Disinfecting

My mom left today and I am sad:( I liked having her around for company and it was nice to be taken care of. So today I had to clean my house since it looked like a bomb went off in it, not to mention all the disinfecting that needs to be done. My mom luckily did the one bathroom already, so I just need to finish the other bathroom and spray around the rooms. She had already washed all the bedding for me as well. We are all getting better slowly. Kayleigh slept last night from 4 pm til 2:30 a.m. then woke up to eat and watch some TV. She went back to sleep around5 am and slept til about 9:30 a.m. The girl was tired, but is feeling much better today. Jordan is still weak and a bit sluggish. Brent and I are pretty much back to normal, but are both a little tired. I hope this thing doesn't return.

The flu struck our house hard!!

What I thought was food poisoning, wasn't. At 2 am last night, Jordan woke up throwing up EVERYWHERE! It was so sad to see my poor vomiting uncontrollably. He slept all day on the couch and watched movies with myself and Grandma. I am still recovering and so is Kayleigh. Kayleigh has been laying down all day and fell asleep at 4 pm. It is now 8 pm and she is still sound asleep. Kind of worried about the night ahead:( This flu hit our family hard! I hope you all don't get it and it passes you, cuz it is aweful!

Food poisoning woes!

Oh the days! Yesterday, our poor Trinity was so sick. She had major diaherrea and diaper rash. I couldn't get her to eat or drink anything. Well yesterday I started feeling a little sick, but wasn't sure if it was going into a cold or flu. As soon as Brent got home from work, he started having cramps and I started feeling sick. The rest of the evening, Brent and I spent the WHOLE night in the bathroom either vomiting or the other end. It was horrible and miserable. At about 1 am I heard Kayleigh coughing and what seemed to be vomiting. Sure enough she vomited all over her bed. We brought her into our room and put her on the floor with a trashcan where up until a 1/2 hour ago she has been vomiting. It was so sad to see. We thought maybe it was the flu, but when Kayleigh got sick we started to think it was food poisoning, since the night before we had all eaten at Del Taco, all but Jordan. And guess what? Jordan is perfectly fine, the only one in the whole family. Brent feels better now, just tired and a few body aches. I am still miserable, body aches. sick to my stomach, tired and among other things. Thank goodness my mom is coming down from Big Bear to help take care of us. Thank goodness for moms:) It is hard to be sick with other sick ones and one that likes to run and get into things. Please pray for our family to be better soon.

My poor Trinity:(

My little peanut is sick. Kayleigh is still getting over a cold, which of course she gave to her sister. Although she was congested Trinity was doing fine. We even went to Disneyland yesterday and she did well. However late last night she started having diarreah and this morning she woke up shaking. I couldn't figure out why she was shaking so bad, so I checked her diaper and oh my gosh it was soaked front to back. Since Brent was getting in the shower for work, I had him take her in and hose her down. Poor peanut looked sunburn in the whole entire diaper area! As soon as I got her out of the shower she just fell asleep in my lap with the towel on. I think the pain was so unbearable she was so tired from it:( I coated her with diaper cream and put her on strictly the BRAT diet with lots of fluids. Pray for our little Trinity.

Stay at home mom...job or not?

Man am I tired from a long day of working as a housewife! How some people can say that being a stay at home mom isn't a real job is full of it. Seriously, I think a stay at home mom does WAY more than anyone working a 9-5 job. I start off my day waking my husband up for work at 8 am and then I go and make his lunch. If I am luckily and the 2 young ones are still asleep I can start on the kitchen and clean it all up, dishes and all. Then the 2 young ones are definetly up and I am getting them fed breakfast while trying my hardest to get Jordan out of bed. Once everyone is fed I am starting on Jordan's school. I do his school while juggling story time, changing diapers, park time, paying bills, making appointments, cleaning, making lunches, playtime with the girls and grocery shopping. I hope to be done with school before it is time to leave for Jordan's sport practices. Then I load up the girls in the car and drive Jordan to practice trying my hardest to keep Kayleigh entertained so that she doesn't fall asleep in the car (otherwise we don't go to bed til about 2 am!). Then I wait around for his practice to be done and hurry home to start dinner while Brent gives the girls a bath. Then we eat and it is bedtime for the kids. By then it is usually 10:30 or 11 p.m. and I am tired out!!! I must remind you, I am darn lucky if I am able to eat breakfast or lunch. So again I ask, is being a stay at home mom a job or not? I say YES!!

