Danielle's Birthday

Danielle turned six yesterday and she really wanted a birthday party. I really am not feeling up to much these days, I think that anemic thing is really taking a toll on my energy level. Plus, I know what it takes to throw a party, which is a whole lot of work. It is all worth it, of course, but if you don't have the energy to give, it takes a lot of options away.

My children can have a birthday party every other year because if we did it every year that would be five birthday parties each year, not to mention all the holidays. That is fun, but exhausting. So on their year off, we still have a family party, they get to pick the menu for the day, I get them balloons, make them a special cake, and make the day special. For supper we have Troy and Becky and their family over and the birthday child really feels special. We just do without the big party. This year Danielle wanted a party, so what to do. She didn't have one last year so if she wanted one, she could have one. Taneal and Camie and I got together to plan what to do. I was resistant because of all the work involved, but Taneal and Camie assured me they really would help. And I knew they would help because they help out around the house all the time. They are great kids. So we decided on a tea party. I ordered some crafts from Oriental Trading, Taneal planned the menu for the tea party, I made the invitations, and then we all pitched in to pull it together.

And Danielle had FUN! Many of her friends came. The food was so cool looking. Taneal, Camie, and my niece Audrey were all servers at the party. They even dressed up in black and white with an apron. They each took two or three children and made sure they had all the help they needed with the crafts.
And I got to sit back and enjoy, only stepping in to do things like the cake, cleanup, preparation, etc. It was so much fun and I LOVE having bigger kids that are able to help. The party ended up being all fun and stress free. You can tell from the pictures how happy Danielle was, which was the goal. And now my little girl is 6, feels absolutely special, and had a very fun party that was all about her.

Taneal came up with some really great food ideas. She had a magazine that she borrowed from her cousin Audrey that had most of the ideas in it. The oranges are full of jell-o. There are bananas wrapped in a fruit roll-up, cut and sprinkles placed in middle. We dipped marshmallows in chocolate and then put sprinkles on them. The strawberries are dipped in cool-whip with sprinkles. And the cake. Why I decorate cakes is beyond me. They never turn out. This one was leaning all over the place, I couldn't get the frosting to match the sprinkles, and it felt like a disaster. But Danielle thought it was wonderful, so I guess that it why I keep doing it. If I was getting better, then it would make more sense, but I have less and less time so I keep getting worse and worse. Maybe when I am not pregnant or with a toddler in the house, I will be able to spend the time making beautiful cakes, but for now we will have to suffice with a thrown together cake that would only make a child happy. Success there, too. I made a separate cake for when Troy, Becky, and Audrey came over for supper, didn't want to have them eat a half-eaten birthday party cake.

Happy birthday, my sweet Danielle, It was not only a great day for you, I really enjoyed it, too. Thanks for sharing!

You Know You Have A Big Family When . . .

. . . You no longer fit in a mini van. I NEVER thought I would fill a mini van. And I really NEVER thought I would outgrow a mini van. And here I am with baby #6 on the way. When Evan and I got married, we pictured our family with 4 children. I am surprised I am having this many, very thrilled that I am having a house full, and still amazed that all these children are mine and call me mom. I still feel like I am 21 years old. How did this young mom get this many kids? Maybe I'm not so young, but I feel it.

Anyways, back to the reason of this post. I have been driving a mini van for years. It has been plenty big, plenty maneuverable, and a great fit for me. I am afraid of bigger cars, the first time I ever drove was in my parent's back pasture in the neighbor's Suburban, and I totally wrecked it. It was horrible! Big cars are, well, BIG. And I don't want any part of that. So, when we found out we were expecting #6, my first thought was oh, no, we won't all fit in the mini van. We have to get a BIG car. So, we looked for a while and this is what we found. The first two weeks were tricky, I was so nervous. But now I am used to it and I really like driving it. It is nice to be able to take friends with us places, the radio tells me what song is playing, the kids are further back so I don't hear them as well, and I feel a tiny bit powerful on the road. Is that okay to feel that way as I drive with a half grin thinking I am bigger then most everyone else? The kids love it, too. There is lots of cargo space making going to the pool, grocery store, on vacation, etc all so much easier. I really do like my new ride and now we have room for my whole crew.

And I like the little decals I bought at Target. They aren't anything fancy, but I really like them. Something to personalize my car.

