Say What #8 and #9

We went to the temple in St. Louis yesterday.  Sadie, as usual, had some great things to say.

At one point during the drive down, a car in front of us smelled bad.  After getting a whiff of their exhaust, Sadie said, “Something smells like penguins!”

At the park before coming home, Jeff and I had a bottle of water we were sharing.  Sadie wanted a drink but had just eaten a Hershey’s kiss.  We gave up all claims to the water when she back-washed a nice chocolatey mouthful.  Then we couldn’t help but laugh when she said, “Mmmm, It tastes like chocolate milk!”

Ice Ice, Baby

No, we have not installed privacy glass in our dining room.  This is our ice coated window from this morning’s icy rain.  Brrrrr.

Last Tuesday, Sam came home from school informing us that his chorus/show choir holiday concert had been canceled for that evening due to icy conditions moving into the area.  The concert was moved to Wednesday night instead.

The next morning, we received an automated phone call at 6:15 am from the school superintendent informing us that school was cancelled that day due to the icy roads.  What kid doesn’t love a snow day?  Well, it turns out that my kids don’t — at least not when it means that they’ll be missing out on fun stuff at school during the winding down days before Christmas break.  But we made it through the day, a great violin recital that evening (the choir concert was again moved to the following evening), and then I ended up staying up until 11:30 that night getting the last of the teacher gifts wrapped so the kids could take them to school on Thursday.  After all, another ice storm was forecast for Thursday afternoon through Friday morning and there was talk that school might be cancelled again on Friday.

Thursday morning, 6:15, another phone call from the superintendent.  No school.  Once again, the kids were upset.  In talking to a few people later that day, there was some frustration that school had been canceled at all because the roads were not bad.  However, the roads were quite icy when my younger kids would have been catching the bus so I’m glad they didn’t take any chances and that my kids, however frustrated they were at missing class parties, were safe.  We went out later that evening for a meeting (no choir concert…again), and the neighborhood we were in was a total mess and it was difficult for Jeff to maneuver the van.   When you think “Snow Day” you picture piles of snow.  This was not the case.  We had maybe 1/4″ of snow.  But on top of that was about 1/2″ of ice.  My kids were sledding in our yard and we don’t have any hills.  By giving themselves a little push at the start of the very gradual slope from the side yard to the back, I was surprised with how far they were able to go.

Friday morning was a repeat of Wednesday and Thursday.  We had an ice storm Thursday evening, and although it warmed up through the night melting much of the ice, the roads were still too slick during those early morning bus riding hours.  If they could have called a one or two hour delay start to the school day they would have been fine, but it was another snow day and we got a very early – however unwelcome – start to our Christmas break.     We’ll be attending a “holiday” choir concert in January.

If that weren’t enough, temperatures plummeted Sunday evening and we woke up to 1º on Monday morning.  Wind chill took it to at least -17º.  The pipes to the kitchen sink were frozen which made me very happy that Jeff is on Christmas break, too!

Not at all deterred by the weather, Sadie informed us this morning (as she has a few times in the past couple of weeks) that she wanted to get out the waterslide and go swimming.  We tried to convince her that it was way too cold but she would have none of it so I finally gave in.  “Okay, go get your swimming suit on and go out to the garage to find the waterslide and I’ll meet you out there.” (You can scroll up to remember what our dining room window looked like about this time.)

Sadie headed straight for the bedroom and donned her suit.

She was headed for the back door when she announced, “It’s too cold.  I shouldn’t go.” Then she ran into the bedroom and got dressed.  Whew!  At least it was her idea.

Horton Hears a Who

We watched “Horton Hears a Who” tonight and were laughing through tears at the following twist of My Little Pony.  A cute show!

In my world -- everyone's a pony, and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies!

What's in a Name? (Flashback: December 12, 2008)

Here is the latest installment from my memoir writing group.  I hope you enjoy learning how we ended up as a family of 8!

What’s in a Name?

Spencer is our third child and second son. At the time of his birth, Sam was three and Savannah was almost two. Spencer was only about 2 weeks old when the impression came. Sadie Jennifer. It was just a name that popped into my head, but it was more than that. I knew somehow that someday we would have a little girl named Sadie Jennifer.

A couple of years later, when we learned that baby #4 was on the way, we wondered if this would be our Sadie. An ultrasound showed otherwise. Having no boy names picked out, we embarked on a thorough name search and finally narrowed it down to 2 solid boy names: Sterling and Soren. I love the name Soren. While I have been accused of such, I didn’t make it up. It is Scandinavian. In Sweden, for example, if a man named Soren has a son, the son is literally “Soren’s Son” which is where the last name Sorenson comes from. It means “Warrior” or “God of War”. That was our first choice, but then there was 9/11 only 2 months before this little boy was due. Suddenly, “God of War” seemed so ominous in the face of these frightening times. I couldn’t do it.

And so Sterling (meaning “genuine”) made his debut mid-November. He is a delightful and very busy little boy. In fact, Sterling gives the word “busy” new meaning. As a toddler, he frequently achieved tornado status. While little Sadie was always in the back of our minds, we couldn’t imagine life without our little “Boog” as he’s come to be known.

A year later, baby #5 was on the way. But this pregnancy wasn’t as smooth as the others. At fourteen weeks along, on Christmas day, I seemed to be having one last bout with morning sickness. It was worse than usual and I felt crummy all day. But it didn’t go away and I was sick all night, too. It turns out I got appendicitis for Christmas. I had my appendix removed the following afternoon. The baby’s heartbeat was strong after surgery and we hoped for the best.

Two weeks later, on a Tuesday morning in January, our little family of 6 was stuffed into an ultrasound room at Sarah Bush. When the technician told us we were having a boy, big sister Savannah was very disappointed. But it was all put into perspective when I received a call from my doctor later that afternoon. There was a possible problem with the baby. Something about an abnormal fluid collection at the base of the skull. Suddenly it didn’t matter so much that we would have to wait a little longer for our Sadie. I just wanted this baby boy to be okay.

The Maternal Fetal Specialist told us that most likely the baby had Down Syndrome. He said there was a slight possibility that it could be a couple of other conditions, both of them much worse than Down Syndrome, and a very small chance it could end up being nothing. But while Down Syndrome babies often have heart problems, our baby’s heart looked strong. The limbs were also normal in appearance when frequently they are shorter than they should be. But still, “This baby has Down Syndrome” were the words we left with that day.

And then we knew. His name would be Soren. Warrior. God of War. He would have to be our little fighter. It was the perfect name.

A month later, the specialist said that he still thought the baby had Down Syndrome, but there was a much higher possibility – did he say 50%? – that there was nothing wrong. Another month and the chances of a healthy baby increased. And at our next visit we heard the words, “I can’t find anything wrong with your baby.”

Our little Soren was born, perfectly healthy, in mid-June. He’s a beautiful child. My friend calls him the Gerber baby because of his perfect skin and angelic face. He’s a total mamma’s boy, preferring me above all others. I still love his name. In today’s world, he’ll need to be a fighter for sure. And, like Sterling, what would I do without my little Soren? More than once I’ve wondered if Heavenly Father let me know about Sadie so that I wouldn’t stop having children before getting these boys here, too.

And what about Sadie? Two years after Soren was born, I was entering the last month of what felt like a very long pregnancy. I specifically chose to not find out the gender of this baby at our routine ultrasound. With Sterling and Soren, I’d gotten to 7 months pregnant – which is a very uncomfortable time for me – and wondered if I’d really be able to go through pregnancy again to try one more time for the little girl that already felt like a part of our family. This time around I needed to think, especially at 7 months, that this might be it. This really could be our little girl that we’d known about for 6 years.

And so it was, unknowing, that we left for the hospital late on that July night. And in the wee hours of the morning I heard the doctor say, “It’s a girl!” as he lay little Sadie on my chest. At that moment I knew. I knew that I had done the thing I was meant to do. I never imagined 6 years earlier that in that one name, Sadie Jennifer, I’d get three children. Sadie was meant to be a part of our family, but so were Sterling and Soren, every bit as much as Sam, Savannah, and Spencer. My family was complete.

 

Christmas Cookies

We have a basic chocolate cookie recipe that is made often (usually by Savannah) at our house.  The cookies are “delish”, as Sadie says, but especially so when we dress them up a bit for Christmas.  Here’s the basic recipe, followed by the extra Christmas treat:

Fudgy Chocolate Cookies

1 box Devil’s Food Cake Mix

1/2 c. oil

2 eggs

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:  Combine dry cake mix, oil, and eggs.  Mix well.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Use a cookie scoop or drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350º for 8-11 minutes.  Do not overbake.  SO Easy!

And here’s how to dress them up for the holidays…

Minty Chocolate Christmas Cookies

Follow above recipe, but leave out the chocolate chips*.  Bake as directed, but as soon as you take them out of the oven, top each cookie with a Candy Cane flavored Hershey Kiss.  Bake for an additional 30 seconds, remove from oven and let stand for 2 minutes.  Then spread the kiss like frosting.  Allow to completely cool — if you can wait that long — before eating.  Yumm-o! 

[*August 2021 update: We are still making these, but we leave in the chocolate chips. The chocolate with peppermint is super delish! Also, instead of melting the kisses on top of the cookies, I open all the kisses (~30 kisses per batch) and microwave them in a small glass bowl, stirring after each 30 second increment, until completely melted. It should only take a minute or just barely longer. Pour into a ziplock bag and cut off a tiny corner then pipe the peppermint onto each cookie, back and forth in stripes or however you want to do it. These are a favorite of Soren and several of his friends. :)]

Thanksgiving Break

I love Jeff’s job.  I mean, how great is it that he has 3 months off in the Summer?  And if that weren’t enough, he gets a full week for Thanksgiving, another week for Spring Break, and at least 3 weeks for Christmas.  It’s the best I tell ya!  So what does he do with all this time?  Pretty much whatever I want him to do.  Yep.  My wish is his command.  Talk about feeling like a Princess!

I will mention in passing that Jeff started this year’s Thanksgiving break by painting the toyroom, which went from Kermit-the-frog-green to a warm beige; and the family room, which went from a really pale yellow to a beautiful sage green.  Both rooms look awesome even though the family room turned out to be a bigger project than first anticipated!  But the project I’m most excited about is the dining room.  For a while now I’ve been frustrated by the state of our dining room.  I love our counter-height table and the huge window and especially the built in china hutch.  It has a lot of character.  But the dining room is also home to the main computer in our home.  I’m pretty adamant that the computer stay in a high-traffic area.  But it is usually an eye-sore with all the papers/clutter/stuff that accumulates on a daily basis.  Here’s what you used to see to the right upon entering the dining room (the table is behind Soren).

And here’s what was on the wall to the immediate left of the entrance:

Frightening, eh?

So here’s what we came up with instead.  Drumroll please…

Isn’t it great?  We made the computer “desk” counter-height so we could use the extra chairs from our table.  It’s also the perfect height for standing when we need to look up something quick.  I organized my files to make a place for the papers that always seemed to be lying around.  And it’s amazing how much of the “stuff” we were able to throw away.  Hooray!!!  Here it is an entire 5 days later and the room is still clean!

You might notice my Mother’s Day gift from Jeff on the desk.  Yes, it’s a pink laptop.  And Jeff had to take it to a conference shortly after it arrived.  You know a man really loves his wife when he’ll buy her a pink laptop even while knowing he might have to be seen with it in public!  This Jeff, he’s a keeper!

Christmas break?  Bring it on!

No Hard Feelings

This weekend is the game.  BYU vs. Utah.  In Jeff’s family, it’s BYU all the way.  Most of my siblings and I are also rooting for my alma mater, but my sister and her husband are die-hard Utah fans.  The way I see it, BYU is sitting in a better position for this game than the Utes.  Utah is undefeated.  If, heaven forbid, BYU were to lose we can say to them, “Congrats on a perfect season.  Way to go.”  We wouldn’t ruin our at-home win streak because the game is at Utah.  And if we win?  Well, I can’t think of a better way to blow their BCS hopes.  But hey, no hard feelings.  Go Cougars!

Say What #7

I asked Savannah to call Jeff this afternoon to ask him a question.  Just as she went to dial, the phone rang.  Looking at caller ID, Savannah saw that it was Jeff.  So she answers the phone like this:  “I’m Psycho!  Uh, wait…no…I mean, I’m Psychic!”

Yeah, we’ll be laughing about that one for a while.

Say What #6

Sometimes Jeff plays Pictionary Junior with Sadie.  They don’t play it the real way.  Instead, Jeff usually tells her what to draw and she makes her best three-year-old attempt.  Some of her drawings are very cute, but my favorite part is what she calls the game.  “Daddy, will you play Pictionary Junior Mint with me?”  So cute!

A Good Night's Sleep

Jeff slept great last night.

That was to make up for the night before.

Jeff attended a conference in Louisville, KY on Saturday so Friday night he stayed in a hotel.  I won’t name any names, but it was a nice hotel.  He got in late, showered, and was anxious to get to sleep as the conference started early the next morning.  Upon pulling the covers back, he discovered body hair in the sheets.  Eeeew.  After a call to the front desk, they said they would promptly find him a new room.

New room.  Pull back the sheets.  Crumbs.

Another new room.  Pull back the sheets (this time with hotel employee still in the room).  Hair.

Exhausted, Jeff finally asked, “Do you have any clean sheets?”  Hotel Employee made a trip to the laundry room, brought up clean sheets, and he and Jeff made the bed.

Charge for the room?  $0.

Sleeping in his own bed?  Priceless.

It All Started With 2 Hot Dogs

When your 2 year old takes 2 hot dogs at dinner, holds one to his chin and pretends the other is a bow, you say, “Oh, that’s so cute.  He’s pretending to play the violin.”  When he does the same thing with 2 pencils, you say, “Hmmm, I wonder where he learned that.”  When he does it with 2 screwdrivers, you say, “I think this kid was meant to play the violin.”

Four years later, at the beginning of first grade, Sam started lessons.  While he’s a typical kid and hates to practice as much as anyone, I really think he was meant to play the violin.  He just gets it.  [As a side note, Sterling started taking lessons about 18 months ago just before he started Kindergarten.   I decided I’d take lessons right along with him.  A friend picked me up a full-sized violin at a garage sale and Sterling and I practiced together everyday.  Sterling, like Sam, just seems to get it.  He gets such a beautiful sound from his instrument and has made amazing progress in the short time he’s been taking.  Me?  I quit after 6 months.  It’s HARD!!!  It made me feel guilty for all the times I was so hard on Sam.  I had no idea how hard it is to play!  I screeched and sounded awful from the start.  I was not born to play the violin.]

Back to Sam — He’s now been playing for 6 years and recently played in 2 concerts with the University Orchestra.  There is a program here where “the exceptional Middle School and High School students” are invited to practice and perform with the University Orchestra.  It’s an amazing program and one we really appreciate, especially since there is no orchestra in the public schools in this area.  Sam has loved orchestra, has learned a lot, and has played some very hard songs -including the 1812 Overture- since he started playing with them at the beginning of the Fall ’07 school year.  Because it’s on the same night as church activities, he only participates one semester a year, but it’s an amazing opportunity.

The last concert he participated in was Fright Night where the orchestra is all dressed up in Halloween costumes and they play songs like the Theme from Harry Potter (Hedwig’s Theme) and Raider’s of the Lost Ark (those were in last year’s program) and Night on Bald Mountain and the Planets (this year).  Sam was the young King Tut this year.  Sam has had the opportunity to work with some very talented and devoted people through these experiences.

And to think it all started with a couple of hot dogs!

You know it's cold when...

…the tree in your front yard looks like this when the kids leave for school:

And like this when they get home:

Our gingko tree loses all of its leaves in one day after the first hard frost.  That day was today.  Brrrrrrrr.

Toilet Paper Service

Our church building is located between several beautiful homes in Mattoon.  The house immediately next door to the church, and the one we pass in front of each week before turning into the parking lot, was toilet papered last night.  The teenagers responsible did a thorough job and the homeowner was out front attempting to clean up the mess.  As we drove past, I thought, “We should be helping him!”  I mentioned it to Jeff, but I’m not sure he took me seriously since church was starting in 5 minutes.  I couldn’t shake the feeling so I said, “I’m going to help.”  Without another thought, I headed across his yard and was followed by 6 kids and Jeff.  I told the man, “You look like you could use some help!”  We proceeded to help him clean up his yard.  There were little bits of toilet paper that had been torn and scattered all over the sizeable yard.  It wasn’t a hard job, but would have taken quite a while if he’d had to do it alone.  It turns out he has a daughter who is a junior in High School and he said this toilet papering job was probably done in retaliation.  :)  Jeff asked him if this was the first time he’d ever been toilet papered.  He said, “I think this is the first time this year.”  Ha!  We managed to get everything up off the ground and a lot of it out of the trees, except for what we couldn’t reach.  We were there all of 10 minutes and walked into Sacrament meeting during the opening hymn.  I just felt so happy the whole time.  I was so glad the kids were helping.  I mean, isn’t that what we should be doing?  How many times have I thought, “That person looks like they could use some help,” and then continued on my way doing nothing for them?  Sure, it’s important to be at church, but if we aren’t living what we learn there, what’s the point?  We were able to do both today and it was a great experience.

Stuff

My Mom sent out a newsletter style update of what they’ve been up to in Nevada.  She invited the rest of us to send an update as well.  I just wanted to save what I sent out so here it is: (It was written on Wednesday, October 15.)

Hi.  We’re all doing well and wondering where the first quarter of the school year has gone!  It ends in 2 days and hardly seems like the kids have been in school long enough to be this far into the year.  But we’re glad as we seem to go from one day off to the next, always aware of when the next break will be.  And then before we know it, the school year is through!  Hooray!

Sam is busy with violin.  He plays with Eastern’s orchestra for the first concert each semester.  Of course he’d love to do it for every concert, but rehearsals are on the same night as youth activities at church.  As it is, he misses about 4 months of church activities each year then goes for the other 8.  This semester’s concert is “Fright Night” which is on November 2.  The orchestra wears costumes and the kids who attend can wear costumes and they have them parade around the audience at some point in the evening.  The conductor does a great job and always has first rate performances.  Sam is excited to get to play in the brand new building which was just completed in time for school to start in August.  It’s very nice.  It sure beats the old gymnasium where they practiced and performed while it’s been under construction!!  In other Sam news, 7th grade was a huge adjustment for Sam and the rest of us.  It’s run very differently than middle school was for me and it’s also different from the 6th grade.  But he’s doing well and thinks he got straight A’s first quarter.  We’ll find out next week.

The rest of the kids are also doing well.  Sterling’s first grade class only has about 15 kids and over half of them were in his Kindergarten class last year!   It’s a fun class, but so far has been mostly review and Sterling is BORED!  He wishes he could go half-day.  I wish he could go half-day.  I’m anxious for P/T conferences next week to discuss our options for him.  He’s a bright kid and loves to write stories with elaborate illustrations.  He’s a Star Wars fanatic lately and would be happy if he could change his name to Luke Skywalker.  Or maybe that was last week.  Currently he also can’t seem to get enough of Calvin & Hobbes and left us a note the other day saying that he was “seceding from the family”.  What 6 year old (besides Calvin) does that?  We’re glad he changed his mind.  He also wishes he could change his name to Calvin.

Well, I don’t really have individual reports on each child, but things are going well.  We’ve been happy to pick up a little more Amerityre here and there as it’s been on sale so much lately.  I’m noticing that, even though food prices are going up, I find the things I need on sale fairly frequently so we haven’t been hit too hard with the financial crunch yet.  We’re thankful to be prepared and have a little put away for such times.

Love, Missy and the gang

Checkers

This little kitten showed up on Saturday afternoon.  The kids thought they were in heaven and proceeded to feed “him” and play with him for several hours.  Soren named him Checkers.  He looks right at home in Jeff’s flower beds (much to Jeff’s dismay).

To the kids’ delight (and much to Missy’s dismay), Checkers was still around when we got home from the reception Saturday night and when we left for church the next morning.  When we got home from church, we didn’t see him and the kids were worried he had gone back to wherever he came from.  No such luck.  We found him curled up in a bag of clothes intended for good will that we’d put on the porch.  This morning there was no sign of checkers and he really looks like a cared for cat so I suspect he’s gone “home”, wherever that is.  But his visit sure cheered up the kids!

Dancin'

We attended a wedding reception Saturday night at an Amish buffet.  It was SO fun!!  This picture is the groom, Lloyd, dancing with his Mom, Debbie.  Debbie just happens to be one of my favorite people.  Their family is always fun and willing to do anything for anyone at a moments notice.  We love them!!  Anyway, aside from the delicious Amish home cooking style meal, there was some serious dancing going on that night.  It’s been a long time (too long) since we’ve been to a dance and we all had a great time.  So thanks, Lloyd, for getting married so we could come and party with you!

A friend, Carrie, who happened to be in town “getting down” with my kids.

Soren loved the Y.M.C.A.

Sadie made me carry her around at first, but once she got down (no pun intended), she was a wild little thing for the rest of the evening.  She and her friend, Aftyn, chased each other around and danced their little hearts out!

Sterling thought he was pretty hip and danced this same move all night long.  Crazy kid!

Jeff and I got a little dancing in ourselves.  We got to do some country swingin’ and even slow danced a time or two (woo woo)!   It was a great evening.

The Homecoming Parade

Growing up in Utah, we always celebrated Pioneer Day on July 24th.  There’s a huge parade in the heart of downtown Salt Lake with amazing floats and top notch marching bands.  For years, my Dad’s office was on the parade route.  Since Wall Street doesn’t celebrate Pioneer Day, we’d all go visit my Dad at work and watch the parade in front of his office.  It was always a fun time and something I remember with fondness.

This past week was Homecoming for our little University.  We always attend the parade on Saturday morning.  It doesn’t even compare to the floats and other attractions I remember from my youth, but I honestly can’t remember ever enjoying a parade more than I did on Saturday.  My heart was completely happy and I loved every minute of it.

Of course the parade included floats:

The theme this year was “Rock ‘n’ Roll, Pop ‘n’ Soul”.  Don’t you love the yellow submarine?  :)

There were also a variety of people:

The World War II veterans.  We won’t see them at many more parades.  The man looking at the camera is Don.  We’ve got several pieces of furniture in our home handcrafted by him.  He just works out in his garage every day making furniture.  You can go and buy what you see or tell him exactly what you want and he’ll make for you.  He and his wife are very welcoming and stopped in on Christmas morning one year to visit.  Nice people.

This guy was born in the wrong generation.  Seriously.  He isn’t just dressed up here for the parade, but those are his real sideburns and I sometimes see him around town, always on his horse and always dressed from the 1800’s.

The Association of International Students.  I love that there are students here from many countries.  I wish I could invite them all over to my house to teach us about their homeland.  We’ve done that with some of Jeff’s colleagues and it’s always a very enjoyable and educational experience.

This is a “cheer” squad, but I’m not sure where they’re from.  They weren’t representing a particular school, but man, these kids knew how to get down!  They were really putting on a show.

This man is in our ward.  He and his wife run the local haunted house.  Actually, it’s an old, abandoned mental hospital which makes it that much more creepy!!  Sadie wasn’t especially fond of him at the parade.  He was carrying a chainsaw and scaring the “bejeebers” (as my brother would say) out of all the kids.  Nice guy, really!

This girl gets the award for most dedicated marching band member. 

Mr. Recycle Man

One of the most handsome parade watchers!

And last, but not least, the vehicles:

Old, new, green, BIG, and what would a parade be without the Shriners?

My favorite was the University library staff all dressed up as hippies.  They were carrying signs like “Give Books a Chance”, but the best one was:

The kids’ favorite part?  The candy, of course.  They ended up with a whopping 10+ pounds.  Yes, they weighed it.  Guess what we’re giving out for Halloween?