THE DEIBEL TOP 5 OF 2012

JAROM:

1.  Learned his colors.

2.  Still loves froggies and piggies.

3.  Started household chores:  he sorts the recyclying every day, takes empty laundry baskets upstars, and cleans his room.

4.  Turned 3 and now that's his favorite number.

5.  He is finally potty trained!!!  After twelve years, Mom and Dad are done with diapers forever.

 

LUKE:

1.  Loves to play Star Wars Wii with his big brother, Paul.

2.  All he wants for Christmas is his two front teeth.

3.  Started First Grade.

4.  Participated with the big kids at Hemmeter Elementary Running Club and collected 15 miles on his punch card.

5.  Learned how to ride a two wheeler.

PAUL:

1.  Participated in a community basketball camp in the summer.

2.  Learned how to downhill snow ski.

3.  Faced his fears and rode the Maverick Roller Coaster at Cedar Point.

4.  He also collected 15 miles at the Hemmeter Elementary Running Club.

5.  By far the most memorable event of 2012 was going on the 4th grade, two day fieldtrip to Hartley Nature Center.  He loved conquering the confidence course with his team, playing games, and bunking with his best friend.

ELYSE:

1.  Elyse now attends White Pine Middle School and is the 6th grade student council secretary.

2.  Had braces put on in April--no gum for two whole years.  Wah-ha-ha :(

3.  She played one of the storytellers in the school play, Once On This Island.

4.  Finally, after enduring endless long months in primary, turned 12 and entered the Young Women program.

5.  Took first place in the Tri-Kids-Try triathalon and 3rd place in the MCVI 5k run in her age division.

EMILY:

1.  Hugged, cleaned, trained, cheuffered, fed, clothed, educated, and fervently prayed over four busy kids.

2.  I am celebrating my 14th wedding anniversary in December.  Weird how fast that went by.

3.  My two sisters, LeeAnn & Liz, and three of my nieces, came out to Michigan to visit me for the first time ever!!!  Mom and Dad came, too, and we spent time bumming on the beaches of Grand Haven, biking, and touring Frankenmuth.  Thanks for coming.  That was so awesome.

4.  I took a trip alone to Fort Walton Beach, FL, and spent four blissful days reading, watching the ocean, walking on the beach, taking pictures, and reading some more with my mom and dad.  Thanks for having me you two--Love You!

5.  I became the coordinator for SCRIP, the main fundraising event at Hemmeter Elementary with my friend Laura Fiore.  I now sell, promote, and take inventory of gifts cards every week(who knew I'd ever run a small business and get paid absolutely nothing for doing it?).  Jarom is a superstar for being so quiet and patient while we spend hours in the conference room at school.

MATT:

1.  Finally got permission from his wife to buy a trampoline.

2.  He chaperoned Paul's trip to Hartley.

3.  Continues to oversee and expand the scribe program in the Emergency Department.

4.  Helped design the up-coming expansion of the E.R.

5.  After planning and coordinating for a year, bravely took a group of the Saginaw Ward's Young Men on a backpacking trip to Isle Royale.  It's an island in Lake Superior that you ferry out to.  No phone access, no roads--you are completely cut off from civilization and you carry everything you need to survive for one week in the pack on your back.  Matt and John Lowry led the group of twelve-year-old boys and they all had a blast and everyone came home alive with memories that will last forever.

Fourth of July

 Luke and cousin Nathan

 Paul, cousin Kathleen, and Elyse

 Cousin Steven and Jarom

The fourth of July was unbearably hot.  Gramma Sue and Papa wrote up a family history road rally for all the Deibels in town.  We spent two hours in our blessedly air conditioned car hunting down red cars, flags, hawks, cows, and school busses, along with great grandparents' homes and businesses, and a stop for ice cream.  The rally ended at the Deibel's pond in St. Charles.  We had a BBQ and swam for a few hours, lit fireworks on the dock, and then drove back to Saginaw for the firework show on the river.  We've been in Utah the last two years for this holiday and I have to say, I've missed the Saginaw fireworks.  We may be a dead/dying town rife with empty buildings, but we know how to spend money for the fourth of July.  Over 8,000 people lined the river this year.  Papa got up early and saved us front row seats.  Thanks Papa!  Jarom spent the show plastered to my chest with my hands over his ears.  This is not surprising as I have yet to have a child that initially loves fireworks as much as I do.  Give him another three years and he'll come around.  I enjoyed snuggling with my youngest and I oohed and awed over the show like one of the kids.  By the end of the show his eyes were open, at least, and he named a few colors of the fireworks,  all of which he got wrong because he can't remember his colors yet (it cracked me up).

