“You give me Mom?”

Kimber is my little mischief maker.  She always finds a way to get into something that she shouldn’t.  This weekend for instance she went into her sisters room and took off her poopy diaper and made a very stinky mess.  This morning she pushed a chair over to the counter climbed up and helped herself to a single serving of apple sauce of which she spilled half of on the floor.  Very soon after the apple sauce the girls were up playing in Madi’s room.  I could hear that someone was in the bathroom so I called up the stairs for whoever was in there to go out of the bathroom since they really like to make messes in there.  Madi answers back to me and says, “Kimber has your stuff?”  I say, “What stuff?”  Madi replies, “You know…”  No I don’t know so I ran up the stairs to find what she had.  Kimber was in Madi’s room and instantly I saw the bottle of brush on SUPER GLUE!!!  Ahhhhhh!!!  My immediate reaction is to freak out and banish the girls to their rooms.  I’m pretty sure they knew Mom was not happy with what had just happened because they stayed in their rooms quietly for at least 20 minutes.  This was only at 9AM this morning so I didn’t feel like it was a very good start to our day.

At 4PM today after the girls had napped I decided that we should take a walk to the park.  Before we left I was getting Kimber ready to go and she looks up at me and says, “You give me Mom?”  I didn’t understand what she was asking me at first and then it clicked after she said it again.  She was asking me if I forgave her.  It just made me cry and I picked her up and hugged her so tight.  I told her that of course I do and I told her that even though Mom gets mad sometimes she still loves Kimber no matter what.  Just the precious little look on her face and her asking me if I forgave her broke my heart.  I never want my kids to feel like they aren’t loved or that something is more important than they are because they are the most important blessings in my life.  I am so thankful for my girls and the lessons that they teach me on a daily basis.  I love them so very much and I hope that I can teach them how to do what is right and to grow up to be the best that they can.

Things Madi and Kimber say

Yesterday while we were in Sioux City Madi and I went into Target to get some things.  While in the store Madi needed to use the bathroom.  While I was waiting for her I hear, “Oh yeah…”  I laughed and said, “What?”  Madi says, “What?!  It feels good when it comes out.”  Guess I can’t argue with that.  She is very funny!

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The other night Brett was watching Toy Story 3 with the girls.  Near the end of the movie Madi says, “I don’t want to grow up.  Why does Jesus make us grow up?” 

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The other night I went to my Zumba class and when I got home I went to check on the girls who were already in bed.  When I went into Kimber’s room and gave her a hug and a kiss she says, “Hey Mom!  Why did you leave me?”  I told her that I was only gone for little while but I would always come back.

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Sometimes Kimber gets in a little mood and she doesn’t want to hear anyone singing.  The other day Madi was singing and Kimber ran into me and says, “Mom Madi’s singing and it hurt’s my earrings!”

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Kimber comes walking over to me whining the whole time.  When she gets to me she says, “Ouchy my tummy hurts.”  I ask, “What’s wrong with your tummy?”  Kimber, “It’s burning up.”  I had to laugh and then two seconds later she pops up and says, “It’s all better!”  Then runs off to go play.  Such a drama queen.

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Madi climbed into bed with us one morning and she was just chatting up a storm.  She was doing most of the talking.  She started telling Brett all of the names she had come up with for different objects.  She said that the new name for curtains was dude-a-licious and doors are now who-da-meanies.

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Kimber and Madi are sitting at the table eating their lunch.  Madi is drinking her juice through a straw and it starts to slurp because she drank it all.  She says, “Oh dear…”  So I say, “Just finish eating your food and I’ll get you some more in a minute.”  To what Kimber gets all in a huff and says, “It’s not food Mom!  It’s MACARONI AND CHEESE!”  I laugh and say, “Mac and cheese is food honey.”

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We were watching the Black Eyed Peas perform at half time of Super Bowl and Madi says to me about Fergie’s outfit, “I don’t think that dress is perfect for a big girl.”  I don’t think she approved of how short her skirt was.  My Madi knows how to dress modestly.

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Madi was sitting on the floor coloring a picture when all of the sudden she jumps up and starting yelling, “Poooooooop!! Poooooop!!”  Then she starts running to the bathroom.  I hope that’s not the new way of telling us that she has to use the bathroom.. Silly girl!

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One night I went to the store by myself while Brett stayed at home with the girls.  When I got home Brett told me about this conversation he had with Kimber.  Kimber says, "Dad, I miss my Mom." Brett, "Oh she'll be back soon." Kimber, "She misses me too."

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Madi, “Dad, can you get me a drink of water? My neck is thirsty.”

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We were sitting downstairs and Madi comes walking down the stairs without Kimber.  I can hear Kimber banging something around upstairs so I ask Madi what Kimber is doing.  Madi looks at me with a total poker face and says, "She's in your craft room throwing stuff around.... No I'm just kidding!"

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Madi spun around and fell BAM! on her bum because of her slippery socks. She looked at me like she was about to cry and I just started laughing so she laughed too. Then she said, "Did I shake the whole house? I'm gonna go check and see if it moved my bed!" Silly girl!

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We took the girls to see the movie Tangled.  When we were in the car driving home Brett asked Madi what her favorite part of Tangled was and she said, "The part where they cut her hair like Mom's."

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Brett was watching one of Madi's princess shows with her and he says, "Oh she's such a beautiful princess!" Madi , "DAD!!" in an angry tone. Brett, "What? She is." Madi, "DAD! I'm your daughter!" I guess he's not allowed to say any body else is pretty except for her. So funny!

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Brett was telling Madi that they (Brett and Madi) were going to go eat dinner out for her birthday. Madi says, "Is Kimber going to come? She will be so sad if she doesn't get to come."

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Brett turned Go Go Diego for Kimber to watch while he and Madi worked on ABC's. Kimber was getting right in the middle of what they were trying to do so they went into the other room. Kimber gets up and follows them. Me, "Kimber come watch your show." Brett, "Yeah Mom didn't turn Diego on for her to watch. You go ...watch it or Mom is going to turn it off." Kimber, "Mom go ahead and shut it off." She totally didn't care she just wanted to be in on what her Dad and Madi were doing.

