The Kids!

I had a funny conversation with Kaden the other day. He walked in to my bathroom and saw me putting some Proactive repairing lotion on my face.

Kaden: What are you doing Mom?

Me: Getting ready.

K: Is that lotion?

M: Yeah, I guess.

K:(looking very closely at the bottle) Is that Pernactive???

M: Yes, it is Proactive.

K: Oh. Did you order now???

M: Yes, I ordered it.

K: Is it going to clear acne fast?

M: I hope so!

K: Mom, what is acne?

I told him it was the red polkadots on mommy's face. He is such a funny boy. A few months ago he saw someone in an electric wheelchair on the sidewalk. He said "Oh, MOM!!! Look, it's a POWERCHAIR! Mom, can I get a powerchair?" That kid is living proof that advertising works.


On another exciting note, Kate is.....

POTTYTRAINED!!!!!!

Well, for the most part anyway. She's gone the last three days without any accidents. (Except for today, she pooped a little bit on the bathroom floor while she was trying to climb up onto the tiolet. But, she was attempting to get on the toilet and at least she didn't go in her panties.) She still wears a diaper at night, and while we're away from home. Maybe I'll get brave enough today to let her leave the house with panties on, because she's come home dry for the last several days whenever we go anywhere. I've been working with her for the last few weeks. I wanted to get it mostly done before I started school again. She's 23 months old. I'm so proud of her!

Let the insanity begin!

Or begin again, I should say.


I start school again today! Yuck! I know I said that after that awful Chemistry class last semester (which, by the way, I got an A in, YAY!) I was going to just take one easier class this semester, but... I changed my mind! :) I'm taking English, Nutrition, and Psychology. The first two are online, and the Psych class is on campus. It doesn't actually start until the beninning of Feb and is a six week class on Friday nights and Saturdays all day. Brent and I decided that we want me to get through nursing school asap. We have big plans for post-nursing school, which Brent has forbidden me from disclosing yet. As soon as he'll let me tell anyone about it, I will. I'm so excited about it I can hardly keep it bottled up. He won't even let me tell his parents.

So, I'll apologize in advance for not being around much this semester. Between three classes, three part time jobs, being a full-time mom and wife, I have a feeling I may be spread pretty thin. Maybe it's time to cut back on a few more things, huh? :)

The Little Dictator- Junior!

When Brent was little he was known as The Little Dictator. Yeah, he was a take-charge kind of kid. Well, I have a feeling his spawn will have a similar nickname.

Today, in the middle of sacrament meeting Kate was sitting on my lap coloring. All of a sudden, she looked up at the guy bearing his testimony at the pulpit and yelled "HUSH!". Then she went right back to her coloring. The people sitting around me all started laughing. I couldn't help but laugh a little bit too.

A few days ago Kate was sitting at the table eating. Kaden was in the living room playing and Kate was watching him. Then she starts telling him "Hush Bru-er (translation Brother)! So much trouble!" While shaking her finger at him.

She's become quite bossy in the last few weeks. It's actually quite funny. She's more bossy than I would expect a not-quite-two year old to be. Silly girl!

Christmas and New Years!

We've had a great Christmas and New Years. My family came for Christmas on Christmas Eve. Everyone came except for Megan and Chance. They spent Christmas with his family. We really missed having them here! We had a great time opening presents. Kaden got Rockband for Wii and Kate got a kitchen. We've all had a lot of fun playing Rockband. Kaden asked for a guitar for christmas because he wants to be a rockstar when he grows up. So cute!

For new years, we got a babysitter and went out to dinner with our friends Jared and Katie Meredith, and with my sister Heidi and her husband Devin. Yay, it was so much fun, going on a date without the kids. We had dinner at Chili's then picked up the kids and came back to our house and played rockband. We were in bed by 10:00 though, because Brent was getting up early to go hunting. He didn't get anything yet. He saw a few deer but he's holding out for the big one.

We've been potty training Kate for the last few days and she's doing pretty good. She will tell me when she needs to go pee. She's almost filled up her sticker potty chart. She hasn't pooped on the toilet yet though. I think that will take a bit more time. I'm hoping we'll have that mastered by the time she turns two in one month.

Thanksgiving and Kaden's Preschool program

When my IL's were here for Thanksgiving, my SIL Shanna helped the kids make these cute little turkey hats. They had so much fun! Here are some video's from Kaden's preschool Christmas program on Tuesday. Kaden did so good! It was way cute. It was taken on my digital camera, so the quality isn't that great, but you get the idea. Kaden in on the far end of the front row, in the argyle sweater. He really loves preschool, and his teacher Mrs. Connolly.

Update - Finally!

I've been putting off posting because I've had so much going on lately and I knew it would be a really long post, so here goes. Kudos if you make it all the way through!

First, I'll start off with our trip to Philly. We had a BLAST! We flew out on Oct 25 and lew back on Nov 1, so we were there for a full week. We stayed with our very dear friends, Richard and Shari Michaud. They have three kids, Brighten - 4, Kanyen - 2, and Carver - 7 months-ish. We all went to see the Statue of Liberty on Monday. On Tuesday we went to Hershey, PA and did the kiddie tour of the factory (with free chocolate samples at the end). It was a really slow day, so we did that like three times. We also saw a cute 3D movie. On Wednesday we saw the Liberty Bell. On Thursday we just hung out and on Friday we did all the fun Halloween stuff. Kaden was Mickey Mouse and Kate was Tinker Bell. We made a killing while we were trick-or-treating. I really loved PA. It was so beautiful, the leaves were changing colors. I've never seen anything like that in AZ. All the reds, oranges, yellows... so pretty! And all the houses are so cute. I love the brick houses with shutters. You don't see very much of that in AZ either. We are so thankful for our friends letting us crash at their house for a week. And so here are some pics from our trip:

An the airplane heading to PA... Kaden thought is was so cool. Kate hated it. It was 5 hours of torture. Which made it kind of misserable for me and Brent too.



