It feels like Christmas...(on Q__)

Thanks to a tip from my sis-in-law, I discovered this morning that when you read my last blog post on an ipod (or I assume on any other similar device), some of the words didn't get crossed out like they did on my blog, so the first line reads, "Last night I got a bee up my butt wild hair".  Nice. Sorry for those of you who had to deal with that mental image. If it happened to you, go read my blog on a computer for heaven sakes, and while you're there, leave me a comment. I could use some love...

I gotta admit, it's starting to feel like Christmas around here.  The tree is lit 24/7, it snowed last night, the van doors were frozen shut this morning, the laundry is piled high, the kids are barfing every other day, there's not an ounce of milk or bread in our house 'cause I haven't had time to go shopping, I still have packages to mail...wait, finish, then mail. I haven't wrapped a single present, the garage has to get cleaned for one of our Christmas morning surprises, I'm trying to finish a quilt that's past due, we ordered pizza for dinner at 8:15 last night, and Christmas George is missing.   I just realized, through typing this, that he's probably hiding.  I can't say that I blame him. 

He was last seen in the following locations:

Cleaning our very dirty french doors (I was hoping the boys would be inspired by this, but no such luck.)

On Sunday, I heard Dillon exclaim, "George is adoring baby Jesus!"

And on Monday, he had a snowball fight with Mr. Potato Head.

The kids and I searched everywhere this morning and we cannot find Christmas George. We are offering a reward if you can find him (a nasty flu bug that you will no doubt go home with if you enter our house).

I'm pretty sure he spent some time practicing his longarm skills on this quilt last night, but there is no other trace of him.

 So, in all seriousness, we have the flu that keeps on giving. I'm going to try to re-construct a timeline for my own records:

Tues. Dec. 4th:  Justin was throwing up all day long.
Wed. Dec. 5th: Justin threw up again after eating breakfast.  His tummy is not used to food, right?
Thurs. Dec. 6th: When we tuck Justin in at night, we discover fresh vomit all over his "best lovie".
Sat. Dec. 7th: I come inside from trying to organize my quilting studio, to find vomit on the livingroom carpet.  Justin again.
Mon. Dec. 10th: I wake up in the middle of the night to my least favorite words:  "Mom, I threw up."  Caleb is the winner this time.
Mon. Dec. 10th:  Dillon finishes breakfast and announces he doesn't feel very good. Within 20 minutes, he's down too.
Tues. Dec. 11th: Caleb and Dillon stay home to recover, but don't seem to feel well all day.
Fri. Dec. 14th: Again, I wake up to those all too familiar words, "Mom, I threw up" from Brayden.
Sat. Dec. 15th: Grandma graciously agree's to tend the kids while Todd and I attend one of six Christmas parties we have on our calendar. We come home, only to find that Dillon threw up all over the bathroom (I'm still finding chunks from this one.)
Sun. Dec. 16th: Todd and I made an executive decision to keep all the kids home from church and just rest. He went to his morning meetings, and then I went for the 3 hour block to teach my primary class.  I got home to find that Brayden had thrown up again.
Tues. Dec. 18th: At 4:30 AM I woke up to my "favorite" phrase, "Mom, I threw up...on the carpet". Dillon... round 3.
Tues. Dec. 18th: At 6:30 AM I woke up to Caleb saying, "Mom, my tummy hurts."
Tues. Dec. 18th: At 7:05 AM I discovered that Brayden is doubled over with stomach pain.  Luckily, Caleb ate breakfast and felt better, so I only had two kids home from school.
Wed. Dec. 19th: Dillon left breakfast for the bathroom, but decided he was okay and went to school anyway (crossing my fingers).  Justin has had three NASTY diapers, but I'm staying positive....and blogging my woes.

*Update:  the carnage didn't end on the 19th.  
Thurs. Dec. 20th: I spent the day with stomach pains, and since I HAD to finish up some last minute shopping, I visited the bathroom in every store. Twice.

Fri. Dec. 21st at 2:30 AM  Caleb woke me up because he had "a heartburn".  I gave him some tums, but his heartburn turned into vomiting and horrible stomach pains.  He didn't know it, but I was watching him closely for signs of appendicitis.  At 4:30 AM, he broke out into hives. Yeah. Hives. Huh?  I rubbed his tummy and back with lotion, told him to try not to scratch, and went back to bed.  At 7:00 AM, I found him watching TV and when I asked how he was doing, he threw his hands in the air and said, "Great!".  He went to school. I figure he's already exposed his class anyway.  

Through all the sickness, I'm grateful to my mother-in-law, for watching our kids while we attended some our Christmas parties.  Please join me in praying for her continued health. She deserves it. Last weekend we had a party with all the therapists (and their wives) from Todd's work.  For the white elephant gift exchange, we gave the following:

a Sigmund Freud bobble-head doll...

