Photo Update

They grow so fast! Here are the kids just before bed the other night.

Nathan with a flying Lincoln Log (the reason for the buck teeth).


Leah with some kind of food on her face (a normal thing for this family...so hygienic). Her hair is getting long!

Daniel before he could think to make a crazy face (or so he thought).

Butterball Rebekah. She's 6 months old this week! Her hair isn't red, but her scalp is. This is a very good baby...only cries when she really needs to (currently laughing at my typing...aren't we all?). And Chad...he hasn't changed much. ;)

What? No pictures of Arlyn? You'll live.

Genius or Smarty Pants?

We played a game for FHE last week where the kids performed an action written on a heart. The kids were reusing the hearts last week during breakfast time and acting silly. They asked Chad to read it to them and then did what it said. Leah picked up a heart and held it up to me: "This say?" "Count to ten," I answered. Happily, Leah went on her merry way and by the time she got to the end of the hallway, she was to 11 (yes, she counted them in order...she was 2 last month). I looked to Chad, who also had a look of surprise, and said, "She isn't very good at following directions. It said count to ten." Today at the church (while I was walking), she got to 12 while they played "hide and seek." So is she a genius or just too smart for her own good? Daniel didn't do that (wouldn't is probably more accurate) until well into the school year.

I would just like to mention that Nathan is a little stubborn. Have I said this before (rhetorical question, I know)? Most kids whine and cry, then throw a tantrum when they're told to do something they don't want to. Nathan doesn't bother with such a waste of energy. He just completely ignores you and does what he wants anyway. He is so focused on the goal, that he'll keep trying to accomplish it while being physically restrained. Today, after losing a privilege that would reduce Daniel to tears, Nathan only said, "I don't care." And I believe him! (But what do I DO with him?) :S

Mud and worse

I came home from taking the 3 youngest kids to the doctor on Wednesday and saw that Daniel was entertaining 2 girl friends. (Go Daniel!) ;) Shortly after I got home, the phone rang and I tried to answer it. The phone wasn't working properly and I couldn't get it to answer the call. (It only turned on the back light and "talk" flashed.) Chad answered the call downstairs and the whole time I was still trying to get the phone to work. Upon investigating, I discovered that the phone was wet - mostly in cracks. I thought maybe Chad used it with wet hands. After getting off the phone, Chad came upstairs (I'm still stubbornly trying to get the phone to respond). He denied getting the phone wet, so I called to Daniel and asked him why the phone was wet. "Oh. Hailey had to call her mom and her dropped it in the mud." I of course questioned the fact that they didn't use the phone inside (with less chance of finding mud). Then it came to me. "Did you wash it?" "Yeah." So miraculously, a cordless phone can be dropped in the mud, be washed and live to work again.

And part two of my story gets a little dirtier.

Wednesday night I was at the church when the kids went to bed. Later, I stumbled into the girls' bedroom to feed Rebekah (somewhere around 1 AM). I sat down in the rocking chair to feed her and started clearing a space around my feet. I ended up pushing away something cold and clammy and solid. I can usually recognize what I'm stepping on because I've seen it on the floor sometime during the day. I couldn't think what I had kicked, so I picked it up. Even holding it, I couldn't identify it. Of course, I began to have some ideas. I thought the kids probably brought some food in and left it on the floor. I even wondered if it was a drying up slice of tomato (if only).

Oh, did I mention that Leah is getting VERY interested in sitting on the potty? She took her diaper off twice during the day and did a flash dance for us all.

And now that I've mentioned that, you may know what I was about to discover in the middle of the night. Since I couldn't figure out what I was holding, I smelled it. Wouldn't you? Of course you would. UGH!!! I threw it back to the floor and used my one remaining clean hand to return Rebekah to her bed (she'd only been nursing for about 30 seconds and was not happy at the neglect). I grabbed a wipe and wiped off my fingers and toes, turned on a light and found a ball of poop that had rolled out of Leah's last discarded diaper and sometime since had been smashed to resemble an oblong hockey puck. YUCK!!! After putting it BACK into the diaper, I cleaned up the floor (as best I could in the middle of the night) and then washed my hands and used another wipe on my toes.

