HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Jack-O-Lanterns on our front porch

Cheetah Girl and Pirate Girl

Crazy Biker Dude ???

Tigger

Ouch!

So, we get home from our lovely trip to Park City around 10:30 p.m on Sunday night and this little darling comes into our room around 11:00 p.m. complaining of a tummy ache and earache (why is tummy ache two words and earache one word?) Anyway, after she threw up and then cleaned up, I gave her some Tylenol for her ear. She woke up early the next morning still complaining of ear pain.

I got her an appointment with the pediatrician, who after looking in her ear exclaimed, "Well, this is interesting...Montana, what did you put in your ear?" She told him she hadn't put anything in her ear. He then continued to examine her and try to get whatever-it-was out with this really long, pointy needle-nosed plyer type thing. Not very gently, I might add.

After about 15 minutes of Montana screaming in pain and the Dr. getting more and more frustrated (and mean! telling her to stop her crying...saying he wasn't even doing anything, when he clearly WAS doing something, telling her to stop her fibbing and just tell him what she put in there, etc etc ETC.), I told him I didn't like how this was going, and could he please sedate her. He kind of stormed out of the room.

When he came back, he told me he was sending her to an ENT (who, by the way, was able to get it out the first try. It took him less than a minute.) This is what was in her ear. It's one of those sticker earrings. He said it had been in there for about 3 months or so. It was embedded really far back next to her ear drum.

This isn't a very clear picture, but you get the idea

Anybody know a good pediatrician in the area? We'll be switching ASAP.

Happy Trip

This past weekend, we took a much needed weekend trip to Park City and had such a relaxing and fun time together. Friday we attended the sealing of Hank's sister in the SLC temple. Afterwards, we all went over to Guy and Jenn's place (minus Jenn...we missed you!) to visit and eat. It was so nice to be with everyone again.

We stayed at a lodge up near the Olympic Park. It was a great condo, with a nice workout room, an outdoor heated pool, and outdoor jacuzzi. And satellite television to watch the Oregon game.(GO DUCKS!!!!!!!)

Four of our beautiful nieces: Tori, Lilly, Madeline, and Jackie

Nap Time (or Not)

Since Little Guy has figured out that he can climb out of his crib, my life has become much more exhausting. He won't stay in his crib for a nap (AUUUUGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) or at bedtime either. Since he's a foster child, we are not allowed to use a door lock to keep him in his room. So he pretty much has free reign.

Today, Hank put him down for a nap and decided to sleep right outside of the bedroom door. That way he would be able to put him back in bed (4,000 times). After about an hour or so, Hank came and told me that Little Guy had finally fallen asleep. He said he had gotten out of bed and fallen asleep with all of his clothes piled on top of him. Well, I had to see that one. So I went into his bedroom and this is what I saw:
Lots of clothes pulled onto the floor, but no sign of Little Guy... I could hear him breathing, so I knew he was OK, but I couldn't see his head or his feet or any part of him. Until I looked up....

There he was sound asleep on the closet shelf. Of course, I moved him off so he wouldn't fall, and it woke him up so he never really got a good nap.

Any ideas??? I'm thinking he's about done with naps, but I still NEED him to have a little quiet time.

You're In, Buddy

This little guy has made his way into our hearts in a big way. He's been with us for 6 months now, which will give us "current caretaker" status with the state. Which really doesn't mean much, except that we would be given a chance, along with family members, to be a permanent resource. (DHS lingo for adoptive family)

It feels like he's already ours. The kids have stopped calling him their foster brother and just refer to him as their brother. Tonight JJ told me she had a really good feeling that we would be able to adopt him. She said she prayed about it and asked Heavenly Father if it was going to happen and she felt like the answer was yes. I can't argue with that. Sometimes my children are more in tune with the spirit than I am. I think I have so many defenses up that I don't even allow myself to think (or feel) about it too much. Reed skips the whole thinking/feeling part of it and goes straight to "I KNOW we're going to adopt him...if we don't, I'm going to have to mess with somebody."

Montana's Book

Montana wrote and "illustrated" a book today. She's really proud of it. The front cover says, "Halloween Nite"

The children screamed. Because they saw two bats and ghosts too. They were scared.

Now there was a party of Ghosts. It was scary and serious.

I was asleep when it happened. But it was scary. There was two ghosts going to a party.

And it was finally Halloween. The End.

Agony of Defeat

Not a good football day overall for our family. Reed's team had their first loss of the season (and only the 2nd loss in his last 4 seasons of football) They got routed 46-6. He had a pretty good game personally, but it was a really hard loss.

Then Oregon got beat by Cal 31-24. Actually Oregon got beat by Oregon.

On a positive note, BYU won their game tonight. Go Cougars!

Sleepy Heads

Why don't they ever do this on MY watch? The standing joke at our house is that Hank emits some sort of "Sleep" aura. It seems the minute I leave and Hank takes over caring for the children, they all magically fall asleep. I can't even get Little Guy to sit still, let alone lay down and fall asleep. Although, he doesn't really look like he was sitting still when he fell asleep...he looks like he was in the middle of an acrobatic move.

You think I'd learn...

This is what happens when Daddy is watching a football game and Mommy is having a "discussion" with big brother about why she doesn't think "Balls of Fury" or "Mr. Woodcock" are appropriate movies for him to go see. (Thank you, Parent Preview!)

Memo to self: DON'T LET LITTLE GUY OUT OF SITE!!!!

Animal House

Montana stayed home sick from church today and this is what she worked on. She made a little dwelling for a random few of her stuffed animals. These are the "couches." Not shown in the picture are 4 tons of tissue paper, stuffed into shoes, hats, etc. to be used as their "beds."

P.S. I know she doesn't really look sick, but she has a horrible, croupy cough that would have freaked people out if I had taken her.