Saturday, February 28, 2009

Saturday (#10)

Today I am grateful for Saturdays. Sometimes they are crazy and sometimes they are slow, but they always mean family time. Today we had Preston's birthday party and then Mom and Don came up and took us all to a movie! Kami watched the baby and so, for the first time since Nick was born the whole family went to a movie! We saw Bolt. It was darling, and despite my headache I loved it! Then we all grabbed food and came back home to eat. As we were sitting around we realized that tomorrow was our monthly day for family home evening all together, and Mom and Don would have to drive back up here tomorrow! In an attempt to save them time (and gas money!) We decided to throw it together and have it tonight! Matt taught a great lesson and despite the tired crazy kids we had a great time! I LOVE family time!

Friday, February 27, 2009

Box Tops (#9)

Today I am grateful for Box Tops. After spending 6 1/2 hours today cutting, counting and packing them up it feels almost phony to say that I am grateful for them, but after quite a bit of thought I am! I am thankful for a great friend who decided to take over the "Box Top, campbells, Cream O' Weber milk lids disaster" for the school. We have brought in over 1800 dollars this year just in Box Tops! And in a year like this one, every penny is SO important! I am also so thankful for these big companies that are willing to put together programs to help schools. Our schools are constantly in need of more money, and I think that it's so cool that families that are striving just to make it month to month can get money for the school just by using products that they normally use! SO SO cool!

Thursday, February 26, 2009

"Hand-me-downs" #8

Today I am so thankful for hand-me-downs! I have been going through Isaac's clothes and pulling out the "4's" and organizing the "5's". It's great to have older brothers that aren't too hard on clothes and can pass them down, but I am also REALLY lucky because I have a great neighbor who LOVES to shop and only has one boy and one girl. She has passed along buckets and buckets and bags and bags of clothes! Thousands and thousands of dollars worth of clothes. Isaac, Lucas and Nick all wear clothes from Michelle! (And she only shops at "the really nice" stores!!) It has saved me a ton of money and it's like Christmas when time and again when Tony or Michelle bring over more clothes! Thanks guys!

My Baby is FAST!

He he he he he... "and that's all I have to say about that." - Forest Gump.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Eyes (post #7)

Today I am grateful for my eyes. I have horrible eye sight on a good day! And I have what's called
Keratoconus (a degenerative disorder of the eye in which structural changes within the cornea cause it to thin and change to a more conical shape than its normal gradual curve.) So it's not like I didn't appreciate my eye sight already, but then I got a corneal ulcer. For the last 3 weeks I have been trying to deal with and fix that! I had to do drops every 15 minutes for 2 hours, then a drop every 20 minutes. Then every hour for 24 hours. Yep all night long! (We set the alarm and woke up every hour. And of course it's the only night that the kids have ALL slept like ever!!!!)

Well Then I had to do drops every hour during the day and ointment at night. Then that changed to antibiotic drops and steroid drops 4 times a day and finally today........It's all better!! A little scaring but nothing bad!

I have been to the eye Doctor 5 times, and he has been wonderful (A shout out to Dr. Broidstein!!) And spent who know hos much, BUT I CAN SEE AND IT DOESN"T HURT!!!

I LOVE my eyes. I LOVE the sense of sight. I LOVE that I don't have to have friends drive me around (light sensitivity) and I love that they were willing!

I am so grateful that Heavenly Father gave me sight!

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Nephews (post #6)

Today I am grateful for Nephews. I am lucky enough to have 6 nephews. Tre and Henry live in California and I don't get to see them all that often, but we have a blast when I do! And Tre send cute pictures and notes from time to time! Jonathan lives in Lehi and is a cute little thing! He sang "Happy Birthday" to me over the phone on my Birthday! It was so cute! Zach and Preston and Kyle live about 15 minutes from me and I am so thankful that they are close. I love being an Aunt. I love the fact that I have such a strong love for children who aren't "my own" so much. And I love that my boys will grow up with cousins who are their friends, not just people they see once in a while, and I hope that my nephews will grow up knowing how much I love them!
Henry
Jonathan
Isaac and Tre



Tyler, Matt, Isaac, Lucas, Zach and Preston having a ball together!

