Palmer Family News

Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-22T12:31:00.002-05:00

I saw this on my friend's blog and thought it was soooo funny. Enjoy!

Christmas at the Station

2009-12-15T03:22:00.004-05:00

I decided to post since Sarah has been busy (last post was middle of October).

Troy Fire Department (Station 3) Kids Christmas Party above. Santa came early this year as Emma enjoyed a toddler doll, Justice the Millennium Falcon, Bri some Princess Books, and Clay 8 new Hero cars. Good eats and great company. The station takes care of the family considering the time I get pulled away on runs and training. This weekend is the adult party with a fancy dinner and white elephant exchange.

Looking forward to seeing VA family after Christmas.

Oh no, not again!

2009-10-10T07:44:00.000-05:00

Clay is like Bri's little sidekick. They pretty much spend their days inseparable. He follows her around and if he isn't right there, Bri goes looking for him. They love each other and love to play together. Most of the time it is really great and makes me one happy mama. The down side to this is that Clay has been present for a lot of Bri's mischievousness. Clay usually just watches Bri do whatever she is doing. I don't think I have ever seen him join in on the fun. So you can imagine how surprised I was to come into the kitchen and see this.

Apparently, he has been paying very close attention, and just couldn't hold back anymore. Thank goodness he doesn't have any purple jammies!

Hooded Towel Giveaway

2009-09-28T13:56:00.002-05:00

Check out the hooded towel giveaway on my Pumpkin Patch Blog.

http://www.pumpkinpatchdesigns.blogspot.com/

Who is that handsome man?

2009-09-24T08:09:00.001-05:00

It's Ben...the firefighter.

He joined the volunteer fire department a little while ago. Unfortunately we were sick when he was finally able to start going on calls. Once he was well enough to go, there weren't any for over a week. So, he FINALLY got to go on his first call last night.

He has training on Tuesday nights until November when he will start firefighter school which is on Monday and Thursday nights through April. He is a probationary officer, but by next October, he will have completed everything and become an official firefighter. I'm super proud of him for working so hard for us and for finding a way in his crazy busy life to help others. Am I a lucky woman or what?!

I love how Clay is just standing there staring at his dad. You should have seen the smile on his face.

The kids think that Dad is the coolest guy in the universe because he is a firefighter. They love to go to the station to "hang out" and Emma hasn't had anymore nightmares about our house burning down. Life is good!

2009 Chevrolet Malibu and 1959 Bel Air - Crash Test

2009-09-21T09:31:00.001-05:00

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air has been crashed into a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu—in a head-on frontal-offset test, at 40 mph.
The result is a lesson in how far occupant protection has advanced over the years.

Watching the modern Malibu, the hood area deforms significantly but the passenger area looks almost entirely intact. Shift your eyes over to the 1959 Chevy and it’s the stuff of old highway-safety and shock-and-scare films, just melodrama and implied gore. There’s plenty of car gore though, with the Bel Air’s steering column slammed forward into the driver, the A-pillar completely mangled, and the dash pushed back to finish the punch. Trim pieces fly, shards of non-safety-glass fly forward, and…well, that’s probably enough of a spoiler, reports The Car Connection.

In case there’s any doubt based on the description above, according to safety engineers at the scene, the driver of the 2009 Chevrolet Malibu would likely have suffered slight knee injury. The driver of the 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air would have died instantly.

Ben still has a job!!!

2009-09-17T09:36:00.000-05:00

GM just had another round of layoffs. They let go of 40% of their finance employees this week, and Ben was NOT one of them. We are thankful for everyones continued concern for our well being and for our Heavenly Father's continued awareness and blessings for us.

First day of preschool

2009-09-15T11:05:00.001-05:00

We started preschool yesterday! It was AWESOME!!! It couldn't have gone better. I was so happy with how the kids did. There were a couple of kids who had a hard time for the first few minutes, but as soon as we got started, everyone participated and it was wonderful. We sang songs, talked about our letters and numbers, read some books, colored, did puzzles and made a craft. It was so fun!

