March 2014

This was a pretty slow month for us.  (I am not complaining in the least!)  We decided to take Talen back into Brock (our chiropractor).  Talen seems to be arching and wiggling a little more than normal, so we thought maybe he was in pain or something, so why not get his body put all back into place.  It didn't seem to do much, but I always feel better after getting adjusted, so maybe he did too. 
On the 21st we when over to Stephanie Anderson's house for a "date night/game night" with the board members and spouses of the Family 2 Family Network.  It was so much fun.  We ate dinner and played a couple games of 4-on-a-couch.  It was nice to get out with the parents of our special needs friends. 
This month our ward has really been pushing getting into genealogy.  Jay must have thought they were talking directly to him because he asked our ward specialist (Bro. Hart) to come over and teach him how to do it.  Well, Jay has now found himself a new hobby!!  Every free second (and I mean every single free second) he has is spent doing genealogy!!  I know I shouldn't be complaining, but I keep telling him, "we need to take care of the living before worrying about the dead!"  Hehehe  Maybe, I'm just jealous!!
The only other noteworthy thing that happened this month is that I was released from my calling.  I have never, ever in my life asked to be released from a calling, but it was just too hard on our family to have both Jay and I have callings in the same organization.  So, I was given the boot.

Carter's 1st hospital stay

Carter has been stuffy and coughing for the last couple days, but when he started wheezing we figured we better take him into the doctor.  I called Dr. Thompson that morning, but they were so busy they couldn't get him in.  So, I decided it was better to be safe than sorry, so I took him into the Instacare.  After a long, long wait we were finally called back.  They took his stats.  His oxygen level registered at 95, so that was a good sign.  We went back to a room, but before the doctor made it in, one of the nurses said that they thought it would be best if we went over and saw one of the pediatrician rather than just an Instacare doc.  So, they walked us over and we saw Dr. Larsen.  He was really nice.  He said that he would give us a script to go get sucked out and as long as he didn't get worse, we should be ok.  As I was verifying where I would go to get him sucked out he said that they had ordered a machine to get the kids sucked out there, but he didn't think it had come in yet.  But he went to check, just to be sure.  Turns out he was wrong, they did have it.  So the ladies came back into the room and sucked Carter out.  They didn't get a ton, but every little bit is helpful.  After they were done, they did his oxygen level again and he was down to 90.  Dr. Larsen came back in and said that since his oxygen was so low, and was just starting the wheezing that morning, it was very likely that he would get worse throughout the night.  So just to be safe, he thought it would be best if we checked him into the hospital so he could get oxygen if he needed it.  Like I said - better safe than sorry, so we drove over to the hospital.  As soon as Jay got home to watch the other kids, Cathy came over and sat with me for a couple hours.  Carter did pretty good, but he was totally wiped out.  He got sucked out several times throughout the night and did surprisingly well.  By the next morning, he seemed much more like himself.  Dr. Nygaard (Dr. Larsen's partner) came in to check on us that morning and said that he thought that we would be good to go home.  I was thrilled because trying to keep Carter from pulling out his IV was tiring!  A couple hours later, we checked out and headed for home!

Word Blow-Out

I wish I had know that this was such a big deal, but Kennedy never told us that much about it.  A while back Kennedy's teacher, Mrs. Aldred  gave us a stack of papers and said that Kennedy would need to memorize all the information on them.  They were mostly math and science definitions and terms.  Honestly, I really didn't push her much other than saying once or twice, "Hey Kennedy, don't you have to memorize those papers Mrs. Aldred gave you."  Ok, so I am a bad mom!!  I should have been more on top of things.  But, regardless, Kennedy did great!!  The night before the initial blow-out, Jay helped her go through the list a couple times.  She said that in order to make it into the final blow-out, she would need to be one of the top 25 fourth graders.  Given the lack of our participation in helping her, I really didn't think that she even had a chance.  So, when she came home after school with the sad look on her face, I figured that I was right, she didn't make it.  But our little trickster was just trying to fool us, she made the top 25!!  She was really excited about it, so I decided that if she did good enough to make it to the finals, we better push her a little more.  They  gave her several more papers to memorize, in addition to the stack that she had to memorize the first time.  Well, the day came for the final blow-out.  Apparently it was a pretty big deal too, because they had another school come to compete against the kids at our school.  Again, I didn't know this was something I could go watch or I would have gone to take pictures. (I think Kennedy and I need to work out a better system for communicating!!)  But out of our top 25 and the top 25 of the other school, Kennedy came in second!!  Yes, 2nd place!!  I don't know why I was surprised, she is so stinking smart it is ridiculous!!  I was so proud of her!  So, no pictures, but here is her certificate!!  Fantastic Job KiKi!! Love you!!

Playing together again . . . I could get used to this!!

They love their Daddy!!

I love when they play together!!

 

 

KICKS Soccer

Kennedy wanted to play soccer again, so to mix things up, we tried a new league.  Today was her first game and she loved it.  She played forward the whole game and got some really good kicks in.  About half way through the game we knew she needed some motivation, so I told her that if she scored a goal I would give her $5.  (Grandpa Victor said that he would match it too!!)  Well, she didn't score, but she definitely had new vigor.  I'm counting on a couple goals from her this season!!  Dax had a blast too.  There was another little boy there watching his sister play, so they kept each other occupied chasing each other up and down the sidelines!!  Everyone had a good day - except probably Talen.  We didn't realize how powerful the sun was today until we got home and noticed that Talen kept getting redder and redder and redder.  Some times we are the worst parents!!

HAWK - Bridge breaking

For Kennedy's STEM class of the HAWK program, they split up into two person teams and made popsicle stick bridges.  They were only allowed to use popsicle sticks and Elmer's glue.  After several weeks of making their bridges, they finally got to see how well they were constructed.  Kennedy and Trinity Smith (our neighbor) did a pretty good job, but because they procrastinated completing their bridge until this morning, they weren't sure how well it would hold up because all the glue wasn't completely dry.  But, after school, we took it down for the big "bridge breaking."  They were the 6th team to test it out.  Of the five teams who had gone before them, they amount of weight that each bridge could hold varied from 90 lbs to 30 lbs.  We were all just praying that their bridge would hold at least 30.5 lbs.  And . . . . it did!!!  After slowly adding weight to the structure, their bridge collapsed under 37.5 lbs.  Hooray!!  They did a great job, not the best bridge, but not the worst either.  Great Job Girls!!  (Oh, it was pajama day at school.  I don't normally let her go to school with out getting dressed first!  hehehe)