hamming it up

I already posted today with some more Washington DC pictures, but after Jayden made a full blown ham of himself, I figured I better post for your enjoyment. Beware, they are funny!

"Huh?"

Amazing architecture and friendly critters

Washington DC has the friendliest squirrels and birds because they are so used to tourist being everywhere. In fact, the birds will even sit on the same table with you as you eat, waiting for any droppings of food to scavenge for. This little guy was watching me over by the Washington Monument.

They are everywhere. It's really fun to be within a couple of feet of the little critters and not have them act so skittish in return. This one was enjoying a tasty snack.

I was constantly amazed at the beautiful architecture of the buildings in DC. The buildings are absolutely beautiful and feature amazing designs. I noticed this one on the way to the White House on Tuesday. I couldn't take a lot of time to actually take the pictures because we didn't have a lot of time to stop at everything I wanted to see. So I quickly shot pictures as I walked so I did have something to show when I came home.

This is the Department of Treasury building. The statue in front is of Albert Gallatin, Secretary of Treasury. The big pillars in the front of the buildings were a common theme among many different buildings.

This picture looks up the street. You can see how beautiful the buildings are and how compact things are.

Just another view of Washington DC.
The man sitting down was extremely strange and really tried his best to annoy the tourists at the White House. He had a megaphone and constantly spoke into it different songs ranging from Christmas music to Sesame Street. Then he started preaching from the Gospel and then back to random thoughts. He never quieted down. When I asked the police officer about him he just said this is the first day he actually had the microphone and was probably just showing his way of protesting. Either way, it was comical.
Of course there were street musicians playing for money. This gentleman couldn't play well, but still brought in a fair amount of green money.
Tomorrow will begin the best post, I think. I will start with the memorials and the White House and see how far I get. Maybe I'll even try to get one posted tonight yet.

Remember, I'm trying to sort through 500 pictures. It's hard to only use a handful.

Marriott Wardman, Metro, Shuttle, Flying

I think I will do multiple posts as I have time, so I don't overwhelm you with too much information. So let's start at the beginning.

I really don't like to fly. I can handle it ok, but I don't really enjoy it. Most of the time I try to focus on breathing, keeping my food down, and swallowing so my ears don't explode from the pressure. Occasionally I quickly grab my armrests for fear of falling out of the sky. A quick 45 minute flight to Minneapolis and a 2 1/2 hour flight to Washington DC was all it took. I tell you, once we landed, I was so thankful.

We then headed to the motel using a Super Shuttle which had to be one of the craziest rides of my life. Driving in Washington DC is nothing like South Dakota. The roads are much more different with strangely placed stop lights, diagonal turns, random curbs, and lots of one way roads. Plus, the drivers honk at each other constantly and they honk at pedestrians who even think of stepping off the curb. At one point, after our driver had cut-off several cars he actually stood up while he drove so he could see if he was going to hit vehicles on the left or on the right. The roads are very narrow and they allow parking on both sides. Everyone in the shuttle was shocked at the ride we had experienced.

We stayed at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, which was only about 4 blocks from the National Zoo.

While on our crazy shuttle ride, we were listening to the radio, which was talking about a Metro crash. There was a gal on our shuttle who lives in DC and I turned to ask her if it was common for the Metro to crash. She said no. The news was on live when we arrived at the hotel and it was talking about several deaths. As the days passed, the death toll went up to 9. From what we were understanding one of the circuits failed to work which should have stopped the train. It does show the driver attempted to stop when she seen the train, but it was too late and it rear-ended another train.

After watching the live coverage for awhile, we ventured out into the pure craziness streets of Washington DC. We went to Chipotle to eat. If you have never eaten there, I highly recommend it. It was definitely one of my favorite places to eat. They make gigantically enormous huge burritos that are almost impossible to pick up and eat, which is why they are served in a bowl with a fork!

Our next destination was to check out the Metro station. Wow, that was a site to see. The escalator alone was so big it took almost 5 minutes to get to the bottom, or the top, depending on which way you were going. We didn't ride the Metro on the first night, but we had to check it out. This picture was taken going up. As you can see, you cannot see the top.

The map on the left is the different lines to take. The crash was on the "red line". It was tricky to figure out. Basically you had to look at the ending on the poles to see what direction the train was traveling. Then you had to pick a stop closest to where you wanted to be. It took us awhile to figure things out. The gentleman working was gracious enough to thoroughly explain it and how to purchase a ticket.