I know every day won't be like yesterday, but it sure did make me feel great! I am so happy that I decided to do this preschool. Not only am I offering Bri an opportunity to learn and have fun, but I am offering other little 3 year olds the same opportunity. I am so excited for this school year. Here are some pics from yesterday.

Poison Control...come in poison control...do you read me?

2009-09-15T11:46:00.002-05:00

Yesterday morning was fantastic! Yesterday afternoon was not.

Bri and I spent the afternoon/evening in the Emergency Room. You all know that she gets into stuff and loves to make messes. Well, yesterday she found a box of Sudafed 24 hour release tabs and ate one. I have no idea where she found it. I don't keep meds where kids can get them. Besides, we are just getting over being sick, and I searched our entire house for Sudafed because it works so much better than the PE stuff. I couldn't find any.

I asked her if she ate it and she said yes, then I asked her if she spit it out and she said yes. I called poison control and they told me to take her to the emergency room. Of course Emma was getting out of school in about 10 minutes, so I ran up to the school and pulled her out of class, then the kids and I went to the ER. I called Ben on the way and he left work to meet me at the hospital. He took the other kids home while Bri and I stayed to be monitored. They did an EKG, hooked her up to a continuous heart/pulse monitor and blood pressure monitor. They made her drink charcoal to try and absorb anything that was in her stomach, and they watched her for 6 hours. CRAZY. When we first got there she had tachycardia which means an elevated heart rate. The Dr. said he wasn't really worried, but that he needed to monitor her for a while. Once she got a few readings of normal, they released us and we got to come home around 9 pm.

I was shaking for almost an hour and feeling like the worst mother in the world. The Dr. and nurses at the ER were fantastic. They were calm, very un-accusing, and very understanding. We talk all the time about not eating things if you don't know what they are, but her curiosity got the best of her. Now I think I might be ordering those Mr. Yuk stickers and plastering EVERYTHING with them. She knows what happens now, so hopefully that will deter her in the future.

For anyone who wants/needs to know, the national poison control number is 1-800-222-1222. It is staffed locally by Doctors and nurses. I have had to call it a few times, and they have always been very kind. This is the first time I have had to take a child to the ER, and although I hope it never happens again, it was a "good" experience...if that is possible.

Here is the link to the Mr. Yuk store. It has lots of great information. Some of it you can view as a pdf link without having to buy it. It is worth checking out and making sure you know what things are dangerous and how to safe guard your family...especially your children.

Can I ask a favor?

2009-09-08T20:40:00.000-05:00

We are still sick and the kids missed their first day of school. We have a wonderful friend (who is also a Dr.) come and check us all out and we have a nasty virus...probably the flu...AGAIN, but we are mending and no one has any secondary infections, so that is good news. We also had some friends from church bring us the yummiest chicken noodle soup I think I have ever tasted. Talk about blessings!

Now on to the favor. As most of you know, I have a store on etsy.com. I also have another blog. I am wondering if you all could look over my other blog and give me some feedback. What do you think...honestly. If it needs work, needs a spellcheck, needs more content, needs to be more interesting or needs more pictures, please tell me. I have put a lot of time into trying to make it a useful resource, and someone else's eyes looking at it will be super helpful. Thanks in advance!! http://www.pumpkinpatchdesigns.blogspot.com/

More sickness...

2009-09-05T08:26:00.003-05:00

Just in case you were wondering, I am sick now too. So are Emma and Justice. Party at our house...anyone want to come?

Hopefully everyone is better before school starts on Tuesday!

Sickness...

2009-09-02T15:42:00.000-05:00

Last week I watched a friend's younger kids so she could take her older kids to register for classes. A couple of days later she told me that her younger kids were sick and had high fevers and croup. AWESOME!

It only took another day or so before Clay was sick. When he woke up from his nap he had a high fever and he sounded terrible! I gave him some meds to bring the fever down and then had to give him a nebulizer treatment to help with the wheezing. My boys have had lung issues since each of them was born, so we have owned a nebulizer for 4+ years and the Dr. just keeps me stocked with albuterol. We have been through this so many times that I know what can be handled at hom, what needs a Dr. appt, and what needs an ER visit.

