MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We had a great Christmas! I hope everyone else did too!
We went to a gingerbread party:


Pinky had her Christmas program at school:


It SNOWED!! And by 'snow' I mean a blizzard!!!!:



We spent Christmas Christmas Eve with Erics parents, we had a great dinner:


Then Grammie played holiday songs on the piano:


Gramps read the Nativity story and the kids acted it out:



Christmas morning was a blast as always!



Then we had dinner at my moms house:


Where the kids got more stuff. Elle got roller skates!


HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Cavity woes!

So, I had my six month dental check up recently and had to fill a few cavaties. Bummer.
I've had cavaties filled before... no big deal right? Well, it had been several years and apparently in my old age (HA!), my teeth are getting harder to numb.

I went in for one appt. last week and they did one side of my mouth, some on the top, one on the bottom. The top was fine, it numbed right up. But my bottom teeth just weren't getting numbed. The dentist did more shots... still nothing. She finally did a third shot (and when I say 'shot' I mean she jabbed my jaw multiple times and multiple places, OUCH!). Finally everything was good and numb. When she started drilling though, I instanlty flinched because it I could still feel it! My face was so numb though, it was going up to my eye sockets, so I just told her to go ahead and do it! It hurt! I got through it by deep breathing. After all the numbing wore off I was SO dang sore from all the shots in my jaw bone.

Fast forward to yesterday... I had the OTHER side of my mouth done! I only had one cavity on this side, but it was on the bottom, so I was scared! I kept rescheduling because I was afraid. I finally went in yesterday. And it was worse then it was the first time.
She tried the normal shots... nothing. she tried two more times. And the third time she was super aggresive and jabbed me ALL over in the back, she even stuck my in the roof my my mouth (??? not sure why). Anyway. I was numb again ALL over my face, but not my teeth!
I told her once again, to just go ahead and just get it over with.
This hurt WAY worse then the last one! It felt like lightening had struck my skull. I was flinching and jumping though the whole thing. I instantly got hot and flushed, my face went bright red. Those clear goggles they gave me to wear fogged up because of the heat coming from my face. I was doing okay (despite flinching the entire time in pain...) until she stopped for a min to ask if I was okay. Then I started to CRY! Not total sobbing, but my eyes filled with tears and I was obviously crying. HOW ENBARRASING! I couldnt stop. I told her to hurry and finish. She tried to tell me that while the cavity doesn't touch the nerve, it's very close and the nerve was inflamed. Super.

So, not only was the entire left side of my face 100% numb but I could ALSO feel every single thing she was doing. It was the worst dental visit I've ever had in my life. And after the numbness wore off, I again am in agony from all the shots she gave me all over my jaw bone and I can feel the one she did on the roof of my mouth..

I'f you'll excuse me, I'm off to floss and brush for the 4th time today... I'm never getting another cavity. Ever.

It's been a while!

Here are some noteworthy happening in the past few weeks...
Thanksgiving was super fun. We went out to eat! I vote we do it again next year! We each had like 10 plates of food, and didn't have to clean any of it!


We traditionaly set up the tree on Thanksgiving night.


So, here's a great story. The other day I was driving home with Elle and we passed a crippled homeless woman begging on the street corner for money. I see her around occasionally. Elle felt so bad for her because this woman was crippled... she wanted to give the woman money, she said she couldn't stop thinking about that lady. I told her that giving a begger a couple of bucks wont help them. And if she really wanted to help, it would be better to actually give the lady things she needs. Well, Elle took that to heart. She came home and began making a bag of stuff for this lady. She had hot pink wrapping, and she wrapped up a bunch of food (hot chocolate packets, crackers, tuna packets, noodle bowls, popcorn, etc...) in this pink paper, then we put the 'presents' in a big bag. Elle asked me to drive her back to the woman. How could I say no????
She sat in the back seat with her bag of stuff, and she rolled down her window and called the lady over to us. She stuck her head out the window and said "I thought you could use a treat". The woman almost started crying! She was go grateful. Afterwards, Elle told me she felt good now. Here's Elle with her bag o' goodies. (Thats her best friend next to her)


It also started snowing two days ago! The kids played out in it almost all day!
After the kids and some friends finished making a snowman, Eric handed them a can of spray paint to make hair on it, as you can see from the bright orange!


