Thanksgiving 09

My parents were in town for Thanksgiving again this year. We had our big meal around 1pm and then had all my in-laws over for dessert in the evening. It was a wonderful day; I love taking the time out from our busy lives to just slow down and enjoy family.

It was especially sweet since Scott had been out of town the 10 days leading up to Thanksgiving. I was extremely thankful to have him back home again!!

My mom and dad with their grandkids

It's snowing lightly outside; fat, lazy flakes that take their time from the clouds to the ground. I see God's magnificent mountains, the snow-covered trees surrounding them, a soaring eagle in flight.

This is from a journal entry I made the Sunday before last as I was sitting by a fireplace at a lodge in Breckenridge. I'd gone there for a retreat with four fabulous friends. We created our own weekend and it went something like this...

As we walked along a mountain path, a fox walked nearly right up to us. Later, he visited us along the walkway around the hot tub. A blue jay flew overhead. Or was it a crow? (inside joke)We watched a muskrat and huge trout race each other to devour food thrown from a bridge.

We laughed, we cried, we talked of painful things, past mistakes and the families we are all so proud of.

We planned, we shared ideas, we created a concept that's going to be so great in the lives of many families.

We relaxed, we walked, we shopped, we swam, we separated for bible study, reflection and time alone with God.

We grew closer to God and to each other.

Oh, and the views weren't bad either.

Halloween 2009

This year we had a garden gnome, a clown, a gorilla, Betsy Ross, a pirate and a teenager.

Sew not fun

One might think that with me having 6 kids, chances are pretty good at least one of them has gotten stitches at some point. Nope -- this past Monday was the first time.

The child who holds the dubious honor:

(excuse the messy face)

Zane, my stubborn, smart, energetic 2-yr. old. He was enjoying a game of toss the ball all over the living room when he tripped, and hit his forehead on the one edge of our rock fireplace that dared to peek out of the covering I'd put over it.


Blood everywhere, not a moment I'd like to relive. Once we'd cleared it off his head, we could see the laceration wasn't really that big. It's just that there was a small area in the center that gaped. Ewwww. It continued to seep through the butterfly bandages we applied, so off to the doctor we went.

I arrived at the doctor's office expecting yelling, squirming, tears.

However, to my surprise, he handled himself very maturely. He proudly showed his "owie" to the various assistants, nurses and doctors who asked. (Our regular doctor was on his way out, so he was able to pop in for only a moment and another doctor did the actual stitching).

They had Zane lay down on the table and wrapped him in what they termed a papoose. He hardly protested that his arms were glued to his sides and he was immobilized. I held his little fingers that peeked out under the wrapping. The nurse held his little head still while the doctor gave him the numbing shots. Brenna and I watched, cringing, while the long needle poked him. I know I braced for the scream. Silence, silence...the doctor moved on to the next shot. Finally a matter-of-fact "Ouch" from Zane.

After the 3rd or 4th such shot, he finally whimpered. Then she was done with that and he was numb. He lay so still while she stitched, I finally asked, "Are you okay, honey?" To which he gave the standard answer from 2year-olds everywhere,"No."

During the 2nd stitch, he fell fast asleep. He snoozed on through the 3rd stitch and we finally shook him gently awake after removing the papoose. He looked around, disoriented and offered a sleepy smile. Who knows what he thought. Did he remember where he was? That he'd just gone through his first "surgery"?

Maybe not. However, he did remember the promised lollilop. Orange, as requested. And off we went.


Today we had the stitches removed. We did the papoose again, and again he just offered a few casual remarks. "Ouch." "That hurt". The nurse was very quick, and we were done.

This time he received a popsicle. Again, orange.

And thus was our 1st experience with stitches. Relatively painless. Except for mom. =)

summer wrap-up

Despite the best of intentions, I didn't blog many of our summer activities or photos. So I'm going to try to condense them down to a few posts and at least get them up. That way in future years the kids won't think I kept them locked in their rooms during the summer of '09. =)

So here's June (to the best of my recollection):

• Chase spent 10 days visiting his grandparents
• Conner spent a week at church camp
• Brenna took diving lessons
• I joined a book club
• Aiden began t-ball
• We had a new furnace installed
• Scott and I attended the homeschool conference
• The older 4 kids participated in a weekly bowling league

We also went to Belleview Farm with friends, the kids always have a good time there. Here are some pictures from that: