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Hardwood floors 1 – Wiggly Tooth 0

Posted on May 24, 2010 6:51 pm by TheAngelForever

Last night, if you followed me on Twitter, a panicked Tweet went out just at about 9:00. As other people were settling in to watch the last episode of Lost, I was calling my parents to quickly come to my house.

After our fun day in the sun at The Great Escape, the boys were exhausted. We ate dinner, TechyDad gave them baths and it was time for bed. NHL was in bed and JSL was still getting settled. After TechyDad brushed his teeth, he went to get his sippy cup with water. I was getting something on my side of the bed and the lights were out. JSL came running into the room and WHAM!

After the initial thud, I heard horror-movie screams coming from my three year old son. I ran to the other side of the bed yelling for TechyDad to come quick (he had just gotten into the shower). When I flicked on the light and got to the other side of the bed where JSL was, he was getting up. His hands covering his mouth and blood was all over the place.

I could quickly see that he had a gash in his bottom lip. TechyDad came in and helped me to take him into the bathroom to try to see what was going on. JSL was beyond upset and did NOT want anything to touch him. We obviously needed to check his teeth, face and head. I asked if he would put ice on the lip to make it feel better. Thank goodness, he agreed. I got a paper towel to put on it and we got the bleeding to stop.

Meanwhile, I had called my parents. With NHL in bed, I was not sure if we were off to the ER with the little guy. My father left Lost and rushed over to our house. He definitely helped to calm JSL down and we were able to see that the bleeding had stopped. Looking into his mouth was another story. I was in a panic imagining the worst about his teeth. JSL refused to go into our room and wanted to stay on the couch. At a little after 11:00, he finally agreed to come and rest/sleep with me.

This morning, TechyDad and I held JSL down and I was able to look in more. I could see bruises all around his two top front teeth and it did not look good. Luckily, we were able to get into the dentist this afternoon. Here is a photo of the little guy asleep in his stroller as we waited to see the dentist.

I love our dentists – can not say enough wonderful things about them. Dr. N reassured me that we did the right thing with ice and coming in today. As he slept, she moved his upper lip and touched his teeth. Immediately, I saw one move. My heart broke momentarily. She could tell and told me not to panic. When she got the little mirror to check under the teeth, JSL woke up and was not a pleased patient. She got a look inside and said it was bruising that I saw. She asked if I would be ok holding him for an x-ray and I agreed. It took the two of us holding him on me to get it, but it worked. It looks like there is no root damage or anything more to the tooth.

For now, we have to watch and keep it clean, cut his food (no biting into things) and go back in a few weeks for his regular check-up. Looks like his three year portraits will be waiting a little while. Oh and once again, I am requesting a little bubble for JSL because the kid has given me one too many scares in his three years.

Categories:
bad news doctor jsl messy ouchie photos

Winnie the Pooh 3rd Birthday Party

Posted on May 20, 2010 11:12 am by TheAngelForever

As I have mentioned in the past, JSL is quite ~~obsessed~~ in love with Winnie the Pooh and friends. Since our trip to Disney in February, he has declared that he only wants to wear items with Tigger and Pooh, watch their movies/shows and play with those toys. Thanks to this, we knew exactly what theme would be in place for JSL’s third birthday party over the weekend.

Everyone arrived to the party as we were still preparing the food. During this time, we had a little fun and excitement that many of us could have lived without. When we took the pizza bagels out of the oven, I put them down onto a trivet. Mistake #1 – it was plastic and must have adhered itself to the bottom of the cookie sheet. Thanks to this, when TechyDad put the cookie sheet back into the over. . . the plastic trivet went in to bake.

Nobody noticed anything until the time was up and we were pulling the goodies out of the oven. At that point, TechyDad and I both saw flickering. Sure enough we had a fire. Both of us yelled to get attention of others to come and help. I immediately turned off the oven and made sure the kids were not coming into the room. Meanwhile, my father and TechyDad worked to make sure that the flame was going out. It was at this point that we figured out the culprit of the fire. Luckily it went out pretty quickly, but left a rather large mess. This is what the rack that had the trivet and cookie sheet looked like in the end:

When all was said and done, nobody was hurt, the oven appears to be ok and the food was fine. Here is the food that was served for lunch:

We had veggies and dip, whole grain white rice (testing it for a review), vegetarian "meatballs" with sweet and sour sauce, pizza bagels, Mac & Cheese (Toy Story shapes), and mini bread bowls filled with two types of toppings.