Oh the days:(

Kayleigh has been sick the last two days with a cold and Trinity got her cold today. She has been miserable and VERY cranky! Non stop crying and I can't wait for her to go to bed!! This is unlike Trinity since she is usually very happy. Then I have been dealing with an overwhelming amount of pain in my sciatic nerve. It hurts so bad I haven't been able to sleep, walk, sit, stand...basically anything. It has been going on for 2 weeks and the doctor basically says there isn't much I can do about it:( I have had sciatica before, but this is far worse than I have ever experienced. Especially since it interrupts my sleep. Then I lost my calendar not just one, but 2! I am lost, I have no clue what is going on and now I need to call all our doctors, dentists, everyone to find out when everyone in the family's appointments are! That is 5 people to figure out who goes where and when!! Sorry had to vent some frustration, now I feel better:) I haven't had much sleep in the past 2 days.

Kayleigh's issues

Today I was confronted by Kayleigh. I cleaned the whole back end of the house and in Kayleigh's room I threw a bunch of old, coloring pages away. Of course I was careful she didn't see me do it, so that I wouldn't hurt her feelings. Well later she for some reason went to the trash can and saw the coloring pages. She came up to me with her hands on her hips and said "I am not happy". I asked her why and she said "you threw my coloring pages away, why did you do that?" I couldn't help but laugh cuz of the way she said it. I told her I was sorry and that I didn't mean to do it. She walked away saying "I am not at all happy".

So again tonight, Kayleigh and Jordan were in our room with Trinity and Kayleigh comes running out crying saying Jordan hit her. We told Jordan to leave her alone and to stop bugging her (since it is a constant thing of his). He of course argued. She then went back into the room and came "fake" crying out of the room and said Jordan was making faces at her. We told her to suck it up and knock it off. She then asked us "could you yell at him again?" We were totally busting up. She went into the room two more times and asked the same thing. Our Kayleigh keeps us VERY entertained as well as busy!

Fire Department came to our house today:)

Another story from the household of the Linkous's. One of our cats, Lilly, loves to go out on our balcony and chill. One of her crazy ways is to jump on the roof. In the past, we have always been able to get her off the roof by Brent climbing the balcony and enticing her with food to get her to the edge where he grabs her and bring her in. This has happened about 6 times in the past 5 years we have had her. We are usually able to stop her from going up there. Well this time she got up there yesterday morning and she had to wait to Brent got home since I am not coordinated enough to get her down. Jordan and Brent tried for about a half hour last night and she would not come down so we had no choice but to leave her up there through the night. In the morning, Brent tried again with no luck. You would think a night of rain and no shelter and a night without food she would have been dying to come in, but noooooo.....So today I had to call the fire department to see if they could do it. They said they don't usually do it, but since I tried everything and it was raining they had the heart to do it. When they came all the neighbors were outside wondering what was going on, how embarrassing!! There were 3 firefighters and one of them was upset they were even there, but one of the guys was so cool, he said he didnt mind cuz he was a cat lover:) After about 5 minutes on the roof they got her down and man did that cat book it FAST to get in the dry house;) Serves her right!! Now we haven't seen her all day so she is probably hibernating:)

Christmas is finally over for us:(

I took down all our christmas stuff today, the tree and all. That is the finale to Christmas for our family. Kayleigh was wondering why I was taking the tree down and I told her that Christmas is was over, her response....already?! Seriously, a 3 1/2 year old sees that Christmas went by so fast. Now on to a New Year and taxes!!!:( Although we always get money back, it is still a pain in the royal butt to get everything together and then do it.
Kayleigh had her second dentist appointment today and did very well again. She got another princess toothbrush with some other goodies and was totally thrilled. The dentist however, informed me that her lateral teeth, permanent ones, haven't formed which means she will probably never get them. So most likely she will need braces and two fake teeth at about age 13. Expensive, but hey at least we have 10 years to save right:) ? And who knows, maybe Christ will have returned before then and she will have some perfect teeth in heaven with our Father.

Kayleigh and Trinity...they are too cute!

