Yeah, I Could Get Used To This

Lots of pictures this post because words can't do it justice. Pictures can't really do it justice either, but they get closer.

Today is my birthday, and I've had a long week of pampering. Last weekend, my sister-in-law put together an all girls trip to Mexico. This wasn't for my birthday, but it happened so close to it, that I'm considering it a birthday trip. It included Mary and her three girls, Sheryl, Sarah and Carrie; Carol and her two girls, Kate and Emma; fun sister-in-law, Betty; and me and my two oldest girls, Anna and Sarah. It was so much fun. We left freezing cold, snow covered Utah and went to this:

The gate into the property

This is the upper level where I slept

And these are the three little slobs that I slept with. It's a good thing that I like them.

This is the pool where Sarah finally learned to swim (one of the major highlights of the trip!). It's also where I layed in the sun and got warm all the way through for the first time in a couple of months.

We ran around on little golf carts to get food and to go down to the beach.

For some reason (to be discussed later) I kept waking up at 5:00 every morning and couldn't sleep anymore. But that was okay, because I got to see this right outside my bedroom every morning.

Anna even cheerfully let me drag her out of bed before dawn to see the sunrise.

Sheryl brought fun Sunday crafts for us.

We all enjoyed walking on the beach and collecting lots of coral. The water was too cold to swim in, but we saw lots of wildlife, pelicans and sea urchins among them.

Another major highlight was the special spa treatment we got.

Massages out on the sunny deck. I'm the skinny one on the left ;-).

Anna got her first massage, too, but thought it was kind of weird. I'm sure she'll appreciate it more when her body's old and tired someday.

Sarah enjoyed her first pedicure. She got to pick out little flowers to go on her big toes.

Anna got beautiful toes, too. My pedicure was so overdue that it took two hours, but my feet are so soft and pretty now.

We also loved our catamaran cruise. At first, Sarah didn't want to go because she'd just learned to swim and wanted to stay at the pool to practice. But I made her go, and she was so glad. It turned out to be a really fun trip with all the soda she could drink and lots of guacamole and ceviche. Her favorite part was all the animals we saw.

We traveled out to the arch which took about two hours and saw a lot of whales and manna rays jumping out of the water along the way. There were also a lot of seals right by the arch. You can see them piled all over each other on the rock behind me and Sarah.

You can just see the whale's black hump peeking out of the water.

We had a beautiful full moon on the way back that lit a path for us to follow.

Thank you, Mary, for putting together such a wonderful trip. We enjoyed the trip, but especially enjoyed getting to spend four days with family we don't get to see nearly enough of! We got home last Tuesday night, and it was very painful to return to the snow and cold. But Steve made it easier by taking me on a little overnight trip last night for some more pampering, this time for both of our birthdays. I'm getting very spoiled. But that'll be my next post.

Who Me? Gullible?

I've always had a bit of a reputation for being gullible, although I prefer to call it trusting. Steve likes to take advantage of this personality trait as often as he can.

We just got some new business management software and have spent a lot of time learning it and getting it set up to streamline our business. I'm so excited about it because it looks like it's going to cut my work load in half! While I was gone the other day, Steve messed around with the program and learned how to set up some automatic email templates. When I got back, he showed me how to send automatic emails to our customers. I was really excited about this, too, because it seems I retype the same old email over and over and over with very few differences.

He clicked on one of our orders and chose the option to send the customer an email. Then he chose an email template he'd created which read:

Subject: Don't Tick Me Off

Dude (or Dudette, depending upon your sex and I'm talking gender, not orientation), what gives? Can't you read? Super Saver Shipping (note emphasis on 'saver' meaning it is the cheapie way to get stuff mailed) is shipped only twice a week. And here you are the next day asking me when you're going to get it?

I WILL NOW CANCEL YOUR ORDER.

Then he hit SEND!!! Needless to say, I freaked. What I hadn't noticed is that he'd changed the customer's email address to his own, so he got the nasty email instead of them. And he played it perfectly, like he'd hit the button on accident.

I was pretty impressed with his little joke; it took some forethought and planning. And I'm always happy to give him a good laugh.

Here's the Proof

Shoveling snow may not seem like such a big deal to many people, but it was a once in a lifetime moment for me (I hope).

We got 10 inches of snow last night. Nerd that I am, I got out a ruler and measured it. I wanted to know how deep it was because I got stuck shoveling it. We have a big driveway so it took me 1 1/2 hours, even with the neighbor helping for the last half with his snow blower. I can't really complain, though. That's the first time I've shoveled snow in the 6+ years we've lived here. I had Matthew take a picture as proof (he was home sick, which is the only reason he wasn't the one shoveling). I think we need a snowblower.

Christmas Photo Synopsis

Christmas was a lot of fun this year. I got most of my shopping done really early, so I got to enjoy the more fun parts of the season. One of my favorite things we did this Christmas was to go see "Savior of the World" at the Conference Center.

The decorations were beautiful both inside . . .

. . . and outside

The cast members were very friendly and let us take their pictures. The shepherd wasn't nearly as dirty and smelly as he looks.

