Catching Up

Okay, so maybe it's lame that's it's New Year's Eve and I'm blogging. Our party is playing Guitar Hero and I'm not a big fan, so I thought I'd catch up on our news, mostly just about our Christmas. We had such a fun Christmas with the kids this year. Jada and Caleb are at such cute ages where they're really starting to get into the spirit of Christmas, and by spirit I mean the presents, not the birth of Jesus. I have a feeling they wont get that part for a while. They loved driving around looking at Christmas lights and listening to Christmas music. And they loved Christmas morning.

Jada asked for many things this year, mostly everything she saw on the commercials made it onto her list. The one consistently asked for was the Baby Alive doll who eats food and drinks bottles and pees and poos. What a wonderful idea for a gift! A real-life baby who I have to make food for and clean up and change her diaper and sit her on her potty and wash her out after her bowel movements so she doesn't get clogged up! Awesome idea, whoever came up with this. She also informed me about a week before Christmas that she did not want a bike, which was in the storage room waiting to be put together. Needless to say, she will be getting a bike for her birthday. Caleb's favorites were a basketball hoop/backboard, a Diego power wheel bike, and a remote control car. My favorite gift was a double jogging stroller.

My new favorite Christmas song:

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells

Jingle all the way

No one's fault, no one's fault

And broken on the sleigh

Jada sings it this way and taught it to Caleb, and it's seriously adorable.

We also had an unexpected holiday season with the passing away of my cousin Cameron. It was sudden and very sad. However, nothing bonds a family like the death of a loved one and we were able to have lots of family down and share some good memories of Cam. My sister Melissa and her new baby were able to come for the funeral and stay for a week and we've loved being able to see them. My kids love baby Paige and swarm around her all day. I think they would love to have a new baby around. They'll have to convince their mom first.

Today is the 6th day of my never-ending illness. This has been the yuckiest week ever. I've gone through three boxes of Kleenex, a bottle of Robitussin, and lots and lots of cough drops. Luckily, and quite weirdly, my kids have remained healthy throughout the whole thing. Personally I think once you become a mother you should be exempt from any sickness for the rest of forever. Anyway, today is just some stuffiness and coughing so I think I'm finally getting over it.

Last week the kids got to be on a float in the Annual Light Parade and had so much fun. Plus, they got to meet Santa and tell him what they want for Christmas. Jada: a baby that pees. Caleb: a puppy.

Fun Day

So I started out my day by going on an 8 mile run. Wait, you ask, how does this qualify with the header "Fun Day"? That's a good question. Well, the fun part is that it's over:) It actually wasn't really that bad. Since my running partner has all but bailed on me, I got my mom to bike the 8 miles with me. It was a perfect running day, and I actually was surprised when I finished 4 1/2 minutes under my estimated finish time. My legs are seriously cramping, which I figure will be healed in time for my 9 mile next week:) Anyway, on to the fun. Jada went with her cousin Maya and Maya's way cool Aunt Lezlee to the Pizza Factory and to see Madagascar 2. She has so much fun when she gets to do things like this, especially when she goes without her mom. She thinks she's pretty grown up. Actually, this was our fix for her quiet time problem today, so yay! So after Caleb's nap, he and I headed down to pick up our family pictures and do a little shopping, then finished off by hitting up In-N-Out. Yum. Then we came home and watched pop-up HSM2 on TV, you know, the one where they give all the fun facts about the movie (I know, I'm a loser). All in all, a pretty good day:)

Advise Please?

Jada is driving me crazy. I love the girl, but her "quiet time" is seriously frustrating me. I stick her in bed with plenty of books and this is how it usually goes:
Jada reads for about five minutes before she thinks she's good. Then she gets out of bed, takes her clothes off, puts a dress-up-dress on, stands on her bed and puts on a performance (varying daily), gets out of bed, puts on a different outfit for a different performance, plays with her window and blinds, and on and on and on. How do I get her to settle down and have some freakin quiet time? She does have a TV/VCR in her room, but I'm really trying to stay away from that. Any suggestions?????

Family Pictures

We had family pictures taken on Tuesday and I am so happy with how they turned out! The weather was perfect and, surprisingly, so were the kids. We bribed them with chocolate donuts, and apparently that's all it takes to get them to behave. Our friend Amber Sheffield took the pictures and did such a great job. (I had to adjust the sizes, so they look just a little distorted.)

