Mom? I Have a Wittle Pwobwum.

Look at his waist. You can almost see it.

The boy got a bar stuck around his waist. I don't know why. I don't know how. All I know is that it was poking him in the back, and after a minute of me trying to get it off, we walked over to the trailer so Ryan could take a look at it, and as soon as we got close enough to open the door, Ed did a little wiggle thing and slide right out.

This ranks right up there with the time Will found craft beads at the campground and stuck them up his nose. I didn't know he had done that until he started sneezing uncontrollably, and one flew out. He had three up his nose altogether... and I was grateful to be able to get them out myself. The baby snot sucker thing worked well, as did sitting him upright and putting pressure on his nose from the top going down. He was almost two when he did that.

My girls have done nothing like this.

New Year's Resolutions

My favorite resolution I've seen so far this year is from my friend Melissa H. from up North. She resolves to eat a carnival food at least once a week.

That's something I could stick with!

I've set some goals for myself already, so I might as well write them down and make them official. Mine are mostly right brained activities. (Ouch!)

1- Practice and play the piano more.
2- Write more. Not necessarily on the blog, but in general. Blank books are my favorite things on earth, and I can ramble in writing like nobody's business (see below).
3-Take better photos. Hence the Project 365 to help me improve. My only goal for that is to take fabulous pictures for my house and as gifts for friends and family.

And, last but not least, a fitness goal. Like always. And I usually do pretty well with theses, as I like fitness stuff. My goal this year is run a 10K by my birthday (even if it's just me ON my birthday running- anyone interested in a birthday party where you run a 10K? We could end at an ice cream place...). And, it's slightly, remotely, as in hell COULD freeze over, maybe do a marathon in October. I haven't looked it up at all. But a buddy from out of state (LISA!) is going to do it. She's the kind of person that does what she says, so she'll do it. It's in San Fran. In October. I'm thinking it's possible. But I'm not sure. Maybe my house will be done and I'll get a treadmill for my birthday for those days when I have to run indoors... it would be a possibility. (I hate treadmills. They are SO boring.) I'm not committing to that one at all... just an idea. 10K is as good as done. If no one wants to come to my birthday party with their running shoes, I understand. However, my birthday is in June, so you have lots of time.

The Last Two Days

We started Tuesday with Ryan working on the well house. We sheathed it together (where I heard every woman's favorite words, "You just don't weigh enough!" That's because my job was to lift the sheets of plywood up while he nailed them in place. I stood on a lever to do this... and I just didn't weigh enough. Bring on the cookies!) I also helped him sheet the roof. I want to be a good helper, but I'm just not. I'm five kinds of whimpy, with the cold and splinters being high on the list. It was cold. I hate getting splinters. (I don't mind getting them out. It's the going in part I don't care for.)

These two were poking cacti. At 2:00pm we loaded up in the car and ended up...

here. The Los Angeles temple. The kids and I went to look at the lights. The Christmas lights were beautiful. The kids were SO EXCITED to go, and to stay the night. It was cute for the first hour. Seven hours later, I was ready for the excitement to subside.

This fountain fascinated us all- the kids because it was water, me because I had to figure out how to best photograph it in the dark. The kids really enjoyed the lights, and I did not. I had to be the one saying things like:

"Ed! Come back here!" and "Ed, where are you?" and "Ed! Get out of the ivy! No, it is not the jungle!" and "Please stop running down the hill, you are going to fall!" and "No, that is not a swimming pool, that is a fountain." and "Please walk on the sidewalks, that's why they are here."  And, last but not least, this has to be the best Karrie quote of the night, "IF YOU DO NOT HOLD STILL AND LET ME TAKE YOUR PICTURE I WILL EAT ALL YOUR DONUTS FOR BREAKFAST AND YOU WILL NOT HAVE ANY!!!" Because of this:

See Ed? Why did Will move himself away from the group? This was at least my ninth attempt. This is when the donut threat happened. Then, we tried again, and I got this:

Sure, Jessie is mid cough. And Ed couldn't hold still... they got to eat their donuts this morning.

