Jeremy Roboto

I had left a whole pile of recycling on our kitchen counter the other day. Jeremy, in all of his creativity, decided that it would make a great robot costume. He put all of the boxes on his various body parts, and walked around the house for the better part of an hour. It was really cute, and he had a lot of fun with it. He also tried to take the soda boxes and make wings out of them, but that one didn't work as well. With very little help from me, he spent almost an entire day making different wearable art out of these boxes. I am constantly amazed at the things my almost 4 year old's brain can come up with!

Groovy Santa

On Thanksgiving I dragged out all of our Christmas decorations and started putting them up, much to Ammon's dismay. He would be please if I held off on holiday decorations until the week before Christmas, but I couldn't wait any longer this year! I had been feeling the decorating urge for a while, it was all I could do to hold off until Thanksgiving. Anyway, as I was pulling out all of my bins and trinkets, Jeremy unearthed the Santa hat that Mary made for him his very first Christmas when he was almost 1 year old. He squeezed the hat onto his head, and started to dance. I'm not sure what music he was dancing too, but it was pretty groovy, whatever it was. Ammon snapped a picture, and I think it turned out pretty cute so I'm sharing it with all of you in cyber-space. We finally got some snow here this week, so it's actually starting to look like winter. We also are having a major cold snap, which isn't helping Kadon's asthma any. Hopefully the specialist I'm taking him too in a couple of weeks will have some good advice for us, and we can get out off of this sick/well/sick merry go round we've been on since September.

Marshmallow Heaven

I wanted to share this picture of my dad feeding Kadon marshmallows. I thought it was really cute. My dad kept trying to get Kadon to eat them one at a time, and Kadon kept grabbing handfuls and shoving them into his mouth. I didn't catch how many he actually ate, but in the spirit of the holiday, I was allowing it to continue. I'm glad my kids are close to their grandparents, and love spending time with them, and it's really funny to see how besotted my father is with his grandsons!

Family Picture

I wanted to post this picture because this is the first family photo that has been taken in about 3 years. It is so seldom that my whole family is gathered together, that we have to jump at the opportunity to snap pictures whenever we can. I was glad that my sister made the trip from Las Vegas for Thanksgiving. It couldn't have been easy for her, with her two broken ankles, to make the drive to Utah and the subsequent flight home last night, but I'm glad that she was there at our Thanksgiving celebration.
Looking at this picture, I can't help but think about what's missing. It's times like Thursday that I miss my older brother with an ache that is almost tangible. He loved large family gatherings, and would probably have been doing bunny ears behind sombody's head in this photo. It is a comfort to know that I will see him someday what all things are made clear, but on this day, I will miss him. I can't believe sometimes that it's been almost 7 years since he died. Somedays it seems like he just left, and then other days, it seems like he was just a figment of my imagination. It seems like I imagined that I had this great brother, and that he loved me and looked out for me. It's strange how a death affects the dynamics of your family, it makes everybody realign their position, even unconciously, to fill the void that this person has created. You all feel obliged to fill the spot that has been vacated, the roles that are now available. I think the loss still reverberates throughout our family as we struggle to know how we fit together without him. I count my blessings that I was able to be a part of the life he led, and that he counted me among those closest to him. He truly was, and still is, one of the great.

Happy Thanksgiving!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving tomorrow, I'm trying to be more grateful for my children. For some reason, probably related to the pain I've been in from my tooth and my PMS this week, I've been really cranky for the last few days. Everybody seems to be getting on my nerves, especially my family, which is truly a shame, since they're the ones I love the most and most want to spend my time with. I keep trying to talk myself out of whatever funk I'm in, but so far, it's not working, and the cranky wife/mother keeps coming around and rearing her ugly head. I'm hoping now that my root canal is finally over with, and the worst of the pain is subsiding that she will pack her bags and leave. I feel bad for my poor children and husband when I'm such a bear to deal with! Anyway, wanted to wish you all out in cyber land a very happy turkey day, whether you're staying at home and celebrating with family, having four thousand missionaries over for dinner, or traveling over the river and through the woods. This year, I'm grateful for my health, my family, and a warm comfortable home to live in. This year hasn't been without it's trials, to be sure, but we have come through them whole and intact, and still loving each other, which is an accomplishment, I think. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Singing Along

