First half of May

I can't believe the first half of May is already over! Time is flying!! Here's some notables from the first half of May.

The weather has been awesome. It changes lots, as can be expected in the spring months, but I grew up knowing that by May, it was going to be crazy hot. (Thank you Vegas and SG) But for the most part, the weather in May has been awesome. Nice and warm some days, windy and rainy the next. Now that the weather has been more predictably nice, the kids are allowed to have their quiet time outside. SO GLORIOUS! Lindy naps, and the other two stay outside for a full two hours. It does both me, and them, so much good. One day, Miles and Gwen used that time to give their bikes a good washing. :) Usually, it means they are in the backyard with a blanket, a bunch of books, and LOTS of bunnies to play with.



Uncle Jeffrey came home from his mission to Slovakia! YAY!!! We'd been waiting and waiting, and it was so exciting to welcome him home at the airport and then play all evening with him at the Garner's.


One Saturday, I had a baby shower to attend, so Richie borrow the kayaks from his parents, rounded up Grandpa Garner, Jacob, Jeffrey and Tanner, took our kids and went kayaking down the Jordan River. I'm so glad my kids have a dad that wants to do that kind of stuff. If it was up to me all the time, "adventurous" things like that would probably never happen. I asked him to snap at least one picture, and he said the only place he remembered to take out the camera was under this nasty overpass. :) Cute kids though.


No pictures for this info, but I wanted to make sure it was documented somewhere. Gwen has had a problem with UTI's for as long as I can remember. Most of the time, they aren't bad and we can usually deal with it in about half a day, with some baths and cranberry juice. Other times, we get mega-UTIs and it takes a day or two of torture, and sometimes antibiotics to clear it up. Over the years, we've become quite pro and dealing with them. We try to prevent them as best we can, but when they inevitably hit, we throw every remedy and tactic up our sleeves at it, using antibiotics as a last resort just because that whole process is a pain.
Well, her Doctor has mentioned before that it's not common for girls so young to get so many UTIs, and that if they persist, we should check out her kidneys to make sure there isn't a more serious problem. I was trying to avoid that route, but after her worst UTI to date, we decided to take her in and get everything checked out. They did an ultrasound of her kidneys and found hydro-nephrosis- which is a fancy way of saying that she has water on her kidneys. It was low grade, but any amount of water on the kidneys is cause for further investigation. So we had to take her in for a VCUG. That's where they sedate her, but a catheter in her, pump her bladder full of dye and then flush it out as they xray her renal system to check for any reflux.
Gwen was so brave throughout the entire process. They said she was the easiest child they have ever sedated and the quickest pee-er! Atta girl! :) Letting the sedation wear off was hilarious. I with I would have filmed it or snapped a picture. She sat there eating her treats pleasantly, and then she'd look really concerned and ask me why the sink was moving, or why there were two doors instead of one. She kept repeating herself, asking me over and over again why she has a bracelet on her arm, and asking if they root beer she was drinking was healthy for her. It was good entertainment.
They didn't find any other problems in her renal system! Yay! That's the good news. The bad news about all of it is that it means there is no fix for her UTIs. We just have to deal with them and she should grow out of them by the time she is about 8 or so. So cross your fingers she grows out of them quickly, because they are the worst!

MBA- Check!

This milestone deserves it's own post. Richie has worked his tail off for the past year and a half and has finished his Master's degree, a MBA from Western Governor's University. It's an online school, and it worked so great as a process and for what our end goal was. We have lots of friends and family who have worked on a Master's degree at a brick and mortar university while they had a full time job and kids, and it just sounds...hard. With Richie choosing an online school, it freed up so much time for us. He was able to make his own schedule, to the point where I almost didn't realize he was working on his degree. His daily schedule would typically look something like this: Wake up at 5, make it to work early to prep or go to the gym. Work as a seminary teacher all day, get done around 230. Stay at his office and work on his degree until about 5. Come home about 530. The last month or two of this process was much more difficult because he was into his capstone classes and had group work to coordinate, so some days the kids never really saw him. The last couple of months stretched us a bit.


