A must-hear

Funniest thing ever. This is a "candid radio" call from Little Rock. My cousin gave me a tape of it years and years ago...and I lost the tape. BUT- I found it online! You must go and listen to it. This is tears-coming-out-of-eyes laughing. You'll have to click on the first thing listed, which is LaShonda Reed. Let me know what you think!!!!

http://www.tracychilders.com/prnkcalls.htm

How you get to Sesame Street

On March 27, Quinlynne had a very special date.

Angie, Grandi and I took Quinlynne and Isaiah to eat at Zio's, then we went across the street to the Mabee Center and saw.....Sesame Street Live! (I always wanted to go to Sesame Street Live when I was little...maybe I was a little too old? I did get to see Sesame Street on Ice one year, though.) Isaiah and Quinlynne (henceforth known as IQ) did really well waiting in the huge line to go up the escalators, then staying with us adults as we tried to find our seating section. We were just making it to our seats when the characters came out. I wish I would have had my camera ready right then. The look on Quinlynne's face was priceless. Her mouth came open and she was just staring in disbelief. (We had not told her we were going to do this. I think comes from my childhood- being let down on fun activities so much....I don't tell my daughter until we are there to do whatever so she won't be disappointed like I was.)

IQ were so enthralled. They sat very well. Quinlynne did get up and stand in front of her seat and start clapping her hands, and dancing around. She then coerced Isaiah into clapping and standing up and dancing a bit with her. Isaiah had some cute Sesame Street binoculars that he was using, and he was nice enough to "share" them with Quinlynne. IQ loved seeing their fun characters, larger than life, on stage and so close. We went outside after the show and it had turned off downright chilly. So, the date was cut a little short because we had to run to our vehicles. The night was a great night!

Bubble girl

I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago, but am just now posting them. It was a somewhat warm day and Quinlynne wanted to play with her bubbles. So, I let her take them outside. She had a blast. She just does not get the whole concept of dipping the wand in once, so she doesn't make them all bubbley in the bottle.

I was sitting on the back porch watching her while talking on the phone with my friend, Angie. Angie said "And you don't have your camera?" So- thanks to Angie, you're getting these adorable pictures.

Easter activity

Well, Grandi was not here to help us celebrate this Easter. She and her sister, Charlsie, have gone to Hot Springs to see their brother, who is not doing so well health-wise. Grandi was quite upset that she was going to miss this Easter with Quinlynne (and Quinlynne's momma too- I'm sure) but we definitely understand.

Quinlynne and I got ready for church Sunday afternoon, and I must say- Quinlynne looked absolutely adorable. Grandi had called and left a voicemail for me on Saturday saying she really thought Quinlynne needed a hat to wear with her Easter outfit. So, after several stores and my last-ditch effort to go to the mall....I saw a Dollar Tree store and pulled in. I really wanted to see if they had any cheap strands of pearls. Instead- I came out of Dollar Tree with 2 adorable little white hats. I couldn't decide which would look better with her outfit. Quinlynne also had white gloves to wear. Those had been purchased before she was born by Grandi at a deep discount price of $1.25 or $.70 or something of the sorts at Dillard's.

Quinlynne liked her outfit I think. She left her jacket on for most of church, which impressed me. of course, the gloves came off before Sacrament meeting even started.

After church we came home and napped, then went to Uncles Charlie & Connie's house for some fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and corn Easter dinner. (Oh yes, the Easter Bunny came and left Quinlynne's basket when she got up from her nap.) And did you know- the craziest thing happened. When Uncle Charlie & Quinlynne left for a minute, the Easter Bunny came and hid eggs in the back yard. We started off with 18 hard boiled eggs. When we came inside, we only had 12....Jazzy (a dog) apparently found the eggs intriguing! it was a great time!

BA Egg Hunt

My friend Angie and I took our kids to the Broken Arrow Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday morning. So, Quinlynne and I met Angie, Isaiah, Elijah & Tez at Central Park Saturday. (We didn't have dance class because of Spring break.) The kids did the Preschool age group egg hunt, so we have TONS of orange eggs now. It was very chilly. Luckily, I had put a sweater on Quinlynne...it was last year's Easter sweater so it was a little short in the sleeves, but it still did its job.

The kids surrounded the perimeter of the orange egg zone and did very well about not starting to pick up the eggs until they blew the whistle or whatever it was they did. All of the kids did very well. They got quite a haul! There were blow up games for the kids to play on, but it was so stinkin' cold, we just packed up the kids and headed to breakfast afterwards! Not a bad Saturday morning!

dye job

Well, this year I finally had the courage to dye Easter eggs with Quinlynne. Grandi had to go out of town, so we had Uncle Charlie and Aunt Connie (or Uncle Connie as Quinlynne calls her) come over on Friday night. We grilled hamburgers and ate, and dyed Easter Eggs.

Quinlynne did pretty well. She only cracked a couple of eggs. She took it upon herself to go ahead and peel one she had cracked. She got the shell all off and the yolk came out of the egg. She thought that was pretty nifty. Then she looked at us and said ""Shooeeey!" She had noticed the smell of eggs.

Anyhow, we taught her how to color on the egg with Crayons, then put the egg in the dye. She did quite well, making pretty circles on her first egg.

About halfway through, after taking the eggs out of the dye, I realized the Crayon colorings were coming off the eggs.....duh- Washable Crayons! And could I find regular ones to save my life? No! Nonetheless, we were productive and they turned out pretty! Quinlynne kept looking in the basket saying "Color eggs!"

stripper man, stripper man

OK, this is so terrible. It has been a joke for quite a while that Quinlynne likes to dance...and seems to be drawn to poles. I have no clue what her infatuation is. Back in February Quinlynne and I went to Elijah's last basketball game. He was playing through a league at one of the Baptist churches here in Broken Arrow. Quinlynne, having never been to a basketball game before thought it was fun, but playing on the bleachers was much more fun. I also had to keep her off the little court before she interfered with the play.

After the games were over, she was playing with Elijah and Isaiah....but she was drawn to the basketball goals. I joked about her being a pole dancer....and sure enough- that's what she did. I hope and pray this is not indicitive of anything in the future!

Out and about

Quinlynne climbed out of her crib for the first time months ago. We were lucky enough that she did it a couple of times- then that was it. So, we were able to continue sleeping to our hearts' content. Now, however, she climbs out every morning. We can not sleep in any more. :-( Every morning my sweet little girl with Medusa hair comes in and says "MOMMA- ake up! ake up, ake up! Momma, enut bubber" (Momma, wake up, etc. Momma- I want peanut butter!) Oh, how I miss the days of sleeping in! Whatever happened to that little baby I could just stuff a pacifier in the mouth of and keep on sleeping????

What's funny is- she only climbs out in the mornings. When she goes down for her afternoon naps- she stays in her crib. If she climbs out of her crib while it's just Grandi in charge- Grandi takes her back in her room and makes her climb back into her crib by herself! How funny is that??

So, since it hasn't been consistently warm enough for us to go without panties, we may work on something else. I think we're going to work on getting those fingers out of her mouth. Now, I need suggestions for this. I tried putting hot sauce on her fingers a time or two and that does not work. She got a funny look on her face when she put her hot fingers in her mouth- then she kind of shrugged her shoulders and continued to suck on them. She likes hot stuff! What is that stuff you put on your fingernails when you're trying to stop biting them??? Someone, help!!!!

Thank you- I can hear you

Today Quinlynne went back to the ENT. We are no stranger to the ENT, as she had her adenoids removed when she was 11 1/2 months old. She also had her tonsils and adenoids removed when she was 23 1/2 months old. A few months ago, during a visit with her PCP, her PCP said she would like Quinlynne to go to have her hearing evaluated because she feels Quinlynne does not enunciate or articulate as well as she should. Needless to say, I have been fretting about this ever since.

We did not have the hearing test I had anticipated. They apparently tested her ear canal and also the nerve that has to do with her hearing. I have no clue anything about this. They did say that absolutely nothing was wrong with her ears though. So, they are going to recommend that Quinlynne go for a speech evaluation and perhaps some speech therapy. This is fine with me.

If you haven't heard Quinlynne speak in a while...it's really her vowel sounds that are most noticeable. For instance, I have a friend named Angie. Quinlynne pronounces this "Ahngee". The phrase open door comes out "Oh-pin Dewr" (sounds a lot like apple juice). TV is TB, etc. This is not too odd, considering I had some speech therapy even until I was in 2nd grade. However, my issues were not the same issues Quinlynne has.

So, I guess I will call Quinlynne's PCP this week and get a referral for her to have a Speech evaluation and go from there.

Loss- how do you explain?

So, I went to work today. I worked at St. John's from 3-11. When I work this shift I usually leave the house about 1:45 so I can get a Sonic Happy Hour drink, then get to the hospital around 2:15, check in and get my assignment, then get to the floor and get report so I can start on time. I thought this was going to be a terrible night when I get to the staffing office and theyu told me the floor I was going to be on. However, it wasn't too terribly bad and I only had like 6 or 7 patients. Of course, 4 of them were very needy patients, but that's beside the point. I was definitely tired after work- but that's okay.

After work I had to go by the Gillem's and get my Jeep back. Uncle Charlie had put new breaks on it for me. So, I did not get home until after midnight.

Mom told me she had had quite an eventful day after I left. Long story short- Noel is no longer a part of the Hoffman household. She started vomitting and popping blood. Mom took her to the vet, they did a scope, but could not save her. The vet said it looked like she had gotten into some sort of poison, but it also looked like she had had some sort of genetic stomach problem she had had since birth. Mom said Quinlynne had not asked about Noel yet. But when she does, how do I tell her Noel died, and that she is not coming home? Quinlynne has already lost her Poppa. She understands that Poppa is with Jesus. But- do I tell her the same thing about Noel? Do I tell her that Noel is with Poppa now????

I will end this with a little picture of Quinlynne and her New-elle!