Christmas

Here is a video of Lil Brother at his Christmas program. I started laughing when he did his little trick and that's why the camera is so shaky. Sorry about that. :D




Christmas this year was excellent, with the exception of my grandma being in the hospital. She had a medication issue that caused a series of problems so she spent 3 days in there. I feel so bad for her. She got out today finally. We went to see her tonight. She seemed pretty good in spirit...she has some bruising from the monkeying around they were doing with her blood thinner I guess...and she is bone skinny. If you are so inclined, do say a prayer that she will get some sort of an appetite back. She is far underweight and it scares me...it's not healthy at all and she keeps loosing more.

I had Friday and Monday off of work so that was awesome. Friday my aunt and mom came over and we made cookies....the kind my grandma used to make. Norwegian Krumkake is a very delicate cookie that is best when filled with whipped cream.

Almond ginger snaps are another family favorite:

I'm pretty sure I gained about 5 pounds in the last 4 days. So much good food. We had Christmas Eve at my aunt's house with my mom's side of the family and Christmas day was at my house with my dad's side of the family.

Here are a few pictures:

Christmas 2011, a set on Flickr.

On Friday a pair of Bald Eagles showed up right behind my house. I took this picture from my bedroom window. I just love to see them. When I was a kid there were not any around - it was a very rare sight to see them here. Now they are making a good come-back and I'm so glad.

I got three main gifts for Christmas - we draw names in my family....but everyone buys for the kids under 18. I asked for and received a blender...a quite awesome blender, an Ninja Professional - like this one:

You can't make it out clearly, but there are 3 rows of VERY sharp blades. While taking it out of the box on Sunday I managed to cut my finger. Deep. Like it opened up over and over on Sunday, bleeding. And once today as well. So I'm guessing it is way better than the one that I had before - my old one used to stink like something burning while it ran, it was way too loud, and it would vibrate off the counter if you didn't hang on tight to it.

I also got a heater for my living room from my dad and he always gets something cool too - this year it was a Soda Stream pop maker. You make your own soda pop at home. I heard about it on the radio and wanted to try it, until I found out the price. Now we have it, without the initial investment. The kids LOVE it. It's so simple. No electricity or batteries needed. Just the CO2 tank. So far we've tried cola and orange flavored. They are good. The cola tastes like Pepsi to me...and I'm a coke drinker but the orange is yummy!

The kids made out like bandits of course. They really loved all their presents. The girls are at that age where they are pretty fun to buy for. My aunt M. got them both clothes that they have already worn and love. MK got a lot of fun earrings too. Peanut loves the watch my dad got her. It lights up in bright changing colored lights around the outside. MK got the movies she asked for so she's watching one now. Little brother...hard to say which is his favorite...but he's now sleeping with 2 Angry birds (the red and the blue), he played his Leap Frog Explorer for a few hours already, and he's wearing his Angry Bird T-shirt I got him tomorrow to daycare. He also loves his cars - the hot wheels are all the rage right now with him....and he asked to wear his new clothes both yesterday and today. Happy, happy kids. Happy, happy mom.

I have the best extended family ever. My uncle surprised us all with 100 dollar bills too. I asked him if he won the lottery...he said no. :) That was awesome (and much needed and appreciated).

Today the girls and I met up with my aunt M., my cousins, and my sister for a movie - the Sherlock Holmes one. I have not seen the first one, but this one was great! Little Bro couldn't go since it's not a kids movie, so he got to spend some time at my brother's house. He really likes seeing my brother and his family, so I'm so glad that he could go over there. He doesn't get to very often. I hope as my niece is getting bigger, she'll get to come over to our house more often too. She's so darn cute! Here's a picture I took of her at Christmas:

Tomorrow it's back to work. Sad face. But happy to have a job to go to.

Zooey Mama!* Longer post...lots going on!

