Decking the Halls

We decked the halls a little later than usual this year. Before we could put up our Christmas tree, Mark and I had to finish installing the hardwood floor in our living room/dining room. It was quite a project. I still haven't finished painting the crown or the base mouldings, but I was anxious to get the tree up. So, with only a small set of shelves and a rug in the room, we put up our tree as the lone decoration. The kids were anxious to help. Benjamin began offering ornaments before the tree was even put together. Peyton had the important job of watching Luke.

[To make up for the tree's absence over the past week, I put limited decorations around the rest of the house and even set up the little tree, we bought last year in Phoenix, upstairs near the kids bedrooms so they could enjoy Christmas lights as they fall asleep. The little tree is making itself useful as a nightlight and a toy. I keep having to redecorate it because it magically loses all of its ornaments and scatters them across the hallway.]

Jackson was full of Christmas cheer but wasn't particularly interested in the tree until it was ready to be decorated.

Carston helped his dad fit the pieces of the tree together and then I "fluffed" the branches out. Mark and I bought this tree while we were at BYU and weren't allowed to have a real tree in our apartment because it was considered a fire hazard. It is probably safer since I put Austrian candles on our tree every year.

Benjamin recognized he wouldn't be able to help until the tree was ready for ornaments so he retired to the ladder I've been using to paint, but he watched our moves carefully (and believe me I watched him with that ladder).

Grant put himself in charge of all of the Christmas stuffed animals we have acquired. Once the tree was ready, he spread them out on the tree skirt beneath its branches.

I finished up the tree after the kids went to bed. Here it is the next morning. Mark always makes fun of me for moving all of the decorations everyone else puts on the tree. I can't help myself. I want to give them the opportunity to help but then also want it to look right. I'm sure the ornaments will be rearranged several times over the next few weeks and it will be my struggle to let the tree take on a new, more scattered look. I'm trying to let go of these things.
BESIDES, "it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas" around here and I love Christmas!!

Luke is already enjoying the tree.

With that face, he gets away with an awful lot. I am smitten with him.

Merry Christmas!

My Brood decked out in their Sunday best

My boys

My Sweet Six

My Baby

My Girl

Sankt Nikolaus Tag

I love this Austrian tradition that we have adopted as one of our favorite family Christmas traditions. The kids have learned to put their biggest boots out for Sankt Nikolaus to fill on the night of December 5th. I look forward to filling their boots with an orange, chocolate and candies every year. We've added a small toy and a Christmas book to the mix which makes it even more fun but a bit more expensive. I filled the boots this year while Mark worked on our new wooden floor in the Study. I could hardly believe there were so many boots to fill.
Our family has really expanded. It is so great! I can't imagine life without them.

Grant and Benjamin were pleased with their gifts. They pulled out the small toy Lightning McQueens placed in one of their boots and played with them immediately.

Carston got a Christmas movie that he can hardly wait to watch tonight.

Jackson loved his Christmas book and his candy.

Mark and I were exhausted after having worked late into the night on our floor, but Mark found some treats Sankt Nikolaus had picked out just for him. Luke was happy playing with his strawberry banana puffs since he had already had his breakfast.

Peyton quickly gulped down all of her candy before she even ate breakfast. What a healthy way to start off a day! You've heard that candy each day keeps the doctor away, right?

Our House

We moved into our house knowing that the front pillars were rotted out underneath their aluminum covers. After hours were spent (by Mark and his dad) repairing the pillar on the east side of the house where the house is drooping, the center pillar decided it was no longer needed for structural support and began dangling in place. Needless to say, it was necessary to remove it before it fell on an unsuspecting passerby. So, we had to call a contractor to have the porch lifted and new pillars put in. The siding had to come off in order for the contractor to check for rot in the wood of the pediment as well. So, we got to pay for some new siding as well.

We opted for round, fluted pillars and our porch no longer droops. Mark even installed recessed lighting so we could get rid of the big black hanging lantern over the front door.
The lights are so bright, they seem like flood lights.
We have also had some trees removed and branches trimmed
so that we have full use of our backyard.
I'll have to list all of the improvements to the interior of the house later. It makes me bone-tired thinking about it now, especially since we are far from finished and the holidays are nearly upon us. I've spent a portion of almost every day (and night) working on this house. I feel worn out. I'll suffice myself to say that we have new carpet upstairs and in the family room and I have painted the family room, the living room, the study and most of the upstairs bedrooms, walls and ceilings. (Some of the rooms have required removing wallpaper etc. What a pain!) Mark has replaced all of the electrical outlets and switches and patched walls and fixed a lot of random things that needed fixing in this house. We found hard wood under the carpet on our stairs, so I stained it and painted. We also had a carpet runner put down the middle. We are putting in hardwood floors in the study and living/dining rooms and have boxes full of wood planks filling our entryway as we speak. The house is in total disarray with furniture placed in the garage, blocking the front door and filling the entry etc.
I feel as flustered as the house looks.

