Culture and Babies

DISCLAIMER: I tried to post this last night! But Blogger wouldn't let me. So, here it is now! Love you all!

Sorry I never got on here this morning to fulfill my promise. It's been one of those days. You know the kind. =)

So, tonight, Tyler and I went to a violin recital of a friend of ours, Hayley. This was her Junior Recital and it was basically just her playing for about an hour. I've never actually heard her play before and it's been a long time since I've been to any sort of concert, so it was a lot of fun to sit and listen to her...you know, until the phone rang shortly into the second number. It didn't really ring, because we're not that rude. It was on vibrate. But it was our babysitter and I had to take it. I ran out into the hall before answering so that I wouldn't disturb Hayley any more than my abrupt departure already would. I had dropped Katy and Jayson off at another friend's house before picking up Tyler to go to this thing and Jayson was inconsolable. Ginny (my friend) has a baby and so isn't a novice when it comes to kids, but she honestly didn't know what to do. My boy was apparently throwing himself around on the ground, screaming, not accepting any kind of comfort she tried to give him at all. I told her to drop him in her daughter's crib with his pacifier and bear and let him cry it out by himself for a little while, but to call me back in ten minutes if he hasn't calmed down. She did so and I went back in to Hayley's recital, although I sat in the back so I could slip out a little bit less conspicuously if necessary. Sure enough, ten minutes later, I was on the phone again. By this time, however, Hayley only had one number left, so I asked if Ginny could handle it just for another half hour. Then Hayley would be done and we'd leave right away to get our kids. She said it was fine.

I tried to go back into the recital again, but apparently, the door was locked and I had just gotten lucky the last time. I didn't want to knock (because how rude would that be?) and the only other door into the room was right where Hayley was performing. So, I sat in the hallway and listened to finish from there. Fun. When she was done, I knocked lightly on the door and her husband let me in. Tyler and I talked for a minute with the two of them and their families and then left, making our way as fast as was legally allowed through Orem and Provo almost to Springville to where we left our kids.

Of course, by the time we got there, Jayson was fast asleep. Go figure. He woke up a few minutes after we got there and after reassuring himself that we weren't going anywhere this time, happily went on his way to play with Katy and Eva while Tyler and I visited for almost an hour. Crazy kid. I tell you, I'm dreading the terrible 2's with him. He already throws such tantrums. On the plus side, both kids were so exhausted by the time we put them down tonight, there were absolutely no problems whatsoever. But I've decided that I may just be a little culturally deprived until my kids are a little older...oh well.

DON'T open emails/attachments about Swine Flu

Hey, guys, just a little warning: Don't open any attachments or click any links from emails you get about swine flu. Because then you'll get swine flu.

Just kidding. You really won't get swine flu. But you might get a computer virus or see something you really didn't want to see.

Bottom line: if you don't know who sent it, or even sometimes when you do know who sent it, don't open it.

Blah...

I'm sorry. I don't have much to say tonight. I'll try to come up with something stimulating or witty or clever or...I don't know, just something, tomorrow morning. I'm just feeling blah-ish right now. So, know that I love you all and I think about you often! And I'll do better tomorrow...promise. =)

Sorry!

I meant to comment before today, I really did!!!! But what with one thing and another I haven't. I'm sorry!

I can't wait to see your hair Telima. I prefer my hair short, but Jeff prefers it long so we're almost always struggling over that. I have promised Jeff that for his Father's Day present, I won't cut my hair this summer. That's when I typically do it. It just gets so HOT down here! I hardly ever even feel the urge to cut it during the cooler months. So there you go. For Father's Day, Jeff is getting longer hair on his wife.

As far as TV goes, we keep it on mostly, but it's more along the lines of background noise. I can't say that I actually sit down and watch it all that much. Mostly, my kids follow me in that respect. They are always doing something else on top of the TV. Coloring, reading, ect. I tried running the radio instead, but it just wasn't the same at all. I couldn't quite get into it the same. Oh, well, it was mostly on at home while we were growing up. It's a habit.

All three of my older kids came home yesterday asking about the swine flu. Obviously Benjamin got more information then Jacob, but they all got it. I talked with each of them about how they don't need to worry and such, about how no one in Arizona had it yet and so on and so on. And then this morning I woke up to the first US death to it, in Texas. But the good news is that it seems to be plateauing in Mexico.

On the other front. All of my copies of my book are now officially out for editing. I have three people going over them for grammar, tense, sentence structure and such. I should have them back soon and I'll get it taken care of. Thank you again Caren, so much, I can't even tell you! I official registered it last night at the copyright office so I'm in business!

Love you all!

TV

I think that most of us like TV. Probably a little bit too much. At least, I think I do. I watch a lot of TV. And my kids are following in my steps. Oh, they both love other things too, but the TV is always on in our apartment, usually with some form of Baby Einstein or Backyardigans. Of the kind of TV that my kids could watch, I definitely think that these two shows are some of the best out there. I'm just concerned that by letting them watch so much TV, I'm depriving them of other things. Now that it's (finally) starting to get warm, it will be a lot easier to turn off the TV and go outside to play. And yet, that's still difficult for me, because I'm usually really tired and don't relish the idea of chasing my kids, making sure that Katy doesn't somersault off the jungle gym and Jayson doesn't eat the little wooden chips that seem to fill playgrounds these days. I know that I should get them out of the habit of watching TV first thing in the morning, but I'm so tired in the mornings that it's infinitely easier to put a movie on and go back to sleep on the couch while they watch. Meanwhile, I know that I myself am addicted to TV, preferring to watch it online when I can pause it whenever I need to in order to help my kids with whatever they need. I guess I know what I need to do, I'm just not motivated enough to do it.

