February

Justin's Birthday

His only birthday request was to not have a party and he didn't want cake and absolutely no pictures.
He's not a birthday rebel, just sixteen.

We had to have something to put the candles on so I combined his two favorites and made fudge brownies with German chocolate frosting (he only likes the frosting, not the cake).  As he prepared to blow out the candles he thought about and decided on a birthday wish, carefully aimed his air power to one candle and made sure that he still had one candle burning for the girlfriend test.

I was respectful of his non-party wish and instead took him to IJump.

Everyone attempts to be as technically tricky as Justin but our belly flops and face plants don't even land into the same
category as his well trained skill.



CSI Museum

You know those movie trailers that show all the best parts of the upcoming movie and when you go to see the movie you realize that the three minute trailer was better than the two hour movie.  That pretty much sums up the museum display right now.  The fliers looks so intriguing and the boys thought they would get to solve a mystery and the pictures looked so death filled and gruesome.  Trust me, unless you want to have a full science textbook kind of day reading all about bugs, just look at the website and read the flier.  It's free!

Though I did read a few interesting facts about decaying bodies and the part bugs play in the evidence, the boys looked at a couple of vials and called it good. The only saving grace of the display was the outline of dead bodies that the boys attempted to fill and the opportunity to be the bad guy.

Beyond putting wigs on and dressing up as perps getting a mug shot the only way we could get our moneys worth out of the trip was to go to the permanent, hands on kids section that we visit every time we go.

Daymia hadn't ever seen this section so the boys gave her a full tour of the eagle nest in the tree, the beaver homes under the water, the family sized teepee that they beg to take home every year, and the log cabin complete with dress up clothes and a frontier style kitchen set up to play with.



Schtuff

Justin still requests fruit snacks.  "They're not just for little kids, everyone needs fruit."

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Thanks a lot, Diary of a Wimpy Kid!  Now Nathan thinks he knows all about puberty.

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Hyrum had a week of "where do things come from" curiosity.  After answering all of his questions he revealed to me his new view of nature: cows pee milk, hens poop eggs, bees spit honey, trees cry syrup.

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Bret's nickname for Charlie is Crisis since he represents my mid-life crisis.

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Sarah gifted me a onesie.  This one to be exact:


Onesie, not body.
I've never stood that way in mine (though maybe now that I've realized that I'll try it) and I have yet to leave the zipper down in the valley.
Comfort level though is exactly as it appears.  It is really hard to make myself wear pants after a day in waist band free bliss.

One night I tucked Hyrum into bed while wearing my onesie and the next morning he begged, "Mom, will you pleeeease get me a onesie?  I've been dreaming about it!"

Myringotomy

A big word meaning to cut a hole in the eardrum for the purpose of sucking fluid out of the eustachian tube.
It is not pleasant.
But the process has been good for me.
Spiritually strengthening, actually.


New Era April 2015 Mormonad

I sent an email to my mom and sisters sharing the details of that learning process and received even greater strength as they responded with their own personal experiences and insights.

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I haven't shared this with anyone but LeRoy because well, I evidently love to suffer in silence, but for the last 4 weeks I have had fluid behind my ear.  Doesn't sound too bad, and it wasn't for the first week but by the 2nd week (after trying every homeopathic trick I knew) I went to the doctor (PA actually) and he (of course!) prescribed antibiotics.  I did the 10 day run of that and it wasn't any better.  In fact, it was worse.  I was losing my hearing and the echoing in my head was getting louder, not to mention annoying.  The PA suggested I try another antibiotic and I just bypassed that and called a friend of ours who is an ENT specialist.

He took one look at it and said I did not have an infection but rather, fluid behind the ear drum that was pushing the ear drum out and affecting my hearing.  He gave me 2 shots (1 slow release steroid, 1 quick steroid) and nasal steroid spray to hopefully open up the eustachian tube enough to drain the fluid....but I had to wait another 7 days to see if that would work.  It didn't.

I went back again after going nearly batty and losing every ounce of patience I had for my silly kids and their loud noises and had a myringotomy where the doctor numbed my ear drum, made an incision and sucked the thick fluid out.  It has taken the pressure out of my head and it did take the echo away and I can hear again.  Now I feel air going through my ear drum every time I breathe in and out....cold air in and body temp air out. I can breathe through my ear! Such an easy trade off and it should close up again in a couple of weeks.

   

*Update: my eardrum did not heal as quickly as expected and it took another round of hearing and tube tests to try to figure out why I was still hearing in echoes and mumbles.  Ultimately, I just had to wait it out and after another 5 weeks everything has finally healed and my hearing is normal again.

So, what does this have to do with the March Ensign?  Kudos for reading this far....it gets better.

Over the weekend I was really losing it. I had tried so hard for the last month to keep my patience when the world sounded like a mumbling, echoing mess of noise.  As I explained to the ENT, I felt like I had a snot nosed kid sitting on my shoulder (because I could hear the fluid moving) and I had an relentless monster snoring in my forehead (my own breathing, which occasionally I would hold just so it I could have a moment of silence!).  Sounds like doors shutting, kids jumping, balls bouncing, general noise of children all reverberated through my head in full pressure volume.  LeRoy was frustrated because he could no longer holler from anywhere in the house and I would respond. I was frustrated because I couldn't hear phone calls well and public places were impossible to hear in (I guess I can relate to overstimulated kids in loud public places). I couldn't take it anymore. It was very reminiscent of that last week of a pregnancy when I would just pray for the pains of labor to come on so that it would be over.  I was praying for the pain of a ruptured eardrum so that this part would be over.

