Pancakes

Austin's favorite breakfast is pancakes.

He asks every morning if we are going to have pancakes.

He invented a game where he and his sisters pretend that they are pancakes!

Here are all my children stacked on top of each other like pancakes!

Ballet

Right now, I let my girls pick two sports to play per year . . . to keep life from getting too crazy. This doesn't include their piano or summer swimming lessons ( which they just have to do because Ben and I want them too!) or school clubs.

Anyway . . . this winter, Halle and Gwen picked ballet.

Here they are at their last session.

They really liked learning the steps and the correct terminology. It was fun to watch them practice their dance routine at home.

And they chose to wear matching shirts . . . I love that!

Ruffled Comforter

I have been eyeing ruffled comforters for months now. I LOVE them.

But to find one in WHITE was difficult . . . and finding one with the ruffle look I had in my head was such a challenge. So I MADE my own!

I used white sheets for all of it actually. It was easier to get the Queen size I needed by just using flat sheets for the top and the bottom. I used sheets for the ruffles too. I just cut them into 2 inch strips, pinned them on, and then began sewing. Sewing the ruffles was definitely the most time consuming part. If I could do it again . . . I think I would take the time to finish the strip edges. I didn't here. I wanted a "shabby look", but now I'm worried it might be too shabby! I just cut them out and sewed them on (I am so lazy like that).

But . . . I hear there might be a spray that you can spray on fabric to help it not fray???? If anyone can confirm that for me that would be great!

Once I got all the ruffles sewed onto the top piece, I added batting and the bottom piece. This could easily just be made into a duvet cover as well. That would probably be easier. But I went the comforter route and sewed batting in between and then finished the edges.

Here's to a finished project!

Disneyland

This week we surprised the kids with a trip to Disneyland!

We woke them up early on Monday morning, brought them downstairs where Disney music was playing, and handed them a ticket to Disneyland.

We told them that we were going "right now"!

I think they were a little confused at first, but once the reality of what we were doing set in . . . there was A LOT of excitement!

We had so much fun. The weather was really nice, the drive went well, the kids loved it. I ran into my old college roommate Sunshine! She and her family just happened to be staying at the same hotel, on the same floor, going to Disneyland the same time as us!

For February, we thought it was crazy busy though . . . it kind of felt like being there in the summer . . . but still so much fun . . . so much fun that Abby threw up at least four times on the way home. She is much better today though!

It's kind of hard to be home now and back to real life!

Pajama Party

Here is Gwen and her friend. They both got the SAME pajamas for Christmas. Gwen has been begging for a pajama party with her friend as soon as she discovered their matching pajamas!

This last Friday was Gwen's lucky day. We had dinner, a movie, popcorn, and nail painting.

She had the best night ever.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was so wonderful and relaxing this year. I loved every minute of it.

Thanksgiving dinner was going to be at my Grandma Norbergs' house. We were in charge of bringing all the pies . . . a tradition not too hard for us since Ben grew up with a desert table consisting of two pies per person in his family of 11 kids.

Earlier in the month our family had set up a "thankful tree" in our kitchen. We had "leaves" where everyone could write down the things they were thankful for. I think every time I asked Austin what he was thankful for, his answer was food!

Abby got all the grandkids on board to do a thanksgiving play. She had printed a script off the internet and then made hats for everyone.

Thanks for inviting us over Grandma!

Our First Weekend in November

Our November started off with a big bang this year!

To start it off, Halle turned 8 in October, which means her baptism was set for the first Saturday in November.

The night before the baptism, my parents took Ben & me and my sister Lisa and her husband Alex to a BYU basketball game. We had a good time! The perfect way to end a day dedicated to cooking for the baptism lunch.

Halle was so excited for this day.

After the baptism, we had a luncheon at our home. Halle had requested soup, so we had made several of her favorite kinds . . . along with some favorite rolls and treats.

She seemed to have enjoyed her day so much. Thank you so much to all of those who traveled to be with her on her special day. We appreciate the support so much!

Austin didn't seem to be feeling too well during the baptism, and I actually just put him down for a nap during the luncheon . . . and didn't think much of it. But by Sunday morning, it became obvious that something wasn't right.

Austin deals with eczema . . . so his skin is often red, itchy, and has scratches on it. The way it looks goes up and down. This weekend was definitely a down weekend. His skin looked awful.

But not only that, on Sunday morning, he wouldn't even let me touch his leg. He screamed as I put lotion on it. He didn't want to wear pants . . . and he was walking really weird. He was acting so differently toward his skin than usual. I took him to church though, not really sure what to do.

But by the time sacrament meeting was over, I realized I needed to take him home and at least call a doctor. He had a red rash on his leg that didn't look like eczema . . . but I had no idea what it could be.

Luckily my parents had come to church with me and were able to help me figure what to do.

I called a nurse. She suggested trying some Benadryl, and then if that didn't seem to make any difference, then to bring him in.

It didn't make any difference.

I took him into the doctor.

The doctor told me that Austin was by far the sickest boy he had seen all day! He said Austin had a skin infection called cellulitis and that since he seemed so ill, we needed to go to the hospital right away.

Austin was hooked up to some IV's for the antibiotics, had blood drawn. It was terrible at first. Austin was really good though . . . and I think he really liked watching movies from his bed. He watched Cars probably 20 times.

We were there for 2 days.

But I think Austin had a good time and has talked about going back. Funny kid!

We are so glad he got better as quick as he did. It turned out that the infection had not gotten into his blood stream or his joints . . . which is what the doctors were concerned about at first, and Austin would have needed more aggressive treatments. A doctor told me if it had gotten into his joints he would have problems the rest of his life. But those things didn't happen!

We feel lucky. He responded well to his medicine.

But what a whirlwind weekend!

A couple other sicknesses I didn't mention that happened that weekend . . . Abby tested positive for strep throat the day before the baptism . . . she barely made the "24 hour"

antibiotic deadline for Saturday morning . . . so she was still able to go and give the talk she had prepared.

Gwen had told me that her ear hurt during the baptism events, so I gave her some medicine, and since she didn't really talk about it . . . I didn't worry about it. That night she didn't sleep well, but then she acted okay during the day . . . and eventually even said it didn't hurt.

But then, the first night I was in the hospital with Austin, Gwen complained about her ear some more to Ben. So Monday morning Ben and his mom Kristine took her in to the doctor and she not only had an ear infection in one ear . . . but one in the other one too! Poor girl.

It's alway feast or famine isn't it!

Thank you mom and dad and Kristine for helping with the girls that night.

Thanks for all the pictures Dad!