I am the Louse-inator!!

WARNING:  If you have a low threshold for things of a gross nature, you may not want to read this post :)

I love this sweet face!  She's doing exactly what I've been doing all week, but my face wasn't so cute and I may have been professing a few words under my breath. HA!  We started off last week with ALL four kiddo’s having strep.  Then on Weds while doing hair I found some unwanted friends in Kaylee’s hair…yes, we found NITS and one louse.  In a frantic I called the school nurse to have Audrie checked…sure enough she had it too.  

The frenzy began.  

Laundering, treating hair, picking, combing, blow drying and repeating. One word.  EXHAUSTING.  Late nights followed with our new nighttime ritual.

Exactly a week later and several breakdowns later, I found a few nits in Sam’s hair and then the following night live bugs in Tyler’s.  Tyler was immediately was buzzed, per his request.  

Finally after 8 days of insanity we did get an Rx from the Dr and treated everyone (including myself despite my lack of bugs just to be safe!) in hopes that it is our miracle cure.  Fortunately after our daily combing regiment I have yet to see anything in anyone’s hair (knock on wood).  We will continue to comb and blow dry for another few weeks. 

  

Audrie has quite enjoyed our ‘nit picking’ sessions (which by the way I have a whole new level of understanding now.  No one will EVER be able to say “ nit picky” without a vivid image of lice coming to mind).  I am now finding it quite endearing.  She really loves being together no matter the reason.  I need to learn from her positive outlook J  Tyler on the other hand is SUCH a baby about the combing of his hair (which is basically nonexistent now).  He whines the ENTIRE 2 minutes it takes.  I think I get some sort of evil satisfaction out of it.  I know, I need to repent.  Hahaha J  Sammy is officially tramatized for life.  She will never let me comb or blow dry her hair again.  

Seriously, if anyone ever has to deal with lice please call me.  I now have a doctorate in the world of Lice, I am NOT kidding, I know everything.  They discust me.  And just for future reference (which I hope I will never need) the prescription was called Natroba, and cost us about $70/bottle.  Worth every penny.  2 bottles covered our entire family.

Sisters.  Notice our bedroom blanket.  Yes that is the strawberry shortcake quilt :)  We had to rotate through all bedding (nightly) the first week so we got to use all kinds of fun blankets.  Now we are just throwing our bedding in the dryer for 30 minutes every night.

  

And I know you love my headlamp.  Seriously the best way to do it.  Kids watch TV, I nit pick.  I remind myself of a picture of mother in this photo...can't quite put my finger on it.

We are currently nit/louse free, let's hope it stays that way.  I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.

Kaylee's Preschool Graduation

 I don’t know if other preschools do this, but every one in TX that we've been do does.  They do this formal “graduation.”  They have caps and gowns and an official program.  It’s cute, but a little over the top; although there is one part that I always look forward to.  It’s the part when they have them come up for their ‘diplomas’ the announcer says what the child wants to be when they grow up.  Remembering Audrie’s desire to be “THE Queen,” I couldn't help but giggle to myself and wonder what little Ms. Kaylee would say.  Most kids said things like police officers, teachers, veterinarians, doctors, etc.  Then it was Kaylee’s turn and the announcer said, “And Kaylee wants to grow up to be a Mom.”  I immediately got misty eyed and overcome with the spirit.  This little girl may not understand what she is saying, but she knows what she wants to be and I knew how important that was.  She will understand that someday, but as for now she has her eye set on the prize!  The prize of motherhood.  It was a sweet moment.

Later as the rest of the children got their diplomas NOT one other little girl said she wanted to be a mom.  NOT ONE. 

I am SO grateful for the gospel and the teachings of the importance of the Mother’s role.  The importance of being a Mom, as a full time, professional job, because it is just that.  I hope that I am the example I want to be so they can see what a joy it can be! (a weakness I am still working on!)

 I can just see her as an adult in this picture!  She is such a doll.  Love you Kaylee girl.

Soccer Kids

This year both Tyler and Audrie wanted to do soccer again.  It has been a lot of fun seeing each of them improve and play their little hearts out.  I love watching them and as Andy can attest I am very vocal about it :)  I just can't help it!  I get really into it.  I know some of these aren't the best pictures, but I have yet to figure out how to do good action shots.  I will learn.

Our Latest Adventures

Samantha is climbing and has been for a while, but these days it has been taken to an entirely new level. She was found here (below) this afternoon...can we say "swinging from the chandelier"? Not sure how to solve this problem...
She has always loved having things wrapped around her. Any soft, fuzzy blankets found she will bring to me and I will have to wrap them around her like a shawl. Well the other day she found a soft, fuzzy hat (side note, this was made for Tyler before he was born by yours truly). She didn't know why it wouldn't wrap around her and got completely frustrated. I helped her get it on correctly and she wore it for a couple days in a row. She LOVES soft and fuzzy...even if it is a little too small.
Audrie was recently apart of her second grade musical. It was about a metronome that kept the pace of the land of ants and various other creatures. Audrie was apart of the chorus and did a wonderful job. Earlier in the month she came home and told me she had tried out for a larger part in the musical all by herself. Without telling me! She is such a different child than I ever was. I would have DIED before doing anything of the sort ESPECIALLY on a whim! She said next time she would tell me so we could practice, minor detail she didn't realize was necessary for a try out :) I was proud of her though! (Obviously she would have been perfect for the play...talk about drama girl!!)

