Pic-N-Save

This is a random post, but just indulge me.

I have been thinking a lot about Christmas traditions, and what I did growing up. For some reason I keep thinking about how we did our Christmas shopping. With ten kids in a family, we needed someplace that was economical, but also had a wide range of merchandise that would work for our varying ages of people. My mom found the perfect store, it was called "Pic-N-Save." Think of it as a mixture of a dollar store and a "Big Lots." Pic-N-Save was way better than both of those. It was kind of far away, (in a slightly sketchy area of town) so we would all pile into the blue Suburban for the drive together. On the way to the store we would all do a brainstorm of things that we needed/wanted that would be inexpensive. (Buying for so many people gets expensive as a child!) Here is a sample of things we would put on the list...

-ball point pens

-erasers

-highlighters

-notebooks

-folders

-hair ties

-combs

-brush

-makeup

Once we got to the store we would all split up. It was probably the only time we were allowed to wander around a store by ourselves. The older kids would help the younger kids. We ALWAYS had a jacket or sweatshirt. We would put the coat in the bottom of our cart, and then if we ran into one of our siblings (which always happened) we could keep things covered. We had so much fun trying to keep things secret from each other. It was always scary to be putting something in your cart, and worry that the recipient might come around the corner at any moment.

Buying things at Pic-N-Save also required a lot of creativity. The store had a little bit of everything, but you never knew what would be there. Gifts like scotch tape, and a ball of twine were not unusual, but they were always perfect for the recipient. (Don't boys always need tape and twine?) I think my dad probably got fifteen hammers over the years from the store, but we kept losing his hammers so he didn't mind. I still have a porcelain jewelry box from one of my sisters. It's white with little strawberries on it. There were also a lot of puzzles, games, ceramic figurines, and calendars given through the years.

After we all made it through the check-out process (that was an event in itself...) we would then pile back in the car for home. Usually we were anxious to start wrapping right away.

Even though the gifts were sometimes silly, weird, or cheap I think we all loved that tradition. I hope that in a few years we can start something similar. My parents fostered a lot of love and frugality in those Christmas shopping trips.

December 20, 2009

December 20, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

We survived the blizzard of 2009, but more on that later. Here’s a quick rundown of our week. Monday was a normal day, but for FHE we went to Costco and got some prizes for some people. We talked about gratitude for others.

Tuesday was another uneventful day. We are still doing our breathing treatments four times a day. That night I went to mutual. We were combined with the Young Men and went caroling to some families in our ward. Somehow I got put in charge of starting us out at each house. After a few houses one of the young women said “Sister Clark you must be a soprano.” When I insisted that I wasn’t she said, “Why are you starting the songs so high then?” Umm, because I am not a trained singer, and I don’t know what I am doing?

Wednesday I took B-man back to the doctor. He is getting better. We are also able to cut down on breathing treatments, and we are almost done with the antibiotics too. Hooray! We went to our clubhouse to go see Santa. B-man was pretty excited and told Santa that he wanted a lot of Lego's. The rest of Wednesday and Thursday were pretty quiet. Wednesday night B-man went to see Santa at our community clubhouse. J was freaking out about all the noise and people, so we went home.

Friday afternoon the big outing of the day was to Costco and the grocery stores. Between Christmas, and a storm that was supposed to hit on Saturday the stores were a ZOO. It was slightly a nightmare. People were buying tons of stuff. Sadly I kept forgetting things (the hazards of shopping without a list) and so I made a few emergency trips later that night. M met us at Costco, so we still had a good afternoon and evening despite the traffic and crowds.

Saturday morning we woke up to a lot of snow. It kept snowing too. All day long the snow just dumped. B-man was so excited. We all were. B-man played outside, built a fort, sledded, etc. I spent my time cooking and baking. We had hot cider when they came in for lunch, and had just a fun snowy day. M cleared off the car and tried to unbury the cars as much as possible before the snow got icy and hard to remove. We heard about three in the afternoon that school was cancelled for Monday and Tuesday, and about thirty minutes later we heard that church was cancelled. We also spent some time rearranging furniture in our basement. The layout is much better now. We still have too much furniture for the space, but at least now I can be in the room without having a panic attack.

