Friday, January 23, 2009

Mama

Rachel, who is 21 months old, has never called me Mom, mommy, mama, or anything like it. In fact, she's never called me anything!! I'm not sure if it's because she thinks I don't need a name, or maybe I haven't been important enough to deserve a name...who knows?!! It's not that she has a problem with names. She has been using Dad, Josh, Caleb and Emmy for quite a while. So what gives?? I have a little bit of a complex about this!

That being said, this week has been one of the best on record.

Rachel is now calling me "Mama," much to my absolute joy!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

10 Things I Love About Winter

Winter is NOT my favorite season. In fact, it's a season I wish we could totally skip! I don't like snow (except on Christmas), I don't like being cold, Jared works 65+ hours a week from Feb. into April, it seems like someone is ALWAYS sick...Bleh!!! It's enough to make me wish I was one of those creatures that hibernates!


So, in the spirit of having a good POSITIVE additude (even if it feels a little forced!), here is my list of 10 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT WINTER


1. The Holidays
2. Snow can entertain my children for a LONG time
3. It leads to SPRING, my FavOriTe season
4. I can feel OK about sitting around doing absolutely nothing because of the weather
5. Hot chocolate
6. The electricity bill sure goes down
7. Don't have to worry about how the yard looks
8. There's almost always a thaw at some point
9. I love the way newly-fallen snow sparkles in the sunshine
10. Winter doesn't last forever!!!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A Guessing Game!!!

I just spent this much money



(that's $$DOLLARS$$ folks)


on ONE item today.



Can anyone guess what I purchased??


A new outfit maybe??


How about first payment on a new vehicle???


Services of a personal physician for a day to get rid of all the ickies going 'round this house??


Maybe a new piece of furniture for our home?


Well, this is what I got



A 30-day supply of medicine that keeps Crohn's disease at bay,

or at least lets me feel good enough to do all the things I'm supposed to do.

I HAVE INSURANCE!!!!!

Does anyone else think this is OUTRAGEOUS???

By the way, if I didn't have insurance, I would have paid this much

$740.62

Monday, January 19, 2009

Sick, Sick, Sick

I really am getting quite tired of the illnesses running around this family (see "Ode to My Mind" 0n Jan 6). It seems like it will never end! Just this month, we've had Emily with her 2nd round of strep, Rachel with her 2nd ear infection in 3 weeks, Caleb with who knows what (a cold on top of a cold probably), me with a sinus infection, and Josh home from school because his throat hurt. And that was all by the 15th of the month!!!

Yesterday, though, was the day of all sick days. Picture this: sitting in Stake Conference, listening as best we can, me beaming with pure joy because Jared is sitting on the bench with us, Rachel busy and noisy as usual, Emily and Josh asking when we will be done every five minutes for the entire last hour. We come to the closing prayer, and all of a sudden, Caleb starts throwing up! And Jared can't find the burper to contain things! And we're having a lovely conversation - "Caleb's throwing up! I can't find the burper!" "Well, isn't it in his carseat with him?" "I thought it was, but I can't find it anywhere!" - right during the middle of the prayer. Thank heavens it wasn't during the opening prayer!!

You might think the fun ends there. Oh, how wonderful that would be. Caleb had one more small episode of throwing up later in the afternoon. But the real fun starts about 5 p.m. I am getting a few last things ready for dinner. I am standing at the sink, Caleb is on the floor right by my feet, and Rachel is standing next to me. All of a sudden, she throws up, and poor Caleb is the very ungrateful and unlucky recipient of its landing!! So Jared whisks Caleb off to the bathtub while I clean up the rug and Rachel, who at this point is looking stunned and slightly pale.

Clean up accomplished. So we sit down to have dinner. Rachel sat in her highchair and sucked on an ice cube while we had our food - sorry Rachel, I'm sure you don't want anything to eat, and I know I don't want you to have anything. We finished up, cleaned up, and I went to take Rachel out of her high chair, when the volcano erupted, AGAIN!!! And this time it splashed all over my foot! As I look at Rachel, I see that face - HERE IT COMES AGAIN!! And I, being the very loving mother that I am, make a quick run for it to avoid getting it all over the rest of me! Jared whisked her off to the tub and I cleaned up the highchair and floor.

Well, to make a long story a bit shorter, we ended the night with Caleb getting yet another bath (his 3rd in 24 hours) and both of them going to bed early! Whew!!

Please, oh please, let this be the end, the grand finale, the final episode of illnesses in this house!!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Thoughts for Today

I should play basketball more often than every 15 years! Maybe then I wouldn't seem - and FEEL - so OLD!!!