The mystery of it all is I still don't know who smashed it. I certainly know I didn't do it. I'm sure I would have noticed that!

Tribute to a 4 year old!

Nathan is four years old! (He still has some 2T pants that fit fine.) Nathan just started really talking this time last year. Now, he's full of stories and very lengthy sentences. He leaves some beginning sounds off his words and struggles with his "r"s, but that pretty normal. I keep trying to figure out what accent he sounds like he has. He says, "fowa" for "four." Maybe Southern? My favorite thing about Nathan (well, OK, I can't just pin it down to one thing, but this is a big one) is that his face really lights up and his eyebrows disappear into his hairline when he's explaining something to Leah. His eyes get huge. His skin is quite fair and almost seems paper-thin at times. It makes the area around his eyes look purple-ish pink. He'll probably burn easily like his mom. :) When he pouts, a very red lip juts out so far, you consider protective eyewear! Nathan can write his first name by himself and can usually write a word if it's spelled out for him. His favorite song is, "I Love To See the Temple." Maybe someday he'll actually participate in singing long enough to learn it! Nathan doesn't do ANYTHING he doesn't want to. He'll lose TV and computer privileges before he bends his will to another's. I hope this determination serves him well without getting him into too much trouble. Sometimes a little humility can be more powerful than the most determined mind! He has the perfect "partner in crime" and they spend hours dreaming up things to drive mommy crazy with. Leah is learning quickly and it will soon be quite a zoo around here!

Five Months Today!!

Rebekah is five months old today. She is full swing into grabbing things and currently helping me type. She is almost over her nasty cold and is back to sleeping in the crib. She's slowly getting better at sleeping longer. I "only" fed her 3 times last night. I wonder if she'll be ready for sleeping through the night in a month. Sleeping in the swing for so long kind of set us back a bit.

She's rolling onto her sides pretty easily, but favors her left side. I now find her in different places than where I left her. I'll need to get a new safety gate soon. Nathan kindly cut our old one. (GRRRRRR!!)

Besides nursing and some formula at about 1 month old, Rebekah has now tasted applesauce (in an attempt to administer Singulair granules), french fries, pear juice, strawberry ice cream and celery. Most of those really were just tastes. I am leary of food allergies, after doing that with Nathan! Tune in at six months when she gets to try rice cereal!
Yahoo!

Three cheers for the zebra!

Nathan was better after the first dose of the zebra medicine. Of course we finished it (I am sick of the sickness!). Now, Rebekah is congested again and throwing up because of it all. REALLY- Does it ever end? We couldn't even get her to go to sleep until 2 AM and then she didn't sleep soundly. I was so tired while I nursed her that I thought I would fall over!

Amber and Caitlin are visiting this weekend. Amber and I took Caitlin and Rebekah out this morning for some shopping and lunch. I haven't done that in FOREVER. It was nice. We bargain shopped at DI, then hit some after Christmas clearance sales in the mall. I got some good deals in both places!

Time to fumigate

*SIGH* I thought we were finally done with being sick. Nathan actually had a "below-normal" temp this morning. He went down for a nap @ 11:30, woke at about 2:30 and screamed for a bit (a very normal Nathan thing to do) and then fell back to sleep. I remembered him at 4 and went to check on him. His temp was 104 F. An hour later, it had dropped a bit to 103.6 F. The doctor had given us a prescription for Zithromax (the $$ zebra medicine) to hold on to in case he didn't get better. I nearly threw it away as I was cleaning up today. I talked to the dr on the phone and he said to go ahead and get the medicine and give him a dose tonight and then again in the morning. This is Nathan's 3rd fever (though they hardly ever disappeared completely) in 3 weeks! What are we going to do with this child? He didn't eat dinner last night, only a few bites of cereal, no lunch and a roll for dinner. At least he's still drinking. I just hope that no one else gets this again.

It was my day to help in Daniel's classroom today. They had a sub (apparently had her yesterday, too). I have subbed in many classrooms, but this was my first experience with seeing the difference between the teacher and the sub. I can see why it messes kids up! I was even thrown off by the way the sub did things differently. Interestingly, the sub put me in the Math group, too. I wonder if Mrs. Weist told her to, although I never told her who I was. Oh well, we were only ordering numbers 0-20. It was interesting to see the different skill levels among the students. Daniel wasn't the best, but he was doing a lot better than most. One little girl was having trouble with identifying 0-5. A few of the kids were so fast, that I had them order them backwards.

