Happy Cake--Yummy!

My mom has an amazing recipe for pound cake, not like any other pound---lots of butter, sugar, eggs, etc.! Well, just because I'm being festive (not because I was craving it myself!) I made a batch.
It seems that it is now Adam's favorite since he has coined it, "Happy Cake". I think that pretty much sums it up.
Luke seems to have his own recipe for happy cake down since he is sleeping 12 hours a night (this makes me very happy) and is so full of laughs and squeals during his awake hours. He is in my favorite baby stage--sitting up, rolling around, thinking about scooting, but not crawling yet.
After crawling, theres just no turning back!

One Year Ago...

One year ago on this night I was sitting in a place I vow never to be again---Caribou Memorial Hospital---just the name sends my nerves flying.
After almost 48 hours in this wretched place my blood pressure could not take another moment and my dear Adam needed crazy, protective mama bear to come out roaring for him---all moms out there will know these moments in life where something just comes out from deep within and you just have the look on your face of "don't mess with my baby or you'll have me to deal with!". I was so at this point and beyond one year ago tonight---there was just a turning point that night of enough is enough, I'm not taking this anymore---Adam was so weak and many of you know the details of the story, but I've realized that at the time I was in crisis mode and it hasn't been until after the whole ordeal that it has sunk in how very blessed we are that things fell into place when they did so that we could still have Adam with us. From every creditable source, we have learned that a child will die within 3-5 days if intussusception as serious as Adam's was goes untreated. Well, one year ago today we were on day 2, entering day 3. And although we were in the named hospital above, it was going completely untreated!
So, on that cold, foggy night we were raced by ambulance to the small airport in Pocatello to get on the Life Flight plane to go to Salt Lake airport and on to PCMC. Those Life Flight nurses were amazing, after major anxiety attack involving a lot of crying, yelling at the staff of the mentioned hospital, breaking out in sweat and rash--I was so calmed by the Life Flight nurses, they took charge and ripped out every tube and IV that was in Adam and replaced them and informed me on every detail I needed to know.
After arriving at PCMC, Adam condition was immediately treated and he was in surgery and then recovered there for nine long days. Being there for nine days gave me an unforgettable gratitude for life and health. It truly is such a blessing to have healthy children.
I search for words to express my love for Adam and nothing seems sufficient. I will settle to keep my feelings to my heart and simply say I love him beyond measure! And I look at that picture above (which was actually taken towards the end of his hospital stay) and think that little Luke was still in me, waiting to come and it's hard to imagine life without him. And Julia and Jack that were so sweet and loving through this whole experience and continue to be so wonderful. I love these children so much, I love Aaron so much and am thankful that his heart also swells for these children.
I am thankful that the date is December 12, 2008 and that Adam is healthy and full of life today---what a difference a year makes!

Pictureless

I have been sooo bad at pictures lately---I brought my camera to all of our Thanksgiving festivities, but did I take one picture? No! Even though I have no pictures to prove it, we did have a great Thanksgiving. I am really excited for Christmas!
Julia and Jack are really excited too---Julia of course has analyzed over the past year why there is no possible way that Santa could be real because in her words: first, he used the same wrapping paper that she saw me buy at the store and second, santa might be a real person, but there is NO WAY there are flying reindeers. I am not going to lie to her, so I just say if you believe then he's real---then she replies, "well, I'm going to pretend to believe so that Jack will believe."
Jack is at a magical age for Christmas and has asked for a pogo stick for months. I cannot think of another toy that would so perfectly match Jack's personality!
I've been trying to get Adam excited for Christmas, but he's not quite catching on to the whole concept of it all. When I ask him what he wants for Christmas he says, "make bread with mommy"-- He is my little baker helper, so that works out well!
Luke is obviously clueless, but who cares about what holiday it is when you are happy and laughing everyday?! The kids know how to make Luke laugh with peek-a-boo, and boy does he laugh---another thing I need to use my camera (video) for!
I took Luke to his 6-month appointment and they confirmed to me what I already know--he's big! He is 29 inches long and weighs 21 pounds. I didn't think it was possible to grow eight inches in six months, but I guess it is! Aaron informed me that means he has grown one inch every 18 days. All that sleep has done it's job!
Adam has coined a hilarious new term---when I ask him if he is a big boy or a baby, he always replies, "a biggie"---I guess thats the toddler version of a tween!
I will make up for lack of pictures with family pictures to come---I am excited that the same lady that did our pictures in July will be taking them again this week. I actually do not like the stress of getting pictures done at all, but I'm glad to have them when it's all done!

