Appendectomy

What a way to start Spring Break! On Saturday, T started complaining that his tummy hurt. I was gone all day and he was telling Dad. The next morning I go wake T for church. His tummy still hurt. It hurt to walk. I ask all the mommy nurse questions, take his temperature, feel his tummy and determine that this is something that cannot wait.

I send Daddy to church with 4 kids and I take T to the urgent care clinic....hoping that we would get some antibiotics and head home. It was not that simple.

During the initial exam they suspect that it is his appendix. After blood work and a cat scan, it was confirmed that his appendix was the problem and it needed to come out TODAY. The doctors at the clinic suspected they had seen a hole in the appendix so they wanted to send us to the hospital by ambulance just in case. I was not thrilled with that idea. I could drive him, but Daddy said how often does a boy get to ride in an ambulance. Maybe we should if that is the dr's recommendation. So we did. All I can say is ambulances are bumpy.

During all this T is doing pretty good. He never had a fever and he could walk OK, but it hurt. Laying down he really did not complain of much but being bored.

Texas Children's ER went smoothly, they had called ahead and were expecting us. So after a short time we were upstairs in surgery preop, then the waiting room. After 1 1/2hours the surgeon came out with the good news, that yes the appendix was inflamed and swollen but it had not ruptured. That means we stayed one night and if no fever or ill side effects we get to go home. Had it burst we could have been in the hospital for several days.

T said hospitals are not much fun. They wake you up lots at night and they are a bit noisy. They are also boring, you lay around without much to do. The playroom was closed while we were there. He did enjoy eating in bed and watching TV. That was his favorite part. My favorite part was coming home. I am glad he is going to get better and that he is a strong healthy boy.

Bunk Beds

This year the twins got lots for their birthday....starting in October I began making them new quilts, big enough for a twin size bed. R picked his favorite color-black and I found fabrics to make this finishing right before Christmas.

S wanted yellow...not exactly masculine, but I found a combination that made him and me happy. I started after Christmas vacation and finished just the night before we celebrated their birthday. Finding time to sew is hard with so many other things on my plate to do.

Then last week, I decided if I was going to put new beds in their room I wanted to freshen it up. Little S has a habit of writing on walls and his room showed a great deal of his artwork (if you can call the scribbles that). So I scrubbed walls and used a few Mr Clean magic erasers (they usually work good), but nothing was getting the permament marker or the dry erase marker off of the walls. So I decided to paint. No special colors, just the same off white to cover the art work. It took 5 coats of paint (4 Kilz coats just over marks and one final coat) to cover those marks.

So I painted, bought the bunk beds, mattresses, matress pads, bed sheets, and pillows. Daddy assembled the beds while I washed the sheets and made 2 birthday cakes (each had to have his own!). All in a fews days time we got it done. After a little birthday dinner at MacDonalds (birthday boys chose the resturant) we came home and they climbed in. They were very happy boys.


No more cribs or toddler beds at my house. Should I be happy or sad?

Dirt is Great

After all this crazy winter weather where it actually produced snow 3 times this season we are SOOO ready for spring. Hopefully that cold weather is behind us because this weekend we began our spring garden. Daddy decided to double the size this year so we can grow more items. Last year the squash kind of dominated the bed. We are planting tomatoes and jalepenos (for salsa), corn, green beans, strawberries, onions, cucumbers, zuchini and yellow squash.

So to get ready we had enough dirt delivered to our house to fill the new garden beds...plus extra. The kids thought the dirt pile was lots of fun. Work is always more enjoyable when it is fun. Daddy created the new boxes while I weeded the old. The kids enjoyed helping. The boys hammered some nails with daddy. I had helpers who liked to shovel dirt, hoe and rake the weeds out with me. We did leave the broccoli in because it should produce for 2-3 more weeks. We also have a few strawberry plants that have survived another year. Hopefully we can get some bigger berries off of them this year.

When it came time to move the dirt we had lots of helpers. Our kids and friends all got involved, even having bucket filling contests to see who could get the most dirt in the wheelbarrow. I think maybe we should have had a contest to see who was the dirtiest because I saw some very dirty kids. The hard work is done for now. We just get to water and weed for the next 2 months until we can harvest. When it is canning time, there will be more work to do but I love the fresh veggies we get to enjoy from our own garden.

Valentines day and cookies

Another holiday brings memories of another kind of cookie. Thus reminding you why my blog is named my family of cookies. Also note that R has a new nickname....Mr Sprinkles. His favorite new ingredient lately.

I can remember back in junior high and high school making heart shaped frosted sugar cookies for my friends to have with me at lunch. As a family we have made them most years. For several years in our old ward we had friendship week where you dropped treats and ran away from a secret family. Every year we made sugar cookies for our secret family. Today, on a quisunday afternoon we made cookies. Someday my kids will remember how often we made cookies together. Won't that be a great memory to have! I enjoy memories of my mom and me cookie baking!

Also this week we had the pinewood derby. We had high hopes for this special car we named "The Candy Car". It was a lot of fun to make and we had a good time doing it. The kids saved halloween candy wrappers for a Papa Gift and then used the remainer on the car. We wished the car would have done better, but it is not the winning the race that matters. We had fun trying! Also I need to add....I had to make cookies for the derby too. Chocolate chip. So 2 types of cookies this week. Lots of happy kids, and lots of extra workouts for me!

