powdery snow

Church was canceled today due to the inclement weather.  The Wardlings were all anxious to get outside and play in the snow.  We consented.  They bundled up and spent all of 30-40 minutes playing in the powdery mix of snow that was on the ground.  The snow was too dry for snowballs or a snowman for that matter.  We tried to sled, but couldn't because of the texture of the snow.  Maybe tomorrow, since there is no school, we can attempt sledding down our driveway.  Otherwise, today was just a nice, peaceful, lazy day.  I love days like this!!

first snow of 2010

a little bit of this, a little bit of that

Snow, snow, and more snow covers the ground here @ the brown house.  It is too cold, 17* to be exact,  to even let the Wardlings out to play or the dogs out longer than it takes to use the bathroom.  A perk to being snowed in, are the movies we get to watch.  Today on Turner Classic movies was the film, Fiddler on the Roof.  I had forgotten how much I enjoy that film until today.  We caught the movie nearly on the half way mark, right when Tevya is telling his wife, Golde, about the dream he had about Lazar Wolfe's dead wife. (This film also reminds me of when I had my wisdom teeth removed.  Clyde and I were about 3 weeks away from being married.  It was a snowy day, like today.  He came with my Mom to the oral surgeons office to wait.  I so gracefully talked about the rabbit from Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail, while making some obscene rabbit jesture with my hands, after my surgery and while on drugs.  I also threw up blood in the parking lot in front of my future in-laws, who also came to check on me...but alas, my point.  Clyde gave me the soundtrack to Fiddler on the Roof to listen to, whilest recovering.  It played constantly and let me just say how freaky it is to wake up, while on pain meds to Tevye's 'dream' to talk Golde into letting Tzietel marry Motel. I'd say, dang near scary. Especially when Fruma-Sarah is screaming.) Anyway...As the movie progresses and their 'traditions' are being bent or broken with Tevye's 3 eldest daughters; Tzeitel, Hodel, and Chava, it got me thinking about my life, with my husband, and our children.  How would I feel if the traditions/beliefs that Clyde and I have taught our children, our way of life is bent or broken.  And by traditions I mean our faith being Latter-Day Saints.  How far would we be willing to bend?  if we bent at all.  I watched Tevye's face as his daughters made their life's decisions.  Some expressions were joyous and others were heartbreaking.  Each time a change occured he looked back at his daughters growing up, here, here, and here. (I know it's long...getting to my points about 2 minutes in.)  I understand that life changes.  I'm sure we will question our job at parenting that particular child.  Did we make the right choice, or did we make mistake after mistake?? Our children must grow to make their own choices and decisons.   I want them to be happy.  I know they will have to make some mistakes. I also know that as a parent, I don't think there will ever be a time when we don't pray, like Tevye, "Take Care of her {or him}.  See that she {or he} dresses warm." or at other times, "There is no other hand."

brake repair

Today was Josh's AB Honor Roll breakfast.  We are so very proud of all our Wardlings.  They all did so well on their report cards.  Libby made the AB honor Roll too.  Erin almost did.  Both Erin and Libby love going to Clyde's school.  They are so successful there.  I love having them all in the same place. Jacob can read all of his 66 sight words thus far and is still a charmer to his teachers.  Penny got glowing progress reports from her teachers as well. Congrats to our Wardlings!!

The brakes on the driver's side of our blue van have been making a terrible noise lately.  Having just replaced the brakes 7 months ago, this was cause for concern.  Penny and I took the van to the mechanics that replaced them 7 months ago today. The good thing was that the brakes were still under warranty and the fixing of the problem was free. I feel alot better knowing that we are safe in the van.  Penny is still catching up on sleep from being so sick.  Within a few minutes of our 2 hour wait, Penny sat beside me and fell asleep and remained asleep for the entire time we were there.  I'm glad that I remembered to grab some knitting this morning. And just for the record...day time tv is kinda bad.

our girl is 13

Our girl is 13!  Where did the time go?  For her birthday dinner, she chose Chinese food.  It is one of her all time favorites.  She gets this from Clyde.  He could eat Chinese food several times a week too. 
Erin is such a pretty girl, inside and out.  She is very loving and is an amazing artist. She also loves animals.