I went visiting teaching tonight. We have one more sister to get, if we can work her schedule out against ours. I think I talk too much during the visits. I'll have to try harder not to blab so much and let someone else have a turn.

Houdini was adopted today. He won't be jumping up into our window anymore. That's kind of sad, although I won't miss hearing him whine all the time, or tripping me when I go out into the garage. He went to live with some friends in Ucon, so we'll likely see him every so often.

There is no school tomorrow. I hope to get started with B, helping her make a patchwork quilt. She said that she would like to make one and I sure have enough scraps for one. She can learn how to use a sewing machine at the same time. It's not too hard to sew a straight line (usually).

I've been walking for 3 weeks now, and long and hard enough to work up a sweat. I have been trying to eat better (and less), as well, but it doesn't seem to be working. I have a very round middle (and end). The more I try to be good, the more I want a treat. I'm driving myself to insanity. I have been eating a lot more whole wheat bread and have decided to cut back a bit from that until my bowels (and Rebekah's) adjust to the difference. I don't want to start a wheat allergy for her!

So now it's a little after 10 PM. My eyelids are much heavier than it seems they should be. I hope I can avoid getting this nasty germ that seems to have adopted us. Rebekah actually slept pretty well last night (in her swing, of course) and I hope she repeats the feat. Here's a little picture of her. She is so cute and beautiful and lovable. I wish I could bottle it. She's 4 months old here (taken 2 weeks ago).

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

Rebekah is firmly engaged in the germ warfare. She has been running a fever for two days now. She started coughing on Friday and started throwing up because of the coughs on Sunday night. There's nothing like hearing a four month old cough until she's out of breath and then the subsequent gagging as she vomits (mostly mucus). She did not sleep well at all last night. I hardly got any sleep at all. (Normally, this is one of my exaggerations, but this time it's very accurate.) Chad left for Las Vegas last night @ 6 PM and won't be home for another couple of hours yet. He missed out on last night's party! I eventually tried out several "sitting-up" positions in bed that allowed me to sleep without dropping Rebekah or myself out of the bed. She wanted to be held, but couldn't sleep horizontally because of all her goop. Just before 7 AM, she was exhausted enough to sleep in her swing! By then, I had Leah in the bed with me because she kept waking up and screaming from her room. I slept in until 8 and let the boys fend for themselves (which they're used to doing).

Leah found out today that not everything wrapped like candy IS candy. She saw me grab a cold lozenge and snuck one for herself. When she came out with sticky hands, I knew she'd been into something. I just found the discarded "candy" on the shelf of the headboard.

Leah is running a fever (102 F) tonight. We thought she was done! I'm hoping that this doesn't mean this gunk has two parts. Daniel missed school yesterday and today because of a 3-day fever (103F). I would really like to see him go back tomorrow. :)

We found a new home for Houdini. A family that used to live in the ward, but moved to Ucon last year, will give him a home. They're hoping he'll be a good mouser. I hope so, too. The only chance he got to show his stuff around here was a bit embarrassing. But he does catch birds and squirrels in the yard. At least they'll let him in the house. He's moved into the garage and meows at us from there often. He occasionally gives us the slip and sneaks into the house that way. I often find him on top of the van when I go out, and he was there yesterday when I went to go walking at the church. When I got out of the van to knock on my neighbor's door, I found him STILL up there! He'd ridden to the mouth of the circle on top of the van. He probably thought he was surfing. I guess that little "knock" sound I heard as I left the garage was his head hitting the garage door! Dumb cat. My neighbor got a good laugh out of it. She had watched me drive up and said it looked like something from a cartoon. He gets his vaccinations tomorrow afternoon. Maybe that will help protect him from himself.

Chocolate had his shots and check-up yesterday. The vet said he's very healthy, except for the fact that he's FAT. Too many table scraps, I guess! He gained 11 lbs since last January. I feel his pain. His weight will probably come off a lot easier than mine (since he doesn't frequent the kitchen near as much as I do)!

