The Willford Family

Oops!

2012-01-26T10:36:00.002-07:00

Somehow it's been over a month since I last posted!

Let's see.... We had Christmas, which was fun and Daddy had the day off unlike last year. We gauged things just right, and had a laugh when the gift from a sibling topped everything Mom and Dad, and Santa, gave. Zhu Zhu pets apparently go over big with my kids, and she had found a great deal so snapped them up since she had our family for Christmas. We had a huge play area for those things now with all the accessory sets she found for $3. (And there's no poop to scoop like with a regular hamster, my favorite part!)

Then we had New Year's. Mark had that off too, so we had his brother and his wife, as well as one of their friends, for games and goodies. Stayed up way too late but had a blast playing a game we've owned for over a year but hadn't ever played yet.

The boys started a new school when we came back from Christmas break. New routines, new rules, new friends. My morning starts far earlier than I like, although not nearly as early some people I know. They've adjusted really well and like their teachers. I found out too that since we're a rural school now, when William starts next year he'll be going full day, but the days alternate. So he'll ride a bus to and from with his brothers but he'll only go every other day. We were very happy to learn this since it means I don't have to take him or pick him up like we would have to if he had attended the school in town next year, those kindergartners only ride the bus one way as they are half-day school.

Then we had our pink-eye fun. Mark was the only one who didn't get it at all, but he's not home much to pick up fun things from the kids. Once that started to go away, I had a lovely sore throat and the resulting cough is finally starting to clear. I married the best man ever: he didn't fuss about the state of the house, he'd fill the humidifier before I could and get it all set up for me at night, he double checked to make sure I didn't forget my antibiotics... So I payed him back the best way I know how. I made sure his sock drawer was full. :-)

Latest is that my dad was over on my side of the state for a job and was able to come visit a couple evenings. True to Dad, a simple house tour turned into going under the house to check out my well pump pressure tank, because our water pressure was really screwy. Turned out that the cut on/cut off switch was bad, so he left instructions on what to get and then came back the next night to crawl back under the house and replace it. Of course, the pressure gauge is off too, which we didn't know until we had a pressure switch with a known cut on/cut off pressure point. But that's a lot easier to replace and is simply so you can observe the pressure, so I'll fix that myself later. We're very grateful that he would take the time to help us with our house, even if that wasn't our intent when we invited him to visit. I had several questions I had wanted to ask him, but wasn't expecting him to fix anything. I also came away with lots of information, which is just as appreciated.

I'm itching to paint my bathroom. That's right, the one I asked for opinions on yellow vs blue those weeks ago. Still hasn't been done. But on the docket is also a new skirt- fabric picked up yesterday that I've been in love with for a while, a quilt for Oren who is using a large baby quilt of his brother's currently, picking curtains and comforter for my room... Several organizing projects, the last few boxes to unpack, artwork needs hung. I need to map out the lay of the house, well pipes, septic, leach field, existing fencing and planting, and irrigation sprinklers so we can create the master plan for our landscaping. I need to find or build a bookshelf for my cookbooks. I need to rebuild the shelves in my pantry before they bend in half and break under the weight of the cans.

So many things to do, with so little time. Distracting, overwhelming. What to prioritize my time and money on? *Sigh*

Movin' On In!

2011-12-22T11:38:00.002-07:00

We finally have internet again, so I can sit down between unpacking boxes and finishing Christmas gifts, and jot down an update!

Moving day went really smoothly thanks to several handy-if-not-happy-to-be-lifting-heavy-boxes helpers. We got the biggest truck Uhaul had available and loaded it to the very top. Plus several van loads of miscellaneous stuff that had to stay at the apartment as we cleaned it, or pictures, or curtains... all that last minute junk. The loading took about 2 hours, and unloading about the same. Things were organized enough that by the time Mark got back from returning the truck, my sister-in-law and I had put together ALL the beds, including bedding! As well as moved around furniture so there was a place to sit and rest.

In the mornings we tried putting the house together, which for the first few days involved trips to the hardware store to find dryer vents, dryer cords, well filter replacements, prices on fridges, and boxes of Magic Erasers. Boxes were rapidly emptied and broken down flat to be taken to the grocery store's box crusher at some point.

In the afternoons we headed over to the old apartment to clean and scrub and wipe and sneeze and vacuum and patch holes. We had been told not to shampoo because they'd do the carpets anyway when we left. Then there was a new manager who did the walk through, and told us that if we had cleaned them ourselves she would have called it good! Ugh! That would have saved us a good $75 of our deposit! But by that time we were just ready to be done and agreed to have them shampooed by professionals. If we ever rent again, there are certain things I will have in writing before signing a lease. Period. Other than the shampooing, paint, and a few sets of blinds, everything looked good.

While unloading the truck, I set aside all the Christmas decor, so we pulled out the tree and decorated it as a family Sunday evening. Very simply done so Daniel would have less to break, and suprisingly he's leaving it alone! Stockings have been hung by the wood-burning stove with care on the nails that the old owners kindly left there. :-)

Soot, by the way, sticks to everything and has to be scrubbed off of skin with soap and a loofah. But it hadn't been cleaned since last winter and was very dusty, ash all over inside, and soot clinging to the glass on the doors. We couldn't get a fire to stay lit in there until I cleaned it out thoroughly the other day, and now a decent fire will heat most of the house for an entire evening. Mark even has an axe so he can cut the wood down to size from the local lumber yard. They sell leftovers from the huge logs they use to make log cabins, and you can load your car and pay by the cubic foot. Walking into the house to the smell of a fire going is wonderful and toasty warm! Mark grew up with a stove, so he's in heaven...

And.... we've been picking out paint! One of the bedrooms is bright pink. And although William actually likes it, we'd rather have a room with a more masculine feel to it. Samples have been purchased and painted on the wall, and the colors chosen for wall and trim. Now, before I decide it's too much work, we just have to borrow a ladder and prime the walls!

Ah, for a garage!

2011-12-01T10:36:00.002-07:00

It dawned on Mark and I the other day, that moves I remember as a child, the military packed everything up. Except moving to Oklahoma, but I don't remember much about that as far as boxes are concerned. Our move from Rexburg to Rigby as newlyweds didn't involve much packing as we didn't have much yet.

Even moving from off base in England to on base, we had the movers who came and boxed everything, drove it to the base, and dropped it off at the new house. Spoiled? Maybe a little.

For the first time, I am attempting a major move without any outside mover help. Collecting boxes that were luckily saved from our move here, my sister-in-law's move here, and the local grocery store and discovering Mark was smart enough to save a huge bunch of packing paper. I've got flat boxes stored in several nooks and crannies, and packed ones stacked in the living room, bedrooms, and closets. We've been through several rolls of tape and still have more to go.

The hard part, other than all the crazy over getting the loan which is a complete blog post in and of itself that will not get written for a while because I'm still suffering residual stress, is living with the boxes everywhere! If we took Mark's mom's offer to store them in her garage, then the elder's quorum would have to help with the furniture here, and then go to her house and load boxes there too. With only 9 days to go it's just easier to leave them here. But our life is now stepping around box piles! I plan on taking a picture the day before moving day, because we'll be packing things like clothes and last minute stuff we'll be using until it goes into the box, and the house will be full. All the chaos will be worth it to unpack in our own place, but for now, I sure wish we had our own garage to stick all these dratted boxes!

A little house tour

2011-11-15T21:59:00.002-07:00

So, it's not officially our house yet, but I thought I'd post some of the rooms I get to play with. Yes, the house is small. But our budget was even smaller, and the selection was tinier still. So we are going to make the best of what's out there and plan on spending a lot of time outside in the yard this summer!

Here is my living room, with my happy little helper. William was great about holding the measuring tape for me while we were there for the inspection, so I could get a head start on furniture arrangements. There is a large, stone hearth in the corner past where William is standing that houses a wood burning stove for an alternate heat source. And when I say large, I mean 5 feet by 5 feet! That's 25 sq ft of my living room!

Pink bedroom #1. This will be Oren and Nathan's room. The walls are going to get a coat of paint in some boyish color, and the closet doors are likely going to come off. I'm thinking a curtain instead. Not sure yet though.

Pink room #2! Very pink, with dark green carpet- the same carpet is in the master bedroom but those photos turned out quite dark. This one is William and Daniel's since theirs will need to house more toys, and it's a tad bigger than the other room. Both rooms have ceiling fans, which will be a lifesaver in the summer with no AC. I'm thinking a pale green on this wall because of the green carpet. Very soothing. Again, not 100% sure yet.

My kitchen! Is it pretty or what?! So much more space than I have right now, with room for a bigger fridge when finances allow. The light fixture isn't quite my style, but works and provides enough light for now. Considering the square footage of the house, the kitchen is very large. But since I spend the majority of my day in the kitchen, it makes sense to make it an enjoyable room. It's also one of the most expensive to renovate, which makes me glad that the cabinets, counters, and floors have already been updated.

And this is just because it was cute, if you'll ignore the pile of laundry in the background. Daniel was exhausted tonight and passed out on the couch beside me. Our cat, Shadow, generally avoids sitting near the boys. But with Daniel safely asleep and unaware that his favorite toy has climbed up on the couch, Shadow snuggled up close and fell asleep too.

Shadow, by the way, was very aptly named. He gets stepped on. A lot. Poor kitty....

Feeling little butterflies

2011-11-12T09:21:00.003-07:00

I had posted that we were officially house hunters last. Having a tight timeline, we moved quickly and spent several hours online compiling a list of homes that met our requirements of space and function.

The funny thing?

None of the houses I picked to see would have worked for the way our family lives. At all. Amazing what a difference seeing the layout and size of rooms in person can do.

Our wise agent, however, had pulled a house that was more than our budget from the lender and smaller than I thought I needed. This was the only house out of the ones that we looked at before we moved last year and the numerous ones online, or the other 4 we saw in person, that felt like home! The kitchen space is perfect for me and includes space for all of my cake decorating pans and paraphanelia, the dining room fits our table. There is an actual laundry room and not closet in the hallway with bifold doors that like to try to break when children run down the hall!

The huge storage shed out back makes up for the smaller closets. The wood burning stove with stone surround gives me a mantel for decorations.

And the best part?

It's on an acre of land. A whole acre! A yard for the kids with a playhouse in the mental works for next summer. A produce garden tucked away in a corner. The covered patio is going to be perfect for sitting and watching the boys play without mommy frying in the sun. Or grilling and enjoying dinner outside on the table I can make. Plus ample room for Mark to practice his landscaping design classes to make a truly welcoming front garden space.

Updated enough that I don't have to do major work inside, but just enough cosmetic stuff needs done to keep me happy. Like painting the pink room a nice shade of green/blue/yellow/gray (Still not sure!). Or ripping out the carpet in the master bath. And the hideously modern light fixture in the kitchen that will make way for a more traditional style but not stuffy pendant/chandalier thing. Maybe even updating the towel racks in the bathroom!

With some juggling and special permission from the lender, we were able to meet his counter offer, and got him to agree to our closing terms and leave the fridge. The seller really struggled with the idea of making a little less and having to help with closing costs, but realized that he wasn't going to get a better offer in this market. And may have likely gone several months before getting another offer at all.

So if all goes well and there's nothing major on the inspection on Monday... we should be closing on the 9th of December! And Mark gets to tell all his friends that he bought his wife a house for her 30th birthday. :-)

Whoops, been a while.

2011-10-29T23:41:00.002-06:00

Wow, didn't realize it had been this long since I'd posted.

Not really a lot has happened. We had some birthdays. And of course, Mommy forgot to take pictures of Daniel's... Genius. And I haven't really had the chance to sit down and do something with William's yet.

William has been officially diagnosed with ADHD and we are working to find the right medications for him. It wasn't as hard a decision to medicate as it was with Oren. Probably because we had been doing our dye-free diet since Oren was in kindergarten. And because I know how Oren was able to be himself on the right meds. He's doing really well on it so far, except he can't swallow the capsules so we have to open them and sprinkle the medicine into applesauce, so it's not extended release anymore.

Daniel brought home a cold from the nursery, and it apparently has a long incubation time, because he got sick last Saturday but Nathan and Oren are just showing symptoms today. Lovely.

And, just a little thing I suppose, but.... we are officially house hunters! We talked to a lender, and have a realtor looking around for something to fit both our family- and our rather limited budget. Nothing fancy at all, nothing brand new and shiny. But ours. Choices look slim right now, although we have a few on our list to see next Friday. It probably seems odd to be wanting to buy a house while still students, but this apartment is just not working. Buying at our budget gives us a smaller payment every month than rent is, and we'd like to be here for a good while. With Mark's student status, we have to find something and close before the end of the year or we have to wait until he's done with the next school year in July. So either this is going to be a whirlwind couple of months... or a very disappointing and long wait.

See, nothing really big happening here! :-)

Doop doop de boop...

2011-09-18T21:43:00.002-06:00

Just in that kind of mood tonight.

So many different thoughts running through my head that I could write down. Like: how I hate the way my living room is set up and that I want to rearrange things but need to get caught up with laundry first; how my neighbor is sort of irritating how she keeps popping up in the evening wondering if I have leftovers from dinner because she blew her foodstamps on who knows what; how I'm debating getting Oren a pair of glasses out of pocket since he keeps breaking his and it takes 3 weeks to get new ones in through his insurance...

I could write about how I feel bad for not taking more pictures to post on here lately. Pictures of the bookshelf I made and still have taken yet. Pictures of the latest flavors of cupcakes I've done. Pictures of the boys who are growing up way too fast.

I could also write about how well the boys have done while running errands lately since it's just the 2 little ones at home with me. Or about how how much Oren has matured in helping me around the house. Or about Daniel and all the funny things he says now!

Maybe a good blog subject would be how the friends I have made here are doing wonders for my self esteem. The compliments I get when I make an effort to dress up and how it's inspiring Mark to notice too.

Well, what do you know? Looks like this post just wrote itself! :-)

This summer we...

2011-08-26T22:16:00.002-06:00

Fell asleep in odd places...

And climbed in pools at pack meeting...

Made silly faces...

And grumpy faces...

Rode in a carriage...

And made a mess in our rooms...

Wore silly hats...

And just in general had ourselves a grand old time!

More medical stuff.

2011-08-19T18:39:00.002-06:00

Doctor stuff is about all we've had going on this week. Besides trying to clean the house...

William decided to slide down the slide really fast, on the edge, last night. He came back in screaming about an owie, wouldn't put his arm down or anything. We took him into the local urgent care center where they x-rayed his collarbone. Sure enough, broken! Just a green stick fracture, but he'll be in a sling for a while. We take him back in a week to possibly have another x-ray done, make sure it's healing well.

Then today Nathan had an appointment with an ENT. He's been a lot more nasally lately, and almost gurgly in his speech. So we went to get him checked out. The first surgery he had, a couple years back, was to do a valve reconstruction on the valve between his nose and throat. 6 months later the doctor went back in to rotate the muscles above his pallate, only to discover that the valve had slipped down. So she fixed it, with strict instructions for us to bring him back in if we noticed him getting nasally again.

The new ENT did a fiberoptic scope, and we discovered that the valve isn't closing all the way. In fact, there is a lot of saliva hanging around it, and when air gets forced through it partially closed it makes lots of bubbles. Which explains the gurgly sound he's been having. So it's back to more speech therapy for Nathan! We're trying to get him in with a therapist who had cleft palate and valve flap work done herself.... since if anyone would be able to know how to best help him, she'd be it. Hopefully 3-6 months of therapy will show some improvement in those valve muscles, because if they don't, he's in for another surgery. :-(

And out of the blue, the doctor asked if he could take a look at Daniel as well. Danny-boy was born with these adorable dimples in his lips that nobody could explain except that his Daddy was born with them too. Turns out, they are a manifestation of Van Der Woude Syndrome, which also corresponds with cleft palatte/cleft lip! So he checked out the inside of Daniel's mouth and listened to him talk. Looks like the dimpled lips are the only thing he's got, but it was very interesting. And it really reassured me that this doctor knows what he is doing, unlike the first ENT we worked with for Nathan before we found the lady that did his surgery.

Reading more on the symptoms of the syndrome, it looks like Nathan has the same, as does Mark, theirs are just presenting differently. Interesting!

Doctor, Doctor... Tell me the news!

2011-08-12T00:21:00.002-06:00

I got a bad case of.... lovin' you!

Ok, some of that is because I'm up way too late waiting on cake to bake because my first one fell completely apart and is now slated for a cake pop experiment at some point.

But we have had lots of doctor-y stuff this week.

William got to go in Wednesday afternoon after his toes kept him up crying for several hours in the wee hours of the morning, and his mommy too. Poor little guy has some pretty good ingrown toenails that have cracked on their own, they look like something has smashed them, it's pretty bad. And one was infected. :-( So he's got his little self a referral to a nearby podiatrist who will likely want to pull them off. A 4 year old with no big toenails. That's a recipe for some painful stubbed toes! (I know they'll grow back, but still...)

Then Nathan has his yearly checkup today, where we discussed his speech. He's been getting really nasally again, which has us worried. So he has a referral now to an ENT to make sure that his surgery site, that valve between his nose and throat, is up where it should be. He may need to go back to therapy, not sure yet.

We also discussed William, and the possibility that he has the same needs as Oren. But we're going to wait until his annual checkup to start evaluations.

I feel very blessed that we have good doctors, and that at least the children are covered, so their needs are being met.

Today saw me being really creative in the use of gum paste. There is now a cute rattle made of keys, like those plastic ones that have been around forever, and a mostly put-together pacifier just waiting to get placed around what will hopefully be an adorable diaper bag cake. I'm exhausted, but it will be worth it.

Trying not to be mad.

2011-07-24T18:11:00.003-06:00

I'm sitting here, updating my cake blog with more cakes than I thought, and I have been fascinated with how large the freckles are on my knuckles! Seriously, the things my brain comes up with...

The bishop pulled Mark in to an interview after church today. Among some other things, they talked about William in primary. I know he is active, he is just like Oren was at this age! I know he has a hard time sitting still, and that most people have a hard time keeping his attention. Trust me, I know this with every fiber of my being. So why did the bishop feel the need to tell us that we need to work with William on sitting still at home? If I knew what would calm him down, I'd do it!

Actually, I do know. But he is too young for the doctor to be comfortable diagnosing him or medicating him like Oren, and so we are playing a waiting game right now.

But can they honestly say that they have talked to all the other parents of the boys in his class? There are 5 of them in there, all active. His first teacher was great with him, but now he has another one and she doesn't have the patience the other sister did. No, I'm not blaming the teacher. But it hurt so much to be judged by Oren's behavior before we could get him the help that he needed, and now it's happening again.

I want to tell the bishop to put me in as pianist in the primary, so that I can help keep an eye on him, because that helped with Oren. Except I'm scared they'd ask me to teach and I deal enough with my own children to be all patient and loving with others for those 2 hours. I don't even offer to watch the neighbors kids unless the mom has to run to the post office for 5 minutes or something and all the kids are playing outside. Then I'm just a responsible adult to tend to bloodied knees or hurt feelings until mom comes back.

Why is it that I have these particular children with their many challenges? Why do I have to justifiy and explain why I do things a certain way to people that see them only rarely? Why can't people just focus on the good my kids do?

A little bit of everything...

2011-07-20T10:17:00.002-06:00

My blogging has been a bit uninspired lately, and I'm okay with that. I don't have any big emotional breakthroughs. Or fantastic news. Or even the depths of despair going on. (Which I'm definitely okay with.) So I'll just update with a little bit of what has been happening here.

1. We headed over to my dad's for the Law family reunion last weekend. I have no pictures because I was chasing Daniel most of the reunion and left the camera in the car. But Dad went with me to the Nature Center there in Boise and helped me wrangle kids around, and took some pictures for me. So at some point I'll get those from him and post my kids ogling fish. :-)

Steph and Jeff were there and it was so nice to spend time with my sister and her sweet kiddos. Thomas's curls really are the awesomest, as is his reaction to her putting some mousse in them! "Wash it off! Wash it off!" Too funny... Audrey and Daniel toddled around after each other, babbling and talking, with Daniel giving some exuberant hugs that weren't so well received at times. At just 6 weeks apart they are hilarious to watch!

2. My house was magically cleaned by little pixies while I was gone. The drive home was so long and tiring, and I kept thinking about all the stuff I hadn't gotten done before we left town for the weekend. My floors were vacuumed, toys were picked up, laundry put away... Of course, I have been finding the laundry in random drawers that belong to the wrong person, but at least it's off the couch! Like a game of "seek and find", it could be lots of fun to figure out where everything is.

3. A neighbor came by yesterday morning to order a cake, and informed me that my kitten was definitely a boy. I thought there was something off about certain bits, but it had looked very female when we got it! We had a good laugh, and are now trying to get used to thinking "he" rather than "she".

