Winter Fun

Today we went to the park as a family to go sledding.  I love having a park within walking distance!  It is a great area for sledding as it has a lot of hills, but they aren’t  too steep.  Grace Payne and her family came along with us. 

MarkPaul  Seth Jacob and Daniel 

Daniel was so good to help Seth and Jacob have a good time by helping them up the hill.  I feel so lucky to be married to such a great man! 
We were at the park for about an hour.  Mark and Taylor stayed a little bit longer and Paul went home with Emily.  Seth wanted to play with Jacob, so he came to our house.  Soon, Mark and Taylor came home and Paul and Emily came to our house.  All six of them played so well together!  They played downstairs while I put the Christmas tree and decorations away upstairs.  It was a beautiful arrangement! 
After the friends went home, we got dinner put together and then had some eggnog (it isn’t my favorite- so I wasn’t sad to miss out on it- the boys LOVE eggnog).   Then the boys took their bath with glow sticks.  The sticks are water proof and when you turn out the lights in the bathroom, it makes the tub glow with the color of the stick.  It is actually quite a bit of fun.  Kind of a kid’s version of a candle lit bath.  
That was our special New Year’s Eve celebration. 
I was tucking Paul into bed and I told him that he didn’t have to practice the piano or do his chores for the rest of the year.  He got really excited, but a bit confused.  I told him that he would have to do them next year and then he caught on to the fact that he didn’t have much left of this year and he laughed! 
This year has had it’s share of challenges, but overall, it has been a good year.  Farewell 2009.

December 20-25

Here is the wrap up of our 24 days of December countdown and our Christmas day.
Day 20   Watched “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (cartoon version)
Day 21  Sing Christmas songs around the piano (the boys taught us their silly version of Jingle Bells)
Day 22   Christmas book
Day 23   Treat and read a book
Day 24   Stay up late, watch Christmas movies (It’s a Wonderful Life, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Mr. Krueger’s Christmas) and sleep downstairs in the TV room (the boys, not us!)
Christmas day
The boys were bouncing around on the air mattresses downstairs around 6:45, so we decided to let them come up.  The got to dump out their stockings first, and they found little boxes of cereal.  They took them straight into the kitchen and ate breakfast.  This is our ‘special’ Christmas breakfast (and lunch) making the morning relaxed for me. 

Daniel passed out the presents from under the tree.  The boys were excited with their gifts.  No one was unhappy with what they got or jealous of what others got.  We need to return a remote control car for Seth (it didn’t work at all). 
We also had to return a bike that we bought for Seth, but he never knew about it.  We didn’t get around to assembling it until Christmas Eve around 11 p.m.  The back wheel that is pre-assembled, wasn’t even, so the chain would catch on it, making it difficult to pedal.  I’ll get him a new one when it warms up.  I took great pains to make sure that the boys all had the same number of presents to open, but he never noticed that he was one gift short of what the other boys got.  Got to love that kid! 
My parents and brother Dan came over around 11 and we visited for a while.  My parents gave the boys robes.  They wore those robes for hours that day.  They wear them to breakfast in the mornings and use them before and after their baths.  They are such soft robes, I want to get myself one! 
Last night Daniel and I were sitting in the living room after dinner while the boys were playing downstairs.  Daniel looked over at me and said that he was so use to doing something together as a family after dinner that it feels strange to be doing our own things. 
I have loved our countdown and it makes me pretty happy that Daniel has enjoyed it too! 

Daniel Was Right

Profile of our baby

We had our ultrasound today.  I am completely amazed at the technology that is available right now.  Since the hospital we went to is brand new, the equipment is the best that is available right now.  Daniel and I were able to see the baby swallowing and the bladder filling with amniotic fluid.  I watched with amazement as we saw the heart chambers pumping the blood through my baby's body.  I have always loved watching the heart during the ultrasounds.   We saw the kidneys, the stomach, the brain and the spine.  We counted 10 little fingers and 10 little toes. We saw the umbilical cord and watched as the machine showed the blood flow around the cord and around the heart.  It was amazing!  Absolutely beautiful!

I had to ask for a tissue a few times because I was crying.  I loved seeing my little baby.  I have cried during all of my ultrasounds.  (I've thought that maybe it is because I have to pee so badly, but this time the technician got a few images that needed the full bladder, then he excused me to use the bathroom, so I know that I wasn't just 'leaking' out of my eyes!) 

I love seeing the miracle of life living inside of me.   I love seeing the cute little fingers, the feet, the heart and the little face. 

I was super anxious to find out the gender of the baby.  I have been counting down the days.  I wanted Christmas to be over with because I knew that the ultrasound was the next week.   I was super afraid that I wanted a girl too much.  I mean, I had to be honest with myself that it could be a boy.  I was afraid that I would be disappointed (for a while) if it was.  Then, at the same time, I'd be relieved to have a boy because I know how to deal with boys and boy stuff.  Super anxious was an understatement. 

Baby was being very cooperative, so there was no problem with crossed legs as I had feared.  We are having a girl!  Daniel was right!  He 'knew' that it was a girl.  I really wanted a girl, but I was too afraid to make any specific plans without 'proof'.  The technician looked  from two angles and was certain that he couldn't see any external plumbing and that he was looking at the girl parts.  Now I can plan the nursery and go shopping for material to make a girl quilt.  Oh!  And I get to go shopping for girl baby clothes!  I am super excited! 

What Do You Do in the Wintertime Part 2

Thank you for the suggestions!  I know that I haven't exhausted the list of things to do around here, but I think that it is a good start!  I certainly won't be able to do all of these things during this break!
 
