Random bits of life....

Rich was home today sick in bed. I never think he fully recovered from his weeks of night float. I am hoping that the homemade chicken noodle soup and orange juice will help heal him and get him going tomorrow. The Z-pack might do the trick too. It is never fun to be ill. I think I'll be sleeping on the boys trundle bed (per Rich's request) tonight. It never hurts to be cautious.

Yesterday Rich bought his airline ticket to Washington D.C. On February 8th he will be MOVING there until March 6. Every third year radiology resident (Post Graduate Year 4) gets (HAS) to spend a month training at Walter Reed Medical Center. The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) instructs and trains the radiology residents in various pathological studies. Each attendee is required to bring their own case and present it. They keep these on file, which gives them a collection like no other. The other residents that have already completed their time have been impressed with the new education they have gained. Let's face it, if you were single this would be quite the trip! Who wouldn't love a break from the hospital and free weekends exploring a new city? That's not quite the case for us. We will try to get Rich home for a weekend or two, but we will not truly know the logistics of it all and if that will be possible until he gets there. I am counting down the days until it is all over with- already.

For a few years now when people find out I have two sets of twins they have asked me if I have ever seen the show Jon & Kate Plus 8 on TLC. While I do have cable, I had never watched the show- until yesterday. Josh was flipping channels and it was on. There actually was a marathon of them so we watched two episodes yesterday and I watched two more while I rode the bike today. Man, hats off to them. I can't imagine SIX children at once. I was (and am) often overwhelmed by two. They are so structured and make it look doable (I would never say easy!), but I know, like she says on the opening, there are days she could lose her mind. I feel like that often and I only have 5-spread out over six years. Amazing people. I hope the family that delivered EIGHT babies just yesterday have a positive outcome and outlook as they do.

I have been really enjoying watching American Idol this season. I haven't really watched it in years since I usually would see bits on Youtube.com of the people I was interested in. Last week they had auditions in Louisville, which was fun. Yesterday it was in Salt Lake City. I loved seeing two of my homes on TV. I also was so impressed and proud at how polite everyone in Salt Lake was. I loved that they showed contestant after contestant say "Thank you" after the judges said no way. Way to show off my great state!! Also, Simon Cowell is an interesting fella. He is all about the whole package. He will dismiss someone with talent because they don't have a certain look or charisma and yet some barefoot, hippie girl with beads in her hair and tattoos (you know who I'm referring too) can come in and squeak by after Paula said she needed to work on her vocals because Simon said she was memorable. True I will remember her, but shouldn't talent be the real judge here? I am excited to see what happens next.

There you have it. A bit of my mind- lots going on inside and often only a few things of importance. Now time for bed!!!

Exploration

It was the finally time for Brynn and Kaitlyn to venture out into the cold world of snow and ice and explore a bit today. They pulled out their mittens, hats and scarfs and began to dress themselves in their winter best. I knew they needed to escape the house for a little adventure.

While it has finally stopped raining and snowing, the temperatures stayed well below freezing which kept our glistening icicles in top form. The girls were not disappointed in what they found, in fact they were delighted.

They climbed on the slide, ran across the lawn, took a stick to the bushes and then decided their perfect spot was on the stairs. Brynn's main objective was to toss snow and then eat whatever stuck to her gloves. Kaitlyn was a bit more cautious, but couldn't resist the lure of tossing the powdery white snow into the air. Brynn gobbled up icicles while Kaitlyn knocked them down. They do make quite the pair.

Brynn finally lost her hat in all the bending and throwing which signaled it was time to head in to find warmth. Kaitlyn stayed out a bit longer and enjoyed it when Josh came out and took a few runs with his slide on our mini back hill.

I loved being outside and looking at the ice up close. I am still amazed at how incredible ice storms are. We experiences our first one in Louisville years ago, but have not had one this severe in the eight years we have lived in Kentucky. When I drove out to Wal-mart this afternoon I drove past tree after tree broken in pieces under the weight of ice and snow. The ice and gloomy cloud cover made the scene very surreal. It was lovely, but very sad at the same time.

While I was in the backyard chasing the girls around I noticed how crunchy the grass was. With each step I would break and crack the ice that was underneath the snow. When I looked down I thought there were hundreds of icicles that had fallen and landed upright in the snow. If I would have thought that idea through, I would have realized that the ice was over the entire yard and not just under the gutters and deck. Obviously you can't have icicles falling from the sky. Then it dawned on me that what I thought were icicles were really individual blades of grass that had a thick coating of ice. It seemed as if there were clear fingers poking out from the ground. Very strange, creepy and cool at the same time.

