Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs

Haute Couture for the Toddler In Your Life

2011-04-30T15:51:00.000-07:00

Danee's little friend Tavis just turned two a couple days ago. Having been through several two-year olds myself, I've determined that they should come with warning labels.

So in addition to an awesome Lightning McQueen play set, Tavis is getting a warning label.

I had so much fun with it, I made one for Danee too!

Easter 2011, Part 2

2011-04-28T21:33:00.000-07:00

This year's holidays are going to be lots of fun, because Danee is finally old enough that she's paying attention and reacting to the things that we do for the Holidays.

Easter was a great example... She woke up long after the big kids, and came upstairs to find this sitting by the fireplace:

Immediately, she knew it was for her! (I suspect the Pinkness of it all clued her in)

She promptly grabbed her basket and headed to the middle of the room to explore her treasures...

A new Strawberry Shortcake DVD...

Lots of crinkly yellow Easter Grass...

A soft, pink monkey wrap for the pool this summer...

Chocolate,

glorious Chocolate...

And a big, pink punchyball!!

But as you know, there's no age limit on enjoying your Easter Basket...

Tyler

and Kaylee

Also loved their goodies!

And finally, something that's a bit of a tradition here at the 813...

SILLY STRING FIGHT!!!

Even older sisters get in on the fun - willingly or not!

Still to come, Part 3 - Dying Easter Eggs!!

Easter 2011, Part 1

2011-04-25T21:26:00.000-07:00

This year's Easter Weekend was jam-packed full of the kind of excitement you can only get with a big family... It kicked off at 4pm Friday, when Danee walked a little too close in front of the swing set, and got knocked down.

Now, when I was a kid, our swing set sat directly on the grass in our backyard (and my local playground also had the swings directly on the grass) but apparently it's a miracle I survived. Now, thanks to the fact that our home is a licensed day care, we get to know about all the great nanny-state laws, like "All Swings Must Have At Least Six Inches Of Bark Beneath Them, Out To Six Feet From The Perimeter."

I have no idea who determined that bark was more comfortable to fall on than grass, but we are compliant. The problem is, you have to build a box to hold all that bark in, which (in my ever so humble opinion) makes the whole thing far more dangerous than the swings of my youth, because if you're running out of your swing, you're very likely to fall when you hit the edge of the box - and land in the treacherous grass... Or, in Danee's case, you'll walk too close to someone swinging, get knocked back, and CRACK - your head lands right on the edge-board of the box, splitting your scalp open. Safety Feature Fail.

Since Daycare was in full swing at the time, Cindy called 911 and the Fircrest Fire Department came up the hill and wrapped Danee's head while I was driving home from work to take her to the E.R.

Blessings come from the least likely places. Unless you're brand new to keeping up with these Brinkerhoffs, you certainly know that we've spent lots of quality time at the Mary Bridge Hospital and Suites. Over those many visits, we've made some friends in the right places. As we were driving up to the E.R. Valet Parking, I wondered aloud if our good friend Nurse Ricky would be working... and once we got past the door cop who needed to verify that we didn't have any weapons of mass destruction hidden in our baby's diaper or under her head bandage, we got up to the check-in counter, and guess who? Nurse Ricky was there!

Now, I'm certainly not saying that Nurse Ricky plays favorites, but I will say that we were triage'd and placed in an exam room in record time.

Before we even had a chance to complain about being back, there was a doctor in the room, looking at the huge gash in the back of Danee's head, and commenting on how small it was - as if it was an adorable newborn kitten or something - and how it wouldn't need stitches, just glue. We've done the glue thing before, and are firm believers in the amazing medical abilities of Super Glue!

In less time than it takes to watch three Pixar Shorts on Disney XD (with commercials), we were all done, and heading for the car. In the only moment of showing that there may have been some sort of trauma to her head, Danee threw a monstrous fit as we left the hospital. She didn't want to leave, didn't want to get in the car, and DID NOT want to get strapped into her car seat. It really wasn't until we got home that she finally calmed down somewhat, and then still wasn't really happy until she got to go play outside - in the very same back yard where this whole ordeal started.

She was fully back to normal, and our round-trip time from the panic'd phone call telling me to come home NOW, to returning from the hospital, was just over two hours. That's a record - and it's amazing how enjoyable the E.R. can be when you have friends in the right places, and you're not there for respiratory distress. I'd take several more of these types of visits instead of ANY more lunch related stays!

Friday night was in the books, and Easter Weekend still had lots more to offer... maybe you'll read about more of them tomorrow!

Danee's Got A New Friend!

2011-04-19T21:19:00.000-07:00

This morning Cindy took Danee to Build-A-Bear, and they made a Soft, Pink Easter Bunny!

I'm not sure what her official name is, but I've been calling her "Bunnie" all day. I think it works for her.

Anyway, we actually had a sunny and non-arctic afternoon today, so I took Danee down to the park to play, and Bunnie had to come along... Danee and Bunnie climbed the steps of the big toy...

They went down the slide...

Annnnd, they also grabbed the gate in protest when it was time to come home...

Once we got home, Danee and Bunnie played in the back yard while I made dinner - they played house...

And the sandbox...

And when the sun started to go down, I'm sure Bunnie was complaining as loudly as Danee was - I just couldn't hear it!

That's My Girl... Just Like Her Mommy!

2011-04-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

For the last 11 years, Cindy has had a near-nightly ritual that she loves, wherein I rub lotion on her feet... It usually happens on the couch in the evening, while watching TV of some kind.

It's such an important part of our relationship that for Valentine's day this year, I got her a tube of NuSkin's Epoch Firewalker foot cream, to up the luxury factor a little. Tip to all the guys out there: If the lady in your life also enjoys a good foot rub, track down some of this stuff - it's well worth the gourmet price! GOOD STUFF!!

Anyway... the last few weeks have been crazy busy, what with Puddle Jumpers filling up with 2 year olds, and TS4A keeping me out late solving the world's technical problems, and the foot rub ritual has been a bit neglected. Last Tuesday in particular, I didn't get home until 8:00, and was so exhausted that it was pretty much bed time on arrival. So the NEXT day, when we found ourselves on the couch watching Tangled (which is an awesome movie, by the way - go get it!) I jumped up and grabbed the lotion, then positioned myself on the couch with Cindy's feet in my lap.

Before I could even start the rubbin', Danee jumped up from her pillow on the floor, scrambled up on to the couch, on to Mommy's lap, put her feet in the air, and gave me that smile that said "Daddy will do WHATEVER I WANT!"

And I did... I rubbed her tiny little feet until they were thoroughly softened up, and went to work on Cindy's. Danee did NOT like that very much, and kept sticking her little feet in between my hands and Mommy's feet.

A few minutes later, the distractability of a two-year old worked to our advantage, and Danee was back on the floor, on a pillow, snuggling with her sister Kaylee. I'd gotten up for a glass of water, and as I came back to the couch and pulled out the lotion to resume my husbandly duties, Danee -- who is just now starting to really use words -- JUMPED up, and RAN, FRANTICALLY over to the couch, shouting, "WANT!! WANT!! WANT!!!"

Poor Cindy did finally get her foot rub, eventually... with interruptions...

Houston, We Have A Problem...

2011-02-16T17:37:00.000-08:00

You all know I'm a DJ, right? No?? Hey! I'm A DJ! Read about it here!

Well, way back when I was doing all the DJing written about at that link, I bought an amp and a set of speakers... and twenty years later, they're still with me! Most contemporary DJs today use these little speakers that sit up on stands and sound like little speakers up on stands. While those would be a lot easier to carry to and from the car, I love that my speakers kick out sound (and yes, BASS!) that would shatter the very poles holding up the minis!

Anyway, a couple years ago, Cindy had the great idea to give the speakers a facelift. Nothing internal, but she made some very nice looking cloth covers to replace the old scratched up metal ones they came with. While in the middle of that project, one of the speakers was showing some wear and tear (literally), with a little hole in the woofer, like so.

I made a mental note of it, knowing that at some point down the road I'd need to replace the woofers, but at the time, it didn't make any noticeable impact to the sound quality, so I decided to let it live out the rest of its days in the service of loud music lovers everywhere.

That brings us up to last Saturday.

Midway through the dance, I noticed that the right speaker was making truly horrible sounds whenever any deep bass tried to come out of it. I thought that maybe we had reached "that time"... But since it was the middle of the dance, I just cut all the deep bass from that side, and carried on, a little quieter than usual.

Finally, 11:00 came, I played the Lawrence Welk exit song, shut off the power, and went over to pull the cover off and survey the damage. The first thing I saw was little shreds of paper lying on the bottom of the cover. Then I looked at the front of the speaker, and even though I knew it would be bad, I gasped out loud at what I saw...

Everyone still in the gym at that point heard the gasp and came running to see the damage. The really amazing thing was that just a week earlier, I'd DJ'd six hours of Daddy/Daughter dancing and both speakers pumped out nice rich sound the whole time. It really held it together until it just couldn't hold any longer.

Now I'm on the hunt for that "just-right" replacement set of woofers - because while the other one has a heck of a lot more woofer in its woofer, it's showing its age... That's the one shown in the first picture, and I've been down that road before!

Oh, and the post title of "Houston, We Have A Problem"? The speakers were made by a company called Ross, out of Houston, Texas. It's a company that doesn't seem to exist anymore, but I will happily attest to the fact that it's not because they didn't make a great product!!

Hot Fun at the Hospital

2011-02-07T13:00:00.000-08:00

For those of you not following us on Facebook (mike, cindy) you probably didn't know that Danee was in the hospital again this past weekend. Same drill as before, she woke up Wednesday with a stuffy, runny nose, and by Thursday afternoon she was in the ER. There were other ups and downs as well - we have a new favorite doctor, and will try to schedule her lung issues around his availability if possible... We also know, from an extremely authoritative and self-assured source, that the laminate flooring in our room is backed with SEVEN INCHES OF CONCRETE, and they're just certain that if Danee fell out of the bed approximately 12" above said floor, that she would shatter into a million pieces.

Never mind the fact that Danee simply does not roll out of bed - she simply values the opportunity to sleep in Mom and Dad's bed too much to give any of it up by rolling out... and she's also got the very clear presence of mind that even in the throws of a raging two year old tantrum, she'll very carefully position herself over the carpet before throwing herself on the ground to kick and scream.

Anyway, it's a given that a 4 day visit to the hospital will have good and bad coming out of it, and we've gone into great detail in the past on those, so it's not really worth a recap... but what was cool about this time, was finding a way to make the best of a bad situation. The bad situation I'm speaking of, is that by Saturday afternoon, Danee was ready to come home. She felt better, was no longer on oxygen, and had her endless supply of toddler energy back. However, there's this pesky rule that she has to remain off oxygen for 24 hours with no issues before they'll let her go home.

That makes for a VERY long 24 hours, because Miss Daneekins does NOT enjoy being cooped up in a room for 24 hours.

One thing Miss Daneekins DOES enjoy, is playing in water. Whether it's in the bath, the swimming pool, a water table, or just sneaking a chair up to the sink, this is a baby who LOVES water! So on Saturday afternoon while I was off working (DJing 3 rounds of Daddy/Daughter dances!) and Cindy was being driven crazy by a toddler with cabin fever, she had the brilliant flash of brilliance that Danee should have a bath!

Luckily, our daytime nurses over the weekend were WONDERFUL, and they put a bag over Danee's IV to protect it, then put some towels down, filled a plastic bin with warm water, and soon Cindy was sending me pictures of a very happy BabyGirl!

