Church Talk...3 weeks later

A few weeks ago Brenna gave her first talk in Primary. We made a page with pictures, so she could read it herself. We practiced every night, and she had it memorized by the time Sunday rolled around. She wasn't nervous and did a great job! I asked her yesterday if she could do it for the camera, and she said yes. I started to get her talk, and she said she remembered it. So here is her first attempt after not performing it for 3 weeks. She is a better memory than I do! (And yes, I will be posting her song she sang in Church.)

King of the Rock

Once Cannon learned to walk, he learned to run...climb...wrestle...everything physical! He is wearing me out! The worst of it all is the climbing. He figures out how to climb on everything! Stepping stool. Fireplace. Couches. Kitchen table. Once, kitchen counters. He has learned how to push our kitchen chairs to aide in his ascent. He has fallen many times, but the pain never deters him from future climbs. And usually when he gets to the top, he bounces up and down will crying "ahhhhh! Ahhhhh!" What do you do?

Halloween at Chesapeake

Each year Chesapeake has a family Halloween Carnival and Haunted House, to raise money for United Way. They had the inflatable slides and fun house, face painting, balloon animals, caricature artist, and a haunted house for adults. They also had barbeque, popcorn and cotton candy. Cannon surprisingly would not eat the cotton candy! It was a lot of fun!

Favorite Place

In our hallway, we have a linens closet. There is a HUGE cupboard in the very bottom. After we put door locks on our kitchen cabinets, Cannon was very upset he didn't have cupboards to climb in. So I emptied this bottom part of all the blankets, and put some toys in there.

It has become Cannon's favorite place. Especially if his big sister climbs in there with him.

And yes, it is a mess!

Dinosaur Museum

Brenna has been out of school for "Fall Break". We have had a break since last Thursday. We decided to spend her last day of freedom at the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History, and Mondays are FREE! (My favorite price)

Brenna was a little anxious being around all the bones and teeth, but definitely enjoyed the archeological dig.

We went with some friends from Church, who turned out to be great babysitters! Although Cannon had no problem finding trouble.

There was a long, skinny canoe which Cannon could have climbed in all day. The funniest things fascinate him.

This is the closest Brenna got to anything that resembled a dinosaur. We had a great day, and love finding new things to do in Oklahoma!

Say Cheese!

If you haven't noticed, in my most recent pictures of Cannon, he has the same cheesey grin. He makes the same smile when we ask him, "Are you so funny?" And if he thinks he made you laugh, he will repeat the same action to get the same reaction. He is very much like his dad, always wanting to entertain. And perpetually happy. I love this little guy.

Piano Lessons

Many people have asked what I do with my kids while I teach piano lessons. Sometimes Cannon takes his nap and sleeps through the lessons. Sometimes Brenna watches a movie on her portable DVD player in her room. Most often, a sibling of my student is Brenna's age, and she has automatic play-dates. For example, today Brenna and her automatic play-date played in our backyard with Cannon. Her friend brought chocolate muffins, and shared with everyone! Cannon was in heaven!

I am very lucky that most of my students and their parents are understanding of my need to sometimes take care of my kids. I quickly got my student started on her Theory book work, and then cleaned Cannon up. He was pretty upset I was removing his chocolatey shirt he continued to pick goodness from!

Peek-A-Boo

Cannon loves climbing into any cupboard. Especially in the bathroom cupboards. He has even found a box of feminine products to play with. (Sorry Ryan!)

Minor Victory

We have been discussing switching our phone service from at&t to Vonage. We would get lots of features (anywhere long distance, caller ID, call waiting, voice mail, etc) but only pay what we are currently paying for very (very) basic local phone service. We had gotten it all set up, but they had informed us that we were not able to keep our phone number. Well, I didn't want to change. So I called at&t. Conversation as follows (summarized)

Sarah: I am calling to cancel service.
Larry (name protected): I'm sorry. Whats the problem?
Sarah: Actually, I don't want to switch, but my husband wants to switch to Vonage. They provide more services for what we're paying now. And I want those same features, but I would prefer staying with you guys.
Larry: Well, I can give you the same benefits for the same price. Just stick with us, and we'll give you the same services.
Sarah: You mean I'll get anywhere long distance, caller id, call waiting, everything for $24.99 like Vonage.
Larry: Yup, and I'll even credit your account $25 for being a loyal customer!
Sarah: SWEET!!!

It felt so good to not only get better service, but to save money! Woo-hoo! I am so used to calling phone companies, insurance companies, doctors offices, and having them treat me like a leper! For once the CUSTOMER WAS RIGHT!

Have you been a "right customer" lately?

Strong Man

Cannon is my strong man! Starting Friday evening, Cannon had a rough and raspy cough. He sounded like he had croup. Around 10:30pm, I decided to check on him, and found him asleep, covered in throw up. (Moms, you know the internal debate "Do I wake him up to clean him or just let him sleep...he looks so peaceful...yet disgustingly stinky") Well the rational and correct side won, I woke him and cleaned him up. While doing that, it became very obvious he was having a rough time breathing. We started the humidifier, and tried to get him back to sleep. He was up the whole night, coughing, throwing up, and sounding like a life-time smoker.

(Yes, my child is shirtless. But lately he has been unhappy with wearing shirts or pants. So 1 for 2 isn't bad.)

When it was a decent hour in the morning, we called a good friend who's an Ear Nose and Throat doctor. He graciously did a breathing treatment at his house, and prescribed a steroid shot. After leaving his house, we visited an Urgent Care where the doctor told me to take him to the ER. On the way to the ER, we called my dad and the ENT friend, who both suggested going to our Pediatrician. We turned around, went there. She gave him the steroid shots and monitored his breathing. She was unhappy with his pulse oximeter readings, and suggested taking him to the ER. He was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. Also, we don't have insurance (December 1st, big day!) so we decided to wait it out. And sure enough, once the 'juice' kicked in, he improved. He fell asleep last night at 7:00pm and woke up at 7:30am! Woo-hoo! Although he isn't healthy, he is very much improved! I'm so glad he was strong enough to push through it without needing to go to the hospital.

What a difference a day makes

Have you ever had "just one of those days?" Yesterday was one of those. I can blame it on being sleep deprived, staying up all night with a sick baby. I can blame it on the residual irritation with Brenna's new "doo". I can blame it on being home alone with the kids all day, Ryan arriving just in time to say nightly prayers. I can even blame it on female hormones. (A big culprit right?) But I think I had just decided when I woke up, it was a bad day. I decided to get frustrated with my kids. I decided to be 'too tired' to keep things organized. I decided to resent my husband for having time away. I decided to be in a bad mood. I completely believe thinking 'wo is me' is a decision. And I know this, because nothing is different from yesterday to today, except my outlook. I still won't see Ryan until late. I still didn't get a good nights sleep. My kids haven't changed their behaviors. But today is a night and day difference from yesterday. Before I got out of bed, I decided 'today has to be a better day!' And, amazingly it has been a much better day. So get out of your pity party, and decide to have a better day!

*more Deep Thoughts from Sarah 'Jack Handy' Bushman to come!