more christmas

i figured a couple of small posts about christmas was better than a great big long one!

this is our christmas breakfast spread. the fruit tray has strawberry dip, oranges, bananas, green apples, kiwi, and red grapes. i've dubbed it our fruit rainbow. there are hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, and danish. milk, orange juice, and eggnog to drink.

as blythe and blaine had just moved 2 days previously, we had them over for dinner. we also had millers, and des. that was a total of 16 people for dinner! it was actually a lot of fun. i managed to make it through without have a breakdown at all! 

for dinner, we had ham (it was a 13 lb with bone, but i still have 1/2 left!), funeral potatoes, a huge veggie tray (carrots, celery, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, broccoli, and cauliflower), rolls, and salad. if anyone was hungry when dinner was over, it was their own fault!

christmas continued

our good friend, blythe, moved back from texas this week. so, monday was dedicated to helping them get their stuff moved in, and semi-settled (we got beds put up).

tuesday, we found someone to watch the kids so we could do some last minute errands. we got some help with christmas this year, and needed to pick it up. however, it made no sense to do it WITH the kids, as it was for them. besides, upon picking it up, it filled the van. there wouldn't have been room for them. there was 3 times more than i was expecting!
upon going through the stuff, i discovered that there was way more stuff than we needed. i pulled 3-4 items out of each of the kids' boxes, and put them up for a later occasion. some of the stuff didn't fit, or was too "young" for them. but, i have birthday stuff for taylor, elizabeth, and shannon this next year (i think).
that night, i proceeded to wrap everything. it took me a little over 2 hours to get everything wrapped. all the kids had 6 gifts, plus their santa one. 7 is more than enough. next week, we will go through their old toys, and choose 3-4 to give away.

taylor received a couple of i spy wii games from santa. he had a wallet, an emergency bracelet, skipbo jr, a scarf, and various odds and ends in his stocking. he got a bunch of cars, 2 consructo-bot transformers, a voice changer, a slinky (which the little kids have destroyed), a pair of jammies, and a top racing game. there are other things that i can't recall.
elizabeth got an alarm clock from santa. her stocking contents are a mystery to me right now. she got a large doll, a doll head to practice hair-dos on, a couple of princess barbies, a pair of jammies, boots, gloves/hat set and a complete outfit.
shannon got a princess tea set from santa. a pair of jammies, a complete outfit, a couple of princess barbies, some hair things; barettes, clips, headbands, a scarf/gloves/hat set, and various odds and ends in her stocking as well.
ashley got a plastic tea set from santa. she also got a pair of jammies, hair things, a couple of princess barbies, a new pair of sunday shoes, a new dolly, a musical guitar, and various odds and ends in her stocking as well.
michael received a steering wheel that makes different vehicle sounds, fire truck, car, big truck, etc. he also got a new outfit, a play phone, some trucks, a set of little people super heroes, a pair of jammies, and some books.
 shaun got the hobbit on extended dvd, a new ball cap, the original story of superman book, published in 1978, a nice hoodie jacket, a shirt, a 12 piece screwdriver, a model car to assemble and various odds and ends as well.
i got a pamper pack from santa. it had 8 or so pairs of socks. it also had a sleep mask, but it gives me a headache to wear. i got a pair of jammies, some jewelry, a water tower for my christmas village that is still being painted.

santa also left us a gingerbread kit, which the kids started to put together today, and a snow disk. from their aunt, they received 2 snowman kits. eyes, coal, buttons, noses, and scarves.

considering that until the week before, we weren't going to have more than 3 gifts each, we made a haul!

christmas

it's been a few weeks.

trying to get ready for christmas, and all the normal stuff has taken up almost all my time.

the kids have struggled the last 2 weeks or so, getting school done. i think they're ready for a break, but if we take too long, it will put us further behind, and make it that much harder to get back into it. i've discovered that incentives help elizabeth with her literature. and that taylor can get his entire schedule completed in less than 3 hours when he wants to. this week, being christmas, we are taking it easy, and just doing spelling.

i had an impromptu goodie baking day with a friend. i mentioned to her that i wanted to do a few more goodies, but was unable to because of funds. she offered to purchase the supplies, and then we had fun the rest of the day! we made fudge (YUM!), we tried eggnog fudge (WOW! i don't like eggnog, but that stuff was divine.), we tried caramel (the first batch ended up too hard. the other batches i made at a later date, were just right!), and we made a pumpkin roll. she took everything we made back to her house, cause there were less fingers to snatch pieces, and a "hiding" place.

later, i made some m&m sugar cookies, and dipped some pretzels. days later, i still need to get everything plated. 

i made 2 batches of danish. and we gave away an entire batch. 

christmas breakfast was delicious, as always. this year, i wasn't able to manage strawberries, so we did fruit dip instead. i didn't do pineapple either. it always ruins my pan.

