Dangerous day

On the day after my birthday last year, Scott had an appendectomy.

This year, it was Ben who needed the trip to the ER.  During a particularly competitive racquetball game, he ran into a wall, first with his shoulder and then with his head.  He came home nauseous, so I took him in to get x-rayed.  Thankfully he did not break anything.  The doctor thought he might have torn his rotator cuff, though after several days of improvement, we now think it was just traumatized and bruised.

So, family, you have been warned.  I don't want a 3-peat of ER trips following my birthday.  Got it?  Good.

Hippo Birdie Two Ewe (Me)

I had a pretty sweet birthday this year.  My kids were more excited for it than I was (and this will probably be the case for several more years).  They were still in school, so Ben was going to take me to breakfast after the older four left--but I decided after being awake with Benson through the night I'd rather take a nap. It was lovely.

I hosted my preschool music class in the morning, and then was surprised when Ben came home and we were able to go out for lunch.  So yummy!  Then I got to play with my new phone, which Ben got for me since he felt sorry for how long it took me to text on my old one, while wearing my new slippers, since my old ones were holey.  (I know, my trials are a-heavy.)

For dinner, Ben made me a lasagna soup that I had seen on Our Best Bites.  We have declared it our favorite soup of the year.  Or decade.  My cake was angel food with raspberries and chocolate ice cream.  Yes, it was a sweet birthday.

But wait--the best part was the 6th Grade Band Concert we got to attend that evening!  And it truly was a treat.  The place was packed, but we found a spot for our crew right behind Scott!  And while the other instrument groups garnered comments like, "Well, that's decent for only four months of playing the instrument...", Scott's percussion group was actually pretty good, and even had some actions to go with their songs.  He played the jingle bells for one song and the snare drum for the other.

I know this was my first child's first band concert--I hope that I enjoy my last child's first band concert as much!

A Very Merry Christmas!

Joy to your family from ours!

 Benson--8 months

 Tessa--3

 Caytie--5

 Gracie--7

 Emma--9

 Scott--11

 The Momma--one year older, and wiser too, we hope.

The Dad--debated his age for ten minutes before accepting he was a year off.

(No family shot this year; just individuals by the tree.  But I think it does the job.)

(I believe that 50% of our ornaments involve popsicle sticks.  I love it.)

(My house has exploded.  I think that I'm the only one who has noticed--everyone else is busily playing and playing.)

(We had a surprise White Christmas!  While it was absolutely beautiful, Ben was on call, and had to go in to work on Christmas.  I made him go after breakfast before the roads got too bad.  He made it home safely for a cozy afternoon.)

(Ben and Scott left the day after Christmas for a winter Scout camp.  All winter the weather has been surprisingly warm, until this week.  Brrrr!)

(I got a tablet for my Christmas gift, and a smarter phone for my birthday the week before.  I never knew how handy they are.  Ben is anxious for me to get my fill so he can play, too.)

(I caught a cold.  I need to go to bed.)

Rise, All Loyal Cougars

At school every week the kids have "Think College Thursday," when they are encouraged to wear a college t-shirt.  The three girls, in particular, have asked repeatedly for shirts from BYU, which we could have easily picked up this summer had we known about this new program, but...we didn't.

I was thinking about ordering some recently when I remembered that I had a stash of plain clearance shirts I'd picked up a few years ago for $1, just waiting for someone to grow into them.  I pulled them out, and found a couple just the right size.

I'd known about doing potato stamping on paper projects, but had seen someone do it on shirts with acrylic paint, so we decided to try it.  I only had a sweet potato, but it worked out great.  I printed off some letters, traced them and carved them into the potato, and got out the blue and white paint.

Let the fun begin!

 After ironing on a few sparkles and stars, the girls were ready for the next Think College Thursday as happy mini Cougars.

Not too bad for $3 and a potato.

I love it

I'm pretty sure I saw a bald eagle fly over our yard when I was outside with my girls.  At first I thought it was one of the black vultures around, but then I saw its full white head.  It made me feel all proud to be an American and everything.

I like it here in our little corner of the world.

Hot dog!

Halloween was here, oh, a month and a half ago--so it's about time to post some pictures, right?

With it being his first Halloween, Benson had to take a few days to get in the mood.  These glasses really helped.

 (Despite how it appears, Emma does have clothing on.)

The night arrived with beautiful weather.  Our group included a princess, a lazy person, a ballerina, a black cat, a hot dog, and a werewolf.

 We have limited pictures of the evening, unfortunately, because these kids were ready to go RIGHT NOW. The little hot dog got to have a close up, though.

My friend let us borrow this costume, and Benson thanks her profusely, since he didn't want to follow the tradition of our last four children and be a pink bunny for his first Halloween.  Scott just wore some pumpkin pajamas for his first year.  My friend and her husband were ketchup and mustard to match their baby hot dog last year, and  did the cutest Up costumes this year. Do you think that someday we can pull off a family theme?  Ummm, how about Up?? :)