Last Christmas

I gave you my heart and the very next day you gave it away.  Sorry, I wrote the post title and then the words to the song just flowed out of my fingers!  My boys sing this song all of the time and I think that it is hilarious!  Anyhow, back to our scheduled program:

Last year at this time Jane was just learning how to roll.  She rolled over to the Christmas tree and took a few ornaments off (and put them in her mouth). She loved to get under the tree and look at the lights (and play with the presents).

This year, Jane is running around and loves to look at the Christmas tree.  She has been taking ornaments off of the tree and depositing them all around the house.  I found some in my closet, in the laundry room and in the kitchen cupboard.  She has been putting things on the tree too!  The bottom half of our tree looks very sparse compared to the top, but it is all good!  I am absolutely amazed at how much Jane has changed in the last year.  Our family is so blessed to have her with us! 

If you look closely, you can see that Jane is hanging her necklace on the tree!

The Countdown Begins!

We are doing our 24 days of December Countdown again this year and I am so glad that we are doing it.  This year getting ready for the countdown was a bit different for me because the boys were off-track in November, so I had to get everything ready while they were home.  It was a little bit tricky because I want everything to be a surprise, so I had to prepare in my bedroom instead of in the living room where I normally wrap everything.   There was a moment of panic on November 29th when I realized that I needed to get everything done and ready by the next night and I was going to be gone almost all day on the 30th.  Last year I was really stressed out preparing the countdown and I didn't want to repeat that, so I put my calm on and did what needed to be done!

This year I decided to put everything in brown paper bags (tied up with string!) I like the look of it.  My goal is to use up all of the wrapping paper that we have over the next year or so and then just use brown packing paper for all of my wrapping paper.  I don't have to store a bunch of papers and I can decorate the packages with stickers, bows, ribbons, etc.  It is just a way to simplify things. 

I spent November 30th at the Festival of Trees with my friend, Madeleine. She has a friend who works for the Festival of Trees, so we went and volunteered in the accounts/billing department.  We had a great time.  It was amazing to me to see how much goes on behind the scenes at the Festival of Trees.  I helped organize a book with all of the orders- it was hundreds of pages that had to be hole punched and put in numerical order.  There is a lot that happens in the four days of the festival.  It is great to see how many people are willing to donate their time and money to make it be the success that it is.  I'd love to help again next year!

Here is what our countdown has looked like so far this year:
December 1- Decorate the Christmas tree.
December 2- Make paper snowflakes
December 3- Christmas books
December 4- Talk about Christ.  Daniel talked about the history of Jerusalem and who King David was.
December 5- Christmas Party with Madeleine and Ed Giles with a talent show.
December 6- Christmas socks for everyone
December 7- Christmas books (we were going to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point, but we had a sick mom and sick kids)
December 8- Hot chocolate mugs that we use only in December
December 9- Make gingerbread cookies.

The boys aren't as excited about opening the presents as they use to be, but I believe that they still enjoy doing the countdown.  This year we have a busier schedule, so our Tuesday and Thursday evening activities are really simple and quick.  What I really like about this countdown is that I can customize it to work with what our needs are as a family each year.  I don't know what I'll do when the kids are out of the house.  I just might put Daniel in charge of 12 days and me be in charge of 12 days and we will do activities together.  This might be bad, but I am already dreading having the kids move out of the house.  I am trying to figure out how to have excitement in my house when they are gone.  It is a 'few' years away, but it is something that I think about now and again and I want to have a plan for that time in my life! 

A few things that I have learned so far this month;

• I have thought that I was anxious for the kids to grow up so that I could decorate my own tree and make it look 'perfect'.  On the 1st while the kids (Jane helped!) were decorating the tree, I decided that I already have my perfect tree.  I love the relaxed style the kids take- they don't care if it is balanced or that everything coordinates, why do I care so much?  Kid-decorated trees are awesome and I love our tree.  I decided that I love all of the handmade ornaments with their school pictures on them.  What good is a tree full of ornaments that you can buy from the store? I'm not looking forward to having the kids be grown up nearly as much as I have in years past.   
• Playing the guitar is hard.  We decided to do a talent show with Madeleine and Ed.  I got serious and learned how to play the guitar.  I'm not great, but I'm learning.  I'm just plugging through a book that we had and trying my best to be patient with myself.  I can read the music, but I can't figure out where to put my fingers all of the time.  I played Silent Night and then I made up words to a song that used chords that I know how to play. 
• Talent shows are awesome!  We had a relaxed atmosphere and everyone did a great job.  Paul did some card tricks, Seth played a few songs on the piano (he learned to play the piano specifically for this talent show!) Daniel recited a nonsense poem and did a magic trick, I played the guitar, Madeleine played the guitar and sang with Ed, Ed played a recorder and Madeleine accompanied him on the piano, and then Mark recited a poem. (Jane's talent was to be incredibly good despite being up past her bedtime!)
• Mark's poem was "Paul Bunyan" by Shel Silverstein.  The poem has a lot of grammatically incorrect phrases and it was really tough for Mark to say them right.  No, it's not "came Paul" it is "come Paul"!  We worked on the poem everyday for a week or so until he had in memorized and then he would practice reciting it to me everyday until the talent show.  We had a lot of fun working on the poem together.  I basically have it memorized, too!
• Madeleine and Ed are amazing people!  They are very talented!  I feel so lucky to have them as friends!  What a wonderful way to begin our Christmas season! 

