Udderly Hilarious

Brennen is an excellent hand washer. This leads to very dry skin in the winter. We've tried several things to help keep his knuckles from turning brown, cracking, and bleeding (a little). While we were at the grocery store, getting our OTC, the other day--Buck spotted a tube of Udder Balm. B's been using it just about every day with great results!

So today, Graysen and I were at the kitchen counter, where the Udder Balm was laying. Because he also is a dried out boy in the winter, I asked him if there was any place he needed to apply some udder cream. He immediately pulled down his lower lip and showed me a place inside his lip that  he'd probably accidentally nibbled :)

I said, "You can't put Udder Balm in your mouth!"

To which he replied, "Why not? It's dairy."

Lol! Not exactly ;)

The Hard *Tooth*

BTW--congrats to my nephew on the loss of his final baby tooth! Very exciting business!

In health class, the boys and I were discussing teeth. We read the lesson, filled in the workbook pages, discussed the study questions, and then Graysen says, "Well, I guess I'm never eating leftovers again."

Wait, what?

I'm never sure if they're listening or absorbing the information . . . but sometimes things do catch, even if they catch in an unexpected way:

"Where does plaque come from? Bacteria in your mouth feed on leftover food. They combine with sugar in the food to make an acid. The acid is so strong that it can make homes in the tooth's enamel."

Did you catch that? "Leftover food . . ." I laughed and laughed and then had to try to explain the difference. Too funny :)

Right on the Money!

It's been one week since the boys were bit by the bug. Since then, Caelan has also succumbed to the germ monster. It's in her throat and lungs. Her fever hit 102 with chills, but mostly just lethargic, dizzy, and that gnarly cough and super sore throat. We've been grounded for a solid week--no church, no art lessons, no ASL, no guitar, no piano . . . nada nada, lemonada.

However . . . on Thursday we felt like everyone was kind of on the mend. We'd been in the house for a week straight at that point! Our first stop was the kids' favorite bakery for "breakfast" :) G$ has been saving up bottle caps--in exchange (always, because the owners are the best!) for a bag of goodies from behind the counter. This week it was donuts, his variety choice.

Next we headed to the library. We've been OUT of books for quite awhile . . . but I'm SOOO annoyed with our library that I didn't want to go back (not the first time). I do wonder what the final straw will be . . . I feel like it is close. They called to tell me (after years of checking out books) that if they happen to notice damage to their books, the last person who checked it out gets charged. I feel like I've written about this before. Now, I'm informed that it is MY responsibility to make a thorough list of EVERY bit of damage in EVERY book I bring home (nearly 70 on Thursday) or else I can be charged for damage I didn't do. Grrr, now it takes me twice as long to get through what they seem to think is a perfect collection. I have four pages of legal pad notes, front and back, filled with sticky note notes to put on all the books, so that I don't have to buy someone else's kids' boogers or pen marks or page turn tears. Seriously, unhappy. But we love books . . . what can we do?

After the library, we headed to karate. We took an extended break after last graduation in December. Since then, we've let our account balance stock pile in order to replace all the (fallin' apart) borrowed gear we've been working with for two years. Between the monthly dues and the cleaning the kids and I did at the end of last year, we had a healthy shopping budget . . . here's what we ended up purchasing: two new uniforms (these children have grown!), four new chest guards, one new long staff, two new sets of hand gear, and two new sets of feet gear, oh, and a new helmet (hadn't planned on that one). The club owner came over and said, laughing, "I added this twice, you won't believe this."

We watched as he input the fee for each of those items--it came out to exactly $400. Guess how much we'd stock piled? EXACTLY $400 :) Isn't that great? Buck said, "God provided exactly what we needed." He sure did :)

You'd think those three stops would be enough for one jaunt out--but oh no, we were just getting started! Next we ran into the grocery store/pharmacy to get fruit, more OTC cough meds, and a Redbox movie. Buck, got us Starbucks (not the kids :)

Next stop--the local event center. We want to watch a Mermaid ice skate, so we need tickets! :) What I discovered was, these nice inexpensive tickets (when purchased online) DOUBLE in price. DOUBLE! So, we thought perhaps going to the ticket office would save us some dough. Um, yeah! Like more than $50 it saved us!

Continuing our loop--we went to the hardware store to buy a toilet seat, ha! We had several rebate coupons, so we got our toilet seat for free. We also happened to spot a wood carving set that looks safer than Brennen's birthday knife. Gab had a carving/sculpture unit in her last art book, but had not materials to complete the projects. This kit seemed like a good deal, and it was also free ;) The kids have all enjoyed messing around with the set, and making a mess while doing it.

Still going . . . Hobby Lobby! Caelan needed some elastic thread to finish a shirt she's making herself and some purple yarn for a sweater she's knitting. Unfortunately she didn't find either one. Next . . . lunch! Remember that Panera card we won at the Christmas party? It paid for half our meal :)

At this point, we had a decision to make. It was just after 1 in the afternoon. We still needed to get a couple of things for the critters, but I was flat exhausted. So, we came home and put on our jammies and a Redbox. I fell asleep on the couch (and then was up half the night, which actually worked out okay since I had coughing babies that needed tending with nebulizers, breathing treatments, oil diffusers, vapo-rub, cough medicine--we're trying it all around here! :)

I don't have any pictures, but would you really want any? Ha! Caelan cancelled her babysitting job tomorrow, which ended up cancelling itself because it sounds like our neighbors (who happened to be leaving the library as we walked in) got the same thing we have :( That's who she was going to sit for.

