Ultrasound Today

I had my 22 week ultrasound today and everything looks good with our little GIRL!!!!! She's due August 11th. We will probably name her Cumorah.

Highlights

So much has happened lately that I am just going to post some pictures and highlights. They will probably not be in any real order, just however I find them on the memory card. :) And each picture should probably have it's own post, but I just don't have time.


The kids have been in 2 plays with Missoula Children's Theatre. This picture shows Melynda as an Icicle marker and Jeanisha as a Dust Bunny in the Princess and the Pea. Then Eli was a bat in Snow White and the other kids were in the Pre-Show. Melynda as the wicked queen, Ryan and Tyler as dwarfs, and Jeanisha as Squeaker the mouse. They did great and had lots of fun. Missoula Children's Theatre comes to town with all the costumes and props and the kids try out on Monday, practice all week, and perform on the weekend. It's busy and crazy, but fun.



Then we went to McCall for the Winter Carnival. They make wonderful ice sculptures and we love to go see them. We found a fun hotel room with enough beds for the whole family in one room and had a blast!














Next came Adam's 4th Birthday with a party at Chuck E Cheese. He is such a great kid and so fun to be around. He's small for his age, and Lincoln is big, so we are asked CONSTANTLY if they are twins. He loves to play outside and with his brothers and to go feed the ducks at the Greenbelt. One of his favorite presents was 2 bags of stale hamburger buns and the promise to go feed ducks. He even wanted the greenbelt and ducks on his cake.


The next picture is one of many that Tyler set up to make a wonderful powerpoint book report on Charlotte's Web. I had originally asked him to set up one scene, but he was having so much fun it quickly evolved into about 20 scenes covering all the main points in the book.


Then came Melynda's first big day when the adoption was finalized and her name was legally changed forever. We went to court and the three of us were sworn in along with the caseworker and the judge made everything official. One of her favorite perks of being adopted is that now she can ride with someone under 18 (like home from mutual) and I don't have to get a copy of everyone's driver's license. Another important "perk" was that she could finally be baptized. She had taken the discussions from 3 awesome missionaries, Elder Blair from Arizona, Elder Itche-a-Ramon (from France and spelled totally wrong), and Elder Tomaz from Utah. We loved having them in our home every Sunday afternoon for about 6 weeks before her baptism and the spirit they brought. Elder Itche-at-Ramon left to go home right before she was baptized and Elder Blair was also on his way home and came with his parents.

The baptism itself was wonderful. I think the fact that she had wanted it so long made it extra meaningful. There was a huge turnout of friends, family, and ward members there to support her. (Thank you!) One of the most memorable things about the day was the squeal of excitement she gave as she came up out of the water. She was so excited, she just couldn't hold it in.

Eli's birthday fell that same weekend and for his party he wanted to go play at a McDonald's playland. Easy enough request! I think he's had withdrawals from McDonald's since coming to leave with us. He also wanted a pink snowman and flowers on his birthday cake. I had fun being creative and think it turned out great!



Since then, Melynda had a piano recital, of which I have no pictures, only a video that won't load, but she did great. Then Ryan had a choir concert (he also had a solo on the CD the school made and was very proud of that.)


Tyler and Stephen ran in the Mad Hatter relay. Each person runs 2 legs, 2 miles each. Tyler was the youngest racer, but they had lots of fun and took 3rd in the Men's division. As soon as they finished Tyler asked when they could race again. He loves running and is really good at it, especially long distances. 3-4 miles is easy and after a sip or two of gatorade, he's ready to go again. He's way faster than I am and keeps up pretty good with Stephen pacing him. Pretty good, especially when you figure he legs are half the length Stephen's are. Next is a Beat Coach Pete (from Boise State) 5K in April, and then either a 10K or Half Marathon in May. Stephen's planning to do the Half, but we'll see how Tyler does with training to see which he wants to do.



