2009 highlights

Highlights of 2009:


January, Clyde going to DC for the inauguration, Erin's birthday, Bobcat

February: anniversary and science fair

March:Erin's 1st temple trip

April: yellow and braces

May: praxis, nascar, the highness

June last day of school, trek, trek, trek, new cousin

July: birth of libby, camp, scout camp, clyde's birthday

August: light house trip , pool fun, back to school!!

September: Josh's birthday, Jacob's birthday, Penny's birthday, ashley's birthday

October: toto, fair, terrific kindergartner, halloween

November: breaking tradition, art show, activity day girls

December: croup, nativity, Christmas

Today while I was putting my new eyeshadow on from 'Santa', Penny asked where I got it. I told her that Santa gave it to me. She began to tear up and cry. She told me that Santa didn't love me, that only Daddy loves me. It was not ok with Penny for two fellas to love me, even though we tried to explain that Santa loves everyone...everyone besides me of course. This has upset her all day. She kept bring it up randomly throughout the day. This must really bother her. This reminded me of Thanksgiving day when my Dad pointed to me, in front of Penny and told her that I was his daughter. She said, "no, my Momma!" Dad would say, "she's your mother, but she is my daughter." Penny just go louder, 'No! My Mama." She also gts upset when one of the other Wardlings tells her that I am their mother too.

corduroy jacket

I started this sweater shirt a day or so after Christmas. I am so accustomed to having my hands busy, that I couldn't just sit still. I finished the sweater the day after I got started on it. I think it turned out so cute. It was my first placket on a sweater and I like it!

Jacobs corduroy jacket was one of my back-patting projects for this Christmas. He has been asking for a church jacket for some time now. Clyde and I found one that we liked @ the Children's Place, but the price tag was a bit more than we both wanted to spend. We went to Jo-Anns with a 40% off coupon to buy this yummy chocolate corduroy fabric. I used the same pattern as his Edward jacket for Halloween. This jacket took 3 days of sewing to complete, THREE days. I wanted it just right. I even added pockets! What was I thinking?? The coolest was seeing his face light up when he opened it and he was proud to wear it on Sunday to church.

christmas @ the brown house

What a fun morning we had spending time with one another. Clyde took the Wardlings out to buy little somethings for each of their siblings earlier in the week. They were each able to pick out one thing for their siblings. It made Christmas more meaningful, that they could think of one another and to see their faces when they opened the gifts they chose for them. It was very special.

Each year Clyde and I give each other a Ye olde Christmas List. I love doing it this way! We can make the most out of our budget by getting each other what he or she would really like. It works out great for us. We made wish lists on Amazon.com. We couldn't open any of the packages that came in the mail, because we weren't sure who they were for. It was alot of fun!! Clyde got his 3 years worth of Onion Articles and I got several knitting books.
They boys got the girls ET this year. "ELLIOT."

Both Libby and Josh received new watches. Libby has been asking for a new watch since some kid in her class last year,cut the band off her other one.

All I can say is Mahalo for our little guy.

And that leaves us to Penny. We totally won some brownie points with Penny with this nice Craigslist find!

We were able to make it to MeeMaws family party along with the traditional Christmas day @ Bubbie and PopPop's house. We were also able to swipe my niece, K, for a few days. Christmas this year was most spectacular.

christmas eve

What a fab-tab-u-lous Christmas Eve! We had friends and family sprinkling us all day with quick visits. We loved seeing the newlyweds, Ricky and Mayra, along with another BIL Rusty. I had the entire evening worked out in my head down to the minute. We started gingerbread men cookies @ 3ish taking until 4 to bake. Eating an early dinner and then around 5, we Wardlings decorated our gingerbread men hearts out. We then allowed the Wardlings to open 1 present...new Christmas pajamas. Then they were off for a quick shower and they were to get into their new pj's. We had an awesome FHE and read from Luke chapter 2. Thank goodness for DVR, because we were able to record The Nativity and we watched it after our FHE. Then for the first time EVER, the Wardlings were begging to go to bed. What a wonderful night!

blog hoppin

While listening in on OT with Penny this morning, I was peeking in on a few of my favorite blogs and on one, was this photograph. I fell in love. I would love to look out my window everyday to see this.

nativity

Saturday was our ward's Christmas party. I love the annual nativity that the children put on. Josh was one of the wise men in the above photo. Libby was in the angel's choir...top row and this year Penny was a 'beep.'
Jacob was a shepherd. (E helping him undress.)

