Awesome cellphone pics!

Yes! These are pictures that I took on my cellphone. I never thought they would turn out so awesome. I took them late at night as Hudson was laying on my bed watching TV. The room was pitch black, but the glow from the TV lite up his face. He was about one foot from the screen (it's a very tiny TV) and it was just the right amount of light. I am definitely going to try this again with my other children. I'll post the pics if they come out as well as these ones did.

Meet Fireman Taylor

Taylor has been doing excellent in his Fire Science classes. Its both mentally and physically challenging. We are so grateful for the Running Start program. (FYI: It's a program for junior and senior high school kids where they are allowed to take college courses FREE of charge until they graduate from high school. This allows them to receive their AA degrees and their High school diplomas by age 18. Its available to all juniors and seniors as long as they can pass the prerequisites tests. I think it's a great program.) Anyhow my only worry is that he could become burnt out too soon. Although he seems to know exactly which direction he wants to go and his goals are pretty straight forward. He found out that he needs to take an English course at the college (English is his worst enemy) because it's a requirement for an associates degree. This could prove to be a HUGE challenge for him. His cousin, Kylie, is also in the running start program and she is just so very talented in English (hint hint Ky) and perhaps maybe we can call on her for difficult homework assignments. She is taking an English course that is very very advanced. Perhaps they can trade off on some services. Ky could help Taylor on his English and Taylor could rescue any of Ky's cats or birds that fly up into a tree! (you think about it ky!). One thing is for sure, I am so proud of both of them for taking their education so seriously (that includes my sister too. She is less then a year away from becoming a nurse.)

Keep up the good work, Taylor! We love you.

Meet the Newest Karate Kid!

I know these are a little blurry. I am still to lazy to drag out the real camera so my cell phone will have to do. Hudson is so excited to be a "Ka-tee boy". He likes to demonstrate his "Ka-tee movies" (karate moves). He seems to think that the uniform alone gives him some type of special powers. I'll be preoccupied with something and I'll see this white streak out of the corner of my eye and I'll turn just in time to see Hudson run full force into the wall. He calls that his "Ka-tee movie" and asks, "Did you see me mom? Did you?" Then he rubs his head a few times and takes off towards another wall while yelling, "Yea, I-ma Ka-tee boy!" I asked him where he learned his special moves and he states he saw Peter Pan doing it on TV. Now I am a little curious about what TV show has Peter Pan running into walls. I tell Hudson to show me this Ka-tee Peter Pan the next time he sees him on the TV. Hudson runs out of the room and quickly returns carrying a movie. He points out Peter Pan on the front of the box and gives me that 'See I told-you-so smile' and I just agree with him because Peter Pan and Jackie Chan are truly one in the same!

Just when I started feeling better....