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Brett went into help Madi clean up her toys and she says, "Dad, we need to move my toy box into Kimber's room cause IT keeps making a mess in my room."

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We hear Madi upstairs banging on the door and yelling. Brett pauses his show and says, "Madi what are you doing?" Madi, "I'M IN KIMBER'S ROOM AND I CAN'T GET OUT!!" We just started laughing. Brett heads up the stairs and Madi meets him in the hall and says, "Kimber saved me."

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Brett talking to Madi, "I'm trying to find you a show to watch."
Madi, "Barbie and the Three Musketeers!"
Me, "You've already watched it twice."
Madi, "TWO TIMES!!" As she is holding up two fingers.
Brett as he is laughing, "Twice is two times honey."

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We were eating dinner at a restaurant and Madi asked for a pickle with her sandwich. It slipped out of her hand and fell on the floor so Brett asked the waitress if she could get Madi another. Madi said, "She's nice! Not like mean parents." Brett and I both just said, "What?! (while laughing)" Brett told Madi that maybe he would eat the pickle when she brought it and Madi said, "NOOOOOO!! Dad you're my favorite!"

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Madi, "Does this outfit make my butt look big (Giggle Giggle)?" After I told her she doesn't have anything big on her body I asked her where she heard that and she said, "Candace." Darn that Phineas and Ferb.

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We are all wipeout and Madi says, "I don't want to drive when I grow up. I'll just have Mom drive me and I'll sit right by her."

Nana and Papa Barnes come to Iowa

A few months ago Brett’s parents let us know that they were planning on coming out for a visit.  We were all so excited to have them come for a visit and to show them where we live.  They started driving General Conference weekend on Saturday morning.  We were going to meet them in Sioux City on Sunday but that  didn’t happen since I got really sick that day.. Blech..  That’s another story.. So they stayed the night in Sioux City and drove to Peterson the next morning.  The girls and I were outside when they drove up the driveway.  It was so fun to see how excited the girls were to see them and to hear their screams of excitement…  We helped Grandma and Grandpa get settled put Kimber down for a nap and then Brett and I left to pick up pizza in Spencer (25 mins away).  We figured it was a good chance for the girls to get some quality time one on one with the Grandparents. 

After we ate pizza and visited for a bit we decided to drive up to Lake Okoboji (about and hour drive from us).  It’s a cute place that kind of reminds me of Steamboat Springs a little except it has a big lake and not in the mountains since there aren’t mountains in Iowa but you get the idea.  We stopped at one of the docks so that the girls could get out and explore.  They had a lot of fun running up and down the dock which freaked me out but Brett stayed right with them so if they did happen to slip he would be right there to catch them.. Eeek!  Cold water that would not be good.. Scary for Mommy..  Grandpa helped the girls find some sticks so that they could practice casting since we were going to go fishing the next day.  They had fun waving the sticks around in the air and then finally threw them into the water.  Then it was time to eat again.  I had heard that this restaurant called Minerva's was really good so we went there for dinner.  It turns out that it was Soooooo good.  Yummy!!

The next day we found a place that we could go fishing it was again up around the Okoboji area.  It was a little windy that day and the farmers were out harvesting the corn and soy beans so there was dust blowing over from that.  Madi and Grandpa sat at one side of this pound and Brett and Kimber were clear over on the other side.  I think they had a good time hanging out and watching the little floater thingy on the fishing line float across the water (sorry I don’t know my fishing jargon).  We didn’t catch anything which is probably a good thing since I’m not exactly sure how that would go over with the girls..

      

Wednesday Grandma and I had planned to make a mini Thanksgiving(ish) dinner.  It still takes pretty much all day to do a slimmed down version of Thanksgiving.  While we were busy cooking the guys were outside cleaning all the junk out of the school house.  The girls played outside while the guys were working so they were just happy as could be.  When Brett and his Dad were finished they walked with the girls down to the park.  Dinner was great I just wish that I didn’t feel so icky so that I could have enjoyed it more after all the work we put into it.  Oh well everyone else loved it.

That night we all sat down and watched Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.  The girls love that movie and since Grandma and Grandpa hadn’t seen it Madi picked that one to be what we watched. 

On Thursday Brett and his Dad were planning to go into Sioux City to have a jam session with the guys in the band and Grandma the girls and I drove down as well and spent the day shopping.  Grandma was just having so much fun shopping for girls for a change.  We had a great day hanging out together.  We met up with the guys around dinner time and went to eat at Texas Roadhouse. 

After dinner we drove to the hotel where Bud and Mitzi were going to stay the night so that they could head home to Utah in the morning.  We were sad to say goodbye to them the time felt like it went by too fast but we are all excited for them to come out to see us next year.  The girls are still talking about how every morning they would go down into the room and climb into bed with Grandma and Grandpa.  They really loved every minute of the visit.

Trunk or Treat

Tonight was the Trunk or Treat at church.  We had a great time.  We have had crazy CRAZY wind the last couple of days so they had the Trunk or Treat in the gym.  At first the girls were scared to go and join in the fun.  There was Halloween music playing and Madi says, "I don't like the music."  it worried her a little.  She hid behind me and that girl is strong cause I tried to get her to come out and I couldn't.  After a little coaxing and a little time the girls warmed up and tried out some of the fun things there were to do.  One of the fun tables was a dry ice and soap mixture that blew bubbles.  Madi watched it for a little while and then finally decided that she wanted to try it out and she loved it!  They had a piñata hanging from the basketball hoop and they were excited about it but when Kimber saw the bat that she would have to swing she almost started crying.  They both got a pumpkin painted on their hands they both thought that was pretty awesome.  I think it's safe to say that their favorite part of the whole night was the Trick or Treating and then eating the candy.  After it was all over and we got home the girls were both so tired out they almost didn't have enough energy left to change into their pj's but with Dad's help we got it done.  It was a fun night and worth the 50 min round trip drive.  We just wished that Brett could have been there with us and not stuck in his meeting at work... Bummer...

And I dressed up in Brett’s army fatigues but there isn’t a photo so you’ll just have to use your imagination..

