More October Happenings...

Jeff built a couple forts this fall for the kids. A big one for Jake and Cam...and a littler one for MaKenna and Major. M and M's is built under the play set....C and J's is built on the far side of our property against the fence line. They enjoy playing army men back there with their nerf guns. I LOVE nerf guns but I HATE picking up those dang nerf bullets EVERYWHERE!!!!!! Anyway...here is a couple cute pictures of my Major wearing his army helmet!

It had been a long and tiring day for him...that helmet was so heavey...it just zapped the energy right out of him. He slept like this for almost a full hour....

Jeff and I are taking the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Class. It is WONDERFUL and has made a BIG difference ALREADY in our finances!! We have made A LOT of changes....one being the van...but I will STILL get into that later. Anyway...one of the things that Dave Ramsey suggest is, "What can you sell???" I HATE garage sales....but I did one. I did it with our friends Tom and Allyson Chaudier.

They were nice enough to even stay at the garage sale while I took the family to the Civic Center to watch Mickey Mouse Live Road Show. Anyway...about the garage sale...we had TONS of stuff...big and little. We sold ALMOST $500 worth of stuff and we STILL had tons left....so we are planning on trying to get rid of the rest of it in the Spring. Some of the bigger items that didn't sell at the garage sale, I have since sold on Craigs list...so I am still slowly getting rid of stuff. Anyway....that was a very successful garage sale to me! I still don't like garage sales...but I am doing every thing in my power to follow the Dave Ramsey model and get us our of debt. If we do EVERYTHING the way he says...which is SOOO doable....then we will have EVERYTHING INCLUDING our house paid off in 6 years time!!! That is our goal...and we are doing fairly well towards it!

Anyway...so...Mickey Mouse Road Show. Many of you know that I have another blog. www.nebraskahockeymom.blogspot.com. On that blog I review and giveaway things. Well, I was asked by Disney to review the Mickey Mouse Roadshow that was coming to Omaha. So they gave us 6 tickets to go...have fun...take pictures...and then review the show on my blog. That was a $100 savings in tickets alone!! We were all very excited! The problem was it was in the middle of our garage sale...but that is where Tom and Allyson came in. Thanks guys!!! Anyway, the show was truly AWESOME! I would suggest ANYONE with young kids to go...or even big kids. Cam LOVED it! I think Cam loved it more than any of them to be honest with you!!! MaKenna's perk up time was when Cinderella came out!

Another item that I was asked to review was a fabric paint. The company sent several spray cans of different colors. I was asked to make shirts. So....I let the kids make their own. That was nerve wracking...but once I gave up "power", they did a great job! Here was the result...it was only our first try. The VERY first one I made...the sample one that nobody is wearing turned out fantastic....I don't know what happened to the rest...but the paint itself was great!

Susan G. Komen Picture

Concussions....Eggs....OH MY!

So...this is the week for doctor's! Ugh. A couple weeks ago, I had both MaKenna and Major at the doctor for sinus infections. Both were treated and all is good. Last week I took Cam in to the dentist because he had a baby tooth that didn't want to pop out and the permanent tooth was wanting to come down on top of it. So, they pulled it. That is his fourth pulled tooth by the dentist. For whatever reason...his teeth want to go NOWHERE.

Now...on to this last weekend. Cam and Jeff went to Mankato for hockey. They lost all of their games...but in their defense they were playing better teams...I mean in the A, AA, AAA regards. Anyway....my WONDERFUL friends took me out for my birthday Saturday night. Deana's husband Rich, watched the kids for me...thanks Rich! Anyway...I get a phone call in the middle of dessert that Cam went to check someone...they moved and he was then checked by someone else or something like that, and he wound up hitting his noggin on the boards, then the ice. He was disoriented, and he said skating back to the bench it was like the ice was above him rather than below him. *creepy*. Anyway...thankfully one of the players fathers is a pediatric doctor who specializes in pediatric concussions. He came over and examined him and sure enough...my Cammy suffered from his first sports related concussion. Poor baby. He has been out of hockey for a week...and won't play tomorrow either. He should be back next week though. His headaches have stopped....his equilibrium is still a little "off", but he is doing much better. I am not happy with that...a concussion at 11??? That worries me.

So then last night, I had a feeling that Major had a UTI. There were various different symptoms that led me to believe that. I won't bore you with the details. So, I called, they said to bring him in so they could dip his urine. So I did. They had me sit in the waiting room...and sit...and sit...until Major finally starts jumping around and screaming, "gotta go potty, gotta go potty....gotta go potty NOW mommy!!!" They got me a cup REAL fast! Have you ever tried to get a 2 year old to pee in a cup? He thought I was trying to give him a shot in the pee-pee. He kept yelling..."No mommy!! No shot on my pee-pee!!! No mommy!!! Don't touch mommy!!" You can imagine what it sounded like on the other side of the door! Once he started to "go", I slipped the cup under him real quick....but when I slipped it back out, his "pee pee" got stuck and started spraying me up and down! UGH! Well...at least I got the urine. For the next 20 minutes though he walked around with his hands on his groin talking about the "medicine" I gave him. I kept telling him I didn't give him any....but he didn't believe me. Oh the mind of a 2 year old. Anyway, his urine was fine. No explanation for the symptoms other than a possible viral infection. Okee dokee...lets go home and change now.....

