Updates. . .

No cast for Sissy. The DR said it was still too swollen, and the kind of fracture she has heals better without, so he gave her a new splint. I think she is relieved and disappointed all at once. I told her she could have her friends sign the splint, if she wanted.

Carter really loves his new bed. He wants to show it to anyone within a half mile radius of our house. He likes to show how he can jump on it, and how he can pretend to sleep in it. And, well, that's where it ends. At nighttime, he heads for my room every time. "No! MAMA BED!" Anyway, I pretty much slept in his bed with him last night, which mostly falls under the '2 steps forward, 3 steps back' category. And also, isn't helping achieve the goal of he and I getting better sleep. His negative association with his crib is SO strong, I really, really don't want to make him feel that way about the bed. Any ideas out there????

Conversation with Garrett:
G: Mom, do I have to get married?
Me: Well, no honey, you don't.
G: But if I don't get married, will I not be someone's life?
Me, thinking, wow that is really deep for a 5 year old- someone's LIFE- and where did he get that anyway? I mean, I know he knows I love his daddy, but I don't really refer to Joel as my LIFE: Someone's life? What do you mean, G?
G: Someone's life! You know, LIFE! (pause) Is 'life' a boy or a girl?
Me: Ummm...

That was about 10 am. It wasn't until later that night (sitting on Carter's floor, incidentally) that I realized he meant wife. He was wondering if he would get to be someone's wife. (Of course when I relayed the story to Joel, he asked me if G meant 'wife' long before I reached the punchline.)

So that's about it for us. Happy Friday!

Milestones. . .

This week, we hit two major milestones at the Gibson house.

First. I switched all Madeline's hangers from baby hangers to adult hangers. This may not seem like something blogworthy to many of you, but trust me, it is huge. Over 8 years ago, I bought and was given probably 50 small, pink, hangers. The past years, these hangers have held sweet pink baby clothes, and then sweet pink little girl clothes, and even sweet pink big girl clothes. And last week (during my clothing purge), I noticed that all the big girl clothes were falling off of these hangers. So I switched them all out, and now her big girl clothes are nice and neat. And on big hangers. It may seem small to you, but I have a zillion small pink hangers (that I will never use again), that are just cruel reminders how fast life is flying by. Anyone want some small pink hangers?

The more obvious milestone was tonight:



Doesn't he just look so relaxed and ready to sleep? (Ha.)

Carter has some horribly disfunctional pychological relationship with his crib. He hates it, and if made to be in it, will throw up in about 30 seconds flat. We finally decided that we weren't tough enough to make him do that on a regular basis, and so even though he seems a little young, we put together his big boy bed, or as he calls it, his, 'IG EE ED!" Even though he isn't entirely sure about the whole 'sleeping alone' concept, he is pretty proud of his new bed. He helped pick out a new pillow and blanket tonight at Target, just like Kim and Carrots do in his favorite story.



Garrett helped him get all his monkeys tucked in.


Night Night, Nana!


Success!
I knew I was pushing it to get this one, but after I sat on the floor and held his hand for 45 minutes, he was finally asleep, and I had to claim my victory prize (this picture)! He's already been up once since this picture was taken, but I sat on the floor and held his hand for another 20 minutes, and he was out again. I'm sure it will be a process, but hey, at least he hasn't thrown up yet, right?

Color on a Gray Day

Today I noticed our neighbor's lupines are in bloom, and the colors with the orange poppies looked too fun to pass up a quick 'photo shoot' with my favorite broken armed girl.

Elite Eight, May Edition

We had a great time last night at the new home of the Burches. All of the Elite 8 were there, and we had a fun time visiting, playing with kids, and playing Mariokart, just like the college days. Thanks for hosting, Justin and Melissa! We love your new home!


The boys playing Mariokart.



Callum; happy to be by his Mama.


Joel and G watching baby Gracie play with Barkley Burch, Justin and Melissa's dog.



These boys love their books!


Hannah and Sweet Gracie.


Carter loved Gracie, but didn't want to get too close!

Here's One for the Baby Book

In over 8 years as a mom, I have thankfully never had to visit the ER. Until yesterday. Poor Sissy fell at a birthday party and broke her arm. She is ok, but pretty bummed. Thankfully once her arm got wrapped, she was in a lot less pain. With our two wild boys, I sure never thought Maddy would be our first ER kid. Poor girl!

Here's to hoping she will be fine to dance the night away at her dance recital in two weeks. I told her if she has to get a cast (we find out on Thursday), we'll get a black one that will match her costume, and her friends can sign it in silver. We can make anything fun, right?

Tuscany Pictures

First of all- thank you to so many of you who could relate to my laundry woes. For the record, those awful pictures are of OUT GROWN CLOTHES, not LAUNDRY. I wouldn't dare show you my laundry pile, it's probably worse! Crazy.

Secondly, I've been going through some of our pictures from our trip and have posted a few over on our travel blog. Most of you probably don't check over there, since we're home and all, but it's been fun to put together some mosaics with the help of Danielle.

