The drama continues....

House of drama, it never ever ends.  So not even kidding you as soon as I hit publish post from my last post Matt took a turn for the worst.  I knew that he wasn't feeling top notch, but hey he just had surgery 4 days before so I thought it was normal.  He said he was having pains like before he had the gallbladder surgery, but worse, and he was nauseous, and dry heaving.  I called Dr. Rabaunavich's office to see what they wanted us to do.  The assistant said she had to call him because he wasn't in the office that day, and that she would call us back to let us know what we needed to do.  While I waited for her to call back I was panicking and trying to find someone to come give Matt a blessing.  I called our friend Dan to see if he was available, but he was at work.  I couldn't think of who to call, but he gave me some suggestions.  While on the phone with him the Dr. office called back.  They wanted us to come back to the ER and run some more tests on Matt.
We hurried and grabbed the stuff we needed, and headed off to the ER to see what was going on.  I was so panicked, Matt was dry heaving, and thankfully Maddie was calm.  I dropped Matt off at the door to the ER went and parked, and Maddie and I ran back to the ER.  Matt was filling out paper work when I got in.  I started trying to call people to see if they could come give Matt a blessing.  I was in tears, I had already called 3 people and couldn't get a hold of them, and one was out of state, so that didn't help.  Then finally I got a hold of brother Peck in our ward and he was happy to come and help.  He said he would find someone to help assist. Matt had finished his paperwork and was waiting, I didn't know what to do for him.  He hurt so bad tears were coming.  Matt has a pretty high pain tolerance so to have tears in his eyes I know it's pretty bad.  We waited in the waiting room for about 20 min.  I decided to call my friend Jacoy to see if she could come get Maddie for me.  I didn't know how long we would be in the ER for, and I didn't want her getting restless and seeing her daddy in pain.  Such a sweet heart Jacoy is, she totally said she could and would.  Thank goodness for good friends!
They finally get us into a room, and then it's another long wait to be seen.  Then Brother Peck shows up, and says that Brother Roberts is almost to the hospital as well.  Then the Dr. comes in and says what they want to do.  He says it's not uncommon for them to miss some of the gallstones after removing the gallbladder.  They wanted to check and see if that was the case.  Then he leaves and the nurse comes in to finally give Matt some Morphine, and Brother Roberts came in around the same time.  Pain meds and priesthood blessing Hallelujah!  The blessing assured Matt that he would have no further complications.  That was nice to hear.  It didn't mean that he wouldn't be pain free though.  After the blessing they took Matt to run some X-rays.
We were in the ER for about 4 hrs.  Craptastic.  Matt suffered, we would press the button when he would start to feel the pain again to have them come give more morphine.  It took them over and hr. to come and give it to him.  We called 2 or 3 times to see what was going on.  It was very frustrating!  The Dr. came back into the room and said that his liver may be inflamed or that he had and intestinal infection.  They wanted to run a CAT scan to see more.  So more waiting.  After the results from the CAT scan the nurse comes in and says there is absolutely nothing wrong with him.  He said Matt was constipated and to take milk of magnesia, and maybe try some home enemas.  He said that they would change his pain meds to something stronger.Then he said the Dr. would be in to talk with Matt.
So we waited for the Dr. to come in for about 10 min.  It makes me mad when he is standing right outside the room talking on his cell phone, when he can come in and just let us know his thoughts.  It turns out that I shouldn't have thought that, because the Doctor came in and said the same thing as the nurse and told Matt that he was a wimp.  We were both in total shock that he would say that.  We didn't know what to say.  What a jerk!  You never tell a patient that ever.  Doctors really need to put themselves in there patients shoes and think about how they are feeling.  He did say though that Matt could be having Muscle spasms.  I've heard those are pretty painful.  So they discharged us, and we went home, with Matt still hurting.  I dropped him off at home and went to pick up his pain meds.  Came back and went and picked up my girls from Jacoy's house.  Came back with Matt feeling a little better.
Matt was scheduled to get his staples removed 10 days after his surgery.  We wanted to go somewhere else to get them removed because we didn't want to see the jerky doctor again.  We were told we couldn't that we needed to followup with that surgeon.  Matt took those 10 days off from work, and tried to recuperate.  He was off and on for those 10 days well 9 days he went and got his staples out a day early.  He had to have a Dr. note saying that he was good to go back to work.
