Lego Activity

Steve's

Sarah's

Diana's

Sascha's

The Artists...


Last night we had a family meeting where we all sat down together and looked at the previous goals we'd written. After we each shared our goals we found that Sarah had passed off several of her goals. Way to go Sarah! They were mostly based on school work which showed in her last report card. She had all A's. No minusus either. Sascha did well too passing off his goal to learn baseball. Both kids are playing through the YMCA, which they love. Steve and I both found that we could improve upon our goals. Go figure...pun intended! The kids wanted to end the night with a little activity so I suggested that we each grab a handful of Legos and make a materpiece with what we had. The pics aren't that great, not to mention my masterpiece. Oh well...

A Love Like No Other

My sister made me do it. Post this, that is. I was hesitant, but she said I had to. She is my older sister and I have to do what she says. You know how it goes. After all it is my blog and it's all about what goes on in my life so I suppose there's nothing wrong with it. Let this be a warning though... do not look further if you have a weak stomach. Sascha actually gagged when he saw the pic. There's your WARNING!































As a courtesy to those of weak stomach, I'm allowing a buffer here.


If you're still interested, keep scrolling down....



































Here it goes:


Apollo is amazing! He made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for showing his love for me in the MOST UNIQUE AND TALENTED WAY. Only Mom's would understand how sweet something like this could be. Therefore I had to grab the camera...






































Snuggle Pollo

Here's my first attempt at making a movie on Windows Movie Maker. This is Apollo and Ungle Deeb at Point No Point back in July of '07.

Apollo was just four months old.

Human Tetris

This is one of the YouTube winners of 2007. I thought it was pretty creative, and by golly, it did win the award for creativity. The voice totally sounds like my brother, Dallin.

Happy Birthday to Pops!


Chop, Chop



I finally did it! Chopped my hair! I've been wanting to do this bob style for a while. Hopefully I'll be able to make it look like I want it to. I'm going to go back in again because the left side needs to be evened out more.

The Joy of Raising Boys


Last night I asked Sascha to take a shower and MAKE SURE to wash his hair! So later on when he got out I had to do the smell test. What I smelled wasn't shampoo smell but an air freshener smell. Apple cinnamon to be exact. The same kind of air freshener that's in the kids bathroom. I was trying to find a hint of shampoo smell but couldn't. He said he washed his hair, but I knew what he'd done. He confessed.
Later on right before he hopped into bed I again asked him why he would do a thing like that (spray air freshener on his head). He, in a serious tone, replied, "it lasts for an hour." I could hear Steve in our bedroom cracking up.
One more snippet---
Earlier in the evening after Sascha came out of the bathroom Steve asked him if he'd flushed the toilet. He said yes. I told him that when the toilet doesn't get flushed after someone uses it, it gets dirty. Less than 10 seconds later he walks away and we hear the toilet flush.
Again.... Steve and I both can't help but crack up. It's a coping mechanism. Gotta love 'em.
Oh the joy of raising boys!

Summer Outfit



This particular day Apollo got to wear his very first summer outfit and play outside in it. It was actually about a week and a half ago. It got into the 70's. I got to do a bit of yard work and loved every minute of it. It's both therapeutic and rewarding. Since then it's snowed again and again!!! It's not supposed to snow but a couple of times each year. Something's amiss. hmmmm.....

In Memory of...

In memory of my friend LaDonna, I wanted to add her obituary here. I met her when I used to attend the Poulsbo 2nd Ward. She was always very welcoming and fun to talk to. She had a sweet spirit about her and was like a Grandma to all the little kiddies. She used to have Abby come stay with her in the summertime. Abby is Sarah's age and the first one to be friends with Sarah when we moved to Poulsbo(they live in Spokane now). She was like a Grandma to Abby when their family was going through some difficult times. When she would have Abby over, she would also invite Sarah at the same time and let the girls have sleepovers at her house.
We will miss her dearly.


