100th

This year I:

Turned 30
Went crazy
Went to therapy
Learned to chill out
Stopped going to therapy
Went to Disneyland
Got a flat iron
Got 3 pairs of Rocket Dogs
Went to the beach
Dug a plethora of dandelions out of my lawn
Read a lot of books
Said goodbye to some friends
Studied the Book of Mormon
Taught Gospel Doctrine
Prepared approximately 1,014 meals
Attended a wedding
Washed 400,000,000 loads of laundry
Paid for pumpkins with $20 in quarters
Had about 200 headaches
Rode in an ambulance
Ate a banana and puked
Sprained my ankle by standing on one foot and bending down (What the??)
Counted my blessings
Wrote (with a little help from Nils) 100 blog posts

I look forward to 2009! Happy New Year!

2008 Rocks.

This is my version of "The Year in Pictures - 2008". Check it out. The captions are to the left and you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move from image to image.

Ticketmaster? No thanks.

I'm sorry to Katrina for posting so soon after she did (she's asleep right now) but I've got a dilemma. Call me what you will but I've always wanted to see a Monster truck show. What's not to love about unnaturally gigantic trucks with seven foot wheels and 8 gajillion horsepower engines crushing tiny helpless cars and flinging mud. All this and permanent hearing loss, too. How exciting! Enter: STEEL THUNDER!



Anders and I try to have a boys night out every month and I heard the radio commercial for the Steel Thunder tour coming this weekend. Adults: $11.50, kids: $5. $16.50. I can handle that. I tell Anders about the big event and he's totally excited. I log on to buy tickets this morning and here's what I get:

Tickets (Steel Thunder) ADULT-ADV US $11.50 x 1
Total Building Facility Charge(s) US $4.00 x 1
Total Convenience Charge(s) US $5.90 x 1

Childs Advance purchase ticket US $5.00 x 1
Total Building Facility Charge(s) US $3.00 x 1
Total Convenience Charge(s) US $4.10 x 1

Order Processing Charge(s) US $5.10
Will Call No Charge

TOTAL CHARGES US $38.60

Now, math is not my strong suit but I believe that's a 233% increase over the advertised ticket price. WHAT!!!? So here's my question - is there a cheaper way? I've looked on eBay, KSL, stubhub and several other sites. Nothing. I read that buying tickets at the venue will save you from ticketmaster's fees but which ones? Thanks for any input.

Anybody else want to head to the monster truck show Friday or Saturday?

I'm in Love...

...with my shoes. I got my first pair of Rocket Dogs almost four years ago, and my relationship with this brand of shoe has been nothing short of magnificent. I just got these babies for $12.50, which just adds to my extreme love of them. Man, I should get some free shoes for this.

Christmas Day

We woke up this morning to the sound of presents being torn open. Addie woke up first and just started getting to work. I think it's cute that she was so excited. She didn't get too far before we all joined her, and we had a grand time. Santa was good to our family!

I tried making monkey bread and it was a horrible disaster. I don't have a bundt pan, so I used a springform pan with a flute tube attachment. I guess I didn't get it matched up right, because the caramel sauce dripped out the bottom of the pan and all over the bottom of the oven, resulting in tons of smoke and every smoke detector in the house going off. It was a Christmas miracle! I'm getting a bundt pan for next year.

Anders mostly got Legos, and also some Martian Matter. He spent a good amount of time dissecting aliens today.

Aani was a little cranky from being woken up so early, but once she found Elmo on the tree she was cool with it.

Addie: Give this girl a pony and she's a happy camper. She also got princess barbies and she's in love with them.I just really like the look on my face in this picture. Maybe I was thinking about the monkey bread.

We had a late night last night with family, so Nils and I have felt semi-conscious all day. It's been a fun and relaxing day. We all bundled up and went sledding this afternoon and then had another late night with family. I think that's the best part of Christmas.

Results

We got the results from the EEG and MRI, and they were both normal. So this is good news, but doesn't tell us anything.

