Catching up, again.

For those of you who check up on us regularly, I apologize for letting you down. I haven't written in almost a week! Thank you for not abandoning me!

I am home again from my 4 nights at my sister's house. The tutoring was hard work for all of us, but I hope that it was at least a little successful. I learned from my first day alone in a strange house that we had to get out and do some things, even if my kids didn't want to get anywhere near their car seats.

On Wednesday, we made the trek across the valley to visit with my sister. She fed us lunch, complete with chocolate milk. What a treat for the Collett kids. It's not that I don't allow them to have chocolate milk, it's just that I'm too lazy to make it very often. Andrea and I kept busy on different projects while the kids played. Rebekah didn't play. She just kept interrupting me. I was writing captions for pictures that I put into an album when I was in bed recovering from my foot surgery. So now my pictures are done through 2004! YAHOO!! You'd better be cheering for me.

On Thursday, Andrea and I took the kids to the childrens' museum. It seemed to me (and I'm sure it did to Andrea) that we were there quite a while. While Rebekah was ready to go, I had to drag Nathan and Leah away from all the fun. I felt a little sorry for them, but I must be firm! We need a childrens' museum here. I would buy a membership in a heartbeat. I would also buy a case of hand sanitizer. (Let's be honest!)

On Friday, I decided that my kids' behavior was such that I needed to cancel the last day of tutoring. Even Daniel was acting up at home. So I loaded everyone up and headed out of town in the middle of a snowstorm. We stopped at Grandpa's first. He fed us ice cream (in celebration of the storm?). Just in time for lunch! We stopped for gas once but otherwise drove straight home and arrived about 4 PM. Chad and Daniel were out to a movie and we just sat and recovered from the drive. While waiting for them to get home, I was heating some water for spaghetti and kept hearing some clicking. I thought it was just the heating element on the burner, but when it kept going after the stove was off, I realized it was coming from the fridge.

We thought that maybe it was the ice maker, so we turned it off. Still clicking (followed by humming). Fast forward to Sunday morning. I notice that the fridge smells warm when I open it in the morning. The milk is not as cold as normal. And what's this? There's no ice in the freezer! It's completely melted and everything has fully defrosted.

That afternoon we had some friends over to help us eat all the fish sticks, chicken nuggets and fingers and vegetables that are thawed. We enjoyed a nice time and bounteous buffet. They lent us some coolers and gave us some milk jugs of frozen water. That is now our refrigeration system...in the cold garage. So I'm not complaining because it did happen in the winter and we didn't lose much food.

The repairman was here today. The compressor is out, which is covered in the warranty (the fridge is only 2 1/2 years old), but won't be installed until Thursday because it has to be shipped. Lovely! At least it's covered and we're only paying for the service call. And another benefit...my fridge is VERY clean! Daniel (or was it Nathan?) even asked if we got a new fridge. I must have made that thing shine!

Through all this, we've been having problems with Daniel. He's been extremely emotional, withdrawn, touchy, tired, etc. and then he snaps out of it. While I was at the clinic with Daniel and Rebekah (yes, I'm helping to pay their power bill with my copay donations), he confirmed for me that Daniel's behavior is most likely separation anxiety. That makes me feel special, but really! We're praying for him and hoping he comes out of it soon.

So now I've got to attack the disaster that my house has become. And then I have to tunnel into my sewing room to finish my quilt block for Wednesday. I am the head honcho this month (lucky me) because the real honcho is going to be out of town. If you don't see any new posts for a while, it's for a good reason! REALLY!

Are we almost there yet?

That's what Leah was asking me less than 30 miles into our drive yesterday. Not a bad question, unless you consider that the ride is more than 3 hours long! After much crying and hysterics (the kids weren't very well behaved either), the girls finally fell asleep around 60 miles and slept for 50. Nathan never complained. What a lovely boy! He took a nap when the girls did, so I had the ride all to myself for a bit.

We were glad to finally arrive and get out of our seats. The kids had fun playing until bedtime. Nathan almost got to sleep a room with his cousins until I found him on the floor between the beds and one of his cousins midair in a leap over his head. Considering they (cousins) had school in the morning, I thought it best to put Nathan into bed with Leah. He never even balked.

All cousins have been gone all day. We are dying. It's hard to find something to do in a strange house for very long. It's 2:40 and they should be home soon. Then the tutoring work begins and the house starts trembling with 6 kids shedding energy equal to at least 10!

We should try to go somewhere tomorrow.

A borrowed story

This story isn't about any of my family, but it was funny enough I wanted to share it. I'm glad it's going on in other households!

My friend has four kids 6 and under, like we do. Her youngest is 9 months and the next in line is going to be 3 soon. This morning she discovered a sticky cough drop in the baby's hair. Turning to the child she knew was guilty (3 year old), she said, "Look at Carli's hair!" The toddler replied, "I know! She's a birthday cake!"

Two more pictures

I've had such overwhelming response to my mystery photos, including a request for more! I feel like I'm actually contributing somehow to the lives of others!


I only have two more pictures that would be common enough for outside guessers. The rest are pretty specific to things in the house. Maybe this should be a weekly game we play! :) I could start looking at the things around me with a whole new perspective. Anyone interested?

