Pinewood Derby

OK - it is too overwhelming to even think about catching up on all the posts I should have written the past 4 months - so I am just going to start posting on current events - hopefully I will still have time to catch up on the missing months, but if not - here is what we are up to now.

PINEWOOD DERBY - and yes, I have two cubscouters now.

The boys have been so excited about their cars this year - me - not so excited. I can still remember how sore my hands were from chiseling out the bottom of the last pinewood derby car to put the weights on - so instead of just getting the inevitable out of the way - I procrastinated long enought that I thought I could just talk the boys into gluing money on top of the car instead of the weight on bottom. Not so - both cars had weights chiseled into the bottom of their cars - but before you think that I am the unselfish mom who would put my kids needs before my own - I need to THANK my dad for helping the boys with their cars. In fact - I did very little this year - I also need to thank John Fontano for helping the boys cut out their cars (and Miles went with a really funky shape this year - it couldn't have been easy to cut). I helped the boys sand and paint them ( you will notice the simple paint jobs - no time for frills) - and then my dad helped them with the weights (yes - he was willing to chisel) and the wheels and axles. They were both super excited about their cars - neither car was a winner - but they both had fun and I was pretty impressed myself with how fast they did go.

Here are a few pictures of the proud scouts.

Ethan's Baptism

Ethan was baptised January 8th. It was a really special day and we had lots of family travel far to support him. Uncle Caleb baptised him and Uncle David confirmed him. Frank was able to come and it meant a lot to Ethan to have him there. Abby was upset about something or other though - so we never did get a picture of Frank with all five kids

I was lucky enough to get all 5 kids in my shot - you can tell how happy Abby is to have to take pictures though.

It really is hard to get a good picture of all 5 kids at once - maybe it will get easier as they get older??? Here is one of just Ethan and I.

Frank's parents also made the drive - as did some cousins (Chloe, Stella, Ava and Connor - I don't know why I didn't get pictures of them). Here is Ethan with Grandma and Grandpa Gilmore.

Michael and Elsa came as well - they made like three trips down to Cedar in 3-4 weeks - and did I mention that Elsa is 8 months pregnant - so sitting in the car for that much time is not fun. Thanks for coming though. Here are all my brothers with Ethan.

Ethan is a great kid - I am lucky to be his mom - I hope he will always remember how he felt today. He told me after that he knew his decision to be baptised was right because he felt so happy.

The scar

We were up in SLC again last week for some doctor's visits for Paige. It has been 4 weeks since her surgery and the surgeon wanted to check to see how the wound was healing. The doctor said it looked great! Since he removed so much tissue - there is a little puckering around the edges of the scar - but he said it was normal and would gradually go away. For those of you who haven't seen the scar - it is quite long (it shocked even me when I first took off the bandages) - but the surgeon did a great job with it. I am also thankful that there is only one scar - he went right on top of the scar from the first surgery (it was a lot shorter though). Paige did get some Mederma in her stocking for Christmas - between her and Abby we have been going through quite a bit of that stuff. The doctor also talked to me more about the surgery that had been suggested to biopsy some of her lymph nodes. I had originally gone into the meeting 95% sure that I wanted her to have the surgery (and was going to ask what the chances might be that we could get it before year end since our deductible has been met this year). I changed my mind though - she is not having the extra surgery at this time - and here is why:
- only 15% of sarcoma's are known to spread to the lymph nodes - most go to the lungs first which they have checked and are clean.
- the chance of choosing the right lymph node to biopsy is rare - they would have inserted a dye into her close to where the original tumor was and then monitor where it went - but the doctor wasn't even sure that the dye would take the same path that tissue cells would take.
- if they did find cancer cells in the lymph nodes - the only treatment they could take would be chemotherapy - which is only effective in 8% of cases for this type of sarcoma.
- since they are monitoring every three months for the next few years - he was confident that they will catch any reoccurance or growth before it gets too big.
I am sure there were more reasons that I felt that the surgery was unnecessary - that is why I should have written this post a week ago - but basically - I still feel really good about that decision.
I am overwhelmed with gratitude right now - I am so thankful for wonderful doctors, incredible family and friends and especially the peace that the spirit continues to bring when decisions need to be made.

Temple Square

We went to Temple Square Thursday to see the lights. It started off magical - as we were walking from the parking lot to the temple we could hear the faint sound of bagpipes. I had major flashbacks to Scotland - there were many times when I could hear bagpipe music while we were out knocking on doors - but rarely did I ever see the piper. This time I saw the piper - he was right in front of the temple gates and was mixing Christmas tunes in with the "normal" pipe music. The boys even got a treat when he broke out in some of the Star Wars songs. I could have stayed all night just to listen to him - but kids pulled me away and onto the lights.
The twins really liked the lights - they love to drive around town and see the lights too - and the boys were somewhat impressed as well (it has been a few years since we were last here). Here is a picture - can't capture the lights, but at least you can see that we were there.

If you noticed we were missing someone - this is why.

I have yet to find a way to get Abby to cooperate when she decides she doesn't want to. I guess I probably don't need to tell you that we didn't stay too long - but it was a fun night and I am glad we made the effort to go.

Santa

Abby has been fascinated by Santa Claus this year. She finally got her chance to meet him last Saturday at a Christmas party some friends had at their house. Abby followed Santa around the entire time he was there (he stayed for games and the sleigh booster contest) - and he was very patient to answer all her questions and watch how fast she can run (all 20+ times she ran up the street and back). Thanks Santa!!! Abby sat on Santa's lap and had to really think to name all she wants for Christmas.
Ethan and Miles on the other hand were a bit goofy when it was their turn to sit with Santa.

Also a big hit with the kids were the gingerbread houses that they were able to decorate. Abby was in heaven with all that sugar.

As you can see from the next picture - she would decorate her house and then lick it off and start over again - isn't that how everyone decorates gingerbread houses?

Finally - I caught a real smile on Ethan's face! Ethan would have won the prize for the most icing used on his houses - not very much candy was left on the roof by the time they came home - the icing had dripped onto the plate bringing most of the candy with it.

Miles also used his creativity to build his houses. He got the most candy on his houses - barely any graham cracker showing on his first house.

The kids had a great time - thanks Fontano's for putting together such a great party!!!