What a weekend! It started early Friday with Hollywood getting braces put on. Unfortunately they hurt her quite a bit and she had a hard time all weekend. They have 2 brackets on the inside of her last molars on top which rubbed a hole in her tongue on each side. :(

Friday evening Little Brother had a Christmas program. It was really cute. He didn't sing at all. He was so funny to watch though. I was worried he would cry, but he didn't. He was too interested in watching everyone else to remember to sing. He also found a couple coins in his pocket and tried to show me and the kids around him. I don't know where they came from. I only took a couple pictures and the rest is on video. Here's one though.

And here we are having cookies and juice afterwards in the fellowship hall.

I may post a video later...too tired right now.

Saturday I got up early, cooked, cleaned and got ready for MK's birthday party. That started at noon. She had family and several friends over for pizza, pop, and a DQ ice cream cake.

She took her friends on a tour...showing them our little barn with her chickens...they were pretty impressed with the egg that one of them laid. She took them on a walk to our pond behind the house...and showed them her gecko and hermit crabs. Then most of us (9 kids & 9 adults) went snow tubing in the afternoon. That was AWESOME! We got a picture before we left, but 3 of our group had left a little early to go to another engagement so they are not in here.

I'm the one in the red jacket...the same height as some of the shorter kids. :D My cousins, brother, sister-in-law, sister, aunt, 5 of MK's friends, MK, Hollywood and her best friend are all here (my SIL is taking the picture - thank goodness she had her camera phone with). Everyone said it was really fun and I think they all had a good time.

Let me tell you about it from my perspective...first off, I'm over-weight. Like the most over-weight I have ever been in my entire life. We're talking 25 pounds more than I weighed when I was 9 months pregnant with my last child. Ya, lard ass type of over weight. I stood looking down at the hill wondering if I had the strength to be able to pull my ass back up the hill. It took a while for me to get the courage to go down the first time.

They have a type of pulley system with a rope to get from the bottom to the top. It's pretty basic. I mean like....there's a tractor that runs the pulley system with it's PTO...hooked up to a tire that spins the rope and I'm pretty sure some of the pulley wheels were rims. Like from tires. The tubes as you can see in the picture are from tires. Not the fancy blow up kind you buy at a sporting goods store. Nope...these were watch-out-for-the-metal-valve-stem kind of tires. Not all of them, just one of the ones I got stuck with for a bit. The others had plastic valve stems.

The rope lays on the ground on the way up the hill...you throw your tube down, grab the rope and then jump on your tube and hang onto that rope for dear life. God forbid you start losing your grip and the icy rope starts slipping through your hands. You're screwed then. You better roll off the side and get the hell out of the way of the person coming up behind you. There's no one to direct you as to when you should get on after the last person. You just wing it. There is a woman standing in a booth at the top watching so she can stop it if anything too terrible happens.

I made it up the hill every time. Do you know why? Because looking up at that hill while you're on the way up and realizing that if you slip, you'll have to WALK all the way up gives you a really good reason to hang on for the whole trip. There was one time when I over-shot my tube so it was basically under just my waist and legs...I had to hold my whole body up and hang on to the rope to get up there. I thought for sure my muscles were going to rip away from the bone. I made it though. I can barely move today...but I did it! It was a really fun time with family and MK's friends. I love her friends. They are all sweet and nice like she is.

We got back to my house around 7:15 pm. I heated up the sloppy joe's I had made that morning and got out the chicken salad I had made too. The girls all had some supper and then most of them went home. A few stayed over night. They all had left by noon today (Sunday).

I went Christmas shopping for a bit with MK's dad after the kids left. He called me and asked me to since he was clueless what to get her. I met him in the town where I live and guided him in his choices for a teen girl. :) It was actually pretty enjoyable. I'm glad he and I can be friends. It's much easier for all involved.