We had a horrible night's sleep (but an excellent bath time- yay full sized bath tubs and lots of hot water!), and loaded up early this morning to come home. It was raining most of the way home. When we got back, we found out I had turned off the heater, so our trailer was a frigid 48*. We were all so uncomfortable that we got back into the car (after a long ride from LA) and drove to Ridgecrest, where we went to the best Walmart ever, the grocery store, and here:

We love going here, and can't wait to have some pens and stables to have some horses. I didn't get any pictures of the jackasses because a car came up behind us and we don't like people. These are BLM horses that are adoptable. These two were very friendly, which is rare. Someday (when we have a house) we will get some horses, and a donkey, and make mules so we can pack them into the high country. Good thing Ryan has been a packer and knows how to do all that. I'm here to learn. (I do want to learn to rope. I think I'll start practicing throwing this summer on foot, and I'll aim for the kids.)

A New Project, and a Camera for Sale

I've started a new project for myself. Not chickens (yet!). I saw this on a photography website I sometimes read and thought I'd apply it to myself: Project 365. The idea is to take one picture a day for an entire year. I decided to start before January 1 because I have some other projects in the works and don't want to overwhelm myself. So far, I'm enjoying it, and it has really made me think about what I'm doing with my camera. I've already missed one day, but hey, sometimes life gets in the way. There is a link on my sidebar to my project, and all I can say about it is that it is a work in progress. The chicken is my favorite picture I took yesterday... see what I mean?

I'm seriously considering selling my camera I have now and upgrading. If anyone is in the market, here are the details.
Canon Rebel 300D with 18-55mm lens (no scratches on lens, camera in great condition-always in a bag, etc.), remote shutter release, the battery charger (and a new battery I bought in July), a new 4GB CF memory card, a three month old Lowepro all weather camera bag. You can get everything above (in the same condition- they don't make my camera anymore, so you can only get used), for $470 from Amazon. . Email me at karrie@hughes.net if you are interested, have questions, or want to make me an offer.

Some Extended Family Pics From Christmas Day

My niece Sara-Jane. She's a ball of attitude, this one is. The baby of the family recently uprooted by Charlotte... she's so fun to watch.
Cousin Maryellen, currently residing somewhere in Utah. Has new baby Abby, married to Brandon, and going to school.
The always stylish Lindsey.
Levi!
My Aunt Kristin holding Charlotte. Some people say we have the same attitudes. Those same people don't think that's a good thing. We both think it's funny.
Jocelyn: lives in a house full of boys and finds refuge in creating cute things from fabric.
Niece Gracie showed up to Christmas like this. A big ol' ball of pinkness. She's painfully quiet until she doesn't think you are listening to her, and then she opens up and won't stop talking. Her and Kacy are buddies, and they are only 20 months apart!
My cousin April, who works at a high school in our county as an administrator of some sorts. VERY talented pianist and vocalist, with one heck of a brain in her noggin. I didn't get any decent pictures of her sisters Jennifer and Caley: bad lighting for Jennifer, and Caley was always talking and trying SO HARD to pretend I didn't have a camera. It didn't work out so much for her, and I promised my family I would not post or print unflattering pictures of them.

Christmas Kids

Kacy got a huge art kit from Santa- I don't know what he was thinking. She loved it. She got a cool bag, some Polly Pocket dolls, a Hannah Montana Microphone (which I found out is actually really cool because our trailer has built in surround sound radio/CD, and it tunes to FM radio and is broadcast throughout the WHOLE trailer! "This is a public service announcement. Please pick up your Lifesaver wrappers. Now. Or Else. Thank-you."), and she got some books and PJ's. Love the books everyone!
Santa brought Will a Star Wars Lego set. (They are expensive little suckers!) He was thrilled! His Aunt Kendra also got him another little set- score for Will. He spent most of the time trying to get people to help him put them together. He and Ryan did this one before we left for the big city. He, too, received jammies, books, and his new favorite item: a Cabelas hat. He hasn't taken it off since he got it. He sleeps with it by his pillow. He wants to be like his Dad so much! He was super happy with everything he got.
Santa brought Ed a Bumblebee helmet. He was the second one up (Kacy was the first), and he kept saying, "Santa brought me a Bumblebee mask!" over and over and over. It was so funny. It makes the cool noises. He loves it. He got jammies and books, and his favorite books were from Aunt Kendra: two little I Spy books. He LOVES I Spy books. (Visual discrimination practice is great for pre-reading skills!)
Santa brought Jessie a plush Elmo doll. I guess he decided that even though I personally hate stuffed animals and things, a smallish Elmo doll was okay for this little girl who loves Elmo. He thought about an Elmo phone, but they make noise, and the Bumblebee helmet already made enough noise. She, too, loved her hat, as well as the two babies she got, the jammies, and the books.

