Math is Fun...and Useful

Jake Update! He is much better, thanks for the prayers. After 3 days the fever and swelling began to diminish and his appetite returned. I did some thorough research (i.e. WebMD) and discovered the problem was a severe reaction to his 5th and final DTaP vaccine. Apparently 1 child in 100 will have a high fever and 1 child in 100 will have a severe reaction at the injection site. For all of you non-math people, here is a little lesson:

If you want to know the rarity of having both the fever and swelling you

need to multiply the fractions. 1/100 x 1/100 = 1/10,000!

Thus we know that Jake is that 1 child in 10,000 because he had both reactions. I knew he was special!

Today we "de-Christmased" the house. Before we had moblie children I was firmly in the camp that leaves Christmas decorations up until New Year's Day. Now I decorate later and take it down sooner as I grow weary of finding Christmas ornaments in strange places. We took one last picture in front of the tree and away it went. It kinda looks like Danny is throttling his sister but we'll take what we can get at this point.

Here they are Christmas morning, opening stockings and seriously questioning their parents' sanity. (How can you be so calm when there are presents!??!) Jake is wearing his new favorite Thomas jammies that Papa brought. Libby is crying for some reason, I've already blocked it out. Dan is wearing his Christmas sweater for the 3rd day straight, having also insisted on sleeping in it.

And now, a quick recap on the favorite gifts of the year. And remember, all the gifts they received were favorites, these were just a little more favorite. But they are all favorites.

Jacob, as always, loves trains.

Dan almost passed out over his guitar. He has been serenading us ever since.

And Libby, well, Libby is a woman of simple pleasures.

Smart Spending

We had some money left in our Health Savings Account and we were determined to empty before it is re-funded (that's how I have decided to spell "refund" here because I think it is more appropriate to the meaning, leave me alone English majors). In the last week Libby has been in for pneumonia, I went in for vaccines, Jake went in for vaccines and just for good measure, Jake got another trip to urgent care on Christmas Eve for this:

I love the look on his face here, I think it effectively communicates his thoughts on the matter. Here is the closeup view...

The diagnosis is: a) a bad reaction to the 3 shots he received in this arm yesterday, or b) an infection due to the 3 shots he received in this arm yesterday. Just for sympathy, he had 5 shots total! The lines mark the "affected area" to help us ascertain improvement or a fabulous all expenses paid (thank you HSA!) return trip to Urgent Care.

Snow!

It is a strange thing to see snow in the desert, roses with snow piled on and palm tree fronds peeking through drifts. The kids are all sick with Libby fighting pneumonia and the boys struggling with croup, but I just couldn't keep them from playing outside because, really, how often does it snow in the Mojave desert?

I took a bunch of pictures of the boys throwing snowballs and moving snow with their tractors only to realize later, after the frozen shoes and wet clothes were put away, that I didn't have the memory card in the camera. I'm really smart!

I asked Daniel the stereotypical mom question "What do you see out there?" and was told a snow leopard was prowling the neighborhood. Again, maybe we need to cut down the Planet Earth viewings... By the way, this is the window in our bedroom where the kids like to hang out and spy on the neighbors. They also like to fall from here and 9 out of 10 head injuries at our house happen right here!

On an unrelated note, we did some painting the other night. I gave them red and green paint and asked them to paint a Christmas tree. Jake kind of went for the Jackson Pollack approach.

Dan was a little more of an impressionist.

And I think Libby was shooting for a Rorshack while she destroyed my artful trees. Apparently she doesn't find my work "tasteful" and felt it had "no aesthetic basis for appreciation." I am devastated, demanded an apology and may never paint again.

How To Find Out What You Are Getting For Christmas

I have found that there are two kinds of people in this world: those that like the anticipation and waiting for a big, perfect surprise and those that want to be "surprised" right now. I fall solidly in the latter category and thus, if I know a gift is coming, I will not stop until I figure out what it will be. The flip side is that if I am getting a present for you, I will not stop taunting you until you finally ask and let me tell you what you are getting. This is part of the strong sisterly bond Emily and I share, we've employed some serious guerrilla warfare tactics against our parents "in the past" to help each other discover the contents of wrapped boxes.

So this Christmas, I was having no luck with Erik and had to step it up. I went to bed at midnight once we booted the college students out, then awoke at 3:30 am to take my dear friend Stacey to the airport for her 6:20 am flight out of LAX. Erik advised me to drive the truck but I decided to take the van because it has seat warmers and well, you know, you can't go wrong with a warm rear. Right about the time we hit Sylmar minor noises began beneath the hood and praise God, the gaslight was already on so I decided to exit. On the exit ramp the van lurched, made very loud cursing noises at me and stopped refusing to continue past this less than savory part of town. This was most distressing at 4:10 am on a Sunday, especially as Erik slept through the furiously vibrating cell phone.

