Last day of school 2010

Today was the kids' last day of school. Silly me forgot to take pictures of the teacher gifts for Justin and Trevor's teachers. Oh well. I haven't had enough sleep lately anyway! Trevor's teacher got a gold colored transparent pitcher with fresh lemons in it. She's a big ASU fan because her husband works there so we thought they'd get a lot of use out of it during parties. Trevor wrote her a nice note thanking her for being such a good teacher for the last two years. Justin's homeroom teacher is a huge crafting and scrap booking fanatic like me so I found a bunch of ribbon, a ream of coordinating decorative card stock, a scalloped edge chipboard scrapbook and a brown and blue scrapbook tote bag. Everything in there was on sale so even though there was a lot it didn't end up costing much. I love finding great deals!
Being a room mom for Natalie's class meant that a few of the other moms and I worked together to compile contributions for a large group gift. We ended up collecting $175 from the families. Then I painted a terra cotta pot pink, painted Drew's hands and put hand prints on the pot with the date. One of the other moms cut out tons of cute card stock flowers and put them on wooden skewers. They were delivered to me, and I wrapped the stems with green chenille pipe cleaners. Then I passed it onto the mom who got the gift cards. She put the cards on the flowers and wrapped it up. It looked darling.
Melody, one of the moms made a scrapbook page with all the kids, then went in with a card and had the kids all sign it. She picked up food from McDonald's, and after we passed it out we presented Natalie's teacher with her gift. We made Mrs. Dede cry because she loved it so much. I had Drew with me, and expected him to stay pretty close to me the entire time. What surprised me was that Natalie also chose to sit next to me the entire time. She usually comes and says hi, or gives me a shy and embarrassed smile but she usually will stay with her friends. Today she stayed with me the entire time.
Now that the end of school craziness is over I need to start preparing for Sunday. I stupidly answered the call, knowing it was going to be to speak in church on Sunday. I still don't know why I did that, but I did, and now Kent and I are speaking in church on Sunday. At least it's a holiday weekend so we shouldn't have a ton of people there to witness this. I've tried repeatedly to start looking up the topic, but I just can't get into it. It is a topic with a lot of material to choose from, but I can't focus. Hopefully I'll sleep well tonight and then i can work tomorrow. i sure hope so!

One more thing...

If you haven't been on Facebook recently I just announced that I'm down 30 pounds. I chopped my hair into an A-line bob and touched up the color. From my father I have inherited a bit of gray hair a little earlier than I think is reasonable. (I think 50 is reasonable to expect a bit of gray, don't you?) I am hoping to continue losing more over the next several months. Hopefully our Christmas pictures will have a slimmer version of me!

End of the school year

Wow, it's already arrived... the end of another school year. Things are a little crazier this year than previous years because of last week's surgery. I'm hopeful that it will take care of the issues I've had with my back. I think it might because within an hour of the surgery my back pain was equal to the surgery pain. I guess I won't know for a few weeks if it will help my back too, but not having to deal with the issues that have plagued me for the last 20+ years I'm cautiously optimistic.
Drew is so excited that he's finishing preschool. He's going to miss Miss Judi because she was a great teacher. He has developed a strong love of reading. He tolerates coloring and writing. But if I ask him to take a note for me he gets excited. He has his graduation ceremony on Wednesday morning so we'll get some fun pictures of that.
Natalie bridged from Daisy Scouts to Brownies this afternoon. She is very excited to move up. She's also getting ready for her birthday party. We're doing a 1970's theme so it should be fun. I was really stumped as to what we should do this year. She wanted to invited 26 (!!!) people. I had to put the kibosh on that. We've pared the list down to 20, but since it's going to be in June this time I'm hoping that we'll be closer to 10-12 people. Trying to come up with the wording for the invitation was fun. I googled a bunch of 70's information, and I was laughing so hard. The slang was Hilarious! She is also getting ready for her dance recital in a few weeks. She's got 3 costumes, and loves them all.
Trevor just earned his Webelos badge, his religious knot and his Arrow of Light award last week. Only a few people have earned all of those things so we were very proud of him for doing so much work. He's already started earning Merit Badges for Boy Scouts. He also reached his A.R. goal for this last quarter of school so he gets to participate in a party tomorrow in class.
Justin had one last project due for school that he finished tonight. It was his class called the History of Rock and Roll. I would have been all over that at his age. He had to make a concert poster for the Beatles and Rolling Stones. Lucky! Another thing I like is the school lets the kids choose between being in band and P.E. for the whole year (3 and 2 days respectively) or they can take drama, dance, P.E. and choir for one quarter each. Justin had absolutely no interest in being in band so he took the second option. Last week they had a dance performance at the local high school. He's also getting ready for the week long encampment in a few weeks.
Kent's been busy with work. He found computer discs that are basically classes for Cisco training so he's been working with those nightly. I hardly see him at night so I guess it's good that he has these so he can at least be in the house and not having to travel for those classes. He went on the guys' trip again a few weeks ago. He enjoyed that. You can find those pictures on his Facebook page if you're interested. He's also been taking care of me and the family when I was taking it easy this weekend.
As for me I've been walking nearly every night in my effort to lose weight. I used to walk with Natalie, Justin or Trevor, but it got to be too late for them to go on school nights so Kent went with me. He didn't like leaving for an hour of walking because he needs to finish the classes for work. One of my friends expressed interest so we've been walking several nights. It works out well because Kent gets at least one hour of study time, and the younger kids are in bed. I get socialization and exercise. This week I'm busy working on teacher gifts, reorganizing my house and laundry. It really piled up over the weekend!

