Please visit our new blog at www.3hambrickboys.blogspot.com.

If you have our blog as a link from your own, please change the linking address.

Thanks.

the Hambricks

Sunday Stamping

Wyatt asked me the other day why I'm always stamping. I told him because I love to do it and because the ladies that come over during the month like to make things too. So he asked if he could do some stamping, and the other 2 wanted to join in too.

I have a couple of stamp sets that I allow the boys to use. They're usually holiday classics that I'll likely never part with, so it doesn't matter how much ink ends up all over the wooden blocks that the rubber is mounted onto.

I just have to watch out for ink contamination!!! Travis is really good at getting it all over his hands and then touching EVERYTHING. I have to keep wipes handy and remind all of them to only use one color at a time.

Notice the passy? I want to throw those things away, but I realize my life would be very unendurable if I did. We've got to do some weaning!!!

Truckin'

It wasn't long ago that the boys realized that if they had enough nerve, they could ride their Tonka dump trucks down the driveway. I'm pretty sure Brad was the Guinna pig!!! It's so funny that if Brad can do it, then Wyatt tries it too!

They start at the road and head down to the end of our driveway. Because the driveway is quite steep, they pick up a bit of speed and have to stop by running into the grass or using their feet as brakes. I have a feeling we'll run through a few pairs of play shoes before the summer is over.

I'm sure the worst part of it all is pushing the trucks back up the hill. Good thing they don't have 2 feet of snow and a cumbersome sled to carry, huh!

And while the bigger boys play on the driveway, Travis sneaks into the neighbors yard to play on the toys there. Yes, he is in his PJs. On the weekends he makes some pretty good escape attempts from the house. He doesn't care what he's wearing, he just wants to play!

Warning!

WARNING: He's cute, but looks can be deceiving!

OK, so today has been one of those days where I wonder if my sanity will hold up! To start off, I woke up tired... ever have those days? But I went ahead and worked out anyway. Of course while I was on the treadmill, Travis got mad at something and decided to throw the VSmile. (He's getting really good at throwing electronics - our Wii is broken now since he threw it a couple of weeks ago.)

So the VSmile wouldn't work and Wyatt had to have a fit. I spent a good 10 minutes jiggling wires and hitting the box trying to make it work. Thankfully I got it working again despite the fact that neither boy thanked me for my efforts - such as life as a mom!!!

My next objective was to get showered and ready for my meeting at church for Girls Camp. Apparently while I was in the bathroom, Travis climbed onto the counter (I still haven't figured out how) and got my purse. Last night I had a $5 bill in there which happened to vanish sometime this morning. I also had lipstick EVERYWHERE! Yes, the lipstick monster had struck again! There were globs on the prescription for Wyatt's medicine and the Costco receipt that Jake needs to be reimbursed at church.

I was HOT! I got everyone in the van and nearly pealed out of the garage. I stopped at Chick-fil-A to get a drink - that's when I found out I couldn't find my $5! So I used the debit card - and apparently we have NO money in our account! It was great to put $1.69 on the Discover card!!!

We got to church - everyone in 1 piece. We decided to have our meeting in the High Council room since the missionaries were having meetings throughout the rest of the building. I love camp meetings because it gives us a chance to get a glimpse at what is planned as well as to make suggestions about things. Well not today!!! I had to leave the room so many times to run after Travis who decided he needed to be in the gym - where they were setting up lunch for the missionaries!!! After many scoldings that didn't seem to take effect, he decided to get into the pot of the ficus tree in the waiting area of the Stake wing. Yup, there was Spanish moss EVERYWHERE!!! You think I'm kidding? Lauren had so much in her hair you'd think she'd been in a barn with hay... there was so much stuff on the floor that it was ridiculous... there were balls of moss all over where he had been throwing it... and it was time for me to take Wyatt to school so all I could do was throw it back in the pot and leave! Ugh!

Great times! Some days I wonder why I even leave the house! And then it occurs to me that I would go insane if I had to stay couped up in the house with a curious and crazy 2-year-old!!!

More warm weather...

Yes, it is March. And yes, Brad is wearing shorts and short sleeves. It's been quite warm a few days this past week. The kids have been outside non-stop.

