Scrapbooking

I like to keep up with my children's scrapbooks. It gets more challenging as I have more children, but I think I've done well so far. My scrapbook pages have become very simple, but they contain the happenings of my children's lives which is the most important thing. I look at their scrapbooks now as journals with pictures. Here is an example from Eleanor's book...



I don't like my handwriting, so I have started to write on the computer and then I leave spaces for the pictures I have.
Each month I keep track on the calendar the things that happen with my children. Then I have the entire next month to scrapbook, so I have all of January to scrapbook about December. Well, here it is January 31st and I have yet to scrapbook about December. So guess what I'll be doing today?...Going to the hospital to have a baby would be nice, but I think I'll be scrapbooking instead.
I like scrapbooking month to month because I don't feel like I'm scrapbooking ALL the time and my pages have become more detailed. I start with the 1st of the month and write about all the things that happened during the month.
As for stickers and decoration, I figure my children can add that in later. My job is to record history.

My mom and I watched some "Reba" episodes last night from season 4. There was a funny part where the son is talking, talking, talking to his dad and his dad finally sends him upstairs to watch tv. Eleanor is doing that to me right now and it is hard to write and listen to her at the same time! She is looking at her scrapbook and asking me if I remember this and that. My children do like to look at their books which is a nice reward for all the work that goes into them.

Our baby is still doing well. She has a week to come out on her own. I'm scheduled to be induced next Wednesday.

Me

I am a child of God. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I am 32 years old. I am a wife. I am a soon to be mother of 5 (still waiting!). I am a stay at home mom.

I am quiet, responsible, nice, easy to get along with, patient, a doer of good, a thinker, reliable.

I enjoy spending time with my family, fulfilling my calling as 1st counselor in primary at church, eating at restaurants, reading, listening to talks or books on CD, watching movies, keeping a journal/blog, paying bills/keeping track of our finances, being alone, organizing, simplifying, aerobics, walking outside for exercise.

I would like to be more adventurous, fun, willing to try new things, opinionated, outgoing, energetic, less concerned about what other people think, Christlike.

What's next?

No baby yet and no signs of labor. That's probably a good thing since Matt has been dealing with problems all day. We woke up to frozen pipes. I took the girls to basketball practice and when I got back 1 1/2 hours later the pipes were still frozen. But thanks to Matt's hard work the pipes unfroze shortly after I returned home. Yay!
Then I went to use the internet and it didn't work. I tried the phone and it didn't work either (our phone service is through the internet). This problem ended up being out of our hands and thankfully the cable company has fixed the problem...whatever it was.
When Matt went to take our trash to the dump, I noticed that our heat wasn't working right. There was cool air blowing out of the vents instead of hot air. Matt looked at the furnace and didn't think he knew what the problem was, but he took a second look and fixed the problem. I am glad because it is way too cold outside to be without heat!
Matt is tired of fixing things and I can't blame him. I think we've had enough house problems for one day.

Goodbye due date

The routine around here in the evening when Matt is home is for Matt to get the kids ready for bed and I clean up the kitchen. Last night Zoe was ready for bed early so she asked if she could sweep the kitchen floor. I have to admit that my first thought was no because she wouldn't do as good of a job as I would, but then I decided that it was better for her to help me and have the floor not as clean. She is actually a good sweeper and she was very thorough. When Emily was ready for bed she wanted to help with the floor too. So Emily got out the dustpan and cleaned up the dirt Zoe had swept into a pile. Then Eleanor joined in when I gave Zoe and Emily each a wipe to wash the floor with. They were having so much fun that I had to pry them away from cleaning to get them in bed. I'm glad I said yes to the help. It lightened my work load, gave the girls the chance to serve, and proved to me that cleaning the floor can now become a new chore for them :-)

My due date has come and is now almost gone and no baby yet. I'm not surprised. Zoe is my only child that was born before her due date...because she was yanked out feet first during my scheduled c-section. Since my c-section was because of Zoe's position and had nothing to do with me, I was able to have a VBAC (vaginal birth after ceasarean) with Emily. She was born 7 days after her due date. Eleanor was born 6 days late. We had a pattern going, so Zach would be born 5 days late...or 10! I'm thinking that this baby will not be born before Thursday, which would make her 6 days late. I'm guessing she'll be born on Saturday February 3rd. What do you think? I can't really blame the baby for wanting to stay where it is warm and comfy. It's very cold outside and she'll be fussed over a lot by her siblings. Eleanor already tries to hold her by putting her arms around my belly.

Can I borrow some energy?

Zach willingly gave me his binky this morning after he woke up! Usually I have to sneak it away from him when he's eating his breakfast. I have a feeling this was a one time deal, we'll see.

I am exhausted today. I haven't done that much, but I feel like I have run a marathon. I took Zach and Eleanor to playgroup this morning. I sat in a chair while they played. The lady running the playgroup (she was filling in for the regular playgroup leader) came over to me and asked me when I'm due. I told her tomorrow and she replied, "That's probably the reason why you haven't moved at all." Yes, it's a good reason.

Twinkling Bells

I just read this morning in a local paper that when our baby is born, bells will be ringing...literally. It started on January 1st. Whenever a baby is born at the hospital where I deliver, a 13-second chime is played over the hospital paging system. The paper describes the sound as subtle and lighthearted, like twinkling bells. The bells are a reminder of new life at the hospital amid the health and life struggles that also go on at the hospital. I think it will be neat to hear bells announcing the arrival of our baby. I'm curious to know how soon after the birth it occurs.