If it will help prevent what exploded here tonight, though, I think I could get motivated. Katy and Jayson both had meltdowns while we were trying to pray before bedtime tonight. Jayson bit Tyler and Katy refused to sit down and fold her arms long enough for the prayer. The consequences? Jayson got a swift swat for biting and Katy had to go to bed without reading any books. It just changed the whole atmosphere of the night, though. We're all tense and Katy's crying and complaining and trying desperately to get out of her room (we've locked it to keep her in there). I don't know if the amount of TV we watch contributed to this tonight, but I think it may have. So maybe I just need to bite the bullet, grow up a little, and turn off the dag-gum TV once in a while. Or maybe I just need to water a plant over it and see what happens....=)

Hair and Airplanes

Well, Tyler and I went and got haircuts today! That's not so unusual for Tyler, seeing as how he goes every month or so. But it's my first haircut in a while and I was really excited about it. All in all, neither of us were very impressed with the lady who cut our hair. She seemed to be in a hurry, ready to get us out the door as soon as possible. She didn't listen at all to Tyler and as a result, his haircut is shorter than it should be and not as well done as he hoped for. He has very hard hair to cut, with many calyxes that cause his hair to stick up in strange places if cut too short. Someday, we're going to find a barber that will cut it right and keep going to there! In the meantime, though, he just has to suffer through bad haircut after bad haircut. As for me, I got my Locks of Love ponytail, so my hair is MUCH shorter now. It comes down to about my chin, which is fun but also shorter than I thought. When she told me how short it was going to be, she pointed to a place just below my shoulders. But when she actually cut it, she cut higher than that. And then she had to make sure that it was even. Since she never actually asked me where I part my hair usually, it's a little uneven now. All it means is I'll have to part my hair a little to the side now, but that's okay. =) It's still kind of cute. I'm loving the shorter hair already and I haven't even had a chance to really play with it yet.

And did everyone hear about the planes in NYC? If not, read about it here. INSANE! What were they thinking???? I was at Keryn's when she read about it and told me and I just couldn't believe it. That is such a huge oversight. I can't even believe that anyone would think that was a good idea. I mean, it hasn't even been ten years since 9/11 yet! Crazy.

As for the flu, I hadn't heard that much about it before today. But then again, I don't keep up with the news at all. I'll keep a closer eye on things now. Thanks for the head's up! Love you all so much!

comforting thoughts i hope

Concerning the swine flu i've been researching a little bit. It has not been been titled at pandemic level 4 yet. It's still serious absolutely but certain things have been put in place.
The "cdc" and "who" are working on a vaccination for it in case it does reach pandemic level 4.
Its severe in mexico but mild in the u.s. Doctors here across the u.s are actively looking for it especially in those people who have respiratory problems we will see more severe cases obviously. The severity in mexico could be just do to the fact that they have dealt with it longer. As mexico has better epidemological work done we will see milder cases.

We are a lot better prepared now than when the spanish influenza came in 1918. We can identify new viruses a lot faster and have better life saving technologies such as the artificial respirator and antivirals.

the great risk from it turning into pandemic level 4 may not be from the swine flu itself {especially if it turns out mild} It could be from "collateral damage". {instituting border controls and banning international trade} We depend on international trade from food to coal to generic medicines and surgical gloves etc. By the way a key component used in the artificial respirators comes from mexico.

We all have a part to play in this to protect ourselves and our kids.
Practice better hygiene:
-washing hands frequently {trust me its great occupational therapy, not that i know anything about that;) }
-cover mouth and nose when sneezing
-staying away from public places while sick
- try to avoid travelling while sick

please know that i don't say these thing lightly
I do have therapists come in my house who visit 30 other families every week.
and my immune system is greatly weakened by my fibromyalgia.

I also know that we are practicing better hygiene and therefore are doing our part.
When it comes to this I cannot help but remember my old mission theme taken from D&C 38:30
"if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear"

i just thought that i'd share those thoughts with you all.
love,
caren

something i think is ridiculous

I don't pay that close attention to celebrities lives but a news article from yahoo caught my eye. Brad pitt and angelina jolie have 6 nannies. I mean they have 6 kids and i know that some have come from different countries, I know. Nannies are great and helpful but do you really need 6?
love,
caren

Flu bug

Is anyone worried about the new flu bug? I will admit to being concerned, mostly because we are close to the Mexican boarder. But my children aren't fragile, my immunocompromised child, Jacob, is well past the age we need to worry about. I am going to start harping on my kids about hand washing and think I'll go stock up on antibacterial gel stuff. Hopefully, if we do get it, it will be mild.

Great

Thanks Telima! I would really love to hear from you next week.

Rotations...=)

Since no one else has spoken up, to my knowledge anyway, I'll take the next week. I've been really bad about posting here anyway. =) This will help me get back in the flow of things. I can't promise that I'll have anything really insightful to say, but that's okay. Thanks Keryn and Jenafer for the last two weeks. It really has been fun to read something new every day.

I think I will really start tomorrow, though, because I'm tired. It's been a long day. So, love you all!

An appology

Jenafer, for your knowledge I am reading your story and about half way through. Know though that I am a slower reader than you might be used to. I will make sure that I am done before the 2nd, that was the deadline, right? Let me know otherwise.

Sunday

So we survived sacrament meeting once again. Jeff has been great with keeping the kids occupied while I'm playing. Today, the bishop got up and canceled the rest hymn, the first speaker had gone really long and the second speaker only had ten minutes left! I took Lillian to the bathroom three times today, once during Sacrament, once just after she did the article of faith and once when they pulled me out of Relief Society to take her! While we were in the hall coming back to Sacrament we caught (literally) a one year old in the ward running down the hallway opening doors to the other wards classes by herself. Her mom had taken her to the mother room so she could nurse the baby and Hannah had escaped and her it had taken her mom a bit to get presentable enough to give chase. Hannah's dad was the second speaker, so he couldn't help at all. So we had an extra rug rat join us in the pew during the second half of the meeting. After Hannah's dad finished, I took her up on the stand with me and handed her off before playing the closing song.