They do love each other!

Trevor started things off on Saturday when Kent took the 3 youngest kids swimming at our neighbor's house. The kids threw swim toys to the bottom of the pool and Trevor was in charge of retrieving them. After he was done his ears were hurting so he took it easy for the rest of the day. On Sunday night he was complaining about his ears and a headache so we told him to go to bed. On Monday he was feeling worse so he stayed home from school. He had a terrible headache, with sensitivity to light and sound. His whole body hurt and he started running a low grade fever. I tried to keep him hydrated and medicated. By the late afternoon his headache was so bad that I got really worried and was able to get a doctor's appointment. He was tested for strep and mono, which were both negative. The doctor determined that he's got some sort of virus. He's still been home every day, though so it still hasn't run its course. Justin started feeling lousy on Monday night. He's got the same symptoms as Trevor, but with a bad stomachache also.
So the reason I tell you all that is so you know how bad they were both feeling. Trevor has been sleeping a lot, and Justin has been trying to function, but still sleeps a lot. Anyway, last night Trevor went to bed shortly after 7. We finished getting everyone else ready for bed, said prayers, and Drew came back down with his special blanket. His former primary teacher got some soft fleece with pictures of Jesus on it. She cut them about the length and double the width of a scarf and tied it all around the edges. She called it the Comforter to help them remember the Holy Ghost. When Drew brought it down he said, "Mom, Sister Fuller gave this to me. She said that whenever I feel bad to put this around me and remember that Heavenly Father and Jesus love me and will help me feel better. Can I put this on Trevor so he can feel better?" Of course we said yes. He put it on Trevor's sleeping form and when Trevor woke up in the middle of the night wondering how it got there I told him what Drew did for him. How sweet is that?!

Natalie's Performace at the Suns Game

Natalie, Mikyla, Callie and friends before the performance. They were all being silly and giddy.

Natalie's dance group, The Rockstars, and the other performing dance groups from her dance studio got to dance before the Phoenix Suns' game on April 7. They did a mash up of several popular songs, including songs by Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus. They had matching outfits... their tan tights with tan jazz shoes, royal blue leotards with matching booty shorts, earrings, sparkly red and white tutus, sparkly red ribbons in their hair. They all had to have high ponytails with the ponytail curled and stage makeup. (That's Natalie's favorite part.) They danced a few minutes before the game started.

Our whole family ended up going. Originally it was just going to be Kent, Natalie and I, but then Kent thought it would be a great idea to have the whole family come. We went to La Tolteca for dinner, and then we went to the game. It was a lot of fun for everyone except Drew. He really does not like loud noises, and with crowd was pretty loud. The boys had a lot of fun, and want to go to more games in the future.

Natalie still had a smile on her face when I picked her up after her performance.

Fathers and Sons & GNO!

Friday was the ward Fathers and Sons camp out. I pulled the boys out of school early so they could leave early. Unfortunately Kent got stuck on a business call, so they didn't leave for over an hour after they got home. They haven't told me much about it, but I know they got to stop and eat in Payson, Drew freaked out because he left his pillow at home, and Trevor kept waking up screaming. (Have I mentioned his propensity for sleepwalking? This includes episodes of him waking up in the middle of the night crying or screaming. If I approach him to find out what's wrong it wakes him up, and then he's terrified that someone is in his face. It's been going on since at least 2002. He usually doesn't remember anything, but if he's over-tired it happens more frequently.) When they packed up camp on Saturday morning they went with some of the other men and boys to go shoot their air soft guns, rifles and pistols.
Meanwhile, back at the fort, I kept Natalie home from dance because her cough was really bad when she was moving around. We went with Jennifer, Rylie, Kaeli and Avery Savage to dinner at the Olive Garden, then to see The Last Song. We ran into the Lamoreauxs, DeTemples, Yeagers and Jennifer Pickles from the ward. My mom and niece, Melia, also showed up at the same movie. Great minds think alike! Natalie had Rylie spend the night. They were both asleep within 30 minutes of getting home. Then they got up at 6:05. (I didn't get up that early, but they had fun playing the piano, playing Go Fish and watching TV.) A little after 8 we went and got the co-op food, and then they played a while longer until we went with Jenn to get pedicures. Whew! Busy weekend!

