multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here.

"One Thousand Gifts":

774. how quickly kids heal
775. a REALLY clean garage {thanks babe!}
776. fallish weather {my favorite, by far!}
777. the state fair
778. dry diapers in the morning
779. dry Elmo undies all day long
780. cough syrup with codeine
781. the return of wearing skirts and boots {and even some long sleeves!}
782. thoughtful friends who bring extra folders and take a couple kiddos for most of the day
783. my mom!
784. a perfectly-timed puke bucket brought bedside
785. a day off with only 2 things on the "to do" list {ok, maybe 3}
786. sibling love
787. my dad's safe arrival home {he's been gone again}
788. tom thumb mini donuts . . . the perfect way to end a day!

Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

never a dull moment!

After feeling yuckier and yuckier for nearly a week, I finally went to the doctor {on my last week off -- starting next week I have weekly doctor appointments for the baby anyway!}. The narcotics they gave me seem to be helping already and hopefully I'll feel {and sound -- ask anyone who has been around me in the past 3 days or so. I sound like I'm near-death} close to normal again soon.

Anna's face {and arms too, although you can't see those in the picture} had a little run in with the cement steps last night and so Kirb made his 2nd ER run {different ER though . . . you know, to add a little variety to our lives} in less than 2 weeks to get her cleaned up. 6 stitches {1 internal and 5 external} later and she'll be ok, but they said that she'll probably have a visible scar. Hopefully she'll look good with bangs! After her x-ray, although not 100% certain, the doctor was pretty sure she doesn't have a skull fracture. So, that's the good news, I guess. Neither of us thought to change her into a diaper before leaving for the hospital, so, even with all the trauma, and after using the facilities at Children's Hospital a few times, she still stayed dry in her Elmo undies the entire day {she's been doing quite well in that area and even wakes up with a dry diaper most mornings!} even through stitches, x-rays and lots of excitement. Good job, Banana Boo! It was after 10 when Dad & daughter got home from their little "date night" so she was kinda loopy, all things considered, and wound down with some lemonade while watching Tinkerbell on Mommy's lap.

I was awake about 2 o'clock this morning {shifting positions is a pretty big ordeal at this point!} and Kirb was snoring {he has a cold too; it seems we all have it to some degree}, so I gave him an elbow in the side and said "Babe, you're snoring." His usual response would be to roll over or move or do something and then the snoring would stop. This time, rather, he said to me. "No, I'm not!" I didn't feel it was a good use of time time and {limited} energy to argue with a sleeping 36-year-old, so I let it go. But just for the record . . . um, yes, you were!!

I coordinated and hosted breakfast for the entire staff of the kids' school on Thursday morning. It's usually something I look forward too, but being pretty sick, quite pregnant and having to lug 4 loads of stuff from my van into the building in the rain at 7 am made it not-quite-as-fun-as-usual. Hopefully it will be fun again next fall!

It's Labor Day weekend! Kirb and I are planning to make one final trip to the fair, just the 2 of us, for a little date on Sunday night. I'm looking forward to a date and also looking at all the stuff I enjoy looking at, that isn't real possible when you've got 5 kiddos along -- all 7 of us spent about 8 hours at the Fair on opening day and had a great time {for the most part}. We ate 3 bags of mini donuts, a HUGE order of "World's Greatest French Fries", a few large sodas, 3 large Hawaiian Shaved Ice, 3 pickles on a stick, a bucket of Sweet Martha's Cookies and, I'm sure a few more things that I can't remember at the moment -- plus lots of snacks brought from home!

Jacob's asthma is always at it's worst at this time of year. He coughs almost constantly and can't breathe, so that's fun!

I have about 90% of our needed school supplies. I packed them up and was all organized over 2 weeks ago, but there were those last few things that I didn't have. So, I was trying to wrangle them up yesterday while filling my prescription at Target, but, as it turns out, Target is out of pretty much everything! Um, HELLO! School didn't even start yet! I asked the guy in the school supply section, "Where do you have plain folders?" and he answered, "We don't have any of those." Also missing from inventory were dry erase markers and glue sticks . . . those were the 3 things I needed more of. {Well, that and 1 box of quart-sized Ziploc bags . . . but those, miraculously, were in stock}. Believe me, I had dry erase markers, glue sticks and folders all in my big box o' school supplies, but it would seem I didn't have enough for 4 children to go back to school. I still need 3 more large glue sticks, about 20 color-specific 2-pocket folders and a pack each of thick and thin dry erase markers. Then I'll be done. I guess I'll hope for the best at Staples some time today! We'll see.

