One Stuck Head and Two Loaves of Bread

Today Chris from Parents as Teachers came and we had great fun playing with the toys and books she brought. Tristan and I saw her to her car, waving bye as she went around the corner. Tristan ran into the house before me and as I came in he said, "Lainey's stuck." This is nothing new. Alaina gets stuck in something every day. Today it happened to be her head stuck in the back of a chair. (We had made a huge, fun fort out of all our kitchen chairs, so they were all in the living room and on their sides, apparently just waiting for someone to stick their head into.)

I gave Lainey a "you trouble-head" look and proceeded to get her head out of the chair. Except that it wouldn't come. No matter what way I moved it, I could not figure out how she got it in there! We tried turning the chair, tilting the chair, tilting her head. But no matter how we maneuvered, we couldn't even get halfway up her ears before she was wailing and her ears were about to be ripped off. I suspect that her head must have swollen after she shoved it through, because it is inconceivable to me that it fit in there on its own.


I tried for about fifteen minutes, while Lainey sat on the floor with a chair on her head and shoulders, intermittently crying and looking worried and Tristan sat nearby crying, "My poor baby sister!! Her head is stuck!!"

The camera batteries wouldn't work, and so I couldn't get any pictures. Which is too bad, because it would have helped a lot with the visualization! So here is just a cute picture of Lainey, only stuck in a tree.

Finally, even though this was a Pottery Barn chair that I dearly love and keep in the living room, I knew that it would have to be sacrificed if ever Alaina was to live a normal life again. I got a big knife that we have that works on branches and things, but it was slow going. I called Danny and he said to use the hand saw in the garage. It was very scary to saw back and forth with Alaina's feet inches away, but I said a prayer and she was good and held still. After two cuts and half the side of the back of the chair gone, she was released at last!! She smiled really big and said, "Oh, thank you, Mommy!" Tristan said, "That was great, wasn't that Lainey?!"


Alaina has gotten stuck in more things than any kid I have ever known. Nearly every day she puts her hand down a tube, her fingers in a cart or her head in some railing and needs help getting out. If there is any way any of her appendages can fit anywhere, she will try it. When we visited Justin, we had only been there minutes, when she had her arm stuck down a little hole in a stepstool. In the end we had to butter her whole arm to get it out. When we went to Jon Shipley's parents for his luncheon, Alaina got her head stuck in the cat climber and it took several people to get her back out again. Only she would have thought of trying to fit in the cat carrier at home recently, and I was quite surprised that I only had to stand it on its end to get her out.


Danny thinks we can repair the chair with glue, sandpaper and paint, but I think it's a goner. It will be a living testament and reminder that if there is a hole, Alaina will get stuck in it.

The camera decided to start working again later, so here is a picture of the chair, post-Alaina. I think it looks like some strange, optical illusion against the white walls.

On the plus side, we made homemade bread and doughnuts for Young Women's on Tuesday and my two loaves turned out great!!! For breakfast I had a big, thick slice of warm bread with butter and jelly on it and a mug of hot cocoa. Perfect. It is a good thing to start my day off happily, because there is no way of knowing what the rest of the day may bring!!

P.S. Alaina and Tristan are sharing a room now, and I keep saying I will put pictures up of how the room looks. So here are a few shots. I think it is cute, but will look wayyy better with a coat of paint on the walls. I also think that now I would go for longer curtains, but I don't think I could justify spending money for new ones, when the ones I have were bought just for that room. Also, I am getting two little while shelves for holding books to go on the wall by each of their beds. Mommy got them on Craigslist for like $5 each, and is kind enough to let us have them! (I had to spend a long time convincing her to let me pay her the $5 for them.) So, use your imagination, and someday I will put pictures up of "after" the painting job!!

This side of the room has Lainey's bed.

This has toys and puzzles and things in it, and clothes in the bottom drawers, and the toy chest is next to it. There is also a small bookcase in the closet below their clothes with more toys on it. It's too bad my kids don't have very many toys to play with!

I just got the little red lamp this Saturday at a garage sale for $3! I think it's really cute.

The whole "sharing a room" thing is going quite well. They think it's really exciting and I think Alaina feels like she is getting away with something. Like that we haven't noticed that she isn't sleeping in her old room. The only downside is that Alaina gets up when Tristan gets up, but that's getting better, too. Sometimes we can hear Tristan yelling at Alaina to get in bed, because she has to stay there until the sun comes up, which is what we told him. But it really rather defeats the purpose, if you get woke up anyway by one of them yelling at the other to "go back to sleep!"

At our house...

Hmmm... I had imagined that when Alex had full-day school, I would have so much time. I would always have my house clean, I would exercise every day, I would read to my other kids so much more and I would always blog on a regular basis. I can't figure out where I went wrong.
Alex on his first day of school this year! I know I had a better picture than this, but I can't find it! Oh, and notice the band-aid on his forehead. He had just gotten stitches from a stick that Tristan threw. When they put the stitches in all he did was say, "Ow. OOw. OOW." They said he was the perfect patient.

a quick rundown on what has been going on in our house. If you are really lucky, I might even put in a few pictures.

