Happy Birthday dear Kitties

April 6th was Ginger and Sierra's first birthday.  They are now technically cats rather than kittens.  Awww, getting so grown up!  So I'll indulge in some pictures of the kitties on this blog as well as their own.

I've done some work on curtains and that sort of thing in the master bath and master bedroom.  You can see how Ginger was trying to help me :)

For the kitties' birthday we got them some Fancy Feast cat food which they really enjoyed.  The birthday hats... they didn't enjoy quite so much, of course.

Ginger especially was delighted about the new kitty teaser wand.  She couldn't wait to get it out of the bag.  In the picture below she is trying to steal it out of the grocery bag the day before their birthday.  I had to wrap it up and hide it when she wasn't looking so it could wait until their actual birthday.

Ever since I replaced the heavy wood blinds with these pretty curtains the kitties have loved spending time in the bathroom.  With the 4 windows they like to slip behind the curtains to watch the world go by.

Marching

It has been almost an entire month since my last post.  Oops.  Life has been busy and sometimes overwhelming, but overall life continues to be happy.

Here is a photo-heavy review of the rest of the month of March, including the explanation of why I was spooling up the Pre-Cambrian period ;)

These are the only two pictures I have of this, but I got to teach a class to all of the 4th grade about paleantology.  I was able to bring in a whole bunch of wonderful casts and even some real dinosaur bones for the kids to see, touch, and learn about.  It was a lot of fun to teach a class again.  The teacher has already asked if I would do it again next year.  I made a timeline of yarn showing each period which I then discussed with the kids.  The pre-cambrian periods is by far the longest.  One inch of yarn equals 1 million years.  It was a great way to see how very long things took to happen.  (It also shows specific creative periods in which water and land divide, plants appear, animals differentiate, etc., though of course I didn't point any of that out in public school ;))

Kate, Lizzie, and Sabrina loved going to school on pajama day.  Before school was "Dads and Donuts".  Michael wasnt' able to go this year, so the girls had to make do with Mom instead.

Grandma's birthday was the 5th of March.  We had a party at the Jager home where we sampled various juices and gum.  My brother has been on a food-free diet (supplemented with iv TPN) but at that point was allowed a glass of juice each day and gum as desired.  My sister-in-law created a super cute tree covered with shamrocks that each person had written on.  A sign said "We're so LUCKY to have you..." (or something to that effect) and each shamrock said some reason we feel lucky to have her as our Mom/MIL/Grandma.  Brek was fascinated by the candle.

A couple of weeks later we pulled off a surprise party for Grandma.  It took all my creativity to keep Mom from driving past her home on our way home from orchestra to Suzette's house for a "ukulele party", but we managed to keep her away.  Several of us played ukulele songs and even performed Liza Jane via Facetime to my sister's family (which includes a daughter named Eliza Jane).  Then the group did a mini-marathon to grandma's house just a few blocks away.  I made all sorts of excuses to drive to her house instead and transported the goodies for lunch.

 Meanwhile, at Grandma's house, a crew of family members (shame they were all busy with various excuses and couldn't join the party ;)) was working on fixing the shed.  It got a new roof and a new floor.  No more climbing over a huge pit just inside the doorway!

We seemed to pull it off and surprise Grandma -- complete with a fancy lunch.  Suzette made a beautiful sandwich cake (which was YUMMY) and others brought simple sandwiches for those with a simple palate, vegis and dip, and faux-Hostess goodies for dessert.  

 I love watching Sabrina do gymnastics to pull herself into Grandma's walnut tree!

The huge tarp which has served as the "wrapping" of the shed for the last couple of years to try fending off the wet was spread out and folded.  The kids did a good job of folding it, complete with rolling on it to flatten it out each time they folded it over again.  Lizzie and Kate did have a hard time figuring out how to roll over one another when the square got so small.

Back at the homestead: I've finished two of the three curtain pairs for the living room windows.  I absolutely love how they have worked out!  I just need to find another flat sheet at WalMart (It has taken 6 months to gather the 5 I've collected so far!) to finish.  Clearly they have inventory issues.

I have also made progress in the master bath.  I finished off the false chandelier, fitting it with tea lights where the once were standard "flame" bulbs.  I also applied metallic gold stencils around the top of the room to replace the dusty grape vines that were hanging there when we moved in.  I still need to get the final curtains for the windows, but the room is finally becoming a reflection of us.

