Lara's Revenge....

Hope you don't think less of me after this confession....

Remember Miss Grumpy Lunch Lady who likes to yell at me? 

Although I look all sweet and innocent in these pictures, in reality, I sure showed Grumpy Lady a thing or two last Thursday....

I brought Subway sandwiches to the school Thanksgiving luncheon,



instead of  buying her pressed turkey parts in gravy. 

And then, in a fit of rebellious vengeance, stood up on the table and yelled,

"Hello!  My name is Inigo mon-Lara.  You yelled at me.  Prepare to splee" 

I don't know what 'splee' means, but it rhymed with 'me' and sounded all cool and vengeful, so I just went with it. 

Then I grabbed an extra one of her precious plastic spoons and challenged her to a battle of the wits right then and there. 

I won handily....of course. 

(For some strange reason, nobody really believes me when I tell them this story.  I'm hoping that by putting it here in print that people will finally start to take me seriously for once.) 
 

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I Finally Decided What I Want to Be When I Grow Up....

....a professional pancake photographer.

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Let your friends know....

Lara's P.P. Photography
the ONLY pancake specialist in town. 

Guaranteed that your pancakes will never look better!


 You provide the pancakes and I take care of everything else, including pats of butter, authentic Aunt Jemima syrup, and a variety of plates.

Here are my rates: 

Pancake on a Plate Sitting Fee: 
$125

Single Pancake/4 Different Plates: 
$245

Stacks of Pancakes/9 Different Plates/3 Changes of Toppings: 
$3,103

Pancakes Standing on End in Shape of "Y" Mountain/Blueberry Topping/Singing Cougar Fight Song: 
$1,031,432

**Please note blemish removal (ie.  burnt edges, clumps of flour, etc) will cost an additional $75**


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Wordless Wednesday: Ellie's Toof

Okay.  After leaving this post "wordless" all night, I just can't stand it anymore.  I at least need to give you the short story.  Basically Ellie's front teeth have been wiggly for a couple of months.  Last night she bonked her mouth right before dinner, which left one of her teeth hanging by a thread and bleeding.  She was too paranoid to eat, since she'd accidentally swallowed one of her previous two teeth that she'd lost.  Spencer jokingly offered to pull it out for her and much to my shock, she actually accepted!   All right.  Now I feel better.  Enjoy the photos! :)

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Tender Mercies

"We should not underestimate or overlook the power of the Lord’s tender mercies. The simpleness, the sweetness, and the constancy of the tender mercies of the Lord will do much to fortify and protect us in the troubled times in which we do now and will yet live. When words cannot provide the solace we need or express the joy we feel, when it is simply futile to attempt to explain that which is unexplainable, when logic and reason cannot yield adequate understanding about the injustices and inequities of life, when mortal experience and evaluation are insufficient to produce a desired outcome, and when it seems that perhaps we are so totally alone, truly we are blessed by the tender mercies of the Lord and made mighty even unto the power of deliverance."

Some tender mercies that I'm especially grateful for right now....

The moved up MRI date.  When they first told us we'd have to wait almost a month for the MRI and we were so anxious to cross the scary things off of our list that that seemed like an eternity to wait.  Having the date move up by a couple of weeks was a HUGE relief to us! 

Ellie is so young.  I feel like this whole epilepsy diagnosis would have been so much more difficult if she were older.  She'd be more aware of her issue, she'd be more resistant to our protectiveness, she'd have a harder time in school,  and other people would be more likely to notice her seizures.  

Homeschooling Cami.  It hasn't been as organized as I'd hoped, but I can't even tell you what a blessing it's been to have her around with all the craziness with Ellie.  She helps me prepare dinners, she's home to help with the kids while I'm at the doctor with Ellie, and more than anything she makes it so have someone to talk to Ellie about.  I'd drive any friend crazy with it all and Glen occasionally has to get some work done, so it's made the beginning of this journey so much less lonely for me.   She's getting Real Life 101. 

Ellie's school teacher.  We put in a strong request for another teacher and were very disappointed when the principal did not honor our request.  Now we can see that her calm and experienced teacher is just right for her and the issues that she's facing.  Even the other teacher (whom we still love) told us that her classroom was really crazy this year and probably would not have been the best fit for her. 

A calm and patient husband.  Emotions have been a little high around here and I am grateful every day for Glen's calm presence.

Freckles, gray roots, and wrinkles.  It would be such a pain to juggle television appearances and modeling appointments along with the rest of my daily responsibilities. 







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The Elusive Happy Medium (an update on Ellie)

We're almost to the two month mark  in our unexpected journey into epilepsy.  It's been a crazy couple of months and I hope that in the end I can say that I'm a better person for them.    I'm learning first-hand that while her diagnosis of childhood absence epilepsy was probably the best one we could have hoped for in this situation, it still is (and probably will be for several years) an ongoing process to find a happy medium--a place we definitely haven't reached yet. 

