Mouse!!

Well Rob and I were watching a show and we heard what sounds like a mouse in our ceiling. AAAAHHH. I hate mice. We looked to see where it could have come in from and we think it was the garage. Rob sealed the hole and went to get traps. I hope that there is only one and that it doesnt come into the main part of the house. I would scream. I dont like them. Hopefully we can solve the problem quickly.

On a brighter note, today was Halloween. Ethan was an army guy, Kaylee was an angel, and Taylor was a turtle. They were so cute. Picture will follow if my computer will ever load them. (its taking forever) They went to the trunk-or-treat at the park and then Rob took them around the neighborhood to a few homes. They had lots of fun. Unfortunately they become way to wired when candy is inhaled.

Over the past few weeks things have been crazy. Rob went to Puerto Rico and I believe that he brought back the flu. He came home late friday night and by tuesday the rest of us were showing symptoms. Ethan had a fever for 2-3 days and a little bit of a cough and was extra sleepy for a few days. Other than that he was alright. Kaylee got hit hard. She not only had a fever but developed Croup and was so bad Wednesday the 21st that we decided to take her to the ER because she had a hard time breathing. This was our first trip to the ER as parents. I had Rob give her a blessing before they went. They gave her steroids which didn't help, then some inhaled medicine, which didn't do much, then a breathing treatment. Nothing did a whole lot of good so they (Rob and Kaylee) came home at about 5am. They also tested her for the flu. We got the results Thursday night and it was positive for the Flu and probable for Swine Flu. so it looks like we had swine flu go through the house. Kaylee sounded a lot better the next day but was still fevered and tired. She was sickfor about 10 days or so and had a lingering cough. We all had the chills too. I had a cough, achy joints and muscles, headache, sore throat, the works. It was not fun. Taylor seemed to be alright. She had a very small fever (not quite a degree over) and a tiny cough. she had a higher fever Thursday night and when we found out it was the flu I made sure to call the DR. in the morning. The dr. put her on Tamiflu. She didn't seem to get any worse. No more fever, and coughed a few times and was a little restless. But overall she stayed pretty healthy. For that I am very grateful. We are finally all better. Ethan was so grateful to get back outside and play with his friends. He begged for a week to play. Then it snowed (monday and tuesday this week) and he had to wait longer.

Taylor is basically sitting now on her own. She is a strong girl. She like to sit in the exersaucer and grab at anything she can. she likes "real" food and has now tried 4 different things...peaches, applesauce, greenbeans and rice cereal. She first tired "real food" on October 9. Rob got the honors of feeding her some rice cereal with applesauce. She loved it. She is a huge fan of food and does quite well.

Kaylee sounds more like Ethan every day. She has increased her usage of "ever again" to mean "not" as well. Like when she says "pants dirty ever gen" it means her pants arent dirty.

She also follows her brother in that she will tell me she cant do some thing. This usually occurs when she needs to go to the bathroom and "cant" pull down her pants, and also when she "cant" do what her mom asks. She also adopted the phrase "too much." Ethan tends to cry and complain when we ask him to pick up his toys and always says that there is "too much" or "too many." Kaylee now uses these phrases when she is asked to pick up something. We usually respond with "then i guess we need to throw some away because there is too many." this only sometimes helps. They certainly are funny kids. One thing that i really like is that they have said I love you more lately. This makes up for all the times i am told that i am so mean or that i am not liked. One day while in the car I was "so mean" (Ethan lost his chance for having gum because he hit his sister) and Ethan told me he didnt like me over and over. I told him if he said it again that he would go to a time out. He was about to say it again but caught himself before it came out all the way and changed it to "im never going to play with you ever again." I hate to hear things like this but i guess you cant really be a good mom with out hearing it.

