Monday, December 27, 2010

A Few of My Favorite Things 2010

~1~ my Pack and their willingness to work with their hands
~2~ a mom who encourages my love of all things simple
~3~ antique sewing baskets full of little treasures (given to me by a lovely mother of my <3)
~4~ working with my hands
~5~ learning to sew
~6~ looking at the beautiful gift baskets and knowing that they were 100% handmade!
~7~ seeing our garbage can Christmas morning (after presents were opened) and seeing not one single piece of wrapping paper!
~8~ spending time with my little nieces and nephews and loving them so much it hurts
~9~ my children, who seem to enjoy my love for all things simple
~10~ My Pack! they are 5 of the most amazingly wonderful kids I have ever had the privelage of knowing!
~11~ my gift from my mom! "Country Wisdom and Know-how, everything you need to know to live off the land" I LOVE THIS BOOK!!
~12~ corn-filled bedwarmers :)
~13~ gardening... the day after Christmas I woke up with a smile on my face... now time to plan my garden for spring!
~14~ Christmas shopping at Goodwill :) and finding the most wonderful gifts for my girls there!
~15~ having 5 children, it makes even a seemingly small amount of gifts (for each child) look like an abundance when multiplied by 5 ;)
~16~ seeing Beans and Mouth's eyes light up when they see 2 huge jars of pickles under the tree with THEIR names on them!!
~17~ making Handsome Hubby's dream come true this year! a 4-wheeler with a plow! (used, pretty old, but runs great!)

I'm sure I will think of more during the next few days, I will try to remember to jot them down.

Awwwwww, time to relax and breath :)

Why is it that after Christmas is over, the presents have been unwrapped, the food has been eaten (and lots and lots of leftovers seperated and frozen in managable amounts), the baking is done, my projects are completed (some made the deadline, some did not), the parties are over, the ornaments have been lovingly wrapped in newspaper and put back in the boxes to await for next year, the house has been de-Christmas-ed, that I feel like I can finally breath again? Other than the obvious reason of me being allergic to the tree and I can actually breath again ;) I feel like this year was alot less stressful,(after I got over the fact that I was not going to knock myself out looking for that "perfect" gift for each of my Pack, there is no such thing, I have come to the realization). The tree came down today, the decorations all put away, my cozy livingroom back to normal. I can look out my livingroom window again. I can breath.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

... Hey Dad ...

" Hey Dad.
Remember when I was like, five,
and I believed everything you told me?"

"yeah"

"Well Dad,
I grew up".


(overheard yesterday when Beans was talking to Handsome Hubby)

Fifteen




I cannot believe she is 15. I feel old. very very old.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Mono for Christmas


Poor Beans has mono again I am thinking :( So sleepy and exhausted all the time. So pale. Headache that doesn't stop. Sore throat is gone but still has a low grade fever. What a miserable time to have this flair up again. So thankful she has been working hard in school so far this year! A couple weeks off of school isn't going to hurt her any, and trying to get her to get her work done (and done well) is pretty much impossible at this point. So she gets a few weeks off of school, will be sleeping thru the holidays... and I informed her that she won't be snoboarding till we get her checked out to make sure her spleen isn't enlarged... not a happy girl right now.


But on the bright side! She turns 15 next week and is so excited to take her test and hopefully get her learners' permit!!! If she can stay awake thru the test...
Oh! thought of another bright side! She will get out of helping shovel out the driveway tomorrow after we get 12-16 inches of snow!! That is definitely a bright side I think :)
Now I better get back to my to do list.... but today seems more like a "curl up with a good book" kind of day.
What do you think? Clean clean clean, bake bake bake, sew sew sew? Or read read read?

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

To Do List

Everyone has a to do list this time of year. All the things we MUST get done. And we have DEADLINES!!! And only a certain amount of time to get it all done :P
I am one very blessed mom, I have 5 AMAZING helpers! They are so great about stepping in and helping me get everything done before it needs to :)
Little Brother is wonderful at making sure the woodstove keeps on keeping us warm all day long. Beans is great with grabbing a recipe card and digging into baking the goodies on our list. Blue Eyes keeps the laundry chugging away and Mouth makes sure the chores get done everyday :) Baby Sister is great about giving me a hug and she loves helping me get the hand projects done for the Christmas gifts getting made for all the grandmas this year.

My List:

*Finish all gifts for the Grandmothers
*make bags for neices and nephews and the BP
*finish Beans' Bday gift!! (YIKES! Only 6 days to get that done!)
*bake: cherry choco star cookies
choc covered cracker thingys
kiss buttons
lemon meltaways
and about 10 other cookies, goodies, candies to make

*sew the Packs' Christmas gifts
*plan the menu and cook/bake for the Youth Christmas Party (saturday!!)
*drill the 2 youngest of the Pack on their program lines
*plan the menu for Christmas Dinner
*take the Packs 2010 portraits (this week!)
*deep clean the bathrooom, kitchen and porch b4 Saturday
*clean my bedroom and go thru my clothes
*plan the menu and bake/cook for D's work party
*Christmas Cards.... sorry people, scratching that one off my list this year :P maybe every other year will suffice?
*clean oven (still smokes from Saturdays bubbling carmel mess)
*Clean bathrooms at church b4 Sunday (!!! Yikes!!!! almost forgot about that one!)


