Craziness of January 5 and the Christmas Miracle

Tuesday, January 5th

Found Cleod reading to some of his siblings this afternoon.

Ryan pretending to be sad after eating his
"prison food" of toast and Gatorade.

Today did not go anything like planned. Ryan was supposed to get his Phase 1 braces (smaller set) today but because he threw up yesterday evening and through the night, we had to reschedule that (for next Monday). Grant also threw up during the night, so we were all super tired this morning. I felt so tired that I didn't have Cleod go to school. (He is such a good helper).

 That ended up being a good thing, because in the afternoon he was complaining about some different pains in his head than his normal headaches. He gets headaches on a regular basic, just like his dad did when he was younger. The way he described this pain caused me to feel really worried and had Silas come home from work and take Cleod to the ER. He ended up being fine, but did have some swollen lymph nodes, so it was good that he had a day at home to rest.

 

Cleod with wristband after
he got home from the ER.

While Cleod and Silas were at the hospital, Ryan was very worried. He is a worrier. He cried and told me that he didn't want anything to happen to Cleod and that he didn't want to be the oldest. He said he couldn't imagine life without Cleod. It was so sweet.

 

Silas is so sweet too. I am so lucky to have him. He came home right away when I called and took time from work to help us. He was really patient and loving to Cleod too.



Grant, happy to be feeling a little better.

Luckily, a package from my mom showed up today which had some things that we forgot at her house during Christmas. We had left our newly purchased Star Wars DVDs there and the kids hadn't seen A New Hope or Empire Strikes Back so we watched them! It was fun for me too because I haven't seen those for years.

Another important item that was in the package was the last Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Joe Joe's from Trader Joe's. It is part of our Christmas Miracle. :)
We went to Darin and Nicolle's house in Bountiful earlier in December. One of their neighbors had given them a package of these cookies and we tried them. They are basically my favorite cookie now. They are like Girl Scout Thin Mints goodness times 10!  We don't have a Trader Joe's in Cedar so I asked my mom if she would look in Las Vegas. She did and they were sold out at two different stores. She asked Annie (my aunt in Phoenix) to check her store and they were sold out there as well. Apparently others believe in the goodness of these Joe Joe's as much as I do.
So just before Christmas when my mom was volunteering in the Las Vegas Temple during her weekly shift, she mentioned it to a lady she was serving with. My mom had no idea, but this particular lady bought a case of these cookies every season and brought her LAST BOX with her to the temple just because she felt like she should. She got it out of her clothing locker and gave it to my mom!!! This may seem so silly and was not an important issue, but it was a Christmas Miracle for me nonetheless.


The last one, with a few nibbles taken out.

And luckily, there was one left in the box (that I FORGOT) and my nice mom wrapped it up safe for me to send with a few other items and I got to enjoy the dark chocolate goodness once more.

Back to blogging! Here we come, 2016!!!

I am determined to start blogging again. It will be more of a journal style this time, trying to get something written about every day but posting once a week or so.

Friday, January 1st

We started our New Year with a visit from the Fire Department!

The kids had been up for a while, but Silas and I were lying in bed, trying to get a little more sleep and enjoying a day off of normal life. Then the CO2 alarm went off and said there was lots of carbon monoxide in house. We were pretty sure it was a fluke, but we called the fire department to come check it out. (Note: This is not the first time we have had them come check our house. We have had issues with smoke detectors for a long time, so this was probably the 4th visit. Sheesh.)

LEGO time!

While we were waiting for them, we hurriedly got dressed and went outside to hang out in the van. By the time they looked through the house with their monitors and decided that the CO2 detector was just not working right, we decided to head out for some breakfast. Maybe it will be a new New Year's tradition? IHOP was a success since the kids ate EVERYTHING. With full bellies we headed back home for some laziness.


My girls and I while we were watching Into the Woods.

We got out LEGOS and Silas helped the kids organize all the Mini-Figs. It was pretty funny because I am usually the weird organizer of the LEGOS. We had a good time. We played a few of our new games from Christmas, the kids took turns playing games on the tablet and a few of them did some watercolor painting.