We started a "service jar" where the kids get to put pennies in a jar for either good deeds or acts of service. It is cute to see the excitement on the kids face when they drop the pennies in the jar. I need to be more on the ball with it to encourage the acts of kindness and i know they like it. Right now i will sometimes suggest things for them to do to help them learn what good deeds and service are. But more often then not, they (especially) Ethan will do something on his own. This jar helps me to focus on the good things they do. I need to focus so much more on the good things they do. I think the jar will help me with that.

well i think this is all for now. Until next time....

renee

This week has been pretty good. I made a robe for Kaylee. It is not the greatest but it is a robe nonetheless. I have plans to make one for Ethan too. Hopefully it turns out a little better. Rob has been gone this week to Puerto Rico. I think this trip has affected Kaylee more than the others. She has not been sleeping as well and having more temper tantrums. She wants me to hold her more too. It is a little challenging. Taylor had her 4 month checkup this week. She is 26 in (95 %) weighed 13 # 5.5 oz (50%) and head 40.9 cm which is 50%. so she is long and lean. Not surprising really. She is doing well though. She will be sitting by herself in no time. She doesnt like to lay down she likes to be up like everyone else. We started her on solids. First applesauce with rice cereal and today she had peaches with rice cereal. She loved it. It is nice to be able to give her real food. well she is crying and i must cut this short for now. bye

This week has been so much better since tuesday. I have been calmer and the kids seem to have been better. Yesterday we invited some cousins over (my nieces and a nephew) and we painted some pumpkins with them. Our garden produced 5 rather large pumpkins so the kids went to town painting. It was fun. I will post pictures later. Then later we made cupcakes and cookies and then Kaylee helped me frost cupcakes. She tended to eat more frosting then she put on then cupcakes. It was fun though.

So Ethan has been sneaking things lately. He is to creative about it though. In the past he snuck some otterpops and hid in the pantry to eat them. Lately it has been starburst. They are in The top of the pantry. Thursday while i was feeding Taylor, he got the stool and got a hold of the starburst. I knew what he was doing because i could hear him move the stool and open the pantry. So when he filled his pocket he came down by our rooms and said that he was going to play "hide from monsters" aka hiding under a blanket to eat the loot. I called him to my room. here is our conversation:

"what?"

"come here."

"why?"

"Come here."

"why?"

"I want to talk to you."

"just a minute"

then he ran to the kitchen to return the loot and then came back. I talked to him about it, he denied it at first but finally admitted it. He has taken candy a few times without asking lately. I have tried to explain to him that he shouldnt lie and he should be honest but i dont know if it has gotten through to him. I have told him it is not ok to steal and lie. I think what got to him was when i said "if you steel anymore you wont go trick-or-treating" hopefully that is encouragement enough. Hopefully i can explain things enough that he will understand.

I just looked over at my daughter who is 2 and saw her "feeding" her doll like mommy feeds the baby. how funny.

Taylor started solid food last night. Rob fed her and she loved it. We gave her Rice cereal mixed with apple sauce. I know it is 2 foods to start with but she really loved it. I hope the amount she ate doesnt make her have any problems.

Yesterday Ethan came into my room with a hand towel and wanted it tied around his chin and mouth so it would look like a beard and mustache so he could be santa. Then he and Kaylee went to their rooms grabbed all their blankets and "wrapped gifts" for me. They were playing "santa." It was cute. I ended up with quite the bundle of presents. They are some very creative kids. It is awesome.

My kids are great. They always keep me on my toes. Hopefully next week goes well because Rob will be out of town. well take care for now. 'til next time.

renee

One of Those Days

Well today has been one of those days. I feel like i have failed as a mom today. I yelled to much, gave out too many spanks, was frustrated to much, annoyed too easily, not nice enough to my kids and the list goes on. I want to say that i am justified but when it comes down to it I am not. Ethan today just seemed to be stuck on scream mode for absolutely no reason. Not a crying scream but just making noise scream. He is always loud but today just seemed 10x more than normal. My reaction to say the least wasnt ideal. I could use an abundance of patience. He is only 4. We also fought over cleaning his room because he seems to think "there are too many toys." my answer to that was that "i guess we need to throw some away so you dont have too many to clean." Which added fuel to the fire and i received a scream and cry back of "no dont throw them away."

Kaylee seems to think that it is ok to get in the crib and jump even if the baby is in there. She was in trouble several times for that today, i cant seem to get her to stop no matter how many times i tell her. The counter seems to be the place of the greatest view today. Kaylee seemed to be up there all day. And of course my reactions were not ideal.

Taylor was restless today and demanded a lot of attention. She was having a hard time sleeping today and random screams didnt seem to help.

