About a year ago my dad started making this go-kart and since finished it and now, that is all Riley wants to do. At first it was the source of a lot of contention due to the fact that the first time we let the boys loose on it the brakes didn't work and Rob had to launch himself on top of it (while it was going) and got dragged for about 20 feet. He's got a nice new scar on his leg from the road rash. However, now the brake pedal has been adjusted and works like a charm and it was a big hit. If fact it was such a hit that my dad then had to make a trailer that could pull more kids so that more than one at a time could ride. This is the only photo I have of it, but you can't see the bulldog painted on the front or see the cool trailer that has flames on the sides and a fake license plate "fireball2" and license plate frame that says "my grandkids are faster than yours". The boys absolutely love it and pretty much think that grandpa is the bomb. Of course they thought that before the go-kart too.

The Wisdom of a 3 Year Old

Today I HAD to get my oil changed. Rob threatened to take away my keys if I didn't because I was WAY overdue. So I got there and Jack and I were sitting on the couch waiting for them to be done when another group walked in. The girl was wearing some tight cut off shorts and a very much too small tank top .... and she was not very much too small... it looked a little like this:
Obviously it wasn't this exact photo, this is just a look alike, but more about that in a minute. The blog worthy issue was Jackson's conversation when she walked in.
Jack: (in a very not so quiet voice) Mom! Her butt is sticking out!
Me: (Struggling to keep it together) ssshhh.
Jack: (Not anymore quietly than before) Mom! Her butt is sticking out!
He has a habit of repeating something until he is sure I have heard and acknowledged his statement.... So, for fear of him getting even louder,
Me: I know Jack, but be quiet, when we can see peoples butts we don't talk about it out loud, it's like it's a secret.
Jack: It's not a secret, mom. I can see it right there, her butt is sticking out! Everyone can see it!
I had absolutely no comeback for that. On some level I think he is right. If she is going to show her butt to my 3 year old, maybe I should let him tell her it's sticking out?
The really funny part about this whole experience is that when I was looking for a photo to use I had the above photo up on my computer and Riley walked into the room and took one look at it and said "Is that Grandpa?"

I Love Eating at New Restaurants!

I know I'm doubling my post for the year in one day, but when Rob was on his way home from work today the boys had an idea of a new restaurant that they wanted to go to and I just couldn't say no. In fact our waiters (who kept calling themselves waitresses) were just so cute that I had to ask if I could take their photo. The food was okay, but it was nothing compared to the service.

Medical Mystery

The past few weeks Jack has been sick on and off. He just hasn't been able to kick it. He will get a fever and writh around in pain hitting his head and ear saying it hurts. We've taken him to the doctor numerous times thinking it must be an ear infection, but every time they have sent us home saying no. He's also been complaining of pain in his knees, back, neck... everywhere. Of course, every time we are actually in the doctors office, he is just fine.
Since he has been having the fevers so long they decided get some blood work. From that they sent us up to Primary's to get a bone scan due to certain markers being too elevated. They inject him with a dye that gets absorbed into the bones where there is a lot of blood activity, showing where infection or masses are. About a minute into the scan a bright white spot showed behind his right ear.
So, from there, they sent us to get a CT scan of his head. It showed that his Mastoid bone (a honeycomb-like interior) behind his ear was completely filled with fluid and now has filled up his ear as well. They thought it was Mastoiditis, an infection of his bone that can corrode the bones in the head and cause the infection to leak into the brain. They planned on admitting him and giving him IV antibiotics, but in order to do that they had to okay that with the infection control at the hospital. Infection control on the other hand said it's not mastoiditis because it showed on the bone scan (meaning that it's already in the bone), but the CT scan showed no destruction of bone. They said they thought it was bone cancer. Just what any mother wants to hear.
They sent it to Oncology and they had no clue. Unfortunately they are not ruling out any of these things, including cancer. So for now we are just loving him.
You know, I think I can handle the medical stuff. I can understand what they are telling us and I feel confident that they are doing what they should. What I can't deal with is Jack not understanding what is going on.
When I took him for the blood work I had to hold him so they could stick the needle in and they had to dig a little. He just started crying and very quietly asking us to take it out. When that didn't seem to work he just looked up at me and said "help me" with a confused look on his face, trying to figure out why I would help this man hurt him. I have never been so crushed before. When we left I took him to get and ice cream cone and told him it was because he was so brave. He said "I wasn't brave Mama, I cried." CRUSH!!! CRUSH!! CRUSH!! Not that he didn't have me thoroughly wrapped around his finger before, but I'm finding it increasingly difficult to deny him anything.

What I Do When I am Procrastinating

Yesterday we had ward conference. In the past I haven't really enjoyed ward conference, but this time it was awesome. The State President taught sunday school and let me just say I was inspired. Never before have I felt like family home evening was more necessary. Never. Not even when I was a missionary and was all gung-ho about everything. So, I told the boys about me and dad being chastized for not having it as much as we were supposed to and we would be having it this week. Riley said he wanted to do it TODAY, with grandma and grandpa. He did the lesson, he thought of it, and it was amazing!

He got 2 oranges and put them in a bowl of water. (did you know that oranges float?) The water represented the temptations of the world. When we do bad things a little piece of the Holy Ghost is taken away. (peal a little bit of orange peel off of one orange) And it doesn't take long for our mistakes to not allow us to rise above the tempations of the world. (the orange will sink with the peel not in tact.) Fortunately for us, Jesus (a zip-lock baggie with the pieces of orange peel and the orange in it) made it possible for us to repent and get the Holy Ghost back in our lives for a protection, and allows us to rise above the temptations of the world once again.

It was a night worthy of repeating. I may have to use it for one of my relief society lessons this year.

I have an english assignment due tonight... I really have been putting it off... so this is what I made this morning instead... and blogging about it now is further helping me procrastinate.