Long lost post about Lucy's cast!

I finally got Tyler to download a ton of pictures from our camera because yes I am lame and do not know how to do it. Just to give me a little credit, it is because our cord to use on the camera is lost so Tyler has to do something else to download them. Anyway, I never posted any pictures of Lucy and her lovely pink cast!

The girls are just goofing off right here. Lucy's cast went from her toes right up to the top of her thigh. This cast was a pain. Especially when it came to bathing her. She was a good sport about it though.

This picture is right as we were walking out the door to take her to the dr. to have the cast removed. She was not too happy about about the saw.

Lucy asked to keep her cast. It is still laying around the house. I went to throw it away the other day and Tyler couldn't believe that I wanted to throw it away.

After Lucy got her cast off she would not walk on it. So we went back to her scooting everywhere. The dr. said this was normal and to even expect her to limp for a while. It was a little over a week without the cast and we were at my parents house on Christmas day. My mom was having a small problem with some ants. Tyler told lucy that if she kept scooting around the ants would eat her bum. Well that did the trick. She stood up and has walked ever since.

Snowmobiling Fun!

Over the Christmas breake our friends, Robert and Jayne, brought over their snow mobiles and we took the kids out to have some fun. The kids had a blast. They lasted much longer than I thought they would. Of course we didn't go too far. Just out our back door. My kids love Robert and Jayne. There are many nights when I am fixing dinner and Philip will come up to me and say, "Mom, I was thinking and I think we should call Robert and Jayne and see what they are doing for dinner. We should invite them over."

This is Tyler, and..........yes me!, and Lucy. I even drove for a little bit. I let tyler take over driving again after I dumped him off the snowmobile. Poor Lucy. Maggee left her snow pants at school so she put on Lucy's snowpants. I was looking for lucy's and couldn't figure out where they were until I saw maggee and how short the snowpants were on her that she was wearing. So we just put multiple pairs of pants on Lucy. You would think she was the coldedst since she was the only child without snow pats on, but she out lasted all the kids.

At first Lucy would ride with me and Tyler, but that didn't last too long. The whole rest of the time she wanted to be with either Jayne or Robert.

Philip even got to drive!! He thought that was neat.

This is me and Maggee being pulled in the sled behind the snow mobile. I too am shocked that I was able to do this. It has been at least four winters since I have ventured out doors to do stuff like this.

Robert pulled the kids all afternoon. Ellie and Philip loved it.

Thanks Robert and Jayne for a very fun day!

The Grandkids!

These are pictures from Grandma Karol's birthday party. These are all the grandkids on Tyler's side of the fam.

Imaginary friends

We have some new members in our family. Lucy introduced me to Sleeping Beauty, Wickey, Peter Pan, and her new cat Saraphina. Lately these new friends go every where with us! A setting has to be set at the table when we eat and they have to be involved with everything the family does. Tyler was in a lot of trouble the other day because he didn't see Saraphina, the cat, and stepped on her. Lucy could not look at Tyler all day without giving him a dirty look! Lucy has not been sleeping in her bed agian lately. She says this is because her friends are sleeping in her bed and so she can't. If there is a mess left behind where Lucy has been playing, conveniently it was peter pan, or wickey, or sleeping beauty that left the mess. She says that she should not have to clean it up because they need to learn to clean up their own messes!! She gets really upset if we interupt her frineds talking to her. Where does she come up with these things?

I remeber my sister's kids having imaginary friends. Shelby always had girlfriend and boyfriend. I remember them having to eat with the whole family. Riley had Goo Goo. They had these friends for a long time and then one day they were gone. I always thought it was so funny. Non of my other kids have had the imaginary friend syndrome. But, of course, it would be Lucy who has them. She talks to them all day long and it is quite interesting to listen to these conversations. She gets mad at them one minute and then the next she says they are friends again! She does seem to be fully entertained with these friends and likes her privacy with them also. So I wonder how long these new friends will stick around. I look in her eyes and see that little mind spining a mile a minute and I wonder what she will come up with next. I really need to find a preschool for her next year. Any suggestions?

Do I live in a house or a home?

