All Smiles!

We got our shot for the family Christmas Card! It is always a relief when you get to the END of the photo shoot, and everyone has behaved reasonably well, and maybe even given a little smile here and there!

While we are the subject of smiles... have you ever whitened your teeth with those Crest Whitening strips, and left them on too long?

Well I recently did that, and let me tell you... Eeowww! My teeth hurt so bad I could barley breathe because the air made pain shoot through my mouth, and I finally had to take a pain pill and go to bed! Lips pursed. Pretty pathetic wouldn't you say? When they say that beauty hurts, they aren't kidding!

And I did not even feel like my teeth were glowing white for all the pain involved.
I would love to have that perfectly straight, white gleaming smile.

So my next question is... what are your thoughts about braces? I have felt that as I have gotten older, my teeth have shifted a bit. Especially on the bottom, and I have never had braces, so there is definitely room for improvement all around. I went and spoke to an orthodontist about it, and he talked about the pros and cons of Invisalign.
I think it is an amazing product, but I almost wonder if it is worth it to just go ahead and get the traditional braces because you don't have to wear them as long, and as miserable as they look, you can just get it over with and move on with your life. I don't know.

Thoughts, opinions, words of wisdom from those who have had braces as an adult?

Okay back to the pictures! Photography by Ingrid Karolewski.

Oh, and our Christmas card was designed by the very talented Aarean from La Ditta Design.

The kiddos.

Baby It's Cold Outside

                                         (Our Christmas tree, which is redecorated about four times a day.)
It is most definitely Winter around here. It is completely dark by 4:30. That makes for some long days for the kids.  They are already missing their time to run around outside after school. I hear the door open and close repeatedly every day as they decided to try to brave the cold and play out in the yard for a while. But it opens again not long after when they realize it is cold, gray, and none of their friends are out to play. We need to come up with some good inside activity.
I find the hours of 3:00 to 6:00 to be a challenge. Everyone is home from school. Now it is dark and cold. Walker is up from his nap, ready to terrorize the house, the boys have after school activities and homework, Georgia is always tired by that time because getting her to take a nap has become a battle. I need to make dinner, and I like to attempt to get the house straightened up for when Del gets home. And if there is a trip to the church for activities it is just one more thing. I also like to be able to take a couple of minutes to ask Del about his day if he manages to get home some time within this hour block. This usually gets moved to much later at night, when we can finally have a conversation.
Not to mention I am usually pretty worn out by this point in the day because I have been going for twelve hours straight by 6:00.

 So... it is a jungle in here! It is a busy time of day, when everyone needs my attention.

I must say however, that my evenings are full of people and rituals that I do love in my heart of hearts. What would my home be without all of this frantic activity? And oh how grateful I am to have a warm, snug house to spend these cold days in with my family!

We make do. And I will admit that making do sometimes involves the Wii and a nice round of "Big Game Hunter" played by the one and only, Wally.

Georgia BEGS Wally to play this game.

All the kids, but Georgia especially, are fascinated watching Wally in action on the hunt for big game. They don't even request a turn to play themselves. They are totally content just watching.
Wally told my parents that Georgia loves it when he takes the deer out with a bullet right to the heart!

Georgia chimed in with a big, "YUP!"

No diamonds for this girl, just a big buck with a shot to the heart. That is sure to draw a fine fellow.

                                   (Georgia, on her new bike back during warmer months.)
We have manage to find a few things to entertain ourselves through the dark Winter, and then head to bed early. Kind of depressing.

Will is up to some shenanigan or another quit often. Tonight he requested I take his picture with an orange slice in his mouth. He was very proud.

Then it was Walkers turn with his most favorite thing to put in his mouth. His "Mowl" Walker cannot make the "b" sound unless he is saying "boo!" Everything else comes out with an "m" sound. So "bye, bye," is "My, My," and so on. It is pretty cute.

We had a whirlwind of activity getting out the door for church this morning. We had to be there an hour early for Del to have a meeting, and so I could practice singing in church. As Del tried to get the kids to gather up tithing money Georgia had a breakdown. She did not want to give her money away.

Del tried explaining the giving the Lord ten percent concept, but it was not going over well with this girl. I guess she does not have a testimony of tithing yet at age four. It is a process, right?