First Talk in Primary

Last Sunday when Madi brought me the sticker saying that she was to give a talk in primary I thought, “How is this going to work?”  Every time she’s had to get up in front of the crowd at church she has cried and not wanted to participate so I was thinking that there was no way that she was going to get a word out in front of the crowd in primary.  I decided that I would let her pick a picture out of the church photo’s that we had and we would talk about that.  We ended up with a photo of the Salt Lake Temple so I thought she could just recite the words to the song, “I Love to See the Temple”. 

I love to see the temple.
I’m going there someday
To feel the Holy Spirit,
To listen and to pray.
For the temple is a house of God,
A place of love and beauty.
I’ll prepare myself while I am young;
This is my sacred duty.

When they called for Madi to come up and share her talk she marched up there with Brett (no hesitation) and repeated everything that he whispered to her in a loud clear voice.  I was so proud that I nearly cried.  I heard all the girls in our class say, “Oh!!  That’s so cute!”  It really was!  I loved it.  She did such a great job and she was so brave.

Daddy, when you are at work…

Madi was holding a picture frame looking at the pictures of Brett and I then turns to Brett and says, “Daddy!  When you are at work I look at this and I think about all the wonderful things you buy me.” 

Quick Madi Funny!

Brett was watching TV with the girls and Phineas and Ferb came on.  It was the one where Buford looses his goldfish.  Madi immediately knew which one it was since she’s seen them all and she says, “I don’t want to watch this one, there’s too much crying.”  I don’t know it was just funny to us that she couldn’t stand to hear him crying so much.  She’s a funny one!

Planning the kitchen remodel

Our kitchen layout is weird.  Bless the hearts of the people that lived here before us, they really tried to do some good things.  The way the kitchen is now the range is stuck back in this little hallway and the cabinets are old and needing to be replaced.  I found on www.lowes.com that they have a virtual room planner and it’s so much fun to play with.  So even though we probably won’t get to do the kitchen remodel for awhile I don’t think it’s ever too soon to start dreaming about how we want it. 

  The empty space that has a wall in front of it is going to be our pantry.  Right now the range is there with cabinetry.  When we moved in the refrigerator that came with the house was where I have the range in my new plan.  To get that refrigerator out Brett pretty much had to pull the wall down.  I don’t know if they built the wall around it or what but it sure was stuck in there.  There was no way that we were going to get our refrigerator in that space it was 6 inches too narrow.  The dishwasher right now is where I’m putting the refrigerator in my new plan.  I think that the dishwasher needs to be next to the sink and near to the cabinets.  We are also hoping that we will be able to knock the wall down to open the room up.  Right now there is a doorway that comes in by the cabinets near the refrigerator and there is another doorway on the other side of the column by the island/peninsula.  So we want to open one doorway larger and close one off completely.  I can’t wait to do it but first comes the roof then we will hopefully get to this, but then there is our bedroom that needs to be done too.. Projects projects projects….  It is fun to dream it up and see how it will look someday.

Getting along

For the most part Madi and Kimber play together really nicely but they do have their fights.  Madi gets so frustrated with Kimber especially when Kimber throws Madi’s papers all over.  Just a few minutes ago Kimber grabbed Madi’s drawing papers and threw them in the air and then Kimber ran and jumped on the couch where Madi was sitting.  Madi comes over and says, “Ooohhhhh!!!!  She is the most DIFICULT girl!”  So sad that she is so bugged by what her little sister is doing but what she said was so cute.  Then a few minutes pass and they are back to being best buddies again.

Sleepover!

Moving to Peterson meant taking Madi away from her best friend Payton.  Where we lived in Le Mars we were about two minutes away from the Wrights so play dates were really easy to make.  Now that we are about 50 minutes away the play dates are a little harder to coordinate.   Then with family vacations and other scheduling interferences the girls hadn’t been able to get together for over a month.  Madi had been asking, begging to go play with Payton or to have Payton come to her house.  I felt bad that I had to tell her that she wasn’t home and she wasn’t even in Iowa but as soon as Payton got home I would set up a play date.  So Thursday afternoon Tifany and I made a plan to meet half way to make the kid exchange.  Payton came to our house and spent the night for two nights.  The girls had a great time.  Kimber even tagged along and they didn’t seem to mind.  They played shop, hunted for butterflies, watched the fireflies, played dress up and tons of other things. 

On Friday I thought maybe it would be fun to go to the pool.  Payton was worried that we didn’t have her suit but I assured her that she could wear one of Madi’s and it would work out just fine.  They had a great time and got all tired out.  They pretty much crashed when we got back to the house. I’m not sure how much sleep they got the two nights but they were still ready to play no matter what.  We took Payton home on Saturday on our way to Sioux City.  Madi was pretty sad that she wasn’t going to get to go play at Payton’s house.  It’s so cute that they like to be around each other so much.  I’m so glad that she has such a good friend.

Long past due

I was just looking at the few photo’s that I’ve taken in the past few months and feeling like a real big slacker.  I really need to pull my head out and keep on top of these things.  I used to be so good at taking a million pictures of my girls but not lately.  I don’t know if it’s been the stress of moving and whatever but I’m not keeping up my end of the deal.  So I’m going to give myself a real hard kick in the butt and I’m going to start taking more photo’s of my girls.

Here are a few of the photo’s that I have taken in the last few months.  I’ve also included a few of our new house since I haven’t put any of it on here.

Madi and Kimber love to explore out in our large backyard.  We have a really good hill that will make for great sledding when winter comes.  These photo’s were taken April 29th.  They love to pick the dandelions and any other kind of flower or weed.

We have a lot of room for the girls to roam.  We plan on building a fire pit so that we can have campouts right in our own backyard.  Madi keeps begging to have a campout and to go fishing.  We are hoping to get the Grandparent’s out here so that Grandpa Bud can take Madi fishing.

This isn’t the greatest photo of the front of the house but until it’s light outside it’s all I have.  Since I took this photo I painted the door red (which I might change to a different red) and we hung black shutters instead of the white ones with the PURPLE inset.  Why someone thought purple was the color to use I will never understand but that’s ok because we are fixing it.

Our house is a work in progress that we will probably be working on for as long as we are here but we love it.  We love the character and the potential that it has.

