Strong National Museum of Play

In hopes of having a fun weekend get away, we packed up the car and drove to Rochester. We went straight to the Strong National Museum of Play and explored for several hours, but little did we know that within a few hours we would be in an unfamiliar ER with Maura pushing a fever of 106 degrees!

Here are the kids and Michael in the butterfly conservatory. Hayden is sporting the beret that he made in French Club. Maura is starting to look a little bit ill.

There were a lot of interesting moths and butterflies to observe there, but this one was especially intriguing.

After finding our hotel and checking in for the night, Maura soon began to throw up all over the room. We gave her Motrin for her fever and got her to bed, but then she awoke and did not know who we were. She had a small seizure in front of us, so Michael scooped her up in his arms, we ran down to the front desk and asked for directions to the closest ER.

We spent several hours with her at the hospital. They brilliantly decided that she needed fluids, and gave her water and a popsicle. After promptly throwing up everything that they offered her, they decided on suppository Tylenol and released us into the dark night around 1 am. Michael and I aimlessly drove around Rochester trying to find a pharmacy that was open at that hour to buy more Tylenol since they would not give us any more at the ER.

After a horrible and restless night, we packed up first thing in the morning and returned to our house to ride out the rest of Easter weekend caring for our sick little girl. Thanks to good friends that hosted Easter dinner, Michael, Hayden and Sydney had a nice holiday. Maura and I would like a do-over.

St. Patricks 2010

Meet Maura the Leprechaun! Gotta love the preschool art projects for all of the holidays.

After school, the girls and I went around town and took pictures with "Flat Stanley." One of our cute Utah cousins mailed Flat Stanley to us so that he could have an adventure in New York and then return to the classroom in Utah and report on it. One of the spots that we stopped at was Ralph Wilson Stadium where the NFL team the Buffalo Bills play. If only the team had more luck at winning!

Valentine's Day 2010

Michael and I have given up going to dinner on Valentine's night. Over the years the wait time at restaurants kept getting longer and it seemed crazy to hire a babysitter so that we could sit in a drafty lobby and wait two hours just to sit down. Now we just make a nice meal and eat with the kids, but we do lay out the red table cloth and light pillar candles. The last few Valentine's I have also given simple gifts to each member of the family and I put the wrapped gift on their dinner plate. The kids get excited to come down to dinner and rip into their surprise.

Hayden and Sydney both opened Nerf guns and they were excited because they wanted to buy some but did not want to give up allowance money for it. Maura opened a tower of Pip Squeak Markers and Michael found a tie, dress socks, and a Food Network magazine in his bag. Everyone got some chocolates, including me! Michael also got me a great gift, a new griddle.

Sydney is Now Nine!

How time flies by. Just a year ago we were in Utah planning for Sydney's baptism and trying to sell our home. Now we have been in New York for seven months and she is turning nine. Life was busy during her birthday week. I agreed to make cupcakes for her school class, but we bought this cake to celebrate at home.

The kids had fun celebrating, but especially for Maura, it will be a long wait until her birthday in June. She was right there wanting to blow out the candles and open up gifts.

Yes, it is hard to believe, but I actually had one more American Girl box hiding in my closet. Sydney opened up an outfit that she had been wanting for her Julie doll.

Since we are thousands of miles from our family, we opened up the birthday celebration to the missionaries serving in our ward. Michael is the ward mission leader so they are over here quite a bit. It was their P day and they had just come from dodge ball with their zone so they were not in their suits. After dinner we played Ticket to Ride.

Sydney was so excited to take a birthday treat into her school class. I made 24 cupcakes and drove her to school the morning of her birthday. Later, we would have a party at JoAnn Fabrics with 12 of her school friends. Happy 9th Birthday Sydney!!

A Visit to Explore and More

After the excitement of Christmas died down a bit, I decided to get out of the house for the afternoon and take the kids to a local children's museum. We teamed up with some friends and it was a fun way to escape the cold and still have a good time.

Sydney enjoyed climbing on the rock wall.

All of the girls had fun in the art room. They got really creative with the paper and glue and made some awesome projects.

Sydney used this palette for inspiration and created her own version of an artist's palette. It was impressive. Hayden was somewhere, but like usual, escaped the camera.

How to Host a Candy House Party

Every year during the Christmas season, we have made candy houses with Michael's family. It became a family tradition. We wanted to do the same things that we have always done this year, even though we moved 2,000 miles. So, we opened up our home and invited some friends over to share in our tradition. To host a successful candy house party, you need to follow a few steps.


First, you have to round up a lot of cardboard and cut it into rectangular shapes and cover it with aluminum foil. Then you need to cut basic house shapes from graham crackers with an electric knife. This is definitely Michael's area of expertise.

If there are a lot of small children involved, glue the houses together in advance so they can start decorating ASAP and they don't have to wait for frosting to dry and their house to take shape.

Next, put out a ridiculous amount of candy. If you have little to no will power, buy items that look great, but taste bad. Hint, Necco candies are great for roof tiles, but taste pretty bad. This way you don't gain 5 pounds just from participating in the event. The kids will find the M&M and Skittles and all of the mainstream candy anyway and will eat until they are sick, but oh well, it is only once a year.

Finally, let the fun begin. While people decorate, keep making huge quantitites of frosting. The stiffer you make Royal Icing, the better. We have blown out hand held mixers in the past making icing, but this only adds to the legendary event, besides, it makes a great story!

At the end of the night, survey the damage, I mean, marvel at the creativity. If your group is competitive and can handle it, judge the houses and hand out prizes for various categories like, most creative use of candy, most candy, tallest, etc. We may have moved and made a lot of changes this year, but we are still determined to maintain traditions and celebrate just like we always have. It is a great survival technique!

Holiday School Concerts

This year Hayden tried something new and signed up for the sixth grade chorus. He had hoped to join band or orchestra, but couldn't because he did not play in fourth or fifth grade in New York which is required to play at the middle school level. He did not know if he would like it, but it has been something positive.

In December, the chorus performed and it was a packed house. Even though we were at the high school auditorium, it still was not large enough. Eventually, the decision was made to divide the concert into two parts. They made all of the family members of the 7th and 8th graders leave the auditorium. Then they sat everyone who was there to watch a sixth grader and they performed. Then we cleared out, the family members for the older kids filed in and the concert resumed. It was a hectic night, but in the end, Hayden performed and did very well.

The next night, we had the chance to watch Sydney perform at her school. Each of the third graders was asked to wear a costume that reflected another country or culture. Sydney decided to pull out the massive sombrero from the basement costume box. Hey, at least, we could spot her easily!

Sydney's class sang a lot of songs, and they did a a lot of hand actions for too many verses. Little did we know that she nearly passed out because she had a heavy, wool blanket draped on top of her in addition to that huge sombrero, and was packed in like a sardine next to a bunch of other sweaty kids. She was adorable up there, but needed a shower when we got home! Nothing says, "Merry Christmas" like a sweaty eight year old singing Hava Nagela (sp?) in a sombrero. Happy Holidays!