 Elyse graduated from Hemmeter Elementary this month.  She was sad to leave the school she loved so much, but I know she'll love middle school, too.  Weird--I now have a middle schooler!

 Luke and his cousin Nathan--he was in the other Kindergarten class

 The Four Mormons in Luke's Kindergarten class this year

Yay, school's out!  We're already enjoying our summer!  So far we've been swimming a couple times, to the zoo, walks around the neighborhood, and slept in.

The past month or so in a nutshell

 Jarom turned 3 on the 30th.  We start the laborious and momentous task of potty training

 It raine and thundered most of Luke's birthday on the 27th.  We watched from the garage--Luke watched from the driveway

 Memorial Day:  98 and humid.  Ick.  We melted at the ward picnic, but the kids had fun

 Elyse is the one in the skirt at the end--more memorial day picnic activities

End of April:  Elyse played one of the Jasmine's in the fifth grade play.  She had to hug that shortee of an Aladdin--which neither was thrilled about.  I made her costume all by myself!

Easter

We hosted the cousin easter egg coloring and egg hunt this year.  I tried really really hard to limit our candy intake, so the hunt included the hard boiled eggs we colored and plastic eggs with dimes and nickels.  Each kid collecting just under two dollars--it wasn't really a wower, but they seemed excited.  Happy that I'd done my duty, I enjoyed my sabbath the next day until our neighbor told the kids they could come collect eggs because their guests didn't show.  My kids each brought home a 16 inx16 in bag full of candy which I then snacked on over the next five days.  By Friday I threw away the majority of the candy.  We had a wonderful easter, watching the church's new bible video and by doing our annual tradition of telling the easter story while opening plastic eggs that have something in them to show a bit of the story.

Elyse

 We knew this day would come soon after Elyse lost her first couple of baby teeth.  She has a tiny, tiny mouth and her new teeth were coming in stacked three deep.  The last baby tooth was pulled, along with four permenant teeth and then the braces went on last week.  They put her completely under for the tooth extraction.  She came out of it moaning to herself and staring at her arms like she didn't know what they were. I put her favorite Taylor Swift CD on while we drove home, hoping it would soothe her because she was making so much noise.  I realized during the second song that she was moaning along to the music.  It was so sad and funny at the same time.  She moaned for 45 minutes.  It was not fun to watch.  She was pretty perky in this picture because they'd just barely put the braces on.  She came home from school later that day and buried herself under a blanket moaning once again.  The first three days she was pretty sore and now she's talking with a sort of lisp as she gets used to having these things in her mouth.  She's in good company, though; a few kids at school and church have them, too.  She is seriously lamenting the fact she can't have gum or pop for two years.  If you know Elyse, you know she's a gum freak.  Maybe this will break the habit.

The fifth graders did a report on  famous american and then put on a wax museum for school and parents.  She had to research Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female doctor in the U.S., write a speech, memorize it and come up with a costume.  She said she recited her speech 96 times for the wax museum.

Skiing

While the painting was going on we thought it would be best to get the kids out of the way while scaffolding was up in the living room and entryway.  Matt had a medical conference at Boyne Mt.  We spent a couple days at the water park--Avalanche Bay--and the two oldest got to spend an afternoon skiing with dad.  It was Paul's first time skiing ever and his only new year's goal from 2011.  He thought it would help him get over his fear of heights.  Turns out he loved it, even riding the ski lift.  He passed off the first two levels at ski school and earned a cub scout belt loop to boot!

Apple Butterscotch Squares

My friend Connie recommended a cookbook to try and I just got my copy from the library.  I've made three recipes out of it so far with another four planned for this week and I love them.  Here's a recipe I took to an in-law dinner as an alternative to the other junk that is brought (I brought my own salad, too, which was good since dinner choices were full fat chicken salad, egg salad, or cheesy potatoes and not a fruit in sight):

Apple Butterscotch Squares

2 large Golden Delicious apples
1 c all purpose flour
3/4 C whole wheat flour
3/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 C ground flaxseed or wheat germ
1 t baking powder
1 t pumpkin pie spice or ground cinnamon
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
3 large eggs, beaten
1/2 C unsweetened applesauce
1/2 C canola oil
1/3 C butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a 9x14 pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Add dry ingredients in one bowl and mix.  Mix wet ingredients in another bowl.  Quarter and grate both apples with skins on and add to wet ingredients.  Pour wet over dry ingredients and stir till just combined.  Add chips and stir to combine.  Pour into pan and bake 35 minutes.

