Blessings...

Huh, s'been a long time again.

On Wednesday, February 3, 2010, my dad went to be with Jesus. I have a memorial post that is waiting in the wings...it involves several other people, at least one video and maybe an audio file...but it is taking time to gather and life has been going on around here...and I didn't want to WAIT for that post, before I could blog again. So I guess this is the announcement...and then we'll just move on, for now.

The title of this post is blessings. As hard as losing my dad is, this last two weeks has been incredibly full of blessing. (This is bound to be a long post so saddle up...or get a cuppa-whatever...or open a new tab... ;) )

For instance, I flew nearly immediately to Arizona to be with my mom but that left Bubba and the girls here to deal with school/work etc. It became clear within hours that we were going to NEED Bubba in Arizona to help us figure out some of the financial aspects of this loss. What to do? What to do?

I'd been talking to my friend (S.P. elsewhere on this blog) throughout the long night of surgery. She knew that we were going to need help regardless, so she started organizing in her own little head (she's like that) and called Bubba after I left and they worked out a plan between them. Seems that they love us so much that Camera King (her husband) was willing to take off work and drive S.P. and her girls the two days to our house to make this terrible week seem like more of a girlie trip.

While they were here they made the girls EAT, and NAP, and do a little school work...bossed them as needed...made them do chores and all the other things that are necessary to keep moving forward...check out the fun they had...







During the week they all went to a local-ish museum for a day of fun. The huge blessing from the momma perspective was that our family had recently paid for a membership to the museum and after explaining the situation to the staff at the museum and showing a companion membership to a museum in Colorada, they let them ALL in, no further questions asked. Kudos to the folks in Ft. Worth for making it even possible for them to go...





Here they all are once again...Topo, Coco, Monkey-Face, Gabby, Bear, Beanie and Tibbie...


And THEN, we got home. Another little blessing (well HUGE, considering how much I hate driving in precipitation) we flew through some snow...it seemed not that big a deal in the plane...a matter of moments really. Then we landed on dry pavement. Drove all the way home on dry pavement. Kissed our friends...kissed our girls...slept in our own beds and woke to this...



And it snowed like that for the entire day...and stayed snowy like that for another whole day...we got somewhere around 10 inches...I didn't measure, but them that did came in with numbers from 8 to 12 inches...and we PLAYED. Who has time for grief with this kind of stuff going on? Well, we still had time for it, but this was a welcome distraction.



I made blueberry syrup that pleased me GREATLY and we also had real maple syrup, a la Laura Ingalls...twas a terrific "snack" of colored snow...



We had a big ole snowball fight...



Here I am, BEFORE the snowball to the head...I think



A rare picture of our boys together...Bubba and Camera King with Monkey-Face, Tibbie and Beanie after our EPIC snowball fight...notice how wet they are...I was worse...well I was about the same as Beanie and Tibbie...my hair literally dripping...



And here is what Auntie S.P. was doing while we were flinging the white stuff...she was warm and dry (except for the one snowball that Bubba threw at her to make sure she was part of the "fun") and making sure we all got fed...these were so nummy...I'm not sure what I would have done without S.P. there reminding me in her quiet way that it was time to cook/clean/eat/live and DOING a lot of it for me when I just couldn't face it...


That night it snowed some more...and we played some more...



And then we relaxed...watched a movie...celebrated a birthday a little early...and that was a blessing too. The quiet...the peace.





It was a terrible reason to be together...but it was still a joy. God provided us the peace that we needed to feel "okay" again. As far as the sad...and what Bubba and I were doing during most of the time that our friends were with our kids...that's another post for a different day...


See you around...

Christmas is Coming,...The Goose is Getting Fat...

Huh, well THAT'S not terribly polite...especially since my children have started calling me "Elephant Mommy", (no, I have no idea why) still it's one of our favorite Christmas ditties...so good enough for a blog title.

Yes, my pretties, Christmas IS coming...and right soon.



When things are going well...our Christmas festivities start on Thanksgiving. I'd like to say that there was some major tradition here...but in the interest of honesty...it's more because Thanksgiving is a REEEEEAAAALLLLLYYYY slow weekend here. November is full full full of stuff...various sports...my birthday...end of season parties...AND our family doesn't come into town for Thanksgiving so we usually take it as an opportunity to hang out in our jammies eating far too much food off of pretty plates and decorating the tree.



Bubba, while a willing participant...is not usually EAGER. So imagine my surprise when, the night before thanksgiving, he announced that we would be getting a new tree this year, one with lights pre-installed.

Now it should be said, Bubba HATES putting up the tree and the lights. He does it...but we have to leave the room for the grumbling. The girls and I usually go and mess up the kitchen or something until that "business end" can be finished. Then he can stop worrying about someone stepping on or falling over things or picking up things and swinging them around like a lariat...and he can find his "joy". Over the years I have often put the tree up myself, just to avoid the worry and crab-attack that follows. (yes, I AM a relatively kind wife ;) ) Though I suppose there is a certain amount of worry in that too, as I have to use the ladder and am perhaps the clumsiest person on the planet...but I digress.