On Sunday morning, that 24 hour waiting period was over, and the doctor issued our discharge order! Little did we realize that it would take about 5 hours to actually get from that point to leaving the building... Danee did get disconnected from all of her tubes, hoses and wires and now had free reign of the room.. which meant she could now play with the sink - she couldn't actually reach the water, but the hot water control was right within her reach, so she would turn it on, listen to the water, giggle, turn it off, and repeat.. over, and over again...

I was letting her do that - it was keeping her occupied, after all!

But...

Suddenly I heard a change in the way the splashing sounded... I went over to the sink to investigate, and found that the World's Most Determined Toddler had found a plastic bin, put it in the sink, and was filling it herself, since Daddy wasn't getting the hint!! I figured that kind of ambition deserved to be rewarded, so I laid some towels down, added some cold water to her hot, hot, hot tub, and stripped her down to her diaper for fun bath time!

A few minutes later, she proved just how compact she can make herself, and squeezed her whole lower-half into the tub... including the legs and feet! I got a couple pics, but she was so wiggly that none of them turned out. However, I assure you, it was one of the most adorable things I've ever seen!!

Fun In The January Sun

2011-01-22T17:05:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's January 22, and this is the first post we've done all year?? YIKES!!

Well, we have something post-worthy now... In the wake of my mom's funeral (yeah, I'll get that up on the blog too, because it's certainly journalable and I don't want to forget it!), my brother Brian and his family spent the day with us, and it was about as nice as a Saturday in January ever gets in Western Washington!

We did some stuff, moved some furniture (piano and couch swap), ate some food (pizza, hot dogs, tacos and home made ice cream), and then it was time to reward our efforts with some fun in the sun...

So we grabbed the Aerobie an headed to the park. The little kids played on the big playground toys while Brian, his wife Daphne and their daughter Kaley and I played frisbee with it for an hour or more. Then Cindy showed up in the van, with all kinds of kids toys, including two PlasmaCars. If you haven't heard of PlasmaCars, google them. Seriously. I don't feel like linking them, I'm trying to tell a story here!! Oh, fine. Okay, click here to learn about them, but then you have to come back here!

I could try to write up a play-by-play of what happened next, but videos are way more fun... So here ya go, click play!

Welcome 2011

2010-12-31T09:51:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all our beloved....

May your New Year be full of Peace, Family, Blessings and Love!

A Very Merry Christmas, and a Boogie New Year!

2010-12-24T06:20:00.000-08:00

From our kids, with love!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

A Christmas Concert

2010-12-23T10:35:00.000-08:00

Ellysa performed in her last Christmas Band Concert of her High School career.One more of many "lasts" we will experience this year. It was of course lovely and a far cry from her first concert in 5th grade. Lets just say " it was kinder to the old ears".

The entire Flute section performed " Dance of The Reed Pipes" as a solo.
It was So BEAUTIFUL!

The band performed several traditional Christmas songs along with my favorite of the night "Russian Christmas"

The Curtis High School Drum Line is AMAZING! This is less then half of the team as they were also performing at a basketball game in the gym next door. These talented young men and women won a contest last year in their frst year as a Drum Line! The Seattle Sea Hawks drum line performed at a CHS football game and gave tips during some practice time with the kids.
Pretty awesome I think!

Truth or Dare....

2010-12-22T10:03:00.000-08:00

This is the end result of a friendly game of Truth or Dare. Kaylee "dared" Tyler to allow her to draw on his face with a Sharpie, Kaylee claims "it was the worlds best dare" until... she said "DARE" a while later.

The good news is that no-one had to go to school with "facial hair" :)

2 Years Old, She Is!

2010-12-17T18:25:00.000-08:00

Danee turned two on December 1st, It was a beautiful day for a party!

Danee really enjoyed her cupcake!

Each friend went home with their own horse.

Danee LOVES her wagon, and we have enjoyed many wagon rides in the past couple weeks!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-14T21:44:00.000-08:00

To help spread some Christmas Cheer, I've set up a 24/7 Christmas Music station with over 600 songs, and more than 32 hours of music on the playlist! To enjoy it, just click below!

Merry Christmas!!

Winter Formal 2010

2010-12-13T11:22:00.000-08:00

Kaylee attended her first formal school dance. We had so much fun putting together her outfit! She was gorgeous, in-fact almost too gorgeous...

Cute accessories!

Hair Curled!

Wait! Just when did my baby turn into a full blown young women?

A Very Merry Thanksgiving To You!

2010-11-25T05:22:00.000-08:00

Now that Danee's a "big girl", she "gets" to go into Nursery at Church... Last Sunday was actually the first time she spent the whole time in there, which made Cindy and I very proud.

But my pride swelled to possibly unhealthy levels when I saw the craft she had made while being a big girl...

YES!! Her first handprint turkey picture!!

While I'm sure we'll enjoy many many more of these, we're currently savoring this first one like so much giblet gravy!

The Wind, oh how she blew!

2010-11-16T13:55:00.000-08:00

We had quiet the wind storm last night, knocking out power and uprooting trees all over our neighborhood. The yard and roads were covered in debris this morning and all schools were at least 2 hours late to start. Romeos school never did get power back and so he spent the day with the babies (Danee and Tavis) and me.

He raked the leaves, the babies threw them around. It was a fun little game until nap time. Looks a bit blustery outside again this afternoon, I wonder what tonight will bring?

Skipping School.....

2010-11-15T11:49:00.000-08:00

Last week I let Kaylee skip school. I know I shouldn't, Junior High isn't as easy to catch back up on when you miss. But.... it just seems so rare that I get to spend one on one time with anyone besides Danee these days, that when Kaylee mentioned she had forgot her back pack at her dads, it seemed a perfectly good excuse to stay home from school. So she did, and we did crafts. It was fun!
I sure do love my Lil Peanut girl!

Rocks for the rock garden one with each Puddle Jumpers Name on it.

A winter cottage all painted and ready to light up our mantel!

On A Beautiful Fall Morning

2010-11-13T15:10:00.000-08:00

Today's weather is nothing short of dismal... But LAST Saturday we were over in the Tri-Cities, and enjoyed a picture perfect example of what a Fall Morning should be like!

We were staying with Danee's grandparents (Wayne & Ginger) who live right across the street from the Badger Mountain trailhead, so what better way to enjoy the morning than to hit the trail?

We weren't sure how Danee would handle a mountain hike, but we had a brilliant backup plan...

She was so excited to see the little blue wagon, she jumped right in, and before you know it, we were on our way!

Mommy pulled her for the first couple minutes, but then it was Daddy's turn.

Before long, Danee was showing signs that maybe the wagon wasn't the MOST comfortable place she's ever been...

After that last position, she started dragging her fingers on the wheels, so we let her out, and she had a great time being a big girl, walking with Grandpa Wayne.

Yep, walking was DEFINITELY more enjoyable than the wagon!

Then it was Grandma Ginger's turn to receive Danee's help...

Danee did an EXCELLENT job of helping to walk the doggies.

Then she decided she wanted to blaze her own trail, while eating her apple.

But then all that walking started taking its toll on her tiny little legs, so it was time to be carried.

So all of us took turns carrying her down the mountain and back home!

All in all, we made it about half way up the mountain, and I'd gladly do it again, rather than being cooped up in the house on this miserable drizzly Saturday!

Neo-Natal Follow up

2010-11-10T12:30:00.000-08:00

Today was Danee's 18th month follow up at the Mary Bridge Preemie Clinic. I have been anxiously awaiting this appointment for some time but due to Danee's illnesses we have had to reschedule several times. This explains why she is only having her 18 month check up even though she is almost 2!

Even still, she did not meet the developmental milestones of a 18 month old toddler. Danee is way...way...way behind. I am not really surprised as I have been suspect for a while. I am however a bit taken aback by some of the ideas that were talked about today.

Danee isn't verbal yet and I knew that by 15-18 months most kids should have a vocabulary of around 25-50 words. She maybe has 5 if we prompt her. I expected that the Speech Therapist would want to do some interventions immediately, and they do.

The Occupational Therapist noticed some things that weren't even on my radar, like weak arms and trunk. Danee is still a bit wobbly when throwing or kicking a ball. She also would go up one side of the stairs but rather then go up and over and down the other side, she just turned and went back down the same way she went up.
So Danee will also get O.T.

For me the biggest surprise is that they are concerned with her "Sensory Integration". Danee is really, really busy. I always knew she was by far the craziest kid I have ever had, but I guess I just chalked it up to her personality. It Turns out that she is so busy because she is unable to organize the information she receives through her senses. She is a "Sensory Seeker", this explains the constant movement, dumping of toy bins, climbing...etc. It also explains just why she isn't talking yet. She can't stop moving long enough to hear or see what we are trying to teach her. It's good to know I am not crazy and it is not my old age making me so tired!

The final concern is Danee's weight. She had gained a pound last month and by today has lost weight. At her last "well baby" appointment she was (negative) -3rd percentile for weight today she is -5th. So we will continue to let her have bottles and eat what ever she wants but now she will be monitered by the G.I people. I am not sure what that means but will keep you posted.

All of this new information certainly gives Mike and I a lot to mull over and of course many new appointments to make and therapist to meet. I am looking forward to getting Danee the help she needs and moving her in the right direction. I get to learn a new skill and teach Danee sign language until she begins to talk and hopefully she will be less frustrated and someday soon calmer as she begins to file and organize her information.

She is happy and full of life and we couldn't love this little girl anymore then we do. She may be small and full of it but at the end of the day she is perfect to me!

Dress Up Fun!

2010-10-25T08:34:00.000-07:00

Danee is at such a fun age right now!

Her Halloween costume this year is a fairy princess (with wings!) and she LOVES IT.

At least once a day she brings her wings to Mommy so she can help put them on. A week ago, Grandma Ginger gave her another little fairy princess getup, a one piece dress with flowery skirt petals and little wings on the back. At first, Danee wanted NOTHING to do with it... but a couple days ago, that changed, and she put it on - along with her other wings, for a one-two cuteness punch!

First off, she was so happy that she decided to try to eat Mommy's face!

Then a quick pose for Daddy...

And then she started dancing around the living room, swinging her skirt, waving her wings, and cementing her position as "World's Cutest BabyGirl"!

It's funny - all the fears and drama of her early arrival are SUCH distant memories now... Blessed beyond measure!!

Scratch That... New Ideas arent' always the Best Ones!

2010-10-20T18:43:00.000-07:00

Puddle Jumpers will remain open and ready for buisness...
After all things considered now is not the right time to make huge life and finacial changes for our family.

Keepin' it Clean will go back on the shelf for another time.

New News is Great News!

2010-10-18T14:10:00.000-07:00

It's true! I am closing my daycare and starting a new business! Interested in having more time to do the things you love? Spend more time with the family? Give me call, I would love to help you out, one time cleaning or scheduled monthly visits, just let me know.

Please pass on the word, I would love to be busy and am available NOW!

Sunday Funnies

2010-10-17T05:11:00.000-07:00

"A Night at The Museum"

2010-10-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

The Young Women at church held their annual "Young Women of Excellence" program last week. Each girl entered a piece of art or something that would represent what they had been working to improve all year. It was a great night, and didn't Kaylee look lovely!

Lot's of great pieces from Music to Photography, everything was really nice.

The Food Was Super Yummy Too!

Are Your Children Safe?

2010-10-11T05:40:00.000-07:00

For last Friday's CHS Football game, the pep band again had a theme to dress up for. You may recall last time, when the theme was Superheroes, and Ellysa dressed up as the Defender of Childhood Innocence!