4. This neighbor also didn't even flinch when I quoted her a price for the cake she wanted. I told her at the start what I charge per serving, base price for a last minute cake. Maybe that helped? She's supposed to bring me the money today so I can get the supplies I need, I won't turn on my oven without at least 50% of the total. But at least she didn't whine about the cost, she used to do cakes herself and knows how much time they can take, even "simple" ones.

5. Mark is doing finals this week! That means the semester is nearly over! And that we can finally spend some time with him not being grouchy over homework! We can spend time with him period!!!!! He'll be going back to full-time work hours, but that's okay. Better than the 10-14 hour days he's been putting in for school.

6. House-hunting. Not going too well. Our lease is up in October, at which point we could move if we wanted to. It's a year lease that reverts back to a month-to-month, so we don't have to find another place right away. BUT..... I don't know how much longer I can stand apartment living. Cramped and crowded, noisy neighbors, dogs pooping all over the grass my kids play on, tenant drama. We are ready for our own space to call home. This apartment is partially income-based, so it's actually a good deal, but it's still an apartment. Rent for a home in a good location for Mark's work/school commute would be way out of our reach for a long time. The only thing that would be cheaper for us is to actually buy a house if we could get one for a good price.

But on his income we don't even know if that's possible. So we are gathering up the needed paperwork in preparation for seeking out a home loan once he's done with the semester. That little house I was in love with has some pretty big problems that I'm not sure I could live with, and strangely, I'm not as heartbroken about it as I thought I'd be. After getting back from vacation, we talked about the house and decided that we needed to take things in order. Get done with the semester. See if we even qualify for a loan. Then talk to an agent who can keep an eye out for properties that fit our needs. Our lease will likely end before anything would go through, which means we wouldn't have to break our lease.

It feels good to have a plan. And if we can't get a loan, then we'll have something to work towards! And to start saving for. There's nothing wrong with having a goal, and hopefully the idea of what I'd like will help me get through living where I don't want to.

Yawn!

2011-07-10T17:53:00.002-06:00

Just because I'm very tired, thanks to a certain little boy who ended up in our bed all night. He somehow managed to kick me in the head!

And he gets to take a nap while I don't...

I'm finding myself wishing school would hurry up and get here. Don't get me wrong, I love my children. But with no backyard to send them out in, and tiny bedrooms that aren't great for playing? My house is a disaster 90% of the time. At least the older 2 I can send outside without worrying too much. I've been trying to trust William playing out front or at the playground by himself more, just to get a little break. But it's hard to not panic about him being out there by himself! I've been bringing Daniel out there and hanging out with the other mom's, trying to get some adult conversation in between chasing Daniel back away from the parking lot.

It's nice to talk with the other ladies, but there are some language issues with them not being members. And the cigarette smoke that they try to keep downwind from the kids and myself. We are very ready to be out of these apartments and into our own home. There's one just a few blocks away that is for sale, 4 bedroom and 2 bathroom, basement for cooling in the summer, ceiling fan in the kitchen. Fully fenced backyard with mature trees and plenty of sunshine for a garden. Nice looking paint job, wood floors, intriguing wood details, kitchen cabinets to the ceiling with lots of windows.... A few quirks, which I love, like the rounded entrance. Think: cut a tower in half and put a door on it, then stick that on a house. And a built-in or two.

I want so badly to make some phone calls and look at this house, find out if we can even get a home loan on Mark's salary, and find out what it would cost us to break our lease. Even paying for water/sewer/garbage, which the apartment does right now for us, it would be cheaper a month. Plus it's half again more square footage than our apartment! He wanted to look at houses in Rexburg, but it's a much more expensive place to buy unless you live way out of town or in a mobile home. Which I WON'T buy since they don't appreciate in value at all.

Sigh. Can you tell I'm dying for my own place? (It would even be the same school district for the boys which is great, but would be in a different ward than Grandma and Grandpa. while still being just a couple blocks away.)

Daniel is talking so much lately! Full-fledged sentences too, that even make sense to a situation. Very nice enunciation, no speech therapy for him. This is big because we've had 2 that needed it, and it can be frustrating to deal with. Hard to believe that he's turning 2 this year. My baby, my last one, is growing up.

And aside from that one incident, the kitten is behaving nicely. No more spots on the carpet! She's a lot of fun to have around, very energetic, although it would be nice if she didn't assume that our ankles needed fighting. Daniel just loves to pick her up, much to her chagrin, and William enjoys building toys for her to play with. We've missed having a cat around!

And we're getting excited about later this week, when the kids and I head over to my Dad's place. It's my Mom's side's family reunion this weekend so we're going to go hang out with loads of family. Mark has to stay here because of work and school, we'll miss him. But we survived the last trip over there without him so we should be able to do this week too. And he is so sweet about calling the boys at bedtime to say goodnight and talk about their day. Guess I should get laundry done so I can pack!

Just another day

2011-06-29T22:43:00.002-06:00

I should be more glad that nothing really earth-shattering has happened lately to blog about, but that does tend to make it harder to figure out what to write about.

Let's see...

We got a new kitten! 6 weeks old, gray, female short hair with blue eyes (so far!) She's a sweetie and likes to snuggle right in your neck. She follows me around the house with a little hop in her step, and Daniel enjoys dragging her around the house. She doesn't love it as much as he does. :-)

What else...

I did another wedding cake! Of course, that was the one I posted on facebook. I loved using such a bright pink, and got to work with silk flowers again. The cake took a good portion of my week, which means that my house is going to take a lot of work to get back to normal.

And that stinks because...

Next week the management are conducting apartment inspections! Agggg! If they expect some spotless and well-maintained home, they are out of their minds. There are 4 boys, and 1 of me. Mark is so busy with school and work that he's hardly ever here right now, so it's really all up to Mommy. (But I'm so proud of the work he's doing!)

When it rains!

2011-06-13T21:34:00.003-06:00

Okay, this is just because it happened to thunder and lightening hard enough to shake my couch today, with rain pouring down. I love days like this!

Although there was pouring in the house... Daniel and William got into the food storage again and dumped out 2 boxes of stuffing, 1 large bag of elbow macaroni, 1 container of powdered cheese broccoli soup and 3 boxes of pasta with seasoning.

Got that all cleaned up, but while I was writing about the above mess, Daniel apparently took off his diaper and pooped on the otherwise clean carpet. Then came running into the living room and tried to climb up on the couch beside me- the smell tipped me off. I love my life.

I really should put locks on the closet doors!

I've been enjoying thinking up new flavor combinations for my cakes lately, and today played around with Orange Dreamsicle. I tried a real buttercream, which is stiff meringue with hot syrup and butter beaten in. I've been scared to try this, for some reason, but it actually went really well and I can see myself using it more often in the future. Just goes to show that you shouldn't be scared to try new things, they often turn out better than you think!

The boys are enjoying the summer, it hasn't been too hot lately. But we use any excuse to eat otter pops! Yes, they have artificial coloring, and Oren does occasionally have the red ones. But then I send him outside to run off the crazy. And at the rate they would go through those things if allowed, I'm saving lots of space in my freezer verses getting the pricier and bigger natural ones from Popsicle. Otter pops are addictive!!!!! Especially late at night! But better that than eating a ton of ice cream I suppose.

I'm also happy to report that we have Oren off of the melatonin now at bedtime! We lowered his ADHD med dose for the summer in the hopes of helping him sleep lighter, and at some point, stop wetting the bed. If it doesn't, then the next step is trying a drying medication. And hoping that his body adjusts his heavier sleep rhythm sooner rather than later.

Life right now is just taking things day by day, and hoping for the best. But isn't it always like that?

Cake Recipe

2011-06-06T11:29:00.003-06:00

As per Melinda's request, the recipe and instructions for the Snickers Cake have been posted on my recipe blog.

I forgot my camera, so have no photos of Oren's birthday, although I believe Grandma has a couple on her camera of Oren blowing out his candles. But he had a good birthday and enjoyed having time with his cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents! We provided dinner, although we don't have the space for 15+ people and had to have it at Grandma's house, and that was enjoyed by all as well. At some point I'll have to post my chicken enchiladas recipe, but I'll leave it at the cake for now. :-)

Oops, guess I should do an update!

2011-05-29T22:01:00.002-06:00

It's been a while since I last posted... I really need to get better about that.

School's out! Which is nice, but I must be the only mom pulling her hair out a week into summer vacation. Our apartment is small, and crowded. But the neighborhood kids are questionable at best and the cats use the playground sand as a giant litter box. Time to start walking to the park? Think again! It's been cold and rainy off and on!

I have a lot of thoughts about how we finished off school. Mostly in terms of how we began this year. With Oren. I am proud of Nathan and how he really came out of his shell this year, his reading and handwriting are fantastic, he made friends. But he never gave the teachers any trouble in Mountain Home. Oren did, to where if the phone rings and it's the school I still cringe and want to run away without answering. We had our little homeschooling adventure, which I won't repeat any time in the near future. And then we put him back in school, with a new teacher.

And guess what...

This teacher is actually moving up to the 4th grade, and has requested to have Oren in her class again next year! She likes him that much! YAY!!!

If only preschool goes that well with William next year.

There's really just a huge jumble of everyday things I could put down, but nothing wants to get organized. There's cleaning and messes and more cleaning and more messes. There's laundry. There's a book I am finding hard to put down, but have to. There's jam. Really delicious jam that didn't set firm enough and I have to reprocess it tomorrow. There's baths and finding markers and then more baths.

There's trips to the store in desperation to find cheap craft supplies to occupy little hands somewhat safely. There's ice cream. There's planning cake for a birthday party. There's migraines for 3 days in a row thanks to our crazy weather, and Nathan throwing up all over the backseat of my van thanks to a headache himself. (I'm still having trouble getting the smell out.)

And there's been lots of hugs and kisses, and sweet little hands playing with my hair.

Fun Times...

2011-05-11T22:21:00.000-06:00

When we lived in Mountain Home, our dryer took a nice normal cycle to dry our laundry. Fairly efficient, lighter loads took less. But when we moved here? All of a sudden it took at least 2 full cycles, 2 hours! And if there were a lot of towels, it was nearly 3 full cycles....

Last night, after 3 times pushing the button, the clothes were still damp. No hot air blowing out at all. With 4 busy boys getting lots of laundry dirty this was not a good thing.

Long story short, we called a guy to come see what the problem was since Mark has school and work and homework. Our heating element looked very sad. Bits of wire broken and hanging off, all blackened. He was pretty impressed it had lasted 6 years of constant use! Then, since he was already here and is the ONLY guy in the area who does it, I asked about having our vent cleaned. Not the part that goes from the dryer to the wall. The part that is inside the wall and vents to the outside. All 20 feet of it.

This was the result of 10 years of people's lint catchers not catching everything, and the duct never being cleaned. Gross.... It sort of looked like when you are having that newspaper insulation blown into a wall, like on a home improvement show. Just flying out the outside vent!

The best part? My dryer is back to it's normal cycle, a little longer for jeans. The savings of having to run my dryer half the time I have been should pay for the cleaning in a few months. :-)

We did have some fun yesterday though. As I was attempting to get the older boys put into bed, Daniel learned a new trick. He's been opening the dishwasher for a while now, and standing on it. Good thing he's light. But he figured out he could reach farther up on the counter, grabbing my container of flour, and dumped it all over the floor. This was the mess after sweeping most of it up, leaving less for the vacuum. I'm still seeing white spots on the floor!

And a glimpse of the new toy box. Danny-boy is far cuter! He got all happy that I was snapping pictures, and came in for a nice close-up.

Just for you Mom!

2011-05-09T23:00:00.004-06:00

As I was chatting with my mom on Sunday, telling her about my projects, I realized that I had only posted pictures on facebook. So Mom hadn't seen them yet! I promised I'd post them, and since I'm waiting for my neat, green toy box to dry... I thought I'd go ahead and get these up.

My kids have this deplorable, yet slightly admirable, ability to break things. Namely, pieces of furniture they can climb on. We've been through.... 1... 2... 3 bookshelves over the last few years. At one point I just had the books on the built in wire shelves in the closet. But I don't have that at this house. Nathan jumped onto the last bookshelf from the top bunk, going right through it. So I knew the next one would have to be sturdy, and since I don't have a handy $300 for a SOLID bookshelf, I had to make one!

Now, if they'd keep the books on the shelf, it'd be perfect.

The dresser was not built by me. This was a thrift-store find that had seen better days. It had already gotten repainted white and stenciled "Pants", "Shirts", and "Sunday" since at that point the 2 older boys were sharing dressers and that kept their stuff separated. But it was desperate for another redo. Oren requested plaid, but was more than happy to accept the stripes that I did. (Okay, I basically told him I wasn't going to do plaid, stripes were enough work. And he didn't pitch a fit. :-) )

It works surprisingly well with all the other colors in the room, and I'm very glad I stayed with just stripes. Plaid would have been WAY too much going on!

As for the toy box? I combined the yellow from the bookshelf with some of the blue from the larger stripes, for an awesome Spring-y green. The box is huge, a lot bigger than I thought. So it should fit plenty of toys! I'll be doing probably 1 more of them, as well as some storage cubbies screwed onto the top, so it'll will be a storage system thing. Theoretically. I'll take a picture in the morning so the light shows the real color, and so that it will be dry.

I'm really hoping that the storage units will help them keep things clean. They love to dump out the rubbermaid bins and then stand on them. Thus, breaking the bins and leaving a disaster in their room. We figured up that I've spent 3 times the amount the wood cost me, on rubbermaid bins for those boys and their toys. So it seemed a worthwhile investment for something they can't tip over. Sure, they can empty the bins and then get in them, and it will be fun to see how long it takes them to figure that out.... But they can't tip them over, and there won't be lids to lose, and they can just chuck things in there while keeping things like legos a little farther out of Daniel's reach.

That's the plan, anyway.

We interrupt this Springtime...

2011-05-01T23:24:00.003-06:00

to bring some more snow! Honestly!!!!! We woke up Friday morning to a good inch of snow on the ground and I had to scrape the windshield to get the boys to school. Not cool.

We did enjoy some decent weather on Saturday, so after picking up our bountiful basket, I kicked the kids outside to enjoy the playground for a while. They came back in covered in sand but happy. Supposedly the owners of the apartment complex are coming this week to look around. If I manage to see them I think I will suggest they consider a different cushioning material at the playground. The local cats see it as one giant litterbox and ALL the kids, not just mine, love to dig in it. They have to wash their hands before they touch anything. So far nobody has gotten sick, but it's only a matter of time. Bark or gravel would be so much better.... *ewwww.*

As always my week ended up busier than I had planned out. I started a skirt for a friend, but she hasn't been able to come try it on so I could adjust the fit, so I ended up making myself a dress instead of finishing her skirt. The fabric was on sale and called to me, just perfect for one particular pattern I had, so I splurged a little. Most of my Sunday clothes I have had for years, and I hesitate to purchase or make anything really cute that fits me. Because I think I should wait until I lose all the weight, it's a waste until then. But..... I realized that even if I do lose a lot of weight, I can simply take the dress apart and cut it to a smaller size! So why not enjoy something cute and flattering to the size I am now? Today was the first time I wore it, and the dress received so many compliments. No regrets on my decision to go ahead with the project, even if the fabric wasn't exactly cheap. Being the size that I am, the days I feel good about myself are few and far between. But with my favorite pair of heels and this flattering dress, it was a good day!

I'll get a picture at some point, I'm still just really self-conscious about being in pictures.

Mark's birthday was today. We had the yummiest crock-pot chicken with cheesy sauce with his family. And the birthday boy requested brownies with that coconut-pecan frosting you put on german chocolate cake. So we had scratch homemade cakey brownies, and I toasted the coconut and pecans that went into the frosting. Let me tell you, that is the best german chocolate cake frosting in the WORLD! No kidding!!! Toasting the coconut brings out an entirely different dimension of flavor. Deeper and richer, more caramelly.... Yum! It went perfectly with the brownies, and everyone raved about it. It's just the recipe inside the german chocolate box, baker's chocolate brand. I just toast the coconut and add extra of it.

Cooking for people makes me happy. Lots of yummy noises.

He got a new Sunday shirt, because his are several years old and showing the wear. I also scored a good deal on some really nice new ties that he thought were cool. One has metallic threads so it looks different when you move it, different colors show up.

His parents also gave us a date night for his birthday. I took him out to Applebee's where he got a free birthday dessert. Those little dessert shots are just the perfect size to end the meal. Then we were going to see one movie but ended up at the wrong theater, so we saw Hoodwinked, Too. In 3D! I've never seen a 3D movie, so it was a new experience for us. The glasses barely stayed on my face. Then when we came out of the theater we both saw Wingers by where we parked. Both of us started talking about their wings, mouths watering. So, giggling like little kids, we went in and found that they had a to-go menu! Score! We pigged out on our perfectly sweet and spicy wings in the car all the way home.

To find....

That the kids had all fallen asleep. No surprise there, we got home just before 10. But...... we had taken them to Grandma's house, which is where they were asleep. His mom is an angel and had told us that if they fell asleep before we got home, they could stay the night. I think she put them down early just to make sure they could stay. *hahaha* So we headed back to our house for the night.

It was a very strange experience waking up this morning to no children. Mark had gone to work earlier and it was just me in the house. I missed my boys! Nobody throwing toilet paper in the shower, nobody eating 1/2 of 3 different bananas, nobody turning the tv behind my back.... Daniel's hug when I showed up at Grandma's with their Sunday clothes this morning was like manna from heaven.

As much as they drive me crazy, and as much as I treasure the small breaks I get from time to time... I got a glimpse of what life would be without their smiling and grimy faces. And I didn't like it. They are my reason for living, and the reason my house is a disaster. I love them!

This has turned into a very late night hodgepodge of things, somewhat rambling. And so I shall take myself off to bed where I should have been a long time ago. Good night!

Pictures!

2011-04-21T11:21:00.004-06:00

As usual, Blogger posted the photos backwards from how I uploaded them. Oh well.

Oren is highly attached to this jacket, not sure why. Once he puts it on it just stays on, hood and all! So he was very handsome in his tie and gray sweater vest, but you can't see it. He's got his glasses on too. :-)

Nathan likes his jacket too, but is willing to take it off. He had a lot of fun walking up and down the ledge here.

I just loved the springy bounciness he was running with. Just a carefree kid having fun! Again with the jacket though, he loves his bright orange one that is still a bit too big. But at least it makes him easier to see.

Mark had Daniel down on a bench, and it was just too adorable of a picture. Danny-boy was all over this bench, and was pointing and yelling at cars passing by. Little character!

Whew!

2011-04-16T23:00:00.002-06:00

And Sunday is a day of rest! I have been busy this week. Which is hardly anything new for me, but I don't usually bake cupcakes en masse like I just did. :-)

Mark's little brother got married today, and I was glad I had baked and frozen the cupcakes in advance, because even with all the advance prep I managed to get done, I finished the main cake just in time to throw on some Sunday clothes, find shoes for boys, and got to the temple with about 5 minutes to spare going into the sealing room. Mark was able to find someone to cover for him thankfully, and he got there the same time I did. :-)

I just had to laugh though. I got the fondant on the cake and set it on some containers on my back patio. Then I loaded the boys up to go grab some lunch and it started sprinkling, which I didn't think anything of. Until I got home and went to go get the cake to put the flowers on it. It had rained into my patio! The wind blew it all over the cake!

Fondant and water is a really bad mix, it gets the fondant quite sticky. So I blotted it all dry and crossed my fingers, put the flowers and leaves on, and let it sit. Once it dried, the parts that had been wet were shiny, but the back wasn't. Ugh! Then I remembered I had some white pearl dust, an edible shimmery powder stuff. So I brushed that all over the cake and it evened everything out so it looked like shiny fabric. Pretty neat actually!

Why the back patio you ask? Because with the butter-based frosting I didn't want it in my warm kitchen. Also, Daniel is a very fast toddler when cake is involved. My fridge was full and can cause condensation, which is bad for fondant. My patio was cool and out of the way. Funny that it got rained on...

Anyway, we had a good time at the temple. I got some really cute pictures of the boys, which I was going to post but blogger isn't liking me right now I guess. So when it's cooperating, I will get those up. Because they are too cute!

1 down....

2011-04-03T23:30:00.002-06:00

1 room down, 2 more bedrooms to go.

1 semester nearly down, probably 7 more to go.

1 pair of brand new glasses broken, 3 more children who will need glasses too, to go.

Life has just been busy. I have so many projects on my list: to finally get the boys' toys organized; to make a model of their bedrooms and find out if we can fit 3 boys in one room and Daniel in the other so we can sleep train him out of our bed; measure a spot to possibly hold a corner cabinet; make said corner cabinet; build a new dining room table and benches since ours aren't so sturdy anymore and crack when I sit down; to finally see my bedroom floor for longer than 2 days; to clean out and detail the van...

I have done 1 of them. My room has been cleaned, but we'll see how long it lasts.

