Patrick Place

Trying to move on

2011-05-23T21:21:00.000-07:00

So some of you know that last summer was a bit of a challenge for me.

It took me months to recover from the concussion I got in July.

And then D was called as Bishop in August.

And then in September I was told I had some "abnormal growths" in my neck.

In October I cried when President Uchtdorf counseled us to slow down when turbulence hits.

So I stopped doing a lot of things that I used to do, that weren't absolutely necessary (obviously including blogging.)

I think I am starting to get a handle on life again, so I'm trying to get back into blogging.

Be patient as I try to get back in the saddle.

Hawaii 2010

2011-02-14T09:00:00.001-08:00

In August D and I took a trip to Hawaii. We rented a condo in Waikiki and used that as our base of operations to travel all over the island of Oahu. This trip was to celebrate ten wonderful years of marriage to each other, and served as a base from which to launch the rest of, well, eternity!

I got frustrated trying to get these pics into any semblance of order, so just enjoy in chaos!And I'm just going to finally post this or it will sit in the draft folder forever!

This first picture is of one of the tour guys at the PCC (Polynesian Cultural Center) in Laie. This is run by The LDS church, and staffed specifically by students at BYU Hawaii. It has many different villages that teach about the culture and give experiences from many islands of Polynesia, including but not limited to Samoa, Tahiti, Aoatoroa (New Zealand), Fiji, Hawaii, and Tonga. This guy was from Samoa. He was HILARIOUS. He taught us how to open a coconut, get at the flesh, make coconut milk, and start a fire with the coconut hair. It was pretty amazing (plus funny). He also taught the word for fire in about ten languages.
I can't remember which village this experience was part of...but we got to weave a toy fish . This lady was amazing. While she sat there waiting for people to teach she would weave all kinds of different things and her fingers would FLY.

This picture was taken from somewhere along the North Shore.

We found "Turtle Beach" pretty much by accident, even though it was one of the places we wanted to see. We had been snorkeling all day at different places along the North Shore. When we finished up for the day we ran into another couple who asked about some good places to snorkel. We told them where we had been, and then they asked if we wanted to see some sea turtles, and where they were. So we changed and found this beach (which we had passed earlier in the day during a downpour). There were two large male turtles on the beach and some smaller ones in the surf.I think this first one was named Tripod (he was missing a hind flipper, taken by a shark, they thought.)
This was our favorite place to snorkel on the island: Shark's Cove. It was amazing the amount and variety of sea life we saw here. We even saw a little sea turtle swimming around (it was tiny compared to the ones we saw that evening.)

This is D as we got ready to snorkel at either Shark's Cove or Three Tables...I can't remember which it was. It was somewhere near here that we stopped at the best place to eat (so we were told by friends, other tourists, and locals alike)...Ted's Bakery. It had the most divine pastries I have tasted in well, ever. And this is where my love of Chocolate Haupia Pie began. I'll add my recipe at the end of this post. There is something about the taste of chocolate and coconut together that is just heavenly.

This is Three Tables, another snorkel spot on the North Shore.

Here are the falls that we hiked to just outside of Honolulu, Waimaia (I'm not certain of the spelling on the one.)

Here we are at the falls...it was a fun hike...but very muddy (It is in a rain forest.)

This is on the hike before it started climbing...actually just past the area that was staged for a scene for Hawaii 5-0...a crashed helicopter in the rain forest. I thought it was hilarious that they actually brought in a lot of vegetation for the shot. I guess the area wasn't as lush as they thought it should be?!

This next pic is actually from our first day in Hawaii. After we got into our condo we decided to go explore the area. As we got down near the beach a guy literally put this parrot in my hands! And then he started posing us with the birds. It was pretty fun.

Both of us sporting the feathered accessories.

This is also at the PCC. I think this was right after the luau, just before we went into the night performance of Ha: the Breath of Life.

This is the flag as seen from the Memorial for the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor.

Here I am walking along a beach I think on the east side of the island. We stopped on our drive up to Laie, and I gathered some shells and coral that had washed ashore. This was actually the only place that we saw sea debris...I think the surf is too hard and just crushes things to smithereens on the other sides of Oahu. It was so calm and just like most other places, the water was so clear!

Some of the other things that we enjoyed while in Hawaii: Waikiki beach, Hanauma Bay, China town, Pearl Harbor, and the Bishop Museum.

D really enjoyed the body boarding, and did so right near the pier at Waikiki Beach. We practiced snorkeling in the sheltered area (where there was absolutely nothing to see) before going into the more exciting waters at Hanauma bay, and on the North Shore. And I did some reading on the beach. Relaxing!

I took this pic as we walked back up the road after we spent the day at Hanauma Bay. It was so beautiful. I loved being able to go to the park kiosks and find out the names of the different fish and sea life that we saw.

I know this next picture is really weird, but that's why we have it. As we were trying to find China Town, we saw these mannequin heads in a window. We were so startled and freaked out we had to take a picture of the "art".

We tried to go up Diamond Head, but that didn't work. We got waved off to the side and told the parking lot was full. As we turned around, they let the cars behind us into the lot. I guess we smelled that day or something.*shrug* Actually I wasn't too sad...I was still feeling a bit exhausted from my concussion the month before and wasn't sure I could handle the hike. Also it was so ugly in the crater...definitely not like all the pics they have in the brochures. I guess the pics were taken in the winter.

The swap meet was OK but the international market was pretty dumb. I guess I should have realized that some "tourist destinations" were really shopping malls. And since neither D nor I are huge shopping fans, it is no surprise that we didn't find those too fascinating.

This was an awesome view as we drove around the tip( I think it was the southeast corner) of the island. I just loved the evidence of erosion and the contrast of shadow and light.

This is another view of Hanauma Bay from above.

This is the view at sunset from the roof of our condo building.

Halloween 2010

2011-01-22T21:41:00.000-08:00

As I was looking through our pictures from Halloween, I thought, hmm, isn't that funny, the computer recorded the wrong day for Halloween (they are listed as 10-30-10). LOL! Then I remebered, oh yeah, we did do Halloween on the 30th this year...we can't go trick-or-treating on a Sunday! Anyway here are the costumes...Yoda, Anakin, R2D2 and the Lion. The older kids really wanted Peaches to be an Ewok, but she refused too wear the hood that would have made her look more like an Ewok. Oh well. The theme was mostly there!

We visited the grandparents' houses first and then had to wait for the massive thunderstorm and downpour to pass before we could go out in the neighborhood. It was some of the heaviest rain we have had in ages. But it did pass, and the kids (mostly) had a great time trick-or-treating. We didn't hit all the places the kids wanted too (shh! don't tell), but Peaches was recovering from a sprained foot and became a beastly, angry lion after about an hour Good thing Daddy was there to carry her and help calm the beast!) And mommy made the R2D2 costume too long for Sweetsa to comfortably walk in, so we went home and got warm, dry and comfortable. Literally, Home Sweet home!

Flat Earth

2011-01-22T20:38:00.000-08:00

I fell off the face of the Earth,

or maybe I was shoved off,

I don't know...

...I guess that means the Earth really is flat.

I'm trying to climb back on...still in process.

But to help me get back into blogging (Thanks Jam for the nudge!), here's a cute "Peaches-ism" which was related to me tonight.

A few weeks ago in Peaches' Nursery class, they asked a question about Heavenly Father. Peaches gave this answer:

"My dad is Bishop and Heavenly Father is God."

Caught!

2010-07-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

(So I started this post months ago, but since I have been MIA for a while, I thought I'd post as is!))

Have you seen any of these masked bandits? All have been seen wandering in the vicinity of our backyard!

Children's Parade

2010-06-27T20:35:00.001-07:00

So one of the things that our kids have wanted to do (since forever, or so they tell me) is to march in the annual children's parade here in town. So after much pleading I agreed that this year we could do it...if we could use the wagon D got for Christmas (knowing that, while the route is short--at six blocks-- the little ones wouldn't want to walk the whole way.) Well, with such a great prop, we came up with the idea to be Pioneers with a wagon going across the plains.

When Taffy and her children arrived here for the summer, they gladly joined in with great ideas and plans. One of Taffy's girls wanted to be an Indian (after finding that Mimi's moccasins fit her really well!) with a papoose and spent an entire day making a costume for her doll. Jeff was very excited when he found out he could be a cowboy, but Buddy wanted nothing to do with girly dress ups, and declared he would decorate his bike and ride in the parade that way. The rest of the girls wanted pioneer dresses. Thanks to Uncle Tee, we had a dress to fit Mimi (originally a Kirsten-type dress) and several bonnets and aprons , but needed to make dresses for the rest (five pioneer dresses and one Native American type dress.)
We marched in the Children's parade, the kids had a great time. Thanks to some excellent rigging/planning and engineering from Grandpa, we had a fantastic wagon any pioneer would have been proud of (or just would have thought was cute!) And thanks to Grandma for saving us...making an awesome dress, lending bonnets, vests and hats, and joining us for the all-night sewing session! This parade exhibit definitely would not have been possible without their wonderful help. It was fun to look for them/wave to them and uncle Beege buns, as well as D along the parade route.

The kids did a great job(especially for waiting for-EVER for the parade to actually start --some judicious lollipops helped with that!) The big girls took turns pulling the wagon, and then they all took turns riding in the wagon (when Kiersti insisted on getting out, and Peaches insisted on me carrying her...thankfully only the last block and a half!) The kids would have been happy to just be in the parade, so it was a totally unexpected bonus that not only were there popsicles at the end for all participants, but we also got a trophy, because, as the lady said when she gave us the trophy, "We just loved your wagon and thought your costumes were so cute!" And sad to say, I am a sucker for a trophy, cuz the all-night sewing session didn't seem so bad anymore!

So here are the pics we took.

Jeff when we got the trophy:

Heading out to the parade...Westward ho!

Jessie the Indian Maiden with Samantha the papoose:

Caroline the Cute (and tall) pioneer girl:

Mimi in the Kirsten-esque dress:

Here's Buddy about to lead us all to the parade on his bike:

Sweet Naomi , Pioneer lass:

Cowboy Jeff and his pal Pony:

Sweetsa and Kiersti, together (Sweetsa in blue with the pink bonnet, Kiersti in green):

Peaches trying to pull the wagon (she did succeed):

Here we are, taking off, after our long wait in line!:

Pioneer children sang as they walked...they sang the chorus to "The Handcart Song":
"For some must push and some must pull
As we go marching up the hill
And merrily on our way we go,
Until we reach the valley-o!"

Peaches enjoying her popsicle at the end of the parade:

Here we all are posing with the trophy (yes it is in there...look in the middle. I know it's small but hey, it's a trophy!):

Here's Kiersti again, just cuz she's cute. She was so excited to throw candy to people, and she did a great job of it too!

Have my buttons burst yet?

2010-05-23T21:56:00.000-07:00

I am so proud of our Mimi girl! What can I say she is amazing! A couple months ago, she approached D ( a counselor in a YSA ward Bishopric) and asked when she could give a talk in church. So D lined her up to speak this month. When he asked her how long she wanted to speak for she replied, "I don't know, 5-10 minutes?"

She was given the opportunity to choose her own topic, and she chose love.

She gave her talk today. Yes I am the proud mama, but she did a fantastic job! She read with expression, and didn't sound or look nervous at all. She even got the congregation laughing. Several people came up to her at the end to complement her (one even said she gave the best talk of the whole month!) D got a note from one of the YSAs saying that her talk answered a question he had been struggling with for quite awhile.

I am so proud of Mimi for having the courage first of all to ask for the chance to give a talk in Sacrament meeting (who does that?), and then preparing and presenting a talk that touches peoples lives.

I pray she can continue to be such a wonderful example as she grows into tween- and teen-hood!

What I have been reading

2010-05-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

For our book club this past year, we have been reading the unabridged version on Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. It has been fun and fascinating, and I'm sorry to say at times, very hard (boring). He writes wonderfully and there are some parts that I will gladly remember forever...and then there are parts that I dutifully slogged through to keep up with the group. I think I will read the abridged version when next I pick it up--a few years down the line!

As D recently finally understood, I can never read just one book at a time and sometimes have as many as five books that I am reading. So here are some of the other things I have been reading and what I thought of them. This is only some of the things I have read in the past few months...mostly the ones that I remember and really liked. And, yes I have an eclectic taste in books. If anyone has any good book recommendations, I would love some suggestions!

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. Ok I really enjoyed these page-turners, but I have to admit that they are a bit, um, violent. And the twist at the end of Catching Fire really caught me off guard. I can hardly wait for book number three comes out in August.

Ender in Exile, Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Giant, Shadow of the Hegemon, and Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card. What can I say, other than I love the way Card weaves in his political and military history as well as psychology with such a fascinating storyline! I read his newest (I think Ender in Exile or Shadow Puppets) and then had to go back and read all the related ones in his series. I have to admit I pooped out after awhile, so I didn't finish Xenocide or Children of the Mind. But I do plan to finish them (again) sometime.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. This was recommended to me by Woodine, and at first I was a bit peeved at the author...she was trying really hard (too hard in my opinion) to convince her readers that growing your own food is healthy for you and the environment. Once she got past the preachy part of her journaling, I really enjoyed the down to earth, back-to basics info and anecdotes, not to mention the helpful hints, resources and recipes she included.

No Impact Man by Colin Beavan. I picked this up on a whim from the new non-fiction books section of the library...mostly curious about the unique cover/binding. Turns out the book chronicled a man and his family as they tried to make no impact on the environment for a year's time. I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was really sad though that it took this whole project for the author to realize that happiness does not come from the material aspects of our existance, but through our relationships and spirituality/connectedness to the "cosmos". Anyway , as I said I really enjoyed this book, and I have been more aware of my energy usage/trash production recently. It sure isn't a bad thing to be less reliant on fossil fuels and to reduce, reuse, and recycle what we can!

SuperFreakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. This is the "sequel" to Freakonomics, by the same gentlemen, which I enjoyed a few years ago. It really isn't a sequel, just more of the interesting analyses of studies done by statisticians. People really do respond to incentives...and not necessarily in the way we expect. I loved the last chapter that detailed several simple, "low-cost" possible solutions for the global warming/cooling issue.

The Undaunted by Gerald Lund. If you have read anything by this author you know that he meticulously researches the areas and history of the subject before fictionalizing the characters. This story follows the pioneers who settled the southeast corner of Utah, and literally cut a wagon road in the mountains and cliffs of southern Utah to get there. It is wonderfully written, with engaging characters, along the lines of the Fire of the Covenant and Work and the Glory books he has written in the past.

Rapunzel's Revenge (second read) by Shannon and Dean Hale. This is a graphic novel (like a comic book) I stumbled upon a year or so ago. I loved it! It is sort of a fractured fairy tale that has Rapunzel rescuing herself and teaming up with Jack (of Beanstalk fame) to overthrow the wicked witch. Fun story illustrated by our neighbor, Nathan Hale! Mimi also loves this book, and has read it several times...getting Sweetsa hooked on it in the process!

The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale. I gave this to Frogalee for her Birthday last summer and she kindly sent it back to school with Kaeru Hime after Christmas so that I could read it. I only got to it in March. It sure made an impact on me! I loved it, but it was an emotional roller coaster for me...I literally found myself sobbing through parts of it. But it was good, funny--hilarious even. And I could identify with that "typical Mormon housewife"--except for the writer part. !)

Redefining Joy in the Last Days by Chris Stewart. Loved , loved, loved this one. He used personal experiences, quotes from pophets and scripture and really brought home the fact that joy is not dependent upon having a "perfect," no-trial life. It is something we can have now, and should actively seek in our lives. A very quick read...like an hour!

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. Em gave this to me for Christmas, and I am sorry to say that I didn't pick it up until April. Silly silly B! It was so good! Seriously, one of the best fantasy books I have read in a long time. The premise was unique, and the characters well-drawn. I loved the surprises and the way the magic worked.

Mistborn and The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson. Got these from Frogalee for my birthday. I do like how Sanderson writes! This is again an interesting storyline with a strong female lead character. I enjoy the changes that she goes through in her character and trust for mankind. I do have to say that this one (two) are rather violent (there is a war going on, so there is quite a bit of killing). So if you don't like that in your books, pass on this series. I haven't yet read the final book in the series (Hero of Ages), but plan to do so when my current crop of books slims down a bit!

Witch and Wizard by James Patterson. I should probably list others of Pattersons books in here, but this was the most recent and most memorable. Again a different premise than most of this author's books...but fascinating. A New Order takes over and starts imprisoning and/or executing thousands of youth, particularly those who are "rebellious" (not accepting of the N.O.'s rules.) This book starts what I assume will be a series following a brother and sister caught up in the mess (who find out that they are a wizard and a witch during all the chaos.)