Well this time the theme was Decades. Two years ago, Ellysa used this theme as an excuse to go as an '80s hair band rocker chick.

This year, she again chose the '80s as her decade, but skipped the corporate hair band machine, and went right to the angst of the DIY punk!

A couple weeks ago, she was defending childhood innocence. This time around, she's tracking down that innocence, shoving a safety pin through its nostrils, and setting its hair on fire.

And all the while...

...with a smile on her face!

Sunday Funnies (For Real?)

2010-10-10T05:09:00.000-07:00

Another Milestone!

2010-10-05T06:37:00.000-07:00

Danee is 22 months old now. While her ACTUAL second birthday is still two months away, and her ADJUSTED two-year-old phase won't start until late January, she is 100% in the terrible two's.

When they get to this age, the milestones don't come as fast and furious as they used to, but when she does accomplish exciting new things, I still try to remember to document them here so that we'll have that wonderful record to look back on when she's older...

Last night at dinner, when she decided that she was done, and announced it by way of turning her plate upside down and tossing whatever food was left onto the floor, she got to work accomplishing her new goal...

Oh boy.. the era of Danee's clothes staying on all by themselves is coming to an end, and the era of free range nakey baby is dawning...

I'll go alert the neighbors!

Church Callings....

2010-09-29T05:39:00.000-07:00

I received a new calling at church about a month and a half ago, as a Sunday School teacher. I was really pretty nervous about it. I mean ME a teacher of the scriptures? I accepted the challenge and as luck would have it, I LOVE IT! I love the teens (15 year olds) I meet with each Sunday and I am learning SO much!

Here is a sampling of last week's lesson.

Just Another Day in the Neighborhood!

2010-09-28T05:25:00.000-07:00

With Danee....

14

2010-09-27T09:02:00.000-07:00

Kaylee turned 14 on Sept. 15!

She celebrated her actual birthday by going to the Puyallup fair with her friends. Unsupervised fair time with friends... don't remind me that I let her go. Every thing turned out OK, she made it home safe and sound no tattoos!

Her birthday continued two days later on Friday night by having 5 friends over for a sleep over, the girls all came over after her first official school dance! The girls watched movies and ate junk food until they finally went to sleep at 4:40ish in the morning.

The family was finally able to celebrate our sweet Kaylee on Sunday, I made for her her favorite meal topped off with Red Velvet Cake!

I love you Kaylee and am looking forward to our 15th year together!

When the Old and New Collide!

2010-09-22T05:53:00.000-07:00

The 2010/11 Soccer season has begun!

Our first game of the year was against "The Fury", the funny thing is that this team used to be called "The Storm" when Kaylee played for them. The last season Kaylee played with this team they were "The Barracuda's". We have known almost every girl on the opposing team since kindergarten! It was so fun to see all the girls grown up, and they had a blast playing each other.

My favorite moment from the game was at the end when the team does their cheer for the opposing team. Our girls couldn't remember what the new name was and had to double check with the coach, one of Kaylee's team mates yells out "it's The Fury, ya know like balls of fury"... I had to walk away :) I love this age.

Are Your Children Safe?

2010-09-20T08:10:00.000-07:00

Do you think kids of today are growing up to fast? Exposed to adult themes to early in life? Do you wish you could keep children innocent longer?

Never Fear! The Protector of Childhood Innocence is here!!!

Curtis High Schools Pep Band has alot of fun supporting their team, for the first home game of the season they decided to be super heros. Our Ellysa was more than happy to play along!
I mean who wouldn't want an excuse to wear their "Under-Roo's to school?

Ugly Dolls

2010-09-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

The last week of summer vacation was weird around here. My own children started school a few days before my daycare kids went back to school and then my own kids had the Friday off before labor day. I also had one family that is military and were preparing to move to Guam..so... they didn't start school at all.

This left me with two babies and a handful of school aged kiddos to entertain for a day. I decided to use up some of my scrap fabric I had lying around and make Ugly Dolls... or Monster Dolls if you will.

Each child did all their own hand sewing ( I used the machine for the outside seams), the kids all worked really hard and their dolls were indeed UGLY! :)

Lights, Camera, TERROR!

2010-09-16T06:07:00.000-07:00

From their very early ages, Andy, Kaylee and Tyler have written and produced several plays and movies. It's amazing to overhear the development over the course of a day - or if it's really epic, a weekend - and then be invited to view the final product when it's ready.

Recently, they started working on a horror movie called "I Know You're There."

I'm not sure if and/or when it'll reach completion, but they do SUCH a good job I just had to share a few production screen captures...

Kaylee looking from her window because something wicked that way comes...

Tyler proving that something wicked is in the kitchen.

Hidden Treasures

2010-09-15T05:43:00.000-07:00

You may have heard that we recently became the new adoptive owners of a classic piano...

Well, during its deep cleaning, in addition to lots of 90 year old cobwebs and a petrified chicken's egg, there were some real treasures!

Barely visible beneath the dust, that's a Genuine Steel Nickel! It's pretty tarnished, but it looks like it's a 1944. Also found lurking beneath the dust was a steel penny that we can NOT make out the year on, and a 1901 Indian Head Penny!

Ellysa got right to work, cleaning them up...

And after a vigorous scrubbing, here are the treasures!

Also very cool, and very unexpected, was this last surprise...

Next time I need to impersonate a Junior Red Cross Member, I am fully equipped to do so!!

Table Talk

2010-09-14T05:41:00.000-07:00

Making Monday Better: Self Love

2010-09-13T05:13:00.000-07:00

Mondays can be rough - we get that.

So here to help, is our resident expert in Self Love, Daneekins.

Feel better?

Vital Stats

2010-09-10T05:49:00.000-07:00

For the first time since February, Danee has gone long enough without being hospitalized to justify a Well-Baby Check Up!

We were very anxious to hear how she's doing after five weeks of NOT visiting the Mary Bridge Suites.

Here's how she stacks up:

Height: 31 Inches - 10th Percentile!

Weight: 19 Pounds - ummm.. -3rd Percentile! (yes, that is a NEGATIVE Three...)

Head: I don't have the actual measurement, but it's in the 25th percentile. As in a positive 25. As in, why does she need all that headspace??

Oh, there are MANY reasons... For one thing, she's super smart! Also, as soon as music starts playing, she does this bobble-head dance that just wouldn't be nearly as cute if her head size matched the rest of her body.

But the number one justification for a head that's 15% larger than her next largest measurement?

This kid is a HOT HEAD!!!

Here's a sequence of pictures that represents any given day at the Brinkerhoff household.

Danee doesn't get her way, and launches into a full force category five deluxe tantrum.

But she's such a good natured baby that she has a hard time keeping it up, and before long, that award winning smile starts to crack through the outer anger.

AAAAHH!! Then she realizes that she's giving in too easily, and tries to force the tear production back into high gear.

Finally, she realizes that being happy is more fun than being mad. Plus there are more cookies in happyville.

Out With The Old...

2010-09-09T06:37:00.000-07:00

In SIX DAYS, Kaylee will be turning FOURTEEN!

We're not entirely sure HOW that happened, but apparently it's coming whether we want to admit it or not, so it was time to make a few changes around here.

For example, it has come to our attention that FOURTEEN year old girls do NOT like to have their rooms decorated with horsies.

Horsie wallpaper accent? GONE!!

Instead, they prefer a more elegant approach to domesticated dwelling.

It took two hard days of LABOR (for Labor Day weekend, of course) that included:

Stripping Wallpaper
Washing Walls
Priming those same Walls
Painting those primed Walls
Building Furniture
Unleashing Cindy's Inner Interior Design Diva

And the end result?

Kaylee is moving in as we type. She thinks she likes it there.

Correction: She LOVES it there!

Lazy Saturday Morning

2010-09-08T06:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday Morning, Labor Day Weekend.

Two brothers are enjoying a delicious home-cooked breakfast.

One Hungry Hungry BabyGirl is also enjoying a delicious home-cooked breakfast. (not that that's a rarity, she pretty much ALWAYS enjoys a home-cooked breakfast!)

Another, nearly-fourteen year old girl would be having breakfast in "just a minute..."

Fresh Crepes with Homemade Raspberry/Blackberry jam - does it get any better??

No. No it does not.

A Stitch in Time

2010-09-06T19:02:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you receive gifts that you love, but they are soon forgotten...

Some other times, you receive gifts that leave you wondering just what the heck that person was thinking!

Every GREAT once in a while, you receive a gift that is truly timeless!

We received one of those a few weeks ago, courtesy of my sister Linda.

Nearly a year and a half ago, Cindy and I were Sealed for Eternity in the Seattle Temple, and afterward, Linda told us that she would be making us a quilt to celebrate our "Mormon Wedding" as we've come to call it! :)

Little did we know, it would turn out to be such an awesome, incredibly cool and positively gorgeous example of hand-stitched quiltery!

We had peeked in on it during various stages of its production, but that didn't stop our jaws from dropping at the final reveal... in fact, it increased our sense of awe! The amount of hours that Linda and her husband Eric put in to this project was amazing!

Each little patch of colour had been individually cut, pieced together, and assembled into the greater patterns...

which is REALLY impressive... but the real amazement comes from the needlework itself!

Every stitch made by hand - Cindy promised (and delivered) a thorough hand massage to Linda during that stage of the process... And when it was done, we were honored to install it as the focal point of our bedroom!

WE LOVE IT!!!!

Thanks Linda and Eric - you guys are THE BEST!!!

A Sticky Situation at Puddle Jumpers

2010-08-31T10:01:00.000-07:00

The kids made gum, yep real life sticky, minty, fruit flavored gum! It was really cool and fun, although the flavor didn't last long. The kids created their own flavors some were "Candy Kisses" and "Junk Yard", they all looked the same but I can attest that not all chewing gum is created equal. It was a blast and if you are interested in making some gum of your own you can buy the kit at Borders!

I think I will stick (get it - ha ha) to Extra or Juicy Fruit and if I'm feeling brave I may just pick up some Stripes!

Our Kiddos

2010-08-28T17:29:00.000-07:00

Oh how WE LOVE them!!!

A Story of a Piano

2010-08-28T16:35:00.000-07:00

Step 2 of piano restoration. Cleaning it!

Our family inherited a 1919 Brewster piano from the neighbors. They inherited it from some friends of theirs. I love the piano and have always wanted one but seeing how I don't actually play made it hard to justify buying one. So this Beaut was my answer to prayer so to speak.

Now rumor has it that the third owner ago had stashed money in it (lots of money). So when the piano tech told me that this piano had more then 90 years worth of dust needing to be cleaned out, I was hopeful we'd find something .... well we did! A inch of dust, several hair pins, a chicken egg (yeah seriously) and a 90 year old Cobb Webb. It was something to see and I have never been happier to pay someone to do the dirty work.

Oh we also found some other cool things but that's another post!

One Sleepy Girl

2010-08-23T19:28:00.001-07:00

I got home from work today and Danee was being CRANKY!!!

Normally she's a very happy babygirl, so I figured she had to be either hungry or sleepy.

Got her in the high chair with a PB&J, and she happily started stuffing it in her mouth. Yay! The cranky problem is well on its way to being solved!

Uh-oh... a few minutes later, I looked over at her, and she was rubbing her PB&J covered fists in her eyes. I wondered why she was suddenly being naughty, making a mess before she was done eating... To convince her to stop, I gave her a fresh blackberry - ANY berry is Danee's favorite thing to eat!

She ate the blackberry, so I figured she would be good to finish her sandwich.

But then I looked at her again, and saw this:

Ummmm.... For some reason, I actually thought she was trying to trick me, so I kinda nudged her little hand - nothing. Except for a big sigh... She was out cold!