Wii Monsters

What I thought was a fun idea has created a monster. We have had a Wii for 2 years and during that time the twins have been usually content to watch everyone else play. Initally you could give them a nunchuck and they thought they were playing. They do try every now and then to throw a ball on wii sports or drive on Mario Cart (but I have to push 2 for the gas peddle).

We got the New Super Mario Brothers for Wii for Christmas and the other morning after doing Wii Fit for me I decide to play Mario and I let R & S play with me. They can tell me where to go....down that pipe, Mom or get fire balls, just because they watch their siblings play so much. They are almost 4 years old. They were so excited that I suggested they play with me. R took only a few minutes and he had the controls down....left right, jump, throw fire balls. He just has to be holding the controller the right way. He is left handed so he wants to turn it around. S can do the moving but can't quite figure out how to jump then move sideways to jump up on something. He is getting better.

Now, a week later. All I hear from R is "I want to play Mario the Super Brothers" when he wakes up in the morning. After eating breakfast, after preschool, or lunch.....all the time. He had a huge fit today when I made him turn it off. Dad said he had been playing it for over an hour (I was gone). HE said he even completed some levels by himself. I warned him he had 5 more minutes then I turned it off for lunch time. HUGE Meltdown. He kept repeating "I want to play Mario......" He was in tears, the drama! I put him in his room at one point to throw his fit in his room while I ate my lunch. I had to return some books to the library and I had to carry him to the car because we refused to go. He was upset most of the time in the car and finally after carrying him into the library he settled down. That was an hour after I turned it off.

S on the other hand is having Wii dreams. He talks in his sleep and I have heard him say I want to get fireballs. Toby has heard him talk about being on the next level. He likes to play wii, but not as passionately. He prefers the Wii Fit game where he makes snowballs. The ski jump that when done wrong you make a snow ball. He likes to stand and go down the hill and in stead of standing up, he sits down causing the snow ball. He does it over and over again and is so pleased with himself.

The Wii has been a fun toy at our house and for the most part we take turns and play nicely. I just hope R's passion for it ebbs a bit because I am tired of his whining for it.

The different Ice experiments

This is another example of how Dad is really such a big kid and loves doing stuff with and for his kids.

It was going to be a hard freeze last night, very rare where we live. I tell the kids let's leave a cup of water out overnight and let it freeze. Very simple science experiment.

Daddy had bigger plans. He decides to turn the sprinkler on overnight to have an ice show for the kids when they wake up. His first choice sprinkler was already frozen at midnight when he had this brillant idea so this was plan B.

A was the first one awake and he ran upstairs to tell us in bed that the sprinkler was on and it was freezing! All of the boys went out to play in it later I had to I take C somewhere. Daddy says they played for an hour....he did not take pictures, but enjoyed the success. His kids thought it was cool!

Christmas was good

Christmas is such a big day I would hate to totally forget about posting. I guess life is finally settling down today and so I am taking the time. We had a great holiday with some family in town. Our kids got the #1 thing they wanted New Super Mario Bros for Wii. They have been playing it almost daily. I am just glad it is multiplayer.

Here is a little more of what the kids got and a picture of each of them. It may not be them with their big present. For example, T was looking away from the camera when he opened his! And I do not think I got a good one of S at all...one was a good pose but he blinked. But each shows a happy kid because we had a happy Christmas.

C got her name to decorate just like she is decorating a chair for her room. She loves to do art stuff and when the chair is finished it will be a blog post in itself. She got pjs, and a cat calendar and puzzle and bendaroos amongst other things. She was also super happy when her cousin gave her...her old Nitendo DS (because she got a DSi). C really wanted one, but I worry about the battle over it. We accepted the DS on condition that it was our family's not just C's which made them all happy.

T got a BB gun (I know he might shoot his eye out!) But it comes with lots of rules such as always having parental supervision. He loves it and has better aim than me. Dad does show off a little but then again, being a police man I am glad he has good aim! T also got some new boots, clothes, and more Bakugons and other toys.

A got some Pixos which he really wanted (me not so much) He handles them great which I was sure he would but the little brothers are not so careful. (Messy!!) He also got enough bakugons to take him from none to as many as T. He also got some Legos, Bendaroos, some pjs and other little toys.

R & S got dinosaurs. R was really cute prior to Christmas. He would tell us, when asked what he wanted for Christmas "I wanted batteries and the bone and the dinosaur" That would be the expensive almost $200 one he got to see at the toy store and all over TV.

He and S were happy with there smaller walking growling dinos from Santa and they got bunches more dinos from both grandmas. We got them the last two Land Before Time Movies...now we have seen them all. They also got remote control cars and some other toys. I think S was most happy with the fact that Santa left him and candy cane filled with Peanut butter candies while everyone else got just chocolate. They were gone within the first hour.

Toby and I got each other more practical things. A new blender for me and a frying pan for Daddy's special pancakes. Stuff like that. We did get Wii Fit from his mom and have been enjoying it.

Christmas was good. We enjoyed having my brother and sister's families in town to spend the holidays with us. Sometimes it gets lonely with just Grandma and us and one brother and his kids...you know same old crew. More relatives brought more action and excitement in the house. It is great for cousins to get to know each other better. My kids miss them, and living so far away (Kansas, Wyoming, and Malaysia) we do not get to see them much.

Now on to the new year.....looking forward to more great things!