Happy New Year!!!

The kids thought it was hilarious covering me in streamers and confetti. Luke catches a glimpse of me and was so exited, "Pretty Mommy, Pretty!!" Silly kids.

It took Cass several times of throwing streamers to get a pic in action Yoda inspecting the damage

Just missed her throwing confetti again

Sparklers

Yeah- we got one in action! Happy New Year!

Cade with fire-- uh oh

Warren made Cade watch a special on the BYU channel about a little boy who was burned. This really stuck with him (thank goodness!). He got one little spark on his foot and came running in to the house as fast as he could go. He was really nervous and asked Warren if he was going to have scars. We assured him he'd be fine- but he still wanted to take a bath (wash it off or what have you!) I think we've cured the pyro!

Pre- bath with the sparklers

Going to be fun cleaning up in the morning!

Happy New Year!

Homemade confetti bags

We celebrated with Rio De Janeiro- (8pm Central time!)

Time for bed!

New Year's Eve

Now this is a hoppin' party- Hi Ho Cherrio for our first item of entertainment Family Movie time Popcorn, Cupcakes....

Guess what we're watching? Of course- nothing better than "Star Wars the Clone Wars"

Good Helpers

It's nice to have the big kids at home to help give Jake his breathing treatments. Cass holding the nebulizer and Cade entertaining with a balloon. Thanks kiddos!!

Creativite Mom at Work

Well the cardboard houses and car tunnels only lasted so long before boredom crept back into our house today. So, I put back on my creativity hat and this is what I came up with. I filled about a dozen balloons with notes inside of things the kids had to do. They'd pop a balloon, do the activity and then pop another, etc. Here are a few I came up with....

Balloon Hot Potato

Make cookies for Dad

Clean your room. (This is Cassidy "teaching" Cade how to make his bed. He is so sneaky. "I don't know HOW to make my bed. My hands are too tired!" So, he has her demonstrate... She doesn't realize he does this on his own when she's at school.)
Blow bubbles in the backyard with Yoda. (that dog LOVES bubbles)

Dress up, pick out a scripture story and act it out. This one got a little silly. They picked Adam and Eve. Cass is Eve dressed in a pink dress, the afghan is the tree, the turtle is Satan (or the snake), the ballon is the fruit, the stuffed toys are the animals and Cade is Adam. When telling the story she kept telling me, "Adam and Eve didn't have very nice clothes...." (As far I remember they didn't have any clothes....)

Atleast it kept them busy for awhile! (With something other than TV and computer time.)

Still smiling

What a happy guy. I need to learn from him! Still sweet despite the sickness!

Cars

Why do we spend all the money on Christmas when the favorite things are cardboard boxes and car tunnels made of old soda boxes? This provided much entertainment this morning.

New Year's Resolutions

This one cracked me up- Cade's "General Grevious has a Happy New Year" drawing.

We had FHE about developing our talents and New Year's Resolutions last night. It was pretty much a flop. So this morning we tried again with a little more attention span. We made pics and wrote our resolutions and ways to achieve them (Cass and I did flowers- Cade drew balloons). I think it went pretty well. Hopefully they're at least getting the idea.

Homebound Fun

So, I dug out the old box tricks yesterday to satisfy some cabin fever. What is more fun than a cardboard house and a cardboard van?

RSV

We're getting pretty good at this. We went in for his well child/worried he was still sick visit and got the news. You can't really see the fog from the nebulizer in this pic- but here we are again with yet another baby with RSV. Poor Jake is really having a rough week. He's cutting teeth, has ear infections in both ears, has RSV and antibiotics that give him the runs. Not very fun. :( So far the treatments seem to be helping. His breathing is definitely improving and he's not coughing as much. Through all this he's still growing though. He's measuring in the 76% for his height 66% for his weight and poor guy has a tiny head at 33%. He's almost 16 pounds. Not bad for a 4 monther.

On a good note, Luke got back some good results from the lab tests done on him. No problems found. Looks like a few nasty bouts (2 months worth!) of a stomach virus instead. He's been much better this week. Thank goodness. And he's NOT lactose intolerant! (yet, anyway) Yeah!

Daddy's boy

This sums up our Christmas. Lots of Daddy time. It was wonderful!

Hoodies

Doesn't he look precious in hoods? Maybe it's the fact they hide the famous Hess Baby Mohawks...

Merry Christmas

Some highlights.... Thank you everyone for making it so nice for us!

This would be a quick and easy fix for Luke's problems

Candy Canes curing digestive problems? Maybe I should be eating candy canes instead of Sprite and soda crackers? Stomach flu- ....again!

Richard G. Scott

"Are there so many fascinating, exciting things to do or so many challenges pressing down upon you that it is hard to keep focused on that which is essential? When things of the world crowd in, all to often the wrong things take highest priority. Then it is easy to forget the fundamental purpose of life. Satan has a powerful tool to use against good people. It is distraction. He would have good people fill life with 'good things' so there is no room for the essential ones. Have you unconsciously been caught in that trap?"


YES! This is something I'm working on for one of my New Years resolutions.

quote for the day

"The road has not been paved all the way for any of us. We all have a small place in our hearts where we store our sorrows and disappointments. But are there not days when you are simply overwhelmed with the blessings of the Lord? It was ever thus." -Marjorie Pay Hinckley

It has been so fantastic to have Warren home with us so much for Christmas. I've loved just having down time together.

Pirates of the Caribbean Day

Yesterday, as I was out for my run, it felt just like the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. It wasn't really cold, but it was really humid, damp, with a little chilly breeze. It was cloudy and I loved it! It was the best running weather- I have a new personal record- 2 1/2 miles! I only slowed for a drink of water or to blow my nose. This morning the weather was similar, but quickly changed with tornado watches, etc. Still, I think we may venture out for a walk and some park time this afternoon.

Frosty

I couldn't resist this one! Ha Ha!

Milk and Cookies for Santa

The kids have spent the last 2 days creating this card for Santa. They went stamping crazy on the front of it. Cass wrote the inside- it is so precious...

"Dear Santa Cade said he wants to say I love you! I want to ask you some questins (questions). Have you ever been sick on Christmas Eve? Is your sley (sleigh) brocken (broken)?Do you have any children? Do you have any pesents (presents) left? Please don't run out of presents. Say hi to the raindeer (reindeer) for me. Tell Rudolph he is a good boy for me. From the Hess Family P.S. We left cookies for you under this note."

These are some tough questions- I wonder what Santa's response will be?

Track Santa

This is the coolest website. The kids have been checking on Santa to see where is has been all day. It shows where he's been around the world. Right now he's entering the easter sea board! He'll be in Texas soon! He was traveling through Europe earlier tonight and did one of the countries in only 3 minutes. Cassidy says, "There must be a lot of kids in that country that don't clean their rooms!" (Can you tell what we've been using as cleaning incentives this week?!)

Christmas Jammies

Christmas Eve we always open one present- new jammies to wear to bed that night. Cade wasn't too happy to find out we weren't opening toys.