I thought everything was hunky dory when he left to go to work that night.  Matt didn't tell me that he was hurting.  I thought that he would take it easy at work and drive his patrols.  He thought he was okay to walk them.  It's almost 2 miles each patrol.  When he came home from work I knew it was bad.  He wasn't standing up straight.  He was nauseous and just hurting like before the surgery again.  He slept for a little while, but the pain was worse when he woke up.  He was out of pain meds.  I knew something needed to be done when I came into the hallway and Matt was kneeling on the floor butt in the air trying to relieve gas and just sobbing.   I didn't know what to do.  I just wrapped my arms around him, and sobbed with him.  I asked if he wanted me to say a prayer.  He did.  I asked if he wanted another priesthood blessing.  he did.  We didn't want to go back to the ER just to have them call Matt a wimp again.  So I got a hold of Brother Peck again and he was available to come and give Matt another blessing and he said he would find someone to assist him.  He brought Brother Adams with him.  The blessing was reassuring Matt still has a lot to do on this earth.  After the blessing we tried a cold pack on Matt's stomach, but it hurt too bad to keep it on.  I called Dr. Rabaunavich's office again to talk to the nurse to see what she suggested.  She asked the usual questions- does he have a fever? no, is he nauseous? Yes, are his incisions really red or hot to the touch?  Not hot to the touch and his incisions are red, but I can't tell if they are worse from yesterday. He did just get the staples removed. what kind of pain? stabbing or aching.  Is is like the pain before he had the surgery or after?  Before.  I told her that we had gone to the ER the week before for this same stuff, and that the Dr. said it might be muscle spasms.  She then said well their is nothing we can do, but call back in 24 hrs. if the pain is worse or isn't gone.  I then asked are you going to prescribe him some pain medication? he is all out.  Oh yeah of course... where do you have it filled?  I give her the info.  She says to check and see if it's called in in about an hr.
She really was no help at all.  So frustrating!  Matt still hurting rolled up into the fetal position on the couch moaning.  It was awful.  Then brother Peck calls me.  He said he felt inspired to tell me that maybe giving Matt some warm chicken broth would help. Then he suggested maybe going into a cold bath to bring down his body temperature, and then doing the cold pack for a little bit.  Then to finish off with the warm heat pad to relax may help.  I was open to any suggestions at this point.  I told Matt what brother Peck had told me, and so he went into a cold bath right away.  An hr. had passed so I called to see if the prescription was called in and filled yet.  Lucky me it had just barely been called in.  On the way to the store I was worried that Matt had been eating stuff that was aggravating him.  I called my Mom on the way to see if she had suggestions.  She looked online for me.  Tomatoes, and avocados, tuna, lentils were some of the top suggestions.  So I got those things along with more oatmeal since he was still pretty backed up.  Then got his prescription then went home.  My Mom has also suggested that I talk to my cousin Sherilyn she does homiopathic remedies.
The pain meds helped take the edge off, but not much.  I emailed my cousin the next day, she said she could make me some homiopathics and send them to me.  She suggested acupuncture, and some other things like digestive enzymes and warm pad.  She was very sweet to help out!  Thanks Sher!  So I started researching acupuncture where to go.  I didn't want to just go to anybody.  I was scared.  I asked around and a couple of people responded.  Thank you very much!  I thought maybe matt's Tens unit( vibrator thingy majig that helps sooths) might help.  Problem was my brother in law J had borrowed it from us, and they lived almost an hr. away.  I asked Matt if he would be okay for me to go and get it for him.  He hurt and didn't feel the greatest I don't think he would have cared either way.  Also because he was feeling nauseous I researched to see what I could do as an herbal remedy.  It brought me to Ginger tea.  So I was going to go get the tens unit and go to the store and buy some ginger root, and some digestive enzymes when my Mom called.  She said that she had bought me some digestive enzymes and she was on her way to the store and that she was going to come drop them off.  We got to talking and I mentioned the Ginger root and I wasn't sure if I could just buy it anywhere.  She said you could buy it at the grocery store.  She asked if I needed anything?  I said would you buy me some ginger root, so it's one less stop for me.  She quickly said yes and that she would drop it off while I was gone.  What a sweet MOM I have!
So after the girls were fed, we left to go to my sister's house.  While I was there we got into talking about herbal remedies.  My Sister has been through a lot.  She recommended doing a  LSA Pro HHC scan.  Both Kate, and my little brother Quinn have done this.  They have had success with doing it.  I thought why not. So I went home to Matt and asked him what he thought, and he agreed to try.  We called Herbs for Health the next day and made an appointment for the following day.   I was very impressed with Kris Ross!  She is very good at what she does.  My eyes have been opened to herbal remedies.  I will have to talk more about them in another post.  Lot's has been going on in the last month.  We take things day by day.  We are trying to get Matt back on track, and feeling healthy again.  So stay tuned!

