Mrs. S - By the Numbers

At our final faculty party the last year I taught, two of the teachers (Dianne Amesse and Ginny Smith) paid me this tribute. They did "By the Numbers" because I had been the school's numeracy coordinator. I definitely teared up at the end . . . I had such a great situation as a teacher there.

Emily - By the numbers

1 - Years she was Miss G
2 - People she loves more than us (Gary and Joshua)
3 - Years she has spent with us as her "other" family
4 - Teachers she shared a room with at IRA conference
6 - Times she's administered the kindergarten assessment
8 - Times per day she has to flush the teeny tiny toilet because one of her kids forgot
9 - Number of mission she ran to with Nancy at Texas IRA
10 - The number she has counted to the most!
2 - Times she has laid down on the rug to be measured for a bed.
1 - Days she tried to teach her class calculus and decided that she'll just stick with Investigations
14 - Number of new algorithms she shared with us
23 - Times during Numeracy meeting when I said, "Oh that's what I've been doing all these years and didn't know it!"
26 - Nights she's lost sleep worrying about ways to help a child in her class
52 - Nights she's missed sleep worrying about her own child's problems
37 - Times she stopped me in the hall after school and said, "We did the coolest thing today!"
68 - Inches she is tall.
126 - Time she head, "Teacher, I lost a tooth!"
172 - Days she was morning sick at Edgemont
302 - Miles she's traveled to bring the wild bears to our kindergarten
329 (at least) - Times she has said, "Where's Raynor?"
444 - Times she has sung the "Days of the Week" song
497 - Number of emails she has forwarded to us from PEA
540 - Days she has taught at Edgemont
602 - Times she has bounced to the "J-E-L-L-O" song
2730 - Number of Journal pages she's read and date-stamped with a smile
2800 - Number of objects she handled when each student brought their 100 things on the 100th day of school.
 - Also, approximate number of hours she has spent is numeracy meetings, adoption arguments, preparation for math trainings, coaching, and sharing her math expertise with us.
32 - Number of us who will miss her next year.
(note - that is the total number of faculty and staff and the school besides me :) )

Lissy Talk

I think this talk was given around spring 2016, but I'm just now typing it out (spring 2017).

We need to tell everybody about Jesus because he is so special. he died and came back alive so we can come back alive again someday, and He went to Gethsemane so we can repent and he can help us feel better when we are sad. So we need to tell people about Him. So you can talk to your friends about Him. You can invite your friends to a church activity. You can be nice to everybody so you can show people how Jesus would act so they will want to know Jesus, too. Jesus set up His church and he has prophets so we need to tell them about that, too. I like to sing Gethsemane all the time, and that tells people about him.

I've Got This

Caleb had a painfully red diaper rash this morning, so after taking off a poopy diaper, I hopped up to get some cream. It helps diaper rash to air dry a little, so why not? Thirty seconds later Caleb walked up to me in the kitchen, worriedly jabbering as he showed me the poop on both hands. Which he had scooped up from the family room floor. So, I picked him up and washed him in the sink, him smearing one hand on the faucet as I washed the other. After he was all clean, I set him on the kitchen floor while I ran to grab a diaper, and he peed all over the kitchen floor. Then, while I wiped and cloroxed everything, he pulled knives out of the dishwasher, pots out of the cupboards, and towels out of the drawers. The final beauty - when I was done cleaning, I looked down, and there was poop on my shirt. So, instead of making yummy sandwiches and packing a real lunch for my kids at the pool, I threw saltines and grapes on top of the swim bag, and none of us ate more than that until we were done swimming at 3. 

That happened today. Stuff like that has happened nearly every day for the past nine years, many times with way more ridiculousness piled up than that. I broke a lot of my rules for childcare triage today (probably I will write about that later), but that's not the point. The poop was was gross. I had to rearrange my time. But, no big deal, we had a great time swimming and lots of fun eating a giant sandwich afterwards. And I realized a funny thing. I like problems like this. I know how to clean, I know how to diaper, and to kiss newly-cleaned cheeks of an adorably naughty toddler. I can solve Caleb's problems! But the problems get harder for the older ones. And I know they will get even harder in the future. So, today I am grateful for problems I have solved. Craziness that I can conquer. Hooray for that!

Josh was so proud that Caleb liked the cookies he made, he wanted me to post this on Instagram. But we're doing blogger instead.

He's always busy doing ALL THE THINGS. And for that he gets a kiss.

P.S. Yes, Josh made cookies. By himself. He said he needed to start learning with "a basic chocolate chip," and found a recipe on Our Best Bites before I even knew what he was doing. Also, while Josh was baking away, Lissy and Andrew were busy shelling peanuts. When they were done shelling, Noah helped them set up a roadside stand to sell them, 1 cent a piece, or 5 cents for 10. So lucrative, but look:

Noah took the picture and ran around trying to keep the business thriving.

Who Cares About Mice When There's Santa?

My kids have wanted a Wii for years. Josh even tried harnessing the power of a New Mexican wishing well. For many and varied reasons we've never gotten one. This year Gary and I decided we have too much stuff in the house already, so we'd rather spend Christmas money on a Wii, and start out with a few games that will keep them active in the winter. So, in anticipation of seeing Santa on Saturday, I prepped the kids. They were asking for kind of expensive things, so I told them, "Santa only has so much he spends on kids every year, so if you want him to bring our family a Wii, you have to ask for cheap things."

Lissy only wants a spinning toothbrush anyway, so she marched right in, and before she even sat on his lap said, "I want a spinning toothbrush." Josh and Noah, both in a frenzy of excitement about the notion of possibly having a Wii in our house, asked for Pokemon cards. Then Andrew got up there, and no holds barred said, "I want a Wii!" Santa was a little surprised and looked at me on that one. 

Tonight, the boys were being silly when they were supposed to be going to bed, and Andrew was being particularly crazy, darting back and forth from the bathroom. Gary said, "Ok, I'm emailing Santa to tell him Andrew is on the naughty list." Josh immediately reacted, "Nooooo! Please Dad, please don't put Andrew on the naughty list!" As Josh tearfully begged, I was touched by his deep concern for his brother. Then I realized - Andrew is the one that put in the order for the Wii. Ah, brotherly love . . .

Why was I so happy the he was excited to see Santa? He was!

