Finally, some winter weather!

OK, so it is just rain, but after weeks and weeks of wishing it would cool off, I was so happy that it was pouring rain when I got up this morning! I opened the windows and doors and my A/C actually didn't turn on all day! we are even supposed to get more rain tomorrow! Rain is the best of both worlds for my boys who love being outside and taking a bath-so when you put the two together, it is irresistible. Berk was driving me crazy until I finally let them go on the front porch to get wet. Good thing they both already have a horrible cough so I don't feel too bad that they are gonna get sick. And even with the rainy day it was still in the 70's so it felt really nice! We think it might snow at our cabin, so we may jet up there for a day, who knows! I love just taking it easy on gray days like today. Oh and a big step for me and the boys, we got our passport applications turned in! Yeah! One more thing to check off my never ending list of things to do before our trip this summer. I am trying to find cute luggage for the boys, any suggestions? Hope it is finally starting to feel like Winter for everyone else now!

Turkey Overload!

Let me start by saying, starting a new diet before the holidays, not such a great idea!
Thanksgiving was fun. This year we actually had the Rasmussen family dinner at my house for the first time! It was fun, my mom did all the prep for the turkey and sides ect and all I had to do was the rolls... so of course, I pulled out the Rhodes bake and serve rolls. 6 dozen of 'em, really, was I gonna kneed the dough? No. And I have to tell ya, for the first time ever, the Rhodes Rolls let me down. I don't know what happened but they NEVER rose, egh! Looks like I am gonna be in charge of the ice for next year. I enjoy cooking, but it is something I have really just started to do and I quickly realized that I am no Martha Stewart. First, I didn't have any cornstarch to make the gravy, then I didn't have a potato masher (hello, potato pearls anyone???) and finally, as if the cornstarch fiasco wasn't enough, I don't own a gravy boat. So, note to self, I have a few items to pick up at Target before the next Rasmussen Thanksgiving since they voted, and it is at my house again. Gee, thanks guys.

(The cousins, looking everywhere but at me!)

As soon as we ate a little pie and washed a TON of dishes, we put the boys in the car and headed up to Pine to our cabin. It was so nice to actually get chilly as we got out of the car. I was soon regretting my new found love for the cold about 3am, when the temperature in our room plummeted below zero, I swear (ok, more like the 40's). Memo to us for next month, there is a floor heater in that room... Friday we ate another Turkey dinner this time with the Beck/Solomon gang. We had to make a trip down to Payson to get some medicine for my poor Berk who has a bug, and got to see the crazies all come out at Walmart! Good thing I didn't need much, that place was CrAzY! Braden got to spend the afternoon 'helping' clear the pine needles and shooting bow & arrows. Berk got to spend it sleeping on his Pops, and playing with Kelcie and Ryan. He has perfected the art of the sweet talk, and no one could resist giving him, well, anything he wanted! Friday night, we were a little warmer, thanks to the above mentioned heater and a few more blankets, despite the howling wind which dropped the outside temps below freezing! Braden cracked us up when in the middle of the night he rolled off his bed and in a super sleepy voice said, "That can't be good!"

Saturday we headed back to the valley to get the tree up and the lights out. And I got to go to a fun girls lunch with the girls I played with in high school. Kendee & Beth we missed you!

Most of the girls from out of state were home for the holiday and we couldn't pass up the chance to get together! Alison, Steph, Jami, Brooke, Shanon (and sweet Lily), Amy, Brooke and Jeannie and I all headed out to BJ's for lunch. We had a great time, good food and a lot of laughs. Our poor waiter heard more than his share of girl talk...we probably scarred him for life ladies! Some of them I see from time to time, but a couple I don't get to see very often and we are gonna change that! Bloggin' doesn't count as quality time-IMO. You girls are still as fun as you were back when we had the energy to do crazy dances at Cooley Park, and I remembered why I loved hanging out with you all- my cheeks hurt from laughing! And the Pizookie was as good as I told ya, huh. Hope all you out of state'rs travel home safe!

Can't wait for Vegas!

Festival of Trees Gala...