Several gentlemen stopped to give us poor damsels advice, now that I know the real problem I know they were all wrong. We called cab companies to try and get Stacey to the airport but apparently they only pick you up if you know where you are. This forced me to walk down the street to a gas station where men apparently hang out, sleep in their cars, and whistle at stranded ladies who made the unfortunate decision to drive their friends to the airport while still wearing their pajamas. It took 3 trips to the gas station before the cab company felt we were truly worth their effort and I ran a bit faster each trip.

Eventually Stacey made it in a cab and was able to then catch another flight. The tow truck driver arrived and we discovered that I no longer have a transmission. The reverse gear was still working and I briefly pondered the awesome urban legend I could create by making the 50 mile trek home backwards. We left my van in front of Denny's and again I dreamt of someone graciously just stealing the thing. My knight arrived, rescued me and lauded my not having a full tilt hissy fit in the midst of my trials. I had seriously considered it at one point then quickly asked myself, "In the light of eternity, is this really such a big deal?" In the moment, the answer seemed to be "Yes!" but I have been trained well and was able to remind myself that it was not.

I arrived safely home and Erik was able to borrow a trailer. My sad little van is currently residing in the church parking lot and, my evil plan worked, I have been able to discern that I will be receiving a transmission for Christmas. Watch and learn people! I had a little nervous energy left when we got home. Some people are nervous eaters, I am a nervous cleaner. I now have deep cleaned all the carpet in the house, finished the dishes and laundry as well as reorganized the kids' closet.

We are definitely looking forward to a more relaxing day tomorrow. Please pray for Miss Libby as she is croupy and will be visiting the doctor. Oh, Erik, Jakey and I will be traveling to China for a little over 2 weeks. We leave in 3 and a half weeks.

Never Were There Such Devoted Sisters

The sad day has come and gone. The big moving van that has been mocking me since Wednesday is packed and today was driven away to the holy land of Texas. The house feels so empty and I'm struggling with tears yet I rejoice. God gave us a year together and I will always cherish that time, what a precious gift! We love you Emmy! We love your awesome dancing moves and mad bowling skills! We love your freakish cleaning habits and 2 hour "get ready" routine. What we love most is that you love the Lord and seek to follow His good and perfect will. We miss you already!

Love, Erik, Missy, Jake, Dan and Libby

Thanksgiving

Twas naptime on Thanksgiving and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a... I love that picture! We enjoyed Thanksgiving with a neat family from church. We chose the Hunt family after extensive candidate interviews for an adoptive California family to take us in. Their ties to Texas A&M firmly sealed their doom and now they are stuck with us! Jake and Dan enjoyed a little synchronized pie-eating.

Libby wasn't down for competitive eating that day so she settled for being spoon fed pie while looking cute.

Yesterday I decided to use our cookie cutters for their intended purpose instead of Play Dough for the first time ever. I sometimes attempt to find my inner Martha Stewart but no success thus far. The cookies have been deemed "highly edible" by the under 3.5-feet-tall critics of the household so I figure that's a good place to start.

Do you like Dan's outfit? About 20 times per day you will hear him asking "Can I put on my jammies no shirt now?" He feels that no proper nap can take place in street clothes. No matter the temperature, one must be as close to naked as possible for adequate rest.

Family is Fun

Erik's sister and her sweet daughter visited us recently and we had some major fun. The boys have been complaining that everyone else has cousins around but them and thankfully a cousin came to see us!A ride on the Santa Monica pier ferris wheel. At least one person was into the picture taking...Playing on the beach Her first time in the Pacific
I think she was worried about messing up her pedicure...

We found a ladybug in the water and these two had to check it out.

I Know, I Know, I Know, I Know....

Hi, my name is Missy and it has been 18 days since I last blogged. I'd say "we've been busy" but I guess that's a bit trite...but we have.

One of the most fun things we have done lately is visit Grandma Lou (she gave us our rabbit) and her mini-zoo. I think this one is a little under a week old. It's a rabbit, thought you city folk might like to know.

This one is about two weeks old.