 Pictured here are two reasons I'm not skinny ;)  Homemade "Twinkies" with french vanilla cream filling.  And the elusive raspberry and mint m&ms.  All delicious!  I also made Hostess style cupcakes, complete with cream filling, chocolate ganache, and the signature swirlies on the top.

In the month of March our van was going to require a fair chunk of money -- a couple of repairs followed by inspections and registration.  Ugh.  So we went to just check out the options on trading our van in for something a little newer.  And we left with a new van.  Actually *new*.  It looks very much like the older one, but is really lovely.  We really like having a full warranty and all the great safety and convenience features!

 Sabrina got to try her hand at the wheel (long story short: the car isn't turned on and she was given the full "never touch anything in a car" lecture and I was sitting right next to her.  She just struck these poses and they cracked me up).  I like the one at the top left where it looks like she's reaching the speed of light :P

As per standard operating procedure, I ended up with some funky health thing going on.  Just to keep busy, ya know.  I got a double ear infection which was quite miserable.  I held it off with various home remedies, but it finally surpassed what I could manage that way and I headed to the doctor.  I was prescribed amoxicillin (which I've taken dozens of times).  After the first two doses I was covered with a nasty batch of hives.  I had hives from my scalp all the way to the palms of my hands and the soles of my feet.  Apparently I'm now allergic to amoxicillin!  Rats.  I was switched to a different antibiotic and the ear infection cleared.  The hives took their sweet time calming down.  In fact, it's been a month or so, and I still have them!  I have since then been through a 7 day course of steroids, 2 weeks of hefty antihistamines, as well as my morning dose of antihistamines for allergies and two benadryl every night.  And still if I get a tiny scratch or irritation it turns into huge red welts that last anywhere from 20 minutes to most of a day.  And once the itchiness starts it just doesn't stop.  Ugh.

As I've been working hard to get on top of my fibromyalgia pain, which was taking over all our lives, and the IC pain which was also getting out of control.  Because of all these things straining my body at once I have been on far more pills than I wanted.  That handful of pills shown below?  That was one days batch.  I am off a few of those now, but it varies day to day.  The only thing that won't go away is a strange throat thing.  It is striped with red and yellow, covered with blisters, and not passing food easily.  It's not super painful, but it is strange.  I did a triple round of yeast killing meds as I'd also had thrush, but I don't think it's really any better.  Hopefully it will get tired of being strange.  (I'll spare you the pictures of my throat.  You're welcome.)

Little Sabrina also spent some time with a nasty bug.  She was tired, cranky, then had a crazy fever.  I took these pictures in the middle of the night.  She woke up whimpering and when I touched her face it was burning up.  She sat and played games on Daddy's iPad with him while sitting in front of a fan.  We had dosed her with ibuprofen and were hoping that it would bring her temperature down from the 104* it was at.  In half an hour or so (yes, she looks FAR too chipper for being up for 30 minutes in the middle of the night, scorching hot!) her temperature was a bit lower so we went back to bed.  It took several days, but she finally got better.  As per SOP for Sabrina, she ended up with a nasty asthmatic cough at the end, but her inhaler calmed that down soon enough.

 My younger brother Dan came to town for a few days.  He and his family have been in South Carolina while he attended grad school there.  We're delighted that he is graduating... pretty much any day now!  AND to make it even better, he has a job already, and it is here in Utah!  I cannot wait to see my niece again and meet their little boy too!  While he was here we got to have him over along with another brother and his family.  We had a fire in our fire bowl out back and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows.  I love being part of such a large family -- such a variety of people and ideas and specialties!

(Sierra was very confused by being left inside while we sat just outside but where she could still see us!)

These are a few random photos of and by Sabrina.  Ginger was very patient to let Sabrina bundle her up in towels!

Finally (finally!) the last day of the month was the first day of General Conference.  Kate had another turn of going with her aunts and one of her cousins to the Saturday Morning session.  She had a wonderful time and was so grateful for a chance to sit so close to the prophet and apostles and other leaders of this worldwide church!  They were sitting on the second row.  Amazing, right?  Lizzie cannot wait for her turn in October, since she will be old enough (8) by then.

I hope to catch up the first two weeks of April very soon.  I love to put together these photos and remember the many blessings and joys in our lives.  Sometimes it is easy to see the pain and suffering and loss in life and miss the joy of a man made of popcorn, a cookie, and candy. 

Moving

I'm going to try posting this for the billionth time.  I gave up on the app I was using and installed a different one.  So far, so good.  *fingers crossed*.

The girls got to trade bedrooms.  kate moved downstairs, Lizzie is keeping the room she has been in for herself, and Sabrina moved to the mural bedroom. 

