Baking madness... and Small Paul cuteness

Last week was our official cookie tray handout for family home evening. In total, I baked 896 cookies, plus 5 different types of candies for about 36 trays we handed out to families, teachers, and other assorted friends. It was a lot of fun! I love baking sooo much, it is probably my favorite thing to do, other than hanging out with the kids! The best part of the crazy number of cookies is that by the time they are done I have no desire to eat ANY of them - the thought is just overwhelming. If you received a Mathews cookie tray, we sure hope you liked them! If not, you will still probably get your hands on something I have baked this Christmas season - I normally have something loaded with sugar in hand wherever I go... I hope everyone knows how much I appreciate having them in our lives, and my feeding you is just my way of showing it!


Small Paul is 15 months old already - seriously, how can that be? He is a super genius with an ever expanding vocabulary... He now says:
Bird
Arf
Out
Up
Dad
Mama
Ana (Savannah)
Fish
That
Boob (thanks Paul)
And most importantly, bap (any Christmas decorations, especially lights)

However.... HE WONT WALK! What gives? He can stand, will furniture walk, and is a master of going up and down the stairs. He can also escape from any grocery cart seat belt faster than I can grab a can of corn off of the shelf, but no walking... I know that part of this is because he has a harem at the ready knocking each other down to get a chance to hold him, but really? 15 months? Michael was running at 9 months, and I was worried when Reagan didn't start until 11 months. Is this a Mathews thing? Is this a baby with lots of older siblings thing? I keep reminding myself that life is easier when they aren't walking, but I'm getting a little worried!

It's December, and duct tape cant fix everything...

Still no pics, why? Well, my camera is literally held together with duct tape, which is really silly because it still doesn't work 99% of the time. Why bother with the duct tape you might ask, but I am still holding out hope that it will magically repair the camera, if I just believe hard enough...

Christmas is pratically here!!!! Can you feel the excitement in the air? OMGoodness I am just flat out giddy with anticipation! This weekend is the Creche festival in a nearby ward bldg., and it is always very cool. Last year there were over 700 nativities from around he world - I just love seeing them all. They have everything from the most simple to totally ornate, toy ones, hand carved ones, itty bity inside a walnut shell ones, and giant living people on the stage ones.
The rest of the lights at the temple go up this weekend, so that will be our FHE for next week - totally excited about that too!

I think that the LA area is going to be invaded by a gagillion (slight exageration) Mathews family members soon too, which is very exciting for all of us! Man, I sure do love me some Mathews cousins/aunts/uncles etc...

To quote Shawn, "I'm so excited my head is going to explode!"

Best evers...

No photos this time, I just want to say how grateful I am for my wonderful, fun, and very blessed life! I am finding that I am having more and more days, moments, and events that I've walked away from thinking "that was the best_________ever". This year has been great, and I am so grateful that I have such a fantastic, loving, caring, supportive husband, along with such wonderful kids to share my life with! I can't imagine how things could be better. Our house is crazy, and loud, and I love it! Our kids do silly, random things, and will stand their ground going toe to toe with whomever, including me, and I love that... My girls are stubborn, but as they mature, that will be what makes them strong women, and no one will take advantage of them. My boys are strong, determined, and see the world through their creative, imagination filled eyes, and they are sensitive enough to become great dads and husbands, just like Paul. Life is good, even if no one but me eats all of their veggies, or picks up their dirty socks.

The Big "1"

This face...



I SO LOVE this face!! Every day for a year now we have had this beautiful face, and this beautiful person here making our lives more complete. Small Paul is the happiest baby I have ever known... he has a smile for everyone, and laughs at everything the bigger kids do. One day we were at the doctor's ofc., waiting to check in, when an older woman came over & was staring at him - I was distracted by trying not to lose Shelby, Reagan or Shawn when I noticed her. She had tears in her eyes and told me that he was so beautiful, and that he had just made her day so much better. Just a week or so ago another woman was looking at him while I was waiting for copies at Staples. She told me "you know, I've never had children of my own so maybe I appreciate them more, but your baby is overwhelmingly beautiful..."

I have to agree with them.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend & photographer, Chrissi Richards, got the brilliant idea to have Small Paul, her daughter Julia, and our tortoise, Dorothy, race... Dorothy won - Small Paul kept heading the wrong direction!

One busy summer!

