yumm cake!

so I went ahead and made an executive "Mom" decision. I decreed that I was NOT going to do two parties in one week. (especially when Jax is only turning one!) Between the holidays, my business and volunteering at Kayla's school... it was just not going to happen. So I decided that Jax could share in Jaden's birthday cake. (because the last thing I need is another 24 cupcakes in the house a week later!)

Jax trying to get the frosting off his hands

The end result... good thing I chose a yellow one!

Here is a video of him eating it... he was not so sure about the frosting... it was a THICK butter cream. When he couldn't lick it all off, he got frustrated and started to cry... Needless to say, he went from the highchair to the tub!!

Brian did manage convince me to not give Jax his presents til next week, on his real birthday...so this is not his official birthday post... I just couldn't wait to get this video on!

Happy Happy Birthday!

So Jadens 4th Birthday has come and gone... he was so excited about his big day. I kept hearing him in his room the night before, so I went in to see what was going on, and he told me "Mom, I am so excited for my birthday tomorrow, I can't stay asleep!" We opened presents in the morning early so Dad could be there, and we had great big cupcakes and did a party at school with his best friends Xavier and Emma... Even Mommy and Kayla got to go and have a giant cupcake too! Then we stayed to play at the preschool playground. On the way home, Jaden started telling me his "list" for his birthday, so I asked him "What about Christmas?" and he got frustrated with me and said "No, Mom... my birthday when I turn 5!" he is the sweetest little guy... I definitley don't deserve him!

Thanks to everyone who sent presents... he loved them all and it made his day very special!

This moms dream come true!

So last Sunday we had our ward primary program. As most of you know, this is usually not something that I look forward to. Some highlights of trying to get my kids to cooperate in a primary program include Mikayla crying and falling down on the floor (up on the stand!) and last mothers day she got so scared she actually knocked me down on my behind up in front of the whole ward! so NO, I don't usually look forward to when the Primary is "center stage". And this year was no different, except worse, because Brian had stayed home with a horrible cold, so it was me and THREE kids, and a program on the horizon! We got there late, so we were sitting in the cultural hall (never a good thing because the kids want to play on the stage!) but sitting next to us was Kayla's teacher so I asked him if he would mind taking Kayla and Jaden up when he goes up... So mid sacrament Jaden decides he REALLY needs to go potty. This of course prompts Kayla to decide SHE really needs to go too! well, I know that as soon as the sacrament is over, they need to head up to the front with their teacher, or I am going to have to drag them and Jax up to the front myself. So I tell them to just go right now... well, this starts a LOUD discussion about how they CAN'T go right now, cause they will miss the water! so as soon as they take the water, we up and run out... (YES all 4 of us!) and run to the bathroom. Naturally Kayla insists on going first, (so Jaden is in dire need!) but as soon as she sits down, her fear of public toilets sets in, and she says never mind... ANYWAY, we got back just in time for them to join the teachers on their trek up to the front to give their program.

Now I know this story is not fitting with the title of my post. So far, this is pretty much a typical Sacrament Meeting for us, except we are short one parent. The title comes in now, with how great my kids did in this program. I was amazed as I sat there watching them walk calmly and reverently up to the stand. I was in awe as I sat watching Kayla get up to sing with NO protest. She even got up to say her part (don't worry, it wasn't an actual miracle, she didn't actually SAY her part!) but she stood there and shook her head at her teacher... no screaming or falling on the floor. Just a slight shake of her head, and then she stood reverently waiting for her class to go sit down! Then the tears actually started to fall when Jaden got up to say his part, and he did SOO good!! His cute little voice just rang through the chapel "I can be a missionary" it was so cute! and yes... definitely this moms dream come true!

Halloween Night

We had such a fun Halloween!! Kayla was "Ariel" this year, Jaden was "Thomas the Train", and Jax was our "little pumpkin". First, we had our ward Trick or Treat, and Halloween Party. and man, was it alot of fun. In years past we have gone for the Primary portion and let the kids get their candy, and then we just go home. (that is due to the fact that Bri is usually working during the party!!) But this year, we decided to stay for the full party and get all the festivities in! and we were soo glad we did! They had a chili cook off, so we ate just about as much chili as we could.(you have to vote for the best one, so naturally you have to try them all!!) Our activities committee did a great job, they had a donut eating contests, bowling for ghosts, Halloween twister, a cake walk and of course a raffle with door prizes. As you know, Kayla and Jaden LOVE donuts, so they were all over that one. Kayla joined in about half way through, and still almost won! That's our little princess... snarfing down her donut as fast as she can! People thought it was funny when I told them that she didn't even know it was a contest, that is just how she eats donuts!! Jaden actually got in on the donut eating TWICE, I was so worried that he was going to be sick! We had a great time visiting with friends, eating, playing and just having a great time!!


1.Running for the car 2.Jax's tummy was so big, we couldn't get his seat belt on!! 3.Waiting for the go ahead to start the treating!




Then, on Halloween (the 31st) BOTH kids had Halloween parties at school, so this is how our day went...
12 noon: race to Kayla's school (with both boys in tow) to help her get her costume on.
12:30: at Kayla's school watching the Kindergarten and all FOUR 1st Grade classes do a parade around the halls in their costumes. It was very cute... SO MANY KIDS!! and they all looked great! I was happy to be there because I met about 10 other moms, and got some phone numbers so I can arrange some play dates for Mikayla. Woo Hoo!!