I GOT MUCH WORSE. I'm not even sure where to start. I am hoping I can finish this post before I start to feel all dizzy and have to lay down again. Well I developed a nifty little infection called Sepsis. It all started with a 6 mm. kidney stone that is stuck in my left ureter. I developed a simple UTI and it seemed to get better. I didn't know at the time about the kidney stone. I had horrible pain that would come and go. It was strange and not like any other kidney stone I've passed before. About a month later I began to feel really tired and sickly. This went on for several weeks. Then the pain began to get worse and worse til finally I was up all night long rocking back and forth on the bed while praying out loud. It was just after 5 am when Robert woke up early because he had several meetings to prepare for at work. He has seen me in this strange rocking back and forth kidney stone dance before and he knew he could do nothing for me. Just as he was about to walk out the door I told him that I needed to go to the ER. I knew that something was terribly wrong with me. So off we went to the first ER. They did some labs and an x-ray and reported that everything looked normal. I was screaming and crying like a crazy woman because I was feeling so sick and the pain was now a 10. Anyhow the ER staff rolled their eyes and pushed us out the door. We got home and the pain meds that they had given me at the ER were already wearing off. I was back on the bed rocking back and forth. I'm not sure what Robert was thinking because the ER doctor just told us both that NOTHING was wrong with me. I can't begin to explain how bad I was feeling. About 2 hours later I tell Robert that we have to go to another hospital. I no longer cared if the ER staff was going to roll their eyes at me and claim that I was there to seek drugs. Lucky for me when I arrived I was immediately taken back to a room. (perhaps it was because I was now screaming bloody murder and rolling around on the floor) The ER doc ordered some blood work ASAP and a catscan. An hour later we found out about the kidney stone (the one that the other hospital somehow missed) and we learned that my kidney was three times its normal size. I was admitted to the hospital and just 12 hours later that very next morning things became MUCH worse. I only remember parts of it. Apparently I developed a temp of 106* and a full code was called. That's when a dozen people run into your room and cut of any clothes that your wearing. Then they begin to pack you in ICE. It was horrible. Finally my temp dropped enough and I was taken to the OR where a tube was placed in the lower part of my back into my kidney so that it could be drained. The next day the labs came back and said that I had gone into septic shock. Later that night the infection began to win its battle and I became much sicker. I was given a blood transfusion and that seemed to help. They started me on 4 different types of antibiotics and lots of other meds that made me very loopy. About 7 days later I was doing much better and got to go home. However, I still have a tube hanging out of my back which drains my left kidney. I have my mediport in my chest which is used for all of the drugs I have to take, including IV antibiotics 3 times a day for the next several months. I also STILL have that 6 mm kidney stone. It's not safe to remove it yet because of the sepsis. If they try to take it out they could blast the infection all over my body and that wouldn't be good. However, I do have a little machine that delivers pain medication into my IV and that helps some, but if you have ever had a kidney stone then you know the only way to be pain free is to remove the stone. We are hoping to do that in a few weeks when the infection is a little more under control. Anyhow, so I was home for 3 days when I got out of bed and felt very dizzy and short of breath. So back to the ER where they found that I had a pulmonary embolism. After another 3 days in the hospital the tiny little clot was dissolved and I got too go home. Of course I also got another drug to add to the growing list and this one is taken with a small injection into the tummy. It's actually NOT bad at all. However the bruises that it causes are rather painful. So now I sit at home. The antibiotics are HORRIBLE. My tongue is smooth like a frogs skin and the tip of my tongue is covered in a million painful bumps (like when you bite a taste bud). I can't taste anything and everything that I try to eat burns my mouth. Bread is the worse. I think it's the yeast in it that causes the burning. The insides of my cheeks and lips are covered in tiny sores. I also feel really dizzy and it feels like I have a head cold. My balance is all screwed up. Has anyone ever had this side effect with antibiotics before? I'm taking Merrem also called Meropenem. I don't know how much longer I can handle this stuff. It feels like it's slowly killing me. WOW. I wrote this long post and now I finally begin to feel ill. I'm going to bed. Thanks for your prayers. For the first time ever I am actually asking people to pray for me. This is one of the tougher medical challenges I have faced. If this post makes no sense, blame the antibiotics.

Road Trip

Our youngest is just about the only child in our family willing to smile for the camera. Lucky for me the girls allowed me to snap ONE picture of them, but Taylor on the other hand hid behind a book every time he saw the camera. However, if I remember correctly it was Taylor's hand that controlled the dinosaur puppet that ate Robert's head (and bit his neck, clawed his ears, spilled his soda, poked his eye, pulled out several hairs, flung himself into his head, jumped into his bag of beef jerky which caused it to spill all over the floor, and finally... stretched his rubbery arm out and snapped it back like a rubber band hitting Robert in the face) and all of this while he drove the truck and RV. He's quite a guy! Oh and where is the dinosaur puppet now you ask? Try mile marker 165 on I-82.

Another blurry cell phone pic that I love.

My first born.

Happy Birthday Hudson.

It's hard to believe. Hudson is FIVE years old! He went to the dentist for the first time (I know it should have been done years ago, but he absolutely would NOT go.) and the dentist said he had perfect teeth. No cavities. When he got to choose a toy from the toy chest he decided on a red ring. Then he went back and traded for a blue one. Then he traded for a glider plane. A few minutes later he returned his broken glider and demanded a refund, "Heeeey this thiiing broke. I need anodder one, okay." So he decided on a pencil, but as soon as he figured out the fact that he couldn't use it since it wasn't sharpened he traded once AGAIN and decided on the red ring. Finally we sat in the waiting room waiting for the other kids to get finished. As we sat waiting, Hudson opened his special goody bag that the dentist had gave to him. He liked the toothbrush, but he went nuts over the mint flavored dental floss. By the time the other kids were finished, Hudson had managed to suck the flavor off of 25 ft of minty floss. Should I dare say that he once again returned his red ring and asked for more minty floss. The nurse quickly gave him a handful and pushed us out the door. Hudson's only concern is, "Mooooom. What if I runses out of the mental ploss?" I love you, Hudson.

