New Year's Day 2009 - Hike to Mt. Lowe

Thaddeus' dad has always been interested in Mt Lowe (I believe since he was a teenager) and in Thaddeus S. C. Lowe (hence Thad's name!) Thaddeus Lowe was an American Civil War aeronaut, scientist and inventor. He moved to Pasadena and began Mt Lowe Railway into the hills of Altadena and even built a hotel at the top. It's not there anymore (fire and time have destroyed it) but they have preserved a lot of it. Thad's dad is actually a volunteer that helps with the preservation efforts.

It's a tradition that we go up on New Year's day on a little hike and to enjoy breakfast with all of the rangers, families, and friends. It is a fun little hike (under a mile since we drive halfway up with his Dad) and it's a beautiful view. The weather was great this year, the food was yummy, and the boys had a blast! They both love dirt and the mountains so it was a good mix of food, family, and fun!

I love this picture of Nate and I although I think that it definitely shows my age and wrinkles that I didn't even realize were so noticeable. I guess I really am 30 ;) !

A Marcroft Family Pic... too bad the lighting is icky! :)

Sammy loved the signs with the pictures of the trains that used to go up the mountain!

I love this boy-- boogers and all!

Sammy wanted to carry the backpack too-luckily Nate wasn't in it!

Nate and Sammy really loved all of the dirt and trees. Sammy actually ripped his pants on this tree right about here!

Sarah and Bill and one of their boys...

Here are my boys looking at some of the old train pieces...

Okay...this is the last pic! There are too many good ones. If you want to see all of the go to Smugmug... I thought that this one of Sammy on some of the old railroad ties was too cute to not post!

Float Decorating for the Rose Parade

Early, early in the morning on December 27, the CHS Leo's Club and I headed down to Pasadena to work on the Lion's Club float. We left about 7 am after everyone showed up. It was freeeeeezing and we had to wait outside in the cold till they let us in about 1/2 hour later at about 8 am. We got inside and it was a little warmer but not warm because it would mess up the floats. We spent the first 3 hours cutting dried flowers from the stems, blending them (in a blender to make them into a powder) and then we got to paste them onto the float (which is a lot harder than it looks). It was fun, well, once we got past the flower cutting stage. :) We stayed until about 4 pm. My favorite part was the lettering that I got to do even though we had to leave before I could finish. Oh well.

Here is what the float was supposed to look like done...

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2008

Christmas Eve we went to Thad's Grandma's house and did the traditional taco soup, fudge, Christmas Story and Christmas Carols with the extended Marcroft Family. I always enjoy this and it reminds us of the real reason for Christmas. I especially love the songs that we get to sing! Christmas songs are so fun. Sammy requested Jingle Bells and juts loved it!!

Thad and I had already wrapped all of the presents during naptime earlier in the day so we went to bed early after picking up a little in the front room. Santa Claus came during the night and left a few nice gifts for the boys.

When they woke up they were really excited. Sammy finally understood who Santa was and about presents and stuff. Nathan was in the "I could care less for these wrapped boxes" mode but was much more excited when he saw what was inside. They got trains, lightsabers, and a horn/bell for their bikes. Nathan got a little bike (since I broke Sammy's old little guy bike and Nate's always trying to ride everyone elses bikes). We got Sammy a new Batman helmet and passed his teddy bear helmet down to Nate. They were both super excited to get on their bikes. We played a little and then went to Grandma's and Grandpa Marcroft's House for Christmas breakfast. We had French Toast with all the fixings and opened gifts.

Then it was time for naps and we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Driggs' house to put the boys down and help with Christmas dinner. After naps and cooking we ate and then opened presents once again! What a long day. It was fun to be with family but I was sure ready to get to bed by the end of it all! Merry (late) Christmas to all!!

Trying to catch up...

I look like I haven't been posting...but in reality I have been...just not here. I gave my Spanish II students a blog assignment for the holidays and they asked me to participate too. So, I have been writing my posts in Spanish here on another blog. I need to catch up here on my real blog! I will do that hopefully today and tomorrow! If you feel up to it you can go to http://senoramarcroft.blogspot.com and read my posts or find links to a bunch of my kids' blogs on the right :)

Counting my blessings...