I have to narrow down my pictures to decide what to post... We are having one crazy, busy, fun filled summer vacation!!
We have visited St George where we saw lots of family we love to visit with... the beach, botanical gardens, museums, the aquarium, Disneyland (of course)... the list goes on, BUT - yesterday we went to the Skirball Cultural Ctr in Los Angeles. It was so much fun!! They have a ginormous Noah's Ark that is totally hands on interactive splendor!! I'm making sure that Grandma Mathews steers all of the visiting family with kids towards it. It's not too far from her house, maybe 20 minutes without traffic, and your kids will love it!!!

Peace, Love & Shelby

We have been under construction around here for the past few weeks. Our goal? Shelby's very own brand new bedroom!

Shelby is all about peace signs, owls, & color. I had a few people look at me like I was crazy when I explained my color pallet - but I think it turned out cute and totally Shelby-styled!

Check out my attempt to be creative, or at least somewhat original curtain tie backs. Is that what they are even called?
Reveal day was today - minus a ceiling fan - and Shelby L.O.V.E.D. it!!! I'm so happy for her to have her own space!

We also have added a small stretch of hallway, and a great big walk in storage closet for all of our *stuff*, but neither of those areas have tile, or even a completed paint job so I won't be sharing pictures of that quite yet. I have major organization plans for in the big closet though, so I may share that soon!

Flat out bragging...

We are so happy that summer has finally arrived, and we are SO proud of our kids! We ended the year by sweeping the awards ceremonies once again!

Shelby and Reagan both made the Principal's list - yay!! I apologize for the photos, trying to get in a good spot at these ceremonies is a full contact sport amongst the parents! Savannah also made the Principal's list, but alas no photos. Her awards ceremony was at the same time as YW, and she really didn't want to miss YW. They are getting ready for girl's camp and having so much fun! I can't wait for Shelby & Reagan to get their chance in a few years!




Shawn was chosen for the citizenship award for being wonderful and charming, and for having his homework in all of the time! (I trapped him for a photo - you can just feel the excitement when you look at him right?)




Genius children I tell you - every last one! Those Baby Einstein videos really paid off ;)

catching up...part deux

Springtime in So Cal of course means we a headed back to the beach! Actually, we don't need it to be spring or any other time, we just like the beach, ALOT.





Totally unnecessary photo of my cute monkey thrown in just because I love him so much. Look how comfy he is sleeping on daddy's chest *sigh*




This week (which means I am caught up, yay!) we declared a ditch day & headed to Magic Mountain. We had a great, wonderful, superfun time - I love Magic Mountain! It is so nice that it is only about a half an hour or so from the house - no long drive there filled with "how much longer" cries from the back of the car, and at the end of the day we are home before we know it! It was a beautiful day & because all of the responsible parents of the world make their children go to school, we never waited in any lines! Can't wait to go back - hopefully we will have some cousins out here visiting that will come along with us????? We went over spring break when Kathy & family were here and Curtis and his family came too - it was so nice! I hope we get lots of visitors from near and far this summer so we can hang out! I think we are heading to Utah at some point this summer too, we just have to figure out the specifics! Yay!


I would like to tell you that I won this beast in some game of skill, but alas, I lack said skills. In reality, when we were in the parking lot loading up the car, some really nice guys stopped & asked if we wanted him - he wouldn't fit in their car! Of course I said yes without hesitation! When can ANYONE say no to a gigantic stuffed gorilla? They come in handy for some many things... none that I can think of, but seriously, he's huge, and huge gorillas just announce that something fun is about to happen. I have no idea what to do with him. I was thinking that it would be fun to share the gorilla love by taking him to an unsuspecting friends house, set him at the door, then ring the bell & run & hide. Then they could decide his best use. Other ideas that involved keeping him were bungee cording him to the top of the suburban and driving around with him pretending that we are in our own little parade, or at the very least stuffing him into the back of the car for trunk or treating? I'm open to creative ideas. Shawn thought we should hang him on the family room wall...I'm not really feeling that.

All caught up! hooray!

Catching up... volume 1

Ok, I am way behind on my blog updates, which wouldn't be a terrible thing except, unlike all of my talented and more organized friends, this blog also is my attempt at scrapbooking, baby booking, and maintaining a journal. I know... I'm bad.

Confession time is over - Happy Easter! We had a great time at home with baskets, then went to G'ma Mathew's for her once again fun filled, fabulous egg hunt! We had a blast!


Since it was spring time, that meant for a moment the desert was bright with orange poppies! We had a ton of wildflowers this year...so beautiful to look at, but we all are still sniffling from all of the pollen. I think this may have been the most colorful year I can remember out here - so pretty!



