2008 Christmas Letter

Christmas Greetings from the Cleveland household! It’s hard to believe that the Christmas season is upon us already. Since last year our letter was all about what was new in our lives, I thought this year we’d focus on the more mundane aspects of our lives and describe a typical day for each of us.

But first, a few quick lines about some of the key events of our year, for those of you who haven’t heard from us since last year. Annette managed to keep out of the hospital this year (hooray!), but in October she did have outpatient surgery on her left eye to create a new tear duct since the original one (which worked just fine for nearly forty years) was blocked. She had pretty spectacular bruising and swelling for about a week, but it is healing nicely now (the incision is barely visible) and it appears the surgery was successful since that eye is no longer watering incessantly. Last year we were lamenting that we weren’t able to visit anyone and no one was able to come see us after Seth was born, so we feel blessed this year that we enjoyed visits from Dean (close family friend) in February; Granny Cleveland, Dawn & Mike in May, Uncle Hans in June, and Grandma & Grandpa Pew in October. We were also able to visit all of Frank’s family in North Carolina in August; we did some camping too! So now Seth has FINALLY met all his grandparents—and it’s about time, too. They all adore him, of course! Tanner just recently turned 12 and was ordained a Deacon. He also enjoyed a “sleep over” birthday party with some of his friends and they were all well behaved, so we actually got some sleep…amazing!

Granny Cleveland playing with Seth

Seth loves Uncle Mike!

The boys contemplating the Vietnam Memorial while on a trip into DC for the day, with Granny Cleveland, Dawn & Mike

Celebrating Seth's 1st Birthday!

Don't bug me--I'm eating my birthday cake.

Seth with Grandpa & Grandma Pew

Enjoying the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina

Annette & the boys cooling their feet in the Davidson River (NC)

The boys on the porch of our cabin--camping in NC

So now, without further ado, here is a Day in the Life of…

Frank: Up at 5:00 am (if not earlier). Wake up Scott if he hasn’t appeared by 5:15. After showering, wake up Annette for prayers before leaving for work. Tell Scott to get out of the shower; remind him that a 20 minute shower is too long! Drive to work, which is usually in the Rockville area. Spend 8 hours solving multiple IT issues for desperate clients (many phone calls and other interruptions!). Drive home. Help make dinner. Play with Seth. (Often, more calls and e-mails from desperate clients!) Exercise. Encourage boys to do homework. Help shuttle boys to evening activities. Family prayers and scriptures. Send kids to bed. Try to relax in front of television while working remotely on laptop, solving more IT issues for desperate clients. Scriptures and prayers with Annette. Collapse!

I guess he likes his present!

Annette: Usually, wake up to the sound of Frank’s shower running. If she didn’t sleep well (too frequent), roll over and go back to sleep for a few minutes. Wake up again when Scott gets in the shower. Think what a great kid he is. Smile. Roll over and go back to sleep for a few more minutes, until Frank wakes her up for prayers. After Frank leaves, go back to sleep until the alarm goes off at 6:30. If she did sleep well (not often enough), get up when Frank gets up. Enjoy the chance to read scriptures in peace and quiet! Tell Scott to get out of the shower; remind him that the water bill has gone up 50% in the last year. Go downstairs to eat breakfast. Say good bye to Scott; feel glad that he thinks hugging his mom is cool. Take a shower before Seth wakes up. Hear Seth stirring, go get him out of his crib. Snuggle for a while. Wake up Jared and Tanner at 7:30. Wake up Tanner again at 7:45. Wake up Tanner again at 8:00. Remind Jared to stop playing with Seth and go get dressed. Remind Jared to stop playing with Seth and go brush his teeth. Remind Jared to stop playing with Seth and go make his lunch. Feed and dress Seth. Get everybody out the door by 8:40. Drive Jared & Tanner to school. Run errands, if necessary, on the way home. Arrive home and begin the work for that day (laundry and vacuuming on Mondays & Thursdays, bathrooms on Tuesdays…) Stop frequently to play with Seth, to read a book to Seth, to change Seth’s diaper, to clean up a mess made by Seth, to marvel at how cute Seth is…. Eat lunch. Put Seth down for a nap. Spend the next couple of hours doing all those many things on her “to do” list that she can’t do when Seth is awake: read a book, check e-mail and blogs (keep in touch with family), fold clothes (or any other household chore that he is likely to “undo” as fast as she does it), return phone calls, prepare “Sharing Time” for Primary, even take a nap sometimes! Welcome Scott home at 2:30. Pick up Seth when he wakes up. Go pick up Jared & Tanner from school at 3:45. Simultaneously help everybody do homework, make dinner, and try to keep Seth happy. (His “crabby time”.) Take boys to soccer practice, or scouts, or whatever is going on that night. Family scripture and prayer. Send older kids to bed. Put Seth down. Try to get a few more “to do” list items done before bed. Scriptures and prayers with Frank. Collapse!