Lillian did really well in Primary. We started, "We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are, first, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ..." At which point Lillian loudly proclaimed "Amen!" causing every adult in the room to crack up.

Heather has a new teacher. She saw me in the hall just after I had taken Lillian to the bathroom the third time and asked me how do deal with Heather. Heather had started to cry in class today because she had been asked to read. We talked for a few moments and now Katie will be calling on Saturday if she wants Heather to read anything so we can practice so she can read it without feeling self conscious is class.

I have decided that I am not making more then four copies of my book for the young women to read. They don't need to all read it simultaneously. I only need the first round to be done before I start sending it to agents, so we're going to do a library type thing where they sign out a copy for two weeks and then it has to go to the next person in line. I have ten girls signed up to read it currently, and more call in every few days.

Well, we're having spaghetti, garlic bread and Jello for dinner tonight and I need to get the meat done and the water started. All my kids are apparently "STARVING," or at least they think they are. It might just be the smell that wafts through the house because the sauce has been simmering in the crock pot all day. We'll see!

Love ya all!

Saturday

Well, we didn't make it to the temple. We wanted to go, I was even dressed, but a half hour before we were to leave one of Jeff's hard drives crashed and he was too busy trying to figure out how to recover his music and our pictures from it for us to go. He didn't have any luck, either. We're going to have to send it to the manufacturer to get our info off of it!

Lillian is feeling better. She woke up what felt like ten times last night, but once she was up for the day she was fine. I was a zombie, but that's another story!

Jacob's friend had me take him home last night around 11:00. He was just missing his mom and his bed. Not a real big deal, but Jacob was disappointed!

Tomorrow, Lillian gets to give the Article of Faith in Primary. We've been practicing, but it's a long one (#4) and she loses interest after repentance. I may be the one saying it into the mike!

That's all! I only have one more day to go and my week's up!

Love ya all!

Thanks Telima! I'm correcting the things you suggested now!

Friday

I'm not going to talk for long tonight. There is alot going on. Both Benjamin and Jacob are having friends spend the night tonight. Everyone showed up around 4:00. Then, Lillian started to act tired and lethargic. I thought she just needed a nap, but then I noticed she was running a temp. So I have a sick and whinny three year old on top of six other kids running around. Today was actually both a waste of time and profitable. My Maytag repair guy showed up but couldn't actually repair either of my appliances because the parts needed were out of stock and need to be ordered. I did get the bug service done and Kate and Bridget were picked up early today, around 2:30 instead of 4:00 so that was good. We mostly had a quiet day. Jeff's worked 12 hours yesterday and today, but that's a mixed thing since it means that he has been accepted by the LO's at work and their are trusting him with thier files, but he is being slammed with work.

I am ready for the weekend! Tomorrow is Ward Temple Night, so I will at least get to unwind at the temple. I need the downtime!

Love ya all!

PS. Is anyone volunteering for next week?

i think

i think mom gave me her sore throat through the phone. {because that is possible right?} i'm really hoarse and have no voice left pretty much, it's either that or you know, i'm just finally now going through puberty, {wishing i could lol!}. So sorry jen i won't be returning your call today.
love,
caren

Reading

I did try to read everything first but with you all being such voracious readers but with everything that goes with being a mom, I just couldn't keep up. I did have to learn to trust you all. I tried to read it all but mostly so that I could have something to talk to you about. Kids have a sixth sense about what mom is doing. They just want to be your main focus all the time. I was thinking of the times when I just wanted to have a minute or two all alone. Just take it from me, that gets old also. I wish I could come up with a happy medium between having no alone time and having too much.

Really?

I had no idea! Thanks, Caren! I love you! You may have just solved all of my problems. (Do you think you could do world peace next!)
In all seriousness, I really didn't know that. Thank you.

next time you stop by frys jen,

frys does give out free balloons {they are labeled "frys"} All you have to do is ask in the floral department and they even let you pick the color and they tie a weight on it as well. Adam and kip love it!
love
caren

Thursday

I am going to be boring today. I'm sitting here, watching Gilmore Girls and trying to think of what to write. I went out today to buy milk, we only had a half gallon left, and printer ink. I then cleaned the loft and kept up with the kitchen and cleaned the family room a bit. I should have finished scrubbing the shower in my bathroom, but just couldn't work up the enthusiasm for it and I did three or four loads of laundry and scheduled a service for my oven and dishwasher for tomorrow. The bottom oven doesn't heat up at the moment and the dishwasher is leaking just a bit out of the lower right hand corner. Then I scheduled my bug service for tomorrow, as long as I'm stuck at home anyway and set up another two girls to read my book, one of whom has to have her mother read it first. Not a problem. I figured there would be that. I was actually going to approach the mothers first just in case. I don't remember having to let Mom read everything I read first, but I know that she would read it, either while I was reading it or immediately after I was done so she always knew what was being put in my head and she could deprogram me if she had too. Why is it that my three and five year olds know the second my attention is on something besides them? They leave me alone while I clean and fold laundry, but the second I get on the phone or start to post on the blogg, they're all over me. Right now, Lillian is begging for gum (as if!) and Erica is laying on the ground begging for me to help her with a computer program she wants to play, even though Heather is currently on the computer so even if I could help her, she wouldn't be able to play. Now, Lillian is pretending to fall off the bed so I have to 'save' her and Erica is teasing the dog. Taffy is growling at Erica so she moved on to bopping a balloon up in the air, and Lillian is now jealous and wants to join her. The water is on the stove, heating up for the pasta for dinner and I am preheating the upper oven for the garlic bread. Other then that, I had a fairly quiet day.

Oh- my unemployed brother-in-law, who has been unemployed and won't look for a job for the last year and a half has decided to sell Metaluca, so if anyone wants to order anything...let me know. Jim wants to go into politics.

