Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I am so thankful for our Savior whose birth we celebrate this day!!

Love,

The McElderry Family

Josh, Lara, Orlando, Ivan and Ammon

Ammon, Dear.

Ammon. Dear. As your mother I must teach you certain things.

First, do not get food on your face.

Use the bathroom, but do not play in there. Also, please put back on your pants, and finally trashcans are not hats.

Beds are more comfortable than stairs.

Smile often, it is going to serve you well.

Love,

Mom

Christmas in Columbus

The Sunday before Christmas we explored some of the things to do around here during Christmas time. It was a nice Sunday afternoon. I love that there is still one time of the year when it is politically correct to mention Jesus!

If you put in too much butter...

Your cookies might try and slide off the pan!

And when you add more flour, they may stick in the bowl, but eventually....

It IS possible to get them just right! Thanks Mary for having us over!

Dear Children

LAST SATURDAY
Dear Boys,

Today was the first real snow of the season. You had Karate in the morning. But, there WAS snow on the ground. Now, I need to remind you a commitment is a commitment. You should follow through. There should not be excuses. You should go to your class and work hard.

Of course, we could just go to Monday's class.
And there IS snow on the ground. And you are 6, 4, and 3. AND it is MAGICAL!! So, forget commitments, forget plans. Let's ENJOY the moments we have and build FROSTY.

Love,
MOM

relax, Lara.

Time to try and relax and enjoy the holidays. Ivan is doing fine with random knee pain episodes. I'm determined to try and video the next one-that way I can show a physician. Then again, I'm hoping he won't have a next one.

Bone scan won't be until the 7th because of holidays. That is okay. Patience.

We'll go forward with plans and look forward to getting some answers later.

First, dinners need planned, clothes folded, kids loved, trips taken, marriages made, and a new niece to meet. In short, I need to get out of my funk and have some fun!

Merry Christmas, and thanks for all of your comments. I'm thankful for you!

ps. I'm eating sugar. It IS the week of Christmas ya know!!

Low-Key to this Sucks!

Remember my previous post about a low-key Christmas and how I kept putting,

"Hmmm."

Life has taught me when you get an all is well period-life will whop you up the side of the head!

So it is again-and this particular whop sucks.

Sorry, (I know you hate that word mom). But it is so true.

Ivan was diagnosed with a viral infection in his hip. It was supposed to clear up within a few days-possibly a little longer-but max week to two weeks-it has been 17-18 days.

AND-I thought he was doing better, although when I'm honest, he had some minor aches and pains 4 or 5 days ago and I gave him Motrin.

Then-last night he has another episode of extreme knee pain-this pain wakes him up (he never wakes up). This is a huge concern. Still no other symptoms, injury, fever, etc.

This could (though I am trying my best not to panic) be more serious.

Dr. appointment today yielded: Bone Scan.

Then we'll know more.

I should get a call tomorrow for a time, but I'm not sure how soon this will happen with the holidays.

So much for a low-key holiday. I'm a basket case. Now I'm juggling getting the things done like our dinner and presents with appointments and the wedding trip to Dallas on the 29th and a room full of laundry, and kids who don't have school-which means I need extra patience.

Prayers are welcome for me and Josh. We are both concerned about our little boy.

A Low-Key Christmas

It is a week before Christmas, and everything is just fine. My sewing machine is broken so no stress there of trying to make cute anythings. I'm not eating sugar so no stress as to making treats, I just buy them if I need to. The presents were bought on line so no stress there. The kids are big enough not to be tearing down the tree or eating ornaments, so no stress there. I'm in charge of bringing marshmallows for Orlando's party-very low stress.

Hmmm.

no calling right now cause I'm in a new ward.

no family around to have the privilege of dealing with. AND both sides agreed this year to not do gifts due to other expenses (like weddings and travel).

Hmmm.

Not doing cards for the world this year, only our older friends who don't keep in touch in other ways-so like 10 instead of our usual 75!

I'm not really sure this feels like Christmas.

I need to wrap some gifts and make a dinner on Christmas Eve.

We've done some crafts and we're counting down the days. We've sung Christmas songs and talked about the meaning of Christmas. I've also been e-mailing Santa (wink, wink).

So, I think this may end up being the best Christmas ever!!

Pop-Corn and Cauliflower

You really should know:

You can put popcorn in a brown paper bag, fold it over, tape it with skotch tape and then microwave it. I'd use like a 1/4 cup of kernels.

Listen for it so you don't burn it. Then season as desired.

Just thought you might want a healthy inexpensive snack!

