Facebook Status Updates Jan-Mar

These give more a day-to-day look at the last three months, although I tried not to put much complaining in my updates, so they're more of the positive things that happened -

*****

Hit another TX milestone tonight - made fried chicken from scratch :) Not a single piece left! Moving down here certainly expanded my cooking repertoire . . . chili, salsa, biscuits, fried chicken . . .

Lunch with Miss Jojo :) Jack said it was the best day of his life -

Just had my first "real" tamale (thank you Betsy!) Not sure how I made it through 8.5 years in TX without passing that milestone. They were much better than I thought they would be, but I think tamales fall into the same category as BBQ for me - they are good, but I don't ever see myself craving them. Guess I'm not a true Texan at heart

Rob: Laura ate like four packs of fruit snacks after dinner tonight.
Me: Four????
Rob: She insisted.
Me: She insisted? How old is she again? How did a 16 month old "insist" on having four packs of fruit snacks that are kept much too high for her to even see?
Rob: She's NOISY when she wants something.
Me: And so you think giving in to her is the best response????
Rob: Yes. She's one angry little 16 month old when she doesn't get her way.
Me: Ok. YOU get to deal with her when she's a teenager.

Laura has discovered that her outfits double as huge pockets. Unzipped her footie pj's this morning to change her diaper and discovered: a bottle, a pen, a binkie, Rob's cell phone, and several toys. With the except of the cell phone, she slept with all of them in there.

It should be illegal for anything to start before 10am on a cold day.

You might be a mom if you're grateful your daughter (Kylie) had food poisoning - it's not contagious and therefore you only had one puking kid instead of a houseful of them  

High of 73* tomorrow, snow on Sunday. Sounds about right . . .

IMHO, the best thing you can do for yourself is to surround yourself with amazing people who really care about you. I am so lucky to have the friends I have James, Jolynn, Betsy, Kala (and Rob and Mark, who aren't on fb) - you guys are amazing. Thank you! First round of EECP in the morning - wish me luck 

I was asked today to be a guest speaker for a college class. Am I really old enough to do that???

First EECP treatment resulted in 3 hours of not feeling tired! Yay!!! I've gotten progressively more exhausted since then, but it makes me hopeful. My whole body aches, but I can do this  

We broke our family record this year. Our food was ready 30 mins before the superbowl, and as that is our favorite part of the superbowl, we watched less than 5 minutes of the actual game.

I have officially gotten tired enough to not give a crap. Flannel PJ pants to both my treatment this morning and to pick up the kids from school. That Dr better be right about it getting better starting next week or I'm going to start looking like the Wicked Witch after she was melted.

Megan asked if she could go the Valentine's Day dance this Friday . . .
Me: At what age do you think we should let the kids start going to dances?
Rob: 85.
Apparently Megan has a while before she has to worry about what to wear to dances . . .   

I actually ran today as I chased Eva down the sidewalk on the way home from Betsy's house this morning after she watched the little girls during my treatment. Realized it's been about 18 months since I was able to do that. Thank heavens for EECP! All I want to do is run and dance and skip and never stop :)

I am the meanest mom ever. I am forcing my kids to play outside in the backyard because it is 81*. Kylie is not sure she will live through this. Popsicles are helping a bit . . .

So apparently I am "difficult". Heart patients are not supposed to work a dozen sixteen hour days straight. Having more energy does not mean I can now do everything. Ugh.

85* on Saturday . . . -16* windchill last night . . . 100* difference in 24 hours . . .

One of our very favorite elders came back again! And we got to meet Jenna! (A side note here that I didn't put on facebook - Elder Randle had been previously been dating a different Jenna. When Beth heard that, she informed him that he made a good choice as "first is the worst, second is the best, third is the one with a hairy chest". Elder Randle decided not to try for a third Jenna.)

Happiness is driving down the highway with the windows down, the 75* wind blowing through the car, listening to your three year old sing songs from Phineas and Ferb acapella ("Bow-chicka-bow-wow! That's what my baby said!")    

Quote for the night - Rob makes some attempt at humor (he prefers "Rob said something silly"). Beth gets a pained look on her face and remarks loudly to herself "Just walk away and pretend you don't know him". 

Celebrating the end of the quarter by watching Frozen for the first time with the kids :) Yay for another quarter done!!! 

My favorite quote for today - you can't change the cards you're dealt, just how you choose to play the hand 

Spent three hours tonight with a couple who walked in both asking for a divorce . . . they left holding hands. Sessions like that make it all worth it :) I love my job! 

"I'm going to succeed because I'm crazy enough to think I can!" 

Feb - Mar 2014

Those two months seem to blend together due to the amount of time we spent focusing on my treatments. I took very few pictures and barely saw the kids. We made it through though!

