Link to Spring Dash Photos

Look at the link to our Spring Dash photos. Me http://kmorris.exposuremanager.com/p/1_00_to_1_05/dsc_71878 and Joe http://kmorris.exposuremanager.com/p/0_40_to_0_45/dsc_675828. I don't know how long these links will be good for but I am certainly not paying for the photos as they are like $30 each. Enjoy.

I got 69 on my Lab Practical. The average was 60 supposedly. Whatever.

Spring Dash Results

Well, I ran 5 miles for the first time ever in my life. It really wasn't so bad. I could have run farther. Next week the Bloomsday Race is 7.46 miles and I think I'll be able to do it. The results were: Brianna McCarthy Post Falls ID Place: 743 Time: 1:01:12.9 Pace: 12:14/M and Joe McCarthy Post Falls ID Place: 333 Time: 44:24.4 Pace: 8:53/M. Pretty cool I say!

Joe just left this morning for Marin. Mason was so excited this morning about Aunt B moving up here. He was very concerned when I mentioned that Bodhi and Tesla were also moving that we only had one cat carrier! So cute. I reminded him that Aunt B has her own cat carriers. Anyway he was jumping up and down this morning with excitement. I am getting so excited too. I haven't had much time to focus on what it will really be like but it will be very cool, that is for sure. I am up to my eyeballs in studying for my Lab Practical. I will be ecstatic when it is over! Party at 4pm Tuesday! Just kidding,

I am volunteering to speak to the Rathdrum Head Start mom's group this morning at 10am about Baby Sign Language so I need to get some materials together for that presentation. I agreed to do this awhile ago and it is really poor timing but I will be glad when I have this done too as I haven't ever done anything like this before. Life is full and good and it is a gorgeous day here in Idaho.

I keep meaning to mention that Mason and Talan love the Lollipop song. I started singing it to them while they were taking a bath a couple weeks back. Then I found a cute version on You Tube and they loved it. This morning Mason said "Mom, remember the Lolipop Song?". Here is the one we enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rYoRaxgOE0&feature=related because we love the guy popping his cheek. We have been listening to this all morning. LOL

I was looking at some old photos and I had to post them here to remind me how much my little boys have already grown! :(

Still Juicing

Well its been 4 days on the juice diet and I feel great. I have more energy, feel good and I am not itching much which is, in and of itself, huge. My skin is always itching me and I am forever scratching. It is madness. So, it is nice to be less itchy. It is also nice not to feel like I am desperate for a nap. I have lost another pound. Very cool. I feel lighter. I do not miss food. It is so much easier just to juice. Fewer decisions, less chance of making poor decisions. We do have one meal at night, at 5pm. Last night it was a chili of sorts. Lots of celery, beans and chicken. We finally ate all the pulp meatloaf! It really wasn't bad. I liked it. :)
The boys are napping. Talan is sick. He threw up on me this morning. That was lovely. Part of the joys of parenting. He seems better now but I have gone through almost half a tissue box wiping his nose. It is constantly dripping. Poor little guy. He is so sweet about it too.
Mason did not have a good day at school. I did not get the details from Teacher Tammy but Mason confirmed that he had lots of time outs. I asked him if he had his listening ears on and he said "what". I guess not. Some days I think he is so far in his head he is unable to focus on what is really going on around him.
We hooked up with Harini and her boys after school for a three hour play date at the mall play-area. Harini and I are still getting to know each other but I really like her. Our boys play well together and she is also doing Nursing School. It was fun and thankfully tuckered my little guys out. They were both asleep before we even left CDA.
Now I am enjoying Misty purring in my lap and having a little down time. Joe is at Direct Buy ordering cabinets for Barclay's new house. He shampooed the carpets this morning and got the grange box ordered. He is very busy as there is lots to do. But it is all good stuff.

Exam 4 Results

Well, I studied my ass off and I don't know if I would say it paid off. I have a study group with two friends. They usually do much better than me and so seeing how they did on this test is the only thing that is keeping it all in perspective. I got a 76, one gal got a 78 and the other got a 74. So I was right dab in the middle. It was a tough test. It covered Respiration, Digestion and Metabolism. Lots of chemistry, laws about pressure and shear memorization. I can't imagine how I would have done with out studying as much as I did. I was the very last student to finish. In fact she told me there were two minutes left and so I scrambled to fill out my scan tron. I like to go over each question several times. There is so much to figure out for each question. Well, everyone says A&P (Anatomy and Physiology) is challenging. My friend Joni said is was harder than the classes in Nursing School (she took the same A&P class and did her nursing program at NIC where I plan to do mine). I've also been told A&P is a weening out class, as in weening out the people who won't do well in Nursing. So to be above average is something to be proud of. The mean score was a 61. Now I get to change gears and study my little heart out for the lab practical that I have on Tuesday. The next few weeks are going to be grueling. One day at a time. Right?