1:00: run out of Kayla's school, cause Jaden is late for preschool, rush across town (actually two towns) and drop Jaden off. A I am driving home, I get a phone call reminding me that I volunteered to help out at Kayla's Halloween part that afternoon!!

1:45: dump Jax in his crib, praying that Bri will be home from school soon to watch him, just in case he doesn't sleep. (Bri was at school having a meeting with his professor, and was unreachable!)

2:15: run back into Kayla's school (late of course!) and the party is already started... but that is a good thing because they asked me to be in charge of musical chairs... WAY FUN! since I am already pretty good friends with most of the kids, it was a lot of fun, and we were the noisiest center in the room!!
3:30: RUNNING out of Kayla's school and SPEEDING over to Provo to pick up Jaden at preschool (I am asking myself... why did I pick a school in Provo?!?) by the time we got there it was 3:45 (VERY late!)


OK, so by the time I got home I was about ready to drop! Did I mention all I'd eaten that day was a slice of cheese? I was wiped out!! but it was a fun day... I spent the rest of the time carving pumpkins. I was so excited for this little project, since I have never done it before... however due to unforeseen (but easily imagined) circumstances, I ended up carving three pumpkins all by myself. I am thinking if no one wants to do it, I may just buy one for myself next year, and the rest of them can go without!! no one was even excited about it... and I must say, my first attempt at carving was, um, interesting!!


So Happy Halloween to all, hope you had a spooky good night!! and LOTS of yummy candy!

P.S. some more pictures, mostly of Kayla's school parade etc... and ONE of Jaden and his infamous preschool teacher, Miss Corrinne in her costume. (her shoes were the best!)

*See the "little" girl at the top left of the class picture? that is Kayla's arch enemy Pomai... the genie in the pink is Thalia (who thinks and acts like I am her "other" mom.) Maxum is on the bottom left, when I met him I thought he was the quintessential bully, but is the sweetest boy! The cool dude up by Kayla is Miles... he gives her a hard time and tells her she wears boy clothes... (funny thing is , that day she WAS wearing a boy shirt... OOPS!) Too bad I didn't get a pic of Tyler, he is Kayla's favorite!! my camera conked out mid-party*

chuffing trains

ok, so as you all know, no boy is as happy as when he is playing with trains. I can't tell you how many thousands (it feels like) trains we have here at our house, but of course that is not good enough for my little boys! every day Jaden asks to go to the toy store to "chuff the trains"... this means we are going to spend at least an hour at Toys R Us at the Thomas table so he can play with their trains. And wouldn't you know it?? Jax has caught right on!! he stands there and plays trains with all the big kids. He actually cries when I take the trains away and pick him up!! We were there today and I was talking to a grandma that was there with her grandson, and I told her that I come so often I should just start bringing a folding chair and a book!! but the boys are so cute and have so much fun, how can I resist?? It would almost make it worth paying $200 for the table to get some quiet time at home... neither boy pays the slightest attention to me when they are there... Imagine all the things I could get done!! WOW!

the punkins at Pumpkin Land

So we finally managed to get ourselves over to the local pumpkin patch... Pumpkin Land is just down Geneva Road from us, and we really had a blast... apart from a couple of false starts. First, my neighbor called, he lost his 6 year old, so we had to go back home to look for her... then we got all the way back to the "patch" and noticed I forgot the stroller... back home again! it's a good thing it is only about a mile and a half from our condo!! but once we got there we had such a great time!! First, we looked at all the pumpkins they had to offer, and had a great time shopping for the perfect three. Somehow we got home with a big one for Brian, a medium sized one for Kayla and the smallest one for Jaden. (I figure I will end up doing the kids' anyway so why buy more??)

After the pumpkin shopping we headed out to Pumpkin Land... it is really cute! I have lived here on Geneva Road for over three years now, and I had no idea they had such a cute place over there! Of course Kayla goes every year with her school class, but she never told me anything about it! They have a giant wood pumpkin for the kids to play in, animals (turkeys, ducks, goats, rabbits etc...) they even have some Kangaroo jumpers as my kids call them (you know the inflatable trampolines from Kangaroo Zoo??) guess how long we stayed and played there?? There is a corn maze to walk through, a playground and a "light tunnel" where they have alot of cute lighted displays etc. Of course my kids favorite place was the playground, and I have to say... it was a pretty fun one! Swings, slides, tunnels, and even a giant Pumpkin Mountain that has a slide that goes all the way through it in the dark, and you come out in a cave! Jaden LOVED IT!!

All in all I would say it was a pretty successful outing. Brian was at school studying for a big test, so I had the three amigos on my own. I was very clear on the rules before we got there... which included:
1. No running away
2. Listen to Mommy at all times
3. No crying or whining, if you want something... ASK FOR IT!
4. NO RUNNING AWAY!!!

well, as we were leaving, we were going through the light tunnel, and they got ahead of me and we were all mixed up in a big group of about 4 families... well, by the time I got the stroller out of the barn, there was no sign of the kids... so I looked, and looked and LOOKED! they were just NOT THERE! well, I was getting kind of worried that they had gone back to the entrance of Pumpkin Land, so I asked the lady sitting there stamping hands if she saw them... NOPE! (at least I didn't have to go back through the corn maze!!) well I kept walking and looking and asking, but NO ONE had seen them. So I headed for the car, because by now it was getting dark, and Jax (who already had a cold) was starting to FREEZE! and what do you know?? there they were sitting in the car! Of course they had run through the sprinklers before getting in, so their snow boots were caked in mud and their jeans were wet up to their knees, and naturally they had walked all over the seats, and spread the mud around good... OH BOY! did they get a talking to! but we have our pupmkins now, even though we haven't carved them yet... If I can get organized, we might just get that done before Halloween this Friday!!

