A Thanksgiving Week Worth Remembering...

Foreword: I apologize if the following entry seems like a big complainer post, but I'm documenting in the hopes that someday sooner than later I'll be glad I did so I can read through these events & chuckle...because they're of the past :)
Thursday, Nov. 18:
-We find out our landlord needs his rental house because his isn't working out...he's kindly evicting us in 60 days. Good thing I'm not leaving for 3 weeks to go to Idaho for Christmas right in the middle of that time...oh, wait...
-Engine light goes on in our car
Friday, Nov. 19:
-Thanks to a definite nudge from the Spirit I take the car in that next morning while I'm breakfasting at a friends on delightful pumpkin pancakes & apple cider syrup. She graciously allows me to stay all day & then lends me her van to go get my kids from school. Car place tells us he needs to order a part, won't be in until Tuesday but there's no way we should drive the car. THEN, my friend even more graciously offers her husband's car until Tues so I won't have to drive our car in its dangerous condition (it's the only one that fits all of us).
Monday, Nov. 22:
-Tony tries to leave for work only to hear a super-sonic knock-knocking sound instead of varoom...tow truck arrives to take away vehicle # 2 to their establishment (glad we can single-handedly provide them with work to keep them busy!). Double-grateful for Marci & her husband lending us her car so I can now take Tony to work.
-Both toilets explode at the same moment Tony comes in to tell me about the truck. Timing is everything.
-Our water all-of-a-sudden tastes more like fire-crackers than water, but the city says its safe, normalcy will return on Wednesday. We opt for buying a few gallons of spring water instead of consuming "safe levels of sulfur."
-We learn later that day that the truck is bonefide, certified dead. Though not unexpected (it had 250,000 miles after all), again, the timing was amazing. However, I have to say, it's a good thing it died when it did because we were planning on selling the car & keeping the truck when we got a van in the near future...so bitter-sweet. Tony on the other hand is thrilled with the news (though he did appropriately mourn for Albert)...now he gets a vehicle that you can have a conversation in, a window that rolls up all the way, a heater that works, AND a radio! He's living big!
-Baby Ari throws up a whopping 6 times that night. Stellar performance.
Tuesday, Nov. 23:
-Just kidding, the part didn't make it. What? You have to drive your children to the Indy airport (2 1/2 hrs away) the next day to catch their plane? We're sincerely sorry, ma'am.
-We earn $250 for Tony's truck, enough for the towing bill & a bit of a credit to go toward the car's bill :)
-Ari throws up again in carseat. She sure packs a lot in that little body.
-Hero-status friend Marci offers her car for the trip so we don't have to rent a car for $84.99.
Wednesday, Nov. 24:
- Drive w/ 3 children & hubby to airport (it's SO nice when Tony can come with me on these trips to the airport, driving, standing in line, security, waiting...it's all a billion times easier!). After boys are air-borne we parents & tired babe drive another 30 min. to pick up our new/used FABULOUS VAN! We had been looking at it for awhile (cars/vans are cheaper in Indy & since we knew we were heading there, we'd been looking), checked the Carfax on it, talked w/ the people, checked prices, talked prices... It seemed too good to be true, but thankfully this was our little miracle for Thanksgiving in the middle of this very trying week. We got this one-owner, meticulously maintained & always serviced by the dealer it was purchased from van w/ complete service records for trade-in price. The people were so kind & we feel so blessed! Good-bye Albert, hello White...Van?
-We find out the car is going to have a BIG bill because it needs another part. It's on order & will be in hopefully Friday.
Thursday, Nov. 25:
-Happy Thanksgiving! We relax a bit, prepare some food & dine at our bishop's house w/ his family. Wonderful meal & fabulous company! Mommy starts to feel a little "uh, oh" in her tum-tum & has a headache...receives an A+ head massage from hubby-wubby. We watch "Toy Story 3" to end the day. Good movie.
Friday, Nov. 26:
-The part comes in for the car, but, ahem, it's the wrong one. Apparently our car is from California so it has a whole different parts-thingy. The newest development: the part will be in on Wednesday, but yes, it will be even more moolah (though he did say he would give us as much of a break as possible, we're good customers you see). I finally give up my "strength-is-good" attitude & have myself a nice, good cry. Update Wed. Dec 1: The part is on backorder. It will be in on December 15th...1 day after we leave for Idaho. Oh, the irony.
-I throw up into the trash can in the parking lot of Tony's work while waiting to pick he & his coworker up (good thing I listened to my body & brought it along just in case) . Wow, hurry up & be done with it--this is NOT a side of myself I want anyone else to see--gross! Good thing I had a mini bottle of air-freshener & we have a van now so I then put the trash can of "goods" in the verrrry back. I throw up at least 5 more times after we get home until 11:04pm at which time Ari takes over & throws up another 4 times...what the?! We thought she was recuperating nicely?! Poor Tony takes care of her (while dry-heaving himself!), cleans up all the necessaries & does the load of laundry. I throw up once more for good measure & wake up the next morning with a very sore tummy.
Saturday, Nov. 27: Ari & I bond while recovering together. And thanks go to Mom Cobia for talking with me for a couple of hours (new record for me!) so I could feel connected to someone! I felt successful when I finally took a shower at 8pm AND I ate an avacado toast (thanks again goes to Tony for picking up a few things I felt like my stomach could handle).
Sunday, Nov. 28: Ari & I stay home so as not to infect any others (though we found out the bishop's family is sick...our fault??!!) & on his way home Tony got pulled over by a police officer because we don't have the license plates on it yet (good thing the title was in the glove box so he got off with a verbal warning).
Oh, boy, I'm excited to see what tomorrow brings (I'm picking up the boys from the airport from their 10pm flight, thanks go to yet another good samaritan for being willing to watch the babe for an hour, then drop her off at Tony's work & take him the 30 min home to Woodburn)!! Really, though, it's times like these that it's good to read about all the crazy things that happen in the rest of the world (or even get talking to a neighbor...everyone goes through stuff like this) so we can be grateful for what we do have. I'll tell you what, I will be very grateful when we get back to our "normal" worries...
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Our October

