Really Funny and Well Put Together

All My Wisdom Is Finally Lost

Monday morning, I went in to get my wisdom teeth out.  There was never a need to before so I kept them up until now.  The bottom two were compacted and just collecting big cavities so it was best to finally lose them.  I was an emotional wreck that morning.  I don't do well with needles.  I've never enjoyed them and that was the one part of this experience I hadn't looked forward too.  I had done surgery in my mouth before though.  Back in sixth grade, I had surgery to bring my second front tooth down.  It was being blocked by the other teeth causing me to have about 6 school pictures with either one or both missing.  Anywho, I'm digressing.  So I went in and they got me calmed down and they used this amazing stuff to freeze the area for the IV so I ended up feeling nothing which was nice.  The nurse over me was really good about getting me to talk about other things while waiting too which helped.  They hooked me up to heart monitors and put oxygen tubes in my nose too.  I got this amazingly comfy blanket before they started and the nurse told me as soon as the doctor comes in, they are going to put a bite block in my mouth and then start the anesthesia.  Sure enough, he did and the only thing I remember is the doctor telling me to think of happy thoughts and the bite block going in and then I was out.  An hour later, I woke up with the oxygen tube gone and just sitting in a chair.  It was weird.  They brought Jared in soon after and gave me my TLC bag complete with filled prescription and we were on our way (in a wheel chair of course because I take a while to recover after these experiences).  I felt super out of it and tried to sleep a lot even though I have a hard time falling asleep on command.  The hydracodone was nasty though because it made me puke every time I was on it which didn't help me get back into shape quickly.  I finally connected the two and after having a really hard morning/afternoon of throwing up on Thursday, I decided to skip that route all together.  I'm still a little tender back there, but I'm rinsing to try to help that out.  All in all, it was a pretty crazy experience and now I am four teeth fewer in my count.  Sorry if I don't have pictures for this post.  I actually got kind of lucky in that department.  I didn't swell up like a chipmunk like a lot of people do.  I only had minor swelling in the back so I looked a little big, but not picture worthy.  Sorry folks.  Better luck next time :0)

We're Going To The Dogs

So...It's been a little due to various reasons, but I thought I would catch you all up on the latest developments in our family.  Three weekends ago, we were really considering finally taking the step to get a dog.  Jared and I had always wanted one and the kids are totally crazy about dogs so after much contemplation, we went for a field trip down to the Lied Animal Shelter and checked out all the bungalows of dogs there.  There were a ton!  After looking through all of them kind of quickly, we found a couple that intrigued us.  After taking out and trying to bond with two other dogs, we decided to try one more that we had on our favorites list and it was a border collie mix, Jared's dream dog.  After a little while with it, we decided it was a good dog who bonded with the family and kids well, so we signed for her.  We are now the proud parents of a female border collie mix between 10 months and 1 year old.  It's been kind of rough the first two weeks because she wasn't allowed to do much since she had to recover from being spayed, but now things are looking more up and fun on the physical level.  Here are some pictures from that weekend.

Kid tested...Hadley approved crate.

The dog had just gotten spayed that morning so she was sedate from recovery.

Good bonding time with the kids though.  They were super excited.

After much thought and debate in naming her, we finally decided to name her, Seika, after a border collie one of Jared's uncles used to have that he loved.  You pronounce it Seek-a or if you are from the Northeast, think of seeker but add the accent by dropping the "r."

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggidy Jig

We just got back from a trip home for me to New Hampshire back at the old stomping grounds.  We spent most of the time with my nana which was fun for me since her health isn't like it use to be.  We had some good times and I wanted to post two family photos from it.  I'll have more a little bit down the road of the beach and what not.  I love my nana!

The whole Stickney clan was there.

Nicholas' Birthday Play Group

Happy, Happy Birthday, Nicholas Dear...

Let them eat cupcakes...Lightning McQueen

Mmm...Mmm...Good Stuff

The sugar rush has ended.  Completely comatose.

Birthday Boy

Sorry this took so long, but we had a busy month in May.  I'm glad I finally got these up and posted though.  It was a lot of fun playing that day.

Joy School Graduation

For those of you who don't know, I headed off a Joy School Group this past year that was quite the rollercoaster ride.  Joy School is a preschool group for 3-5 year olds that are taught by their moms, rotating houses.  We learn all about joy and values as we apply them to our body, the Earth, communicaiton, relationships, goals, order and various other units along with Spontaneous Delight, Creativity and Imaginaiton.  It was a lot of fun to do it and the only down side was the change in numbers of kids and moms participating because of various reasons.  I'm happy to report though that 3 made it through alright.  Things were a little hectic towards the end due to the other moms being pregnant and due soon, but everything was compacted together to end on a high note with our own graduation ceremony.  Here are some of the pictures from it.  Let me know if anyone wants to join this Fall for another exciting year of curriculum plus pre-kindergarten material.

Oh boy, I have Joy, I do, I do.  It starts in my heart and spreads to my head in a minute or two.

Joy School Pep Song

Teach Me Joy

America Runs on Dunkins

I just wanted to make a quick shout out for DD.  I am completely thrilled that there are franchises finally opening up all over the Valley.  I love that and I just wanted to show it by a couple pictures as an ode to my Dunkin Donuts :0P

Second Honeymoon

Ok...So in April, we decided to join some of Jared's co-workers on a Carnival Cruise to Cabo and Ensenada.  We counted the trip towards my birthday and 5 year anniversary (early) and a bunch of other things.  It was good to have a vacation away from the kids too even though they were well missed and I seriously had a hard time picturing what Hayden would look like when we returned.  Crazy, huh?  Here are some pictures from our trip:

The whole time we were gone, Hayden thought we were on a pirate ship so we took these two pictures especially for him.

While aboard the ship, we took a class to learn the acient art of towel folding and now we can make all kinds of cool animals.  Loads of fun.  By the end of the cruise, we had a monkey, an elephant, a puppt, a bunny, a swan heart and a snake.  

This is the Princess Mariana.  It's the yacht of the richest man in Mexico.  The locals said that it is barely used.

A whole other boat with matching color schemes actually fits underneath this one through this back entrance.  We'll call it the portable mini yacht.  Sick, eh?  The rest of these are fun ones to add into the mix.  We have more at our website at www.stickspics.com.

All in all, the trip was really good.  We had cold, windy, cloudy weather the days at sea, but the days on land were sunny and fabulous.

A Real Backyard

So, it took us about a year to finally get enough money to do our backyard/landscaping the way the HOA wanted us to do it and I thought it would be fun to put pictures to show all of you the results.  We got it done in March.  Here are the before pictures:

And here are the after pictures.  We LOVE our new backyard :0)

This is where our garden is going, but Jared had to build me a planter box first.  He has since done so and I stained it and I'll have to post a picture of it a little bit later.

The kids love using the swing, especially Hadley.

Here's the picture of my front yard planters too.  I have since planted rununculus, aloe, strawberries and gardenias.