Peanut Butter Sandwiches

Lunch has always been a little difficult for me. Okay, maybe not just a little, but A LOT!

I do not like sandwiches. I am not a big bread fan. Homemade bread is great, when it is fresh out of the oven and hot with butter melted on it. Otherwise, I really don't like homemade bread. My family really likes it, but I'll pass. I don't get why people would ever spend money at a place like Subway. All they serve are sandwiches, and since I don't like sandwiches, I don't go there. Lunch is pretty much sandwiches, making lunch a problem. Kids tend to do what their parents do, so my kids aren't the biggest fan of sandwiches either. This summer lunch has increasingly become a bigger and bigger problem. We have done the quesidillas, the burritos, the mac and cheese that fills the kids up for 1/2 an hour, the chicken nuggets, the corn dogs, etc. Evan takes the left-overs for his lunch. And last week all I heard from the kids was the weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth over they didn't want that and didn't want that either and we don't have any food in our house even though the pantry is stocked. I finally decided if the kids didn't want to eat what I fix them, fine, go hungry. I am so tired of pleasing five young, picky mouths day in and day out for something as simple as what lunch is supposed to be. I am picky myself, so I am sympathetic, but enough already! And then Evan would come home from work and the kids would start crying complaining that, "mom didn't even fix us lunch today, I am so hungry! I haven't eaten since breakfast!" And Evan would give me the look of, "Are you seriously starving our children?" And then I would explain that I tried to fix them something and all I heard was complaining so I figured they could go hungry. Kind of the Love and Logic approach, right? Let them suffer the natural consequences? So not working.

So today I decided we are going to work through our problem. I am going to eat sandwiches. My children are going to eat sandwiches. And they aren't just going to be any kind of sandwiches. We will be unified in our menu, all eating the same thing every day this week for lunch. The lunch meat will freeze. The menu for this week: Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches. Monday - Sunday this will be the only thing allowed for lunch. I will add a fruit or vegetable. And for those finishing their peanut butter and jelly sandwich, chips will be served. If there is any murmuring, the sandwich will be disposed of and the murmurer will then be dismissed from the table hungry. And there will be no complaining or the next day will hold the same fate.

Today is the first day. I had the weeping at first as I was spreading peanut butter on the six pieces of bread, but I was grinning. Then we all sat down at table and I had some surprised comments of how good the sandwiches were. Taneal's strawberry jam that she made at Activity Days last week was really good. Tomorrow might be a good day, too. But it will get old, which is what I am hoping for. And next week will be a beautiful week when quesidillas are allowed again. Maybe they will even enjoy the chicken nuggets. They are a treat, right?

Wish me luck with my week of sandwiches, I will probably need it. But I will stay strong and set the good example for my children to follow.

New Piano

After how many years of marriage and me feeling quite incomplete without a piano and at least 3 children who should be practicing daily, we finally found one. We shopped Craigs List, found a decent deal, and now I feel happy. My children are playing, Taneal, Camie, and Danielle. And I occasionally sit down and realize just how much I can no longer play any more. I love having a piano, I love hearing my children practice, and I really look forward to learning to play again.

Crib Graduation

My babies aren't able to stay in their cribs very long for 2 reasons:

1. I don't like getting out of bed early in the morning because a toddler is screaming that they are awake. If they could just get out of bed themselves.

2. Usually a new baby comes a long really quick and the crib needs used and I refuse to buy another one.



So, moving my little ones up to a toddler bed is always great. Nathan reached that 18-21 month age and so we graduated him to a toddler bed. The only thing is the toddler bed is very well used. This means the side rails are no longer in place and have been removed for safety. Nathan learned very quickly that there was nothing to hold him in bed, spent about two nights rolling off the bed, and learned where the edge of his bed was while he sleeps, so now he stays in bed all night. He has been in the toddler bed for about a month and is doing wonderfully. As soon as we put him to bed at night, he stays in bed as long as the rest of the kids stay in bed. He sleeps through the night and in the mornings he gets himself out of bed and comes and wakes me up. He is happy, I don't have to wake up to him yelling from the other room to get him and in the process waking up the entire house, and sometimes he even crawls into my bed and cuddles with me for a while. It is a great arrangement we have and I couldn't be happier. Yay to crib graduation!

Danielle's eye

This happened once before. It was right after Danielle had returned from a trip to California with just her dad. She came home with a swollen eye.