Hop, Skip & Jump

I went to Parent Teacher Conferences tonight for Julia and Jack. Both teachers said really nice things, but what I loved the most is something Jack's teacher said. She said, "Jack really likes to hop to the pencil sharpener."
It made me laugh because it's so true--Jack prefers hoping/jumping over walking and he seems to pull it off with ease!
His teacher said he was "delightful" and that is just how I would describe Jack--full of delight, wonder, imagination, joy and love!
Today he wrote a book for Aaron called, "A Giant of Thunder" It goes like this: once there was giant, the giant is mad, (next page) mad, the end!
He is constantly coloring and making up books--yesterday's book was "I am Jack" I am a go-Jack, I go, Who is Jack? Jack. The end.

I love that boy that hops!

Bragging Rights

I know that one big complaint of blogs is that they are too braggy---I agree, but if you are keeping a blog and neglecting your journal as I am currently doing, sometimes you just have to spill the beans about how perfect something was:
So, here's mine--Primary Program, Grace 2nd Ward, November 9, 2008---Julia gets up to say her part and has it completely memorized (something that she did completely on her own) and says it with perfect clarity to an audible gasp from the audience when she was done!
2 Nephi Chapter 4 verse 15:
"And upon these I write the things of my soul, and many of the scriptures which are engraven upon the plates of brass. For my soul delighteth in the scriptures and my heart pondereth them, and writeth them for the learning and the profit of my children."

Cookies, Cookies...

I recently saw a quote from Hillary Clinton that said, (I'm paraphrasing, but the cookie part is exact!) "I guess I could've stayed home a baked cookies all day, but I wanted to make a difference..." Ok, in all honestly I don't know about the making a difference part, but that was the main jist of it.
Well, I choose to make cookies, maybe not all day, but lately, everyday! Adam and I are getting in this great and horrible habit of making cookies everyday after he wakes up from his nap---it all starts when he goes and gets a bowl and says in the cutest voice ever, "make cookieeeees". And then how can I resist him telling me, "good mommy" with every ingredient I add.
If you can't handle the idea of little feet being a bit too close to cookie dough and then little fingers finding their way into the dough then please don't eat the cookies from our house. Oh, and the Bumbo on the counter---a big no, no, but I was standing there the entire time!

Too much on the brain!!!

Please refer back to previous posts about never getting that perfect picture with everyone looking and smiling! And I know, it looks as if Luke will soon be holding Jack instead of the other way around!
Anyone that knows me or I should say knows me well, knows that I get really into the news, issues, etc.
I remember as a teenager I heard this lady in church say that she just can't watch the news, it just makes her cry. At the time I thought this was the most annoying thing I had ever heard because I thought you have to watch the news, you must be informed, etc. Being informed on issues, current events, etc. is basically like a commandment to me.
But, I have to admit I am almost getting to the point of that lady in church. The news doesn't make me want to cry---it makes me want to scream! If I see another sound bite from the 50 million Sarah Palin interviews since the election has been over I think I will scream---15 minutes are up---please go home or moose hunting or whatever, just go! Not that I like the replacement news much more---let's change our minds yet again about how to spend this $700 billion and while we're at it let's add a billion more here and there and everywhere--it's like being Santa Claus with a noose---let's find our top 1,000 ways to raise taxes in our first 3 days of office---and the spin on the whole Prop 8 is driving me batty, if you can't already tell---
I hardly ever watch TV, I actually read all this news online, cnn, msnbc, fox news, ksl all among the daily reads, but today while trying to find a cartoon I watched just a few minutes of the View, needless to say after 5 minutes of watching I emailed Whoopi four different times (mostly because you could only have 250 characters per email) about how misguided her comments were---really, is Whoopi really going to read my emails or is she really going to care or change her views because of me---i'm thinking no!
So...this brings me to my point---is it really so bad to take a break from the news? I think that is what I need. I am still strong on my stances, I still want to know an overall picture of whats going on, but really I can't handle the half-truths, the twisting and turning of everyone's spin and agenda any longer.
Back to those that know me well, they know that I always have "just one more thing" to say--so here it is---On Prop 8, one thought: I am saddened to see so many members of the Church make comments and posts about how the Church is sorta right, but sorta not right and they agree with what the Church has said kinda, but how they would've done it this way or that way differently---seriously---take a step out of this crazy world we live in and look at the whole picture and wake up! You can love all of God's children and still have conviction--I promise it's possible--look at our amazing Prophet and then look again and listen!
Ok, I'm done--no more, back to cute & silly children stories!