I was a little surprised she was so attached to the money. But she is funny when it comes to cash. When Wally got upset because someone had raided his stash of money, he tracked the culprit down, and of course it was Georgia. He informed her she had better stick to her own piggy bank, and not disrupt his.

She came back with " Well, I don't have any money because I don't like to do my jobs. So I have to steal yours."
Great! At this rate, it looks like Georgia will be serving twenty to life, or hanging out in a park with a sign protesting the greedy fat cats!

                                       (Wally and the last backyard campfire of the year, this past Fall.)

So anyway... we made it out the door on time, but not before Wally told me while putting his church clothes on,
"Mom, the thing I want the most is to not wear a tie. But you always want me to look SHARP!"

Wow! Mom's are mean! But I must say, Wally does look sharp in a tie!

Christmas Season Opening Weekend

Del held the Patient's Choice Chicago area party this weekend. Ginny from the office put everything together for the party. We all went to Dave and Busters. Del and I are not the biggest video game fans, but I am always up for a little skee ball. And you can't pull Del away from the free throw basketball games. It is always nice to see people that work for Del, and meet the new comers. I don't get down to the office very much.
 Okay, I pretty much NEVER get down to the office. So it is nice to put a face to a name. Del has some very nice, very generous employees, and associates. They always come up with a great gift for Del. He told everyone that he does not have a party so that he can get a present from them, so next year, they don't need to do so much!
We are overwhelmed with the kindness, and thoughtfulness of the employees, and those that Del works with! Thank you!

A serious race was underway. I was awful at this game! If you could have earned extra points for driving your car off the highway and into the ocean, I would have been golden!

Okay. Now an explanation. The reason the party pictures are lacking is because most of them are just one big blur. I decided to leave my camera at home and just use my.....

Brand new iPhone! Yay!

Apparently, I have joined the land of the living! I finally got a smart phone!

Del surprised me big time on my birthday with a new iPhone, and a MacBook Pro! And I always tell him I hate surprises!

I guess it all depends on what it is!

So anyway, I am must have a very shaky hand, because most the photos I have taken with this thing are blurry. I hope I can improve my iPhone photo skills. Texting however, is oh so much easier!

I went downstairs to check on the kids while they were watching a movie this weekend, and found Georgia wearing this arch support cast that Del is supposed to wear at night.
She told me that her leg was broken, and she limped around the house in this thing for a couple of hours. It is almost as big as she is!
Every little scratch this girl gets is devastating! Let the drama begin!

Oh, and she has taken to calling me, and everyone else "dude." Lovely. When I give her an instruction, I get a grouchy two syllable "DU-ude!"
Four and a half is certainly bringing out the sass is this gal!

We filled in our extra time with attending a baptism, taking care of achey tummies, and enjoying the Christmas Devotional broadcast from our church leaders on Sunday night.

It was so nice. If you would like to listen to it, and see the video they showed portraying the early life of Christ. Please visit

www.lds.org, here

It is at the top of the home page with a link to watch or listen to both the devotional, and the Bible story video shown during the broadcast.

It is worth the time, I promise!

Dance

Georgia's dance class had a parent's day a couple of weeks ago. We went and observed her class time and all the things that these ballerinas are learning.

We mainly observed that when we are present, Georgia is very timid about putting on a show. You would think she would be completely comfortable showing us her new skills.

Instead, she does a lot of pretending she desperately needs to itch an imaginary misquito bite, or tug on an irritating sock, while all of the other girls do the performance.

Oh well, maybe she has not grown into her showmanship just yet.

Or maybe it is that she is a lot like her mom, and her talent does not lie in the acting that is required for a good dance performance. She does love to go to class though!

Either way... she looked  adorable!

Walker's Owl Themed Birthday Party! A Real Hoot!

We had an owl themed birthday party for Walker.

Even when you are trying to keep things pretty simple with planning a party, it seems to get overwhelming, so I went with the cliche hanging poofs, and threw a quick banner together. Our house seems to be shrinking by the minute these days, so we kept the guest list to the little ones Walker attends nursery with at church, and their families.
The older kids were on pins and needles all week with excitement over the upcoming party. We always have a nice time with our dear friends!

