Center of @ttention

Red and White

2011-12-12T09:48:00.003-07:00

I chose red and white for our decorating theme this year.

Last year it was red, gold and green. So since I didn't have alot of white stuff yet, we got to make several different kinds of ornaments for the tree.
The boys had lots of fun doing SALT dough ornaments. I used a recipe from my mom's collection.
1 cup salt
1 1/2 cup boiling water
3 1/2 - 4 cups flour
it suggested blending the salt to powder in a blender, but I didn't want to take the time to do that. Add salt to boiling water and cool to room temp. Add flour and knead til smooth ad workable. And you can seperate it into small batches and add food coloring (gel I think). But I just wanted white. Or you can leave them white and then paint them, which is what we will be doing with the christmas trees we cut out. We used star cookie cutters. Some didn't turn out because we didn't make the hole to hang them as ornaments big enuf. So we'll have to do better next year.

I also made several kinds of paper ornaments. I couldn't get the boys to help much with those though, so I didn't get many done, but just enuf that our tree looks good this year :)

I picked the red and white for 2 reasons.
1) because THOMAS LOVES the candy canes.
and 2) to help me remember the scripture in Isaiah 1:18
though our sins be scarlet they can be white as snow

Christ centered Christmas

2011-12-12T09:06:00.005-07:00

Using several different hands on/interactive nativities and activities for the boys to do is how I have been able to keep our tradition of a Christ Centered Christmas. It helps me have a wonderful spirit and attitude this time of year.

This year I got out a "new" nativity that the boys are enjoying.
It's a traditional German Christmas Pyramid. I am glad that my parents thought to get one just for me, when we lived overseas.

On the top are the angels with trumpets to announce the christ child. The middle tier has the shepherds and their flock. The bottom has the 3 wisemen and the poor donkey, with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in the center.
It's supposed to work with candles all around the base. The heat from the candles would rise and make the carousel turn. When I was young, we lived in Germany, and my family used several different kinds of candles for celebrating the advent, but when we had a candle wreath catch fire, we decided that we no longer needed to use the candles, just to be safe :)

I got this Fisher Price Nativity when Thomas was 2. I like that they can touch it and interact with it. Last year I had lots of issues with baby Jesus being treated poorly and thrown around the room, but this year, they are doing really well with it.

We watched the Animated Nativity (from Living scriptures) for our Family Home Evening last week. As each new character was being introduced, they boys automatically associated them with the toy nativity characters. Their favorite this year is the donkey. The toy donkey has a cart with food. So when Joespeh put some saddle bag type thing over the donkey's back and started to lead the way to Bethlehem in the movie, Grayson was concerend "where is his cart and his food, Mama?" Thomas hopped out of his chair and pushed the angel on the top of the stable when the angel appeared to the shepherds in the show. And I haven't been able to get the 3 Wisemen set of the toys (they cost another $25) - so when the wisemen came, the boys were not as connected to this part of the story. But we did make a big deal out of the gifts that they brought, and explained that it's great when we give gifts to others as well, and they liked that.

Christmas Bedtime stories

2011-12-12T08:53:00.002-07:00

We are really enjoying a new tradition this year.
I took all of the christmas books I have collected over the past couple of years, and I wrapped them up, and put them under the tree. The boys take turns picking one book each night. They get to unwrap it and we read it for their bedtime story. I had 12 books already, and I have ordered 4 more from Scholastic thru Thomas's school. They haven't arrived yet, so we are down to our last book tonight (for now).
I decided to start on Dec 1. eventhough we didn't have 24 books, cuz I figure we can just reread them for a while, cuz honestly these stories are all so great!
You may recall that we do not do santa at our house. So a few of the books are just generic "christmasy", but most of them are retellings of the Nativity. I LOVE hearing Grayson talk about "baby Jesus", as we meet him in each story. :)

snail mail...

2011-12-03T17:05:00.002-07:00

Last year I decided I didn't want to send christmas cards, just to save myself the hassle and pressure.
This year, I WANT to send christmas cards, and I feel the pressure to do it, but being a card maker, I feel anxiety that I have to make cards that have to be amazing and perfect. Today was supposed to be my card making day, and I got a start on them, but just wasn't happy with anything I came up with.
So hopefully before this christmas season is over, I will have found just the right combo, and get my cards sent out.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

2011-12-02T22:07:00.002-07:00

around 3:30ish the itty bitty, teensie weensie, tiny snow started to fall.

By dark, we got a cute little SKIFF of white. It makes everything look completely Christmasy!

I enjoyed watching it come down, all bundled up in a blanket, near my fireplace, listening to Pandora internet radio play nonstop christmas music.

Hurray! It's December!

2011-12-02T21:21:00.002-07:00

the start of Dec. means for me - "Journal Your Chistmas" - a fabulous online class to help me scrapbook, keep memories, and make the most out of my christmas season. Last year was my first try - after signing up for the class, it's a lifetime "membership", and I now look forward to doing it year after year.

I will be doing the same thing I did last year. I will blog each day, then later when I have the time, I will create a christmas scrapbook to include all the thoughts, pictures and precious memories.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T12:45:00.005-07:00

I know I haven't blogged in sooooo long. I have so much to catch up on, I guess I feel too overwhelmed to get started - but I did want to come here and express my gratitude for all the blessings I have. I am truely blessed with a wonderful family, friends, a nice community, the gospel of Christ, and much much more.

We had a simple dinner here at home. Tyson always gets a gift of a Turkey from work (thank you Walmart!). We got a big 'ol 16 pounder. I keep cooking a turkey simple, because it totally grosses me out to prep it, LOL. So I put it upside down in an oven bag in a disposable tin broiler pan, put one stick of blue bonnet margarine in the cavity, and stuck it in the oven at 350 for 3 1/2 hours. It turned out sooooo good!

I made the mashed potatoes with Yukon gold potatoes! After they boiled I mixed them with a little margarine, minced garlic, Mrs. Dash, and a few tablespoons of cream cheese!

This is the first year I attempted to make my own gravy - only because I forgot to get premade stuff at the store. But it turned out pretty good. Nothing amazing, but it smothered the tatoes just fine :)

We also had stove top stuffing, and green bean casserole!

Haven't had the pie yet, but I made pumpkin pie and a dutch apple pie. YUM!!!

Our "centerpiece" on our table was our "thankful tree". For family home evening on Monday we wrote down things we are thankful for on fall colored leaves (cut out with my cricut), and then I tied them onto some branches we picked up on a nature walk last week. The boys have really enjoyed looking at it, and talking about all the things they are thankful for.

Celebrate Veterans Day

2011-11-11T09:26:00.002-07:00

my to-do list:

2011-10-05T14:07:00.002-06:00

I have been spending a lot of time on Pinterest. for anyone that doesn't know what it is, the easy explainations is that it's a great place to find and collect fun ideas from the internet. so it's a bit addicting for me. And one reason I've been spending so much time, is because I am bored. I have lots that I could be doing, like updating my blog (hanging my head in shame LOL)... but I don't seem to have much motivation lately.
ANYWAY - on Pinterest someone pinned (shared) this idea of decluttering one space each day in a creative way. They called theirs 40 bags in 40 days - I guess since my house is relatively small and not too cluttered, I only came up with 20. So in 20 days I should be feeling much more clean and organized around here.

I decided that I would actually LIKE to do this - so here we go.

Here is my list:
1. junk drawer in the kitchen
2. utensil drawer (all the measuring cups and spoons, and random other things).
3. computer desk drawers
4. magazine basket (living room)
5. coat closet
6. Grayson's closet (it's bad, all the clothes he's outgrown are still in there)
7. Thomas's closet (its not bad)
8. boys bathroom
9. laundry room cupboard (cleaners)
10. my bathroom
11. my closet (clothes)
12. my closet (stuff)
13. under my bed storage
14. garage (just the stuff on the floor that needs to be out of the way)
15. pantry
16. toy room (toys)
17. toy room (books)
18. toy room (blanket pile)
19. my scrapbook desk
20. the "Hub" (thats the catchall spot in my kitchen)

so I guess half my goal will to spend less time on pinterest LOL - so I can get stuff done around here.

I am so proud of my pinata

2011-09-02T14:48:00.007-06:00

I like making Pinatas.
I have made one for Thomas's birthday since he was 3 - he just expects one, so this is my third year!

This year we are doing another Car's party theme.
It took me a while to decide what kind of pinata to make. I didn't think that I could do a good looking car, plus I didn't think that whacking Lightning or Mater was a very nice idea. But a bad guy - yeah, we could whack the heck out of a bad guy.
So came the plans for making Professor Z into a pinata.

Here is Professor Z - I don't know why,but Thomas always likes the bad guys.

here is the start of my pinata:
I made it with a big punch balloon and a thin cardboard cereal type box

people might think making a pinata is hard, but it's quite simple - and my method is even less messy than you might imagine too.
I use:
torn newspaper
simple white flour and water for my paper mache' paste (I don't measure but it's something like one cup of flour and 2 cups water)
and sometimes I need to use a little masking tape
And I use small foam brush to apply the paste, so I stay fairly clean

here he is with a layer of white paper just so he will paint easier

he is starting to look like my inspiration!!!

And here is the final project. Thanks for looking!!

Tomorrow is the party, so come back again to see how he faired -- I always wonder how my pinatas will handle their beatings LOL ....

Newton Dam

2011-08-28T17:13:00.006-06:00

We couldn't let the summer come to an end without taking a trip to Newton Dam.
We had the beach all to ourselves, so that was a bonus.

Dad's got the best kayaks for paddling around in the water - the kids can manuver some on their own, and some are big enough for 2 people.

The weather was hot, breeze at times, and even slightly cloudy. The water was warm and it wasn't even as dirty as Bear Lake had been. Everyone had a fun time.

The kids had a fun time even out of the water - we weren't quite ready to go yet, so they sat in the back of the truck and van to get warmed up after they got tired of being wet. AJ brought trail mix, and the kids liked picking the chocolate chips out of it LOL. (Rusty is eating rocks not trail mix LOL).

There was a little fighting over who's turn it was to put their head out the window of the truck, but these cousins sure did love playing together. It was a perfect day.

Ok last one Camp #6

2011-08-24T10:41:00.004-06:00

all the last pics randomly added here :)

We all went to the river on Monday, all excited to play IN it, do some river walking, and cool off.... BUT it was SOOOOOOO cold. It was Glacier Cold. It hurt instead of feeling nice. So we played in it a little, but could hardly stand how cold it was - that was when we gave up and had to go make our boats (to warm back up) and floated them standing on the riverbank instead of IN it.

we all tried to brave the cold, but it didn't last long

The boys liked the log bridges across the stream -- they made me nervous (but I am not a fan of water - i tried not to let my fears hold the boys back from having fun)

Grayson spent LOTS of time in that chilly water - kids must not have cold sensors developed yet - or they are superceded by their FUN sensors....

ME :)

Alex putting on a show at the ampetheater

Playing at the ampetheater

Bubble Time!
my camera didn't like the low light - but I still was able to get some interesting shots

My first ever dutchoven Pineapple Upsidedown Cake!!! It was YUMMY!

The BEAUTIFUL scenery!

Hike Camp #5

2011-08-24T10:20:00.003-06:00

The last day we took an easy hike to the head of the stream - I wish I knew what it was called. Willow Springs, I guess - but I tried to Google it, and can't find anything...

Here we are at the top - Thomas doesn't look like he is having fun, but he is.

I told Grayson to give me a big smile - for him, that means that he opens his mouth real wide, but I got one regular shot, and then told him to frown instead to get him to stop with the gapping wide mouth --- such a funny kid

and here is the water coming out of the rock!!!

to say this hike was beautiful is an understatement. it was gorgeous! We might go again next week, because it was such a neat experience and soooooo majestic.

Boats! Camp #4

2011-08-24T09:59:00.004-06:00

Nate brought a bunch of cardboard (he had lots from unpacking after his move into his new house). We each designed our own boats to float on the river. We covered them with duct tape and tied on long pieces of twine!

Here's a better picture of Nate's he made a Viking ship, with a dragon in front.

FLOATING boats !!!