However, with the weather slightly warming up lately, some of the other projects may be in the works sooner rather than later.

And Mark has been working hard this week with finals literally right around the corner. He turns in his last landscape design tomorrow morning and has confessed to being very sad this class is ending. Fortunately it's just the Introduction to Design, there are a couple more classes in higher levels that are available. That's going to be his emphasis: Horticulture major with an emphasis on landscape design and building. It's been really neat to see his talent unfold and his joy in his work. We didn't realize how oppressive the enviroment in the Air Force had been, and how it was tearing at his self esteem. As scary as the change has been for me, I can honestly say that we have never been happier. Both individually and as a couple. It's hard. There is no denying that civilian life has it's challenges and Mark doing school and work at the same time hasn't been a piece of cake. But he is finally being appreciated and praised for his efforts in creativity. He is working hard and his grades are a reflection of that work.

And the glasses? Oren broke his the other day. Insurance will only pay for the cheapest ones, but will replace them as often as necessary. Problem is that it takes about 3 weeks to get them approved and done! So he'll be without glasses for a little while. Bummer...

On a nice note, the kids and I survived the 6 hour drive to see my family last weekend. And the long drive home. (Man, that was a LONG drive home.) We had a blast kidnapping my mom for a girl's lunch. (Is it still considered kidnapping if she's the one that drove all of us there?) The boys got to hang out with aunts and uncles, even Daniel did well with everyone even though he hadn't seen them in over 6 months. I made whopper cupcakes that turned out even better than the first time I did them. Steph and Jeff had a really fun and good-natured cook-off. We got the head's up on some possible really great news that ended up being what we all were hoping for! (See Janelle's facebook status. :-) ) Steph and I got loaded up with some really fun fabric from my mom's stash. And I showed Marie how to make one of those sugar jeweled tiaras.

Life has just been good this week. :-)

Life is what you make of it.

2011-03-15T21:02:00.002-06:00

That about sums it up.

I could be down about a lot of things. But I'm choosing not to be. I could be frustrated with the destruction and mayhem my children like to cause, but I am choosing to find a bright side. It's like constant spring cleaning here lately!

I could get sick of Daniel wanting to sleep with Mommy and Daddy. But I choose to focus on the smile he has when he wakes up next to me. And remember that he will slowly do better and better.

I could be upset at the amount of time Mark has to spend at work, and at school, and at his mom's doing homework. But I am choosing to remember that he is doing this for our family's future. And I am choosing to be glad he has such a great place to go study that is so close. He is also choosing to study elsewhere so he isn't here yelling at the kids to be quiet because in such small quarters it really isn't possible.

I could be disappointed in myself for sliding back up to my heavy weight again. I am choosing instead to accept the fact that until we are insured and I have access to the medications that keep my mood stable, sticking to a weight loss plan will be extremely difficult. I am choosing to dress myself in clothes that I feel good in for the meantime and learn how to use accessories to define the bits of myself that I like.

I choose to be happy about the 3 things I managed to get put away, and not angry about the 4 messes the kids made. I choose to pat myself on the back for using the can of soup Daniel opened with his teeth even though it wasn't what I wanted for lunch.

Life is what you make of it.

Just taking off!

2011-03-07T10:00:00.002-07:00

All of a sudden I blink, and Daniel is growing up.

He says "Please." "I want it!" "A drink." "In." (referring to putting clothes in the dryer, forks in the drawer, and lego's in the bucket.) Today brought "I want out." (He was in his chair.)

He is better about staying out of the trash can. Thankfully. But discovered how to climb up onto his brother's bunk bed. If we had enough space to un-bunk the beds, we would. It's so cute how proud of himself he is getting up there, just the biggest smile! Saturday night we were cleaning, and a toy hit me on the head. I looked up and he's bouncing up there waving at me!

My little baby is in a big boy bed! It's been going well, although the bigger boys have been jumping on it and guess what. Yep. They've broken a couple of the slats holding up the mattress... I'm about to pull my hair out, and it's thinner after having babies anyway. Grrr! We're just going to see if the lumber yard can cut a piece of plywood or MDF and lay that over the slats. I wonder if they could break a slab an inch thick? (Something tells me I don't want to find out.)

Nursery starts next month, and we can't wait. This is the age where things get progressively harder during 2nd and 3rd blocks to keep him entertained and semi-quiet. Until his nap anyway. That should make nursery fun for the leaders. :-)

At least I can laugh!

2011-02-28T20:31:00.002-07:00

The boys got up on their own this morning, plenty early to get dressed and even eat breakfast at home! They were ready to go about 10 minutes before it was time to head to the bus stop, so I told them they could watch a little tv.

15 minutes later, I look up at the clock and realize they will miss the bus if they don't leave RIGHT NOW! They grabbed their coats, and we opened the door. Nobody was at the bus stop. Ooops! I guessed it had come earlier than usual. I had been planning on going into Rexburg anyway, Oren's prescription was out and I needed to see his doctor for a refill. So I hurried and got the 2 younger boys dressed, and we ran out the door to take the older boys to school.

When we pulled into the parking lot, there were only 3 cars there! What on earth? Then I see the sign that says there is no school today. Oh. (I'm fairly certain I never saw anything about no school today, or I would have remembered.) Is it funny that they were both really bummed about not having school? :-)

So I ended up taking all 4 kids with me to the doctor's office for Oren's prescription; then to the pharmacy in Rigby (who only took about 2 minutes, bless them!) ; then all the way to Idaho Falls to Winco; Joann's to see what I could find a good deal on (since they are closing the old store and moving across town and every thing is 50% off or more... and I wanted to see what sort of fabric I could find for some new skirts and dresses for me.) ; and then to a place I had heard about called Prepared Pantry, that was supposed to have good quality cocoa and a sale on good gel food colors.

All these places were on my list of errands that needed run, I didn't downsize just because all the kids were with me. But it certainly made for a longer day! They did great, plied with promises of Smarties candy.

And a little update for anyone who read my facebook posts about our crib and playpen mishaps! Just for kicks, and just in case it worked, I took down the crib and through it and the playpen out. Then we got out our toddler bed and set it up. He enjoyed crawling around on it, and jumping a little. But we knew bedtime was going to be an issue. William had a lot of trouble when we moved him to a bed but we let him cry it out and he did great, and we are frankly tired of catering to Daniel and his "high maintenance" sleeping. So we tucked Daniel into his new big boy bed, gave him kisses, and shut the door. Every 15 minutes we'd go back in and re-tuck him in. After an hour of screaming and banging on the door, he finally got quiet. We carefully opened the door to find him asleep on the floor behind the door, which we expected, and moved him. He slept on his own bed all night, suprisingly.

Tonight, I made sure he was tired. Tucked him in with a "friend", a little stuffed animal since he is used to touching something when he sleeps. And in a flash of inspiration, we (I) said a little bedtime prayer. Gave kisses and shut the door. He fussed, not screamed, for a minute or two, and now it's quiet. I haven't checked to see if he's on his bed or on the floor, but it didn't take an hour! We may be able to bypass the crib! Which would save us quite a bit of money.

Sugar!!!!!!!

2011-02-21T13:36:00.002-07:00

There's about 10 pounds of powdered sugar on my counter, just waiting to be turned into frosting and fondant. Another 3 pounds of marshmallows waiting for the same thing. And a big batch of fondant waiting to be formed into pineapples, palm trees, and flowers!

Yesterday and this morning I crafted a royal icing tiara, and painted it silver. I'll be putting on teal/blue isomalt gems tomorrow morning before delivering the princess cake. And yes, I'll be taking pictures!

I've also finalized my idea for our Blue and Gold banquet cake. We're wanting it to feed 50-60 people, so I'm doing tiers. I'm thinking the bottom tier will have a fondant grass skirt. A "lei" of blue and gold fondant flowers will go around the top of the grass skirt. Chocolate fondant coconuts will sit between the two tiers, like they dropped off the palm trees that will be around the sides of the top tier. A big "29" will be sort of a topper, for our pack number, and I'll have some pineapples formed from rice krispy treats and covered in fondant and buttercream sitting around the numbers.

Mark and I talked about it, and decided to hold off on the gum paste class. This isn't the only series she'll be doing this year, and there are other things right now that need the money that class would cost. But it's definitely on the list of things I want to do at some point, and until then I will just teach myself what I can!

Yawn.....

2011-02-17T00:29:00.003-07:00

Because I am tired! But as late as it is, a little break from cleaning to update my blog won't hurt.

Let's see....

Oren came home a couple weeks ago with a letter from his teacher that the science fair was coming up, and that he had 2 weeks. Then, the next week, there was another reminder letter. Finally, 2 days prior to turning it in, she tracks me down while picking the boys up for an appointment to ask if I ever got the booklet on how to do the projects! Which I hadn't! Procrastination has unfortunately been a problem for me as of late, but how did those 2 weeks fly by so fast?

So the night before they were due, Oren and I scrambled up a quick experiment on "What Yeast Eats!" He basically labeled a whole bunch of cups, poured in some warm water, dissolved a bunch of different things in them, and then added yeast. We checked every few minutes to see which ones were doing well and which ones were sitting there.

Did you know that potato flakes and sugar produced the best results? While molasses did nothing at all? Fascinating!

And this was between scouts and Relief Society Choco-Rama night, where I was helping provide chocolate goodies. We came home, and he drew some charts and pictures, and we got his wording worked out, and I sent him to bed. Then Mommy was up until an unearthly hour pasting and positioning and making things look nice.

Oren ended up in a 3-way tie for 1st place in the 3rd grade catagory for his school! He got a chocolate bar prize, which he shared with all of his classmates, and a medal. Then his teacher sent home a note to inform me that his project needed to be brought to the district offices to the district science fair! And to think his project almost ended up in the trash a couple days ago, except that we figured Grandma W would want to see it at some point! He didn't win at District, but I was very proud that his slap-together rushed project had done well at all. And he was so happy about it, that boy loves anything science!

I, myself, have been in love with some new cake stuff lately. There is a sugar art supply store close by, and I went by the other day. They had isomalt, a sugar substitute used in sugar gems, pulled sugar, molded sugar.... This stuff is awesome! And dangerous too, since it has to be heated to about 340 degrees, and you work with it at around 275 (I believe?). Very hot stuff. But if poured into the right molds, it can create very real-looking edible jewels!

And I now have the opportunity to try this for myself. While talking with the lady at the eye doctor's, choosing my new glasses, we got talking about cakes and this sugar jewel thing came up. I mentioned how it would be so much fun to make an edible tiara and have little jewels on it, to put on a small cake or cupcakes. She ordered a small cake, in blue, with a jeweled tiara for her daughter's birthday next week! Sweet! (And I'm getting some cute glasses to boot. :-P) My first job since moving here. I've been trying to get the word out, and finally a bite!

So hopefully they turn out well, and I don't sustain any serious burns while using this stuff. This will be a naptime/bedtime enterprise, for sure. I've been researching what sort of equipment to use for pouring the molten stuff, and what sort of precautions to take. The supply store owner also does decorating classes, and so I will be signing up tomorrow for a series of gum paste classes, to learn about flowers and pearls and all sorts of other edible decorations. This is better stuff than just what Wilton teaches, and I can't wait!

It's the little things...

2011-02-07T19:55:00.002-07:00

that make me happy.

The snowboots that I bought the older boys at the beginning of the winter season have fallen apart. Very dissapointing! The back seams cracked open and there are now huge gaping holes in both pairs. I had the boys put on their shoes this morning, just to find that both pairs of their shoes have holes where the sole meets the leather!

Enter Shopko. They have a Payless in the store, so I took Daniel and William with me in the morning. I jotted down the size from Oren and Nathan's shoes at home and figured they'd work still. Payless had two different colors of waterproof boots, the kind that look like men's workboots or hiking boots. Good and sturdy, and should last! Plus, there was a sale. Payless's usual Buy One Get One half off.

When the boys got home I had them try on their boots. A little snug of a fit. *oh man!* Their feet had grown just enough that the boots wouldn't last the rest of the winter up here. So I had to pack all the boys back into the van and head back into town. New shoes really couldn't wait until tomorrow, with holes in everything they had to wear their feet were getting wet every day. With this being the second trip into town, I was pretty much worn out and just hoping that Shopko had what I needed.

We got there, measured the boys' feet and figured that we just needed to go the next 1/2 size, as a full size would be far too big. They only had 1 pair of boots in that size, and I needed 2! That's right, they wear the same size! But you know what made my day? The sales lady called over to another Payless store to check if they what I needed in stock. They did. To make it even better, they said that the other store would not only honor the 1/2 off my second pair, but I'd get an additional $3 off coupon since I had to drive to another store for the shoes! That's right!

So I paid the full price on the pair at Shopko, drove to the other Payless, and got 1/2 off the boots I got there. Plus extra off from my coupon. That, right there, is a little thing that made me very happy. Thanks to the sales lady that went the extra mile for me, since I didn't even know there was a Payless somewhere else!

Pinewood Derby

2011-01-28T11:02:00.002-07:00

Oren had his first Pinewood Derby last night! And, as I've already posted on Facebook, he won! This car was his design, I had him draw lots of ideas on paper and decide what shape he wanted it. He chose the colors, and requested the flames. I just did the cutting and painting for him since our evenings were busy.

We tried to have Daniel in the nursery while the weigh-in was going on. Oren's car was nowhere near the 5 oz weight limit, so the men taped a bunch of change on top. Grandma closed the nursery door and walked off for a minute, and someone let Daniel out. I heard him laughing and turned around, there he was! Since the derby was at 7, it just made sense to have him in pajamas...

Nathan tried to contain Daniel for me. It didn't work so well. :-) That face is priceless!

It was really nice having Grandma and Grandpa there. Grandma took over Daniel again, and William just chilled by Grandpa. Since Mark had to work until 7pm, I definitely appreciated the helping hands.

The guy that we had come to the derby for us had a really nice electronic track, complete with computers to start the race, track the speed, and configure the races. The computer added sounds: engines reving, the starting shot, cars racing, and the screech of brakes at the end. Way cool! Oren's is the blue-green blur on the right, winning. He only lost 2 races, one by 1,oooth of a second, and the other because he decided to race his car backwards. That was funny. :-)

They started the awards with the miscellaneous ones: Best themed, best paint job, heaviest car. Then we did the 3rd, , and 1st place awards. When Oren didn't win the best paint job, he was a little upset. His flames were really cool, and he thought it was better than the black and yellow striped car that won it. I just wanted to laugh, since I was the one that filled out the names on the awards and knew he'd won 1st place. At the end, when they announced 2nd place, one of the scouts figured out Oren was the only one left and told him "You won!" Oren didn't believe it, which did have me laughing.

The cubmaster was talking about the winner being a "dark horse", because his wheels were crooked, and we had to add a lot of weight. His axles had to be glued in place with purple nail polish because they wouldn't stay in very well. Nobody expected him to do well, which made it all the more fun!

And, our yummy refreshments at the end. Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese frosting, and Chocolate Cupcakes with Fudgy Buttercream frosting. The cars on top are white chocolate. I traced the design on wax paper, filled in the details like the tires and small circle first, then the color car, and then piped white chocolate over the whole thing so it would be sturdy. They turned out really yummy, and everyone loved the chocolate cars. I only had about 6 cupcakes left out of around 50!

The cakes are completely from scratch, and that vanilla recipe is going to be my standard vanilla cake recipe. They were moist without being too heavy or too crumby. Perfect! Also not too sweet, so the cream cheese frosting was perfect with it. I will be posting the recipes at some point on my recipe blog, if anyone is interested. The vanilla used both vanilla extract and vanilla bean, where you split it open and scrape the seeds out so you have little vanilla bean specks in the cupcake and the frosting. Yum! (But a little pricey... so I think the vanilla bean would be optional.)

Laughing at myself!

2011-01-24T23:20:00.002-07:00

Okay, other than the fact that "everyone" diets in the new year, I was hesitant about posting my plan for another reason. This awful bipolar thing that raises it's head occasionally can really put a damper on stuff. And unfortunately, it did.

I have a lot of cupcakes, 50, to make for our pinewood derby this Thursday. And I will not serve a new cake recipe in that large of an amount if I haven't done a trial run. So I did a batch, and ate one.

3 cupcakes later.....

Well, they work! I can successfully serve them! Of course there were the 3 the next day too.

And after that.....

Who cares. I can't afford new clothes if I get skinny anyway. Dratted manic phase that had me all hyped. And double dratted depression phase that flips me a 180. (Not a good train of thought, but it is what it is.)

Please, no "You can do it! Just get back on the horse! Don't give up!" I know all this. It's not me choosing to feel this way. It's simply a chemical imbalance or something. I rarely call it this, but it is a mental disorder. You don't tell a schizo to quit being other people, right? This will pass, and I'll see what energy I have left, and will just try to eat somewhat healthy in the meantime. And if I do get back on a weight loss horse, I don't know if I will post it. We'll see. Because as stable as I try to be, sometimes you can't control having an episode, especially if stress is a big trigger. Because that is something that is going to be a battle for the next several years...

Getting nowhere...

2011-01-18T18:04:00.004-07:00

With the house. I'll spend 4 hours cleaning, putting things from their random spots into where they are supposed to go, folding and putting away laundry, doing dishes. And the boys are right behind me making messes! Having accidents in their britches, finding featherdusters and making it snow white pulled-apart feathers everywhere, dumping rice all over the floor, giving Daniel butter...

I was trying to help myself feel better about all the cleaning yesterday by reminding myself that it was burning calories. :-) But even with all the work, you could barely tell I did anything. Thank you, Mom, for letting me know that it is actually harder to keep a small house clean. Somehow I thought that it would be easier. I forgot to calculate the fact that we downsized and therefore have more stuff than most families these apartments are intended for. It's not a 6-person house, unless those people moved from a lot smaller place.

I guess a positive thing is that the more weight I lose, the more energy I have and the easier it is to move around. I'm just making a dent in both, but a dent is still a dent, right? It can just be overwhelming at times though.

By the way, remind me to never complain about the size of my kitchen again. Because I'm fairly certain I won't live in a place with a smaller kitchen than this one!

Week 2

2011-01-16T10:30:00.002-07:00

This week was a little rougher in some ways and easier in other ways to last week. This week some cravings reared their heads in the beginning. Cookies, candy, chocolate, bread... But I won! I got a little tired of salads for lunch and started experimenting with other options. And just omelets and frittatas, while delicious, are not enough for breakfast. I like variety. Searched and found: crepes! Ricotta cheese and an egg, cooked and filled like a crepe. Breakfast this morning was divine... crepe with a little peanut butter for some fiber and vitamins, a little greek yogurt for tang and calcium, and a handful of blackberries. With a little Rediwhip on top for the sweetness. It was a gorgeous bit of eye candy, rolled up so pretty.

I'm learning that I enjoy food just as much for the way it looks as the way it tastes, and that if I take the time with presentation it almost tastes better and things feel like I'm treating myself. Even if it's just a salad, or a piece of chicken. (I'm loving my cast-iron grill pan for that very reason. Plus it somehow gives it a grilled flavor even without the charcoal. It must be the years of cooking on it.)

This week I'm starting the second phase of my lifestyle change. Hence the berries. Carefully and slowly adding in the fruits and whole grains, paying attention to how they make me feel, and adding in exercise gradually. I'm feeling great, and was told by a kind sample lady at Sam's Club last night that I was pretty. I never get told that! We were talking about a bread product and laughing about baby weight, and she just said it. Usually I get laughed at by ugly little hispanic men. Twice at Walmart, what is it about that store? I'm just standing there and they looked right at me, mimed a huge stomach, and laughed. "Grande!" Yeah, thanks. So to be told I was pretty wanted to make me cry, but in a good way.

week 1- 8lbs
week 2- 3lbs

11 total!

First goal made by the way, kind of a small silly one. I can wear my wedding ring!

Smells like Strawberries!

2011-01-12T12:58:00.003-07:00

I love our dentist. He's got 4 kids with one on the way, so he is really understanding of them. We took Nathan in to get his 2 small cavities filled this morning, and they offered him the nitrous oxide "laughing gas". They have it scented like strawberries! How cool is that! Nathan was just a little scared when they were doing the filling, because there were a lot of things in his mouth like gauze pads and whatnot. But he did fantastic. The office has a two story playhouse with a slide in the waiting room. Where were the dentist offices like this when I was growing up?

I am enjoying discovering new recipes lately. The first week I followed the meal plan in the book, but I decided to branch out a little while still following the rules of what I can and can't eat this week. Next week I can start to add in the fruits and whole grain/high fiber carbs slowly... with the goal of getting my diet back to what it was when I was pregnant. If I hadn't been so hormonal from the nursing and lack of medications I could have kept eating that way quite easily so it seems a good way to go.