And Mary was much younger than she looks - good makeup. The play was beautifully done and a perfect reminder of what the season was about. As long as we can get tickets, I'd love this play to become a yearly tradition for our family.

We had so much fun spending the night with Sammie.

We decided on Friday before Christmas to go to California (we would leave Christmas afternoon), but I couldn't feel good about going unless my toy closet and office were cleaned up. They've been weighing on me for a long time.

Isn't that the prettiest picture you've ever seen? DI was very happy to see us that night.

Sam doesn't care much for our vacuum so he hid under the table and climbed on top of boxes as an evasive maneuver.

Sam got to open Nana's present early so he could wear it to church.

Sheryl and Dave Babcock came over on Christmas Eve and had a nice dinner with us. But on Christmas morning, Sam woke up sick, so we realized that we wouldn't be able to make the drive to California after all.

Can you guess what Sam's bowl is for?

In spite of Sam's puking all day, we had a really fun Christmas. And, sad though we were to not see our family in California, it was really nice to just stay home and do nothing for a few days. And there are lots of pictures to help compensate.

Steve really likes his book from Rich. It has a place of honor on the tank of Steve's throne.

Sarah and Abby both got a couple of Webkinz from Santa. Now I have to fight with them for computer time.

Abby and Sarah also love their giant Indian Paint horses (I know they're Indian Paint horses because Sarah, the horse expert, told me).

Matt loves his cool drumsticks from his Washington cousins.

He's anxious to take them to school and show them off.

Anna loves her new purse. She talks about how much she loves it every time we go anywhere. I love it, too, and told her that I want it for myself when she's tired of it.

Matthew couldn't act like a savage by ripping paper off of Oma's present because it was packaged in a gift bag, so instead, he used his mouth to rip out the tissue paper.

Nana and Grandpa's gift will help him act like a savage, though.

Princess Abby loves her Cinderella Barbie from Oma. Notice that everyone is in jeans or pajamas except for Abby. She had to put on her satin and lace dress for the occasion.

Steve wondered why Abby and Sarah got a truck from Nana and Grandpa until they also opened a horse trailer - that cleared it all up. They are doing very well sharing their joint gifts.

Anna really wanted an Ipod for Christmas. But Santa gave her an Ipod pad of paper in her stocking, so she thought that's as close as she was going to get.

When it was time for her to open her "big gift," she thought it was another book. We told her it was a very good book (Human Neuropsychology) - she was very gracious in hiding her disappointment.

But she quickly discovered that the book had a big hole cut in the center that hid a little Ipod Nano. She has hardly put it down for nearly a week now.

Matthew's "big gift" was also disguised. We put a bunch of big books in a box to add some weight and act as a decoy. He'd seen Anna open her gift, so when he opened the package, he started flipping madly through the books looking for his real gift's hiding place. Can you see the real gift sitting right on top in the box? He gave us a good laugh with all his searching.

He was very happy with his green Nano, too.

Sam only opened one or two presents on Christmas morning - we saved the rest until he was feeling better a couple of days later. So Thursday, he finally opened a truck from one of his Washington cousins and liked it so much that he didn't want to open anything else. But that's okay; we'll just save his presents for next year. Babies are great that way!

Christmas Card Quiz

• Guest post from Steve.

Can you guess which kid has a photoshopped head?

Isn't Photoshop great? You have 5 kids that you're trying to get to smile all at the same time without blinking or making rabbit ears (or any other kind of finger gesture, for that matter). If you're lucky, one out of 50 shots will look good. But with Photoshop, you don't need to take 50 pictures. Just a few. Then cut and paste the best head shots into the best overall picture. And voila, a decent picture! And that's what Susan did with our Christmas picture this year. (She hasn't mastered the airbrush and nip/tuck techniques of Photoshop yet, or I would be in the picture too). Can you guess the kid with the head that was cut/paste?

First, place your vote in the poll to the right, then you can check your answer in the comments. Don't peek!

Getting Christmas Under Control

Every year, I start off my Christmas shopping with a reasonable list. But somehow, I always end up with too many presents for one child. Then I have to find more gifts for all the other children so they won't compare numbers of gifts and find their own massive pile lacking. Every Christmas morning, I find myself disgusted at the excess, and I vow that next year will be different. Then I repeat the pattern again. It's a vicious cycle.

Until this year.

This year, a friend taught me a poem that she uses to control her Christmas gifting:

Something they want
Something they need
Something to wear &
Something to read

It was exactly what I needed - concrete and easy to remember boundaries before I even started shopping. I told the kids that they would be getting 4 gifts each. They liked the little poem enough that they're excited about their 4 gifts instead of feeling like they're getting gypped.


So when I'm out shopping and see something that Anna just has to have, I can remind myself that she already has her "something she wants" and pass it right by. Now I just have to practice enough self control to not stuff 5 outfits into one box and call it "something to wear."

And really, if you add the 4 gifts from me and Steve to the gifts from Nana and Grandpa, the gifts from Oma, and the gifts from their cousins, it's still going to be excess, but at least I feel better about it.