Sweet Peaches is two (and then some!)

2010-04-07T19:20:00.000-07:00

I know I am so behind, but I thought I'd post some pics and some words on our little two year old, Peaches.

She can be such a sweet sweet girl. She loves to gives hugs and feels lost without her siblings. Every morning after we drop them off at school, when we're not even a block from the school, Peaches says," Mimi? Buddy?" And then she makes that wondering sound, like Where did they go?! but without actually saying anything. Everyday we reassure her that they are at school and will be home later. And when they do get home she yells, "BUDDY! MIMI!" and gives them huge hugs.

She has really started talking quite a bit more in the past few months. She's putting together several words to get her point across. Strangely enough she's really good at telling people what to do, and when. Yup, she's pretty bossy, always telling people "Keem up guys!" pause "Now!" It's really funny when she adds that now on, like she really means business. But she can be so polite also. She says "sank you" "pease" and even remembers to say "welcome" after someone thanks her. It melted my heart when I finished her ester dress and she got so excited, touching it again and again, saying, "Mine, mine! Sank you Mommy! Sanks!" But the cutest thing is after she burps, she always says,"Say...SCUSE ME!" often at the top of her lungs. (and yes, she does say "say" first.)

Peaches LOVES dogs. I think she came loving that species! (She certainly didn't get it from me, that's for sure!) Charlie is her favorite, but she also loves Toby (who looks like Charlie's younger brother) and she is fascinated by the dogs next door. I say fascinated because they are bigger, so she won't go near them, but if she hears them, she will sit in the window, trying to see them and talk to them. She will also act like a dog...a lot. I have to limit the licking because it can get pretty gross! Everyday, she spends time crawling around like a dog, barking, yipping, licking, and playing.

Peaches loves to bust a move, cut a rug and just get down when she hears music. Here she's dancing with Mimi last July at our block party.

Peaches is currently experimenting with potty-training. It is something I am not planning to push her on. She enjoys stripping down, scaling the toilet, and doing her business in the pot at least a couple times a day. She doesn't generally initiate it herself though, so I'm not convinced she's ready. I also don't think she'll push it off until she's four like some others I could think of!

Peaches LOVEs to make animal sounds. Here's another talent she is working on:

Unfortunately for us, Peaches thinks it is her duty as a two year old to throw tantrums (the other kids liked three better as a tantrum age.) Ugh. Several times a day she is screaming bloody murder. So if you hear a little girl screaming her head off...she's just been denied the wish of her heart (of the moment) and is letting the world know. I've discovered it is harder to reason with a two year old than with a three year old. I generally try to keep myself calm, tell her that screaming isn't going to get her what she wants, and ignore it. But I have to admit that sometimes the reason she is tantruming is not the reason I think she is throwing a fit. Today for example, I thought she was upset that I had made her come inside. After letting her scream on the floor for a while, I picked her up and asked her why she was sad. She told me "Bonk!" pointing to her head. So apparently she hurt her head, but instead of telling me like she usually does, she threw a tantrum. If anyone has any good suggestions on successfully discouraging two-year-old tantrums, we'd love to hear them.

Our sweet Peaches is experimenting with fashion and dressing herself. She will pick her own clothes upon occasion (emptying her drawers in the process), and always tries to get her pants and shirt on by herself. When I offer to help she always replies, "Self mommy. Self."

Peaches we love you. We are so happy to have you in our family, even if Mommy is a blog-slacker!

Sledding Fun

2010-03-08T20:52:00.000-08:00

Santa left a sled under (really next to) our tree this year. The kids were chomping at the bit to get out there on the hills . We went to a nearby park, and they had a blast. Peaches always got to ride up the hill in the sled..lucky girl!Mimi and Buddy were such good sports to pull her up so often. Sweetsa got to ride occasionally too. Not surprisingly, Buddy was the most adventurous, wanting to go off the jumps and start from back in the woods, etc.
They all took turns very nicely, going down singly (not Peaches) in pairs, threes, and all four of them together. We almost had the hill to ourselves, as there was one other family out there at the time. It was snowing, and so quiet, except for the shouts of joy as they flew down the hill. It was really a beautiful time.

A couple days later we went back with Daddy, and once again, they had a great time. They loved sledding with Dad, and ON Dad too! Unfortunately, the hill was way more crowded and didn't have as much snow the second time ...but we still had fun. Except for Peaches who slept through the whole outing in the stroller!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

2010-02-14T12:04:00.000-08:00

So there have been a few sayings recently that have absolutely tickled me.

"Shoot!" "Oh, Shoot!" This is what Peaches said when she ended up with cookies and milk on the floor. First she dropped the cookies which broke, then she dumped the cup of milk on the floor. It was so funny hearing her say it perfectly, placing her little hands on her hips. It also made me glad that I don't say anything worse than Shoot! Peaches has become a parrot...she "gave" a talk in home primary today (we didn't go to church today because she has been sick, so Mimi did Primary for all the kids in our basement!)

Sweetsa's speech was recently evaluated by a Speech Language Pathologist. We were told that while she does have some errors in her speech, mostly she's waiting for her nervous system to catch up to her vocabulary...she has a lot to say and is still developing the ability to say those things correctly. That should have been obvious to us when she started using "apparently" so much. "Apparently I need to go the potty!" "Apparently I am hungry." "He doesn't want to marry me anymore, apparently." (These are actual quotes by the way. I am laughing as I type!)

Buddy totally cracked me up the other day when he told me,"Mom, you should go to college!" All while shaking his head as if disappointed in me. Just for asking about his math homework!

This one is not out of a child's mouth, but almost funnier, from a closed caption. We were watching "My Turn on Earth" and during the song Opposition...it said "propositions...a necessary condition in this world of ours!"

And here's a bonus pic of Mimi.

She not only held Primary for the kids, she set up a Chapel for all the dolls and stuffed animals, complete with talks and the Bishopric sitting on the stand! What a girl!

I sure love these kids!

Taking the plunge

2010-01-25T15:38:00.000-08:00

While removing the clog from the toilet (with the plunger not my hands!) the other day, I suddenly had a flashback to childhood: playing with the plunger-pretending it was a pogo stick or some other fun-filled toy. I paused in disgusted awe at my -what would you call it...naivete? obliviousness? I don't know, but I am still disgusted when I recall that. Why do kids think the plunger is such a fun thing? Why do cartoons always show a plunger getting stuck to someone's mouth? Ugh! I just thought that was funny as a child but now... ewww gross!

Apple Juicing

2010-01-16T21:17:00.000-08:00

Back in October, we made some delicious apple juice using the apples straight from our trees. It was fall break so two other families from the neighborhood came over and we all went to work. Thanks to the ingenious Bro Sanford we had a system that worked really well and we ended up getting gallons upon gallons of juice (more than forty I think, but I can't quite remember now!!)

We had the harvesters,

the scrubbers,

and the mashers.

Then there was the press

and all the lovely yummy juice that we put into coolers and jugs and pitchers and whatever we could find to hold all that sweet nectar.

Thanks so much to the Sanfords and the Sorensens for wanting to do this, bringing all the workers and the equipment and most of all for using so many apples!

Here are some more pics of that fun day

And this is one of my favorite pictures from that day:

It's the three babies! (sorry Googs! I know you aren't a baby anymore, but you'll always be your mom's baby!)

A New Goal

2010-01-16T20:59:00.000-08:00

I went to a funeral for wonderful lady yesterday. She was 90 years old...three weeks from her 91st birthday. It was heartwarming to see how many people loved her and had felt her love though the years. But the best thing was when I heard this in one of the talks:

"She was the Thirteenth Article of Faith." What a wonderful thing to say about someone. And it was totally true! I didn't know Sister Pasket extremely well, but she was honest, kind, loving, compassionate, sought the good in all things, was willing to help others and share her testimony of Christ and His gospel.

I hope the same can be said of me when I pass. That's my new goal.

Post Harvest Time

2009-10-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

Pears, apple sauce, and peaches

salsa heaven!
I guess I deleted the pic of the cupboard with the apple juice, apple pie filling and strawberry jam. But we have that too! I love having all these yummy things throughout the winter!

Loving the Leaves

2009-10-24T20:34:00.000-07:00

And lovin my kids! I spent some time earlier this week with the little girls out in the yard. We had fun, and I actually got some work done, too!

Three Degrees of (Apple) Glory

2009-10-24T20:23:00.001-07:00

Sweetsa's Birthday

2009-10-18T21:09:00.000-07:00

Sweetsa wanted a Dora Birthday party this year.

So we invited her friends from Church and the neighborhood, a cousin as well as her siblings and did up the day nicely. They colored Dora and Diego pictures.

They played Dora, Dora Boots (a variation of Duck Duck Goose)

Then they had a candy hunt. We did the easy four year old version...no hiding eggs, or even hiding the candy, just throw a bunch out on the lawn and have 'em go at it. They had a blast.

Here they check out their loot bags

The rest of the time they ran around the yard and played and played!

One of the funnest (most fun?)times of the party was when Swiper came to visit! We didn't get a pic of her/him during the party but here she is the next morning!

The little kids had a blast telling Swiper "Swiper NO SWIPING!" again and again as Sweetsa opened her presents. It was really neat and really sweet of Mimi to think of and do it all by her self (Daddy did help a bit with the mask design!)

And now Sweetsa, a note to you. You have grown so much this past year! You are getting so much taller and you talk so much more now! I love how you are constantly telling me how things should be and that "apparently" this or that happened, and what we should do about it.

I love how you are so loving , and how you have "adopted" some of the singles in the Branch. I also love how much you love to cuddle and snuggle (although I do get a little tired of carrying you around all the time!

I'm proud of you for knowing all your ABCs and being able to write them too! you are doing so well with your computer class, and I love how you love to "read". That love will take you places girl! Don't stop!

I love how you are so determined (some might say stubborn!)and don't so things half way. If something is worth doing, you do it all the way! Those characteristics will help you throughout your life.

Sweetsa, Mommy and Daddy love you so much, and we always will! Keep choosing the right and helping your siblings and you will be happy!

First Day

2009-09-26T22:20:00.000-07:00

I know it was almost two months ago...that's how behind I am! The first day this year was rather low key...except that Buddy was adamant that he would wear that reunion shirt and no other that day! Ah well! Here he is clutching the classroom gift of hand sanitizer.

School is going fairly well, but there have been a few hiccups, hopefully we have tose ironed out and the rest of the year will go very smoothly.

Haircuts

2009-09-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

A week or so before school started I took the girls to get their hair cut. Mimi has wanted a "real" haircut fr a long time (meaning more than just a trim...something with shape and style;) and Sweetsa just needed it cut to lessen the tangles I had to battle through each day. Here are the results:

A Harvest Game of Threes

2009-09-12T18:58:00.000-07:00

We have been reaping the benefits of our little garden this summer. Here are some of our more interesting finds.

When I see this pic I think of the song, "one of these things is not like the others one of these things just doesn't belong"...can you tell which it is?

I took these pics using the same basket to help provide perspective, did it help or make it harder?

Can you tell what we harvested on our 'mini' harvest day?

Actually, it wasn't really a mini harvest day, as we harvested a lot, just some of the things were rather tiny! Our harvest yesterday included about two bushels of pears, cabbage, watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes, peppers, green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, green & red peppers, anaheim peppers, and carrots. The apples we picked to see how close to being ripe they are...they aren't ready yet!

Dance Dance Dance!

2009-08-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

Biege Bun (my youngest brother) was able to participate in the DanceSport Special Olympics Ballroom Dance competition this past Weekend. He did pretty well, hauling home a trophy for Second Place in the Cha-cha as well as one for Second Place in the Waltz! Way to go bud, we're all proud of you!

He and his partner were excited to get trophies for the Cha cha.

He got a little tired, and was able to take a little nap on Dad in between his performances.

Here he is posing with both of his partners. He had such a great time, and was so proud of his trophies!

I have been trying to upload the videos that Dad took, but have gotten error messages every time. I'll keep trying, but in the meantime, I'll post the pics. Sorry Em! You might have to wait a few weeks to see the videos!

Come to my garden!

2009-07-27T17:25:00.000-07:00

All I need is there in the garden...
----------------
You clear away the dead parts,
So the tender buds can form,
Loosen up the earth and
Let the roots get warm,
Let the roots get warm.
----------------
A bit of earth,
She wants a little bit of earth,
She'll plant some seeds.
The seeds will grow,
The flowers bloom,
Their beauty just the thing she needs.
She'll grow to love the tender roses,
Lilies fair, the iris tall.
-----------------

I know that my gardens are nothing like Lilly's or Mary's in The Secret Garden, but they sure make me happy, from the very first sign of green, showing that things are "wick" to the last jar of applesauce or salsa we eat in the winter(spring or summer depending on how long they last!) This year I have been so happy with all of my experiments! Things have grown really well...could be all that rain we had in June, letting everything get well established before the heat of July.

Here are some of my favorite garden shots this year.

And here are some pics of our early harvest.

Those are a normal size apple and a normal size pear next to the potatoes!

I haven't taken pics of all that we have harvested...some things just don't last long enough! But we have so far harvested peas, lettuce, cabbage, summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, peppers, cucumbers, green beans, potatoes, and carrots. The peas and lettuce are done :(, but we still have corn, pumpkins, butternut squash, cantaloupe, and watermelon (an experiment)yet to harvest, not to mention the blackberries, grapes, apples, and pears! Oh I love growing stuff!

I think that gardening is like life. So often we need to "clear away the dead parts"...the things that are holding us back, be they regrets, mistakes, sins, whatever, so that we can grow and move in better directions and ways that we never imagined we could. I also think that we need to get out of focusing on ourselves, get our hands in the dirt and do something for someone or something other than ourselves. And most of all we need to recognize the beauty of this world that Father has given us ~ what a fabulous gift!

Things that keep us busy

2009-07-25T13:13:00.000-07:00

We've had a lot of fun, and even fit in some somewhat educational experiences this summer. Here are a few pics:
The MOA had a Children's Art day in June. They had all kinds of things for the kids to do. They made crazy bubble wands,
decorated yummy cookies, sang songs and played musical instruments.
We got to tour the Walter Wick exhibit as well as some of the other exhibits there, build castles, do some puzzles and get our faces painted.

Later on in June, The Collings Foundation brought the Wings of Freedom tour to our local airport. I took the kids and they really enjoyed it. Mimi and Sweetsa got to sit in the cockpit of an airplane,
and Buddy and Mimi got to sit in a helicopter.
We saw planes that flew in WWII missions.
We saw pictures, guns and ammo, and heard stories of veterans shot down and rescued behind enemy kines (ha ha I mean lines...wouldn't that be interesting to be shot down behind enemy cattle!). It was really neat when a "Rosy the Riveter" met the fighter Ace that was there sharing his story. I got to heft a British gun that weighed more that Sweetsa! I don't know how these soldiers do all that they do carrying all their heavy gear and weapons! Thank you to all who defend our country and freedom everywhere!

We got some coupons for the Children's Museum and spent the day there earlier this month. Mimi and Sweetsa love the "little world" area where they can play in a children's scale size house/grocery store/construction zone/ and some farm attractions. Buddy liked pretending to be a blacksmith as well as the construction zone. Peaches just loved everything, here she enjoys the water tables.

July is always a fun time of year in our area. We like to tell people that this is the place to be to celebrate our country and everything it stands for. The past three years we have had Colonial days as well as the annual freedom days. At Colonial Days, people get to experience some of "a day in the life" of a Colonial person. Each year it has gotten bigger and more interesting. This year the kids enjoyed playing "graces", carding wool, making freedom necklaces, lavender sachets, cornhusk dolls, Native American stone art. There is always live entertainment as well as various artisans demonstrating their skills. This year they had a wood worker who built a lathe during the course of the festival and he actually turned a few pieces by the end! It was really cool to see how he used authentic tools and methods to do what they did so long ago! Somehow I didn't get any pictures taken of the kids at Colonial days...maybe next year. Mimi told me as we left that she wants to volunteer for Colonial Days next year!Here Sweetsa sports a hand beaded necklace we got for her at Colonial Days.

After Colonial Days we went to the carnival downtown with some of our Patrick cousins. The kids enjoyed going on the rides together. This was a ride I called Teacups on Steroids. It was fun (yes I went on it too!) but Sweetsa was sad she didn't get a chance to go on it:(

After the rides our family headed over to the kids area and did some free crafts, attended a reptile show, jumped on some bouncy things and looked through a Revolutionary War period encampment. It was fun to be together and learn new things about our country.

