Temporarily Out of Commission

I know that I haven't blogged very much this week, but I've been trying to get the house in order for next week, as well as trying to squeeze in a little extra work. As some of you may already know, I'm having surgery on Monday morning to FINALLY have my gall-bladder removed. I've been having attacks for the last 2 1/2 years, not knowing what they were, so I'm very glad to be getting this taken care of. At the same time, I've never had a surgery like this in my life, so I'm starting to get a little nervous. I don't really know what to expect, before or after, and I haven't been asking around for fear of tainting my own experience. I've talked to the doctor, and that's it. Anyway, John will be taking me to the surgery center in Denton at 7:00 in the morning and I'll be home sometime later that day. My mom will be watching the kids (thanks mom) and John will be home most of the week to watch the kids, except Friday when my sister-in-law will watch them (thanks Jennifer!) I don't know when I'll start blogging again, but hopefully sooner than later. Everyone be good and stay safe!

Song of the Week

"Something Perfect" by Michael McLean

I just heard this song for the first time about ten minutes ago, but I liked it immediately and thought that it would make a great "song of the week". Since I won't be blogging for awhile, I wanted to leave everyone on a positive note. Hope you enjoy it!

FHE Reunion

John and I hosted an FHE Reunion at our house this past Sunday night. Back when we were newly married without any kids, there was a group of us that would get together every Monday night for FHE. We kept getting together even after a few of the families had their babies. Then the Thatchers (traitors!) decided that they needed to start having their own FHEs so that they could start teaching Caden before he went to Primary. After that, the whole group split up and we havn't all gotten together for a really long time. So Sunday night we had the Lancasters and the Thatchers over for dinner and it was so fun to catch up. There were a few more families that were a part of our group, but they've all moved away... so it was just us. We'll have to do it again soon.

Here are all of the kids: Margaret, Noah, Steven, Hannah and Caden

Ben and Summer, Kelly and Alma, John and Audrey (Margaret)

Happy Late Birthday

When Margaret turned 1, I made a DVD for her with lots of pictures from her first year set to music. Steven saw me making it and requested one for his next birthday, too. Unfortunately, I haven't had alot of time to work on it, so I just finished last night. The original movie is about 20 minutes long; I figured only John, myself and grandparents would be interested in watching a 20-minute video all about Steven. So I created a very condensed version for everyone else to see (I can't even begin to express how hard it was to cut pictures out; like cutting off an arm or something!) I hope everyone enjoys this tribute to Steven! (Don't forget to scroll to the bottom and turn the music off first!)

Song of the Week

"Happy Working Song" by Amy Adams

I was just thinking about the movie "Enchanted" this afternoon and how well it was done. After watching this and then going back and watching "Snow White", you can totally see who Amy Adams was copying with all of her silly hand movements and poses. I love this movie, and I love this song... it is absolutely hilarious! My favorite part is when she sings "So friends, even though you're vermin we're a happy working song." I don't know if you remember (or if you've even seen the movie) but she's cleaning the house with rats, pigeons and cockroaches, aka "vermin". Hilarious.

Another New Look

Thank you to everyone who voted for my previous new layout. Even though the vote was unanimous to keep it, I made an executive decision to change it anyway (the perks of being the sole contributor!) I made even more changes, and I hope that you like them. You can still vote whether or not you like it, but I don't think I'll change it again, regardless... this was too much work! :)

New Look

As you can see, I've changed the look of my blog to something very different from what it was before (but brown is still the dominant color... an absolute must!) I've been going back and forth between this and a few other things, so leave a comment and let me know what you think. Is it a keeper? Or should I trash it?

Song of the Week

"Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" by Aerosmith

Trying to choose a favorite Aerosmith song is, for me, like trying to choose a favorite book. There are so many great ones out there, and all of them bring back some memory or another. I chose this song because it always brings to my mind Robin Williams dressed as a woman in the Mrs. Doubtfire movie, which I happen to love. Though Steven Tyler is sometimes hard to watch, I do enjoy listening to him sing. This is just one of those American rock band staples. If you don't like Aerosmith, then you're just a freak of nature!

Please Don't Call CPS!