To finish the night, we rented Into the Woods which was a funny, strange and interesting movie. It reminded me of one of my roommates, Julieann, from college who loved the play. Good times.


Saturday, January 2nd

After Saturday chores and some lunch, Silas took the boys to the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. They really enjoyed it and I am anxious to see it myself.


Sunday, January 3rd

With the new year, our church time has changed to 1pm. But we woke up and got ready for church at 9am today for Ronan Warby's baby blessing. I'm pretty proud to say that I got all the kids ready while Silas was at his weekly Stake High Council meetings and got to Steven and Katie's ward building before 9am!! Silas was able to make it for the blessing but then headed back to more meetings while we joined the Warbys at the firehouse for lunch. The kids enjoyed running around and I visited with Jamie, Katie and Alyson. Deruchette was home sick.

We came back home and waited until our 2nd block started at church, not really wanting to have the kids sit through another Sacrament meeting. The kids have new Primary teachers, which is always exciting. I taught in Young Women's about the Godhead and I think it went well. I had the girls write down some things they knew and some questions they had and we talked about them and read some scriptures to support what we were talking about. I am very thankful for my calling and for the Gospel.

Next week we will see how the later church time works out. I am a little concerned about having things for the kids to do in the morning that will help them to still keep the Sabbath. We shall see.


Monday, January 4th

Back to school today! I love having my kids home, but it's nice to be back to a routine too. The girls and I headed to the gym after taking boys to school and then did our normal Monday stuff: laundry, cleaning recovery from weekend (mostly the main level) and having the Huff boys over in the afternoon. Megan stayed some of the time and we had a good visit. She is the one that has inspired me to start blogging again so that I can have a history of our crazy family at this crazy time of our lives.

The normal schedule was interrupted by Ryan coming home early from school. He said his stomach hurt and I mostly thought it was anxiety because he was supposed to have braces put on tomorrow. But as the evening went on, he threw up and we realized that he had a stomach bug. Grant started saying his stomach hurt too, so for Family Home Evening we watched a movie. We watched Tomorrowland, a recent Disney movie. The kids mostly sat through it, but it wasn't their favorite.

Cleod did have piano lessons today. His awesome teacher, Peggy, gives them treats as an incentive to practice. They get double points for performing in public and since his recital was on Dec. 14th, he got double treats today and picked one of them just for me. He does this regularly actually. Sometimes he picks out things that Silas likes too, or something he can share with his siblings. He has a very generous soul.

Molly moment: This evening Molly told us that her "tummy hurt" while she was holding her forehead. We told her that it was her head and she said, "Oh. My head hurts." I love the stage she's in where she can totally communicate but doesn't speak in full sentences yet. She is so smart but still our baby.

Pregnancy #5

I decided the other night that I need to use my family blog a little bit more. I haven't written as much because I post pictures on Facebook, I write in my journal a few times a month, and I have a family history blog and a self-reliance blog that I regularly use.

And that's besides all the normal mom/wife/person stuff I do every day.

Anyway, I wanted to write a little bit about my current pregnancy.

First of all, since a few weeks before delivering my 4th baby (Cora), I knew that we had at least one more child coming to our family. I just knew there was another one.

In the first year of Cora's life, Silas and I both had experiences that someone was missing. I have heard people say things like this but never thought I would feel that way myself.

I am VERY grateful that we had these feelings during that time, because after Cora turned two I started to get TIRED. In April 2012, I had some blood work done and found that one of my hormone levels was way low. There is treatment for it, but it is something that CANNOT be taken while trying to get pregnant. Because we knew that we wanted to try soon for baby #5, I decided to wait on the treatment. I was working out regularly which actually helped with the fatigue and just knowing what was going on helped me to deal with feeling tired.

After a few months of trying, we were able to get pregnant. Unfortunately, I sprained my ankle badly just a few days before I found out I was pregnant. That was in mid-September and it wasn't until December that I could use my foot again regularly. So, the whole exercising thing kinda when out the window. (Plus, I am paranoid about working out while I'm pregnant because I almost lost my 3rd at 9 weeks due to working out. But that's another story.)

So, the fatigue has continued throughout my pregnancy. Morning sickness, luckily, only lasted until about week 11. And I don't feel tired ALL the time, but when I do, I CRASH. I am also not very nice when I am extra tired which has effected my kids during the last few months.