Anyway, here are the pictures. Scroll down the page for the answers.













Here's a bonus picture for your amusement:

First: front grill on the van

Second: lamp shade

Bonus: Daniel (self portrait)

Answers to the pictures below

I've heard some good guesses. Here are the answers. Don't look if you haven't seen the pictures yet!

Where's your sense of fun?








First picture: D & Y from Candy Land box

Second picture: Side view of CD's in holder

Third picture: Salt pellets in the water softener

Fourth picture: toy cars (the orange one is actually a little motorcycle)

Book your reservations now!

I'm going to be visiting my sister and tutoring her kids all of next week (Monday afternoon until Saturday afternoon). It seems the teachers there could use a bit better parent-teacher communication skills. Anyway, if you know where my family lives and think you want to catch up on old times, book some time now. I'm ever so popular and may not have any free time once the word gets out. If you don't know where my family lives, then you're not likely close enough for a visit anyway. I don't want to set any stalkers on my family by disclosing their secret locales. :)

Oh yeah, I'm going to have the 3 youngest Colletts with me. That might be enough to scare any potential (play)dates away!

Scavanger Hunt

I sent Chad on a scavanger hunt to find his Valentine's Day present today. The clues were close-ups of some things around the house. It was pretty fun to see him and the kids trying to figure out what they were looking at as they ran all over the house. In some cases, the kids were very helpful to Chad because they recognized some things that he didn't. And sometimes they could see the clues from their lower vantage points. I was pretty impressed with the way their little brains started smoking over it! Here are some of the pictures. Can you guess what you're looking at?

School Lunch

Chad and I went to Daniel's school to eat lunch with him then join with other parents from his class to meet with the Principal and discuss grown-up things (school policies, district growth, our experiences with the teacher, etc.).

We had to send in our lunch money in advance - double the cost of student lunch fees. When you pay double, you expect to get double. Sometimes you don't get what you expect. Maybe it's just as well. It was mac and cheese (I took a bite, then looked for salt and pepper shakers. I didn't expect to see any and wasn't disappointed.), mini corn dogs, peas (I was glad to discover that they were HOT.), apple crisp and a choice of milk. The milk was delicious. Actually, the apple crisp was good, too. I could have handled a double portion of that. (It's probably best I didn't get it.) I think I may have gotten one extra mini corn dog. That's likely the one that I've been burping up since lunchtime.

Then we put our trays away where I was thoroughly disgusted by a huge garbage can of "leftovers" and was amazed that Daniel doesn't come home from school just covered in splattered food. There was more than enough of it flying as he banged his tray to dislodge very stuck macaroni noodles.

From there Daniel went to recess and we went to the Principal's Office. This office is much larger than I would have expected. It's really just an office with an attached conference room, minus the wall. There were 4 students represented in the room. Could this have anything to do with the fact that the teacher sent the notice home a day after it was supposed to be returned with the lunch money? Coincidentally, I learned that I'm not the only one frustrated with the teacher's seeming inability to communicate with the parents. I'm glad to know that my notes are phone calls aren't the only ones being ignored!

It was a long meeting, dominated by one very "concerned" (translated = outspoken) parent. Of course, I didn't stay completely silent, but had to fight for a chance to speak. I'm glad we went, if just to be a little more informed.

I could have done without that last mini corn dog.

MONDAY!

Chad is in CA again today. So it was all up to me to get things up and running this morning. The first thing I got to do was pick up the trash the cat had strewn around the kitchen. Chicken wrappers, mushy rice and cumumber peelings are not a recommended way to start a day. Of course, I first had to try to kill the cat. I tried to shove a chair at him as he cowered under the table and only succeeded in tearing my thumbnail. It is no secret that I don't handle mornings well.

After we recovered from that, I got breakfast underway. Daniel dressed himself then combed and brushed his teeth before eating. Why did he brush before breakfast? I never got a real answer about that. So even with all of this early prepping, Daniel still missed the bus. Fortunately, my friend was having a slow morning at her house and her daughter was still eating her breakfast. They picked up Daniel on their way to school.

Next, I did my exercising for the morning then showered, dressed, and tossed the kids into the van to leave with my (same) friend while I ran to the pharmacy to get some antibiotic for Daniel. I took it to him at school and made it there 5 minutes after recess began. However, luck was finally mine as he was in the room doing some work.

From there, the day has returned to normal crazy and we are back on track! Daniel has already done his homework, too! I still need to mop the kitchen floor, but figure that will wait until the kids have gone to bed and no one will need to walk on it for a while.

Time to sterilize

Do the people who put your house in a tent for termites have a similar process for germs? We need to sterilize this house! Daniel came home from school early yesterday and ended up with a fever (and the tears that come with it) over 102. The doctor (yes, I visited two days in a row, with two different kids) was SURE it was strep until the culture came back negative. So we're treating a fever, with a prescription for antibiotics hanging on the messages board in case we don't get rid of the fever.

When I pay a $30 copay, I like to have something a little more certain than this. I don't fault the doctor, just my situation.

Nathan slept the whole day yesterday - his fever reached over 103. By the time Chad and I went to bed, Nathan was feeling a little better and staring-wide awake-into the dark. At 1 AM, when I got up with Daniel who was throwing up spit (didn't really eat dinner), Nathan had finally fallen asleep. But Leah was awake, standing in the middle of her floor. I helped her go to the bathroom, got Daniel finished up in the other bathroom and eventually got to go back to bed.

So, I ask; "When will it end?" Fifth Disease, pink eye, a NASTY cold, sinus infection, possible ear infections, mystery fevers...it doesn't seem to stop.

On the positive side, the scale has started to slide in my favor again. I think it was broken for a while.

More b-day pics below.

At the Doctor's office...again.

I should ask if they have anything like a reward card or frequent visitor's pass at the clinic here. It seems it would pay off for our family. Of course, they'd probably come up with black out dates to go with it.

I was worried that Nathan had pink eye again (I was up to the third time in my counting). His eyes have been red and glassy. He seemed fine this morning but then I misplaced him around 9:30 and found him in bed with a fever. I didn't know 5-year-olds put themselves to bed. Come to think of it, my 6-year-old does it, too. I wish my 3-year-old would...she just follows us around and screams when she's not feeling 100%.

ANYWAY...I took Nathan in to the doctor. We waited an hour past our appointment time to be told the doctor was too bogged down to see us before a meeting he needed to be to. Did we want to see the PA? NO WAY. I don't have anything against Physician's Assistants in general, but this guy is not my favorite. He speaks monotone as if he's bored, moves at half speed, describes everything in "you-must-be-at-a-disadvantage-since-didn't-go-to-medical-school-so-I'll-explain-it-all-to-you-even-though-this-is-your-fourth-child" words and then hands you a prescription that he's already admitted he wouldn't give to his kids. After an hour of waiting, I most assuredly don't want to face him. So they got me into the other doctor and fast. (They probably felt bad that Nathan looked so miserable there.) A lot of people I've talked to don't like this other doctor, but aside from the B.O., he's not bad. He's very friendly and thorough.

ANYWAY...it turns out that Nathan is suffering from a sinus infection. Poor kid. Why does he always have the fun stuff? We got home a little before 1 pm and he's been sleeping since then (now over 2 1/2 hours). He hasn't eaten since breakfast. It's not good to be skipping meals when you're 5 and don't even weigh 35 lbs. I need to wake him soon so he can sleep tonight.

The bright side? At least it's a sinus infection and not something ultra contagious like PINK EYE.

Happy 5th Birthday, Nathan!

Nathan is 5 today! (He looks like he's turning 4.) He's already picked Pizza Hut for his birthday dinner. I predicted that about 2 days ago. It only took him about 2 seconds to decide. But it took me 2 hours decorate this cake. I thought the car shape was really fun. I can't wait to present it to him tonight.

Nathan is my little sweetheart child. He's the least likely to come to me for comfort, but the first to need it. Once I force him into a cuddle, he makes himself right at home. He's very good at things with small parts and works through simple math problems in his head. He loves putting puzzles together. Yesterday he was sobbing because Leah didn't want to play with him. He has been taking naps just to nap at the same time as everyone else. (He and Leah made a little spot on the floor together yesterday and they shared a pillow and blanket.) Nathan has bright light in his eyes that makes them seem to sparkle (sometimes it just looks like mischief). His giggle is captivating and his cry sounds like a hound dog!












Here are some pictures and a video of Nathan's big day. Notice Rebekah's cake eating technique and the picture of Daniel and Leah coveting Nathan's gifts. Nathan cut and served the cake...he saved the "5" for himself!

If the video isn't working, check back later. It's a little sluggish!

Keeping in touch

This is a quilt I just finished last week. It was a late (maybe early?) Christmas present. I'm glad to finally finish it. And she really liked it which made all the work worth it. I'm ready to sew my 24 quilt blocks from last year into a quilt top and then get it on my gigantic quilting frame I got for Christmas. I just have to get the fabric for the sashing and backing. Another trip into Idaho Falls. ~great~

I've been exercising pretty regularly for the past month. It's finally paying off. The pounds are slowly decreasing. I've now got a new low since the time I was pregnant with Daniel. I am going to do this! It may kill me. I'll let you know when I finally weigh less than Chad. I don't know if I've EVER weighed less than him. (Well, maybe at birth because then he was almost 4 months old.) I'm looking forward to getting rid of clothes that don't fit because now they really don't fit!

We've been sick around here with one thing after another. I'm still trying to figure out why Leah and Nathan had fevers today. Nathan didn't seem bothered by it, but Leah used it to her full benefit. I'm relieved to report that she's back to her perky and cute self. I get to look forward to her usual screaming and crying throughout the night. She had me out of bed 4 times before 12:40 AM one night last week. Half of the time, she didn't even know what she wanted...just wanted to torture me and get in trouble, obviously.

Rebekah is still holding back on talking. She can say "more" (or close to it) and does regularly. She puts both hands on her chest when you ask, "Where's Rebekah?" I think I finally got her to know who to point to when I ask, "Where's Mommy?" Maybe I need to make a bigger impression on her! The funny thing is that when she hears you start asking something with "where's", she automatically puts both hands on her head because she thinks you're going to ask her where her hair is. Silly girl.

Daniel is doing well in school. I recently talked with his teacher and she said he's very conscientious about doing his work. REALLY? How do we get that kid to come home and clean his room? He still doesn't love to read his homework (neither do I, if it means anything). Do they make a chair that will tie down everything but a boy's eyes and mouth? He just can't sit still and I'm getting jostled around. It's been paying off though. He's becoming a good little reader. He has a regular chore at home now; he sweeps the floor after dinner. He gets paid for it, too, which we use to teach him about tithing, saving money and spending money.

Nathan turns FIVE this Friday. I admit that I'm worried about his future. I wish I could guarantee that he'll have a strong belief in himself and will be confident because he's going to be small and will likely be a target for a bunch of idiot bullies. He's a smart kid. You should see him put a puzzle together. Most people at church have never heard him talk. He is slow (even for a Collett) to warm up. He looked very uncomfortable in Primary on Sunday when he was up there (with 3 others) to have a b-day song sung to him. He can wear the same pair of socks for days. A funny thing is that if one does come off for some reason, he's fine to leave the other one on. A couple of weeks ago, he had one sock on and one sock off for a couple of days.

I've got a bunch of projects that I want to accomplish, including fumigating my house to get rid of the germs we're obviously breeding. But to be honest, I'd rather have someone come and chat for a while and just kill time. How's that for productivity?

December Quilt Blocks

You probably think I gave up on the quilt group the last month of the project, didn't you! Not so. The group was postponed during the busy month of December and since I was plenty busy myself, I only just completed them. We have our final meeting tomorrow night, coinciding with the first meeting of this year's quilting group. I am addicted!

These are the blocks. The first block is called Old Timey Square. I shrunk the original block to repeat it 4 times in my own block. This is the Beginner's Block.

This block was originally the beginner's block but I didn't like the advanced pattern (I think it is ugly), so I made this one the Advanced Block. It doesn't really have a name. Just applique. Both blocks have applique, actually.

I have framed each of my 24 blocks from the past year in coordinating fabrics and trimmed them all to the same size (15 1/2"). Now they are ready to be sewn together into a quilt top. Chad gave me a huge, luxurious quilting frame for Christmas, so I should be able to quilt it in style. I will post a picture of the final result. Check back in the fall!

Click here to refresh your memory on the previous blocks. And here (scroll way down). And here. And here (about half way down).

The Final Chapter of Fifth Disease...a quasi clinical view

I was hoping that Nathan and Rebekah would be spared the beautiful rash. They weren't. At least now I know we're done. (I don't have any more kids!)

I'm really hoping that Chad and I are immune to this because I don't want arthritic symptoms for a few months! (I haven't checked with Chad, but I'm assuming he feels the same.)

In case any of you would like to see the stages of Fifth Disease (also known as Parvovirus B19), here are some pictures.

Rebekah is just beginning. Her face is a little speckled and rosy. She has a fever. Nathan had one, too. I don't think Leah and Daniel did.

Daniel's face is actually getting better here. It spreads over the cheeks and creeps down under the chin a bit. He may have had a bit on his forehead. I can't recall.

Then it hits the body. Here are Nathan's arms. (Remember, you can click on these pictures to make them bigger.) His legs and bum are similar. (I'm not showing you some of those areas to avoid criminal charges.) It will be on the body for a couple of weeks, slowly fading. Leah complained of itching sometimes. No one ever complained of pain.

And though I'd like to blame their crankiness on something, I'm sure it had nothing to do with this rash.

End of discussion!

We weighed the kids the other morning. No one in this family is putting much strain on the scale (except for one who will remain nameless). Leah is 6 lbs lighter than Nathan. They are 23 months apart. Nathan will be 5 in less than 2 weeks. Nathan is a horrible eater, especially when he's sick. Chad was trying to coax more lunch into Nathan today.

It went like this:

"Nathan, you'd better eat more or Leah is going to get bigger than you."

"I really don't care. I'm older than her."

The Nasties

That's us. We have so many germs around here, I have dubbed us The Nasties. Mostly, we are mucous-filled and coughing our insides out. Leah threw up this morning because of snot and coughing. Yesterday, I found dried vomit in Rebekah's crib at naptime. Apparently, she'd thrown up during the night. Gross! And how horrible to throw up and not have anyone rescue you! And the night before that, Daniel threw up (after calling me from sleep several times and threatening to do it). So for the past three nights, we've been getting some really good sleep.

Nathan's bout with pink eye lasted less than two days. His eyes never got goopy and I finally stopped thinking my eyes were infected. (I had irritated eyes the moment I heard we'd been exposed.) Now he's coughing his guts out with the rest of the family.

I haven't been able to avoid this one. I fear I'm headed for a sinus infection. The base of my skull is aching from all the coughing and when I blow my nose, it feels like my forehead is going to blow right open. My ear is starting to hurt, too. While I'm falling apart, I might as well mention that I think I need to seek out a dentist...may have a cavity or two.

And speaking of not feeling well, our van is looking for a new transmission. I guess its coughing it's guts out, too!