Natalie and my nails after our pedicures. She had polka dots and I got zebra strips with purple and white. Natalie's not sure if I can really claim that they're zebra stripes because there is no black, and the stripes were white. Hmm...Natalie and I at the end of the day. We had some normal pictures, but she thought this one was the funniest, and wanted me to post it to the blog.

Progress

It's been 6 1/2 weeks since I started my diet. As of last Tuesday I was already down 22.5 pounds. Yay! I was walking 5-6 nights a week, but since Tuesday the wind has been so bad that I haven't been able to get out. It's caused my asthma to flare up, and Trevor, Natalie and Drew's allergies to act up. We've had lots of coughs and sniffles going around.
I've been diligent in eating better, eating the foods that my dietitian has instructed me to eat, and I'm doing fairly well. I started my third phase last Monday, and this is the one that I was the most worried about. I'm not having the protein shakes anymore, but real food. Argh! Stress. I've been eating either eggs (for the protein) or Cream of Wheat (for the taste). I used to put 1 T. of brown sugar, but now I put on some cinnamon and 1/2 t. of sugar. Sometimes I have a plain piece of toast too. Lunchtime is no longer a sandwich. I usually cook up chicken one night early in the week, and use that for my lunches for the rest of the week. Usually it's half a chicken breast and some fruits or veggies. I've tried to substitute for the chips that my kids eat for something more healthy. I found a solution in the baby food aisle of all places. Gerber makes these cheese crisps that taste better than Cheetos. Best part about it is that I can eat 18 of them and only consume 35 calories. I still totally crave and miss my daily caffeinated beverage, but I have found the Fuze drinks have either 10-20 calories per bottle are good in a pinch. I drink tons of water still, but sometimes I need some flavor. My dietitian pointed out that drinking a ton of water with my dinner was actually not a good idea for me. She said that it's flushing the food out before my brain got the signal that I was full. So she suggested that if I absolutely have to have a drink with dinner that I have only a few sips. Then 30-45 minutes later I can go back to drinking as much water as I want. It has been helping me eat less, which surprised me.
Natalie has reversed her previous decision. She initially said that she wouldn't like me anymore if I got skinny. She has now decided that it's okay if I lose weight, but she doesn't want me to look "disgusting." Wow, what support and love I feel knowing that.

Dentist

Last week while we were on vacation I noticed that every so often when I was chewing my gum I'd get a strong pain in one of my molars. I was worried that I had a cavity. It wasn't constant, not consistent so I kind of blew it off until yesterday. Kent and I are going on a quick vacation next week, and I thought I'd better have the dentist check it out before we go just so I could make sure that it wouldn't cause any problems while I was there. So I called, and they said I could come in whenever I was available. Yay! I got dressed and went in. The tech took an x-ray, then Dr. Mike came in. He had me bite down on some instrument several times, and there was only one spot that bothered me a bit. I thought, "Great. This will be a quick fix since it only hurt in one spot. I'll probably just have a tiny filling and it'll be good." Wrong. I cracked the tooth. How? I'm not sure, but my dentist thinks that it's because I'm clenching my teeth at night because of my back pain. Grr... And to make things even better, I had two cavities on 2 front teeth. What?! Nothing even hurts there!

Dr. Mike is great because I'm a wimp when it comes to dental stuff. I faithfully go in for my cleanings ever 6 months, but if they find anything my heart begins to race and my fight or flee instinct kicks into overdrive. (It's only on the flee at that point...) I found that if I wear my iPod, and turn it up loud, that it almost cancels out the horrible noise of the drill. If only they could find something for the taste and smell of dental things... Anyway, going back to Dr. Mike, he always uses the numbing cream before he gives me shots. And I always take forever to numb up, and usually require extra lidocaine because I won't go numb. The only problem is that once I'm numb I stay numb for HOURS. Yesterday, my lip on the upper right side was numb, all the way up my cheekbone, and the right nostril. I went in at 11:30 for my appointment, and everything was numb until 4:30 yesterday afternoon. Here was my attempt to smile while I was waiting to pick the kids up. It looks like I am showing my teeth. This is better than it looked earlier when I could hardly talk because my lips didn't want to move. Good times, good times...

