Girls and Curls

Curls, curls, curls. With 3 girls, there's a lot of curls. It's Ellsworth grandkid picture time today and that means spongey curlers galore. I love it. It reminds me of all those Saturday nights as a girl with my 3 sisters feeling so turtured sleeping in spongey curlers so we could look so pretty at church the next day.

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

After reading this recent post from a dear friend of mine wherein she tells about how her grandmother dusted off her old Christmas Village and handed it down to her, I started thinking about the Christmas Village that my mother-in-law has. When Ryan & I were first married, I remember seeing it every year set up in her house, looking so cute and radiating with charm . In recent years, it has been M.I.A. I have been missing this quaint little addition the past few Christmas seasons, so I asked my mother-in-law about it. She told me that it's just gotten to be too much work to set everything up each year. She told me she was even thinking about asking me to sell it on e-bay for her, but if I wanted it, and if I promised to set up with love each year, it was mine. I was super excited. Last night we were able to go over to her house and pick it up. The girls and I worked all morning (with lots of love) and completed our own little version of her Christmas village. It means so much to me to have this in our home. Thanks Cindy.

And The Winners Are...

Drumroll please....

To make sure that all was fair and square, I used my little helper and documented the whole thing. I will contact the winners via email also.

I ended up with 51 comments and a total of 57 entries!

The first winner, the winner of this amazing prize:

Hooray for Emma!

Next up, we have this awesome prize:

Hooray for Jillo!

Family Portraits!

I am so stinkin' excited to have a new family portrait. We haven't had one taken since before Audrey was born. That's just sad. We called up Jill Oak's Photography and I couldn't be happier with the way they turned out.

Santa, You Rock!

Dear Santa,

Anyone who can put looks like these on my kids' faces, is definitely someone special. Thanks for making time in your busy schedule to bring joy to our lives!

Playmobil Toy Give-Away!

A couple of weeks ago Playmobil contacted me and asked me if I'd like to do a give-away for them. As many of you know, we are a big Playmobil family around here (as seen by this post) so of course I told Playmobil that I'd love to be part of their give away.

So here's your chance to experience the magic yourself and get a free Playmobil toy. Playmobil sent me the two playsets pictured below to give away, and you have a chance to win one!

To help nurture your child's imagination, Playmobil wants to know how my readers might use a Playmobil playset to create "teaching moments" during playtime. These could range from teaching about numbers by counting the pieces of a toy to teaching what doctors do and how hospitals help people using the Playmobil Hospital set. One way that we have done this was to teach Audrey her animal sounds by using the different animals from the Playmobil sets. (Playmobil follows the WOMMA Code of Ethics / blogger code of ethics )

So here's how you can enter: Post a comment on this blog post telling me a way that you could use Playmobil as a teaching moment. Each person who comments will be given an entry into my drawing. For every friend you refer to this post, you'll be given an additional entry into the contest. Just make sure they mention your name in their comment. To maximize your chances of winning, feel free to link to this post from your own blog, and have your friends put your name when they comment on this post! The contest is open to anyone who comments!

On December 15th, I will do the drawing, announce the winners and send out prizes! (If you were referred to my site, please make sure to leave me a way to contact you in case you are the winner) Merry Christmas from Playmobil & Me!!!

So Stinkin' Cute

"Audrey, give me your best Indian pose."

Need I say more?

Who Says TV Don't Teach Ya Nothin'?

Here's my latest vote for the world's best invention.

Seriously! The guy who thought up this video has to be one of the cleverest men (or women) on earth. He made a video that is fun to watch and completely teaches preschoolers their letters and sounds. Don't believe me? Just watch! Here's living proof, and we've only had if for a few weeks!

Showing Love is Speshel

This is one of my proudest mommy moments. Khursten was in charge of giving a talk last Sunday. Ryan asked her to sit down and come up with some ideas of what to write about. She sat down and wrote her entire talk without any help. She even illustrated it. We were beaming with pride as we watched her give her talk in primary.

Showing Love is Speshel (by Khursten)

Showing Love is Speshel. Whith out love war would be very comen. I can show love by being helpful. Can you show love? Many people get in fights offten. If you show love to your freinds, fights will be less comen. If everybody showed love, the world would be a better place.

Showing love can be fun and you can be rewarded. I can show love by obeying. I have two sisters and my parents. I can show love to my parents by doing my chores whith out being asked.

I can show love to my sisters by being nice. I can show love to my wad by being reverent. I can show love to my school by being a peace bilder. Can you show love?

By showing love you can make friends. When love is shown, love can change the world.

I Can See!

Ever since Khursten's best friend got glasses in the first grade, she's been wanting glasses too. Knowing that she comes from two parents with terrible eyes, I have diligently taken her in each year. Each year we've come home with a very discouraged Khursten because she hasn't needed glasses. I didn't expect it to be any different this time. Boy was I surprised when the eye doctor told me her prescription. Poor little girl was blind as a bat.

She was so cute on the way home from picking up her new glasses - pointing out everything she could see. "Mom, I can see the telephone wires!" "Mom, there are like trees and stuff on the mountains!" "Mom, everything has so much detail!" and my personal favorite, "Mom, everything is in 3D!"

I'm Not Just a Crazy Lazy!

Some seriously good news for Sarah today. For the past several years I have felt kinda off. Not myself at all. I have gone to the doctors over and over trying to figure out what could possibly be wrong. I have had blood panel after blood panel, after EKG, after ultrasound, after MRI.... It's been frustrating.

