Short, Short, Short

Our three girls each got 10 inches of hair chopped off today.  They look so cute with their new short hairdos!  They were very ready for a change.  Long hair gets lots of tangles and they were sick of it.  We are sending their braids to ChildrenWithHairloss.us.  They provide wigs to kids with temporary hair loss (from chemotherapy).  My friend's niece had cancer and they gave her a wig, so we decided to give all of our future hair donations to them.  The girls love that they are helping another cute girl like Gracie Bloxham.

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Puzzling

We’ve been on a puzzle building kick for the last few months around this house. We got a couple of new puzzles for Christmas and I’ve found some quality puzzles at the DI and bought some online. It has become one of our favorite family activities. Nate is kind of a curmudgeon about it and Abby is a still a bit young to do much, but everyone else likes to help build. We’ve had a few times when the whole family is around the table working on a puzzle and listening to quality music and just hanging out. It is my favorite. It makes me want to buy more puzzles. Here is our puzzle gallery from the last couple of months:

Powder Mountain

Ben woke up on Friday morning convinced that it was the perfect day to go skiing. A storm had passed through giving us a few inches of snow and dumping 22 inches of fresh powder at the ski resorts. I told him it probably wouldn’t happen, but I called Nate after I took the kids to school and told him I thought they should go. Nate was hoping to just have a lazy night at home, but since he is a dang good dad he put aside his lazy plan and came home early so he could take Ben. At the last minute he even called Wendy to see if Conner would want to go with them. He did. It turned out to be the “best ski trip ever” according to Ben. He had tons of fun having a friend there with him. I’m glad that Nate is always such a good sport about these things. The kids should have at least one fun and spontaneous parent and heaven knows it’s not going to be me.

Budding Artists

The girls are always working on some art project or another. Here are a few of their latest masterpieces:

Emily loves owls, so I got her a cute owl shirt for Christmas. She used it as a pattern to make some owl drawings of her own. Several of her classmates asked her to draw an owl for them. She made a few of them at school and then came home and asked me if I could just scan one in and make copies so her hand wouldn’t get tired from all the drawing. :) She did one on a slightly larger scale so she could hang it up in her bedroom. She was very pleased with how her “poster” turned out.


Drawing is our go-to activity to keep the kids quiet during sacrament meeting. Last week Emily asked Nate what she should draw and he told her to draw her shoes. She did three sketches from different angles. They look pretty cool.


Elise always complains that she isn’t as good at drawing as Emily is (“Marsha, Marsha, Marsha”). I keep telling her that her artwork is at least as good as Emily’s was at her age. A couple of weeks ago when I was volunteering in her class, I noticed the first grade hall was lined with penguin art. I knew which one was Elise’s as soon as I saw it. It didn’t have a name on it, so when she came out in the hall I asked her if was hers. Yep. I was right. It really stood out among her fellow first graders’ drawings. I was equally impressed with her little science report. Most of the other kids didn’t even fill a page with the written part. Elise filled three pages and included lots of interesting facts. (walres = walrus, not whales . . . I’m not sure why, but Nate and I both made that mistake on our first read through.)





Elise's watercolor owl was picked to represent her class on a bulletin board at our local grocery store a couple of months ago. She was so excited to show us when we were shopping.

Elise's First Ski Trip

Our original ski instruction plan was to teach the kids when they were seven. It worked out that way for Ben, but Emily didn’t go for the first time until she was eight. It was so much easier to teach her than Ben that we thought maybe we should just wait for Elise to be eight too. She had different ideas. She has been itching to go with them all winter and as soon as her best friend Cecily got to go, the itch became an ache. Nate was still debating what to do, but when we got some new snow yesterday he decided to just go for it. Elise was thrilled when I picked them up from school and said that Nate was already home and he was going to take them skiing. “Really? Are you kidding? Do I really get to go?!?” I told her that she could only go if she promised to keep a good attitude and not whine. She promised. And, she mostly kept her promise. Her hands got really cold and she cried about that for a few minutes, but other than that she was a trooper. She had loads of fun and made good progress. I’m glad we let her go this year.

Ben and Emily were wonderfully independent so Nate could just focus on teaching Elise. Ben even managed to ski down the hill next to them so he could take a video of them while they were tethered together. I don’t love snow-skiing, but I’m glad the kids do and I love that they are making such fun memories with each other and with their dad. They got rained on for the last hour they were there and Emily's binding broke right at the end, but they still all came home happy and smiling.

Abby and I made some fun memories of our own. I wanted to take her out to dinner, but Nate had taken the van and I wasn’t sure my left foot was ready to work the clutch yet. So, I told her she could pick anything she wanted for dinner. She picked penne noodles and chicken patties. Not exactly gourmet food, but she sure acted like it. We ate in the family room AND watched TV (The Brady Bunch) during dinner AND had Sprite (in the family room!). She felt like the queen of the world breaking so many rules at once. Afterwards we watched Captain America* (I let her pick; the other kids had watched it on Monday while she was at her friend’s house and she was pretty mad about missing it). When we watch a movie as a family, she just sits and watches and doesn’t say a word. Not so last night. She asked 743 questions during the movie. It would have been annoying if it wasn’t so adorable/hilarious. It was fun to get a glimpse inside her little head. We finished off the night with America’s Funniest Home Videos, hot chocolate, and a giant marshmallow. It was fabulous. I’m glad we’ll get a few more mother-daughter dates before she is ready to hit the slopes.


