Continued Tradition

I can remember having a tooth fairy pillow that my mom made me. It was pink and had a little pocket for me to leave my tooth in, and the tooth fairy to leave some coins in. I loved having that special pillow. I was always worried for my friends who just put their tooth under their pillow. How could the tooth fairy find it? What if you were a wiggly sleeper and your tooth fell on the floor?

When we discovered Emily's first loose tooth we made a big deal about finding just the right fabric to make a tooth fairy pillow. Hers had to be pink Barbie fabric shaped like a heart. Man I struggled to sew the lace into a heart shaped pillow. She was six when the dentist had to help her with her first TWO teeth on the same day.

Lizzie's tooth fairy pillow HAD to be sparkly blue shaped like a diamond. Her first tooth came out when she was six. Two days later she made Jared sit with her until he had the other tooth out. It took 45 minutes of pulling and twisting. She was so insistent about it coming out that night.


Tyler's teeth don't like to come out. He was seven years old when his first tooth finally came out. It took quite some time for the other tooth to come out. He still has only lost five teeth. I think we have years until he can get braces. Of course, his pillow had to be BYU!

When Ainsley knocked out her first tooth 1 1/2 years ago, I debated about what to do for a tooth fairy pillow. I would have only had a few hours to shop and sew. Jared had just had surgery, so I was a little stressed to begin with. Plus, she would probably pick some baby fabric, and then we would be stuck with that forever. I opted to wait till she was a little older for her pillow.

A few weeks ago we discovered Ainsley's first loose teeth and began the hunt for just the right fabric. Ainsley's HAD to be pink sparkly, but it could be shaped like a circle. (I talked her out of the heart shape.) Last Saturday morning she showed me her teeth and I was able to pull the first one. The next day the second tooth came out. Two teeth in two days and she is five!

I love their tooth fairy pillows! And just think, they have been used 47 times, with only 33 to go!

Quick Wit

Tyler has the quickest wit of any of my children.

Yesterday Ainsley and I were talking about what we should do for the day. He instantly piped up and told us we should clean his room and make his bed.

He is always coming up with comments like this.

He is only eight.....do you think he'll get better at this as he grows?

Anniversary?

We are "celebrating" our third anniversary of Jared being so sick and in the hospital for so long. I try not to reflect on this time of our lives very often because it makes me so sick to my stomach to relive those days. Maybe if I journal all the good points I can focus on them instead. We did learn so much during this time, and we were blessed with too many blessings to count. Just to name a few blessings:

Countless friends and family who took our kids for hours at a time.

Friends who cleaned for me: my microwave, my laundry, my table, etc....

Friends and family who came at the drop of a hat to give Jared and myself blessings.

The uncountable number of visitors who cheered us both up even when we didn't feel like being cheerful.

The Dotsons, Bowens, Bakers, and our Moms; the people who called or visited Jared AND myself EVERYDAY for the 21 days, plus when we got home.

The nurse who hugged me while I was sobbing with Jared sitting on the toilet watching and crying.

A candle light dinner on our anniversary, the day Jared got home from the hospital....the best anniversary gift ever!

An employer who not only worked with Jared being out of work for so long, but saved a promotion for him when he got back to work.

My four kids who gave Jared inspiration to live even when he didn't think he could or would.

Two wonderful doctors who made the right decisions at the right time.



We have learned:

To never take our health for granted.

Health insurance is necessary

More about the health care profession than we want to know.

Everyone should have 30 grams of fiber a day.

Subway bread really stinks when you smell it constantly in the elevator.

Kids are very adaptable to constant change.

Thank you to EVERYONE who helped us at this time!

Dumb Cat

Let me start this post by stating that I firmly believe my family benefits from having a cat. However, sometimes I hate that dumb cat. Yesterday the tip of his tail got stuck in the heavy door to the garage and a big tuft of fur and a little skin came off. No big deal, right? I called the vet. Of course they said I should bring him in, but when I asked what they would do, she couldn't answer me. She suggested that maybe Herbie would need pain pills. I love the cat and all, but I was not about to spend $60 so he could feel a little loopy. At the time he was running around and there was no blood involved. We opted to lock him in his room so he could stay quiet for the evening. When I went to let him out at 9:30 last night, you would think there had been a murder in that room. The carpet had several large blood spots. Evidently, he keeps licking the wound so it can't scab over. (Sorry for all the gross details!) Jared, Emily and I scrubbed the carpet, but we still can't get all the stains up. The cat spent the night in his carrier, and when I let him out this morning to pee, his tail is still bleeding. UGH! Now we have an appointment with a different vet this afternoon. I hate to think what the grand total of this minor injury will be.....does anyone know of a good carpet cleaner?