Wrecking B's House

The boys and I went down to visit B's house to see the work being done on it. We enjoyed enlarging the hole in what will be her bedroom (we making two bedrooms into one large master suite). Mr. Matt took down the wall between the kitchen and the living room so there are a couple photos of that. Mason loves to go to Aunt B's house and asks frequently if she is moving up here tomorrow. BTW B, Joe swept, vacuumed and power hosed the garage so that your stuff will not get dirty. Don't you love the orange tiles? Seriously though, there is tons of cabinets and storage in the garage.

Talan loves his Duck Backpack

I took some photos of Talan this morning because a. he just got his haircut yesterday b. Joe dressed him really cute and c. because he loves his ducky backpack. I am stressed to the hilt with school (you'll see my lovely coldsores in the photo Mason took). I got a 16 out of 25 of my blood vessel eval yesterday which isn't very good. I have a lecture exam tomorrow and then next Tuesday I have my lab practical. Just a wee bit overwhelming. Joe took the boys all morning so I could study. Thank God!

Oh, we started a Juice diet yesterday. Joe bought a new juicer and now we are all having fun juicing. We drink juice all day and then have a meal at 5pm. Yesterday Joe made meatloaf out of the juice pulp with ground turkey and we also had beans. Yum. The boys are getting real food, don't worry. Today I weighed 4 pounds less than yesterday. I feel lighter although I have had some headaches. Maybe the toxins getting flushed out? Who knows. ;)

In the photos Talan became upset because I wouldn't let him have the camera. I did let Mason have the camera because he can actually take pictures. Am I cruel? Am I not being fair? I did finally let Talan have it and he took several photos of his sweater upclose as he holds the camera backwards. I did not post these for obvious reasons.

Mason is playing with his yo-yo because it is show-and-tell at school today and they are doing the letter Y. Mason's shirt has big water splashes on it as Joe soaked his hair trying to tame it. He did not get a haircut yesterday.

Sunday Morning Silliness

Mason found the cookies this morning and so, despite our horrid dental history, the boys ate cookies for breakfast. I know, bad momma! It is a rare treat these days, believe me. I also made the boys a fort out of blankets and overturned furniture to change things up a bit. They LOVED it. :) I know my boys! We are skipping church this morning and just laying low. I have Justyne coming to babysit at 12:45pm so that I can meet my study group at the Library at 1pm for a four hour study session. I do much better when I study with my classmates so I pray this will help me as I am feeling very lost with the complexity of the material and rather unmotivated at this point in the semester.

Joe comes home tomorrow. Yeah!

Tunnel Fun Inside the House

The kids and I watched the montage this morning as we were missing everybody. http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/view_shared?p=457479266b39fc385d6141. Talan signed Aunt B, daddy and they screamed with delight when the saw Grandma Fred. I love the music. Joe and I were delighted when Jason sang this song on American Idol last week. Very cool rendition.

The boys have brought the toy Grandma Jutta bought them inside. It's supposed to be an outside toy. It is a series of tunnels and tents that all connect. Right now they are loving the tunnels and hiding in them. I took photos.

I also included a picture of Talan's dog bite to his face. Poor guy. He was at Lori's house last night and their blind Jack Russel Terrier bit him. I think he was probably tormenting Domino and since they are the same height, the face was right at mouth level. I doubt this will deter his enamoration of canines. It is currently one of his most frequent signs. We are constantly on the look out for dogs when we drive around. :)

Notes to Myself

I have precious little time this morning but I wanted to note that I ran 4 miles in 47 min and 14 seconds on Wednesday. That was a great run for me but my knee bothered me the rest of the day.
On Wednesday, Talan said "right back" and "catch". New words for him. We have just completed our second group speech therapy class and I am supposed to document gains in speech and signing.
Also, Talan is getting the hang on the tricycle and yesterday he did really well on the scooter. He looks funny and he is ackward but he is doing it. I am very impressed.
Last night, we had 6 kids from the neighborhood over and they trashed the place. I made Mason clean it all up and reminded him that is the price of having friends over. He clearly didn't mind it as he said he wished they were all back over. What a social butterfly!
I gotta run. We are off to school to teach sign language and then the gym. One of the staff is making Talan brownies today as he is in love with Talan. :)

