Is It Naptime Yet

So shortly after I blogged about Eden being sick I called my parents to find out my aunt and uncle weren’t coming down, so it would only be immediate family. I called my sister Kristi to see if she would be offended if we brought Eden and her reply was “It’s Thanksgiving and we’re family and family should be together on Thanksgiving even if they’re sick.”  Since Eden was able to keep a couple small bowls of applesauce down before we left and I think she was more sick because she hadn’t eaten since 10 o’clock the previous day. so I think her stomach was just sensitive in the morning. Eden had no fever and behaved liked her normal self for the rest of the day.

So we all headed over to my parents house for our first dinner.

Thanksgiving was a cloudy day with some showers. Wednesday we had steady rain on and off the whole day, so the weather was slightly cold, but not that cold, and wet.

The dinner party at my parents house encompassed Carolyn, Kristi and her family, Howard, Howie, Kaitlyn and Adrienne,  Glenn and his new wife Ann Marie, my parents and my family. It was kinda nice to have it be a small group, which made bringing Eden along easier. We ate around 2 pm and left shortly before 3 pm.

We picked up a pie and my rolls to bring to Ann’s house and got there around 4.

Annie was busy picking up my mother-in-law and brother-in-law Rawlin when we arrived. My father-in-law wasn’t up to leaving the house, and my MIL does not like driving in rain and Rawlin’s car battery was dead.

We hung out and people arrived and we ate around 5 pm.

We stayed till 7:30 and had fun seeing and talking with family.

While there Lilah had the camera at one point so the first few photos are ones I took, while the rest are from Lilah’s point of view.

The apple pie I made with the filling I canned with Sam.
I’ve never made pie crust so I cheated and bought some. I did not want my first pie crust to be something I brought to a dinner party.

Eden on Jon’s shoulder. She’s too cute and I guess I need to have her wear a belt with these pants.

Lilah before she got free range with the camera. She looks so old to me in this picture, or like an actual five year old and not the young girl/ child that I think of her as.

Lilah’s pictures:

This is the chair she was just sitting on in the previous picture I took of her.

The wall to the left of the chair.

One of her muses.

Another muse, Uncle Rawlin.

He held this pose for nearly a minute while Lilah tried to get the camera to take the picture, sometimes it just does not want to take pictures.

One of the cards we made for Jon’s family members on Wednesday.

We enjoyed our day and hope that everyone else had a Happy Thanksgiving also.

Last night I spent the night with my sister Carolyn at the house she was house sitting. We talked and decided to do some Black Friday shopping and since all the stores were in Henderson, and she was in Henderson, and I didn’t want to drive to Henderson early in the morning, it just worked out better to stay the night there.

I had met her at her in-laws house. Derek had gotten off work late with it being a Holiday and they were playing games. I played Scene It with them and didn’t do too bad. I knew some answers that others did not, but I didn’t know a lot that they did. Derek is a huge movie buff, where as we watch movies from Net Flix and not all of them are in the main stream.

We left his parents house around 11 pm and then got to bed around 1am. You know girls, we like to talk and Carolyn and I can often talk about almost anything with one another. I really cherish the friendship I have with her and my other sisters. It’s nice getting older and being able to share one another’s burdens or talk about silly things that you think are ridiculous, or might make you a little weird, only to find out someone else is just like you!

We went to bed at 1 am and set our alarms for 5:30 am, and got up at 5:40 am. I didn’t want to hold her up so I was actually the one to get her up and startle her at 5:40 am.

We left the house around 6:45 – 7 o’clock and went to Kohl’s first. It was a bit of a bust and had the longest lines of all the stores we went to and the $20 that Carolyn was going to spend was not worth the wait.

We then tried to find Radio Shack but the first one we went to had had closed down. It looked like our Black Friday might not be very productive, but eventually we found a Radio Shack, thanks to Carolyn’s cool phone, and she was able to buy what she needed.

We then went to a less traveled Michael’s that was close by. I was able to get my chocolate for truffles for $1.29 a bag plus an additional 25% off my total purchase, so around $1.05 a bag with tax, the normal price at JoAnn’s is $2.59 or so, it was a total score. (Thanks Carolyn for noticing the ad!) They also had the cheapest gingerbread house kits so we bought some of those to put together with the girls also.

