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!