The Great Pumpkin...

Happy Halloween everyone! I'm not the biggest fan of this holiday, I'll admit! I love the decorations and I don't even mind the dressing up! But going around and begging for candy, is definately not my favorite part! Well, really I hate all the candy being brought home! I mean, really, do kids really need all that sugar?

So, we've come up with a new little plan this year (inspired by an idea my friend and neighbor shared with us). When we get home from trick-or-treating this year, my kids will each get to pick out 3 candies to enjoy! Then we will put ALL the candy in a bowl and leave it for the Great Pumpkin! Tomorrow morning, the Great Pumpkin will have taken the candy and left them a family toy/game/movie in it's place! Oh, and the Great Pumpkin doesn't want to eat all that sugar either, so he/she will be throwin it away, but shhh don't tell the kids! I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween today!

Come Trick-or-Treat with us...

We're having some fun trick-or-treating tomorrow in my store! You can get lots of free word art, earn a free Halloween kit and just have fun! Come check it out!

Here is the link: Brownie Scraps



Oh, and here is a free word art I made, just to entice you even more! Click on it to download!

This is for Aunt Gretchen...

since she is currently a teacher for K12 in Nevada. We are excited to announce that Mitchell will be switching to K12 here in Utah! Too bad Aunt Gretchen can't be his teacher, but we are very excited about this school! It's an online charter school (for those that aren't Aunt Gretchen!) and although he does his work from home, it's not homeschool! He will have a teacher and field trips and take the standardized testing, etc. But it will allow him to move at his own pace, work in a quiet environment (Mitchell doesn't do well with distractions) and hopefully allow us to get on top of some of his health issues. We are meeting with the doctor this week, but it seems like everything he eats makes him very sick. He is losing weight, looks pale and is constant pain. My guess is Celiac, but we will wait to have it officially confirmed or not and go from there. But, he has missed a lot of school or gone while feeling miserable which wasn't good for anyone! I'm so excited that he has this option to help him out!

Oh, and Aunt Gretchen, we would love any pointers or tips! LOL!

Great news!

I'm so excited for Chipper and Abby. As we've talked about here, during the fall, they were involved with a local theatre company. The two of them and Mitchell took a workshop for a musical theatre and all got good parts in those plays. Abby's play was 2 weeks ago, and the two boys perform "Alice in Wonderland" in two weeks from now. They love it and I have seen Chipper happier than I have seen him in a few years.

This past week, all three of the older kids went to audition for their Christmas play "The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever". This was different than their fall workshop, in that they weren't guaranteed a part. In fact, there were almost 100 who auditioned and only 20 parts to be filled. We found out yesterday that Chipper got the part of Ralph Herdman, who is the oldest boy and plays the part of Joseph in the nativity. Abby got the part of one of the baby angels, which she wanted so badly! Unfortunately, Mitchell did not get cast. That was such a difficult parenting moment! But, he is hoping to help out with back stage stuff and props, so that made him happy! They start auditions next week, 4 days a week, on top of the 2 days a week they are currently doing, so it will be a bit crazy.

I'm just so pleased that we are here and that they have these opportunities. It was tough living in Alamo where sports were such a central part of life. That's great for kids who enjoy sports, but my kids have never really been into that. It's wonderful that they can find their niche here. They are loving it! And Abby is asking for a violin for Christmas so she can start lessons. I have always wanted a child to have an interest in the violin because it is one of my favorite instruments.