He caught that?!

We were watching a TV show when a commercial for men and women who had had mini face lifts came on. Drew usually tunes out commercials that aren't about toys or the Perfect Brownie pan. (He really, really wants me to get one.) Anyway, imagine my surprise when he turns to me and says, "Mom, I think that Person X (name changed to protect Drew's innocence) really needs to get one of those. I think they're would look better. And I think that Person Y should get one too." It was so out of the blue that I couldn't help but laugh.

Book Recommendations

In case you are looking for a good read during Spring Break and beyond I have some recommendations. The first one is The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. This is a really interesting book about a 4 year old girl who was put on a ship alone in 1913 and wound up in Australia. She is taken in by the harbor master and his wife. She longs to find out who she really is, and it takes her granddaughter to finally solve the mystery of her how she ended up in Australia without any clues to her past. Another great book is The Guernsey Potato Pie Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. I wasn't sure if I would like this book when I saw that it was written as a series of letters between a group of people, but it is one of my favorite books. I didn't want the story to end. It tells about a group of people and how the war changed their lives. Another one that is good is Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas. This is written a la Nicholas Sparks, but it was written by James Patterson. If you want to start a series, The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins is really interesting. So far she has written the first two books, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. The third and final book will be released this fall. If you're looking for a series that's full of comedy relief then the Joanna Carl Chocoholic series is a fun set of books to read. I also really enjoy The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. She's from the valley, and has written 7 books so far in that series. I'm on book 4. The books are quite long. I think the shortest was 700+ pages, but most are over 1000 pages... in about a 9 point font so they may take a while to read. I read all the time so if you have some recommendations please comment! If you want more suggestions let me know.

What's going on...

Nothing major going on here. But we are keeping busy. I did my allergy testing a few weeks ago. I left my appointment with the serum that I now take. These are in lieu of the allergy shots. I have 8 vials of increasing concentration of what I'm allergic to... which, if you're wondering, is everything they tested me for. I finished my first vial, and am now on the second. My allergies have already markedly improved, even with the windy weather we've had lately.
With the allergy mess all sorted out I started on my diet. I met with 2 different dietitians, and found a plan that should do wonders. In fact, I have already had some success. I started last Tuesday, and have lost 6 pounds as of yesterday. What a great way to start off a diet. If I continue to lose weight and can not feel completely deprived in the process my odds of success are much greater. For breakfast and lunch I have a protein shake that's 225 calories or less. Then for dinner I can have either a Lean Cuisine or Weight Watchers meal, or make chicken or fish (so it's chicken because fish is NASTY!) and have either a green salad (with Salad Spritzers- 5 calories) or 1 cup of minestrone soup. I can also have unlimited green veggies and Sugar Free Jell-O or Sugar Free Popsicles throughout the day. I'm also supposed to drink even more water than usual, and for now, I am not drinking soda. Even Dr. Pepper. This week I am missing chocolate and caffeine. I hate this time of month... I hope it passes quickly.
Julie is over right now. The boys are doing tricks on the trampoline and goofing off for her. They LOVE it when she comes over. Trevor did an especially high jump, and when he landed his shorts fell to his calves. I had to laugh because it reminded me of my sister Michelle. When she was young she was so skinny that her pants fell down to her ankles regularly- in public too. I used to be alternately horrified or laughing about it. Trevor was sufficiently embarrassed so I'm trying really hard to keep a straight face.
Natalie is at a friend's house right now. Apparently she forgot our shopping plans this morning, so when her friend called to play this morning she was pretty ticked off at me for telling her she couldn't play. She was happy afterwards, though. She has set some goals, and I promised her that when she reached those goals I'd take her to get something. Today, since she has stopped sucking her thumb, even when she's asleep, she got her first Zhu Zhu Pet. It's a hamster. Then we also got her Easter dress and a pretty white shrug to go with it. We usually get them at the Little Girls' Dress Party, but I couldn't make it this year so we found one at The Children's Place.
Drew has been sad to not play with many friends this Spring Break. Everyone seems to either be travelling or sick. We're trying to make a trip to the snow happen this weekend so maybe that distraction will be enough for him. They've all been asking to play in the snow so it should be fun.
Well, I think I'm being summoned to come play Sorry! so I'll write more later. Maybe I'll even edit my pictures so I can post some of them...

Lo hicimos, we did it!