That evening we headed over to our Annual July 3rd Block Party. We always have fun with old and new friends, talking, eating, playing, throwing water balloons, launching water rockets, dancing and of course watching "Rocket Chick" ride up and down the street to end the evening.
Dancing.

Riding the train.

One still moment

More dancing

I have been trying to include a clip of rocket Chick but can't seem to get it to work. I'll try to post it later, I guess.

On the Fourth we went to the neighborhood Crepe Breakfast where we caught up with old friends who have moved away...that's one of the best things about the holiday is reconnecting with friends!Here's Peaches getting some crepe numminess.

We also had a fantastic lunch at Gramma M's house with all kinds of Aunts, Uncles and cousins. The kids spent the day playing in the water and the adults got to visit and relax. It was a wonderful afternoon!

That evening we visited with Carolioness, Daisy, Nagol and Ka'lel. The kids played around on the tramp and the sand box.

Buddy and Nagol enjoyed "fighting" without contact on the trampoline, and generally had a great time together. Then we enjoyed some Fourth festivities of poppers and sparklers (somehow I didn't get pics of those :(

When our cousins from Castletown came to spend some time with us, the kids thought they were in heaven! We spent a day doing corn husk characters:

We ended up with (from left to right front):two Prince Caspian dolls, complete with swords; an easy demo doll; a baby for Peaches; Kiersti's "baby";(second row left to right) a Japanese cornhusk doll; Lucy from The Chronicles of Narnia, complete with dagger and cordial; Susan from said Chronicles, with accompanying bow and quiver of arrows; a Ninja Princess Warrior, named Ruby; (back row): Colonial demo doll with apron; Sweetsa holding her doll named "Diamond". The kids all had so much fun with these... way more than I ever expected! I thought it would take up an hour's time and then be set aside in favor of other pursuits. Literally hours were spent making and decorating these dolls as well as playing with them when they dried!

They also loved playing in the sprinklers together. They came up with some interesting things: the girls all ended up with water babies:

the boys just loved squirting each other with untied water balloons that they refilled again and again and again!

And of course we did sparklers for Pioneer Day.

,
Last night we had our ward camp out. It was so beautiful, but I'll try to do that in another post because this one is beyond marathon now!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-07-22T13:11:00.000-07:00

He's our buddy!

2009-06-02T21:33:00.000-07:00

Buddy is six! I can hardly believe it, and he actually has a hard time remembering...every time he's been asked how old he is he has replied "five!"Here are some pics of his this past week. It's been a very busy week, with school ending, and our regular weekend busy-ness!
This is his favorite toy for his birthday: a Bakugan Ball/brawler (I'm still not clear on the name.) The legos are also a favorite and have provided literally hours of entertainment so far.

Here he is being silly with a dried apple slice at Mimi's game on Saturday (she plays coach pitch softball.)

I love this action shot on the slip n slide!

He received the "Super-Sounder-Outer" Award at his Kindergarten Celebration last week. He is standing next to his teacher, Mrs. Billabong, who said he is a whiz at sounding out unfamiliar words as he reads.

And finally here he is nest to the teacher's aid, Miss Babydoll. He has told me several times in the past few days (since school got out) how much he misses Mrs. Billabong and Miss Babydoll. He loved kindergarten but is really excited to be a first grader.

Buddy is such a treat to be around! He is so enthusiastic about almost everything. I say almost everything because it is hard to get him enthused about cleaning his room! But he loves to help others...he rushed the other morning to make my bed before I could! He loved telling me that he had made it all by himself. He loves to surprise people with service and good choices that way!

Buddy loves all things active and electronic. We love that he loves to be active, but are not so enthused about the electronic craze, so we've decided to try to keep him unplugged for as long as possible (Yup, we are MEAN parents!)SO to keep him busy he's taken gymnastics twice, soccer, swimming and now t-ball. He also loves to ride his bike and help outside with the yard and garden! Sometimes his exuberance carries him a bit too far and he starts wrestling/fighting at inappropriate times (not that there are appropriate times for fighting!) We are working with him on this, and he is getting better, but there is still room for improvement!

Buddy is our early riser and he's so happy every morning...It is (usually) a joy to see him in the morning (depending on how late I went to bed and how early he wakes up! LOL!) He loves to cuddle for a little while and then he's ready to start his day. He is special guy and we are so happy to have him in our family. Happy Birthday Bud! We love you!

What!?

2009-05-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

Peaches walked into the kitchen the other day, which in and of itself was not unusual. What caught my attention on this occasion was that she made a crinkling sound as she walked, and her siblings were literally rolling on the floor laughing in the other room. Here's why:

I never knew the teasing started so young!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-05-27T21:17:00.001-07:00

Of Gardens, Graves and Girls

2009-05-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

SO we finally got our garden done...except for the later plantings of corn and beans. (LOL! so much for being done!) I am so excited to see everything growing and to be "experimenting" this year with some new fruits and veggies, potatoes, watermelon, and cantaloupe to name a few. Tonight we had a delicious salad from our garden...I planted a "salad mix" of leaf lettuce and it was SOOO good, with both green and purple varieties. I can hardly wait until we can add the home grown cukes and tomatoes too! And as we ate, I started thinking about those yummy summer meals from the garden: sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, fresh corn on the cob, crisp green beans...I'm starting to drool! And this year we will be able to have potatoes (one of my personal weaknesses...I could eat potatoes for every meal...and no I don't have a speck of Irish in me, despite the last name!)

Yesterday, D and I helped my parents put their garden in...of Course Daddy had to have everything calculated out precisely, and had read up on everything related to the things he's planted. But they have a fantastic garden now! It was fun to help them get the soil prepared and the plants in the ground. GO GARDENS!
And Peaches loved helping too!
This past weekend was incredibly busy for us, but so fun too! We spent Friday and Saturday morning up at the family cabin, where the kids had a fantastic time! They ran over the hills, went rock hunting/collecting, explored around the pond (which was actually full!).

They flew kites, played on the swing set, and when the rain was falling they came inside to play fooseball, make up games with the pool balls, shoot hoops and just have fun with cousins.

We adults got to play games, talk do puzzles and just relax and enjoy the wonderful scenery and weather (I of course love the rain/cloudy weather!)

We ate some delicious meals too. Friday night we grilled a London Broil, crispy pan-fried potatoes, green beans, salad and baked beans. Saturday morning we had eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and fruit. The awesome thing to me is that we had such a fun and enjoyable time and we did it without electricity (for the most part that is....I think we did turn on the generator for the toaster!) The kids never once complained about not seeing favorite shows or talked about wanting to play video games etc. Marvelous! Saturday night when we got home we threw everyone into the tub, and went to bed. We were tired!

Sunday, we did our traditional Cemetery visits to place flowers on the Patrick family graves, and share stories of these dearly departed family members. What I love most about these annual visits is that we learn new things every year...new stories are told, or even the same stories with "new" (to me) details. I love that the kids get to learn about their ancestors from people who actually knew them, and hopefully we can keep the family history alive and real for our children as we continue to do this every year. My goal for the future is to add some Hen grave sites/ancestors to our family's memories so they won't be forgotten, either.

On Monday after helping with the garden, we went back up to the cabin for a Patrick family BBQ and to finish up some of the work that didn't get finished the week before (mowing the lawn, fixing the roof). The kids had a blast with all their little cousins (14 of 16 cousin were there...all 8 and under!) They literally roamed the hills playing all kinds of games. That is until a snake was spotted. Good thing Uncle R is good with a shovel (he didn't have his gun with him that day.) It was a rattle snake at least 3' in length. We all breathed a sigh of relief when the head was disposed of and the kids were assured that even though the body was moving, it couldn't hurt them any more. But that pretty much ended the festivities and within the hour we all departed.

We then made our way down to the Hen homestead for the Hen BBQ. D and I made shish kebabs (we didn't relish eating hamburgers twice in one day).

There were also chips and bean dip, baked beans, salad, carrot sticks, and for dessert we had s'mores. I love s'mores so much! Here the kids are modeling their s'mores:

Here are some pics of the girls this weekend.

I found these dresses and just couldn't resist them...Sweetsa absolutely loves hers...and has worn it three of the five days since I bought it! Speaking of Sweetsa...she received her fist flowers from a boy this weekend. Little JS came by the house Saturday looking to play with Sweetsa, and clutched in his fist was a little bouquet of horse chestnut blooms for her! So sweet!

Peaches said her second "word this weekend while at the cabin. It was "dog" (but sounded more like "gog". She is so slow and deliberate about saying dog, but she sure loves that puppy, Charlie!

When it rains it pours

2009-05-02T21:57:00.000-07:00

Yes we are having a very wet spring and yes I am ready for warm spring days, when I can actually get out and work in the garden/yard without getting wet! But it pours in other ways too.

We just received a second denial from our insurance for Mimi's surgery last September. Argg! I am getting really frustrated, but am not willing to give up yet...so here goes again I guess.

And poor little Sweetsa fell down our stairs today and "broked my bone" (in her words). She broke her collar bone. She did really well except during the x-ray, she screamed bloody murder while we tried to hold her still. At least I had the foresight to bring a good bribe along ...skittles work wonders in getting cooperation from a 3 year old! (except during the x-ray that is...but she calmed down pretty quickly afterward with their sweet assistance!)

So that's our soggy update!

April Flowers bring...?

2009-04-24T22:49:00.000-07:00

D and I have noticed that our flowers seem to be doing better this year than in recent memory. I don't know if it has to do with the fact that I took out a lot of ornamental onions/allium last year, and freed up some space for our spring bulbs, or if it has more to do with the weather. Some of these are from the garden along our driveway, and some are in the backyard. The ones in the backyard really make me happy because they were all transplanted two years ago and are looking better than ever! And the bleeding heart also makes me happy because I thought it had died (like the other three on our property). I guess it was just taking a Sabbath Year.

They make me smile every time I see them. I love spring! So April flowers bring...Joy!

Easter Dresses 2009

2009-04-24T22:37:00.000-07:00

Well I seem to be on a biennial schedule as far as making Easter outfits for the kids...but this was an on year. Back at the end of February, as I was cleaning out our linen closet, I found an old set of curtains in a bag. They must have been in the closet since before we lived here [(Yes, I realize that is 8+ years now. No, I do not go through my closets very often (especially the shelves that I have to climb on a two step stool to see.)] Anyway, I knew I wouldn't use the curtains...they don't quite fit our current scheme, so I was about to DI them, when I thought..."There is probably enough fabric here to make some skirts for the girls." If I hadn't been thinking about buying fabric for Easter dresses I admit I never would have thought to pull a Maria from the Sound of Music. Mimi ended up with a skirt, Sweetsa with a dress, and Peaches with a jumper. Here are the finished dresses as they looked on Easter Sunday:

Happy Birthday!

2009-04-24T20:26:00.000-07:00

So here is the cake I made for our Relief Society Birthday Party a few weeks ago. It's called a Double Berry Layer cake, and it was pretty good, if I do say so myself!

What a Peach!

2009-03-04T20:33:00.000-08:00

Peaches has had a really rotten winter,

but she is still a wonderful little girl. We love having her with us every day. Because of her battle with illness this winter she's lost a little weight and is just under 19 pounds. She's 29 inches long and using all her strength and dexterity to start climbing!

Of course, that would have nothing to do with the stellar examples of her older siblings!

One of her favorite things is to play with cell phones, however she's gotten too good at actually using cell phones, so now she has her own little Mickey Mouse cell phone (Happy B-day little one!)

Another love in her life is babies and small animals.

She LOVES them. When I first started watching Ka'lel, she would get so mad that I wouldn't let her "love" him (ie body slam and "pat" with great force.) She's quite a bit more gentle with him now.

She chases Gramma M's dog Charlie around, and he is really good with her...she gets to pet and play with him to her heart's content.

She loves to have things over her head, but not on her head (ie bows, head bands, barrettes etc). The head band in this pic came off two seconds after I took the picture!

She loves to be in the mix with everyone else. She is so patient with her siblings and their sometimes over exuberance with her. She always greets them with huge smiles, sometimes squeals, and always wildly waving arms (she's not much of a "talker" yet)

Here are some more pics of our little Peach from her first year.

You've come a long way, and we're so glad you're with us! Happy Birthday Peaches! We love you!

Sixes

2009-03-02T21:19:00.000-08:00

SO... I have finally had some time to catch up on blogs and take a look at what has been waiting to be finished on my own blog. I saw this little post on several blogs today. you go to your My pictures file, go into your sixth file, and the sixth picture in the file. Post it, blog about it and then tag six people to do the same. I'm not going to tag anyone, since I wasn't tagged. But here's the pic:

Here Peaches is about two months old and she was just cooing for the camera. I remember I kept laughing as I tried to take her picture because she was being so cute!

First Five

2009-03-02T21:11:00.000-08:00

So I'm totally stealing this from Beth's blog, but I love this idea...hopefully it will get me outside of myself.

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me!

My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It’ll be done this year. {translation: you may be waiting a little while}
4. You have no clue what it’s going to be … it may be cards, a poem, a bookmark, something yummy or a complete surprise to you (and me!) … who knows? not you, that’s for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.
6. Most importantly, you must offer the same deal on your blog - the first 5 people to comment on your blog (or if you do not have a blog, facebook) get something made by YOU!

The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me …

If you’re not the kind of person that wants to make something tangible for others, how about some kind of service for them, any type, any size?

The game is afoot!

WOW!

2009-02-11T20:01:00.000-08:00

During a somewhat random phone call yesterday, D asked if I would be stopping at JCPenny. Puzzled, I asked why (thinking he wanted me to look at something in particular, maybe for the house.) He said that he thought I might want to check out their clearance sale, but if I didn't feel like it, no worries.

Now, The interesting thing is that, although D thinks I enjoy shopping, I HATE clothes shopping, especially for myself...probably because I have such a hard time finding clothes that are comfortable, easy to clean, and still look somewhat cute (although that last is really really low on the priority scale at times..comfort is the priority for me.)

Anyway, since I didn't have Ka'lel with me I felt pretty free (only lugging two kids around...HAH!) so I decided I'd drop by and give it a look, but knew I wouldn't find anything. Boy was I surprised! A few hours later, I walked out of JCPenny with the beginnings of a new wardrobe (11 or 12 items for me) and at least one item for each of the others in the family as well as a new baby gift for our friends who just had a baby boy on Monday, all for less than $100! Now I still had to gulp as I paid, because I went in thinking I wasn't going to buy anything (I guess I should have left the $$ at home then, huh!?)And I had to call D and "confess" how much I spent...but even he was impressed by how much I got for that amount

Sweetsa's Sailboats

2009-02-02T20:18:00.000-08:00

Here is Sweetsa's first true food creation (that others would eat):

She calls them Cheesey Sailboats.

Kidisms

2009-02-02T19:45:00.001-08:00

I have been trying to write down some of the things the kids say or do that make me laugh. So here are some from this week:

Sweetsa (handing me some large stacking/nesting cubes): Hold dese for me, Mom. Try not to pull the snakes out please. It's my tenneckshun (collection). Try not to break it.

(I didn't realize I was so prone to ruining things!)

Buddy (During FHE lesson tonight. We were talking about how we can work together/help out...this was after someone said we could listen to help out)
Buddy: I listen to Daddy!
D:And Mommy.
Buddy: uh...a little. But I listen to you more.
D:You should listen to Mom a lot.
Buddy: I just listen to you more now (meaning that now he's getting bigger, listening is a gender thing, I guess!)

As I was getting ready to do my shopping list this past week, I found this written on my note pad (by Mimi)

for Wallmart
We naed chiPs
we Naed sTapulrs to put in The stapulr
We naed taPe
We naed tomatos
We naed ptatos
We naed breed
We naed seeds
We naed beans

And while she's still a baby, I won't be calling her Baby B any more. Her new blog name is Peach, because she LOVES them and because she really is a little peach! She is a sweet heart, but she also has some sass in her. I have been trying to catch up on some reading, and thought that a good time to do this would be while nursing . Well, little Peach has some other ideas. She will wait until I open the book (whatever it is I'm reading) and start reading, then she watches my face as she stealthily moves her free arm/hand to cover where ever I'm reading. She keeps doing this until she gets a reaction from me (usually a look or sound of exasperation.) Then she will chortle. I used to wonder what that sound was until I heard little Peach. She has a true chortle of glee.

And here are some pics I took of the bigger girls soon after Mimi got her tonsils out. Sweetsa wanted to rest on the couch with Mimi and so got all her necessary items, including the headband...which she called "my beauty sleep".