Sam's Man Suit

Doesn't Sam like his new suit?

Or maybe he just wants his bottle that I'm holding hostage over my head.

I tried so hard to get a decent picture of Sam in his hilarious suit, one where he wasn't sucking on his bottle. You can't look like a little man with a bottle hanging out of your mouth, can you? It was a no-go. I finally got him to look up and smile briefly by banging myself on the top of the head with his bottle. But you can still see the tears in his eyes.

I Learned Something New Today

Did you know that if you get Drano on your hands, it burns? But you won't notice the burn for a few hours because alkaline burns sink in deep before they burn you. So once you do notice the burn, there's not a whole lot you can do about it. If you know you've touched Drano, you should rinse it off well with water and then rinse it in vinegar to neutralize it. You should rinse it for several minutes.

Around noon yesterday, Abby washed her hands in my sink that I'd just poured Drano into. Then around 8:00 last night, she started complaining of this sore spot on her hand. 8 HOURS LATER! I called poison control like the bottle told me to, and they said there's not a whole lot I could do for it besides watch it in case it gets worse. Alkaline burns can keep getting worse for several hours because they penetrate deep and kill tissue. It doesn't look like much now, but last night it was weepy and raw and even looked a little bruised and gray. And it sure caused a ruckus around here. Even little burns hurt a lot, especially to a 6 year old.

The first picture above is about 20 hours after she first got Drano on her hand. The second picture is about 30 hours after, and it's gotten significantly worse. At least it's not hurting her anymore unless you touch it, but it kind of freaks me out!

Tree Decorating

We had fun decorating the Christmas tree last night. The kids were very excited to pull out all of the ornaments and find the ones they had made throughout the past several years of school. It's always a challenge for me to come up with creative ways to tell them to hang one of their handmade ornaments in the back of the tree without hurting their feelings. Sarah finally caught on to what I was doing, so I had to explain to her, "I love all of the ornaments you made, but some of them are prettier than others, so I want those ones in the front!" She seemed to take it okay. They took turns using the ladder to get all of the good ornaments up high so Sam couldn't reach them.

Of course, it didn't take Sam long to figure out how to reach the best, most breakable ornaments.

While decorating the tree was fun, Matthew, pubescent boy that he is, was especially excited to hang up the kissing balls.

Everyone wanted to put the star on the top of the tree, but Matthew was the loudest and most obnoxious about it, so he got to do it.

All of the tree decorators were happy with our beautiful tree even though they had to decorate it almost exclusively on the top half.

Unfortunately, a tree that is decorated only on the top half tends to be very top heavy, so it looked somewhat like this in the morning only with fewer ornaments still on it. Luckily, no one was sleeping under it like we usually do the first night.

Abby was very happy, though. After we re-decorated the tree and strapped it to a bolt in the wall, she got to put the star back on the top.

And now we have fewer breakable ornaments for Sam to target.

The True Story

Last night was parent teacher conferences at our junior high. We knew going in what we would find with Anna's grades. We've been dealing with ADHD since kindergarten when I came home from our first ever parent teacher conference in tears. Looking back, I realize that the teacher was an idiot - she didn't have a single positive thing to say to us. Hello . . . it's kindergarten!

Last night, we went ahead and met with her counselor to see what our options are for her. She's in 9th grade, so her grades count now. She can do well and gets A's on nearly everything she turns in, but she works so slowly that she falls behind quickly. And when she falls behind, she falls hard because not handing in homework is a foolproof way to fail all of your classes. The good news is that the counselor told us about this magic thing called a 504 plan. It's for kids with disabilities, including learning disabilities, to help put them on an even playing field. So the counselor is going to start the process of getting a 504 plan in place for her on Monday. I'm very excited to find out about this option for her and wonder why I've never heard of it before. When we reviewed her standardized tests from 3rd grade to the present, we saw such a strong pattern. She always tests very well (in the 80 - 95th percentile) unless the test is timed. If it is timed, she tests in the 20 - 30th percentile. Among other things, this 504 plan will mean more time for her on important state tests and even, eventually, on the ACT and SAT. So, although her grades still need some serious work, at least we are moving in the right direction with her.

Matthew's grades were a little more of a surprise to all of us. First, he got us all psyched up by saying he thinks he has A's in every class. He was really happy because he's trying to get straight A's so he can earn a drum set. (This is his reward if he gets a 4.0 - sadly, we feel pretty safe offering this as a reward.) But it turns out that getting us all excited to see his grades was not a wise move for Matthew. When we saw his actual grades, it was so much more painful than it would have been. He does have A's, but unfortunately, they're only in percussion and PE. In his classes that matter, he's not doing quite so well. I don't get how he can think he's getting an A in English, but then find out he only has 33%. We're now working on the concept of "you get out what you put in."

Anna and Matthew are both grounded until their grades are up. No friends, TV, computer, video games, books, or anything else they like to do until every single assignment is turned in. And, since they apparently need me standing over them for every second of their homework, I'm effectively grounded, too.