This boy doesn't mess around.

Once she already asked for the toothbrush, she didn't see a point in this part.

Noah is the cutest when it comes to this stuff.

 Thursday was a super windy day, and Andrew declared it to be perfect for flying kites. We don't have one, and I was cleaning the pantry, so he decided to make one himself. Look at him go!

It flies! This is what he wanted to do all day after this.

 Andrew made a kite for Lissy and her friend, too. Lissy has a new friend named Emily that moved in across the street this summer. Emily's mom is really great, and heaven knows Lissy needs a girl to play with sometimes. Sometimes I think they moved here because heaven literally knows. Lissy and Emily sat on the trampoline just talking on Thursday. What do barely 3 year olds talk about, anyway? After a magical playdate on Thursday, the girls played again on Friday, but this time they were both super-duper tired, and Lissy kept making Emily cry by saying, "Boom shaka laka." What does it even mean? She got it from her brothers, so must be awesome. And tough. Emily's mom Jen and I were laughing pretty hard. (BTW - Lissy was not trying to make anyone cry. She was being random, since she was tired, and Emily was crying, because she was tired. That's why it's funny.)

Andrew has a cute friend from our ward that does all of the same things - same preschool class, same church class, same soccer team, and now both doing basketball skills. He's so cute, and Andrew loves him, so finally we had him over to play on Friday. I loved watching them dress up and play Star Wars and examine bugs, and do all the things Josh and Noah did before they got older and so awesome. When the friend's mom came to get him, we couldn't find his shoes. I was planning on her only seeing the front room I had cleaned, but she ended up needing to go all over in our awful messes on the hunt for the shoes . . .and they were in our shoe pockets, right next to Andrew's. WHO would have thought that they would have put them where they go?!

The next two pics are from Tuesday. Oh, my. Spent the morning doing visiting teaching stats at the church, tried to get everyone naps (no go), then got Josh and Noah and headed to the allergist, then the dentist/orthodontist, then to the grocery store to buy some roasted red peppers and french bread, but ended up buying needed produce, then got talked into buying a bunch of things for the kids while I stood there not knowing where the roasted red peppers were. By the pickles, for the future. Then dropped Josh off at scouts, and brought the kids in, craziness, trying to make dinner and feed the baby and talk on the phone about Christmas for the ward, then the exterminator came, and Gary finally walked in the door as dinner was scorching because I was talking to the exterminator. Then it's 8:30 and we finally have dinner and Josh comes home from basketball and hey kiddo, you didn't really miss dinner after all. Phew.

So that is why the kids talked me into buying a gingerbread house kit instead of making our own.

It's a thing of beauty. They were soooo excited to make it. Planned to eat it on Christmas Eve, but they lasted two days.

Look who's great at sitting! New toy at the dentist, and he's good for a long time.

This pic is a few weeks ago. I told the kids we could put up the Christmas tree if they cleaned up, but I was going to wait until late when Gary got home. Then the little men took over. Noah and Andrew hauled in the box, and Josh took over the set-up. He said he watched Dad do it last year, and he coached the other kids as he set up.

He's the man of the house!

 That man of the house won the Hoop Shoot for his class last week, and moved on to the school-wide one. So fun and exciting!! Then, at the school one, he didn't make a single basket, and he was bummed. I said, "Oh, buddy, I'm sorry. You must have been way too nervous." He said, "I wasn't nervous, the ball just kept curving!"

Josh typically takes forever getting ready for school in the morning. I'll remind him 8 times what steps he needs to take, then he'll still be in his underwear when his friends show up to go, and I have to do some heavy prompting to get him out the door. On Friday the boys all slept in, and when I woke them up I said, "You guys need to hurry, you only have 15 minutes to do what you need to do!" Josh said, "I'm not worried, I'm used to being under pressure." Gary and I laughed ourselves silly over that one. If you ever dealt with him in the morning, you'd be laughing, too.

Noah and Andrew made Lissy a house out of boxes, then wrapped it up for Christmas. It takes up half of our living room, but the neighbor kids are jealous.

Wait, what about the exterminator? It's for our mouse infestation. Yes, INFESTED. EWWWW! We've been catching a ton lately, and we even thought we sealed up our garage pretty well last month, but they were already in the house. My mom heard the clawing and gnawing in the walls and called an exterminator. It's a freaky sound. We probably have around 100 in the attic, I am told. Yes, it would be the right thing to do to find a good mouser cat and keep him in the back yard in a heated kitty house, but that is too much for me right now, so I feel good about the exterminator. After hours cleaning and bleaching the pantry, I still have a few more shelves to go. And the closet under the stairs. But it will be clean after that, so there's your silver lining.

Wait, your mom? Yes! She drove to Idaho from Texas last week, so we got to see her a little bit. We played games and ate decadent mug desserts with her and my dad Sunday night, then she read books to Lissy and took us to Cafe Rio for lunch. I felt like I was taking off work, it was wonderful.

Why are you blogging? Because I need to! I love remembering the cute things my kids do, and I hate forgetting! I have been so tired I can't move or think most evenings, and if I have a computer to use, it's in the evening, and along with all of the other home and church responsibilities, this gets down there on the list. Actually, kicked off the list. I feel like my brain is short-circuiting most of the time. I'm forgetting all kinds of things I never have before, I have no vocabulary, I can't form a sentence, and I'm not so great at typing, but I'm writing. I've got a lot I want to say about a lot of things this past 7 months, but hey, starting with this week is a start.

Baby Can Come: Illness Revealed . . . and Josh is 8!

Since I have to no choice but to lay down for the moment, I will attempt to update our lives. I woke up at 6 this morning with a horrendous headache, and though Tylenol helped, I have felt very lousy all day. I went to Walgreens where the pharmacist took my blood pressure - too high, though not insanely high, so I'm just resting it up. Nurse Cindy would be kind to me if I went in, but I don't know about IMC . . .

