Christmas 2013

We had a lovely Christmas. I always worry if I've done enough and the kids are always so pleased with what they relcieve I feel foolish for having worried. Di, Matt and Livy came over on Christmas Eve and Di helped me cook our Melanessa (Argentine food) and it was tasty and then we had a rather hyper nativity program with Livy dressed as a Peacock because she wanted to wear the blue fairy outfit, Sarah as a sulky angel, etc.. all captured in grainy, wiggly iPhone pics (Nelson was being very clingy so I couldn't get a shot to save my soul).

Merry Christmas and on to New Year!

week before

Hi world! Last day of school around here and I hope we are ready! Presents are "done", only one kid is sick (Sarah), peanut butter balls are in the fridge, roast is in the freezer for melanessa, we are making sugar cookies tomorrow, I have NO CLUE what to wear to a dinner party with work people tomorrow (but I am taking peanut butter balls for a host gift), Ryan and I get to see Audra Macdonald in concert on Saturday (she was scheduled to come in March, so Ryan got tickets for my bday...it was canceled and re-scheduled), and  yea, that's life.

The doctor did say Sarah is his favorite.... mine too.

small surgery

Nelson was born with a scabby bald spot on the top of his head about the size of a nickle. Since day one doctors have all said it was fine and they could remove it someday. When we switched to our new doctor Dr. C. he said we should get it off since about 15% of these things turn cancerous in the teen years and if Nelson keeps growing like he's started I won't be seeing the top of his head for too much longer, so we decided to get it taken care of.

Here is our before shot with his hair over the spot.

I was worried most about Nelson being hungry all morning since he usually eats straight from 6:30-10 am but today he had to fast and his surgery was at 11:30! He actually did OK with that, but the rest of it was pretty much a joke.

He was mad about the lavender jammies, despite the rocket ships (the toy train was OK though), he was furious about the wrist band so they moved it to his ankle and that was tolerable (barely). He yelled at the blood pressure cuff.... and on and on.

He was certainly not happy to be taken away by the nurse to the actual surgery and the impression I got is that he put up a fight with the mask.

Then, he woke up ANGRY! He yelled and cried to a good half hour (sigh). He finally consented to drink his juice and eat a popsicle, but only just.

He has a nice lightning bolt scar on the top of his head now. 

It was a long, stressful day and I realize this was a WAY EASY surgery with no real risk and very manageable paint. I hat is off to my friends and loved ones who have had to watch their kids deal with major, life threatening stuff.

So, that was our day. Glad it's over.

grateful

It was such a crazy last few weeks. We did Thanksgiving with the whole Boren gang coming to AZ. We weathered a pretty nasty stomach bug. Last week alone we did 2 therapy appointments, an orthodontist, 3 sick appointments, 1well visit and 2 trips to the lab. We also sang 4 choir concerts. Sarah gets the special prize for going to all of the appointment although none were for her! She was so good all week and that in and of itself was a huge blessing. Here she is with the best of all cousins, Sage.

This week I am thankful for time at home. I've cleaned bathrooms, read to the kids (though still not enough), I've watched 2 movies and I even took a NAP today (unheard of!). Needless to say, it has been a really nice change of pace. Oh yea, and we are having one of my favorites for dinner, ham and bean soup from the Thanksgiving ham leftover bone! Life is good.

Sibling ages

The photo below is kind of in age order, the boys lined up right. So left to right it's David 34, Stephen 32, Michael 26. The girls go L to R Dianna 25, Marian 36, Jessica 37, melani 33

Yes, my mom had the first 5 super fast, took a break and then the last two in a set. She somehow managed to keep her humor, good looks, and grace.

Thanksgiving

This post could also be titled, "I love my washing machine" or "if you want your big family to come... get a bigger house"(just saying).

We had a marvelous Thanksgiving, despite the fact MY KIDS got sick and spread the joy. We played outside, went to the zoo, ate LOTS OF FOOD, laughed at Michael as a wooed a girl (we'll see if it goes anywhere), took family pictures (we even had colors . . .fancy) and played some more. All told I think we had 32 people spread between 3 houses.