Woodburn had its official night of trick-or-treating on Saturday night instead of Sunday--how cool is that? So, the men-folk ran around the neighborhood for an hour while I passed out candy & readied we women for our night at the church's trunk-or-treat (I was asked to make sure it all ran smoothly that night, find chili judges for the cook-off & head the clean-up--no problem!). It was a fantastic turn-out & wow did we have crockpots of chili!! Good thing I brought cornbread :)

Isn't this cow adorable beyond words! Unfortunately we couldn't get her to moo...she still only does the snake & rooster sounds, go figure...

October brings with it 4 birthdays including our very own Tony--give him a hand, he's even more amazing at 34 than he was at 33!!

Here we have the boys waiting anxiously at the door for him to arrive home from work so they could perform the skit they prepared (I was the pioneer maiden-in-distress). The next picture is of Tony's memory-foam pillow he got--after two years of searching I finally found one like mine...denser than the norm & oh-so-delicious to sink into. We love our TonyDaddy!!!

Soccer Action shots

I

love soccer because a.) it gives the boys lots of exercise the whole time & b.) I think it's awesome the boys are on the same team, practicing teamwork (this year they decided they were quite the dynamic duo together & really tried to help each other out. Score!!!)

The beginnings of greatness...

Food woes...

Each meal is an adventure...half-way through it our girl spits out whatever is in her mouth, even though she's not full. She's bored. Tony is her daddy after all. So we do acrobatics, I stand on my head and then she chews, swallows, and smiles. However, each millisecond I turn away from her she pinches my arm. Hard. Good piano fingers. So I back up, feeding her at arm's length... She also loves to extract food bitlets from her mouth and squish them between her chubby fingers...before dropping them of course. She's even more bored now. And if I try to pick them up off the floor, she yanks my hair even though I'm on my belly trying to stay away from her lethal talons. At the end of the meal (or my patience, whichever comes first) I let her down and where does she go? Right to all those yummies she threw down & devours them happily. That's it. Next meal will be served on the floor to the stinkin' cute baby.