Here is a list of activities that have been added to the master list.  Check out the first post for all of the activities on one page. http://sherrontaylor.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-do-you-do-in-wintertime.html

Sweets Candy Factory Tour   http://sweetcandy.com  Free!  An appointment is necessary.

Bowling All Star Lanes http://www.allstarlanes.com
(This is just one of many bowling locations.  If you have a favorite, please let me know)


Gale Center Museum http://www.galecenter.org/  Free

This Is the Place Heritage Park, 2601 E. Sunnyside Ave., 9 a.m.-5 p.m., (801-582-1847, www.thisistheplace.org)

Hogle Zoo, 2600 E. Sunnyside Ave., 9 a.m.-5 p.m., $8 adults, $6 children, senior citizens (801-582-16 31 or www.hoglezoo.org)

Tracy Aviary, Monday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., 589 E. 1300 South (801-596-8500 or www.tracyaviary.org)

Pioneer Memorial Museum, Monday-Saturday, 300 N. Main, Salt Lake City, free (801-532-6479 or www.dupinternational.org)

The Living Planet, Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m., 725 E. 10600 South (801-355-3474 or www.thelivingplanet.com) 1st Monday of the month 1/2 price from 4-6 p.m.


Museum of Natural History, 1390 S. Presidents Circle, first Monday of the month is free (801-581-4303 or www.umnh.org

Children's art workshops, third Saturday of the month, 2 p.m., Utah Museum of Fine Arts, U., prices vary (801-581-7332 or umfa.utah.edu)

Hill Air Force Museum http://www.hill.af.mil/library/museum/  Free

Capitol Building

Temple Square


 At Home

Make a home movie and watch it  (make up scenes to shoot- at a restaurant: a movie star walks in, or someone sees a mouse etc.)

Family Christmas Party

This year our family Christmas party was hosted by my little brother Dan.  Almost everyone was able to attend!  We just had one brother-in-law, one sister-in-law and three nephews who were unable to come.  We met at Nickel Mania in Murray and had a great time playing video games.  My boys (Daniel included!) were in heaven!  They had a lot of fun!

After the arcade place, we went to my parent's house and had lunch.  We had a wonderful time hanging out with family and playing around.

Thank you, Dan, for a great day!

Paul loved this game and he did quite well on it.  It was some sort of ninja fighting game.  When the battles were tough, his right leg would come off of the ground and start kicking.  It was so much fun to watch!

My bald boys playing a scooter game together.

Mark 

                                           

My brother, Dan (btw, he is single!)

My brother-in-law  James 

 My Mom and niece, Klayre

My nephew Tanner and brother Randy (sorry, he's married!)

In the background l-r : Cooper, Tyler, Karly and Natalie

December 16-19

A recap of this week's countdown activities (and the promised picture of my 'bald' husband!)

Day 16  See the lights at Thanksgiving Point  I bought insulated cups that we filled with hot chocolate and we drank it in the van while looking at the lights. 

Daniel using Seth as a hat

Mark, Me and Paul in front of the reindeer

Mark admiring the fire

 

Me and the boys being VERY serious

 

Day 17  Candy canes- I will be absolutely surprised if any are left on the tree by the end of the weekend!

Day 18 Game- I bought a game called Left Center Right.  We played it while eating treats that Seth and I made earlier in the day.

 Day 19   Nativity.  This one is from Play Mobile and I had to wait to put it out until closer to Christmas because the boys tend to play a little rough with this one (the walking sticks become guns, etc).

Only  5 more days to go!

A is For...

Seth's preschool class is doing a little program this week.  He has a little part that we have been working on at home.  It is " 'A' is for All of us.  May you have lots of cheer". 

Paul made a Christmas book at school and he brought it home and read it to us.  Each page had a letter on it that would spell out the word Christmas ('c' is for...  'h' i for... etc.).  When Paul got to the letter  'a' he said, " 'A' is for angel."  Seth immediately, but kind of under his breath, said, "No, 'A' is for All of us". 

Thanks Seth

The last few weeks have been challenging for me.  I am feeling better than I was the first trimester, but I still worry a lot about my baby.  About a week before my 12 week appointment, my sister told me that she and our other sister both miscarried at 12 weeks.  I was worried sick.  I cried for hours just worried about the well-being of the baby.  I was SO relieved to hear the heartbeat at the appointment.  

I was able to relax for a while, but I guess after having two previous miscarriages, I am just more aware of how little control I have with how things turn out.  Then my friend Jenni announced that she was pregnant and then miscarried.  It got me worried all over again.  Thankfully, I have started to feel the baby moving around, so that has helped alleviate my fears.

My uterus is about the size of a large grapefruit right now.  I really am not showing yet, which means that the grapefruit is taking up precious real estate.  My pelvic bone and the surrounding area is feeling A LOT of pressure, making standing quite painful.  Walking is okay, but standing still just hurts.  This happened when I was pregnant with Paul, too- I just don't remember it hurting so soon.  I have been sitting on a stool in the kitchen while cooking dinner.  It is quite awkward, but sitting is much more comfortable.  Sitting feels better than standing, but laying down offers the most relief.  I have a feeling that this will get much worse before it will get better. 

Being uncomfortable has been playing games with my mental well being.  I have been really discouraged, but had very little energy to do things that normally pull me out of my 'funk'. (Typically shopping and going out and about)  

Fortunately, I have had a few things to help me.

I am working on a quilt for Larissa's baby girl.  I bought the material and got it pieced together a week or so ago.  Now I am quilting it.  I tried to keep it simple, but I had to add more to make it cuter, so it will be another week to work on it.  Working on this quilt keeps me excited about finding out the gender of my baby.  We are nearing the 20 week point, so we'll know in January.