Zoe has been curious the past few mornings about why I sit down so much in the morning (while she's busy getting ready for school). Has she noticed my huge stomach??? This morning I told her I am tired in the morning, to which she replied that she is tired too, but she has to do this and that when she doesn't want to. Well fortunate for me, I don't have to get ready as early as she does in the morning and I can be lazy for awhile(as she sees it).

Matt bought me a kitchen radio/CD player for Christmas and I LOVE it! I can listen to the news in the morning while eating breakfast and listen to Dr. Laura in the late afternoon while I am doing dishes or preparing dinner. While I was listening to Dr. Laura this afternoon, Emily asked if we could listen to their Care Bear CD instead...no can do. I told her to go get her portable CD player and she did. That was good until she started singing to the CD and Zoe joined in. I was on the computer then and couldn't hear the radio so I ended up shutting it off. That was really okay because Dr. Laura was talking a lot about sex and I didn't want Zoe to start asking me questions. Speaking of questions, Zoe asked me last week if Santa would ever die and then she wanted to know if he is truly real. I wanted to ask her if she thought he was real, but I ended up just saying yes he is real because all of the children were around. She is getting to that age when the truth is going to be discovered. Next Christmas could be her first "pretend there is a Santa" Christmas, we'll see.
Anyway, the radio/CD player also has a light on the bottom of it so if we're doing dishes at night or working at the sink we can see better. Matt didn't realize it had a light on it when he bought it and I didn't expect it to have a light, so it's a bonus feature.


Eleanor took a nap this afternoon which was nice this afternoon, but now at bedtime she is wide awake and she keeps coming out of her room to tell me things. It could be awhile before she falls asleep.

If you would like to see a picture of me "about to pop" (men at church like to say that to me for some reason..."you look like you're going to pop any minute") then hop over to Matt's blog.

Pregnancy update

I went to the doctor's today to hear the baby's heartbeat and to see if there are any signs of labor. No signs yet and I'm not surprised. I am used to seeing my due date come and go and I'm still pregnant, so I'm sure the same will happen on Friday.
My appointment today was at 10:45 and I didn't get into a room until after 12:00. Matt came to my appointment to help with Zach and Eleanor, but he had to be back at his office at 12:00, so I was on my own for the actual appointment. Zach was in a cranky mood and was only happy when I was holding him, so he laid next to me on the table during my appointment. That was interesting, but we managed.
The baby is still doing well.

My neighbor invited Zach and Eleanor over to play yesterday, so I had some quiet time to myself. It was very nice! I did laundry, but I was also able to sit and read and relax. Thanks again, Jenn!
My mom called me this morning to see if she could take me out to dinner this evening. So I have that to look forward to this evening :-) It's so nice to be surrounded by caring and thoughtful friends and family.

My Life Monday is back!

Topic: Where I live and how I got there.

I have always lived in Maine. As a teenager, I was determined to leave Maine as soon as I could, but I guess that wasn't meant to be. I have lived in a few different towns in Maine, but I have mostly lived near the area I grew up. When I got pregnant with Zoe, Matt and I decided it was time to move out of an apartment and get a place of our own. After looking at some houses, we decided that the best thing for us at that time was to buy some land and buy a cheap house to put on it...leading us to our condemned trailer. It was a temporary plan...7 1/2 years ago. We didn't have a specific town we wanted to live in, it just needed to be 30 minutes or less from where Matt works. We looked at a few lots before we found our land in Uncle Henry's (a local swap or sell it guide). Matt fell in love with the land.

I liked the idea of living away from town, having plenty of space for the kids to play, and being surrounded by nature. We bought the land and moved our trailer here, but the trailer wasn't ready to be lived in yet.



We housesat for several months in a home nearby. We lived there when Zoe was born. Then we moved in with my parents for a few months before moving into our "new" home. Matt put a lot of work into the trailer. I'm thankful to have such a handy husband!





This is definitely not our dream home, but it is comfortable and we are making the best of it. Someday we plan to build a new home. But that is still in the future and right now we are getting our finances in order, which I think we are doing a good job at right now.

There are some things that are annoying about living in the woods. Lots of little critters have entered our home, there are no sidewalks along the road to walk on, I drive about 30 minutes to go shopping (we do have a grocery store and gas station 10 minutes away that I go to a lot, but most restaurants and chain stores take longer to get to), and most people at our church live 30 minutes to an hour away from us. These things aren't annoying enough to move though. We are here to stay.

Go to Rachelle's blog for more My Life Monday posts.

How to stay young

I received this forward from a friend...

1. Try everything twice. On Madams tombstone (of Whelan's and Madam) she said she wanted this epitaph: Tried everything twice...loved it both times!

2. Keep only cheerful friends.
The grouches pull you down. (keep this in mind if you are one of those grouches;)



3. Keep learning: Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain get idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's!

4. Enjoy the simple things.



5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and lots of time with HIM/HER.



6. The tears happen: Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. LIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love: Whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.



8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9 Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.



10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity



11. Forgive now those who made you cry. You might not get a second time.

And if you don't send this to at least 4 people - who cares? But do share this with someone.



Lost time can never be found.

Rain Day

I woke up this morning knowing I would check to see if there was school since there was talk of snow. It wasn't snowing, but I checked anyway expecting there to be school...no school. It is raining out and the weather forecast predicts a wintry mix, so I'm sure the roads are slippery...but from my point of view, I am home with 4 kids and it is raining out. Okay, I do see ice sticking to the branches outside, but I'm afraid this is going to be a looooong day. All of the girls want a turn on the computer, so if they each have an hour...that's 3 hours of distraction...now what to do for the remaining 6 hours before Matt gets here, or my mom comes to watch the kids (depending on how slippery the roads are then).

