Still alive

It has been so long since I last posted that hopefully you all haven't lost hope in updates. It has been such a busy 6 months for us. Since the last post a lot of wonderful unexpected surprises have come our way. Pictures will have to follow at a later date but for right now I will give a very abbreviated rundown.

*Hmmm I'm a bit late....take a pregnancy test, and can't really tell.
*Matt goes to the Bahamas with his Dad to sail a big boat back to DC.
*I run the mayor's marathon and at this point and time will never do one again.
*Confirm that Mower baby #5 will be joining our family, a very happy and unexpected surprise.
*Travel to Vancouver WA to spend 2 1/2 weeks with Matt and my family. Good times.
*School starts. Only Josette and I at home I should be able to get tons done.....
*Sophie and I visit the Campbell's in Rochester, NY. Incredible trip!
*Meanwhile I continue to expand at an incredible rate, ultrasound confirms that this baby is on the big side of things.
*Week before Thanksgiving decided to go look at a couple of homes that have dropped their prices. After 2 years of looking we find one that has most everything we've been looking for and make an offer.
*Present day: we have a contract on a home and hopefully moving the end of the month! Trying to rent out our home (if anybody knows anybody wanting to get into a home we are open to lots of different options...) My body has proven again that it can stretch even further than I ever thought possible. We will be celebrating Benjamin's and Sophie's birthdays, I can't believe that they are that old already. And ......

WISHING EVERYBODY A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

L & J Wedding

As many of you know I do photos on the side, as much as time permits. It is something that someday I hope to develop more fully. Until then I enjoy the times I get to keep the skills I have developed somewhat sharp. Last month I had the great opportunity to do a wedding. This was truly a family affair and such fun to be part of. What a great couple these two are. I am really excited about how the pictures turned out.

Study Time

I'm currently sitting in a dark room with piano music playing and a little girl asleep on a car seat throne. We are in the hospital with J. for her pH study. She comes in fasting, then alternates every 4 hours between being flat on her back and inclined at a 45 degree angle. Not pleasant but my little J is a trooper. I have realized so many blessings. There have been 3 specific moments in the last 2 days that have really struck me. And by moments I really mean moments.

1. My family is so loved by family and friends. I am often asked if it is difficult being so far from family, especially with children. Yes. We have been very lucky to have parents that love their in-law children as much as their "birth" child. And 2 sets of Grandparents who will hop on a plane to come support and give aid. I however do not feel alone and without support because I have great friends who bring little gifts to help amuse J. during her study time. I know that those little gifts were said to be "no big deal" but they really meant the world to me. Add to this 4 children who always seem to step up.

2. This moment came from another child leaving the hospital after a week. He had some big, really cool monkey balloons and of course J. stopped to look at them. Without a moment to think he asked his mom if J. could have them. I need to be more like him. Give with out thought.

3. I was in the parent lounge, which is next to the PICU, as I open the door a sheet covered gaurney passes being pushed by a man in a dark suit. It lasted all of 30 seconds but the emotions welled. In the next 39 seconds my thoughts were with that family, who ever and where ever they may be, my children and how grateful for their current health, and a faith in an eternal family.

I ran across an old lesson about having and maintaining a strong testimony. These 3 very brief encounters all strengthened my testimony in one way or another. Sometimes these times in the hospital are very good for me because it seems to narrow my focus on eternal matters and not just what needs to get done before the end of the day. I just wish it didn't take a hospital to help me realize these things.

Great Salmon Recipe

This was a huge hit for dinner last night. It comes from the Cooking Light magazine.

1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar
1/3 cup dill
2 Tblsp. Kosher salt
3 lbs salmon filets

Combine first 3 ingredients. Coat fish with mixture, cover and refrigerate for 8hrs. I only did it for 4 1/2 and that was worked well. Heat oven to 175. Spray a cookie sheet and place fish skin side down on sheet. Bake for 1 hour 10min.

Enjoy!