I got a wet washcloth and wiped her face and hands the best I could without waking her up, picked her up and took her down to her crib for a nap.

About half an hour later, Ellysa's boyfriend Dan came by looking for his swimsuit. Ellysa's working down at the pool, and a few of her friends were going to go swimming tonight. She had told Dan that his suit was probably in our laundry room. (somehow, this all made sense - Dan has been at our house more this summer than any of our actual kids, except for Daneekins!)

So Dan goes down to the laundry room to get his suit, and accidentally wakes up Danee. She doesn't sound very happy about it either. I run down and pick her up, and she goes limp on my shoulder, but does NOT want to be put back down.

So I come upstairs with her and figure I'll play a little Dr. Mario with her on my shoulder while she slowly wakes up.

It is only a LITTLE BIT distracting to play Dr. Mario while there's a warm snuggly babygirl snoring in your ear.

Yep, she was back to sleep. After about ten minutes of playing, she adjusted herself off my shoulder and into my lap, without waking at all. Finally I figured she might be more comfortable on the couch with a blanket.

And there she still lies.

I REALLY hope she either stays out for the rest of the night, or wakes up soon, because I would love to get a good night's sleep myself tonight!

Two Fisted Fruit Lovin' BabyGirl

2010-08-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

Last week Cindy took Kaylee and Danee on a quick trip to the Tri-Cities to visit grandparents... and on the way back, they hit up the produce stand for some peaches... and other stuffs...

For example, Danee was VERY grabby, so Cindy decided to give her a couple hand-sized pieces of fruit to occupy herself. One Pluot and one Apricot later, she was a happy girl!

Of course, she didn't just want to hold them, she wanted to DEVOUR THEM!!

I've never known a baby to be SO into fruits and veggies... Seriously, if you want to make Danee happy, just give her some strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, honeydew, or now, Pluots and Apricots!

Meanwhile, her big sister was loading up on slightly more processed fruit products...

Happy girls, all the way home!

The Box Was Awesome!

2010-08-03T07:04:00.000-07:00

Way back in March, I won a coveted "BOX o' AWESOME" from my niece Heidi's blog!!

Because she knows that waiting and anticipating are two of the best parts of winning something, she held off sending it until a couple weeks ago - so I had plenty of time to ponder the awesome that would be within the box.

The day it arrived, I didn't even notice it. I have most of my orders for work sent to the house, because there's not always somebody at the office to receive them. I came home from work, and saw a pile of boxes, and since I was expecting some deliveries I didn't even suspect that one of them contained AWESOME.

The next morning I decided to go through the boxes and make sure I had all the parts I needed for the various projects I was working on....

First box: 2 Laptop DVDRW drives. Woo.

Second box: 2 Laptop Wi-Fi cards. Woo, and also Hoo.

Third box: Wait, that's a hand-written label!

And it's from Cheney... I definitely didn't order anything from Cheney... In fact, the only people I know who live in Cheney just may have SENT ME A BOX o' AWESOME!!!

Sure enough, upon breaking the seal, the Awesome was practically bursting from the box!

I carefully removed the Awesome, piece by piece, savoring the moment. Because Heidi loves me, she knows that I love peanut butter... so the box took that as its theme - I got Peanut Butter Crunch (one of the world's finest cereals), Brownies topped with Peanut Butter Fudge and Marshmallows, Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles, a Giant Reese's Bar, some Homemade Peanut Butter Hot Fudge Sauce, and my personal favorite, homemade Kettle Corn that had been drizzled with a Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ribbon, which was gone in about 20 minutes - I had to laugh because Heidi had been concerned that it wouldn't be any good after shipping... Whatever. The whole box could have been nothing but that and I would have been ~~happy~~ thrilled!! :)

The Awesome was rounded off with a Rocket Balloon Launcher (which makes AWESOMELY obnoxious noises), and three Classic Sesame Street Washcloths. Since I give Danee her bath most nights, those are very cool to have!

Thank you SO MUCH, Heidi!! Love you guys - you need to come over soon so we can enjoy some Hot Fudge Sundaes with that Awesome Sauce!! I'll even make up some homemade Peanut Butter Ice Cream to go with it!

Music Monday - Kids Pop!

2010-08-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

See?? I still do music stuff when I get the chance!

I've never claimed to have very sophisticated taste in music - I simply demand that it be GOOD.

Now, "Good" of course is a somewhat subjective term, but to me, it's just something I can typically recognize from any given 3 to 5 second snippet of a song. It's got to have a strong melody, and the chords have to progress nicely throughout each section of the song. (verse, chorus, bridge, etc) I absolutely can't stand songs where they just sit on one chord - or loop through the same set of chords - for the entire song. It's like fingernails on a chalkboard to me! Also, the recording quality has to be good for its time. Meaning, a classic Motown hit doesn't need to (and really shouldn't) sound like it was made in 2010, but anything recorded in the last 40 years had better have nice clear highs and a solid low end. And finally, I just have to like it. :)

So - now that I've established my personal criteria for good music, AND admitted that I'm not very highbrow about it, it shouldn't be a big surprise that I'm a sucker for the kids bands. From Musical Youth in the early '80s, Hanson in the '90s and the Jonas Brothers, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato today, the kids almost always seem to "get it" on all the main points. Now, it's rare (if ever) that they can pull it off for a whole album, but you're almost always guaranteed to get three or four good solid singles out of them before they start to grow up and decide that they need "credibility." (Miley Cyrus' latest effort, "Can't Be Tamed" is smack in the middle of this category.)

Anyway, last week Cindy, Kaylee and Danee all went over to the Tri-Cities to visit grandparents, leaving Ellysa and me home alone. Not surprisingly, Ellysa opted to spend the majority of her time at her boyfriend Dan's house, leaving me all by my lonesome. I did some basic housekeeping, ate some food, and then decided to get caught up on the latest music. I mainly do that through a service called "Promo Only" that I got hooked up with back in the '90s when I was producing the Friday Night PartyZone on C-89.5 FM. So with the house to myself, I loaded up the August CD, cranked up the volume, and turned on the Wii for some quality time with Dr. Mario.

Each Promo Only CD has 20-23 songs, and for the past few years, there are usually only 3 or 4 that really stand out to my ears... But this month's disc is LOADED with catchy, quality tunes! One in particular jumped out at me, to the point that I ran over to the computer to see what it was. The band was "Burnham" and the song was "Catch Me If You Can." Great sing-a-long power pop, which is one of my favorite styles! From listening to it, I assumed the singer was a girl... but then I noticed the last line in the chorus goes "You probably still think that I'm your man, but girl catch me if you can."

Huh? Wait... If that says what it sounded like it said, then this isn't very likely to be a Power Pop Chick Band, this must be a Power Pop Kids Band...? Really?? So I hit up the YouTube and did a little research - and sure enough, it's the Burnham brothers, with the youngest right up front with pre-growth-spurt chubby cheeks and everything. They look like they're having a blast, and I still loved the song!

Having solved the mystery of Burnham, I resumed the August disc of new releases, and just a few minutes later, I was off the couch again, looking to check on another song... And it was the latest from Hanson - I'd noticed it on the track listing, and kind of laughed, not expecting it to be anything to get excited about... but this song was GREAT! Fresh sounding, soulful, not at all like everything else out there... I'm not sure why, but I decided to look it up on YouTube as well, and was very pleasantly blown away by what I found... A direct, move-for-move tribute to one of my favorite movie musical numbers EVER: The Ray Charles "Shake A Tail Feather" number from The Blues Brothers! And the Hanson boys obviously have a strong love - even a reverence - for the original...

So as much as I like the kids bands while they're new and fresh, the sad fact is that they usually don't age well. It's very nice to see that Hanson has turned out what may be their best work ever, more than a decade after their last significant chart appearance!

As if that wasn't enough, a little more research informed me that Taylor Hanson, the keyboardist and lead singer, formed a Power Pop SuperGroup last year with the guitarist from Smashing Pumpkins, the drummer from Cheap Trick, and the bassist from Fountains of Wayne... And they're AWESOME!!! I was going to embed the video here, but it's disabled - so you have to actually go there to check them out. (click here!)

That's it for this week - I've got lots of great new music to get me through the next seven days, and beyond!

Morning Makes Everything Better!

2010-07-21T11:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I relieved some of my stress from this hospital stay by writing a very satisfying rant here...

Since I'd already done that, there wasn't much left for Cindy to do, so she decided to take a different - some may say a more direct approach - she called the hospital administrator's office.

There she spoke to a very nice person known as the "Patient's Advocate."

Who knew such a mythical being existed?? It seems rather hard to believe, that the all powerful organization would allow what is essentially a mole from the very little people they like to push around, right there in their own offices... maybe it's just a PR stunt??

Anyway, Cindy had about a 30 minute conversation with Ms. Advocate, who listened carefully and assured her that our concerns would be addressed.

No kidding.

Before I knew that any of this had happened, a new doctor came in to talk to me, to make sure that things were going okay. While he was in there, Cindy called me to say that she had just spoken with Ms. Advocate. New Dr. appeared rather interested and/or concerned from the side of the conversation he overheard, so when I got off the phone, I essentially recited my rant from the blog. He immediately left to organize a meeting with the rest of the staff and get things straightened out.

A few minutes later, the head charge-nurse came in. She also said she is part of the nurse management team, and that they were having an all-team meeting this morning at 8, and every one of our concerns would be addressed.

Last night's care was outstanding, and with the proper medication, Danee slept very well all night long. And with Danee sleeping well, Daddy actually got some sleep too!

This morning when Danee woke up, she had her oxygen canula off her nose, blowing in her eyes... but the monitor wasn't beeping... in fact, it read 97% and holding!

She has been SO good this morning!! Ate a nice pancake breakfast, had a bottle, another breathing treatment, some TV Time, and LOTS of laughing, dancing, and getting into everything that's supposed to be out of her reach.

Just this moment, Mommy and Tyler walked in, and Danee did a Happy Dance by which all future Happy Dances will be judged - easily the best sight I've seen all week!!

Now we just have to wait for the doctors to agree that she's doing better so they can send us home. It's gotta happen soon, as now that she's feeling better, Cabin Fever is starting to set in...

As If Being Stuck In The Hospital Wasn't Bad Enough...

2010-07-20T17:26:00.000-07:00

Cindy pointed out earlier that we're back in the hospital.

This is the 4th time this year.

Over these many visits, we've learned some things. Among other things, we've learned how things are designed to work. That has taught us to recognize when things are going horribly wrong.

I'm so mad about the way things have gone this go-round, that I've got to rant - to get it out of my system before I go back to spend another night.

RANT: ON!

When Cindy checked in with Danee on Sunday afternoon, in addition to the Albuterol nebulizer treatment, the ER doctor also administered a liquid oral steroid to help beef up Danee's lung performance. This was to be repeated roughly every 24 hours.

Monday afternoon, Danee was doing GREAT!! Happy, energetic, no supplemental oxygen, it looked like an easy overnight followed by a morning dismissal! Yee-Haw!

In the midst of this stellar performance, the nurse brought in the day's dosage of steroids. For some reason, she brought it in tablet form, which was crushed and put into some pudding.

Danee's no fool. She's been in da joint enough times to know that any foodstuffs that are soft and squishy are not to be trusted. She flat-out refused, and didn't take a single granule of her medicine. So the nurse said she'd order up a liquid, and we would continue down the happy path we were on. (FYI, I missed all of this - it was during my work time, when Cindy and Tyler were at the hospital)

I returned to relieve Cindy around 8:00 Monday night, and by that time the liquid medicine hadn't shown up yet. Unfortunately, she forgot to tell me that we were waiting on it. Danee was still super cute happy girl, ticking away the hours until she got to go home.