So on Wednesday night nothing must do but we all trudge off to the local home supply store and gaze up at the trees that, in their showcase placement, soar 15 feet in the air. Did you know that MOST of them look pretty good from that angle? We decided that our current tree must be a 6 footer...and we'd like it a little taller but not 9 feet. This one has lasted 15 years...we figured it's an investment but we'd rather not have to sell one of the children.

Turns out they didn't have the exact one we wanted. So, AGAIN, imagine my surprise when Bubba was the first one up and dressed on Friday morning and off to another localish home supply center, in search of the elusive ONE that will fill our needs.

He was back before 11:00am...tree in hand. The gregarious gargoyles gallivanted to their peering position with many a "Daddy, why?" and "Hey Dad, whassat?" ...


When setting up a brand new tree it is difficult to concentrate when being peppered with questions so it wasn't too awfully long before they were banished..."GET THEE BEHIND THE COUCH!"


Once it was up, then the fun could begin...


Since the lights were already pre-installed, I think Bubba felt a little left out...so he decided to arrange the ribbon on the tree. You know, we've never had ribbon on our tree before...it's really quite pretty. However, I'm starting to feel a little less sorry for him about the lights all those years...I though it was me...I wanted too many lights...I find now that it is actually HIM and his artistic eye.



After it was all said and done, the girls settled UNDER the tree to sing and listen to a chapter of Little Women.



It's nice to be getting in the spirit...

See ya around...

Clear the Deck...

As I said, I'm TRYING to work on my "Yearbook 2009" video. Well, I AM working on my video...but I take, easily, three hundred pictures for every one that shows up on my blog...so weeding through them is an onerous, odious, o-boggling task. Scatter-shot, the amateur digital photographer's bane.

Last night, as I sorted, and cropped, and straightened, and sharpened, and SAVED (very important step) I noticed a troubling pattern. My counters are never clear. Seriously...if you wanna know how the day that I took the picture was going, look BEHIND my children.

Here is an example...


Bean had decided to make an "experiment"...it was late-ish afternoon, sometime between 2:00 and 4:00pm. After lunch but before my 5:00pm "clean the kitchen before I make dinner" time slot. Now the stuff on the counter in front of her is stuff she is working with...but I draw your eyes behind her...note to self, either change the "clean the kitchen" time or stop taking pictures in the kitchen until the ten minutes per day that it IS clean.

Here is another one...


This is from our Girly Trip 2009. We were dancin to Jim Croce. Note the counter in the fore-ground. See all those apparent "medicine" jars? Those were there on purpose; we had seven kids between us all taking the same vitamins AND several of them had colds...so our herbal cold stuff is right out in the open for any 'ole mommy to grab...still looks messy, but understandable.

HOWEVER, see those spritzy bottles...the blue and the pink? That's how I untangle Bear from her curls each morning. It would appear that we got too busy dancing to find a proper home for those...and yes, they were pretty much there the entire Girly Trip.

And those clothes...I don't know what they are or what, on earth, they are doing on the counter.

There are more...so many more...most of the pictures of my kids at the kitchen table are very telling too...next time you see one, look behind them. My kids "clear the deck" to the next closest flat surface, and you know what, I often forget to notice.

I had a friend many years ago named George. He said that he suffered from an ailment called "Flat Surface Syndrome"...in other words, flat surfaces were there to pile STUFF on, so pile stuff on them, he did. I never really thought about it, but I, well, my whole family, seems to suffer the same malady. And it REALLY shows up in pictures.

How embarrassing...

Here now, I was going to show you a picture of my kitchen clean...so I dug around for the pictures I took to show my counters to a friend...so the counters are indeed clear...

From 02.2009.Pics

But there is another flat surface here...one that I don't think will ever be clear except for once every couple of months when I get up there and clean it...yep, the top of the fridge.

So, there it is, my failing laid bare. Now, when you see my pictures you can say..."Wow, look at all that stuff"...but you won't have to say, "Wonder if she knows that's there?"...cuz now you know, I do.

See ya around...

Oh Bother...

Look at that...another month gone...very few pictures taken...no blog posts...

I blame Facebook. It's an evil construct that promotes instant gratification...and I've fallen to the 420 character limit too many times...sigh.

But do you know what this REALLY means? It means I've made all my holiday stuff harder. See, last year I sent pictures and DVDs at the end of the year as Christmas cards / presents. It was pretty easy last year...I had all these blog posts and pictures to help me remember. This year? Not so much.

And this year, for my birthday, Bubba got me a new fancy-schmancy DVD maker software...and I'm really excited to use it. But my inspiration is lacking. Guess I need to figure out how to power through it, because if I don't, that fancy-schmancy software would go to waste...and we can't have that now, can we?

