The Nappy Neighors Strike Again!

Again, this totally happened like 2 1/2 months ago. Sad. I will catch up one day.

Dylan, Sadie, and Micah were out front playing with the Nappy Neighbors. Sadie came running in with a furrowed brow, saying, "Mommy, Ashlynn is throwing rocks at our car." I was like, Jigga WHAT?? Ben was home, and he went outside to investigate. A few seconds later, he came in and said, "Ashlynn threw a rock at our car, SHATTERING the windshield." There were several more expletives that laced that sentence, but I'm in a Mormoney mood since conference weekend and not wanting to fill your mind with substitutions, which make you think of the real word anyway.

You're welcome.

So I went outside to look. Behold the carnage:

I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe that she would do something so horribly stupid and wrong. I also couldn't believe that a skinny little girl like her could do so much damage. Right after the window shattered, all three Nappy Neighbors had run inside to hide. Their mom was at home (miracle), so Ben went and told her what happened.

And then he called the police. I love that about him, that he is willing to do something that might make someone mad, someone that we will see every day for many, many years. I wouldn't have called the police for that very reason. But he did. And I was glad. The police said that they couldn't do anything, since Ashlynn is a minor.

The mom, Laura, called her homeowner's insurance - I guess they are the ones that can cover things like this. She got a case number, blah blah blah, and wrote it down for us. We were supposed to hear from the insurance agent in three days. Then she and Ashlynn cleaned up every bit of glass.

I hadn't said a word to any of the neighbors - I was too afraid that I would say something really, really mean. There were many mean things being said in my head, rest assured. I had to go to work, and they were still out there cleaning. I was planning on ignoring them, huffily getting into our non-shattered car (the one with no air-conditioning), and speeding off, but Laura flagged me down.

"We're cleaning this up," she said, "Because that's what you do when your child makes a mess."

"Yeah," I said awkwardly.

"We've called the insurance company, and everything will be taken care of."

"Good..."

"I found the rock she threw inside the back of your car. It's really teeny. I can't figure out how something so small could have shattered your windshield."

Like it's my fault my windshield shattered!!! And she never, ever said, "I'm sorry."

I had to ask Ashlynn something. "Ashlynn," I said, "Why would you throw a rock at a car??"

Her answer: "I was trying to throw it at your house and missed."

Yeah.

I think there is something really, really wrong with her.

After three days, we hadn't heard from their insurance agent. We had his number, so we called him. He apologized and said that he was waiting on some more information from Laura and her husband. He said he had called them several times and left messages, but hadn't heard back from them.

After one week, we called the agent again. He was still unable to get ahold of the Nappy Neighbor Parents. We were pissed. It was a rainy few weeks during that time, so we had plastic bags taped over where the back windshild should be. The bags would vibrate horribly when we drove, come undone, etc. It was a nightmare. We wondered if the Nappy Neighbor Parents were avoiding paying for this. So Ben went over there. He informed Hoyt (the dad) that, if we didn't hear from their agent that day, we were going to press charges in court.

Have I mentioned how much I love him??

We heard from the agent that day. :) We got the windshield replaced like the next day.

Things have been strained, honestly, since "the incident." Hoyt and Laura won't let their kids play out front anymore. (Good.) We don't talk to each other - no exchanging of pleasantries. Our kids don't play together anymore. (Good.)

I have a neighbor who lives diagonally across the street from me named Nephi. He is really, really cute. He wears rainbow suspenders every day. Micah's occupational therapist thinks he is the cutest guy ever. She smiles and giggles every time she sees him through our windows, mowing his lawn or watering it. Anyways, Nephi comes and chats with me for hours and hours whenever I'm out gardening, which is a lot. I love gardening. If there is any gardening to be done, I feel like I can legitimately skip doing dishes. It makes me feel better about the state of my kitchen, to have at least gotten some gardening done.

Anyways. Nephi knows the scoop on everyone in the whole neighborhood. If you want to know anything, ask Nephi, or "Neef," as he likes to be called. He informed me that another neighbor informed him that the Nappy Neighbor's house is IN FORECLOSURE!!! (Good.) Is it wrong to rejoice over someone else's misfortunes? Yes. Yes, it is. So we'll see if the rumor is true. I think there's a way you can get a foreclosure list, but I'm a tad bit too busy to drop by a realtor's office and pick one of those up. All I know is that this information, whether it's true or not, has made me sooo cheerful. Seriously. So happy.

