Playing Catch Up Again...

I realize I haven't blogged in over a month. It's been in the back of my mind for a while but I just keep putting it off. This spring we've been busy!

First thing - An update on Perry's finger! It's healing up nicely, thankfully! When it's all said and done, it's going to be a little misshaped, and we're not sure if there will be a nail or not. He went back in a few more times for follow ups with his doctor. At one point they were thinking about doing a skin graph, but decided against it. Once most of the scab came off, he was able to start bending it again. He still can't completely use it as it's still pretty tender, but it's made a lot of progress in the last 8 weeks. Charlotte loves to look and make faces at it...

Just after spring break, Hunter started baseball. I've posted a few videos on Facebook but I'll expand on baseball later. For the most part, the weather has been great for his games! I was VERY disappointed I missed his first games and opening ceremonies. I'm sure he was missing me too! Nanny was there to watch for me though. She came to town to watch the kids while I was in Las Vegas for the weekend for a bachelorette party.

I left on a Friday morning for the party and came back on Monday morning. The previous Sunday at work I started feeling nauseous at the end of my shift. By the early hours of the morning, I was throwing up in the toilet. I felt a little sick still on Monday (but still managed to get my hair colored!) but was feeling like myself again on Tuesday, other than a scratchy throat. My throat bothered me all week...and then I left for Vegas. The first night we went to a country bar - turns out trying to talk over music is horrible with a sore throat. I woke up the next morning with no voice. I was just a little squeak box for the rest of the trip. 

 On Saturday night we dressed up for a night on the town and rode on the High Roller Wheel. It just opened this past fall and has a great view from the top! I'll tell you what though, this ride didn't really help my fear of heights - not to mention, it doesn't stop when getting on or off... I took a running jump in my heels to get off of it!

This is the High Roller Wheel - kind of like a big Ferris wheel that you can walk around in - ours even had an open bar! This was my first time in Vegas so I didn't really know what to expect...it was pretty disappointing that it wasn't just a little bit warmer. I won't even mention the wind...

I was wanting to take Perry to Vegas for his 30th birthday but since I was going to Vegas two weeks before his birthday, I just couldn't justify another trip. Neither could our pocketbook... Instead I took him downtown for night of fun and letting loose. He's hasn't been able to just go have fun for a while. His night ended with Kim and I attempting to carry him inside by his hands and feet...

And I got my hair done before I left for Vegas! I haven't had color in it for literally years. When I brought it up to Perry that I wanted to put color, like actual color - pink or blue or purple, I wasn't working and figured now would be the best time to "get wild" with it. For my birthday in February he told me I could schedule a hair appointment to do whatever I wanted to do to it, and he'd come home from work to watch the kids. Three months later I finally took him up on that offer. Since I am working now, I did something a little less crazy and went for the ombre look. In my head it was more drastically blonde on the tips. But this picture makes it look more obvious that how it turned out. I can hardly notice a difference...

I think that's all the catching up I can do for now...I still have Charlotte's birthday and baseball to blog about in the next few days!

Our Completed Lego Table!

We finished it! Hooooray! I probably could have painted it a month ago but I just wasn't motivated to do it. Originally I wasn't even going to paint the table, but then I really looked at it... I love love love how it turned out, so much so that I don't even want to use it as a Lego table anymore. I think I've got a great space in my entry for it...but maybe when the kids are done with it a few years down the road...

Here's the sewing table I found on Craigslist a couple months ago. It's been sitting in the garage collecting stuff ever since "the incident."

  I don't recall the top of the table looking so shabby previously, but I also hadn't looked at it for a while...maybe it became this way from all the stuff it collected? Either way, I decided it needed a good painting. At the Vintage Fair I went to with my mom and sister Kim, we saw a couple where they painted it two different colors. I loved them. 

 Perry finally regained his confidence working with his power tools again so last weekend he got back to work on the box for the Legos. It's not pretty. At all. And he knows it. I sanded it down a bit to get rid of a few jags, but even though I ended up painting the box too, I'm thinking I might meet up with my good "friend" JoAnn to see if I can't find some fabric I like to cover it...

While I got to work on painting the table and the box, JP was busy playing with the remote control cars Grandma found at the Whitefish house. He literaurlly played with them for hours trying to figure out how to keep the batteries in them. We might have went through a whole roll of scotch tape...

It took an entire week, we but I finally got everything done! I think it turned out great! I found the leftover paint from when I painted Hunter's room with cars and decided to go ahead and paint it grey - since I've been loving grey lately. 

I was going to leave these stools black, but then I had an idea to paint them to match the table. I tried them two different ways and ended up painting both with black tops and grey legs. 

 I love how it turned out! I'm excited for the boys to be able to use it! The only thing that I don't like is taking the Lego box out. Perry made it fit a little too tightly, so at some point I'll make him shave it down a little. But for now, it works!

One of my projects over the next few weeks is to finish up this quilt I sewed together in a matter of a couple weeks. It was supposed to take longer...Now I have a reason to finish it up - to use my new table!

So Long Pre-School - Here Comes Kindergarten!

We did it! Another year of school is in the books for JP! This year flew by - it seems like we just started and now we're done for the summer!

Look at how little he was at the beginning of the year! He's grown so much!  Every time JP hits a milestone, whether it be a birthday, or some kind of accomplishment (like riding his bike with no training wheels, again!) he always asks if I'm going to cry. I just might this time! He's my baby Jim! He doesn't even look like the same kid...

 His preschool program was Friday morning. Unfortunately Perry wasn't able to come this year. Because it only lasts about 10 minutes, it was going to take close to an hour out of his morning and couldn't really justify it. I think was for the best anyways - Charlotte would have been all over the place if Daddy were around! I was able to contain her in a chair with my phone while I video taped. At the end of each song she was more than eager to clap for the all the kids. 

 Even when there were hand gestures to go along with the songs, my little JP kept his hand in his pockets. He told me it was because his hands were really warm. This is the only song he took them out for, and only because he had to hold his bullfrog. All the kids were so cute to watch!

It was like pulling teeth to get him to take a picture with my cap and gown on, just like it was last year... We settled for just the cap, but he refused to take his backpack off. 

 I might have bribed him with a sucker to get him in the gown... what ever works, right? So now he's on to bigger things soon, like Kindergarten! He went to Kindergarten Roundup at the school last week and said he enjoyed it. Lucky kid with know quite a few kids in his class/also in Kindergarten next year. He went to preschool with 3 kids that will also go to his school, and there are 4 other Kindergartners on our lane alone! Lucky kid! Hunter didn't know anyone!

Get me out of this!!

A Lego Table Project Takes Us to the ER

I loved playing with Lego's growing up so naturally I'm excited my kids do too. Even Charlotte loves playing with the boys' Lego's, though we're constantly reminding her to get them out of her mouth, at which point she takes them out and throws them across the room like the world is ending... Drama queen. We bought Hunter a small starter box of Lego's for his birthday when he turned 5. For Christmas a month later he and JP both received a couple Lego sets where there were directions on how to build the specific item. They loved those so much that I bought them a few more to keep them entertained. Eventually Perry climbed into the attic and brought down his big tub of Lego's, which I later found out is only half of them. Since he brought it in, the tub has been sitting under our table so the kids have easy access to it, but is still out of the way at the same time.

Without it being verbally said, Perry and I both have wanted to store the Lego's somewhere else but hadn't been able to figure out where....until this last week. I've been on craigslist daily looking for a long,  but short dresser that I could use as storage for my sewing/craft room downstairs, and then use the top of it as an ironing board, like my mom does. In preparation of finding one, I moved my sewing room around to accommodate it. In the meantime I brought the little table Grandpa John made for JP in to the area so JP could do Lego's downstairs while I sewed. Then it hit me. I should just make them a Lego table. They could store their Lego's in it, and build on top of it. It would work perfect and then we'd get rid of our Lego problem upstairs.

I immediately hopped back on craigslist to see what I could find for coffee tables with drawers. I found the perfect one and I had already started envisioning what it would look like once I was done painting it. Turns out it was already sold. But a few days later I found a sewing table that I knew would work even better! And I would be able to use it too when I needed to quilt something. Win win! Can't get better than something that has multiple uses!

As soon as I was done with my weekly yoga class, I hopped in my car and headed downtown to pick the table up. I had a heck of a time getting it in the car on my own, but I did it! I hauled it into the basement and the look on JP's was priceless when he saw it the next morning. He was already in love with it and it was even ready yet! I had Perry come look at it and give me his best opinion on whether I should spray paint it or just use regular paint. He was convinced which ever one I used was just going to wear off. He didn't understand, nor did he want any part of, my silly project.

Saturday morning was SO peaceful in our house. Because Hunter was at Grandma's, there was no one to wake us up in the morning. Perry and I slept in until 9 am. I'm sure Charlotte woke up around earlier but was entertained with all her books that she could care less about leaving her room. JP slept in until 10 am. No joke. It didn't help that we kept him up super late, but still. If Hunter goes to bed at 10pm, he still gets up at 7, if not earlier. After a peaceful breakfast, Perry, out if no where, brought my table upstairs to look at it. We three laid under it for quite some time trying to figure out how we were going to make it into a Lego table without modifying it too much so I could still use it. We spent a good hour discussing different ways. Turns out we just need two more hinges and then a bin for the Legos, which can be removed when I want to use it.

With a plan in place, Perry hauled my table out to the garage to get measurements while I went out and picked up a pair of stools, also found on craigslist, for $5. They don't know it yet, but I'm going to paint Ninja Turtles on them... When I got back I started working on the pile of laundry in the laundry room. JP came up to me with our health insurance cards he found in my office. I promptly told him to put them back so I would know where they were in case we needed them.

I kid you not, one minute later, Perry came busting into the house yelling, "Sadie!!! We have to go to the ER NOW!!!" With that I scooped up Charlotte, who was supposed to be napping and only wearing her diaper, and decided I didn't have enough time to get her dressed, so I wasn't bringing her. I hauled her naked little self (and forgot her blanket!) and shouted to JP to come with as I sprinted across the street to the neighbors house. I knocked a couple times and then busted in, handed off Charlotte and said, " Can you watch the kids? I have to take Perry to the ER. I think he cut off a finger." They kind of didn't have a choice because I was gone before I got an answer. I ran into the house and grabbed my shoes and hit the road.

All things considered, Perry was pretty calm about the whole thing. Often times we ask each other silly questions that start out with, "Would you still love me if..." so it only made sense the first thing out of his mouth once I got into the car was, "Will you still love me if I'm missing a finger?" I couldn't help but to laugh a little. Yes Perry, I will still love you - it's only a finger. He was even cracking jokes with his (male) nurse. Perry *absolutely hates* needles so when his nurse asked him which arm he wanted his tetanus shot in, he quickly retorted with a, "Yours" for an answer. It took the other guys in the room a few seconds to get the joke, but I caught it right away. Silly Perry...

(As a warning - a picture of his finger, which is kind of cool, is posted just below this picture of Perry in the ER. Feel free to scroll on past!)

We finally left the emergency room two hours later with a splint and a bandage wrap on his finger and a handful of prescriptions to be filled. They didn't do a darn thing to the wound itself other than clean it up, so it's still an open wound as of Sunday evening. The ER doctors thought he might need part of his finger amputated because he hit the bone, so we left the emergency room with discharge papers saying *amputation* in bold print. Kind of daunting. Here's the picture of his finger...

I did have to help him re-dress it Saturday night as it was still bleeding. I nearly fainted three times. Hang on Perry, I need to sit down for a minute. Okay I'm good. Okay I need to sit down again. Okay let's do this fast. Oh damn, I can't see anything, I'm laying down now... Poor guy! I'm such a wimp! He did not express that he was in pain, nor did I see any blood so I have no idea why I was getting woozy. Just the thought of it I guess...

After a low-key weekend, we headed to see the orthopedic surgeon first thing Monday morning, only to find out they didn't have any record of Perry in their system, and the doctor we were supposed to be seeing wasn't going to be in. Ugh. Luckily his nurse came in and informed the desk staff that because of the numerous accidents over the weekend, he was coming in that morning. Perry was able to get in right after the guy who shot his hand and had a pellet stuck in it...

When we finally went in for his appointment, the doctor unwrapped it, looked at the x-rays, then pulled out his ruler and determined that NO AMPUTATION was needed. They re-dressed his finger and sent us on our way. No stitches or anything. Just left us with that gaping hole in his finger. We celebrated the fact that gets to keep his finger by eating a box of Swedish Fish on the way home. (He couldn't eat since the night before in case he needed surgery.)

When all was said and done, we both (probably more so for Perry) felt like we just won the lottery. He played Russian Roulette with his miter saw and won! For now the Lego table is on hold for a while. Since I took a shop class or two in my day, I feel like I could probably finish the project, but Perry won't let me...I was hoping to have the table done by the end of spring break but that clearly isn't going to happen. 

We Saw Baby Lambs!

Yesterday Grandma left work a little early to pick up Hunter for his weekend at the cabin. He's been wanting to redeem his coupon for a while but the weekends just haven't worked out. They finally picked a date last Sunday and he had been asking me about Grandma all week long. Monday was a struggle to get ready for school as he would have much rather have been packing for the weekend. Yesterday afternoon couldn't come fast enough for any one. Just about every fifteen minutes he was asking when Grandma was going to get here. 8 more hours bud. 8 more hours...