I think that about catches up the last couple months. At least the things I have pictures of. :) The kids are currently involved in lots of activities, (gymnastics, PE, track, karate, scouts. . . . ) and keeping me busy. We are also doing lots of yard work to tackle the overgrown yard-- but I have hundreds of bulbs coming up, so it should be pretty in spite of the neglect here soon. Eli's adoption should be finalized in April, we're just waiting for some last paperwork. Then he and Melynda will be able to get sealed to us in the temple. So, I'm sure the next few months with be just as busy, but I will try to post a little more often to record all the fun memories. :)

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

One of my friends was blogging about how unhealthy the fake mac and cheese is, so I wanted to share my homemade macaroni and cheese recipe. We love it and it's super easy to make. Use whole wheat macaroni noodles. For my family I quadruple it.

1 1/4 cups macaroni
2 Tbsp Butter
2 Tbsp Flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp mustard
1/8 tsp pepper
1 cup milk
2 c. cheese, divided
1/4 cup cracker crumbs

Cook macaroni according to package. While it's cooking, melt butter in large bowl in the microwave. Stir in flour, salt, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and pepper. Heat milk in microwave for 1 minute. Stir into flour mixture and heat for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir and heat for 1 1/2 more minutes. Stir and heat for 1 minute more. (With a quadruple batch, I do 3-5 minutes between stirring.) You'll know it's ready when it starts to thicken up. Add 1 1/2 cups of cheese into the white sauce. Stir until melted. Add in drained macaroni and mix. Top with cracker crumbs and sprinkle with remaining cheese.


This also reheats really good!

Upcoming Big days

We have some fun days coming up in the next little bit with birthdays and the adoptions.
Adam's birthday is Feb 28, Melynda's adoption will be finalized Mar 3, Eli's birthday is March 12 (but we'll celebrate on the 11th) because Melynda's baptism will be on March 12th at 1:00. (I would love to have a good turnout for her, so if you want directions, leave a comment or email me.)
Then Jeanisha's birthday is March 29, and Eli's adoption will be finalized the first week or so of April. Then mid-April, Melynda and Eli will get sealed to us in the temple.

It's amazing to think that this process has taken a little over 2 years from when we started our homestudy. 2 1/2 if you start when we decided now was the time to adopt. There are hard days, but overall it's been mostly good. Stephen is still a little overwhelmed by teenage drama some days, and the testing phase leaves me exhausted some days, but when I look at how far Melynda and Eli have come, it's a miracle.

Groceries Galore

I am amazed at the amount of food that gets consumed around here! Maybe it's because we added two older mouths instead of having it sneak up gradually, but my grocery bill has doubled over the past year. Last night for dinner I made a quadruple batch of German pancakes. That is 24 eggs, plus flour, milk, and butter. It makes 4 9*13 pans. Melynda was babysitting and Stephen got stuck late at jury duty, so it was just me and the 6 younger kids. I thought at first there would be leftovers, but it ended up that I only got one piece. They ate all 4 pans as fast as I could serve it, cut it up, and add syrup. Lincoln alone ate almost 1/2 a pan.

For breakfast, Ryan and Stephen are not here, but if I do fried eggs, they will eat 18-20. If I make something like Enchiladas, it takes at least two pans, plus whatever vegetables or side dishes. When Stephen made pancakes awhile back, he made over 50, and we each got 2. I realize there are 9 people eating, but it still amazes me HOW much food that is. Peanut butter sandwiches for lunch uses 1 1/2- 2 loaves of bread, depending on the size loaf and if Stephen is home.

The other thing that gets devoured are bananas. The rule is that anytime you are still hungry, or want a snack between meals, you can have a banana (or peanut butter sandwich). Bananas are filling and cheap, easy to eat without making a big mess, and good for you. Plus kids eat them for breakfast or with lunch sometimes. I bought 26 lbs. of bananas thinking I would have enough left over for banana bread. Nope, they were gone in under a week.

Just thinking about my food bill when these kids are all teenagers is scary. :) I remember my mother-in-law saying that when her 3 boys left on missions, they saved enough on food to pay for one mission. I believe it!