Now the girls are arguing and crying over the purple balloon that Erica brought home from the last birthday party she attended. AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

tag onto my last post

i went to edit my last post and it wasn't letting me. Keryn i do have one more thought concerning central heat and air.

if the temperature is the same throughout the whole entire house you won't ever have to worry about your four adorable moneys being too hot or cold.
love
caren

my thoughts on a/c

i totally dig a/c. We have central heat and air. i think its a money saver. I grew up in a house that had a furnace/heater and several A/C window units. My parents finally invested in getting central heat and air right before i got married to samuel. They said "wow we didn't know what we were missing out on, we should have done this years ago!"

{obviously the economy is very poor right now so that weighs on the decision too.}
i think central heat and air saves money every month and thats what is fabulous!
love caren

Wednesday

All the kids went to school today. Except for my baby girls because they never go to school on Wednesdays. The problem is that it was a half day. So everyone was home by noon and then I had all 7 running around. My older kids have a difficult time with Kate and Bridget. They are normal 4 and 5 year olds, but because Benjamin, Jacob and Heather aren't related to them, they are annoying. I am tired and drained. You would think I would have learned by now to schedule allot to do on Wednesdays. I never get enough done.

Keryn- I personally think you should have the furnace professionally evaluated. They should be able to tell how much life is left in it and you would have your answer. You also might want to look into how much it would cost to do a two in one type unit. I don't have separate heating and cooling units, they are the same. Now I know I live here and not there, but it's worth a thought.

Amy and Caren- I hope you are both feeling better. Hang in there! We're praying for you!

LaDale- Hold on- school's almost out!

That's all! Love ya much!

Air Conditioning

So...the summer cometh. Yay! Except, nay! We have no air conditioning, and lemme tell you--while I love our little window unit, it only cools the living room and the dining room, and every time I try to vacuum it blows the fuses, and...well, yeah. It's not quite adequate, although we can definitely live through many more summers if we have to.

But, you all know how noble Bradley is, how concerned he is about the economy. He really wants to do his part to stimulate economic growth in the country, and so we are considering installing central air. Only for the well being of the economy, of course.

And here's the other thing: our furnace is 14 years old, and furnaces of this type are usually good for 15-20 years max. So it may conk out next winter, or it might last another six years. Nobody knows.

So here's the dilemma: Should we replace the furnace with a furnace/air conditioning, because there are a TON of rebates/tax credits/etc available right now, and we would save $3300? (Bringing the price down to a measly (HA!) $7700.) Or should we just take the risk that the current furnace is going to be just fine, and just buy the a/c (without the rebates/credits/etc), which will be around $3200-3400?

Anybody have any advice/information? We wanted to tap into the great wealth of knowledge that resides in our family...so, speak up if you have any ideas!

Boy Scout Food

Hey, gentlemen of our family...are all scout campouts that...delicious? I mean, we didn't exactly eat gourmet at Girls' Camp, but I don't remember ever eating raw bacon and eggs. Yum.

On the other hand, this might explain why the guys at field camp were always so complimentary about my cooking, even when all I cooked was (or is it were?) fajitas, bean dip, and chips.

I know!

He explained that it was more like soft scrambled with some raw parts, and the bacon was slapped on the grill without seperating it first, hence raw spots, and probably some burned spots too. I swear, I'm going to have to teach the Scout leaders how to cook over a fire!

Caren- I may hate the color red, but it must be done! Thanks!

Re: Benjamin

They fed him...raw eggs and raw bacon? What the...?

And he ate it?

Ooookay. The joys of 12-year-old boys, I see, are unbelievable.

not food poisoning

the one and only time i had food poisoning i started throwing up 2 hours after i had eaten the food. I know with everyones body its different, but i'm pretty sure if benjamin had food poisoning it would have manifested before now.

love
caren

sure jen

when you are done and ready just give me a hard copy. You will more than likely hate the color red by the time i'm through.
lol

Update on Benjamin

I just got a call from the Boy Scout leader checking on Benjamin. Apparently they fed him raw eggs and raw bacon on the campout on Saturday and were concerned he had food poisoning. I'm not to concerned, as it is now Tuesday and that was Saturday, but we'll keep an eye on it!

Tuesday

So I didn't go anywhere at all today! I cleaned instead. I cleaned my butler's pantry. It's the catch all for everything I'm It all accumulates on the countertop until it looks like a bomb went off in my kitchen. Now, it's clean and ready for another three months of catching all. I also cleaned the Theater Room. It doesn't get done often enough because I'm technically not allowed in there during the day. (It has nothing to do with me but rather that I have four little girls running around during the day. They tend to migrate into whichever room I'm in and neither Jeff or I want them around the equipement.) But it needed to be done, so I locked the door behind me and cleaned.
Benjamin stayed home today. He hasn't been feeling terribly well and started to throw up so, dispite no temp, he stayed home. He will be going back to school tomorrow since he wasn't behaving like he was sick all day. He was able to keep an eye on the girls for me, so I felt fairly safe cleaning the theater room.
I was a bit out of sort today. I finished the changes Keryn suggested and now don't know exactly what to do with myself while I wait for everyone else to get back to me. Not to rush you or anything. Also, just in case it wasn't plain, I want all spouses who would like to read my book as well. And Tyler, thanks for saying you'll do the website for me, if I managed to get published. (I guess I should say once I manage to get published, positive thinking and all that.)
Also, I'm looking for something to use for cover art. I am totally drawing a blank, so any suggestions would be welcome.
Love ya all!

I finished with my changes for Keryn. If anyone wants me to send them the newest draft, let me know!