My committee and I got our first activity of 2010 under our belts. This isn't one I was really stressed about. I think after the last 2 activities this was just what we needed. We had our huge talent show in September. My laptop died the day of the program, and it was a mad dash to get everything completed and set up. (In case you're wondering, I'm not repeating the talent show any time in the near future!) Then after that we had the Christmas program, and Natalie had been in the hospital the week of that, so it was a nice thing to have a smaller activity.
This activity was the Sweetheart Dance. I've been in wards before where they traded with another ward, and served a full meal, followed by dancing. We didn't feel that it was something we wanted to undertake so we just had dancing and desserts on a Friday night for one hour. Drew and I set up 6 round tables and started on the chairs. He wanted to take all of them down because he could flip them over before opening them. It was pretty funny because he was totally showing off. He wanted me to see how strong he was. Shanna came to join us after we started on the chairs. We finished getting those set up, then set up our dessert table and did the decorating.
For decorations we decided our theme would be pink, red and white. We put baby pink and white tablecloths on the tables. For centerpieces I got these cute red tin buckets with heart cutouts. We filled those with glass marbles and red silk roses. Then I got Valentine's Day candy and we threw that around. Since the wrappers were all metallic colors they resembled confetti. We used our 4 tiered serving platters for the desserts, and Shanna's glass urn for the water. We put the round tables in a half moon shape and left the floor in the front of the gym and the floor between the tables open for dancing. Joe and Gaye Zezulka were our dance instructors, and Shanna's husband, Joseph, was our DJ.
Several couples came, and we had a fun time. After visiting awhile, we started out easy with the Casper Slide and the Electric Slide. (I can actually do those 2.) Then we learned to do the fox trot. I did really well when they were teaching us. When we had to dance together I didn't do quite as well. Fortunately the water urn started leaking water all over so I had to go mop it up. (Thank you, Kent, for noticing and/or causing that to happen! I can really do without embarrassing myself in public!)

Sweetheart Dance

We are having our first activity of the year... a sweetheart dance. I'm a bit apprehensive about it. I don't dance, and if my committee hadn't really pushed for this activity I would not have done it. I am excited about the decorations, but I'm getting nervous about the actual activity. The last time they tried doing an activity like this it wasn't well attended because of when they had scheduled it. This year I don't know how many people will actually attend.

Asthma- the downsides and the upsides

Asthma has been ruling my life for the last week and a half. I went for a walk one night. It was a cool night, and lots of people were sitting in their driveways with friends and their fire pits going. It gave a nice ambiance to the night. I realized about 30 minutes after I got home that it had triggered my allergies and asthma. Ugh! I didn't think it would get too bad because I take my controller medications faithfully every morning and every night. Because of the other recent asthma flare-ups my doctor switched one of my controller medications twice, trying to find one that will work for me now. Apparently we still haven't come up with a good alternative because it's flaring up frequently. Last week I was pretty miserable. For anyone who doesn't have asthma or an asthmatic in the family, it's hard to imagine that it takes such a toll on your body. You wake up feeling like you've spent the night running a marathon. And then you get up and start moving, and then you really feel tired!
If I only concentrated on the bad things from my asthma things would seem pretty bleak right now. I have had this stupid cough going for 11 days. I have my nebulizer and medications. It's keeping things controlled to an extent, but it hasn't stopped them yet. I have been forced to stay home unless it's absolutely necessary to go out. This means I get to spend more time with my family. It also means that I am getting a fabulous ab workout every single day. My abs are so sore, so I know I've been working them hard. Since Drew hasn't been able to go out with me running errands as usual he's been playing the Wii more often. He's been singing his own version of Black Eyed Pea's "Boom Boom Pow" as he plays his games. It's hilarious. I really need to record him. (I've put the camera next to my chair so I can catch him in the act next time.)
I've also done a TON of reading. I finished Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Gone, Brava Valentine, and The Maze Runner. I'm starting Drums of Autumn and The Blind Side:The Evolution of a Game. So- lots of reading. I still have a ton of books to read so if this lasts much longer I will finally be totally caught up with all my reading. I'm trying to get my hands on a copy of The Help. It sounds really interesting. I've got my name on 2 waiting lists at the libraries. I'm #383 in the Maricopa County Library system, and #76 for Chandler Public Libraries. I think it'll take a while. I put The Blind Side on hold a week before Thanksgiving and just got it last Thursday.
I read 2 books last month about Maria Von Trapp (her story inspired the movie The Sound of Music.) She was a spiritual and adventurous person. She had a really strong testimony of the Lord. It was a bit difficult to read the book she wrote about her family, but it did go in depth. Apparently she wrote several other books. If you ever think your life is busy you need to read one of her books. I don't know when she found time to sleep! She and her husband had several children together, but because of kidney problems she lost several children.
Well, I think my cough has settled down enough for me to sleep so I'll say ciao for tonight. More soon, I hope!

