Reflections

This year the reflections theme was "Beauty is...". Millie really wanted to enter and made an adorable vase with flowers in it. She worked really hard and was very proud. Matthais was required enter and he wrote a poem "Night" the day it was due (and the day he was sick with the flu). Matthais won his division and is on to the next level and Millie won an honorable mention. Funny how Matthais really didn't try but won. That's kinda how things go for him. He has this amazing natural talent when it comes to writing only he doesn't know it. Millie really wanted to win and thought really hard about what she wanted to do. I was worried about how she would take the news because she is so sensitive but she was very gracious and very happy that she won and honarable mention because last year she didn't even get that. I have amazing kids!

In the eye of the beholder

All of my kids have blue eyes...except Owen. When he was born they were dark and everyone told me they would be brown. Now, I don't have anything against brown eyes but I really wanted them to be blue. They kinda settled somewhere between brown and blue. You can't really tell by this picture but they are a brownish color on the inside with a bluish ring on the outside. Not wanting to concede to the whole brown eyes things I've always called them hazel because that is what color Adam's eyes are(and really, I think his kinda are too!) For some reason Owen had noticed lately that he doesn't have blue eyes like mom and the other kids. He asks all the time what color his eyes are and if they are like Matthais's, Millie's, etc. Everytime I tell him no...they are hazel like daddy's. But, he is smart. He looks at Adam's eyes and he looks in the mirror at his own and he knows they are not the same so he's been pretty confused over this whole thing. Well, not anymore. Today as I was taking him to preschool he climbed up front and looked at himself in the rearview mirror. "MOM!" he exclaimed, "My eyes aren't hazel! They are diet coke!!!" Hmmm, guess that means they're brown after all!

Ward trunk-or-treat

Happy Halloween! (only a few days late!)

Better late than never right?

Jack o lanterns

I hate carving pumpkins. I hate the smell, I hate the feel and I hate the mess. But, I am a mom, and a pretty cool mom at that, so I go along with it for the kids.


Ian really loved playing with the pumpkin "guts". It was just the sensory input he likes.

Matthais turns 12

I feel bad that I never posted about Matthais's 12th birthday. It's such a big one but since we were all sick that day it took a back seat.

Here is how he spent his day....


But later he was feeling better so we had a little party.

He got a hiking backpack and a tent. I don't think that exactly thrilled him but I think he knows he'll use it.


I can't believe my baby boy is 12! On Sunday he was ordained a deacon.


I was so emotional and everytime I think about him going to his first Young Men's activity on Thursday I start to tear up. I can't believe that I blinked and he turned 12. Happy Birthday Matthais...You will always be my wish come true!

Surviving the pandemic

That's right. Our family has officailly survived the flu pandemic of 2009. And it really wasn't that bad.

I usually don't buy into the media hype and really haven't thought much about H1N1 but when Ian started running a fever Sunday I decided to take him in on Monday for a flu test and some Tamiflu. Had it been any of my other kids I would have waited it out but because of Ian's underlying health concerns I felt like being proactive would be best for him. Sure enough he tested positive for the swine flu. He was better within 24 hours but one by one the rest of us caught it. Matthais caught it just in time for his 12th birthday. I belive we all had mild cases of it (with the exception of me) and everyone felt better within 24 hrs of the onset of the fever. I experienced more symptoms and was sick longer than the rest but I think that is because I ran myself ragged taking care of everyone else. Everyone is better (except for Owen's runny nose) and the house is cleaned and sterilized. Now everyone can quit treating us like we have the plague.