A Glimpse into our Life

Dear Trenton, Avery and Brayden,

Thank you so much for being big for me while I’m in the hospital. I know it’s hard to behave all grown up when you are still a kid but these few days will give you a great opportunity to realize how great you guys are at taking care of yourselves.

I’m sure this is going to bug you, but I want you to all clean up together for each meal. I know, that’s not fair if you had an easy meal this week but we’re going to treat this time like party night or a special occasion. Everyone works together and it all gets done. Trenton, you have an extra job of checking around the sink - all four sides - make sure it’s clean where the grout is. That gets super-gross and I don’t want to go through surgery only to get some food born illness. Just kidding, but still.

Every morning get up, make your bed and have a shower. Check the floor of your closet and the floor in the bathroom for clothes and towels - not cool.

Eat breakfast and clean it up. Remember, no Dutchies or anything scary unless an adult is present. I left a list on the white board, cereal is okay, just not everyday. Don’t forget there are bagels in the freezer. Thaw them the night before. Also, remember to refill the butter dish so it spreads nicely.

If Dad is home he can decide about school; but if he’s not, do Reading, Math and Spelling. Brayden, since you’re quite slow (we need to work on this) you can skip one subject per day; either spelling or math. But if you skip math, you need to skip spelling the next day and so on. Trenton, please help Brayden. Brayden, please let Trenton help you. I want you to do school on Saturday and Sunday if Dad isn’t home. Not because I’m mean (okay, sometimes I am *grin*) but because if you just play all day you’ll get bored.

There is a list of lunch choices on the whiteboard. Try to have lunch around 12:00. On Friday have grilled cheese and tomato soup. Add leftover noodles from the fridge if you like. Offer Mrs. Bellows some Beef and Barley soup. On Saturday have beef barley soup or leftovers, same or ramen on Sunday. I’ll be sad if the soup goes bad because it was awesome and a lot of work. Make sure you eat it.

After cleaning up lunch, doing your chores, laundry and shoveling if it needs it, you can play board games, Magic, D&D, do crafts, bake etc. until dinner at 5:00. At 3:00 you can watch the Tivo or a movie if you’re tired of playing. You can also go sledding if an adult is home. Sorry, but no sledding if you are by yourselves.

You can have a few snacks from the cupboard. Trenton, go easy on the candy. Not more than 4 Halloween sized per day. Use good judgement.

At 5:00 have dinner:

Friday: Sloppy Joes (freezer), rolls (freezer), fried onions and tater tots.
Saturday: Party night
Sunday: Stuffed Shells: Put into a pan that you sprayed with cooking spray and bake at 350 for a half hour or until warm and bubbly. Cover with foil if it gets too brown.
Monday: Corn Chowder with rice (freezer) thaw, warm up and eat with chips, salsa, lime, sour cream etc.

Clean up dinner together and then you can play video games until bed time at 7:30 PM (except party night of course). You can have microwave popcorn too.

Get ready for bed, brush your teeth, Trenton use your face cream. Pray together.

You can visit each other until 8:30 PM, lights out at 9:00 PM, tapes off at 9:30 PM. Don’t mess around on this. I’ll know!

Of course, none of this matters if Dad’s home and he decides to keep you up all night watching movies and ordering a pizza. This list is just for when you are by yourselves.

I’ve given Avery the role of “Mom” while I’m not home. He’s the one that worries about everyone, knows how to cook, keeps an eye on the clock etc. so he’s best for the job. Avery will make sure you eat three times a day and the dog gets fed. He’ll also make sure the laundry is done before computers come out.

Dad is going to be lost and sad without me. Cuddle him lots and don’t give him too much of a hard time. If you can’t sleep or are worried, wake him up. It takes a few minutes but he’ll be really nice once he knows what’s going on.

I love you boys more than anything in the world and hate that we are going to be apart for a few days. It’ll be over and I’ll be home before you know it and then we can all work together to get me better. Think of all the movies and goofing off we’ll be doing until Valentines Day :-)

Each of you is amazingly precious to me. I am being brave and doing this in part for you so that we can all have a lot more fun. Some things I want to do once I’m all better is to go to Moab, ride in a boat, visit Europe, go on lots of roller coasters again, visit Antelope Island, visit Yellowstone for the weekend - it’s going to be so much fun.

I hope we can all think about the good things to help us through the sad parts.

All my love,
Mom


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I check in to the hospital tomorrow at 9:00 AM. Chris will twitter and Facebook that I'm okay once the surgery is through.