One Tough Lil' Lady

This morning, Kiera wanted a banana. I said yes, and off she went. Pretty soon she came back to where I was, holding her hand and looking a bit... off. Here's how it went:

Kiera: Mommy, I have an owie. But I'm okay.
Mommy: What happened Kiera? let me see..
Kiera: I'm okay.
Kiera: I'm okay.
Kiera: I'm okay.
Kiera: I'm okay.
Mommy: Oh Kiera, did you cut yourself?
Kiera: I don't know.
Mommy: Which knife did you use?
Kiera: I don't know.
Mommy: Show me.
Kiera: I'm okay.
Kiera: I'm okay.
Mommy: Kiera, did that scare you?
Kiera: YEAASSSSSSSS (sob...)

She tried to cut the banana off the banana hanger... Luckily, she used one of *her* knives-- we have two Pampered Chef kids' knives, not sharp, but serrated to help break through whatever they're cutting. But apparently, when you use enough pressure and/or speed, you will cut skin. It's actually more like a deep scratch, but there was blood... enough to put her into a bit of a shock. "I'm ok, I'm ok, I'm ok..." Then she had the thought that because she had an owie, she couldn't go to the waterslides :-) that made her very, very sad.

:-) In my opinion, she was quite the tough cookie... Now she can't wait to show Grandma Naye and Daddy, cause that's where we're heading. Don't be surprised if we see you soon, and she shows you her owie.

Ahhh, now I can breathe...

I know. So much pressure. But now I'm just waiting on an acceptance email and our taxes will be done for another year. WooHoo!

Now I can focus on sharing so much with you... so much... well, just day to day life. :-) The girls got to spend the night at Grandma and Papa Smith's house last night, so I am enjoying a quiet morning while Isaac gets some MUCH needed sleep! Lots of laundry, finishing taxes, fighting over my breakfast with the kittens...

Life is good. Busy, but good. One day down out of four work days. At least I don't have to go in until 2:30 instead of 1. More wiggle room. :-) wiggle wiggle wiggle.

We're Up!

But not quite high enough... Isaac is number 7 or 8.

Voting

Just click on Isaac's picture over there, and it should take you to his page, or to a page where you can register. Then you can click on the view gallery, and hopefully it won't take you too long to find his pic. :-)

Yea! Taxes 90% done!

Whew- after hours of calculating.. I'm almost done. I love taxactonline.com just in case you're looking for somewhere cheap/free and easy to do your taxes.


And please vote. Isaac would love to win- but as of day one, he's behind at least 15 votes.... I know I have more friends than that...

;-)

Please Vote for Isaac!

The Babies of 2009 edition of the Wenatchee World comes out Jan 27, plus they are doing a cutest baby contest! You can vote once a day!

Vote vote vote!!!

You Know... When...

You know it's been a messed up winter when the irises are coming up in January....

Busy Busy Busy Updates

Isaac's first tooth broke through Sunday (16th).

I found my Dyson filter, in Ziva's pen. It is still usable, but another one is already on the way... Oh well, good for the when the dog steals it next time!

We spent the night w/ my mom at the Wapato Point condo at Lake Chelan on Monday night, and Isaac had a great time attempting to climb the stairs. His little chubby legs were so cute as they swayed from side to side trying to learn a little control!

It's tax time- I hate it because I just want it to be finished, so I work and work and work without stopping until it's done. Exhausting!

I'm working three days this week, and four next week. We had a little shake up at work, so now our schedule is all messy. My manager isn't there anymore, and while it's a relief in some ways, it's also frustrating because he was so good with my schedule. The one handling it for now just plugs me in where he wants me without asking. Grrr. I'm spoiled. Or I was. Wait- spoiled? Or blessed? At least today is the last day for this week. Hopefully it will go quickly.

Play Doh Advice

You know those huge packs of small canisters of play-doh they sell at the holidays? (halloween, easter...) Most of the time, at least at Costco, they get marked down. I bought some a few years ago, and we still have most of the pack (80 cans!). I love them because you can get one or two or three out, then when they are done, just throw them away. You always have fresh, soft play-doh, and don't feel bad about sweeping it up and tossing it.

Just thought I'd mention it ;-)

Great Wolf, Here we come!

I did it! Plus an extra blessing...

This morning I was sitting down to call, but remembered that there was another special deal on Facebook, and I wanted to compare the deal code I already had to the current deal. So I hopped on over to their Facebook page, and was trying to find it when I came upon a post about firefighters/lawenforcement/military discount.

So I called and asked the nice man to compare the two, and sure enough, the one Gabe qualifies for was a better deal! A whole $40 off each night! We now have our dates reserved, Feb 8-10. And I am so excited!

Oh yea, and I ordered another vacuum filter. Grmph. At least I know it's coming. Now that I've paid for it, I'm sure the old one will show up!

And One more thing...

Isaac's pulling himself up already. Not all the way to his feet, but to his knees.

Yikes.

Our new household conundrum....

Grrr... The other day... meaning I think Friday? (I'm not even sure) I washed my Dyson "lifetime" filter and placed it on the vent to dry. Then we left. It must have been Friday because we didn't go anywhere Sat/Sun... and I know it's been missing at least that long. (This is a vacuum filter I'm talking about)

Anyway, when we got home and I went to put it back in the vacuum, it was gone. My only guess is that the kittens got to playing with it, and moved it somewhere. But somewhere has become nowhere. I cannot find it anywhere! I even crawled around the house on my hands and knees today looking for it... nothing. Nowhere. Nada.

