Cameron's 1st Haircut

This morning we took Cameron to our friend, Natalie Jones, and she gave him his first haircut. He seriously looks so dang cute with his hair all trimmed and clean-cut. Thanks Nat!

Before, during, and after shots:

My World In 7 Minutes

I literally have about 7 minutes to update my blog before Sam gets home from the video store...

Yummers, 'all gone goodies'. I made them and now they are gone, just like the name says!


Watching "The Incredibles" can really wear a guy out!


He's king of the world!


Carson got the "distinguished cub" award from school. Each year the kids have a list of items they have to do and then you get this award. If you remember last year, Carson didn't get this award so he just made his own dang medal!


Today Carson had a program in his classrooom to show off their skillz. Parker was just happy to be in the school, he seriously cannot wait to start preschool this fall.


Carson's class sang songs, read a book together, and then showed us a book they had written and illustrated. Carson's book was called "The Big Hit". It was about a kid who always won his baseball games and it got so boring that he started to lose on purpose. Wow, he really has the "give up" reasoning down don't you think? I'm so proud.



Tonight we(Sam) hung new outdoor lights on our house. They are real purdy. Cameron just chilled on the grass the whole evening. Check out the old lights, the new lights, and my cute hubby who is doing the work!





Okay time to go watch a movie. Night!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a really nice memorial day weekend. The weather was awesome, it rained a lot (remember, I'm from Seattle!) and we were able to get a lot done around the house as well as have some fun outside the house.

Our neighbor, Peter, came over and removed Carson's stitches. That was super nice of Peter because he saved us a trip back to the instacare. One day I'll learn how to take out stitches because I'm sure I have only begun my experiences relating to stitches.

Do you remember those bacon and eggs bandaids I bought at Archie McPhees in Seattle a few years ago? I totally found some in the back of my linen closet the other day so I made sure Carson wore bacon to school on Friday, mostly for my entertainment!

Here he is right before Peter removed the stitches. He's wearing his bicycle helmet...oh man, he looks pretty awesome in this get-up....


We laid him on the countertop (I'm sure it was sterile) and Peter showed us his steady hand skills. Thanks Peter!


Saturday we went to Kangaroo Zoo with my parents and Curtis and Shandy. I've heard a lot about this place and I'm happy to report, I was NOT disappointed. Seriously I laughed my guts out for the 3 hours we were there. I think I had as much fun going down the big slides as my kids did, maybe more! There was this one contraption that was like a trampoline with a raised platform in the center that was hard to balance on. I got onto it and laughed until my cheeks hurt while Curtis tried to bounce me off. Totally brought me back to the good ol' days when Curtis and I were young-'uns and we would play "crack the egg" on our tramp!


I don't think Curtis' son, Dexter, thought it was so funny.


Parker was fearless. I've never seen him so independent before! He loved the slide that was 3 stories tall. He would go down, head first, on his back. Right before he would slide down, he would say "To infinity and BEYOND!" Gotta love Parker!


So after 3 hours the kids were very giddy and red in the face. I don't know why Parker looks mad here, probably because it was time to go. For sure we will go back. I understand there is a Kangaroo Zoo in North Salt Lake as well. That location has a black light miniature golf course...fun!


On Sunday we had our monthly "cousins dinner". This month it was Cody and Meridith's turn to host. We had a grubbin' BBQ and great company! While we were hanging out I was telling everybody how Carson likes to take our empty Mountain Dew cans to the recycle bin because he always sips out the last few drops of Dew before throwing the can away. My mom and Jed both said "you should put something else in the can before asking him to throw it away" and of course my mind instantly started to go crazy with ideas. So, today, I emptied a can and put some salt water in the bottom. Then I asked Carson to take it out to the recycle bin in the garage. Sam had the video camera ready, but Carson was tricky. He didn't sip anything until he was in the garage and out of our view. I was disappointed for a second, but was instantly rewarded when he came running back in the house with a gross look on his face and into the bathroom he went to spit and rinse out his mouth! Unfortunatly, Sam didn't capture the video, but I took this picture as Carson came out of the bathroom:


You might think I'm mean, but I figure if I'm the only chick in a household of boys, I'm going to make it worthwhile and laugh every day!