For her birthday cake, she requested the chocolate mousse pie, like a pie that our friend Sister Hicken made for us.  Of course this one wasn't as good as Sister Hicken's pie, but it was very yummy.

Penny and Jacob are such lite weights when it comes to staying awake for dinner.  Jacob put himself to bed around 5 and Penny was asleep before Erin, Libby, and Clyde came home from school.  Erin enjoyed gifts from Grammy & Papa, Bubbie & Pop Pop, cards from MeeMaw, and load of facebook wishes.  I think she was more than thrilled with her birthday gifts and her day as a whole.  She got a gift from the Principal of her school, along with a few of her teachers. 

Happy 13th Erin!!

seabiscuit

I went to see my urologist on Monday.  I was the only patient in their office and still had to wait an obnoxious amount of time to be seen.  I needed to update my info and when the nurse came into my room, she asked me all the same questions, that I had already answered on my new questionnaire.  An article read later, another nurse popped her head into my room and said that the urologist wanted an ultrasound of my kidney.  She escorted me into the room, gave me directions and said the Dr. would be right in... another article later, this time on Jon and Kate Plus 8, the Dr. comes in, notes what I'm reading and makes a comment like "you're the mom of five reading about the mom of 8, you must be the pento-mom." har har.  I just said, "well I have been waiting and waiting and this was here to kill the time."  I hate waiting in Dr.'s offices.  I have an appointment to see you.  Have enough respect for me to see me @ my appointment time.  Good news is that the stone is no longer in my kidney.  My kidney looks fine.  He could only see the kidney and just part of the ureter.  So this means one of 3 things...1- the stone has passed without me catching it,  2- it has dissolved, or d- it's on it's way out.  I have to be honest here in saying that I haven't been straining as I should.  Those paper strainers only last for so long and it is grody.  In the meanwhile, he gave me a dr.'s sample of a drug that is used normally for prostate patients, to make me pee like Seabiscuit.  Hopefully the sheer force of pee coming out is the blast out whatever is blocking anything up.  This will be interesting.

bonk!

Penny has the flu.  I am figuring that she got the flu from getting the flu shot on Wednesday.  For the past few days she has spent every waking moment by. my. side.  If I move to do anything, like go to the bathroom (dang you cranberry juice), she'll come in the bathroom to keep me company.  She sits so delicately on the side of the tub.  She'll even cross her legs and wait for me.  How nice.  For the past 2 nights, Penny has slept with me,  coughing in my face all night long.  Last night the only extended amount of sleep was from midnight to 2:30am.  That was it. (I must give Children's NyQuil some props for my nap.)  She was thirsty, or coughing, or moving, or running a 102* temperature that required ibuprofen or tylenol.  She was hot, then cold, then hot and then cold all over again.  She wanted the flannel sheets and then she didn't want the sheets.  She thought that my pillow was better than her (or Clyde's) three.  Then if I moved, she nestled her head into my neck, or threw her legs over my side.  6am couldn't come fast enough to get to move.  I wish I would've remembered to count the times I shoved her over into the middle of the bed. Being absolutely exhausted (and a smidge angry and grumpy...at this point what is the difference???) this morning didn't run as smoothly as I would have liked.  And to add an injury into the mix, I totally bonked my head on the van as I was getting into it, to take the male Wardlings to school.  I now have a nice goose egg on my head that hurts and will most likely turn purple, then green, then yellow.  That'll go nicely with the dark purple circles under my eyes and the cold/flu that I am developing.

