The Party

This week was pretty uneventful. We mostly stuck around home. I did go grocery shopping with the two of them, which is quite a feat, but we did it with minimal amount of boredness, whining, etc. I only go shopping once a month so it takes a LONG time, they have to get out and walk for half of it, etc, so I totally understand why they hate it, but they did fine, and so did I.

Anyway, on to the best part of the week. We had Sam's party yesterday. We rented out the local town pool, brought pizza, drinks, and cake, and swam in their cool pool. We had about 40 people there and it was a good time. We were sad that a lot of people couldn't make it, but we had a really good time with all those that did make it. :) It was HOT yesterday so a pool party was just what we needed.

We started out by swimming for a while. After a little bit, people came and got pizza, and then got back in the pool, where there was a TON of diving board action. A little after an hour, we all got out and did the cake (the candles would NOT stay lit, so we had to sing really fast as they were being lit). He had a cool Hulk cake. Then he started opening presents (which he loved, by the way!). About half way through the present opening, AJ comes and tells me that they saw lightning and we had to leave!!! I was like, "What! We still have 30 minutes!" I looked up at the sky and it was perfectly fine. The lifeguards came over and said a huge storm is going to be here in 10 minutes and we need to get you out now. At that point, I was like, "Where????" On the other side of the building you could finally see where it was DARK and scary looking. So everyone started running around like crazy, stuff was being thrown everywhere, people were running around trying to gather up everything, running to the car, throwing stuff in the back, etc. It was CRAZY!!! I felt bad for all our guests because I promised them they could get back in the pool after cake and everything, and then they ended up being shooed out of their like crazy people. Oh well, at least we did all the actual party stuff, and everyone got to swim for a good while. The party went really well, and that just added to the excitement. LOL!

After the party, we went and let Sam spend some of his birthday money. Avery had a little bit of the Green-Eyed Monster coming out in him and didn't understand why he was getting even more presents after his party. He was pretty sad about it, and Sam (thinking this all by himself) came over to me and said, "Mommy, I would like to use some of my money to buy Avery a present." So he surprised Avery and got him his own little toy. What a sweet boy we have! Avery was very happy after that, and very appreciative of Sam. I also had a little talk with him about his yucky attitude on someone else's birthday. I think it got through to him.

Sam got a lot of neat stuff, including 3 more Webkinz. That boy is obsessed with those things, as are most kids his age, right now. :) He also got some Hulk and Iron Man stuff, which he was really hoping for, so he is ecstatic about how cool his birthday was.

I am glad it was a good day, and that we have done everything we needed or wanted to do this summer. Tomorrow is surgery day. I have to get up at 5:00 in the morning. Ummm, if any of you know me, even a little bit, then you know that I DON"T DO MORNINGS! WE haven't been getting up until like 9:00 this summer and I am loving it. 5:00 is NO good. I think the last time I got up that early was last time he had surgery 2 years ago. I do everything I can to stay in bed as long as possible. Sigh... Oh well, we are ready to get it over with and get him feeling better. So please be thinking about us tomorrow. I will post more after his surgery if I can.

Until then, here are some party pics!

All About Sam

Today was all about Sam. Happy Birthday to my 8 Year Old!!! He had a great day! Not only was it his birthday today, but he also got to get baptized as a member of our church. He has been waiting for this day for a long time. He got a couple of presents this morning, but the rest will wait until his party on Saturday. :)

He woke up to donuts, a rare treat. We even let him blow out candles on top of his donut. :)


Here is his present from Avery, which he loves. Excuse the morning hair. :)


We went to church, where everyone paid special attention to him. He got a new set of scriptures for his birthday and he was SO excited to take them to church. He said, "I don't just LIKE them, I LOVE them! " :) They played a game today, where they explored the scriptures looking for "treasure". The Primary President (the leader of the children) told us that it was so cute to see him so excited about his scriptures. He couldn't wait to look up scriptures, find things, etc. She said a light is definitely shining within him. :)

