Who's Your Daddy?

Tonight after B finished his dinner, he got up from the table and went in the kitchen to start cleaning up. I told him that it was rude to get up and leave while the rest of us were still eating and that he needed to come back and sit with his family while we ate. A few minutes later Little A said, "Daddy! You need to eat with your father!"

We all chuckled a little bit and then I said, "Little A, who's Daddy's father?"

Little A just looked at me with a confused look on her face but imagine our surprise (a pleasant surprise I might add) when Big A replied, "God!"

Hmmm.... He DOES listen!

Don't Hate Me...

Okay... So my friend forwarded me this email and I just have to share...

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Bob Hill and his new wife Betty were vacationing in Europe, as it happens, near Transylvania. They are driving a rental car along a rather deserted highway. It was late and raining very hard. Bob cane barely see the road in front of the car. Suddenly the car skids out of control! Bob attempts to control the car, but to no avail! The car swerves and smashes into a tree!

Moments later, Bob shakes his head to clear the fog. Dazed, he looks over at the passenger seat and sees his wife unconscious, with her head bleeding! Despite the rain and unfamiliar countryside, Bob knows he has to get her medical assistance..

Bob carefully picks his wife up and begins trudging down the road. After a short while, he sees a light. He heads towards the light, which is coming from a large, old house. He approaches the door and knocks.

A minute passes. A small, hunched man opens the door. Bob immediately blurts, "Hello, my name is Bob Hill, and this is my wife Betty. We've been in a terrible accident, and my wife has been seriously hurt. Can I please use your phone?"

"I'm sorry," replied the hunchback, "but we don't have a phone. My master is a doctor; come in and I will get him!" Bob brings his wife in.

An older man comes down the stairs. "I'm afraid my assistant may have misled you. I am not a medical doctor; I am a scientist. However, it is many miles to the nearest clinic, and I have had a basic medical training. I will see what I can do. Igor, bring them down to the laboratory."

With that, Igor picks up Betty and carries her downstairs with Bob following closely. Igor places Betty on a table in the lab. Bob collapses from exhaustion and his own injuries, so Igor places Bob on an adjoining table.

After a brief examination, Igor 's master looks worried. "Things are serious, Igor. Prepare a transfusion." Igor and his master work feverishly, but to no avail. Bob and Betty Hill are no more.

The Hills' deaths upsets Igor's master greatly. Wearily, he climbs the steps to his conservatory which houses his grand piano, for it is here that he has always found solace. He begins to play, and a stirring, almost haunting melody fills the house.

Meanwhile, Igor is still in the lab tidying up. His eyes catch movement, and he notices the fingers on Betty 's hand twitch, keeping time to the haunting piano music. Stunned, he watches as Bob 's arm begins to rise, marking the beat! He is further amazed as Betty and Bob both sit up straight!

Unable to contain himself, he dashes up the stairs to the conservatory.

He bursts in and shouts to his master, "Master, Master! The Hills are alive with the sound of music!"

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I am SO sorry! But you really... Consider the source! You should have seen that coming!

Admit it... You smiled! It may have been after a loud groan and a few thoughts of how stupid it was, but I KNOW you smiled!

Pre Surgery Stories, Post Surgery

Before I begin, let me just give everyone a little post-surgery update... The kids are doing GREAT! Little A has been cleared for take-off and does not need to be seen again for 6 months. She has to use tubes in any water except a chlorinated swimming pool, but that's nothing. Her hearing is PERFECT and she can even hear when you whisper in her ear!

Big A is doing well... He has one more week of resting and non-strenuous activity (why do doctors think that play dates are safe and soccer practices are not? Have they SEEN my son play with his friends???) before he's cleared. He has his ups and downs but usually only takes one dose of medicine per day. Sometimes it's regular Tylenol and sometimes it's the 'sleepy medicine' depending on how he appears to be doing but I tell you what... The kid is going stir crazy!

Anyhow, before the kids had their surgeries, I had a couple of 'blog-worthy' stories to share but I just never got around to so here goes...

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Shortly after the kids found out about their surgeries, Big A started questioning me about 'midnight'. Every night when I'd put him to bed he'd say to me, "Mommy, is it midnight?" The conversation would go something like this:

Me - "No, it's not. It's 7:30."

Big A - "Will you tell me when it's midnight?"

Me - "Oh, sweetie... You'll be asleep when it's midnight. We'll ALL be asleep when it's midnight."

Big A - "Oh."

Finally after about a week of having this SAME conversation EVERY night, I asked Big A why he wanted to know if it was midnight.

His answer? "Because I can't have anything to drink after midnight."

I didn't realize he'd been listening so closely to my conversation with Dr. Z's medical assistant, but apparently he was. He knew that he wasn't supposed to eat after midnight. The part he missed? That it was only the night before his surgery that he wasn't supposed to eat after midnight. TOO CUTE!

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Big A had to have some blood work done prior to his surgery so the Monday before the surgery date we had an appointment at the hospital to do the pre-op paperwork and to get the blood work done.

Now I'm completely honest with the kids. I tell them how it's going to be, what's going to happen, what to expect, etc. I do this for every doctor appointment, and I always have (even when they were 2 weeks old!). I don't overdo it, I just tell them the truth and let them ask as many questions as they want... And the truth hurts! Oh wait... No, the SHOTS hurt.

Before Big A's appointment I told him that they were going to stick a little needle in his arm to get some blood, etc. Of course he was NOT happy about this but we talked about it and I told him about all the times I've had blood work done, and eventually he was okay with it.

The night before his appointment I reminded him that I'd meet him at my work the next day to go to the appointment, etc. He asked me more about his surgery and about the blood work and as I was tucking him in he said to me, "Mommy, am I going to die?"

HUH!?!?! Talk about completely taken aback! I was shocked for a second and then responded, "NO! Of course not, Honey! Is that what you think? Have you been worrying about this?"

He assured me had not and that the thought had just occurred to him, but talk about one of those bad mommy moments! More like... SAD mommy moments! Poor kid! Maybe I shouldn't be so honest....

Camping With The Koenigs (FINALLY!)

So one might be wondering if the 'FINALLY' refers to "Camping With The Koenigs" or to the fact that I'm finally getting this post up... I don't know, you decide! Truth? Probably both but when I wrote it I was referring to the fact that I'm FINALLY posting.

Two weekends ago we went camping at Doran Regional Park with the Koenigs. I must admit that while I was SUPER excited to go camping with our friends, I wasn't too excited about the lack of trees found at the ocean and I was worried about all that sand. But I'll just tell you right now, up front, that it was an awesome trip and I'd go back to the EXACT SAME SPOTS (okay... well maybe I'd go to a LITTLE different spot where there weren't pit toilets) in a heartbeat, sand and all!

The kids had a blast digging, playing in the little grove of trees in the center of the circle, digging, riding bikes around the circle, digging, crabbing, digging, eating donuts, digging, and digging! Did I mention that Big A was in HEAVEN with the amount of digging he could do???



We got out there Friday and set up camp. J had to go to Bodega Bay to get some propane, so B and J took the older boys to the Bodega Marine Lab to check it out. As near as I can tell, they had a really good time there! They saw tons of sea creatures and the docent gave them each a 'baby' abalone shell.

Friday night T cooked up some YUMMY foil dinners with veggies and sausage. They were GOOD! After dinner we had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa and we all sat around and roasted marshmallows. Too bad nobody there liked marshmallows!

Saturday T and I took the two little ones back to town for a party but before we did that, we took them down to play at the beach. Turns out Big A does NOT like drinking sand and salt water. I have no idea why not! He DOES, however, LOVE being buried in the sand! And of course what Big A does, Little A must do (although not when it comes to drinking sand and salt water. She did NOT feel the need to try that one).

Saturday night it was our turn to cook. We cheated a bit and got clam chowder and bread bowls on the way back from town. T had some Caesar salad left from the week so we fixed a salad as well. It was a perfect meal because the wind had picked up and it was C-C-C-COLD out!

Grandma and Grandpa came out for another visit (WIMPS! I don't know why they don't just camp!) and Little A enjoyed coffee with Grandma and snuggling by the fire with Grandpa in an attempt to keep warm.

When snuggling didn't work, Grandpa launched us into a game of telephone followed by a rousting rendition of....

Oh wa.... Ta goo.... SIAM!

When that didn't work, they left for their warm bed and we headed to our warm sleeping bags.

All in all, a good time was had by all! No accidents, no incidents, just good, clean, fun!

See you in August at Sugarloaf?

Wordless Wednesday

What Is This Picture Of?

Get your minds out of the gutter, FOOLS! It's one cow giving another cow a piggy back ride! I know, because Big A told me so!

Surgery Day...

Because many of you have asked (and I know... I STILL haven't posted camping pictures but I promise I will!), here is a surgery day recap...

Today was the big day! Big A had his tonsils and adenoids out and Little A got tubes in her ears.

We got to the hospital at 6:30 this morning and checked in. The kids changed into hospital jammies (Big A's looked like little scrubs... TOO CUTE!), a nurse did their vitals and they were off to the play room. Grandma and Grandpa showed up and played with them in the play room and gave them a ride in the transport wagon in the hall.

They took Little A upstairs a little before 7:30 and took her into surgery around 7:45.

By 8:00 she was out and they had just called me back to be with her when they brought Big A upstairs. I kissed him goodbye in the hall and went to be with Little A. He went into surgery around 8:10, was out around 8:45 and I was taken back to him at 9:00. While he was in surgery I got Little A settled in recovery with Daddy and then headed back upstairs to wait for Big A. Let me tell you... Coordinating where to be when and with who, etc. was easier than I thought but still not easy.

Big A was brought downstairs to recovery around 9:30. By then Little A was ready to get out of bed and play! Big A slept for about an hour and then we woke him up and got him ready to go home.

But not before taking a ride down the hall to Pathology to check out Big A's tonsils and adenoids. We couldn't bring them home with us because they don't release tissue, but we did get to look at them!

Both are home now and recovering on their respective couches (or at least NEAR their couches in the case of Little A...). I'm a little concerned that Big A hasn't had any pain yet. Don't get me wrong, I'm THRILLED but I'm wondering what it will be like tonight or in a couple of days (Dr. Z said that Saturday and Sunday will be much worse than today and tomorrow).

Thanks to everyone for their prayers, offers to help, meals, etc. Rebekah and Curtis, dinner was AWESOME and the kids are loving their puppies! Thank you!

We sure have an awesome support system!

It's Time To Clean Your Cupboards When....

It's time to clean your cupboards when...



You open your cupboards and find this...


Or this...

On The Next Episode Of Deadliest Catch...