We just want to say thanks to all our friends and family. This was a great Christmas with all our children around us (we thought Tay would be at boot camp by now.) Ally wrote a song this season called Preoccupied and it tells all about how easy it is to see problems and not do anything to make a difference. But all around me, I see people who are constantly looking out for one another. People who take care of those around them and who have taught us to do the same. Thank you for being such a good example to us and to our children. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Emerys.

p.s. This year we mainly fall under the category of "Live life and record it when you can." Our cat fed the camera to the dog's water bowl." Animals keep life interesting:) My kids would probably say the same for their parents. he he

Christmas 2009

Here are the littles (Sarah and Rylee) in their jammies on Christmas Eve. They look forward every Christmas to opening the gift from Grandma Charlene and Grandpa Art on Christmas Eve. A friend even heard Sarah say, "And mine will be pink. They always get me pink." The kids all love their jammies. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa.

Surprise! My twin and I showed up to Christmas Day dinner with the same sweater. Neither even knew the other got a new sweater. They are the same material only hers is a pull-over and mine is a cardigan. Guess it's true what they say. Great minds do think alike.

The end of another year

It is already time to get ready for Christmas and again I am stunned at how fast this time of year arrives. The kids have decorated the tree and the house. Sarah was relentless in her enthusiasm (read nagging) to decorate. Her favorite thing to do. So the house is ready at least. For me to be ready requires music. I must attend one musical program themed around Christmas or else the season seems incomplete.

Last night, my wonderful husband stayed at home with the littles so Ally and I could go to a stake musical production and then the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. I had the most glorious time. Not only was the music wonderful but the talks were just what I needed to hear to get my priorities straight and my heart in the right place. I also thoroughly enjoyed having Ally to myself for a couple hours. She is such fun to be with and one of my good friends. I got to put my arm around her and simply enjoy her company. Thanks Ally.

Scott and I also got the great opportunity of going to the temple with Ally and Cameron and other youth in the ward to do baptisms for the dead. It was neat to see my two teenagers in the temple doing work for others who need it. I am constantly amazed that these great kids part of my family.

Rylee said something funny the other day. (It happens frequently) He called me on my cell phone and then went downstairs. As I was listening to him talk, he suddenly said, "OK Mom, I put you on speaker phone so don't say anything rude about Socks." (our cat and the only living thing downstairs with him) I laughed hard at that.

Sarah is becoming quite the big kid. Although I think she will still be singing "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth." Silly girl.
After a few interviews and terrible job opportunities, Taylor has a job. Yeah! He is working for a friend who owns a Sprint Cell Phone Store. I think he will work almost full time until he goes off to boot camp which looks like sometime in March. We are happy for him to be busy and still be home for the holidays.

Cam is the coolest kid. The other day I felt terrible emotionally. The kind of day where there is no reason to be grumpy but you are? Well, Mom called and I told her I just needed her to come hold me. As I turned around from talking to her, I saw Cameron sit down on a kitchen chair and hold out his arms. He gave me the holding and hug I was so in need of. What a humble experience it was to see him respond to a need he heard me express to my Mom. His friend came in just after that and upon seeing me on Cam's lap said, "Dude, what are you doing?" Cam said," Dude, my Mom is sad and she needs a hug." I was impressed. I am sure it is his dad who taught him to be so compassionate.

As for Scott, he is simply getting through everyday. Work is tiring but he loves our family so much that he does it all for us. He also recorded songs with Ally so thanks to him we have four of her songs down for posterity. Thanks Scott!

Oh, we got an opportunity to love another child in our home for two weeks. Logan is five and he lived with us from November 11th until the 23rd. He taught us to be happy in bad circumstances, to be accepting of others, and he gave our hearts a reason to be bigger as we loved him from the very start. He lives with his grandma now and she is a constant in his life. Logan, our five year old, we are glad you are safe and we love you.
Merry Christmas to everyone! We love you and hope your holiday season is filled with God's Love all around you!

Halloween 2009

My creative girl wanted to go trick or treating to raise money for Unicef. So she came up with the idea of a "One-Eyed, One-Horned, Flying Purple People Eater." I think the coolest thing I ever pretended to be was Raggedy Ann.

Sarah was a witch and was so happy to get cat's face painted on her cheeks. Love the cute grin she has on.

