Gingerbread House

Before my surgery, I had the kids write down the things they wanted to do as Christmas traditions.  I knew a lot of things weren't going to happen, so I wanted to make sure they did the things they really wanted.  Building a gingerbread house was one of the things.  We did one for FHE one night.  It caused several fights and some sad tears, but we did it.  I had bought a kit last year on clearance, so I sat on the couch while Jake and Allie read the instructions for the frosting and figured it out.  The candy was rock hard, so they weren't as tempted to eat it as they have in years past.  :)

The biggest reason for sadness was that they didn't each have their own house to decorate, so the little boys kept messing things up.  Next year, we'll be able to have one each again and hopefully it will be a happier event.  :)

A Follow Up About My ;

Do you get the semi colon reference?  I am now a semi colon.  It is a very underused punctuation mark and I intend to make it a favorite.
Anyway, I thought I'd give an update.  I am now a little over 4 weeks out and feeling really good.  It was a really miserable recovery and I wondered if I would ever feel good again, but once I turned around for the better, it went really fast and I felt tons better every day.  So, now, I would say I'm pretty much back to normal.  I am low on energy and some foods can hurt my guts, but I'll figure all that out.
What I wanted to write about is the results of my genetic testing.  There are lots of things that can lead to colon cancer and some of the genetic syndromes have other types of cancers linked to them.  I was pretty worried that I would have one of those.  They aren't good and I was worried about what it would mean for my kids.  It made me pretty sad to think that I might have passed something on to them that would cause them to have to go through something like this.  The results all came back negative for any of those genetic disorders.  It's great news for my kids and good news for me too.  But it also means that we don't have any idea why I came up with this weird polyp thing in the first place.  They kept all my results on file and will let me know if they discover anything new that I can be linked to.
Anyway, I just wanted to write about how blessed I feel to have found all this out.  I feel like I got off easy.  I'm glad it's all behind me (except the whole "paying for it all" part).  I am pretty much recovered and so grateful for all the blessings and help I have had along the way.  My ward was great.  They knew my kids are picky eaters, so they got creative in the meals they brought.  Then there's my mom.  There is pretty much no way I will ever repay my mom for all she did.  I don't even want to joke that I'll take care of her when she gets old because she'd have to be an invalid for a really long time for me to be able to work off all I owe her...and I wouldn't want to wish that upon anyone.  She just kept reminding me that I am her girl and that she doesn't need anything in return for her love and service.  She told me that I needed to think of it as my relationship with Allie.  I'll do anything to help her out her whole life and I won't expect anything in return.  And if my mom loves me as much as I love Allie, that's a lot of love.  I'm grateful for her.  Mike has been awesome and so have the kids.  I am just such a lucky girl.
So, there you have it.  More information than you wanted to know, but maybe one of you did want to know...now you do!

"I am wike a Winja!"

If you see Jason in the near future, ask him to show you his ninja moves.  He'll kick and turn and jump and do flips and "High-ya!" all over the place...all the while saying "I'm a winja!"  It might be one of the cutest things you'll see in the day.

Pig Homework

Allie's room is always a big mess.  It's mostly because she has 401 stuffed animals (that are huge!) and 53 blankets.  Obviously I am exaggerating, but she seriously has so much stuff that is so near and dear to her that she can't part with any of it.  So, the room gets a bit cluttered at times.  When my mom was here, she tried to tackle the room with her and they went through her clothes and pulled out the ones that were too small.  She kept it pretty clean for a while and then it was right back to the normal Messy Marvin state.  Anyway, the main reason that her room is such a mess is that she goes to bed at 8:30, but she doesn't fall asleep until about 10.  So, in those hours, she is creating.  I love that she creates such cool things, but I don't love what it does to her room.  

I sent her in there to clean a few months ago and she came out saying that it was all cleaned up.  I forgot about it and then, as I was turning out her light after she went to school (she never remembers to turn out her light), I saw someone sitting at her desk out of the corner of my eye.  I had to go back and check it out.  She had this little scene set up... 

She cracks me up.

Fresh Snow

When you see fresh snow, you gotta get out there any way you can!

Christmas Recital

Jake and Allie played in their Christmas recital and did really well.  Jake's duet with Aubrey was Drummer Boy.  They did so great together.