My Yoga Buddy

Lately I have been really getting into Yoga. As many of you know I have alot of pain in my joints and muscles, and Yoga has been the best thing I have ever done for myself!! Since I started, I haven't had to take any pain meds, I haven't woken up in pain during the night, and I can pick up my kids without wincing... it's been the best.

This past week, we had Fall Break, and so that means all 5 of us here in our tiny condo together for 5 days! So every morning I would get up, make breakfast, and then go in and pull out my Yoga mat. Well, Kayla and Jaden thought it looked like alot of fun, so one day they joined me. It was great fun (kind of tight quarters in our small living room...) As you can imagine, Jaden got about 10 seconds into it, and said he was bored and took off, but Mikayla stuck with it! she finished the entire work out with me, and the next day she asked when I was going to do Yoga, and could she do it with me again. So for the past week I have had the cutest little Yoga buddy anyone could ask for. She had some very cute comments, like "Mom, I'm not sure I can do this!" while we did some of the harder "poses" and as you can imagine, she giggled the whole time. Her favorite pose is "downward dog" for those of you who are yoga savvy. I think she just liked the name!!

So today she is back to school and I was without a Yoga buddy... I have to admit, it was kind of nice to be able to concentrate and focus on what I was doing for a change. It's hard to meditate when you are giggling with a 6 year old!!

Crabtree's Wrestlemania 1

Is this an approved Sunday afternoon activity?? well, this is how they spent today... at least they are all happy, right?

Featuring Mikayla, Jaden and Jaxson...

CWWE Title Match... Kayla vs. Jaden

sorry it's so dark... we had ALL the lights in the house on, but there is NO sunshine around here!

getting up close with Jax

This is so typical of Jax right now, this video really captures his personality!! I couldn't resist...

winter is here...

wow! wasn't it just last week that I was complaining about the heat?? well, not anymore! here is the weather channels weather advisory for us right now...

Winter Weather Advisory ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM MDT MONDAY... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SALT LAKE CITY IS EXTENDING THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW FOR THE SOUTHERN WASATCH FRONT UNTIL 6 AM MDT MONDAY.
A LAKE EFFECT SNOW BAND HAS DEVELOPED THAT EXTENDS INTO NORTHERN UTAH COUNTY. IN THE VICINITY OF THIS LAKE BAND...AFFECTED LOCATIONS COULD SEE 2 TO 4 INCHES OF ADDITIONAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS THIS EVENING. THE BAND IS EXPECTED TO WEAKEN OVERNIGHT. A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CAUSE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SLIPPERY ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES...AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.

Driving Kayla to school in the morning should be loads of fun!!

sick, sick, sick...

Jaxson is the cutest baby! he is so sweet and good... On Monday I took him to the doctor for a check up. As the Doc was examining him, she asked me how long he had been sick. "UMMM, well" I told her, "he isn't really sick, he just has a runny nose." she just looks at me kind of funny and says "he has infections in both ears". I had NO IDEA... he never fussed or cried he was sleeping through the night a full 12 hours, eating fine... I was totally taken by surprise! Then I had her take a look at his little bottom. He has had diaper rash for about 3 months and NOTHING I did made any difference. I used diaper rash cream, baby oil... anything I could think of! she took one look at it and said "it is infected!!" so apparently my baby has been rotting before my eyes, and I had no idea... NICE! Luckily we only needed to get ONE antibiotic and clear up all his many infections... so that is good!

The point of the bum story is that the rash had really been bothering Jax alot (itching). Since he can't reach back for a good scratch, every time I would take off his diaper to change him, he would rub his little bottom around on the carpet. It is the funniest thing I have ever seen, so I will try to get a video of it before the meds made it go away!! if I can get him to do it again, I will post a cute clip... its hilarious!!

P.S. ok, here it is. But the meds already got it all cleared up, so he just does it out of habit now, this is about how long I can get him to hold still before he takes off!!


................................................................................
Then there is Jaden... poor little ole Jade!! I went to pick him up at preschool yesterday, and his teacher was carrying him. Well, that's not really normal, so I asked what was wrong. Miss Corrinne said that during playground time, he just turned around and said "I want Mommy!" weird! he is kind of a mommas boy, but NEVER on the playground and never NEVER when he has friends to play with!! as soon as his teacher put him down, he looked at me and said... "Mom, I think I am going to puke!" well, he did! all over the floor in the front office of his preschool! UGH! it was a MESS! not just once either, it just kept coming... out of the nose... everywhere! WOW! luckily they said they would clean it up (I think they just wanted us out of there in case he went again!) as the afternoon progressed, he puked again about 4 more times... poor kid, if he would just sip a bit of water, out it came!! not sure what happened, but he seems a bit better today... he has eaten a little bit and so far no "return to sender". he has been sleeping alot today, so maybe by tomorrow he will be back to normal... I think this is the worst part of being a mom... sick kids!

the little things...

Our kids are growing so fast I thought I would post a couple of short little videos of them...


Jax is getting to be pretty big. He is now eating regular food, though sometimes he doesn't really like it... here is his first banana. And yes, he stuck out his tongue and said "yuck" with EVERY bite he took. It was great!

