Piper's turn

All 5 kids have now officially had stitches!  I was helping Ethan practice his piano this morning when Piper crashed to the floor in the kitchen.  I am still not quite sure what happened - but I gathered from the evidence that she was trying to climb onto the counter when the chair she was climbing on tipped over.  I don't know if she hit her chin on the counter or on the tile floor - but either way it split it pretty good.  She was super brave at the doctor - and held really still for a really long time.  She did start crying after 4 stitches, but she still held still so the doctor could finish the last one - so 5 stitches for her.  I was joking to Caleb on the ride to the urgent care (I stopped at my mom's house and left 4 kids and then borrowed Caleb to hold Piper on the drive) - how we saw the urgent care doctor more than our family doctor.  Caleb remarked that we might want to research where the urgent care is in St. George before we rent a house - he might have a point there. 

We made a special trip to Walmart today to pick up some "Dora" bandaids - and this is why I don't ever have any on hand.  We tend to think that we need bandaids on every little scratch - but at leash she is happy.

Ethan might be on his own for piano for the next little bit - I am finding it is a little tough to give all 5 kids attention ALL day long!

I'll laugh later?

Today was quite the day! I have been planning for today for sometime now - I started potty training the twins. There wasn't much on the schedule and I thought it would be a good day to start. We started a bit rough - by 10:00 this morning, we had gone through 6 pair of panties. I threw both twins in the bathtub this time while Abby was at pre-school. I got Piper out first and was drying her hair (still in the bathroom) when I heard Paige coughing/choking and quickly turned around. She was spitting/throwing up my shampoo. I quickly washed as much as I could out of her mouth and ran for the phone. I called poison control (yes - I have the number memorized) and was reasurred that she would be fine. The soap is an irritant to the stomach so they said she would probably throw up a couple times, but she would live. I gave her some juice to try to dilute it some - and we finished drying both girls hair. Right as we were walking out the door to go get Abby - Paige threw up - luckily we still have reinforcements we can call and my mom came to the rescue and picked up Abby for us. I called poison control back to report the throw up - but they again reassured me this was normal - even good.

I got all the kids lunch and then put the girls down for a nap. While I was trying to get them asleep - there was a knock on the door and my brother-in-law was asking if he could park in our driveway for the 2nd grade end of the year program. I had completely forgotten about the program - Ethan was in the program too and I was supposed to be there. Long story short - I was 1/2 hour late for the 35 minute program - and I felt like an awful mom.

The day continued to go worse - well actually I have some good news to report as well - the babies woke up dry from their naps and I got both of them to the potty before any accidents - YAY - in fact I gave out 6 potty treats today. Well - onto the other rough happenings - Abby was outside playing with Miles and one of his friends when Miles came rushing in saying Abby hurt her mouth. I dashed outside to see blood dripping out of her mouth. I finally got it cleaned up enough to see what was wrong - her front tooth was knocked back into her mouth. I called Courtnie to come stay with the other kids while I rushed her to the dentist. She has a 50/50 chance of loosing that tooth - the x-ray didn't show a break in the root - so the dentist said it could go either way. We have another appointment Tuesday to reevaluate what he needs to do - until then - he said no chewing (yes - Tuesday is 6 days away). This picture doesn't quite do justice to the injury - her lip is swollen , but you can kinda see the front tooth on the right is behind the other teeth - you just can't tell how far behind the others it is (it is far). She has been a champ though - and she still likes the dentist.

Oh - and as a result of this "accident" - I was able to clarify some of our family rules regarding the trampoline - yes, a snowboard IS considered a toy AND no, toys are still NOT allowed on the trampoline!

We rushed home from the dentist and got the boys to baseball practice - then got ready for Pack Meeting. Miles thought he was getting his Bear tonight -so we made a special effort to be there (and it was effort since we had another "potty accident" as we were getting ready to walk out the door). Turns out - I never confirmed with his leader that he finished the requirements and he didn't get his Bear tonight - I felt like an awful mom yet again today. He will get the award next Pack Meeting though - and he didn't seem to bothered (I was just frustrated because it was so much effort to get us there and I probably wouldn't have gone had I known he wasn't getting that award).  On the bright side though - Ethan earned a belt loop - and get this - it was for video games. Yes - they give a belt loop for kids that play video games - so we didn't come home empty handed.

This day was pretty ironic in a way.  Just yesterday I was down in St. George interviewing for daycare for the girls next year.  On the way home I will admit - I cried.  I don't want to leave my babies to work - and I was feeling sorry for myself.  After today though - I might have a little brighter outlook on the whole daycare situation - I mean, do you think that the daycare would let my 2 year old drink shampoo or my 10 year old jump on the trampoline in a snowboard with his 4 year old sister - yep, maybe my kids will be a bit safer in daycare???