Rylee was a wolf. Later in the day he lost his ears as we trick or treated. We then told people he was a robber with a tail. He he

My good friend Melissa is getting baptized at the end of the month. It has been a great and sometimes frustrating adventure for her as she explores which church she wants to join. I have been so happy to be a part of the adventure. I thought it was especially fitting that she chose to be a missionary for halloween. She looks so happy. The gospel is a great gift:)

The last picture is the silliest. They hold a Boo Bash at the high school with games, treats, activities, and a haunted house. This is a game where you eat a doughnut off a string. Rylee, Jainey, and Sarah had a blast. Maybe I should feed them vegetables with this method?

Scott and Cameron celebrated birthdays in October. Scott is now 47 and Cameron is 13. Three teenagers at the Emery house. AAAHHH!

All I want for Christmas is my FOUR front teeth. And while your at it, can you get me the two missing on the bottom also. She is so cute!

Here are the teen-agers. Can't you just feel their personalities coming off the screen at you. They are so great. I love being their mom:)

Sarah and Rylee love to share this chair to watch movies. I like it when they collaborate to do fun things instead of clobbering each other.

We Survived The Swine Flu

I guess there's nothing that clears your schedule quite as fast as the whole family getting sick. Our family had the swine flu and it took weeks to get everyone through the worst of the symptoms. We are on the mend now and I am determined that we will get the flu vaccine so we don't have to do another month or two of sickness this winter.
I was surprised, though, that it wasn't as dire as I thought it would be. We had lots of headaches, fevers, aches and pains, congestion and severe exhaustion but then things would get better. As I look back at the whole episode, I realize the wisdom of the statement "The absence of pain is bliss." How very true that is. When everyone was finally well and we could go to church, go out in the sunshine, play with neighbor kids, etc it felt so wonderful.
I guess the bottom line of this post is to remind myself and others to appreciate health and happiness. It is such a tender mercy and a blessing from God.

Cameron posed and took this great picture of Sarah at Multnomah Falls. Good job Cameron!

After seeing the falls with Scott's parents, I took this photo of them running out the rest of their energy. I just thought the sun looked cool as the evening was coming on.

We were so happy when Scott's parents came to visit. This was a photo of the kids with them before they left to go back to Utah.

The kids are taking Horseback riding lessons. Just thought it was funny that Sarah is still shorter than a small pony. he he

Ok, we have given up on the theory of the perfect family picture. I sprung it on them right before dinner. "Nobody eats until we have a halfway decent family picture!" Those annoying mothers (and wives). Thanks everyone for putting up with your crazy picture happy mother. I love my family!

Here are the crazy fun twins with their videographers before we go over to wait on the runway for the "perfectly good airplane" that we are going to jump out of.
Here is the airplane with Jeannine, Michelle, their tandem jumpers, and four or five experienced divers as we take off to climb to 13,000 feet. (that's over two miles as pointed out by Scott's dad, Bob.)
"Here Sarah, look up here for them." I love this picture. I love it even more when I think that Cameron took it. He's great!
Landed safely, still alive, and still walking. Yeah for Sky Diving. Wanna go?

Chelle Sky Dives and Lives to tell about it

Cameron was on the ground recording my screaming for all of my posterity. Love you Cam!

Today I was a bird

Sky diving is an amazing thing to do. It was exhilarating and lovely and so cool. It took a long time until we finally got a 5 minute training and then got up in the air. We got there at 3:30 and filled out seven or eight pages of "you will not sue even if you are maimed" and "oh by the way, you could die" paperwork. Then we sat around for hours watching other people get suited up, take videos and pictures, get in planes, jump and float back down to us.

But when we were in the plane, I was so amazed at how fast we climbed to 13,000 feet. It seemed like it only took a minute. Then they opened the door and the experienced divers went out. After them, we scooted to the opening of the plane where I sat on the floor and dangled my feet over the edge of the plane. My tandem jumper, Dane, was right behind me (well, how could he not be as we were strapped closely together.) Then I arched my back and crossed my arms, looked up at the sky and we jumped. It was a feeling I have never experienced. It only took a few seconds for us to be traveling at 120 miles per hour. Imagine all the air rushing past you as you struggle to breathe, enjoy, and smile.

