Ta Da!

I finally finished my "wall of Love". Just kidding, but I am lovin' it! It looks much better in person, so anyone who is dying to check it out is welcome to come visit me. Please do, I'm terribly lonely and would love some visitors.

There seems to be...

a re-occurring "catch-up" theme with most of my posts the last few months. I wish I could say I was busy doing important things, but...not so much.

I downloaded some pictures today and realized I had not posted about a few events.

First, Thanksgiving...

We had a delightful Thanksgiving with Jared's parents and my sister Ann & Travis. The food and company were superb. We had a great time playing games and chatting. It was fun for all. The best part for me though was that the Monday prior we made the decision to take Luke off the Ketogenic Diet he's been on (more on that later) and so here is my favorite picture of the evening...Luke having a roll. It was the first bread he's had in 5 months!!! Jared and I weren't paying attention and he helped himself to 3 more rolls after that one. It didn't seem to make him feel sick though, so I'm glad he enjoyed himself. He deserves it!
This is a picture from Shoeshone Falls on our way back from our weekend Utah trip in November. It was beautiful.

My dad and the boys had a good time in the hot tub at my parents. When grandpa goes hot-tubbing there are usually snow angels involved. If you haven't tried it, the snow angels don't sting as much as the feeling of needles in your back when you get back into the hot tub.

On Monday we surprised the kids for Family Home Evening with a trip to a local Pottery shop (like Color Me Mine). We had a great time. Everyone painted but me...I was going to make myself a butter dish because I don't have one, but then decided I wanted Seth to paint it instead. So he did and it is beautiful. I'll post pictures as soon as I pick up our stuff next week.

So for those who are interested...back to Luke.

As we weighed the small improvement we saw with the diet against the toil it was taking on us all we decided it wasn't a good fit for us. In doing the diet we were all eating a lot more meat and as a consequence Rachel's blood sugars started going up, not to mention me getting close to a small breakdown every time Luke asked for something to eat. It was a hard decision to make. I did not want to be giving up. If we felt like it was the answer for Luke we would have kept going, but we felt like it was time to call it quite. When he started they asked us to give it 3 months we went for 5, so we felt good about our efforts. Luke was so happy when the dietitian told him he could have potatoes and some pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.

So where are we at?? We have put him back on the 3rd medication he had taken...back in Houston. It seemed to be the one that worked the best as far as seizure control, but at the time his quality of life was terrible. He has to be on something and since the other drugs didn't work, and or, made his hair fall out and he ended up a patient in the Hematology Unit at the hospital...we decided that we'd try this one again and hope that now that he's a little bigger he might tolerate it better. So far so good. We are still seeing LOTS of seizures, but other than being more tired than usual and having a sore throat he seems to be doing well. We will continue to increase his dose and hope to see a change.

The doctors here want us to go see a Pediatric Epileptologist in Portland to see if they have any other ideas on what to do. We will do that after the holidays.

Other than that all is well...well, except that Rachel fractured both her Radius an Ulna in her left arm a week ago. She was kicking a soccer ball at recess and a boy decided to try to steal it from her and knocked her over and that was that. It is another re-occurring theme around here. We're just glad it's her left arm and she will still be able to play in her first orchestra concert tomorrow night.

It's another boy and...

ANOTHER boy! Yep, Annie and Travis are having 2 little wrestlers...apparently they already have each other in holds in the womb. Boy next July when we are in Sun Valley it will sure be fun with all these babies!!

It's a boy!!

My sister Karen had her first baby last night at 10:45, I believe. She was scheduled for this morning, but he just couldn't wait!! We are so excited to have little Samuel in our family and excited that tomorrow we find out what my sister Ann's twins will be!! What a great week!

15 and counting...

Jared and I celebrated our 15th anniversary on Saturday! Wow! On Friday morning I was surprised to find some beautiful roses and a note telling me to pack an overnight bag...my sister Annie and Travis were going to hold down the fort while we got away!

This was such a treat as it is not something we get to do (ever) with our medical "issues" we have around here. So we went to a very nice restaurant on the Boise River for dinner, then to see the new 007 movie, then spent the night in a hotel downtown. On Saturday morning we slept in...watched an episode of Law & Order...went to a delicious breakfast restaurant in Boise & to the Boise market and got some cute pottery. At breakfast we made some gift lists for the kids and decided we'd better get another movie in, so we went to Eagle Eye--loved it. Then a quick trip to Costco and it was time to head home. It was a much needed break. Thanks Annie & Travis!