The trend has been that I start to feel kinda crappy and I head to the doctors' office. After about 25 test that prove nothing, I have give up and just accept that this is my fate. About 2 months ago the cycle started again. I have been so tired. Those of you who know me well can attest. There have been nights when I have gone to bed at 5:30 in the afternoon, not to wake up until the next morning. I have battled my own brain trying to figure out what was going on. I had actually convinced myself that it all may possibly be in my head. Maybe I was too out of shape. Maybe I was just a big lazy bum who couldn't even drag her sorry self out of bed. I even thought for a minute that maybe I was just depressed (don't they always say that makes you tired) But no matter how many mind over matter experiments I tried, I just couldn't shake it.

My poor friends have been ultra patient while watching me fade into incoherent oblivion at about 8:00 every night. And Ryan... well, Ryan has been such a sweetheart. He has helped me so much in the past few months with my kids and my household duties.

This time I decided I wasn't going to stop until I got an answer. I headed back to the doctor only to start in the exact same place testing hormone levels and thyroid. Everything came back normal again, but I refused to give up. My doctor finally referred me to a cardiologist who actually knew what he was doing. I found out that normal people down black out every time they stand up. People don't usually get dizzy going down stairs. Who knew? Am I dumb that I simply figured this was completely normal?

The cardiologist suggested I get a tilt table test. I have felt like I'm on a never-ending wild goose chase trying to figure out what's wrong. When I found out that the test was going to be $200 out of pocket, I almost cancelled. I didn't want to waste $200 on something that was sure to lead me nowhere. Ryan convinced me to do it anyway and that it would be worth it. I'm so glad he did.

I went in for my test today. I didn't know what to expect. I probably should have asked more questions before I got there. I didn't know I was supposed to have someone come with me. I didn't know that they were going to stick a catheter in and run it up the artery in my arm. And I certainly didn't know they were going to give me a drug that would stop my heart. It was not a pleasant experience by any means, but I survived.

The point of the test was to see how my body reacted to being tilted from laying down to an upright position, and to see if it would make me pass out. As soon as they stood me up it all went downhill. I started blacking out, I got so incredibly nauseous, they doctor was shouting at me to cough so that I could 'restart my heart'. I was so completely disoriented. The next thing I knew I was laying on my back in a groggy fog with cold compresses all over me.

They told me that I failed the test, and had fainted. I went from having a blood pressure of 120 while laying down to only 77 when I stood up. Ah-ha! That must be why I've been blacking out! They also told me that I have something called Neurally Mediated Hypotension (NMH) and that people with this condition fatigue extremely easily. He gave the example of a normal person going shopping and coming home feeling tired, but rebounding in 20 min. or so. But people with NMH take an average of 72 hours to recover from any physical activity. My poor body has been trying to play catch-up for so long that I've been left in a constant state of exhaustion.

So the good news is I finally have a diagnosis. The better news is that it's completely treatable with medication. I couldn't be happier right now. I feel like my own personal mystery has been solved, and I can't wait to get back to my old self!

Lookin' For Fun and Feeling Crafty

Let me just preface this for my readers. I know that when many of you feel crafty you make entire quilts, beautiful dolls for your children, Halloween costumes that belong in museums.... (oh wait maybe that's all the same person) But when I feel crafty it's momentous.

When I found out my sister was having a little baby boy, I ran to the craft store and bought all the stuff to make him a taggie blanket. I was going to give it to her for a shower gift but never quite found the time, then it was going to be a hospital gift, then it was a blessing gift... Needless to say my nephew is 4 months old and I when I opened my closet yesterday I saw the JoAnn's sack still sitting there begging for some love from me.

But yesterday I finally got inspired! I dug out the old sewing machine and got to work.

I'm pretty proud of the end result. I know my sewing skills are a little rusty, but at least I finished something I started.

I had so much fun, I went ahead and whipped up another one! (which I will give to that certain super-crafty friend for her new little baby boy as part of this contest, if she promises not to scoff at my attempts and keeps in mind that it's the thought that counts)

The best part was that it was a total hit! Mr. Asher loved it! He didn't put it down once the whole day. He was absolutely fascinated with it.

Those of you who don't know, I like to claim Asher as my part-time baby. He spends a lot of time with our family and my girls completely adore him. We're lucky enough to get him while my sister goes to work every day. This is the perfect set-up for me since I get to smile and coo at a cute baby all day, and I can give him back to his mommy when he's tired and grouchy.

Snowflakes & Snowballs at Snowbird

We have these friends who literally spend every free minute they have doing the funnest things with their family. I am always so jealous of the things they do. I'm so glad we've become friends because we're lucky enough to get invited along sometimes!

This past Saturday Snowbird was offering a free tram ride with every can of food donated. We had so much fun! Thanks for the invitation guys!

Here we are in the tram on our trip up the mountain!

Man, I love this guy! It was so incredibly clear, we could see forever. Khursten was so cute. She just kept saying over and over how beautiful it was.

Nicole jumped right in and started a snowball fight. She was running around everywhere playing with all of her 'friends' she just met. She was making me so darn nervous because all around us were drop-offs, and Nicole isn't know for being overly cautious.

Audrey loves her daddy and she stuck close by him most of the time. Plus, having dad on your side in a snowball fight doesn't hurt.

Halloween Costumes

Halloween 2009 was yet another milestone in our lives. My two oldest girls are growing up. No more princesses and faries for them. Khursten & Nicole wanted to be scary. I think they acheived it!

Lucky for me I still have my Audrey who will let me dress her up as cute as can be.

But watch out for this thirsty little vampire!

And her sister the un-dead! (yes, this is what we turned the sweet little grandma costume into) Is it weird that I think she kinda looks gorgeous like this? Just look at those eyes! I can picture her in high school as the hot gothic chic that all the boys are talking about.