Escaping Hibernation

Today was the most BEAUTIFUL day we've had in months. The temps reached 50*. Spirits were lifted high. It was a SPRING day in Iowa.

~Simeon playing football with Joe and dad~


~Corrine going on a scooter ride around the block~


~Ammon found a puddle~

Corrine and I had been wanting to walk around to a few houses to sell cookies, but it's been so cold we hadn't been able to until today. Corrine & Ammon both got on their scooters and went around the block with me. Ammon had dressed in head to toe snow clothes because that's ALWAYS what he has to do to go outside, and partway through our walk he had to take the jacket off. On our walk he found a puddle of melted snow. He stuck his hands into it, and they got cold. Corrine asked if he wanted her mittens. So she took them off and gave them to him. He promptly stuck his hands back in the water and guess what-they got WET! Then it became a game and getting them wet and then wringing them out. By the time we got home his toes and fingers were red from being so cold.

We were so spoiled today with a hint of what is to come in a few weeks. The temps are suppose to drop back into the 20*, so this day was so nice.

BUBBLES BUBBLES BUBBLES

Tonight in the bath Corrine & Ammon had fun with lots of sudsy bubbles from shampoo. Somehow they were able to get it to really bubble up, and they were covered from head to toe.


I had to run fresh water and rinse them off many times to get all the shampoo out of their hair. But hey they were definitely clean!!


I think this picture of Ammon was too cute to not post. He wanted the bubbles away from his eyes, and as soon as I cleaned his face off he added more bubbles to his head resulting in more bubbles by his eyes.

The PERFECT day for sledding

Today we went sledding with some friends from MOMS Club. It was the nicest day we have had in weeks. It was 41 degrees, blue sky, bright sun, and because of the temperature the snow was starting to melt. This made it easier to make a fast path and to make jumps that stayed together for the whole time.

On our way there we were watching the temperature in the van and Corrine kept saying over and over "It's hot!" I'm not sure 41 degrees qualifies as "HOT", but compared to -30 with wind chills, 41 degrees was "HOT" to us!



I wasn't sure which of the kids would like sledding the best and it was a 3-way tie! They all LOVED sledding. The hill we were at was the perfect size for the kids. Big enough to get some good speed and to go for long enough, but not too big to be intimidated. I went down a few times, but coming back up the hill totally exhausted me.



We could only find one sled, so we brought along some blow up pool toys. The little blow up raft was the favorite one. The intertube we brought was so little that the kids were too big for it, but some of the younger kids liked it.



Corrine and Leah had a fun time going together on their gigantic tube. It hoovered over the snow and hardly made a path.


After we had enough sledding (or rather I was to tired to stand anymore) we walked around the corner to one of our friends house for fresh baked gingerbread and hot cocoa. It was the perfect way to end a perfect sledding day.

Longing...

for more bright sunny warm days to open the doors and let the sun in. It was a beautiful day with the temperature hitting 40 degrees.

Back to school

HIP HIP HOORAY-today the kids get to go back to school!! They ended up with only a 2 day school week last week. Weds we had a snow day because of a snowstorm during the early morning hours. Thursday and Friday school was cancelled due to extremely cold temps. The high for the day was -10 with wind chills down to -30. Those temps are dangerous in just a short amount of time-so the kids got to stay home.

We stayed pretty occupied during the 6 days the kids were home and we were mostly cooped up in the house. We watched movies, played Wii, played board games, read books, cooked, and cleaned.

Corrine loves to make us cards and write us notes inside. She also drew a palm tree and a coconut on this card.


Simeon won the trophy in the jousting competition-they did that with light sabers and there were no injuries or fatalities reported!


Corrine & Ammon both enjoyed getting all jeweled up playing Pretty Pretty Princess-Simeon played, but just left his jewelry on the ground!


Our enchilada making station. The kids all made their own enchiladas-leaving rice out of them. We made a total of 20 pork enchiladas Friday afternoon. Most got frozen for later dinners. The ones we ate were oh so good!!! I love to load them with pulled pork, black beans, corn, rice, cheddar cheese and lots of sauce.

On Thursday the kids wanted to make chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies- so we started getting ingredients out and realized that we only had 2 TBS of butter in the house. We had Crisco though. So we ended up making peanut butter cookies, with and without chocolate chips to satisfy everyone. They turned out good despite not having enough butter!

Yesterday we had a big push to get the house cleaned. Each of the kids had their chores to do.

Simeon cleaned the hall bathroom, cleaned his room, and vacuumed the stairs. Corrine cleaned her room, cleaned mom & dads bathroom, and vacuumed the hallway. Ammon emptied the bathroom trash cans, made his bed and emptied the silverware from the dishwasher. They also all put away their laundry.
Ammon was so excited to do his chores that he tried to start emptying the trashcans Sunday night. I told him we don't do work on Sundays, so he put it away. Monday morning he saw the chore chart and raced to empty the trash cans. He is a great helper-when he's in the mood.
Then in the afternoon when the temps hit the high teens they went outside to play in the snow. They hadn't been outside to play in well over a week-they were so excited to get out!

And today it's just Ammon and mom. Quiet-but nice-the way it's suppose to be during the day!

Laundry RULES

A few months back I bought a very stylish 3 part clothes sorter/hamper. The kids caught on pretty quick about which clothes go in which spot. Ammon will still ask sometimes even though he knows-just to be cute! I am pretty picky that they have to put their clothes right side out to have them be washed-or they end up in front of their door unwashed. (Tough love I know!)


A few weeks back I decided it was time the kids also put away their own laundry. I fold it and put the ones to be hung up in their basket-but then they are in charge of putting them away. I even went so far as to label each basket with their names- so they could tell real quick which was theirs. (I don't think Corrine would ever have a problem finding her basket with all the pink she has in it!)

