Bread, Bread, and more Bread

I am on a little kick right now and decided to stop buying crappy bread for my kids, (I still have to buy it for Jeff, however.) My first attempt...didn't let it rise enough and it was really dense and heavy. My second attempt...didn't let the larger loaves bake long enough so we had 2 good loaves and 2 loaves for toast. My third attempt was successful, as was this one, my fourth attempt. One full loaf was gone within 30 minutes - there is nothing as good as hot, fresh bread right from the oven. My kids love it! I have a great recipe I use that is super easy and super yummy! Who knows how long this goodness will last but we will enjoy it while it does!

Sleep, Simon, Sleep

After I put Marshall and Max in bed, I stepped into Simon's room to check on him. I couldn't find him anywhere. I almost started to panic when I heard a faint noise coming from under the bed. I thought for sure he was being silly and hiding from me. When I got down and looked, he was asleep. Since Simon was a baby, he has been notorious for falling asleep in strange positions. Funny how things don't change.

Will and Tabitha's Wedding

Platelet Hell

Not too bad, I guess. Went in to the doctor today and 4 weeks later Max's platelet count was down to 202. Kind of a bummer when you think that the normal range is 150-400. So to me it seems to be at the bottom of the range. Oh well. We go back in 3 weeks. We'll see then.

School

I know my blog has been boring, and this probably won't help much.  I decided to homeschool Max and Marshall this year for a few reasons.

1.  The schools here really aren't great.  They have pretty low standards and don't really offer the opportunity for your child to excel in any subjects.

2.  The kids in the school here really aren't great.  I especially noticed the difference from 2nd to 3rd grade.  Max was being called foul names and for the little time that I spent in their classrooms, I was appauled by the language that I would hear the kids use.  With the large amount of diversity in our school combined with double-income and divorced homes, the kids today are left to themselves with nothing but time, the t.v. and the internet; forcing these kids to grow up faster and be exposed to the adult world way too early.

3.  Even though none of my kids were involved in any extra activites, like sports or music lessons, I never felt like I was able to spend any quality time with them.  As soon as they were home from school it was homework time, for 1-2 hours, play time, dinner time, then bed time.  Life was a whirlwind, we kept going and going and going with not much meaning.

4.  It seemed safter to keep Max home with his platelets still all over the board.  Who knows if and when some punk kid would think it was funny to trip him or push him down, not understanding the consequenses.  The offer was still on the table to have homebound come in twice a week (and I loved his teacher) but I didn't like the hours that we were imprisoned in our home.

So I spoke with a friend in my ward that homeschools 3 of her 4 kids (ages 9, 11, and 14) and really liked the program she was using.  It is called K12, and in Las Vegas, it is paid for by the school district through a program called Nevada Virtual Academy.  It is great!  They send you all the materials for all subjects, including art materials, reading books, teacher manuals, and they even have foreign language.  All the daily schedules are online, which is where you log attendance and assesments.  A lot of the work is even done online.  My kids really like it and so do I.  I never in a million years thought I would be one of those "homeschool moms" but it really isn't so bad.  I mostly didn't think that I would have the patience for it but I am proving myself wrong.  I has been a little tricky to find balance with the 2 of them, and splitting my attention, but we are getting there.  Life is much more laid back and I don't feel to stressed, hard to imagine how having your kids home all the time and being in charge of their education can actually make our family more relaxed, but it does.  I love the time I spend with them, mostly, and I love seeing what they are learning.  We'll see if my tune changes come January, once a baby is thrown into the mix, but I really think it will be easier for me having them around.  Only time will tell but for now I am going to enjoy it.

P.S.  I still enrolled Simon in Kindergarten.  I figured they can't really mess up a 5 year old and he needs to get out of the house and play everyday.  Even if it is for only 2 1/2 hours a day, it helps give me some time with the other boys to be more productive.

Labor Day Weekend in Paragonah, Ut

Update on Max

It has been a while since the latest update on Max, I thought I would take a few and let you all know where he is.  The last update, Max had spontaneously increased his platelets from 70 to 140 in 2 weeks.  Well, 2 weeks later, he was back down to 30! :(  The Dr. has no idea why.  I was hoping for some kind of pattern, but there really is none.  His appointment was Wednesday of last week, so we scheduled his WinRho for that Friday (one week ago).  Simon played at some friends house after school and Marshall got to have a sleep over at Kate and Zach's.  I was really optimistic about this treatment because I thought we had it figured out so that it would be the most comfortable for Max.  First is the IV, followed by Tylenol.  Benadryl (given over 30 minutes so he doesn't feel the side effects) comes next and then some Ativan, so Max can relax.  As times have proven in the past, the WinRho makes him really agitated and mean, so this is given as a preventative to that.  Following Ativan is some Zofran, or anti-nausea medicine.  He always seems to get an upset stomach and this seems to help.  After the Zofran has been in him for about 30 minutes, the nurse then comes in and pushes in the WinRho over a 5 minute period.  Well, not 5 minutes after she was done and gone, Max was asking for a bucket.  Puke, puke, puke came next, and kept coming for a good 5-10 minutes.  The only difference this time was that he was so doped up and "relaxed" that I couldn't reason with him; he was totally out of it.  He kept saying "Mom, there are 5 loogies in my mouth and I need to spit them out!"  I couldn't help but laugh as he repeated this over and over again.  We waited out the hour and left at 2:15pm, 5 hours after we arrived.  I went to pick up Simon and Max had to stop and puke in the bushes 4 or 5 more times.  The rest of the day was pretty miserable for him.  If he was up on his feet for more than 15 minutes or so, he would get nausiated again, so the rest of the day he spent in bed.  By Saturday morning, everything was great, and he was back to himself.  Definately the worse treatment yet.  Hopefully it will be a while until we have to go through this again.

