Almost Christmas

I'm just waiting up for Avarie to get home. She's babysitting tonight - although it's more like she's hanging with one of her friends and getting paid for it. If you asked her to watch an actual baby she would probably say "no".

Bradlee has been home for a week and a half now and is finally getting her bounce back. Now she just has to get motivated to do three weeks of homework during vacation. Not fun. She also told me that she is going to be in the high school's production of Grease. She will be keeping busy.

We are all excited for Christmas. Kevin has 3 weeks off. The vacation time keeps piling up because he's been so busy at work so its going to be nice to have him home for a while. He used up a couple weeks of sick days while Bradlee was in the hospital but now its his turn to relax. We didn't make any vacation plans because we didn't know how Bradlee would be feeling so we'll be home this year.

Carsten had a cranky day. Maybe because we kept him up late last night at the ward christmas party. Anyway, we put him down early tonight and he went right to sleep. We see how early he gets up in the morning.

For all you readers in Wisconsin - our weather has turned rotten - 75 degrees with WIND. What happened to our perfect weather - wait - i'm sure it will be back next week.

Two Weeks

As of this morning Bradlee has been in the hospital two weeks. Everyone is asking why she has been in so long and I guess its because we have been going very conservatively.

Bradlee was admitted to the hospital with an already ruptured appendix and the CT scan showed a few pockets of infection. It wasn't spread out everywhere, it had contained itself in a few places. A drain was placed into the biggest pocket in the hopes that the smaller pockets were all connected to it or that the antibiotics would reduce the small infections and surgery would be avoided.

Unfortunatly that didn't happen. Although the large pocket drained well and the smaller ones were smaller they weren't going away so the doctor decided to operate and clean up the rest of the infection. That happened Friday afternoon and now Bradlee is just in recovery mode. She had been feeling pretty good before the surgery and had been almost pain free for several days so its is annoying to be back almost to square one as far as pain is concerned. But it is definately no where near as bad as when she was admitted. We played cards for a while to day and she is able to get out of bed a bit.

We are hoping that a few more days will see her recovered enough to come home. We appreciate everyone's concern and help. Luckily Kevin has been able to stay home from work so he has the child care duties, while I spend most of my day at the hospital with Bradlee.
--Debbie

Here's the Story ... So Far

Bradlee has been sick. Since last Tuesday (11/17). You know... typical flu stuff ... or so we thought.

Saturday she wasn't so bad. She ate a little. Sunday her stomach started hurting more and more so I took her to ER. (Kevin left for Albuquerque at 3:30 am after we got home from the ER with Carsten - but that's another story) Still thinking it was the flu she got some medicine for nausea and tests were ordered. Ten hours and many test later she was confirmed with a ruptured appendix. We checked into the hospital later that night.

Since her appendix "done blowed itself up" (exact quote from one doctor) no surgery was needed to remove the remains. Instead a drain was installed to drain the infection left over. Apparently this is a slow, slow, slow process. She will be in the hospital for several more days. When it stops draining there will be more scans to make sure everything is ok.

She still hurts tonight (thanksgiving) but is trying to eat and walk a bit. I'm sure she's going to be bored out of her skull before she gets released but for now its just sleeping mostly. I've been staying overnight with her.

OK, Carstens story ... not as exciting but with a funny ending.
Carsten woke up Saturday night with croup. All of our kids have had it a couple of times. We learned that you can baby them through the first night but then the second night is worse, or you can just take them to the ER the first night and sleep the 2nd. So at midnight Kevin & I packed him up and went to the ER for a breathing treatment.

Since we last took a kid in for croup they've added a few more test to the routine. So he got tested for H1N1, RSV and had a chest x-ray. The x-ray tech came out and asked if he had something stuck in his pjs because there was a spot on the film. We took the pjs off and tried again. Still a spot...from both angles. He had a dime in his tummy! Yes - it did pass.