February already

I can't believe that January is finished as of tomorrow. After I take down the Christmas decorations life tends to go into the blah mode. Usually, I'm just gutting it out until April comes but not so far. Our winter has been very mild with the temps staying in the upper teens and even up to thirty. I've been able to go skiing almost daily and now have been able to add several good friends to go with. Several outings and time spent doing fun things has made a great start to the year.

Of course we wouldn't be Mowers if we didn't have our adventures mixed in there also. The boys are either the best of friends or the worst of enemies. Most of the afternoons are filled with Carsten attacking Benjamin because Benjamin is taking out his grumpy attitude on everybody around him. Then there are the moments like this afternoon when they played blocks for 2 hours together while mom dozed nearby. There's also bedtime when a common desire to stay up as long as possible unifies them and we find them on the floor wrapped around each other. Those moments melt my heart and really erase the question of why I had felt to have two children so close in age, they had been together from the beginning and needed to be together here.
Benjamin's one desire for 2010 came true. He lost his first tooth. Matt and I both feel that he probably forced the issue sooner than it was supposed to happen. Half of his gum is missing but we can't say that Benjamin doesn't accomplish his goals as quickly as possible.
They had crazy hair day at school and Benjamin and Sophie participated with all they (well mom) could do.

The face is how Benjamin looks most mornings. He really hates being woken up for anything and makes everybody hate it too.

On Matt's flex Friday (he gets every other Friday off) he let Carsten loose with a drill. I don't know how I feel about introducing him to powertools yet but he sure loved it.
Josette is our dress-up cooking queen. She loves to fix us food and dress up as a "Sensess". Translatation: Princess.
Matt had a visit to the Emergency Care office to get a staple in his head and I super-glued Benjamin's head shut instead of doing an Emergency Care office run. Matt was on the slope and I wasn't about to load everybody in the car at bedtime if it could be handled otherwise. It worked great! That is going to be a very handy skill I feel. As long as it isn't on the face we are super gluing!

Our biggest adventure happened thanks to Blockbuster. Matt was going out on a boys night out to hike baldy. All the girls and kiddos were coming over to our house. I rented several movies for the kids because we were going to have all different ages and I do want to have a cool house. They nicely gave us a FREE tub of popcorn to pop in the microwave. Many will recognize that this isn't my usual style but I figured why not this will be "cool" for the older kids. I followed the directions, everybody is getting drinks and other snacks and Sophie turns the corner to tell me the kitchen is filled with smoke. I go in open the microwave to FLAMES. Images explain the rest. My FREE tub of popcorn cost me $300!

Funny moments in time

I was looking over the last month and a half and wondering where to start or how to start this new year. Do I try and play catch up or just skip it all and start fresh? There were too many moments from the last month to just skip over so I hope I can do a brief overview of the last month and a half.

From Thanksgiving until January 1, 2010 I:

Celebrated 2 birthdays
Made 2 birthday cakes, Super heroes and villains, Matt made Sophie's cake a Mower traditional chocolate that ended up turning into a type of parfait.
Baked 60 ice cream cone cupcakes complete with a cherry on top for classrooms to celebrate above birthdays.
Made 2 quiches for International Foods day for Kindergartners and 3rd graders who much preferred the pizza to eggs, bacon and cheese.
2 Pies
24 loaves of fresh bread
10 American Doll outfits
6 pairs of slippers
1 major snowfall
2 heat spells to make a mess of above snowfall
Completed my first recorded 6 mile run cold turkey and have managed to replicate 4 additional times.
Enjoyed an evening of old fashioned door to door caroling

Among this craziness called the holidays we still enjoyed the many opportunities to laugh, share time together as a family and hopefully spread a little Christmas cheer. I loved every moment.


Benjamin unwittingly added some of the greatest memorable humor:
During a warm spell where it warmed up to 40 Benjamin came out of the house to model his "warm weather snow gear"


Think we can market it? It may be a good way to recycle all those groceries bags. And the productions would take no time at all, stick legs through bag to create leg holes put straps over shoulders. Caution: Snow suits for short term use only.


While out for his Birthday dinner I asked Benjamin what he wanted to accomplish while he was six. What his goals were?

Response with out any hesitation, "Lose a tooth."

Sorry about the italics no matter how many times I try to take it off it won't work.