I had a videographer named Ted who was such a cool guy. He told me to scream a lot as it looked cool on the video. Turned out that wasn't a hard request. Also, I had an interesting time keeping my lips together as wind rushing past at such a fast rate of speed produces dry yet sticky lips in 2 seconds flat. Not flattering though I was too happy to care.

The coolest part was looking around and seeing all the earth and the horizon from so high up off the earth. The farms look like the computer boards that Cameron got out of an old computer. The clouds look pillowy and the sky was so blue. As we were falling, I thought about what it must look like from below and I realized that seeing something and doing it are just so different. Seeing it is cool but doing it produces a perspective that you just cannot imagine from down on the ground.

After a minute, Dane pulled the ripcord and out came the parachute. This begins a different phase of the experience. No longer are you barreling through space toward the earth. Now you are floating and looking round. Dane let me guide the parachute and I turned and tried to twist around to experience the cool feelings and get the full spectrum of what the ground looked like from up there. It is cool to watch other parachutes flying around too and I got a great view of my sister as she spun over and over while headed to the ground. What a great perspective!

As we got close to the ground, Dane had me practice pulling my legs up and basically not getting in his way as he landed us on the ground. Good idea considering I have trouble standing on still ground, let alone ground that is coming up way faster than an escalator. It was great to land and then stand on solid ground. Not that I missed it exactly, just that it was a new sensation after having fallen from so high.

He did a great job getting us to the ground and unhooked me almost immediately. I ran to Jeannine and we hugged and screamed that "We did it!" I could hear Rylee screaming my name and people cheering. My Dad even got teary-eyed watching his girls come down out of the plane. Ted Dad has made hundreds of jumps and was the instigation of such a wild and crazy adventure.

Hopefully, that was not the last time I will embark upon an experience which gives me the opportunity to change my perspective for the better. What a great and amazing day. I will have a video and a roll of film so I can recall this day over and over in the future. Yeah for Sky Diving!

Summer Fun

Ally formed her own team for Relay for Life which raises money for cancer research. She worked so hard and raised almost $200 for the cause. This is a pic I took at the night of the event with two friends who joined her team. Ally is such a great girl and she is so cuncerned about helping the community. Go Ally!
At the Wild Life Safari in Winston, Oregon you can get an Elephant to wash your car. The kids LOVED it. This is a picture of Alice the elephant spraying our window with water. See her trunk in the far right corner. It was great to hear Sarah belly laugh as Alice kept squirting all the windows. What fun!

Crater Lake 2009

So Crater Lake is so amazing. We just got back from a vacation there. We went to the Wildlife Safari in Roseburg, Oregon on the way down to Crater Lake. Paid big bucks to get in but my it was so worth it. A giraffe stood 5 feet from our car; an elephant named Alice washed our car by squirting us with her trunk and then wiping the windows with a sponge; a bear showed us a new sleeping position: the kids got a birds and the bees lesson from a black and brown bear; an ostrich followed us in our car, etc. What fun!
At Crater Lake we got to see the lake, swim in a fabulous lake called Lake of the Woods, spend time with our cousins (Scott's brother and his family), etc. We met some new friends because of a conversation I had at the time I made the reservations. It seemed that Heidi, one of the owners of the resort where we stayed was going to have a birthday while we were there. I told her that since it was on the 24Th of July that if she was in Utah, she could have a parade in honor of her birthday. They have a parade then to celebrate the pioneers entering the Salt Lake valley. She told me her "parade story" which was a great adventure where she ended up in a parade in her car by turning onto a street during a fiesta days parade in Colorado. We talked about having our own parade in our cars while I was there and how silly that would be.
Well, we got to Union Creek Resort and later in the evening, I was asking for advice on where to take the kids for a hike. A lady at the resort took me outside to show me which direction to go, etc. At the end of the conversation, I thanked her for her help and asked her what her name was. It was Heidi! I squealed and said "Heidi, it's Michelle, the parade lady!" She squealed back and we hugged each other and laughed. I am sure everyone around us thought we had lost our minds. It was as if we were old friends.
Well, we ended up at the ice cream shop to have her husband go check out a few issues in the cabin (light bulbs, etc) and while there, she gave me ice cream for the kids and then we "toasted" with spoonfuls of birthday cake ice cream for her birthday. Then these two older gentlemen entered the store and I asked them to sing happy birthday to Heidi with me. She cried, probably because the song was so bad. he he
The next day,we invited Heidi and her family to join us and Dale and Lisa's family for lunch. We had made Curry and we had enough to feed an army. The kids had so much fun together. Then later that evening, we were starting a fire to have smores, sing campfire songs, etc. Up the dirt road comes Heidi honking in her car, all her kids in their wagons, bikes, etc. They started throwing candy and laughing. It was a parade just for us! What fun! The kids ended up playing, having smores, etc. until late into the night. It ended with Lisa leading us in a camp song about not wanting the good time to be over. Something about "Ooo hoo, I want to linger."
The next day we had ice cream for lunch and spent the afternoon helping Laurel, a great girl who was offering horseback rides. All the kids got to brush horses, help get them saddled up, and then each of the kids, Katie, Ally, Rylee, Sarah, and I got to ride a horse for a half hour ride through the forest. A memory for sure. Especially for the two littles who had never ridden a horse before.
We are now home and awaiting the arrival of Dale and Lisa to our home from their adventures on the coast this week. They have never been to our home so hopefully we will be good hosts and they will enjoy their stay. With the heat this week at 102 and climbing, I think all of us are glad we have air conditioning. I know several friends who are hanging out at our house for the week! We love company and wish more friends and family would come visit.

