Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar...

On Wednesday I took the three younger kids to the store. We were out of milk. And anyone that knows me, knows that I pretty much never buy JUST what I went there for.. I always end up with much more. And every time, I proclaim I need to work on that. Of course the one item I didn't purchase was baby wipes which we promptly ran out of after we were home and they were, uh, needed. Figures.

Anyway, even though it's been 4 weeks since the car accident, I still have a hard time when there is a lot of noise- I get very overwhelmed. My kids are loud (there is no Quiet switch) and tired kids walking through the store resulted in much, MUCH loudness and some crying (you should hear Kaitlyn cry!). I knew I wouldn't even have a chance to make it through the check out line unless I resulted to having their mouths stuffed full of something.. so I opted to go with tiny sugar cookies that were covered with frosting and sprinkles.

It totally worked.

And by the time we reached the car there was still a large amount of the cookies left. Excellent. I knew that Drew and I would enjoy a few of them after the kids were in bed that night.

Carson, however, had other plans for the little bites of sugar.

I walked into my front room to see HALF of my couch covered in the remains of cookies. Yes, plural. There was no way that was from one little cookie! I grabbed the camera, sighed, and moved on.


I was pretty sure I knew what I would find upon entering my kitchen.

a) Many cookies eaten.
b) Sprinkles everywhere.
c) Crumbs from here to there.

And I was mostly right... just wrong on the consumption levels.

Nice.

I questioned the children and Carson proudly proclaimed he had pushed the chair over to the counter and and helped himself. At least he admitted it.

And I guess it's good he at least shared too... Kait's little mouth was covered in bight green goodness.

She was so sad when she asked for more and I told her they were all gone.

(pssst, look at her pig tails! First time I've done that!!)


Lucky for Drew, I did find one cookie on the table that was less than half eaten, so I saved it for him. And there was even 3 sprinkles left untouched!

Sadly, one of the kids cough:Carson:cough managed to sniff it out and it had vanished by the time Drew was home.

Oh well. It's usually not safe to consume something that a child has eaten and picked at anyway.

Seriously.

I've got the Power....

We made it home safely from our vacation to Cedar City for the Shakespeare festival.

Drew put the biggest variety of music onto his MP3 before leaving.. turned out to be a fantastic idea on his part because Carson now has a new favorite song. Echo, and all.

(the explosions you hear at the beginning are from Hayden who is playing with his new Lego McDonald's toy)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

It's a toss up from who Carson inherited his smokin' dance moves from.. Drew and I are both so amazing in that department.. I think it was probably me.

If only we had discovered this song at the beginning of the road trip instead of the end.

Pictures to follow soon...

Not much of anything...

Thought I'd post some pics of what we've been up to. Really, it's not much of anything. I still can't do much.. even light housework hurts. Well, except wiping off counters.. THAT I can do, thank goodness. I know, we all have our weird quirks. I big fat puffy hear clorox/lysol wipes!!

(oh and I'm DYING at not vacuuming.. AHHHH!!! MUST! VACUUM!).

Woah, sorry, had to get that out I guess.

Anyway, so I sit on the couch do nothing but mosey around the internet with the exception of adjusting myself every two seconds and producing popping noises from my back. Occasionally I get up to assist with popsicles or sippy cups. Braking up fights between the boys. Food. Things that my kids proclaim that they need. Seriously, Mom of the year stuff, I'm telling you.

Sometimes I camp out in my bed. It's sooo comfortable. I LOVE my bed. The only problem is then the kids want to be in there with me. Which I TOTALLY understand.. but they love to put pillows and blankets on the side of Drew's side of the bed and jump down into it. It drives me nuts because a child always ends up crying. Plus then they get hungry.. and then I get crumbs all over my floor (again, why I'm DYING to vacuum).
They look so much alike.. don't you think?

Want to see what happens if I'm not quick enough in assisting the kiddos?

Carson takes matters into his own hands.
What is it with my kids and popsicles? Honestly.

(if Drew is reading this I can promis you he's muttering What is it with my Wife that BUYS all these popsicles??? lol Yeah- I know, I know)

LOL Carson looks like Pinocchio..
Only problem is that he usually leaves the box out.

And then Kait finds them.
And then the pop-a-bee requests start (it's no longer pop-a-chi).

(psst, how cute are her leggings? LOVE! THEM!)

She grabbed one from the box and brought it over... look at those eyes...
.. putting it RIGHT in my face, so I can't miss it... you can tell she's concerned I won't open it..