Kyle rockin out with his Dad and Preston

Monday, February 23, 2009

Teachers (Post#5)

Today I am very Grateful for my kids wonderful school teachers. They have always had wonderful school teachers. We've never had a teacher that I didn't like! Today we have our parent teacher conferences. It's so great to go and sit with these wonderful people and see all the time and dedication that they put into their professions. They love my kids (everyone's really!) and work so hard to give them the knowledge that they will need to succeed in life. I wish that teachers got more credit. They are expected to do so much and for so little! Thank Heaven for Mrs. Cox and Mr. Fazzio! (And Mrs. Handy, and Mrs Burch and Mrs Stevens, and Mrs Sheen!!!) And of course the world's best Principal Mr. Hales! (unless you realize that my mom was one! and then He's one of the 2 best Principals!)

Grateful for Listerine and Vinegar (post #4)

Some great friends of our called Saturday to let us know that their kids (all 4 who had been at our house Friday night) had lice. As they called around to tell people they found that several of their kids friends had it but No ONE HAD CALLED THE SCHOOL!! So it's been going around.

All of our heads were clear but we decided to go on a preventative strike! Everything in all of our rooms for stripped and taken to the laundry room. the couches got cleaned and sprayed with the lice killer and wiped down with bleach. Yesterday we even decided to treat our hair just in case. (And so the kid boys would stop asking for a shower!) We found a treatment that uses Listerine and then vinegar. First you put the Listerine in your hair/scalp, put on a shower cap and let it sit for 2 hours. Then you rinse and put on the Vinegar, shower cap and wait for another hour. To put it mildly the little kids were not fans. But we had an ice cream and movie party and made it through. Mike told me that if anyone came to the door we weren't opening it!

Another adventure down, and I think it's so cool that I could treat our heads with cheap household items! I am very grateful for good friends who let us know, and for Listerine and Vinegar!


Saturday, February 21, 2009

Happy Birthday My Sweet Lucas! (as well as post #3)







I cannot believe that Lucas is 3. I think that this has been the fastest 3 years of my life. When I went into Labor with Lucas I didn't realize I was in Labor! It was early, which I had never done before, and it was in my back. Also something very new to me! The labor was pretty simple and normal. Just long. Mom and Stephen had just stopped at the hospital to say that they had to head home but they would be back in the morning to see the baby. I said "If you run out to the waiting room and give me a few minutes you can see the baby tonight!" The look on Stephen's face was priceless. He couldn't get out of that room fast enough! Dr. Bierer walked in got ready and said "alright let's push" I sat up to push and he said "ok and stop" I said "huh?" Then he said "Ok and push" I leaned forward to push and he said "ok he's out!" I was shocked. It almost didn't feel real. Didn't feel like I'd had a baby! Mike called him our freebee baby.

Lucas is such a funny boy. Sweet and Spicy. Fire and Water. It depends on the second! He does everything with passion. And he is my snuggler. He loves and fights with everything he has. I have been trying to teach him about his middle name, and why he was named Lucas Joseph. My Opa was Richard Joseph, and he loved mr through some really tough times, and so Lucas was named for him and for the Prophet Joseph Smith. So we've been talking about that a lot lately. Lucas loves Joseph Smith and storied about him. And if you ask him righ now he will tell you that his name is "Lucas Joseph Smith Staten". It's so cute! I just keep telling him that he is a boy of faith just like his name sake!

Today he want's a round brown cake with candles and fire. ANd then he decided that he wanted cookies and big marshmallows on it. I have tried to talk him int a "cute" cake like I usually make, but he is very insistent. So my morning just got easier!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCAS!!!! I love you my little one.





Friends (gratitude post #2)

Today (Friday) I am thankful for friends. I am very blessed to have great friends. Today I was cutting out hundreds of Box Tops with my friend Jamie and we started talking about my pregnancy with Nick and my crazy labor and delivery. My friends and Sister (who is the best friend in the world as well as a great sister) have been taking care of my life for almost the last year! I couldn't walk walk from July on without going into Labor. Mary and Kami and Jamie took care of my kids and me. They were my babysitters! Then I went on the Relief Society Retreat! Mary told me not to go, but I insisted! Kami and Jamie went with me with the understanding that if I went into Labor (which I really didn't think would happen) they would rush me to the hospital! Well I did and they followed the ambulance...and got lost....to the hostpital. Kami and Travis stayed with my kids all night and got them to soccer and Jamie took care of keeping people informed and away. Mary kept me calm and cried with me when Nick ended up in the NICU and she brought me a NICU survival kit. My firends have been my life preserver the last 5 months as well. With Nick staying home I would feel very home trapped without wonderful friends who stay with him so I can go out. My friend Michelle comes every Wednesday to give me a chance to get out. Kami and Jamie and Mary and Nona stay with the baby all the time so that I can go to things with the other kids. And Janet and Mryna come every so often during Sacrament meeting so that Mike and I can actually be at church at the same time. Chirstlike love and service makes wonderful friends. I hope I can be as great a friend as mine are to me.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Face Book=A trip down memory lane (And gratitude post #1)

