Changes

We have had a few changes lately that are making me feel old as I realize how much my kids are growing up. Kylie got contacts about a month ago and I think I am finally getting used to seeing her without glasses on her face! She is doing great with them and feels like she can see so much better. I am the same way- I can't stand wearing glasses anymore.
Tanner finished up with his braces and he's got some nice straight teeth now. They look so good! He's glad to be back eating whatever he wants now without worrying about food in the braces!

Sick of being sick!

We have had a real run of sickness in our house this winter. Usually we are all really healthy so this has been a different couple of months! I keep hoping we have had our share and are done with all this and then something else pops up. Just this morning I was up at 3 am with Kenzie throwing up (we haven't had that yet) and then Tanner just came home from church all white and clammy. What is up with that?
Kenzie has had the worst of it. I think she has pretty much had it all in the last couple of months. She had strep twice in a row and then followed it with a cough/cold/ear infection, and now stomach flu. The pediatrician sent her to an ear, nose, throat doc and now she is scheduled to have her tonsils out at the end of the month. I am both dreading it and glad about it because I know it will be bad for a little while but better in the long run. She has some huge tonsils and she snores when she sleeps so it will help that too. My baby having surgery!
I think I'll go disinfect my house now!

A day in the life

I thought for the sake of all those who think that the life of a SAHM (stay at home mom) is all free time and play dates, I would post a break down of an actual day in my life. The following is a true unembellished account:

3:30 am- awoken by cat who needs to go outside. (I could set a clock based on Simba's bladder)
5 am- wake up way too early so I can get my workout in.
6- 7 am- spend quality sweaty time with 30+ strangers in a dark room full of spin bikes
7:10- read scriptures and have family prayers
7:20- send Tanner off to school
7:45- send Kylie and Maddie off to school
8- 9:20- clean up breakfast, dress and do hair of Kenzie, take a shower, get dressed, sweep floor, find Kenzie's books and rush out the door
9:30 am- drop off Kenzie at preschool
9:45 am- answer emails and make some phone calls about Relief Society activity the next day
10:15- 11:20- work on the computer on my job (yes, I actually do bookkeeping work for Paul's office)
11:25- Mel comes over to plan PTA lunches for teacher conferences next week- Yes, that is done!
11:50- Pick up Kenzie from preschool (wow that is short!)
12- feed Kenzie and her little buddy Chloe lunch and throw myself a few bites while I'm at it. (of course this lunch is completely organic, healthy, and sugar free- Ok maybe not)
1:15- Pick up Kylie early from school to take her to the eye doctor
2 pm- Kylie has her eye appointment and gets some contacts. I try to entertain little girls with candy and coloring books- so much for the sugar free thing
3 pm- Run over to get Tanner's final eagle project signature for his project- Yes, that is done!
3:45- get home pick up Maddie and take her and Kylie to piano lesson
4:30-6- Crazy time- homework, dinner making and general chaos
6- eat dinner fast and change clothes
6:30- leave later than we should to get to the temple for ward temple night at 7
7:05- miss the 7:00 session, but hey we still got to the temple
9:30- home to kiss sleeping girls and wait for Tanner to get home from his basketball game that started @ 9pm!
10:30- pretty much collapse in bed after hearing tales of crazy late game.
So that's how life is here at our house. Unfortunately this is not an unusal day as far as busyness is concerned. It's all good though!! Some day I will be wondering what to do with myself and it will probably be sad!

Where did January go?

So here it is February and I missed all of January with not a single post to the blog. Good thing I didn't make any resolutions or they would have already been broken!
Well, to catch up... Christmas break was great and very relaxing. We stayed around here and just spent time together as a family. We had the traditional Christmas Eve program at Blaine and Jen's house and Christmas morning here and then dinner at Paul's mom & dad's house. The kids got the Wii Fit and Mario Kart so they had a lot of fun with those. They did get to play more video games than usual and probably watch more movies too. But it was cold outside!
We did all go skiing one day. Even Kenzie took her first lesson and did great. Kylie took her first snowboard lesson. She did good but is still undecided about the skiing vs. boarding debate. Tanner has landed firmly on the side of boarding. He got a pass at Sundance for Christmas and has been going quite a bit. I managed to take virtually no pictures- I seemed to have forgot my camera at most events.

Holiday Happenings

First off, we got some snow and everyone is happy, except maybe me who has to drive in it. But it is pretty and makes things feel more Christmas-y!

Now on to lots of performances... Maddie's Ballet,

Kenzie's preschool (so cute, and short which was nice on a most crazy night),

and Kylie's orchestra. She just started playing the violin this fall and has enjoyed it.

I think this was our best effort yet on the decorating of the gingerbread house.

The lights on Temple Square with cousins Dustin and Abby. This was the warmest night ever for looking at the lights. Notice Tanner only has a sweatshirt on.

The Festival of Trees. This is taken at their gingerbread area. Behind them is the biggest gingerbread castle I have ever seen. The lady said it was all made entirely of gingerbread with no other internal supports. It was amazing! All the beautiful decorated trees, gingerbread houses, crafts and wreaths are donated and then auctioned off for Primary Children's hospital. It is a great event that we try to get to every year.

Finally the tooth fairy can come!

Maddie has been feeling a little left out that she had not lost any teeth yet, and she is a little old at 7+. But last month she finally had not one but two teeth pop out one right after the other. Yeah- the tooth fairy!!

Turkeys beware

Thanksgiving was the usual gorging and relaxing! We had a nice break from school and work. We had the turkey at our house with Paul's parents and my mom- small group this year. Dinner was yummy and we enjoyed the leftovers almost as much. Except I don't think we could ever get Kenzie to try the turkey. She is still mostly vegetarian- she has never liked much meat. The other kids don't know where that came from! The best part was that we got all our Christmas decorations up, inside and out. It's nice to have kids old enough to help with that now. On to Christmas...

Don't drop that bottle!

Kylie was in a dance festival for the Spanish Immersion program at school and her class got to test their balance with their dance. Usually the 6th grade gets to do something a little different and special since it is their last year. So they had to balance plastic bottles (with a small weight in them) on their heads for the entire dance. They also had a handkerchief that they dropped and picked up with their mouth- all with a bottle on their head. It was really something! They did so well. For months they had been walking around the school with these bottles on their heads as they worked. Kylie didn't drop hers at all and now has the posture of a beauty queen! I'm not sure what country that dance comes from, but it was a great cultural night.

The lean, mean, running machine

I'm catching up on some things I wanted to post, so this is old news. The first weekend in Oct was the St. George Marathon and Paul finished it for the third time! We were all there to cheer him on even though it was the worst weather they had had for the race in many years. It rained the whole time. Paul was a trooper and did great. His time was 3:17 and he was 6th in his age division. He's pretty speedy. He also raced in two triathlons this summer. One was in Idaho and we didn't go with him to that one. A man actually drowned in the heat before his so he didn't get to swim. It was tragic. The other tri was at the Jordanelle and he raced it with this brother so they suffered together. When asked if his marathon running days were about over, he said probably not so I guess we will be ready to cheer again.

Pumpkins we won't be carving

I wanted to show these fun pumpkins we we did for a craft activity. My friend Merilee found a picture of them on the internet and we went and got some good textured fabric and real pumpkin stems. They were super easy and I thought they turned out so cute for a fall centerpiece. Every once in awhile the crafter in me comes out!