And just for fun, here are some cute pics I took of Cameron tonight. Hopefully this week he'll lose the faux hawk because I'm going to see if my friend, Natalie, can cut his hair. It's really scraggely on the sides and back and I'm tired of messing with it. I may not completely get rid of his signature look, but I'll get it "cleaned up" a bit.




That first picture of him looks like he's practicing to be a cheerleader...uh-oh.

Strawberry Lemonade Recipe

Here is the recipe for the Strawberry Lemonade that I made last Saturday:

6 cups whole and hulled strawberries
4 cups lemon juice (If you were amazing, you could squeeze your own lemons. Otherwise, just buy the 32 oz. bottles of lemon juice at the store)
6 cups granulated sugar

In a blender, puree strawberries until smooth. Transfer strawberries to a large stainless steel saucepan as completed. Add lemon juice and sugar and stir to combine. Heat to 190 degrees over medium/high heat, stirring occassionally. Do not boil. Remove from heat and skim off foam.

Ladle hot concentrate into pint jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe rim and screw on lids.

Place jars in canner and process for 35 minutes.

Makes approximately 7 pint jars.

To reconstitute, mix one part concentrate with 2-3 parts water. Adjust according to taste.

Peregrine Falcons

For the past several years, there have been peregrine falcons that nest on top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. There is a camera and microphone installed in their nesting box so you can watch live feeds of their daily happenings. My mom emailed me the link to the camera and basically my whole family has become obsessed with watching it. This year the female laid 4 eggs. Two have hatched and the chicks died. One hatched a few days ago and is alive and well. There is still one egg that needs to hatch. I just watched the female feed her chick and it was very cool! Check it out!!

Watch Live Feed of Peregrine Falcons

click on "view from camera 2" on the right side of the page.

Bright Eyed & Bushy Tailed

Well, maybe Bright Eyed and Bushy Head is more like it!


It looks like I just scared him but that's his normal look. :)

Now I Think It's Funny

Now I think my crazy week is funny.

Here is the honest to goodness update on the pas 24 hours:

I have lost my voice.

Parker woke up today crying because his ear hurt. I took him to the pediatrician and he has ear infections in both of his ears. NICE!

You want to know how much I've spent on co-pays in one week??
$85
You want to know how much it cost me to fill up my gas tank today so I could make it to the doctor's office without running out of gas?
$66

Everybody should stay away from me and my family, I think we are jinxed!

I'll post the Strawberry Lemonade recipe soon, I promise!

Insert Favorite Cliche' Here

It takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile.
This too shall pass.
When it rains it pours.

So this has been my week.

On Tuesday Cameron started to bark. I'm serious. It was the strangest thing I've heard coming from a 2 month old. I didn't really think it was him at first but then he barked while I was holding him. Oh great, here we go. His pediatrician wasn't in the office but I saw another doctor from the same practice. He confirmed that Cameron had Croup. He had to give him a shot of steroids to keep Cameron's throat open and to help him get better. Because I've never gone through this with my other kids, I didn't think to ask the critical question: What are the side effects??

Well, from Tuesday until today, Cameron has turned into somebody other than my sweet little baby. My patience has been tested for sure. Apparently steroids make you agitated and unable to sleep. Huh, that probably would have been good for me to know don't you think? Oh don't worry, I'm going to gently explain to this doctor that he needs to prepare the mother's of children who he turns into Frankenstein about what personality makeovers he is going to perform. If we didn't hold Cameron constantly he would scream like we had pinched him. I called Sam on Friday afternoon and said "I think I've reached my breaking point, when will you be home??" Late this afternoon he finally took his first nap since Tuesday. Of course, this was after Sam held him from about 8am to 2pm.

On Thursday, Sam stayed home with Cameron while the rest of us and my parents went to our Relief Society garden at This is the Place Heritage Park. I volunteered to be in charge of maintenance at the garden this summer. So we worked our tails off and it looks beautiful and ready for the summer planting.


Here's my dad and Parker looking all cute...more on Parker later and I'll give you a hint, he's not being so cute right now...