I'm holding it and asking if she wants it.. she's doing a little dance of excitement.
It's now opened but in my hand... good thing I was sitting down or she might have tackled me to get it. She's REALLY good at saying *MINE* over and over.
Mmmmmmm. That's exactly the sound she makes.
Might as well show you what else is happening.

We went to Target last night to buy a new stroller since the old one was smashed in the back of the van (Drew couldn't even pull it out- it was pinned in there).

I decided the kids should get something they want since I rarely ever buy toys while we're just at the store (or in this case, Target). And I was trying to prevent incidents like this morning by giving them something new and exciting. At least it worked later today..

Carson chose a batman toy that is part of the Imaginext set that we have.
This is the bottom of the toy.. batman has been VERY busy flying around all day today.

Hade is still running around naked so I dont' have a current picture of him. But his new toy is also on the pinao there.. it's a starwars ship of some kind and four characters.

Carson was happy to touch things that weren't his and show them off.. well sort of since his hands are in front of the toy.. but you can see the green lightsaber.
Aubrey chose a $5 lil' kinz Webkinz and is playing with it on the computer right now.

Kait chose a hotwheels. It was only $1 and that's not really fair.. so I picked up 3 pairs of legwarmers. Gotta be fair, right?? ;o)

I've been wanting to make some Baby Legs for her out of knee highs but it's been almost impossible to find any. Plus I have only really left the house to go to the chiropractor so that puts a damper on things too.

ANYWAY, so turns out Target has their own brand of them but they're still $10ish a pair. But they also have actual leg warmers... and those are only THREE bucks! And they're just a bit shorter than actual baby legs! So I bought 3 of those. You know, to be fair.

I'm sharing a pic because I have to show Janae. And Robin. They've been helping me look for socks.

The pair on the right is an actual pair of Baby Legs. See? Just a little longer. Works for me!

BTW, the trip about did me in.. I totally had to hobble back to the car. Not my smartest idea.. but we had to buy a stroller before our upcoming trip this week! What do you do. And for the record, I only lost Carson ONCE while we were there. :-S

Oh and SUPER LUCKY me.. I heard Carson yell, "Oh Gosh, Look what Kaity-bug did" and knew it wouldn't be good...

Girl's got climbing skills. :-S

I WANT this give-a-way!

So, you know how yesterday I mentioned that Danno is over here all the time and that he's my step-brother.. well my other step-brother is named Aaron (from that family- I have like quite a few step-siblings, half siblings- you name it, I've got it).

Aaron is OUT THERE! If you look in the dictionary under Type A personality, it has his picture. He's full of life and is super willing to help out others (you just have to do it his way) and ALWAYS makes you laugh. Good stuff. Love it!!!

And get this, he has SEVEN kids!

AND- his wife, Catey, is awesome. She cooks.. bakes.. homeschools some of the kids.. sews.. cleans.. doesn't loose her children when leaving the house... and she's nice. (she's also thin enough you can't tell she's had seven kids- hate her a little bit for that if we're being honest)

Anyway, they're busy people.. we're busy people.. we just don't see each other very often. Ok, it's been like years. LOL But whatever. So we blog stalk each other. Or at least I blog stalk them... I'm SURE they read about my craziness though, right???

Either way, Catey has been doing Friday giveaways on her blog which she calls the Fabulous Friday Freebie.

And this week, it's a cape.

Ok, people, you need to understand how much my boys need this. Carson has been wearing his batman pajamas for THREE days now because it has a cape on it. I probably could strip him of it but considering it would be a fight and I'm still very sore and my left hand is still sprained- Batman, he is.

And Hayden, is very jealous of the fact that he only gets to wear a batman shirt. I don't have anything for him to wear. I know, mom of the year. So sad!!

I'd hot glue them something but I'm still too banged up...

Plus, I PROMISE you a picture of Drew wearing it if I win. EVERY boy needs a cape. Well, unless it doesn't fit around his neck.. :-S

As part of my entree, I'm blogging bout this freebie.. and I guess I could point out that if you REALLY think your kids need the cape more than mine, you could enter the contest too. But really, I NEED THIS CAPE!! (ooohhh, maybe you could blog about it and give it to me if you win?? Wow. I have no shame. LOL)

Check out her blog!

Hope you enjoy Random Thoughts from the Zoo as much as I do. :o)

Last Wednesday.

