Rewind: Tree House Museum Field Trip

Tonight is the lunar eclipse and "blood moon".  I've been sitting here doing a few things:

 

1) trying to decide if I want to stay up until 1:45 to see the eclipse at its peak or go to bed and set my alarm to get up when its time to go outside and take a gander

2) thinking about the Outshine fruit bars that I bought today...I really want one right now but am I more in the mood for coconut or pineapple?

3) surfing the internet, reading the news, and trying to figure out how else I can fill my time while attempting to make decisions on numbers 1 and 2

 

Whilst mulling these things over in my mind and wasting perfectly good laundry-folding time as I sit here in my office, it occurred to me that I haven't posted here since that amazing week in March when I knocked out something like four posts.  It was crazy.  When I pulled up my blog a minute ago, I thought it was strange that I had only gotten as far as Christmas in my catch-up posts.  Didn't I post about Claire's field trip that I went on in January?  Nope.  I made a picture collage for it over a month ago but didn't exactly follow through on getting it up here.  I guess it's about time I got going on that...

 

In January, I threw my name in the proverbial hat as a possible parent chaperone for Claire's field trip to the Tree House Museum up in Ogden.  Luckily my name was drawn (my girl would have had an impressive meltdown and crying fit of unimaginable proportions had this not happened) and off we went on the given day.  Words cannot express how I felt when I heard that there was plenty of room on the buses for parents to ride along and they wouldn't need me to drive or carpool with another parent.  I hate riding on the school bus.  They're made for little people...not tall people with long legs and I cringe just thinking about trying to force my knees into the given space.  It's been months since that day and my legs still feel cramped.  Anywhoooo...enough about me.

 

At the museum, we were escorted into a small theater with a stage where our guides gave us the rundown of our time there and entertained all of us with their child-friendly stand-up comedy and silly antics.  Our class then went on to another area of the museum with the funniest guide of them all to hear him tell us a couple of fairy tales from different parts of the world. Much to their delight, he involved a few of the kids in the story telling and kept everyone laughing as he told us foreign versions of Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella (one of them was a Chinese variation).

 

After our stint with the story teller, we went upstairs where the kids had a little class on how to make magic wands.  It was really cute and each of the kids got to make their own wand to take home.

 

Our final stop was back in the theater room where another guide walked our kids through a performance of Blanca Flores (Mexican version of Snow White).  Wanting to be sure that every child who wanted to be in the play could be, there were parts galore.  I was asked to help with "casting" and being ever-so-slightly biased and favoring my own child, I selected Claire to be Blanca Flores.  Other characters were an evil queen and mirror, a handsome prince and his cousin, guards, bandits (we know them as the dwarves), and a handful of other characters, too.  The speaking parts were fed to the kids as they went along and while the acting may have left something to be desired (like when my "sleeping" daughter wouldn't close her eyes and kept playing with and looking at her magic necklace), it was totally entertaining and once again, everyone had plenty of good laughs as funny things happened, mistakes were made, and general chaos ensued during some parts.  It was absolutely darling!

After our play was over, the kids had a little bit of free time to explore and play around the rest of the museum.  We were then lured back to our glorious chariot with the offer of fruit snacks.  Who could possibly resist?!

 

In spite of the less than comfortable transportation, it really was a fun day with my girl and her classmates.  I love helping in my kids' classes and going on field trips whenever possible and this time was no different.  Besides, I'm sure one day I'll wish that my kids were back in elementary school so that I could ride on the school bus with them just one more time.

Rewind: Christmastime 2013

I'd like to start by pointing out that the post for Christmas 2012 didn't make it up until early April of 2013...this time around, I'm beating time by about 3 weeks. We're talking real progress here, folks!

 

We'll just go in order and start with my trip to Zoo Lights with the kids.  The kids and I bundled up one weeknight and headed into SLC, arriving at the zoo just after the gates opened for the evening.  To say that we were in the middle of a cold snap would be putting it nicely.  We were all bundled up head-to-toe...and completely freezing the entire time we were there.  We arrived just as Santa was headed to get his reindeer and got a quick picture with him before going to a nearby building where Mr. and Mrs. Claus would be available for visiting.  We were only 2nd or 3rd in line to see them and even though we'd only been at the zoo for less than 15 minutes, we welcomed the chance to warm up inside while we waited. After hanging out with the Clauses for a few minutes, we went on to see the light displays and animal exhibits, take a few rides on the carousel (unlimited rides on my pass...awesome), and duck into buildings for warmth whenever we could.  When we were good and close to being frostbitten, we left the zoo and went out to dinner at The Olive Garden (one of the kids' favorites - the basically inhale the salad there).

Sub-freezing fun at Zoo Lights! 