I am 39 weeks pregnant! I have an appointment today, but I am going to reschedule it because of the weather. No contractions yet.

Matt started a blog and posted some pictures from our adventure to Preston, Idaho. Check it out!

COLD

Winter is here. When I left for storytime this morning with Zach and Eleanor, the temperature on the mirror in the car read 3 degrees. When the kids and I were driving home from watching a middle school basketball game, the temperature read 1 degree. I'm grateful we have a warm house :-)

I went through all but one box of the baby girl clothes we have, which was fun...until Zach decided to help. I was taking clothing out of the box one piece at a time, but Zach would take them out by the armload and throw them at me, or he would put them in a different pile where they didn't belong, or he would throw them into the kitchen. I thought about doing the last box this evening while he's sleeping, but I'm too tired. Eleanor was excited to see all the clothes for the baby (Eleanor calls the baby Madison, but now we're deciding between Madison and Kate, so I say baby...but when I say baby to Eleanor she gets confused, if I say Madison then Eleanor knows I'm talking about her baby sister...if we end up calling this baby Kate, it is going to throw Eleanor for a loop and she'll probably call her Madison anyway...all the girls are voting for Madison). Eleanor was raving about how she loves Madison and how Madison has such cute clothes when I was going through the clothes. Eleanor is going to be a very excited big sister when the baby arrives!

I decided to take the kids to a girls' basketball game this afternoon at the middle school. My dad gave me a schedule of the games and today was the day to do it since the season ends soon and we'll have a new baby soon. The kids were very well behaved and they seemed to enjoy themselves. Emily was the only one who got bored quickly, plus she was hungry so through most of the game she asked when it was going to be over. Zach had to take his boots and socks off during the second half of the game, so he played with his boots and was happy. Eleanor made a lady friend a few rows behind us and showed off her artwork on her legs that she did this afternoon with a pen. Plus Eleanor's hair was sticking up everywhere from static, which was fun for people to look at. Being at the game went a lot smoother than I expected, so I'm glad we went. Next year we'll have to get the schedule earlier in the season.

Zoe tested my patience this evening when it was time to get ready for bed. Matt is at church this evening, so I was on my own during bedtime. I finally decided to let Zoe do whatever she wanted to do and ignore her instead of acting on the urge to yell and lose control. The bedroom she was supposed to clean is still a mess, she missed out on reading a book, scripture, and prayer, but she is alive and well and asleep now. I did put some of her toys in time-out before I reached my patience limit, so she'll have to earn those back. After all this, I found this picture in her backpack

sweet. I'm a LITTLE less mad now.

Oh yeah, Eleanor fell asleep on the way home from the game, so I put her on her chair in the living room. When I went to get her ready for bed, I noticed that her chair was wet and realized she had peed. So now I am doing laundry and washing chair covers that I have been thinking about washing for awhile now.

A sight to see

I just had to take a picture of Zach wearing Eleanor's pink boots and looking through princess 3-D glasses...

Snow

We have snow! It started snowing a little bit on Sunday and it snowed most of the day yesterday. We thought there might not be school today because it was supposed to snow all last night, but it wasn't snowing when we got up and there is school :-) Zoe and Eleanor love the snow. Emily has fun in it too, but she gets cold quicker. Eleanor doesn't ask to go outside during the winter unless there is snow on the ground. She likes to make footprints in the snow.

Peace and quiet

Zoe is at a friend's house for the night, Emily is with my parents for the night, Zach and Eleanor are taking a nap, and Matt's still at church = quiet time for me :-)

Zach is a lot more verbal during church without his binky!

I gave a talk today about patience, which generated a lot of comments about patience throughout the day. Patience is something we can all work on everyday!

Binky progress and more

Zach went another day without his binky and most of last night! He asked for his binky yesterday more than he did the first day, but he didn't think of it at bedtime. Eleanor tried to remind him about it, but we shushed her and he didn't seem to hear her. Zach did great until 5am. He woke up happy and said "mama, mama" a few times, but then he started crying. He was happy again when I gave him his binky and let him sleep the rest of the morning with me. He has done very well the past few days without his binky :-)

I took Eleanor and Zach to the movie store yesterday to pick out some movies to watch last night and I was reminded of why I don't take my kids there. I figured I would walk as fast as we could past the movie covers with half naked ladies, horror pictures, and any other inappropriate images and get to the kids' section, but I had forgotten about the previews being shown on the tvs around the store. Eleanor didn't seem to notice for awhile, but then she looked up and a preview caught her attention. I think the movie is called, "Snakes on a plane". I did my best to keep her focused on picking out a movie, but she kept looking up at the screen. I'm very concerned about what my kids watch on tv and for movies. I pretty much only let them watch G rated material, which is one of the reasons when you turn on our tv the only thing you see is "snow". Anyway, I have renewed my decision to not take my kids with me to the movie store to pick out movies. It's a pain to have to wait until the evening when Matt is home to go get a movie and the kids don't get to pick out what they want, but I'd rather do that than expose my children to adult images.
I'd also like to voice my opinion about movie previews here. I think if I take my children to see a G rated movie at the theater, they should only see G rated previews. I think the preview ratings should match the show ratings. I don't want to see rated R previews at a PG-13 movie. It makes sense to me.

Thanks Janet and Steve for finding my camera cord and sending it to me! Here is the picture of Emily's gift to us for Christmas and Zoe's gift to us a few years ago.

