Mystery Picture

For those of you who have been enjoying the mystery pictures, here is a new one. I'm starting easy for you. I'll keep my eyes out for harder ones in the future!

The shower

When we moved into this house two and half years ago, I was surprised to discover the main bathroom didn't have a shower head...just a tub faucet. (I was obviously tired of looking at houses and was therefore blind to little details.) How does a main bathroom not have a shower head? Eventually we were having problems getting any hot water out of the faucet and after several different attempts to solve the problem we realized that the hardware would need replacing. Well since you're busting into the tile and wall, could you just put in a shower head? (I try to be reasonable in the requests I make of Chad. It really helps form strong marital bonds.)

So that's what's happened. Demolition began the day after Thanksgiving. I think that was Chad's favorite part! Behind the wall we found moldy insulation so that was replaced. You can see the project's progression in the pictures. The grout was finished and sealed and everything caulked last week and the new shower curtain put up on Saturday. Yipee! Chad and his friend did an awsome job and now we can shower WITH hot water!

2007 Quilt Group project

Here are the first 3 months of the Enrichment Quilt Group for this year. I think you can guess which ones are for which months. The birds/birdhouses is the one we are starting tonight. I, of course, am impatient and started mine the night I got home from the church last month. Now I get to be the one to guide everyone through the project tonight. I wish my block looked a little better. I wasn't happy with the way the birdhouses turned out and wish that I chose different fabrics. Oh well.

These blocks are actually quite large. They are supposed to be individually backed, quilted and used as monthly wall hangings. I don't have a suitable wall spot, so I'm saving them to make a quilt when they're done.

And this is a picture of Rebekah only 20 minutes ago (check your watches) as she woke up from her nap. She is 18 months old today (or on 2 March - February is too short to get to her actual day). Doesn't she look like a big girl who will love Nursery?? She's sitting here with me as I type and can see her picture. She's quite pleased with herself and there are fingerprints all over my computer screen!

Catching up, again.

For those of you who check up on us regularly, I apologize for letting you down. I haven't written in almost a week! Thank you for not abandoning me!

I am home again from my 4 nights at my sister's house. The tutoring was hard work for all of us, but I hope that it was at least a little successful. I learned from my first day alone in a strange house that we had to get out and do some things, even if my kids didn't want to get anywhere near their car seats.

On Wednesday, we made the trek across the valley to visit with my sister. She fed us lunch, complete with chocolate milk. What a treat for the Collett kids. It's not that I don't allow them to have chocolate milk, it's just that I'm too lazy to make it very often. Andrea and I kept busy on different projects while the kids played. Rebekah didn't play. She just kept interrupting me. I was writing captions for pictures that I put into an album when I was in bed recovering from my foot surgery. So now my pictures are done through 2004! YAHOO!! You'd better be cheering for me.

On Thursday, Andrea and I took the kids to the childrens' museum. It seemed to me (and I'm sure it did to Andrea) that we were there quite a while. While Rebekah was ready to go, I had to drag Nathan and Leah away from all the fun. I felt a little sorry for them, but I must be firm! We need a childrens' museum here. I would buy a membership in a heartbeat. I would also buy a case of hand sanitizer. (Let's be honest!)

On Friday, I decided that my kids' behavior was such that I needed to cancel the last day of tutoring. Even Daniel was acting up at home. So I loaded everyone up and headed out of town in the middle of a snowstorm. We stopped at Grandpa's first. He fed us ice cream (in celebration of the storm?). Just in time for lunch! We stopped for gas once but otherwise drove straight home and arrived about 4 PM. Chad and Daniel were out to a movie and we just sat and recovered from the drive. While waiting for them to get home, I was heating some water for spaghetti and kept hearing some clicking. I thought it was just the heating element on the burner, but when it kept going after the stove was off, I realized it was coming from the fridge.

We thought that maybe it was the ice maker, so we turned it off. Still clicking (followed by humming). Fast forward to Sunday morning. I notice that the fridge smells warm when I open it in the morning. The milk is not as cold as normal. And what's this? There's no ice in the freezer! It's completely melted and everything has fully defrosted.