Look Mom, I'm half way to Disneyland!

Can you guess what Hudson got for an early birthday present?

A. Quick sand
B. A book written by Saddam Hussein called, "How to hide in a hole."
C. A shovel

If you answered "shovel" then you have won... well nothing. Anyhow Hudson has been digging his hole for several hours (the shovel is no bigger then a gravy ladle) and after his older brother told him that he could dig himself to Disneyland, he's been digging much faster.

It really got exciting when Hudson began to scream, "I see him. I see him."
Who do you see? We asked.
"I see the mouse. Yep it's the mouse. It's him. It's Bickey. Hi Bickey Hi!" Hudson yelled.
Ah, Hudson who is Bickey?
"Duh Mom. DUH! You know Bickey Mouse. DUUUUUHHHH." Hudson says.
Then Hudson says in a matter of fact voice, "Hey, the duck is here too." (Donald duck)

Unfortunately all the fun ended when a certain Mommy ordered a very dirty little boy out of his hole and into the bath.

"But MOOOOM, I was almooooost there. Greeeaat, I didn't even get to ride any rides. ERRR!"

More blurry cell phone pics.

You tell me. How could I resist taking pictures of this adorable little boy? How could I NOT post them (blurry or not) on the blog? Isn't he yummy! It's hard to believe that this little guy (my baby) will be FIVE YEARS OLD in 4 days. YIKES! Please someone tell me how to make time stand still. What's even scarier is the fact that my oldest is almost 16 yrs old. I could be a grandma in the next 5 or 10 years. YIKES AGAIN!

Karate Kids & One helpless dog.

That poor dog. I have nothing else to say about that.

I somehow lost the pictures of Taylor at karate, but here are the girls. The bottom picture is of Savannah and her BFF Hannah doing push-ups after they failed to bow when leaving the dojo. I know how they feel because I got in the same type of trouble by their sensei when I was talking to another mother!

Mother/ Daughter Dinner~ Taylor serves!

The girls and I attended the Mother/ Daughter dinner at church and really enjoyed oinking~out on several types of cheesecake. The meal was yummy, but what we liked most was the cute server that was assigned to our table. He was such a handsome young man and very polite. He continued to smile even after being asked, "Sir, I need a new fork." "Sir, I need another napkin." "Sir, when you get home can you clean my room." It's not very often that Taylor would happily go along with this, ~so break out the camera I did! However, I informed the girls that the reason for their brothers good demeanor was probably not about them, but rather it was for another special girl at the table (S.B.). Thanks to this special girl we are all seeing a side of Taylor that we haven't seen before.

Missionary Conferences

Savannah got into the theme of things during the missionary conferences this last weekend. She and Robert helped to run the German foods booth. At the conference there was food from around the world to sample. We made 500 German meatballs in a sweet & sour sauce. They tasted great, but the real treat was the cute little German girl who served everyone.

This was a huge test for Taylor since he plans on doing mission work when he is a little older. We told him that he might as well sample some food from several countries and should he find a food that agrees with his finicky eating habits, well then BINGO.... We found a mission location! However, Taylor only eats about three or four kinds of food and McDonald's and Pizza Hut are two of them. The only food booth that he agreed to eat from was the American booth (cheeseburgers.) So I guess that means that Taylor will be spreading the gospel in Iowa or something. So much for an exciting adventure in a far away country.

Hudson on the other hand chowed down on cookies, ice-cream, and candy canes during the conference. He refused to eat anything else. So I guess Hudson will be headed to the North Pole for his mission.

It's been a very busy week and although we enjoyed visiting with all of the missionary families, we are glad to have things return to a slower pace.