My Friend's solution (sequel to "My Friend's problem")

My Friend has come to a decision on how to handle the tough situation with her mother. She said she's been giving it lots of thought, has prayed about it and gotten some helpful input. So she's not going to cut off communications as first considered. (I guess she never felt completely comfortable with the plan, but was looking for something other than ignoring the situation again.)

What she is going to do is be VERY careful about what she says around her mother. She's going to be on "high alert" in any conversation and bite her tongue if she has any impulses to speak more than necessary. (Do they make good band-aids for tongues?) She will probably limit visits as well. The less time in a dangerous situation, the better.

When negative comments and actions are witnessed by her kids, my friend is going to take some time to discuss it with them. She's hoping to do this in a way that attacks the actions, but not the grandmother.

My friend hopes that this last-ditch effort will save a near-decimated relationship of distrust and hurt. If things don't improve, I think she will resort to the original plan to cut off communication. For her sake, I hope it works. She's been pretty worked up about it. (Talk about holding a grudge!)

Pink Eye!! AGAIN?!?!?

Yes, it's true. We are infected again. I knew it wouldn't last long. This is not one of our favorite infections. (As if we had a favorite.) I'm not entirely sure that we're clear of Fifth Disease and now we're adding pink eye to the fun.

I was apologizing to my friend for exposing her kids to the contagious rash earlier this week. She wasn't too concerned and even let our kids get together Thursday, Friday and Saturday. So then she calls me yesterday, about 2 hours after the kids had been there and says one of her kids has pink eye. Lovely. I'm trying to convince myself that she wasn't taking revenge!

Nathan's eyes are the first to go. I realized that he had it while we were at church. So we at least got a chance to share it with others! I wonder what my chances are that we can keep the entire family from getting the gunk. We aren't exactly the type of people to sit quietly in our own small corners!

My Friend's problem

My Friend has a problem that's got her frustrated and torn. Her mother.

It's a tricky situation since she loves her mother and sees many good things in her. The problem is her mother likes to complain and spread negative comments...a lot. She has got criticism down to a science. Unfortunately, it's a one way street (isn't it usually?). Her mother doesn't take criticism well AT ALL and holds a wicked grudge.

Things that her mother wouldn't say to her face are generously shared with other members of the family. Her mother claims that she doesn't visit overnight because of the family cat, but tells everyone else it's because her daughter "sat her down" and lectured her and the step-dad on 'everything' that was wrong with them. It doesn't matter that it happened over a year ago...there is no going back! The strangest part? My friend only learned this recently, from her sister, but her mother claims they've discussed it.

My friend also complains that her mom spreads bad news like missionary tracts. For example, if my friend and her mother are engaged in a conversation of speaking less than favorably about a sister (that is not good for several reasons!), her mother will tell the sister everything that my friend said, but conveniently leave out the things she said! It doesn't matter if it was said in passing, in frustration or the heat of the moment...it all gets forwarded. (To be honest, my friend should be smarter about all of this. She's told me that her mother did this with her and her siblings when she was a teenager.)

As a mother, myself, it is hard for me to understand how a mother keeps trying to pit her children against each other. I work hard with my kids to keep them saying nice things towards and about each other. I want them to love and respect each other...not try to find fault. I have my own relationships with my sisters and brother that I would like to strengthen. We are trying to be adults instead of still acting like children. It's hard to break tradition.

Anyway, my friend is struggling with a stressful situation with her mother that just doesn't seem to be getting any better. She's frustrated and hurt that her mother keeps on with such behavior, while professing other feelings and motives. (Needless to say, there are deeper issues than just this.) She would like to just cut communications altogether. I think part of it is spite and part of it is helpless frustration. She doesn't want to deny her children a healthy relationship with their grandmother, but that's also the problem...she doesn't want her children to be influenced by negative comments and criticisms (received or witnessed).

So that's my Friend's problem. I don't know what to tell her. I know it frustrates and stresses her a lot. It's not an easy decision...to cut off communication with your mother. I've told her to commit the problem to prayer. I'll pray for her, too.

Seeing lots of white!

For the past few days, I've been thinking of posting a blog to complain about the lack of snow and even ice here in a supposedly snowy part of Idaho. In fact, before we moved here, people would say, "You know it snows a lot there, right?" Yeah. We knew.

So it was kind of strange to visit Grandma in Salt Lake and see TONS more snow there than here. We even came back to brown grass with occasional slushy puddles in the streets. The ice fisherman that were out a couple of weeks ago were now out of business. It had been RAINING last week!

Well, all of that has changed. Here is what we see this morning. I estimate over 8 inches of snow on the picnic table. The high tomorrow is supposed to be in the single digits. We're back!

Chad is out of town today, so I'm glad I don't have any errands that would force me to take all 4 kids out in this stuff! I'm grateful for studded tires if something does come up.

Unfortunately, we don't get good snowman snow here. It blows and drifts a lot. Even with all this snowfall, many roofs are mostly bare. It's still good for making tracks though!

And the white stuff isn't only on the outside. Rebekah is doing a little decorating on the inside. Take a look at her trail of toilet paper. (She emptied it completely.) We must have bought the good stuff, because it didn't break until we started trying to get it back onto the roll. You know you'll be treated cushy on your tushy here!