A Happy Thanksgiving

Thursday afternoon our turkey was ready to eat, so I buttered some toast, pulled out the pretzel sticks and jelly beans and our Thanksgiving lunch was ready! 

Last year we started a tradition of having a "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Lunch".  It is a perfect little snack to eat before having the big dinner.  (Since we usually have dinner a bit earlier than normal dinners, we don't want to eat a big lunch.)

Seth, Cody, Mark and Paul ready to eat!

Jane finished off the drumsticks!

The turkey was so much fun to make. It is made of one large and two small paper bags. It is easy to make and I think that it has made its way into our tradition. When I cut open the top and the boys saw the popcorn inside they were super happy! We had a lot of fun asking someone to pass the turkey when we wanted to eat popcorn. 

Our Thanksgiving dinner was delicious!  This year I purchased a turkey breast and cooked it in the crock pot.  It turned out really moist and perfect!  I made my own cranberry sauce and it was wonderful!  It is a lot of work to make everything for the dinner, but I was able to do a lot of preparation a few days before, so I didn't feel super stressed out making everything and I actually enjoyed the solitude I had in the kitchen.  (How do people who only have one oven survive Thanksgiving in their kitchen?- I was so grateful for my double oven on Thursday!)

After dinner we went over to my sister's house for dessert (Thanks Kim!). I made sweet potato pie and a lemon meringue pie.  I had never made a lemon meringue before and the first one didn't turn out well at all- it was a lemon soup with fluff on top.  I made a second one and it was beautiful!  It was just the right mix of sweet and sour.  (I used Alton Brown's recipe) Lemon meringue pie is really easy to make dairy free!  I tried out a new pie crust from Gluten Free Easily and it was exactly what I have been looking for!  It is a press-in crust, so I don't have to try to roll it.  Gluten free pie crusts are notorious for being really crumbly and difficult to work with, so I am really happy to have found a good crust recipe!   

Jane sat down in front of the tree and watched the train go around at Kim's house.  She was really good not to bother the train or the tree.

Jane discovered whipped cream in a can and she loved it! 

Because Kim lives really close to me and Daniel had stayed home because he wasn't feeling well, I took Jane home, put her in bed and went back over to Kim's house to visit.  It was a nice, relaxed day. My belly is full of good foods and my heart is full of gratitude for my family. 

Froggy

I have had brain fog all week. I have been on an antibacterial medication (for a lovely UTI- blech) and it has really messed me up. The bottle warns that "This medication may cause drowsiness" and it was right.  I can hardly function for a few hours after I take the medicine (2x/day).  My mind is in a fog and I have felt off kilter all week long.  I thought that Monday was Saturday (the boys are off-track, so they were home) and all day on Wednesday I thought that it was Thursday.  I lived through 2 1/2 Thursdays this week.   I feel all turned around and loopy. I finished the last dose on Friday and I'm starting to feel better. 

Due to the loopiness I have neglected to post about a few things this past week, so here comes another random post.  (When we lived in Georgia, Paul would look out the window and if it was foggy, he would call out, "It is a froggy day")

A Froggy Day in Georgia

This is the message that Paul wrote down for the family.  I changed it to say 9:00, but they didn't heed that change.  They have been sleeping in until 7 though, so I am happy about that!

This past Tuesday was my little Seth's 7th birthday.  He was so excited to be out of school on his birthday!  We had a little party for him last Friday and he loved being able to celebrate his birthday twice! 

The boys with their 'light sabers',  We used Otterpops for the light and I made felt handles to keep their hands warm.   

At his party the kids played "Duck, Duck, Goose". Seth renamed the game to be called "Dark, Dark, Light" because it was a Star Wars party!  Jane sat and watched them play and before too long, she took a turn tapping kids on the head and then running around the circle.  We were all amazed that she figured out how the game worked.  She is one smart little cookie! 

I actually used something that I found on Pinterest for Seth's party.  Before the party, I took the ice cream and scooped it into muffin liners in a muffin pan and then put it in the freezer.  When it was time for the ice cream, I just pulled out the muffin pan and put one liner/scoop on each plate!  It was marvelous!  Hurray for Pinterest!