I have to share part of my anniversary letter from Jared. He made a list of some of the things he loves about me in true Jared form. Here are a few:

• Four beautiful kids...no anesthesia to bring them into the world and heavy medication to keep them in it...
• Can be the most persistent person in the world when it comes to breaking high scores...
• Seen every sordid minute of every CSI episode regardless of location so that if called upon, she could bring down any criminal mastermind...or at the very least provide directions for folks lost in bad areas of Las Vegas or Miami.
• Her willingness to roll up her sleeves to rid the world of acne one zit at a time...
• Can sacrifice sleep to stay up to watch half a season of '24' or 'Alias' in one night...
• Some people collect stamps, others coins...she collects all 15 McDonald's Tarzan figurines (little people & star wars minis also applicable)
• A late night call from her in the midst of her standing up to a famous Hollywood producer and an entire production crew...refusing to let my son's movie debut come at the expense of our values...

He can always make me smile! I'm so grateful he's been able to tolerate me this long!

The "High Point Scorer" and Seth's Rihanna obsession...

Last night the boys were getting into my tub. I walked into my bathroom as Luke was coming out of the commode and he exclaimed, "Yes! I'm the high point scorer!" When I asked him exactly what that meant he explained..."I stood back farther than I ever have before!" So this explains why I have to clean my bathrooms almost every day! Boys.

Seth loves the Rihanna song "Don't Stop the Music". I'm still not certain where it is he heard it, because I don't think we even have it on the iPod, but anyway...

He sings the chorus ALL the time, and now adapts it to what ever he wants to say like this morning he sang to me...

"I want some cho-oclate milk. I-I wa-a-ant some choclate mi-ilk..."

I'm not sure how to address this problem. I guess I should let it go...except for when he is singing in church asking when the bread will be coming...

Every party has a pooper...

We have had the most beautiful fall here. The trees have been just breathtaking. I love it! I was noticing this morning that the tree in our front yard was the same color as my cute red bottle I have on the window sill in my laundry room. It looks much prettier in person, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Halloween was eventful! The kids did not have school, so we just played all morning and then in the afternoon headed to do some trick-or-treating at HP...ran downtown to the hospital for a Halloween Party (no food involved) for the 13 kids in Boise who are on the Ketogenic Diet. The kids had a good time and we came home with more Chinese finger traps than you could possibly ever need and several coolers courtesy of the Epilepsy Foundation. Also, they gave us some bracelets with the EF motto "Not another moment lost" which made me cry, so we won't talk about that...

After the Par-tay...we rushed over to see Grandma & Grandpa Hansen and show them the kids costumes. Fun times. Then back home for some pizza and trick-or treating preparations.

Does it seem strange to anyone else that we have this "custom" where we buy up bags of little candy, parade our kids door to door to get candy from strangers homes and give our candy away to rude teenagers who are probably also going to steal my cute pumpkins? In my opinion it seems to have gotten a little out of hand. I'm just sayin'.

Rachel in a 50's car hop getup with her friend Shydon...

Jonah opted to go for the least complicated ghost. Whatever.

All in all we had a great day. I've been asked a million times what we do in a home with Rachel and Luke's situations...Since Rachel was big enough to understand Halloween, we have always let the kids pick out some of their favorites and then bought the rest of the kids candy from them after they went trick-or-treating. This year Jonah and Seth didn't want anything to do with the cash. They are in it for the chocolate. Rachel got rid of most of hers and for Luke there was no keeping option this year (although I did get him some treats he could have) so he turned in all of his candy for a Star Wars ship he's had his eye on for some time. Everyone is happy. So maybe this is where my tendency to be a Halloween scrooge stems from...I'll look into some therapy for next year.

100,000 miles baby!

Both of our cars hit 100,000 this month! Mine today. Here's to another 100,000!

My "baby"...

I was always irritated when other moms would tell me to "enjoy every minute" because they "grow up so fast"...but now I'm there and wondering where the time has gone.

Since we moved here I haven't been on top of "well" checks. We are at the endocrinologist and neurologist so much I forget about the pediatrician, especially now that we only need to go every other year. Anyway...Seth went yesterday for a check-up. I was shocked to find out that my child that can't even keep up a pair of pants which should be 2 sizes too small was 74% for weight! He was 90% for height which is no surprise.