The next day it looked worse, so I took her to the doctor. He had no idea what it was so he scheduled an appointment with a pediatric opthamaligist. That same evening of the first appointment, Camie was mauled by a dog. Spencer was 3 weeks old and we had just moved from out-of-state one week prior to that. It was one of those moments in your life when the whole world is spinning around you and you can barely breathe. A newborn, a daughter with stitches all over her face, the nighmares, and Danielle with some weard eye problem. Evan was helpful and took Danielle to the Opthamologist. He presecribed all different kinds of medications. Between Camie's 4 oral medications and Danielles several, I had to make a list and a schedule to keep it all straight. Plus, I was up all day and night with a newborn and hadn't been to church but once, so I didn't have any friends to call for help. I hardly remember any of it other then I survived. We all somehow survived.

So when Danielle's eye flared again, I knew what it was, but I couldn't remember for the life of me what medications she took last time around. I have since started keeping a hand-written medical journal (because coumputers crash). We moved away from the doctor we saw, and I didn't even remember his name. So here we go again. I took her to the pediatrician. I told the pediatrician it was a cold sore on her eye. I think she didn't quite believe me, but gave me the benefit of a doubt. She came back in and and said she needed to refer me to a pediatric opthamologist. I asked if it was Dr. M, and she smiled and said yes, why? That was the same doctor that Spencer saw two months before with his eye condition. She got me an appointment for the next day. And the next day in Danielle and I walk. The Doctor just smiled. I asked him if he had seen anything like Danielle's eye before. He said it is quite common, he sees it about once a month. He said Spencer's eye he sees about once in a lifetime, he will surely never see anything like that one again. He remembered us well. He looked at Danielle's eye and made sure it was not IN her eye. He said it really is not a big deal as long as it does not get IN her eye. If it gets IN her eye, it is a whole new ball game and very difficult. So, we needed to give her some antiviral oral medication, antibiotic eye drops, and erithromycin eye ointment to put on the fever blister. Heavy medication all for prevention, no wonder I didn't remember any of it. She will likely have breakouts the rest of her life, similar to the ones people get on their lips, just this is on her eye. And each time she breaks out, I have to immediately start all the medications to prevent it getting IN her eye.

This time Danielle was older and able to leave it alone, so the scarring isn't nearly as bad. Last time she had a red spot under her eye for almost a year. This time, a month later, and the red spot is almost gone. Hopefully it is another four years before she has another break-out.

Compression

Compression hose have become a big, important part of my life. I have nasty, painful varicose veins that start at my ancles and go all the way up my legs. Unless you have experienced them, you have no idea just how painful they can be. They make standing unbearable. I only have them during pregnancy and I must say they are one of the worst parts of pregnancy. I would endure labor once a week to have relief from the varicose veins. I discovered compression hose. They help a rememndous amount. On days where I just don't wear them, I am in pain and so tired. The blood is able to pool in my veins and so when I wear the hose, it doesn't allow the blood to pool, pushing it right back up to my heart and giving me more energy. I don't know how true that is, but I do know that I have much more energy when I wear them. And I don't hurt. Two problems to compression hose. I'm not sure which one is worse. First, I am pregnanct in the summer, all summer. Compression hose are think. They take a good five minutes to put on. And, the bending and stretching and trying to reach my toes to put on the hose on is so difficult with a big, huge round belly. I don't bend very well and so it is hard to put the hose on. I can't ask for help because they are so hard to put on. The first few times it took me a good ten minutes to put the suckers on. And the second bad part about compression hose is the cost. These hot constrictors run about $100/pair. Ouch. For a pair of hose. But, the benefit is worth it. So, I may not look to pretty wearing my shorts with hose. I may be hot, but I'm off the couch and I'm not in pain. And in a few months I will have a sweet baby and the varicose veins should dissappear. And I can say "adios" to the compression hose.

Note: this is not a picture of me.

What's the Weather?

My sweet little boy, Spencer, asks me the same question each morning, "Mom, what's the weather?" He never tires of the same answer, "what do you think the weather is?" He grumpily asks the same question again and I give him the answer. He then asks me, "does that mean I need short pants?" I love that little boy. He knows what the weather is, we check it out together a lot. We talk about it and discuss what kind of clothing gets worn with different kinds of weather. And he knows what shorts are, but he likes to call them "short pants". I don't know why. I think the weather might just be a morning conversation piece, because he often asks me questions that I know he knows the answer to. What can I say, the boy is unique! But I like it!