Mikayla and Jaxson have so much fun together... she wasn't so sure about him when he was first born, but now that he is crawling and starting to walk and talk, she gets a real kick out of him... He is fascinated with both his "kiddo's" as we call them.

He loves to "wrestle" with Jaden. and if you think I am exaggerating on that one, I'm not. Jaden grabs Jax around the waist and they both go over backwards... they both love it and laugh and laugh.

We have three great kids!

Husband Tag...

1. What is his name? Brian Crabtree

2. Who eats more? Brian does... when he eats, he can really put it away!

3. Who said, "I love you" first? Brian

4. Who is taller? Brian
5. Who is smarter? Brian

6. Who is more sensitive? Brian

7. Who does the laundry? Unfortunately, ME!

8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me

9. Who pays the bills? Bri makes the money, I write the checks

10. Who cooks more? Me.

11. Who is more stubborn? Me.

12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? Both about the same

13. Who has more siblings? Me.

14. Who wears the pants in the relationship? I think he does. He thinks I do!

15. What do you like to do together? going to baseball games, going on vacation, just sitting around talking!!

16. Who eats more sweets? Brian.

17. Guilty Pleasures? going to look at decorated model homes and dreaming of actually owning a home someday! and test driving cars that we can't afford...

18. How did you meet? we worked together, I was his trainer

19. Who asked whom out first? Brian asked me (after I got rid of his girlfriend that is!!)

20. Who kissed who first? Bri kissed me first

21. Who proposed? Brian

22. His best features and qualities? Handsome, kind, hardworking, dedicated...

23. Tag you’re it. Who do you tag?

I tag Brittney C., Tiffany C. and Ashlee C. ... my 3 beautiful sisters in law!!

for those NOT in the know...

so I have been getting some responses from friends from Mexico about Mikayla and her condition... for those who already know... sorry!! just skip this one, for the rest here is the 411 on our little girl.

Mikayla was born with "tumors" in her face called lymphangiomas. (they are thin sacs of lymph fluid) she also was born with her right eye physically smaller than her left, and bad vision in that eye (the Drs said it was underdeveloped) when she was born, the OB used forceps to deliver her, so just before going home, the pediatrician advised doing a CT scan to check for fractures in her facial bones, because she had ALOT of swelling in her face. What they found was totally off the charts! not at all what they were looking for. aside form the swelling (the tumors) and her eye being underdeveloped, she had a mass in her brain. but they were not able to diagnose what it was and while they discussed it, a nurse came in to our room and told us our new baby girl had a brain tumor. TRAUMA... (come to find out that she was TOTALLY uninformed!!) We left from the maternity ward to go straight to see a neurosurgeon at Primary Childrens Hospital in SLC... they finally figured out that the mass was actually a brain hemorrhage. Her brain had bled at some point during pregnancy, and the blood had calcified. Needless to say we have had ALOT of doctors over the past 6 years!! and she had 4 surgeries before her 4th birthday.

During her 1st surgery (she was 16 months old) the surgeon severed the connective tissue in her right eyelid, (picture #1) so it filled up with the lymph fluid and tissue from her tumors and got so big that her eyelid actually flipped inside out. That perpetrated her second surgery about 6 months later (she was 23 months old). Luckily we lived in Seattle Washington then and had an AMAZING surgeon!! he really did great work on her and got all the tumors out of her face (picture #3). Unfortunately, during this time her brain hemorrhages were getting bigger and ended up causing a MAJOR seizure, so we spent 3 days in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). So now she is on anti seizure meds, and still has small seizures every once in a while. Her brain is still hemorrhaging, also. She had brain surgery about 2 years ago, (she was about 3 1/2 yrs old) and now we are hearing from her neurosurgeon that she is going to need another brain surgery sometime in the coming year (at about 7 years old) ... and then her eye surgeon still wants to do more plastic surgery to try and finish fixing her eyelid but he is waiting for her to get a little older first.

Despite all she has been through, she is an amazing kid!! she is smart, and cute, funny, and so brave and strong!! now you see why she is our inspiration!

sorry for the picture quality... these are all from my old dinosaur camera with the film so I had to scan and upload them... the first is Kayla and I before her 1st surgery, the second is after her eyelid was disconnected and filled with tumor, and the 3rd is after her surgery to remove the tumors and fix her eyelid... sorry I couldn't find her brain surgery pictures... but you can see from her current pictures how great she looks!!

Tag... I'm it!!

List 5 Joys, 5 Fears, 5 obsessions/collections, and 5 surprising facts, and tag 5 people...

I thought this sounded like fun and since I was tagged here it goes:

Joys
1. Vacations
2. Date night with Brian (or any activity for just us)

3. My family

4. seeing my kids learn something new or excel at something

5. Seeing my friends (going to the movies, dinner, the mall whatever!)

Fears

1. Heights!!! (even standing on the second floor in a house and looking over the railing makes me dizzy!) so roller coasters are DEFINITELY OUT!!

2. that something bad will happen to Bri or the kids (death, pain, fear... ANYTHING bad...)

3. Dogs, cats, birds, frogs, gerbils, fish... basically any kind of animal... sorry kids, no pets!!

4. that someone will break into the house. When we were first got married I used to make Bri sleep closest to the door so he could protect me... then I learned how deep he sleeps and figured its going to be up to me... hence the fear!!

5. bugs, dogs, heights, dark, going outside at night... I am afraid of soo many things... my brother jokes that I must be afraid of my own shadow!!

