School Pride

The week following the Primary Program was not only Halloween week but it was also Red Ribbon week at the girls Elementary school.  They did a camo day, crazy sock day, favorite team day, western day, and a school pride day (the kids were supposed to wear red, white, blue or their school shirts).  Most of those things come from not only living in a very western, cowboy ranch type of area, but from our school being 85-90% made up of Air Force kids (the base here in town is right next to our Elementary school-hence the camo day and our school colors being red, white and blue).  The one that the girls were most excited about was favorite team day.

 

The only sports teams they really know about are the New York Jets and the New York Yankees (both are Robbie's favorite teams), and the Pittsburgh Steelers (my grandparents and mom's favorite team).  We have also talked a lot about the school teams of the colleges we were attending when they were born, so the girls decided that they wanted those teams on their shirts this year (last year they wore a Steelers shirt, a Jets shirt, and a Yankees shirt).

 

Last year we already had the team shirts, and I really didn't want to go out to buy team shirts just for Red Ribbon week.  Luckily, I had a bunch of plain white T-shirts stashed away from making T-shirts with the girls in the past (we fabric painted some, then last year used iron on sheets to make their St. Patty's Day shirts).  I  had planned on drawing something on the shirts for them, but we got home late from church, immediately had dinner, and I forgot all about the shirts.

 

So Monday morning while the girls were eating breakfast, I quickly used a sharpie to write on their shirts.  Gwen was born in Bozeman, MT and had the MSU Bobcats on her shirt.  Grace and Georgia (who wanted to participate as well even though she is still in preschool) were both born in Rexburg, ID, and since they don't really have competitive sports teams, I just wrote BYU-I #1 on their shirts.

 

Despite me doing the shirts last minute, the girls loved them and were excited to wear them to school and tell everyone the reason they chose those teams and talk all about the places they were born.  Thank goodness for plain white T-shirts and sharpies (and yes, Grace was not happy-she had just scraped her elbow and was in a bit of pain)!!

My Pretty Girls

 

The girls Primary Program was right before Halloween this year.  The Primary Presidency made each child a bookmark with their part on it to take home, which made the girls so excited and helped them practice more than usual.

 

The day of the program, each of the girls had to have something special done with their hair-Gwen wanted hers curled, Gracie wanted hers straight, and Georgia just wanted a princess hairbow.  They each had their outfits all planned out and were super excited to get to church that day.

 

I absolutely love the Primary Program.  Whether participating as a Primary teacher or listening in the congregation, the kids special stories and testimonies as well as their precious little singing voices always bring the Spirit into the sacrament meeting so strongly.  So I was pretty excited for the program as well.

 

The girls did a fantastic job this year-they read their parts, sang along with all the songs, and sat reverently and listened when it wasn't their turn (which was an amazing feat-they never sit still for long!!).  Even Gwen (who cried through 85% of the program last year) did an amazing job, and the Spirit that was felt was so powerfully wonderful.  I am so proud of these sweet girls, and can't wait for the next program!!

The Turkey Hat

This girl awes and amazes me all the time, especially when it comes to the amount of bravery and self confidence she has. 

 

We went to Target a few weeks before Thanksgiving to get something, and while we were there, we decided to look and see what goodies they might have in their dollar bins (cause who doesn't love a good dollar deal?).  I didn't find anything that I thought was worth buying, but Grace did.

 

Gracie really went digging and found this lovely turkey hat.  She wanted to get it and I didn't.  I mean, the girls already had baseball caps and some dress up cowgirl hats (along with countless tiaras and crowns) so I really didn't want to add another hat to the mix.  We decided to compromise though.  If she could wear it all through the store as we went and got what we had originally come for, I would buy her the hat.

 

Not only did she wear the hat all through the store, but she wore it in the parking lot and all the way home.

 

I sure love her, and I hope that the confidence that she has in herself never diminishes or disappears as she gets older.

Gotta love the turkey hat!!

If I Had Been A Donkey (Or An Ogre)...

 

...my sweet girls would have been quite different.

 

They still would have been beautiful, but I sure am glad I have the beautiful and awesome kids that I do!!

Poor Gwen Has Planters Warts

I am sure that Gwen will be absolutely horrified and embarrassed when she gets older and finds out I posted about this, but it was a huge deal, and a pretty horrific experience for her.  It is something I will never forget, and I am sure she will never be able to forget it either, and since this is pretty much our digital scrapbook/journal, I think it needs to be included.

 

We noticed a while ago that Gwen had a couple planters warts on both of her feet (2 on one foot, 3 on the other).  We had tried the treatment kits you can find at any drugstore or grocery store.  They just didn't work, mainly because it was just so hard to get the medicine to stay on her feet. 

 

So when she had her yearly checkup this past summer, I mentioned them to her pediatrician.  She told me that the over the counter treatment kit was pretty worthless, and that she recommended that we take Gwen to a podiatrist, and she set up an appointment with one right down the street for later in the week.

 

The podiatrist was really nice.  He talked to Gwen for a bit, examined her feet, then explained that there were two ways of dealing with the warts.  One (which is a last resort method) was to use a laser to burn them off.  The other that he ended up doing on Gwen was to use a chemical to help them "fall" off.  He told us that it could cause some minor blisters, but everyone was different due to there skin type and there was no real way to tell how it would affect Gwen.

 

So I gave the go ahead (so dumb), he treated them, we went home, and a few hours later, Gwen went to bed.  We were told that the next morning we would need to take the bandages off, then thoroughly wipe the are clean, making sure not to touch or spread the chemical (it was a sticky brown gel) because it could get on other parts of the skin.  She woke up and was in so much pain-she said her feet were burning her.  So we took off the bandages and went to clean her feet.

 

She had massive blisters!!  These things were huge!!  In one place, there was even a blister under the main blister!!  So much for minor blisters or none at all.  I tried super hard to wipe all the medicine off, but Gwen kept telling me her feet were burning, so I took her into the bathroom and sat her on the side of the tub, and let some water run over her feet until they were clean and felt better (I had to scrub the tub afterwards to make sure none of the chemical was left over).  We dried her feet off carefully, then bandaged them again.

 

The poor kid couldn't walk right for 3 days.  Eventually all the blisters popped, but the areas healed really well.  The treatment worked, but I gotta say, I wish I had known how horrible it was going to be for her, because I would never have put her through that if I had known.  I will never put any of my kids through that ever again-we will find some other way of treating the warts.  I felt like a horrible mother because of all the pain and trouble she had, but she's a very strong and brave kids, and she got through it ok.  We have learned a very important lesson from this experience.

 

When trying to deal with planters warts, never go see a podiatrist.

Genesis And Her Blankets

I always thought it would be cute to have a child that would have a love for blankets, kind of like Linus from Peanuts (but maybe not that extreme).  My older three however have never had that need for a blanket.  The most they would use them for was their intended purpose-nap time, bed time, and occasionally, to snuggle under while watching a movie.

 

Until Genesis.

 

We could tell when she was only a couple months old that she loved blankets (or just fabric in general).  She would fall asleep easier with a blanket (especially in the car), snuggle with them all the time, and as she got older, walk around with them (and now, wrap them around her head and neck like a scarf so she can be hands free).

 

She's such a cutie.

 

 I just love her and her unique personality!!