Still playing..

And here is my afternoon project..

They helped pick out how scary they wanted the pictures to be.

Can't wait for Halloween!!

More pictures

Ok.  So the boys are all back in school!  Yeah!!!  Motivation to clean the house and get back into a routine : 0   Motivation to sit at the computer and waste my day playing with my pictures: 1.5 MILLION!

So here is what I have been up to today....

Hmmmmm, looks like I need to spend a little more time on Nick's picture. Such a hard job I have....

Thinking about making posters of these pictures for the boys rooms for Christmas... so many possibilities.

That one may be too dark....mmmm.  Just gonna have to work on it till I get it right. Bwahahaha. (Maniacal laugh...)

September Sickies

It has been quite a month at our house.  As usual...

Thankfully the boys went off track in September and that gave Nicholas a chance to start feeling better without missing any more school.

So the first week off track was spent resting and the other boys played Lego Pirates of the Caribbean.... a lot. I was feeling like a bad mom, but Nicholas wasn't up to our "usual" off track field trips.  The other two did help me get some cleaning done and some yard work done and then promptly went back to video games.

Nicholas finally started feeling better, but was still plagued by his hives and the allergic reaction to his antibiotics. 

Greg was in Pittsburg for a few days on business, and Nicholas came down at 4:30 one morning saying he was itchy.  Poor kid!  From his head to the bottoms of his feet!  So I stuck him in a cool bath for an hour and gave him more benadryl till the hives went down.  So off to the doctors we went... again.  they gave him some prescription strength antihistamine that thankfully works longer and is strong enough to prevent the hives.  All this from ONE pill.  They said the hives could last a good three weeks... and they have lasted three weeks, but it was definitely NOT a good three weeks...

On Sunday, September 11th, we took Greg to the airport for his business trip to Pennsylvania.  He was originally on a United flight, but then got on a Southwest flight.  Being the 10th anniversary of 9/11, it was a rather somber morning.  I didn't (couldn't) watch the news and all of the stories. It was a little disconcerting, sending him off.  Not that I thought anything would happen to him, it just brought up memories of watching the towers being hit and crashing down. As I kissed him goodbye and drove away from the airport, I thought of the many wives and families that dropped off their loved ones and kissed them goodbye, not realizing it would be for the last time. Usually I am ok with Greg traveling and don't worry too much about it.  A few times however, I have felt a sense of panic - that "what if" scenario plays through my head of what would I do if something happened to him, especially so far from home.  I try not to let myself go down that road........but, then I see how truly blessed I am to be sealed forever to him.  The knowledge that we will be together forever, even if we are separated for a time here on earth, really is a comfort and a blessing.  Heavenly Father has not only blessed me with an amazing man, but has given us the blessing to be sealed for time and all eternity.  And I get Greg!! FOREVER! I am the lucky one.

Thankfully Greg made it back in one piece, and Nicholas started feeling better......... about the same time Noah and Nathan started NOT feeling well....

Nathan had his first Lacrosse game Saturday the 17th.  He wasn't feeling well when we left, but wanted to try to play.  To his credit, he made it through half of the game before he crashed.  By Monday, he and Noah had fevers and coughs.....  Yup.  Pneumonia.  Now pneumonia is not contagious.  But the virus that caused pneumonia is VERY contagious. Obviously.
This past week was supposed to be our big family vacation to Portland.  Needless to say, we opted not to go that far.  We decided we needed to do SOMETHING since Greg was off for the week and it was the kids last week being off track. So we headed to our "go to" spot and headed to Logan for two days. Now you may be thinking - hey, that wasn't too smart with sick kids...... and you would be right.  Actually sticking them in the hot tub DID help them.  And they watched tv in bed at the hotel as well as they would have at home.  But sleeping in a room with 3 coughing and snorting and moaning children didn't do anyone any good. We decided to stay our 2 days anyway, but on the second day.......yes, you guessed it!  Greg woke up with the fever and cough!!! So we headed home and sent Greg off to the doctor. Yup. Pneumonia.
The rest of the week has been very low key, with everyone taking it easy and trying to get better.
Thankfully, I haven't gotten it......yet.  I am hoping my blessing for taking care of my family is that I will NOT get sick.  Time will tell...
School starts again tomorrow and Nicholas and Noah will be going back, Nathan is still "if-y".  Greg should stay home, but I can't convince him of that.  He is getting restless just laying around, which I can't blame him.  This is not how he wanted to spend his vacation week.

We did manage to have some fun during this time of sickness..
For Labor Day, we stayed home and played games and made some homemade cream soda!

I also am trying me new recipe a week.  This one was a hit.  They ate all of them and still wanted more.  That NEVER happens.... this one is a keeper.
Pepperoni Rolls

Even with everyone being sick, we were able to spend some quality time together as a family.  It has given the boys a chance to serve each other and take care of each other.  When Nick was sick- Nathan and Noah helped to take care of him and did his chores for him.  When he was feeling better, he helped me take care of Noah and Nathan. They have all helped me take care of Greg.  There has been NO fighting since they went off track.  They have been watching out for each other and making sure everyone has what they need and are comfortable.
 I would much rather have had them all healthy, but I am to the point I can see the silver lining and can be grateful for the little things.

Just a Quick Post

This is just a quick little post - mostly because my laptop is about to run out of batteries and I am  too lazy and tired to hunt down the cord.  (two weeks of taking care of a child with pneumonia will do that to you...)
Anyway, I did something amazing today!!!!  Just look what I did!!!

I edited and cropped and faded and made a crappy picture look awesome!!!