Obsessions/Collections

1. I love to buy things that smell pretty... lotions, soaps, candles, whatever!

2. at the moment HandiLand... I know, I know... but its fun and somehow I got addicted to making my Cat have the cutest clothes in HandiLand... I told Bri that it's kind of like playing Barbies or dress up when you are a kid!

3. Computer - reading blogs, emailing, posting on my blog

4. learning as much as I can about other countries... (I am currently trying to teach myself French) I love anything foreign... languages, food, vacations (locations)

5. ORGANIZATION... everything in our home has to have a place all its own, and I start to freak out if things don't live in their homes... don't ask how we survive with three kids... I am alot better though since the meds!!(calm, serenity)

Surprising Facts- this one is HARD :)

1. that I actually used to be thin and cute! (way a long time ago in another life!)

2. that I am from Mexico... as soon as I tell someone where I am from, they do a double take and say "you don't look Mexican" or "you have absolutely NO accent" it really bugs!

3. that it is painfully difficult for me to make new friends

4. I am teaching myself to eat mushrooms

5. my kids getting sick. I can't deal with throwing up kids! give me a good ole fashioned surgery any day, but the stomach flu?? Gives me a panic attack!

I tag Jan T., Cindy B., Vanessa P., Barbara Jo H. and Jeni E...

Have Fun!!

a crazy day update...

sooo... I survived my crazy day. It was actually not that bad! just ALOT of driving back and forth between schools and home. I felt so bad for Jax... he got dragged from pillar to post, and with a minimum of fuss, too!! I think that I was mostly nervous about going to Kaylas class to read with the first graders. It sounds kind of dumb now... but I really was nervous!! The kids were super cute, though... and I got to meet alot of the kids Kayla spends her days with. One "little" girl I was especially interested to meet is Kaylas arch-enemy Pomai... now it seems kind of funny that my little 6 year old would have an arch enemy... but she DOES. These two girls were in Kindergarten together last year, and did NOT get along. Both she and I were very dismayed to see that they were together again this year, but I started talking to Kayla about giving her another chance and being her friend. Well, I met this kid yesterday... and she is HUGE! she looked like she was at least 8 years old... so much so, that I actually asked her how old she is. She looked at me kind of funny and said 6!! But I can see now why Kayla is so wary of her!! but for all her size and everything (I think she is Polynesian) she is a really nice girl (I thought) so I am still trying to get Kayla to come around and give her another chance... when I picked Kay up, I told her I met Pomai and she seemed nice, Kayla told me "when I walked past her desk today I spit at her!" so it is seeming to me that the problem is on our side!! but all in all it was fun to meet so many of her friends, and I get to go in every Monday and help out... so that should be alot of fun, too... Of course I had both boys with me, and that did NOTHING to make it easier!! Jaden declared that he was going to sit on my lap "the whole time" and he was true to his word for about the first half hour or so. then I finally got him interested in wandering the halls and looking through windows into other classrooms. From there it was easy to get him to push a screaming, fussing Jaxson's stroller up and down the hall to help entertain them both!

Then we had Jadens volcano science project to go and witness... it was very cute. Just a simple baking soda and vinegar demonstration, but the kids were duly impressed. They couldn't keep their little hands out of the mix, though... so by the time I picked him up for the day he reeked of vinegar! I made a short video on my camera, so I hope it works out... the little Hispanic boy sitting to Jadens right is Xavier, and Jadens new very best friend. Jaden won't let me leave school until Xavier gets there... they are really cute together and play monster tag every school day on the playground! Also, just a comment about Jadens very unorthodox preschool teacher. She is a trip!! OK, first off, her hair is half blond and half black... she has tattoos everywhere and she wears 6 inch heels to play on the playground in!! Yesterday she was bending down helping the kids get their jars set up, and I noticed her hot pink thong hanging out and a huge tattoo just above her crack (which was also pretty noticeable!!) She IS a very nice girl, but not really what I think of when I think "preschool teacher!" now I wish more than ever that we lived in Washington,so my sister in law Ashlee could be Jadens teacher!! **sigh** O well, we will survive!

P.S. ...I just watched the video and unfortunately you get a pretty good look at the teachers tat and undies... sorry I had to share EVERYTHING about the day! I didn't notice til just now!! O BOY!

Here is the video of the volcano ...

a crazy day for the crazy crabs...

Sooo... as I sit here at my computer on a very quiet and peaceful Sunday night, I am dreading, absolutely dreading, the coming day. Do you ever get those days when EVERYTHING happens all on the same day? Well, I don't... a normal day for me is get Kayla to the bus at 8:45am... hang out with my boys til noon, make lunch and drive Jaden to preschool, then hang out with Baby Jax til 3:15 when I go and pick up Jaden at preschool. On our way home we stop at the bus stop and grab Kayla... no big deal, right? nice peaceful, restful days... not too much stress (which is SOO what I need!!)

But tomorrow the day looks like this...

Everyone up, fed, washed, brushed, dressed and into the car... (and I mean EVERYONE cause we aren't coming home for a while...usually the boys and I go to the bus in our jammies...)

SO...

8:48 am - drop Kayla off at the bus stop

9:00 am - pick up Brian in Lindon (the reasons are still classified, but once I am given the green light (and a picture!) it WILL be blogged about!! those of you who know... SHHHH!)

10 am - Go to Kaylas school as a volunteer to help the kids read (with Jaden and Jax in tow)

11 am - FINALLY home for lunch for the boys

12:45 pm - take Jaden to preschool

2:00 pm - back to preschool to watch Jadens home made volcano erupt (since when to they have science projects in preschool?! O well...)