After church we rushed home, made brownies and cookies, ate dinner, and rushed back to the church for his baptism. It was a really good service. He loved it and we were so proud of him. I got to sing for him. He specifically asked me to a few weeks ago, and I couldn't say no, even though I was nervous. I couldn't look at him though because he had this huge smile on his face every time I looked and it was so cute I had to look away or I would cry. His Grandma, G, came and he was so happy about that. It was just so cute to see him listening to what everyone said so intently and really taking this seriously. He did have to get up there and say an Article of Faith (the basics of what our church is about)because the Bishop (the Leader of our particular church) found out he could recite all 13 of them. That embarrassed him a little bit, he is so shy, but he did great. We had so many people there, not even everyone could come in and sit down. It was a special, special day in all of our lives. Avery even got to take part in it, by saying the opening prayer. :)

Sam, today was such a special day. Thanks for being such a great kid. You are more than we could ever ask for. 8 years old, I just can't believe it. Every year I tell you you just can't grow any more. I want you to stay my little boy forever, but at the same time, I love to see you growing, learning, and maturing every day. You are one of the sweetest boys anyone could meet. You think about other people's feelings, you put others before yourself. You try hard to do the right thing. You are quiet, and shy, but very friendly. You are so smart. At 7 years old you were reading and understanding the huge Harry Potter books. You do excellent and school and try hard. You can't stand to not get something right and you do everything you can to make sure everything you do is perfect in every way. You rarely get in trouble, but when you do you feel really bad and try to make it up to whoever each and every time. You are the first one to listen the first time someone gives you directions. You are always alert and ready for the next step. Even though your whole life you have been sick and not 100%, you wouldn't know it. I don't know that anyone else could go through all that you do and still be as happy and cheerful as you are. Even though you don't understand why you get sick all the time or why you can't do things that other kids can, you do the best you can and don't complain. You are an example to all of us. We love you so much and are so happy that you are our kid. I love you, Sam Sweeney. :)

Here are some more pictures of his day.

Sam and G.


Avery jumping in.


Our Family


G and Family

The 4th

Yesterday we ended up having some families over for a pool party. We grilled, swam, and ate. It was a good time. After that we did some fireworks and then watched the rest that our cool neighborhood did. I think everyone had fun. Here are the pics!

Pools, Pools, and More Pools!

All we have done this week is swim.

Monday Lindsay and her kids came over to swim in our pool for the first time. They played in the house for a while, then we had lunch and went out to swim. Wellll, it has been a pretty mild summer for the most part and this week has cooled down some. So the water was pretty cold. Sam was the only one that was fine in it, the rest of us were freezing. It didn't help that the sun was behind clouds most of the time and there was a cool wind. I think it would have been fine if the sun would have been out. So we only lasted like 30 minutes. The kids came in and played some more and then they left. After that we just got ready for the day and I went to rehearsal that night.

Tuesday we went to Mrs. Gunder's house (Sam's teacher) and went swimming in their neighborhood pool. Avery was GRUMPY most of the time. Sam loved it. The water was pretty cold there as well, but the sun was out so we got accustomed to it pretty quickly. We got to see Autumn, Mrs. Gunder's baby, who we hadn't seen for a while. We love her and were used to seeing her a ton since Lindsay babysit her. It was fun and a nice day. After that we went to get Sam's allergy shot. Then Lindsay and I went to the Y and did Advanced Step 3. I think I will like it once I get used to the steps more, but I think I overdid it after being sick this week. I got tired quickly and very hot. I was feeling sick towards the middle. We finished and then both of us collapsed at a table for a little bit. LOL! I called AJ and we decided to go to a mexican restaurant for dinner. I really didn't feel like cooking after that, and I could feel a too much exercise headache coming on. Whenever I am sick I always crave mexican food for some reason, so I had been dying for it for a few days, so this was just a good excuse to go. When we got home AJ and the kids went in the pool. I knew it was definitely too cold for me, so I lounged on the couch, nursing my headache, and watching America's Got Talent. I really don''t like that show at all, but I am watching it to see if I catch a glimpse of us being on it. I did! It was only a 3 second thing, but I saw a guy we know hugging a girl on the front row with me. They haven't done Nashville yet, so hopefully that will come soon, and maybe they will show us so I can quit watching. LOL!