I'm posting this because I really need something to make me smile and laugh. And this, makes me smile. And laugh.

I recorded this last Wednesday before Dan (or Danno as we affectionately call him) came over so that we could go out to Outback for his Birthday dinner.


I love that Hade knows the words.

I love how Carson sings and 'drums' his hand on his leg.

I love how Kaitlyn head-bangs. The entire time. Seriously.

I love that Drew paused to sing the words.

I love that Aubrey couldn't be bothered with spongebob so she stayed on the computer playing games.

I love these people.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

And this video is for Lock and Marci.

They're part of The Band that I've talked about before and they moved away last month.



We all loved to play and sing this song.. it's so much fun. I can't even being to tell you how much we miss them!

You miss all of this craziness, right? Right??? ;o)

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Accident Pictures.

Well, huh. This is my 100th post. I was hoping this would be some fantastically humorous post where I had you ROLLING on the floor while I clung to my brilliant Mother of the Year award. And then I'd have this breathtaking giveaway where all my readers (all six or seven of you) would battle out to win it.

But instead... I give you pictures of the car accident I was in last Thursday night.

I've had a few people ask to see the van... it's not quite the effect I was hoping for with my 100th post but oh well.

Thursday afternoon I went to see my friend Danette's new house that she just bought in Payson. It was fun to talk to her all while running around trying to make sure Kaitlyn and Carson were staying out of the road when they went outside. SUPER fun.

After that, we all drove to Santaquin to see my sister and we went to The Red Barn to pig out on their delectible ice cream. The kids thought it was a fantastic dinner choice and highly approved Hey! Does that count for anything?? I'm thinking that at least deserves Honorable Mention..

Afterwords, I stopped by my sister's home to chat with her for a bit.. she's opening a preschool up so I wanted to check out the progress on her school room. I wasn't planning to stay long because she threatened to disown me if we messed up her clean house. Lucky for me, the kids actually played outside and only destroyed her basement so it worked out well for both of us.

I finally left a little after 10 and stopped by McDonalds for a Diet Coke (it's an hour drive!) and a 10 piece nugget for the kids to share and a hamburger for Kaitlyn. Because that's just how much I rock.

As I was heading home on I-15, it started raining and as we entered into a construction zone, near Springville, I moved to the fast lane since the lanes were merging above. Traffic slowed very suddenly and then I stopped. And then I was hit from behind.

I can't decide if I should describe how horrifying it was for all of us or just skip past it. I cry when I think about it, which is a lot. And I'm not a crier! It makes me sick when I think about how I had to do a head count as I turned around to make sure my babies were all still in the car. I was told by many people that it was good we were all in seatbelts and carseats or we would have been ejected from the car.. I believe it! I'm so glad my sister was able to come and get me since she was closer than Drew (plus she had a Truck that fit all of us). My kids were comforted to see her and I was able to bawl like a baby while she took charge and figured things out..

It was a little Saturn Coupe that smashed into us.. she told the cops she was going 50 but I bet it was more than that.

And now the pics. The middle part that's smooshed went almost to the seat where Hayden and Aubrey were.

Drew thinks that her car either went under the rear bumper or just pushed it in and it popped back out. I can't tell you how glad I am that my van held up as well as it did so my kids weren't injured badly.

I was hit more to the right.. the right tail light was everywhere. (you should have seen the lady that hit me.. there was nothing left to the front of her car!


You can see the frame of the van is all bent inwards. Ugh, what if it had been a larger car or truck that hit us? Drew had a friend die just a few months ago from this very same kind of accident. Anyway..

My exhaust was broken and it pulled out the spare tire.. it was barly hanging on after the accident (it's been removed).


The front of my van looks pretty decent considering I was braked and hit the car in front of me.. who was braked and hit the car in front of them. Only the hood was really noticeable for damage. Of course my air bag didn't go off... grrrrr Not so happy about that.

Oh, and the radiator that we spent $200 on and fixed on monday? Yeah, it's toast.
Drew took these pictures so I don't have better ones to show you.. but the inside of my van looks like it exploded. Everything that could pop open or off, did, including the visors, compartments, everything. It all shifted to the right.. I had my cell phone in my lap (I wasn't using it) and when I finally found it, it was across on the far side of the van, by Kaitlyn's seat. Her hamburger was on the floor in the front passenger area. Nuggets were all over the place. Papers were all over the place. And my lovely Diet Coke and 4 ice waters? They exploded drenching everything.