Today has been a strange Sunday. Today our “ox” was in the snow. We spent the morning just relaxing and having fun. M made waffles, and we enjoyed the sunshine and feet of snow. We had two feet of snow fall in one day. It was amazing to look at! A little before lunchtime the guys headed outside to finish digging out the cars. It was amazing to see all our neighbors outside working on shoveling snow around. One problem is where you put all that snow… The snow from one car and parking space makes a huge pile. M also helped our neighbor. They are getting back today from being out of town, and was being nice. When J was in bed I headed out to help shovel too. It was a lot of work, but fun too. It’s a nice way to get to know your neighbors. B-man loved being outside all day. I had to come in at a certain point and work in the house. M finally came in frozen like a popsicle. He helped me finish the last preparations for dinner, and then we had some friends over for dinner. I was trying out two new recipes, and the dinner recipe could either have been great or terrible, so needed some brave people. After dinner we got the boys in baths and then in bed. They were all tired after such a busy, work day.

We love the snow. It is so fun, and since we don’t need to be anywhere and can stay home it is a lot of fun. M just found out that work is cancelled tomorrow too. I wish we could go somewhere fun! Who doesn’t love a huge snowstorm right before Christmas?

We love you all!

R, M, B-man, and J

Big Snow

We have at least 14 inches, (it is 9:00 a.m.) and it is still snowing. I think this qualifies as a big snow. Washington has a heart attack with two inches, we'll see what happens when it is measured in feet.

Pictures to come. We will be doing lots of sledding, snow fort building, cookie making, and hot chocolate drinking today! Let it snow!

December 13, 2009

December 13, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

Christmas season is in full swing around here! We love it! We’ve had a quiet week by comparison. Monday was M’s first day back after being out of town so he worked a little extra. We had a short FHE that night after dinner.

Tuesday I ran a bunch of errands during the day. I am so happy that J is getting easier to take on errands. Whenever I leave a store with him still in his car-seat (instead of me carrying him) I get so excited. That night I went to mutual. We had a combined activity where we made ornaments and then played a quick game.

Wednesday I decided to keep B-man home from school so that I could take him to the doctor. He was on day ten of an antibiotic and was absolutely no better. In fact his cough was probably worse. I was so glad that I decided to take him in. I am happy to take my child to the doctor, but I hate to go and have them say he just needs to take it easy. After listening to him breathe and cough they realized that something was wrong. They gave him a nebulizer treatment, took his “pulse-ox”, and then sent me to get a chest x-ray to see if he had pneumonia. There is a kind of pneumonia that presents with no fever. He hasn’t had a fever the whole time, which has made it hard to figure out how sick he really is. After all that we went home. The doctor called later to say that the x-ray was clear. (That was good.) We all spent a couple hours at Costco while they figured out medications, before heading home for dinner. Now four times a day we do a nebulizer treatment and he is on a new antibiotic. I am hopeful that soon he will be cough and congestion free… Now if we could just get all of us well at the same time for more than a few days. That night M went to help build a manger for our ward float in our town’s Christmas parade.

Thursday and Friday were both slow, frigid days. Friday morning I had a follow-up appointment for B-man. He is slightly better, and they want to see him again next week too. That night I went to an Ornament exchange hosted by a woman in our ward. Saturday we were up and going early. M went to go walk in the float for the parade. We had the basic Nativity and then two sets of missionaries in their traditional missionary attire. Then the people walking behind the truck were handing out pass along cards and throwing candy. Apparently it went really well. Everyone is excited to do it again next year. Originally I was going to skip the parade since I had two sick boys and it has been so cold. But B-man was devastated, so instead I drove to the end of the parade, and missed the first few floats. We were still able to see the most important things, M, and Santa. Luckily the weather was cooperative and slightly warmer with no frigid wind. We came home and had a fun lunch, before splitting up to do various errands. M and B-man were together, and I had J. In between the evening I also made some Challah bread. It finished just in time for me to run one loaf next door before heading off to see one of the girls in my class perform in a local theatre production. I went with another leader and had a great time. The show included appetizers and dessert, and then had lots of little skits from various other productions.