Springtime 13 years ago brought Savannah into the world, and so we celebrated her b-day with friends & family. She is such a wonderful girl, it is so much fun watching her turn into a wonderful young woman! She is so talented, so much fun, and a great big sister to everyone. Savannah is always there to lend a hand with the baby, and makes everything we do so much fun! Happy Birthday Savannah! We love you bunches!!


Family home evenings are our favorite night of the week! This time (sometime last month) we went to Mountasia in Valencia where we had a blast! Because it was a weeknight the place was empty! We had the golf course to ourselves, then the arcade, and finally we had dinner at Farrel's (and ice cream of course) where we were still alone so it didn't matter that Small Paul was screaching his happy scream throughout our meal!

I will post more soon - I am still pulling together my activity for our Primary Activity day that starts is 3 hours...yikes! Thank goodness for the last minute - I'd never get anything done without it!

Small Paul's first photo shoot...

OK, I'm posting this everywhere....so here it is again! Of you go to this site you can see my little snuggle buggle boy, aka Small Paul, and his good friend Dorothy the tortoise. If you leave a comment on her page (there is a link after his photos) and I get 15 comments total, I get a free 8 x 10 thrown in - yay!

http://chrissirichards.squarespace.com/

check it out - I think he's very cute!

What a spring break!!

We had such a wonderful time this past week hanging out in Tahoe (thanks again Debbie & Craig!!!) and OH MY GOODNESS did we have fun!!! We went sledding, built a snow-woman named Lily, visited Circus Circus where the kids won a ton of stuffed animals, learned to ski (well, the four bigger kids did), and had some great family time. It is always so beautiful up there and we are all always sad to leave.

As with any event with our family, there were a few casualties...

#1 - upon our arrival, Paul bonked his melon on a cabinet corner and we found a great urgent care just down the street that stapled his forehead back together again - it looks like it is healing well now...hooray!

#2 - on our second night, Small Paul came down with the flu that I had suffered with the week prior. He went from being totally normal, to throwing up 8 times in an hour & a half. At that point I said a little prayer for him & when I handed him over to Paul so I could take a break, he said one too, and that was the end of the flu! He went to sleep and woke up several hours later hungry and acting as if nothing had ever happened! Yay!

#3 - the car was a two for one event - on the way to Tahoe the CD player died, which made things a bit more boring around the Mammoth area when we had no radio reception and Shelby made up wonderful rap songs with creative lyrics such as:

Pancakes, they're flat, they're round, they're awesome (repeat 3 times)
Pancakes, got smooshed by a car (repeat 3 times)
Fried on a griddle


We endured about 15 repetitions of the above song when I requested that we play the quiet game, which, by the way, doesn't work once your kids catch on to the real point of the game...

We also had a headlight burn out which wasn't a big deal, in fact the super nice Napa employee even changed the bulb for us! Paul has informed me that neither of these events count as a mechanical failure and therefore cannot be used in any future discussions debating the need for a new vehicle.

#4 - The most tragic of all... on the last day in Tahoe, as I was packing up the car & running last minute errands...my ipod touch dissapeared *SOB* I L.O.V.E.D. that ipod. It was my most favor-ist toy. I downloaded so many apps which I used ALL THE TIME but alas, there is not an app for a careless ipod owner. Maybe someone will find it, see that my last map gave directions to our house from Tahoe & they will deliver it to me?

Overall, not a bad trip for us - only one visit to urgent care (two if you count the staple removal), and now we know where to take the kids if we have a future event with the kids. The kids were all afraid of the ski lifts, but were willing to walk their skis up the beginner hill at Homewood over & over for hours, so we're encouraged. We will be watching craigslist & garage sales etc for skis so next year we won't have to rent them. Not sure where we will put them though, this was our first trip that involved a huge cargo pack on the top of the suburban - we probably looked a bit like the Griswolds, but at least there was not a dog being pulled behind us...

Family Home Evening at our house...

So we are doing really well this year at making sure we have FHE every week, and so far, we haven't missed once!! I'm really excited because the kids are really into it (who knew) and look forward to it, which is great! Shawn always asks what day it is when I pick the kids up from school in hopes that it is Tuesday (our FHE night)!

All of the older kids love it, and Paul & I have fun - I love finding fun lessons & trying to create a fun treat to match the lesson - i.e. the fruits of the spirit = fruit loop cake etc. Much to our surprise however, is that the person who seems to enjoy this the most is Small Paul. He loves sitting at the table and screaming as loud as he can. The rest of us can't help but laugh, which makes him do it again & again, smiling and shaking with excitement. Unfortunately this behavior has moved beyond the FHE table and out into the world. Any time he is sitting on anyone's lap at a table - in a restaurant, while I'm conducting sharing time, during a Primary Presidency meeting, the school office etc, he sees an audience & goes into his screaming routine. I am sure that this will only be cute for a short time & then I will try to figure out how to break him of this habit, but for now this is how we start FHE every week, and greet the world.

