Rudolph Competition

My boys have been having a contest to see who can look the most like Rudolph.

You decide.

Frank: Bonked his nose on Emma. So, since it hurt, he rubbed it on the carpet. And then he rubbed it again, and again. This is the result. Go figure, it hurts worse now than it did before!

FYI: this picture is after 4 days of Neosporin & Band-aids.

It was WAY worse than this.

Jack: Managed to pull open the partially-closed front door & do a head-first tumble down our front steps. Nice.

I think I vote for Frank as the best Rudolph. His is just more red!

But Jack definitely gets an honorable mention, just because I feel so sorry for him. Look at those bruises!

Boys, sheesh!

Creation of a Masterpiece

You all know how creative & over the top my husband is, right? Well, he outdid himself today. Behold, Emma's spectacular birthday cake.

How did he do it? I'll show you.

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Step 1: Layer up the cakes.

Step 2: Shave them down to create the dress shape.

Step 3: Frost, frost, & frost some more!

Step 4: Present your masterpiece to the princess for consideration. I think she approves!

Step 5: Get it to the party destination. Now this took some doing & a whole lot of stress on the part of the party chauffeur. I literally had a stomach ache by the time I got to town from watching this thing bounce & sway as we went down the road. Glad that's over!
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Step 6: Dig in!

We had people OOH-ing & AAH-ing all over this thing at the pizza place. I even had someone ask where we bought it so that she could get one for her little girl. Too bad, we don't take orders. Maybe we should!

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Thank you, Daddy!

The Big #6!

Emma turned 6 this last Saturday, the 19th. Unfortunately, I've been struggling to get my camera software re-installed on my now-fixed computer. So it's late, but it's here.

What a busy day it was! We started out with some pink french toast & moved right on to the important part: PRESENTS!!

Grandma & Grandpa drove down from Thatcher & we all went out to lunch at Famous Dave's BBQ.
[I'd like to put in a plug for Famous Dave's here. Not only is the food amazing, but a few months ago I joined their e-mail birthday club for everybody in the family. We ended up getting a kid's rib meal for Emma, a birthday sundae, & a FULL RACK rib platter (with sides) for Andy---ALL FOR FREE!!! Seriously, about $30 of food for absolutely nothing. Do it! Be cheap! It really does pay!]

Like those ribs, girl?

Anyways, after lunch we came home just in time to head back to the church for the ward Christmas party. Frank was invited to do a little nativity program with the Joy School kids last week, & he's performed a program for the parents & also at a local assisted living home. It's been a great time with him being able to have something just for himself. But for the ward party, a few other children were invited to join the crew & Emma made the perfect angel to his shepherd. It was so fun!

Then today (Monday), we had planned a big princess bash at the park for Emma & all her little princess friends. Unfortunately, people apparently don't know the meaning of RSVP anymore, & we literally heard from 1 mother to tell us that her daughter wasn't coming. Unwilling to plan a party for imaginary children, I made the executive decision to bag the park party, grabbed a few kids from the ward & headed to Chuck E. Cheese. Not the most personal party, but Emma did tell me about 3 times this afternoon that it was "the best party I could imagine." Mission accomplished. Besides, since it wasn't a princess party, Emma could invite her bestest friend in the whole world, Ben. These 2 are such good buddies!

Jack was completely mesmerized by Chuck E. Cheese. He stood like this for almost 5 minutes- just watching the giant mouse dance around. Good times.

This is my new favorite picture of Emma. This is her personality in a nutshell. Silly, fun & totally loveable.

Emma has grown so much in the last year. She is more & more a young lady & ever so compassionate & loving. I tear up frequently as I watch her care for & dote on her younger brothers. We are all truly blessed to have her as a member of our eternal family.

Happy Birthday, Emma!

We're Back!

No, we're not dead. Nothing tragic or horrible has happened. Well, unless you're like me & consider your computer being sick a horrendous & painful experience. Being disconnected from the Internet is kind of like missing an arm or leg. For me, at least.

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Nothing to post right now, I just had to get those yucky pictures of Jack's toe off the top of my blog. Sorry to anybody that's been looking at those for the past couple of weeks. His toe is healing really well. He still has his toenail, but I really can't tell if it's going to survive the trauma. He's such a trooper & is doing amazing!

