When exactly does this milk expire?
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
I'm a nut
Turner really is a nut. This morning he climbed into this pillowcase (with the pillow still in it) and announced that he was a nut! He doesn't know just how true that is!
And this is what I found a couple of hours after the boys went to bed. Turner frequently falls off his bed, so it's a good thing he has a soft landing. And then the boys are magneted to eachother. It WAS pretty chilly that night!
And this is what I found a couple of hours after the boys went to bed. Turner frequently falls off his bed, so it's a good thing he has a soft landing. And then the boys are magneted to eachother. It WAS pretty chilly that night!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Happy Birthday Turner!
How do the years go so fast? Little Turner has had yet another birthday and is now 4! It was nice having his big day fall on a Saturday so we could have all the festivities on one day. Most of the extended family was sick, so we just had a small birthday with just the eight of us and Turner's friend Sophia. Porter's friend Steve showed up to play during it, so he joined us for awhile as well. It was very low key, which works a lot better for Turner. We just had a few gifts for him to open, and then he played for awhile, then we had cake.
The cake was actually rather spontaneous. He wanted a transformer cake, so I was just going to put some of his Transformer figures on the cake, but then the kids couldn't find the figures, so Turner decided he wanted a Pokemon cake. (Keep in mind this is about ten minutes before we were going to start his party) I had a round cake and was about to frost it and then put some Pokemon figures on it, when I had a brilliant idea to decorate it like a Poke-ball (sorry for the Pokemon jargon, you Pokemon moms out there know what I'm talking about). So I whipped out my red food coloring paste, made a nice shade of red and got to work. It turned out great--all the kids thought it was cute.
Grandma and Grandpa actually called from Germany right when we were getting ready to sing! So I put it on speaker phone and they got to sing to Turner, too!
Turner's favorite gift was a little sandbox with an excavator. He and Sophia played in it all afternoon. And it has a lid so it won't turn into the neighborhood litter box. He also got some sidewalk chalk and some bubbles so we spent most of the day outdoors.
Turner loved this card that he got from the Abersolds.
With all of the festivities, I forgot that Regan had a party to go to! Luckily my friend Donna knows of my ding-battedness and called to remind me. I ran Regan over and then ran a few errands. I decided that I really needed to get some exercise, so when it came time to pick her up, I loaded Cooper into the bike trailer and rode over there. It was a nice day and it was a nice ride. It only took me about 20 minutes. It was a much harder ride back though. Cooper is a little lightweight, but I can't say the same about his older sister! She's a tank! I definitely got a workout! Hayden was doing some yardwork for our neighbor, and finished up just after I left to pick Regan up. He chased after me, but because of my amazing speed, he didn't catch me until I got there. Okay, maybe he left fifteen minutes after I did and got there nearly at the same time. But the first story sounds better. It was a fun little ride. It made me excited for the summer!
We had the Stake Conference adult session last night, so after cleaning up the yard and the driveway (we had some car issues that we had been working on, so we had lots of stuff out!), we made it to the adult session of conference. It was nice and I especially enjoyed the "social hour" at the end. I love visiting with my friends.
Today was Stake Conference. We went to the 1:00 session. It was nice, although I felt like I was refereeing my kids most of the time. But we made it through most of it pretty well. We had a nice afternoon and had family home evening. Dix taught a lesson about the family all needing to be "in tune" with each other. If one of us is out of tune, it makes the instrument sound really bad. Then we played strawberry jam. The kids LOVED it. Cooper was pretty distraught through most of it. He didn't understand why we were all shoved under the bed or in a closet and why I kept trying to keep him quiet. Oh the joys.
And news about Turner: I guess no news is good news. We haven't heard back, yet the pediatric neurologist was supposed to have read his EEG on Wednesday morning. I'm thinking that it must have been normal or I would have heard something by now. I'll post when I do hear an answer. But for now, we're enjoying a few days of good health and happy hearts.
The cake was actually rather spontaneous. He wanted a transformer cake, so I was just going to put some of his Transformer figures on the cake, but then the kids couldn't find the figures, so Turner decided he wanted a Pokemon cake. (Keep in mind this is about ten minutes before we were going to start his party) I had a round cake and was about to frost it and then put some Pokemon figures on it, when I had a brilliant idea to decorate it like a Poke-ball (sorry for the Pokemon jargon, you Pokemon moms out there know what I'm talking about). So I whipped out my red food coloring paste, made a nice shade of red and got to work. It turned out great--all the kids thought it was cute.
