My Brave New Sunbeam

      Kelsey was so excited to go to church today because she is finally a Sunbeam!  She loves the song, "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" and was very excited to actually start going to the sunbeam class.  Daren was staying home this morning because unfortunately Nathan has a bad cold.  Today was supposed to be Nathan's first official day in the nursery too but he has gone the last couple of Sundays and done very well.  Haylee and Mackenzie decided that they weren't feeling too well either.  Haylee was first to claim that her cold was making her sick enough to stay home with Daddy and Nathan.  Mackenzie got all dressed for church before she told us that her head was hurting and she thought she needed to stay home too.  "Yeah right Mackenzie!" was Haylee's response.  I could see that Haylee was looking forward to some alone time with Daddy but reminded her that Mackenzie's claim to sickness was as valid as her own.
     Just before it was time to go, Kelsey said, "I have to go poop!"  A few minutes later I could hear my name being shouted from the bathroom.  "Mommy!!  Wipe me!!"  Sigh!  I went to do my motherly duties and paused.  Uh oh.  This wasn't just poop.  She had some diarrhea.  "I think you'd better stay home from church too Kelsey."  Out came the frown.  I started to think she might burst into tears.  She was so excited to go be a sunbeam and she was all ready to go in her favorite dress that her cousin Audrey gave her.  So I gave in and decided to take her to church.  After all, how often do kids cry when you suggest they need to stay home from church?  It was really hard to turn that down!  All too soon the fight will be in the other direction.
     Natalee, Kelsey, and I headed off to church, just the three of us.  Everything was great.  Primary seemed to have a very smooth first Sunday.  I was doing sharing time.  There was about 10 minutes left to go when things got crazy.  I was just wrapping up senior primary sharing time when I saw Kelsey and her class walk past the primary room down the hall.  A few seconds later I heard a loud bang and Kelsey bursting into tears.  I could hardly keep my train of thought and I really just wanted to walk out of the room and see what was going on but wasn't sure if I should.  If she wasn't hurt badly, her teachers could handle it and I could finish my last couple of thoughts.  I was looking at the door and started moving that direction when suddenly her teacher (Brother Grover) started to walk past, froze when he saw me, and motioned for me to come.  I could tell by the look on his face that it was not good.  I just walked out at that point and went to go see what was wrong.
     Kelsey's class was going to take a little stroll around the church for the last few minutes.  But just as they were heading out the door, Kelsey tripped and smacked head-first into the corner of the metal door jam of the outer church door.  She split her forehead open in a nice line.  We grabbed the first aid kit out of the primary closet and carried her into the bathroom.  There was so much blood I was having a hard time finding the wound.  As soon as I saw it I knew she would need to go to the ER and get stitches.  Alyssa Grover bandaged her forehead and stopped the bleeding while I grabbed my stuff and told Natalee to go home with my mom.
     Kelsey was such a brave little girl at the hospital.  While we waited I bought her a couple of cookies out of the vending machine.  She drew me a picture of a stick figure with a frowning face and said that it was a picture of her 'grumpy.'  But she wasn't crying at all anymore and was very cooperative for the nurses.
     My sharing time today was about agency and emphasizing the fact that we can make our own choices but we don't get to choose the consequences that are tied to those choices.  For one split second, I thought about that and I thought about my choice to let Kelsey come to church today even though her tummy was having some trouble.  "If I'd made her stay home, this wouldn't have happened," I thought.  But it did only last a split second.  How can I regret letting my child who was begging to go to church have her way.  But I might have regretted spoiling her excitement of being a brand new sunbeam. 
     When the doctor finally came in and asked her to sit on the bed, she got a little nervous.  But she did it and then got a fun ride while he made the bed go up nice and high so he could clean the wound and get a really good look at it.  This is where it got hard for Kelsey.  She didn't say anything and didn't try to move away, but she got a big frown on her face while he was cleaning it off.  He noticed too and asked if he was hurting her.  She nodded her head and he said he was sorry and would try to be more careful but he had to get it all cleaned out.  I tried to keep her mind on other things while he finished cleaning it out.  Thankfully he said that he thought glue was actually the best option for that wound.  It would keep the cut together just as well as stitches and wouldn't cause any extra damage to the skin.
     So that was it!  He glued it together, we waited for the nurse to come discharge us, and we were on our way.  We went to Grandma's house to pick up Natalee and found that everyone was there.  I had left my cell phone at home and Daren was getting concerned that he couldn't get a hold of me and was just about to pull out of their yard when we drove in.  So we had a nice afternoon visiting more with Jeff and Amber and their kids, Grandma and Grandpa Moffitt, and Grandma Poetschlag.  We had a nice mexican lunch/dinner then lit up some sparklers that Amber and Jeff brought.
     What a way to start off the year!  Happy New Year 2012!