faxes were sent & resent

We got a phone call from the pediatricians office, Thursday, telling us that both Libby and Jacob's 24 hour strept test was positive. Thus began the coordination of faxing prescriptions. Our pharmacy got one but not the other one. More phone calls were made. Another fax was sent. It took 5 hours to get it all right. oy!!
Wednesday night Penny awoke @ 3am- vomiting. Always lovely. She was also running a fever. That following morning, Josh began complaining of his throat hurting. I ended up taking Penny and Josh back to the Dr.s office Friday morning. Josh's rapid test was positive, while Penny's was negative. Penny's remained negative even for the 24 hour test. However, she has been running a fever all day and coughing her head off. Jacob and Libby both have loud atrocious coughs as well. I will be so glad when all this is over.

I still haven't passed my kidney stone and will be seeing my urologist this next week. joy.

quite a parade

I totally forgot that 3 of the 5 Wardlings had well check-ups this week. Thankfully the dr.s office called to remind me. And as of yet...no stone passing here. It took some serious coordination to schedule the appointments @ the same time when I scheduled them. When we checked in, the receptionists told me that for the future only one sibling appointment can be made @ a time. I asked about 2 back to back sibling appointments and they just said that if we didn't show, that was a huge chunk of time that they wouldn't be making money. I mean really the Pediatricians Office is still a business after all. I think there should be exceptions made for big families. (They are making alot of money off of us.) And- if they looked over our records of being patients, they would clearly see that we haven't missed any appointments and I have always rescheduled in time for them to reschedule other patients. Anyway- Libby hadn't been feeling well, complaining of sore throat and this nasty cough. I called and arranged for all 4 of them to be seen.
Joshua is 68 pounds, in the 60th percentile for height and weight.
Jacob is 48 pounds, in the 75th percentile for height and weight.
Penny is 40 pounds, the the 75th for weight and 95th in height.
Both Libby and Jacob tested negative for the rapid strep test. Jacob had a 102* temperature @ the appointment. (Viral junk) He was miserable. Then the nurse said that Josh needed 2 immunizations and Penny needed 3. Then they offered the flu shot and H1N1. I agreed to the immunizations and the regular flu, but not to the H1N1. Penny was all over the room during the check-ups. Of course the Wardlings faces dropped when I told them they were getting shots. I didn't realize that they needed them. We had determined that since our pediatricians office didn't have the flu shot for children older than 2 years in their office, in October, that we wouldn't get it. Jacob was very teary eyed and scared about getting a shot, but since he was sick, he couldn't get it. I thought this would make him happy, but lo- it didn't. By the end of the visit he was teary because he wasn't getting one. I couldn't win. So, tally time...1 flu shot for Erin and Libby, 3 shots for Josh, 4 for Penny, and Jacob escaped unscathed. I did spoil them with a milkshake after their shots.
As we were leaving the dr.'s office, one of the newer dr.'s to our practice, but older male pediatricians, while on his cell phone said, "Wow that's quite a parade!"

asheville

I miss Asheville tremendously. Clyde had planned for weeks for us to go on a trip back to Asheville. When plans got re-arranged, we ended up still going but taking all the Wardlings with us. We left Friday late afternoon, and spent the evening with Maylee and Jared, who live about 45 minutes south of Asheville. We had a great time chatting and loved the pancake breakfast! thanks guys! We reloaded the van and were off to Asheville mid morning on Saturday. We got into town and drove around showing the Wardlings the little resturant in Black Mountain that Clyde helped run, then drove into Swannanoa to JEC (juvenile evaluation center), another place of employment for Clyde. We then showed them the last apartment that we lived in while in Asheville. I wish we could've seen the pool, because we have a great story to tell about the night Libby was born. We drove all over town re-telling tales and re-living some memories. Man do I miss it. We went to the Farmer's market looking for our pal, Jeff, who makes the best soap ever. We tried our best not to eat at any name brand restaurants and had some wonderful food.

