being sick

I think I now know why Gabriel, my 8 year old, likes to act like he's sick. He's is overly dramatic so I never know what is real and what is forced with him. SO when he is "sick" I make him lay down in his bed with no fun at all. no TV, no friends, no video games, no getting out of bed - unless you want to clean the house. it is NOT fun time.
This morning my 3 year old, Dane, decided to puke up a bunch right before breakfast. (what a fun way to start my morning!)
SO I gently cleaned up his face and undressed him, took him to the tub, told him how sorry I was that he wasn't feeling well. I toweled him dry and cuddled him, rubbing his warm forehead with my fingers and kissing his cheeks as I got clean clothes on him. Then I set up the couch in the front room with a fresh sheet over it, moved the pillows around just right, set up a side table with ice water and crackers. put a "fun pukey bowl" next to him (for just in case), turned on a movie and kissed his little forehead again.
Then it hit me - all me kids got this treatment when they were 1,2,3,4 and maybe 5 years of age. It was once they were in school or figuring out how to avoid chores, church or other activities by pretending to be sick that this cuddling when your sick stops.
I wonder if they are not just avoiding unpleasantness but are indeed trying to get that same kind of affection from their mommy that she laid on so thick way back when. I mean, how often to I cuddle and kiss my 8 year old boy.
I do try to remember to give him a huge hug and kiss before school and at bedtime. He smiles so big when I do that. But he never comes up to me and asks for those things. That's my job. I am supposed to remember that my kids need cuddled.
In the meantime, I have to go wash my rubber gloves and change my clothes so I don't get all pukey too.

By the way Brandi - I will not be picking peaches today. Got a pukey kid at home.
much love!

Thanks for the reminder!

a couple posts ago I mentioned I was going crazy trying to find my camera. Kendra so gently reminded me to pray. well I did a couple of days ago after reading Kendra's comment. (I hate it when my friends have to remind me to do things like that.)
Well I searched the house again - no camera.
I deep-cleaned every room - no camera.
I finally gave up and just thought that it might turn up some day.
Today after church we were getting into our van when Bill saw that someone had dropped a Driver's liscence in the parking lot. we debated what to do with it. I finally decided to just take it into the church's library lost and found. and guess what was there? My camera! SUre it had been run over and was totally useless and I can't retrieve anything off the memory card. BUT I am not going crazy anymore trying to remember where I left it.
My guess is that it fell out of my church bag a few weeks ago. I had decided to start carrying my camera with me everywhere and that is when I lost it. Luckily I had also unloaded the memory card that same day. at most there may have been just a couple of photos. SO I didn't lose too many. I am only bummed that now I have to share Bill's camera until I can afford a new one for me.
But yeah, we found it. thanks for caring. Most of the photos posted here will be from Bill's camera for a while.

Zion Canyon

I really loved going to Zion Canyon with my Sister Lisa Proffit-Rau and her cute family. My sister in law Peggy Proffit and her kids also joined us. what a trip! we were just going to go tubing or playing in the virgin river in Springdale, So I decided to bring one of my dogs along for the fun. But the tube rental shop was closed!!! AND since we had some nasty flash flood raining going on the river was muddy and deep and a little too dangerous for what we were planning.
SO we went into the Park which meant I had to drive all the way back home and take my dog back to my house. luckily I only live 20-30 minutes away. I met up with everyone at the end of one of the trails and we took the tram to the last stop on the journey. there we played in the muddy virgin river. Yes, we got muddy!

not enough said...

I lost my camera on Monday. Bill's mom came to visit and she bought all the kids cute shirts from Cancun. then she took all the kids to see Wall-E (very cute show).

I had decided I was going to remember to take pictures every time she came to visit and to record the good times we have with her. This would have been an ideal time to do just that.
But no camera. I borrowed Bill's camera but it just isn't the same. I need my own P.O.S. camera that I have learned to love and actually get pictures from. when I use Bill's expensive peice of equipment I am then on his time-line of when HE can get me the pictures. Bill and I do not share very well.

I miss my camera. I hope it turns up soon.

goin crazy

I lost my camera. 'nuff said.

Laptops are a girl's best friend

A couple of years ago I received an item I believed at the time to be an item of luxury. Today, I have no idea how I would cope if it were to fall in the tub and die on me.

It means so much to me that it deserves a blog all it's own. here is some crappy prose dedicated to:
"My Laptop"

I've never given you a name. some one asked me once if I had a Dell or Gateway or...
I couldn't say. But that doesn't mean you don't mean any less to me.
I couldn't tell someone if my husband had shaved his goatee. it's me, not you.

you have given me so much. Before you were in my world I never knew the joy of filling out surveys on myspace behind locked doors of the john.

I can hide in my room and still play solitaire. You have given me the mobility and freedom that allows me to say 'technically - I do not have TV'. You have replaced that for me. I can watch crappy reality shows on the internet from the pillow of my bed with you in my lap.

I have found more friends that I had lost touch with because I am able to spend more time on the computer. I take you onto the balcony so I can "be there" for my kids while they play in the yard and I 'throw food' on facebook. I take you into the kitchen so I can eat with the family while I do some 'blog stalking'.

I have never been more popular in my life! between myspace and facebook and blogspot I have more friends than I ever did in High School. wow, even Amy Whinehouse has accepted me as her friend. would I have taken the time to find her if I was limited in the amount of time I could spend on my desktop computer?

Now with you, my laptop, I can do anything. I have no limitations in time or space. I feel invincible.

I even scrapbook in my car now.

can life get any sweeter?

Please live forever my sweet, precious, Gateway.

I am posting this just for your burning curiosity.

Here's the band-aid inside the sunburn. No, I am not wearing the band-aid any longer in this photo.