the family von-nerd

remember the von trapp family? well we're the family von nerd. at least in the bottom picture.

ryan and a couple of co-workers had their kids come to work today to check things out. because of safety restrictions, we aren't able to just "pop" into ryan's offices whenever the mood strikes.

so, we donned our safety glasses and took a tour of a few labs and offices. ryan showed us part of an experiment where they test flame speed. we also got to hold our hands under a test tube and watch the liquid boil from the heat in our hands. cool!
i should have used this photo for our christmas cards!

getting ready for christmas

"if i woke up with my head sewn to the carpet, i wouldn't be more surprised than i am right now."

tonite we worked on a gingerbread house (a real beauty, don't you think?) and listened to the griswold family prepare for their "fun, old-fashioned, family christmas".

a fun and messy night!

Ooh laa laa

for my birthday ryan and the girls gave me these two wonderful items. an iphone and warm slippers. i love them!
i also got to eat at a favorite place...pfchang's china bistro. yum!

i also had a bazillion lovely happy birthday wishes and cards and phone calls and fun presents from friends and family. i'm a lucky girl!

but guess what else? my mom and dad came to buffalo just for my birthday! we are having fun.

oh and one more thing...the doctor says we can get on with the radiation already. hooray for a clear mammogram!

bowling extravaganza

i do realize it has been a couple of weeks since ella's actual birthday, but we like to make birthdays last as long as possible around here.

so, we did a little bowling with a lot of little girls, ate a little pizza and a cupcake or two, opened a lot of fun presents and even played some arcade games.

it was a fun evening! ella was very excited and this is what she wore. there was no talking her out it. i tried. and tried. and tried.
happy 5th birthday to our ella girl!

puzzle mania

i picked up this puzzle for the girls to work on over the thanksgiving holiday.

they finished after school on wednesday!
(you have to look sideways)

so, ryan ran the girls to the store and they picked out the two below.

ella chose the deer puzzle. and afton chose the puppies. ry and aftie finished the puppies just a few hours ago.
they also did three other smaller puzzles.
my mom had us all working on a big puzzle when she visited us in october, and the girls have been begging for puzzles ever since. ryan's family and my family always had a big puzzle going over the holidays while we were growing up, so i suppose the tradition must live on!

five years old

i can't believe this girl is 5 years old.

ella had a good day and requested the following:

a pink heart cake with pink frosting.

a day filled with game playing.

lunch at mcdonald's crazy slide (playland).

pancakes for breakfast.
two ponytails.

i'm happy to report that all requests were fulfilled.

we sure love our ella-girl and wish her a wonderful year!

thanksgiving

we had a nice thanksgiving celebration with our friends, the chiapelli family. we ate and ate and the kids played and played. we even got to snuggle their new baby girl!
these are not our best photographs, but they show our true, silly, half-closed eyes, selves.

heaven...

this morning i've been feeling like there's a bit of heaven right here at our home.

thanksgiving was lovely,

we stayed home together,

ryan's home today,

ella's birthday is today,

and the weekend hasn't even begun! we still have that to look forward to.

i love being home with my little family, not having to worry about where we need to be or what we need to accomplish. it's all about being together and having fun.

book fair

ryan, aftie, ella and i made a gigantic airplane for our book fair display. it took us part of saturday and sunday and filled the entire entryway of our house.
the book fair theme was "destination: book fair". we had the kids do a coloring activity where they described a place they had traveled to in their reading. they did an amazing job. we hung them in the cafeteria around world maps. it looked great!
above is a sampling of what the book fair looked like.

and here is ella and our front lobby display.

ella's classroom happens to be right next to the front lobby. her teacher told me that every time they pass the display, ella smiles and tells everyone that "we made that airplane". her teacher said, "it's like a new experience everytime we pass by"! ella is obviously very proud of her family's airplane making abilities.

on a side note...parent teacher conferences coincide with the book fair. we are happy to report that aft and ell are doing great! they are such good girls and were amazing helpers over the past few days at the book fair. they spent a lot of time at school with me this past week and were such champs. we love our sweeties!

daddy-daughter activity night

ry and aft attended a pie making activity last night. they made apple pie, which neither of them like! but they gave it a good effort and the beautiful pie they brought home went into the freezer to be baked for thanksgiving.