It's been a few weeks and the novelty hasn't worn off yet. Simeon & Corrine will see who can put thier clothes away the quickest. Ammon thought he could be the fastest last week by dumping all his clothes on his floor, then returning his basket to my bed!
Ammon loves on laundry day to check my bed and see if his basket has clothes in it. If it does he right away carries it by himself to his room to put them away. He needs more help then the others do-but for being only 3 1/2 years he's doing awesome! Corrine needs the least help-even hanging them up, and Simeon needs guidance with hanging his shirts up.
I'm trying to help them learn valuable lifeskills, but also to help ease the load this summer when the baby comes.

BROTHERS

I get asked alot if Ammon get tired of going to the hospital with Simeon to get his chemo. The answer is always "NO! He loves going!" He likes the one on one time with Simeon, the fun toys, the computer they can play on, the great books they have and the snacks that are sure to follow an appointment. Ammon has been going to appointments with Simeon since he was 15 months old- so this is how he knows things to be.
Ammon likes to climb onto the examining table and have us raise it as high as it goes. He thinks he's rocketing to space. He's comfortable with all the staff and likes to watch when they access Simeon's port and draw blood.

Our screen saver on our computer shows pictures randomly from those saved on it. The other day I was watching the pictures and it brought these 2 up side by side-


The 1st one is the day we brought Ammon home from the hospital after his birth. Simeon wanted to be by him so badly that he curled up right next to him.
The 2nd one was taken the day after we brought Simeon home from the hospital after being diagnosed with leukemia and starting chemo. Ammon wanted so badly to be by his brother, that he came and laid down with him.

BROTHERS- together through thick and thin all the way to the end.

A life lived well

Today we said our earthly goodbye to an amazing 5 year old-who lived well beyond his years. Coleman Scott Larson, passed away Monday evening -Jan 5th 2009 at 10:45pm from MEDULLOBLASTOMA, a tumor in his brain. He was diagnosed Sept 21st, 2005-just 5 days before Simeon was.
Both Coleman and Simeon were/are treated at the University of Iowa Childrens Hospital. We met Coleman and his twin brother Caden for the 1st time just over a year after they were diagnosed. We were both impatient and ran into each other on the floor. We started talking, and I found out that she had been coming to meet us a few weeks earlier (after seeing us on the Dance Marathon recruitment video), but they found out that Coleman had relapsed and they went home to regroup.
Coleman and Caden are the funniest kids ever. They have such fun personalities that complemented each other perfectly. The 2 of them have touched so many lives for good.

I went to Coleman's celebration of Life with Jan & Becky Anderson (a fellow leukemia friend). We knew we needed to be there, and we knew we needed the support each other could give.
At the funeral we got to see Coleman's sweet face all around us. They had so many wonderful pictures and pieces of artwork he had created. They showed a wonderful video of Coleman, where he sang "Jesus Loves me". His gold and black crocs were with his pictures, they were so small-yet his spirit that filled those shoes was so BIG!

We released over 1,800 green & yellow (John Deer Tractor colors)balloons -one for each day of Coleman's life! It was amazing to see all those balloons. I happened to be able to see the balloons filling the rooms and then to help bring them out to be released-what an honor that was!

A Coleman Quote was tied onto each and every balloon!


After the balloon release we had a lunch. Peggy, Scott and Caden told us that this was Coleman's "End of chemo party" since he had wanted so badly to have one, but was not able to while he was here on earth.




Coleman and his family have become a very important part of our lives. It was hard to say goodbye to him this week. So many people prayed for a miracle on Coleman's behalf and I think he got his miracle the moment he saw Jesus and was welcomed into His arms.

Colemans carepage info is: www.carepages. com/colemanscott

Daisy Days for Corrine

Today was Corrine's 1st Daisy Meeting. We have 10 girls in the troop. All of them are kindergarteners and 8 are from Corrine's class. (Daisy's can be both kindergarteners and 1st graders.)

I was surprised at how quiet the girls were at the meeting. They started warming up and getting more talkative towards the end. Some of them said they were nervous because they didn't know what we were going to do at the meeting.
The girls will be Daisy's for 2 years, and we are working earning their 'Daisy' for their tunics. There is a center and 10 petals that the girls can earn by learning different parts of the Girl Scout Law & Promise.
Another fun thing is that for the 1st time ever-Daisy's get to sell cookies!!

I'm a SUNBEAM Now!

Today was Ammon's 1st day of SUNBEAMS. He was so excited to be a SUNBEAM and to go primary with Corrine & Simeon.
His class is full of boys, and he has 2 teachers: Sister Clark and Sister Elzinga.

He came home with a glow in the dark CTR bracelet from his teachers that he quickly turned into handcuffs!

This is the SUNBEAM Song

Jesus wants me for a SUNBEAM
To shine for Him each day.
In everyway try to please Him
At home, at school, at play
A SUNBEAM, a SUNBEAM
Jesus wants me for a SUNBEAM
A SUNBEAM, a SUNBEAM
I'll be a SUNBEAM for Him.

It's hard to believe that all the kids are now in primary. They are growing up so fast, and were aging along with them! October during the Primary program, we'll have 3 kids in it, and a baby in our arms!

NOT NOW MOM!!

Today I got lunch ready and I went to get the kids. I found them all sitting on the couch. I told them lunch was ready, and they replied "Not right now mom-we're reading the scriptures!"



Ammon loves to find the maps in the scriptures and talk about them. Simeon is getting really good at the reading the scriptures-I honestly think that our morning scripture reading has done wonders for his reading skills!