Snow Days

2009-01-24T22:20:00.000-08:00

We had aLOT of snow during the Christmas break here are some snow activities enjoyed during the last few weeks. We visited with Carolioness and Nagol at the beginning of January. Mimi Buddy and Sweetsa started helping Nagol make a snowman, but by the time the balls for his body were rolled they were ready to be done. So I finished the snowman building with Nagol and he gathered the decorations (painted rocks fro the backyard. Makes a pretty cute snowman, don't ya think!? The funniest part for me was when he chastised me for wanting to use a rock for the snowman's nose...it needed to be a carrot. What was I thinking!?

The day Mimi got her tonsils out D made a snow fort in our front yard. Sweetsa and Buddy demonstrate how they use it (first hide and then ambush unsuspecting passersby.)

Meanwhile Mimi did a lot of this:

She is doing much better now, and is finally not taking the prescribed pain killer. Her voice is still a little different, but I'm that will soon remedy and our Mimi will be better than ever!

Miscellaneous

2009-01-23T13:34:00.000-08:00

Here are a few things I found in some drafts I had started and never finished during the past few months.

Sweetsa, after singing "Popcorn Popping": " I like poptorn a lot." pause "And mataroni!"

Sweetsa, when told it was bedtime: "So I tan be weady for Twismas in da mowning!" (This was two days after Thanksgiving, and she was very disillusioned when Santa had not left presents for her to open the next morning when she woke!))

Mimi, after reciting her Christmas list (An easel, the Barbie Christmas Carol DVD, The Barbie Crystal Castle? DVD, one other movie,and a bunch of chapter books.) was asked if there would be anything left for the other kids. Her response : "Well, I guess I don't have to have LOTS of chapter books."

Buddy loves the computer and anything played on the computer. He has described at least twenty different games to me and gets frustrated when I can't seem to keep them straight.

Sweetsa in the bath last week "Mommy, I want you to dive me a bone."
Me (so eloquently) "Huh? A what?!"
Sweetsa: "I want a bone in my hair ... like Mimi!"
Me "Oh! You mean a bun!"
Sweetsa:" NO! I want a BONE!"
(It really was a bun, she just really thinks the correct word is Bone)

Baby B is very close to really walking. She has actually taken 4-6 steps by herself a few times. She has 4 teeth, claps her hands, says Dada and uh-oh, she weighs 19 pounds (only 4 behind Sweetsa now)and gets into drawers, boxes and bins as often as she can. Yesterday she went from emptying my bottom dresser drawer, to emptying the bottle/sippy cup drawer, to pulling things out of the pantry cupboard, to totally emptying the toy box. She is busy!

Christmas Eve

2009-01-17T16:25:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas Eve with my parents, the Mixed Nuts, and Beezhe Buns (HOW do you spell that?!)
We ate our traditional meal: Jell-o Ribbon salad, ring bologna, crackers, cheese, chips, veggies, dip, ham and rolls and of course egg nog.

And then we started getting into costume for the "Come Let Us Adore Him" FHE program that our family has been doing since 1968? (Did I get that right...or was it 1970?)

This year Sweetsa was Mary;

Uncle Woeful was Joseph;

Aunt Woefulgal was the Sheep;

Granpa Daddy-O, Gramma Sph-1, and I were wise guys (I guess Baby B was too);

Mimi and Breezy were Shepherdesses

You can see that Mimi was the Shepherdess from da hood , sporting her do-rag!);

Uncle Beezhe Bun was also a shepherd;

and Daddy D and Buddy were the angels.

Did I get all the key parts and participants?

Now, since Sweetsa was Mary, there were some new plot twists to the story. First she had a wardrobe change...the starry white fabric wouldn't stay on her head, and worked much better for hiding under than for being the lead in the annual nativity.

So after costuming was completed, the story began. When the wise men brought the gifts for the baby Jesus, Sweetsa was happy to share with the baby, until she found the "hidden treasure"...the gold coins inside one of the boxes.

After finding those she said, "These are for me!" And she hid them, so she wouldn't have to share.

She didn't even want me to take a picture of what she was hiding in the swaddling clothes (besides the fact that Snow White was playing Jesus this year.)

And so, the Wise Men brought gifts for the newborn king, frankincense and myrrh, and for the Mother Mary, Chocolate Gold Coins.

Merry Christmas! And stay away from the gold!

PS Sorry about the blurry pics sneaking in, I couldn't tell they were blurry when I uploaded them. Also did you spot the "discreet" nursing pic...oops didn't notice that one at first either!

Here's to new beginnings?

2009-01-16T18:44:00.000-08:00

Well, so I haven't been so good about updating or even checking blogs for...uh the past three months. Things have been a little intense ( sometimes good sometimes bad). But like I said, here's to new beginnings. How about I post some pics to catch y'all up on our lives over the past little while. I'll try to post some explanations, but right now the baby is screaming...again! (sigh!)
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the look on Baby B's face in this pic. She looks absolutely shocked, but I think I just caught her about to sneeze. But I had to share my shocked baby pic!

We went to the Living Planet Aquarium for New Year's Eve (D won tickets on the radio!) They had a mid-day family celebration. The kids had a fun time with cousins, and seeing all the water creatures. Here D is petting the sting rays.

Here the kids are seeing how they measure up to a full size walrus. Did you know adult walruses are bigger than adult polar bears!?

Look out for Pirate Baby--ARGG!

Sweetsa helped Gramma Midge roll out scones on Christmas Day. I love the look of concentration in the second pic. (I do the same thing while concentrating!)

Here are Mimi and cousin E-beth modeling the dresses they got from Gramma M for Christmas. Gramma said it's getting really hard to find nice modest clothes for these girls.

This was at our Patrick Family Adult Christmas Party. I thought I'd throw a pic of me in there. Don't ask what I'm doing with my hand-I have no idea. Baby B was pretty sick that night...she was just starting her second course of antibiotics for an unresolved ear infection (She' is still fighting that same infection. She may have to get tubes if it doesn't clear up soon.)

This is the snowman we built before Christmas. He was as tall as me when we built him.

Baby B is pulling herself up and cruising now. It won't be long before she's walking, I'm sure. She loves to follow Sweetsa around and play with her. They are really cute together.

Sweetsa with her "Gingerbread House" built at the Patrick Kids Christmas Party at Gramma Midge's. Each child gets to decorate their own house...they love this tradition so much!

Mimi got to read the story to all the little kids at the party this year. She did a fantastic job!

Gramma Midge and Peggy made ornaments for their tree with each of the grandkids' pictures. Buddy is posing with his here.

This is one of the best pics I have of Sweetsa's eyes. It is significant because they have turned green this year (They were blue before). Oh yeah, and she kept the flower barrette in her hair for more than 2 seconds!

Sweetsa loving Daddy! Aren't they sweet!?

Baby B was only army crawling at this point, but has since mastered real crawling, and does it super fast, too! She is also learning to climb our basement stairs (something none of the other kids did, since were weren't in the basement then.) She keeps us all on our toes!

Election lesson

2008-11-03T15:57:00.000-08:00

As I was picking Mimi up from school today we had an interesting political conversation. Her second grade teacher apparently discussed the election and voting with the class today, because she asked me who I was voting for. This is how she phrased it:"Are you voting for the dark skinned man or the light skinned man?" (!) After my start of surprise, I explained that I had already voted (gotta love early voting!), and that I had not voted for Mr. Obama. She clarified, "Is he the dark skinned one? Why don't you want a dark-skinned president?" I was floored.

One day while making applesauce, Daddy-O came home from work for lunch and turned on Rush radio. At that time I wasn't listening very much, but caught his (I thought) satirical reference to "people who don't vote for Barak are racist". But apparently people really think that!?

I explained to Mimi that I don't care what color someone's skin is. I vote for whomever I think will make the best decisions to make our country a better place. I don't vote for or against someone based on the color of their skin, or their religion for that matter. Those things should never be an issue in a political race. I also said that I don't think the person I voted for has all the right answers for our country, but that I think he will do a better job than the others running...she was then surprised that there were more than two people running for the office of President of the US.

I'm glad that the elementary students are learning about voting and the election process, but I hope that we can all help our kids understand how we make our decisions on whom we vote for.

Our little treats!

2008-11-02T21:23:00.000-08:00

Here are the kids in their costumes this year. I loved their costume requests this year, since we were able to find most of the stuff at home or borrow it.

I think they are pretty cute (and who wouldn't!?) I didn't realize that you can't really see Mimi's costume ...so I'll try to get a picture of her up here this week.

Leaf it to us

2008-11-01T13:59:00.001-07:00

As Sweetsa and I were walking to the school to pick up Buddy the other day, she sang the following: "I LIKE trunchy leaves, I LIKE trunchy leaves, Trhunchy leaves make me happy! I LIKE trunchy leaves!" I completely agree. The sound, smell, and fun of crunching fall leaves is one of my very favorite things in the world, right up there with cuddling a sweet baby, or curling up with a cup of cocoa and a good book. All can make me smile immediately.

Here are a few pictures of us helping D rake the leaves yesterday afternoon.

So with our big tree being gone we have maybe1/4 the amount of leaves to take care of this year! This is both good and bad. Good because it doesn't take as long to rake and bag them, but sad because we have so few to play in!

WOO HOO!

2008-10-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Phillies! The Phillies just won the World Series in five games, despite game five being postponed in the middle of the sixth inning the other night.

Way to win it for your city in your city!

I remember when the Phillies were playing the Orioles in the world series ...was that 25 years ago!? Probably the only reason I remember it is because we (Daddy-O and sph-1 family) were living near Philly and the "other" family (Daddy-A and sph-2) lived outside of Baltimore. We happened to visit with them during the series, and in my memory, mayhem ensued. As I recall, the families (or at least the girls) took sides, Phillie fans on one side Orioles fans on the other, and the Phillies fans were banished from the bedroom! LOL! Do any of you others remember this? We yelled back and forth Phillies are better, no the Orioles are the best a few times. I assume that we eventually ironed out our differences, what do you think girls?

The Orioles of course won that World Series.

But now Philadelphia has a Pennant. Way to go Phillies!

Freedom

2008-10-28T22:10:00.000-07:00

Mimi got her cast off today. Hooray!! It was a little more traumatic than the last time she had a cast removed, but removing pins will do that. Her skin looked pretty gross, and her arm bled a bit when two of the pins were removed. The other pin came out without any problems (pain or blood). She still has a bandage on her arm until Sunday, but has already started using her right arm again...she didn't remember how well she could right with her right hand!~)

A Day Off

2008-10-27T19:38:00.000-07:00

Mimi and Buddy didn't have school today, and since the forecast called for beautiful Indian Summer weather we decided to spend the day at the zoo. The kids were all very helpful in the morning, getting their rooms clean and doing their chores quickly and without too many reminders from mom. They played outside in the leaves and rode their bikes while I got the laundry started and washed dishes, and then we were off to enjoy the day.

When I asked Sweetsa where she wanted to go/eat for lunch, her response was,"Ice cream chop!" We didn't go to the ice cream shop, but we did get Frosties (and Sweetsa was happy to get her sweet!)!

When we finally made it to the zoo, the train was the first stop (of course!)

Baby B was big enough to sit on the seat...at least until the train started! (She grabbed that straw out of the water cup at Wendy's and didn't let go of it for about two hours!)

After getting off the train I asked them what they wanted to see first. Their answers:
Mimi: the monkeys and apes (the same answer every time we go.)
Buddy: the Kangaroos
Sweetsa: the cows
As usual, Sweetsa made me laugh.

As we made our way around the the requested animal displays they had to climb on all the animal statues and take turns holding Baby B. We discovered that as well as having all the animals they have "faux fossils"...in the new cement paths, there are impressions of different leaves and branches. I thought it was pretty cool to id the different trees "fossilized" at the zoo! (too bad I forgot to take a pic.)

We spent quite a while in the small animal house this time (we haven't been in there for at least a year). The kids all loved it. What I thought was so neat was that there were hardly any other people there, and so we could take our time, look at our favorites five times or more and it was so much quieter than the other times we have been there! It was wonderful! Mimi loved being able to read the animal names and info for all of us. Buddy got a huge kick out of the squirrel species that kept jumping around it's enclosure. If you haven't heard his giggle, let me tell you it is so contagious, all of us were laughing with him. Sweetsa loved being able to climb on the railings to see the animals, "All by mys-self!" She was also tickled by the black footed cat (a domestic-cat-sized wild cat that is really cute, but apparently quite a ferocious hunter). It was pacing along the window, so she started walking with it, squealing as she tried to keep up with it. It was pretty cute.
After the small animal house we ate a snack and then went to see the big cats, or at least tried to see them. We found the Siberian lynx (pictured with Sweetsa, above) and the Pallas cat, but the tigers were hiding really well, or not in their enclosures. Sweetsa had a thing going with the cats, because the Pallas cat tried to get her through the glass...she jumped the first time it growled and swatted, but then just laughed and squealed. And of course the lynx actually turned and looked at us when Sweetsa was standing by the glass (that's how we got that cool pic, and not just his back!)
The zoo also has a new carousel (the Conservation Carousel) that the kids really wanted to go on. Sweetsa rode the bald eagle, Mimi rode the dolphin, Baby B rode the tortoise, and Buddy started out on the poison dart frog, but switched to the lady bug with the caterpillar riding it's back.

Before we headed home for the day we made the requisite stop at the playground and walked through the marshland area, looking at the ducks, swans, geese and pelicans (I keep forgetting to bring quarters so we can feed the ducks!)

I am so glad the weather was so beautiful and we had such a great time at the zoo. It was a great day off!

September in Summary

2008-09-28T21:13:00.000-07:00

Wow! We have had a lot go on in this short month. We started off with a bang with me down with a case of strep. I hate strep.
Then when I took the two little girls in for their 3 year and six month well checks, Sweetsa tested positive for strep too. Thankfully, Baby B , Mimi, and Buddy were all negative. So Sweetsa and I spent the next 10 days on antibiotics.

After a few days on the drugs we both felt a lot better...good enough for family dinner and a special Birthday for Sweetsa. Our little Sweetsa girl turned 3 and boy did she have a sweet one! She had a confetti cake with marshmallows for decorations. I can not tell you how excited she was for those marshmallows! Every time some one asked her about her birthday the week before and the week after her birthday she had to tell them all about the "smarshshmallows on my's take!" She was equally excited about her new Dora blanket, Dora dolls, Dora alphabet magnets, and coloring book she got (Yeah, she likes Dora a little bit!)

The next weekend, D and I decided to treat the kids to a day of fun. D took Buddy to the AST Dew Tour that was in the "Big City" up north that weekend, while I took the girls to the State fair. It was so fun! I am so glad we did this. It was such a great thing for me to spend time with the girls...we looked at a lot of the crafts and handiwork, as well as a butter sculpture using 800 lbs of butter! We watched the horses compete (not racing...showing their gaits). The girls went on rides together and were able to choose some to go on without the other. We did Little Hands on the Farm where the girls got to do a lot of things that happen on a farm, and even got to buy something with the dollar they "earned" on the farm! As we were leaving Mimi discovered that there were real animals at the fair, so we walked through the show barns and saw the Biggest Cow I have ever seen in my entire life! IT WAS A MONSTER! I wish I had a working camera... because this girl was worth a picture! I know I'm not tall but this cow was at least six feet at the shoulder. She was not a long horn, but her horns were each a few feet in length. She was amazing!
Buddy had a fantastic time at the Dew tour. There were skateboarders, BMX bikers and motocross racers, not to mention lots of freebees. Buddy and D got to play airhockey and won at least $25 in Wendy's gift cards. They came home with new bags, stickers, buttons, keychains and comic books. We were all tired by the time we got home, but it was so fun to make those memories together.

Unfortunately, that day also brought some really sad news to us. Our sweet Aunt Betty Boop passed away that morning. I will so miss that wonderful woman! We also learned that Froggalee's dear BIL (brother in law) collapsed and died unexpectedly. As I type I can hardly believe that Bob will not be there the next time I visit in AZ! He will be sorely missed too, and our prayers continue to be with and for both families.

Here is pic of the day I did the girls' hair in ringlets (or "turls"
as Sweetsa says)

Mimi and Buddy have been taking a gymnastics class with the city. At first Mimi was not too happy with it, because they wanted each child in her class to do a cartwheel and forward roll, so they could place each in the appropriate group. I suppose she was embarrassed, since she had never really done either. But once they were placed in their groups and started getting the appropriate level of instruction, she LOVED gymnastics! Buddy never seemed to have that angst that Mimi had. Then again his class is for 4-5 year olds (almost all beginners) and Mimi's is for 6-10 year olds (and therefor has many kids that have taken gymnastics before). They are both doing really well, progressing fairly quickly (especially after I showed them at home how to do the forward roll and cart wheels...then they we so excited to practice out on the lawn. The only drawback to gymnastics is that they are in different classes, so I get to entertain three kids in the gym for two hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays (good thing the older kids get homework!)