Silas has had a hard time physically due to some changes we tried with his arthritis meds during this pregnancy.

So maybe we're done...

Honestly, I don't know yet.

What I do know is that I am trying to enjoy the things that I love about pregnancy. The main thing is feeling this little girl move around inside me. It amazes me every day that my body can grow a PERSON and that she's alive in there and already being crazy like her siblings. (Seriously, she is my MOST active baby in the womb so far!)

I am trying to be patient and praying that the next 52 days until my due date will go smoothly and quickly. Compared to some, I have had an easy pregnancy and I am grateful for that.

Growing up?

I've been trying to decide something lately:

Is the world getting more complicated or am I just growing up?


I am not sure of the answer, although it's most likely both. Let me explain.

Lately, it seems like everyone around me is surrounded with trials. And I'm not taking your every day trials. Some of these trials you can see. But most, you can't.

Some of these trials that my family and friends are facing include:

Health problems
Loss of spouse
Addiction to prescription drugs
Abortion
Loss of job and income
Infertility
Pornography addiction
Communication problems in marriage
Depression and anxiety
Addictions to drugs and alcohol
Bankruptcy
Death of a child
Inadequacy

I could probably go on, but these are honestly trials going on around me. In my own family members and in my own neighborhood.

If you know me very well, you know that I am a spiritual person. I feel that we are here on this crazy, beautiful Earth to show our Creator that we can be good little creations, in spite of our mortal flaws and vices. We all will fall, but we have the chance to get up again. Over and over. Thank Heaven for that!

It just seems to me that these issues, major issues, are more common today than they were 20 years ago. Or maybe it's just that 20 years ago I was about to turn 10 and I had the best childhood a kid could ask for. Sure, we had our hardships growing up. My dad was without work a few times. But I didn't really notice. I honestly had a carefree childhood. I am truly grateful for that.

So many of my friends, and even a couple of my own siblings, did NOT have a carefree childhood. So many have grown up with scars of abuse and mistreatment. So many adults struggle every day with the effects of their actions or the actions of others.

In my own adult life, I have had to deal with some big issues. I have felt the bitter pains of hurt. Hurt that has come from the actions of another. Hurt that has made me feel like dying would be better than feeling that pain. A few years ago, I didn't think that anyone else would understand that.

But since I'm growing up...I realize that I'm not the only one. My family, my friends, and my neighbors have problems. Some are big and some are small. Sometimes we think that someone we know has the "perfect life" or the "perfect marriage."

Sometimes we place judgements on others based on what we see.

But we don't see the grieving of a mother for the child they long for. You can't see the physical need for alcohol someone is struggling to fight back.

You can't see it...but if you're open and loving, you can feel it.

A friend of mine recently shared with me that she had an abortion over 5 years ago. I was shocked, but mostly that she hadn't told me this before. We have talked for hours at a time over the last few years that we've known each other and she is very open. This was obviously not something she shares regularly.

That day I felt part of her pain with her. We cried together as she wondered what she lost. The hurt is still strong for her and she feels it every day.

I recently heard a wise man say, "Life is messy." I'm not sure how much more accurately I could have put it.

But in the midst of all that mess and confusion, there is love and hope. We, God's little creations, can help one another through life's bumps and bruises. Instead of judging, gossiping and avoiding, we can embrace, sympathize and work to understand.

Growing up is hard. Some days, I am not too fond of it. I often miss the lazy, innocent days of my childhood when I never wondered if I would have food or shelter and I was ignorant enough not to know how grateful I should have been. Most days though, I am thankful for the problems I have had and DO have in my life. They are messy but the messiest of trials in my life have resulted in the happiest feelings in my life.

And I think that that is what life is all about.

May ends, summer begins, and stuff

May ended! Yea! Schools out! I am so happy to have my kids home with me. It's been several weeks now and I have only had one time that I felt like sending them away. Haha! We are enjoying going to the park, library, or just being lazy.

Cleod started piano in January and just graduated into the next level of books. He's really enjoying it and I love that!