Camping #3

2011-08-24T09:47:00.003-06:00

Tyson and I weren't sure how the kids would be at sleeping in a strange place, in their sleeping bags. They did great! We know that letting them play all day long and keeping them up a little later than usual to sit around the campfire and look up at the stars, would tucker them out so they did sleep well.

The first morning they woke up about 6:30 -- I made them stay in their sleeping bags to stay warm until at least 7am, cuz I didn't want them waking up everyone else, AND I wanted to stay warm in my sleeping bag too.
The second morning, after getting much more worn out from the exploring of the day, they slept until 9am!! We'd gone to bed about 9pm that night, so I (we) got 12 hours of sleep! I don't know when the last time I got 12 hours of sleep LOL :)

I forgot that mornings are cool at camp, so I didn't pack enough warm clothes. We ended up going home a day earlier than I'd intended because of that. But the last day, it was just us, Nate, and mom and Dad left. It was a very quiet morning. Later in the morning we went hiking -- those pics in the #5 post!

Camp #2

2011-08-24T09:40:00.003-06:00

it was fun to watch the chipmunks. The first day there was just one, but by the last day we had attracted quite a handful, they really liked the grapes and wheat thin crackers we would sit out for them to come find. They would grab our snacks and take off into the trees, but we could still hear them crunching away at the crackers, it was a very loud sound.

Camping ! #1

2011-08-24T08:58:00.007-06:00

We went up to Idaho to camp at the Willow Flats area. It was beautiful!
The tall trees kept it cool in the morning.
When the sun got above us, around noon, we lost our shade for a while. It got warm for a few hours, so we would go cool off at the stream!

Nate brought cardboard and duct tape and we made boats to float (those pics will be in a seperate post).

Thomas and Grayson loved hiking around the camp site, and EXPLORING! My heart swelled with joy as I watched them enjoy nature and discover the world around them.

RaNDOM BEAR LAKE pics

2011-08-24T08:49:00.004-06:00

Thomas (Bear Lake)

2011-08-24T08:46:00.001-06:00

Thomas doesn't like to have his photo taken - it requires him to hold still, and that is just not possible for him LOL - so here are the few I captured of him. He LOVED Bear Lake. He tells me he wants to go back all the time. At least we can go once a year. Sorry buddy, we just aren't waterfront people.

Thomas - crystal clear

2011-08-24T08:43:00.002-06:00

I love this photo.
It's so crisp and clear, you can see all the details of the water, the rocky sand, the glimmer of the sun, Thomas's cute farmers tan :)

I don't even know how my camera did it. Just luck, I guess. It's the only photo that came out like this.

Grayson getting brave at Bear Lake

2011-08-24T08:36:00.005-06:00

it's time for some summer catch up!!!!

we went to Bear Lake and then camping for a week - I have LOTS of photos to share... I am going to do them in small segments, since Blogger doesn't like letting me blog with photos (stupid blogger)...

so lets start with Grayson getting brave at Bear Lake...

critters

2011-08-01T20:44:00.005-06:00

we had a big rain storm yesterday - I guess that is why all the critters are out and about (scaring the socks off of me, in the process)

This dude was just hanging out on the driveway - I wasn't looking down until I was just a foot away from him - then I jumped about 6 feet in the air, and ran to find Tyson to take care of him.

then later I was out in the cool evening air, doing a little weeding. I tossed a handful of weeds onto a little pile and THIS guy jumped out at me.

after my second heart attack of the night, I decided to pack it in, and stay inside. (eventhough every thing I am spotting in my periferal view is still making me jumpy)...

Summer school time week 2

2011-08-01T17:36:00.009-06:00

This week we worked on letters F thru J

on monday I mixed up a batch of homemade playdough (recipe below) and we learned about Hard and Soft. I talked with them about how the hard objects made the shapes on the soft playdough... I loved that they used just about everything they could find to make impressions - they liked thier cars a lot. But they also liked making "monsters" with the googley eyes, and Grayson found a small spoon, and liked pretending that he was serving it up. :)

PLAY DOUGH RECIPE (I got it from my pal Talesha) we made purple grape = it smelled graptastic!

On Wed we did Yes and NO.

We have this Clifford toy that I picked up at the D.I. (thrift store) a long time ago. There is a button you push on his back, and it makes his head shake back and forth, like he is saying NO.

So I made up a small matching game with coloring pages from PBS KIDS . com and when we had a match they yelled YES, and if they didn't match they would say no, and we'd shake our heads and do the clifford toy to shake his head no too. Then they wanted to color the pictures.

On Sunday we played catch up (I slacked off this last week - gotta do better this week) and did the left and right activity - where they traced their hands, and then used scissors to cut them out.

Grayson was delighted to finally be allowed to use scissors. He did pretty good.

The boys played with that playdough all week long. If you couldn't tell, we did that activity in the garage - because they are just so messy with it. Some days they would leave the playdough out, and it would really get dried out in that hot garage, but luckily, I had only given them a small portion, so we just threw it out, and gave them some more. That recipe lasted the whole week! But now it's gone, so if they want more, I will have to mix up a new batch - we'll do blue raspberry next time :)

This week (week 3) we are learning about Book of Mormon Heros. I have changed them from my original plan, but hope the boys will like who I have picked.
Only 4 weeks until school starts! I hope we are ready.

Carrots 2

2011-08-01T17:27:00.003-06:00

the boys are enjoying the garden. the only trouble I am having is keeping them out of it. I told them they could pick all the peas they wanted, but they keep coming in with carrots too - that wouldn't bother me, if they would actually eat them... but they usually don't.

so far the tomatoes are still green, but I will bet that once they even start to hint they will be going red, the boys will be picking them too...

Carrots 1

2011-08-01T17:25:00.003-06:00

these pics were taken a few weeks ago - I decided to pull a carrot to see how they were coming along. this was not what I had been expecting to find. LOL

it looks like they were huddling together for warmth or something.

summer school time Week 1

2011-07-22T15:17:00.010-06:00

Monday we did the letter A and we talked about Happy and Sad.
I used an old family home evening lesson picture it says Happy when I choose the right and Sad - Uh-Oh. Grayson thought the uh-oh part was funny.

Tuesday we did the letter B. We played a thumbs up and thumbs down game - I would say a word, and they had to do thumbs up if it started with B, or thumbs down if it didn't. We also taked about the emotion SLEEPY.

The loved this picture of sleepy the dwarf.

And they loved my surprize activty - we rolled out some sleeping bags in Graysons room. They played in those ALL Day long :)

On Wed was the letter C - and since there was a picture of cookies, Thomas demanded that we make oatmeal cookies. The emotion for the day was anger (switched from my original plan, cuz I was so exhausted I hadn't prepared well for school time, so we just winged it). I just talked about angry faces and how we can talk thru things when we get mad to make things better.

Thursday's letter was D and the emotion was Excited. The lesson was a little bumpy because I didn't get to school time until after I had run morning errands and finished up with lunch. So I didn't have their attention. But I put their surprize (little Cars) in bags, and they got to open their presents and they were very excited! They played with those cars all night long, and wanted to take them to bed with them.

Today we did the letter E and the emotion was confused and frustrated. We did a treasure hunt so that if they were confused they had to say "I don't understand" and if they were frustrated they had to say "Help please".

I had a "map" of our house, and Thomas figured it out quickly. They had to hunt around and find the X's. There he found one of the 4 pieces of a puzzle to put together to reveal the "surprize". They loved putting the puzzle together over and over. And later Grayson went around hiding all the pieces again, so we could hunt for them again.

oh yeah, and their surprize was an icecream cone :)

quick update

2011-07-21T11:58:00.002-06:00

No I am not pregnant. We are trying - but after another weird month - well, we're not pregnant. I just wanted to tell everyone, because I have had 3 people ask, and it's kinda hard to have to say no when it's so fresh - like a little salt in the wound.

on a happier note, our summer school time is working out really well. Both boys are liking it. And I LOVE watching Thomas write his name and work on his letters each day.

and if any other Hansen cousins are reading this - the Hansen reunion - at Bear Lake - first weekend of Aug -- you should come! Several of us Anderson's will be there.

free educational helps

2011-07-15T17:19:00.002-06:00

http://www.theheadoftheclass.com/

I found this link from LDS Living Magazine, and got worksheets for writing every letter! I was just going to try to make my own - but now I don't have to!

Summer schooling

2011-07-14T17:57:00.003-06:00

Thomas's therapist said that I should start working Thomas into a routine before school starts. I have been putting it off, but now there are just 6 weeks of summer left, so it is a perfect time to start.
Starting next monday this is what our schedule is going to look like:
each day he will write his name and work on the letter of the day.

Emotions -
A--happy/sad - sing "if you chance to meet a frown", make paper plate happy and sad faces
B--sleepy/tired - play with sleeping bags maybe make a fort or set up the tent
C--excited - a present or treat
D--angry - I don't know what I will do yet, but this is going to be an important one to cover with Thomas
E--confused/frustrated - I want him to learn that he can say "I don't understand" and "help please" - treasure hunt with a map

Opposites
F-- hard/soft - rocks and playdough
G-- loud/quiet - drums
H-- yes/no - playing a clifford matching game
I-- up/down - if we can we'll fly a kite - tape measure activity or jumping on trampoline
J-- left/right - trace hands, then cut out

Book of Mormon characters
K-- Nephi
L-- Enos
M-- Ammon
N-- Captain Moroni
O-- Mormon

Songs --- this is a week we will be camping the first half of the week, so I picked something that wouldn't require a desk or any tools - and I added an extra day
where is Thumbkin
Apples and Bananas
Hinges
P--If your happy and you know it
Q-- Old McDonald
R-- Head shoulders knees and toes

"School stuff"
S -- letters - sing the alphabet songs -
T -- numbers - play a goldfish counting game with goldfish crackers
U -- shapes - playdough again
V -- colors - doing a color treasure hunt around the house - and making a poster with cut up magazines
W -- exclusively working on writing his Name.

BOOKS --
X-- taking a trip to the local library
Y-- haven't decided on which books to use yet for this week - will update...
Z --

So there is the agenda -
\when I told my fabulous friend Tracie that I was going to be starting this, she loaned me a huge file box full of teaching tools and ideas for me to look thru. So as we do each week, I will keep posting about what else we did and how Thomas (and Grayson too) are liking this plan I have come up with. :)
-

and finally an update from today

2011-07-13T23:57:00.007-06:00

We got a pine tree from Shelly and Jared - straight from the forests of WY.

so we slaved away all day to make it a good home in our front yard!

We discovered that our yard is made up of 1 inch of topsoil, 2 feet of rock, and then ya find the clay. So needless to say, it was a TOUGH dig. I just hope that he can grow in such bad soil.

We figured we could use the rocks - so we washed as many as we could and put them in the front rock bed.

I had planned to cement a large area here in the front, but we decided that if we follow the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover, that this was a project that could wait. It was a want and not a need. So for now I will fill it with as many rocks as I can collect.

The 4th of July

2011-07-13T23:28:00.006-06:00

We had such a great 4th of July this year! I hope I helped the boys make some good memories!

We started out with our small town parade. It consisted of a few firetrucks, floats, tractors and kids on bikes! The boys had a great time getting candy.

Later, after we all got to take a nap, we played outside with the neighbors.

They played "parade" - where they threw the candy all around and then picked it back up again :)

We went to a new spot to watch the fireworks in Brigham this year. When we lived in town, we would just go on the south side, on the high school lawn. But this year we wanted to be able to get out of town quickly. So we went to the north side of the parks. We got a great parking place. And it was just a short walk. We got there in plenty of time to get a great spot. You can see in this picture that the area was pretty clear when we got there.

and in this picture you can sorta see how many people came after us. but it was still not even crowded.

We had our chairs, and blankets. Even with a nap, Grayson was already tired by 9:30 when it finally got dark.

We kept the boys entertained until the show started with juice boxes, cheetos, music on our phones, and these flags - which after the novelty wore off a bit, we snapped them and the glow sticks added even more fun. I was glad I was prepared this year. Everytime I pulled out the next surprize, and they would smile, it made me feel so good that I was able to make this a great experience for them.