In case you were wondering, that's Leah in the foreground...looks like she's using a blender, and Rebekah is way in the back there...trying to appear innocent! Jingle is there by the table. He's getting ready to shred as much TP as he can before we take it away.

Not an allergy

I think I'm relieved that I don't have to figure out what Daniel is allergic to anymore. Instead I'm trying not to feel too itchy. It turns out that we have a case of Fifth Disease. Apparently, we have nothing to worry about, unless any of us are pregnant. No one here is, and I hope no one we were around is. It shouldn't be more than 5-6 weeks of rashes. (Is that all?) Luckily, it's the type of thing that you usually only get once. Here is what Daniel looked like last week. Pretty, isn't it?

Dear Wal-Mart,

I was shopping in your store yesterday afternoon. Thank you for having me and my money.

I know it must be frustrating to have illiterate people coming through your doors. It was for me as I waited, tucked into a corner, with my daughter and cart on the "entrance" side while 3 or 4 shoppers used it for an exit. Maybe it would help them if you wouldn't rely on the signs only posted on the outside of the building. Some people just can't read backwords through tinted glass.

Thank you for the colorful and exciting displays throughout your store. I was so glad that my 16-month-old had a chance to get her stretching exercises in as she tried to grab everything we passed. I am truly grateful for the seatbelt on the cart. I felt particularly relieved that shopper's luck blessed me with one that wasn't broken.

Thank you for slowly slipping away from your once-touted slogan of selling products proudly made in the USA. Now I own a beautifully carved wood bowl from the Philippenes, kitchen towels made in Singapore and baby bottles made in Thailand. My kids are growing up in a culturally diverse home!

I was surprised that you actually wanted me to share my business with another company, but I think that is very kind of you in such a "dog-eat-dog" world. You see, I purposely went to your store with my toddler to buy her first teddy bear (please no judgements on how old she got before this milestone...she is the youngest of 4 and is lucky to have one of her own at all). I searched all over the toy section only to resort to asking an employee. He was so dilligent at his work that I hated to interrupt. He pointed me to a SMALL section of plush toys, all individually boxed and not at all suitable for my daughter's age. He assured me that was all there was. So I was forced to go down the street to that mega toy store, led by a giraffe. They had a whole wall full of loose stuffed animals! You probaby can't afford to use that much space because you need it for your clearance items.

In one last attempt to locate a once popular but no longer easy to find item, I looked for small, simple banks for my kids. (If they save up enough money, they can bring it to your store and buy something!) Maybe they were put away to make room for the 5 aisles of Valentines' Day candy and stuffed gorillas with hearts. (If my husband ever buys me one of those tacky things, I'll kill him!) Maybe you just want me to try that other toy store.

I hope you won't be offended that I don't shop your store as often as I once did. My husband is glad that I don't and he's the one I'm really trying to get along with. I do appreciate the lower prices. I'm sure that I'm still getting good quality items. If anything wears out or breaks too soon, I always blame it on my kids.

Keep up the fanastic work!

Yours Truly,
A Lighter-in-the-wallet Customer

Cousins...we have how many?

Now that we are done with holiday traveling and travailing, I can take a minute to immortalize it all.

On the day after Christmas we left to visit family 4 1/2 hours away. That's 14 cousins in one Big Bang! I'll bet you've never even heard that version of the "theory!" There was so much commotion that I didn't even really see my kids. They just got swallowed up. I think they enjoyed themselves and were adequately worn out by the time we left. They got to go swimming, watch a ton of movies and played with a whole different set of toys.

We also learned that Daniel is allergic to something during the trip. It would be really nice if I knew WHAT it was that turned him bright red on his cheeks and pink-splotchy over the rest of his body (he was affected head to toe...still has some rash left on his wrists and feet). The mostly likely culprit? Cheese. Either an aged cheese or some canned nacho cheese. I'm trying to get the desire to try the foods again and see what happens. Maybe that's a good Spring Break activity so we don't scare the other kids at school.

So we returned from that trip on Saturday (31 Dec) and then took another car trip to visit the other set of cousins 3 hours away, in a different direction this weekend. There are only 8 cousins there. We went for the first cousin baptism in that side of the family. Coincidentally, there were two baptisms of cousins happening where we'd just been. Tis the Season!

The kids got to play more and watch more TV and ride in the car again (Rebekah and Leah are not good in the car at all). So far, no allergic reactions! *WHEW!* We love to visit cousins, but love to be home again and back to "normal."

So it appears that we have 22 cousins (with 4 more siblings yet to have any children). Is that all? I swear it seemed way more than that in the moment!

Reading Homework

When Daniel came home from school yesterday, I was trying to use time efficiently and get his reading homework done right away. Just my luck...the book was 16 pages long. A mere pamphlet for established readers, but equivalent to the Old Testament for a first grader! It took almost 30 minutes to read through it the first time. Ugh.

I don't remember the ugly details of the days I was learning to read. I know Dick and Jane saw Spot run a lot. Now the kids are reading words like admitted, whimpered, hamburger and Barbara (yes, all of those words were in his homework this week). So it's a sneaky form of torture for the reader and the readee (try finding that word in your dictionary).

