Really, again?!

Brenna got stitches yesterday. Again. Yes, she just got them in June, almost exactly 3 months ago. This time it was her forehead, and six of them. We had been at a 60 th birthday party for Grandpa Haley. I had just left to go get ready to feed dinner to a projected 225 women (300 showed up. What a beautiful sight!) when Joe called me. She was running and ran right into a metal table.
She did amazing. Once again she didn't cry when they numbed her or did the stitches. When we were waiting at the InstaCare I noticed a basket of suckers and told her that when we were done we could get a sucker. By this point she wasn't crying and had gum in her mouth, so I didn't offer her one then. The first thing she asked is if she could get one for Braelynn. I thought that was so nice of her and a great example of how they always think of the other one.
I obviously didn't make it to finish setting up the dinner. Good thing we had done most if it that morning and my fellow presidency members are so willing to help out whenever and very understanding.
A few interesting facts:
We have had four sets of stitches/staples (not including Joe's). Three of those four happened in the last three months. Those four have only happened to two of our kids, Brenna and Samantha. Maybe we should but them in a bubble....
Here are some pictures of her all ready for the primary program this morning.

What is one of the benefits of having a twin sister?








Having someone there to help when you just can't quite get it yourself.

Another example:
This summer when Joe was working graveyards the kids kept going in and out of our room and would occasionally wake him up. He is more patient than I am with that. It irritates me when he gets woken up when he needs to be sleeping. As a last resort (kindly asking, firmly telling, and then yelling to not go in there were not working) I started locking the door and kept a coin on the door frame on top so that I could go in there. One day I was getting ready for the day and had locked the door behind me. I was in there for about five minutes and when I opened the door to come out, I saw one of our kitchen chairs with a barstool on top of the kitchen chair. One of them (don't remember which) was holding the barstool while the other one was climbing on top of it to reach the coin. Good thing I made sure to check on them every few minutes!

Elder berries

Ever had Elderberry jelly? I don't recall ever tasting it before.
Ever made Elderberry jelly? It is a PAIN. And a MESS.
Apparently Joe made a deal with someone last year that if he would go up the mountain and pick the berries, we would make the jam. I ended up with a huge garbage bag full of berries in my kitchen yesterday. Joe had good intentions and he does help if he is home. But this time we would not both be available on the same day until some time next week. Keep in mind that I have my own tomatoes, beets, etc. to bottle and have as of late feeling very overwhelmed on a regular basis.
After hours spent taking the berries off the vine and then a few hours today making jam and a sticky kitchen floor and finding little berries the size of a BB, all over the place, I now have 12 bottles of the yummiest jelly ever! (Minus the ones we gave the berry picker.)
Was it worth it? Would I do it again? I don't know, ask me in a week!

Surprise!

Most years when I ask Joe what he wants for his birthday, he says he wants to have a big BBQ with a bunch of friends. I have never done it before but this year I decided to do it but have it be a surprise.
I worked really hard all week to try to get it arranged. The whole time, I was afraid that he would find out. One day while he was at work, I made three batches of cookies, and froze them in a friends' freezer. I stocked up on buns and paper products and he didn't even notice.
On Saturday (the day of the party) I woke up early and made two salads and hid them behind the milk and other things in the fridge, thinking that for sure he would see them.
The hardest part was trying to figure out a way to get the grill to the park. Thanks to some friends that are really good at lying (kind of worrisome that they are so good at it hmmmm....) he even brought the grill to his own party without knowing it.
He was so surprised, it made me really happy to do that for him, and although a lot of friends couldn't make it, he had a great time and enjoyed visiting with everyone.
Happy Birthday, hon!

Beautiful

Scenario;
Braelynn getting her hair done

Dialog;
Mom: Braelynn, you are so beautiful
Braelynn: Yea, I know
Dad: Yep, mom and dad made you so cute
Braelynn: No, Heavenly Father did!

Oh happy weekend!