That night was scary! I was up with him most of the night and there are many times when I was minutes away from taking him to the ER. I never ended up taking him, but we did go to the Dr. first thing the next morning. She was very surprised at how quickly things went bad for Clay and how terrible he sounded. She gave him a steroid shot and a treatment in the office and waited to see how he did before letting us go home. She also told me that we were probably going to be on ER watch for another couple of days. Well, a few days have passed since then, and she was right. He has had one heck of a time. We have not needed to take him to the ER, but he is definitely sick! His fever keeps coming and going and his cough is pretty constant. He is feeling much better than he was at first, and I can tell he is starting to come around again. He'll just have a lingering cough for a while.

Bri got sick too. She isn't near as bad as Clay, but she is pretty miserable. Her throat hurts so bad she won't talk and all I have gotten either of them to eat today is applesauce and water. She also has a fever and cough. Neither of them is sleeping well, so they both have pretty big circles under their eyes. I wonder if I will get sick too.

Woodward Dream Cruise

2009-08-26T15:09:00.001-05:00

Every year here in Michigan there is the Woodward Dream Cruise. Old cars (and their owners) come to show off their cars. It is really fun. We found a good place to sit on the side of the road in Birmingham and watched the cars go by. Enjoy. (This was just over a week ago, so I am caught up and don't have to feel guilty every time I get on the computer. Yea Me!)

Marshmallw Fondant Cake

2009-08-26T14:27:00.000-05:00

I decided to try my hand at Fondant. The kids are starting to want me to do more detailed cakes and it is getting harder each birthday to do what they want. I think birthdays are special days and should be celebrated. I want to make them whatever kind of cake they want. So fondant it is. The problem with fondant is that it tastes disgusting. So I found a recipe for it that uses marshmallows. It was pretty easy and it turned out pretty well. This cake was just to practice and I learned a ton. I'm excited to make another one. Anyone need a cake?

Spiderman!!!

2009-08-26T14:21:00.000-05:00

Spiderman came to visit the mall by our house. Of couse we had to take Justice to meet him. The kids got to meet him and get their faces painted. It was pretty fun. Clay wanted nothing to do with it and stayed tucked away in the stroller the whole time.

Family Vacation to Nauvoo Illinois

2009-08-26T13:44:00.004-05:00

We went to Nauvoo for vacation at the beginning of July. We camped at a place called Camp Nauvoo. It was inexpensive, the owners were really nice, and the had electrical hookups. We would go there again in a heart beat. We were tent camping and it rained 3 of the days we were there. Everythin was either damp or wet the whole week, but it didn't matter. It was the best trip. We had such a good time. There is so much to do there it is unreal. We were there for an entire week and we never got bored. It is very family friendly and we go to see all of the church historical sites while we were there. We also went to the Nauvoo Pageant which was amazing...even in the rain. The temple is so beautiful and we can't wait to go back again. It might become a regular family vacation spot. We highly recommend it and are always up for families to join us...hint, hint! Here are some pictures of the trip. It really was one of the best trips we have ever done as a family.

Bri's 3rd Birthday!

2009-08-26T13:57:00.000-05:00

Bri turned 3 on July 18th. She is the cutest, craziest girl I know. She can go from making my heart melt to make me want to poke my eyes out in about 3.5 seconds. She wanted a Hello Kitty and a Ballerina cake for her birthday. There was no way I was going to make 2 cakes, so I combined them. This is what I came up with. It turned out much cuter than I expected. Bri was so excited. We also got her some ballerina clothes and she got some Strawberry Shortcake stuff from my family. It was a great day for her.

Time for some catch up...

2009-08-26T13:23:00.002-05:00

Ben's birthday is 3 days after Emma's. When I asked Ben what kind of cake he wanted he said, "I don't know...Justice what kind of cake do I want?" Justice yelled, "STAR WARS!!!". So, Justice and I sat down and looked up Star Wars cakes. He picked R2D2. This is my attempt at it. We got Ben some clothes and a couple of books. He was happy and the kids were pretty excited about the cake. So, 4 months later, Happy Birthday love!

