Buckley Christmas 2016

The annual Christmas party was set for this Friday and as we visited with Dad throughout the week he was excited to tell us all about how he started doing Family History work and how he watched a YouTube video titled Find 30 Names in 30 Minutes. They offered to watch all the grandkids so we could go to the temple, but I decided that it would be nice if they could go with us. We haven't all been in the temple together since Jake and Marcee's sealing. So I coordinated it with Jake and Nessa, arranged for a babysitter for my kids and Anson, and called the temple to make an appointment. It was a good experience.

Steve got called in to work for the afternoon. So I put the boys down for a nap in anticipation of the party that evening. Then the girls and I folded and put away laundry and I did their hair as we visited. It was wonderful. 

When Marcus woke-up we put him in the little Santa suit that all my kids wore for their first Christmas except Andrew (he was too small 7 weeks old at his first Christmas).

We headed for Mt Green around 4. When we arrived we took some family photos then we had dinner.

Following dinner Mimi let the kids open pajamas and of course they all changed into them and we tried to get the kids to play downstairs with a new car track Mimi got while we played Deal or no Deal again. After each of the adults went we challenged Dad to do the game and told him we'd all pitch in to cover his winnings. He got down to two boxes $550 and $1 and he ended up with the $1. . .whew he almost broke our banks. ;)

The kids were having a rough night so it was a bit more scattered this year, but we still have fun and Mom & Dad were very generous. There was a very frantic frenzy when the kids opened their presents and proved Andrew's shirt to be true (it said, "Santa is Great, but I've got Grandma & Grandpa).

Grandpa played a mini version of the game with the kids. Ellie was determined to get the $100 max. She got down to two boxes $1 and $100 and Grandpa offered her $50 (which all the other kids took much earlier in the game). She looked at me and I told her it was totally her decision but she had to understand there was a chance she could get $1. She chose to keep her box and it did have the $1. She didn't cry about it or anything. I was so proud of her for owning her decision. Grandpa later snuck her $40.

The party ended and we said good night to everyone. Then we decided to shovel their driveway before we left. It was a good arm workout and hopefully saved Dad a little bit of work.

Naughty or Nice, Checking it Twice

It's always fun to reflect as I look through pictures to prepare the Christmas card. We've had some nice and not so nice moments this year and hope you enjoy reading the little snippet about each child (disclaimer: there is no intended implication of guilt, naughty or nice in the write-ups).

We're grateful for the gift of redeeming love in our life both for and from our children and for the redeeming love of our Heavenly Father who sent His Son a newborn babe. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved" (John 3:16-17).

Merry Christmas!

Love the Moores--Steve, Britney, Ellie, Lila, Andrew & Marcus

Mommy Daugher Doctor Dates

Last Thursday I took Lila to the orthodontist before school. It was just the two of us and we had some fun chats to and from. She told me that Dec 21st is the first day of winter and also the last day of school so we should go skiing the next day. I asked her why she liked skiing and she said she liked going down the hill and seeing all the city lights as they drove home (they did evening lessons last year). After meeting with the orthodontist I realized the girls, each of which are supposed to see him every 6 months, are spread out 3 months apart and the orthodontist doesn't want to me to move one that much right now because he wants to keep an eye on their mouths/teeth. So I guess I'll be driving there every three months and enjoy the one-on-one chats with the girls.

Yesterday I took Ellie to the dermatologist she's had a scalp issue since this summer and it just isn't completely clearing up and her ears started bleeding around her new earrings. He told us to use the prescription shampoo more frequently (every-other-day) and the scalp should clear up in a couple of weeks. He thinks her ears are sensitive to the metal in the earrings and told us to get some plastic or gold earrings. So after dropping Lila off at dance last night (the drop-off involved delivering our last 12 days of Christmas gift, library stop, and a drive through the city Christmas lights before taking her to dance. They all love driving through the lights, but I especially love the excitement Andrew shows for it-this time he told me it was a great idea like quesadillas;) . . . anyway, after all that I took Ellie to Claire's to get some more earrings. We found some gold plated earrings and it seems to be helping already. Since we were at the mall we made a quick stop at the aquarium (benefit of having a membership) to pet the sting rays and Ellie actually got to touch a shark this time too.