Annette's turn for presents

Scott (14, 9th grade): Alarm goes off at 5:00 am. Go back to sleep until 5:15. Get up (on his own most mornings) and get in the shower. Stay in the shower until Mom or Dad reminds him to get out. (Just trying to wake up….) Go downstairs; eat breakfast and make lunch while watching early morning cartoons. Leave for Seminary (scripture study class for high school age students) at 6:10 (ride with Breanna, Haley, William & Ellen—laugh, talk, tease). Seminary from 6:15 to 7:00. Ride to school (with the same group—more laughing, talking, and teasing); school starts at 7:20. Digital Photography, Government, Intro to Physics & Chemistry, lunch, Cultures & Cuisines. Carry all books and supplies around in a heavy backpack all day because his locker is “too far away”. Meet Breanna, Haley, William & Ellen for ride home—laugh, talk, tease some more. At home, eat a snack. Lie on the couch and watch a little television. Feel tired (sometimes drift off for a few minutes). Play with Seth when he gets up. Do homework (not much, not often) and relax while Mom goes to pick up Jared & Tanner. Get hungry again. Ask mom what’s for dinner. Sometimes, go to Joey’s house (neighbor) to hang out until dinner time. Eat dinner. Do dishes. Go to scouts or other evening activities. Family scriptures and prayer. Go to bed at 8:00; read for an hour. Collapse!

Wading in the water in NC

Tanner (12, 7th grade): Wake up to Mom’s urging at 7:30. Pretend to be awake, but roll over and go back to sleep as soon as she goes back upstairs. Wake up again to Mom’s voice at 7:45. Groan, roll over, and go back to sleep as soon as she leaves. Wake up again at Mom’s insistence at 8:00. Smile at Seth as he climbs all over you. Groan and drag out of bed. Get dressed. Go upstairs and eat breakfast, make lunch, and brush teeth quickly. Usually ready before Jared, although he got up 30 minutes earlier. Out the door by 8:40. School starts at 9:00. Math, Language Arts, Social Studies or Science, lunch, “Specials” (art, music, or PE). Socialize with friends too much. Miss the teacher’s instructions some of the time. Forget to hand in homework often. Home at 4:00. Eat a snack. Watch television. Do homework (lots of it, nearly every day). Wish he could go play with friends instead of doing homework. Get hungry. Ask mom what’s for dinner. Do more homework. Eat dinner. Do dishes. Go to scouts or other evening activities. Family scriptures and prayer. Go to bed at 8:00; read for an hour. Have trouble going to sleep.

The water is cold!

Jared (10, 5th grade): Wake up to Mom’s voice at 7:30. Usually get up right away. Go downstairs; sit on couch until Mom says to eat breakfast. Eat breakfast. Play with Seth until Mom says to go get dressed. Go upstairs to get dressed. Get distracted by toys or books in room. Finally get dressed. Go downstairs and play with Seth until Mom reminds him to make his lunch. Make lunch. Play with Seth until Mom tells him to go brush his teeth. Go upstairs to brush teeth. Get distracted on the way. Finally brush teeth. Leave for school. School starts at 9:00. Morning message, morning work period, lunch, “specials”, recess, reading until dismissal. Work diligently; try to get as much done as possible. Work alone and with friends. Be a friend to everybody! Home at 4:00. Eat a snack. Watch television. Do homework (some days, not usually a lot). Get hungry again. Ask Mom what’s for dinner. Go play with Joey some days until dinner. Eat dinner. Do dishes. Got to scouts, soccer, or other evening activity. Family scriptures and prayer. Go to bed at 8:00; read for an hour. Sing. Go to sleep.

Enjoying the sun in NC

Seth (18 months): Wake up between 7:00 – 7:30, usually. Turn on aquarium soother. Make noise and wait by the side of the crib until Mom comes to get him. Give Mom an ear-to-ear grin when he sees her. Snuggle with Mom until ready to be “fully awake”. Help wake up Tanner and Jared. Climb all over Tanner and stare in his face until he wakes up. Eat. Play. Go to closet for coat and shoes when big brothers are getting theirs on. Say “shoes.” Go with Mom to drop off Tanner & Jared at school. Go with Mom to do errands; charm the socks off of everybody he meets with his beautiful dimples and green / brown eyes. Go home. Help Mom with chores. Explore the house while Mom works. Empty drawers and cupboards. Check to see if Scott & Tanner’s door is open (fascinating place to play). Check to see if Jared’s door is open (fascinating place to play). Check to see if the bathroom doors are open (fascinating places to play). Pull books off shelves. Try to open refrigerator. Pull on Mom’s hand, point and show her what he wants. Beg to go outside on the deck. On the deck, point to trees, birds, airplanes. Charm Mom by saying “tree”. Play hide and seek with Mom. Play chase with Mom. Play roll on the floor with Mom. Listen to Mom read books. Eat lunch. Throw food on floor to let Mom know he’s done. Fall asleep on Mom’s shoulder while playing with her hair and listening to music. Dream for 2 or 3 hours. Wake up; cry until Mom comes. Go downstairs with Mom; notice that Scott is home; smile. Go for a ride in the car to get Jared & Tanner. Point to all the dogs. Point at all the cars. Back at home, feel crabby because everybody is so busy. Hang on to Mom’s legs and whine while she cooks. Smile really big when Daddy comes home. Play with Daddy; laugh a lot. Eat dinner. Throw food on floor to let Mom & Dad know he’s done. Play more. Family scriptures and prayer (fold arms when he sees everyone else doing it; say own “prayer” sometimes). Bedtime at 8:00: hugs & kisses from everybody, teeth brushed, point to animals on Noah’s Ark nightlight while Mom names them, put head on Mom’s shoulder and play with her hair while she sings Primary songs, smile at Mom when she lays him down in crib with more hugs & kisses, pull up blankets, turn on aquarium soother, listen to these words: “I love you, my precious angel; good night; sleep well”. Drift to sleep while hugging two teddy bears, playing with his hair, and listening to the music from the aquarium soother.

` Out on the deck--one of Seth's favorite places!

That turned out to be a lot longer than I planned (can you tell who I’m with all day?), but I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into “real life at the Cleveland home”.

We hope that this Christmas season finds all of you—our families and friends—healthy and happy. We love to remember the birth of our Savior and rejoice all year in the great gifts of peace, joy, and redemption that He has so lovingly and mercifully given us. Our love and best wishes for a wonderful 2009!

Weekly Review December 6 '08

Well, Sunday was crazy again. First of all, we forgot to set the alarm and Seth did not sleep well at all, so we didn’t wake up until 7:20. We were in a mad dash to get everybody out the door on time, and then Frank noticed while bathing Seth that he (Seth) had a rash of tiny red dots all over him. We called the doctor and found out they weren’t open until noon, and thinking that the rash was probably just a reaction to the new medicine he started on Saturday, we decided to go ahead with our plans to go to church—especially since Tanner was supposed to be ordained a Deacon, and Frank and I both wanted to be there for that.

During Sacrament Meeting, Tanner was given his certificate of advancement from the Primary and asked to recite an Article of Faith. He chose to do number four. At the end of the meeting, Frank found the bishop and asked if we could take care of Tanner’s ordination right away since he wanted to take Seth home (limit his exposure to other people). The bishop agreed to that, so we met in his office and Frank did the ordination. The bishop also did the setting apart for Scott—he’s 2nd counselor in the Teacher’s Quorum now. The YM president came also, but other than that, it was just our family. It was nice, though. Scott was joking that he had provided a “replacement” for himself in the Deacon’s Quorum. I told him no, actually Frank and I did that!

After that I took Frank and Seth home so that I would have a car at the end of church to bring the other boys home. (I had to find a substitute for some “no show” teachers first, though!) By that time, Seth’s rash looked a little more pronounced, so we thought it was a good idea to take him home. I arranged to meet Frank at the doctor’s office later, since he planned to go right at noon—it was a walk-in clinic.

I got back to church just in time for the second hour of Primary. Because it was a 5th Sunday, they had a special combined RS / Priesthood meeting that included all the youth; they learned all about the new Family Search program. We had a copy of the short video about that, and had arranged to show it to all the Primary teachers during singing times, so I got to see it also.

After church I took the boys home and then went to the doctor’s office. I met Frank there; they were already back in a room waiting to be seen by the doctor. The doctor did not think the rash looked like an allergic rash, but more like a viral rash. But just in case, he changed the antibiotic again. I wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of starting all over again on a 10 day antibiotic (Seth was on one for 7 days before we switched, and the second one only had to be taken for 5 days) but we do what we have to do to get them well! The new medicine smells terrible, and I’m sure it tastes terrible too since Seth spits half of it out every time we give it to him! We got home from the doctor and put Seth down for a nap; I got to take a nap too! Frank finished dinner—we tried a new crock pot recipe; turkey pot pie with a cornbread crust. It was really good except Frank got a little excited and added too much red pepper, so it had a little too much “kick” to it!

When Seth woke up from his nap, the rash had gotten much darker and more pronounced. Frank was worried, so we called the doctor on call who turned out to be our regular doctor, and the one who saw Seth on Saturday. He recommended that we give him Benadryl, just in case the rash was an allergic reaction to the medicine. Other than that, he said we shouldn’t worry. We didn’t have any Benadryl in the house, so Frank went out to get some. Seth slept better that night, and I had to wake him up when it was time to take the boys to school. But if anything, the rash was worse that day than the day before! It was darker and had progressed from little dots to being blotchy. He also had an incredibly runny nose and cried a little whenever he coughed. I felt so bad for him. Monday and Tuesday nights were both bad nights for Seth; I had to wake him up both Tuesday and Wednesday mornings as well. But the rash did start to fade on Tuesday and Seth’s other symptoms started to abate somewhat as well. By Wednesday he was well enough that I felt I could start taking him out in public again. The rash is still visible on his cheeks in the mornings, though. Here are some pictures of Seth's rash. I 'm not sure how well they will come out, but we tried! The first two were taken Sunday evening; the third one was taken Monday morning.:

So the beginning of the week, we were just in “survival mode”. I admit I was feeling pretty discouraged and exhausted, going into week #4 with a sick baby. But things got better by mid-week, and a few pleasant things happened. On Wednesday evening, for example, we had our Quarterly Enrichment Meeting for RS. They did a short program featuring Mary, the mother of Jesus. One sister portrayed Mary and shared her thoughts, interspersed with scripture readings from Matthew and Luke read by two narrators and lots of Christmas hymns, sung by the audience. I loved it! It was the perfect way to start out the Christmas season, I thought. Afterwards we had lots of yummy appetizers and desserts.

I was also able to get quite a bit of Christmas shopping done, and feel like I have a pretty good handle on Christmas preparations in general. On Wednesday while Seth was napping, I managed to cut out a skirt that I’ve been wanting to make for a long time—I’ve had the fabric for years! It’s a winter / holiday outfit, so I’m hoping to get it finished to wear for Christmas. We’ll see! It’s a simple skirt, and the blouse that goes with it is done except for buttons and buttonholes (also been done for years), so I may be able to pull it off. I also worked on Sharing Time and some other things for Primary that I have been meaning to get to for over a month. So overall, I feel like I checked a lot of things off my “to do” list (or at least made progress in the right direction) and I am always happier when I’m able to do that!

Frank has been busy, too. He is exercising most days. He has also been working on getting all the computers set up for the wards in our stake. He has run into a lot more problems than he anticipated, so it is taking longer than he’d hoped. Tuesday was his really early day at FSA, and that was one of the nights Seth didn’t sleep well, so he was very tired that day and then got home much later than he should have because of an accident on the freeway, but still managed to get some stuff done on the computers.

Frank had to stay late at FSA on Thursday, so he went in a little later than usual. I took Jared to Border’s after school so he could spend a gift card he received for his birthday. He was able to get two books that he really wanted, and actually could have got three, but we didn’t realize how much was on the card. His friend had written $20 on it, but when he checked out we discovered it was actually $25. Pretty generous, I thought! We also stopped at the post office to pick up the package from Tim & Rachelle, which for some reason I didn’t hear the mailman knock when he tried to deliver it. (I know I was home.) Thanks, Tim & Rachelle! I got home and got dinner made and we all ate before Frank got home. Thankfully, Seth entertained himself while I cooked—doesn’t happen very often! I was experimenting with Mom’s potato soup recipe, and I think it turned out pretty good. Frank likes soup kind of thick, so I made a white sauce with the milk instead of just adding the milk by itself, and I also cooked some onions and mushrooms in the bacon grease and added those. Scott and Tanner loved it. Jared didn’t like it, but Jared doesn’t like anything, so that was no surprise. Frank and I enjoyed it, too.

Friday was Tanner’s birthday party. All of the schools in the county had a 2 hour early release, and since Tanner & Jared’s school always get out one hour earlier on Fridays, they were out by 12:45. Frank was able to do work from home which was helpful—I was able to put Seth down for a nap before I had to go pick up the boys.

I’ve decided that I really like the parties for the older kids, because they require so little work on my part! I actually kept forgetting that we were having the party this week! All I had to do was make a cake, buy some paper products and a few snack items. The kids are happier entertaining themselves so I don’t have to plan any activities or anything. I didn’t have to get favors, either—the Primary president mentioned to us about a month ago that we were going to have about 16 extra birthday favors (the ones we give to the Primary kids for their birthdays) and wanted to know if any of us could use some of them. They are little cardboard boxes that look like a piece of cake, and they are full of little toys like bouncy balls and also a few pieces of candy. So I snagged some of those.

Tanner only invited 4 kids (I was surprised he didn’t want more) so it was a smaller group, which was also nice. He invited one friend from church and 3 friends from school, but 2 of the school friends are from previous years and they no longer go to his school. That meant that most of the kids didn’t really know each other, and I was concerned about that, but it turned out that everyone got along great. I brought one school friend home with us when I picked the boys up, and the other 3 boys all arrived by 4:00. It was just a really good group of kids—well behaved and pleasant. They all spent the afternoon and evening mostly playing various video and computer games, and they were all good about taking turns so I think everybody got a turn to do everything they wanted to do. They surprised me and actually chose to go outside to play for a while. That didn’t last long because it was so cold, but I was glad they chose to do that at all!

We ordered pizza for dinner; we also had cake and ice cream sundaes. One boy couldn’t spend the night; his mom came to get him around 10:30. We had the rest of the boys lie down at midnight and told them they could talk until 1:00, but they needed to keep it down since we didn’t want Seth to wake up. Frank and I were both asleep by 12:30, and although I woke up for a while around 1:30, it was quiet and neither of us heard a peep out of any of the boys until about 6:40. We were surprised when they said that they had awakened several times and played some more during the night—they must have done a great job of being quiet! We fed them pancakes and sausages for breakfast, and then they all played some more until their parents came to get them around 10:00. Overall, I was very pleased with how the party turned out. It was a lot less wild than I remember Scott’s party being! (Not that his was bad, just louder.) I told the parents I would have that group of kids back over anytime, because they were so well behaved and seemed to have a lot of fun together. Tanner is good at picking out friends, I guess! Here's a few pictures of the party:

The cake

Matt & Will

Jared & Ryan

Tanner, ready to blow out the candles.

Opening gifts

Brenndon & Scott

Frank is at the church today trying to get more computers set up. The boys are currently playing with a new video game that Tanner got from one of his friends, but I am going to make them stop soon and do some scouts and get a few chores done. I purposely didn’t plan to get a lot done today since I knew we’d all be tired, but I do still need to finish up sharing time and get all the floors cleaned—including vacuuming, since a lot of mulch and dried leaves got dragged in the house on boys’ shoes yesterday.

I guess I will be taking Tanner out shopping some day soon because he got a gift card from one friend for Game Stop (a local store that sells new & used games and gaming systems) and money from another friend. Both were pretty generous amounts, so he has a pretty tidy sum to spend when he puts them together.

I think I mentioned that last week I put up some of the Christmas decorations. We have a long shelf on the upstairs stairwell and I put lots of Christmas trinkets all along the shelf. Seth is very fascinated by them, so now several times a day we go along the shelf and I pick up each object, one by one, so he can see them, and I tell him the name of each one. He tries to say the names, but he gets mixed up and usually calls Santa Claus “Jesus”. He calls baby Jesus “Jesus”, too, though! He likes to sniff the candles, also! It’s very cute.

Seth is getting better at communicating all the time, both verbally and otherwise. His non verbal communication is so cute. If he wants me to sit down beside him, he will look at me and then pat the seat next to him. On Thursday Jared bought some chocolate truffles at Borders. He was sharing them with us in the car on the way home. He gave one to Tanner and one to me (for me to share with Seth) and then started eating his own. I heard Seth making those noises he makes when he wants something. I turned to look at him, and he had his mouth wide open and was vigorously pointing into his mouth with his finger. That really made us all laugh! He is getting to be a handful in some ways, especially at stores (wiggles out of the seatbelt and wants to wander the aisles), but he is also at such a cute age where he is doing so many new things. We are really enjoying him! We are glad he finally seems to be on the road to recovery. We hope all of you are well, too. Let us know how you are doing, please!

Late Slips

My kids started attending a charter school back in 2002. There is no bus service, so for the last 6 years (this is my 7th year) I have driven my kids to school and back every school day. I think it's to my credit that we have not been late very many times--maybe 4 or 5 times a year. But on those days that we are late, we have to go inside to fill out a late slip. Having to go inside is torture in and of itself--especially now that I have to get Seth in and out of the carseat! (Besides, it seems inevitable that we are always late on days that I haven't had a chance to get a shower yet! I really extremely dislike going out in public unshowered.)


Now here is my gripe about the late slips. Most of it is fairly easy--child's name, teacher, time in. But then there is that last line--"Reason". Reason? You want to know why we were late? The problem is, half the time I really don't know. We were just late, ok? I mean, everybody is just late sometimes! There was the day that I was calmly driving to school and we were almost there, and Tanner said "We're late." I looked at the clock. It said 9:05. How did that happen?! I didn't think we left late. I wasn't feeling the need to hurry because I thought we were on time. What am I supposed to put on the late slip? We got caught in a time warp? Because honestly, I think that's what happened!

Then there are the days that everybody just dawdles around. Jared is the worst offender. He would rather play with Seth than anything else. What am I supposed to write on the late slip? "Loves his baby brother too much"? I mean, the line is not long enough to fit "He kept playing with his brother in spite of my repeated (sometimes loud and angry) reminders that he needed to get ready for school." It also isn't long enough to fit in something like "the baby was up every two hours all night long, so I couldn't get up when I needed to; somebody lost their shoes; there was no bread for sandwiches; and in spite of all that, we were leaving just in the nick of time when the baby had one of those explosive, out-the-back-up-to-the-shoulders-messy diapers so I had to clean him all up first, and so then in spite of my valiant efforts we were late."

Oh, and PS--having to take the time to fill out this dumb late slip just made my child 5 minutes later!

Look How He's Grown!

Now that Seth is 18 months old, I thought it would be fun to have a "pictorial" look back over his life. I tried to find pictures that were close to each "month" anniversary. It's amazing to see how much he's grown and changed! It went by so fast!

Day 1

About 2 weeks old

1 month old

2 months old

3 months old

4 months old

5 months old

6 months old

7 months old

8 months old

9 months old

10 months old

11 months old

1 year!

13 months old

14 months old

15 months old

16 months old

17 months old

18 months!

You've come a long way, Seth! We look forward to many more....

Weekly Review November 29 '08

We had another busy week, but not as busy as the last couple of weeks have been, I think. Of course now we’re officially into the Christmas season! So I don’t think things are going to slow down too much, but I always try not to let things get too hectic at Christmas time because I really want to enjoy the wonderful spirit of the season. I really try to keep things simple!



I will start this week's post with some pictures of the kitchen. They aren't the best photos--I am not a good enough photographer to know how to capture how pretty the lighting looks at night--but hopefully you'll get the idea:

Here's the new light over the dining area--Frank put a dimmer switch on it, too.

Here's the new light over the sink (off) and the undercounter lights (on).

Here's all the lights on, but the one over the sink is so bright it washed out. (Originally, we put in 60 watt bulbs. We switched them to 40 watt bulbs because it was just too bright! Even 25 watt bulbs would probably be enough.)

Here I was trying to get the pretty blue wall color, but it didn't come out very well.

Sunday was a lot more restful than the one before, but I still didn’t get a nap. Scott was called to be the 2nd counselor in the Teacher’s Quorum but they didn’t set him apart yet because Frank was home with Seth, so hopefully that will happen tomorrow. Tanner should be ordained a Deacon tomorrow also. That evening I took Scott to a stake youth standards night. I admit I expected it to be on the dull side, but I was humbled—they had two youth speakers who gave completely excellent talks, and all the music was really good and touched me deeply. For the opening song we sang “Keep the Commandments”, and the words “in this there is safety and peace” really hit home to me for some reason. I was in a roomful of teenagers and their parents, and I just felt strongly that these teenagers really are going to be ok—that keeping the commandments is going to keep them safe from all the wicked things around them and that they are going to enjoy peace and happiness in their lives.

And on that note, I’ve been listening to a lot of the Conference talks this week and been so “blown away” by how wonderful the talks are. It seems like each one I listen to is better than the last one! It’s amazing to me also, to see how many of them apply so perfectly to the events that have happened since Conference just 8 weeks ago. I have felt very comforted by many of them.

The boys were out of school on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week. Monday and Tuesday I was just trying to get a lot of errands and cleaning done. Scott had an orthodontist appointment on Tuesday after school; Frank took him to that.

Wednesday was Tanner’s 12th birthday! It’s hard to believe he is that old already. I was remembering our first Thanksgiving with him (he was 2 days old), and it really doesn’t seem like that long ago! I still remember how cute he was, with his dark hair, and how he had such a strong little neck from day one—he could lift his head up off my shoulder right away.

Frank worked a half day on Wednesday and was home by around 11:30. Tanner got to open his presents then. He was really happy with what he got—the book Brisingr (3rd book in the Eragon series), a large Halo action figure, a PSP game, and a game for the Nintendo DS. We forgot to check the mail, so he didn’t open his present from Grandma & Grandpa Pew until Friday. He immediately used the money they sent him to go online to order a computer game that he has been wanting tremendously! (I looked everywhere for it in the stores, but it’s an older game, so it’s not available anymore.) Since Tanner is having a birthday party next week, we didn’t have his cake on his birthday, but I asked him what he wanted to do instead, and he requested a pumpkin / cream cheese cake roll that we had sampled at the grocery store a few weeks ago, so we got him that.

What's in them?!

Great presents!

Frank and I were busy that day with advance preparations for Thanksgiving. I made a couple of pudding pies (Seth liked licking the beater), sweet potato casserole, and green bean casserole. Frank made a strawberry pie, complete with homemade crust. Jared went to play with a friend for a few hours that afternoon and seemed to have a lot of fun. Here's Seth, enjoying the beater:

Seth also enjoyed getting into a few things while I was busy. I told those boys not to leave the cereal opened on the table!

We hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! We did. We invited two of the families in our ward over for the day. Between the three families, we had 16 people here, and a TON of yummy food! Besides the things I mentioned earlier, we also made a large turkey and mashed potatoes & gravy. One family brought appetizers, green salad, jello salad, and pumpkin cake, and another family brought cookies, toffee, M&M’s, more turkey, a ton of rolls, and stuffing. Everything was delicious! The weather was pleasant enough that the kids were able to play outside for a while. After dinner, all the men and older boys sequestered themselves in our bedroom to play video games. The boys got to play a little bit of Halo finally (the less violent part) under close supervision and Tanner, in particular, thought he’d died and gone to heaven! The younger kids watched a movie while the women visited and cleaned up the kitchen.

Some of the food

Do you think we have enough rolls?

More food

Even more food!

Jared & Christian watching the big guys play

"Big guys" Scott, Frank & Brody playing

Tanner, "in heaven"!

A rare sight--GIRLS on the Cleveland couch. (Alexandra & McKenna watching the movie.)

Ethan & Michael enjoying the movie

Seth & Emma play with the refrigerator magnets

Jana doing my dishes!

Friday we did a lot of “returning”. We returned library books and merchandise to two different stores. (Luckily, we managed to avoid the worst of the crowds.) The boys were invited to spend the night next door with their friend Kirk. Frank and I spent a romantic evening on the couch—he watched television and I sewed patches on boy scout shirts! Seth was coughing a lot after I put him to bed and he even woke up and cried hard enough that I went in and picked him up to help him go back to sleep. He slept well the rest of the night (I didn’t, unfortunately!) but after he woke up this morning he threw up 3 times and just didn’t seem like himself. He’s really congested, also. So back to the doctor we went. The doctor thinks the congestion in his throat (and drainage into his stomach) is what caused the vomiting, but he also checked his ears and they both look pretty red still so he prescribed a stronger antibiotic. Hopefully that will help “knock out” this infection for good, and Seth can start feeling like himself again.

Today we’ve just been busy with lots of little chores—the boys raked leaves, the tables and chairs went back to the church, and I worked on scouts with the boys. We also got some of the Christmas decorations put up, but the tree is going to have to wait until after Tanner’s birthday party. No room for 7 boys to sleep in the living room if the tree is up! I’m starting to work on a few other Christmas tasks, as well. I’m hoping to get some more scout patches sewed today. Both Scott and Tanner have merit badge patches that need to be sewed onto sashes. Unfortunately, I sewed some of Scott’s on the wrong side (I didn’t know the sash had to go over the right shoulder; Scott thought it was the left shoulder) so I have to take his off and start all over. Patches are a pain to sew, anyway—why don’t they make them iron on?! Frank is at the church right now setting up some new computers. He has to set up a new computer for every ward in the stake during the next couple of weeks, so he’s going to be busy.

Speaking of Frank, he was able to start exercising again this week (he missed most of last week because of illness). I made him weigh himself on Thursday, and he has already lost 7 pounds—not bad for only 3 weeks of exercising (and one of those weeks he was sick). Way to go, Frank!

The earlier part of this week I did a lot of reading. I was trying to get my book for book chat done because it was due on Wednesday and I knew I wouldn’t be able to renew it because other members of our book club have it on hold. I did manage to get it done by Wednesday evening, but it was so late by then that the library was closed so I didn’t bother to return it until Friday morning. The book I was reading is Three Cups of Tea, which many of you have already heard about. It was not very easy to get through, but it was an amazing story so I enjoyed that part of it. It’s the true story of a man who is building schools (mostly for girls) in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The book got a little too political for my tastes near the end, but I do agree that the work this man is doing is a wonderful way to fight terrorism without violence. It was awesome and inspiring to see how the young people’s lives changed so much for the better because they had a chance to get a good education. Read it sometime!

Seth has been feeling better and sleeping better overall this week, in spite of the further problems with his ears. He added “tree” and a few other words to his vocabulary. On Friday he officially turned 18 months old which means, of course that he can go to nursery now! Assuming he ever gets well enough, that is. Frank stayed home from church with him on Sunday so he could recuperate from his double ear infection, and it looks like he won’t be going to nursery tomorrow either.

On the medical front, I have felt congested off and on all week, but have never come down with anything, thankfully! My sense of smell seems to have mostly left me, though, and on Wednesday I really couldn’t taste anything either. (My sense of taste came back in time for Thanksgiving, at least!) All the boys have had colds the last week or two and lately (probably the last month) Jared has been having fairly frequent headaches. I’m not sure what’s up with him, but will get him checked if the headaches persist. I would suspect his eyesight to be a contributing factor except that he just had his eyes checked and got a new prescription about 6 months ago. I suppose his eyes could have changed already, but I hope not! Tanner keeps complaining that he can’t see very well anymore, so I guess we’ll need to have his eyes checked soon, and I am way overdue for an eye check up myself. I am constantly noticing lately how hard it is to see. I wish it didn’t cost so much to get our eyes checked!

However, I really can’t complain too much—this week I also received the insurance statements for my eye surgery. I only had to pay a $30 co-pay for that. My insurance paid over $12,000. This poor insurance company has not made any money off of our family, let me tell you! We’ve been with this company for four years and I have often complained at how much we’ve had to pay for premiums (around $40,000) but I know they paid out well over $30,000 for my heart problems and Seth’s birth, and now they’ve shelled out so much for my eye surgery. That doesn’t count all the other prescriptions and doctor visits over all those years, so I know they’ve paid out a lot more for us than we’ve paid them. We are pretty healthy over all, but the last few years have taught me that it only takes one thing to really tally up the medical bills. So add health insurance to the list of things I’m thankful for—I feel guilty that I ever complained about the cost!

On that grateful / guilty note, I will end this post! I am hoping we are all healthier this week…hope all of you are happy and healthy, also!