Tonight we had such a fun night. Rusty's parents invited us to join them at the inaugural Festival of Trees benefiting Banner Gateway Medical Center. It is a new tradition starting in the east valley, that I am sure will go on for many seasons. It was so fun. The theme was "An Arizona Christmas", so a lot of the trees were decorated in desert or southwest themes. There were all different sizes, from 5 foot to 15 feet. There were to many spectacular trees on auction to name, but my favorites included the "Shades of a Desert December" and "Cabin Fever." There was even a Webkinz tree --which I know sold--(Kelli imagine how long you would ply Cash Cow to support like 30 webkinz! ACK!) and if you don't know what those are, I am sure I will explain the madness in another post. There were ASU, UofA, and an Arizona sports teams trees, for the fanatic in all of us. The event opens to the public starting Saturday through Monday. Any of the trees that didn't sell at the silent auction tonight are available to purchase then. Plus there is Santa for photos and live entertainment. It is one of those things that I think is just going to get bigger and bigger each year. I think it would be so fun to donate a tree for next year. The 2008 theme is "An Old Fashioned Christmas"... I hope we attend again to see those trees!

The best part for me personally was the centerpieces,

I ended up with two and I cannot wait to get my Christmas decor out now!

Russ and Cindi made their decorating a little easier this year, by bidding on three, yep three, separate trees. One will go to the office (It was themed "Chocolate Fancy") and two will end up at their house after the festival is over. One is a beautiful tree filled with white winter roses and beaded fruit, stunning and the other is a cute little gingerbread themed one. Adorable! I didn't get a ton of photos, but here are some. So, I hope this will be a new tradition our family begins, it definitely kicked our holiday season off right! Thanks Noni & Pops for inviting us and thanks to Nana & Grandpa for watching the boys so we could go!!! Oh, and I saw the cutest ideas for ornaments I want to make, one is for a craft with Braden, it basically looks like a star but it is made out of golf balls and tee's!

Whew, did I mention that that means I have one less tree to decorate this year! Hurray! As part of the festivities of getting ready for the holiday season, I generally decorate my parents, my in-law's and at least one of my siblings trees, as well as my own. So I am grateful to have one less to fit in! Let the season begin!!

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What a Wednesday!

This photo has nothing to do with the post, it is just kinda funny, he has cymbals in both hands and his mouth, oh what they do for attention!)

I just wanted to let everyone know Berkley's surgery to get tubes went really well this morning. He was such a brave big boy, even when all the other kids waiting were upset, he just smiled and flirted with the nurses. The procedure took about 20 minutes and we came home and he took a three hour nap and has acted like nothing happened at all. We really hope this can help him with his overall health.

Braden was so cute, even though we had to get up early to go to the surgery center, he wanted to come too and make sure his buddy was ok. He waited in the waiting room for almost 2 hours before he told Rusty he was hungry and wanted to go to school. But first thing when he got home, he climbed up by Berk and peeked in his ears. He had about a million questions about where they were, if they hurt him, could he see them, could I see them, what the doctor used to put them in, and ON AND ON AND ON! He is so sweet to want to know everything and make sure he was alright.

So we are glad today is over, and we are looking forward to, hopefully, a happier Berkley!

Also, today Rusty's cousin Cliff came home from his mission and we can't wait for him to get settled into home life! Braden really wants him to come visit, hint hint... I should have a more exciting post this weekend, we are headed to a Gala Dinner for Banner Gateway Medical center called the Festival of Trees, and I hope to get some great ideas for my tree this year!

"What's an Icky G?"

On Friday we had Braden's annual cardiologist exam. We feel really grateful that we only need to see the doctor once a year, but at the same time, enough time passes between appointments that Braden gets anxious and doesn't remember what happens there. Last year I remembered to take a photograph of him getting an EKG and that seemed to help, so I brought the camera again and hoped to capture everything about the trip and help ease his mind next time. And of course, I thought I would share it with you all since hopefully, not many of you have seen the in's and out's of a pediatric cardiologist office! Although, thinking about it I can name 4 heart kids just off my blog list! Crazy!

First getting weighted and measured, which he thought was a little scary...

Taking his blood pressure

The nurse tells him it will 'hug' his arm

Then from the BP check to the ECHO exam room. Waiting for the Echo Tech to get set up. Once we had convinced him the three 'stickers' would not hurt and that sitting up was not an option, he convinced Daddy to lay by him so everything would be good.
Echo is all done. The room is darkened while the test is preformed, so it can be a little scary, usually they let the kids watch a movie, but their TV wasn't working, so Braden laid there, still and quiet for almost an hour! Great Job!

