hALLoWeEn!!

It has been a busy few weeks for us. We have been over at my parents house quite a bit. My mom was in the hospital a few weeks ago with a DVT, a blood clot in her leg. The clot is long, going from her hip to her knee. For a couple of days she noticed her leg swelling and being quite painful. About a week and a half before that she had had a cardiac catheterization where they used the artery from that same leg. She just assumed the soreness and swelling was because of that. I was bugging her to go get it checked because she had classic symptoms of DVT. She was very hesitant but after MUCH nagging she finally gave in and went to the emergency room. After she had an ultrasound of her vein and they told her she did in fact have a blood clot she was terrified. I felt terrible because she is laying there in the hospital bed, completely mortified, not wanting to talk or move because the doctor told her if the clot moved it would go directly into her heart. So she was in the hospital for 5 days on lots of blood thinners waiting for her blood to be thin enough for her to be released. Since then, she has not left her house except to go to the doctor's office. I finally got her to go with me to the store the other day... it was a miracle. Assuring her daily she is not going to die has become my calling. She is getting a little better everyday. The doctor told her now she needs to start getting up and around more, but being sure not to do anything too strenuous with that leg. I am totally shocked at how dedicated she has been to being so good.

Since she has been at home for so long she has had a lot of time on her hands. She decided to start canning a few months ago and these past few weeks we have been doing a ridiculous amount of cutting up different meats and veggies and pressure cooking. I am an old pro at it now. I think I could teach a class on "oh that needs 15 psi for 90 minutes...." Anyway, Rikki and I just about have a year supply of food just from the last few weeks. It has been crazy, but fun. So if anyone is interested in canning anything, especially meat, call my mom. She can get some great deals.

So on to HALLOWEEN!! Ezra was so excited for Halloween this year. He dressed up as Captain Jack Sparrow. He was so dang cute. He walked around for days practicing, "Aargghh!" and "I am going to sword you!" Chandler was a bumble bee. She was pretty cute herself. It all started with a yellow and black tutu. Then yellow and black striped leg warmers. . . I think I had more fun showing them off then they had.

Ezra is home!!

Well, the week went by terribly quickly, for me anyway. Ezra had a blast in California. The trip included:my Mom, Rikki and Mylee, Dillan, my aunt Kim and Ezra. He would call several times a day to tell us what was "awesome" at that time. They spent all day last Saturday driving, taking it easy, no rush to get there. Sunday they spent the day on the trolley seeing the town and at the San Diego temple. I cannot remember exactly how it all went, but I think they spent Monday at Legoland, Tuesday at the San Diego zoo, Wednesday and Thursday at Sea World and Friday at the Wildlife Park. The long drive home came Saturday. I know what you are thinking... "not even spoiled a bit, huh"... Surprisingly enough my mom reports that Ezra was well behaved. Movies, video games and bribery work wonders. That is what she tells me anyway. I am sure Dillan and Ezra enjoyed their fair share of fighting and arguing, but nothing too terrible I guess. They did tons of cool stuff from "Dining with Shamu" to riding a hot air balloon, to taking a safari ride at the wildlife park. Ezra was so excited when he would call to talk about EVERYTHING, which was okay with me. I was glad he got to go, and I was kind of on a much needed vacation myself, but I was kind of sad not to get to see how excited he was for everything. My mom came home with lots of pictures though. Here are a few of the approximately 950 pictures they took.

The San Diego Temple

The view from the balloon...

SHAMU!!!

Entering Legoland

As nice as the week was we sure missed you Ezra. Chandler crawled into your room countless times looking for you. She sure was excited to see you when you got home.

PS- I got my cell phone back! I haven't gotten my numbers and stuff transferred so I still don't know anyone's numbers but I can text, hooray!

I would lose my head. . .