The invite. I used a pre designed Christmas card I found online, and switched out all the Holiday greetings.

The birthday boy!

The cake. My friend Jane from church did the cake for us. She is so talented. I loved the tree with the little owl sitting in the branches. So sweet!

It was a typical dreary Chicago day. So the light was hit and miss.

I gathered ideas I had seen on other blogs. I thought the veggie cup idea from this blog was go cute. We also had cut up apples and oranges, popcorn, and drinks to snack on while we waited for our pizza from a tiny local pizzeria to arrive. All Walker's favorites.

We sent guests home with a home ground whole wheat, oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. Another Walker favorite.

We set up a little age appropriate sensory activity table, geared toward toddlers. They could sift through beans, color an owl sheet, and make bead necklaces on pipe cleaner. Love pipe cleaner. The beads stay put after they get them strung on, rather than spilling onto the floor.

Yes, I was worried someone would put a bean up their nose. But we lucked out, and that did not happen!

Owl shaped crayons. So cute. And they last forever!

The pinata was a hit. Literally! It held up pretty well, until Georgia took over! We only got a couple of swings in after that.

I really didn't want there to be too much candy involved. But it ended up being more than I thought it would! I used mostly toys in our pinata.

You can clearly see on Walker's face that he has already enjoyed a Tootsie Roll.

We had a hoot of a time! We love you Walker. You are suddenly such a big boy!

Thanks to all that came to celebrate with us!!

Look Who Is 2!!

Our Walker boy is a officially a two year old today. Amazing how life is flying by! Two years ago, I spent the day miserable, and Walker finally decided to stop teasing us, and really be born late that night.

We all love this little guy so much. It is so much fun to watch the older kids enjoy every minute of his silly antics. They tell anyone who will listen the latest trick Walker has done.

Walker is full of life and energy. He has always known what he wanted, and what he didn't want. He has a strong will, and a funny personality. He is our little jokester. Walker has always hated the car, and even now we spend the majority of any car ride with him listening to him scream.

Walker loves to keep up with the big kids, and does a pretty good job at it. He has always been very attentive. He does not miss a thing. I can never sneak eating anything around him. He calls me on it, and wants me to share. He is especially in love with chocolate lately. Before Halloween the only chocolate he had eaten was chocolate chips. Now he knows what the good stuff is, and he is not going to let anyone get away with not sharing.

Walker was born with the cord wrapped around his neck a few times. It was kind of scary during labor, but he perked right up and wanted to eat. The most amazing thing was that Del said something when the room was completely quiet right after he was born, and Walker immediately opened his eyes and lifted his head to see where the voice was coming from. We should have known we were in for a wild ride right then!

Happy Birthday Walkie!!

Mouse Mobile

Dear Nature,

Take a HIKE!!!

There are days when I have had it with Mother Nature. Sure, I am apperceive of all of God's beautiful creations. But the wonder ends when the not so beautiful starts to get personal.

And having a mouse

IN MY CAR,

is about as personal as it gets.

I noticed the tell-tale signs that I had an issue. And they were none too pretty. One of Walker's bottles had the nipple chewed off. There were droppings on the floor. I noticed a smell.

And I went crazy.

I ripped the car apart. I searched for that little idiot high and low. I washed or threw away everything that had been in the car. I scrubbed the carpet, polished the leather, turned the thing inside out.

All of this done in total disgust, and... no mouse!

I thought wow, maybe he left!

But just to be safe, we set a trap in the car. And sure enough, we caught him. Apparently, he didn't leave, but I have no idea where he was hiding. Del took care of him, I did all that cleaning once more, and all was well. I thought.

Then I went ahead and scheduled to have the car taken in for a tune-up, because it was due, and I thought it couldn't hurt to have someone check around all the nooks and crannies in the engine for a left behind mouse nest.

Clean bill of health for the car. They did find some more droppings under a seat, but that was all.

Next up, a car detail. We drove it straight from the mechanic shop to the car wash. The SUV spa day was under way! They shampooed, wiped, cleaned with Q-tips, and made the thing shine! We set a few more traps while it was at the car wash, just in case, and then had them set off a chlorine bomb inside the car to kill any smells, or anything else still alive inside. (Nightmares!)

