gill

In all the Holiday hustle and bustle my baby celebrated his 7th Birthday

Where would one go for their Birthday dinner? Well if its Gilly then we'll be at Sizzler. He wipes that place out of cubed ham and watermelon every time we go. When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted he couldn't make up his mind. He was with me at the grocery store and when I saw the price quality of their cakes I said, in a serious fashion, "Geez, for that we could buy you that remote control helicopter you wanted." Thats all it took for him to choose a small cake at a much smaller price. He really isn't a big cake eater...okay, he is but he sure likes his helicopter. Besides, they have a dessert bar at Sizzler.

And see this train? This was SUPPOSED to be his Birthday present but because of shipping matters we had to switch Christmas with Birthday. Jeff and Gil are quite obsessed with trains right now. They spend hours setting up, cleaning, making track. And we even had my brother who is an artist paint graffiti on some box cars. I like his cute little head poking out to check the speed of the train.

 From his silliness to his love of sports. From him still needing his mama to being just like his dad. His one armed push ups, his pronouncing words a little bit wrong (Louie is the wii), trying to be like the big boys and everything in between, I love this kid.

New Years

This New Years Eve we had a great time. We pulled out the Raclette (I didn't get pictures of that because I kind of forgot to get the camera out). We then progressed to some New Years activities. The kids picked out some dinosaurs to dig out. They were intent on staying up till midnight. I was intent on turning the clocks back 2 hours because I didn't want to deal with ornery kids the next day.

We thankfully had Sadie with us

Gil working on his T-Rex

They found some rubber gloves so they wouldn't get their hands dirty

At 11:30 (9:30) we went out and lit sparklers

Blew the air horn

lit more sparklers

and had hot chocolate afterward thanks to my new hot chocolate maker

Happy 2011

The greatest part of the night was when we tricked the kids that it was really midnight....there was a car commercial on with a times square ball dropping. We yelled "Look! the ball is dropping!" and quickly averted their attention so they wouldn't notice that it was a commercial. I was snuggly tucked into bed with my book by the time the real 12:00 rolled around. I know it won't always be this easy.

Actual text from Jeff

This came in while I was taking a mommmy break with some friends

"Em started reading the Bible, Abby has a cough and Gilly prayed "Heavenly Father, please bless mom will come home."



I love my life.

the good, bad, and ugly of 2010

2010

The Good*:

Flight of the Conchords concert in LV

Hawaii

NY

Ritz Carlton

visitors from Australia and Massachusetts 

Special Needs ward

Wednesday night dinners

unconditional love, concern, and care that came when i needed it most

The Bad:

Losing my step-mom

Losing my uncle Bill

almost becoming Terri Schiavo

The Ugly:

hospital bills

pictures of me in a Terri Schiavo like state

*this is in addition to all the good things everyday like Jeff, kids, family, dogs, friends, and the new Garlic and Black bean Tostito chips I found.

goings on

I am ready for Christmas

almost.

Abby got straight 3's (the new A) on her midterm.

Em made a comment about how she grateful that she "lives in this Great Basin". She was referring to the fact that we don't get baseball sized hail.

Garrett turns 7 in 6 days.

My house is clean for today.

Jeff hemmed my pj bottoms.

My brother had a bowel obstruction this morning but is doing well after surgery
Monica is walking around with a balloon in her uterus
My other sweet sister in law is dealing with some of the same problems as Monica but she's in Australia so I can't bring her dinner
My hospital bill came. I'd rather be driving a new Audi. They both have the same sticker price
Merry Christmas to all!

Latest Update

Okay, I know y'all are sick of hearing me talk about this so this will be my last post on "the tragic event that changed my life". It will always be with me but I don't want to be one of those people who can't move on and talk about other things. Last week I went to visit my surgeon. He cried. Just a little bit but still, to see your surgeon cry (they are robots) and hug me while he tells me that he didn't think I was going to make it really moved me. A little more to the story.....After the nurse walked in on me turning blue they called the code and the ER doc pushed Narcan (a drug that reverses narcotic). Usually one dose is needed. Sidenote: I recall being in the ER once when a Heroin addict was brought in on an overdose. They pushed Narcan and the addict raged because his high was ruined. So you see, Narcan is very affective. They pushed Narcan THREE times and I didn't respond so what that tells me is that it wasn't from too much Morphine or from Anesthesia. After that they put me on the vent and you all know the rest of the story. I am so grateful that I am alive and my brain isn't damaged. I am moved by the love and support of my family. I hold my kids just a little bit tighter and there are no words to explain how I feel about Jeff. I was telling my mom how tired my body gets just from doing everyday simple stuff and then I said, "I wish I would've been this tired in the hospital". She laughed and said, "ME too!" She stayed with me on one of my crazy nights when they couldn't keep me in bed. There is something funny about my 65 year old mom trying to keep me from pulling my catheter and trying to talk me out of calling everyone at 3 am. I always imagined the roles being reversed at this stage of my life. I'll start posting pictures and stories of my kids now so that my readership will increase again. Hopefully. Love you all.

Traffic

So since I have to stay in bed for long periods of time I take notice of the traffic going into the bathroom.

Its like watching the cars go by if your sitting by a window.

Abby: washes hands, flushes, and never talks about what came out.

Emily: Never flushes, washes hands, always talks about what it looks like or what was in it. Usually sings.  

Gilly: Never flushes, is proud if its a no-wiper, washes hands, always clogs.

 Aren't you glad you read my blog today?