My grandpa would have been 99 today. Miss you, Papa!

I guess that's it for the moment. Have a fabulous Saturday!

flashback friday

september 2006

thankful thursday

Today I'm thankful for the fabulous time we had at Family Camp at Trout last week. Last year was our first time at Family Camp and we had the best time. So, nearly 6 months ago we signed up to go again this summer. I will admit that family camp is more fun when you are not pregnant and when it's not super hot and extra humid. But, even so, we had a great time once again. A few of us weren't 100% health-wise while we were there, which was kind of a bummer, but we made the best of it and all had a great time anyway! I really do think that family camp is the best family vacation around!

The kids loved their classes. Joey even "performed" in the 4's & 5's program this year (rather than standing on the stage looking extremely grumpy) and was a complete ham. Anna was quite a bit more of a participant than she was last year and felt completely comfortable at Trout by the time our week was up. A tad too comfortable at times . . . like when she just decided -- more than once -- to take off on her own. Once we found her in the chapel (which reminded us of this passage), once she was heading back to our cabin and sometimes she was just out for a leisurely stroll. Thankfully, we never found her in the lake! We played in the water, we ate lots, we sang crazy camp songs, we learned lots, we mini golfed . . . and after one extremely uncomfortable, really hot night we even (we, meaning Kirb!) commandeered a fan for our cabin (thanks to my large belly and current "state"). What a blessing!

Speaking of the heat, when we returned home after being gone for 5 days we turned our air back on (no sense spending a fortune cooling a house no one is in) only to find that it didn't work. It was 87 degrees in our house and we were all crabby and miserable (and, need I mention . . . overtired!). We still have to get another opinion, but it pretty much looks like it's shot and we might as well just replace the whole business. Not a huge surprise, since the AC is probably between 15 and 20 years old. But a bummer nonetheless! So I am very thankful for the drop in temps we had overnight on Tuesday and the lower humidity too. The weather yesterday was about as close to ideal as you can get, if you ask me.

I won't make you look through all of them, but here are a few pictures highlighting our time at Trout (I am thankful that I have any pictures at all, since our camera had a little run-in with some water and was completely out of commission for about 24 hours. But, it seems to be back to something close to 100% given a few days of "healing" time). Enjoy::

sisterly love::

{if you look carefully, you can see Anna about to go down the slide}::

our cabin is right through those trees
{obscured from view by our enormous van}::

my extra-brave, adventurous husband climbing to the top of a telephone pole for "The Leap of Faith" {you climb to the top -- harnessed in, don't worry! -- and then steady yourself on the top of the pole with no platform or anything, then you jump off and try to catch yourself on a trapeze bar, then you let go and they lower you down} This is something I will not be trying. Ever. Watching him was more than enough adventure and nervousness for me!::

Adventurous activity #2, the "Zip Line".
Climb the platform {harnessed, once again} and jump off and "zip" down a cable where you go for a long ways and drop about 70 feet in the process. Kirb is the guy on the far right and the building on top of the hill is the new Timber Ridge dining hall. My dad has done probably 95% of the masonry work on it -- foundation, block work, fireplaces, a huge chimney on the opposite side of the building and all the exterior stonework.
I believe I will try out the "Zip Line" the next time I am at Trout in a non-pregnant state. It looks like fun! Both Jacob and Lydia did the zip line too {they have a slightly smaller scale one for anyone over 8 to try) and they LOVED it, but that was during the cameras recovery time, so we haven't got any photographic evidence of their bravery::

Anna at the beach
{the last picture taken before the camera troubles began}::

Jacob on the rock climbing wall::

and back at the bottom::

Jacob & Lydia climbing {I think Jacob got to the top 4 times and Lydia did it 5 or 6 times . . . the little monkey!}::

Rebekah's climb::

Joey and his class performing "I am H-A-P-P-Y"::

Hot chocolate is a great way to start the day::

View of the lake on the boat dock side::

All the kids by the sign . . . notice how torn up Anna is about leaving camp::

It was a great week and we all look forward to next time!!

multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here.

"One Thousand Gifts":

770. no more staples in Jacob's head
771. the minnesota state fair
772. garage sales {the ones that drain your bank acoount -- but not too much, and ones that add to it!}
773. family camp!!!

Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

flashback friday

the other major Stoll head injury:
Joe's stitches, October 2008
{his hair still doesn't grow in that spot}

thankful thursday

"This I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

Lamentations 3.21-23

a thousand words . . .

"nesting" sisters::wow::

frightening::

crazy::

ouch::

still strong, with or without the staples::

my mom's broken toe::
one cool chick::

classic joe::

Rebekah's new hairstyle::

BFFs::

garbage

In case you ever wondered what trash looks like for a family of 7 {nearly 8, but really at this point the baby makes no trash at all, so we can't really count him or her this time around!}, this is it.

Yup, that's all.

And we weren't even gone at all this week. When we're gone it sometimes barely covers the whole bottom. But, on the other hand, then there's that 3rd week in March when we have 3 birthdays and make more trash than this . . . or we decide to do a major garage clean-up . . . or there's Christmas or something. But, on a normal week, this is about all we make . . . thanks to reuse, upcycling, recycling and composting! Not too shabby, I'd say.

In other randomness, Kirb was on campus at Northwestern last night and happened to be driving the van. A student came up to him and asked "Are you the shuttle?" Kirb told him no, but when he was ready to leave about 10 minutes later, and the real shuttle still hadn't arrived he introduced himself to the guy and asked if he wanted a ride and proceeded to drive the student to his off-campus dorm a few miles away . . . what a guy. I guess we're just askin' for that kind of question by driving our big vehicle.

multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here.

"One Thousand Gifts":

747. planning underway for next June's big family vacation
748. more than 24 consecutive hours spent with wonderful, wonderful friends
749. nice ER doctors {who remind the injured child of their favorite teacher} who staple your head closed again . . . and the dads who go along so the moms don't have to endure the emotional pain of watching staples go into skulls. YUCK!
750. tummy x-rays showing no more coins in Anna's tummy {we must have missed it on its exit during our week-long, thorough poop checks somehow . . . glad we went to much of that super fun work unnecessarily!}
751. surviving my nearly 9-hour long 8-kid day last week {9 kids if you're counting the one I'm carting around in front of me}
752. Schaeffer Christian Carlson
753. the hours at the front-end of the day, before I start waddling {by the end of the day, I can't do anything to stop the waddle . . . believe me, I've tried}
754. more than 32 weeks down, 8-ish left to go
755. life-long friends
756. sleepovers
757. birthday parties {happy 2nd birthday, sweet Ava!}
758. the anticipation of family camp
759. 3 days until the fair starts!
760. seeing the Elliott's {the circumstances under which we saw them boggle my mind quite a big, but we're thrilled to see them nonetheless!}
761. the laughter of kiddos
762. a trip to the zoo
763. a couple more things to check off on our summer list . . . and a few more extra fun ones to come in the week ahead
764. a safe 400K bike ride for my no-longer-in-his-30's {or even 40's or 50's} father . . . way to go, Dad. You're one of a kind!!
765. the little hint of fall in the air {but only for one day} we had last week
766. contentment
767. a big week for my brother's family::1 new baby, 30 years of life for Jenn, 6 years of marriage for Mr. & Mrs. Carlson {and before next week, 2 years of life for Haddon!}
768. the excitement of kids when given their very own cameras! {thanks, Elliotts!}
769. my grandma {it's her 84th birthday today!}

Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

oh, Anna

It started out innocently enough. We were in the basement and I said, "C'mon babe, let's go upstairs and see Daddy."

She answered with "No." {recently she has discovered her will and become a tad defiant}.

So, I said, "Nope, sweetie, it's time to go upstairs."

To which she replied, "Boss a me, Mom!" . . . which, I can translate with much confidence, based on her facial expression and intonation, as: You're not the boss of me, Mom. Oh, sweetie, 1. Yes, actually, I am and 2. we don't say that around here, got it!


Now, the interesting thing is that, although they do have a phrase or two {or ten} that they use that I do not appreciate {they aren't perfect, in case you hadn't realized that fact!} , this, "You're not the boss of me.", is not a phrase that I think I've ever heard one of the "bigs" use around here. So, I'm a tad baffled as to where she picked this one up. Clearly, however, she understands it's " proper" usage and can use it quite accurately in context. So, she has quite a little attitude, but, it would seem, is also pretty smart . . . I'm not sure if I should be annoyed and upset or just plain proud!

