Happy 10th Birthday Carina!!

Uncle Joe and I are sorry we missed your party on Saturday, but we saw some pictures and heard it was a blast!! Our kids said the splash park by your house was cool! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Dairman for taking them!!

It rained

It rained in our house last night. No, I didn't say it rained at our house, I said it rained in our house!!

After we got home from watching Kino win their football game last night (Kent Smith has a stepson on the team) Hailey and I took a shower downstairs and Joe took Lacy upstairs for a bath. I was fixing Hailey's hair and Joe was getting Lacy ready for bed. I heard some water in the laundry room. It sounded like rain. I went in and saw water pouring out of the fan in the ceiling. I threw towels down and put a bucket under it. Joe ran upstairs.

Wait, let me backup. We do not have a plug kids bathroom sink anymore. Joe removed it when Talon became obsessed with plugging it, putting his favorite toy of the day in it, turning the water on (so his toy can take a shower) and leaving the room. We had some very close calls before...so Joe removed the plug.

OK, back upstairs. Talon had put a small plastic cup in the sink to plug it. There was at least two inches of water on the bathroom floor. Joe turned the water off, threw the cup out of the bathroom and went to get Talon (who had obviously completely forgotten about the toy and was playing with something else by now). Joe put him in the bathroom. Showed him what he had done, did some yelling, gave him some towels, and made him start cleaning it up. Talon cried and wiped, cried and wiped.

After that floor was dry and there was a fan blowing on the carpet, we headed back downstairs. Same thing down there. Cried and wiped, cried and wiped. When that room was done, Joe told him to go sit on the timeout couch. He did.

Joe took the lid off the fan (to help it dry out?) and went back upstairs. Everything under the sink was ruined. So much for our extra toilet paper. Joe called Talon upstairs to help clean that too. Hailey and I had resumed fixing her hair, as she told me, "me beneen good mommy, baby Acy beenen good, Sannon make biiiiig mess!" Way to sum it up Hailey.

As Talon came downstairs again he looked at me, with his head hung low, and said, "I can't believe I'm going back in time out", then he dragged himself back to the couch. When Joe was done cleaning up he came downstairs, let Talon come out of timeout, had him apologize and put him to bed.

I don't think Talon is going to give his toys showers anymore. We can probably put the plug back in the sink, but I think I'll give it some more time, just in case!

Nielson Family Fundraiser

Saturday morning we took our kids, and Jen's kids, to Bounce U for a fundraiser to help the Nielson Family. If you haven't heard about them, Stephanie and Christian were in a airplane crash on August 16th and miraculously survived, but were burned pretty badly. You can read more about Stephanie, her husband and their four children on her blog http://www.nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/. Her family has started re-posting old posts she wrote and they are very inspiring. You can also read her sister Jane's blog http://blog.cjanerun.com/ who has bravely taken in three of Stephanie and Christian's children to help raise along with their own newborn, while they recover. You can also click on the links I have on my sidebar if you would like to read more about them and the rest of their wonderful family. Below are some pictures I took at the fundraiser.

Sydney is in the middle with the pink sleeves. That was the furthest any of our kids got. (That's Talon pooped out on the trampoline at the bottom)Waiting in line for the giant slideTalon going downA great landingSydney flying downLacy kickin backJoe, Hailey and Talon in one of the jumpersAfter a lot of fun in two rooms the kids got to eat cookies and get their faces paintedTwo butterflies and a batman

Just a cute quiz

Halloween Candy Quiz



You are a Lollypop

Like the Lollypop you are sweet and lickable;)

Find out which Halloween Candy you are at Quizopolis.com

More Hair

Here are two more hairdo's I did on Hailey last week.

I've done this basketball net in her hair in the past, but this time I pulled the rest of her hair into a messy pony. I thought this turned out WAY cuter!!

What do you think?

In this next one I just added a ribbon to another hairdo I've done before. I found it on this AWSOME site. She was really excited about that one, and it held for almost three days!!

A very productive sick day

I was sick with a cold on Thursday and decided to keep my germs at home. Since I was too sick to go to work, I was too sick to watch the kids (Right?), so they went to school and to my mom's house as usual. The cold medicine that I took made it impossible for me to lay on the couch all day, so I decided to get some stuff done. I could say that i forgot to take any "before" pictures, but I would be lying - I was just too embarrassed of how bad things had gotten. Laundry is a job that is Never done around our house. So, in between sneezing, blowing my nose, and keeping up on my medicine (every 4 hours on the dot) I did load after load all day until I finally got my laundry room almost as good as it did the day we moved in.While I was pregnant I started boxing everything that was too small, in order to make more room for fat and maternity clothes in my closet and hutch. This had gotten completely out of control, because, as I have been losing weight I had accumulated a mixture of maternity, fat, fatter, and fattest clothes in my closet and hutch, plus about 6 or 7 boxes of clothes that I had stacked next to the hutch...ridiculous! I went through my hutch and tried on every piece of clothing in there...one pile for too small, one for too big, one for maternity and the rest back in the closet or hutch - folded nicely of course. =) Here is what the hutch ended up looking like when I was done.Here is the closet, and yes I realize that some of it is still not that great, like the bag of dry cleaning that is getting much too large to still be in the closet, or the shoes that are just sort of stuffed into their slots, but I am proud none the less. The only clothes in there are ones that fit me now.And now we have room to add to our 6 month food storage (after all, we are only 1/2 Mormon).