Libby was an angel...as always.

Josh was a wiseman, but he undressed before i could get a photo of him- by himself.

Merry Christmas!

croup

We went to visit my sister and see the new house. We missed Uncle J though. Jacob wasn't 100% after his bout with croup. This boy cannot catch a break. His first year of school has given him pnuemonia twice and croup. He still has a cough and it has been 2 weeks. Anway this fella fell asleep as everyone else was getting ready to leave.

black friday fun

I am slow on posting these photos of our black friday fun. And oh was it fun! We began the day @ 3:18am. We were finished and home by 8am. We saw some good pals out that morning too. What fun fun FUN!

scissor head

what is the fascination with children cutting their own hair? jacob has an assignment this week to find things that he needs and wants to glue onto a stocking. it is due tomorrow. i had him sit down with scissors to cut some pictures out of grocery store ads etc. this afternoon. then when we were walking wee man, his mom, and sister to their car, i noticed the hair cut...right in front. i'll be buzzing his hair tonight... even shorter than it is now. happy december.

thanksgiving @ the Cecil's

We have a family tradition of going to my folks' house for Thanksgiving. Maylee and Jared joined us this year too. Our big girls stayed the night before to lend Bubbie a hand with the food prep. We loved seeing all of our family members. Clyde, Jared, and Josh went the morning of Thanksgiving to play soccer. I have to admit that I was upset that Clyde made us all late. I liked that they went to play, but again not thrilled that we were an hour late for Thanksgiving lunch.

After the Thanksgiving feast, we got to saddle up Slim, the horse, and take turns riding. I loved this! This made the Thanksgiving Day for me. I got to spend time with my family outside and laugh and play. I hope that your day was as fun as ours! Happy Thanksgiving.

muppets conference call

Saw this posted on a friends FB and thought it was cute enough to share. Enjoy!

you've got your hands full

...is a phrase I hear all the time. I hear it everywhere I go. I see people counting my children and then they will chuckle and say the phrase. Usually it doesn't bother me to hear them say it. However, today it made me mad. I am walking out of a discount store, with my stroller full of children and my buggy full of groceries in tow, when this lady cuts in front of me to get out of the store, turns and says, "you've got your hands full." No duh- Sherlock! I wanted to scream, "No don't help the lady with a stroller of children and a buggy of groceries, when your hands are empty, just keep walking..."

breaking tradition

Penny has a speech disorder called Apraxia. It make it very hard to communicate. She has had 6 speech sessions per week for the last year. She has shown mucho interest in getting her ears pierced for that year. Clyde and I told her that if she could say, "ears pierced," then we would take her to get the done. She had come close several times, but not clear. Friday afternoon, she came into the living room with one of Libby's hoop earrings and said, "Holes, ears pierced." It was so very clear and totally unprompted. We were so very proud of her that we, as a family, took her to the mall to have her ears pierced.

She wouldn't stand still long enough to have a clear after photo. There were a few tears shed, mainly due to a malfunction with the ear gun thingy. But she Loves her "heart" earrings.

Obviously her ear piercing experience wasn't a horrible one...

We have broken tradition several times with Penny. She was the only Wardling that we found out the gender, while in utero. The big girls didn't like that we didn't make her wait til the usual 8 to have her ears pierced. Mad is a better word. However, we felt that she had worked so hard to even get the words out, a simple phrase to us, "ears pierced." that we had to break tradition. I recently gave a talk in our stake's Primary auxiliary training about LD's in children (Learning Disabilities) and addressing children with special needs. After doing some research on the topic, I totally agree with Richard Lavoie, who talks about fairness. "Fairness is when he or she gets what he or she needs. To treat them [children] fairly, we have to treat them differently." Hopefully the big girls will see that in the future. Penny, we are very proud of all your hard work, hours spent practicing repetitive sounds & drills, even when it is hard. We see your frustrations and know that you have a huge cheering section. Penny, we love you!