 

Kelsey's Self Portrait, "Feeling Grumpy"

Moving Determined My Mind

Moving determined my mind I wouldn't like it.
By Haylee B. Hardy

Hi readers if you read my story this is my life.  I wrote this story when I was 8 in third grade.

Chapter One
house sold

     When I was 8 my family was going to move.  I didn't want to move, but our house was put on an offer my parents exepted it.  We had 42 days to pack until we had to move.  It has already been 2 days.  We have 40 days to pack.  I don't like to pack.  This is the second time we've moved.  We are going to rent again.  I like to bike with my friends Zeik, Vadie, Grace, Torstin, Katie, and Jenna.  I'm going to miss them a lot.  Me and Zeik play a lot because he lives across the street.  Graces Uncle Thomas is at collage now.  I miss him.  The house is two stories high.  I get my own room if the bank excepts are offer.  I hope it does.  The house is on Heritige Srt.  You get to go to a pool for free, a park, a tennis court, and a basket ball court.  Plus I can play soccer at the park since I have soccer goals.  We want to look at the house ourself instead of on the computer because it has pictures of the house on the computer.  I can't wait to move.  Me and Grace give eachother Christmas presents since yesterday was Christmas Day I got a lot of presents on Christmas Day even a brush for Cristmas.

Father's Day 2011

We made these shirts for Grandpa Hardy and Grandpa Moffitt.  We made a "Best Dad" one for Daren too.

I'm not sure what the girls wrapped in the Barbie paper (that's the trouble with blogging about events far after they actually happened), but I imagine the girls thought it was hilarious to use girly wrapping paper for Daren's gift.

Haylee made a sweet card at school for Daren.

Daren is VERY hard to shop for.  In fact, I should never actually buy gifts for him since he is NEVER, EVER satisfied with what I buy him. (Take note that I am writing this on Christmas day after yet another FAIL!)  Yes, he did just ask me if his gift was returnable.  And yes, once he was very dissatisfied with hockey tickets to a Colorado Avalanche game.  Well, for Father's Day, I was a little smarter than I was today and I actually bought him two gifts and let him choose between them.  A watch, and a new cell phone.

He chose the watch!

Fun Stuff from Natalee

I have two things to share from Natalee, neither of which were actually created this year.  The first one is probably from 2009, and the second one is probably from 2010.  But I don't want to miss anything cute.

First:

Natalee checked a book out from the library about how to draw horses.  One Sunday, she made this during Sacrament meeting for one of her sisters.

Second:

In case you can't quite make out the words, this is what it says (you can see why I couldn't leave this one out!):
I Love you mom, your with me when I'm sad, and help me feel better, You love me a lot, you keep me safe, take care of me when I'm sick.  Your the Best mom, I Love you!

Magnetix

     Adding a little boy to our family has provided us with so many firsts.  Nathan is definitely wired differently than his sisters.  This year is the first year we really had to toddler-proof the tree.  We used to make sure no glass or breakable ornaments were down low when the girls were little.   Now we can't have ANY ornaments down low because Nathan was destroying them or just constantly yanking them off and I was getting really tired of putting them back on.
     Wednesday night we were introduced to another 'first.'  Nathan swallowed a metal ball from the magnetix toys.  We have always been pretty vigilant with the magnetix because we know how dangerous they can be.  We actually had them in the garage for a few months because the kids hadn't put them away and we found Nathan playing in them with some balls in his mouth.  We just pulled them out a few days ago and the kids were playing with them.  They didn't put them away so I called them to the bedroom and told them to clean them up.  Later that evening, Nathan apparently went into the room, OPENED the magnetix tool box case, and put a metal ball in his mouth.  Haylee said she tried to get it out of his mouth but before she knew it, he had swallowed it.
     I stayed up for quite awhile researching online to make sure we didn't need to take him to the ER.  There were lots of similar stories and it seems that we just need to keep an eye on him.  We need to make sure it comes out in his diaper and if not, take him in so they can do an x-ray and make sure it's not lodged somewhere.  We also have to watch for vomiting, drooling, not eating, or signs of blockage in his wind pipe like wheezing or other breathing trouble.  I slept in the spare bed in his room just to be close in case he started showing one of these symptoms.  I think Nathan is definitely going to give me more gray hairs than all four girls combined!
     Oh,speaking of gray hairs, today is my 36th birthday.  36 sounds so old for some reason.  Yikes!  Daren and I are so close to middle-aged.  It doesn't feel like it since we still have little ones.  But our big kids are sure getting big.  My mom and dad are going to watch the kids while Daren and I go on a date tonight and I'm so excited!  I've got Bernadino's taco salad on my mind.  And then we'll probably do something super exciting that old people do like go to Home Depot to look at flooring and light fixtures. :)  We actually both really want to do that without our kids!
     Nathan still hasn't had a poopy diaper yet today so I'm hoping for his birthday gift to me he will poop out a marble!