The medication she is taking has effectively reduced the seizures from dozens per day to only a couple per day (that we notice), but in the process has sapped her energy and made her grumpy and clingy.  She's already on the lowest dose possible and in an effort to help reduce the negative side effects the neurologist has had us split her 6ml per day into 3 doses, rather than the 2 it had previously been.  For a busy (and somewhat disorganized) mom like me, remembering to dole out medicine 3 times a day is quite a feat, but I am happy to say we haven't missed a dose yet.

With the 3 doses per day we've definitely noticed an improvement in her energy level.  She is not dragging near as much as she had been, which is a relief.  Now, however, she has begun to have headaches which I just realized are another possible side effect of the medicine.  She has also been more irritable and moody.

Her follow-up appointment with the neurologist is in a couple of weeks and unless there is significant improvement in her energy and mood, I'm not sure that we can say that the benefits of this medicine outweigh the negatives.

There are two other medicines out there to treat this kind of seizure, although the one she's on is usually the first line of defense because it supposedly has fewer negative side effects than the others.  We're hoping that with her wiring, that maybe one of the others will prove more successful (or that she will adjust to a happier place sometime soon with her current medication).

I guess I've gotten fairly lucky in that out of our five kids, Ellie is the first one with special needs at school.  She was already one of my most distractible and talkative children, but combine that with her fatigue, irritability, and seizures and I'm sure she is not the teacher's favorite student this year.  It is my hope that once we find our elusive happy medium, that the teacher will see a little glimpse of the smart little sweetheart we sent off to kindergarten this year.   It would almost be funny if it weren't so sad when I go to pick Ellie up early from school almost every day,  looking in the "Student Sign-Out" book and seeing Ellie's name 3 or 4 times on every single page. 

Okay, enough with the negativity.  Tomorrow's post will be much more uplifting and until then here are a few pictures of Ellie modeling her new Medical ID bracelet.  They recommend that anyone who has seizures (of any kind) wear one,  but mainly it is for the medicine she is taking.  Apparently it negatively interacts on a moderate to severe level with almost 500 other medicines, including almost all pain-killers stronger than Children's Motrin or Tylenol and every cough and cold medicine in the universe.  I'm not a big medicine giver anyway, but I still dread the day she gets her first illness this winter knowing that there's no choice but to go without medicine.   

She is quite proud of her new jewelry and will happily show it off to anyone who shows any interest!  She will even tell you why she wears it. 

I thought about switching her bracelet to the non-bandaged side for the pictures, but in the end, I felt like it showed a little glimpse into her personality!  :)

We figured while we were engraving her medical issues on a medical plate anyway, that we may as well add in her allergy to penicillin as well.    Basically, without us saying a word, a doctor now knows at a glance that she has seizures and  can't have a sizable chunk of "normal" medicines.

Good thing Bandaids aren't a problem though! 


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Harper's Ferry

I can't think of a single way to make this funny or interesting, but I don't want to miss posting these beautiful pictures of our spontaneous  trip to Harper's Ferry last week.  Basically, we woke up to a day off of school that so happened to be a little brisk, but otherwise GORGEOUS!  I was trying to think of something to do that day, when I happened across my friend's blog that morning and after ogling over her lovely pictures of Harper's Ferry decided that that's where we were going for the day! 



 We called my sister-in-law, who may have four kids 4-years-old and under, but is still always up for a spontaneous adventure!   It also happened to be my mom's last day in town, so she also joined in the  fun for the day! 

We hiked up to Jefferson's Rock, where Thomas Jefferson once stood and proclaimed that the view at that spot was "one of the most stupendous scenes in nature" anywhere and standing there on a lovely autumn day  I couldn't have agreed more...




A family picture at Jefferson's Rock (minus Glen who still had to work that day).....



And another peek at the amazing view (with a weird lady standing in the way)....

Spencer wasn't sure he wanted to come along with us, but ended up with a cute little buddy on his back that made it a little more tolerable to spend a day off of school with 7 kids under the age of 10....

We came home with pockets of rocks (Ellie and Adam's new hobby of late)....

One of the most exciting parts of the day for the preschoolers in the crowd were the super powerful hand dryers in the restrooms.   (this is my cute niece Lauren)....

It was an exhausting day for Ellie, but with a little gustatory bribery she was able to hold it together until she collapsed into a sound sleep in the car...

Thanks for the idea Deanne!  
Thanks for coming along with us Mika and Mom! 
Thanks to Thomas Jefferson for discovering one of the most beautiful vistas in America! 
Thanks to the convergence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers that make it flood prone and thereby keeping it a small and quaint little town!  