Cindy and Ty left around 8:30 - Danee and I settled in with a nice warm bottle and some quality Disney Channel to escort her off to dreamland. She chugged the bottle and started drifting off in my arms.

*BLURP*

And then she puked. Great. I didn't pack an extra shirt. Oh well, it's not TOO bad... I got her into some clean clothes and into bed, then rinsed my shirt in the sink. Almost immediately the alarm was going off that she didn't have enough oxygen in her blood.

Our night time staff was VERY supportive of sending us home in the morning, and if they had to put her on oxygen, that wouldn't happen. So every time the alarm would go off, we were poking, prodding and adjusting Danee so she'd take a big deep breath and silence the dinging. End result: Neither of us got any sleep. I finally lost the battle around 3am, and at 4, they put Danee on Oxygen. *Sigh* - another day.

It wasn't until Cindy showed up at around 10:30 this morning that I learned she had missed a (crucial) dose of her steroids. When we brought this up to the morning nurse, she looked in the computer and said, "No, it was given to her at 4:36 yesterday."

"No, she didn't touch that one, they were supposed to send in a liquid dose, but it never came."

"No, there's no order for a liquid dose, but she was given a dose at 4:36."

"No, she didn't TOUCH that one."

"She must have, because it says right here that it was administered at 4:36 yesterday afternoon."

*holding back urge to freakin' pummel this thick headed woman*

"No. She. Refused. That. Dose. Completely... And. There. Never. Was. Another. Dose. Offered."

(I swear I am not making this up)

"Well it says here that she got one at 4:36, so she didn't miss a dose."

At this point we realized there would be no reasoning with the steroid nazi, so we went to work on getting the NEXT dose here, in liquid form, ASAP. Which turned out to be about 5 hours later.

**INTERMISSION**

That was just the first of our oh-so-frustrating moments today. Stay tuned for more. The last one will make your jaw drop...

Need computer repair? Don't Stall! Call Tech Services 4 All!

Wow. Shameless. Truly shameless. But since I can't work during all this crap, I gotta do something!!

**END INTERMISSION**

Hi, welcome back. ~~Is your computer running smoothly?~~ So another super neat thing happened between yesterday and today, that's causing us to refer to much of yesterday as the black hole. Or the day that time forgot. I dunno, we're still working on a good name for it. But yesterday morning, Danee's lungs were, according to the doctors, not sounding asthmatic, but were instead sounding plugged. I mentioned that the first two times we stayed at their fine establishment, that was the exact problem, and that it was fully cured by nebulizer treatments of a 3% saline solution. (as opposed to the .9% that is a standard saline, which matches our tears) The docs agreed that it was an excellent idea, and almost immediately, I had Danee in my lap with the nebulizer mask on, and she was coughing loose the gunk in her lungs.

It felt good to know that things were moving in the right direction! And a few hours later, she was feeling so much better that we were all kinds of excited!

Guess what? That dose of 3% Saline never got recorded in the computer. If you made it through part one of this rant, you know that the computer is the end-all answer to everything in MultiCare land. (MultiCare is the nearly sole proprietor of health services in Pierce and South King Counties, and owns the hospital we're in.)

That meant that this morning, when the same EXACT situation was being reported in her lungs, and I again suggested the good old 3% treatment, absolutely nothing happened. Because it wasn't in her chart. It hadn't been done this go-round. There were no orders for it. All this from the same nurse who still swears that Danee got her Monday afternoon steroid.

I requested this treatment between 7 and 8 in the morning. It was finally administered at 3 in the afternoon. I'm glad nobody rushed into anything on our baby's behalf.

By this time, even though Danee had been drinking plenty of fluids and peeing plenty of wet diapers, we all agreed that an I.V. would be the best way of administering her remaining medications, so it wouldn't depend on getting past the very powerful rejection mechanism that is her mouth.

The I.V. was inserted while I was out of the room, but when I came back it looked good. Hadn't been hooked up to anything yet, but it looked like a good clean install. We've seen some bad ones, so we know these things now.

An hour or so later, I went to sit in the chair / couch / bed thing where I've lived the last couple days, and saw something between the seat cushion and the arm of the chair.

When I pulled it out, my jaw dropped, and I very well may have shot blood from my eyes.

It was another I.V. needle. Thankfully, it was brand new and still in its sterile packaging.

But that sterile packaging was meant to be opened quickly and easily, and our baby is a MASTER at opening things that she isn't supposed to get into. If she had found that instead of me or Cindy, she would have VERY easily started playing doctor on herself with it.

We showed it to our nurse, who didn't seem particularly concerned, just took it, dropped it in the hazardous materials bin, and left the room again.

So by 6:00 Tuesday evening, Danee's lungs sound as bad as they did when she got there Sunday afternoon. A missed dose of medicine could very well have prevented her returning to that state - maybe not, but missing it certainly didn't help... There's no end in sight to our stay at the Mary Bridge Suites... Puddle Jumpers has managed to stay open through the VERY appreciated help of assistants, friends, and our awesome daughter Ellysa... Tech Services 4 All operated on a skeleton basis Monday, but did nothing today... and did I mention that there's no end in sight yet?

At least Wednesday promises to bring the results from the Cystic Fibrosis test that was administered today. We're all praying very hard for a negative result. We would appreciate you joining us in this effort, and in praying for a quick and full recovery of our sweet little babygirl.

Thanks for reading... and if you ever need pediatric care, I hope you are fortunate enough to go to a non-MultiCare facility.

Round and Round we go!

2010-07-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

Danee is sick again. Back at the Suites she is. We thought this would be just another visit like all the rest... then they started throwing around words like Cystic Fibrosis and Lung infection. The poor baby girl is NOT well. Today she was tested for both and we should know more tomorrow. Please pray for her to feel better and for us to get our answers so we can know what we are supposed to do. Until then she enjoys a great view and some clean straight 02 (Oxygen)

Our Taxes, My Friend, Are Blowing -er- Standing In The Wind

2010-06-30T06:02:00.000-07:00

On our little vacation to the dry side of the state last week, we went straight at Ellensburg, rather than turning right like we do when we go to the Tri-Cities.

A few miles later, something unexpected popped up on the horizon...

I'd heard about this big wind farm. In fact, a couple weeks ago they made local news as the very long blades were travelling through town on the back of a truck, going through our neighboring streets in Lakewood to wherever it is that they build them into windmills.

It made sense to me, actually. The thing with Central Washington is that sure, they have good warm temperatures, and typically sunny weather... but they also have near constant, always annoying WIND. I hate wind. But if they can harness this nuisance of nature and ultimately lower my power bill, who am I to complain?

As we drove on, it was really quite amazing how many of these things there are!

There were so many of them, and the overall sight was so cool, that I thought about switching to video mode and getting some action shots.

But one small detail kept me from doing that...

You see, the video would look exactly like these still shots.

Here, between Ellensburg and Vantage, where the wind is pretty much ALWAYS blowing, not a single one of these high tech green power generators was generating green power. Or any other color power.

As a massive art project installation, it was - as I mentioned earlier - very impressive. But my first face-to-face introduction to this big, environmentally friendlier way to power our communities, left me VERY ~~impressed~~ ~~curious~~ ~~intrigued~~ troubled by the amount of hype these things have generated verses the amount of power I witnessed them generating.

Hopefully I just witnessed an anomaly, and the winds were abnormally calm that day... Otherwise, that's a mighty big public art project.

Happiness Is A Big Brother

2010-06-29T06:51:00.000-07:00

Danee loves all of her family, and that definitely includes Tyler... Though he's only here a couple weekends per month during the school year, they have a very cool bond, made even cooler by the fact that Tyler's always willing to help out with her.

The other morning while everyone was crazily getting ready for the day's activities, Danee was being Super Cranky Baby - so Tyler rose to the occasion and sat in the chair with her while watching one of her favorite educational DVDs - I think it was "Colors".

Before long, Super Cranky Baby became Super Catnap Baby, because her big brother was so comfy!

Thanks Ty!!

Occupational Hazard

2010-06-28T11:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I put up pics of Tyler's "So Long, Elementary School!" ceremony. (NOTE: I will NEVER refer to it as a graduation... saving that for 12th grade!)

Anyway, during his ceremony, his teacher read his goals for the rest of his life. They were:

Get good grades in middle school and high school
Be a professional roller blader

Yeah, that's right! Our Tyler is aiming HIGH!!!

Of course, you don't reach the pinnacle of the roller blading world without a few skinned knees here and there, so Tyler's paying his dues early.

For the sake of continuity-of-thought I won't mention that these particular wounds were acquired on the slide of a big Bounce House, not at the skate park. Just sayin'... but they were exacerbated by activities related to his career goals, so on we go!

After removing a bit more skin from his already skinned knees, it was time for some first aid.

Fortunately for Tyler, we have a fully trained, certified and currently employed Lifeguard in our family - and she was eager to help!!

Would you trust first aid from that face? Just askin'... For Tyler, it wasn't like he had much of a choice. He needed aid, and she was gonna give it to him! She pulled out her sterile gloves and assembled the tools of her trade...

See that bottle at the bottom-right corner? Yeah. Rubbing Alcohol. Can you say "EPIC SCREAMZ"??? Tyler almost did...

Luckily, Cindy overheard what was about to happen and saved Ty from a pain worse than death. She also told Ellysa about a wondrous product generically known as Bactine - and after a thorough investigation of the label, it was deemed fit for cleaning the wounds at hand...er..knee.

With the knee-meat all cleaned out, Ellysa carefully applied a couple big-honkin' bandaids..

And Tyler lived to blade another day!

Moving On Up

2010-06-27T15:22:00.001-07:00

We are seriously stunned at how old our kids are getting.

So stunned in fact, that it took us over a week to publicly acknowledge it here!

Andy and Ellysa are now officially Seniors in high school, with a mere 180(ish) school days standing between them and graduation. Being big independent teenagers, they didn't have any big, "invite the parents and their camera" things, so you'll just have to take our word for it. It's true. And it's kinda freaky.

Kaylee was ALMOST as independent as her older siblings, but we did manage to get a couple pics at her year-end concert, celebrating the end of 7th grade, and a fond farewell to "Intermediate School", a crazy contraption in these parts that consists of grades 5, 6 and 7. Next year she's off to Junior High for grades 8 and 9, then up to High School for 10-12.

Meanwhile, Tyler said goodbye to Elementary school - a traditional K-6, and is heading to Middle School. He went to the same school since Kindergarten, so it was a pretty exciting goodbye ceremony...

Now they're all determined to make the best of a "Summer" that so far is "Summer" in name only. The last couple days have shown signs of hope that we may get some nice weather, but all in all, it's been a very dismal Spring. And Ellysa's already complaining that they have to go in August, even if it is the last day of August...

...cue the melodramatic orchestra...!

In Spite of Ourselves...

2010-06-23T11:57:00.001-07:00

I'm still amazed by the change in our lifestyle over the past two years...
Two years ago, I had a traditional full time job and we had four kids who were pretty much big enough to take care of themselves. Life was pretty easy, and we had plenty of time to do things like plant a garden...

Now of course, both Cindy and I are self-employed, and we've added an 18 month old who is just certain that the world revolves around her - and she'll do whatever it takes to make sure the rest of us accept that!

