really, I'm not dead...

Although my blog seems like it! Since my computer crashed a couple weeks ago it has taken forever to get it back up. It took about 1 week to even get it back running. My hubby got the files off it that i wanted and weren't backed up. Then he tried a few things but the drive was bad. So he switched the drive out. He had another one b/c back when this was his computer he needed a faster drive so he switched it out. I have most things back to normal. However my drive says it has no more room for the rest of my stuff. Not sure why b/c the drive is the same size. SO I have had to move some stuff over to another computer drive and then my husband will burn them to DVD's so I can delete some of my stuff. My computer does not burn DVD's or I'd do it myself. All that to say, I'm still not up and running like normal yet.

I had my tonsils and adenoids taken out yesterday morning. The doc said my tonsils were pretty high and they were inverted. So instead of a 30 surgery it took about 1 hour. They usually prescribe liquid meds - which is a good thing I have problems with pills anyway. They also give out a script for a pill in case the liquid is not strong enough. So when I got my scripts they were all pills. My husband asked about it and they said that the doc did that because he figured I'd be in a lot of pain since they were inverted and I'm guessing he had to do a lot of digging! But we asked for the liquid anyway. It seems to be working just fine for me. I'm really surprised that I am not in that much pain. I figured I would not be able to talk or barely swallow after surgery. But all I felt was a little lump in my throat and a little off balance from being under. Today I feel OK as well. The lump feels bigger and a little tender to swallow today but that's it. The meds make me sick to my stomach. Last night I figured I would try to eat food with them to see if that helped. It did not. I ended up throwing it all up about an hour later. But surprisingly it didn't burn my throat like fire like I thought it would. I'm on pain meds, antibiotic, and steroids. They nurse said day 3 is the worse then day 5-7 the pain gets a little worse b/c the scabs change. All in all though this surgery is not nearly as painful as I thought it would be. knock on wood!! Maybe it's because I have endured so much strep throat. An I mean BAD strep throat. It must have prepared me. The in laws are here this week to help with the kids. So that is a big help to me.

I have pictures I will share when my computer is back to normal. They will be of my lovely throat!

Have a good week.

13 inches..

I chopped of my hair the day before we went on vacation. The lady said it was 13 inches that she chopped off. I measure it closer to 12, but it is curly so it's hard to tell. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to send it to Locks of Love or Pantene Beautiful Lengths. 3 years ago I chopped off roughly 12 inches and sent it to Locks of Love.


I somehow forgot to take a before picture. However looking through some pictures, I saw one the kids took and thought it would do the job. Here in the classic pony tail...

Here I am 'after' It is really about 2-3 weeks after...
Don't you love my smile!!? Ha!

I'm glad to be rid of that hair. Now I need to be sending it in to be used. I also plan on chopping it off again in roughly 3 years... I figure if I'm gonna grow it out some, I might as well grow it out long enough to donate instead of just throwing it away.

crash..

That would be my computer! A couple days ago it crashed on me- the drive that is. It didn't hit the floor and go crash, which is somewhat likely with 4 kids in the house. I'm not the best backer-upper. It's been a couple months. However, I have faith in my husband since he is the guru. He used Linux and was able to get to everything on my computer. We (and I mean he here!) copied my selected files to a portable drive before he reformats it or whatever he's gonna do. However, some of those files (files being pictures) are corrupted. So he is going to try another program and see what he can do. I think they are corrupted no matter what. I was getting some corrupted picture error stuff last week. I almost back it up then but didn't. So I have not been on the computer much at all this week. I have used the extra computer that the kids generally use to check some email and that's about it. I'm using my hubby's right now. (and BTW, this weeks post were pre-scheduled!)