There you have it. One certifiably long, boring post about a beautiful day spent with people I cherish (that counts for something...right?)   :)




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Party On!

Oh yay!  A VIP invitation.  It must be for me, since I've been told before that I am a Very Imperious Person.  Oh, I'm so excited!  I love parties.  

Hmmm, what does it say inside?  I hope it's a pie and ice cream party with some good 80's music blasting! 

Uh oh.  My name isn't listed, but details like that don't stop an imperious person like me.  

Oy, there IS a fashionable clothing requirement? Hmmm.... 

Good thing I won't have any problem with that!   


Party on!!!






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Hasta La Vista...

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Tonight Spencer, Glen, and I attended a parent/teen safe driving seminar, complete with scary videos and terrifying statistics about the over-representation of teens in fatal crashes. 

Pardon me while I bury myself  in the sands of Antarctica for a few years.  

(Do you think there is sand underneath all that snow?  I'm looking for zero cell phone coverage and a soft place hide my head for a while.)

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My Son...a Literary Genius?

 Here's an actual assignment he turned in at English class.  You be the judge: 

Dear Math,

I think we both know that this relationship has been doomed for a while.  

Since like first grade.
You've always been soo needy, 

telling me to solve all your problems,
but never giving me advice on mine. 
So I'm afraid that I'm ending it
here and now. 

Good luck solving your own problems. 
You've always been an unwanted relative who I barely know,
but I've put up with you to keep the peace.  

But no more.

It's not me, it's you.  

Sincerely,
Spencer

And his English teacher's comment: 

Nice twist with the cliché.  Great--do you want to submit to the lit. mag? 

And his mother's comment: 
It reminds me of a quote I once read, "As long as they teach Algebra, there will be prayers in school."   :) 

And a little tidbit I found while researching a way to help him with his, um,  homework:

proof:

We know,

Girls = Money x Time

We also know, Time is Money.

i.e. Time = Money.

therefore,

Girls = Money^2

We also know that money is the root of evil.

i.e. Money = root(Evil).

So, Money^2 = Evil.

Therefore,

Girls = Evil
(at least until after his mission)

And your comments....




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Before/During/After

Lucky for you, I'm not feeling very verbose today, so you will be spared my long-winded reflections on the poor genetics we've passed onto our children and I'll cut right to the chase (a leftover cliche from last post): 


Cami (and her cousin Madeline) BEFORE BRACES:

DURING:  

AFTER:   She still needs some pretty serious dental work before she's totally done, since she's missing two of her permanent teeth right in front (see I told you it was poor genetics). 

CELEBRATING:  What better way to celebrate the happy occasion than with some gourmet cupcakes? (coconut, red velvet, pumpkin, german chocolate, dulce leche, chocolate)

BONUS:   I've been having to pick Ellie up early from school almost every day lately, but yesterday was the earliest yet that they've called (at 11:00).  Of course, Ellie didn't mind a bit that she was around for Cami's celebratory cupcake sampling fest and I admit it was kind of fun to have a bonus person home to join in on the celebration! 

( The coconut was our favorite!)



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A Day Late (or how many clichés can I use in one sitting)...

I hope that I'm not beating a dead horse or anything by blogging about my cute as a button kids in their Halloween costumes a full three days after the fact.  But, heck,  I always say "Why cry over spilled milk?" when the bottom line at the end of the day is:  Better late than never!

Every year I think that this is the year that I'm going to think outside the box in the attic and come up with some fresh and new costumes for my offspring.  But this year ended up like all the rest with me just eking by the skin of my teeth with a last minute trip to the consignment store to save the day.

  My Ems is smart as a whip and just recently finished devouring the Harry Potter series.  I didn't want to break the bank, but I had a sneaking suspicion that she would love this shimmery Hermione costume that came to a grand total of $4.34.  It's even homemade, so I can lie through my teeth and brag to everyone that beyond a shadow of a doubt--- I rock.

Next came my knight-in-shining-armor Sir Adam!  His costume was cutting edge awesome at only $5.63 and while it may be water under the bridge now, I daresay he was the handsomest knight of the night too!

 The writing was on the wall for this costume--no run-of-the-mill hand-me-down princess dress for my baby, Ellie gets her costume straight from my friend Kelly's tutu boutique!  And it's time to face the music my dear blog readers and admit that Ellie's  whirly twirly princess witch costume just might be the be-all-and-end-all of extreme cuteness.

And what about Glen and I?   We looked just like this for only $9.73....

except with peachy colored skin and no beaks.



Some people try to make it out that carving jack-o-lanterns is rocket science, but I say, "Pshaw!"  Easy as pie.  Try this trick on for size instead...