Have a great Memorial Weekend!

My Good Deed for the Day

I had a friend say not to long ago that she stopped reading a blog because it made her feel bad about herself. Like that blog made the writer's life/talents/energy/etc look SO fabulous that my friend felt inferior and overwhelmed with her own life.

Well, I am sure that never happens here. (I hope!) The Gibson Five have plenty of 'moments,' that's for sure. And I am constantly feeling overwhelmed at my life. I mean, there are some things I feel good about. For example. I am pretty good at washing clothes. I like to sort them and wash them and dry them. But that's where it ends. I am really, really, seriously NOT good at folding. And if I do fold, putting away nearly kills me. This is really embarrassing, but sometimes I fold and stack near the bed, and the folded clothes get reconsumed (it's a word...now), and I end up folded them another time! (At least!)

Anyway, today I decided I needed to purge. So I went through my closet (dumping ground for outgrown clothes), and each child's closet and dresser. I found outgrown clothes in many sizes, for every season. Didn't I JUST do this???

Here's what I came up with.




Are you kidding me?

These photos don't even show you the other side of the bed where the laundry is growing in a plot to overtake Joel's window and nightstand.

Back to work so I can find my bed tonight. I hope you all feel good now.

P.S. If you need kids' clothes...call me! (wink)

What a Weekend!

We had a lovely time celebrating Jolena and Drew's wedding. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past few days...

Rehearsal on Thursday. Garrett is helping Carter down the aisle...with gummy bears.

Jolena and Jody, her dad.

The Bigs enjoying the lake after rehearsal.

Photo by Josiah at rehearsal dinner.

My boys, hanging out.

Sissy- getting pretty for the big day!

We took a little canoe ride the morning before the wedding. It was SO gorgeous!

Joel and me.

I tried to get one of both of us, but it's a lot harder with my heavy camera! Oops!

My Bigs just before the wedding. Aren't they lovely?

It was HOT and little Carter had red cheeks all afternoon.

Let the games begin! Carter froze here for what seemed like an hour. (But was probably 30 seconds.) He didn't exactly look scared, but more like, "This is pretty funny, and I don't really think I need to be involved with this right now." Garrett tried so hard, but Carter would NOT budge!

Nana Pam had to help Carter up the steps. She later described him as, "A sack of cement."

Phew! I love how unkempt he looks. I tell ya, I spend an hour getting him perfect, and in 2 minutes, he is 'all boy' again!

My lovely girl, perfecting the art of flower girl-ing.

Here she comes! She looked so beautiful, as you can tell. There wasn't a dry eye in the place. Jaman (Jolena's brother) performed the ceremony, and did such a wonderful job. I sobbed my eyes out the whole time.

WOO HOO!!!

I love this one. Jolena was standing in the sunspot, and everyone else was in the shade, so she was just glowing.

My mom and me.

On the way to the reception. If you look closely, you can see the rocks in their hands- for crushing ants along the way. Of course!

Cheers!

This One's For You, Cousins

circa 1984

May 17, 2008

I have the funnest cousins. We have so many great memories from over the years. I remember building forts in their basement, jumping on beds in Grandma's back bedroom, and all 4 of us sleeping in one bed. (I had an entire half to myself, and the rest of them had strict instructions not to cross the line that I'd drawn down the middle- don't forget, I am an only child!) Some of my best childhood memories are of summer days at their house, German pancakes in the morning from Aunt Janelle, lots of hugs and kind words from Uncle Jody, and pjs and playing all day with 'the cousins.'

Now that we are 'all grown up', we are in different places in our lives, but it's still pretty fun to get together and reconnect when we can. (Which is absolutely not often enough.) Thankfully, this was one of those weekends. While celebrating Jolena's wedding, we still got some time to connect, laugh, share memories, and get caught up on each other's lives. I sure love you all . . . and I miss you already!


Now that some of us may or may not be 30, we must watch the double chins! The chins!


This is how these boys roll. (I don't think I have many single readers, but, yes ladies, at least one is single.)


We're working on flowers here. I love how Jaman is concentrating!


Sweet Jaman and Sweet Sissy


Nice chins! (P.S. I'm strapless, not topless!)



Siah and Carter Mac


And, um, this one gets no explanation, but I am sure it will serve it's purpose...

Priest Lake

This weekend we are at Priest Lake in Idaho for my cousin's wedding. It is gorgeous up here, nice and warm. You'd never believe a couple of weeks ago there was FEET of snow! If you ever get a chance to visit this area, it is just unbelievable- serene and beautiful. We've had a nice mix of visiting, relaxing, helping out, and the kids even played on the 'beach' today!

Tomorrow is the big day for Jolena and Drew, and we are so excited to be here to share it with them!

Thanks to my Dad for the pictures- I haven't taken the time to download mine yet!


Jolena took a sec to pose with my crew and me.


Carter on our patio...choosing shoes. I think we brought 14 pairs for just the Gibson 5. For 3 days. More than we took on our 5 week European trek.


Gorgeous Priest Lake.