Here is a shot of the two boxes that were left of clothes that are still too small (or too ridiculous looking) to wear yet.And a shot of the clothes that were too big, in my trunk, to take for others to sort through before giving them away.I didn't give away the maternity clothes though. They are safely in bins in the garage to pass on to the next family member who gets knocked up.

I also cleaned the corner of my room that is dedicated to Lacy. I removed the changing pad from the pack-n-play to give her more room to sleep, turned it the other direction, and cleaned her shelves off a bit. She was scooting down and running her feet into the wall every night and I was tired of getting up to move her back up. =) Check out the empty hamper!!

It's crazy how much you can get done in one day with no kids, even as sick as a dog! That night, as I was picking up my kids, Jennifer made dinner for my dad's birthday and mom made him a cake. From left to right is Hailey (cute hair I know), Sydney, Talon (always without a shirt), Lacy (getting in on the action on grandpa's lap), Tyler and Braden.

Happy Birthday Dad

I don't even know were to start here. I woke up in the middle of the night with a head cold and sore throught, and my head is a little cloudy now. I just dialed Joe's number (meaning to dial my parent's house) and when he answered I said, "Happy Birthday!" Joe said, "It's not my birthday." It STILL took me a minute to figure out what just happened. Anyway, I thought I would post 5 things I love about my dad - even though I'm not sure he ever reads this. =)

This is a picture of dad surrounded by his grandkids at his birthday party last year.

1. You are always honest with me.
2. You don't hesitate (and never give a politician answer) when asked for your advice on something.
3. You think everyone should sing out loud.
4. You are always there for everyone (especially when we have car repair needs)
5. You give awsome foot rubs
6. You are great at popping my back
7. You always knew how hard to push me when I was playing ball.
8. You coached my summer team when I played at Mesa High, even though we were HORRIBLE!!
9. You think I can send my pain, whatever it happens to be, to the universe...I haven't made that work yet, but I believe you can do it. =)
10. Like Just Brakes...you really do care!

OK, so that was 10, but in my foggy state I'm sure I still missed a few important ones.

Love you dad,
Kathy

My Sweet Hailey

I was at Costco with my girls and forgot what kind of pickles Joe wanted me to get, so here is how our conversation went:

Me: Dang, I don't know which pickles daddy wants...I should call him. Oh, I left my phone in the car.
Hailey: Here mommy, use mine! (So VERY helpful)
Me: Ummmm, (not wanted to tell her that hers really doesn't work) how about you call daddy and ask him.
Hailey: (on phone) Hi daddy, me...store...pickles...k...bye!

All taken care of, and we got the right pickles. =)

Ronald McDonald

Ronald McDonald was at our local McDonald's on Saturday. We were watching Jen's kids that day, so we took all 5 kids and David met us there with his son, Tyler. Ronald signed pictures for all the kids, they all got a ticket for a drawing (Hailey won a free Happy Meal and a set of dishes), he did tricks for the kids, and they had a jumper out front.

Here are a couple of pictures of Talon getting his picture signed.Check out Braden on the far left, "who is this clown?"One of Ronald doing a trick for the kids (that's Sydney right in the middle with the brown dress on) I think maybe the kid in the front with the black shirt knows where the balls went. =)And one of the super shy Sydney singing "Twinkle Twinkle" for everyone.

After we got home, the big kids went swimming and the little kids took naps. I gave the girls baths, and fixed their hair...again. Then, we went to a birthday party for Christian Smith (Rick's 1 year old) where Talon and Sydney played on a huge blow up slidy thing and went swimming again.

After Jen got home from work to watch the kids, we went to dinner with Donna, Brandon and my dad, and then saw Jim Gaffigan at the Dodge theater. Thanks for the Anniversay present D&B!! He was pretty stinkin funny, and I hope dad enjoyed his early birthday present - even though it wasn't golfing!

Swim Party at Preschool

On Friday Talon & Hailey's preschool teacher had a swim party at her house. I took the day off work and took them. Grandma Dairman let her borrow her huge blowup slide for the kids who didn't want to swim in the pool. The kids had a blast, but I didn't take very many pictures.

Here's one of the kids sitting in the little pool at the bottom of the slide (That's Talon smiling at the camera with the red suit on)Here's one of Lacy hanging out on grandma's lap after we got out of the pool, and grandma got her dressed again.

After we left the swim party, we met daddy and Uncle Glade for lunch at Giant Burger. Who knew Giant Burger would have breakfast food? Yeah, omelets for me!

It was a pretty long day, and after we got home I put Lacy on my bed to change her diaper and stinky clothes. She was just laying there, happy and talking, so when the bell rang on the dryer I left her there to go move the clothes over. Here is how she fell asleep. I covered her with a blanket and slept there for 2 hours!!

