me out to the Bare Essentuals store, and got me some new makeup!! Yippee!! I am so excited!! I have been wanting to get some of this for a long time. It is awesome make-up, and super easy to put on! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!!

Back to Marina...

2008-09-25T10:48:00.002-04:00

Marina got to go on her first ever field trip this week! She went apple picking at an orchard. She had so much fun, and hasn't stopped talking about it since. She got to bring home her own 1/4 peck bagful of apples, and isn't gonna share them!!
Marina also left her glasses on the bedroom floor yesterday, and someone stepped on them. She was so upset, but Thomas and I couldn't stop laughing. She kept wanting to get someone in trouble, and we had to remind her WHO left the glasses on the floor. She made some really sad faces yesterday because of it. I took her to get them fixed last night, thinking we would need a whole new pair, but they fixed them in about 10 minutes right there in the store! So, she is good as new!!

What would you do??

2008-09-19T11:23:00.004-04:00

Thomas took Harley to her ENT appointment this morning. The doctor said that they use a scale of 0-4...0 being normal sized tonsils, and 4 being golf ball size...yeah, she's got 4's!! I just can't believe that she has 2 golf balls in the back of her throat. No wonder she is always sick, and snores like crazy!

Thomas also mentioned how we would like to get Ryker & Marina's out too. He said he was fine with that. Thomas asked if he would be willing to do all of them on the same day. He hesitated a little bit, and said that he has done 2 kids for the same family at once but never 3. He didn't really recommend it, but said it was up to us. He said it can get tricky to get one or two to drink fluids, and 3 might just be too much. We were just thinking that instead of 3 - 2 week recoveries, why not just have one big 2 week recovery. I know we're asking for it, but I don't know.

This is where all of you come in. I have put up a poll on the upper right hand of the blog to see what all of you think we should do. We will either be doing 2 at once and then one by themselves, OR all 3 at once.

So...What would you do??????

Infections and Strep and Ike...Oh my!

2008-09-16T09:04:00.004-04:00

This weekend was awful! I got this eye infection. First thing that came to mind was pink eye...gross! Anyways, the more it got worse, the more I just knew it wasn't pink eye. I've had pink eye plenty of times to know this one was different. My eye was almost swollen shut, and the lid was severely red, almost purple. It also wasn't draining green and goopy at all, but it was draining clear. It seriously kept running down my face like I was crying. By Saturday, I was almost in tears all day because of the pain. I couldn't keep it open for very long at all. I decided, though, that I would wait it out until Monday, so that I could go to an Ophthalmologist, and not just some Quick Care Doctor because I knew that it wasn't just pink eye. On Monday, Thomas stayed home so that he could drive me because my vision was so blurry. (And still is for that matter) The doctor took one look at me and said that's not pink eye. She took a look in it with her machines, and told me that I had an infection up in the back of my eyelid. She said that only an oral antibiotic would help, as eye drops couldn't get that far back. She also told me that if I came down with a fever or my eyeball paralyzed and wouldn't move to go straight to the ER, as that would mean that the infection had made it back into places that we wouldn't want it....like my brain!! I'm so glad that I waited and went to the eye doctor! Monday morning, Sierra also woke up with a red eye, so we took her in too. She did have a little infection too, but not very bad, so I'm glad we caught it early. She only needs drops for hers. Today, when I woke up, the swelling in my eye is almost completely gone, but I do still have a lot of redness. Hopefully, by tomorrow I'll be looking a LOT better!

Harley has Strep throat again. This is probably the 7th or 8th time since we moved here last year. You know your kid has Strep too much, when instead of telling you her throat hurts, she says my Strep hurts! So, Thomas was the taxi driver on Monday, and took her to the Dr also. The Dr looked at Thomas, and said, "All I ever see her for is Strep!" To which Thomas thought to himself....Duh! We have been trying to get the 3 younger kids referred to an Ear, Nose,Throat Dr for awhile. They all snore, and Harley and Ryker both have been battling Strep since we moved. They always would put it off, and say Not Yet! So, this time Thomas wasn't leaving until he got the referral, and he did. Yeah!! Harley's snoring has gotten so bad that we can hear her all the way out in the living room. She also wakes up Aspen and Sierra a lot. (Oh, Aspen & Sierra already had their tonsils out a long time ago, that's why I didn't mention getting theirs out too.) One of the things that Thomas passed on to our kids was HUGE tonsils!!! So, hopefully we can get their tonsils out before our trip to Vegas for Christmas. **Crossing fingers**

Now...on to Ike!! So, you thought Ike only made a mess in Texas, did ya?? Well, the effects of Ike have hit the Midwest pretty hard too. Northern Indiana is under water, and a lot of Indiana, Illinois and Ohio are still without power. We only lost power for a few seconds on Sunday. The winds are what got us good. Driving around yesterday, we saw so many huge trees snapped like twigs at the base of their trunks! It is incredible to see what some wind can do! These pics are from my camera...sorry!

Hopefully, this week will get better, as I don't see how it get worse!! Have a GREAT week!!

Okay...Okay...