I have a couple stories for you today. One about each of the girls. First I will tell you of our little and adorable Trinity. First of all, Trinity is such an easy child. She sleeps awesome, is well behaved and her fits last only seconds. Well, we have been doing really well going to church every Sunday. Jordan begs for it, Kayleigh loves it and our Trinity really loves it. Every morning we get to church and let her walk in to the church from our car all by herself (us trailing behind her of course). She walks all on her own to the church, into the church, straight down the hall to her classroom and right to the gate of the nursery. She leads us into church! It is hilarious. The women in the nursery die laughing each time and say that she is the first to do that. She doesn't even say goodbye to us, she just walks right into the room when they open the gate and starts playing. This weekend, we got to church way early and there was a line to sign in. Well Trinity, has no patience, and kept trying to get in. She was jiggling the gate to get in. I heard one of the ladies say,"Trinity is trying her hardest to break in" and then finally the other lady just had Brent cut in front to sign her in so they could get her in:) She loves her classroom.

As for Kayleigh, well today Brent and her were playing 'I got your nose', where you take their nose and put it on yours or throw it to someone else, whatever may have you. Well Brent took Kayleigh's nose and threw it to me when I put it on my nose. I told her thankyou for the cute, small nose I will wear it all day. She then came running to me, jumping up trying to get her nose, but of course she couldn't reach it. So, instead, Kayleigh grabs my breast and says I got your boo boo (code for boob) and put them on her! It was hilarious! I eventually got my boob back. Too much information? Who cares, it was too funny not to share:)

Rice Cakes and Diapers.....

From the title of my post you are probably wondering what rice cakes and diapers have to do with each other. They don't really seem to mix, do they? Well..I have a funny story for you. Today, Brent and I changed cars since I had to drive to Redlands to drop Jordan off with my mom, he is going to the huge Gem Fest in Quartzsite this weekend with them in a RV. Anyways, Brent has been training all week to be licensed to sell Life Insurance, Bonds and other stuff that I don't quite understand. Basically he got a promotion....yay!!! So he has to leave VERY early in the morning and I prepare his lunch the night before and well breakfast he is on his own (he never has breakfast cuz he never gives himself enough time to fix it). He gets in my car and sees a bag of rice cakes. He thinks "Sweet, I have breakfast". So he reaches in and to his surprise, there is no rice cakes only one of Trinity's dirty diapers that I stashed away in there to throw it all away at once, but of course I haven't got to it yet! Needless to say, Brent was very grossed out but called me up laughing about it. I think it caught him off guard:) So that is what rice cakes and diapers have in common:) Hope you had a great laugh. Next time you see Brent you can either offer up some yummy rice cakes or a dirty diaper:)

Kayleigh says the cutest things:)

Today Kayleigh had her first dentist appointment. First of all our Ped dentist is AMAZING! I think all of Yorba Linda pretty much uses his office. Anyways, so Kayleigh goes in, without me by the way, and talks the assistants ear off. She told the assistant she was going to marry her Prince, but she hasn't found him yet. She is always searching for her Prince. Daddy and Mommy want her to wait about 20 more years or so before she finds him:) She talked the dentist and assistants ear off the rest of the time and they said she did very well for a first timer. She even took xrays with no arguing!! I hate those things! She goes back next Thursday for the actual cleaning.

The best date night ever!

Brent and I went on our first date night in a long time on Saturday and it was amazing! First we went to see Bedtime Stories in Downtown Disney and what an amazing movie. Very clean, funny and relaxing. Brent enjoyed it as well. We were able to get popcorn and 2 large Icees. We had received free movie tickets and a $25 gift card so everything was Free. Then we headed over to the Lego Store (which was all for Brent). After that we went to the King's Fish House for dinner, but there was an hour wait, so we went over to Starbucks and I got this amazing Carmal Apple Cider, oh my gosh sinfully yummy! and Brent got their Signature Hot Chocolate, he really enjoyed that as well. So we sipped on our hot drinks and headed over to the Fish House to look over the menu. Now I wasn't to thrilled about this place since I HATE seafood of any sorts and they only had about 3 things of chicken to choose from, so I went for the Chicken Breast in Lemon Butter served with Ratatouille and Rosemary Potatoes. OH MY GOSH! Again, sinfully yummy, especially the Ratatouille. I have never had it before and honestly never really knew what it was. It was basically an assortment of squash with eggplant and onions with a tomato based sauce. YUMMY! Brent had an almond Trout with Rosemary Potatoes and Mac and Cheese served with his Honey Beer. He was in heaven! Our bill with tip and everything was $50 and we had received a gift card for that exact amount, as well as the Starbucks, Brent also received a gift card for that. So our amazing date cost us NOTHING!!:) Yay! No guilt, just pure fun and the enjoyment of each other's company. It was so nice to talk with my husband with no interruptions. Oh and the kicker of it all....not only did we see a very clean and fun movie (doesn't happen these days much), but we finally had great service at Starbucks and the Fish House. Our server was so attentive, but not that overwhelming attentive. I had to share our amazing date with you all. Seriously we have never had a date like that since we have been married. What a great way to start off a new year:)

I succeeded!