Emma and Justice love to play "let's pretend that we are going to the temple and getting married". These are the outfits they came up with. So cute. I especially love the hair flower that Emma put in Justice's collar for a "man flower that you wear on your coat".

Bri loves to draw with chalk and she wanted me to write their names. I did and she told me it wasn't fancy enough. So, here are the FANCY names. I know...I missed my calling in life. I should have been a sidewalk chalk artist. I think there's big money in it too. :)

My kids LOVE blueberries. I didn't buy them very often because they are crazy expensive, but once we started having Spinach smoothies for breakfast most mornings I started buying them. Fresh are still crazy expensive, but the big frozen bags from Costco are actually a good price. My kids want to eat them everyday even though they get them in the mornings in their smoothies. One day I was doing who knows what and I came into the kitchen to this. Blueberries anyone?

Here's one of Clay just because he is so stinking cute!

The best Whole Wheat bread EVER!!!

2009-08-26T08:36:00.008-05:00

I love to make my own bread. Sure it takes time, but it is soooo good and it makes me feel like I am doing something good for my family. There is just something about grinding my own wheat and turning it into something that my kids beg me for that is so fulfilling!

I thought I'd share the recipe. If you scroll to the bottom, it tells you how much you need to store to be able to make this bread for an entire year. So handy when trying to plan out your food storage! Also, a friend of mine converted the recipe to make 2 5" x 9" loaves. If you want the conversion email me and I'll send it to you. thepalmerfam at hotmail dot com.

I don't know where it came from. A friend passed it along to me. I have tried to find an author, but no luck. So, if you know who created it tell me and I will give them full credit. Until then, thank you person I don't know...

Easiest Whole Wheat Bread

2 (8"x4") loaves

3 1/2 cups Whole Wheat flour

1/3 cup gluten

1 1/4 Tbsp instant yeast

2 1/2 cups steaming hot tap water (120-130 F)

1 Tbsp salt

1/3 cup oil

1/3 cup honey or 1/2 cup sugar

1 1/4 Tbsp bottled lemon juice

2 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

Mix together first three ingredients with a dough hook. Add water all at once and mix for 1 minute; cover and let rest for 10 minutes. (this will not mix it completely...that's okay) Add salt, oil, honey or sugar, and lemon juice and beat for one minute. Add rest of flour, 1 cup at a time, beating between each cup. Once the flour is mixed in, beat for about 6-10 more minutes. Until dough pulls away from sides of the bowl and dough "bounces back" a little when you touch it. This makes very soft dough. Pre-heat oven to 350 for 1 minute and turn off. Turn dough onto oiled counter top; divide, shape into loaves and place in oiled bread pans. Let rise in warm oven for 10-15 minutes (I do it for 15) until dough reaches top of pan. Do not remove bread from oven; turn oven to 350 F and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. If you do not have a mixer with a dough hook and are kneading this by hand, gradually add last cup of flour to keep dough from sticking to counter. You will add more flour when kneading by hand than when using a mixer simply to be able to handle this moist dough. With wheat bread, always add the least amount of flour possible to keep bread moist. Knead 10 minutes before shaping into loaves.

**lemon juice in this recipe acts as a dough enhancer which gives bread a fine, light texture. Gluten, a natural protein derived from wheat, provides elasticity and strength and added texture, helps retain moisture, prevents crumbling, and extends the shelf life of the bread. If you do not want to store gluten flour, you may substitute whole wheat flour in it's place. I buy my gluten from here.

**1/4 Tbsp is = to 3/4 tsp.

** To make a 2 loaf recipe of this bread every other day for 1 year (1 loaf per day), you will need 275 lbs of wheat ground into flour, 4 gallons of oil, 46 lbs of honey or sugar, 8 (1 lb) pkgs yeast, 61 cups of gluten flour, 3 2/3 qts. of lemon juice and 7.3 lbs of salt.