We also have been going hiking still most weekends. Look at the difference from just two weekends ago to this past weekend!



Hiking in the snow is fun! Except it was freezing! Eric walked across a creek... and Elle followed! Man, Elle got wet up to her knees. We headed back to the car after that, HA!

TEAM JACOB

Edward who...?? It's all about Werewolf Jacob now! Especially since I found we share the same birthday (only 11 years apart...)
Boy do I feel old.

FUNNY

Black November
When I was a young turkey, new to the coop,
My big brother Mike took me out on the stoop.
Then he sat me down, and he spoke real slow,
And he told me there was something that I had to know.
His look and his tone I will always remember,
When he told me of the horrors of . . . Black November.

"Come about August, now listen to me,
Each day you'll get six meals instead of just three.
And soon you'll be thick, where once you were thin,
And you'll grow a big rubbery thing under your chin.
And then one morning when you're warm in your bed,
In'll burst the farmer's wife, and hack off your head.
Then she'll pluck out all your feathers so you're bald'n pink,
And scoop out all your insides and leave ya lyin' in the sink.
"And then comes the worst part" he said not bluffing,
"She'll spread your cheeks and pack your rear with stuffing".

Well, the rest of his words were too grim to repeat,
I sat on the stoop like a winged piece of meat,
And decided on the spot that to avoid being cooked,
I'd have to lay low and remain overlooked.
I began a new diet of nuts and granola,
High-roughage salads, juice and diet cola.
And as they ate pastries, chocolates and crepes,
I stayed in my room doing Richard Simmonds tapes.

I maintained my weight of two pounds and a half,
And tried not to notice when the bigger birds laughed,
But 'twas I who was laughing, when under my breath,
As they chomped and they chewed, ever closer to death.
And sure enough when Black November rolled around,
I was the last turkey left in the entire compound.

So now I'm a pet in the farmer's wife's lap,
I haven't a worry, so I eat and I nap.
She held me today, while sewing and humming,
And smiled at me and said, "Christmas is coming . . ."

I'm one of THOSE people.

I went with a few friends to go see the midnight showing of Twilight. It was really good and left me hanging at the end!
I counted only a handful of other moms there, the theater was mostly packed with 14 year old girls! It was a fun experience though, all the screaming and hyperventilating... myself included.
Don't judge.

THANKSGIVING

Man, do I feel a million pounds lighter now. So, this year my inlaws will be out of town, my dad lives in Utah and my mom will probably (even though she denies it) spend it with her boyfriends family. This is the FIRST year we wont have anyone over! We were debating on who to invite over so it's not just the four of us!
Eric and I thought more about it and decided to say "SCREW IT, WE'RE GOING OUT!" Man, an I excited! We were thinking of the melting pot, Ruths Chris, or a dinner cruise (somewhere really nice). As soon as it sunk in we were NOT in fact cooking any sort of Thanksgiving meal, I literally felt lighter! The holidays are SO stressful with all the shopping, gift giving, expectations, etc... (don't get me wrong, I LOVE the holidays and I LOVE Thanksgiving... but this is a nice charge!) it's nice to have a break this year and just go out with my family to a nice restaurant and not have to spent money on a menu, cooking, or cleaning up afterwards. This might possibly be the best Thanksgiving we've ever had, LOL!

Report cards

Well, both the kids got their report cards this week. Well, Pinkys was more of an evaluation...
Pinky's said she is focusing on learning letters/numbers, learning to write with a pencil and cut with scissors! She makes friends easily and her favorite toy is the vetrinary bin!
Elle did fantastic! Her teacher said I did a great job homeschooling her. I said I wasn't so sure sometimes, LOL! But apparently she is one of the best readers in the class, and has a mature sense of 'higher order thinking' she called it. She tried explaining it, it made sense at the time, but it wont make sense if I try to explain it on here! She also got the highest math score in the class. The teacher said she doesn't give out high grades for math very often, but Elle is exceeding, YIPPEE!!!
Her report card showed her exceeding in most things with a few 'on level' sprinkled in there.
I'm so happy, I wasn't sure what to expect with this first report card since being back in school.
Eric gave a couple bucks for each A and A+ she got... he gave her 26 bucks. Man, was she excited, you'd think she'd win the lottery!

Hiking

Hiking is a family pastime we enjoy doing. Our dog loves it just as much too! I wasn't up for this this last time though, so Eric just took the dog and Elle. (Pinky and I stayed home and napped!).
They got some super cute shots though...