Halloween times 4!

I need to get my act together with taking pictures--we had two family Halloween parties the weekend before Halloween and I did not take one picture--I even packed my camera! But, they were really fun parties--thanks to mom and dad and Aaron's parents for two great parties!
Then there was the pictureless Halloween Carnival as mentioned before. So, when the actual night of Halloween came I thought I should redeem myself with a few pictures. The only problem is that Luke was asleep, Adam put on Jack's costume, Jack wanted to be a Dracula, instead of Buzz Lightyear and Julia thought her butterfly costume wouldn't be warm enough for trick or treating, so we came up with a makeshift clown costume for her!
So, here are the Halloween pictures, sorta!

My VP....

As I mentioned before, being the PTO President is quite the adventure (well, thats one word for it!). Everyone keeps asking me, who is your Vice-President----well, I don't have one! Yes, thats right--I've been on my own, well not completely because I have Julia! So, I have decided from now on when asked about a VP, I'll say that Julia is my VP---because she is my best help!
This week we had the Halloween Carnival at the school and do you think I got one blasted picture to document the weeks of hard work I've put into this event--no! I guess you have to always forget something. It was a success though and I am very glad that it is over!!!

Lukey Lu...

Luke is now almost 5 months old---he is such a wonderful baby that I love so very much. He is pretty mellow, although he has discovered a very high pitch scream. It is sometimes a mix between a scream and a squeal, but it's always really high pitched! He is a sleeper---he reminds me a lot of Jack as a baby--loves to sleep and grow a lot! In fact, I saw this picture of Jack & Julia when Jack was about Luke's age and it really reminded me of Luke.
I scanned this picture and I can't figure out how to make the actual picture bigger, but you get the idea---chubby cheeks, big eyes, really cute! That's just how Luke is right now!
Five months has flown by and I am actually hoping that the next four or five months fly by too because Luke has to wear a helmet to reshape his head for the next 4-5 months. A couple of weeks ago he had a cast made of his head and then they make a helmet from that mold that will reshape the head to be more round and symmetrical. The reason he needs this is because since he was born he always turns his head to the left while he sleeps, so he has developed a flat area on that left side mostly. The helmet will reshape his head during the next few months. It is the best time to do this while he is still young. But, I must say he is so dang cute that he can even do a helmet and be darling!

Recent Pictures

Ok, after this I am done blogging for another two weeks! And to add to my last post---you know you have four kids when you blog by typing with one hand and drool is somehow all over your other hand & arm!
Just a few last pictures from recent events:
*It's official: Adam knows Luke is here to stay & he likes him!**Julia enjoyed the first snowfall so much more than anyone else!*



*This is so gross---update on the attack of the yellow jackets---after sufficiently destroying the nest by driving the car into the backyard to run over and over it and a lot of bug spray--this is what Aaron and the kids dug up--a creepy nest with hundreds of eggs--yikes!

