A month? A whole month?

I'm failing in my blogging duties. I'm sure I've said that before.

Have you been wondering what we've been up to? Well, here are a few of the things that have been going on.

Remember our new landscaping logs and my currant bush with a few raspberries in the background?


Here are the raspberries in May with a new trellis.



And here is the champagne currant bush.



Remember my straberry plants? Here's a tiny little flower on one in April




and here is what they look like now:




We had a week of rain and Connor entertained himself with some Lego building. Here is a kitchen he created.





See the details? The faucet over the sink, the hot and cold water tap, even a soap dispenser!








The kids have spent a LOT of time on this. It is so nice to have the kids in the backyard, entertained and not running up and down our busy street. The neighborhood kids come over so I never have to worry where my kids are :)



I caught Connor studying the periodic table late one night. He should have been getting ready for bed, but he was amazed with this new chart.




We spent a few hours at the Celtic Festival in Frederick. The kids had a great time. We saw caber tossing, Irish dancing, bagpipe bands and Lillee even joined one of the dance groups for a traditional dance.

There has been a lot of skateboarding going on. We had visited the skate park a couple of times btu Connor was a little intimidated by the big boys. So Al built this ramp so Connor could practice a bit at home and hopefully be more comfortable at the skate park.

It worked. Here's Connor at the skate park. and Chase like to slide down the half pipes for entertainment.

Then Al decided he needed a skateboard, too. He continues to build equipment for he and Connor to practice on...Al is a little intimidated by the big boys at the skate park, too. OK, I won't joke at his expense. Al has actually been doing really well at getting back into skating for being such an old man (he turned 33 today, I'm cracking on him again). He aches and has trouble getting his body going in the mornings, but he's having a great time with Connor. Al comes home from work, puts on his skate shoes and heads out to skate with Connor until 9:00 or so. Connor got a new board and upgraded to glow-in-the-dark grip tape because it was yellow (his favorite color) and because they spend most nights skating in the dark. They are doing some major boy bonding while skating with one another so I can't complain :)

Life is good...we're staying busy and trying to stay above water :)

Chase had another asthma flare-up this past week that landed him in the hospital for 24 hours. We're battling his asthma with lots of medications and hoping to avoid these flare-ups in the future.

I've lost 38lbs since January and I feel so good. I still have a lot to go, but I'm happy with what I've lost thus far. I do hate all the shopping that goes with weight loss, though. I find I'm constantly cleaning out my closet because things are too big. And for someone who doesn't like to go shopping, buying new pants every month or so is a pain. But I'll try not to complain too much :)

I have a new calling as Primary Secretary and I'm enjoying it. I like knowing what the kids are learning in primary so we can reinforce it at home. And it is definitely helping to build my gospel foundation. I do find myself singing the strangest songs when I wake up on Monday morning, though :)

I forgot to mention, I cut Isabel's hair. And then she cut it:

If I part it just right and put a hair bow in it you can't tell.

8 years and counting

On February 22, 2002 (2/22/02), Al and I were married in the front room of the house we currently live in. We were wearing blue jeans and only had a few attendants (Al's family, sitting on the sofa). Nothing fancy, as you can tell. I think there is only one picture in existence of the event...a little 4X6 that hangs in my bedroom and every time I look at it I think, "I'd like to be that size, again."

In 8 years, we've had some interesting adventures, but none compare to the 4 children we've had. I wonder what the next 8 years will bring.., our children will be 15, 13, 12 and 9. WHOA!!! Maybe I don't want to wonder about that just yet.

Happy Anniversary, honey.

Mommy's special pill

I take many pills each day, albeit a bit less now that my asthma has gone away. I take several pills each day for blood pressure, one for my sinuses when they're acting up and a couple vitamins to make me feel a bit more rounded at the end of the day. The best pill of all is one I don't actually take myself. It's Connor's pill.

For a few years now, Al has been trying to convince me that we should take Connor to a psychiatrist to have him evaluated for ADHD. I've been reluctant, especially since I teach Connor and his attention issues haven't bothered me. However, just before Thanksgiving, we started having some behavioral issues from Connor. We took away all his typical rewards---Nintendo DS, Wii, reading in bed, listening to CDs in bed, the privilege of staying up later than the girls, etc. After several weeks of having lost his privileges, we realized he didn't seem to care. He had no motivation to do anything. He no longer wanted to play piano, which he once loved doing. He became very emotional, we were always yelling at him, sending him to his room or threatening him to try to get any positive response

I broke down, I told my husband it was time. Fortunately, my husband knows a great doctor. Al, who has ADD, has been seeing Dr. Brody since he was a kid. And when Al's mother was being tormented by Al's behavior as a child and teenager, she started seeing Brody, too. So Brody has now seen 3 generations of Al's family :)

Brody was happy to schedule an appointment with Connor. He has a large TV on the wall and plays video games with his young clients. Within one Wii session (about 30 minutes), Brody walked out to say, "Yup, ADHD. We should start him on some meds." Voila! That's it, it was that simple?