I'm also excited to finish quilting the quilt because my friend, Madeleine, will come down and help me bind it.  It is fun to just sit, sew and talk.  I'll post pictures of the quilt when it is finished.

There is something else that has been keeping my spirits high lately, and that is the cute antics of my resident 5 year old.  Seth and I have been having a lot of fun teasing each other lately.  He is good to let me rest when I need it.  He is such a fun kid to be with.  We get teasing each other and laughing so much that Daniel comes out of his office to see what is going on. 

I am so grateful for Seth.  His inquisitiveness has been in full swing this week.  He just wanted to know what would happen if he used those scissors on his hair.  It got him into quite a pickle, but it also provided me with quite a few smiles and good, deep belly laughs.

He was quite upset when I told him that I had to shave his head.  He didn't want to be "bald", but I had no other choice.  I used the #1 attachment on the clippers and you can still see where he cut his hair.  Daniel is such a good sport- he told Seth that he would shave his head too, so they could be twins.  I'll post a picture of my bald man over the weekend.

I shaved Seth's head first.  After I cut his hair, I used the vacuum to clean up.  Seth wanted to help clean, so he used the vacuum and played around with it.  He was so inquisitive and so innocent that I couldn't help but enjoy watching him.  Here are a few of the pictures I took of him playing with the vacuum.

Look Mom!  No hands!

I was so surprised that he didn't get a good hickey on his forehead from this one!  

Seth, thank you for being such a joy to be around.  You really don't understand how much it means to me!

What Do You Do in the Wintertime

I have been anticipating Mark and Paul's Christmas break.  They will go off-track after the winter break, so they will be home for 5 weeks.  I am not sure if my anticipation has been excitement or dread.  It really depends on the day and on how mild or wicked I think the weather will be.  I sat down and compiled a list of things to do during the cold winter months to help my sanity.  I decided that others reading this might benefit from what I have, so I am sharing my list.  Please add to this list if you have any activities to do that I have missed!

In-Door Activities (Out and About or Don't Be Stingy with the Hand Sanitizer or Cabin Fever Reducer)

1.  Swimming - any indoor pool.  My boys like the one at South Jordan Recreation Center  http://www.sjc.utah.gov  We might try the one in Kearns as they have 2 indoor pools.  http://kopfc.com/

2. Arcade games-
Nickel Cade  http://www.nickel-cade.com/
Nickel Mania http://nickelmaniagames.com/
Chuck E. Cheese /http://www.chuckecheese.com/
Hollywood Connection http://www.hollywoodconnectionslc.com/  Monday all-day wristband $7 opens at 4 M-Th

3.  Jumpin Jacks http://www.jumpinjackskids.com  coupons online $4 jump days vary by the month

4.  Classic Skating http://www.classicskating.com

5.  Dinosaur Museum http://www.thanksgivingpoint.com/  also, the farm is open during the winter

6.  Cabela's http://www.cabelas.com  they have a large fish tank area, call and find out when they feed them.  They also have neat displays of game that has been stuffed.  There is a little candy shop and shooting range on the top floor by the restaurant.  (50 cents for each shooting round- 6 and younger may be too short)

7.  Movie
Dollar Theater Cinemark Sandy Movies 9 http://www.cinemark.com
District Theater http://www.megaplextheatres.com


8.  Clark Planetarium http://www.hansenplanetarium.net/ free exhibits  

9.  Playland (Mc Donalds, Carl's Jr., etc.)

10.  Discovery Children's Museum http://www.discoverygateway.org/
Look for 2-for-1 admission coupons in the mail

11.  Library Story Time and other activities http://www.slco.lib.ut.us  Also check out book stores for activities

12.  Organize a group to meet at a church to play in the gymnasium.  Bring balls, board games and treats.

13.  My boys love to spend a day with their grandparents.  So if it is possible, arrange a day with their grandparents or other family friends.  Some times the boys have preferred to go alone, just one of them spends the day with Grandpa.  They love it!  I love the memories they are building with my parents.


14.  Sweets Candy Factory Tour   http://sweetcandy.com  Free!  An appointment is necessary.

15.  Bowling All Star Lanes http://www.allstarlanes.com
(This is just one of many bowling locations.  If you have a favorite, please let me know)


16.  Gale Center Museum http://www.galecenter.org/  Free

17.  This Is the Place Heritage Park, 2601 E. Sunnyside Ave., 9 a.m.-5 p.m., (801-582-1847, www.thisistheplace.org)

18.  Pioneer Memorial Museum, Monday-Saturday, 300 N. Main, Salt Lake City, free (801-532-6479 or www.dupinternational.org)

19.  The Living Planet,  725 E. 10600 South (801-355-3474 or www.thelivingplanet.com)
1st Monday of the month 1/2 price from 4-6 p.m.

20.  Museum of Natural History, 1390 S. Presidents Circle, first Monday of the month is free (801-581-4303 or www.umnh.org)

21.  Children's art workshops, third Saturday of the month, 2 p.m., Utah Museum of Fine Arts, U., prices vary (801-581-7332 or umfa.utah.edu)

22.  Hill Air Force Museum http://www.hill.af.mil/library/museum/  Free

23.  Capitol Building

24.  Temple Square

25. Gymcats  http://www.gymcatspoint.com open gym time




Out Door Fun (or It's a Balmy 40 Degrees Outside, Let's Go Play! or It's Above Freezing)

1.  Sledding at a park
2.  Wheeler Farm http://www.wheelerfarm.com
3.  Farm Country http://thanksgivingpoint.com
4.  Play at the park if the weather is mild enough.
5.  Hogle Zoo, 2600 E. Sunnyside Ave., 9 a.m.-5 p.m., $8 adults, $6 children, senior citizens
(801-582-16 31 or www.hoglezoo.org)

