Not a Great Friday for Brad.....

Wow...Brad had a Craptacular Friday! While talking with co-workers, right before leaving work, his thumb was crushed by the side sliding door on his work van. *YOWZA*

I was at a Birthday/Going away party for a family that is moving back to LA this Tuesday. While I was getting ready to leave, I noticed that I had 4 "missed calls" and 2 "messages" on my phone. I checked the missed calls and saw that Brad had called, so before checking messages, I called him back. He has horrible reception so all I really caught of the conversation was...."thumb", "roller", "X-ray" "nail gone", and then..."Oh, I'll call you back". I of course start freaking out and called Tib. I decided to check my messages and got more of the story....(ok, starting to feel slightly better, but still worried)

Brad finally calls me back (realistically, it was like 5 minutes later, but it seemed like 30), and he gives me some of the details. Apparently while shutting the sliding door with his left hand, he reached for the passenger door with his right hand. While looking at a co-worker, he missed the handle on the passenger door and WHAM...the slider caught his thumb! (Now totally speculating here, but I think I would be screaming every cuss word I could think of at this point.) He started shaking and was scared to look down at his thumb. When he finally did, his findings were NOT pretty.

His thumb nail from the middle of nail bed to tip of finger was flipped up in a 90 degree angle, and the portion of the nail that goes Under the cuticle was sitting on Top of the finger. Basically envision a V and that's what his nail looked like. He said there was lots of bleeding and it was running down to his elbow and dripping off like crazy. That's when he actually looked at the "thumb" portion. The pressure of the slamming of the door cut/blew his thumb open. The best way I can describe it is that he thought he might lose the top 1/2" of this thumb.

So after checking out the "damage", Brad jumped in his friend/co-workers (Dennis) van and off they went to the Hospital. They arrive at the local Kaiser to find that the hospital has apparently MOVED! At this point Brad is starting to freak, and from what I've heard, go into Shock. He tells Dennis to find another hospital NOW! They get to the ER and they give Brad some ice and ask if it's attached still. (I guess several people came into the ER that day with severed fingers/appendages. *UGH* (we keep looking at his injury as the better of the two outcomes). Brad tells them yes, but not by much.

So to make this long story a little shorter, they bring him back, have him wash it (oh, I didn't mention that his hands were covered in dirt/grease/grime from rebuilding a pump, as well as the paint that was used to paint the pump), they X-rayed it, shot it up with stuff to numb it, and then had to clip off the end (tip portion) of the nail. After that they put stitches in to reattach the part that had been severed. They gave him some Vicodin and sent him on his way. He has to go back in 2 weeks to have the stitches removed.

Today we had to change the dressings, and let's just say it was SO YUCKY! Totally something out of a Horror movie or Freak show. Just NOT RIGHT! I have pics that Brad took at the hospital with his cell phone, but don't want to make anybody ill, so here's a B&W of it after we took the dressings off of it today.

**WARNING still pretty NASTY/GRAPHIC**

Wednesday Morning Mom's Group

A few moms, who all met last year when our "babies" started Kindergarten, started getting together for coffee at Starbucks every Wednesdays morning after dropping the kiddos off. It has since evolved into quite the little playgroup. There are roughly 6-8 of us who get together on Wednesday, and occasionally get together for "Mom's Night Out" as well.

This past Wednesday was my turn to Host our Wednesday Morning Mom's group. So I took a couple of pics of the moms and their precious ones (minus the kiddo's who are at school, our whole reason for meeting.)


Megan on the couch, Paige, Masen, and Lindsey playing on the floor...

This is Natalie (Christie's daycare child) she's a sweetie.
From Left-Right.....Masen, Erika, Nancy, Christie, Jackson, Tara, and Carly...
Sierra and Carly playing....


This is Masen...He's such a handsome little guy.....

another shot of Sierra and Carly...Here's Jackson..another little doll. Most call him "Jack Jack", or even cuter, Lisa's daughter Tiana, calls him "Qwack Qwack" too cute....


