It's Nice To Be Loved

*Day 361*

Sometimes it's nice to feel loved.  I work at my sister Lynn's house.  She has this adorable little girl that I've seen just about every day of her life.  (Now if seeing your aunt every day of your life isn't just the coolest thing ever, I don't know what is.... j/k.)  Jessica is, well, Jessica, and I love the girl, but sometimes I'm glad I don't have to take her home with me.  She's 3, what more do I have to say.  But, somedays, I would do anything for her.  I mean she loves her aunt (me)!  When I left today she gave me a hug, kiss and the electric "I love you" sign.  Then she told me to come back again.  I told her I'd come back tomorrow.  And she got excited!  Like I don't come back every day.  One day not too long ago, one of the kids left while Jessica was in the bathroom.  She heard me tell them goodbye when they went out the door.  She started crying and throwing a fit because she thought I left and she didn't get to hug me or tell me to come back.  When I yelled to her I was still there, she calmed down.  It's really sweet to feel so loved.  But this new one takes the cake. 

But this has to start with... Backstory!  When I was three I nearly choked to death.  Here is my version of the story.  Put together from what I remember in my unconscious state and what I have heard over and over through the years.  We'd been grocery shopping.  We got home and Renae, who was a baby, was hungry.  So was I, but being the middle child, no one cared about that.  (Just kidding, that's for you mom!)  Anyway, mom, was feeding the baby.  (I don't hold anything against Renae.)  I just got too hungry, so I decided to do something about it.  We had bought this loaf of bread at the store.  I took a big bite out of it.  Then, I choked on it.  My mom was still feeding the baby.  Sherry, bless her, noticed something was wrong, and went to tell mom that I was turning blue.  Mom came and got me.  She tried to get the bread out, but couldn't.  She started to call 911, then I passed out and she had to stop dialing the number to catch me.  This was old rotary phone times, so she had to start dialing again.  Still she couldn't get the bread out.  She put her finger in my mouth, and I bit it!  Then, she remembered this new thing that they had just learned in Relief Society.  So, she tried the Heimlich maneuver.  (Really, it was new!  I just figured people had always known the Heimlich maneuver.  How many people died from choking before they figured this out?  And, so glad my mom goes to Relief Society.)  Anyway, with my tiny unconscious body trying to slip out of her hands, she tried the Heimlich maneuver.  The bread finally popped out.  Then the neighbor came in to see what was going on because the paramedics were there but no one was opening the door.  I remember waking up.  My mom was sitting at the table, holding me, soaking her finger in a bowl of ice water.  I think that's when she cried.  I have always admired my mom's ability to get through a crisis with a calm head.  If she breaks down, it's always after everyone is OK and taken care of.  I hope that I inherited that quality from her.  And, I'm also glad I haven't been tested yet to see if I have it.  But, mostly, I am just grateful for mom for saving my life.  When I sit and think about what really could have happened in that situation.......  Well, I love my mom, and I'm glad I'm here today.  So, that's my backstory.

This weekend, Jessica and some of my other nieces and nephews were eating at my mom and dad's.  Jessica has this new bad habit of stuffing tons of food in her mouth.  And she doesn't like to sit still and eat.  (Ask Lynn, I'm very sensitive to the threat of choking.  I am always telling the kids to be careful so they don't choke.)  Anyway, Jessica was running around with food in her mouth, so my mom told the kids the story of when I almost choked to death.  (Logan loves to hear that story too.  It's one of his most requested.  Maybe he likes to see me cry.)  Well, that night when Jessica said her prayers, she stopped to ask Lynn if it was her mom that saved me, Lynn told her yes, so Jessica continued,  "Thanks for moms mom for saving Aunt Kirsty so she can be with us today."  Isn't that just sweetest thing you ever heard!  Yeah, sometimes it's just nice to know that you are so loved.   Electric "I love you"!

The Beetle Story

*Day 292*

So, I go to work today and Lynn tells me about her night.  Jessica woke up about 3:00 screaming.  Lynn is trying to get her calmed down enough to find out what is wrong.  She said she sounded stuffed up so she thought she probably wasn't feeling good.  Jessica finally calmed down a little bit, and let Lynn know that her throat was hurting.  Lynn asked her if she wanted a drink.  Jessica said yes.  Lynn took her into the kitchen and grabbed a cup of water off the counter and gave it to Jessica.  Then Jessica started screaming that the beetle was going to get her.  Lynn was frustrated that she was no longer calm, and couldn't understand what was wrong.  Until she took the cup from Jessica and saw this.....

Then, Lynn screamed and threw the cup.  And I'm sure she did a scaredy dance that blew mine out of the water.   Well, that put my spider story to shame.

This bug was actually brought into their house on purpose.  We have a bug collection for preschool that we have been working on for a few years.  We have some pretty cool bugs.  Two or three weeks ago, Darrell brought this water beetle home from work with him.  We thought it was cool enough to keep for our collection.  (Really the bugs in our collection are dead.)  Darrell called his friend who is an entomologist (studies insects) to find out more about this beetle.  His friend told him that they like grasshoppers.  But it probably wouldn't eat while in captivity because it's more worried about being trapped.  We wanted to see it eat, and there are an abundance of grasshoppers right now.  Darrell decided to let it live in the fish aquarium.  They've tried to feed it grasshoppers in there.  It hasn't seemed interested.  (By the way, did you know grasshoppers can swim.)  So it stayed in the aquarium until last night when it climbed into the cup on the counter.  Thankfully, it's almost ready for our bug collection.  When I took this picture, I thought it was dead.  Then, it's legs moved.  I refrained form throwing the cup, but it was hard.  This guy gives me the creeps.  I'm looking for a volunteer to pin him into my bug collection.  Any takers? 

Sun, Soccer, Parade

*Day 164*

Today we got to enjoy Logan's last soccer game of the season. It was a really nice day. He had fun and I think he has improved during the season. One of my favorite things was watching Logan cheer on his teammates and congratulate them when they did good. I learned something today that can actually get him moving. "HUSTLE!" I'm going to have to start using this because when when his coach yelled at him to hustle, he did. It was the most amazing thing. Thanks Coach for figuring that out for me.


Logan's soccer team.

After soccer we went to the Black and White Days parade. Logan told me that he was just going to watch. He didn't need a bag for candy. He does not like to fight for candy at a parade. I guess I'm glad that he's not willing to push other people just for a piece of candy. He told me that he would just catch them if they came to him. He changed his mind when he realized that the only competition was his cousins. He felt perfectly comfortable fighting over candy with them.


Logan and Dax waving at the cute girls on the float. Notice that Dax is more excited about this than Logan. He's been talking a lot about cute girls lately.


Jessica grabbed a piece of candy out of the street, then had to run for it to get out of the way of the parade. I think she's got the hang of candy collecting at parades. Well, she had a good trainer.


Jessica and Jace going for a piece of candy. Jessica was nice enough to give it Jace. Ahhhhhhhhh, cute.


Logan and Dax picking up candy. They didn't have to fight much because there was quite enough candy to go around. But, at one point, Logan did have a really box out on Dax.