Thanksgiving Weekend

Omri Oblio at Lake Tahoe 2010

This year we had all of Dean's Moms side of the family at our house for Thanksgiving. There was so much good food to eat it was a little ridiculous. Pies, two turkeys, asparagus, potatoes, sweet potatoes, two kinds of stuffing, & the only gravy that has come close to tasting as good as the stuff my dad used to make. My mouth is watering just writing about all this yumminess! 

The day after Thanksgiving we all headed to Lake Tahoe to sled & see the snow. It was so bitterly cold. Sledding didn't last long but it was fun to go and visit the beach where Dean & I were married. It's a private beach & you have to own a home in Tahoe to come to it. During the winter they close up the pool & open it to the public. It was fun to visit where it all started for our little family. The lake is where Dean & I met, went on our fist date & eventually got married. It holds a lot of special memories for us.

After returning from the Lake we ate dinner & then took the kids swimming at the pool in the hotel where some of Deans family was staying. It was heated & the girls & Omri loved the water & playing in the "coozie" Jacuzzi. After swimming, we headed up to the hotel room to watch a Charlie Brown special & have a snack. Cindy & I played a game of rummy. It was such a fun evening. The only thing that would have made it better is if Jennifer, Deans sister, hadn't been sick :( 

Everyone left on Sunday & the rest of the day was spent cleaning up the remains of our holiday weekend. Dean & I thought we'd stay home for the holidays but have decided to head to San Diego for Christmas & New Years. I'm excited. It will be fun to see everyone again. Hope your Thanksgiving was a great one!

Fragility

Aris Lake Tahoe July 29, 2008

Aris had a seizure today. It was strange & scary. I watched her as she was sitting in her chair eating. If I hadn't chosen to eat at the table with her I would have missed it. I know in my heart there are no coincidences. At first I thought she was choking but soon realized she wasn't. She sat there staring at me but she wasn't looking at me. It's hard to explain this look but my heart knew something wasn't right. Then she started to make a chewing motion with her mouth. I kept calling her name over & over again & she didn't flinch. Dean walked into the room & called her name, nothing. By this time she was making a very slight swaying motion from side to side & I kind of panicked. Dean & I were both like, this isn't normal, something is wrong. Still no response. So I picked her up & her arms went rigid in front of her chest & then she slumped over as if she had passed out. I walked quickly to the bathroom, don't ask me why, & sat her on the counter. I started calling her name again & then BAM, it was as if nothing had happened. She said, "Mommy", and hugged me. She was a little grumpy & tired but when I tried to put her down for a nap she begged to stay up & watch a cartoon. 

My whole day has been filled with reading what I could find on the Internet, watching videos on YouTube about different kinds of seizures & I even had a lengthy discussion with a pediatrician from her Dr. office. So far it's kind of a game of sit & wait. I will be watching her and keeping a journal of any episodes she has in the future. I realized this wasn't her first seizure. She had a small one about two months back. I had put her down for a nap one morning & she stared off into nothing. I called her name a couple of times & even shook her shoulder a bit because her blank stare scared me. It was so short I didn't give it another thought. I just didn't realize it until now that she had had a small seizure. It was very mild compared to this one. This one lasted almost a minute.

I didn't write this post to garner sympathy. What I am hoping will come of it is information, comfort, & words of advice. I'm desperate to find out all there is to know about this condition. I know it's not super serious or life threatening but it feels a little overwhelming to me at the moment. Please feel free to email me if you don't feel comfortable posting about this in my comments. My email is toward the bottom of my blog.

Tomorrow I will finish up the last of the baking for our Thanksgiving feast. Despite these rough last few weeks I have so very much to be grateful for. Our family has truly been blessed over this last year. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Abby

Abby & Aris April 2010

Dean walked outside tonight and found our Abby dog by the girls swing set. She had passed away sometime this afternoon. I feel horrible that I didn't realize sooner. I've been so preoccupied with all the yuckies that have been in our house I haven't taken the time to walk outside in the last few days. We took Abby in a few months after Dean & I got married. His ex wife couldn't handle her anymore. She had been rescued from an abusive home so she was never very social with the kids. She didn't like other dogs & tolerated Blu. Despite her standoffish nature we all loved her & she will be very missed. The girls are going to be devastated. I know they will want another dog but I'm afraid they will have to wait. I don't want any animals for a while. I can't stand the thought of loosing another animal. This really is bittersweet. She was very old & blind. She didn't seem to be in any pain but I'm pretty sure she is in a much happier place right now. We'll miss you Abby dog. Have fun hanging out with Blu. We love & miss you both.

Back in a Few

We are fighting a wee little bug at our house. I'll be back in a few days when things settle down a bit. Hope you all are enjoying your pre-Thanksgiving festivities. I've almost finished all of our baking. Tomorrow night I will start all the dough for our cookies. It feels good to have some of this done. I'm not much of a planner but we are having too much company not to be a little organized. How about you, what are your pre-Thanksgiving traditions?

