Trouveres

Kelsey decided at the beginning of the school year that she wanted to be a member of Trouveres, the show choir at her High School. Only concern? They usually don’t take Freshmen or Sophmores. I encouraged her to try out anyway. She chose a show tune from Enchanted and rehearsed with tutoring from my good friend Allyson. Here is a video of her practicing. She doesn’t love this video cause her voice is so tired from practicing but I think it sounds great. The wobbling video? It’s from Kaiden trying to climb all over my lap.

She had 2 days of tryouts. Day one was singing in front of 7 judges and day two was learning a dance routine. She was certain she didn’t make it after day two. But over the weekend she got a text letting her know she made it to the final cut.  She went to school at 7:00am for the final tryout where she found out she made it!!  Here are the words of her choir teacher, “She is one of the very few younger students who made Trouveres. She deserves it so make sure and congratulate her. She beat out 70 other girls for the spot.”

She is really excited and so are we. Congrats, Kelsey!!

 

Crazy Hair Day

 

Look at those awesome 80’s bangs.

The month that nearly did me in PART 3.

Let’s wrap this up shall we?

15. Drivers Training.  We signed Kelsey up to take drivers training through the school district.  We headed off to the DMV to get the proper credentials.  Do you think she is excited?

16. Snakes.  It must be the time of year….or the fact that we live in the mountains.  I don’t know, but we have had a ton of snakes!  They are only garden snakes but they still freak  me out.  This one in the picture was blocking my way to the car. I was walking out the door to work and there between me and my car was a snake.  I went to the right and so did the snake. I went to the left and so did the snake.  I called Kendall and he caught the snake.   The best was when Kelsey was using the net to clean insects out of the pool and there was a snake swimming in there!

17. Freshman Orientation.  We entered the gym where the  band was playing, the cheerleaders were performing and the bleachers were full of kids.  It was so strange because I remember being in high school like it was yesterday!  I loved high school, so I hope Kelsey has a good 4 years.   Annoyingly and predictably, the senior boys were all there to check out the girls.  Senior boys look REALLY old compared to my baby!…..and since when do high school boys have MUSTACHES?

18.  First day of school.  Kenny was out of town this week so I tried to be super organized.  In order to get everyone where they need to go I have to leave my house at 7:20 AM!  Here are some pics of the kids.

19. 1/2 Marathon. Two years ago I decided to run a half marathon with my sister, Becky.  She was living out of state and was planning to drive to Pocatello to run the race with me.  She had to quit training and couldn’t run the race.  I ran anyway.  But not the 1/2.  She is living here in Pocatello this year while her husband is deployed to Iraq.  Since they will be moving away when he gets home we decided to train and run our half marathon this year.  Training has been interesting.  With 8 kids between us, the training was crazy.  Some nights we were able to get away and get our run done quickly.  Other nights we brought the whole crew with us to the track.  Those runs took FOREVER.  There were messy pants to change, clinging children….you name it, it probably happened while we were trying to run.  It was pretty humorous.

 

Training for this race was a huge time commitment.  The long runs on Saturday usually took a couple hours.  It was nice to train with Becky.  She is a good listener and was able to help me work through some things I was struggling with.  I grew to admire and respect her insight and am so thankful to have her as a sister and friend.   Before I knew it, summer had flown by and race day was here.  It felt really good to know I had stuck with the training and was prepared to finish.  The race started well and I felt really good.  Things were moving along nicely until about mile 7.  I got a really bad stitch in my side that lasted the rest of the race.  I ran through the pain but I think it slowed me down a little.  The last 2 miles were ROUGH!  I wanted to die.  We only trained to run 10 miles so after mile 11 I could feel my body shutting down.  Becky is the only reason I finished my race.  Our original goal was to finish in 2 hours and 15 minutes but we really wanted to finish under 2 hours. I was slowing down and she said, “If you want a finish time under 2 hours you have to run faster.  I know you don’t care right now but you will after the race.  You want to leave everything you have on the road.”  I am so grateful I had her with  me to push me and encourage me.  If I had been by myself I would have stopped and walked those last few miles.  I can honestly say I left EVERYTHING on the road.   Now all we need to work on is my race finish….  They had our timing chips embedded in our race numbers.  When we started the race we ran across an electronic bar that activated the timer.  As we came to the finish line we were sprinting as fast as we could. I could see the electronic bar ahead and as soon as we crossed it we stopped running, only to see a second bar a few yards ahead was the actual finish line.  So we walked a few steps before realizing it and then ran to the second bar.  What a glorious finish!  Also note to self: Quit talking and smile when you come to the finish line so the photographer doesn’t get spastic pictures like this and this AND this.   Ya, that last one is a beaut!  I was so excited when they posted our times and we finished in 1 hour and 59 minutes!  Here are the pictures of the race.