Monday

So, this morning I did my weekly shopping trip, huge sigh, I spend so much money keeping my kids' stomachs full! The nerve of them, wanting to eat.
Then I spent the rest of the morning recovering from the weekend, cleaning wise.
Then I heard from Keryn. Thank you so much for the feedback.
Here are a few of her suggestions that I am implementing, just so that we don't all repeat ourselves...
1- Mya should have known her name at the age of three, so I need to mention something about the trauma of the accident or something.
2- The fact that Mya loses time needs to be addressed. Just so you know, that's something I put in as prep for the second book, but Keryn said it feels like something I forgot about. So, here I'm going to combine her suggestion with Caren's excellent suggestion about the doctors and will put in a bit about the doctors deciding that it's all in her head and suggestion she see a therapist.
3- I need to change Marcus' main talent. The teacher thing is really not working.
4- Mya needs to be actually kidnapped by Eric and Kevin. There is no way she would willing go with them after being scared to death in the woods.
5- Mya needs to be actively looking for a phone or a way out as she explores the house by the river. She needs to be looking to escape.
6- I need to bring out more of a difference in the way they treat Mya after they realize what her talent is. Before that, they are more just looking in on her for her parents sakes, after they smother her because they know her talent could be important.
7- Mya needs to be more scared after she finds the Ciarda and is waiting for Weston.
8- Gina needs to make Mya more comfortable when they meet at the house in Washington so she thinks a bit more about what is happening and isn't so scared.
9- Mya needs to actually take Marcus to task for what happened in Washington. Sorry, I hadn't realized that she hadn't done that yet!
That's the feedback from Keryn, at least that's what my notes say anyway... Keryn, if I've forgotten anything, remind me. If these sound like things you were going to suggest to me, please look for anything else.

Oh, and she also told me that I desperately need someone to help me with the grammar and spelling... Caren, want a job?

Love ya all!

Also, a quick funny story from one of the ladies in my ward.

One of the preschool classes that my ward's put together for those not lucky enough to get it for free at the school went to the fire station on a field trip. The kids listened in awe as the fireman explained all of the different equipment. When he got to the axe, he explained that they use it to open the garage doors of the houses so they can get in.
One of the little girls looked at him, "We have a button we push to do that at my house!"

Ah, the minds of four and five year olds.

Telima, did you get your car back?

Caren, congratulations on the new speech therapist. I hope she works out.

so great news!!!!!

we have made contact with a substitute speech therapist and she is starting tomorrow! i'm so grateful. For those who don't know {i forgot who i've told} lori our speech therapist was due with her daughter may 7th and was going to take may Aand june off and work her way back up to full time in july. The nerve of these people! Wanting to have their own kids to take care of versus living just to service me and my kids!
She had her baby a little too early {on easter night} they are both still in the hospital. Gwen will not eat still so lori has grounded her. My occupational therapist melinda dropped her co-worker's name noel to me. Says shes great and that i can feel free to harass her.
i let her know from the get go that this is temporary but could be permanent. i cannot fault lori kif she wants to be a stay at home mommy.
pray that kip takes to her quickly!
love caren

RE: Locks of Love

I've done Locks of Love twice, Telima. Just tell the stylist that you want to donate, and make sure it's in a ponytail. The salon I went to didn't take care of sending it--I did that. I just used a padded envelope and sent it to the address here. They sent me a thank you note about six months later, not that it mattered. It was just nice to know they got the hair.

I really need a haircut, too, Telima. I just have no idea where or when. Argh.

Locks of Love

So, anyone know anything about Locks of Love? Tyler and I were talking about it last night, and I realized that I didn't know much about the program except that you have to have at least ten inches of hair to donate. My hair is getting pretty long and I'm planning on chopping it off. I thought I would donate it if it was long enough. Does anyone know anything about the program? Can I go anywhere to get it done and donated, or will I have to go to a specific place? Has anyone ever done it before? Did it go the way you thought it would? Just wondering!

Oh and Jen, I've started reading your book this morning and so far, I think it's flowing better than it did before! I'll let you know when I finish it. Love you all!

Yea Keryn

I'll take that you posted at 1:00 am as a good sign!
Can't wait to hear from you and really hope they don't have to turn off your water.
I am going to the store this morning, so call my cell 480-251-3603 if you get the answering machine at the home number!

Love ya!
PS- no this doesn't count as my post for the day.

Yay, Jenafer!

Thank you so much. I will definitely let you take the next week of posts!

And I just finished your book. I will call you tomorrow morning after therapy (if the city doesn't shut down our water to fix the water main that is currently leaking on my street) or tomorrow afternoon/evening (if the city DOES shut down our water, we'll be spending the day at Telima's).

Caren, I love the idea of a cookbook. I have been trying some new recipes that I would love to share.

LaDale, I'm so excited that Sister Beck was able to come. It sounds like you had a marvelous time. And yes, you need to get a new phone. One that actually works in your apartment might be nice! :)

Oh, and here. Mercy kissing the grouper:


And here's the whole family. Suddenly it seems really weird that I have four kids.

Re: my wife

I would like to thank my wife for putting my email as the contact email for all your spam and hate emails. Thanks for the lovely thought from my most beautiful and lovely wife. By the way, I will pass all the recipes you send to me to my wife if she does not check my email and see them quicker then I do. SKT

an idea i had

i thought it would be fun to make a little cook book of all of our favorite recipes and put it together and give a copy to each of mom's children and mom of course. {7 copies}I am offering to put it all together. {I mean nothing fancy shcmancy} But it will be typed up and put together in a user friendly form.
If you guys are all on board for it than i was thinking the deadline for submitting recipes could be october 31st {halloween} this year. This way i can put everything together and give them out or send them out at christmas time. You could e-mail the recipes to lukidad@gmail.com.

