Pre-Holiday Fun

We have had more busy days lately. Saturday I went to super Saturday and made this clock.
I am pretty proud of it. I think it turned out very well considering I am not a crafty person. When I got home we got all of our wood cut, stacked, and covered. Everything except the pile that needs to be split, which is about as big as our stacked pile now...ugh. I am very sick of wood. And we figure that we have already burned about 2 cord already.
Sunday we got out of church to see snow. It snowed all day and hampered our plans with Chris and Chantelle. Although, we did end up grilling in the snow!
What a man!! We used Jon's marinade recipe and had the best steaks ever!! They were so good, better than anything you could ever get in a restaurant or anywhere else.
Yesterday against my better judgment this happened!




I got persuaded- cohersed into letting Ash cut her hair SHORT! Ash has always had this beautiful long blond hair. It is the hair that every girl envies. Her hair would curl just right and look gorgeous! But she has been wanting to cut it "to her ears" for a long time. I have said yes to shoulder length until now. I blame Kyle. He talked me into it with Erin's help (who we love and does an awesome job). Kyle said "it is her hair let her do what she wants with it". It does look very cute but I miss those gorgeous locks! She was so tired and crabby for this picture. Now I have the longest hair in the family, how sad.
Kaitlyn's hair turned out so cute. We left the length up front but did an A-line and stacked it in the back. This cut fits her so well, she looks darling!
This morning we had open gym for Kaitlyn. This is the first time I have drove on the ice in my Tahoe. I was pleased, it handles very well on icy roads and doesn't roam around like my Camry did. Kyle says the weight makes a huge difference. I can't even tell you how much I love the auto 4WD button. The 4WD will kick in when needed, it is awesome. We had a nice little trip to town and even stopped by a few stores. I can't believe how much stuff is stocked up for Friday- crazy! Tomorrow we are making pies and getting ready for the feast. We then have plans every day through next wed. followed by Kaitlyn's cake and party. I have been throwing Christmas shopping in when I can and am proud to say I am almost done!
Happy Holidays Everyone!

KP Update

Kami's KP is back just as the doc predicted. This time I have been trying a few home remedies. We scrub her face in the tub with one of those baby brushes, this seems to be helping. We have also been lubricating her skin like crazy, my faves are Aveeno oatmeal lotion (smells lovely) and good old vaseline. James' girlfriend puts vaseline on her face every night and that girl has perfect skin, who would have thought. But lately Kami's skin has gotten worse, so I broke down and filled the last prescription the doc gave us. This is cream number 4, I think. Anyway, it is another steroid which has all sorts of crappy side effects so we try to use it sparingly, but it does seem to help some. The last few days have been really bad though. We have also been combining this with some sort of stomach flu that has been off and on for almost a week now. Kami got sick again last night at 3 am. This cleanup was especially fun since the mattress protector is still in the dryer from the previous nights cleanup. So, now I am left wondering if it is a stomach flu or something else. Her face is worse and then we have other symptoms. I am starting to wonder if maybe she was misdiagnosed, everything we try for her KP works temporarily. I should clarify that her skin never gets clear, just better. I am left wondering if she will have scaring from this, I have been told no but still. I have been going through her diet and can't help but wonder if there is something else she is allergic to. I keep coming back to bananas. I think we will try a trial run with banans and see, but even if that is it she doesn't have them all the time. This is so frustrating. Kaitlyn had a similar skin condition and as soon as we got her off milk it went away, even now if she has too much milk she will pink up. Kyle mentioned that maybe we should take her down to Utah and see if they can help. I am thinking of getting a second opinion at the very least. I have also wondered if this could have anything to do with teething. Kami is popping in her second set of molars which might explain the drooling and lack of appetite. I can't wait until she can really comunicate and tell me when something is bothering her, until then I am left puzzled about all this.
On a side note I recently found out that there is soy cheese out there. I am going to try and round some up, this might make her pizza more appealing! Also, Ky managed to see the meteor the other night, I was asleep. I thought he was crazy though until I saw it on the news!