Excuse me while I gripe. We called the hospital (when no one called us) to get the results and they said, "oh, they were normal so that's why no one called you." Is that weird? Shouldn't they call you no matter what the result is? It's not like it's important or anything. Also, I asked what we do next, like do we talk to the doctor again, is there any sort of follow-up, etc. and the lady seemed confused that I would ask that. I requested that the neurologist call me so we can talk about it and I'm still waiting. Should I be a squeaky wheel?

Having said that, I am very thankful that they were normal. Anders has been acting totally normal from the moment he came out of the seizure, so we're going to assume it was a freaky one-time incident. An expensive freaky one-time incident. But we love him, so we'll pay.

'Cause if we didn't love him we wouldn't... never mind. Me sleepy.

Mmmm. Brownie Powder.

Well, to preface this post, I think you should read this post before you continue further. Just so you know what kind of a mom you're dealing with.

We had a crazy morning, trying to get Christmas stuff ready for Anders' last day of school before the break, and a doctor appointment for Aani, which included unexpected shots. When it was time to get Anders from school it was an absolute blizzard outside. So we've spent the remainder of the day inside, feeling a teensy bit couped up. Then daddy came home and promptly spent the remainder of the evening shoveling. My point?
I was at the point of no return.

Here's how it went down. We've been getting our neighbor Christmas gifts ready. If you're my neighbor, don't read this if you don't want to know that we're giving you brownie mix. But not just any brownie mix. Ghirardelli Triple Chocolate brownie mix. It's the best darn brownie mix we ever did taste, and our family is addicted to it. We pass the addiction torch on to you. And you're welcome.

Anyway, I was being neglectful and on the computer instead of tending to my little darlings. It took me a few minutes to realize that Aani was being quiet. Last night we saw one of the bags of brownie mix was open, so we set it aside but left it on the floor. Dersky!

I took her upstairs and thought I'd vacuum it up after dinner. After dinner we came downstairs and before I knew what was happening, this was going on. I told them to go for it. Life's too short to not lick brownie mix off the carpet, ya know?I like the action shot of Addie getting ready to lick the carpet. And she did dress herself today in case you're wondering.

Life's too short to not wear florals and animal prints together.

Today's lesson: When you've run out of steam, dump brownie mix on the floor and let the kiddies lick it up. They'll really like it.

Whassa happenin, hot stuff?

This happened yesterday. It was one of those days when you stay home all day and try to restore the house to a decent level of sanitation after the stomach flu has invaded. And try to think of really long run-on sentences. I was cleaning the bathrooms when Anders and Addie got really excited at the prospect of cleaning the toilets. They thought it was the coolest thing ever. I'm gonna work this new found passion of theirs while I can.
This is what happens when Mommy supervises the construction of the gingerbread house: It's structurally unsound and she has to hold the roof on. Then she gets sick of waiting for it to dry, so she gives up and tells everyone to just eat the thing. Here's what happens when you try to drive to the gym in this kind of weather: It takes you 30 minutes to get 1/3 of the way there. You call said gym daycare to tell them the roads are bad and you'd like to cancel. No, they say, because it's ten minutes before your appointment, so if you cancel we'll charge you $2 per kid. So to save yourself six lousy bucks you keep driving. When you're 2/3 of the way there and another 30 minutes have passed, you call again in a deliriously angry rage and tell them their cancellation policy sucks and to throw you a frickin bone. Then they cancel your appointment because you're 30 minutes late anyway.

Not a big fan of winter.

Thumbs Down

Oprah, Oprah, Oprah. Why do you have such bad taste in books?

In this book's defense, it reads like poetry. The story is compelling.

Then it ends and you're left wondering if you missed something, if you're thick in the head or what.

I just finished a few minutes ago and I'm very confused.

Making Cookies with Grandma

Yesterday while we were at Katrina's mom's house the kids helped Grandma make some Christmas cookies. I think they all had a good time and the kids are still reaping the benefits. We're really lucky to live close to Katrina's mom and lucky that she's so involved with them. She cooks us up a good meal every Sunday night and the kids love playing with Grandma.

EEG & MRI

Today was Anders' EEG and MRI. We had to keep him up until midnight last night and wake him up at 4 o'clock this morning so he'd be sleep deprived. So we were (are) sleep deprived. The EEG went well, in that he actually fell asleep after about 15 minutes. He looked really cute with all those electrodes plastered to his head. Really. I'm sad I forgot the camera in my sleep deprived haze.