We celebrated the superbowl as usual with a picnic dinner. It was considerably more low key than usual, but we managed one. Popcorn shrimp, grilled chicken, potato chips (in case you were wondering, maple bacon potato chips taste like bbq with maple syrup on it - I am not a fan), and fruit and veggie.

We did very little other than the Superbowl party. I slept every chance I got. Rob took care of the kids and the house. I watched movies with them sometimes. One weekend we sent Rob off to see a UFC live in Dallas with Dan and the kids and I bought "Frozen" streaming through Amazon. We also got the soundtrack and the kids have had a wonderful time learning all the songs by heart, dressing up like Elsa, and creating plays based off the movie.

Spring has arrived and the weather is gorgeous. I still can't do much, but Rob set up a picnic in the backyard today so we could enjoy the sun. He grilled burgers and I boiled corn on the cob (in butter and water, an idea I got from pinterest) and baked "fries" (if I make them myself, we can eliminate salt - these were seasoned with olive oil, garlic, and fresh cilantro). 

We're wrapping up the evening by watching "Frozen" again, this time with Rob as he's never seen it, as I update the blog :) And now we're pretty much caught up! Yay!

Beth's Baptism - February 1st, 2014

Beth decided she wanted to be baptized. In our religion (LDS), baptism can't happen until at least the age of eight. Once a month, the stake (a group of congregations - we're divided into congregations geographically) has a baptism for the children who have turned eight and wants to get baptized, so Beth's baptism was the first Saturday of February, the first.

Rob baptized her. James confirmed her, with Rob and Ben in the circle. We were so glad the Brienholts were able to make it! They've lived one street over from us since we moved here almost nine years ago and they've been amazing friends to us :) We were glad James was able to join us too - he's one of my very best friends and is a huge part of my life. 

Jojo joined us too :) She is an amazing mother to me and all of us love her!

By the way, Beth picked her own dress. I kept her home from school one day that week and we picked out her dress and went to lunch. Often white dresses are chosen for baptisms, but as they have to wear the jumpsuit anyway, we let the kids pick any church outfit they want. Beth, of course, picked a purple dress. 

Beth's favorite person, Kiki, joined us too, of course. She even gave Beth her set of scriptures, which Beth LOVED. 

The eight of us :) 

Beth's Birthday - Jan 2014

Beth decided she wanted homemade pizza for her birthday. We had fun making it, but decided it tastes much better when we buy it, plus it's actually cheaper to buy it, so I don't think we'll be making it much in the future.

Pizza also is not a fabulous birthday food as it stains your face, something we didn't realize until I just uploaded the photos and saw the orange ring around Beth's mouth :) At least it was yummy!

We put all her presents in a box instead of wrapping them, as usual :)

Beth picked a cake shaped and decorated like a wrapped present. 

Happy Birthday Bethy! We're so glad you're part of our family!!!

Gingerbread Houses - Jan 2014

Due to Cricket's death, we waited for few days to decorate gingerbread houses, an activity we usually do on New Year's Eve. Kiki and her boyfriend Dan (also Rob's best friend) joined us.

Eva picked up on the idea of taking a photo of finished gingerbread houses and announced that she was done with her house after the addition of each piece of candy. 

Laura skipped decorating her house and just ate the candy. 

It was only the second time Dan had decorated a gingerbread house.

Megan wore the New Years' crown she made out of a styrofoam cup.

Christmas 2013

Christmas was really low key this year. It was just the eight of us (ok, so even without guests, we have a full house).

We opened stockings first. I still haven't made Laura's stocking, but she didn't seem to mind :)

Then we got the ham in the oven and opened presents. The kids each got three presents from us. We also bought five small gifts for each child and the kids went "shopping" in our bedroom and picked out a toy to give to each of their siblings. We had a few gifts from relatives and friends like Jojo, Damien and Rhea, and Aunt Rosalie and Uncle Frank Kile. I think it was just about the right amount of presents as the kids had plenty to open, but finished before they got bored.

Three of the kids (everyone except Beth, who isn't interested) got a Nintendo 64 controller. 

The older four kids each got a game. Megan got Cranium, Kylie got board game based off Temple Run (a game she plays on her friends' tablets), Beth got Clue, and Jack got Jenga.

Tita Rhea made the girls each tutus and made Jack a superhero cape. 

Neither Rob nor I can remember what we got each other for Christmas. That's what happens when you wait three months. We each pick out our own big presents, then get each other something little. Rob finagled his way into getting me pralines from Neiman Marcus (he won them at work, so I had no clue he had gotten them), and candles. I can't remember the little things I got Rob.