First Day of School...

The boys were so excited. James couldn't wait to see all his friends...they've had almost the same class since kindergarten, just a couple changes so all the kids know each other and have a lot of fun together. His class has 11 boys and 4 girls which has been the ratio since 1st grade. His kindergarten class had 13 boys and 2 girls. 

Matthias couldn't wait to start school. He was so excited to go to Ms. H's class (we love her!). She bring her dog Daisy to school every day and that's fun for the kids too. Matthias has done so great in school and loves everything. I get so many compliments about him from the teachers...so glad he decided to be wonderful at school and not crazy man. =] 

You know your yard looks bad when random teenagers stop by and ask if they can mow for you.

Ha.

Then after they leave Hannah says, 

"I think he`s American but we`re Texans."

And then about 5 minutes later she says, 

"That boy was kind of cute." 

This girl is Trouble.

Hannah the Baker

It turns out you're thankful that your 3 year old always insists on standing directly between you and whatever you're cooking when your 5 year old floods the bathroom while you're in the middle of making bread. The 3 year old knows how to finish the next step in the bread process while you save the carpet.

Within a couple years maybe she can make it all by herself...

No Running Water

So we've had this water issue lately...Friday the front yard had a huge puddle. That evening Taylor dug all around  the front yard trying to find the leaking pipe. Saturday morning he woke up with a collapsed lung so we spent 5 hours at the ER. Monday evening and Tuesday evening some wonderful brethren came over to help dig since Taylor couldn't any more. Then Taylor fixed the pipe they finally found on Tuesday night. He was out with his headlamp of course until like 11 pm. So we'd had no water from Friday afternoon until Wednesday morning. Then we had water for the 4th of July (Wednesday) and Thursday morning.

Then something brown and yellow and nasty started coming out of the tubs and the sinks shut up completely. The resin tank in the water softener had broken and was coming through the pipes so Taylor spent Thursday evening fixing that. The boys got some of the brownish stuff to look at under the microscope...I though it was salt leaking, but James informed me it was not since salt is square and this stuff was circle. Turns out he was right. 

We spent most every night at the Spencers' house for dinner and of course went swimming all morning every day so we managed really well. 

It was a grand adventure that I pretty much laughed my way through. It's pretty funny though when you're mentally saying to yourself, "can't flush the toilet" as you walk to the sink and try to turn on the water to wash your hands. Makes you realize how dependent you are on running water. I was able to make several meals using no water at all and only getting like 2 dishes dirty total...pretty impressed with myself. The kids were totally great about it and didn't really seem to be bothered...they never remember to flush the toilet or wash their hands anyway. Ha. 

"I can`t wait til baby Hyrum's done so you can stop napping." --Matthias

Happy 4th of July

Leaves of Three Let It Be

So last Wednesday we went to the park with friends and her daughter was waving a branch at Matthias and Hannah and tickling them with it, rubbing it all over their necks and faces. My friend goes, "Is that poison ivy?" To which I responded, "No, It's like a tree branch." 


HA. 


Thursday morning Hannah woke up with huge cheeks and a rash all over her arms, neck and face. Matthias had it all over  his arms and neck and then he apparently had gone to the bathroom right after the park also...poor kid. Taylor said, "What is wrong with them? Look at Hannah's cheeks, they are huge." Me..."They are always really fat." Taylor, "Not like that." And of course she had already climbed in our bed when Taylor got out to shower so I had to wash everyone's sheets not just theirs. Somehow James avoided all the poison ivy even though he was at the park also.


So Hannah and Matthias are both on steroid treatments right now. Hannah looks crazy, but I can't get a good pic...sad. We think it was actually poison sumac, but whatever it was it was bad. 


Matthias has been sleeping fine, but Thursday night Hannah came in our room 9 or 10 times in a 10 hour span...so I honestly don't know if she slept at all. Friday night she probably got a few hours as she had some longer breaks in between. And she's going strong during the day--running around in circles, jumping around, "dad look at me!", and generally acting like she's totally wired. It's been pretty funny, but I'm glad I finally got 5 straight house last night because I was getting really tired.


Today at church the nursery leaders brought her to me and said, "I think she's having an allergic reaction to something." Whoops, should have told them what happened I guess. Now her face is starting to peel like she had a sunburn and some of the rash on her arms is pussing up and breaking open. Poor girl. I feel really bad. 


Taylor of course can't believe I'm so lacking in plant identification but in my defense it completely looked like it was growing from a huge tree (that was obviously a regular tree) and Amelia just pulled the branch off. "But if it has three leaves you should never touch it!!" --Taylor


Lesson learned. I now know what poison plants look like. Because I had certification night for girls' camp two days later. =]