On another note, when Erik returned from China last summer he informed me that we were starting a business selling handicrafts made by neat people he met. His suitcases were overflowing with chopsticks, scrolls, aprons, laquerware, etc. and said items have been occupying most of our closet for the last few months. But though I've suffered so, the point of it all is not to make up for the losses in our 401k but to provide a market for the ladies in China to sell their crafts as well as to start a fund to help impoverished families in the region send their children to school or start businesses that they might be able to bring themselves out of grinding poverty. I like my husband! :-)

On Saturday Em and I had the pleasure of selling for our little company for the first time at the church's annual Christmas Boutique. Thanks to Em for all of her hard work in attaching pricetags, decorating the booth and selling merchandise all morning. Maybe we should comp her some free chopsticks or something. I think that would totally make it up to her.

We also had the pleasure of having Erik's sister and her sweet daughter visit for a few days. We like them, alot. More pictures to come from that visit. Us ladies decided to have the awesomest dessert at the church Thanksgiving Potluck to prove that we are the best so here it is.

Yep. We're good. And on a final note, the trees are plotting against me and choreographing their leaf droppage so that their staggering forces me to regularly rake the yard to avoid being the eyesore (and continuing redneck) of the neighborhood. The tiny yard waste trash cans are not capable of handling the ridiculous quantities of leaves and I found myself needing to compress the leaves last night so I grabbed the first thing handy and threw it in.

Works pretty well. I'm thinking of telling Erik I'm starting a business and we're selling leaf squishers. Buy two, get the third free.

I Declare Today to be Festivus and Shall Now Begin with the Airing of Grievances!

I have been trying to "be ahead" for once and began ordering my Christmas cards back in mid-October. I looked through an abundance of online discount card shops and settled on a design with a certain "members only" club, very exclusive I might add. I ordered. I went to pick them up only to be told they were lost in cyberspace.

I ordered again and this time paid online so as to help them not be lost in cyberspace. I went to retrieve them at the prescribed time to be told that they were late. I returned again and was thrilled to see the clerk pulling envelopes from the bin but dismayed to be told they weren't paid for. I called the bank and refuted this claim. The clerk conceded, I decided to give the pics a quick peek before leaving in victory only to find 100 of these:

See any problems? I know two children that will be telling their therapists the problem in 20 years! How does this happen? The clerk said she needed more proof that they were really paid for before she could refund Daniel's little victory and now we are at a stale mate. The bank needs 48 hours to fax the statement to this warehouse store that shall remain nameless and the nameless store needs this proof before they can give me my $24. "It's only $24!" you may so, but I say "No! It's the principle of the matter!"

Just for educational purposes, Festivus: A Holiday for the Rest of Us, is a real holiday and it is on December 23. It began in 1966 and traditionally starts with "The Airing of Grievances," which is where you tell everyone how they have been a disappointment over the year. You share a meal and then complete feats of strength. Check Wikipedia, it never lies!

Monkeys and Divas

Halloween was so fun! From about 6 am on the boys asked every 5 minutes to wear their monkey suits. I think they thought that once they donned the monkeys suits, candy would magically start falling from the sky. Costume = immediate candy.Here is Miss Diva herself who couldn't be troubled to walk all the way next door. The boys were willing to run to the moon if it meant candy, Libby has higher standards and demands it be brought to her hastily and unwrapped. She did seriously like the bucket, I think it was a purse in her mind.The forced march next door...I'm wearing my new sweater, thank you Dad!So we visited the neighbors, ran over to see Grandma Mary and then went to the church festival, complete with a giant slide. Apparently next to bananas and candy, monkeys really like slides!

Can You Spot the Difference?

I really don't like those puzzles with two similar pictures that have a few differences to find. The first few are really easy to locate, there is a pig instead of a dog and the girl's hair is now hot pink instead of black, simple enough. Then the rest are something like, "This tree has 1,254 leaves but this one only has 1,253." How could I have missed it?

The difference here shouldn't be too hard to find...thank you Sarah from Real Life Design for the new look!

How to Do the Zoo, Save Money and Burn Less than 100 Calories

1) Get free tickets for the adults and go during Kids are Free month.

2) Use a 2 for 1 coupon to buy the Zoo Bus Tour tickets.

3) Sit on the top of the bus!

4) Occasionally rotate torso and flex index finger to take token shots of animals on tour.

5) Ride tram to top of the park.

6) Sit on bench at the polar bear display, eat snack and rest 20 minutes to regain energy until lazy bears finally come out and put on a show.

7) Scoff at the really lazy bear who refused to get in the water and put on a show with the rest of the bears.

8) Eventually begin to look like animals on exhibit which brings the added bonus of free rent, no park admission, free food and getting to lounge in a pool for the remainder of your days.