About a week after going to Zoo Lights, we took another jaunt into SLC to visit Temple Square.  Going in the late afternoon/early evening, traffic and parking were great and we actually arrived prior to the lights turning on for the evening.  We started out with a stop to see the candy window displays at Macy's and walked up the block just in time for the lights to turn on.  It was bit chilly but NOTHING like the temperatures we had braved at the zoo the week before.  It was nice to be able to take our time and enjoy the displays.  We started at the Reflection Pool and then went on through Temple Square, making a stop at one of the sets of big east facing doors (a real thrill for the kids).  It was so nice to be there before the big evening crowds.  Afterwards was another dinner at The Olive Garden.  I tired for Blue Lemon and a couple of other places but they begged and I'm a sucker.  At least I knew the kids were getting their vegetables.

Temple Square and the candy windows at Macy's (top and bottom corners on the right).

 

Last - but not least - was Christmas.  We had a very quiet Christmas Eve at home.  The kids received their traditional Christmas pajamas - dog/puppy themed this year - and new slippers.  We sang Christmas carols and hymns, read the nativity story from the Bible, and sent the kids off to bed where they struggled to fall asleep.  For the first time in years, I got almost everything done earlier in the day and evening (final wrapping, baking cookies, making our Christmas morning pastry, etc.) and Max and I actually made it to bed before midnight.  It was a miracle and it felt so good!  Christmas day was also very laid back.  We enjoyed the morning and early afternoon with just the four of us and then had my little brother and his family over for Christmas dinner.  It really was a wonderful day.

Top four pics are from Christmas Eve (kids insisted on silly-faced pictures) and bottom pics are from the big day.

Well, there you go...our Christmas season in a nutshell.  I'm already looking forward to the holidays this year - less than 9 months away!

Rewind: Thanksgiving 2013

I've posted before about how much I love the Thanksgiving holiday and I would love to write more about it now but it's kind of off-season and for the sake of getting a bunch of posts knocked out, I'm going to try to forgo my usual wordiness. This year, Thanksgiving gets its own post for one reason alone: a family snapshot.

My hubby is not a big fan of the camera and we very rarely have our picture taken together as a family. As we were getting ready to leave his parents' place after Thanksgiving dinner, I made a quick move to have a picture taken. Max didn't know it but I was hoping to get something that we could use for our family Christmas card as we usually just do pics of the kids. While the background wasn't ideal, Claire had undone her cute hairdo, and Hudson had a fever (we found out the next day that he had a raging sinus infection), I was overall very happy with how it turned out. I ordered our cards from Shutterfly that night and didn't tell Max until I showed one to him when they came in the mail....and he liked them. Hallelujah!!

 

Sneaky move. Good results. Thankful wife/mom.

Halloween 2013

It's almost been a month since Halloween (better than several months since, right?) so I figured I should knock out a post with pictures before Thanksgiving hits us this week...

 

The Saturday before Halloween, the kiddies and I went to the home of my oldest brother and his family for their annual Halloween party.  Hudson was a banana, Claire was Belle (from Disney's Beauty & The Beast), and not having any kind of costume on hand, I threw together my best attempt at a goth-inspired look in the 24 hours before the party.  We had a great time at the shindig and I'm already excited for next year.  I just need to put my thinking cap on now for a better costume next time around (though I did get comments from a few people that they didn't recognize me...not too shabby!).

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know why Picasa has chosen to hate some of my iPhone pictures from the night of the party and not others. I would have made a collage but most of the pics weren't showing up in folders like they should have.  Whatever, Picasa.  Above you can see my Belle and Banana, me with brothers and with my sisters-in-law, my pirate nephew with Claire, my cute pirate niece with my oldest brother, my baby bro with his wife and their darling baby elephant, and a selfie of me as the kids and I were leaving home for the party.  I was SO not meant to have bangs.  My favorite costume of the night was my 6'7" brother in lederhosen...those shorts were extra special.  I'm not including the best pic of the night (which may or may not have shown him pulling up on the leg of his shorts) for the sake of his keeping some sort of dignity.

As for the big candy-begging night the next week, I didn't get as many pictures as I did in past years but I got a couple of good ones of my kids in their costumes so I'll just offer the best pre-trick-or-treating shot I got on our front porch:

 

Claire obviously opted out of being a princess again and was a super hero.  Hudson LOVES his banana costume and stuck with it for the big night.  We had a great time zipping around our neighborhood and the kids came home with WAY too much candy.  After allowing them to slowly consume it over the past few weeks, I allowed them to select a few final pieces last night and confiscated the rest.  We'll have plenty of goodies this week with Thanksgiving and in the next several weeks with the Christmas holiday.  Oh, the sugar comas!