The Cubmaster got pinned....twice

Yes, I am that cubmaster...along with being the choir director/music chairman & unofficial Relief Society Pianist...I feel so needed...

We are the proud parents of two Bobcats!

A Review...

Not too long ago I checked out this cookbook so I could go to the "Cookbook Book Club" that was held during the same time the boys have scouts, but that was before I found out I am the new Cubmaster (that's another post for another day...)

My take: beautiful photography, mouth-watering dishes & elegance out the wazoo. Totally fun to look at, but dinner parties for 30 with 20 course meals? Hardly realistic. Oh, and did I mention expensive?

Here was my next pick as I was browsing through the library just for fun. The Amish certainly know about simple ingredients, speed being important & low-cost--my kind of cookbook! Not only that, but as I read through the book I gained so much knowledge about the Amish through their baking traditions. I would highly recommend this book! It's fascinating, and...

Here was our first try: Mystery Biscuits. The mystery being the "mayonnaise" in it I suppose...to ensure moist biscuits instead of dry ones (though I substituted plain yogurt)! Not only that, but I'm a big fan of not rolling them out, instead just dropping them into muffin tins. We all give them 4 stars (it will be 5 next time when I take them out of the oven just a little sooner...)

Our second adventure: Shoofly Pie. Arguably one of the things they're most known for (along with elephant ears, funnel cakes & big, soft pretzels). Weeeellll....I think if you like the raw molasses flavor, you would love this! The crust on bottom & top was great, but none of us were too keen on the molasses taste. So, we each had a taste, took a big slice to our older neighbor who loves molasses & then...threw the rest away *gasp.* I felt guilty, I really did, but not enough to eat the rest. We're not done though...soft pretzels are next on the list, along with a multitude of the other goodies. However, watch out, since lard & sugar seem to be the main two ingredients in many of the recipes...

In the midst of sickness, make time for fun!

We went to the Grabill Fair awhile back, when Jyson was getting over being sick, the baby was just getting it & the rest of our bodies were trying to fight it off, but by jingo we were going to get out of the house & go to this free, FUN event, said the Mom! [Jaydon & I both lost the battle unfortunately, but Tony's immunity-of-steel carried him through once again. He almost NEVER gets sick] As you can see...it was a very foggy day...

3 cheers for the pie-eating-nose-scratcher (I caught it juuust right didn't I?)! I love that he said he just wanted to enjoy the pie so he really didn't worry about winning, & he kept eating it & eating it...long after the award was given!

Jaydon's personal contest with himself to see how much cotton candy he could fit in!

Tony at the start of the sack race...he totally did awesome-ly, but wow, there were a few bonefide kangeroos in that match!

Lunch out of Sam's Club samples...mmmm

"Boys, are you home yet...?"

My monkeys hanging out after the cub scout family picnic

Happy All the Day...

Welcome to the restaurant of Chef Jaydon & Jyson. To commemorate the 2 year anniversary of this lovely madly-in-love-and-blissfully-happy couple the food is all complimentary! From the "Spaghetti a-la-sauce" to the "Sugarness of Goodness" (candy) you will thrill your taste buds at our supreme menu and marvel at the romantic atmosphere (complete with drippy candles all over the room). Sit back & relax while eating on your cozy table (the piano bench) and your delightfully padded chaise (couch pillows) while you gaze into each others eyes (don't mind us, we'll be playing Oregon Trail in the kitchen & the babe is a snoozin') and reminisce of yesteryear and your beautiful life together. Oh, yes, and feel free to tip us for our awesome service.

--Loves necklaces & buttons the best...to chew on of course

--Does not like change--to the bottle--to a faster nipple--to formula--to milk--to a variety of food (except dirt & legos, she likes those)--to anything!