Grandpa's Semi

2011-07-13T23:23:00.001-06:00

Tom and Lori stopped in for a visit, and let the boys see the truck! Hoo, boy! They thought that was the coolest!

summer storms

2011-07-13T23:19:00.001-06:00

ah, is there anything as cool as a nice summer rain :)

My silly, cute little Grayson

2011-07-13T23:14:00.003-06:00

I sure get a kick out of Grayson as his fun little personality is developing.

Here he's playing with the neighbor's kitty. He LOVES animals. I made him the toy, so he could keep the kitty's attention.

he loves his Lightning McQueen hat - even if it's for cold winter weather, he insisted on wearing it. AND he has stunningly handsome wellie boots that he tries to wear around 24/7

He loves helping me vacuum!

OOPS :(

2011-07-13T23:09:00.003-06:00

These cookies would have been super yummy - look they aren't even flat (like usual). No they are not chocolate. They were supposed to just be regular ol chocolate chip cookies. But I accidentally forgot that I was making cookies, and the kids wanted to go outside, so we went out. And we were out for hours. I just happened to step in the house as the timer was beeping again - it beeps every few minutes until I turn it off. Oooops. DUH. at least the smoke detectors weren't going off. BUT our house was very smelly for the next couple of days.

Thomas the Train

2011-07-13T22:49:00.009-06:00

I know that this is super old - but I had to get the pics on here! We went down to Heber City on the memorial day weekend and let the boys ride Thomas the Tank Engine. Besides Thomas whining and crying about everything (caused by a stupid ADHD medicine that we were trying), they had fun. Thomas talked about it for almost a month!

The drive down to Heber was very enjoyable. The scenery was beautiful!

This is called the Devils Slide - I didn't get a good shot of it, but it was really neat to see it so close up.

We passed by this truck, but I made Tyson slow down again, so I could get this picture.

As we came up behind this big truck, I commented to Tyson, that I just didn't understand what was on their flatbed. It was a tiny yellow thing. I said "it's so small, why didn't they just throw it in the truck bed?" and then as we drove by them, I started laughing. It was a toy dump truck strapped down, and in front of that was the toy digger.

lots of rain = MUD

2011-07-13T22:42:00.008-06:00

These photos are from early June, we had tons of rain, and our backyard was just sopping wet. But the first nice day, the kids HAD to play outside.
I let them have their fun in the mud.

They had been messing with the pallets that I had put back there to cover up most of the muddy area (that someday is supposed to be the shed area) - they would lift one up and drop it and it would splash mud all the way to the top of the fence.

Grayson was jumping and stomping around, and eventually lost his shoes (does that sound familiar? LOL)

look how high that water comes up on Grayson

July garden - pics taken tonight!

2011-07-13T22:39:00.003-06:00

how does my garden grow?

2011-07-13T22:33:00.003-06:00

Here is how it looked in June:

here comes some catching up....

2011-07-13T22:23:00.003-06:00

Thomas won't go to sleep, so I guess I can take that as an oppertunity to do some catching up.

On sundays, after church, we reward the boys with mixing up chocolate milk for doing good at church :)

ahhh summertime

2011-07-09T09:36:00.006-06:00

It is tough to get a little kid to go to bed at night in the summertime. Not just because they have had so much fun playing all day long, but because it's still light outside when you are trying to tell them it's NIGHT TIME - they don't believe you.

My boys love playing with WATER in the summer.

They have a slip and slide they love. But they don't actually slip or slide on it - they just like the way the water squirts up out of it.

We got a big pool last year, but this is the first time we have set it up. I was worried about killing the grass under it - but now I have decided to put in a dry creek bed area in the back of the backyard, so that is where the pool is living this summer.

I have to limit their time wasting water with the hose. Our water bill last summer was insane because I let Thomas use the hose on the driveway all the time and for as long as he wanted (which was practically all day long). I have tried to be a little smarted with the water this year. I strategically make them play close to a tree, or the garden, or a super dry patch of the lawn, then I don't feel as guilty about it.

It is tough to rationalize the proper water usage, especially when we have been trying to conserve water. We finally got our rain barrels (after the rainy season was over). We will use them properly (rain runoff) next year. For this year, I am still getting good use out of them. After the boys have a bath, I scoop the water out with a pitcher into a 5 gallon barrel and haul it out to the flowerbeds, but when there is more than I need (because we have played with the hose around something that would usually get watered with the tubby water) - I just fill up the big water barrels.

My garden is doing pretty good I guess. It is very green - I just haven't seen anything at a fruiting stage yet :( (stupid long wet winter). I don't think I have the patience to be a gardener LOL

It's funny because we put down the black weed barrier last year when the ground was just dirt, so that I wouldn't have to worry about the awful weeds that infest our yard. But it wasn't heavy enough, or staked down well enough, because the weeds are growing happily underneath it. I really don't know what to do. I cant pull it up - all the garden boxes are on top of it. I tried pulling the weeds that ended up along the fence line, but they are tough suckers. With the clay soil, they can get their roots down deep, and then when it gets hard, they are impossible to pull out. Even if I soak the ground, they are still so deep, that they know they can't be killed, as long as a little of their root gets left behind. So along the fence line I am trying the "newspaper" weed barrier - it blocks the light making it "impossible" for the weeds to grow - but I really need some rocks or something over the top, to keep the newspaper from blowing away.
I will post just garden pics in another post soon....****

I did the newspaper under a new black weed barrier on my corner mound in the front yard. You can see the black weed barrier thru the rocks, because I just don't have enough - but I guess I prefer that look to the gross weeds that had invaded and were impossible to keep up with (it's weird that I don't have as much time to work outside as I did last year - I am not sure if that is because Thomas just needs more constant supervision, or if I lost my love for the fun of weeding).
So keep your fingers crossed that this trick will work!

A BEFORE PICTURE... from June:

and I will have to take an after picture tomorrow:
*****

And last but not least - the Garage project. We are still working away at the decluttering. It is getting much better, but I took pictures and it is still really hard to tell that we have even done anything LOL
We can probably get a car parked in there, but honestly, I like having the space to work and play in. Its like having a rec room.

During the summer we switched cars. After driving the SUV with no AC down to Layton for a family reunion, we decided we HAD to move the carseats to the Saturn. SO now I drive the car, and Tyson takes the SUV to work. It would be nice to have the car cooler when we got in it for our trips. I guess I had better make room to park it in the garage so I can find out how nice that would be.

Bubble snake

2011-06-16T21:33:00.005-06:00

I wanted to mix things up a bit for bath time tonight, so I made a "bubble snake" maker to entertain the boys.
It was a big hit. But as always when I try new things, there is a learning curve to it.

Here is how it's made.

you need an empty waterbottle, a rubber band, an old washcloth or sock and bubble solution (which I made with dishsoap --- next time I will use baby shampoo or bubble bath -- because it got too close to being in their eyes, and Grayson got it in his mouth - YUCK)

Cut the bottom off the waterbottle and then use the elastic/rubber band to hold the old washcloth or sock on.

Dip the washcloth end in the bubble solution and blow a steady stream of air into it to make the "snakes". My boys didn't want to do it, so I did it and they played with the bubbles, which was fine for me, because I didn't want them accidentally breathing IN the soap mix.

The bubbles were so messy though, so after they played in the water for a little bit, I drained the tub and then showered them off - Thomas calls it "Raining". My bathroom sure smells CLEAN from all that soap. Thomas is already talking all about how we will do this again. And like I said before, next time I will use the baby shampoo I have on hand, and see if that works just as well, because I was really nervous about them getting it in their eyes. They were making the bubbles into HATS. SO the "no tears" is really appealing.

This is also a great outdoor activity for the summer - you can just hose them off, when they get too bubbly.

Relay for Life

2011-06-09T23:18:00.004-06:00

last saturday we participated in the Relay for life in Brigham City. It was a lot of fun for the whole family. We started out pulling the kids in the wagon, but after only one trip around, Grayson wanted out. He RAN the whole rest of the day. We paused and had a little picnic lunch, but as soon as we were done, he said he wanted to go "walk moe" (more). Thomas wanted to stay and play on the playground. So Tyson and I split up - he stayed with Thomas, and I walked (chased after) with Grayson.

I didn't have my camera on me while we walked. But here is Grayson after the drive home. :)

Eternity....

2011-06-09T23:04:00.006-06:00

The construction of the Brigham City Temple
DEC 2010

March 2011

April 2011

May 2011

June 2011

Happy Trails....

2011-06-09T22:45:00.003-06:00

We said farewell to our Grandpa Hansen on May 27, 2011.

We know without a doubt that he is happily reunited with his sweetheart.

Military Honors were provided by the Box Elder County Veterans

Thomas loves to go Bowling

2011-06-09T22:42:00.002-06:00

that pretty much sums it all up. If we could, he would make us go bowling every single day -- and even when we can't that doesn't stop him from asking if we can...(demanding, really).

the garage shelves

2011-06-09T22:39:00.002-06:00

We got the garage shelves built in May!
Now the hard part is the organizing and decluttering, and ridding ourselves of the unwanted junk. That is taking longer than I would like, but we are slowly picking away at it. If we HAD to, we could fit one car in the garage right now -- we'd just have to push everything to one side. :)

where to start?

2011-06-09T22:30:00.002-06:00

so much to catch up on --- I got pictures for ya!!!

here we go

Today, Grayson woke up fairly happy from his nap (it's getting to be a rare thing around here, so I love it when he does.) -- and I don't know why, but all he wanted to talk about were that I had green eyes (and then he'd try to poke his finger in my eye.)
so we talked about how his eyes are brown like daddy's and Thomas's are "mostly" green like mine (there's a mix of brown in there too).

yea, I know.....

2011-06-02T22:58:00.002-06:00

I am a poor blogger lately.

I have lots of pictures of stuff that I wanna share on here, I just never have the time anymore. The boys have become little computer hogs.
- I even have a cute video of Grayson and Thomas sitting in the computer chair fighting
- I love when Grayson says "mine turn". It's amazing to me that my little 2 1/2 year old is so good at mouse clicking and getting the computer to do just what he wants it to.
- I am grateful for great sites like Disney Junior, PBS kids, and sesame workshop, for all the fun and educational games that the boys just can't get enough of.

so if it wasn't 11pm already I would blog about our trip to see the Thomas the Tank Engine -- but you will just have to wait another day or 2 or 10.

Next week starting on Monday I will be participating in a challenge that the stake gave the young women. For the week before camp they want us to do NO Texting, No computer socializing, and No TV. And have asked us to focus on listening to only church music, reading our scriptures, and looking for oppertunities to do service. When Tyson heard of the challenge, he at first thought I wouldn't do it. But once I told him I WAS going to do it, he knew I meant it.
anyone else think they could do it for a week?
he said he might try to join in to support me, but I challenged him with not playing one of his online games, since it's technically sociallizing, and he wasn't sure about that.... so stay tuned to find out how it went.

you know I like Scrapwhispers....

2011-05-07T07:21:00.001-06:00

They are hosting a National Scrapbook Day Crop - if anyone wants to scrap today!! come join in!!

http://scrapwhispers.blogspot.com/

spring time

2011-05-06T18:25:00.002-06:00

I know I have some catching up to do - but I just haven't got time at the moment. I did finally change the snowy blog banner, though, so that is a start.
The boys are sure keeping me busy, but I will be getting a small break tomorrow. It's national scrapbook day! And Tyson will be tending the boys all day, so I can scrap the day away (and maybe win a prize). I apologize to all of the people I had to say NO to, when they asked me to do something this saturday. Sorry, but it's my "mothers day gift" to enjoy my day.

TIP for the week:

2011-04-21T08:21:00.001-06:00

WEAR A HAT - when working outside on the first sunny day of spring - otherwise you will end up with a toasty bright red forehead like someone I know (me LOL). :D

the sun is shining

2011-04-19T19:22:00.010-06:00

ahhhh, finally!
I have spent almost the entire day outside!!
I LOVE it!!!!

I got dirt put into several of our square foot garden boxes! I got my compost put into a big black trash barrell. The idea being that I could just roll it to keep it nice and mixed. Slight problem, though, its too heavy now :S so now I am not sure that was the best plan. LOL

I got the flowerbed around the mailbox all ready. I made it bigger!! And I put the plastic weed barrier around it to keep the grass out. I will be planting marigolds in here.