The drama of this week was, of course, figuring out what was wrong with Andrew. After being told on Saturday how irresponsible it would be to take a chest x-ray by instacare woman, I was left with an insanely sick child on Sunday. He fell into a feverish sleep on Sunday afternoon right before we went on a family walk, so Gary wrapped him in blankets and put him in the stroller. He was too sick to be in the stroller, though, so we brought him back in. I held him in my lap for a very long time as he moaned and breathed unevenly. He had a pattern of being kind of okay in the mornings, just a lowgrade fever, but then burning up and too miserable to even get up to go to the bathroom by 2. I called and left a message for the p.a. we were working with Monday afternoon, expecting to need to run in and get tests done immediately, but got told he'd swing by our house and bring a lab order that night. Very kind of him! So, I got the labs done first thing Tuesday, and Andrew had a more miserable afternoon than ever . . . but I never got a call back about results.. Meanwhile, each night when I'd have contractions, I'd stare at the clock thinking, "If I have this baby, what are we going to do with Andrew? How will we get him the right help? Who can take care of him?" 

A borrowed pulse ox Tuesday night said his oxygen was a bit low, but not crazy low. Wednesday morning I called the pediatrician and said I needed an appointment with the doctor himself - we were on day 11 of fever. They worked us in, but I called Gary and mom bawling right after, afraid I'd be put off again. Then - HALLELUJAH - the doctor took us super seriously! Previously I'd felt like I needed to try really hard to explain just how sick he was, but this time the doctor was asking me the questions. It probably helped that by this point his oxygen was only at 91 and he'd lost 5% of his body weight in a week, but still. We got sent right away for a chest x-ray, and I got a call a few hours later to come back in for a Rochephin (antibiotic) shot. He definitely had pneumonia, and getting pretty nasty by the time it was caught. Andrew was still way sick that night (that's when the puking began), but I felt awesome - we finally knew what was going on and were getting it taken care of! He got another shot and another med, in addition to the nebulizing we're doing (which crazily enough he loves), and day by day he's getting better! He's almost there now.

K, so that was fun. Sorry about all that, but really, it was taking up a lot of my thinking space. Now, the fun - it was Josh's birthday on Friday! He was sooo excited, I was afraid to disappoint, but Josh is so happy, I love it! I made his requested sticky buns for breakfast (easy), let him open his present from us before school (an NFL football uniform costume, with a helmet and iron-on numbers. The numbers are a big deal, he has been wanting this since October), and gave him the Oreos he had picked out to give his class. As he was putting the Oreos in his backpack, he hugged me and said, "This is the best birthday ever." What a kid! I may have spent the day chasing kiddos and cleaning up two inches of poo water that was all over the bathroom and soaked into my new carpet, but he had a grand day at school, just having a birthday. 

After school the big fun arrived - Cindy, Kristen, and their chillins. The kids played constantly, and had an "epic" rugby game even Braden couldn't quit talking about. Although Cindy and Kristen were both surprised at Andrew's weight loss (his underwear sags, people, this is something never before possible), Beckett was able to get more playing out of him than he'd done in two weeks. True, Andrew took a lot of breaks, and Beckett was waaay confused when Andrew climbed in bed at one point, but the draw of Beckett always got him going again. Josh was elated at the festivities, as was I. Cindy and Kristen saved me from my clean laundry that was getting soaked just as I lost the ability to walk, and helped Gary put my bed back together. Lissy was in heaven with the babies. Later on she was telling me about them, and then said, "Yeah, and another good one is Sophie." She loves Sophie and all her Gumby tricks. So, happy birthday to a really adorable 8 year old, it was really perfect. Noah also got some birthday love from cousins, and wore his sweat bands to his soccer game the next day. It was awesome.

So, yes, then Saturday Gary worked his butt off and I worked while scooting my butt all around the floor, and here we are, Sunday, that one day, hoping we have more news for you soon than a silly headache. Oh, yes, and Josh is wearing his uniform for the third day in a row, Noah is wearing his BYU jersey, and there has been a lot of "versing." They also made themselves a locker room. Meanwhile, Andrew is making a "construction site" in the back, and says the ground is getting even, and every now and then Lissy puts on a helmet and yells, "BYU, hike, hike, hike!"

Just One or Two Quick Things Before the Baby Comes . . .

Apparently I have not updated since February. Part of that was not having a keyboard, but most of it is la vida loca. I turn into an unproductive zombie after whirling around for most of the day. Last Sunday I was all done with stuff and ready to roll at 9 p.m., got out Gary's iPad, and zonk. Sleep was awesome, though! You're dying to know what happened to my hidden months (juicy!), but I'll stick with this week as to not overwhelm.

Awesome last Sunday: I got an assistant secretary and an assistant compassionate service person called. Been wanting those for months and months, and there have been so many needs in our ward the sisters I work with (and maybe me) were feeling, um, like we need help. Hooray, hooray! Less awesome last Sunday: Andrew woke up with a high fever, and Lissy woke up with one after her nap. Kids get fevers, though, so, no biggie yet.

Awesome stuff this week: We got a shed and new carpet! Both are fantastic, the carpet being the fantastic-est. It feels so nice under your feet, and our house looks clean. And huge. Well, our stuff isn't really totally in it right now, so . . . Yeah, that was the hard part. We had to move all of our stuff into our garage, which you may not believe, is a very huge project. Especially when Gary was trying his darndest to get the painting done before the carpet. He got almost done, and it looks so clean. So clean I had to wash all the walls and doors yesterday so they could (temporarily) match. The progress of organizing and getting things ready for carpet was slowed by taking care of sick kiddos, 6 doctor appointments, and the fact nobody could really help because of not wanting to get the crazy virus from hades.

6 appointments you ask? Yes, 3 for Andrew's fevers. First time determined he didn't have strep, second time told he did have an ear infection, start a med, third time to a doctor that does not listen when I say, "My daddy said you need to . . ." Bleh. He did seem better for a day and a half, but today makes the 8th day since he got sick, and still a fever. Poor kid has been so miserable, fevers have been pretty high. He still smiles even with purple lips and chills and a high temp, though. I give him his meds and he says, "Looks like a potion!" Or, (pointing to the number to where the med is filled), "Is that how sick I am?" He also said, "So if the rain falls on my head, my hair will look perfect, right?" He's cute, and hopefully all better in the morning.