As a result, as of today our garden remains unplanted. We've done little steps along the way - tilled it all up, bought some plant starts (since we knew we were too late in the season to work from seeds) and talked many times about actually getting the plant starts placed in the ground so they can flourish.

Well...

Here's an example of a tomato start we INTEND to get in the ground... We bought it will the full intention of putting it directly in the ground within 24 hours. (a month ago)

But all is not lost!

The front corner of our yard, which has been a gradually-improving eyesore ever since we bought this house, is simply overflowing with a purely accidental - perhaps divinely appointed? - crop of strawberries!

I'm heading out to pick them right now, and am thinking a nice batch of strawberry ice cream will be enjoyed by the end of the day!

Oh, and hopefully that poor tomato's will to live will be rewarded as well, and we'll finally give it a taste of more than 3 square inches of dirt to enjoy...

Summer in the Puddles

2010-06-16T17:38:00.000-07:00

Tacoma Schools got out yesterday, and today the official Puddle Jumpers Summer 2010 T-Shirts arrived!

Maddie and Kennedy were the last two kids here when the happy box came, so they got to be the glamorous models!

The front features the familiar PJs logo with an added HappySun and sunglasses resting on the hat...

And the back adds a beach ball for added Summer fun!

Wednesday is field trip day, and this year all the PJs will be easy to spot!!

Leaving the Nest

2010-06-14T08:14:00.000-07:00

...probably not what you were expecting...!

Danee just LOVES the Point Defiance Zoo, especially the Kids Zone play area!!

And she's definitely blessed to have such a great Big Brother who loves to play with her!

Prom 2010

2010-06-09T07:22:00.000-07:00

Ellysa accompanied her boyfriend Dan to his Senior Prom. Aren't they cute? She looked like a classic beauty to me. I sure love this young lady!

Dear Blog, I Miss You

2010-05-26T21:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, I have REALLY dropped the ball on writing here on our beloved blog. My last post of any kind was May 1, and my last post that consisted of actual writing was back on December 18 of last year.

It's not supposed to be like this!! I really love writing! Since starting this blog in September 2006, I've written about many things - our family, music, our various animal endeavors, geeky tech stuff, and even an entire post about robotic vacuum cleaners that had my cousin Amy exclaiming that she couldn't believe she'd just read a whole post about robotic vacuum cleaners... and thoroughly enjoyed it!

I really do enjoy the writing! As fun (and easy) as it is to put up a couple funny and/or cute pics, or a video, this blog brought to the surface a love of actual writing that I previously hadn't known existed!

Even in this barren blogging wasteland of 2010, there are always two or three things that happen each week that make me say, "I really want to write about that!"

But the time is so fleeting... I knew that starting my own business would take up a whole lot of my time, but I hadn't factored in things like having a toddler in the house, or four teenagers going in four (or more) different directions at any given moment. Many nights I'll get into bed and think, "Oh shoot! I was going to put something up on the blog tonight!" and then I'll follow that up with, "I should grab the laptop... many of my favorite posts were written after bedtime..."

Of course, then I realize that if I fall for that line of reasoning, I'll stay up later than I should, and will pay dearly when the (very unforgiving) alarm goes off in the morning.

And then morning comes and the whole cycle starts up again.

My nephew The Donald recently brought his blog back from a long hibernation, and it inspired me... I went through a phase where I cared deeply about how many people were reading the blog, where they were from, how many of them left comments, and so on. But tonight, Cindy was looking through the archives, and I realized that none of that matters nearly as much as the great record of our family's lives over the past four years.

That ALSO inspired me.

So I know better than to make any grand statements about firing the blog back up again - that's too similar to posting that I'm serious about losing weight and getting in shape again. (although I AM doing that too) But what I will say is that I really love doing this blogging thing, and I hope that the next time I have time to play a few rounds of Dr. Mario on the Wii, that I will instead, come over here to the computer and pound out whatever's rattling around in my head.

Or at the very least, post a funny and/or cute picture.

What's up with you?

2010-05-21T07:39:00.000-07:00

My mind is Full,

I have a yard sale to prepare for
Ellysa is going to Prom
The school year is almost over!
Summer daycare to plan
Tech Services 4 All is moving on up - yes relocating!
Vacation right around the corner :)
Hospital bills...
Mud Wrap at the Wellness Center Tuesday!

Life is good, Life is Full!

I Did It and I am SO excited!!

2010-05-12T10:55:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to get a family membership at the Point Defiance Zoo and aquarium since the weather has started to change. Danee loves, loves, loves to go for walks and rides in her stroller and right now she is all about animals! What could be better than a trip to the Zoo?

The Zoo just happens to be a couple miles down the road from us and I just happened to get a special invitation in the mail to join...

So my Mothers Day gift to my family this year is a annual Zoo membership. We get to bring guests for free, so that means we need guests! So... Come on over and play with us :)

At the Zoo of course!

Breakin' The Law

2010-05-01T16:05:00.001-07:00

This morning Cindy, Tyler, Danee and I all went out to enjoy some wholesome recreational activities... At least, we THOUGHT it was going to be wholesome, but the City of Tacoma had other ideas.

See that???

Not only un-natural, but also illegal. Great. Well, as long as we're going to be outlaws, might as well have some fun with it, right? We'll start by looking innocent. And what could be more innocent than an adorable babygirl walking in a grassy meadow with her mommy?

Once that cover of innocence was established, it was time to get down to the illicit activities we came for... Oh yeah, we were there to FEED SOME DUCKS!!!

It started out well enough... But it just so happens, that one of Danee's favorite things to eat is bread. Just the same bread that we were feeding to those ducks...

Our sweet, innocent babygirl decided to TAUNT the ducks!!

HEY DUCKS! I HAVE SOME BREAD!!

AND I AM EATING MY BREAD!!

OKAY, NOW I HAVE SOME IN EACH HAND...

AND IT'S MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE!!!! MINE!!!

Between Danee and the 50 ducks, 1 seagull and a crow, the bread didn't last long. Since we'd started the adventure under the cover of wholesome recreational activities, we decided to end it the same way. There was an awesome climbing tree nearby, so Tyler and Danee had some fun playing.

Danee the Toddling Babygirl is largely fearless. It's VERY nerve wracking for Cindy and I as parents, but also pretty cool that she's just so confident and bold in doing things that look like they would scare a more common baby. But this morning, we found something Danee was definitely NOT okay with...

That bridge was something that Danee couldn't get off of soon enough! Even when she wasn't sitting on the edge of it with Tyler, she wanted nothing to do with it. Cindy tried walking her across, and Danee very clearly said "NO THANK YOU!" to the whole plan. Poor baby! Hopefully she'll conquer it soon, because I think it would make a good setting for a family picture!

Problem and Solution

2010-04-28T11:26:00.001-07:00

Now that she's a walker, Daneekins has a new favorite hobby:

Climbing up on things!

Climbing up and into her toybox isn't necessarily a problem, but far more often she perfers...

Call us horribly oppressive, but we're not into letting her push the lamp onto the floor... So we found a solution - something she can climb on all she wants, and even have fun in the process!!

End Result: Danee is a VERY happy girl with her new climbing gym, but still thinks the end table is the funnest place in the house. Oh well... Back to the drawing board!

We Need Your Help!

2010-04-23T10:50:00.001-07:00

Our sweet babygirl is participating in the Cutest Kids Contest from Express Yourself Photography, and we would LOVE to see her win!!

The only catch is that the contest and voting are taking place on Facebook. If you're completely opposed to doing the Facebook thing, then you're excused. But everyone else needs to go VOTE FOR DANEE!!!

Here's How:

Go to Express Yourself Photography's Facebook Page and ~~become a fan~~ Like it.

Go to their Photo page, then the April Cutest Kids album, and find your way to this picture:

Now click LIKE! And tell all your friends to do the same!
Gotta win, win, win, win, WIN!!!

Thanks for your help!

Now That's A Several Thousand Dollar Smile!

2010-04-20T21:21:00.000-07:00

Andy Brinkerhoff
2002

Andy Brinkerhoff
April 20, 2010
8:30 am

Andy Brinkerhoff
April 20, 2010
10:30 am

And Dr. Smart probably has another boat...

When Mommy's Away...

2010-04-19T06:06:00.000-07:00

What happens when Daddy takes Daneekins on a photo shoot in a park, wearing brand new pants, without Mommy there to intervene?

Daddy rushes home and gets those pants into the laundry before Mommy even knows they got dirty!!!

Danee was having a complementary session with Expresss Yourself Photography, for their "Cutest Kid Contest". Voting will start soon, so you all need to go be their fan on facebook and then vote for us! Thanks in advance!

Good to know...

2010-04-11T13:16:00.000-07:00

(By Cindy Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - click on over!

After a rough week of harsh words and regret it is good to know I am not alone.
Even the Great prophet Isaiah had trouble holding his tongue it seems.

Isaiah Chapter 6

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

I am grateful for the scriptures that help keep me in check and after this week even more grateful that through the atonement I don't need to have my lips burned with coal to be forgiven.

Friday Funny!

2010-04-09T08:22:00.000-07:00

This chart could save lives!!!

Sweet 16 (And Kissed 500 Times Per Day)

2010-04-03T00:01:00.000-07:00

Our tiny baby girl is now 16 months old!

That seems like a good excuse to put up some new pictures of her...

"You don't actually expect me to get dressed, do you?"

Get that baby an agent - she's gonna be our ticket out of this town!

"I think I like my hat better when it's OFF!"

"Okay, Fine... I'll give you ONE cute shot with the bonnet ON my head."

Caught in the act of walking across the floor!

It's been a great 16 Months! And just think... only TWO more months until she gets to go play in the Nursery at Church! *grins*

Steppin' Out

2010-03-31T09:21:00.000-07:00

Danee has been walking around furniture for months. We have been waiting...and waiting for her to attempt letting go, even if to just stand there.

She started pushing her toys around the floor several weeks ago using everything that wasn't bolted down as a walker, laundry baskets and garbage cans not excluded.

Then Friday night as we were getting ready to head out and watch Tyler's play I put on her new Sketchers "Twinkle Toes" shoes and off she went... 5 steps as if she had been doing it all along! I was so surprised all I could muster up was "Mike come see what your daughter is doing!". He missed it but the room full of people did not. Since then she has tried out her new skill a little each day. More and more finding herself strolling across the room before she realizes what she's done and sits down. Oh yes folks we are close!

More Easter Week Activities

2010-03-30T22:58:00.000-07:00

(By Mike Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - click on over!

Where last night we shared a story that did a good job of translating The Atonement into something we can understand with our feeble 2010 minds, tonight we went hardcore with the real thing.

Reasoning that the kids are all old enough now, we rented 2004's The Passion Of The Christ and watched it tonight. Cindy and I had seen it in the theater when it first came out, but not since then. It was amazing how clearly we both still remembered it now... It's powerful like that.

It was really good after the movie to ask the kids what they got out of it.

Ellysa was touched by the human-ness of our Savior, which was illustrated through the relationship he had with his mother, Mary. One scene in particular - the same scene that had a huge impact on Cindy six years ago was the one that got her. Jesus was carrying his cross up the hill, when he makes eye contact with Mary, standing off to the side. She flashes back to a time when he was younger, and was running and fell, and she dropped everything to go comfort him. When it flashes back to the current events, he falls under the weight of the cross, but she is unable to help him. It's heart wrenching.

Andy said that watching the whole last half of the movie was the most painful experience he's ever had in his life. It's true - it is NOT an "enjoyable" movie. It's ludicrous to think that taking on the sins of the world - past, present and future - would be enjoyable... But even still, those feeble 2010 minds I mentioned have a really hard time wrapping themselves around something bigger and deeper than "ooh, I need to check facebook!"