Then we waited for a train to come to see the whole process. It's just like the movies! People stand on them if there isn't room to sit.

Everything is very fast paced. People get on and off quickly and nobody really talks to anybody. The people in DC are all "busy" and don't wander off their schedule.

I think this is where I'm going to stop this post. There will be more coming with pictures of the memorials and the White House as well.

home

I'm home. I'm quite tired. I'm going to update my blog with lots of stories and pictures....

but,

Not tonight. I'm quite tired. The trip was amazing....watch for updates soon.

snuggly suitcase

Have you caught on to how these blog posts are appearing? It's really not a secret. It's just a scheduled post, instead of posting immediately. That's how they keep appearing while I am gone. I don't think Sophie wanted me to go as she curled up in my suit case several times on Sunday before I left. Maybe she wanted to come along?

I will be home tomorrow. Yay!

growing up

The babies are growing up. They love to lay in the sun at the top of their tower and clean each other. They are 4 1/2 months old.

Before long, they both won't fit in there. I could be wrong, but it would mean some serious snuggling. I guess the babies probably wouldn't mind that.

Allie (left) and Macie (right)

heading to Washington DC

Today marks the day where I leave on a jet plane, literally. I'm headed to Madison to pick up my company vehicle, then I will drive to Sioux Falls and catch a plane. I will land in Minneapolis, switch planes, and should arrive in Washington DC around 4:30pm. Monday will be spent site-seeing from the time I arrive until I go to bed.

Tuesday will mark the beginning of the National Early Head Start conference I will be attending. At the end of the day, I will continue checking out the sites and hit the hay.

Wednesday will be the same. All day conference with the fun beginning afterwards.

Thursday will be the conclusion of the conference and the conclusion of our site-seeing. We will leave the closing notes early and catch a plane bound for Minneapolis at 4pm. I should arrive in Sioux Falls around 8:30pm and then back to Madison to get my car, then homeward bound.

Make sure you watch my blog this week. I do have some surprises in store. I will be taking my laptop with me, although I don't know if I will have time to figure out the wireless in the motel room, nor will I know if I will have time to post. I hope so! If not, watch for pictures and stories next weekend!

picking out his own shoes

Jayden has a fetish with shoes. His shoes. My shoes. Daddy's shoes. And especially Devin's shoes. See?

He took it upon himself to stand in silly postions as I snapped pictures. See how goofy he is?!

Nope, he's not wearing any shorts. Just hanging out in a diaper.
Fit with a red juice mustache and shoes on the wrong feet. He was having a great time flaunting around outside yesterday.

yesterday and today

Yesterday

Yesterday we all ventured (ha, in a Chevy Venture) off to Sioux Falls to look at new used vehicles because our van (mentioned above) is not feeling so good these days and to take our six loving children to the dentist.

Dental appointments went as well as can be expected considering the future teeth/mouth/dental/orthodontic problems will start experiencing in the future. On a great note, our children have No/None/Zero cavities. Yay for that!

Shaylee and Devin had a perfect appointment. No issues. They have great teeth.

Dalton has a very small mouth and is having terrible crowding problems. At his next appointment, he will need to have two baby teeth pulled on the bottom to make room for other teeth that are trying to come in. We asked the question, if his teeth are having troubles now, what will it be like when his permanent teeth come in? The dentist told us he will need to have permanent teeth pulled to make room. Dalton also has a permanent moler coming in that is absorbing the tooth next to it. That one might have to be pulled to let the permanent tooth come in. Yikes.

Shawndra will likely be referred to the orthodonist after her next visit in 6 months. Her permanent teeth on top beside her two front teeth did not develop. She does not have those teeth, nor will she have them in the future. The orthodontist will give us options whether we want to add teeth to her mouth or use braces to pull the teeth together and then reshape them.

Joseph is trying to maintain some space for a permanent tooth to come in. His spacer fell out weeks after his last appointment and insurance wouldn't cover it, so we didn't put it back in. So far it's doing ok. He also has a chip on his front tooth, but the dentist isn't concerned about it unless it bothers Joseph. Since it's cosmetic, we're not going to fix it right now. And it doesn't bother Joseph.

And finally, we get to Jayden. He has been sprouting out a bunch of teeth lately the last few months. Quite delayed and about 8 teeth started coming in at once. Right now, it appears he has an extra tooth on the bottom, which can be pulled if it gets in the way. It's ok now because he has tiny teeth and lots of spaces. Well they also took x-rays of his teeth and it looks like he does not have his permanent teeth up top beside his front teeth. Those would be the same teeth that Shawndra is missing. The dentist said it's possible he could develop them later, but it's highly unusual to not see them in the x-rays right now. So years down the road, Jayden will also have to have teeth added or pulled together.

So FINALLY, after the dentist appointments we were able to go see a Suburban at the dealership. It was quite nice, well, really nice compared to our crappy van. We made offers and counter-offered, and I think did one more offer. After deciding we needed something more reliable, we finally bought the Suburban. Our van was starting to cost lots of money in repairs, plus the A/C had quit working and the transmission was going out. It was time.

Here is a picture of our new ride. Yes, it's a bit of a gas hog compared to our van, but it is fully loaded and offers much more room for everyone inside. Definitely a step up for us. Yay!

watching the weather

We are experiencing our first severe weather of summer. We thought it was going to be worse than what has come so far. The sirens have been howling for half hour and the scanner and news have been jabbering with sirens going. Funnels have been seen within a few miles of us, but so far we are good. The kids were a little freaked out to be woke up and told to go to the game closet, which is under the stairs. Then I think they thought it was fun, once they stopped whimpering.

I can remember being scared as a child too. Deathly afraid to be honest. Living in a mobile home for several years is enough to scare the dickens out of anyone during a storm. But at the same time, I miss the sound of the rain on the roof.

Wow, it is POURING here now. I love the smell of rain. I love thunder. And lightning is beautiful as well.

Wordless Wednesday

here's lookin at you

Here's to lookin at you. I guess cows aren't used to random people stopping to take their picture because the whole darn herd came over and were watching me.

You ever wonder what the sun looks like when it's coming up before a storm? Isn't this a beautiful picture?

been busy

Our rummage sale was a huge success. We were able to get rid of all of our big stuff, including all of my baby stuff. We have finally found out how big our garage is and the storage room along with it. Now we just need to figure out what will go in that room. I think somebody who owned the house before us had a big air compressor in there.

I'm getting psyched to go to Washington DC next week. My job is sending me there for 4 days to a National Early Head Start conference. I'm anxious to hear the speakers and to learn a bunch of information to help me in my job. However, I am a bit apprehensive to fly and to leave my family. I'm hoping it might be a welcome break and that the time will fly by fast when we are there. I'm sure it will because we have sessions all day long and then we'll do some tourist type stuff in the evenings.

Jayden continues to heal from his surgery. I have noticed some really hard skin coming out of the incision. I keep soaking it in hopes it will soften up and tear off, but no such luck so far.

Shaylee was supposed to have an appointment yesterday to follow up with the gastroenterologist, but he wasn't going to be there, so we rescheduled in July.

Friday we're taking all the kid to the dentist. Yes, all 6 at once. And on Saturday we're going to a wedding. Then Sunday is Father's Day and a busy day for me getting packed to fly out on Monday.

I've got some pictures to share, but don't have time to add them right now. I'll post later. Have a good day!

Rummage Day 1

Rummage sale day one is done. We did great even though the weather was cloudy and drizzling for most of it. We have a large tree in front which helped protect half of the driveway. Otherwise, we kept wiping stuff down with towels.

I have sold almost all of my baby stuff today, but still have an abundance of boy clothes. I sure will be glad with the rummage sale is over.

Hopefully I'll get some pictures up soon. I honestly have been so busy with the sale that I haven't taken much for pictures. Yikes!

Well, I'm really tired and am going to relax for awhile this evening before I hit the bed (soon)!!

Special Thanks to the Paper

Just a real special thanks goes out to the Brookings Register for putting my ad in the paper for a rummage sale, but not actually putting us on the map. Flippin makes me so mad when I finally have a rummage sale after 12 years and the paper couldn't even get it right. So now since it's 10:30pm, my husband is running to my parents for a staple gun and to Wal-Mart for some rummage sale signs so we can hopefully direct some traffic over our way since the map forgot us. I think I will be making a phone call to the paper tomorrow.

