Our Weekend

Friday morning, the other room mom (April) and I snuck into Amy's art class to work on a 'surprise' Christmas present for her teacher. We bought a wooden box, painted it white and had all the kids put their hand prints on it.

It turned out really cute, and I'm sure her teacher will love it.

Amy has been obsessed with scrambled eggs lately. We have no idea why, but she wants them at every meal. Of course, she starts the day off with a bowl of DRY oatmeal, so I guess the oatmeal and eggs cancel each other out, right? She must be growing again. Anyway, since I'm making them all the time, and she watches me, she asked if she could learn. Of course! She's getting quite good at it too! Will even wants to help, but yeah, he's a bit young to be using the stove, I think. (there was a family in Mississippi who refused to let their kids even near the stove until they were 12. Not to stir, toast bread, nothing 'kitchen' related until they were 12. That astounded me..... I have to admit, I like having my 5 yr old make me pb&j sandwiches and now scrambled eggs. Hmmm... what next!?)

It was late in the afternoon before I heard anything about the horrible incident in Connecticut. I was brought immediately to tears. I think having a Kindergartner and just being in the school that morning, it just really brought it home for me. I've been so saddened and distraught all weekend. I need to just stop reading the news. But our thoughts and prayers are turned to Connecticut lately.

I was playing with the kids 'upstairs' and Amy crawled into this laundry hamper. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "I want you to throw balls at me." What?? "Daddy does it. I get in and he tries to hit me." Oh my! These games that Daddy plays! For the record, they are nerf balls and there is more to the game, I just don't know what it is. But the kids love it. Daddy is always creating crazy games with these kids. Remember all the 'jump on the bed' games? Geesh! They give a mother a heart attack! And if you know my throwing skills, you know that she was never in any real danger. I heard, "Missed me, Missed me, now you have to kiss me" more times than I could count.

Lee went to the movies with a friend on Saturday evening (to see the Hobbit) so I needed to figure out something to do with the kids. It was coldish and rainy, so going outside wasn't an option. Anyhow, we decided to make a treat. Chocolate covered pretzels. The kids were great at it, even Will! Although he did prefer just eating the pretzels.

Lee has these really great wooden ornaments that he painted when he was a kid. I love them. I went searching for some of our own, but couldn't find any, So I assembled some sleighs made from popsicle sticks. I saw it on a blog. Sunday morning, I let the kids paint them.

I think what amazed me most was Will. He was so into it, so focused. I didn't think he'd like it, he doesn't usually like things that are messy. In fact, he didn't like paint on the stick of the brush. But once he realized the paint didn't have to touch his hands, he was good. And like I said, stayed so focused!

I had Amy paint several, to give away to friends. These were the kids "home" ones. I dated the back's so we can keep them forever. :) Amy's is the rainbow one, Will's is blue.

Amy painted a red one to go on her teacher's gift package. (It's a Christmas platter, some cloth napkins and a set of coasters)

Once they were done with their sleigh's, they wanted to paint some more. Amy did this picture of a cat. Will did an 'abstract' piece that he worked really hard on.

I guess I'll have to get paints out more often! Does anyone remember those paint books where you just use water- the paint is already on the page, in tiny dots. I can't remember what they are called.. paint by water maybe?? We had those all the time as kids. I haven't seen them around lately. If you see any, buy them and I'll reimburse you. I'll have to look online....

So that was our weekend. We have a pretty slow week this week- which is how we like the week leading up to Christmas. Amy gets out of school on Wednesday- yahoo. She has her class party on Tuesday, and I'm helping with that. It should be a fun time. :)

Our Busy Week

We've been so busy lately! 

Saturday evening we decorated the tree. It's fun having the kids help, but stressful as well. I'm not sure how my mom survived with us 4 eager kids! Anyhow, we got it decorated and it's... well.... interesting. 

We got a 7-8 ft REAL tree from Lowes. We love it. it's so pretty. I know we've had fake trees the past few years, out of budgetary necessity, but it was SO nice this year to finally get a real one. 

Will liked helping daddy cut off the webbing. 

Like how I missed the entire middle section of lights?? Geesh. I know it's hard to see here, but from the red ribbon and up- is all the ornaments. Or most of them. The lower branches hold the "kid proof" ornaments, or they did. Will has rearranged every ornament a million times. Some are all on one branch, others are under the tree, some we had to take away, to preserve them.... so our tree looks a little "funny." Oh well, it is what it is. I don't have the energy or desire to mess with it.

I finally got the stockings I've been yearning for. They are huge and from World Market. I had an additional 25% off coupon and a gift card I've been saving... so I got quite the deal. They are knit- do you know how hard it is to find traditional knit stockings??!! It's pretty hard! The girls are solid red, the boys all have some gray in them. I had the hardest time decided to do all matching, or mix it up. I decided to mix it up, but I'm still not sure if I should have. Anyway, I also added candles to the fireplace to resemble a fire.

And I did add some lights and a poinsettia to the top of our cabinets. That's about it for this year. I'm amazed I did that much. :) (If you are asking, "WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO SARAH?? THIS IS NOT LIKE HER!" I'm asking myself the same thing. This year has killed me)

I did a few crafts with the kids. We made these bird feeders. They were fun... and so easy.... and actually worked perfectly. I love it when that happens! 

Our friends Josh and Gladys gave us a cute basket of stuff for the kids. In it was some fake snow stuff. The kids had a blast with it on Sunday morning. Will actually played with it... a little. He really doesn't like messes. But my Amy dug right in. That's my girl!

Sunday was a trying day..... The kids have been sick. Amy stayed home from school on Friday. It started as little colds and morphed into full blown snot, sneezing, coughing and headaches. Will wasn't feeling too great, and the baby was also a little sick. We probably should have stayed home, but we both had a ton to do at church, so we braved it. (which was the first mistake) ..... We couldn't get Will down for a nap before church, and he really has to have one. When I picked him up from nursery, the worker said he'd been in timeout because he was hitting. I said, "yep, that's about right, he's exhausted." The after church, we had plans for dinner at a friends house. I hated to cancel, but in retrospect, we probably should have, even though I hate being "those" people that cancel last minute and we really wanted to go (second mistake). Will was by now past overly tired. Dallin and Caleb we there too and the kids just ran and ran and ran. At one point, Will walked over to me and said, "Mommy?" in a really sweet, pitiful way. I said, "What's the matter bud, you tired?" and I picked him up. As I was lifting him, he fell into a seizure. 

It was a bad one, lasted 3 minutes and was more violent than the others he's had. I just wanted to cry for the guy. Luckily it ended and since we were with other members of the church, Lee and Cole were able to give him a blessing. It was sweet. The ride home was a nightmare because Will was so tired. He cried the whole way. Which made Tyler cry. And Amy, not wanting to leave the party, and being tired herself, was also being difficult. We finally got Will to sleep (it didn't take much) in our bed. Tyler was up all night though because he's so congested he couldn't breathe well. 

Monday- I don't remember Monday. Was there a Monday this week? Oh yeah, I do remember I called Mom and said I wish we lived closer because I could have really used her help that day. And I think I did laundry. 

Tuesday- that evening I was helping with the Relief Society (women's church group) Christmas activity. It was fun. We did a gift exchange, had dinner and did a cookie swap. I didn't do that one, I'm trying to lessen the sugar around here. I had to take the kids because Lee had class... but luckily he was able to come get them around 7 and take them home, and most importantly, put them to bed. That was his last final! yippee! (giving, not taking! He's so glad he never has to take another test again!) 