What a slacker I am!

Wow! I looked at my blog for the first time in 2 months. December was insanely busy, and I thought that with the new year I would get a reprieve. I was wrong! We spent most of the month being sick... Natalie got a cold, then the stomach flu, was fine, then got the stomach flu again. Drew got a cold, an ear infection, had an eardrum rupture and then a stomach bug. Then the two older boys got the flu. Then I got another sinus infection, lost my voice and just felt blah! No wonder, taking care of all those sick kids! Nonetheless, I can't believe I didn't post anything for 2 months. Yikes!
During December I had my birthday. In January, my baby Drew turned 5. He tells me he's not a baby anymore, but he can always be my baby. That's all I'm asking for! Our moms had their birthdays in January also, so I took them to dinner one night. It was a lot of fun to go out with them. I think we should do it more often!
December also brought Kent back to Qwest. He felt that his job was not going anywhere with NEC so when Qwest started wooing him in September, he started looking into it. I wasn't sure that I wanted him to go back there because of the economy being what it is, but he felt good about it. So far it's been pretty good. He does have a business trip this month, so I'm not thrilled about that, but as long as he likes what he's doing and it's a good job I guess I shouldn't be too upset about that.
My life has been a lot less stressful now that Christmas is over. We don't have any huge activities coming up. We're having a sweetheart dance at the end of the month, and it will be a nice quiet affair compared to the Christmas program. I'm still in scouts, and our den is getting huge. We have the Blue & Gold Banquet coming up in a couple of weeks, and that will be a big affair too.
Justin is busy being a teenager. My mom told me that boys are easier than girls, and I am not finding that to be the case at all! I sometimes see glimpses of my sweet little boy, but more often than that I see the teenage attitude. He's still a pretty good kid, but he's giving me a run for the money some days. He wants to spend time at home, but doesn't want anyone to talk to him unless it's on his term. He wants help, but gets mad when it's offered. It's enough to make me scream some days! He's getting tall, and will probably be my height (5'9") within a year.
Trevor is still popular with Justin's friends. They like to hook up on X-Box Live and always want Trevor to join them so they can win. When Justin's friends come here Trevor will play against all of them and still win. It doesn't go over well with the older boys. (Don't tell Justin, but I think it's hilarious...) He's been participating in Battle of the Books at school. His team is in fourth place out of 16 teams. He's pretty happy about that. He's almost earned his Webelos badge, and will move up on his birthday next month.
Now that Natalie's feeling better she's been all about the girls. She wants to hang out with girls all the time. She has had a few sleepovers here and at other friends' houses. She thinks it's the best thing ever. She's progressing quite well on her reading. She's proud of the fact that she's now able to read chapter books.
Drew is also doing well on his reading. He loves to count to 100 for me, and also likes to take notes for me. He's been busy playing with his friends and jumping on the trampoline. He's been trying to challenge his older brothers to wrestling matches. It's kind of funny to watch them because he's so intense when he's competing with them. They'd better watch out!

Wow, could it take me any longer to post?

Things have been so busy that I haven't posted in quite a while. This week I helped the Cub Scouts make glitter pine cone ornaments for pack meeting. We had to work outside because the gym floor was being refinished. We couldn't find any lights that were functioning outside so we were wroking in a very low light situation... therefore, no pictures. Most of my cubbies got awards. 3 of them earned their Wolf, 2 earned their Bobcat and then many of the others got beads. Yay!

On Wednesday I got to go to Natalie's class. They got to make snowman ornaments. I wasn't able to get any pictures there because my hands were covered in paint! (I posted directions last December on my craft blog if you want to see how to make them.) Natalie said she and her classmates had a lot of fun doing that.

On Thursday Drew and I went to his preschool Christmas party. He made us late again. I don't know what his deal is, but whenever he has a party for school he just seems to shut down and move more slowly than a turtle. I got him up an hour early so that he would not be late, but to no avail! (At least he didn't insist on riding his bike this time.) Anyway, we got there and he got right to work on crafts. He made a Christmas necklace, read a Christmas story with Miss Judi, got to visit with Santa and then did a gift exchange. He had a blast.

Today I got to go to the school for a while to make corkboard gingerbread ornaments with Trevor's class, and to hang out with Natalie's class during their lunch. Drew was in a mood, and insisted that we leave after just a few minutes.