There is still quite a lot of work to be done; but bedtime has been a little easier. 

Kate is sleeping under a heap of pillows, blankets, and stuffed animals.  Good luck finding her in this picture!

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Open House: Great Room (part 1)

 Welcome to the seating area in the Great Room -- the room that is adjacent to the kitchen.

This room isn't really "me" yet.  It has beautifully done draperies, but they're not my style.  I haven't decided how I want them, though, so they're waiting for an epiphany.  

Honestly, the green chair sticks out further into the room, but I wanted it to look nice in the picture ;)  The furniture isn't quite the right... something in this room either, but at least it's comfortable.  In fact, I'm sitting in the big green chair right now!

I particularly love the big beautiful, uniquely shaped windows.  The cathedral vaulted ceiling is also very open and spacious feeling.  The ghastly huge television is handy for turning on Pride and Prejudice or something like that while working in the kitchen.  And loaded bookshelves are a standard item in our home. 

You can see this nook full of shelving is between the kitchen and the french doors onto our deck.  I like having a beautiful place to put out things I care about.  There are a few assorted pictures of my girls and the family.  I like the look of clear glass items displayed (the pitcher and dishes).  The dried flower petals have come from a variety of special flower arrangements.  The cut glass candy dish is from Michael's grandmother.  The clay lamp and sling are from the Holy Land and like the sling David used on Goliath and the lamps referenced in the parable of the 10 virgins.  Etc. 

I adore this round window.  I do wish it didn't have the criss cross in it, but it is beautiful anyway.  I enjoy the view and the angle of the sunshine.  What I really want to do here is cut a piece of plexiglass to fit the space and do some faux stained glass.  That's why I don't like the criss crossing.  It gets in the way of the stained glass.  Oh well, I can work around it.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll get the other half of the great room cleaned up so I am willing to take pictures of it.  However, there are still a couple of complicated-to-unpack boxes there.... so maybe it will be a while before I get to the next part. ;)

Open House: Kitchen

For those of you who haven't had a chance to see our new house, I thought I'd share bits of it here and there.  In other words: my kitchen is clean today.  Hooray!  But I always seeing the way things change over the years, so I'm sure I'll get a kick out of this in a few years.

My kitchen is indeed smaller than my last one.  That is not difficult.  My last kitchen was HUGE!  I kinda miss that.  I definitely miss the pantry.  Overall, though, this is a nicer kitchen and I still love working in it.  I just can't have my girls doing "sun angels" all over the floor while I'm cooking in there.

 We store a lot more food in the storage room than we ever would have had to do in our old house.  The cabinets aren't big enough for holding everything without a pantry.  Also, there are dividers in the middle of the cabinets between the two doors that open for each cupboard.  So it's impossible to fit my big bowls in places.  That's a little awkward.  In the loooooooong term picture I'd love to redo the cabinets.  I love the granite counter tops, though.  There is enough light through the huge window that the black counters aren't too dark.  They just sparkle!

The trash compactor is another thing I didn't think I cared about much, but actually love.  We used to haul a couple of grocery bags full of trash out each day.  The compactor, however, takes more than a week to fill!  Good thing, since we have so many grass clippings in the trash can every week.

The little "appliance garage" in the corner is very useful.  It holds the electric can opener, blender, and toaster.  Plus the squishy butter.  Keeps them tidy and out of the way while keeping them still handy. 

Frankly, it's a little silly how much I love the range.  But the truth of the matter is, if I could pick any stove/oven in the world without money being an object, this would be the one!  The range is gas with 5 burners.  It's easy to clean and wonderful to cook on. 
The stoves are electric(!) which is easier to bake in.  The small one heats in about 4 minutes and doesn't heat up the whole house so much when baking a frozen pizza or a sheet of cookies. It also has a "keep warm" feature that works well for pancakes for the whole family, or even just warming up a plate to serve the meal on.   The large oven is standard size and has lots of features like convection, proofing (low heat with the fan on to help dough rise faster!), drying (fruit leather, anybody?!), and more.  Turkey in the large oven and rolls in the top?  Yes, please!

 These are a few close-ups.  The candle is in a nook just outside the kitchen.  We light the candle and have it burning while we read in the evenings (when I remember it).  It's a fun way to bring a little more quiet, reverent atmosphere to scripture reading time and helps us calm down towards bedtime.
The other two signs are just very "me".  They are on either side of the sink.

