The Best Bad News

I don't often share my trials, troubles, or worries online.  I already tend to lean on the "what-if" side of things and if I were to always post the difficult things I feel I might linger on them too long, bemoaning my lot in life.  And it's a good lot, when all is said and done, so I post the good things.  That way my friends and family cheer me on and I can focus on counting my blessings and not getting stuck in a "woe is me" cycle.

This year, however, has been hard.  We've been through a refiner's fire.  We've lost jobs, loved ones, endured physical trials, and extremely emotional ones as parents of teenagers testing the boundaries or our love (of course, there aren't any but they sure try to find them!)  And when all those things happen you tend to find yourself saying, "At least my children are healthy."

Until they aren't.

[caption id="attachment_1435" align="aligncenter" width="223"] Brandon babysitting earlier this summer. What a good Daddy he'll make![/caption]

Last month we took our children in for their annual exams.  Something came up that alarmed the doctor with our oldest son's exam.  That started a whirlwind of appointments all in one week.  The words surgery and cancer were mentioned.  And then we had to wait.

We were prepared for the worst, which, in this case would still be okay.  I mean, IF it were cancer it would likely be able to be removed and the survivability as high as you could possibly ask for.  I can't explain how it is to feel gratitude and hope in the same breath as heartache.  I knew, no matter the prognosis, he'd be okay.  I was at peace.  But I wept at the possible pain he'd have to go through and the long term consequences for him and his future family.

Today we were finally able to see the specialist and received the best bad news of my life so far:

IT IS NOT CANCER!

Surgery is still recommended and no biospy or blood work was done.  But, from the ultrasound, the doctor is confident that there is no cancer at this time, nor is it pre-cancerous!

Again, I'm not sharing this because I'm sad.  In the last month we have shared this particular trial with extended family as well as friends and I wanted everyone to know the happy news!

Many of the trials we've had this year may just have been blessings in disguise that allowed the timing for his exam, etc to be extremely providential.  Had Chris not lost his job and Brandon had had his annual exam a few months earlier at his normal time of year, it might have been too early to catch this.  Maybe that is not the case.  I don't know all the 'why's' of these things but I do know our Father has a plan for us!  How grateful I am that we did not allow ourselves to wallow in self-pity or fall into the trap of hatred when things became difficult!  We have tried to be patient and now we see His timing had a purpose and we are glad our hearts have been made soft enough to recognize and find joy in it.

"There is in every true woman's heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity."
~Washington Irving

And this girl...is on fire.

Clue Game Birthday Party

My son, Matthew, rediscovered, and fell in love with, the game of Clue about a few months ago.  And since we didn't have the classic version he made his own twist when he had friends over. Life-sized Clue!

He would make is own lists of suspects, weapons, and rooms in our home and then give them to me to cross off items from both his and his friend's list confidentially so they could both solve the crime.  Then they would spend the next 30 minutes running around the house sleuthing to their hearts' content.  That's how it started.

He turned ten last month and we decided we could make his game even bigger and better for an unforgettable birthday party!

[caption id="attachment_1409" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Enjoying their 'dinner party' prior to the magic show.[/caption]

THE PLAYERS: He couldn't quite narrow down his guests list to match up with the Clue characters, number-wise, so he created new ones based on his friends' personalities and assigned them each a color.

We didn't have time to make an official paper invite, but Jen over at Rook No.17 has some great customize-able invites you can make for a Clue party.  In fact, many of our ideas for our party version of the game were inspired by her post, but modified to accommodate a large number of very loud excited boys!

Our invite ended up being an Event post through Facebook.  Hey, don't judge - that's what happens when your kid has a birthday RIGHT before the first day of school!

"Matthew the MARVELous invites you to his home to see the unveiling of his latest {and dare we say, GREATEST?!} trick yet!

Mystery dinner style. Have your son(s) try to dress to match their profile.

Guests are:
Kaden M. -  soccer player (light blue)
Henry M. - mustachioed butcher (white)
Jack B. - police officer (dark blue)
Nolan F. - movie star (red)
Israel P. - archaeologist (brown)
Ian P. - basketball player (purple)
Coby S. - millionaire (green)
Cal H. - comedian (yellow)
Chance S. - robot inventor/scientist (black)
Colin A. - professor (orange)
Matthew {birthday boy} - magician (tie dye)"

[caption id="attachment_1410" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Who doesn't like life-sized board games?[/caption]

GAME SET UP:  We used the entire first floor of our home as our game board.  Most of our lower level is covered with 18" tile.  For the few areas where our rooms were not connected by tile we used masking tape to create spaces and 'walls'.

We made player pieces by cutting squares out of construction paper that matched their assigned colors.  Their names were written on them and they were laminated with contact paper.  You can see one in the 'LIVING ROOM' and one on the table in the 'DINING ROOM' in the picture above.  We made the pieces so the boys could use them to mark their spot and still walk around when it wasn't their turn and be involved with what was going on in the game.

We did the same thing to create the suspect, weapon, and room cards but in a smaller version and backed with black paper.  After Matthew left for school that morning I had his older brother randomly choose the cards that would be the 'answers' so I could prepare the special reveal for them.  Instead of giving the remaining cards out to each of the players that night we placed them throughout the designated rooms, hidden in old books.

GAME PLAY:  After dinner Matthew did his magic show as pretense for our mystery.  His little sister was his lovely assistant.  His first trick was to hypnotize her and make her do the one trick she knew.  Sneaky way to not learn a magic trick, no?  Second, he did an impressive card trick.  Lastly, he made her disappear!

What's all that have to do with the game?  This is where the game really began.  Matthew had made her disappear, but he couldn't make her reappear!  Apparently when he had hypnotized her he had inadvertently also hypnotized an audience member to be magical.  The magic was so powerful that the unknown magician had made her REALLY disappear without even knowing they had done it!  Now we had a 'crime' and needed to narrow down our lists of suspects.

The boys received little flip notebooks with all the names of the suspects, rooms, and possible tools (ie. weapons in the original game) already listed.  They were divided into three teams.  Each member of each team was able to roll the dice and move their individual marker once per team turn.  Once they made their way into a room they were allowed to go to the book with the clues and notate whatever they found.  While they weren't moving (or rather, when the other teams were rolling and moving) the team convened to compare notes and clues they found.

WINNING THE GAME:  Each team wrote down their accusation on a separate piece of paper.  Surprisingly each one was different!

Time for cake to see who was right!  I made a reveal cake and had placed both candy and the answer cards inside the cake.

The candy didn't really pour out like I had wanted but the gaggle of 10 year old boys were thrilled nonetheless.  Next time I make this cake I think I'll forego frosting the center of the bottom layer, leaving it dry so the candy won't stick and smoosh.

While the boys were distracted by the cake Elizabeth 'magically' reappeared and the game was over.  The game and party were a hit!  Actually, maybe too much so.  My sweet Matthew had a pretty hard time coming to terms with being back to normal life once everyone left.  It was so fun, though, to see him really shine with his friends!

[caption id="attachment_1416" align="aligncenter" width="184"] What an excited goofball![/caption]

Back to School

[caption id="attachment_1406" align="aligncenter" width="560"] One (or more) in each tier now![/caption]

Everyone is back to school today!  And with all the different schedules, getting everyone out the door is a part time job in and of itself!  I'm up at five to get the high schooler out by six.  Chris leaves next just after 7, followed shortly by the elementary kids a half hour later.  The middle school starts at nine giving Sam plenty of time to do his daily chores before he heads out, leaving me all alone...in a clean house!

Banana Split Cupcakes

Don't these look YUMMY?!!  My son, Sam, and I made these as part of a fundraising effort in May for his National Youth Leadership Training fees.

It was just an idea we came up with and put together without Pinterest or Google and, boy, was that a good idea this time.  The reason being that afterwards I DID look up 'banana split cupcakes' and found lots of recipes using yellow cake mix and mashed bananas as the cake portion and chocolate for the filling.  That's all good but, we - blissfully naive - went in a different direction and they were delicious!!

Banana Split Cupcake , à la The Coles - chocolate cake, banana pudding filling, cream cheese icing sprinkled with cinnamon, sugar, chopped peanuts, and topped with a marachino cherry.

Make sure the cake is moist and the icing is thick (not like the canned store bought stuff, if you can avoid it.)

One thing we did use Pinterest for was a means to deliver the cupcakes to his customers.  We used a shirt gift box as shown at THIS PIN.

[caption id="attachment_1399" align="aligncenter" width="336"] Sam getting ready to deliver a dozen red velvet cupcakes to earn his way to NYLT.[/caption]

 

Cake March

The cakes I made way back in March:

This Lego cake was for an outdoor wedding that was super cute!  Everything was Lego themed, right down to the bride's shoes.  The bride was our first babysitter after we moved to AZ and her mom is one of my dearest friends.  I loved doing this this for them!

