he must have a tie

Every Sunday when Aiden gets dressed for church he absolutely insists on wearing a tie. He will not let it go till he has one on so we try our best to pick one that will go with his outfit. With a limited number of ties available that does not always work out. Chad got him changed to fast this last week because it was a doosy and I really wanted a pic of it for this post (I will have to be faster next time) but I did get this shot a few weeks ago, just to document the tie wearing.

Diagnosis

So Chad went to urgent care on the night of the injury and they told him he sprained it and fractured it but he should probably go to a foot doc and have it looked at. They also told him to stay off it for at least a week. Well when one has a job that requires one to be on ones feet that equals sick days! Luckily he had them and even more lucky that the HR lady at his work suggested he go ahead a file for a short term disability claim "just in case" because when he got in to see the foot doctor he was told it was the worse kind of sprain he could have and that the sprain was of more concern than the fracture. There are sprains that it is good to get back on your feet and then there is the kind of sprain Chad had and that required another two weeks staying off it! So that was a total of 3 weeks with no work, thank goodness for short term disability!

A trip tp the mall = danger for daddy

Almost every week Chad takes the older boys to the RC track with him, so this week I decided to let him go on his own and I would keep the kids. I had to go to Costco so I tried to think of how i could make it more fun for the kids and came up with a trip to the mall (next to Costco)
On our way to the kid play area they spotted this merry go round and HAD to ride it.

after that they ran into the play area, I had to keep reminding the older two that it was built for little kids and they needed to be aware of the kids and not run them over!

Aiden did not want to go when it was time to move on and Tyler had to drag him over to me.

They each brought a quarter to get a candy with.

We took many trips on the escalator. up and down and up and down ......

Again and again.......

A couple of One more time mom One more times. Till I finally had to just start walking away and wait for them to follow.

We had a great time and daddy had a great time by him self, but we paid the price for his freedom. You see when Chad bring the kids he always has them marshal for him ( when his car flips over they are out on the track to flip it for him) they also do this for others. Without the kids Chad was out taking his turn and when he went for a car he slipped on some loose dirt and gravel and rolled his ankle which turned out to be a sprain and fracture!

Can you tell which one is the injured one?

It was a bad sprain and he ended up on a total of three weeks leave from work due to the fact that he had to stay off it. luckily he had short term disability insurance!

Casey birthday

Casey turned 10 this year!!!! WHAT!!!! 10 !!! double digits..I can't be that old. Kids totally age you! Any way back to him. We had some fun on his birthday.
Apparently it is cow appreciation day at chick fillet and if you dress up like a cow you get free food. Did someone say free food? I'm a sucker for free food (i know, lame) I told the kids and they got right down to business making cow costumes for everyone.
I think my favorite is the utters :)

All that for a 0.00 balance receipt! They had so much fun making the costumes. The restaurant was doing games and stuff so it was great! Casey wanted to go to the drive in and see "Despicable Me" since its release day happened to fall on his birthday. We had such success with lunch that we hit another chick fillet on our way out to the drive-in. We were even joined by my brother Deveren's family who was in town for work. The drive in was hot, but we still had fun and even stayed for the second feature, Shrek 4.

Next year don't forget to hit Chick fillet for cow appreciation day on July 8th!!!

Many Faces of Brody

One day i was trying to get a picture to send my mom. She likes to get updates as he gets older (she is CA and misses so much). I loved all the different faces i was getting from him.

I saved a life today...or did I?

I was fish sitting for a friends of ours a little while back. I took care of these two fish that were a prize won at my kids birthday party. A couple days into the fish sitting one of my kids started yelling Aiden NO! Mom Aiden dumped all the food into the water...there is tons! I ran down stairs to find Aiden sitting on the counter with the can a fish food in hand and indeed tons of food dumped in the water. I quickly spooned off the food floating on the top of the water and poured the fish into another bowl.

See all the yellow, mostly on the left of the bowl...yep the is the food that sunk to the bottom. I dumped and rinsed the rest out, cleaned the rocks and saved the fish from eating themselves to death. I'm sad to report that they did not survive the rest of their stay at our house... they died days later due to unknown circumstances...so maybe I did not save their lives, only delayed their passing. Since their families mom was not jumping for joy for the prize fish when they were won she declined my offer to replace them.

Swimming goggles

For the 4th of July we went swimming with my brother and sisters families. My brother Deveren was in town selling alarm systems for the summer so we met at his hotel. my sisters kids had goggles that my kids loved, so I went out and got them some for next time. Well next time couldn't come fast enough so Aiden came up with a solution. Put on said goggles.....

Fill sink with water.....
And go swimming!

A Scorpion!!!

I have lived in Arizona for 12 years now and I have seen a total of maybe two scorpions...till now. I walked into our downstairs bathroom and saw this little critter chillin on the floor. I immediately got a cup, put in over him, turned off the light and locked and shut the door till Chad could take care of it. the next day when Chad got home from work the kids excitedly showed him the scorpion under the cup. We had determined that it was indeed still alive (they seam to play dead) so chad proceeded to catch it and put in a Tupperware where it lived on top of our TV for a few eeks. The kids caught flies and a cricket to feed it and eventually I had to call an end to it. It was creepy having it there and I ordered its removal. Apparently it is a bad year for scorpions. Good bye scorpion may we go another 12 years before seeing another of your kind, and even then please let it not be inside the house!

I Finally cut it

After hearing about it constantly form chad I finally got around to cutting Aiden's hair. I loved the curls, but they were getting to long and he kept asking for it too, so I did it and I like his hair short too. What cutie he is :)

Nap Time

I have always gotten a picture of Chad sleeping with the new baby. I usually got it in the first couple days when sleep was rare and I thought I missed my chance, but I finally got one

Tummy Time

When I explained to the kids what tummy time was they decided to work with Brody on his tummy time skills...you know like holding his head up. They were so fun to watch because they would all get so excited and cheer him on when he lifted his head up. this is something he has been doing since the day he was born, but they were still so proud of him and his ability.

This boy is going to be the death of me!

Aiden is our most rambunctious child. He climbs and jump on and off everything. now having we have learned having a baby swing in the house is a dangerous thing. apparently the younger kids cant help but play on it! one day we heard Aiden start crying....apparently he was "riding on the swing with his feet up where the head goes and this hands on the tray, backwards. Court was pushing him and inevitably he took a header onto the tile floor.

Look at the bump on his head!!!

And by that night it was spreading!! can you see the green bump spreading out? we didn't know if we should take him tot he ER or not. he was acting normal and very much his happy self. He gave none of the classic indications of anything being wrong so we kept him home. He got better...for now.

Blessing day

We blessed Brody Edward Kitchen at my sisters house on June 2oth.

Great Grandma Haws (Chad Maternal grandma)
L to R My cousin Jeremy,cousin in-law Ryan,my brother Deveren, uncle Phil, my dad Rick Farley, cousin in-law Brad, Chad and Brody, brother in-law Jason, my father in-law Terry Kitchen, brother in-law Lee, brother in-law Nick

The grandpas

Three generations