Finally, some photos!

I know we don't post enough pictures.  

I have many lame excuses.  

But tonight, a brief recap of December:

 We finally explored downtown Kansas City a little bit.  This is the kids' first ride on any form of public transit (the streetcar).

 The very beautiful Union Station (classic old train station, restored and now housing museums, movie theater, post office, and yes, still a train station - Amtrak.)

 Hanging out with Nate on his birthday.

 Hyrum showing off his mad drawing skills.

 Rusty's new sound equipment get-up ;o)

 Our 17th wedding anniversary cake: Rusty baked it, the girls decorated.

Namoi in "stuffed animal heaven"!

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve has always been my favorite day of the year.  I love the decorations, the weather (yes, I love winter), the general feeling of good will and all of the cheerful wishes for everyone to "Have a Merry Christmas".  I love the feeling of anticipation of family gatherings about to start, of looking forward to giving those gifts and seeing how they make others happy.

Also, being a mom, I appreciate how Christmas Eve is also usually much more neat and tidy. 😄 No one wants to mess it up just yet- it just provides a beautiful setting to pause and appreciate everything Christmas really means.

Nate was born Christmas Eve.  Many people bemoan Christmas birthdays, but Nate doesn't seem to mind (after all, he's the one who chose it- he was supposed to be induced on the 27th).  I like it- he's the best Christmas gift ever.

We weren't sure Nate would survive birth.  Today, he turned 10.  What a blessing!  These last ten years have been a tremendous challenge but also have been cram-packed with tender mercies and flat-out miracles.  My understanding of how God loves his children has expanded and matured.  I can now truly say that I trust God.  After all we've gone through together, how could I not?  Whether Nate lives only 10 years or outlives me, I trust God's plan for Nate and our family.  Nathaniel's name means "a gift from God", and it fits Nate well.

True, we are once again spending Christmas in the hospital, but Nate is doing well and should be discharged in a couple days.  I truly don't mind.  We've gotten used to being flexible with how and when we celebrate holidays.  Here in the hospital, I get to see and experience the generosity of many people in the community as they serve the patients and their families with donated meals, toys, treats, etc.  I've tried to contribute ("Light the World") by giving a little support and cheer to other parents as we cross paths in the Ronald McDonald family room, hallways, waiting rooms, cafeteria, and chapel.  I hope they see that if a mom with a 10 year old "frequent flyer" in the hospital once again can be cheerful and hopeful, that they too will survive their current crisis and come out more confident and hopeful as they face their own child's medical journey.

Yesterday I met another mom who has been in and out of the hospital for the last three months with her seven-year-old.  She and I were chatting with some new parents who were very shell-shocked.  This "veteran mom" was so confident and upbeat- all I had to do was toss in some supporting words as she coached these new parents on all of the amazing supports available at this hospital.  She was visibly tired but confident, and I could tell it felt good for her to be able to serve someone else with her hard-won knowledge.  There are so many good people in this world.

I guess that by spending Christmas in a quiet hospital room, stripped bare of the locations and people who are beloved parts of the holiday, I've been able to focus more on what the essence of Christmas can always be: Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men.  And I am grateful.

Thanks for all of the prayers and support during the last couple weeks (and months).  We feel the power of those prayers and are grateful for you!

Merry Christmas!

And We're Back

Less than a month later and Nate is back in the hospital. It started with calcium problems again but after a couple days his latest epic cold escalated into serious breathing difficulties. So, all in all, I'm grateful we were already in the hospital. He was transferred to the PICU and got the help he needed much faster than he would have if we had been at home. Also, I'm certain he would have been flown to the hospital again (that would have been the third time in five years). So, although long hospital stays are a pain, things really did work out for the best.  And we are certainly grateful for the lifesaving treatments that are so readily available to Nate. He's improving, slowly but surely.  We just need to wait and trust.

Cough, Sneeze, Giggle, repeat.

We've been sick, and continue to be sick...tis the season.  Cough, cough, hack, hack.  My ears start popping non-stop for about five minutes whenever I lay down.  That one's new.

Naomi is a trooper- she wheezed out the following sentence late Sunday night:  "Tomorrow (gasp)... I'll feel (gasp)... better."  And she did- after several breathing treatments and some oral steroids.  She's still coughing up a storm but is irrepressible- and loving the freedom of watching nonstop TV and wrecking the house while I take care of Nate.

Nate's feeling miserable, but he still manages to giggle now and again.  Usually when I blow my nose.  Nate's giggle is contagious, and ever so slowly we are also learning to pick up his precious attitude: "no matter how little you can control in life, you can still at least find something to giggle about."  That, and: "cuddles are the best."

"Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion"- Steel Magnolias
Substitute brain fog and you've got us covered.

Not much happens around here while we're sick- but despite that we're doing pretty well and staying cheerful.

Thanksgiving Reviews

Hyrum's Thanksgiving Nightmare:

This is the turkeys worst nightmare: Thanksgiving 🍗🦃👎
because Hyrum struggle of the turkey's death and fed Joyce desserts like meat with gravy.
So he stated hiding in the closet doing squeaking Señor Sqeakito by stress and anxiety.

(Mom's clarifying notes:  I forgot that Hyrum finds killing and eating turkeys tragic.  He has no problem eating ham, though, and once again berated me for not buying a ham.  Oops.  After Rusty chewed him out for being so rude, Hyrum approached me with a very humble plea: "Could we please just give the turkey to the neighbors?"  We laughed and reminded Hyrum that he didn't have to put any on his plate.  Of course, once dinner was served, Hyrum piled a ton of turkey and a couple rolls onto his plate.  He was a bit shamefaced but obviously enjoyed his turkey dinner.  His favorite part was feeding the giblets (after I made broth) to the cat, Joyce.  The bit about "hiding in the closet while squeaking Señor Squeakito" is taken from "Boss Baby", which he has watched about seven times in the last two days.)

Naomi's Thanksgiving Story:

We ate food.  Cheese and carrots.  Pizza!  Okay, I'm all done.

(Mom's clarifying notes:  Ooookay.... we didn't include any of those foods in our Thanksgiving meal. Naomi's language skills need a little work... ;o)  She was very fascinated on Monday when I cut up her pie pumpkin and baked it, but was annoyed that it wasn't immediately a pie.  Hannah helped me bake the pies on Wednesday, and Naomi watched intently.  Thursday she pretty much lived on rolls all day, and gobbled down her turkey and potatoes and pie.)

Hannah's Thanksgiving Summary:
Oh please please check hello world I am packing food but is that where Royse and Royse I ask you this is niece andOh please attack please check hello world I am packing food but is that where Royse Royse I ask you this is my niece and Mary was very OK with me Thanksgiving Siri yet food pizza and turkey Lala LalaLove Lala what is my name so it worked more of these please check hello Earl I am Peggy could but is that where Royse and Royse I ask you this is Nathan please attack please check hello well I am picking favorite is the worst SiriLala Siri what is my name so it worked more of these please check hello Earl I am packing food but is that where Royse and Royse I ask you this is Nathan oh please attack please check hello well I am picking favorite is the worst Siri I ask you is the right is very was very OK with me they scaring Siri yes I think then don’t you love Lala what is my name so it was more of you please check if you think you do but who is there is there a reason Royse I ask you this is Nathan please check please check hello I am I like

(Mom’s clarifying notes:
Um. Wow.
Hannah accidentally turned on the Siri transcribing feature and was so amused by Siri’s mistranslations that she kept reading them aloud as they popped up- leading to a wild cycle of nonsense and laughter.  Enjoy. )

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Home Again

Nate and Mom spent a little over a week in the hospital. For a while there it looked like we would be there through Thanksgiving, but eventually Nate turned a corner and we were discharged. Lots of tests (for a variety of scary things) came back normal, so we are counting our blessings and grateful for a (hopefully) fresh start.

Also, no more ketogenic diet, whoo-hoo!  The dietitian joked about how rare it is to put a patient on a LESS restrictive diet, ha!

After a rough week that ended much better than expected, we are full of gratitude. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Mallard

Hyrum wants to do this post.  Here is his synopsis of a recent dream:

Hyrum got an dream at November 10th is abut that an albino alligator spit out an black squid and the Patchwork Girl threw an mallard at the Woozy. The Woozy breathed fire and the mallard  flew out to dodge the fire. The mallard attacks an 5 year old girl and the mallard pecks on her face. Next Hyrum woke up and smelled like an ferret havent showered for 19 months. And sweat. 

My Little Pony LIED!

On the way to the church for Cub Scouts and Young Women’s, Hannah and I saw a giant “middle C” note in the sky. It was actually the moon with a jet stream bisecting it, but it looked pretty cool.  By the time we stopped the car and tried to get a photo, the moon had moved and the photo opportunity was lost. We resumed our drive and talked about how fast the moon actually travels across the sky, things like that. When I mentioned that the moon rises and sets completely independent of the sunrise and sunset, Hannah blurted out, “What?  You mean My Little Pony LIED?!?”  We laughed and joked about it all the way to the church (“Curse you, Celestia!” “Wait til I tell Dad! etc)

Hannah was embarrassed about me sharing this story (12 year old dignity is fragile, apparently —who knew) but said it was okay as long as I shared something similarly embarrassing about myself. So...I was well into my 30s before it occurred to me that “Baa Baa Black Sheep”, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and the alphabet song all share the same tune. This was after baby number 4, no less.

Better now, Hannah?  😅  She’s so much fun to be around!

Army of "Hyrums"

The other night we were reading about the 2000 stripling warriors. We explained that "stripling" means young, brand-new, inexperienced, teenaged.

Hannah asked, "You mean, around Hyrum's age?". We said yes.

Hyrum lit up and said, "An cloned army of buck-toothed, scrawny, ferret-smelly teenagers shooting pus out of their pimples?!?"

He spent the next ten minutes blissfully imagining the possibilities.

Solar Cooking

I have put together a day camp for our Cub Scouts for the last three years. It’s really fun- I get my camping “fix” for the year and the boys just eat it up. We also get all of the outdoor activities for the year done at once, greatly simplifying the rest of the year for us leaders- bonus!

This summer Hannah checked out an activity book from the library and one project was building a

Goals

Hannah is now a Beehive. She wants me to do Personal Progress with her, and one requirement is to write in a journal. If you think I'm an infrequent blogger...you should see my (lack of) journals. Soo...my "journaling" goal is to post once a week, either here or on the "abilities " blog.

Hope it sticks!

(p.s. if you're confused by all of the odd lingo, just know that 12-18 year old girls in our church are encouraged to complete a series of religious goals to increase faith and knowledge. I will be doing the same things with her!)

Accellerated Math

So, Hannah is in a really challenging math class (pretty much pre-algebra) and feeling frustrated. Today's homework problem was based on basketball and used ratios between 3 point baskets and attempts. They assumed that any kid could easily differentiate between the score and baskets, and calculate one from the other (I checked, she hasn't learned the way to solve 27=3x yet). After finding that, she had to figure out how many attempts using a 3:5 ratio. She was in full meltdown mode, so what do I do?  I put it in terms she could understand.

"If you made five 3 legged tables in woodshop and then threw them onto a basketball court, but only three of the tables transformed into llamas worth 3 points each, what would be the score?  Assuming that the number of injuries from llama kicks and tripping over un-transformed tables didn't stop the game, how many baskets were attempted by the time the score reached 27?"

Now, it made much more sense!

Can you tell we don't follow sports in our family?

Our silly family portrait video

Summer summary

We made a fun video with this portrait session, but this was the only decent still photo 😉

Summer has been pretty good!

Preschool Play Day

I was able to join Naomi's class for their end-of-the-year playground trip!  It's rare that I can go visit my kids at school or on field trips, so we were both pretty excited.

Skip the Cocoa...

DUDE!!!!!

The ONLY way to eat marshmallows- dehydrated.  I love this store.  So many cool bulk foods to try...

P.S.  I also bought bran flakes.  So there.  ;o)

Naomi-isms

Gotta love 3 (almost 4!) year olds.

The Boys

There are a lot more photos of the girls on this blog than of the boys, so I thought I'd even the score a little.

New Year, All Clear

January chores are a lot more fun when you have a willing helper.


December was rough but ended on a good note.