I also created a new flowerbed here on the east side of the house.

I got the grass all pulled out of the spot, and put down the plastic weed barrier.

I planted daffodil bulbs. I had bought them last year, but never got them in the ground (I didn't know where to put them - should have thought of that before I bought them.) - so I found them while working on cleaning the garage - and they were already sprouting, with no dirt, and no water. So I am happy to get them into the ground!

So here is how the yard is shaping up so far-- there is still lots of work to do.

One thing you can't see in a photo, is how patchy our poor lawn is. So today I spread grass seed all over. Hopefully the weather won't get too cool for that. I wanted to get it down while we were still getting good rain, so I don't have to pay to water it.

I obviously need to do the front mound under the playroom window - it needs LOTS of work - including getting all the weeds and grass out of it, without hurting my boxwoods. I need to get the plastic barrier in, to keep the grass out. I have to put rocks all around it, to hide the ugly plastic barrier. Then eventually I will plant marigolds!!!

I will be putting more cement on my little front porch - because it's just too small. That means my rock garden up there will get much smaller. So far, I have put down roundup weed killer to get rid of all that green ya see. Once those are all dead, I will move the rocks and make the cement form and get that all done!

The corner mound (which ya can't see in this pic, but you can see it in the background of the mailbox pic) needs work too - I have to redo the weed barrier, and replace all the rocks on top. Hopefully this time it will work and I won't ever have to weed there again. Grayson and I collected several more big rocks when we went on a walk today with the wagon! I like that we are getting it more filled in.

I will also be cleaning out space on the west side of the house, in front of the fence for flower beds there too. I haven't decided what kind of flowers yet - I would just do Marigolds, but that might get to be a bit too much Orange. Maybe Tulips, we'll see. And then there will be Lavendar and Thyme planted next to the house.

I am still trying to talk Tyson into letting me put in more trees, but we'll see if that will have to wait til next year or not.

Next on the to-do list is THE GARAGE: - keeping my fingers crossed for more good weather. I hope to get it all done by the first week in May. We are going to slide everything from this wall - and paint, then put up shelves. Then we'll put everything up onto the shelves and paint all the rest of the walls. and eventually get a plumber to install the sink I got from Dad, so the boys can wash up when they have gotten all messy outside.

come see

2011-04-12T18:10:00.003-06:00

Scrap Whispers
I love joining in at Scrap Whispers -The game is that one layout page is sent to the first person on a team of ladies, and she "scraplifts" it (meaning she copies it - but with her own spin on it) then her new page gets sent to the next person on the team, who "lifts" her page and so on until the team is finished.
Come and see if you can find my page!!

Parenting 505

2011-04-10T21:32:00.002-06:00

"A sweet and obedient child will enroll a father or mother only in Parenting 101. If you are blessed with a child who tests your patience to the nth degree, you will be enrolled in Parenting 505. Rather than wonder what you might have done wrong in the premortal life to be so deserving, you might consider the more challenging child a blessing and oppertunity to become more godlike yourself. With which child will your patience, long-suffering, and other Christlike virtues most likely be tested, developed and refined? Could it be that you need this child as much as this child needs you?"
Lynn G Robbins, of the Quorum of the Seventy - General Conference April 2011 ~ "What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ya to Be?"

understanding....

2011-03-27T16:55:00.006-06:00

I have to start with saying I do not know what blogger is doing to my post -- I have typed it all up nice with good spacing making this long post easy to read -- and for some stupid reason, it's taking out all the spacing making it one gigantic blob of words. No one is going to want to read that. ARRRRGGGHHH.

so if you are reading this in it's blob form, bless you. if it's not in blob form when you are reading it, then I finally got the issue fixed, and bless you too. :) Here's what I really have to say:::::::

I have gotten a little obsessive about reading blogs lately. Most of them are written by women who are moms to special little children - children like Thomas. And the more I have read the more I am starting to understand.

We know Thomas has PDD - Pervasive Developmental Disorder - and as he is getting older and working in the school setting we are starting to see him more categorized into the Aspergers Syndrome part of the autism spectrum. When he was little, I didn't think he "fit" - but as with ADHD, it's tough to diagnose small kids, because they could just be being little kids. It's not until school age that things can be "measured" against something "normal".

So I just wanted to write about a few things I have stumbled across, as I am working to be the best mom for my special child.

here is a quote from Wikipedia: "A pervasive developmental disorder, Asperger syndrome is distinguished by a pattern of symptoms rather than a single symptom. It is characterized by qualitative impairment in social interaction, by stereotyped and restricted patterns of behavior, activities and interests, and by no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or general delay in language. Intense preoccupation with a narrow subject, one-sided verbosity, restricted prosody, and physical clumsiness are typical of the condition, but are not required for diagnosis."

yeah, like that isn't difficult to understand so on one blog, one mom had it broken down to make it much easier to understand, and I took most of what follows from her and changed it for Thomas.

1) Problems with social skills - Thomas doesn't know 'proper' or typical social cues. He speaks out of turn, he can't follow conversation, and often has 'outbursts' which can make others around him not want to be around him.

2) Eccentric or repetitive behaviors- these behaviors are usually stimming, helping him 'self regulate', and they include his bouncing his head on the couch rhythmically and clapping or flapping his hands.

3) Unusual preoccupations or rituals- A child with Asperger's syndrome may develop rituals that he or she refuses to alter, such as getting dressed in a specific order. Thomas has to have his left shoe on before the right shoe, if we do it wrong, he melts down and we have to do it over. He also has to wear certain jammies with certain goodnights on certain nights of the week. I will be making this easier on myself soon - he is outgrowing his 4t jammies, so when we get new ones they will all be the same, no more scooby doo one night, and lightning McQueen the next, etc. His underwear is the same issue. I dealt with that problem today by putting dividers in his underwear drawer labled with the days of the week, so he can put the correct characters in the certain days, so we won't have anymore meltdowns when it's time to get dressed. And I can't forget his Handy Manny shirt that he wore everyday for several months. He finally outgrew it, and now insists he has to wear a green shirt everyday.

4) Communication difficulties-People with Asperger's syndrome may not make eye contact when speaking with someone. They may have trouble using facial expressions and gestures, and understanding body language. They also tend to have problems understanding language in context. I had been taught that to help a child to follow directions you get them to make eye contact with you, so you know that you have their attention before telling them what you needed them to do. Well, this doesn't work with Thomas. We could have been holding his face in our hands with our faces close to his, trying to block out everything else so he would focus, and he STILL could not look us in the eye. In normal conversation, we can be talking with him about something, and he acts as if we aren't even there, and can start talking about something else that is on his mind (which could be anything from something someone in his class did a month ago, to something that he did yesterday).

5) Limited range of interests- A child with Asperger's syndrome may develop an intense, almost obsessive, interest in a few areas, such as sports schedules, weather, or maps. I remember my aunt told me of a little boy who knew every kind of vacuum on the market. It was his "thing". With Thomas, it's Letters. When we used to visit Grandma Hansen upstairs, Thomas had no interest in the toys that she had out for him to play with. Instead, he would go to the bookshelf in the hallway, lined with her old Encyclopedias, and would have her read the letters to him. For a while he was obsesed with the letter D book. He knew almost all the words in there from Dagger to Dogs --he had no interst in all the types of dogs, like I figured most little boys would be -- he just kept turning pages to the end of the book reading all the D words. We only have 2 songs that we can sing at Family Home Evening - "Thomas's song" - which is Nephi's courage, and " Grayson's song" which is I am a Child of God.

6) Coordination problems- I am not sure that this would be one of Thomas's symptoms. It is common for movements of children with Asperger's syndrome to seem clumsy or awkward. But Thomas is great at throwing, running and jumping, and riding his bike. He does however struggle with using his utensils to eat, holding a pencil (doesn't help that he is left handed), and cutting with scissors is also a tough task.

7) Sensory issues- many kids with Asperger's syndrome are either extra sensitive or less sensitive to sensory issues. Thomas is very sensitive to sounds. He can hear things that I barely notice in the background, and will ask me, "what's that noise?" One time he had asked I had to really listen to hear what he might be asking about, and finally decided he was hearing the very quiet hum of the refridgerator. Thomas also makes loud 'screeching' sounds, which I have to guess are to 'self regulate' for sounds.

8) Difficulty with regulating emotions- If you know what mood swings on a pregnant lady look like, then you can imagine the mood swings of a kid with Asperger's. Things that wouldn't seem like a big deal can make him cry for hours, especially if I can't "get thru to him" and break the "sad" cycle. I have found that if I try comforting him by saying "it'll be ok", it only makes him more upset, because he doesn't understand what that means. Recent meltdowns we have dealt with began with: Grayson touching Thomas's white board, his friends came by after school to play without prior "prep" for him to be ready to deal with that change of normal afterschool routine, and the whole picture day fiasco I wrote about last week.

9) Lack of empathy- this one bothered me a lot when he was little, and we didn't know much yet. I was quite worried that I had a "broken" child when he laughed when others cried. We tried to teach him that he was supposed to say "I am sorry you are sad", or "it will be ok". He doesn't say it still, but at least he doesn't laugh anymore.

10) Difficulties with transitions and rigidity- Schedules, plans and lists. here at home, I let Thomas choose his own activities as he keeps himself busy, so when it comes time to do something we need to do, he doesn't transition well. Eating lunch and dinner can be huge battles most days. Eventhough it's something we do every day, he still doesn't understand why he has to stop doing what he is doing, and come do what we say (even if he is hungry). Again, you'd have to read the post about the picture day fiasco.

11) Difficulty with imaginative play- this was another thing that boggled my mind when he was little. My sister in law asked if he was like her boys, and just automatically knew how to make car noises when he played. I said he didn't. And he didn't play with the cars the way I would have expected most kids to play. Instead, he lined them up. (which I have learned is very common with AS kids). Children with Asperger's can be very literal and can have a difficult time with doing things like pretend play. This can be very difficult for the child with Asperger's with playing with other children.

12) Skilled or talented- Many children with Asperger's syndrome are exceptionally talented or skilled in a particular area, such as music or math. For Thomas and his preoccupation with letters, he is so very smart and is already reading (which astonished his sundayschool teacher when he started in her class in Jan). He has a very good memory *which can be a pain in the neck most of the time. Because of his ADHD, though, it is hard for him to really focus. He can read --- but he chooses not to, because that would require holding still.

13) Scripting- Kids with Asperger's tend to "script" things out and do them exactly the same, or say the same script over and over again. Thomas has some issues with impulse control. He knows exactly what he is doing because he will walk up to me and say "I'm going to pinch you" - and even though he knows it's wrong he does it anyway. He doesn't do it maliciously - he just cannot stop himself from doing it. When he is "bouncing" on the couch, he will say things over and over again, and it's often interesting to hear what his little mind is focused on at the moment. It could be about how he is going to have chocolate milk at school, and how he doesn't like strawberry milk, and he doesn't like the school's juice, only white milk and chocolate milk. It could be about something he saw on a show - like the whole storyline of a word world episode or how he wants to be the turtle from Wonderpets and his little brother is the duck (this is why he will only wear a green shirt, by the way, he is a turtle.)

So there ya have somemore info on our wonderful yet challenging brilliant active little boy.

Poor Grayson is going to think we just ignore him, cuz I am always talking about Thomas. I promise to blog about him soon.

I must be crazy

2011-03-25T20:01:00.005-06:00

http://events.hitentertainment.com/us/day-out-with-thomas/index.asp

I just bought us tickets to go to a Day out with Thomas- it's a 3 hour drive down to Heber.

We took Thomas when he was about 2 - the ride was a bit disappointing and we went on Memorial Day Monday, so it was a crazy busy day.

I remember somehow Thomas had an accident, and he was all wet, and he got me all wet. I had a change of clothes for him, but not for me.

With Thomas being, well, Thomas - he wasn't really interested in anything, so we didn't stay long. And ended up going to the zoo afterward that day too. That was too much LOL.

Anyway -- Grayson is at that Thomas the Train loving age, and I talked Tyson into letting us go again this year. I think we will have a much better time. We are going on a Saturday, and a little later in the afternoon, so we can take our time a little easier.
I am just keeping my fingers crossed that it will be a well spent $70 (I am choking on that price honestly - it's a bit unbelievable - yet I did it anyway).

