One Day At A Time

Sometimes with everything that goes on in our busy, busy home, I really have to take it one day at a time. There are times when I just take it one minute at a time!

Samantha is finishing up her last week of cheerleading. And as I type this, she is finishing her last weekend of being a Mat Hostess (A group of girls that keep stats and help out with the wrestling matches. I did this when I was in high school and loved it!) This weekend is the state competition in Portland at the Memorial Coliseum. She left the house just after 6 this morning and won't be home until 10 tonight. She will repeat that the following two days. It's exhausting but so fun. She also has choir performances and other church responsibilities.

Levi, Tanner and Thomas have 3 weeks left of basketball practice and games. Thomas is actually done, considering the condition of his right hand. He's so sad to have to miss his last 3 games. Between the three of them, we have practices Monday-Friday, with tournaments usually on Saturdays. I'm sooooooo looking forward to getting our evenings and weekends back!

The three boys also have scouts on Wednesdays and Samantha and Sabrina have Young Women's on Wednesday evenings at the church.

And then of course there are the other 5 little cuties that are not involved in extra curricular activities right now but still need lots of love and attention!! It makes for one busy mama!

It's my life and I wouldn't trade it for 2 seconds......ok, maybe for just 2 seconds, but no more. I love the hustle and bustle. Staying on top of everyone's homework and projects that are due takes quite a bit of organization. Most of the time I feel like I'm on top of all of it. And then there are days when an avalanche hits and I try very hard to stay in front of it before it catches up to me!

It helps having an amazing husband. He jumps right in with whatever I or the kids need help with. He's no slouch. I knew when I married him almost 20 years ago that he was exactly the type of man I should marry. He is everything I think a husband should be. I always tell our girls to find a man like their dad when they get married. They won't ever have regrets!

So today, no exciting news or pictures to post. Just thankful for my life and the amazing family our Heavenly Father has blessed me with.

*New And Improved!!*

Well, it's been quite the busy past few days!! Friday evening Scott took Tanner and Thomas out in the shop to work on their pinewood derby cars for Cub Scouts. Everything was going well until a very unfortunate accident.

Scott had just got Thomas set up to use the belt sander on his car. He was wearing all of his protective gear. Scott turned to help Tanner with whatever he was doing when he heard an ear piercing scream! "Dad, it's stuck on my finger!!!" He turned back to see that the belt sander had somehow sucked Thomas' finger in it and was chewing it down to nothing.

Scott grabbed his hand and yanked the machine off while Tanner hurried to unplug it.

They came running into the house. Thomas screaming and Scott yelling that we needed to go to the hospital now!!!!

I drove while Scott held Thomas in the back seat. When we got there, it took over an hour for them to pull us back to a room. Thomas sat out in the waiting area, crying and going in and out of shock while we waited. It took over two hours for them to administer any pain meds!!!

They took some x-rays, washed it, bandaged it and sent us on our way to see a hand specialist on Sunday. They determined that he had lost the first section of bone in his finger and possibly the joint as well.

I won't go into all the details of the next two days, they were brutal! Another visit to the OHSU emergency room, a visit with a hand specialist and 5 million phone calls to our insurance company to determine who, what, where and when to do surgery.

Yesterday at 3 pm, we got the call to head to Dornbecher Hospital in Portland. We were there for about 5 hours. The surgery took a little longer than they anticipated. There was some dead tissue and a little more bone that had to be removed. They said he was in quite a bit of pain during the surgery and so by the time we got to see him, he was doped up on quite a bit of morphine.

Had a great ride home! He lost all the fluids in his stomach, including a few ounces of strawberry milkshake that he was begging for, in the back seat of Scott's car! And missed the bag that they had given us for just such an occasion but it's all good. Thankfully it was in the parking lot at the pharmacy so Scott ran in and bought paper towels!

By the time we got home, he was exhausted and ready for bed. We'll go back to the Doctor next week for a check up and they will take off the soft cast and take a look at his finger.

He has been so brave throughout this whole process. We are so proud of him. Now to heal!!!