Other news-- I always seem to get strep throat. Max did too. Max had a tonsillectomy last September and hasn't had strep since. My throat was sore a little over the weekend so I decided before my tonsils get huge and filled with puss I would see the doctor. I saw the PA- doctors were booked. She gave me a script and a referral for ENT. I got home and set up an ENT appointment- I wasn't gonna wait around for the doctors office to get around it. I went Weds. and I now have a tonsillectomy scheduled for July 28. They could have done it this Tuesday but the kids have swimming lessons through the end of next week. So this should be interesting and hopefully not too painful-fingers crossed! The meds the PA gave me weren't doing the job so the ENT gave a script for a stronger (and yes, that also means more expensive) drug. After taking that one, I started feeling better pretty quickly.

While at the ENT office Ike was being a good little boy, sitting on the couch in the waiting room doing nothing but looking cute. OK, really, he was jumping all over the place and giggling a little naughty giggle. While jumping on the couch i had told him not to, he giggled and continued on. I went and sat by him so I could hold him in order for him to not jump on the couch. Before I grabbed him he jumped and then flopped onto the floor, on his head. Being the nice mommy I am, I told him that is why he should not be jumping on the couch. He cried but was fine. above his eye was red where he landed on the floor. No biggie. He woke up the next day with a big, red swollen upper eye. He looks awful but I'm pretty sure he's fine.

That same day Max and Joe have their yearly physical (check up) at the doctors office. While the doctor is listening to heartbeats she looks over at Ike and says "is his eye alright?" I told her what happened and she said OK. I'm not the type to rush my kids to the doctor over bumps. But I figure if it's not better by Friday (which is the day after the doctor appointment) I'll take him in. Before bed though his eye was already looking better. Hopefully the doctor thinks nothing bad happened to him. He is a boy and only 22 months old. Don't all boys in that age group have bumps and bruises on varying body parts?

I think that is it for now!

Stylin' Ike

Ike is all dressed up with no where to go!!

Rainbows

We saw some really cool rainbows in Yellowstone. The first day we were there we saw a very big, bright rainbow. I was driving so I didn't get a picture of it. I figured since we saw it on the first day we would see plenty throughout the week. But it was the best one we saw while there and I wish i would have gotten a picture now. Right after that rainbow we saw a double rainbow. 2 rainbows right next to each other. Again, no picture.

Towards the end of the week we saw this one...Max was checking it out and then decided to list the colors of the rainbow (in sign, of course). I didn't get it the first time so I asked him to do it again for me....




Shortly after that rainbow we saw another one.
Here is Sam with "cricket" a fun little noise maker (that clicks) that was driving me crazy. Too bad "cricket" didn't jump out the window while driving!

Here are the kids and me in front of the rainbow that was starting to fade
Here is a good one of Me and Sam in front of a waterfall that is part of the 'grand canyon of Yellowstone'

a couple more of Sam

Sam did some coloring while we were driving in the RV. One thing she drew was a new "shell-e". I guess she missed Shell-e, who was resting at home, probably lost in reality. Here she is showing the new Shell-e off. Why yes, Sam is a nudest. She runs around in her undies most the day. Only puts on clothes so she can throw them around the house and leave them where they land. For a girl who rarely has clothes on, she goes through A LOT of clothes!!

Yellowstone was pretty chilly at times. Sam borrowed grandpas vest. I heard someone say "look, a walking sleeping bag"It's a little big!

Max on vacation

Max played a lot of Leapster while on vacation. So he looked like this...

and this a lot...

Here he is with his Yellowstone Jr Ranger badge, and of course his leapster!
While at Yellowstone and waiting for Old Faithful Max was pretty sure it was gonna be loud. He hates loud noises so he hid in the stroller and covered his ears.
Here is my handsome little guy (with something all over his mouth- I really don't remember anything on his face when I took these)

But he's cute anyway!

Ike on Vacation

Ike did pretty well on Vacation. He goes with the flow. In Yellowstone, the park itself, has a lot of driving. He slept a lot at those times. On the drive to Mt Rushmore (where we went first) Ike keep himself entertained by trying new tricks...He succeeded in getting a pretzel stuck between his toes on both feet, at the same time!


He also acted like he was sleeping by saying "shhh..."

But surprise.. he's not really sleeping!
He is my cutie pie Ike enjoying one of Joe's birthday cupcakes.

