Not Broken

The final consensus on Dynomite's wrist is that it is NOT broken. She no longer has to use the split. But if it is causing her trouble, we can just wrap it up with an ace bandage and give her Motrin. The Dr. thinks that the wrist was slightly sprained and quickly healed itself by keeping it wrapped and applying ice when we did. Young bodies repair themselves better and quicker. So that is a huge relief!

Teacher Tells All

This is a deleted scene from the movie "The Incredibles". But it is astonishing how true this really is!

Happy Birthday, Dynomite!!

Today Dynomite turned 2 years old!! We can hardly believe it! She's a smart little lady. She is talking so well and trying hard to keep up physically with Big Brother. Travis and I decided to follow the lead of Dan and Nikki and have a big birthday every 4 years. So this was a little b-day for her, so please don't be offended if you were invited :-) Most of what we did was on video, but we mentioned the kid's names while filming, so the videos won't be posted. If you really want to see them e-mail us at TubbsTribune@live.com and we'll e-mail the videos to you.

Here is the cake I made from a mold. And no, I won't be quitting my day job!!

We just had Ciera and Benjamin over to have lunch, eat cake and homemade ice cream and open presents. Kelly loaned us her ice cream maker that you just roll around. The kids rolled it for about 5 minutes and decided they had enough. But the ice cream turn out just fine.

Dynomite trying the sunglasses from her Mrs. Potato Head! Goofy girl!

Later Kelly and Raina came over for dinner and more present opening. One of the presents she got Dynomite was this doll's play pen. Here's a picture of Raina in it:

Here's a picture of Dynomite it in:She looks like a giant in it!! Anyway, it was fun day had by all!

Dynomite's Turn

Another trip to the ER for the Tubbs' family. This is trip #5 for us in 4.5 years of living here.

Monday, I was sorting laundry in our bedroom when I heard a thump and a "sorry sister" and saw Trouble running to put himself in timeout. Trouble had jumped on her while they were playing. Dynomite was lying on the ground holding her wrist. When I picked her up she was shaking and screaming in pain. I thought maybe she had dislocated her elbow, so I tried to pop it back in, but it didn't work. I called Travis, then I called the Nurse Advice Line. It was a ten minute wait for the nurse to call me back. During that time Dynomite fell asleep. I moved her fingers while she was sleeping to see if she woke up. And she did crying, so I knew something was really wrong. The nurse finally called back and she was trying to give directions like get ice, put in sling, give pain killers...but dynomite was screaming by now and I all really comprehended was, "Take her to the ER". Okay, that is all I wanted to know. Kelly came to the rescue by coming over and taking Trouble and Backpack.

All the way to the ER Dynomite kept saying, "Brober did, Brober did". (This morning she told Travis that Brother didn't love her :-( I hope she gets over this!!) So they took X-rays and put her in a splint. She saw a specialist on Tuesday because we can't actually tell if her wrist is broken because of her little bitty bones. So she goes back to the specialist next week to see if anything has changed. But for now she's stuck with a split and every 6 hours of Motrin.

I gave her a little baggie of frozen corn to put on her wrist. When we went to get X-rays the techs thought it was her snack!

Tag

1. Where was I 10 years ago? Senior year of high school, with a bad case of senioritis. Putting in college aps and working for a Cadillac dealership.

2. What's on my to do list today? Workout, clean house, library, grocery list, bills, YW stuff, find my father, blog, go outside with kiddos. What did I get done...all the important things: Eat M&Ms and not strangle any kids today.

3. What if I was a billionaire? Own a giant house that never needs work, and comes with a housekeeper and cook!! (I had best to make sure Travis has a workshop.) Okay, seriously I'd pay off debt and make sure if the world crashed in we'd survive for a very long time. I'd also throw in a sports car for myself.

4. Five places I have lived: Modesto, CA; Portland, OR; Corvallis, OR; Nottingham, England; Anges, France; Vandenberg AFB, CA

5. Snacks I like- Slurpees, Doritos, Chocolate, Root beer Floats, Dairy Queen, Dill Pickles...was this suppose to be a healthy list??

6. Three bad habits- 1) Cracking knuckles, 2) Yelling at my kids, 3) Opening my big mouth!!

7. Who am I tagging? I tag Erin H., Regina D., Jen R., Jen H., Jerusha S. (sorry if any of you have been tagged before!!)

Rubbing Alcohol Saver

Did you know that rubbing alcohol removes ink from microfiber couches?

So Trouble today was quitely doing Hidden Pictures from his Highlights magazine when I was feeding Backpack. He had the book on the couch while kneeling on the floor. I told him he could use a pen to circle the pictures...big mistake. However, Trouble wasn't the problem. Monkey see, Monkey do! In this case Monkey was Dynomite and there was no magazine, just the couch. The funny thing was that she confessed to the crime. She actually handed me the pen and said, "write on couch". I thought she was tattling on Trouble because they are both already banned from any writing instruments unless under parental supervision. But it was only till later that I found pen marks on our new couch. *Deep Breath, count to 10 sigh* Deep down in the recess of my mind I would like to think that children DO actually care that their parents might actually WANT to own nice things. So I raced upstairs to seach the internet for other violated couches and found that rubbing alcohol is used for more than cleaning your kid's boo-boos.