Our Labor Day weekend was a fun, happy one. Joe works a lot of holidays so when he is off, we really enjoy having him with us as we celebrate. The kids, cousin Amanda and I went to the county fair on Friday and stayed for the rodeo that evening. Joe came and met us there after he got off work.
Sunday, none of us had extra meetings or anything, so we just hung around the house and relaxed, which doesn't happen enough, it seems.
Monday we went to the parade, had a picnic lunch and went to the car show. It was beautiful weather and was nice to be together as a family. We came home with intentions to go hiking and fishing, but we came home to a nice surprise instead.
Our friend Mike had come over after we left and finished our counter tops for us. It was supposed to be done earlier in the week but we had some issues with the proper equipment not coming in the mail with the paint. We originally had thought that we would have to wait until Friday or Saturday for the stuff to get here but he figured out a way to do it and came over and finished it!

Arrow of Light

Tyler earned his Arrow of Light award last Tuesday. He finished it a month and a half ago but this was the first chance they had to present it to him.
He loves scouts, he has been so blessed to have had excellent leaders the whole time he has been in there. He has worked so hard. He only has to earn three more activity pins until he gets his twenty award. When we were going through his stuff deciding on what he wanted to do, we found out that there was a video game pin he could earn. I thought he would be so exited about it, but he is adamant that that is not scouting and he doesn't want to earn it.
In the mad Tuesday rush of violin practice, piano practice, football practice, and my meeting that evening, I forgot to bring a camera, so all I have are blurry cell phone pictures.

Updating

I was told my a young woman in our ward that she loves my blog, but that I need to update more...

Michelle, I intend to blog, but the undone dishes and unchecked homework and the laundry loomes before me, as well as a long list of "to-do's for that day and the next and the next and the next.

I wanted to tell you about a lot of things like....

How wonderful it was to spend a weekend at my moms house with my girls and sister Brenda and sister-in-law Melissa and their kids while the boys were at guys weekend. It was relaxing and therapeutic. Funny how even when you are a mom, mom's house can make everything better. Too bad we don't get over there too often.

And how I bought this sweet bike, a beach cruiser, I think is what it is for $10 while I was in Caliente. Melissa found it at a yard sale (Thanks!). It was almost brand new with no scratches, just with a flat tire. The guy fixed the tire, tightened up the seat and brought it to my mom's house. All for $10. I am sure you know how happy this made me. I love a good deal! Now we just need to find a bike for Joe. Veronica has staked claim to it. That's okay, until I can teach Brenna and Braelynn to ride without training wheels, I don't have much use for it. That is on my list to do in the next few weeks.

And how there is just so much on my to-do list!

And how I got a new-to-us couch that a friend gave us and during the process of the kitchen and floor re-do, my curtains for the back door that already needed to be replaced got another and bigger hole in it, so I bought new ones and now I want to make pillows for the new couch and I have an idea for a decoration to make that would cost me about $2.00 that would look really cool if I could just find the time!

And that I am perplexed and concerned about my family. We love to do things as a family and do so a lot. Little things like walks, bike rides and family movie nights as well as whatever is around town, parades, festivals, etc. Recently, though two of my children fight constantly and usually make these outings and every day activities miserable for our whole family. We have always been a fun, loving, happy family. For those that have happy families with older children: is this normal? If not, what do I do to get back to our normal selves?

Thats it in a nutshell!

Preschool

We are doing the same thing this year for preschool as we did last year, a preschool co-op. This year it is two days a week for 2 1/2 hours instead of one day a week for 1 1/2 hours. This year there are eight kids! I teach this week, so we will see how it goes. It should be fun. If not, I only have to teach once every 7 weeks, I guess.
Brenna and Braelynn were very excited, of course. I say this all the time, but it is so fun to watch them interact and be each others best friend. On the way to preschool they put their hands together and cheered "team preschool" like they do on Dinosaur train "team teranadon", along with various other antics.
Last night at the rodeo, they went out to chase a pig (?!?) along with a whole crowd of kids. We were scanning the crowd of kids to see them and they were out there running together holding hands.
What did I do during my preschool free time? Craft? Read a book? Window shop? No. First day I ran errands and made salsa to bottle. Second day, Relief Society stuff. Bummer, maybe next time. Or at least until I start helping out in the older kids' classrooms like I did last year.
Speaking of bottling, I have done 18 jars of salsa, 15 jars of beets and 20 jars of chicken. I am praying that my tomatoes hurry and come on so I can get those done before it freezes.
Here are the first day of preschool pics. Braelynn is in the pink and Brenna is in the purple.