Up Early

I set my alarm for 4am as Joe needed to be out of the house by 4:30am. My alarm is so loud, piercing really, as it is for the deaf with a flashing light to boot. I can't imagine how I thought I would go back to sleep. Joe still isn't confortable with just his alarm and since my clock is always slightly ahead, mine is the one that gets us up. Oh well, I am enjoying some peace and quiet. Misty is enjoying having me to herself. She has been on top of my newspaper, very helpful Misty, and on top of my laptop while I listen to my online lecture. I wonder how much cat hair is inside my keyboard. It would certainly explain why some of my keys consistently get stuck.

I am studying, well obviously not right this minute, which is a productive use of my time. I am sure I will be napping with the boys this afternoon. We will all sleep in a heap in Momma Bed. :)

So Joe is gone for a week. I have a full week ahead with my Toddler sign language class and Talan's group speech therapy on Thursdays. School of course, keeps me forever busy. And Barclay's house is set to close this week so there is all sorts of things to get under way over there so that is will be ready for her when she moves up next month.

I have uploaded a classic photo of Joe watching TV eating sunflower seeds. Despite how much I hate the smell and the loads of empty seeds I find everywhere, he loves his seeds. You should see Mason and Talan try to eat (and spit) seeds with him. Poor Talan has gagged a few times as he swallows the seeds whole. There are also some kitchen photos. The boys love to watch Joe cook. Talan signs "eggs" all the time. He would have us make eggs every meal if he could. Joe bought the boys "cereal" straws, literally the taste like fruit loops, and these have been a huge hit with the boys. I like them because I can make Mason drink milk in order to use the straw which he otherwise would not drink.

Life is good. Full and good. No complaints here.

Saturday Morning Inertia

I got up at 7:30am this morning. Progress. I've been sleeping in a lot lately, past 8am, which makes for a mad scramble to get Mason to school by 9am. So, I am happy to be up early as this will be my reality for the next week while Joe is in Long Beach. It is a luxury to sleep in when one has little children. Mason got me up at 5:30 for the first year of his life. He has always been an early bird but now that he is old enough to entertain himself for the first hour or so that he is awake, we get to sleep in. Talan is always up last. He enjoys sleep like his mom! Of course, Mason often gets himself into trouble being awake alone. We find him eating Popsicles, candy or whatever he can get his hands on. He seems to understand not waking Mom and Dad up but can't quite grasp appropriate breakfast items. To his credit, yesterday he told me he ate a banana. I told him that was a good choice while waiting for the rest of us to get up. He was "starving" today when I got up. We made biscuits and then he also wanted me to make Macaroni and Cheese which I told him was too much work! Once the biscuits were ready there was no more talk of Mac and Cheese. Joe just purchased some Nutella so Mason has been enjoying Nutella on the biscuits. Talan is just too messy with Nutella so when he woke up, I just gave him butter and jam on his biscuits. These boys love opening the biscuit can ("biscuit fart"). They also like to arrange and squeeze the bits of dough on the cookie tray. We have biscuits more frequently than I would care to and they often go bad as they only seem to really enjoy them when they first come out of the oven.

We are off to a birthday party at 10:30 this morning which should be really fun. The weather has become nice and will get into the 70s tomorrow. But snow flurries on on the forecast for Thursday so Spring isn't here for good.

Talan is so cute!

I mentioned a few days ago how much Talan loves to help unload the dishwasher and vacuum. Well, I finally snapped some shots on him in action. He is the tidiest boy I have ever met. We are so grateful.

Actually, I'll confess, in these photos Talan had already put all the utensils away but wanted to do "more" so he decided to take all the forks out and then got distracted by the prospect of vacuuming.

A good day

I taught my first Toddler sign language class today and that went well. I am going to mostly the material from my Baby sign class as these moms want to go over "the basics". Only two of the three moms enrolled showed up, no real surprise there. The both admitted they just want a place to come for socialization purposes. I totally remember feeling the same way when Mason was little. I needed an excuse for an outing to give us some structure to our day. One of the moms has a special needs child so signing is really important for them. They both seem like they are excited and interested in learning sign language so that makes me excited.

I had to evals in lab today worth 5 points each. An eval is when the instructor asks you to name all the structures of a system that we dissected. You have to name them in order and you don't know which system she'll ask. For instance, on my first eval she either was going to ask us all the parts within the kidney or she was going to ask all the parts of the urinary system. In the second eval, we had to explain all the anatomical parts of either the male or female cat. There are so many anatomical parts and you have to name them in the order that urine flows or semens flows or else you lose points. Well, for the first time ever I got 5 out of 5 on both! Amazing. :) And I got a 5 out of 5 on my notebook check. We have insanely detailed laboratory notebooks we have to keep outlining our dissections, the steps we took to do them, successes and failures, analysis and conclusions. It is draining. And we have to draw beautiful colored diagrams of all the anatomical systems. Hours and hours and hours of work go into that lab notebook. I am going to burn mine when the class is over! :)

My instructure finally switched me over to the internet class so now I won't need to scramble for a babysitter twice a week while Joe is out of town. I watch the lectures on my laptop anyway as I prefer the way the other instructor presents the material (and he is the one to write our exams).

Mason had another dentist appointment today. He had a tooth pulled and a cavity filled. He is done for the next 6 months. Then he will need spacers put in so that the adult teeth will have

Photos from my trip to SF

My sister made a Kodak album (http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=k3zorig.ahlbgxm8&x=0&y=mvkz7b&localeid=en_US ) of the Intercontinental Grand Opening Party which was also my Dad's birthday. Seeing the photos reminded me how fun it was and how very glad I went. I ended up getting an 80% on my exam that I had the day I arrived. Which is OK but not great. It's the lowest score I've received so far so it bummed me out for a bit and then I realized, hey, I got to go to San Francisco and see my family. In light of that, it is just fine. I still have plenty of opportunities to take more exams in Anatomy and Physiology before the semester ends in a month.

I start my first Toddler sign language class on Tuesday through the Post Falls Park and Rec. This is a "continuation" of Baby sign. However, I have never taught these particular parents/kids so I am curious what they already know and if this new curriculum that I developed over the weekend is going to be too hard/easy or appropriate. I always have some anxiety doing a new class but I am just going to get through it. It is poor timing in terms of how busy I am with my class but it will be nice to do a Toddler class and expand my world a little bit. :)

Mason goes in on Tuesday for his second Dentist appointment for teeth pulling, cavity filling and possible polpectomy. I feel bad that I can't be there for him but between my new Signing class from 11 to 12 and Lab from 1 to 4 and Lecture from 4 to 5:30 I will be gone all day. I will be, of course, thinking of him all day and hope it goes well. It is so sad!

Talan is such a riot these days. He wants to help all the time. He walks behind me signing "help" when I unload dishes, vacuum, fold laundry or any of the other millions of things I do in a day. Unfortunately, he usually is not very helpful other than be awesome at unloading the dishwasher. He color sorts my dishes and stacks them in a neat pile. He is so John Buss! As for laundry, he undoes my neat piles as he and Mason like to dive into the stacks of made. I wish Talan could be more useful. We did just buy a new mini vacuum cleaner with dust buster build in. He knows how to use it but I am afraid he will vacuum something he shouldn't so it is a bit nerve wracking when he uses the dust buster portion of it. I think I am going to return it and I hope he doesn't break it before I get it back to Costco.

Joe and I took the boys to Mobius Science Museum in Spokane of Friday http://www.mobiusspokane.org/ which was really fun (for the boys). Joe laughed because Talan enjoyed playing with the gate to the kids under 3 section just as much as any of the exhibits. It reminded him of when we took Mason to Disneyland and Mason was most fascinated by a flight of stairs as anything else there. I think "pointless" came up. Maybe these things are more for us. We do love to check out other parents and see how they handle their children's misbehaviors.

The annoying thing that happened on Friday, my fault, is that on our way back home from Spokane I finally checked my cell phone and saw that the audiologist called to say my hearing aid was ready. By then we were almost in Post Falls, it was 4pm and I was exhausted. They had called at 1:50 but I didn't hear my phone (I wonder why considering they have my hearing aid!). Joe lectured me that I should have given them his phone number so he could have heard the phone. So, I went without my hearing aid all weekend when I could have had it. I am heading to Spokane first thing this morning as I have been absolutely miserable without it for the past 6 days. As ugly as I think my hearing aids are, I really should just thank my lucky stars that I have them. I need to cultivate some more gratitude and appreciation for them.

Busy but Fulfilling Life

Well, I haven't been blogging because my laptop went to the repair shop for almost a week and so I am going to try to catch up and review the whirlwind of things that have transpired.
First, I surprised myself and my family by flying out to SF to attend my dad's grand opening party for his hotel which coincided with his birthday. That was a wonderful and fun 35 hour adventure. Traveling without kids is so insanely simple. I was in heaven. Barclay's house has so many photos of the boys that I had no time to miss them. I felt like they were there (but they were very quiet).