Well, it's only a little after 9 PM, but it feels like the middle of the night to me. I hope I can get some sleep tonight. I'm way too cranky to be responsible for children as it is. My children will look back of pictures of me smiling and wonder who that person is, because they sure never met her before! And I just have to mention Nathan by name, because I mentioned everyone else! :) (At least I'm a fair cranky mommy!)

Here's to a good night's sleep!

Germs, Germs GO AWAY!

Leah got pretty sick before she started getting better. But we know she's going to be ok because she's started yelling at us again. So pleasant. :) The doctor had given us Singulair samples, Xopenex for the nebulizer, a cough medicine Rx and a very expensive 3 day bottle of Zithromax (the zebra on the bottle was what encouraged Leah to even try it). I am very careful when I give the zebra stuff because it's almost $13 per half teaspoon!

Because we like to share in our family, Nathan has started coughing. I've already given him some doses of cough medicine and a Singular tablet (don't worry, the Dr. ok'd it). I knew Nathan was next in line when he drank eagerly from Leah's sippy cup on Monday. I'm crossing my fingers that Daniel and Rebekah will be spared. It doesn't make me feel good when Leah comes up to Rebekah and coughs all over her face.

On the other hand, Rebekah is doing much better than she has in months. Since kicking the cat outside (he's currently at the window crying to come in), her runny nose has stopped and her breathing is much better. Coincidentally, the blocked tear duct she had since birth has also cleared up. So now she can see the world with 2 eyes. Of course, after sleeping in a swing for so long, she's not falling asleep in her crib very well. Two nights ago, she had me out of bed every half hour. I didn't feel too picked on though, since that's the night that Leah threw up all night long, and Chad took care of that - to the extent of sitting in the living room with her, covered in slime until morning. We were both very tired!

Rebekah had her 4 month well baby check today. She's grown two more inches to 25" and gained 2 more lbs. bringing her up over 13 lbs. The doctor jokes with me that "she's a giant for a Collett," but after he shared with me that her height is 25% and weight is 50%, I told him that the numbers would be coming down. My goodness! At 25% she's already started! :)

I have started walking in the mornings. I have been going to the church with a small (hoping it will grow) group of women and walking around the gym until we're dizzy. I have brought the boys with me and so it's not just walking, but playing "dodge ball," too. Today, Nathan was sick and didn't go, so it was "dodge Daniel." It's hard to get up so much earlier than I'm used to (which really isn't that early anyway), but I think it's beginning to give me a boost. Of course, I've known but never really admitted that I needed to exercize.

I help in Daniel's classroom on Thursday afternoons. The teacher usually has me work the math station, which I prefer over reading, but someday I would like to do the art station. That seems like less "hard nose" and more FUN! Today we worked with pattern blocks. Some kids definitely had a hard time visualizing what shapes would fill the space, but (and of course I'm bragging) Daniel had no problem at all and finished first in his group. Even I was a little surprised. There was one other boy who looked at the shape while I giving directions and had it completed on the table in front of him before I even handed out the cards.

Now it's nearly 10 o'clock. I have to start going to bed at a reasonable time since I have started getting up earlier. Maybe I can start to be healthier and loose some of this weight I've become so attached to!

For Steve: Girls, Girls, Girls!

A few pictures for Steve. I don' t have the most striking ones ready to publish, but these are a start. Leah especially looks like my pictures, but Daniel does resemble Chad as a boy. Maybe I'll post those someday.

Happy Birthday, Leah! (and Happy New Year, too)

Leah turned 2 years old today. True to Collett-fashion, she was running a fever. Here she is trying to sleep it off this afternoon.










Luckily, the drugs Chad gave her just before dinner brought the fever down enough to have a little celebration. She made several attempts to blow out the candle, but only got as far as making the flame dance a little. Nathan and Daniel got in the act and after about 3 tries, they finally got it out. We have more spit on the cake than even I thought was possible!









She loved the baby she got . I bought the plastic parts off of eBay (after I failed to find them in any stores I looked in) and used the pattern for a different kind of doll I found in a pattern catalog. I had to work so hard to find anything, I was wondering if people just don't make baby dolls anymore!? So the baby is a strange size and I will "fix" it later...when Leah doesn't know what I'm doing. I spent the last 24 hour crocheting a little hooded poncho for her, too. The picture doesn't do it justice. I thought the blue would accent her eyes nicely. About 4 rounds into the poncho, I remembered that she has hazel eyes, not blue! I've lost too many brain cells.









