Free at last

So a few weeks ago I started this project, and sometimes,when starting new things I get a bit compulsive about them, and want to work on them night and day till they are finished. However, this time around, I had big barricades such as "no sewing machine" or "not enough fabric" that kept breaking my groove.

My dear sister let me borrow her sewing machine, so once I got rolling- there was no stopping me.

I got all 80 squares cut, sandwiched, then pinned in only a couple of days. Then my squares sat for a couple weeks.

Once the sewing machine made its appearance, and the bobbin and I made an agreement to not have any trouble, I began sewing X's onto the sandwiches and finished all 80 in only a couple of hours. Yay.

Then, the trouble. How to sew over those corners, with 12 layers of fabric.... well, you try- then you break 4 needles and ask for help. I was told to us a "denim needle" and this thing stormed through those corners like a jack-hammer. It was great. I got the whole thing compiled and sewn in another 2 days. Then tried to get a flattering picture of it. It was hard. But the thing is a good sized quilt, Jack loves it, Josh loves it, Lucy loves it.... it has already become a treasure. I'm sure glad I was brave enough to do it...

I'm also glad it's over. Because now my mind isn't shackled to this project.

Fall Fell, We Halloweened.

Who knew halloween was such an involved holiday! This was an all-day event! Jack and I both dressed up for his school Halloween party. (I was in charge of the pumpkin hunt.) His sweet teacher went all out and planned a great party for the little ones. She had stations with cookie decorating, scary stories, spider crafts and finally the pumpkin hunt. In small groups she lead them up to the "Nature Scape" just above the play ground where they hunted pumpkins all the while avoiding the "monster under the bridge." It was so cute. Jack had SO much fun and was a little overly excited that I was there.

(After finding his pumpkin and having one of the mom's write his name on it, he then asked her to draw a face on it. Again, he thinks he runs every show.)

("Be careful going over the bridge, the monster may grab your feet!")

(Jack couldn't keep his eyes off me.)

(this is Sunny, the new class pet.)

After school, Jack's face was all sorts of messed up, as was his costume- so we bathed him and washed his costume just in time to dress up and do it ALL OVER AGAIN. We headed out to my mom's neighborhood to met my brother's family there. We've trick-or-treated there for years, so we trust the territory. The moment Jack walked in the house Tessa, (the youngest of my brother's children) screeched a horrifying scream and was frightened by Jack's appearance. we had to keep them separated. So we all started off and the kids had a great time. I had fun running into old neighbors.

(Sadie was a princess, Piper was Minnie, and Chloe was a fairy. Tessa- off in the far distance being carried by Carter because she is about to cross paths with Jack- is a chicken. Literally.)

(Jack glows in the dark. Most of him, anyway.)

(We ran into big Buddha. Jack recognized his costume immediately, and greeted his fellow Mario.)

(The kids with their loot.)

(Back at home, mom made her traditional Latke's, and had crafts for the kids.)

This could very well be the best Halloween yet, it was the perfect weather, Jack had fun and spent his time trick-or-treating with people he loves, we had a great atmosphere and wonderful company. Happy Halloween. (And.....take a deep breath- cause here come the holidays......)

Gratitude

I can't really thank Make A Wish enough. They do such a great job of taking care of wish kids, before and after their wishes are granted. This year, the trick or treat was PACKED with so many wish kids.... which is a great sign that they are doing well and feeling good enough to come. It both hurts warms my heart to see Jack bounding around there so healthy, when there are kids that are in much tougher situations than he is. But the smiles on their faces make me so excited to become part of the Make A Wish team. I'm going to be a Wish Ambassador for the Utah Chapter. I will help represent the Foundation at schools, businesses, and community events. It's the least I can do, and I look forward to being a part of something so life changing. Jack's heart will always be full with the wonderful things these volunteers have done for him. I hope to be that change in the lives of other sweet children that are faced with critical challenges so early in life.

Thank you Make A Wish, for treating my little trickster..

And.........

I forgot to post, a few months ago, that Jack's pictures were featured in the Utah Business Magazine. It's not only cool that he is featured to help promote Make A Wish, but also that my photography made it into a magazine :) And now, here are a couple poor quality photos of the article:

This is Halloween

Jack gets so excited for Halloween. In fact, once it is October, he KNOWS that means it's close- and asks everyday how close we are to the very special day. Aside from that, he takes the whole year to decide what he is going to be. But that only started a couple years ago. I remember the good ol' days when I would find the cutest costume I could, dress him up, and parade him around.