Below are links to a few of his conferences. They are very educational and were very enlightening to me.

Richard Lavoie F.A.T City conferences... F.A.T- Frustration, Anxiety, and Tension.

more Richard Lavoie.

time to give

Not the most flattering photo of me, but one I am kinda proud of. I made a new years resolution to donate blood twice in the 2009 year. Goal met. The Red Cross gal was trying her best to get me to donate 2 pints, by separating the red blood cells from the plasma, with the plasma being put back in my body, along with saline and the 2nd pint of red blood cells being removed and the process running over again. I decided to do the usual pint this go round. I may change my mind in 56 days, when I can donate again. As usual, very very dizzy, needing to sit with my feet propped up for 10-15minutes. I was glad that Clyde was there for support.

art show

Erin had her first Art show last week. She worked really hard on a dot's piece, where the entire piece was drawn in dots. She drew her hand with a strawberry in it. She also used this piece for her YW in Excellence achievement. We are very thrilled for Erin. {{However, her Art teacher misspelled her name. When we named Erin, we never thought that her name would be so difficult. Her teacher wrote, "Erica Ward." Poor girl, her name is rarely pronounced correctly by medical personal. The girl has been Erwin for years. Come on people, Erin is not so hard to say or spell correctly.}} Beautiful Job Erin!!

activity day girls celebration

Last Wednesday night, there was an award ceremony for all the wee gals in the activity day girls. The theme was "I am like a Star Shining Brightly," as each of these girls are stars. We were to write a sentence about our girls and our to Libby was somethink like, "Libby is a radiant beam of sunshine lighting each and every day." Libby's response was, "I know I am." Totally humble. We love ya gal.

cecil family photos

So we all coordinated and got together for a Cecil Family photo. Unfortunately, due to some vomiting children, not all of us, @ the last minute, could be there. My bro G and his wife K and boys were completely missed. I was more bummed than I let on.

We all had a fun time and the session went swell...including Clyde's goofy grins, & Jacob's crossed eyes in every single pose..

Afterwards we all enjoyed a meal together. We got loads of looks with our squishing 6 or 7 tables together to make room for everyone.

p's new dress

I had to get in some non-Christmas Day sewing. Penny needed a new dress. She has grown so much. I L-O-V-E this dress. The pintucks were apart of the pattern, though I didn't make the center one, and I added the ric rac embellishment along with a monogramming. This is a very soft baby waled corduroy fabric. Penny loved it too!

science fair project...take 2

As mentioned in the post below, we had to rethink Josh's science fair project. That particular week Hurricane Ida gave us nearly a week of rain. So, we did our experiment on bread rising. Will bread rise on rainy days. As it turned out, it rose double the size of the dough on the non-rainy day.
We are very proud of Josh and all his hard work.

We are also very proud of all the Wardlings. They all made A-B Honor Roll, with Josh making the A Honor Roll. Jacob has earned several certificates on respect and behavior, and reading over 25 books this last 9 weeks. Way to go Wardlings! We love you, and you, and you, and you, and you!!

syke!

Two Tuesday nights ago was supposed to be the pinewood derby for the scouts. Due to unforeseen circumstances it had to be postponed. I think I was more bummed than Josh. (Mainly due to having to rethink a science fair project.) Anyhoo, Josh earned a gold and silver arrow for the extras that he did in his wolf book. Of course when asked what he did, he couldn't remember anything. Go figure. Then again, it has been a long time. Congrats Josh on your gold and silver arrows.
The game that the scouts played was to see who could shoot the marshmellow the farthest. Josh shot it the farthest. Again, Congrats to Josh!

cure for the swine flu

dpn's part deux

The hats were my project last week. Thanks Ashley C. C. for letting me use your work! I am pleased with how they turned out.