Here is Kimber posing for me on the stairs.  I pulled the old carpet up as soon as I had tools to work with.  I’m still trying to decide if I want to refinish the wood or put carpet on them again.  Brett says carpet and I’m slowly being convinced even though I love the look of the wood and how beautiful it will look once the trim is white.  Projects, projects projects.

Before (I really couldn’t wait to get this color covered up.. YUCK!!) After (well almost) I need to finish some painting in the laundry room and then it will be the first room that we have entirely redone.  I love how it’s turned out.

We are going to paint all of the other wood trim, doors and windows through the entire house.  Lots and lots of paint but I really love how it looks especially with the old hinges I think they really pop on the white.

I haven’t taken any pictures of the upstairs, the kitchen or our bedroom yet so that will be the next overload of photo’s. 

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this sneak peak into our home here in Peterson, Iowa.

Correction to the last post

Brett told me that I left out one thing that Madi said to him when she was getting in trouble for going outside.  This is how it went.

Madi, “Dad I don’t understand you!”

Brett, “What do you mean?”

Madi, “You didn’t ask to go outside.”

Brett, “I don’t have to ask to go outside.”

Madi, “You don’t even trust me.”

The funny things she says

The other day we were having a pretty good thunder storm and we had some hail fall.  I hear Madi call out from the other room, “What is happening outside?! IS THAT ICE?!  Ice is falling from the sky?”

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Brett caught the girls outside when they hadn’t asked so he sent them into the house.  Kimber had given us quite a scare the day before so Brett was pretty upset that they had gone outside again without asking first.  So he told them both that they were in trouble and that they were to go to their rooms.  As Madi was on her way up the stairs (following her Dad) she said, “Are you SERIOUS?!  You didn’t ask to go outside!”  Brett didn’t hear her say it the first time but when she got up stairs where he was she said to him, “Dad you didn’t ask to go outside.  Don’t you trust me?”

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Today while the girls and I were outside we found a little lost kitten.  The kitten didn’t want anything to do with us but stayed pretty close.  At one point we were all sitting down and I was meowing at the kitten and it started coming our way.  Madi got very excited and said, “MOM!  You can talk CAT!  It can understand you!”

So many things.. So little time..

I have so many things to catch up on to keep this blog/journal of our life.  Just a quick little teaser..  Madi had her dance recital this last weekend.  She is absolutely in love with the stage!  Photo’s, video’s and more about it coming soon!

Madi’s peanut allergy

Last night we had some new friends from our ward/branch come over for a visit.  They brought over a plate of cookies for us.  When they arrived I handed the plate of cookies to Madi and asked her to take it to the kitchen.  She did a great job and put it on the counter in the kitchen and then went about playing with her new friends.  Awhile later as we were visiting in the living room I saw Madi walk by with a cookie.  At first I thought, “Oh crap!” So I asked what kind of cookies they were and if they had any peanuts in them.  They told me that the cookies did have peanut butter chips in them.  I immediately excused myself and went after Madi to get the cookie from her.  I told her that it had peanut butter in it and she shouldn’t be eating it.  She seemed fine to me.  She didn’t appear to have any hives or that she was having any trouble breathing.  She was running around playing like normal so I wasn’t too worried at the time but I kept my eye on her.  Our new friends felt bad that they brought us cookies that had peanuts in them because they didn’t want to make Madi sick.  There was no way that they would have known about her allergy I just need to be more proactive and make sure that I find out ingredients when something comes into our home or any where near Madi.  So we visited for a few more minutes and then they left to travel back home.  After a few minutes I decided that we should get in the car and drive to Spencer partly because we needed to go to the store but mostly because if she did have a reaction we would be really close to the hospital and not 30 minutes away.  So I sent Madi up to her room to get her shoes on and she let out this pained cry.  I was already on alert so I went running and yelled out to her to find out what was wrong.  She said in a very said voice, “I puked.”  At this point I could hear in her voice that she was sounding a little stuffy but I couldn’t tell for sure because she was holding all the spit in her mouth because she was afraid to swallow.  She was still complaining about her belly so I didn’t know if she was going to get sick again.  I decided to call the ask a nurse hotline to see what they thought about her symptoms.  When I told the nurse about what had happened and what her symptoms were she told me to give Madi the EPI shot and a dose of Benadryl.  “Give her the EPI?!  Really?!”  My heart just about jumped out of my chest.  The nurse said that she would stay on the line while I gave her the shot.  I braced myself and tried to brace Madi.  When she saw that EPI pen come out she said, “I don’t want a shot!”  I felt so bad that I was going to have to jab that thing into her little leg.  I tried to calm her and told her that it was medicine that she needed and it was going to be ok.  Then I just did it.  Madi let out the most shrill horrifying scream that I have ever heard come out of her.  The nurse back on the phone tried to comfort me by telling me that I did great and that it had to be done because her symptoms would keep getting worse.  The nurse gave me a few more instructions about Benadryl and that I needed to take Madi to the hospital to get checked and then said goodbye.  Poor little Madi was so sad.  I was trying really hard to stay brave for her but giving her the shot was the worst thing I have ever had to do.  I gave her a  hug and kissed her sore leg.  We all put our shoes and coats on since it was raining outside and loaded in the car to make the drive to Spencer.  Brett was at work at this time and I couldn’t reach him on the phone so I sent a quick text to him and facebook so that at once everyone that needed to know what was happening would know (I’m so glad for facebook just for this sort of thing it saved me from having to make a million phone calls when I was in a hurried situation).  About 5 minutes into our drive to the hospital I called Tifany to see if she could get me the directions I wasn’t sure how to find it.  When she answered the phone and I tried to ask her my question but I couldn’t even talk.  I was so brave until I had to say aloud what was going on.  Thanks Tifany for helping me find the way, it helped to know how far into town the hospital was because I would have been turning down the wrong streets looking and that would have sent me right over the top so thanks so much!

