Life with a Darling Asthmatic

Lots of time with the breathing machine...

Heavy doses of steroids (soon to end...he'll have his last dose Sunday - yay)!

Much worry about when is his next attack coming??? I spend considerable time monitoring his breathing and worrying! I've become a real basket case...I've missed quilting for a MONTH...ugh!!! SOON I'll turn normal again (whatever that means) and be back to quilting!

Much sadness that Grandma has gone home (pretty narrow minded of my Dad to think that my Mom needed to go home with him if you ask me!)!!!

TONS of gratitude for healthy days!

My Three Girls

My Dad's youngest brother was sort of a surprise for my Grandparents. After my Grandfather had an accident that pinned him in a full irrigation ditch and cut off the oxygen to his brain for way too long his health deteriorated rapidly. Consequently and thankfully my Dad's youngest brother wound up being raised in part by my parents. This has been a wonderful blessing to all of us because instead of getting another uncle we got ourselves a big brother!

WELL...not only is he a wonderful person but so is his wife and their kids...man oh man I love their kids!!! I used to get them every Friday night, take them to the dairy with me where we'd feed calves, pull calves, and do whatever needed done. Then I'd take them wherever they wanted to go for dinner and sometimes these two would come stay the night with me!

Their favorite sport! They've even gotten into breeding show pigs and one of their off-spring took Reserve Grand Champion at the Maricopa County Fair this year (no small feat considering the MANY pigs in that competition)!!!

Here's their equally cute sister...

Before & After

Before Church with Grandfather...

After Church out on the deck...notice...Son #5 has already ditched his pants! What cuties!

Memorial Day Weekend

My brother brought his cute family and my Dad (my Mom was already here helping with Son #5).

Three pairs of muddy shoes belonging to three of the CUTEST kids ever who were on the trampoline...


Swinging with Grandfather's help...


I wish this picture wasn't so dark. I took it because when I saw my niece and my Dad sleeping in similar positions in our living room I had to laugh to myself. One of my Great Uncles (Uncle Bus) once warned my mother that the blood running through our family is 'STRONG.' This is never more evident that when we are together because we all have major similarities in our OCD enhanced behavior!

We had a house full of company we love and muddy shoes (it rained the day we were scheduled to have family pictures). Now I have a house full of mud but I cannot worry about that...I'm busy outside in my garden!

Out touring the farm...

Again...too dark! We'll have to get another one when they come back!

The premier touring vehicle...Thank you, Grandpa, for loaning this to us (even though you were out of town and I think we just helped ourselves...)

Happy cousins enjoying apple juice!

Viral Croup + Asthma = ER

We've had a rough few days around here! Son #5 has Viral Croup and most likely asthma (have to go back to the doctor later this week to find out for sure).

We spent the better part of the day in the ER. Let me just say if you live anywhere near here it is TOTALLY worth it to make the drive to Durango...they were AWESOME!!!

The good news:
We are home!

Son #5 is breathing better but still not great.

AND best of all, my Mom is coming tomorrow!!! THANK YOU, MOM!!!

101.8...

was this little guy's temperature after a sleepLESS night!

His chest sounds extremely congested. I feel so bad for him! I've just returned from Wal-Mart with a truckload of Mucinex for kids, Children's Tylenol, juice, fruit, and various other goodies.

The best part of kids getting sick...they are so cuddly! I've had more hugs and snuggles in the last 12 hours than I have had since he became mobile!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

All winter I wait (not-so-patiently) for the day we turn our water on. I love to irrigate! Here's what my irrigating boots looked like when I came back home this morning...

I will admit that last night I didn't love it so much when I was carrying a 40 pound crying child on my hip while irrigating. But then Daddy showed up and crying child was magically cured even though we continued irrigating long after the sun went down...how is it that Daddy's presence is the cure??? What am I doing wrong??? I guess I should just be thankful that my husband is so wonderful and leave it at that!

Meanwhile, 40 pound crying child has gone from ready-to-go tackle the task at hand...

to please just wrap my 'jambie' (pajama) covered self in a blanket and let's go...

Bread

I love homemade bread! After many failed attempts I finally found a recipe for white bread (pictured above) that I can't even mess up! Rest assured...it's definitely fool-proof because if a recipe can be messed up...I will definitely botch it more than once!!!