Taylor enlisted in the Marines

So after graduating, I am finding that Taylor isn't the sit around type. He took the tests and joined the Marines on his 18th birthday. The ASVAB (Armed Forces Vocation Apptitude Battery) has an average score of 42 (out of 99). Taylor got 82! He will be going to bootcamp in San Diego in October for 13 weeks. We as parents have mixed feelings about this but overall, we are proud that Taylor has a plan and that he seems to know what he wants. We have always known that once Taylor decides something, he means it. He will be training for MP (military police) and then be stationed at a base somewhere (which we won't know for a while). I am shooting for Hawaii. A mother must visit her son afterall. he he

Well, Taylor graduated from high school. I gotta say I was pleased that this day arrived. There were some moments along the way (think 12 years old to 15, 16, 17 etc.) where I wasn't sure it would happen. This is a picture with Taylor and his proud parents, his girlfriend Sara and her proud parents and Taylor's proud Grandma Charlene. I think there was a lot of proud going around that day. Maybe a little relief too. One down, several more still to go.

Grandma Charlene, Taylor, Chelle, and Scott. Thanks Grandma for flying up to help celebrate the big day.

Sara and Taylor with the well-earned diplomas in hand! After this picture was taken, they were off to a great big all night party to celebrate! The school rented a cool place in Vancouver with rock climbing, swimming, food, fun, more food, etc. They even took the kids there and back by bus.

Are we really old enough to have three teen-agers including a child graduated from high school?

I think I look shell (Chelle) shocked in this photo. Maybe the same look I got every time a child was born. The "am I really doing this?" look. This photo was before the graduation ceremony. I think I mellowed as the evening went on.

Silly Taylor and Sara at prom.

Taylor, Sara, Corey, and Charlie before they left for prom.

I made Tay and Sara stand for "way" too many pictures before they went to Prom. But come on, I am the Mom! Don't they look great together. I love these kids.

Ally took our picture. I love being married to Scott. He built garden boxes for me this weekend! Now we can grow a garden! Rascal loves to lick water from the faucet. Cameron took this picture and I thought the angle was cute.

My friend and I took our kids for a treat after running through the dandelions. They look so cute on the curb together. I miss Nathan.

Only preschoolers can get this excited about dandelions. Wish they'd pick them all from my yard. (luckily this is NOT my yard)

So Nathan, who has become such an integral part of our family, is going home to live with his Mom again in just a few days. It feels so weird to pack up his toys and clothes. I have been doing it slowly as he goes to stay with his mom overnight twice a week. Somehow it feels better to lose him a bit at a time than all at once. I once thought the transition period was only for the foster child but now I know that it is for all the people involved. He is so happy with his mom and she is really trying hard to get it back together. But I will miss his cute smile, his big bear hugs, his laugh when he is tickled.

There are so many good experiences we have had with him. I guess that if we have memories, we won't really lose him at all. Today he goes to stay overnight with his mom. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we have him back at 8 a.m. and then we have him until he goes home for good on Friday afternoon. His mom says she will have our family as part of her support system. That's good because that means we would get to see him sometimes. I am interested to see how that goes. We love you Nathan!