Ellis Island outside and inside. The ceiling inside was so cool! It is a really pretty building. It was still used as an immigration port of entry until the 1950's which I never knew. I thought it was only used until the early 1900's.



We are at the base of the statue, but at the top of the pedestal, about halfway up. Look close, we're waving!



This is the view from way up there:



Lady Liberty in front of te NYC skyline. So cool! A few fun facts: the statue was built by the same guy that did another workd famous tower... Eiffel ring a bell? And the statue was originally used as a light house. The torch has bleen replaced several times and the original light-torch is in a museum at the base of the tower.


Our dear friends, the Michauds:


Little Kanyen lost a fight with a blue ink pen in the car on the way to Hershey. He's so darn cute.


On the tour ride at Hershey, us then my cute friend Shari with two of her boys:



Downtown Hershey... Notice the street lights. How fun! Doesn't it just look like a picture-perfect town?



All dressed up for Halloween in Philly... Tinker Bell, Mickey Mouse, a knight, a dog, and a pea pod. So cute!


Inspecting (and eating) the loot!



We had Thanksgiving at our hause this year. Brent's parent's, sister Jodi, brother Branden with his wife Shanna and three girls all came. We had so much fun! The only ones missing was his sister Danae who is on a mission in Oregon, and his aunt Becky and uncle Kris who live in Pine but couldn't come because of an illness. It was such a nice time, and I'm so thinkful to have married in to such a wonderful family. I don't think I could have better in-law's. I really missed being with my family too though. Brent was on call for his second job at the funeral home for the whole week, and he worked at UPS on Friday, so we couldn't go out of town. It was my first time cooking a turkey, and it wasn't too bad! I love Thanksgiving.

For Christmas this year, we will be staying here again. Brent only has Christmas Day off, which is on a Thursday this year. Oh, the joys of working for UPS. He doesn't get to take ANY time off in December, ever. We put up our tree on Monday for FHE. We actually had to buy a new tree this year. I forgot when I sent Brent out to the shed to bring in the tree, that we donated it last year. It was a really old tree that was a pain in the neck to put up. So we were forced to go out and buy a new tree. Which I'm glad, but I wish we didn't have to spend that money this year. We got a pre-lit tree. I love it! It's really pretty.

I've been super busy more recently with Chemistry homework (this is my last week of class and I'll hopefully regain some of my sanity!). I also started working at the hospital. I finished my training a few weeks ago (three 12 hour days in a row- I was exausted!). The day after I finished my training, I watched my friend's eight kids (yes, I said EIGHT!) for six days while they went to NY. They are all homeschooled. And I even took them to 9:00 AM church with me. I am in the Primary Presidency and that day was our primary program in sacrament meeting, so I had to be there. My kids had a ton of fun playing with all those kids, and she paid me enough to pay for our whole Christmas this year.

Here are some pictures of Kaden playing soccer a few months ago. He LOVED it!
Kade and Dad cheering Kaden on:

Kaden's the one on the far right:


A picture of me and my sweet Granny after Grumpa's funeral:


Kaden getting a haircut at "the haircutting store". He says the funniest things.
Before

After

Anyway, I hope you had a good Halloween and Thanksgiving and that you have an even better Christmas.

I love you Granny and Grumpa!

I just got back in town lastnight after spending three days down in the valley with my Granny. My Grumpa passed away on Wednesday night. It was such a privelage for me to be able to help her and spend time with her. I am so sad for her. And I'll really miss my Grumpa. I'm very glad I was able to see him the day he passed away.
He was such a sweetheart. He wanted Granny to take him home so bad. He didn't like being in the hospital. All the nurses were saying how sweet h was to them though. He cheered up a bit when we brought him a cheese crisp from the cafeteria. He wasn't a big fan of the hospital food. Granny and I decided that we were going to bring him a breakfast burrito in the morning when we came back. He was very alert and pretty coherent as well. He seemed to be aware of his surroundings most of the time, which is a big change from when I saw him last week. I was shocked to find out that he passed away that night. He semmed to be doing so much better than when I saw him last week.
I'm so glad that I went down there to help my Granny. I was able to be with her when she needed help finding out what to do after his passing, and choose a mortuary. I was able to go with her to a small viewing on Friday morning. The mortuary dressed him in his temple clothes and he looked so good. I'm so glad Grandma was able to see him looking so wonderful and peaceful. The mortuary really did a wonderful job with him, and it made Granny so happy to see him looking so good and in his temple clothes.
I'm headed up to Eagar tomorrow for the funeral.

Also, it seems like when it rains, it pours. I just found out from my dad that my Mom was admited to the hospital lastnight for pneumonia. Why does everything happen all at once? I am emotionally exausted.

Anyway, I'm feeling so thankful for my Granny and the wonderful woman that she is. I'm so sorry for her sadness. I love and admire her so much.
I'm thankful that she has been able to be married to my grandpa. They were so cute together. They loved eachother so much. He will be missed by many.