Last shot....the girls playing.

Running CRAZY!!!

I swear yesterday and today were/are just those days where you just can NOT catch up.
I'm running ragged and can't seem to catch up.

This morning I think the girls had two speeds. Crawling along, and Standing still. Maybe they too are feeling the effects of running Crazy, but getting them going was Slow going. Off to school they go, and off I go to Target to do some returns. Get that done and Home is my next destination to Clean my home that has been neglected, to say the least. It is never easy to clean with little Monkey's running around pulling out more than you are putting away. Did I mention that I have our Wednesday Morning Mom's meet here tomorrow. So the cleaning HAS to get done. I had to skip the gym this morning to attempt to get some of these tasks done. Thankfully we don't have ballet or gymnastics, or cheer leading tonight, nor the Chiropractor/Costco run.

I do however have all the other little things circling around in my brain. I'm the Room Parent for Alyssa's class and we have the Booville Carnival (on Oct 20th) coming up. Did I also tell you all that I joined the PTA. YIKES...I have become one of those moms.




I had to have flyers ready to go out for tomorrow and try to collect some donations to put our project together. We are doing a Cemetery Theme which should be really cute. (Pics will be posted) ;) We still have to build the cemetery fence, as well as the archway once the donated items are turned in. Thankfully, we have 2 weeks off of school...this Friday is our LAST day!!! WooHoo! I then have a Going away/Birthday party for some friends moving back to LA right after school at the local Pizza place. And then we have 2 more Birthday parties this Saturday. One for our old neighbors son, and one for Aly's friend Sydney. Which reminds me...I forgot to get Birthday presents for everyone while at Target...UGH. Such is how the day is going.

I know it will all come together, and I just keeping looking at the end result....A clean house, Fun Friends coming over, A GREAT Booville presentation, Celebrations of Birthdays (as well as saying Goodbye)...and my Favorite part of all....Brad is Off Work on Monday for something Special! We are getting a reading from Chris Dufresne (Sylvia Brown's son) But that will be another post for Monday. I can't tell you how EXCITED I am for this. Ok...back to work for me. Hope you are all having a Fun and Eventful week.

Funniest Prank Call....

This was on a radio show. Give it a few seconds and then it gets into the "prank call". For all of us who can't stand the telemarketer calls....this is for YOU!!!

A VERY SPECIAL BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Today is a Very SPECIAL Day! Today is Hannah's Birthday!
(TY Virginia for the banner/pic)

I will forever remember her sweet face and what a Special and Sparkly girl she was. Please say an extra Special Prayer for this Beautiful Girl on her Birthday. I also ask that you keep her family in your thoughts and prayers today. I know they miss their "monkey" more than anything. To read more about Hannah, her Adorable sister Lily, and their amazing family, check out Rach D's Blog.


Here is a BEAUTIFUL montage (Thank you Tib) of Hannah!

Teething, Gassy, Spoiled, Catching something?????

Hook me up!
I have no clue as to what happened last night! I can tell you this much, Sierra was up every 45min-1hr last night and would be up for approx 30 min each time. I'm not sure what was causing this sudden desire to be up and want to play/coo/keep mommy and daddy awake. She would wake up Screaming (literally, like she was in pain) then I would pick her up, and she would calm right down. If I nursed her, she conked right back out, but come on...she doesn't need to eat every 45 min. So I cut that off after the second time she tried to get boobie in under 2 hrs.

I was thinking teething, but like I said, she was fine once I picked her up. I then thought maybe gassy? She did later in the night start burping and farting away, and did actually sleep better after this, but it was in MY bed! And here's where my Spoiled thoughts came into play. I'm not one (personally, but could care less what other do) for kids sleeping in my bed, but I was desperate for some sleep. I went to bed at 11pm, and was up the first time with her at 12am. Poor Brad went to bed at 11pm as well and he gets up at 4am. So he already wasn't getting hardly any sleep, and now to be constantly jerked awake by a scream of pain...I see an early bedtime tonight in our household. Ok..got off track there for a second, must be the sleepiness getting to me. Spoiled....so could this be it? She just wants to sleep with me? I seriously doubt it, but who knows. My only other thought....she's getting sick. I so PRAY that this is not the case, but there is no drainage, cough, fever, nasally sounds....Oh PLEASE don't let this be the reason...I would rather stay up nursing her all night, then have 5 sick kiddos.