Today we went to one of our favorite summer places. It is a 1 foot wading pool, complete with mushrooms, sprayers, etc. The kids love it. Well, Avery forgets that he loves it for the first hour usually, and then he realizes he does and never wants to leave. We got there at 10:00, played for a while, had a picnic lunch, played at the cool playground, and then went back in to swim. We stayed until about 2:00. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!

Ramblings

So Sam's arm looked a ton better when he woke up the next morning after only one round of antibiotics. Whew! It still hurt him, but the swelling had gone down and it looked so much better. So far all is well with it.

Yesterday, my throat started hurting and today I woke up with Strep. Yippee! This is the 4th or 5th time I have had it since October. Grrrrr. So I spent the morning at the doctor and pharmacy. I am home from church while everyone else goes. Ho hum.

Yesterday, a group of us threw a bridal Shower for a girl from singing. There was a terrible wreck on the freeway (the way everyone needed to go) and two people were killed, which caused traffic to become a standstill. People didn't get to the shower until 2 hours after it was supposed to start. It went well though, and everyone had fun. Not as good a turnout as we had hoped, but we are sure a lot of people just ended up making their way back home.

Last night there was a terrible storm. Usually I don't wake up when it is storming, but last night I did. I was also having this terrible dream about something terrible happening to Sam, and every time the storm woke me up, I would lay there not able to go back to sleep, and when I finally did, the dream just picked up where it left off. It was sad and scary, and I just wanted it to stop. I finally just got up. Plus, my throat was hurting so bad, I was having a horrible time trying to sleep anyway.

Last night AJ took the boys to Chili's for dinner, while i was at the shower. AJ got fajitas, which is cool to the boys because it comes out smoking and sizzling. Welll, Avery wanted to see how hot it was so he reached over and touched the hot, sizzling plate. He burned his finger really bad and it has a blister. Thankfully today it isn't hurting him too much. He is having trouble figuring out how to do things without using his finger though, which is pretty funny. Thankfully, he pretty much uses both hands pretty equally. He is left-handed (weird, no one in our families that I know of are left handed), but he uses both pretty well.

So Friday we were swimming in the pool. I bring my phone out because we are usually out for a few hours, plus I just prefer having it out there in case anything happens, etc. I am always careful with it, put it where it won't get wet, etc. Well, it started ringing. Sam was near it so he decided to get it to give to me. I told him it was ok, and just to leave it, and I would get to it in a minute, but he was trying to be helpful, so he went ahead and got it. He didn't want to get it wet, so he was barely holding it between 2 fingers. Just as I got close and was telling him to make sure he didn't drop it, he did. It all happened in slow motion. I reached out to grab it, but didn't quite make it. It fell into the pool and since we were near the filter, it pushed it away from me and sunk to the bottom. I dove down to get it, but it was too late. Sam cried and cried. It was a total accident, he was just trying to help, but I did yell at him when he dropped it. (Bad Mommy!) He thought he was going to get in major trouble and he felt really bad about it. I left it apart to dry for a long time, but every time I tried it after that it was doing weird, terrible things. The next morning it kinda worked, but the buttons were not working correctly. I could hear it ringing, etc, but I couldn't answer it, etc. Finally, yesterday afternoon it started working pretty normally. Hopefully it is ok. :)

Well, I guess that is all of my rambling. I am not feeling too good, so I think I will go lay down and read for a little bit, while it is quiet and I am alone. Bye!