This frog is just cute.  Michael bought him for me several months ago and he hangs out (literally) on the mini-rosebush pots on the windowsill.  I got the mini rosebushes around Valentine's day in little 2" pots.  My how they've grown!  They'll be ready for a place in the yard in no time!

Finally, one of my favorite things about my kitchen is the view.  I have always been a big believer in an inspiring view above the sink.  It helps me want to be there.  And considering how much I dislike doing dishes (though I do love cooking and baking) it's good to want to stand at the sink.  I love the view right up Hobble Creek Canyon!

All in all, it's not the kitchen I thought I'd love.  It is, as someone once put it, a "one bum" kitchen.  I prefer the idea of more like a "four bum" kitchen (four people's bums can be in there at the same time without running into eachother).  We're learning how to make this one work, though, and with the stools in there we still get some good mama-daughter time going in the kitchen. 

Right now I'm about to go in there and make dinner.  I'm preheating the small oven to bake a crusty baguette while I whip up some spaghetti sauce and boil noodles on the stove top.  Then I'll pop some green beans into the microwave.  In the mean time, Lizzie and Sabrina are sitting on the stools playing a game of chess at the island.

This is MY kitchen!

Roughly 1,000,000 words, part 2

 Finally got the rest of the collages uploaded.  Phew!

First picture is actually the earliest one -- from before we moved.  The girls were playing with rose thorns (Sabrina made a very fiesty and effective fake fingernail out of one.  Her expression cracks me up).  Michael is also doing little rocket bombs with them -- pop-gun style "explosions" in a metal "rocket" you throw at the ground.  Good fun.

The rest of these are in our new home.  Our REAL home :)
Yes, these are recent pictures.  We got a few inches of snow a week or so ago.  Thank you, Utah "Spring".  At least we got a sneak peek at how beautiful things are going to be covered in snow!

For Family Home Evening last Monday we walked across the street to see the donkeys.  I think they're donkeys at least.  They seem very short.  The lighter colored, scruffier fellow is named Otis.  We know that's his real name.  The darker guy is actually Otis's son, but we don't know his real name.  While we were feeding them carrots, though, the son got cranky and started whining and kicking at his Papa!  So we dubbed him Cranky Pants.  That awesome tooth photo on the top right is Cranky Pants.

A few landscapey type pictures I took of the girls with Otis and Cranky Pants.  We live in such a beautiful world!

Lizzie is now sleeping on the loft bed Kate  has been using for a few years.  Kate never had a problem with it at all, but Lizzie ended up being very nervous about falling off.  There was already a top support on each side of the bed, but we went out and bought another piece of wood to make a middle slat so she'd feel safer.  We had to trim the pieces down a bit, though, so we kinda put it off a bit... and sure enough, she managed to fall out of bed.  Michael and I ran in when we heard the THUMP.  It was about midnight.  She yelled like a banshee, of course.  We determined there was no major bodily damage done, then went into "calming-down" mode.  I got her snuggled into my bed then got Kate tucked back in bed.  Michael went out to the garage, cut down the boards, and screwed them on right then.  Sabrina decided everybody was up so she was determined it was morning time.  It took some convincing to get her to go back to sleep.  With the new boards up Lizzie feels much better and does fine in the loft bed again.  Phew!  She had a sore shoulder for a few days, but nothing that even looked impressive.  Poor thing ;)
(Pictures: Top left: Daddy snuggling a very startled Lizzie.  Top right: The improved bed.  Bottom left: Kate in her bed.  Bottom middle: Lizzie back to sleep in my bed.  Bottom right: VERY dark picture of Sabrina in her bed.)

The weather finally warmed up!  Michael was walking around the house and saw a couple of birds bathing in the little waterfall in our backyard.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  Air dry.  It was pretty cool to watch them!

We got the girls a perfect sized wheelbarrow.  I still need to find them properly sized gardening gloves, but they have done a great job of following me around the yard and gathering up the weeds or any other garbage out of the yard.  Then they put it in their wheelbarrow and take it to the garbage when they have enough.  Today we did some pretty major yard work (planted tomatoes, strawberries, cantaloupe, and radishes, removed a little ground cover, did some weeding...) and they had a great time doing their part.  They also now have properly sized real shovel (for approved use only) and lawn rake.  Pictures below: Michael checking the sprinkler system with Sabrina and Sabrina with the new wheelbarrow.

