Our Lovely Late Easter

My mom has always made Easter fantastic. Even better than (dare I speak it) Christmas, in my oh so humble opinion. When we were little, the last thing we would do before going to bed on Easter Eve would be to delicately try on dresses loaded with landmines of straight pins. We would hear her up until the crack of Easter dawn on her sewing machine, slaving over 3 differently colored, but still matching, perfect Easter dresses.

In the morning I remember waking up extra early to find our Easter baskets on Easter Sunday. We would search throughout the entire house and sneak into mom and dad's room for hints. Since she had been up all night sewing, she was an eye witness (not to mention conspirator) to where the Easter Bunny had hid them. We would get groggy clues that were clouded in cryptic messages.

"I'll help you after you get me a drink, please" Read: Look in the cupboard behind the cups.

"Can you bring me a blanket first?" Read: Look in the end table where we kept the orange and brown afghan.

Until we would just beg to have the answer spelled out to us. Then we would hear "No, the Easter Bunny did not hide anyone's Easter baskets in the bathroom, in Brandon's room, or downstairs. Have you looked in the pantry behind the Diet Coke, in the dishwasher, or in the cupboard under the microwave behind where we keep the coloring books and the tall basket full of crayons? I think somebody's might be hidden in the hall closet underneath the newspapers." She had the magic Easter touch.

This has (if you can believe it) only grown since the grandkids came. We look forward to Grandma's Easter as soon as New Year's Eve's Chinese food has been eaten. It is the only thing that gets us through the long and dreary winter. We had to postpone it this year because of that nasty gym play land cold bug (for the shame). But we finally made it.

At Grandma's Easter, you don't bother with silly Easter baskets. What are you thinking? We hunt with garbage bags. The big ones, too. There are detailed instructions given with colored stickers assigned to each child. There is first to be a hunt in the back yard, and then yet another in the front yard.

Abigail and Leah listening intently to the instructions.

Then the big reveal happens. The back doors are flung open and the kids go wild!!


Hudson participates with an OOOOOH...





and then with an AAAAAHHH!!!



It is amazing, after all.


We hunt, and hunt, and then hunt some more.




What do you do when you are this happy? Why you spin, of course.



The next day we examine our Easter bounty of loot and begin the weeks-on-end sugar rush. You can't quite possibly comprehend how much 4 full size garbage bags can contain until you spread it out in your kitchen and living room. This is when having a house full of kids really pays off.

We love Easter around here. We love it even when it comes late.

ATTENTION PLEASE!!

Hudson has an announcement to make!

We repeat again:

Please make note of this and document it wherever you put your most important information (for us that is the front of the fridge, the counter top, and mom's dresser). Thank you for your attention, and have a good day.

The Coolest Hair Club Around

I just got this email from "some old" and really amazing guy at my parent's work:

Robyn,

I work with your folks at the VA. I "hosted" a baldies photo shoot in honor of your mom a few weeks ago and thought you might like to have the pictures to add to those on your blog (or for your photo album, dartboard, whatever)...

I am so very pleased to hear the great news about your mother! I just gave John a hug to pass along to her...

Kevin Foster

P.S. I am the one in the SLC Hair Club pix standing 2nd from the right in the back row (between the two dorks that are wearing glasses...).The one with the good looking moustache!



The Salt Lake Hair Club with with mom front and leftish, and dad (the one with the REALLY good looking moustache) and the "old guy" Kevin (with the OTHER good looking moustache) in the back.



The Sandy Hair Club (apparently my mom works in a copy paper storage closet)

My parents work with the best people!! They have had such support through this. Can you imagine YOUR coworkers shaving their heads for you?!? And then subjecting themselves to photographic proof of it? It's wonderful.

Thank you doesn't begin to cover it. I don't think there are words that can. Isn't it amazing that you can love people you have never even met?

I'm going to have the best dart board in the neighborhood.

The Miracle

The 8 little feet that make this house shake more than the African savanna during a stampede have all been tucked sweetly into bed (2 under the blankets, 2 out of the blankets, 2 wearing socks, and the last 2 in footy pajamas), and I can now have a moment of contemplation and thankfulness for the news that we so wonderfully received yesterday.

I have been thinking a lot about the situation with all the Easter goings on. I adore Easter. Always have. The peeps covered in colored sugar, the ham covered in glaze, and the eggs covered in deviled. Fantastic. But it has always been the promise of spring, of new life, and new beginnings that captured me. That terrible frozen winter is no match for the warmer sun with its lengthening days of spring. It has always been a metaphor for me that I love to witness every single year. There is no trial or test that will ever beat out the love and blessings hidden within it. With the bad will ALWAYS come the good. It is always there, hidden underneath the snow, waiting to burst forth with new life.

Even the ultimate is not really the ultimate:

Death is conquered. Man is free.


But this year was a little tricky for me. I am ready for mom to have that perfected body right now. I don't want to have to go through the rest of it. Just straight to the perfection, please. We are looking for miracles, and right now would be a good time for one.

And then it happened. Just like that. The miracle came. Right in front of our button noses. Hope made it's wondrous return, and fear took its leave. Faith was strengthened. Gratitude and tear filled thankfulness were inadequately and humbly expressed.

We have all been given so many promises of blessings, and the realization of them. Real Power in the Priesthood, answers to prayer, and the assurance that we will never go through anything alone. This in addition to the promise of spirits reuniting with glorified bodies that has been given to every person who has ever walked this earth, no matter how imperfect the life. All from a loving Father who is guiding every moment.

I know he is there. I know it with every unreminded beat this heart of mine takes. There are miracles every day; with more and more to come.

Oh, Happy Day!!

This dreary, rainy, cold April afternoon has turned out to be the sunniest, warmest, happiest day in a very, very long time.