Some Hairdo's

I have been a bit obsessed with doing Hailey's hair lately. She does MUCH better at sitting still for me at night after a shower than she does in the morning, so her hair never looks as good the next day, but it's still fun to try.

I think these are called "climbers" and they work good for both long and short hair.
From the front:

From the backish

And from the top

This is a cute hairdo I came across on this blog and had to try it.
It's much cuter with bows at the bottom of the braids, but they cover too much of her head. =)
From the back

Looking in the mirror

This was my favorite one. I don't remember which site I saw it on originally, and for the life of me I can't find it again. It's a slight variation to a french braid (which doesn't work so well in her short, fine hair). Also, with a little wiggly one, you don't have to keep a hold on the hair the whole time. You french braid a few strands, rubberband it, put another rubberband a little bit down further and french braid more, rubberband it and so on.
From the front

From the back

Another great shot from an angle

Hee Hee, here it is after a good nights sleep and swimming

We took out the few bottoms rubberband on each side and then it was cute all over again. =)

Some Lacy Videos

Yeah! My awesome brother came over yesterday and fixed my computer. He said that he deleted some "phantom" things on my computer. Apparently, the computer sort of stores anything that you ever plug into it? Then he reinstalled my camera dock and WALLA it worked!! So, I have some pictures (and vidoes) to get caught up on. The first one is just Lacy playing, and talking to her hands. The second video is a short one of Joe making Lacy laugh. She spit up a LOT afterward, but I think it was worth it to hear her laugh like that. =)

Stinkin Camera

I have no pictures. This makes me sad and frustrated. My computer sucks! :-( When I dock the camera and hit the button to download, my computer is all "ding, ding, ding", but then...nothing. I tried to reboot, I deleted all of the favorites that get saved back into my camera from my computer. By the way, I have NO IDEA why it does this. I deleted the ones that were videos. I only have 20 pictures to download now, and I can't get it to happen. I have been trying everything I know of for 35 minutes now. I am too irritated to try anything else now and I am going to bed. I MIGHT try again tomorrow...until then I will be sad.

Weigh In

Some family and friends have been asking me how much weight I have lost so far on this stupid Atkins diet. (I know, I've been telling my kids over and OVER lately not to say "stupid" but it really is!!) I first posted about this on Wednesday, July 23rd, after I had been on the diet for about 5 days. I think this link will take you there if you don't remember: http://dairmanfamily.blogspot.com/2008/07/atkins-diet.html

Anywho, I weighed myself this morning and I am officially 10 pounds away from my pre-(Lacy)pregnancy weight, and I have reached my pre-(Talon) and pre-(Hailey)pregnancy weight. So, I weigh the same as I did before I had any kids...but not at my lowest adult weight yet. I still have one more jean size in the boxes that I can't get into yet. :-P

According to my Body Mass Index (BMI) I am BARELY in the healthy range. I would LOVE to loose at least 20 more pounds. According to the chart I could lose 42 more pounds and still be healthy!! I'm not trying to own the runway people!! I'm just trying not to be the biggest person in the room at all times. =)

As far as this stupid diet...yep it sucks, but don't all diets suck? I have considered switching to a low calorie thing instead on many occasions, but I'm worried about what will happen if I stop this one cold turkey. Nothing good I'm sure. Since I'm having such good results I think I'll stick with it a little bit longer and see if I can just lose all of my taste buds entirely, then it won't be so bad. I have, however, considerably slowed down on my weight loss in the past few weeks, so I am going to start being more careful of my calorie intake too...which will only make this suck more!!

Some pictures

My mom just emailed me some pictures of my kids.

Here's Lacy playing, she's getting so BIG!!And Hailey taking care of her little sister

Geez, they're cute!!

Joe and I are so lucky that my mom is able to watch them while we are at work. Joe's parents have been helping out a TON since the kids have started preschool too! Our kids would be stupid (there's that word again!) without them, because there's no way we would be able to get them to and from school everyday otherwise. Next year Talon will be in all day kindergarten and I think we'll be able to handle that. ;-)

You can't see it here, but Hailey has some pretty awesome braids in her hair. I'll post a picture of how it looked when I finished it last night, NOT the way it looked when she woke up for school today and would NOT let me fix the braids that were falling out. =( Who knows what her sweet preschool teacher thinks about her hair after by the time she gets there, but at least she can tell I tried! Hailey is MUCH better at sitting there and letting me play with her hair at night, so I am getting to know which hairdo's "sleep" better than others very quickly.

Girls Night Out

On Friday night I went out to dinner with the girls I used to work with. We went to Cheesecake Factory and I didn't even blow my diet!! Woohoo!! We don't get together often enough, and we say that everytime, but REALLY we shouldn't wait so long next time. :-) I always have such a great time with them, laugh a lot and stay too long. From left to right: Shawna, Christine, Jenn, Dianne, me and Tracy. Ann showed up later, and I forgot to take a picture of her to ad here, but somehow I don't think she'll mind. I had a great time with you guys and I'm looking forward to the next time we get together...Christmas??