 ...and plush "Syphilis".  Wish you could've
 been there when Todd's co-worker opened the gift and Todd shouted from across the room, "I just gave you syphilis!"

We came home with juggling balls, and a package of Bull Elk Urine.  I've always wanted some of that.

And lastly, I'm less than proud to tell you that when Todd accidentally reset our TV to it's factory settings, and for a few minutes we didn't know if we'd be able to watch Netflix Instant ever again (Dillon and his drama...) Justin surprised us with his newest phrase:  "Holy Crap!" which he either learned from Todd, or Frank on Everybody Loves Raymond.  Either way, there's room for improvement.

I'd better get quilting. So I can get it in the mail, and get to the laundry, and the shopping, and the wrapping, and the cleaning.  Did I mention I have company tomorrow night 'til New Year's?  Well, I do...and and the napkins are not freshly pressed. No wonder my left eye keeps twitching.

The beach

I don't usually go back and catch up on blog posts if I get behind, but I wanted to finish off our California vacation, since I hope to make a book someday and I know I'll go back to my blog for reference.

On our last day in CA we went to Crystal Cove (Newport Beach, I think). 

My brother and his family met up with us, so I had to get a picture...farmer tan and all.

 It had been awhile since he'd gotten a haircut, and I wanted to see who had the longest ponytail.  (I think HE won).

Todd and his siblings, aspiring to be like their mom. (I got the beach towel for free at Motherhood Maternity while I was pregnant).  My sis-in-law told me that the background scene here is painted on the walls in the Newport Beach temple.

My brothers wife tried to teach me and my sis-in-law, Becky, how to body surf.  Becky did pretty well, but I'm afraid if someone had been taping this, I'd be viral on youtube right now.  I did have fun trying, though!

I got "shat" upon.  Todd had the same thing happen to him at SeaWorld, not long after he told the boys he'd give them $10 if they got pooped on by a seagull.  I told him he didn't qualify for the $10, but changed my mind as soon as I joined the ranks :o)

"Swimsuit"

My dad is a member of a Young Single Adult Stake Presidency.

A couple weeks ago, they had a stake swimming activity at the local aquatic center.

If you know my dad, you know that he does not like to swim...at all.

But, he's a good sport.  So he put on his "suit" and jumped in anyway.

Then, he did a headstand...because he could.

And of course he had to try out the slide as well...

I'm glad my mom was there to take pictures.

I love my dad.

Does anyone out there speak Ninjago?

Dillon's birthday is coming up, and I asked him to make me a wish list.  I didn't realize I would need a translator.  It's not the handwriting or the misspelled words that get me...it's the toys.  What is "Zane normal with spinjitzu"?  

I'm pretty sure we already have a "Zane DX" so why do we need a "Zane ZX"?  

Why do the  Earth, Ice, and Fire Dragons cost between $70-$120?  Will they sneak upstairs and do my taxes in the night?? That's the only way I'm paying that kind of money.  

Why does a seven year old need a "skull truck" and what would he do with it?

The list is continued on the back, but the only thing it says is:
zoozoo armr

I'm pretty sure that means zhu zhu armor.  They have armor for toy hamsters??

I need a girl...

Random happenings

Today is crazy hair day at school.  I had to run to the grocery store at 7:30 AM to get orange hairspray so Caleb could be a jack-o-lantern like Dillon (who had to be bribed to wear his jack-o-lantern hair).  Brayden was much too cool for crazy hair.

Caleb wore a spider in his orange hair

Last week I sent Brayden and Caleb to the store (alone) for the first time ever (we live a block and a half away).  Their assignment was to get a chocolate bar so we could make chocolate curls for the pie Brayden made.

They were gone for quite awhile and I was starting to get nervous when I finally saw them walking home.  It turns out that after their purchase, Brayden realized that the cashier had given them 6 cents too much change...so they turned around and went back to return the money. I was one proud mama!

Too cold for a popsicle?  No way.
Dillon just ate his otter-pop with gloves.
(I should have given him a bib)

I had a gallbladder attack last week, and I don't have a gallbladder.

When I took the kids to the clinic the next day for their flu shots, I asked the Dr. about it.  He said that sometimes there is a stone in the common bile duct between the gallbladder and liver.  He looked up my surgery info on the computer and said that the surgeon had tried to check the common bile duct, but the opening was too small and he couldn't get the instrument inside.

Lovely.

 If I continue to have problems, I'll have to have some kind of a scope done that will irritate my pancreas.  This is the first time anything like this has happened since my surgery, so I'm hoping it's just a weird fluke.

