photography

Before

After

My new friend Mandy Reger is a photographer. She is amazing. She knows so much about cameras and computers. She came over today to help me a little bit, because I am new at all this and need all the help I can get. She does these awesome portraits, where she takes pictures and turns them into paintings and she showed me how to do it. I did a couple practice pictures today (Hers are about a thousand times better than mine). I don't know how much I'll do with it because it takes FOREVER but, I was so excited to learn. She taught me alot about my camera, and showed me some things with the photoshop program that I have been wanting to learn.. I don't know why she was so willing to help me but I am sure glad she was. Thank you Mandy!

BeforeAfter

Update

The nurse from Mackenzie's school called this morning, and they are going to let her go back to school next week. YAY! She is so excited. She was really upset because she missed a lot this week. They had the dentist come talk to her class, which is always fun. Her class is going swimming today, and she's so sad that she can't go. she also heard that her class had a substitute teacher the other day. I don't quite understand whats so exciting about that, but she is thinking she missed something pretty big. She has had fun this week though, because I've let her play webkinz on the computer as much as she wants. I try to limit her computer usage, but this week, she's been able to use it alot more. She has also been able to sleep-in. (me too!) I got all of her work from the school, and have helped her with it. I talked to the nurse for few minutes when she called. She is really nice. I think I've been kind of a pain. I have just been frustrated with the way the school has handled this. She told me that if it were up to her, Kenzie would have been allowed to go back this week. But, the decision was not hers to make. She told me that she had fifth disease when she was pregnant...I should have asked her if it caused any problems for her....It is hard to prevent it from spreading, because unfortunately, by the time you know that you've got it, it's too late. You are already past the contagious stage. Darn it. If I thought there were any chance of Mackenzie "sharing" the germs, I would have gladly kept her home. but, unfortunately, by that point, the damage, if any, had already been done. Anyway, the nurse clarified a few things for me and while I don't agree with the school's decision, I can respect their position. Mackenzie can't wait to go back. She LOVES school.

Fifth disease

Saturday morning when Kenzie woke up, we noticed that she had rashes on both of her cheeks. I spent the whole weekend trying to figure out where it came from. They don't itch or hurt at all. I kept asking her if she had put anything like lotion or make-up on her face and she said no. I started putting cortizone kids cream on it, but it didn't help. Monday morning, I noticed that it had spread to her arms, so I kept her home from school and took her to the doctor. As you can see in the pictures, it is a very mild rash. It doesn't bother her at all. The doctor diagnosed her with fifth disease. He said it's pretty common, it's caused by a virus, and once they get it, they will never get it again. He said it is harmless to everyone, except pregnant women. If you get it when you are pregnant, it can cause problems with the baby. (the chances of it are very slim though) So, he told me to call the school to see what their policy is, that they may want to keep her home for a few days. I read about it on the internet and every article that I read, said that once the rash is visible, they are no longer contagious. I called the school nurse, and she told me that it has been going around the school, and because two of their staff members are pregnant, they are being extra cautous. I don't blame them at all for that but I think they are going a little too extreme. They told me that I had to keep her home all of this week and possibly next week too. Keep in mind that she is already way past the contagious stage. I asked, If the rash is completely gone, can I send her back? And the answer was no. She said they will let me know on friday whether she can go back next week. They are obviously taking it pretty seriously- The funny thing is, You would think, if it's been going around, and they're trying to stop it, that they would send a note home to the parents explaining what it is and what to watch for because the doctor even said that most kids get such a mild case, that they don't even know they've had it. I can understand being cautous, but you would think that once the rash is completely gone, they should be able to go back to school.So basically, she was going to school through the entire contagious stage, and now that there's no chance of passing it on, they are making her stay home for 2 weeks. Kinda pointless, isn't it? Anyway, Mackenzie is getting a nice LONG break from school.

Gavin is the funniest kid, he is always saying things that make us laugh. I need to remember to write them down. The other day, he fell out of his bed and hit his cheek on something that gave him a pretty good bruise. You can sort of see it here. I should have taken a picture sooner. Anyway, he thought the bruise was pretty cool. Sunday, I had decided that Avery and Mackenzie should stay home from church, so I told Gavin "I guess it's just going to be you and me." His response was "I can't go to church, I have a bruise."
We were explaining to mackenzie that she can't go to school because if someone whose pregnant gets what she has, it could make them sick. Gavin was listening and said "miss kerry has a baby in her tummy and she didn't get my bruise."
I probably shouldn't put this one on here but the other night, Dallas wanted to rent movies and get a milkshake, so they sent me to get them and when I walked in the door, Gavin looked up at me and said "What took you so damn long?" I tried not to laugh, but it was too funny because he has never said anything like that before. We did have a long talk with him and I don't think he will be saying that word again.
Last night, when Mackenzie was saying the prayer at dinner, she was about half way through, when Gavin whispered "Hurry Kenzie, I'm hungry!"

KIDS....KIDS....KIDS......

Most days, Mackenzie and Gavin get along really well. But some days they don't. Yesterday was one of those days. From the second Mackenzie got off the bus, her and Gavin were fighting and arguing about EVERYTHING. I kept trying to get them to stop, but it was no use. So, I duct taped them together and told them that they had to stay that way until they could get along. They thought it was the funnest thing ever. They instantly forgot about being mad at each other and started laughing. They had so much fun trying to walk around without tripping over each other. I asked them if they were ready to take it off and they said no. It was so funny. we were all laughing so hard.