Today Emily, Cindy, Laura and I had our first semi-performance. We have been singing together since the beginning of September, simply for the sheer joy of singing. We all love to sing, and all different ranges, making us a pretty good combination for a group. Cindy sings a lovely soprano, while Laura switches between singing 2nd soprano and soprano, and Emily sings 2nd soprano or Alto, depending on our needs, and depending on how loud I can sing. I sing the alto part, and I have really been enjoying myself. We also have a accompanist who is quite talented.
Anyway, one of the first pieces that we started practicing was a beautiful arrangement of 'Beautiful Savior' by Sally Deford. She has a website that you can print free music arrangements from, and somebody found this piece the morning of our first practice. It's the only piece that we sing that is 'sacrament' appropriate, so that is where we performed it today. We were all feeling really confident about the performance, as we have been singing this piece for months, along with several other pieces, and are very familiar with each other's voices. When we showed up to rehearse before sacrament meeting on Sunday morning, it wasn't going well at all. We were all singing the wrong parts, coming in at the wrong places, and missing notes that had never been missed before. Nerves had finally set in! I spent the first half of sacrament meeting staring at the clock and willing the speaker to go over on time so that we wouldn't have to perform.
Fortunately, our piece went well, and the many hours spent rehearsing together paid off. I'm proud that I have been a part of something so good and, as one woman put it, completely inspiring. Hopefully our show at the assisted living center next month will go as well!

Again!

Again, the week is slipping by, and I have hardly noticed. Okay, to be truthful, I have noticed, but I certainly haven't been up to posting about it on here. I have been down most of this week with a particularly vicious infection in my mouth. I know, I know, it could have been avoided by going to the dentist on a regular basis, but I don't have dental insurance, and going to the dentist requires finding both the time, but finding and securing a babysitter, as most dentists only see patients during the day when my husband is busy. Plus, I also have to take into my account my mortal fear of all things dental. For some reason the idea of going to the dentist strikes such fear into my heart that I will let a cavity go to the point that I am in far more pain than the dentist ever would have put me through to fix it originally. Hence, my suffering this week. I probably could have gotten a simple filling several months ago, but at this point I am going to have to get a root canal, buildup, and crown in order to save my tooth. I have also been in excruciating pain for almost a week now, the kind of pain that put me in the ER on Sunday night because I hadn't slept in at least a week and Ammon couldn't watch me suffer anymore.

Anyway, that's why I haven't posted. And I'm not going to post any more now, because quite frankly, I've been trying to catch up on a weeks worth of housework today, and my mouth hurts. I'm going to go lie down.

Slipping Away

Wow, I can't believe it's been Monday since I posted on here. This week has slipped right away! Kadon is slowly getting over his cold. The early part of this week was pretty hectic, I took him to the doctor on Monday afternoon and we got some different asthma medications for him, along with a steroid shot in the leg to help him get over the asthma symptoms that his yucky cold brought on. I'm hoping that we don't have to go through this every time he gets a cold this year, but there's no way to tell. This one wasn't too bad, the biggest complaint for us was his disrupted sleep pattern. For several days the latest he slept was about 6:10 am, and the longest nap he took during the day was about 40 minutes. His illness happened to coincide with a business trip for Ammon, so it made for a very tired and frustrated Mommy by the middle of the week! Luckily, he took a two hour nap yesterday which was wonderful, and slept until just after 6:30 this morning, so hopefully he's turning the corner and will continue to improve from here on out.
Ammon is continuing to do well in school, he is preparing to take a major certification test at the first part of next week. He took the class final last Friday, and got an 80%, so we have high hopes that he'll do well and receive his certificate. I forget the name of the certification he's trying to get, but it's a very important one in the scheme of his schooling, and will take us one major step closer to being done with those whole schooling process, so we're very excited! I'll post later next week when we hear what his results are, but please keep him in your prayers.
Jeremy is his normal cheerful, busy self. He's onto his last week of preschool next week, and I think he's really going to miss it. Every day when he comes home he has a very large smile on his face, and is full of lots of stories about what they did that day in 'school'. It's been really good for him, and I'm looking into options as far as keeping him in some kind of schooling when this is over. I'm not sure what we can afford, but I think it will be good for him if I can get him in something at least a couple of days a week (and I wouldn't cry for the break, either :)
Anyway, sorry it's been so long since I posted, I'll try to be better about it next week. Hope all is well with everyone, we send you our love from our little town in Utah!

