Ta-da!

All right, I think it's time for a new post. Aren't you sick of looking at that X-ray? I don't have a lot of time today, so I thought I'd share some fun pictures. (I apologize to those of you who have been in my house and seen my kitchen a million times already.)

In July, I was spoiled enough to get my new countertops! There was no way I was going to pay the extra money to have my old countertops removed, so we did it ourselves. I crawled around in the cupboards and found all of the screws and loosened them, then pried the countertops away from the walls. Once they were completely unattached, I had my big strong husband lift them off and carry them out. I had to repair and repaint the wall, and then the installers came with the new countertops. I'm so excited because the kitchen is basically done now! It's been a long road and a lot of work.

So just for fun, here's a step-by-step view of the transformation. First, the kitchen when the previous owners lived here:

Next, we painted the cupboards white (and the top of the wall green):

Then, we installed a new floor and repaired and painted the backsplash:
And finally, drum roll please.......................new countertops:

In case you're wondering, they're laminate with a shiny and slightly textured finish. The dark, granite-like color is a departure from my usual style, but I really like the contrast it brings to the white cabinets.

Thanks for looking! Hopefully I'll have time for a more interesting post soon!

WARNING: Do NOT try this at home

I have to tell you before you read this that I am a reasonably intelligent individual. You may find that hard to believe after hearing my story.

Two weeks ago I had a little sewing accident. John was on call at the hospital, so my sister and I were sewing while our kids played. Julie left around 10:30 and I went back to my machine to try to finish the blanket I was working on. I had been having trouble with my bobbin for the last hour that we'd been working, so I was very frustrated and rushing to get the last seam sewn. In my hurry, I managed to sew through my left index finger. No joke. The needle went through my fingernail just above the cuticle and broke off inside of my finger tip. I was in shock at first, and it took me a minute to figure out what had happened. It took about 10 minutes before the pain kicked in - and boy did it kick in! I called John, who was just leaving to come home, to see if I should go have it x-rayed. We decided not to, and he came home and shot lidocaine into my finger so that I could sleep.

I felt pretty good about not doing anything, mostly because my sister Julie had done the same thing about a year ago, and she did go to the ER. They took an X-ray, then cut open her finger and tried to find the needle. They repeated the process several times and were never able to find the darned thing. Eventually, it worked its way out of her finger. So I figured I'd skip the pain - and the ER bill - and let nature take its course.

For two weeks I haven't been able to touch anything with that finger because the needle was digging into my skin from inside. When the pain started getting worse, I went to see John at work and finally got it X-rayed. Here's what we saw:

The needle went through my bone. Obviously it wasn't going to come out on its own, and I didn't like the idea of getting stabbed if I ever touched anything, so I asked John to perform surgery for me. We created the most sterile environment possible on a kitchen table, then John numbed me up and went to work. The needle wasn't close enough to the surface, so he had to cut into my finger. Let me tell you, it's not easy to pull a needle out of bone! It was so difficult and took so long that we almost gave up. But he got it! Tanner held a flashlight for John through the entire surgery, and I never looked at it once.

Now, thanks to my doctor hubby, I have three stitches in my finger tip and I'm needle free! If only it would stop throbbing...

Our new addition

No, unfortunately I'm not referring to my sweet little Aidan. Our new addition is Tanner's new pet. My 12-year-old is the proud owner of a 6-foot boa constrictor named Bo. He's as excited as any 12-year-old boy could be, as you can see by the gigantic smile on his face:

Here's another pic, this more of a "look how cool my new snake is" shot:

He brought some friends home to admire Bo today, and they were definitely impressed. I felt pretty awesome standing there next to Tanner, with a snake wrapped around his neck and shoulders, as his friends both said, "My mom would never let me have a pet snake. She's too scared of them."

So let's be honest. Am I scared of Bo? I was running errands last night while Tanner and John went to purchase the snake. On my way home, I vowed to go inside and hold the snake and feign excitement to make Tanner feel good. When I walked into the room and saw how big the snake really is, I was a bit taken aback. I decided that Bo and I might need to warm up to each other a little before we start snuggling. But I'm not scared of him. We've had enough snakes in the past that I'm not afraid to touch them, and I know that boas don't bite. I'm a little nervous about the whole constriction thing, but if Tanner can handle the thing, I should be alright, right? I did have a little scare today when I poked my head into Tanner's room to check on Bo and found myself looking at an empty tank. My heart just about stopped beating - until I saw him coiled up in his gigantic water dish. You don't have to be terrified of snakes to be a little worried about having a 6-foot boa slithering around your house unattended.

By the way, here is one of Katelyn's snakes, which we have had for a few weeks. (John found one while he was fishing, then got the other at the pet store.) They're very skinny and only 10 to 12 inches long. Their names are Fred and Snakey. I'm definitely not scared of them, but I have to admit that I have yet to hold either of them.

Now, please pray for me that I won't wake up to a large boa missing from his cage and one of my cats strangled and swallowed whole!

