Miserable, mysterious, messy Monday. Here we are again. How has the morning shaped up?
4:00 a.m.- Mazie comes into our room (crashing into things and explaining LOUDLY that she had a nightmare, and I absolutely must sleep in her room now. I made her use the bathroom, and while she did, I asked what the dream was about. She dreamed that wolves were trying to get into the house.
6:00 a.m.- I hear my husband get out of bed and get ready for work. I was not the only one who heard him. As soon as the exterior door closed behind Nathan, Josie decided to climb out of her crib. Now I'm officially awake, sort of.
7:00 a.m.- We discover that, alas, we are still out of eggs, just as we were yesterday when we went to bed. My mother-in-law sends Ethan to the chicken coop to get more. (He loves this job because the coop is at the far end of the field, so he gets to drive the four-wheeler.) He discovers that the lazy chickens (there are eleven of them) have only laid a single egg. We have ham toast for breakfast instead of ham and eggs.
7:15 a.m. Ethan informs me that the four-wheeler tire is flat. Arrrggh! These are the new tires the were Nathan's Christmas present. When we had them put on at Christmastime, the tire shop bent one rim putting them on. So, that tire was always going flat. Finally a few weeks ago, we ordered four new rims for Nate's four-wheeler as his anniversary gift. When they put the tires on the new rims, one of the tires had a bulge in it. Now it's going flat again.
8:00 a.m. Josie is crying. She got up too early.
8:07 a.m. I plug in my dead cell phone, which is the only number by which people know to reach me anymore. There is a new voice mail message from the insurance adjuster telling me that they have determined that the excessive snowfall over the years damaged our chimney and they will pay for it. Now the hole can be patched, and hopefully it won't end up costing us a lot of cash.
8:20 a.m. Josie is crying again.
9:15 a.m I've heard enough of Josie's crying, so I dump her into bed with a bottle. I also run the older kids outside. Ah, a moment of quiet. I think I'll be really smart and take a short nap.
9: 30 a.m.-Awakened by frantic yelling (Mazie) that Ethan has been bitten by a gopher. I go to investigate.
The dog caught the gopher. Ethan was afraid of it, so he took off his shoe and tried to kill it. The gopher got scared and bit the hand behind the shoe. (Smart gopher; not such good judgement on the boy's part.)
"Where's the gopher?" I ask, thinking that I might have to haul it into the health department and have it checked for rabies.
"The dog ate it."
9:45- I call the Health Department nurse, who informs me that the biggest concern with a gopher bite is actually tetanus, and is my son up to date on his immunizations? Yes, he is. Well, it should be fine if you clean the wound thoroughly and sanitize it with hydrogen peroxide. Yep, did that, too. But, she tells me I need to report it to the Environmental Health Department.
10:20- I call ITP, the manufacturer of the ATV tire and talk to a guy about getting a replacement. It should be under warranty.
10:45- Talk to a guy at the Environmental Health Department, who informs me that gophers don't carry rabies, but thank you for reporting the bite. Yes, it wasn't the gopher's fault. He was provoked.
10:55- The bishop calls to ask me to speak in Sacrament meeting this Sunday.
11:00- My friend Michelle from Montana calls. Oh, how I miss Michelle and our BT summers!
11:15- Nathan interrupts my call with Michelle. He is at Fred Meyer because I told him to go to WinCo and get the stuff I need for Josie's birthday cake tomorrow. (Just like a man to think one store is as good as another.) I give him an abbreviated list of things I need and tell him that no, Ethan doesn't need a rabies shot.
Okay, quit laughing! It's not even noon yet!
It has to be a spider bite. I haven't seen a single mosquito in the house.
It looks so terrible, but my sister's daughter has had this happen a few times. I knew that the doctor just had her do Benadryl to take down the reaction. So, I called and quizzed her about dosage, and expected to see marked improvement by the next morning, but it was actually worse. Today, however, the coloring was looking more normal, even though the swelling hasn't gone down much. It hasn't slowed her down. Here she is dancing in one of her birthday dress-up outfits.
Yeah, the shoes are a little big. She doesn't mind. I put the dress on her and tried to get her to go play, but she stood there and said, "Shoe" until I put the shoes on too.
I usually freeze cakes before I frost them. I wish I would have done that this time. The crumb coat sealed in the crumbs, but the layers wanted to squish together, and it turned into a leaning castle. Still, Josie loved it, and every kid at the table wanted the sugar cubes and ice cream cones.
Here's the birthday girl! I washed her face, combed her hair and changed her into a fresh dress just before her party. She screamed like I was torturing her. After all the tears were dry, she looked adorable as ever.
At first she was a little tentative with the wrapping paper, but then she figured out there was a Barbie movie inside, and she wanted it out!
She was so excited about this new Barbie that I couldn't get her to open the last gift. She knows how to say, "Bobby!"
Here Josie models her new dress-up shoes. We got her a princess and a ballerina dress-up dress. I wouldn't let her put them on because we were just about to dive into the castle cake. I just love her little brown legs and the cute little muscles.
The moment she saw the cake, she nearly dove onto the table. We gave her the first pink ice cream cone, so I could actually cut pieces for everyone else.
Oh, that made her very happy!
Here she is after cake. Yes, that's frosting hanging from her nose.
What was left of the castle... Did I mention it was chocolate and vanilla?
Josie loves to play in the dirt, so along with the girly Barbie stuff, she got a little sand shovel and bucket. She completely ignored them while we were inside, but as soon as I put them in the dirt, she jumped right in and didn't want to come out!
She wouldn't even look up long enough for a good picture. A birthday bath sounds like a very good idea.
Happy Birthday, JoJo!!!
This is my niece Saige. She'd been having some trouble with the poops coming out. I don't think that's going to be a problem tonight!
Josie is one sticky mess after another, and she's so happy about it! Here she shows us why...
This was taken a few days ago. This is the constant state of affairs for her. She loves wearing dresses and having pretty flowers in her hair... and getting dirty. No, she won't let me comb her hair or wash her face. She knows how pretty she is....
So, despite the blowing dust, my allergies, the fact that I've been camped out at my in-laws' house for four weeks, the crummy schools.... this is actually a very cool place to live. :)
