Weekly Review December 27 '08

This week’s review is going to include a lot of pictures. I didn’t take any pictures on Sunday, though. That was kind of a crazy day…it started in the wee hours with Frank getting sick again! Tanner said he didn’t feel well either, so he stayed home with Frank. I was fortunately feeling ok, although I didn’t dare eat anything except toast! I had to be at church nearly an hour early (at 8:15) for choir practice—we were singing two songs, so we wanted to get in one more practice! It was almost time to go when Scott told me he couldn’t find his church pants. Well, I immediately asked Tanner where they were because I knew Tanner had accidentally taken Scott’s pants to school on Friday (instead of his own) when he had to dress up for his Dickens party. Tanner had told me that much. What he didn’t tell me is that he had spilled punch on them and put them in the wash. Well, I don’t do the laundry on Saturday, so they were still in the hamper waiting to be washed! Scott only has one pair of dress pants, and Tanner’s are too short for him, so what to do? We decided we were going to have to wash and dry Scott’s pants right then. I went to choir and Frank dropped the boys off when Scott’s pants were done, which was right as church was starting.

I had planned to leave Seth with Scott when I went up to sing with the choir, but then when Scott came back from helping with the sacrament, he said they had asked him to help narrate the program (they had several youth be narrators, and one of them was gone so Scott was filling in) so he had to go sit up on the stand. I didn’t want to leave Seth with just Jared because in his anxiety to take good care of Seth, Jared tends to over-do it and independent Seth doesn’t appreciate that. (And lets him know at the top of his lungs!) So I took Seth up with me to the stand and gave him to Scott to hold while I sang. I got to do this twice, since our two choir numbers were at different parts in the program. That turned out fine, and I enjoyed the meeting immensely. There were a lot of musical numbers with scripture reading from Luke, Matthew, and 3 Nephi in between. I wish they would do things like that every week because Seth was so interested in all the music and the constant change in songs / scriptures that he was a little angel through the whole meeting! Actually, he did really well even before the program began—he sat on the bench next to me and folded his arms for both sacrament prayers. A special Christmas blessing, I guess!

All the musical numbers were beautiful. One of the choir songs was a special arrangement of Silent Night called “Peace, Peace, Peace”. It starts out with a soloist singing, then the choir sings the same thing. Then everybody (choir and congregation) sing the first verse of Silent Night together, then the congregation sings the last two verses of Silent Night while the choir goes back to singing the “Peace” part. The words are simple: “Peace, peace, peace on earth and good will to all. This is a time for joy. This is a time for love. So let us all sing together of peace, peace, peace on earth.” Anyway, it sounds really neat when it is all put together, and I felt such a powerful spirit when we were singing “this is a time for joy”. I know I felt joy! The atonement of the Savior is definitely something to be joyful about!

The rest of church was busy but went well. Scott took Seth to nursery for me because I knew he probably wouldn’t stay if I tried to drop him off, and it’s my month for sharing time so I really needed to have my hands free! After church one of our home teachers and another good friend came over to give Frank a blessing. He did improve a lot by Monday, but has still had lingering stomach trouble off and on all week.

Frank was able to go to work on Monday, though. He only had to go for a few hours, and he has been off the rest of the week which has been nice. The boys had school on Monday and Tuesday, much to their dismay, but not mine since I still had plenty to do and didn’t want them around for a few things.

On Monday I made this:


While I did that, Seth did this (I couldn't stop stirring or the fudge would burn):

He also licked the spoon from the fudge:

I also made “jingle bell fudge” (butterscotch / peanut butter fudge—a Cleveland family recipe) that day, but I didn’t take a picture.

While Seth napped, I made this:

It’s part of a photo album I was making for Frank for Christmas. I didn’t finish it, but at least I got it started! I was working on that page when he called me to say he was coming home, so I had to finish quickly and wrap it before he got home.

On Tuesday I got some last minute shopping done, and then Frank and I wrapped presents. There were only about 3 present under the tree up until then, but after we finished, it looked like this:

Where did all those presents come from?! Every year I think we won’t have many under there, but it always adds up faster than I think. You can’t see it in the picture, but there were even a couple of large bags that didn’t fit under the tree!