Now, he gets done teaching at 230 and then goes to wash windows, or comes home and gets all sorts of stuff done around the house. He keeps remarking (very happily) on how many things he can get done now that his time isn't all tied up in schooling. It is such a relief. It will increase his seminary teacher salary, he has a bunch of know-how now for his window washing business, and it's a huge accomplishment checked off. Although he is the one that did most of the work, it definitely takes the support of a family. It was a group effort and the kids were updated through the process and helped where they could, so when we told them he was officially done, they were probably just as happy as we were. :) We took them to get giant snow cones to celebrate.
Love this hard working man of mine.

A Labor of Love

All of the bathrooms in our house are outdated. The whole house is outdated really, but the bathrooms especially. They all have weird tile in the showers, for one thing. In the kid's bathroom, for instance, there is a "lovely" mural of dolphins that I've hated since day one.

Remember this ugly bathroom?? (And those cute little babies???)


Well, a while back a friend of mine was storing some of her belongings here, including a bathroom vanity. When she came to get her stuff later, she didn't want a bed frame or the vanity. The vanity was way cuter than the one that was currently hanging on the wall, so we switched them out. It only served to make the rest of the bathroom look that much more outdated. And so began the great bathroom remodel of 2015.

I bought some tile and picked out new, basically everything else. New Vanity, faucet, light fixture, toilet, and paint. My Sister and Bro-in-Law made the huge sacrifice to drive up from St. George, for the sole purpose of helping with the remodel. Richie and Mike worked tirelessly while they were here. They managed to get the new tile laid, new vanity put in, and the new toilet put in.

Shortly after, we took the closet doors and main door off and gave them a fresh coat of white paint.

Then my mom came up for something and painted almost everything else! It was starting to look so good! Especially with the new shower curtain I found at Ikea. We decided against tearing out the tile in the shower, based on some advice from a friend. So that's basically the only original thing still in the bathroom.

We were almost done with the remodel, just a few touch ups here and there. Richie installed new trim! And then....our attic flooded and ripped a giant hole in the bathroom ceiling, and tore a bunch of paint off the walls on it's way down. The night it happened, Richie's dad and brother came over with their shop-vac and helped us get it all cleaned up. Then Richie's dad came later to help Richie patch up the holes in the ceiling.

It sat like that for a while. Eventually we hired a guy in our ward to re-texture the ceiling. And there is sat. For a long time. We just couldn't get up the motivation to re-paint the ceiling, walls and trim. So my mom drove up from St. George and took it over. Thank goodness. She re-textured parts of the wall that needed it, re-caulked the tub and vanity, re-painted the walls, and painted the ceiling. A few weeks later, and I squished my pregnant belly in between toilets and inside closets to finally paint the trim.

TA-DA!!!




This is right after I cleaned it on Saturday. It makes me so happy! It makes me happy to think of all the people that were involved in this process, and the time and effort they sacrificed on our behalf. It's a big deal! This bathroom might be small, but it's bright and cheery and functional, and has a lot of love poured into it, ugly dolphin tile and all!

The Rest of April

Sisters
I remember when Gwen was finally old enough to be a friend to Miles, and not just the baby sister hanging around. It was such a fun discovery and transition for everyone. Lindy is getting to be pretty grown up these days. In fact, we even moved around the kid's rooms so that there is officially a boy's room and a girl's room. I was a little nervous about the transition, for a couple of reasons. Miles and Gwen have ALWAYS shared a room. I was nervous they would miss each other. Also, this meant that Lindy would be out of the crib and into a bed. The rooms aren't all cute yet, like I would like them to be, but they are functional and the kids made the transition so smoothly! Although Miles is not so patiently awaiting the arrival of his little roommate. I think it's played at least a little part in the new relationship growing between Gwen and Lindy. They are starting to really bond together, and it is so fun to watch. Here's a few shots of them, some of which I snuck through windows so that I wouldn't disrupt the magic.