Green Eggs And Ham

I think Green Eggs and Ham is our reading book. I have been doing a letter a day with Kaitlyn for the past couple of weeks. Today I thought we would just give reading a little taste. She did awesome. I was hoping to get a few words down, but after about ten minutes she was reading the pages. I was so impressed. She has had such a hard time with the left-handedness. We have worked really hard to get her to start on the left side of the page and move right. When she writes she likes to start on the right and move left, this leaves everything mirror flipped. When she starts on the left her words are perfect. So today I was surprised at how quickly she picked it up. We started Ash on Green Eggs and Ham for her first reading book. I think it works well because there are good words to sound out and the repetition helps a ton. Way to go Kaitlyn, we are so proud!

Happy Birthday George!

Happy Birthday George! George turned 21 yesterday. He came home from Utah State to celebrate. We spent the weekend at the barn having fun. Of course, I didn't get a pic of him though. Marianne thought it would be fun to teach the girls some cheers. This is a pic of one of the cute ones she was teaching Ash.

I still can't believe my baby bro is 21. How crazy is that? I feel so old!

MOMMEEEEEE

I love being a mother and I love hearing them call for me. I have that gift, the gift of knowing what that call means. I can tell if they are hurt, need something, or tattling. Lately, Kami has developed a distinct way of calling me. When she says "MOMMEEE" a certain way I know it means something and that something is STINK! At that moment I wonder why I was so insistent that they say "mommy" first, why was I so eager to hear that word, and what happened to DADDEEE at that point?! So, when she says my name a certain way and comes running I just try to hug her and hold my nose! I should mention that the soy makes diapers so much worse. I just love being a mom!

Elephant in the room with a Milestone

Every time I walk in our room I try not to look at Ky's side for numerous reasons! The biggest being our elephant. While working at the hospital one of our new nurses from Alaska said she had a treadmill she was giving away, apparently it is warmer here so she can run outside all the time -crazy! So, I took the treadmill. I figured this was a great way to boost my lungs for the cold weather that hits every year, Ky protested over lack of space. So, the treadmill went in the garage where, if it wasn't too cold I would run. I hated it. I discovered that I don't like to run, it isn't fun and it hurts my knee. When we moved the darn thing came with, much to Ky's distaste. It has harbored in a few different places over the years and came to rest in our room. Ky likes to use it as a place to put old laundry. Lately the elephant has seem to have grown. I have been doing my usual exercise routine and with frustrating results, not to mention the 22 pound bug that needs that exact moment to crawl all over me! So, I have been trying to ignore the elephant, but I keep coming back to it. I know running works, sigh... I hate it. Well yesterday I tried with a different attitude, goals, and an awesome knee brace. I was pleased to hit my goal so easily yesterday. Today I shaved 2 minutes off my time and ran my first mile. There were times that my lungs pleeded with me to stop, but I made it through. I actually felt invigorated. Tonight I am sore. I think the elephant is shrinking, until I get my elliptical then it will be back.

Halloween

Friday Night before the carnival.

Halloween is over, and we survived! Friday night we started with the school carnival. We had fun and the girls enjoyed all the games. I helped in Ash's room for the second half, and I still can't believe how many people there were! When we got home the girls were so wound up. Thankfully, they slept in the next morning.

Katie picked her own costume this year and much to my surprise wanted to be "the prettiest pink fairy princess ever". I think she succeeded.Saturday we got up and had orange pumpkin pancakes for breakfast, and then our day began...

We had a ton to do around here before we left and we started out realizing Ash had left her snow pants at school. I can't even begin to say what a catastrophe this was. At this point I was ready for Halloween to be over. Our day did pick up though. We put on costumes and headed for Chris and Chantelle's. We visited over there and Kami was scared to death of Chris' wig! She eventually said hi to him. We then headed to my fam's to go to the trunk-or-treat. I like having everything contained in the parking lot during the light, but I grew up going house to house. Still, they got tons of candy. I should mention this was Kami's first trunk-or-treat.
After awhile Kami figured out what was going on and just wanted to sit on the ground and go through her bucket. At one point she sucked the wrapper off a sucker and when I took her bucket away...the end of the world!

The end of the world!

She finally got some!

My sis did take them around the block to get the true experience. We had pizza and the girls loved answering the door. I think the night was a success. I am now ready for a break until next year! Funny enough, Halloween use to be one of my favorite holidays, and now with kids I am so glad it is over!