Merry christmas

Merry Christmas. A day late but I still wanted you to know. If you're still celebrating...

Watch this

For Grandpa Mike

Grandpa Mike gave Carly this piano on her 8th birthday. He is a piano tuner by trade and also dabbles in restoring pianos. He found this piano and brought it to Carly 7 years ago, before that we had a keyboard. A nice keyboard but a keyboard just the same. She was so delighted to have a real live piano to play on. Rachel took piano lessons also, until last year when she had piano, guitar and clarinet all going and it was time to give something up. She's never been passionate about piano the way she has become about her guitar, the way Carly is about her piano. I never have to remind Rachel to practice her guitar or remind Carly to practice the piano. Samantha takes lessons too and I think might follow in her big sister's footsteps. She seems to really enjoy playing as well.

I love hearing Carly doing these more difficult pieces. For her young women Personal Progress Faith project she spent 10 hours teaching herself hymns. I love to hear her sit and play on Sundays. Here is a recording of her playing Fur Elise by Beethoven. She loves this song and has spent many hours mastering/memorizing it. Enjoy gramps. She STILL loves that piano. Thank you so much.

She-devil

So I came home on my little lunch break to check on my invalid hubby who has not left his bed since Sunday morning.

He looked up at me and groaned as I came in the door and quipped "The devil came back from Geneva. You're going to force me to drink some more aren't you"

I smiled and took it as a good sign that he can make a joke. All he's been able to do is groan and blink since Sat. night.

My dad called me last night and said "you've got to get him to drink a LOT of fluid to get that kidney stone moving and to flush the painkillers out of his system".

Mark doesn't' even know if there is still kidney stone pain because the painkillers have left him with such a killer headache he can't move, eat, think, etc. Last night I went to Macey's and bought 3 gallons of apple juice, filled up his ginormous BYU cup and started making an appearance next to his bed every 10-15 minutes and wouldn't leave him alone until he drank what I considered a reasonable amount.

The devil comment is my first sign of hope that this will end someday. Yea.

See ya! The Devil needs to get back for my 2nd grade group.

Freaky Fridayesque

except it was a Sunday morning....

and it was more sweet than freaky.

Hmmm... This is quickly becoming the post where I told you I made Bakerella's Halloween cookies and then told you how I used a different cookie recipe and a different frosting recipe...

(But hang in there with me, I'm getting to the place where you see why it still works! )

I had a moment on Sunday morning when I felt Carly and I had momentarily reversed our mother /daughter roles. It happened just after I had gotten home from the hospital for the second time in 12 hours with Mark.

Carly had called me while I was at the hospital wondering when we were coming home. I was kind of short with her saying "I don't know" impatiently and then asking "why did she need to know" thinking she was calling because she wanted to not be in charge of the kids so she could do something she wanted to do. I was wrong of course. Very wrong. She said "well, I just wanted to make you breakfast and wondered when to start it." I felt very, very small.

When we walked in the door, she and Rachel were in the kitchen cooking and serving the 3 youngest their breakfast. I put Mark to bed and tried to get my bearings on what was left of the day, thinking about what needed to be done to get the children ready for church so I could go back to bed. She brought me a plate, a beautiful omelet with sauteed green peppers and cheese and salsa on the side. When she handed it to me I burst into tears of gratitude for her thoughtfulness and shame for my impatient response to her question on the phone and she enfolded me into a hug and stroked my hair. I held onto her and cried into her neck (the darn kid is taller than I am) and she forgave me and comforted me....

Just like my mom would have.

Just like I would have if it would have been her having a bad day.

extra kindness #3

I really, really, REALLY love her.

extra kindness

We had another rough night in the ER with kidney stones. I've stopped blogging about the kidney stones because they are becoming so commonplace. Going to the ER is not so novel anymore, it's run of the mill. Mark's had 7 or 8 episodes since that first one on Mother's day this year. It's sad that I'm not even sure. I've lost count. 7 or 8.... maybe it's 6. Maybe it's 9. Who knows.

And the only reason I mention it now is because it's directly related to what I really want to talk about, and that is kindness. Extra kindness. That kindness that comes when you go asking for help, for kindness, from people you know will help and then they go a step further and offer more. Humbling you, making you cry and feel especially loved and watched over. A reminder that angels are not only in heaven.

