A VERY Short Story

The kids and I were on the deck eating lunch when Rome turned to me and said he had a story to tell. It went pretty much exactly like this:

Once upon a time there was a Daddy spider. His name. . . was Daddy.
Then he pooped on the ground.

This was followed by HYSTERICAL laughing from both him and Capri.

Ok, from me too.

Gramma & Papa

My Mom and Dad visited last week and we had so much fun I forgot to take a single picture. Darn me.
But we did have a great time visiting some KC hot spots - Union Station, Crown Center, Science City, the Zoo, the T-Rex restuarant, Cabellas, McDonalds, McDonalds, Wendy's (nearly McDonalds again).

We even all headed out to Kearney for the Jesse James Festival. It was there that we experienced rednecks galore, $3 snow cones, oppressive heat, guys with 3 teeth (seriously), and music so loud it made you want to saunter over to the lurky carnie by the speakers and ask him to turn it down (which was requested of me to do, and I DID do because everybody ALWAYS asks me to do stuff like that. I'm like the "Mikey" of my family and friends). Sounds like fun right? Actually it was fun, in an after the fact kind of way. I mean if we hadn't of gone we would have never have gotten to experience this:



Mud volleyball. Maybe more like muddy puddle volleyball.
We didn't play. We DID stand there in stunned silence.

Thanks Gramma and Papa, we love and miss you already! Dad, next year bring your swim trunks. I've already got you signed up to play.

The Bandwagon

Ok, so normally I don't hop on bandwagons. Or at least I seriously try not to.
But this is a bandwagon that deserves some hopping on, so here I go.

If you haven't already heard or read about the tragedy that came to fellow LDS members - Stephanie and Christian Neilson, then you should click here.

Be forewarned, it's sad. Sad enough to make you cry. At the same time, it will give you hope. It will make you want to be a better person, it will remind you of your blessings.





And if you want to contribute to their fund, there is going to be an Etsy benefit sale tomorrow and Wednesday.

Schoolio IS Coolio (But sometimes it's HOTIO because there isn't any air conditioning on the bus)

Capri and Rome both started Headstart (pre-school) two weeks ago. They're both doing great, LOVE the bus (even though it's hot), and sometimes even eat the breakfast and lunch they are served.
They come home asking for apple juice, with pictures in their backpacks and jabbering about their day (they are in separate but adjoining classrooms).
I LOVE that they get to go, it's so good for Capri especially - she missed the Kindergarten cut-off date by 9 days. But it's bittersweet to send them out into the world, hoping. . .they don't come back different.

Mailbox of Doom

Two days ago THIS arrived in my mailbox.



My best friend, Corrie, sent it to me.

She sure is lucky that I love her.

Cause if anybody else had sent this to me I would have to hunt them down, Vampire style.



I think I'm gonna puke.

Poor Poor Poor POOR Capri (what could possibly be next??)

Friday night I thought I'd be posting about Capri and Rome's first week in "school" (Headstart). Instead, I spent it with Capri in the Emergency Room. We wound up there after Capri fell about 4 feet off our front porch rail into a mulch bed. When she stood up, crying, she was covered in mulch and her left arm was hanging to her side. One look at it's macaroni-noodle shape and both Jeff and I knew, it was broken.

I scooped up Capri and drove her, Rome, Sable and myself to the ER. Jeff waited at home for Emily Frost to pick up Juliette - who I'd been watching because Emily thought she was in labor (which she was, and had her baby the next morning). EMILY, who as I said WAS IN LABOR, drove Jeff to the ER because we of course only have one car.

We looked like a lot like white trash walking / running into that ER. Capri was covered in mulch and had no shoes, Rome was dirty / sweaty with crazy hair and no shoes, I looked as fabulous as ever. There we were, with the injury that officials are always suspicious of and we looked a mess. I expected Child Protective Services to walk in at any moment.

Shortly after Jeff got there we realized we needed to find somebody to watch Rome and Sable. An extra special thanks to Aunt Katie and Uncle Jon for be SO VERY willing to watch them, on a friday night, for however long we needed, which was several hours.