I learned how to make bread here in Oregon! The kids favorite part is to "play" with dough and have flour fights. Aren't they cute!

Sarah in her Easter outfit. She is getting so grown up.

Nathan was happy to pose for a picture.(As long as he had the candy bribe in place)

Rylee has such a cute smile. He looks grown up in his new Easter shirt.

All six kids holding still in one place. I had to beg and take 8 pictures to finally get this one. I love my kids.

Left to right in the back is Ally, 15, Taylor, 17, Cameron, 12. Left to right in front is Rylee, 4, Sarah, 6, and Nathan, 2.

Spring Break at the Emery's

So the kids are out of school this week and it's obvious that it's the teachers that get the break and not the parents. I am having a good week, though, and I think we are learning good things as a family.
Monday we spent the day getting the house chean so that we could kind of forget it for the rest of the week. We also talked in depth with the three little kids about what it meant to clean up your own messes. They are learning slowly and I am so happy about that.
Tuesday was a fun day. We dropped Nathan off for his visit with his parents and then I took the other kids to Oregon city. What fun we had. We rode the outdoor elevator and then we walked around and ended up walking through a cool church built by the Mothodists. It was beautiful outside and kind of cool inside. Although Allison put it best when she said the outside was more beautiful than the inside. There was a gift shop and a coffee shop inside which seems odd to us mormons.
Wednesday I took Rylee and Sarah to Portland to see a play based off the book "Goodnight Moon." It was silly and the kids laughed and giggled. That's a fun sound. Jeannine brought Jainey and Katie and my friend Breezy brought her girls Destiny and Kaytlin. Rylee was the odd man out. he he
Thursday was another chance for a book to come into play at our house. All the little kids (and the Mommy) were grumpy so after lunch we became "The Napping House." We all napped in the loft where the little kids sleep. Sometimes sleep is more glorious than anything else.
They all slept so long that I was able to make dinner and homemade apple pie in peace and quiet. It was amazing.
Today we are simply being. No agenda, no plans. It will hopefully be a good day. Tonight Ally and I are going to see Wicked (a play) for her birthday. My Aunt Claudia, Uncle Lee, and cousin Rebecca are here visiting from Utah and they are going to the play, too. I am really excited.
This weekend we are having a party for Ally, Lee and Rebecca. A party! Mom Charlene and Dad Art are coming and my mom is making lasagna, peach jello salad and chocolate roll. Jackpot! I miss living by family and both Scott's Mom and my Mom's good food.

So Time Out For Women in Seattle was so great. We were gone from Thursday night until Saturday night. I had all kinds of people who helped so I could go fill my bucket. Now I feel that I can give back to others again. Yeah! We took all of Friday to shop, eat, and just truly enjoy ourselves. I was in a hotel room with Dayna Brown(a good friend and the person responsible for this great adventure), Stacy Brown (the bishop's wife and good friend), Jeannine Hokanson (twin and one great woman), and me. We seemed to get along really well and enjoyed each other's company and the talks etc that went on during the weekend.

There were so many talks that inspired me to do better, but also ones that helped me not to expect too much of myself.My favorite talk asked each of us to watch the way we talked to ourselves and then imagine that we were watching an interaction between a mother and her daughter. If we did this, the speaker asked, what would our impression be of how good a mother this person was? I think this is a small way for us to rethink the expectations we have of ourselves and the negative ways we talk to ourselves.

Another comment that had a good impression on me was one where the speaker asked us when we are looking at a problem in our lives to think what we would tell a best friend in the same situation. He said that then if we took that advice for ourselves, we would do great. I guess it's funny how we always think our problems are unsolveable and everyone else's problems are so easily fixed. I laughed so hard during the week end at funny anecdotes told by speakers and friends.

Friday afternoon, we were walking into a French Bakery when a phone call came from Nick Wise, Nathan's caseworker. It was the phone call I dreaded. He will be returning to be with his mom within the next 30 days. I know it is the best. I know that I have done the very best I could with him everyday. I know that he has enlarged my heart and my capacity to love. I know that he is a child of God not a child of mine and that no matter where he goes, God will be watching over him. But all this knowledge does not stop the tears and sadness at having him leave our home and the empty spot it will bring. On a silly note, I will not miss the tears or the diapers. Friday night Jenny Oaks Baker played the violin in a beautiful rendition of Somewhere over the Rainbow. Oddly, I sobbed through the entire thing and when it was over, I felt as if all the emotion I couldn't handle had washed away with the tears. I came home ready to "do what needs to be done" and get this sweet boy ready to transition back to his Mother. God is amazing and answers prayers, even pleadings, with exactly what I need even when I don't know I need it.