*And I don't have a picture to show, but Jack is reading and we are so proud of him--he has brought home his first little books from school and it is so fun to hear him say things like, "sssam, sssam I am", "mmmat, mmmat has a hhhat".

Watch out David Letterman

Here's my attempt at a funny top 10 list of my life currently,

Top Ten Ways you know you have four kids...

#10--You put a size 2T shirt on your 4 month old baby, roll up the sleeves and say, "that will do"...
#9--Your two year old is walking around the house with an empty toilet paper roll repeatedly yelling, "Hi Mommy, Happy Mommy"
#8--You see this in the kitchen and realize it's time for that two year old to take a nap:
#7--You add corn to every meal
#6--You can always find something on the couch to use as a burp rag
#5--You go through every name in the family until you get to the right name of who you are talking to
#4--You have a giant sock basket in the laundry room and hope everyone finds something that at least slightly resembles a match
#3--You think it's normal to hold a baby high in the air in public to sniff, sniff for a poopy diaper
#2--You count heads before you pull out of the garage
#1--Right when you think you are about to cry from insanity, some little person makes you laugh, smile & feel very important!!!

Parent Teacher Organization

I am the PTO President this year at Grace Elementary, and yes I plan on putting that on my resume and thanks to Sarah Palin I can list it under "executive experience". Now that I posted that whole politics thing, the flood gates are open!
As the PTO President, this is how my house has looked this week:
All of those are Grace Elementary Broncos t-shirts and sweatshirts that nicely showed up in a Fed Ex bundle at my door, just waiting for me to organize them, so everyone would get what they ordered. Again, another activity to accomplish during Adam nap time!
Then there were Red Ribbon Week treats to be prepared. A little goodie with a little slogan on it like "Don't be a Dum Dum, Say no to drugs", "Smarties don't do drugs", you get the idea! Well, there are 170 students at Grace Elementary, which compared to normal school sizes that doesn't sound like a lot, but when you are taping little sayings onto little candies for each child for four different days, it quickly seems like a lot!
So, again I will praise my Julia! My friends and I used to have this little chant, "We are Women and what do we do, We get things done!"---I love that, I love them! Last night, I felt like proclaiming the same thing with the help of my Julia! We got all the bags set out for each class and then a separate smaller bag for each day and just whipped the whole project into an organized mode. Julia begged me to stay up until I was done, and I feel like a bad mom to admit, but that meant she stayed up until midnight! There was no getting her to bed until the task was completed, she was determined and I was very thankful for her help.

Good intentions...

So, I always think of these grand ideas and a lot of times they don't really work out like I envisioned. Maybe I just have a too creative mind and I need to set my expectations a little lower!
Jack had a fun day at Nana & Baba's house and Julia and I wanted to make him a little party for when he got home with Aaron. So...she sprang into action, like she always does--with cards, signs to hang up and colored balloons, etc. All of that was cute, but then I got out a cake pan that makes six little cakes and had this grand idea to make six little cakes with all different colors of frosting. Six is better than one, right?
Well, this is how it turned out:
And yes, thats Adam mixing all the colors for his cake! I think I've mentioned this before on this blog, but cake decorating is not one of my strengths.




I did hang this up on the wall and it looked as cute as I envisioned:

Prepare for a long political soapbox...