Wednesday- Will and Tyler still weren't doing well. Not "bad" but they weren't "well." Will took a great nap- he slept for over 3 hours, which I thought was great. I was on the phone with my sis in law, Lauren, and he was getting really whiny and tired again. He had just woken up, so I figured he was still 'waking' up. Anyway, he climbed on my lap, and fell into another seizure. Ahhhhhh!!! I quickly hung up with Lauren, started video taping and did all the stuff that goes along with it. This one lasted 2 minutes. It was violent, but not as bad as the one Sunday. I called Lee, told him and asked if he could possibly leave school to get Amy. it was just at pick-up time and I hated to drag Will into the car, to sit in the pickup line, etc.... Anyhow, of course Lee came right away and we spent the late afternoon holding Will. The poor thing. We did have to go to church for one quick thing that night, but Will was back to normal by then. Lee took the boys home, I kept Amy, and I had a presidency meeting. One other lady there (Jennie) has a girl Amy's age, so they were able to play. 

I did call the pediatrician somewhere in there. I just wasn't sure what to do. Will's neurologist has left the practice and is only doing hospital rounds in Nashville right now. So we can't see him. He has an appointment with a different neurologist, but it isn't until January. So he's kind of without a neurologist  which isn't a great thing. I love our pediatrician though, Dr. Rosser. He's so nice. He called me back, let me express all my concern and agreed that it was tough situation  He called in some antibiotics for us, without us having to even see him. He was like, "Get him started on this and it will take care of the infection end. If he's not visibly better within 2 days, call me back and we'll figure something out." Lee picked it up after church and started him on it right away.   

That night was also a little rough as Tyler still didn't sleep well. I held him from midnight until around 5:30am.... sleeping in the recliner. Which has become my sleeping spot! I put him in his crib and then laid in Will's bed (Will had fallen asleep in our bed, and given the day, we didn't want to move him) I didn't have my alarm clock, but I thought "I'll just lay here for a minute...." Well, 2 hours later, I awoke in a panic because it was 7:30... and we leave to bring Amy to school at 8. Everyone else was asleep too- even Will! Which was a miracle! Amy got to school on time, and all was well. 

Tyler had his recheck at the (new) neurologist office today. He's fine, hasn't had anymore episodes, his EEG was normal. So unless he has the spasms again, we don't have to go back for him. We did talk to the Doctor a little about Will. It's hard because he doesn't have his records yet, doesn't know his history, and doesn't know anything about him. He mentioned changing his medication, but I didn't want to jump into that if we didn't need to. We all (including Lee) finally agreed to keep him on the antibiotics and see if the infection was causing the seizures. Hopefully he'll be seizure free until his January appointment, and once he can review all the records and examine Will, we'll see where it goes from there. We do like this Doctor better than the other one though. We think the other was really good, but with his accent, he was so hard to understand. And he really didn't explain things well. This new guy explains things, probably a bit too well, but that's ok. We prefer that. He's also plain ol white American, so we understand all of what he's saying (when he doesn't use big 'doctor' words :)

We got home from that and I realized I had time to make it to Amy's school. They were making Gingerbread Houses and I want to be at school each and every time I possibly can. I just love being in Amy's class. And she loves it too. 

Full of frosting and candy! That's my girl!

So that's our week..... I'm sure you enjoyed reading all of that. Did you make it through?? If you did, you earn a medal. 

I'm not feeling too great myself. I think I'm getting what the kids have. I'm tempted to call a doctor tomorrow and get started on some antibiotics. I hate to do that, but we've all been sick for over a month- we have got to knock this thing out of this house!

Oh I forgot- yes- our elves did finally arrive! I think they were waiting for the tree to go up. They arrived, first- in the tree, and brought the kids Santa pillowcases. Amy was soooo excited. She loves the elves!!

The UGLIEST wreath ever! I was trying to "fix" it and then got sidetracked.
I keep forgetting to take it down!

Ok, now I'm done. :)  

Our Past 2 Days

Guess who lost her 2nd tooth?!

It fell out yesterday... she's been working hard on that one. And with that other back one coming up, I'm sure the one to the right will come out soon as well. I can't wait to take her to the dentist in January (when our dental plan kicks in. I signed up for the wrong one last year, oops!)

Amy stayed home on Friday as she was a bit sick. She was up all night Thursday with a cough and a runny nose. When I told her she needed to stay home from school.... ahhh the tears! She did NOT want to miss school. And then having to miss ice cream and book buddy day on top of that? "I'm going to miss all the fun" was her wail. It was good she stayed home, as she just laid in our bed all day.