- Alex has made himself busy by finding and blowing up with the hand pump every, single, blow-up toy that we have. So our house always looks like we are about to head out on vacation, with large, inflatable whales, tigers and boats. But it keeps Alex busy blowing them up and the other kids busy fighting over them.






- Tristan has learned how to hook up the vcr and has been happy going through most of the old vhs's that we have. I walked in the other day and could not figure out what he was watching. Finally, I realized it was Funny Farm. He was watching it happily, apparently convinced that if it was on vhs, it must be a kid's movie.

- We worked in the yard some. When we went to someone's house with the Mahers, Nicole commented on how nice and manicured their yard was. "Our yard is not like that," she said. "Well, not mine either," I replied. "Yea, I know," she said. "I saw it." I didn't want to tell her that we had just spent the whole Saturday before working in it.

Alaina while we worked in the yard

- We took the kids to the fair! This is a fun tradition. The kids were really tired and cried a lot, but other than that and losing Alaina in the petting zoo for about ten minutes, we had a fun time.

Alex was convinced that all of the animals wanted to eat his "pamphlet" that someone had handed out. I was surprised the goats didn't.

- Alaina found out that she can fit in the cat carrier. She loved it and refused to get out and Alex thought it was great fun to carry her around.

- We had Kimberly and Nicole Maher stay here for the week and had a blast! They are from Meggie's ward in West Virginia and Kimberly was bringing Nicole out for BYU-I. As evidence of how much fun we had, I took absolutely no pictures. But, Kimberly did teach Alex how to use the camera, and Alex has now commandered it for his own purposes. I need to buy a bigger camera card. Here are few of the self-portraits he has taken.

- I am trying to convince Tristan and Alaina that bread with butter and jam is not by itself a complete food group. They are convinced otherwise.

- I just finished reading The Hunger Games and loved it! I read it in just two sittings. It's so interesting and the sequel just came out! I can't wait to read it, but I am savoring the first for a while. Plus, I promised Danny I would read Eragon first.

- Alaina has decided to start her very own nudist colony. She refuses to wear clothes most of the time, even though I got her Little Mermaid underwear. This morning she peed on the floor twice because she didn't have anything on. She's not potty-trained and I don't think she is quite ready yet. But when I try to put clothes on her she runs away and says, "I needa go poddy!!" and runs to sit on the potty, which she has never, not even once, gone on.

- At Danny's work they give out scratch lottery tickets for little prizes. Danny has won $4 on two of them. Four dollars is four dollars, but I can't seem to bring myself to turn them in. I don't even know what you do. And what if someone sees me and thinks we bought them? Awkward. So there they sit on my dresser, day after day. I can't bring myself to turn them in, or to throw them away. Maybe I should find someone who will turn them in for me and split the $4. Maybe Danny will do it. If I offer him two of the four dollars.

- I had an "imperfection" on my face and Tristan asked if it was an owie. I said, "Yes, it is." He looked at me quizzically for a few moments and asked, "Did you get it from a magic sword?" If only it were that glamorous.

That's all for now!

Random acts of kindness

They always say that God answers our prayers through others. But sometimes it's not even an answer to a direct prayer, it's just an answer to our desire to know God is watching over us.
Today I was the recipient of a random act of kindness and it touched me so much. It meant so much more than just the act, it was that feeling that someone else out there cares for you and what happens to you. Sometimes, I think through Heavenly Father, our actions can mean so much more to someone than what it simply was. I cried.
It just feels so good to be reminded that we are loved and watched over, by Heavenly Father and by others who love us as well.
And so, out into the void, I will send my thank you to my someone. I hope you know how much it means, and I hope I can return the favor someday or make someone else feel the same way. Thank you.

P.S. I am always thinking my kids don't have enough clothes. And then I find out they have tons of clothes. I just needed to do the laundry.
And did I tell you that a few weeks ago as I got ready for the day, I decided to wear my silver hoop earrings. Well, it wasn't until late that evening that Danny pointed out to me that, while I was indeed wearing two silver hoop earrings, they were completely and absolutely different sizes. Hehehe.. maybe I will start something new.

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Two nights ago I slept horribly. I tossed and turned all night long. I hate that. So last night I decided that I would get myself good and tired before going to bed. So at 10:30, instead of going to bed, I put in Breakfast at Tiffany's, with the idea that I would clean while it was on. But as soon as that music started I was hooked. Again.

So I stayed up much too late watching all the special features, crying when she throws Cat out of the cab in the rain, and of course deliriously happy when it all ends well.

I love Audrey Hepburn in this movie. Her big, innocent eyes that look so sad sometimes. And George Peppard, who seems so protective and kind.

I love watching their attachment to each other grow. And I love seeing them each learn and change.

And in the end, I love a sappy story that reminds us that we do belong to each other. And that love isn't a cage, but something that sets us free and makes us better than what we were before. And I love that great kiss at the end.

By the way, I got to bed at 3 am, and I slept great.

Miracles DO happen!!

