May, part 2

Just after the end of the school year we went on the most serious vacation we've ever been on as a family to date.  It was 3 days in Cedar City with most of my family at my sister's house.  It's only about a 3 hour drive, but there were several Dairy Queen restaurants along the way, so we indulged on our way home.

Later in the months I'd had a rough day and Daddy took us out to dinner at Cracker Barrel.  Michael got me a chocolate truffle.  I apparently dropped it on my seat in the car, then forgot.  It was pretty bad to get out of the car at the store on the way home and realize how horribly unfortunate the placement was, and even worse: what a waste of a truffle!  Fortunately I noticed the disaster *before* going in to the store.

In the never-ending saga of trying to manage my severe case of fibromyalgia, I was sent to do an overnight full polysomnogram (sleep study).  It was pretty interesting.  Especially when it comes to sleeping in a room with video cameras on you!  It took ages for the techs to get all the sensors on my scalp and my hair gathered so it would be out of the way.  It took ages again to get it all out!  It was a lovely room, but it was also hard to sleep with so many things stuck to me.  The result is that I have pretty mild sleep apnea.  I'm supposed to sleep with a dental appliance that pushes my lower jaw slightly forward to open up the back of my throat.  I can't say I feel like I sleep any better, but I'll take any edge I can get to feel better.

May, part 1

We were asked to come help clean the church building one Saturday.  I wasn't able to do any of the work, so instead I pointed out spots for the girls, carried a few pieces of paper towel for them to swap out, and took pictures (of course).

The last week of school: crazy hair day!  After Halloween we picked up several cans of colored hair-spray for about $0.25 each on clearance.  Best idea ever.  It was fast, easy, and very fun for crazy hair day.

Author's Day at school, where the girls get to share their portfolio of writing from the year.

The last day of school I waited for the girls to get home on the bus.  They each got some balloons to celebrate.  6 for Kate since she's going into 6th grade, 4 for Lizzie, and 2 for Sabrina.

...and, of course, more pictures.

In case Kate ever decides her mom and dad *aren't* cool, here's proof that she once did.  Also, a clematis bloom off the vine out back; Lizzie and Sabrina trying out the unfinished dog houses at Home Depot; Sabrina making slippers for her cousin Eliza L's birthday.

Going into summer was wonderful.  I love having the girls home.  And I *really* love not having to wake up to an alarm, make sack lunches 5 days a week, or be responsible for signing homework packets and reading logs.  Huge sigh of relief to have 10 weeks off!

Cats and Kittens

Happy 2nd Birthday to Ginger and Sierra!

We got them a new couple of toys.  Unfortunately we discovered, at home, that the mouse toy was possessed.  When it was moved it would make terrible noises and its eyes would flash demonically.  The cats loved it, except when it made noise.  We finally gutted the mouse and all was well.

After a failed attempt at fostering an adult cat around the end of last year, we decided to try again, but with kittens this time.  This litter of four was dumped at a shelter at about 5 weeks old.  They didn't even know how to eat on their own yet.  We got them within 24 hours of the time they were dumped.  Since they were new we got to name them.  We chose their names from the secret identities of cat-themed superheroes.

The all-black kitty was named Shuri (aka Black Panther.  Tabby with white was named Priscilla Rich (aka Cheetah.  Cream with chocolate points was the only male, named Thomas Rich (aka Catman), and cream with dilute tabby points Felicia Hardy (aka Black Cat).

This is trying to teach the kittens how to eat warm, slightly liquid canned food.  It resulted in a number of nips on my fingers, but all but Felicia caught on to it pretty quickly.  We had to get some baby food (smoother texture) to finally get Felicia to catch on.

 Aunt Janice and Aunt Jenny came to visit and cuddle kittens.  

Easter, Part 2

Easter, Part 1

These two pictures just had to fit in somewhere.  Some of the Easter related fun that happened around bigger events:

Pre-party visit with some long-time family friends Eric and Sheri.

I love the way the older kids did a good job helping the youngest ones.  The teenagers set up the candy search, then mostly just watched and helped a bit.

  
Sorting the candy out is busy work!  Not bad practice of division either.  The plastic eggs are filled with homemade marshmallow eggs dipped in chocolate, made by Grandma.  They were amazing!  Meanwhile some of the teenagers were sitting on the couch nearby.  The kids kept trying to share with the older ones.  They'd graciously accept the candy, then when backs were turned they tossed them secretly back in their baskets.

Yes, this is pretty much how we all feel after a good, thorough chocolate crash ;)

March -- Happy Birthday, Grandma

At the beginning of March we celebrated my mom's birthday.  We'd worked together secretly across the country to put together a quilt for her.  The quilt included blocks made of white fabric with iron-on transfers putting pictures on them.  It was a lot of fun and turned out pretty spectacular.  I made the birthday cake, with the owl motif from the starting square of fabric.

(Also, little James -- bottom left -- enjoyed doing his best to use my cane. He had the right idea, but it was still taller than him!)

There was also a book my sister put together of memories and stories of life so far.

The amount of food coloring required to make the cake frosting that shade of blue left everyone looking a bit cyanotic.  My mom also got some beautiful hand-knit mittens and a scarf and pin from Thailand!

All in all, a wonderful celebration of a wonderful mother / grandmother!  Love you, Mom!

February 2013

 February was a flurry of ice, snow, and pain.  There were a few delightful highlights, though.

One benefit of lots of cold and snow, is that it makes the perfect opportunity to try out snow sculpturing.  The girls made this snow dog in our yard.

I enjoy working with the 8-12 year old girls from church.  We arranged a Daddy/Daughter Dinner in February.  We served breakfast for dinner and played some fun games.  I was in charge of decorations.  We decorated with blue, white, and silver and snow.  Pompoms strung on invisible thread, silver glitter mixed with epsom salts in vases holding up pipe cleaner stems for tissue paper snowflakes (cut by the girls), snowflake table scatter shapes, etc.  It's wonderful to see the girls with a father, uncle, brother, or friend who they love.

Since Sabrina is our youngest, this is the last year for me to see the 1st graders production of "The Little Engine that Could".  Sabrina was chosen to be a narrator.  It is done entirely in choral readings / recitings.  The narrators do most of the talking, so they got to read it from a folder.  She loved it.  Especially the poster-paints she got to use for the "costume"

Around this time I took over sorting, scanning, and captioning photos from my mom's house.  There are quite a lot, many of which I don't remember having ever seen before!  Ginger was very suspicious of the scanner, though.  She often stayed handy and occasionally growled at the box that seemed to growl back.