6.  Tracy Aviary, Monday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., 589 E. 1300 South (801-596-8500 or www.tracyaviary.org)


At Home (or I Don't Have Money To Spend, or Someone is Sick, or I Don't Want to Get Dressed Today)

1.  Make Cookies or Muddy Buddies or other treat
2.  Set up a tent or build a fort
3.  Make homemade bread (or cinnamon rolls, or pizza) (or let them make creations out of the dough- check out http://www.rhodesbread.com for some fun ideas of how to play with dough)
4.  Clean the walls and doors (if you start with a great Mary Poppin's attitude, it really can be fun!)
5.  Sort and count loose change (get them doing math without realizing it!)
6.  Beads
7.  Play doh
8.  Bubble bath (the kids, not you- you can take yours after the kids are in bed!)  If you put a few drops of food coloring into the bath water, the bath will be a fun color (you can even have them mix colors).  The food coloring won't stain.  (Put the colors in before the bubbles if you want them to have a color)
9.  Quiet Time  This is something we do nearly every day of off-track.  The kids are allowed to color, draw,  or play with toys but they have to stay in their rooms for one hour.  If kids share a room, someone gets to pick another room to hang out in (family room, living room)  This isn't a punishment, but just a way of keeping things quiet for a few minutes.  (I think that this will come in handy if you have a baby taking a nap)
10.  Board games-
11. Kid exchange- you take one of your friend's kids and they take one of yours.  My boys seem to do well with a sibling gone and a friend over to play.
12.  Make a home movie and watch it  (make up scenes to shoot- at a restaurant: a movie star walks in, or someone sees a mouse etc.)



Please comment with additional ideas to share.  I will post an update with any additions!

The 15th Day of December

Last night we opened gift number 15 from under our tree.  Before I explain the events of last night, I'll review what we have done the last week.
Day 7: Chocolate covered pretzels
Day 8: Christmas books (Look and Find books and a "Where's Waldo" type book)
Day 9: Christmas letters to family friends and teachers
Day 10: Christmas activity book (word searches, mazes, etc.)
Day 11: Make cookies (sugar cookies, gingerbread men and gingersnaps)
Day 12: Read How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Day 13: Pencils
Day 14: Christmas books
Day 15: A chocolate orange.

A chocolate orange seemed like a simple enough activity.  I bought the chocolate that is shaped like an orange.  You smash it to break it into slices and then eat it.  However, last night became a whirlwind of commotion.  The first thing to happen was this:

Yes, SuperDad underestimated his strength when he whacked the orange on the table.

I immediately put "order new table top" onto my to-do list.  But the bigger task at hand was how we were going to dispose of this glass.  The rest of the top wasn't broken, but it is 42 inches by 72 inches, minus the shattered corner.

We decided to eat our dessert and go about the clean up process while the boys were getting ready for bed.  The chocolate orange, despite the chaos it caused, was a 'hit'.  I also bought two other chocolates that are dairy free so that I could participate.  The first was a 72% cocoa chocolate with dried raspberries.  It was quite dark, but good.  The second was dark chocolate with chili pepper.  It had a good kick to it!  It won't go down as my all-time favorite chocolates, but it was kind of fun to eat!

Okay, chocolate has been consumed, so we escort the boys out of the kitchen to get ready for bed and we start cleaning up.  I got the vacuum and Daniel got a big box and a hammer.  I watched as our table top exploded into little pieces of glass and tried to get the shards before they fell off of the table.  It was a loud process.  Daniel and I joked that if it had been warmer weather, we would open all of the windows and start yelling while breaking the glass, just to make the neighbors wonder what was going on.  But, we were kind and didn't resolve into yelling...yet.

Daniel took the box out of the kitchen and put it in the garbage that is in the garage.  I noticed that the box wasn't completely sealed on the bottom, so after I cleaned up the kitchen table and floor (and chairs and counter top) I had to follow his trail out to the garage.  As I was headed into the garage, Daniel was filling the mop bucket so that he could mop the floor.  When I finished in the garage, I could hear crying.  It was Seth and he was really upset.  I ran into the house and Daniel was comforting Seth.  I saw glass shards on the kitchen floor, so I had to get back to work. 

A few minutes later, Daniel came into the kitchen while holding Seth and asked me, "Sherron, do you know what this is?"  I looked at Seth and tried not to laugh.    The best way to describe what I saw is through pictures. 

This is what Seth looked like while eating chocolate:

This is what he looked like 10 minutes later:

 Seth had cut his hair!  This is the first time that any of my boys have cut their hair like this.  Paul cut a little bit off of the back once upon a time, but it wasn't terribly noticeable.  Seth cut right down to the scalp!   In 3 places! 

I just cut the boys' hair the day before.  Sadly, I hadn't cut their hair since before I found out I was pregnant.  I am 17 weeks along now.  They have desperately needed a hair cut.  I have trimmed their sideburns  2 times, once before their school pictures and once before their really late birthday pictures.  Now I need to pull everything out again and buzz Seth's head.  At least the vacuum is still out! 

Oh bother!  I guess I'm going to have to reschedule our family pictures, because I do not like the look of a buzz on Seth.

I still don't know why Seth was crying.  I know that Daniel yelled, but not because of the hair issue.  Seth wouldn't tell us where he cut his hair, so I had to do some investigating.  He used the baby nail trimmer scissors that we keep in my bathroom.  He had put them away, but his hair was still on it.  He was really upset and knew that we weren't happy with what he did. 

Mark and Paul just left for the bus, so now I can cut Seth's hair and clean up. 