Fall leaves...

There are so many leaves right now it's hard to tell where the street is! Here's a shot from out my dining room window! Just this morning they cleared the street... but all this past week it looked like this!

Elle and her best friend

This ones for you Megan! Here are the girls at their school party...

Halloween

I've packed up all the orange decorations, and I'm ready for FALL decor now (soon to be replaced with CHRISTMAS stuff...). But I have to post a few hallowenn pictures!
Here's gramps with the girls.

Here's Pinky at Erics office party, so cute!

Ummm... what is she doing??

Here's all of us at a party. This was the first year that Eric and I both dressed up with he kids!

New edition to Elles mouth...

It's true... my 7 year old has braces!... she also still has the extender glued to the top of her mouth and the lip bumper glued to the bottom of her mouth. It's alot of metal in that small space!

She takes it in stride though! The dentist let her pick out colors for the braces, so she picked black and red ones. At least we are getting it all over with now so when she's 12 and 13, while all her friends are getting them, she will have already been the done that!

Just call me Martha Stewart

I made these candy corn cupcakes for a Halloween party tonight. Man, I'm good, HA! (actually I'm not! I copied the idea from a food blog I read...). I WISH this were my recipe! I bet they'll go fast though!

I won something!

For anybody who knows me, knows I love food and can eat/snack on good food all day. The older I get the less forgiving my metabolism is!

My aunt Bell got me a magazine subscription to EVERYDAY FOOD, which is a great catalog, I cook from it all the time (I will be making some of those pies they have in it this month!) When it comes in the mail I get excited because I know what I'll be doing that evening, LOL!

Well, now I will be getting another cooking magazine! There is a cooking blog I follow and it held a contest last week. The winner got a years free subscription to TASTE OF HOME. I checked her blog today and saw that I'd won, YIPPEE!!!!! Here's the link to it so you can see!!http://dinner-inspiration.blogspot.com/
Where it says 'the cool family' won... yeah, that's me :-)
You can also clink the link in the list of blogs I have on the left, it's the one called Pinks Dinner!

Too bad it isn't here today... I have ground beef thawed and not a clue what to make with it.

Songs I love

I often jump from favorite song to favorite song. Here my three favorites this week!
These are REALLY good, listen to them!

This first one is by a singer I recently discovered on Pandora (which I listen to all the time!). She's sort of on par with Enya, maybe a little Enigma mixed in as well. Great voice, great song and looks like a fun concert!


This next one is a classic. And here's something I didn't know... Andrea Bocelli is blind. Am I the only one on the planet who didn't know that? I don't know why, but it sort makes me like him more... Here he is singing his famous song with Sarah Brightman.


This next one I love because it's just a fun song. Makes the kids and I get up and dance...


Watch these, they are worth your time and they'll put you in a good mood!

I'm no tree hugger...

I'm about as far away on the spectrum from 'naturalist' as you can get. And while I love the outdoors and trees... and hugging, I'm not the tree hugger personality. I do my part to drive gas guzzling SUV's, buy processed food from grocery stores, use harmful cleaning products and immunize my kids (except the H1N1... not doing that one!) Some people are more holistic in their approach to life and I think that's awesome, it's just not me!

Which is why I was surprised at myself... when I started looking for 'alternative' ways to treat my 7 year olds Tourettes Syndrome. There is alot of medication out there for symptom control (there is no cure or treatment for Tourettes). But I just don't have a good feeling about putting her on meds. We were even told by a neurologist that the side effects almost didn't make it worth it. Um, I don't know about you, but I'm trying to help my kids problem go away... not replace it with other problems.

Besides medication there is also the psychiatric approach. Which works well for some, but insurance doesn't cover that, and as most know, is SUPER expensive. I love my children and want the best for them but I'm not made of money. Especially when I know there are still other ways to try first.