Aside from that, we are ready. There is lots of stuff to put outside. I'm sure we'll be dealing with early people too since the door will be open to move stuff out. Heck, they were even stopping tonight! "We're from out of town, do you mind if we look?" Umm, ya, I do mind. I'm in the middle of setting up, there's no room to walk, and I have an ad in the paper for many items which will be here the day the sale starts.

Ok, I think I'm annoyed and should think about bed, but I'm still too fired up at the moment.

I Remember...

I remember standing in my grandma dorothy and grandpa bud's wedding and looking around at all the new cousins I was marrying into.

I remember wearing knee high socks in my dad and Mary's wedding, while my sister got to wear beautiful ruffle ankle socks.

I remember going mudding in my car with Kathy and getting into mud fights which later we relized was actually cow poop.

I remember meeting my best friend 21 years ago and swearing (well not really) that there was no way on Earth she was going into 6th grade with me.

I remember watching my other friend Traci, ride her bike home in 1st grade after we'd had a fight and she wiped out on the gravel 3 blocks from my house.

I remember roller-blading with Kathy in Girbaud blue jean cut off shorts and a swim suit top on the SDSU campus when we were only freshman in high school and thinking we were so cool.

I remember going to We-Fest with Kathy in my little Mazda pickup, knowing we had no place to stay, and just picked some random guy off the street to stay at his house, to later find out, he had been in a fight and his back was all bloody.

I remember sticking my hand in my Barbie swimming pool to feel lots of maggots and slugs.

I remember thinking my husband now, was super cute 15 years ago when he was dating my friend.

I remember coming home sick from school after telling my mom that I wasn't missing anything important all because I didn't want to take that scary English test.

I remember being deathly afraid of my dad's basement and my bedroom with blue velvet walls.

I remember sticking my head through the windshield of my friends car when she rear-ended a municipal utilities truck.

I remember my pet ferret, Shana, who hopped around so funny, and stunk so badly.

how to eat green beans

Tonight was another night spent in the garage pricing stuff for the rummage sale. I think we are well over half done. What a lot of work preparing for it!

Last night my computer would not let me log in because of Family Safety. It was really making me mad, maybe you could tell by my Tweets? I couldn't get onto any websites and it wouldn't take my password, which I know was right. Oh well, at least tonight I got on.

So you really want to know the best way to eat green beans, right? I mean that's why you came to this post.

Well, according to Jayden, the best way is to dip them in ketchup.

And when it's good and covered with ketchup, Jayden says to Eat it!

tantrum overload

Cute picture huh? A sweet boy? A handsome young lad? An innocent toddler? A curious child?

Ahem.

My innocent boy, who is two years old, has a history of tantrums, crying, hitting, pulling hair, pinching and tipping any object over he can find. It's been going on for months and months. Usually he acts at his worst when he's at the doctor and sees any type of medical professional. However, his fits, tantrums, whatever you choose to call them, have gotten so bad at home we don't know what to do anymore.

He pushes the computer chair to the top of the stairs and gives it a push as it crashes down the stairs hitting the glass on the side. He throws his plate of food or glass of milk onto the floor. He pitches toys, shoes, sunglasses, remotes, phones and cups down the stairs. He steps on the cats tails or picks them up by the neck or fur on their back. He torments Devin to no end.

Any time he does this we tell him no and put him in time out in a chair or send him to his room. Within minutes he's calmed himself down and can come out. However, the frequency of us doing this to him is what I feel "constantly" all day long. The time outs don't seem to work. We have tried holding him tight to calm him, which only makes it worse.

Sometimes in my head I think this is caused by all of the trauma he's experienced in the clinic and at the hospital and that these experiences have really messed him up.

In Occupational Therapy, we talked about doing a "brush therapy" on him to help reload his central nervous system. I'm beginning to wonder if this is our next step for him. I just don't know.

I love this sweet little boy to pieces and want to help him, but can't seem to find the right way. This is why I am posting. I know I have people who read this, and people who leave comments, and people who email. I'm just asking from one mom to another, what else could be going on with him? I would love to hear any thoughts, comments, or ideas on what I could try.

all in a days work

Today I got my first pedicure. Ever. It was amazing, even though the girl thought I was going to kick her. There were a few moments where it was definitely tickling my feet, but in the end, we were all laughing about it. I love the pink polish that my toes are sporting.