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So, have a great day everyone.

I'll try to post something super interesting & awesome soon!

One Size 3, One Size 4

That's an awful title, but it's true (for now, at least!)

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Our thoroughly enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend has been overshadowed by our first accident-related ER visit as parents. It's been almost 6 years that we've been parents, so I count it as a miracle that we made it this long.
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Daddy took Jack to Checker Auto early Saturday morning so that everybody else at Grandma's house could keep sleeping. But we were soon awakened by the 2 of them crashing in the front door & into my room. Apparently there had been a little accident involving Jack & a trailer hitch. Specifically, Jack pulled the hitch off the shelf & right onto his big toe. Seriously, YIKES!
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Off to the ER we go, & we're ushered right back. Our good buddy Myron snapped a few x-rays, & the nice nurses cleaned his little foot up as best they could before the Doc let us know that my poor 1 year old's toe is broken! Cracked, anyways. And that's secondary to the fact that the entire nail & top of his toe was pretty much torn off. The bottom of the toe is crushed beyond recognition. So now his left big toe is about 1/4 inch longer than his right big toe. When Andrew first showed me, I really didn't think that his injuries were that bad. But when Grandma started cleaning off the blood, it became a little more obvious how bad it was. And then when it got really cleaned at the ER, I was shocked at how serious it is.
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Yes, he has 2 different size feet for now. The swelling is incredible! HOPEFULLY the nail will heal itself. If not, I'm sure his little toe will be cute even without it. The Doc thinks there's a good chance it will fall off & never grow back. Poor baby.

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WARNING: BLOODY PIC AHEAD!
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YIKES!
Hmmm, it actually looks better in this pic than in real life.

I just want my Daddy.

All better now.
He was walking on it within 20 minutes of getting back to Grandma's. He's a little limpy, but he's really not even acting like he's injured! (Except when I have to change the dressing, that is!)
Another day, another disaster, right?

Silly Turkey!

I absolutely could not resist.

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When I found THIS last night, I immediately got out my pipe cleaners.

Emma thought I was such a cool mom.

I think she's a pretty cool kid.

Not every 5 year old could wear a turkey in her hair & still look so pretty.

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Although, after I finished it, it totally reminded me of a mullet. You know.....

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Business in the front....Party in the back!Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

So Cute? Funny? Sad?

Hmmm, I'm not sure which category this falls under, but maybe a little bit of all 3.

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Last week I was in town all day accomplishing super important tasks. Unfortunately, I had no other option than to drag all of the kids along with me. When I eventually got home, I had just enough time to run in & take a quick 3 minute shower before I needed to race the kids to the babysitter (for the 3rd time that week) & head to another meeting.

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In the house I run, leave the kids in front of the hypnotic power of the TV, & hustle in to wash off the grime of all-day errands.

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When I came out of the bathroom, I spotted 2 little shadows underneath my closed bedroom door. What was that?

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I open the door to find this.

Emma reported that he didn't want me to leave again, so he parked it outside my bedroom door to wait for me. Poor little bug was so tired that he slept here for over an hour (my meeting got postponed).

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Eventually some noise disturbed him enough that he stirred just long enough to roll over. I was so sad to wake him. What an angel.

All Things Jack

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks with this little man. He's become such a toddler all of a sudden. And oh, boy, he's definitely perfecting his "make Mommy want to scream" routine.
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Example #1- Get him out of the shower, put on the diaper & turn around to help the other kids get dried off. Approximately 3 minutes later, this is what I find in my room. Who knew that we even owned tapes anymore?

Example #2- He's trying to shorten my life span by scaring me to death.Example #3- About a dozen times a day. Can't you just see him saying "Who, me? What did I do?"Example #4- When Emma says "Mom, Jack is making a mess," Mommy had better listen! Applesauce, yum!

Example #5- About 1 week ago, he was taking his first steps.

4 Days later, this is him. He chooses not to participate in the wobbly, falling down, dangerous stage. Instead, it's from 1 step at a time to kicking a ball while running in 4 days flat. CRAZY!!



Watch me go, Mom!