On the outside of the house I would love to figure out how to remove the shutters without breaking them so that I can paint them black. I am also planning on painting the front door. I might have to wait until the spring. It has been hard to have so much work to do on the house, but it is starting to pay off. First of all, it doesn't smell like smoke around here anymore.
I am also really pleased by the colors in the rooms I have painted.
I am discovering how much I like color! Things will come together eventually.
I hope we'll fully move in at some point as well.

Interior before and after pictures later.

Calder's Dairy Farm

This past summer while hunting for houses in Dearborn, we found a metal cooler on the porch of a house we looked at that had the logo for Calder's Dairy Farm. We were excited to try Calder's ice cream because our inquiries resulted in praises of that cold and creamy dessert. We waited until today, one of the coldest days we've experienced in the last five years, when Mark was home and we were so tired of home improvement projects that we could allow ourselves a break.

So, we packed into the car with blankets over our laps and headed out over bumpy dirt roads and tiny paved roads, past many other picturesque farms not too far from where we live toward Calder's Dairy Farm.

Once we had arrived and opened the doors to let all of the little Calders out of the car, a goat climbed right in to greet us. He honestly tried to get his back legs up and in as well. When his investigation of the interior of our car turned up nothing worth eating, he stood dumbfounded for a moment before Grant put a stop to it and gently pulled him out of the car. The goat recognized a kindred spirit, stubborn and willful, in Grant and they played together until the goat realized he might never receive any sustenance and thought better of hanging around any longer.

We found an old milk truck made just for us and the kids climbed in for a moment but the cold soon drove us inside for.....ice cream?!

The kids each chose their flavors and then sat at antique school desks to enjoy their treat. We were only 100 yards away from where the very cows who provided this delicacy were being milked in their stalls in the barn.

I think they all liked the ice cream, but sadly, Mark and I aren't big fans. I thought each flavor tasted of eggnog and artificial additives. That was a blow. I was hoping for a new favorite haunt. We'll keep looking. One thing is for certain, no other place could have such a great name.

The farmhouse was charming and the yard vast and well laid out.

This black cat greeted and enchanted us with its mysterious eyes. It fit perfectly into this setting with its' wooden picket fences marking off the farmhouse yard and the lake near the house. We took muddy paths to view the animals as well. I had to wash off all of our shoes once we returned home.

Not sure who chose to put the cow statue here, but apparently you should keep off of it.
All in all, we really enjoyed the trip to the convenient country (only 5 or 6 miles off of the main roads). I would have preferred warmer weather conditions so we could have explored without running for cover whenever the wind picked up and it would have been nice to have fallen in love with the ice cream. I guess I should put my order in now to find a place that serves delicious Italian Gelato somewhere in the Detroit area. Hope springs eternal.

We haven't had any outings lately because of Mark's work schedule and all of the work we're doing on our house, so this was a much needed and enjoyed excursion!

Stylin' During Tubby Time

Benjamin didn't even complain when I put this lovely thing over his forehead so he could bathe! Mark insisted that I not allow Benjamin's stitches to get wet, so this has been my solution.
Last night's bath included a lot of splashing from Luke, so I was glad Benjamin was covered.
The stitches come out tonight.

Accident Prone

The mouth bleeds a lot! I knew this before having kids, but I REALLY know it now.
My kids have all tried to outdo each other to prove this fact. Among these experiences, this one stands out at the moment:

About four weeks ago, Benjamin fell out of the car straight onto his face. I watched helplessly, knowing I couldn't possibly get there before his face met the black top. As I darted around the back of the car and lunged forward to catch him, he fell head-first from our Suburban door. In the back of my mind I really thought he wouldn't escape major damage and knocking out a few teeth. I was amazed to find, after I stopped the bleeding and cleaned him up enough to assess the damage, no broken bones and no damage to his teeth. His nose was scraped underneath and bleeding and his gums were bleeding. Also, his teeth had gone into his bottom lip (but not all of the way through luckily) so his lips were also bleeding. Benjamin's poor lips blew up to triple their size, they were so swollen. Sadly it took awhile for his mouth to heal because he hit it two more times which brought on a lot more bleeding and discomfort.

So, like I said, the mouth bleeds a lot...............