 When did she arrive, Hunter climbed in with her and JP, Charlotte and I followed her to her co-worker's farm, not far from our house, to see the new baby lambs. (JP was excited to show off his glasses to Grandma!) 

 Charlotte was all sorts of cuteness too. Like always...

 Hunter and JP kind of went off and did their own thing when we got into the pen. (They also found the manure pile and had some fun on that before we kicked them off...) There was one ewe who had twins so one of the kids was bottle fed. My boys had the chance to hold the bottle but none of them were too interested. I did make Charlotte pet the kid while it was eating though...

 Not only did they have baby lambs, but they also had chickens (the boys loved chasing them around) and a 2-year old turkey. 

 Aren't they sweet?

Who would have guessed this is IN Missoula? 

JP Has Glasses and I Can't Even...

A month or so ago, I took JP in for his 5 year check-up which later lead to a trip to the eye doctor. When everything was said and done, we learned he needed glasses. Just as we were ready to get him glasses, Hunter caught the flu bug, followed by JP and then Charlotte. Luckily we made it to Shopko (one of the select few places in Missoula that takes our eye insurance) and picked him out some glasses. Guess what sold him on these ones (since they didn't have green ones)? NINJA TURTLES! If he looks to the right, he can see it on the inside of his frames. Score. And it's his favorite one - Leonardo. Double score!

Just look at him! I could eat him up! 

 He wasn't too sure about them at first. But as the day progressed, he became more comfortable. 

 Seriously! Just look at him!!! GAHH! 

 We picked up his glasses today, just before Grandma came over to pick up Hunter for his weekend at the cabin. Since Hunter was being spoiled by Grandma, we thought we'd give JP *a lot* of extra love tonight. We took him and Charlotte out to Johnny Carino's for dinner (because I knew they had Mac 'n Cheese there!)

 Before we actually picked out his glasses, he told us he wanted green ones, but then later changed his mind and said he wanted some like dads. Adorable!!

After dinner we went across the street for ice cream, because it's a rule - glasses come with ice cream. 

We finished the night off with a RedBox movie - Mr. Peabody & Sherman. JP loved it! 

I loved watching him snuggle up in his TMNT jammies and eat popcorn from his TMNT mug Aunt Bobby painted for him, all the while wearing his glass. Seriously, I could have just stared at him all night. My heart was about to burst. 

If you see him, be sure to compliment him on his new glasses! He's really self conscious about them. I think the phrases, "Put them back on," "Push them up," and "Stop playing with them" were on repeat this afternoon...

Parent-Teacher Conferences

A few weeks ago Hunter's teacher, Perry and I took a couple tests to assess Hunter's behavior at school. We cannot get this kid to sit still and focus. In one ear and out the other.

We found out while he's at school, he for most part, behaves like other kids in his class. His teacher scored him in the average sections on each of the six sections (inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, learning problems, executive functioning, defiance/aggression, and peer relations.) Perry scored him in the high average & elevated range, whereas nearly all my scores for him fell into the very elevated range.

Because his scores were normal at school, it rules out the possibility of ADHD, which is a huge relief. He can keep his attention long enough at school and follows directions which had lead the psychologist to believe there is some dynamic at home that he is battling. Let's not place blame, but given that he behaves pretty normally when he's by himself, I would guess his brother has a lot to do with his defiance at home. But the same can be said the other way around. While Hunter is at school, JP is the easiest kid. As soon as Hunter gets home, they start bouncing off the walls. They have that effect on each other and it drives me nuts.

We went over his report card and he did much better than the first trimester. At the end of the first trimester, he scored a lot of "needs help" whereas this semester he had "satisfactory" scores and a handful of "very satisfactory" scores.

He's been responding very well with his check-in/check-out program at school, so his teacher and the psychologist suggested doing something similar at home to see how he performs. Hope it'll keep him on track more. He's such a smart kid- it's just trying to get him on the same page as Perry and I that's been a struggle. I asked about what's been going on that has made him hit other kids at school too - in short, he doesn't feel comfortable talking to other teachers/staff members about the issues and conflicts he's having with the other kids, so he does what he knows how to do - he hits. Although it's not a form of conflict resolution they approve of, they also know that he's still a kindergartner and doesn't know how to process everything yet. They reassured me he's not the only one. THANK GOODNESS!

Perry and I just need to work on relaxing (Ha!) and giving him more one on one time. He's expressed to his teacher it's not fair he has to go to school, and JP and Charlotte get to stay home with mom. Clearly he's feeling a little unloved, and it breaks my heart! His homework for spring break is to play outside so I plan on taking him on a few bike rides, just him and I. Maybe even dinner with mom :)