Ok so Face Book is crazy. I can waste so much time! But one of the really fun things has been the pictures. David posted some pic's from 2 years ago and I went crazy! It was so much fun to see my boys all cute and little! So then I started looking through old pic's and I found some old ones of myself, Mary, Jon, David and Stephen. It got me thinking about my childhood. I love my life. I love my growing up years. I know that there were some not so fun things, but there was SO much good. I loved hiking Memorial Hill 10 times a day. And riding my bike to Neilson's store to buy penny candy or those wax tubes with flavored punch in them. Swimming in the irrigation ditches. Playing in Leurtchers Back yard on the giant swing. Polishing the entry floor and how once it was slippery Dad pushing us accross the floor on towels. Spinning around and around in circles in the livingroom and then laying down and watching the ceiling spin. Our playhouse. Sleeping single in a double bed. Staying up late talking to Mary and then playing all sorts of games while we were suposed to be sleeping. And scheming of ways to get a horse or to somehow split our room.
I LOVED growing up in Midway!!!!!

And so this is my first day of "Gratitude posts". (Mary Tagged everyone to try to find something every day for 2 weeks that they were grateful for. I am very grateful for my siblings and parents and my growing up years)Mary and Jon
David
Stephen

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Happy Valentines Day!

We had a great Valentines Day this year! Ok so it might not have started out so great.....Mike was rushing to finish up an order so things here were a bit crazy. Tyler had gone on the klondike and I was trying to get people to help he clean the house....unsuccessfully of course! But Mike finished his project and he and I went to lunch at ABC Mandarine (yummy sesame Chicken!!!). After lunch I came home and fed Nick and then Kami watched the kids so that Mike and I could go to a movie. We went and saw "Taken" . I actually really liked it! I don't know if it was a great movie, or if it was just so nice to go to a movie with Mike, but I LOVED IT! Then we got take out from Olive Garden and had a great night with the boys.

I got flowers from Mike and the boys. Last week Mike had taken the Boys to Gibby Floral and let each of them pick out the flowers that made up the arrangement. The boys were so excited to tell me which flowers were from them. I loved it!

Five Months???


Holy Cow!! I can't believe that Nick it already 5 months old! Where did the time go? He's become my roly poly boy. He flips over the second you put him down and then gets mad that he did! He's smiley and happy most of the time and he's still a pretty good sleeper! He LOVES his brothers. when he sees their pictures on the wall he starts to giggle and coo. And when Daddy comes home from work he get's his biggest grins! I love my little guy!

Monday, February 9, 2009

Stephen's car



We're trying to sell Stephen's car for him while he's on his mission! The boys want us to buy it for them.....of course 5 kids + mom and dad doesn't really work in a Dodge Avenger! But Oh well!

My Hair


Well, I guess when you grow up with a sister who has gorgeous red hair, and yours is "dish water blond" you learn to love the hair dye! I have so much fun coloring my hair! I've been all sorts of colors, but I'm usually still in the "blond" range. I might add red, or brown, or purple or pink (not on purpose, but you know!) But this time I decided to go dark. Really dark! And I love it! It is so hand to have a best friend who can color my hair on a whim! (and yes the picture leaves a LOT to be desired, but when the hair has to frame this face there is only so much you can do!!)

Rice Cereal!


Well, Nicholas Stephen Staten will be 5 months old of Friday(!!) and the time for Rice Cereal has come! As I've had more kids I have realized that the "time to start" is different with each kid. We tried it with Tyler as soon as he turned 4 months old....not so successful! But Nick had gotten to the point where he was grabbing the dishes on the table, grabbing our cups, and wanting to nurse 24-7. So Saturday Morning (February 7th) we broke out the cereal! He LOVED IT! He's so cute!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

A Dishes Moment

So...this morning I was doing the dishes while Liz was nursing the baby, Matt, Isaac and Lucas were playing quietly, and Tyler was practicing piano before school, and had one of those moments where I feel happier than should be allowed. It's great having a simple, ordinary life, working a normal job, and living in a normal house. Nothing beats being a husband and a father. Thanks, fam. Thanks, God.