P.S.  Click here for a fun read I found during my online search.

At Least I'm Not the Worst Mommy in the World

     Tonight was Kelsey's Joy School Christmas party!  It was a potluck dinner/FHE for the whole family.  The Joy School kids acted out the story of the Nativity and sang a couple of Christmas songs.  This time Kelsey played the part of the innkeeper and got to say, "No room" a few times.  She did great!
     To prepare for this wonderful event, I thought it would be a great idea to bathe our kids.  Natalee and Haylee don't really need my help with this but I plopped the 3 youngest in the bathtub together and began scrubbing.  Since I had some other things to do still to get ready, I didn't really want to hang out in the bathroom watching the little ones in the tub.  So once they were washed I told them it was time to get out.  Mackenzie was not very happy about this.  She really wanted some time to hang out in the bathtub without the other two kids.  I said there wasn't any time and she needed to get out.  I had already started letting the water out and was getting Nathan and Kelsey wrapped in their towels.  Finally I said, "I'm going to go to the kitchen and get a glass of cold water and when I get back I'm going to dump it into the bathtub so you better get out while I'm gone."
     Mackenzie started screaming that she didn't have her towel because she wanted her Tinkerbell towel.  I left the bathroom to get her the Tinkerbell towel and she assumed I was headed to the kitchen and started screaming bloody murder.  I walked back in, tossed her the towel, and told her she had her towel so now I was headed to the kitchen to get the water.  By this time the tub was completely empty and she was just hanging out naked in it.
     As I headed to the kitchen, I could hear her screaming all about how she hated me.  The first time one of my children told me this horrible thing I was really upset.  But I'm getting immune to it knowing that I will be loved again very soon.  I brought back an empty cup and Mackenzie STILL wouldn't get out of the tub.  She finally hopped out to attack me but then hopped back in.  So I pulled her out and sent her to her room with the promise that if she didn't knock it off and get dressed immediately I would be finding a babysitter for her so she couldn't come with us to the Christmas party.  She headed to her room after that but continued to scream in the hall that she hated me and I was the worst mommy in the whole world.
     "I bet the worst mommy in the whole world hits her kids," I said.  "Do you want me to be the worst mommy in the whole world?"
     "You already are!" I was told.
     "Well I don't hit you, and I don't lock you up in a closet, and I don't ever burn you.  Did you know there are mommies that do those things?  Don't you think those might be the worst mommies in the world?"
     Mackenzie's expression softened for just a moment as I imagine she was feeling sadness for the kids who have to go through those terrible things.  Then she looked up at me with a frown and said, "Well, you are the worst mommy in California."

P.S.  At the Joy School party tonight the kids wrote on cards that said, "My gift to Jesus is..."  Mackenzie finished hers with "Love" and then wrote "I love you" on the inside of the card and gave it to me.  I asked her if this meant she didn't think I was the worst mommy in California anymore.  She told me I was the best mommy in the world and she loved me.  Then she gave me a big hug and kiss.  I knew it!

The Magical Fruit/Gummy

     A few weeks ago, I went to Lancaster with my mom and grandma just for a fun day of shopping.  We went to the mall, Target, Petsmart, Trader Joe's, Costco, Winco, AND Toys R Us.  We were just about finished up at Costco when I walked past one of the taster tables.  The product being sampled was called "Fiber Gummies."  They were gummy squares that taste a lot like gummy bears but have 5 grams of fiber and only 10 calories.  I was thinking that they would be perfect for my kids.  One in particular seems to have a little trouble and the pediatrician actually suggested getting some fiber for her.  So this seemed a lot better than the other types of adult fibers you can buy.
     The fiber gummies were definitely a hit!  The kids are always asking, "Can I have my fiber gummy?"  It's such a treat to take their fiber.  I have been joking that our family has been a little more musical ever since we introduced the fiber gummies.  Whenever one of the kids seems to be tooting a little extra, I say, "It's those fiber gummies."
     A few days ago, Mackenzie and I were in the living room.  In walked Kelsey, who at that very moment let out a hearty toot.  Mackenzie immediately looked at me and asked, "Can I have my fiber gummy?"