An extremely sick fevery Andrew

Lissy got away with only 24 hours of fever, and is such a funny thing. She talks about "the boys" a lot lately. "I can help the boys." "Boys, stop!" and "I like my boys." She is trying to potty train, but her mom isn't a lot of help. She woke up Noah at 5 a.m. to help her go potty, though. Since her cute glasses that I ran all around 3 counties to get were going to get ruined by her yanking them off, I bought her the indestructible less-cute goggle things. Except they were destructed in 3 days. Will try again. She runs around singing "Let it Go" and twirling around. 

The other 3 appointments - the o.b., because I guess our baby is due in a week and a half, and Noah and Andrew both at the ENT. Noah's ear isn't perfect, but getting there, and Andrew is getting his tonsils out June 16. I think the ENT sees dollar signs when I'm sitting there pregnant.

Josh's baseball season is in full swing. He LOVES it, and does a good job. He plays first base a lot, and has gotten in some nice hits. I like that his team is full of people either in our ward or formerly in our ward, and his coaches are nice and chill. Makes game time fun.  Josh got to start scouts this month, and is EXCITED. So excited, in fact, that when his baseball game got rained out on Wednesday, he didn't care because it meant he got to go to scouts for the first time. He was doing the happy dance all evening. The night before the carpet his best friend's dad (Spencer Powelson) came over to help Gary move stuff, and Josh couldn't resist staying up, too. What a help he was! Josh ran this way and that doing everything we said. We couldn't have done it without him, and now I think I'll offer staying up late to do chores as an occasional option. :)

Poor Noah is sick now, too. Has been since Thursday night. Hopefully he gets the short version. This week we were going to school and I saw a kid riding his bike from his class. 

Me: Did you know Ruben can speak Spanish?

Noah: No, how do you know?

Me: He told me during centers that his parents are from Mexico, so he can speak Spanish.

Noah: Well, our dad is from Los Angeles, so maybe . . .

As for me and Gary, all we have to do is put our entire house back together, get rid of all the diseases, and then have a baby. No biggie.

From the Super Bowl Mission to the Best Company

Josh noticed a missionary plaque in our church last week, and told me, "There's missionary that went on his mission to New York. No fair, he gets to go to the Super Bowl!" Now he says he is going on his mission to San Francisco, so he can get the autographs of all of the 49ers. Perfect.

Speaking of Josh at church, he bore his testimony today for the first time! He got up to leave the bench, and I said, "Where are you going?" He said, "To bear my testimony." I was surprised, but after a little courage-gathering, he did it. He didn't say a lot, but it was sincere and took a whole lot of guts on his part. He said, "I'd like to bear my testimony, I know this church is true, and I am so glad I get to be baptized on June 7." When he came back to the bench his grin was so huge, and we hugged and hugged. Sweet boy. Gary was proud of how succinct he was.

Also speaking of church, we all made it through the entire meeting, on our bench, without leaving. What?! During the closing prayer, Lissy was talking very loudly about being poopy (which she wasn't), but what a break-through!

Favorite question: Andrew asked me one day, "Mom, are dogs allergic to us?" Think about it.

Messiest game: Feeding my baby chickens. Noah had Andrew and Lissy eating oats out of his hand. In the living room. I didn't notice for a while because I was hurrying to make dinner. Also, Lissy dumped out a whole 2 pound container, and when I saw her she hurriedly started singing, "Clean up, clean up, every single, everywhere . . ." Nice try. Noah was so pleased with leading his siblings around the living room in pursuit of their oats, but there will be more oats discovered around the home each day in 2014.

Josh had his 100th day of school, and had to make a collection to display. He wanted to buy 100 Warhead candies. I told him, "This is not to get your favorite candy, be creative!" He wouldn't let it go, until finally I sent him last-minute pantry-searching for his collection. The result - a cookie in the shape of 100, with 100 chocolate chips on it. I let him stay up to make it, and he told his siblings, "You need to go to bed, but when you're in second grade, you'll get to do this." I fully prepared him for the idea he would never eat it, because it was for the 100's museum, but when I got to the school to volunteer, it was not on display. He said his teacher said he could take it home. I told her I prepared him to never eat it, and she said, "Yeah, but he sure would like to. He's been petting it all day." She is cool.

Gary hardly slept this week. Poor guy. Also, finding the right glasses for Lissy is going to be hard. Fortunately, she thinks trying them on is fun.

On Saturday I had to get Bountiful Baskets in Tooele, so decided to throw a work-out at the gym. Then, despite everything telling me it would be awful, I took all 4 kids to Walmart to get treats for Noah's basketball game and Lissy's nursery class. No choice. As I walked in, I realized I was in work-out clothes and pregnant. With all of the kids. Lovely. It was ridiculously packed, and the kids touched every item in the store, so when we got to the check-out and saw a half-hour worth of waiting, and extra candy/trinket displays due to the Super Bowl, I started to think bad thoughts. Then, the lady in front of us spilled and entire box of spaghetti on the floor. I told the kids to help her pick them up, and they went for it, it was a great game. Lissy gave her two at a time, even the super-teeny pieces. I was already grateful for the distraction, and then the lady let them each pick a treat, and she bought it for them. Blessings, blessings! Praying is worth it, ya'll. Oh, yes, and hopefully my kids learned about service. And hopefully the lady's couponing was still worth it by the time she spent $4 on little kids.

Noah running up and down the court playing basketball is adorable. It just is. Josh made quite a few shots in his game, and is always excited.

It's Noah in action

Anna and her husband Joe visited us last night for their date night! Anna is so thoughtful. She wanted to help me out, and wow, she really did. They folded laundry, installed a smoke alarm and a dead bolt, and did tons of ironing. Also, kept me great company. Gary brought ice cream when he got home at 10, so I hope it was all worth it. I feel bad people doing stuff for me, but I'm so completely exhausted, and Anna is so sincere, I'm way past help-refusal. Such a fun night!

Fixing My Stiffneckedness, Pushups, Puffs, and Pudding

Been hanging onto this draft for a few days - too blasted tired to finish, but at least I'm not Gary, who has slept probably 8  hours in 3 days. Lucky me, I got to sleep in today because Noah woke up with Lissy, changed her poopy diaper, and put on a show for her. I was busy dreaming about teaching a very powerful first discussion. I woke up moved. Moved enough to get everyone ready to be out the door in 15 minutes - yikes! Anyway . . .