I have already run this idea by mom, she said she doesn't really cook much anymore. I joked to her that seeing how the inside of her fridge looks like "the grapes of wrath" i could see that. She said to go ahead and see what the rest of you thought though.

opinions, comments, suggestions....hate mail..........phonecalls{by the way we have an answering machine and i screen my calls and gmail does have a spam filter} lol
well let me know
love,
caren

Spiritually uplifting

Not to mislead you or anything, but I am not purporting that this message will be particularly spiritually uplifting or anything, just as a topic of conversation. My last three weekends have been very spiritually uplifting. It all started with conference. I was blessed to watch all four sessions of conference as they were happening and loved every minute of it. We are SO blessed to live in a place and a time where we truly get to sit at the feet of apostles and prophets and listen to the word of God. Not only that, but we can already print off talks, and down load them and listen or watch them all over again- and all this within a days of the actual conference. We don't even need to wait for the Ensign to come out. Needless to say, I loved it.
The next weekend was also wonderful. It was Easter. I got to spend most of it singing my testimony with the Cantata. We had our two hour rehearsal Saturday morning where for the first time we sing the entire thing all the way through, then we performed Saturday evening and Sunday evening. Between Martha and I, we invited most of Rockrimmon, and three different people came (non-members) to listen. They loved it!!! I worried about my Easter lesson, but it turned out wonderfully!!! It was one of the best Easters I've had in a long time, and I didn't hide or find candy, or even have a huge Easter dinner of any kind. I just felt the Spirit and was filled with happiness over my testimony and, slight though it may be, understanding of my Savior.
The weekend was a continuation of the last few weekends. Sister Beck (General Relief Society President) came and spoke here in Colorado Springs- yes, in the middle of a blizzard. I was honored enough to be in the choir, so I got a good seat and loved every minute of it. I was also lucky enough to live right across the street from the church were the fireside was being held- so I didn't need to worry too much!!) She was amazing. Shared history and testimony and took questions right from the audience. I fear this weekend will be boring after all the excitement and testimony I've heard. It has been busy- but GREAT!!!

Caren- that is a wonderful shirt!!! I still get compliments on it.
Keryn- a better picture is the one with Mercy kissing the Grouper.
Jenafer- My computer won't let me read your book. It keeps wanting me to download Office2004, which I did, but it still won't open it up?!?! I don't know if it is my computer or yours??
To all and sundry- Love you lots and miss you. My phone is acting horrible right now, I can't get through a single call without losing service. I know, it's time for a new phone, but I don't tend to spend money without a lot of thought and I'm still in the thinking stage!?!?! So- here's to you all!!

LaDale

Sunday

Keryn, I loved reading all of your posts this week. I've decided we should trade off weeks, anyone one who wants to join the rotation, say so! That way we will always have something new to read everyday!

I'll take this next week...

So, today at church we had two speakers who talked on music! It was interesting and fun. Afterward, I took the little girls to primary and they didn't have a piano player so I jumped in. I don't know what happened, but the pianist showed up after about another half hour, so I was late to Sunday School. That's ok. We only made it half way through the lesson in Relief Society, typical, but had a great time doing it. We discussed persecution, and I mentioned that even though we don't have to deal with someone threatening to shoot us because we're LDS, we still have persecutions we deal with. I used Jr High as an example. It seemed as if every LDS kid I knew gave into peer pressure and swore in Jr High. To this day, when I tell people I have never sworn in my life they will argue with me about it!

I'm finally getting Jeff's birthday cake made. He has a very specific cake that he gets every year, banana cake with banana pudding and sliced strawberry filling and whipped cream frosting with sliced strawberries on top with a chocolate drizzle. In addition, I am making Meat Loaf (I don't usually make this!) and baked potatoes and corn (I hardly every make corn. For some reason I hate corn!) and jello (Lime, sorry Grandpa) and rolls, and that's dinner!

I am collecting the names of teenagers for the test reading of the book. There are two families in the ward with 5 girls between them who are avid readers and anxious to get their collective hands on the manuscript. I am clearing it with their mothers first, so I don't have any kind of back lash if they are the kind of parent who won't let their kids read anything they haven't read first. So far there's not a problem.

I love you all and will write more on Monday.

that picture

geez i wouldn't want to swim in there with that fish. Samuel said he would though as long as it had been fed first.
We think that LaDale is cute though.
LaDale, that blouse really does suit you too. {Wink, wink}
love,
caren

Oops, I skipped a day

I totally lost a day there, Thursday. Funny, it didn't SEEM short while I was living it, but it was over before I knew it. Crazy, man.

Well, there was snow in Las Vegas on Tuesday. And LaDale got a snow day today, because Colorado got socked with the Second Blizzard of 2009. So I'll stop whining about the weather here, because tomorrow is supposed to be in the high 60s, and the beginning of next week the high 70s. So springtime here we come!

For those of you who watch Chuck--go Sarah!

For those of you who watch Lost--go Desmond! Yay for saving Penny!

(Told you it would get boring)

I leave you with this:
LaDale with a Giant Grouper. Really, what more could you ask for in life, than a picture of you with a huge fish?

it's done!

Well, I finished the last rewrite of the book. For those who don't know, I've titled it At the Edge of Dreams. So everyone check your emails, you should have it there. I know that I can do more, but at this point I feel really good about the way it reads and, unless one of you comes up with something major that needs to be fixed, I'm done.

I would love everyone's feedback! Again, I think it's much tighter now and flows well, but I've lost all objectivity at this point!

Thanks!

Spring break

Keryn,
You should have come here for spring break. We had no snow whatsoever! Wait, we haven't had snow for over twenty years!

The curse of the spring break

We went to LaDale's house in Colorado Springs during her spring break the last week in March this year. The trip there was a nightmare, with Vail Pass closed for 4 hours because of snow/accidents. Once the pass reopened, it took us 2+ hours just to get across the 27 miles of the pass. After being in the car for 17 hours, we arrived at LaDale's apartment. The first two days of break were marvelously fun, and then the Great Blizzard of 2009 arrived. This is a picture of the front porch of LaDale's apartment:
This is what happens to your pre-schoolers when they are cooped up in an apartment with few toys for 36 hours:
So we eventually came home and got back to our lives. Now it is mid-April, and this week is spring break for the schools in our area. We planned on attending a protest Tea Party in SLC or Provo, depending on how ambitious I was feeling.

