A Stink, a Chomp, and a Twirl

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Explainations to come, pictures now.

And yes, I am proud of the skunk costume...I made it by myself...and the tutu, but I'm really proud of the skunk.

Blood, Sweat, and Tears

*Warning. If you are a little bit squimish you might not want to look at the posted pictures. They aren't too bad, but if blood makes you go woozy I don't suggest looking. You have been warned!*

Okay, that was overblown and dramatic, but it makes me feel better. Today started out pretty well. I was being productive, you know, doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen so I could make a bigger mess and can some more applesauce, that kind of stuff. It was going really well until I sliced my finger. Actually, I had cut my hand previously, but it wasn't bad at all. You know...one of those cuts that don't actually bleed unless you push hard to make them. The finger was not so much like that. There was blood. Yuck. Just what I needed for my productive day to go down the tubes (mind you, this didn't make it an unpleasant day, just not productive). It's kind of hard to can applesauce while trying to keep a finger elevated. I thought I had cut it worse than I had. Here, see.

This was later that night when I took off my original bandaid. I think I ripped it open again taking it off. Oops. It sure hurt like the dickens though. That made me decide I was done canning applesauce. It was time to take a little break and get dinner ready anyway. Well, while taking my little break the kids were just playing around and I was talking to Dan on the phone. All of a sudden Caden starts screaming like there's no tomorrow and the lap top comes crashing to the floor. I had it on a counter thingy plugged in and charging, and he had pulled on the cord and down it came. I thought it had hit his face and smashed Cole's hand (they were both screaming). So I was trying to calm Caden down so I could get the baby. I was trying to figure out where on his face it hurt when I glanced at the baby and saw blood gushing from Caden's foot. "Oh!....Oh...Oh! Kember!.....Never mind!" This is what I said running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I've decided if an emergency (a real one) ever happens Dan has to be around to take care of it. I don't think clearly at all. None of what I do is logical for the situation, but seems logical at the time. For instance. I went and grabbed a rag to put over his toe, but then I thought, before i do this I have to clean up the blood on the floor so I can get to his toe. Excuse me? Really, that was important to do first? Apparently that is me functioning in a crisis. Kember was a huge help. She got me ice, and bandaides and cleaned up the blood. Everything I asked her to do she did, all while Caden was screaming. I have no idea what Cole was doing, so I'm assuming he was fine and it was the loud noise of the lap top hitting the ground that scared him.

I thought Caden was going to need stitches or glue or something, so I put three bandaides on to keep the blood semi-contained until Dan got home to look at it. When he saw it he decided we should probably go get it looked at. Here is what Caden's toe looked like at the doctors office.

Pretty, eh? It didn't need stitches, and we passed on the x-ray. If it's broken they don't do anything for it anyway, so why bother? Dan said we could x-ray it at his work tomorrow so maybe we'll do that. I doubt it's broken though. Caden wasn't too sure about this whole doctor thing.

But after they pulled out the dinosaurs and other animals it wasn't too bad. Expect for the cleaning of his toe. Ouch...that made me cringe. They were good and as nice as could be, but still...it hurts!So, after some blood, sweat, and lot's of tears, that is what our FHE looked like. Cole and Kember were at G&G's house while we went to the doctor, and G&G took us out to dinner after we got back. We really need to work on our FHE. But we did have a lesson about Jesus in the car. Kember and Caden gave it. And we all sang songs too.

What a day.

Happy Birthday Bubbers!

Yesterday my little Coley-Wooley turned one. Like the nickname? Kember gave it to him. She loves Teddy Ruxbin and there is a character named Wooley and she strung the two together. Around here he isn't Cole. He is Bubbers, Coley-wooley, the baby, or COLE (normally done when shouting because of some traumatic reason). Anyway, crazy eh. One year old. Wow.

Well, I'm not so into doing a lot of things for something he won't even remember, so he didn't really get a party...or presents. Well, I take that back. We had a sod laying party, and he got grass, a balloon, and a stuffed lizard from the dollar store. Crazy eh? Luckily grandparents donated to his cause :) I almost feel bad, but I felt worse seeing all these toys that were fun, but a lot of money and I knew he didn't care, we didn't need the toy, and why spend the money? That is a little scroogish I know, but I guess I have to be in the right frame of mind, and honestly, Cole's b-day wasn't at the top of my list. Getting my new lawn (see future post) and making his cake were higher priorities for me.
Here is a picture of his cake. Can you tell what it is?

