Happy Hearts

The other day we took the kids to the store to buy some presents for kids who don't get much. They picked a name from the "Angel Tree" and off they went to pick out a gift. We talked to them about the true meaning of Christmas and how it's better to give than receive. We then asked them how they felt, if they had fun, etc. This was Cade's response, "My heart felt happy and...it beeped."

The verdict is in....

For those of you who may not know, I am 18 weeks pregnant. I had a regular appointment today and was surprised when they said I could have my ultrasound right then. And......we're having another GIRL! I'll be honest, Heath and I were hoping it'd be a boy, but of course we're excited. Brooklyn and Cade on the other hand....not so excited. When I told Cade that he was going to have another little sister, he furrowed his eyebrows and grumpily said, "I didn't want a sister!" A few minutes later he followed up by saying, "Mom, I already have a sister!" I told him that now he will get to have his very own room. He got all sad and said, "But, I wanted to share with a boy!" Poor kid. I think he'll get over it though. Brooklyn isn't so upset now that she realizes that the boys are completely out numbered, which to her means-girls rule. Brynlie of course is clueless. We'll have plenty to deal with once she does clue in.

A Bunch of Randomness

Just a cute shot of the kids before heading off to church.

I'm sure it's pretty obvious but Cade is pretending to be Luke Skywalker. And yes, we do go out in public like this and he typically doesn't match this well. Fun times.

As I was heading out the door for church Cade showed me what he was wearing under his suit. His football uniform! I was laughing so hard. He didn't show Heath until we were at church. You've gotta love the kid. Last week he wore his red soccer socks with those sweet boots. Church shoes are definitely on Santa's list.

It may be hard to tell but I couldn't resist taking a picture, Heath put Brynlie's shoes on the wrong feet and had no clue. I think Brynlie even knew something was weird.

We always make a pit stop at Jacob Lake on our way to Utah. The kids love playing on the rocks there.

The kids loved climbing Grandpa Bob's tree and swinging from it.

Grandpa Bob is the best with kids. By the end of our visit he was best buds with Brynlie. Grandpa's face lights up when he sees them at his door.

Brooklyn had fun carving her pumpkin.

This girl has some serious hair! You never know what it's going to look like in the morning.

The kids had so much fun at Halloween. Brynlie LOVED getting her face painted, Cade thought his "chest hair" was so cool he wanted to paint more on for church. And of course Brooklyn loved getting to wear makeup.

This is how Cade came downstairs ready to go to the store. The boy had THREE pairs of underwear on top of those shorts! I told him to take them off and he looked at me like, "What's the big deal mom? Everybody wears underwear."

Last Wednesday Heath and I went on a real date! Our typical date consists of a redbox movie every now and then. But this time Heath set it all up....even the babysitter! We got to go see The Phantom of the Opera. It was awesome. The Phantom had the most incredible voice. We had a great time. Thanks for the wonderful date Heath!

Soccer

Now that the soccer season is almost over, I am finally getting some pictures up. Cade was so excited to play this year. He got to pick out a ball and some cleats with Heath and he was ready.

He is number #9 and the day he got his uniform was like Christmas. He wore that thing with pride.

He's even scored a couple of goals which he was so excited about.

At the beginning of the season, he really got into it and was stealing the ball, etc. Now he kind of just runs on the outside. It's still fun to watch.

Every time he gets excited about something he's done he will look at us on the sidelines and give us his thumbs up.

Hopefully he will always enjoy soccer, but I think he'll play a lot more sports before he decides on his favorite.

Dad's Gone Again

He's only a phone call away but she still misses her dad. She won't say "dad" yet but she was looking for him this morning and was even signing dad.

So to pass the time the kids watch a little Signing Time. Brynlie is OBSESSED! If she wants to watch it she will turn the TV on, sign "play", yell "MA!", and then start dancing. It's pretty hard to resist. It's fun to see her sign some things since she isn't talking a whole lot.

Apparently I shouldn't have interrupted her while she was eating.

Cade and Brooklyn were both complaining that their eyes were "wet" yesterday because they missed dad. He'll be home soon enough.

Night in with the kids

Chelsea got to go out this evening with lots of the girls from the ward so that meant that I got to stay home with the kids. On my way home from work Chelsea called and told me to pick up this grand movie because Brooklyn really wanted to watch it.

So I thought to myself, "Self, since you can't have a date night with your wife, why don't you have a date night with your kids." So I picked up the movie from the Redbox at WalMart, and picked up a couple extra goodies as well to enjoy with the movie.
When I got home and showed the kids what I got for us to do tonight Brooklyn was so excited for the movie, while Caden's response was, "I don't want to watch Hannah Montanna; it's a girl movie!" I love that boy!! Then I had to explain to him that sometimes the best thing to do as boys is to make the girls in our life happy by doing things that they think is cool. Not sure that he quite understood that, but when I showed him that we got to eat popcorn and root beer floats while we watched the movie he was okay with it.

Anyway, we had a fun time eating our munchies and being curled up together on the couch watching Hannah Montanna. I can't wait for football season to start :)

Surprise, Surprise it's a Post!

This is a typical face for Cade. He loves to you give you a thumbs up.

We started the summer off by driving to Utah. It was my dad's 60th Birthday! We had a great time with all of the grandkids running around. Oh yeah, there were lots of hot dogs too. You can't have a party with dad and not have hot dogs and pop. It was pretty good.

Brooklyn and Cade had fun exercising to a Jillian Michael's DVD. Brooklyn did the entire thing. I was impressed. Cade on the other hand, kept getting tired. Maybe it was the cowboy boots?