A state official announced tonight that the fierce winter storm that slammed Kentucky with ice and snow has caused the largest power outage on record in the state. 607,000 people are still without power in Kentucky. The boys do not have school again tomorrow making it an entire week of cancellations and SNOW DAY #7 for the year. A few schools do not have power and a high school is still being used as a shelter. I hope by Monday things will be looking up.

Wherever you are- stay warm, dry and SAFE!!

Time for Brynn to head on in

Josh Coated blades of grass

Snow

Just when you thought freezing rain was difficult to deal with, a new storm came through this morning ushering in snow. Louisville got hammered- six new inches of white on top of their ice. Kristi called early this morning informing me they were in the middle of an intense winter snow storm and they had lost power at 7 AM. My heart sunk. What can you do when you lose power? Just about nothing.


An hour later huge, white, wet flakes began falling at a record pace here in Lexington. In a flash we had two inches white blanketing the world I could see. The sun broke through for a moment and I rushed outside in hopes to capture the splendor through the lens of my camera. The ice shone like diamonds in the brilliant light and the world had a glow as the ice glittered from beneath the new layer of pure white. It was lovely, gorgeous even, but as the snow piled up, the trees began to bend, bushes began to snap and the worry of losing power was always in the back of my mind.


In fact it pushed me into over drive. I ran the washing machine four times until the basket of dirty clothing was empty. The dishwasher was soon rinsing, the vacuum was whirling, the garbage disposal was grinding and food was baking in the oven and microwave. You certainly do not appreciate what you have until it is gone and electricity is high on that list! The boys pitched in (forced was more like it), but work needed to be done especially when you are confined to indoors. And I never mind being home when it is clean!


Soon the phone began to ring off the hook. Visiting teachers calling to make sure we were alright, VT supervisors asking us to call our sisters to check in on them. As I called my women three were safe and warm at home, but my 4th sister answered her cell phone and told me she had just slid off the road trying to get to her cousins house when their apartment lost power. Thankfully her husband was ahead of her and was getting her pushed out. I could imagine her panic sitting in the car with her baby hoping to be freed. I relayed my information to the Relief Society President who was at the hub of the frenzy. Home Teachers, scout leaders and members of the primary presidency all phoned to make sure we were well and letting us know of meetings that had been canceled. You certainly can never feel alone or in need when you have a ward full of willing and wonderful people there if you need them. That is such a great blessing when we are so far away from family.Rich took our van to work early in the morning before the ice and slush froze again. Not that I minded. The kids will be home again tomorrow marking the 4th straight day and making it SNOW DAY #6 for the year. These poor kids will be going to school until July at this rate.


Though my fellas are not complaining one bit. In fact every time they announce another snow day, they get the widest grins. But really, who doesn't enjoy a day off from school? They bundle up and play for hours on end with friends. After their noses and fingers and toes are frozen solid and their jeans are sopping wet, they come in, swap pants and gloves, eat some food and head back out for round two, three, four..... They would never let such lovely snow go to waste. They sled on the hill, build snow forts, battle with light sabers and thoroughly have a ball. I love our cul-de-sac and wonderful friends the boys have just waiting outside our front door.


Cleanup slowly began this afternoon, but in the storms path it left 473,000 across the state without power and caused nearly impossible travel conditions in some areas.


The only larger outage in Kentucky occurred last September, when fierce winds from the remnants of Hurricane Ike knocked out power to about 600,000 customers.


When I talked to Kristi later tonight I discovered nearly all of my old ward in Louisville was in the cold. Traci, Vicki, Lacey, Cynthia, Melissa- all my blogging buddies- are without power. They gave them the range of 7-10 days to get it back on. She also said her neighborhood had so many trees down it looked as if a bomb went off. Huge, lovely old trees are great for shade and beauty, but in a wind storm, tornado or ice storm they equal TROUBLE! Todd just happened to be at Lowe's when a shipment of 12 generators were delivered. He hopped in line and $800 later was a proud owner of a lifesaving power source. I know Traci borrowed one from friends, but I hope the rest are safe and warm on this cold wintry night.


Many Lexington residents are without power as well and they have opened various high school as shelters. A number of counties just south of Fayette have declared themselves in a state of emergency after their main water lines burst leaving residents without water and 70% of the people without power. They also have had flooding in areas close to us as well. I feel blessed we have been spared so many of these difficult problems.


The main concern now is that we are not supposed to get above freezing until Sunday and then a new wave of snow storms are set to hit on Monday. Man, I am seriously not sure when life will fully resume. I know I bash folks around here for not getting out in a bit of snow, but ice storms are scary, crazy and very dangerous, so this one will take some time to heal from. I'll just have to keep you posted. Until then know we are healthy, warm and safe indoors- the kids and I here and Rich slaving away at the hospital. Life does continue on.

Over an inch of ice

Cavity Free

Thanks to one filling.A month ago while brushing Kaitlyn's teeth I noticed a darker spot on one of her back molars. She had eaten Oreo cookies earlier, so I brushed it off as that. A few days later it was still there. Uh oh. So I got out the flash light and got a closer peek. And I just about died. I knew she had a cavity. Our first one out of all of our kids. I am a fluoride Nazi with the boys. They brush and swish and if it all seemed a bit too short, I'll make them do it a second time. They had vitamins with fluoride from the time they were babies. I was intense. And then the girls came along and I started to believe that the fluoride in the water would do the trick, so I wasn't quite as strict with the Tri-vi-flor after no one seemed to carry it. Wal-mart would have to special order it in and then later would tell me they couldn't get it in stock. I was weakened a bit. And Kaitlyn's dark spot proved that.

With Christmas fast approaching I knew we needed to act quick. Rich got a recommendation for a pediatric dentist from a fellow resident whose husband is a general dentist here in town and the very next day we there in the office for a check up. (Thanks to Ashlee who took Brynn so I could give my attention to the one who needed it!) Yes, I was right. She had a cavity. But the dentist also told me she had very deep molars and that he wasn't surprised. Man, I loved hearing that. He recommended we put sealants on the rest of her molars. Sounded good to me. The only bad part of appointment was hearing that he couldn't fill her cavity for over 5 weeks! Kaitlyn had never complained about the tooth, but that still seemed like forever away. But we signed up and waited. And then the day finally arrived today. Along with an ice storm. And the boys were not in school. Nice.

I also was a bit nervous (Rich might say psychotic) about Kaitlyn being sedated. First off, the dentist had to be younger than me. Not that that's a bad thing, but I wanted to make sure he knew what he was doing. So I asked Rich to call and ask them how they would sedate her, since he does it almost daily at the hospital. They were not in the office on Friday and out of the office on Monday. I was beginning to panic. I just wanted to know what to expect before I took her in. So I freaked Trey out by asking the boys to pray for her (let's just say that anyone who knows Trey understands he has a big heart when it comes to his siblings) and he assumed I was worried she was going to die. Tears were shed during FHE by the biggest brother and Rich rolled his eyes at my drama at least three times. After Rich gave Kaitlyn a blessing, I felt a bit better, but we still let Kaitlyn sleep in our bed (which she never does!) so I could just be close to her.

Yes, Matt has hit tonsils out and I think nearly every one of our siblings and parents have had surgery and Trey was sedated when they reduced his broken arm, but the fact that I did not know this doctor made me scared. It did. Even if it was to just be sedated. Those horror stories kept coming to mind and the fact that the release they made me sign at her initial appointment had the word 'death' on it no less that four times didn't settle my nerves.

Finally this morning Rich talked to the dentist at 7:30 AM and told me all would be well that it would be done safely. It was light a switch had been turned on and I was fine. I just needed to know before I got there. I needed to him say that in his opinion Kaitlyn would be in great hands. I guess only another paranoid, crazy mom would understand my worry.

Okay, back to the original story of today. We had an intense morning trying to get out the door, which helped Kaitlyn not realize she didn't have anything to eat or drink. We got through the ice and snow in record time and the kids were great. Kaitlyn cried while she was weighed, pouted while she had her blood pressure taken and was only slightly pleased when they offered her a Snow White sticker (Brynn happily took an Ariel one for herself). She was NOT excited about drinking her red 'princess juice' (liquid Versed), but we managed to get most of it down. After about 20 minutes she was drugged. She seemed like she was drunk. Her balance was first to go. As I held her on my lap she soon had a hard time focusing and then seemed puzzled when she couldn't get her hands to work. She really was a bit loopy. They came and took her from me and we all waited (Nintendo DS's in the boys hands while Brynn munched on Trix cereal while watching Go, Diego, Go) until she was done. She was soon (well, 2 1/2 hours after we got there)as good as new with a pretty while filling and sealed teeth. She was a bit groggy at first, but by the time we got to her to the car she was ready for some food. Wendy's hit the spot and by the time we finally got home she declared, "No nap!" She was up and running all day. She did managed to chew her poor lip a bit while it was numb and that was the only thing she said that hurt later on. Her rewards from the doctor were two Snow White stickers and a new bracelet. She's couldn't have been more pleased. I am just relieved the whole thing is over. Here's to NO MORE CAVITIES- FOREVER. I doubt I'll get my wish, but I'll keep hoping, and brushing and pumping them full of fluoride! Yup, I'm gung-ho again!