Today has been a busy day. M had meetings in the morning, and then when he came home I left to go to a meeting for Young Women. I came home and worked on my lesson. Then we all went to church together. After church, (which had some excellent talks on tithing) we went to a little Christmas party that was thrown by some friends. It included a little white elephant gift exchange and was a great evening. Lots of kids, food, and fun. We got home way too late, and tried to get everyone to bed quickly.

We love you all!

R, M, B-man, and J

Stockings

I am officially caught up with stockings. I made J's and and then had to re-do M's. As with any project there are things that I wish had turned out differently. Oh well. I'm not going to remake them.

Here's the story on the stockings. My grandmother made her children's stockings and then all of the grandchildren while she was alive. My dad's was red, and so when I went to continue the tradition in our family I went back to the old school and did red. Partially because that was what my older sister had decided and I thought it was a good idea. Mine is the one that my Grandmother made. Mine have come out slightly different in style. Mostly because when I did M's first I didn't have mine with me. I had to work from my memory. I love making the stockings. I think about my cute grandmother the whole time I'm working. She was a saint, and someday I hope to be just a little bit like her.

December 6, 2009

December 6, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has seemed so much longer than normal. Mostly because M was out of town for the first half of the week. Those three days felt like three weeks seriously. I was such a wimp this time. I’m glad it went very quickly. Monday was a normal day for us. I did decide to take B-man to the doctor because he has had a very pesky cough that had gotten worse that day. The doctor said he had the beginnings of bronchitis and sinusitis. Hopefully the medicine will help him feel better soon. We did a Costco run and then headed home for the rest of the day. That night we had a small FHE before heading to bed.

Tuesday B-man stayed home from school since he was “sick.” B-man doesn’t really act sick unless he is REALLY sick. So he mostly acted like he normally does, but frustrated that he couldn’t be outside playing. In the afternoon we did make a grocery store run, and spent a little time outside.

Wednesday and Thursday were unremarkable days. B-man went to school, came home, etc. I spent a lot of time working on stockings. We were all so excited to have M home for dinner on Thursday. We were all going a little crazy that last half hour waiting for him.

Friday M took the day off. He had worked so many hours in the last two weeks that he didn’t need to work that day. M started off the day by going and helping in B-man’s classroom. I had originally signed up, but then B-man wanted him to do it instead of me. I went to play basketball in the morning too. It was great to be playing again. After basketball I headed home and we all had lunch together. We had a lazy afternoon. The highlight was getting our Christmas tree at Costco. Some people go out and cut their own tree, but we go to Costco, get some samples and then pick up our tree on the way out. I love it! The only problem is that the trees are all bound so you could be a little surprised when you unwrap it at home. We stuck our tree in a bucket of water outside to “hydrate” and then headed off for dinner. Whenever M gets home from a trip we go to dinner. That’s our new tradition. We tried a barbecue place close to our house. B-man wanted cat fish. We were all a little surprised, but he got the cat fish, and ate all of it.

Saturday was a busy day. We woke up to snow. It was just barely starting to stick, but then the rest of the morning it just kept snowing and snowing. B-man was so excited. We broke out all the snow gear. M and I spent the morning getting ready to head to Charlottesville for the day. One of his coworkers was getting married down there, and we had planned on going. We dropped off B-man at a friend’s house. They have a boy B-man’s age and they were SO nice to watch him for us. We then drove off in the middle of a snow storm. I was a little worried about the drive starting off, but it went fast and J slept the whole time! It was great. We first went to a little local shop we love to get some fun treats before heading to the campus. The couple got married in the chapel on the campus of UVA. We had to walk a little bit in the snow across campus, and it brought back some good memories of treacherous walks across BYU’s campus in the snow and slush. The wedding was fine; I was super stressed the whole time about J being quiet. We sat in the way back, and as soon as J started to get antsy M stood in the back with him. I think we did a good job and he was pretty invisible. (There were other children there.) After the ceremony we walked back to the bookstore and made a few purchases before heading to the reception. There was a little cocktail/appetizer hour while we were waiting for the bridal party. Then we headed into the ballroom for dinner. The bride had organized some sitters to be on site for those with children. It would have worked wonderfully, J just sleeping in the pack-n-play, but the other children kept waking him up. (Understandably.) The sitters would text us when he would wake up and then I would go rock him back to sleep. It worked pretty well. Eventually he got too awake so he came to the party for the last thirty minutes or so. We then headed back home. The drive went really well. All the roads were clear and the snow had stopped. It was nice to be able to chat with M and not worry that B-man was listening. We picked up a sleeping B-man from our friend’s house and then we all headed home to bed. B-man had a great time while we were gone. He played in the snow, and went to the ward Christmas party.

