Sick kids

As soon as he saw the camera he smiled. Poor kid has only eaten goldfish and juice since Saturday. He had 103 temp today.

Maya thought it was a great party.


Here they all are watching Maya's choice of movie because
they just didn't care much.


Poor Natalie. I was tempted to make her go to school even though she claimed to be sick this morning but decided she really might be. I took her temp an hour ago and it was 103! What's weird is each of my kids have something different. Natalie has a fever but no other sympoms. Lincoln has croup (he went to the dr. today and got meds--that is the scariest sounding coughing and wheezing I've ever heard!) and Maya just has a really nasty runny nose. I got some good pictures of them all watching Maisy. Maya thought we were having the greatest pajama party ever. She got juice and goldfish, pillow and blanket and movies all day. She was in heaven.

Thanksgiving---yes that's what I said, Thanksgiving

I know, pathetic. Don't read on if you are disgusted by be-lated blogging. I FINALLY downloaded all my Thanksgiving and Christmas pics. I was going to combine but I just had so much fun with my family over Thanksgiving I had to post. Steve Allison and their new baby Cohen flew up from Utah to spend Thanksgiving with us. Sooo much fun and very sweet of them. I hadn't seen Cohen yet and he is so adorable. You'll see . . .


Walking around the market in downtown Seattle. Yes the guy in the back is with us. That's my brother Steve and the beautiful blonde is my sister in law Allison. Aren't they cute?! Well wait till you see what their genes created!

We were blessed with family and good friends for our thanksgiving feast.
Here are the kids all playing the Wii. If you look close Maya has her dukes up.
They are playing a boxing game.


Ta Da! Isn't he sooooo adorable? My nephew Cohen. This is all the
way back at Thanksgiving. It was so much fun to play with him. He's waving at me. Ok not really.

Yummy potatoes! I couldn't have pulled off this dinner without Allison's help. THANKS for coming and THANKS for being my co thanksgiving dinner maker.

These are the silkys. Autie Allison made the one in Maya's left hand
when she was born and then replaced it with a nice new one when she came up.
Cohen has his in his lap. Maya is just so happy. She LOVES this blanket so she is in heaven with not just one but two.

Snow and Cold

Ok, so I'm the worst blogger ever. It's been confirmed. I called my friend Natalie and those were the first words out of her mouth. I admit it. It's true.

So Christmas hit our city today. We have snow everywhere and when it gets this cold, ICE everywhere. The kids bundled up to play in the backyard and I couldn't get the screen open. It was frozen shut. I took my kettle of hot water out and melted the ice off the runner so we could open it. The kids thought that was really cool. The air was so cold and windy that the snow was un-ball-able so no snowmen or snowballs. And Maya didn't last long--it was freezing.

I am sick today. I always feel so bad making someone else do singing time. It's one of those that's really hard to substitute last minute unless you are comfortable with Primary songs and singing solos in front of teachers and kids. Luckily my friend Kati saved me yet again. I have such sweet friends.

Feeling sick makes me appreciate what the Savior did for us. My experience seems so hard for me and yet what He did for us we couldn't endure. He suffered it willingly because He loves us. This makes me want to endure my small scale suffering gracefully and keep things in perspective.

I am still getting Christmas cards out! I really should be fired.

October, November . . .

there really are too many things to post for the two months. I think it is why I haven't done it. I will just put in some pics and let them tell the story . . .





Here's K (the one in the red jersey I made him) playing b-ball at his surprise party. They played three on three- double elimination tournament. I set up a concession stand and served corndogs chips etc. It was a lot of fun!

I really should post more often but I have been really busy lately.

I just recently re-read one of my favorite books, "Mitten Strings to god" (given to me by Rebecca--thanks again!) I love what that book helps me do as a mother. It centers me and helps me reevaluate my routines and schedule. It reminds me how to maintain simplicity in a hectic world. I love how peaceful we can make our homes if we try. Some things I have implemented from the book that have been wonderful:

• candles at dinner time every night---the kids love it and if they haven't said the words, "gross, sick, or yucky, and they actually try to eat whatever I make they get to blow the candle out when we're done.
  