Sunday, after our continental breakfast drove around again, checking out AB Tech, other apartments we lived in, touring downtown. The weather was wet rainy, so we couldn't do as much touring as we wanted to do, especially with all the Wardlings.

We loved our hotel room, right off of Tunnel road. The original plan was to leave a few of the Wardlings with Maylee and Jared, but I really wanted them to see the mountains and Asheville. I wanted them to hear the stories Clyde and I had to tell. Like the time Clyde sold an R.E.M. boxed set to have money to go to the Atlanta Temple.

So we spent the extra money and got the Wardlings their own room. This was sweet! They had the room next door, and thanks to the conjoining door, we were still together.

We went to Frank's Pizzeria and saw Santa! Penny saw this gentleman, pointed and said, "ho! ho! ho!!" He was really nice telling her that this is what Santa did on the other days of the year and to be good, because Santa was watching. We just had to get a picture. Penny was in heaven.

Since Sunday was so rainy, we decided that we would go back downtown on Monday for our walking tour and for some more pictures. My body had another plan. I couldn't get to sleep Sunday night. I thought that I was getting a UTI. I was up and down going to the bathroom, when around 2am, or so, I started getting the extreme kidney pain. I knew instantly it was another kidney stone. I tried my best to be brave and it didn't go so well. I sat in a hot tub, letting the heat stay on my kidney. I felt horrible. The pain was so extreme. Clyde woke the kids up about 4:30am, so get packed up and to leave. I knew that I couldn't make it back to the Emerald City with that much pain. I took 4 ibuprofen and waddled to the car, vomiting again, once I made it, scaring the kids to death again. We did make it down the mountain to Marion, where we saw signs for a hospital. I pointed & Clyde took me there. Maylee had an appointment for some prenatal blood work (that's right she is expecting!!!) so she and Jared met us @ the ER to watch the Wardlings for us. Thanks guys!! The hospital was small and we got there @ the perfect time. I was the only ER patient. I was able to give them a urine sample, to which I had blood and elevated white blood count. They gave me and IV with some dilaudid (thanks Dawn for the correct spelling), which is supposed to be 10x's the strength of morphine. It made me loopy, and took the edge off, but I was still in pain. I refused a CT scan, due to the price and settled for an x-ray. To which the x-ray technician commented on my green hoodie, seeing Billy Graham, and how Billy Graham said that God's color was green. ok. So, since there were too many bones in the way, the stone couldn't be seen, so they drugged me up again, gave me some prescriptions for pain, nausea, and an antibiotic and sent me home. Clyde had the Rx's filled before we left Marion and we headed home. I pretty much slept yesterday away. Clyde had such Superman strength. I admired him for taking car of everything he did. What an amazing man I have!! Today I am still very sore. I remember Jacob saying, while we were waiting for the Rx's that he was "sure glad that Mom didn't die." I really scared them. The kidney stone pain felt like contractions. Having had given birth 5 times, 3 of them without the epidural, I understand pain, and let me confirm that a kidney stone pain is very similar. It just bites. The only difference is that after labor, I get a baby...after a kidney stone, I get a rice sized stone, pain meds, and paper strainers. yippee for me. I am still very sore and haven't passed the stone as of yet. I have however, heard something from Libby's mouth that I never expected to hear..."Mom do you need your strainer?" Because for the next few days, or until I pass the stone, I have to pee through a strainer, to see if I can catch it. glorious isn't it?

asheville vacation

grammy & papa visit

A coupla few weeks ago, Grammy and Papa came for a visit. They brought us some really cool Christmas presents. Jacob loves his Clone trooper helmet, which gets loads of use. We all loves our clothes. Penny was given some play food to go along with her new pink kitchen. She loves to bake and cook for all of us. Erin and Libby got something pink too, which I admit is glorious for car trips. Thank you, thank you!! We love Grammy & Papa visits. Both Clyde and Ed, aka Papa Edvis, are big Maryland basketball fans. We learned that Maryland and UNCG were playing against each other and bought tickets to see the game, and went while Ed anad Becki were here. Maryland dominated UNCG. I loved watching Clyde watch the game. It was an awesome afternoon.

maryland vs. uncg

retro week

This is retro photo week on facebook. Lots of friends have posted pictures of themselves, along with others on FB. I must say these pictures take me back to the good ole days of big hair and rotten fashion, both of which I participated. I don't know that I have the guts to put all my fashion fauxs on here, but I do have the guts to put up a few of Clyde's adorable pictures.