Daily Journal

Today I:

-spent close to two hours cleaning and vacuuming out my very immobile and dead-batteried car

-cleaned up fingernail polish off clothes and carpet

-sang and danced to HSM3 soundtrack with my kids (very impressed that my 2 year old knows a lot of the words and my 3 year old knows ALL of the words)

-made dinner out of a box and cookies out of a container

-clipped my son's toenails while doing my thing on the toilet

-laughed ridiculously hard at a not-very-funny commercial

-told my husband I felt like I had air inside my head

-realized at the end of the day I had a hole on the crotch of my (pajama) pants

-didn't get around to taking a shower


I bet YOUR day wasn't this productive!

It's Official . . .

The dreaded day has come. My daughter has outgrown her naps. This is something I was praying would never happen and I even imagined her taking naps till she was at least ten. What do we now do to break up the day? If I can't count down the hours/minutes till one o'clock what can I look forward to (besides 8:00 p.m.)? I do make her have "quiet time" on her bed with some books, but that has turned into singing/jumping/monologues which rudely interupts my quiet time. This is what she did during quiet time yesterday:

Red lipstick all over her face, in her hair, on her clothes. Doesn't she just look full of remorse?

My camera has been fixed and returned! Which is why this Halloween picture is three weeks late, I just had to show my little cowboy and ballerina!

Girls' Day Out

Today Jada and I had a day out together and it was actually . . . . fun! I was pleasantly surprised. Usually when I have things planned for just the two of us she ends up being a little stinker and ruins the fun of the day. We started off the morning at Jena's salon for hair makeovers. Jada really wanted to color her hair dark, and as tempted as I was to see how cute she looked with a cute little dark pixie cut, I resisted. My hair was colored and styled, I haven't had a style for so long! Thanks, Jena, for a much needed hair revival!

Next we met up with my friend Amberly at Cafe Rio, long overdue, since we've both been craving it so bad. The food was delish, as always, and we had such a great time eating and chatting.

From there Jada and I decided to hit up a few stores and see what we could find. She helped me pick out a necklace and some new make-up and didn't seem to mind that we never ended up getting something for her:)

P.S. FYI, no pictures for a while, my camera broke the day before Halloween and they haven't sent it back yet. I hate not having a camera!

My First 5K

This morning I woke up at 6:30, drove over to Snow Canyon, and ran my first ever 5K (my first anything, actually)! I know it's only three miles, but what a great sense of acomplishment! I was pretty happy with my time considering a) the course was on a trail of rolling hills, and b) I had to make a stop to help a little old lady who fell off the trail and tumbled down the slope. She was so cute and insisted it was just a cramp, then got up and kept on going. What a trooper. The weather was perfect and it was a great morning! Next time I need a partner (any volunteers?).

Best Surgery Ever

Jada had her fifth surgery today.

Her surgeon in Houston told us her last X-Ray looked great and we could get the pin taken out of her arm. I thought this meant an office visit to the doctor where he made a little incision and slid the pin out, but apparently this is an actual surgical procedure with anesthesia and all. On the one hand she had to have another surgery, on the other hand, it was the quickest, easiest, and cheapest surgery she's had yet! Plus it was done in St. George, instead of Texas, which was awesome.

This is after she had her Tylenol with Versed, so she was a little loopy. She's using her TV remote as her phone.

Pre-surgery, you can see the pin sticking out of her arm. I don't think it hurt her, but made her uncomfortable enough that she kept asking to take it out and was very excited that today finally came.

Jada holding the pin that came out of her arm. This is her first pink "cast" so she was excited about it.

Eating her crackers, cookies, juice, and water. She was starving when she woke up. When we were leaving the hospital she said, "This was a fun surgery!" I agree.

Jada: Mom, how long are Sydney and Reagan going to be in Japan?
Me: For three years.
Jada: Then they will come back here and join us again?
Me: Yep.

So my sister and her husband and two girls (plus one on the way) have moved to Japan. That's right, Japan. Who packs up and moves to Japan for three years? Well, military folk, and since Matt's in the Air Force I guess that includes him. Still, it sucks! Anyway, bye Sydney and Reagan, see you in three years!

P.S. I wanna give a shout out to my sister Melissa who lives in Texas. She just gave birth to a 9 pound baby.....naturally! Way to go! (and are you crazy???)

P.P.S. Has anyone not seen High School Musical 3 yet? I HIGHLY recommend it! Loved it!


That's all!

Cowboy Caleb

Caleb was sporting this "cowboy hat" around Grandma's house all day today. He thought he was pretty cool. We all agreed.

Lots of Pictures

We had family down over the weekend and had so much fun hanging out with everyone. Here are some pictures of our good times.

Caleb loved this game and was so good at it!