Billy Elliot

I love the movie Billy Elliot (I know its rated "R" - don't bug me). I'd love to see the stage play also. However, I don't like the new music that they've written for the stage play as much as I like the music from the movie. After looking for the album from the movie (all I can find is the new stage soundtrack) I finally found a list of songs and just downloaded them one by one. Most are by T Rex. Didn't know that. Most of the new songs are by Elton John, who I normally love - but not so much this time. Anyway, I've added a play list for anyone who cares to listen. They are fun songs. At least Carsten thinks so.

Life has been busy

I wanted to get my halloween pictures up before thanksgiving so I didn't type anything to go with them. We had a fun trick or treating. Bradlee went and joined friends and looked super cute in her "Who" costume from Grinch. Her friend Alli was also a Who.

Micah wanted to be a ninja this year. She worked on making a sword and then just fancied up one from Target. She had to be something different at school because you couldn't bring weapons or masks so she would have just been the kid in a black sweater. She wore her Candy Bot 3000 costume from last year. She stored it on the top shelf in her room all last year. I guess that ended up being worth it.

Avarie wanted me to make her a Kyoshi Warrior (from Avatar) costume but I just didn't have the time. She decided to be a ninja also, and then the last day decided to be a vampire ala Twilight. You can't see her make up very well in the picture but her face was white and sparkly.

Carsten just went as a baby in a tie dye romper. He didn't get any candy. He did get a fun stroller ride tho.

Thanks Lauri, Eddy & Morgan for walking around with us. Its always more fun with friends.

IN OTHER NEWS:

I'm now homeschooling Avarie. I know. Because I had so much free time. It seems to be working out pretty well. She gets busy in the morning and gets most of her assignments done by noon. Then she gets to help me with the baby or wash the dishes. Fun for all. At least I can leave the house during nap time once and while now.

Kevin is traveling every week this month. He's in Wash DC this week. I almost decided to take the girls out of school and hang out with him for a week we but didn't have much notice. Also I think of lots of fun things to do and then I remember I have a 1 year old and my back hurts, and maybe it won't be as much fun as I think it will. Then I just go take a nap instead. I still haven't decided what to do for Christmas or Thanksgiving vacations either.

Bradlee is having fun in colorguard. They've had two competitions so far and perform at all the home football games.

Phone Talk & Friends

Carsten loves the phone. We've given him several old phones to try to keep him from taking our working phones. He's even called 911 successfully.

Also, a cute picture of Bradlee & friends just before the Elvis concert in the park last night. She made me stay up late to pick her up.

First Day of School

We had three different first days of school, or actually four because Micah changed schools after 2 days. Micah started the year first at Camarillo Heights. At the end of the week I decided to stick her in the lottery for CAPE, just because. I knew there weren't any openings and didn't think there would be any. A couple hours later we got a surprise call -- there was a new opening, could she start Monday? We said yes and talked about it all weekend and decided to go ahead. I think Micah likes her new class, but misses her friends at Cam Hts. So now I am the bus for two girls and three boys to CAPE everyday.

High School didn't start for another week, but Bradlee had already been going to band camp for two weeks so it seemed like she had already been going forever. At least I got pictures of everyone this year.

Ventura County Fair Parade

Bradlee is in Rio Mesa HS colorguard. This was their first parade this year. I think they looked pretty good. Right after this I went and bought a new video camera so I don't have to take bad video with my camera anymore. Yea!!! I have a really cranky 1 year old crying at me right now also. Not fun.

Bradlee is the middle of the back row.

Baby is One

Happy Birthday Carsten.

We've made it one year. Its been fun, and hard. I think the next year will be more fun and less hard. You are walking, getting into everything, smiling at everyone, laughing at Micah, tearing apart notebooks, eating a lot, sleeping almost through the night, wearing big boy clothes and loving all of us. We love you Carsten!

Carsten had his one year checkup and got 2 shots and 2 pokes. He is 31 inches tall and 25 pounds. That's a wriggly sack of flour.

