A GRATEFUL HEART

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone in a whirlwind of activity and fun....it is crazy how you can spend weeks looking forward to this special day, and days preparing all the yummy foods and activities, and then the day has come and gone in the blink of an eye....

So much has been on my mind in the last couple of weeks, and I just havent taken the time to write things down. I have also still been struggling with many things, so it has been hard to write. I have a friend who has a saying "Fake it, til you make it" - meaning do it anyway, even if it is hard, eventually things will come out all right....

Today, I am writing, even though it is hard, and I will just try to keep in mind that maybe someday my efforts will will bring something positive to the future....

Moments I am thankful for:
*the ever changing colors of Fall
*the wonders of nature - breathtaking colors of sunrises that change in minutes, or seeing a low thick cloud literally stuck in the tree tops of a densely wooded hill
*holding a sick little boy snuggled in his favorite blanket (Curious Gerge) and rocking in my favorite chair
*holding a very tired little girl, snuggled in her favorite blanket (a hand crocheted afghan that belonged to her great-grandma that she is named after) rocking in that same chair, listening to lullabies on the CD player
*rain on the skylights in our room
*heaters and the fireplace in our bedroom
*listening to Kaeli laugh and sing with little people when she helps get them tucked in bed
*a husband who does dishes and laundry just about every day
*Ky asking to watch Thomas (the train) on my "puter" (computer)
*Unexpected phone calls from far away friends
*Soaking in a hot bath with jets on, a good book, and snacks on hand
*The sound of rain, frogs chirping, surf against the shore, and the white noise of a fan running
*The technology of blogs that help me keep a detailed, consistent family journal
*listening to preston and big kids as they talk about the fun they are having serving families and taking care of livestock during the long weekend
*putting together thank you baskets with my big girls
*watching Ceana smile and laugh as she chats with friends on the computer
*Ky screaming "Mom! You're Home!" and wrapping himself around my legs every time I come home from somewhere
*Days with sunshine, even if just a little bit
*Getting that perfect shot and knowing I nailed it during a shoot, esp of my kiddos
*Snickers snack size bars
*Hearing my children laughing
*Kaeli's yummy homemade bread that is just out of the oven & slathered with butter & jam
*Christmas music
*Dear friends whose hugs mean the world to me
*Dear friends who have become our family
*Reading the same picture book with Kels over and over just so she can turn the pages
*A warm home, a good stable job, food to eat, clothes to wear, a safe place to live
*Doctors and specialists who truly care and have become good friends
*Children's Tylenol & Motrin, ear thermometers, Neosporin and Band-aids
*Watching and listening to Caiden sing in the church choir
*Watching and listening to Colton as he is learning to read and seeing the light start to turn on
*Chocolate pecan pie
*Eating a friend's homemade stuffing - soooo YUMMY!
*A dear friend sharing Thanksgiving leftovers
*Hearing a dear friend tell us that she loves us, and knowing that she truly means it as much as we love them
*Watching an afternoon fill with many tiny blessings because Heavenly Father knows that sometime in the future someone is going to need my blood more than I do
*Baked potatoes and yams, esp with butter and other yummy toppings
*Celtic Woman, Josh Groban, Nat Cole and Celine Dion Christmas music
*Having fresh farm eggs in shades of green and pink mixed in with the white "store" eggs
*Watching Caiden cook and enjoy corn bread (his FAVE) muffins all by himself

I may take time to come back and edit this post as I think of more things, but this is a good start

THANXGIVING EVE

I came home from some errands to find my kitchen full of all of "my" big girls. Our 2 best friends' families had sent their big girls over to join us for a day of fun in the kitchen. I love moments like this when all the stresses have been set aside and the girls just enjoy each other creating something yummy for all of us. I found myself in a much lighter mood too, which was a great relief to have a small moment of peace and lightness in all of the struggles I continue with.
Having all the big girls there was not only fun, but a HUGE help! They knocked out all the yummy goodies we needed to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner in a very short time, 3 of which they had done all by themselves before I even had gotten home. The big girls really did all of the work, and I was mostly just there to supervise...here is a list of all the goodies:
great grandma's family recipe brownies, yummy potatoes, everything from scratch cherry pies, new recipe pumpkin cake(with cream cheese frosting!), homemade bread and rolls, chocolate cream pies, great grandma's famous tomato soup cake (our favorite tweak is to add choc chips and make muffins),pie crust cookies, and ORCA fruit salad.
Part of the fun, of course, is being able to eat all these yummy things. Our 3 families very much enjoyed eating the "fruits" of our labors and will always remember this special day spent together!
Kaeli is also our awesome frosting maker. She did 2 different kinds of frosting for yummy treats. Of course she got to lick the beaters too...at least for the choc frosting. None of the kids were too impressed with the cream cheese frosting, but it sure was yummy to me!
Ky usually doesnt want me to take his picts...but since all the big girls were getting their picts taken he wanted one too...I love the way this turned out because of the unusual angle - he is just such a squirt I just tilted the camera down and took his pict standing right under the camera...his eyes are a little droppy because (we didnt realize at the time) the poor little mister has picked up a nasty cold....

THANXGIVING EVE I

Kels was not content to sit and miss out on all the action. The girls hollered at me and I turned around and this is what I found - Kels right in the middle of everything with the big girls. I really had a hard time taking picts, we were all hysterical - as you can see by JaNay laughing her head off....It really is no wonder that Kels is doing and saying so much. She doesnt let things go by her at all - she wants in on everything, and we usually let her....

Kels wanted to help JaNay, so she started sprinkling the flour into the pie crusts. JaNay couldnt stop laughing and the more we laughed, the more Kels "helped"

All ky wanted to do to help was to "cut" the dough. Ceana was so sweet with him to help him use the lattice tool to cut out the pieces for the top crust. He thought he was big stuff and it was fun to find such a simple way to make him so happy.

THANXGIVING EVE II

I had Morgan help me with the homemade cherry filling for the pies. She was so awesome at it too. The filling turned out such a perfect, beautiful color! Way to go Morgan and thanx tons for helping!

Kaeli also put the lattice crust on the pies - she said she wanted to be "Snow White" - she put lattice tops on her pies too apparently....

Kaeli's beautiful bread. She really is amazing, I just dont know how she does it - a blessing of a gift given to be awesome in the kitchen!

ORCA IS FUN

Caiden and I have been having lots of fun with his Social Studies this term. He has had lots of fun and interesting assignments and activities to do. He had this project awhile ago - but I realized I never posted it.
Caiden had to create and color 3 different maps of of the western region of the US - a resource map, a political map (states and capitals), and a climate map. We had a challenge looking up all the things about each of the states in our region, but it was a lot of fun too. Caiden was very proud of the work that he did and we are proud of him too.

MISS CHEF I

Kaeli really does love to be in the kitchen. She esp loves working with dough, she thinks it is fun to play in it and be able to create things
She ran to come and find me to take this pict. She thought it was cool and fun that the dough had risen so high. It was pretty warm in the kitchen with the fireplace going, the heater on and the oven on - it had plenty of heat to do its thing

I was shocked when I got this smile flashed at me. When I wanted to take picts of her when she got started she covered her face with her arms and held the cookbook up so I couldnt see her. I went away and then got it out when she was finishing. I think by then she was enjoying herself so much she didnt mind the camera.

All Kaeli's hard work definately paid off - 5 beautiful pizzas - boy were they YUMMY!

OUR MISS CHEF II

The pizzas all turned out so pretty - and VERY yummy! Kaeli made cheese (boys' favorites), cheesburger (her fave) and meatlovers (her dad's fave). We had enough pizzas for several meals plus we put a whole pizza in the freezer! Kaeli did a really great job - thanx sissy for doing so awesome and being so willing to help!
The little kiddos were more than happy to dig in. I think I lost track of how many pieces colton ate....

KINDERGARTEN OR ART SCHOOL?

One of colton's lessons today focused on writing poems. Seems a big task to give kinder kiddos but we got through it. Colton's lesson have what are called "Brain Pops" - short videos with characters that tell about the day's lesson. Today both the little boys couldnt wait to watch Annie (girl) and Moby (a robot) tell about writing poems. They liked it so much we watched it TWICE!
After watching Annie and Moby tell about all the different kinds of poems Colton was assigned to write one of his own. He really liked the idea of a "shape" poem - where a poem is written on a cut out shape. They used the example of a horse in the video clip, so that is what Colton chose too. I wasnt too sure that he would understand how to write a poem - but he sure surprised me. He had really listened to the video and came up with this all on his own. I did the writing for him today as he did ALOT of writing on his own for his other assignments.
I will write here what the poem says since the pict isnt too clear. Pretty good for an almost 7 year old:

A horse says "Neigh, neigh." Giddiyap, giddiyap! Fast is fun! Yee Haw! Fast IS fun! Whoa, horsie. Walk. Stop. Let's go get an apple for our snack.

Colton's schedule seems to be filled with art projects that go with just about every lesson. We started a "homework wall" for the kids' projects thinking we would fill it up eventually - except that colton's projects just in the last 3 months have filled up one whole wall already! It has been fun to see his progress through his projects. His handwriting has really come along in the last month especially and he is getting much better with all of his fine motor skills in many areas. I am not sure where we are going to put colton's projects for the rest of the year. We may have to keep things up one quarter at a time and just do a big pict like this at the end of each term. Will have to figure out something soon.....

MAD SCIENTIST AT WORK

Ceana spent most of her Saturday working on science experiments for school. It has been interesting having her studying chemisty this year and challening to have to track down all of the materials she needs. We ended up having to special order something this week because even though it is a common chemical compound, it has been pulled off the market for the general public because it has been used in inappropriate ways....crazy.
Ceana made me promise to mention something funny that happened today while she was working. Caiden kept laughing at her and her goggles. She started to make faces at him with her goggles on and he replied "You are one MAD scientist!" She thought it was funny....

Ceana had several sets of experiments going all at once. Not sure what exactly she was supposed to learn, but it looked like it was interesting and she was having fun. One thing we all learned was how to clean up after using and combining the chemicals and natural ingredients.

In the pict above Ceana was watching the mixture she had put together literally BREATHE - it was really kind of freaky to watch the yeast mixture go up and down as if it was breathing. It kind of gave me the creeps, but she was fascinated. As much as she loves science and math, and has a natural gift with animals of all shapes and sizes, it is no wonder she is considering becoming a veternarian.

LITTLE BIG GIRL

Kels thinks she is a big girl! She spends part of every day watching the boys play on the Wii. One night she was up late with us and she wanted to play the Wii with Ceana. We let her have a go, thinking she would just stand on the board - well, we should have known better! She has figured out things from watching the boys! It was really hysterical watching her, she knew exactly what to do!
Colton's favorite game is the Ski Jump and apparently it is kels's too!
She knew exactly what to do - she got in a squat position as she watches the boys do....

and she knew right where to jump up to follow the instructions on the Wii. She gave herself a "high five fist" because she was so excited. I could hardly take the picts because Ceana and I were laughing so hard!

Just had to get a picture of her cute little toes in her snuggy PJ's - the feet are a little long, but the leggings were too little. I think this is the last time I actually got these on her.

LETTER PANCAKES MADE WITH LOVE

Tonight was pancakes and eggs for dinner, again. It seems we are getting into a "back to basics" meal plan more often than not. Everyone eating in shifts, eating what we can fix and eat quickly, etc.
I started pancakes, just the normal round kind....Kaeli asked if she could make them, and then gave in to the little boys begging for letter pancakes. She loves to be in the kitchen, no matter how many times a day. I think she enjoys doing the extra fun stuff as much as the boys enjoy eating them. While she made pancakes the little boys were perched on either side of her. She and Colton did math with pancakes and Ky "recited" his ABC's as he tried singing the song and guessing the letters Kaeli was making. It was fun to watch and listen to them spend that special time together.
Here are some of her fun creations....

I got surprised with this darling plate of pancakes - complete with butter and syrup just the way I like them. Kaeli never hestitates to spoil me, esp when it comes to bringing me yummy food surprises

You can see there aren't many letter pancakes left. The boys eat them almost as fast as Kaeli can make them. She always makes enough so that each of the boys have pancakes letters that are in their name, and they are more than happy to eat as many as she will make.

KELS IS 18 MONTHS OLD!

Well, Kels is officially 18 months old as of yesterday. I just dont know where the time has flown to, it has gone even faster with her being the last of our little people.

She went to nursery yesterday for the first time. I didnt think she would have any troubles, but had my doubts when we arrived and several little people were screaming and there were way too many kiddos and adults in the tiny room they have set up for the nursery....

I sat her down at the table with a book and a car though, and that was that. She was perfectly content to be amid all the chaos, guess it really isnt much different from what goes on at home every day....:)

I watched her for a few minutes through the window and I laughed at the puzzled look she had on her face, she just watched all the chaos around her with a look that seemed to say "what is the problem?" and just took it all in stride.

I think it was hardest for me yesterday. It felt really strange to be without a little person in tow. Sitting in adult only classes without keeping an eye out for a little person wandering the chapel, or eating the teacher's eraser caked in chalk, or clanging my keys against the air vent on the floor. I am sure I will get used to it eventually, but for now it is a big change.

I am hoping to do a photo shoot with kels soon. The weather has just been so icky, it might mean pulling out all of the studio equipment during the break next week. It will be fun to get some new picts of her, she still changes so much every day, and has changed tons since we had family picts taken in July. I will be sure to get them posted as soon as I can. It will be so important to get new picts if I can, she just is changing and growing so much, she is not my little baby anymore....

"It's raining, it's pouring, the old man ..."

Someone mentioned to me yesterday that "When it rains, it pours." We're in a bit of a drizzle right now. Just when we'd decided to purchase a white noise generator to try to help Rory sleep and maybe help Ceana concentrate when doing homework, my PDA died. And my cell phone has been acting strangely. OK, so Santa is going to deliver some electronics to the Baxter parents a bit early. Then on my way home from work late last night, I got a flat. I'm talking a blown-out sidewall jobbie that Mr. Schwab isn't going to be able to fix. Too bad it happened way after dark, on a rural highway with no lights or shoulder, in the rain, and I found I didn't have an adequate flashlight in the truck. Thankfully I was close enough to home that Rory drove out with the van to shine some light on the situation. I was trying to clench one of those keychain LED lights in my teeth while placing the tire jack under the truck frame, while at the same time dodging cars since I was laying in the traffic lane.

So I find myself still at home this morning, waiting for the local tire shop to open. Not looking forward to the sticker shock when the tires (which were nearing the end of their useful life anyway) get replaced. I'm guessing Santa will be about tapped out this year, and it's not even Thanksgiving yet.

At least it didn't rain ON the Veterans' Day parade yesterday. And actually, it didn't start raining on the early-morning memorial ceremony until just when the 21-gun salute started (quite appropriate). And when I went to bed at 11pm last night after helping Ceana with math, then got up at 4:45 to head to the gym, Ceana was STILL UP DOING HOMEWORK - she REALLY wanted to get caught up so she could regain her GMAIL / Facebook / friend party / high school football game priviledges. Yes, she made it.

Are we having fun yet?

Thanksgiving Salad I

One of Colton's Social Studies assignments for school was to make a Thanksgiving salad. He has lots of fun assignments this month with the holiday coming. We are trying to get him finished in time to receive the 2nd set of his Kindergarten cirriculum early, so we are having fun and flying through all of his holiday assignments.
Here Colton has all of his ingredients ready to go. He was very excited to get to "cook" all by himself.
Colton loves using the nut chopper to "crunch things" - he did his best, though his arm strength isnt quite there yet. He tried hard and did a good job!

He added lots of nuts to the salad. Normally he doesnt like nuts at all, but he sure liked them in this salad.

One of Colton's favorite snacks is mandarin oranges - esp when I let him eat them right out of the can. This salad called for them, and boy was he excited! He had fun "sprinkling" in all of the chopped ingredients.

Thanksgiving Salad II

I have to admit, this is becoming a new favorite snack at our house. We had never even heard of craisins before a friend brought a yummy dinner with a salad that had craisins and nuts - now we are eating them lots! Thanx Allison for bringing such a yummy dinner and a yummy new snack to our house!
The tradition continues....I am notorious for snacking while cooking, so do my kiddos....who am I to fuss though, when the snack and meal are healthy! Colton really loves apples, so this was a fun salad for him to make with some of his favorite things!

Adding the last ingredient - yummy Cool Whip

Colton was SO excited that he made this salad pretty much all by himself. This pict doesnt show it very well, but it really is a pretty salad with all the colors

Thanksgiving Salad III

Colton couldnt wait to get his first taste of his homemade salad.
Colton never eats anything with a regular spoon - he always chooses a serving spoon - as you can see that bite is WAY more than he can fit in his mouth -

That never seems to hinder him at all though....

And he is always VERY proud of himself when he shoves it all in. Plus he was very proud and excited that he had made a salad all by himself!

We discovered that we liked the salad so much that it didnt last long at all. In fact, we are making another one today....it is fun that we have found something yummy and easy and mostly healthy. Here is the way easy recipe if you want to try some yourself -

Craisins (1/2 cup-ish), 2 cans mandarin oranges (drained), 2 chopped apples (we did 1 red and 1 green), chopped nuts (we used pecans, but anything would work), small container of Cool Whip. Combine all ingredients, serve immediately for best results. We did have some last overnight, but it got a little runny with the oranges diluting the cream - still way yummy, just didnt look as pretty. Enjoy! I know we will!