Never Boring

So I sat down on the couch to read a story to the little kids and Suddenly felt something odd on the couch next to me. Upon closer examination, I was holding a raw egg from the refridgerator. I asked the kids why there was an egg on the couch and this is the answer I got. Sarah said, "Well, me and Rylee wanted a chick." Huh. So the next few minutes at the Emery house were filled with a discussion about fertilization, chickens, and how I would love to take them to the feed store to see a chick. He he he. Silly kids and never a dull moment.
p.s. Tender mercies: no broken eggs on my couch as the kids tried to hatch a chick with a raw egg.

The Best Gift

Yesterday Ally gave me the best gift I have been given in a long time. Many things have been being broken, drawn on, ruined, and lost so yesterday I was feeling blue and overwhelmed. I sat on my bed to fold laundry and simply get away from the messes in the house. Ally came in and saw me. She said, "I should bring you a new CD I have so you can listen while you fold." I was happy to listen because I LOVE music.

Then, she said she would cook dinner. I was so happy because it was a chore I was not looking forward to. Not long after that, she took Nathan and Rylee downstairs with her and told me to relax in my room. I cannot remember the last time I sat in my room and listened to music, while not worrying about the children or what they were ruining, etc. When Ally came up to tell me dinner was ready, I expressed to her my love and appreciation for what she had given me the chance to do. She was so amazed at my emotion over "such a small thing" that she said, "Do you want me to bring you dinner in your room. Really, the kids are fine. Then you can enjoy music and dinner in your room." She did bring me dinner and I ate in peace.

After that, I felt great. I have made a decision. As long as I have a clean place to go (ie. my room), I can handle the mess, chaos, and ruined state of many things. As our motto states, "If it aint broke, it aint ours." I still plan to continue teaching the children that "Cleanliness is next to Godliness", but with a peaceful place to go, I feel more competent to do so.

Now if I could just figure out a way to get permanent marker off the seats in my car!

Hi!

So I hurt my shoulder a month or two ago and I have been patiently waiting for the pain to go away. It hasn't. Finally, I went to the doctor today and found out that I have rotator cuff tendonitis. Although I don't know what this means, I do know where it came from. There is a reason people have their children when they are young. The combination of lifting Nathan, Rylee, and a purse big enough to hold all their stuff means I get meet a physical therapist on Monday and have anti-imflamatory drugs, muscle relaxers, and strong pain killers for a while. The doctor wrote me instructions which say NO LIFTING. I laughed at her. "And what should I do when the two year old throws a fit, " I said. "Tell him no fit throwing," she said. I love my doctor. She is hilarious.

In other news, I just edited a paper for Taylor. It was a great paper. Now he needs to write several more and do a senoir projact. Cross your fingers that we get to use those graduation announcements we bought. he he he

The kids are all doing well. I laughed at Rylee the other day. We watched Enchanted and the next day, as he tried to get into his carseat, he copied a line from a chipmunk in the movie. Patting his tummy he said proudly, "Man, I gotta lay off the nuts!" I had a good laugh.

Sarah is doing well with her hard cast off. She is in a splint now and only wears it to school. She is at a birthday party for a friend at Skate World today. I am praying she comes home with no incident. The last birthday party didn't work out so well.

February begins

Life goes on in the Emery house. My most exciting news is that Ally got a 4.0! Straight A's because she wanted to. I have determined that I am not in charge of the children's grades. They decide where they want to be.

I got a mothering payday on Saturday. I went to Tay's work to get my W-2 from last year when I worked there. The new owners told me that Tay is one of the best employees and that even though he is only 17, he sees the big picture and is so responsible. They said I should be proud because I did a good job at raising him. So what I want to know is, how come I never see any of that big picture responsibility at home? he he he!

Cam got to go to a blazers game with the Bishop on Saturday. He loves basketball games and since they won with a score over 100, he got a Taco Bell Chalupa on the way home! Life is good.

Sarah is getting very adept at one-handed living. I think she only has a few days left before she gets the long cast off. Then baths, etc will be so much easier and she can begin trying to move the elbow. Hopefully, no physical therapy will be needed.