Sam has also recently taken a liking to slides and has no fear at all. She can climb up to the top of the fort in our playset and yell until I help her go down the slide. That just makes me SOOO nervous (as there are no sides on the fort), so we set up the indoor slide. It hasn't exactly been the safest set up either, but at least it's only a couple feet fall to carpet vs a 5 1/2 foot fall to the hard ground outside (which fortunately she has never done!)

Elder Lindsey's Legacy

On Weds the 29th, the Elder's came over for dinner and left a message with us, followed by a family prayer. As we knelt we asked Elder Lindsey to say the prayer. As he spoke got a very distinct feeling that he was going to be transfered and this was the last prayer we would have with him. I didn't think I would get emotional about it, but I had to REALLY try not to let my emotions get the best of me. Anyway, as soon as the following Tuesday rolled around my prompting became a reality. He of course had to come over and say good bye, but not without some classic Hart time :)

They played some good ol' football, followed by another classic session of the "shoe" game.

The of course a few family pictures (minus Andy).

Followed by a little more horsing around :)

It has been SUCH a wonderful time having him in our midst. He is a special man and I am so glad we had this unique opportunity to have his influencing spirit in our home. I feel very strongly that he has influenced Tyler in particular in a positive way in his perceptive towards a mission. Tyler has often mentioned how he is nervous about the whole idea because he doesn't want to have to eat "fish eyes" and not go without computer or TV (can you tell what our issues might be?). Anyway I truly believe this has helped open up his eyes in knowing what a mission can be like.

Elder Lindsey,

Thank you for your wonderful spirit you brought into our home. Thank you for your kind words and your awesome lessons. Thank you for sharing your testimony and love of the youth with us. Thank you for helping teach my children. Thank you for your time, dedication and prayers on behalf of the Hart family. You are one of a kind and will be missed.

Love,
The Hart's

The Light Bulb.

This weekend. Well, it was an interesting one. We were planning on going up to Dallas for a really quick trip for the blessing of the Bush's twins. It had already been an extremely busy week, so we were anticipating a few hiccups, but little did we know...
It all began Monday. I was put in charge of the gift for New Beginnings (see below) and found that darling idea. I went to Hobby Lobby to purchase the light bulb jars. They only had 10 in stock, but promised they would get as many as I needed by Friday if I paid for them ahead of time in return for a rain check. I made them DOUBLE check to make sure they would get them in by Friday. I put all my eggs in one basket, counting on this to work...after all they did PROMISE. Ha.
Friday came and I waited for a call which never came. To spare you from possible boredom ultimately they didn't come. After which I said a few loud and disgruntled words towards the sales clerk. Then the wheels in my head began turning...Dallas...driving...and Hobby Lobby's. Yes. Yes we did drive to EVERY Hobby Lobby between Katy and Dallas. I know. Some may say I'm crazy, but this idea was TOO darling and it was TOO late to think of anything new. We were able to get 36 out of 38.
Before we left on our light bulb endeavour I received a phone call from the school nurse saying Audrie wasn't feeling well and needed to come home. (BTW the nurse and I are very good friends. We literally talk once a week and actually visit her office at least once every couple of weeks, and sometimes more.) She came home with me fully thinking she was faking it and needed some attention (can you say "cried wolf" one to many times?), but within an hour she started a fever and complained of her throat hurting. Fully knowing that if we were going to make it to Dallas (as well as get all my light bulbs!) we had to get her check out ASAP. We then RUSHED to the clinic for a rapid strep test. POSITIVE. At which point I began feeling a tinge of guilt. But the reality was I felt MORE guilt for my son who had been complaining of a sore throat all week and I just told him to basically suck it up and take some Motrin :\ If Audrie had strep then my strep prone son also had strep. Great. Let the trip begin! We packed in a snap and left on the adventure.
The drive itself was as expected. Long, almost twice as long due the the light bulb stops, but eventless. We arrive around 6:30pm fully knowing we would only have a couple of hours before we had to go to the hotel so we could get to bed for a 9am Sacrament meeting.
For some reason I needed to get into one of the suitcases shortly after we arrived. Immediately I realized there was only ONE bag in the trunk...and the sirens began going off left and right in my head. We had left our suitcase. From toiletries and diapers to Sunday dresses and shoes it was ALL at home sitting in our house. After relaxing for about 3 minutes total I ran to the store to purchase all that was left at home. By then it was time to go to the hotel.
The next morning we made it to church on time with Audrie in jeans (her and Tyler had packed their bag) and then left on our 5 hour trip home. We made it home to find my fridge in the garage completely thawed out and dripping, but the real point is we made it home.

Andy made me promise to keep a light bulb as a momento. It will be on display in my decor ;)

Arise and Shine Young Women's Gift

This is the mutual theme for 2012. Each year the Young Women have a program called New Beginnings, basically to introduce the theme, renew motivation and introduce new and upcoming YW. I was in charge of the gift and found this awesome idea here. They turned out too cute not to share :)