Eric actually got the ball rolling with this one when he sent me an article he had found about the great effects of Omega3. How it really is amazing for the brain and really helped people with ADHD, tic disorders, OCD, stuttering... things of that nature. Most people are deficient in Omega3. It's a very vital supplement. Also recently I've been looking more into it myself, and I joined a few Tourette Forums online. And there have been entire pages from people about how they've read similar things and have started trying it on their kids who suffer from Tourettes. About about a month of consistently taking it daily, there was a significant reduction is motor tics. Flax seed also had similar effects with the vocal tics. Lots of people took both Omega3 and flax seed everyday and have noticed a huge difference in themselves. One lady said that that her Tourettes got to be unbearable, so she had nothing to lose by trying this approach, and after 30 days there wasn't any difference, she wanted to stop taking it but she kept going, then after about 2 months the tics virtually went away and her brain was calmed down and not so frantic and obsessive about them. She described it as night and day and she shared her whole story. It was inspiring to hear about an approach that wasn't medical. This certainly isn't a cure all and I know it doesn't work for everybody (sort of like that movement to cure Autism with a special diet... it doesn't work for everybody, but for alot people it positively impacted them). I'm certainly open to the possibility and crossing my fingers!

Eric and I have been giving the kids Omega3 vitamins every morning for only two weeks or so, not enough time to notice a significant change yet, but hopefully soon Elle will be able to be herself again. I'm hoping it will help Pinky as well, who stutters slightly.
Who knew taking your vitamins would be so beneficial! I've never really taken, or cared enough to look into vitamins, but I guess they ARE important!

FALL

The colors of fall are just begining here, I love it! If you can dress warm enough to not be bothered by how cold it is outside, then going out is fantastic! I've already had to rake the yard once this season. AH, FALL! I've also already replaced my summer scented candles with Spiced Sumpkin scent from Yankee Candle. NICE!
(disclaimer: that photo is not my yard, LOL! I wish!)

Well that does it...

I'm fuming now... as any mother would be! Elle's tics are getting really bad! To the point where her neck is sore from flinging it around and her nose is raw from other tics she does surrounding that, etc... I'd even say it's about as bad right now as it's ever been. (I'll be taking her in to the neurologist again). But at school today, or rather on the bus, she told me that she was sitting there on the way home and she was doing some tics (where one of them involves rubbing her nose really hard and sniffing) and some bratty girl yells really loud "Ewww, she's picking her nose!" Elle said all the kids around her started backing away from her going "Ewww she's so gross!!"
When she told me that I looked at her and she was crying, she said it hurt her feeling. I just held her for a minute while she got all the crying out. GOD, I'M SO PISSED!! What a brat! I was literally seeing red and wanted to go beat up on this little kid (probably NOT a wise move). But Elle is SO tender hearted and sensitive, it just makes me so mad that other kids are starting to make fun of her. I want to put her in a bubble!

Cleaning my kitchen!!

I need some motivation this Monday morning... maybe posting a picture of my messy kitchen will help me to CLEAN it! Hopefully soon, I'll have an AFTER picture!!
BEFORE:



Okay, I finally got around to it. Here's the AFTER:

Camping!

Camping on Friday night was awesome! Despite the freezing temps and the rain, we got a cozy fire going and had a great dinner! We then huddled in our tent with a tent heater and stayed snugly warm all night until morning, when I got up and made a great breakfast!

All of that is true, except the part where we slept all night... around 10:45 Eric woke me up because the tent was leaking... we decided to abandon ship and take the kids home. We left everything there and went back in the morning around 6:30 to pack up. When we arrived back at the site in the morning, the tent was collapsed over onto itself and the sleeping bags were filled with water. Eric estimated there was probably 50 gallons of water in the tent! Good thing we didn't stay all night!! We spent alot of the next day drying stuff out and tossing stuff in the dryer!

It WOULD have been fine if our tent had been waterproof or if the waterproof panel had done it's job! Oh well, we all lived and it was a cool experience!
I wish I had a picture of the tent fallen over on itself, that was pretty funny, Eric and I saw that and just started laughing!

My wonderful couch!

Well, our couch came finally, it looks fantastic! We had some company over the weekend, and we lounged on the new couch with a fire going... NEVER again! My couch is only two days old and already there were crusty things on it from kids' dirty hands and a water ring from someone putting their drink down on my NEW MICRO SUEDE SECTIONAL!!! Who does that?? I was pretty upset last night! Although, I have to call the store, because they were supposed to scotch guard it to repel water... not leave water rings!!! No one is ever allowed to sit on it again unless they wash their hands and if they have children... leave them at home!