This is the sliding door on the drivers side (tilt your head to the right).. you can see a car part hanging down and you can also see light in the door.. where it wouldn't close. Drew said if you're looking at it from the outside of the van, there's about an inch gap. My door would not close all the way either. The whole side is crumpled.
My seat definitley had the brunt of the accident. It's a power seat and you know how you can move and rotate those every which way? If not, I'll let Carson play with it and then you'll know what I'm talking about.. always a fun surprise. Anyway, it moved all the way up at the very front of the seat where my upper thighs (I'm short, remember?) smashed into the stearing wheel. And my seat some how fully reclined so it was laying ALL. THE. WAY. BACK. plus some.

See how it's broken below?
At the time of the accident I didn't remember what happened but have since figured out that I stopped and looked down into my lap where my phone was (again, wasn't using it) and when I was hit, I hit my forehead into the stearing wheel. I didn't realize until I was home and my sister pointed out the bump that I had done that. And of course then I flew all the way back to the reclined position. I was really confused during the entire night but I kind of get that way during accidents anyway so I didn't think much of it (I told the EMT people).

Hayden usually sits behind me but before I left Amy's house, Carson kept getting out of his carseat. Something he NEVER does. And it freaked me out. So I made Hade sit in back by Aubs and put Carson behind my seat promising him nuggets. I'm so glad I did that.. Hayden always put his legs up on the back of my seat to rest.. can you imagine how my seat would have hurt him? :-S

On Friday I was pretty confused so I went to the ER and was told I had a minor concussion.. I felt like I was wondering around and I'm just not sure what I was supposed to be doing. Thank goodness Misty came over that day- around 1 I realized I had no idea if my kids had eaten anything (they had, Aubrey fed them) and I didn't eat until 2. It just didn't even occur to me.. and the kids would talk but I didn't understand what they wanted from me. Of couse I didn't realize how bad I was until finally Misty and Drew insisted I go. They also took neck x-rays which they said were ok.

I keep thinking I will wake up better, and happy, but after walking around I see that I'm not. Even today.. I'm worlds better but still just not normal. To be honest, I'm feeling very down as well.. I just hurt so much. I went to the chiropractor today and my back/neck/left arm/hips are all sorts of messed up. Ugh.

The Chiro. checked out the kids as well and they all have a few trouble spots although he said he'd do just a few little spots on Hade and Kaitlyn. Aubrey (who also bruised the back of her leg somehow) has more issues with her neck as well and she'll be treated as a patient.

At the accident, Carson took it the worse. Well between him and Aubrey.. she was hysterical and screaming and crying and he was totally silent. And you know how Carson is! It was awful. Once he stopped crying he sat there violently shaking. I wasn't sure what to do either.. I didn't want him to get out of his seat and possibley try to run around- how horrible would that have been? But maybe I should have.. he's very upset. He's been super naughty and mean and distructive. My mom gave me a few ideas how to try and help him talk it out.. I hope they work tomorrow. My warm fuzzy feelings are fading fast. lol His back and neck are also the worst of the kids (so possibly the pain might be making him act this way too). Today I was being iced when the Dr. tried to work on him and he flipped out.. hopefully tomorrow will go better. I want my semi-crazy little boy back!

Like I said (I think?) I'm having a really hard time. So much to try and stay on top of with insurance people to talk to. And so many unkowns.. how much will they give us for the van since I'm sure they'll total it? We've always waited for the right low-miles van to come along and then pay cash- what if we can't find anything good? And once we get the check (and who knows what day that will be) we only have 2 more days with our rental truck (that's another story- only rental enterprise had to fit us all was an F150!). Talk about pressure! And we have a vacation scheduled for Cedar City next Thursday. Will this get wrapped up by then? Will I be able to sit in a car for that long with my back and not be adjusted for 4 days? Plus my 10 year anniversary is over that time (the 14th)... Ugh. Plus I'm frustrated and how difficult it is to take care of the kids.. it hurts to change diapers, hold Kaitlyn, get my own medicine, open jars or anything fun with my left hand like playing the piano or Rock Band. Oh, or that requires much thinking. GRRRR

Hopefully I'll perk up in the next few days. It's been so nice to have so much support from friends and family. Friends that let me whine and complain. Over and over (since I can't remember if I already did or not). Emails.. facebook comments.. dinner arranged.. it means a lot to Drew and I. Thank you. Thank. You.