Grandma and Grandpa actually called from Germany right when we were getting ready to sing! So I put it on speaker phone and they got to sing to Turner, too!
Turner's favorite gift was a little sandbox with an excavator. He and Sophia played in it all afternoon. And it has a lid so it won't turn into the neighborhood litter box. He also got some sidewalk chalk and some bubbles so we spent most of the day outdoors.
Turner loved this card that he got from the Abersolds.
With all of the festivities, I forgot that Regan had a party to go to! Luckily my friend Donna knows of my ding-battedness and called to remind me. I ran Regan over and then ran a few errands. I decided that I really needed to get some exercise, so when it came time to pick her up, I loaded Cooper into the bike trailer and rode over there. It was a nice day and it was a nice ride. It only took me about 20 minutes. It was a much harder ride back though. Cooper is a little lightweight, but I can't say the same about his older sister! She's a tank! I definitely got a workout! Hayden was doing some yardwork for our neighbor, and finished up just after I left to pick Regan up. He chased after me, but because of my amazing speed, he didn't catch me until I got there. Okay, maybe he left fifteen minutes after I did and got there nearly at the same time. But the first story sounds better. It was a fun little ride. It made me excited for the summer!
We had the Stake Conference adult session last night, so after cleaning up the yard and the driveway (we had some car issues that we had been working on, so we had lots of stuff out!), we made it to the adult session of conference. It was nice and I especially enjoyed the "social hour" at the end. I love visiting with my friends.
Today was Stake Conference. We went to the 1:00 session. It was nice, although I felt like I was refereeing my kids most of the time. But we made it through most of it pretty well. We had a nice afternoon and had family home evening. Dix taught a lesson about the family all needing to be "in tune" with each other. If one of us is out of tune, it makes the instrument sound really bad. Then we played strawberry jam. The kids LOVED it. Cooper was pretty distraught through most of it. He didn't understand why we were all shoved under the bed or in a closet and why I kept trying to keep him quiet. Oh the joys.
And news about Turner: I guess no news is good news. We haven't heard back, yet the pediatric neurologist was supposed to have read his EEG on Wednesday morning. I'm thinking that it must have been normal or I would have heard something by now. I'll post when I do hear an answer. But for now, we're enjoying a few days of good health and happy hearts.
Monday, February 16, 2009
The Oliver Family Band: Our Humble Beginnings
This has been my dream for a long time. To have all of my kids proficient on an instrument and be able to play songs together. Well, we have four out of six able to play well enough that we can play one song together. So here we are on our first attempt of "Boil 'em Cabbage Down." Hayden, Landon and Regan are on the fiddles, Dix and Porter on the guitars and me on the mandolin. Please don't laugh. This is a dream come true for me (and I feel really vulnerable putting this on here for everyone to see, but Grandma and Grandpa wanted to see it, so here it is!).
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Results from Doc
I called the boys' doctor this morning and made an appointment for the afternoon. Turner was good and healthy when he woke up this morning, or so it seemed, but by the time we went to the doctor, he had a fever, cough, runny nose, double ear infection and was pretty miserable. Weird, huh? (Just FYI, Cooper also had a double ear infection at this point!) The doctor prescribed him meds to help him recover quickly from his ear infections so that hopefully he won't continue running a fever, told me to keep him on motrin AND tylenol any time that I think he MAY be starting to get a fever, and prescribed some meds for use during a long seizure.
So since Turner was "on the verge" of getting sick last night, there is a good possibility that it was another febrile seizure. Which is much less scary to me than one of the other reasons that kids have seizures (epilepsy, meningitis, brain tumor, etc.). The neurology department up in Tacoma will be calling me in the next few days to schedule an EEG (brain scan) to rule out...well, I'm not sure, but to rule out something. Meanwhile, the doctor said that she really thinks it was just another febrile seizure, so she's not too worried about it and didn't even order a spinal tap. But she is still going forward with researching all the possibilities to make sure that we take care of the problem.