I may never go to a photographer again!

My friend introduced me to a photo-editing website called Picnik.  It's fantastic!  You download whatever pictures you want to and then edit, tweak, border, crop, and anything else you can imagine.  They make my shoddy photography skills look good.  This opens up a whole new realm of crafting for me!!

(So it may not be as wonderful as it seems with my sleep deprived eyes, but it's still exciting!!)

The Craft Room!!

We finally got our basement done in July.  I now have my very own CRAFT ROOM!!!  My own little oasis, my crafting cave, my creative cavern....you get the idea. 
Because I have an amazing husband, he set up my craft room.... complete with THIS.....

He even stocked it with the Diet Coke!!  What a great man I have!!

So now that I have a place to do nothing but create, what am I going to do first??

I am going to make Halloween Decorations!!  Here is the start of this project.  Painting some picture frames, then I will put a vinyl picture on the glass.  Hopefully I will have it finished soon.  (unfortunately I have crafting a.d.d.  So I start several projects at once and then go back and finish them)

Here are "some" of the projects I will be starting and hopefully finishing soon.  I have actually finished a few, but they are for birthday presents, so I will post them after the September birthdays.

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day all!  Whew, what a long few weeks we have had here at the Sill house.  After a long and doctor filled August, we were so looking forward to a fun holiday weekend.  Unfortunately, Greg and Nicholas spent Sunday up at Primary Children's Medical Center.

Last weekend Greg took us up to East Canyon Reservoir to swim and go crawdad fishing.  Greg,being the wonderful man he is, brought up a canopy and chairs and blankets for me to sit on and under so I could work on my lesson for Sunday.  Greg and the boys swam, caught crawdads and floated around in the tube and snorkeled.

(dinner of crawdads - and Burger King)
On our way home Nicholas started not feeling very well.  He ended up being up half the night with a stomach ache.  Sunday morning he was feeling better, so we got ready and headed to church.  During Sacrament meeting, Nicholas started getting a fever, so Greg took him home and put him to bed.  And this started our lovely week.
Monday and Tuesday he stayed home from school with a fever and started having a cough.  By Wendesday, his fever was still at 102 -so we took him in to the doctors.  They determined he had a virus and it just needed to let it run its course.  He ended up running his fever Thursday, Friday, Saturday and about 3:30 Sunday morning, his fever and cough were bad enough Greg decided to take him up to Primary Children's.  They ran a few tests and were going to send him home with his "virus" and then decided to do a quick chest x-ray.  Thank goodness they did!  His right lung is full of fluid.  The poor little guy has pneumonia!!  The doctor was surprised because he hadn't heard anything in his lungs.  So they gave him 2 antibiotics and sent him home.  A few hours later, he had an allergic reaction to one of the antibiotics and Greg took him back up to Primary's.  After some steroids and benadryl, he was able to come back home.  Needless to say, we have had a long week, but he seems to be on the mend.  he has gone an entire 12 hours with no fever!!  YEAH!!  Still getting hives, but the benadryl works pretty well.  So today we have just been hanging around the house and keeping an eye on him.

Now, I am grateful that if he had to get sick, he waited until after I had MY lovely week at the doctors in the middle of August.
I went to bed one night with a slight ear ache and woke up to a massive ear ache, swollen ear, dizziness, and a fever.  Greg took me in to the doctor and they thought it was an allergic reaction, but couldn't tell what exactly I was allergic too or how it had gotten into the cartilage of my ear, all my glands around my ear and neck. That was on a Wednesday. I ended up going in to the specialist Thursday, Friday, and Monday.  It got a lot worse before it got better.  I was on antibiotics and steroids and lovely Percocet.  Unfortunately, the percocet didn't even last a full 4 hours and I was counting down the minutes until my next dose.  I usually don't take anything stronger than motrin, so this was new for me.  So here is the progression of my ear. Warning - it ain't pretty.....

Here is my "normal" ear...

Here is the painful one...

                                                      A little swollen.....

                                                 A little more swollen........

"About to explode" swollen....

Finally, after a week and 4 doctor visits, it started going down.  It took another week for it to stop hurting.  They still don't know what it was or how it happened.
I am just glad it was done and over before Nicholas got sick so I could take care of him.

August wasn't all bad.  We did manage to have some fun and make a few good things along the way.

 Nicholas made quite the discovery (while he was supposed to be doing homework) when he figured out that magnets stick to his braces.  Now he is sticking anything and everything with a magnet to his mouth,  That's my boy......

 Nick has been learning to ride his new skateboard and has had a few run ins with the cement.

Nicholas and Noah have been very active this month.  Noah has been riding his bike all over the neighborhood.  Unfortunately, he met the road up close and personal a few times and lost the skin off his knee and elbows.

My coconut curry chicken! YUMMMMM!

I have decided to try at least one new recipe a week, much to the chagrin of my children.  It actually hasn't turned out too bad.  They all ate the coconut curry chicken....... and lived to tell about it.


Since that went fairly well, I decided it was time to figure out how to use my food storage items.  so i cracked open a can of apples and made some mini apple tarts and a mini apple pie for Greg.  Definitely something I will need to make more often!

Next I tried making zucchini "chips"

I thought they turned out pretty darn good, but it was a little to "healthy" for the gang. 

This was more to their liking...... home made Cream Soda.

Hopefully September will be a little less exciting in the health department and a little more fun for everyone.  The boys are off track for the next three weeks.  Greg has a work trip to Pittsburg next week and we are hopefully going on a family vacation.  We'll keep our fingers crossed that everyone gets and stays healthy.