The End

Today is my last day as a Creative Memories Consultant. I have been a consultant for over 4 years. I 1st learned about the company through Kristina Penfold who was having a scrapbooking party. I liked to scrapbook, but hadn't in quite a while, so I decided to go. When I was at the party I saw the custom cutting system that CM had and fell in love. I wanted more then just a few products, so I talked with Wendy Ellsion who was the consult at Kristina's party and decided to become a consultant and try my hand at making a small career out of it. I did alright for the 1st 2 years; teaching classes, conducting parties and selling products, but it just wasn't me. I said about a year ago that I was done being a consultant, but I had so many wonderful friends who wanted more products so their orders kept me going for another year.

BUT today it's ending. I placed my last order-a valentines day heart punch (totally cute!!) I am not sad-actually happy about ending this phase of my life. I always had my next ordering deadline looming over me. I have enough inventory to keep me going for a long long long time. I love their albums and tools and will order those from another consultant when my stock runs low.

I DID IT!

Today Corrine read 'HOP ON POP' all by herself. She has been reading shorter books in the Hooked on Phonic series, but this was her first time with a longer book.

While we were reading we came to the page that says "Mr. Brown Mr Black" and shows a picture of a man dressed in brown and a man dressed in black. She told me "I don't like this page." When I asked her why she told me "I don't like Mr. Black-He's too hairy!!"

John Deere Pavilian & Family Museum

Today we headed with Grandma Smith to the quad cities to go see the John Deere Tractors and to play at the Family Museum.
Our 1st stop was to see the tractors. When we walked in the door the 1st tractor we saw was a HUGE combine. You had to go up almost 2 dozen steps to get into the cab! Simeon & Corrine hung out with Grandma, while I followed Ammon around. He went to every tractor, some times going back a 2ND time to drive them. He would make noises and faces and was pretending to drive them.
Simeon & Corrine both did a farming simulator where they got to get the fields ready to plant, plant the seeds then spray them when needed.
We went next door into the gift shop which had every thing John Deere you can imagine under the sun. That wasn't the greatest idea since the kids wanted everything they saw! Grandma let them each pick out a small tractor type toy and a pencil.

The Family Museum in Bettendorf IA, had some great activities for the kids. We can get in for free since we bought the reciprocal family museum pass. Their exhibits were a medical area complete with giant heart, a mirror room, music room, store, tornado and weather area. They also had a big fenced in play area with a 2 story play house, a climber, sand box and other fun things for kids under 4. When the weather is nice they have an outdoor playground, but it was closed today. Ammon found lots to do and could have stayed for hours, but Corrine & Simeon were done well before Ammon was.


The museum is in a big building with lots of other rooms in it. We decided to walk down the corridor and see what was at the end. We found the dance studios and outside of it was a firetruck. Ammon sprinted for it as soon as he saw it. He played on that truck for over half hour. He drove it to fires, got the hose (yes it was real) out and sprayed the fires, and pretended to get the ladder off the truck to climb up into buildings. He was playing with another boy until he got upset that the boy drove away from the fire before it was fully out!! We took a break and then went back for some more fire fighting playtime. I told him next time we come he can wear his firefighter clothes.
Ammon and I will be coming back during the school once the weather warms up and we can go outside on the playground.

Christmas Day

Here's a quick recap of our Christmas this year.

On Christmas Eve we had the Bascom's and Penfolds over for dinner and playtime. This is a tradition we have been doing for years. We might have taken the year that Simeon was really sick off, but for the past 5 years or so, we always have a house full of friends on Christmas Eve.

As soon as our friends went home, Corrine ran to get into her pajamas to go to bed. She remembered to leave out cookies for Santa, but really wanted to go to sleep so that Christmas morning would come sooner. Smart girl! The boys on the other hand weren't quite as excited for bed.