2:45 pm - back home to pick up Kayla from the bus (its early out Monday, the kids come home an hour early)

3:30 pm - Back AGAIN to the preschool to pick up Jaden and his volcano

4:00 pm - Homework for BOTH kids (yeah, the preschool teacher gives my 3 year old homework... she is dissapointed that her 3 year olds can't WRITE THEIR NUMBERS!!)

5:00 pm - somehow pull together some dinner because

5:30 pm - Brian is off to work

and you had better believe that ALL the kids will be in bed at 7 pm SHARP, cause I may be about ready to drop by then!!

(here I thought I was going to be saving on gas the rest of this month, not having to go up to Salt Lake every other day... instead I have to run back and forth between schools all day!!)

SHEESH!

some fun websites for us

sooo... I was bouncing around on the Super Nanny website... yes... I admit it. I LOVE the supernanny... I watch religiously... Brian even calls from work to ask what the SuperNanny is talking about today... even our (Mikayla's) therapist told us to get parenting advice from the super nanny!! so I feel somewhat secure in saying that I have a small addiction to her advice and ideas for raising and disciplining kids!! THEN I found her website... hmmm... yeah! there are all kinds of fun links, charts, even discussion groups with other moms. and you can watch clips from the TV show... So if you need a refresher course on the "bed time routine" (a big favorite around here!) just click on, and watch her go at it with a guinea pig family... it's great!!

but I really didn't like any of her reward charts... so I went looking. For any parent out there who likes to have their kids help out around the house... you should check out this website. It is called HandiLand and you basically make an online chore chart for your kids of things they need to do everyday. The website gives each child a "cat" to name and as they do their chores they are awarded two sets of points... purple points allow them to "shop" in the HandiLand catalog for clothes for your Cat, or you can buy furniture to decorate your "house"... the yellow points are for a more tangible reward... so if they have 50 yellow points saved up, they can choose between eating lunch at Wendy's, watching one hour of TV, going to Chuck E Cheeses etc... the fun thing is that YOU can customize the rewards so it can be things your kids love to do and would be doing anyway... but now they can only do it if they have the points saved up. My kids have really caught on to the saving part. they had to save enough points to go swimming at the Scera pool, so they went without snacks and TV time for a whole day!! I had so much fun with it, that I made myself a Cat and I buy her clothes and furniture too!! and I get points for doing house work etc... and also things like "learn a new word in French today" there are a million chores to choose from, or you can custom create your own...

It is really a lot of fun, and it works good for my kids, because they get to go online and check off what chores they do and go in and shop for the stuff they want!! check it out... it's great. I spend so much time on it, Brian is always asking if I am done hanging out with the 11 year olds!!

It's that time of year AGAIN!!

Yep... the doctors are back!! after enjoying a blissful year of having NO doctors and hospitals, we have a VERY full calendar of them this month... between the doctors, dentist, and the hospital we have 6 appointments in the month of September... don't ask me HOW they all got into the same month... it's the craziest schedule... but we sure enjoy the rest of the year once it is all done!!

Mikayla was in the hospital on Thursday for her yearly MRI. She had to BE THERE at 6:30 am, (CRAZY!) so I went and took the kids and we slept at my brothers house in Centerville the night before. (we all assumed that it would be more convenient that way, because I was planning to leave the boys with her the next day) Unfortunately, their baby cried most of the night because he wanted to be in his crib, and Jax cried the other part of the night because he wanted me to stand up and hold him!! so neither mom got ANY sleep... I finally got Jax to stay asleep by putting him down on the floor... he would NOT get back in that crib! (so my sister-in-law had a big surprise when she went in to get him up... she thought he fell out of the crib!!) As a result, I started off a very stressful day with only about 2 hours of sleep...

As usual, getting the IV placed was fairly traumatic for Kayla. The nurses were great, though and got her IV in on the very first try!! she is getting SO tall, it is hard for me to keep her on my lap anymore!! we had 2 RN's and 2 nurses and me trying to get her IV in and hold her still!! TAG TEAM!! when I went in to the recovery room after her test was finished, the nurse said that she had cried and whimpered through the whole test... poor little darlin'! I was soo tired that as I was sitting next to her bed, I fell asleep and slept the whole time til the nurse came over to help me wake her up!! it was a good thing I got that nap, too... because they ousted us from the recovery room at 9:30 AM and the neurosurgeon doesn't come in to clinic until 11 AM. We had a very miserable time walking up and down the halls of the hospital with Kayla screaming and shouting and choking on crackers... it was delightful! by the time we got in to see the doctor to have her MRI read and get the results, I had been kicked and slapped and spit on and screamed at so much I was about one second away from tears!! but we survived (without the tears and an emotional breakdown from Mom...)

The test results were not as good as we had hoped for... she has a bleed on the left side of her brain (remember all her issues have been on her right side, and we did brain surgery on the right side of her brain last time...) well this bleed on her left has doubled in size since we moved back from Washington (almost 4 years). So, it is not crucial yet... but he said that we WILL have to go in and take it out sooner or later, because it is getting too big again and putting too much pressure on her brain. The good news is, that we are not doing it any time soon... he says that we should come back in another year for another MRI, and we will see what he thinks at that point. Unfortunately, I am now on what I call stroke watch... with the hemorrhage getting so big, I have to watch for stroke-like symptoms (loss of motor control on her right side, loosing speaking abilities and increased seizure activity) Don't get me wrong... we are always watching for these symptoms, (the symptoms mean she has had a major brain hemorrhage, not a stroke, but the symptoms are very similar...) but now it is more likely that she would have them, because the pressure on her brain is increased...