Today I checked Lila out of school before lunch and ran her to the doctor to do a urine sample just to make sure it's clear before we start the low dose antibiotic. Afterwards I took her to lunch at her place of choice, pizza pie cafe. Then we went to the dentist to get two teeth pulled, which was recommended by the orthodontist. When we got there the paperwork they had showed the canine teeth and I thought it was the lateral teeth so I asked them to call the orthodontist and apologized for the trouble. The dentist was nice and said don't apologize I would do the same if it was my kid. He went ahead and numbed her since he would be pulling teeth no matter what. She was so nervous and they asked if she wanted the gas, but I held her hand and she did great. Sure enough the orthodontist had sent over the paperwork for the wrong teeth and he apologized. They're out and she's awaiting the tooth fairies special visit tonight because it is her first time getting teeth pulled and Ellie got a special gift. Good thing Mom got a note off to the tooth fairy just in time and I think she is going to bring some clip on earrings for her (what a coincidence since we were at Claire's last night;).

Man I've felt like I spend a lot of time running kids to doctors, dentists, orthodontists, school, dance etc., it can be crazy and hectic at times, but I'm grateful for the small windows it provides for some-one-on-one time and hope the kids will remember those special moments.

I need to give a shout out to Steve who is great and takes the boys as much as possible for me to do this or does morning carpool runs by himself with all of the kids since I try to schedule most of the appointments before school. He is wonderful and is aware of how taxing it can be to run the kids so much and tries to make sure I don't get lost in the shuffle. Love him!!

Terrific Tuesday

Today was wonderful. Recently I've felt like life is just flying by in a blur with the vertigo and sickness I've been kind of in a fog and then there has just been a lot to do making life almost feel like an out of body experience which I don't like. I want to enjoy and savor every moment. And today was a wonderful day. Andrew and I played with a tape measure for a couple of hours measuring everything including ourselves stretched out on the ground. After measuring me Andrew said, "you're 45 cents mom." :) Steve came home at lunch and I was able to get my hair cut and enjoy lunch with him. When the girls got home from school I was feeling relaxed and not worried about what needed to be done next. They had an after school snack, we talked about school and Ellie's field trip that did not go well. They had to wait at the movie theater 45 minutes for another school to show up before they started the movie--then 5 minutes after they arrived at the Natural History Museum the power went out. She was quite dramatic about it. I told her it was a bummer that all these things happened, but did she enjoy the movie? yes, yes the movie was good. And we've been to the Natural History Museum several times (we used to have a pass) so at least she didn't miss out on something completely new. It's a hard job as a Mom to be sympathetic, but also help them see the positive side of things. Ellie helped Lila study vocabulary while they finished snacking then they dusted and Ellie finished her book report. While dinner was cooking we turned on some Christmas music and the kids just danced and laughed. Andrew didn't have a shirt on because his took a dunk in the toilet last time he went to the bathroom and he refused to put on another shirt. He would ask each of the girls to dance with him and then they were jumping over the music table. It was like we didn't have a care in the world, a magical time. We ate dinner and went to make our 12 days of Christmas delivery when Steve and I decided to surprise the kids with an early Christmas present and we went to the new aquarium in the mall. I bought a pass months ago and we've just been waiting for it to open and the right time to go. Well tonight it was. The kids loved it and Andrew kept saying that was the best time ever.

Gingerbread Decorating

Last Saturday we needed out of the house. We had been sick and cooped up all week. So we took the kids Christmas tree shopping that way we could be outside but not feel like we were exposing anyone to the illness because we were outdoors. We found a tree and came home and set it up, but that's all that really got done this week. Honestly, I've still been feeling under the weather and having some dizzy spells so it hasn't been too productive of a week. I decided since we got a real tree that we would do popcorn strands and decorate the tree really simple this year. During my quick Walmart outing yesterday I found a gingerbread ornament kit and thought it was perfect since we hadn't done our traditional gingerbread houses this year. So today we decorated gingerbread ornaments and strung popcorn/cranberry strands. It was messy (I didn't even mind the mess-seriously, Steve was more worried about vacuuming than me). We had a lot of fun even I decorated a set. 