Since Seth is 4 1/2 we were able to get all of his Kindergarten shots taken care of so we don't have to go back in the Spring. He was a trooper. Didn't even cry, just yelled at the nurse "That hurts!" We also got the flu vaccine taken care of...I chose the mist for him so he had one less poke. Now I need to get the other kids in for theirs.

Anyway, I am wondering where the time has gone. But I am enjoying (most of) my minutes now!

Look at this good-lookin' kid!

Jonah got his braces off today!!

Before...

After...

Seth has all his ducks in a row...

Literally. He loves his ducks. My new favorite is the one I brought back from NY.

Seth is getting to be such a good reader. He read me "Go Dog Go" last night with very little help. He has also been quite interrested with the solar system as of late and memorized all of the planets in order. The other day he said, "Mom, I can tell you the planets backwards..." and proceeded to name them from Pluto to Mercury. I haven't broken the news to him that Pluto is no longer considered a planet. No need to rush disappointment.

And lastly...some pictures of my "Ode to Texas" playroom. Don't mind the spackle on the walls...Jared filled in some little holes the other day, but we haven't gotten around to painting yet.

This is all the kids "Rodeo Art" & other projects from their school in Houston. I sure miss these!

Pictures in the bluebonnets and some from the Ranch this summer. I still need to put up one of JUST Rachel. There was a protest that she did not have her own solo shot!

And a few knick knacks and my bandana valences from the boys room in Texas recycled. The tall bushy stuff in the right hand corner is what I covertly aquired in the neighborhood.

Yee Haw!

How could I forget...

to post one of my favorite pictures from the trip? A highlight for me was going to the art museum and seeing all the Picasso. I LOVE it! I am a HUGE Picasso fan, so I was so excited to see a sculpture I'd never seen before "Pregnant Woman" and who better to pose by it than my 2 pregnant sisters! ;)

Some things never change...

Have I ever mentioned that I ran for President of my school when I was in 6th grade? Well, I did and my campaign manager (my Dad) wrote me a fantastic speech listing all of my qualifications for such a position, and then my opponent--Matt Schneider--got up and told the student body he was going to put soda in the drinking fountains...and guess who won? Not me.

My sweet Rachel decided to run for 6th grade V.P.--and today was the speech and voting. She too had a marvelous speech, and she too was beat out by some kid who promised to lower the price of Jamba Juice in the cafeteria. That dog! (P.S. since when does the Middle School have a Jamba Juice?)

So, Rachel came home a bit deflated but excited about the prospect of getting her name out there and knowing 7th grade elections will be in the Spring. And I am feeling sad again about losing to Matt Schneider. I think I'll go look him up on facebook and tell him what I think of his lies.

NYC...

After years and years of talking about it we finally went on a girls trip! Just my Mom, my sisters and Me! So much fun. Here are the highlights...

• A walk through Central Park
• The Manhattan LDS temple
• "A Tale of Two Cities"--LOVED it!
• Maternity shopping for my 2 pregnant sisters!! (First for both--Annie's havin' twins!)
• Grand Central Station & the Whispering Wall
• Interresting people
• Train ride to Greenwich, CT (now only 5 more states to go for me!)
• Ground Zero
• Wall Street
• Staten Island Ferry
• Carnegy Deli
• Rockafeller Center
• NYU
• A John Lithgow sighting

So much fun! Can't wait 'til next time!

Luke's Columbus Day Poem...

In 1492 Columbis salid (sailed) the osin (ocean) blue
He fond (found) the Indees, Yes that's true
He fond (found) Ameraca that was new.

Technology

I often think of how lucky I am to be in the generation which bridges "the good ol' days" and the fast paced techno world we now live in. I have many memories of watching Sesame Street on our little 10 inch screen t.v. and then as a teenager that after about 11 p.m. there was nothing but static to be found. I remember our big stereo box/t.v. thingie which also included an 8 track player and dancing in the living room to my Cinderella and Snow White records. I remember checking out filmstrips from the library and watching our 8mm home movies on a screen we had in our basement. I remember when we got our first VCR. We were the first of any of my friends, and had to drive quite a distance to get any movies--which wasn't much of a selection--and we usually ended up with "The Coal Miners Daughter".