Today, however, I decided to break out the Kitchen Mill and grind up some of the wheat we have in storage (forever working feverishly on that Year Supply). Son #5 took the Kitchen Mill outside (for it seriously covers the kitchen in wheat dust when I grind it inside) and ground until we had a full bucket of flour. Then I came inside and made Merlene's DELICIOUS whole wheat bread recipe. I am SO IGNORANT...the recipe said "let it sponge for 20 minutes." WELL...I had to call and bother poor Merlene at work so she could explain to me what 'sponging' is!!! I think I'll go cut a piece and see what it tastes like before I head out to irrigate!

Happy Mother's Day...

to the best Mother and Grandmother around!

We are so blessed to have you!

my boy

Jenn took these pictures of Son #5 today. THANK YOU, Jenn!!! You are AMAZING!!!

Mrs. Hardesty's legacy...

WARNING: Kind of vulgar post but a memory I want for my journal so please don't read it if you don't want to. If you choose to read it...please don't be offended.

OK - here goes...

I don't remember this Mrs. Hardesty because she died when I was very young. Judging by her children she was a beautiful and wonderful woman and I love this story about her.

When my friend Carol was a little girl she went over to the Hardesty's one day and learned some new vocabulary. Mrs. Hardesty, who's husband's nickname is 'Poop' (and he goes by this nickname to this very day), called her children little 's--t a--es'. Just for clarity the first word is another word for poop, manure or whatever you please and the second word is the name of the ancestors of the modern day donkeys.

OK - now that we're clear on to the rest of the story...

Because of the loving way Mrs. Hardesty said s--t a-- to her own children Carol assumed it was a term of endearment. So the next day as her own Dad (whom she adored) was leaving for work Carol stood at the door waving 'bye' to her beloved Father and said "bye, s--t a--." We have laughed about this for years!

SO, yesterday while my husband, his brother, and two of our nephews were working cows...

These three adorable little people were riding Clancey. Toward the end of the cow sorting, Clancey was tied up. WELL as luck would have it one of the cows hit a panel near Clancey and bless Clancey's heart...he jerked back hard to escape the panel...this threw poor Cousin on the ground over the lead rope (scared me to death watching that) and then chucked the two precious riders onto the ground.


We were all shaken up but no one was hurt so all was well. And now Son #5 is my very own s--t a-- thanks to his landing!

Once I calmed down I laughed and laughed to myself and thought of Mrs. Hardesty and Carol for the rest of the day! I didn't dare share this story with Merlene and Jenn because I thought they would think I was over the top vulgar and now they are probably reading this and thinking it anyway! There is no hope for me!!!

Rainy Day Schedule

We awoke to rain this morning! My husband had me set the alarm extra early today so he could head Over East in the hopes it wouldn't be raining there. He has 30 more acres to plant and then he'll have all of the new dryland alfalfa planted (I think he said 30. I wasn't really paying attention...bad wife...which is unusual because usually when we talk farm stuff I listen. When we talk other stuff I cannot make this same claim for my mind wanders...I am TERRIBLE). Anyway - we wanted to get all of it planted prior to the rain but we are so thankful for the rain!!! Maybe it'll bring our wheat up in front of the house and I can put off dragging sideroll hoses through the mud for a few more days!

This bunny ear maker has two soccer games today...not sure yet if they'll cancel them because of the rain...I'm hoping for a drive myself.

I love to drive in the rain! Rainy days make me want to go get my parents, LD & D.Ray and drive to the Dairy Queen in Gila Bend for milk shakes! We used to all pile into my Dad's pickup and take off (back in the days when the pickup had only one seat...good memories...I don't even remember feeling crowded!). We still call my Dad's pickup the one-seater because he has so much stuff (tools, snacks, pop-cans, sunflower seeds, etc) in it that he's the only one who can ride in his super-cab pickup!!!

I also crave curling up with a good book on rainy days. I highly recommend this series of three books by Nancy E. Turner (they are not in the correct order, I still cannot figure out how to manage that). The first is "These Is My Words" and wow - it just grabs you! Wonderful writing and stories in these books!