Lucky Number 7

I am a pretty lucky girl. Today Officer and I celebrate our 7th anniversary, can't believe it has gone so fast. We'll actually celebrate it tomorrow when Officer isn't working, but while we were running errands this morning he picked these out for me. Thanks love! You know - I'll just never have the right words to cover it all - but in a cracked nutshell - it's been fun, thank you, and just so ya know, I love you!

Before and...in the middle.

This week I got busy with the cabinets in the kitchen - I'm loving the new look so far. Here is the before. Here's my progress - I finished all the bottom cabinets. We're hoping to get the new floor in soon!


Handsome discovered the kitchen this week, so much freedom for him now that he is crawling.

A few of my favorite things.

Chicken Spots are almost gone - I don't know that I would have survived this week without:
Good old rolled oats - I knew it was good for your insides, but I didn't realize how much it would help on the outside. I just filled an old sock with about a cup of it and used it like a sponge in the bath with the kids and it was amazing for their spots. Both of my kids have always had little eczema spots too and it really help that as well. And my over washed hand actually benefited from it too!

This was our pretty pink lotion and another awesome lotion that I tried and they both seemed to really helped:


This also helped keep Miss Peanut from itching! Of course with the recalls it was the off brand - but worked really well.

I didn't have any milk in my house and I didn't want to take the kids to the store so I called in reinforcements. My mom came by to drop off some milk and brought us some goodies to survive being quarantined for the next week or so. Thank You MOM! She also brought a Jesse doll from Toy Story and Miss Peanut has barely let it out of her sight hence the reason it is not pictured.

Handsome learned a couple new things this week. I finally decided it was time to wean him just a couple weeks ago and he has done pretty well with it. He loves having a sippy cup at meals and even decided that he wanted to hold his own bottle.

He learned this week to sit up on his own from laying/rolling/scooting and of course sleeping. If he wasn't so darn cute, I might get more upset after laying him down 20 times for bed - but how can you get upset when greeted by this face?

This doesn't really qualify as a favorite thing - but I laughed when I discovered that while unsupervised for Miss Peanut decided to bite her brother. I didn't discover this until I noticed a bruise on Handsome's arm a few days later. No wonder he got chicken pox too - he didn't stand a chance. I don't know if you can see it, its kind of light but it's there - a perfect pair of half circles.

And tonight we sat and watched/listened to the rain out the back door. It's been quite a week! Happy Father's Day Officer - We missed having you home this evening.

I'm still counting my blessings

This is going to be a long one...just to forewarn you.
This week has been anything, but what was planned. If I hadn't lived it myself I don't know that I would have thought I would survive it, very well. Officer has been in charge of planning a Pioneer Trek for our ward (We've kind of joked all along that I've been his secretary). It has been a lot of planning to say the least and this week, was the week! I know that life just gets kind of busy sometimes especially in the summer but seriously - the last couple weeks have been packed! In addition to all the last minute Trek things, callings, work, etc we've had several family gatherings since my brothers' were here to visit. I took the kids for the weekend up to the cabin to see all the family & cousins while officer had to work, and to top it off Officer and I got asked to talk in Church. I was mostly kidding when I said sure - we can give talks - we could really use the blessings this week. Anyway - had a blast with the family and we made it to this week.

Then Monday night the the little man (we'll call him Handsome - that's what I call him most of the time now anyway - forgot about giving him a real "code name" on here). So Handsome wakes up most of the night with a 103.4 degree fever even with Tylenol/Motrin. I knew he was teething, but that was too high - so I took him in the next morning to the Dr. The verdict - Double ear infections. That day - got him antibiotics, then Miss Peanut has a 101 degree fever. Nothing too serious... Officer and I continue packing everything hoping that by morning they'll be okay to leave with Grandma. No sleep that night between packing and kids - so I decided I would stay home and possibly come up later in the week. I was really disappointed, really. I worked so hard to help plan this and then I even sewed my own skirt/apron/bonnet! Anyway I was just really looking forward to this - I even said last week when some last minute changes were made - I don't care about XYZ, once we get there that won't matter I just want to see that the youth have a great experience, that will make it all worth it for me. I should have kept my mouth shut.

Anyway - Miss peanut wakes up that morning legs covered with little bumps/still fevered. I was really grateful that I didn't go because I wouldn't wish those long nights on grandma, but then to see this rash - I was glad I was there. I had my Dr. brother come take a look at it - he thought Chicken pox, but She had the vaccine - so he kind of ruled that out - said watch it... I watched it - and by today it had spread and wasn't looking any better so I took her in. Sure enough - Chicken Pox. The Dr. said Miss Peanut was her second case already that day. So to add to all of this - Handsome is not old enough for the vaccine so since he's already exposed I knew it was coming - and it has, gratefully not very severe. So - teething infant, double ear infections, and 2 cases of Chicken Pox, husband gone all week and possibly weekend. I'm really starting to feel like a "real" mom. Officer has been gone since Wednesday and will be gone until Saturday, then he works the weekend; I don't know if I'll even see him much for Father's Day. I haven't been able to talk to him yet. I'm still really bummed about missing the Trek - I just really hope that everything is working out okay for them. They seriously have had 2 nights in the 30's and the creek they were going to cross was a river, so I'm anxious to hear how it all goes. In the meantime - I'm still counting it a blessing that Handsome got ear infections because if he hadn't I would have left them with Grandma for the week. I'm glad I was here - my poor sad girl. I keep telling her that we're using pretty pink lotion for her spots. I just want them both to feel better. I know this is gross - but I took pictures of her spots - how many of us have chicken pox pictures - exactly - had to do it, for the books. If you don't want to look - then this is the end of the post, other wise scroll down.




















Both of her knees and her poor bum look like this, I'm so glad she doesn't look like this all over.



She's still so cute - so tired after a bath and our pretty pink lotion. All things considered - the kids have been so great. I'll be glad when they feel better!

Wildlife

Observing him in his natural habitat. Some think he is kind of shy, but really he talks all the time. I constantly find him growling to himself - I think it's very entertaining - so much that this video is like 2 minutes long. Grandmas' will love it - the rest of you will probably only need to watch a little to get the idea. I wish it was a better quality video - I'm still learning.

My baby brother

We just don't see him enough! It was really great to have him in town this past week to visit and to entertain our kids. We'll miss you, visit again soon!

These boots were made for...everything

In the winter, I let Miss Peanut choose between 2 different pairs of snow boots. She chose the ones pictured above. Of course of the 2, these were more than what I wanted to pay for them, but for kid shoes that they usually grow out of so fast - she has definitely gotten out of them more than they are worth. It's June and she still pulls these out of the shoe basket over everything else to wear when she plays outside. They go nicely with the dress, don't you think so?