I'm so frustrated! It's a lifetime filter, so it's not like every store carries them. In fact, as far as I can tell, I'm going to have to order one online. And I have a crawling baby!!!

So. If you remember us, would you please pray that it turns up? It's so bizarre that it completely disappeared. I'm desperate. Or, if anyone has a DC-18 filter I can borrow so I can vacuum my house, I'd be so very grateful!

Cheap Entertainment

Take all your old maids from a bag of popcorn, place them on a plate, put back in microwave.

Set for 2 minutes, stand back, watch your kids laugh themselves silly.

:-)

Seriously

I am so bored. I know, I know. Part of it is always that feeling that we can't go anywhere, do anything because one of us is sick.... but I am BORED!

So, I am going to tell you about our recent oil experience. Enjoy.

Christmas day we noticed that Ziva was holding one of her back feet up and not putting any weight on it. We laid her down to find that she had a swollen area inside her paw. It was difficult to see what was even going on, but we figured it was probably a goathead that had broken off and gotten infected. It may not have been, but for the purposes of this story, assume that whatever happened, the symptoms were similar to what you would expect to occur if a goathead were the culprit.

Being Christmas day, we weren't inclined to take her to the vet. After paying Kerzon's bill, I wasn't inclined to take any animal to the vet again unless their health was actually in jeopardy. We bandaged it up after using some rubbing alcohol and Animal Scents ointment on it. Note: Duck tape does stick rather well to dog fur. She looked pretty cute with one of Gabe's socks pulled up over her leg, held in place by duck tape.

The next day was Saturday, and her ankle was much more swollen, with some puss around the wound area. We rinsed it out with alcohol again, and put more ointment on it. We still couldn't see an actual puncture, but assumed that where the puss was would be a good place for the ointment. Gabe and I talked over the possiblity of a vet trip again, and didn't want to take her in until Monday. I mentioned that I hate taking them in for something that isn't impossible to do at home, asking if one of his dad's many, uh, bizarre, purchases might have included ether... ;-) Apparently not. But we do have the oils...

Because we couldn't see exactly where to treat, I didn't want to take the chance of lancing the swollen area on her pad. (didn't want to cut anything important!) But we did use lavendar all over the swollen section of her ankle several times that day. The next day, Sunday, her ankle was even more swollen. I decided to use Purification (a blend) on it, two or three times. By the evening, we saw her begin to put her foot down and by Monday morning (when we would consider a vet) she was running around on it and the swelling was gone.

Not bad for about $10 worth of oil. Saved us a $150 vet bill!

Life at our house

Mellow yellow here at our house. Kiera's had a fever the past two days, so we are house-bound :-) I ordered some DVDs that were on sale from Answers in Genesis so we have a little more educational stuff to watch when we have a sick one on the couch. (We've exhausted our recorded supply of Dog Whisperers!) By the time they arrive, hopefully we'll all feel better!

I made this last night for dinner, plus a big batch to send to church today for Acts 2:42 (our monthly fellowship meal time). Creamy Potato Soup We all really enjoyed it, plus some corn muffins with honey butter. YUM!

Isaac's crawling all over the place; his smile is just huge when he comes around a corner to find you! He loves sitting in the kitchen and watching Ziva, or trying to chase down the kittens.

We are adapting to Gabe's new work schedule. The main challenge for the family is figuring out dinner time. We used to eat around 5-5:30ish before he went to work, now I am preferring to wait until 7:30 when he gets home... but that's more like bed time than dinner time. I have not yet mastered the art of having dinner for the kids, then later with Gabe.

My own challenge is not being able to steal his pillow when he's gone.... Maybe that will be on my birthday list. ;-)

Anyway, just catching up. I have a neat new oil story for you, just need to find time to sit down and write it out...

Provisions: A Highchair!

Since early last year, when I saw one on a blog, I'd be keeping my eyes open for an old-fashioned highchair. Easy to use, doesn't take up so much space, and quick to clean! I know they market the newer ones as "Put the cover in the wash! Wash the tray in the dishwasher!" but really, do you want to throw it in the washer three times a day? Because some days, it gets that messy at every meal. But we never found one.

So, we came to the decision that with Isaac, instead of getting out the great big highchair, we would use one of the little booster seats and just sit him in one of the dining room chairs with the rest of us. (Thanks to my inlaws, we now have more than 4 chairs! 7 to be exact. At least room for two more kids...!) I was planning on reorganizing the dining room to fit every one this week.

Sunday at Gramps' house, this came up, and Gramps offers the highchair that has literally held every member of my mom's family since my mom was born! I am shocked. The exact item I'd been looking for nearly a year for was just waiting, out there in Gramps garage! Is that not just an awesome blessing? I'd bet if I would have prayed about this, it would have come to light sooner :-) But this way, God let me totally come to the end of my own means, and then provided, all to His glory!

One down, one to go...

Woo Hoo- One of the people who called 2-3 weeks ago called back about the kittens, and we are 80% sure we have a buyer for Rose! The plan is to take her over when we go on our little trip over to Great Wolf Lodge. (In a few weeks- no reservations yet, but we've been looking at the calendar...) He was pretty excited we're gonna be headed his direction, so I think that helped to seal the deal... Now, if we can just get Cocoa moved...

Their nighttime antics are good motivation :-)