I guess it's a good think my mom's group meeting is this morning, cause I don't know if I would trust myself to be lifting weights right now. So the gym will have to wait till later this afternoon/early evening. That will make Aly and Kayla happy...they also like going, but I generally go during school.

To top off this fine morning, it is SO WINDY here today that the clothes I had laid out for them, just won't work for today. Yesterday was 86, today is going to be 73 and WINDY (15-25mph winds) I would say a bit chilly for tank tops and shorts. So off to go dig out some fall like clothing, or at least some t-shirts. =)

Check out these eyes.....

*Swooning* I finally got some decent shots of her actual eye color....I'm in LOVE!

Went to a Wedding.

Sierra and I went my cousin Jennifer's wedding. The Bride was of course Gorgeous, and her hubby is just AWESOME! I wish them all the Best that Life has to Offer! The older girls stayed home with Daddy and had fun. (it's hard to take them all to a wedding and expect them to sit patiently for hours on end) ;)

Here are a couple of pics of myself (ugh, I should have chose a more flattering pose) and Sierra. =) (don't mind the mess) lol

My Sweet girl.

Bad quality, but so had to post it....


Me...

Having her first Toast...(there was nothing in the cup)

Drama in Play Land....

Had a small issue in "Daycare" (or "The Gym" as my girls call it) with Paige. She had apparently pushed a little boy (aprox 1 yr) down, because he was touching Sierra. The teacher even commented..."boy, she sure is protective of her sister" lol They put her on time out, but she sat and screamed, so they came and got me to see if I could calm her down and talk to her. She refused to say Sorry, and after trying 3 times, I followed through with my consequence and told her we were going home. She was very upset about having to leave, but I'm hoping this will make her realize that there are consequences to our actions. Then again...she's 2. None of us were upset over the pushing thing. She got that it wasn't nice, it was the fact that she REFUSED to say sorry to him. Guess I will be working more on that.

To make matters worse......As if being pulled from your class wasn't embarrassing enough, I was standing in the middle of this huge play area (with parents walking in and out) dressed like this (ok..I was wearing a one piece, but you get the idea) trying to talk with Paige. ;) *now THAT is SEXY!!!* lol

Got off my lazy butt and.........

Joined a Gym!!!

Today was my first day at the Club, as well as the first day for the girls (younger 3) in "child care".
They did AWESOME! They actually weren't ready to go when I got there to pick them up. And here I was worried that they would be missing me and crying for me. Haha..they showed me. :)

Today I did:
30 min on the Elipitcal
30 min on a bike
10 min on arms with free weights and one of the bench press benches in the "womens" room.

Tomorrow I have my first appt with my personal Trainer! Woohoo!!!
Wish me luck. =-)

Where a kid can be a kid.....

We have been implementing a "sticker" chart to help get the girls back on task for helping out without the fuss and whine. So for every time that they do something that is asked of them without the drama, they get a sticker. We told the girls that if they filled their sticker charts, we would take them to Chuck E Cheese's. Guess where we are headed tonight!

It should be fun and I have left over tokens and GREAT coupons, so not too expensive either.

Now to see if I can get them to continue helping without the fuss/whine without the bribe of a treat at the end....=)

After a few requests for the starter......

HERE IT IS.... =-)

Sourdough Starter

Combine in a large wide-mouthed crockery or glass jar:

1 package active dry yeast
2 cups lukewarm water: 85*
2 cups all-purpose flour

Stir with a Wooden spoon-never use any metal. Let stand uncovered at 80*-90* for 4 to 7 days, or until it bubbles and emits a good sour odor. During this period, stir down once a day; if a crust develops, stir it down also. Use at once or refrigerate until ready to do so. (this is after the 4-7 days. I also covered mine with a paper towel or cheesecloth to keep bugs out.)