Before we get to the end of may, though our weekends are going to be pretty full. In April we have General Conference, then Baby Animal Days at the American West Heritage Center in Logan. Then Tyson will have his game day, then will be our anniversary. The next weekend will be easter - we hope to do an easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's house in Newton on the saturday!!! Then the next weekend is the last of April. Yikes. It hasn't even started yet LOL.......
Lots to look forward to!

OWH | Old Spice - making cards for our heros

2011-03-19T07:53:00.000-06:00

Thomas will show you how to Zumba

2011-03-17T17:18:00.000-06:00

picture day fiasco

2011-03-17T15:13:00.005-06:00

These were the faces I got when I asked him to smile ^
Down below you can see last years pictures on the bottom.

Today was picture day at Thomas's school. I think St. Patty's day should be off limits for a picture day, because a mom has to choose whether to send their kid in green, so he doesn't get pinched, or to dress him up in his nicest clothes (that will match the living room decor when the photo is hung on the wall) and risk him being tortured thru the day.

They only gave us a weeks warning about this, so I had been on the lookout for something cute the boys could wear - last year they were in matching outfits - so that is what I had in mind.

But I didn't find anything to my liking. Then Thomas picked out a cute orange shirt from Walmart because it says Junior on it - and his name is Thomas Junior. So that is what he wore, and I just dug something out of Graysons closet for him. Hopefully they will look cute on the wall.

So Thomas is not very good with things that are off of his usual routine. And he also doesn't like doing things that require him to hold still. (He has always hated getting his picture taken). Today was no exception.

I arrived at the school with Grayson just in time to see Thomas's class heading to get their pictures taken. But Thomas wasn't with them. So I walked all the way down to his room, to find him with his aid (that does great one on one work with him). He was mad because it was "work time" and he was saying things about how he didn't want to do pictures, etc. I got him to hold my hand and "walk" with me (more like dragging his feet and flopping all over). The whole rest of his class was sitting, his teacher was saying to the photographers that this was a difficult class (I guess the girl she had sitting with her is the other big challenge, she works with). But the only one acting up was Thomas. And boy was he acting up. His aid was trying to help him with the "transition" (as they call it), but he would not accept this change. And he was flopping all over. She was holding him trying to keep him from breaking his head open on the bleachers, and talking to him so calmly. I wanted to ring his little neck for his horrible behavior. But instead I just sat in the background holding back my tears.

Thanks to digital photos I was able to see that they did in fact capture a class photo with all the kids - including Thomas - were looking at the camera. Not necessarily with a smile, but not in full body flopping tantrums at least.

Then it was time for individual shots. Thomas decided to go last. He sat so good right where he was as all of the other kids took their turns and then headed back to class. But his expression was of someone lost. Then it was his turn. All he had to do was hand the photographer his ticket with his name on it. He refused, holding it behind his back, saying he wanted to keep it. His teacher coaxed, the photographer coaxed, I coaxed. Nothing. So finally they gave up, and made him a new one, let him just keep the one in his hand, and we moved on to getting him to look at the camera, hold still and smile. Well, just like last year, the best shot they got was a pretty stoic look. it would have to do, because he was DONE.

Then it was Grayson's turn. We didn't get a smile out of him last year, so we tried practicing with him at home all morning. But this year, we were lucky we didn't get a pouty lip or tears. He did NOT want to sit there. But the photographer got one good shot. It's not a smile, but it will have to do.

too many appointments

2011-03-15T18:31:00.002-06:00

I admit I like being a "home-body." Staying home in my "jammies" all day long, playing with my kids, cooking tastey food (I don't like the cleaning up after cooking much though LOL), working on my yard and garden, and not having to haul the kids around - that is the "difficult" part of errands.

But lately our lives are quite full of appointments.

This week Thomas's Dr. switched him to a new med again. So now we are giving Concerta a try.

I also had an appointment, and got a med for my IBS!
It is really amazing to get Dr.s who actually listen to what we are saying!

Next week we accidentally double booked - can't be in 2 places at once, so I need to reschedule one of them.

a new day

2011-03-10T15:29:00.003-07:00

I was really looking forward to going to our appointment with Thomas's new psychologist today, especially after the kids antics last night.

I was getting their dinner ready, and I thought they were playing so well together. But it turned out that they were actually destroying every room they went in. The toy room was already a mess, so they were running back and forth thru the house. In my room - which they shouldn't have been in in the first place, they spread clean laundry all over the floor. In each of their rooms, Thomas climbed up the shelves in their closets and knocked every single thing down to the floor. All in a matter of a few minutes. I know the kids can be noisey when they play, but how did I not notice what they were doing sooner?? I don't know.

So I was extrememly frustrated last night, and really hoped that our Dr. visit would help me get a few ideas on what I should be doing better to both avoid these kinds of nights, and also what to do to handle them when they do happen - cuz ya know they will.

I know it might seem too simple, but Dr. Nate's advice that really stuck in my brain was about taking a deep breath before I react. I am so tired of yelling - and it doesn't do any good, so I am going to try much harder to stop and calm myself, and decide what is to be done before I just fly off the handle and yell.

Dr. Nate watched Thomas closely today. Tyson practiced the "special time" with Thomas in the toy room, and Dr. and I observed in the next room thru the one way mirror and he talked to me about what he saw. he said Thomas's ADHD and his PDD are working against each other - on one hand Thomas wants to go-go-go. and on the other hand every imput around him is telling him to be cautious and watch out. so he said Thomas is a bit gaurded. He said it's no wonder Thomas has a hard time with control. And that is what he wants - he wants to be in control. Dr. Nate talked with me about ways to redirect Thomas without Thomas feeling like he is not in control, and he also reminded me to pick my battles. Because with Thomas, some of the things are just the ways that he needs to get out energy or help himself feel balanced (like the noises he makes - ugh - we hate to listen to them, but it's just part of his sensory imput being out of balance).

So things went good today. I am feeling a little more renewed to deal with my special little boy.

Grayson was in heaven - all those fun toys to play with. Then we went to burger king for lunch! Spoiled little boys.

I guess I forgot to add that he mentioned that as Thomas gets older we may start seeing more symptoms of Aspergers immerge.

a little catch up

2011-03-09T15:47:00.003-07:00

We took Thomas to his pediatrician. He was diagnosed with ADHD, PDD and ODD.
We first tried the medicine Adderall. It made him an insominac, which in turn made him weepy all thru the day cuz he was so exhausted.
The Dr. switched him to Strattera. It is a little different, cuz the dosage is increased a little at a time - he is on the second week of it, and last night he was again up for alot of the night, and he has been quite difficult for the last few days. he isn't at the full dosage yet, so we will give it another week or more, but I am not sure that this is the med for him either.
We have started seeing a therapist with him to help us deal with his PDD. Tomorrow is our third visit.
So slowly but surely we are starting to try to get a handle on our lives.

Today Grayson had me up at 6 am, and while putzing at the computer I stumbled across a blog of a lady who has 3 children - one has adhd, one has aspergers, and one has down syndrome. I don't know what it was about this blog that kept me reading. I think I was reading for over 3 hours. It could have been that I realized, maybe I don't have it so bad. It could have been that she had been dealing with a lot of similar things to me, for so much longer than me, that I learned a few things from her experiences. It could have been that I wish I could be a little more like her.

I have been blessed with the chance to go exercise in the mornings at the church. 9 am every weekday, a lady lugs her tv and dvd player to the gym, and a tiny handful of us Zumba for an hour. Somedays I take the boys with me - they can just run around and play with any other kids that come, or draw on the chalkboards. The last couple days I have left them home with Tyson, and that has been nice too. I skipped out on it today though. My IBS has been insufferable. I don't know if all that zumba-ing has been the cause of the irritation - I HOPE That's not it - but I cannot think of anything else I have done to make it act up.

I haven't quite gotten to the point of "liking" the exercising - my back, legs, feet, belly, etc. hurt - BUT I do have more energy to get thru the day. And that is important to me.

So with some of this energy I have been trying to get back to doing my hobby. On the first saturday of every month I get to spend as much of the day as I wish scrapbooking while Tyson takes care of the boys. Last month I just made cards, to get back into the swing of things. I did scrap photo pages this month, since I have been spending a lot of time during the week nights making cards. I have an online friend that is hosting a crop later this month, and as part of it, she is also collecting cards to send to Operation Write Home. I have fallen in love with this program. Now I have a great excuse for making cards. The Mission of OWH is "Supporting our nation's armed forces by sending blank handmade greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them."
my goal for this time was 80 cards. so far I have made 70 - 10 more to go this week, then I will mail them off! next time I will have a much higher goal, cuz I will have lots longer to create them.

and Little Grayson - well, my big 2 year old still loves to copy everything big brother does. He likes to use the toilet, but isn't quite potty trained. He loves to color and draw. He is starting to talk better. I was worried for a while about his speach, but he is slowly increasing his vocabulary. Some words still come out blbaha, burra, hassa, though :) One phrase he knows perfectly well is "weed pweas" - as he holds out a book and attempts to climb onto our laps. He really enjoys having me read the book first, then he hops down from my lap, yells "Dadda" and then tells daddy to "weed pweas" and climbs into his lap. When daddy is done, the game starts all over as he yells "Mamma" and runs back to me.
some of his other words are : non-us = Thomas (this is used for his brother, as well as for Thomas the train) , mop = milk, beb = bed, gog = dog, guck = duck and truck and stuck.
Tyson laughs when I talk with Grayson, because I can figure out what he is saying, but Tyson still can't understand him.

Grayson has grown tall enough to reach his door knob, so since he is in his big boy bed, he gets up a lot when it's time to go to sleep - nap time included. So now I can't put him down for a nap until he has gotten over tired, and will actually fall asleep, otherwise it's just a game of chase for him. Bedtime at night has gotten a little stressful, it takes him almost an hour to settle down and stop coming out of his room. I hope that someday when the warm weather returns, the boys will start to play hard outside and actually get their energy worked off, so they will be ready to sleep at night. (oh, yes, that reminds me - that it's daylight savings time again this weekend - we spring forward - so that will be interesting to see how that affects their sleep as well).

ok, well, my hands are tired of typing so - that is all for today.....sorry I couldn't include pictures again this time. maybe next time....

See how good Thomas draws

2011-03-05T18:03:00.003-07:00

This first picture is of Daddy. He is wearing his glasses, and he is wearing his t-shirt that reads "Your Mom goes to College". -- Thomas was drawing this while I was sitting in at the computer, and he kept running back and forth from the toy room asking me "How do you spell YOUR?" then he came again asking "how do you spell college?" I knew then what he was doing, and had to giggle. And then when he was finished I had to take a picture :)

This is also a picture of daddy, this time he is wearing his glasses and a t-shirt with an american flag on it. Also pictured is Uncle Jared, wearing his glasses too. You can also see Thomas's school bus at the top, the church house at the borrom, and the dark stuff on the bottom right, I think was the computer. The circles are his bowl of breakfast cereal.

birthday box

2011-02-25T12:24:00.001-07:00

I have been trying to figure out why I can't get photobucket to work on my computer.
It's what I was using for uploading videos to the blog.
So now I will have to resort to Youtube. :P <-- that is me sticking out my tongue.
oh well -- check out Silly Grayson in the box.

I LOVE...

2011-02-24T21:40:00.001-07:00

I LOVE how he got all those fun new toys for his birthday, but he chose to play with the box!!!

Cute boys!!!!

2011-02-24T21:37:00.002-07:00

Thomas helped me with the valentines he took to school. he did the stamping :)

These adorable boys are making Car Soup for Grandma :)

photos 3

2011-02-24T21:34:00.003-07:00

Grayson was such a pro at opening gifts!

HE LOVED this wonder pets set!!!!

One of his gifts was his BIG BOY BED!!! He LOVED it!!!!

photos 2

2011-02-24T21:31:00.001-07:00

here come the photos!!!

2011-02-24T21:26:00.002-07:00

Grayson decided to start that terrible 2's phase - drew ALL over the walls with the dry erase marker.

All my boys got haircuts!

