ALL POINT BULLETIN!!!

I just want to put everyone on high alert! Keep your children indoors next week! Do not let them do anything that could possibly cause a broken bone or even a fracture! Climbing, jumping, biking, whatever. There will NOT BE A SINGLE Orthopedic doctor available in the entire East Valley next week. I know because I have spent 7 hours with a phone glued to my ear, trying to schedule my son for an appointment - upon our PCP's recommendation after seeing the x-rays. SEVEN hours!! I don't want to bore you with the details, and believe me - there are plenty, but finally at the point of extreme frustration I finally ask this question to the lady answering phones at some random office, "How is it that every doctor known to man won't be in the office next week?" She says that there is an Orthopedic Convention going on next week. Ohhhhh! So even though every office I talked with says that "yes, your son's injury should definately be looked at but we just can't do it" means it literally just isn't going to happen. At hour 7 I call our PCP and he can't believe it either. He makes a personal phone call to a friend in Phoenix who agrees to see Davis Tuesday of next week. What?!?!? One phone call?!?!? I can't decide if I'm mad or grateful. Sigh. . . It takes too much energy to be mad and I'm exhausted!!

Open a Book!

I just listed my 10 most recent reads. Some I LOVED, others I simply enjoyed. But no matter what, I am so glad to be able to pick up a book and fall into it!

Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book. ~Author Unknown

A good book should leave you... slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it. ~William Styron, interview, Writers at Work, 1958

This is exactly how I read!! I love to finish a book and feel like I have lived the story right along with the characters. My joy of reading comes in many forms. I read for fun and entertainment which is where my list comes from. I read to fill me spiritually. Although I've read a few LDS published books I find my best reading in the scriptures. I also enjoy reading through the Ensign and New Era (this is a great insite for me into my daughters world). I don't read self-help books. I carry enough guilt without someone confirming it all for me. I love to read illustrated childrens books. My sweet mom has given that to me. She has a great collection that all the grandkids love to peruse when they visit. But not just any childrens book will do. She pays close attention to the illustrations. Well done art was important to her and I feel the same. As far as thing I don't read -- that would be the newpaper! So let's hear it for a great read!!

The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, And all the sweet serenity of books. ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Once upon a day:

I read a fun blog awhile ago where she tracked her entire day. She wrote the time and what she did from the moment she woke up until she went to bed. She challenged her viewers to try it sometime. So I decided I would give it a shot on Monday. It was interesting to see what fills a day. My Monday was a fairly full day - I've had busier and less busy. So here is how it went:
4:47 a.m. - alarm
5:00 a.m. - leave for gym
5:15 a.m. - step class
6:30 a.m. - get home and help Maddie with some last minute school prep.
6:50 a.m. - wake Davis up
6:52 a.m. - remind Sis to get on piano
7:00 a.m. - pack lunches for school (Maddie's piano is nice background music)
7:10 a.m. - gather the kids for morning prayer
7:15 a.m. - hug and kiss Maddie and send her out the door
7:30 a.m. - remind Davis to get on piano
7:31 a.m. - tidy up in the kitchen standing ready for any signs of "I need you" from Davis
7:40 a.m. - my redhead wakes up and climbs into my lap for his "I'm still waking up" snuggle
7:42 a.m. - hug and kiss Davis and send him out the door
7:50 a.m. - get "brett-fest" for Cooper.
8:00 a.m. - make posters for our school Carnival wristband sales
8:30 a.m. - a phone call from a sweet friend asking if Cooper and I would like to join her and her little ones for a hike (sadly have to decline due to other obligations)
9:00 a.m. - work on YW's activity (this seems never ending!)
10:00 a.m. - shower (FINALLY!!) and get ready for day
10:30 a.m. - help Cooper get ready (he can do this by himself just sometimes he insists he can't)
10:45 a.m. - leave for the school for my shift to sell Carnival wristbands
12:15 p.m. - I'm back from the school (sold $100 in wristbands - not bad for day 1) now it's lunchtime! My Cherrycoke Zero is a welcomed weakness!
1:00 p.m. - take Cooper to the park around the corner from our house while I talk with a dear friend about raising kids. How does she do it?!?!
2:15 p.m. - stop in at the school to drop off clicker to Davis
2:30 p.m. - arrive at Doctor and begin our wait
wait
wait
wait and wait
3:20 p.m. - called back, kindergarten check went very well until the dreaded SHOTS!! Four in total and so hard to watch (and hold down) my little man. He was in fight/flight mode!
4:15 p.m. - home from Doctor. Give Cooper all the milk and cookies he wants - which he eats whimpering.
4:30 p.m. - put a second bandaid on top of the first one because this one "hurts the most"
4:45 p.m. - check and return emails and check DING for a flight to Sacramento
5:00 p.m. - Brent is home. We catch each other up on our day and then Dad hears the Cooper version of our trip to the Doctor.
5:20 p.m. - leave to pick up Maddison from basketball
5:30 p.m. - while waiting for Maddie, I finally talk to Collette - we played phone tag all day
5:45 p.m. - came home, Brent is gone to the Little League fields for the night so we had "whatever you can find" for dinner
6:30 p.m. - help Davis with spelling words and Sis with Language
6:45 p.m. - clean up the kitchen
7:15 p.m. - help Davis with a multiplication and division problem solving worksheet. I don't care what they call them now or what grade you are in but WORD PROBLEMS stink!!
8:10 p.m. - bedtime routine, prayers and kids tucked in bed
8:20 p.m. - work on YW's activity
8:21 p.m. - ask Cooper to please get back in bed, I tuck him again
8:23 p.m. - ask Cooper to please get back in bed, no tucking in
8:25 p.m. - tell Cooper to get back in bed or I close his bedroom door. He stays!!
8:30 p.m. - bag working on the YW's activity and go get my comfy clothes on
The rest of the evening was calm & uneventful.
I tuck Maddie in bed about 9 p.m.
Brent calls about 9:30 while he is driving home from the ball fields. We chat until he pulls into the driveway.
I was ready for sleep before 10:00 p.m.

