And the heat goes on...

Seriously. It all started with Fisher about three weeks ago. He came home from school and promptly fell asleep on the couch, waking up with a 103 fever. He was home from school until the following Thursday with a super high fever, headaches and no appetite. He even broke out in a rash, which the doctor chalked up to the fever, which was caused by a viral infection and there's nothing we can do but wait it out. Note: sick kids means mom is trapped at home all day/week long.

The next week the fever hit the twins. They too were down and out for at least five days. The bright side of this bout was that we didn't have to deal with them in Sunbeams on Sunday. They both ran high fevers all week and were just plain pathetic. They even both started barfing within a couple of hours of each other Tuesday night. No playgroup on Wednesday. Note #2: mom still trapped at home.

Tuesday Emma was complaining that she hurt all over and didn't want to go to school. I just thought she didn't want to go to school. I got a call Tuesday morning whilst in the middle of my grocery trip (remember I've been trapped at home for two weeks, so this was an absolutely necessary grocery trip) that Emma has a high fever and could I please come get her from school? She has actually been a fun little patient. She kind of takes care of herself... sometimes I even forget she's lying on the couch as I go about my day. But I'm still trapped at home.

Thankfully her fever seems to have broken today, her eyes are no longer dull and she is DRESSED!

Does this mean I can venture out of the house?

Woo hoo! Anyone want to go to lunch????

Case-ism of the week

I was handing Tess a napkin yesterday at lunchtime.

Case asks, "Can I have a Webkinz too mommy?"

Yeah, napkin and Webkinz have a similar ring, don't they?

Where Dreams Come True. Or not.

Out of the blue the other day Fisher came into the room and said, with some fear on his face, "Mom, I don't want my dreams to come true!"

Apparently he has been having scary dreams where Jarad and I turn into monsters (what does this say?), but then there's all this talk about Martin Luther King having a dream and how it's coming true.

At least he'll be happy leading a mediocre life. Isn't that what we all dream of?

Proud Mama

The kids' school has a program that emphasizes character education, and each quarter a boy and a girl from every class are recognized for being good examples of the character pillar that was being focused on. Last quarter it was "Caring" and Emma was voted by her class to be the most caring girl! Her buddy Trevor was voted most caring boy.

So this morning they held an assembly where all the kids were recognized and given a certificate. Emma really is a caring person. I'm proud of her, glad that others recognize her tender heart, and grateful I could be there for her special moment (thanks Erin for taking my pajama-clad twins at the last minute!).

ET Phone Home

We realized last weekend that our kids have never seen ET. Since Fisher has been sick since last Friday and has blown through our DVD library in that time, I decided to get ET for him to watch today while the twins were at playgroup and I was working. A few minutes ago he burst into my room with tears running down his face. He hopped up next to me on my bed (I mean my "office") and said, uncharacteristically quiet, "ET is a very sad movie." And then he just started sobbing.

Poor little guy. I had forgotten the part in the middle where ET dies, which was what he was crying about. And I just left him to his own five-year-old defenses to cope with this very sad movie! I did the same thing with Emma the first time she watched Bambi -- I happily set her up to watch our fun new movie while I got dinner on the table. Ten minutes later she's sobbing at my feet because Bambi's mom died!

I suppose I need to screen these "old" movies before I let my kids watch them, just like I would any new movie. Clearly my memory isn't as keen as I would like to think :).

Fisher told me he was sad because ET died, and I had to talk him into watching the rest of the movie with me. So then I sat there and bawled as Elliot bids goodbye to ET at the end.

ET is a sad movie after all.

A hike in the desert

To celebrate our last Saturday of freedom (freedom from having jam-packed Saturdays due to sports schedules, etc.) we took the kids on a hike the Saturday before they went back to school. Secretly I think Jarad just wanted to try out his new pack and this gave him an excuse to don it (it was his Christmas gift from me, and I overheard him telling my parents "this is may be the best Christmas gift I've ever received" - a huge compliment from a person who returns half the gifts I get him).The kids were on a quest for gold, since we were, after all, hiking the Treasure Loop in Lost Dutchman State Park.

I think I forget just how short the legs of a three year old are, and how many steps it takes them to walk a mile. We thought the 2.4 mile loop wouldn't be a problem, but we didn't quite make it all the way to the halfway mark before we turned around and went back down the hill.

I'm not sure about this, but I THINK maybe the pockets full of rocks we found on Fisher may have contributed to his desire to turn around :). Could have been the two ten-pounders (plus?) he was trying to manage. Notice in this picture one hand holding up his pants (too many rocks in his pockets) and the other trying to carry a couple of boulders.

Case has asked several times this week when we are going back to the desert. "Maybe there will be a treasure!"