Summer Time

Wow, summer has been going quickly. We went to Utah for a week and a half and then came home and Ava & Micah went to Creative Arts for another two weeks. Now we are just home all day. I try to give the girls a chore to do everyday, but some days we are just lazy and don't do anything. Everyone is reading a lot. Avarie has read the Twilight & Eragon books probably 5 times each, Micah is reading a lot of Redwall & Bradlee is working her way through Harry Potter again.

Major Sunburn

Hi it's Micah this time. I went kayaking with Bradlee and her friends last Tuesday in the Ventura keys.  One of the teachers at my School, her name is Mrs. Friday, she let us borrow her kayaks.  We went Kayaking for a while.  It was only four people.  When we were done we went to the beach.  I dug a hole about 2 1/2 feet deep, maybe 3.  So at the beach there were thousands of sand crabs all over in the sand.  The hole was originally going to be a sand castle but the tide kept coming and washing it away so I made a huge around it and then I made a huge pit just in case the wall gave away, but the sand kept collapsing around the pit so I kept digging it out and the castle became a hole.  My mom brought us In-&-Out for lunch.  When we got home we discovered that I had a huge sunburn on my back.  I didn't put any sun screen on my back.  So now there is a pretty big circle in the middle of my back and a stripe on the top.  I put aloe vera on it four times now.  And I sprayed sun burn spray on it.  

What's Up

Dang, its been a long time since I posted. Here's some pictures.

Look, they have the same eyes.

In one month Carsten has gone from kind of crawling to climbing up on everything. He doesn't cruise much but he gets into enough trouble anyway.

Everyone is done with school. Avarie skipped her last day because girls camp started. So she and Bradlee are gone to that this week. I bought us all Hurricane Harbor passes for my birthday so Micah & I & a friend went yesterday without the big kids. It was fun.

Water Works

This letter came in the mail a couple of months ago:

From Pleasant Valley Mutual Water Company
To Shareholders/owners of properties having more than one dwelling

"Please be informed the Directors of the Pleasant Valley Mutual Water Company has adopted a policy requiring every dwelling in its service area to have its own water meter. ... equitably distribute the costs... New services and meters will be installed at Company expense [yea!], it will be the responsibility of the owner to connect the dwelling to the new meter [WHAT???]. blah, blah, etc. Very truly yours, "

I've been in denial for a couple of months about what this means. Then today crews came by and started cutting holes in the street in front of my house. So the time for denial is over. What I think this means is that I have to connect two water meters to the duplex behind out house - 300 feet from the road, through our front yard, through our side yard, through our back yard, through the duplex parking and finally to the duplex, which as of now only has connections for one water inlet.

Any idea how much this is going to cost??? Me neither.

Thanks water company. Wouldn't it be easier just to tack a monthly charge onto the bill for extra residences.

(by the way, if you have a rental on your property that shares your mail box and other utilities I'm guessing this won't apply. Unfortunately the duplex already has its own electric & gas meters and their own mailbox numbers.)














Am I going to have to move my fence also so that 2 more meters will fit?

One Nap

I think the baby is only going to have one nap today. He's been steadily shortening his 2 naps from 3 hours down to 1 1/2 each. Its still nice to have 2 though. Last night he slept from 7 to 7 (with a feeding at 3am) and then he didn't take a nap until 11. He's usually done with his first around then. He's still asleep at 2:15 tho so not too bad. I don't mind feeding him during the night if it means he'll sleep longer, but he's gone all night quite a few times without waking up, so I know he can do it. He has until his first birthday to shape up! JK.

We are so ready for school to be over. I talked to Sharon today and her kids are done next Thursday. I'd go for that. We have a month left.

Marjorie, if you see this I sent you some books. Sorry about the chicken book, but it cracked me up.

Does anyone have fun plans for summer?