Meanwhile, Cooper seems to be on the mend. He has lost a full pound (bringing him down to the negative 5th percentile or so), but had some interest in eating today, so I will attempt to fatten him up. He'll be way more interested in eating when his ears don't ache so badly.
As for me, I am exhausted. School was delayed today which kind of started me off on the wrong foot. They canceled kindergarten (today was Regan's day to go all day), canceled early release, canceled Hayden's basketball game, plus I had to take Porter to the music store before school, had the doctor's appointment and a very long (1 hour) wait in the pharmacy (Turner fell asleep laying on the floor), drove Hayden to the church for a 15 min violin rehearsal and then back home to get something he forgot and then back out to get dropped off at his YM leader's house so he could go play racquetball. Oh yes, I finally fed my kids some dinner around 8, started working on homework with them and finally got them all to bed. Dix got home from work at 10. I think I'm ready for a vacation.
So since Turner was "on the verge" of getting sick last night, there is a good possibility that it was another febrile seizure. Which is much less scary to me than one of the other reasons that kids have seizures (epilepsy, meningitis, brain tumor, etc.). The neurology department up in Tacoma will be calling me in the next few days to schedule an EEG (brain scan) to rule out...well, I'm not sure, but to rule out something. Meanwhile, the doctor said that she really thinks it was just another febrile seizure, so she's not too worried about it and didn't even order a spinal tap. But she is still going forward with researching all the possibilities to make sure that we take care of the problem.
Meanwhile, Cooper seems to be on the mend. He has lost a full pound (bringing him down to the negative 5th percentile or so), but had some interest in eating today, so I will attempt to fatten him up. He'll be way more interested in eating when his ears don't ache so badly.
As for me, I am exhausted. School was delayed today which kind of started me off on the wrong foot. They canceled kindergarten (today was Regan's day to go all day), canceled early release, canceled Hayden's basketball game, plus I had to take Porter to the music store before school, had the doctor's appointment and a very long (1 hour) wait in the pharmacy (Turner fell asleep laying on the floor), drove Hayden to the church for a 15 min violin rehearsal and then back home to get something he forgot and then back out to get dropped off at his YM leader's house so he could go play racquetball. Oh yes, I finally fed my kids some dinner around 8, started working on homework with them and finally got them all to bed. Dix got home from work at 10. I think I'm ready for a vacation.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Still more sick kids
Just as we thought things were getting better....
Cooper is now losing fluids from both ends. He's lost quite a bit of weight. He was only 20 pounds to begin with, which is pretty small for an 18 month old boy. He was 19 lbs yesterday, probably less today. He mostly has cold symptoms, but also has an ear infection. He started antibiotics for that yesterday and today we found out that he's allergic to amoxicillin. Fun, fun. Luckily the hives cleared up pretty quickly. All he wants to do is snuggle. I'm good with that.
Turner was only sick with a slight fever for a day and then recovered. Tonight he started coughing again and I started thinking that maybe he wouldn't be able to go to preschool tomorrow. About an hour after Turner went to bed, Landon ran in to tell us that something was wrong with Turner. We quickly ran in to check on him and found him at the tail end of another seizure. I will try to get him into the doctor tomorrow. Between his behavior issues (he acts like Grouchy Smurf most of the time--he used to be a sweet little boy), and the fact that he's had three seizures in the last couple of weeks, we're a little concerned about him. Please remember this sweet little guy in your prayers.
Cooper is now losing fluids from both ends. He's lost quite a bit of weight. He was only 20 pounds to begin with, which is pretty small for an 18 month old boy. He was 19 lbs yesterday, probably less today. He mostly has cold symptoms, but also has an ear infection. He started antibiotics for that yesterday and today we found out that he's allergic to amoxicillin. Fun, fun. Luckily the hives cleared up pretty quickly. All he wants to do is snuggle. I'm good with that.
Turner was only sick with a slight fever for a day and then recovered. Tonight he started coughing again and I started thinking that maybe he wouldn't be able to go to preschool tomorrow. About an hour after Turner went to bed, Landon ran in to tell us that something was wrong with Turner. We quickly ran in to check on him and found him at the tail end of another seizure. I will try to get him into the doctor tomorrow. Between his behavior issues (he acts like Grouchy Smurf most of the time--he used to be a sweet little boy), and the fact that he's had three seizures in the last couple of weeks, we're a little concerned about him. Please remember this sweet little guy in your prayers.
