Life at light speed

Yesterday was one of those days that went well . . . in the morning. Woke up, made muffins, so far so good. Kids off to school kiss hubby. Great! How long before we have to leave for bible study? Well, we may as well go even though we have so much time, we'll take the scenic route and then do some major pre-teaching before we get there.
After school, though . . . I was expecting hubby to bring the 2 oldest home, but with in the bounds of Mock Trial week things change and life can unexpectedly get slapped into another demention. So I woke up Ty and Nadia from naps at 2:30, and carried them crying to the car . . . that wouldn't start. Scott was in the throws of practice, so I had to ask our neighbor (who was fortunately home) if he would be able to help me start our car, and do you know how to use jumper cables!?!? Because I don't. ergh!! Yes?! Oh GOOD. The car started and we were off to get Nolen and Emma. We got to school and as Ty was rolling the window down to tell Nolen we had to leave it broke (WOULD NOT ROLL UP). Did I mention that we are driving over the passes on Friday? TODAY? And they were closed because of avalanche control yesterday? And it's snowing like crazy? Scott couldn't fix it, so we took off for the dealership, almost forgot Mia who was in the bathroom. Seriously. Noone even noticed she wasn't in the car with all of the hubbub, fortunately she popped out of the school just as we were pulling out. Then it started to rain (of course). Driving to the dealership Nolen and I answered the question "Why can't we roll the window up? I'm cold." Seriously about a million times, and I kid you not the dealership is maybe 10 minutes from the school. When we got there the gal behind the desk quoted me at $48 just to check it. Then the children and I piled into the waiting room and I have no idea what was on the TV, but it wasn't even suitable in a bar! In downtown Bremerton. AT NIGHT! Panicked I tried to get the children to look at the receptionist while she fumbled for the remote and landed on the disney channel. Which though fine in the morning is full of selfish disobedient tween's in the afternoon, ugh. Then she gave the children popcorn. Titus filled up water cups and set them single file for all of us on the window sill. Nadia pooped and I had no diapers. As you remember I was just planning a quick trip to pick up the children and bring them home. So I called my dear friend Michelle (master sock finder extrordinaire) and she drove over so I could change Nadia before she got a diaper rash. They finished the window and we got home at 4:30. Only $160 poorer. Ugh.
What was it the Gandalf told Bilbo about all of that dangers that could happen to you by merely stepping foot out of the front door? Everyone went outside to play and I fixed dinner. When Scott got home at 7:30 we all looked at him like he just stepped foot off Mars! What are you doing home, we though you wouldn't be home till late? It is late, it's 7:30. Eek. He went up to tell the little ones a story, and half way through the story of Troy (they were staring at him with blank stares and I think I heard crickets in the background) he switched gears to prince Titus and the princesses Nadia and Mia who were soo beautiful and needed to be rescued. Prince Titus rode his milk white steed, etc... and the day ended well. We tried to stay up and watch Americal Idol (Go Danny!!) but I fell asleep. C'est la vie. This was a weird day, BUT God is good and it all ended on an up note. If you would like to see our *NEW * window button, viewings will be daily by appointment only and I promise to give you a good deal :)

Goin' to grammma's house!!!

A couple weeks ago we went to my parents house in the woods and had a belated Christmas. As you can tell frpm these pic's our kiddo's were THRILLED, and as you can also tell if you peek into the background of this one, it was a white Christmas in February.

We stopped at our favorite latte stand and while we sipped our coffee to Silverdale, the children enjoyed their suckers. Notice Nadia with stick only, "where's the sucker?". On Tuesdays before choir our rally cry is "One .99 cent lattee and 6 suckers, please!" . The children couldn't be more happy. Ahh to be a kid again. . .

Here's Nadia. I wish this BLOG had sound effects. You would hear cute baby happiness and snorting, along with much bouncing and joyfulness everytime she got into this car. My parents have had this car since my sis was born, and it has been through all of my children racing it around (and around!!!) their house. Love it.

And, here is my mom. Such a fun and loving grandma and a wonderful and helpful mom. She is someone that I will always ask for advice because I know that in every situation she always wants what's best for me even if it's a tough call on her part. But on the other side she always thinks the best of me and encourages me to not lose heart! She is my biggest fan and cheerleader and I am so thankful for her!!!
God was so good to give me such a beautiful and kind mom!

The Grandmas and the Grandpas

Pre-teaching and the moral reason why have been all the rage in the Welch house as of late, so on our way to the grocery store Wednesday before bible study Titus and I had this very interesting conversation:

ME: Titus, do you know why you shouldn't scream at the grocery store today?

(This had become a pattern I was trying to avoid. He was getting so excited about the car cart and the free cookies and all of the excitement of being out that there were becoming more and more instances of random 'shouts of JOY unto the Lord' at Safeway.)

Ty:*blink*blink* (imagine crickets chirping in the background at this point of the conversation)

Me:If you scream you might scare the grandmas and the grandpas and we want to be more careful of the grandmas and the grandpas.

Ty: YES! We should not scream, we should give the Grandmas and the Grandpas skateboards and bikes!