Bullfrog happenings

Evan found a bullfrog at work and brought it home to show the kiddos. It was so funny, I still laugh when I look at the pictures, especially the one of Taneal and the lack of one of Camie. The kids were so funny.

We had just finished 3 hours of swim practice and it was late, the kids needed to get into bed for school the next morning. We pulled up and Evan told me he wanted to show the kids something. Had a big Rubbermaid container with a lid on it. He asked them to all gather round to see what was in the box. Right as he lifted the lid, the bullfrog shot out of the container hitting Camie across the face, smack dab into the side of the car, and then flopped under the car. The kids had no idea what just shot out of the box. They all started screaming, especially Camie. Camie, Taneal, and Spencer all b-lined it into the house, leaving the garage door to the house open. Well, the car was parked in the garage that the bull frog was hiding under. As soon as it saw a clear exit, it hopped right inside the door and into the laundry room causing more shrill screams from the 3 kids inside. Evan was laughing so hard he couldn't really deal with the chaos. As soon as he realized it was going to possibly go behind the washer, Evan hurried and grabbed the huge frog and went outside. Nathan didn't know how to react. He really wanted to see the frog. It really was a cool frog, but the reactions of his siblings was confusing him. Evan held the frog and let each of the kids come touch it. Camie never would come out of the house. I think being smacked across the cheek by a jumping bullfrog would unnerve me, too. So that is why there is no picture of Camie with the bullfrog. After a few minutes of playing with the frog and watching just how far it would jump, they put it in the wagon, closed the lid, and took it down the end of the street and let it go in the retention pond.

Fun times.

The perfect picture

The title is a lot misleading. We were at a temple for my brother's wedding, a temple we had not visited before. I wanted to get a picture of my children in front of this temple to put into their temple scrapbook (the scrapbook I have intentions of creating). And so I lined them up, took photo after excruciating photo, and this is what I got. I finally got one with Nathan not trying to squirm out of the photo, only to look at it later and realize his finger was up his nose. I tried, right? I get credit for that. And when I do finally get around to creating that temple scrapbook, Nathan is just going to have to suffer the consequences of picking his nose. I have resigned to the fact that there is no such thing as a perfect photo when children are involved.

Happy 4th

I love holidays. Independence Day is no exception. I think what makes or breaks a holiday is the traditions established for that day. I remember hearing a conference talk years ago that really touched me, I can't remember who gave it, but it sticks out in my mind more then almost any other talk. The message I got was to establish traditions. Traditions are what children remember when they are old. They don't really remember all the day in and day out activities. When a child leaves home and holidays come around, they will be able to have either neutral, positive, or negative feelings about that day. It isn't about the money spent, they number of fire works bought, or birthday presents received. And so as I have become a mother, I have tried to follow the council from this conference talk and establish traditions in my family. On the 4th, I created little traditions such as painting flags on the girls' nails (sorry boys, when I established this tradition I didn't have boys). We also use construction paper and make flags and talk about the meaning of the flag. We always have some sort of dessert that we decorate to look like a flag. And the evening is spent with a few fireworks. Nothing grand, nothing expensive (we don't go all out on fireworks), but a few positive traditions that I hope my children always remember. When they leave home (I don't even want to imagine that) and the 4th comes around, they will have something to reminisce about, maybe even paint their own nails and decorate a fun treat like a flag. And maybe not, but at least we had a good time. I want to make the 4th of July special. I want my children to know that our Independence and freedom is a big deal. It is the birth date of our country and I am so grateful for the men who gave their lives for my freedom. Because if those men, I can worship how I choose, I can have as many children as my body and mind will allow, and I can go where I want whenever I want. I am proud to be an American and be free. God Bless America!

Charles and Amber

My littlest brother, Charles, was married on Friday to a wonderful girl, Amber. We were able to go to their wedding and spend a few days before with them. I love watching Charles and Amber together. They fit so well. Charles likes to joke and Amber pushes right back. They are so happy together. I am excited to watch them share their lives together. Congratulations Charles and Amber!

The day was preceeded by rain and flash floods. It rained the entire wedding day except for a few dry spells after the temple. I took a photo of the view from the temple looking at the grey skys. The pictures all turned out beautiful, you can hardly tell it was overcast.