I already told you that on Sunday (a week and a half ago) I could barely move my neck - and that was very literally true. On Monday I woke up and it was way worse, all in my shoulders and head. Despite my try at yoga (helped for a minute), my entire upper-half seized up, and I was in all sorts of pain. Gary was asking me how I was doing around 2:15, and I started crying, just cuz it hurt and I didn't know how to function. He called me back hardly any minutes later saying he'd found a place to give me a massage at 3, and he'd called a baby-sitter. Gary to the rescue! I felt dumb having a baby-sitter with the house being a wreck, but I couldn't zip kids' coats or load the dishwasher, so what was I to do? The massage therapist was shocked at the state of my muscles, and said she felt like she was beating me up trying to get those knots out. There was one she couldn't get because I was starting to get bruises. However, in the end I could turn my head, hooray! It was about 3 days later that I started to feel normal . . . so, happy civil rights day or whatever. Gary brought me back to civility.

The boys had a wrestling match (what's new?), which of course, was made better by taking their shirts off, and of course, Lissy had to also take her shirt off to participate (sigh). They decided Josh would be the judge, so he sat on the chair and watched the others wrestle. "I've never seen moves like these in all my days," he drawled, "in all my days."

Lissy had her ophthalmology appointment at Primarys on Tuesday. On the way there she was sleeping, and was so beautiful I started bawling because I can't believe we're so fortunate as to still have her. She was getting checked because when a kid has a brain injury, they make sure to check everything out. This was definitely a "check the box" visit for me. We started out by being told this was normal and so was that, which is really "quite remarkable" for someone who has had an accident like that. Then, they dilated her eyes (she started twirling like a drunk at one point), and looked inside. "She's going to need some glasses," the doctor said. What? "Are you serious?" I asked. I mean, what if all kids need glasses, if only they go to the specialist . . . The doctor was a super nice older man, and told me all about how bad Lissy's astigmatism is and how it will harm her eye muscles and possibly impede brain injury recovery if untreated. We would have known in a few years anyway, but the accident has hastened us knowing, which, apparently will help a lot. I feel bad for her, but we'll get it . . .

Speaking of Miss Elizabeth, she is quite the little dancer. On Wednesday during Zumba at the church, she did her best to follow along, and it was adorable. She's wanted to for weeks, but she's just barely getting her confidence on. Also, today when I wanted to put her down for a nap (perfect timing), she wanted to jump on Andrew's bed. After about 10 or 15 jumps, she'd stop and do some push-ups and knee circles. The knee circles were the best. Repeated this routine several times.

Josh was excited on Sunday when he saw the sacrament trays. "Yea, white bread today!" he exclaimed. After eating his piece he said, "It's not white, it's actually buttermilk."

My kids have been begging me for Reese's Puffs ever since they saw many commercials in St. George promising them it would make their morning time epic. Someone heard about this, and when we walked in the door Saturday morning after the gym, we had a package from Amazon. We opened it, and oh, goodness, you would have thought it contained a toy they'd been saving up for months for. Screams of joy for some Reese's Puffs! They cleaned like crazy to get some, except for Lissy, who pulled a chair up to the counter to try to hack it open with a butter knife. How did she know it was even something good? When Josh got his first handful, he declared, "It makes my day epic, even without milk!" Andrew said, "We need to write a thank you to grandma. Write this, mom: Dear great grandma, Thank you for the Reese's Puffs, and I am very welcome to eat them." Epic!

A very clearly exhausted Andrew told me the other night he, "Just couldn't sleep without medicine." So I gave him some tums. He was pleased, and slept right away. Oh, yes, and on Sunday during church he drew a few rectangles on a paper,then said, "Mom, look, it's pumpkin teeth!" Of course. He then drew a pumpkin around them. With running shoes, except he can't run. That child . . .

Josh has decided he is dessert-master by making pudding a few nights in a row. He makes banana cream or vanilla, then garnishes it with bananas carefully placed in circles. Artistry at its finest, and actually quite good.

From Bingle Bells to Burrito Dispenser

Woke up this morning hardly able to move my neck, it's bad news. However, I haven't updated in quite a while. Sundays have been packed and I usually fall in an exhausted heap at the end . . . which has actually been the case most days this week. Gary has been getting home at around 9:30 each day, and most days I haven't even been able to talk to him I've been so exhausted. He said, "You know it's bad when you can't talk."

This space here formerly held news of nutty things I dealt with related to my calling. Not for the world wide web, but what a week!

Good news - went to the OB, and all is well. Also, Andrew has been in tumbling for two weeks, and he loves it! The first time Lissy was heart broken to leave him there, and kept asking to go back and get him, but I couldn't believe my fortune to just have the two of us together. Andrew was in a fabulous mood after his class, slept great that night, and was in a fabulous mood the whole next day. Thinking about going into debt to send him more often . . . (Oh, yeah, did I tell you his tantrums have been insanity lately? Well, they have.) Lissy got to go to her first music class on Thursday. She liked it, but made me hold her for all of the get up and move stuff. Noah got to come because his school is in the afternoon, and he couldn't quit talking about how awesome it was, so bonus. Lissy got to bring home a kit that includes "bingle bells," and she is very proud of them.

We will be celebrating Dad's birthday by doing something medical-y. That's the date for Noah's ear surgery. Turns out he only thought he could hear better, he really can't. Must be used to it. One guy looked in and said, "There's more hole than eardrum here." So, it won't heal on its own, and Noah is way pumped to get his turn at surgery. This whole experience is just great - the other day at lunch he said, "Going to the doctor is awesome because Mom takes me to Cafe Rio and Chick-Fil-A!" So great to be special. Best part of dr visit - we had a bunch of kid magazines we took with us into the room, that came with us when we went to the audiology waiting area, which formerly had no magazines. We left them when we went with Noah into the test, and when we came back out to the waiting area, the chairs were all occupied by old people, each intently reading one of the kid magazines we left. SO funny!

Awesome things:

-Josh and Noah told me about their attempts to create their own money. They color-copied a dollar bill on both sides, cut it out, then glued it together. They said they threw it away because they thought I would get mad, but really couldn't understand why their quest to do a better job next time probably wasn't a good idea. I told them about Jason, so maybe it will stop them from a life of crime. 