I was a bit at the end of my rope by now. I had been without my car for several days, had spent way too much time cleaning it, and just the thought of something crawling around in there was keeping me on edge.

I got my car back with the strong scent of a chlorine bomb, which I was told would fade, and carried on with life.

Then one fateful Friday, about four days later, I ran out the door to go pick Georgia up from school.

I opened the door to put Walker in his seat,

and a mouse jumped up out of it toward me!

Now you may insert any imagery you have in your head of a person going ballistic.

I screamed, slammed the door, cried, shuddered, shook, screamed again, and again, and ran into the house.

I called Del and told him that I was going to set it on fire, drive it off a cliff, (if I ever dared get back in,) drive it to a bad Chicago neighborhood and walk away with the keys inserted in the ignition and car running...

Please, go for a really good, long, joy ride bad guy!!

Anything! I was desperate, and tired of being disgusted. We had spent a lot of time and hundreds of dollars to get rid of this mouse and it's friends, and now, it was sitting in plain sight.

I was really worried because I had to be at Georgia's school NOW!

I told Del (while crying) that I was going to be brave, and just have to bear it, and drive to get her, mouse and all. So I went back to the car and opened the door, and the mouse jumped up at me AGAIN!! And just sat there starring at my like,

"Don't you get it lady, this is my car now."

And now I officially know what it is to have a panic attack. I could not breathe. My heart was pounding, I was absolutely terrified to get within three feet of that car. I wanted to hide underneath something.

 I called all the friends that I could think of that live nearby. And no kidding, every one of them was in a doctors appointment. They probably thought I needed to see one too, because I was less than calm on the phone. Next, I ran around my neighborhood knocking on doors to see if anyone could drive me. No one was home!

I called Georgia's school and then stood on the side walk in front of my house and sobbed.

Then one of my neighbors pulled up. He is retired, and he is very kind.

He looked at me like I was acting strange. Ya think?

I walked over and between sobs, asked him to drive me to pick up Georgia. So Walker, Earl, Earl's massive black lab, and I loaded up in his car and started off.

I put Walker in a booster seat I had in the garage. When Earl asked me if he was big enough for that, I kind of melted down again, telling him I  could not, would not, open that door again, or put Walker in that seat! That ended that line of questioning.

Walker rode in the back with the snout of a black lab one inch from his face.

Halfway there, one of my friends called back and said she was now pulling into the parking lot at Georgia's school, so just go back home, and she would bring her to me.

When we got back, I ashamedly asked Earl to back my car out of the garage. I could not go anywhere near it. But I did not feel as dumb when Earl, who is Mr. Outdoors himself, did a thorough search before getting in, to make sure the mouse would not jump on him.

I called an exterminator to see if he could help me. But he was the opposite of helpful when he told me that he could not do anything, but I better find a solution, because each mouse could have five pups, and they could have five pups, and the cycle goes on.

 I did pretty well not losing it on the phone.

I worked up my courage about an hour later, slathered some peanut butter on a trap and tossed it in. By the time Del got home, the mouse was on the trap. Del and the kids took care of it. Wally even recorded the mouse's last few minutes on the drive to get rid of him on the flip video, and it is pretty hilarious. I would post it, but I don't want PETA after me for not relocating the mouse with a fully furnished pad waiting for him.

Del took the car and cleaned it all over again for me. We bought new car seats and mats. I was drained from acting like such a wimp. I did not know that I have such a fear of mice.

This is after a year of fun however. Grubs in the grass, a box elder bug infestation that came to it's peak while we were in Costa Rica and my sister and Aunt were here, a fruit fly swarm that had me up late at night using a fly swatter,  and every home remedy known to man, salamanders in the window wells, a dead mouse in the window well, hornet's nests galore... it goes on and on.

I am happy to report that my poor car has been mouse free for quit awhile now. But I am still cautious, I triple check to make sure there is nothing waiting for me when I open the door. The chlorine smell finally faded.

My mom did suggest that I get one of those family character decals for the back of my car with our family of six, and five little mice next to us. Or I guess we could just go with the "Babies On Board" bumper sticker.

I think I will hold off for a bit before I make the decal purchase, because if another mouse takes a liking to my car, I don't know that I will drive it again in this lifetime.

Nature and I just need to come to an understanding.