To replenish, discard all but 1 cup of the starter, because any excess, unless reactivated, may become rancid. Add the cupful to:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup lukewarm water

Let stand overnight until fermented and bubbling, then use or refrigerate.

To avoid spoilage, wash the starter crock about once a week with soap and warm water. Rinse well and dry carefully before returning the starter to the crock. You should also replenish (feed/activate) your starter then. See replenish direction above.

At this point, use any Sourdough recipe you like.

I hope you all have fun making bread with your family like we do with ours! Brad tries to bake with the girls at least once a week. =)

A Day in the Life Of........

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Diva's in Training...

I'm working on my "Day in the Life" today, but I got these cute pics yesterday.

My little Diva's in training....




They actually do "Pose" themselves. I'm always trying to get them naturally. They see the camera come out, and voila...instant modeling. lol

New beds for the girls......

The time had come to move Paigey into a big girl bed and Sierra into the crib. (CC had still been sleeping in the pack n play bassinet up until tonight) Being that the 3 girls were sleeping together in 1 full size bed (we have tried separate beds, but they like would just sleep together anyway) we knew it was time to make the big purchase. So just like when we bought our bed last year, we headed to Costco. =) And what we learned from last time was.....take Costco's prices and head to Sleep Train. They will not only match, but beat Costco's prices, and they deliver as well as take the old mattresses as part of the price. We SCORED!!! We got better mattresses than Costco had and for less than their price.

So on Saturday we bought the mattresses. We got there after 2pm, so had to set it up for next day delivery. No biggie. They show up drop them off, take the old one, and then I realize...wait these are the wrong mattresses. I called the store, and we realized that when she was changing the order for the correct warehouse (where they had to be picked up since Tracy and Discovery Bay are in different Counties, yet 16 miles apart), she put in the 1st mattresses we looked at. Because it was so late in the day, they couldn't deliver them out again, until the next day. I was a little upset that it was taking so long, so she was going to call the warehouse again to see if they could get out the same day. While waiting for her to call back, the manager of Sleep Train called and said that they wouldn't be able to get them out to us on Sunday, but since this was not our fault, and an inconvenience to us, they would give us two sheet sets or 2 mattress pad covers (their pad covers are AWESOME!!! Nothing gets through them, and they are $90 each) for free. They also said that we could just keep the new mattresses that were already here and just use them for the night. I was totally happy with that. Little bit of drama, but in the end...we actually made out. So all in all, we got 4 mattress pad covers, 2 very nice mattresses that were worth $900 each (got them for $400 each) free delivery (twice) and the old mattress and box spring removed. I'm a Happy Camper, and so are the Girls.

Here's some pics from our "New Beds for the Girls" experience!

The girls were so excited yelling out "they're here, they're here"!!! (these are the correct beds)
Bagging up and removing the old "new" ones.

It took us a few hours to finally decide on this configuration.


The girls so EXCITED and testing out the New Beds...




Silly Girls...


Sierra loves the new beds too.


And Paigey loves Sierra... (that's a Pirate's of the Caribbean tattoo on her arm) ;)


Here's some before and afters...(you can see more pics of their room down in my Hurricane AKMPS post) ;)

Before (old pic, but same layout...only difference is pics are up on the wall and lights are up)


After...



The play room adjacent to the girls room before.....(that's Paige playing on the floor..lol )


and after again....(with Sierra playing on the floor) =)


(the bassinet is an old one..the girls use it as their "babies" bed.)



and just because I think she's so Stinkin CUTE!!!!


So there you have it...our New room/Beds for the girls. Paige did so AWESOME, and took to the big girl bed incredible! Went right to sleep, never got up till morning, went upstairs by herself and took an nap in her bed. She's such a Big Girl now!

I'm working on my Day in the Life of "us" today, so you will get to see pics of my girls all snuggled up in their beds tomorrow. =)