Here is a little sample of what my new software does, all by itself. Being an old techie, I, of course, have not yet read the manual...but I DID do a wizard with some pictures of Bear's newest lost tooth... Look what it did. (56 seconds)



It comes off pretty dramatic...but it was just the template that I chose...what is funny about it to me is just how goofy she was during the TAKING of the pictures.

Alright...so what is the moral here? That's right...Facebook is evil...Self-control has been lacking and Stack needs to get a grip. I think it also means that ya'll are about to get more blog posts...maybe (how's that for commitment). But you definitely have the potential of seeing more videos. Note that is a potential...not a promise.

I hope you all are having a wonderful autumn and are looking forward to Thanksgiving...

See ya around...

Color Change...

Haaarrrumph...well, I was trying to give my blog a more Autumnal color palette...but didn't realize that blogger wouldn't let me change their title bar color.

So after all was said and done...I tried to change it back...but now I can't find my original background color.

Oh well...welcome to my blog...I've re-decorated. Since I can't get my beige back...have some terra cota...I think I may try a hint of aubergine or celery on the next go-round...

Isn't aubergine and romantic color name???

Sorry, apparently I'm channeling Anne Shirley...

See ya around...

Scottish Rite Check Up

Aaaahhhhh...Scottish Rite. Nothing quite like Scottish Rite. Fabulous hospital. Fabulous doctors. Nice, new cafe. Lovely art. And place whose very name renders all my strength and courage into gelatinous goo.

But they make us come. They make us have X-rays.



They make us wait. A.LOT.



We often get very bored...and sing louder than we should...(please note the bend-i-ness of that child's left leg in this next picture.)



Sometimes I even push Bean across the floor on the very-speedy-doctor's-stool...I ALWAYS make sure to look the other way in the doctor comes in...wouldn't want him to think that I, too, was bored. Bored enough to put my very grow-up feet on her hiney and SHOVE her with all my might across the room so she can feel like superman for a moment...(alas, I didn't get a picture.)



Eventually, they come in and tell us what we want to know...

That her left hip has rounded the corner...after 2 years and 7 months there is some growth there...WOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO!!!!! And her mobility is great in that leg. It ALMOST moves normally...and you'd have to MAKE her do something to prove that it doesn't move normally for you to be able to see it.

That her right hip is still in the fracture stage and it's GOING to fracture pretty close to the same amount that the left did...it's heading toward that C status that means 50%...all I can really say about it is "PRAISE GOD for growth plates!!" Apparently it can't fracture much further than the growth plate, so I, for one, am glad she's young enough to still have them. The mobility in that hip isn't GREAT, but is well within normal ranges for the fracture stage...and I will say, so much better than it was in May.

Having spent the last 2 years and 7 months looking at her left hip...this right hip is breaking down FAST! It's hard to tell you exactly HOW close the two are in the digital X-ray that they wave in front of me...but between the growth on the left and the break down on the right, the femoral heads look to be within a couple of millimeters of one another in size. Now, a couple of millimeters is still quite a big difference when you are talking about break down or growth; but where the left femoral head looked like an orange rotting as it broke down (you know slowly diminishing)...this one looks more like someone took an electric sander to it. Sorry for the heebie jeebies that visual might have caused.

AND they made us give back the walker and the zoomy pink wheelchair. Now to be fair, we haven't used the walker in a couple of months. And the wheelchair only really gets used at Walmart and Costco. And, I really do have to say, they did offer to let us have it until they could order us one...so it's probably unfair to say that they MADE us give it back. But we don't have it anymore and we left it there...sooo... They do think she is stable enough to go without it most of the time...(sigh)...and this really is a good thing. A VERY good thing. If only I could get my irrational fears and "what ifs" to pipe down already.

So there it is. The event that I let wreck me on Sunday...the one that made me burst into tears turned out to be not such a big thing. My head knew it was gonna be okay...that we would deal with whatever came...my silly ole tear ducts just didn't get the message. Just keepin it real.

She's good. She's still broken...but her body is doin just exactly what they said it was gonna do...and we don't have to go to that wonderful (terribly stressful) place again for another six months...God willing and the crick don't rise.

See ya around...

The Trials of Womanhood...

Well technically, the trials of curly hair. Eh...I should have such trials!!!



See Bear...

Bear's hair has gone from luscious curls to straw in the last few weeks...

Bear's mom, can't stand it...



See Bear...

Bear doesn't understand why mom dragged her to the sink...hosed her head down...schmeared very smelly conditioner in her hair and put a bag on her head...



See Bear...

Bear wishes everyone would stop gigglin at her "hair-do" and that 15 minutes felt more like 2 minutes because she is bored bored bored of this beauty ritual...



See Bear...

Bear is happy that the timer beeped...

See Monkey Face...

Monkey Face is happy to see the camera AND has finally gotten control of her giggles.

Bear's mom hopes that Bear will look less like a scarecrow and more like Goldilocks momentarily...



hmmmmm...Demented Goldilocks...some girls have ALL the luck...

See ya around...