And now, look:



If I were the swearing type, you can bet the air would be QUITE blue around me right now. The kids are cooped up again, it's cold...and, well, I better stop thinking about it, because I'm NOT the swearing type. Even in print.

So! Something better to look at and think about:


Happy Easter!

Kings and crutches

Gideon got his new crutches about a week ago. He's definitely unsure about them, but here he is with his therapist, Kim, trying them out.


And here are the kids helping Daddy have a happy birthday. He was the "king" for the evening and they made him a crown and everything. Ezra called him "Your Majesty" for most of the evening.

Why I read books less often

(Warning: possibly boring navel-gazing ahead)

Over the last several years, I have found myself reading books less and less often. In my "heyday" I was knocking out between five and seven books a week--more in the summer. After I married (gaining a husband and a laptop), I found myself reading books less, but not dramatically so. The big change came after I became a mother--suddenly I would go three or four days without picking up a book. Sometimes even a week or longer. And it's been this way for the past five-plus years.

I'm actually pretty sure that I am not reading less--I'll bet I spend as much time reading words as I ever did. But why the drastic change?

Some of it is directly related to nursing babies. It is not easy to nurse a baby and read a book at the same time--in fact, with newborns, it's darn near impossible (at least for me). It's much easier watch a television show or movie, talk on the phone, or read a computer screen (which doesn't have to be held open, nor pages laboriously turned).

Some of it is because of the explosion of the internet. There is so much information out there--and you all know how much I love information (sounds so much more respectable than calling it trivia). And my passion for politics is more easily fed by the up-to-the-second news found online.

Some of it is because of my laptop. Before, sitting at the computer was a bit more of a task, not so much of a relaxing thing. But now I can be just about anywhere with my computer (inside, at least--outside doesn't work so well, unfortunately, because my screen doesn't really work in bright sunlight).

And some of it is because as my children have gotten older, it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to sustain the train of thought necessary for reading new books. ARGH! It is a whole lot easier to look up and answer Ezra's endless questions, or admire Mercy's latest dance moves, or give Gideon one of his needed "a-kith and a-hug" when you are reading a short blog post, or a brief article from the newpaper. I find myself more frustrated and less patient if I'm reading a new-to-me book while taking care of my children. (And, really, when am I not taking care of my children?)

Have any of the rest of you discovered changes in your reading habits as you've gotten older/changed jobs/etc?

Happy Birthday Bradley

Now we are the same age.

My unintentionally funny boy

I went to the store on Saturday night by myself, intending only to be gone a short while. Almost two hours later, I arrived back at the house, apologizing to Bradley.

"I'm so sorry I took so long, I just kept running into people I knew!" I said.

Before Bradley could say anything, Ezra piped up from the next room. "Couldn't you see them, Mom?"

Happy Easter Indeed

Today was a lovely and mostly relaxing day for us, too, Jen. Sacrament meeting was somewhat stressful for Bradley, because I was singing in the choir and so he had all four kiddos to deal with. But our ward wasn't about to let one man wrangle three preschoolers and a baby all by himself, so Heber was baby-napped by a Beehive and her mom, crayons and coloring pages were offered, and Daddy actually got to cuddle his Gid-kid and listen to the choir. It was pretty nice. I love my ward family.

It turns out that if you wait until Saturday night to buy Easter candy, there isn't much left. Odd, that. But my children did not complain. After dinner I made them hide in the family room and I hid candy all around the living and dining rooms for them to "find". A very great time was had by all, even if Mercy decided half-way through that she was done and it was time to CONSUME. I swear, the girl went through about twelve Hershey Kisses (actually they were Hugs, now that I think about it) in two minutes.

The weather was beautiful today, sunny and mostly warm--it rained almost all day yesterday, and a slow-moving wet storm is headed our way for tomorrow night and the rest of the week, bringing snow just in time for the Tax Day Tea Party we're planning to attend up in SLC. Of course. Maybe the Mother Nature is a socialist.

I'm sorry I haven't been writing as much as I should...I am aiming to write every day for the next two weeks. We'll see how I do--you all might get really, really bored. I hope not, though! I love you all and hope you had a marvelous Easter Sunday.

Hello

I know, I know. It has been a while since I have posted anything. Life this past little while has been crazy and I am hoping it will settle down some. Exhibition is over and so is Cantata. It is always a little bitter sweet to come to Sunday evening and the last note is sung. Finally my Saturday mornings are free again but there is a thrilling power in singing with such a large group about our Savior.

Today was an incredible day. The choir performed wonderfully (with a few last minute additions to boost our small six people to almost 20!!) My lesson went fabulously well (thanks to a lot of prayer and the boost from the Spirit, Cantata was wonderful and two teachers (nonmembers) from my school came. It was great.

This Easter was everything I could have wanted, even without a treasure hunt to find my basket in the dryer.

I love you all and thanks for everything you so and everything you are.

P.S. Jen, thank you for the e-mails about mortgages and such. I will look into it.

LaDale

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone.

I'm sure that the Easter Bunny was very generous to all the deserving boys and girls in our family.

We had a somewhat relaxing Sunday.

The somewhat part stems from the fact that, somehow, the ward music chairman missed that today was Sunday and the songs I practiced all week were not Easter songs and we got to church and the Bishop wanted to change the songs to Easter songs at the last minute. Then our special musical number's mother died this morning, so I had to throw in a rest hymn on top of everything else. But everything else worked like clockwork!

Love ya all!

Happy Birthday

Happy, happy birthday, sister dear,
Happy days will come to you all year,
If I had a wish, then it would be,
A child free day for you, from me!

