Oh my....where does the time go?

I haven't posted in 6 months! So sorry! Time sure does fly. Here is a brief run down of all the Kramer adventures since January.........

Rylee lost her first tooth!......

We went camping in Hell's Canyon and went cat fishing.....

My Grandpa's 77th birthday party......

Mother's Day at Terrace Lakes in Garden Valley......

A visit to Grandma and Grandpa K's house in Washington.....

Jackson's 3rd birthday and my ???? birthday!.......

Our first time flying with the kids (we went to Seattle).......

Rylee was sooo excited! When Adam told her we were over Olympia, she
thought we were flying over Olivia!!! (Olivia the pig is her fav!)......

Went to Seattle for cousin Jennifer's wedding....Rylee caught the bouquet!.....

Went to the Seattle Zoo.....

We found Rylee's long lost brother there.....

We went to the aquarium...but no sharks!.....


Rylee had her last day of school and it was circus days....she went as a ballerina! Of course!

In between times, Jackson has been to the ER for a band-aid up his nose....a home-made tissue plug up his nose.....a foam berry from a flower arrangement was stuck in his ear......VERY swollen tonsils.....he is such a boy! Sometimes I am thankful I don't have two!

Rylee has been great....reading up a storm thanks to Miss Becky and Miss Shelly at her preschool. She is so excited to go to kindergarten in the fall...she will be attending a private Christian school 8 minutes away! SCORE! She has lost her second tooth and is 5 going on 15.

Adam has switched jobs....he still works for St. Luke's, but now works in Meridian as a pharmacist instead of Boise as a manager (way too much stress....can you say cranky?!?). He just put in for a job in Fruitland working at MISTI doing oncology.....pray he gets this because he is very excited! He has been trying his hand a dutch-oven cooking....so far so good! His hand healed well and he has full use, just not full feeling!

I have been chauffeur, nurse, cook, maid, etc....but I love it. Right now, I am trying to get ready to go to McCall camping over the 4th of July. We will be gone 10 days! Woo Hoo! That's about it folks.....talk to you soon....hopefully before 6 months!

The Kramer Family Saga!

Okay...here is the update....Adam's hand is doing great. He had his nerves, tendons, and a muscle reconstructed...and all went well. He was in a HUGE cast/splint thing for about 6 days and now has a more streamlined and funky splint. He can't move his fingers AT ALL! They are afraid the tendons will rupture...so it has been interesting watching him become a "lefty" overnight! :) He is definitely on the mend and hopefully will be back to work soon....maybe....not sure.....crossing our fingers! He can't move for 4 weeks and we are hoping that St. Luke's will find something for him to do? Be a gopher?

Needless to say, I have had an exciting life the past 2 weeks. Let's see....Friday (26th) Adam cuts his hand...Monday: Rylee has a cold...we see the surgeon for Adam...Tuesday: Rylee has pink eye in BOTH eyes...Wednesday: Adam has surgery...Jackson throws up all night....Thursday: Jackson now has pink eye in one eye...Friday: Jackson gets a severe ear infection...Saturday: Jackson now has pink eye in BOTH eyes...Sunday: Uneventful, except for the screaming and crying during eye drops! (Both kids, eye drops, total of 4 eyes, every TWO hours...not fun!)...Monday: Adam see the surgeon and they remove the cast and put him in a splint...Tuesday: We see the surgeon AGAIN for ANOTHER splint...Tuesday night: I am sitting here blogging about how exhausted I am when I need to be sleeping!:) So...that has been my life...fun huh?

This is Adam's new "club" after surgery...he won't need golf clubs anymore he now is one!

Here he is tonight with a new streamlined splint! (He wears this one at night.)

This is the very cool and hip splint he wears during the day! Nice pattern eh?

crash...bang....moan...."oh sh@*!

Friday night, Adam fell down the stairs and tried to stop falling by reaching out for the other wall....right into a shadow box! He fell down the stairs anyway and severed an artery and tendons in his finger of his RIGHT hand! After an ER visit, a tourniquet, stitches, cussing, and yes...lots of blood....we are now waiting to see a hand surgeon tomorrow (Monday).