Jack's first Halloween I ordered a pair of scrubs that not only did I have "Dr. Jack Trent, Cardiology" embroidered on, but they had to be tailored a bit to fit him well. He was the cutest little doctor EVER.

The second year, was mostly because I found this lion costume, wanted to put Jack in it, then cuddle him non-sop. That didn't really happen, because the amount of yarn on the head out-weighed his OWN head, and he never liked to keep it on. Sure kept him warm, though.

Cop out year- year three. However the effort put into mine and Josh's duct tape skeleton costumes balanced out the work I usually do for Jack's costume. His glowed in the dark though..

The fourth year, was also the year of his 3rd heart surgery, so we were a sucker for ANYTHING he wanted. He fell in love with WALL*E and particularly "Mo" the character that cleaned up after WALL*E. I can't believe this is the only picture I have of that costume I made, and that I forgot to have him wear his paint-roller on his arms.

The fifth year, enter: Mario. Jack loved and STILL loves everything Mario. It's a little inappropriate how often Mario is mentioned in Jack's nightly prayers. But hey- he found the rest of his crew at school...

This year, believe it or not, as though it hadn't ever happened before, Jack saw the skeleton pajama's at Old Navy and immediately chose them as his costume. (Sigh of relief...) I don't mind. I did tell him he was already a skeleton. He didn't believe me. When I showed him the pictures he was surprised, and impressed that Josh and I were also skeletons. So, he of course requested we do it again. Luckily- I still have my black crew neck, duct tape skeleton and all.

So look for a crazy family of skeleton's this year... (again)

Happy Halloween.

What's up?

If anyone is wondering what the latest is over here?

Nothin' but attitude from this one.

All those experienced parents out there that tell me "You need to stop that early"- I am all ears. Give me all that valuable advice that prevents children from becoming smart-mouths in the later years.

Here's what I'm looking at.

"Jack, you need to watch your mouth."

"YOU need to watch your mouth, Mom!"

"Jack, please start picking your toys up, I've asked 6 times."

"MOOOOOOM! Just be quiet!"

"I'm turning the Wii off Jack, if you keep getting upset."

"If you turn that off, I'm going to poke you in the eye."

(..personal fave.)

All I'm asking for is the instant reaction I should give, because what it SEEMS like, is I'll give him the instant reaction- and he gives it right back. Poor Jack, being the third person in the home, feels like he too, is an adult- and he too, is a parent. He's only mimicking what he sees around him. So it's tricky.

Again, I'm all ears.

Jack's Recent Art

This just makes me wonder if this is REALLY how he sees human beings..

From the left, and over:

"Scary Octopus"

"Dad" (Josh)

"Mario"

"Jack"

"Eva"

"Cotchroke" (Wall-E's cockroach)

"Wall-E"

The Kinder Way

It is cliche to say "I can't believe my baby is five." The truth is, I can't believe he is ONLY five. We have been through more in the past five years than I ever imagined I would go through in my life. Some mother's cry when their babies turn another year older, or when they grow out of clothes, or when they drop them off at the first day of school. I celebrate. I consider each milestone a blessing. Instead of wishing that he was still a baby I say to myself "I am so lucky we made it here."

I didn't spend a lot of time thinking about "the first days of school" while Jack was a baby because I couldn't see past the third surgery. We didn't allow ourselves to be jinxed by imagining the days when Jack was 5, 10 or 15 years old because we just needed to make it to that third surgery.

Now that we are here, I haven't had time to daydream about him growing up and doing the regular things kids do. Or, how they would affect him, and us. It has been SO exciting and fun to watch him do these new things. Today was certainly the beginning of a very long, important part of his life. He was thrilled and woke up yelling "First Day of School!" ..even though we have PM Kindergarten. (To my surprise..) he couldn't wait to put on his uniform and head to school.

It was quick and painless.. pat on the back, couple of pictures, a hug goodbye- off he went.

So we are on our way, the Kinder way, to a whole new world of PTA meetings (I'm a card holding member..), volunteer work, homework, new friends, class pets, math problems and recess fights. I love it.. we are all happy here.