I mentioned that Jane wasn't very cooperative at the photo session and you wouldn't know it by the few pictures that we got, but here is what a lot of the pictures looked like: 

Mark had his belt test for Tae Kwon Do and he is now a purple belt!  He has his mind made up to work for a black belt, and I am excited for him.  It was fun to watch him do the test.  He has wonderful form and his flexibility is getting better. 

Daniel has also been taking Tae Kwon Do and he advanced to his yellow belt.  Mark and Daniel take the class together and I think that it has been a great way for them to spend time together.  (Besides, I don't have to drive Mark to class since Daniel is going! Seth just signed up, so I'll have to take him to the younger class, but it sure is nice to split up driving!) 

Mark breaking a board

Master Lee, Daniel, Mark, Seth, Master Hong

Master Lee, Daniel, Master Hong

I filled the middle apothecary jar with candy corns and I was curious to see if anyone would eat them. The level dropped down a bit, but nothing significant. Still, it was obvious to me that someone had been sneaking the candy. It became really obvious that someone had been eating it when I happened to look at the jar from the side.

The original candy level was about two inches higher than it is in this photo.

Look at the back, it isn't as high up as the front!

I turned the jar around in this picture so you can see how the candy thief made sure to take candy from the back and leave the front built up enough to look full.  The thief was Paul (I was pretty sure it was him all along) and he confessed willingly. 

Mark has written a new language code and we have been exchanging notes using some of the letters in the code.  I am really impressed with his artwork and creativity with this project. 

This is how Seth and Jane spent Friday morning.  They were so cute together!  I love Jane's curly hair and crazy ponytail! 

I am in denial that Thanksgiving is this Thursday.  Okay, not really in denial, because I have purchased a lot of the food for the meal, but it doesn't seem real that it is so soon!   It seems impossible to me that November is nearly over.  I seriously don't know where the time went!  We are having a dinner here at the house with just my little family and then we are going to my sister's house for dessert.  I am so excited to have some sweet potato pie!  Yummmm!

Family Photos

Well, we finally did it- we had family pictures taken!  Daniel isn't a huge fan of getting his picture taken (mainly because he gets embarrassed when he sees what he looks like because he wants to loose weight- he is working on it, so I tell him that it is good to have before/after pictures!)

The last time we had our pictures taken professionally as a family, Seth was 8 months old!  Yes, we were way overdue for a picture!  Jane was a total pill today, she wanted nothing to do with sitting and being cute (she does it all of the time at home, why not right now for the pictures? Why?)  The boys were awesome to hold their position while we fussed with Jane and tried to get her ready.  FotoFly managed to get some good pictures and were good to work with an ornery 18 month old. (FotoFly is a great place- they charge $79 per session and you get the images on a cd that you own.  They will print the pictures for you at $4 a sheet, or you can print them yourself!) I am happy with the pictures and so glad that we got it done! 

Seth made me laugh when the photographer asked him to say "Girls are cute".  He winced, wrinkled his nose and mumbled, "girlsarecute" through clenched teeth.  He didn't want to disobey the photographer, but he didn't want to say what she asked either! 
Without further ado, here are the pictures!

The Taylor Family 2011

Daniel and Sherron

The kids- Seth, Paul, Mark, Jane

Paul (check out his beautiful curly hair!)

Mark

Jane

Jane

Seth (I love the missing bottom tooth!)

A Pain in the Rear

Coccydynia is a pain in the butt- literally!

Today I started physical therapy on my tailbone for coccydynia.  My tailbone has been hurting ever since Jane was born.  The pain has always been while sitting or laying on my back, but it has gotten worse over the last year and after trying a few different kind of adjustments with my chiropractor, he referred me to a physician to see what the problem is.  I was diagnoised with coccydynia, (which is the fancy name for when the coccyx hurts) and referred to a physical therapist.  If things don't improve with the therapy, then I will try steroid injections to help with the pain. 

I am sore from the treatment, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (mainly because we only did external manipulation).  The muscles surrounding the tailbone are really tight on the left side and that is what we beleive is causing the pain (the muscles won't allow the tailbone to move/curve the way it needs to when I sit, so I wind up sitting directly on top of the tailbone).

 I am anxious to be able to sit down for longer than 5 minutes without being uncomfortable.  I am anxious to sit in the car and not be in near tears while trying to get out of the seat.  I am anxious to go to a movie and actually enjoy sitting through the credits. 

I've heard that if you walk out of physical therapy feeling worse than you did when you walked in, that they are doing their job right.  I am sore, but I think that the meds are helping me to feel better than I would be otherwise.  I might be singing a different story tomorrow. 

As a side note, it is costing me half as much money to be a self-pay patient rather than going through my insurance ($60/visit vs $120-140/visit).  My insurance doesn't cover this physical therapy office, so I would be 'out of network' and we have such a high deductable, that I just asked what it would cost to not go through insurance and I was floored!  Self-pay it is! 