As for challenges going on with us, I have been struggling a bit with my health. I'm on the mend now, but the past week and a half was tough. I started in with chest pain that radiated into my shoulder and left arm just before we left for Disneyland. I tried to ignore it, thinking it was a pulled muscle or pinched nerve. It got worse and was part of the reason we cut our trip short and came home on Saturday. I didn't say much to John, but it definately wore me out more than normal. By Monday, it got worse and my exhaustion also became worse. I found myself having a tough time catching my breath and I would get intense dizzy spells. I also started having a difficult time speaking and felt like I was so tired that I couldn't make my mouth work like my brain wanted to. Tough to explain, but it was miserable. Finally on Wednesday, some of my online friends who I told how I was feeling, convinced me to go to the doctor. I went to a quick care down the street, expecting it to be nothing. He sent me to the ER for tests. I really felt that it was nothing, but wanted to be on the safe side. They ran a ton of blood tests and an EKG. The nice thing was that all the scary stuff came back fine. They worried I might have a blood clot that was bringing on a stroke, but it wasn't any of that! And my EKG came back great, so my heart is working just fine! LOL! Apparently I had some inflammation around my heart and lungs which was making it hard for me to breathe normally. There wasn't much they could do but give me pain meds and have me wait it out. The pain is now gone, but after dealing with it for 9 days straight, most of it while in denial, I am still pretty worn out. I've been resting a lot the past two days and each day I feel a bit better.

So, that's the latest with us! I'm impressed if anyone actually read to the end of this! I still have pics to post, both of Abby's play and our trip.

Headed to Disneyland!

We leave for Disneyland tomorrow. The kids have school off for a few days for Fall Break or UEA, whatever it is called. Although my favorite was UEA--Utah's Exodus to Anaheim! Yep, we now fit into that crowd! I'm very excited.

Plus, I get to see some dear friends along the way, stop on our way home and stay the night with Rachelle and her family and meet my gorgeous little nephew, Flint for the first time. It will probably be our only trip south for the rest of this year, so I'm excited to see the family that is making the effort to see us. And it was so sweet of Rachelle to offer her home to us, not like she doesn't already have a lot going on, with 6 kids and all!

Sam is so excited, but I don't think he remembers much (we last went in February) because all he says when I ask him about it is "food, food?" I've been baking cookies and preparing goodies to take with us and telling him it's for Disneyland! Or maybe he does remember more than I'm giving him credit for, and he's thinking of all the good food there! Either way, we're all excited! It was really cold this past weekend, and we got our first snow storm, so I'm looking forward to some California sun (hopefully not the California smoke, but we'll see!).

I also need to post pictures from Abby's play on friday and saturday. She did such a great job! Her solo was darling. I recorded it and will post it when I get back. All the video and pics are uploaded on my other computer.

Update WAAAYYY over due!

I can't believe that I haven't update our blog in over a month! I've been so busy with the kids' schedules and the opening of my new store that things have been very crazy!

Things are going great! The kids love school, a lot and they are very involved with extra-curricular activities. Chipper is doing choir, before school 2 days a week and is also the Caterpillar in "Alice in Wonderland" a play the kids are doing through Musical Theatre. He is one of the top students in his class and loves all that he is learning!

Mitchell is doing sports before school, two mornings a week and he is the King in "Alice in Wonderland". I think he wow'd them in his audition when he sang "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in a British accent! Needless to say, listening to him do the Trial attorney "King" part of the play with his British accent, is such a hoot!

Abby is also doing sports before school and she is in a different play. She is the cheese in the musical play "The Cheese Stands Alone". Her performance in next week, and we're all very excited! She even has a solo part!

Sam is in school and doing well. He has also recently started doing speech twice a week, privately. He is really making progress with his speech. He is actually speaking in sentences. He has every syllable, the intonnation and most of the vowels, just very few consonants. To most, it still sounds like gibberish, but to us, it is music to our ears!

Olivia is loving being at home alone with mom and her favorite thing is to go shopping. She asks me daily if we can go shopping! Not that I do a lot of shopping, but I think she associates errands and grocery shopping as her time with mom! We have a lot of fun!

John is still busy with work and now preparing to take the Bar in February. The 80 page application has been a bit daunting, but he has almost completed it! We will be so glad to have this over!

As for me, I've been busy with my new store, which is going very well. I've also been making some drastic changes to our diet. Between the allergies, Celiac disease for Olivia and just all of us needing to eat more healthy, we have incorporated a much more "raw food" diet into our routine! Green smoothies have actually become a breakfast favorite! I have also been walking several miles, several times a week and I love how much better I have been feeling!

I think that is about it, but hopefully I will be around more to post and give updates! Also, for anyone interested in digital scrapbooking, I'll have some free things to give away. Just in time for the holidays!