20 servings.  Per serving:  170 cal, 8g fat, 120 mg sodium, 23g carbs, 2 g fiber, 3g protein
From "No Whine With Dinner"

Pictures Halfway done with project

 These pictures were taken after painting was done, but before carpet was laid.  Here we took out a three foot section of carpet and added wood floor to connect with the wood floor in the front entryway.  This is the high traffic area of the house and the carpet always had a worn dirt track down the the center, so we just took it out.  The wood guy said after he laid down the stain that we had to absolutely stay off of it.  We kept walking around the house and going through a window to get through the basement.  We also took the kids to the church gym and Mcdonalds a lot.  Jarom still managed to run out on it once, but no baby footprints have appeared yet.

 This is how Jarom's room looked for the majority of three weeks.  There's a small pathway you can't see that goes to his bed.

 This is a bad picture.  But here's my new accent wall in my bedroom--it's a bayberry greenish color.

 The new tan, not peachy pink, walls in the majority of the house.  I didn't get pics of the kids rooms, but they are sky blue and green moss.

 My pumpkin gold music room and Matt's green study in the back.

My kitchen during all the carpet rip out (we had scouts come help us) and carpet installattion.

Pistons Game

Papa got our family tickets to a Pistons game on Friday.  Guess what!  We played against Jimmer's team.  It's the first time any of us saw Jimmer play in person.  You could spot the BYU fans because anytime Jimmer did anything a few people would be up cheering.  Some teenager a few rows in front of us stood the entire time Jimmer played.  We ended up getting a bottomless popcorn bucket and two bottomless sodas.  2 bottomless sodas + 4 kids + 1 mom with a shot bladder = a bazillion trips to the bathroom.  Lots of exercise climbing stairs since we were four rows from the top of the huge palace.  We had a blast.  I enjoyed cheering for both teams so I was guaranteed to be backing a winner.  Pistons trailed the whole game and barely pulled in front at the end of the fourth and Jimmer played quite a bit and made 9 points.  Fun game.  Afterwards the boys wanted to get down on the floor.  We got down as far as officials would let us and met some more Mormons from Ohio looking at the floor, too.  They took our picture with our phone and I've got to figure out how to get them off my phone and onto the computer.  Go Jimmer!

What a Mess

After living in this house for almost six years we've finally decided to do something about the peachy tan paint on all the walls that we hate.  We're adding some exciting bold colors like gold in the music room, forest green in the study, blue for Elyse's new room (she's moving over to the guest room), bayberry accent wall in my room, light green for the boys, and the living room and halls are being painted a respectable real tan without peach in it.  We have no idea how old the carpet it, but it looks pretty bad:  I can't get the mystery stains out anymore.  So after the paint, comes carpet and a stretch of wood floor in the living room where the high traffic area is.  We're in our first week of painting and so far everything in the house is not where it usually is and everything's a mess.  Kids rooms cleared out with their stuff spread out in the living room, Jarom's room, my room, the study.  The music room stuff in my room, piles of stuff to go to good will, and so on.  It took the kids twenty more minutes to get out the door this morning because we couldn't find a hair brush, toothbrushes, etc.  We have all the mess of a major move, but we're not really going anywhere.  It's chaos.  I think I need to leave the house for a couple hours today.  But I love my gold music room--it's almost done.  And matt's study turned out really nice, too.  I hope my room turns out as pretty.

Art Journaling

I'm trying something I've never done before.  And after a couple weeks of practice, I've come to the conclusion that I just don't have any visual art apptitude.  I'm taking an online art journaling class through jessicasprague.com.  She offers lots of different classes and I like taking some now and again just to feel like I'm learning something and I can do it from home when I have time--when the kids are sleeping.  Here's a sample of what I've learned so far:

Paul's Nine Year Old Pics

We took Paul's birthday pictures at the temple this year--it was a little cold so his nose was pink and we couldn't take very many.  He's growing up, though, isn't he?

Christmas Quilts

I made each of the kids a lap quilt for Christmas this year.  I tried choosing fabrics with their favorite colors, animals, hobbies, whatever.  This is the first time I've ever made a quilt from start to finish.  The bindings are laughable, but so far they've held together and the kids love them more than I thought they would.  Jarom is having a hard time transitioning over to a new blankie to carry around, so his just stays on his bed for the most part.