Toddler Bed Success

We made the decision a couple of days ago to move Kadon from his own bedroom, into Jeremy's bedroom. The room that Kadon had been occupying is in the corner of the building that we live in, and has two windows in it. None of the windows in our apartment are very high quality, but the windows in Kadon's bedroom are particularly poor. We have a work order in to have one of the windows replaced, but the other window is still a problem, and his bedroom is significantly cooler than the rest of our apartment. Since his trigger for his asthma seems to be cold air, we made the decision on Sunday that he needed to be moved into his brothers room where it stays much warmer at night. In preperation for the move, we borrowed a toddler bed from a friend, and set it up in a corner of Jeremy's bedroom. We had decided to try to put Kadon into a toddler bed to save the hassle of taking the crib apart, moving it into the other bedroom, and putting it back together again, only to take it apart again in a few months to put Kadon into a large bed when he turns two. We were worried that he wouldn't take to the toddler bed, as he is still a little bit young to be 'free' at night, but he has done pretty well. He also seems to be sleeping well at night, other than the severe cold that he has and is causing his asthma to act up. We were grateful last night that he was already in Jeremy's room, because his asthma attack would probably have been far worse than what he experienced being in the warm air of his brothers room. I'll post a picture of Kadon in his bed tomorrow.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

I discovered a website that helps you make video montages using photos you upload from you computer. I am already addicted, and created this video last night. This song is one of my very favorite songs of all time, and when coupled with pictures of my adorable kids, it's a real tear jerker. Hope you enjoy!

Show and Tell

I've been told that I need to share this funny story with you all. I didn't find it very funny at the time, in fact, I was rather irritated. However, as the days pass, it is proving a little bit chuckle-worthy, so I decided that I could share it with you guys without blushing TOO much. When I picked up Jeremy from preschool the other day, I was informed that there was a show and tell the other day, I was told by his preschool teacher that they had a show and tell incident that day. Not the entire class, just Jeremy. Apparently the trouble all started when he asked to go to the bathroom during class. Everything was fine, one of the high school students took him to the bathroom, he did his duty, and went back to class. Apparently he didn't get help wiping his bum while he was in the bathroom, because one he got back in the classroom, he decided that we wasn't quite clean. You know the not-quite-clean itchy feeling? Well, Jeremy isn't a fan of this feeling at all. As his mother, I know this, and always wipe him very carefully. His poor unsuspecting preschool teacher, on the other hand...
The show and tell occurred when Jeremy dropped his pants in the middle of class and announced that his bum hurt, and that it was itchy. From the reports that I have heard, he was rather hysterical in his insistence that somebody help him. They were at a loss as to how to assist him, but luckily it was almost time for me to come pick him up. The adult teacher in the class helped him get his pants back up, and attempted to keep him reasonably calm until I got there, at which point I explained the problem, and escorted him back to the bathroom where I wet down a paper towel and took care of his problem.
I felt bad for the poor child being unable to explain what was bothering him, but I was mortified that it was my son that bared himself in front of all the other children and the high school students! I'm told that these are the stories that live on, and will make him cringe in front of his future prom date. I guess only time will tell.

Portraits

On the spur on the moment, my friend Emily and I took our kids to JC Penney to get their portraits taken. We just barely squeaked in to get an appointment, but they turned out so cute, it was completely worth it! I almost didn't get their matching shirts, I thought it would look silly to have them in the same shirts for pictures. However, I think it turned out adorable, and it's perfect for the season! We still need to get family pictures done sometime before christmas, as we usually give those out for at least part of our christmas presents, but I'm glad that we did pictures of the boys a seperate day. It makes it a little bit easier on everybody, and now we get to enjoy these for longer!