The opposite of hard is...
When I was picking Regan up from school today, Turner had a snack attack. We have several boxes of breads (still!) in the back of our Suburban from a "Gleaner" pickup at Safeway. So Turner said he was hungry and then turned around to grab a bag of bread. He got a bag of hot dog buns that was already opened, so they were stale and hard. I said to him, "Why don't you grab another bag? Those buns are hard." He responded with, "Okay, I'll get a bag of easy buns."
Well, at least he knows the opposite of hard!
Well, at least he knows the opposite of hard!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
I'm as Quiet as...
Regan has been chatty in bed tonight. Dix and I told her that she needs to stop talking and fall asleep. She responded with, "I'm as quiet as a piece of wood."
Okay....
Okay....
Sundays are not a day of rest around here
Cooper was still sick this morning with a super runny nose, no appetite and lethargia. Regan had a headache and a little bit of a cough left. They're definitely on the mend, but we didn't want to send them to their classes. So Dix stayed home with them since I had to do Sharing Time today (which I think went really well, by the way). Turner was really, really hard today. He doesn't know how to whisper, he is super sensitive when anyone touches him (or looks at him, or breathes on him), so he ended up crying or whining through most of Sacrament meeting. He wouldn't sit during Opening Exercises, so he spent it in the corner behind a chair, hiding so no one would be able to see him. I think he did okay once he went to class, though. Porter had a hard time on the drive home and basically kicked Hayden the whole way. Turner was crying because he wanted to sit in a different car seat. But luckily we gave Sister McClellan a ride home so she could see the real Oliver family. By the time we got home I wanted to strangle a couple of kids!
It didn't get better once we got into the house. Fighting, contention, crying, teasing, you name it, we had it. After a couple of hours it finally calmed down into a nice peaceful afternoon. We cut out dozens of hearts so we can go "heart attack" a bunch of friends this weekend for Valentine's Day. Regan and Landon made some get well soon cards for Sister Clark and we delivered those to her. We talked about the "warm feeling" they had when they dropped the cards off, so we talked about the Spirit and how you can feel the spirit when you're choosing the right. They were really sweet. We got the two little boys to sleep before 7, which definitely calmed things down around here! I'm usually not the kind of mom that wants to get rid of the kids, but I am pretty excited to send them all to school tomorrow!
I'm going to get up really early tomorrow so I can get some housework started before I take the kids to school and then I have a dentist appointment. My goal is to get on top of my housework this week. We've been so busy the last few weeks and I've been spending so much time exercising that my house has been neglected. So this week I need to catch up on laundry, floors, bathrooms...you know, the usual. It will be a busy week!
It didn't get better once we got into the house. Fighting, contention, crying, teasing, you name it, we had it. After a couple of hours it finally calmed down into a nice peaceful afternoon. We cut out dozens of hearts so we can go "heart attack" a bunch of friends this weekend for Valentine's Day. Regan and Landon made some get well soon cards for Sister Clark and we delivered those to her. We talked about the "warm feeling" they had when they dropped the cards off, so we talked about the Spirit and how you can feel the spirit when you're choosing the right. They were really sweet. We got the two little boys to sleep before 7, which definitely calmed things down around here! I'm usually not the kind of mom that wants to get rid of the kids, but I am pretty excited to send them all to school tomorrow!
I'm going to get up really early tomorrow so I can get some housework started before I take the kids to school and then I have a dentist appointment. My goal is to get on top of my housework this week. We've been so busy the last few weeks and I've been spending so much time exercising that my house has been neglected. So this week I need to catch up on laundry, floors, bathrooms...you know, the usual. It will be a busy week!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Family Dinner
We haven't gotten together as a family since Thanksgiving! Dale and Mark were in Germany during Christmas and we just couldn't get our schedules coordinated in January--not for lack of trying! So even though I had two sick kids today, we decided to go through with it. Kurt and Jackie were nice enough to let us change venues to their place. Dave has a newly diagnosed wheat allergy, so we had some wheat free menu choices. We had a regular lasagna and a polenta lasagna. The polenta was sliced up thin and layered in the lasagna in place of the pasta. It was delicious! Carolyn also made a wheat free cake and Dale brought ice cream. Mark brought some yummy garlic bread and Dale brought the veggies. It was a yummy dinner. Dix stayed home with the sickies (Regan and Cooper) and Hayden ran the food down to them when it was ready (a benefit of living just a few houses down!). We had a good time after dinner.