 Allie and Lily played  O Come All Ye Faithful.  They did a great job too.  I was a little worried about them after listening to them practice together a bit, but they pulled it off in the end.

They got their music around Halloween, so we were listening to Christmas music for a really long time.  I know it's a good thing to practice that long, because then by the time they really play it, they are ready.  It's just a long time to hear the same song over and over.  Especially when one of the pieces is the Chipmunk's Song.  It was a hard song for Jake to learn and the piano teacher was so proud of him for sticking with it and learning it well that she had him play that one in the recital too.
The kids are doing well with piano and I am glad they practice without much of a fight.

Provo Tabernacle Temple

While we were in Orem with the family, the kids were getting a bit restless and bored.  We decided to go to the Bean museum, but it ended up being closed.  So we drove over to the new temple in Provo to take a look at it and walk around a bit.  

 It really is a beautiful temple.  I didn't take a picture of the copper down spouts or of the lamp lights that are all around, so I'll have to do that when we go back for the open house.  I thought it was amazing and can't wait to see it inside.

Cousins

We have been able to hang out with every cousin we have between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  For the most part, everyone got along great.  Jason and Blake have had a bit of a struggle though because they are at the ages where sharing toys is super hard.  There have been a few toddler wars between the two of them and sometimes we broke it up, sometimes we watched to see who would win the tug of war.  A few days after Christmas, we were at my mom's house and things were surprisingly quiet.  I went in search of Jason (because with him, quiet is usually ominous).  I found him laying next to Blake on Grandma's bed, happily watching tv.  I thought it was so cute that I ran for my camera.

 I came in to show Kim, the cute picture our boys were making and then I heard some crying.  Then more crying.  The blissful bed scene was over and there was a sad Blake.  A sad Blake, and a shame faced Jason saying "sorry Mom. Sorry."

You can't see it in my picture, but there was a perfectly round bite mark on poor Blake.  With every single one of Jason's teeth making its mark.  The other hand bore a similar mark.  As I got the story from Jason, I guess Blake was laughing at something on the show that Jason didn't think was funny.  "I told him to stop laughing and he didn't!"  So, it looks like he totally deserved the bites.  Ugh!  What is wrong with that kid!  It's a good thing Blake (and his parents) were totally forgiving.  Maybe the next time we get together, they'll get along great.  Wouldn't that be nice?  

A Christmas Miracle!

I made the kids pose for a picture by the Christmas tree on the Sunday before Christmas, and it was the usual fight to get them to look at the camera and smile.  The three older kids are pretty good now, but Jason is usually fighting to stay out of the picture.  Anyway, the next Sunday, we were all ready for church and there was still a half hour on the clock.  That, in itself, is a miracle, so I made the family pose for another picture because this time, Mike and I were matching them too.  I couldn't believe it when all the kids just stood there and smiled.  We got 5 pictures, and every single kid is looking at the camera in every single picture!  That has never happened before, so I had to write about it.  I doubt it will ever happen again, but it sure would be nice if we could be one of those families who isn't issuing threats at family picture time.

Shiner

I haven't been very good at keeping the blog updated these days, and the biggest reason for that is that I haven't been very good at taking pictures these days.  I was looking for some pictures to give Mike for Christmas this year and I couldn't find very many at all.  It's crazy how fast I got out of the habit of taking my camera places.  So, my new goal this year is to go back to taking a picture every day.  At least one picture.  And, I'll try to get more of them posted on here.  So, here's the first post of the new year.  It's of Allie.  She got a black eye while sledding behind the wheeler.  Luckily, she had a helmet on, so she only got a black eye.  She's pretty proud of it and I tell her that if she had to get hurt, at least she has something to show for it.  I have been hurt plenty of times and hit in the face more than I can count, but I've never had a black eye to prove all the pain was for something.  I'm a bit jealous of her shiner...so here it is.

 First day, after the tears were dried...

 First night...

 Second day...

Fourth day.  She sure is a cutie.  I'm glad these things heal up quickly and that she wasn't hurt worse.  We've had fun teasing people when they ask how it happened.  My favorite is that she and Jake were watching Tangled and wondered if a frying pan would really work to knock someone out.
Happy New Year everyone!