Love Note and Art Work

Tyson traced his hand and wrote his name, then brought it to me and said, "Mommy, I made this for you to always remember me."

Trevor drew this picture of a bat at church and told me it was to help him not be afraid of bats.

Trevor wrote this "love note" for me the other night. It is so much fun for him to be writing and making notes all on his own! I think it was so he could have an excuse to get out of bed, but I don't care, it brought a tear of joy to my eye and absolutely made my day!

Fun with Johnny

Johnny and Emily came to play the other day and we had fun. Of course, the "big toy" was one of the favorites as it has a slide, swings, steering wheel, rock wall, ... This was too cute a kodak moment to pass up. The two kids were busy watching Tyson play in the dirt in the garden spot.

The whole in the garden is getting bigger and so are the plants in the window sill. Progress is being made, which is amazing considering the weather we've had. It has rained, sleeted, hailed, shined, fogged, SNOWED (again this morning), slushed...we've had just about everything in this crazy month of March. Luckily, we have not planted anything in the garden that will be damaged by the crazy weather. I do worry about our raspberries getting root rot, though.

Cute Sayings

"This pencil has a loose tooth." - Trevor (while doing homework)

"Is dad allergic to fish hair?" - Tyson (He really wants a pet

but Jason has to get rid of his allergies first.)

Kristi Ann's Carseat Kozies

This is what I spent the fall/winter sewing and selling along with fleece hats, purses, crocheted scarves and other odds and ends. They are what I call Kristi Ann's Carseat Kozies. I use to spell carseat with a "K" until my friend pointed out that the acronymn would be KKK. I'm always open to change. Anyway, they are nice to use because you don't have to take your carseat straps out of the carseat to remove the blanket, it just goes through the straps. The other nice thing, the hat doesn't get lost because it is attached. I received one as a gift and absolutely loved it so have been giving them as gifts for about 4 years. Finally, I tried my hand at bazaars and broke even with several left over to give as gifts. It all works out in the end!

Our Garden

Here are my guys hard at work digging the rocks/dirt out of the garden so we can haul in about 8 inches of topsoil so as not to have to plant in rocky soil. I've been working with rocky soil for 4 years now and am thrilled to have nice topsoil to work with this summer. I might even add a truck load of manure (organic, of course) to have extra fertilizer. The boys LOVE to dig in the dirt. They may have been born in the city, but they love to do things country boys would do. Maybe that's because their mom grew up in the country. You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl! Having a garden is what keeps me sane in an otherwise crazy world called the city. I am enjoying the advantages of having amenities close by (a lot closer than an hour away), but I do miss the open spaces from time to time.

In anticipation of the garden plot being ready, I've planted a few things inside: eggplant, onions, cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, squash, pumpkin, zucchini, watermelon, Serrano chilies, ... I think that is about it. We have strawberries and raspberries in the garden already and will plant carrots, peas, potatoes (for the first time in our garden), green beans, corn.

I'm happy to report that I am getting better. I slept longer periods of time without coughing. Now, to get the kids healthy so I can really sleep through the night! Trevor decided he was too sick to go to Primary today and BriAnn has a runny nose that would keep her out of Nursery so the three of us stayed home. What a perfect time to do some journaling!

Hands

One good thing about being as sick as I've been: It has forced me to slow down and not use my hands as much. Therefore, they are feeling better. After meeting with the Orthopedic surgeon, getting x-rays, having the bone scan, and getting an MRI, it has been decided that I need to operate on all 8 cylinders again before anything conclusive can be decided. My hands have been feeling better, no more braces for now and when I feel up to it, I'll start doing everything that made them hurt before to see what happens. If they hurt as bad as before, I'll get a CT scan done and go from there. So, being sick is a blessing in disguise. I did try playing the flute again the other day and after 10 minutes, my hands were hurting. So, I'm not completely out of the water, the Dr. just isn't sure what to do as the bone cysts did not show up on the MRI on the right hand. He doesn't know why. We shall see. Moderation in all things!

Let's have a party!

Trevor has been out of school sick for 4 days now and he came up to me a little bit ago saying, "Mommy, lets have a party in my room like we did the other day." Our party consisted of laying on his bed sneezing, coughing and not doing much of anything else. What a positive outlook on a miserable moment! I love my kids!

A gift for you from me

The first 6 people to respond to this message by leaving me a comment will get a home-made gift from me made especially for you!!!! But there is a catch....always is WINK WINK!!!! The first 6 must keep it going and re-post on their blog the same offer!!!!!