"Surreal" barely cuts it...

Today I took Jack to visit Sunrise Elementary, where I went to Kindergartern. (And all the other grades..) I knew that the school would be open, being that teachers are preparing their classrooms and things are getting in order.

The school was remodeled the year I left, in fact we spent our last few months of 6th grade at Eastmont Middle School because Sunrise was under so much construction, and we were on year-round, so the Middle School students were off for summer break. The inside of Sunrise was virtually unrecognizable. When I had left, all the classrooms were open; if you turn around in your desk, you'd see the OTHER classes in your grade, and all their backs. It proved too distracting (obviously) so the classrooms went under remodel to enclose each classroom for more privacy. But that created a MAZE of hallways. I had no idea where I was till I ran into the "Kiva" (shown below). It was where you'd meet for unique presentations or speakers, and we'd all sit on the levels to create stadium seating. More intimate that the assemblies in the combined lunchroom/gymnasium.

The GYM and Lunchroom haven't changed- the lights were off or I would have taken pictures. But they brought back LOTS of memories: Assemblies, 5th Grade Sales Parade (I sold little candy trains made out of Lifesavers and Red Licorice Rope), the Maturation program.... good times. We finally found are way over to the Kindergarten room. I showed Jack the classroom I was in and he sat down at a desk and said "It's just my size!!" That was when I TRULY realized just how long ago it was that I was there.

The classrooms were all prepared, with tote-trays on top of each desk filled with supplies. I stole a pencil, because you can't tell, but they are JUMBO pencils, the diameter of those things are as wide as my forefinger. So I took one. Don't tell.

This was the 4th grade bathroom. I remember raising my hand to go to the bathroom, doing my business, then stand looking at that mirror, wondering just how long I could stay in there while time passes- until someone came to get me. It was a great way to move the day along. Those toilets are tiny.

Outside the back of Sunrise was the "good" playground. Which doesn't say much compared to what it is NOW. It is wicked awesome. Jack declared it his favorite playground in Utah, and we have decided it is where we will go to play. There are rock climbing things, lots of slides, spinny things that make you a go a million miles an hour... and a zip line. So, that part has GREATLY improved...

We stayed an played for awhile. A little girl that was going into 4th grade was playing there also, telling me the things she usually plays at recess. I spent a good month or so playing with a fire hydrant. Ah, how times have changed. I explained to her that I went to Sunrise 25 years ago, to which she replied "was this building even HERE that long ago??"

Yes, little girl. Yes it was.

The Wish that Keeps On Giving (Photo Alert..)

Last month Make A Wish asked if they could give Bangerter Homes permission to use Jack's wish as inspiration for one of the bedrooms in their "UP" house they built for the Parade of Homes. We will do ANYTHING MAW asks because we are so grateful to them and want to help them in any way we can. So we met with Adam Bangerter and he and Jack had a nice chat. Jack showed him his video montage from his wish trip and Adam told Jack that they'd like to do a "Toy Story" theme and make the room like "Andy's Room." Jack spent most of his trip on the Toy Story Mania Ride, so he was down.

We got to preview the room at the "room reveal" last week. (Video, here.) The House is incredible to look at, from the outside it's as realistic as it gets. Then they added such great details like the chairs, the walker with the tennis balls, the Paradise Falls mural and jar of money. The kitchen was DARLING with tiffany-blue appliances and there were great pictures of Ellie and Carl lining the walls.

Jack's room was super cute, the signature clouds on the sky blue wall, the chest full of all this his favorite friends from Toy Story. The race track running off the desk, and the army guys parachuting from the ceiling. Jack saw his name up on the wall and the pictures of our family on his trip around the room- he knew it was special. BUT- it has taken (and is still taking) some convincing that it isn't HIS room.

Part of the proceeds from the Parade of Homes tickets will go to Make A Wish, and I encourage everyone to go, not only because it helps Make A Wish, but because there are a LOT of fun homes to see. Not to mention the UP house. We are so glad to be a part of something and to have Jack give back... Make A Wish is a very important part of our lives and though Jack is doing well, unlike many, MANY MAW kids, it always reminds us of how lucky we are he is still here, and what a miracle he is.