BUT from what I can tell, slamming into a table with your forehead and slicing your head open to the skull bleeds a lot more. Thank you, Benjamin, for introducing me to the phenomenon of squirting blood. Last night, at seven pm, our house looked like the setting of a slasher Halloween movie.

All of the kids were chasing each other around our family room when Benjamin tripped (or was pushed) and fell headlong into our kid's craft table. I had just gotten everyone into their pajamas, herded them into the family room for scripture study, gathered up their dirty clothes and headed toward the laundry room to drop the clothes into the washing machine. I heard a thud, but that isn't unusual at our house. Benjamin's screaming (which, sadly, is also not unusual) mixed with the quiet from the rest of the kids (which is VERY unusual) made me quicken my pace back to the family room. When I rounded the corner into our kitchen, I saw Benjamin lying on the ground with his face covered in blood. I could see blood squirting and dripping from his forehead onto the carpet. He was trying to get up from the floor and as he sat up I saw that the blood was all over his clothes and around him on the floor. I was surprised his wound had been able to bleed that much so fast. I immediately wished I had RUN in to gather him in my arms as soon as I heard him scream. Guilt washed over me as I ran and scooped him up and took him into the kitchen toward the sink looking for a cloth. I needed to wipe the blood out of his eyes, nose and mouth first of all. I hugged him to me, telling him he would be fine. While I was approaching the sink, I recognized that a clean rag would be better and turned back around only to find a major blood trail. I ended up lying him on the table and using a rag to put pressure on the bleeding. For a split second, I was trepidatious to look at the split in his forehead underneath the growing blood spot on my rag because blood makes me sick and weak--something I dislike about myself. Mark, my quick thinking calm doctor-husband, was not at home and before I could even fully form any thought the reality that I had to exude CALM sunk into my mind. I didn't think about it, I just uncovered his forehead and carefully examined Benjamin's head. I looked at the split in his forehead and could see fat, tissue and some skull. I knew it would need to be stitched. I got the bleeding to slow way down and then called Mark to come home (luckily he wasn't in surgery but had left clinic a few minutes early to head to the church for cub scouts since he is the wolf den leader). I tried to calm the other kids who were still staring and mumbling about all the blood, then cuddled Benjamin, still putting pressure on his head, as I carried him to our neighbor's house and asked my kind neighbor if she could come over while I went to the hospital. She needed a minute to pull herself together but came over shortly after Mark hustled in through the door about 15 minutes later.

As soon as Mark took over with Benjamin, I just had to deal with our new carpet. I started cleaning the carpet which just seemed to spread the blood around, but I worked until it didn't seem to be spreading it any more. I moved quickly wiping blood from the kitchen floor and cupboards so that the kids could walk through the kitchen again. It was taking longer than I had hoped. Those of you who know me well, can probably just picture the frantic cleaning that went on. Mark told me a few times to forget about it and get in the car. I just needed a minute to clear a path. My neighbor, shortly after she arrived, urged me out the door with Mark and Benjamin by promising to attend to the carpet and when we left she was reading bedtime stories to the rest of the kids (she is a first grade teacher). I owe her not only for putting the kids to bed, but also for cleaning the remainder of the blood from the carpet.
Mark and I drove to Dearborn so Mark could sew up Benjamin's head on his own at Oakwood Heritage Hospital where he works. Benjamin sat calmly in his car seat (he was in shock). Every once in a while, I would turn to wipe blood from his forehead, but he took it in stride. The drive felt long to me and I couldn't stop thinking about how Mark had to drive that every day. It was my first chance to see the hospital. Isn't that sad!? Mark had just finished his ER rotation and knew the staff there, so they let us in the back door, gave us a room and a nurse even came in to help. Benjamin didn't really need to be held down. He was so brave. I was proud of my Mark as he stitched up the cut. It was the first time I had seen him stitch. I admit, I asked Mark a few times on the way to the ER if he thought maybe a plastic surgeon should sew up Benjamin's head. It was a real confidence booster for my sweetheart, so I made myself stop and put my full confidence in his abilities (after his almost four months of internship:)) and wiped the thought from my mind. Mark did a good job! Benjamin will have a nice size scar in the middle of his forehead because it was a good size cut, but he is a boy and it will just make him look tough. I am taking good care of it and hope that will help.

I am still finding blood spatter in the kitchen (under the cupboards on the mouldings etc.). I am so grateful that Benjamin is okay (something much more serious could have happened). How cool is it that Mark has the ability to stitch up his own kids?
That is really going to come in handy!

Oh, how I love this little accident prone child!