Bear Hunt

I've been downloading all my video camera tapes to try to get caught up. Remember this one from July 2002.

OK, I was going to make it private, but its too much of a pain, so the whole world gets to watch it... if they can find it.

New Post

I was going to post about how I was trying to decide whether to replace our old van with a new one. The old is a 1997 Chrysler Town & Country with 140,000 miles and no A/C -- which is the biggest reason it needs to go. The repair bill for the A/C will be at least $1,700, and it needs another $1000 in other stuff.

We've lived the last two years without A/C by tucking into a smaller car for vacation. But that is no longer an option. The girls all grew a foot taller last year, and we added a baby to the mix -- so no possible way to travel without a large car.

Then I was trying to decide if we wanted to get a new car or another used car. We've always bought used and I know it's recommended by all the stay-out-of-debt gurus. We bought our last van with 40,000 miles on it and its done OK. Unfortunately, it was a Town & Country and needed lots of expensive repairs. We've spent over $9000 in repairs in the last 8 years. and that was with a warranty that covered some of the early repairs.

So, anyway, I took Avarie over to look at my dream car -- the Odyssey. OK, my dream car would not be a mini van, but you get the idea. Of course the price was way more than we were looking to spend, but guess what? We ended up with one anyway. It was new, It was shiny, It had A/C!!! It has a little hole to plug in your ipod. (no, we didn't get the one with the DVD & GPS and leather -- I'm not that crazy)

So come see it. It's sooo pretty.

Other news: Micah sang with CineMagic at the Celtic fair this morning. Their number was so cute. (not cute like my new car, cute like a gaggle of little girls.)

I found a really funny book at Borders last night. I'm going to order a couple of copies to share.

Carsten is also cute and getting huge. Prunes really took care of his problem. (prune juice didn't work.)

Well my 15 minutes is up. Or Carsten won't be so cute. bye, debbie

Avarie's New Look

This is Avarie's old look. She had a lazy eye when she was little so she patched her good eye from when she was about 3 yrs old until she was around 7. Her eye sight was eventually 20/20 which is why I didn't worry too much about taking her to her annual eye appointment.



















This is Avarie's New look. I was surprised to find out that her eyesight is TERRIBLE. She never complained and when I asked her if it was ok to wait 2 months for her next appointment she said fine. I didn't need to drive her to Ventura for a quicker appointment. I was in the exam with her when she was asked to read the letters on the wall. She kept moving to the bigger and bigger lines and still couldn't really see them.



Needless to day, she now has glasses.

On the way home from picking up her new glasss she kept pointing out all the things she could NOW see. Like the STOP sign (?!!!) and the names on buildings. I didn't know she couldn't see any of it.

Things should be a bit clearer for her now. And she looks CUTE!

CineMagic Pictures

I've got pictures of CineMagic, I've got movies too. Someday you may see them. But until I get around to posting them you can see pictures of everyone taken by my good friend Debbie here:

See pictures of CineMagic Here

I also have pictures of birthdays. Since Birthdays and CineMagic were the same week we just had birthday breakfast before school and then Kevin took the girls shopping on their birthdays. Grandpa is also taking them shopping. Lots of Nintendo DS items have been purchased. I think birthdays are done. Except Bradlee has one coming in 2 weeks.

Its CineMagic Week

We are finally down to our last week of CineMagic.  For those who don't know its a musical program put on by kids in Camarillo.   I'm waiting up for Bradlee, who was suppose to call me by 8:30...  Phone just rang, she's on her way home at 9:10... She's stage manager for this years production so she's been at the stage all afternoon working. Avarie & Micah are both in a couple of numbers and look really cute.  I was costume chairman this year which means I got to sew a lot of costumes and order some others.  It really wasn't too bad since I started before Christmas to get them done.

Kevin went out of town this week too.  So, I probably won't be much use backstage with a baby but I'll go anyway and try to have fun.  Last year was really fun.  I got to work just off stage, lining kids up to go on stage for their numbers.