That afternoon I made these:

And these:

Monday and Tuesday were extremely cold! Down into the teens, and windy besides. But things warmed up by Wednesday and we had rain again before the week was over.

Wednesday was incredibly busy. Frank took the boys shopping in the morning. Later, he delivered a couple of plates of treats to friends. Remind me next year not to wait until Christmas Eve day to bake cookies! I waited so that the boys could help, but it took longer than I expected. We made a batch of sugar cookies to frost, and we also made a batch to paint. I have not been good about keeping up the family tradition of paintbrush cookies, although making those is one of my favorite childhood Christmas memories. I was talking about them this year, and the boys said “what kind of cookies?” I was appalled—has it really been that long since we made them?! So I repented and we made them this year. It was fun, just time consuming. Here’s a few pictures:

While I finished up cookies, Frank made cinnamon rolls for Christmas day breakfast:

After all that was done, we still needed to cook dinner. We have our big dinner on Christmas Eve, and we invited the sister missionaries to join us for that. Frank made rolls:

I dipped buckeyes:

And we both worked together to make the rest of the meal. We decided to have a “course” meal. We had salads first, then corn chowder, then the main course, which was swiss chicken cutlets, rice, green bean casserole, and rolls. By then we were all too full for dessert! I didn’t get any pictures of the dinner, unfortunately. It was yummy, though! After dinner we read the Christmas story out of the scriptures. Then everybody (including the sisters) got to open a present! The boys chose to open the big bags (the ones that wouldn’t fit under the tree). I knew they would do that—I wrapped those items on purpose because I knew it would make them crazy trying to figure out what they were!

What they were was a comforter for Jared and electric blankets for Scott and Tanner. Since Scott and Tanner’s room is in the basement and gets very cold, and since Jared has never had his own comforter and has been using a flowered quilt that Mom made for Frank and I when we got married, they were all thrilled with these gifts!

Seth opened a book from his nursery leaders (he got the hang of the unwrapping thing right away!):

The sisters got stationary, Frank got a movie, and I got a baking set (two cookies sheets and a cake pan). Here we all are by the tree:

The sisters went home, Seth put the star on the tree, Frank & Tanner made the last 12 Days of Christmas delivery, then everybody went to bed and tried to sleep.

Tanner and Scott were awake by about 5:30, but they went back to bed until 7:00. We made them all wait until Seth woke up to go downstairs—thankfully, that was around 7:30! We just had a fun Christmas day. There wasn’t enough time to play all the new games and watch all the new movies! Seth loved his stuffed pig and his dog toy—he carried them around most of the day. He put the pig up on his shoulder next to his neck and carried him around that way most of the time—very cute--but I never managed to get a picture of him that way. The boys enjoyed playing new games with their new cordless game controllers. I like those, too—no cords stretched across the room to trip over! So much neater!

Jared’s favorite gift was his “Long Shot” Nerf dart gun.:

It was very popular with the other two boys, also:

We all stayed up too late. Fortunately, nobody had to go anywhere in the morning! The next day we had work to do (laundry, budget, vacuuming, etc.) but we still played a lot also. Our friends the Becks came over and helped us eat some of our treats (we had a lot of people bring us treats throughout the day on Wednesday, while we were busy cooking) and we also made BLT sandwiches which tasted really good after all the sweet stuff. Here we are:

(I’m wearing the new shirt Mom & Dad sent me.) Brother Beck stayed late to play games with Frank, so we were all up late again. Scott wasn’t feeling very well for a while in the evening and Seth was also acting like he didn’t feel well. I was afraid he’d be up in the night, sick, but he slept through the night and seems to feel just fine today. Scott is feeling better today, also.

No pictures today! The boys have been playing with friends. I’m hoping to get some sewing done (finish that outfit I’ve been working on) but I need to borrow a sewing machine and my friend Marci isn’t feeling well (I want to use her machine, but I need her to show me how it works) so I’m not sure that will work out. We are just relaxing and enjoying some “vacation time”.

