Luke's Birthday 8 years old

Luke loves German Pancakes. I made them for his birthday, he was so excited he stuck a candle in it when it came out of the oven. The candle melted from the bottom up. We cut the waxy part out.

These are the cupcakes that I painstakingly made for his class treat. 24 of these cupcakes I decorated. It was really fun, but very time consuming, and I didn't have the time to spare. I asked Luke how he liked them and he answered, "good." After that much effort, I was hoping for more. I asked what his class thought, and he said they liked them. At least when I went in for Parent/Teacher conference his teacher gushed and gushed over how great they were, and so cute, and so delicious.

So I rolled Werther's Chewy Caramels for the footballs. And did you notice that I placed each football on the 8 yard line?

Now what could this happy face be for? My big 8 year old was so excited for his gift. He got a Nintendo DS for his birthday. He was so happy. He wasn't expecting it, and he was so grateful to receive it. Happy Birthday my little man. We are so lucky to have you in our lives. Thanks for bringing us so much joy, and happiness, and love. We love you.

Looking Down

Sorry for some of the lighting issues, and the lack of being able to center and straighten pictures. But here are some of the pictures of our new floor. I need to get some with better lighting. Once the sun moves, I'll try some more. We are so loving our new floor. Now if we can just finish putting the house back together.

I was tagged to post the 6th picture on my computer . It's a great one.
So who to tag? I'll tag Molly, Andrea, Candace, Kasey, Juli (are you reading this?), and Glen and Val.

Church with Kids

Today was our Ward Conference. We had an hour and a half Sacrament Meeting. Olivia was in rare form today. Since she's been sick she has needed more sleep to try to get back to normal, and since church starts at 2:00 (and Ward Council starts at 12:30 and the whole family has to attend) there is no time for a nap. Needless to say she was tired, and mean, and grouchy, and hilarious. I mean really, don't you think that as frustrating as they are, kids are really funny when they're on one? Especially when you get to watch another parent go through what we all go through?
So back to today- Olivia yells out during Sacrament Meeting, "I'M THE KIMONO MONSTER!" I think she got it out about 3 times before we/I could shush her.
Candace you'll have to remind me what part of the meeting it happened in. I do know that it was quiet...at least until the KIMONO MONSTER came.
Oh it is so funny. I love being a parent. I love watching kids and seeing the many sides of their personalities. When I can, I'll try to post a picture of my sweet kimono monster in her kimono dress. (She really was wearing a dress that looked like a kimono, it is her Girls Day dress.)


I'm the Kimono Monster!

We've got nice carpet!

I have wanted good carpet for so long. It is here, it is in, and it looks so nice! I can't wait to show it off. Pictures soon, and once we're over this throwing up thing with Livvy, come on over and see it.

Today is the day!

New carpet today! We slept on a mattress in the dining room last night. Then they called us and told us they won't be here until 2:00. And then they said they might get it finished today. We were told before that it would for sure be done in one day. I'm exhausted.

So you think I need more huh? :)

Well I'm glad you missed me. I've missed posting. I went through a period of major computer withdrawals, now I think I have my addiction under control. At least to a point.
When Ryan would walk through the door at night, I used to blurt out, "Can I HAVE THE COMPUTER?" Not a hello, not a how was your day, not an I love you. It was all about the computer. Now I am able to control myself a little better. Although there are some days when I have to send out an urgent Relief Society message and ask for it immediately. But, blah, blah, blah. I sit here and type stuff that isn't even interesting. I mean, who needs to know about my little addiction. (Or full blown addiction)
So here's the scoop, we're getting new carpet on Tuesday. We are doing our part to help the economy. How about you? Any major purchases lately?
Our hard wood floors went in last week. They are beautiful! And I love them. Oh they look good. Are we rolling in the dough? Oh contra ire, but the insurance came through for us, and the price was right to go ahead and carpet the upstairs as well. It really needs it.
So other news... Luke is getting baptized in April. Hooray. My boy turned 8! Maybe someday I'll even be able to post some pictures when I get my computer back. We are so excited about his baptism, and to make it even better both my parents and Ryan's parents will be able to come. And they'll be here for Easter too. My kids get a holiday with their grandparents. How neat is that?
So for today the major news is that my little Olivia is throwing up. Poor little girl. Her whole body just convulses with it and it breaks my heart. I started crying at one point while she was throwing up because I just couldn't make it stop, and the look on her face was so sad. She looked like she was more concerned for me than she was about the torture she was experiencing. I realized I needed to be a little stronger for her. My poor little girl. At least she's held her dinner down so far tonight. It's funny though, she never did lose her appetite. (Now it's Saturday morning- she kept throwing up all through the night. She woke up starving, she was able to keep a little pedialyte down last night).
(Okay, back to the original post) And by the way, Juli, I miss you more than the rest too. Did you get my message?
A sweet little girl needs me.