We have rehearsals from 4 to 8 Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, and then performances on Thursday 7pm, Friday 7pm and Saturday 1pm at Pacifica High School,  so come and see a bunch of cute kids sing and dance.

Birthday Lists

Micah wanted me to post her birthday wish list. While I'm at it I'll post Avarie's also. Just so you remember Micah turns 9 on Apr 2 and Avarie turns 12 on Apr 3. Also CineMagic shows are on Apr 2, 3 & 4.

Micah

1.A Club Penguin membership card (for a month)
2. Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (for DS)
3. Bakugans (at Target or K-Mart)
4. Zelda Phantom Hourglass (for DS)

Avarie

1. Books (and lots of them)
2. gift cards
3. I-pod
4. Avatar book 3 DVD
5. ugg boots
6. Love from you
7. Bean bag, or the type of chairs the boys got
8. good running shoes
9. more dark boot cut jeans
10. Fabric?
11. DS games
12. more love from you
13. cake
14. party

15. A Club Penguin membership card (for a month)

Happy St Patricks Day

Bradlee went to a friends and made 3 doz cupcakes to take to school today and didn't even bring me one. Everyone is wearing green today except me because I'm still in my PJs.

Any ideas for an art project for 3rd grade. They are suppose to make a collage out of trash. I was thinking more along the lines of Warhol and soup labels. Maybe finding an old pack of Uno cards or something they could use.

We are all finally healthy again. I hope. Being sick and having sick kids is a pain. Carsten's sleep schedule got all messed up but he's doing better again.

CineMagic is in two weeks. Yeah!

Electricity

I'm the over achieving parent again.  Micah's class had to give a speech that was "how to " or " an explanation".  Since she has been doing electricity experiments since christmas we decided to do a talk about electricity.  Our first draft was 3 pages.  Even I figured that was too much to talk about.  We ended up with 2 pages that Micah proceeded to memorize.  I saw some of the other speeches today and they were more along the lines of "how to make a cake", and a really cute one about how "how to give blood" (the little girl has a blood disorder so has had a lot of blood tests.)

You'll notice that I'm still not smart enough to use the video on my camera.  For some reason I think its ok to turn the camera sideways to get the framing better.  So watch the first part of the video laying down.

Electricity Part 2

I got the camera going the right direction!

Electicity - part 3 - The End

Do you know how hard it is to type Electricity? Anyway, if Micah is chosen she gets to go to the district Speech tournament in April.

Smartie Pants

    My Smarties.  I get to brag once in a while.  Report cards came home.  Bradlee, who is taking 3 honors courses got straight "A"s.  Avarie got all "A"s except PE (who cares) and Micah now gets to take the math test before they start the chapter and then do fun homework instead of the workbook.  So Yeah!!!

     I wish we didn't have to do so much homework to make it all happen.  Last night I got to learn about the Aksum and Kush and Nok empires.  Never heard of them.  Probably never will again (at least until Micah gets in 6th grade).  Also learned how to write the equation for a line in standard and point-slope formula and how to find the slope and the perpendicular bisector of a line.

    Micah is home sick this morning.  She didn't finish her homework.  She was suppose to write a letter to President Obama.  She spent most of yesterday making her own planet out of model magic and coloring it.  I guess I should have spent more time on my 3rd grade homework.

Rain

It rained today. The news weather was trying to make a big deal out of it. They went to the weather girl on the street. It had stopped raining before they got to her. She was wearing her little sleeveless top and cute hair. She had the camera pan to the right so we could look at the puddle on the sidewalk. "You have to look at our van, its got the most rain on it" The camera panned to the left as she drew her hand across the water drops on the hood of the van. That's all there was. No flood, no wind, no rain.

That's some weather we've got.

HEY !!!

Hey guys.. who put me in this beautiful PINK crib... with a canopy... don't you know I'm a boy !!!