I was so excited to see the book selection and jammies. We are big book people in our house, and my kids were due for some decent pajamas. Except Kacy, who now has five pair. But everyone else was in desperate need. I was excited to see a lack of big, plastic, noisy toys, and my kids were just so excited with everything they received. My parents got my kids a swing set (Hallelujah!) that we are going to set up behind the house. It should give them something to do while we work on the house, and help keep them busy and safe. I'm excited at the prospect of it. When kids don't have kid stuff to play with, they end up playing with tools and sharp, pointy, dangerous objects. My siblings and I would play for HOURS on our swing set, climbing all over it, hanging upside down, using as a ship on the ocean, or on a sea of hot lava. Hours.

Ryan got a hand held ham radio, a cool ladder, a motorcycle cover, and some cool books that he loves- a book on butchering and a Charles Russell short stories. Together we got a restaurant gift certificate (a date!), a Target gift card, and a very nice clock that will go perfectly in our house.

Santa brought me a diet Pepsi, some dark chocolate, and some sexy underwear.

Sexy underwear in Santa's world are thermals from the Military Surplus store.

He knew EXACTLY what I needed. I wore them today under my jeans and they worked wonders! I love them.

I also got some great cookbooks that I had my eye on, some cash (yes!), and jammies (they are warm. It's all about keeping me warm. That's a good thing.)

We had a prime rib dinner, with Karl's prime rib, Cherie's carrots, and Jocelyn's Christmas Cheer being my favorites. (Christmas Cheer is what I call the goodness that is a pretzel crust, cream cheese/whipped cream middle, and a berry/jello-y top. Twice in one week- I'm hoping for leftovers tomorrow, but I doubt it! Such a treat!) At my parent's house I ate my weight in sugar. It was not pretty. But it was tasty! We had a short visit with my Grandma Sorensen and Aunt Carol and Uncle Chuck. We don't see them very often- it was good to see them. Maryellen, Brandon, and Baby Abby were visiting, too.

More pics of the extended family next time.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Don't worry, relatives o' mine. Since I have discovered the ease of Costco Photo Center, and now have a file of this, I will get you a print copy.

Christmas Eve Sneak Preview Gift-Vinyl Letter Art Board

One of nine "Art Boards" I made for the nieces and nephews. The idea behind it was a place for the prolific amount of papers the kids bring home/create. Put up a great paper from school, any amount of art, favorite pictures...

Gold colored hooks with gold toned binder clips to hang with.

Today was spent wrapping presents, with a break to run to the grocery store. That was stupid. Everyone was there. It was amazing, and I'll never do it again.

Overheard from Ed last night as we were going to Jack in the Box:
"Jack in the Box? Box? Oh, so it's not Jack in the Butt. It's Jack in the Box! That makes perfect sense!" Said all to himself in the back of the car.

"It's Supposed to be a LITTLE Cold."

See that big crack in the metal pipe? That's bad. That was the reason we didn't have water for two days a couple of weeks ago. It was fixed, but it isn't the first time it has happened. With the wicked freezing we have up here, it has happened every winter, more than once. Last year was particularly harsh; I think we replaced five different joints/lengths of pipe on five different occasions.
This is the reason we have the trouble. Our water system is out in the open, waiting for some shelter. Ryan is working on it right now, building a well house. We have some storage tanks and filtration stuff to go in there, too. We have sandy soil and a bit of sediment we'd like to omit from our water. Plus, the freezing pipes/bursting pipes is not fun.
Last night at the family party went something like this:
Ryan: "Hey Oscar, want to come help me with the well house sometime?"
Oscar: "Sure! I'll come up tomorrow, around 8:30."
Karrie: "Bring some warm clothes, it's supposed to get a little cold."