When the ER doc stitched him up, I was able to watch and it was disturbing to see him lift his whole finger away from the bone. I could see the severed tendon and his bones! Everything, but the bone was essentially cut off and connected by some skin on the front of the finger. He is now discovering that he may be out of work for quite awhile. It is very painful right now, even though he can't feel his finger...hopefully after the surgery he will?!?

School Program

Rylee had her winter program at school last week...and it was awesome! She is definitely a performer! We took Jackson with us and toward the end of the program they were going to sing "Jingle Bells". Rylee shouts out, "Here is your favorite song Jacks!" Of course, every one burst out laughing...especially Jackson! The big finale was a visit from Santa Claus himself!

We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

What we have been up to...

Jackson thinks he is a cowboy now. He is always demanding to wear his hat and guns! (A gun holster with 2 pistols!) He was very upset the other day because he has no boots...I look over and he put on his blue bunny slippers instead(or slippys as he says) . He thought they were mighty fine "slippy boots"!

Rylee and I spent a girls day together and went to the zoo. She was very impressed with the new giraffe and lions. The male lion yawned bearing HUGE teeth...she kind of jumped back. She had to ride the merry-go-round...her absolute fav!

The true meaning of Christmas

I found this video on our friend's blog and thought I would pass the message around. It really makes you think twice before buying Christmas gifts!

Birthday Spotlight!

This morning, Adam and I went to Rylee's school for her birthday spotlight. She got a birthday crown and got to tell everyone her favorite things: animal, book, activity, etc. She was so excited! She had to tell everyone why she was special and she said, "because there is only one me!" Too cute! (For those of you that know her, Rylee's teacher is Becky Petrie! Small world!)

Hi Ho, Hi Ho...it's off to work we go!

Jackson informed me the other day that he was going to work with his "helmet and backpack"! He even tried to go into the garage to drive daddy's truck to work! Then after his nap, he found my shoes and thought that was pretty fun. He is sporting his pj shorts and "helmet" along with mom's heels!

I'm a little tea pot...

Rylee had a tea party for her 5th birthday. It was really cute. Gigi (my grandma), even came dressed for the occasion with a fancy hat and gloves! Rylee thought that was pretty cool! She had 6 friends and we hired a clown, Miss Petunia. She was a hit! She did a comedy show for 30 minutes and the girls giggled like crazy! They were awed by the magic that Miss Petunia performed. It was a very special party...for a very special girl! Happy Birthday Rylee! We love you more that you will ever know!

Santa's Helper has Arrived!

Don't know if you heard or not but....sh, it is a secret...Santa has helpers this year. I guess there are too many children now and it is such a busy time of year that Santa needs help watching all of the children around the world. So he is sending elves to some houses so they can keep tabs on all of the unruly kids. Some houses won't have one because Santa cans still watch SOME kids, just not all of them! Duh! So on Sunday, Ruddy came to visit us for the holidays! He is an "Elf on the Shelf". (Courtesy of Hallmark!) The doorbell rang and (conveniently) I was busy so Rylee had to answer the door. Low and behold....no one was there! I went to investigate and curled up in a ball was a little elf scared out of his mind! Sadie (our dog) ran out the door before Rylee and tried to eat our friendly helper! Rylee was kind of concerned that Santa might not send her a gift because she let his helper get mauled. After reassuring her, we set him on our shelf. Every night he flies to the North Pole to let Santa know if there are good children in our house.....but we can not touch him because his magic with disappear and he will never be able to see Santa again! The kids have been thrilled to get up every morning and try and find Ruddy....because when he gets back from the North Pole, he sits in a different spot! Hopefully, he will be a great childhood memory for my children.

Here is Ruddy this morning...he decided to perch on our lamp! The kids were so excited! They have been disclosing secrets and telling him to be sure and tell Santa those secrets when he goes to the North Pole! I think tomorrow he will be sitting on my espresso machine...wonder how I know that?!?

Playin' Catch-up!

Okay, so here is the scoop. I have obviously missed posting a few moments in our lives. Here they are....

