Please Pray for My Niece Claire

On the left is my beautiful niece Claire, on the right is Gwen her older sister.

Here is an email I just received from my sister-in-law Katherine.


Hi All,

If you're wondering what to fast for this sunday, feel free to fast for Claire. She hasn't been sick all winter, but now has pneumonia. She has had a fever on and off all week, and this morning was breathing shallow and her hands and mouth were grey. this afternoon she started rapid breathing. she's been sleeping all day today and not crying (which is not the claire-bear we all know and love!).

we've started her on antibiotics and hope it helps. because of her mito disease and pain issues all her life, there are only certain measures we're willing to take to prolong her life. currently we don't think it's necessary to take her to the hospital since she's not dehydrated and keeping her meds down.

anyway, any prayers and fasting on her behalf are greatly appreciated. times like these always remind me that as long as my beautiful baby will be with us, it probably won't be as long as we want.

thanks,

Katherine

Win a way cute polka dot bag!!!

I just entered a contest to win a cute brown and pink bag from Simply Chic Baby Boutique. Click here to check it out. Or you can click on the button on the side. You only have until Valentine's Day when she does the drawing. Enjoy!

I'm A Big Boy

I was going potty when I had a visitor, which is not unusual, but I was surprised when it was a request for toilet time. Tyler stood there asking me if he could use the potty and trying to tug off his diaper. So of course I encouraged him. He is so proud of himself!
He really didn't want to get off the toilet so I went to the kitchen to wait and asked Brooke to tell me when he was ready to get off. I hadn't heard anything at all so I decided to go and check and I found Brooke helping him wash his hands.After chasing him around the kitchen and front room with the idea of getting dressed, I decided to let him run commando for a little while. Again, after they disappeared quietly into the kitchen I went to check on them. This is what I found. Brooke did an awesome job putting his diaper on and she said "I'm good at being a mom like putting babies' diapers on." It was very sweet.

Bi-Polar? or Normal Mother?

(this post may explain any insane things anyone might or might not have seen posted on here last week)

I had the craziest week last week, some of it was so amazing, and other parts were out of control, and parts were very depressing and seemed to bring the rest of the week down. So before I can post about the awesome parts, I need to show the mental chart of my week.

Sunday...middle ground-ish, I enjoy hearing the teachings of the Gospel, but for a while have had this nasty stomach churning going on as soon as Saturday afternoon comes around. It has a lot to do with trying to keep children reverent and facing people that I don't really want to be around, for a variety of reasons.

Monday...does anyone really like Mondays? It was a holiday and the kids were looking forward to the day off, and I was looking forward to taking them to do something...it didn't happen due to a little too much disobedience.

Tuesday...ugh...crash and burn (due to McKee) then I had a great time with the smaller kids once the older 2 were in school.

Wednesday...SUPER UP! this was my day off! more to come on that!

Thursday...I thought Tuesday was crash and burn...I pretty much gave up on life Thursday. When one thing is so bad, it makes the rest of the little things seem hopeless and "what's the point?"

Friday...rough morning, as usual...but the rest of the day was INCREDIBLE! more to come on that one.

Saturday...rough morning again...I'm noticing a pattern here...but when Mike got home from work, things were better and then pretty good.

So, my question is...does anyone else have weeks like this? How do you deal with this yo-yo stuff? I would be happy just keeping things at a consistent level.

uppercase living

An invitation to the readers of my blog. Whenever I have a home party I know I always forget to invite people. Not because I mean to leave people out, but because I genuinely forget things. So...if you are reading this I would love for you to come to my home show. If you are too far to come, feel free to check out the website and email me if you fall in love with anything you see. I'd be happy to make sure it gets ordered with the rest of the orders from my show. Here are the details:

The Art of Self Expression

Make your space a reflection of the unique individual you are. Whether you identify with a deeply motivational thought, a beautiful embellishment, a bold image, or a combination of these, Uppercase Living® expressions let you be who you are and let you express that uniqueness in your surroundings. We call this the art of self expression.

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

7pm

Crystal's home

http://www.uppercaseliving.com/

Valentine's Day

I love Valentine's Day. I look forward to it every year. I realize some people think it's a made up holiday to make people money, I may not disagree with that totally, but none the less, I love it anyway. Mike and I have a tradition of each of us planning a special Valentine's Day for each other every other year. That way we know we have something to do and can spend some time together. We have a $50.00 budget, that includes food, gifts, surprises whatever we come up with. This year we have a great friend who jumped in and bought us tickets to a special event to take place on Valentine's Day! We're going to the Rascall Flatts concert on February 14, 2009. I'm so excited! I haven't been to a concert in years, and I love Rascall Flatts. We're going to have a great time! I'm so grateful that he thought of us and is so willing to give us such an awesome gift! Thanks!

Share your Dreams

I was wondering what people dreamed about when they were kids. I was also wondering if you reached those goals or if they have changed over time. When I was a little girl I always wanted to be the first woman president of the United States. I am still not old enough to do that, but my life has not taken a political path, so we'll see on that one. I have others too, but I want to know if anyone else has any they want to share. (Maybe I don't want to be the only person that didn't achieve her dreams, but I also want to applaud those who have.)

McKee's Chorus Concert

Last night McKee performed in 3 different choirs...a boys middle school choir, a mixed middle school choir, and then they combined with the high school mixed choir for a finale song. I'm proud of him, he did a great job. My in-laws attended and must have snuck in the back because I didn't see them. I actually didn't know they were there until late last night when I got a couple emails from Rulon with some pictures he took. Enjoy the photos.

Anyone Else Ready for Spring?

We have subzero temperatures on the way here! Get out the warm clothes and hot chocolate and get some scrapbooking done. What? you ask about cleaning the house or doing something productive? Why would I do that?

My Theme Song

I'm going to play this everyday to save me the trouble.

That's It

I quit...everything. I think I'm just going to go back to sleep and pretend nothing ever happened. Oh come on, like you've never felt that way?

Blog Giveaway

One of the blogs I stalk April Showers is having a giveaway. Here's your big chance to pretend you're going to win something, but the truth is I'm going to win! Good Luck!

Here are the prizes and rules to enter:
1. To ENTER the contest you need to make a post on your own personal blog telling all your friends about this giveaway.

2. You also need to comment on this post and tell me: a) Your birthday and b) Three New Year's resolutions.

Prizes: One winner will be chosen, and will receive...

1. A $25 gift certificate to Bath and Body Works!

2. For EVERY comment made on this post, I will add $1 to a mark. gift certificate. So if there are 10 comments, the gift certificate will be for $10. If there are 30 comments, the gift certificate will be for $30! And yes...even if there are 100 comments...Holy crap!!! Cool huh? But you can only comment once :D