When we got in to see the doctor they had me undress her so that they could check her over.  When her shirt came off I could see she had hives all over.  By this time other than being itchy she seemed just fine.  The nurse asked her if she still felt sick and she just answered no.  She was just happy to look at the Mermaid book that she found in the waiting room.  The doctor instructed the nurse to give Madi a dose of Benadryl and then after I don’t even know how much time they sent us on our way.  We probably could have been fine not going to the ER but because of how serious her reaction could possibly be I’m so glad that we went and it was a good way to ease my mind. 

Brett was at home waiting for us when we got there.  It was after 11PM at this time so I was good and ready to get to bed myself.  I checked on my sleeping Madi throughout the  night to make sure that she was doing well.  She was sleeping very peacefully so nothing to worry about.  Crisis diverted. 

Now hind sight being 20/20 and all that when I accepted the cookies I should have asked then what was in them which is what I have always done but for some reason I didn’t this time.  Anyway, my new plan is this.  When we get a treat that I don’t know what it is I’m just going to ask what they are.  Is it dumb that I feel like I’m being rude asking?  I just don’t want to make someone feel bad that they have brought us a snack and we can’t even have it.  So if we do get a snack again that Madi can’t have I am going to get it and put it out of her reach immediately.

We’ve Moved!

Just thought I would post a quick update about our move.  We found a great house with great potential in Peterson, Iowa.  We closed last Friday so now start all of the projects to make it just what we want.  Photo’s coming soon.  We absolutely love our house in fact Madi has told us many times that she loves our house and her bedroom and the yard and on and on. 

Brett started is new job at Rembrandt Enterprises on April 1st.  We are all loving having him home at nights and on the weekends. 

Sorry this is so brief there is just a lot going on trying to get the house in order oh and all of the projects we are working on.  Woo Hoo!

What’s been going on with The Barnes Family?

A lot has been going on these past few months.  Actually it’s been longer than I few months since I’ve really kept up on the blog.  I’m sad that I haven’t kept it up consistently because it’s so fun to go back and read all of what we’ve done.  So I’m going to start with today and then I’ll go back and write about the milestones that have happened over the past year.

We will be moving soon!  I think it was in February that we got a call from our landlord saying that he was putting the house on the market.  It really shook us up.  We were kind of under the impression that since we signed a new 18 month lease and agreed to pay $60 more a month he wasn’t going to put the house on the market.  How silly we were.  So taking a note from our previous experience when we first moved to Le Mars we knew that rental properties were very short in supply here.  I looked in the newspaper and made some calls but there weren’t any houses available.  We consulted our realtor about what were the things that we should do and see if she happened to know about any rental properties.  She told me that that big old house that we passed on when we first moved here was going to be available in April.  We scheduled a time with her to view the house again and it was much better than I remembered.  I was really kicking myself at this point for not just taking that house in the first place.  So it was probably that same day that Brett called the landlord to tell him that we would be moving out in April.  Brett and I were again under the impression that he (the landlord) was going to let us out of the lease early because of a conversation that he and Brett had had on the phone a few days earlier.  The phone conversation didn’t go well at all.  The landlord ended up telling Brett that we would be hearing from his attorney.  Ahhh!!!  The next few days or actually this entire last couple of months have been very stressful.  We have really busted our butts to keep the house showing ready.  We have left the house every time there was a showing.  I left all the lights on and opened the blinds.  You know all the things that you would normally do if you were trying to sell your house.  We could have totally been jerks and let the house be a disaster area with toys and laundry and dishes all over.  When our friends Ryan and Tifany went house hunting here they were accosted by renters of the houses that they looked at.  That’s right they were there in the house when they went to view the house.  Tifany told me that the lady renting the house that they ended up buying followed her through the house and kept saying stuff like, “You can’t kick us out on the street.”  How annoying!  Anyway, that’s not us and we wanted to do what we could to help the house sell so I feel like we really went out of our way to make it easy to show this house including Brett adjusting his work schedule so he could be awake for a showing that was in the morning.  Sorry for the gripe session it was just a struggle and I thought it was an important part of our history here in Le Mars.

So last night my phone rang and it was the landlord.  I didn’t answer it because I didn’t know what to expect especially since we just had received a letter from his attorney.. Yep that’s right he was really holding strong to his threat.  Brett and I really weren’t trying to be jerks we just wanted to make sure that we had somewhere for our family to be.  We just were looking out for our family.  Anyway, he (the landlord) left a message saying that he had received an offer on the house and wanted to make sure with us that we still planned on being out of the house by April 1st.  What a relief!  I have been praying and hoping that the house would sell so that we wouldn’t have something new hanging over our heads.

A little side note about rental houses here in Le Mars.  One of Brett’s buddies from work has been looking for a place to rent here in Le Mars but everyone that he had called on had already been rented.  Seriously not much here in ways of renting.  Now it’s ending up that this friend of Brett’s might end up renting the big old house that our realtor manages.  Now I know you are thinking, “Wait!  Isn’t that where you guys are moving?  Where are you going?”  Well, that’s another story but we are moving farther east in Iowa for a new job.  I’ll write about this in another post.

Old forgotten posts

Tonight I was looking back through all of my posts and I found so many that I had written but didn’t post.  I don’t know why at the time I wrote them why I didn’t post them.  Anyway tonight I posted all of these things that I had forgotten about.  Here are the links to them if you want to look back.

Two very different little girls

Things that make you go Hmm

Little miss Kimber Boo Boo

TEN YEARS!!

(Sigh)

Amazing Race

Sweet Aunt Jeanine

Kimber update

Ice Cream

"I want to go home."

Missing my B

Missing my hubby

Allergies and Church

What's for dinner?

Shopping is so much harder now

"Are you ready to say sorry?"

Sound sleeper

Joy School

"He's a good man."

Kimber's two month doctor appointment

Dust storms

Wow!  I didn’t realize how many postings that was.. Good night!  Well, happy reading!

Madi funny

Oh I am so behind on this blog!!!  I have so many things that I need to write about because a lot has been going on with us lately but for right now I need to write about something that happened to Madi on Saturday.