Up before sunrise.

 

Riding the bus up to the starting line.  There is the electronic bar. :)

Don’t we look happy?……and sweaty?

WE FINISHED!!!

Back at mom’s.

20. Pizza Party.  We celebrated with the kids at Pizza Hut.

 

Zoey made sure to lick her plate clean.

And that is the end of my report on the craziest month ever.  Here’s to hoping September is nice and relaxing.

The month that nearly did me in PART 2

Ok where did we leave off?……. oh yes at #9.

9. Cousin Camp.  Every summer my kids attend Cousin Camp for 3 days.  This year the theme was Olympics.  They congregated at my house on the last day to play water games.  All the parents came for dinner as well.

Water games galore and tractor rides.

 

My man wearing my hot polka dot sunglasses and Kylie all blinged out.

My sister Becky with her sweet Zoey, and the family waiting for the closing ceremonies.

The Cousins.

10. New Job.  Kenny was recruited by Lithia to be the General Manager of a  Honda store here in Pocatello.  Any time you are faced with making career decisions, especially a job change, it is very stressful.  Roll up everything else going on this month and add that worry on top of it.  A stressed out husband makes a stressed out woman!  Once we decided it would be a good opportunity for Kenny and for our family it added a whole new set of events to our already crazy month.  He had several days off to just hang out with the family and I LOVED having him home.  He helped with the housework, getting laundry caught up and ran kids around while I was at work.  I told him he would make a good Mr.. Mom. ;) Then he flew to Montana for a week (the week that school started and the week I ran my 1/2 marathon!) to train at a Lithia store there.  It was a CRAZY week while he was gone, but we all survived and are happy to have him home.  It is a blessing just to have a job right now and we feel especially grateful for this opportunity.  Kenny started at the new store the day after Labor Day.  I am so impressed by him everyday.  He has a great way with people and is a very smart leader.

11. Montessori Open House.  We enrolled Kylie and Kaiden in Montessori this year.  Actually it is a lottery system. Kylie got in and so Kaiden was bumped  up on the list for preschool.  I am really excited especially for Kylie.  As you know we have struggled with Kylie and academics since she was in 1st grade.  Really this is a last ditch attempt and I hope it will be a good fit for her.  We met the teachers and I LOVE Kylies teacher.  My heart swelled (cheesy, I know. But it swelled, really it did) when I met her and listened to her.  I think she will be just what Kylie needs.  A snippet about the Montessori method- All children have inherent inner directives from nature that guides their true normal development.  The Montessori method respects individual liberty of children to choose their own activities. This freedom allows children to follow their inner guidance for self-directed learning. ( Post note:  We are into week 2 of school and so far no complaints or whining or negative self talk….she even did her homework on her own! yay!)  The open house went on during the days Kenny had off work.  He came with me (that never happens in the car business when they work 8-8) It was nice to have him there, although I do not know how he made it through school in one piece.  I take that back….I don’t know how his TEACHERS made it through in one piece.  He was playing with everything around him, tapping his pencil, writing and passing notes, bothering those sitting around him (me) and being generally inattentive.  (But i did like the note he passed me♥)

12. Date night.  Because Kenny was leaving for a week and we knew his September would be crazy busy, we tried to cram in a few dates before he left.  You know those date nights where you are both in a good frame of mind, the conversation is flowing and everything just goes perfect? Ya, this was one of those dates.  The summer night was beautiful, we sat out on a gorgeous patio and enjoyed a good meal.  Loved it.