It's probably really entertaining to watch Daniel when he's doing his homework. I admit that I've surpressed a few giggles myself. My favorite is the time he actually wriggled, twisted, and slid his way into an upside-down-standing-on-his-head position. (I am NOT exaggerating.) At that point I had to stop the insanity and get him upright before I let him continue. Half the time he's sideways and still moving. Is this a boy thing? Do they have seatbelts in first grade? I haven't actually seen any but maybe the teachers only pull them out in extreme emergencies.

How long before he's so still at his desk you wonder if he's even awake (and then discover that he isn't after all)?

Time to find a dentist?

Daniel is six and a half. He still hasn't lost any baby teeth. That's a little tricky since his adult teeth are coming in. It's been over 2 months since I first noticed a sneaky tooth lurking in the background. Now it seems nearly fully erupted and it's twin is making an appearance. He's starting to look like a shark with rows of teeth! There is a dentist in the ward that I've questioned a few times. He said they would probably all take care of themselves. The tongue will push the adult tooth (now teeth) into place after the baby teeth fall out. He said I could push the loose tooth towards his lip to help get it out. Daniel doesn't really like that. (surprise, surprise) So of four teeth that are in the way, two are loose, one more than the other. The dentist did say that as long as the back teeth don't get higher than the front ones, I shouldn't worry too much. Well, I guess it's time to start worrying, or at least find a dentist!

Doom and Gloom?

Our kids have been praying lately that they'll live a long time and not die too soon. Chad and I are trying to think if we've said anything to trigger the trend. Since we couldn't think of anything, we'll have to assume that it's just a kid thing. Anyone out there have a similar thing going on in their family? Leave a comment to share one.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Leah!

I can't believe she's 3 years old! Leah is convinced that she is almost as old as her daddy and mommy now. "I am growing up!"

For her birthday dinner, she chose Wendy's. Who knows why...we rarely eat there. We gave her several options and Fazoli's almost won out ("the breadsticks place"), but she ended up going with fast food.

Nathan and I decorated her cake during nap time. I was going to make one of those cakes with the doll sticking out of the top, but decided to go easy on myself.

Leah put out the first of three candles (the middle one, actually) by draping her hair into the flames and transfering the fire to her head, instead of the candle. She had 3-4 inches of flames climbing up her hair. I reached over and pinched it out before it did too much more than warm up her cheek and shorten a lock of hair. Now the house smells of burnt hair. YUCK!

She was spoiled with clothes, a doll swing and little high chair to hang on the side of the table (for dolls) and a couple random things. Rebekah is very pleased with Leah's doll toys.

I am amazed at how quickly she is growing up. She is turning into a little girl and leaving her toddler days in a thick cloud of dust! She is quick to apologize and loves to sing. If you start reading a book to her, you might not get up until 3 or more books later. Leah loves to "play family" and rarely plays anything by herself. She loves being a sister! She does have a nasty temper and a scream that will make your ears ring (do you think I'm exaggerating?), so we look forward to future years of maturity and self-control.

We love our Leah!

I can't find my kids

We have two large garbage bags of wrapping paper and packaging to fit into our city garbage can...somehow. It was a lost and found danger for quite a while there. We lost, then found Rebekah several times.



Santa showed up and left each kid new crayons, a coloring book and a single toy of their own. Then the gluttony started with the wrapped gifts under the tree. Daniel learned a lesson in being gracious and appreciative when he almost didn't get to open any more presents. (He had been disappointed with some new clothes...SO NOT FUN.) We didn't have too many $$ presents. The kids are still impressed with cheap stuff.



Chad and I bought each other an identical gift, so that will be the only thing we have to return. I'm sure the return line will be close to empty...it came from a local food/emergency preparedness store.



I wish I could say that Christmas is over, but I still have a quilt to quilt for a friend. Chad got me a quilting frame that goes up against the wall and tilts a bit, so that should make it a lot easier. I hope he can get it up and running quickly! I told her that I should have it to her by Valentine's Day! :{



We went to Sacrament Mtg and then home yesterday, as most people did.
I had sewn some matching jumpers for the girls and me. Here we are. Someone called us triplets! It all started when Leah really needed a dress that hung past her knees. You can see how quickly I let things spiral out of control.



The kids got a shark tent from their cousins. It swallowed them and their daddy right up!



Leah was a little wary of the teeth at first, but you can see that she was courageous and overcame her fear!

Warner Bros.

Chad and I went to CA for a quick escape since he had a site visit out there one morning. We all drove to Grandma's Monday evening, arriving around 7ish. Chad and I got up early enough to leave @ 4 am, to catch a 6 am flight to LA. Chad's meetings in Santa Clarita were done @ noon and we drove to Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank for a 2 hour tour of the studios, etc. We had a 5:30 flight back to Grandma's with a 3 hour drive home still ahead of us. When we landed at 8:30 pm, I told Chad I thought we should get some sleep first. So we slept for 6 hours, got up @ 3:30 am and pulled into the driveway @ 7 am. We were so tired! We switched drivers twice and stopped for windshield washer fluid once.

