Prankster

This kid cracks me up!



He is quite the little trickster! His teacher stopped me after school yesterday and told me that he hid a parent helpers coffee cup while at school. Apparently this cup was a very special cup and even though the parent helper had come in and out of the classroom many times looking for it, Ethan didn't fess up that he hid it. I never did get how it came out that he hid it, but I thought it was kind of funny...the teacher, however, did not.

A few weeks back, I was helping in his classroom. When it was time for me to leave, I couldn't find my keys. I had only gone to two different places on campus so I knew for sure they had to be in one of those two places...I looked, I searched, I even thought that I might of left them in my car. I finally decided to check in Ethan's desk while he was at recess. Guess what I found? MY KEYS! The kid confessed to me that he took them out of my pocket while I was helping another student and stashed them in his desk...he apparently forgot to tell me...

He is always playing little tricks here and there. The other day, he kept bringing me pieces of paper...



Cute huh?

He then brought me this one and said it was from Malia:



Hmmm...similar handwriting... Lastly, he brought me this one, insisting it was from Carly:



Strategically misspelled words so that I would for sure believe it was from Carly...

This kid is cool...think I'll keep him!

Chalk Art

I think we may have the beginnings of a chalk artist on our hands...Malia is showing some skill!

Force Shield

This is Ethan's Force Shield Machine:



It makes force shields...don't mess with us!

Season Pass

Patrick promised the kids that we would go to Marine World...err, I mean Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (used to be Marine World back in the day), Anyway, after checking the pricing, which is absolutely ridiculous, we decided to purchase season passes for each of us. We paid a small fortune, but have already made it worthwhile by attending the park twice in one week. The kids loved it, and I actually managed to ride Medusa without throwing up. I almost didn't make it down the stairs exiting though...I was still dizzy, but at least I wasn't the person hanging over the guardrail barfing on the way out...poor guy! We are looking forward to enjoying summer days hanging out with dolphins, elephants, tigers, sting rays and many more animals including a famous walrus who starred in a few movies, including 50 first dates with Adam Sandler...life is good!

Sharing...

I love this picture. This is Carly being the awesome "mommy" that she is. She just adores her little cousin Anthony!

This picture also leads me to a "funny"...

Rachael to Carly: "you don't have to share."

Kelli sarcastically (sis-in law): "ya, no...you don't"

Rachael to Kelli: "I always had to share when I was a kid and I hated it, I want it to be better for my kids, so they don't have to share...hahaha"

I crack myself up!

Road Kill

I must be the most awesomest mother in the world or the craziest...take your pick!

I had an orthodontics appointment today and I got there a little early, so I was sitting in my car when I heard a knock on my window. The lady that was parked next to me asked me if I knew what a rattlesnake looked like and then proceeded to point down right next to my car at a dead snake. I don't think I was the actual killer of the snake, but it was a fairly fresh corpse for sure. It was gross, but dead so I wasn't freaking out about it.



I went into my appointment and while waiting for the Dr. to see me, I asked what kind of snakes live around here. Gardener snakes and rattle snakes. I told him about the find next to my car and then I got a brilliant idea! I was going to bring the snake home to show my kids...a picture just wasn't good enough I guess.

I found an old cup and scooped the snake into it. I was freaking out the whole way home knowing that I had a dead snake in my car...like right next to me. I tried hard not to think about it, but I just couldn't help it. This is so out of my character!



The kids thought it was cool, but not as cool as I thought they would have thought it was. Patrick didn't even want to see it. So, my awesome idea wasn't as awesome as I had hoped it would be and looking back, a picture probably would have been just as good. Still not sure if it was a rattle snake. It was small, like a baby...less than a foot long. The tail had a hard piece on it which leads me to believe it was a rattler, but I am not a snake expert. Here's a picture of its tail/rattle:



I did learn that even when signs are posted in what we think are ridiculous places, we should know that they are posted for a reason...like the one posted in the parking lot of my orthodontic office that says to beware of rattle snakes...

MySpace

Myspace...anyone know what that is? It doesn't seem like it was that long ago when the social media took off and as far as I can remember Myspace was probably one of the first of its kind. I remember my older brother telling me I should join Facebook and I was like "What's Facebook?" He said "It's like Myspace for grown-ups." I eventually joined Facebook and totally forgot about Myspace.

I've been trying to delete a lot of personal stuff on the internet because it's all over the place and remembered that I once had a Myspace account. I found some blog posts on there that I wanted to post here before I delete them. Here they are:
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January 12, 2008

10 days old
She's here! Carly Fox Durling has made her debut. She's beautiful and perfect in every way. She made her arrival 8 days past her due date in way of an induction and 4 1/2 hours after pitocin was given, she was crying in my arms. Before her body was even out, she was sneezing and crying. Carly is named after her grandfather Carl Durling and greatgrandfather John Fox Poindexter. We had a tough time picking out her name, but after learning that Carly was a varient of Charlotte (my mom's name), we knew that we had to name her Carly. I've got to say that her birth was easier than my other 3 (maybe because it was during the day and not the middle of the night, oh and shorter too) but recovering has been hard. I have abeen put on bedrest due to complications delivery, but am doing sooooo much better than a few days ago. I am going a little crazy though because while in the hospital, my computer got the Trogan virus and so my husband is working on fixing it and I am using the kids laptop which doesn't have any of my programs and the settings are not what I am used too, BUT I am grateful that I have another laptop I can get on myspace and post this blog. I will be sending out birth announcements as soon as I get my laptop up and running again...Thank goodness for a talented husband who was able to save all my documents and fix my broke down computer! Love you babe! By the way, Patrick has done an incredible job at taking care of the 3 other kids, the house, the kids activities, including school, homework, gymnastics etc. as well cooking dinner and serving it to me in bed. I have such an awesome husband who is not only able to do it but willing to do it and do it in such a good way. I am truely blessed!
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February 21, 2008

What a week...
Ethan was in the ER again for croup 2 days ago. I took him into the doctor yesterday and FINALLY we were given a maintenance program for the little guy. He will be treated with a mild steroid everyday. I was told by the doctor that the dose of steroid given while in the ER is more potent than being on the steroid he will be on everyday for a whole year. He will have that and a "rescue" inhaler as well. He is not asthmatic but treatment is the same. We'll see how it goes in the next 3 months. Kids usually grow out of croup and we are hoping that Ethan isn't one of the few that don't.....

Sooo, I was changing his diaper tonight before I put him to bed and notice that his testical was blue and swollen all the way up into his groin. I showed Patrick and off to the ER he was again...As I type this, Ethan is being sedated to get the hernia pushed back in but will most likely have to have emergency surgery. Please keep this little guy in your prayers. Even though we have been dealing with all this sickness (Malia too), we are going to get through this because we have to. Thank goodness for insurance... This is why we pay for it...

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This was obviously pre-blogger Rachael came about, but fun to read non-the-less. I totally forgot about the bed rest after Carly's birth...And this is another good reason as to why I keep a blog. Love reading things I've forgotten about :)

Now let's see if I can remember my login information and be able to delete Myspace...crossing my fingers now...