Then yesterday, Will got her cough and his voice sounded like an 80 yr old chain smoker. Tyler even developed a runny nose. What the heck?? We've been sick more in the past 4 months than we have in the past 4 years! What is going on????!!!

Anyway, everyone is better today. And we got our tree! It's not set up yet, but it is in the garage. (We are setting it up in a bit, Lee fell asleep on the couch. :)

The guy that helped us at Lowe's was one of Lee's students. He said, "Hey! You don't remember me do you?" Lee was like, "Uhhh.... what class were you in?" It was a class of 100 people, so no, Lee didn't recognize him. We've been getting that a lot lately, it's weird to have Lee recognized so much. (Well, he was recoginized a lot in Carrollton- from the people he arrested. There were so many places we couldn't eat because Lee had arrested the kitchen staff. Remember that Karen? It got annoying for awhile! :)

This morning it was "boy haircut" day. Lee was holding Tyler while I gave Lee his haircut (Tyler already has his). He got covered in hair!

For a craft the other day, we made birdfeeders. So cute, so easy, so fun. It's just knox gelatine and birdseed. I used the tutorial here.

Tyler LOVES this Clifford dog. He's so cute with it. His little eyes light up whenever you give it to him. And then he talks, squeals and chews all over him. He also loves the Elmo doll. I'm sure there's some study out there with children being drawn to the color red.

You know Will is not a fan of pants.... this morning, after his haircut, his diaper was falling off. It was so cute. I can't wait to pull this picture out someday in the future! I'm sure his wife will love it. :)

Now it's off to decorate a tree :) 

Countdowns, a Party and Food

I started a 'gift countdown' with the kids this week. I wrapped up all of our Christmas books, Christmas DVD's as well as some craft projects, added the date and its been fun for them to open something everyday.

My original plan was to have these under the Christmas tree, but this year, I'm just not feeling it yet and we still don't have a tree or anything Christmas related (except for these gifts). Actually, Saturday's "gift" is getting the tree.

Yesterday's was a craft and we made felt ornaments for a felt tree. With it they can play, rearrange and have a good ol time decorating their "own" tree.

Even though he's afraid of them.... Will kept wanting to make monsters. Then he'd growl at you.

They have had a great time playing with it last night and again today.

Today's gift was a bag of cotton balls. With it they made snowmen and Santa Claus. I didn't get a picture of Will's.

On Saturday night I hosted a baby shower. I really wasn't feeling up for it either. It wasn't that I didn't want to do it, I was just feeling blah. I think the craziness of this year has finally caught up with me and I'm just exhausted. There hasn't been much that I've wanted to do. Usually I'm "Miss Prep" when it comes to parties, but this one.... 2 hours before the house was a complete wreck. I went to Lee and said, "We have people coming over in 2 hours, the house can't look like this, can you please help me because I don't want to do it." Of course he pitched in and the place was looking great in no time. It wasn't dirty, but things just needed to be picked up and set out.

The shower was a success though. Jessica is fairly new in our ward and they are expecting their first baby in January. She's also a medical doctor- and she has the best, most hilarious stories!

It was fun to get to know her better. I guess it was fun, her and Linda didn't leave until 1:30am! It was awesome. I love late night girl time.

When I have these events, the kids and Lee hang out in our room. The first time, it was a disaster, but I think they are getting used to it and now go to bed pretty well. It's cute seeing them cuddled up together.

People say that Will looks the most like me. Well, he also acts like me. He has the same pout, same "hmmmmph" when things don't go his way, and he makes the same messes. This day he gathered things out of the trash can and made a "creation" on the windowsill. The thing he's shaking is sprinkles. Our windowsill is now slightly pink.

Tyler is just being cute. I love how he always tries to peer at me behind the camera.

I gave him a little pasta, he downed it. He's chewing on a pea pod here. He doesn't have enough teeth yet to do any real damage. But I like him tasting "real" food. I have issues with baby food- so none of our kids have ever had it. We've always either made it ourselves (steamed and pureed real vegetables) or given them tiny bits of whatever we are eating.