There was salt eaten and spilled all over the counter and floor while i was feeding Taylor, constant fighting between Ethan and Kaylee. Laundry needed to be done due to an "accident" last night, the kitchen was a mess, dinner needed to be prepared early, preschool needed to be done, applesuace spilled on the kitchen floor and somehow in my bedroom on the carpet, kids climbing on the food storage stuff after being told not to, and it seems like the list could go on.

Today was a day the Lord gave me to learn patience and i failed indeed. I need an attitude adjustment and my kids suffered the price for my shortcomings. My response should have been motherly and it was far from it. I sometimes wonder why i didnt keep the role of aunt only but became a mom. I love being a mom dont get me wrong, but it is sometimes so hard. When I start thinking like this i quickly remember the most wonderful joy that i feel because those same kids. those kids that can also cause the greatest frustration bring the greatest joy and accomplishment that can ever be felt. Life would be too easy with out them in some ways. It would be so lacking aswell. i would have nothing to do around the house. what would i be busy doing all day? I wouldnt laugh as much because something was done, or said that was just too cute or too funny or not said quite right which made it funny. Being a mom is to experience life. You get to experience the hardest of hard, and the most joyful of joy and everything in between.

At one of my weak points today Ethan was shouting and screaming by Taylor and I and of course i started snapping at him only to find Kaylee covering my mouth shortly after i started. Then Ethan said "good job Kaylee." This i am glad brought laughter into the room. How humbling it is to have my two year old do this. It made me realize that they knew and felt my emotions too and were frustrated with me and my reactions to them. It is a two way street. I am going to the temple tonight. My kids have helped put me in a better mood to feel the spirit of the Lord. It is quite humbling to know you failed and that you have to seek forgiveness from a 2 and 4 year old. I know that I am inadequate and have many faults. I ask the Lord to help my weakness' become strengths, and i ask my kids and husband to have patience with me. I love being a mom and i know i have improvements to make. I am grateful that they love me anyway.

We started a service jar in our home. Everyday we make an effort to serve someone else and at dinner time we report. When we did some sort of service we put a penny in the jar. At christmas time we will take the money out and buy a gift for some one who needs it, whether through sub for santa or another way. I hope this will put my heart in a mode of service especially toward my family so that i wont have more days like today. I hope that i will serve my family with love and more fully show that love to them. They are wonderful.

Well i have blabbed enough. i have things to go do now and hopefully i will have "sunshine in my soul"

by renee

We went paintballing at my brothers house in september. There was like 8-10 of us out there. We all dressed up in our camo gear and helmets and went out to the trees. Shortly before we called it quits i was one of the remaining "humans" and there were 3 "mutants" headed my way, Rob. Uncle Mike, and Steven. I knew they were coming and i tried to keep quiet and turn around so i could shoot Rob but he saw me and we both fired and he got me on my thigh. This "target" bruise was the result. i had the bruise for a long time. There are still remnants of the bruise and it has been at least 3 weeks. It is the worst paintball wound I have ever seen. We did have lots of fun but man this puppy was as big as my palm at least. It was a pretty impressive battle wound. Especially from my own husband. NO MERCY!!!

here is Mason, Ethan, Gavin, and Kaylee munching on fishies.

They have become good friends this summer. Ethan from the moment he wakes up until he goes to bed would be outside if he could. He often goes from house to house to see which "buddy" can play and Kaylee is usually not far behind him. I am so grateful that Ethan has some good friends in the neighborhood. It is a luxury we didn't really have in California like we have here. We are grateful to be so close to friends and family even though we dont like the winters.

We went hiking a few weeks ago to Donut Falls. It was a nice short hike to a small water fall into a cave. It was pretty neat to see. The kids did really well. there was pretty much no complaining. I guess when you bring starburst and fruit by the foot for snacks most kids are happy. We had fun and were able to make it to the falls. We had someone take this picture for us and it turned out rather nicely this is the falls as it falls through the donut into the cave.

We went for a drive around the Alpine Loop last week. It was so beautiful. We started to hike the Stuart Falls trail but with little kids we didnt make it very far. We hiked for about half hour or so and then had to turn around due to cranky kids. Ethan only said his legs were tired but Kaylee was being impossible for a while. On the way down she hit one point and then was completely happy for a while. I was sad that we turned around. Then she tripped and it was the end of it all. She seemed to fall 5 times or so coming down. She fell asleep shortly after we got

in the car. The colors were so pretty. Lots of yellow and red.