Then...today....after getting 10 inches of my hair cut off (sniff sniff), (I did donate it though), I went to MaKenna's Thanksgiving Play and Feast at her school with Major and Papa. That was TONS of fun. Of course I forgot my camera...but luckily the Hoops' were there and they took plenty of pictures for me...I just have to wait till they e-mail them to me...then I will share. Anyway...at this Thanksgiving Feast there was lots of yummy food. I made sure that MaKenna had the appropriate foods for her allergies....but when it came to dessert...they had essentially nothing that she could have. Then...I found it. Pudding Pie! I make pudding pie for Cam and MaKenna all the time! Yippee! She CAN have dessert after all! So I scooped her up some...and we went back to the table. About 2 minutes later, she looked like a squirrel with her cheeks all puffed up. I said, "Honey...what is wrong...why don't you swallow your food?" She said, "It hurts mommy...I can't swallow." Oh, oh. I didn't initially think eggs...I thought she just suddenly came down with something...then I noticed her face starting to break out where the pudding had touched her....then she started saying her tummy hurt. Hmmm...so we left in a jiffy. Got home, gave her Benedryl. Her eyes started to swell....ugh...pretty soon, the Benadryl took effect and the swelling and redness went away...but not her stomach ache. 3 hours later she was screaming in pain...I gave her MORE Benadryl...still screaming....so I called my dad (Jeff and Jake were at hockey), and he came over to help Cam watch Major. I ran to Urgent Care. They put her on Prednesonil, a steroid. We ran to KMart to get it filled....ran home and the minute we got out of the van...yes I said van...I'll explain later...she turned white. I said, "RUN!!!!" She ran in and barely made it to the toilet...but she DID make it thank the good Lord above!!! She puked her little guts out...but she made it to the toilet! Poor baby!! So, I put her in the shower...and we sat down to watch Toy Story 3...and pretty soon, the Benadryl wiped her out! Darn those eggs!!!! Oh...so the eggs. Pudding pie...I make it all the time...pudding and milk, in a graham cracker crust. That is what this was....EXCEPT...after discussing it thoroughly with dad and Deana....we determined that it must have been home made because according to Deana's recipe book....home made pudding has 4 egg yolks in it. Woops. Who knew? I had NO idea...but I felt SOOOOOOOO incredibly bad!!! She missed a sleep over party tonight because of my mess up. She said she forgives me though...now...if I can just forgive myself....

Fourth Annual Adventureland Trip!

In late September...okay...I am a tad behind on posting...we went to Adventureland in Des Moines, IA. It was the fourth annual trip for the Filleman's, Stutzman's and Flanigan's. Mom started the tradition 4 years ago when she was under going chemotherapy. We have decided to continue the tradition with mom as our angel guide! :-) She is with us in spirit! We always have a great time. We used to make it a whole weekend thing....but now...with money, and other time constraints, it is usually just a day trip. It takes about 2 hours to drive there and then we are usually at the park from 10 to 9 or so...then we drive home. So it is a REALLY long day...but TONS of fun!!!

Here is my sister braving "Lady Luck" with Major, Brooke and MaKenna. Jeff and Major.

Sassy girls...Brooke and MaKenna.

"Mater" as he calls himself.

MaKenna and Major.

Major and MaKenna.

Me, Kayla, Brooke, MaKenna, Jeff and Major...unseen and freaking out!

Major and Jeff....both looking thrilled....

Kayla, Brooke and MaKenna.

Major and Jeff.

Major on the Ladybugs...one of his favorites.

Jeff, Major and Cam on the teacups!

Mike and Rhonda.

Major and Papa.

The boys....Major, Shawn, Cam and Jake.

Brooke, Rhonda and MaKenna.

The terrible two....Kayla and Jake.
Maj and I.

Don't Wanna See a Naked Grandma!

HAPPY VETERANS DAY!!!!!!

More Major funnies

Last night...Jeff said he was going to stay home from church to blow the leaves. Major said, "I help daddy!" He ran over to a pile of leaves, bent over and BLEW as hard as he could! Only my son....

Tonight at prayer time he prayed for the "lions at the zoo, the sea monkeys at the zoo and for when papa went with me to the zoo." Papa went with him over a month ago...and SEA MONKEYS??? Wow.....


Then I found.....
ARTEMIA SALINA SEAMONKEY

THEY DO EXIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!