Oh well.

flashback friday

Almost exactly 2 years ago today {8.28.08} we welcomed Mr. Haddon Christian Carlson to the world. We love you, big brother, Haddon, my how you've grown!

thankful thursday

Today I'm so very thankful for the safe arrival of our newest nephew. The little man belongs to my brother {Luke} and his wife, Jenn, and is the same little guy whoe gave us a little 33-week scare at the beginning of July, thinking he might make an earlier-than-we'd-like entrance into the world.

Anyway, without further blabbing, I'm excited to introduce you to:

Schaeffer Christian Carlson
{named after Francis Schaeffer}
born on 8.18.10 at 12:02 in the afternoon
{punctual little bugger: born right smack dab in the very center of his due date}
8 pounds 2 ounces
22 inches tall

meeting cousins Anna & Lydia::

yikes! one overly excited aunt::

"meeting" his younger cousin while resting on my belly::

Uncle Kirby & Joe::

Mom, Dad and big brother, Haddon are all doing great and 2 of those 3 are especially grateful that Schaeffer didn't make his debut on the shoulder of I-94 . . . he wiggled his way into the world about 5 minutes after Luke and Jenn arrived at the hospital! Yikes! Luke admitted to speeding on the way there {good choice "little" brother!}

the proud dad and his little guy::

We made a trip out to the hospital to see him {and his parents} last night. He's an adorable little guy, and his parents looked fabulous too {check out Jenn, all dressed -- necklace and all -- looking cute as can be so shortly after having a baby. Honestly!! . . . so rude of her to show up the rest of the female, child-bearing population like that!!}

Dad, Mom & baby::

So, welcome little guy. We're so glad you're here!!

wordless wednesday

online shopping

If you do much {or any} shopping online, and you haven't heard of Ebates, you really need to check it out! My friend, Sheridan, turned me on to them and I haven't looked back! I don't do tons of online shopping {I don't do tons of shopping in general}, but when I do, I always go through Ebates. Ebates is a site from which to launch your online shopping. Start at ebates.com and then enter the store or product you are shopping for. They will hook you up with coupon codes, free shipping offers and all sorts of good stuff, plus link you right to the actual shopping site and then give you cash back based on the amount of your purchase and the cash-back offer from that particular retailer {lots of them are up to 10% cash back!}. Then every few months they send you a check for whatever amount you have built up. A little fun bonus money . . . who doesn't like that? Anyway, if you are at all interested, check it out here. All you have to do is create an account {that will take approximately 4 seconds of your time} and you're ready to go. Also, each day they have a featured store that is their daily double and if you shop at that particular store on that particular day you get double the cash back.

Also, if you are a diaper user {well, not you personally, but maybe a smallish person who lives at your house} another site that I love is diapers.com. Diapers.com just recently teamed up and has a sister site called soap.com where you can get lots of cleaning and household products as well. So, even if no one in your house wears diapers, they still have some stuff you most likely DO use. I just placed an order today for dishwasher soap {we run our dishwasher every single day -- often twice a day even, so we go through that stuff like crazy}, some bar soap from which I make homemade laundry soap and some diapers too. Their prices are pretty decent and they take coupons {you mail them in ahead of time in big batches even, if you've got lots, and then they automatically credit them to your account when you put that item in your shopping cart. You don't even have to remember that they're there!}. Plus, they have free shipping on any order over $49 and their orders ship with amazing speed. {I placed a diapers order one night after the kids went to bed -- probably 10ish -- and a big box of diapers arrived at my house the next afternoon. Amazing! I've never placed an order that hasn't arrived at my house the very next day. It kinda freaks me out a little, but I won't complain}. Plus they are an ebates site, so not only am I able to use my coupons, get free shipping, save a trip to the store, not have to haul big packages of diapers from my van -- along with all my kids -- get my order next-day and save myself a headache . . . I also get cash back in my ebates account with each order.

Anyway, why all this hype and plugs for ebates and dipaers.com? Well, first of all, I think it could be beneficial to you. And secondly, both sites give referral credit . . . and who doesn't like that? If you sign up at diapers.com or soap.com, they credit my account $5 when you place your first order, plus they'll give you 15% off of your first order too. A win-win if you ask me. {just use the referral code KIRB6444 at checkout on either site or click on the banner on the right side of the blog}. Plus, if you sign up for ebates using the link in that first paragraph, I'll get a credit on my account too. So, thanks!

I've been using both these sites for quite a while now and love them. And I'm usually a skeptic about such things. So, if you are interested, check into it. If not, you've probably already quit reading by now.

Have a great day!