So today was pretty much wasted away at doctor's offices. Sigh. We didn't even get to swim today, which the kids were NOT happy about. This morning some people from church came over for a little visit. As soon as they left, we left too. We went to Arby's. The kids love it there, and I had promised them we could go sometime this week. Then we went to Target. We were out of milk and I had to get stuff for a Bridal Shower I am helping host on Saturday. Then we went to get Sam's allergy shot. We usually go on Tuesdays, but we spent the day in the pool, so we put it off until today.

I am going off track a little bit, to get back on track. :) Yesterday morning, Sam woke up and he had two bug bites. One was small and on the back of his neck, and one was larger, about the size of a nickel on his upper arm. I figured they were mosquito bites and that he had probably itched the one on his arm in his sleep. He had been outside the night before with AJ, and AJ had said that he needed to spray the yard because there were so many bugs. Well, throughout the day it itched him, but he is really good about not itching so I didn't think much about it. We put some Bendaryl cream on a few times. As the day went on the bite got bigger and I figured that it was probably a spider bite instead. Well, this morning he woke up and it was much bigger, was swollen, and was warm. It was probably about the size of a half dollar, maybe a little bigger. I put more benadryl on and we went about our day.

All that to say, when we got to his shot today, he was worried about her giving his shot in that arm. I told him just to tell her about it and she wouldn't give it to him in that arm. Well, when she saw it, she freaked out a little and asked if a doctor had seen it. I said no, that I was just waiting to see if it would calm down. I am allergic to spider bites, and since he is allergic to everything, it really was no surprise to me that he was allergic to them as well. She took him back in the office and showed some other people (the allergist wasn't in today) and they were all worried about it and said I needed to take him to the doctor. I was thinking in my head, Geez, it's just a spider bite, it looks bad, but it will go away. Well, she put some bacteria stuff on it and he came back out to me, along with her, who kept stressing that it was terrible, blah, blah, blah, and then he actually showed me again what it looked like. Within those few hours, it had grown even more. It was covering most of his upper arm, it was bright red, burning hot, raised, and hard. It was really bad. It looked bad this morning, but you know, just like a normal bad bite, but it looked 100 times worse at that time, and I didn't even know it. So I called the doctor and they got him in an hour later. By the time they stopped gushing about it, he got his shot, and we left, we had been there forever. We then had time to kill so went to McDonald's and let them play for a little bit. After that we went to the pediatrician. By this point, it was hurting him pretty badly and it was hard for him to even move it to put on his seat belt. When the doctor came in and saw it, he said WOW! Now THAT is Awesome! LOL! Typical guy talk meaning it looks totally gross and disgusting and must hurt a lot. :) He couldn't believe how much it had grown and swollen in that short a time. He felt all around it. Around the outside part, before you even get to the redness it started hurting him. Then the further in he went the hotter it got, the more swollen and raised it got, and the harder it got. He hadn't really seen anything like it and wanted to know what in the world bit him. He said it was obviously infected and that we needed to be careful of Staph and something else. He gave him an antibiotic and he drew a circle around the bite. If it gets much bigger or he gets red streaks going up his arm then we need to come back in. Hopefully, the antibiotic will do the trick and we caught it early enough before anything else happens. I am glad he is on an antibiotic. He really needs one right now. His nose is all red and swollen, and even has little blisters because he is having to blow it so much. Poor kid. He is just falling apart lately. I can tell too, he is being really grumpy this week. Surgery, that helps, can't come soon enough!

Anyway, after all that we had to drive home (his shot and ped are 30 minutes away)and then go pick up his prescription. We had been gone all day and both kids were just ready to come home. Whew!

Here is a picture of The Bite. Sorry about the terrible quality. I took it with my stupid, little camera. It looks way worse than this, but you get the picture.