Grayson's Mater cake!!

quick update...

2011-02-17T19:31:00.005-07:00

I meant to post all about Grayson next after the long post about Thomas, ya know, since Grayson just turned the big 2! But blogging just hasn't been on the agenda for a while.

February has been a little rough on us all.

I have been sick off and on pretty much all month. It started with some strange pains, which eventually settled in my leg. After hobbling around for a week, I went to the dr. and got a cortizone shot. That made it feel all better! BUT the weekend, it started again. I also got what I guess was food poisoning. Thankfully, Tyson took the day off work.

Tyson had to go to the dr. He has a double ear infection.

Thomas had a Dr. appointment with our Ped. and he was diagnosed with ADHD, and we have started him on the med. Adderall. So far, I have not seen the improvements I would like - but we are giving it some time to see. The worst side effect, is that some nights, he just doesn't sleep. Which adds to my misery in many ways. He can't possibly try to beat the adhd if he is too tired and miserable, and I cannot handle the outbursts because I am physically and mentally exhausted.

Grayson has been ok. Just runny nose, and cough. We have been using his nebulizer for breathing treatments, and that really helps.

So there is our misery.

But it isn't always bad. The first weekend of the month I got to scrapbook all day on saturday. I get to make that a monthly deal, so hopefully soon I can start sharing what I have accomplished on here.
We were able to host our first Superbowl party in our new house. Besides getting "stood up" by a few people, it was fun, and we had tons of yummy food!
Tyson hosted his first "Heroscape Game Day" too. He gets the third saturday of the month each month to entice new friends to get addicted to Heroscape. I am very happy to see him get some play time with his favorite board game in the world.

I am glad that there is only 28 days in Feb. I am already ready for it to be over, so we can start over fresh. And hopefully healthy.
As soon as I can get blogger to cooperate, i have some pictures to share from Grayson's 2nd birthday, and several pics of the boys just being their cute little selves.

Thomas

2011-01-27T08:21:00.009-07:00

we got Thomas in to see a Dr. yesterday, because his eczema is out of control this winter. His whole torso is covered front and back, and cuz it itches, he scratches, and has areas that have scabs that we have to cover with bandaids. Poor little guy. It is tough to see in this picture, I should have take one of his back, that is where he scratches the most.

We don't use harsh soaps, and we don't bathe him too much, just enuf. We also use my home made laundry soap, so theres no additives to irritate him. We are also being careful to watch for food allergies that could be triggering/inflaming.

I have used every lotion out there to slather him up for some relief. But he is sensitive to touch, and especially when I have to do his neck, he "wiggles" (to put it mildly).

It's like trying to catch a greased pig.

He thrashes and squeals and even runs away sometimes, and I can't get a hold of him to keep him still, cuz he is totally covered with lotion. Oh the fun.

We have found that Renew lotion from Melaleuca works better than anything else we have tried. I am glad that my sister sells Melaleuca products!

Anyway - so Tyson took him to the Dr. appointment yesterday. I went to Parent Teacher Conference at the same time. So we had a full day of Thomas stuff yesterday.

Since I didn't go to the appointment, I don't know exactly how it went. Tyson said the Dr. was great to listen to everything he had to say, and seemed super nice. Tyson warned him when he started to touch Thomas to check the sore spots out, that his neck is super sensitive, but the Dr. tried anyway. What he got was a little Thomas hurricane, and they had to get him to calm back down and try to sit still again.

After the $20 co-pay and what I am sure will be about another $50 for the rest of the visit, and the $4 tiny tube of steroid cream, we are still in the same place. he said all the stuff we are doing is great. There really isn't anything to do, but continue to slather him in lotion - the Dr. suggests 3 times a day (rofl - yeah right).

At Parent Teacher Conference, Ms. Karla had great things to say about how smart our little guy is. He has progressed considerably since the last eval. - academically at least and somewhat with working with peers (but we'll take anything).

Here's a quick list of the improvements he's made: he is holding his pencil correctly to write, writing his name is getting easier for him - he's always known the letters - they are just hard to write- especially left handed, he has learned how to make a pattern, he is starting to learn addition, a recent lesson about green monsters has helped him with his imagining and also drawing pictures. In his social skills, his teacher says he can work in groups on solving a problem, he has initiated play, and shared.

So that is what is new with our big boy.

At home he loves to play on the computer. His favorite game is on Playhouse Disney .com ~"Imagination movers - Idea box". he spends hours doing that. He also loves Word World on Pbskids .com.

In the play room his favorite thing to do is drawing on our big white boards. I love the things he comes up with to draw. Once he drew out all the things that we had seen when we drove down to see the Christmas lights display down in Willard Bay. He drew a bear climbing a tree to get the honey, and then the bee stopping the bear, cuz it is HIS honey. He drew funny monsters and faces for a while after the monster lesson at school. He has drawn a bowl of ABC's and 123's with meatballs (one of his favorite Chef Boyardee dinners). And he loves to write words too.

Thomas loves to help me with everything from cooking to getting Grayson's diaper when it's diaper change time. He is such a fun little guy.

We have an appointment on Feb 9. with a Dr. to observe his ADD. Hopefully it won't be like the last time I took him in - I'd had a dream several nights before that the Dr. would tell me he saw no signs of ADD - and that is what happened. Thomas got sick just before the appointment, and was totally lethargic. The Dr. said he didn't see any signs... I said "he is NOT himself" (DUH).

Better luck this time. And don't get me wrong, I don't WANT Thomas to be ADD - but I know he is, and we need to get some help. He will be starting Kindergarten in Sept. and we need to work on his attention or he will have trouble learning, and he will drive his teacher nuts.

Mater Cakes 2

2011-01-21T09:38:00.004-07:00

I still cannot figure out what the problem is with blogger and not being able to upload pictures and videos. But it is very frustrating.

Anyway, here are the other ones promised over a week ago.

Grayson's birthday is coming up on Friday. I think we are going to shower him silly on Saturday, since Thomas has school friday and then Tyson has work. So Sat. we will get all the party supplies for Sunday, when all the family will be coming for pizza and cake and icecream. We'll take him to Just Bee Scrap'n to get balloons. And we'll take him to Burger King to play in the play place for a birthday lunch. And we'll give him his big boy bed. And maybe a gift or two to unwrap.

Mater Cakes

2011-01-17T00:19:00.000-07:00

For Grayson's 2nd birthday party we will be doing a Cars/Lightning McQueen theme.

so in my searching for the fun stuff online, I came across THESE:

http://family.go.com/disney/pkg-disney-recipes/recipe-bakerella-903493-tow-mater-cupcakes-t/

I found several links to it, and of course everyone commented on how cool they were, but I never saw anyone who actually made them, and shared their own.

So I decided that if this was something we were going to have for his party, we had better attempt to make them some time before the big day. So that was our activity for the evening. As always happens, I misread the instructions, so they didn't turn out exactly the way they were supposed to. LOL

It was SOOOOOO much fun. The boys really had a great time.

AND THEN THEY GOT TO EAT THEM!!!!

and as always I am having troubles with uploading anymore photos, and the cute video --- so check back tomorrow.....

Strep Throat - AGAIN

2011-01-14T08:56:00.005-07:00

Wednesday I started to feel a sore throat coming on. By the evening, when Tyson had got home from work, I warned him, that I was getting sick. I woke up yesterday morning and looked with my handy flashlight to see the back of my throat - sure enough - it's strep again. I immediately got a dr. appointment - with a different doc this time - we have a group of doctors in the office we go to, and I just go with whomever I can get the earliest appointment with.

The last 2 times it was Dr. Keller - he's an older gentleman - and he always says the same stuff, cuz he doesn't remember me. "it could be mono - we should do the swab to make sure - then he explains how the z-pack works, eventhough I have used it before many times.

This time I got Dr. Wilding. He is an even older gentleman. After waiting for over an hour for him to see me, he came in and asked what was wrong. I told him "I have strep throat again". He says "well, how are your ears?" and he proceeded to give them a look (his hands shakey and poking me in the ear with his little ear checky tool) - they of course looked fine. so he turns to grab a tongue depressor, I open my mouth for half a second (I am really good at getting my tongue out of the way so they can see the back of my throat) and he exclaimed "You need some meds" -- just then his nurse stepped in, and he needed to go back out to check on something ---- so there I sat.

When he came back in, he started talking about Mono --- and then did the swab to be sure.... then gave me a perscription for the z-pack and had to tell me how it worked and how to take it.... the whole while I was trying to tell him, that I have had strep about 5 times in the last 7 months, and that I know that is what it is, and that I know the z-pack will work fine, and I have used it before --- He finally flipped thru my chart, and looked at 2 of the pages that said I had been confirmed with strep in Aug and one of the other months (can't remember which).

He stopped for one second and asked where I was getting it from. Ya GOT ME??? I told him. I am a stay at home mom, so its not like I am out picking up a lot of germs all the time. Perhaps thomas is bringing it home from preschool? But he doesn't get sick. Maybe it's from Grayson being in the nursery? but he's not sick this time. I always try to clean the handles of the shopping carts when I go shopping. And at church, my only social interaction, I don't actually come in any contact with anyone - no shaking hands or anything. So I don't know.

I just read an article on Yahoo about some "hidden" germy places so I have a few ideas for more thorough decontamination.

When I am sick (and since it seems to be happening way too often), I kinda start to freak out, that I will get the kids or Tyson sick too. I am afraid to touch stuff they might touch - like door handles, or cups, or silverware.
I have been watching MONK once in a while on netflix, and I can't help but wonder if I should be more ocd about making sure I get things more clean - like how he boils water and then pours it on his toothbrush, or uses a wipe to clean his hands if he shakes someones hands, or touches something.

I have to say Thank You to my mom for coming over yesterday to help me play with the kids. She took on Thomas. Grayson still needed his mommy most of the day, but it was such a big help.

I am not on my deathbed with it this time. I usually get the fever and chills and aches and such before the strep even presents itself. But it was totally different this time. I am hoping that it because my body is learning how to fight it better.

Christmas Morning Slideshow

2010-12-31T08:39:00.000-07:00

I just have to ask WHY sometimes....

2010-12-30T08:16:00.002-07:00

So I have been working for days, and got the photos all backed up. And I have been clearing space on the desk top. So I figured it would start working BETTER. Instead it's NOT - to say it in as few words as possible.
Last night I was downloading the christmas day photos off my camera, and I thought I was being super careful, and I thought I double checked - then I deleted them off the camera. Well, something went wrong - the computer won't recognize about 50 photos. So now I have been spending several hours trying to recover what I deleted. I hate to be whiney, but why can't things just be simple? I don't feel good enough to deal with all these complications. UGH.

just a few thoughts I had collected...

2010-12-29T08:27:00.002-07:00

I am working on cleaning out the "MY Documents" on the computer and had several articles accumulated from several years. I saved them while searching for an answer to what I wanted Christmas to be in our home.
So to keep them and also share them, I am putting the quotes on here, so I can refer back to them later if I need a reminder.

Gifts

Advent/ What is Christmas

a list of Christmas Activities to Do

"While it's nice to find a thoughtful gift for that special someone, what they really want is you. The people that are most important in your life want your time and attention. They want your happiness."

"Whether you consider this time of year to be an important part of your faith or just a time of goodwill, rushing from store to store will take your mind from the real meaning of the season. You will be focused on things. Not on the relationships that are important to your life."

When angels came that holy night,
They did not visit kings;
A large and glorious army
Never heard them sing.
It was not in a palace
The angels came to earth—
But on a lonely hillside
They told of Jesus’s birth.
They appeared to humble shepherds
Tending their flocks by night
And told them of the Christ child
While the star shone so bright.
If we can be like shepherds,
Humble, pure, and mild,
We, too, can know the Savior,
Once the blessed Christ child.

I will be back

2010-12-27T09:30:00.003-07:00

I will be back to blog later on. I have LOTS of fun pictures from christmas day. The boys truely acted like "kids on christmas morning". So excited, so happy. It was wonderful.
(I just wish I could have rested a bit - next year, we are scheduling in NAP TIME!)