Day 1 with no binky

Zach went the entire day today without his binky, which is a major deal! I hid it when he was eating his breakfast and then I distracted him with toys when he was done eating and he wanted his binky back. When we left for playgroup and to run some errands, I distracted him with crackers when he wanted his binky. When we got home and he fell walking to the house, he didn't ask for his binky, but Eleanor comforted him by telling him he could have his binky when we got inside the house. I told Eleanor Zach didn't need his binky and I told her we weren't going to talk about his binky anymore. They both forgot about it when they ate lunch and then played. Matt and I thought Zach might go to bed without his binky when he got into bed happily with a book, but he soon asked for his binky and I gave it to him. That was my intention all along, to only give him the binky at bedtime, so I succeeded :-) And Zach was very happy to lay down and go to sleep after I gave him his binky.
It was nice to hear Zach jibber-jabbering all day today. At playgroup when we were playing with legos, Zach would say "push" whenever he would put a lego on top of another. He may have said it before, but we could never understand him with the binky in his mouth.
Sidenote: I find it very interesting that binkies are coming out of the woodwork now that I'm limiting their use.

Clothes, clothes everywhere!

After I got the Christmas decorations down yesterday I was in the mood to go through the clothes that were in boxes in the kids' closet. They were mostly clothes that Zach has outgrown, so I sorted them according to size and put them in the car to store at my parents' house. There were a lot of clothes! Soon we'll have boxes of baby girl clothes to go through when I get them from my neighbor :-) It was fun yesterday to take out some clothes for the baby that I found. Eleanor was curious to know if the baby wears clothes inside my tummy. When I told her no, she wondered if the baby at least wore underwear? She found it very interesting that the baby has no clothes on right now.

I wasn't going to write this morning because there really isn't anything new to report. I'll just say that Zoe went back to school today and hopefully will stay there all day. Her ear is still bothering her, but Tylenol has been helping her to feel better.
Our house is getting back in order. I'd like to take down the rest of our Christmas decorations today. There are still a couple of carry-on bags to unpack and maybe I'll get that done as well.
Have a good day!

Update

The kids seem to be over their stomach illness (knock on wood!) Now we're dealing with colds, which I'd much rather deal with. Zoe is home today from school. Her nose is red from blowing it so much and she woke up with an earache. This is Emily's first day of school without Zoe. When I told Emily that Zoe wasn't going to school she said, "You mean I have to go to school alone?" I think she was nervous, but she handled it better than I expected.

There was a tiny bit of snow on the ground this morning, but now it's raining.

Zoe and Emily started basketball on Saturday. A neighboring town has a program in January through their Rec department on Saturdays for kids in Kindergarten through 5th grade. Zoe and Emily practice together, so we only have to be there for 45 minutes :-) Our high school PhysEd teacher is the coach and he does a great job. I'm not sure how much Emily liked playing basketball since she wouldn't comment whenever I said something about it, but she did a good job for her first day.

Eleanor had her first day in Primary yesterday. At first she was not happy that she wasn't going to nursery, but when I asked her about Primary last night she said she had fun. When all the kids were in the Primary room, Eleanor and her friend had to be separated a few times because they love to talk and play together. I think she'll adjust quickly and she'll be anxious to participate soon.

Will it ever end?

Eleanor threw up a few times during the night last night again. Are you tired of hearing about our sickness?...because I'm getting tired of writing about it and dealing with it. Matt has been a big help with these illnesses and I appreciate that. I did manage to get Eleanor into the bathroom last night the second time she threw up so there wasn't anything in her room to clean up. It is much nicer when they are old enough to go into the bathroom to be sick instead of doing it wherever they happen to be!

Eleanor has seemed fine the past few days. Yesterday we went to my doctor's appointment (baby is healthy, no signs of labor yet), I got the oil changed in the car, filled the car up with gas, and went to Walmart for food and other items. Eleanor played in the afternoon, ate well during the day, and I even confirmed a playdate for today because I thought she was healthy again...silly me. Looks like I might get more unpacking/organizing done today than I thought since we'll be home all day.
Zoe and Emily were troopers for going to school yesterday. Zoe came home very tired, which resulted in me ignoring her whiney and rude behavior most of the afternoon, which wasn't easy.
Zach was still on Utah time last night. He finally fell asleep around 10:30pm.

On a positive note...we opened Emily's gift this morning that she made for us at school before Christmas break. Zoe made one for us when she was in Kindergarten, too. I was going to show you a picture of it, but I either left the camera cord in Utah or Matt packed it and I don't know where it is. The gift is a little blackboard ornament made from black construction paper with popsicle sticks around the boarder. There is a little piece of chalk and an eraser on the bottom. It has a picture of Emily in the center of the board. It's really cute!

Zach and Eleanor are still sleeping so I think I'll go join them. I'm sure though that when I lay down, they'll wake up.

We are home

We all left Utah together as a family and made it home together as a family :-) The trip back was very uneventful and went as smooth as can be, which was very nice. Matt and I were worried the night before we left when Eleanor was up a few times throwing up, but she was fine yesterday (thank goodness!).
We ate McDonalds last night at 11:30 and then sent the kids to bed. I had thought about letting Zoe and Emily sleep an extra hour this morning and bring them into school, but then I decided to wake them up at 6am like I usually do and see how they do, and they did fine. It's a lot easier to get them on the bus. Zach and Eleanor are still asleep. It was hard waking up at 4am Utah time instead of 8am like we have been, but we did it.
I have a doctor's appointment this morning, much unpacking to do, Christmas decorations to take down, scrapbooking to do...of course it won't all get done today, but I better get ready for the day and get started.
Matt's family...we had so much fun visiting with you! Happy Birthday Vivien!

Last full day in Utah

Well, my first day of the new year started out with Zach throwing up all over me. Eleanor was walking around like a zombie yesterday morning. She would walk into the bathroom and sit down on the toilet (lid down) and just stare. It turned out she wanted a drink of water when she would do that. She freaked me out when I got out of the shower and found her sitting on the toilet. I didn't hear her come into the bathroom. Zach slept most of the day. Matt stayed home with Eleanor and Zach while Matt's Mom and I took Zoe, Emily, and a few of the cousins to see "Charlotte's Web". It was a fun outing! Zoe and Emily went over to their cousins' house after the movie to play, which was also fun for them. Zoe is quite bummed that this is our last day here and she doesn't feel like she's seen much of her Utah family. It is sad that it has turned out that way.
Zach and Eleanor were doing much better last night, so we are anticipating healthy children today (everyone else in our family is still sleeping). I woke up at 6:30 and realized that my children would be in school right now if we were home. I usually go back to bed at this hour here, but I decided I better start training myself to get up earlier because on Thursday I'm going to get up early whether I want to or not to get the kids off to school. That is going to be a rough morning for all!

I dreamed last night that we bought a farm house that was in great shape (probably triggered from the movie). I'm bummed that this dream isn't real because it was so nice to think of living in a house with so much space! I can still picture it and see myself walking through it, deciding where I would put our furniture and things.
I also dreamed that I deleted Rachelle's blog. I'm glad that dream didn't come true!

Happy New Year?

We've had sick kids here the past couple of days. Emily woke up with a sore throat on Friday, so we have her back on her medicine. The delay in Atlanta threw us off her medicine schedule and we got lazy about starting her up again. I hope her medicine lasts until we get back home, but I am doubtful. Eleanor had a slight fever on and off on Friday and she complained her stomach hurt. Yesterday, the kids seemed to be on the mend (we were mostly just dealing with Eleanor sneezing and blowing snot out her nose), so we drove to Preston, Idaho to look at some Napoleon Dynamite sites. Then we stopped in Logan, Utah for lunch at the Mandarin Garden. The kids don't really like Chinese food, so we stopped and bought them a snack to eat on our way to the restaurant from Preston. We stopped and visited with some friends in Logan who used to live near us in Maine. Then we stopped to see Matt's cousin and his wife in Logan before we drove back to Matt's parents' home.
Zoe woke up in the middle of the night last night with an upset stomach. She threw up several times throughout the night and slept in the bathroom. This morning Zach threw up at the kitchen table and he's had a few nasty diapers, but he hasn't acted very sick. He still has lots of energy and he doesn't have a fever. We're hoping everyone is on the mend and will be well tomorrow. The kids are missing out on cousin time and that is very sad. Matt's Mom stayed home with the kids today while Matt, Matt's Dad, and I went to church, which was very nice.

Hopefully the new year will bring good health!

Another day of fun

We went to visit a couple today who served a mission in our branch several years ago. It was fun to talk with them and update them on what's going on now in the branch. They fed us lunch and the husband did his famous magic trick that Zoe and Emily remember...pulling candy out of the girls' ears. It was fun to see the couple's new home and hear what's going on in their lives now.

We got one of the cousins to babysit our kids this evening. We had an adult dinner out with Matt's parents, siblings, spouses, and our 9 week old niece who was very good. We missed Matt's sister who wasn't feeling well, though :-( It was a fun evening and we came home to a quiet house where our girls were in bed :-)

We are accomplishing the things on our list of what we want to do while here, and seeing the people we want to, so we are happy about that.

We went over to Matt's sister's home yesterday with Matt's parents. Eleanor fell in love with their dog!



Zoe and Emily with their cousin...

Zach was in his glory when he found this bike to ride on...

Matt, Zoe, Emily, Eleanor, and I went to temple square last night. I love how you can walk right up to the Salt Lake temple now!

Matt and the girls with the temple in the background...


We had a family photo taken today with Matt's parents, Matt's siblings, and all the kids. There were some stressful moments, but overall I think it went pretty well. Zach was not happy when the cousins picture was being taken with Matt's parents!
The cousins exchanged gifts today. They had waited long enough!
Matt and I are about to leave to go to dinner with some friends. I better go before I make us late!

A peachy place to be...

Our trip started out quite smoothly with getting all our family and luggage into the Bangor airport in one trip. We got to the check-in counter, gave our last name, and the lady read off my name and the girls..."and Matthew", I said...a moment of panic when she didn't reply back as she looked at the screen, but then she found him under his own name, separate from the rest of us. We got our luggage checked in with no problems and we headed upstairs to wait for our flight to be announced to board. The kids had a great time playing in the children's area, excitement was in the air. Things are going great...and then our boarding gets delayed. We wait another hour and then we get to board the plane. While waiting in line to board, Eleanor asks in surprise, "Are all of these people going to Grandma & Grandpa's too?!" The kids watched movies during the flight, Zach took a nap and then wandered from Matt to me, me to Matt (we were in different rows), we ate snacks, and had a good flight.