Headed to the dentistKaitlyn is ready to get her teeth fixedShowing off her prizeWaking up

Modeling her new stickersThis girl loves Snow White!Displaying the new bracelet

She happily points out which tooth was filled.

We love you princess!!!

Ice, Ice Baby

Okay, so I have to give the weatherman a bit of credit. He was sort of correct on his predictions yesterday. Yes, a massive storm did arrive last night, but he wasn't totally right on the money. I knew there was no chance we would get 4-8 inches of snow like he said, but we did find 4 inches of new matter on the ground when we woke up. Three inches of snow topped off with a solid inch of ICE. Not a good set up.

Count this as SNOW DAY 4 & 5 as they closed the schools today and tonight announced they are closed tomorrow as well. Here's to another really long week! (Last week, the boys had a four day weekend because of weather.)

To be totally honest with you, I didn't really think any of this bad weather stuff would actually happen. They are REALLY bad here at 'guessing' (as I would say) what is headed our way in the weather department and early this morning when I peeked out my window I had a silent laugh when I could still see grass in the neighbors back yard. I knew school would go forward as planned. Then Rich went down at 6 AM. He brought me the news- school was canceled and everything was coated with ice. The poor fella had to literally dig and scrape and pry ice off his car for 20 minutes at 6:30 AM. No fun there.

And while that was a bad deal for him, my day did not entail sitting back in a warm home and putting my feet up. I had to haul 5 kids to Kaitlyn's dental appointment at 9 AM and the drive on a good day would be 20 minutes. It was a frantic morning. The roads were bearable, though we never went over 30 miles an hour on any major road (we were crawling around our neighborhood under 10 mph.) And I was proud to say we were only six minutes late to Kaitlyn's appointment- good for me even without the crew in tow and ice on the roads.

The fun didn't stop there. Kaitlyn was soon good as new and we hit Payless, Wendy's, Wal-mart and piano lessons before 3:30 PM. Not sure if anyone else in the city was as crazy as us because every where we went it really was quiet deserted.

Good thing we got out when we did, I don't know if we'll be going anywhere tomorrow. The rain has continued all day and night and I wish I could take a decent photo of the gleaming winter wonderland I can see through my front window. The ice is thicker and the tree limbs are beginning to sag.

We did try to dig ourselves out a bit. After piano, I took the garden shovel while Josh assisted with our only snow shovel and we did our best to chip away some for the frozen mess that was our walkway, front porch and driveway. I would hammer and bang and Josh would scoop. After 45 minutes I said enough! Josh, who helped out without being asked, inquired if I would be willing to pay him for his services. He who helps because they chose too certainly should be rewarded. A one dollar bill was his prize. Since I usually only give out quarters (which had been depleted at the dentist's toy vending machine), a whole dollar was more than he had bargained for. Delight and wonder filled his eyes when he spied the bill. I just wanted to freeze that moment and hope that forever a single dollar could bring such joy and thrill to us all. Oh to be young and so easily pleased.

Who knows, maybe Sally is right and a week home with the boys is in our future, but I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope Thursday might be our lucky day and our life can return to normal.
Well, maybe.

If not, here's to no guilt TV, movies, blogging, popcorn and endless games. At least that's what I'm hoping for. We'll see what the kids have in store.

And you know kids. They are as unpredictable as the weather!

100% coatedEvery tree and bush had white tips as the ice covered them from top to bottom.We drove past the boys' school and found what looked to be a lake of ice in the parking lot.TreyYes, Trey did fall after I snapped this picture.JoshMattIce coating the parking signsI love how you can see the tree's reflection on the sidewalk.My mirror was coated as we drove.Matt enjoying the outdoors with friends