You should try tracking your day sometime. It is self validation if nothing else.

Is Forever Enough

Before you read this post - please click on "Lullaby" on my playlist at the bottom of my blog. Ready?? Okay - Cooper came stumbling into my room at 5:13 a.m. this morning. A very rare occurance. I can count on him sleeping until 7:30 or 8 every morning. So he comes to my bedside and whispers "can I get in bed by you?" I lift up the covers and he climbs right in. He is restless for a bit and can't seem to hold still. Maddie comes in at 5:45 to shower and Brent gets up to get ready for work. Now it's just me and Coop. I notice that he is perfectly still and sleeping again. I look at him across the pillow - he is rolled onto his side, mouth slightly open, breathing soft and steady and his hand has fallen against my cheek. I can easily place a little kiss on his five year old pinky, which I do. My thoughts turn to yesterday afternoon when he was given four shots (required for kindergarten registration) and his uncontrollable fit of resistance. I somehow want to throw a fit just like that - right inside my heart! Ever so quietly, time is whisking my kids away from me. Knowing Cooper to be the raucous redhead that he is, I don't know when I'll get another moment like this one with him, so I take a deep breath and place another small kiss on that perfect pinky. A phrase from "Lullaby" plays through my mind and I wonder if a mother's heart is strong enough for this. Sighhhh. . . I love you little man!

Photo Update!

Neapolitan Treasures have grown in leaps in bounds. I thought a recent picture of these gems would be in order as the last one posted was taken almost a year ago! Here they are as of December 2007. WOW!! Where does the time go??

A Day of Rest

A good Sunday! Which I want to document because often when Sunday rolls around I wonder where the "rest" part comes into play. Brent is now home in the mornings (which I am sooo loving!!) and we had pancakes and laughter for breakfast. A good start! Then we got ready for church but left a little behind schedule. It was Ward Conference, so I thought for sure we would be back in the overflow which is NOT good for my kids. But no - plenty of room in the pews and even on "our side". Ahhh! I sat down and enjoyed the meeting with only a few disruptions from the kiddos. Gospel Doctrine was spent cuddled up to Brent (which I am sooo loving!!) and then YW's was a spent sitting next to my sweet daughter and listening to our Stake YW leaders. They are wonderful and so was their message. Came home to a major 12 year old meltdown over "stupid language homework!!" but then turned it into a family project and ended up laughing and enjoying the assignment. Had a nice visit with our home teachers then feasted on roast, potatoes & gravy and my best friend's rolls (mrs. rhodes) for dinner. Maddison and I went to a youth fireside and listened to an amazing sister tell about her escape from Vietnam and her new life here. So inspiring and both Sis and I came away extremely humbled and grateful for our blessings. Came home to warm chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk. I spent a few moments getting some YW stuff organized, went through the bedtime routine with the kids and after prayers I was in bed and ready for sleep before 10 p.m. Oh beautiful day of peace and rest!

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!

After five months of letting this blog sit, I've decided that it's time to do as the Little Engine did - JUST DO IT!! (or was that NIKE??) Anyway, I'm going to turn my blog around and make it come alive for myself and my family. I decided that documenting the little things, big things and all the inbetween things that occur in any given family is history being made. All that wonderful stuff deserves a special place of record. So for all who pass this way - I hope you read, see, feel, laugh and cry right along with me!

ALL ABOARD!!

Special thanks to my rock star friend who inspired me to make this fun!