Extra Kindness #1

The pain started as we were doing some grocery shopping in Smiths around 5:30pm yesterday. Mark complained his back was starting to hurt. At 6:30 when I was coming home from going back to Smiths to get the bag of groceries the bagger forgot to put in our cart, Carly called me saying Mark was in bad shape and when would I be home. We found ourselves in the ER shortly thereafter. It happened so fast. He was in so much pain, worse than ever before. Through his pain, responsible man that he is, he remembered about a meeting he had in the morning with a member of the stake presidency. He asked me to call him and indicate he would not be able to make it. I did. This brother asked if there was anything he could do. I said no, thanked him for his concern. I hung up. A few minutes later found me calling him back saying yes, there was something he could do and asked if he'd be willing to find another priesthood holder and come to the hospital to give Mark a blessing. Of course he was willing. Of course he came.

At this point Mark had been in severe pain for 3 hours with no relief. We'd been to the instacare hoping for a cheaper avenue to resolve the pain. This had been a waste of time and money because they couldn't do much for him. We spent an hour there and he got 2 pain shots which didn't do a thing for him. We left $100 worth of Christmas presents in their cash register and went on to the ER where he'd now had 2 doses of pain medication through an IV and it still wasn't even taking the edge off his pain. I was feeling so anxious about so many things. The money, the pain, the fears that there's something more sinister going on than a kidney stone, that he's going to die and leave me alone. I know, not very rational thoughts but still they came.

The man that I called found another good man, a good friend of Mark's who he knew Mark would feel comfortable with in his vulnerable position and they came and put their hands upon his head, anointed him with oil and gave him a priesthood blessing. A kindness that I had requested, that I very much appreciated. Then when the blessing was over and Mark was thanking them, he remembered some church business, something that he was responsible for and started discussing it with these brothers, wanting to make sure it was taken care of the next day and not forgotten. My hand flew to my face to stifle a laugh that in this state of horrible pain he would think of and worry about those he was responsible for. I don't know why it struck me as funny, just one of those little moments where I let the worry slip away and thought about all the reasons I love this man. And because I allowed that small release of emotion, I felt my tenuous hold over my tears slipping and tried to keep that in check because Mark needed me to be strong. I thought this slip was my own private moment. It happened quickly and I was able to get a hold of myself fairly quickly but as I moved my hand from my face I saw our friend looking at me with concern and he asked "would you like a blessing?". I felt a little silly, as I was not the one in pain, saying yes but I knew that I needed a blessing of peace and comfort. I needed some help. It was beautiful and strengthening and exactly what I needed to continue on. We were there for 3 more hours and back again this morning for an hour and through those long hours, over and over the words of the blessing would come back to comfort and strengthen me when I was feeling overwhelmed. It helped to replace my fear with Faith and I am grateful for the gift we have from our Heavenly Father of the priesthood power on the earth to heal and sustain and bring peace. And I'm grateful for the extra kindness of our friend to notice me and ask if I needed a blessing.

Extra kindness #2

I called my friend to say that I wouldn't be in church today but my kids would and would she mind sitting near them so if the little ones gave Carly any grief she could help keep them in line. My kids know her very well and we used to trade baby-sitting before we each had baby-sitting age daughters so they are used to minding her. This is the kindness I asked for and she agreed.

She then asked about after church, did I need her to take the kids then. Mark was still in a lot of pain and needing me close so I accepted this extra kindness. I answered that my older girls had choir practice and if she really didn't mind, it would help if the little kids stayed at her house til they were done and Carly and Rachel could walk them home and be able to help me with them. I called about the time I thought the girls should be done with choir practice and my friend answered, saying they were just sitting down to dinner and she'd feed them and then they could come home. Another extra kindness. With most of Mark's episodes I'm a little tired but mostly fine the next day but this one has been particularly stressful and I have had a terrible headache and just not felt myself today so not having to worry about the noise and dinner has been so helpful. Extra kindness. Extra love.

I have much to be Thankful for.

if your brother happened to grab the goggles first....

and your mom is cutting onions....

I've recently heard about a new alternative....

less dignified than the goggles....