In other Nappy Neighbor News, we think our new across-the-street neighbor is a drug dealer. True story. There is a steady stream of dicey cars with dicey people in them, coming to her house, running in (not ever knocking), running out with a little package, and leaving. Even in the middle of the night. I see the transactions from my kitchen window when I'm preparing a bottle for Gage's middle-of-the-night feedings. When she's home, she leaves a gas can outside her garage. When she leaves, the gas can goes back in the garage. Lately, she will leave her car door open to signal something. We're not sure what. The sad thing is that she has the most adorable daughter Sadie's age. Her name is Katie. Katie and Sadie.

She was the one that told me about the gas can signal. I don't think she knows what it's for. Someone came and took off in her mom's car, and I had to take the kids to run errands.

I was like, "Is your mom gone now? Do I need to take you with me?"

She glanced out our windows. "No," she said, "Whenever mommy's home, she puts the gas can outside so that people know she's there."

Katie also told me her history. She is from one dad. Her younger brother is from another dad. The other dad and her mom just broke up. No marriages have ever taken place - just relationships and kids produced from those relationships. The second dad takes care of Katie's brother - she hardly ever gets to see him anymore. It's so, so sad. She deserves a good, stable home. I feel really badly for her. I just want to take her in and protect her. She comes over to play a lot, and I don't mind at all, because I know that she's safe in my house, you know? And little girls are so easy to baby-sit. Sooo much easier than little boys. Little boys are LOUD. Little girls stay in Sadie's room and quietly play with Polly Pockets.

Ben called the police department to let them know of our suspicions about our Drug Dealer neighbor. They said they would "drop by" sometime and check it out. Yeah right. My friend said she had drug dealers on her street, and she was told to write down times, license plate numbers, etc. She did, and I think she handed them in to the police. The drug dealers ended up moving out. So Ben and I have started writing down times and license plate numbers. Ben has been brazenly walking out to the cars and pointedly writing their license plate numbers down. I know the lady has seen him doing it - I see her watching him out her window. And she hasn't been as friendly to me since he's been doing that. :) He really is so ballsy.

Yeah, our street is going to pot. Or maybe crack. Whatever drug it is that she's dealing. Time to move. But not really. We can't afford to. Maybe when the market rebounds. And if a money fairy gives us some money to get into a nicer neighborhood and a bigger house.

Bracelets

We had a family get-together at my Aunt Marilyn's house a couple of months ago. We usually all sit around the table or the kitchen island and chat when we get together. And eat. We do a lot of eating. This time, on her table, she had a bunch of beads and that stretchy stuff you can use to make bracelets! So we created while we chatted. It was so much fun! What a good idea. Here are my concoctions:

Not bad, not bad. Lisa and Ashley, two of my cousins' wives, thought the beads that are on the bracelet to the left were butt-ugly, but I kind of like them. I don't have one blasted thing that matches that bracelet, but oh well. The one on the right is wayyy too tight. I need to purchase a couple of beads to add to it and make it larger for my beefy wrist.

Ashley has such an artistic eye. She knew what would look good, what order in which to put the beads on the bracelet, etc. She's really crafty.

Kortney, my cousin, was stressing out because she didn't think her bracelet looked quite right. She spent the whole time fretting over just one bracelet. That is so her!

Lisa saw Micah and said, "What an attractive child." Then it occurred to her that he strikes her as attractive because he is the identical toddler twin to her boys when they were little. He has their same head shape - kind of larger, with the back of the skull kind of flat. :) He looks like he could belong in Lisa's family, for sure.

Boyd gave me a hug and told me how worried he was about me with my pregnancy. He has such a tender heart. It meant a lot to me that he cared.

I haven't done anything with jewelery for like a year, so it was really fun to put these bracelets together. I'm making necklaces at my mom's Super Saturday next month, and I'm totally excited about it. I love doing artsy things.

Pink EYE! Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na, Pink EYE! Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na...