Rylee received her "Alphabet Crown"! A very big deal! She knows her letters and all of their sounds...knows the vowels...knows lower case and upper case...blah, blah. In other words, she is amazing!

Took a road trip to Washington to visit Adam's family. This is the kids after 8 hours on the road, very bored (lots of wheat fields!), and tired. And we still had another hour to go!


Here we are gearing up for Go Fish and Candyland! We have game night every Friday night and Rylee and I are the "Queen" team. We win all the time...thanks dad! Jackson usually wants Rylee to win because it is more fun to clap and cheer for her!

Halloween!

Sorry I haven't posted Halloween pics yet! Here are the kiddos in full gear. Rylee was a witch (duh!) and Jackson is a spider. They had loads of fun and came home with loads of candy. Rylee's basket was spilling over and we had to empty some out in order to get it all home!

What child labor laws?

Last night after dinner, I thought that Rylee would be old enough to learn how to do the dishes. She thought it was awesome! (Oh to be four again and to think the most mundane chores are wonderful!) She was humming and in la-la land most of the time. It was really quite something to see my four year old doing my dishes! Awesome!

'Lil Monet!

Now that Rylee is in school, Jackson and I have lots of fun at "school" too! He now knows his alphabet, shapes, colors, and we are working on numbers. He can count to 15, but doesn't know what the numbers look like. He thinks a number 3 is the letter E! But for a 2 year old, I think he is doing great! I am so terrible though...when you have your first child, you are so excited to have them try everything and anything. Their first food, first word, first step, first art project, first learned letter....well, their have been a few times that you just forget to have your second child "try" anything!

I got out the paints the other day and thought "Oh my God! I have never let this child paint!" So terrible, I know. (Just kidding!) Needless to say, Jackson had a ball painting. Now he begs to do it everyday that "Sissy" is in school!

Sometimes it sucks to be a woman...but the reward is great!

It is so funny. I checked my friend Aimee's blog and she got the same e-mail forward I did and posted it on her site...so I thought I would do the same.

Remember when you were in labor and how it all went down?


How long were your labors?
Rylee: 22+ hours
Jackson: 4 1/2 hours

How did you know you were in labor?
Rylee: My water broke Thanksgiving night (almost 3 weeks early!) at 10:00 and I delivered her at 8:16 the next night!

Jackson: Rylee woke me up at 6:30 am and I was in labor! Went to the hospital and was dialated 7 centimeters!


Where did you deliver?
Rylee: St. Luke's (downtown)
Jackson: St. Luke's (downtown)

Drugs?
Rylee: I finally had an epidural 16 hours later...still had 6 hours to go!

Jackson: He was drug free. He came so fast the doctor wasn't even in the hospital yet!

C-Section?
Neither

Who delivered?
Rylee: Dr. Carter
Jackson: Dr. Anstine


I want to hear everyone's saga!

Suzi Q Dolls

I have been sewing rag dolls for my kids and nieces for a couple of years now. A few people have seen them and ..... bam, I have a new business! I am now sewing rag dolls (in my spare time!) for other people. Anyone want one? There is a link to my web site over on the left under LINKS. Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

labor day means LABOR DAY!

Well, I thought I would kick it into domestic mode and start canning! My grandma came over and we canned ....ready..... almost 100 quarts of peaches! Next are pears! It was a lot of work, but it was kind of fun. Now my kids can have fresh peaches all winter long! The only place we have to store them is under the house. Rylee is thrilled because she loves going under the house(ew! bugs!)and when I need a couple jars of peaches it is her job to go get some. She is excited and so am I...I hate being under the house! It is a win-win situation!

First Day of School!

Today was Rylee's first day of pre-school. She had so much fun. Miss Manners even visited! She instructed the kids on classroom behavior and etiquette. She learned that this month was August and next month is September.....so then we had a long discussion at dinner about time. Minutes, hours, days, months, and years. She was fascinated to learn that her birthday was only three months away, but when she thought about how many days that was, she was kind of bummed! I think she will give Miss Becky (her teacher) a run for her money!