La Donna Mary (Parks) Harthun, 57, died April 13, 2008 at her home in Kingston, WA after a courageous battle with cancer. LaDonna was a special education school teacher at Vinland Elementary School and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Kitsap County, WA. She had been a resident of Kitsap County, WA since 1987.LaDonna was born on May 24, 1950 in Sioux City, Iowa to the late Marion and Patrick Parks. She received a bachelor degree and teaching certificate from the University of South Dakota at Vermillion, South Dakota in 1972 after which she had a successful career as an Educator and HR Consultant. Most recently LaDonna was a special education teacher at Vinland Elementary School in Poulsbo, WA.She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Chad and Melissa Johnsrud of Suquamish, WA; grandchildren, Isaac and Natalee Johnsrud; sister and brother-in-law, Paula and Daryl Rolland of DeKalb, IL; sister and brother-in-law, Patti and Arvin Berding of Slayton, MN; sister, Peggy Maday of Denver, CO; brother and sister-in-law, Tim and Susie Parks of Westfield, IA; aunt, LaDonna Burns of Pleasanton, CA; 10 nieces and nephews; and her many wonderful friends. LaDonna was preceded in death by her father in 1982 and her mother in 1997.In recent years, LaDonna enjoyed spending time with her only son, Chad Johnsrud, and daughter-in-law, Melissa Johnsrud, along with their two children Isaac and Natalee Johnsrud. She often had her two grandchildren stay with her on the weekends. Some of her favorite activities with her grandchildren were trips to Sequim to pick strawberries, gardening, picnics at the park, slumber parties, and going to the movies. LaDonna’s funeral service will be held this Saturday, April 19, 2008, 2:00pm at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 8677 Madison Avenue NE, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110. Interment will take place at Hill Crest Cemetery on Bainbridge Island.Memorial gifts can be made to the Memorial for LaDonna M. Parks/Harthun for the benefit of her grandchildren’s education c/o Kitsap Federal Credit Union, P.O. Box 990, Bremerton, WA 98337; account #282358.Flowers can be sent to the Cook Family Funeral Home at 163 Wyatt Way N.E., Bainbridge Island, WA 98110.The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: View Map

Christopher Walken Family Reunion on SNL



Gotta love ol' Christopher...

Picture Collage Time...

Some of the cakes I've made in the past (okay, Steve gets credit for one or two)...
Some freaky photos taken on my friends iMac...



Punkin and Psycho Momma

Apollo knows how to whistle (no kidding) and say Da Da in a scary voice. So I was trying to get him to perform, but he wouldn't because they never do when you want them to. Anyway here's what I got (me acting goofy and all) and later on when I actually get him to do it, I'll post it. Hopefully there will be a next time.

Surgery

This picture was taken by the nurse. It's hard to tell, but Sascha was trying not to smile. He had all sorts of questions like: is it going to hurt, how will they put me to sleep, how will they know if I'm asleep or not, etc... He was very concerned. He started getting nervous and then started tearing up so the nurse thought it best to drug him up so he wouldn't remember going back to the OR.

Sorry these next pics from my phone aren't that great. This picture was after Sascha was drugged up. It was hilarious because he was "all smiles" and totally looked like he was on cloud nine and ready to go.


Both nurses had to lift him up and over into the red wagon (since he was so out of it) which had a pillow and blanket so he could have a nice cozy ride to the OR. It was really cute! I wish I had thought ahead of time and took video of it from my phone.


Here's another pic of him all ready to go. It was the cutest thing ever seeing them wheel him out and down the hall through the doors to the OR. I kick myself now not for recording it. If they hadn't drugged him, he would have been crying all the way there, I'm sure.

Sascha back at home resting on the couch. He'll be doing a lot of that along with watching movies (he's already watched Alvin and the Chipmunks and Scooby Doo 2), playing video games and reading.

Yesterday was Sascha's big debut for having his tonsils and adenoids removed. We arrived at 8am, the surgery was scheduled for 9. It went quickly after they took him back. I was hoping to finish reading the last two chapters of my "Into the Wild" book. I get distracted easily when people are talking and there were lots of people in the waiting room. So I didn't get to finish it.
They called me back to the recovery room and right as I got there they were wheeling Sascha in. He was still quite dopey. The nurse said with the drugs he had beforehand, it would take about 15-30 minutes longer for him to come out of it, so we waited, and waited, and waited. At one point we sat him up and he immediately fell forward so we knew he wasn't ready to go. The anesthesiologist said for us to make sure he could sit forward on his own before we left. So...we gave him some oxygen to help get it out of his system quicker, which helped and after about 2 hours he was good to go. She said if we ever need to sedate him again like that, to let the nurses know he's very sensitive to it. Across the hall from us there was a girl (probably 10 yrs old) who had the same surgery. I noticed she had no parents waiting for her when they brought her into recovery. She was having a really hard time too and it wasn't until probably 20 minutes later that her Dad finally showed up. From what I overheard it sounded like he was pretty clueless. I felt so bad for the girl. Anyway, while I went to pull the van around, Sascha had an expel (vomiting) episode, which the nurse said is common while in recovery and better that he did it there than in the car or at home. On our way home, right as I turned into our general area he started throwing up again. Poor guy. So I pulled over and helped him.
So... Sascha's been doing well. He was a little pale the first day. He was eating (which was awesome) jello, ramen, pudding, milk shakes, applesauce and drinking lots of ice water to keep the swelling down. He slept in my bed with me so I could monitor him and give him his medicine when I was supposed to. I waited too long to give him his medicine during the day yesterday because he said he was fine, and then later fell to sleep, so when he woke up it had been probably eight hours since his last dose of meds and he was really hurting. I decided not to let that happen again.
I'm so glad he had the surgery because now he'll be healthier, miss less school and sound better while he speaks. Way to go Sascha!!!