4 Months

4 Months

I have been taking all of his pics right on the 30th until this month but I love how these look kinda vintage so I wanted to share them. Omri is such a fun little guy. He's rolling from front to back & back to front now. He also watches me drink & then try's to grab my cup & pulls it to his mouth. He's always smiling & still a good sleeper. He's getting huge! Weighing almost 17 pounds, wearing size 12 month clothing, & size 4 diapers. Crazy! But he's still a snuggler even though he's growing so fast. I just adore this little man!

First Snow

Best Friends

Our Boots

Mozers

Merris

Thursday morning we awoke to a light dusting of snow! Most of it melted before the afternoon, but you would have thought we had a blizzard with all the excitement around here. I bundled up the two little monkeys & even though it was super chilly outside they played for a good hour in the back yard. Hard to believe it's already that time of year again. Am I the only one with an increased amount of laundry to do now that the days are colder? I feel like my baskets are never empty.

 May I just tell you how much I love our new home? Today we drove through our old neighborhood & visited the old house. I didn't get that pain in my heart. It still made me a little sad to see the old studio/playhouse in the back yard. I walked on the little porch & peeked inside. So many great memories. The grass has died & the garden was overgrown. The whole place felt lifeless. Our new home is finding it's way into my heart. Memories are being made, our life story slowly unfolding and leaving its imprint on each and every inch. I love it.

I have a few plans for this weekend. The first is to finish up 150 invitations for a church party our Relief Society is having in December. They want to pass them out on Sunday, I'm half way finished. I sketched up the last 4 cards I'm making for Simply Sweet Marriage & should have the December card started on Sunday. Looks like I'll be working mostly on cards for the next couple days. Should be fun. Dean & I will be planning out all our meals for Thanksgiving week. His moms whole family is coming! I can hardly wait. We figure if we plan our meals it will keep us from running to the store everyday & eating out too much. I'm excited to try this recipe for our thanksgiving dessert. Maybe it will be a new family favorite. What are your plans for the weekend?

The Ugly Light Makeover

Original light fixture before

I'm pretty sure this was one of the ugliest light fixtures I've ever set eyes on. When we looked at the house for the first times I knew it was the first thing that would have to go. With no budget for new lighting I figured I could at least make it look a little better until we could get what I really wanted.

Light Fixture removed

Dean had to take the fixture down when removing all the popcorn off the ceiling. I thought it would be a perfect time to update this monstrosity.

Disassembled

First I unscrewed the outside part & threw it away. I tried to think of other things I could make with it but I honestly couldn't think of anything. Then I gave it a good cleaning & carefully removed all the bulbs.

Prepped

Once I cleaned it off, I taped off the light sockets & the exposed wire at the top. You don't want to get any paint on either of these things.

Ready to paint

If you have an outdoor workspace I highly recommend this approach. Hanging the light & spraying it went far smoother than if I had to spray it on the ground. I feel the coats were more even & I didn't have to worry about flipping the fixture around.

Light fixture after Ta Da!

Here she is in all her glory. Poor thing, she's a bit small for this space & even hung a little high (we didn't want to go & buy new wire) but she's looking a heckuva lot better than before. What do you think?

Growth

4 months

They say the only sure things in this life are death & taxes, but I'd have to add change & growth to that saying. Time stops for no one. & the only times I've ever felt it turn painfully slow were when sorrow struck or during a traumatic event. It is only then that I could hear the ticking hands of Father Times trusty clock. Most days however fly by so quickly I can hardly keep up. I watch in amazement this life that unfolds in front of me on a daily basis. Sometimes I feel like a willing participant other times I'm dragged kicking & screaming. I wouldn't have true happiness without the painful experiences, so I'll take a little of both. My hopes are that the sweet moments outweigh the tough times.

I spent the better part of today cleaning out Sloan & Omri's clothes. Tomorrow I'll tackle Aris & Zoe' closet. I packed away my favorites to save for Zoe. I only saved a few from Omri, the rest I'm giving to friends. It felt so final. I'm settled with the idea that Omri is our last. Really I am. But sometimes it just feels so scary. I find myself wondering what comes next. What happens when I have one in high school, & three in elementary? What will I do? I've started writing some personal goals for myself. I'm working on a 5 year plan for my creative goals. I don't want to forget what makes me special as a person, however I don't want to miss a moment of this mommy experience either. I realized as I was packing away all those little clothes that time is so unforgiving. What we choose to fill our days with makes us who we are. I am working on choosing the better part. The good stuff. Family, love, spirituality, friendship, creativity, positivity........the list of good things is long.

I'm keeping my eyes open. Because I don't want a moment of this life to pass me by without feeling like I've smelled, tasted, soaked it all in. Every part. And maybe just maybe when it's all over, when everything is said & done I can look back & feel good about this crazy life I'm trying so hard to live to the fullest. Hopefully along the way I can grow as a wife, mother, sister, daughter, & a friend. 