--Can imitate 'hi' with recognition & on cue. Her recent animal sound is the snake "sssssss"

--Can open cupboards with ease (child locks now installed!)

--Secret learned: if you strait-jacket her, she'll go to sleep at church!

--The piano is her current favorite toy (especially while I'm teaching)

--She'll sit through a few books at a time if the pictures are colorful enough :)

--She loves to play by herself unless I'm on the couch reading or writing, then she MUST claim my attention

--She smiles all the time! She laughs when we throw her up in the air or tickle her (zorbitz' on her tummy especially work well for giggles)

--Has a 'me-do-it' personality already...she'll drop the Kix I give her in favor of getting one out of the tupperware herself!

--The chubby pointer finger while jabbering about the pumpkins in the book gets me every time! So adorable!

--I walk in the room & she has something & immediately offers it to me... "thanks lamby, that bug really wasn't good to be chewing on, good choice to give it to your mum"

--While I'm feeding her during mealtimes she periodically reaches over & pinches me--ouch!

1 Year Ari Party!

Gimme gimme!

Wow, did she love her first taste of sugar...more than both boys...maybe because it was dinnertime, and maybe because she has a massive sweet tooth already!

And in honor of the butterfly cake...the boys decided to use this little outside baby tent as their new "butterfly arboretum." They've had as many as 8 at once!

Back post...

-Celebration of the boys finally at home again!

Win-it-in-a-minute activity #1: Pick up Penne noodles onto a spaghetti noodle w/ no hands--look at that boy go!

Activity #2: Balance the cookie on your forehead, get it down into your mouth w/out hands & of course w/out dropping it. Doesn't this remind you of good ol' high school/college dates? These ideas came from our Enrichment night!

What a sweetie-pie-multi-tasker! I looked into the rear-view mirror & he was reading a book while holding the bottle up & letting her put her fingers in his mouth. All to keep one little darling happy!

Good-bye Seattle...

To top it all off, there was a lady in Sarin's ward who invited us over to have an amazing ribs dinner & go out on the lake in their boat & jet-ski (my first time driving it, spectacular!). Wow, I haven't been on the water so much in a long time! Bye bye Sari & Jeri, we love & miss you! Thanks for all the amazing food, entertainment & good family bonding time!!

Forever Friends!

While in Seattle we visited our friends & look what they fed us...

Honest-to-goodness brick-oven pizza!

(See the oven in the back behind us?). Spence & Megan (& baby-girl Cobia-to-be) came too since they had JUST arrived in Seattle the night before so they can sell pest control for the summer.


Ari's first boat ride...this lake is right in their backyard!

And let's not forget the rock wall that was her favorite :)

Parks We Visited (So gorgeous!!)

Seattle Trip to visit Sarin!

"Come on babe, just go to sleep before we get on the plane, we'll all be happier..."

Seattle skyline (not bad for it being a picture through the window while driving)

I love this statue at the temple

Spiritual rejuvenation. Thanks go to Jared who watched Ari. When we called him on the way home Sarin asked him how long she'd been awake he said, "48 minutes." But don't worry, he had the secret weapon--sweet potato puff snackies!

Sarin was the ultimate hostess. She took us to see so many awesome things, including this awesome olde-time jazz n' eat place. They were fantastic & we had front-row seats!

July Catch-Ups...IDAHO!!

Tony was able to go to Idaho for a week & then I stayed a bit longer since only the house awaited me at home & I'd had enough projects for the year...

First stop, Grandma Laretta's:

We love what her hair is capable of...

Twizlberry visits (yes plural)! I just love the build-your-own yogurt places (as long as they have cheesecake bites, that is). This is Andy & Dina's family w/ grandma (Tony's oldest sister).

Tony's family reunion/visit for the 24th of July

These are pictures Tony's brother, Brett took...thanks, they're great ones!

After being mortally afraid of everyone for months, she decided Uncle Devin was the first 'stranger' she'd warm up to. After that, she grew her social butterfly wings & loved everyone!