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And just for fun, we got this a couple of weeks ago, too. It's Jack's first hearing aid that actually belongs to us! Well, actually not really. The audiologist ordered it for us, gave it to us, & then they tried to tell us that we needed to bring it back until we paid the full balance on our account. Great, OK. Except that they can't figure out how much we owe. One person says $1200, another $600, and the insurance says we owe nothing. We'll get it all straightened out eventually. I hope. We ordered one this year & will order the other next January to take full advantage of the insurance benefits. It is so small! It's about 1/3 inch shorter than the ones he has now, & it's only about 1/2 the width. It lays so close to his head, it's awesome. Hopefully this will reduce the number of times that we're sticking them back behind the ears every day.

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Isn't it pretty?

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(Only the mother of a child with hearing loss would feel that way!)

3 Times the Sickeys

For the 3rd week in a row, I "got" to stay home from church with a sick kid.

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Just to recap:

Week 1- Jack running an unidentifiable fever. Turned out to be teething, but didn't know that at the time!

Week 2- Emma's S-Illness drama. Ugh!

Week 3- Frank has an ear infection & "acute tonsillitis"!

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What is going on here? I know it's that yucky sicky time of year, but seriously, I've had enough. My home teacher/visiting teachers called us tonight & asked me what I needed. Nothing, nothing at all! At this point, we're so used to being sick that we're just in autopilot with Kleenex, prescriptions & laundry duty. I wonder what it will be like to have them all well...............

Follow-Up

Just to let you all know-

Emma is doing amazing. By Sunday afternoon her fever had broken, & she's been driving me crazy for the past 2 days. I can't wait to get her back in school on Thursday! We just wanted to make sure that all of her cooties were gone before we sent her back. Nobody else needs any of what she had!

Thanks to all of you that offered care & prayers. I am so relieved that she stayed strong & we didn't have any major asthma issues. We are so blessed.

What did YOU do today?

If someone had asked me that question yesterday evening, I would've said "I helped butcher a deer!"

And if you asked me that question tonight, I would say "I took that butchered deer meat & made it into venison sausage."

Specifically, maple breakfast sausage, italian sausage, & chorizo/taco meat.

Don't you wish YOUR father-in-law would drop by for 5 minutes & leave THIS hanging on your kid's swingset?

Butchering a deer on the trunk of Andy's Geo. Classy.
Aren't you proud of me for not gagging?
Last year we took Andy's deer meat & made it into jerky. (Deer meat is so gamey that you can't really use it unless you mix it with something.) So this time we decided to turn it into something that we could/would actually use for food storage. And it was so easy! We mixed it with pork & seasoned the heck out of it. I'm excited to taste it after it cures a bit.

Just another adventure in our quest to be modern day pioneers.

I Am That CRAZY Coupon Lady!

I actually got an eye roll from the cashier at Fry's today. And I was at the SELF check-out lane.

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I am so proud!

I've always wanted to do a picture like this!

Everything in this picture was bought for under 50 cents each.

The potatoes & toothpaste were free!

And my kids have already eaten a whole box of the .24 Cheese-Its.

I decided not to show my whole order, because it wouldn't have fit on any table I've got. I had almost 2 carts of stuff!

Today I made my first real venture into serious coupon shopping. I've been practicing for a while, & working on my stock of coupons. So when a lady on Craigslist offered me her Sunday coupons for free every week, last week's included, I hopped at the chance & got everything set for my trip. I saved almost $200!!!! And it would've been so much better, but at the last minute Andy called my cellphone & had me buy stuff that I hadn't brought coupons for. Boo!!!!!!!

No, I'm not as good as those people that can buy 2 carts of stuff for 34 cents, but I'll get there someday.

Emma Has Cooties! (Or, We are Now a Statistic)

Yep, it's happened to us. As germ-o-phobic as I've been, as hard as I fought to get all my kids vaccinated, as anti-social as we've managed to be, and even using over 3 containers of hand sanitizer in 2 weeks, our house has been stricken by the dreaded S-illness. We think. Apparently, even if you're vaccinated, it can still take up to 2 weeks for the immunization to be totally effective.

Darn it!

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However, we have been extraordinarily blessed these past couple of days.