I was home in time to give the kids supper and I brought home some meds for Hollywood's sore mouth. I got more wax for her brackets, some numbing gel that the pharmacist recommended for her tongue and some soft foods & ice cream for her to eat. She was finally then able to eat a whole meal for the first time since Friday. It was a chicken pot pie. I hope her mouth adjusts soon. I feel so bad for her. It's hard for her to see the value in it right now, but I know in the long run it is worth it (from experience). I was thankful we were so busy this weekend to keep her mind off of it.

*Zooey mama is what Hollywood and MK always say from the movie Diary of a Whimpy Kid (I don't know how to spell it). :)

Whirlwind

Things are going really fast this week. I took some Christmas pictures of the kids...the group shots did NOT go well. Little Brother was uncooperative most of the time...sometimes being silly (like pinching noses and laughing maniacally)and sometimes just being...three. When he was cooperating some one else either wasn't looking, had just two teeth showing, or was holding a limb in an odd position. I spent most of the time being irritated at how is wasn't going. LOL. I did it two different days with him, so the first day with just him went pretty well. Here's a few that didn't make the Christmas card this year but are cute/funny anyway.

On the list for tomorrow:

Work half the day...leave to go get Hollywood and take her to get her braces on! Exciting for her! Pick up MK from school and Lil Bro from daycare, head home to eat supper and then Lil' Bro has his very first Christmas program that he is participating in tomorrow evening. I'm excited about it! Then it's back home to clean the house because....

Saturday:
MK's birthday party! The celebrating starts at noon....we're all going snow tubing in the afternoon (except Lil Bro - he's too little for this one - he'll be at Grandma's) and then back home for hot chocolate and snacks until their parents come get them. I can't wait!

3rd Anniversary of Adoption

I don't think he cares too much for being the center of attention. :)

I got you a video by SoWhatWhoCares2011 on Flickr.

We all went out for supper together to celebrate the day Lil Bro became a part of our (awesome) family. Words cannot express what this little boy means to me.

The very first day I met him...in the orphanage:

This summer at the MN State Fair:

Then:

Now - December 13th, 2011 - being his usual funny self. He wanted to have his Cars blanket that I made for him and his favorite Bob the Builder toy, Scoop, in the picture too:

I love this little boy. I thank God for giving me the opportunity to raise him and love him forever. I could never ask for anything more. I feel so blessed.

Hmmmm

hollywood, a photo by SoWhatWhoCares2011 on Flickr.

It was 11:45 pm on a Sunday night. The kids had gotten ready for bed long before. I noticed this on the kitchen stove as I was walking back to go to bed. This is Hollywood's doing. She put out all her stuff for the next morning to be ready to get going to school. Instant coffee, sugar, creamer, a lunch bag, peanut butter for her sandwich, and Doritos. This diet does not spell nutrition. Yikes. True to form, she took a "to go" mug of coffee on the bus with her this morning. Nothing like kissing your middle-schooler goodbye and noticing she has coffee breath.

I will at least have to switch her to decaf.

Finally

Now it feels like Christmas....

Fun Friday Night

Hollywood has been baking again. :)  She made this cupcake for a friend from school. She does such a nice job! She told me she wanted to go to a culinary arts school when she's out of high school. I told her she can do anything she sets her mind to. We think it would be fun to open a bakery/coffee shop together someday.  



May is the name of kitten we are keeping from the litter that Natalie (the injured stray that we nursed back to health last summer) brought up on our front steps. She's almost 9 weeks old now. She loves to sit up on your shoulder...she tucks her head in and sleeps sometimes.

I took her to the vet yesterday for a check up and to start her vaccinations and also because she had a really yucky looking eye. I thought she had gotten something in it...the lid was so swollen and red. Hollywood was so worried about her...I couldn't just wait it out...it looked really bad. I used my birthday money to pay for the visit. Vets charge a lot for an office visit. It would have been $55 just to have the vet look at her eye...but for $95 I was able to have her look at the eye, do a complete evaluation, and get her whole first year of shots. It cost a little extra since she needed medicine for her eye. She has conjunctivitis so they gave her an antibiotic drop with a steroid in it. It helped overnight, but she has to be on it for a week. She's in the clear with everything else though - no worms, no mites, no fleas, clear lungs - she looks good.