Travis rode with Daddy as the truck was parked in the driveway again after washing the van and car. We had to wash all of the salt and grit off of the vehicles from the last snow. Too bad we'll probably have to do it again before the winter is over!

Jake decided to move some things around for better storage. He decided our camping gear needed to move out of the storage room and into the garage.

We just found that we have a carpenter ant problem. I think problem would be an understatement though! Jake found evidence of a colony living in the ceiling/wall of the garage. Thankfully we were able to get a pest company out ASAP and they have been able to make the first treatment before the ants start to emerge for the season.

So yippee for us for paying to get rid of bugs. At least the treatment will rid our house of all of the pesky squirmies that we usually see in the summer - like spiders, silverfish (yuck!) and any other ickies we might have the privilege of housing.

Most every woman knows how cruddy swimsuit season can be. I don't know about everyone else, but my friends and I are always trying to find the right suit to best compliment our body types. Will a tankini work? Should it have a plunging neckline or a sporty one? Should the straps criss-cross or should it be a halter? Skirt or boyshorts? There are lots of different combos that could work.

So one day I got this card from a friend. I laughed out loud because it totally fit the "swimsuit situation". I thought I'd share it with everyone so you could get a laugh out of it too.

Sorry for all you men reading this because it probably isn't quite as funny to you!

pensieves, portkeys and wands

I've been a little overwhelmed with things that I need to get done in the next couple of months. Of course they're all things I want to do, but they all require a bit of thought and action. Sometimes I feel like my thoughts all get muddled together. Sometimes I think it would be kinda nice if I had my own 'pensieve' that I can put my thoughts and memories into. A place that I can revisit by reliving the situation. Hmmm, that could be both good and bad, I guess.

I'm sure you can guess I've taken advantage of watching a few Harry Potter movies this weekend on ABCFamily. I always get sucked into the whimsy of the magic. Wouldn't it be awesome if we could have a wand to wave and have the toilets clean? Or to have portkeys so that we can transport ourselves from one place to another in the blink of an eye? I've always thought it would be neat to be able to transfigure myself or travel by way of floo powder. Ahhh, the excitement of magic.

Anyway, life goes on - in reality. I'll sort things out like I always do. Everything will get done on time and all will be fine. It's just fun to think of what it might be - kinda like winning the lottery or something. Oh to dream!

Girls Camp 2009

Sorry I haven't been posting a lot on our family blog here. If you check out my crafty blog, you'll see that I've been doing tons there instead. Most of my time is spent either running the kids around here and there or crafting.

Well I'm going to Girls Camp again this summer - yippee!!! This year I'm over the 4th year girls (aka; Counselors in Training). We're doing an overnight canoe trip - and Jake's going with us. I'm so excited and a bit anxious since I have to take care of all of the food and other arrangements. Since we're canoeing and then pulling to the side of the river to camp, some of the trip is left up to chance and I can't plan it. That can get a little crazy!

So I need a notebook to jot things down in and I couldn't leave it plain. I used one of my cute camping themed stamp sets to embellish this little notebook.

The snout on the bear as well as the smore, sleeping bag and can of beans are all 3D. I wanted them to pop off the surface to give the scene more punch.

And of course I need a folder for all of the forms and papers I'll be dealing with. I titled it with my little Counselors in Training and embellished with a mosquito and can of spray. It was tons of fun and looks too cute - if I do say so myself!

X-Ray

Last week we were given the order to have a neck xray made to see what Wyatt's adenoids were doing. So this morning we set off to the hospital. It was kind of a hit or miss thing going to get this done because the outpatient radiology doesn't take appointments. We got lucky that we went early enough in the day that they weren't overflowing with patients.

Wyatt is in the back seat waiting to get to the hospital. Too bad all of this is old hat for him. Thankfully there were no tears on this trip!

The xray tech that helped us out today was named Brooke. She was awesome and talked a lot to Wyatt and not me. She made him feel at ease.

The procedure was so simple. He stood still and held his breath while she took the shot. No pain and no waiting! It was great.

Now it's just another waiting game as the hospital writes up the report and sends the xray to Dr Thai. If she sees anything worth scouting out, she'll call us and we'll then go see an ENT. Now to decide what ENT we want to go to!!!

No clean pants!