After that, mom and I went to Wal-Mart to be a few necessary things. Wal-Mart always seems to be interesting, but today was actually a normal trip. Ha!

Then it was time to come home, pick Shawndra up and head back to Brookings for a birthday party. I got her dropped off, then came back home and started pricing stuff for the rummage sale.

One thing led to another and before long I had the carpet cleaner out and was cleaning the chairs we are selling on the rummage sale. We still have tons of stuff to do to prepare for this sale. It seems we have been putting it off for silly reasons.

• We can do it next weekend.
• We still have time.
• I don't want to park my car outside of the garage.
• We don't have tables.
• I don't know where to put stuff that has been priced.

Haha! Well here we are, 6 days from our rummage sale and feeling like chickens with out heads cut off. I would love to show you pictures of our garage, but yikes, that's scary right now. Maybe when we have things set up will I then allow you a sneak peak at that.

Jayden's been pretty crabby today. Lots of toys have been flying down the stairs and lots of people getting hit or their hair pulled. He even went to his room for a time out at 11am and went to sleep. Finally at 2:30 he came out. I guess he needed to sleep.

Tomorrow is church, then picking up the tables after church and then I suppose we will do much more work in the garage.

future in Chiropractic, Jayden style

First, you cover their eyes, nose, and mouth because you don't want them to have full use of their senses. Make sure you have a good grip, using both hands. Bend your knees to save your own back.Second, give a good strong jerk to the right. Carefully slide your hand up to the forehead to make sure you have a better grip on their head. If it didn't crack with the first jerk, keep turning the head and neck.
Finally, when said patient has had enough and has tumbled to the ground waving a white flag, scurry away as you have completed your job with said patient.

softball season

Shawndra is up to beat. She had some great hits tonight and scored some points for the team, should I say, the "winning" team, even though we didn't keep track.

Shaylee's turn to bat. She also did awesome with batting and catching. She scored some points and she caught the ball causing an out. Way to go!
I love how they have to run holding onto the helmet strap. Geez.

random nature

I stopped on my way home to mess with my camera a bit. I did manage to get this one slightly blurry in the background, but it really wasn't intentional. I loved the yellow bird, what ever it is called.

Looking through the grass. Ended up with some neat details.

And this darn beaver dam. I drive by it a lot and many times I've wanted to take a picture, but I either haven't had my camera, haven't had the memory card, or haven't had the ambition!

I do LOVE taking pictures. I need to get back into my random pictures to see what I can get. Lately it seems I've been so focused on my kids and on Jayden's surgery. Speaking of which, Jayden is healing very well. He goes to see the doctor/surgeon tomorrow for his post-op appointment. I will update tomorrow on what that appointment brings.

Not Me! Monday

Not Me! Monday was created by MckMama and you can go visit her site to read her marvelous posts along with many other faithful wolverines (as she would call them) here.

I did not get so annoyed with the hospital and clinics this week because they were lacking in communication and because they told me that "so and so" would call me first thing in the morning. Well of course, when 3:20pm rolled around, I did not feel any hostility when the phone rang.

I did not catch my cat making friends (I think) with a bird this weekend. And I did not hear non-stop tweeting from a little bird that my kitten had also made friends with. Even though this did not happen, there are certainly no photos to prove it.

And yes, for those who are soft-hearted, this little bird was fine, and they remained friends.

I did not read ALL of MckMama's post on "blurry backgrounds" and immediately attempt to take pictures like she does. That would be completely silly of me to try to make a picture look as brilliant as MckMama. Since I never tried to take pictures where the subject is crisp and the background is blurry, it would be completely pointless to post this picture.

Obviously the subject of this picture is crisp as can be and the background is blurry. Hmmm, maybe I did not gasp at complete frustration because of this. Nope, not me! I was completely happy with this picture and did not get upset or annoyed with my picture taking abilities.



I would never ever venture out right after a storm to take a picture of our flooded street, especially when it only took 5 minutes to flood like this. And I certainly didn't think of getting a floatie out to float down the road...now thinking and doing are completely different, right?

I did not bust a gut laughing because of the faces my son made while showing his teeth. That would be mean and I would never do such a thing.

That's all I got folks! So what did you do this week?