With an abundance of cauliflower in my fridge thanks to a great sale I found a delicious cream of cauliflower soup. You can make it with cauliflower, carrots, broccoli... Yumm! I didn't think a 1 cup serving would be enough, but I savored it and was pleasantly suprised to find I was nearly full, and couldn't finish my meat! Wow! I'll have to post the recipe...

With no sweets in the house, unless you count sugar-free jello or ricotta cheese sweetened with splenda, I was craving peanut butter cookies yesterday. Not sure why, but I LOVE peanut butter! I found a flourless peanut butter cookie recipe and made them. Not your normal cookie, but 1 has nearly 7 grams of protein! It's peanut butter, splenda, and an egg. That's it. More crumbly than you'd expect, but divine when eaten from the freezer. One hits the spot too, because it's still somewhat creamier and thick in the middle. I'm also learning how to think before I eat. Am I really hungry? Or am I just bored?

The boys still need a balanced diet, so I've been trying to cook healthy meals that I can just have extra vegetables instead of the rice for example, that way I'm sneaky and Mark can lose a little too, he's been complaining about his pants fitting. It's been challenging, but if I can carry on and really get down to a healthy size it will be worth the work.

2011-01-09T11:28:00.002-07:00

I couldn't think of a title.

Poor Nathan had a quite worn and thin coat. His jacket liner that made it warm and was removable so you could use it as just a jacket broke last spring and was thrown out. It was warmer over in Mountain Home so I didn't worry. But over here? The low has been down as far as -16. And unlike the base school, the kids still go outside for recess at 20 degrees. My sister in law told me that Macy's was having a 1-day sale, with some clearance an additional 25% off, and that she had seen some coats for a good deal. I'd been looking everywhere and couldn't find a good coat for under $30, still a bit out of budget.

We walked away yesterday with a $65 coat, nice and warm without being too bulky, for $17! He'll be nice and warm, and we didn't have to break our small break! I'm grateful for people who keep a look out for deals like that and who tell me when the things I'm looking for go on sale.

We took the boys to the doctor on Thursday. Daniel and William were due for their well-baby's and Oren needed a new prescription, which is causing all sorts of headaches... Daniel is just like William weight-wise. He's a whole 18 lbs! At 14 months! Funny thing is that he's a good 32 inches tall, which makes him about 80% for height and 0% for weight. Tall and skinny! His lungs were cleared from the RSV, so no more breathing treatments needed. William didn't hit 20lbs until he was about 18 months old, and Daniel hadn't been eating as much last week due to being sick. I'm not worried about it and the doctor said he just looked like he was following his brother's footsteps. William is good all around, healthy and speaking well. And Oren, who is 8 1/2, weighs all of 53lbs! Poor kid will be in a booster forever.... since Idaho is at least 8 years old and 80 lbs.

Which is the total amount of weight I have to lose to be within healthy BMI. That sounds like so much! I'll be completely honest. I started out weight 212 lbs. Not quite the heaviest I've ever been, but close. At one point I have worn a size 22. To be even just within healthy range for my height, I have to get to 130. To put it bluntly, I'd have to have the body I had at the age of 12, when I was 124 and wore a size 12 pants, and looked just fine. After 4 kids, can I do it?

Right now I'm thinking 10 lb increments is going to be easiest on my sanity. With the whole goal in mind of course, just concentrating on the next 10 lbs at a time should make this more attainable. I started last Sunday, and so I guess to keep tabs:

week 1 - 8 lbs!

And here we go!

2011-01-06T20:54:00.002-07:00

Mark just started his first semester back at school! Bless his heart, I think he forgot how much work it was when he was single and childless, because trying to fit studying and homework and classroom sessions .... and actually working on top of that? Not a piece of cake. Not when there is a family of kids at home who don't understand the meaning of the word "quiet". I'm trying my best to keep things under control but I can't always manage.

I'm so proud of him. He was just called as an usher at church, which is funny because his job has him working every weekend, so he's never at church. Not a situation he or I was happy about but it was the only place that was hiring and we both were wanting to be able to get our own place, get things settled... We both talked about how he was going to do this, had a calming temple session, and talked some more. He decided to just tell them at work about the Honor Code in place at BYU-I, that he has committed to the school that he will attend his church meetings, and that he also has an obligation there now. They said it was too late to change the schedule for this week but that he should be able to get Sunday's off after that. He talked to them even though they had already changed his schedule twice the last week, not his fault though that they didn't read his school schedule clearly enough and scheduled him to work on his busiest day. We were very afraid that they would let him go on the spot, since the nature of his job is that they have to be available for the customers and the weekend is a very busy time. It looks like they won't, I'm not going to let my breath out easily for a little while yet, but even if they did at least Mark stood up and said "Hey, I'm going to church!" If he loses his job, we'll still be blessed for following promptings. Somehow.

And I was debating whether to post this or not, because it's what everybody does at the beginning of the year. I was sitting the other day in my "big" pants and was having a hard time catching my breath. They were too tight! I can't afford to buy bigger pants, nor do I want to as I'm quite large enough as it is! I've been thinking, too, about my very high risk of becoming a diabetic. Both because of family history and my personal history with gestational diabetes. Nobody has said whether my risk is higher after having it 3 times now to get it later on, but why take the chance? I don't have insurance right now and CANNOT afford to get sick. I didn't have energy to clean. I've been battling depression. And when I was pregnant and watching my diet so carefully for the sake of my little ones, I felt great! Why not do it for me this time?

I know myself well enough to know the stress the holidays were going to put me under, with projects needing done and Mark's work schedule. It was all I could do to make in through in one piece, let alone trying to make lifestyle changes. I didn't even try. Once we got them out of the way and were settling back into routines was the time to try mixing things up a little. Before I got too complacent and decided that it wasn't worth the effort.

But I've been working hard this week. I know my body well by now and know what ways NOT to diet. I can't do low fat, low cal everything. I've tried and can't stick to it. But low carb is something that I know I can do, I did it through 3 pregnancies. And it works for me. And I feel good! I'm aware that some of the weight loss this week is water weight, but I am already far less bloated feeling, and my pants are more comfortable. Even my coat is more comfortable!

To get to my "idea" body weight would be a ridiculous look. That's the weight I was when I was 12! People would think I was dying! My goals? First, I'd like to finally be under 200 lbs. That's right. Ew. Then I'd like to be able to wear my wedding ring without painful marks on my fingers. Next I'll work on fitting into those jeans I bought last time I lost weight, that still have the tags and I never wore since I had a depressive episode and gained all the weight back. I kept the jeans. Eventually I'd love to fit into my wedding dress again, because although I wasn't thin, I felt better than I do now.

Yes, at some point my goal will be to have a healthy BMI. I'm not shooting for ideal. Maybe by the time I get to that point I'll be able to see myself thinner. Baby steps. That's what it has to be, baby steps. Reach my goal and set a new one. That worked last time until we discovered I was bipolar, too late to save the weight loss. I've now lost the weight I had gained when I moved here and got depressed. Gaining 6 pounds in 2 months is no joke! And losing those 6 pounds has me feeling so much better! (For example, I woke early, ran errands, cooked healthy meals we at as a family at the table, cleaned up and did dishes, vacummed, did baths, and folded laundry while still remaining a somewhat pleasant and non-yelling mommy today!) I've turned the tv off more than it has been on the last couple days. Dishes have been done. My day isn't revolving around what there is to snack on in the kitchen.

I don't know if I'll do weekly weigh-ins or anything. I haven't decided yet, since I wasn't even sure if I would post my plan to get healthy at all. Guess I should take a before shot? (Ugh.)

Our somewhat lame New Year's Eve

2011-01-02T17:06:00.002-07:00

We usually have a blast on New Year's Eve. A fun dinner, traditional munchies for Mom and Dad, something bubbly and apple-y to drink... Maybe some confetti poppers. But not this year. :-(

We started our morning off with Daniel make the most horrendous barking cough and wheezing noises. He had been coughing the day before, but this really didn't sound too good. So I got him all bundled up and brought him to Community Care, a local urgent care clinic. We have a pediatrician in Rexburg, but haven't seen him yet thanks to waiting on insurance cards. We actually have appointments for the kids next week. :-) The doctor we saw did the RSV test and that came back positive, so he got a steroid shot in his thigh and a breathing treatment. He slept through the treatment, bless his heart! He's been prescribed a nebulizer, rented from a local medical supply company who brought it right to the house, and some albuterol liquid that goes in it and turns into vapor for him to inhale. The doctor said that his oxygen was really good, which means we brought him in early enough that he should be just fine and shouldn't have any complications like pneumonia or bronchiolitis.

It is VERY contagious though, which meant that Daniel, William and I were out of the running to go to Mark's nephew's birthday party that night. My sweet sister-in-law didn't have a problem with the older two going, so Mark took them to Blackfoot with Grandma and Grandpa, and another of his sisters and her husband who were over here from Boise. The boys and I enjoyed chicken.... gasp! ... for dinner. I know the superstition with eating chicken, but I figured since Mark is starting school and everything we'll be "scratching backwards" for money for the next 4 years anyway... I'll tell you what, it was soooooo worth it! Juicy and tender!

They didn't get home until nearly 11 and went straight to bed, Mark too. He had to be at work at 7 am the next morning. So it was just me, who was caught up watching a marathon of Food Network challenges. I looked at the clock at one point and saw it was about 12:15. Happy New Years, me! Drained my caffeine-free soda and went to bed, exhausted. Just to wake up at some late/early hour to do Daniel's breathing treatment. And again when Mark left for work, and again for the day.

Mark's dad came by Saturday with a brother from church and gave Daniel a blessing. He sounds so much better! Still a little tight in his chest sounding, and a little croupy when he coughs, but it will take several days to get everything cleared up. In the meantime, William is sounding a little croupy now too, so we'll be watching him.

Mom W volunteered to watch the older 3 last night so Mark could run for some groceries and I would only have to worry about Daniel. In a last ditch effort to have a date night, she offered to let them spend the night and let us have a quiet evening with a movie. We've been trying to catch up on the Smallville series. Daniel passed out about 7, and Mark came back from getting the boys settled at nearly 9. I think we made it to all of 10:15 before finding ourselves falling asleep at the tv. So we went to bed. How sad! :-) Another early morning for Mark, who had to be at work at 8, and it was so nice to just putter around taking care of Daniel and snuggling with my baby on the couch. No crazy climbing the fridge and each other for cereal. No yelling about who was sitting next to who. No scrapping for clean underwear and Sunday clothes. Daniel joined my shower since it was cold and he needed a bath anyway, and I didn't have to worry about what was going to be destroyed when I got out!

With Daniel sick and William starting to show the cough, I didn't want them at church to get other little ones sick. So Mom W took Oren and Daniel to church, they were so excited about their new classes! They did really well too, must be grandma magic.

I'm feeling very blessed to be so near family who love to take care of us and are trying to spoil us. :-)

It's only Thursday?

2010-12-30T09:43:00.002-07:00

Oh, this week is dragging! With Daddy working 11 hour days all week , the days just drag on and on and on... He starts school next week and although we don't know what his work schedule will be yet, I know the days will be just as long for the both of us.

We ventured out to town yesterday afternoon to run some errands. It amused and irritated me that if Daniel misplaced my cell phone I had to have Grandma call it for me. The number was long distance from my home phone! So we ran by the phone place to see if they could have it changed. I had been told last time I was in there that they could do it once as a courtesy. She looked at me like it was the hugest inconvenience to stop doing nothing, and acted like she was doing me a huge favor calling the request in. Um, aren't you getting paid to sit there and help people? I was also made aware that I was eligible for an upgrade... if I renewed my contract. I still have a year left, and my phone is fine, thank you very much! We are thinking of canceling our home phone and internet, since the apartment has internet, and going with a family plan. I'll upgrade then if I need to. Amusing how for someone not interested in getting up and helping me with a smile, she really wanted me to upgrade!

The boys did relatively well while we were waiting. Except for the tree that had candy canes. Daniel loves candy canes! He can spot them from across the room and reach them in 4 seconds flat! Plastic wrapping? No fear! He eats right past it! And what color were they? The were red...

By the time we got to Sally's 5 minutes away, we had dealt with "I WANT JACK-IN-THE-BOX!" TURN AROUND! TURN AROUND NOW MOMMY!!!!!" I think they were hungry, and the red food coloring didn't help any. Then at Sally's it was "Why do you need a hairbrush? This one? Can I play with this? Wow! Hair can be different colors! I have to pee!" There was no bathroom. Helpful sales lady- "Jamba juice has one next door." Boys- "I want juice! I'm still hungry! You didn't get me a drink! I'm cold! Why do we have to go back to the hairbrushes!" Funny thing was that we had a late lunch, they ate plenty, and it wasn't dinnertime yet. I managed to get the brushes that I needed without them spilling bottles of dye on the floor and get back out to the car. Having started with the best intentions of feeding them once we got home, the dye in their system needed diluted apparently, so we ended up at McDonalds. Ugh.

Then it was off to Walmart for Despicable Me! Thanks to a gift card we were able to get the double pack, with the 3 extra minion movies. Very exciting! There were a few other things that I needed, and therefore had to deal with the yelling and running around the cart and 2 different potty trips. Daniel trying to fall out of the cart, dirty looks by people who have no idea that even if we buckle him in he wiggles around out of the strap and tries to fall out anyway. I have long since stopped caring about dirty looks... The fun part was trying to make it through the feminine supplies aisle without too many questions from the boys! But we made it home in one piece and they watched their new movie in their pajamas, with a big bowl of popcorn to throw around.

I did try to call Grandma, to see if the boys could play at her house since I got scolded for never asking her to babysit. What do you know? She was out shopping herself. Go figure. :-)

Christmas Crafts!

2010-12-25T11:11:00.006-07:00

Okay, pictures of the projects I was working on for Christmas! Sorry, I don't have any specific websites for the activity book, but there are several websites around that have great ideas. I've been paying attention to the books I've seen at church too, lots of ideas.

For the words on the cover I found a font I liked and printed off the words in a large size. 130 point, the normal is 12. Traced them backwards on some iron on adhesive, and ironed them onto felt. Once they were cut out I ironed them onto a fabric panel. Easy!

Sometimes little velcro and snap pieces can get lost, so I put a pocket in the front cover to hold them.

What's a home without a Mommy and Daddy?

Or a cat and dog? I drew these on with a marker and then coated over them with matte modge podge so the marker wouldn't smudge or anything.

Time to tell the time! And a texture page. Of course, I'm going to have to take the clock apart and fix it. The brad was too short and I didn't secure it very well, so Daniel pulled it off in about 2 seconds. Pretty impressive actually!

I was having a brain block on what to do for 2 of the pages, so when I found fabric in my stash that had construction stuff I was excited! The car is stuffed with the black and white dotted fabric on the back. I sewed a tube with elastic in it so it was gathered. The tube is sewn to the back of the "garage" so he can drive the car to the dirt pile without it getting lost.

The flowers snap on and the felt stems and leave are simply stitched on. A marker and modge podge fire in a zipper teepee was fun to put together too.

Are your apples falling far from the tree? I hope not! That's what the velcro is for!

The pages of the book are cut from very heavy craft interfacing stuff, not an iron variety. I wanted 8x8 pages, so cut them 9x18. That left a 1/2 inch seam allowance on all side, with 2 "pages" per sheet. 4 sheets gave me 8 "pages". Each half got a design. When I had all the "pages" filled, I stitched them back to back so each set had 2 designs on the front and 2 on the back. A 1/2 seam and trimmed close to the stitching with pinking shears. The construction pages are the middle of the book. I layered them 1- cover, 2- page, 3- page with construction stuff on top. A strait simple seam down the middle, and voila! A book.

The cover was a little tricky though. I cut a front and a back from the gray fabric, 10x19 I think so it would be about 9x9 when finished. . On the first piece, the front right side I sewed on the title. On the 2nd piece, the front left side got the pocket. Stack them back- wrong side up, front- wrong side up, and batting. Sew around the sides, leaving an opening to turn it inside out. The batting ends up sandwiched inside, the title on the front cover, and the pocket on the inside of the front cover. I sewed around the outside to close the hole and give it a finished look. Then I stacked the pages on and sewed it together.

Oren got a backrest bed cushion and reading pillow. The tutorial for the cushion is here. I adjusted the dimensions a little to make it smaller, since Oren isn't very big.

The reading pillow has a pocket on the front that can store a book, and elastic straps on the back to hold the book for you while you are reading. Pretty cool! Find directions here.

William's quilt! I love how this turned out, and am very proud to say that there are no puckers in the quilting on the back! It's flannel-backed, so it's nice and warm. I can wait to tuck him in bed tonight, all cozy... The pattern came from a book I checked out at the library, and it's machine stitched "in the ditch".

And the boys' pajamas! Oren, Nathan and William. Williams are huge on him, the green frog ones. I don't think I'll do sleeves like that again on a premade shirt. The tubes were easy to do, but then I had to get them sewn onto the inside of the sleeve, which didn't fit onto the arm of my machine. That's why Nathan has a dog paw and Oren has a stripe on their shirts. Santa came and left them early on pillows, like usual, but resorted to buying a pair for Daniel. (I had no pattern for him that had feet and it's far too cold to go barefoot. Not when he doesn't stay under the blanket yet!)

There are several sites with easy patterns for pajama pants online. I used an actual pattern I had, but they are all pretty similar.

Where is it coming from?

2010-12-23T01:31:00.002-07:00

I think part of the reason I have procrastinated making these Christmas presents is because I had no real idea of what to do for a couple of them. We knew William needed a twin sized quilt. But the rest were a mystery.

Maybe it's because Christmas is looming, but all of a sudden ideas are hitting me! Oren loves to read, so what better thing for him than one of those back cushions with arms that you use in bed. And of course that calls for a reading pillow as well that will hold the book for him. What do you know? I happen to have 2 extra guest pillows that have batting and the perfect blue and tie-dye fabrics in my stash of random material! It looks way cute with an "O" appliqued to the front, and he'll appreciate the Magic Treehouse book I grabbed at the thrift store.

Daniel loves book lately. He'll pick up a book and bring it to us, although he's a little impatient and flips the pages by himself. That wouldn't be a problem except that the pages are usually paper... I just happened to have several sheets of felt, and some seriously heavy stuff that was in the interfacing/fusing section at Walmart, on bolts, that I bought for a project 2 years ago. Voila, pages and supplies for an activity book! The pages are mostly done, I just have to throw together a cover tomorrow and add some pictures of people or something in the windows and door flaps of the house page. And draw a fire in the zipper teepee.

As for Nathan, Mark and I got to talking about how much Nathan likes to create stuff. A local store has some boxes intended for Christmas that would be easy to decoupage with some neat paper or fabric. A ream of paper, new crayons and pencils, watercolors, and some fun stickers - all just for him! Most of the art stuff I have already from stocking up for homeschooling. :-)

I promise to post pictures of the finished products, along with any websites I used as tutorials. I have just been so busy putting them together, trying to get them done even with the kids around. That's been fun. These are Mommy/Daddy gifts, so it's okay if they see various stages, I just distract them during the final put together. But I can't exactly lay them out afterwords and snap pictures, and then when they are finally in bed I've been working on something else. Or just plain exhausted. In fact, I don't know why I am posting at nearly 2 am, when I decided not to start the book cover tonight but wait until tomorrow...

Good night!

Free Patterns

2010-12-21T00:14:00.002-07:00

This woman has is giving away free pattern downloads right now! Really cute baby slippers, chef's hat and apron.... I've only skimmed over the website and she's got some great ideas for crafty people. Check it out!

myhomespunthreads.blogspot.com

Not quite a homespun Christmas...

2010-12-16T22:35:00.002-07:00

But mostly handmade. Mark commented the other day, with much exasperation, that we would not ever again make homemade gifts on this scale again. I just had to laugh and give him my best glare. We? What "we"? I don't think he has once touched the sewing machine. :-)

Checked off the list: Steph and family, both sets of parents, and Mark's brother's kids.

I still have so much to do: boxes to mail, a quilt to finish for William, pajamas to get done... and I am having the hardest time making up my mind what to do for my other 3 children! I keep thinking this thing or that thing. But oooh! That would be neat too! So frustrating.

The problem with making the gifts this year, even though it is considerably easier on the pocketbook, is that it takes time. And while I'm sewing I can't be cleaning. Since I didn't get everything done I wanted to, I'm going end up staying up late to finish so they don't see what they're getting, or sending them to Grandma's house to play while Daddy's at work because tomorrow is the last day of school for the year. Ack!

Of course, now that I think about it, I could have taken pictures of my projects to post after Christmas - since some of the recipients read my blog - but I didn't think that far ahead. Ah well, ces la vie!

Another Year, Another Birthday!