(If that's possible)

but I hear it works just as well.

Goggles: The new kitchen necessity

Rachel and Jacob hate it when I cut onions. Every time I fry hamburger for dinner, I cut up a whole onion to fry with it. Jacob's eyes are extremely sensitive to whatever the onion puts off that makes your eyes hurt. His eyes will hurt for a much longer time than anybody else. I know he's not faking here because he'll be gone to a friends house while I've fried onions, come home when it's all cleaned up and then start tearing up and ask "did you fry onions today?"

We try burning candles when we don't have our fans going. That seems to help. I try to remember to put the onion in the fridge an hour before cutting when I can but lets face it... I'm generally not that organized.

It's gotten better lately because with my work schedule, dinner has become more of a chore to get ready on time so I've taken to frying large quantities of Hamburger, with onion of course, and freezing it in one pound packages so I can just thaw it and dump in the recipe. It has helped soooo much.

Back to the goggles...

Rachel started the idea of putting on swimming goggles when I was cutting onions. Jacob knows a great idea when he sees one and he found a second pair and anytime I get out an onion and the knife he slips them on. I look up and there he is doing long division in goggles. It has really cut down on the whining in my kitchen so I'm grateful. However the goggles do make me giggle. It just looks so silly. Jacob keeps them in the kitchen drawer with my spatulas and pizza cutters. Just like any essential kitchen utensil.

Mason has taken the goggle wear a step further

It seems they are also essential

while whipping up a PB&J

You never know when a rogue blob of jelly is going to pop up and smack you right in the eye.

Free Pampering

My friend and hairstylist Betsy bought the salon where she works. She is having a grand opening tomorrow the 14th and you can get some fun pampering for free. Here's the info from the flyer....

FREE complimentary services.

Enjoy 2 of the following at the Grand opening of

Salon on The Ave

Salon and spa

83 N University Ave Provo utah

(same block as Los Hermanos)

-touch of highlights (four foils)

-high gloss treatment

-deep conditioning treatment

-luxury hand spa treatment

-scalp massage treatment

-eye lash tint

-manicure

-blowdry

Come let us spoil you and your friends

call 801-404-5205 or just walk in

SEE YOU THERE!!!!!

(I think I'm going for the hand treatment and manicure although the scalp massage treatment is sounding pretty good too!)

Sunday Confessions

confession |kənˈfe sh ən|• an admission or acknowledgment that one has done something that one is ashamed or embarrassed about

I really like playing spiritual music on Sunday. I think it makes it easier to keep my mind where it should be. However (here's the confession part...) I don't really like the MOTAB. shhhh....

I like them in conference. They fit. The music is beautiful. I just never enjoy listening to them outside of that setting. I feel really guilty about that. I have 2 friends who have been part of that amazing choir. I kept it a secret for a long time. Then I told my brother David in a shameful admission when he was visiting me once. I think I even whispered when I said it. He laughed at me. I thought we had an understanding. I thought he would keep my secret.....

I was wrong.

Last year I got a phone call from my parents. It was holiday time. Much of the family was assembled and if memory serves me correctly, David was getting heckled about something, I think it might have been his own "not a fan of the MOTAB admission, but to throw attention off of himself, he threw me under the bus by making the startling announcement "well, Jamie doesn't like the MOTAB!" shock and awe ensued. My parents were disbelieving. They called me. It went something like this "Jamie, David says you don't like the MOTAB but we know that's not true..."

They waited to hear my denial but I was tired of living a lie so I confessed. "It's true, I don't really enjoy them except in conference."

I could here them relating to the assembled family group "He's right... she doesn't" and David's triumphant crow of "I told you!! I told you!!!!"

My mother and father in hushed tones proclaimed "we thought we knew you..."

I sighed. "I'm still the same girl, really. can you still love me? even if our Sunday music tastes differ..."

It was a lot for them to handle but they are loving parents so they were able to set aside their disappointment and love me for who I really am: a girl who likes a little guitar and drums in her sunday music. A girl who likes nonLDS Christian artists as well as LDS artists.