News from the Radiation Department at Huntsman:

Mom's creative, thoughtful, and incredibly smart brain no longer has the brain cancer!!! All 10 of her radiation treatments were successful in eliminating the tumors.

She had two major ones. The first, and the biggest, was deep inside, behind her right eye. That one is a goner. The second which was right on the surface, has also taken its leave. She also had some "speckling" throughout the rest of her gray matter, and that also is nowhere to be found.

Hot Dog!!! Let's all put on our party clothes, blow up some balloons, and break out the leftover Easter candy to celebrate!! There has never been better news, ever.

Aren't we all so proud of her! She is sailing through this like a trooper. Hair or no hair, this woman has a will of steel. One of her millions (and millions) of wonderful qualities that I have admired and wish I could have just a sliver of. And now she can apply all her strength and resolve to her lungs, and kick that, too.

Great job, mom!! Go and have yourself a piece of cheesecake. Put a crown on your beautiful bald head, and wear a sash that says "I AM THE BEST!!", because you certainly are.


We'll discuss more later, I promise.

Chompers and Oh The Humanity!!

Hudson has been super duper cranky lately (cranky with a capital CRANK; and a capital Y for that matter). Did I mention that includes being CUH-LING-EEE!! With extra exclamation points for emphasis!!! Seriously, I can't put the kid down to save my life, or his for that matter. Oh, the drama!! It was wearing me thin. See-through practically.

After an entire day of nothing but proof of his lung capacity, I dragged all 4 critters to the aquarium. What could be more distracting to a crabby 1 year old than a bunch of swimming, splashing, sea creatures? No such luck. If it were only that easy. He managed to scare all the fish with his cries of protest. So, to try to save my sanity, I dragged Mr. Fussy McGrumpy Pants and his 3 unsuspecting siblings to the gym. They love the play land when they can be there together (if you try to separate them, you, and the play land staff, will suffer the consequences), plus I needed the break and the sweat. When we were all properly worn out, we headed home.

Later that evening, Sir Cries A Lot was chewing on something he found on the living room floor (shocking, I know. The carpet that tries to cushions the feet of our mangy brood is usually SO spotless). When I went in to fish it out I discovered, one, two, three, FOUR molars sprouting in his drooly little mouth. No wonder he was so inconsolable!! Now, I have to admit. I am a self proclaimed drugger. If I had realized that this was the problem, I would have loaded him up with Tylenol like the junkie I have turned all the kids into. I am mother of the year, I know.

But, wait. It only gets worse from there.

You know what they have in those play lands, right? Yes, they have toys. Yes, they have movies. Yes, they have coloring. Yes, they have germs, germs, and more germs! And being in such a stressed out funk, I didn't even think of that. So, now, in addition to teething pains, we have been blessed with a cold. And, if I have taught these kidlets nothing else, I have taught them to share. So, this cold will hippity hop along its merry little way from one chickie to the next, just like Peter Cottontail himself.

This wouldn't be so bad if it didn't mean that we can't go and see Grandma. Her immune system is AWOL during chemo, and a cold could mean another trip back to the old gray bar hotel (also known as the hospital). So, we are missing out on Grandma love, which is the best kind of love. So frustrating. This had better be gone by Easter or somebody will pay!!! I don't know who, but it will definitely be SOMEBODY!!!

In the meantime I am bundling them up, covering them with kisses, and forcing airborne, Tylenol (of course), the purple medicine they all hate, and any other cold "remedy" down their cute little sore throats. All of which make Hudson burst into tears. But, what doesn't? We will survive.

Hudson is 1!! (and a little bit)

Our sweet #4 successfully turned the big 1. The night before he was so excited, he could hardly sleep. He had visions of balloons, wrapping paper, and his own birthday cake with no competition from his siblings dancing around in his curly haired head. How glorious!

While I was up with my birthday boy in the wee hours of the morning, it got me thinking about his real birth day. Instantly he became my favorite, since he came on his own (without the aid of a pitocin drip), and 2 weeks early. I had yet to have the experience of the twilight husband nudge and the rush to the hospital, something I really hoped I would eventually have. My labor started at about 11:00 the night before and pushed me into a house cleaning, laundry doing, dish washing frenzy that had been about 9 months neglected. Then, at about 2:45 a.m. I nudged John-Erik (hooray!) and told him that we needed to go to the hospital. His reaction was a dramatic moving over in the bed. After more persuasion and a few more not-so-gentle shoulder prods, we grabbed the bag I had prepared and called my dad to get my sister over here pronto. My dad responded with "uh, um, uh, oh... labor?" I responded affirmative, and off we went. Less than 2 hours later, we were now a family of 6.

Hudson was born looking exactly like that guy in the Princess Bride who says "Inconceivable!!" all the time.

He blessed us with 2 teeth before he had turned 3 months old. He was an adventurer from the start!! When he grew out of his new baby cry, he developed his signature fuss, the "Forrest Gump". You know that scene in Forrest Gump, the part where the school principal tells Forrest that "your mama sure does care about your schooling, son". Hudson has Forrest's breathy "eee, eee, eee" reply down. And he has never even seen Forrest Gump!!! Amazing.

But when pushed into a further fit, he doesn't cry with an "aaaah" like other babies. His is more of an "ooooh" that makes his lips stick out in the most delicious pouty face I have ever seen. Sometimes I make him cry just to get his adorable pucker lips going.


He is so close to walking right now. He lets go of things just to test his balance all the time. That is when I swoop in and kick his legs out from under him. We have got to keep this one small for as long as possible. It's gone by too fast already.

Happy Birthday, my Buster Blue Eyes. Your goofy gap toothed smile and lack of a real laugh is such an immense blessing to this crazy circus family. We adore you.