for an after-activity dessert, they were served apple pie. ryan had some, but aftie said "no thank you"!
when i asked afton if they had a fun time she said, "what do you think?" "why wouldn't i have a fun time?"
well, alrighty then.

acorn squash-not a keeper

whenever i try out a new recipe, i ask ry and the girls if it's a keeper. tonite, i made fettucine alfredo with grilled shrimp (which is not new) and i roasted an acorn squash for a different vegetable than we usually have.

afton gagged on her squash, but managed to get three bites down-only with a promise of cold stone ice cream later.

ella declared the squash, "not a keeper" after nearly vomitting her microscopic squash bites.

seriously. i am not exaggerating on the gags and near vomits.

i remember gagging at the thought of having to eat some dinner items in my youth. in fact i still remember sitting at the dining table refusing to eat a pimento bologna sandwich. i must have been 3 or 4 years old. remember that mom?

a funny week

TV

i think we're finally down to only 2 televisions on right now. earlier all tvs were on and have been for most of the week with a bunch of sick people laying in front of them. blah. blah.

it's funny how sometimes you need a week of nothing and you get it in a different way than you expected. i've been home all week with sick people and with another surgery. more calcifications were found on my last mammogram. surprise, surprise. so the newest calcifications are now out and we're hoping there aren't anymore forever and ever. so we all stayed home today, even ryan. i declared a day of rest. and rest we have. in fact, we've all rested so much that it's now time for bed and everyone's awake!

and did you know that you can buy happiness for only $1.00 from the target dollar section? at least ella and afton think so. i picked up some hello kitty dry-erase boards today and they have been busy writing and erasing for hours!

a good message

thanks eliza!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYhDhiojBPA

hulse halloween

this is chester the racoon, from the Kissing Hand book. ella gets to bring him home from school for the week, because she is the star of the week. she wanted me to take lots and lots of pictures of her with chester. unfortunately ella has taken ill over the weekend, so i'm not sure how exciting chester's week will be.
friday night we went to the trunk or treat at church. our friends met up with us there and played games and trunk or treated.

friday afternoon was aftie's school party. here she is with her fun teacher dressed as cruella deville. he's a super-fun teacher who plays music in the classroom sometimes, which the kids totally love.
ella had her class party that morning, but i was unable to attend because i'm not a room mom for her class. but i secretly peeked my head in to get a quick look...and all looked well and fun and ella looked so cute in her blue fairy/pixie costume.
saturday, we planned to play with our friends. but ella wasn't feeling great and their family had been sick all week as well. so, we felt very sad but made the best of a lazy day at home together.

one important thing about halloween, was that aftie made part of her own costume. we saw a cat costume in the pottery barn kids catalog. part of the costume was a cute black skirt. aftie decided she'd like to make her own skirt. luckily, marmee was coming for a visit and could help aftie with the details of measuring, etc. but aft did all the sewing! way to go little sewing lady! the skirt turned out very well and she looked like a sweet little kitty.

pumpkin carving

ella's creepy pumpkin
scooping the guts

afton didn't want to touch the insides with bare hands

ella and her new pet kitty. meow.

a tag for my dad

this is a tag from tara, but i'm doing it because my dad commented on my lack of blogging!

Five North American Cities in Which I'd Seriously Consider Living:
1. NYC, NY
2. boulder, co
3. toronto, ca
4. east aurora, ny
5. monterey, ca

Five Songs to Which I Know all the Words:
1. the opening song from christmas vacation
2. "sisters" from white christmas
3. vacation -go gos
4. " "
5. " "

Five Foods I'd Wish to Have in Unlimited Quantities on a Desert Island:
1. pepperidge farm cookies
2. veggie burritos from taco time
3. kung pao shrimp
4. peanut butter
5. apples

Five Chores I Should Be Doing Right Now Instead of Blogging:
1. nothing, it's sunday
2.
3.
4.
5.

Five Childhood Friends I'd Love to See Again:
1. Neisha Hepworth
2. Kotie Mitchell
3. Natalie Boettcher
4.
5.