My cousin just got back from a trip to New York City. It's the first time he's been out there. My mom was actually born in Brooklyn, NY. I've never been there yet either. He visited FAO Shwarz while he was there and got the ultimate Lego set for Lil Bro. My cousin just got back on Wednesday but he called tonight to see if I minded if he gave it to him early. Too cute! Of course I said to come on over. We all had supper together (I made a hot dish) and Lil Bro was so excited to open it he didn't want to eat. I used it as a bribe to get him to eat instead. After supper the kids all sat down with my cousin and put all of it together. That was a perfect gift for him - he LOVES it...he wanted to sleep with it tonight. :)

Tomorrow evening a local church is having a live nativity scene outdoors. Live animals, angels, Mary, Joseph, Wise men, etc. I hope to bring the kids out there. It would be nice to see and come away with the true story of Jesus instead of all the commercial stuff the kids see too much of. 

Thankful.

Random updates:

Lil Bro - doing great! It is coming up on the 3rd anniversary of his adoption next week. Three years have seriously flown by. Hard to believe how grown up he's getting! I was dressing him after his bath the other day and I said, "Look how long your legs are!! You're getting so long!" He told me he didn't want to have long legs but then I told him how great it was and the next thing you know he's yelling for Hollywood to come and see how long his legs were. Teeheehee.

Hollywood - I'm so proud of her! She got all A's and an A+ on her report card, along with 2 "pleasure to have in class" and a "terrific!" on the comments line. What an awesome student!! Tomorrow morning she goes in to get spacers put in between her molars - in preparation for her braces which go on in one week. I'm happy for her.

MK - I'm very proud of her report card too! She's in AP English (advanced placement) and had a really heavy work load in all her classes. She managed to get all A's and one B (in geometry)! Way to go MK!! I am so grateful to have such hard working kids - even though MK was totally frustrated many times with both her English class and her Geometry class, she stuck it out and pulled off awesome grades. Way to go!!

I really admire the young lady that MK is and is becoming. She is such a good girl. She tries hard in school and cares about her future. She exercises every single day and watches what she eats. She has good, close friends that I like to see her hang around and she is so responsible. She's a great dancer and can kick the cowboy hat off of a 6' tall man if she wanted to. I totally trust her and am so thankful that she is such a great kid.

Me - I'm sick again. Ya, no surprise. They took blood this time and said everything looked good except for my white count - that was high...so they said it's bacterial and gave me another round of antibiotics. I have the same sinus/ear pain as before so I also got a referral to an ear, nose, and throat specialist. Great. I don't get that. But maybe I need to go to bed earlier. Like now. :)

TTYL.

Just another weekend in our crazy lives

A snippet of my conversation today:

Me:        I bet you’ll be so excited to start school.

Lil Bro:  With (Hollywood) and (MK)?

Me:        Ya, I bet you’ll love going to school.

Lil Bro:  Thank you. Thank you for saying that.

How cute is that?

Here's something else that is too cute from him:

He fell asleep holding his trinkets he won at a pizza joint we visited after MK's dance show this weekend. He had a blast there.

Hollywood had a friend over for the weekend. MK and the two of them went for a long walk to my brother's house and grandpa's house to see the cats and kittens they have there. We managed to find homes for 2 of the 4 kittens we have. We're keeping one of them for sure - the littlest one - a girl. The other one spent the night at my brother's house last night but wouldn't stop crying and howling so we took it back today. Maybe when she gets a little bigger we can try again...or maybe she'll stay. :) We'll see what happens.