The blue brick is just styrofoam covered in icing and fondant - they didn't want too much cake or leftovers.  The other bricks are cake, I think I did chocolate and vanilla, also covered in icing and marshmallow fondant.  The circles are just extra thick fondant.  And, yes, I did make them to-scale so I ended up using the cap from a laundry soap bottle to get the right size circle.

[caption id="attachment_1364" align="aligncenter" width="560"] The topper was simply a Lego bride and groom secured with a little corn syrup.[/caption]

The following weekend we celebrated Elizabeth's 7th birthday at the pool with this fun cake.

This cake was so fun and super easy!  I baked the cake in my glass bowls and then stacked and cut them to shape the main part of the castle.  The moat was cut from a small sheet cake.

The towers were made from paper towel tubes covered in icing and then rolled in the "sand" and their roofs are ice cream cones that I did the same thing to.  I cut half circles from the sides of the cake so the towers would fit right up against it.  Then I iced the rest of the cake and added the "sand".  The shells and sea stars are made from molded white chocolate.

Sand Castle "Sand" Recipe

• 1 box Nilla wafers


• 1 pack cinnamon graham crackers


• 1-2 Tbsp brown sugar

Blend everything together in a food processor.  Add more graham crackers if mixture is too sticky.

[caption id="attachment_1366" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Mermaids need water! Or at least a little pool of gelatin to dip their fins in.[/caption]

To create the moat/mermaid pool I used the jiggly recipe from some blue gelatin.  The recipe called for a lot more than I needed, though, so if you do it cut the recipe in half or more.  I iced the entire inside of the pool so the gelatin wouldn't soak into the cake.

We also served fish crackers and Swedish fish.  The girls loved it!

This cake was so fun because I didn't have to be precise, especially compared to doing the Lego cake!  The messier, the better with this cake.

All's Fair in Love and War

I am in a war.  A war against germs and their allies: lazy kids.

Generally my kids are pretty good about doing their chores.  Especially since we started using myjobchart.com.  But this week they have all gotten a little apathetic about their duties.  Last night when I implored for the dishes to be done I heard a chorus of, "It's not fair!  [So and so] didn't do them on his/her day!"

Apparently it's 'fair' for me to look at them all day while I'm home and to have to cook around them, though.  Hmmm, guess I'll consider this battle lost.

So in an effort to be completely and totally FAIR this is what they get to do after school today:

And because I LOVE them all so much and would hate to be accused of spoiling them or making it 'unfair' by letting one fill the dishwasher and leaving no room for the others:

I mean, afterall - I never had a dishwasher growing up.  So that seems fair, don't ya think?

Victory.

Hey Girl, Let's Listen to a Prophet

What a great weekend we've had listening to General Conference!

Usually we buy tons of candy and print a few packets and Conference Bingo cards to engage the kids' attention throughout the 8-10 hours of talks, hymns, and prayers.  Usually by the Sunday afternoon session I'm ready to pull my hair out with cabin fever and sugared up, fighting children.

This year we left out the candy.  It's not something we did on purpose, we just didn't think of it.  We also forewent the pajamas for ALL the sessions.  Again, not on purpose.  We had a building cleaning assignment Saturday morning and we (I) decided that we would go to the Stake Center to watch the Sunday morning session.

The kids found their own activities, got along, and LISTENED - even without candy.  Actually, even better without candy!  Shocker, I know.  And Elizabeth still was able to play Conference Bingo...with pennies.

The family all say that they could go without having to dress up for the Sunday morning session but I think it made a difference.   At least it did for me, and I'm glad they are willing to support me even if it's inconvenient to them.  I needed the break from sitting in the same room.  I liked getting dressed and keeping a good portion of our Sabbath routine.  I liked standing with the other members who went to sing the hymns.  I liked coming home to a yummy smelling slow cooker meal.  In short, it was refreshing and comforting to me.  I hope we continue to do it every Conference.

During the Sunday afternoon session I was overwhelmed by how sweet my family looked as they made cookies, drew, folded origami (that seems redundant), and placed pennies.  All while listening to living prophets.  I jumped up and took a few snapshots.  Sam got a few 'lovely' ones of me and my post-naptime hair.  Then while going through them, seeing this one of Chris, I just couldn't resist making this:

I hope your weekend was just as wonderful!