So keep her in your prayers... think good thoughts for her. She is really a very special little angel, and is such a little fighter!! she always just pushes and fights her way through all these obstacles in her life... we love her very much!!! and we love our family and friends very much also for always being there for us to support us and love us through our trials... we have the best family and friends in the world!!!

Updates and Milestones

MIKAYLA

Mikayla is so cute... you can tell that 1st grade is having a big impact on her already... any word she hears she breaks it down and sounds it out... if you tell her to "Go brush your teeth". she says "g-o b-r-u-sh y-o-r t-ee-th." like she is figuring out how to spell it by hearing each sound individually! and our smarty pants is still bringing home page after page of 100%'s on her homework... I am sure the work is not that hard, but just the fact that she actually FINISHES things at school now is amazing!! she gets so distracted soo easily and is such a giggle head that she very rarely finishes her work in class... it's so bad that she even rarely finishes her LUNCH... that's a big deal... my kids LOVE their food!! she told me the other day that in the lunch room a "big boy" was juggling and she was watching him, and finally she looked around and all the other kids were gone, and she didn't have time to finish her food!! she is soo funny!! and very sweet!

JADEN

Jaden has developed a new obsession... now most of you are going to think of trains and cars ... but this one is totally off the wall! Somewhere he picked up an obsession with Spanish... I am not sure if it is because I have been talking a little bit to Jax in Spanish... but he walks around spouting gibberish. The funny thing is that it really DOES sound like Spanish!! he can say a few words, like he calls Jax "bebecito" and small things like that... but its pretty fun to hear him jabber on and tell me he is speaking "Spanish"... get a clue, mom... the kid has talent! I need to find him a Spanish class, or figure out how to teach my kids Spanish!!

JAXSON

Jaxson is getting to be quite a little character... instead of crying or whining when he wants attention, he screams. and I don't mean any little baby scream, but full on, screaming bloody murder. Then he just looks at you to see if you are paying attention to him. Also, if he gets really excited about something we get the same result... a HUGE blood curdling scream.

Another new development for Jax is starting to stand up to reach things. He gets up to look on the couch or a chair or to reach a toy that he wants... Needless to say, the kids are having a harder time "hiding" toys from the baby, and poor Jax, he can't figure out how to sit back down so he usually ends up falling face first into the leg of the table or the couch... he has definitely been getting a lot more bruises lately!!

Here is a video example of his new standing talents...

On the brighter side...

so on the brighter side... something good DID actually happen today. At school today Mikayla had her first spelling test. I say this like it is a big deal, because it is for her... During the summer I was worried that she would forget what she learned at Kindergarten, so I had her read a book to me everyday, and write a sentence in her journal... well, whenever we got her journal out she would only write something if I would tell her each letter to write down, or if I made the sound of the letter she was supposed to write. So when I was informed that she would have a spelling test every friday, I was really worried... and all for naught. She came home today with a 100% on her first spelling test!! Yay Mikayla... I almost had to forgive her for throwing a boot at my head this morning...

Having a BAD day...

ok, you know when you have one of those days, that you just have to wish you hadn't gotten out of bed that morning?!? well, here is my most recent one...

First trial of the day comes with trying to get Mikayla dressed for school, and she declares she HATES her new boots, takes one off and throws it at my head... TIME OUT!!

Second one comes when I am backing out of my parking space at Wal Mart and BAM!! I crash into another car... CALL THE COPS!!

Now at this point, you would think I would just GO HOME and lay low... but NOOOOO...

Third smack in the face comes when I take Mikayla to Payless to exchange the shoes that she originally loved and now HATES! (a day later no less!) so we are waiting in the checkout line (it's very busy... the sale, remember??) and Mikayla very loudly and seriously asks me (with her hand on my GIANT belly) Mom, do you have another baby in your tummy?? *SIGH* yes everyone turns to look at the afore mentioned giant belly... and I smile at her and say "No honey... there is no baby in there!"

Sooo... I haven't left the house since... and I am NOT GOING TO!! whew! what a day...

shoes anyone??

Ok, so I have been waiting to buy Mikaylas school shoes until Payless started its buy one get one half off sale... so yesterday (payday) I headed out to the shoe store to get Mikayla a pair of brown shoes and some black boots that we liked... well, I got there, and wouldn't you know it... they had SO MANY cute shoes!! Normally I go there, and am lucky to find ONE pair that I really like... but NO! there were FOUR!! and I couldn't decide which ones I liked best... so naturally, being female, I bought all of them! But she NEEDS them. of course she needs sneakers, and the brown shoes to go with her khakis, and some black ones (with the cutest little butterfly charm on them!!) to go with her cute dress... (see picture at side) and don't even THINK that I was going to put the cute boots back on the shelf!! so as a result, Mikaylas closet is bulging full of cute new shoes... Jaden is so jealous! he says its not fair that Kayla gets so many cute shoes and he doesn't... but seriously... how many pairs of sneakers does a boy need?!? sorry buddy!

