Sunday, May 31, 2015

Crazy Happens in the Stoker House

My favorite memories are just hanging out with our family at home. The kids have the best imaginations. I love watching them with their crazy creations and inventive lives. Whether they are playing pirates, creating a school for their dolls, building giant lego castles, and just jumping off my bed into a giant pile of pillows and blankets it is always a good time. Most of the time a little loud, someone is most likely crying, and everyone is laughing. 





 Rag curls in Elizabeth's hair. She likes to remind me that she is a balance of myself and Aunt Sarah, a little whiny and a little brave when it comes to getting her hair done.

 I love spending time with these two. Christian has taken to be a big brother very well. He is really protective of William always checking on him, letting me know if he cries, and making sure the other kids are not too rough around him. It is adorable and Will loves watching Christian play. They are going to be great friends when they are older. Christian calls "baby Will his best brother".

 Making crazy snakes while potty training.


Spring Break 2015



Elizabeth loves the Lorax. So she decided to dress like him for "dress like your favorite book character day" at school. 

 Spring break in AZ is like a ghost town. Everyone heads out of town. We love it here during spring break because the weather is wonderful, there are lots of fun activities and events, and lots of time outside. One of our favorite outtings is to visit the I.D.E.A. museum. The displays change every three months and there are always lots of arts and crafts projects to use to make wonderful creations. 


Another fun event we attended was the SPARK festival at the Mesa Art Center. It is a yearly festival where kids can come and create and use their imaginations. This year's theme was music and flight. The kids created plastic wrap sculptures, watched a butterfly play, played with different kinds of music instruments, and creating a giant fish on the windows using shrinkydinks. Elizabeth decided to play in the water while we were there. I warned her to be careful especially with her cast on and of course only 5 minute into it she totally fell in the water completely drenching herself and her arm. Luckily she held her arm up sacrificing the rest of her body. Will this kid ever learn?






















Lizzy's Tough Month

Elizabeth is such a do-it-yourself child. Sometimes it can be to her detriment. She tries to do everything herself, "no help", and this month she learned that it is okay to ask for help sometimes. The light was out in her room so she tried to turn on the lamp on top of her dresser. In order to reach it she used the stool for her vanity (it is very wobbly) climbed up on the stool to the vanity then turned on the light. Unfortunately Lizzy is very clumsy as well and she slipped hitting her elbow on the edge of the vanity as she fell to the ground. This was at 8 o'clock at night, when she came crying to me the she fell and bumped her elbow. At the time I was trying to get all the kids in bed and I did a quick exam. I felt her upper arm = no pain, forearm = no pain, just pain at the elbow so I figured she bumped her funny bone. I gave her some tylenol and sent her to bed.

The next morning (Sunday) she woke up and said nothing to me about her arm hurting. It wasn't until she was in the kitchen asking me for breakfast that I noticed her arm had swollen and her elbow was the size of a baseball. We placed her arm in a sling made out of a scarf and Brandon took her to urgent care. After 8 hours and a trip to the emergency room to verdict was she had a small fracture above her elbow. And due to the position of the fracture she needs to have surgery to repair it with a few small pins holding the elbow in place.



She was very brave. Scared but brave. She is a little tough to handle too because something about anesthesia makes my kids go nuts. Both Elizabeth and Jackson experienced it a little when they were given light anesthesia at the dentist. When she woke up from the surgery she was screaming that the pins were poking her and hurting and itching. She was pointing to a spot on her arm where the pins weren't even there. I had to hold her in place so she wouldn't break her cast or cause more pain. Finally the nurse gave her some drugs that made her sleepy and when she woke up she felt much better. Man the things moms do for their kids.

After the surgery she wanted to go back to school that day. Nothing gets our girl down. Thankfully she only had to have the cast on for 4 weeks, just in time for summer, swimming, and her big dance recital. It was hard for her to stay away from the water for a few weeks and not play on the playground but she made it and her arm is now as good as new.

Hopefully she learned a lesson about climbing and asking for help, but I have a feeling it won't be the last time I end up in the emergency room with this fearless, tough, adventurous, little girl.

Baby Will 3 months

Baby Will is changing so much. At 3 months old he is more awake now, sleeping in his crib, rolling over onto his tummy (and getting stuck which he hates). He loves to laugh and has the best giggles. It sounds like a tiny machine gun. He has the most kissable cheeks, all the kids smother him with kisses and raspberries. Christian is very protective of him. I find Christian in his crib comforting and talking to him in the mornings when he wakes up. Will loves blowing bubbles and raspberries to entertain himself. He is sleeping 8 hours a night and a joy to have in our family.















This last picture shows just how much William looks like Brandon. CLONE