Christmas morning Corrine was the 1st one up-but not until 7:30! She woke the boys up, then came to our door. We were already awake wondering why they were still sleeping. We went downstairs to open the stockings. Santa took care of the stockings this year.

After opening our stockings, we had a Christmas Mystery and the kids found out that they are going to have a new sibling this July.

I had decided that we should eat breakfast and clean it up BEFORE opening all the gifts under the tree. The kids thought this was NOT a good idea. Johann ended up sitting guard in the doorway to the front room. When breakfast was ready, the kids weren't hungry-the wanted presents!!

Guard Duty

For breakfast we had, fresh squeezed orange juice, monkey bread, eggs and sausage. We made way too much food-but having lots of extra monkey bread is a good thing:) I gave up on the idea of cleaning the kitchen before presents. Johann & I decided next year we'd re think our timing of things.

We finally got to opening presents (it was only about 9:00am), but it seemed like an eternity to the kids. Ammon went for his present in a huge bag before we could stop him he had his arm in the bag feeling what was in it.

Later in the afternoon we went to Grandma & Grandpa Smiths house for dinner and more presents. We talked on the web phone with Josh & Irma while we were there.

Some of the presents we received this year-

Simeon-remote control helicopter, bionicole, Lego-Indiana Jones Wii game, Wii remote & nuk covers, battle vehicle for castle, Battleship, & a gift card to Target.


Corrine-Sleeping Beauty movie with nail polish, Pretty Pretty Princess Sleeping Beauty version, Sleeping beauty doll, Little Mermaid Barbie, makeup kit, 10,000 bead kit, lip gloss, sunglasses and more nail polish and food for her kitchen.


Ammon-Gas pump, moon sand, firefighter helmet, Diego jeep, Backyardigans Memory game, Kung Fu Panda shirt, Diego puzzle & stickers, and a Diego V-smile game.




















The kids also all got the movies Ratatouille and Kung Fu Panda, the game Clue JR-the case of the missing cake, the Puzzler game for the Leapster and pj's.

Johann got jeans, a Wii sports game, a deep fryer, sheets (ok that's for both of us) a WII bat.

I got money to get new maternity pants, mario kart and Big Brain academy from Wii, a book, a food precessor.


We had a wonderful Christmas. This is our Christmas picture of the kids for 2008.

A Christmas Mystery

This morning the kids woke up to a mystery.

Clue #1


Clue #2

We now have 4 fish

Clue #3


Clue #4

They opened these presents.

Then they all sat there staring at us stumped!



So...




Johann told them a secret and their faces showed shock and disbelief. It took a few minutes for it to sink in. This is what they figured out:

The Video won't load, but in it the kids say "We're having a baby! and Corrine says
"my wish came true"

Within just a little bit, the kids all came to me and wanted to feel my stomach.


This July we'll have a new little baby to love and adore. And 3 very good siblings to help take care of it.

A Year in Review

Since I just started this blog in Sept, I feel like I missed so many things we did this year. So in an attempt to make this year feel "complete" to me I am going to be working on a review of each month. I'm going to put them in order of the month, so when I print this out it's in order. So start looking back and see what we were up to before I started journaling.

A sneak peak:
Jan-we went to Disney World on Simeon's Wish trip
Feb-Corrine turned 5 and registered for Kindergarten
May-Simeon turned 7
June-Ammon turned 3 and had a zebra party and Simeon went to his first oncology camp
Aug-Corrine went to her first sibling camp and Corrine and Simeon started school
Sept-We went to CA to visit family and Simeon hit the 2 year mark of treatment

There are so many more fun things I will post about-so get ready to do some reading!

The 1st day of winter

I thought I'd let you know the weather that us Iowans are having today on this 1st day of winter.

The high for today -7*
Wind gusts up to 30 miles an hour
Wind chill -40*

I apologize if you now need to go get a blanket and a space heater to warm up! We have blankets at each door, and there is ice on the metal piece on the front door that sits between the door and the door frame because it goes from the outside of the door to the inside. This weekend has shown us where we need to add some more weather stripping around the doors. Thank goodness for the new windows!!