Andrew spent hours decorating his gingerbread ornaments and then I gave him a wire to string popcorn and cranberries on (I thought maybe we could turn his into a candy cane decoration), but he would string and then eat both the popcorn and cranberries. He was hilarious and must have ate a couple dozen cranberries straight. We also decided to do colored lights since our artificial tree always has the white lights already strung on it and we haven't had any problems with those lights for years, but one of the brand new LED colored strands we bought kept burning out so we finally ended up just taking that strand off and putting a new one up (poor Steve strung the lights on the top of the tree 3 times).

 

Final product. I love it. It's not fancy, but I love that it's decorated with our popcorn/cranberry strands and gingerbread ornaments and our memory ornaments. I even love the tilting star at the top. It is a really special tree to me for some reason.

 
We had a big snow storm earlier this week and Lila went out and shoveled the sidewalk before school while the boys watched from the window.

Ellie was at an early morning ballroom practice. She had ballroom every day but Tuesday this week because they performed at the Festival of Trees on Thursday and then had the school assembly performance. Ellie rode the bus down and back to festival of trees. They left school at 11 and didn't get back until 4. She's growing up and having events that take her out of school, fun, exciting and a little nerve racking for Mom. ;) I was able to attend the assembly on Friday morning to see her dance.

Golden Ticket Thanksgiving

We finished reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and I have to say it was a different experience reading it with my kids. I really really enjoyed it. Andrew wouldn't even beg at night to read more than one chapter. I don't think he was really following most of it, but he loves "story-time" as he called it. There were moments in the book where we were all touched for example when Charlie was so hungry that he began conserving energy and then he finds the $1 and moments when we each learned a lesson from the ridiculous kids behavior. It was a fun thing to read with the kids and watch the movie, I hope to do it with the boys again when they are a bit older.

We got a call from the doctor yesterday to tell us Marcus has parainfluenza. I told him his fever had gone away and he said he is probably still contagious so after going back and forth about whether or not to go to Mt Green for Thanksgiving we decided to do our own. We already had the turkey in the smoker and I had made two pies on Tuesday (well one pie--chocolate caramel pecan and a pumpkin cheesecake) so Steve and I decided to taste the pumpkin cheesecake at that moment since we now had to eat it all ourselves and it is delicious along with the turkey we may have tasted when it came out of the smoker. ;)

Last night Andrew starting running a fever . . . here we go again. I think it must have been what Ellie had last weekend too. It just affected Marcus the worst. Fortunately Andrew slept all night so hopefully we can keep him resting and this thing will go away in a couple of days.


This morning I remembered I had bought frozen roll dough at Bowmans and pulled that out, made stuffing, cooked mashed potatoes in my pressure cooker, and sweet potatoes (which we probably could have done without, but it's tradition. don't get me wrong we love sweet potatoes, we have sweet potato french toast all the time, but the candied versions with marshmallows not really our thing) and I made cranberry sauce last night to enjoy with our turkey tasting. We each took turns going around the table and telling each person why we are grateful for them it was nice, except Lila was being a stinker and couldn't think of anything to be grateful for regarding Andrew . . . oh little brothers and Lila needs to look for the good in everything she has hard time looking past what she doesn't have.

We missed hanging out with extended family (believe me the girls cried at the table when they realized we wouldn't be going to Mt Green), but there was something truly magical about just spending it in our own home, relaxing and playing together, enjoying things we enjoy doing and that's why it was our Golden Ticket, a miraculously wonderful Thanksgiving in the middle of a chaotic month.