And thats this weeks list and its already Wednesday.... better go. I have A LOT to do!!!

What does your to-do list look like at this time of the year??

A Mommy's Wish List

Ok, a mom's wish list is so much different than a child's or a single woman's wish list.
I don't have "a new Barbie doll", or a "DS Game" or some new fangled electronic device on my wish list. I don't have high end designer jeans I wouldn't know which ones are in style anyway, actually, I don't even know the high end designer jean's brand names... or a fancy shmancy purse, do they call them "bags" now?, on my wish list. No posh jewelry or glossy boots on a mommy's wish list, (secretly I would LOVE a pair of glossy high heeled black knee high boots! But I don't know where I would wear them or what I would wear them with. I would need a whole new wardrobe! hmmm... sign me up for the boots! ;)
Nope a Mommy's Wish List goes kinda like this...

* socks, size 9. something so different that my girls will not want to steal them
* a stand mixer. I am tired of handmixing all these Christmas cookies!!
* a bag of assorted zippers, bias tape, ect. for sewing projects
* TIME!!! to get everything done in a day that I need to
* a master bathroom!! or at least another bathroom in this house! 1 bathroom is just not enough anymore :P
* a maid for a day
* an anniversary getaway (3 months later)

ok, the master bathroom would be for ME!! but really, everything else on that list has something to do with the rest of the family. Remember when you were a child? Or single (I wouldn't know what that feels like, but I've heard about it!)? It seems everything on their lists are all about "ME MYSELF and I". Somewhere along the line it becomes something for the kitchen (to make food prep easier for when I make meals for them), something for the house, something for the whole family to enjoy.
I guess that's what being a mom is all about. I love my life and wouldn't want to change it for anything.

But I still dream of those glossy-black-high-heeled-knee-high boots with that fancy wardrobe and sparkly jewelry and that designer bag that has a some sort of new fangled electronic device tucked inside it :) A girl can dream right?!!!!

Friday, December 3, 2010

Pretty Little Stones

Don't look at the dirty hands please! Baby Sister is a dirt magnet.
November 15th, 2010

See the pretty little stone in Baby Sister's tummy? It was a very scary event that brought that not so little object to be in there....


We were doing school one day, right around the lunch hour, so some of the Pack were already done with school, Mouth was making lunch for everyone. Beans and I were in the schoolroom when Baby Sister came rushing down the stairs. She was very red in the face and turning blue around her lips and her eyes were screaming at me for help but not a sound was coming out of her wide open mouth. I thought maybe she had fallen and gotten the wind knocked out of her so I told her to settle down and put her head between her legs. Beans was watching all of this and told me," Mom, I think she's choking on something." (always my calm level-headed girl). So I turned Baby Sister and did the heimlich on her. it pushed enough air up to turn whatever was in her throat so she could get breath again! Then she started hyperventilating and acted like she was going to throw up. I didn't know what she had choked on. I didn't know if it was still lodged in her throat. She was sobbing and saying it felt like it was stuck "right here" and pointing to her throat. So I grabbed my keys, threw her in the van and drove the few blocks to the clinic (not the clinic we usually go to but I didn't feel comfortable driving the 15 miles to that clinic with a little girl who could stop breathing at any moment).




~ Note to all you moms out there, there is a very good reason to get up and get dressed for the day when you wake up in the morning. and um maybe put a bra on?!?! gotta love those baggy winter sweatshirts! needless to say I did not look pretty :P ~



We got there and they got her right in to see Dr. Wonderful. He sent her right to xray so we could see what she swallowed (she kept telling us it was a marble and showing us how big she thought it was, but we don't HAVE marbles that big!?! SO I really wasn't sure what we were going to find). Thankfully it had moved down into her stomach, not her lungs.


The first two xrays were the ones taken the day she swallowed it. They were deceiving. Dr. Wonderful thought she could pass it just fine and sent us home. After he gave her instructions that she had the job of "digging for treasure". SHE got that fun job, NOT her mommy dearest that she had just scared 5 yrs of life out of . If no treasures were found in 4 days he wanted to see her again and take another picture to see what was going on.




Well, no treasure. Lots of digging, but nothing to show for it. I was thinking this will cure her of ever putting anything in her mouth again. I was right, she barely eats anything now :P




So back into the clinic we went. Another picture was taken. She brought along a "twin" to the marble that she swallowed which ended up not being a marble but a decorative glass stone that I bought for making super cute magnets for my kitchen boards. She had been playing with the extras that I never used. That picture showed a better picture of the size of the object that we were dealing with. Scary!