When we got home, I asked Daniel if he was awake enough to go to school. He said he was. I followed him inside and ended up pulling him out of bed. I guess he thought it was still the middle of the night! We were all tired and grouchy that day.

But we survived and got some pictures of the sets of some TV shows. Too bad we're not Gilmore Girls fans...there was A LOT to see of that!

This is a view of part of the exterior of County General from 'ER.'

Any 'Friends' fans should recognize Central Perk.


This shot is to show that they will often not finish the whole inside of a set if it won't be seen from the outside shots of the building.



The current town now used for Gilmore Girls has been used in several other situations, including "The Music Man," the Dukes of Hazard TV series and some single uses like a house for Phoebe's father in 'Friends.'

It was an interesting, but long tour!

Christmas Angel

Leah is our Christmas Cherub. She is full of emotion and never boring. I'm afraid she gets away with too much, either because we're tired of going through it for the 3rd time (Rebekah will get away with everything) or because she's too cute to really get into too much trouble. I think it's the first reason mostly, but every once in a while her cuteness saves her.

She is very sassy though and often not very nice. That's where even her cuteness can't save her (since it seems to entirely disappear). We are often warning her "not to talk to us that way."

Today she had a nice trip to her room.

Leah is going to be 3 years old two weeks from today. She's already on her way to teenager! It's going to be a fun ride. Hold on to your hats!

Check out this video of Leah during Sunday lunch a couple of weeks ago. Notice the amount of eating she's actually doing! Sorry for the shaking...Daniel was bumping the table!

I have been Blogging like crazy!

Too bad you can't read any of them since I only wrote mental blogs.

My Christmas To Do list is finally getting smaller. And this afternoon it will shrink considerably.

This is the day of our class Primary party. I think I'm the only one in the whole Church doing a class Christmas party. How come no one does them anymore? Anyway, we are going to color Shrinky Dink nativity pieces to make ornaments while we watch the Liken The Scriptures Christmas movie and get sick from too much sugar. I promised them I'd ruin their dinners and they are expecting it! I cheated and bought cookie dough...already divided. I am giving each of them a bookmark with their name cross-stitched on it.

So this means that I need to clean some places of the house that have been neglected for a while. (Darn!)

Yesterday morning was spent on Christmas cards. Some people really frown on mass-produced, printed Christmas letters. If any of them are on my Christmas card list, they'll have something to grumble about in the next couple of days. I try to make up for it by writing something to each family in the actual card. Otherwise, the first 4 people would get a really newsy card and the last 4 would get a "Merry Christmas!" (if even that) And the remaining 20 cards between those? They probably wouldn't exsist. So if you aren't on my holiday greetings list, here is a picture that was second choice for the card.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

(A little insider information for loyal blog readers. The girls' pajamas aren't finished. The bows are pinned on, the backs don't close yet and the bottom ruffle still hasn't been made. I started cutting the pajamas out about 2 hours before this picture was taken. I got as far as I could, as fast as I could.)

The boys have matching pants on that you can't see, which is why this was second choice.

And I would love to blab on and on, but Rebekah is apparently going to die from starvation. I guess it's time to go be a mom.

Christmas Rush

The Christmas season is upon me. My list of things to do is large and looming. I feel like I jump from one project to another, with hardly anything to show for it. Add to that, Christmas activities and concerts, etc. and I'm feeling this time between now and Christmas as more and more threatening.

I haven't lost sight of the "reason for the season." We are trying to keep things several notches below the "gimme" stage around here. But I do have a lot of special gifts I'd like to make and that is where I'm feeling the pressure. I have to consciously remind myself that it's important to stop work in Santa's Workshop to hug and hold my kids or even actually feed them.

We had an Enrichment activity this past week to go to an assissted living center to sing songs for the residents. I had a medley of songs prepared, but a slow, killer cold had hit it's peak that night and cancelled my number (and my voice). So all that practicing and for naught!

The First Presidency Christmas Devotional was this past Sunday. We suffered through it with the rest of the people around us. It seems "someone's" kids were feeling their 5th hour of church of the day and letting everyone around them know it! (If you can't tell who's kids they actually were, you haven't read many of my blogs.) I spent most of the meeting in the Young Women's room with the speaker turned up as Rebekah patrolled the hallways. I heard something about cracked shortbread in Pres. Monson's talk.

Tonight we went to a Stake musical program. The Primary had a couple of numbers. We watched Rebekah roam around making friends with most of the people sitting in the overflow and tried to convince the kids that it was worthwhile to sit on the hard, slippery folding chairs. We gave up at 7:45PM and left 3 songs before the end of the program.

Chad's in Las Vegas tomorrow. Thursday is full from morning to evening with events, including the company Christmas party (and bonus check). Friday is the Ward Christmas party, held concurently with Daniel's dress rehearsal for Saturday night's big TaVaci Christmas Concert. See? My week is already gone before it's half over!

Meanwhile, Chad is updating the bathtub plumbing in the main bathroom. It's a mess in there. We have a nice view of moldy insulation and a mountain of tools. Anyone want to join in a tiling party?

So if it seems that I haven't been blogging very much (for the three of you that are keeping up), it's because I don't have time! It should be much calmer around here after the 25th. :)