Last week was a perfectly dry 60*.

This morning it is 39* with wind gusts at 45 mph, and a wind chill. It feels like 15*... I'd say that was "a little cold."

Another Christmas Party!

Last night, we went to Ryan's parents' house for the annual Christmas party. The buffet lived up to it's reputation. It was delicious. I had a great time, because I got to sit in the dining room talking to adults almost the WHOLE TIME. The kids were busy playing (nicely! quietly!) and only needed a drink refill once or twice. Because I was sitting in the dining room almost the entire time, I took very few pictures. But I did get a shot of my two favorite babies. They really aren't babies anymore, but since they are the youngest of the group right now, they get that title.
My number four punk, who accessorized herself with the snow beanie.
Jocelyn's number four punk, Mr. Levi.

Our number four punks are six weeks apart. They are super fun to watch interact because they are so similar. My favorite is when they get in a "mine" match. They reserve it for when they get together, then it's game ON for the "mines." It is so fun to watch. They both have very sweet personalities.

Tis the Season... for parties!

The requisite "Christmas Ornament and Bokeh Lights" picture.
Check.
Kids hyped up on sugar.
Check.
Picture of your sister(Kendra) holding your youngest who thinks said sister is her momma sometimes (and sisters kids think I'm their momma sometimes... because our voices are similar and we look a little alike?).
Check.
(And Happy Birthday!)
My dad's very ornery dog, Henry, hiding behind some legs because my mom was trying to banish him to his bed for the evening.
Check.
One poor photographer trying to get a good picture of a niece (Emma), who just wouldn't smile.
Check.

Party last night at my parent's house... newly remodeled to accommodate a growing family of grandchildren. It was excellent. The best part was the meal. Lasagna, garlic bread, green salad, and 11 different kids of chocolate. You know you are at a family function on my side of the family when the desserts outnumber the meal, and every dessert is chocolate. My family is mostly women, too. That might have something to do with it.

Tonight: Ryan's side of the family, where the potluck buffet ranges from meatballs to toffee. Yum!

Visit from Santa at the Ward Party

Ed saw the line for Santa, skipped the cookies, and waited by himself. This is where I found him. See the girl walking our of the picture? Poor momma had her youngest boy puke all over the floor while waiting in line.
Ed wouldn't tell Santa what he wanted, he just smiled at him the whole time.
Kacy, who told her mom that she wanted the biggest, hugest art kit ever in a black box with markers, pencils, colors, and pastels told Santa she wanted a Hannah Montana microphone. Girl gettin' art supplies and not a microphone SAY WHAT?
In perfect Will style, he told Santa he wanted Lego's. YES!
Jessie just wanted out of there.

The Christmas Lights

I forgot to mention in a recent post that on Monday we also went to do laundry at the nice laundromat to catch up (two pee beds in one night? aack!). We also went to our favorite pizza place, and then headed to the park to see the lights. Santa wasn't there that night, it was freezing cold, and the security guard became part of our group. Unfortunately, after having already been to Ridgecrest that morning, and having a sick kid, and taking the kids to the laundromat, AND pizza, my brain went missing and most of the pictures I took were too blurry due to my lack of turning up the ISO. It was set to 400, and should have been at least 800 or even 1600 to get a faster shutter speed. My kids (and my shivering hands) can't hold still long enough.
A group shot that the guard said was part of his duties... he took the picture and then handed me my camera explaining that he *might* have cut my head off in the picture. Sure enough!
See the blurriness? Bummer. I may go back and try again. It's pretty far away though, and fairly chilly. We'll see.

My Kids' Futures Are Decided

I was talking to Krissy and Mindi today while we were cleaning up the aftermath of our Primary presidency meeting. I wanted to record what I was telling them about my kids because not only is is amusing to me, but I want them to be able to look back and see if...

Kacy becomes a teacher or a lawyer. The other night her and Will were fighting in the car and Will grabbed her head and pushed her down. I told them to keep their hands to themselves, and she said, "Ya, Will. Like (insert school's name here) Rules of School Etiquette rule number seven states that you must keep your hands and feet to yourself at all time." That's the lawyer. The teacher is the way she gives the kids spelling tests, and says, "No, no, no. What is the first sound you hear at the beginning of cat? Kuh-kuh-kuh. What letter makes that sound?"