Emergency Gallbladder Surgery

The past couple of weeks have been some rough ones.  My poor hubby has not been feeling so good.  It all started with him not being able to pretty much fart.  I know we have all had those really intense gas pains, and have felt so grateful to be able to relieve ourselves.  I felt so bad for him, each day got worse.  laxatives weren't working.  He couldn't get comfortable.  He went to work in pain, then come home and crash.  He would wake up feeling good, but then about a half hr. after he woke up he would start feeling crappy again.  This went on for a little over a week.  I would ask him if he wanted someone to give him a priesthood blessing, but he felt really embarrassed about it, and declined.  I told him he needed to go to the Doctor, but he wouldn't do that either.  Then he started not being able to poop either at least for a couple of days.  The poor guy couldn't even stand up straight he hurt so bad.

Thursday night May 26th I was at a meeting.  After the meeting I decided to bring it up with a couple of my friends that I was with.  One of them said that one of her Uncles went through something very similar, and ended up having to have surgery.  I started to panic inside as she was talking and I can't remember if she said Gallbladder or not.  So when I got home I made Matt promise me that he would go to the Doctor the next day.  I told him I would make the appointment for him.  

Friday when he woke up he felt even worse, and the pain was escalating.  He went to the Doctor appointment and of course he had to wait forever to be seen.  The Doctor's assistant came and asked his symptoms.  Then the doctor came in and told him that he needed to go to the ER and have x-rays done on his appendix and colon.  So Matt called me on his way home to let me know what was going on.  As soon as he got home we left to go to Pioneer Valley Hospital about 10 min. away.  I was so dreading this.  I thought that we would have to wait forever in the waiting room to be brought in to a room, or curtained area.  Thank goodness we only had to wait for about 5 min.  Doctor McBride had called in advance to let them know we were coming.  We got a room with a T.V. in it.  The T.V. was a lifesaver for the girls.  They were in the ER with us from about 3 till 7.  By the end they had about had it.  I just didn't want to leave until I knew what was going to happen with Matt.  The x-rays of course came back normal on the appendix and colon.   The next step was to do an ultra sound to see if it was gallstones.
I didn't know how long that was going to take to even do it, so I decided to call my Mom to have her come and get the kiddos.  I couldn't get a hold of her though, so I decided to just go and stop by her house.  She only lives 5 min. away from the hospital.  Maybe she didn't hear her phone.  That was the case, she was outside when I had called.  I tried her home phone on my way.  Such a blessing that she was able to take the girls for us.  Rex took my Mom and the girls to Burger King, so i could get back to Matt.  When I got back to Matt's room the surgeon was talking with him.  They had already done the ultra sound and turns out he had a gallbladder full of gallstones that he wasn't able to pass.  Their was no other option but to take the whole gallbladder out.  The surgeon told us it would be a very fast process, about 20 min.  He told us that surgery would be @ 5 in the morning, and to be prepared to have a very long boring night.  Long and boring was right, but very hard as well.
Matt was told he could eat and drink up till midnight.  Matt hadn't eaten anything since the night before, so I went home to get stuff for the girls to stay at my mom's, stuff for Matt and I.  Called someone to come and give Matt a priesthood blessing.  On my way to my Mom's I picked up a meal from Burger King for Matt.  At my Mom's I was starting to lose it, and she asked if I needed a blessing.  I did, so I asked Rex if he would give me one.  The blessing was a great comfort to me, i'm so grateful that Rex was there to be able to give me the blessing.
When I got to the Hospital they had admitted Matt into the hospital and into another room out of the ER.  He snarfed the food down.  After he ate the nurse came in and gave Matt some antibiotics through Matt's IV.  A little bit after doing this Matt started getting nauseous.  Then he started to dry heave.  Matt is not supposed to be able to throw up because he had surgery on his stomach about 5 years ago for his acid reflux.  So it's a painful experience for him when he feels like he is going to throw up.  Over the last 5 years though he has started to have vomit come out not a lot though.  So when he started dry heaving, I started to tear up.  I felt so bad for him already being in such pain, but to have to add this pain to it as well.  After he was done we let the nurse know that he had thrown up, and that he still felt nauseous.  She got some nausea medicine for him.  That helped.  Matt ended up having to have 3 rounds of the antibiotics and each time he got nauseous, which made me nauseous and start gagging.
It was a long uncomfortable boring night.  Matt didn't feel like talking, I was too tired to read, and too tired to watch the t.v.  I don't think that either of us slept, but 40 min. that whole night.  5:00 rolled around and nobody came into the room to take vitals or get Matt for surgery.  By 5:20 I decided to go out and see what was going on.  Turns out that the surgeon and the team don't even start until 6 a.m.  The nurses asked me if he meant 5 p.m.  I was like he better not have.  So  there was nothing to do but wait.
