Derek is 2

Well Derek turns two this Sunday. But because it will be hectic the next couple of days with school carnivals and Halloween parties. I just wanted to write about what a fun ball of head injuries he has been. I can't believe how much I love him cause he is so difficult to manage from a parenting perspective. He is so much fun and he does the cutest stuff. His latest thing is to come up and tap his dad or grandma real soft to get their attention. And he gives kisses and says "yay you" (love you). He can say all his siblings names. Trust me this is not a my kid is smart routine. I am just journaling for memories sake. I feel like I spend so much time holding him and loving him cause I never know when he is going to take another jump off a cliff or something high. He made it to two years so lets just hope for more and see how far it gets us.

Costumes at dance class

The girls were invited to wear their costumes at dance class today. It was fun for them cause the teachers played all spooky music and let them turn the lights out and play with glow sticks. They are having way more fun then I did as a child. I was always filthy running around my neighborhood drinking water out of the gutters when I got thirsty at this age during the day.
Addie choose to be a Barbie witch this year. Yes there is such a thing as a Barbie witch. They are the kind that dont eat children and add sparkles and heart shaped things to their pink brew.
Olivia is a blond haired, blue eyed, caucasian Mini Mouse. I worked with what I had. Their dad came to watch them and took them out to lunch (at sonic). They felt special and were very happy about the whole thing. I will now spend the next hour getting grease stains out of their costumes for the next event. wish me luck.

Cant Afford a Cruise?

If you cant afford a cruise like us. Well then a primary program is the next best thing to get excited about. Trust me I know my life is getting more and more boring but I like it this way for now. I cant handle much more than these simple joys so we get all ghetto fab for it. My mom wanted to see the kids in their primary program and they needed some warmer dresses now that fall has officially arrived. It turned out that blue was the theme so why not dangle their favorite stuffed animal or blanky over a trash can and force them to smile for a picture?

The Motha of all head bonks.

This last weekend at Dallin's football game Derek topped his worst of the worst head bumps. He was with me in the bathroom and crawled out under my stall and was playing in other toilets. I came out to find Andrew had been asked to help with the chains on the field. I was trying to single handedly wrangle the three by myself and watch Dallin's game. He always says to me "Mom did you see my tackle or were you busy watching the kids?" It breaks my heart. Derek was climbing up and down the bleachers and I was talking to the girls. The next thing I know the whole crowd was screaming in horror. Derek had gone to the top and some how fallen down the space between the side railing. He fell 15ft and landed flat on his face. He came up crying and the bump was swelling out which is good. But we rushed him to the ER where they checked him for any broken bones and internal bleeding. Let me just say it was a long long day at the ER and we were exhausted. I bawled my eyes out I felt so bad. I was so worried that people would be judgmental and harsh. I didnt want to go to football practice the following Monday. But I went and was overwhelmed with how worried people were that he was ok. And then once they found out he was fine they proceeded to all tell me stories about how their kids ended up in the ER. Most of the stories were so funny and its just crazy how it was usually a story about an adventurous boy that had no fear. And thats our little Derek. They were all so helpful and asked if they could do anything to help in any way. It made me realize that I value people with a full heart and the kind of compassion that comes with REAL life experiences. The people that judge and feel like they can decide who is a good parent or a bad one based on how they prefer to do things. Well... their opinion just doesnt matter. I could care less what they think. Going forward- I am going to try harder next time to watch him better. But I am also going to have more faith in people next time.

Carameled Apples

I do my level headed best to try an avoid doing cutesy things that are crafty or clever or spun with home made cheer so I can avoid the stereo type that most mormon moms fit into. But I have found myself doing this sort of thing more and more FOR THE KIDS of course. NOT! because I am cute or crafty. This Halloween season I decided to make carmeled apples one time for dessert. It was soo worth it. I made them the old school way unwrapping a million caramels and slowly melting them on the stove. They were so yummy yet it was a little painful on the jaw to bite into such thick caramel. My family was pleasantly surprised and liked them allot. Now I will have to bring plain old cupcakes with no design or creative Halloween embellishment to throw people off my trail at the Ward Halloween Party. Dont want to over do it now.