   

13. 80’s Flashback.  Kenny “scored” (if that’s what you want to call it) tickets to the Warrant, Royal Bliss and Cinderella concert. Now I enjoy me some 80’s Hair Band music every now and then, but this concert was a little over the top for me.  I just enjoyed being there with my favorite person and did a lot of people watching….and let me tell you, the people watching at an outdoor concert is always entertaining.  It reminds me of the State Fair.  I mean really, where are these people hiding during normal daylight hours? It’s like they only come out at night for special events such as butt rock concerts and demolition derby’s. Anyway, I knew most of the Warrant songs so that was fun but when Cinderella came out, I only knew one song and it was the last one.  I know you are sad you missed out!  But don’t worry, I took pictures for you.  My commentary is a bonus.  You’re welcome.

Awwwww.  Aren’t we cute? ♥

I am apologizing in advance for burning your retinas with my first pic.  Don’t forget to notice that she took extra time to crimp her hair…. you know to be authentic.  Next is Tuck Friar? Maybe not…..well whoever he is, he is the “Worlds Most Dangerous Something or Other”.  It says so on his shirt.  Then we have a Mullet Man.  It just wouldn’t be an 80’s concert without one.   Picture #4 is what has become of the 80’s generation….Alice Cooper shirt and balding dome.  Next is some crazy freak guy…. oh wait, that’s my husband. He REALLY liked this concert.  What is freaky about this picture is that Mullet Man from picture three is staring at him from the corner???? Weird. Last is my awesome cell phone snap of Cinderella performing.  There, do you feel like you attended with me?  Didn’t want you to miss it.

 

14. One expensive penny. I was at the mall doing some school shopping with the kids.  We were in Payless.  I was on one side of the store and Kelsey and Kaiden were on the other.   I heard Kaiden crying but I thought he probably grabbed something and Kelsey put it back so I didn’t thing anything about it.  After a minute I heard a commotion so I walked around the aisle.  He had swallowed a penny and it was lodged in his throat.  There were a  few ladies there who were FREAKING out.  I stayed calm and just made sure he was breathing and talking.  He threw up in my hands because he kept gagging.  I took him to the urgent care in the parking lot of the mall.  The nurse there wanted to call an ambulance and take him to the ER.  That was the first time I was concerned.  I declined and opted to drive him myself.  I left the girls in the waiting room while we were admitted.  They took an X ray and found the penny lodged in there pretty good.  I called Kenny to come join me when they started talking IV’s and other stuff.

 

They put in an IV and took us to the radiology room.  We all donned lead vests.  I started to get worried when they rolled in life support carts and had 5 extra people standing in the room in case he aspirated the penny into his lungs as they were pulling it out.  They laid him on the table and had a live X ray machine going so the doctor could guide the tube.  They took a catheter and put it down his throat past the penny.  Then they would blow up the balloon at the bottom of the tube and try to pull the penny up with the balloon as they pulled it out.  All you moms out there know what its like to hold your child down while a medical procedure is taking place….it is the worst!  Kaiden had to lay on his side with Kenny holding down his body and me holding his head.  He is gagging, choking crying and puking while they are fishing the tube down his throat.  It was about as big around as a pencil.  The first 8 times didn’t work.  It was horrible to have to keep doing it over and over.  Each time they yanked the tube out, Kaiden would sit up and in his raspy little voice say, “ Did you get the penny out?” They decided try and fill the balloon with water instead of air to make it firmer.  We coaxed Kaiden into laying down for another go and this time was the worst.  When they filled the balloon with water and pulled it up, it was so firm that the doctor was seriously pulling on the tube with a ton of force.  Kaiden screamed because it hurt rubbing up his throat.  That try didn’t work, but the next one did.  Thank goodness.  I don’t think Kaiden would have lasted much longer.   Once he had a popsicle, he was good as new.

 

Here is why you don’t let your kids put money in their mouth.  I am so grateful my son did not die.  I know that sounds drastic, but he could have!  I figure this will be a $1,000 penny.

I really thought I could finish my post, but it will have to extend to The month that nearly did me in PART 3.  Coming up is drivers training, school starting, a half marathon and more.