They finally came in to prep Matt for surgery at 7:15 or so.  When the anesthesiologist came to take him into the surgery room I wanted to make sure of how long surgery would be. I told him that the Dr. said it would take 20 min.  His reply was oh it could take 20 min. for Matt to go under, and then do surgery, and then wake up.  So it would be about an hr and a half tops.  I thought nice I could go run an errand and not have to have my mom or anyone else do it for me.  I had paid for a bountiful basket for a food co-opp and it was at the mall not to far from the hospital.  I thought I would have plenty of time to pick it up drop it off at home, shower, and be back before he woke up.
This was not the case.  As I was putting the food basket into my car, Matt's Mom called the cell phone.  She said she had called the hospital to see how Matt was doing.  I guess apparently the Doctor talked to her, but he wouldn't give her any information since she wasn't at the hospital.  She said he had gone out into the waiting room to talk to me and I wasn't there.  The surgery did take 20 min.  Crazy!  I was really worried that something had gone wrong.  You see when Matt had his stomach surgery they messed up on him, and he had a 2 week stay in the hospital.  So I hurried back to the hospital.  When I walked through the door the doctor was in the waiting room talking with another doctor.  He recognized me right away, and said that Matt's surgery had gone well, and that I could go up to his room and wait for them to bring him up.  So I did, and waited for about a half hr.
When they brought Matt up he looked like he hurt.  Of course he hurt they he has 4 1 inch incisions held shut with a bunch of staples.  I told the nurse what the anesthesiologist had told me on the time frame.  She laughed and said that he must have never worked with this surgeon.  Apparently the surgeon has removed so many gallbladders that he just goes right in and does it.  I guess he doesn't want the patient to be under anesthesia for long periods of time.  We had to stay in the hospital for a couple of hrs, to make sure he was able to go to the bathroom, and eat, and monitor his vitals.  I'm so glad that we didn't have to stay overnight.  I'm so glad that we live a little over 10 min. away from the hospital.  Poor Matt got nauseous on the way home, and started to dry heave.  Holy crap painful!  I started to get scared when he started dry heaving. All I could think about was hurry up cars and get out of my way.  When we got home I hurried and unlocked the front door so Matt could get inside.  He went and laid down, and thank goodness the dry heaves stopped.  I think he got car sick.
While he slept I went and filled his prescriptions, went back to the hospital because we forgot his breathing treatment devise, and then went to my mom's to pick up the girls.  The girls were waiting for my mom to get ready so they could go to the park.  They didn't want to come home.  Fine with me, my Mom kept them for a few hrs. longer.  She made us a couple loafs of bread, and said she would bring dinner with her when she dropped the girls off.  When I got home Matt was doing alright.  I was worried about him, and didn't want to be gone longer than I had to be.  It was nice to be able to shower and clean up, and then have a nap.
My Mom brought the girls back around dinner time, with spaghetti.  Funny thing though the 2nd counselor in the bishopric came with his kiddos to bring us dinner as well!  We were so surprised.  He came in for a few minutes to see how Matt was doing.  He also just happens to be the counselor over the primary, and he told me the best news.  That I was being released from the primary!  Instant relief that I no longer had that responsibility of being the 1st counselor.  He did say to not get to comfortable which scared me.  I'm going to go into hiding!  It will be nice to have a little break. =)
So it has been 4 days since Matt had his surgery.  He is doing alright.  We take it hr. by hr.  He is good if he is lying down.  He does get up and move around though.  We are hoping that he will be able to go back to work soon.  He doesn't have any sick leave, or vacation time, so it really puts us in a bind.  Matt's supervisor had her gallbladder out awhile ago and she said she was out for 3 weeks.  Matt's brother had his out a while ago as well, and he was in the same predicament as Matt.  he had to go back almost a week after his surgery.    He wished that he could take at least a couple of more weeks off.  We are playing it by ear.  Matt is scheduled to go in on June 7th to get his staples removed.
So the silly guy decided to watch a gallbladder surgery on the internet yesterday.  Big mistake!  He said it was so gross that it made him want to throw up.  I said well if it made you want to, I know that I would have thrown up, and then passed out, or vice versa!  I'm so grateful for Matt.  He has such a high pain tolerance, it amazes me.    I'm so grateful for the friends that have brought us dinner.  I'm so thankful for the prayers and thoughts uttered in our behalf.  It's nice to know that people care.  Thank you all so much, and I love you dearly.  So if you are experiencing intolerable gas pains and bloating and nothing works for you, go to the doctor right away.  You may be experiencing gallstones.  Believe me watching Matt suffer for a week and a half was horrible and you don't want to suffer like that.  