Of course all that has changed now because on the fourteenth, Mimi slipped and fell off the tramp and broke her right arm. It was a supracondylar break, so they took her in for surgery the next morning. I guess they actually termed it a procedure. Anyway, from the time D took Mimi to the ER on Sunday night until the time they brought her out of recovery I was praying for her and I know that others were too...thanks to all who kept her in your prayers...it really helped!
I am so grateful for righteous priesthood holders too! When we dropped Buddy and Sweetsa off at our friend's house before heading to the hospital Monday morning, D and Bro S gave Mimi a priesthood blessing. When they told me that they had done that, much of my anxiety went away.
That morning when the orthoped saw her xrays, he said, "Oh wow! We'll try to do this closed, but we may need to open it up to get it aligned properly." YIKES! Not what anyone wants to hear right before surgery! Then he said that it would take anywhere from a half an hour to an hour and a half. They took her away to the OR a few minutes later, and we began the wait. I would definitely much rather be the one being worked on than have my children be "under the knife" so to speak. The nice thing was, that when we saw him after the surgery (but before they brought Mimi back) Dr. J came in and said, "It went beautifully! You must have said your prayers this morning! Things literally slipped right into place and the pins went in very nicely." I know it was the prayers and the blessing that helped things to go so well that morning!
They put three pins in her elbow to keep the bones in place and told us to bring her to Dr. J's office in ten days for a post op evaluation. We did so and everything looked good enough that they put her in a cast and said see you in four weeks! Things are getting pretty much back to normal, except that Mommy and Daddy have to help Mimi a lot with her homework...she still has a hard time writing with her left hand. Neither D nor I had the heart to tell Mimi that she wouldn't be able to finish her gymnastics class or even take another one for quite a while. She finally realized that consequence of the break on Monday afternoon, after we got home after the surgery. She cried, it was sad:( But she is reassured that at some point she will be able to do gymnastics again.

That same afternoon, I went to the doctor and got more antibiotics for another strep infection (joy of joys! I REALLY REALLY hate strep!)

Two days later D took off to Bear Lake with the singles. D has been in the Singles Branch Presidency for almost 5 months now. One of his biggest assignments has been planning what was called the Super Activity for all the young single adults in the stake. They ended up going to Bear Lake area for three days, where they camped, went boating, went hiking, ate great food, had some great spiritual speakers, did some service and went to the temple to do baptisms. It sounded like great fun, and maybe next year the rest of us will be able to join in the fun!

While D was gone, Gertrude and her family joined us so she and T could attend a seminar up north. I took all seven kids to our Ward camp out (at least for dinner) and we got to enjoy the fall colors in the canyon, and little Abey kept saying "Climb mountain! Climb mountain!" it was SOOO cute!! They tried to climb the mountain a bit, but where we were, it was too steep for such little kids (ages 1-6).

Well. It's now into October and I still haven't posted about September. SO I'll quick finish this and move on! Other things happening in the month: Buddy and Sweetsa started and LOVE Computer class. D and I got to go to the BYU-UCLA game (It was awesome). We had Carolioness' baby shower here at the house and had a great time getting to know people who love our Carolioness! (We can hardly wait for that cute boy to come!)SPH-1 and I have also started the fall canning/preserving process. We've done salsa, and applesauce, and will do more applesauce (and more and more...)

Six months!?

2008-09-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

Yup! It has officially been six months since baby B joined our family. What did we ever do without our sweetly content Baby B? LOL! Although she is so happy she can be a little ball of fire letting the world know...something! We haven't quite figured out what she's saying but she says it with power and volume! Sweetsa tells me many times a day, "Baby B yelling at me 'gain!" Baby B especially loves to see other children (real or pictures) and lets everyone know how happy she is by screeching her joy to the world. When she first started doing this, we thought she was mad, ya know, telling off the kids for horning in on her fame or something. But no, that's how she lets us know she's excited (yup, church can be fun!)

Actually she is a little ham and knows when people are admiring her. She will light up and start cooing and babbling for those who talk to her and compliment her. A few weeks ago at the singles branch, whenever she would get fussy, all I had to do was put her up on my shoulder so she could see the two ladies behind us, and she would start cooing and gurgling and charming those girls. It was so funny!

Baby B is rolling all over the place now, always searching for something to chew on. She seems to have inherited my chewing habit (no, I don't chew tobacco, just lots of other things, gum, food, paper, pens, pencils,etc.) She loves to chew on her water bottle (no formula allowed thank you very much!), her pacifier (never sucked only chomped), her toys, and any convenient toes or fingers, whether or not they belong to her!) And recently, she has been enjoying chewing on zwieback toast, which she appears to love. I must be a much more laid back mom, because I hated the mess from those when Mimi was a baby and never gave them to Buddy or Sweetsa. I don't care about the mess, as long as she doesn't chomp on me all the time!

Baby B's favorite pass times are: (Not including breastfeeding)laughing; playing peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake; chewing on things; razz berries ('til she has a white spit beard); playing with paper, fringe or hanging things; sucking on her feet/hands; pulling hair(yeah, we don't like this one so much); and of course cuddling.

Baby B graduated from the bassinet after the crowds receded from Family Reunion. And she is doing fantastically well! She sleeps, we sleep and we are all happy! WOOHOO! I've been told that both Sweetsa and Buddy have climbed into the crib a time or two, but haven't actually seen that (so of course it hasn't happened, right? !)

At her six month check up today she weighed 15 pounds 4.5 oz. She was 26 1/4 inches long.

I love being Baby B's mom, getting to hold and cuddle and watch her learn and grow and discover new things. She is such a wonderful part of my life, and our life as a family. We truly would not be the same without her. Happy Six Month day little one, I love you!

Service Auction

2008-09-03T21:41:00.001-07:00

So one of my favorite Enrichment Nights has got to be the Service Auction. I love the great variety of services/talents that are offered. We did a service auction last week, (the same day as Buddy's first day of school and Mimi and Buddy's first day of gymnastics...yeah busy day!)

Here are the things I offered:
-Fresh homemade loaf of bread and home canned apricot/pineapple jam
-Fresh homemade loaf of bread and home canned strawberry jam
-help with a project (everyone can use that right?)
-teach someone how to make bread

So while Mimi was at school, but after Buddy came home, we made two regular loaves of bread and two baby loaves of bread (Buddy and Sweetsa helped and each formed a baby loaf). Here are the auction items, ready to go!

The bidding was sometimes fierce at the auction. Some sisters had their hearts set on a certain thing and saved all their service "money" for that item. It was a fun evening.
I was surprised that the "teach someone how to make bread" service was bid over rather fiercely, so I offered another one. I figure that is something that is rather easy for me to do, and it is a good thing to know how to make good bread from scratch.
That night I actually also agreed to teach a few of the cooking group classes this fall: canning jams and white and wheat bread. I think it will be fun!

Buddy's first day

2008-09-03T21:25:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from Buddy's first day last week. For some reason, I didn't get any from Mimi's first day two weeks ago.

Buddy is very excited to be in kindergarten. He will tell you that he is in half day, and his teacher is Mrs. P. I will try to post the pic he drew today of Mrs. P It made me smile. I haven't really seen many people he has drawn before and it was so cute to see that pic today.

When we got home from school yesterday, Buddy was very excited to tell me he actually had homework! And he was eager to do it. He's really excited to have a "homework notebook" like Mimi, even though he doesn't have to turn any of his homework in.

When we sent Buddy to school, sad to say, we were expecting to hear that he is a challenge...very energetic/not listening. But from all reports (from multiple teachers!) the first two weeks have been great! Yeah! The PE Teacher approached me in the hallway today and actually said that she loved having him in her class..he was one of the few who did listen and was very helpful. YEAH! Sometimes I love having my expectations be totally wrong/not met!

Oh, yeah, and here is something Sweetsa gets to do more of now that Buddy and Mimi are in school.

Strep stinks!

2008-08-31T22:01:00.000-07:00

I hate being sick!

My Happy List

2008-08-10T21:32:00.000-07:00

There are so many things that make me happy. Here are a few things I have been thinking about today. Feel free to add your happy thoughts too!

-Rain
-Singing parts
-Sweetsa in a pretty white dress (that she kept clean!)
-8 wonderful years with D!
-weeded flower gardens.
-Tomato cheese sandwich (heaven!)
-The Ensign
-Football
-Jesus and the Atonement
-Rainbows...Buddy saw it first!
-Reverent children
-My laughing baby in RS
-Baby B's chunks and rolls
-Buddy in his own room!
-Catching up with friends
-NAPTIME!
-D's cookies
-gymnastics
-Extreme Makeover Home Edition (how can that show make me cry EVERY time!?)
-tiny baby with a budding double chin and a big fat hairbow/flower thingy
-Baby B in a crib in the girl's room!
-snuggles
-Ticket to Ride
-Football
-Fresh veggies from the garden
-the Olympics
- the Bible and the Book of Mormon
-Reunion
-Talking with sisters
-A helpful Mimi girl
-working with D
-happy lists
-not being RS Pres anymore
-When the nights start to get cooler
-Feeling the Spirit
-Family Reunions
-White curtains blowing in the breeze
-balloons of various colors
-blue skies with puffy white clouds
-cold water to drink
-watching my grandchildren play together
-family dinners.
-the sound of water rushing over rocks
-walking outside on a humid summer night (like around 10pm)
-seeing large quantities of colorful bolts of fabric
-Seeing the had of God working through me
-Enjoying my children
-One delicious dessert after a great meal
-Sleeping (especially when it's a nap!)

I will probably be adding to this as the days go by!

Thanks for your additions!

Are you ready for some Football!?

2008-07-31T20:51:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, my sweet sister, Princess Gerty, sent me a link she thought I might be interested in. For the past three years, I have seen news coverage of the BYU Football Women's Clinic the day/night after it occurred. I kept telling myself 'I've gotta do that next year!' But of course never heard about it until afterwards. This year, (thank you Gerty!) I was able to reserve a spot for myself and my friend. And then the waiting began.

I can't tell you how excited I have been for this thing, or how much I truly love football! Let's just say I felt like a kid waiting for Christmas today! As I got the kids ready to go to the sitter I was literally bouncing on the couch I was so excited!

And it was AWESOME!!!

It was so fun to be there (albeit with 500 other women) with the coaches and players. Coach Lamb and Wayne Latu were hilarious, cracking one liners all night. It was fun to see the players interact with each other. For example, Dennis Pita and Max Hall are now brothers-in-law, having married sisters over the summer. So they traded "bro" comments back and forth. It was also hilarious to me how star struck some of the women were! But one of my favorite moments was when Jeff Bell was demonstrating DB (defensive back) stance and a footwork drill involving two bags on the ground and one we had to tackle. He went through the drill at speed. But some women seemed confused, so asked him to do it again. He did...in s- u- p- e- r s- l- o- w motion, totally playing it--wiggling his hips to get down into stance and almost dancing over the bags!...it was hilarious!

It was also fun to hear some of the comments the coaches and players gave as we went through the drills, "great form!' was particularly satisfying..."patty-cake is one way to tackle 'em!" (thankfully not to me!)... "nice paint!" (for the ladies that thought to wear grease paint under their eyes)...and best of all the grunts of approval after a well-completed drill. Some of the coaches/players were more gruff than others (I wouldn't want to cross Coach Kaufusi!) But Coach Lamb was funny as he tried to settle us all down to start the night...he kept having to hush people, and every time he said Quiet down, ladies would giggle/laugh! His comment "My players don't laugh when I say that!" brought even more laughter.

At the end of the evening, we got to watch highlights from the 2007 season. It was so fun to see those great moments again. And interesting to note that some of those moments were mentioned when the players were asked what their favorite moments from last year were (Fourth and 18! Blocked field goal in UCLA game!) We were sent home with posters, t-shirts, media guides, fridge magnets, instruction booklets, and best of all great memories! I plan on doing this again next year (and the next and the next!), so anyone interested in joining me for fun and football let me know!

Goodbye Tree!

2008-07-31T20:46:00.000-07:00

And so the Tree Saga continues. I've already grossed you out with the apparently graphic wasp pics taken a couple years ago in my front yard, so I won't post those again. On Wednesday morning the five man crew came (at 7:30am!) and started removing the horse chestnut tree in our yard. After three and a half hours of work (with one break to empty the chipper hopper) the 100 year old, 75 foot tall tree was gone. Here are some pictures from that morning. This first pic shows how our tree decided it was time to lose the leaves.

The guy in the lift cut off most of the limbs and the other four picked them up and fed them to the chipper. They blocked off more than half the street in order to take care of this tree!

When I took this pic it looked like there was snow falling from the tree...just the saw dust!

Our good neighbor took the majority of the trunk wood for fire wood. After the main leads were cut down, only the trunk stump remained. They used a chain saw that was three of four feet long to cut the stump down to the ground.

Once they got the stump cut down, they brought in the back hoe to lift the stump into the truck to haul away.

These last two pics are a look at why the tree needed to come down ( and why it had started coming down in pieces by itself!)

There were so many little critters crawling around in this mulch!

I am so divided about saying goodbye to this tree! It was such a nice big tree, giving so much shade and a nice semi-barrier between our yard and the street. But it also has those horrible "pokey things" (the seed husks were especially sharp with barbs--OUCH!), and in recent years it has dropped significant limbs (thankfully with no personal or property damage). It is nice not to have to worry about it with every wind that blows, and knowing that we won't have to deal with the leaves and pokies this fall is a relief. But it does feel like a hole has been ripped in our world. I suppose we will get used to it not being there eventually. Mimi and Buddy are very sad to lose their climbing area and "sitting place", but hopefully will love the new tree we plan to get just as much.

Toddler Talk Tuesday

2008-07-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

I'm going to copy my good friend, the Mommy, and share some common toddler speak from our family. Most of these are courtesy of Sweetsa, but I'll include a couple from Mimi and Buddy too.

Awe-THumb! (This is Buddy's favorite saying, hands down)

Mosquitoes are vampire helpers.

some-scream (what we put on before going out in the sun)

care-of-me!? (will you carry me?)

jalompy (the letters that come between 'I' and 'Q' in the alphabet)

sapeared (Sweetsa's answer when we're looking for something...It disappeared!)

Here is validation of Sweetsa's nickname: Sweetsa: Me hungwy Mommy! Me: Sweetsa, do you want noodles or ham and cheese for lunch? S: Tandy! M: Maybe after you eat some lunch you may have some candy. S: (Shaking her head regretfully) No me hungwy, Mommy! or even better(and I think she got this one from Buddy), Oh, me tired mommy (I'm too tired to eat real food, but if you offer me candy I just might survive the day!)

Sweetsa doesn't use the word not very often, instead shaking her head to negate her sentences. For example, "Me like!" or "Me want" while shaking her head no. This was really confusing at first! Recently she has begun to say no in front of some words, but I really have to be watching her when she talks to me so that I can catch the real meaning she's trying to get across.

And last but not least I love it when she says,"You make me so funny!" which of course means, "You make me laugh!"

Nature

2008-06-24T19:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I witnessed something truly amazing. We were in the back yard, the kids and some friends enjoying the sprinklers and little pool. I noticed a spider dropping from the apricot tree on a single thread of silk.

As I walked past I thought, I'm that didn't land on my head. And then I watched in amazement as the spider came under attack by this tiny wasp. At first I thought the wasp had "run into" the spider, but then it made a series of bomber dives at the spider. The poor spider tried to escape by dropping quickly to the ground. But that wasp was right on it. Literally. Within seconds, the wasp had immobilized the spider (I assume by stinging it several times.)

I know that this kind of wasp does not actually eat the spider, but lays an egg in it and lets the larva eat the spider. It was so awesome to see this in action! It made me remember how much I love "bugs" and their interactions!

2008-06-19T21:33:00.000-07:00

So It's now been at least six weeks since Shana invited us to share what's for dinner. And I am finally getting around to it, in my fashion. When I initially thought that I'd record what we had for dinner, I didn't count on being SOOO busy (which translates to grilled cheese or hot dogs for dinner!yikes!) So I've decided to just choose five or six meals that we've enjoyed from the past month and a half and share them. This does not mean that these are fanciest meals, just the most successful meals (ie everyone enjoyed them!)

Meal #1 Mark's Famous Pancakes, eggs (scrambled or over easy), bacon and hashbrowns.