Quick update

So things have been super crazy lately. It started in September with Justin's birthday. We were busy every single weekend in September, October and November, so we finally had his party on Veteran's Day. In September we had the talent show. That was a huge undertaking again. It takes so much work! I forget until I have another activity to plan and then it all comes back... kind of like having a baby...
In October I got to help in Natalie's class for the Halloween projects. A friend and I got together with our girls and did crafts. I think I posted about it? We also had fall break with our quick trip up north.
November started out being busy just because it's just a crazy month. Kent and Justin went on a scout camp out. I was home with the other 3 kids, and woke up feeling sick. I went to Urgent Care because I wanted to stay on top of it. The doctor there totally blew me off and then I ended up getting worse and losing my voice for 2 weeks. I had to have antibiotics followed by 10 days of a mega dose of steroids to get control of my asthma, allergies and voice. It was so frustrating because had the urgent care doctor paid attention I think it would have been avoided. Grr... As I was getting better, Natalie, Trevor and Drew all got sick. Drew and Trevor had colds. Trevor got better pretty quickly, but Drew still has the lingering effects of the cold. Natalie, however, has been so sick. She's finally turned a corner, but that's because I took her to the ER at 1 a.m. on Tuesday. We were there for 18 hours. They ended up giving her 2 bags of IV fluids before they released her, and they were unsure of whether or not they were going to admit her. She's finally started to turn a corner and get better. I think she might even be able to go back to school tomorrow.

Natalie actually got some sleep so she did great when she got her I.V. Her nurse was great, and she was giddy.

Natalie got to sleep off and on in the bed. I tried to sleep in the chair, but didn't have much luck.

Tomorrow is our Christmas program. My committee and I have been hard at work getting everything ready. We're lucky in that another ward is coordinating with us. Our program is Friday night, and theirs is Saturday night. I put the program together after reading a few other program ideas I found online. The theme is A Night in Zarahemla. It's the story of the birth of Christ as told from the perspective of the people in the Americas. It should be good. After that's over tomorrow I think my life will be a lot less stressful... until I decide to get busy on my Christmas cards, newsletters and pictures. Oh, and goodies for the neighbors... mustn't forget those!
More later...

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving was at my mom's house this year. I made apple and pumpkin pies and mini cheesecakes. My kids actually ate some this year! When we got up that morning Natalie was sick with a stomach bug. She was pretty upset about it because she "only want(ed) Mommy!" But because it was at my mom's Kent and I decided that I would go to Thanksgiving dinner, and he would stay home with Miss Thing. My mom, her friend, my dad, his wife Ann, her daughter Erica, Allan, Melia and the boys and I were there. We ate a yummy dinner followed by dessert.

Drew with his mini meal. Melia ate more than him, which is very unusual!Justin, Trevor and Allan really love meat. Me, Justin and Trevor. Yes, Trevor did have a mohawk.

Erica, Jim, Susan, Don and Ann ate at the adult table. Allan and I were relegated to the kids' table. Who do you think had more fun?

Then the boys (minus Drew) decided to have their shooting contest with each other. Justin and Trevor brought their air soft guns, and Allan had his too. He provided the box, targets and prizes. They take this thing very seriously, I guess. My dad, Allan, Justin and Trevor all competed. We watched and thought it was hilarious that the boys were so into it. I think Trevor was the overall winner, much to Justin's consternation!

The boys shooting while the women watch them.

After dinner and the shooting contest everything was clean enough to go see a movie. I even called Kent to come meet us there. He got the plates of Thanksgiving dinner I brought for him and Natalie, the pies and other food I brought for them. I offered to let him see a movie with the kids so he could get out for a bit, and I would go back home with Natalie, but he said he wanted to go back with her. (I guess he didn't want to see New Moon with the boys.) Allan took Drew to see Planet 51, while Justin, Trevor, my mom, her friend and I went to see New Moon. When Drew's movie was over Allan brought him to us to watch the last few minutes of New Moon.

We went home after that, and Natalie was thrilled to see us. She was feeling well enough that she was wrestling with Kent when we got home. (Do your daughters do this or is it just because mine has 3 brothers and no sisters?) He had taken her go Sonic to get a drink to help settle her stomach.

We spent some time together before the kids went to bed. Usually I'm a lot more organized than this, but I didn't start plotting my Black Friday shopping until Thanksgiving night. I think part of me didn't want to go because I hadn't had a voice for a week and a half at that point. I had been on antibiotics, and was on a mega dose of steroids to feel better and help my voice return, but I still didn't feel 100%. I couldn't sleep so I left about 3:30 to hit the stores. I went to 3 stores (one of them twice). Then I came home just in time for breakfast. Natalie had fallen asleep on the couch the night before, and had just woken up to use the bathroom when I got home. She thought I had woken up early, gone out to the garage and come back inside while she was using the restroom. LOL!