 

Finishing Up Summer: Claire's Birthday & 1st Day of School

After our long break from reality, we took it easy the last few weeks of summer.  I did put the kids back in swimming lessons for one last session and let them have plenty of free time and time playing with friends while they could.

To top off the months of freedom, Claire helped us celebrate getting back to school and real life by having her 6th birthday....Happy Birthday, Claire! She opted for a party with a nice group of girls who were all going into 1st grade together (different classes but all the same year in school).  She chose a palette of teal, lavender, and pink for her decorations and I loved how the back patio turned out until the wind kicked up...it took a few balloons for a ride up into the sky and kept tossing some of the decorations that I had hung up onto the roof (and over to the other side of the yard).  The girls enjoyed eating a pizza lunch, making necklaces, having their faces painted, going on a "scavenger/treasure hunt" wherein they were required to do different physical (aka tiring) activities before moving on to the next step (end reward: party favor/goody bags), and of course, cake, ice cream, and the opening of presents.  Claire had a very happy day indeed!

Just a few short days after Claire's birthday was the 1st day of school for 2013-2014. Both kids were so happy to get back into the swing of things.  No, I'm not kidding...back at the end of June, Hudson expressed that he missed school and wished that they were already going back. It's so nice having kiddies who love learning! As mentioned above, Claire is in 1st grade this year and Hudson is in 4th.  I absolutely love their teachers this year.  Claire has the same teacher that Hudson did in 1st grade (she's our favorite!) and Hudson's teacher is fantastic...no complaints coming from our house!

I wish I had better pictures from that morning but we were rushed getting out the door (somebody has a chronically hard time getting going in the a.m...ahem) and I didn't have the time to coax and force the kids to endure a longer photo session.  Maybe I'll be up and going and do better on the last day of school next May...

Summer 2013: A Nutshell of Photo Collages

Alrighty, folks...trying to keep it simple as I promised.  Here's the rundown of our summer months:

 

1. Spent a week at Marriott's Newport Coast Villas in Southern California.  Minutes away from what I still consider my 2nd home: Balboa Island (spent 2 weeks there every other summer growing up). We spent time walking around the island (as much as I could on my poorly-timed broken toe), eating Balboa Bars, enjoying the sights on and around the island, relaxing and swimming at the villas, playing on our favorite beach: Corona del Mar, going for a cruise around the harbor on Duffy boats, spending a day at LEGOLAND (1st and last time) and more than anything, we enjoyed spending time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Walks around the island with family, time with cousins, and most importantly, Balboa Bars from Dad's.

 

 Amazing gardens and sights on Balboa Island.

Cruising in the Duffy boats.

Corona del Mar: my little brother found a seaweed super hero mask, my oldest brother showed the sand who's boss, Hudson and Grandpa had fun in the waves, and I discovered that buddy taped toes and sand don't jive...at least my nail polish rocked. The wide pic at the top is of my dad, two brothers, my bro-in-law, and a niece all a ways out from the beach waiting to catch waves (body surfing and body boarding).

LEGOLAND with my little brother and his family, my kids and I, and my niece, Becca.

2. After Newport Coast, we headed to Northern California for some quality time in my hometown of Los Gatos. We took my niece with us for some extra time with my kids (didn't hear one complaint from any of them).  We stopped at Harris Ranch and Casa de Fruta on the way up.  I was an amazingly awesome mom/aunt and paid for the kids to ride the double-decker carousel a the latter.  My childhood self wishes she could have ridden it.  While staying at my parents' place for over a week, we enjoyed going to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium, spending time with friends and extended family, going to the park, doing a little bit of shopping, and more than anything, we had a great time being at Grandpa & Grandma's house.

The three cousins together: at The Boardwalk, Casa de Fruta, Harris Ranch, and G&G's backyard sandbox.

 

Happy 4th of July: The kids spent a good chunk of the day riding scooters in the backyard. They were having fun hamming it up for the camera and Grandpa had fun photo-bombing a totally unsuspecting Hudson.

 

Day trip to Monterey Bay Aquarium: Hudson got to pet a Bat Ray, we all pet sea creatures in the tide pool exhibits, a saw Bottlenosed Dolphins swimming a ways off the main observation deck (a real treat...they're rarely in the Monterey Bay). The jelly fish exhibit is always a favorite...the one picture shows Hudson's hand with a teensy jelly swimming on the other side of the glass.

Swimming with friends and playing with 2nd cousins.