Will says he wants to drive a train with a restaurant in it. And if his train can't have a restaurant, he'll work in one on the weekends. And, he has told me before that he will comb my hair for me when I'm old.

Ed is going to be a veterinarian. He LOVES all animals. He was once caught standing under a neighbor's horse rubbing it belly when he was two. He picks out George's eye crusties, and calls him "George-Buddy." He just loves all animals, and they seem to love him, too. We'll pay for his schooling, because I'm going to trust him to be my personal doctor when I'm old.

Jessie is still too difficult to tell. She reminds me so much of Kacy when Kacy was that age, except with more spunk and attitude. Kacy had ZERO attitude. (Please note had. The she started Kindergarten. She's much better now in first grade.) Maybe she can be a nurse. Or a professional cleaner/organizer because she loves things to be picked up and orderly.

That way, we can have a lawyer to make sure our affairs are in order, a cook-hair comber to make sure we are groomed and well fed, a vet to take care of our animals and US, and a personal nurse or organizer to help out, too.

I'll be interesting to see what they ACTUALLY do in the next 20-30 years.

Since Saturday...

Sunday we went to church and I accompanied Mindi and Terrie, and they sounded awesome. I had the song stuck in my head the whole day. I only messed up once, and then had two spots where I played the right notes but was too timid to actually play them and they got chopped off. I also may have been playing too loudly, but it's hard to tell when the piano is behind the singers. The song was called "Where You There On That Christmas Night?" I think.

Sunday afternoon we went to grandma and grandpa Bunting's house and had some family pictures. Cousin David took the pictures, and he had his lights set up and just snapped away, so that there were lots to choose from. All in one pose... we like to keep things simple and FAST when dealing with eight kids under eight.

Sunday night we went to the stake Men's Christmas Choir and program. Besides to whole idea of making our kids sit quietly in church, again, it was good. The best part of all was the men's singing. The sounded so good, and I could have listened to at least 20 more songs from them. The rest of it could have been omitted and substituted with song.

I don't remember Monday.

Oh wait, yes I do. Jessie woke up CRANKY and with a fever. We went to Ridgecrest to get some batteries for Ryan's truck, and to do a little Christmas shopping. Jessie perked up by noon (I gave her some Motrin that morning).

3:30Am- Jessie up and screaming. Fever of 103. More Motrin and some time sitting on my lap getting cooled off.

Tuesday Jessie woke cranky again. I took her to Urgent Care, where she was diagnosed with another ear infection. She's prone to them, and the mention of tubes in her ears as a possibility of fixing it discussed. My sister Karen has horrible ears, and my nephew Benjamin had tubes in his ears, twice. He hasn't had a problem with his ears for years now. My sister still has problems.

Last night we went to our first 4-H meeting. I'm the Cloverbuds leader. I wasn't sure what to plan because of I'd never been to the place before, I wasn't sure what the kids were interested in, and it's just been hectic this month. I didn't have my act together. We played a couple of get to know you games and planned what they wanted to learn about. Next month: Pets and pet care. Woot!

General Observations:
Ed is super, super-duper funny. He just is. His favorite movie this week has become "Space Buddies."
Will got in a fight on the bus the week before last, and then got his card pulled three times in one day last week. He was never the only one to get his card pulled, but still- group effort or not, the boy needs to smarten up. He is well academically, but he has the "Kindergarten Stupids" ever now and then. The fight was because a kid took his picture that he had drawn for Ryan and ripped it. Will said he got so mad that he pushed the kid. They got into a pushing match until Will's head hit a window and got a goose-egg. The bus driver made them apologize to each other, shake hands, and Will "gets" to sit in the front of the bus.
Kacy is still drawing away in her art book. She plugs along, being bossy every now and then, but generally very helpful.
Jessie still pats me on the back when I pick her up. It's like she's trying to soothe me, and she's done it since she was four months old. I hope she never stops.
Ryan is looking forward to five weeks off to work on the house. Hallelujah says me.
I continue to plug along, occasionally saying stupid things that don't sound that same as I mean them too. I like writing "way more better" for that reason. Don't ever take my words too seriously.