We always end with a treat, and this week Small Paul has decided that he too should be part of the treat eating...

Terror in the high desert...

As I have mentioned earlier, I hate birds. Yes, I know, hate is a strong word I don't allow the kids to use, but there just isn't any other word that can describe my level of dislike for the germy creatures. Imagine my surprise, when I looked out my kitchen window on a bright and sunny morning and saw THIS on the neighbor's roof!




This monster was so large that I had to call Paul over to make sure that it was real. He thought it was the greatest thing ever, and went outside to get a better look because he is crazy like that. Upon closer examination Paul decided that the creature was over two feet tall, which for some reason made the whole even more exciting for him. He even grabbed the California bird book & tried to figure out what it was - possible a great blue herring? Whatever - I would have thrown a rock or something, but the bird was watching me, I'm sure of it.

Eventually he flew away, much to Paul's dismay - he was hoping to keep it as a pet. My ever supporting children were thrilled to hear the story, and are all hopeful that this creature will return. Shawn insists that the bird is nearby still and is in fact "stalking" me. Thanks Shawn!

A more relaxing day...

The final word on Michael is in - he is OK! His heart is back to normal, he was discharged from the hospital & was able to spend the afternoon & night with us yesterday. Today he had to go to Walter Reed Medical Ctr in Washington, and they decided that he is ok too. He still has to see a neurologist, but that will be a bit further down the line.

We were also SO relieved & excited that Kathy's surgery went so well. We love Aunt Kathy so much and were praying hard for her all day - and once again, Heavenly Father heard us!

Paul, Small Paul & I headed down to Washington DC to check out some of the sights. It was a beautiful day, and although we ran out of time really quickly, we were able to see some fun things! The Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln Monuments were so impressive. The US Capital Bldg is just beautiful, and the White House is fantastic.

We only had time to run through one of the 19 Smithsonian museums, so we chose Air & Space, and it was very cool. We are already planning a return trip soon with the rest of the kids. We would love to take them to Gettysburg, Hershey PA, the Baltimore Harbor etc. There is just so much to see in this part of the country! It seems so odd when we are driving around - from where we are it's only about 60 miles to Philadelphia, less than that to Delaware, DC was about 70, and Virginia is right past the National Mall, in fact we made a wrong turn today & were in Virginia for a minute!

Michael will be with us tomorrow, so I'm off to start planning our day of sight seeing! What a fantastic turn to such a horrible event!

A HAPPY update from Maryland

Ok - well, the past few days have been a big blur...

Friday morning, while rushing to get kids to school & myself there for an awards assembly (yay Shelby & Reagan) I received a call from Michael's commanding officer. Michael was found in his bed that morning unresponsive, and the e.m.t.s took him to the hospital where he was in ICU hooked up to a ventilator. He told me that we needed to get out to Maryland within the next 24 hours so that I could make medical decisions because I am listed as his next of kin. He didn't have any other information but told me he would call me when he did. At this point it had been about 6 hours since they found him and he was still completely unresponsive and now they were saying it was an apparent overdose of one the MANY prescriptions the army docs have had him on.

I called Bishop Clark Everitt, who was able to get me the number for the Bishop out here, who was able to coordinate getting Michael a Priesthood blessing. Paul & I went into a crazy whirlwind of what to do with the kids, getting a flight, packing, getting winter wear etc...

What seemed like forever later we got some good news, Michael appeared to be trying to turn his head when they yelled his name & shook his arm. This was a good sign, but it was all very touch & go.

Saturday morning we were on our way to the airport when we got a call saying that Michael was breathing on his own & tried to speak a little, which was a great sign, although now there were even more questions as to what happened.

We saw Michael last night, but he was really out of it and had a babysitter in his room. It was great to see him, but he looked pretty beat up. They were able to tell us that his brain function appeared to be normal, but they were concerned because he had (and still has) a heart block. I kept asking questions that no one could answer for me - Michael has been doing really great for the past 6 months or so, has been totally positive about life, and has never done anything like this before, it just didn't make sense... an overdose?

When I went to the hospital this morning, Michael was awake, alert, hungry, and wanting to know why everyone thinks he wants to hurt himself... He was insisting to everyone that he loved his life, but he couldn't remember what happened.