Girls' lunch at Olive Garden.

Reagan and Jada on the swings.

Caleb, Reagan, Jada, Jersie, Maya, Sydney, Kessley, Conner


Random pictures of our past two weeks:

Caleb and his daddy are best buds. I'm not even a close second.

But he does like me sometimes.

Jada's fancy dress up clothes.

My sweet girl. I love, love her smile!

He paints his toenails like a pro (and his daddy is proud).

A Moment of Insanity

Last year when my sister was visiting from Texas she was training for a half-marathon and for the duration of her visit I was her partner. I ran with her on the short days (2-3 miles) but on the long days (7-8 miles) I would ride alongside her on my bike and offer my moral support while backpedaling and enjoying the nice ride. So many times I would think, "I'm so glad that's not me", especially when the rain was pelting my face and the wind was blowing so hard we could hardly keep upright (oh fond memories, right Melis and Nat?). This year my cousin Heidi is training for the half-marathon in St. George in January so I've been thinking about it a lot . Today I was online and did something totally spontaneous and that I will surely regret. I registered for it! And I enlisted my husband to do it with me:)

Reasons for running the half:
-Runners are my heroes. Outwardly I claim that they're crazy, but deep down I really do admire them.
-I want to do something for myself that doesn't involve my kids.
-I want to accomplish something I can be proud of.
-I want to have runner's legs:)

I'm really really scared, but also really super excited. So if anyone has tips or advise, please send it my way!

What's Wrong With This Picture?

It's October people! What's up with this weather? My kids should not be running through the sprinklers and eating ice cream in October, right? I, for one, feel like we've paid our dues with the hot summer heat and I'm ready for some cold weather. Come on!

Cousins Visit

Jada and Caleb have been having so much fun with Sydney and Reagan in town. Caleb and Reagan together equals craziness.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Update

Baby Shadow is still alive. We have noticed a slight limp and she drags one of her back legs, but she can still get around, so no serious harm done. The other day Caleb started piling pillows on the floor, then laid on top of them for a few minutes. I wasn't paying much attention to this, since it didn't seem like anything I needed to pay attention to. I did, however, notice when he unstacked the pillows, kicked this little kitty across the floor like a ball, and started laughing hysterically. Who's kid is this? I did put him in trouble for that one, and he seems to think he and the kitty are best friends now, so maybe he's changed?. . .

My Evil Child

My parents' cat, Shadow, had a baby a few months ago, "Baby Shadow". My kids love this kitty so much. Jada takes care of it all day, and Caleb, well, Caleb LOVES to torment this poor cat. He takes it all the way across the lawn where I can't get to him. Then he lifts the thing up by the tail and looks over at me and smiles. So I say, "Caleb, be nice to the kitty!" So he puts it against his chest and pets it. Two seconds later, he picks it up by it's leg and, again, looks at me with a big smile. This kid is awful! The thing is, I'm not really a pet lover, so I don't really care, plus it's really funny! Jada, the kitty's second mommy, doesn't appreciate the meanness so much.

So innocent.

Showing his true colors. He's forcing the kitty to turn his head and say cheese. Look at that evil smile!

Living with the In-Laws

PROS
- Grandma and Grandpa get the kids cereal and toast while I sit at the table and read the paper.
- We have the whole upstairs to ourselves, which is actually bigger than our old house.
- No rent!!!

CONS
- It's not my house, so I can't fix/clean/organize what I want.
- Grandma and Grandpa like to give the kids candy. Lots of candy.
- Feeling like we're guests and not in a place of our own.

So far things are going good. No major complaints. We're mostly out of our other house, we just need to tackle the cleaning then we're good. A huge thanks to my mom and family and Erin for helping me with the kids for the past week. We couldn't have done it without you!

Another MRI

I just want to say how extremely proud I am of my daughter, who had another MRI yesterday. She's had countless x-rays, MRIs, Cat Scans, (not to mention surgeries) and she's always such a trooper. Since I couldn't stay in there with her yesterday, I told her if she held really still she could pick out the FHE treat and she was awesome. So shout out to my amazing Jada who makes it sooo much easier for us to deal with this trial because she's so great!

Caleb's Favorite Sleeping Position

Some News

Okay, no, I'm not pregnant. But we do have some exciting news. We're moving! I am so excited to get out of our house. We outgrew it a long time ago, plus our kids need a yard. Our new house was scheduled to be done by the first of October, but since it's not, and we have a renter moving in, Casey's parents have been nice enough to let us move in till it's done. So yay for us! (Boo for packing and moving.)