The bright side to yesterday is that my Avon order came, so now I can paint my toenails purple!  I'm excited!

There Was a Crooked Man ....

This weekend we got a good snowfall.  The snow was really wet, which makes for perfect snowballs and other such fun.  However, it makes it really heavy and difficult to shovel. 

We have hired the boys to shovel the driveway and sidewalk this year.  Mark started shoveling but gave up claiming that it was too heavy.  (He was tired from a sleep-over).  Seth went out there and started shoveling the sidewalk.  We are on a corner lot, so the sidewalk is a long job.  He shoveled away and finished without a complaint. 

This morning as I was driving out of our neighborhood, I saw Seth's shoveling job.  It made me smile.  He did a great job! Here is what I saw:

His meandering path reminds me of the poem that is about the crooked man who walked a crooked mile.  This is what the crooked path leading up to his house would look like! 

Paul played outside for quite a while by himself.  He made a snow fort that he was quite proud of.

This picture makes it quite obvious that we didn't get all of the leaves raked this year!  I love that my boys enjoy playing in the snow!  I get cold too easily to really enjoy it, but I certainly enjoy watching my kids play in it! 

Gluttony

Last night I tried a recipe for gluten free calzones.  I have been hesitant to try new dough recipes because nearly every one I have tried has been rather gross.  I have tried several store bought mixes and I've tried making several of my own.  When trying to knead some of the doughs, it has been like trying to knead mashed potatoes.

Anyhow, this recipe from Gluten-Free Homemaker  was AWESOME!  The dough was easy to work with and it didn't taste rubbery or just plain gross.  Mark, Paul and Seth wanted one of my calzones instead of the pizza that Daniel made!  I put tomato sauce, sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms and spinach in them.  They were yummy!  So yummy that I ate 2 and I wanted another one.

I resisted eating another one because I made mini-cinnamon rolls with the last 3 calzone circles (about 7 inches in diameter).  They were only 1 inch tall and 1 inch in diameter.  I wanted to try those!

I love cinnamon rolls!  I have tried to make cinnamon rolls over the last year and ALL of my attempts have been disappointing.  These didn't disappoint and I became a gluttonous person.  I ate and ate and ate and ate and ate and ate.  I ate over half of the cinnamon rolls.  The boys had 2 each, Daniel had 1 and I finished off the batch!

I was stuffed!  I seriously cannot remember the last time that I ate so much that I felt stuffed.  It is a good thing that I didn't have to crawl through Rabbit's hole to get out of the kitchen, because I would have been stuck there.  I would be blogging for all of you to come over and try to pull me out!  Seriously, my tummy was big! 

I'm not necessarily proud of my behavior, but I am proud of The Gluten-Free Homemaker for sharing a recipe that I like!

Next time I will show more self-control.  (I think that I will just half the recipe!)

Getting Bigger

I finally have what I consider to be my 'baby bump'.  I'm kind of showing that I'm pregnant, but honestly, if I hadn't told anyone, I don't think that you would know.  I have only gained a pound or two and I'm still wearing my regular clothes. 

BUT, this post isn't about my baby bump, it is about my 'girls' or rather, my breasts.  (So, Dad, you can stop reading now if you want to!  Really anyone not wanting to read about my breast size stop reading NOW!)

I started out this pregnancy at a delightful 34-C  My favorite bra is actually a 34-B because it has a larger cup size.  I have exploded out of my bras so I finally went to a shop to get a bra fitting.  If you have never had a professional bra fitting, I highly recommend it! 

I told the lady that I was pregnant and that I wanted to get my favorite bra in the next cup size up.   She took my measurements and  came back with about 5 or 6 bras for me to try on.  All of them were size 34-DD!  Gasp!  Golly!  DD, are you sure?  This is crazy! 

I bought the same style of bra as my favorite, just in a MUCH larger size. 

My girls are going to be huge when my milk comes in.  That isn't much of a surprise, as I have turned Dolly Parton after each delivery.  (In fact, I remember feeding Paul and realizing that my breasts were bigger than Paul's head- and he had a big head!)  But I haven't been this big at the beginning of the 2nd trimester.  

Daniel isn't complaining.

The First Week of December

We have started our Christmas countdown activities and I have thoroughly enjoyed it! I got all of the boxes labeled with numbers and under the tree just in time for the boys to come home from school on Tuesday. Each night we take turns opening one of the boxes and doing the activity in the box.
These are the activities we have done so far:
1. Decorate the tree (the boys decided where to put the ornaments)
2. Display the nativity set (it is the Little People Nativity from Fisher Price).
3. Book: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. We are reading one chapter a night.
4. Gift: Notebooks and stacking crayons. The boys colored while Daniel read.
5. Snowflakes.
6. Make new ornaments for the tree.













We have already had to switch numbers around on the gifts because of time restraints. I keep a master list of what is in each box so that I can switch things around to allow the evening to run more smoothly.

Daniel isn't one to throw out compliments unless he truly means them. Last night he lavished me with praise at how wonderful he thinks the countdown is. He feels that it is allowing us to give the boys a lot of attention and excitement without spending a lot of money. We are able to give a lot of ourselves and spend time together as a family. I am truly loving this tradition!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Friday morning Mark checked the weather before heading out to the bus stop. He announced that it was 17 degrees and feels like 4 degrees outside. He then announced that he will be wearing his coat to school for the first time this year. Crazy kid. He normally wears a fleece-lined hoodie. But he decided to wear the hoodie with his coat over it. Smart thinking. The boys even waited to go out to the bus. Normally they leave at 8:15 (the bus comes at 8:25). They waited until a little after 8:20.