Warning: The first picture below is graphic. Just scroll quickly if you are not interested in seeing his finger pre-surgery! I still haven't looked at that picture too closely! Can't do it!

This was taken Friday night at the emergency room. The flap of skin that is covering the top is actually doing us all a favor. No one really wanted to see what it looked like underneath!

Last night after surgery. His fingerprint on the inside of his hand has now been flipped over the top and is on the tip and back of his hand! Cool huh??

Trying to wake up from a morphine induced sleep! Soooo tired!

This was his best smile! I was surprised he even tried! I would have probably growled at the camera if I felt as bad as he did!!

Mexico, Here We Come!!

The verdict is in: We're headed to Mexico!!!! In March (Spring Break), Samantha, Sabrina and Tari will fly south! We're so excited. Originally we were headed out on a humanitarian trip and that's not out of the works completely, just not what we're doing this time around. There is a possibility of one or two friends joining us on our adventure, so it will really be a great time!!

We're excited to enjoy some sunshine and relax! We'll be sure to take tons of pictures! We have lots of adventures planned and I'm sure there will be some we didn't plan on! Ha ha!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

On our way to the Valentine dinner/dance at the church last night! Sam and Sabrina insisted that I dress up more than what I was planning. They started pulling out all of Sam's cute dresses for me to try on. Only problem is I'm not exactly the same size as Sam. I finally settled on this one. I got tons of compliments on her dress. The only problem was I couldn't take a deep breath the entire night! Ha ha....the price we women pay to look nice! Sabrina took this as we were on our way out the door. We also had "professional" pictures taken at the dance....if they turned out, I will post it when we get it!

Four little cuties in their Valentine dresses!!!! Aren't they adorable????

I love this one! Vanessa was holding Jasmine's arms so she wouldn't take off running to me! Taking a picture of her is so hard. She likes to stand about an 1/8 of an inch away from the camera to take a picture!

The day started with a huge surprise: breakfast in bed courtesy of Scott! I'm sure this has happened in the past but not for a very long time!!!! It was heaven! I enjoyed a few minutes alone in bed, eating my breakfast and then the kids started coming in to find me. Savannah was first. Here's how the conversation went:

Savannah: "What you doing Mommy?"

Me: "Daddy brought me breakfast in bed!"

Savannah, worried look on her face: Gasps! "Mommy are you sick???"
Me, giggling: "No Baby, it's for Valentine's Day!"

Savannah: "Is it Valentine's Day in my bed too?"

Ha ha, she ate her breakfast in the kitchen with everyone else. Scott made crepes for the kids and they were in heaven!

I found some 'fake' rose petals at the store a couple of weeks ago. This morning after Scott made the bed, he left my Valentine's Day card propped up on my pillow. I got his card out and put it on his pillow and then I scattered the rose petals all over the bed. It looked so pretty. Talisha went in our room for something later and saw our bed. Next thing I hear is her running in to the kitchen yelling, "Dad, dad come quick! There are cards and leaves all over your bed!!!"

What a great day we had! We hope you enjoyed this fun day of love!!!

Saturday Morning Fun!!

This morning we thought it would be fun to take the kids to the NW Kids and Family festival at the fairgrounds. Levi and Tanner were grumbling about not wanting to go. It was going to be "soooo boring and they just wanted to stay home". Trust me, I told them, it was going to be so fun!!! Yeah, funny thing.....they had a blast! In fact,I don't have pictures of them because they were having so much fun checking out all the different displays and snagging all the free stuff!!

This is the only picture I got of Levi because it was just as we walked in the door and it was the first thing he did! After that, he was gone!!!!

Talisha and Savannah decorating cookies!

Samantha, Sabrina and Vanessa checking out the police dog!

Sabrina petting the cow! Sam is behind her petting the goats. There was a petting zoo that had the friendliest animals I have ever seen!!!! They must not have fed them for awhile or something because these animals would not leave us alone!! In fact they were so friendly, Talisha, Savannah and Vanessa were a little nervous! No pictures of them petting animals, they were hiding behind us!