Brody suggested the same meds that Al takes for his ADD, Vyvanse. Can I tell you how special this little pill is? Miracles are encased in this little capsule!!! Now it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, right away.

After leaving Brody's office, the guys went to the pharmacy and then home to see what happens when the pill is consumed. This part proved to be quite tricky. Connor was willing to try the pill, but when he couldn't swallow it, he panicked. Then Al and I panicked. We all yelled, screamed, argued and cried. After 45 minutes of promises, bribes and threats, it ended with Al having to hold Connor down while I forced it into him. It was not pretty, but it worked.

Within 2 hours, we noticed Connor couldn't stop reading. He had picked up a ThinkGeek catalogue and was reading it from cover-to-cover. When I realized what was happening (read: the medicine was working), I decided to test it a bit. I asked Connor to play piano, this really challenging piece he's been working on for months and typically gets so frustrated with that he can't make it through 2-3 measures without wanting to give up. He moaned when the piano teacher assigned it for another week. This time, when he tried to play it, he didn't get frustrated. He took his time, played each measure while actually reading the music (he once loved playing from memory because it took too much effort to look up and find his place on the sheet music). He persevered through the entire piece, no complaints, no quitting. I was so amazed that I asked him to play it again and he did. Willingly!

As he finished the piece, he turned to Al and I and said, "Thank you mommy and daddy for taking me to that Dr and getting this medicine. Thank you for everything." I was nearly in tears while he was playing the piano so I was ready to burst when he said this.

For 2 years I've been telling myself that Connor didn't need meds because I was OK with him and since I was the one spending so much time with him that it was OK. My husband finally clued me in by telling me, "The meds aren't for you, they're for him." I understand, now. And I was grateful for a husband who understood Connor's symptoms, his frustrations and his need to have some control over his actions. If it weren't for Al having experienced the same frustrations as a child, poor Connor would still be a sad little boy who on occasion wished himself dead (that was a hard one for me to swallow...my 6 year old thought things would be better if he weren't alive).

Connor recognized the change in himself with the very first dose of his medication. He promised that he would take it willingly the next day because he was so happy with the results. And he did! And he's gotten better at swallowing it every day and Al and I haven't had to threaten him or yell at him since.

His improved behavior has changed the dynamics of our entire house! The girls are behaving better and the yelling has really calmed down. We had 3 hours of school yesterday! 3 hours, straight! That is a first. He did 7 pages of math (fractions) and never complained...he actually offered to do the 7th page when he had finished the 6th page.

When we were visiting my parents this past weekend, Connor was a bit bored. So he started cleaning. First he closed himself in their bedroom and started cleaning and rearranging the room, lined up the shoes, straightened all the decorative pillows on the bed and so on. Then he came to the living room where he lined all the shoes up by size, smallest to largest, then noticed things were dusty, grabbed a cloth and very systematically began dusting the furniture in the room.

The magic that this little pill creates has changed our lives! The only negative thing about this pill is Al's gloating. Thanks, Al, for being patient with me and for not rubbing it in more than once or twice a day.

How does one forget...

such significant details from such a wonderful Christmas? Somehow, in my Christmas recount, I missed some details.

#1 Christmas morning, after presents were opened and while we were working on our Lincoln Log nativities, my visiting teaching companion dropped by with a bag full of warm scones that she had just made. They were wonderful!!! Imagine, soft warm pillows of pastry filled with dried cherries, orange zest and white chocolate chips. YES!!! they were delicious. Did I mention my friend is a trained pastry chef :)

#2 Connor stayed up for a few minutes after the girls went to be on Christmas eve. All he wanted to do was turn off all the overhead lights and read by the light of the Christmas tree. It was very cool to see him lounging on the glider with his book just reading away. Our camera kept using the flash since it was so dark so this picture does not really show the scene we saw.

#3 Al was helping the girls put batteries into their new My Little Pony remote control bikes when he posed for a fun picture taken by his sister, Emily. Normally, Al would say something like, "And this better not find its way onto your blog!" But he didn't say that this time so I think that means he won't mind it being here. SHHHHHHH Don't laugh too loud or he might hear you and ask (read: demand) I take it down.

#4 Here is a picture of the general Christmas chaos that happens each year when the gift opening begins. I was trying to hold Chase, because he obviously couldn't be on the floor in all this mess, help the girls get their presents into their gift bag and get through all the crazy packaging they put on toys these days. Chaos, I tell you!

Skateboarding 101

So I talked to Connor about participating in a skateboarding clinic as I'm trying to get him interested in some kind of sport, other than swimming. Not that I don't want him to swim because I really do! I would just like for him to have a sport he enjoys that doesn't require me to pack up the family and a ton of gear to go and do. He has shown some interest in skating as he has watched some videos on the internet with Al of extreme skateboarding.

Connor was SUPER excited and wanted to know when he could start classes. I explained that I needed to talk it over with Daddy and discuss the expense because we would need to purchase equipment as well as pay for a class. Connor offered to purchase all his own equipment. I did not hesitate to take him up on the offer.

For those of you who don't know Al all that well, he was a dedicated skateboarder as a kid....he spent at least 10 hours a day skating. His parents built a half-pipe inside the house and it took up an entire room....just for him to skate. So Al has been waiting a long time for this day...he kept saying, "I want to get a board for me, too!" However, he refrained from purchasing a board for himself...he just borrowed Connor's :D

Here are some photos of the first lesson:

Our lovely french door

This is a shot of the window in the family room where the kids and I spend most of our day. We school here, play here, dine here, watch movies here....we spend a lot of time in this dark, wood-paneled room.


It is time to replace the window and we decided to replace it with a french door instead of another window. So the following pictures are the progress of installing the french door. Al had to do all of this in less than one week while the kids and I were out of town.










A BIG hole in the side of the house!





Outside view of the BIG hole.







Ahhh, hole is now filled. And under the paneling is DRYWALL!!! No more paneling!!!










Al finished the drywall, added in a couple of new electrical outlets and a switch for outdoor lights on either side of the door.

VIOLA!!! A happy cheery room complete with crown moulding. The doors have shades built into them...between the two panes of glass are shades and the mechanisms for opening and lifting them are on the door, but no strings for the kids to get caught in or any way for the kids to break them. Look how bright the wall is now and this picture was taken at night!

Scroll back to the top of this post....see the difference....I am so thrilled with the new look!

Lego dress-up

My parents purchased a great board game for Connor called Lego Creator. It has become quite the favorite game in our house. Connor is great at it and wins almost as much as I do. Al wins one here and there and poor Mamaw & Papaw (my parents) have not won yet but are good sports and keep trying.

One rule of the game is the most colorful person goes first. Connor always wins this as we play at night after the girls go to bed and Connor is always in his pajamas. We had not discussed playing Lego Creator since the previous night so we were surprised to find Connor moping when he came from putting on his pajamas. He had glanced over to Al and noticed Al's very colorful pajama pants. By the time I had put 2 & 2 together, Connor had already started counting the many colors in his pants. He then moved over to Al's pants to start counting his colors.

Turned out that Al was short 3 colors so Connor gets to go first, right? Nope, the race was on. Al was off to find additional colors to add to his outfit. It started with a shirt and tie and then I helped Connor find some extra colors. This went on for about 1/2 hour...it was sooo much fun!!!

Here are the results:

Snuggle Bug

Since Lillee was a small baby she has always been an awesome snuggler. She cuddles right into you and stays perfectly still for hours. Unlike Connor and Isabel who can't sit still for more than 1-2 minutes...they can't snuggle at all!

Every morning Lillee comes to our bedroom and hops in bed on Al's side to snuggle with him...he calls her snuggle bug and she loves the pet name, it makes her feel special and different which is really important as a middle child.

Lately, Lillee has been deprived of her morning snuggles. With Al being sick for a week he did not want the kids in bed with him. Then as soon as he was well he started a new project and was leaving the house by 6:15am and the kids weren't out of bed at that time. Several mornings this week Lillee has darted off to my bedroom in hopes to find daddy still in bed. She's been really disappointed that he was already off to work and she could not have her snuggles.

Last night, I told Al he would have to sleep in on Saturday so she can get some snuggles. He sadly stated he was working Saturday too and Lillee would have to wait until Sunday. Shortly after making this statement he told me, "I'll start work around 10:00am on Saturday." After thinking of Lillee missing her snuggles he decided to adjust his schedule to work in some snuggle time with his Beanie.

I love that man!

Winter, winter go away...come back another day

2 weeks ago all the kids started getting sick...croupy coughs at night, running noses during the day; just the general cold running through our home. We were headed to NC on Thursday morning and late Wednesday night Connor got out of bed and came to me so I could help him scratch a massive itch. Upon closer inspection he had a rash all over his stomach, back and arm pits. I figured our trip would be delayed by a Dr appt Thursday morning, but we were pleasantly surprised that the rash appeared to be gone by the morning. So off to NC we went.

We had a nice visit with my parents, although it was colder than we thought it was going to be. On Sunday, my brother, his wife and 2 children came to see us. Unfortunately, my brother was sick so they did not stay long as he was feeling bad and the weather was getting bad....was pretty icy.

Within an hour or two after my brother leaving Al started complaining of a sore throat. Then his stomach was upset so he headed to bed. A lot happened Sunday night. At 3am I woke to Al making unpleasant noises in the bathroom. His stomach was really topsy-turvy and he had a fever. Then we woke to 4 inches of snow on the ground. We were not able to leave NC on Monday like we had planned. Al spend the day in bed, unable to eat anything and barely keeping down small amounts of fluid.

I pushed Al to get in the car and go home on Tuesday (we had to get back home, Al had work to do, we did not have our school supplies with us, we missed piano lessons, 2 dental appts...it was time to go!). When we arrived home he fell onto the sofa and did not move all night. Wednesday morning he made an appt with his Dr but the earliest he could get was 3:30pm. We were pretty certain he had strep throat so we needed to get him started on antibiotics.

By 10:00am Al knew he could not wait until 3:30 to be seen as he had developed quite a rash and was starting to panic over feeling so bad. So he opted to go to the emergency room. Unfortunately, when you have 4 kids it's hard to find a baby sitter at the last minute, especially if you might have some contagious or potentially harmful to another floating through your house. So I dropped him off at the front door of the hospital and told him to call me when he was ready to be picked up.

It was determined Al had scarlet fever and because he has spent the past 4 days unable to eat or drink he was severely dehydrated. So they opted for IV antibiotics and fluids and some good pain meds for the all over aches and pains and seriously sore throat. The good news is Al has recovered...he's still weak, definitely not back to 100% but gaining a bit more strength every day.

When I went to pick Al up at the hospital I realized that the rash Connor had had the week before was the same rash that Al has. So Thursday morning I took all the kids to the Dr for strep tests. It's amazing but none of the kids had it. The nurse said this was a weird case because normally children ages of 3-17 get strep and scarlet fever, not adults. Al was the only one in the family to have it, though.

And we missed the snow in MD while we were in NC. The kids have been waiting all winter for a decent snow and while we were in NC the "biggest snow storm in 3 years" blew through MD and dropped 7 inches. We only had 4 inches in NC and it was gone pretty quick, but Mamaw & Papaw hit Walmart and bought boots and gloves for everyone so the kids could enjoy it for the short time it lasted.

We're just getting back on track and feeling like we're recovering from a hard 2 weeks so we'll see what comes next....spring, please get here QUICK! We're so ready for winter to be over!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Well, Lillee liked Isabel's hair, too. Or she noticed all the attention Isabel received from having her hair cut. She begged for "hair like Isabel's, but not yellow." She even woke this morning to tell us of the dream she had last night where she had hair like Isabel's.

She asked for hair like Isabel's yet again this afternoon and Al broke down. "Go get your socks and shoes on," he said. So here's the finished product, complete with painted nails.

Goldie Locks

We have our very own little Goldie Locks. Her name is Isabel and she's 3 years old. She has the most gorgeous blond hair; it's silky with amazing low-lights and highlights...it's what grown women pay fortunes to achieve.

Here is Al blow drying her hair (enlarge this picture for real detail)

However, with her hair being this long, she always seems to look like the picture below, not the pictures above.

There's always food and who knows what else in her hair which makes it impossible to brush. I keep telling my husband she needs it cut and he insists she just needs more conditioner. Isabel screams anytime you come near her with a brush, but my husband refuses to allow me to cut it. It took him 4 years for him to allow me to take Lillee to get her hair trimmed. I tried trimming it at home once and he did not speak to me for 2 full days so I knew this was a serious subject for him and not worth pushing. I figure I have one more full year of begging before we'll see a change in Bel's hair.

Al took Bel out for her dental appt today and turns out the dental office had no power. So they rescheduled the appointment and went for another date....this time she didn't get her nails done, she got her hair done :) See below:

Yes folks, I nearly fell over when she walked in the door. Al never discussed this with me, he did not call me on the way home to prepare me, he just stood there staring at me as I grasped for words...none came. I literally stood there unable to speak. Not sure whether I loved it or hated it because I did not have a chance to prepare for it. I came around after a minute or so and LOVE her new do! And I really look forward to no screaming while brushing and not having to wash it constantly just to keep her from looking the part of a rag-a-muffin.

Bel's Big Date, Part 2

Well, inquiring minds wanted to know where Al and Isabel went on the big date. I was excited when Isabel came running through the door screaming, "LOOK!, Mommy Look!" She held out her hands and showed me her manicure!

Al took her for a ice cream and to get her nails painted...how sweet was that?!?!

I'm not girly, at all...I never paint my own nails so I don't think to paint the girls' nails. How thoughtful of Daddy!

Bel's Big Date

Poor Isabel always get left behind. She's by far the hardest to take places...she can't buckle her own car seat like the older kids, she melts down quicker than the older kids, she squeals at the highest pitch you've ever heard and she's in between being potty trained so you never know when she's going to ask to go potty and I hate to say, "Just use your diaper!"

Since we have 4 kids now, it's important for Al and I to take at least one kid any time we leave the house. We almost always want to take Connor. Chase is easy to take if it's not too cold out. Lillee is difficult, but usually not as difficult as Bel. So Bel is at home more than anyone else in our house.

Jane and I were headed to the grocery this morning and I decided to take Lillee - Bel, of course, asked to go. Al promised to take Bel on a date tonight instead of going to the grocery with me. She was ecstatic! All day she's talked about her date with Daddy. So when Al came home from work today he got a shower and got all cleaned up and Isabel wanted to do the same. So she hopped in the shower and scrubbed up. As I was getting her out of the shower and drying her off she was telling me how her baby (her water babies doll) wanted to go and I needed dry her baby, too. As Isabel put on her dress and boots she stated that her baby had no clothes and boots to wear on her date with Daddy.

I dried her hair (it is COLD outside) and she kept talking about her date with Daddy...it is a special evening for Bel and she feels so important going on a date with Daddy.

Duckpin Bowling

When I was a kid we would go bowling, but it was full-on bowling. Maybe if we were lucky they would put those balloon-like cylinders in the gutters to keep the ball from always going to the same place. We would use the smallest ball we could find, usually a neon colored 6lbs ball with the tiniest finger holes that were still too big.


However, Al has always talked about duckpin bowling. I had never heard of this type of bowling before and it only took us until our oldest was 6 years old to go try it out. So duckpin bowling uses 10 pins, but it uses small balls that fit in your cupped hand and no finger holes...oh, and you get 3 balls per frame rather than 2 and there are permanent rails down the gutters until the last few feet.

The kids were really excited and we arrived while the lanes were still relatively quiet. After Al gave each kid a brief lesson on how to get the ball down the lane we let them loose. Lillee would put the ball on the floor and give it a little push and when it barely moved she would kick it. When she saw this wasn't working she tried Al's suggestion of spreading her legs and rolling it with both hands towards the pins. She ended up with a hurling action that resulted in massive THUDS as the ball fell for being slung 2 feet into the air.



Lillee ALWAYS stood like this after each ball.


Isabel was really excited to bowl and couldn't sit still and wait until her turn. But we did a LOT of waiting during her turns. She could not put much force behind the ball so it took them a long time to make it down the lane. Here is an idea of what it was like:



The exciting release of the ball....




Waiting for the ball to make its way down the lane...




Still waiting.....Three balls per frame. YAWN!


We finally got smart and had her getting multiple balls going at once. She would send down the first ball and go straight to get a second ball and start it before the first was to the pins...here is a shot of what that looks like:



One ball is near the pins while the other is at the bottom of the shot.


Connor was quite good! He was even able to pick up spares. Have you ever wondered why little boys' pants always seem to have no knees?

Connor LOVED sliding on his knees across the slick floor.

Here is an action shot of Al:


I heard so many excuses for why his score was not much higher than Connor's...
1. the lane isn't even
2. the balls all have nicks in them
3. the floor is too slick
you name it, he said it!

We had a great first game and then Al wanted to push for a 2nd game. I warned him this was a bad idea, the kids were melting down the bowling alley was filling up, it was dinner time and almost bed time....BAD idea. But we went one more time and it was suddenly a proven BAD idea.

I held the baby and kept score, I look forward to doing a little duckpin bowling next trip!