I got this recipe from Mark after I got back from my mission. And I LOVE these pancakes! Sour 2 C milk w/ ~2 tsp of vinegar (I rarely measure this, just do a glug from the jug.) After the milk and vinegar sit for a bit, beat 2 eggs and add to the milk, then add 1/4 C oil, 2 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 2-2.5 C of flour, 1 tsp baking powder, and 2 tsp baking soda. Mix well, then ladle onto a hot skillet. turn when the bubbles begin to pop and the edges begin to firm a bit.

Meal #2 Roast Beef, Rolls, salad, broccoli, canned peaches and corn. This was family dinner...I made the roast and the rolls, SPH-1 made the green salad and steamed the broccoli in the microwave. I cooked the frozen corn in the microwave too. The peaches were ones that I canned two years ago.

The roast was fairly simple: Preheat oven to 450. Season roast with salt, pepper, garlic powder, thyme (crushed), and sage (crushed). Sear each side of the roast for the lovely color. Once the oven is up to temp, place roast in a pan and and then in the oven for 20 minutes at 450. Here's the trick: TURN OFF the oven but don't open it! Let the roast remain in the oven for 20 minutes per pound for a nice medium roast (e.g. our roast was 2.5 pounds and I left it in for 50 minutes after turning off the oven.) If you like yours more well done, leave it in a bit longer per pound, and if you like it more rare, leave it in for only 15 minutes per pound!

And the rolls were the easiest..I just used Rhodes rolls!

Meal #3 Orange Chicken, rice, pears and broccoli.

This is one I feel like I "cheated" on because the orange chicken came from a box from Costco. But it's really good! Just follow the instructions on the box! The nice thing about this meal is that we leave some of the chicken out of the sauce and the kids have "chicken nuggets" with rice and broccoli, while the adults enjoy a slightly more sophisticated dinner of orange chicken and rice!

Pears:open large can of store bought pears

Rice: 1.5 C rice in pan, sprinkle with salt and cover with 3 C water. Put the lid on and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and keep covered on the heat for 20 minutes.

For broccoli, I prefer to use fresh...I can usually get it on sale for 59cents/pound. So I cut it up into good sized pieces --not too big for little mouths, and not too small for getting them on a fork!) Put broccoli pieces into a microwave safe bowl, add about 2 Tbsp of water and cook on high for 4 minutes, or until the broccoli is a bright green, but not mushy! DO NOT OVER COOK! Add a little salt and pepper to taste or a sprinkle of grated cheddar, if desired.

Meal #4 Cheesy hamburger Stroganoff, green beans or green salad, and apple sauce

The last time I made it I felt so good, because Sweetsa actually tried it and asked for seconds! (Now if we can only get Buddy to do the same!)

"Stroganoff": Brown 1 lb hamburger with chopped onion. Drain the grease, leaving meat in pan. Add 2C. water and bring to boil. Add 3 C egg noodles (uncooked). Cover and simmer for 8 minutes, add more water as necessary to prevent sticking. Add 1 can cream of mushroom soup and 6 oz velveeta or similar cheese product. Or substitute 1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese. Turn heat to low and mix until cheese has melted. Add pepper to taste.

Green Beans are either frozen or canned and heated in the microwave.

Our green salad is simply lettuce (I usually use red or green leaf), carrots, celery, and cucumbers. And Tomatoes if I keep them separated (tomato haters in the family) and when they aren't contaminated by salmonella!

The apple sauce is home canned from last season! YUMMY!

Meal #5 This last meal wasn't really for our family, but for our Mommies' Group (pot luck lunch/playdate) Egg salad and Chicken salad on rolls sliced veggies and cold cranberry apple juice.

For the egg salad, I did the usual preparation (boil eggs, chop etc) and then added miracle whip, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

For the chicken salad, I used my George Foreman grill to cook the chicken breasts I had seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic. Cool and cube the chicken. For three chicken breasts I used 3 ribs of chopped celery; ~1 cup red grapes, halved; ~1C mayo and a few squirts of kraft coleslaw dressing. Mix everything well and serve on sliced rolls. I loved the different taste the grilled chicken gave to the salad!

Excitement!

2008-06-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

We were watching Jon & Kate plus 8 this evening, when Mimi got really excited. Turns out she and twins, Maddie and Cara, have the same birthday! It was really cute to see that realization hit her. She loves the show, and always asks to watch it if she sees that it is on. I think the twins were born the year before her, but since there is a delay in what they air on the show, Mimi really identifies with the girls!

And like Lady, it is so neat for me to see the places they go and remember going to those same places as a child...Shady Maple was mentioned today and I started reminiscing! I also saw a quick Tastykakes sign and began drooling!

Three Months

2008-06-08T21:46:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that our sweet pea Baby B is 3 months already! the time certainly has flown by! While she is battling a cold, she's still a happy girl. At last weighing she was 11 lbs 13 oz. Here are some recent pics of her:

Patrick Angels

2008-06-08T21:44:00.000-07:00

Jump Eraser!

2008-06-04T19:50:00.000-07:00

A long time ago in a land far, far away, there was a cartoon that excited a little Man. According to family legend, he used to stand in front of the TV jumping up and down in his sagging diaper, singing, "Jump Eraser, jump, jump Eraser!" I don't know when he learned that the words actually were, "Go Speed Racer! Go, go Speed Racer!!" (At least I assume he doesn't still sing that in front of the TV...Lady?)

A few weeks ago I heard my own little Buddy talking about Speed Eraser and had a good chuckle!

Anyway, he requested a Speed Racer cake for his birthday this past week. This is what I came up with:

It was so cute to have all the little boys at Buddy's party cluster around and ask when they could play with the cake cars. But they were somewhat distracted by the spider-web game, and the pinata. It was really fun.

Buddy is so excited to be able to say he is five. He has started telling Sweetsa that "when you turn five you get to start kindergarten!" That hasn't really changed his attitude about our daily "table time" (when they all do something academic/school-related). He enjoys it once he gets into it, but getting him to the table some days is...interesting! Hopefully his excitement for kindergarten won't dim once he gets there! He had been asking (before school got out for the Summer) when he would be able to go to school with Mimi. That is officially 12 weeks away!!!

Buddy is a wonderful boy. He can be so incredibly sweet with his sisters, but also LOVES to tackle and wrestle with them. It has been fun to watch him with Baby B, whom he loves the most. He will get her telling novels and smiling so much, it is great to watch their interaction.

Buddy has a little follower in Sweetsa, she loves copying whatever he does. I've recently had to remind him that he needs to be careful how he treats Sweetsa, because she will treat him (and others) the same way.

When not playing with/bugging or fighting with his sisters, Buddy is BUSY: on his bike, running around the backyard, climbing and jumping off anything he can, kicking or hitting or catching or throwing a ball of some sort, or doing yard work with D. He loves to be outside and doing stuff.

He still loves to sing and I get a real kick out of hearing his repertoire (High School Musical and Primary songs are favorites, but he also loves the songs from Cars, as well as the theme songs from several TV shows.)

Still the early riser of the bunch (besides Daddy who goes to work really early!), he often will get his own breakfast and, when finished, come cuddle with me and Baby B in my bed. At the other end of the day he is the first to crash, falling asleep literally almost the instant his head touches the pillow.

A week or so ago, Buddy and D went to the annual fathers and sons outing up the canyon. D told me that Buddy played soccer with some bigger boys almost the whole evening. He is so agreeable, that he will literally go from one group/boy to the next until he finds the one(s) that will play with him/ let him join in the fun.
Oh! one funny thing about this fathers and sons outing: When they got home the next day, I asked Buddy what he did. Here is his response:

sigh. "well... I saw a snake."

Me: Oh!? A snake! wow! How big was it?

Buddy: (With first an excited look then a bit sad)oh it was only about this big. (holding his hand about 1-1.5 inches off the floor!)

Me: (chuckling) I see. well how long was it, then?

Buddy: this long (holding his hands ~ 18 inches apart.) and it was green. Ad then it wriggled away (showing me how it wriggled!)

This was such a fun exchange!

Most of all I love how incredibly sweet Buddy is. He will come up to any one of us and say "_____, I love you!" giving great hugs! Or he will spontaneously offer aid, or do a chore without being asked and then say, "Mommy I did this for you." With that fantastic dimple an smile he is irresistible.
We love you Buddy! Thanks for coming to our family and being you! Happy Birthday!

Mimi's Most Horrible Monday

2008-05-19T20:05:00.000-07:00

Today actually started out really well for Mimi. She woke up uncharacteristically early. She actually got to eat a sugar cereal for breakfast. She chose a really cute outfit (sorry no pic!) and got to wear her new sandals to school. There was even the promise of swimming in the new pool after school, since the temps were forecasted to be above 90 again today.

Then the day took a turn for the worse. Just as we were getting the little kids' shoes on, mom discovers the horrid mess in baby B's swing/clothes/diaper. Baby B had the mother of all blowouts...she truly won the disgusting prize this morning! It took me at least ten minutes to get the mess taken care of! That poo reached escape velocity and didn't look back. Anyway, the result was Mimi being late for school.

And then it got even worse. While I was waiting in the office to get my license photocopied for Buddy's school registration, we found out that two children from the school had been killed in a car accident up the canyon yesterday. And the little seven year old boy was in Mimi's first grade class. Of course they couldn't tell the class until the crisis team from the district (consisting of social workers/counselors) got there. I was hoping to be there when they broke the news, but it took them a while to assemble the team. So I left and wasn't there when Mimi heard that her friend died in a car accident. The social worker ended up calling me so Mimi could talk about it. She sounded pretty upset, and just wanted me to come get her from school. I told her I'd be there in a few minutes.

There were a few other kids who went home, they were pretty upset about the news. By the time I actually got there, Mimi decided to stay at school with her good friend Erica, who had to stay because her family could not be reached. I'm glad that they could be together and comfort each other.

When I picked Mimi up form school, I tried to make her day a bit brighter and gave her some of a milkshake. She took a few bites and then set it down in the bustle of getting home and getting things put away from grocery shopping. When she remembered about the shake an hour had passed and she couldn't even remember where she had put it.

So she decided to go outside with Buddy and play in the hose/new pool. Not five minutes after going outside, she ran back in screaming that she had been stung by a bee. And yup, the stinger was still in her back. She got hysterical when I pulled the tweezers out of the cabinet so I could get the stinger out. When I finally got her calmed down enough that she wasn't trying to get away from me, I got the stinger out, gave her an ice pack and put some medicine on the sting.

She sat crying in the living room for a while and then went down stairs to watch some tv. Unfortunately, our tv is dying. It is hit and miss when you turn it on if you can see anything but "snow". She got the blizzard. Thankfully she persisted and after the ten minute snow storm, she was able to watch the movie she had wanted to watch for a week or two.

Throughout the day she has asked questions about why her friend had to be in the car accident, why the truck hit their car, trying to get things sorted out in her mind. She said she was really sad and we told her that was alright, and even good, since that meant that she was a good friend, that she would miss him. It has been a good opportunity to remember the promises we have of the resurrection and the great blessings of the Atonement. We also talked about how we don't always understand why things happen the way that they do, but that Heavenly Father knows, and will make all things right in the end. She reminded us that she knew what faith was, and that she had faith in Heavenly Father. That was touching. I think that she will remember today for a long time, and hopefully she'll remember some of the good parts , not just all the bad parts.

April Pics

2008-05-12T20:42:00.000-07:00

I hope they call me on a Mission!
After two years of sitting in a closet the suit finally fits Buddy! And he loves it!

Baby B loves her daddy and (almost always) greets him
with smiles and coos. It's really sweet!

One of the few warm days we've had this spring.
The kids had a pre-church picnic. It was a beautiful day.

Baby B also loves big brother Buddy, who can get her to grin and coo
more consistently than anyone else in the family. And this is how he does it...up close and personal!

Baby B is now Two Months old. At her check up she was 11 pounds 8 ounces, 23.25 inches and in the 50-75th percentile for height and weight.

Rockin' Spring Break

2008-04-18T21:31:00.001-07:00

On the first Sunday of spring break Mimi asked what we would do during spring break. Having no plans made except to get to the zoo sometime during the week I asked her what she wanted to do. She didn't answer right away, and went off to play with Buddy and Sweetsa. Little did I know what was actually happening. Sometime later, she presented me with her "List of things to do" (I tried to scan it in, but apparently haven't quite got that figured out yet. So here it is with her original phrasing and spelling.)

List of things we whant to do

feed the Ducks

Go to The Zoo

Mimi's Sleepover

plant Seeds

Go to the Park

bake cookis

Go to Golf agen

Go to cusins hous

I guess I got my answer!

Even though this list wasn't presented to me until Sunday, we counted the things we did on Saturday (the day before) as part of our Spring Break wish list.

We went miniature golfing as a family on Saturday, after planting our sunflower, carrot and lettuce seeds in the garden. Mimi is in charge of the carrots, Buddy has charge of the lettuce Sweetsa is helping with the sunflowers. They are excited to have the plants begin to grow. Golfing was really fun. When we got to the mini golf course we decided that even though (or really BECAUSE)it was one of the warmest days of the year so far (actually got up into the 70's)we would stay on the indoor course. Everyone else had apparently decided it was a good day to golf too, because the outdoor course was packed...two or three groups at each hole. Meanwhile we shared the indoor 18 with two other groups. It was fun to go around the course at a leisurely pace, stopping for the essential potty breaks and snack times, and we didn't have to worry about holding anyone up. It was really fun to watch Sweetsa get an idea of what was supposed to happen...and then decide that she would help things along. She would make her initial swing and then pick up her ball where ever it happened to be and place it near the hole (NOT in the hole). Then she would hit it into the hole, finishing off the whole procedure with a cry of "I did it!" and a victory yell, jumping up and down with her fists in the air. She did this again and again, and kept me laughing the whole time. The game never got dull for her! Mimi and Buddy did really well, and I got a hole in one before surrendering the "adult" club to D for his turn.

So on Saturday we checked off two things on the wish list: plant seeds and go to golf.

Next up Monday. The forecast was good...another nice day before the storm came in on Tuesday. So we went to the zoo. Carolioness came with us, since she was also on Spring Break. Carolioness is awesome! We rode the train, and went to visit the baby animals. We saw the baby giraffe and the baby orangutan. We wandered around basically at the whim of the children, (and in the direction the Buddy ran...he can get lost pretty quickly! We let the kids play at the playground so the the mommies could sit down and rest for a while. It was a very nice day, but so early in the spring that none of the trees had leaves yet, so it felt quite hot!

I love Sweetsa's smile in this pic.

Buddy and Carolioness figuring out what to see next.

Thant night we went over to Gramma's house so that D could put a new toy together. The kids loved playing with the boxes, which of course were slides, turtle shells, houses, to name a few things!

The finished toy. According to the box, assembly was only supposed to take an hour. In reality, it took closer to three. But the kids love the new airplane/teeter totter.

It's a good thing that we did so much outside that Monday as a storm blew in that night and yes we got a trace of snow the next day!

Mimi got to have her sleepover at her cousin E-beth's house.

We didn't do much outside again until Friday, when we went to the park with lots of cousins . We went to feed the ducks, but by the time we got there, the ducks weren't interested in eating. So the kids threw rocks in to the pond, and chased the ducks instead. It was a beautiful day and the kids loved playing with all the cousins (we had 12 kids there.) I was so glad when other adults showed up. At first it was me, Gramma Midge, and 10 children seven and under at the edge of the river and pond! I was a bit anxious until we got the kids headed over to the playground and they the other parents showed up. Whew!!

We did end up completing the kids Spring Break wish list. I made cookies for the kids that Sunday at the end of Spring Break....I think the kids won't ask me again to make cookies. They have learned that Daddy is the cookie maker. Mommy's cookies very rarely turn out well. It's pretty sad (and humbling) for me. *sigh* Oh well. I least I know I can cook other things that my family will eat!)

Overheard

2008-04-13T20:48:00.000-07:00

today

Buddy: What are counselors?

Mimi: Hmm. They're helpers...like Santa's helpers!

-------
yesterday

Buddy: Mommy can we go to golf today?

Mimi:(whispering so parents can't hear) If we clean up all of our room without being asked then I think they will say we can go to golf, or feed the ducks or to the zoo!

-------

This wasn't overheard, as I was supposed to be an active participant in the "conversation." This was tonight after the kids were in bed.

Sweetsa: (poking her head through a small gap between the door and the frame.)Mommy, Mimi talking!

Mom: OK. Go to bed!

S: Mommy Mimi TALKING!!

Mom: Ask her to please be quiet, and get back in bed, please.

S: MOMMY! MIMI TALKING!!!!

Mimi: (calling out from her bed) She wanted to come up on my bed and I told her No!

Mom: (laughing) Sweetsa, please get back into YOUR bed, and leave Mimi alone.