2008-09-07T22:52:00.002-04:00

I feel like the only one I ever write about is Marina. I know she's cute and all, but I do have other children in this house!! (She is just the only one here with me all day!) So, I thought that I would update everyone with all the other kiddos!!!

Aspen - A couple of weeks ago, she came to me with a paper that she got from school. It was a permission slip for her to join the Cross Country team. I kinda chuckled at her and asked, "Do you know what Cross Country is?" She looked at me and said, "Something to do with running, I think!" Then I about lost it! I finally told her it had EVERYTHING to do with running. She decided she wanted to try it out. She has been doing awesome! Every time she comes home from practice, she says, "I was first again!" She is also doing really well with her grades. She got a bit behind last year, so she has been really proud of all the A's she has been bringing home. I think our threat to not allow her to babysit with low grades is helping!! I can't believe that next month she won't be in Primary anymore. Man, I'm getting old!!

Sierra - Sierra is definitely our academic over achiever, which I love about her. I took her out one on one before school started to get her some clothes, and she informed me that she really wanted to go to Harvard. WOW! So, I gave her the whole "okay, you gotta start now, and focus on this and this and this." It won't surprise me a bit when she gets accepted there someday. Guess I better start-a-saving!! Here in Indiana they have state wide testing to make sure that the kids are learning what their supposed be learning. (You know, that whole No Child Left Behind thing) Well, I guess her class had to write a paper off the tops of their heads. She came home and said that the teacher made her read it in class, and told her that she got a 6 on it. I asked her if that was good, and she said a 6 was the highest they could get. Go Sierra!

Harley & Ryker aka Bonnie & Clyde - Man alive...these two...I don't even know what to say! They are both doing really well in school. Both have been passing their spelling tests with ease. I don't even have to practice much with them. It's the after school part I'm worried about! Here in Indiana, hardly anyone has fences in the backyards. So, what does that mean to them....free range! No matter how many times I tell them, just because there isn't a fence keeping you out, doesn't mean you can go in. They are constantly over in the fields, playing with the neighbors dogs in the neighbors property, getting muddy in the ditch, playing around in the new home construction, going WAY down around the corner to play with new friends in the neighborhood without telling us, hmmmm...I could go on & on!! That's not even mentioning catching tons of frogs everyday, just to play with them to DEATH. (Oh yeah...that's no exaggeration either!) They sure do keep me hoppin'! I'm sure someday, I'll look back fondly on their antics, but as for right now, I just might have to lock them up! That reminds me...today was their last day of a weeks grounding...I'm in trouble!!!

I'm so lucky to be a Mom to these great kids!! We miss everyone that we are apart from, and can't wait to be in Vegas for Christmas!! Have a great week!!

This Girl Cracks Me Up!!

2008-09-05T09:49:00.002-04:00

So, Wednesday was Marina's Birthday!! My baby is now 4 years old. Crazy!! Here was the conversation at the breakfast table on Wednesday morning.....

Marina: Is it Wednesday?
Me: Yes!
Marina: Am I 4 now?
Me: Yes!
Marina: But why does my clothes still fits me???

I just had to giggle and laugh!! She just can't believe that her clothes still fit, even though she is a whole year older! She has been telling everyone all about it. She really does crack me up!!

Marina's Birthday Celebration!

2008-09-02T12:09:00.003-04:00

Marina's birthday isn't until Sept. 3rd, but we decided to celebrate it on Labor Day while the kids didn't have school, Thomas didn't have to work, and I didn't have to watch any kids! Marina has been begging to go back to the zoo, so we spent the morning there while it was nice and cool. We had so much fun!!

Marina also made her very own birthday cake!! It sure was yummy!! (My camera is acting up!)

The next day she decorated it!!
Later in the afternoon Trent, Beth & Megan came over for an early dinner! It was super yummy! Then Marina got to open presents and blow out the candles on her cake!!

Google Challenge

2008-08-28T10:25:00.006-04:00

Saw Carla's post on this, and thought it looked like fun!! Go to google images and put in your answer then pick a picture.

Your age: 30 (but not for long!!)
Favorite Color:

Favorite Flower:
Favorite Place To Vacation: Anywhere with my family!
Where do you live:
Where did you grow up:
Where you would like to travel:
Favorite Food:

Favorite Treat:
Favorite Animal:Past Love:
First Name:Middle Name:
Last Name: This pic actually came up! It's Aspen & Sierra with Janice Kapp Perry!
What are you doing right now:

Cute Skirt Giveaway!

2008-08-27T14:27:00.004-04:00

I have been looking around on Etsy where there are so many cute homemade items that you can buy. Here is a giveaway for a really cute skirt! Just click on the pink pic below!

First Day of Pre-School

2008-08-21T19:25:00.002-04:00

Marina had a blast today at pre-school. One of the moms that I babysit for has a daughter that goes to the same pre-school, (that's how I heard of it) so Marina caught a ride with her and her daughter this morning. This mom has actually volunteered to take Marina every Tuesday and Thursday for me since she has to take her daughter anyway on her way to work! I'm so grateful to her for that! Then Marina came home on the pre-school bus. The owners of the pre-school were so nice that when they heard that I babysit 4-5 babies & toddlers every day, they said that they could drop her off on their way back from picking up the morning kindergartners that they have to pick up. The pre-school is on the same main road right outside of subdivision. I am super grateful to them as well. This saves me from having to load up 4-5 babies into their car seats, get them out to get Marina, buckle them back in to go home, and then take them back in to the house! Whew...that made me tired just thinking about it!