Mikey had Pink Eye a couple of weeks before we had Gage:

And Sadie had it the week after we had Gage:

The poor girl. Dylan and Ben treated her like a freakin' leper. Sadie touched one of Gage's baby toys, and Ben made me disinfect every single toy. Sheesh. And if Sadie was within five feet of Dylan, he would yell, "Get away from me! You have pink eye! You're disgusting!"

Pink Eye really is freaky. I don't like the fact that it's highly contagious, and the fact that I had a newborn at the time. But I was kind to poor Sades. It's not her fault. I had her use her own special hand towel, but I still swapped our hand towel out like once a day, just to be safe. And I washed my hands a ton and made her wash hers a ton, too.

I took Micah in to the doctor when he had it, and we got those antibiotic eye drops. We seemed to have a ton left after we used it for the required seven days, so I kept it. When Sades got Pink Eye, I thought, "Sweet! I'm totally not going in to the doctor! I've got the drops right here! Gonna save me $30!" But we ran out after five days. I was freaking out. I thought for sure it wasn't long enough to have taken those drops, and that the pink eye would come back with a vengeance. I was telling Mom of my concerns, and she said that she had some over-the-counter eyedrops - they aren't antibiotics, but they helped her eyes during her own episodes with pink eye. She offered to bring it over. I said heck yes.

So we start using these herbal drops, or whatever the heck they're made of. And Sadie's eyes keep getting pinker and pinker, and the discharge started up again. I was like, "Crap. These drops aren't strong enough. I'm going to have to take her to the stinkin' doctor." Ben was looking at these herbal drops, and he was like, "Um, Kar, these expired two years ago. Maybe that's why her eyes are irritated."

That is so Mom! It's this cute thing about her - she always has expired food she's trying to pawn off on us. We are always having to double-check expiration dates. Now Expiration Syndrome is delving into her medicine cache. :) I called her and teased her about it, then chucked the drops. I gave it a couple of more days, and sure enough, Sadie cleared right up. The herbal drops were irritating her eyes, after all. I never ended up having to take her to the doc. But I'm telling you what - next time, I'm not going to trust that I have enough antibiotic drops. I'll take whoever to the doctor, first thing. Some things are worth spending $30 for.

Patty P. from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Precious, Perfect Papoose

Soooo, Pats had her little man, Kole, July 19th, I believe. This kid was eleven pounds at birth!!:

He kicked his mom's butt for many, many hours. The poor woman. It's a good thing he's so dang cute. Look at those chubby cheeks! I love 'em.

He looks like Ken, I think. Here is a pic of Ken for your comparing pleasure:

I took a pic of Patty, too, but she won't let me put it on my blog. :) I think she looks great in it. Smiling. Radiant.

Megs came with me to visit the P family in the hospital. Here she is with the Kole-ster:

And here am I, in my lobstery, sunburnt, pregnant glory:

Autumn and Taylor from our ward were there, too:

Kole is the snuggliest baby EVER. He just snuggles right in. And he smells really good. I spend the whole time I hold Kole sniffing his little head and squeezing his chunky little legs. Talk about pleasingly plump. The kid can eat. Patty says he now weighs 18 pounds. I love it. Chubby babies are happy babies. And Kole is happy. He smiles a lot. Sooo cute. And talk about a good baby. He burps like a champ and sleeps through the night. I'm a fan of him. Gage needs to take burping and night sleeping lessons from Koleyoley.

Rigby Lake - Apparently, a Place for Romantic Trysts

So. My friend Megs and I decided to take our kiddos to Rigby Lake. This was when we were both enormously pregnant. And it was like 95 degrees outside. We're crazy.

I could not, for the life of me, remember how to get there. I went last year, but my mommy had driven, so I hadn't paid attention. So I did an internet search. Sometimes, when I scan the results of my search, I don't read the titles of the websites I'm looking at - just at the little two- or three-sentence description underneath. I was scanning the descriptions and saw one that looked like just what I needed - a turn-by-turn set of directions. So I clicked on the site, and lo and behold, it was a website called Cruising Gay, or something like that. I was like, huh? I guess this website is dedicated to places where you can, if you're a gay dude, meet other gay dudes. And I guess Rigby Lake is hoppin' with that kind of action. I was like, "Rigby Lake??? Really???" It was all, "The best time to hook up is in the evenings. There are lots of meadows where you can go and be alone..." Who knew?? I didn't realize there was that big of a gay population in Rigby. You learn something new every day.