On Saturday’s Brett travels to Sioux City to practice with his band.  After the girls woke up from their naps I decided to go to Sioux City to go to Hobby Lobby.  So we first went and surprised Brett and then went about our shopping.  When Brett was finished with band practice he met up with us at Target.  Then Madi wanted to eat at Carlos O'Kellys so we went there for dinner.  After dinner Brett wanted to go to Lowes to check out some tools.  So you know how in Lowes they have the cart kind of in the middle of the isle that has a bunch of plants on it?  I think they are all cactus’ and that type of thing.  Well, Madi saw this fuzzy looking plant so she went right over and put her hand right around it.  Sheesh!!  Thankfully it wasn’t one of the really pokey kinds but it was bad in another way because it stuck all of these little hairs in her fingers.  She didn’t cry or anything.  She just let Brett pull them out.  When we got out to the car she was acting a little sad and said, “I don’t want to turn into a cactus.”  I don’t know where she got the idea that poking her hand on a cactus would make her turn into a cactus.  Anyway, it was kind of funny and Brett and I told her that that would never happen.  The next morning when Madi woke up she said, “Mom!  You were right I didn’t turn into a cactus!”  She has such an imagination she is so funny.  I love to hear the things that she has to say.  It would be so funny to have a tape recorder catching all of the funny things she says all day.

Why does Daddy have to work?

Madi woke up from her nap just in time to see Brett before he left for work.  She came into the bedroom where I was and asked if we could start reading her new book Alice in Wonderland.  We snuggled into the bed and I started reading.  Brett came into the room to give us one more kiss before he left and walked out the door.  I read the first 3 chapters in the book and then Madi says, “Dad is down in the basement.”  Then I told her he wasn’t and that he had left for work.  She quickly corrected me and said that he was in the basement.  We went back and forth a few times and then I said that I would call him so she could ask him where he was.  When Brett answered the phone this was their conversation,

Daddy, “Hello!”

Madi, “Daddy!  Are you in the basement?”

Daddy, “No, I’m on my way to work.”

Madi, “Why do you have to go to work?”

Daddy, “So I can pay for all of our stuff and your toys.”

Madi, “I don’t want any toys..”

Daddy, “Oh…”

Madi, “Will you make me a corn dog when you get home?”

Daddy, “Sure..  I love you.”

Madi, “I love you too.”

Conversations with Madi

Madi, “Dad how do you know Heroes?”

Dad, “I don’t know what you are asking me.”

Madi, “Yeah me either.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ballet class ends and Madi runs out to me and says, “Mom!!!  I was so good and I didn’t stick my tongue out!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Madi, “Mom when I grow up I’m going to have a boyfriend.”

Mom, “No way!  Not until you are really old like 40!”

Madi, “Mom I need a brother.”

Mom, “Uhhhhh…..”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had a slip of the tongue in front of Madi and I called Brett a Jack A#% (jokingly) and Madi says, “Mom!!  Don’t say Jack A#%!”  Whoopsie!!  I really need to watch my tongue..

 

Love that little girl of mine!

Sometimes you have to learn lessons the hard way…

Recently Madi discovered that she can lock her bedroom door and keep us out.  After a few too many times of being locked out and having to convince her to open the door I decided that I would turn the knob around so that it couldn’t be locked from the inside any more. 

This morning Kimber, Madi and I were in Madi’s room until Kimber walked out and shut the door.  I didn’t think anything of her shutting the door until I went to go out.  When Kimber shut the door it was locked from the outside.  I tried to call out but couldn’t talk because I was laughing so hard.  When Madi and I finally got over our laughter I tried yelling for Brett or Kimber.  Brett was asleep in our bedroom on the other side of the house so I didn’t have much hope that he would come to our rescue.  I thought that maybe if I yelled into the heat vent he might be able to hear me.  Nope..  Because Brett sleeps during the day he has a box fan running to shut out the noise so unless we are right outside the bedroom door he can’t hear us.  After calling for Brett and Kimber for a few minutes I tried to find some kind of device to use to pick the lock to let us out.  What kind of skinny pointy device do you think I’m going to be able to find in a very child proofed room?  A tiny little nail high up on the wall.  It was a little tricky but it worked.  We were free!!  Upon arriving in the hallway I could see that Kimber had gone into her own room and shut the door so she was in her own little prison.  I freed her and went to tell Brett about the event that had just taken place. 

From this experience I have learned that I need to hide a door picking device somewhere up high in Madi’s closet in the event that this happens again. 

(I don’t know what to title this post) (Maybe I should call it boo hoo waahh haah)

On Saturday mornings Madi and I go to Madi’s gymnastics class.  If you’ve read my previous post about ballet class you probably have an idea that gymnastics is kind of the same deal with Madi but she at least gets to run around and she really loves going to both gymnastics and ballet class.  Anyway, today at gymnastics I kept hearing the teacher call out Madi’s name to tell her to listen and get in the back of the line blah blah.. I know I’m just way too over protective and I’m way too sensitive about this but I just started feeling like Madi was being picked on.  I saw other kids doing the same stuff but they weren’t getting called out but that’s not the issue it’s that Madi isn’t paying attention.  I watched her as she kept on getting in line in front of the other kids and then she wouldn’t move.  When I thought about it later I realized that she was trying to stand by her friend Kylie.  I really tried to sit and not be the parent while she was in her class but after so many times of hearing her name called I couldn’t help myself.  I went over to her and pulled her close and told her to keep her hands to herself and listen to the teacher and to not cut in line.  Shortly after that it was her turn to run and jump on the vault.  She went before the teacher told her to go so the teacher wasn’t even looking and then turned and bonked Madi on the nose.  I didn’t see how it went down but I saw that Madi went back to the start of the line and I could see from her body language that she was really sad and then you could hear her crying.  The teacher called her over and gave her some comforting words and told her to go again.  I felt so bad for her I wanted to go over and give her a love and tell her it was ok.  I really wanted to grab her and run out of the building but I know that wouldn’t be the right thing to do either.  Brett is always telling me that I’m very prideful and stubborn and he is totally right I really need to get over it.  People aren’t always out to get me and they aren’t just picking on my little girl because they are sick and twisted. 