Rocking Chair Night

I've spent nights in the rocking chair, recliner or couch with all of my kids when they were little and sick and just needed to snuggle upright to breathe and be comforted. Well last night poor Marcus was running a fever and just wanted to be held, which is quite unusual for him, he's a mover and doesn't like to snuggle much. So I enjoyed our snuggle time and swayed him, rocked him and just held him for much of the night. Today his fever spiked to 103 while having Tylenol/Motrin in his system on the every 4 hour rotation so I called the doctor and took him in to just check him out before doc goes on Thanksgiving break. He thinks he has adenovirus and did a nose swab to confirm, mostly so we know that is what's causing the high fever because there is not a treatment. So today he's taken a few short naps in mine and Steve's arms and just been plain miserable, poor kiddo. We're praying for him and trying to isolate the other three kiddos so they don't get it.

Here are a few pics from the past week to enjoy.

Marcus loves to look at himself through the camera on my phone and Lila is the queen of selfies--I don't think she has even heard of that word, but every time I download pictures off of her camera (which doesn't have a front facing camera) there are a ton of selfies. ;)

 Sweet baby sleeping and his cute crooked smile.

















Marcus the day before his fever started discovering all the new things he could do, reach piano keys, empty tupperware cupboard, and stick a domino to the french glass door he loves to stand at and look out of.

Creeping closer to 4-0

I knew my birthday weekend was going to be crazy and even joked with Steve to postpone it, but with Thanksgiving next week then our Anniversary and all of the Christmas festivities we knew there was no real postponing. Steve was sweet and said he was going to take the whole day off and spend it doing whatever I wanted or needed, but since I knew how hectic the day was going to be I told him I would prefer he worked and took an extra day off the following week so he obliged.

A friend of mine told me that Tucanos gives you a free meal on your birthday and I have never been to a Brazilian BBQ so we decided to try it. I signed up for the club thing and started trying to find a babysitter--took me 6 people before I got one lined up, I find this process annoying especially when my girls are almost of age to babysit. . .soon, soon.

First, I had a 9am doctor's appointment about my vertigo. I had another really bad spell yesterday and had been dizzy the day before so I went back and he is trying a different medication to see of he can correct what is causing this. Then I had a couple of hours to play with the boys. Marcus took a really long morning nap and Andrew was having a rough morning, but I was still scheduled to go in and grade Lila's class spelling tests, as I do every Friday. So I let Marcus sleep a bit longer, got Andrew a snack and we landed out our friends house where the boys play while I grade, a bit later than usual. I then texted my carpool buddy and said I would just bring the girls home from school because I would be there pretty close to the end of the day. I finished grading (Lila got her first 100%, she studies the words hard and I'm glad she is seeing the results of that) and I had a few minutes before school let out so I read this talk from April 2011 General Conference, More than Conquerors through Him that Loved Us  It was what I needed at that moment and I found myself crying sitting on a bench just outside the elementary school. My Dad called to wish me Happy Birthday and we talked for a moment. Then I grabbed the girls, dropped carpool friends off and picked up the boys. 

We got home and I began final preparations for Activity Days. We were dividing into groups and making meals for families in our ward that could use it. I had pressure cooked beans that morning and made lime cilantro rice the night before and began setting out the rest of the ingredients to make enchiladas when I looked at Lila and she didn't look so well. I asked what was wrong and she said it hurts to go to the bathroom again. I realized I didn't have time to take her to the doctor and be back for the start of the activity so I called Steve who graciously dropped everything he was doing and came and took Lila to the doctor. She came back a few minutes into our cooking time, washed her hands and began helping. The girls were great cooks and we had fun conversations. We took the meal to a family that lives in a trailer, grandparents-niece-daughter-just had a baby that Tuesday and a son so a full house and they were so grateful. They brought all the girls in and showed them pictures of the baby (they had just left to run an errand) and said they were so tired and had just been eating toast and were so grateful. They even sent me an email thanking us for the delicious meal. The other groups had similar delivery experiences which made me realize the craziness of the activity prep was worth it to help the girls feel the spirit of service.

After the activity I cleaned up and fed Marcus before the sitter showed up. Steve and I drove past the pharamacy to pick up mine and Lila's prescriptions from the day, that made us a little late for our reservation. They still managed to seat us in good time. The guava lemonade was delicious and the rest of the experience was ok. We enjoyed a salad bar and the Brazilian cheese bread was yummy. The meat started coming quickly and it wasn't as Steve remembered with big chunks of meat they rotisserie and then cut off sections, but it was small bits of meat they just pushed off one or two of at a time and because of the self serve type of environment our whole dining experience was over in 30 minutes. A little of a let down, but still we got out away from the kids and my meal was free.  Steve asked what I wanted to do next and to be honest I just wanted to go home, put the kids to bed and sleep myself because the next morning we were responsible for cleaning the church building at 8am and I had to speak at a baptism at 10am so the madness continues.