3. Next up was a trip to my sister's in El Dorado Hills, CA, where we spent the last few days of our trip.  I was thrilled to have the opportunity see two of my dear lifelong friends who live in the area.  One made the long-ish drive with her cute daughter to see me at my sister's and my kids and I went to visit the other friend and her family at her parents' home near EDH (extra special treat as I hadn't seen her parents in over 20 years!).  Aside from visits with friends, my sister and I made sure to fit in some sister time, complete with a yummy lunch at one of our favorite digs, Jack's Urban Eats.  The kids spent their time playing with their cousins and swimming in the neighbor's pool.

 

When we drove home to Utah, my sister and her kids came with us to spend almost 2 weeks out here.  One of the highlights of their visit here was our day spent up in Park City where we took the kids on the Alpine Slides (my 1st time ever!) and Alpine Coaster.  I didn't get many pictures of our other activities here but I'm pretty sure that only my sister and I would truly appreciate looking at photos of every eating establishment we went to and the foods we consumed at each place.

A glimpse of our days in EDH and at the Park City Mountain Resort.

Now, that was better than my usual wordy self, wasn't it?  It was wordier than it could have been but far less wordy than I'm capable of.  You're welcome.

Back In The Saddle...AGAIN

I hope you were sitting down when you opened my blog and saw that I had written for the first time in over 4 months.  I can only imagine the state of shock that I've put some of you into.

 

Not that I have a ton of readers, but amazingly enough, people have been checking my blog on a fairly regular basis during my hiatus.  I think that roughly 85% of those visits have been my own sister and parents (who know better than to think that this professional procrastinator would have gotten her act together) but still, I'm always surprised to see my ticker/counter keep going up. I've even checked my blog during these past months.  Never to write anything, mind you. It's always been to click over to blogs that I frequent, but that being said, sometimes even I've been surprised that nothing new has popped up on my feed.  So strange how that works.

 

I've decided that rather than writing four million "rewind" posts, I'm just going to do a few (ha ha ha...you thought you were safe, didn't you?!). They're primarily going to be filled with a whole lot of picture collages and not a whole lot of writing...at least that's my intention.  I've never been very good at keeping things a) short and sweet or b) my words to a minimum.  We'll see how this goes...

 

First up, we have the end of the 2012-2013 school year.  I was able to manage going on both kids' end-of-year field trips during the last month of school.

 

Hudson's class went to the Ogden Nature Center.  I volunteered to drive up with a couple of other parents and the lunches for all three classes in my car order to avoid riding on the school bus (don't get me started on how buses made for children don't have ample leg room for tall adults). It was rainy.  We got wet.  One kid slipped and fell in the mud.  All the kids "got to" skim the water in one of the ponds in search of nasty little bugs and organisms.  It was kind of cool and kind of gross.

 

Claire's class went to Wheeler Farm in SLC.  We all had to ride on the bus.  I dealt with it and it helped build my amazing character.  It was not rainy or wet that day.  The weather was beautiful.  I teamed up with another mom and we managed our little groups of girls together. We all walked and/or ran around seeing and petting the various animals. The barnyard stunk.  I didn't mind the stink, though, as the animals are fun/cute/awesome and I wish I could take a fair number of them home with me.  My backyard would be very crowded and messy if I did.

 

Finally, we had the last day of school.  I always take 1st day of school pictures and last day pictures.  We were running behind this particular morning (this had never happened before...) so I only managed to get a last day of school picture.  At least I remembered.

 

That's it for tonight, my people.  More to come in the next few days...

Rewind: My Boy Turned 9

Back towards the beginning of May, Hudson up and turned 9 on me.  How can he be this old?  And going into 4th grade next year?  Those of you who have older kids are probably thinking, "Just wait..." and I realize he's going to keep getting older, but still.  It's hard to believe that I have a nine year old and that he's growing up so fast.

 

On his birthday, Hudson saved us money and requested his favorite home-cooked meal: grilled burgers, fresh watermelon, oven fries, and a green salad.  With root beer.  He's really not hard to please.  Dessert was ice cream from Cold Stone where he chose blue cotton candy ice cream with rainbow sprinkles mixed in.  After that came the traditional opening of presents.  Here he is opening one of two favorites that night (the other was a circuit board kit):

He kind of has a thing for Minecraft and Legos.  Putting out a product that entails both of these things is one of the most brilliant ideas in the history of toys.  Ever.

 

A few days later we had a little birthday gathering with extended family (hubby's parents, one of hubby's brothers and his boys, and my two brothers who live locally and their families).  Since smiling nicely for a picture is totally overrated when you're 9 years old, this is what Hudson treated my camera to when he had the chance:

Love my boy so much...  I now have about 11 months to come to terms with the fact that he's going to be 10 next year.

