$2 Tuesday

Every Tuesday in the month of August is "$2 Tuesday" at Thanksgiving Point and you can get into any venue for, like it says, just $2.  Last year I swore that I would never attempt to take the kids on such a day.  It was ridiculously busy and finding a parking space was a chore that took a half hour!!  So this year when a neighbor said she was going I told her, "You must be crazy!"  Then she reminded me that all the big kids are in school, so if there are a lot of people there, they come with only half the amount of children.  It didn't take long to convince me that the two little girls would absolutely love to spend the afternoon with some friends and see all the animals at Farm Country.  We grabbed some PB&J sandwiches, gold fish and (Odette's new favorite) fruit snacks!  We were off!

Yes, the place was still pretty busy, but no lines that went clear around the buildings.  The girls loved the animals.  Odette called everything a dog and was trying to get out of her stroller and into the pen with them all.  She wasn't afraid at all and thought it was cool to touch them.  She kept pointing at them and one has a sign that says something about don't feed the horse your fingers.  In the picture it looks like she is reaching out...giving him her finger!

Riding the horse was the best part--Of course!  Josselyn kept saying she wanted to ride the "purple horse".  It took me a while to figure out she was referring to the color of his reigns.  They were both good little cowgirls.  Both smiling big the entire time!

The kids also loved feeding the animals the seeds and corn.  Josselyn said it tickled when they licked her.  My friend put the food on the cup holder of her stroller and the cow stuck his head out and licked it all up.  Scared her two year old half to death, but the bigger girls thought it was awesome!

So I guess $2 Tuesdays really aren't so bad!  We made some good memories and enjoyed a little bit of sunshine that I am sure will soon turn to rain and snow!

A little Creativity

I love to be creative!  

For holidays, birthdays or motivation.

It has been quite a while since I did anything creative.

People keep telling me that I have been a little bit busy lately.

That is frustrating to me.

I want to do something using some "talent" I guess you would say.

Something that isn't just dishes or laundry.

While doing the dishes I had a thought.

The kids need some more routine now that school is back in.

We need to figure out how to get our chores done.

Along with everything else.

After having to keep the whole house clean when Odette was sick

we are all tired of the work.

Needless to say we slowed down some this summer.

To play instead.

Had to make up for some lost time.

Anyway, here was my moment of thought.

And the nice thing was is what I didn't already have a couple of friends donated or traded me!

It just took an hour of my time!

And the kids think they are great!

We put a star or smile or check when they are done with the job.

In the evening, they get a penny for each thing they did.

Every day they are rewarded.

I think that is key.

They decided they would put the pennies in a jar.

Once it is full, we will use the pennies to celebrate together.

Go get ice cream or pizza or to the movies...

depending on how many pennies they earn

and if I find a bigger jar!

Oops.

Left Help Mom off of Brandts.

Good thing he is such a great helper anyway!

Back to School

Brandt and Kathleen started school this week.  I told Brandt that I needed to walk him to the bus stop on the first day so that I could take pictures of him getting on the bus.  "It is your first day of your last year of elementary school!  I don't want to miss that."  To this he rolled his eyes, put on a big grin and said, "That is an oxymoron."  I followed them to the bus stop anyway, which was good because they decided to ride scooters down and have me bring them home.  The little girls enjoyed a ride in the stroller and loved when they got to see the bus and say cheese for their own picture. 

End of Summer Water Bash

The neighbor had an end of summer water bash.

It was a lot of fun!

Water balloons

Fun sponges

A bunch of pools

and lots of WATER!!

Of course my kids wanted to be there!

Unfortunately Odette wasn't able to get wet because she had to keep her surgery site dry for a couple more days.  

She did still enjoy holding and throwing balloons at the kids.

At the end....Otterpops.

What a perfect way to end a wonderful summer!

Now onto my favorite time of year!

LEARNING!

 

Cute Girl!

Kathleen has been growing her hair out long to "be like mom".

She decided recently that combing long hair is a real pain.

Especially after swimming three times a day!

So she made a choice.

Just in time for the new school year.

It looks really cute!

So very grown up like the 4th grader she is.

And of course she cut enough to donate it!

Jeep'n Moab

Want to see what Brandt did this weekend?  I have to admit that I am totally jealous!  Maybe someday I will have to buy a jeep and go!

Port No More

Odette was scheduled to get her port out yesterday morning at 7:45am.

We got to the hospital.

They told us there had been an emergency surgery.

Odette was starving!

We were now scheduled at 10:45.

For a while she decided to play.

And model her cute hospital clothing.

She learned how to say "Oo Oo Aw Aw" for gorilla sounds.

They finally took her back at 11:15.

She was done with surgery and awake at 11:45.

She was screaming!

She usually does until she falls back asleep and wakes up again.

She screamed for an hour.

Slept and woke up an hour later.

Was as happy as could be.

Ate.

Because she can't leave until she eats.

And we were out of there.

PORT NO MORE!

Just a band-aid and a big smile!

Miracles Happen

I probably should have just written on the blog as soon as the party for Odette was over.  However, it was late and I was tired and knew that I had to be up at 5:30 so I could leave in time to get Odette in for surgery in the morning.  I was so excited about the nights events that I couldn't fall asleep.  The Celebration for Odette was more than exciting and way more awesome than what I ever could have imagined!

Obviously I am ecstatic about her wonderful news and have been for a while.  But it was totally awesome to me to see and hear how many people were just as happy for the news as I.  I have always known that our family had a lot of people loving, serving, praying and supporting us through the last 14 months, but to see the people in person was, quite frankly, overwhelming.  And not everyone was even there!  There were so many that live miles away, had jobs to be to and sick children of their own.  WOW...this is the only word I can think of to express my feelings. 

Anyway, onto the party.  We had lots of ice cream and pretty much every topping imaginable.  Just as promised!  It was super duper yummy.  Of course I am a little biased because this is my favorite dessert ever!  We went through 18 half gallons of ice cream!  (Thanks to you who helped out in that area!)  And Odette loved the food as well...maybe she at a little too much because she was wired afterwards!

I also had gotten some balloons for the party.  100 orange balloons.  Each balloon represented 4 days of cancer fighting.  Yes, she was fighting cancer for 390 days.  (I know, 100 is a little too many, but a couple popped when I brought them home and some were hanging down on the stop sign to show people where to turn so we were at the right number by the time the party came.) We passed them out to as many people as we could, counted down from 10 and let go of all the balloons.   
WE SAID GOODBYE TO CANCER! 
It was so cute to watch Odette let go of her balloon and wave goodbye to it!  We had some purple balloons for her to keep because purple is the cancer survivor color.  (Guess I need to get some new Bad Hair Day shirts ordered and up!)

It was an awesome sight to see.

And it brought to mind very strongly that

MIRACLES HAPPEN!