I have to say that Dynomite has me trained. When I finished de-inking the couch I left the bottle of rubbing alcohol on the table, but suddenly had visions flash through my mind of her thinking it a bottle of delicious clear juice and prompltly put the bottle on a high shelf out of her way (with everything else hazardous, breakable, or shiny). I'm getting better at this 2-year-old-proofing-the-house thing. Totally different than Trouble. For one, he was the only kid. And two, he never cared to get into stuff.

Anyway, couches and sanity saved. Thank whoever invented microfiber!!

Travis' current project

Yes, Travis decided that since it would be winter soon he would start an outside project.

Please do not ask if the bathroom is done.

Backpack 6 weeks

I lied and said that I'd stay on top of blogging. The house is back in order now and we are working on some kind of routine in our day. But I have to say that 3 kids is taxing. I can see why people stop at three!! We've forgotten how fussy and demanding babies can be. Ali had blogged about her son not liking being a baby, we think that is how Backpack is. He sees the other kiddos playing and his legs start kicking and his arm flail around. He's eager to go!! But Trouble and Dynomite have been very good with him. A pleasant surprise for us.

Backpack's six week pictures:

With Big Sister:
The boys making goofy faces:

Clarifications...

Living with nuns:
Travis and I went to a two month language immersion program in France to learn french in the summer between doing a nine month study abroad program in England and going home. The school we attended set up the accommodations. There were two locations. One is for mixed company and the other location was a nunnery that rents out the rooms of vacationing nuns (apparently religion is put on hold in the summer?!?) and that is used for only girls. It is rare that a married couple attends the program and the first location was filled. So that is how we ended up living with nuns for two months. Travis actually taught one nun the first discussion and gave her a Book of Mormon. We never saw her again after that. The other nuns said she went on holiday. There actually was another married couple there, they were also Mormon :-)

As for being homeless... When we left England we shipped all our belonging to my parents home, which fit in a 4 foot cube. We each had a backpack when we arrived in France for summer school (as explained above). From August 30th to September 12 that year we had no home, no address, no dwelling to call home except for various hostels and hotels in Russia and China and a week spent on the Trans Siberian Railroad. Believe me, this did not go well for Travis' Top Secret Clearance. But it made for a good adventure!

Another ER visit...

Yes, this was the 4th visit to the ER during the 4.5 years we've been in Minot. Travis pulled his hamstring playing football. He didn't really need to go to the ER, but the base Dr. was gone. The funny thing was that his mandatory workout time is at 2:30 but didn't get to the ER until later that evening. What took so long? He had to finish the game!! Silly me!

For the fans of the Twilight Series...

Grammy and my sisters-in-law all love the Twilight series like most of us do. Grammy made me this bracelet. Way cool!

Visit with the Grandmas

In September we had a wonderful visit from the Grandmas (Grammy is Travis' Mom and Yaya is Denay's Mom). Grammy came out on the 9th (our anniversary) and Yaya came out on the 13th. They overlapped on a Sunday, so they could both be here for Backpack's blessing. While they were here we took advantage and went on a few dates, one was to see Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss performed by the local opera company in town. We got to eat out lots (which we don't often to), go shopping, see the local attractions, and have fun.

Grammy with Backpack:

Yaya with Backpack:Mommy with Backpack: Here is the Princess dress Grammy got for Dynomite:
We had a nice visit with Grammy. We went shopping, went to many parks, Planet Pizza, and just had fun. Grammy and Yaya helped us get about 600lbs of food storage into buckets. That really helped us out! We were worried it was going to get ruined if we didn't get it done soon. Unfortunately, we didn't get Grammys pictures off her camera before she left so that is all we have of her visit. But we're so glad she was able to come out and see the kids and help Denay get adjusted. Thanks Grammy!! We love you!!

Yaya's visit was just as eventful. We went to the corn maze by our house.


The sign says: All weights are approximate. Backpack weighed 7lbs. 11 oz.While Dad and Trouble were practicing for the Primary Program on Saturday, Yaya and the rest of us went to the Fall Festival on base. At the Fall Festival everyone makes these straw men. Practically everyone on base has one.
Dynomite had more fun rolling around in the straw:
This is Yaya's favorite trick to do with kids. She use to do this to Denay when she was Dynomite's age. She starts by laying on the ground with her arms extended on the floor, palms up and her feet up in the air. The child places one foot on each palm and grabs on to her feet. She raises her hands up and the child balances by holding on to feet. Once they get their balance, the child lets go of her feet and is held up by Yaya. The kids love it!
At the playground on base. I went to the commissary (grocery store) while Yaya took these two. I have yet to take all three to the grocery store, thank goodness!!Dynomite feeding her baby. She is very good at mimicking. Once she held the baby up to her chest and said "Baby eat".
Dynomite feeding herself. Silly girl!

Finally, Backpack in his blessing outfit. Travis gave him a wonderful blessing. He basically said he'd be instrumental in future and be a good missionary.
We had a great time with Yaya, too! We were sad to have everyone go, mostly because Denay didn't want to have to start cooking dinner again!

Backpack and Raina

Here is backpack with Pat and Kelly's little girl, Raina. They are already play buddies!