"Mom, what's an Icky G?" Of everything he has been through- the EKG test is the scariest thing for him. He hates the stickers (either 12 or 14) they have to put all over his chest, arms and legs because they are super goopy sticky and hurt a tiny bit when they are removed. He also hates the leads (the wires) they attach to the stickers because they pull a little. He is such a trooper and as long as big tough Dad is in the room he can handle it. This test is also a hard one to get done when they are upset because you have to sit so still to get good reading. The best part for Braden is when the computer starts spitting out the sheets of paper with the cardiac rhythm (think the thing they pull off and read ON ER and Grey's) He thinks it is pretty cool you can 'see' how his heart beats.

After the EKG is done we just have an exam by the doctor, who by this time has read the ECHO, and EKG. He usually listens to his heart for a few minutes, and checks his pulses in his arms and feet. And then we hear the words we wait for, "He looks incredible! See you in a year!" Honestly, we love our cardiologist because he has NO poker face, if something is wrong you know it before he speaks. So after Braden's surgeries, the doc always thought that we would have to have some sort of follow up procedure by now, and it is so nice to see how pleased with Braden's progress the doctor is. Braden is pretty smart about what happened with his heart even though he was small. He looks through his scrapbooks from then and knows which one of the zillion doctors he saw before he was 1 is and what they did for him. He knows the hospitals he was at, and we have really tried not to dummy it up by using fake words, so when he hears us taking he knows what's going on. So I laughed out loud when after the echo the nurse brought the EKG machine in and he asked us again, "What's an Icky G?" Silly kid! Finally, this is a tiny clip of what the screen shows during the ECHO. They are actually cool to watch, just don't ask me what anything is. The key board the techs use is unreal, with so many buttons, keys, UGH! I don't know how they do it with out looking! Thea red and bright blue you'll see is the color they put in for the blood flow. Hope you enjoyed our trip to the Pediatric Cardiologist! We are so blessed that Braden is so healthy!

Oh, and it is now mid way through Saturday and I think the last EKG sticker is FINALLY off!

Sleep Update and other things...

So since I asked for the blogging worlds help a few months ago with Berk's sleeping problem, I thought I owed it a follow up. So, in the last month I have read a ton of sleep books, and sought advice from my pediatrician, and still, we are not sleepin' round here! I probably average about 3 hours a night, and I am lucky if that is consecutive... He has had his fourth ear infection, and a perforated ear drum, in addition to cutting at least 2 new teeth. The teeth thing I am handling with the Hylands Teething tablets. The ear thing, well, I took a bit of a stronger approach to that. After seeing the pediatrician at his 1 yr well baby, she recommended that we see an ENT. The ENT thought that based on the number of infections Berk has had, especially in the summer months, that we should consider getting tubes put it. So, after hearing the risks, we decided it made sense to try and prevent as many of them in the future as we could (especially with cold season starting). So, next week he will have that surgery. I am excited, I really hope it is gonna help with his overall health and mood and I am praying it helps his sleep. If not, after he has a little healing time I have finally decided that I will have to try to let him just cry it out and hope that it won't take long for him to put himself to sleep. That being said, I am not holding my breath that he will actually fall asleep with less than a few hours of good cry time and a little vomit (and I hope it doesn't wake up Braden). I am sure it will be one of those things that is harder on me that it is on him.

One of the books I found was called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and I really liked the way this book reviewed all the methods and theories around infants and sleep. But for me, I loved that it was very statistical. It broke things into categories that I could follow and I often thought in my head, "Yep, that's Berkers"- he is basically classified in this book as one of the small percentage of poor sleepers, but I guess I didn't need a book to tell me that! I wish I had read it before I had either of my kids, but it does have good advice for correcting problems even into adolescence. So if you too are having sleep issues, give this one a try.

Well, I hope to have brighter news to report soon, fingers crossed... Oh, and if you do see me at preschool drop-off/ pickup or at Target or something and I look a mess, please don't judge, 'cause that means I actually made an effort, no matter how small or sloppy, to get dressed and make it out of the house, which is a huge accomplishment for me these days!!!

In other news, my class at Super Saturday went really good. We had such fun things, I should not have tried to make so many things AND teach a class, but I learned my lesson for next year. The class I taught was on altered clipboards, a few I made a long time ago are here. They are fun and easy. I will try to take photos of the other things we did soon. Friday is Braden's annual check up at his cardiologist, and we always get a little anxious for that to be over, so I am sure I will make a post about it. I also have a boutique this Saturday with a friend, at a school here in Gilbert, that I am trying to get ready for. And I think I have finally convinced my sister to start a blog, so once it is up and cute I will add her link. Oh, and only 3 glorious days until Bunco, I am SOOO ready for a G.N.O. even if it is at my house!