It's a good thing we had some warm weather this week because Travis ran out of clean pants on Friday. Luckily he looked cute in shorts and a sweater! And you have to notice the boots!!! They're actually a size and a half too big, but he doesn't care.

Looks like he's ready to go hiking somewhere! Of course most hiking trails around here are mud and/or ice right now. We'll stick to running errands around town!

Family History

I love technology. I think it's great that my sisters (in-law) and I can keep everyone up to speed on our blogs. It's so nice to click on my friend Kim's blog to see what their family is doing. And all of this because we're all many miles away from each other. But I found another great perk that my blog brings to me...

I used to be a really great journal writer. In high school and the first year or two of college, I was very devoted to my journals. The majority of mine and Jake's relationship is recorded on paper! But then something happened! I got too busy playing with friends late at night - which is when I usually wrote. And then I got a job, and married, and started having kids. Life got too crazy. So unfortunately, there are a few years of my life that haven't been recorded.

Thankfully some genius came up with blogs and I learned about them. Now I can put pictures (which I take way more of now because I want to keep my blog updated!) and text together and have a record of my life again! And did you know that there is a publisher (Blurb) that is working on making blogspot compatible with their software so we can print our blogs in books? How great will that be? I can print my blog in yearly spurts and have a hard-bound copy of our family's life.

Now as much as I love blogs, I still love to scrapbook. And often times I scrap the same pictures that I may have featured on a post in the blog! But my scrapbooks allow me to get really creative and put little twists on things. The boys LOVE to look at the scrapbooks and see how they've grown or how different embellishments were used. It's great.

So I hope that I'm doing my part to keep a history of our family. Maybe generations from now will appreciate all of the time and effort (not that I mind) that I put into these memories!!!

No allergies!

We hit another milestone in the journey to finding out what's going on with Wyatt's health. For years he's had trouble breathing through his nose and often resorts to snorting because he prefers nose breathing to mouth breathing. We've had him on Nasonex and Flonase, but I still believe that's what has created more of his headache issues than anything.

So since we knew his head was fine but that the CT scan showed enlarged sinuses, I made an appointment to go see a pediatric allergist. Dr Thai was awesome and very thorough. She immediately had her staff order a copy of the CT scan so she could take a look at it. She was concerned with the inflammation and has put Wyatt on a more gentle nasal spray as well as an antibiotic to hopefully take some of the swelling down. We've also been instructed to irrigate his nose twice daily - ha! We'll see if that flies!

After the poke tests for allergies, the results came back negative. Wyatt isn't allergic to anything!!! So our next step is to get an x-ray of his neck and head to see if it's the adenoids. If they're swollen, then Dr Thai is sending us to an ENT to get those things taken care of.

Poor Wyatt was a trooper. He wasn't expecting to be poked, but did fine despite the uncomfortable pricks. He has no idea what this irrigation stuff is going to entail, but I'm sure it'll be fun for all involved. And we have yet another hospital visit to take care of the x-rays. Luckily he's already done the CT scan, so this should be a walk in the park.

Family Fun

So mom sent me this picture as well as another one to do some touch-ups. I decided I needed to play with this one. It was a bit fun!

Don't we look nice?

Travis decided he needed to try my boots on. He usually wears everyone's shoes around the house, but these were harder to get on. I do like that they cover his entire leg!!!

And yes, he did walk with them on and didn't fall!!!

What is love?

'When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.'

Rebecca- age 8

---

'When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.'

Billy - age 4

'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.'

Karl - age 5

---

'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.'

Chrissy - age 6

---

'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.'

Terri - age 4

---

'Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.'

Danny - age 7

---

'Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more.
My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss'

Emily - age 8

---

'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.'

Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

---

'If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,'

Nikka - age 6
(we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)

---

'Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.'

Noelle - age 7

---

'Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.'

Tommy - age 6

---

'During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.

He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.'

Cindy - age 8

---

'My mommy loves me more than anybody
You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.'

Clare - age 6

---

'Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.'

Elaine-age 5

---

'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Brad Pitt.'

Chris - age 7

---

'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.'

Mary Ann - age 4

---

'I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.'

Lauren - age 4

---

'When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.' (what an image)

Karen - age 7

---

'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross.'

Mark - age 6

---

'You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.'

Jessica - age 8

---

And the final one

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,
'Nothing, I just helped him cry'