Rumor has it.....

Today I once again stayed home from church with sick kids. I got a phone call from my friend Amanda telling me that she heard I was pregnant! Well, that's news to me, I had no idea! I should ask around and find out when I'm due! Maybe someone will tell me if it's a girl or a boy. Daniel is only 8 months old, do I look like I'm pregnant? I sure hope not!! I have to admit, it was worth the laugh, now I just have to find out how far the rumor has spread, it sounds like there are a lot of people who think I am pregnant. Thankfully, Amanda did some damage control with this! Thanks, Amanda, I totally owe you!

Random thoughts

I am still not quite use to the idea that I have a child who can read. We were eating lunch today and Daniel wanted something to munch on while we were eating so I gave him a grahm cracker. Noah got all upset and told me Daniel couldn't have them because they have honey in them. I quickly brushed him off and said "no they don't". He said "but the box says "Honey" in big letters." Oops! I told him one little cracker won't hurt him, I don't think he was convinced.
It's kind of strange how you go about your days and weeks and months and then realise your kids are growing up! I am experiencing that with Emma lately. It seems like over night she has gone from toddler to little girl. I am enjoying her a lot lately. She has been stealing all Daniel's clothes and dressing her dolls in them. I have been wondering where all his clothes have gone and found them under her bed where she has been hiding them. She is such a little mommy! I think we will get her some doll clothes for Christmas!
Daniel is improving and he doesn't make me cringe every time he coughs. He is such a joy in our lives! He is taking a greater interest in Daddy lately, which is really nice. When Kendall gets home he starts waving his little arms and smiles at him. It's really cute to watch him. He even said "Dadda" when Kendall was here to hear it. He has been saying Dadda for a couple of weeks now, but never in Kendall's presence.
I am enjoying some freedom with the new car! We went for a drive into the mountains the other day, something we have not done in a very very long time. The kids really liked it and so did I. I think I found some nice places to go camping next summer.
Life is good and we are so blessed!

Daniel

So Daniel's test came back positive for the RSV. I was a little worried as I have heard that it is very contagious. They said not to worry about Noah and Emma as they are older, but not to let him around kids under 2yrs old for another week. Poor Daniel gets stuck with all the nasty bugs!

My Day

Today has been a long day. Kendall wasn't feeling well last night and decided it was better to stay home and try to rest and get over what ever he was getting. Daniel has been sick with a cough and runny nose all week and I decided it was time to take him into the doctor. So I took him in and the doctor said he has ear infections in both ears and his breathing was really raspy so we did a breathing treatment which didn't help so they wanted to x-ray his chest to rule out pneumonia. The chest x-ray was quite fun as they put him in this contraption that looked more like a torture chamber than anything else. He screamed the whole time. So he has two ear infections and bronchitis/pneumonia. Poor kid! He is so miserable! They also tested for rsv but we won't get those results back till the morning. Both Emma and Noah have never had ear infections and neither has ever had a major illness, guess Daniel gets to have all the fun! I am just grateful that Kendall stayed home today and was able to watch the kids while I took Daniel in. I got home and they were all outside waiting for me. I guess they all went outside and Emma locked the door. So they were all stuck out side for an hour. They were all hoping I had my house keys. So we all went in and poor Emma went to her room. I really don't think she meant to lock the door.

Meet Blue

Kendall brought home a new car last night. He named her Blue. I went for a little drive last night after the kiddos were in bed and it was so nice to drive, it has heat! It was so nice to drive in a warm car! I feel spoiled and can't seem to wipe the huge smile off my face! It still doesn't seem real! The kids can all climb in and seat themselves (well except Daniel of course). I am so excited!

Mary and Joseph Dinner

So I had someone ask what a Mary and Joseph dinner is. Kendall's family has been doing this every Christmas Eve for I don't know how long. What we do is we pretend that we are with Mary and Joseph on the night before Christ was born, we eat the same kind of stuff (well kind of). I roast some lamb, or beef whichever is cheapest. I season it with rosemary and thyme and that kind of stuff. We eat figs and dates and olives and goat cheese. And I get a round loaf of bread to sop in olive oil. We spread a cloth on the floor and eat on that. No utensils, just a plate. The kids love it because they love eating with their hands. It does get kind of messy, but that's half the fun!. We usually eat by candle light, another bonus that the kids love. It's a nice reminder of why we celebrate Christmas.