As some of the kids cleared out from the kitchen, Uncle M sat down with NHL, JSL and SG. They were too cute sitting there together and chatting together, so we had to take a photo.

As we transitioned from lunch to cupcake time, the kids were able to play and baby be held by lots of people. JSL and SG had a ton of fun with each other, while Mimi and Aunt T held baby BA.

Two weeks earlier, I asked people for suggestions on what kind of Winnie the Pooh cake I could make. In the end, I went with something I had done before and was suggested by Maryellen Hooper (you are such a Rock Star – love ya!). I made cute cupcakes wrapped in Winnie the Pooh and Tigger liners and had JSL’s characters parading around them on the table. Simple, practical and no real worries. I had wanted to make a giant cupcake, but was not sure how it would work with egg substitute (my niece is allergic to eggs). Since there was no time for a test run, we did regular cupcakes. Here are all of the goodies ready to be devoured:

Thanks to my handy dandy decorating tool and Aunt M for helping me with operation frost and sprinkle, the cupcakes came out really nicely. It was soon time for the little guy to be shy and have everyone sing Happy Birthday to him. After several attempts, he was finally able to get the 3 candle blown out with a little assistance (we were all a little fire phobic for a reason ya know).

JSL had asked for chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (not my kid), so we bought those to make. When it was time for him to eat his cupcake, he did not want it. Note him eating it with a spoon and not being too enthusiastic. Meanwhile big brother and cousin SG loved theirs.

Once the kids were cleaned up, it was present time. More on this tomorrow for my Aloha Friday topic/question of the week.

It really was a nice party. Aside from the fireworks from the oven, it went rather smoothly. One thing is for sure, thanks to that we will always remember JSL’s third birthday party.

Categories:
baking birthday cousins family food glorious food fun jsl messy photos TechyDad weekend yummy

New OxiClean Products

Posted on January 28, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

As the mother of two little boys, I have seen my fair share of dirt, grime, food and other stains on clothing. There have been times that I have actually "retired" some clothing because things do not come out after using our normal strain removing tactics.

Last Friday, when NHL got home from school and took his coat off, I noticed something on his back. Check that, it was all over his back, and something else was on the sleeves. I asked him what had happened. He told me that they had Art class that day and had been painting. Ugh! Typically, I remember Art day and would not send him to school in a lighter colored outfit. I am the mother that sent her child to daycare years ago in menu coordinating outfits to try to hide stains the best. I asked how the paint got there, but only received shrugs. No doubt in my mind that NHL’s shirt was the project of another child in the class. *sigh*

Friday night, when NHL took off the shirt I sprayed it with our usual stain spray. This is one that can be left on for a while before washing. Sunday, I did the laundry. When I pulled it out of the wash, some of the paint was still there. Can you see fumes coming from my ears? Well, that is when I kicked myself. I had just received some new samples of OxiClean Max Force Pre-Treater Gel Stick and Oxi Clean Max Force Laundry Strain Fighter & Booster Power Paks. Ooops!

So, yesterday morning, I decided to try an experiment. Would the soon to be released (mid-February) products by OxiClean get rid of the paint that did not come out previously? Here are the before photos:

I opened up my pre-treater, read the directions and set to fight that stubborn stain. I really liked that when you pushed down, just the right amount of gel came out. The nubs on top were great for helping to rub the gel into the stain. Then I went to the basement to change from cold water to warm (instructions said that works best) and waited to see what happened. BTW – Another brain issue. I goofed and turned on the machine and forgot the Power Paks upstairs. Oy!

More about the new OxiClean Products:

This winter, OxiClean announced two new products to add to your stain-fighting arsenal: OxiClean Max Force Power Paks and the Max Force Gel Stick Pre-Treater. You can use the Power Paks to give any load of laundry – whites and colors both – a boost, without dealing with messy liquids or powders. The Gel Stick Pre-Treater works best on tough stains – even ones that set-in on clothes for a week! Just rub the gel into the fabric and let it sit for a few minutes before throwing it into a normal load of laundry.

Each of these new products contains OxiClean’s "4-in-1 stain fighting power" so whether grease, oil, blood, or dirt, appears on clothing, you know that dabbing with OxiClean will leave the garment looking new again after just one wash.