Swine flu & Hazmat

Just kidding! No Hudson does NOT have swine flu and although it looks like HAZMAT has taken over our home it is also NOT true. Hudson was having a hard night with croup again and since he arrived in the ER coughing they made him where a mask. Robert is wearing a mask because he is afraid of catching all of the sicknesses from the sick people who are not wearing masks. The ER at this certain LOCAL hospital is filthy and Robert didn't dare let Hudson touch anything (not even the bed.) Just outside our room in the hallway was a woman who was letting her baby crawl around. I tried to communicate the issue of germs, but the real issue was communication. She didn't speak any English. Every time I pointed to her baby on the floor and scrunched my nose up she would smile and pull her baby's socks up (no clue.)

As for the plastic wrap covering my entire home, well the painters finally returned to fix the painting mistakes from when they painted to fix the first mistakes from the first time the house was painted (confused? me too). Sadly they used the wrong color and now we get to do this again. YEA! Nothing makes my day brighter then having a bunch of strange men in my house (non of which I can communicate with...no English) and their intoxicating paint fumes which they seem to enjoy. Meanwhile, the children and I are locked in the master bedroom attempting to keep the toxic fumes from penetrating underneath the bedroom door. An hour later everyone has a headache so I guess that mission FAILED. I just can't help but to wonder if paint fumes are more toxic then we already imagine they are??? Later that night Savannah screams at Hudson who is carefully smelling the painted walls and commenting that they smell "gooood" and Savannah is lecturing me that Hudson is "Puffing." "He is Puffing mom. I saw it on TV." I tell her I think it's called huffing and that it's done with cans of spray paint, but she doesn't care because she's positive that her baby brother will grow up to be a "druggie puffer." Little does she understand we will all probably be "druggie puffers" since we've all been forced to smell the toxic fumes all day long. Maybe I shouldn't let her watch that A&E show called, "Intervention" anymore. Every time I give her cough medicine she asks me if it will make her become a druggie when shes older. I feel like whenever I want to take my medication I have to hide from her because she may be thinking that I need an intervention. If she calls you and invites you over please know that all of my meds are carefully regulated by my doctors! ~I love you, Savannah.

Photo shoot with Mom's cellphone

Sorry for the blurry pics again. Once again blame the cellphone. My girls decided to do a full photo shoot in my bedroom with my cellphone. After seeing a certain girls (woman) graduation picture (we'll call her Cierra M.) my daughters both wanted their own glamour shots. I just love finding these kinds of surprises on my phone. You did great girls.

Hat Shopping with Hudson

Sorry for the blurry pics. I took them with my phone. Hudson's been feeling left out since he has no hat. We went in search of a baseball cap, but Hudson looked so darn cute in these hats that I couldn't resist taking a few pics. (We never did find a baseball cap.)

Too sick to write

The one thing I NEVER write about is my health. WHY? Because I have none! Seriously most would never know the medical problems that I face. Now I don't need people to feel sorry for me. It would be better to tell me to quit my whining and get my act together! This last month has been a challenge for me. My health has been poor at best. I finally got the "Power Port" placed in my chest and that should make many things easier. It just needs some fine tuning or time because my heart doesn't seem to have the best relationship with it. I am scheduled for heart surgery next month at Sacred Heart and that may fix it. I had some swollen lymph nodes removed and spent two days at the hospital with a kidney infection that would NOT go away. Oh how I hate those kidney infections. Four days ago I got my gallbladder removed, Finally! (and a small part of my liver because it was stuck fast to my gallbladder!) Recovery has been so so. The first day was HELL. The pain was so bad, but every day since the pain has reduced and now it is hardly noticeable. However, what is bothering me most is the cold sweats and night sweats. What is causing this? My doctors assure me that it is caused from this or that, but why don't they have a cure for this annoying problem or maybe just a pill I can take. Well anyhow things seems to always straighten out in time, so I will look forward to next month. See ya all then!

These were fun 2 make.

The preschool kids made these cute little balloon animals and they turned out great. Except for poor Hudson's little baby chick. Hudson insisted that it have three legs, eyes on the side of the head, backwards beak and a gimpy little wing. On the brighter side, at least the chick didn't suffer because Hudson quickly put him out of his ugly misery after sitting on him~POP!!!