2010-12-10T15:37:00.002-07:00

I have no pictures of my birthday. But being that I'm all grow-ed up now, that's permissible. But it was nice. Mark's mom got me a new shirt, with fabric that draped off to the side and held by a belt buckle looking thing. I like it, and it's always fun to get new clothes. Mark had asked me what I would like and my off-handed reply was slippers, because my feet were freezing at that moment. Sweetheart that he is, he got me some warm and fuzzy slippers! Daniel likes them as much as I do but for different reasons.... :-) And my family sent me a cute card with a gift card! It's so hard to decide what to use it on, which is half the fun. A book? A necklace? A non-stick skillet? Decisions, decisions.

Mark had to work on my birthday, so we celebrated yesterday with his parents coming for dinner. The Christmas tree was pulled out and put together, very sparsely decorated because of Daniel and his high reach. (The lights make the tree anyway!) One should celebrate special occasions with special foods, so I braved the unknown and made Chicken Kiev. It's chicken breast wrapped around parsley, green onions and garlic... and butter. The butter melts as the chicken cooks and sits in the chicken if you sealed it well enough, when you cut it the butter squirts out. We had problems with the chicken breasts size wise and I could use some practice with the rolling, but it was still really yummy!

And yes, I know that I decorate cakes, but I do not do my own birthday cake. I can't quite duplicate bakery whipped icing, although my buttercream comes pretty close! And I also just didn't have the energy to do one with the idea of a fancy dinner too. So I had an Oreo cake, chocolate cake with whipped icing, oreo's and chocolate shavings. It's so hard not to snack on it all the time.

Tonight is the ward Christmas party. I'm not sure if I'll manage to get pictures of the kids with Santa, Mark is working so I have to keep a hold of all 4 boys on my own. I'm thinking the stroller is getting busted out for this one! (getting a headache just thinking about the noise, and the running, and the line for Santa and dinner...)

What? An update? :-)

2010-12-02T15:39:00.003-07:00

I've been in sort of a blog-y funk I guess. I've been checking everyone's often and commenting occasionally. And it's not as if we just have nothing going on worth writing about. I just haven't done it. *shrug*

Just a little of what we've been up to, I guess. Almost all of Mark's family came up for Thanksgiving week. The boys had a blast with all their cousins for sure! I was exhausted and my house was a wreck because we were home long enough to trash it during the day and then headed to Grandma's every day that week. I had originally wanted to drive down and hand out with Stephanie that weekend since her sweetie was working and it was highly likely that Mark was going to be working as well. But travel expenses were an issue and then there was some extreme weather that would have prevented me from making the drive with the kids to Utah by myself had money worked out. Mark's brother and family couldn't make it up to Montana because the roads were all closed! Kind of a bummer, but perhaps we'll look at Spring Break. When the weather is warmer and there's more to see besides white. :-)

I was sitting here last night thinking about the fact that I haven't taken any pictures in ages, when I looked over at the table. This is currently Daniel's favorite place to hang out if we don't make sure all the chairs are pushed in all the way. Some one had left the tape dispenser out and he was having a heyday. I'd love to know how he got it wrapped around himself so thoroughly!

He was getting so mad at the tape, it was so cute!

We made the difficult decision to put Oren back into public school. This was something I'd been battling for a while now, trying not to feel like I was just giving up easily. But it struck me on Monday how much I was not looking forward to the day, anticipating the arguments (which of course made them happen), and feeling yet another headache come on from thinking about how far behind we had gotten in hours and lessons. When a lesson takes twice as long as it's supposed to, you don't get nearly as much done in a day, and it just snowballs from there. He hated the work, I hated fighting him on it.

So I talked with him about going back to public school. He was so excited about a classroom, new teacher, riding the bus! His face just lit up. Tuesday morning we went in and enrolled him in the local elementary. As we were driving to the school it was like a huge weight was lifted. I felt nothing but relief, none of the guilt that I thought would be there.

This evening we got a phone call from his teacher. She took the time to call on her own time, call me personally, and tell me how much she was enjoying Oren being in her class. That he was a joy, and so sweet, and fun. This is the kind of phone call we never get, not from a teacher anyway. Nothing about "but....." . Just simple praise. I was so proud of him, he's trying really hard to use the common courtesies we've been working on, and he has grown since last year. Mark and my fingers are crossed that this love for school continues. Not to mention that I now look forward to seeing him in the evening and getting to hear all about his day. He gets to spend more time with Nathan, which they are both enjoying.

As sad as it sounds, that's really all I can think of as far as updates go. Just normal ups and downs, house cleaning and house trashing. Snow, snow, and more snow. Curtain planning, Christmas present sewing, Christmas present wrapping (I love wrapping!)... Sick kids, sick mommy, no sick daddy. Smiles and laughs. Temper tantrums. New words from Daniel, realizing that William is no longer a toddler. Nathan reading and writing his letter to Santa.

Happy Decembering!

Where did the month go?

2010-11-05T20:00:00.002-06:00

And what a month it has been. Two birthdays, a new job, a move - just a tad chaotic, and Halloween.

I must confess. We have pictures from William's birthday. But not Daniel. In fact, he never even had a party. Nathan was at school that day, and Daddy worked that night, so we didn't celebrate that day. I had planned on festivities that weekend, but nobody thought to tell me that Mark's brother's birthday was that Friday. Two parties in two days didn't excite anybody. He opened his gifts on a few different days, they just sort of filtered in. He didn't get a smash cake or anything! His first birthday ever, and we didn't get it celebrated! I have been very seriously considering making him an awesome cake, now that I have all my stuff, and having a really belated party. With pictures and candles and frosting all over his highchair.... He doesn't care now, but just wait until he's 5 or 6 and asking how come we don't have pictures of his first birthday.

Our move was quite interesting too. Between forms not getting sent in from employers when we thought they'd be, and then movers showing up the day before we signed for the keys even though we called twice and left messages that we needed to reschedule our delivery.... At least we know have an apartment, and our stuff, and we're pretty much settled in. We have a few boxes still, but it's canning supplies, cake decorating stuff, and the desktop computer that we have no desk for - nor space for a desk. And that's all stuffed in the huge bedroom closets. But most of the pictures are hung and the bookshelves are filled. The living room/dining room/kitchen are put together and decorated with the crocheted leaves and pumpkin Steph made me! Just figuring out where some of the bedroom and office stuff is going to go, and fit the windows with curtains to help with heat retention.

I also have no Halloween pictures. Mark was working that day, to get in some overtime and extra experience. So I was by myself with the boys. We purchased nothing at all this year, not even candy! All our costumes came from our box we've been saving each year's selection in, and between buying larger sizes on clearance last year and having tiny ones from when the boys were younger we had what we needed. An adorable dragon, complete with spiky tail and claws; a skeleton with a top hat; a pirate and cutlass; and a mischievous vampire. Daddy made it just at the end of dinner and games, in time to help me take them home from trunk-or-treat. Then Daniel and I chilled at home, unpacking, while Daddy and the other boys "got chilled" traipsing the neighborhood for more candy. They all had a blast, and I enjoyed the break.

All in all, it's been a very busy month, with lots of fun!

A Very Late Hapy Birthday!

2010-10-31T09:51:00.003-06:00

Well, I'm only posting this a few weeks late.... :-) In my defense, it's been crazy. Especially when the second we turn our back, this is what Daniel does.

Since William's birthday is on October 4th and my nephew's birthday is on the 3rd, Mark's sister agreed that it would be easier to have a combined little bash while everyone was over for Conference. She provided the cake, we chipped in the ice cream - and everybody had a great time! We may just do this next year too... :-)

William was in no hurry to get all formal at the table, and since his cousin was opening his gifts already, he just grabbed some and hunkered down on the floor to open them. Genius!

Mark's sister had made a larger cake for everyone else to eat, but the two birthday boys each got their own little birthday cake with their name on it, literally, and their own candles to blow out. I don't think either of them ate much of the cake, but they both thought it was pretty cool that they had a cake all to themselves.

I just love the puffy cheeks.

We got William a little tool chest, that had hammer, saw, "wood", nails.... the works. Right down to a tape measure! And now I realize that I haven't seen it in several weeks, so it is probably residing somewhere in Grandma's basement. I hope.

What do you write when you can't think of a title?

2010-10-06T12:19:00.002-06:00

I guess life has just been busy. Somehow the days pass by and I find by the end of one that we haven't done much that I would write about. Each one has it's moments, true, but the flow is the same. Days are filled with Oren and his schoolwork. Evenings fly by trying to give my other three attention. Keeping Daniel out of the bathroom and off the piano is a full-time endeavor!

And so I rarely have the energy to gather what thoughts I'd like to write, or go through what few pictures I have taken. This is not to say that we don't do things worthy of note. For instance, Oren's school did a zoo day meet and greet. But Nathan was at school and couldn't go with us. So when the zoo did a free admission day, the boys and I loaded up and went!

Daniel was asleep in the mei tai on my back for most of it. So no cute pictures of him, unfortunately. The boys had a lot of fun in the Egg-xhibit, pretending to be chickens. And outside of there, I had my hands full making sure I knew where they were, with so many people there. So no pictures other than these.

On a seperate note, I had several compliments on the mei tai, and the moms that talked to me wanted to know where I got it. I was super proud to say that my sister had made it! And of course told them that they could find patterns for one on-line. Why spend $30 or more when you can make one yourself? (Thank you Steph!)

Saturday, after the morning session, Mom W. took us to Mesa Falls. This little trip involved some misunderstandings about food, and a not very happy me... but the falls were beautiful and the scenery was amazing. We solved the food problem with a VERY late lunch and Mark and I resolving to insist on the welfare of the boys not matter how anxious others are to get going. And to not assume that others will bring what they implied they would.

Of course, I brought my good camera hoping to get some gorgeous shots of the falls. Maybe some with trees in the background that were turning colors. What happened? I took about 6 shots, and then the batteries died! With no backups because I took them for the little camera and forgot to put new ones in the case! So here is the best of the ones I got. The falls look small, but they were really quite tall. It was the angle from the viewpoint.

There was also William's birthday, which is in the above post. Or will be when I get it posted!

Life as a civilian

2010-09-10T17:31:00.002-06:00

is taking some getting used to.

No more showing my ID to get home. No more music going off a 7:30 am to wake you, or at 5 pm when the anthem starts playing and everybody stops driving or walking during the whole song, or at 10:00 pm when apparently we are supposed to be in bed. The clothes people wear have some variety in their colors, and there are shaggy haircuts all over.

There is also a lot of uncertainty over where we'll be living, what sort of job Mark will find and when, what to do if someone gets sick. A lot of things are still scaring me. But I'm trying to find the peace in our situation that I know is there.

Oren is homeschooling this year, which is an adventure. We're still stumbling around, getting used to the new relationship of teacher and student. I can't just sit there all day being depressed though, which is good. I have to get up and teach, be positive, be organized.

And Nathan is going to school here. He rides a bus there and back everyday! My little guy! They sort of lost him the first day though. The school wasn't told which route he was supposed to be on, and then when they got him on the right bus, the bus driver didn't drop him off at his stop. We don't really know why, maybe he was being small and quiet at the back, or what. So we chased the bus to the next stop but didn't make it there fast enough. In the end I called the busing company and said "I'm trying to locate my 6 year old, in first grade, who didn't get off the bus like he was supposed to!" The lady was super nice and radioed the driver, who swung back and dropped him off. Nathan was a little scared, but seems just fine now. The other kids at his stop are really nice and helped him find his classroom the first time he rode to school and helped him the next couple days remember which stop to get off at. So many nice people over here!

We've been busy rearranging our allotted bedrooms to fit all of us, and make it our own space so we feel more at home. Okay, by we I mean me. Cleaning off dressers with conference talk notes from 2004 - that sort of thing. Expired cough syrups in the bathroom.... popsicle sticks on the bookshelf... Mom W is busy working full time and doesn't have energy for de-junking, so she doesn't mind me tossing things like that. (I love his mother!) And even though we're hoping to only be here a short while, it does make me feel more at home, and like we're contributing something to the household. I cook meals too, and help with laundry. Are they going to let us move out? Ooops..... :-)

I guess the bottom line is that even though this is a huge shift in how we thought our lives were going to go, we're doing okay. I don't think life is ever going to be easy, but I am definitely appreciating the blessings of family and church.

Catch-Up Pioneer Day

2010-09-10T16:51:00.002-06:00

More playing catch-up. We went down to see Mark's family for pioneer day, and joined in their big stake celebration. Nice and early pancake breakfast, some fun runs that we were too tired for, and a bunch of kids activities that included .......

BUBBLES!

Daniel spent his time crawling over Daddy's legs.

William thought he'd blow bubbles to any monsters living in the drain grate.

Oren spun in dizzy circles, thoroughly enjoying the large rings and equally big bubbles.

And Nathan was fascinated by the possibilities all these holes presented.

I just love my boys and bubbles!

Catch - Up, Nathan's Birthday

2010-09-01T20:34:00.003-06:00

These posted backwards for some weird reason.

Nathan turned 6 last month. 6! Has it really been 6 years since he was born? 6 years since his little chubby-cheekedness?

Poor thing. He was out playing in Grandma's back yard, and got about 1/2 dozen wasp stings. Right before his cake and ice cream too. From his toe to his head! The white gunk is baking soda with a little water to make a paste. Draws out the poison, eases swelling, and takes away the red. Helps with the burn too. He was quite a trouper though, just sort of cried a bit while I put the paste on. Nothing like you'd expect from a little guy getting stung so many times.

Of course, the cake sort of took his mind off the ouch. Apperantly I am a professional whose own children get the saddest cakes possible. This car was supposed to be legos. Don't ask.

The important part is that when he saw his "race car cake!" his eyes lit up and his jaw dropped. We just had to eat it really fast before the back end slid off any farther and the frosting dripped completely down the side. He he.

Reminder, never use a clearance boxed carrot cake for anything other than a stay-in-the-pan treat. And don't use real butter in the cream cheese frosting in August.

I promise...

2010-08-16T22:23:00.001-06:00

that I do still exist.

that I have taken lots of pictures.

that I do intend to post them at some point.

that I have lots to write about.

that I will try to find the time to write about them.

Big update!

2010-07-28T10:25:00.002-06:00

Since we've had plenty going on here lately, I guess I'll do a nice update. There won't be photos because my card reader is MIA, I'll have to find my USB cable for the camera.

Speaking of computers, we found a tech guy based in Mountain Home that is coming to pick up the laptop and the external hard drive. The drive dropped and the case broke open. Now the computer doesn't see it plugged in so I can't get to photos. It'll be nice and pricey, but I have over 2 years of photos on there myself and it'll be worth the money to get some off if possible. Then we tried to do a system recovery on the laptop, which involves formatting the drive and reinstalling the factory settings and programs. Easy enough, right? Except all we get is errors and now it just turns itself off instead of reading the disc. The tech guy thinks the hard drive may be bad. So we're getting that worked on/looked at. If it's the hard drive in the laptop that's bad, we're getting a new one and having him install that - make sure it works. Even with that added to the recovery price, it's cheaper than buying a new laptop!

Word of advice. Don't just store photos on a hard drive. Get an external. And a bunch of flash drives or good quality CD's and copy everything to those. In the words of the tech guy, "If you only copy it to one thing, that's not backup. That's just storage."

...................

Remember in January when I rear-ended that guy? And had to have my car in the shop for a few weeks. And the court dates? The last one I had 2 months ago, the man showed up to the trial to tell me that my insurance hadn't paid his claims. We traded phone numbers and I said I'd call and see what was up with them. Then he called me saying they still hadn't paid a month later and he was considering legal council. (SCARED!) 2 weeks ago my insurance called up and said the case was closed, everything paid, and settlement accepted! Which is good because they couldn't reduce the misdemeaner to an infraction with a fine until everything had been paid.

My court date was yesterday, and as soon as I walked in the public defender came over. Congratulations, the claim was paid, and you've been reduced to the infraction! Signed the paper, went downstairs and paid the $75 ticket for "following too closely" and went home, with a huge sigh of relief. We were worried it would be a lot more for court costs, but we got lucky. So that's all taken care of.

.................

We went househunting last week in Rexburg. Did you know that houses are way pricey there unless you live out in the country? And that renting is as bad if not worse? We are very blessed to have family with room for us so we won't be homeless while we get on our feet.

There was one we loved, but Mark's car couldn't handle the country road in the winter. And another we loved except for the entire 3 acres of waisthigh grasses and thistles and other assorted weeds/ junky outbuilding / who know's what else / unfinished addition that needs tearing down. And the one in town that was doable, but only 1095 sq.ft. Which is teeny!

But now we know, don't trust pictures. Always go see it in person. Agents will drive you anywhere to sell a house. And don't rush into anything.

We'll see what happens, since the list for income based housing may be long, especially for 3 bedrooms.

...............

We only have about 4 weeks left! I'm nervous, and excited all at the same time. Faced with being a civilian, we're realized how constricting the military can be. Show ID just to get home? Even grass height is regulated. Sort of stifling all of a sudden. Still a lot of unknowns, but it feels like sort of a new freedom.

I'm not sure how I'm going to get everything done with the house. And I'm still slowly going through things and downsizing. Someone is picking up the piano Saturday morning. I'm trying to see if I can fit everything onto 1 bookshelf. And we're debating the entertainment center, for size reasons. I can build a new one later... thanks to knock-off-wood.

The boys are getting excited about moving to Grandma's house. They get so spoiled there! And Oren is going to be homeschooled this year, we've enrolled and everything into an online academy - a public school that sends you all the books and even a computer if you need. Plus, they offer electives starting in the 3rd grade, which he's going into, and he has chosen French. Which I learned in high school. So I can help him with those assignments! It'll be hard work, but until we get insurance and meds for him, it's the best option for his natural behaviors and schedule.

That's our last couple weeks in a nutshell, I guess!

Dratted Computer

2010-07-27T00:03:00.002-06:00

Argh! This thing is so slow! And freezes all the time. So I had stuff to post, and have to redo it all over again. Which I have no energy for right now.

AAAAANNNNNDDDDD.... My external hard drive - that I have all my pictures and important files backed up on, and was supposed to be a good thing - dropped on the floor this morning and the case came apart. The drive thingy fell out. I put it back together but now when you plug it into the USB the solid blue light on it flashes instead and the computer won't recognize it!

Not a good month for computers. It better work, maybe a tech guy somewhere can help me? I'd even pay money! At least I have stuff on my cell phone - even a couple Audrey and Daniel together pictures for Steph.

But I'm so bummed. Crossing my fingers the thing magically works!

Torn

2010-07-19T09:39:00.002-06:00

Facebook is awesome. It really is. But there is one little thing that I didn't recon on.

People can find you.

I don't know how on earth or why, maybe she was just thinking of people she used to know and did a search to see if I was on, since I used my maiden name in my name thing.

I got a message the other day from a girl asking if I was the Michelle who used to live in Del City, Oklahoma. I replied yes, checked her profile to see if I could get more information on who she was, discovered that we know some of the same people. People I hadn't thought of in years. Like my 8th grade boyfriend, his best friend who was the biggest sweetheart, and the girl I used to switch 2nd and 3rd chairs with every few weeks - depending on who had practiced the music the most for that chair test.

But who was she? Where exactly did I know her from? The name was very familiar, the face vaguely so.

Turns out she went to my elementary school, and was in the 6th grade band with me. (I was such a loser that I did band at recess. Mostly because I didn't have anyone to hang with at the playground except the occasional special ed kids. I would just sit on a bench and talk to myself. Not something I like to think about.) She went to the Jr. High I did for a year. She came to my house after school sometimes and went to a scavenger hunt with me at church once.

I asked if she lived a few streets down from me and had moved down to Texas. Because if she did, she's the one that randomly called a few months after moving there and said some really mean things while laughing. Things that still hurt because I had considered her a really good friend, we had slumber parties on the trampoline and everything.

What do I do if she wants to friend me? Do I call her out on why she did that? I just don't know. Perhaps it had been a game of truth or dare? Perhaps she doesn't even remember the incident at all. Maybe she remembers and feels badly about it. Am I stupid for still being upset about it 15 years later?

2010-07-15T11:23:00.003-06:00

I've been trying to upload this for days now! Daniel's on this kick where he stands there banging on the door when his brothers are all outside playing. He loves being outside and grabbing at the grass. Apparently it tastes good?

At the end I ask him if he wants to go outside, and I swear it sounded like he was saying "yeah, yeah!" :-)

And we're still cleaning and downsizing. I sold a dresser we aren't using, so that's one big thing out of my garage. Yay! Mark is now trying to decide if he wants to find a good job or go to school. I'm hoping school, because I want him to love his job and unfortunately all he's qualified for is either temp summer jobs like Laborer - which the season is short at this point - or what he does now, structural maintenance. Which happens to be a job he does not enjoy, which is why he's getting out. His only chance at finding a really good job that makes decent money - so we can finally buy a house! - with benefits, is to put in the hard work now learning more about what he really wants to do. There will always be gardens and golf courses and parks that need landscaped.... no matter what the economy. Plus, our home garden would be awesome!

