Mommy's Ant

Last month I was diagnosed with a small patch of BASAL CELL CARCINOMA (aka. skin cancer) on my forehead. It was a lesion that would not heal for months and months, so finally I went to the dermatologist, who did a biopsy and confirmed the cancer diagnosis. I was assured it is the *best* kind of cancer to have- it won't spread to other parts of your body and will not affect your health etc. The treatment included MOHS SURGERY and, since it was on my face, a visit to the plastic surgeon to close up the wound. The surgery was on Thursday, took 2 rounds of MOHS to extract all the cancer cells, and then about an hour for the plastic surgeon to do the suturing- our best estimate is about 16 stitches. Lexi calls them my "ant." In this photo, can you sort of see the likeness to an ant with all it's many legs?!?! Recovery is going well- better than I expected, actually.

St. Patrick's Day

So, I'm not sure how accurate this is, but we think that Lexi is about 1/8th Irish. My mother is 1/4 Irish (her father is 1/2 Irish), which makes me 1/8th, right? And Matt is also 1/8th (he thinks), so that makes Lexi 1/8th...

Anyway- we many not be full blooded Irish, but we still like to have fun on the *greenest* day of the year. We went down to the Scholastic Store in SoHo and participated in a little St. Patty's Party there- complete with a treasure hunt, storytime, and a hat craft. Clifford also made an appearance, but Lexi just wanted to see him from afar- something about those big, red dogs can be a little intimidating, don't you think?

Happy Birthday, Relief Society

Whew! Glad this activity is over... I've been the enrichment counselor in the RS presidency in my ward for 2 1/2 years now. I have really enjoyed it, but every once in a while we have a really big activity that totally stresses me out! I'm always afraid I will forget an important detail or something. Every March, we have a commemoration/celebration of the organization of the Relief Society. So this year, we teamed up with 2 other wards and had a big ol' party. One of the wards is a "family" ward (mine), one is a "singles" ward, and one is the Spanish ward. We decided to ask a few sisters to give a little presentation about their home country so that we could learn about the wonderful diversity that exists in RS and especially in our area of New York City- we had reps from the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Honduras, Peru, Canada, France & Korea. We were originally intending on a kind of cultural potluck (we have a lot of returned missionaries etc and hoped to have lots of different treats from different countries), but in true Latino fashion, the Spanish ward showered us with lots and lots of incredible food! They did an amazing job and it was more like a dinner feast than just "refreshments." We don't really get many chances to interact with the other wards, and for many of the sisters there is an english/spanish language barrier. But this event was really a success, I think, in bringing us together despite our communication differences. There were about 80 sisters in attendance, which was great!

Just a couple of shoutouts: To Marci for making the awesome cake! To the men in the 1st & 3rd wards for taking care of our kids! And to the sisters who presented for their amazing preparations!!

Green Thumb

The first Sunday of 2007, Lexi became a Sunbeam in Primary at church. Part of the activities that day included planting a bean between 2 cotton balls in a paper cup as part of a lesson on Faith (see Alma 32:27-43). She took it home and carefully watered it every few days, and put it on the windowsill in her room where it got plenty of sunlight. Soon, it had sprouted! And then a couple of days later, 2 huge leaves appeared. It was amazing! Now, a little over 2 months have passed and this is what her beanstalk looks like!

Prego Kendra

Just a photo for those who are wondering what a 29-weeks pregnant Kendra looks like.

Blanket

While we were visiting my in-laws last summer, my MIL showed me this really cute baby blanket she had made for a new baby in the extended family. It was so adorable, but I was a little intimidated by it because it looked a little tricky. Fast forward a few months and I receive a package chock full of great fabric that my MIL had found on a great sale at Joann's. So I decide to attempt the same kind of blanket. I take it easy and find an easy pattern somewhere on the internet (actually, HERE) and I get to work. Turns out, it is pretty easy, and super fast! I was a little unsure how it would all turn out, but here is the result. I am quite pleased with it. Thanks, Joan C!