Some of my favorite sunday music:

Amy Grant: we have several cd's but "the collection " and "legacy: hymns & faith" are 2 of my favorites

Cherie Call: She is a great local LDS artist. I have all her Cd's but my favorite is "he gives flowers to everyone"

Alan Jackson: "Precious memories"

"A child's prayer: primary songs for bedtime" is a compilation cd of primary songs that are sung by different local artists with different arrangements. It's absolutely beautiful.

Micheal Dowdle: accoustic guitar arrangements of primary songbook and hymns. The cd's are called "25 beloved hymns" and "25 beloved primary songs" It's soft and pretty.

What are your favorites?

I would love good reccommendations for gospel spirituals. ie. swing low sweet chariot, etc.

Now that I'm out of the Sunday Music closet I would also like to confess to anyone who knew me during my Rick's college years... I NEVER liked Afterglow!

Oh baby

I am a new auntie, once again.

I keep checking for emails or blog posts with pictures of my new nephew:

Little Henry

come on....

Matthew???

Mom???

Dad????

Jena???

Emily's off the hook because she is the recuperating mother and David's off on a mountain hunting so he's off the hook but the rest of you people in the vicinity get busy and post a picture. I can hardly stand it!

Mason's response when informed of his cousin's arrival:

"Henry? hey... that's like John Henry!!! cool! Hey samantha our baby cousin is named after John Henry!"

Samantha: *eye roll/head shake* that doesn't even make any sense."

addendum: 7:46 p.m.

It took Maury 2 1/2 hours to come through. Thanks sis. You're not even local but I should have known you'd be there as soon as you heard. You're a great auntie. Now I wish I was coming down this weekend even more than ever!!!!!

He is so cute. as I expected.

taking squash too far... even for me.

I've been accused of being a little crazy with the squash in my time. I used to steam and puree banana squash and make squash waffles for Carly and Rachel when they were little. I added cinnamon, nutmeg and applesauce. They weren't terrible. I ate them too. Just trying to be a good mommy you know, trying to get their 5-a day in. I ran across a new squash recipe the other day. I just wanted my brothers and sisters to know that this is taking squash too far.... even for me....

I am a firm believer that squash should Never be served in any form of smoothie. And that includes all those pumpkin pie shakes that pop up at this time of year. Cold pumpkin pie I can drink? no thank you.

• Pumpkin Pie-sicles

S

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• Rated by 10 members

These butternut squash ice pops taste just like the classic Thanksgiving pumpkin pie.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 lbs. butternut squash
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup

• 2/3 cup light cream
• 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

X

Instructions

1. To make a batch, cut a butternut squash into quarters and scoop out the seeds.

2. Boil, bake, or microwave the squash until it's soft. Let the squash cool a bit before scooping its flesh into a medium-size bowl.

3. Add pure maple syrup, light cream, and pumpkin pie spice to the bowl. Use a potato masher to mush the squash and blend all of the ingredients.

4. Spoon the mixture into ice pop molds (we were able to fill 10), add sticks, and freeze for at least 6 hours before serving.

The Great pancake experiment of '09

Jacob has to do a science fair project this year for his new school. The teacher sent home a packet that outlined how he was to proceed in choosing a topic. She did NOT want him going to the library and checking out "101 science experiments for kids", which is exactly what I would have done...

He was supposed to go through this whole process of identifying the subjects he was interested in which were

1. medieval warfare

2. Baseball

3. cooking: more specifically, cooking pancakes

I wasn't quite sure how we were going to build several sets of armor of various thickness and metal types and check their durability against arrows, lances, maces, battle axes and broadswords.....

I did think there was some merit to seeing which kind of bat gave you an edge in distance hitting in baseball; metal or wood.

But I was greatly relieved when he decided that he wanted to see how the size or absence of eggs in pancake batter would affect the finished product.

That sounded like something I could easily help with.

We made 4 batters: no egg, small eggs, large eggs (the regular recipe) and extra large eggs

We mixed and measured very carefully

We measured batter thickness, ease of pouring...

As you might expect, the no egg batter was very thick and clumpy and not so easy to pour.

It made the ugliest pancakes

oddly enough, the small egg pancakes seemed to be the most popular. We could find VERY little difference between the batters and pancakes from the large and extra large eggs. They were almost exactly the same.

Now we just have to chart our findings and decorate a tri-fold board for the science fair.... I think that will be more work than the actual experiment.