For FHE the week of someone's birthday, we have a night just for that person. Tonight was Leah's night. We listened to a story about the time she was born and then everyone drew a picture telling why Leah is special. Nathan's is below. He said Leah was special because she plays with him. (He says that about most people when we do this. He must really like to play.)












We've nearly recovered from Christmas. Nathan won't believe me anymore when I blame something on Santa (because "Christmas is over"). We got to see more cousins for Christmas and I got my fill of traveling (with Leah) for a long time. It has rained and snowed off and on for the past while. It was white this morning, but now it's brown and wet. Maybe we'll get snow again tomorrow and then maybe we'll end up with some that actually stays around. B still hasn't made a snowman.

I'm relieved that Christmas is over for now and I can get on with the thousand other things on my "to do" list. We start the new Enrichment program this month. I have a feeling that I'm going to be busier now than before because there are several things going on throughout the month. I don't have to participate in all of them, but I do have to keep tabs.

"Time will tell."

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas! We survived another shredding fest! But barely. They were getting tired of opening presents. (They wanted to play with the ones they already opened.) But Santa was very kind and delivered a castle. Daniel has been asking for one for over a year. He was disappointed that there wasn't a dragon, too. I told him that Santa can't bring a dragon because it would eat the reindeer. Plus, Santa knows that he's good at pretending to be a dragon. Last night, Daniel said, "I don't believe Santa Claus is real, but I will if there are crumbs." You can be sure that I made certain there were plenty of crumbs on the plate of cookies we left out for Santa!

We had church for a little over an hour then came home for lunch. I got a two hour nap after lunch. That takes a little of the edge off my exhaustion. I have been trying to restore order all evening. We had cold cereal for dinner. B probably thinks we're really lazy. We are!

We leave for Nampa in the morning/afternoon. We still don't know for sure. It's nice to have a little leisure! Nathan has been running a fever this afternoon (didn't eat lunch or dinner, but found the strength to eat a sucker 2 inches in diameter). Hopefully, he'll be over it in the morning and the others won't get it.

I think Rebekah is allergic to Houdini. She's had a cold forever and I finally thought of the cat. He's been banished to outdoors (Merry Christmas, Houdini!) since Friday night. She seems to be doing better. I've changed all the sheets and vacuumed. A little more vacuuming and some loads of laundry should help us to know for sure. She's been sleeping in her swing at night for nearly two months! Poor girl.

So Merry Christmas, World. I'm off to put away more "loot!"

Christmas Goodies

I spent over 7 hours in the kitchen yesterday, working on Christmas cookies. I used 3 different recipes and doubled all of them. I had 32 bags (5 of them are left overs to use if someone brings an unexpected gift) to fill. Even after all that baking, the bags looked pathetically empty! Chad and I each made a trip to the grocery store to buy candy to help fill up the bags. The candy just fell into the cracks around the cookies...didn't take up much more space. Oh well. This year's offering will help to make next year's offering that much better (Note to self: Get smaller treat bags next year). I took the boys with me around the neighborhood to deliver some of them. Nathan got cold enough that he didn't want to get out of the van anymore. It's COLD out there!

Rebekah has been fighting a cold for what seems like forever now. She's been sleeping in her swing just to be able to breath. It sounds so gooey in her nose and hearing her try to nurse is horrible. When will this end? I'm not looking forward to getting her to sleep in her crib once she can breath normally. I try not to turn the swing on too much at night so she doesn't have to break that addiction, too! A 3 month old with a runny nose...lovely.

I'm nearly done with Christmas. The shopping is all done. I have some sewing to do (some not yet started) and some work on the computer. I'm still working on new stockings. I'm making 7 for our family (for any extra babies that might come) and one for B. This may be a lesson I'll never learn. I always have a ton of projects going on at this time of year.

And now I'm off to watch "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" while I crochet trim for the stockings!

Anyone could have predicted it!

Guess who now has a cold? Maybe she'll wear her coat to school on Monday.