Rewind: Our Little Dancer

Claire wanted to give dancing a shot so back in the fall we put her in a contemporary dance class at a local studio.  Three of her friends were in the class with her and she positively LOVED it.  She had class once a week and finally, after months of preparation, she had her big recital at the end of April.  Her class did a darling little number to the tune of "Touch The Sky" from Disney's Brave.

Love this pic so I just had to work it in...

Claire and a few friends watching some of the older girls at their dress rehearsal.

 

 All dolled up for the big day.

 

Being a finicky almost-6-year-old, Claire thinks she wants to forgo dance this fall and give gymnastics a shot.  We'll see...

Rewind: Disney Princesses on Ice

Yes, you read the title right.  I took my girl to Disney Princesses on Ice.  This was a first for both of us as I had never been to any "on ice" performance in my life (I assume hockey games don't count but the fights are fun so that has to count for something, right?).

 

I bought our tickets several weeks in advance and lucked out when I snagged two seats at the aisle just one row up from the most expensive sections in the arena.  I didn't tell Claire but I wrote on our calendar that it was going to be a night out for the two of us.  She was excited as could be and leading up to the big day, she would refer to the calendar often.

 

Our evening started with dinner in SLC.  Once we arrived at City Creek, I gave Claire a few dinner options and she chose Blue Lemon.  We hadn't eaten there before and we both loved it.  I'm starting to salivate just thinking about the butternut squash soup I had. Mmmmmmm. This post isn't about food, though, so I'll move on...   After dinner we walked to the nearest Trax station and took the train over to The Delta Center (it has been renamed Energy Solutions Arena but it'll always be The Delta Center to me).  On the wait to the train and once we were there, Claire noticed other little girls dressed up as princesses.  She questioned me about it and I was very vague in my responses.

 

When we finally arrived at the arena, I sat her down in front of a tree and told her my evil plan.  She was beyond excited and happily held on tight as we made our way through the crowds inside.  We stopped at Cinderella's carriage which was made entirely out of Lego Duplo blocks and Claire did her best princess wave for a picture.  Then, being a total sucker (and having cash from the hubby), I gave in like any good pushover parent would and got her a light-up sparkly wand (it even makes pretty sounds) and a foam "crown" before we headed in to find our seats.  I also allowed myself to be talked into kettle corn, cotton candy (which she decided she didn't care for - strange child - we saved it for the boys at home), and a bottled water that cost me more than it should have. Oh well...it was a special mommy-daughter date and my girl is worth every penny!

 

 

The show itself was a ton of fun.  Claire was completely enthralled and loved every second of it.  I think her favorite part was the WHOLE thing.  My favorite scenes were when Rapunzel and Flynn held onto long, flowy bands of fabric and rose up into the air and when they lit the lanterns at the end.  Such good stuff!  I honestly enjoyed the entire show and would love to take both of our kids sometime when they put on a more gender-neutral show.

 

Now, I've saved the best for last.  I took a video or two of Claire during the show, just hoping to catch one of "those" moments.  At one point, I could tell based on the storyline and such that a something big was coming up so I quietly turned on my phone's video camera and waited...

This was hands-down my favorite moment of the night!

Rewind: Easter 2013

We had a very nice Easter this year and it was a pretty low key day all around.  The kids found their baskets from the Easter Bunny in the morning and then the bunny came back and hid the hard boiled eggs that we had dyed the day or two before.

 

I had the kids wear new duds to church that day (of course).  Hudson is getting a little old to be forced into cute little outfits with multiple pieces so he just got a cool new tie.  Claire, on the other hand, is all over getting new outfits so she got a dress with a cardigan shrug and new shoes.  Between her willingness and desire to have new clothes and the fact that I'm a sucker for them, she definitely makes out better than her brother on holidays.

 

 

We were joined by my little brother and his family along with his mother-in-law for dinner that evening.  We had a delicious spread of ham (recipe from my hubby's mom...BEST ever), sour cream scalloped potatoes, fresh fruit, green salad, and sugared orange rolls for dinner and fresh lemon cake for dessert.  I just love holiday dinners.  I'm glad they don't occur more often than they do because if I ate like that every day, you'd have to get a forklift to get me out of the house.

Rewind: Rain Gutter Regatta

I'm ever so slowly getting closer to being current on here...we're talking February now, people! 

 

Hudson goes to Boy Scouts twice a month (plus a monthly "pack meeting") and in February, he participated in the Rain Gutter Regatta.  We made his boat at home over the couple of days before the event...sanding, painting, etc.  Hudson knew EXACTLY how he wanted his boat to look and did a great job on the little details.

 

On the big night, Hudson's little boat (and his lungs) fared pretty well.  He won a few heats and made it to the semi-finals before losing to a boy who ended up going to the finals.  He didn't really care about whether or not he won and was happy just to participate and race.  Not that winning a bit didn't help - I'm quite sure it did.