I am now finishing this post weeks after it really happened - so here is a little update on the tooth.  There is no infection in the tooth so they want to leave it in to keep the spacing right in her mouth - it has however died, so pictures of Abby now come with a black tooth :(  Abby is able to look on the bright side however - the other day she came over to me and said "Mom - there is a really good thing about my broken tooth - now I can't bite my fingernails anymore".

Naptime and Bedtime

I feel like I need to explain why I haven't been posting anything lately - it is not because I have nothing to write about. I had a great excuse from January to May - between student teaching and finishing my college classes - I had zero free time. I was so excited for school to be over so I could start on my many projects with all the time that would be freed up (I was even looking forward to cleaning my house). I had exactly 2 glorious days of naptime and bedtime to start some of those projects (I did go through all the twins clothes and put them away and get out the new sizes - that is about all I have gotten done though). Only two days - can you guess why? If you guessed that the twins have now learned to get out of their cribs you would be right. Notice I said they could get out of their cribs - not climb out of their cribs. Piper can climb out of her crib - she is actually quite fast at it and very careful not to get hurt. Here is a short clip if you are interested to see how she does it.



Paige on the other hand watched Piper climb out and wanted some of that freedom for herself - she however is not very good at it. She fell out of the crib 3 times before I stopped putting her back in. The first 2 times she didn't get hurt - the third time however...


Here are the battle wounds to show for the third fall - and yes, I feel awful about putting her back in the crib just to have her fall out and do this - but I really didn't think she could get hurt - and I still don't know how she managed such a nice bruise. So now they sleep on the bottom bunk - only they don't sleep. It takes me an hour to get them down for their nap and at least 2 hours to get them to sleep at night - so there went all my "project" time. If anyone has any REALISTIC ideas on how to get my kids to sleep without me having to physically hold them in bed - please comment. I said realistic because the suggestions I have been given include turning the cribs over on top of the kids (yes - like a jail) and making a lid to put on the crib. I'm not quite desperate enough to do that yet.

"Sting" Soccer

Miles was invited to play on a "traveling" soccer team this spring. Today was their last game of the season. It has been a great experience and the boys on the team are some of the neatest kids. He still prefers to play forward - and had one goal this season (the only game that I missed - Ethan had a piano festival that same time - but I heard it was quite the shot). I meant to get a picture of the whole team - but we were late getting there (it was in St. George - and it was right after graduation) - and I forgot after the game. Here he is with one of his very best friends - who just moved to St. George - we really miss him. "Sting" (that is the name of their team) is getting a Summer Games team together though - I will be sure to get a whole team picture for that!

WE DID IT!!!

Finals are over! I now have a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics Education!!! There are so many people that I need to thank though - this degree has truly been a group effort (as the title was supposed to suggest)! First - my Heavenly Father - I can't even begin to recount the many miracles I have witnessed this past two years. He has truly given me wisdom and strength above my own. My parents are next on my list to thank - and again - there is no way to recount all they have done for me. My kids have yet to go to daycare though - so that should speak volumes on what they have been doing the past two years (especially the 12 week stint of student teaching I just finished). They have been so much more than babysitters though - I can never thank them enough for all they have done/continue to do for us. I also am indebted to my incredible siblings - for babysitting, borrowing clothes, editing papers, and much much more. My extended family has been incredible as well - they have taken so much worry and burden off my shoulders by helping so generously with Paige's medical bills - as well as supporting me by traveling so far to come to graduation (I actually didn't send anyone graduation announcements because I wasn't even going to walk - I already had my degree and didn't think it should be a big deal - but I didn't take my name off the walking list in time - so I walked). I also have incredible friends who brought dinner during finals (every semester) - watched my kids (sometimes last minute) - and are always thinking of ways they can help me. The math faculty here at SUU is incredible - they have really gone above and beyond to help me get this degree. There are so many more people to thank - I just want to say - Thank You to everyone who has helped me - sounds so trite - but I really really mean it!

I found pictures from my last graduation - here I am in 2000 - same school (SUU) - different color tassel (brown - Economics) - same dress - different shoes though.

Here I am with my Grandma and Grandpa Alvey (and mom).

Grandma Alvey made the trip again - and I am sure Grandpa was there in spirit.

Caleb graduated as well - his tassel was the light brown of the business department. His college was at 8:30 this morning (which we missed - sorry Caleb - but had we not been aiming for 8:30, we would have never made it to my ceremony at 11:00) - so I just borrowed his robe for my ceremony. It worked out great for me that way - I didn't have to pay for a robe, but we also didn't get pictures together - this was the best we could do - the robe almost fit around both of us.

Thank you SUU - I have great memories from my (many, many) years here!