Scott is doing great at work and making people so happy with his work. He is so great and I really enjoy spending time with him. We had a great date last weekend with dinner in Portland. Fun and a good reminder of why we got married in the first place. We really are good friends.

Sarah's New Excitement

Birthday parties are expensive. Sarah went to a friend's party on Saturday, was there for five minutes, and now we have a broken arm from flipping off a bed. Note to six year olds. If you do a cool trick and your friend says, "Do it again!." DON'T DO IT!

So we went to the doctor Monday to have Sarah's arm x-rayed. The results were that she broke her elbow. I thought they would cast it and send us on our merry way. No way! She broke it but they were concerned that she may have broken her growth plate so they sent us to a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. That appointment was Wednesday.

Again I thought they would take a few x-rays, tell us everything was fine with the growth plate, cast it, and send us on our merry way. No way!After the x-rays, the surgeon told us that she had broken the right radial head of her elbow. Also, it had moved so far away from the bone that surgery was required in order to reattach it. So instead of the quick visit I was expecting, we went from the doctor's office over to the children's hospital to check-in and have surgery that evening.

God has a sense of humor since we ended up being in a room just three doors down from the room I spent 3 days in in the hospital with Nathan last month. I even wore the same shirt that I got to spend 3 days in. I think that's hilarious. The nurses joked that I didn't need a wrist band to let me into the unit. My shirt alone should work. he he he.Sarah and I spent the afternoon playing hospital bingo, reading the rest of A Tale of Despereaux, and hanging out. Sarah's favorite part was Disney Channel. We have only movies at our house so she was glued to Hannah Montana, The Suite Life of Zach and Cody, etc. As for me, I took that time to wander or read a magazine. I knew there was a reason why we didn't have tv anymore. I think I lost many brain cells watching just the little bit I did.

Legacy Immanuel Children's Hospital is the best. Sarah says that her stufties (stuffed bear and dog who went into surgery with her) got the sleeping gas first and the doctor pushed them over so that they were sleeping. These same stufties also came out of the operation with matching casts to Sarah's on the same arm. So cute.Scott came to be with us after work and was so wonderful. He is a great dad and a fabulous husbamd. His brain cells are in question, too, though because he came after the surgery when Disney watching was at it's peak. I think we will all live but yuck. Scott says the best of Disney Channel is an oxymoron.

We were discharged at midnight so we wouldn't have to pay for another day. A blessing but what a long day. Now we are home and Sarah, my brave humpty dumpty is on Tylenol with Codeine wanting to do everything but sit still. She is the coolest kid. She was so calm in the pre-op room that the nurses thought the nurses upstairs had given her valium before she came down. That's my Sarah, calm and fabulous (most of the time!).

Monday Sarah gets to go back to the surgeon's office to get a real cast and she says she's choosing the Glow in the Dark color. That should be fun. Anyone want to come sit in the bathroom to see a cast glow in the dark?

Well, we are home and I have a shirt available for anyone who wants it.

Seattle As A Family

We went to Seattle for a few days as a christmas trip with all the children. Some highlights were the space needle and getting to see all of seattle from above. The Seattle Aquarium is fantastic. We saw octopus, starfish, otters, etc. I love touching sea life. I want to go back all by myself and play for hours in the pools where you can touch the animals. A cool one is called a feather duster. When you touch it, it pulls itself inside a tube. Cool looking and fun! We also enjoyed Pike's market although the smell of fish was a strong deterent for Taylor who wouldn't eat anything there. Taylor and Ally went on a shuttle to Westlake Mall and truly enjoyed being off on their own. I can't believe my kids are so grown-up that they can do that even in a new city. Cameron and I had a fun walk in downtown Seattle and got crepes and talked. I really love my husband and kids.

Of course there were the rough times like stuffing six kids and two tired adults into a small hotel room. Or Rylee pooping his underwear at the top of the space needle. Ugh! Or a screaming two year old in a backpack. Or losing Tay and Ally in downtown Seattle and having to pray to find them. Or . . . I think I should remember the good times and stop documenting the yucky ones, huh? We really did have so many good memories that I am truly glad we went. Afterall, if you get back from a trip and even the teenagers say that it was a great trip, I think it was successful. Now Scott and I need a vacation. He He He.