I lose everything. I lose my keys, purse, phone, diaper bag, etc. daily. I leave things at Wal-Mart, at church, at restaurants, anywhere I go basically. Really, I am just unorganized and am usually yelling at Ezra or trying to calm Chandler so I don't pay attention to where I set something down. Well, anyway, a few days ago, my car was in the shop so I was sitting at my parents office waiting for it be finished. Rikki and I decided to go to lunch. I didn't see my phone so I figured it was probably shoved into the abyss of my diaper bag. Well, later my sister got a call from my mom asking, "Is Sheridan looking for her phone?" Rikki said, "I don't think so, did she leave it at the restaurant again?" Rikki got this grin on her face and I knew it couldn't be good.
Well, long story short, I dropped my phone outside at my parents office and it got ran over. It is kind of in a phone coma. It is a touch screen so I cannot send or receive texts, I sometimes catch an incoming call, and cannot see any of my contacts phone numbers because the display is gone, and can sometimes call out. So If you have called or text me since Tuesday and think I am ignoring you, it is not on purpose!! Hopefully this week I will get a new one and let this one go into phone heaven. I just am praying that I will not lose all my numbers. I mean seriously, I have every pizza place in town in there. I wouldn't want to have to get the phone book out...

Busy summer

It has been a while, huh. It has been a crazy busy couple of months. With work, the Sweet Corn Festival (which my mom is in charge of and needs plenty of help with), and trying to keep the family in check there hasn't been a dull moment. I am so glad to be out of August. Rikki and I had the brilliant idea to sell some things we have been making at our own booth in the craft fair at the festival. We have spent weeks working on things, sewing, glueing, painting and scrapbooking, not getting much accomplished on any one given day because all of our kids cannot behave at any one time. Then we sat there for 2 days, sweating in the sun, trying to keep the babies under control, trying to manage our booth. Wow, we will NEVER do that again. Can you say misery? If I ever have any similar ideas or intentions please, someone remind me of Sweet Corn Festival 2008.
The rest of the month was spent at family reunions, taking scuba lessons, and lots of time at the lake. The kids had a great time. Chandler got her first minor sunburn and ate her first piece of licorice. Ezra hasn't been inside much of the summer. He is such a fish. He would go swimming everyday if we would let him. He has enjoyed every second of this summer. Oh yeah, before we had Chandler, Ezra was almost potty trained. Well, he had a major relapse when she came along. So, a few months ago my mom promised him when he was completely potty trained and never had anymore accidents she would take him to see free Willy (he has a slight obsession- we have seen the trilogy countless times... I bet you didn't even know there was a trilogy, huh.) He is so busy playing 99% of the time, coming inside to go potty was a hassle.
Well, as you can see from the picture he figured a way around it. So my mom is taking Ezra to San Diego to Sea World for an entire week. He is so excited and this is the daily conversation,
"Am I going to see Free Willy today?"
"No, not today."
"Where is the phone, I need to call Grandma, I don't believe you.... Grandma, are we going to see Free Willy today?"
"No, Ezra not until Saturday."
"When is it going to be Saturday?..."
Anyway, you get the picture. They are also going to the San Diego zoo and Legoland. I will post about it when they get home I am sure.

SumMeR FUn- dIRt, buGs, aND eArs

Ezra and Chandler both love to be outside. Ezra loves to work with his dad, jump around, and run as fast as he can yelling, "I am a superheeerrrroooo!!" He already loves to climb trees, get dirty, and loves to get into trouble. I worry for Chandler because she is always watching him. I can just see her thinking, "I want to be just like him. . ." I hope she is a little more careful, and stays a litter cleaner. Ezra does have one fear, bugs of any sort. He refuses to wear shoes at the softball field, so last night he stepped on one of those monster beatles/crickets or whatever they are with his bare feet and cried for 10 minutes.

Chandler has had a fever for 3 days now. It started Friday when I was at work and didn't really let up until today. Even though it finally started to get better today I decided to take her in to the doctor. She has an ear infection, which seems to be clearing up, red tonsils, and may be finally cutting a tooth. She has been drooling like crazy for 4 months, seriously, so I wish the stupid teeth would just come already. She is a good sport though, she still smiled for the picture.

We just got Chandler's pictures taken this past week. They turned out pretty cute. She was in such a good mood. There were not even any tears, from her at least. Ezra was supposed to have his pictures taken as well but he decided to cut a huge chunk out of the middle of his beautiful brown hair. So the only tears were mine. It will grow back, I know, but he looks like a big dork. I guess all kids go through it. I just hope he is finished!! Here are a couple of Chan's pictures.