DADS are for...Horse Rides

Tonight between the BYU Basketball game and the BYU Football Game, the kids took the chance to go for horse rides on their horse named "DAD".



Ammon ALWAYS had to be in front, and he would push Simeon with all his might to get the front spot.



After I took these pictures, Ammon really wanted to go for another ride, but dad said his hoves were tired and he needed a break. To this Ammon exclaimed "I'll go get you Celery!"



Ammon and Corrine have been watching a recorded video of Zaboomafoo (from when we used to be able to watch the show daily), and they have a snack machine with celery in it, which is Zaboo's favorite snack, so they have been very into celery today.

Another Snow Day

Winter break started a day and a half early this year, thanks to another winter storm with ice and snow. The kids got out early yesterday because they were afraid the storm was going to hit before the kids could get home safely from school. And then the storm stalled and didn't start until around 7pm. Then this morning we had a layer of ice, then a layer of snow, then more ice and finally on top a dusting of snow, so school was cancelled.
Johann had the day off, so we got to hang out with him. We played a game of Life, before he headed outside to battle the driveway.

He spent hours outside scrapping away at the ice and snow. Simeon and our neighbor Joe played dogs in the snow searching for seals under it. Johann would come in for a break every now and then, so he spent much of the day outside. Our neighbor Dan and Johann would check on eachothers progress throughout the day.
I went out to help get the final bit of ice off the driveway that he had salted really good.
One of the downsides to a bigger driveway is the snow and ice in the winter, but the rest of the year it's great to have the driveway to ride bikes and draw with chalk!

Last Tuesday the kids had their 1st snow day because of-you guessed it-more snow!

We started the morning off really slowly. Corrine & Ammon never got out of their pajamas. Our friend and neighbor Joseph came over to play with us. Corrine, Joseph and Ammon had fun making a fort in the front room and playing in it.

Cookies with Annalisa

3 years ago we met the most energized and nicest person-Annalisa. She is our Dance Marathon Family Rep. For the past 3 Christmas's she has come over to make cookies with the kids.
This year she brought a giant snowman cookie project. After we had dinner (the most awesome pork roast!!), the kids set to work.

Step 1: Press chocolate chip cookie dough into snowman mold.


Step 2: Bake it and play WII while we are waiting.



Step 3: Frost and decorate -Johann LOVED the frosting.


Step 4: Eat and enjoy


The kids always have such a fun time with Annalisa, and have such great memories of their cookies making nights with her. And one of these years the directions will get completely followed:)

Hawkeye Basketball

Tonight we went to watch the girls Hawkeye basketball game at the Carver Hawkeye Arena. Johann had planned on taking just Simeon & Corrine, but we decided to make it a family outing.
Johann always looks forward to the soft serve ice cream, so it wasn't long after the game started that he took Simeon & Corrine to get ice cream cones. They came back with 4 HUGE cones- 2 chocolate, and 2 vanillas (mom didn't get her own for 3 good reasons). Ammon finished most of his cone with some help from mom, Simeon ate half of his and mom got to finish his off, and Corrine on the other hand ate all but the last 2 bites. We went through LOTS of napkins, and Ammon still had ice cream all over his sleeve. The 3 good reasons if you haven't figured them out-Simeon, Corrine & Ammon had their own cones and would need some help, which I got to give:)

Ammon & Corrine taste testing eachothers ice cream cones.

Just before halftime we saw our neighbors the Fischers sitting not too far away. The kids went over to saw hi, and they invited us to sit with them. Since it's winter and cold outside, we hadn't talked with them in some time, so we took advantage of the time to sit and chat with them.

Herky came to visit Ammon, Simeon, Joe, Rachel, Libby & Corrine.

Ammon spent alot of the game searching for Herky. He always wanted to know where he was, and when he'd find him, he'd point him out. When Herky came by us, he jumped up for a chance to go see him.