Get ready for a lot of posts all at once! Things have been crazy busy around here lately---we had a blitz of doctor's appointments and things with PTO come all at once (t-shirt orders, red ribbon week, halloween carnival prep, etc....), not to mention the normal craziness of Aaron's extremely busy schedule with work, school and church responsibilities which equates to my craziness from time to time!
But, before I move on to the happenings of my lovely family, I must comment on politics---I have resisted for sooo long to post about it because I get so fired up! But, I can no longer hold it in......! There are too many opinions to put them all out there, but just for record's sake and a little humor, I will comment on our current political season. Plus, I want my children to remember that mom cared about current events, probably too much, but I care!
First, I will just put it out there, I plan on voting for John McCain, after reading a lot on voting records, watching the debates and simply thinking it through a lot. I am proud to say that I did not reach this decision merely by watching a panel of analysts on CNN or listening to Sean Hannity on the radio or reading just one article here or there. There are several things that I tend to agree a little more with Barack Obama on, but there are just some fundamental things that I disagree too strongly with him on to vote for him. So, here are my three main reasons for voting for McCain: (remember this is just for my own record's sake, I don't care if most of you have stopped reading by now!)
1-I love the idea of an across the board spending freeze and I really hope he sticks to his word on that. I won't go into my thoughts on how ridiculous it is how much money the government wastes!
2-I tend to trust his choices on who to appoint as Supreme Court justices more than Obama---I feel like Obama has a much greater chance of appointing someone with a political agenda that wouldn't align with my values and frankly the values of the majority of America.
3-I can't stomach that Obama can't stand up and say no, just flat out no to partial birth abortion. Obviously, I want NO completely to abortion at any stage, but his fumbling around the issue of partial birth abortion just angers me. He tries to make this giant loophole of "the health of the mother" sound normal, well you can call being overweight from the pregnancy a danger to your health. Life and death situation is a different scenario, but "health" of the mother--that vagueness equates to meaning anything someone wants it to mean. Which by the way, those life and death scenarios I mentioned hardly EVER happen.

Ok....take a deep breath, no more talk on that subject or I could go on way too long...With all of that said, there are some things that drive me crazy about McCain (remember I'm voting for him, so I have the right to also point out what I don't like). There are some details of big issues like health care and education that I don't like what he is proposing, but here are some ticky tac things that are bugging, just today:
Did anyone else notice last night on the debate how he went off on a tangent about finding a cure for Autism and said that this is something Sarah Palin struggles with, etc. (not an exact quote, but that general thought)---hello, Sarah Palin's baby has Down Syndrome, not Autism---big difference!
--Also, in the last two debates he does this random jig at the end because he doesn't know where to go--he looks like he's going to fall over and have a heart attack (another subject altogether!)---He flares his arms side to side while making funny, confused faces--it's just random and looks like he's had way too much coffee that day! If you see me, I will show you what I mean!
Ok, enough--if I've had enough by just typing, I'm sure anyone actually taking precious time to read this has had enough too! And if you're wondering when I have the time to go on and on with this soapbox---Julia and Jack are at school and Adam and Luke are asleep and I want a break from PTO stuff!
Take home message: Just make up your own mind & VOTE!!!

Four Months Old

My sweet Luke, four months old today----I love your big, beaming, blue eyes. I love that you smile and laugh so much. I love that you sleep through the night! I love that you love to hear my voice. I love that you are so strong. I love that you are mellow among lots of silly ( & loud!) siblings. I love you!

Camera ready....

Thank goodness for Julia's camera perfect perma-grin because I sure can't count on that with the others--I never know what I'll get!

One & Only

My visiting teacher saw this picture and she commented, "theres always one in every family..." One.....one firecracker, one with an iron will, one that answers everything with "Yea", one that never meets anyone without that person commenting on his eyelashes, one that can pull an all out fit and still melt your heart all in the same minute, one that can wear blue clues ears, green froggy boots and still pull off a cute outfit, theres only one Adam!










We wouldn't have it any other way---we love our Addie-boo!

attack of the bees!

there is never a dull moment around here---last night the kids were playing outside and julia comes running in and screams, "the yellow jackets are attacking the boys!!!" jack was right behind her screaming at the top of his lungs and poor adam was just in a standstill on the grass hill with bees swarming all around him---aaron jetted out to adam while i was frantically trying to get all the freaky creatures off of jack--there were three still stuck to his head, which in turn made for more screaming as they flew around the house---for several minutes i'm pretty sure everyone in our house was screaming! so, after a lot of screaming and many tears--we realized that jack and adam had each been stung four times---it was not a fun two hours for that benadryl to really kick in! jack's poor ear was all red---but, they finally fell asleep and they seemed to be a lot better today, but i have declared it a stay inside day!

Apologies for tags & Why I love this season....