Seth has developed a few new skills the last few weeks. Besides present unwrapping, he has also become adept at unwrapping candy! He can unwrap candy canes, hard candies, chocolate kisses, etc. (Not necessarily a good thing!) I must be doing something right, because he also puts the wrappers in the trash without being asked. (Wish the other boys would do that!) Seth has started doing something really cute, too. If we ask him a question and he doesn’t know the answer (especially if we ask him where something is) he stretches his arms out, palms up and says something that sounds like “I don’t know”, with a puzzled, innocent look on his face. You have to see it, I guess, but it’s very cute! Seth is adding recognizable new words to his vocabulary all the time, it seems. Some this week: "thank you" and "dinosaur". It is fun to see him learning to do new things!

That sums up our week. We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas!

A Christmas Mystery

A few weeks ago on my way out the front door, I noticed this flower blooming in our front flower bed.:

We have no idea where it came from--we didn't plant it--and why it chose to bloom in December! The amazing thing is, it's still out there blooming away 3 weeks later--and we've had some pretty cold days and nights since then!

Where did it come from? Why did it bloom in December? And how on earth has it survived the frigid winter weather for so long?

It's not just a Christmas mystery--it must be a Christmas miracle!

Weekly Review Decmeber 20 '08

Hmmm….what a “fun” week! We had another round of stomach flu…our third one in as many months. It started on Monday morning. Jared complained that morning that his stomach was hurting. It’s very unusual for him to try to get out of going to school, so I suspected he was actually sick, but still…he wasn’t throwing up or anything, so I sent him to school. I had a visiting teaching appointment that morning; I was just finishing up there when my cell phone rang—the number looked familiar, so I answered it. I wasn’t surprised when I heard the voice of the school nurse, but I was surprised when she said “I have Tanner here.” I went to pick up Tanner, and while I was there, I thought about having them call upstairs to see how Jared was doing, but I decided not to. I should have, though—I wasn’t home more than a half hour before I got another call from the school nurse—this time, it was for Jared!

Tanner didn’t seem all that sick at first, but he got much worse by evening and was truly miserable for several hours. Jared, on the other hand, seemed to feel a lot better and never threw up after I brought him home…just got sick that one time while at school. He certainly didn’t feel great, but by evening he was able to eat a little bit of soup. Scott made it through the school day, but came home saying his stomach hurt. He seemed to have a pretty mild version of the illness—never threw up—but he didn’t eat dinner that evening and he had a bad headache as well as a stomach ache.

Tanner asked for a blessing at bedtime and after Frank gave him a blessing, Tanner fell right to sleep. We let Tanner and Scott sleep on the couches in the living room so that they would be closer to the bathroom (there isn’t a bathroom in the basement, where their room is). Apparently, Tanner woke back up later and threw up a bunch more times, but he must have been very quiet about it because Frank and I didn’t hear him at all. And Frank and I were not sleeping peacefully, let me tell you, because Seth woke up around the time we were getting ready for bed, and he was up most of the night. He cried a lot, and kept thrashing around. I expected at any moment that he would throw up, too, but he didn’t. He finally settled down around 1:00 and slept pretty well for a couple of hours; then he started thrashing again. Poor Frank had to get up around 4:00 to go to work.

That’s about the time Tanner came upstairs to let me know he was still pretty sick—he was still throwing up, but nothing was coming up. We have a book written by a pediatrician, and she recommends when kids get like that to give them 1 tablespoon of soda every 10 minutes for 2 hours. If they throw up again, you have to wait an hour and start over, but if they don’t, then by the end of 2 hours they are usually starting to feel much better and you can try to give them crackers or toast. (We’ve tried this many times, and it really does work!) I had pity on Tanner and started him on this regimen, even though it was only 4:30 am, and I knew it would keep me up for the next 2 hours. Since Seth was in the bed with me, I had Tanner go lie down on the couch in Seth’s room, and I brought some cans of soda and the tablespoon measure upstairs so everything would be nearby when I needed it. I think I did drift off a couple of times in between doses, but never for more than a few minutes. After the two hours, Tanner was feeling better and he was able to go back to sleep.

By that time, Jared and Scott were both awake—still not feeling great, but much better than the night before. Seth woke up soon after, and I took him downstairs for a while, but soon he fell back asleep on my lap, and I was falling asleep sitting up, so I took him back to bed with me, and we didn’t wake back up until around 10:00. So I got some sleep, but I was still pretty tired and just drifted around the house in my pajamas most of the day, taking care of sick kids. The older boys were pretty low maintenance—they were happy to lie down with their laptops, playing games. They also watched a movie. Seth didn’t throw up that day, but he did have a pretty high fever and not much of an appetite. Frank had to work at three different locations that day and I was terrified he would fall asleep while driving, but he made it home safe although he was exhausted!

By Wednesday the older boys were all back in school, but Seth gagged and threw up a little bit that morning so I decided I’d better stay home. He still didn’t have much of an appetite, but he was able to eat a little bit and didn’t throw up again. By afternoon he seemed a lot perkier, and thankfully he slept great the next couple of nights. Meanwhile, Frank started to feel sick and came home early. He didn’t throw up, but his stomach hurt, his head hurt a lot, and he had the chills. He was still feeling pretty nasty on Thursday, so he stayed home, but he still put in over 8 hours doing work remotely. By Friday he was able to go back to work although he still wasn’t feeling top notch. I started feeling kind of funny last night and I’m still not feeling great today, so I’m trying to just take it easy (kind of a bummer—I was hoping to go to the temple today). I really want (and need) to be at church tomorrow, so I’m hoping I just have a mild case and will be back on my feet tomorrow. So far, so good.

Now that I’ve given you a play-by-play of everybody’s illnesses, I’ll move on! We did do a few fun things this week. On Sunday we had one of Frank’s home teaching families over for dinner. They have 4 girls between the ages of 20 and 10; they also brought along another 10 year old girl from our ward. We played games (speed Uno and another game that they brought; I forget the name of it, but it was fun) and then had dinner. They all loved the Mexican chicken we made in the crock pot. We enjoyed visiting and getting to know them better. It was fun for me to have girls in the house—for once, the girls outnumbered the boys! I just hope they didn’t all get sick this week!

Monday morning I had to take Scott to Seminary and then pick him up afterwards to take him to school, because the girl who normally gives him a ride didn’t wake up in time to get to Seminary that day. Seth woke up right before I had to leave to pick Scott up—he probably would have gone back to sleep if I had left him alone, but I didn’t dare do that when I was about to leave (Jared and Tanner were still asleep), so I took Seth with me. I got over to the church a couple of minutes before the kids got out of Seminary. It was worth the inconvenience to pick him up that day because it is just amazing to see those kids coming out of Seminary in the morning! I don’t even know if I can put it into words, but there is just a look and feeling about them that is so different than the other kids their age. I’m sure they don’t even realize it, but they really shine. I just had the most powerful feeling come over me, watching them, that it brought tears to my eyes! It’s a real sacrifice for them to get up so early every school day, but wow, does it show in their countenances. I’m so grateful Scott gets this “spiritual boost” every day before going to school, where I’m sure the atmosphere is not very wholesome.

Tuesday was book chat, but I missed it since that was the day all the boys were home sick and I hadn’t had much sleep. That was a bummer, since I missed it last month too, but it couldn’t be helped. I didn’t want to spread around our illness, either. I was also invited Monday morning to join a bunch of women in our ward on a trip to the temple on Thursday to do initiatories. They were going to go to the bookstore afterwards, also. That sounded so wonderful that I decided to try to get a babysitter for Seth and go with them, but then when everybody started getting sick I gave up on that! I figured even if everyone else was well, I would probably be coming down with it by then. (Thankfully, I wasn’t—but Frank was pretty miserable that day and I would have felt bad leaving him.)

The boys were all well enough to go to scouts on Wednesday evening. The older two boys had a “white elephant” gift exchange which apparently was a big hit with all the youth. I had a Cub Committee meeting that evening, so we got home pretty late.

Tanner had a field trip on Thursday—they went to see a performance of “A Christmas Carol”. They have been studying Dickens in Language Arts, so it’s nice that they could go see one of his plays. Their school is located in downtown Frederick, so they are near a lot of cultural places and they were able to walk to the play. On Friday they had a “Dickens Party”, and he had to dress up for that—no modern clothes allowed! So he wore his Sunday suit for that.

On Monday when everybody started getting sick, I kind of panicked. I still had some Christmas shopping to do, and I envisioned being stuck at home all week—either with sick kids or sick myself. So after I got Jared and Tanner settled at home and Seth down for a nap, I realized that now was my chance! So I ran out and got all my shopping done and got home before Seth woke up. It feels good to be done with that! I had a few projects I wanted to get done also, but unfortunately that isn’t going to happen. I’m sure Christmas will come and be wonderful anyway!

There’s been a lot of fun “secret” Christmas things going on around here, also. Last week we drew names to do secret service for each other. This is a tradition that we started last year, in the hopes that we would have more love and harmony in our home during the Christmas season. The idea is to try to be extra nice to the person who’s name you draw. We’ve encouraged the boys to do nice things for that person in secret, but we also give them a couple of dollars to buy a few treats for their person. It’s been fun seeing all the little treats show up around the house, on people’s pillows or in their stockings. I don’t think the boys have really caught the true spirit of the whole thing yet, though. One of them will say “Whoever has me, I’d really like some candy!” Maybe it will sink in eventually, though.

Meanwhile, we also started our other secret service tradition on Saturday, which is to do a “12 Days of Christmas” for another family. I think this is our 6th year doing this, and it has become a favorite tradition for all of us. (Frank gets all the credit—it was his idea!) We always talk about it as a family and together we pick a family that we really feel could use some extra Christmas cheer. Then we leave little Christmas treats anonymously at their door for 12 nights in a row, finishing up on Christmas Eve. I enjoy planning the treats, and the boys get a big kick out of leaving things at the door, ringing the doorbell, and running! The funny thing this year is that someone else has decided to do the same thing for us! (They started a day later than we did, though, so I guess they are planning to finish on Christmas Day.) The first night we got a stretchy Mr. Fantastic toy which unfortunately must have been in the box for several years because it had dried out and doesn’t work. But since then we have been getting brownies, cupcakes, a cake roll, a big bottle of root beer, a beautiful candle…. It’s been fun; we all look forward to evening to find out what little thing is coming that night!

As I mentioned, Frank did go to work on Friday—I was spoiled having him around the last couple of Fridays! I spent the day reading books to Seth and washing about 5 loads of bedding—trying to get rid of all the germs! After school I took the boys shopping to get gifts for each other. It took a lot longer than I would have liked (focus, guys!) but we got done. Tanner and Scott were supposed to have a camp out that night, but I decided not to send them. I felt like their resistance to illness was still too low to send them out in the rainy cold, and besides they both had birthday parties they would miss if they went. I knew that wouldn’t go over too well with either of them—we’re trying to keep a positive attitude about scouts! Then I found out later that the camp out got cancelled anyway.

Scott’s party was last night; it was a sleep over party for a friend in the ward. We took him over to that and then Frank and I went out to eat (we took Seth with us). We had a gift card a friend gave Frank as a “thank you” for Frank fixing his computer. I appreciate that—a lot of people ask him to solve computer problems for them and never think to do anything in return. Don’t get me wrong—I think it is important to help others when we can, but it does take a lot of his time sometimes and I think people do take advantage of him quite often. It is nice when someone recognizes that it is his profession and that they would have had to pay someone else to do what he does. Anyway, I digress—the food was really yummy and Seth behaved very well. We had a nice time, but I was starting to feel the beginnings of illness by the time we got home.

Tanner is gone to his party right now. It’s for a friend from school, and they are taking him to an indoor water park / slide. Sounds pretty fun! He won’t be home until late. Two other kids from the school are also at the party, and they had worked out carpooling together. Then one of them heard that Tanner was also invited, so they called and offered to take Tanner and bring him home also. Very nice—especially since the birthday boy lives about a half hour’s drive from here! Hopefully, he will have fun.

I saw on the news one morning a report on the bowl games—the fact that tickets are not selling like they usually do, because of the recession. I turned to Frank and said “It’s interesting to see what’s happening now that everybody is starting to live like….the way we do, all the time!” Not that we are perfect about managing our money, but I know the country wouldn’t be in this kind of trouble if everyone else were as careful as we always try to be. As in, if you can’t afford it, give it up! Ok, I feel a little hypocritical saying that right now because I do spend more at Christmas time than I really should. I spend most of the year telling the boys “No, we can’t afford that.” So at Christmas I let it go a little! I love buying gifts for people—it is one of my weaknesses. But the rest of the year I’m really good most of the time.

It’s been raining a lot this week again, which I guess is sad for people like Frank, who love snow, but the rain has not dampened my Christmas spirit at all! I don’t like cold, and I find myself remarkably cheerful as I go about under the typical gray December sky. Something about the color of the sky and the feel of the air just reminds me of Christmas, and stirs memories from as far back as I can remember. I never know when those memories are going to surface, but it happens pretty frequently, and it always brings a big smile to my face. I love this time of year! I love the way it makes me feel—joyful, way deep down inside!

Seth is just doing cute things all the time—I’m sure I’m forgetting most of them! One thing he did last week, though. Frank was offering to play with him, and he told Seth to go get a ball so they could play. Seth immediately ran to the Christmas tree and pulled off one of the ball shaped ornaments!

In between everything else this week, I read the book Twilight. I was always hearing about that series and I had decided that I needed to get around to reading it eventually—just to see what the excitement was all about! So when a friend offered to loan me her copies, I took her up on it. It is easy reading; it’s hard to believe I finished the whole thing in the little snatches of time I had to read. I enjoyed the book—it’s just pure entertainment, as far as I’m concerned. Not much to provoke deep thought, just entertaining. We all need books like that sometimes!

Well, I need to finish getting some things ready for Sharing Time before the day is over (hopefully I’ll be doing it myself, not passing it off to someone else!) so I will post this and try to get going on that. Everybody have a wonderful Christmas!

Weekly Review December 13 '08

I feel like I am just rushing these days! So many things I want (or need) to get done; not enough time to do them all. I didn’t have to take Tanner shopping, though (see the end of last week’s review) because Frank took him on Saturday evening. We got some snow that evening, and Frank just had to get out in it! The snow didn’t last long—it melted on Sunday—but it was still extremely windy and cold the first part of the week.

We had a Primary presidency meeting on Sunday, followed by visits to Primary children. We had family night after I got home. On Monday Frank got the Christmas tree set up and the lights on, too, but we ran out of time to put the ornaments on. We were so busy in the evenings this week that we didn’t get any ornaments on until Thursday evening. Frank was working on computers at our church and at the stake center on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. We took the boys to do some shopping Tuesday evening also, and the boys had scouts on Wednesday evening as well. While the boys were at scouts, the sister missionaries came by caroling, which was nice. Thursday evening, as I said before, we finally got the ornaments on the tree. Seth promptly started taking them back off! We left the bottom branches fairly bare, so it looks a little strange, but hopefully we will "sacrifice" fewer ornaments! Seth also likes to play with the doorknob decoration, and I noticed today that it has kind of self-destructed--oh, well!

The days were busy, also. Besides all the usual things, my visiting teachers came to see me on Monday, I got some sewing done on Tuesday (thanks for your help, Mom, and for being patient when I called several times!), did a lot of Primary stuff on Thursday, and on Wednesday I went to a doctor appointment.

At the doctor appointment, I got the stint removed that was put in during my eye surgery. It’s nice to have that gone! My eye has not been watering, so it looks like the surgery was successful. I was interested to hear what the doctor had to say about the incision, which mostly looks good but on one end it’s pretty red and there’s a bump that looks like a scab. The doctor said that it’s just one of the internal stitches that is popping through the skin. The bump and redness should go away after the stitches dissolve. He said to call back if it hasn’t disappeared in three months. So unless that happens, I won’t need to go back at all.

My friend Marci came with me to this appointment because she had an appointment with a different doctor in the same building. Her appointment was after mine, but that doctor has a really nice play room, so Seth enjoyed playing while we waited. After our appointments we stopped for a late lunch on the way home. It was rainy that day and there was an accident on the freeway, so traffic was pretty bad going home and we didn’t get home until around 4:00. Fortunately, Frank had been able to leave work early enough that day that he was able to pick up the boys for me. We were gone most of the day, but Marci and I enjoyed the chance to visit so it was a fun way to spend the day.

Although it was raining on Wednesday, it was actually fairly warm, so it was pretty pleasant. The rain came down hard all day on Thursday, but it was colder then so a lot less pleasant! By Friday morning, the Monocacy River, which runs behind our house, was very high. (We weren’t surprised, after all the rain.) Here are some pictures (those trees are usually along the bank):

Frank didn’t have to go anywhere in particular on Friday morning (although he did have some work to do that he could do from home) so when I dropped the boys off that morning, I was able to leave Seth with Frank and go do a few errands. I picked up some costumes from my friend Rebecca that I’m going to use for Sharing Time tomorrow. Then I tried to make some copies at the church, but the toner cartridge needed to be replaced so I couldn’t do that after all—frustrating! After I got home, Frank got calls from a couple of places, so he ended up going to Rockville to fix one problem and he almost had to go to Alexandria, Virginia to fix another. His boss, Frank Lloyd, hurt his back and was down so my Frank had to fill in.

Scott went to a birthday party for a girl in the ward Friday evening. The rest of us watched the movie Dark Knight, which Tanner just purchased this week with some of his birthday money. I was stuffing envelopes the whole time (a Primary project) so actually, I really didn’t pay much attention, so I can’t give a review. Scott got a ride to the party and back, but it went pretty late so we were up late waiting for him. I did more sewing, and got frustrated when I ran into some problems but after talking to Mom again this morning I was able to fix them, so the skirt is almost done—all I have left is the hem.

Frank was gone all day today—he was helping with the cooking for the ward dinner. Scott went with him this morning to help set up tables and chairs, but he got a ride home so Frank could stay. This afternoon I took the boys and two of their friends (the Schlenz boys—some friends who recently moved back into our ward) to “Museums by Candlelight” which is an annual event in Frederick every Christmas where many of the local museums open up free of charge. Most of them have special events such as musical programs, crafts for the kids, and refreshments also. All of the museums put candles outside (and sometimes in) and light them after it gets dark. We have made this an annual tradition, and try to go to one or two different places every year. This year we only made it to one place, since we had to go after Seth’s nap and the older boys had to be at the church at 5:15 to help with the serving for the ward Christmas dinner. We went to a Victorian mansion which is located on the grounds of the Monocacy National Battlefield. It was built after the battle, so it’s not really a part of the national battlefield, and isn’t usually open to the public. The National Park Service’s Department of Historic Preservation has their offices there, so it isn’t really a museum and doesn’t have period furniture or anything like that, but the house has been remarkably well preserved so it is still very interesting just for the architecture. They did have Christmas decorations up, though, and in one big room they had refreshments and several crafts for the kids including making mini gingerbread houses. They were also giving tours of the house, which interested me, so I went on the tour while the kids made gingerbread houses. Jared and his friend Bryson wanted to see the upstairs of the house, so they joined the tour when we got to that point. Unlike many of the older houses around here, they actually let us go through the whole house—even up into the cupola, which can only be accessed by ladder. I didn’t feel comfortable carrying Seth up the ladder, but he really wanted to go up, and to my surprise, he allowed the tour guide to take him up! There was a nice view from up there. Here's some pictures of the house:

The front doors

The front of the house (Seth in front)

Seth liked the trees at the museum as much as he likes ours!

We went straight from there to our ward Christmas dinner, which was very nice. Seth wouldn’t sit on Santa Claus’s lap, but he did accept a candy cane, and he laughed when Santa tickled him. The food was delicious, and there was a nice program, too.

Now, as usual, it’s late, so I’d better get to bed!

Just a Favorite Picture

This picture was taken in November 2007, when Seth was 6 months old. I just love it, and thought I'd share it! Isn't he cute?

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!