Well, as of right now, no treasure has been found. Dr Wonderful has gotten in touch with a couple specialists. They both said to give it till after Christmas. If she still has it in her tummy then it looks like it will be surgery to get it out. The surgeons have a difference of opinion on how to get it out. One says to go back down thru the throat and get it out that way. The other says that could cause damage to her throat muscles, vocal chords, ect. and that they should go in and surgically remove it. Right now I am leaning more towards the surgery. I would not want to take the chance of damaging her throat in any way.




She is feeling good right now. She has had a few episodes when she gets stomach cramps and feels like she has to throw up but it passes quickly and she goes on with her day. Her appetite is pretty much nothing right now but she hasn't been losing any weight that I can tell. She still loves her sweets so we bribe her. :)
Never a dull moment with my Brat Pack. Keeps life interesting. right?








"It Was An Accident! ?"

So, Thanksgiving morning is on us, we are getting the pies finished up, the smashed potatoes smashed and seasoned, the salad made,

*didn't turn out, make ANOTHER ONE!!*

pack up the truck, glance at the Pack to make sure they are half way presentable

NOPE!!

* Baby Sister go change your shirt! *whine whine stomp stomp*

* no, not that one * "MooooooMMMMMM" whine whine stomp stomp stomp*

* NO not that one... something NICE * more whining and stomping*

* let Beans or Mouth help pick something out for you * stomp stomp and arguing can be heard by all three coming from their closet*

* QUIT WHINING! OR I WILL PICK OUT YOUR CLOTHES AND MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE A 3 YR OLD!!! *silence from the closet*

~Sidenote~ whining was from Baby Sister. NOT me

Have Beans, Blue Eyes and Mouth bring out the baskets of food.

Find out that the stupid trucks "cargo area" actually has no "area" to speak of. Can't even fit a laundry basket of food in the "cargo area".

The "I told you we should take the van" conversation (argument) takes place between Handsome Hubby and me (the always submissive, perfect wife ;).

* that stupid cargo area causes many arguments between us, but it is always when we are in the middle of something important, like making that super duper grocery run once a month or on our way to a family function with a truck full of food or we bought a large item at the store. It usually goes something like this...
"are you sure it will fit in the truck?" I ask.
he rolls his eyes and gives me a dirty look, "OF COURSE IT WILL FIT IN THE TRUCK" he answers me. just a tad annoyed with me because he thinks (knows) another "I told you we should take the van" conversation is about to take place.
we get out to the truck. open the back door of the truck, see all five heads of The Pack in their seats and the little bitty bit of space between the backseat and the back door.
"which kids do we leave here or sell?" I smugly ask him
(because I know when to keep my mouth shut and bask in the glory of being right... NOT)
so we take said big item out of the box and all its packaging and distribute all pieces from the box onto the laps of The Pack to hold all the way home. Or grocery bags get set on laps for the Pack to hold all the way home.
Its a silent drive home usually.*

Sorry! Rabbit trail!! Back to Thanksgiving morning... the basket won't fit in the truck cargo area.....

Someone will have to hold the basket on their lap I tell them.

*Leave them to argue about who gets that loverly privilege.

I send the 2 youngest of the Pack out to their seats while I am throwing on a sweater and trying to find my purse.

Oops, forgot to look in the mirror this morning.

run a brush thru my hair and over my teeth.

Handsome Hubby is waiting by the door for me, tells me the deck is icy, be careful ( I fell on the ice the week before, it hurt ). He helps me down the icy steps, then walks to the truck to check out the nonexistent cargo area. Opens the back door of the truck and sees the 2 youngest hanging over the seat in front of them (all he sees is their rears in the air), and overhears Baby Sister say, " we are gonna be in TROOUUUBLE."

"What are you doing!?!" he growls

Little Brother turns around and says very quickly, "It was an accident!" but the evidence is on his face.

Whip cream.

smeared.

all. around. his. mouth.

my banana cream pies
were smashed.

Handsome Hubby gets upset (banana cream is his favorite)

I
LAUGH

till I cry. (I can be the cool parent sometimes too ya know!)

*rewind*

Mouth had brought the pies out and set them on the middle seat while she went in to get her bag. Little Brother didn't realize said pies were on the seat that collapses when he hits the button for the seat to collapse so he can get out of the truck (kinda wordy. I know :P ) he forgot his hat and gloves and decides to run into the house quick to get them.

* Hits Button*

Pies disappear

Beans and Blue Eyes gasp

Mouth comes upon the scene. Eyes are huge

They snap the seat back into upright position and find toothpicks sticking out of the seat back (I put toothpicks in the pies to keep the plastic wrap from destroying my pretty whip cream decorating).

There is whip cream on the seat, oozing out of the plastic wrap on all sides. Little Brother decides to get rid of all evidence.


Eat. The. Whip Cream.

Handsome Hubby enters the scene.

"It was an accident!" is heard

Laugh till I cry.

Its these moments that make life fun :)

We salvaged the pies (its not like someone sat on them or anything ;)

Drove to my parents and had a great day with family :)

The End