On a random side note, the guy with the shaved head on the left lives in our area and used to play basketball with Max on Saturday mornings.  He's an anesthesiologist and as luck would have it (and I'm glad it did), the morning of my brain surgery back in 2008, he walked into my pre-op room as he'd been assigned to my surgery that day.  I remember being so glad to see him...it's the little things that make the hard things a bit easier.

Rewind: Snow Fun

This winter...HA, HA, HA!  No, I'm serious.  We got a boatload of snow (actually even more than that) this winter.  We had a very lame, brown, ugly, and un-wintry winter in 2011/2012 so the 2012/2013 moisture was a welcome change.  During one particular storm system in January, we got a solid 3 feet of snow up here in just a couple of days.  After the biggest portion of it came down, we went out and had some good, freezing fun playing.  Actually, Max and the kids played...I stood on the sidelines and took pictures.

After playing around in the snow out back for a good, long time, we headed out front where Max and Hudson were going to start working on a snow fort in the massive snow bank/drift between us and our neighbor's place.  They made some progress but their work was interrupted by an unexpected discovery: when our driveway is slightly covered in snow or iced over, it makes a fantastic - albeit short - sledding hill.  We usually keep the walkways and drive pretty clear but the cold temperatures that day made it almost impossible to everything clear of ice.  The kids took turns going down the drive and loved that the sled would uncontrollably twist and spin around.  I don't know how often we'll have those perfect conditions but you can bet that when we do, our kids will be out front sliding down the driveway!
 

Speaking of winter storms, we had a crazy one back in January or February.  It was the perfect mix of freezing temperatures, snow, and rain and it was a real doozy to say the least.  We had freezing rain and the roads (and sidewalks and driveways and...) were all slick with a thin sheet of ice.  Driving was pretty scary and downright treacherous in some places.  I was worried about having my kids take the bus that morning and drove them to school.  My drive started with sliding backwards down the driveway into a snow bank and ended with my car sliding down into our circle with pretty much zero control of steering or stopping.  Yikes!  I'm glad it only lasted a day.

More to come this month, I swear.  I'm knocking out a few posts and getting them scheduled for every few days.

Rewind: New Years Eve 2012

Most years we stay home on New Years Eve and party like nothing you've ever seen.  Some years we have maybe one other family over and enjoy a bit of food, bed before midnight for the kids, maybe some games or a movie, and a quiet, "Woo-hoo...Happy New Years." when the clock strikes twelve (because the kids are asleep).  Very thrilling indeed.

This year we headed to my the home of my oldest brother and his family to join them and my wee baby brother and his family for the big night.  It was fairly low key overall and we had a great time.

Food is key to my family's gatherings and I must say that the food was awesome.  We all provided snackies and appetizers for the spread...baked brie, shrimp with cocktail sauce, fruit, cream cheese with jalapeno red pepper jelly, veggies and dip, hot artichoke dip, candy/cookies/dessert, etc.  If anyone left hungry then either a) there was something seriously wrong with them or b) they didn't get to the kitchen before the rest of us inhaled all the tasty vittles.  I think I gained 10 pounds that night.

The kids spent much of the night downstairs playing and watching a movie (or movies) while we adults were upstairs watching a movie, chatting, and playing poker (using Horse-opoly money).  My one sister-in-law was pregnant at the time and that got the three men talking about the babies that they carry in their tummies.  We all had a good laugh as they stood and compared the abdomens that they obviously so tenderly care for and nurture (Matt's stance and face are my favorite...I laugh every time I see the picture).

I am so glad that we all got together that night...nothing like family and laughter to make one's heart happy.

Rewind: Christmas 2012

Here I go...time to play catch up.

 

While hubby was recovering from his hip surgery in December (which he did quite nicely...much faster and better recovery than when he had the other hip done almost five years ago), I tried to keep the holiday season as normal as possible for the kiddies.

 

I took them to Temple Square to see the lights one evening.  We enjoyed walking around and seeing the lights, watching/listening to the nativity display, and seeing the Christus statue.

As long as we were downtown, we went to Macy's and saw the holiday window displays - all made out of CANDY.  Each giant ornament was different and it was amazing to see all the fine detail.  I can't imagine putting one of those things together!  After seeing the candy windows, we went and waited forever for a table at The Olive Garden.  Dinner was tasty, though, and we all went home tired, full, and happy.