A Thanksgiving Makeover

I couldn't bear the thought of taking the Halloween window display down, but I didn't want to keep up a Halloween decoration.  After a few moments of thought, I discovered a way to give Snoopy and Woodstock a makeover.  It worked out quite well, I think.  (However Snoopy might need to work off a few pounds after eating so much!) 

So here we go with our makeover.  Here is the before:

And here is the after:

To answer a few questions about painting on the windows.  I just used acrylic craft paint.  It has to be taken off using a razor blade, so it is a bit of work.  The cold weather makes the job a bit more challenging, but it is an easy, yet messy,  job.  Madeleine drew up the art on paper and we hung it on the inside of the window and she followed the outlines with paint on the window.  

Ladies and Gentlemen

I was cleaning out my blog posts and found a post that I never published.  This was taken in December of 2009. 




The boys finally discovered that our window seat doubles as a cool stage!

Paul and Seth put on a little play for.  They started it out with the curtains closed and  Paul said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, gather around for some entertainment!". What fun kids!

October Activities

October was a blur for me.  It seemed to come and go while I was blinking (or spending the better part of 2 weeks being sick- blah).  I wanted to share pictures of the things we did this month. 

Jane looks so grown up in this picture.  Where did my baby girl go?

Jane climbed into the sink and played around.

She talked to the little girl in the mirror and had a blast

Of course, as soon as I turned the camera on to record her, she stopped and stared at me.  Go figure.  I can never capture her with the camcorder doing the super cute stuff.

I had a girl's night out at my house with my aunts, cousins and sisters.  We made these cute paper witch shoes.  This is the only picture that turned out that night.  Sigh.

We went to the pumpkin farm just down from our house to pick pumpkins.  It was fun to watch the pumpkins grow and then go pick one out!

Jane had a nack for finding rotting pumpkins and picking them up.  Yuck!

My sweet Paul

Look at those cute kids!

The boys humored me and went to Garner Village with me. We picked a super crowded day to go, so we didn't stay long.(I don't think that Daniel minded much!)

Halloween costumes.  Yah, we went all out this year! 

Back to Life

I have been sick for the past week and a half. Bleh.  Seriously, I hate being sick.  I had laryngitis for three days.  I have had a nasty sinus mess and I felt terrible.  I am finally on the mend and it wasn't a day too soon. 

The boys had last Thursday and Friday off of school.  I was so excited to go into the canyons to see the fall colors, go on a hike, and play.  I spent the weekend whispering and trying to be nice because I was so sick.  All plans were cancelled and the boys were great about keeping themselves busy. 

After we painted the window, Seth decided that he wanted to be a wizard like Snoopy.  Seriously?  He has 5 or 6 costumes that fit him and he wants the one costume that we don't have?  Thankfully, Paul's bath robe fit Seth like a wizard's robe and I found a hat at the grocery storeso he had a costume.  Phew! 

I discovered an interesting thing about communication when I had laryngitis.  While I talked with the kids, I had to whisper.  During the course of the conversations, I noticed that the kids were whispering back to me!  I need to remember to use this tidbit of information when I need a quiet conversation.  (It didn't work with Daniel, though.)  The boys didn't realize that I was sick for two days.  I guess that they just thought that I was whispering for fun. 

Today the boys had the school Halloween parade and class parties.  I am the room mother for Mark's class.  I had a lot of anxiety about this party.  I had done a lot of the prep work a few weeks ago, so I just had a few last minute things to put together for the party.  The party was great and I had the energy and health necessary to enjoy being there. 

To avoid rambling more, I'll just say that I am finally feeling better and I am happy!  Life is good!

Normal

Below are pictures of gifts that I have recieved over the past few years. 

Ha!  My dryer doesn't even have a 'normal' setting!

It really is exhausting! Believe me!

I see a theme going on here.

Just so you know, I'm not taking offense at the sentiments sounded here, I'm taking them as a compliment! 

 

Halloween Window

Last month when Madeleine and I went to brunch for my birthday we came up with a plan to paint a Halloween scene on my front window.  Madeleine use to paint windows while going to college for money, so she was excited to try her hand with the craft again. 

Today Madeleine came over and painted ! I love how it turned out! It was a lot of fun to watch the process and to see how the kids helped out. We love the Peanuts gang at our house, so a decorated Snoopy and Woodstock (isn't he adorable?) fit the bill. 

Madeleine painting the characters in white

Jane painting with water- it kept her busy for a while!

Paul and Seth filling in the color.  Paul took this job very seriously.

Mr. Mark painting Woodstock

Jane 'painting' with a dry brush

Madeleine adding the finishing touches.

The final product.  Thanks Madeleine!