And I'm about giddy with a good deal! We got a gift certificate to Amazon, and used it to get Nathan's birthday presents! He requested play food pizza and eggs. And little legos - as opposed to mega blocks. I found the perfect stuff! Total out of pocket cost? $8.34! (side note: play food is outrageously expensive.)

I am in love!

2010-07-10T19:11:00.002-06:00

With aloe vera and baking soda!

We spent the day cleaning. Emptied everything out of the garage, seperated it into trash, yard sale, and keep. Took 2 vanloads to the dump, and the stuck the rest back in the swept out garage. I am a lobster, and am very happy I have a huge bottle of aloe vera in my bathroom. The poor boys are somewhat burnt too. It felt really good to just chuck stuff in the van! We're authorized 9,000 pounds worth of homegoods that they'll move for us, but that doesn't mean we want to use all of it... I also posted a bunch of stuff on Craigslist: a piano that I'd rather not dismantle if someone would take it and give her some love; the boppy I bought new for Daniel and was a serious lifesaver; a dresser; a Little Tykes car; and our cats.

That's right. We're getting rid of the cats. As much as we've loved having them, we can't take them to my mother-in-law's house. So I'm hoping a nice family takes them soon.

As for the baking soda? Move over magic eraser! With a little baking soda paste, a scrub brush, and elbow grease our walls are as clean as when we moved in! (The hallway at least. There are a lot of walls in this house!)

Moving day looming

2010-07-08T22:27:00.002-06:00

Mark went down to the moving people office - TMO- and got our packing date. The movers will be here Aug. 23, bright and early, with a big truck and several wooden crates loaded on it. They will put everything that's not tied down or set aside in a room that says "Don't pack me!!!" in boxes, or wrappings, and load it on the truck. It can take up to 3 days. That's 3 days of strange men scooping up our life here and throwing it into crates. Then our stuff will sit somewhere until we tell them to deliver it.

I've already gone through a quart of primer, and haven't even gotten through half of the stuff that needs painted over. And I haven't even started on the trim touchups, like baseboards.

Carpets all need to be cleaned, cleaned again, and then cleaned some more. And I guarantee all the stains aren't going to come out.

Stuff needs hauled away - trash or thrift store. Stuff needs sold. Things need cleaned in preparation for the housing office to come do a pre-inspection on the 20th. Just a walk through to let us know what specifically will need taken care of before the actual inspection before we can sign out of the house.

So much to do, and it makes me exhausted just thinking about it. And sad. And angry that I have to do all this. And a little excited for change. And worried that I won't get everything done or that we'll have to pay a lot of money for stuff the kids have messed up. And every day it just keeps getting closer....

Naptime!

2010-07-05T17:15:00.002-06:00

Whew! I sure love having family around, but that many people in my house was simply exhausting. Most of Mark's family was here this weekend. His 2 younger sisters and their husbands had a room in the base hotel, because our house was simply tooooo small. But it was still pretty cramped. Then after Oren's baptism, we hosted everyone at our house for hot dogs and hamburgers. Some 35 people I think? Didn't take an official headcount... It was so much fun though. And a huge thanks to everyone who offered to bring food, that really helped keep the dinner cost down for us.

Part of me can't believe that Oren is old enough to make a huge choice like that. I am so proud of him for deciding to be baptized. And I am so grateful to Mark for being able to do that for our son.

Our town fireworks got canceled for yesterday, because as a firefighter was setting one of the big ones in it's tube it exploded. Possibly some static caused a spark, they aren't sure. 2nd and 3rd degree burns on his arms, chest and face so he was flown to Salt Lake to the burn center down there. They also lost about 80% of the fireworks when the one that went off set more off. So instead my friend Amanda invited us to their house to set some off. Probably not the most Sunday appropriate thing to do, but the kids had so much fun (not to mention Mark!) Her husband set off some not-quite-legal fireworks, even though there is a sheriff that lives just around the corner. Crazy man... We're trying to spend what time we can together before we leave. Those kids are going to miss each other!

Of course, now I have no energy or motivation to clean anything, between the weekend with family and our getting home well after 11 and the baby that wouldn't settle down to sleep until almost midnight. We were going to get out of town and go somewhere fun - maybe Silver City for a picnic. It's a ghost town about 1 1/2 hours away. But we were too tired to get everything ready and go. I don't even want to cook even though all I'd have to do is warm up the leftover hotdogs. I want to go have pork chops at one of the local restaurants. Small chance of talking Mark into that since we're supposed to be saving all the money we can right now. :-( Bummer.

:-(

2010-06-30T09:10:00.002-06:00

Mark brought home his seperation orders yesterday. That sort of makes it final that he's getting out. He's still going through an appeals process with a defense council, just in case it's not too late to change their minds.

A huge relief was finding out that we are eligible for seperation pay. I'm still a little iffy on what that entails and how much, but I know it's half of your base pay. I just don't know if it's 1 months worth, or if it's from when you got out to what your enlistment day should have been up. (which would be significantly more since his enlistment isn't done until 2013!) Either way, any little bit helps...

And the Air Force pays to move us. We can have them pack up and move everything, or we can do it ourselves and they pay us. Part up front to cover the truck and packing supplies, and part after once you get the truck weighed and know how many miles you moved. We're trying to decide that part. You can make money on a DitY move, but it's a lot harder to pack and then have to clean your whole house, and then haul everything across the state.

And we're still planning on Mark applying to BYU-I. He just has the bishop's okay part to finish and then he's done.

So I guess a lot of things are coming together, it's just scary how many things are still unknown. Like a job, who's working? Because if he gets in, he'll be going full time. Days or nights? Don't know yet.

But I should leave with a good thing. I'm wearing a pair of jeans today that a month ago I couldn't even get up my thighs. Stress works!

digit, digit, digit

2010-06-24T22:49:00.003-06:00

The weatherman on the news just said we may hit triple digits next week. Am I ever glad our house has air conditioning! And here I was thinking summer would never get here...

This has been a busy week, and an exhausting one. I don't know how we've accumulated so much stuff in the last 4 1/2 years, I really don't. There is a huge pile of stuff in my garage, and I'm hoping that for most if it the adage "someone's trash is another man's treasure" holds true. Yet somehow the mess in the house hasn't shrunk at all? *scratches head*

So aside from going through mountains of things in my house, I've been going through mountains of things in my head. It's been difficult, not knowing what's going to happen but proceeding as though "the worst" occurs. Mark is dealing with paperwork and appeals and I don't know what all else to try and stay in, and taking classes to prepare to find jobs as a civilian just in case. I think I know why he's been so exhausted! As for me, there are so many things that need done. I have a really hard time with having so much to do and get overwhelmed so easily. And it's frustrating that while trying to get one thing done, 5 other things fall apart on me. And if I show the stress, Mark is going to feel even worse for this mess than he already does, which won't help him focus on what needs to happen.

I think the worst part is that I have absolutely no control over what happens. Someone else decides if we stay or go. Ultimately it's Mark's decision what to do if we end up out - school? federal job? I can decide what to get rid of I suppose, but that isn't really going to have an effect on our future. Unless being able to rent a smaller storage unit counts?

I've been praying for peace, and even though it's been hard, it hasn't been unbearable. I know that if it wasn't for my Father in Heaven, and his loving support, I would be in far worse shape. So often we are told that our trials are meant to strengthen us and that He will bear us up if we do what we can, and rely on Him for the rest. He won't give me anything I can't handle, as long as I lean on Him. Does that make it any easier? No. And I don't think this is meant to be easy. But if I do my part, support my husband in his decisions, and trust in the Lord that things will happen as they need to, I'll be okay. He knows us and loves us, even if I can't immediately see the blessings that will come.

I'm still here...

2010-06-21T22:39:00.002-06:00

Let's just say, it's been quite the week.

I know it's been a while since I blogged, and I have photos and everything to post up. But my feet hurt from walking all over our housing in bare feet on hot cement trying desperately to find Oren - who was in the front yard covered in dirt when I got home to get the car. So I won't be getting up to get the camera.

And I've sort of avoided posting this. Because it makes it all the more real. We're moving. Leaving the Air Force quite a bit ahead of schedule, against everyone's better judgement, and without the preparations I would have rather had in place before making a leap like this. It was rather sudden news after a meeting with Mark's commander, and I want to thank my Mom for letting me talk through things because I called her in tears. And my best friend Amanda, who dropped everything and came from town to spend the day with me and lend me her shoulder.

But we're making plans for the future. Did you know that if you have basics in your food storage, you can feed a family of 6 for around $50 a week? Less if you're careful and use all those dried beans you've been avoiding because you don't want to OD on chilli. (I'll be posting a yummy black bean tortilla casserole later! Mark couldn't believe it had absolutely no meat in it...) It's been almost liberating to go through things and mercilessly throw them in the yard sale pile. I've set aside a few special outfits for each boy that I bought specifically for them as a newborn - and all the other newborn stuff is going bye-bye. It's all winter stuff and now would be the time that babies due in the fall would show their mommies what they are. :-) Those dishes I bought 2 years ago to service 12 and only used 2 settings twice? Gone!

There is a very small chance that we could stay in. There's a lot of work involved, but the benefits to Oren would be worth it - we couldn't afford his medical on our own. We should know within the next few weeks, crossing fingers it doesn't take longer, what is decided. In the meantime we are stuffing everything we can into savings, downsizing a huge amount of stuff, and he's applying to BYU-I.

That's been my week... and at least I feel better now than I did last Monday. And I'll try to get to blogging all the other stuff, like swimming lessons, and Daniel's latest achievements. Something postive. And anything to postpone the 6 page paper I have to write to finish my piano pedagogy course.

(What a killer! I got a phone call today from a lady who got my name off a website I signed up to list my name about piano lessons for her 2 young daughters. And I'm moving! Argh! At least I could point her to the two music stores in Boise that would have lists of local teachers that have signed up with them to be on said list. But according to Mark's sister, there is a shortage of cake decorators in Rexburg so I may make some decent money between semesters when all the weddings happen. Mine taste better than Walmarts...)

Photo catchups!

2010-06-12T09:52:00.004-06:00

It's been a busy couple weeks, so I'm playing photo catchup. Below this post you will find one for Oren's birthday, Nathan's graduation, and Janelle's wedding.

The boys (and Mark included) were playing scientist the other day after church. They got out our microscope and did "experiments". Apperantly that's what Nathan was doing. All I know is that he's lucky the microwave didn't explode when he left the spoon in the cup he was heating up!

When all else fails, use your teeth! William occupied himself with our Perler bead set.

Somebody left a flashlight were Daniel could get it, and we turned it on just for fun. He was hilarious crawling around waving it all over.

My little scientists. They were investigating a drop of blood here. If the table shook the cells would flow around. It was actually pretty cool!

And this is what happens when you think you have left the plate of paint out of a little one's reach when you go leave the room for a minute. Even his tongue had green on it! Luckily, Marie's nightstand I was painting was just fine. And the paint did come out of the carpet.

He was right pleased with himself!

Oren's Birthday

2010-06-12T09:03:00.003-06:00

Oren turned 8 this year. Wow! My family came down from Caldwell to celebrate and have some yummy food. We were too busy eating to take pictures of everyone crowded around pans of chicken enchiladas, but take my word that it was good!

I was trying out a new cake recipe: strawberry cake from scratch - even the strawberry puree. Now, before you say "Wow, sounds delicious!" , let me assure you that I've had better. I could have done a cake mix and used the rest of the hour to do something else. At least ice cream will make any cake taste okay and the frosting was out of a can and hard to mess up. :-)

I took pictures of Oren and his cake, but realized while editing that he'd wet his pants and it was very visible, so opted not to post those. Plus, this one was funnier with Samuel sticking his head in.

What is Aunt Janelle looking some smugly happy about? With that little chuckle?

Probably the fact that she gave Daniel a cupcake... That boy knew just what to do with it too! And he made her share her ice cream too. Guess who's laughing now! She was sweet and cleaned him up afterward though.

Oren got his own set of scriptures and some Pixos from Mom and Dad, Samuel gave him his old rollerblades, and Grandma and Grandpa brought a jar of homegrown/homemade jalapeno jelly. That's Oren's favorite!

Nathan's Graduation

2010-06-12T08:37:00.002-06:00

It seems like this year has just flown by. One day I'm taking pictures of Nathan, proud of his new backpack, on the way to his first day of kindergarten. And now he's all graduated! His teacher goes all out, very different from Oren's. They all paraded in to "Pomp and Circumstance". When their name was called they crossed over a bridge to receive a fun little diploma.

They even moved their yarn tassels over to the right afterwards. Too cute!

Their sweet teacher posed with each of them for photos. The lion is "King", the classroom mascot, and at one point had a graduation cap on as well. It fell off halfway through the kids.

The graduating class of 2010, PM. The girl in the far back row with the light pink dress is one of his best friends. She is very much like Oren and so all our kids get along great.

We're so proud of how well he's done this past year. His teacher said he is one of the best readers and has the nicest handwriting. "He's picked everything up so fast, and was a joy to work with!" Which is so nice to hear after all the drama with Oren the last few years.

Not only are we graduated from Kindergarten, but we celebrated coming to the end of speech therapy! We knew it was coming, but it was kind of bittersweet leaving the clinic for the last time. Miss Gayle has been his therapist for over 2 years now, and has been such a huge blessing in our lives. She was the one who suggested what the problem might be and pushed for Dr. Beck to take his case on even though it was a 1 in 100 shot. She worked him up to 3 times a week, was so sweet to my other boys that William would run up and give her big hugs, and sneaked everyone lollipops all the time. I can't imagine having worked with anyone else, and we'll miss seeing her every week!

Janelle's Wedding

2010-06-12T00:28:00.004-06:00

Audrey and Daniel just looking all cute together. Much better than him kicking her in the head!

Awww... smoochies!

The cake, as promised. By far my favorite, and tasty too!

Nabbing my little guy for a dance. Soon he'll be taller than his dance partners and will be doing this at stake dances. *sniff*

What happens when you give your son the camera to keep him quiet on the way home from the reception?

This one was kind of neat.

And this one.

Made It!

2010-05-31T14:52:00.000-06:00

It's been one crazy week. With 3 trips to Boise in one week, a wedding, a cake... So busy I even forgot Nathan's therapy session! I've only done that one other time in the last 3 years. Yikes!

But we've made it through. The boys have one more school day, early release on Tuesday, and then we're ready for summer. If the weather ever warms up.

I'll be putting up a picture of Janelle's cake when I get home to my beloved computer. The photographer, after I got it all set up on the table, said (and I quote) "That is the best Mormon wedding cake I have ever seen!" It was so refreshing to do something other than white. With the bride's permission (I love my sister!!!!) I got use graduating colors of blue, a different one for each layer, and it turned out gorgeous. It got tons of compliments, and is by far my favorite cake.

Look for a little longer post and some pictures sometime in the next couple days!

Photo update!

2010-05-24T21:51:00.003-06:00

I have been rather remiss at posting photos. And at taking photos. But here are some that I scrounged up from my camera.

Mark's birthday cake, as promised over 3 weeks ago. Design: idea from Oren. Cake: deliciously homemade.

A snow picture? Yes indeed! It was coming down nicely last Saturday as I was scrambling to get ready for our piano recital. I guess we all could have played our Christmas songs again... :-)

Mark and I took the kids out for dinner and bowling Saturday night. Lots of loud music, yummy food, and kids hefting "heavy" bowling balls. Recipe for fun!

Although Daniel wasn't sure about the music blasting and balls crashing...

Nathan kept busy between turns eating all the french fries we had out for snacking and drinking all the soda - a treat they don't get a lot.

Oren was so funny throwing the ball down the lane. Then jumping up and down when the ball would bounce off the bumpers and knock down several pins. He did pretty well, actually, with those bumpers up.

Mark helped William with those ramp things. William would carry the ball over and Daddy would set it up. The he would count down and William would run and shove the ball down. This worked really well and by the end he had a decent score.

And of course, I had Mark take the camera a few times to prove that I was there. Like my mom, I am rarely in pictures. Against the rules to get in a position for a good face shot, since it would have meant standing in the lane, we settled for a "rear" view. I love that black is slimming!

And I was having fun with Daniel at church yesterday, while waiting for singing time to start. Consider these his 7 month pictures. (I know! 7 months!) Apparently I had the picture size set to more of a widescreen so they didn't take the way I thought they would. Still cute though!

Already a little reader.... Just like his momma.

I would have taken a video of him army-crawling his way across the room and attempting to head out the door, but I was playing piano. He's fine being far away from me if it was his idea to crawl off, but heaven forbid if I walk away! :-)

Tada!

2010-05-18T23:07:00.004-06:00

Remember this dresser? I originally posted about it here. It started out with our family as a creamy white, then graduated to baby blue for William.

Now picture this dresser dingy, with stickers everywhere, and one entire drawer front missing all the paint. Not pretty. So I dragged it out to the garage where it sat for .... umm, a couple months.

In order to make Mark happier about all my upcoming wood projects, I promised to finish this one that I had started. 2 different stripping agents, 3 sheets of varying "grittiness" of sandpaper, 5 paintbrushes, a half dozen ragged towel bits, a can of stain, and 2 coats of polyacrylic (it's like polyurathane) later.....

Featuring a red oak stain and a gloss finish, I'm hoping it lasts longer than the painted surface did. Mark is suitable impressed, and since I spent the afternoon clearing lots of space in my garage, I plan on getting to the cutting tomorrow. Although I may steal some 2x4's from something else in there and make some sawhorses first. It would make things lots easier.

And yes, you're right. It is missing the thing on top that made it a changing table, as well as some trim from the front. I yanked it off since I don't use it as a changing table. Why should I when the living room floor or the couch works just as well? That was probably one of the most satisfying things about the whole project... ripping off that ridge part that I'd hated for 4 years!

I'm having so much fun!

Grrrrr.....

2010-05-16T21:02:00.002-06:00

You know the feeling when you have this list of stuff that you want to do really badly? But you can't because there is other junk in the way?

I hate it.

There's this dresser I have to finish before I can start my nightstands. And doggone it, it's taken me over a week to get the paint off it! Between the stipper not working very well, and the 4 very thick layers of paint colors, it's been rough going. You can't really sand off gummy residue... Plus I have to replace the backing because it got mineral spirits all over it and I'm just not going to put that in my children's room.

But there's finally light at the end of the tunnel! Even though my sander battery (it's cordless) has been slowly dying and not holding a charge, the rough sanding is finished. I'm mostly through with the medium sandpaper. The bigger screw holes have been filled and sanded down. I'm sanding by hand at this point - but vow to purchase an electric sander before starting my bookshelves because it's killing my hand!

I'm caught between wanting to hurry this up so I can start something else and wanting to make sure I take my time, doing all the steps, to make sure it is something I can be proud to put in my house. Either way, it will sure feel good when it's done!

Just plain old busy...

2010-05-13T22:17:00.002-06:00

There really isn't much of an excuse for why I haven't posted in a week and a half. I've read blogs, I just haven't had much energy left over to think about what to write! And there isn't much to report from having been so busy either, which is funny.

Let's see...

um....

(see what I mean?)

I've been refinishing a dresser this week. The boys pulled the paint off one entire drawer front so I just hauled it into the garage. We discovered it was real wood, and real pretty at that underneath the paint so I've been in the process of stripping it for a while. Thanks to 4 different paint colors on top of each other, very thick coats, the strippers aren't working very well. Gets most stuff off and the rest is sticky gooey residue that won't scrape and won't sand. So I'm still plugging away to get it all off. Will post a picture when it's finally sanded, stained, and finished!

A good friend of mine tipped me off about a new website... see my sidebar.... that is totally awesome! You too can build nice furniture if you have a saw and a drill! Stuff that looks nice and pricey, that you build yourself with seriously easy plans and well-drawn pictures as you go. Beds, tables, chairs, picnic tables, bookshelves, media centers, sawhorses, play kitchens, sandboxes, and she's working on plans for a raised playhouse and swingset kinda thing. I highly recommend you go check it out. She'll have to planning your DIY list in no time flat!

For instance, I'm putting together 2 nightstands, probably next week, for about $25-30 a piece in wood and hardware. This general style, in real wood, would be more like $100 a piece retail. Yikes! We're planning a loft bed and desk for Oren, who could use a more grown-up space since William is about ready for a twin bed. Also on the docket, a new dining room table, two long benches, and two end chairs! (And maybe a kid-sized picnic table squeezed in there too.)

Strangely, that's all I can recall about this last week. The DIY projects. I know there was lots of babysitting for my friend for her physical therapy sessions. I helped clean Amanda's huge (12-14ft) snake today. The boys played outside, and inside, and at the park. Daniel spins in circles while sitting up. I swept. Mark worked.

Just plain busy!

The Long and Skinny of it...

2010-05-03T13:49:00.003-06:00

is that Daniel is just that. Long and Skinny!

We had his 6 month appointment today. A whopping 14lbs 3oz. Oren and William were just the same... skinny minnies. He crawls out of his pants all the time, cracks us up!