This Halloween

was a little different than years past. Between me working and coping with a very, very sick 13 year old, time was thin to think about costumes. I usually really enjoy taking the kids to Savers or D.I. to search for all the right components to make the perfect costume. The week of Halloween I was really worried about finding time to make everyone happy. My kids are wonderfully flexible and because of that we made it through. Here's how it all turned out....

Carly considered a pirate costume first which would have been adorable on her.. .maybe next year. Next, she and her friend decided they would be Spring and Fall. Then that fell through. At the last minute she dug out her Nifty Fifties costume from her 8th grade play and came upstairs for school Friday proclaiming "I found all the pieces and they still fit!". She was beautiful.

Jacob initially wanted to be a Knight. He had very specific ideas of how he wanted his armor. It was based on a book from the library that we had seen this summer. There were directions on how to create a helmet, leg armor, arm shields and a breastplate from cardboard. It really was cool. It looked very time consuming. He gets so excited and believes it can happen so much he always sucks me in. By the time I got to the library, it was checked out. I did find a book with some different ideas that didn't look too difficult so I checked that out but as the Halloween time drew ever closer, I despaired of ever finding the time to construct the costume. A friend at work mentioned that her son had considered dressing up as Will from Jacob's favorite book series "The Ranger's Apprentice". I got very excited about that as it seemed easier and less time-consuming than his Knight plans. I asked him and he got very excited. We went that day to the fabric store and found a great mottled green fabric that my friend Donna helped sew into a cloak. I took the leftover fabric and sewed a simple tunic. We found the perfect green colored pants and shirt at Savers to wear underneath and we made a cardboard oakleaf necklace by tracing a cookie cutter I already owned onto some cardboard and coloring it with a silver sharpie. The emblem of the Ranger is the oakleaf. I don't know why I let him talk me into buying the bow and arrow set as he can't take weapons to school or the ward party but I did... He's a good beggar... he always gets me.

Samantha was the easiest of all. She wanted to be a cheerleader. We dug out my old uniforms and found one that fit, albeit loosely, and she found a white shirt and black tights already in her closet. All I had to do was pick up pompoms at the dollar store and go buy black and gold hair ribbons and she was all finished. Thank you Samantha for making it easy!!

I tried to take the "shock and awe", when people found out that her cheerleading uniform had once fit on my body, in stride.

Mason originally wanted to be a spider. In the midst of wondering just how I was going to make all those legs I stopped at Kmart for cough drops and found all their costumes half price. I found a Knight costume for $8 that would fit Mason. I called home and asked if he'd like that and he got very excited and I was so happy to have gotten off so easy.

Halloween night he got all ready to go but I wasn't quite ready yet. I was trying to get soup on the stove so it could simmer while we were gone and be hot & ready when we got home all full of candy and chilled to the bone. I asked him to peel the carrots for me. He announced "I will mom because that is what Knights Do!!!!"

What chivalry! He really took the Knight persona to heart, much to my benefit.

Rachel was just not feeling well enough to consider a costume. She was out of school all week but felt better Saturday. She walked around with us when we went trick or treating but didn't dress up. She felt like Halloween was ruined for her. It was one of the last holidays on her list that she hasn't been sick for and even though she felt better on the actual Halloween day, she was not able to enjoy any part of the season leading up to it, which is most of the fun. She laid on the couch while we carved pumpkins. She didn't get to create a costume. She missed the ward party, Friday night, etc. It was very disappointing for her.

The morning after candy sort and trade.

Watch out kids. Jake is a little too good at wheeling and dealing!

Taking on Mother Nature

Yesterday it snowed. At least I think it was yesterday, it could have been the day before yesterday. My days are blurring together this week. Hopefully I'll get a chance to explain more about that later.

so anyhoo, at some point in the last 2 days it snowed....

Too early in the season I might add. I was really enjoying this beautiful fall we had going and then brrr.... wind, cold and snow!

I watched out the window of my classroom as the first little snowflakes swirled around. The intercom buzzed and music wafted through the airwaves....

"I've been dreaming of a white Christmas.."

and then our principal's voice came on the line stating that it wasn't quite Christmas yet but it was snowing but since it was so light it would still be an outside day for lunch recess. I enjoyed his sense of humor.

