BREEZY FIELDS

Yesterday I went in for my... ahem... yearly woman's exam. It was going rather swimmingly. Honestly, I love the nurse practioner at my dr.'s office. Best bedside manner ever, hands down. A very real woman and funny and we were joking about stretch marks while she was checking my ovaries. Suddenly there was a shot of pain in the right side of my abdomen. It startled us both, it was so unexpected. So... now I have to go in for an ultrasound tomorrow, which should reveal a cyst. We'll see what happens from there. The point I am attempting to make is that it's really bizarre that pain was just laying dormant in my body ready to inflict itself upon me with a mere pressing of the fingertips and I had no idea. I am hoping that tomorrow I will have my ultra sound and they will say it is a small cyst that will go away and I will be on my merry way. Other news- Sadie and Ellyn are still a bit worn down from being sick last week. Ellyn is sleeping alot. Another contrib...

I hate creative messes. If my kids wanted to be creative in the past they could do so through their imagination- go read a book, play dress ups, spend time outside... just don't involve me and glue, paper scraps, glitter. You know, all of that crafty creative crap. Save crafts for school and play groups, library story time. My curse is not that I have a child with autism but that for the past year or two even I have had to fill her life with creative messes- which fills Sawyer's life with creative messes, and Sadie's, and definitely mine. My floor now permanently finds itself ornamented with bits of playdough, beans, crayon pieces, and sudsy water from the sink. Dog toys too, but that is another blog for another time. I am so happy the weather is turning warm. Creative messes will be moved outside for as long as absolutely possible. All I can say is good thing I like these kids. It's just too bad I can't just give them each a book and tell them to enjoy th...

So nice to see a smile on our Ellie's face again. So lovely to see Sadie loading up on about 10 varieties of desserts at the ward Linger Longer, eating a few bites of each and abandoning them in favor of chasing boys. Love healthy kids. We had a great weekend. We bought Sawyer a little toddler bed. Mike and I put it together one and three quarters times. The second time correctly. We bought a quilt (for a full size twin) and sheets with a camper theme. It fits our little cabin. Ellyn and I were trying on sandals in the shoe aisle at Target when Mike rolled up with a cart full of wildlife themed bed gear, Sawyer, and a puppy dog face. It was only fair. Mike cleared all of his stuff out of the fourth bedroom, organized all of his gear in the garage, and made Sawyer his own room. We are pretty excited. Sawyer was actually thrilled, he's sleeping peacefully even as I write. He is growing up so quickly. I can't believe we are done with cribs. I can't believe ou...

Sadie has new Hannah Montana p.j.s. Mike picked them up for her on Wednesday in preparation for today- Pajama Day at school. Gianna has matching jammies. They were going to wear them together- Today. The day that has been talked about for two weeks. Sadie went to school yesterday for the first time all week, she finalized her Pajama Day plans. The Tragedy - Sadie's fever returned last night and was still visiting this morning. The cost for Sadie's consolation - Three games of Pretty, Pretty Princess, dad goes to the store and gets her favorite ice cream and hard shell chocolate sauce, we rent Twilight and watch it as a family. She has been very stoic about the whole thing, besides a few shed tears as we read the thermometer. She knew she didn't feel good- but PAJAMA DAY! Daddy's home today- he planned his week to get all his work done so he could be here for Sawyer's surgery today, which did not happen. But... we get dad home. Thank goodness. Now you know ...

Warning- this is long and I am transferring an old blog over from Beech Tree. The last few days I have spent a great deal of time remembering the last time Ellyn was really ill. It was when she started her seizures and we spent 6 days in a German hospital. I was newly pregnant with Sawyer and feeling less than well. Ellie was so traumatized that she would never let me set her down to walk the entire time we were there. We took walks down the halls to pass the time, Ellyn wrapped securely around my swelling torso. It was March and freezing all but the first day we were there. Down the hall was a wall light board that changed colors and I practiced my German colors as they faded from one shade to another and Ellyn stared, fascinated. Our beds were pushed together and they created our little island that we hardly ever left. We kept toys and books and the dvd player on our little island. Our island was also frequently inhabited by our sweet roommate, a little nine year old girl w...

How many bottles of Motrin can one family consume in a week? How many days in a row can I spend in the house before going nutty? Which is worse? Sadie on meds and going stir crazy or Sadie off meds and telling me how terrible she feels every 20 seconds? How long will it take me to reschedule Sawyer's surgery, Ellyn's neurology appointment, and Ellyn's O.T.? All of which I have had to cancel this week. Why does it take all day to clean up a room full of pillows, blankets, medicine cups, p.j.s, kleenex, and drinking glasses? Will Mike and I be immune or will we too fall victim to this evil, vile, sickness? How many nights in a row will I miss two hours or more of sleep right in the midst of my REM cycle (I don't know if it is but it sounds good doesn't it?)? Where have the days gone where I was able to just sit and hold a sick child on my lap all day long and read a book and kind of enjoy the down time? What am I going to make for dinner tonight? Why am I so blessed...