That afternoon we had some friends over to help us eat all the fish sticks, chicken nuggets and fingers and vegetables that are thawed. We enjoyed a nice time and bounteous buffet. They lent us some coolers and gave us some milk jugs of frozen water. That is now our refrigeration system...in the cold garage. So I'm not complaining because it did happen in the winter and we didn't lose much food.

The repairman was here today. The compressor is out, which is covered in the warranty (the fridge is only 2 1/2 years old), but won't be installed until Thursday because it has to be shipped. Lovely! At least it's covered and we're only paying for the service call. And another benefit...my fridge is VERY clean! Daniel (or was it Nathan?) even asked if we got a new fridge. I must have made that thing shine!

Through all this, we've been having problems with Daniel. He's been extremely emotional, withdrawn, touchy, tired, etc. and then he snaps out of it. While I was at the clinic with Daniel and Rebekah (yes, I'm helping to pay their power bill with my copay donations), he confirmed for me that Daniel's behavior is most likely separation anxiety. That makes me feel special, but really! We're praying for him and hoping he comes out of it soon.

So now I've got to attack the disaster that my house has become. And then I have to tunnel into my sewing room to finish my quilt block for Wednesday. I am the head honcho this month (lucky me) because the real honcho is going to be out of town. If you don't see any new posts for a while, it's for a good reason! REALLY!

Are we almost there yet?

That's what Leah was asking me less than 30 miles into our drive yesterday. Not a bad question, unless you consider that the ride is more than 3 hours long! After much crying and hysterics (the kids weren't very well behaved either), the girls finally fell asleep around 60 miles and slept for 50. Nathan never complained. What a lovely boy! He took a nap when the girls did, so I had the ride all to myself for a bit.

We were glad to finally arrive and get out of our seats. The kids had fun playing until bedtime. Nathan almost got to sleep a room with his cousins until I found him on the floor between the beds and one of his cousins midair in a leap over his head. Considering they (cousins) had school in the morning, I thought it best to put Nathan into bed with Leah. He never even balked.

All cousins have been gone all day. We are dying. It's hard to find something to do in a strange house for very long. It's 2:40 and they should be home soon. Then the tutoring work begins and the house starts trembling with 6 kids shedding energy equal to at least 10!

We should try to go somewhere tomorrow.

A borrowed story

This story isn't about any of my family, but it was funny enough I wanted to share it. I'm glad it's going on in other households!

My friend has four kids 6 and under, like we do. Her youngest is 9 months and the next in line is going to be 3 soon. This morning she discovered a sticky cough drop in the baby's hair. Turning to the child she knew was guilty (3 year old), she said, "Look at Carli's hair!" The toddler replied, "I know! She's a birthday cake!"

Two more pictures

I've had such overwhelming response to my mystery photos, including a request for more! I feel like I'm actually contributing somehow to the lives of others!


I only have two more pictures that would be common enough for outside guessers. The rest are pretty specific to things in the house. Maybe this should be a weekly game we play! :) I could start looking at the things around me with a whole new perspective. Anyone interested?

Anyway, here are the pictures. Scroll down the page for the answers.













Here's a bonus picture for your amusement:

First: front grill on the van

Second: lamp shade

Bonus: Daniel (self portrait)

Answers to the pictures below

I've heard some good guesses. Here are the answers. Don't look if you haven't seen the pictures yet!

Where's your sense of fun?








First picture: D & Y from Candy Land box

Second picture: Side view of CD's in holder

Third picture: Salt pellets in the water softener

Fourth picture: toy cars (the orange one is actually a little motorcycle)

Book your reservations now!