First Day of School

Here is Simon on his first day of Kindergarten.  He was so excited and not a bit nervous.  By day 2 he even told me NOT to walk him in.  He just wanted to be dropped off at the gate and walk in by himself.  He did awesome and is so excited to have 5 other kids in his class from church that he already knows.
Getting ready to leave.

Simon at school, before the bell rang.

Simon with his friend Makenna(the one in yellow).

This is Simon with his friend, and our neighbor, Paige.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice!

Sorry for the delayed post, but I couldn't post it on my blog until I saw my sister Kim in Coeur d'Alene. We all (Kate, Whitney, Emily, Amy, Tabitha and myself) flew up to see her and surprise her for her 30th birthday. That was how I was going to surprise her, by telling her that we were having a girl! We are all so excited. I would probably say the same thing if it was a boy, but my boys wouldn't. They for sure wanted a baby sister and are thrilled about getting one. I was happy to find out that as far as they can tell, everything is perfect! My sister Kim already loaded me up with one travel bag full of 0-3 month clothes. I can't believe how cute all of them are!!! I'm so excited to get painting and make things a little more girlie around my house. Thanks to all of you for your congrats texts! It was so fun! Many of you may ask if we have a name picked out....maybe. Am I going to disclose anything before the baby is born? Absolutely NOT! Don't care for y'all opinions on why I shouldn't name her that. And you never know, I might just change my mind. I will definately be thinking hard about using some family names though, one of them being Hulet!:)

What a great day!

It was such a fantastic day. Max had an appointment with the hematologist. His platelet count went from 77 2 weeks ago to 142!!!!! Yipee!!!!! 150 is the bottom of the normal range. It almost doubled in 2 weeks. I know it might be too early to have high hopes but it has been almost 10 weeks since his last WinRho treatment and 142! So exciting. We are all so happy, no one more than Max. Thank you for all your prayers. They must be working!

Birthday boy!

Here are some pics of Simon having his birthday breakfast. He requested french toast with strawberries and ice cream. As soon as the ice cream started to melt (he hates soft, melting ice cream) I had to fix him a 2nd plate with just strawberries, syrup and powdered sugar. He is so excited about today, and as many of you know, his smile and energy is completely contagious. 99% of his life is spent with a huge grin plastered across his face. He is such a happy boy and is the driving force in our family for smiling and laughter. Even when he is naughty he is funny, so Jeff and I have a really hard time punishing him. We usually end up burying our face to conceal our real emotion, when it should be anger. What a lucky family we are to have him here with us. We love you Simon!

Happy Birthday Simon

Simon is 5 years old today.  I am having a little bit of a hard time with it actually, seeing how in a week and a half he will be starting kindergarten.  Where does time go?  It seems like just yesterday that we had his 1st birthday and moved to New York.  My baby really isn't a baby anymore.  Good thing another one is in the oven!

It actually happened.

Can you believe it! I got a new camera! Thanks to my family and their generous birthday money, I finally went out and got an up-to-date camera. I love it!  Here are some of the first few pictures taken.

What happens when your kids get hold of the camera...

Girls Camp

I'm sure you are all wondering why I haven't updated my blog with Girls Camp pictues and stories. Well, I've been too tired to even get on the computer and do anything, and because I'm in the middle of Breaking Dawn, of course.  Everything goes by the wayside now that I have a great book to read!  I don't have any pictures of my own, so here is the link to Brittney's Blog that has some pics on it.  Camp was so much fun!  I am so glad I am home an in my big comfortable bed with a toilet that flushes and that I can more easily control the smells around me.  Would I do it all over again, in a heart beat.  Great girls, great leaders, beautiful mountains, fantastic weather.  I missed my kids and husband, for sure, and what a sight for sore eyes it was when Jeff pulled up into camp Saturday morning (which left me shocked and speachless).  The only reason I could consider leaving for the week was because I knew my kids were well taken care of.  Thank you Les, Ginger and Riley for giving Max and Simon such a great time, and thank you to Kate and Zach for having Marshall all week.  Marshall had a hard time not "thinking about his brothers" all the time, but he managed just fine and things here are in full swing and back to normal with the fighting and teasing.  Thanks again for the help, family!  I know there isn't much, but I'm only on page 452 and Marshall has an awards assembly today!  Have a good one!