Brave Parker

I took Parker tho the Ear, nose and throat doctor about 1 week ago.  He snores at night and that isn't normal for children, unless they have a stuffy nose.

He cooperated but was nervous.  Especially when they put numbing spray in his nose and then a tiny camera to see what his adenoids looked like.

Parker has to have his tonsils and adenoids out on Dec. 9th.  We're talking the whole thing up....pop, ice cream, miss school.  Some how I think it won't be so easy.

Pine wood derby

Braden, Paige and Zachary made pinewood derby cars for Young men and women.  Paige and Zach decided that they wanted pre cut cars so didn't have to do so much work.

Braden made his from the normal block of wood.

 All of them turned out well but didn't win any of the races.

 Paige however did win the award for the Cutest car.

Braden also took a car that he made while in cub scouts.

November is for...

Thanksgiving and recognizing your blessings.
 I am grateful for my loving husband, Loren. He is an amazing man. He loves his job most of the time and provides well for our family.  He is a wonderful Dad and is involved in our children's lives. He is a great example of the Priesthood and brings happiness into our home.
I am grateful for ALL of my children ( yes, even the 3 teenagers), they each bring something special into our home with their different personalities and talents.
I am grateful for Birthparents that give the gift of life so unselfishly.
I am grateful for the gospel in my life.
I am grateful for parents that raised me in the gospel and taught me many things growing up and still do.
I am grateful for such good friends and neighbors.
I am grateful for Christ, my Savior.
I am grateful for life it's self.

My grateful list goes on and on........

I am even grateful for trails, some more than others.

Right this minute, I am grateful for Doctors and the technology of medication.  For without it I would feel lousy, tired, sore and more...every single day.  Instead, I only have these days a few times a month or when my medication need to be increased.  Yes, I am thankful for the health that I do have.

Fruit Facials

Here are a few recipes for fruit facials...

Honey Facial
1 Tbs honey
1 egg yoke
1 tsp olive oil
Beat yoke with fork, add the honey with a warm fork, then add the oil and mix well.
Smear it on your face and leave it on for 15 minutes, rinse well.

Cucumber Facial
1 cucumber-peel and put throw blender and strain or use a juicer.
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp witch hazel
1 egg white beat until fluffy
add everything together, smear on face and let sit for 15 to 20 minutes. Rinse off.

Blemished skin mask
1 tomato, ripe, chopped
1 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbs instant oatmeal or rolled oats
Blend everything until just combined. Apply to skin, or just on blemishes. Add more oats if needed. Leave on for 10 minutes and rinse.

I have tried the first two and love them. Not sure about the blemish mask, yet.

Blue baby

I have never seen any one really turn blue before but tonight I did.

My side of the family got together at my sister Teri's to work on our family service project for Christmas.  Teri served us dinner.  Loren was feeding Hope and letting her eat off of his plate.  She started eating cabbage salad and I told Loren not to let her because she doesn't have teeth to chew it.  Within seconds she was choking and turning blue.  I was so glad that I knew what to do. Who would have guessed that learning things from working at Childcare centers would actually come in handy at home.  I got her breathing again, and the scare was over.  However, I was glad that if I couldn't help her that my sister Teri could. She is a nurse and knows everything.  Okay, not everything, but a lot more than I do about emergencies.
Hope is fine!!!

Activity Days

For activity days we had a Spa Night here.  We did homemade fruit facials, fingernail painting, foot bathes, hair and of course cucumbers on our eyes. It was a blast.

When activity days were over my children had to have a turn also.  Zach tried the cucumbers and  a facial, silly boy. Gotta love him.

Paige and Brinn did it all. Hope thought the foot bathe was great fun.

Our new addition

Sparta is our newest addition. Or as Hope calls him, Wuba.
Paige and I went shopping and saw a family with a box of free kittens.  Jokingly I said," we should get one". I honestly thought Paige would say," no way" because she is allergic to them.  But she said, "we should, lets go see them."  So we did.  This kitten was so gorgeous that we just had to have him. He is so cute and tiny. Hopefully he will help keep mice out of our house and yard.

No more braces

After little more than a year, Braden got his braces off!! He now has nice straight shinny teeth.  He has clear retainers to wear at night for the next year or two.  He says it feels so nice not to have a metal mouth any more.

Guess who's

                                                Who's hand do you think this is?

If you guessed mine, you are right.  I tore the ligaments in my thumb and get to wear this nice contraption for two weeks.
How did I do this, you ask.  Well, we all are aware of those crazy child proof covers they make to put on door knobs, apparently they are adult proof and dangerous!!! Okay, maybe only dangerous for me.
I couldn't get the knob to turn and so I put my left hand over my right to get more leverage and pop. It only hurt for a second so I didn't think much of it. A few hours later it began to hurt and was very swollen. I waited until the next day to have it x rayed in hopes that it would get better. No such luck.
It is tricky using my left hand and having diapers to change. But life goes on.

Halloween fun

We carved pumpkins for Family night.  We all had a blast and made quite the mess.

On Friday, Loren's work had trick or treating for children 12 and under. So we checked the kids out of school early and the went with dad to have some fun.

Both Zach and Paige threw Halloween party's here on different nights.  Everyone had a lot of fun and stayed up late.

Yes, that is my old cheerleading outfit.  Glad it can still come in handy.

The kids had fun trick or treating even though it was rainy and cold.  I guess that I bought to much candy this year.  The cold weather didn't help.  We were even giving 3 or 4 pieces to everyone that came because we knew that we probably wouldn't  get as many as usual.  Braden and a friend went to their young men leaders house and Sunday school teachers to get candy and to hang out.  They said that they were going to go cause some trouble.  I really doubt that happened.