Dinner

Let me share something with you...I hate to cook. Whenever I put any energy into making something good it turns out that nobody likes it and then will request something like cereal or cheese and I have just spent half my day slaving over this dish only to have it grow mold in the fridge. I understand kids need to develop their sense of taste but its hurts when a box of food is asked for instead of something healthy and fresh. But if your trying to be a good mom you have to keep introducing healthy foods into their diet right? Exhausting. But worth it when something takes. Okay, so I'm not really creative and so that's why I don't really enjoy figuring out a great way to get the food pyramid in their little bodies every day. But this post isn't a complaint post. This post is for this: I made dinner tonight and even though its something easy, I made it and felt good enough to make it. It feels so good to do the simplest things for my family and not have to depend on someone else. So for the first time in a while I completely enjoyed cooking.
They could probably sense not to complain either.

Life

Hi-ya-ya-ya Hi-ya-ya-ya

The Pow Wow

Two weeks ago we get a paper from Emilys teacher informing us that they will be learning about Native Americans, or what they called them when I was in 4th grade: Indians.

They would learn about how they made pottery and even get the chance to make their own pots made out of salt clay. There was also a line at the bottom of the page that said something like this:

"If you would like your child to dress up they are welcome to as long as they stick to the schools dress code."

Oh yeah baby.

Em was going to have fun with this one.

Finally we have something to do with all those magpie feathers.

But this was all her idea. She wanted to go hunting to get more feathers. Jeff was just as excited as she was as they talked about elaborate head -dresses.

The party was on Friday. Thursday night as I was at my special needs ward the planning started to take on more of a physical shape.

Imagine my surprise when I got home to find this:

 See not only did we have magpie feathers but they had gone hunting and got a pigeons wings. Fully intact are the wings that were glued to the headband. She chose leggins that had horses on them, moccasins, and an Indian costume in our dress up box fit like a shirt.

 It just so happened that I volunteered at the Pow Wow. Let me tell you, there was lots of talk going on about this getup. The boys were in awe, some of the girls leary but all of them asked me, "Did she REALLY shoot those birds by herself?" Yes she did folks.

 She was soooo totally in love with this look

Action shot

The funny thing is this:

she is still wearing it and its Sunday.

My favorite quote from Abby:

"You won't catch me wearing that." (said under her breath)

Halloween 2010...or Its Mario Time

 Ahhh. The years of picking out my childrens Halloween costumes are long gone. All three were unpersuadable this year (but I was quite relieved when I found a Princess Peach costume that wasn't meant for a street walker. I don't know why they make some of those costumes so....trashy looking). And I struck out again when I made asked Jeff to draw their moustaches on. He is quite the perfectionist.







Gilly kept sneezing







The only problems we ran into were:

1. The cock eyed rain. They came home soaked, the moustaches running down their face like wet mascara.

2. Even though we used washable markers we couldn't quite scrub the black all the way off..thus leaving a hint of moustache for church.

On a side note: This is what I wanted to be. When I told Gilly he kind of had a fit. I think he imagined me walking into his class in an orange unitard. I love DJ Lance.

uh, while looking for DJ Lance images I stumbled upon this:

I need to find out who this person is! Isn't he adorable? sigh*

*sidenote added 11/2/10
upon further inspection I am not interested in the above photo. At first I thought it was a midget. Its not. Its a kid. Not interested.

straw creations

Here is what Gilly does with a pack of straws, some tape, and a pair of scissors.

 The funny thing is it actually works



Here's what happens when I'm not looking.

Its really not so bad considering he's wearing a helmet.

They constructed the moving vehcile by dismantling a semi truck that held matchbox cars.

Guess who had the grand idea?
Do you like how he calls it a "loom" instead of a luge?

Dinner with the Jones'

Ahh there is a chill in the air and that means its soup season. I love soup. Its so....homey.

This night I made some Minestrone with lots of pasta in it for the kids.

I always include homemade rolls for dunking

And 5lbs. of cheese for taste.

plus maybe a dose of Miralax for later

Its....complicated

Chapter 1

The last few weeks Emily has been having the time of her life. Each night after homework Jeff takes her and her dog Molly hunting. Its great fun because Molly retrieves whatever they shoot. They bring home robins, sparrows, and finally (in her words) "the worst bird ever created", a magpie. She hates magpies because someone somewhere told her that they peck at horses and give them diseases which kill the horses.

Which is probably true but still....

Chapter 2

After bringing home her kill she brings up preserving it. Otherwise known as stuffing and mounting.

sidebar: where did this kid come from? I was NOT like this as a child or an adult. I loathe guns.

I try to pacify the child by telling her that I will look up a taxidermist in the phone book and call them in the morning, however I was lying through my teeth. I wasn't going to call any taxidermist nor will I ever.

I don't think stuffed magpie matches my decor.

Chapter 3

The next day upon arriving at home she bombards me with questions about my call to the taxidermist.

"Uh, Em nobody answered their phone. Its probably because its hunting season and they are busy." I didn't call.

The next day the same questions. This kid isn't letting it go. So I pull this one out...

"Yeah Em, I uh, I actually talked to one and they said they don't do magpies because they are too small to stuff." I didn't call.

pretty good, pretty good I think

Emily: "mom that's not true because I talked to Carlos and he stuffs all kinds of things and he said he'd do it. I have his address."

Huh?

Well too wonderful bad it was garbage day. That thing is gone.

Epilogue

Two things here:

1. Don't critique my parenting because I let her shoot live birds. Look in the sky, there are lots of them. A few less isn't hurting anyone. I'm not letting her take aim at dogs or cats or anything that could make a difference in society.

2. I find it extremely odd that my husband who became a vegetarian is teaching her this stuff. Its not just the hunting with Em though. He took a day off of work to go deer hunting in the mountains, fully outfitted in camo. I tried to get a picture but he ran too fast.
The Vegetarian Hunter.

Its complicated.