BF '09

BF '09.......Black Friday, 4:30 am, Erika, Alison, Andrea, Kristen, Lindsay, Idaho Falls and bazillions of others, equals the BEST time!!!! Big cheers to the lady at Target who hurdled the yellow caution tape and blew past a security guard to get in the door, I sure hope she got what she wanted. Erika, post that video on you tube. Sorry to the man whose cart I stole. But really, you shouldn't have turned your back. Sorry to the poor woman Kristen yelled at......and about your vest. Sorry to Perkins, we were really loud! Sorry to Ali and Lindsay for the lady at Wal-Mart who wouldn't leave you alone and talked right into your face. Littlest Pet Shop isn't stupid and who cares that Sam's Club was serving free breakfast, it is called personal space. You should try giving people some. Sorry that Kristen called you useless Erika, but way to keep our spot in line holding a $7 sweatshirt you didn't even buy. Honestly I don't know how the shopping frenzy turned us all into lunatics but I can't wait for next year! A HUGE thank you to Lindsay for making us all go and experience the magic. You are an amazing team leader. Here's to Black Friday 2010, only 357 days to go!

wwf randall style

I love how ingenious my kids can be. We have a room FULL of toys, books, puzzles, board games, card games, craft projects an so on. Sometimes these items actually get played with, but often they make up silly games that require imagination only. Lately they have been in to making forts, using EVERY blanket, towel, pillow and sleeping bag we own. Then one day it got dangerous. Sliding down the stairs in the nylon sleeping bags........honestly it is an accident waiting to happen but whatever, they were having fun. Then the fun escalated. Thanks in large part to dad. The items mentioned above all ended up in a heap on the landing of the stairs. Cade and Annie began jumping from the top steps into the pile. Micah turned it up a notch and started throwing them into the pile. He did exercise some parental caution and only launched them from about four stairs up, not the top. Good times at the Randalls. St. Lukes here we come.....again!

I'm slipping

Do you ever think back to the days when you only had one child? Clean house, clean laundry, dinner on the table.....scheduled play dates, trips to the library twice a week for story time.......closets organized, garage organized and an overall calmer life? Back in those days I thought I was so busy, what an idiot I was. I LOVE my children dearly but life is much more chaotic (those of you with more than three kids please stop rolling your eyes) I'm not sure if my standards are lower or if I just care less, but either way I feel I am slipping a bit. Not so much of a schedule these days, laundry is usually done (NEVER the ironing!) we do eat but we have lots of pancakes and waffles for dinner, not much is organized and story time? Right. All I can say is that I am pretty sure the toilets had be cleaned in the last month. Lysol still works after a month right? I love my life.

downstaris bath looking messier than usual
Great, hand in toilet then in mouth. Delicious.

Oh well, she was happy as a clam!

Halloween

We had a pretty low-key Halloween this year. The kids were excited to go trick-or-treating, we let Annie go around to a few houses then Cade continued on with the neighbors. He was kind enough to share his loot with Annie. Molly was happy until her M&M's were gone. Cutest skeleton, witch, and ladybug I have ever seen! Happy Halloween!

A look back

Taking a look back over the last 10 days I really REALLY wish we only had the flu. Last thursday we took Annie to the doctor, she had been up early that morning and we could tell she was having difficulty breathing. She seemed to fight off whatever Cade and I had but then it hit her hard. We took her for a chest x-ray and the right lung was FULL of pnuemonia, her oxygen levels were also dipping well below normal. The doctor told us to head to the hospital and she might only have to stay 24 hours. (that may have happened for any "normal" family but not us!) Cut to Friday morning......

8 am chest x-ray was looking worse, a complete white-out

9 am CAT scan shows a HUGE pocket of fluid in her chest cavity that has collapsed her lung. It was a pancake right by her heart.

10 am I am told she needs to be in the ICU......

Later that day they sedated her and put in a chest tube and a PIC line (for antibiotics and to give her nutrition) The doctor told us how serious her condition was, very very scary. She remained in the ICU until Tuesday morning and then transferred to the regular floor were she stayed until Thursday. We have her home and she is recovering nicely. She is very tired, looks pale and has lost weight. My scale said 31 lbs. Her lung is re-inflated but it will take 2 months for it to heal completely. She ended up with Strep A, which generally causes strep throat but for some reason it entered her respiratory system. She also had Strep A in her PIC line which meant it was in her blood stream. She was a fighter through it all and should not have any long-term effects. We are so grateful for her recovery and grateful for the fasting and many prayers on her behalf. He was listening.