S: (heading back to bed, with that universal taunting inflection) Told mommy, Mimi!

two minutes later

S: Mommy, Buddy talking!

Easter Blessings

2008-04-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

Easter seems like it was a long time ago, already, but I thought I'd post a bit about it. We didn't do much to celebrate the secular holiday. Gramma Midge (aka "UP Gramma) had an egg hunt in her backyard on Saturday. The kids all had a blast hunting eggs with their cousins. Cousin Allison P. also did a special Easter Fish Pond for the younger cousins, and the kids loved saying "Fishie, fishie what do you have?" and being rewarded with a small toy.

We read some of the Easter related stories from the Stories from the New Testament.

On Sunday we had Baby B's blessing. It was wonderful to have the support of so many from the Patrick family and the Hen family as well. We love being able to share such special events with our family! It was also great to be able to listen to the talks and the beautiful music in Sacrament Meeting about our Savior's Atonement. It was a great worship service. So great I had to go home and go to sleep afterward! LOL! It is very disconcerting to still be so tired after several weeks...it really has been a different recovery this time around!

A couple side notes here...

The little bonnet on Baby B's head was made by a woman in Germany along time ago
(ie 20 or so years ago). It can be used as a blessing bonnet and then the stitches clipped and the handkerchief used for the "something old" when she gets married! Cute huh!? So baby B already has an "heirloom"!

You may notice that D is clean-shaven in this picture. A couple months ago now D was called to be on the High Council. The Stake President then asked D to shave off his goatee! After a moment and a big gulp, D agreed. It's amazing how much more he looks like his twin now, don't ya think!!? LOL! Go figure!

2008-03-21T21:00:00.000-07:00

I slept on my belly last night!

That's all!)

Random Sampler

2008-03-18T20:32:00.000-07:00

This is just a random sampling of some of the things going on around our house recently:

Every time I change Baby's diaper, Sweetsa comes up and says, very seriously,"Naughty Naughty, Naughty! Poopies in a potty, no poopies in pants!"

At her two week appointment, Baby weighed in at 8 pounds 2 ounces (40th percentile). She was also 21.25 inches long (80th percentile) and her head circumference was 36 cm (I don't remember the %). Of course the pediatrician said, laughingly, "Given family history, I expect [the percentile for length] to come down in the future."

I am now cleared to drive again. The interesting thing is that I didn't even really miss being able to drive until the past 2 or 3 days. I guess that means I really am recovering! Now just counting the days until I can really start exercising again...a c-section apparently gives you a different kind of post-partum tummy...no I will NOT post any pics!

Yesterday, someone was driving down our street, our quiet little street, and forgetting to watch where she was going, managed to plow into and demolish two
(parked) vehicles across the street from our house. With the amount of damage done to them, I would guess she was going 35-45 mph when she hit the cars. It was interesting to watch the "drama" unfold through the kitchen windows...yup slow day at Patrick Place!

Baby, like most newborns, gets hiccups at least once a day. The difference with our Baby is that they get so bad that she starts to sound like a squeaky toy. Buddy finds this absolutely hilarious and literally laughs himself silly when he hears her.

Believe it or not, Baby has actually smiled, even though she is only 2 weeks old! I haven't caught it with a camera yet, but I will!

Sweetsa asks every day for me to pick her up, which I have been told not to do until Baby is 4 weeks old. She's getting a little more resigned to the fact that i can't lift her, but the first few days were not good! Sweetsa was not so sweet to Mama during those first few days. But I can tell she is starting to understand the situation. Now, when reminded that I can't lift her up, she holds her two fingers up moving them together and apart a few times and says "Snipped? Mommy Snip, snip?!"

Before Baby came I ran to the local discount store and bought a few new toys/fun items and put them in a "nursing basket". Now the kids can only play with these new toys when I am nursing Baby. When we're finished they have to clean them up and put them away, to be brought back out in two hours when we nurse again. The fun thing is that now when it's time to nurse Baby, Sweetsa will say, "Noosing?! Hooray!" And run to the basket. Buddy also is very quick to get the basket out and enjoy the new toys. It makes nursing a much less stressful time than it might otherwise have been.

Baby is here!

2008-03-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

As some of you have heard through the grapevine, Baby joined our family last week, Tuesday, March 4 (Happy Birthday Tee!). She was 7 pounds 6 ounces and 21 inches long at birth. Her head circumference was 35.5 cm. Comparing her to the others at birth she's right there in the mix: Mimi was 7 lbs 3 oz 19 inches, Buddy was 7 lbs 9 oz and 19.5 inches, Sweetsa was the lightweight at 6 lbs 15 oz and 19.5 inches (I don't have the older kids' head circ. #s right now.)I haven't thought of a nickname for her yet, but Mimi likes "Squishy" (Baby LOVES to squish up in a ball when you hold her against your chest!)
Here is her first professional picture. And this is her first pic

I'm only now getting to blogging this because things definitely did not go as planned, and I am recovering from an emergency C- section. (Or as the hospital codes put it: a manual assist delivery!)

What follows is a somewhat incoherent retelling of this most recent birth story. I will not be offended if you don't want to read it. I have managed to record each of my children's birth stories and wanted to do the same here for Baby. So enjoy or bail now!

We went to the hospital early Tuesday morning to be induced. I didn't think of it as such, since the OB scheduled it, but it was considered an elective induction. (I guess induction for precipitous labor is not a medically necessary induction, just a convenience to have the kid at the hospital!) It was very comforting knowing that D would be there, since he works an hour away from where we live and if I had gone into labor during the day, he would most likely miss the birth (He carpools, and would have had to take the bus back home and then try to get to the hospital. When labor is less than 3 hours, that's not leaving much time for all that travel!)

Anyway, we went in for the induction. I had been reassured that we would do a low dose pitocin drip this time. With Buddy it was a hi-dose pit drip, and the resulting labor was only 52 minutes from first contraction to delivery! As the IV drip was started on Tuesday, I had hopes of experiencing a somewhat normal labor. Although I do remember being startled when the nurse doing the IV said something about it being my constant companion for the rest of the day. I was startled because in my mind (and due to my previous labor experience), the baby would be born by noon at the latest, and the IV long gone by dinnertime! Ha! (Cue the irony!)

As Dr N broke my water and hooked up the internal fetal monitor, he exclaimed in surprise, "Hello there!" We all looked at him for explanation, and he said, "She just shook my hand!" Apparently Baby was trying to feel what had just been done to her scalp! Everything proceeded normally for the next little while. They slowly upped the pitocin, but then backed it off a bit because baby's heart rate was elevated and didn't come down for a bit. Despite backing down on the pit, I continued to feel contractions coming. When they came to check my progress I had just begun to feel like we were getting to real labor...I had to start concentrating a bit to get through the contractions. The irony is they had barely started feeling like the first contractions I felt with all three other kids! I had had a hour and a half of gradual build up labor. What a new experience!)

When the nurses came in to check my cervix for progress they said that Dr. N wanted to see if an amnio-infusion would help the baby tolerate the contractions better. At this point I began to worry that choosing to be induced was not a good decision for this baby. So the nurse said I was dilated to 5 centimeters, and then things get a bit hazy, because this is when life got crazy. I don't know if an amnio-infusion was ever even attempted. I'm not sure of the timeline of all the things that did happen, but it seemed like right after checking me, I noticed that Baby's heart tones had almost stopped...they were way slower than mine. So I worriedly asked,"Um, did the monitor come off the baby?" And all I got were some very distracted no's from the 2 nurses. That's when I heard the word "prolapsed", an oxygen mask was stuffed over my face, the head of my bed was (literally) dropped below my feet and a nurse started what felt like a very painful internal exam that lasted for the next five or ten minutes (At least), and about six extra people rushed into the room. I heard someone tell D to go out in the hall and start signing C-section papers. And then IV bags were thrown on my chest or belly, and with two nurses hitching a ride on the bed, we raced out into the hall (gratefully pausing to throw a sheet over the nether portions of my body!)and on to the OR. Poor D literally almost got taken out by the bed as we raced past the Nurses Station.

Meanwhile I'm still having contractions, while standing on my head and having an internal exam all at the same time (I later was told that the nurse was holding the baby's head off of the umbilical cord, which had slipped into the birth canal.)So maybe during all this I said OW! once or twice (OK it was more than that), but I wasn't telling them to get their hands off of me or anything...I knew that they were trying to save the baby. But every time I said OW! they said we're just trying to help your baby, we're doing this for the baby, etc. Yeah, I think I figured that out! Thanks!

Buddy and baby

We made it to the OR and let me tell you I said OW! a few more times as I was transferred to the slab of ice they use as an operating table. Then of course I had to be prepped for the surgery, which included a catheter (ow), being rolled on my side (ow), having icy liquid (I assume iodine or something similar)dumped on my belly and swished around (brr), another mask slapped on my face and then being told to take deep slow breaths...of course I was freezing to death, starting to shiver and just a little bit worried about Baby. As I tried to do that a nurse took a hold of my jaw and very firmly squeezed my face, jaw and the mask into a little ball. I really don't know what she was doing, but I assume it was to get ready to intubate me. As I took my third slow deep breath, I thankfully heard that Baby's heart rate was back in the 150s. Next thing I knew, I was in the recovery room, still freezing and unable to talk.

At first I was really sad and worried, but they reassured me that Baby was fine, D had been with her in the Nursery for a while and that she had Apgar scores of 7 (at 1 minute)and 9 (at 5 minutes).

D was not able to be in the OR with me, but was able to accompany Baby to the nursery from the door of the OR. So I'm a bit sad that neither of us got to see Baby as she was born, but more grateful that everything turned out ok.

Here is my first sight of baby, almost 4 hours after delivery

The next day as I spoke with my doctor about what had happened he explained that when the nurse checked me, she had actually found that Baby had extended her hand and wrist out through the cervix into the birth canal. The nurse squeezed the hand to get baby to pull it back in, and not much later is when the umbilical cord prolasped. Apparently, after you have a few babies, the uterus doesn't clamp down as well around the baby and rarely, can let "things slip through". He also let us know that the doc that just happened to be standing in the hall, able to scrub up fast for the "stat c-section", was one of the best around. Dr N actually made it to the hospital in time to finish up...i.e. close me up. The nurses told me later that it was a real miracle that all the personnel necessary for an emergency c-section "just happened" to be at the nurse's station or nearby when the call went out to get everything ready, fast. Dr N also told us that from discovery of the prolapsed cord, to birth it was under 15 minutes. Our good outcome was due in large part because we were already at the hospital. I know that God was watching over us in all this, working things for our good. And I think that has made it easier for me to accept the unexpected circumstances of baby's birth AND to be more patient with the restrictions placed on me during recovery. Of course having a wonderful husband to help shoulder the work ( and kids) and a wonderful mother to be here every day to help out makes a huge difference too!

our three girls

I can't believe how much we love our Baby already! The kids adore her and want to hold her all the time. She's sleeping and eating well which mom and dad really appreciate. We're already seeing some of her personality come out...if she's upset enough to cry there are no little whimpers from this lady, nope she goes to immediate full-on evacuation siren volume to let us know she's upset. Maybe she already understands that to be heard above the other three she'll need to be able to drown them out!

Last but not least I have to say the these pics of baby don't really look like her...she was apparently swollen because her face is not that round. So hopefully I'll be getting some more accurate pics up soon!

And we're back!

2008-01-23T21:53:00.000-08:00

So we got a new computer (that is D and I did...the kids use the old one) for Christmas this year. We think we have finally worked the bugs out and have networked them, so here are all the pics and stories that have been sitting around for the past six weeks. Enjoy!

Children's Museum

2008-01-23T21:30:00.000-08:00

A little over a year ago the Children's Museum moved venues, and suddenly became twice as expensive! In my pinchpenny ways, I didn't take them back. That is until right before Christmas this past year (2007). We have friends who have passes and they invited us to go along. So we packed seven kids, two Moms, a stroller and several bags of food into a Suburban and headed north. They of course had a blast. Here are some pics of the kids enjoying the new and improved Children's Museum.

They still have a climbing wall, but it is about three times the size of the old one. Mimi let me take a pic of her climbing. What she really enjoyed (and I didn't really get to see) was her science lab...exploring dry ice! They did some really fun stuff, but the class was for 7 to 12-year-olds (they did let Mimi in, but not Buddy or Sweetsa).

All three of our kids got to go to the little scientist class on "Mars Sand". The sand had hydrophobic properties, so did not act like normal sand. When I asked the Teacher what they had done to the sand to make it hydrophobic, she looked at me like "?" So she gave me the "Teachers Info" insert from teh kit...it didn't have any real info just how to do the experiments. Ah well. The kids liked playing with teh weird sand, and they got some little ornaments and a souvenir picture of Mimi and buddy (Sweetsa was too timid to pose for someone else's camera!)

Sweetsa loved the kid-sized house and spent some time in the kitchen making a cake and eating it too!

Mimi's favorite place was (still) the grocery store. She went from the farm, to the delivery truck to the grocery store and back again and again.

Buddy loved the new construction area, where they had a crane, large blocks, and best of all, blueprints for different buildings/structures.

Much to the relief of my tired feet, we had to cut the day short to try to beat a storm home. Unfortunately, we left the parking garage just as the first hailstones hit the ground. the snow followed very soon after and we made our way home at about 10-20 mph! It was a LONG drive home! (Sandy got 13 inches of snow in two hours that evening!) We were very happy to make it home safely. It was a fun day, and maybe we'll go back again...but not until the storms stop coming!

Fun in the snow

2008-01-23T20:39:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics of the fam playing in the snow, making the first snowman of the winter (this was back in early December I think). I am having trouble with all the snow pics this year...we've had snow every week since before Christmas and haven't seen the ground since then (And only seen it for 1-2 days since this early December snowfall.) Unfortunately it's a lot colder now than it was back in December (single digits at night these days...BRR!)

She lost her tooth...really!

2008-01-23T20:36:00.001-08:00

Mimi realized one day that her tooth hurt. It was a little bit wiggly, so I said, "If you're lucky, you might lose this tooth before Christmas!" Ha! She lost it the next Sunday! Unfortunately, she took it to school the next day to how her teacher, and we haven't seen it since. She really lost her tooth!

Beginning Astronomers?

2007-12-31T21:32:00.000-08:00

Many of you probably heard the devastating astronomical news this past summer that Pluto has been demoted and is no longer deemed a planet in our Solar System. That's right only eight Planets now claim Sol as home system, but never fear...my children have come up with names for any newly discovered planets...full-size or dwarf.

We've been talking about the planets recently. As we were driving the other day, Mimi was trying to name the planets from closest to the Sun to furthest away. She got about half way, and then asked, "Where's Uterus?"

After having her repeat the question, D and I had to wait several minutes before we could answer/ask her to clarify without cracking up... After thinking about it, I realized she just squished a bunch of the planet names together into a word that she recognized (she knows where the baby is growing). But it was so funny to hear that question! Especially since the day before when Buddy and I were talking about the names of the planets he said (pointing to a picture of Neptune) "What comes after Urine?"

I don't know that astronomers will use the names my children have chosen, even for dwarf planets, but that's ok!

Some recent Buddy-isms

2007-12-14T20:02:00.000-08:00

As we were on our way to pick up Mimi from school the other day, I couldn't take my headache any longer and exclaimed, "My head is going to explode!" Within seconds of me saying that, I heard from the back of the van, "Yeah and my head's gonna shoot lava!" Although my headache didn't go away, it sure felt good to giggle at that! And every time I think of his little four-year-old voice gone gravel-y and serious as he said it, I just giggle again!

As I was tucking Buddy into bed tonight he said something like this: "I've had this blanket a long time. I've had this blanket for forty years, just like the Israelites!" Huh? "The Israelites were in the desert for forty years and that's how long I've had this blanket."

Buddy has invented what he calls his "Big Boy Sandwich". On our way home this evening he told me he wanted his Big Boy sandwich for dinner. D has never heard of/seen this sandwich before, so I asked Buddy to tell Daddy about it. Buddy's response: "First you have a piece of bread, then you put a bunch of burritos on it and then a piece of ham and then another bread on top!" D and I started laughing at the image of a bunch of burritos on the sandwich. (Please note: The second ingredient in the Big Boy Sandwich is actually Doritos, NOT Burritos!)

Little Philmont

2007-11-18T17:58:00.000-08:00

Because of D's calling in the Stake YM presidency, we got to spend Friday night and Saturday at a training called Little Philmont. It's basically put together by Scout leaders to help all those working with Scouts (from cubs on up to venturers) catch the vision and be better leaders. The neat thing is that they had all kinds of fun activities for the kids and spouses while the leaders spent 5-6 hours in meetings!