Now, five friends to tag (but please play even if you aren't tagged, and then let me know!):
1. Megan
2. kara
3. christi
4.
5.

quote

“Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.”
―Phyllis Diller

a quote i could not agree with more!

new artwork

aftie is a big fan of the daisy meadows fairy books. there are jewel fairies, rainbow fairies, holiday fairies, etc, etc, etc. shown above is her interpretation of the petal fairies. so cute!
aftie has drawn ella's halloween costume (blue fairy) and written instructions regarding hair, makeup, shoes, etc to be worn with the costume.

below is afton's cat costume and instructions. i had to break the bad news to her today regarding the cat treat bag from pottery barn kids. sold out. not a happy girl.

annual trip to the great pumpkin farm

every year we make a trip to the great pumpkin farm in clarence.

every year we take pictures with the pumpkins.

but not every year do we get to have our marmee, auntie meg and cousin taylor with us!

poor tay wasn't feeling 100%, but by the end of the visit, she had cheered up considerably.

we had a great time with marmee and the girls throughout the week.

we did puzzles.

we went shopping.

we had baking projects.

we stayed up late.

we had our toenails done.

we had lots of yummy dinners out.

we had a super fun time.

we love our idaho family! even the ones that couldn't visit us!

my cousin

this is my cousin, doc. he's serving our country in iraq. he and his little family are so brave. his wife, tori, is due with their second baby in just a month or so. she has spent the last 7 months without her husband. he will be able to come home for 15 days when she has their new baby boy. apparently doc has a pretty important job and was just promoted. the bridge in the background of this photo was framed in 4 hours! they are working hard, and it's hot, hot! around 135 degrees. seriously. can you imagine wearing all that gear and working in 135 degree weather?
my hat is off to doc and tori and all the other people who are part of the military. i'm grateful to them and i'm sure there are people all over the world who are grateful to them for building new bridges, roads, and schools.
please keep doc and tori in your prayers.

back on the wagon

alright, now that we have the cancer stuff almost finished up, it's time to start running and doing yoga and playing tennis again. it would be fair to say that i've slacked off over the summer. not completely, but mostly. and i recently learned that it is perfectly normal for women to gain weight after being diagnosed with breast cancer, so there! in fact, i was scheduled to participate in a study since i fit the bill, but decided to drop out due to my astonishing fear of needles and blood draws, etc.
so, feel free to send any motivating thoughts, pictures, stories, facts, etc!
love to all of you!

goodbye cancer!

short version...cancer is gone!

long version...i had a surgery to remove remaining calcifications a week or two ago. went to my follow-up appointment yesterday and the margins are clear! the margins refers to the area around the calcifications that they check to be sure there is no additional cancer.

so, i will start a 6 week round of radiation in a month and then perhaps take some medication and then i'm done. can you believe it?

we are so happy and relieved. it's been a long summer of worry, but we knew it would turn out alright.

all our love and thanks to each of you who sent positive thoughts our way, prayed for us, put my name on the prayer rolls of the temple, took our girls for long stretches of time, took our girls without a bit of warning, made me delicious dinner, brought me flowers, sent me cards, and listened to my sad story.

i have felt so much love from everyone and i thank you from the very very bottom of my heart. i love you all and hope i will be able to be a positive force when you are in need one day.

the newest star on the court!

ella started tennis lessons today! she has been soooooo excited to finally get on the court for some serious tennis. as you can see, she has been completely outfitted for the event. including new shoes. she did a really great job and was possibly the only kid out of 6 to hit the ball. not too shabby. she liked coach wayne and was one of two girls in the class. she is taking lessons at the club where i play. they have a really great kids program and excellent instructors. hopefully she'll like tennis well enough to continue playing throughout her life. it's a great sport and a great way to meet people.
and here's our star resting after a tough drill session.

coincidence?

on saturday ryan and i both wore red and white (not planned. seriously) and it was a nebraska football game day. the husker blood has finally seeped into my veins.
GO BIG RED!

i have peace like a river...

afton came home from school today asking if she could sing a song to me. "of course you can!!" said i. so she sang i have peace like a river. the three verses are as follows...

i have peace like a river in my soul
i have joy like a fountain in my soul
i have love like an ocean in my soul.

each verse repeats a few times and by the last verse, ella came and snuggled up to me as we listened to the last verse about love like an ocean. it nearly brought me to tears!