We also have an appointment for Oren on Thursday. We'll be talking to the doctor about seeing a developmental specialist to see if he may have an underlying condition besides the ADHD. Something like Aspergers. It's along the same lines as autism but not as severe. He just has several things that have been going on since kindergarted that may point in that direction, and if my suspicions are correct, he'll get the help he needs at school. An IEP would be a good thing for him. We'll see what happens.

And Mark had a birthday this weekend! He had the most yummiest cake I have ever made, according to all who ate it. His parents came over as a suprise, and helped us clean up the boys's rooms and switch some beds around. Oren is in with Daniel now since Daniel's waking has been upsetting William pretty bad at night. And Nathan and William share now since they go to bed together just fine as long as they don't turn on the light. This won't keep rooms any cleaner, but will let Oren go to bed earlier and hopefully keep William from screaming at Daniel at 2 am... Anyway, I'll post a picture of his birthday cake when I'm not so tired and don't have a screaming infant who just got shots, and all the fun that comes with having little ones.

Boot- Scootin Boogie!

2010-04-26T21:50:00.002-06:00

I love that song, square danced to it for a performance in 6th grade.

Anywho, Daniel was on the floor this morning trying to reach his toy, and he managed to scootch forward a little. Enough that his fingers pushed the toy out of the way. So he scooted up a little more. Before we knew it he had army crawled halfway across the carpet!

He did it several more times today too. My baby is growing up too fast! He just learned how to sit up well by himself last week, and now he's starting to get around a little more? Where is the time going?

As bittersweet as it is, it's always exciting to see them learn and grow.

It was the awesomest!

2010-04-25T00:21:00.002-06:00

I took the kids to the Taco Bell on base earlier this week, for some nachos I was craving. They had a little display that said "Take one", with some red-lettered papers. After closer inspection I realized that they said "Free child's ticket with this coupon!" A circus was coming to town this weekend and they said I could have 3 of them. Hurray!

Even better, upon looking at their website, they were having an adult ticket discount per ticket if you brought a can of food. Circus tickets are still pricey, but since we didn't have to pay for the kids and got our discount, we spent $38 instead of $100! Score!

No cameras allowed, so unfortunately there were no pictures taken.

Daniel bounced on my lap through most of it. William squirmed on Daddy's lap. Nathan sat quietly enjoying all the lights and loud music beats, people flying around. He was thrilled, just had a quieter way of expressing himself. Oren was full of loud approval for all the acts. Too funny.

From the magician whose assistant had, no kidding, 5 different wardrobe changes that each took about 5 seconds ( that was the act, not sure how she did it ) to the motorcycles (2 of them) in the big steel ball driving around in circles... it was a fun 2 hours. This wasn't a huge, Ringling Brothers production, just a small circus. But to the boys it was something they'd never seen, and something they'll remember for a long time. And it may have been small, but even I gasped when the guy almost fell off the big rotating wheel 15 feet in the air because it was moving and the thing it was on was moving and he was blindfolded. And the ladies that dance in the air wrapped in those big silk scarves that they twist around and everything, always beautiful to watch.

They did ask for treats, but no way am I paying $4 for cotton candy. So we told the boys we'd go get treats afterwards. Thank heavens for Sonic, $1.00 jr. candy sundaes on the value menu. Ice cream, candy, hot fudge, oreos, and a cherry on top for just $1.00! Plus, their strawberry limeades are AMAZING! (can you guess what treat I got?)

A late night, but it was so much fun to sit back and watch their little faces light up with each new wonder. These things we've seen bigger, better... we're used to them, we know how they work. But my boys didn't. To them everything was magic. And wonder. Everything a circus should be.

I'm official!

2010-04-22T00:02:00.002-06:00

After much hard work, bleary eyes, and double checking, I finally have come up with enough info on my cakes to have a website! Prices, cake/filling/frosting flavors, all sorts of good stuff.

www.michellescakecreations.webs.com

Let me know what you think! This way I don't have to go "uh...." when people ask me my prices. I can just hand them my card with the site on it, or carry around my price list now that I have it finalized. (except for wedding cakes, which are all custom and tricky to price.) Mark is glad I have set prices that are fair. So am I, since it's my official price list, I won't feel so bad telling people what stuff costs.

And now, off to bed since it is after midnight and I have an 8:30 appointment.

trying but not really succeding...

2010-04-19T23:15:00.002-06:00

Silly me, I sat down and made up sort of a chore chart/schedule/daily plan. type. thing. And I got up this morning, started laundry, checked cat food and water, scooped the litter box like my list said. I was supposed to then prep stuff for dinner, like chop veggies and stuff. But I didn't know what to cook tonight.

So instead I unloaded the dishwasher and loaded it back up, and switched laundry over to the dryer.

So far, so good.

Then I decided to take down the busted up swingset we got for free that the swings are no good anymore. Boy, did that feel good. And weeded a flower bed by my tree. Neither were on my list though. Like, I didn't go pick up 10 random things and put them away.

I swept the living room, into the dining room, only because I had piano lessons this afternoon. On my list, but the junk never made it into the trash can. I never got the laundry folded. I didn't vacumm.

I grilled homemade pizzas for dinner. I did dishes a second time. I gave kids baths. None of which were on my list. So I got a ton done today, why do I still feel like a total failure at this whole housecleaning thing? Just because half the stuff wasn't on my list...

6 months!

2010-04-16T22:39:00.004-06:00

I can't believe that 6 months have flown by already! Pardon the cruddy photos, I'm too tired to edit any.

He's sat in the highchair before for his little meals, but this is the first time I've tossed some of those Gerber puffs and let him have at. He actually got a couple in his mouth! He gets very excited about the packaging though. Like those bags of freeze-dried fruits, he goes nuts and screams when I take it away. Paper too....

He also learned how to sit up! All by his cute little self! The camera moved just before I snapped the picture, but I was trying to get him to smile for me. Such a happy little guy. He doesn't really laugh often, at all, but he smiles all the time. When he's on the floor and I sit there talking to him, he starts kicking and swinging arms like crazy, he's so excited!

He's also very curious about everything. Nursing has been fun lately, because a noise will distract him easily. The boys have a lot of fun with him now that he's so interested in his enviroment.

Tonight was the elementary school's annual fundraising carnival. The kids and I ventured out into the crowd and crazy screaming kids everywhere. Just booths really, set up in the classrooms. You buy little tickets and then play the games to win little prizes, but the kids love it. Being 6:00 and dinnertime, we headed to the cafeteria for some food. Hot dogs and nachos and stuff... A friend was there who we were meeting to hang out with mentioned that Mark was working the serving line. How funny! He never mentioned he was working there tonight. Turns out work was dead at the moment and so they got sent out to volunteer for a while. The kids thought that was pretty neat, getting to tell Daddy what they wanted and Daddy dished it up for them.

And I got to see my sweetie.

They did really well until Oren's meltdown about wanting an animal balloon, from the balloon shaper guy. But the line was horrendous and I was out of tickets. Got him calmed down eventually - he was very tired and his meds had worn off and he was wound up from the bouncy castle. I did get them little balloons on sticks, because they did follow the rules to stay by me and no whining (other than the little meltdown). Poor Nathan's blew away right after we got outside. They chased halfway down the parking lot, while I watched nervously, but gave up when I called them back because the balloon was blowing faster than they were running. He was so upset!

Needless to say, we were all pretty tired when we got home, and they went to bed great for me. Phew! And now I think I'm off to bed as well.

Back to Normal - whatever that is...

2010-04-12T09:44:00.003-06:00

Another cake done, and I am ready to take a break! It's been a whirlwind week for sure, and my poor house has suffered.

And whoever decided that rice krispy layers would be easier than cake was loony. It's no cheaper and no easier. The layer still needs frosted people!

Now I can focus on practicing something for our spring recital, which is in a couple weeks suprisingly. It's sneaking up on me, and I'm just hoping the kids are ready by then. It'd be nice if they would practice everyday like they are supposed to.

The boys had loads of fun with cousins this weekend, a full house as usual. It's wonderful when the family is so big that you have to eat in shifts and standing up becuase the table isn't big enough. And there are lots of adults to help with kids, so they all stayed pretty quiet at church. And while in the waiting room at the temple, I was so proud of all the kids. There were plenty of children there that the attendant had to shush several times, but all our bunch hardly made a peep. They were the best behaved, all the Willford cousins, and just sat quietly reading the
Friend magazines and watching the church videos. We did lose William a couple times while waiting for the happy couple to come out for pictures, he dashed in the door while other people were going in and went straight to the waiting room where he flirted with the attendants until we tracked him down. Then later he escaped after the huge group picture and Mark found him on the other side of the temple grounds! Crazy kid, he's super fast and tiny enough to be quite hard to see.

We have also decided that if his family wants to see us, they'll have to come here until Daniel is older. He cried for 3 of the 5 hours we were on the road last night. It's a 4 hour trip, but we had to keep stopping to feed him and then he'd refuse to eat, just to cry when we gave him up and got back on the road. He was constipated and had a tough morning today trying to clear that up. Which explains some of the fussy yesterday. But mostly he just isn't a fan of car seats and long drives.

All in all, it's just nice to be back, and just dealing with the normal chaos we're used to!

Hurray!

2010-04-08T13:33:00.002-06:00

There's a new cake posted on my cake blog. The flowers alone took me 2 days, plus the leaves and bases, assembling the flowers on wires, wiring the bouquets together, took another 2 days. Then there was the baking, filling, crumb coating, and frosting... another day. Finally today was the actual decorating with the ribbon and string work...

The kicker was that the bottom layers I did in advance and froze. When I went to stack them with the filling, they literally crumbled! I had to go get more mix and bake them all over again!!!

This is why I will never charge less than $125-$150 for a tiered wedding cake. Never again. I'll have another cake to post after this weekend, for my sister-in-law's wedding!

Easter Eggstravaganza!

2010-04-06T23:08:00.001-06:00

Okay, I didn't really know what to put for a title. We had a busy weekend, full of chaos and powdered sugar. Mark's sister and her 4 boys came for a visit this weekend. 8 boys, age 8 and under. Yeah, crazy is an understatement. 8, 7, 5, 5, 3, 2, 5 months, and 5 months. But we had a lot of fun, and the kids loved playing with their cousins. On Saturday afternoon, we filled some plastic eggs and Mark hid them during lunch. Then we released the kiddos.

And away they go!

Nathan got a hold of one that had split open and the candy had fallen out. He's in the process of dropping the half he was holding and was about to throw himself backwards onto the lawn. After which I informed him that the candy was just under the trampoline and since it was wrapped, it was just fine to stick in his basket.

"Where are those eggs?!?"

Oren spied one in the crook of a tree in the corner. That boy was quick!

It was a bit chilly, so we threw a blanket on Daniel and toted him around the backyard. Stephanie actually made this blanket for me as a suprise, and we use it all the time. So snuggly! And it's hilarious when his little toesies stick up through the holes... Cutsie tootsies!

As for the powdered sugar, I have been working on 2 wedding cakes, both due this weekend. One for a sister in a different ward, and one for Mark's baby sister. I spent all Saturday and Sunday listening to conference from the dining room making royal icing bluebells, bases, and leaves. Then putting the flowers on the bases on wires. Then wiring them all together into bouquets to place on the cake after assembly. Next came making gum paste (like fondant but dries much harder) daisies and blue apple blossoms. Put on bases on wires. Shaping leaves. Painting the center of the flowers silver. And assembling/wiring into swag/sprays that will cascade down the layers.

From Saturday to today (tuesday) I've spent a good 24 hours total on these flowers. I have one spray halfway done, and have to make a few more apple blossoms to do the top spray and then all the flowers are done. I start prepping and filling layers tomorrow, and will frost and decorate the first one for delivery Thursday. Then we'll head out to Rigby Friday and I'll do the other cake there. Phew! I think I'm going to need a nice massage at the spa when I get back.

Our 1st Outing...

2010-03-30T09:50:00.004-06:00

Friday was the last day of school before Spring Break, so we wanted to celebrate a little. The kids and I loaded up in the van and headed to Pizza Hut. This was the first time I have taken all 4 kids to a sit down restaurant by myself, so I was really hoping good behavior. And I got it! (Of course, the fact that I threatened to walk out the door without the pizza if they went crazy didn't hurt.)

Daniel was in a highchair for the first time as well, and tipped over a lot. In the end I tucked a coat in around him so I could use both hands for the pizza. I supposed this qualifies as his 5 month pictures as well, since I didn't take them on the 13th like I planned.

While the rest of us were chewing our cheesy bread, he went straight for the edge of the table. Yumm!

Waiting patiently for our appetizer. He's getting a lot better at coloring in the lines. Even if everything was colored green...

I'm so glad they provide crayons and paper!

Studious as always.

All in all, a very successful outing, and I was quite proud of their good behavior. At Pizza Hut anyway. I then pushed my luck at Walmart afterwards, and that's a totally different story. But then... what was I thinking?

Tag Time!

2010-03-29T09:53:00.002-06:00

It's been a while since we had a tag go around, and I found this while digging through past posts. So here goes!

7 Random Things tag: Rules: think of 7 totally random facts you want us to know. Post them, and tag 2 people. Let's see how odd we really are!

Fact #1 - I had cereal, and then a sandwhich for breakfast. Then more cereal an hour later.

Fact #2 - My music theory test gets sent here today.

Fact #3 - William put toothpaste in Daddy's dirty laundry, and it all went through the dryer. White toothpaste spots all over everything! :-)

Fact #4 - Spring break just started, and I can't see much getting done with all the kids around to make messes.

Fact #5 - We're watching America's Funniest Home Videos right now.

Fact #6 - William flushed a toy down the toilet again.

Fact #7 - Daniel peed through his diaper all over my bed just now.

That's actually pretty hard! Okay, I tag Stephanie and Melinda!

The 500th Post

2010-03-28T00:12:00.004-06:00

I've been thinking the last couple days just how I wanted to honor my 500th post. It's been tough, there's been so much that has happened since I randomly ran into Rachel on Messenger and she introduced me to the wonderful world of blogs.

There's been 2 Christmas's. Several birthdays. An anniversary.

Deciding to place Oren on medications. Adjusting those medications. Deciding to put me on medications.

Deciding to go off those medications to have another baby. A pregnancy announcement, discovering we were to be blessed with our 4th son, a delivery announcement.

Messy house, summer fun, snowfalls, first ice cream cones, and sleepy boys who nap on the floor.

Big bright blue eyes, first day of school, soccer games, lost teeth, good times with friends.

It's been a fun 500 posts, and may the next 500 have more photos and even more fun!

Just give me a match

2010-03-24T22:11:00.002-06:00

At this moment I just want to burn down the house and start all over again. It's not filthy or anything, just all these little projects that need my attention. And I'm busy studying for my music theory test (yikes!), teaching piano lessons, trying to find clean underwear for boys, avoid calling for pizza delivery...

Things like: getting Daniel's baby blanket cut; fold a mountain of laundry; finding a free weekend for a date night as we haven't had one since the night before Daniel was born. Seriously. Oren and Nathan came with us to Marie's play so we can't count that. All the houseplants need watering badly, dust collecting on my pottery collection in the dining room. The door to the entertainment center needs finished and reattached after Nathan broke it off.

All these random things keep bugging me, and I just don't see when I'll have time to do any of them with all the prep for the 2 wedding cakes I have due in a couple weeks. I have to clean for Mark's sister and her 4 boys coming beginning of April. And practicing a song for the spring recital in May.

But I do have moments of victory. This morning I made bread, since we've been out for a couple days. I sorted a bunch of socks and threw out several with holes in them. The porch got swept yesterday since we had a huge mess of tumbleweeds shedding pokey branches in the last big windstorm. Maybe those moments of victory will start snowballing soon instead of all the things that I can't keep up with.

hurray for me!

2010-03-16T21:42:00.002-06:00

Okay, there is no before picture, because it was just too gross. But maybe I'll post an after when I'm done.

It took me nearly all day, but I've gotten most of the boys's bathroom clean! I am simply amazed at what little boys can do to a bathroom. Good luck Rachel... *wink* That's why there is no before shot. It is my humble opinion that Soft Scrub is among the best cleansers known to woman. With bleach of course! What else would get the stains off the counter and tub? FYI- sidewalk chalk leaves bright colored stains on porous counter tops...

It took me so long because I was lettung the cleaner sit to bleach the stains. And because Daniel would be fine for all of 2 minutes on his blanket on the floor before starting to scream. And evern when I got him sleeping and laid down, that only gave 5 minutes. I timed it. He took a ton of catnaps today because he was tired but wouldn't stay asleep! Made for a grumpy baby, frustrated mommy, and a 30 minute chore into not even being finished yet.

But, the sink is scrubbed, tub is pink free, and toilet is thoroughly disinfected and shiny. The trash can and training potty are soaking to remove "misses" from little boys, and I just have mirrors and floors left. Whew!

Great job Nathan!

2010-03-15T22:06:00.003-06:00

We talked to Nathan's speech therapist last week, and it's good news. Okay, it's great news! After being in therapy since he was just over 3, going 2 to even 3 times a week at one point, tough tests and uncomfortable x-rays, and2 major surgeries....

He should be done by the end of the school year! As in: done with therapy. No more visits. No more dragging William to sit in the boring waiting room.

He's done such a great job, he knows how to make his sounds right although he sometimes will focus the air through his nose instead of his mouth because it feels familiar. But when reminded he gets the air pushing through the right way. So smart! So she feels that he should be fine-tuned enough to just check in maybe once a month to make sure the surgery hasn't slipped or anything. And that won't really be therapy, just a "making sure" sort of thing.

Of course, we've enjoyed Miss Gayle. She plays the fun games, and always has treats and crafts for the holidays. Even William gets excited to go to "Miss Gayle's Office!" Such a sweetheart! And was the first person to have even a glimmer of an idea of what was wrong with him and who to send him to for further testing, diagnosing, and correcting. She was completely right! I don't know what we would have done without her the last 2 years, she's an angel on earth.

But it's still nice to see light at the end of the tunnel.

Ode to Oatmeal

2010-03-11T22:16:00.002-07:00

Steel Cut Oats. Where have you been all my life? Why is it that I only recently found out about your nutty goodness?

When I place you in the crockpot at night, I awaken to the perfect breakfast. You are what oatmeal is supposed to be! Chewy, textured, creamy, nutty... topped with syrup, sugar, fruit, cream...

You are even more amazing when I make lots of extra servings, and I store you in the fridge! If my family would stop eating you, a batch would last a week. But they love you just as much as I. Alas, that's what I get for being generous with a good thing.

You are even frugal friendly. One small cup of you makes 4 hefty servings. Bought in bulk at my local Winco, you will feed my family many happy meals while being happy on my checkbook!

(1 cup oats to 4 cups water. Place in crockpot, turn on high for about an hour, and then switch to warm for the rest of the night. Add fruit after cooking or it will be really gross. Recipe can be doubled and then fits a 5 quart crockpot just fine.)

My Day in Court

2010-03-08T22:38:00.003-07:00

For those who don't remember my little misdemeaner situation with that car accident in January: I looked back at Daniel, ended up gently rear-ending a guy, and got stuck with a misdemeaner.

Well, the pre-trial was today, with my public defender. For starters, he was an hour late. It was my understanding that we were supposed to talk and then he would go talk to the prosecuters and try to work a deal. That's what I was told by his office anyway.

Nope, he took me to conference, said "I looked at the notes. Misdemeaner charge is standard for innatentive driving. You should have told the officer you were following too close, not that you looked back. (telling me to lie to an officer?) You can either accept the charges today, pay court costs, restitution for the victim who is still in physical therapy (for a sore neck? give me a break...) and blah blah blah."

Option B is that I could schedule a court trial, no jury, with the possibility of the prosecuters reducing the charge to following too closely, which is an infraction, and paying a fine so long as my insurance has paid the victim's medical stuff. Umm, I thought that was what the pretrial was for? Working a deal? He suggested I do the court thing. Okay, fine. I told him that we were darn lucky the baby was asleep the whole time, and that I have to bring him to trial with me since he won't take bottles. And that if he got hungry, I'd just have to nurse him in the court room and hope the judge didn't mind....! I got there at 2:00, my appt was at 2:15, I didn't get called until 3:15. I had to wait some more, and didn't get out of there until just after 4, so of course I had to pay for the 3rd hour of parking even though I only used 10 minutes of it. $7.50!

Lucky my last-minute sitter was okay with having the older 2 for longer after school than I thought. I'll be watching her kids tomorrow and hopefully will have her brownies done by then. I ran back to base to pick them up, and then had to go into town to get William and do a piano lesson. So I left the house at 12:30, dropped off William, ran to Boise, sat at the courthouse for 2 1/2 hours just to find out I have to go to trial anyway, fed a baby who woke up starving, drove home in torrents of rain, picked up kids at various places, had dinner at Amanda's, did a piano lesson, helped pick up the room they were playing in, and finally made it home about 9:00. Whew!