The sale of our house is final.  We made a whopping $3.28 on the deal, and I feel pretty darn lucky just to get out of it.  I told Todd we'd have to be sure to put the money in savings to go towards our next house, or we'll get heavily taxed on it  :o)

My friend suggested we go to the local restaurant and celebrate with baby ice cream cones.

I love a baby in new dinosaur jammies...

Justin is walking/running everywhere these days.  He took his first courageous walk across the living room on Conference Sunday, about 10 minutes before Todd left to go back to the trailer.  I can't even tell you how glad Todd was that he was here to see it.

Now, a couple weeks later, he's getting more brave and starting to climb to get wherever he "needs" to go.  He has four teeth and one more on the way and loves to eat off the floor. He'll throw his food down from his high chair and eat it off the floor as soon as we let him out.  Hopefully he's building immunity...


In other news, we found the perfect house and got all excited about it just in time for it to go into foreclosure and be sold on auction last Thursday.  Unfortunately, we can't compete with people who have cash to buy a house.

We made an offer on another one this weekend.  I don't care for the look of the outside (it was built in the 80's) but the inside meets our needs perfectly.  We will spend the next few days haggling over the price and I'll be sure to post pictures if it works out.

In case you were wondering...

My morning...or should I say mourning?

This is what happens when you build a roaring
fire while your favorite mug is sitting on the stove.

I got up early this morning so I could pray, light the first fire of the season in our wood-burning stove, and enjoy a few peaceful minutes to myself before the kids got up.

Dillon had a bad dream in the night, so he was sleeping with me, but I tip-toed around my room, ever so carefully, so as not to wake him up.

Just as I set foot out of my bedroom, Justin started to cry.  I hurried to get him a sippy cup of milk, but I was too late.  Dillon was up, and because I left the baby monitor on in the basement, Caleb woke up too.

Within minutes I had three loud and boisterous boys bouncing around the livingroom.

Sigh.

I'll never understand the need that boys have to make random, obnoxious, and senseless noise.  My college roommates knew better than to talk to me before I had my make-up on and hair done.  I'm a "crock-pot" in the morning...slow to warm up to the day.

We had a 3-ring circus going on while I was trying to light the fire to warm up the house.  The boys were playing with the toy cell phone that Justin was supposed to get for Christmas...until he discovered it in my closet yesterday and brought it out to the kitchen for everyone to see.

I decided to let him have the phone early, since he was so delighted while pushing the buttons.  When I bought it, I didn't realize there was a record button so you could record yourself talking, and then play it back.  I recorded myself saying, "Hello" (which is Justin's only word) and he loved playing it over and over and saying "Hello" back.

So anyway back to the story.  I'm not very good at building fires in the stove.  Todd has always gotten up early and started a fire so the house was warm when everyone got up for school.  Oh how I miss him!  After burning through several issues of our local paper, I had all the logs burning and crackling, but there wasn't much heat and I'm pretty sure I was just smoking out the neighbors with my pathetic fire.

Caleb came over and said, "Mom, do you know about the triangle of fire?"

Me:  "Of course I do."  (what the hell is the triangle of fire?)

Caleb: "I just barely learned about it at Science Camp. I'm pretty good with a match, you know."

Me:   "I don't need my nine-year old playing with matches. Please just give me a minute..."

The kids went back to their random obnoxious noises and when I had successfully used up all our scripture  time working on the fire, I finally gave up and sent the kids to get a bowl of cereal.

They continued their loud and obnoxious noise through breakfast, and I held my tongue.  I knew that in just twenty minutes they'd be off to school and I could finally say my prayers and enjoy some quiet time.

Before I knew it, hair was combed, teeth were brushed, the freezing rain was scraped off the windshield (if Todd were here, he'd have done that for me...) and the fire was roaring.  Caleb had simply blown on it through the screen and it magically came to life.  Apparently there's something to that triangle of fire...

I cheerfully dropped my kids off at school (two minutes late) and looked forward to coming home, sitting by the fire, and finally saying my morning prayers.

Can you think of anything better on a cold, snowy morning than to sit by the fire and meditate without distraction?  My morning had finally turned around. And then I heard it...

Loud, obnoxious, and senseless noise...coming from Justin's cell phone.

Webcam 101 for Seniors...

Honestly...I HOPE that this is me and Todd someday :o) They're delightfully clueless.

Mom of the Year

A snippet from my conversation with Todd the other day:

(I was in the basement talking to Todd on my cell phone while the kids were playing Wii and making random loud and obnoxious noises)

Me:  "UPS brought the book you ordered.  I put it next to your side of the bed."

Todd:  "Which book was it?"

Me:  "I have no idea what it was called, but I remember it sounded more interesting than some of the books you order.  I think it was something about parenting."

Todd: "Oh that one. It was called "________" (kids obnoxious and random noises got so loud I couldn't hear)

Me:  plugging one ear with my finger "What?  I couldn't hear you."