I have a little bit of computer file rearranging to do. I got all our photos backed up onto our external hard drive, and need to also add them to the lap top. Then we will be deleting them off our desktop, in order to free up some disc space, because our 5 year old, 250 GB, computer is FULL. And my photo taking really takes up ALOT of space. Maybe next year we will get ourselves a new computer, cuz this one has several disadvantages.

so as soon as I can get my photos moved, then I can put the christmas photos from the cameras on here and upload all the good ones here :) - maybe I should do a slideshow!! haven't done one of those in a while.

it's christmas eve.

2010-12-24T21:54:00.002-07:00

Merry Christmas everyone!
I have things I haven't blogged about, but tonight is not the night, so I guess I will do several more on sunday and get all caught up.
I am happy to say that even though I was sick for a while, and missed several of the Journal Your Christmas prompts, I have blogged 24 posts this month! I can't wait to turn several of these entries into scrapbook pages in my christmas 2010 album. I think I may have to take a hiatus in Jan to scrap instead of blog. I don't think we have much going on in Jan until Grayson's birthday at the end of the month, but if we do something exciting, I guess I can fill ya in.

We don't do santa.

I know I have explained this to everyone we associate with every year, but I still get surprized looks (gasp) when I say it, so I will explain again.
We skip santa because:

- Thomas is a bit different, and wouldn't understand it if we tried to explain it to him, so we just never started. Plus, I don't know why I would want to spend the time and effort convincing my kids that a lie is true.

- I want to focus our christmas celebrations around Christ's birth. I do this with the decorations I choose, and with the music we hear, and the activities we do. it's not just for the kids. it is for me too.

- kids are kinda scared of santa. why are parents so mean to put a poor screaming child on the stanger in the red suits lap, just for a picture, when they clearly are not comfortable with this plan?
we went to a "kindergarten round up" on Wed, and they had santa and mrs. claus handing out candy canes to the kids. Grayson was just sitting on my lap, and he was scared when he was all the way across the room. Thomas didn't even give him a second look.

- and one big reason is because I don't want the kids thinking they can ask for a rediculously expensive gift, and say "well, I will ask Santa for it". Like I said at the beginning of this journaling experience, I don't want christmas to be focused around the gifts - they are a cool part - and they are fun to give, but they can't be IT.
so there ya go. it's not a big deal. I hope you can understand and maybe even support us, instead of trying to convince us we have made a bad decision.
Merry Christmas (mas =more = More Christ)

Crispy Treats

2010-12-23T23:48:00.007-07:00

I saw these online and thought it would be fun to make them with the boys.

Well, ours didn't quite turn out, it wasn't quite as easy as it seemed, so I said "heck with that", and put them in a pan. But they were still tastey.

Thomas loved them.

But Grayson doesn't like his hands to be dirty, so he had some concerns. LOL. He kept picking the stuff up, and then getting mad. And both Thomas and I were laughing, so that made him even madder. But he was very upset with me, when I ran and got the camera, instead of cleaning off his hands (after he had stuck them in there for the third time).

So much for doing an activity to keep the kids happy. LOL
Tomorrow, the boys will get to help make pies. They really like helping mommy in the kitchen. :)

Christmas music

2010-12-22T09:33:00.004-07:00

what are you favorite songs or albums?

I remember, as a kid, listening to christmas music on RECORDS. I am sure my parents cautioned us to be careful with them, cuz they were fragile, or could be scratched easily as we tried to reset the needle to play them over and over and over again.
I think I will have to go to Newton and raid my dads albums, just so I can record what the albums were that I used to listen to, and maybe I can find them on cd now.
I do remember one with the nutcracker music, and dancing all around our huge living room in Trier.

I don't remember having too many christmas albums on tapes, except for one German one that had the Kling, Glöckchen, klinglelingeling. I learned how to sing that song in one of my german classes, that is why it's special to me.

Most people get irritated when the radio station starts playing the holiday songs too early. But I LOVE it. Sometimes I can start listening around halloween ;)
I also love seeing the christmas stuff arrive in store early too - I know that is strange, but that is my perogitive. LOL

Since being married to Tyson, though, we wait until after Thanksgiving to start anything christmasy. Because he doesn't believe in "skipping holidays".
So the first music I can play around the house on Thanksgiving Day is an album by Liona Boyd - A guitar for Christmas. I don't know what it is about this album, but when I listen to it, I feel so peaceful and festive.
Another album that I could never live without at christmas time is the Carpenters - A Christmas collection.
all other stuff is secondary to these two albums. They are MY christmas music.
One other album I recommend is The Gibbons "come Let us Adore Him".

I used to sing in the choir when I was younger. That made every song even more meaningful. I don't sing anymore, because I lost my soprano singing voice several years ago, with a bad case of acid reflux. I can do alto sometimes, but I was never trained with it. And I can only really sing one octive now.
Anyway, several titles of songs I loved that you won't hear most anywhere were: Shine for me again/Star of Bethlehem, From Swaddling Wrap to Crimson Robe, Were you there on that Christmas night, Candlelight Carol and of course singing Silent Night in German (Stille Nacht).

the Nativity

2010-12-21T09:45:00.003-07:00

This fisher price nativity is so adorable. I got it a few years ago, and Thomas loves playing with it each year.
This year has been different though. Instead of enjoying it and playing with it nicely, the boys have thrown it all over. Their favorite thing to do it put the cow on the top of the stable where the angel goes. For some reason there is some unwritten rule between them, that it cannot stay in the place I have made for it. It cannot stay on display. It either gets all knocked to the ground, hidden under the couch, or taken to the toy room.

But I got it for them to handle. So I will just be grateful that it is being used. :)

the light show

2010-12-21T09:39:00.003-07:00

we drove down to Fantasy at the Bay last night for Family Home Evening. It cost $8 a car to get in. Thomas complained the whole time. But as we went to leave, he asked to go again. So we drove around a second time, and he was a totally different boy. He was giggling and smiling and talking about each display. I was glad he cheered up.

Christmas eve-eve-eve-eve

2010-12-21T09:08:00.003-07:00

LOL
I feel like I am ready for christmas to be here, NOW. I am afraid that in a few days, I may not feel like that anymore. I just have to keep my daily projects simple, so as not to add any stress.
Thomas has his last day of school today, then we have the holiday break... and that means I have to keep him entertained (for 12 days) so he doesn't get bored and go stir crazy. So keep your fingers crossed for me.
The decorations are up.
The gifts are all wrapped. (except for the books that we ordered from scholastic, they might arrive tomorrow, but if they don't we will just have to do without (and yes, that does sorta ruin my "something to read" part, but I am not going to go out and buy something else).
The christmas dinner menu is planned and the grocery shopping is all done.
We delivered the neighborhood gifts yesterday.
We drove around and looked at christmas lights last night.
and we had our little get togethers.
so now we are just kinda in a waiting phase.
4 days to go.
I hope the kids are as excited as I am.

Our little holiday get together

2010-12-20T09:14:00.011-07:00

Dispite the yucky rainy weather some of my family came over to our house to make candy houses with us. It was so fun.

I made a cheeseball (it was the best one I have ever made - and we ate every last nibble of it!). I also made a veggie appetizer tree. It turned out pretty tastey too. And mom and dad brought fresh baked turkey and rolls for scrumptious sandwiches!!!!

We needed all that to counterbalance all the CANDY!

Grayson loved sticking things on. and later he kept sticking his fingers in the frosting and licking them clean

Thomas was much more meticulous than I expected.

Zoee only lasted about 2 minutes. I don't think she liked getting her hands dirty. Then she was back down and off to playing in the toy room again. Then AJ got to finish her house up.

We all had a big laugh when Nate kept forgetting how to NOT automatically unwrap then eat the mini Reeses.

The cousins got along so well, and had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa.

Saturday fun

2010-12-20T09:06:00.004-07:00

we got a lot of snow on saturday, so to prep for sunday we had to go out and clear the snow off the cars and the driveway.

we discovered that the snow was PERFECT PACKING SNOW - so we made a snowman while we were out there.

Where's the Line to See Jesus

2010-12-17T21:32:00.000-07:00

The Greatest Gift

2010-12-17T09:38:00.001-07:00

all wrapped up

2010-12-17T08:27:00.010-07:00

yep, all the christmas presents are wrapped. They are not under the tree, as one visitor yesterday observed. Nope. They are all wrapped, but safely stashed away again until christmas morning. I might set a few out christmas eve to tempt them - get them excited for morning, but my impulsive little Thomas doesn't need that temptation for days on days. And I know if Thomas touched them, Grayson would follow suit.
I mentioned on one online forum that my kids haven't left the tree alone since day one. And I was amazed when people responded that their kids were pretty good to just look at the tree and not touch it. LOL - how would that be?
We put the tree up on Thanksgiving afternoon, since Daddy had to go to work, and I wanted something festive to do. But I am pretty sure that we will be taking the tree down the week after christmas, maybe even before the new year. I DO love it, but (especially since it's brand new) I want it to last for a few years at least, so we should keep it's exposure to a minimum.

I just barely got my other stuff hung around a few days ago. Our stockings are hung. I put up some green garland with white lights, and my green shimmery wreath I made nearly 15 years ago. I have one more wreath that I want to make, if I can find the time. I guess I might leave that stuff up a little longer, we'll see.
So I guess you might like to see some pictures, huh?
ok, here ya go. They are not amazing or anything.... but sometimes the blurry ones catch the image I want to tell the story....

Our ornaments include Candy canes (Thomas's favorite), stars that glitter, and jingle bells. And there are a few others, but our ornament collection is small, since this is the first 'normal' size tree we have ever put up. This year they are getting small nativity ornaments in their countdown calendar, and they love putting those on the tree. And I love telling them what each ornament is about (like the "Lego starwars shepherd").

The tree casts a really nice Glow :)

In this picture you see that they put all the big candy canes on one branch. I found that very amusing

The next Morning Grayson was so excited to show Daddy the tree. And we could tell he just wanted to tell him all about it, and how he had helped decorate it. (too bad he isn't talking yet).

here is our unimpressive, but twinkley outside lights - we will do better next year.

getting together for the holidays

2010-12-15T10:25:00.002-07:00

I have to be honest, I think Christmas time is a terrible time to do get togethers. The weather is bound to get yucky the day before or of the day of the event. I don't like driving in the winter. Maybe it's because we have to drive over the mountain pass to get to see most of our extended family.

2008 was the year is snowed so much, that we just stayed overnight, instead of driving home.

I don't remember which year it was that we were going home, and the Valley View pass was COMPLETELY iced over. All the cars were driving an inch or so at a time, and pulled off to the side of the road to get some traction in the snow. It was CRAZY.

This year Tyson's family came here last weekend for Rochelle's birthday party, so that was our first family "holiday time" get together here. The weather behaved itself. I invited my family to come over this weekend. We might not have such luck with the weather though. Rain is the forcast. But that was the forcast for last night too, and we got quite the nice layer of snow today. (I really wish I could have gotten photos of it this morning, but we had a meeting with Thomas's teacher.)

But even though the weather doesn't cooperate sometimes, I cannot resist getting together with family. That is part of what Christmas IS. I sat looking thru the pictures of christmas's past, and love seeing the changes over the years as we get together. I LOVE seeing the neice and nephews as they have joined our fun family, and hope they like the christmas traditions we have.

Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree

2010-12-14T20:55:00.003-07:00

we got one of the christmas books I ordered today! I think I have had to read it about a dozen times already! I love the pictures and the rhyme and of course the story.

Mr. Willowby's splendid tree is too big, so he has the top chopped off, and he gives it away. the next person also has to chop off the top -- and so the story goes...

until the last little piece comes to the little mistletoe mouse and family

back among the living

2010-12-12T10:34:00.002-07:00

Grayson has been sick since Tuesday, and since he has to have his mommy even when he isn't feeling yucky - I had to give extra snuggles - resulting in me getting sick as well. I am not sure where we picked up this yuckiness - perhaps he got it from nursery, or the play place we went to monday (but Thomas didn't get sick, so I doubt it was that). Grayson got the congestion, runny nose, and cough. I started to feel it creeping on Wednesday night, with a tingling in my throat. Thursday I was achey and chilled (fever probably, but I couldn't muster the strength to get out the thermometer). Friday morning, I could tell it was strep throat - and my handy flashlight proved my suspicions, and I got ineto see the Dr. immediately. Got the Z-pack started, knowing it can take me nearly 4 days to get feeling better.
Saturday I was feeling slightly better, but after getting ready for a birthday party, I had to take a nap with Grayson, cuz my energy was totally sapped.
it's sunday today. I feel almost normal. Grayson and I are staying home from church today, I don't want Grayson to be responsible for giving these germs to all the other kids in nursery.
but it's nice to feel like I am on the "not dead yet" list. "I think I will go for a walk now."