Adelaide's Package

She got a mask with gummy eye balls,a plate,a cup,a straw, and a couple of shirts that match these cute polka dot pants. She really really liked the shirt it is something she would totally pick out.

Olivias Package

Olivia got the same as Addie but her shirt was purple. She loves purple and she looked so cute in her outfit. I just love when you need to buy some warmer winter clothes and some just magically appear in the mail. Now I wont have to head to the store for a couple more weeks. So lovin the aunt right now.

Dallin's Package

There is Santa,the Easter Bunny,the Toothfairy, and Aunt Net. Dallin is so difficult to get to cut his hair. He hates hair cuts and it is always a fight. Since I am not into the whole child abuse things I use the people listed above whenever necessary. I am not ashamed of it it at all. So I literally let him watch his younger siblings open them and then told him he couldnt open his unless he promised to get his hair cut that day. It worked!! Mom-1 Dallin-0

The big HIKE

This Saturday Dallin didnt have a game. We just couldnt wait for a free weekend to go see how pretty the Austin hill country is. We decided to go to Hamilton Pool cause it was close and kid friendly. The hike is less than half a mile. And with high maintenance kids like mine you could end up carrying them most of the way if you dont keep it short and sweet. I always dread these sort of outings cause it takes a ton of work to get it right and keep every one happy. But I always feel better that we tried at the end of the day. And I do mean at the very end of the day. Then if we just sit at home and tell the kids to go play and leave us alone.

At the end of the hike is a pretty waterfall and spring you can swim in. I didnt want to deal with the swimming part so we just stopped and ate lunch.

I packed us a lunch. Andrew seems more happy if its home made. I am more of the type that would love to stop by subway and let them pack it for me. But I sacrificed and put a lunch together. Its a good thing too cause the kids were so excited they wouldnt sit still and they kept dropping things in the dirt.

I realized at the end that Olivia had the heaviest back pack of all of us. I didnt mean to but I was so busy packing I just shoved things in. She is husky though so she never complained. The best part is she walking flat the whole way. Her physical therapy is working. Normally she would trip and fall allot more.

Derek did a good job in fact he loved it! Every once in a while if it got too steep he would put his arms out for dad. If you ride on dad's shoulders you can see into the tops of trees.

Halloween Packages

Its time again for video clips of the kids receiving Aunt Nets packages. She has been able to see them as much as possible therefore we have not had them in a while. This Halloween however she could not swing it so she sent them "I am sorry" packages. Derek and Dallin's came first and the girls are on there way. Or I guess the post man forgot to put them in the same box. I decided to have Dallin wait till the girl's packages came and let Derek open his cause it included the movie Monsters vs Aliens for all of them to share. He was so happy and excited. He usually gets very little cause of his age and ranking. So it was nice to be the only one getting gifts for today. His older siblings were just fine with it. I guess they have a ton of faith in Aunt Net cause whenever I promise things in the future they don't fall for it..

The little shirt he got glows in the dark and he got a little pumpkin flash light. So naturally we had to all group up in a dark bathroom to see it in full effect. He was super excited. I guess it doesn't take much to get him happy.

Say thankyou. He loved his little package and for once was happy to get the spotlight for a day.

Flu Season

This week at church Addie and I were the only ones to go. Dallin came down with a cough and Derek was just getting over one. And Olivia was with her grandparents at their church. It is so much fun having one kid and getting to just hear them talk and give them individual attention. It makes me realize how much of their lives I miss out on because of how busy I am with the other kids. I let her sit on my lap the whole sacrament meeting. Normally I never let kids do things like that cause then the others will complain that they want to as well and you can never make all of them happy. I have to order all happy meals exactly the same and we only buy things for their birthdays because they are all keeping tabs. I was dreading the flu season but now not so much cause maybe I will have more days with just one kid and get to enjoy and relax for once. I did however not like the fact that I smelled very heavily of VICKS vapor rub.

Doo Doo Dooo Doo in the ghetto .........