smashing pumpkins

When Clyde and the girls left this morning, we were surprised when Libby ran back inside. She showed us our pumpkins. Someone last night, crept up in our yard, swiped our pumpkins and then proceeded to smash them in front of our house, in the street. I do not think that calling these pumpkin smashers a-holes is such a bad thing. Why, why you a-hole pumpkin smashers- would you do this?? Time for more security...right JJ??!! I totally feel violated. Strangers, unwelcome strangers were in our yard, close to our house, while we were in it, destroying our pumpkins. Total A-holes!

dpn's

Just a tease of some work that I did this week for a friend. This project had to be knitted entirely on double pointed needles (dpn's). I am not a fan of dpn's because it feels as though my work is falling off of them. For that reason, I haven't started any sock projects yet. They too are knitted soley on dpn's. Soon though, sock knitting and I will be one...if only to say that I have knitted a pair of socks. This project turned out so cute and I can't wait to see if the rightful owner really liked it. (The pic. isn't great. Our camera charger died on Halloween, and I am frantically checking the mail everyday for the replacement for our replacement camera battery charger. So, until it arrives, cell phone 1 megapixel camera shots will have to do...dang it all!)

toy catalogs

'Tis the season for the big toy catalogs from toy companies. I have mixed feelings about the catalogs; love/ hate really. They are perfect for finding something for a child that you are stumped on ideas for Christmas. But then there is the arguing over who's turn it is to look at them and the fighting for Mom and Dad's attention to show them what is in the catalog. I usually let my children circle the things in the catalog that they like. (Like in the American Girl Catalogs...wish lists are forever long.) In the Sunday paper this week, came several catalogs. And the shopping craze has begun. Penny has been fascinated by all the toys. She has carried the catalogs around all day, taken naps with them, takes them in the van for trips, called Papa to tell him what she wants, and has even circled the things that she is wishing for. But, when my children become obsessive about them like the actions above, it is time to say good bye. Farewell catalogs of this week, until next week...

happy halloween

Just some fun pic.'s of the one time a year, we allow our children to #1 talk to strangers and b- take candy from them. I love Halloween.
(all Clyde needed was a backwards baseball cap and he could've been Luke from the Gilmore Girls.)

One of the last houses we hit, there was a Toto dog. Perfect for our Dorothy.

Check out king arthur in the background. or is he colonel saunders??

Ok- Jacob wanted to be Edward from Twilight this year. I made his costume last, because I couldn't figure out which costume piece would make Edward come to life. Jacob wanted the gray coat that Edward wears throughout the film. I had a suit jacket pattern that I tweaked. Clyde bought his some vampire teeth and some glittery spray for his face. (because Edward is sparkily in the sunlight.)

Once Josh saw the movie, "Where the Wild Things are," he wanted to be Max. Max wears a wolf suit. Voila...a Max wolf suit.

Libby wanted to be a pumpkin. She was SO, SO, SO picky about every detail. I nearly banished her from the red room when I was sewing it up. She then changed her mind and wanted it to be more like a jack-o-lantern face. Then that led to another choice as to face design. I was glad when I got the stamp of approval from Libby lou on the costume. WHEW!!

**Erin originally wanted to be a black cat. I sweet talked her into something else, which turned into a Dutch Milk maid of sorts. I really wished that I thought ahead and found her some wooden clogs to go along with the costume. I think in the end, she was happy. But, a black cat for next year, she will be.

That leaves us to Dorothy. Penny loves, LOVES, L-O-V-E-S, The Wizard of Oz...just as much as the boys love Star Wars, and Libby loved the Teletubbies, and Erin loved Barney. Penny wanted to be the Witch @ first. We even learned the ASL sign for it. She then changed her mind to Dorothy. Clyde and I found the basket for $1 @ a yard sale and thanks to Grammy & Papa, the outfit was complete with the red ruby slippers.

We went with our new fella, his sister and their parents Trick-or-Treating. Fun was had by all! (love Jacob's face in this photo.)