Kiss This Guy

I re-fell in love with this Web site over the holidays when I heard Fisher singing "On the first day of Christmas, my turtle gave to me..."

I discovered this site long ago when the Internet was just gaining speed (I used to be an early adopter, believe it or not), so it's been around a long time. I think it's just plain hilarious. You can plug in any song you like and read what other people hear when they hear the song. For example, my niece had a roommate in college who thought the Elton John song "Tiny Dancer" said "hold me closer Tony Danza." I had a friend in college who had U2 singing about colors clashing and colliding in "the shellack" (how do you spell that word?) rather than in "blood shot eyes." Not really sure how he heard that one, but you get the point.

Anyway, if you want a laugh, check out www.kissthisguy.com (named after the often misheard Hendrix lyrics "excuse me while I kiss the sky).

Did I ever tell you that Fisher also thought God gave him an "ugly home, with parents kind and dear?"

Guilty of Blog Neglect

We've had such a fun-filled and busy holiday season, I know you'll all forgive me that it's January 4 and I haven't posted nary a picture OR changed my background to reflect that the holidays are, in fact, OVER!

Ya know that Verizon commercial where the guy turns off his lights and looks about to cry? That's normally 100% me when I'm taking down my Christmas decorations. But not this year. This year we headed up north to spend Christmas with my family, and boy oh boy did we have a WHITE (and coooooold) Christmas! So by the time we got back to the mid 50s and sunshine of Arizona, I was more than ready to get it all cleaned up and on with my new year. Ready and actually doing it, though, are two different things. So today I sit, still in the glow of my festively lit home, and gear up to do it tomorrow. I promise.

Instead, tonight I'll chronicle the last couple of weeks of unabashed holiday fun.

It all started Sunday before Christmas with the Curtis party at Grannie Annie's house. Grannie, as always, regaled the kids with the perfect gifts, all of which were immediately packed into bags for the long trip to Utah the next morning.



We couldn't have picked a worse day to travel. Between a nasty snow storm, four kids under eight and two newly potty-trained twins, it was a doozy. For those familiar with the drive, I'll summarize: It took us 13 hours to get to Nephi, when we decided to pack it in and get a hotel room -- the last one in town. We had reached Kanab in normal time with no complaints. In the two hours it took to get from Kanab to Panguitch (normally less than an hour) we hit a nasty storm and saw a semi and another car slide right into the ditch. At Panguitch miraculously the clouds lifted and the roads were dry enough to cut over to I-15. We thought we were home free. As we continued north it only got worse and I began to get concerned that we'd slip into the ditch and my four barefooted kids would have a rude welcome to a white Christmas! We were traveling between 20 and 30 mph on the freeway and once the sun went down we were done for. Poor Jarad had white knuckles, but was amazingly coolheaded. We decided to exit in Nephi and followed the signs to the Best Western. As we slid past the parking lot entrance we noticed the "No Vacancy" sign on and I was about to cry. But as I looked away, Jarad looked back and saw the "No" flicker off, then on again. The side door to the hotel front office opened and the woman working there was waving us in. They had just realized they had one room left when they saw us trying to pull in. The woman beckoning us in couldn't have looked more like an angel! It was truly an answer to our daylong prayers that we arrived in safety.

After a nutritious vending-machine feast of Pop Tarts, Ritz Bitz, peanut butter cookies and soda we tucked it in (three of us snuggled together in each queen-sized bed) and headed to Grandma and Grandpa's the next day. We didn't move the car for four days after we got there.

We spent the next week visiting, eating, Christmasing and playing with my parents, my sister and her kids and my niece and her little family. Can you believe my mother, who grew up in Salt Lake City just a few blocks from the Temple has NEVER been to see the lights at Temple Square? So we spent our last night there at the Museum of Church History and strolling around the temple grounds enjoying the lights. We even got to hear the pin drop in the Tabernacle. Well, SOME of us got to hear the pin drop. Right as it was about to drop my phone started ringing, and as I tried to silence it Case was yelling "I want to talk! I want to talk!" So anyone sitting near us probably did NOT get to hear anything but the acoustics of my son's voice.

In all, our visit went by way too fast! Even after all the drama of getting there, I can't WAIT to go back!

Emma has said many times that this was the BEST Christmas ever.

The kids and their snow fort.

I got doused with Fisher's snowball after this one was taken...The girls in their matching jammies on Christmas Eve.Case with Grandma and Grandpa reading the story of Christ's birth.

Case and Trent ham it up.Santa brought Emma a karaoke machine. Clearly it was a hit with ALL the kids (I didn't get any pics of the adults, but rest assured, the BIG kids had just as much fun!)

Case and Tess have a Buglefest on Grandma's counter with Ethan.I think they'd do just fine pushing a handcart, don't you?
The crew at Temple Square.