I went to Enrichment Tuesday night and left John with the kids. As I was uploading pictures onto the computer this afternoon, this is what I found (note: turn the music off at the bottom of the page before playing):

I'll have to ask John why Steven was so upset, but I guess he thought it would be funny to film the temper tantrum instead of trying to help. What is it with Dads, anyway?

Current Events

We've had lots of exciting things happening in the Sabin home lately. Last Thursday morning, Margaret woke up with little red spots on her arms and legs. I didn't know what to make of it and she was acting fine, so I didn't think anything of it. When she woke up that afternoon, they were everywhere. Here are the pictures:

I tried to call the doctor's office, but they were already closed for the holiday weekend. My mom came over and she said that they looked like hives and to dope Margaret up with Benedryl. By the time she woke up on Friday morning, I was so shocked that she wasn't screaming from the discomfort, it looked so bad. All of my family pitied her when we got together for the 4th, but other than being covered in huge red splotches, Margaret was her normal, cheesey self. By Saturday morning, most of the hives had cleared and everything was back to normal by Sunday morning. It was a little scary because I didn't know if my little girl had chicken pox or something, but everything turned out all right. We still don't know what the culprit was, though we have a few ideas.

Steven is continuing to potty train, though he pretty much has it down. He's still not pooping in the potty, so if anyone has any suggestions, let me know. He'll sit on the potty for so long and then poops as soon as he gets off and back into underwear. It drives me nuts, though I try not to show it. We haven't tried actual underwear during naps or at night yet, but I think we will soon because his pull-up is always dry when he wakes up and he uses the potty first thing. I think HE'S ready, I just need to get on board.

Showing off his big boy underwear

I walked in on Steven washing his hands like this, so of course I had to take a picture!

For FHE this week we had our Independence Day lesson and why we celebrate it. We had Watermelon for a treat with our dinner and things started to get a little crazy.

We only feed our children the rinds of the Watermelon. j/k

Margaret was doing something to make Steven really crack up

Apparantly I'm the only one that eats the red part

Oh well, Margaret seems to like the rinds!

Steven's Party

We finally got together with my side of the family (and a few friends) to celebrate Steven's 3rd birthday. I wish that I would have thought to take pictures of the kids while they were outside playing with water guns, eating, swimming, etc. I didn't even get a picture of the cake!!! I don't know exactly where my mind was that day, but it was the end of a very long week so try to forgive me. Basically, I just have pictures of Steven opening his presents and then he and Margaret playing with them later that day.

Getting ready to open presents

It feels so good to finally out-do the grandparents and have the coolest present. Steven opened it up and shouted "Bob the Builder!"

Steven's very cool Spiderman car

Steven got a cool car launcher, which he refers to as his car "beomer" ("beom" is the sound effect that he makes whenever he shoots anything.)

I don't know what he got in this shot; the cousins were just as excited about his presents as he was (if not more!)

Here's Bob the Builder and Wendy

Bob and Wendy working hard

Bob the Builder with no pants... very fetching

"Can we fix it? Yes we can!"

Out With the Diapers, In With the Potty

Steven's been potty training since Monday and, while Monday was wonderful, yesterday and today have been awful. Here are the stats as they stand:

Day 1: Successes - 8 Accidents - 0 Poop - 0

Day 2: Successes - 2 Accidents - 5 Poop - 1

(the biggest accident was the poop!)

Day 3: Successes - 1 Accidents - 0 Poop - 0

(for some reason, Steven held everything in until I put the Pull-Up on for nap-time, then he let it all out!)

I must say that I am completely exhausted from this, and I've even had John's help! This is why I have put it off for so long, because I just don't think that I have the stamina for this sort of thing right now. Needless to say, tomorrow is another day and I sure hope that it's a better one!

These were obviously taken on Monday... when everyone was still excited about potty training!

Song of the Week

"Come on Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners

So this is one of those songs that I've grown up with and it takes me back everytime I hear it. I love to sing, dance, clean... you name it, to this song. It has always been one of my absolute faves. So I just learned what the bands name stands for; bummer. It all has to do with drugs. Oh well, I guess that's why they were just a one-hit wonder! Enjoy.