We get to Atlanta (hoping our next flight was delayed as well), show the connection information lady our ticket and she sends us to gate A10, so we go from concourse C to concourse A on a train, after going down an escalator, only to see that this gate was boarding to Tampa...not what we want. Matt talks to the guy at the counter, who gives us encouraging news...it is going to be nearly impossible to get a flight to Salt Lake City...and he sends us to a gate in concourse B. Escalator, train, concourse B, get on standby list, wait, plane leaves full of passengers without us, we head to concourse A...escalator, train, I'm carrying Eleanor at this point and losing my energy, and we plop ourselves down to wait again. We put in movies for the kids and wait...

...the plane leaves full without us again and we mentally prepare ourselves to spend the night in the Atlanta airport. Matt goes to see if we can get on a different flight the next day and the kids and I wait. It is about 10pm now and we are all hungry at this point and tired of course. The girls and I are snacking on disgusting fries and imitation burgers. Matt comes back with good news...we are booked on a flight...but not until Sunday, Christmas Eve. We find an empty gate to get comfortable in (Zach and Eleanor are already asleep at this point), Zoe and Emily watch a movie. At midnight, all the kids are asleep, either on the floor or on a chair.


I lay down on the chairs around 12:30 and sleep on and off until 3:30. Zach wakes up at this point, so we put a movie in for him. We watch people work and walk by, listen to the announcements over the loudspeaker over and over again. The first flight to leave for Salt Lake in the morning was leaving at 7:00, so when the time finally came to go watch the standby list, we did. It didn't look hopeful. When the plane was mostly boarded, the guy at the counter started calling out standby names, but the majority of the standby people weren't there, so we heard him say, "Erickon". We are ready to split up if we need to, so Zach and I are ready to board the plane. We wait to see if any other seats will be available and there is one. So Eleanor, Zach, and I say goodbye to Matt, Zoe and Emily and we board the plane. Eleanor sits in 30A, near the window next to a couple who have a little boy, probably a little younger than Zach and I sit in 39B, hoping that Eleanor is going to be alright by herself. Zach falls asleep during take-off, so I wait for him to wake up before I go check on Eleanor. It is a long flight, but I am happy to be on it. Eleanor does great. The mom next to Eleanor said she entertained them and was very good. I was relieved. I have never been so happy on a trip to Utah to land in Utah! Matt's dad, brother, and niece were at the airport to meet us. I didn't expect to see our luggage for at least a few days, but thanks to Matt's brother's flying expertise, he managed to get all of our bags. Yay! When I boarded the plane in Atlanta, Matt and I were very hopeful that he and the girls would be able to catch the next flight out to Salt Lake, but it didn't happen. They didn't get on any of the flights that day, so they stayed in a hotel and waited for their Christmas Eve flight to San Diego and then to Salt Lake. We would see them around 4:30pm on Christmas Eve. I was an emotional wreck on Christmas Eve! I talked with Matt in the morning and I couldn't stop crying after that. It wasn't until after Matt and the girls arrived and Matt and I talked that I was able to stop crying. We went over to Matt's brother's home (a different brother) to have Christmas Eve dinner. It was nice to be together as a family, eat a delicious meal, be surrounded by extended family, and be in a home that was beautifully decorated for Christmas. It felt good. Zoe, Emily, and Eleanor LOVE playing with their cousins. They play like they see each other all the time.

It was really a miracle that Eleanor, Zach, and I were able to get to Salt Lake on Saturday. I was able to do our last minute Christmas shopping and wrap the gifts that evening, which was part of the original plan.

We had a very nice Christmas with Matt's parents. It was fun to watch the girls open their gifts. Zach was never interested in opening his gifts, but he liked playing with them after someone else opened them.

The stockings were hung with care...

Zoe and Emily received the American Girl dolls they wanted from Santa, and Santa brought Eleanor a doll named Amanda, but Eleanor calls her Sarah...

Zach loves his magnetic toy that Santa brought, and everyone else likes to play with it, too!...

Zoe and Emily each received their favorite toy from the magazine they looked at over and over again...


Matt's brothers and sister and their families came over to visit throughout the day, which was fun. The girls played with their cousins, and the older cousins were all happy to play American Girl dolls together.

Matt, Zoe, and Emily gave me this magnet for Christmas...

Maybe someday our family will have the same opinion.

Utah, here we come!

We're leaving for the airport in 45 minutes. We're doing last minute packing, dishes, clean-up, Matt is out picking up extra binkies for Zach...we are ready for this adventure...it's all about attitude, right?!

Packing day

No time to talk really, but wanted to say "Hi!". I'm off to give my dad his birthday present...Happy Birthday, Dad! I have a doctor's appointment, then I'm coming home to pack.
Have a great day!

Christmas getting to know me

Welcome to the 2006 Holiday Edition of Getting to Know Your Friends!
I copied this from Cindy.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wrap

3. Colored lights or white lights on the tree/house? We put colored lights around the inside of our house and on the tree (no tree this year), and white lights outside (but our outlet outside isn't working so no outside lights this year).

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No ( I have nothing against mistletoe, I just never think about it when we're decorating)

5. When do you put your decorations up? Usually I wait until December 1st, but since we are leaving before Christmas for Utah, I started decorating the day after Thanksgiving.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Sausage Egg Casserole...I love having a big breakfast on Christmas morning.

7. What is your favorite Holiday memory as a child? Taking a loooong time to open presents. My sister and I would take turns opening a gift, so everyone could see what the other got. We have our kids each open a gift at the same time and then they have to wait until they are all ready to open another one.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? What...There's no santa?!

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? I did as a kid, but we don't usually let our kids. I did buy Zoe and Emily pajamas one year and we let them open those to wear to bed Christmas Eve.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Colored lights, lots of ornaments (mostly homemade), and a paper star on top.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it for Christmas.