I had another event yesterday that put life into perspective again...

Around 6 pm last night Nathan was trying to get on a skateboard at a friend's house so I picked him up leaving the skateboard there (he's one and definitely not ready to skateboard) and began to scream. Now Nate, when he gets hurt or angry, has the tendency to scream one big long scream and then not inhale for 8-10 seconds and then start screaming at the top of his lungs again. So, this is what he began to do and I told him, like I usually do, "breathe Nate, breathe! C'mon Nate! BREATHE!" and then he tensed up and then went limp in my arms. I started yelling hysterically for Thad and we both watched his eyes roll back into his head. I had one of those "oh gosh" moments and I thought that maybe his time was gone. I didn't know what was happening...we laid him on the couch, had the girls call 911, and started breathing into his mouth to try to keep oxygen to his brain. He laid there for what seemed like an eternity lifeless and limp. I wondered if this was really happening to us...finally he came to slowly, but still listless and lethargic, but at least he was breathing. It was the longest 20-30 seconds of our lives.

The police, ambulances and fire department arrived quickly and assessed the situation and then hauled Nate and I to the ER in La Palma. He continued to scream and even turned blue right in front of one of the nurses who began to interrogate me about why I hadn't brought him in for this before! Ugh! It wasn't this serious before! Eventually I got to hold him, feed him, and sing to him and he calmed down (well, of course after they stopped poking him!)
They were very nice to us there but didn't have a pediatric place so they needed to transfer him to a hospital that had a pediatric place and a place that our insurance would cover. We stayed there until 1 am when Kaiser finally came to get us and transfer us all the way to Sunset (all the way in Hollywood), since all of the close hospitals were full, and we arrived there around 1:45am.

It was a long night in a room that had 4 kids in it and a bunch of sleeping parents (we got the floor since all of the chairs were taken) and they kept waking the poor kid up. Sunset was where he had his surgery back in April 2008 but we had a totally different experience this time. We had a hard time getting help from the nurses, the doctor took forever to come see him and it was a nightmare. Finally at noon today a doctor came to see him (besides the one that checked him in last night at 2 am) and told us that they think that it was a Breath Holding Spell, that they're somewhat common (well, not the passing out part) and that it could happen again. He also told us to watch for signs of him having a seizure (even though they don't think that it was you can never be too sure!)

It was a long, no, a super-long, stress-filled night that ended with a healthy kid but two overly tired, grumpy, bickering parents! I am glad that Heavenly Father saw fit to leave Nathanael with us for the time being--I'm not ready to let him go just yet. It makes every second count even more.

The Tree People

Sammy and I met the kids from the school's Habitat for Humanity club down on 6th Street in Long Beach this morning. We met up with the Tree People Group and planted trees. It was a lot of fun and Sammy really enjoyed it. He loved that they had little shovels for kids and was happy to be able to play and wear the gloves too. He got to jump and help compact the dirt and they even named a tree after him (see below). It was a good morning! There are more pics here on SmugMug!

Here we are in front of the new tree they named Sammy!

Here is our group of kids and our tree Pepper (short for Pepperoni since that is what Sam called it after the kids named it Pepper)

Christmas is coming...

I've been really excited since yesterday when I realized that it was DECEMBER! Woo hoo! I wore one of my cheesy Christmas sweaters on it with penguins and snowflakes and even donned some snowflake earrings to match. To my surprise I got a lot of compliments on the sweater and tons on the earrings. Anyway, I digress, the point of this entry is...we decorated a gingerbread house!

We were invited over for FHE to Grandma and Grandpa Marcroft's house for dinner and to make a gingerbread house. The kids had fun playing with blocks and cars and trying to eat everything but it was a good way to begin the month! :) Enjoy the pictures...more at SmugMug.

Sammy began trying to piece it together right away...

Thad was in charge of the glue, I mean frosting. I had to stick the candies on as he frosted!

Nathan was being super cheesy smiler and kept squinting and smiling super big...here is one of his cheesiest smiles! :)