Ammon, Simeon & Joe cheering on the Hawkeyes.


Libby, Corrine & Rachel hanging out during the game.

The Hawkeyes won the game, which brought on lots of noise from our crowd, especially by Ammon.

Ammon yelling "HAWKEYES WON!!" The final score was 72 to 46.

A very sick Simeon

I took this picture during Simeon's clinic appointment today. He had just had his spinal tap, and he wasn't feeling very good. As you can see his beloved husky dog Shadow is cuddling with him.

It wasn't long after I took this picture that he got extremely sick, and lots of concern was pointed towards him. But in true Simeon fashion, he fought through the worst of the sickness and was back to himself the next morning.

Keeping us Safe

Ammon LOVES everything about fire fighters. He loves seeing the fire trucks, watching the live action video called 'There Goes a Firetruck', dressing up as a fire fighter, squirting out fires and keeping us safe.
A few weeks ago I posted that I wanted a fire fighters jacket for Ammon on Freecycle. A lady emailed back that she had a firefighter jumpsuit that he could have. After a few attempts to meet and pick it up, we finally got it.
Ammon was so excited that he put it on as soon as we walked in the door. He also got a hat with a siren and light on the front, that sounds like a real fire truck siren.



To complete the firefighters outfit, he wears boots (if he can wear Simeon's black winter boots he will), gloves-they don't have to match, his firefighter backpack, which can really squirt water -but he doesn't know that fact, and goggles.

Some firefighter facts that Ammon tells me:
*The firefighters wear turnout coats.
*Their jackets are made out of Nomax
*Their jackets are both waterproof and fire resistant
*They have hoses hooked up to their firetrucks
*The hose on top can go (spray) a 1,000 feet
*Firefighters live in the fire station when their on duty
*To call the fire fighters you dial 119, then he quickly says I mean 911

On any day you can find a fire fighter running around the house keeping us safe.

Yes it for real!

On our way to the Quad Cities we stopped in Walcott, IA to get gas. We bought 17.5 gallons and paid $27.00. 3 months ago I was paying $65-70 to fill the van!



When we drove past on our way home, the price had dropped to $1.49.

*Walcott is on the I-80 and is Worlds Largest Truck stop.

Girls Day Out

Today Corrine and I went to go see the Nutcracker ballet at the Englert theater downtown. Corrine had sibling group until 1:00, and the ballet started @ 2:00. The boys dropped us off and picked us up so we didn't have to find a parking spot and walk in the cold.



We sat in the front row on the balcony just to the right of the middle. They were good seats in theory until we realized that we'd have a metal bar in our view the whole time. I wanted to be in the front so we wouldn't have heads in front of us to see around. Corrine never complained about not seeing very good, so I guess the bar bugged me more then it did her!

At intermission Corrine wanted a snack, so we got a Sprite in a green glass bottle (very fun way to drink it) and a sugar cookie.



Corrine's favorite part was "the man and the ballerina"-which was the Snow Queen and the Cavalier, in the Land of Snow. Which was one of my favorite parts too. I also liked the scene 'Angels Guide Clara'.

It is really neat to see all the kids in the ballet. They are local kids from a dance studio. There were also "angels" who were on the balcony with us singing during the scene 'Angels Guide Clara'. Corrine knew Meg from sibling group who was in the chorus.

This was my 1st time ever seeing the Nutcracker (live performance or movie), but Corrine saw this same ballet a few years back with Simeon and Great Grandma Riddle.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

As tradition in our house we go to Barnes Tree farm just south of Iowa City and cut down our Christmas tree. This year we went the earliest (Nov 29th) we have even gone because it was the only Saturday we could go until Christmas. It was a warmer day (30-40 degrees) and there was NO snow!
The kids found the cutest tree, only about as tall as Simeon. Ammon wouldn't walk away from it, and said over and over "We have to get this one! I don't want another one." Once I told him that it was too small for Santa to leave any presents under it, he said "OK" and came with us to find a bigger tree.