Friday night was just for the leaders and spouses, so our kids got to spend the evening with SPH-1 and Daddy-o. They cried when we left and then when we returned to pick them up, they cried cuz they didn't want to go home...sometimes you just can't win!

While D was in the meeting with the other leaders, the spouses got to do a puzzle, socialize and do stuff with beads (it's scout stuff right!?)

We started off the morning Saturday by watching an Apache helicopter circle and land in the field next to the church. And then they let the kids (of all ages) climb in and answered all kinds of questions. That was definitely a highlight of the day, even though I thought the initial rotor wash would knock poor little Sweetsa off her feet! (It did push her back a bit, but she managed to keep herself upright.)

There was also a drum circle where the kids (and adults) got to learn a few African drum series/patterns. It was fun hearing the kids saying under their breath after wards "Walk the fat dog!" (the memory prompt for one of the patterns). It was also fun to be able to do some "noodling", or jamming on the drums to a beat. The drum leader/teacher guy said that we all sounded really good, probably the best he's ever heard a first time group sound!

The kids also got to go on a leaf walk, make a collage, do a blessing box, and listen to a professional story teller. Those are the things I actually saw them do, when I wasn't hurrying around trying to get to my classes.

The spouses got to choose between an art class (taught by a university Professor), making hats, playing games, dutch oven cooking, the drum circle, and something else that I obviously didn't go to because I can't remember what it was!

At the end of the training, there was a lunch, the helicopter took off and a guy brought a bald Eagle to show everyone. That was really cool. Mimi said the eagle was the best part. Sweetsa must have agreed, because she saw the bird and immediately said, clear as day, "Eagle!" and has continued to say eagle since then! She wants to see the pics I took on the phone all the time, "Eagle peas! Bye-bye Eagle!" I will try to figure out how to get those pics from my phone to the blog...stay tuned!

Fun in the fall

2007-11-04T13:03:00.000-08:00

After our freak October Snowstorms, we have had some beautiful Indian summer days this past week or so. The kids have been begging to collect leaves and make leaf piles to jump in. We all love the sound of crunching leaves and go out of our way to step on the scuttling things! I love this time of year (and not just because football is in full swing either!) So here are the kids enjoying the weather.

I've been tagged

2007-11-03T22:07:00.000-07:00

I don't even know how long ago I was tagged...sorry it's taken this long to respond!

Five things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Rooming with Taffy=)
2. Working in the dish room at the MTC...good times!
3. Recovering from a self inflicted concussion (dumb bunkbeds!0)
4. Dreaming in Albanian
5. Asking questions with British inflection

Five things on my to do list today:
1. Rest!
2. Catch up on Blog posts (mine and everyone else's)
3. Survive Stake Conference with three active LOUD kids, and a sick hubby
4. Read scriptures
5. Decide which way to vote on Referendum 1 on Tuesday

Five things I will do when I'm a millionaire:
1. Get a new house to fit our family (and pay it off!)
2. Invest
3. give more to charity
4. Build my personal library
5. get a better computer!

Five things I'll never wear again:(Are you kidding?! I grew up inthe 80s and 90s! The possiblilities are endless!)
1. Sally Jesse Rafael glasses...oh save me!
2. Floresent pink purses
3. colored polo shirts (collar up) under men's white dress shirts with an elastic belt to top it off!
4. Pink or yellow
5. mascara (sp?)

My favorite toys:
1. a football
2. a basketball
3. lasso golf
4. Kubb
5. Boardgames

Five people to tag:
1. Carolioness
2. Wood
3. Amy
4. Eliza
5. Kate

Masquerade!

2007-11-02T13:24:00.000-07:00

The kids had definite ideas of what they wanted to be this year for Halloween. I think I had plenty of notice, if only I had taken them at their word! LOL! "Are you sure that's what you want to be? What about this (the costumes we already had)!" Nope. They stuck to their guns and so we had:

The Blue Power Ranger (who refused to wear the mask, which was really ok with me).

Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz (the movie since the shoes are red, not silver). I made the jumper from fabric I've had for probably five years. And I decided to take a page from Taffy's book and make it without a pattern. YIKES! There were a few mis-steps, but over all I think it turned out ok!

And the incredible horse-riding Duck! She didn't actually ride the horse for trick-or-treating, but refused to get off for the pics!)

Even though we only took them around our block and to maybe 4 other houses, they have enough candy to last for them until next summer I think (unless I eat too much of it, that is)! Why do we parents do this every year?

Eye Spy!

2007-11-01T21:45:00.000-07:00

Hopefully you've noticed something new on the blog by now. I put the banners up about 3 weeks ago, but I guess they were less conspicuous. So now the truth is out there in the "blogosphere"! Oh yeah, it's a girl due March 9. (Buddy's reaction:" Ah mom! Why did you have to grow a girl? When will you grow my brother?" LOL!)

The Jack-o's are revealed

2007-10-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

When we picked our pumkins a few weeks ago, we tried several times to give at least some of them away. True we didn't go so far as to put out a sign and say "Free Pumpkins", but no one took us up on the verbal offers, so we still ended up with ten pumpkins on our porch come the week of Halloween. I never thougth we'd carve them all, but D did them a few at a time and all of a sudden we had 10 jack-o-lanterns on our porch. Each of the kids either drew a design for Daddy to carve or picked one out of a pattern book. Let's see if I can tell what's what...
There was a witch or two, a spider, a BOO!, a few happy pumpkins, a scared one, a "pretty lady" pumpkin, and a surprised pumpkin.I'm just glad I didn't have to carve them...I seem to have developed a skin sensitivity to pumpkin guts. Fun. I love the way they look, though, and how excited the kids get every night at lighting time. And even how they interrogate me each morning, "Did you remember to blow out the candles last night Mommy?" And now jack-o-lantern season is already past for this year. Maybe we'll grow some different kinds next year!

Happy (Belated) Birthday Mimi!

2007-10-26T22:19:00.000-07:00

Mimi turned six a few weeks ago and I am such a slacker-mom, that I am only now acknowledging this on the blog. On her birthday, we sang happy birthday to her and she received a few presents (from Mommy, Daddy and siblings and some from the Grandmas too.) Other than that there wasn't much mention made...we were celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving that day (Columbus day for us US people.) Since Peggy is from Canada, we have been celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving with D's family as long as I have known them. As a matter of fact, six years ago, Mimi was born on Canadian Thanksgiving. We had celebrated the night before at my MIL's house.

Oh she also got to bring Mr. Birthday Frog home from school that day and record what she did with him, to share later with her school class. Here she is decorating cookies at Canadian Thanksgiving with Mr. Birthday Frog.

Last week we were finally able to manage some time to have her party. She invited several little girls from the neighborhood and her (in-town) cousins closest to her in age, E-beth and K-girl. As the guests arrived, they decorated their loot bags.

And then we played a quick game of "pin the crown on the princess."

Some of you may recognize the set up for the next game. When Mimi and I were talking about what to do at her party I suddenly remembered the "spider-web game" (at least that is what I remember it as...does it have a name?) She immediately agreed, and so my work was cut out for me! It took about 45 minutes to wind the room up and about 10 to unwind it all. The girls loved it, and not just the candy treat at the end. After finishing, some began to wind the string around themselves..."I'm webbing myself!" It was pretty cute! The girls then decorated cupcakes, and suddenly, moms were coming to pick up their girls!

Mimi, it is so crazy for me to think that you are already six years old, but at the same time I sometimes am amazed that you are only six years old. You are so sweet, kind and helpful. We love having you here to teach us and be a part of our family! We love you! Happy Birthday!

Apple Abundance

2007-10-21T18:43:00.000-07:00

Some of you have seen our apple trees. Well, it's now harvest time, and we have apples coming out our ears! We've picked the apples that we can reach from the south side of our trees, but have yet to venture to the north side. SO far I think we have picked in the area of sixteen or seventeen boxes worth, And that's just from our trees! SPH-1 and Daddy-O also have apple trees, so we're trying to use/preserve those as well. We are canning and drying (thanks to my fantastic mom!) and giving them away...But if anyone wants some, please feel free to come and take a bag, a box or more!

Here are some of the things we have done:

Applesauce

Apple slices

Apple crisp

Caramel Apples

Apple slices for lunch, snacks, and dinner

8 Boxes and countless bags of fresh apples given away to friends and neighbors

Even more apples donated for church activities (apple pies/apple cider/bobbing for apples)

**I started this post what seems like ages ago, planning on taking pics, but haven't managed to do this yet. so here's the post with fewer pics!

Our own little pumpkin pile!

2007-10-11T21:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry if you get bored over the next few posts. I'll be recording our harvest and canning, canning and more canning! But first our pumpkins. We grew 10, but one ended up stuck in a drain pipe, and in order to get it out, it got chopped up!( So here is our pile of nine. When we get them carved, I'll update the pics!

Happy Birthday SPH-1!

2007-10-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

Mother dear, I love you so!
Your happy smiling face
Is such a joy to look at;
It makes home a lovely place.

So today is the birthday of one fantastic lady. And we all had some discussion what would be a good gift for such a wonderful lady. After many phone calls and emails, here was the decision for the birthday gift:

The Ektorp Sofa bed from Ikea.

The picture at the top is Mommy's reaction when she found out what was coming into her living room! Here she is relaxing on it.

I won't give you all the blow by blow, but I will let you know that it was with glee that Dani and I pushed the brown beast out of the truck at the dump (although it tried to shove back!)

A big thank you to all who contributed, especially to our designated "nagger", Princess Gerty! But of course the biggest thank you goes out to our wonderful mother, SPH-1, for being the best Mom in the whole world. You are a great example to us all of how to really live the gospel, with true faith and charity. I can't even list all the ways that you are so wonderful. But yo are and I love you. We all love you. Happy Birthday, Moms!

Soccer Season

2007-10-03T20:49:00.000-07:00

We bit the bullet this year and put Mimi and Buddy into the city run soccer league. The "season" was only during the month of September. Their team focused on the basic skills of soccer, and listening to a coach. They scrimmaged a few times. The first time ended in a dogpile. It was hard not to laugh as the coaches pulled one kid after another off the pile, explaining the whole time how it's important to be nice and not tackle in soccer.

The final day of practice was winter-like. I was sure they would cancel due to rain, but was totally wrong...it turned into snow and they still didn't cancel. But I guess they had to hand out the medals and pictures, as well as the treats. Mimi was in full out rebellion by about five minutes into practice, "It's too cold! I'm freezing! I hate soccer!" I guess that's why she told me that next year she doesn't want to play soccer, but would rather (drumroll please) learn how to ice skate! LOL!

When asked what their favorite part of soccer was here are their answers;
Buddy "JUMPING-JACKS!"
Mimi "Nothing!"

Sweetsa loved being there on the field with the "big kids" and she was pretty good at dribbling the ball around.

The faces of Sweetsa

2007-10-03T20:41:00.000-07:00

And she's off...again!

2007-09-28T19:58:00.000-07:00

So I went in to the school last week to see if I could get Mimi into some higher reading/math groups. She came home a few weeks into the school year and told me that Kindergarten was...kinda boring. It was parent teacher conferences and I thought I could get some good results.

As it turned out (happily) I didn't have to push for anything. The teacher (Mrs. N) and the instructional coordinator for the school were raving from the start of the conference, and before I had gotten a word in they suggested Mimi be moved up to first grade. Of course they prefaced it with the comments..."Her birthday is close enough to the cutoff." "Her test (evaluation) scores were the highest of all those tested." etc, etc. So I was like great! She'll definitely get more academic stimulation in first grade than in kindergarten! But I was left to wonder why they had to wait so long to move her up, when I had asked them about moving her straight to first grade before school even started.

Ah well, I am just happy that the move was made. Mimi is absolutely blooming! It is so fun to hear her talk so excitedly about her day and her friends. And I am amazed at the improvement I have seen in just one week, not just in her academic work, but in her willingness to help at home, in her confidence in herself, and I didn't think her reading could get much better, but it has! Way to go Mimi, we are proud of you!

A day at the Beach in SF

2007-09-28T19:57:00.000-07:00

And no this is not the Bay area!) I've had this post in the back log for quite sometime. So enjoy!
A few months ago and a whole fifty or sixty degrees warmer, the inhabitants of Castle Town came to visit and we all took off for "the beach". The big girls made a Castle with a river that ran by it. After the construction was done the "big girls" took Naomi out in the water and floated around for a bit. Buddy took the opportunity to run off down the beach to the walls of the reservoir...he was fascinated watching some bigger boys play around over there. I felt much better when he came back to join our group! We took a picnic lunch and stayed as long as little Kierstie let us. Everyone had a great time

Sweetsa pretty much stayed out of the water...once you got deeper than about 4 inches it was pretty cold (good ole mountain water!)

We had a good time and just looking at those pictures reminds me how warm it was this summer (we've had a cold snap recently...snow in the mountains/benches and frost in the valleys...brrr!)

We've got Trouble!

2007-09-07T14:15:00.000-07:00

Trouble, oh we got trouble,
Right here in River City!
With a capital "T"
That rhymes with "P"
And that stands for Pool,
---------

So I've had these lyrics running through my head for the last month or so, but not because of any billiards halls or such. Nope. Our trouble is actually on account of one little girl who has gained a MAJOR attitude. So our trouble starts with a capital "T" which stands for 'Tude! That's our Sweetsa these days. She still has a sweet smile, but get on her bad side and she will let you know!!!
She is quite opinionated for such a little girl...she has a definite idea of how the world should be. The interesting thing is that she really doesn't say a lot of words (her total vocabulary might be 15 words right now), but the words that she does say she makes count! Being two now, one of her favorite words is, of course, "NO!" or "no-no!" which she will daily yell at Buddy or Mimi or Mommy. She is also our champion tantrum-thrower. And unfortunately I get to see those a couple times a day. *sigh* Unfortunately she has also picked up on what we term "nursery behaviors" but most kids go through them, whether or not they go to nursery: hitting and biting. We are trying to discourage these, but so far haven't been too successful. Although, she may have been deterred from the biting today. I was at a PTA meeting, when I heard her start screaming under the table. The "little" one year old she had been playing with bit her right on her forehead! Happy Birthday Sweetsa! She was pretty traumatized by it, and kept sobbing saying "beebee!" and pointing at her forehead. It was pretty sad, but maybe she understands now that biting really does hurt!

She has just picked up the word "Hi!" and will say hi to some one for literally five minutes... it's so cute I have to laugh every time I hear it! She will repeat "I love______." I have yet to hear her say it unprompted, but it still melts my heart when I hear it.

The easiest way for us to get Sweetsa to help out right now is to ask either Buddy or Mimi to do something. (Especially if we had previously asked Sweetsa to do it) She will suddenly run to do the task (turn off the tv, empty the trash, whatever!) yelling, "ME! ME! ME!" One thing we don't have to ask the others to do in order to get her to help is to clean up. She loves picking things up and putting them away...so she's the special helper in the toy room!

The following picture is a collaboration of Buddy's talents and Sweetsa's great personality.

Sweetsa still loves to be outdoors. The other day I realized that the older kids were downstairs watching tv, but I hadn't seen Sweetsa come in from the backyard. When I asked Mimi, she said Sweetsa didn't want to come inside! I went out to check and she was there playing in the sandbox, as happy as can be, filling the bucket, dumping it out and doing it all over again. She also loves to swing and could probably stay on the swing for hours if allowed. She really enjoyed swimming lessons this summer and wanted to be mommy-less for them (It was a mom-n-me class in 3.5' of water...not really an option!) When we went swimming with some family at a different pool, she walked right into the pool, and started swimming (with floaties on, thankfully!) She didn't wait for anyone else to get in the pool! That was a heart stopper for me!

Sweetsa loves Buddy and Mimi so much. Whenever one is gone (most recently Mimi to school), she will walk around with a searching look on her face her little hands turned over saying "Mimi?" or "Buddy?" She loves being with them so much that she has finally started going to bed at the same time as them! Hooray! This means that she actually stays in her big girl bed and falls asleep there !!(something that hasn't happened too well since we moved her out of the crib, when she was climbing out of it all the time.)

Another recent accomplishment is that Sweetsa is showing signs of potty training! After going through it a few months ago with Buddy, I can hardly believe we may be out of diapers by the end of the year (my expectations are not too high, are they?) She uses the toilet a couple times a day a today actually pooped in the toilet, and boy was she pleased!

She is so fun and sweet despite her new-found feisty-ness
Just like they sing in My Turn on Earth

"You've got to taste the bitter so that you can know the sweet."
Even though you've recently gained some 'Tude girl, you are Sweet and we love having you in our family! Happy Birthday Sweetsa!