There is this old school song by Elvis about being born in the ghetto. Its the best song ever! You should at least hear it once in your life. (I have it linked in a playlist on the side) Any way we went to the ghetto for Dallins game. The whole entire drive there was nothing but pre fabricated mobile homes one after another and most of the addresses were spray painted on the fronts of them. These days the ghetto kids are playing way way way better then the upper middle class kids with moms that print out cute snack sign up sheets and read twilight in their pink fold out chairs while practice is going on. These parents are yelling things at their kids like "I wont feed you if you do that again" and "dont make me come out there and get you" during practice. Bottom line is these kids dont play Wii and they have more drive and intensity then the pampered whiny kids on my sons team who are just trying not to fall over cause their helmet is too heavy. I think it does them a bit of good to get their asses handed to them by these hard core farmers sons... do do doo doo doo do from the Ghetto....

To further validate my suspicion that we were in the ghetto the other team shows up with 3 kids who have only the kind of hair cut you would see on a child in the ghetto. And they have one team mate that has his arm in a sling cause he dislocated it during practice. What ever they are doing in practice that caused that is pretty intense. Yikes!!!! Our team has a couple of good players and the next scariest thing is a chubby kid who cant eat breakfast until after he weighs in or he will be too heavy and a set of twins that have a dad who doesn't realize how uncoordinated they are cause he is so proud of them for having surpassed him in the sporting department by age 7...... But here we are do doo do do in the Ghetto......

Dallin is looking at me like mom don't make me play today. They are going talk trash and spit on me when the refs are not looking. Dont you remember what a cute cuddly baby I was. Are you sure you want me in such a violent sport.... And all I can do is sing doo doo doo do do do dooo in the Ghetto.......

Science. No Thankyou!

This past weekend my sister and her husband came to town and Andrew came over to hang out. (He doesn't live with us any more but he misses the kids so he still hangs out as often as he can) I bought Dallin a science kit for his birthday. Andrew and the kids had made crystals and a volcano a few weeks back and loved it so I thought he would enjoy this kit. Plus Andrew suggested it over and over again. Any way they opened it up and made this rocket that launches with baking soda and vinegar. But men cant just leave it at that and move on. The next thing you know we are off to the store for a BIGGER bottle of vinegar and a TURBO sized box of baking soda. At this point I decide to keep from getting angry at the mess I must take a nap and hope when I wake up either the mess is gone or I am happier. About 20 min into my nap I hear a child screaming my eyes. I run down stairs to aunt Becka washing Dallin's eyes out. They figured out that the more soda and vinegar they add the higher the rocket goes and that they all need to stand back and probably wear something over their eyes as the vinegar does spray out every where. They did manage to blast it over the house. I never have the patience or the enthusiasm for these kinds of things. I should at least get credit for buying the kit.

Physical Therapy ?

Liva care bear has to go to physical therapy. She has been walking on her toes since she could walk. They told us it was because she was deaf and her equilibrium was off. And to come back if it hadnt changed after her third birthday. We had one doctor recommend surgery which would put her in casts and not allow her to walk for 6 weeks. Good thing our insurance allows us to see a specialist without a reference so I was able to see a Pediatric Orthopedic doctor. He seems to think that physical therapy will do the trick without surgery. Its pretty hard core cause she does allot of work while she is there plus they send me home with a ton of home work. And if I want results then I have to do the homework. Which isnt always easy or fast. When she walks she has to walk on her heels toes off the ground. Which means a simple trip to Target can take forever cause she walks real slow this way. They want her to wear weights around her ankles to help force her foot flat and she complains up a storm about this part. You will notice in the picture she thinks if she puts her hands flat like her feet are suppose to be it helps. She will hold her hands that way the whole time she is walking. It cracks me up.
I am sure I will look back and it will seem like no big deal but right now its a full time job. At least she got some nice calves out of the whole drama. How many people could say that?

Head Injuries

My little guy can't seem to go longer than 38 hours without a head injury of some sort. Its amazing how he will plow his way into one pretty much every day. And some days like last night he will have multiple incidents. I wish they sold little helmets for his size head. I am really worried about it. He fell on his head as a baby and it just snow balled from there and hasnt stopped. I told Andrew last night that I doubt we have a brain surgeon in the makings. Maybe he will play sports and we can not worry too much about concussions. I am already preparing myself to deal with slurred speech. Call me a drama queen but how many times can you take a hit to the head with no side affects? I would say little homie had past that amount at 6 months.