I have gotten several days behind on my Journal Your Christmas prompts (I didn't even have the energy to think about it, let alone look them up on the computer.) So now I am trying to decide if I want to play catch up on them all, or if I should just start with todays and go forward, or just pick and choose and call it good. I guess we will see... come back for some reading, I guess.

I can tell Grayson is feeling much better though.
I love his cute personality.

He still doesn't talk, but we are starting to get a few words out of him.
We showed him the slide show of the family photos, and when we'd ask "who's that?" he can declare "Mama" and "Dada" His No is so cute - I will get a video of it, because it's hard to describe how he says it. Most kids learn a 'defiant' NO - but Grayson's is a soft slow nooo. He also says more, cheese, blue, green and today I FINALLY got a small please out of him.
Last sunday we were all lounging around after church. Tyson had football on the big TV in the living room, and we all like to put our arms up and yell "TOUCHDOWN" anytime we can. So we had been doing it a little bit. And this time Grayson did too. Up went his arms and "TOUCHDOWN" came out of his mouth. And my jaw dropped, and Tyson (who was sitting at the computer) spun around in his chair. I asked "did you just hear that???" so we did it again. and so did Grayson. but that was it. He hasn't done it since. LOL -- but it's sunday again... so we'll see if he'll do it without the 'pressure' of preforming because we want him to do it.
oh, yes, and he also pointed to his jammies yesterday and he told his daddy that he was pointing at a 'ootbaa' (football) - Daddy is SO proud! grayson may be our sports player. While Thomas may be more of a science/math/facts personality.

We have a meeting on Wednesday with a child psychologist that works with Thomas's school. He has graded several tests that we have filled out for Thomas. We got some preliminary results back, but he will hopfully explain some options for us at the meeting. The results basically say what I already know. He has possible ADD (attention deficite disorder), ODD (oppositional, defiant disorder) and PDD (Pervasive Developmental Disorders).

It will be a relief to get some help finally. Honestly we should have had this help for over a year now, but we got dropped, or lost in a shuffle last year. And with all the work we were doing on the house, we kinda let it slide. And now it's taken us months to get the ball rolling again. We just pray that it's not going to cost us an arm and a leg.

Thomas has been doing a bit better both at school and at home with understanding and following some rules. But then there are others, that he just 'has' to break. Like erasing things on a white board. The optical area in our Walmart has a big white board out in front with info on it, and he just 'HAS' to go and take a swipe at it. Or the rules about screaming and noises. It's probably a sensory issue, but sometimes I have to wonder if he doesn't have some form of Tourretes.
Lately he is having a hard time with yelling at us when we talk to him. It doesn't matter what we say, or how we say it. We could say "thomas come here, we have a treat for you" and he would scream about it. Then we would say "ok, we won't give you a treat then" and he would scream about that. it is tough not to loose my temper. I just don't know how to deal with it.
anyway......

we seem to all be feeling better at the owen house. I am grateful that Thomas and Tyson didn't get this round of it. And I hope we can all stay healthy - especially for Christmas.

Family photos!!!!

2010-12-08T16:17:00.000-07:00

My Gift giving philosophy

2010-12-07T22:02:00.002-07:00

I guess I haven't said this yet, so here it is (I don't know where it came from, but I liked it and I am using it):

4 gifts

"Somthing you want, something you need.
Something to wear and something to read."

and then the stockings get the usual stuff like an orange, some treats (this year it'll be one of those small boxes of sugary cereals like cocoa puffs), a toothbrush, and a small toy.

and anything else we usually give as a family gift, that the boys have to share. Last year it was our red wagon. This year, it's just several different kinds of puzzles, and the Mater's Tall Tales Dvd.

to do list

2010-12-07T21:38:00.002-07:00

I decided to sit down and make a list of what I still needed to get done before I can relax and enjoy our christmas celebrations this year.
I did all my shopping early, so that is done.
And I have already stocked the pantry and freezer, so I am prepared for making christmasy treats and christmas day dinner.

Still to do:
We are doing a birthday party for Rochelle (Tyson's mom) on saturday. So I need to keep my house clean, especially the kitchen.

Wrapping gifts -that is one of the things I procrastinate doing every year- mostly because I now know better than to put anything under the tree until christmas eve. Thomas is just too "impulsive". There is no way of knowing when he will suddenly decide it's time to tear them open.

I have got to get started on the robes and jammie pants that I intend to give Thomas and Grayson. I am not a great sewer, but I can sew. It can take a while though, so I really should get started on this one, or they won't have the "something to wear" part of my gift giving philosophy.

I don't plan to do much in the way of treats or big meals (besides christmas day), but I do want to give something in the way of a "neighborhood gift" - especially to the neighbors we built with. I may just make cookies. Or I could give some gift wrap (I always liked that one) But it may just be a handmade card, or something, I haven't decided what I want to do yet.

Other than that - I am ready.

I ordered a few more christmasy books, besides the books the boys will be getting as gifts ("something to read" part of my gift giving philosophy).
I am still not feeling like I am adequately focusing on Christ enough for the boys to be picking anything up. Yes we have the nativity they can play with. But I don't think they are learning much from mommy yelling "don't throw baby Jesus". I put it back together each night, and in the morning they start playing with it, and the pieces get taken all around the house, the sheep gets put up as the angel on top of the stable, and the shepherds get hidden under the couch.
I also got out the nativity window clings. Those lasted one day, and now they have been pulled off the window so many times, they won't stick, and are all over the floor instead.
So I got more books, that I plan to read to the boys at bed time. I hope that if I can get them to sit and listen, and look at the pictures, something of value might just sink in. I will keep ya'll posted on how that goes.

looking for the local excitement

2010-12-07T09:17:00.005-07:00

for anyone that might want to come over to my side of the mountain for some holiday cheer - here is what there is to see:

Fantasy at the Bay
This is a huge light display that you can drive through, located next to Willard Bay in the Willard Bay State Park (you have probably seen it from the freeway).

Fantasy at the Bay boasts animated displays, lighted trees, and roadway lights. If you’d rather enjoy a horse-drawn hayride through the park, you can do that instead for no extra charge. They also have a concession stand that serves hot cocoa, chili, hamburgers and scones if you and the family want to park and enjoy a warm treat together.

The display hours are 5pm to 10 pm, and the cost is $8 per vehicle. To reach Willard Bay State Park, take exit 357 off I-15. The display is open until January 1, 2011.

Main Street in Brigham City
The Main Street Christmas display in Brigham City is located by the old courthouse on Main Street and Forest Street. The display includes lighted trees, lighted wooden cutouts, and lighted wooden buildings with Christmas scenes inside (some are even animated).

Santa is available for photos with children at specific times that are listed on the Santa shack. If he isn’t available when you are there, be sure to bring your letter to Santa with you--and make sure you have included your return address on the envelope—to put in the mailbox at Santa’s shack.

The display is free to the public, and is open each day of the week through the end of December.

Christmas Tree Lane in Brigham City
If you want to see decorated trees and other Christmas displays, both lit and unlit, then you need to visit Christmas Tree Lane in Brigham City. It is located at Brigham City’s Historic Train Depot, 833 West Forest Street.

The Depot is open on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. through December 22. You can also arrange for a special tour, during the off hours, by calling 435-723-5478. Admission is free.

Layton Park
Park workers began setting up the lights on the first of September and worked until the Monday before Thanksgiving to make sure the park would be a popular destination again this holiday season.

They created a new entry archway and programmed the lights on a specific tree to flicker on and off in time with music from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

The poles that line Main Street and Layton Parkway are the older, historical style and came with an attachable vertical pole to hang banners on.

The poles are some of the first things people see in Layton because the parkway is the first opportunity for people to enter the city when headed north on Interstate 15.
The parks and recreation division also puts up lights around Layton, most noticeably in front of the museum, police station and on the corner of Main Street and Hill Field Road.

Christmas Village - Ogden
Have Your ’elf a Merry Little Christmas” is the theme for this season’s version of the popular holiday attraction at the Ogden Municipal Gardens, 25th Street and Washington Boulevard.

The village, featuring dozens of cottages and miniature Ogden landmarks, will be open from 5 p.m. to midnight nightly through Jan. 1. Live entertainment by local performing groups jazzes up the nights from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays.

The Fab Five, a team of Morgan cloggers who were finalists on the “America’s Got Talent” TV series in 2009, will perform at 6 p.m. Dec. 9.

Santa will greet children in his castle Saturday and then from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays, through Dec. 23.

Mrs. Claus conducts her own tours of the village for preschool children during daytime hours. To schedule a visit, or find out more about the village, call 801-629-8284.

19 days and counting

2010-12-06T07:33:00.004-07:00

I got the advent countdown calendar finished up the other day, and I filled it with some goodies, and tiny nativity ornaments. The boys love it. And they love putting the new ornament on the tree. *I think that is just because they like any excuse to touch the tree* Grayson got a sheep ornament, and now loves going to it and showing it to me, like he is so proud that he put it there. Yesterday's ornament was a shepherd. When Thomas pulled it out from among the m&m's I asked him what it was. He said with a confused look "Lego Starwars?" LOL - I guess the shepherd did look a little like a lego figure.

We played Lego Starwars last night as a family, it is "challenging" to do with the boys, but their delight in it is just too adorable. Thomas and Grayson even sang along with the theme song...(dun dun dun, dun dun dun) it makes us so proud as parents... passing along such an awesome legacy as star wars.

anyway, back to the countdown calendar.... I know the kids are liking it so far, but I am just not "sure" about it. I don't know what it is, but I want to tweek it somehow... or use something else entirely... I am not sure.

I do know that when we need an activity to keep Thomas fom getting bored one of these days this week, we will be making a paper chain countdown. That is what we used last year, and I think we need to do it again.
I also wish I had this, but hadn't made up my mind about it until now (and now it's too late, cuz I have already spent my christmas budget. So maybe next year.)

We got some outdoor lights hung up on Saturday. I wasn't sure we would get to it this year, cuz it snowed early, and there is no way we were going up on a slick snowy roof to hang lights. So instead I hung them around the windows, and on the lowest section of the roof, that I could still reach with just our short ladder. I will try tonight to get some picture of it. it's nothing impressive, but it does add to the wonder and sparkle of christmas. Thomas and Grayson can see them when they are on the couch. And that is who it's for, not so much the neighborhood. (Although, when other homes in the neighborhood have lights, doesn't it just feel more friendly?)
Thomas still tells us we need to put more on the roof, LOL, but I just told him, that this will have to do for this year.
I am counting on the fact that I should be able to get fancy plastic "light hangers" at the after christmas clearance sales, to use for next year. Then we could leave the hangers up all year, and putting lights up will be a cinch next year.

I have to laugh a little at myself, because last year at this time, all of us were dreaming and plotting about how we would be christmasing up our brand new homes.
Last year this week of Dec. we were roofing, and then when the snow came, we moved under the plastic tents to do rocking (and stay warm).
But from up on top of those houses we were all making big plans. And now here it is. We are living in the homes we built, living our dreams;(even if some of those big ambitions were a little lofty).

Epitome

2010-12-04T09:41:00.002-07:00

Christmas cards

2010-12-03T22:27:00.004-07:00

I haven't sent out christmas cards in a long time. Some of my excuses include
a) I feel pressure to make homemade cards since I am a scrapbooker and card maker, and I just run out of time during the holiday, so they never get made -- OR I feel pressure to make them Uber fancy, and can't ever make them turn out how I see them in my head.
b) because I feel like eventhough I never see my friends and extended family, I know what they are up to, and they know what I am up to, because of blogs and facebook.
c) I am too lazy to dig out my address book (it's around here somewhere)
and d) does anyone really want to get a card from me anyway?