Wowzers! It is cold! Kim and I were planning on taking Seth and Nathan to feed the ducks, but by 10 a.m. it was 24 degrees and felt like 10 degrees. Umm.... no thank you!

Free Puppies

Seth and I walked into a building and at the front desk there was a sign that said:


There was a box with one little puppy left. The last puppy looking for a home. Seth saw that little puppy and just melted. "Please mom?" "I love this puppy"
It was a cute little beagle. The guy at the counter said that they were indeed free. Seth was just so cute with it. I caved and said yes!

I am not a huge dog fan, but Seth promised that he would take care of it all by himself.

We thanked the man at the counter as he took the 'free puppies' sign off of the box. He seemed relieved to be done. We were excited. I helped Seth take the plastic wrap off of the puppy and he began to play with it. We love Snoopy at our house and this one was from MetLife. Seth sure is a lucky kid!



This took place at the lobby of the new hospital. Seth's pediatrician has an office there and we were going for his 5 year check up. He got the rest of his shots and is now officially ready for kindergarten.

The doctor told me that Seth was in the 90th percentile for his height. I said that Seth must hang out around tall friends because he is the shortest of all of the kids his age. The doctor then looked at the paper again and said that he was actually in the 9th percentile. That makes a bit of a difference!

This next picture is for the benefit of my dear friend Jennifer Watford. When we were living in Georgia, she gave Paul one of Dalton's old coats. Well, Paul has outgrown it and...

...now it fits Seth! I can hardly believe that Seth is the age that Paul was when we moved away. I love it when they wear that coat. I feel connected to the Watfords even though we are so far away from each other.

Thanksgiving Menu

This year was my first Thanksgiving since going gluten and milk-free. I am very blessed to have family members who are willing to work with me to prepare dishes that I can eat. My sister, Kim, saved some turkey drippings for me to make my own gravy. She also saved out a few yams before putting the butter on them. I brought my own butter and cooked them in a separate dish. My mom made a separate dish of mashed potatoes for me. She used my butter and chicken broth as the liquids for the potatoes.

I made some stuffing out of bread that I have made in the past month or so. I have purposely set aside a slice or two here and there for the stuffing. I just used my butter to cook the celery in, then used broth and seasonings. I also made 'normal' stuffing for the rest of the group.

I have read some horror stories about family members being less than understanding with food intolerance issues. I am so grateful to my family for being so thoughtful and considerate. Their consideration certainly made my meal a lot easier to enjoy. I had a separate spot to keep some of my food that was away from the 'forbidden' versions! I took pictures of my food just to prove to myself that a gluten and dairy free Thanksgiving dinner can look normal!

This was my spinach dip with rice crackers:


My Thanksgiving dinner plate:


My dessert, a lemon pie:

The 'pie' is just a recipe of lemon squares that I put into a pie plate to make it feel like I was eating pie. The other choices of pumpkin and pecan pies weren't tempting to me at all (now if there had been an apple pie available, I would have been tempted- but wouldn't have caved because I love these lemon squares!)

Lemon Bars
From Elana Amsterdam's Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook (with a few of my own modifications)

Crust
1 ½ cups blanched almond flour
½ teaspoon sea salt
2 Tablespoons oil
1 Tablespoon corn syrup

Topping
¼ cup oil
¼ cup corn syrup
¼ cup sugar
3 large eggs
½ cup lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square baking dish with oil and dust with almond flour.

To make the crust, combine the almond flour and salt in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, corn syrup and vanilla extract. Stir the wet ingredients into the almond flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Press the dough into the prepared baking dish.

Bake for 15-17 minutes, until lightly golden.

While the crust bakes, prepare the topping. In a blender, combine the oil, corn syrup, sugar, eggs, and lemon juice. Process on high until smooth. Remove the crust from the oven. Pour the topping evenly over the hot crust.

Bake fore 15-20 minute, until the topping is golden. Let cool in the baking dish for 30 minutes, then refrigerate for 2 hours to set. Cut into bars and serve.

Energy Gauge

For the past few years, laundry day has been Monday. I wash, dry and fold the laundry, then pester the boys for the next day to put their laundry away. Barring any big event going on, I have everything put away by Monday evening.

Since my energy level has been super low lately, I just can't get the laundry done in one day. I have noticed that I can look back at a given week and tell how my energy level was by how long it took me to finish doing the laundry. It has been normal lately for the laundry to be finished by Wednesday night.

Last week I finished laundry on Tuesday afternoon! This week, however, has been a different story. It is Sunday and I still have a load of towels in the dryer that need to be put away. I have a load of my clothes that are in the basket breeding wrinkles as I type. I just washed them yesterday. Thanksgiving kind of took a day away from my schedule, as I spent my energy preparing food (and mucking up the kitchen). (A BIG thanks to Daniel, Paul and Seth for washing all of the big pots and pans by hand. Paul and Seth had a great time- claiming that it was FUN!)

I can tell that I am tired by looking at the mess dirty clothes on my closet floor. Somehow I can't manage to put the dirty clothes in the laundry basket, they just stay where they land when I take them off. When my energy levels are decent, this isn't an issue.

I have looked back over the last several years and I have noticed a trend; when I don't feel well (either physically or mentally) two household chores really suffer- laundry and dishes. When I was experiencing my really bad migraines, I started using paper plates to cut down on the chores (and the noise- paper plates don't bang together loudly!) These are chores that I don't mind doing, but I find to be difficult to tackle sometimes. They are the never-ending chores of any household.

I am officially in my 2nd trimester! I really do feel better than I did during the first trimester. I don't feel nearly as nauseated and gross, but I am still really tired.

Seth keeps asking cute little questions about the baby. Time is a difficult concept for him to understand. He told me that he is going to learn to read so that when the baby is born, he can read books to the baby at bedtime.