The MRI was a couple hours later, and that whole process really sucks. He had to be sedated, which means an IV. To say Anders doesn't do well with needles would be a gross understatement. He completely freaks out. There are no words to describe it, but he freaks out so bad that I sit there and bawl my eyes out with him. They sedated him at noon-ish. He's still asleep and I expect he'll sleep right on through the night. We'll get the results from both tests sometime next week. I never want to go to that hospital again. It's depressing and chaotic and I have been really unimpressed with their bedside manner...at a Children's Hospital. I don't want to talk about it anymore.

Tomorrow is a new day....

"Cheeeeeese!"

Aani cracks us up. When a camera is pointed at her she squints and smiles and says "Cheeee!" She also discovered sour cream tonight and consumed enough to make anyone sick. Let's hope I'm wrong about that.

Chocolate Milk and Reindeer

Chocolate milk spilled all over the place at lunchtime. It spilled on the counter and dripped into drawers and splattered all over the floor, and I wanted to sit in a corner and rock back and forth for awhile. Because you can't just wipe up chocolate milk. It makes the whole floor sticky and I hate sticky floors. I watched it drip, drip, drip...and knew I'd have to mop. But I just mopped a couple of days ago. The injustice of it was a bit discouraging.

So I mopped. The floor was clean for about 15 minutes. It was nice.

I just tucked Anders in, and he asked me to stay with him for awhile. I laid down with him and we talked for a half-hour about school and reindeer. I realized I don't get to just talk with him during the day because of everything else there is to do. Like keeping the little whipper-snappers fed, watered and loved and then cleaning up after them. It takes those one-on-one moments to remind me that my kids are awesome, and they're growing up. And when it's all said and done, I'm not going to care if my kitchen floor was sticky, am I?

I just like it so much when it's clean.

Address, Please!

Hey everyone,

We're going to be grown-ups this year and send out Christmas cards. I think we've done it a couple of times, but only to like 5 people because we didn't know more people than that. Heh, heh...heh. And we bought cards and on the inside pasted a picture of us that we printed on the computer. That was back in the day before Costco had their easy-as-pie Christmas card maker.

The reason I'm over-sharing about this is because last year we got lots and lots and lots of Christmas cards from people just like you, and it was just plain delightful. Since we sincerely enjoyed getting cards from friends and family, we decided to spread the love and hop on the bandwagon.

So I need addresses, STAT!

Please send them to: nilsandkatrina@gmail.com

Thankya!

Before and After

I was looking through old photo folders and I'm amazed at what a difference a couple of years makes.

Dec. 2006- such a cute little round face

Dec. 2008- still a cute face, just not as round

Dec. 2006- her hair would not growDec. 2008- long, thick piggy tails

This was a year ago, since 2 years ago she was but a wee embryo

Dec. 2008- still cute as heck, but she is a total maniac

Sometimes the days seem endless- usually around 3:30 for some reason. Looking at pictures from just a couple of years ago makes me realize the days actually whiz past, and if I'm not looking I'll miss it all.

Thank goodness the world has gone digital- it's so much easier to capture life.

The Saratoga Springs Sunset

We were putting up our pathetic strings of Christmas lights outside tonight (definitely not worth posting a picture) as the sun was setting. For the bottom shot I got on top of our roof. It's amazing how much nicer the view is ten or fifteen feet higher.

For Love of the Haiku

I have a new past time- composing haikus. You should try it. Pick a subject, and come up with a haiku using this criteria:

3 unrhymed lines of verse using five, seven and five syllables. Traditional Japanese haikus are about nature.

I like to pick other topics cuz it's funner. That's right- I said funner.
And I'm not Japanese, far as I know. Although my brother was born in Okinawa.

For your reading pleasure:

My children stalk me
They follow me all around
Solitude is grand

How I love my bed
It's oh-so warm and snuggly
Sleeping is such fun

I pity da foo
Who messes wit Mister T
Gold chains and mohawks

Nils wrote the last one. He's a haiku master.

FHE

For tonight's FHE, we:
decorated gingerbread cookies

and ate them.

We decorated the Christmas tree

and stared in awe.