Tonight when it was about bedtime we put it off a bit and went for a walk.  The girls chose to ride bikes / scooters and Michael and I walked along with them.  We just went around the block, but it was a beautiful evening.  We are getting to know our new neighborhood.  It is just so beautiful here and the evening walk around the block in our neighborhood with our children on their bikes was absolutely idyllic.  I cannot believe how blessed we have been, not just to have a home, but to have such a wonderful little family. It's amazing.

Now that I'm caught up hopefully I can get back to shorter more regular posts.  In the mean time, I'm going to go soak in my tub again :)

Roughly 1,000,000 words, part 1

I'm going to do a quick catch-up on some major events.  Click on collages to see them larger.  If a picture is worth 1,000 words then I've had a lot to say this time!

Apparently Blogger doesn't like so much cuteness in one post and rejected the other uploads, so I'll try to do them in a second post in a second.

Up first: The Southern Family Egg Hunt.

We're ready to MOVE!!!  (taking the seats out of the van and getting the truck).  Also, Kate with her twin cousins in a nook in our new house acting as live statuary.  Very giggly statuary ;)

Our little egg hunt in a new yard.  All the eggs were collected and put together in the most appropriate container: a packing box.  Then we sorted and divided for everyone.

Saying goodbye to the old house.  It sure had its problems, and we were VERY ready for our own place, but there were a lot of great memories made in the 3 1/4 years we lived there.

And hello to our new house!  A few glimpses at our entryway and the peek through between the Great Room and Living Room.  The girls had a half-dead helium balloon.  One would drop it through the opening then someone would catch it below and throw it back up.  A half dead helium balloon is great because it makes for a very slow motion style no-damage game of catch.

more to come in a minute...

This week in review

 It has been such an exciting and busy week -- and it's only Thursday night!  So here is a quick update:

Sunday was the last time Michael and I were helping in our nursery class at church.  We're going to miss these kids like crazy.  See those huge round eyes?  Those are real "Lucy Eyes", as we call them.  And will probably forever call them. 

Kate went to her last Activity Day's activity.  The girls wore dresses to the activity and they washed their faces, cleaned their nails and applied nail polish.  Kate had a blast, of course.

 Kate got to take part in the Hershey Track Meet.  She has been looking forward to this for months!  She did the softball throw (32 feet, 7 inches), the standing long jump (47 inches), and the 100 meter dash (third out of six girls in her heat).  She did an excellent job!  Especially when you consider that her long jump is almost equal to her height!  She looks like a dancer in the top-left picture (softball throw).

Sabrina came with me to the track meet.  She spent her time eating crackers and rolling down a slight incline.  The ground was quite moist and she was soaked and freezing cold by the time we left.

I was a few minutes early picking Sabrina up from preschool yesterday.  They were doing a little Easter egg hunt in a patch of grass.  So of course I had to grab my camera.

Michael and I ran a few errands while Sabrina was at school, and got a text message from our real estate agent that the keys were available for our new house.  We of course ran right over :)  I took Sabrina over as a surprise after I picked her up from school, then we took the other two over later.  Sabrina tried SO hard to keep a secret from her sisters (I hadn't told them where we were going).  They were all riding with grandma.  About 3/4 of the way there she finally burst, telling Grandma where we were headed (not realizing soon enough that of course then her sisters would hear too).  Kate and Lizzie were very excited.

So naturally I've taken a bunch of things over to the new house in the last couple of days.  I can do all sorts of work when I really put my mind to it!  I just have to remember that I have to pay for it eventually.  I've been fighting off some severe pain, but I really want to be part of this.  It's a hard balance.  Last night we went over and ate TV dinners on a blanket in the great room.  Today the girls used large cups to fill up the fountain so it would work.  Yes, we have a hose on a list of things to buy now.

We have had an issue with the house number of our new place.  On the house, and according to USPS it is 713, but according to all tax and government information and Google Maps it's 715.  So the title company made us change it officially.  I have to figure out how to fix two stripped screw heads so I can remove the other two old numbers so we have a nice matched set.  The non-matching numbers look pretty hokey :")

Tonight we had our first non-grandma visitors!  Okay, so it was my brother and his wife and their son... but sitll!  Sabrina always HAS to hold Brek.  That's going to be a problem once he outgrows her.  Lizzie even took a picture of me snuggling with him.  I included it so there is proof I was there and have not been taken over by some cyborg.  He decided he was tired so he was whining a bit.  I was humming back to him and he was 99% asleep when they left.  Then Sabrina needed a turn to take a picture. She ended up with this self-portrait which she calls "Polar Bear".

Tomorrow and the next day are the Big Move days.  Boxes and furniture are on their way!!!