- Our fridge has a burrito dispenser! I shoved a few into the ice-dispensing area, since our fridge can't make ice, it's a storage area. Josh wanted a burrito, so I told him, "They're in the freezer, in the place where the ice comes out." So, he walked over and pressed the button on the outside of the fridge, and got a burrito. He had an odd look on his face, but just went along with it . . .I was dying laughing - I had no idea you could get them out that way, I meant for him to open the freezer. The burrito dispenser is a popular feature in the home now.

-The "compound words" Josh wrote on his school work: NBA Jam, minecraft, NFL Rush Zone, and San Francisco 49ers. Hmmm.

Lissy has been climbing out of her crib ever since the new year. Latest of any of my kids, so you knew the day had to come, but goodness. She likes to get in our bed at 4 a.m. now, but she has to bring her "stuff." All 10 stuffed animals she owns and a pile of blankets transferred. Then it has to go back when she goes to sleep the next time. She hardly naps now, but she's not fine, she's a total disaster in the evenings. Sad, screaming mess. But, she is hilarious, and so cute most of the day. Her voice is adorable, and she walks around in her princess heels carrying her babies everywhere. She likes to change her clothes, and must pick out her own jammies. Tonight she put a tight pair on over a loose pair, and looked like a sumo wrestler, but "zebras so cute!" so it's worth it.

It's bed-time, but Gary had a birthday, and we had fun. He worked that Saturday (usual), but was able to get off in time for us to go on our first date since August! We ate and bought him some running shoes at the Gateway, and it was sooo great to be together. The restaurant was called La Jolla Groves, and there were lemon trees growing inside, all over the place. Gary said that's what it's like in California, so he felt so at home. Then, I invited Eric, Holly, and Allison (and family) for dinner on Sunday, and of course that was fun.

Oh, yes, and Kristen came and saved me from Wednesday a few weeks ago, by bringing entertainment for me and my children, so that was pretty awesome. Maybe I need her here every day. Pretty sure I do, actually.

Pre-Christmas Fun, As Told Through the JELLO-Brain

Riddle you this: My boys declared yesterday Taysom Hill day, and Friday Alani Fua day. They also had Jamal Williams day, but that was a few weeks ago. What made them select those specific days? Who is the truest of Cougar fans . . .

I have JELLO brain from long days and late nights, but I know all kinds of happy snappiness happened this week . . . Gary had his big choir Christmas program today, and the beautiful songs were the only thing that kept Lissy's attention (her attention was kept at no other point). I thought it sounded fantastic, myself. I have just been busy trying to solve every single problem with the women in the ward and also play Santa's little helper. As for being Santa's helper, it's so amazing and humbling to see how many people want to help others. I've gotten so many calls, to do things outside of what is already on the angel tree. So many great people! As for solving all the problems, I had an epiphany - if people would be loving and caring visiting teachers, I would hardly have anything to do but coordinate. It's so different to see the whole "assignment" as loving people enough to make sure people are doing well and progressing spiritually than as an obligatory drop-in. I've thought of this before, but somehow it takes on a new light when you are suddenly feeling the weight of making sure all is well.

We went caroling with the ward, or a few from the ward, on Tuesday. It was so cute to see Lissy walking around in her snowsuit and boots, trying her best to sing. The boys had fun, but once they discovered long icicles, that was the new fun. We had our Relief Society Christmas dinner on Wednesday, and had a great turnout. The committee did an awesome job, and I was happy to see my neighbor who has never walked into the church for any reason. We had a HUGE snowstorm Thursday. Gary spent 3.5 hours commuting that day, and not much less than that the next day. Being as I could barely drive to the church for preschool, I can't believe no schools were cancelled, but it was beautiful out there. Turns out giving Andrew a snow shovel is very good for him. He's in a great mood after a while, and he looks adorable in snow clothes.

Oh, yeah, preschool at the church. I had preschool this week, and we had the Christmas party Thursday. Topic was The Gingerbread Man, and since I've made it twice this week in the wee hours of the morning, I can testify that the Our Best Bites recipe is a winner. Silly gingerbread guys ran away at our party, and we had to run around trying to catch him. Kids loved it, and I can never get enough of them being excited. A few funny things:

- I told a few of the girls, "You are sitting so great, you really look ready for kindergarten next year." (They really are going.) Andrew blurted out, "I got my kindergarten shots!" Missed the point of my manipulation, but he sure was adorably proud.

- For his gingerbread man's eyes, Andrew took some round flat candies, and put some mini-M&M's in there for the irises. He is the only kid who did this, and thought of it himself. Adorable again.

- Noah put hips on his gingerbread men, with gummies.

- Lissy just ate candies.

- When I was cleaning up, the kids went to the nursery and made a bus of dolls. There were 7 chairs arranged into a bus, a doll on each chair, and Noah sat in front with a fake steering wheel, driving them around. Andrew was in back with the babies, and Lissy let out the girliest shriek of joy ever when she saw what they'd done.

Lissy ran into her friend Dallin on Friday while she was racing on the stairs. I guess they really collided, because she has a fat lip, and also knocked her front teeth loose. Van didn't do it, but Dallin's head . . . Called the dentist to see if anything could be done, and they wanted to see her. Turns out not because they can save the teeth, but because sometimes they need to be pulled right away so they don't form an abcess. The dentist said we'll leave them for now, and if there's any hope of her keeping them, she can't suck a binkie. Taking it away hasn't been as heinous as we feared, but she is pretty sad. I bought her some soft popsicles after the dentist, and I said, "I'm looking for some popsicles that Lissy will be able to eat and will make her mouth feel better." Andrew leaned forward, clutched his leg, and said, "Oh, my knee hurts so much, I think the thing that will help it is Avengers popsicles." The boy stocking the freezer was laughing. Of course I bought them, you would have.

Okay, turns out some things came through the JELLO. Oh, yes, my favorite, which I will now add to the beginning . . . and if you didn't figure out the riddle (which is highly unlikely if you're not reading it on the date it was written), the answer is each day on the Christmas countdown that corresponded to a BYU football player's jersey number that they knew they declared to be that player's day. Christmas itself was "Cosmo Day."

From a Call that Stunned Me to Josh's Preview

Started writing this last week, and then there was stuff and now I dare me to finish . . . 

I guess I stopped updating a month ago when my stake had a boundary re-alignment on Sunday night. They re-did the boundaries of 6 wards, and made a 7th. Our ward lost a street (sob! love those people), but gained 3 streets or so. Net gain of kids, that's for sure. 