And Now For the Rest of the Paragraph

Paul Harvey always delighted me with his radio series titled "And Now For the Rest of the Story". He would include interesting background information to national headline stories that really made the story come alive.

Unfortunately, I don't have any cool stories to elaborate on. Rather, I have paragraphs from a previous post that I need to finish.

I read through my last few posts and I was embarrassed because I realized that I started to put a thought down, and then moved on before really finishing the thought. My brain really is turning into oatmeal. My attention span is terrible lately. Those are my excuses for my lack of detail in my posts.

Seth's birthday post.
"Seth has been struggling trying to decide how grown up he wants to be. He has been trying to tie his own shoes. He gets dressed alone (I only intercept when he wears camouflage with plaid or tie dye)."

Since Seth was about 18 months old, he has been sleeping with a bracelet. It is one that Mark got from school on Red Ribbon week. It is a silicon bracelet like Lance Armstrong's "livestrong" bracelet. I have purchased about 10 of these bracelets so that we never had to worry about not being able to find one at night. He rolls the bracelet around in his fingers and sometimes rubs it across his lips.

Now, he can't decide from night to night if he wants his bracelet or not. He fluctuates between wanting his night light on (which is a cool globe night light, like the one on the movie While You Were Sleeping) He sometimes wants his music on, and other nights claims that he doesn't like music while he tries to sleep. He seems to want to let go of these things, but after two or three nights without the bracelet, he requests it and enjoys its comfort.

I'm not sure if Mark and Paul are teasing him about his night time comforts, or if he is just naturally experimenting his nights without them. It must be a rather confusing and difficult experience.

That Stinks

Seeing as how I am normally sensitive to smells, it is natural that pregnancy just compounds the issue. Fortunately, I am not as queasy now as I have been, but I am still just as sensitive to smells.

The other night I was craving fish sticks. I found some that are "Sherron friendly" and I bought them. Then I realized that I had to bake them and that my house would smell like fish. I figured that I could deal with it, so I started making dinner. I was making oven baked fries, so I put the potatoes in the sink to clean them off. I have washed many a potato, but never have I been so repulsed by the smell of dirt that was coming from them. I thought that maybe fish sticks was a BAD idea, but I didn't know what else to make. I opened the windows in the kitchen (it was a balmy 30 degrees outside), put a fan in the kitchen that pushed the air to the window, and I opened the door to the laundry room and turned on the ventilation fan.

I successfully made a fish stick dinner (accompanied with homemade tartar sauce that was delicious and oh, so easy to make) without gagging on the smells. Of course, Daniel wondered if I had invited penguins to dine with us because it was so cold in the kitchen!

I normally use unscented laundry detergents because the scented ones are too strong. I really do like the smell of most fabric softeners, but the scent bothers me and it bothers Mark and Seth's eczema. Daniel's friend stayed with us for a while when he was first divorcing and when he moved out, he left his fabric softener sheets. They are rated a scent of 3 out of 10, so I figured that it would be nice to have our towels and blankets smell good. I used half of a sheet and it was WAY too strong for me. I experimented and found that I can use 1/8 of a sheet for optimal scent and no ill effect on sensitive skin.

Not anymore. THAT is too much scent for me right now. That is insane!

When we have friends come over to play I usually wind up opening windows in the house because the scent of the fabric softener on their clothes is suffocating.

I am soooooo glad that I don't have any diapers to change right now!

The Birthday Boy

Seth turned 5 years old today. He has had a great birthday! We usually go out to eat as a family for birthdays, but Seth requested a 'stay at home burrito dinner'. I can handle that!

He wanted a giant cookie cake, so I put cookie batter in a spring form pan and made a giant cookie. He loved it!

He really wanted to have a friend party, but knowing that I can't handle a big crowd of 5 year boys right now, we decided to invite 2 friends over for a birthday lunch.

 Cody Burke, Seth, and Nathan Barlocker

Seth has been struggling trying to decide how grown up he wants to be. He has been trying to tie his own shoes. He gets dressed alone (I only intercept when he wears camouflage with plaid or tie dye).

I have been wearing my bear socks lately and Seth loves them. He will come up and hug my foot or cuddle with my foot. "Mom, you are so lucky that you have cute socks".


Seth is a daddy's boy lately. He has been following Daniel around the house while imitating what Daniel does. Seth even set up a computer in Daniel's office. He sits on the floor and types away, imitating Daniel. The awesome thing about it is that for the most part he doesn't bother Daniel.


A few weeks ago Seth started throwing major fits when it was time to go to bed. He would complain that his stomach or head hurt, or that he needed a drink, or that he was scared in his room and needed to be downstairs to feel safe. He would go on and on while Daniel stayed next to him and tried to comfort him. These fits would go on for 15 minutes until Seth was completely worn out and went to sleep.

I told Daniel to ignore his fits and leave the room. That has helped diminish the fits, but not eliminate them. The other night Daniel was sick, so he went to bed early. I was tucking Seth into bed and he started throwing his fit. Our conversation went something like this:
Seth: I'm soooo thirsty.
Me: We'll get you a drink in the morning.
Seth: My head hurts.
Me: You need some sleep. Your head won't hurt in the morning.
Seth: Owie, owie, my tummy hurts. I'm soooo hungry.
Me: I will make an awesome breakfast tomorrow. You'll have to wait.
Seth: Where is dad?
Me: He's in bed.
Seth: Is he asleep?
Me: Yes.
Seth: (a brief pause) Okay. Goodnight Mom.

When I related this with Daniel he laughed and felt embarrassed that Seth had played him so well. What a funny little kid!