The Grand Opening party itself was amazing. I simply had not thought about all the people I would know and get to visit with. It was like every friend my parents have ever had was there so it was fun to visit with all of them. Of course, Jeff Daly, Barclay's godfather was one of the people we spent the most time with. I always enjoy seeing Jeff and Laurie. They are very cool people.

And my visit was a surprise for my mom until Barclay and I arrived at her house to leave for the party. She was a bit overwhelmed especially since there was an accident forcing us to take the ferry into the city. I actually loved that we had to take the Ferry. We had fun chit chatting on the way in. It was gorgeous (and comfy). I sort of sprinted into the party as we ran into some people we knew as we were entering the hotel and I did not want anyone to spoil the surprise. That was fun seeing the look on my Dad's face when he saw me. The whole thing was totally worth it. By the end of the evening most people knew I had flown in as a surprise and I think that says a lot about the Buss family!

My visit was not longer because I had a histology exam on Tuesday and a lecture exam on Thursday. I did better than I thought on the histology (17 out of 20) and worse than I would have liked on the lecture exam (80%). But, as my classmate Harini reminds me, I got to go to San Francisco! Not only that but Joe treated me to PF Chang for lunch Thursday after my flight which got me to campus 45 minutes before my exam. :) Clearly I am enjoying myself despite being back in school.

A lot of time and energy has been consumed by helping Barclay find a place to live here as she is moving up here to be closer to the boys and me. This has been a hellacious process at times but I am relieved to say that her offer was accepted yesterday and so she is going to be buying a Bank Repo right down the street from us. We are in a collaborative effort to update and remodel the house for her but I am excited. I pray she will be happy there. Its in a great neighborhood, three minute walk to the river, 3 minute walk to the elementary school and a five minute walk to our house (maybe more at Talan's pace!). The price is amazing and I think it is a solid investment.

I was asked to speak at the Fort Sherman AA/Al-Anon meeting on Sunday night. I spoke for about 20 minutes and then the AA speaker spoke. Originally I had hoped Joe would be the AA speaker but he wasn't and truthfully he said he would not have been able to hear a thing I said if he had to speak too so I guess it worked out for the best. I got lots of praise and hugs for my talk. I don't remember what I said! It was just shooting from the hip. That is how it is whenever I am asked to talk. As a reward, Joe took me to Bonsai Bistro for dinner. NVG (not very good). But the company was excellent. I love being out with Joe alone. We have such a great time together. :) I drove the babysitter home while Joe put the kids to bed.

A couple nights ago we just watched a movie called "Into the Wild" it was really good. I have recommended it to a few people. We rarely watch movies. We are diligently trying to get through Season 2 of LOST. These kids don't allow a lot of mom and dad TV time. What we watch is largely "Mason TV". He is still asking what his options are.....

We are on Spring Break this week. Unfortuately this is the only time we have been able to schedule some much needed medical appointments. Yesterday I took my hearing aid in to get repaired. A task I always dread as it means living without my hearing aid for a week and that truly makes me miserable. On top of this, Mason had half of his dental work done yesterday. They had to pull a tooth and do a polpectomy. Oh my gosh, I am really having a hard time with seeing a hole in his mouth. I had the dentist check Talan's teeth while we were there. He said so far so good BUT he has the same situation as Mason where his teeth are so close together that we must floss. He also gave us a prescription for fluoride tablets. Apparently the dentist feels that the tooth decay that he sees in his practice is largely attributable to our not having fluoride in our water.

Overall, Mason was a trooper. He did have some hysteria when we got home but a little Motrin made a big difference. He actually didn't want to leave the dentist's office as there were so many cool things to do inside (a slide) to be specific. We will have to promote the slide next week when Mason will get the other side of his mouth worked on. They will need to pull another tooth and do some cavities. The tooth that they pulled yesterday had no roots whatsoever, that is how decayed it was. I tried to get Mason to put his tooth under his pillow for the tooth fairy. I have never talked to him about the tooth fairy (I thought I had plenty of time still) and he was concerned that maybe the tooth fairy was really a monster. So we will try again tonight if we can convince him. :) Poor little guy. He seems so small and delicate to me today. I am so sad he had to have all this done, and more next week.

Ok, I think I am caught up. I will try to be more regular again. :)