The grown ups played Tripoly while the kids watched a little TV (they have CABLE!), played some guitar hero and then we all did a little arm wrestling and leg wrestling. Dale still rules. You know, for a nerd, he's pretty strong. Hayden's coming pretty close to beating Mark in arm wrestling. We stayed until 9 or so and then came home to put kids to bed. We're going to have a tired crew at church tomorrow. I'm doing Sharing Time in Primary, so I've been working on that, trying to figure out something to do rather than talking for ten minutes and letting them color for ten minutes. I never knew I was so boring! Hopefully I'll spice it up a little tomorrow!
Cooper had a rough morning today with a lot of crying and vomiting, but seemed to be feeling a little better as the day progressed. Hopefully he'll be okay by Monday because I have a dentist appointment that I really need to keep, but I can't pawn off sick kids! I also have a Doctor's appointment on Tuesday to talk with Turner's pediatrician about his behaviors. He's just not quite right...I don't know exactly what is up with him. I took him back off milk (he's been off it for about two weeks) and his behavior is actually quite a bit better. I can't explain exactly what it is that worries me...it's not ADHD type stuff so much as maybe autism type stuff? All of you experts out there (you know who you are!), leave me some comments or CALL ME because I'm a little worried about him!
Okay, time to do pushups and situps with my boys. Good thing they're such great nags...I mean motivators. I sure love my boys! (I love Regan too...)
The grown ups played Tripoly while the kids watched a little TV (they have CABLE!), played some guitar hero and then we all did a little arm wrestling and leg wrestling. Dale still rules. You know, for a nerd, he's pretty strong. Hayden's coming pretty close to beating Mark in arm wrestling. We stayed until 9 or so and then came home to put kids to bed. We're going to have a tired crew at church tomorrow. I'm doing Sharing Time in Primary, so I've been working on that, trying to figure out something to do rather than talking for ten minutes and letting them color for ten minutes. I never knew I was so boring! Hopefully I'll spice it up a little tomorrow!
Cooper had a rough morning today with a lot of crying and vomiting, but seemed to be feeling a little better as the day progressed. Hopefully he'll be okay by Monday because I have a dentist appointment that I really need to keep, but I can't pawn off sick kids! I also have a Doctor's appointment on Tuesday to talk with Turner's pediatrician about his behaviors. He's just not quite right...I don't know exactly what is up with him. I took him back off milk (he's been off it for about two weeks) and his behavior is actually quite a bit better. I can't explain exactly what it is that worries me...it's not ADHD type stuff so much as maybe autism type stuff? All of you experts out there (you know who you are!), leave me some comments or CALL ME because I'm a little worried about him!
Okay, time to do pushups and situps with my boys. Good thing they're such great nags...I mean motivators. I sure love my boys! (I love Regan too...)
Friday, February 6, 2009
Unconventional, Unromantic, Unforgettable
Porter is my creative child. He is also a sixth grade boy. Which makes for a very interesting Valentine's Card. I would love to see the reactions of the kids in his class!
If you look closely (click on it to enlarge), you will see that he dotted his "i" and his exclamation point with a tiny heart.
Anatomically not too bad, wouldn't you say? For a twelve year old?
And the requisite poetry for Valentine's Day. What a guy. Those kids are in for a real treat this year! He's also planning on making human heart stickers to shut his valentines with when he gets home from school today.
Always an adventure with this kid!
If you look closely (click on it to enlarge), you will see that he dotted his "i" and his exclamation point with a tiny heart.
Anatomically not too bad, wouldn't you say? For a twelve year old?
And the requisite poetry for Valentine's Day. What a guy. Those kids are in for a real treat this year! He's also planning on making human heart stickers to shut his valentines with when he gets home from school today.
Always an adventure with this kid!
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