When I took NHL’s paint stained sweatshirt out of the wash, the stain had faded more. Much less noticeable, but still there. I can not fault OxiClean at all since the item had previously been washed and dried. Next time, we have another stain pop up I will be sure to use the Max Force Pre-Treater directly on the item and toss the Power Paks (now downstairs so I will not forget). I will update how that goes in my comments here.

I know one thing, we will be buying more OxiClean because I liked that there was not a harsh scent, it worked to reduce already set in stain and has worked well on carpet stains over the years. Oh, I will also be tossing the OxiClean Pre-Treater in a bag to go to Disney World with us. Quick and easy vacation stain fighting is what I am all about!

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of OxiClean and received a sample to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Categories:
messy photos Product review

Gingerbread house building

Posted on December 25, 2009 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Wednesday was NHL’s last day of first grade for 2009. To help celebrate, the kids all helped to bring in supplies for a tasty craft and party. As one of the room parents, I saw the list of items and immediately knew what they would be making. The class was going to construct gingerbread houses using graham crackers, frosting, lots of candy and their imagination. Of course, as a teacher, I knew that NHL’s class would need more adult hands on deck to assist with the group.

JSL and I went into the classroom. I was afraid that he would be all over the place. Luckily, he was content watching the kids, while munching on a few M&M’s.

Meanwhile, I had fun dishing out extra frosting and supplies to the kids. It was interesting seeing those that had never made a gingerbread house (like my NHL) compared to those who were seasoned professionals.Here are some photos of NHL making his first gingerbread house. He was quite into it, but also asked his teacher numerous times if he could nibble on some of the candies. Needless to say, this was a common question in the room of first graders.

NHL had a blast adding frosting to his creation and then putting all of the different candies it. Take a close look at his face above, there’s even some frosting on him. Here are some views of his first ever gingerbread house:

Eventually, NHL stopped adding things to his house to go and read on the rug with his little brother. JSL was already surrounded by a gaggle of first graders!

While they were on the rug, I went around looking at all of the different gingerbread houses. One of my favorites was made by a little girl. She had made many of these in the past. Check out the view from the front and back:

So my question to you this week is inspired by the first graders:

Have you ever made a gingerbread house before? If not, you are not alone . . . I do not recall ever making one. If you have what are your favorite items to use as decorations?

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #79

Categories:
Aloha Friday fun holidays jsl messy nhl photos school yummy

Not a beetles fan

Posted on September 6, 2009 9:11 pm by TheAngelForever

Friday afternoon, I called JL at work in a panic. Something caught my eye by the hardwood floors and the wood accent on the wall. With a closer inspection, I saw squirmy white worm-like things. I swept them up, took some photos (I will spare you) and kept looking for more. I was disgusted by finding some additional ones. When JL came home from work, we were not able to find any more. I looked online to see if I could identify what had to be some kind of larvae. It seemed like it was probably powderpost beetle larvae. They basically love moist wood. This summer has been extremely wet and our basement flooded two weeks ago thanks to city sewer issues. When reading more about them, it says that they are very distructive over time and usually are not found until people see the damage. Aside from a few exit holes, and wood dust piles in the basement nothing is very clear to our eyes.

This Labor Day weekend has been painfully slow watching, waiting and cleaning to inspect more. Tuesday morning we will have to call an exterminator to come and see what to do. We clearly have a current infestation and need to get it under control. What we will not know until someone comes is what real damage has already been done. Thanks to this wait, my mind is going a mile a minute:

Is our furniture infested?
Will we need to strip off parts of the floor?
Will we need to vacate the house to fumigate?
How much is this going to cost?
Can these beetles really be controlled?
Did they start from new wood that was added to our walls/kitchen when it was remodeled?
WHY now of all times?

I literally had all of this and more going through my mind last night. Of course finding more of the larvae in the dining room, hall way and our bedroom pushed it over the edge. I cried and rocked myself to sleep for maybe two hours and then was wide awake and crying again. All I could think about were these nasty, gross beetles destroying our house, furniture and other items.

Lots of cleaning and laundry was done today and more will need to be done tomorrow. With any luck, we can get someone here quickly, but we have no clue who to contact since we have never had this before. *sigh*

Thanks to this, I am hereby declaring war on the beetles and other creepy crawly, disgusting things that live and destroy items within my house.