• (chapter on peace) Turning on our fire (I know, sad huh.) and listening to music in the dark (We listened to "When Christmas Comes To Town" from Polar express a couple times. They all three ended up on my lap. It really felt like heaven.
• Reading books with a flashlight by the fire

I just realized all three of these things involve the lights out.

Tag

Here is how you play:

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Some things you may or may not know about me:

1. My new found LOVE is rock climbing. I'm actually pretty good at it too. I love making it to the top and having the thrill of how high you are. Especially when the belayer (sp?) knows how to hold the rope so you don't feel held up. It really feels like it's just you. FUN!

2. Every time I make homemade bread there is a giant hole right in the center running through the whole loaf. It's weird. We eat it anyway, we just call it doughnut bread.

3. I schedule my life around my hair--. It takes a certain amount of time and patience to do after it's washed that I have to be really careful to make sure I have time to do it the day I wash it or I'll look like an over-grown chia pet. No I do not wash it every day! That would be a nightmare.

4. I love singing a tricky second soprano part.

5. I spend way too much time getting junk out of the cracks on my black table with an old library card. Usually when I'm on the phone or after the kids are in bed etc. It's so you don't see crumbs when the kitchen lights are on. I absolutely hate it when my kitchen table looks/is dirty.

6. I still like peanut butter sandwiches and eat them for lunch almost daily. Most of my love is the fact that it's just easier and lasts in my tummy for a long time. Lunch is done and over with. My kids go through phases. Although Natalie swears I make the best ones. She says dad's are gross compared to mine. Ha!

7. Sometimes I think I'm actually a grown up then other times I realize I'm still 7. Kurt took me to phantom of the Opera a few weeks ago. He surprised me with it partly because he knew if he told me I wouldn't sleep the night before because I'd be too excited. And the sad thing is he wasn't kidding because I wouldn't have. I get too excited about things. And some of those things are really small (like one time I could hardly sleep the night before a women's conference--day away with some girls in my ward.) Does that just mean I need to get out more?

So now I tag . . .

Natalie
Allison
Mellissa
Tami
Raya
Aimee
Heidi
Kati
Really anyone who wants to do it . . .

A boy and his bike

This is Kurt - Michelle has recruited me to do some of these posts now. Today is officially my last day of my long vacation from school and we've had a great month off. For a little background, since I've been in school, we go somewhere every time I have a week off, so a month with no trip is new to us. We've gotten a lot done - the house cleaned, carpets steamed, cars cleaned, finished the fence and stained it, etc.

On to the topic of the post - Lincoln has been asking to take his training wheels off his bike ever since I took them of Natalie's. Unfortunately, Natalie hasn't had much success with the whole balancing part and so she hasn't ridden her bike for a while. I kept putting Lincoln off to avoid having two kids struggling to ride their bikes and being forever banished to bending over, running behind a child that isn't close to being able to ride his/her bike. I may be selfish, lazy, or whatever, but after about 10 minutes of running bent over I'm done but the child never is.

Well, a couple of weeks ago Lincoln approached me again and I decided to let him try. He had really shown an uncanny ability to balance on the little scooter we have so outside we went.

We took off the wheels (he was really excited we were using the tools on HIS bike) and I took him over to the park next door where the grass would soften his landing. I put him on and we got going. After about 10 feet I don't know why, but I let go. Much to my suprise, he rode another 25 feet before falling. I had stopped walking when I let go and when he looked back at me, he realized what had just happened and started laughing. We went out to the road and he really took off. By the end of the hour he was riding up and down curbs, in circles, and he even rode down the hill to the bottom of our subdivision - which is pretty steep. Of course, it wasn't all fun and games. At one point when he was still trying to learn how to get the bike started on his own he was crying every 30 seconds so Michelle had to put the bike up. I came back outside and explained that he could have the bike as long as he understood the rule that as long as he has his bike, NO CRYING IS ALLOWED NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS. I wonder what the psychologists would say about that rule. Since I made it up, things have been great. Of course, we are all excited for him and now all he wants to do is ride his bike. It's just too bad the rains started this week and it may not be sunny until next June..........