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was a great one this year!  Matt is currently working graves so he didn't make me breakfast in bed.  I was really wanting some of his yummy crepes, he makes them better than me.  The girls didn't have Matt awake to pep them up about it being Mother's day, so they didn't say anything.  I tried to sleep in, but my body was already awake, so I peeled my body out of bed and lounged on the couch.  The girls were downstairs watching a movie.  As I was lounging I was thinking you know the girls need to really know what Mother's day is all about.
I called Madisynn upstairs and asked her if she knew what day it was.  She didn't know, so I told her.  I explained to her how special Mom's are, and that it's nice to have a day where we can do extra special nice things for them to show them that they are loved.  Then I asked her what nice things she could do to make me feel loved.  She said "bring you treats".  I replied that would be sweet!  Then I asked "Oh how about breakfast in bed?"  I really wanted it, so I said 'Why don't you go in the kitchen and make me something yummy for breakfast!" Madisynn's eyes opened wide and she ran into the kitchen with a huge smile on her face.  So I lay on the couch wondering what she would do.  She rustled through the kitchen for a minute then came running back into the living room with a cake mix box gave it to me, than ran back into the kitchen came running back out with a can of frosting, ran back in got my big cup and filled it full of water, came running back out to me and handed me my cup, and said it was punch.  She was pretty pleased with herself!  I laughed and gave her a big hug and kiss and said Thank you that is wonderful, I love you, and I'm glad you're my daughter!  Then I pretended to eat the cake, and frosting, and then drank my water.
I did the same thing with McKenzie.  I called her up and asked her what day it was today?  She wasn't sure, so I told her.  I explained the same way I did with Maddie about what Mother's day was about.  I asked her how she was going to honor me.  She said" clean the house."  I said "well we did that yesterday.  What else can you do?"  She says " do the dishes!"  I say "that would be wonderful!"  Then I hinted towards breakfast in bed.  I said "go ahead and make me something yummy!"  I was expecting cold cereal, but McKenzie made me oatmeal, and not the packet ones the old fashioned oats that I like to eat.  It took her 30 min. to do it, but by golly she made it, and did a pretty good job of it!  I was a little worried though through the whole process, and was thinking when I should go intervene.  I pretended to be asleep on the couch when she came into the living room so it would be like a surprise.  She put the oatmeal and my glass of water on the little card table, and went and got her present she had made for me in school.  I woke up and acted all surprised, and gave her a big hug, and said thank you and told her that I was glad she was my daughter as well, and that I loved her.  She was beaming!  The oatmeal was edible not how I like it, but hey considering it was her first time it was awesome.  I thought I tasted a peach in my oatmeal so I asked her if she put peaches in it?  She says "I think I put 1 in there." I laughed and said "well I just ate it!"
The cute little gift she had made for me was a little basket she had made out of paper, and some cute little flowers with her picture on them.  They were laminated and she had written I love my Mom on each of them. It was super cute!  Madisynn wanted in on the action and wanted to give me a gift so she went into the kitchen and found a paper she had painted the day before and gave it to me.
It was a really nice day!  Matt made crepes for lunch, and he gave me a food dehydrator, with a card. The card said " A poem for my Sweetie.  You're fun and you're smart.  You've stolen my heart.  I'm giddy whenever you're near! And please don't get mad, but I just have to add....you look really great from the rear!!!  Then on the back it says Think i'll just sit here and take in the view.  Too cute and funny, He is a sweet man, and made me feel loved and appreciated! We had my Brother and my Mom over for dinner, and had a great time eating, talking, and watching galaxy quest.  I'm so grateful for my Mom, Matt's Mom, and all other Mother's that are in my life.  They are such great examples to me!  I love you all!