I Won! I Won a Prize!

I entered a giveaway, and I won! Woo-hoo! I won an awesome bag... which is perfect timing because I was thinking that the bag I've been using for the last 370 days is getting a little old. Still perfectly usable, but I'm getting bored with it.

Check out her stuff- her items are high quality and well sewn.

Sew Cute

Pre-New year's Eve Goals

Because of my recent musical meltdown ("I'm SOOOOO terrible! I'm not good at anything! WWHHHAAAAA!" whine, whine, whine...), I've decided to set some goals for myself.

1.) Stop whining. About everything. (And on that note, our 48 hours of no water is fixed! I'm taking a shower!)
2.) Practice a new level appropriate piece per month. I'm not going to set time restraints on myself, I'll just have to do it when I can. The whole family/house building thing comes first.
3.) Find a good book for scales practice. I have piano butterfingers, and I was thinking today that doing some finger exercises while hitting the right notes would be helpful. Even if it's boring.
4.) Find a piece that sounds good and play it in church. Which I hate doing... because I sweat and my fingers shake... but I did find a cool piano duet that I'd like to try. It'll take lots of practice though.
5.) Be grateful that I can read music and sing in the choir and accompany every so often... be grateful... be grateful...be.grateful.

Now, if I could just get my fitness goals in order. I'm kind of waiting for the house for that, when I have room to move. My trailer is 300 square feet. For the six of us. Our loft/TV/theater room is 400 square feet. It's SO WEIRD to stand in that room and think, "This is bigger than what we live in now." And then I think, "Once we move in, I'm NEVER leaving my house!" I'm going to run around and around the house like the kids do because I CAN! Right after I bake something. Probably cookies. Lots and lots of cookies.

All Is Right With the World

I just watched Ed sneak his inhaler up to the top bunk, pull off the cap, and then spray himself in the eyes, saying "Ow."

I love him for being my free entertainment.

Another Day in the Life of Me

Yesterday we woke up with frozen pipes. Frozen pipes=no water. FUN! I love it when that happens.

Not really.

Since we had no water, and it was 15*, there was no way I could do laundry. I loaded up our baskets and headed out again to the laundromat. This time I chose to go the extra mile (literally) and drive to a small town on the other side of the lake. I walked into he laundromat with memories of going there for a year with Kacy and Will when they were two and one, and I was pregnant (and puking) with Ed. Yuck. But I walked in and guess what? It was clean. The machines were numbered. There were nine dryers, with only ONE out of order. That machine had a typed and taped message stating that! No Sharpie messages with misspellings! No holes in the ceiling! No dead guy in the very clean bathroom! Ryan told me that the laundromat that burnt my clothes had an incident where a dead guy was found in the bathroom. Not killed, just dead. Lovely little place it is. This other place was positively palatial compared to the last dump. They even had hot/warm water... it's been a long time since my clothes have been washed in water other than cold. My clothes look cleaner!
While the clothes did their thing, the kids and I spent some quality time in the car. I lectured (and lectured) Will about behaving in school. He got his card pulled three times yesterday. (Last week he got into a fight on the bus... a Kindergarten fight. All over the fact that the boy he was sitting next to took a drawing Will had done for Ryan and ripped it. Will "got so mad" that he pushed him. The kid pushed back. It was a pushing match until Will's head ended up against a window with a big ol' goose egg. I'm shaking my head just thinking about it.) Ed played video games for awhile, Kacy drew in her art binder, and Jessie slept. After I put the clothes into the dryers (anxiously, but with some hope that it was statistically impossible for my clothes to catch fire twice in my lifetime), we went next door to the little grocery store and got some mojos and Gatorade. Ed happened to cough while walking in the parking lot and and older man said, "My two little grandson's sound just like that. It sounds awful! Poor guys."
"He woke up with that this morning. It's weird how sudden it was." I replied.

Because it was all of a sudden, and because he didn't cough that often. But when he did, he sounded like a seal barking.