Reading with Emily is one of my most favorite things. I should do it more often.

Hugs and kisses go a long way.

My husband is truly AmaZinG!!

Having a January thaw is nice, but very bad at the same time - it makes me trunky for my favorite season - SPRING!!

The funniest and simplest things are sometimes the most entertaining for a child. Like a rubberband stretched over a shoe - go figure!

Siblings are naturally so loving to each other. How come they fight so much?

Health is such a blessing. I just noticed a picture of Rachel on my computer that reminded me of this thought. She was less than a day old and had tubes and wires everywhere. Oh how I remember how difficult those days were. And the peace I felt at the same time was unforgettable. It's funny how that happens - peace in the face of such difficulty. Such a tender mercy from a loving Heavenly Father.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Another Josh-ism

Josh, our most comical child, can always make us laugh harder than we ever thought possible.
Case in point: we were all in the van the other day, on our way to get some errands done. We passed a man wearing a rather interesting outfit - shiny brown leather pants and a shiny red leather coat (wish I had a picture). Jared and I both said, "OK?!?!" to ourselves, and Josh popped off with,
"WHAT, IS THAT GUY FROM THE LICORICE COMPANY?"
Jared and I laughed so hard we thought we might not recover! Thankfully we did, and we can continue to enjoy the laughs that come from such a fun boy!

Ode to My Mind

Oh dear Mind,
I fear I am losing you,
Or even worse,
Maybe you're already gone.

You see, with 4 kids and winter-time
We haven't gone more than 2 weeks without someone sick!
Which means we're keeping the doctor in business all on our own!

I think maybe, dear Mind, you're staging a protest,
What with trying to remember to administer all the antibiotics,
Taking temperatures, remembering who has what symptoms,
And generally losing most of my precious sleep!

And all this on top of the usual:
"Where is Caleb's binky?"
"Mom, have you seen my gloves?"
"Hurry up, we're going to be late!"
"Rachel stay out of the fridge!!"

I'm sorry dear mind!
Please come back to me soon!
I need you desperately!
And I promise to give your more respect and attention!

Friday, January 2, 2009

Christmas Recap

Because I seem to have NO time lately (which is odd seeing that Jared has been home so much), I'm going to do a super-quick, very abbreviated Christmas recap. I took a sleigh-full of pictures while we were having all our fun, so you'd all be very ZZZZZZZZ if I went into too much detail. So.... here we go:



  • Inches of snow received since mid-December: at least 24
  • Number of husbands overly happy to have purchased that much desired snowblower: 1
  • Number of wives happy to not have to help with the snow removal: 1
  • Number of Christmas parties attended by at least Jared and/or Heather: 6
  • Number of Nativity Scenes adorning our home: 13
  • Number of times Christmas ornaments were moved or removed: every time I looked
  • Number of presents given: Never enough
  • Number of presents received: WAYYYYY too many!
  • Sad moments: Only 1!!! And it was when Emily realized she forgot to thank Santa! By george, I think she's getting it!
  • Number of gifts lovingly hand-crafted: 25
  • Trips to the store to get all those last-minute things: At least a dozen, I swear!
  • Sugar cookies made: a few
  • Sugar cookie dough eaten: more than we ever want to think about!
  • Gingerbread consumed: about 2 pounds!
  • Wrapping paper used: several rolls
  • Number of late nights since Christmas Eve: 5 (midnight or later....ughghgh!!!)
  • Number of pinatas dismantled: 1, holding enough candy to feed a small country for a month!
  • Sitting on Santa's lap: Once for Emily, once for Josh (wouldn't even LOOK at Santa), and Rachel watched from a distance
  • Hours spent playing the Wii: I'll take the 5th on this one!
  • Trips made by kids to the sledding hill since Christmas: about 8
  • Number of baby Jesus dolls found and lovingly cared for by Rachel: too many to count
  • Watching Rachel love and nurture anything remotely resembling a baby: PRICELESS
  • Number of Christmas shows/movies watched: 4
  • Number of trips to see Christmas lights around Cache Valley: 1 official, but always oohing and aahing with every trip anywhere
  • Number of pictures taken during December: 230 - wow, I thought it was a lot more
  • Number of pictures taken Christmas Eve and Christmas Day: 135!!!! Is that all???
  • Overall rating for this Christmas: BEST EVER!!

Here are a few highlights in pictures...




We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! Now on to those New Years' Resolutions....!