I swear I thought this was a kangaroo! But then we read the sign and saw that is was really just a giant rodent! Oh whew!

I turned my head for 2 seconds and when I turned back around, I saw Vanessa throwing a roll of toilet paper in a toilet!!!! (But not before she asked me what was in it!) That was a very unique game, never played that one before!!!

And she SCORES!!!!!! What was her prize you ask???? She got a roll of toilet paper!!!! Is that bizarre?????

Sabrina petting some creepy looking lizard! That thing was huge. The sign said that if it bit you, you could die. It said you could pet it but no one wanted to. Sabrina was brave enough to do it. That thing was going nowhere fast. He had quite the belly on him!

We came across a gymnastic area. Savannah practicing her cartwheels!!

Isaiah had been on Scott's back in the backpack but he bailed out of there when he saw this area! That boy is a natural!!

Thomas saving the world!!!

Thomas and the very friendly Sweet Tomatoes mascot!

Whew, we spent two hours there and had a blast. No pictures of Jasmine because she was on my back. When it was finally time to leave, we couldn't find Levi anywhere. Scott finally found him. He was sitting there listening to the guy selling pots and pans. He was doing a cooking demonstration and Levi was in the front row. He loves to cook!!!!

It was a great morning, spent with the ones we love on this fun Valentine weekend!!!

We Love Valentine's Day!!!

Girls with their Valentine balloons from Daddy!

As a child, I loved writing on special valentine's for my classmates. Choosing just the right one for each child was a tricky task because I had to chose just the 'right' one. For example, you wouldn't want to give one to a boy that was too girly or one that was too mushy!

Some years I made homemade valentine's. I loved using little white doilies, in the shape of hearts. I would glue them on red paper and then decorate them with stickers.

I really loved the heart shaped conversation candies! Especially the white ones! There was a particular company that made them. They had a certain, distinct flavor. I'm not a fan of the new ones. Sweet-Tart's are NOT the same. Even the ones that Necco makes are not the same. I remember a year or two ago, someone brought some home in their school candy and they were the same flavor as the old ones that we used to get years ago. They were some generic brand but they were sooooo good. I haven't found them again. But I always look.

I love making homemade valentine's for our kiddos! Most years I also make them sugar cookies. I have two very special cookie cutters that I use. I had them as a child and they were my favorites. After I had been married for a few years, my mother passed them along to me! I was so excited to be able to carry that tradition on with my children.

I don't expect chocolate or jewlery on Valentine's Day. Those were things that were fun to get from boyfriends growing up but now I don't really need the chocolate and jewelery is expensive! Flowers are fun and I love getting a card from Scott that I know he thought about and picked just for me. I like the simple cards, not the big flowery ones.

As a fund raiser for Girl's Camp next summer, the young women at church sold Val-a gram's. They attached a bag of candy and a balloon to a valentine and delivered them with a song to approximatly 140 people!! Scott always buys them for the girls in the family. They delivered them last night and the little kids got quite a kick out of the whole production!


I know some people really don't like the idea of setting one day aside to shower love on those we care about. They rationalize that you should be doing that everyday. I agree. I also feel like you can never show too much love. I'm all for it!

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you share the day with those you really care about. Shower them with love, not just the kind you buy but the kind that comes from the heart!!

My favorite cookie cutters! Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy! Only used on Valentine's Day!!


Isaiah hanging out in the cabinet with a Valentine balloon he snagged from a sister!

Spring Has Sprung!!!!

I think somebody needs to tell that ol' groundhog to get his story straight!!! Spring is just itching to bloom in our neck of the woods!

Everywhere I look, green shoots have pushed through the bark dust and are getting ready to burst open with color!!!!! Someone forgot to tell them what the groundhog predicted.

It seems like every year about this time, we get teased into thinking that Spring is right around the corner. Beautiful blue sky days and warm temperatures trick our bulbs to start pushing their way out of the cold winter ground. I don't mind a bit. I will take all the sights, smells and sounds of Spring any day over the cold, damp winter.

I just hope the daffodils aren't too upset when the weather turns cold again......but until then, I will enjoy them as long as possible!!!