After Madi tried the vault again the rest of the class seemed to go a lot better probably because it was nearly over but none the less.  Once we were in the car I tried to explain to Madi how the line in class was supposed to work.  I was pretty frustrated with the whole situation and doing that while driving probably isn’t the best idea.  So I came to this intersection that I had a stop and the other traffic did not.  I looked both ways then started to go and then suddenly comes this speeding car with teenagers.  I slammed on my brakes (not even close to hitting the car or them hitting me) and watched as the car drove past.  I was so annoyed that they were looking at me like I was a big idiot.  Again this is me at my worst with one of my biggest faults.  I need to learn to relax and stop thinking that everyone is out to get me.  Anyway, I get home and I tried to sit and calm down but Madi wanted something and when I didn’t give her the answer she was looking for she had a fit so I went to put her in bed which caused another huge fit.  So after I left Madi in her room I went in and woke Brett up to tell him my long sob story.  He knows the best way to call me on all my faults.  He isn’t trying to be a big meanie he is trying to help me work on my short comings.  Talking to Brett I just started crying and it felt nice, you know how a good cry is like the best feeling in the world sometimes.  Brett tucked me in bed and left me to take a nap which I was really in need of.

What’s the point of this story?  Well, I guess it’s that I realize that there are things that I need to work on and that I love my husband for being so understanding and always helping me work on my faults.  And that I love my little girls more than anything no matter what even when they are acting so hyper and crazy they are the best gifts that I could have ever asked for and I’m so glad that they are who they are.

Conversations with Madilynn

Madi was upset with us because we asked her to clean up in her room.  Brett followed her into her room and Madi says, “I DON’T LIKE ANYTHING!!”  Brett says, “Well, welcome to my world I don’t like anything either.”  Madi says, “NO IT’S NOT YOUR WORLD!!”  Brett, “You better stop sassing me.”  So in a whisper Madi says, “It’s Mom’s world.”

Little Miss Sass-a-frass

Dear sweet Madi she has such a HUGE personality.. She is constantly talking and will talk your ear off if you let her.  I guess we are going though the extended stay terrible twos because she is having trouble listening or behaving at all lately.  She’s like Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  At one moment she is very sweet and helpful but the next moment she is all full of sass and the naughties. 

Tuesday nights Madi has ballet class.  I almost didn’t take her this last Tuesday because we were having a really tough time with our little Jekyll.  I ended up taking her because I didn’t want her to miss out.  Almost immediately I could hear the teacher telling Madi that she needs to pay attention.  At one point I could see Madi and right after the teacher reminded her to pay attention she stuck her tongue out.  She didn’t stick her tongue out so that the teacher could see oh no, she waited until the teacher wasn’t looking to stick out her tongue.  Oh my…

She really is such a good little girl I shouldn’t complain.  I just hope that we can get over this extended stay of the terrible twos soon.

Christmas 2009

We have pretty much made it our tradition to travel to Utah for Thanksgiving but we always stay home for Christmas.  Not only is it easier because we don’t have to travel home with a bunch of gifts but we don’t have to deal with traveling in the bad weather.

Christmas morning Madilynn came screaming into our room at 7:40am, “Mom!!  Dad!!  Santa Clause came!!”  We hadn’t put any of the gifts out under the tree until they were in bed asleep so it was a real big surprise when Madi woke up and saw all of the packages including the unwrapped gifts that Santa had left.  When Madi woke us up Kimber was still sound asleep so I went into her room to wake her up.  You could say that she (Kimber) isn’t a morning person at all..  She wasn’t exactly happy about being ripped from her sleep but she warmed up after finding her candy cane in her stocking.  It’s so much fun now that the girls are starting to understand how Christmas works.  In years past Madi would need help opening her gifts but now she is helping Kimber open all of hers.  It was great fun and I can’t wait until next year.

The girls got the Chipmunks Squeakquel soundtrack for Christmas so we had a lot of fun listening to the girls sing along with it.  It was also fun to listen to while I was cooking Christmas dinner. 

So I mentioned bad weather earlier…  We had nearly 2 feet of snow fall in 2 days.  It was insane!!  It was truly a White Christmas!! 

Here is Brett clearing the driveway for the 5th time.The girls love to play in the snow but Kimber isn’t so big on all the clothes that she has to wear to go outside. 

I’m such a slacker…

I have to catch up on so much to get this blog back up to date.  I don’t know what’s happened… I was on such a roll there for awhile and then nothing..  Well, as part of my not so official New Years Resolutions I am going to put an effort into getting the blog back up to date and keep it up.  I really love being able to look back at the girls and the funny things that they have said and done.  I know I would regret not having something written down to be able to recall in the future.  Now that being said…. I’ll have to start tomorrow…  Ha ha ha!!  At least I’ve been going to the gym so I’m at least doing one thing I said I would..  Until later then my blog oh blog.

Christmas card 2009!

Madilynn turns 4!!!

Wow I can't believe that Madi is already 4 years old!  Where does the time go?  She just seems so grown up all of the sudden.  My baby girl is turning into a little lady.  I'm sad and happy all rolled into one.  I'm sad that she is growing up so quick but I'm happy to see the new things that she does everyday.  She always has something funny to say and people that we come in contact with are always so amazed at how well she can carry on a conversation.  She definitely isn’t afraid to talk and talk and talk your ear off.  I just love to hear her stories she sure comes up with some funny things.

We were in Utah on Madilynn's birthday so she had birthday parties while we were there.  On Saturday she had a birthday party with her Fairey Grandparents and cousins.  She was so funny after she blew out her candles she did a little bow when we all clapped and cheered.  She’s always the little performer. 

On Sunday we had a party with the Barnes family.  Brett's sister Katie made a really fun cake that Madi just loved.  She freaked out when she saw it.  Madi is totally infatuated with Barbie so it was the exact perfect cake.  Thanks Katie for making it for her it was a HUGE hit.  Madi was spoiled with dress up clothes and a new Barbie she also got her very first piggy bank that is super cute.  I have to find a safe place for the piggy bank so that she doesn’t try to play with it because it’s super breakable.  It was so funny when Madi was opening her card from her Great Grandma she saw that it had money in it and well, watch the video it was so funny..

It was so fun to be able to spend Madi’s birthday with our family.  Thanks everyone for making it a super fun time for her.  I know she had great fun at both parties and loved hanging out with her cousins. 