After Michael’s we went onto Old Navy to buy dresses for the girls, and I found a sweater for myself too.

We then stopped for a bite to eat and hot chocolate at Starbucks.

Then to JoAnn’s. Carolyn was buying a Christmas tree and the amount of people there was crazy. Nearly all the fabric was 50% off so the cutting lines were the worst I’ve ever seen. It took over an hour to cut all the fabric for one woman and she took out three cart loads of fabric! My poor mother was there buying fabric for my aunt, she grabbed a number right when she got there, #67, and when we left, around two hours after my mom got there, they were only on #20. It was nuts. Luckily the line for check out wasn’t too bad and Carolyn saved a  lot of money, while I just bought a few things I needed since I was standing in line with her.

We then went to Costco and I bought my final gift of the season for my little family. I still need to get something for my brother and his wife, my dad, and I probably will be doing the shopping for my in-laws once again this year. The girls will be buying gifts for one another, but that’s not anything I need to worry about for right now.

I dropped Carolyn off and before I came home I went to Target to get a blanket I desperately wanted and was on sale, along with a couple other things. I was able to get in and out very quickly, so over-all it was a pretty good day and I think we saved a bit of money on the items we needed/ wanted to get.

Normally I do not participate in the whole Black Friday craziness, we honer Buy Nothing Day, but since we are in an stable situation, the economy is down, and there were deals to be had, it seemed like the right thing to do, plus I had someone to go with me and it makes it a lot more fun if you’re not by yourself.

I had a great day and to top it off I came home to a tidy home and Jon doing lots of laundry and dishes. I also took a way too long nap this afternoon thanks to my wonderful husband. ( I don’t function well on only four and half hours of sleep, especially when it happens two nights in a row. I am a person who needs sleep and I’ll admit it.)

Black Friday turned out to be pretty bright.

Last night I made rolls with my friend Beth. She’s attempted to make rolls two or three times and they’ve never risen, so I was there to tutor her step by step and to get the rolls I’m bringing to Jon’s family dinner.

After showing her how to make sure the liquid wasn’t too hot and what not we covered to let them rise, watched to see if hers were rising and I went home to give the girls a bath and enjoy an evening with Jon.

We watched Kite Runner and I baked the rolls. We got to bed really late, around 1:45 am.

At 5:20 am Eden came in saying her tummy wasn’t feeling well. I picked her up to here her kinda breath like she was going to throw up, but luckily she didn’t, at least not at that moment.
I gave her some food, she wasn’t eating it very well, and then she did throw up.
I gave her some crackers  and juice and she came to my bed while Jon got up. Later she threw that up.
We gave her a carrot that she hardly ate and some water, and she threw that up eventually too.
She also gagged at the applesauce and wasn’t able to even get it down.

What a fun Thanksgiving morning.

I was going to make a special breakfast, but decided I was too tired and to wait for a day where Eden can enjoy it too.

Jon’ll be staying home while Lilah and I go our family’s homes. Yes, I’ll even be going to his family’s dinner without him.

He’s not much of a socializer, so it’s not a big loss for him. I’d like to stay home and cuddle with Eden, but Jon’ll do that and I’ll instead get to eat a lot of food and gain 5 pounds, something he could stand to do, and socialize, something I like to do.

Happy Thanksgiving to us.

Yesterday Lilah and Eden’s dance classes were cancelled for the week. With it being Thanksgiving this Thursday and past experiences, dance class is pretty small, so she had us take the week off and we’ll go one extra week past the schedule.

So with no class we decided to do a Costco run for my MIL. Lilah wanted to eat lunch at Costco, but I said no, so she asked if we could eat pizza at grandma’s house. (I was buying mini pizza’s for them.) So we had a lazy afternoon at the Blake’s house. The girls sat on the couch eating lunch and watching Bambi with Grandpa.

Jon had taken Eden over on Sunday night to help move the computer, and Grandma let Eden choose a VHS to take home, Bambi, but our VCR is broken, so we couldn’t watch it. When I told my in-laws why we had to return the video so soon and that some day we plan on buying a DVD VCR combo due to too many plugs,  my mother-in-law later emerged with a DVD VCR combo. She had bought it for Dara or Jason when they were moving into their group homes, and they ended up not needing it, and my in-laws don’t need it, so she gave it to us and we’re calling it an early Christmas present.

After enjoying a nice afternoon we headed home. I went to go use our bathroom only to have the light burned out and a funny smell in the room. I instant messaged Jon and since we use compact florescent he said I should turn on the bathroom fan and open the back door in our room to air it out.

Later that night when Jon came home and got around to changing the bulb he noticed the bulb had a burn mark and our breaker had been tripped.

We’re not sure what happened. I think I left the light on when I left that morning, but I’m not sure since I try to turn off all lights when I leave. I didn’t see any sparks when I tried to turn the light on so I imagine it happened while we were gone.

Either way I’m glad no real damaged happened and that we had no real fire, though we’re not positive it could have caused a fire, it’s still scary to have a burnt light bulb, a tripped breaker, and a stinky house.

The girls have been doing a lot of crafts lately. I would let them have free range with the scissors, crayons, glue, and tape until Lilah’s roll ran out.

About two weeks ago I was going to give Eden a haircut after her bath, but it got to late so we just got the girls to bed that Wednesday night.

Friday night Eden was using the scissors and she came over to me and mentioned cutting her hair. I thought she was asking me to cut her hair but as I looked at her I noticed she had a clump of hair hanging down from her hair. I pulled at it and it came out. I didn’t notice the damage at first, but then I went to the table to put up the scissors she had been using and noticed more hair on the floor.

Eden had cut her hair.

Thankfully it wasn’t too bad, like up to her hairline, and I almost kept her hair longer, because if her hair was combed just so you wouldn’t really notice her shorter hair, but for the 95 % of the time her hair is not just so, you could.

So Saturday night I cut her hair short once more.

I’ve been trying to grow out her hair, but keep it short with a cute A line type bob, but I guess I’m back to square one.

She is really cute with short hair, but I think she looks slightly boyish, especially since the pants I thought were girls I think are boy pants, they’re straight legged and just baggy on her.

I also worry that Eden might gain a complex as Lilah’s hair is long and gets done in more interesting ways, and when I have Lilah’s hair curly she gets a lot of compliments, but the one day I had Eden’s hair in pig tails before she cut it off, she wanted them out by lunch time.

She’s cute and I love her no matter how short her hair is.

What Eden cut off.

After I cut her hair.

While at the store on Friday Lilah thought up a smoothie recipe.  She then wrote it down so we could make it Friday night, but Mommy wasn’t up to it Friday night, so we made it Saturday. I was going to take pictures, but I forgot since I was making it, but I have scanned in recipe that Lilah wrote down and my translation for those of you who do not live in our house and know that Daddy’s yogurt is plain yogurt and Mommy’s yogurt is vanilla yogurt.

Here’s what she wrote out:

7 Ingredients

Mommy’s Yogurt (vanilla yogurt)
Daddy’s Yogurt (plain yogurt)
Chocolate (we used chocolate syrup, though she wanted t use the semi sweet chocolate baking chips we just bought at the store.)
Vanilla
Lilah- I think it was suppose to be By: Lilah- she’s not one of the ingredients
Sugar
Milk
Banana

Her S’s are backwards, so they look like Z’s, but she’s had a hard time with S’s lately, they usually come out looking like 3’s, so I’m just happy they’re now backwards, which is pretty typical.
I’m impressed with her spelling of milk even though it has a C instead of a K, they both say the same sound, so I’m also just happy she got all the sounds and especially the vowel. As you can see in some words, like banana, she often doesn’t hear the vowels in the words.
Also, she did this all by herself, with me only telling her that CH made the ‘ch’ sound in chocolate, though I’m not sure how to write that down. I hope you as a reader just know what sound CH makes. 😉

The smoothie was mostly like drinking banana yogurt. We didn’t need to add sugar, but we would have used honey had we needed to. We also keep the chocolate to a minimum.

It was actually pretty tasty and it’ll be interesting to see what she comes up with next.

Monday I cleaned a little.

Tuesday I did other stuff, and got very angry at Eden that morning. It was my first of a few disputes with my ornery girl.

The girls had their second song practice for the upcoming ward dinner, anyone who wants to go let me know and I’ll send you the info, and Eden participated with all her heart. I’m not sure if me being outside for the first part of it helped, or singing the song throughout the day, but either way she sang. ( I was outside talking to Sam and we both agreed that if we were having a hard day we should call the other so the girls could play and we could get adult interaction. She also had a very hard day with Britta. )

Wednesday we were gone all day. First to Target then to lunch with Anna, which was a picnic at a park that the Life learners, or unschooling group, was meeting at. After she left I waited and chatted with the different families that showed up and left early to get to my mom’s house. I then hung out at my mom’s while she embroidered names on towels for my friend. Eden fell asleep on the car ride home so Lilah and I went to get dinner. Jon actually came home around 4, but I was upstairs and hadn’t heard the cell phone ring, though the towels weren’t done so it wouldn’t have mattered much anyways. I just hate losing that time.

Thursday was the class with Beth and not a very good day.

Friday I did a grocery store run and then Sam and Britta came over for lunch and the afternoon. The girls had fun playing and we had fun talking and making granola. I also tried to pick up a hot pan with my bare hand, that didn’t feel too good and the ice pack I think saved me from getting any blisters.

I made a delicious Chicken Teriyaki for dinner, only I cut off a small part of my thumb, it’s just a tip and really not that much, though I fear it will never be quite the same, it still hurts and bled this morning when we changed my bandage. I guess I should be very careful with my Cutco knives, and I think that every time I slice something with one of them, which is more often than I care to admit.
I actually cut myself at the very beginning and carried on through cutting up the vegetables. Using only one good hand and three fingers, since my pointer finger was busy holding the paper towel to my wound. I don’t think I got any blood in it and was careful to throw out the chicken that I was cutting when I cut my finger. I’m not a restaurant, so I don’t have to be up to code. Some days are A days while others are you cut yourself and carry on so your dinner isn’t extremely late days.

Today was a bit of a lazy day. I am wounded and all. I’ve worked on my lesson, talked to my MIL, watched a movie with the girls and all that jazz. Jon went to his office to have some time alone for studying. Lilah and I posted two posts on her blog, which has been greatly neglected.

Soon it’ll be time for putting the pizza in the oven and enjoying Lilah’s smoothie creation, which will be posted on her blog soon. (She loves to make up recipes, though most are not viable ones, but this one sounds like it might work out. )

The weather is finally suppose to turn cold this upcoming week. We’ve been enjoying above average temperatures, in the 70’s during the days. I’m not a fan of Winter so while I want it to turn cold so I can wear some cute long sleeves I’ve bought, as it turns cold and I have to sit at the computer wearing a blanket, I remember why I don’t like the cold.

I’d much rather be hot than cold.

If you know my little family well, you know we don’t spend a lot of money on Christmas and gifts. We try to keep it to a minimum. Partially so it’s not some huge financial burden, partially because we want Christmas to be about more then just the gifts we receive, but mostly because I follow Jon’s wise counsel in not going into debt over a holiday. I admit the child in me wants a lot of things, but in reality the things I want, clothes and shoes, are not things my husband will ever buy for me and as the girls grow I get a little stumped on what to buy them.

Anyways, this year we decided to buy an XO laptop for Lilah. I saw it as a present for the girls, but I think it will be more Lilah’s laptop and when Eden is five, if they’re still  doing the program, we’ll hopefully be in a similar, or better situation, and will able to buy her one as well.

It arrived in the mail yesterday and Jon opened it up to check it out last night. We couldn’t do much with it because it asks for a name and we want Lilah to sent it up, blah, blah, blah. I so want to tinker with it, but I will just have to wait till Christmas.

Buy purchasing an XO laptop, we also give a laptop to a child in a poverty stricken area, so part of the expense is also tax deductible.

We thought long and hard about it, it’s not every day we drop $400 on one child, except the cost of hospital bills, if you want to count that, but decided it was a good investment and worthy charity.

Jon lists his reasons for liking the laptop on his blog. I think it’ll be fun for Lilah and I won’t have to share my computer so much. We bought a wireless Internet router since Jon will eventually be receiving a laptop for his work and so Lilah will have Internet access also. I joked that if we bought me a laptop we could get rid of our desk in front of the fireplace, but since this computer is only 2 years old, I don’t see a laptop in my future anytime soon.

I am excited for Lilah’s gift and I think she’ll have a lot of fun with it, the most challenging part being the touch pad mouse will be new to her, but it’s a real computer and it will have Internet access and different learning programs. I see it as a great learning tool for her and lots of fun.

I’ve been a crazy mom lately, and not in the good way, in the crazy temper way.  I’m sure I’ve been stressed lately, but even when I haven’t been stressed I seem to go off on little things, that are really from an accumulation of stuff.

Eden had a period where she peed on the bathroom floor once a day for about 5 days straight. She also has really not been listening lately and when the girls aren’t getting along, they are not getting along.  Lilah is doing mostly OK, though we have hard times with school sometimes. I think she is highly aware of my temper and knows when to stay out of my way because I’m mad at Eden or frustrated with something else. I try not to be angry at her when dealing with Eden, but sometimes she gets caught in the cross fire. I feel terrible because I see cautiousness in her when I’m just slightly annoyed and I don’t want her to have to walk on tip toes around me.

Today I went a little unhinged when Eden refused to get her sandals on so we could go to Beth’s. I had asked her a few times and she just didn’t want to.

I’m now enforcing an I ask them once rule and if I have to ask them twice they’re going to time out. Really it’s, I ask them once, if they don’t do it I ask them what they need to be doing and if they don’t start doing it or reply I don’t know, they go to time out.

For some reason Eden has really been testing my patience. When it was time to leave Beth’s she ran away from me instead of listening and then cried until we left, basically because I took her inside for not listening and running away. Beth and her girls felt so bad for her, but I did not because she knew what needed to be done and decided not to do it and run away from me. I think we’re both running low on patience and she’s testing the boundaries.

I’ve also enforced a cleaning up method of setting the timer for 15 minutes and they have to clean up and decide what needs to be picked up and whatever left on the floor will be taken away or thrown away if it’s paper. They’ve been making crafts constantly and it’s tiresome to always have paper on your floor. This has been working and I’m trying not to direct and say exactly what they need to pick up. Jon mentioned how I do this, so they don’t take the initiative, but instead wait for mommy to tell them what to do, or I tell them what to do before they take the initiative. I was upset at the time he told me this advice, partially because I was trying to get them to pick up and they were not doing it, but I see his wisdom in not always micromanaging, though I’m sure this is somewhat the root of my parenting problems.

Anyways, we had a better afternoon, I cuddled with Eden,  read to them and they listened well and we all took naps. I also finally got my floors mopped, though my lesson for Sunday is still unread. I guess I’ll be working on that tonight and tomorrow.

I’m highly aware that I’ve been really grumpy lately and I’m trying to remedy this by having a less chaotic home with children that do things when they’re suppose to. I guess I’ll also have to be more aware of what I’m asking them to do, so they don’t have to go to time out for little things.

Now that my obligated sewing is done I now need to make pajamas for Eden and maybe before Christmas I’ll have a robe or apron done  for me and my grumpiness will be replaced with holiday cheer.

I hope.

Lilah loves being healthy, or really eating things that will help her be healthy.

She likes flax seed because it helps her brain, or makes her smart. One time when she was reading and I said she was doing really well she said it was because of the flax seed, I said it was because she was smart and flax seed just helped her brain, but she was the smart one. She seemed to still put a lot of credit on the flax seed, which she had been eating with yogurt a lot at the time.

I watched a video on this Cookus Interruptus site. It was on how to properly cook collard greens, and the chef said how they were the most nutrient rich food on the planet, and Lilah now repeats that every time we have collard greens, which she happily eats, and always has happily eaten, even when I steamed them and they were more bitter.

Yesterday I was having some sweet potato fries that were left overs. I asked if the girls wanted any and they both said no. I said how they have vitamin A in them which is good for you eyes and then Lilah was all over having some.  She said they would help her see clearly.

I don’t know many children who will try, or eat things, just because you say they’re good for you.

At one point she swore off candy because it’s bad for you, but that didn’t last, but we also taught her that some things, even if they’re bad, are OK in moderation, or small portions.

I told my friend Sam about Lilah’s eating habits, and she asked to trade kids because her daughter is a very picky eater, and it doesn’t matter what you say, she won’t eat it if she doesn’t want to. Eden takes more of this approach and it’s kinda cute to watch Lilah try to persuade her to try something because it’s good for you.

I just hope Lilah keeps this appraoch to eating and trying new foods and that Eden someday learns from it.