The next time I looked up it was a white-out and the intercom buzzed again. This time the principal was letting us know he was bringing them in. I shivered as I watched the kids moving inside the building. I was ever so grateful to be sitting safe and warm in my little section of the school and to NOT be the recess lady.

When I picked up Jacob from his school later that day he announced with a swagger in his voice, "My friend and I decided to challenge nature today! We did not wear our jackets at recess at all." He grinned at me and concluded, "Nature was not a worthy opponent!"

My mouth opened as the lecture started to formulate in my head about getting sick and staying warm, and weren't you freezing???...

But then I looked at his proud face, the confident square of his shoulders and shut it again. I smiled back instead.

Crazy Hair Day '09

It was crazy hair day at school again...

Mason was SO excited to be able to participate. He's been watching his big brother and sisters rat and comb and spray and rubber band their locks into insanity and now it was his turn.

He had a grin on his face all day.

Samantha wanted me to make pigtails with cups inside to make them extend out from her head. I used dixie cups that I stuffed with paper inside to keep them from collapsing.

They made it through the day without falling out but I think she had to turn sideways to get through doorways...

Mason wanted a ponytail head.

I think we accomplished that.

2 new favorites

Quaker has had some amazing sales lately on cereal and granola bars and I have found 2 new favorites....

When you open this box it smells like pancakes and maple syrup. It's very tasty!

This granola bar is called Dark chocolate cherry and in real life does not look this decadent. The chocolate and cherries are smaller but it is good as far as granola bars go.... and only 90 calories.

Yum.

Better Late than Never

This kid turned 6 in May.

This Kid is in 1st Grade

This kid is so obviously the baby of the family.

He JUST learned to tie his shoes this week.

We have made it this far with the beauty of velcro and slip on tennis shoes.

I have made several half-hearted attempts on Sundays with his Sunday shoes but he's good at playing the incapable card and I'm good at being a tired worn-out mommy.

The rest of my kids knew by Kindergarten.

I purposely bought tennis shoes with laces this time. I figured it would be a rough couple of days but IT WAS TIME to get this skill down.

Amazingly~

my past efforts must have had a cumulative effect for he got it on the first try. He threw a fit one day & he refused to wear them and got out his old worn out slip-ons that are falling apart. I told him to get his new shoes on. He refused. I took his pyramid down (our discipline system: Accountability concepts; basically he lost all his priveleges for disobeying) but I didn't force the issue. I let him wear his old shoes and gave the consequence. He was back to being cooperative the next day and has become a pro at tying his new shoes.

We're both very happy to be up to grade level on shoe tying.

Halloween cookies

For Family Home Evening on Monday

I was inspired by Bakerella's Halloween cookies

and decided to make some too, with a little help from the kids.

Of course I made a few changes.....

I used the cake mix cookie recipe for my cookie.

1 chocolate fudge cake mix

2/3 C shortening

2 eggs

mix well, form into balls, approx 1-2 inches in diameter

I found if you left them in balls they were quite crackled across the top but if I

smooshed the balls down a bit they had a smoother top. Your choice.

I liked them smooshed...

bake at 350 for 9-12 minutes

I made the chocolate syrup chocolate frosting from the cupcake doctor

(That frosting is a dessert by itself.)

and regular buttercream frosting

we tinted some orange, some green and we

got out our halloween sprinkles

and decorated

our little hearts out

Carly and Jacob did pretty well at making the spiderwebs and spiders.

We didn't use Trix like Bakerella, just made our spiders all out of frosting.

They practiced their spiders on some extra cardboard before piping them on their cupcakes. I was proud of their accomplishments. So proud, in fact, that we ate them all before we got a final photo of our beautiful spiderwebs on a plate... oops!

Here's my best picture of our spiderweb cookies

You don't see any pictures of Rachel decorating because she was sick that day. We wouldn't let her near the kitchen. She had a fever of 102 all day Sunday and Monday. She got so mad at me for making her stay home Tuesday as well to continue recuperating. "I am going to miss play practice and I FEEL FINE!!!!" she exclaimed, right after she blew her nose and right before she coughed....

I can be soo overprotective sometimes!