I absolutely love Seth. He is a lot of fun to be around. He rarely gets into trouble and when he does, he really doesn't like being disciplined. There is something about Seth that reminds me of my cousin Russell. I adore Russell and so does nearly everyone who knows him. He is charismatic and Seth has that same quality. Since Seth is still wearing size 3T pants, he just might take after Russell in vertical challenges too!

Happy birthday Seth! I love you!

Wunderbar!

Daniel told Seth that he was "wunderbar" (the 'w' is pronounced like a 'v', so it sounds like Vunderbar). Seth asked what that means and Daniel explained that it is wonderful in German. He looked at Daniel and said, "Mom is wunderbar!" What a sweetie!

A few days later, Seth was getting ready for bed in our bathroom with Daniel. Seth was imitating everything that Daniel did, it really was quite cute to watch. He even used our mouthwash! Daniel told Seth that he was wunderbar and Seth said, "No dad, mom is wunderbar, I am cute-er-bar!" Indeed you are cute, my little Seth!

Normally I have had most of my Christmas shopping done by the first of November. This year has been quite different as I haven't known what to get my boys for their gifts and they are getting old enough now to care what they get. I finally figured out what to get them and I had a good energy day yesterday, so I went to Toys R Us and got nearly everything that I wanted to get. I still have a few things to purchase, but I have the majority of everything done! Yeah! That is wunderbar!

I just realized that December 1st is coming up soon. I started a tradition last year that I want to do again, so I need to get cracking! We celebrate the 24 days of December. I put 24 presents under the tree and every night we open one. I have a mix of things in the gifts, like Christmas books (that we already own, or new ones), our nativity set, cookie cutters to make cookies with, little novelty items like candy cane pens, or winter activity notebooks, paper to make snowflakes with, or things to make new ornaments to hang on our tree.

I found that by putting the activities under the tree, we actually got around to doing them! Every year I have wanted to make ornaments or make cookies and we just never get around to doing it. This system requires planing the activities out, but it is worth it! The family time that we share doing these projects is priceless.

I number the presents so that I can plan to make cookies on a night that we don't have piano lessons or scouts. On nights that are busy we do a gift that isn't time consuming.

We really had a lot of fun with this last year, so I am anxious to do it again. This year, however, I will make sure that every 3rd gift isn't a book because Paul wound up opening nearly every book!

This tradition that we have is wunderbar!

Just Because I Can Doesn't Mean That I Should

I have been dairy and wheat free for nearly one year now. I've had the occasional bites of things I shouldn't and I have paid the consequences. It has been a tough process figuring out what foods my body can or cannot tolerate. It has been difficult being around so many foods that I can't eat. I have left the grocery store in tears several times because a lot of foods that seem safe, aren't. (Like Pringles- they have wheat added!)

Anyhow, over this past few months I have figured out how to adjust some recipes to be GFCF (gluten free casein free). I received a magazine with a lot of holiday recipes and I went through each recipe to see how I could alter it. Then I made a list of ingredients I would need to make everything and I went to the store. As I was driving home with my groceries, I realized that nearly every recipe was for a dessert. I still had half a pan of brownies left. I certainly don't need to make more desserts right now. Luckily, most of the food items are non-perishable, so I have stored them in the pantry and I am waiting to have a reason to make my next recipe. Yes, cravings count as a reason around here!

Daniel found a brownie and a cookie mix from Betty Crocker that are GFCF. The brownies are delicious. The texture and everything is right. Some mixes are made out of garbanzo bean and fava bean flours and they taste terrible. This is a rice and tapioca flour mix. Much better!

I discovered a mix for white bread this week at Harmons. I was hesitant to try it, but it turned out great! The mix isn't terribly expensive- which is unusual! Each loaf costs about $1.75. Seriously, I have been so happy! I have had a lot of pb&j's and BLT sandwiches this week. I never thought that I would be able to feed my BLT craving. I've had BLT salads and BLT pizza (weird, I know), but to have it in sandwich form was AWESOME! Too bad I didn't discover this when tomatoes were fresh out of the garden!

Now that I am finding ways to make foods that have been off limits for the past year, I am finding myself thinking "just because I can doesn't mean that I should!" Moderation in all things, right?

October Review

Here is a review of things that we did in October.

We went to Cornbelly's with Seth's preschool class. Since a handful of big brothers came along, Seth decided to hang out with the big kids instead of his class. We all had fun!

Ryan, Tanner, Paul, Mark, and Seth

Finally, a picture of me! Mom and Seth taking a lunch break.

Mrs. B's Preschool class


Kim and I took our kids to Murray to feed the ducks.


I'm glad that we had a lot of bread, because we had a LOT of ducks to keep happy!


Kim and I took our kids to the Riverton Hospital open house. Paul, Jessica, Nathan, Kevin, Mark and Seth. Afterwords we went to Jumpin' Jacks.



Halloween Night
This is one of the traditions that I didn't let slide this year- Witches Brew. It is homemade rootbeer with dry ice. I love to play with dry ice! We didn't carve pumpkins because the thought of the smell of pumpkin made my stomach churn. The boys didn't even ask about it, so I'm not feeling too bad!


Mark was a dementor from Harry Potter (thank you, Kim, for the costume!) Seth was a ninja and Paul was an army man (thank you, Uncle Nathan, for the awesome costume!). Yes, I realize now, that his beret is on the wrong side. He lost his beret last night and looking for a black hat in the dark proved difficult. We couldn't find it this morning when we looked. Oh, bother. I'm really trying not to be upset about him loosing it.

I'm glad that I took pictures of what we have done because it has helped me realize that this month hasn't been all that bad!
I'm looking forward to a great November!