Also, you can cream cauliflower like mashed potatoes, just cook it, add some cream cheese or milk, pepper, garlic, whatever you like! Simple and yummy!

This time of year I struggle with eating healthy--what do you eat that is healthy and easy this time of year? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Mormons are weird.

Yes, this is true for many reasons. We don't drink or smoke or have premarital sex. We also don't church hop. Or Church shop. When you move some where, you are in a ward or congregation based solely on your address. The building may be down the road or miles away, but that is where you go. When the congregations get large, they split and make new wards. This keeps people in the same neighborhoods able to serve each other and it keeps congregations small enough everyone should be involved and not just lost in the crowd.

So, it has happened here in Ohio. My ward when moving here was the Worthington Ward. Now, members of this ward have been sent to help make a new ward-the Lewis Center Ward, and a few of us (5 families) have been sent to the Powell Ward. This means I will be starting over with friends and responsibilities.

I'm a little nervous to be honest.

I liked my ward! It took me several months to say that-but that is just how it is, you have to get to know people to really love and like them. And I might add, our activities rocked!

Well, the good news is I haven't moved so I can still see my old friends from time to time, but the truth is that weekly contact makes a huge difference.

We'll see how it goes.

Oh ya, Mormons are also weird in that they believe the Church to be true, and its leaders to be inspired! So, we all stood and supported the changes by voting-and we will all be in our new wards on Sunday.

p.s. I love being a Mormon, even if we are weird!

www.mormon.org

¡Feliz Navidad!

I have enjoyed planning the parties for the ward over the last year or so. This Christmas Party was fantastic due to all of the wonderful people in the ward pitching in. When lots of people do small things, great things happen!! I really believe it!The theme was ¡Feliz Navidad! And we went kinda crazy with it. We had a Mariachi band greet you as you came in the foyer (high priests). We had wonderful Mexican food (activities committee-go SARA!! I helped roll around 80 tamales-but her and her husband made a total 0f 200 homemade tamales!). We also had a burrito bar (think Chipotle) and taquitos, chips, and salsa (yay Janine and Megan!) We ate first and then you could:

go to the cookie buffet and get cookies and hot cocoa with fun, hand dipped marshmallows and other delicious add-ins. The karaoke was also in this room, where you had to be 12 to stay and linger. (The RS did this room!)

For the kids, there was face painting, balloon artists, many games and crafts (way to go primary!!)For kids of all ages, we busted I think 6 or 7 piñatas (thanks, young men!)

Santa, or papa noel, was there.(thanks, uh..Santa)

We had spots for pictures, we did a "posada" which a procession following Mary and Joseph symbolic of the trek they took looking for room in an inn. This was followed briefly with some Music (yay Choir) and our 3 Kings (bishopric) giving us a testimony of Jesus Christ.I'm sure I'm leaving something out-it was a great evening for everyone I hope. The missionaries even managed to string lights to look like a coyote and cactus! Fantastic!We decorated with poinsettias and luminaries since the are Mexican traditions for this time of year, and I think the whole thing just turned out fabulous!

Josh is 31!!

Josh had his 31st birthday on a very busy day, so we celebrated on the Tuesday night before. The kids picked out some gifts. A new remote control (universal) since they had lost the DVD remote, and some playing cards ('cause we're evil and we actually play face cards wahahah!). So, Josh did a few majic tricks and everyone loved the cake. We also had Taco Bell-so this was quite the party!! I did surprise him on Saturday and instead of going grocery shopping (like he thought) I went and got him some new ties. He seemed to genuinley like them and that made me happy. He is hard to buy for. He has needed some new ties though, and they were fun-I found them at antique store and even an original Lazurus.

PS. The cake was delicious and Orlando carefully placed the candles to represent the 3 and the 1 in 31.

Mom, I can't walk.

Not exactly what you want to hear first thing in the morning. I had no idea what was going on with Ivan. (Of course it was Ivan-it is ALWAYS Ivan when it comes to medical problems).
Symptoms:
Leg pain, knee pain, couldn't walk
NO
fever.recent illness. injury.swelling.redness. bone protrusion. etc.

What the heck?

I worried all day, finally took him to urgent care since the pediatrician couldn't do an x-ray anyway. (and though a little hysterical inside thinking that maybe that cancer did get away and show up in his bone somehow....) I actually held it together pretty well.

Turns out, I guess he has a viral infection in his hip, that is sending referred pain to the knee. It should clear up on its own over the next several days.
If not, we will worry again.
For now, all is well.
Phew!

ps a hundred thank you's to Jimett for watching my other two boys tonight!