Last night was my first quartet rehearsal. It went better than I expected. I was worried and freaking out because these girls are so good and experienced that I was sure I was going to be so behind just overall lacking. That wasn't the case, at least I don't think. :) We sounded a lot better than I thought we would. Everyone seemed happy and we even scheduled rehearsal through October, so that's a good sign. :) We picked out a few more pieces of music to learn to, so we are on our way. We haven't really made a commitment as far as competing etc, but that will come later. Two of the girls are in other really good quartets that are priority right now (one of them is even going to International competition this year) so this is kind of a practice, just playing around thing. They gave me lots of compliments (maybe because they knew I was nervous) but I really do think we sounded good and fit well. I recorded it and listened to it after they left, thinking I would hate how I sounded, etc, but I surprised myself. I am sure they brought out the best in me with their abilities, but I am happy. I hope it works out for us, and if not, I am sure I will learn a lot. :) I haven't done this before, and although I love singing, can work my way around a piece of music, etc, I just never think I am good enough, and I am definitely not confident enough. Hopefully this will help with that. My goal this year was mainly to find a quartet to sing with that would teach me and help me prepare for future quartets, and I think that is just what I found. It is a little overwhelming to think I will be singing with these girls who really know what they are doing, but I will learn a lot and that's just what I wanted. So I need to get over my shyness and just do it! :)

The kids were EXCELLENT while they were here. Good job boys! They were here from 6:00 to 9:30 and the boys just played quietly and nicely upstairs the whole time. I put them to bed in the middle of it and they did great and went right to sleep with no problem. I have good boys. :) One of the ladies even asked if I really had kids up there. LOL!

Tomorrow we are going on a swim playdate with some people from church. So that will be fun, and will hopefully make up for us not swimming at all today.

Sam is getting baptized on his birthday, July 6th, and he has asked me to sing for it. I need to get cracking on learning that music and finding someone who can play it for me! I also need to TRY not to be nervous. I can do it, I know I can! LOL! That was just me trying to raise my confidence, even though I know it really won't work.

Well, I guess that is it for tonight. Au Revoir!

Tagged

Angel tagged me. This will be interesting. I don't even know who else to tag (since everyone I know has already been tagged), so I may not be able to follow the rules. We'll see!

Here are the rules:
a. Link to the person who tagged you.
b. Post the rules on your blog.
c. Write six random things about yourself.
d. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blog.
e. Let each person know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blog.
f. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

1. I am a good direction giver. Everyone always asks me how to get places because I can tell them shortcuts, quicker ways, and landmarks to get them exactly there, and usually there aren't any problems (unless they weren't really paying attention and get lost anyway).
2. When AJ and I went to the Bahamas for our "honeymoon" (a year after we got married) we actually didn't like the Bahamas very much and preferred Florida. Too many alcohol pushers and tip nazis for us.
3. I can't stand when our yard is mowed, but it has not been weed-eaten (is that how you say that???)and I have been known to take scissors out there and do it that way, rather than let them grow wildly. (I know, I'm a freak! I don't know why it bothers me so much!)
4. Forever, I have spelled definitely (definitley) wrong, until recently when Julie told me I do it all the time. Now I spell it right, but it seems wrong and is hard for me to do it correctly. Strange!
5. I think I have the ugliest knees, and they are covered at all times, except in a swim suit, and if their was a way to cover them then, then I would!
6. I can somewhat play the piano, but really I can only do it if the keys are marked with the notes. I had to write the notes on a piece of tape, and tape it to each key so I can plunk out notes when I need to. Mostly I just have to do it by ear though. I learned some Christmas songs, the Sound of Music, and some other things just by singing it and finding the right note to go with it. Oh, how I wish I could really play the piano!


Here are the people I will tag, sorry if you have already been tagged before!: April, Tara, Christina, Kim, Kelly, Jen
OK, so I could only get 5. Close enough! ***Edited to add, wait, I just found one more! Yippee! Now I followed the rules! Whew!