That week I finally felt un-nauseated enough to cook dinner, and thought life may return to normal. I got a text asking me to come with Gary to meet with the bishop an hour and a half before church, and went expecting to team teach a primary class, or at the very loftiest, be a counselor in the Relief Society. I knew the old president had been cut out of the ward geographically, but since the bishop had known this would happen for a while, I also knew the new president had been called. The bishop started out by asking, "So are you nervous to be here?" I said, "No, there's only one thing in the ward I don't think I can do, and I'm sure that's already taken care of." "It's actually not," he replied. And I don't remember the next words exactly because he called me to be the Relief Society President and I was in shock. I cried a little, and went in a buzz for the next few hours. I saw all of the new women in Relief Society and thought, "Oh, my goodness, these people expect someone to take care of them who knows what they're doing, ack!" I was called and set-apart without counselors.

The first week all alone was nutty. I took care of several welfare needs right away, and had to make the decision to move the Christmas dinner from right away to later. Also, while talking to the bishop on the phone about counselors Lissy brought me her poopy diaper she'd taken off. That would indicate how things operate around here . . .

Novels aside, things you may have missed:

- Took Noah to inner ear specialist, turns out the lady who made the appointment was not smart, and we had to go to Park City. No matter, Noah felt very special, and claims the Cafe Rio there is better than the one in Tooele. Inadvertent date day, and doctor said the hole is indeed big in his eardrum, but we just get it checked once every few months until the spring - then it's healed or needs surgery.

- Lissy had her big CT scan/neurosurgery appointment. Once again, the doctors were amazed, and said her skull did not do the bad thing they feared it would. Nearly healed! They said she must be Superman. Also she looked cute listening to her princess book during the CT. We got a Jamba to celebrate and Gary said it was very girly of us.

- I have had two OB appts now, and so far all is well. The kids are excited by the fact the baby is doing a headstand in the photo.

- Lissy and Andrew had well child checks and Andrew was very proud to get his kindergarten shots. Lissy is around the 60th percentile for weight and height, and Andrew the 98th for both.

-Speaking of Lissy, she is too, too cute. She spends a lot of time putting her babies to bed and reading and singing to them. Tonight she sang 3 songs to a doll as she smoothed the blankets over and over.

-Speaking of Andrew, he is too, too sweet. Some of the time. Others, his SPD is back and no good, terrible, awful. Gary and I are both starting to feel really crazy over it.

-Josh and Noah started basketball a while back, and had their first games last week. Both had fun, and even though Noah didn't really know what to do, he was grinning the entire time. He guarded his man even when he was on offense, and when he got a basket Josh said to the kid that was sitting by him, "That was my brother that just scored!"

- I decided the lights at temple square are actually worth it. After a few years of being frozen and losing my kids in crowds, I was about done, but on Wednesday we found ourselves in Salt Lake around 5 with an hour to use before Gary got off work, so we went to temple square. Wonderful! The lights were gorgeous, and we got to fully enjoy them because hardly anyone was there. We never got cold because we looked at the stuff in the buildings, too. Josh really loved the tabernacle, and planned a trip for him, me, and Gary to go once he turns 8. We watched the Nativity up close, and got to see the Christus without a line. Before we went there I said, "Let's go in there and see Jesus." Andrew said, "I never want to see Jesus!" I replied, "It' just a statue." "Oh," he said, and went in. Sad story? Anyway, it was really lovely all together. (Then dinner at City Creek and Target extravaganza . . . phew, but fun.)

-Related to the above - took all my kids with me to the OB so we could be in SLC together afterward. They were mostly good as gold, coloring for an hour and a half, but one. Yeah, the one was Josh. Not exciting enough, but he had fun once he found the dr's business cards, and spent the rest of the time building structures. Plenty of friction in there, he declared.

- Once upon a time, two days before the Relief Society stuff, I got to have a night out with Kami and Julie. Went to some outlets and solved the crisis of the pants and shoes at our house, but mostly enjoyed some kid-free, low-nausea time.

- Gary worked on Saturday. Bleh. No big deal, I took the kids to see Santa at the Stansbury club house, so haha on Gary, missed Santa. All 3 boys were in awe, and weren't able to ask their many questions once they got up there. 

-Josh had his baptism preview tonight, and seeing his excitement had me crying all night. With happiness. They mentioned scouts and his dimples came out. Baptism is June 7 at 12:00. Josh was thinking midnight, but I think probably noon.

Love you all, hopefully all is well and I get back to you before another month and a half passes . . .

Gary Travels and Angel-People Make My Life Awesome

We had absolutely glorious weather on Monday, and we spent a really long time at the park. Love it! Of course we got kicked in the hiney weather-wise come Thursday, but you know, at least there was Monday and Tuesday. I got to volunteer at Noah's class for the first time. I was aghast at the amount of worksheets being done, but Noah was so happy to have me there, and he loves school, so those are scores. I also saw that he looks adorable in kindergarten and is skinny. Maybe he needs all of the treats he begs for?

A friend in the ward came over and played with my kids while I cleaned my garage on Tuesday. Hooray, hoorah, I can park in there now! When the hail came a few days later I was very grateful. I was anyway, but more grateful. On Wednesday I had to shake Josh awake, and he came dragging downstairs with white lips and wouldn't eat. I tried to perk him up and make him go to school, but decided to believe him and let him stay home since I know he loves school. Also Gary said I should. Turns out he threw up not too long after school started, so then I felt guilty I made him wake up when he said he didn't feel good. He threw up a few times that day, and there was a moment when one child was throwing up, one was screaming bloody murder about a cut on his thumb, one was in trouble for causing the cut, and another was being waaay too helpful in helping me clean up the puke, but by evening things were great. Gary didn't get home until 10 because of getting ready for a meeting/trip thing, but a friend brought us dinner that night. She said she had wanted to do something for us ever since Lissy got hurt, and wouldn't take no for an answer. She brought the food, helped me clean up the kitchen, and chatted for a minute. Her service and nice words saved the day! Who knew we would need it so bad when she was offering? Seriously, people are angels. Hope I can do for others what they have done for us.