First things first, I have not neglected checking everyone else's blogs on a daily basis, but I have neglected keeping my own up to date! I have had two different tags on my do to list, but I am just really bad at getting to those, so heres a summarized version:
1-the first one was for julia to answer questions about me & bless her sweet heart, all of her answers revolved around the theme that all i do and am good at is cooking and/or cleaning---little does she know that i hate to clean---well, actually i think shes picked up on that by now! anyway, i was kinda depressed by this and committed to finding opportunities to show her more of my talents and hobbies, etc. i won't bore you with details, but i have thought of a lot of ideas and i am excited to try to be better in this area.
2-the next tag was a lot about where i've been (travel) and where i'd rather be now---and my first response is, why would i rather be anywhere than grace, idaho???!!! just kidding, i love my home and i have enjoyed having more "at home" days lately. to sum up---places i've lived: long beach, california (unitl i was 12), draper, utah, nauvoo, il (for four months), provo & orem, utah, salt lake city, utah, lehi, utah and now grace, idaho----
places that i'd like to go: boston and surrounding area, back to new york--i still think about all the fun things i would love to still see and do there and any relaxing resort!

Now, on to why i love this season, fall time (it is already feeling very much like fall here, but no changing colors yet)
1-i love when it is just cool outside, just enough to feel crisp and clean air---also, because it's not hot---i don't like the heat...
2-love that life gets into more of a routine
3-love crock pot meals & soups---soup is my favorite dinner to make--i have lots of different recipes i love!
4-love cute sweaters & just all the fun clothes related to cooler weather---i feel more dressed up and put together in fall/winter clothes
5-we can get the kids to bed at a reasonable hour!

And now, here some of the latest pictures:Luke has graduated from the Boppy to the Bumbo! This is his first reaction to it--like what are you doing to me, mom, but he loves it now.



This little handsome guy has become my second skin in the last couple of weeks! He is also is the hording things around stage, he is usually carrying two to three small stuffed animals, a blanket and a sippy cup! He currently takes up the majority of my energy, but he also melts me with those eyes and eyelashes!
And look at these cute school kids! Julia latest thing is when I ask her something simple, she gives me this huge, long descriptive answer, like she wore a sweater the other day to school and i asked her if she got too hot in it and she said, "i wasn't hot, i was hotter than hot, like lava coming out of a volcano" and it went on longer than that! And then Jack piped in, "I wish I could be a volcano!"
The mornings continue to be long for poor Jack waiting and waiting for that darn bus! He continues to love school!

And I will leave you with this one last picture....I predict major payback for this when Luke gets a little older--the joys of older and creative siblings:

Back to School....

Julia woke up bright and early and was ready to go with her backpack looking bigger than her and looking absolutely darling!
I am a little nervous for her very long day---she leaves at 7:30 and gets home at 4:20---ridiculous 4 day school week! But, I know she will love it, she has a great teacher this year, Mr. Sotutu---I am so proud of her and am so excited for her to have a great 2nd grade year! I just love my sweet Julia!

It would be a major understatement to say that Jack was excited for school to start. He was showered, dressed and ready by 8:00---the bus wasn't coming to get him until 12:15!
He came downstairs, feeling like hot stuff and said, "are you ready to take my picture?"
So, there he was, waiting....
He would alternate looking at the side window, he sat on the front porch for over an hour waiting, we started taking silly pictures while we waited and he waited some more....



And then the time finally came---only ten more minutes until he was off into the big world of kindergarden---I of course frantically tried to make sure I had taught him everything he needed to know---you know the basics: use your good manners, raise your hand if you want to say something, don't tuck your shirt into your underwear, i love you and i'm so proud of you!
And he was off---just like that, no turning back, he's off! I love him so much! (and he looked so dang cute too!)Now to these two little guys wondering what's going on---Adam waved and said, "OOOOh, bye Gack" and of course he will be so excited to see his "Ju Ju" when she gets home.
Luke is just chillin wondering where all the noise has gone, he'll quickly remember that Adam makes enough noise for everyone!