PS Oh and I took Ellie to urgent care after the baptism because she's complaining of a terrible sore throat and I was afraid it might be strep, but culture came back negative so rest and fluids.

Sweetness

I took the boys to the doctor today for well checks. Andrew kept asking every 3 minutes if it was time for a lollipop. Then Marcus squealed until the doctor gave him one too (and Mom didn't care, what can I say he's number 4).

I went to take it away when we got home and he kept trying to grab it with his hands and his mouth was wide open . . .then the pouty face after not getting it.

 
















Andrew has been taking swim lessons, excuse me swim class is what we have been calling it to avoid any residual trauma from his summer lessons. There are only two kids in the class and some days are better then others especially when his teacher Ted brings toys or today was goggles.

Other things to remember:

Marcus is an amphibious crawler. He is efficient and crawls hand-knee on carpet and then transitions seamlessly to hand-foot when he hits tile or hardwood then back to hand-knee when he reaches carpet again.  Last week he had this move I called his yoga position where he would push his hips in to the ground while extending his arms and raising his head (it looked like Cobra, I think). Pretty cute. He also sticks his tongue out to the side with this half-smile that will melt your heart and has a crooked smile. :) Oh and he huffs and puffs with an open mouth when he sees his bottle, won't put it in himself for the life of him but will throw a big fit if it doesn't make it in fast enough after huffing and puffing.

Andrew says, "gotfor" instead of forgot. And he says it so smoothly in a sentence that it takes a moment to figure out just what he 's saying. He is so thoughtful and as soon as Marcus cries after nap he will go up to make him happy. Yesterday I was working with the girls on homework when I thought I heard jumping and then Andrew say, "Marcus I'm stuck." So I went up there to find this.

I guess it's good to know he still doesn't know how to climb out even though he got himself in there. Oh and Andrew walked in on Steve in the bathroom the other day standing up and peeing and Andrew said in astonishment, "Whoa Dad how you do that?" I guess at some point will have to teach him that . . . is there an age where I don't have to worry about pee going every where in the bathroom?

Ellie, Lila, and I have started reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory together. The boys are there too, but they don't understand it as well or look forward to it like the girls, some day. Although Andrew did insist that Panca (Grandpa Stan) comes with us to the Chocolate Factory.

Election Day

Why does this election feel like a dooms day? Oh that's right, look at the two main candidates. Seriously, I dread the outcome no matter what. I like what one fellow blogger said:

“The most important work you will ever do will be 

within the walls of your own homes.” by Harold B. Lee

"I can't change the world, nor can I change others views and ideas, 

but I CAN teach correct and moral principals in my own home

no matter who our President is.

And in the end whoever wins will have our family prayers,

and we will continue to hope that American will be

 a God-fearing moral land to live in."

Steve and I voted last week by mail in ballot and I'm glad we did because today has turned into one of those nightmare days where I frantically run from one thing to the next:

*drop the girls off at school

*Andrew swim lessons
*pick-up coop produce basket

*A dear friend watched the boys for me so I could go to the audiologist (trying to figure out these vertigo episodes I've been having). She even wiped both of their little behinds--bless her!!

*then run visiting teaching to a sister I haven't been able to see in months who texted me and said today at 11:30 I could come visit. So by golly I loaded the boys and we dashed over there.

*grab some lunch

*put the boys down for a nap

*girls will be home any minute with playdates (Lila's friends' parents are at a funeral so I offered to watch her today and then told Ellie she could also have a friend over)

*head to the ENT, second step of vertigo anaylsis

*plumber, should be here any minute to do work on the basement

*and I happened to schedule the girls SEPs (parent teacher conferences) this evening

So the worldly news will have to wait until late later. We will watch with nervous anticipation tonight as a new president-elect is selected. We did our part and now all we can do is pray and teach our children.