Happy Halloween

I have a confession to make. I don't like Halloween. I'm sure that I got this from my mom. She has always hated Halloween. It's a very dark holiday, with all of the ghosts, goblins, witches, and other scary things. She always had my sisters and me dress up as harmless characters like clowns (we each had to do that several times) or Raggedy Ann. Once I got out on my own, it seemed that Halloween was just an excuse for girls to wear the skimpiest outfits possible with some ears and a tail and call themselves cats or bunnies or something equally nonsensical.

As a mom, I still don't love Halloween. If you enter my home, you can tell. We have our carved pumpkins outside, because that's a really fun things to do with the kids. Inside there are a few very small Halloween decorations - a small black cat, a wooden witch someone gave me years ago - and the infamous witch legs that hold candy for trick-or-treaters. I prefer fall decorations like pumpkins, gourds, and multi-colored leaves. But I've learned to appreciate Halloween for the joy it brings to my kids. This month has been really fun in my little MusicMakers group, where we've sung fun Halloween songs and used ghosts and bats and witches and spiders as props. And for our final October meeting we had a party where all of the kids wore their costumes. We made witches' brew, felt decaying body parts in the dark (spaghetti noodles for brains, peeled grapes for eyes, a peeled tomato for a heart, hot dogs for fingers, etc.), and decorated sugar cookies. The best part of Halloween as a parent is taking the little ones trick-or-treating. It's fun to visit all of our friends and neighbors, and even more fun to see the delight in the kids' eyes as they fill their bags with candy.

So I don't hate Halloween anymore. I look forward to how much fun it will be for the kids. Here are the cute little trick-or-treaters (you can tell that Aidan didn't enjoy dressing up as much as the other kids):

And now for another confession. I'm in love. I'm infatuated. I'm OBSESSED with the new man in my life. I want to spend every waking moment holding and loving the little guy. I took him to the ward book club last week (just to show him off), and when he started cooing and looking at me with his sweet little eyes, I wanted to run home so that I could get in his face and coo back at him for half an hour like I do when I'm not in public.

Now he's crying and fussing at me for ignoring him while I wrote this post. It's no wonder I haven't blogged for two months! I'll leave you with some pictures of him:

I know, he's adorable!

To my sweetheart

Happy birthday, hubby. I wish I could give you the world for your birthday. You deserve so much more than you ever get. You work so hard for our family, and you're the best dad - the kids just adore you and have more fun with you than anyone else. Above all, you're the most wonderful, supportive husband. I hope you know how much I love and appreciate you.

(I won't include a picture, because I know how much you hate that.)

Happy Birthday, Carter Bean!

Today my little boy turns 3. We spent the weekend celebrating, with a party for his friends on Saturday and a family party yesterday. What a spoiled kid - we've got new toys all over our house! Carter has been the baby of our family until 5 weeks ago, so it seems like he's younger than three years old. On the other hand, he's been potty trained for at least a year, and he does pretty much everything his big sister does, so he seems a lot older than he is. But Carter is a true 3-year-old in his behavior. We've had a heck of a time with him since his baby brother was born. He's been pretty tough to deal with! But he's getting better and we love him to death even when he's being bratty.

A few things that I want to remember about Carter at this age:

• He's very observant. He asked me last week, "Why do you have holes in your ears, Mama?" Now he always wants to check out my earrings. I don't think Katelyn even knows my ears are pierced! He likes to compare himself to everyone else. He notices how big his ears/thumbs/feet/hands are compared to Aidan, and how little everything is compared to John and me. My favorite is when he sat on the floor next to me and said, "Mama, you have a big bottom!"
• He's much tidier than his siblings. He can mess his room up with the best of them, but when he wants it clean, he keeps it perfect. He woke up in the night last week and accidently knocked over his blocks on the way to the door. He came out of his room crying, "I messed up my room. I messed up my room." When we finish dinner, his shirt has less food on it than Katelyn's OR Tanner's!
• He loves his little brother to death. He would literally love him to death if we allowed it. We've been trying to teach him to be more gentle with Aidan so he doesn't smother him.
• He says the cutest things! On Saturday morning he was eating his breakfast and he said excitedly, "Cereal can swim, huh Mama? They can swim in milk!" I catch myself laughing at little things that he says all day long. I need to remember to write down more of them!

Here are some birthday pics:

The birthday cake - Thomas, of course!

Carter "unwrapping" his new bike. He's in love with it!

Carter is a little speed demon. It's so cute to see them riding together!

I just love this picture of Carter. He looks so old with one hand in his pocket.

Checking in

Just thought I'd say hi. I haven't figured out yet how to fit blogging in, and I miss it! Man, I forgot how hard it is to have a new baby! But all of us just adore him. And we're loving life with Tanner here full time. So we're hanging in there.

Here are some pictures to tide you over until I come back for real:

I know I'm biased, but isn't he the cutest thing? He's really chunked up in the last month!