I'm going to be visiting my sister and tutoring her kids all of next week (Monday afternoon until Saturday afternoon). It seems the teachers there could use a bit better parent-teacher communication skills. Anyway, if you know where my family lives and think you want to catch up on old times, book some time now. I'm ever so popular and may not have any free time once the word gets out. If you don't know where my family lives, then you're not likely close enough for a visit anyway. I don't want to set any stalkers on my family by disclosing their secret locales. :)

Oh yeah, I'm going to have the 3 youngest Colletts with me. That might be enough to scare any potential (play)dates away!

Scavanger Hunt

I sent Chad on a scavanger hunt to find his Valentine's Day present today. The clues were close-ups of some things around the house. It was pretty fun to see him and the kids trying to figure out what they were looking at as they ran all over the house. In some cases, the kids were very helpful to Chad because they recognized some things that he didn't. And sometimes they could see the clues from their lower vantage points. I was pretty impressed with the way their little brains started smoking over it! Here are some of the pictures. Can you guess what you're looking at?

School Lunch

Chad and I went to Daniel's school to eat lunch with him then join with other parents from his class to meet with the Principal and discuss grown-up things (school policies, district growth, our experiences with the teacher, etc.).

We had to send in our lunch money in advance - double the cost of student lunch fees. When you pay double, you expect to get double. Sometimes you don't get what you expect. Maybe it's just as well. It was mac and cheese (I took a bite, then looked for salt and pepper shakers. I didn't expect to see any and wasn't disappointed.), mini corn dogs, peas (I was glad to discover that they were HOT.), apple crisp and a choice of milk. The milk was delicious. Actually, the apple crisp was good, too. I could have handled a double portion of that. (It's probably best I didn't get it.) I think I may have gotten one extra mini corn dog. That's likely the one that I've been burping up since lunchtime.

Then we put our trays away where I was thoroughly disgusted by a huge garbage can of "leftovers" and was amazed that Daniel doesn't come home from school just covered in splattered food. There was more than enough of it flying as he banged his tray to dislodge very stuck macaroni noodles.

From there Daniel went to recess and we went to the Principal's Office. This office is much larger than I would have expected. It's really just an office with an attached conference room, minus the wall. There were 4 students represented in the room. Could this have anything to do with the fact that the teacher sent the notice home a day after it was supposed to be returned with the lunch money? Coincidentally, I learned that I'm not the only one frustrated with the teacher's seeming inability to communicate with the parents. I'm glad to know that my notes are phone calls aren't the only ones being ignored!

It was a long meeting, dominated by one very "concerned" (translated = outspoken) parent. Of course, I didn't stay completely silent, but had to fight for a chance to speak. I'm glad we went, if just to be a little more informed.

I could have done without that last mini corn dog.

MONDAY!

Chad is in CA again today. So it was all up to me to get things up and running this morning. The first thing I got to do was pick up the trash the cat had strewn around the kitchen. Chicken wrappers, mushy rice and cumumber peelings are not a recommended way to start a day. Of course, I first had to try to kill the cat. I tried to shove a chair at him as he cowered under the table and only succeeded in tearing my thumbnail. It is no secret that I don't handle mornings well.

After we recovered from that, I got breakfast underway. Daniel dressed himself then combed and brushed his teeth before eating. Why did he brush before breakfast? I never got a real answer about that. So even with all of this early prepping, Daniel still missed the bus. Fortunately, my friend was having a slow morning at her house and her daughter was still eating her breakfast. They picked up Daniel on their way to school.

Next, I did my exercising for the morning then showered, dressed, and tossed the kids into the van to leave with my (same) friend while I ran to the pharmacy to get some antibiotic for Daniel. I took it to him at school and made it there 5 minutes after recess began. However, luck was finally mine as he was in the room doing some work.

From there, the day has returned to normal crazy and we are back on track! Daniel has already done his homework, too! I still need to mop the kitchen floor, but figure that will wait until the kids have gone to bed and no one will need to walk on it for a while.

Time to sterilize

Do the people who put your house in a tent for termites have a similar process for germs? We need to sterilize this house! Daniel came home from school early yesterday and ended up with a fever (and the tears that come with it) over 102. The doctor (yes, I visited two days in a row, with two different kids) was SURE it was strep until the culture came back negative. So we're treating a fever, with a prescription for antibiotics hanging on the messages board in case we don't get rid of the fever.

