Mini Bike

Today was the first day of spring, and it was so nice. It hit around 68 degrees, which is about 20 degrees warmer than it's been. Spencer and I spent all day outside. In the afternoon, my sister Lindsey came over, and we decided to go for a bike ride. Her 2 kids have bikes, Natalie has a bike that has been adapted for her, and Alex has a radio flyer that has the parent handle/steering bar. So Lindsey was planning on pushing Natalie along, while my Dad pushed Alex....but poor Spencer is bikeless. I was trying to think of anything I could, that would somewhat reseamble a bike for him. Or something to distract him from Alex's bike; Spencer loves riding Alex's bike. Spence probably wouldn't be thrilled riding in the stroller, while the other 2 were on bikes.

So we broke out the mini bike! I don't have the slightest clue what it's for....I think for doing tricks maybe? I'm pretty sure it's for doing tricks, because it is made for an adult. If you look at the picture, the wheels are tiny. Anyway, Spencer has pretty good balance, so he held on while I pushed him. He loved it, he didn't try to get on Alex's bike at all. He was very content riding along on his bike.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Another bruise

Spencer got another psycho bruise, and this one is bizarre. He bruised the upper portion of his ear. I had never seen someone get a bruise on that part of your ear...or I guess your ear in general. It's the upper part where people usually get pierced. He was running down a ramp, at a park, while another (little girl, probably 2ish) plowed into him, and took him out. You'd think that she would have fallen, if she would have been pushed back, she would have gone down hill. But, of course, Spence fell, uphill, and somehow landed on his ear.

Now, this picture doesn't do it justice, AT ALL. I couldn't figure out how to turn the flash off, so it looks alot lighter than it actually is. And it is BLACK. It looks disgusting. But you can at least you can see where it is. Here's another picture right after it happened.
Once again, I haven't been able to get a good shot. The swelling has gone down, but it keeps getting more and more black. Even now, 4 days later, it's really black. It's also not nearly as big, I guess you could say. The blackness has spread, is a better way to put it. You can see right when it happened, it's a small black bump. But each day it keeps getting black down his ear.

Scott update

Scott finished his EMT (emergency medical training) class a month ago. If anyone has tried to get a job in any EMT or Fire related field, it's a shot in the dark (especially fire). Scott's end career goal, is paramedic/firefighter so we are trying to work up the ladder. And yes, there's a ladder to climb, even before you can get hired as a basic firefighter. EMS/fire services will only hire at specific times during the year. And sometimes only once a year. So they don't even look at you if they aren't hiring. When they do hire, it's a week long testing ordeal, and there are thousands of applicants. You have to take a written test, then a physical test, then they may ask you to come back for an interview. Then if you are still going strong, there's another interview. I'm pretty sure that police departments are the same way. Also when you initially turn in your application for the testing, you have to include background checks, 3 different letter of recommendation, a whole slew of stuff. When Scott finished his first EMT class, ADA County Paramedics just happened to be testing. However, Scott wouldn't have received his actual EMT license yet, so he couldn't apply. We looked around on Craigslist, and a company called Biomat just happened to be hiring. They aren't an EMS service, they are a plasma donating center. They needed a medical supervisor, which if you were an EMT, you would fit the description. We decided to jump on it, because we couldn't find any other fire department/EMS that was hiring in the area. And yes, Scott got the job. Luckily, it will benefit us in the long run. They will eventually train him in phlebotomy, so he can hook people up to the machines. Having phlebotomy will look great down the road, when trying to get on as a paramedic. Not only that, but they do tuition reinburstment. So Scott can finish his paramedic schooling, free of charge. However, our next problem was, to work as an Idaho Certified EMT, you have to be affiliated somewhere. So, if your not actually working for somewhere that can affiliate you, you have to volunteer somewhere. Which is actually great, because then Scott can volunteer at a fire department, and get his foot in the door. However, when you volunteer with a fire department, they put you through a FireFighter I class....which you do need to eventually work with the fire department. The bad thing is, to do that, they take volunteers in groups. So, of course, they only start them around August/September. We drove around to Eagle, Start, Middleton, Meridian, and Kuna, in hopes that someone would take Scott (he couldn't start the job with Biomat until he was affiliated). Eventually we went up to McCall, and was going to make our way around McCall, Donnelly, Cascade, Horseshoe Bend, and Emmett if we needed too. Luckily, those little cities aren't as strict as the big cities. Cascade took him on immediately. The little cities are fire and EMS together. So Scott got on obviously with the EMS service, but that's great for now. He can get his school paid for, and experience working as an EMT to show on a resume when he's ready to apply as a paramedic...and eventually volunteer with somewhere that will put him through firefirghter I. Which I'm sure that Cascade could eventually do. SO, it's going great, and we get health insurance...yay!!! Scott has always done construction, which has never paid for his health insurance....so I'm getting really sick of killing ourselves to pay for health insurance.
As far as I go, I'm on the downward slop for school....finally. I went really part time when Spencer was born, so I'm just getting to where I can take on a more full load. I'm shooting to graduate in music, in December of 2010. Hopefully 3 more semesters. Then I want to teach little people how to play the flute, and eventually go back to get a masters in music ed...and teach little people how to play in a band. And I don't need any comments that I'm aspiring to be a band teacher....leave me alone, I like it.