When the Dust Settles

Dean moved everything into the middle of the room, 

& taped the rest of the house off. Don't you just love that light fixture?

He fixed a horrible patch job,

& patched up the doggy door. Yep this is the same doggy door I forced my daughter through a few weeks back when she locked us out of the house. Don't worry I just made a spare key.

All so he could start scraping the ceilings. 

& mud & texture the ceiling & walls.

My poor accent wall :(

There have been some big changes going on in our house these past few weeks. Dean has started the daunting task of scraping all the popcorn off of our ceilings. Every single room in the house has the dreaded popcorn treatment. It's actually a pretty easy process once you get started but let me tell you it is super messy. I am still sweeping & mopping up dust. Seriously so worth the mess. I can't even begin to tell you how much better the room looks now. We opted to go with the same caramel color for the walls that we had in our old home. I loved it so much there and it goes well with the accent color. I will have to paint the accent wall again but I don't even mind. I also took the ugly bulky chandelier and threw most of it away, then I painted the part I saved black. Although it is a bit small for the space it looks much better than the old one & will work until we can find what I really want. I'm thinking something with a bit of industrial flair, but fun & whimsical. So I don't expect to find it right away & I do expect it to cost a little more than a normal light. I already have a pretty solid vision for the rest of this room. The canvases for art will be prepped after Thanksgiving. Time for me to start painting big again. On the accent wall I'm planning to fill it with family photos old, new, small & large. I also have a fun idea I want to try with a quote. On the wall right next to the kitchen I plan on adding a giant canvas painted in chalkboard paint with a map of the world on it. My goal is to not only let the girls have artistic fun with this art piece but to teach them a little more about geography in the process. I feel that I know so little about different countries so I'll be learning right along with them. Last but not least we eventually need some dining room furniture. This will take as long as it takes. I really want to fill our home with fun yet functional pieces. I'm not willing to buy stuff just to fill a void in our home. I'd rather wait for what I really love & then add it to the mix. So at the moment I'm keeping my eyes wide open for the perfect furniture. I'll be sharing the after pictures very soon along with all the projects I have planned. Just waiting for the dust to settle.

Just Call me Gimpy

Sloan & Omri

I'm so grateful that tomorrow if Friday. I'm looking forward to catching up on some artwork that has been haunting me. Something exciting happened this week. I finally got my cast off on Tuesday. 11 weeks in a cast has left my wrist & hand swollen, bruised, numb on the lower part of my hand, and all around sore beyond belief. I'm no wimp but I will tell you that my hand hurts like heck. I can't grip much of anything. I can hardly hold a paper plate. I tried to hold my fingers up to form the number three tonight & my whole hand shook. It is pretty pathetic. The Dr. warned me that I would probably have some muscle atrophy, I just had no idea it would look and feel as awful as it does. Thank goodness it's fall & long sleeves are needed. I can hide my shrunken arm until it plumps back up. I was given a Spica splint to wear for now & I go back in three weeks for a followup. At the moment I'm taking my splint off twice a day to work on movement. This weekend I'll try to do more. I think I have a long road ahead of me. It could bum me out but I'm not going to let it drag me down. Just forever grateful it wasn't my right hand.

Although I have a list of things I need to get done, I also have a list of fun things to do with my little ones. I bought the girls some beautiful books at the thrift store today & we are looking forward to reading all of them. I also found a brand new cribbage game & I can't wait to teach Sloan how to play. We have a couple thank you cards to make & a few get well cards as well. I'm looking forward to snuggling up my little Oblio. He woke up this morning with a goopy eye. So I'll be watching to make sure it doesn't turn into something worse. 

Last but not least I don't think I've laughed this hard in a long time. This is honestly how I feel when I use my left arm these days. Too funny. Hope you all have the best weekend ever!

Therapy

My  beautiful sisters costume this year.

I was angry. I sat down & typed out so many different things, hit delete & now I feel so much better. Thank goodness for keyboards.

Tear it Down!

 I think I've mentioned before how much I HATED the super icky wallpaper that was up on the walls. Halloween night I packed up all the decorations & got to work peeling the first layer of wallpaper off.

It looked 100% better. Then it was time to take off the second layer.

Dean showed me how to wet down the walls and then I went to work.

I spent the better part of 5 hours peeling paper off of this tiny entryway. Look how yellow it was!

The end results were so worth it though. Now its ready to scrape the ceilings, remove that hideous light fixture, add can lights, rip up old flooring & add in new flooring, replace the trim & paint the door & walls. We have also discussed adding an arch to make the entryway look a little more finished. So much to do in such a tiny space but it will look amazing when we are done. 

I've been working on a few other projects & can't wait to share them with you tomorrow!

Halloweeners

In a galaxy far far away..............

Lived a princess & her adorable ewok.

 And right next door under the sea...........

lived a little mermaid.

They went trick-r-treating with an aristocrat & her flapper friend. I hear they had a howling good time. Hope you had a Happy Halloween too.

P.S. I made all the girls costumes (except Abbys) & had the best time doing it :)