Todd: "It's called "__________" (even louder and more obnoxious noise)

Me:  "Sorry, I still didn't hear you."

Todd: "Could you tell the boys to be quiet for a minute?"

Me: (yelling) "Boys! Shut! Up! I can't even hear Dad on the phone!"  

the boys became quiet (We don't usually say "shut up" around here...)

       

Me: "Now, what was the book called?"

Todd: (tentatively)  "It's called...Scream Free Parenting." 

Published

I told the boys a long time ago that if they wanted to write a book (and take their time on it) 

I would have it printed for them.  This one made the cut because Todd and I laughed until we had tears rolling down our faces when we got to the "brick wall" part.

If you look closely, you'll discover that they took their inspiration from several places, including: Finding Nemo, Webkinz, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, and Mario Bros.

We scanned the pictures, and used photoshop elements to "touch up" and add things as needed.  I spent way too many hours on it, but they love it, so it was all worth it. They approved the final draft before we had it printed.

The end page was illustrated by Brayden. 

Curious

Be sure to notice the background!

My kind of quilt shop

This is the sign in front of the quilt shop in our new town  (well, hopefully it will be our new town whenever we sell our house)



Fabric emergencies?

I think I'll get along with these ladies well :o)

The return of the tooth fairy

Dillon lost his first tooth this week!

 I was tempted to tell him the truth about the tooth fairy until we found this note on his bed:

It's been so much easier since we told Brayden and Caleb...

They just send us a bill at the end of the month.

Sometimes a thousand words are worth more than the picture...

Todd does not like to be the center of attention.  Especially if it involves taking pictures. In public.

While in St. George for Spring Break, we stopped to visit our friend Bruce, who used to work at the ranch with Todd.  Bruce was at a scout meeting when we got to his apartment, so we had ten minutes or so to play on the lawn in his yard while we waited.

Since my boys were all wearing their superman shirts on the same day (including Todd), I decided it was a perfect time to take pictures.  Due to a group of people outside the complex across the street, Todd didn't want any part of it.  

I begged and pleaded with him, and explained that those people would think it was sweet that he was playing with his kids.

After an insane amount of coaxing, he finally laid down in the grass.  And wouldn't you know it, just as I was about to take the picture, a school bus full of high school students turned the corner and drove past our little photo shoot...laughing all the way.

Now I'm afraid Todd will never participate in one of my lifelong dreams--to be driving down the freeway and have each family member stick their arms out of the van windows and flap like a bird.


I live for little moments like that.

*Justin is wearing the sunglasses that Dillon bought for his Build-a-Bear.  They're a perfect fit!

Sunday afternoon fun

(The tree got a haircut!)

The story of a tree

Once upon a time, my bonsai loving husband bought a cute ponytail palm.

The curliness of her branches made me smile.

After awhile, the leaves lost their curl, and the once cute tree

would growl at me every time I washed the dishes.

At one point I took matters into my own hands, and gave her a perm.

It worked--but only for a few days.

At Christmastime, we tried a new "do" with tinsel.

She's gotten old now, and her leaves are turning brittle.

A few weeks ago, I added a new accessory:

If you twist my arm...I might just give her away.

Eye on the ball

Notice anything different?

Brayden got glasses this week.

At his basketball game on Wed. night, he got hit in the face with the ball.  Luckily, his glasses are very flexible (thank you Nike), but he bit his lip and it caused some bleeding.

He walked over to show me his injury and exclaimed, "I kept my eye on the ball...and it almost happened literally!"

Ammon Delight

While shopping at Walmart last week, I ran into these sword cocktail picks.  Having just had a fondue party, and living in a household of boys, I knew we had to have these.  I even bought two packages in case I can't ever find them again.

Yesterday, I found myself crunched for time as I had a quilt that needed to be finished before bedtime (and I didn't have it in my hands until about 2 o'clock in the afternoon). 

I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner, when I remembered I had a package of cocktail sausages that I bought for New Year's and never made.  Then, I remembered the sword picks.  And then, my friends, I remembered the scripture story we're reading right now...the story of Ammon defending King Lamoni's sheep.  And it occurred to me...

What little boy wouldn't want to eat bloody arms with a sword?

And so we did.  And I made twice baked potatoes to go with them.  As I was stuffing the potato skins, I realized that if you use your imagination (and mozzarella cheese instead of cheddar), they kind of look like sheep.

And Ammon Delight was born.  The boys chose to place their sheep on the "grassy hill".

Unfortunately, a few of the "sheep" did not survive, as the boys discovered they could spoon red sauce over top, and stab them with a sword as well.  (okay, maybe their Mom discovered it first and showed them...)

You can also fit 8 or 9 pea's on a sword pick at the same time.

It's the little things in life...