Spencer update

Spencer has gotten so big...well I should say smart. He gained 1 pound in 6 months, and wouldn't ever care to eat if I didn't make him. He's a big time mimic, so he's come up with quite the list of phrases.
My favorite right now is, "GO PEE." He's actually started potty training somewhat. It came about because of the dog. We live in my parents basement, and they have a toy poodle, named Sophie. Yep, she's still alive, 15 years strong. Her biggest fear right now is being left outside. So when we take her out to go to the bathroom, she walked a little, then stops and turns around to see if we shut the door. So we have to yell, "Go pee," then she walks a little further, turns around and checks again. It's a big ordeal, and we yell "go pee" like 20 times. Well, Spence has picked it up, so whenever anyone takes the dog out, he runs over and yells, "GO PEE" as loud as he can. It's hilarious. Spencer also thinks that watching Scott or I go to the bathroom is just the funniest thing ever, so we started getting him to say, "Go pee mom" or "Go pee dad." We then took it another step further. He loves running around naked. And he does this very distinct stance when hes about to pee. So whenever he does that, we run him into the bathroom, so he can go on the toilet. Which he actually does, and we say, "Go pee Spencer." He thinks it's great.
Spencer is also really into Spongebob Squarepants right now. Not only can he say it, he'll sing the song as well. I guess I've never paid attention to how much Spongebob memorabilia there is, because every 2 seconds while we are in a store, he's yelling, "Spongebob, Spongebob."
He also loves Mickey Mouse. If you've seen Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, the very end theme song is the Hot Dog Song, with the Hot Dog Dance. So every time he sees Mickey Mouse, he yells, "Hot Dog."
Other words or phrases: "All right" "See ya later" He says "HI" to everyone he sees, "Whoa" "WHEE" "All done" A lot of names....also incorporated into his phrases, "See ya later Lindsey" "No" to any question we ask, "Wonder Pets" "Elmo" "Pablo" " Hamie" or Handy Manny "Baby" "Yay" "Choo choo" "car", he also loves to tell you animal sounds. Right now he'll tell you what a dog, cat, sheep, cow, horse, and pig say. He also can count to 6. We've been working on counting through 10, he'll say 1-6 then 9.

Special Olympics

For those of you out of the loop, the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter games came to Idaho! Most everything was held in Boise, except for an event in McCall, and one in Sun Valley. One of the festivities held was called the Young Athletes Program. It consisted of different activities for special needs children from around the valley, who were to young to be involved in the special Olympics as an athlete. You had to be invited to attend, and the place was very heavily secured. Luckily, my mom's class (She teaches special education at Liberty Elementary) was invited to attend and she scored my sister and I some passes. My older sister has a special needs daughter, so it was fun for her to be able to come. This is Lindsey and Natalie, doing some of the events. Nat had the news cameras on her the entire time:) She loved it though. The faces of the kids were priceless, they were so excited when they would finish one of the events. Needless to say the place was non-stop high fives and hugs.


Some of the celebrities that attended the games were Johnny Knoxsville, Schwarzenegger, and Sarah Palin. None of these celebs came to the young athletes games, but guess who did.....?



The guy from Kyle XY!! They didn't announce him, he was just kind of there. It took a while of starring at him before I realized who it was..I knew I'd seen him somewhere. It was hilarious to watch all the teachers and aids drag their special needs kids to get a picture with him, because they didn't know nor care who he was. All they cared about was the giant Coca Cola polar bear.
It was funny because I could stand by, and chat with Kyle XY the whole time...no security or anything, but I wasn't allowed to be near the giant polar bear, only kids from the young athletes were allowed to see bear. I had to stay behind the barricade. So this was the best shot I could get of the giant bear.

We love Chuckie Cheese!