I gave Chad and the boys haircuts tonight. I always get a hair sliver when I cut Chad's. But now Daniel's cowlicks won't be going crazy! :)

Ice and Smiles

This is the ice on the inside of the bathroom window this morning. The outside temp. at 7:30 AM was -4 degrees (-23 degrees celcius)! If we had vinyl windows, we wouldn't get to enjoy such awesome displays of nature! ;) And no, B did not wear her down-filled coat. (It's hanging safely in her closet.) I wonder if she knows anything (yet?) about frostbite or hypothermia. It never freezes in Bangkok, so I can't imagine she's had much experience.

Chad is in Las Vegas this morning so I know he's nice and comfortable. Today is my day to help at Daniel's school, so at least we won't have to stand out there at the bus stop, freezing to death.

Here is our cute little Rebekah this morning. She loves to talk to those animals hanging above her. On my third try, I got her smiling.
She's almost started laughing at things, but I have to tickle her for that. She slept in the crib for the first time last night. I'm glad the girls' room is only 3 steps from my room because I spent a lot of the night making the trip. Thankfully, Leah slept through it all.

And now I've got to go and work on Christmas cards. I spent an hour working on them last night and got all of 2 done. Being a single parent is so rewarding! :)

Baby, it's COLD outside!

The snow has let up, but it's very cold out there. We haven't been out of the 'teens for a while. It's supposed to get below zero tonight. Daniel went out to play in the snow last week and spent so long out there that he ended up with 1st degree frostbite on his cheeks! He never complained about them hurting (but if Leah even bumps into him, he's mortally wounded).

We're pricing new windows since we haven't been able to use our wood stove. We have old aluminum windows that keep a good flow of air moving through the house. It would cost us about $1500 to replace all the windows and about $1000 more to have them installed (which is why Chad is considering doing it himself). And then there is the pet door on the back door which lets in a good amount of cold air. I would like to replace the entire door. That would really confuse Houdini when he tried to break in again. I've never seen a cat with such a hard head; he can barge his way through the cover over the pet door.

We're doing a secret 12 Days of Christmas for a family in our ward. They lost their father/husband this fall in an auto accident. Their ages are 11 and younger. I can't imagine how the Christmas season will change for them this year. It's a pretty cute collection of gifts and stories that I found online. I hope it does what I intend...create good memories and help to lighten the mood.

Rebekah has a cold again. She sounds like she's breathing under water. I try to use saline and suck her out occasionally, but it all comes back again so fast. Poor girl. She's been sleeping in her swing all night. That blocked tear duct is still giving her problems, too. It looks like she constantly has boogers in her eye!

Thanksgiving and since

We had a nice visit in Utah for Thanksgiving. On Saturday we went downtown to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights. During the time we were down there, we lost Daniel and then Nathan. I think all the people overwhelmed me. As it normally is, I can see who is around me and know that someone is missing without having to count heads. Anyway, Nathan was the trickiest to find and he ended up with a group of good samaritans trying to figure out exactly what to do with him. He didn't seem too worried about the situation he was in. He's so reserved around strangers, I'm not sure he would have ever told them anything about himself!

We got caught in quite a snow storm while we were down there (probably another reason it was easy to lose track of Nathan) and B got a good dose of snow. It was pretty though and didn't last too long. The roads were good on the way home except for a short patch between Pocatello and Fort Hall. It has snowed every day since and the roads aren't always good now.

On Monday, we drove up north of Spencer to cut down our Christmas tree. We were the only ones up there. When Leah and Rebekah weren't crying, it sounded eerily silent. Daniel had great fun in the snow. Rebekah was riding in the backpack and did not enjoy herself at all. She wasn't cold, but apparently, that wasn't the issue. I think she and Leah are probably a little too young for such an adventure, but I don't know who to leave them with for so long.

We stopped in Dubois for dinner. There really aren't any choices for restaurants there. We could have gotten something from the gas station, but chose to eat in the little cafe there. Not good food. I wouldn't recommend it. Anyway, we filtered into the building in spurts, starting with me and Leah. When Chad came in empty-handed, my question was, "Where's the baby?" He'd left her in the van - didn't see her there! Yes, we are very attentive parents lately.