On two other nights, there were Christmas parties to attend.  One was at church (which Hudson opted out of as he was concerned about leaving Max at home alone) and the other was our annual neighborhood progressive/rotating dinner party.  Both kids came along on the latter and as always, we had a great time.  Santa Claus made an appearance at both and Claire was a little apprehensive before the first party so we decided to clue her in that the Santa Claus that comes to the parties is a helper to the REAL Santa Claus and....she knows said helper.  We told her who the special helper is and she was thrilled to be in on the big secret.  She was in awe that this man that we know is actually a real Santa's helper.  Holy smokes.  No more Santa visit nerves for our girl.  Hudson is a very good older brother and encourages his sister in her excitement and happily sits on Santa's lap, too.  I think he still has fun with it (too smart for us...figured EVERYTHING about EVERYONE on his own out when he was 6 years old).

Christmas day itself was pretty quiet and very nice to spend together as a family.  We had a yummy breakfast (homemade Danish Almond Puff, blueberry muffins, fruit, etc.) before heading into the living room to open presents.  We've got two amazingly patient kids who are always good about waiting until it's officially time to go in.  This year we tried to cut back on the gifts (we even stuck a couple of things out in the garage to save for another time).  It wasn't that they didn't get plenty but the kids didn't notice the difference and were thrilled with what they received.  I also love seeing how excited they are to give to others...it's one of those reward moments as a parent (at least for me).  It felt great to tone it down and enjoy the holiday without such a huge emphasis on presents.

 

That evening it was just us again as we enjoyed a massive spread of prime rib roast and all the fixin's for Christmas dinner.  My brother's family was going to join us but his wife became sick on Christmas Eve so they cancelled the morning of.  We were sad that they couldn't join us but appreciated the gift they gave us by not bringing her "bug" to our house.

 

I always love the holidays and this year was no different.  I'm just looking forward to this year when Max will join us for some of our outings!

 

Now watch out...another post coming tomorrow morning (not joking!).

Letting Go: Goodbye, Miles

On Saturday afternoon we chose to have our beloved dog Miles put down.  He had been with us for 11 of our 14 years of marriage.  Some will think or say that he was "just" an animal but he was a dear friend, family member, and companion to all of us.

 

After suddenly fainting and going stiff one day back in March, Miles was diagnosed with a large tumor in his abdomen (and some smaller ones to go along with it).  We thought we were going to lose him within weeks at that point but he'd bounced back and had been pretty doing well.  He did look old. He had a very distinguished white "beard" contrasting the black fur on his face and there were newer areas of white fur around his paws, knees and tummy. In recent months, I had taken to calling him "Old Man".  However, in the past 8 weeks or so, he had really started going down hill.  His back right leg had obviously been hurting or uncomfortable for a while, his tumors were getting larger, he was sleeping and laying around a lot more, he'd appeared to have slimmed down suddenly, etc.  Thinking that we might need to put him down, I took Miles to the vet the two Saturdays ago.  The vet thought he was still doing okay and sent us home with some additional pain meds to help his leg (we had an anti-inflammatory at home that we'd been using for a month or so).

 

While the meds did help somewhat with his ability to walk, early last week Miles suddenly cut way back on how much he was eating (though he was drinking a ton), he got drastically thinner over the course of a few days, and his back left leg started to go as well.  Both legs actually simultaneously gave out on him a couple of times during the week.

 

Friday morning we woke up to a blanket of snow and Miles was a little bit spunky (a rarity these days) and was obviously happy about it.  He was always a snow dog...winter was his favorite time of year.  When I went out to shovel the driveway and walks late morning, Miles had a blast playing in the white stuff - albeit at a slow pace - and got himself good and dirty and drenched.  He needed a bath afterwards.   As always, he was a good boy and went to hop in the tub when I told him to but his back legs couldn't do the job and I had to lift him in. For the first time ever, he actually voluntarily sat down a few times while I was bathing him as his legs were too weak. He was happy to be clean and after a good towel-drying, I sat down in our big chair by the fireplace in the the living room so that he would lay down in front of the fireplace to dry off.  He was worn out and slept there for a while.  That night, Max and I talked about Miles' condition.  We knew that it was time and decided Friday night that we'd need to make the call on Saturday.

