Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas

We are definitely having a white Christmas.

A Random act of . . . pastry?!?

Because of an improperly completed oil change, I was forced to park on the street this weekend. I am not a fan of parking on the street in general and on narrow streets - where people drive to fast and rarely pay attention to where they are going - in particular. I went to bed fearing, a little, for the safety of my beloved minivan.

Sunday morning I woke up to a rather ambiguous warning.

Someone had thrown glazed donuts at my car. Bill cleaned it up before I was able to see (or document) it. When I came out to survey the damage, I found two glazed spots on my windows and a bunch of donut pieces on the ground.

So to you who left me the warning: lesson learned. I have gotten the problem taken care of and will park in my driveway or garage from now on. Please, don't waste any more pastry on me. However, if you'd like suggestions for those who truly deserve a wake up call . . . a have a list.

One Day We Will All Look Back On This and Laugh, Right?

RIGHT?

Bill has training in Tucson this week. I don't know if it's because he's gone that things fall apart, or that little things pile up until everything seem like a big deal. Most likely a little of both.

Brianna (2 1/2 yrs.) has decided she is through with diapers and now wants to wear her "big girl princess undies" all of the time. Because it is her idea, things are going well.

Until Tuesday night she decided she could take herself potty all alone. She told me to leave because she "needed a little privacy". I did. All went well until she thought she needed to use toilet paper . . . a lot of toilet paper . . . half a roll of Charmin toilet paper. Lucky for us Grandpa came over for another reason and was kind enough to take care of the clog that I just couldn't.

Then at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday I was woken by a phrase every parent wants to hear in the middle of the night: "Mom, I puked . . . on my bedroom floor." Nice. By 2:30 a.m. I was done and attempted to go back to sleep. Then at 4:30 a.m. the neighbors decided to let their yappy little dogs outside. Apparently some great threat was befalling the neighborhood because those dogs didn't stop barking (a sound reminiscent of a sick rubber ducky) for 30 minutes.

The next day, I decided to help Ellie with her homework. She was assigned to illustrate the lines "With a little old driver so lively and quick. I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick." from the poem The Night Before Christmas. In my sleep-deprived state I suggested that we make a collage. Two hours and one frazzled mom later this is what we had:

And also this:

Well at least it's done. And the week is nearly over. I decided to record this week for history because one day this will be funny. Just not today.

Things my children are allergic to:

They must be. Otherwise they would not have such trouble with the following items:

• Turning off lights in an unoccupied room. "Hey! I'm paying for that. Do you think I'm made of money?"
• Closing the outside doors. Were you born in a barn? Would you like some hay?
• Putting dirty clothes in the laundry basket. Although they are frequently found 2 inches away from said basket.
• Putting clean clothes in the appropriate drawer. Somehow, they end up in a pile in front of the dresser.
• Locating backpacks and other necessary school items. But only when it is time for us to leave . . . 10 minutes ago!
• Flushing. Always a fun surprise.
• Getting both shoes put away in the same location. For some reason, one shoe seems to walk itself into the middle of the room. Backpacks also must be ambulatory.
• Looking under beds for any misplaced item. The beds in our home seem to be black holes that the children are afraid to go near, lest they get sucked into the bottomless vacuum.

I have been told that children can outgrow allergies and I hope this is the case with my children. If not, I am crossing my fingers for a vaccine.

Andrew the Brave

Andrew has been getting a lot of extra attention lately. To make a long story short, he was given a "stim" test to determine if his pituitary glad is working correctly, releasing enough Human Growth Hormone.
He wasn't allowed to eat anything after midnight the day of the test or during the five hours it took to administer the test. He was given an i.v. where a very kind nurse drew blood samples every 30 to 60 minutes.
Not fun.

The patient, with an i.v. stuck in his right arm

Well . . . the insertion of the i.v. wasn't fun. Neither was the glucose shot he had 2 hours into the test.

Engaged in his favorite kind of multi-tasking, playing game boy and watching t.v.

But for the most of the day, he was able to play game boy and watch t.v. Once it was all over, he said it wasn't that bad. He didn't want to do it again, but he was happy that both his Mom and Dad could be there with him.

His Mom and Dad are very proud of how brave he was and how well he handled himself.

As for the results: his HGH levels are good. But his body is deficient in a hormone called IGF1. The treatment is two injections a day until he reaches puberty. When given the choice between two shots a day for 6 years or being shorter than his mom, he picked "short". Once he had time to consider it, he thinks the shots won't be so bad. Of course, he may change his mind when we come at him with a needle.

Obligitory Halloween Post

I would be a (more) sorry blogger if I didn't include Halloween photos.

Waiting to hand out candy to fellow moochers. . . er . . . trick-or-treaters

Andrew was Superman with muscles. Ellie was a bumblebee. Brianna went as a ladybug (or in her words laid-a-bug). Caious (look closely, he's hard to see) was a pilot. Kaiti dressed as Ivy from "My Sister the Vampire" but by the end of the night, she told people she was "goth".

The school had a costume parade for the younger grades. Only two of the children participated. One more willingly than the other. Can you guess who?

In the evening, we went house to house - in the pouring rain - asking friends, family, acquaintances and total strangers for goodies. They obliged and we ended the night with enough junk food to fill a warehouse. Luckily, a local dentist buys Halloween candy ($1 per pound) to send to troops overseas. Even if we had to pay him to take it off our hands, I think it would be worth it.

A Love Story

by Favorite Aunt Cheryl

The happy couple
Once Upon A Time . . . there was a beautiful young lady who worked for a large home improvement store. While toiling away in the light fixtures and plumbing supplies, she met a handsome young man who shared her passion for home improvement products - or just thought she was cute and fun to be with.

The chose an absolutely beautiful day to get married. Everyone enjoyed the sunny weather.
A friendship developed. A few months later the handsome young man gave the lovely young lady a ruby red engagement ring.

One of the lovely flower girls preparing the way for the beautiful bride.
A few months after that . . . they gathered together with family and friends from far (Tennessee) and near (Lehi) to celebrate the start of their new life together.

The very cool wedding cake. It was tasty too.
They had a wonderful party to celebrate the beginning of their life together. And they lived happily ever after . . . (or most likely had ups and downs, good times and bad times, but weathered it all with grace and humility.)

Congratulations Callie and Richard!