3 Weeks?

It's been 3 weeks since my last post. Have you missed me?

Making Dough and Making Do

The other day I was making rolls for who knows which activity thing I was involved with that day. Olivia loves to help me work with the dough, but because it was for someone else, I wouldn't let her touch the dough. So I gave her some flour to work with on her own. She was covered with it and having the time of her life.

As you can tell from the background of the pictures that our floor is gone and we have been living on sub floor for about the past month. I am so tired of that! But this week they will start installing our new hard wood floor. And yesterday they came and measured for the carpet. We will see if in these tough economic times if there is any way to afford carpet for our upstairs as well. We may use the laminate from the main level (that wasn't ruined of course) to lay it in Luke's room and the hallway. That could help us afford new flooring upstairs and help Luke's allergies by having a hard surface in his room. We'll find out in a few days.

Our friend Kasey invited us to their house for a Valentine's Party. We had so much fun and the kids were able to decorate soap bottles with stickers and ribbon. Olivia wanted a bow tied on her soap bottle, but she made me peel every sticker off of it that we tried to put on. All she wanted was to cut with scissors and color. We also decorated sugar cookies. The mom's ate yummy muffins and were able to talk and catch up a little bit. The kids then traded Valentine's and played. We had so much fun. Thanks Kasey and Stella for opening your house to so many rambunctious children and moms. Thanks for all the fun activities.

Livvy's favorite is cutting with scissors so she was in heaven.
Livvy is busy decorating her paper, and Kaden is looking so cute peering over the edge of the table.

McKenna is proudly displaying her soap bottle she decorated with stickers and ribbon.

Eva looking so cute.

Olivia was supposed to be decorating the sugar cookie, instead she was using the plastic knife as the means to get the frosting to her mouth.

LukeZilla

Luke pulled me into the front room one day to show the city he had built with blocks. Then the show began...

"LukeZilla" came out and started to destroy the town. He pause during the Photo shoot to make sure I was getting the right shots, and capturing the image he was going for. All for the sake of posting it on the blog.

Run for your life, the monster has been unleashed!

Ahhh! The destruction. Cars are being tossed around.

There's nothing but rubble left. Destroyed in a matter of minutes.

"LukeZilla" in his aggressive form.

Luke had so much fun staging the play he did. Thanks Luke for all the action and drama. We look forward to your next production.

What have I done? :)

This is the scene that I found one day. I could hear Olivia giving her baby dolls quite the talking to, so I came to see what was going on. I asked her what had happened and she told me (quite animated) that her babies had been screaming in her ear so she put them in time out. She was then coming to talk to them to let them know that screaming in some one's ear was inappropriate.

Ohhh, what have I done? When Olivia is having a fit, she is invited to the stairs to sit for her time out. We then have a discussion about her choices. And of course, (cough, cough), it is always executed with such a prim and proper demeanor, (again cough, cough).

Well...it is good know her take on time outs.

What do you think?

The news about the Octuplets being born was quite the shock, and it's amazing to see them doing as well as they are. Each and everyone of their lives is precious and a gift from our Heavenly Father. There is no doubt about that at all in my mind, there never will be.
But the big controversy surrounds the mother who gave birth to them, and the doctors who implanted the embryos into her.
I know the desire, that burning desire that filled me with wanting to have children. I know the pain it caused me when I was unable to bring children into this world. I cried and prayed, and worked, and labored for many years to bring my babies to our family. I know that overwhelming love and joy that you feel when children bless your family.
But 14? And she's a single mother? With no income? In a small house? The news now says that she is/was receiving Government assistance to get by before the octuplets were even born. Where was she even finding the money to pay for infertility treatments while she was on disability, and receiving Food Stamps and such?
Who is the doctor that is knowingly implanting this woman with embryos, especially this many when she already has so many children? Is this a negligent act? I kind of think so.
I think about when we first delved into the world of infertility, and how expensive everything was. I mean I was working as a nurse, and Ryan as a Manager, and we really didn't even think we could afford it. But I remember how desperately I still wanted children. Being "poor" doesn't mean that you shouldn't be able to have kids, but where do you draw the line? How far is a person allowed to go just to satisfy their want for more children?
Anywho, my thoughts are obviously jumbled all over the board on this current events issue. What do you think?