Birthday party events

We had an absolute blast celebrating the girls birthday yesterday!  It was like Christmas.  We started off by going bowling.  The stats were: Matt 1st place with 108, McKenzie 2nd place with 107, Madisynn 3rd place with 92, and Karen last place with 84.  In my defense we weren't able to use the bumpers they had already been reserved, and the girls had matt's help with the ramp.  blah blah blah  I just suck at bowling! LOL  We then went to pick up the girls 1st surprise present at petco, and no it's not a dog.  What do you think I am CRAZY?????  No we got 2 little fish. The girls named them Goldie, and Flower.  Here they are:

Kenzie named the orange one Goldie, and Madisynn of course named the black one Flower.  I think it would have been really funny if they swaped the names and the black one was goldie!
Next I needed to bake cookies, and get dinner started,  so Matt and the girls started watching Harry Potter and the deathly hollows part 1.  For dinner the girls wanted cheeseburgers and homemade fries.  Matt Grilled those and Pork chops, and I made a yummy green salad, prepped fresh stawberries, and made the french fries.  It was super yummy!

My Mom came and we all ate together.  So nice to chat at the dinner table.  After dinner we waited for Rex my Mom's boyfriend to come.  It was so cute my kids absolutely love him, and they were asking if he was going to come.  It was still up in the air from the last I had heard. I had Kenzie call Grandma Alice to see if he was.  They were thrilled that he was able to come.  So as we waited my Mom got really cold, Maddie took good care of her and piled about 6 blankets on top of her and then snuggled up by her. 

Then Kenzie wanted to be a part of the action and wanted to be in the picture too:

My girls had been eyeing the presents that my Mom brought, and wanted to open them up.  We told them they had to wait until Rex showed up.  They kind of peeked the little stinkers, but still we made them wait!  When Rex came he had brought them presents too, which was really sweet of him.  So we did things backwards and opened presents before singing happy birthday and blowing out the candles.  From My Mom the girls got Pillow Pets, and headbands.  From Rex Tangled Rapunzel barbie, and Tangled book with brush.  The girls loved it all! 
So the brush is really cute, but annoying =).  It goes off at the slighest bump.  Rex was so kind to even go buy batteries for it after they opened it up because it had died on the way to our house.  Isn't he so sweet?  No he really is, and I thought it was really funny!  I had to tease him and say you just couldn't resist brushing your hair all through the night, that's why the batteries died.  LOL  So here are the girls with their loot:

Then we went out to the garage to give the girls their 2nd surprise present.  Bikes!!!!  They have been needing new ones for a year.  Madisynn has been riding a tricycle that she is too big for.  McKenzie had way outgrown her little bike.  We thought let's get a 20" for Kenzie, and a 18" for Maddie.  Of course Maddie isn't ready for that size yet, but we wanted it to be an insentive to learn to how to ride her little 12" bike first.  Matt put the training wheels back on it, so it was all ready for Maddie to use.  Kenzie looked so little, but big on her big bike.  I'm so glad that they loved their bikes.  We let them ride outside for a little bit.  That's when Rex went and got batteries for the brush.  Plus it was getting dark, so it was time to come in.  Here are the girls and their bikes:

When we came back inside we got the girls 3rd surprise, their cake.  Here it is:

Okay I couldn't resist making a cake out of one of their most favorite things in the world, CANDYBARS!!!!  What Lucky girls!  Of course they Loved it!  We sang Happy Birthday and they blew out the candles.  Just when you thought you couldn't get enough sugar we added ice cream to the mix.  Cookie dough, and Rocky Road.  I really wanted to get some kind of candybar ice cream to go with the theme of the candy bars on the cake.  All they had was butterfinger.  I decided to go with cookie dough because the girls like it, and it went with the cookies on top of the cake.  My Mom really likes the Rocky road, so I wanted her to be able to have something that wasn't ridiculously gag you sweet! LOL  The girls each chose a big candybar.  Of course they couldn't finish it, too much sugar.  =)  Here are the girls and their cake:

We finished the night out talking around the table while the girls played with their playdough, and squinkes.  It was a very fun filled day, and the most important thing was the girls had a blast!  They were very greatful.  Thanks Mom and Rex for coming and spending the evening partying it up with us, and spoiling the girls!

7 & 5 Happy Birthday McKenzie & Madisynn!!!

I can't believe that we have a 7 and 5 year old!  The years have flown by so quickly.  I love my girls.  We are spoiling them rotten today, because they totally deserve it.  I'm so lucky and blessed to have these 2 precious little girls!  They are so so beautiful!

All about McKenzie:

7 years ago today @ 4:14 p.m. this sweet little angel came into our family.

Weight- 49 lbs.
Height- 47 3/4 inches
Favorite toys- Stuffed animals (Wiskers the cat, and Presenty the dog)
Favorite books- Princess books, and 3 billy goats gruff
Favorite T.V. Shows- Curious George, Super Why
Favorite Cartoons on Netflicks- Pink Panther
Favorite Movies- Despicable Me, Barbie Fairytopia, Mulan, Nemo
Favorite Video Games- Harry Potter
Favorite Board Games- The lady bug game
Favorite inside activites- Exercise, play board games, video games, Dance, Play downstairs with her stuffed animals makeing them go to school, and talk.  Color and draw mouses.
Favorite Outside activities- Jump on tramoline, Swing on the swings, and cross the monkey bars.
Favorite sports- Gymnastics
Favorite animals- Horses, pigs, cows, unicorns, ducks, and chicks.
Favorite colors- Black, pink, red, and light green
Favorite subjects in school- Reading and Math.
Favorite food- Hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, pizza, fruit, and pancakes.
Favorite desserts- Brownies, pie, and Ice cream
Favorite candy- Gum, and Candybars.
Favorite friends- Her sister Madisynn and Cenedra.
The thing she wants to do the most is play the guitar. =)

I love that McKenzie is a big helper.  She always wants to help me cook, bake, and do whatever i'm doing.  She is beautiful!  I love her smile.  I love that she still wants to snuggle with me.  I love that she has always been healthy.  I love that she is obedient.  I love that she is getting more and more confident with herself.  She is wonderful!  Happy Birthday sweet McKenzie!

All about Madisynn:

5 years ago today @ 6:16 p.m this sweet little angel came into our family.

Weight- 36.5 lbs.
Height- 41 inches.
Favorite toys- Unicorns, and Jewels
Favorite books- Barbie the 12 dancing princesses, and Dr. seuss books.
Favorite T.V. shows- Curious George, word world, dinosaur train, and super why.
Favorite cartoons- Looney toons ( sylvester and tweetie)
Favorite movies- Fairytopia, and Anastasia.
Favorite video games- Harry Potter
Favorite inside activites- play with the blocks cups( building towers, stacking them inside one another, putting her jewels and little animals, and polly pockets inside of them). do somersaults, play games, watch movies, and sleep on the living room floor.
Favorite Outside activites- Shoot the guns at empty water bottles with Daddy, cartwheels, and ride bikes.
Favorite Sports- Basketball, and dance.
Favoirte animals- Unicorns, polar bears, baby snakes, baby dinosaurs, momma dinosaurs, and elephants.
Favorite Colors- Pink, blue, and Purple.
Favorite things to do at Preschool- Rotate dinosaurs, learn about dinosaurs, volacanoes, lava, and waterfalls.  rolling on the floor, and reading stories.
Favorite foods- Oatmeal, hamburgers, pancakes, eggs, and waffles.
Favorite desserts- Jello, cake, and cookies.
Favorite candy- Chocolate Candy bars.
Favorite friends- Her sister McKenzie, Alice, Breeanna, Payton, Joplin, and MaKaydee.
The thing she wants to do the most is eat cookies, go shooting at the shooting store, and play with Payton.  =)

I love that Madisynn is a big helper.  I love that she constantly has to check and see where I am.  She wants to do whatever I do.  I love that she wants to snuggle up with me.  I love that she is healthy and growing.  I love that she calls me Mother, i wish she would call me mom, or momma, more often, it's just so stinking cute how she says mother!  She is beautiful!  I love that she is obedient as well.  She is getting more confident as well.  Love it!  Wonderful little girl Happy birthday!!!