High Speed Internet

Today I joined the 21st century! I have left the land of dial up internet behind! People have been telling me a lot that they have been trying to call all day and the line is busy. So when the opportunity came to go high speed I jumped at it! Yea! Plus we have all those cool features on our phone like caller ID, so now I don't have to even pick up the phone to know it's a telemarketer! I have only had it for a couple of hours and already I don't think I could go back! It is strange to click on a link and it comes right up. No more clicking on a link and then walking away and doing something else for 5 or 10 minutes while it loads up. I know this probably sounds crazy to other people who have been living in the 21st century for a while but it's all new and exciting for us.

Update

We just took Daniel in for his check up with the plastic surgeon yesterday. He said Daniel looks great and we don't have to come back and see him for a year. I can't wait for his hair to grow in and cover the scare up completely.
We are going on day 37 without a working family car. We have a very generous friend who lent us her second car while her husband was away for work for a couple of weeks. So I have not been completely stranded at home. We are still waiting to find out if Kendall's union will be striking or not before we make any decisions about buying a car. I so want a Mazda 5!
Emma is so cute. She loves having her hair done all fancy these days. My sister gave her a bunch of hair bows and flowers that she has to wear every day. She is such a Daddy's girl lately! She loves her dolls and loves to dress them up. The only problem... she is stealing Daniel's clothes to dress her dolls! I think she will be getting doll clothes for Christmas!
Noah is so excited about Christmas, he sees all the Christmas stuff out in the stores and knows it's coming soon. He is such a good kid! He has been filling Emma in on all that happens at Christmas time since she doesn't remember past Christmases very well. Right now it's all about the "Mary and Joseph Dinner" we have on Christmas eve every year. Every day he tells Emma about it in detail and says how yummy the food is, and how we eat with our hands and turn off all the lights and use candles and on and on. I wish you could see him while he talks about it, it's soo cute! He has also been saying "this reminds me of California", referring to various things such as a food or the weather or some other random thing. I hope he will remember our time there. I miss the people we knew and the warm sunny weather. The weather has turned to the rainy season (not that there is a real non-rainy season up here). So that's kind of what has been going on in our lives. Noah is doing really well in school. I love that he is reading! He always wants to do math first as that is his new favorite subject. I swear he is going to be an engineer just like his father! His mind works the same way Kendall's does!

Daniel is 8 months

Our little Daniel Joshua is now 8 months old! He is now 20 pounds and can crawl everywhere! He has discovered the hallway leads to the bathroom and bedrooms which have all kinds of little treasures to play with and try to eat! The kids are learning to keep all the doors closed to him. Poor Daniel will sit in the hallway outside whichever room the kids are playing in and tap on the door to be let in.

Daniel's new favorite food...Lizard! Yummy!

Happy Halloween

This year we went to our ward's Trunk or Treat. The weather cleared up for us and it wasn't to cold. Here we are in our costumes. Noah was a ghost, Emma was Cinderella, and Daniel was a penguin. I am a pioneer (like every year). Kendall dressed all in black and said he was a "man in black". The kids had fun and were happy to get all that candy. They really didn't get that much but any candy is just fine with them!

Daniel was so tired and very cranky the whole time. He really didn't like his costume, which was a last minute purchase. We had planned to make him Frankenstein but just ran out of time to put something together.

Pumpkin Carving

For family home evening last Monday we decided it was time for the annual pumpkin carving. As usual we got started late and Kendall and I were in a hurry to get it done and over with and get the kids to bed. We did have fun, don't get me wrong, it was just late and the kids were a little grumpy and so were we.

Noah cleaning out his pumpkin guts. He really didn't want to get his hands dirty. We had him draw his own face since we knew he wouldn't be satisfied with anything we drew. Poor Kendall had to carve out the "scary" mouth which you will see below!

Kendall can't carve a pumpkin without getting the power tools out! It was pretty late and I guess it did make things go faster!

Emma wasn't to happy about getting the guts out of the pumpkin. She didn't remember past pumpkin carving events and was a little upset when we started to cut open her pumpkin. But we were finally able to convince her that this was how we did things and then she was happy. If you know Emma she wants everything to be "happy", so she got the happy faced pumpkin.

I am such a mean mom, but I get tired of doing all the gutting of the pumpkins every time. I really don't want my kids turning out like my brother Jeremiah, who every year makes someone else do all the dirty work!

So here is our goofy pumpkin, scary pumpkin and of course our happy pumpkin.