Anyways, the website really gave awesome directions. Thanks, Cruising Gay.

Megs and her kiddos could only stay for like an hour. They all had fun playing together, though. Sadie and Brynnan would run down the sloping beach to the water, over and over:

We got to utilize our newly-acquired sand toys. Pregnant me with Mikey:

Dylan made a little "lake" with a river that ran down to join the real lake:

Here are Megs and Jonas:

She had her swimsuit on, but she wouldn't take her shirt off, because she was so embarrassed of her belly. I couldn't believe how far out her belly stretched! Tinian was a big, big baby. And she is a little, little person. There's no where else to go but OUT when you're as teeny as Megs is.

Jonas had a hard time keeping his balance in the water, so Sadie held his hand:

I thought that was so cute.

And I love this shot, because it shows her little butt cheeks sticking out of her swimsuit:

She has such a long torso - we have a hard time finding suits that fit her body. I have the same problem. If we buy a suit her size, it gives her wedgies. If we get one a size bigger, no wedgies, but the top is too roomy. It's an issue.

Megs had to take off, but my kids and I stayed for quite a bit. I had the wonderful opportunity of blowing up the dang tube (my least favorite thing to do):

The tube was a hot commodity. All three kids fought over the dang thing the whole time we were there. It was super-special.

Micah wouldn't float in the toddler floatie, so Sadie decided to give up the Red Tube Fight and try it out. I can't believe she didn't sink!! I didn't think it would hold her weight:

They've added something new since last year. Or maybe I didn't notice it last year. A dock thingey way far out, with a slide on it:

It looks like a blast. You can slide right into the water. Dylan swam all the way out there in his life vest and went down it a few times. If I didn't have Clingey Micah with me, I might have gone out with the other two and slid down it.

I remembered to lube up the kids, but I ran out of time/forgot to put sunscreen on myself, so I got crispy crittered. Suuuuch a bad sunburn.

Benny Bones' Birthday

Yeah, his birthday was July 18. I'm just a leetle behind. Do you mind that I'm posting about something that happened so long ago?

I was watching Cake Boss today; I really wish I could make cool cakes like that. Maybe sometimes I'll have the time and the energy to go down that road. Using fondant and all of that. My pregnant self could only muster a plain chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, baked in a 9X13 pan:

We put three candles on one side, and four on the other, to stand for "34." I've now known Ben for ten years. I threw him a birthday party for his 24th birthday; we had been dating only a few weeks. We were both so skinny and peppy back then...

I'm the coolest wife ever. I got Ben some great stuff. Whitman's chocolates, the Twilight graphic novel (Ben is a major Twi-Hard), the New Moon soundtrack (which he listens to every single day when he's driving to and from work), and a couple of other books to read when he donates plasma.

The kids picked a card out for Ben - it was a 4th of July card. I protested, but it was a pop-up card, and they were so in love with it, I gave in. Ben liked it:

Transition

Just a couple of weeks before the Gagemeister was born, we decided to transition Micah from a crib to a Big Boy Bed. We moved him into the same room as Dylan, into the bottom bunk of the bunk bed, and we put Sadie into Micah's old room.

My poor parents kept an my old bed set in their storage room for five years for us, until it was time for this transition, which was REALLY, REALLY nice of them. Benny set everything up on his birthday. He is the best:

I wouldn't want to do something like that on my birthday.

The floors in that room were sanded by the last guy who lived here; we haven't had time to refinish them yet. They look really dusty, but they're only moderately dusty in real life. :)

Sadie's reaction to the transition:

Micah's reaction to the transition:

It took him a couple of weeks to get used to it. We had to have Dylan sleep in the living room a couple of times while we locked Micah in the bedroom - he was screaming bloody murder and keeping Dylan up. Sometimes he gets up and comes and bugs me and Ben when he's supposed to be going to sleep, but it's not too bad - maybe once or twice per night. When Dylan was two, and we transitioned him to a Big Boy Bed, he would LITERALLY get out of his bed and bug us FIFTY TIMES PER NIGHT. I'm not eggagerating. I counted once. I was trying to be all Nanny 911 and take him back into his room over and over again (I had so much more energy back then), but finally I had to just lock the kid into his room every night. You gotta do what you gotta do.