So now we are in 2008. My kids know nothing of these things, nor will they. And when I try to enlighten them it is obvious that they, quite frankly, don't care.

We are big fans of the red box around here. Nothing better than a movie for $1 that you can return to any location! (That eliminates the $40 fees for returning a movie to the wrong location...or even the wrong chain for that matter!)

I feel strongly though that someone needs to post a sign with proper Red Box etiquette near each machine or maybe a "Red Box 101" course that is mandatory before using any machine. I was trying to get the newest "Wow Wow Wubbzy" for Seth on Friday and the people in front of me clearly were instantly sent forward in time 25 years and were having difficulty figuring the Red Box out.

They obviously were looking for a movie for adults, but were not aware of the "genre" feature and scrolled through each movie 65 times until they found one that was agreeable to them both. Then they seemed to not understand the VERY CLEAR picture which shows you which way to slide your credit card in the machine and after 37 swipes realized that maybe they needed to turn it the other direction.

So we got Wubbzy and we got our dollar's worth. Then came time for me to return Wubbzy. I waited again for all too long and then it was my turn. I smugly pushed the "Return DVD" button and put my DVD in the machine. I always wait because I wouldn't want it to be spit out and have some dishonest person be the recipient of a free copy of Wubbzy. Sure enough the darn machine spit it out. Once again I pressed the button and put in my movie. Again it came out. Third times a charm right? Nope, out it came again, and then a soft voice from a small child behind me said, "Um, I think you're putting it in the wrong direction." And sure enough I had over looked the rather large arrow with printing underneath that said "INSERT THIS WAY".

And I was sufficiently humbled.

"Wildcats everywhere, wave your hands up in the air..."

I don't know how I could've forgotten to post such an important event in my children's lives...our trip to THE 'EAST HIGH SCHOOL'! And to make it that much better it is their Grandma Ellison's Alma Mater!! We have roots!

A few things I've neglected to mention...

I was just downloading some pictures and realized I'd taken many with the intent to post and then...nothin'.

So I will share with you a few thoughts that have been running through my head.

One of the things I really like about our house here in ID is my nice big bathtub...however...I have yet to actually use it (don't worry I do shower each day.) But I thought that for my friends who don't have multiple boys, you might like to see what 3 of them can do to a tub. GROSS!

I finally came up with a plan on how to help myself be less forgetful...I was inspired by my friend Molly to create my own calendar. So each week I put what we have going on for that week and it is right by the door to the garage, so I can't miss it. So far, so good!

Seth is loving soccer and we are loving how worn out he is on game days! Good thing we haven't moved him out of his toddler bed yet!

I love our neighborhood here in ID. A month ago the new high school (which is literally in our back yard) had their first football game and so had a sky diver bring in the game ball. Way fun to watch!

For those who aren't sure why we are feeding Luke "bacon grease" (I'm still laughing about that Shauna!) I thought I'd show you our goal...Let me introduce you to my friend the keto stick. For Rachel our goal is NEGATIVE...anything above and we kick into "flush those keytones out" mode. For Luke we are looking for the exact opposite. We WANT him in keytosis. The difference is that his body produces insulin, so going into keytosis won't kill him...Rachel it can.

So far the highest we have been able to get him is up to 80--the second to darkest. He fluctuates a bit...but after a few times dipping down to trace and having a total breakdown I have learned that it isn't the end of the world and doesn't totally ruin what we are working for. So belly up to the bar for some sausage and pork rinds!

I've fallen (into a rather large hole) and I can't get up...

This seems to be a pattern with me. I wake up each morning with grandeous ideas of what I want to do with my day and inevitably I am walking through sludge by 11:00 and ready for a nap by 1. Nothing real exciting to report. But if you are having trouble sleeping at night read on...this is certain to make you sleepy.

• We had our Primary Program (the 3-11 year old kids in our congregation). As always it was fabulous. The first and only time we will have ALL our children in it. What a treat to be sitting all by our little selves! The kids all had speaking parts, but Rachel also had a piano solo which was fantastic! She amazes me. She memorized her piece and used no music...she looked like a lounge pianist looking around as she played, almost as if she was ready to take requests. I'll see if I can video her and post it...


• Rachel and Seth are in soccer...Seth had 2 goals in his last game. He loves his long soccer socks and wears them whenever he gets a chance...pulled all the way up like "thigh highs"! Even when he has nothing else on!


• Jonah's head is healing...he should get his staples out Friday or Monday...whenever I get around to taking him in.


• Luke's diet is going...well...it's going. It stinks. He is a trooper. Me not so much. We have seen some improvement since he has been completely off his medication, and I think even in the past week maybe even some more improvement...it's hard to tell when he's at school all day. The teacher is pretty good about letting me know when she sees seizures. It is an emotional roller coaster for me...one that unfortunately Jared has to ride too. The other day Seth got some Starbursts and gave one for me to put up into the cupboard for when "Lukie is done with his diet." It was so sweet. He asks me frequently to check if it's still there. He doesn't quite get that we could be doing this for 3 years.


• My spare room is coming along...I am allowing myself a few bins that will fit into the closet and anything that doesn't fit into them has to find a new home. It's liberating.


• I've also been working on "decorating" really just getting stuff put up that I already had, but it is finally looking like "home" to me. The game room will showcase our love for the Lone Star State! I will post pictures when I'm done, but I found this cute metal bucket that I wanted to put some wheat lookin' stuff in. I was too cheap to buy the wheat stuff at Michael's so I went out at night in my pajama's with my scissors and cut me some from the common area landscaping in the neighborhood. Trust me you can't even tell...I check the bushes I "trimmed" each time I drive by and if I hadn't done it myself I'd never suspect a thing.

That's about it. Maybe someday I'll have enough energy to some up with a clever post...one that will make you laugh instead of putting you to sleep. 'Til then...

Another trip to the ER...

If you guessed Jonah you are correct! He is our emergency room kid with Seth a close 2nd.

Jared took the boys to the soccer fields for a Young Men's activity while I went to Back to School night and somehow a pole from one of the soccer nets fell onto Jonah's head. It bled pretty bad and was a gaping hole.

So a trip to the ER and 3 staples later...it's all closed up. Until next catastrophe...

P.S. Sorry about the gruesome picture for those of you with a sensitive stomache.

"Did you know Germany is good now?"

I feel bad that Jonah has gone for 9 years thinking that Germany was bad. Thank goodness for the public school system--we obviously are failing at home...

"It's soooo boring around here...

there aren't any hurricanes or anything..."

That would be a direct quote from my children who are envious of all their friends who are out of school until Thursday. Well, I'm going to steal some pictures from Carrie and show you what we missed out on...

(These are pictures from the Pearson's neighborhood about a mile from our Houston home...)

It made me sick to see these pictures as I know exactly where each of these homes is. So I've heard that power is in and out...as well as the water. No gas to be found and I'm sure that there isn't much milk, eggs, bread or any other groceries around, and probably won't be for a while.

I was so touched on Sunday at church...I had at least a half dozen people come up to me and ask me if I had heard from my friends and if everyone was okay. I even had one lady say, "I was thinking about you all night and how worried you must be about everyone...". Nice people here in Idaho!

I remember when Rita was headed towards Houston and it was all the buzz in the news, and then just like now it's been all but forgotten in the media. If you haven't been through it you don't realize that even though the storm is gone there is A LOT of clean up to be done and there is no gas or food to be had for days or even weeks because the trucks cannot get through. It lasts much longer than the 6+ hours it takes for the storm to get through.

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing okay and getting really good at strategies in Phase 10 and Uno--I know ya'll have played about a million games by now. We love you and are praying for a speedy recovery.

"Hunkering Down"

In keeping with the spirit of the hurricane I have boarded up our windows--complete with "Take a hike Ike" painted on them...and I am watching the hurricane on the news. Minute to minute coverage on all the major cable networks. It's fascinating. I have to say while it has made me a little home sick for the rain and my peops--there is a calm felt in our home knowing we no longer own a home in the major wind zone.

I am on call to make a Diet Coke and Lime delivery to the Pearson's and the Jonses' if needed...just call. We've got your back!

Love to all!

P.S. my favorite hurricane info websites are...in case you don't have anything else to pass the time...

http://www.khou.com/stormtracker/

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

Say a little prayer...

for our friends in Houston. The right side of the storm is the worst place to be and as you can see...that's where they are. I don't miss the worry and chaos, but I do miss those storms!!

Take Care! We miss ya'll!