LDS Temple video

Below is a link to a video that the Church has prepared in response to the Big Love episode's portrayal of the temple.
Please feel free to share this beautiful little clip quickly and widely.
http://ldsmediatalk.com/2009/03/12/church-video-on-purpose-of-temples/

BriAnn's Song

BriAnn has been sick. She started throwing up on Sunday about noon and didn't stop until that evening about 6:30. A relatively short time, I know, but it was hard to watch her be so sick that she was dry heaving and have a fever on top of it. She has another ear infection (only the second one this season) and is on an antibiotic. She didn't sing, talk, play, walk for about 36 hours. When she finally started feeling better, she started singing and talking again and I realized how much I love her little sing-songy voice! The other picture is of her doing what she likes best with a baby doll crib my dad made for me when I was little...sitting in it and rocking. She tucks herself in and rocks back and forth while making fake snoring noises or singing to herself. What a joy!

Trevor stayed home sick today, as well. He is looking pretty glassey-eyed, coughing and has a stuffy nose. This afternoon he came to me and said, "Mom, I'm feeling pretty lousy." "Oh, what can I do to help?" "Can I have some more of that medicine to make my headache go away?" So, I gave him ibuprofen. He wasn't interested in a decongestant, just pain reliever. Poor guy! I hope his doesn't last as long as mine...I'm still coughing and sneezing, but the aches are gone! Hooray!

Tyson seems to be doing ok. However, it is always a guessing game when he gets sick because he is pretty much always congested. He just keeps drinking lots of Tang so hopefully that will keep him healthy!

I meet with the orthopedic surgeon this afternoon to see what he says about my hands. I had an MRI on the right hand done on Thursday so we will be going over the results.

Helpers

Tuesday was a yucky day for me. I was on the couch in the afternoon with a fever, the chills, body aches, soar throat... Trevor had come home early not feeling well but seemed to be just fine once we arrived home. I couldn't get angry with him because he was a great help while I felt aweful. One of those hidden blessings from above. He and Tyson bundled BriAnn up and took her outside to play. When it was time to come in, they made sure she came in and helped her take her boots and coat off. They decided it was pretty cold and that they wanted hot cocoa. So, after giving Trevor some simple instructions, he used the microwave by himself for the first time and made warm cocoa for he and Tyson, with Tyson's help (BriAnn can't have hot cocoa due to food allergies: egg, nuts, soy, milk). They both were such good helps! It is fun to watch kids grow up and gain confidence in new skills as well as becoming more responsible. I love being a mom! I'm still under the weather with this cold, but know I'll be back among the healthy again soon.

Tyson's artwork

Tyson and I were coloring and drawing together. I drew a picture of a rainbow, clouds, tree, flowers, ... Then Tyson added his artwork: a cricket, Tyson, Mommy and BriAnn with a flower in her hair. He is very creative!

Woman was born to create

I loved this quote from someone else's blog so wanted to document it somewhere. I feel it describes me. No, I'm not a cute scrapbooking type, but I do love to create: blogs (as of recently), garden, testimonies, ... are just a few things that come to mind that I can still do with my hands the way they are. Love you all...especially the women in my life who have been good examples of creators, which is all of you!

"Woman was born to create...in creating she becomes herself, accomplishes her destiny. Her whole life is only an initiation into creative power. To create is not merely to produce a work...it is to give out ones own individuality."-Jeanne De Vietinghoff

March Madness

There is a whole new meaning to March Madness this year. Two days of snow in March is a bit unusually where we are. So, had to take pictures of the kids in the snow which resulted in Trevor being about 5 minutes late to school. He didn't mind at all. The other picture has 5 robins hiding under our big trees to keep out of the snow. You can't see them because of all the snow falling. They were really pretty, juicy, fat snowflakes. However, by 1:00 pm most of the snow had melted again.

Update on my hands: Bone cysts were found in both hands in January. After a month and a half of trying activity modification (no flute, no crochet, no sewing, limited vacuuming, mopping, sweeping...), physical therapy with an occupational therapist, and active release technique by my chiropractor, the occupational therapist referred me back to the orthopedic surgeon who found the cysts. Looks like surgery will be a strong possibility in the next little bit as the pain in my hands is not gone. :( I meet with the orthopedic surgeon on Thursday to determine what the next step will be. He originally mentioned possible MRIs if the pain had not gone away in a month's time. He also mentioned surgery, maybe another bone scan, more X-rays??? The occupational therapist (who has been wonderful and fun) said there is more than one thing going on with my hands (possible carpal tunnel, tendinitis, arthritis) but the cysts seem to be the source of the pain right now. If surgery is required, they will go in and scrape out the cysts from the bone, then pack the holes with cadaver bone (or graft it from somewhere on my body). Four to eight weeks later I should be able to have strength back in my hands. It makes sense that they would only do one hand at a time. But, we will know more on Thursday.

Humongous Cockroach

I woke up to a "humongous cockroach" next to my pillow the other morning after fighting with a migraine headache. Trevor had snuck into my room after drawing this beautiful picture of a cockroach and left the treat for me to see when I woke up. He just wanted to do his part to help me feel better. What a sweetheart! Thankfully, the cockroach was not real!!!!