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Blessing #1- Emma actually had a pediatrician's appointment on Friday afternoon for something else. So when we called on Saturday, there was no need to send us to the ER for a diagnosis. The Dr could pretty much guess which kind of cooties she had based on how healthy she'd been Friday & how sick she was just a few hours later. He said, "if the meds work, great, that's what it was. If not, we'll try something else. If we send her to the ER & she doesn't have the S-illness now, she'll probably get it there!"

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Blessing #2- This has not been the devastating illness for Emma that I've long feared. MAJOR fevers, but so far, not too much respiratory stuff, THANK GOODNESS!!! I know that for some people this is a horrific illness, & that's what I've been so scared of for Emma. With her asthma, even a cold can be devastating. Maybe it's less severe because she was vaccinated recently? Whatever the case, BIG blessing so far. (Knock on wood!)

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Blessing #3- Contrary to reports from the Dr about the Rx being $70-140, our insurance covered the Tamiflu & it was only $20. Oh yeah, medical insurance definitely goes on this list too.

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Blessing #4- Andrew's day off was yesterday & he was able to take the boys & be gone all day long. They had lots of boy-time fun, & Emma was able to languish in peace with her 103.5 (on Tylenol & Motrin) fever.

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Blessing #5- Modern Medicine! Can you believe that just a few decades ago, my child probably would've died from the fever of this illness alone? Now I can somewhat control it with something I can buy at any convenience store. I am so grateful to live in this time. And so far, the Tamiflu is working wonders, too.

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Blessing #6- The boys & I were vaccinated a week & a half before Emma, & we've had no symptoms, so we MIGHT actually be OK. (Knock on wood again!)

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Blessing # 7- My washing machine! I don't even want to consider cleaning the sheets by hand that Emma deposited the entire contents of her belly on. Yuck!

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Blessing #8- The Home Teachers/Visiting Teachers that are going to bring us dinner tonight, so I can focus on ministering to all my little needy munchkins. Especially because Emma's temp has spiked again this afternoon.

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Blessing #9- Did I mention how grateful I am that I can help my children in times like these? I have been thinking frequently of pioneer women that lost multiple children to illnesses that were much less severe than this one. My, my, we are a blessed generation.

A nice little list of things to be grateful for, and right before Thanksgiving, too! How appropriate. Well, I need to get back to my sick little one. She's calling me to put in a new video. We'll let you know how she's doing tomorrow. Bye!

Haloween Marathon!

This past week has been rather jam-packed. We started off the Halloween festivities last Friday with a Spooky Party for the kids & their little friends. (Because I have so much time on my hands, right?)

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Not too fancy, but it was so fun!
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Daddy was required to be home, because I wasn't doing this by myself.

It was his idea, after all.

We had games, ooo-eee-gooey slimy stuff, and lots of treats.

These kids were just so cute!Then we (I) spent the week finishing up the kids' real Halloween costumes before the weekend.

Oddly, Emma's fancy princess dress was the easiest costume I made.

Ooh, that gold trim on the Musketeer capes just gave me fits!
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Oh, my, what a Halloween weekend it was.

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Thursday:

Halloween play & trick-or-treating at ASDB.

Jack was too heavy for me to carry the whole way, so they gave me a wagon. Just 1 problem, people kept throwing candy in the wagon for him! So we came home with a bucket & a half of candy goodness.

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Friday:

Storybook costume parade at school.
The kids needed to have a book that matched their costume. A good way to make it educational, right?

Emma was Sleeping Beauty (in the blue [sorry, AQUAMARINE] dress, not the pink one).
Friday evening:
Ward Halloween Party

Luckily this meant that we got to skip the OTHER Halloween party at Emma's school. I think that 2 in one night might've sent me over the edge.This picture of Emma cracks me up because every time she has put this dress on, she has lifted the skirt to walk, skip, & generally just feel beautiful. Love it!Saturday:

Driving to Safford so that the kids can have Halloween with the cousins & grandparents.Trunk or Treat at Nana's church. (We are now reaching candy overload!)

Trick-or-Treating in Grandmother's neighborhood.

We now have enough candy & sweets in our house that should the world fall apart tomorrow, we'd be set for a good 3 months.
Even though our weekend was exhausting for the grownups, the kids couldn't have been happier.

I LOVE Halloween!