In case you ware wondering, I think I did 12 or 13 loads of laundry on Saturday when everyone had gone home. Love that machine. I'm seriously considering having a picture of a washing machine etched on my tombstone.

the real thing

 We are pathetic and heve NEVER gone "for real" tick or treating. Well folks, no more! Ryan took the kids out last night and sososo fun (and lots of candy).

Nelson stayed on the driveway with me and ate candy out of our bowl and ran around. Like my 30 second attempt to turn a wiggly 2 year old into a racoon?

 The aftermath was especially fine.

After the kids were done, I cleaned up Halloween decor. We have especially enjoyed our bats this year flying up the stairs.

a busy weekend

Wow it was a busy weekend. Friday morning I drove Sarah and Nelson for their first sleepover at Livy's house (thanks Matt and Di) then I had lunch at the school with the kids and then checked them out and we drove to Safford. The cotton was on and the kids were intrigued to see where the majority of their clothes come from (we are so disconnected in our modern world - pathetic)! We had a lovely dinner at Casa Manana (yummy) and the kids did great. We have not taken kids to a sit down restaurant since Nora was a newborn and it was so pleasant to see them enjoy themselves and have good(ish) manners.

After dinner we headed to Duncan for cousin Kevin's wedding reception (Kevin is Ryan's cousin). Kevin married Katrina and she was delightful. It was so fun to meet her and see all the cousins we never see. The blurry picture below is the only proof we were there.

We stayed the night in a hotel and the next morning after braiding everyone's hair so it would be fluffy for trunk or treat, we drove to the Gila Valley Temple for my cousin Natalie's wedding. This was our first visit to this temple and I so enjoyed the beauty and design inside and the sealing was very sweet.

I think Natalie was excited to be married!

After the sealing, we grabbed lunch in Globe and drive home to prepare for trunk or treat. The girls love wearing make up once a year and it always makes Ryan worried that he has such beautiful girls.

Nelson was 100% NOT excited to get dressed, wear a bandana, have freckles, eat party food ort get candy. He was 100% grumpy the whole time. You see why I put no effort into 2 year old costumes??

After trunk or treat, Ryan, the 3 big girls and I hit Natalie's reception. . . so fun (she had a huge bouncy slide set up - AZ air bounce is the best) and it was delightful to see she and Erik so happy!

We were very tired by the end of it all, but it was a wonderful two days full of family and good memories.

emmy as hermoine

As any good 4th grader, Emily is into Harry Potter, so Hermoine it was for Halloween. She used her choir blouse, a tie I found at goodwill (it had white stripes that I colored in yellow with a sharpie) and a gray pleated skirt I made with the same free gray fabric I used for Diana's cape. The wand is from Amazon (we had to paint it though, it was an interesting yellowish color). To finish it off, cousin Melanie lent us her cape - perfection and I didn't have to sew one! Hooray for cousins.

Now if Emily could remember any other spell besides the killing curse!

costumes for Isaac, Sarah and Mom

Isaac is our secret agent man. Once again I used the free twill and made a trench coat. I used this pattern and it was a fantastic pattern - well written and I was really pleased with the results. The hat is from Wal-Mart.

The dying went better with the coat. Isaac was a good helper.

Sarah originally wanted to be a butterfly again with fun face paint, so we picked up wings, wand and crown at the dollar store. Then she discovered the pink Aurora dress finally truly fit so she is a mix of Aurora and a fairy something.

The Aurora dress is from 6 years ago (I was pregnant with Isaac when we made them and they are still going strong).

I am being Mary Poppins this year in the hat we made for Diana last year, a blouse from my closet, a red ribbon and an ugly goodwill skirt that I somehow made worse with my alteration attempts.

To round out the family: Ryan will be a Jedi (again) and Nelson will be a farmer or something like that. My experience with 2 year old boys says they really don't like dressing up and so to keep it simple and as much like real clothes as possible. Emily still needs to be photographed, so hopefully I'll get her up tomorrow. I know, hold your breath.