Looking forward to October

2009-08-13T13:48:00.006-05:00

I thought it was time that we put a new post up...and reveal the costume I'm wearing this year.

The Price of a Child

2009-06-16T12:15:00.002-05:00

As we have all taken turns being sick this week, my emotions are very close to the surface. I don't know why we seem to be the final destination for every germ known to man. I don't know why our little family has been asked to bear so many physical trials over the last few years. I do know that I can't imagine going through all of this without all of them. We are definitely in this together and for that I am immeasurably grateful. I love my husband 1000 times more than I ever thought I could. I love each of my children more today than I did the day they were born. We have definitely had our share of trials, but in it all, we found a way to pull the bonds that tie us together just a little bit tighter. We are all sick, but we are all happy. How could I ask for more than that?

I'm sure this is old, but it meant so much to me today.

THE PRICE OF A CHILD

I have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way. It's nice.

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 to be $160,140 for a middle income family.

Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down.

It translates into:
*$8,896.66 a year, or
* $741.38 a month, or
* $171.08 a week.
* That's a mere $24.24 a day!
* Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is "if you want to be 'rich', don't have children. Actually, it is just the opposite.

What do you get for your $160,140?
* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night.
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
* A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
* A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up. You get to:
* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs, and
* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:
* keep reading "The Adventures of Piglet and Pooh" ,
* watch Saturday morning cartoons,
* go to Disney movies, and
* wish upon a star. You also get to:
* frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets,

and collect:
* spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas,
* hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and
* cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no bigger bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for:
* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
* taking the training wheels off a bike,
* removing a splinter,
* filling a wading pool,
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and
* coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat to witness history:
* her first step,
* his first word,
* her first bra,
* his first date, and
* their first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs called grandchildren and great grandchildren in your obituary.

You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have the power to:
* heal a boo-boo,
* scare away the monsters under the bed,
* patch a broken heart,
* police a slumber party,
* ground them forever, and
* love them without limits... so that one day they, like you, will love without counting the cost.

That is quite a deal for the price!

Love & enjoy your children, grandchildren & great grandchildren

Swine flu anyone???

2009-06-13T08:43:00.002-05:00

I know I haven't posted in a while. I have a lot to post about. Ben's birthday, my birthday, the kids, pics of my new bathroom. I'm sure I can think of more. But I'm not going to...not today.

Emma has swine flu. She has had a constant fever, aches, chills, no appetite, and an awesome cough. Her fever has been right around 103 for a couple of days. I hope it breaks soon. Bri and Clay now have fevers too and each of them is developing a pretty nice little cough. So far Justice seems fine. All 4 of them are on Tamiflu, so hopefully it doesn't get too bad. We are in quarantine for 7 days. Emma doesn't get to finish the last few days of school and she is pretty bummed. We are just hunkering down and trying to make this next week as enjoyable as possible. Lots of movies, lots of popcorn, and lots of meds.

Once we emerge from all of this, I will post all of the things I have been neglecting.

We were there (click here)

2009-05-02T10:27:00.004-05:00

Click title to see where we were Friday night. You'll want to watch the entire video...watch for the Hi-5. Pretty cool. Our friend, Chris Amare, got the Cabrera HR ball.

Ben still has a job!!!

2009-04-22T08:10:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was the day that Ben could have lost his job...he did not lose it. We are so thankful that he is still gainfully employed! Thanks to all of you who have been thinking and praying for us and Thanks to the Lord for helping Ben keep his job. Although we aren't out of danger yet...GM still has a ways to go before they have "turned around", we are very grateful for the many blessings that we have been given from a kind and loving Father in Heaven.

Happy Birthday to Emma!

2009-04-22T07:53:00.004-05:00

Emma turned 6 on Monday. HOLY COW MY BABY GIRL IS 6!!!!! We had a family party and it was really fun. She wanted a Tinkerbell cake, so this is what I came up with. She is so happy that she is a big girl now and can't wait until her next birthday. Enjoy the pictures...