When I pay a $30 copay, I like to have something a little more certain than this. I don't fault the doctor, just my situation.

Nathan slept the whole day yesterday - his fever reached over 103. By the time Chad and I went to bed, Nathan was feeling a little better and staring-wide awake-into the dark. At 1 AM, when I got up with Daniel who was throwing up spit (didn't really eat dinner), Nathan had finally fallen asleep. But Leah was awake, standing in the middle of her floor. I helped her go to the bathroom, got Daniel finished up in the other bathroom and eventually got to go back to bed.

So, I ask; "When will it end?" Fifth Disease, pink eye, a NASTY cold, sinus infection, possible ear infections, mystery fevers...it doesn't seem to stop.

On the positive side, the scale has started to slide in my favor again. I think it was broken for a while.

More b-day pics below.

At the Doctor's office...again.

I should ask if they have anything like a reward card or frequent visitor's pass at the clinic here. It seems it would pay off for our family. Of course, they'd probably come up with black out dates to go with it.

I was worried that Nathan had pink eye again (I was up to the third time in my counting). His eyes have been red and glassy. He seemed fine this morning but then I misplaced him around 9:30 and found him in bed with a fever. I didn't know 5-year-olds put themselves to bed. Come to think of it, my 6-year-old does it, too. I wish my 3-year-old would...she just follows us around and screams when she's not feeling 100%.

ANYWAY...I took Nathan in to the doctor. We waited an hour past our appointment time to be told the doctor was too bogged down to see us before a meeting he needed to be to. Did we want to see the PA? NO WAY. I don't have anything against Physician's Assistants in general, but this guy is not my favorite. He speaks monotone as if he's bored, moves at half speed, describes everything in "you-must-be-at-a-disadvantage-since-didn't-go-to-medical-school-so-I'll-explain-it-all-to-you-even-though-this-is-your-fourth-child" words and then hands you a prescription that he's already admitted he wouldn't give to his kids. After an hour of waiting, I most assuredly don't want to face him. So they got me into the other doctor and fast. (They probably felt bad that Nathan looked so miserable there.) A lot of people I've talked to don't like this other doctor, but aside from the B.O., he's not bad. He's very friendly and thorough.

ANYWAY...it turns out that Nathan is suffering from a sinus infection. Poor kid. Why does he always have the fun stuff? We got home a little before 1 pm and he's been sleeping since then (now over 2 1/2 hours). He hasn't eaten since breakfast. It's not good to be skipping meals when you're 5 and don't even weigh 35 lbs. I need to wake him soon so he can sleep tonight.

The bright side? At least it's a sinus infection and not something ultra contagious like PINK EYE.

Happy 5th Birthday, Nathan!

Nathan is 5 today! (He looks like he's turning 4.) He's already picked Pizza Hut for his birthday dinner. I predicted that about 2 days ago. It only took him about 2 seconds to decide. But it took me 2 hours decorate this cake. I thought the car shape was really fun. I can't wait to present it to him tonight.

Nathan is my little sweetheart child. He's the least likely to come to me for comfort, but the first to need it. Once I force him into a cuddle, he makes himself right at home. He's very good at things with small parts and works through simple math problems in his head. He loves putting puzzles together. Yesterday he was sobbing because Leah didn't want to play with him. He has been taking naps just to nap at the same time as everyone else. (He and Leah made a little spot on the floor together yesterday and they shared a pillow and blanket.) Nathan has bright light in his eyes that makes them seem to sparkle (sometimes it just looks like mischief). His giggle is captivating and his cry sounds like a hound dog!












Here are some pictures and a video of Nathan's big day. Notice Rebekah's cake eating technique and the picture of Daniel and Leah coveting Nathan's gifts. Nathan cut and served the cake...he saved the "5" for himself!

If the video isn't working, check back later. It's a little sluggish!