Kaylee was just sobbing quietly when it ended. She, out of all of our kids, is the empathetic one. The one who is so in tune with, and concerned for everyone else's feelings, that she will often sacrifice her own. Even though our whole family participated in the Jesus of Nazareth outdoor Passion Play in Puyallup for several years, Kaylee was too young to remember much about it. Plus, she was usually facing the audience, not watching the action, so she was very taken aback by how horrifying the treatment of this sinless man was.

Cindy and I both zoomed in on a line we hadn't remembered from our previous viewing. It was during a flashback to Jesus' teaching days, when he was preaching the importance of loving one another. And not just the people who love you back, but your enemies as well. "If you only love those who love you, what reward is there in that?" Brought home to me that only showing love to those you love, like, and are comfortable with, is like doing a child's 8-piece jigsaw puzzle over and over, well into adulthood. It's shallow, and there is no chance for the satisfaction of knowing you've grown. There's our principle to work on...

Now it's way past bedtime, and the kids are tucked in for the night. Time for the parents to do the same.

Tomorrow night's activities have been promised to be of a lighter hue!

Donuts and Easter!

2010-03-29T21:48:00.000-07:00

At this time of year we as a family always make time to remember "why?" we celebrate Easter.

We love the Easter Bunny, coloring eggs and when the kids were younger the BIG Easter egg hunts. I especially love the family dinner with ham and cheesy potatoes. (My brother Charlie makes a mean Coke a' Cola ham but I will share that at a later time)

I decided this year that I really wanted to do something each evening as a family to remember our savior and the great sacrifice that he made for us. And so I have something planned for each night as we study what the scriptures describe as Christ's last days on earth.

Tonight we read the Parable of the Donuts and as a treat we had... you guessed it!

Donuts! I love how the kids each took something different from the story and how no matter how many times or different ways we hear it there is always something to learn.

I am grateful for my savior Jesus Christ, and hope that you will take time this Easter season to ponder his life on this earth.

Beauty and the Beast, But Most Of All, Gaston!!

2010-03-24T22:12:00.000-07:00

It's finally here!!

Officially, opening night was last night... but Tyler's cast had their big debut tonight!

One more show with Tyler's cast: Friday night at 7!

Be Our Guest!

2010-03-18T22:03:00.001-07:00

Next Week is Tyler's last play of Elementary School... They always do an amazing job, and this year he's landed his biggest role yet!

In their production of Beauty and the Beast Jr, Tyler takes on the part of Gaston - complete with vocal solo and tough thuggery!!

We would love to invite all of our local friends and family to join us next Wednesday and Friday - the nights when his cast is performing - for what will undoubtedly be a memorable night!

Last year, Tyler played Charlie's dad in Willy Wonka Jr, and it was completely enjoyable. Can't wait to see his turn as Gaston!!

Way to Go, Tyler!! We're SO Proud of you!!

O' Malley the Leprechaun was here again!

2010-03-17T20:51:00.000-07:00

(By Cindy Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - click on over!

Every year my daycare is paid a visit from a special visitor. This year I thought for sure we would catch him. Several of the girls made a Leprechaun trap from an old Oat meal box. It is a good one too!

Not only did he get away but he made a HUGE mess of the daycare! The plus side is that he did leave a trail of delicious golden treats. The kids look forward to this year after year. One of my parents informed me that her daughter had been counting down the days since March 1st.
I love how the excitement builds for this day. And try as I may that silly little Leprechaun finds a way to thrill the kids.

Ready. Set. Go!

We have to let them go in stages. The BIG boys run over the little ones!

By the time the PJ's found all the treasures the play room was back to normal.

This year I made a paper mache Leprechaun. We used him to play Hide N' Seek. He was stuffed with golden coins. Nicholas found him first and then hid him again. The kids played many rounds in the back yard this afternoon. Then it was time for Shamrock Pizza (cheese pizza on a bagel with a Bell pepper slice on top) and mini green cup cakes! Yum!

Makin' up

2010-03-15T12:18:00.000-07:00

(By Cindy Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - click on over!

Make up has become a frequent topic of conversation around here lately. The girls have decided that they love the stuff and I mean l.o.v.e. it, the brighter, the thicker the better. Now don't get me wrong I love my make up too, but I tend to think of it as more of an enhancer then over all change my face sorta thing. And I have no qualms about going out in public with out it.

I think that there is a place for make up and certainly there are people who should wear it and choose not to, just as there are those that should find a scrub brush and lighten up a bit. There is daytime make up, evening make up and my daughters favorite Theatre' make up. My favorite is the mask... do these peoples mirrors not show that dark line?

Anyway, I was thinking yesterday about my first make up experience and had to laugh. I think that my teen make-up was most definitely a outward showing of what was going on inside. This was true especially during my butt rock days. Can you say eyeliner??? oh yeah I was all about the stuff "here comes eyeliner and her ahem... Cindy".

I remember the first summer I began to play with make-up. I was going into the 9th grade and had spent a couple months in Rosamond California (smack dab in the middle of the Mojave dessert) with the Muzzy's. The Muzzy's had an older teen daughter named Brenda. Brenda taught me how to apply Make-up . I wore bright purple eyeshadow with blue eyeliner and lots of blush. I also used peroxide on my hair that summer, which resulted in a horrible shade of orange. Come to think of it, I must of come home looking more like a clown than anything else. At least I was tan.

My point is I remember the joys of make -up. I also remember my Dad telling me I looked like a hooker and to go take it off! I remember DOING it. No Fuss. I just did it. My girls seem to think I am old fashioned, "times have changed'. "this is how people wear their make-up"... Am I old fashioned. Have I stopped being fun and daring? Or do I just want my babies to look their age?

My question to you our lovely readers.

How old were you when you were allowed to wear make-up?
Did your parents put up parameters about it?
Did you start slow or go for it?
Do you allow your teen daughters to wear the stuff?

We would love to hear your opinions on the matter and of course fun tips for applying would be great too!

Hell Week Is Over!

2010-03-11T09:26:00.001-08:00

GO Lady Viks!!

Curtis High School girls water polo season has started. Ellysa has been up, out the door and in the pool by 5:00 am all week! Once in the pool it is an hour and a half of extreme training. Do you know these girls are treading water while holding five gallon jugs full of water above their heads in the water! She amazes me every year with her determination. Ellysa made Varsity again this year and we are so proud of her. This has to be the most exciting game to watch ever, especially when your child is in the water. Those girls are brutal!

In other news Ellysa also landed a job this week. She is the newest swim instructor for our local YMCA! She has had a good week for sure. This weekend, she sleeps!

I love you Scooter, keep up the good work!

When the Parents Are Away the Kiddos will Play...

2010-03-08T21:07:00.000-08:00

(By Cindy Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - click on over!

Kaylee and Tyler decided to go Gothic in our absence. Should we be concerned? Nah...

They look good, just sayin'

Could it be, we're coming home?

2010-03-07T09:56:00.000-08:00

(By Cindy Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - click on over!

Good News! After this mornings breathing treatment the RT deemed Danee's lungs clear! She went all but one hour last night with out supplemental oxygen and has had plenty of wet diapers in the past 12 hours! (thanks to the IV) The word on the 7th floor is that we should be coming home soon. :)

We just need to get this girl to drink and keep herself hydrated. As of this morning it was a NO GO! She just isn't interested. But she did eat a pancake and some chocolate pudding.
Any tips any one?

Today they brought in a play mat and I am bringing some of her favorite toys from home for her to play with. I can't wait to see her award winning smile again.

Thank you SO much Sister Garlock, and Sister Van Valkenburg for feeding the big kids in our absence and Sister Farnes for the sleep over with Kaylee. We are very grateful for ALL the support we have been given. We truly are a blessed family.

Comic Relief

2010-03-06T11:56:00.000-08:00

(By Mike Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - click on over!

Last week, Cindy pre-ordered tickets for the whole family to go see the new Alice in Wonderland movie today.

Obviously, with the events of the past couple days, things got tricky... And with the amount of sleep Cindy and I got last night, there was no way we would stay awake through a movie...

So my sister Linda and her husband Eric (honestly two of my favorite people in the world) came to the hospital to watch Danee. Cindy dropped off the kids at the theater, and now we're going to get a much needed nap...

But on the way to the theater, Andy dropped a line of pure gold:

You know, you bought all these tickets, and now you can't even go... We're on the brink of bankruptcy... All I can say is that Tim Burton better have made a VERY GOOD MOVIE!

This was followed by a rant about how if the movie isn't as good as it needs to be, Andy will sue Mr. Burton, who will in turn pay for Danee's medical bills.

Pretty brilliant plan, actually!

Scenes From The 7th Floor

2010-03-05T15:24:00.001-08:00

(By Mike Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - if you don't see the pics, just click on over!

Last night was a little rough. It started out positively enough...

That's Danee actually drinking a bottle. She hadn't done that since breakfast time Thursday. The problem is, about an hour after polishing off that bottle, she got a breathing treatment and screamed so hard she puked up the entire bottle. All over both of us. And only she had clean clothes...

The good news is that not too long after that, she settled in for a good night's sleep.

Well, actually it was a PRETTY GOOD night's sleep. She kept waking up to make sure Mommy was still there. I was there too until midnight when I admitted defeat and acknowledged there was only room for one parent to sleep in the room.

But this morning brought a slightly closer to well Daneekins... Here are a few highlights from her second day at the hospital.

First, she woke up and refused to eat. No bottles, no apple sauce, no nothing. I asked the nurse to bring in some Cheerios, since she'll almost always eat them. They didn't have any Cheerios (Too Healthy?) but she brought some Froot Loops, which were even better!

Oh wait... Let me check this out..

THESE AREN'T FROOT LOOPS!!!

Nope. We'll likely be paying this little visit off until Danee graduates college, but the fine folks at Mary Bridge are pawning off GENERIC CEREAL to their unsuspecting guests.

Luckily, Danee didn't care. She ate a few handfuls of cereal, then finally agreed to drink a bottle. And then another.

Then a nap, another breathing treatment, another bottle, and she was feeling pretty darned good!!

I finally came home for a shower, and to update the blog, but am now heading back to the hospital.

MAJOR THANKS to our wonderful friends from church who are driving our big kids all over creation, feeding them, and helping us out at the hospital. You guys are the best the Earth has to offer! :)

Back To The Hospital

2010-03-04T16:25:00.000-08:00

(By Mike Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - if you don't see the pics, just click on over!

Danee came down with a cold on Monday - and yesterday it was sounding pretty bad...

This morning at about 1am, she woke up crying, and had very shallow, very quick breathing. At 11:30 this morning, Cindy decided enough was enough and took her to the doctor. The doctor didn't take long before forwarding them on to the ER at Mary Bridge Children's Hospital.

Danee has been diagnosed with Viral Pneumonia and/or Viral Bronchitis.

She HATES having anything put on her, HATES anyone poking at her with needles, and HATES being held still against her will.

Needless to say, our baby girl is a very unhappy camper today.

The one bright spot was a total surprise... An old friend who we haven't seen for a couple years was a doctor at Madigan. We didn't know, but he's now a doctor at Mary Bridge, and when he popped into our room we were surprised and instantly comforted by the familiar face. He even got Danee to (mostly) agree to having her heart and lungs listened to...

Thanks Dr. Tim!!

And Danee, GET BETTER SOON!!!

I'm off... gotta get back in with my baby...

It's All Fun and Games...

