The Breakfast Of Champions

When you need Bo to babysit your kids, and it involves breakfast, be warned that this is what you'll find when you come home.

Is it any wonder they are always asking "when is Bo going to have a sleep over?" Thanks for sugaring the kids up and then leaving, Bo.

The Duck Pond

I will venture out to Provo every now and then for only 2 reasons: the Bean Museum, and the duck pond. Oh, and a birthday dinner every now and then at the Brick Oven. I guess that makes 3 reasons. And on a day when the school is closed because it almost burned down (it was so close, darn it), and we are tired of just waiting to be evacuated, we decided that a picnic at the good old duck pond is a perfect reason to make the drive.

A picnic! Hooray! We are so excited!

At a park named after Harrison. Awesome, man. Rock on.

We climb trees to see the ducks from above...

... and keep our eyes on them from the path.

We have our trusty baby be the keeper of the picnic blanket. He can do that while sucking his thumb at the same time. I know. We have a genious on our hands.

Now, this duck pond runs a very distant second place to aunt Karen's back-duck-yard. But, to try to make up for the lack of Karen, this duck pond has the as-many-turtles-as-you-can-fit-on-a-log log.







And duck bums!









And more duck bums!






The End.

Bones Breaking, Pirate Teeth, and Blue Ribbons in Motherhood

The Young Men were having an activity at the park where they roll an enormous sheet of plastic down the hill, cover it with soap, and turn on the water. A king size slip and slide. Jeb decided to bring along Leah and Harrison for the ride. He also, unfortunately, decided to let other people come as well. This resulted in Leah's face colliding with another kid's head. She came home complaining that her teeth hurt. Me, as mother of the year, told her to put some ice on her mouth and she would be fine. Within a few days, her tooth began to discolor and I knew that it was more than just a "walk it off" injury. One of the short people in our house dubbed it her "pirate tooth".

A visit with the dentist confirmed it. Yup, it definitely hurts. He recommends doing a baby root canal to ease the swelling on the blood supply. I take her in first thing in the morning, she gets a shot in her patoot, goes limp, and they take her off to the back rooms. Once the dentist begins to work, her tooth crumbles. It was so filled with tiny cracks that it basically just disintegrates. Dr. Eric says to me over and over again "she had major trauma to her teeth" and "she suffered a really major blow to that tooth". Yeah for me! I told her to ice it! Super good advice. At least it was easy for Leah. I asked her what she remembered about her appointment. "I got a shot in my tushie. Then I picked a prize. And then... it was time to go home!" She doesn't remember the small detail of me pinning her down to get that shot. Thank heavens. We only have college funds set up for the kids. No future therapy funds - yet.





Exactly 3 days after that dentist visit, I get a call from Harrison at school. "I fell at recess and my hand really hurts" he said. I replied with "Bubba, you only have an hour left. Do you think you can stick it out?" It was just a fall while playing soccer, right? Nothing serious. Not even a band aid.


When he came home I put him to work doing his homework and chores, all the while he was complaining about his hand still hurting. Since we've met our maximum out of pocket for the year (which would be nice if it hadn't come at the expense of a hernia surgery, delivery of a baby, and 3, count 'em, 3 kidney stones) I figure we can send him in for an x-ray. Jeb takes him over to the ER where it's discovered that Harrison has broken his hand in 2 places. The nurses ask him "on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most painful thing you have ever felt, where is your pain at right now?" Harrison contemplates his answer for a minute, and then comes back with a response of "30". And I added another gold star to my awesome mom chart.





Don't you just love it when you get this mothering thing down? No, really, I'm asking because I have no idea how it feels to get this mothering thing down. Do you love it? I'm a superstar among mothers, I tell you what. Harrison is now in a cast for 6 weeks, and Leah has a new tooth. Supermom in action. I rock. Hopefully the state will call before they come to get the kids. That way I can pack for Harrison, what with his bum arm and all. It's the least I can do.