Gary had a grand tour of the prisons, jails, and receiving centers in central and southern Utah on Thursday and Friday. He went with a bunch of legislators, and stayed in St. George overnight. He said it was an awesome opportunity to learn about the way things really are at places, and then debrief with everyone in the car afterward. As for us, we were sad to not see him, but thought we had stuff planned to keep us busy. Some unfinished Super Saturday projects fell on my head while cleaning out a closet, so a friend helped me finish them on Thursday. Another friend helped me put dinner in the crock pot while she was passing time between elementary school and preschool drop off (yeah, right, she is too awesome). Since we had dinner ready, I made Halloween cookies with the kids to pass the time in a fun way. I wasn't scared to be alone because having 4 kiddos makes me too busy and tired to be scared anymore, so I cleaned up and sat down to drink lemon tea to clear my congestion (remember the yucko sinus infection?). Ahhh, relaxing. Ready for bed. Here's how it went:

11:15 - Gonna get in bed! Oops, no, Andrew is screaming because he is peed, and refuses to let me help him. He does that. Ok, really to bed at midnight.

3:30 - Wake up to incredible hail storm. Sounds like we live in a tin shed, that stuff is so powerful. After about 10 minutes, it subsides, I fall asleep eventually.

4:25 - A man who is not Gary gets in bed with me. I bite him and plan my escape, but realize there is another guy downstairs. Aaah! But, turns out it was a dream. That's good, but it seemed totally real. My pitch black house I was not scared of, is now scary against the backdrop of a thunder storm. Also, a get-well balloon against a heating vent makes a very scary sound when you know not what it is. I try to fall asleep, but no dice, I have to go downstairs, check things out, and read the Ensign a bit. Finally get back in bed and drift off around 5:10.

5:30 - Bolt of lightning shakes the house, and I'm awake. Wish I had an alarm system to warn me of would-be bed intruders.

7:00 on the dot - Lissy is poopy, and refuses to sleep another second. Welcome, Friday!

I felt like a winner on Friday, so I scrapped plans of ambition and helped the kids tromp through the hail. Also started messing with the disaster of the ages called switching seasonal clothing. Now that it's over and I'm alive, the night is very funny to me, especially since I wasn't even worried beforehand! Gary got home around 7:30 that night, all cute and tuckered. We were also tuckered, so there was mutual tucker-age. (Ok, now that I'm finally posting online and it's been a while and I am hugely pregnant, let's put a bit more perspective on this - I was dealing with really yucky morning sickness during this entire time. Made things pretty disgusting.)

Saturday started out as a fun day of soccer, but when I was buying treats for Josh's game I got a phone call asking me to show up at the fire station at 1:15 with Lissy. I had heard some people were organizing a bike rally for Lissy to help pay for her medical bills, but that I actually wasn't supposed to know about it, so I tried to not think about it. When we arrived, I was completely overwhelmed. All of these kind, kind souls, most of whom didn't know us, had gathered to ride. We said a few things, cried a little, and took pictures, and then they took off. About 4 hours later they rode up to our house with an amount of money I consider quite sizable and presented it to us. I have been praying non-stop that these people will feel the love in their lives that they have brought to ours. I don't know how to thank them enough, and the things I said seem so inadequate. This act of kindness blew me away. I feel like this paragraph should be ten pages, because it feels that significant to me, but I'm at such a loss to describe or thank, as I am with so many of the acts of service we have seen. Once again, I pray I will be that person to someone else.

General Conference is awesome, I loved it! The boys each picked someone beforehand they would listen to in addition to the prophet, and they did a good job with listening to that much. Josh chose Boyd K. Packer because of Green Bay Packers. Nice. We tried to learn something about each person we chose to make it more personal. Some day I will have incredible entertainment and reward systems for listening such as I've seen, but for now that was good. For the rest of the time the boys dug in the recycle bin, found a bunch of milk and juice cartons, and played some game involving a ball. Lissy climbed all over us, most often pretending to be a dog.

At Long Last - Getting Out

Last week was interesting, because it seemed like by the end we were nearly-normal. Lissy took less and less pain killers each day, and became better at moving around. She really is so thrilled to be doing things again. I got out the winter jammies the other day, and in the box were a few summer toddler jammies. Noah put some Batman ones on Lissy and some very small truck ones on himself, Andrew threw on the gorilla jammies, and they all went out and played in the mud. They were all cute and happy, but Lissy was giddy to be outside again.

Holly was waaaay awesome to come to our house on Tuesday and watch our kids while Gary and I went to the temple. We did sealings (actually did all of the cards Mom gave us), and when it was our turn to be the couple, I couldn't stop crying with gratitude for the ordinance. I kept thinking that even if we had lost Lissy, we wouldn't have really lost her. Being in the temple made it so real. After the temple, we headed over to Blue Lemon and had a fantastic meal. Hooray, Holly! It was fun talking to her the next morning, but Gary didn't even get to see her.

Kami came up on Wednesday to help out, and it was so fun to see her. I got to go running and grab some groceries, which are things which haven't happened lately. Also, I laughed a lot, so great day. On Thursday Andrew had a field trip to the fire station for preschool, so we all went. Our first outing! Lissy was way clingy, and I held her the whole time, but it was great to be out, and the kiddos loved seeing the fireman stuff. I got a chance to talk to the guy in our ward that was a first responder EMT for Lissy's accident. Poor guy seemed like it was a pretty hard thing to see that day. He also told me that the reason they took so long to get to us that day was because they'd been at a car accident in Lake Point. I knew it was a while!

On Friday I woke up very, very early because I was so sick. Couldn't swallow. Ever since then I've had a sinus infection, and yesterday I broke down and picked up my Z-pack. Thought I might when I was teaching Sunday School and I had to slip out to blow my nose while people looked up scriptures.

Regardless of sick, we went to the BYU football game on Friday night. The boys were SO excited. We left Lissy at Kami's house to sleep (game was late and cold), and went with the super-fans. Great game, and cold air was good for what ails me. We all had tons of fun and popcorn.

K, can't depend on Z-pacs alone, some sleep would probably be helpful as well.

Fireman Andrew

With friends before they move!

Another friend about to leave . . .

It was adorable - they immediately came home and started working on their fireman coloring books.

She can play!

Super-fans intently watching . . .

Goooo Cougars!