2010-03-02T10:59:00.000-08:00

It takes a special kind of guy to not only allow a child care to run his home, but to participate in it! Mike is a very loved guy around here, always ready to be pounced on by menacing Puddle Jumpers. Ya know everyone thinks it is me that the kids will remember, but I'm pretty sure this guy will bring back smiles as well.

Thanks honey for always making time for these kids of ours :)

Oh and timing is everything, this was going on a couple mornings ago while trying to clean up and get ready for school!

A Dozen Years of Tyler!

2010-03-01T05:14:00.000-08:00

(By Mike Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - if you don't see the pics, just click on over!

Last weekend, we celebrated Tyler's Twelfth Birthday!

To honor the occasion, here are a dozen random pictures of Tyler being Tyler.

And finally, here are a dozen things we love about Tyler:

He is a very funny kid - quick on the snappy comeback, and he can get Cindy into a giggle fit that just won't quit.
He has earned his nickname of "Favor Boy." When something needs to be done around here, Tyler will eagerly volunteer to do it... with most things, at least!!
He's always up for doing something! Whether it's going out to play frisbee or going to the store to run errands, if you shout out "Who wants to go with me..." Tyler will almost always be first to answer.
He and Kaylee have one of the best sibling relationships I've ever seen. LOVE watching them together.
He's not (t00) easily embarrassed. His school puts on very high quality plays every year, and Tyler has been involved in them for as long as he's been able to. Last year he played Charlie's dad in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and this year he's landed the part of Gaston in Beauty and the Beast!
He's very polite - often the first in the room to say thank you for a good dinner.
He loves helping in the kitchen. Favor Boy makes another appearance in the list... Even though his eagerness to help has backfired on him a few times...
He's so delightfully gullible! From trying Smoked Salmon on a Saltine Cracker with Chocolate Frosting, to trying home made Play-Doh, Cindy has had hours of fun tricking Tyler into doing and/or trying things that his common sense SHOULD tell him to avoid...and...
He's a VERY good sport! With all the times he discovers that he's been flim-flammed again around here, he typically laughs, shrugs it off, and starts plotting his comeback on whoever administered the flim-flammery.
When I took him to the Space Needle for his tenth birthday, he came up with an interpretive dance to a song we were listening to. Believe me, this kid can interpretive dance!
He is the epitome of a pre-teen boy... Four day weekend at dad's house with no shower?? Sure, if we don't gently remind him that he stinks!!
We just love the young man Tyler is growing into, and couldn't imagine life without him!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TYLER!!!

Fresh Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies!

2010-02-28T13:45:00.001-08:00

(By Mike Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - if you don't see the pics, just click on over!

OM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM

NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM!

Now, time for a bath.

What Do You Mean Share...?

2010-02-26T12:10:00.000-08:00

Danee and Eric have been having alot of fun lately. Eric has learned to hang on to his toys (sometimes so tight he falls backwards when she finally lets go) and I think Danee has decided to stop sitting on his head!

They crack me up daily but what I find most amazing is that Danee tries to make eye contact with him. She moves her head around following Eric's eyes trying to get him to look at her. I am amazed that at this young age she notices. Eric is a dear and we enjoy having him in our home.

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

2010-02-25T09:36:00.000-08:00

(By Cindy Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - if you don't see the pics, just click on over!

My SIL Linda started teaching me how to sew about a year ago. She has patiently helped me make, Jammie's, a couple dresses and even a highchair pad (admittedly she ended up with that project, I watched though).

These cute pillow cases were a Super Saturday project. I had the idea to make one for each holiday through out the year. Christmas was too busy, Valentines Day came and went (I did get some cute fabric) but I gave it a go for the upcoming St. patty's Day.

They turned out pretty good for my first SOLO project. One for each of the BIG kids.

And In My OWN HOUSE!!!

2010-02-24T07:38:00.000-08:00

(By Mike Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - if you don't see the pics, just click on over!

By now, most of you have met Baby Eric, the little boy Cindy watches during the day.

Eric's dad is Neil. Neil works as a diver, repairing boats under the water all day.

Sometimes, when he comes to pick up Eric, he just takes off the wet suit and doesn't bother to put a shirt on... That seemed kinda weird. But it was nothing compared to what he brought into our house yesterday...

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??? He willfully and knowingly wore a geek squad t-shirt into my house. As soon as I saw him, I informed him that he was dead to me.

He shot back that he would wear a Tech Services 4 All shirt, if he had one!

Psshh... As if I'm not prepared for that kind of thing!

And that atrocity he WAS wearing? I'm thinking it'll live out its days lining the chicken coop. For now, it's just unceremoniously dumped on the floor.

Neil suggested we could use it as a diaper for Danee, but there's no way. It's not WORTHY of catching her poo!!!

I'm Goin' Fish'in again....

2010-02-23T17:00:00.000-08:00

These crackers are by far the best snack food I have eaten in a long, long time!

(and lets just say I get to try out lots of snax with the daycare)

If you like:

Chocolate, Grahams and Mini Marshmellows. (and lets face it, who doesn't)

Play Time for Daneekins!

2010-02-21T13:45:00.000-08:00

We've Got Spirit

2010-02-19T10:28:00.000-08:00

Yes we Do, We've got Spirit HOW bout' you?

Andy came home from school about a month ago and sheepishly asked for money to pay for a PEP band t-shirt "he didn't remember ordering". I wrote him out a check and the next day he brought home the greenest, coolest t-shirt EVER!

Yesterday afternoon Andy came home from school and I noticed he was again wearing his very (hhhmmm) cool school shirt.

Cindy: Um bud didn't you wear that shirt yesterday?
Andy: yeah
Cindy: and the day before that?
Andy: Yeah, so...
Cindy:So don't you have any other shirts you can wear?
Andy: Yeah, I just like showing school spirit.
Cindy: Go change your shirt, and I will give you a welcome home hug.

Today Andy's assignment is to go shop the student store.

I think it may be time for another shirt!

A Valentine Mystery

2010-02-17T22:04:00.000-08:00

(By Mike Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - if you don't see the pics, just click on over!

It was the day after Valentine's Day. The day before, I'd given my sweetheart a nice chocolate heart, one that was a little too big to eat all in one setting. Unfortunately, she didn't think to lock it away when she was done with it, and it went missing. Really. Stealing a Valentine's Day Chocolate Heart. Who would do such a thing?

Ahh yes. I know this perpetrator. She's the cause of a lot of missing items around these parts... And she's a little too good at playing innocent, if you get my drift.

My sweetheart was pretty sure she recognized the melting brown mass in the perp's fingers, but didn't want to show too much of her hand. So she played it cool, and asked if maybe the kid had seen a Chocolate Heart... But oh, this kid is as smooth as the creamy milk chocolate she had smeared all over her face.

Then, as if she was trying to prove that she really IS the most cunning little thief in town, she actually had the nerve to offer to help track down the missing sweetness!

Now my sweetheart is certainly sweet, but she's got her limits. This kid was quickly approaching the line, with no signs of slowing down. So Mommy put her foot down on the little searching party...

Without even increasing her heart rate, this cool little cucumber plays right along, acting all surprised when the missing treasure suddenly appears where her hand had been just a few seconds earlier!

Somethin' tells me this kid could wind up in politics someday!

My Day: Made!

2010-02-16T06:12:00.000-08:00

(By Mike Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - click on over!

The last couple weeks, I've been doing much better at making it to the YMCA in the morning, and it feels great. This morning while leaving, I ran into a friend who commented on how great it was that I was getting there regularly again...

Friend: It's great to see you here in the mornings!

Me: Yeah, it's been hard rebuilding the habit after taking 6 months or so off...

Friend: That's a hard habit to rebuild, but stay motivated and you'll do it.

Me: Well, I have extra incentive because Cindy and I started a Biggest Loser club.

Friend: Well there's no way you'll win that, you don't have enough to lose!

Even though I'm confident in my ability (and need) to lose enough to win, that comment made my day!

My little Soap Box.....

2010-02-04T13:11:00.000-08:00

(By Cindy Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - if you don't see the pics, just click on over!

My Parents Drugged Me!
"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

"The other day, someone at a store in our town read that a Methamphetamine lab had been found in an old farmhouse in the adjoining county and he asked me a rhetorical question: 'Why didn't we have a drug problem when you and I were growing up?'

"I replied, 'I had a drug problem when I was young! I was drug to church on Sunday morning.
I was drug to church for weddings and funerals.
I was drug to family reunions and community socials no matter the weather.
I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful to adults.
I was also drug to the woodshed when I disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home a bad
report card, did not speak with respect, spoke ill of the teacher or the preacher, or if I didn't put
forth my best effort in everything that was asked of me.
I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth washed out with soap if I uttered a profanity.
I was drug out to pull weeds in mom's garden and flower-beds and cocklebur's out of dad's fields.
"I was drug to the homes of family, friends and neighbors to help out some poor soul who had no
one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline, or chop some firewood; and, if my mother had ever
known that I took a single dime as a tip for this kindness, she would have drug me back to the woodshed.
"Those drugs are still in my veins and they affect my behavior in everything I do, say, or think.
They are stronger than cocaine, crack, or heroin; and, if today's children had this kind of drug problem,
America would be a better place."

God bless the parents who drugged us.

-- Author Unknown --

Kids Eat The Darndest Things!

2010-02-02T16:44:00.000-08:00

(By Mike Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - if you don't see the pics, just click on over!

Our poor, gullible Tyler...

Cindy has a long history of tricking him in to eating things that shouldn't really be eaten.

One time, back when he was probably 4, they were making home-made Play Doh together. While sitting on the counter helping, Tyler looked down at the creamy red Doh in the pot and licked his lips... Cindy said, "Do you want to try some?" and Tyler eagerly nodded his head.

One teensy spoonful later, and he was hanging his tongue out while Cindy fought to keep breathing through her laughter.

Well, the other night, while Danee was enjoying crackers with chocolate frosting, the rest of us had been enjoying some smoked salmon. Cindy started preparing a cracker with frosting for herself, then looked at Tyler and asked if he'd ever had smoked salmon on a frosted cracker...

At least he was a LITTLE skeptical... Just not skeptical enough. It only took one round of "oh yeah, when I was a kid, this is how we always ate it!" before he stepped up to the plate and was ready to give it a try...

And a moment later, it was a replay of the Play Doh incident!

Luckily for us, he's a totally good sport, and is able to laugh at stuff like this!!

Cute 'n' Messy!

2010-02-01T20:32:00.000-08:00

(By Mike Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - if you don't see the pics, just click on over!

The other night, Danee got a chance to enjoy one of the finer things in life...

Yup, a saltine cracker with chocolate fudge frosting!!

One of her favorite things to do lately, when she really likes something, is to clap her hands and say "Yay!!!"

She definitely liked the Chocolate Frosted Cracker!

And if I had the time and ambition to load up the Gimp and throw a caption on this last pic, it would definitely say, "I CAN HAS MORE?"

Meanwhile, Tyler was having a cracker-based delicacy of his own... which we'll share tomorrow!

Sunday Funnies

2010-01-31T18:30:00.000-08:00

Friday Funny

2010-01-29T05:13:00.000-08:00

(By Mike Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - if you don't see the video, just click on over!

Man, it was hard to save this for Friday... By now, you should all know that I ~~don't like~~ hate shopping at Wal-Mart - not for any of the traditional complaints though, I don't care at all how they treat their employees or blah blah blah blah blah... if you don't like working there, go work somewhere else! WOW! Problem: SOLVED!!

No, I just hate the stores. I hate everything about them, from the layout to the clientelle.

So in light of all that, I was amazed by their latest commercial. It's a full on WIN in every way I can think of!!

Enjoy!!