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.)

trunk or treat

Our ward doesn't participate in a trunk or treat activity. I have been bummed about it for a couple of years now. We were thrilled to be invited to a trunk or treat activity that a family in our ward hosted. We couldn't use the church parking lot, so the family got permission to use the elementary school's, across the street, parking lot. Fun was had by all!!
Our little Dorothy and an adorable scarecrow!!

Clyde loves to pass out raisins on the trunk or treat nights. It has been a tradition for years and years.

Our Max, from "Where the Wild Things are."

Jacob is Edward from Twilight. He was so picky about his hair too...adorable!

Whenever I have asked Libby to stand still for a photo, this has been the face that I have gotten.

Erin wanted to be a black cat. However, I found a really cute pattern for a hat and tried to talk her into something else. Once the majority of the costume was sewn, it looked more like a dutch milk maid than the original idea. So, in the end she was happy.

All the Wardlings

Libby had a hard time getting out of the van. She was stuck. I had to help pull her out. In the words of our niece, Madi, she was "STUCK!!"

package from grammy and papa

Grammy and Papa sent Penny a package last week. She was thrilled to find some red ruby slippers, a basket and some goodies for all the Wardlings. Thank you Grammy and Papa!!
We called Papa and Grammy so they could hear her open the package. She was in heaven!