Brynlie is probably going to be our bag lady. She loves to put shoes on and carry anything that might resemble a purse.

Brooklyn turned the big 6! She had a Hannah Montana party with her friends and cousins. It was her first party with friends so she had a great time.

First day of school already! She was so excited and is still loving it. Party because she says she gets 3 recesses. For that reason alone she wants to stay in first grade forever!

Cade couldn't leave without giving her a hug. As we were walking away he told me how much he was going to miss her. Then when we went to pick her up he said, "Mom, I might cry when I see Brooklyn because I missed her."

Brynlie is now 18 months. Wow. That went by fast. She is coming into her own these days. She's not afraid to let you know what she thinks. She is also quick to give hugs. She always walks up to the kids when they are in time out and hugs them or pats them on the back.

We were afraid we wouldn't get any smiles but she was all over the camera idea. Every time she would say "cheese" she would start laughing.

They are all growing up so fast!

Worth Quoting

Brooklyn has been wanting to make bracelets for awhile, so the other day I told her that I bought her some really cute beads for her bracelets. In a completely somber and serious voice Brooklyn responded, "Mom, can you please stop shopping so that we can go to Disneyland?"

The kids are still addicted to Star Wars. That was their movie pick today and Cade enlisted me to have a light saber fight with him. We were battling it out when I heard Brooklyn yell to him, "Cade! Use the forest! Use the forest Cade!" Cade immediately put his hand out. "Mom, I'm using the forest on you!" OH! I get it. The forest=the force! May the forest be with you!

Home from the Hospital!!

Thank you so much to everyone who has been so kind and done so much for us during the past couple of weeks. We have appreciated everything from the baby sitting, to the meals, to the thoughts and prayers. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Cade was finally released from the hospital on Tuesday afternoon. He is home now and still has a PICC line in that allows us to give him his IV antibiotics for another week here at home. He was a trooper during the entire process and had such good care from the physicians and nurses at Banner Desert. We particularly liked the nurses in the PICU, Bob and Janna. I have put some pictures up of our little guy through this whole process.

In the wagon outside the hospital

Chelsea reading a story right before surgery

In the PICU right after surgery

His daytime nurse, Bob

His night time nurse, Janna (on the left) and Respiratory Therapist, Frankie

Recovering after he was extubated. The yellow tube in his nose is what they used to feed him for a little while.

At home with Dad, feeling better

Update on Caden

Well, as I said, Cade went back to the doctor yesterday. (Note: Do not take other kids with you to the doctor when you have a sick kid that wants to be carried, and you have a baby who can't walk yet.) He got sent for another chest xray. One of the nice ladies that worked there watched the girls for me because Cade was too scared to go into the room alone. Anywho, they admitted Cade to the hospital again and tomorrow he is having surgery. They are going to basically clean out all of the fluid and puss that has built up in his right lung and then put a chest tube in. Sounds fun huh? Poor kid. He really is being a good sport. We will update when he's doing better.

Brynlie's new toy

I have found the perfect thing to keep a 14 month old busy while I make some phone calls. The only problem is I just have two left!

Pnemonia + Birthday = NO FUN!

I'll try to give a quick run down of the past week. Last Monday Cade woke up with a fever of 104.5. It didn't get much better and by Tuesday afternoon he was screaming from stomach pain. In talking to the pediatrician they thought the pain might be from his appendix. So we went to the ER and and after a couple of hours we found out he has pnemonia. Apparently with pnemonia there is a lot of inflammation which can cause stomach pain, nausea, etc. The doctor showed me his chest xray and his right lung had a huge white area where the pnemonia was/is.I have to say, this kid is pretty tough though. He didn't even flinch when they started the IV in or the two separate times they drew blood. He was in the hospital for 2 days and had some great people take care of him. We also had some great people from the ward and Heath's work and family and friends take care of us. Thank you all SO much!

Unfortunately, Cade wasn't feeling all too great on his birthday, which was Saturday. He asked Brooklyn to open his presents for him while he watched with no excitement at all. Maybe we'll have to rewrap them when he is feeling better. He is going back to the doctor today because he still has a temp. of 103 that won't seem to go away. I guess it will just take some time!

Look Who Turned One!

We celebrated Brynlie's 1st birthday on Valentine's. This last year has gone by so fast. She loved her cake. She was even licking the pan. It was a pretty low key day but we had fun.Last month my friend Andrea and I braved a drive to Utah with 6 kids! I'll admit that I was a little anxious about the whole drive but the kids did incredible! They kept each other entertained and laughed and sang and seemed to have a great time. Thanks for coming with me Andrea!

Brynlie and Cade loved to play with the marbles. Brynlie soon got banned from the game because the marbles kept appearing in her mouth.

Who doesn't love ear muffs?

And yes, Brynlie has found her nose. Every time she rediscovers that hole she thinks it's hilarious. Cade and Brooklyn get a kick out of it as well.

Brooklyn is now in the hair business. Poor Cade enjoyed it too much.

So apparently my kids think they have incredible style and everything always looks good.

I may not be up on my fashion but cowboy boots with suit pants...tucked in? He honestly thought it looked "cool". The kid wears those boots with everything! Imagine a red tshirt, shorts, teal soccer socks pulled up under his shorts with boots to top it off. And this was in public...I chose not to pick that battle that day.

Brynlie loved Grandpa Bob but then again what kids doesn't? Grandpa is turning 90 this month! We love you grandpa and grandma!

We had a fun trip in Utah and are excited to go back in June for my dad's 60th Birthday!