*This movie is one reason that Nate and I take a “parental-preview” approach to deciding what our kids can watch instead of just using the MPAA ratings. We are fairly rigid about what we let the kids watch, but neither of us could figure out exactly how this got a PG-13 rating. It seemed pretty PG to us. Maybe we are just getting too lax in our old age.

Reset Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day hit a new low at our house this year. I hadn’t made any plans for the festivities before surgery and didn’t have the energy to care about it afterwards. Nate left a little heart with a handwritten message in each of the kids’ shoes in the morning before work and I gave them each a box of year-old conversation hearts that I bought on clearance last February (they have long expiration dates). That was pretty much it. We had leftovers for dinner and peanut butter cookies from our neighbor for dessert. Our entertainment consisted of watching Bob Ross, Jeopardy, and a bunch of YouTube videos as a family. Saying it was low key is a big understatement. Nate’s coworker has a theory about resetting holidays. They have a reset birthday or a reset anniversary every few years to bring the expectations down and lower the bar. This was our reset Valentine’s Day. We can only go up from here.

The day wasn’t a complete bust for the kids. They all had a fun day at school, and came home with big smiles and loads of treats. My mom sent a package, our neighbor left some cute little cupid’s arrow pencils on the porch for the kids, Lexie gave Abby some caramel corn, and Nate’s parents dropped off some chocolate animals. At least there was plenty of sugar consumption going on.

I was in charge of the craft for Abby’s preschool party. I got everything ready and was planning on going, but when it came down to it I wasn’t feeling up to being that mobile. Luckily my friend Emily was willing to fill in for me at the last minute. They made cute little Hershey’s kisses mice (thanks for the idea Celeste) and by all accounts it turned out great. Phew.


Abby got a cute Valentine hairdo too. It was reportedly a big hit with her preschool friends.

Sarah Sitting

Sarah got to hang out at our house for a few days this week so Jody could get some things done without her help. I went and picked her up on Monday and Tuesday to spare Jody the trip. Her big smiles and outstretched arms are sure self-esteem boosters for Aunt Malinda. My own kids are never that excited when I walk into a room. Hopefully she still loves me after getting a couple of bumps and bruises at my house. She is a climber and ended up with a scratched nose and a bump on her head within a fifteen minute span at our house. I felt so bad.

Abby loved having a “little sister” and Sarah loved playing with Abby. She would follow her around and do everything she did. She even sat still long enough for me to put her hair in pigtails so they could be twinners. It was pretty cute. She is such a good kid and it was lots of fun to have her here. The other kids didn’t get to see her as much since they were in school all day, but they were super helpers when they got home. Having an almost-2-year-old in the house is easy when the kids are here to keep her entertained.

Bilateral Bunionectomy

I’ve had bunions for as long as I can remember, but they have never really bothered me. Just in the last six months or so, they started to be a bit painful and I started kicking around the idea of having surgery. I love my mom, but looking at her wonky toes and remembering my Grandma Cardon’s was enough to push me over the edge. I want to be all healed up for summer hiking and waterskiing, so I decided a winter surgery was the way to go.

I had the surgery yesterday morning. We had to be to the hospital at 6 a.m. My alarm was set for 5:00, but the stupid wind woke me up at 2:48. I certainly had plenty of time to get ready. Everything at the hospital went really smoothly. The nurses and staff were all fabulous. They took good care of me. There was even a nice nun that came in and prayed for me before I went into the operating room.

I was very glad that Nate was there with me the whole time. I always get really nervous for medical stuff and it calmed me down a ton to have him give me a blessing before we left and to have him there for all of the pre-op and post-op stuff. He got a few laughs out of the deal. They hooked up a warm air hose to my robe that inflated me up like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Nate said I looked like Starla (of Rex Kwon Do fame). It was awesome. The best part was when the sedative kicked in. I only remember the first 10 seconds after they shot me up, but Nate says that I kept talking for about a minute after that. As they were wheeling me out, I kept saying “I’ve never done drugs before, but this is really nice. These are good drugs.” Waking up was more of the same. After some incoherent mumbling, I said to Nate “I guess I didn’t die because you wouldn’t have stubble in heaven.” He pointed out that if I had died, he wouldn’t be the one in heaven. I said “Oh, right.” Then we had the exact same conversation ten minutes later (it was the first time for me). I’m still pretty vague about everyone I talked to and what I said for that first half hour after surgery. I guess I’m not really cut out to be a druggie. I don’t like that your mouth still works even when your brain doesn’t know what it is saying.