Happy Valentine's Day

Here's this year's version of the photo Valentine!  Click HERE to see last year's lollipop cards.

[caption id="attachment_1322" align="aligncenter" width="560"] from Matthew and Elizabeth![/caption]

Elizabeth was so excited to have a special hair-do as well.  Thanks, Pinterest!

[caption id="attachment_1321" align="aligncenter" width="417"] Little girl hair love <3[/caption]

Words of Wisemen

Happy Three Kings Day!  The children found their gifts under the tree this morning, each with a scripture and note.



For GOLD they received Rolos and tokens for our new video game timer.  Their note reminded them that gold is a gift meant for royalty and that they are children of a King.  They were instructed to use their time wisely as it is it more precious than gold.

For FRANKINCENSE each of their notes reminded them that Christ came as a prophet, priest, and savior and that they should look to Him.  Elizabeth received a butterfly finger puppet with a reminder that we all require change.  Matthew, a snake finger puppet, with a reference to Moses' brazen serpent representing Christ.  The older two boys were given book lights with cards naming Christ as the Light of the World.

For MYRRH they each were given a personalized t-shirt with designs created with bleach.  The note read, "Even more effectively than bleach removes dye, Christ's atonement can remove our sins."

 

Happy 2013

[caption id="attachment_1250" align="aligncenter" width="429"] Brandon after the New Year's Eve dance[/caption]

I'm so excited for this year!  Just some of the things 2013 has in store for me:

• my 4th marathon (on my 35th birthday!)


• possibly my 5th marathon


• if so, a possible world record


• more art!


• more projects!

I have so many ideas and things to share with you this year, I hope you are ready!

Fifteen (Not-So-Long) Years and Five Shorts Later

This month Chris and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary.  He took me on a local weekend getaway and I LOVED it!  We ate lots of delicious food that was no good for us, went ice skating, and strolled an art fair.  All some of my very favorite things, two of which I hadn't done in a very long time!

Unfortunately I have no pictures from our weekend.  Why?  Because each time I thought I should take a picture to share I became very selfish and decided that I did not want to share Chris or our special time together.  I just wanted to enjoy the rare extended time with him all to myself.

I do, however, have this text he sent me the morning of the day we left.  He had not packed and I was to pick him up at work so it was my privilege to pick out what I'd be looking at all weekend.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="398"] Sorry, Chris! I really am NOT making fun of you![/caption]

"Weird," says the confused reader right about now.  "Why would she take a picture of THIS and not any of the fun stuff?!"

This is why.



And this.



Dark blue polo shirt and tan shorts?  Umm, ok.  Which ones?!

I just found this so funny.  Funny enough to take the pictures. So funny because it's so 'Chris'.  I'm aware it is probably incredibly boring for you.  Sorry.  But to me it speaks volumes about my husband. His funny quirks, yes, but also his steadiness and predictability whenever I need it.

Sometimes it just amazes me that we made it this far.  Fifteen years, four children, three states, two houses, and one brother-in-law later (oh, did I mention my brother moved in with us about the same time...helloooooo babysitter!) and this man still is the center of my world!

I still can't believe he picked me! Clearly, the man knows what he likes - at least when it comes to his wardrobe.  Some might say we're in a rut.  Maybe.  And I'm ok with that as long as we're still progressing in our little rut and not standing still.  But I might avoid taking him to Wal-Mart for a while...until we purge the closet anyways!

*Special thanks to my brother, Jason, for staying with the kids so we could celebrate worry-free and apologies to my husband for any embarrassment this caused him.

**UPDATE: So I guess I need to clarify.  I am not saying my husband has bad taste or that he dresses the same way all the time  or that he wears these clothes together all the time.  I just thought it was funny that over the years he had purchased virtually the same shirt at least 6 times and the same shorts 5 times.  I hadn't even noticed until he asked me to pack them.  The man knows what he likes!  It was meant to be nice.  Guess he did't feel that way when he read it and I'm sorry if anyone else also thought I was being mean or making fun :(

My Workshop

This is the week I take over the world!  Ok, maybe it just feels that way after reclaiming my time from the very many demands of October's birthdays, holidays, vacations, deadlines, etc.  The first order of business?  The workshop.