Primary Program

Today Madi was in her very first Primary Program at church.  She has had a cough for about a month so we haven’t been to church for the past two Sunday’s when they rehearsed so I didn’t know how it was going to go for Madi.  We had a copy of her line that she was to say so we did our own little rehearsal at home.  Just before it was time for her to go up to the stage I told her to be reverent and to smile and say her line loud but not yell.  When they called all the kids to come up she marched up there and found her place.  Kimber was upset that her sister left but she wasn’t the only one pretty much all over the chapel all the little ones were crying.  So cute that they all love their older siblings so much.  Back to Madi…  Since they are the youngest class they were the very first to say their lines.  Shelbee Ropte is in the primary presidency so she was right there to help the kids say their lines.  Madi was the second in line to get up to the the mic I didn’t know exactly what she would do but she handled it wonderfully.  She went right up to the mic and started saying her line.  “Heavenly Father….”  then with Shelbee’s help, “Loves me and has a plan for me.”  She said it very clearly and loud enough that you could hear her.  I couldn’t have been more proud of her.  This was the first time she had ever been on the stage or been up to the mic so I was so impressed that she had no hesitation at all especially in front of such a large crowd of people.  I was especially proud that she remembered the first part of her line all by herself.  Brett and I were just beaming!

For the rest of the meeting she sat very reverently at least that’s what appeared to be happening since all I could see was the very top of her little curly head.  She stood up with everyone when it was time to sing and tried to sing the songs.  At some point she got offended by someone so she had a sour face after that.  She from the stage was motioning to me trying to explain to me about what had happened.  She is so silly!  About 5 minutes until the end of the program all of the sudden she was there to sit with us.  She had met her limit and now it was time to be done.  She sat down and told Brett that she was ready to go and she wanted to go right now.  Silly girl!  After the meeting we gave her high 5’s and told her how well she did. 

I wonder when the next program will be.  I can’t wait to see how she does next time.  I wonder if she will ever be shy in front of the crowd.

You did such a great job Madi I am so proud of you.  Your Dad, Kimber and I love you very very VERY much!

New items at Madibu Bows

I’ve been really busy getting all of my things ready for a craft fair that I am going to be in this Saturday.  I’ve made some new bow boards and rings to put in my booth.  Check out my bow blog to see what new things I have.  www.madibubows.blogspot.com

My favorite new thing

I have heard people mention how nice it is to use Windows Live Writer to write blog posts.  I hadn’t tried it but thought about it.  The other day I finally checked it out.  I finally had it with blogger.  I just have to tell you Windows Live Writer is so nice to use.  It is very easy to upload photos and you can edit them and add cute borders to them.  The spell checker actually works and tells you as you are writing.  Also, I can’t tell you how many times I needed to move something around and accidentally deleted everything.. Just makes you want to pull your hair out.  So, if you have had it like I have you should check Windows Live Writer out.  I just thought that I would share that with you.

Funny side note.. As I was going to write this post I started typing and couldn’t see anything that I was typing.  I almost said, “Oh great!  Here I am about to sing praises about this thing and here it is sucking it up.”  Well, come to find out whatever text color you have set on your blog is what color your text is on here.  I had my text color set to white so it would show on the black background and so it wouldn’t show up on the white page.. Ha ha funny me! 

So proud of my little Miss Moo

This post is long over due. We have a HUGE announcement!!!!!!! Madi is officially potty trained and at the same time done with her silky!!!! Woo Hoo!!! It all kind of happened at the same time. I took all of her silkies away and she had a really hard time with it. She couldn't sleep and would cry and beg for them. It was sad to watch her be sad because she missed her treasure but I think it helped her to be a big girl and use the potty all the time. She just decided it was time I guess. She only has had one accident and it was when she was climbing up the ladder on her bunk bed and couldn't get down fast enough. I'm so so so proud of her. She hasn't even needed to wear night time pants.

Why I took the silkies away. Well, every night when she went to bed I made sure that she had her silky. Most nights she would wake up crying hysterically that she couldn't find her silky. I would have to go and try to find this tiny piece of fabric in her bed. It was really frustrating for us both so I decided it was time to be done with it. I think I did tell her that she couldn't have it until she was potty trained so that might have also influenced her to get going on being a big girl. She has asked for it a few times but then remembers that I told her that big girls don't need a silky. She has cheated a little, whenever I have a basket of laundry that needs to be put away she sneaks in a little snuggle with my "silkies" so when I find the basket of laundry with the silky pulled out halfway through one of the holes in the basket I know exactly what has happened. I guess she just needs to get her little fix every once in awhile.

It has been so lovely having her potty trained and I know she is so happy to do it all by herself too. I need to look back to find the dates of when this all took place. I guess I didn't write about it sooner because I didn't want to jinx it.

Way to go Madi I knew you could do it!

SPIDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday Tifany picked me up so we could take our friend Amber to lunch for her birthday. We had only been in the car a couple of minutes when out of the corner of my eye I saw something moving on my arm.. I looked and saw it was a SPIDER so out of instinct I flicked it off of my and started waving my arms. It landed next to me on the handle to the door. I opened the door slightly (while the car was still moving) I guess I thought I would just flick it out the door. I was screaming this really weird scream I don't even know where it came from. I couldn't even move. The door was ajar and I couldn't do anything. I couldn't even brush the furry spider out with my purse. I was completely frozen. It also didn't help that the spider turned and faced me and I could see it was doing something with it's fangs... I get the heebee geebee's just thinking about it. When Tifany got a chance she pulled over and went to my side of the car and got rid of the spider with her foot. She said that at first she thought I was just kidding and that I wasn't really freaked but when I opened the door and didn't move after that she could tell that I was frozen. I hate spiders and usually I can move away from them but how I was stuck in the car I couldn't do anything but FREAK OUT! I'm sure in my mind I even considered jumping from the moving vehicle to get away from that icky furry spider that wanted to bite me. I figure that it either climbed on me when I was raking leaves earlier in the day and had been riding around with me for probably an hour..... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or it was in Ryan's car (which is what Tifany was driving) and climbed on me when I got in the car. Ewe ewe ewe!!!