On a funnier note, the cat had an adventure this fall that we are now able to laugh about. I had backed out of the garage and was driving away. I usually check to make sure the garage door is closing. When I did, I could see the cat hanging from his neck and scratching like crazy from the top of the closed garage door. (He had jumped on the van and onto the top of the open garage door. When it started closing he panicked and did NOT jump down. This is not the first time this has happened. Like I said, dumb cat.) I frantically pushed the button to open the garage and pulled back into the driveway. I went running to catch the cat, but couldn't find him. Emily and I searched, but couldn't find him. We even climbed on the van to look on top of the garage door. I figured he jumped down while I wasn't looking. Oh well, he will come out of hiding in a little while, right? Wrong. Three hours later we still hadn't seen the cat. The kids started searching in his normal hiding places. After several minutes, they were all crying. We were sure he had hid somewhere and died. Jared was searching in the garage and found him in a tiny alcove up high next to the garage door. He was curled up as far back as he could get. We told the kids to stay in the house while we got him down. We had to be not so gentle to grab him and get him down. He was hissing and growling like crazy. We were sure he had several broken bones. Jared laid him on a blanket and rubbed him all over to check his bones. Then the dumb cat got up and walked away. HE WAS FINE!
Like I said, my family benefits from having a pet. The benefit of that adventure was they knew Heavenly Father answered their prayers.

Jared Jr.

My daughter Ainsley added Jared Jr. to her name this weekend. In her short five years she has managed to:

*Jump off the bunkbed ladder and break her wrist

*Trip on the back stairs and knock out a tooth

*Trip onto carpet and sprain her arm.

*Fall down the stairs while climbing up them and break her hand

And last (hopefully)

*Slip on ice and break her ankle this weekend.

In the almost 13 years that I have been a mom, the only other big injuries that have occurred to the other THREE kids are:

*one sprained ankle

*one set of stitches

*one broken arm

It is a good thing we love Ainsley so much. Sometimes being so full of life is not a safe thing!

Random Thoughts

First of all, I would like to sincerely apologize for my complete lack of posting. I will think of things to blog about, but then never get around to it. Call it lazy, call it lack of confidence, call it whatever.

I hate when others don't blog (myself included), and I hate to see my name in the over one month category of other people's blogs.

So I can move up in the post list I will give you some of my random thoughts:

* Going back to school/work after Christmas break is a drag.

*We painted and redecorated Lizzie and Ainsley's room this week. They now have a purple and blue room to match their new comforters. They rearranged the furniture and it looks so cute!

*Ainsley has her first (and second) loose tooth. I hope they come out before her top tooth starts to come in....it would be such a cute smile.

*Tyler has passed up Emily in his knowledge of the Wii. I think I am raising a gamer. He prefers to play Indiana Jones Lego over doing about anything.

*Lizzie got bangs cut in her hair just before Christmas. Believe it or not, she didn't read that much over the break.

*Emily saved up her money and bought herself a Nintendo DS just before Christmas. I had to drive all over town, but we found it in her signature color- lime green. It is a good thing we finally found it...I had heard from Santa he was making her DS games, what a yucky Christmas morning that would have been.

*I caved and let Emily read the first three Twilight books. She finished them in less than three days. It will be awhile before I let her read the last one.

*We went ice skating over the break. Ainsley skated the whole lap two times without holding on to anything!

*Jared had the week after Christmas off. We went to Hardware Ranch, hosted a New Years party, and painted the girls room.

*"Did you know" became a new term in our house.

*Cheap white bookshelves are hard to find.

*I would like it to snow, a lot.

*Ainsley saw a tow truck picking up a dead car in front of our house. She asked if it was a repo. Evidently my kids watch too much of the white trash show Operation Repo.

*I spent some time on facebook with Emily, I still don't like it.

*I threw out or gave away about 400 pounds of junk from the girl's room this week. What a wonderful feeling!

*We forgot to put out the trash cans the day after Christmas. UGH!

*I'm pregnant!

* Just kidding, I wanted to see who actually read all this!

Maybe this week I will change from a Christmas background!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

My sweet little boy was cleaning up my newspapers last weekend. He excitedly came running upstairs for scissors, and then quickly walked back downstairs. A few minutes later he came running in to show me a picture of some turkey cupcakes he had seen in the coupons, and please could we make them. The picture sat on the fridge for 10 days. Finally, they had to be made today or be outdated. Luckily when we started this adventure, we were able to find enough stuff to make our turkeys look somewhat normal. Tyler graciously let Ainsley and Aubry help him make his treat. After much licking of hands (and much hand washing) we have a whole gaggle or herd of turkeys!

I just love that cute little boy!

As you prepare for your feast tomorrow, I hope you take time to realize all you have to be grateful for. I am so blessed, and grateful to my Heavenly Father for all that He has given me, even those darn trials that seem to be so yucky at the time they come!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!