So, Friday night was looking promising. Sam came home from work and he was helping me with Frankenstein, er, I mean Cameron. It was a beautiful day outside and I had a hankering to go work in my flower beds. We were kind of disorganized for dinner (cut me some slack, remember, I was holding #3 all day long). Carson fed himself a corndog and then we told him to go outside. Sam said "go jump on the tramp and practice doing flips." Famous last words.

Unfortunately, our trampoline is on the side of our house and we can't see it from inside the house. About 15 minutes later Carson appears at the sliding glass door whimpering "moooooooommmmmmmm!" I looked towards the door and what I saw will probably haunt me until I die. Carson had blood across half of his face, dripping down his arm, and it was even in his eye so his eyeball was bright red. I've kind of always prided myself in remaining calm when my kids get freakishly hurt, but that was promptly forgotten as I stared in horror at Carson. I ran to the door and yelled "What happened????" Sam and I rushed him to the bathroom and started cleaning him up, trying to determine the source of the blood. We were so scared he had impaled his eyeball with something. Finally, we found the source, a nice cut on his eyelid. He said he was practicing flips (such an obedient child) and he overshot the landing and smacked his eye on the bar of the trampoline frame. So, my open Friday night was suddenly full. I gave him a rag to hold onto his eye and off to the InstaCare we went.

I was so sad because Carson kept asking me "why didn't you come outside to help me? I was screaming as loud as I could for a long time." Ouch, stab to the heart.
I took these pictures with my phone while we were at the clinic.
Carson was so funny because I think he was so nervous, he was giddy. Here he is with the numbing gel on the cut:


Here is what his eye looked like after they injected the numbing medication into the cut. He wasn't as giddy, but he was such a champ. He hardly moved at all!


Here he is after they stiched him up. It took 5 stitches under the surface of the skin and 4 stiches on the surface. It was really deep and really creepy.


He was so brave, all he asked was that I hold both his hands. Gotta love Carson! As you can see, he is just fine now. This was right after we got home.


He was even a sport and went back on the tramp to show me exactly what happened. Yes, I know, it's time to get pads for the trampoline. He'll have a nice shiner to show off to the kids at school on Monday!


Then...
Friday night from 10pm to 12am Macey's grocery store was having a special sale. One of the featured items was Strawberries, $1 per pound. Fern is an adventurous soul so she braved the crowds (not a single parking spot in the parking lot!) and scored me 2 flats of beautiful strawberries. It only cost me $16!

This is only half of them, aren't they purdy?


I already have tons of strawberry jam so I decided to make Strawberry Lemonade concentrate with my bargain berries. My neighbor made some last summer and gave me a jar. I instantly fell in love with it! It's better than any strawberry lemonade I've had at any restaurant. It is so good and so flavorful! I kind of got in over my head because 2 flats of strawberries made 42 jars of lemonade! Here it is, 12:27am and the last batch is finally processing in the steam canner. Oh well, if we ever have an emergency and have to survive off our food storage, we'll sure have enough to drink! My mom used to look at her counter tops full of home canned goods and she would say "aren't they pretty?" That's how I feel right now, aren't they pretty?


So, Cameron had Croup, Carson had stitches...Parker didn't want to feel left out. About an hour ago he woke up screaming and holding his hand over his ear. Looks like we have an ear infection folks. So we gave him Motrin and put some numbing drops in his ear and we'll see what tomorrow brings. Those InstaCare employees are going to roll their eyes at me if I come strolling in tomorrow with a different child. As Parker was crying so hard he couldn't catch his breath, Sam and I just looked at each other and I think we both aged about 10 years. I seriously thought to myself, "am I getting too old for this?" As I type this Sam is sleeping on the couch next to me. Plumb Tuckered is what we are.

And because my posting has been somewhat negative, here's something funny. What happens when you leave your BBQ grill outside all Spring without the cover on it?



Stupid birds. Oops, that was negative too.

A huge thanks to Fern for watching my kids tonight so Sam and I could have a much needed break. We saw Ironman with our friends, the Strong's and Gilmore's. It was a GREAT movie with GREAT company.

H-E-Double Hockey Sticks Week

Today alone has almost worn me down and out, let alone what has occurred this week. I'm going to do an update, hopefully tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Things to look forward to:
Snotty Croup
Strawberries
Stitches
Sunny day in the Garden

And who knows what tomorrow will bring....I'm actually frightened as to what else could happen.....

More Mother's Day & Cameron Update

I wanted to put more Mother's Day pictures on my blog last night but I was too wiped out...

I wanted to give a "shout out" to my Mom. She is the best Mom I could ever hope for. The older I get the more I appreciate her. Not only is she a great mom, she is a very impressive Grandma. She never acts frustrated when my kids want to play games with her. She happily stops whatever she is doing and takes the time to make memories with my kids...even when she is exhausted! Thanks Mom, I love you!

Here she is yesterday afternoon with Parker.


I'm also lucky enough to have a wonderful Mother-in-law. She joined us for dinner yesterday, which was the perfect blend of good food and good company!

I never noticed how much she and Sam looked alike until I saw this picture.


Here's a handsome shot of two of my guys...Thanks Sam for a great Mother's Day! You've come a long way since giving me a DVD of "stepmom" as my Mother's Day present when I was pregnant with Carson...and we didn't own a DVD player at the time! :)


Here is a Cameron update:

Today we had Cameron's 2 month doctor appointment. He weighs 12 lbs 2 oz now. He's doing great lately because he's been sleeping through the night for the past week. That's always an excellent milestone to reach! I just hope it lasts!

Unfortunately, he really favors the right side of his head when he sleeps so his head is kind of crazy right now. Looking straight at him you wouldn't notice, but if you look down on the top of his head like the noonday sun, you can see what's going on. I've never heard of this before, but my doctor described baby's heads like a box. If you put pressure on one corner of a box, the whole thing shifts one way or another. So, Cameron's forehead on the right side is bulging out more than the left. Also, his right ear is closer to the front of his face than the left ear. Completely bizarre-o. So, for the next 2 months, we have to wedge a blanket under the right side of his head so he sleeps on the left side of his head.

If the head doesn't reshape itself at his 4 month appointment he may need one of two things: a helmet, or a CAT scan to determine if it's his bone structure that is wacked. If his bone structure is the problem, then he'll need surgery on his skull later in life to fix. I don't think it's anything major, I just think I need to be diligent on keeping him off the right side of his head. It's weird because I remember Carson getting a flat spot on his head but it didn't mess with his forehead or ears. If anybody has heard about this before, feel free to share your experience with me because it's the first I've heard of it.

Oh yeah, Cameron has a confirmed clogged tear duct in his left eye. The doctor said to just massage it several times a day and it should work it's way out. If not, he'll need to have it surgically fixed when he's one year old.

He got his first round of vaccines today. One he drank, which was new for us, and three shots. He was a trooper!


Here's hoping he's a trooper through the night as well!

Happy Mother's Day To Me

Yep my back is sore.

The day started with the annual Mother's Day tradition of planting my mother-in-law's flower pots with Fern. It's always fun and Fontella appreciates it so much. Here is sass-a-frass Fern and myself getting started.


Cameron slept under a tree and Carson and Parker hung out on Grandma's swing. Check out Carson's white legs. He definitely takes after his mom. I seriously can hardly tell where his white socks end and his legs begin!


Fern didn't let Carson slack off for long, she put him to work with the old fashioned lawn mower. Surprisingly, he kept at it for a long time. Very funny!


After we were done, I came home and started planting my Mother's Day present: summer flowers. Here are the flowers I planted in my yard. It doesn't look like a lot, but it took a few hours to get them all in the ground. I also planted California Giant Zinnias seeds along my driveway. I plant them every year and I love them!!! They grow about 3 feet tall and they are beautiful until Fall. I highly recommend them!


About halfway through planting, I started to feel the familiar burning fatigue in my back, so Sam saved the day. It was part of the Mothers Day deal, I asked for flowers and the labor to plant them. Do you like all the cars in the background? There was a wedding taking place at one of the houses in our circle. Our street and circle looked like a used car lot all evening!


Pretty now, prettier later when they are full of color and are growing big!





Well, time to find a heating pad for my back...I think Sam is plumb tuckered as well...