She did it!!

Avery FINALLY figured out how to roll over. She is so funny. She is the laziest baby. She wouldn't put any weight on her legs for so long, and has had no desire to roll over. She has been happy to just lay around and be lazy-(That's my girl!) I have been in no hurry to get her to do these things either. The longer she stays my baby the better. She's growing up too fast as it is. Well, Yesterday, she did it, so I took a few action shots.

Avery Talking

I figured out how to get the video onto the computer. Now, I'm messing around with it to see what I can do with it. Dallas recorded Avery talking to him the other day. She is so funny. She went on like this for about 45 minutes. She must have been telling us something really important. She's growing up way too fast.

Chore board

The other day I was getting after Mackenzie to clean up her mess and she got mad and said "It's not fair!! Bailey doesn't have to clean up her messes!" So we talked it over and decided we should make a chore board, and give the kids a chance to earn an allowance. They have always had to keep their rooms clean and clean up their own messes. we've also let them do extra chores to earn money to buy some of the things that they want but this will be more consistent. They can see on the chart what is expected of them and they are responsible to do it. It puts the responsibility on them, lets them make the choice. And if they choose not to do it, then they know what will happen. I sat down with them and let them choose what they thought their chores should be. It looks like a lot but it's really not. Their chores are: be nice to each other, be happy, brush your teeth, set the table, (which isn't really a chore-they fight over who gets to do it everyday, obey mom and dad, if you don't, you go to your room, make your bed, keep your room clean (they clean their rooms before bed and anything that doesn't get put away gets taken away. They have to earn it back.) The last chore is help mom keep the house clean (ex..dust, clean the coffee table with windex, help put laundry away, ect.. They do one thing every day)
When they do the chore, they put a magnet on the square. At the end of the day, if they have magnets on all their chores, they get a star. And at the end if the week if they have 7 stars, they get $2. If not, they get .25 cents per star. Avery's chores are be happy, and take a good nap everyday. Mine are: play (that's the chore Gavin gave me) Mackenzie said.. "You don't have chores because you already have to do everything." so my chore is "do it all and love it." Dallas's are "Play" (also from gavin) and go to work (from Kenzie), put dirty clothes in the laundry basket, not on the floor. If they are on the floor, they aren't getting washed. And, "Enjoy every day." They had a lot of fun making the chore charts, ad have been very excited to do them. It has made a big difference. I don't know how long it will last, but I will take what I can get.

FINALLY

I finally figured it out! I have windows vista (hate it) and apparently my camera's software is not compatible with my computer. So I had to buy an ilink/firewire cable from sony. It only took me all day yesterday to figure that out. It was pretty painful. I went back and forth between the sony and gateway support centers for about 3 1/2 hours. I was going to post part of my conversation with Gateway on here, but you have to read the entire thing to get the full effect. But let's just say that I, who know almost nothing about computers, could work for Gateway. And I think I could do a better job than the person who helped me yesterday. It was so frustrating. The people at Sony told me that I need a 4 or 6 pin cable, depending on which type of port my computer has. I didn't know which port to look at because there are so many. So they told me to contact Gateway, and they could help me. I got passed around to 3 different people, and first, they tried to tell me that I had to subscribe to an online help support center and pay for a year subscription. I said, I'm not paying someone to answer a simple question. Then he said that he could help me, but kept trying to send me to their sales Dept. I told him. I just want to know which is the ilink/firewire port, so that I can order the correct cable. He then says "there is no such port on your computer, Joni. I suggest that you contact your camera's manufacturer." So then I said "I already did. They told me to contact you. Why were you trying to send me to the sales dept to buy a cable, if there's no port to put it in??" So then he comes back and says "The firewire port is port F on this diagram. and he sent me a diagram. Fun times. Anyway, Thanks for the help everyone, and Andrea, if you read this, I've been trying to leave a comment on your blog but it won't let me. BTW, Your baby is beautiful!

Gavin's Artwork
Gavin drew this last night and it amazed me. Usually when he draws, he just scribbles and draws circles. Then out of no-where , he draws a cat. I think he did a great job!! I will keep this picture forever!

Avery fell asleep in the high chair after eating the other day. I fed her, then went into the kitchen for a minute, and when I came back out, this is what I saw. She stayed like this for about 2 hours. Considering that she hasn't been napping AT ALL during the day lately, I was pleasantly surprised.

Help

I know I've been a slacker lately when it comes to blogging. I just really don't have anything to blog about. However, I could use a little help on the whole computer subject. I want to start putting our family videos onto DVD and I can't figure out how to get the video onto the computer. My video camera came with all of the cables, but when I hook it up to the computer, nothing happens. I've tried everything I can think of, and I can't figure it out. I would read the instruction manual, but I can't find it. I've seen a lot of you put video on your blogs so you must be smarter than me. HELP!

Avery's Bling

I have wanted to get Avery's ears pierced for a while so we finally did it! She did so well. She cried because I had to hold her down so she wouldn't move. As soon as it was over, I stood up and gave her a binkie, and she was as happy as could be.


Crazy Hair Day

Today was crazy hair day at Mackenzie's school. We went over to some friends house last night and her friend Challis did her hair. She was determined to leave it in for crazy-hair day today. I fixed it a little bit, but let her go to school with her crazy hair. She was so excited. As she walked out the door this morning, she let out a little giggle, then I heard her say"This is so funny, Mrs. Potter won't even know it's me."