Joel's Cement Patio

On Friday Joel bought an entire PALLET of cement from Home Depot. He built and placed the forms and Sat morning he and his brother Justin started mixing and pouring for a small patio outside our bedroom window in the back yard. (8 feet by 18feet) They didn't get very far before they ran out of cement. So, I started making calls, and found a place that rented the mixer filled with ready-made concrete. The guys picked it up with a 2 hour window, otherwise your $400 deposit was non-refundable. Yikes!
They drove home quickly, ripped out the fence, and started wheeling the wheelbarrow to the backyard. We soon realized it was going to be quite a process, so Joel's mom and stepdad came over with their wheelbarrow and we started an assembly line. As we brought the whellbarrows back, Joel and Justin poured and finished. I accidently tipped over a wheelbarrow, but shoveled it back up. I did get some clover mixed in, but hey, that's good luck, right? You can see in the finished pictures, we took a rake and made swirly designs so it didn't look so bland. Joel wants to cover the entire patio in slate tiles, but that project is pretty far down the list!
We did get the mixer back in time, but for the big patio outside the kitchen, Joel is now thinking to hire someone to do it. I say great idea, my calves are tired!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! What a cutie!

Sick baby

Poor Laura had a "breathing episode." The babysitter called Tues morning and said she was having trouble breathing, so we went to the Dr. After examining her, he had me do a breathing treatment. The nurse put some medicine in the machine and I had to hold the mask over her nose and mouth so she could breathe the medicine in. She did not like it, and was crying hysterically. I had to hold her with one arm and my chest to keep her head still while the other hand was holding the mask. I tried singing to her to calm her down, but that was not working. Then I started crying. Then she got even more upset because I was crying. So I tried to pull myself together, sing and rub her face and she started to calm down. After we'd been at it for about 20 minutes she was lying peacefully, breathing in the good medicine. The Dr checked out the machine to us to have her do a treatment every 4 hours. The medicine was $114.00!!
After we did the treatment the Dr asked us to get an x-ray of her chest. He wanted to look at her chest and make sure nothing was wrong. I had to hold her while she got the x-ray and I had to hold her away from me so I wouldn't get in the way. She kept twisting to look at me and crying Mamama. I felt so sad because she was looking at me and wondering why was I holding her like this and not comforting her? Finally the got the x-rays finished. The nurse at the Dr's office told me that they would be gone for lunch from 12:15-1:15 and so we went to Walmart to kill 20 minutes. Laura got some apple juice which made her fell better. We then went back to the Dr and he looked at the x-ray and said her chest looked good, he just wanted to make sure. We finally got home at 2 and Laura went to bed and slept until 4:30. Poor girl, she was worn out!
We went back this morning for a checkup. She is doing better, but still wheezy. We have the machine for another night, but they ordered one for me through my insurance so it should be here shortly. We are now doing treatments every 6 hours, which is better. Id forgotten how hard it is to get up in the middle of the night. I didn't miss it!!! We are praying the she will be better soon.
THURSDAY update: She is still wheezy but much less so than yesterday. She has a bad cough and runny nose. She is more active, walking around and playing rather than just sitting and watching. We're hoping she is over the worst of it and is getting better. Please keep her in your prayers.

Happy Birthday Papa!

Here we are at Papa and Nommy's house celebrating Papa's 56th birthday! Friend Tabby and her mom Denae are over for dinner and cake. Laura gave Papa a bag of PEZ candy refills for his PEZ collection! Joel and I gave him a battery operated meat thermoter/cooking fork for cooking meat on the BBQ. Joel got one for Christmas, and my dad was so jealous, I decided he needed one of his own!

Have you ever seen cuter bloomers? Go to her etsy site:
www.shewearsflowers.etsy.com What adorable clothes! I'm going to take a picture like this of Laura, she'd be so cute with her belly!

Laura's new/old coat

Here's our sweetie in her new lavender coat. It is actually my mom's coat, passed down. She was not so into the hat, so she didn't wear it to church. She got a lot of compliments on how cute she looked!

She's already taken

Today while I was watching Perrin and Pason, at lunch Perrin (age 6) asked, "Is Laura my sister or my friend?" I said, "She is your cousin AND your friend!" Then he said, "When I grow up I'm going to marry Laura, because I love her!" His dad, who was home for lunch, told him he couldn't because they were related. I said, "And besides, Laura already has a boyfriend she's going to marry." Perrin didn't know who I was talking about, so I explained it was Grayson who came with his sisters to Laura's party. Here's a picture of the handsome devil!

Stupid! Ugh!

I am so mad/embarassed/sad! Look at my last posting; I talked about next week goign to the temple, how I was looking forward to it, etc. Well...it was last night. Oops. Joel and I were driving home and all of a sudden I said, "Wait, that is tonight!!!" We didn't have Laura's diaper bag, our clothes, recommends, anything! (Well, actually I did have my recommend in my wallet, but Joel's is in his bag.) So we called everyone but they were all on their way. So we turned around, drove to Mimi's in San Bernardino and had dinner together. Which was very fun. BUT, then Cynthia from my work called and said, "Uh, Kristen, I've been waiting for a while to meet with you to drop off and pick up paperwork, um, are you on your way?" OOPS! So then I had to apologize and say, actually I completly forgot, and I'm in San Bernardino, and let's meet tomorrow. And because she is so gracious, she said ok. I need more sleep, my brain is not working!

I'm going there some day

We sang "I love to see the temple" while we were here. Well, ok, just I sang and Laura listened. Joel had to work and I couldn't get a babysitter, so I took Laura and waited outside with her while my parents and grandparents went in. Looking forward to Tuesday to go to Redlands while my sister watches Laura while Joel and I go with my parents and Joel's Dad and Step-Mom. It will be a nice evening!