We put up and decorated our Christmas tree this evening. We first went to Idaho Falls to see the nativities displayed in the stake center by the temple. Nathan was very impressed and seemed surprised to find so many baby Jesus's. :) We didn't lose anyone, but Rebekah did overflow her diaper. It's always something.

Tomorrow is the Ward Christmas party. B is probably wondering about all this crazy Christmas activity so far away from Christmas. She sort of participated tonight, but mostly disappeared to work on her homework.

Chimney fires and screaming kids

We had our wood burning stove inspected today and the guy essentially condemned it. It's too close to the wall and is a fire hazard. The chimney is so crusted with soot that we've already had a chimney fire this season and didn't even know it! To top it all off, the chimney itself is in need of little work. So now Chad has spent the last hour and a half making calculations to decide what method of heating the house is the cheapest. Do we buy a new wood burning stove or get a pellet stove? Do we just use the baseboard heaters or replace them with oil filled ones? Do we make the kids run laps when it gets too cold, or just feed them beans for breakfast and hope for a natural gas solution? Getting a new stove requires a little "remodeling" of sorts. It's all fun. Just when we think we've put ourselves into as much debt as we can, something new pops up.

Rebekah is growing fast. She's moving into the next size of clothes. Babies sure keep you busy with wardrobe rotation! Not only in growth, but in soiled clothes, too. It doesn't seem right that a little creature under 12 lbs can create a whole load of laundry in a week's time. She's 3 months old next week.

We're going to Taylorsville for Thanksgiving this week. I cringe to think of the time we'll have to spend listening to Leah scream on the way down and back. That girl DOES NOT like her car seat and I wish I didn't have to ride in a car with her. Combined with Daniel teasing Nathan, all the screaming is likely to run us off the road before the Idaho/Utah border!

We've had some beautiful weather the past few days and I'm glad it will be dry for the holiday travels.

Corn Maze

We went to a Corn Maze for FHE. The kids each took turns holding the flashlight and choosing which way to go. At the end, I got tired of wandering through the maze and led the way out. We spent over half an hour walking around in there. I think the kids had fun. I'm not sure what B thought.
I actually did some housework today. I cleaned both upstairs toilets and sinks. I had to stop at the floor because two little boys had made off with the "inside broom" and turned into an "outside broom." So I bought myself a new broom when I went grocery shopping this afternoon.
I'm very tired. Chad and I spent two hours preparing our lesson for Church next week. We didn't get to bed until nearly 1 AM after doing that, working with Rebekah and nursing Daniel through a cough that was keeping him awake. I didn't get a nap because I was grocery shopping. Maybe tomorrow.
Daniel stayed home from school today because of his cough. He goes back tomorrow. :)

No rest for the wicked.

Rebekah has been sleeping all morning and afternoon. I don't anticipate a restfull night for any of us. It's already a quarter to 7 pm! Daniel has been coughing since last night. I don't think he'll be going to school unless it gets better before then. Chad took the boys camping on Friday night. We all went up at the beginning and then all the girls went home. (The smart ones.) They woke up to thick frost on everything. The tent was still frosty when Chad showed it to me at 10:30 that morning. I know that you don't get sick from being cold, but I can't help wondering if that didn't help Daniel anyway. At least Chad got his camping urge out of his blood. I don't think they could have waited another weekend. Chad and I get to teach the 5th Sunday lesson next Sunday. Scripture study. Should be interesting at the very least. We have read the material independently, but haven't discussed it together yet. Nothing like waiting until the last minute! Fall is in the air and the leaves are on the ground. Halloween celebrations start this weekend. I have to finish the boys' costumes by Friday or Saturday. They are going to be Batman and Robin, but I am making the costumes from scratch. It's challenging, but I enjoy it. I'm protected by the fact that they are 5 and 3 years old....they won't know if their costumes are a little pathetic.
My house seems to be in a suspended state of clutter. I can only get a room or two clean at a time. By then, the wrecking crews have returned and so has the clutter. I'm very frustrated about it all, but then I try to remind myself that this is what I wanted at this point in my life and hold on the hope that as the kids get older, the house will be easier to maintain.
And now the dinner timer is going off. Late dinners on Sunday.