Poop's

I was finally able to locate a picture of the Poop's that were a big hit at our Easter Dinner. Compliments to David... He also sent me this link that you might find curious: http://benderboyz.com/people/article/008675309/


Sarah's 10th Birthday

Sarah---aka Luna Lovegood
What a swell present cake!
Yum!

Cute widdow Punkin' with milk freckles... Chellie---aka Hermione...
Amanda---aka Ginny

Anni---aka Tonks...
Sidney---aka Ginny...
Emily---aka Ginny...
Kendall---aka Luna Lovegood
Tori---aka crazed Harry Potter fan...
Sarah celebrated her 10th birthday with a Harry Potter dress-up slumber party. There were eight girls total. Guests started arriving around 5pm. They enjoyed playing out in the woods and psyching each other out.

The plan was to let the girls make their own pizzas. As I was heating up the oven I heard some sparking and saw some bright flashes inside the oven. I quickly turned it off and looked inside. A piece of the heating element melted and now has a small hole in it. It is an original appliance (house built in '79) so I'm sure it's had it's time. Good thing for my trusty toaster oven. It has two racks so we were able to cook two pizzas at a time.
Next, we had a little costume show and had the girls guess who was who. Then we had a questionairre on how well they knew Sarah. Then we had the girls do skits in a bag. Basically they were divided into groups and given a bag full of random items to use in their skits. Steve video taped them. Then Sarah opened presents and we did the cake thing (I let Sarah choose the cake and I made it). Afterwards we all played Apples to Apples. Then the girls got their beds set up and watched Lemony Snicket. I told them to go to sleep after it was over. I'm not sure how well they liked that because when I woke up in the night both at 2am and then at 4, they were still up gabbing away. Girls will be girls. They even rose at 7:30 the next morning! Yikes!!!
We had bacon (which disappeared quicker than I could make it), sausage, bagels, orange slices and cereal straws.
The girls continued playing out in the woods and on the swing until the parents came around 10am. I would say it was a great success. Happy 10th Sarah!!!

Jaunt to Oregon...


I was able to accompany my friend LaRee down to Albany, Oregon to drop her girls off for Spring Break. It was a nice little break indeed. David was able to come be with the kids for a couple of hours until Steve got home from work. We left Monday around 3pm and met up with LaRee's dad, Burl for dinner at a sushi joint around 8pm. I later met Burl's wife, Kris back at the house and also LaRee's sister Liz. We visited for quite a while, touring the house and looking through books in Burl's office. We were offered some ginger candy which had a very strange and unique flavor. He also offered us all sorts of other candy (I think he was trying to get rid of it maybe because of the expiration date???). I really enjoyed visiting with her Pop.


The next morning I got a tour of LaRee's old stompin' grounds (old house, schools, parks, etc...) and also a tour of Burl's job site. He has duel ownership in a very successful manufacturing business. It was amazing seeing all the products they make and how it's actually made. Then it was off to another sushi joint for lunch with her Dad and sister. Afterwards we said our goodbyes and headed up north to seek our fortune.


First, was a jaunt to the Washington Square Mall for LaRee's BIG purchase, a new iMac. The salesperson let us know how amused and delighted he was with the way we dealt with eachother and him. I think we taught him a few things.

Next, we stopped by the distribution center to pick up some G's. The Portland temple was gorgeous of course.

Then we ran over to Ikea. No big purchases, but it was fun.

We ended by eating dinner at Burgerville in La Center. The fries tasted like chemicals but the strawberry shake made up for it. We got home about 10:30-ish. It was a great trip and we had a lot of good laughs.