She couldn't stop talking about it, and had to call Grandma and let her know how her first day went. She traced her name today without any extra help. The owners went ahead and put her in the 4 year old class, even though the cutoff here is Sept 1st. (Marina's Bday is Sept. 3rd) Her teacher wrote me note that said she kept up well with the 4 year old class. I'm so excited for her to make some new friends and get to have a couple of days out of the house and away from all the babies that I watch. I really think it was starting to bother her to have to hang out with a bunch of babies all day everyday!

Anyways, just wanted to share this fun moment in Marina's life!!

If you can blow up the last picture, you can see how she traced her name! It's actually really good!

Are you sure you want to??

2008-08-20T19:46:00.004-04:00

Well, Marina's insisting finally worked! She has been asking and asking for me to take her to get her hair cut. I would always say something like, "Just a little bit right?" To which she would reply,"Nope, I want it short!" So then I would put it off and put it off. Well, today I have officially signed her up for Pre-School. I finally gave in, so that she would look nice going to school, and so she would feel special just like the other kids when they get ready for school. (She was really bummed when all the girls got to get their hair cut for school.)

When we got to the salon, everyone kept asking,"Are you sure??" And without any hesitation she would say,"Yep!" I asked them if it was long enough to donate, and they said it was. So, we decided to donate it. When I went to pay, they said it was free since she was donating it, and that they would mail it in for us. Of course, I didn't have my camera on me, so I snapped one with the phone. After she was done and hopped off the chair, she looked at me while flipping her hair,"Do you wuv it mommy?" She had the whole salon oohing & aahing!!

Babysitting Has Paid Off!

2008-08-16T21:12:00.003-04:00

Aspen has been babysitting quite a lot lately, and she has been saving her money with a specific goal in mind. She wanted a Nintendo DS. I am really proud of her for saving up and paying her tithing. She is learning quickly how to get what she wants herself!!

Great Job Aspen!!

Go Colts!!

2008-08-16T21:00:00.002-04:00

We had the opportunity to go and check out the new Lucas Oil Stadium...New home for the Colts! The tickets were free, and I just so happened to get some. They sold out very quickly, but I was able to get some off of Ticketmaster, right in my own home! Awesome! The kids were super excited. They sure have become Colts fan real fast. They even know most of the players, even though we don't really watch the games.

So, it was us and 20,000 other people in our tour with us. There were several tours with 20,000 people in each tour. Needless to say, it was C-R-A-Z-Y!! Indianapolis Colts Fans go all out. They even had their faces painted just for the tour. Lucas Oil is an awesome stadium, and we had a lot of fun checking it out. One of these days, we'll have to find some decently priced tickets, so we can go and watch them play!

First Day of School!

2008-08-11T11:48:00.002-04:00

The kids were so excited to start school today. Ryker and Harley will be at the elementary school together, while Aspen and Sierra will be at the Intermediate school together. Marina is sad that she won't have anyone to play with. I guess I may have to start looking into some kind of pre school I can put her in. I can't believe how big they are getting! Enjoy!

Hey All You Las Vegans!!

2008-08-08T17:20:00.002-04:00

My brother and sister in law, Tyler & Anamarie, are moving to Utah! They are needing to get rid of stuff and earn some money at the same time, so they are having a HUGE yard sale tomorrow, Saturday the 9th, starting at 6am. Please email me at jamie.garyson@gmail.com if you would like their address.

THANK YOU!!!

Funniest Video I've Seen For Awhile!!

2008-08-04T23:15:00.002-04:00

You have got to check out this adorable video!! I was in tears from laughing!!
CLICK HERE RIGHT NOW!!

Our Star of the Week!

2008-08-03T21:36:00.002-04:00

In primary today, Marina was chosen to be the Star of the Week! They choose a child each week, and ask them "Get to know you" type questions. Here is how Marina's question & answer session went...

Teacher: "What is your favorite thing to play with?"
Marina: "Horsees"
Teacher: "What is your favorite color?"
Marina: "Wed"
Teacher: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Marina: "Hmmm...uhhhhh.....6!!"

What a star!!!

FINALLY...Jo Bro Pics!!

2008-07-30T19:59:00.001-04:00

We took these with disposable cameras. After I took as many as I could of them sitting around, I let them take pics of whatever they wanted. So, this is what we got! (Mind you...I trimmed them down, as most of them look the same since we were so far away!) FUN, FUN, FUN!!

Do we live in the Dark Ages??

2008-07-28T20:05:00.002-04:00

Well, we went on Saturday to CVS to turn in our disposable cameras from the concert. The lady was like, "Okay, we should have them back by Wednesday!" WHAT??? Yea, I guess they have to send them out to Kodak to get processed. Whatever!!