I was so excited for St. Patrick's Day this year. I had outfits picked out, corned beef and cabbage bought, green table cloth and candles and daffodils. We did it all. Except Sadie and Ellyn were home sick today and now Sawyer has a fever as well. So we all wore our cute outfits here at home, dosed up on motrin, and enjoyed the evening. We had our family home evening tonight, it was on table manners. We used goblets and everything. We even toasted St. Patty per Sadie's request. Unfortunately Ellyn fell asleep right after the attempt at a kid's picture on the front porch after Jane got home from school. She was not down with the picture taking. Mike got home from work right as we were giving up, he took the family shot. I LOVE his work schedule. Also, today is my brother Geof's birthday. I love Geof. He is an amazing brother. He is smart and funny and holds many of the same views I do about just about everything. I love talking to Geof and we talk often, ...

Was it Sadie's fault? Of course not. Every single tardy had a valid reason, none of them from being lazy. Out of principle I wrote her principal asking for a scathing letter home, giving me a good ol' mother guilt trip instead of punishing my child that has zero control over the situation. Her reply was short and not that sweet. Sadie had to serve her time. I gave her a treat when she got home from school. Two of the tardies were because of issues with Ellyn's program and phone calls or meetings. I can't wait for that to be all set up. Anyway, so this was a guest post on cjane's blog and I had to laugh out loud. It was too true, except our secretary ACTS nice. Tardy by Jana Mean Mom Matthews Getting my three kids to school on time is my Mount Everest. I have, however, significant motivation to do the impossible: her name is Lorraine. Lorraine is the secretary at my daughter's elementary school. She wears sweater vests adorned with three-dimensional an...

I know I have not been blogging as much. I feel it in my bones, a deep desire to keep up on things and yet events are slipping by. Five minutes, five minutes is not too much to ask in a day. So here is my five minutes. On Friday Mike came home from work early, we played hooky from house cleaning and went out as a family. We drove over to Laguna Seca and watched some cars race on the track. Mike was totally excited, it was fun to share in his enthusiasm. I am so happy we finally went. As we were touring the area we saw our first mountain lion. It was strolling through a meadow about a football field away. Wow, they are here and really do exist. There is a reason there are warning signs posted everywhere. Next, Jane went to the temple on Saturday morning to do baptisms for the dead. She was so excited. It was her first time and she really loved it. Unfortunately just as she made it home she became terribly ill. She had a fever all weekend and clear until Tuesday morning. ...

Mother sporting her pashmina Meagan and I bought for her in Prague. We each got two- mom's were for either Mother's Day or her birthday, I can't remember which. Beach swing on Tybee Island. Look at all those little cute chubby kids loving their grandma. I have always absolutely loved this picture. Except my big, fat, white, just barely not pregnant thighs were in the background. I just cropped those babies right out. Here is mom with her three oldest granddaughters. Ah, Verona! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LeANNE You simply have to look at her posterity to quickly understand what an amazing woman LeAnne is. In baseball terms she has hit a grand slam home run in the categories of Mother, Grandmother, Sister and on a personal note, Wife! I will always remember falling in love with LeAnne on our first date, a full moon under a big beautiful tree looking into her beautiful eyes and knowing that I was in the presence of the girl of my dreams. While I was intently focused on her physical...

YW Name: Jane Stinchfield What flower is your daughter most alike? I chose a Poppy Why? (please explain below) I love seeing a meadow full of Poppies. They are bright and beautiful. They can flourish all over the Northern Hemisphere. They aren't pretentious, but they are gorgeous. They each have their own stalk. They are one of the first flowers to bloom in the spring, hardy little things. Poppies are used to symbolize dreaminess and imagination. My Jane is a poppy, a dreamy thinker with so much imagination. Jane can bloom ANYWHERE she is planted and has done so her entire life. She is the first to put on a happy face and brave the bad weather life can sometimes blow her way. Jane can stand on her own two feet, like the single stalk, and do what she knows is right. She doesn't need to be clustered around others to be good. Finally, when I think of a poppy, which can come in several colors, I think of the orange ones and that reminds me of Jane's beautiful st...

Pouring actually. You would think we lived in Washington or something. Luckily, Sawyer in his little car, and the dogs, and I were able to make a quick jaunt to the meadow before the downpour. It was beautiful and sunny and frankly, I never would have guessed that this complete weather makeover could have transpired so quickly. I just got done ordering a landline again. It will be installed tomorrow and guess what?!? Somehow they have our old number available again. When my customer support technician was giving me the options it was the first one he read and I exclaimed "that one!" in a highly enthusiastic, a little embarrassing after the fact, kind of voice. I was hoping though, you see, I was going to ask, before I even made the call. So what brought me to this sort of rash behavior, ordering a phone line in the middle of a rain shower while my kitchen is still coated in oatmeal and I haven't done "The Shred" today, and I still have to go to the comm...

But really, it has only been since Thursday. I guess it is because I haven't updated family life for eons. Here's the lowdown. Mike - Doing a filler job for a couple of months, working with civilians. This is an exercise in frustration for him every single live long day. Upside- while I love a man (a specific man) in uniform, Mike has to wear business casual every day to work and he looks HOT! Love it! Mike took the girls to the Jonas Brothers 3D concert on Saturday. He had to listen to Heavy Metal all the way home to make himself feel better. Also, went on a date to the temple Friday night to do sealings for our ward and then out to dinner at Macaroni Grill, it was fabulous and we voted to do it every month. Very convenient since I think that is what we are supposed to do. Me - I spend hours of each day on the phone, internet, etc... trying to work out what is going to happen with Ellyn's school program. Everyone agrees it needs to happen, now we are having fundi...