We found the perfect tree, Johann cut it down and Simeon trimmed up the lower branches.


For the past few weeks Simeon has been asking "can we go to the place where we get our tree that they have cookies and candy canes and hot apple cider?" I'm glad that the kids have good memories of getting a tree, and look forward to it. So of course we got a cookie and candy cane each and warmed up with some hot apple cider before heading home.
When we got home Corrine was ready to get the tree in the house right then. She was trying as hard as she could to climb up to the tree on the van to get it down herself.


We set the tree up and put the lights on, while Johann finished the outside lights.


The kids wanted to decorate it right then, but we ran out of time. We also ran out of time Sunday night with home teaching and bedtime. So finally Monday night for family home evening, we decorated our tree. Here are some of our favorite decorations.


Ammon LOVES having the lights lit at night and the room lights off. We are having a struggle with him plugging the lights in by himself. Last night I went into the front room to find that over half the decorations were on the ground. When I asked the kids who took them off, all 3 of them told me "I don't know. I didn't do it."

*WE LOVE SNOW*

Today we got our 1st sticking snowfall of the season. When the kids looked out the window and saw it, they started screaming in excitement and asked right away if they could go out and play in it. They didn't even get out of their pj's or eat breakfast before they were out in the snow.
All 3 of them LOVE the snow this year. They can all get in their snow clothes by themselves, with the exception of Ammon needing help with his gloves.
We didn't get much snow, and it's VERY wet and heavy, but with the temps we're expecting this week, the snow should be around for a while.

Tannenbaum Forest

Today we headed to the Amana Colonies for the Make A Wish Tree lighting at the Tannenbuam Forest. Last year Simeon was their adopted Wish child. They had some pictures up from our trip and some of Simeon throughout the year. We were able to give the scrapbook to Brenda (the main person in charge) that we had made of Simeon's Wish Trip.

Simeon holding his ornament on the Make A Wish Tree

Ammon was so excited when Santa walked in. He had the biggest smile on his face, and he ran right over to him. Ammon told Santa that he wanted "a real Puppy", Corrine said a baby doll, and Simeon wasn't sure. He said that he's already told other people what he wants, but he told Santa too. He wants 2 helicopters that fly or fight together. I'm not sure what these are. He told me he saw them on tv along time ago-like months ago possibly.

It's fun to see how much work goes into this event, and then the money raised goes to grant a childs wish. This year they are granting our friends Sophie Lowe's Wish. She like Simeon wants to go to DisneyWorld. She had a magic wand and she lit the trees in the barn. It was really neat to be there to watch all the trees get lit up.

On our way out to the Amanas we saw 2 eagles. We went for a drive before lunch and saw another 4-5 eagles. 3 of them were bald eagles. They come to the area in the winter to stay warmer.

Thanksgiving

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house again this year. It's our 3rd year, and it's becoming a tradition. I wanted to keep things simpler this year, so we had ham and funeral potatoes, along with LOTS of side dishes and yummy desserts. Our table was overflowing with food. Johann tried his hand at making rolls. Our house just doesn't seem warm enough to get the dough to rise enough. Corrine & Ammon had fun rolling the dough into balls.

At Thanksgiving this year we had Great Grandma Riddle, Grandma & Grandpa Smith, Uncle Justin, Matt, Jill & Grant (6 months) Fisher, and of course the 5 of us.

Who Did it?

Tonight we hosted a Murder on the Grill murder mystery dinner party with 3 other couples. The storyline for the party was set in the 50's-hula hoops, hot rods, black leather jackets. It was the birth of rock 'n' Roll and backyard cookouts. At the home of Tom Dooley, owner of local car dealership 'Honest Toms'. When a sudden thundershower sends the guest indoors, Tom stays outside to finish cooking the chicken. When the storms is gone, the guests go out to find Tom lying lifeless beside the grill.