Tonight he was eating broccoli like a champ. It wasn't even pureed! It was crazy soft (overdone in my book, but everyone else loved it). I think this was his 4th serving or so. Our kids love broccoli! I remember in Mississippi, Amy eating an entire head of it raw! Yay for Tyler!

Oh and his band-aid..... well Will is obsessed with beans. Lately it's one of the only things he'll eat. And he wants it straight from the can. No heating, no seasonings, just straight. So that's how I give it to him. Anyhow, I scooped some out for him, set the can down and then turned to help Amy with something. In the meantime, Tyler reached out (he has the longest reach! Seriously, this kid gets everything!) and got the can. He held it up to his face and slice, the lid cut his cheek!! Oh the poor thing!! I was afraid it was really deep and needed stitches, but once I could actually look at it, it was fine. I put a band-aid on it because he kept rubbing it and I wanted it to scab over. I sure hope it doesn't scar his little face! It shouldn't.

That's about it for now. Hopefully this house will get some Christmas cheer soon!

Week in Review

It's been another busy week around here.... and this time it really has been busy. Although I do admit that one day, while the boys were sleeping, I opted not to do anything and I watched a Christmas movie. It was nice.

Some pictures from the week:

We finished our "Thankful Tree" after Thanksgiving. I guess, technically it 'should' go through the entire month. But I was getting tired of it and wanted to get everything cleaned up.

A friend of mine (Gladys) taught me how to make these little flip books. It's like scrapbooking, but on a much smaller scale. I love them. They are small, to the point and fun to have around. She has different ones she changes out each season and it's fun to be at her house and go through them. So I made my first one and put the leaves from our tree in it. Over the years, it will be fun to look back on what everyone was thankful for that year!

The other day, I thought "painting with shaving cream" would be a good idea. I added glitter to it and had all these visions in my head. It didn't turn out that way.

Amy immediately started putting it on her face. (????)

And Will freaked out if any of it got near his hand.

Then Amy started putting more of it on her face. All I could do was sit back and take pictures.

The final result:

After this, the kids took a bath. But here's a tip.... shaving cream kind of floats. So does glitter. So when you bathe your kids in glittered shaving cream.... they end up glittery. They both shimmered for days. Lesson learned.

Will looked so peaceful sleeping one day. I'm sure his "angels" were taking a much needed nap.

The kids got in the crib to read books to Tyler. Well, Amy read them, Will just played. Amy is getting really good at reading. She read us a story the other day- it was so fun to listen to her.

The biggest news of the week comes from Amy losing her first tooth! It happened at school. Mrs. Bradley had Amy call and tell me about it. Only I missed the call! So the message was "Hey Sarah, it's Mrs. Bradley... don't be alarmed, Amy just has something to tell you...." I thought it was really sweet of her to have Amy call. I love Mrs. Bradley.

(I'll be so happy when those back, silver teeth fall out!!) 

Mom and Amy went out for a 'girls night' last night and bought some new church shoes. We also stopped by the bakery. Amy was really tired when we got home and fell fast asleep. She was also excited to see if the tooth fairy would come.

She did come and since it was her first tooth, the tooth fairy left $2 and a little toy. Amy was one excited girl! The tooth fairy even left a glitter trail from the window to her bed!! Wowsers! Real tooth fairy glitter! It was an exciting morning around here!

This may be a 'sign of the times' but the other day Will was pretending this book was an iPad. Uncle Mike will be happy that it was Go, Dog Go. Will would take a dog and "move" it around and around. It was so funny. If you think about it- by the time he gets to school- most books will be on an iPad of sorts. That's crazy to think about!

And here's a picture I just took of Tyler, since I didn't have any of him. I gave him a little watered down coconut water, he's loving it. He also loves Clifford (in the background) and plays/squeals with it all the time.

I'm hosting a baby shower tonight.... I guess I should go get things set up for it. But for the record, I'm really unmotivated today. :)