Technology

I was watching a preview for a movie the other day, I can't remember what the movie was, but it was Drew Barrymore's character. She said something to the effect that she had to check 7 different forms of technology to get rejected on each one. I started laughing, because I check my phone- no messages (non Relief Society related), then I check my email and have usually nothing but junk in there(or just Relief Society related things), then I check my blog- there are no comments from family and a few from friends, then I check face book and no messages there either. I too, jump from source to source looking to see who is posting on their blogs and commenting on mine and communicating with me over the Internet. I would have never thought the Internet could make me so conceited. Here's to all of us out there- I'm thinking of you. Thanks for all your posts and your comments.
Have a great day.

Observations

Do you just have times when your kids are just sooooooo cute that you can't hardly stand it? I do. And how about times that even when they're throwing a fit, they still just melt your heart? I do too.
I guess right now I just feel so lucky that I can be a mother to my children. They are such amazing blessings. There are times, albeit short times, when I can forget that, but I love each and every moment I can spend with them, and love being their mom. I love seeing them experience something new, and love watching when they develop a new skill.
As my kids grow older and become more independent and need me less and less, it is a challenge to learn how to parent them, and what works and what doesn't, and what they need, but it's fun. You know, as soon as you figure out what's going on, they change their game plan.

We thought so

After a few days of phone tag with our agent, we finally got to talk to him. Our floor is definitely covered. The first lady, obviously didn't know what she was talking about. The cost of repairing the leak in the dishwasher isn't covered (but Ryan had that fixed the day we found the leak), but everything else is. I really wondered about what she said. And the agent was very helpful about everything. So hopefully we'll have a new floor really soon.

Are you kidding me?

The other day, I noticed our laminate flooring in our dining room was felling a little warped by the sliding glass door. I wasn't sure what was going on and wondered if possibly the cold weather was causing something to happen. Well last night we figured it out. There was a leak going on, and our guess was it was coming from the dishwasher. We pulled some of the flooring up and realized that this was the case. This morning Ryan found the leak in the dishwasher, and fixed it. But now what do we do with the floor. The sub floor is wet, quite wet behind the dishwasher, and the wonderful waterproof barrier under the laminate flooring pulled the water all through the dining room. We've pulled up as much floor as we can so far, but you know, it continues on into the family room.
This morning I called the Insurance Company to let them know what was going on and to see what a claim would entail. She told me that if it was a drip from the dishwasher that it would be considered a maintenance problem and they wouldn't cover that. Are you kidding me? What do I pay a premium for? So now I need to talk to Ryan to see what exactly the leak was to see if our Home Owner's Policy is covered by that.
Anyway, I am angry, and my house is torn apart, and I have a beautiful little girl smiling at me and pushing all the keys she can. So all I can say is, This too shall come to pass. In the meantime, I better get to work. We'll have to tear apart the computer desk so there may be gaps in time of when I can post.

Can you say cute?

What the...

I loved Livvy's hair today, and so of course it was a time to pull out the camera. Unfortunately
it doesn't show up that well. I wasn't going to post all the pictures, but she was just so darn cute...so here they are.

Guilt

I feel bad about complaining about Ryan being busy with scouts. I mean, the first and not the last long activity came so soon after he was called that it is just an adjustment period that I need. We'll get used to it. I mean there are so many things I have to be thankful for, like the fact that his new work schedule is more flexible that the old one, so we are able to see him more than we used to. And I am very thankful that Ryan is more than willing to serve wherever he is asked. He is a wonderful man, and I am very lucky to have him as my husband.
So sorry about the little pity me party in the last blog. Life is good, and I am thankful for the opportunity to serve where we are needed.

And so it begins

Ryan was called to be the Young Men's President in our ward last week. Today, (thanks to the frigid weather the camp out was cancelled last night) he had to be to some scout activity. You know an activity that takes him away from the house all day long. Okay, not all day, but for 10 hours.
And so it begins. It's been awhile since we've had to deal with the activities that come with the Young Men Organization, and while I'm trying not to complain, (and failing miserably as you can tell by my post), it will be an adjustment.
Okay, so that's out of my system. I guess I better get back to work on what I need to do.

P.S. As a side note, as I am typing, Olivia is sitting in the bathroom on a stool reading to her baby doll she's trying to potty train. She just came out and said her baby went poo poo in the potty.

Fire Department, How may I help you?