Wonder how tomorrow will be?

For Mom-

2010-03-08T22:21:00.002-07:00

Okay, I got scolded for the not-so-flattering photo of my dear, sweet mother. *wink* So I promised to post something that doesn't have her screwing up her face.

There you go, Mom! Love you!

Grandpa's Birthday Party

2010-03-06T22:32:00.006-07:00

We wandered down to Grandpa's birthday this afternoon. True to Danes form, we got there a good hour late and nobody had eaten yet. They were just saying prayer! Yummy potato/chili bar, and salads. I made one out of a cookbook Jim and Connie gave us when we got married, and everybody loved it. I didn't take a picture though, I forgot, so I'll have to make it again and snap away. Afterwards Grandpa told some stories, his voice was so soft it was hard to hear and unfortunately Daniel was really (understatement) fussy and gassy to I had to leave to take care of him.

Some people couldn't keep their eyes open. Guess that happens when you know the stories by heart! :-)

There was a game going on in the back, don't know what but it looked fun. Sluffing Grandpa's story, for shame...

Mom was helping clean up. Don't know what prompted this look, but I thought it was hilarious.

After I finally got Daniel settled, fed, and to sleep, Janelle stole my camera and got one of the few pictures ever taken of this reclusive creature. A mom.

Nathan came in from the hallway to watch the game.

Tracking down all the kiddos, roaming the halls.

When William saw me with the camera, he would walk a little down the hallway, turn and say "Cheese!" and then keep going.

Poor baby. I snapped this just after he bonked his face on Daddy's head. Daddy was just complaining about the drool, which he knew was coming. Babies drool!

I tried uploading a video of Aunts Karen, Annette and Lanita, singing a song with Grandpa about the soldier in his uniform coming home. Something like that, I think they said Grandma used to sing it or something. I came in just after they talked about the song. I'll try again in another post, it was a fairly long video so I don't know if it'll work.

It was lots of fun seeing everybody. Then we loaded up and hit Winco for some needed bulk items, and Panda Express for a really big dinner where we stuffed ourselves and I made Mark drive home so I could nap. Whew!

update- The MB limit is 100 megs, and the video is 320 something. Shoot! Sorry....

I did it!

2010-03-03T22:06:00.002-07:00

I was looking into different ways to learn to be a better piano teacher, and happened across an online music academy offering technical degrees in piano pedagogy. The study of teaching piano. 6 2-week courses including music theory, music history, teaching as a business, and practical application - where I would shadow a professional teacher and assist in 3 lessons. Where I would find a professional I don't know, but that's at the end of the curriculum.

Mark and I discussed it, and decided that further education to learn how to teach more effectively for different skill levels was a wise thing to do, since I love teaching so much. He gave the okay, and I requested an application. I was able to locate my last piano instructor and ask for a letter of recommendation, and one of my piano parents agreed to write me one as well, which was part of the application process.

After trying to think of all the musical qualifications I could come up to help me get into this course, and working with the wording to sound more professional, my application was complete. I sent it in this afternoon, and once they receive the letters of recommendation, they'll review my application and let me know if I got in.

I am so excited at the prospect of furthering my education, which is funny, because I never really thought that I would someday crave taking classes and learning things. I want to exercise my mind, stretch my horizons a little. I've been feeling a little stagnant lately. I took cake classes, but that was several years ago. Several things have been on my mind, including the feeling that I need to prepare myself and learn what I can to help provide for our family's future. I may not ever make a living off teaching piano, but having the necessary skills to teach properly will play in my favor when advertising new students and hopefully will ensure that I don't have a large lull when the current batch moves, as is common on a base. And becoming a better teacher will help me feel justified in what I charge for my time.

Crossing my fingers it all comes together quickly and I get in, and that I do well!

Waiting

2010-03-02T15:11:00.004-07:00

Waiting for lots of things.

Waiting for the boys to get home from school. Waiting for the dryer to finish so William can wear clothes to piano lessons. Waiting for Daniel to fall asleep so I can type two-handed.

Waiting for the energy to start going to the gym. Waiting until my pants fall apart before I go bu new ones so I can fool myself into believing I didn't need them because I gained back all 20+ lbs of weight I lost while pregnant.

Waiting for news about an issue at work that may determine a lot. Any news. Waiting for the new name tapes for Mark's uniform. Waiting for Mark to get home from work and tell me about his day.

Waiting for a response on a favor I asked a friend reqarding a letter of recommendation to be sent to a course/school I am trying to get into. Waiting to send my application in while I hunt down back-up letters. Soon I'll be waiting to hear if I was accepted.

Waiting for the cleaning fairy to come work magic on my kitchen. Waiting until the hazmat crew clears us for entry into my children's rooms to find all the missing socks. Waiting until morning to get more ice cream at the store.

Waiting on new wax bars from Scentsy. Waiting for the right moment to finally own a home to choose scents for. Waiting for spring, for my bulbs to come up and my pansies to bloom. Waiting until there are new buds to prune back my rose bushes.

Waiting far too late to go to bed, once again.

Daniel - awake - 4 months

2010-02-24T11:13:00.002-07:00

I finally remembered to take pictures of Daniel awake. Look at those big eyes! He doesn't really love tummy time, but I make him occasionally. Can't get those strong muscles if he doesn't exercise them. :-)

Wheeee! I'm flying!

We got out our Johnny Jump-up thing and hung it in the doorway. Nathan loved this thing, and William liked it well enough too. So we thought we'd try Daniel out in it, since he's been standing on our laps for over 2 months. Strong legs.... He enjoyed standing and twisting around while chewing the edge for a few minutes, and then got hungry and his arm stuck. Please ignore the paper mess behind him.

We sure enjoy having him in our family. He can be a bit demanding, but those toothless smiles are worth it!

Shame on Me.

2010-02-22T13:24:00.002-07:00

I have got to quit making awesome food and forgetting to take pictures of it. Like last night, I did some sweet and sour ribs in the crockpot, til almost fall-apart. Then finished them off in the oven and served them with the reduced and thickened sauce. Yumm! We had friends over and she warned me that her oldest daughter loves ribs. Loves is an understatment. I'm thinking 3 1/2 lbs just wasn't enough and next time I'll have to do 5 or 6 lbs. My crockpot can hold it.

I feel very productive today, which is good because even though we cleaned the house about 2 weeks ago, it's turned into a disaster. The laundry is backed up again, counters are full of stuff, toys all over the boys's bedrooms. But we got new couches over the weekend, and so my living room got scoured to make room. And it looks so nice that I want to make the other rooms match. So this morning, I did dishes, started laundry and switched some out to the dryer, swept and vacummed, scrubbed the table, and got rid of old papers. Whew! Then I remembered to eat breakfast...

It's just sad that I can clean and tomorrow it won"t look like it.

My own personal rollercoaster...

2010-02-19T21:53:00.002-07:00

I have learned that I really need to be careful what I wish for. Because I just may get it.

I wished really hard to deliver at St. Lukes this time. I got it, with a great doctor.

I wished for a good doula and a perfect labor/delivery. I got it.

I wished for nursing to work. And I got it. How is this good and bad? Well, for starters, there was the nursing constantly the whole time at the hospital and about a week afterwards. I had no intentions of pacifier use, but I ate my words fairly quickly. Yet I was somehow proud that all he wanted was to be with his momma (and her milk buddies).

But there was the reflux and arching and having to sleep with us at night because he wanted held and was uncomfortable. And then there was the almost 2 months starting around Christmas where he wouldn't nurse unless I was laying down on my side. That was a long 2 months.

And the 2 bad episodes of low milk supply thanks to getting put on my medications. Both of which Fenugreek has saved my sanity. And I had the hardest time getting a hold of more when I ran out, so this last episode was not good at all. But everythings good now, it works wonders. Still, nursing every 30-60 minutes for 2 days straight was not enjoyable.

Why did I do this you may ask? Because the stinker refuses to take bottles! At all! He'll play with it and bite it, but then gets mad that milk comes out. Heaven forbid you offer it when he's starving, because he'll scream the house down until I get home. 3 different bottles, and 5-6 different nipples... I sort of lost count. Breastmilk or formula, doesn't matter. He doesn't want either one. So I don't know what to do with the nearly 30 bags of breastmilk in my freezer.

Of course, nothing really beats my 4month old with the gorgeous eyes pulling off midway through his meal, just to give me a huge, toothless smile, and latch back on. And blowing lovely spitbubbles at me when he's all done. Or the cute way he tries to curl up like a rollie-pollie and chew my shoulder when he's hungry. And yes, I can finally nurse sitting up. The boppy pillow, that he didn't want anything to do with, and that I nearly got rid of, has now become acceptable. So as long as I take it everywhere I go, I can nurse..... good grief. :-)

Sleepy Head

2010-02-17T22:36:00.002-07:00

Took me 3 tries to spell the title right. I'm tired I think....

Daniel was sleeping on the couch this evening. He sleeps there a lot, because of the noise. He likes it and doesn't wake up as much sleeping in here as he does in his room during the day. He was so cute and peaceful that I just had to play with my camera. 4 months old last Saturday! I'll take awake pictures maybe tomorrow.

I love baby toes!

Just playing around with stuff. I liked his stripey shirt. And the way he sucks in his lower lip a little when he's asleep. We think he did that in utero, because just minutes after birth, he started sucking on his lower lip. He tried doing it while nursing and our doula caught it and helped us fix it early.

Oren wanted in on the fun. Why not? He does have the biggest blue eyes...

Anyway, just having fun with the camera. And the fact that my subject couldn't go anywhere.

"This bed is too BIG"

2010-02-17T08:42:00.002-07:00

said my little Goldilocks.

We had some friends over last night, and after dinner William disappeared. I was tired and the house was noisy and Daniel was fussing so I didn't even really notice except to see that he didnt' finish his taco. I knew he was somewhere around, but just figured he'd pop in the room again.

Guess not! I went into my room to lay Daniel down on the bed, it's more quiet than the rest of the house with 6 kids playing in the hallway, and suprise! William had decided to take a nap in my bed after dinner. He had a good 2 hour nap. Which meant he was up way after 11, when I put him in his bed. I think he finally fell asleep around midnight? Lovely...

Title?

2010-02-11T08:55:00.005-07:00

I guess this is just some random update thoughts, like Rachel's post. Most of what I do is random anyway!

Oren had another appointment to check how his new meds were doing, so we could switch to his other med. But suprise! The kiddo gained 1 1/2 pounds in one week! We didn't expect that, so we're keeping him on the Adderol, and just upped it a tad to help at school since the tiny dose wasn't as good as we had hoped. It will be nice to have him not look like skin and bones, a skeleton. Slim is one thing, but he was way more than slim.

And Daniel started rice cereal this week! And loves it! He's been eyeing our food for a few days, from plate to mouth. He sits up great in his bumbo (heaven bless my friend for loaning to me so I didn't have to fork over $40) so we gave it a shot. I didn't even have to buy the cereal, since my friend Amanda had some left over. He was grabbing the spoon and helping me put it in his mouth! I would have taken pictures, but the tiny amounts on the spoon didn't really make a mess. Now, the first plate of spaghetti I'll definitely take shots of. :-)

Last week was a bad week. For me. I even called my mom by Friday night having a little mini breakdown or something, not sure what was up with that. But after starting my Concerta (for the ADHD) and my Lamictal (for bipolar) is still getting larger doses as we work up to the full management dose, I am doing much better. Even with it being a stimulant, Daniel doesn't seem to have a problem with the Concerta like I was worried he might. And it hasn't affected my milk supply so far. Yay!

---- It is now evening. And I want lots of ice cream! At one point I had 9 kids here. I babysat a friend's 2 daughters. Then she picked up her daughter, Oren and Nathan, and another boy from school. They ended up staying here to play for a while, because apparently my house is the preferred place to play. The boy's mom brought over his sister for a bit so she could run to the store. And then I had a piano lesson! Whew! A long evening.... yet somehow I managed a yummy steak and homemade rice pilaf dinner in between lessons. Yumm!

Aaaand..... I have a cake job! A friend who used to be in our ward gave my name to a lady in her new ward, who called and asked if I could do a wedding cake for her son's wedding. She needs it the same day as my sister-in-law, so I'll do all the flowers in advance for both cakes, and drop hers off at the church up here 2 days before, and take my sis-in-law's over to Rigby for her reception. I think I will be glad to have that week over and done with, and I won't be making a lot of money off the job, but I've never done the setup that this lady wants, so it will be good experience. And may mean more jobs in the future. I have until April. And then I'm doing Janelle's wedding cake in May. Hurray!

Now I think I'll go get some ice cream and then go to bed before Daniel wakes up and wants to nurse yet again.

Day on the town

2010-02-05T22:22:00.002-07:00

Today was some sort of teacher inservice day, so the kids had the day off of school. I had an appointment in Boise, so we loaded everybody up and headed out. Fun isn't quite the word I'd use, but it wasn't a half bad day.

For starters, my doctor is putting me on Concerta for the ADHD. And scolded me for not getting enough sleep.... which is why I loaded everybody... so Mark could drive. Hopefulle that will improve some issues. And this time, we didn't crash the car on the way to lunch!

Daniel had issues all day until we got home. Because he will only nurse when I am laying down, that made for an interesting feeding situation. I brought my pump in case he wouldn't nurse so I wouldn't explode, but somehow forgot the handle that works the whole thing. Man, hand expressing hurts! I also had a thermos of warm water and formula powder. He wouldn't take either breastmilk or formula from the bottle, and so spent most of the morning/afternoon either screaming at us or sleeping. We felt so bad, but if he won't take it, what are we suppposed to do? I even laid the seat all the way back so he'd at least eat the side he doesnt' fight me on, so he got something. But it was a long day so it sort of bit that I had so many things I needed to do while in town.

But, I was able to find the cake pillars and plates I need for my sister-in-laws wedding cake. Otherwise I'd have to order them and that can take a few weeks. So, nice to know how much they are and where I can get them. Mark got his glasses fixed. I picked up the music books I needed for a couple students, and a couple new folios that caught my eye. (books with lots of songs) Nathan fell off his chair at McDonalds and scraped up his chin really well. He was wiggling around after we told him he needed to sit still, so I was kind of irked when an employee brought him stickers to help him feel better.

I also have a new appreciation for Payless employees and boys who are decisive. Payless was our last stop of the day, since Nathan's shoes were falling apart and Oren's were a bit snug. The nice young man measured their feet quilcky and helped me figure out what sizes they needed to have some room to grow. Once we got to the right section, the boys found what they wanted within minutes! Nathan opted for easy velcro, and Oren chose some basic slip-ons. We threw the old shoes away and the guys let them wear the shoes out of the store. Hurray! Happy feet! In and out in 10 minutes.... not half bad.

Home for a 5 minute snooze while feeding a very hungry baby, and then an hour teaching piano. I have a student learning Fur Elise, and we're struggling with the concept of 32nd notes being 16th notes and all that. Finding where the beat is and where the notes are in relation to each other. But she's good, and determined, and that helps. But after that I was exhausted again.

So I took another quick nap and went down to Walmart. Yes, my day wasn't over. I needed to pick up my prescription. Turns out they got one of them wrong because the way the doctor wrote it out, but they agreed to fill my other one last minute so I didn't make the trip for nothing. Take and bake pizza for dinner tonight!

And now I want nothing more than to go to bed, because my face hurts from clenching my jaw last night, my eyes are burning and don't want to stay open, and I haven't managed more than 5-6 hours a night for over a week. But Mark is playing the piano right not, at 10:30pm, and I'd never get to sleep!

Yippee!

2010-02-01T07:36:00.004-07:00

Mark's car is done, and we are picking it up this morning. It's been a long 3 weeks, and it was a definite reminder of why we have 2 vehicles. Holy cow. I miss that little purple thing. :-)

I went to Boise Friday to plead on my ticket. I decided to fight the misdemeaner charge, because I think it was ridiculous and the situation didn't warrant the charge. A nice long morning, but I have a pretrial date for March and a trial date for April in case we can't resolve it at the pretrial. I'll pay a fine, go to defensive driving class, deduct license points... whatever. Just don't stick a criminal charge on my clean record!

Oren is going through a medication adjustment. At his appointment last week, we talked about how he started meds at 12% height for weight. Now he's 4%. There is a special request med that has been known to help kids like him have a better appetite and gain a little more weight while controlling his symptoms, but he has to fail on 2 other meds to get on it. So we've "failed" the Concerta for lack of weight gain. And he started Adderol for 2 weeks and will "fail" on that because of course he won't gain a ton of weight on it. Then the doctor can prescribe Viavace for him. But gettting the Concerta out of his system, adjusting to the Adderol, getting that out and adjusting to the Viavace is going to make for a fun month. We've already had 3 boxes of tissue made into snow, baby powder ALL over my bathroom, and major pencil chewage. Plus several meltdowns since the new med is making him very over-emotional.

The boys were playing so nicely together that I had to take a picture. They had been fairly well behaved all evening, just being so nice and quiet. But not too quiet, the kind that means trouble.

So this mess was a huge shocker! They were "using their imaginations!" to quote Oren, the mastermind of the whole thing. This is what 3 boxes of tissues looks like when pulled out, shredded, and tossed about like a snowstorm.

Nathan has gotten even taller somehow recently. I'll be suprised if he doesn't hit 6 feet by adulthood. He's doing great in school, and has really picked up on reading. It's very suprising hearing them both spout off facts that they've read or learned... because it's stuff I didn't teach them. He just loves helping with "baby Daniel" and is always at the ready with a toy or pacifier. He's been into helping William get snacks too, which is both good and bad. The nutella sandwich for breakfast I could have done without, but the grapes and carrots after lunch was fine. :-)

William loves his little brother too, and takes great pride in holding him carefully, giving him his pacifier while when he cries and I'm trying to take care of dinner. He lost a shoe, and so wore either his Sunday shoes, or mixmatched snow boots for 2 weeks until I gave up trying to find this thing and just grabbed the next size up out of my hand-me-down shoe box. They're big, but they match! So many people at the school laughed and said "I remember those days!" instead of judging me. I love this school! He loves to copy his daddy which is hilarious when the legos fell over yesterday and he spouts off "By Gad Almighty!" Which is Daddy's go to when he's frustrated. Daddy wasn't quite sure what to think of his son's language...

And Daniel is just growing like a weed! We had some issues with milk supply last week and I thought it was done for. But I've been taking blessed thistle and fenugreek and drinking lots of water, plus letting him sleep with us for several nights to nurse as much as he wanted, seems to have taken care of the problem. At least, he's going a couple hours now and is happy after nursing, even in the evening. Whew! Although, he still won't nurse unless I'm laying down. And now he even prefers the bed to the couch. Here I was praying hard that it would work this time, and now I can totally see myself having to nurse laying down until he weans at a year. Good grief. If I lost weight while nursing that'd be fine, but I gain.... But we'll probably be starting cereal in a few weeks when he turns 4 months, we'll see how his checkup goes.

And, he rolled over onto his tummy yesterday! Daddy saw it, but I only saw him roll back over onto his back.

Life is fun!

2010-01-27T17:44:00.002-07:00

And crazy too.

We've just been good and busy this week. My dad and brother Owen came by Friday to fix Dad's car, and stayed the night to finish it Saturday. We had fun with homemade pizza and a movie. I knew my pizza was good, but I caught Owen licking his plate! :-)

Then Saturday evening we met up with Mark's baby sister and her fiance at the Wingers that just opened in town and enjoyed a yummy dinner. Their original Amazing sauce really is amazing! They had come to Boise to check out a school he wants to attend next fall, and so they stayed Saturday night and went to church with us Sunday. I'm doing her wedding cake in April, so we hammered out the sketch for it and decided on the little details. We are both very excited, but it's going to take a lot of advanced prep to pull it off.

Oren had an appointment yesterday to check his weight since we adjusted his medication. He's gone from being in the 12% for height/weight, to the 4% range. Getting too low for my taste and the doctor's. So we are switching his meds to one that has been known to help with weight gain for kids like Oren. But to get on that one he has to fail 2 others. He's failed on the Concerta, so he's now on Adderol for 2 weeks. Since he won't gain a lot of weight in 2 weeks we can "fail" him on that and then the doctor can prescribe the Viavace he wants Oren on. Whew! Hope this works!

And it may have taken 3 months, but Daniel is finally on a sort of schedule! Nursing is a bit iffy right now, as my medication increases my milk supply has been doing odd things. So I'm taking fenugreek and have blessed thistle being shipped to be here tomorrow. I'm going to fight a bit more to breastfeed, but I will have no shame when I finally say - enough. It's been an uphill battle with this one, issue after issue. But it's so satisfying when we have a good day that it makes me want to do what I can to keep it going. At least in part. I don't mind supplementing if he needs it.