Looks like another day to heal! Oh, and my last call in for jury duty--keep up the prayers for one more day! ;)

Bit by the Bug

And I don't mean the love bug. Buck's office has been tromped by a nasty something or other that is sending managers home to sleep on the couch for like a solid 15 hours. For Buck, it came with a thick, yucky cough, a headache, body aches, and general feeling blah. Of course, Gabby got it (but hers had a sore throat), Caelan and I have been battling with Thieves essential oil and lots of hand washing, but today the boys have succumbed. They've got combo of what Buck had and the version Gab had. Hopefully it won't last too long. I've got to call for Jury Duty again tomorrow--I had to go in last week, but only stayed at court a few hours. It will be a bummer to leave a house full of sick kids (I'm ignoring the mild ache in my own throat and refusing to cough though I want to :) on a school day (again).

Last night we went to Buck's holiday party. He was the only upper-level manger of four to be well enough to go. He found out from a table full of people also in various stages of sickness, that two of the others who'd been to the doctor had bronchitis and pneumonia. He texted me today that it's the non-contagious form--whatever!! :)

The party turned out to be one of the most fun we've  attended--maybe that's because of the others that we've attended, but I'll give this one props :) The food--was very good! Usually it's fairly inedible and we go out to eat afterwards. This time there was a fresh salad with yummy dressing, attentive wait staff in the ballroom to gather our plates and deliver more, the chicken was hot and well-prepared, mashed potatoes and gravy, steamed mixed veggies--I was impressed!

After the meal, every guest received a $5000 set of chips to play in the casino games set up at one end of the ballroom. Buck and I learned to play Craps (well, sort of :) I ended up giving him my chips, because other than throwing the dice, I didn't think the whole ordeal was that much fun ;) When you decided to be done "gambling" (with your $0 invested), you could turn in your chips for raffle tickets. You put the tickets in the gift bags you wanted a chance to win (all for restaurants) and that was that.

On stage there were some big prizes--tv, ps4, grill, wine cooler, etc.--which also required tickets. These ones only were available to employee club members (all of whom received a company pullover and some other goodies upon arrival). Each member only got five tickets, so we didn't end up with a big prize. We also tried to play bakery bingo--this was a very popular game, so it was hard to get seats! They had a bingo machine, and if you won bingo, you took home an item from the bakery--pies, cakes, bread, etc. Well, we sat down right as they finished the very last game. Oh man! They played a ballroom-wide game of blackout for restaurant gift cards; we didn't win those either. So finally, they pulled the tickets from the casino game *winnings.* No, no, no, no . . . serious lack of winning anything in our corner.

The VERY last possible prize was a $25 gift card to Panera. Buck is famous for not liking Panera. But I really do like Panera. He put a few tickets in that bag, just because he knew I liked it. I told him this would probably be the one he won . . . and sure enough, Panera matched our ticket! It was so funny, because he'd stood up and started walking towards the stage before they even finished calling the numbers. He just figured :)

Examining his Exam . . .

Okay, so I have the 9-year-old taking a junior high level astronomy course . . . he gets a little more leeway on his exam answers than the other kids, but these might be taking grading flexibility a little too far . . . :)

V-Fusion is his favorite juice on Earth, but I don't think that will work for this answer :) For number 18. he wrote "a kind of car," since we looked at buying a Ford Transit. Pretty funny, that one :)

Isn't love the answer? Not to this question it isn't, goofball!

Trimming Time

Gabby is not a fan of long hair. I can understand why, hers is remarkably thick (at least compared to mine :) Yesterday morning, I asked her if she wanted, still, to get it cut. She said she didn't think so. She liked being able to pull it back, do braids, etc. This has been her hairstyle of choice for about a year now.

In the meantime, Buck needed his neck shaved. Usually, this is my job. However, he has been talking about needing a haircut himself. I suggested he call for an appointment--"No problem, come on down!" I suggested he take Gabby along to see what the haircut ladies thought about her final length if she were to donate.

Gabby came back jazzed about the fact that she could keep enough length to donate and still pull her hair back! I asked if she wanted to cut her hair now, and she said yes :) So, Buck called back down and scheduled her an appointment same-day! (Wasn't it nice of those other customers to cancel just for us? :)

The weather, btw, was amazing for January. We had to drag the boys in and scrape a couple of layers of mud off of them before they could go along :) After lunch, we all piled in the van, because this is exciting stuff!

I didn't realize it had gotten this long!

They cut in four pony tails to keep as much length as possible. In just one or two, the angles get weird and it has to be trimmed a lot to get it even. Pretty smart to do it this way, I thought :)

Taadaa!

I think it looks cute on her, lots of waves now back!

She keeps flipping it around to feel it move (as all we girls do with a new haircut :) I told her the worst part about a new style is how much your neck hurts the next day from doing just that! Ha!

This time she donated to Wigs for Kids, which I guess is more financially accessible to the recipients than Locks of Love.

Inspired?

We watched the Presidential Inauguration on TV the other day . . . the youngest was understandably a bit bored. He's not quite ready for all the tradition and ceremony exhibited. The boy just wanted to get out and do his backyard cleaning services to boost his little stack of savings (almost $30 in two weeks! awesome for a 9-year-old!). However, yesterday afternoon we realized that some of the television coverage must have sunk in in its own unique way, because he gave us this . . .

"Shy president giving a speech."

Lol, what a nut! :)