I went shopping today. When I returned home, there was an odd alarm going off in my house. It was the Carbon Monoxide Monitor. There were 2 of them going off. The dog was still alive, but going nuts in her kennel. I let her out and then called Ryan. I tried to reset the alarms, they went off and then about 2 minutes later they started chirruping again. I fixed Livvy a quick sandwich, and then loaded her back into the car for safety. Then I called the non-emergent number for the fire department and gave them the scoop to get their opinion. They felt like they should send a truck to test the house. So I started calling neighbors to see if Livvy could stay with them until I knew if the house was safe or not. Every one's kids were sick that lived real close by, but better a cold than the alternative.
As I was leaving from dropping Livs off at the neighbors, the dispatcher called again and said that the truck had to go check out a house fire and would be about 10 minutes out. She made sure to ask again if anyone had any symptoms. I was very impressed with their help.
When the firemen came they were great and checked everything out to make sure we didn't have a leak anywhere. They even asked for a paper towel to clean up the snow that had been tracked in from their boots.
All is well, they couldn't find a leak, and all the levels were normal. What we concluded was that because I started the car, chased Livvy down the driveway, buckled her up, and then ran back in the house to grab something I forgot, that the wind was blowing just right and caused fumes to be pulled into the house triggering the alarm. It still doesn't make sense as to why the alarms kept going off after I reset them, but they also said that the alarms should be replaced every 5 to 10 years, and ours are 8 years old, so it would be a good idea to replace them.
I'm really glad that everything was okay, and that we have heat in this frigid weather. And most well maybe most of all, I'm really glad it wasn't poison control I had to call.
( I thought about taking a picture, but it just wasn't the best time):)

Life

Time with Dad

Ryan makes the banana bread in our family. It is one of the things that he does with Luke or Livvy. Today Luke is at a friend's house, so Dad and Livvy made the bread together. Livvy loves mashing the bananas and dumping the ingredients into the bowl.

After sledding today, Livvy took a shower to warm up. When I was combing her hair, I pulled some of it forward onto her forehead. She looked so different to me I had to take a picture. I love her curls. When you pull them straight, her hair goes down past her chin. What a cute and very tired girl.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

We have had a lot of snow the last couple of days. You shovel your driveway, and you wonder why, because the snow just keeps piling up on it.
Today with all the beautiful snow falling, and we had no where to go, (Ryan's meetings were cancelled), it was a beautiful day to make a big pot of soup and curl up with a good book in front of the fireplace. So what did we do?
We had the time of our lives. We went sledding. We met our friends Jonathan and Rollie out at the hill and enjoyed the powdery fun snow. It was so neat as you were going down the hill and the powder would just be spraying everywhere. Olivia doesn't appreciate sleds. Luke on the other hand is out looking for any jump he can find. Luke took a big spill after one jump he hit, and then he jumped up and did the stick and stretch gymnastic move to let us know that all was well. I crashed so hard into powder it ripped my hat off my head and completely covered my face and head with snow. I came up spitting snow out of my mouth. I've never done that before.
We all had fun, when we were done, we went back out to the parking lot and had hot chocolate and donuts. It was a fun day.

All bundled up.

Family Fun.

WARNING: Potty Talk

What a cutie. Livvy is currently potty training. I took her to the store and let her pick out a baby doll she wanted, and then we brought it home and put it on the shelf above the toilet. When she left a special present in the potty she earned the doll. Luke was so excited for her he had to run grab the camera and take a picture of her. He wanted to take a picture of the special treasure in the toilet, but I told him I wouldn't post that. Since Livvy had this great success 2 days ago, she hasn't had an accident yet. She is doing great and she gets upset when I put diapers on her for bedtime. She even woke up last night to go, and the night before woke up dry. Yea Livvy.

My Idaho Spuds

Livvy loves to help me mash the potatoes. I usually scoop some out and put them in a small bowl for her and then I give her the extra potato masher. She goes to town mashing and eating as much as she can. Luke did not want to miss the photo op, so he joined in with her tonight too. They had a lot of fun, and we had some yummy potatoes.
Mashing potatoes with my dad was a fun thing for me to do, so it's fun to share it with my kids too.

Dessert time

While we were concluding Family Home Evening with a prayer, Ryan said, "please bless the refreshments." After the Amen, I asked him if he made the refreshments, he hadn't and neither had I. I've been potty training. That was a full time job on Monday.
As I searched the cupboards, fridge, and freezer, (all were looking quite bare due to being out of town and recovering from a job loss) the only thing I came up with was some frozen blueberries, and some bananas. I decided to make something nostalgic from my childhood. I defrosted the blueberries, poured them in little bowls, topped them with milk, then added a sprinkle of sugar. We did the same with the bananas slicing them and eating them in milk.
You would have thought I had made the best gourmet dessert ever. Everyone LOVED them, and slurped everything up to the last drop of milk. It was fun to think that something so simple, so healthy, and so easily repeated was so loved.

It's a Girl!

Meet Sarah Joy.

Last week our new niece/cousin made an early entrance into the world on New Year's Eve. On New Year's day, since Luke was out of school, and Ryan kind of had work off, (he did computer work there) we left for Ohio to go help out. We had fun spending time with family and especially getting to see Sarah Joy. She is adorable, she has a good set of lungs on her, and she is very loved by her big sisters. Congratulations Eric and Angella, she's beautiful.