An X-ray confirmed what we all already knew, Capri's arm was broken. In fact, she broke both bones in her left forearm. They drugged her up, set her arm and splinted it. The cast will come later this week. Through it all however, Capri was TREMENDOUSLY brave. She always is in BIG situations. It's the little stuff that scares her. Put her on a roller-coaster, or in an emergency room and she is awesomely tough. Ask her to go down into our own basement, by herself, with all the lights on - and she refuses.

It wasn't till we got home and Capri was faced with doing simple tasks that she showed some real tears. The prospect of having to cut her shirt to get it off nearly left her in a puddle. But we managed to get it off and even managed to get her in the bath to finally wash off all the mulch.

Yesterday she really had a hard time with feeling, "itchy". But it was more than a little itchy, this seemed painful to her. After a visit from our awesome neighbor / Home Teacher / Orthopedic Surgery Resident, Justin Barker, we figured out some things to help. He loosened her splint bandage and told me that Tylenol with codeine can cause itchiness - he suggested just putting her on regular Tylenol and Ibuprofrin. Justin even got us some Benadryl and brought it over that night to help with the itching. Today she is MUCH better, and has barely complained about pain or itching at all.
Thanks Justin, you're a life saver!

So that's our arm adventure so far. Thanks so much to everyone who's called and come over and showed so VERY MUCH love and concern for Capri.
Here's what Capri has to say about the whole thing:

"I fell down from the railing. I fell into the mulch. I broke my arm when I fell into the mulch. I got my cast on (splint). It feels a little bit better. And my broken arm is going to feel better someday. When my broken arm feels better I can do more stuff. When [after] I get my hard cast on I will get to go to Gramma and Papa's house, it will feel better before we go to Gramma and Papa's house. When I go I won't have a broken arm anymore."

I Gets No "Luvs"

As usual, I'm gettin' no "luvs". So I'll go ahead and reveal what the number 548 means to me, I know all 5 of you who read this blog are waiting on pins and needles to find out.

I am #548 on the library waiting list to read, no Jen NOT Breaking Dawn, but the very first Twilight book.

I have to admit. I don't actually WANT to read Twilight. In fact I'd really rather chew off my own hand. But my friend Corrie has been hounding me to read it for, well, just about an enternity now. So last week I went to the library and tried to look it up in the card catalog computer thingy. Having NO luck, I personally believe that DEWEY of the Dewey Decimal system was a HORRIBLE organizer, I went and asked the librarian. She looked it up and said there weren't any copies available. Feeling like a good friend I told her to go ahead and throw me on the waiting list. She did, and seconds later started to laugh.

Librarian: You're #548 on the wait list.

Me: WHAAAAAAT! You mean like there are five-hundred and FORTY-SEVEN people before me??

Librarian: (Laughs)

Me: (Secretly relieved that I wasn't going to be going home with the book) Ok, I did my job - I TRIED to get the book. I'll just have to tell my friend that it'll be a couple of years before I read it.

Librarian: (Still laughing) There are about 50 copies of the book in circulation so maybe you'll get it sooner!

So that's it. I am NOT NOT NOT going to read Twilight. This cemented it for me. I absolutely refuse to read something that:

1. Has to do with Vampire love.

2. Has to do with Werewolf love (I found this out by reading People magazine which says that the MAIN fans of the Twilight series are a bunch of teenagers who call themselves "Twilights" and mob book signings).

3. Has such a wild and obsessive following that I am #548 on the wait list for the darn thing!! In fact, I tend to be the kind of person that when something gets TOO popular, I don't want to have anything to do with it. Just like Harry Potter, I couldn't read it then and I can't read it now. I can't even stay awake for the movies.

I just have to wonder why? Why is it soooooo good? Why is everyone reading it? Why has it become the #1 most blogged about thing on every Mormon women's blog? And WHY OH WHY does the library have 50 copies of the thing? I'm very willing to bet that they don't carry 50 copies of Catcher in the Rye, On the Road, or A Moveable Feast.
So I'm taking a stand, and I'm sure I'll be horribly unpopular for it. But frankly, what's new?