OTBS Ruffles Have Ridges

Tonks got a haircut. It is horrible. I paid someone MONEY to butcher my poor dog's hair. The lady use to do a great job but the last two times Tonks has come back shaking and nicked all over her tummy. Poor baby. 

OTBS every time I see her I laugh because I hear the old Ruffles slogan in my head. "Tonksies have ridges."  

Thankfulness...Maybe OTBS is Better (Easier)

Thankfulness is proving to be a little more than I can handle right now, at least on a daily, big scale. I've decided if I can't be out right thankful I might as well take the hard things going on and do what my mom always does and look On The Bright Side. 

On The Bright Side, or OTBS as it shall hence forth be known, is amazing because no matter how bad something is you can always find one (even if they do turn out a little morbid sometimes). So here it goes:

Yesterday I got stung by a bee.  OTBS Ella had been FREAKING out every time she saw a bee and I was able to show her that even if the worst happens, a bee stings her, it's not much worse than a mosquito bite. 

Thankful For Weird Kids

Ethan had to do a power point presentation on a country of his choice. He picked the United Kingdom, which I loved. We had fun looking pictures to go along with his information and when we got to the end I asked what picture he wanted to put on the slide with "The End" on it. He chose:

Just For Me

It has been a hard couple...years?  Last week wasn't the worst by any means, but things kept spiraling, getting worse and worse.  I was walking through Walmart for the (what seemed like) 32 time that week, wondering how I could make it through the rest of the day.

Me: ARGH I can't do this.

Universe: I hear ya.  I think I have something that can help

Me: Nothing will help

Universe: Oh...I think this will.  Halloween, check.  Easter candy, check.  Here, I made this just for you:

Me: Thank you, Universe.

Thankful Day 2, or does this make me a bad person?

Ethan had another appointment on Wednesday at the Denver Children's Hospital. Ethan, Livi and I went down Tuesday night so we would be on time for the 8:00 am appointment. On the way down I was amazed at the amount of rain and was a little scared while I was driving.

Livi got to watch the ball sculpture while Ethan got X-rays.

We went to the appointment, Ethan got x-rays, a cardio/respiratory test, and an allergy panel test.  I was sooooooo impressed with how fast and efficient the hospital was.  It may not have taken all day, but Ethan's tests were horrible for him, he got a scope down his nose into his throat after running on a treadmill, and his back was scratched up and possible itchy allergens were put on it.  I may have had to hold him down...a lot.  All were fine (he is allergic to cats and mildly to dogs, but not causing the asthma). I was a little sad we didn't find something to fix, but glad we know what it isn't!  

23 different scratches

What I am most thankful for is that Ethan was able to go to his visit. We may not have learned a lot, but we know where to go from here. I am thankful we were able to go before the flooding got bad and we were able to come home with no problems.

Denver is awful right now. People are struggling and dying and I am thankful and ungrateful enough to be glad that Ethan's appointment wasn't one day later.

Livi LOVED the giant bunnies!

Thankfulness Project Part 2

I didn't get around to doing my "thankful" posts last year since I was in a death spiral of despair. This year, right now, at this exact moment, I am doing ok, so I thought I would try it again for a while while I can. I understand it isn't even close to Thanksgiving and I am currently doing the crazy dance making costumes for Halloween, but I just had a thankful moment and wanted to write it down. 

I am thankful for my sweet mother-in-law giving me her Coco Motion when mine broke. I cried when mine broke (depths of insanity time) and it was so nice of Joan to offer me hers. I just pulled it out for the first time of the season to make lots of hot chocolate during this crazy rain, and I am so thankful it was waiting for me, all ready to work!  Thank you Joan!

I Almost Feel Like A Grown Up

It only took 3 years but we no longer have any blankets as window coverings.  And there was much rejoicing... (from our neighbors).

Ch Ch Ch Changes... Or, the crushing guilt is killing me PLUS bonus-added-extra-random pics!

Our little family life seems to have been thrown into chaos the last few weeks and I'm not making it any easier on myself.

Biggest piece of news: Eric joined a firm.  Everyone seems really nice and he is happy to have the support staff and colleagues to bounce ideas off of.  I am sad that we lose all the flexibility and lack of pressure for billable hours, but Eric is happy about it and he is the one that has to go to work every day.

We still have our regular stuff of cubs, dance, and school (which the kids started 3 weeks ago!!!)
Livi also started going to preschool every day now.  I struggled with the decision.  She loved her teachers and it seems selfish to have her go every day, but she will be 5 in October and we do have full day kindergarten here.  It has been a... harsh...adjustment.  She loves going, but is SOOOOOOOOOOOO cranky during the afternoons.

Eric also got called into the Young Men's presidency and Ella started activity days yesterday.  Ethan now goes down to Denver Children's Hospital on a regular basis (looks like monthly at this point) to the Breathing Institute, where we are trying to figure out why his asthma is getting worse and how to get it manageable.

He had just gotten back from a lung test and he had HUGE spirals on his nose from the clip.  I told him to smile and he gave me an impersonation of James Franco:

Because left up to me, the kids were learning very little piano, I signed the kids up for real piano lessons.  When I was taking to the piano teacher it made me wish I was taking them too.  So, now I am.  And it is awesome.  And hard.  This is the first piece he gave me to work on:

Because nothing says "welcome back" like 4 sharps and double sharps placed through out.  

All in all we are basically so busy I feel like I have to schedule in what days I have time to wash my hair.

Random Fun Happy Pic Time:

I pulled this out of the toilet paper roll bag.  They really are starting to make everything smaller inside of the packages!

At the School Open House Ella made this list of favorites.  If you look closely at favorite game you can see "Betrayal at House on the Hill" was there before Clue.  None of her friends had heard of Betrayal

In Ethan's class they each had jerseys on their lockers.  Most had decorated them like sports team jerseys.  Ethan went for the whole stick-figure-comic-book thing.

Dog with a Buffaloooooooooooo.  Straight up got mauled by a puppy.

Best Shopping Trip Ever...For Livi

On our way home from Cedar City we stopped at a grocery store for lunch (because I was sick to death of fast food), and we walked in Livi saw...

TINY SHOPPING CARTS!!!

Best...shopping...trip...ever..

for Livi.  The big kids didn't like Livi being "in charge" quite as much as she did.  She told them what they could and could not add to "her" cart.  She wanted to use my card to pay.  She even insisted on carrying out the bags herself.

On a totally different note she also felt that this box was her territory and wouldn't let us put it in the recycler for 3 days. 

Also a possum showed up on our lawn.

A POSSUM!!!

Yes, they really are that scary and ugly in person.