Bobcat

Ben is in Cub Scouts now and he is loving it. This week he earned his Bobcat. Our Ward has a tradition that the scout has to "bob for ducks", like bobbing for apples, and get all the ducks with the letters to spell Bobcat. Ben actually got them all in the right spelling order, which no one has ever done before.

I'm a little surprised he was able to do it with no front teeth. Way to go Ben!

Bloody December

This past Tuesday was Ember's winter orchestra concert, and she did great! (so I'm told... I wasn't there). She's in intermediate orchestra now and her skills are so much better than last year. She loves playing too, which makes me happy.


Now as to WHY I wasn't there... the boy.

In November he had his gymnastics accident which knocked out his two front teeth. It was very bloody, I was kinda freaking out in the gym.

In December:
1. He was injured at a cub scouts service project picking up garbage in the neighborhood. He stood up under something (he doesn't know what it was, and the scout leader didn't see anything either) but when he stood up, he was cut in three places on his head and bleeding everywhere. One of the cuts was pretty serious, and there was a huge knot the size of a small lime on the back of his head.

2. He was jumping on the trampoline at gymnastics and ripped his big toenail in half. Again, more bleeding.

3. Finally (I HOPE!) this Tuesday after school, a friend lost his temper and threw a toy at Ben's head. He got another gash that bled profusely, but this one was more serious than the first one and I was sure it would require stitches. So while Ember was playing beautifully at her orchestra concert, Ben and I were at the Urgent Care.

Ben had better be finished getting injured for the month, we can't afford any more urgent care co-pays when we're trying to buy Christmas presents.

Funny story... and by funny, I mean I'm calling the medical board and I'm still pissed off kind of funny... the doctor that night said no stitches, I'll just glue it back together. Well his hand was shaky and he didn't inspire confidence (so maybe I didn't want his hands doing stitches anyway?). Most of the glue pooled up in a mass of blood and hair, making a gigantic blob. SOME of the glue went into the wound, but because it was such a small amount, and because the blood/glue/blob was pulling on it, the wound re-opened. I didn't notice it until after school the next day when Ben said his head was hurting. Sure enough, it was wet with blood again. I asked for stitches and was talked out of it by a know-it-all doctor. I should have insisted, I have that right, and he ignored me. We went back to that same urgent care the next night to have it repaired, but they said it was too late... since it was re-opened it had scabbed over, and because there was glue under the scab, there was nothing they could do. Except wait for his hair to grow out so we can cut that marble off his head and hope it doesn't pull the skin apart again. Now he'll have an even bigger scar than he would have had in the first place! This is the same urgent care where I had to INSIST that Grace get chest x-rays even though they didn't think they were necessary, and they found fluid in the lungs and diagnosed pneumonia.

Attention doctors: Mom is ALWAYS right.

Attention Moms: Never let doctors push you around.

Too big too fast

This past week in Cub Scouts, Ben learned to tie a tie. The days of the Deseret Book zipper tie's are over. Ben raided Dad's closet to find a red one, because it's a Christmas color, and proceeded to tie it himself. It only took 3 or 4 tries to get it right, but he did a great job! You can't really see how long the tie is on him because of his suit coat, but it's adorable.

Annual Lawlor Christmas Party

Saturday was the Lawlor family Christmas party with all of Austin's extended family (151 great-grandkids... that's a lot of people). Part of the traditional gathering is acting out the nativity. My kids were angels (ha! The irony!) and they were cute. I wasn't there, but here's some pictures to prove it.

Don't they look angelic?

Decorating fiends

Family Home Evening tonight was spent decorating the Christmas tree. The kids were frustrated with me because I tried to color-coordinate the tree this year. I had all the silver and red ornaments put up before they got home from school, so all they had to do was put the family / sentimental ornaments in the spaces in-between. They don't like it as much as I do, but I think the tree turned out fabulous. They wanted a lot more colors and a lot more ornaments made out of construction paper. Those are some of my favorite, and we put them up every year, but this year the tree was mine. In the end they were just as excited about the finished product as I was. The rest of the room looks just as festive, I'm so excited for Christmas!

p.s., I counted six nativity scenes in the living room, not counting the ornaments on the tree. The season isn't about the color-coordinated tree, it's about the Savior. I'll make sure that my kids remember that, every day.

The toothless wonder

Last Monday Ben had an accident at his gymnastics class. Doing floor exercises, his knee came up and hit his chin, knocking his teeth together so hard that his two front teeth were almost knocked out. His gums were ripped, he was bleeding everywhere, and he freaked me out.