The doctor sent me home with drug pumps hooked up to both of my feet. Every six minutes they automatically shoot a dose of anesthetic into my feet keeping them pretty numb. My kids thought it was so cool when I got home that they could touch my toes without me feeling it. I’ve had a bit of pain, mostly when I have to get up and walk for a minute, but overall it hasn’t been too bad. Nothing like how sick I was after my lipoma surgery. By comparison, this has been a breeze so far.


I am grateful for how helpful everyone has been. My mom came and stayed Thursday night so she could get the kids off to school. She kept the kids entertained for hours with an I Spy book while I finished getting things done around the house before I was bedridden. Claudy picked up the kids for school and volunteered to drive them all of next week too. My mom made my favorite comfort food (chicken, rice, and veggies) for dinner last night. Jody came and picked her up so Nate wouldn’t have to drive her home (and they dropped off a package at the post office for me on the way). Nate has been a dove and kept me iced up and fed and entertained. He installed the wall mount for our TV so I can lie on my back and still have a good angle to watch hours of movies and cooking shows. The kids have been sweet and mostly well behaved. Since I couldn’t make it down the to the movie room, we had a movie night in my room last night. They all dragged their bean bags in and we watched Dolphin Tale. Today Nate took them all to Michaels to use their quality $5 off $5 coupons while I took a nice little Lortab-aided nap. Surgery is never fun, but I’m glad I am in good hands.

Bummer Birthday

Nate turned 39 on Wednesday. He didn’t really get to end the decade with a bang. Grown-up birthdays don’t tend to be super fun anyway, but this one was even less exciting than normal. I had a major tummy ache on Tuesday night (the kind where you kick around the idea of going to the ER in case it is appendicitis) and was still feeling pretty lousy on Wednesday morning. So, he got up at 5:00 and got ready for work and then took pity on me and decided to stay home. He got the kids off to school, did the dishes, cleaned the kitchen, got our lunches ready to take to the school (it was “Lunch With a Loved One” day), helped the kids with their piano practice, installed a wall mount for our new TV, went with me to parent teacher conferences, and took Ben to scouts. Not exactly a relaxing day.

In true Nate fashion, he was a good sport about it all and didn’t complain. There were some good parts to the day. School lunch was absolute madness, but it was fun to be there with the kids. We were very glad that we had taken our own lunch after seeing the line. The timing worked out perfectly for our family. We ate with Elise and Emily, then I ran Abby to preschool and got back just in time to eat with Ben. I was glad we didn’t have a sixth grader. We left at 12:50 (school got out at 1:05) and there were probably still 100 kids waiting in line. Crazy.

Parent teacher conferences went really well. It is nice to go and only hear positive things. We told the kids that if we got three good reports we would go to Arby’s for dinner. It was really our plan all along so it was a good thing we didn’t get any last minute surprises.

After dinner, Nate opened his presents. He got two new mummy bags for him and Ben to use on scout campouts/backpacking trips, some new pants for work, Star Trek, and a pre-ordered copy of Dennis Prager’s new book. Nothing was a surprise, but he was good at pretending. The girls helped me wrap his presents. We used Christmas wrapping paper with Disney Princesses and Tinkerbell. The kids thought that was hilarious. I made him try out the mummy bags to make sure they were long enough for him. Then each of the kids took a turn. Who knew that crawling into a sleeping bag would provide so much entertainment?






I hadn’t felt well enough on Tuesday to make Nate his cheesecake (it is always lots better after sitting overnight in the fridge), so he had a day old Krispy Kreme donut with 12 candles . . . 3 red, 9 blue for 39 years old. Kind of lame. It was a fitting ending to the day.

Skiing

We bought Ben a 5th grade ski passport for Christmas and have just been waiting for it to snow so he can use it. We got a whopping three inches a couple of weeks ago and Nate decided to take advantage of the fresh powder to let Ben get some use out of his pass. They had a great time together. Ben picked up right where he left off last year. To hear him tell it, he is pretty much a professional. In the real world, a better description would be competent. He can make it down the hill without falling and is getting better and better at turns.


Another storm passed through last weekend and dumped a full twelve inches of new snow at the resorts. Nate was brave and took both Ben and Emily at the same time. This is the first time he has tried taking two kids at once and it was a big success. They all came home just beaming. The first thing Ben told me was that he rode the lift to the top with Nate and skied all the way down. He was so proud of himself. I asked Emily what she was doing while they were conquering the mountain. “I went down the smaller hill three times by myself.” What?!? I couldn’t believe that Nate left her alone on the mountain. He said that he felt better about that than about leaving her in the lodge. I guess it is a good thing he is in charge of teaching the kids to ski. I worry about them going even when he is right with them. The thought of the kids riding the lift and skiing down by themselves totally freaks me out. But, they were fine and had a fabulous time. Nate says it is good for them to develop confidence that they can do things on their own. They were certainly proud of their accomplishments and their increasing skill level. The best part for me was that Ben and Emily had a ton of fun together. We are in the “how many ways can I annoy my sisters/how many things can I whine about” phase of childrearing. It is nice to see them actually enjoy each other’s company for a few hours.