and this is our sweet ballerina. she had her first day of ballet yesterday. i felt like a "real-life"mom as we drove to her lessons. i steered with my knees and sewed her elastic straps on her shoes at the same time!!! the girls were amazed that i could drive with my knees like marmee! like mother, like daughter i suppose.

and here we have afton's most favorite accomplishment. cursive! she has been dying to learn to write in cursive. so hooray for 3rd grade. she practices day and night. literally. i've found her writing by the light of her nightlight the last couple of nights! she is loving school this year already. she has a friend from church in her class this year named grant. she said that "this is going to be a great year!"

on a side note, it's been fun that the richards and west families go to our school now. for a year or two afton was the only member of our church in her school. so she and grant are the only two members in 3rd grade, then monte is in 2nd, jack is in 1st and lilly, lydia and ella are the only kindergartners. it's not bad or terrible to be the only mormon kid at school because all the kids are really great. but it's just a little more fun when you have an association between church and school. we love heim elementary!!!

aaahhhhhh

now that the children are at school...

the beginning of the end...

today is the first day of school for both of our sweeties!

we've got backpacks, lunchbags, new clothes, new supplies and...new clogs!!!!! we all love them, except for ryan. he's sure someone will break an ankle and has repeatedly warned of running in "those shoes". all girls know that a rolled ankle is just a part of life when you have the cutest shoes on. here are the sweetest little things getting on the bus. thanks aftie for being such a great sister to ella-belle! afton helped her on the bus and helped her find a seat. so kind!

and you can see, i've had a really difficult time adjusting to no children at home.

our travels

our friends recently moved to erie, pennsylvania and we thought we'd better go check things out, since it's only an hour or two away. we went to this fun, but slow service, restaurant. it used to be a firehouse. the food was lovely and the decor was great. all old firehouse stuff. we loved being with our friends and wish they were only 10 minutes away.

ryan and i decided to zip up to toronto, an hour and a half the other way for a belated 10th anniversary celebration. we were definitely the toast of the town, with ryan limping down the street with a newly frozen wart on the bottom of his foot, and my recently-biopsied self feeling a little tired! we stayed on the harbourfront in a great hotel, had a delicious dinner, visited a crazy art gallery, and did a little window shopping. it was nice to get away for a bit.

on the cancer front...the biopsy came back positive for more dcis. basically more malignant cells. so tuesday is the day to meet with the surgeon and make a plan of action! i'm sure it will include another surgery and probably radiation. so, we'll be hoping they get it all this time and then we can be done with it.

thanks again for your love and prayers. we're so grateful to all of our friends and family. i know we are able to stay positive because there are so many prayers being said in our behalf. we love you!

starting over...sort of

a quick update for all my fans... (hee, hee)

today ry and i went to this place

it's called roswell park cancer institute. in my estimation, it's a pretty great place. they have lovely volunteers who open the doors for you, volunteer pianists and musicians playing in the lobby, the nicest nurses and technicians, a place for kids to make get-well cards for patients, complimentary water, coffe and tea, tables covered in paper for you to write your thoughts, etc.

so, we went to hear results on a new mri i had done last week. after four hours, many mammograms and an ultrasound, it has been determined that we need another biopsy. they see more calcifications and the biopsy will determine if they are malignant. the biopsy will be tomorrow and results from pathology should be available by friday.

it feels a bit like starting over. but we know that whatever the results are, we'll be fine and get it all taken care of.

a gigantic thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. also, a gigantic thank you to all my local loves for the babysitting and flowers and kind thoughts and lovely gifts. how did i get so lucky? i really have the most wonderful friends!

isn't she lovely?

and no, i'm not talking about me. although...

here's what we've been up to

the peeps and i have been keeping busy. we've been producing and presenting puppet shows... we've been serving tea in the garden...(ok, that's really just lunch in the backyard)

we've been hanging out at the beach...

also we've been...

to the movies a few times

playing with friends

swimming at the pool

riding bikes

and a few other fun things.

it's been a good summer, but we're really anxious to get our letters from the school to tell us who we'll have for teachers this next school year! everyday we cross our fingers that we'll have a letter in the mailbox, but not so far. maybe tomorrow!