In this picture, he has a picture book on the piano and is making up a song to go along with the story. It was actually kind of cute too!

I have reconstituted QUIET TIME as well, and the boys are so good. Can you believe that 3 boys can be quiet for 30-60 minutes in the same room while their sister sleeps in the next room? I can. My boys rock. It helps that Cleod and Ryan are good readers and *usually* are good examples for Granty.

Cleod and his teacher on the last day of school.

Ryan and his teacher on the last day of school.
The big boys started baseball. Cleod's doing machine pitch and getting pretty good. Ryan is playing t-ball and is pretty bored. Because of his birthday and being the youngest in his grade, he's with kids that haven't gone to school yet. I don't know if that makes a difference, but I think he would have had more fun with machine pitch. Oh well.

Here's Grant at one of Cleod's games.

I have to pack lots of snacks and water for each game, but it's been fun.

Cora is getting big and cute. And crazy. She runs around making puppy noises. She has been saying "Ry ry" for Ryan for a month or two now. That's a big deal, because she only says a handful of words. Just this past week she's been saying Cleod. It sounds like "Cow" which makes it even more adorable. She calls Silas, "Papa" which is also absolutely adorable.

Cute girl!
Ryan at friend's birthday party.

Me and my big boys before I took them to our town's community theater production on Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It was so fun!

After the play, Ryan said, "Can I be in a play like that?" (There was a good-sized children's chorus in the play.) Me: "Actually, yes, you can!"

This last semester, Ryan has been in a little song and dance group. He really enjoyed it and I thought that maybe we'd do it again, but we had free tuition this semester and I didn't know if we could afford putting him in again. Every time I would pick him up though, he would be SO happy. Then we went to the concert. He was actually really good! There were a few other boys and most of them got distracted or looked bored but he was trying so hard and had some good moves. In fact, after one spin thing, Silas whispered to me, "Did you see that?" It was so cute.

Anyway, the group is going to be practicing in the fall to be in the community theater's next production, Annie, in January. I am really excited. I've even wondered about auditioning. I probably won't, but I am going to be involved with it for sure.

So we're going to enjoy the crazy baseball schedule in June, be super lazy in July, start August with a much anticipated family reunion and gear up for fall. (Not only do we have school and dance and normal life, and holidays, but all the kids' birthdays are from August to December! Need some serious lazy time before that comes.)

Why...

I have been neglecting my family blog lately. This is why.

1. I have 4 kids under 7.

2. Two of those 4 kids are in school, but 1 is in Kindergarten so I am taking kids to school all day it seems.

3. I have been blogging regularly on my food storage blog, Simple Self-Reliance.

4. I have also started getting more and more involved in family history. I am starting a family history blog called My Ancestors...All Part of Me.

I have tons of pictures of the kids to put up, but maybe I will just try to keep up from now on instead of trying to catch up.

My first real quilting experience

My mother-in-law, Joleen, is visiting from Washington state this weekend. Yea! She happened to bring some fabric with her, so in the last TWO days we have each made a bag (I made a bag for Cleod to carry his piano books in) one table runner and almost a topper for a quilt that will someday be Cora's.

Joleen taught me this fun and random way of quilting. You sew strips, end to end. Here is the long strip for a table runner to go on my piano. (The fabric is left over from some pillows my mom made me.)

Then, you bring the bottom up and sew the sides together. In the case of the runner, we divided the strip into 3 pieces and sewed them together.
Front and back of runner before final sewing.
Finished runner for piano. Love it! I'm so happy with it!

As Joleen ironed and cut, I sewed. Here I am sewing strips together for the quilt. You can see the pile of fabric strips on the floor. It seemed like FOREVER, but it came together quite nicely.

Pile of sewn strips.
Joleen had another pack of the same fabric that was cut in triangles, so we decided to use those for a border.
After a quick trip to the fabric store and several hours of sewing, here is the quilt progress after Day 2.

Now that I know what I'm doing (sort of), I am going to take a break. I have a good idea of how to finish the front, but I need to pick a backing and then get it quilted. It won't be really soon, but I am so excited to have a nice, old-fashioned-looking quilt for Cora to enjoy someday that was made by her mom and her Grandma Aitchison.