The First Day

well, we obviously made it to the first day of school, and beyond! Mikayla was a super star! she was up and dressed and ready to go an hour before it was time to leave for the bus!! she was so excited and reported that she got 3 recess times and that I pack too much food in her lunchbox!! She has already made several friends and even remembers some kids from last year in Kindergarten!! she is already loving school, and Mom is nervous because she has homework EVER DAY now, and a list of spelling words that she will be tested on this Friday!! Its not a big deal to her though... she just zips right through them... smart and sassy! just the way I like her!!

Jaden on the other hand had a pretty rough first day of Preschool... he had been so excited about school for so long (the 2 years Kayla has been going) that it never occurred to me that he would not want to go!! well, when we drove up to the school, he refused to get out of the car! so I dragged him out and we walked up to the door... well, he refused to go in. Now usually reverse psychology works really well on Jaden, so I told him to stay outside and only I could go in... to my surprise he looked relieved and said "yeah, Mom... you go in. I'll stay right here!" so I ended up talking him into coming in the room, and immediately his nose became fused to the bottom of my spine!! he wouldn't look up, look at the room, the kids, the teacher or anything!! he was SOO nervous... poor kid!! so after 10 minutes of trying to get him off my back, I just gave up and left... well, that's when the fireworks started!! he came screaming after me... by the time he caught up with me I was at the car putting Jax in his car seat... and Jaden was literally climbing over a 6 foot high fence trying to get out shouting "Mommy don't leave me here... take me with you!!" O BOY! I felt really bad for the teacher, but I knew that once I left, he would be OK... so I drove off. Well, 2 1/2 hours later when I drove up to the school, (the kids were on the playground by then) there was Jaden... playing and having a great time! the teacher said he screamed for about a half an hour after I left, then he got interested in story time, and was fine after that!! YAY! he really is enjoying it now, so that is good... when I picked him up yesterday from school he said he and the other boys were playing pirates on the big slide and looking through their binoculars... so I asked him if he likes school now, and (this is sooo Jaden) he said No, but he likes the playground!! at least he goes with no fuss, and I have never had such a quiet house!! I love it!

New teacher for a new year...

As the last installment of our very busy week segment, I will post about Thursday night. We went to the open house at Vineyard Elementary to meet Mikaylas new teacher and see her classroom. Her teachers name is Mrs. Molyneaux (pronounced Molly-New, I had to ask her!) She seems to be a very gentle and sweet lady, which I am not sure if that is good for Mikayla or not. I sure hope Mikayla doesn't run all over her, but she seems to be a very experienced teacher, so it should at least go better than last year! We got to see Mikayla's desk, and her books, the classroom and her teacher of course. Naturally we made a stop on the playground before heading home... but it was great to get another step closer to and another reason to be more excited for school starting on Monday. I couldn't get Kayla to leave the classroom, she just wanted to stay and sit at her desk... so I hope that is a good sign for Monday morning!!

I had planned swimming for today Friday... but to tell you the truth, I am pooped. So we are sitting at home doing nothing today (except laundry... does that count?!?) but don't forget... tomorrow is our 7th Anniversary! so I will have another day this week to look forward to (without the kids this time!! YAY!) and then get through church on Sunday and I am home free... *sigh*

Wonder of Wonders

Well, I think we have finally found something that doesn't freak Mikayla out... this morning I was giving her her medicine and I noticed something black in her mouth. I asked her to come back and let me see. The black thing was a hole... yep she lost her first tooth. She never said a word about it being loose or coming out or anything. Now we all know that for our little Princess Mikay, that is nothing short of a miracle! So I kept asking her about it and we were talking about it, and she rememberes that last night while she was eating pizza for dinner she "crunched" on something... so we figure it was her tooth! so much for the tooth fairy... I told her next time she feels her tooth loose, to tell me so we can save it, but on second thought maybe we will skip the drama and just let her swallow them all! At least now she know it doesn't hurt and won't be dreading it! FINALLY... something easy where our daughter is concerned!! YAY!

Birthday Party Time!!

On Wednesday of course, it was Mikaylas 6th Birthday!! we had lots of fun, and started the day out with opening presents... she got a new Princess puzzle, a new Handy Manny game that teaches Spanish words, some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse stuff and a new Care Bear and Care Bear DVD... I have finally given up trying to pick things for her, so I asked her for specifically what she wanted this year...naturally she chose the Grumpy Care Bear... she is so funny, now she has a Grumpy Care Bear and a Grumpy Dwarf from Snow White...

Next we made cupcakes together. She couldn't decide if she wanted to do Princesses again like last year, or Tinker Bell... so we did both! While the cakes were cooling we went to Kangaroo Zoo (her favorite place in the whole world!) and let the kids play for a few hours... they had so much fun jumping and going up and down the sides! Jaden even went on hte biggest slide again and again!! (he ususally chickens out!) and Mom even went down the dragon slide! (I really wanted to see what it is like, so even though I didn't pay full price, I took advantage of ONE slide!!) Then, when we got tired and too hungry to jump anymore, we went to lunch at Wendy's.

When we got home, we all frosted and decorated the cupcakes (pink cakes for the princesses and green cakes for Tinker Bell...), and sang Happy Birthday-(true to form, she plugged her ears for the song... she is such a ham... she loves music and her own singing... but as soon as anyone else starts to sing, she plugs her ears and tells them (me usually) to stop that yucky singing... ) The kids ate as many cupcakes as they could get down before Mom and Dad caught on and made them stop (about 3 each! which was a good thing because 24 cupcakes for just the 4 of us is ALOT of cupcakes...) All in all it was a fun day full of all of Mikayla's favorite things and activities, so even though it was just us... she still had a great day!