So, I thought I would shock everyone and actually put something on here! Especially now that Megan won't have internet for a few days, hehehe. This will just be a lot of pictures, one tenth of what I've taken, of what we have been up to. All in backwards order, of course, because it just wouldn't be a Melinda blog post if it was all the way I wanted it! So, enjoy!
P.S. I promise that after Alex starts school again I willpost more often. Right now we (mostly me) are just in survival mode!


These are the only pictures I took this weekend while we were at Jackson Hole. Why, you ask? Because even those these kids look cute, I remembered that Jackson Hole is not designed for children. Particularly if you are by yourself with three of them, and one of them is Alex. I quote from myself this weekend, "No, Alex!! You cannot get on the wolf statue! It is $85,000!!!" (And I wasn't kidding. It really was.) It was a hard weekend. But I got these cute pictures out of it!! And, we didn't break anything. :)

They look so innocent.

I won tickets on the radio to the Folk Dance Festival! We had lots of fun, but it didn't seem like there were nearly as many people as there used to be.

At the splash park in Rexburg. I didn't get any pictures of Alex because he wouldn't hold still long enough! It took Tristan about an hour to get in the water this much.




The kids all rode the carousel, which they loove. I kept losing Lainey and finding her back over there, hanging on the bars and watching. Here she is sitting next to a total stranger on the bench, happy to have someone watching with her.

A picture of the kitties before we took them to the Humane Society to get adopted. They are back now visiting for about a week, because there were two kitties brought in who turned out to have distemper. So they asked if we would take them back home until the vet gave the all clear. They are such amazing sweet and cuddly kitties, I think they might already have homes. They run around and play with anything and then curl up on you and sleep. It is fun having them again, but they poop and eat a lot. Don't like that so much. Tristan still thinks Elephant is "his" cat. Elephant lets him carry him around like a baby. If we didn't already have a kitty, we would have a hard time deciding which one to keep!

Alex getting his face painted like Spider-man at the Roaring Youth Jam. He was soooo excited!! I forgot to take an "after" picture, but it was pretty cool. All they use is tempura paints, so I think I should get some and Alex can "earn" getting his face painted. He went to sleep with it on, that's how much he liked it.

At the Reed's Dairy Family Day. We had lots of fun and saw cows. The kids were very happy.

They had free horse rides. All the kids loovved that. It made me wish I had Sprat, thinking about how good he was with the kids and how much they would love him. Trying not to think about it.........

We got 25 cent ice cream cones. It was worth going just for that! Alex decided he didn't want his, and so he gave it to a very willing Tristan. We also went on a wagon ride all around the farm and they had tours of the plant and a petting zoo. It was fun!

A picture of three of Shaylene's 5 kids. They stayed for the week and it was lots of fun and really tiring!!

Alex's 7th birhtday. Not great pictures, but proof that we had it!

Deciding to rip the carpet up at 9 pm on Saturday night! Only after we saw how pretty the wood underneath was did we decide to do it. Phillip helped us and I still didn't go to bed until 3 am. Totally worth it though. We love carpet, but it was sooo old and stinky and I couldn't stand it anymore!!!

Just a funny picture of Tristan.

At Dawnetta Hot Springs. The kids had so much fun! I tried to zoom in on this picture, but it wouldn't save it. But do you see how Tristan came out of the tunnel with his hands behind his back? He's so silly!

I took this picture just for Mommy. Tristan thought it was really fun to float face down in the water so he could look around, I guess. But it looks kind of shocking.

I tried to zoom this one in, too, so you could see the huuge smile on Alex's face!

These are pictures at Girl's Camp! We had sooo much fun and I loved being up there again. All of the girls were so great and I think we all had a really memorable time. This picture is of the water fight that Bishop Baird started. He got all the girls soaked. But Sister Nielson got him back the next day while we were eating square ice cream cones, when she threw a whole glass of ice cold water in his face! Go Sister Nielson!!!

Getting Sister Nielson wet. He might regret that later. At the top of Table Rock. I love that hike, and they needed another female leader on it, so I was happy to volunteer!!

Brother Scholes and Bishop Baird pulling Rexanne around in the wagon after she hurt her ankle on her hike. I wonder how much a ride costs if you aren't hurt?

Tristan sitting on the huuuggge pile of dirt (it is bigger in real life) at the side of our house, that is waiting to be wheelbarrowed over to the side yard so we can have a garden next year. (Can we say "run-on sentence"?) It is a big job that I keep hoping will magically get done if I ignore it long enough. That hasn't worked so far.

Well, that's all for now. Hope I didn't bore you too much. Oh, and I might as well tell all my thousands of readers out there (yea, right) who don't already know, we're expecting again! I'm about 14 weeks now, the baby is due February 25th. We're very excited. I'm not sure if I am more excited about that, or about Alex starting school again in two weeks. Hmm... I'll get back to you on that one. So now I, too, can start working on my basketball figure, as Maria so aptly put it. But so far, it is looking more like a whale. I really have to go now, because Alex is getting up from his nap. (Yes, he is taking them again. I tried to have him not take them, he is getting crazy. I figured, I don't know if he needs them or not, but until school starts again, I need them! So, "release the secret weapon!" Or in other words, wake Alex up from his nap.) I'm not even going to proof-read this right now. Gotta go! Bye!