Pneumonia Miracle

This is from a couple weeks ago, but I never got it posted.

Lincoln is 2, and a generally healthy kid. Last week he came down with the croupy cough and the fever that disappears in the morning. Then all day he would play and run just fine. Friday morning, I woke the kids up to get ready for our homeschool co-op. Lincoln was teasing and laughing as I got him dressed, then went downstairs to eat. He started whimpering in his chair, so his older brother Tyler lifted him out to come upstairs to me. I was in my room and saw him as he came slowly up the stairs. Then in the hallway, he collapsed. Fell completely to the ground. He then tried to crawl towards me, but it was as if his arms had lost their strength.

I hurried and picked him up and laid him on the bed. He curled up in a ball and just lay there whimpering. I felt his head and he was burning with fever (which had NOT been there 15 minutes earlier). I decided to still drop the older 4 kids off at co-op, so I would have only the two little boys to take to the dr.'s office whenever they could fit me in. I wrapped Lincoln in a coat and blanket to take to the van and he was just limp. He couldn't even lift his head up!

We drove the 30 minutes to co-op and he didn't move. I was still waiting to hear back from the nurse. As the other kids were climbing out of the car, he started throwing up. He had only taken a little water that morning anyway, so now I was worried about dehydration as well. Even when he was throwing up, he didn't have the strength to lift up his head. I pulled off the soiled clothes, wrapped him in a blanket and settled him back in his car seat. The nurse called back and said we could be seen at 1:15.

I was sure at this point that he was going to be hospitalized. I suspected RSV and probably a week in the hospital. Unfortunately, we've had plenty of experience with sick kids, and he was acting just like the others did when they ended up in the hospital. I called my husband and told him to arrange to work from home next week, and started mentally planning out what I would have to do to be able to handle a hospital stay on top of everything else right now.

We got back home and I took Lincoln in for a warm bath to clean him up. Then I gave him a sippy of apple juice. Within about 10 minutes, he was a completely different kid. He was back to teasing, running, and playing. He did not act sick in the slightest. But we still had the Dr. appt, so I took him anyway. After the exam and an X-ray, we found out he has a case of pneumonia. He SHOULD be totally sick. He probably SHOULD be in the hospital. But he is acting perfectly healthy. We came home with an antibiotic and instructions to go to the hospital if he gets bad again.

I think Heavenly Father knew that a week long hospital stay was likely more than our family could handle at this point. So I'm very grateful for our pneumonia miracle.

Ironman and Sprint Triathlon

The Ironman is finished! We all 3 finished it in a month. I finished Thursday night about 20 minutes before Stephen, which was my goal. (So now I get to treat myself to a Blizzard.) Time wise, I took a lot longer, but I do longer workouts. He usually goes and works out in the morning almost everyday, but only has about 30 minutes. I go a few times a week and do almost 2 hours (childwatch is for 2 hours). I felt like I lived at the Y, but I was excited to finish. Melynda finished today. I don't know how someone can do that all in one day!!!! Total it was 80 laps of swimming (2.4 miles), 112 miles on the bike, and 26.2 of running.

Then today, we went and did our Sprint Triathlon. It was 8 laps (1/4 mile) of swimming, 6 miles on the bike, and 2 miles of running. Just like the one we did back in August, but indoor, and they don't count transition times. We all beat our previous times by quite a bit. Last August, my bike seat wasn't adjusted right and my bike time was way higher than it should have been. That made it easy to cut time this time.

Here are the times:

Stephen in August Total: 55:49 Swim: 15:11 Bike 20.59 Run 18.57
Stephen today Total 46:04 Swim 10:31 Bike 17.45 Run 17.48

Janet August Total 1:22:09 Swim 16:36 Bike 41.25 Run 23.14
Janet today Total 58:17 Swim 10:28 Bike 23:11 Run 24:38

Melynda August Total 1:24:31 Swim 17:49 Bike 39.27 Run 26.24
Melynda Today Total 1:09:17 Swim 10.23 Bike 28.43 Run 30:11