Today has been great. We all slept a little late and then we got up and got going. M worked on his lesson, and we went to church extra early for tithing settlement. When we got home from church we ate and then started to decorate the tree. B-man was a great helper. It was nice to enjoy one more year of putting ornaments on in any order. Next year J will be able to pull them off.

We love you all!

R, M, and B-man

November 29, 2009

November 29, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Thanksgiving! What a great week and holiday we’ve had. We have really kept busy around. Monday the big event of the day was me getting a few cavities taken care of at the dentist. Originally he said that they were tiny and wouldn’t need any numbing. But he just numbed me anyways, and then I got extra because it didn’t work the first time. I was numb the rest of the day. We had a quick FHE and then put the boys to bed. My project this week has been working on John’s Christmas stocking. So every night after the boys are in bed I have worked on getting it done to hang up with the other stockings.

Tuesday Benjamin developed a bit of a cold. That afternoon we took John to the doctor for his belated four month check-up. He is 27.5 inches (95%) and 17 lbs. 10 oz. (75%). He looked good to the doctor and got four shots as a parting gift. Poor little guy. That night for mutual the boys and girls went to a homeless shelter nearby to decorate their cafeteria for Thanksgiving. We had a big work crew and the job was done very quickly.

Wednesday Benjamin had the day off. We played games and had a quiet day at home. Thursday morning we were all up at our usual time. Benjamin and Matthias hung out together while I started working on my assignments for dinner. I made an apple pie and a salad. Everything was going very well. Benjamin was a great helper peeling the apples and mixing things up. The pie went in looking wonderful. After cooking I pulled it out, took off the foil and the pie had collapsed! It was supposed to be “mile high” but it was not. I was a little panicked but after calling my mom we figured out the problem (the apples) and figured that it would still taste okay. I have made that pie a lot, but never had that problem! We had no other choice but to bring it. We headed over to a friend’s house that was hosting a few families from the ward for dinner. There were six families, and eighteen children. Thirteen of the children were boys. The dinner was great! It was amazing how well all the kids played together (and stayed out of the way) during the evening. And thankfully the pie tasted great. Although once I cut into it the consistency was more like applesauce. Such a strange pie I made…

That night poor John had a miserable night. It was his worst night ever by far! He only slept about an hour max at a time and kept waking up and crying. I really don’t know why, but it was miserable. I left early that morning to do a little shopping. It was all things for our house, but I wanted to take advantage of the sales, and since Matthias needed to go into work I had to go out early. The stores were predictably crazy, but I was able to get through things pretty quickly. After I got home, Matthias left for work and we stayed home to have fun. We did a few more errands that afternoon in between John’s naps. That night was pretty quiet too.

Saturday was another quiet day. We all slept in. (John included!) Our big project of the day was setting up the Christmas decorations. Benjamin was so excited to do it, and he actually helped for a while. Then he found the Fisher Price Nativity and he played with that for the rest of the day. I have come to two conclusions, I don’t have enough decorations, but I also have too many for my current home. I don’t know if that makes sense, but it does in my mind. That night I went to dinner with some friends to celebrate the birthday of one of the women. Dinner was great and I was so grateful to Matthias for taking John so I could really enjoy the time.

Today has been another quiet day. John has the cold that Benjamin had. So we both stayed home from church. Matthias didn’t have any meetings this morning. It was great to have him home for a little extra time. After church we made pizza for dinner before getting everyone ready for bed.

We love you all! We hope you had a safe and happy Thanksgiving. We have so much to be grateful for! At the top of the list are our faith, families, and friends.

Love,

Rebecca, Matthias, Benjamin, and John