A few days later... his teeth fell out. They weren't even loose before, but he lost them just in time for Christmas! Now he can sing a Christmas song that few get the chance to sing :)



To him, the cool part is that the Tooth Fairy brought TWO dollars this time.

Blessing Dresses

This past Sunday the twins were blessed and got to wear the dresses I made. Thankfully they didn't outgrow them! Unfortunately it's hard to see the dresses in this picture because they're all wrapped up in the blankets (which I also made). A better picture will be coming soon.

Congrats to you guys, the girls are gorgeous!

Halloween Costumes

Sorry this is a little late, I've been a lazy blogger.

This year Ben wanted to be a vampire, and I had to be his vampire Mom. I think it works for us.


Grace is a fairy princess, Ben is a vampire, and Ember is an Indian.

My least favorite chore

I hate to cook. I really hate it. Some women like to find new recipes, try new things, find joy or fulfillment in providing nourishment to their families... that is not me. I don't even like making sandwiches. Putting something in the crock pot so it will cook itself is just irritating. I hate can openers, I hate twist ties, I hate spatulas.

And the food I cook doesn't even taste good. It only tastes good if someone else made it. I hate the smell of cooking meat, steaming vegetables, simmering soups or sauces. Awhile ago I watched Julie and Julia and just laughed, because I have a hard time believing that women like that actually exist. I'm not a bad cook, my husband tells me I'm good at it. But I'd rather clean bathrooms than prepare a meal for my family.

Do you like cooking? And what is YOUR least favorite chore?

Disneyland

We took the kids to Disneyland this year and had so much fun. It was all decked out for Halloween, and the Haunted Mansion was changed to the Nightmare Before Christmas theme. The great thing was that it rained all day, just a light drizzle (it poured a couple times) so all the lines were really short. We waited in maybe 3 lines, but otherwise we just walked onto any ride we wanted.

This was Grace's first trip to Disneyland and she was enchantated. And she lasted the whole day, 8am to 9:30 pm! We had to encourage her to stay just a little bit longer, because we wanted to watch the World of Color laser light show at the end of the night. She said it was worth it :)





This thing was cool... a giant ball sitting on a pedestal with running water. If you push hard enough, you can change the direction the ball is spinning. Ben really got into it.

Grace & Ember got to meet Tinkerbelle


We did all the classic kids rides for Grace, but we also talked Ember and Ben into doing the scarier rides. They did Indiana Jones, Tower of Terror, and even Space Mountain! Ember said it made her feel very brave and grown-up to do such scary rides. Even Grace did the Tower of Terror and didn't cry, although she said she didn't like it.

Grace got to meet three princesses, which made her day.

Even waiting in line was fun, because there were no lines!
We basically walked onto any ride we wanted to.

We had a blast, but Mom and Dad are worn out. Because the steps were slippery on one of the rides I twisted my knee and I'm walking with a limp. Plus earlier in the week I got a bladder infection and a toothache (I think I lost a filling). I was so ready for this vacation to be over. I'm glad the kids had fun though, I'd do it all again just for them.

Grace-isms

In the desert, in the middle of nowhere, I hear a whisper... "I have to go to the bathroom."

Great.

Then she tells Grandma, "I can see your taste bugs."

First Annual Girl's Weekend in the Mountains

Vicki has six sons and one daughter. Her daughter and the wives of her sons all gathered at the cabin in Overgaard to spend a girls-only weekend. Not that we don't love those sons of hers, but it's nice to just be with the girls :) We spent the weekend talking and crafting, mostly making cute hair bows for ourselves and our daughters. Celeste was in charge of the food and did a FABULOUS job. She even made everyone a customized omelet on Sunday morning.

While we were there we also had the opportunity to drive up to the Stake Center in Taylor and attend the General Relief Society Broadcast together. The talks were inspiring, and I'm glad I could share that with the girls. I really do hope this becomes an annual trip, it was so much fun!

Celeste (holding Adria), Me, Noelle, Vicki, Cindy, Shelley, and Sarah.

This is almost all of the hair bows we made.

What do you call a cow with a twitch?

Beef Jerky!

Ha! I love Laffy Taffy.

WHY?

Why is it that I'm the one who has to scrub the black marks out of the carpet, vacuum all the floors, wash every tiny windowpane in the french doors, scrub the caked on grime behind the kitchen sink, pick up and match all the shoes under the kitchen table, put away the legos I find in every corner of the house, do all the shopping and cupboard & fridge organizing, plan every meal, wash every dirty sock, dust every corner and organize every pile? WHY?

And don't tell me it's because I'm the Mom, or I'll poke you in the eye.

School Pictures

School pictures came home today and they look awesome!
I especially like Grace's smile.