Me: Ty it's a lot easier for you to ride skateboards and bikes than the grandmas and the grandpas, they aren't very steady on their feet and they might fall and hurt themselves, but it was a good idea. Instead of skateboards and bikes we should say,"Hello!" kindly to the grandmas and the grandpas or "How are you doing today?". Can you think of something else you can say?

At this point Nadia who had been listening and dying to interact with us finally let out a robust"Yeah!".

Ty: No, baby Nadia we don't want to scream, you might scare the grandmas and the grandpas. we need to say (bashfully), "Hi. I missed you." to the grandmas and the grandpas. Picture the 3 year old boy equivalent to the batting of eyebrows.

Nadia:*blink*blink*

Me:****Laughing****

Love my job.

Hey Nonny Nonny!

Here is my darling Nonny in the tub. She is so sweet and these faces are probably some of her most adorable. She is 16 months old and a JOY to our family. She loves to watch doggies at the park acrossed the street from the back of the couch and her favorite word is, "MO!!" which she says regularly to Titus (her boosom friend) to keep him in line. Notice that she has no hair, just like the other children at this age. With Emma I was afraid I would never get to put cute things in her hair!

Yes, she is drinking from the faucet - too cute!!!

Tyisms or how do you know if your 3 year old has watched Mulan twice in the last week.

Ty, Nadia and I went to Target to pick up some odds and ends the other day and as we were walking into the store I asked Ty if he was ready. He responded with, "Yep, Lets kick some Hunny-buns!!". Yes, folks he does always keep it intesesting.

Normal life at Hedge Parke

Well, after the last couple of posts I though it might be good to let you all in on a great little secret that I didn't realize I was keeping! That Wendesday really was an abnormal day around here. On a normal day I wake up between 5 and 6 and get coffee ready and get the kitchen cleaned up (mostly because if I stop I will fall asleep). I then start breakfast and at about 6:15 Scott and I wake up the children and we all eat breakfast and then Nolen, Emma and Mia get dressed for School. They leave at 7:15 and after we wave good-bye at the window Ty and Nadia take a nice warm bath and they get dressed. Our morning routine includes laundry and general house clean up. We read stories and Nadia takes a short morning nap. At 10:45 we head out to pick up Miss Mia from kindergarten, run some errands since we are in town anyway and come home for lunch. Everyone gets cleaned up and we pop down for an afternoon siesta. At 4 I start dinner and at 5 Nolen, Emma and My hunky hubby come rollin' home and . . .It's dinner time! Bath's, showers and jammies and it's to the couch for some family time and then the kiddo's are off to bed. Hubby and I have a few hours together before we then drift off to sleep. Not to thrilling, and there are days that are OBVIOUSLY not like this, but by and large we have a really wonderfully relaxing life. I love my kiddo's and I thought that 5 would be more hairy than it is. I think my hubby's laid-backness is rubbing off on us all! Have a wonderful day and remember to hug your hubby and give him a great big kiss the next time you see him. God is good!

Part 2

So, after my cup of tea . . .
Emma slept on and off for the rest of the afternoon minus the parts where she was crying because of the immense pain she was in and I couldn't figure out why. She was complaining about her stomach and I thought it was just the virus she had giving her cramps, something that Ibuprofen won't help. I checked her over at around 2:30 and saw that her ear was . . . DRAINING!!! Poor Emma. She was in major pain and her other ear was now getting into the act and just as I was getting dinner on the stove she woke up and was in so much pain and completely miserable that at 4:pm I just turned off the burners and grabbed the kiddo's and left. I didn't even have time to grab my phone or call Scott and tell him where we were going to be when he got home. I stopped off at the East Wenatchee clinic to see if the could just look at her and give us a quick prescription, since I KNEW it was bad. Well after going in a waiting a bit (Emma with quiet tears of pain running down her face) we were told they were so busy it would be quicker for us to go to the Wenatchee clinic. So back in the car we went and off. We got there and watched some of the new Charlotte's Web to distract us. Emma was in so much pain she cried and laid on my lap. Ty on the other hand made another 3 year old friend and they ran back and forth in the waiting room the whole time. Nadia was really sleepy, but also made a friend, a 8 year old boy that must have reminded her of Nolen because she kept calling him "Bubba". Too cute! One of our favorite nurses saw Emma and bumped her to the front of the line and rushed her in giving her some Ibuprofen and a room. We waited some more and when Dr. came in he was almost in tears. At this point she looked totally miserable and he prescribed some Amoxicillin and Tylenol with codine right after looking at her. So what was the verdict? 101.5* fever after the Ibuprofen and a double ear infection and a virus to boot. No school for the rest of the week, but she's no longer contagious - yea! We piled back into the car and went home. I still had to go pick up the meds after I dropped the children at home with Scott so by the time I got home it was almost 7 and we hadn't eaten dinner yet. Fortunately I was at home just long enough to turn the burners back on (remember, I had to leave the food on the stove?) and when I got home everything was cooked I just had to mash the potatoes and we were ready to eat. The up side was that I got a $30 gift card for Safeway for bringing in a new prescription! Woo hoo! Emma was feeling so much better after we got that first dose of codine and anti-biotics in her that she and Mia stayed up and talked for awhile since they hadn't seen each other all day. Mia (on the other hand) had a wonderful day with Mrs. Tracy going out to lunch and baking cookies.