The hospital psychiatrist finally came in and had a long talk with him and decided that it was not an attempt to hurt himself, but that he should have never been prescribed the meds that did this to him. More than likely, he took his meds twice Thursday night, which caused lots of problems including a seizure.

We're not done yet, still waiting to see how his heart recovers, but they think he is going to be ok. His commanding officer is opening a medical review to find out what went wrong and where, and who knows if we will ever find out ourselves, but we have learned that Michael cannot take TCA's anymore (a type of antidepressant they used to try to prevent his migraine headaches). The prescription wasn't helping his headaches, so they just kept telling him to take more & see what happened. Well, THIS is what happened. I'm sure I'll be angry later on, but for now I'm busy...

I need a nap ---- Thanks so much to everyone who was fasting, praying, and holding Michael & our family in our hearts. Once again Heavenly Father has taken care of my family - I am so blessed!!! Love to everyone!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Just for fun, after I picked up all of the kids from school, it started to SNOW!! We are all very hopeful that it will continue for awhile, it's so beautiful to watch, and they close the schools really quickly in our district... we will see what happens next!


Ok - I had to add this.....



The mailman just showed up bearing gifts from afar (Utah to be precise). How amazing are these shoes???? We L.O.V.E. them!!! Thanks so much to the amazing knitter Stacey!!! Small Paul is very happy to be keeping his toes warm inside of them on this chilly day for sure! (yes, that is his hair standing straight up in the midle of his head)

Aquarium of the Pacific

Even though it appears from first glance that we are attempting to establish residency at Disneyland, there are actually lots of other things we like to do too. One thing we like alot is going to Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. There is so much to do there - pet the rays, pet the sharks, touch all kinds of tide pool dwelling creatures like starfish, sea cucumbers, and other things with long names I cannot spell. A couple of years ago for Paul's birthday he and Savannah the were able to go "behind the scenes" and learn all about taking care of Sea Otters, which was really cool! They even got to feed them!





Another fun activity at the aquarium (for some of us at least) is the Lorikeet Forest, which is a huge enclosed area where you get to feed the lorikeets. This may sound exciting, and the kids & Paul really love it, but for anyone who does not know this about me... I am terrified of birds. Really hate them, I can't help it - they completely creep me out. I'm not really bothered by any of the normal things - reptiles, rodents, whatever, but birds - YIKES! So, in an effort to raise well rounded children I brave the forest ducking & bobbing to avoid the birds zooming past my head on a mission (I'm sure) to peck my eyes out. This time I had to add protecting the baby to the equation and it was quiet an exhausting event for me, but the kids all had fun...



Scary - you can't convince me otherwise.

Wrapping up Christmas vacation

Christmas vacation is now over - sob - and the kids go back to school on Monday. Not wanting to waste any of those last, precious moments we headed out again! One more trip to Disneyland, followed by our first trip to Legoland. We stopped for a moment to bond with the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland and told him that we too are always late for our important dates!









We were cruising through the park we ran into Woody & Jessie from Toy Story! While Shelby & Reagan were there to get their autographs, Woody & Jessie played with Small Paul's spikey hair. The girls are on a mission to get EVERYONE'S autograph.






How cute are the Pauls? Small Paul LOVES the Small World ride, so we never miss it. I am not a huge fan of this ride, but I'm working on it for his sake. I used to like it, but I think I hit my limit on the song somewhere in my teens and haven't been able to re-embrace it quite yet. Luckily it is really cute right now because it is still decorated for Christmas and they also change up the song a bit.





On to Legoland where Savannah met a really nice guy! We explained to both of them that she can't date for 3 1/2 more years, and I think he will wait!






Sadly, a land shark tried to eat Shelby, but Superhero Shawn-E-Boy and his faithful sidekick Savannah were able to pull her out in the nick of time!


Legoland was very cool, much more so than Paul or I expected. We have had the tickets for quite awhile, and they were going to expire so we figured we should go, hoping to just have a nice day. I have to say that all of the gagillion lego structures, people, animals, cars (a full sized volvo suv) and artwork throughout the park were utterly amazing. I personally am limited to building simple boxes and calling them a house, or a garage - so I was especially impressed! We were there all day & only got to hit MAYBE half of the rides, but we only had to wait in one line, there was just alot to see & do. There is an aquarium next door and a water park too - maybe next time we will go for two days so we can do it all. We are able to get tickets through a friend and they are actually good for two days, but we had to get the kids back. The whole family had alot of fun & we are so glad we went. We were talking on the way home and thought that Liam & Drew would have a blast here if it could be squeezed in next time they are out. We all had alot of fun, but it is totally a busy little boy's dream destination!