Cubby Cheddar,Ivan Spudnik,Dan Dragnet and Johnny Angel

Our suspects were:
Johnny Angel, played by James Parker, a mechanic who can fix anything on wheels. When he's not covered in engine grease, Johnny is cruisin' chicks in his 57 Chevy.

Bobby Sox, played by Valerie Blau, Tom's sweet little sister and the national hula hoop champion of 1958. Dooley would have done anything to keep his sister from getting into trouble.

Chubby Checkers, played by John Blau, a Rock 'n' Roll musician who's finally made it big in the music biz. Chubby's twisting and shouting in his quest to become a Rock 'n' Roll legend.

Barby Q, played by Janessa Cazier, a dazzling blond divorcee who's got it all: an IQ of 140, an itsy bitzy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini and heartaches by the number.

Ivan Spudnik, played by Ricky Cazier, A Russian rocket scientist who recently defected to America. He has high hopes of becoming a successful American Capitalist.

Tiara Diamond, played by Sarah Parker, Tom's pretty fiancee and the newly crowned Miss Kansas City. Tiara is burning with passion to win the state beauty pageant and move on to fame and fortune. And she's doing it all her way.

Non suspects: We arrived after they found Tom's body.
Dan Dragnat, played by Johann, a TV actor in a new hit detective series. Tall dark and handsome, too bad Dan's got a heart of stone.

Peggy Sue, Played by me, a newspaper gossip columnist, dubbed 'Runaround Sue' by her press colleagues, there's no doubt Sue's a hard-headed woman.


Barby Q, Tiara Diamond, Peggy Sue and Bobby Sox

We had a great time at the party. We ate some really good chicken that Johann grilled outside before the guests arrived. We also had fruit, veggies, chips, beans, potatoes and bread. For dessert we had Flame Room cake (red velvet cake).

As part of the party we had a hula hoop contest-2008 style-on the WII. Barby Q was the hula hoop champion of the night.

The kids tonight had a sleepover and Grandma & Grandpa Smiths house. They went to McDonalds for dinner and saw the movie Bolt.

I'm in a BIG KID seat too!

We had planned on having Ammon in the 5 point harness carseat until this summer when he turned 4, but then the cold weather hit. He couldn't wear his winter jacket under the buckles, and I'm not going to put him in the van without a jacket when it's freezing outside. His shoulders were at the level of the highest spot where the straps could come through-so he really had outgrown the seat, and lets add more-it had passed it's expiration date by way too long. We bought it for Simeon when he was 12 months old.
It was time to move on.
Ammon and I went out looking for a high-back booster today. We went to Walmart first. All their seats are strapped down on a shelf, but that didn't stop Ammon from sitting in them to test them out. What it did stop was me playing around with them. We found one that we liked-and it was on SALE. (I love that word!)

It is so much easier for us to buckel him in, and the shoulder straps stay in place really nicely. Simeon can even buckle it for us. Ammon can unbuckle himself-but he waits until I tell him he can. The back can come off when he's old enough for a backless booster-which won't be for a long time.

What happens to ALL those leaves

You've seen the piles and heard of us raking hours upon hours to get all the leaves raked up. But you may be wondering how we get rid of them. We could bag them-but it would take upwards of 30-40 bags for our yard alone, that's not including all the leaves from the neighbors that blow in right after you've raking the yard.



We rake them to the parkway in front of the house, and 2-3 times a fall a big truck with a HUGE powerful vacuum comes and sucks them up and takes them away. We can hear the trucks for days in the neighborhood. They are very loud.



Ammon likes to go outside to watch them suck the leaves up. What takes us hours to accomplish, they take away in just minutes-but it sure beats bagging all those leaves.

This is the pros and cons of living in a older neighborhood with very established trees. Lots of shade in the summer, lots of leaves in the fall, and lots of sticks all year round. But they are worth it!