our menu consisted of, scrambled eggs, danish, hashbrowns, bacon, sausage, orange juice, milk, and eggnog. my favorite meal of the day!

christmas baking

as christmas draws ever closer, and i realize how close it's getting, it's time to start on the christmas goodies.

fudge, chocolate covered pretzels, danish, caramels, cookies...and anything else i think of.

as things have been a little tighter than normal, i tried substituting in the fudge recipe. i didn't think things through far enough, and the fudge didn't turn out. a 4.4 oz chocolate bar is a lot less than a 12 oz bag of chocolate chips. it tasted ok, but not normal. but it was super greasy, and when you cut it, it all crumbled. the second attempt, i got the correct ingredients, and it finally turned out right. the kids mutilated the fudge, so i can't cut it and put it on plates to give away. 

crooked smile

yesterday morning, michael pulled the pan of fudge of the counter...

glass pan

5 lb of fudge

...right onto his face. there was blood, but we couldn't find the source (he wouldn't let me in to look either).

last night, as shaun was getting him ready for bed, we discovered that his lower jaw appeared to be crooked.

you can see where his middle teeth don't match.

so, late last night, 9:30, i took him up to the hospital to have him checked out. we were able to quickly see the doctor, and he saw the concern. he ordered a ct scan so that we could have a clear picture, especially, since michael wouldn't let us look inside his mouth.

and then we waited. they had to send the scan out to have it read. finally, at 11, we had the results. no fracture, no misalignment. (YEHAW!) the doctor thinks it's just swollen and bruised, and that he's holding it at a spot so that the least amount of discomfort occurs.

if things don't improve by tuesday, i'll take him back in, and have him re-evaluated.

slow and steady

i have finally reached the point where things have started to slow down. at least it feels like it. it's entirely possible that i've just gotten accustomed to the new normal for us.

mondays are insane. at least they feel like it. we have an appointment at 10, and again at 1. between the two, there is just enough time to make sure kids get fed, and check on a few things.

today, we added another appointment at 9, and then a desperate need to get milk and eggs. i've been running since 7:30 this morning, and won't be able to stop until after 10 tonight.

school is very short on mondays because of all the appointments.


i think the thing i've learned the most over the last few weeks is to just take things a little slower. if i keep trying to run all the time, i'm going to fall short. and i hate falling short. i've stopped trying to be supermom, and i'm just focusing on being the best mom i can.

power

this morning at 6:30, the power went out. the outside temperature was -11F. needless to say, it was cold. as the power was out, i used the good brain i was given, and figured that the little girls would be out of school today.
we bundled everyone up, and tried to stay warm. the power didn't come back on until close to 2, and by then the temp in the house was only 60.

we are starting to stay warm now. hope it doesn't go out again!

finality

shaun's uncle passed away last week. he had been on dialysis, and was a diabetic. i'm not sure what killed him in the end, but i suppose it doesn't really matter. we were all a little surprised he went first. his wife is just as bad off as he was.

the saddest part, is that his family doesn't believe in the gospel. they had been members at one time. he lost a daughter in a horse riding accident. since then, they have been antagonistic toward the church.

the funeral was on friday, but we'd had sick people and were hesitant to attend.

we hope that the rest of the family can find some peace.

updates

i seem to make all these grand plans, and then things fall apart.

i've been trying to keep up on the blog. i love that it can be used as a journal, and at the same time keep family up to date. it's hard to do updates, or anything for that matter, when you don't feel well.

i spent last tuesday and wednesday cooking for thanksgiving. i got pumpkin roll and rolls done. and since i was trying to stay awake, i also made cookies, and something else...can't remember what it was.

wenesday night, i woke up in severe pain. i have a very high tolerance level, so for something to wake me up like, it has to be pretty bad. we called a friend, and he was able to come help shaun give me a blessing. within 20 minutes, the pain was gone and i was able to go back to bed.

thursday, i cooked the turkey, and the rest of our thanksgiving dinner. that night, i had pain again. it wasn't as bad as the night before, but it still hurt.

friday night, we were up most of the night with michael. he was throwing up something fierce. the poor kid dry heaved for hours. saturday we were kind of lazy. since shaun and i had been up all night, we were really tired.

saturday we cleaned. we were able to get the house pretty well done. elizabeth and shannon didn't get their room as clean as it needed to be, which is nothing new. i'm ready to take away all their toys, and leave them with just their beds, their clothes, and one blanket for sleeping. both shaun and i went to bed early, 10:30/11. only to have to get up and sit with ashley who said her bum hurt. we never did figure out what the problem was.

the alarm went off this morning, and as usual, i turned it off. the next time i woke up, the clock said 9:45! we were late for church and i was going to be in trouble if i didn't make it there to do the library! i threw on some clothes, told shaun he'd have to get the kids ready and bring them later, and ran out the door. i made it there in plenty of time, and my partner made it as well! i learned just today (i've been in the library with her for 4 months or so), that she suffers from migraines.