I'll admit I got a little carried away with the orange 'fins'. I should have only done one layer wide instead of three, but whatever, too late now. I was pretty happy with the cake, especially since it was soo easy to do (except find those orange candies...that was a pain. Rite Aid if you are ever looking for them).

On to birthday boy pictures. Here is Cole with his one candle...and here he is burning himself on that one candle. He grabbed the flame. Not really what we all had in mind to put the candle out with, but the candle did go out.

Here is Cole screaming because he burned his finger. Ouchy.

And here he is happy as can be playing with the ice Daddy got him for his finger.

Did I also mention that he was sick for his birthday. Poor kid. All and all I think I need to do better next year. Thanks everyone who could come (and help lay sod). The kids loved playing with their cousins.

Here's my cute mom!

Here's my cute sisters!

Here's my cute husband!

Domesticity

Allow me to brag for a minute about my domesticity. Yes, I know it's small (in fact some of you might be thinking, what domesticity? And you would be right in thinking that), but if I don't brag about the small things I don't ever get to brag because I don't do the large things. But hey, this is what I did today!

Okay, let's be honest. Grandma & Grandpa Christensen did most of it. But, I was there, I learned and I'm going to do it again! Oh, and if you can't tell, that's applesauce. I dyed it pink (Kember's choice and Carol Lee's suggestion). It wasn't too bad to do either. Time consuming, but since there were three of us, and only two could really do something Grandpa went out and worked on the lawn (sweet). I also borrow some apple thingy from Carol Lee which made it nice.

So, there you have it. My domesticity in a nut shell (told you it was small :) -- pink applesauce.

Creativity stifled

I am not a crafty person. Let's admit this right now. I like to do crafts, I like to imagine that I do them well, but let's face it...mediocore at best....and I'm very definitely okay with that. I like to decorate a cake for my kids' birthday. I did a mermaid cake for Kember this year and Caden still talks about his snake cake for his second birthday (crazy eh). Since Cole's b-day is in less than a week I thought I'd plan ahead, try to get some ideas, you get the picture. Nothing on the website I was looking on was inspiring me and I got to looking at other things. Then it hit me. Cole is (maybe...depending if I get it done or even try to do it) going to be a skunk this year for Halloween because he's my cute little stinker (and I can't find the spider costume that we had for Caden when he was Cole's size). Great! I'll make a cake and decorate it like a skunk, so cute (or a little weird haven't decided which yet, but leaning toward weird...you'll find out why in a minute.) So I'm searching and looking....googling, you get the picture and I type in "how to decorate a skunk cake". I realize that my searching skills need work, but this is what I tried this time. No luck. Lot's of hits, but nothing of what I was looking for. I guess people think skunk and think, "EWWWW!" Well, whatever. After I found a site that talked about making butter and cake out of marijuana I gave up my searching. Seriously, a cake out of maijuana. Really, people make stuff like that? Why on Earth would you do that? and what does it have to do with my searching? Anyway, crazy stuff....maybe he just won't get a fun little cake this year.

Disaster

For FHE last night Dan thought it would be a good idea to make sure our 72 hour kits were up to date (which they weren't). So he starts the evening out by asking what kind of disasters we could experience here...and then asks if the kids know what "disaster" means. Kember looks all excited and pipes up, "Ya daddy. When we make a mess with our toys downstairs!" Hey, she does listen to me. I say that quite frequently "because the house is a disaster!" I'm glad Dan did this FHE. We realized a number of things. One, we had no food in our kits. Not the most helpful. Two, last time we did this Kember was a baby. So the diapers don't fit anyone at this time, and the clothes we had for her don't fit anyone either. Three, I never ever ever want to have to use these. Ever. I'm very much in agreement that we need to have them, and I think it's a wonderful idea. But when I start to think about all the reasons why we would need to use them...scary. No thank you.
And...to top FHE off while we were going through the kits Cole just started walking across the room. He took a couple steps, stayed on his feet and I said, "Dan! Are you seeing this!" and he (Cole) proceeds to walk even further...and he does it twice! Cool eh. He hasn't done it since, but I promise he did and it was awesome! Kember walks all around the house with him. Cole thinks it is the funniest thing, but I just cringe. She more drags him than anything, but he's smiling and laughing!
So, there you have it. We learned two things from this post. One, Cole can walk when he feels like it, and only then. And two, the definition of a disaster = my house.