 

I made the call Saturday morning then went out and cried to my husband about the fact that it was really happening.  Miles followed me around the yard as I shoveled and I got a few pictures of him with the kids.  The kids had already had a good cry about Miles the weekend before when we sat them down and told them that he'd be going soon so we didn't tell them what was happening until it was time to go.  When I was ready (a relative term...I was an absolute wreck) to take him to the vet on Saturday, we had the kids come and say goodbye.  They both started crying and they each gave him a big hug. We were all in tears.  I lifted Miles into the car and we headed down the hill.  Miles loved car rides and usually sat in the cargo area of my car but this time, he came up and laid down behind the center console.  I reached back and pet him as I talked to him the whole way there.  I got to be with Miles for a while before he was put down and I sat on the floor with him through the whole thing. He actually really liked the blanket that they put down for him and he was happy to lay on it with me sitting next to him. He went peacefully and quickly. The vet had only administered about half of the medication when he passed. She said that sometimes it takes until it has been completely injected for an animal to pass (or even a few minutes after), but that when the animal goes only partway through, it means that it really was their time to go. She reassured me that we had definitely made the right choice and that it was his time. I stayed there with him for a while afterwards.  I kind of expected him to lift his head at any moment.  Part of me was thinking and wishing that he'd suddenly wake up all renewed and healthy again, ready to walk out the door with me. It was hard to leave him lying there even though I knew he was gone.  I kept reminding myself: he's happy now and he's not in pain anymore.  That and he got to go on a perfect,  snowy day...we couldn't have picked a more fitting day for him. 

 

I do know that letting Miles go was the right thing to do but not having him here is going to take some getting used to. I sobbed the whole drive home and Max and I had a good cry together again when I got here.  I cried a few more times that evening and Claire sobbed for a good 10 minutes as she was getting ready for bed that night after stating, "Now our family only has 4 people in it." Talk about a heart breaker! We've all done pretty well since then but writing this has me all worked up again. Dang crying genes!  I honestly wonder how long it'll take me to stop crying at random over my furry boy.  Even if I don't cry, I know I'll still expect him to be here - I've already done several things and thought things as if he was here.  Max told me yesterday that he keeps doing the same.  There's going to be an adjustment time for all of us, I'm sure.

 

(picture taken summer 2011)

MILES

7/13/2001-11/10/2012

 

You are and will be sorely missed, Miles.  We loved you, we love you, and we will continue to love you.  Until we meet again...

Happy Halloween 2012

We had a very nice Halloween this year.  I was more organized than usual and that led to things running a bit more smoothly and quickly...weird.  We had tacos for dinner with orange & black tortilla chips, a peach flavored brain Jell-O with Cool Whip mixed in (you can see last year's brain Jell-O pics here...just imagine a very pale shade of pink instead of the dark red), and sliced apples.  Our drink was "Witches' Brew": lime sherbet with grape soda.  It's really quite tasty.  I also made devil's food cupcakes with white frosting and orange sugar crystal sprinkles for dessert....because the evening's haul of coma-inducing sugar just wouldn't have been enough.  I failed to take pictures of any of our semi-festive meal so you'll just have to imagine it.

 

As for trick-or-treating, Claire was dressed up as Disney's Belle and Hudson was a Clone Trooper from Star Wars.  Thanks to my good friend, neighbor, and hair genius, Melinda, Claire's hair was as perfect as it could have been.  And thanks to my sister-in-law, Heather, Hudson had a great costume that fit perfectly when his original costume plans (he wanted to be a miner) fell through.

 

Both kids loved their costumes and while I thought they looked great, I have one complaint about each:

• Hudson's: the Star Wars gun he used (came from another Star Wars costume I purchased a few years back) makes noise.  A lot of obnoxiously loud and annoying noise.  Why I haven't yet permanently confiscated it and sent it to the land of misfit toys is beyond me.

• Claire's: Holy freaking gold glitter.  Her beautiful dress/costume came from the Disney store, complete with a lifetime supply of glittery trim that sheds off like you wouldn't believe.  I thoroughly tape-rolled the back seats of my car the next day.  And there's still some left.  Glitter is of the devil.

Immediately after dinner we took the kids to see Max's parents across town.  We made it a quick stop so that we could get home and go trick-or-treating before it got too late.  This year I took the kids out on my own while hubby stayed home to 1) pass out candy, 2) save his poor hip from unnecessary pain, and 3) finish up his CE hours that were due by morning.  The kids and I took a spin around our little neighborhood "loop" and then drove a couple of blocks away to go to the homes of a few other friends.  While we were hitting those last few houses, Claire stated that she was just too tired, that she wanted to be done, and that besides, she already had "too much candy".  What?!  Strange, strange child.  However, in spite of said "too much candy", when Hudson decided to go to the homes of another friend or two, Claire would yell from the back seat, "Get me some candy, too, Huds!"  I couldn't help but chuckle.

 

I don't recall what time the kids and I finished up for the night.  I do know it wasn't the latest we'd been out on Halloween but we all welcomed the end of our fun.  Trick-or-treating is positively exhausting.  I don't know what it is, but I was plumb tuckered when we got home and I honestly had a hard time deciding whether to head to bed at the same time as the kids or to stay up for a while and relax.  Relaxation won.

 

I vote that next year, I stay home and pass out candy while hubby and the kids make the rounds.