The one below is of Clyde when he lived in Myrtle Beach as a young fella. To keep him out of this pool, his parents told him that there were sharks in it. Needless to say, that he didn't go into the pool. Check out his entire body language...scared. to. death.
Clyde's cousin Riah posted this one on FB, to which I had to snag. Here Clyde is with Bam and a few of his cousins; Riah, Billy, and Blue.

The baptism photo. Check out how adorable Clyde is with the nice mustache of his Dad. tee hee!!

This happens to be one of my favorite pictures of my sweetheart. He is playing football in plaid pants. That's right folks...plaid pants. Hello 70's! This picture still haunts Clyde to this very day. He even wrote a paper on it in one of his literature classes @ UNC-G.

7lbs. 15oz.

Here is my new neice, C. Born today, weighing in @ 7lbs. 15 oz. How sweet! She is going home to one big sister and 3 big brothers. C is going be so loved! Congrats to my brother G & family!!

are you for real?

I have never been a Leno fan. ever. I soley stick to being a Letterman gal, so when it was announced that Leno was semi-retiring, I was pleased. I was also thrilled for Conan O'Brien to take Leno's spot. He is funnier than Leno. Let's face it I rarely stay up that late, and if I do manage to, and if I want to watch T.V., it had better be worthwile. Leno was out for me, for entertainment. So, for the past seven months, Leno has been on @ 8:30pm, and O'Brien @ 11:35pm. All was well in the brown house. I think Leno is such a baby for wanting his original showtime back. Conan, you have the support of the Wardlings.

sir??

Today, when Penny and I were leaving the gym, the gym clerk, said to me, "have a good day, sir." Sir? I looked like a sir?! I even said, "sir?" out loud. Within a few more steps, he sincerely apologized and tried to explain that he was on the phone to a man and was checking a man into the gym...yadda yadda. It got me thinking to whether or not I looked like a man. Na...there's no way I looked like a man. I had my hair in a little pony tail with a cute little headband on...not to mention all the girly workout clothes oh and I have boobs. Ok- whatever...

Today on my way to the bank, I saw this lady infront of me, in her red chevrolet, roll down her car window and hawk a loogey out of it. I was grossed out and yet surprisingly amazed, at how far that thing flew. Then again, maybe she was a he...people can't tell these days. oy!

second breakfast

In the film, Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Ring, there is a scene where Merry is talking to Pippin, about whether Aragorn knows about second breakfast. Merry is speaking in a worried tone. Hobbits of course love to eat. Since our school-aged Wardlings have been back to school, Penny has been asking for a second breakfast. She'll eat whatever we are eating for breakfast and then within an hour, she'll want more food. She always asks to eat @ chick-fil-a on the way home from speech. It isn't to play either because she is terrified of the chick-fil-a cow. She is hungry. Every once in a while, I'll stop to get her something and she gobbles it up like a piranha. Otherwise, she will eat a complete second breakfast of sorts, when we get home. (Her new favorite food is honey/butter bread.) Now, after her nap, she will eat a hearty lunch. Plus a snack when our male wardlings arrive home from school. She is just a hobbit wanting second breakfasts. Oh to have a fast metabolism.

clyde loves ashley

Oh how that man loves me!! I just assembled my Christmas present. Oh- how the hearts are flowing! Thank you Clyde!! This is perfectly wonderful! I love you!!