Update

Dad's surgery was a success! They completely removed the cancerous prostate, and so the cancer is gone. Just like that! As it turned out the prostate was very enlarged so the Dr. said he would have probably had to have some sort of procedure on it in the future anyway. So I guess they killed two birds with one stone, so to speak. His recovery has not been pleasant. His abdomen is stapled in about six different places, and he's had to have a catheter in since the surgery. Not fun. He was so uncomfortable after coming home that we didn't even get to see him for five days. He just didn't feel up to seeing people (and having noisy kids around, I'm sure). 

I'm so thankful that he's ok! I really appreciate the prayers of friends and family on his behalf. Thank you again! I hope to post about more pleasant things than my dad's prostate soon ;) I hope everyone has been enjoying the Christmas season so far.

A Request...

Last month my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer and is having surgery on Wednesday. Dad has been very good about having his checkups, so he is lucky and it was caught early. We have a close friend in our ward who has struggled for years and has almost lost his life more than once because of a botched routine gallbladder removal. I feel a little nervous now about any surgery. So, I was hoping to add more prayers to the prayers of my family. If you could, keep him in your prayers over the next few days. Thank You!

Thanksgiving

We kicked off our Thanksgiving festivities by making a Thanksgiving tree for FHE. Mila enjoyed putting the leaves on the tree. Emmitt, of course, enjoyed trying to take them off :)

My oldest sister came from Las Vegas for the week with her family. While they were here we took a trip to the Boonshoft Discovery Museum with all ten of the grandkids. It was a crazy couple of hours, but all the kids had a lot of fun. We went almost a year ago, but Emmitt was too small to do anything. It was so fun to watch him!

Doing some grocery shopping.



All of the grandkids looking for birds outside the treehouse.

Playing in the pizza parlor.

He obviously didn't know it was a microphone and not a snack.

Emmitt loved the dig pit. It was quite difficult getting him to leave!

The water table was a lot of fun for him, too. I think he couldn't believe that he could actually play in all this water without being scolded.

We had a wonderful feast with the family as usual. Sam had a few days off so it was beautiful to get some extra time together. I did some shopping on black Friday and got some really good deals. I also went to see Breaking Dawn with a friend. Not the next great American film, but entertaining enough. I read the books when I was pregnant with Mila. I was SUPER sick with her so they gave me something to do while I stayed still on the couch trying not to puke. Memories :)

I love Thanksgiving because it gives us an extra reminder of all the wonderful things we are blessed with. I wish I kept a more grateful attitude the whole year long. Something to work on, I guess.

Happy Thanksgiving!   

My Little Spooks

I LOVE HALLOWEEN! I'm not sure why I like it so much. In reality it doesn't have a whole lot of meaning to me except for seeing tons of cute kids in awesome costumes and using my kids to score free candy from strangers ;) Well, it is so fun to decorate for it and plan costumes. I think I started loving Halloween because when I was growing up Dad would leave to go to the Priesthood session of General Conference and Mom and me and my sisters would decorate for Halloween. Then when Dad came home he would see our spookified house. I just always thought that was so much fun. That was a good tradition.

Anyways, for better or worse, it seems like making holidays special is kind of the mother's domain. Now that I'm the mom, I get to do it. I love it! It's definitely in my top 5 favorites of being "Mom." It was pretty fun this year because Mila remembered Halloween from last year and so she was excited about it. Also, she picked out what she wanted to be. She started telling me like 2 months ago that she wanted to be a pink butterfly and she never changed her mind. I bought Emmitt's garden gnome costume last year after Halloween. Here they are...

 My little pink butterfly all ready to go.

 She was ecstactic about the jewels I put on her face. She talked about how we were going to put them on all day.

 I actually made her little skirt. I know there's the no-sew method, but I thought it would look better this way. I thought it turned out quite cute. She was thrilled with it so that's all that matters :)

 We only got the beard on him for about 20 seconds. It's not even totally on. He HATED it from the moment he saw it. He definitely doesn't look happy about it.

 Of course he slept through some of it. I was just glad that he was content enough to ride in the stroller the whole time. We definitely did not need E on the loose.

It was near to impossible to get a good picture of him. He was running through the house while I took these. I attempted the beard again. Wasn't happening.

They are so cute!

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween! 

How Do You Like Them Apples?

Another awesome thing about fall is that apples are crazy tasty and cheap. One of the grocery stores here has been having apples for 49 cents a pound. We've been buying a lot of apples. I was there the other day and they were 24 cents a pound! My bargain-loving heart was going wild! Anyway, I really wanted to make some apple butter while I could get the apples cheap. I ended up doing a shorter, easier method and just did it in the slow cooker. Incidentally, while trying to find a recipe to use, I found out that in Enon, a town right next to Springfield, they have an apple butter festival every year at the beginning of October. I just missed it! Next year, perhaps.

 I started by peeling, coring, and slicing about 9-10 lbs of apples. I used a bunch of different kinds of apples: Jonathan, Ida Red, McIntosh, Gala, Golden Delicious, Fuji, Jonagold, Cortland, and Rome. I think using different kinds made it really flavorful. I added about 1 1/2 cups white sugar, about 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, a couple teaspoons cinnamon, a couple teaspoons ground cloves, a bit of ginger, a few splashes of vanilla, and some pumpkin pie spice because I wanted some nutmeg flavor but didn't have any. My measurements were not at all precise because I didn't have any measuring utensils so I was using a plastic cup and a plastic spoon to measure things out. I let it cook on high for 2 hrs then let it cook on low all night and a good part of the next day. I ended up with this...