This was Natalie's position from 5:30 p.m. until about 7:30 a.m.

It couldn't have worked out better! I got her set up with something to eat and drink, and went to bed for a few hours. When I woke up Justin and I hit the stores again. It was great having him with me so he could stand in line while I went shopping. He got rewarded with lunch for his help. (Really, that's all he wanted.)

Fun night out

Kent and Justin went on a Boy Scout camp out last night, so the kids and I got together with Jennifer DeTemple and her 3 younger ones (her oldest was on the same camp out). We took the kids to see Astro Boy and then went to Denny's for a late dinner. The kids had a blast. As an added bonus both Natalie and Drew fell asleep before we got home. Natalie was so tired that she even asked to go to bed. I can assure you that does not happen!
Yesterday morning, before our fun night out, Natalie, Justin and Trevor all got to go on field trips. I think that's the first time they've all gone on field trips. Justin got to go to Schnepf Farms for an American History tour. He got to touch MP4's (I think...) which was really impressive to him. Trevor got to go to the Halle Heart Center. He was not at all excited to go on it, which really surprised me because he's so interested in scientific things. He learned how the heart works and how to make it work more efficiently. He said he'd "give it a really good report because it told him a lot, and taught him a lot." Natalie got nominated by her teacher for the Character Counts Celebration. She and one other boy from her class won. They had to be to school by 7:30 a.m. and they got bused to another school where they had parties, games, hot dogs and all sorts of fun stuff. Her favorite thing was the clowns that balanced things on their noses.
I was unable to attend any of the field trips because I had my activities committee meeting yesterday morning. We're planning on doing Christmas in Zarahemla. It's a lot of work, but it's coming together nicely, and I'll post pictures when it's all said and done. I think it will be great.

Halloween Night 2009

Natalie was a witch. She started out with a green face, but then she decided she didn't like it after I took the pictures. She wouldn't let me put the makeup on her neck, ears or anything else so she said she looked stupid. I had to wash her face off, and then she was happy again. She let me put black lipstick and eye shadow on her, but nothing else.

Drew was a vampire. He put the teeth in after I did his makeup. I expected that he would take the teeth out within a few minutes because they were one size fits all for adults. That boy left them in for 3 hours straight! He couldn't talk or really even open his mouth with them in so as he passed out candy, he'd talk with his mouth closed, and when he went trick or treating he couldn't say anything either. When he came home I took them out and all the saliva he'd had in his mouth during that time came out. It was so gross! (But I have to admit I also thought it was pretty funny.)

Natalie and Drew passing out the candy.

Trevor wore a black robe, black shirt and a hockey mask. I'm not sure what he was, and neither was he. But he chose it all out and liked it. He went to his friend Robert's house. Robert moved into the Seare's old house. He's in Trevor's class at school. He's a really nice boy from a great family and he's in a wheelchair. They went trick or treating together, and then came back for pizza and to pass out candy. When Robert's mom called me at the end of the night she said that they met some friends from school while they were out. The friends tried to get Trevor to ditch Robert and come with them. She said that Trevor politely declined and stayed with Robert. She said that he's had friends before that would play with him until someone "better" came along. She was so pleased that Trevor chose to stay with Robert, but was able to be nice about it to his other friends. Wow! I'm so proud of him.

(Top) Trevor in his costume. (Bottom) Robert and Trevor

Justin went to the stake youth conference. After that he came back, changed his clothes, and went to the Buhrley's house with a bunch of boys. They got to watch movies and eat pizza. Justin said they were disappointed that they couldn't go trick or treating, but that he was glad he went to the conference because it was a lot of fun and they learned a lot. Then they got to have fun hanging out together afterwards. I'm so grateful for good friends that make good choices.

Mom, Katie and Melia came after the kids left with Kent. Mom and I stayed and passed out candy while Katie and Melia joined Kent, Natalie and Drew while they were trick or treating.

Natalie, Maryann, Drew and Susan. For some reason Mom was freezing cold. She's wearing a heavy winter coat and I had to get a blanket for her too. I thought it felt great! I am not made to be a desert dweller!

Katie and Melia came dressed up. Melia was Snow White and Katie was a biker chick, not Bret Michaels from Poison as I originally guessed... I made chili, cornbread and brownies for dinner. My kids didn't eat until they were back. I'm so glad I rushed to make it for them so they could eat before they left!

Kent ended up wearing Natalie's witch hat at some point during the evening. It's good to see him get into the spirit of things!