Yesterday, I had to tons of house cleaning and laundry and usually I get so far and I get really tired and bored of cleaning, but not this time. I got everything done, except the girls room and our bathroom which I will finish up today. I did 10 loads of laundry yesterday!!!! No kidding. I was cleaning for 8 hours. I had to homeschool during this time too, but other than that, not much resting. I got my reward of pie night with the girls and it was blast, however it was the shortest pie in our history. We were there only an hour and ahalf when usually it is about 3 to 3 1/2 hours:( I was sad to go home, but no worries, it is an excuse to have another one:) Tonight we have a hockey game to go to (thankyou Myers). We were all 5 going to go, but Jordan has an overnighter with his youthgroup, so Brent invited his brother to use the other ticket. Which is really cool, cuz this is their second game going with each other. It is nice to see Russ wanting a relationship with Brent. Brent has wanted this for so long. Go Ducks! (NOT, especially since they got rid of my Andy)

I am over being busy...I really am!

I can't even fathom next week. I don't have any down time and most of my days will be spent in cars and offices. Kayleigh and Jordan both have dentists appointments. Kayleigh, Trinity and I all have doctors appointments. I am having lunch with my former boss (which will be fun), have a hockey game to go to, homeschooling meetings and registration signups, and a parenting class (which I must admit, I LOVE). Then I am dropping off Jordan in Morongo Valley to go on a weekend trip with my parents. Plus I have to manage Jordan's schooling in the car. So today I have to get my whole house cleaned and about 3 weeks worth of laundry done! But I will be rewarded tonight. I am having pie with 2 of my dearest and bestest friends. 3 of us TRY to get together at least once a month, but usually happens once every 2 to 3 months and we meet at Marie Calendars for pie and coffee. We talk for about 3 hours about EVERYTHING....kids, husbands, work, sports, and life. I LOVE this time we are blessed with and look forward to it. The extra bonus is NO KIDS!! Just us 3 women:) So if I just look at the reward tonight, I hope to accomplish everything I need to do today, cuz if I don't, my poor house will be in shambles for over a week:(

Update on Christmas

I realized I haven't really updated you all on how Christmas went. So here it goes.... Christmas was awesome! We went to Big Bear for a week and had literally a white Christmas. It was really cool, however we did have to experience the pioneer days. My parents spring had froze so they were limited on water. You weren't able to flush the toilets, unless necessary, couldn't take a bath (which we managed to take a 5 minute shower), and had to be careful with washing dishes. Nothing like when I grew up though. We literally had no water since the pipes would freeze, which meant no baths, had to melt snow for all your needs, brushing teeth, baths, cooking, toilets, etc. At times we would go to the lake, chip holes in the ice, and bring up buckets of water in 5 feet of snow to flush the toilets. No joke! We also had only one wall which was the inside and outside of the house, so frequently snow would come in to the house through the various cracks. Anyways, it wasn't that harsh for us this time. Jordan had fun bringing in wood and sledding down our steep driveway. Brent was constantly shoveling snow, which he won't admit, he loved. Kayleigh hated the snow because it was "too cold for her body". Trinity LOVED it and couldn't get enough of it, however sledding kind of freacked her out. The kids got tons of presents. We then spent Sunday after Christmas with Brents family and had a relaxing time. Kayleigh got a princess bike and all the kids got tons of clothes. Brent received his road trip Coleman grill that he has been dying for and I got all the TV series I wanted and more. Christmas was awesome, but went way too fast and I am really sad it is gone.

Kayleigh and Trinity's room finished

I thought I would post pictures from the girls room finished. We painted it yellow and put it in all princesses. Kayleigh's favorite princess is of course Ariel so Ariel is her bed. We had just bought the bunk bed as well and got rid of the toddler. Their room looks amazing and was worth all the hard work. However we have no room for anymore big toys, so what does my mom do...she buys Kayleigh this HUGE dollhouse and guess where it is?....Our room:) So lovely!