12. Can you ice skate? Yes, and Zoe and Emily are very anxious to go skating!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? There was a favorite gift every year...I remember the cabbage patch kid...a must have!

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Remembering Jesus, the true meaning of Christmas, spending time with family

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Sugar cookies

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Going to the Creche exhibit and parade of lights the first Saturday of December.

17. What tops your tree? A yellow paper star

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving, I'm excited to watch the kids open their gifts!

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? What Child is this

20. Candy Canes! It wouldn't be Christmas without candy canes!!!...I think there originally was a question here...I do like candy canes, but the kids don't eat them, so I haven't bought any.

Zoe and Emily each made a Christmas card and then I photocopied them so they can give a card to each of their classmates and teacher. We bought tootsie pops to put on the front of the envelopes. Zoe's card is on the left, and Emily's card (intentionally upside down because that is how she made it) is on the right.



Our family picture.

She did it!

Zoe picked out cute turtle earrings for her first pair. When we first got to the store, there was only one lady there working so we thought she would have to have one ear done at a time, but by the time all the paper work was signed and we paid the bill (Matt asked if we were getting Zoe's ears pierced or buying a car!) another lady came in so they did both ears at the same time. Zoe was surprised at how quick it took. She had a look of awe on her face when it was done. She thought they would make the holes and then put the earrings in. She said it hurt more than she expected, but she's glad she did it. Now she has another excuse to spend time in front of the mirror!

The kids enjoyed shopping for each other and it was a very productive evening.

Early Christmas

We had an early Christmas with my parents yesterday. The highlights were the baby dolls my grandmother bought for the girls and the blankets she made to go with the dolls, the Diego field journal which my mom bought for Zach, and a friend of ours bought the same thing for Zach, so now there is one for Zach and one for the girls (which they ALL want to play with), Eleanor's Dora cash register, a gift card for Zoe to get her ears pierced (which we're planning on using this evening), and our 2 portable DVD players with 14 hours of playing time for each one, and the girls each got a CD player with headphones...entertainment for our long journey on Friday :-) Matt's eager to watch his new "Talladaga Nights" movie.
It was nice to have a Christmas before Christmas with my parents. We ate a yummy dinner, the kids enjoyed their new toys, and we enjoyed being together.

This is our first year having the kids buy for each other. They each picked a name in secret and we're going to the dollar store this evening to shop for Family Home Evening. It will be fun to see what they pick out for each other. Zach picked his own name, so he'll get to keep something that he likes, which I think will work out perfect for him.

Zoe's class made gingerbread houses last week for their families. I think Zoe did a great job!

There are a bunch of green and red m&ms on the back.

Emily update

Emily is feeling a lot better today. She HATES to take her medicine and insists that she's better and doesn't need it. We know better.
Any suggestions on how to get her medicine to Utah...no liquids can be a carry-on and it needs to be refrigerated. Hmmm...

Positive

Yes, Emily has Strep throat.

Strep?

The big headline on The DrudgeReport this morning is "Americans use TV, other Media 10 hours a day." That will be us today since Emily is home sick with a bad sore throat, which I am suspecting is Strep Throat. One of her classmates just got over strep, so I am hoping to get her into the doctor today. I called my mom earlier this morning to see if she could bring over some movies, so now we are well stocked for the day.
Zoe has a short play at school this afternoon and if all goes well, Matt is going to come home with the car that he took this morning and watch Emily, Eleanor and Zach while I go to the play, and then if I get Emily an appointment this afternoon at the doctor, I'll take the kids to the appointment in the car and Matt can take his truck back to work. We shall see.

We leave for Utah in 1 week to spend Christmas with Matt's family:-) How many of our kids will be on antibiotics is the question.

Back to pink!

Madison's first gift...a blanket made by a young woman in our branch.
Isn't it beautiful?!

Giving thanks

I got a call from the school nurse yesterday morning saying that Zoe's ear was hurting. The nurse gave Zoe some Tylenol and it helped Zoe get through most of the day, but the nurse called again around 1pm when Zoe returned to the clinic. I picked Zoe up and brought her to the doctor an hour later. She has a double ear infection. It seems to be a viral infection, so we are sticking with the Tylenol at this point. She is back at school today since she was bouncing off the walls last night with the rest of the kids! My neighbor, Jenn was here when I got the second call from the nurse yesterday and she volunteered to stay with Zach and Eleanor and to be here when Emily got home from school. It was a big help, thanks Jenn!

Before that all happened, I was able to make cookies and brownies to give to friends and members of our church, so Matt and I left around 6:15pm and started making our rounds. We got home around 10pm. It took longer than we expected, but it was fun visiting with friends and families and delivering goodies to them. My mom watched our wild kids for us, thanks mom!

Zoe's snowman

These are a few of my favorite things...

Matt and I have been married 10 years as of yesterday. The last 10 years have been GREAT and I look forward to many, many, many more years together with Matt :-)

About Me:
What are your favorite colors? I love navy blue, cranberry red, and Ivory together.
What are your favorite flowers? Roses
What are your favorite foods? I like a lot of food...my favorite homecooked meal is fried haddock with a sour cream and basil sauce with mashed potatoes, squash, and asparagus, when I eat out at a restaurant some of the foods I like are fried shrimp with rolls, cheeseburger and fries, and a chicken caesar salad. For my birthday I like to eat lobster, and for treats I love chocolate desserts, strawberry cheesecake, and peanut M&Ms.
What are your favorite activities and hobbies? I love to read. It is very relaxing to sit in my chair at the end of the day when the kids are in bed and read a good book. I scrapbook, which mainly these days is a journal with pictures. I like to do aerobics...when I'm not pregnant; I like to take my kids to different activities in the community and to do fun things with them; I love datenight with Matt; I like to putter around my house decluttering and organizing; I like to listen to talks on Sundays that are on the BYU-TV website; I like to play card games and board games; I enjoy shopping at Goodwill for our family and dropping off bags of simplified stuff; and I enjoy changing diapers (just seeing if you're paying attention!).