I guess you could say that I am a clean person and I prefer cleanliness, but I wouldn't say I am a perfectionist or a "clean freak". I will admit that it is hard for me to relax when the house is a mess and things are out of place and I absolutely hate waking up to a dirty kitchen. But you can always walk into my house and see a mess in one room or another. I have always wanted my house to be a home that people would feel welcome to come in and relax and feel "at home." I don't want people to feel like they can't touch anything for fear of messing it up.

I went to our relief society Christmas breakfast and one talk in particular has had me thinking quite a bit. This lady was talking about family traditions and different things that have created memories for her. She talked specificaly about her dining room table and how she loves every dent and scratch on it. Each dent and scratch represented some sort of memory about a different child. Durying this holiday season, as you all know, Lucy has had a broken leg. Let's just say her cast has done a little more than make scratches on some of my furniture. I will fully admit that I was not too happy about this, especially on my dining table that was bought brand new when we moved into this house. Everytime I walk down the stairs and I feel new carpet crunching under my feet , I am reminded of the 5 gallons of paint that philip spilt down the stairs going to the basement. That is a painful story. On the wall to the left side of the stairs as you go up stairs you can see the faint stamp marks from where Lucy had fun stamping where ever she wanted. Yes I did scrub the wall and Mr. Clean's magic eraser didn't fuly take it off. But now everytime I walk upstairs I glance at the marks and kind of laugh to myself.

When we moved into this house I was very strict with the kids on what they could and couldn't do. Rules galore! I kept thinking this is a brand new house and I don't want marks on it!! My view is quite different now. I want a home, not a house. I was creating a house feel not a warm homey feeling. Ok, so yes I do still have rules. I just think about my restrictions differently. It is the spilt paint, Lucy's stamp marks, Lucy's casts markings on furniture, and even Tyler cutting Ellie's door to her room upside down that makes this a home not a house. I am so greatful that I live in a home and not a house.

My kids are young and I know I still have many years of scrapes, and dents, and scratches that will be made in different places. We built this home as a forever not ever moving home. I will have to remind myself many times not to sweat the little things, and that they are only little once! Tyler and I worked really hard on this house so it is only fitting for us to build it, and the kids to mark it! There will be times in years to come that I will have to continuously look back and reread this post to remind me to not get so uptight. I look around me as I am sitting here and I am glad that we are here in this home and will be in this home for many years to come so bring on the scratches and dents and markings!

Just a small confession

So ever since we moved into our house, Lucy has been sleeping with us. Or I guess I should say that ever since she was born she has been sleeping with us. Her bed has been set up in her room but she refuses to sleep in it. She always tells us it is too scary for her to sleep in her own bed even though she shares a room with Maggee. We have even told her that she could sleep in Maggee's bed with her but she would not agree to that. Most of our kids have slept with us and Tyler and I do not mind this. Non of them have had a problem moving into their own beds. I was a little worried about them sleeping in their own rooms when we moved in here because of the fact that they have all always slept together in one bed. The problem with Lucy is she is all over the place or has to be right up next to you all night long making it so that you can't move. So we started bribing her with EVERYTHING! Nothing was working until one morning she saw a My Little Pony castle commercial. Well she begged and begged for this. We told her that if she slept in her own bed we would buy it for her, and guess what? She did it!!! Yeah for Lucy!!

Ok, so now for the small confession, and it really is small...............Her bed is in our room. But...She sleeps in it. We had to try and positin the bed so that she could still watch her barbie movies in our room and be able to see it.

I will admit that she doesn't sleep in her bed every single night, and after we bought her the pony castle she had a set back. Grandma Karol was asking her if she slept in her bed by herself and Lucy would tell her no because her bed isn't comfortable. So Karol gave her an egg foam matress that we folded over to make her bed extra comfy and now she really does sleep in her bed EVERY NIGHT!!!

small side note.........Now Lucy tells everyone that Maggee has her own room and Lucy's room is upstairs. Even though all of Lucy's clothes and things are in Maggee's room. This child is one of a kind, but we love her!

The Grinch

Lucy is absolutely obssessed with The Grinch right now. Mainly the cartoon version. She started having nightmares about the grinch when she watched the movie. Her favorite character is Cindy Lou Hoo. Whenever she reads the story (which is about a hundred times a day) she has to pretend that she is Cindy Lou Hoo speaking.