Nora's costume

This year Nora decided to be a sailor girl (???), Anyhow, thanks to Wal-Mart, Amazon, and that same bolt of cream twill (and some dye) she is a sailor girl.

The hat is from Amazon, the shirt is actually a dress from Wal-Mart so she will wear it all winter (Nora loves dresses), and I made the scarf and skirt (I love the row of buttons but I'm still figuring out the dying thing - not happy with the blue sigh), but Nora would be adorable in a garbage bag and if we didn;t try we would never learn.

Ahoy all!

halloween #1

First up this year we have Diana's costume. A few months ago Diana pulled me aside and told me that since I make her a costume every year, she would recycle a costume this year to give me a break. I thought to myself, "What a sweet mature gesture." A few weeks after this exchange, she was looking through my patterns (why??) and found the pattern for a medieval gown that I had from my single days and she decided that was what she wanted. . . with a cape! So much for recycling.

I had a bolt of cream colored twill left from an out of business fabric store and went to work. The pattern I had was for an adult but the construction is very simple once you understand the shapes involved. I used a t-shirt to draft the bodice and then the skirt is a full circle with a train then normal straight sleeves. It takes a ton of fabric (so grateful for that bold of free stuff - I've used up almost the whole thing this Halloween).

Here is the dress in it's cream state. We decided to try dying this year and it went OK. I wanted a beautiful emerald green, but as you can see below, it turned out more mossy (probably more historically accurate).

The cape is made from a bolt of acrylic I got at the same store (capes also use a lot of fabric).

Here she is in all her glory. I haven't decided on accessories. . . . but she is pleased a punch and it was fun to make.

bits and pieces

First off, Hello from Nelson who is now a BIG 2 years old - oh yea!

He got great 2 year old presents (several things with wheels) and enjoyed his pile of cookies in place of a cake.

October break ended today. All in all it was good, although not as planned. We went to the park almost every day, did some crafts, practiced piano and cello, made Halloween costumes (I can't wait to share), and watched some movies. The weather was divine so we have a lot to be grateful for even though the Grand Canyon was closed.

In other areas of life, I am tired to going to the grocery store a million times a week (since moving to the new house, I am just not as organized). I have decided to repent, so yesterday I made a menu all the way through November 3rd and today did the majority of the shopping for it. I'm feeling better about it and we will have a more diverse offering over the next three weeks and I'm hoping with that planning out of the way I can get a little more creative about fruits and veggies for we have slacked abominably lately.

Lest you think we are not enjoying some doctor's appointments. . .never fear. Emily had her annual ENT hearing exam yesterday (new doctor) and he ordered blood work and an MRI to see if there is anything structural causing the very strange hearing loss pattern she has. He also wants her to have a hearing aid and I am not feeling that one - grrrrrr.

Isaac was up about 11:40 last night with the second bout of croup this season. I am starting to wonder if perhaps it is asthma. I took a video of him this morning coughing and will continue to document and show the doctor in November when Isaac has his well visit.

Sarah and Nelson are having the first great naps of the post October break week, so life is grand.

halloween shirts #2

Sorry about the typo is the last post - oops.

To answer questions, we did not use a cricket, I just googled halloween shillouettes and the kids chose the shapes they wanted and we traced them onto the freexer paper and cut out with scissors (except the windows in Sarah's haunted house, I did those with an exacto knife). Easy schmeesey.

Freezer paper is found with the wax paper. foil etc at your local piggley wiggley or the like. It is great because you can draw on it, trace, cut etc, iron it on and then peel the paper away without damage to your fabric:)

halloween shirts

Since we are NOT at the Grand Canyon today (grrrrr), we decided to make out Halloween shirts. We did the freezer paper/bleach method Aunt Jessica taught us.

Step #1 - Cut shapes out of freezer paper (I have a roll of 150 feet, come borrow some from me - it's fun) and arrange on washed and dry shirt, paper side up.

Sept #2 - Iron freezer paper to shirt.

Step #3 - lightly spritz around paper with a 1 to 4 bleach and water solution (don't over-do it or it will eat through your fabric).

Step #4 - remove freezer paper, wash and dry shirt again.

Step #5 - look way cool