I'm so greatful that Heavenly Father trusted me enough to be able to give birth to these little angels, and have them be raised in our home.  I'm so greatful that they put up with me and all of my issues.  I really have been blessed to have 2 such wonderful kids!

Let it go already...

I have a problem that keeps getting worse and worse.  I feel like i'm spinning out of control with it.  Control is the problem I think.  I like to be in control of my life, and my surroundings.  Who doesn't though right?  Anyways When I'm not in control I just lose it.  I hate feeling like this.  Matt and I got into an argument a couple of weeks ago.  I won't go into details about what we were fighting about.  I had a right to feel the way I did, but still I just overreacted.  I couldn't talk to him, because I didn't want to say something that I would regret later.  A few hrs. went by, and it was about an hr. before Matt had to go to work that I said I couldn't just ignore it anymore.  Matt just responded back saying what does it matter whatever I say is just going to make you mad, so what's the point.  That really got to me.  He said some things that were true like I just was afraid to admit that I have and emotional problem.  And all I ever did was yell at the kids,and him.  He said that I take everything so seriously.  Then I started to cry because the truth hurts.  I do do all of these things.  Why can't I let things go? Why can't I just relax?  How do I stop being a perfectionist?  How do I clear my head?  I do feel better after I have exercised, but then I fall right back into it.  I can't exercise all day long.  Please help!  I need all the advice I can get.

Lucky

I have been building up St. Patrick's Day up for McKenzie and Madisynn.  Telling them that Lucky the Leprechaun was going to come and visit them.  I said maybe we can catch him this year, and hopefully he doesn't make too much of a mess.  The girls instantly started saying maybe he will mess up our play room again, and turn our water green, and on and on.  Anyways our St. Patrick's Day was a day of fun!  I'm so grateful for the ideas that I heard about from other families a few years ago to make it even more fun.  I really need to be more on top of things and have it ready to go instead of at the last second.  We made our Leprechaun trap the night before, i know cutting it close.

The Trap which we will use again:

 

This year we set up the trap in the girl's bedroom instead of the playroom.  They were so excited, it was like it was Christmas Eve.  We didn't think they would fall asleep, they were wired.  Luck was with us though, they fell asleep pretty fast.  We took advantage of the opportunity and went around the house making it look like a Leprechaun had been here making mischief of all sorts.  We knocked the kitchen chairs over, took off couch cushions, knocked over couch chairs downstairs, had my hand weights all over the floor, knocked over furniture in their play room, messed up the toys, left doors open, turned the girls outfits inside out, made mess of their bedroom, knocked the trap over, took the gold necklace from the trap, and left a big box of Lucky Charms by the bedroom door.  Then Matt decides to get a glass of water dye it green, and leave a note from lucky saying thank you for the gold!  It was perfect!
The girls woke up at the first sound of noise in the morning.  We just lay in bed smiling knowing what was going to happen.  Sure enough the light came on their room, and they were totally surprised to see what had happened.  They were so excited to get a box of lucky charms, and they came running into our bedroom calling Mom and Dad look what Lucky left us.  Then they started going around the house to see if he was anywhere in sight, and to see if he messed up the house.  Their was no disappointment they were happy to see the mess, and the note from lucky!
They got ready for school wearing their new leprechauns day shirts.  I pulled their hair up, and Matt put green and white ribbon around their ponytails.  Then we had breakfast Lucky Charms of course with green milk.  Matt put green food coloring in the milk while they were getting ready.  They were so surprised.  I made the miracle whip green on the sandwiches for lunch.  For dinner we had Green pancakes.  It was awesome! The things we do for our kids, it's so worth it to see how excited they get!  Yes Lucky got away yet again, and we told the girls there is always next year!

Lucky Charms:

I'm not Irish..... Kiss me anyways!:

 
I had to post these drawings that kenzie drew for Lucky.  They are of sponge bob, rainbows, pots of gold.  I thought she did a pretty good job!: