On Friday morning I did NOT get up at the crack of dawn and go shopping…heck, I don’t think we have any stores here that opened before 8 a.m.! I might enjoy the whole “crack of dawn shopping with the masses” post Thanksgiving experience if I had “women” to do that with (and lived somewhere you could do that!) but instead, I got up, made some hot chocolate and found everything that the kids were wishing for on Toys R Us.com, Walmart.com and Amazon.com. No hassle, no lines, no crowds, no shopping carts, no searching and searching…it was super easy and painless!

Josh ran some errands and we ate leftovers and enjoyed a slow day at home. We had plans for all of us to go see “Santa Claus... more

The kids just got on the school bus and we are back to “real life” after a really wonderful Thanksgiving break. It is dark and cold and snowy this morning which made it even harder to drag ourselves out of bed, but the kids are really excited about the promise of a big snowfall.

So, here is a recap of our last few days. Our goal was just to have a lot of fun together as a family, and we really accomplished that! Josh even said on Saturday that it was the most perfect family day he could remember.

Thanksgiving was really nice. After the cinnamon and orange rolls, the kids and I sprawled out all over the living room floor and watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. I am from... more

This year we are spending Thanksgiving at home sweet home. None of our East Coast family could come out (my Aunt just barely left!) and our in-state family all made other plans, so it will just be our family. The kids are a little disappointed that we aren’t seeing anybody, but we have a lot of fun things planned for today and the rest of the weekend and are going to make it a special few days.

The orange rolls and cinnamon rolls are in the oven…We told the kids that there would be “something good” for breakfast, and they have guessed everything... more

The rest of the weekend was great. The kids went to see a movie (Flushed Away…probably not going to win any Oscars, but they enjoyed it) and then after they picked us up after our appointments, we went and played on a big old playground and had a lot of fun playing freeze tag and running races. Marcus and Belane were very happy to be “free” from the doctor’s offices, and we had a lot of fun.

We went to check in at the hotel, and then went to a mall, where we walked around and looked at the Christmas stuff, rode on the carousel and then let all of the kids each pick their own dinner in the food court, which they all think is the biggest treat. We got some cookies at Mrs. Field’s, (and... more

Did you hear a loud cheering somewhere around 7 p.m. mountain standard time Friday evening??

That would have been me, and all of my kids, when Josh took out Marcus’s feeding tube. FOR GOOD.

Woo hoo!

Yes, while we were in Utah for Belane’s appointments, Marcus also had an appointment. And his specialist agreed with me that he has continued to do super well, and no longer needs his g-tube. Marcus had it put in almost two years ago, when severe reflux had caused serious damage to his airways, and he was aspirating when he drank. He had a Nissen (a surgery to tie off the top of his stomach so he couldn’t throw up any more, to protect his airways from below), and he had... more

Continued...

Getting into the van...

That’s when the next big problem came up. We had gotten eight inches of snow that morning. My husband and been gone all day. I had thought he would be coming home to dig us out. I was wrong. Our van was buried…our driveway was invisible.

We had 16 minutes until our appointment, and still had to pick up Josh and get him changed. So there I was, in my SANDALS, trying to scrape off the inches of snow on the windshield. Here is what I learned…my arms are not long enough, even with our massive windshield scraper thingy, to get the whole windshield.

It’s a big van.

I did the best I could and got into the van with... more

continued...

I ordered the fleeces last week and paid for the overnight shipping so they would get here in time for Tuesday night’s appointment. I got an email on Saturday saying that our order had been shipped and we would receive it “within one business day”.

Monday came and went…nadda from the delivery guy.

Tuesday I sent everyone to school in medium-wash jeans and gave a lecture on not coming home soaking wet from the snow or covered in paint or spaghetti sauce or any other noticeable substance on the front of their pants. I told them they could do whatever they wanted to the backs. :)

They came home from school and I kept my eye out for the delivery man.... more

As you read this (if it’s Thursday or Friday) I am in Salt Lake with my kids…taking Belane and Marcus to doctor appointments, and enjoying some quality family time with all of us together…we will be going to a dinosaur museum and the zoo, and Josh will be taking the big kids to a movie while I am doing doctor appointments. We will eat out, which is a treat, and just have a fun two days.

We have two hotel rooms (got $40 a room at a La Quinta on Hotwire…woo hoo! La Quinta is one of our favorite family places to stay).

We’ll be back in the late afternoon on Friday, and I will work on some more of the questions and answers this weekend…there are a few great ones out there that... more

Ok, and since it is still Wednesday, (it has been a very long day…kind of hard to believe it is still Wednesday…but I digress…) I have a few funnies for you.

Ryan is 8 ½ years old. He is our second biological child…third in the age line-up. He is extremely smart, very sensitive, busy busy and outrageously funny. He is the one that causes us to cringe when someone starts off a conversation with, “Do you know what your son said today?” He doesn’t even do it on purpose…he doesn’t even try.

He speaks, and people laugh.

These last few days we have had several funny Ryan moments.

The first, which I don’t have any explanation for but has had me giggling all day, is... more

Happy Monday faithful readers. :)

Sorry I haven’t written anything yet today… I have been having a hard time today deciding what to write about… I am trying really hard not to be one-track minded, but am having a hard time focusing for very long on anything that isn’t Belane related or related to our trip. I feel a lot like I did in those last few weeks of pregnancy…like everything is sort of on hold…however instead of waiting for my water to break, we are waiting on a signature.

So, since a bunch of you said you like hearing what goes on in our house, here are a few “funnies” from our place this weekend. I’ll try to put together some more thoughtful posts for tomorrow.

-Said... more