Enjoy the library!
Love ya Telima

adam graduated!

I attended Adam's kindergarten iep on wednesday. It was decided that he no longer needed special ed services from the preschool. {because it is a public preschool and you must be in need of special ed services to attend it, they have him graduate now versus finishing in may.
Although its sad that he's saying goodbye to his friends, mommy and daddy are thrilled that he is where he's supposed to be developmentally and academically!

We sent him in with special easter sugar cookies to share and his teachers will tell the class he's graduating and they will have fun.

We also had his favorite dinner last night. Pizza!

The easter bunny is also giving him a few books and a game to help him prepare for kindergarten at the end of july.

yea Adam!!
love caren

It's almost Summer!

So I realized today that we only have another seven weeks until summer vacation. Erica will be enrolling in kindergarten in three weeks. Our last day of school is May 29. Did we ever get out of school that early? I don't remember it if we did. Didn't we always have to stay in school through the first week of June? LaDale when do you get out of school. David and Amy, when does Skyler get out? When does everyone go back? We're go back on July 20 or so. We don't get the actual calender for next year for another few weeks. I don't get why, but that's the way it is. Do you all realize that we will have four kindergartners next year? It's amazing to think that in thirteen years Mom is going to really be hopping to get around to all the graduations.

Heather

We had a meeting at the school today to get back Heather's test results. Good news and ok news. They tested her IQ in four areas and averaged them for her main IQ number 104. Apparently 85-110 is considered normal. She tested at 123 in math and 98 in writing and I'm not sure what the other number was, but her reading was at 78. NOT GOOD. She officially has a learning disability. She will be going to Special Ed for at least an hour every morning until. Also, her teacher is supposed to read directions to her and she gets extra time on her tests and she gets extra time and attention while taking her Benchmarks and AIMS.

More good news- even though AIMS testing was last week and she didn't officially have an IEP then, they did have the test results already so she got the special help last week all during AIMS, her test results should more accurately reflect her abilities. Also, now that she is getting the extra help, her frustration level should lower until she can control herself at school.

Love ya all!

David, good luck tomorrow. We'll pray for you.

pictures

adam has cute pictures with him dressed as a cowboy. We are sending one to everybody. The only complete address we are lacking is LaDale's. So LaDale if you get a chance post it or call us. Or if anyone else has LaDale's correct address please share.
love ya
caren

It's a Girl!

Okay, I think I've talked to you all now, so I feel pretty safe in putting this here, you know, for posterity's sake. We are very excited to announce that Brooke LaDonna will be joining our family sometime in August! Tyler and I are both thrilled about it. It's been a little weird how closely this pregnancy has mirrored Katy's...it almost makes me hope that this will be our last girl, just in case I have to go through all of this for every girl we have. With both pregnancies I bled enough that at first I thought I was miscarrying, but it turned out to be a tear in the uterus. And with both girls, I've had a two vessel umbilical cord. I will laugh a lot if Brooke comes out with red hair!

She's very active and we got some really good pictures of her. My favorite is one of her folded completely in half, with her feet above her head. It's kind of funny. She likes to kick and punch me and at one point during the ultrasound, she actually grabbed hold of the placenta. No wonder I've been so sick! She seems very healthy at this point, with just the 2 vessel cord to worry about. She's measuring exactly where she should be, though. I'll know better what I'm going to have to do this pregnancy to make sure that she stays healthy tomorrow after my doctor's appointment. Although he won't have had a chance to look at the full report by then, I'll at least be able to talk to him about possible steps that we'll be taking (for example, more ultrasounds and NSTs as we get further along). I'll post more about it as I know. For now, though, we're just excited to know that it's Brooke's who will be joining our little family! Love you all!

Baby!

So, we find out today what the sex of our baby is! Tyler and I are really excited...even more so now than before since we finally have a name for both a girl and a boy, so it really doesn't matter. Most of you already know what we're going to name the baby if it's a girl, but I don't think I've told very many of you what we're going to name it if it's a boy. (Just as a side note, I can't wait to find out so I can stop calling the baby "it". That drives me crazy!) Okay, so our girl name is Brooke LaDonna. We've been thinking about this name for quite a while now. We wanted to use Momma's name as a middle name, but only fairly recently did we come up with a first name that we liked to go with it. Similarly, we've been talking about the name Jonathan (sort of after Tyler's dad, who's name is John) for a boy, but we couldn't come up with a middle name to go with is. Audrei suggested we use Michael, but we've been staying away from that just because there are so many in our family with Michael for a middle name already. But as soon as she said that, it popped into my head. Dale! So, we're naming him Jonathan Dale. Anyway, we've been asking everyone on Facebook and our other blog what they think we'll be having, so I thought I'd ask everyone here as well. What do you think? Brooke or Jonathan? And don't worry...whether you put in a guess or not, I'll still be calling you all to let you know what we're having later today. Love you all!

my sister will be so proud!

for those of you who don't know, my sister's name is Heidi too.
So Ross Family and LaDale,
Good name choice!
love caren

RE: Murderous Dolls

Jen, I totally remember that story. I was afraid of Grandma's "Spare Oom", too--those masks just stared at you in the dark. Spooky. And I was a little afraid of LaDale's pretty display doll thingie--with the pink dress, remember that?

And last night Mercy says, "Heidi hurt me!" (Heidi is her new doll.) Coming right after I read Jen's post, I was a little concerned! Turns out that Heidi did not turn into a bloodthirsty murderess. Mercy just dropped the doll directly onto her (Mercy's) face. Whew!

Let me tell you about Heidi. When Mercy opened the doll's package on her birthday, I asked her what the dolly's name was. She said something like "Baby"--except I heard "Lady", Bradley heard "Freddy", and LaDale heard "Heidi". So we chose Heidi, as the most appropriate name for a baby doll. And Mercy loves Heidi.