The view outside my front door every spring and every fall is spectacular, thanks to our neighbor's trees. It always kind of takes me by surprise. In the Spring, the trees are white and pink. In the Fall, they're bright orange and burgundy. Also, a bit ago we made our little island in the lawn bigger. We put in a birdhouse a neighbor was getting rid of, and some big rocks another neighbor was getting rid of. :) We moved some plants around and planted a bunch of bulbs. It makes me happy every time I see it. We're also utilizing our little space by the front window to squeeze in some cold weather crops. We've got carrots, radishes, lettuce, spinach and onions. So far we've been enjoying the lettuce and spinach, and can't wait to enjoy the rest!



Miles opened his first bank account. He just got it in his head one day, and we had to do it. He was so proud and wants to check his balance every day to see if he's earned any interest. After we got it all set up, I realized that he had just deposited $42. I did some quick math in my head and asked him how he had $42?? He said, "my chores, my job (Dog Poop Scooper! He gave his job of rolling in garbage cans to Gwen, and he's chosen to clean up our neighbors yards on Saturday. He makes more money that way!), my birthday money..." Even with all of that, I knew he couldn't have that much money. Then he told me that he and Gwen trade money sometimes. He explained that sometimes she gives him ten $1 bills, and he gives her ten dimes, and so on. I couldn't believe it!! I knew he wasn't doing it maliciously, but we had to have a little talk. Meanwhile, Gwen's piggy bank was pretty much wiped out. Good thing her garbage can business is booming!



Our dear Helen passed away. Of course we miss her, but we feel mostly happy that she is back with her Karl and free of pain. At the funeral, the kids were doing great, until Gwen had a tender realization. She was coloring a picture and said, "I'm going to save this for Helen for when she comes back alive." I said, "Sweetheart, she is up in Heaven now. You won't get to see her again until you go up to Heaven." And then she broke down. She figured Helen had passed away for a short time, but would be resurrected sooner than later and she'd get to come be with us again here on earth. She looked at me with tears streaming down her face and said, "But Mom! She has to come back alive because of what Jesus did!!" I tried to explain that she will be resurrected, but we will have to wait to see her again. It was pretty hard to console her.



Could she get any cuter? :) Those are the same overalls I wore when I was little. She was just killing me with cuteness with the overalls, pigtails, and boots. Had to snap a picture.


A guy in our ward started selling Hoppy Taws. Remember those? He offered to lend out his pattern for a hop-scotch court, and we took him up on it! I need to go get an actual Hoppy Taw now. The rocks the kids are using aren't working. :)



Tanner is involved in lots of things. Which means we usually have an excuse to see a show of some sort on a fairly regular basis. This time, he was in the ballet, "Giselle" as one of the leads. I took the older two, and they insisted we dress up. :) We got back home after bed=time, but they didn't seem to mind.


School
So many days, I look at the kitchen table and think, "THIS is homeschool." I wish it was a more aesthetic experience sometimes, but really it just means lots of chaos and messes. But even though it drives me a little crazy, I look at it and think that something is going right. There are art projects hanging in the window, a science project near by (we are studying plants these days), and other craziness scattered around, but...I think it's working.



When we wrapped up our review on the human body, I told the kids to draw any body system they wanted. When Miles handed me his picture, I asked him what body system this was and he said, "The Respiratory! See the lungs!" :) I'm still laughing.


Here are a few supplementary projects to go with our plants unit. We made an earth worm habitat, so that we could see the trails they made inside. Making it together was a better experience than the actual outcome. Not as much "wow" factor as I was hoping for. Somewhere along the line, we picked up this water science kit. One of the experiments was all about how to filter water. It was pretty magical.


We celebrated Earth Day by dropping off Gwen's can collection (another one of her neighborhood jobs) to the recycling center (and earning another $2.50! Boo-yah!), dropping off plastic bags to recycle at the grocery store, weeding our garden, making these super easy earth day cookies, and reading a few books on the subject. Overall, a pretty fun homeschool day.