 My non-precise measuring left me with too-sweet apple butter that tasted more like sugar, cinnamon, and cloves than apples. So I peeled, cored, and sliced probably another 5 lbs of apples cooked them in a pan on the stove to break them down quickly and then added them to what I already had. The result...

 Perfection!

Hopefully, if you give this a try, the cooker part of your crock pot won't end up looking like mine. This is after I tried to clean it, too.

Totally worth it.

Two posts in a week? I'm surprised the universe didn't explode.

I'm Fallin' for Fall

Has it really been almost 2 months since I last blogged? Time flies. I'm so happy it's fall! I love this time of year. I was so sad when fall first came because it had been super hot and then suddenly it was SO cold. I thought Mother Nature was going to skip out on the crisp air and sunny days that I enjoy so much about fall and go straight to winter. Things have warmed up again and aside from some rainy days, we've been having a beautiful fall. I like some winter, but since I've had kids I feel like it lasts too long. I get so tired of having to bundle everyone up to go anywhere and it takes so much more effort to go out and play. I am pretty lazy though.

 This tree is outside our bedroom window. I've been staring at it in the mornings before I get out of bed and admiring its beauty as the leaves have been changing over the last few weeks.

Happy Fall! I love it! 

The Crazy Kiddos

It's always fun (and frustrating too) to see what the kids think up. I'm so glad I get to stay home with them. I would hate to miss all of this! 

Well, maybe not this...

Poor Mila. We were at my mom's and Mila was playing with the cousins in the basement. She said she fell and hit her mouth on a chair. Luckily, my sister saw her first and cleaned her up. She said there was a ton of blood. I'm not sure I would have handled it too well. I think I would have freaked out. Her front teeth were uneven like this for a few days, but they have pretty much gone back to normal. 

Emmitt decided that dumping the cereal on the floor would help him find the marshmallows easier. Annoying but funny.

Our cabinets hadn't been put up in the kitchen yet. The kids had so much fun playing in them! They would play with them like they were little houses. They would knock on the door to each others houses and go visit. Really cute!

Enjoying a snack in the corner cabinet.

And Emmitt is a total climber now. I'm not too happy about it.

Caylee, Mila, and Conlon got into Grandma's makeup...again. This time Mila also put lotion in her hair.

Playing naptime.

Searching for stars...in the middle of the day.

The Mila and Emmitt Club. No mommy allowed.

Watching Dad work.

Worn out. Getting into mischief is tiring.

How do they sleep like this?

Foreign Visitors

Ok. Not really. Sam's brother, Jared, and his wife, Rachel, and their kids came to visit. They moved to Montreal (you know, in Canada) in December for Jared's job. We have been so busy with visitors since Kelly and Andrew were here for a week and left last Tuesday night, and then Jared and Rachel came Wednesday night and left Sunday morning. It was so good to see each other, and the kids had so much fun together. Mila keeps saying, "Mom, do you remember Logan? Mom, do you remember Giselle? Mom, where's Rachel? Mom, where's Daddy Logan (aka Jared. Ha Ha!)?" Warning: lot's of pictures!

 

 

Of course, we went to Young's Jersey Dairy

 Emmitt loved sharing Cow Patty ice cream with me.

The kids barely ate a few bites of ice cream, and they were off to feed the goats.

Mila looks like a homeless child in this picture. Messy face and wild hair. People must see her and wonder if we own a brush or if she has parents that care about her. Just for the record, I did comb and put gel in her hair. This is what happens to her crazy hair in Ohio humidity no matter what I do!

All Emmitt cared about was running up and down this ramp in the barn.

I barely got this shot and Emmitt dove right off the cow. Luckily, Sam was there to catch him.

There he goes. Probably looking for the ramp.

Playing on the tractor. Love that little, goofy smile!

Mila spent lots of time here. What's more fun than a bank of hand sanitizer dispensers? I didn't mind her fascination though cause feeding the goats totally grosses me out!

The Cinderella Park

Mila, Ellie (a girl in our ward that was at the park, too), and Giselle on the pumpkin carriage.

Mila and Emmitt sharing a swing. So cute!

Feeding the ducks. These things are so crazy! They have no fear and get right up into your personal space.

Mila loved having a little friend to play "Darbies" and ponies with.

The Columbus Zoo

I hadn't been to this zoo since 7th grade, I think, and it was awesome! I did not remember it being so nice. Can't wait to go back since we didn't get see everything we wanted to.

Here were some of our favorites...

Black Rhino. Sam wanted to see this one the most, and he was sitting so he could barely be seen.

The tigers.

Lions. This guy was literally 3 feet away. It looks like he's looking right at my camera. Or maybe he thought I just looked like a tasty treat...

These three are pretty close to little animals :)

Flamingoes. Mila loves flamingoes and was pretty excited about these.

Alligators. This guy was laying right by the glass. He did not even look real! Look how funny his little hand is!

  Koala Bear. I wish that I had a better picture because this little guy was so cute! He was all squished between the branches of this tree sleeping.

We had a blast with Jared, Rachel, Logan, and Giselle! Can't wait to see them again!