One evening at the campground all the kids played horseshoes (plastic ones, thank goodness!). Max threw the horseshoe, and can you guess where it went??

Yeah, it hit Ike! He cried but was fine.

My sweet little Joe

Joe turned 4 years old on our way back home from vacation. Here he is sleeping in on his birthday ...
That evening we stopped at Wal mart so I got some cupcakes and we sang Happy Birthday to Joe.
I'm guessing this was a tiring trip Joe. I picked out a couple other pictures of him and didn't realize they were all sleeping pictures till now.

Here he is looking so darn cute.
Listening to Spongebob songs on the Ipod (and sleeping..)
Then at the campground Joe had some 'flowers' he checked on daily. They were dandelions in a water bottle...And yes, they looked pretty pathetic after the first day.

Bear and Wolf Discovery center in Yellowstone

We visited a Bear and Wolf rescue center while in West Yellowstone. It was pretty interesting. They had lots of dead, stuffed bears inside with lots of info. Then outside they had live bears and wolves. They had about 7 0r 8 bears but rotated them around to the playing area. I'm guessing this keeps them active for good people viewing.
They had 2 different wolf set-ups. Here is one wolf.
They also had trash cans on display that had been through bear testing. They were interesting. Then the highlight for the kids, a playground! by the playground they had a tepee. So here's all the kids in the tepee.
In the gift shop they had a great bear couch for pictures...

Sam's body jewlery

While on vacation Sam got a pair of clip on earrings. She loved them and was very proud of them...

Problem is they kept breaking constantly. They were shiny pennies and every time the penny would move a certain way, pop, the penny fell off. They were from Wall's drug in South Dakota. I don't recommend buying them! Well after awhile I got tired of fixing them but Sam did not get tired of wearing them. So later on she decided to try something different...
And then it followed by this....
Yes, it is on her belly button. She tired a couple other places as well but settled for the lip.

Should I be worried!??

Yellowstone

Yellowstone was awesome. It has hot springs and geysers all over the place. First thing we saw was Old Faithful...


This is a little ways back just to show you all the people that gather around to see it. It was neat to see. We also saw the beehive geyser that is by Old Faithful. It only goes off 1 time a day and is much bigger than old faithful. It lasts much longer as well.

Some of the hot springs were so cool to watch. some just steam, some boil, some have geysers within them. Some are the prettiest color blue.

Here is a couple...

But really pictures will never do it Justice!


Here is an old geyser that is now stone...
This is Bacteria Mat... It was in one of the hot spring areas.

The weather in Yellowstone was rather chilly. However it changed all the time. It would be sunny, then rainy, then who knows!! At one rainy point we were up looking at some stuff that was a little bit of a walk back to the car. On the way back Max found some buddies!That is Max in the green. The other people? No idea!! But the guy had an umbrella so Max become instant friends with the guy!

We saw lots of buffalo, tons of elk, some deer, birds, bald eagle (and nest), a wolf, some coyote, and possibly the back side of a bear.
Here are elk just hanging out
A Buffalo walking down the middle of the street
We did go to a bear and wolf rescue center. That was pretty neat. We got to see the bears playing with each other.

We saw all of Yellowstone but the Tower Roosevelt area. I have TONS of pictures. Hundreds-seriously.

After Yellowstone we drove through the Grand Tetons. Max and Sam got their Jr Ranger badges there (and Yellowstone plus Mt Rushmore). Here they are pledging to help protect it all...


The trip was nice. We went with my In laws and by the time we were done, I think we all needed a break! I'm pretty sure my sweet angels drove them up the wall!

Yellowstone is a place to see though. The Tetons, I was a little disappointed. But maybe that is just because it is much smaller than Yellowstone. But the Mountains in the Tetons were very pretty.

Spring break-Padre Island

I finally got my Spring break pictures ready. I posted them on my photo website if your interested. CLICK HERE TO SEE THEM. Then either click last 7 days or go straight to "2009 spring break..."


OOPS--- I guess just click "last 7 days" as I forgot to link them to the 2009 spring break link. I'll have to have hubby fix it for me!