Other notables: Miles's grammar study is moving along nicely. Also pictured, worms in dirt and history. Whenever I read them the history chapter for the week, I try and have something for them to quietly do as I read, to keep them on task; things like play-doh, legos etc. This night it was eating dessert. :) Thought this treat was fit with our science unit, so we went with it. :)

First half of April

April Fool's
I'm not a huge fan of April fool's day, but I saw this idea online the night before and figured it was easy and harmless enough, that I could manage it. I told the kids I had brownies for them upstairs after quiet time. They ran up, and were sorely disappointed to find a pan full of "Brown E's". THey felt much better when I showed them the real brownies I had made. Ha!



Conference
This was probably the least effective conference for me. Maybe ever. Richie was gone all day Saturday (as he has been most Saturdays for the last month or so) working on his Masters, so it was just another day with me and the kids. Except that I felt obligated to get the house clean and make sure they quietly listened to conference. HA! What a joke. This is a picture of our attempt. I pulled out butcher paper and stamps and thought it would keep them listening for a while. I think it lasted about 5 minutes. (I love Miles's face here! Cracks me up)


Planting Strawberries
One Monday, during the witching hours from about 330-530, I was struggling to get dinner ready while the kids ran circles around me. Grandma Garner showed up out the blue and told me she had strawberries to plant! We've tried strawberries before without much success. At first I thought, "I love strawberries, but I have zero time to plant them and our garden space is running out." Luckily Grandma took charge and brought the kids outside with her, found places to plant the strawberries and I got to finish making dinner! What a relief it was. The kids made a memory with their Grandma and hopefully we'll get a few yummy strawberries to nibble on this summer.


School
A few pictures as proof that we're still plugging away with school. Gwen's practicing sight words by gluing letters from magazines over the letters I wrote on the index card, and Lindy is becoming a pro at stickers! :) I'm just hoping I can make it till the end of May. Every day we finish our allotted school work is a big accomplishment to me. I don't know how I'll do it once baby gets here, right before the school year starts.





It's a boy!
My ultrasound was at 730 at night, which worked out great so that Richie could be home with the kids. The tech was running over an hour behind, but I rather enjoyed my quiet time just reading and resting. I wasn't feeling anxious at all, to find out the gender. We had pretty much come to the conclusion that we were having another girl. And that was great! However, when she was checking everything, the baby turned just right so we could see the evidence of his gender, without any confusion! I just started laughing and told the tech how excited my older boy would be. I didn't make it home until around 10, and I figured everyone would be sleeping. But Dad, Miles and Gwen were all still wide awake, anxious to hear the news. I brought in blue balloons and candy, and it took the kids a minute to figure it out, but Richie was immediately overjoyed. He was yelling so loudly, I had to tell him to be quiet so as to not wake up Lindy. Miles said, "A BOY??? Oh I've been praying so hard for a boy!!!" :) Gwen wasn't as excited, although she's come around to the idea now. Lindy has no idea. We are SO excited to get another boy. We have a bunch of names to choose from, and are working on switching rooms around so that we'll have an official boy's room and girl's room.

Easter 2016

We try and focus a lot on the reason behind Easter during the week of, but looks like I only got pictures of the other stuff! During our Easter week, we acted out the triumphal entry, ate our "Jesus meal" (foods He would have eaten), and our Passover meal, and tried to have little devotionals each night. On Saturday after Gwen's party, we dyed a few eggs. Check! On Sunday morning we hunted for eggs and got a few fun things in our Easter baskets. Then Richie and I had to speak in church. Thank goodness Taysom was staying with us that weekend so we already had someone to wrangle the kids in sacrament. (Thanks Tay! That is no small job!) For dinner that night at the Garner's house, we ate a Jewish meal, complete with sitting on the floor and eating with our hands. Then Grandpa read a book with the kids and hunted for symbols of Christ around the yard. It was a beautiful week!


I wanted to get the classic picture of all the kids in their Sunday best on Easter. It didn't happen. The girls were even wearing their matching sailor dresses. I begged Gwen for just one picture, but she decided to throw a fit instead.


Dinner at Garner's