We finished at the laundromat, with dry, mostly folded clothes, and a huge sigh of relief. It turned out not to be so bad! We went to the main small town and purchased four gallons of water for flushing the toilet, washing faces and hands, drinking... all the things you need water for. It amazing how many time I tried rinsing something in the kitchen sink, just out of habit. We then stopped at Little Caesars's Pizza, because with no running water, I am NOT washing dishes. I have done it before, which is why if I didn't have to, I was not going to do it again. I just didn't feel like camping! Ed fell asleep while we were waiting for our "Hot and Ready" pizzas. It took 25 minutes to get them. Something about the oven being on "the fritz." We made the trip home, and when I woke Ed up, he started crying. After a minute of his being upset he started having trouble breathing. I was staring at him, trying to listen to his breathing, and started wondering what to do. I started looking for a thermometer. That was dumb. Then I thought about giving him a hit off of my inhaler, but wasn't sure about medicating him myself when I didn't know what was wrong. Then (this all took about 20 seconds), I called Ryan.
"Hey, I think I may be taking Ed into Urgent Care. Listen to him, he can't catch his breath."

I held the phone to Ed's face and Ryan tells me to get in the car and go to the emergency room, and that he'll meet me there. I get everyone strapped in, and we SPEED to the highway. I live 20-25 minutes from the crappy ER. Ryan was speeding in the opposite direction out to meet us. We pull over to the side of the road, and Ryan checks him out. I'm so grateful for Ryan's calming influence on my personality, and for his EMT training. Being strapped in the car and tired from lack of oxygen made Ed look listless, and he wasn't gasping for air anymore. He kept saying his belly hurt when Ryan was asking him what was wrong. We made the decision that we could make it to Bakersfield (sigh of relief), with Ryan saying, "If he does stop breathing, you have to make it to cell reception and call. You know how to do CPR, right? Do what you have to do, but I don't think you'll have a problem. He'll be okay." My brain stopped at "stop breathing." I don't think it helped at all that I have had asthma stuff and know exactly what that feels like.
Ed seemed "okay" enough, so we did stop at McDonald's and bought Ed a Coke. Caffeine dilates bronchial tubes, and will sometimes work in a pinch if you don't have an inhaler. He ended up not drinking it, or wanting to eat the pizza the kids were eating in the car. We made it to Urgent Care, where my mom met me and took the other three home with her. I'm glad she lives fairly close and keeps car seats in her spare car, all ready to go.
Ed has croup. They gave him some steroids and a breathing treatment. He thought the breathing treatment was funny because it was "smoking" out the end and he could make it puff.
We left the awesome urgent care and went to get all his prescriptions filled- antibiotics, steroids, and an inhaler. This is where things got pee-in-your-pants funny for me. Ed couldn't hold still. He was dancing. He was twirling, shaking his bootie, and singing things like, "Jingle bells, batman smells, how I wonder what you are!" in a very throaty, rock in roll kind of voice. This went on for a full 15 minutes! In the car he got the munchies and had two pieces of pizza and some of his Coke. The boy has a hard time holding still anyway, but the breathing treatment made him start tweaking.
I came home and looked up croup, and it is described exactly how I stated his symptoms to the doctor, which was slightly amusing. It was like I was reading from a textbook, except that I hadn't known about croup before. I think I remember that cousin Jeremy and Eliza's baby had it once, I think. But that's it. It also made me feel better looking it up because I kept thinking really bad things, like how the kids who die from swine flu have respiratory complications and it's all of a sudden, or of walking pneumonia, which is how Jim Henson (Muppets) died. I do have faith in and trust doctor's generally , but I also believe you should be your own best advocate. I'll take the croup over the other things! I take Ed back tomorrow to get checked on again. Today he seems to be doing lots better!

I'm going to look for a CPR first aid class.

First Snow of the Season

It's a wet snow, and will most likely be rain by noon.
Jessie liked it until she got her hands wet and cold. Then, she was done!
This boy kept saying, "I wub the snow! I wub it, I wub it, I wub it!"

Catching snow flakes!

Will and Kacy went to school, where it's snowing, but not sticking.

The weather is supposed to be warmer later this week with lots of rain. We need it, as it's been a few dry years and the lake is almost a puddle.