Getting new furniture is making me want to unclutter my whole house! We actually got rid of ALOT of stuff this morning. We donated it and most of it is sitting in our yard waiting to be picked up. We have two couches, 5 reclining chairs, a chest, a hutch, and coffee table, a lamp and a massage table! My living room is SO empty now! But pretty soon I'll go buy all new furniture, YAY!

Furniture!

Eric and I have been on the lookout for a couch to go in our basement for a while! We've had an oversized couch and recliner chair down there for years. Eric had it when I met him. It was a product of him last marriage... maybe that's why I never liked it, LOL! No kidding! It just doesn't fit our style, plus it's a blah color. We wanted to buy something we'd love and keep for a long time. Which is why we've held out and looked for so long.
Well, finally last week we found it! We had the kids with us so we couldn't buy it right then, but I went back on Sunday and bought it. It's being delivered today!!
Last night Eric and I moved our existing couch out onto the patio to make room. And our basement looks HUGE without furniture! I almost hate to fill it up again. Although once I see my NEW COUCH I'll be glad we did it!
I'll post pics later today I hope!


UPDATE: well I called the store because no one had called to confirm delivery, which the salesman said would happen. And wouldn't you know... My couch never made it onto the delivery truck for the day!! The lady apologized and said the soonest they could have it here would be Saturday! I'm not sure how I will pull that off since we are camping again this weekend! I got pissed off because of their mistake and told the lady I wanted the shipping charge refunded to me. Which she did. So at least we have free delivery... But still! I wanted my couch today! It's freezing here and we wanted to have a few fires to break inthe fireplace this season, Lounging on the new couch before we spent the weekend camping in 30-40 degree weather. Oh well, we now have fireplace nights AFTER we get back to look forward too!

Fall Hiking

SO today I woke up to a beautiful fall day! I didn't feel like going to church (plus the kids and I slept in until it was too late to go anyway). So, we decided to have our own church (haha) and went hiking instead! It was a great day for it. A nice sunny, mild day.



Eric estimated we walked about 1.5-2 miles. The kids did really well. I was afraid they'd get tired and cranky but they didn't! Although they stayed entertained by little things like the walkie talkies, the occasional snack, and an attempt to free a backpack that was hanging in a tree about 25 feet up! We tried climbing the tree...
Here I am 'attempting' to climb the tree, it was alot harder then it looked.


We also tried throwing giant sticks at it, nothing worked. I guess we'll never know why that bag was so high up and what was in it!

Loki was in heaven, although he always is when we're in the woods. He chased sticks the whole time and ran back and forth between everybody.


Here are the kids getting their first taste of a machete. Eric showed them how to hold it and chop things with it. All kids love sharp objects.



Snack break:



SO today was a good day! After we got back to the car, Elle made the comment that she would rather do this every Sunday instead of church! Don't temp me...

BATH TIME

I can't resist these tub pictures! Pinky wanted to take a bath in my bathroom this morning. I could hear her talking to herself and playing with her toys, so I had to sneak in and capture it. Although, she saw me sneaking...

Camping Is Super Fun

I lost my camera (yes, again!). Which is why it's taken a few extra days to put these up. But all is well now, I've found the camera!

We were one of five families that camped together over the weekend. Luckily we all get along great and it was really fun! The weather has been cold here, but it warmed up for us that Friday and Saturday!

I got to the site during the day to set up and get ready before Eric got there. If you can believe it I set up the tent by myself (never done that before).





When Eric got there he decided it was time for a fire! Here he is using his special fire 'enhancer' (you're going to have to talk to him directly to find out what it is). I'll just say... it left me temporarily blinded to look directly at it!


Two other familes brought dogs so Loki was in heaven. We let the dogs roam free all weekend. They stayed close to camp. They played, ate and slept together. Very cute!! P.S. That is not Erics leg!




Between all the familes, there were about 10 kids. Pinky had a great time because they were ALL her age! Poor Elle played with them a little...


But mostly she was too cool to hang with the 'babies'!


We hung around the campfire until about midnight.


Then I tried sleeping, but had my first lesson in tent setup... clear all fallen acorns away from tent pad site! I was up all night rolling on acorns. Eric bought me a pad to sleep on, but LOKI slowly pushed me off! I ended up on the bed of acorns and he lounged comfortably on the pad all night. Stupid dog!

Here we are making breakfast and cleaning up...


Ah, another successful camping trip. I mean... Ah, our first successful camping trip!