Thanks for enduring my pregnancy venting the other day. It did make me feel better to write about it. Happy Monday!

Is my due date right?

I've been trying to blog the past few days, but blogger has had some issues.

It is snowing. I have a doctor's appointment today for the baby. I hate driving in the snow, but I will attempt to leave early and drive slow. I am 33 weeks pregnant today, but from the questions and reactions I get from strangers I meet these days, I look 40 weeks pregnant. I've decided to keep track of comments I receive now and blog about it because I think that's the only thing that will keep me sane. It would really be sad for myself and my family if I go mental on the next cashier that sees me and says, "You look like you're due any day now" and then I say, "No, I'm not due until the end of January" and they ask, "Are you having twins?" and I say, "No" and they just smile. Blogging could save my life here!
When I went on Zoe's field trip, there was another woman who was pregnant there as well. I saw her the next day at the service counter of our grocery store and we talked briefly about the field trip and then I asked her when she was due to have her baby. She said the middle of January. When I told her I was due at the end of January, she laughed and said, "You're kidding?!"...I thought you were due any day now...are you having twins?"...Maybe I should just start telling everyone yes, I am having twins or I'm due tomorrow...no, that would be going against the honesty lesson we just had in Family Home Evening. (sigh)
Not only do I look huge, but people are convinced that the baby has dropped, even after I explain that I always carry low. I look like I'm going to pop any minute...so they say.

I just had a short coversation with Eleanor about going to the doctor to hear the baby that's in my tummy. She asked about the baby in her tummy...no baby in her tummy...She wondered if Zoe or Emily came out of her tummy...no, Zoe was in mommy's tummy, Emily was in mommy's tummy, Eleanor was in mommy's tummy, Zach was in mommy's tummy, and now Madison is in mommy's tummy...Eleanor ~ "But I don't want to be a baby in mommy's tummy...it's dark in there!"

My Dad

About Me:
Tell about your father...
I spend a lot of time with my mom now, but as a child I spent more time with my dad. He would get out of work in the afternoon before my mom would get home, so he's the one I remember getting dinner ready and being at home the most. My dad would be there at my sporting events and he coached one of my baseball teams. In high school, I remember pretending to be embarrassed when one of my friends announced that my dad was coming, but I was happy that he was there and always showed interest in what I was doing. He always tried to teach me new skills such as cooking, gardening, and car maintenance, but I never took much interest in learning these things, which I regret. I have learned how to cook and I enjoy cooking, but a gardener and car repairer I am not.
My dad has the ability to talk to anyone, an ability I did not inherit. This social trait of his makes him a great missionary because he easily talks about the gospel in a conversation (at least he makes it seem easy). I did inherit his healthy habits such as eating good foods and exercising. We enjoy our treats and desserts, but that is balanced with healthy food. My dad is not a spender of money and I think I get my good sense about money from him.
I look more like my dad with dark hair, skin that tans easily, brown eyes, and some native american features.
My dad is not a patient man, but he is very kind, compassionate, helpful, and loving. He loves to read and learn new things. He loves to be with his grandkids and to teach them new things. He gets involved in their activities just as much as he did with me and my sister. He is willing to watch my kids when I need him to and I appreciate that.
I love you, Dad.

Tradition

I finally found Emily's library book at the bottom of the stuffed animal box. I brought it in to school for her and she was very happy to be able to get a new book. It's one of her favorite things about Friday. I was very happy that I found it and didn't have to pay for a lost book!

We have a first Saturday of December tradition and we participated in it this past Saturday. We go to a Creche exhibit at our stake center in the afternoon. The theme this year was "city sidewalks" and the cultural hall and other areas of the building were made to look like store windows. It felt like we were window shopping as we looked at the different nativities. A lot of work went into the exhibit and it looked great! They have a children's area in the primary room that the kids love to go to. They have a reading area, a dress-up area where you can pretend to be part of the nativity, they decorate sugar cookies and make crafts. It always takes awhile to get our kids out of there when it's time to leave. This year they had the primary children draw pictures of what they thought the nativity looked like, and the pictures were displayed along the wall in the hallway leading to the children's area.

Zoe's picture...


Emily's picture...


When I get my kids out of the children's room, we get in the car and head to the parade of lights, which isn't far from the creche exhibit. Matt went home with Zach this year and my mom and I went to the parade with the girls. It is always cold, so we bundle up~snowpants, boots, winter coat, hat, scarf, mittens, and we always leave the parade frozen, but it is my favorite parade and the girls enjoy it too. It's fun to see the floats, trucks, Harleys, tractors, and dancers decorated with Christmas lights. It's always a long parade because the dancers and floats stop in the middle of town to be judged. The people dance and sing, which is fun to watch, but we get to a point where we're cold and tired and we want the parade to end, but we just can't leave until we see Santa go by.
We wanted to go to a restaurant to eat after the parade, but the few places we stopped at were very busy, so we ended up at Burger King (which is where Zoe wanted to go in the first place so she was very happy). It was nice to sit down and relax, get warm, and eat. We survived and enjoyed another year of our tradition :-)