Sunday afternoon I had to go to the guestroom and distance myself.  I put my earphones in and turned up Mozart piano as loud as I could stand it so that I couldn't hear my own breathing, heartbeat and blood flow or the sounds of a house full of energetic kids.  The only thing I took with me was my book, the new Ensign, and a water bottle.

Now, to the point :D  There were a couple of articles that were very strengthening and helped me at that last moment when I felt I couldn't go on like this any longer. Have you ever wanted to stick a toothpick in your ear to relief the pressure?  I have! Reading through the Ensign (followed up with prayer and a good cry) gave me that last little dose of comfort that I needed to get to Monday at 3:00. 

I'll just leave the page and quotes:

pg 7 -  Visiting Teaching message, President Uchtdorf.

Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well! Patience means accepting that which cannot be changed and face it with courage, grace, and faith.  

pg 50 - The Savior's Respect For Women (the whole article is wonderful!)

Of Mary and turning the water to wine for the wedding:

"Woman," or, rather, "lady," is in Greek a title of respect, used even in addressing queens.  It was as though He {Jesus} said to his mother, "My lady, whatsoever you ask of me in faith, I will grant it unto you."  This account shows that the Savior was interested in the routine pressures that women faced.

I cried at this point! The thought of him saying that to me as I had requested a priesthood blessing and was pleading for relief was a little overwhelming.  When it takes a week to get in with the ENT, they got me in that afternoon when I called Monday morning. Such a blessing!

What a beautiful lesson we learn from Mary: when in need, seek after and trust in Jesus Christ, who has all power.  Like Mary, Latter-day Saint women today can rely on Jesus Christ in faith when they are feeling overwhelmed with their responsibilities. (pg 51)

Of the Woman from Samaria:

Because of her faith, the Samaritan woman received a witness from the Spirit and desired to testify that Jesus was the Christ.  By featuring this experience, John shows that the Savior is aware of women and knows the details of their lives.  This account shows that Jesus Christ knows each woman's challenges and can accept and lift her.

Pg 14 - David A. Bednar

Because of His infinite and eternal sacrifice, the Savior has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm of mercy.  He can reach out, touch, succor, heal, and strengthen us to be more than we could ever be and help us to do that which we could never do relying only upon our own power...  The unique burdens in each of our lives help us to rely upon the merits, mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah.

My "unique burden" has reminded me to rely on Christ.  When medicine, doctors, strange yoga poses, weird breathing techniques, or any other thing on this earth could not lighten my burden, He did!  I am so grateful!

I hope you too feel the love of our Savior!

Love You All

Kimber

Valentine's Day

We began our month of love celebration on February 1st with a scripture each morning leading up to the 14th.

It prompted Hyrum and Nathan to secretly cut out and write heart valentines for LeRoy and I and they even included Justin in their thoughtful gift and had him sign them as well.

I offered to simply give the boys their Valentine surprise without strings this year and they were appalled that I would even suggest it! With the holiday falling on Saturday the "surprise" of it was missing (it really isn't a surprise anymore but they like to come home and it's done without watching me do it).  So, Justin took the boys to drop off the recycling and go to the library while I strung up their valentines.  I was afraid I wouldn't have enough time but with only three strings this year it went rather fast.

This year I tied a treat into the string at random points, thinking they would stop, eat and take a break before continuing.  Wrong.  It simply added an element of surprise back into our tradition without slowing them down at all.

It's fun for me to see that no matter how simple I do their boxes they love them.  The true fun is in the string and making it to the final destination. However, those candy pooping monsters were pretty darn fun!


Vivien's Valentine's Day
For Valentine's day with Gabor we bought for each other a 'voucher' - trip to Venice. Means that we bought it for ourselves but haha lets pretend it was a gift :D My friend Réka also came with her mom. We headed off Friday night and got there Saturday morning. Spent the day in Venice and headed back in the evening.They were mostly young people on the bus so some of them were FREAKING LOUD! But I got some sleep and the ride was like 7 hours plus the stops so it wasn't too long.

Venice was okay. The sun was shining and it was warmer then here but being outside all day long after few hours of sleep we were freezing, tired, broken oh :D I would not want to live there. Its like a town on a water. Nothing there :D except for super expensive luxury stores as Gucci, Prada, Chanel etc.Its pretty funny tho that they have no cars. And seeing a boat AMBULANCE was hilarious. I mean yeah sad but seriously a boat ? :D In February its carnival time there so people were dressed up and were wandering around.

We also went to see 2 other islands - Burano and Murano. Yea that tower is leaning! Most of them were :D In Murano we went to a factory I guess were we watched a man making all kinds off stuff from glass. He had like a minute to form it. It was pretty interesting. He had some skills. I liked the other island. The houses were colorful and they had some grass there too! Then we got back to the main island I guess and went for dinner with Gábor. Oh Italian pizza, it was delicious! And freaking expensive so thanks Gábor :D


Love to Elder Grandpa and Sister Grandma

Erika Jo brought me a monkey balloon with a Fishy Valentine note attached to a bag of Swedish Fish Her note grew my heart just a little more. She is such a blessing in my life!  She senses my needs sometimes better than I do.

She is my Sunshine!

When I sent packages to Levi and Derek a couple of months ago she mentioned that the only reason she was okay with moving to Denver was that she would get packages from me.  I realized that I had never sent her one because she has always lived right here and I see her so frequently.  During a difficult mental/emotional February for me she truly was a ray of sunshine so I packaged up a box of sunshine for her, took it to Melaleuca and had them deliver it to her desk.