Andrew's Birthday Express to Three

This year Andrew's birthday landed on fast Sunday and the end of day light savings. Ironically, this all happened to be on Steve's birthday last year so we decided to celebrate his birthday on Saturday.

Earlier this week he woke up really cranky one morning and I teased him that we'd call off his birthday-no presents, no cake etc. And in his moody moment he said, "FINE!" Then when he came to his senses he decided he wanted all of it with "ice cream too".

Saturday morning  he woke up at 5:30 upset because his nose was plugged so I went up and snuggled in his bed with him. Then at 7:30 he said he had to go potty so we got up and he saw his present waiting for him on the table and could barely contain himself. I let him open the card from Grandpa & Grandma Moore then I heard the baby so I told him he could wake up Daddy and the girls. He knocked on the girls door and said, "Come see my big present. It's huge." He opened it and exclaimed with a smile on his face, "TRAINS!" and they immediately began playing with it.

While Steve was making Andrew's most requested breakfast, hootenanny (Dutch Shoes is what Steve's family calls them or more commonly known as German pancakes) I asked him what kind of cake he wanted and he picked yellow then a few minutes later he looked in the oven and said, " Where's my cake cooking?" When I finally got it baked and decorated he just sat and stared at it for a while. :)

We had sent out an invitation for local family to join us at the train museum if they could. So we headed there to explore and learn more about trains.

 
We picked up pizza on our way home and Mimi and Grandpa joined us for a little lunch and cake and ice cream. First he got to open his present from them. He got dinosaur sheets and nice warm dinosaur blanket Mimi had made to go on his bed which is a little ironic because just a few nights ago Andrew hauled a big blanket upstairs to his room and said he needed it to stay warm so now he has his own. :)

I put the candles on the cake and Andrew said, "Now for the fire so I can now blow it out."  Steve had barely gotten them all lit when Andrew blew them promptly out.

As we were singing happy birthday he could barely contain his smile and then right after we finished he said, "Thank you everyone." He is a sweet boy with a desire to please and do the right thing. . .If he can get past the extremely stubborn feisty part of him. ;)

Later that evening Andrew was snacking on another piece of pizza in the kitchen while Steve and I were sitting in the living room when he started singing in this slow smooth voice "Happy birthday to Andrew. Happy birthday to me." It was so cute, wish we could have caught it on camera. Happy Birthday my little man! I'm so grateful you're a part of our lives! You can make us laugh and want to pull our hair out at the same time and that is quite a skill.

Foxy 37

Steve has had a few more white hairs the last few haircuts (shhh. . . you really can't see them with is light hair). I think it's foxy. And probably caused by our 4 children and our over ambitious drive to get things done, like finish the basement. Any way, today was about Steve. He got to sleep in a bit. I made him one of his favorite morning meals, breakfast burritos (we love breakfast here and have quite a few favorites). Andrew insisted on showing Daddy his card, he drew a picture of himself and Steve with a heart in the middle--it was pretty cute. Then Steve read the card again when the girls came to the table (they were practicing the piano during the first showing).

After getting the girls off to school he went off to work. We were hoping it would be a short day, but it ended up being a buggy day (can you call it that when you're trouble shooting software/hardware bugs all day) so we didn't see him again until 7pm. I managed to save a french dip sandwich for him (the kids were scarfing them) and then we sang Happy Birthday and blew out candles on the requested brownie sundaes with hot fudge and caramel. Wonder what he wished for?

Happy Birthday love! Just like my card said you are an amazing guy, hard worker, loving husband, great father, good looking and no wonder we're exhausted all the time. Here's too many more exhausting yet rewarding years!!




Post Script: As I was writing this I felt a little light headed. Then right after I posted I got extremely dizzy and nauseated. I had a wild case of vertigo (I think). I tossed my cookies and took a unisom and went to bed.  I felt bad I couldn't celebrate more with Steve and that he was taking care of me. Then the baby managed to keep him up an 1.5 last night. Happy Happy Birthday, honey!