Nurses from John C. Lincoln

These are some of the greatest nurses that I have ever worked with. We all worked in the Birthing Center at John C. Lincoln together. The two on the left, Sharon and Ruth worked with me in the nursery and the two on the right, Gayla and Deb worked in post-partum couplet care. We are a bunch of hard working team players when it came to running our department. And we always had fun doing it no matter how hard something was.

We went to a hospital job fair not too far from our last hospital. The three of us nursery nurses managed to get some time to talk with the director of Maternal Child health. It was awesome because it was pretty much an interview with all three of us. It is totally a "God Thing" that she met with us because she didn't have time but changed her mind when she saw us on a hospital tour. There are a quite a few openings in the nursery and we have a pretty good shot at getting them. The nursery was huge compared to what we are used to. Not to mention beautiful. And the babies of course. I didn't realize how depressed I have been feeling since getting layed off. I almost got teary eyed when we passed a radiant warmer bed and there wasn't even a baby on it. I knew I loved working with the babies but I didn't realize I would miss it this much.

So now it is all in God's hands as to whether or not we all get a job there or not. I will have to keep you posted.

Afterwards we spent the next two and a half hours at Sweet Tomatoes having lunch and talking. I really missed them and was so happy to be around them.

They are wonderful women.

Kirk needs a Barn

I have heard for the past twenty five years from Kirk that he needs a barn for the big projects that he does. At first I would be like, yeah right. Just move that and that in the garage and you will have plenty of room. Okay, now that he has constructed a blue tent on our front lawn to shield himself from the wind so he can air brush is an indication that yes, we really do need more space.Whenever someone is looking for him we just say he is on the front lawn painting his monkeys. Or "Oh he is out front with the monkeys".

I am so glad we don't have a home owners association. Our neighbors are always interested in what he is doing. You never know what he will be working on next. Right now these monkeys are for an indoor amusement park called Jambo Place. Our doctor friend from Africa bought a space that is right next to our house. Once Kirk found out he practically convinced the guy that Kirk could really theme out this place. So the monkeys will be battling the pirates (we had pirates on the lawn too) in the laser tag area. He even ordered paint that glowed in black light. So cool. The kids and I were thinking of more ways to use the paint if any is left over after the project. Victoria has already decided that she can't wait to try it out when it opens. The cool thing about these projects that Kirk does is that we hang out and bring him lunch and dinner at times so we see this stuff as it goes in before opening day. This one will be fun to see how it all comes together. He will have all the walls to do aside from the laser tag.

This picture is a little blurry because of the lighting. Looks cool though.

Puzzle

The other day Kaleb was looking for something to do. He pulled out a puzzle that I knew would take way too much time to put together and is really hard. I sent him back to the garage to find a puzzle that might not take too much time to do since I knew it would end up on the kitchen table until it was completely put together. He came back with a puzzle that Daphne and I got at the thrift store for $2. My kind of deal. You just run the risk of missing pieces.

Everyone became involved with this puzzle. Not quite what we need right now. It became a large distraction with it not only taking up a huge amount of space on our table. It was really hard not to work on it during meals. We spent quite a few late nights sitting at the table working on it. Quite a few times someone would call for something and you would hear the "puzzle" response of ... "just a minute". That was always the first indication that the puzzle was being worked on. We were saving this particular one for summer but was welcomed with a break here and there and some late nights. It only had two missing pieces which is the most that we have ever encountered.

It was a very pretty puzzle. Lots of beautiful colors. Great way to bring the family closer together especially when it's 10 at night and we are all needing to go to bed and we all keep agreeing to go after this next piece. And then you get the excitement of getting a piece in so you work on the next piece and it just keeps going from there. So I guess it didn't matter what puzzle Kaleb chose to put together. The very thing I was trying to avoid happened anyway. So really what did it matter? I guess it was intended to happen whether I wanted it to or not.

Jellyfish!

Victoria has been learning about the ocean and became very focused on Jellyfish. She had a really hard time understanding that jellyfish don't have brains, eyes, or a nervous system but can sting and eat. She and Kaleb constructed these little jellyfish from pudding cups to hang in the entry way to the kitchen. They really wanted to hang them completely across the opening but I didn't want to have to walk through streamers every single time I entered the kitchen. So they had to leave an opening.

I found this idea to paint jellyfish here at Deep Space Sparkle; Art Lessons for Kids. We really liked this project. We used liquid watercolors. We had splatters all over the place. Even Sammy had some blue and yellow splots on him. What's art without getting messy.

Kaleb's Waffle

Kaleb made waffles on Saturday morning....We don't know how he did it but all of the waffles came out this way. We thought the first was a fluke but then he mastered his technique and created these really cool, crispy, Grand Canyon like waffles. They were really good. And probably only half the Weight Watchers points since they were only half filled. Thank you Kaleb! The first one he overflowed when he dropped the lid...batter oozed everywhere. I felt pretty proud of myself that I didn't become a crazed woman, foaming at the mouth over spilt milk.I was pure calm as Kaleb is running in circles trying to figure out what to do about all of the batter spilling out the sides. Maybe it was because he was frantic I didn't need to be. Whew. Kind of nice to have someone else freaking out over something for once. He wouldn't believe me that it was okay for the waffle iron to look as if it was a 10 month old, who doesn't want to eat its peas. And that it was easier to clean up when it was baked on rather than just batter. Either way I told Kaleb that someday he would make his future wife proud that he knows how to cook. Now if I can just get Jared to stop setting off that smoke alarm.

New Outfits

Daphne has been working on her own designs for doll clothes. If you can master a small scale you can master a much larger scale. She has all of the basics down for following a pattern. She designed Kaya a new outfit, altered a couple patterns, and sewed this all on her own. It turned out great. I am glad that she enjoys sewing as much as I do.

I finished the little red skirt and top for Victoria's doll Molly. It was really easy to do too with great results. I love it when I have only a half an hour to do something for myself and am able to whip out something really cute in the end.

What?!

I never know what I will find on the camera when I download pictures. I have no idea who took this one. I do know it was NOT Kaleb. I was fascinated by this picture of Kaleb. Even though his neck looks like a lizard that has been starved...his eyes are open! I think we now have exactly two pictures of Kaleb with his eyes open wide enough to see his pupils. Amazeing!