Oh, and they are now in my laundry room. It's big...not like a closet or anything. There was a GIANORMOUS tom cat outside of our house Friday night - a stray - that did something to one of the kittens. We saw it out there and I chased it off, but it came back. We heard Christopher squeal like he was being hurt so we all ran out there...it ran off again. Christopher was okay but all 6 of the cats (mom, old baby, and the 4 kittens) were all freaked out...growling, hair raised, doing that arched back thing. Hollywood declared that they were not spending another night outside for fear of their lives. I made an appeal to my peeps on FB to find homes for them. Hollywood's old girl scout leader got a hold of me...she's the one who took both boys - Christopher and Jellybean. Whew! 2 less mouths to feed. But now I've got all 4...even the old baby in the house (he's not really tame...only Hollywood can get near him). This is temporary.

The one we're keeping took a nap with me today. I wasn't feeling well. I have yet another cold coming on. She's just the sweetest little thing. We took her upstairs and she just cuddled in for a nap on my lap. I went in my room and laid on my bed...she curled up on me and fell sound asleep too. Hollywood came and stole her after a while though...but I slept for at least an hour. Lil bro is sick with a cold too. It was really tough to get motivated today. I guess the tree will wait until tomorrow.

We've been doing our advent calendar countdown thing. Lil Bro loves that whole thing. He gets it now - that we move it just one spot per day and when it gets to the 25 it will be Christmas. I love re-living the excitement of the holidays through him.

A yummy recipe your kids will love - Chinese-Style Meatballs

I got the yummiest Chinese-style turkey meatball recipe off of Disney family website - we can't get enough of them. You can find it here:

http://family.go.com/food/recipe-819870-chinese-style-turkey-meatballs-t/

SO GOOD!!! And easy!

2nd Opinion Dentist & Ablation

I brought Lil Brother to the 2nd pediatric dentist to get their opinion. They were able to do a full cleaning on him and get 5 x-rays too! I was impressed with the time they took with him and the gentleness with which they got him to cooperate. He had such a good time, he asked if he could go back again today! They have a gumball type machine filled with small trinkets and at the end of the visit they gave him a token to use to get his prize. That left quite an impression on him too. He was such a brave boy. The x-rays hurt and made him gag...his eyes were watering too. But after each one he let them do the next one. I counted them down for him...with tears in my eyes watching him. Such a brave boy!

They got the job. They said the same as the first dentist - he needs caps. They plan on putting 10 on - one on each molar and one on each of his two front teeth. The best part is that they are right next door to a big hospital so that's where the work will be done. They'll put him under for about an hour. I have to wait to find out how much the insurance is going to pay and how much I have to pay and then it will hopefully be able to be scheduled for January. I still have to figure the money part out, but am waiting to find out how much it is first.

Right after his early morning appointment, I rushed him up to daycare, dropped off my truck and got a ride down to my doctor appointment (from my auntie M.) an hour away. I had an ablation done on my uterus. Basically they knock you out, insert some machine thing into your uterus and burn off your flesh inside there. Sounds fun, doesn't it? Ya, it is as fun as it sounds. They strongly encouraged me to take a pain pill right away when I got home. I hate pain meds and can't really take them very well. They make me basically pass out for hours afterward. Which is what I did. I fell asleep with a heating pad on my lower belly for a few hours. I had to sleep on my side though because on my back I kept stopping breathing and would jerk awake. Not sure why...but I think it is from the pain meds...maybe a little too relaxed?

I came through it okay...I slept off and on for 18+ hours. I didn't go to work today either and slept in. I haven't taken any more pain meds since they make me feel so exhausted and weird. I've just been taking ibuprofen. I can feel little contraction-like feelings in my uterus...they said it might spasm from what they did. I can handle it though - the pain isn't bad...just a little annoying. I plan to go to work tomorrow.

The point of the procedure is to kill off the tissue that you get your period from. Since my periods were so heavy (like I thought more than once that I was hemorrhaging) and sometimes came twice a month, they had to do something. I'm not having any more kids, so this was an option for me. Going forward I should either not have a period or have a very light period. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

This weekend's goal: put up the tree and get family pictures done (by me).