The workshop/studio portion had slowly been overtaken by the garage portion over the past few months.  When I needed to create something I'd have to step over things and, worst of all, I couldn't find what I wanted easily.

So as soon as my Mommy chores were attended to on Monday I went to work.  My younger brother, Jason, is staying with us and he helped me make some major progress quickly.  Which is good because even with help I was exhausted and barely walking by the time we finished.

[caption id="attachment_1171" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Where the magic happens![/caption]

Now I'm all set to complete the gardenia project (seen above) I started in February!!  I can't wait!

Thanks to my baby bro for the manual labor!  For all his effort he gets the original of Big Boy Boots



 

Back to Back to School

So here we are, already into the second quarter, and I'm just now posting these.  Hopefully the kids are more prompt at turning in their homework!

The elementary crew, 6 August 2012

My middle school bunch, 6 August 2012

May the Fourth Be With You

This is what the kids are giving Chris for his birthday today, printed and framed for his desk at work!

Sam's Ordination

Sam turned twelve Tuesday which means Chris was able to ordain him to the Aaronic Priesthood, the office of Deacon, today at church. 

Chris and I were in Florida on his birthday so his party will be later this week.  Grammie Keysar stayed with the kids and was able to stay for the ordination, too!  She was baptized on Sam's birthday in 2004.

We love you and are so proud of you, Samma-lamma-ding-dong!!

Thirty Four

Chris and the kids came up with the best cake design ever for my birthday yesterday (even if I couldn't eat it because it had yucky whipped frosting)!  Jeffrey Dallas, baby!  No, it didn't come with any hot Kool-Aid or a plate of Akbar and the birthday song is not stuck inside my head . . . Oh, well.  At least Jeffrey here didn't move for the red-eye flash.  Other than that we really didn't do anything.  Chris can make up for it when we go to Florida in April, all expenses paid by his work (he was a top customer service score-er last year!) and stay in a nice hotel.



Happy Valentine's Day

Matthew and Elizabeth's class Valentine's cards this year (idea via Pinterest, of course).  The older boys are in middle school and just took some candy for their friends.  And now they all are getting ready to eat red, heart-shaped pancakes for dinner while I get ready to stand in line at a local eatery for a few hours for a hot date.

Happy Luuuuuuuv Day!

More Cakes!

Here are the other cakes I've made this year.  I had a lot of fun discovering another creative outlet and I am excited to keep up with our new tradition.

PIONEER DAY 2011

Bonnet cake I made for the stake's Pioneer Day celebration. They did a Beehive House theme, hence the honey bee. It was vanilla cake with wedding icing and marshmallow fondant.  The bee is made of mm fondant with gelatin wings.

MATTHEW'S 8th BIRTHDAY

Matthew's requested Super Smash Bros cake. Chocolate cake with chocolate icing covered in marshmallow fondant. Fondant characters, pirouette cookie and graham cracker pagoda, and rice cake tower.

BRANDON'S 13th BIRTHDAY

Brandon asked for a Zelda Tri-Force cake and even designed it himself.  Chocolate cake with buttercream frosting and mm fondant.

Matthew: The Rock Star!

What a great week we've had at the Coles' home this week!  After the good news on Tuesday about the art competition Matthew and I went to the Cub Scout's mother/son etiquette dinner.  They did this last year with Sam and I love that they were doing it again.  Not only did they learn proper dining etiquette, but waltzing, too!

Matthew was such a great date!

Ugh.  Not the most flattering photo, but it's the only one that didn't turn out like this:

Notice he didn't even need to watch his feet!

And then today was the school spelling bee, of which I was only informed he would be in yesterday.  I gave him a bit of a hard time about the short notice and told him I wasn't sure I could make it.  I'm so glad I did because...

HE WON!!!

 Matthew being rushed by all the students after the bee was over.  I'm one proud momma!!

The bee was for grades 3-5.  Matthew is a 'young' (birthday in August) third grader and he beat everyone else in the whole school!  He'll go on to compete in the district sometime next month.  I had just enough time to run to the store and grab a "You Rock" balloon and some candy before school got out.  I took it to the school and everyone was cheering at him and chanting, "This boy rocks!"

His classmates then nominated him to be the Coyote of the Day.  It's so nice to see him shine on all his own without his older brothers overpowering him or his little sister stealing the attention.  Matthew,

Y O U    R O C K!

Back to School

This is Elizabeth's first year of school, Sam's first year of middle school, and my first year alone!  And....

....they're off!