So while I thought I was up a creek without a paddle for costume shopping for Halloween a mere week beforehand, now you know that for people as awesome as me,  it's really like taking candy from a baby...

er, I mean the fierce candy guardians of the universe that would only give me their Bit-O-Honeys and black licorice.  (ew!)



Penny for your thoughts, especially if they're about how I totally hit the nail on the head....



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Star Struck

Once upon a time there was an awesome husband who decided that it would be really cool to take his wife and her parents on a date.  He looked online and found Idina Menzel performing at the Kennedy Center the very next day.

He knew his wife loved Idina Menzel in Wicked, Enchanted, and Glee and so he decided to go for it.  Too bad  the only seats still available were in the nosebleed section, which while still cool wasn't the exciting date he was hoping for.

On a whim, the very smart man decided to check what was available on Craigslist.   There he found a listing for 4 seats on the front row, for the very same price as the nosebleed seats.  He called the listing number and felt very comfortable with the way the transaction was handled--paying on Paypal and the tickets being sent electronically while he was still on the phone.  SCORE!!!!

So it was that the lucky wife, her handsome husband, and her parents sat right on the front row of an awesome concert! 



So it was that they were sitting so close to the stage that they actually got an advance peek at her song list taped to the floor next to the microphone.  It made the concert all the more exciting knowing which song was coming next. 

So it was that shortly after Idina walked out onto the stage she approached the couple and said,

Idina: "Oh you guys look so romantic.  Is it your anniversary?"

Lara: "No."

Idina:  "Did you just meet?"

Lara:  "We've been married almost 17 years." 

Idina:  "Seventeen years?  Wow!  ♫ Seventeen years....♫♫Seventeen years...♫♫"   and into her first song. 



So it was that they spent the night awestruck at their up close and personal concert with their new best friend Idina in her barefeet,  laughing at her quirky sense of humor, and crying when she sang, "For Good" a capella...

Awesome concert.  Awesome night.  Awesome husband. 

The end. 


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NOTE:  The couple mentioned in this account are rule-abiding citizens who would never dream of taking pictures during a performance like this. Therefore it is noted that the last photo was  found in a google image search wearing a similar dress to the one she was wearing that night.  The first two photos were taken by Dad on his cell phone before the concert started.  :) 



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Double Digits

From the day Adam was born a couple weeks shy of her 2nd birthday, Emma has been the proverbial middle child....always having to try a little harder to make sure she didn't get lost in the shuffle.   The bright red hair, the Halloween birthday, and glasses at age 2 ensured her extra attention whenever we were out in public, but at home she's always been a little more energetic, a little more daring, and a little louder than the rest of the kids.  Now don't get me wrong.  I don't give those descriptions in a negative way at all, but more as a little insight to her fun personality. 

I vividly remember when I was huge and pregnant with Adam, that Emma went through a "running-away-from-Mommy-phase".  Spencer and Cami had also gone through a phase of running, but they'd always stop, making sure I got close before taking off again.  Frustrating, still, but not too frightening.  Emma's running game was a little different though.  When she would stop to see where I was at behind her, she wouldn't wait for me to get closer, she would take off running faster knowing that there was no way her gigantically pregnant mom was ever going to catch her.  Poor Adam got a lot of jiggling (and yelling) before he was born from those chasing episodes. 

Interestingly enough, if there is any child in our family that reminds me of me, it's Emma.  I am decidedly not a middle child, but an oldest-of-eight, but many elements of Emma's personality are very similar to my own. 

Not only she is a voracious reader who devours books, but she also loves to cook.  For as loud as she sometimes is at home, she actually has a somewhat quiet, shy personality that is looking for approval.  She gets along well with lots of people, but she tends to have one or two really good friends at a time.  She is also is a person who tends to do things with a gusto and with a unique twist.  She gets an idea in her head and is excited about making it happen.  And if you need any other evidence that she takes after her mom...she recently told me that she wants to start a blog. 

I'm still thinking about it. 

For 10 years now, Emma has been a shining star in our family! We are so thankful for her giggly and optimistic outlook that make it hard to stay mad at her for long.   We love her delicious kitchen creations. We love her quick and beautiful smile.  We love her fun and creative ideas and most of all we love how hard she tries in everything she does--in her schoolwork, in her friendships, in her gospel living, and in her family relationships.   She is a great example to the rest of us!

We love you Emma!!! 
Hope you had a very happy 10th birthday!!

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If you think that family being in town, Adam's baptism, and Emma's birthday makes for a jam-packed weekend, just wait until I blog about the Idina Menzel concert, our IHOP brunch, and the church Fall Festival that were also this weekend.  Eventually I'm going to need a REALLY long nap. 

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