Valentine Letters

Kory's parents our currently serving a mission in Nauvoo, IL. Unfortunately we haven't been the best at sending regular letters. So a week before Valentines Day we decided to write to our grandparents and tell them how much we love them with a bit of a twist. We used conversation hearts in place of some of our words. The kids loved it!

 Maddie had some serious concentration. Sh

 With a little help Emily was able to use several candies in her letter.

Brayden I think ate more candies than we got on paper. In the end he wrote his name by himself and we glued the candies into a heart shape.

Hunter cracked us up! He didn't like some of the words on the candies and he was having a hard time using them after he used his first 3/4. So my very resourceful son flipped the candy over and wrote his own word on it!

This turned out to be a great family home evening night. My girls want to do this almost every week now. So glad they had fun. I just hope our package arrived with the candies still intact so that Grandma and Grandpa could read it.

Kylie's 8 months

 Kylies photo shoot the end of last month was a disaster!!! I love this little girl to pieces but she sure makes my life miserable trying to get her monthly pictures. If she wasn't baby #5 and I had my camera out a lot like I did with my older kiddo's I woudn't worry about it so much. But my picture taking has drastically been reduced with each child. I'm afraid if I don't take pictures once a month of this cutie pie I won't get any of her in these stages that quickly go by.

So of like the 50 I took here's the best one!! One day I'll have time to play with it in photo shop and fix the tacky background but for now it's what's working for us.

 These dang sticker's were an awesome idea but seriously.... This kid won't leave them alone!!

 If it's not the sticker that takes her attention it's the fuzzy drop she's sitting on and can't leave alone.

 I ordered this cute hat for Kylie B several months ago. It was suppose to fit a newborn! I have never seen a newborn with a head so big it that this hat would fit. So I've waited and waited and waited and thought I'd try it in this months photo shoot. Still too big but I love the hat! That being said Miss Kylie didn't appreciate it. She just wanted it off! Big brother Brayden was trying to distract her with dominoe's.

 Didn't work! She wanted the domino just not the hat. Oh well.... Maybe next month's!

I must admit I love her little scunched up "I'm upset, leave me alone" look.

Baskettball Season

My husband says how different our town is compared to when he grew up here. When he was a child there were 8-10 families that had 6-14 kids each. He says that across from our house was a baseball field that was always occupied by the local kids. He remember's there always being someone to play with. Today it's a bit different. Our primary has just over 20 kids in it. In fact our Junior Primary is so small that we only have 2 teachers. One teaches the sunbeams and the other teaches everyone else. This makes it hard on this 2nd teacher as she has about 10 kids ranging from age 4-8. Now that being said more than half of those kids our my kids immediate cousins.  I learned real quick that my kids love to play with there cousins but sometimes it's nice to be able to play with a just a friend too. Unfotunately most of my kids classmates live anywhere from 15-40 minutes away. It's not easy to get them together and I've been amazed at how many parents tell me they don't want to have to come to my house to pick there child up after school. We live to far away! Frankly I hate it!!! So wanting my kids to make friends outside of cousins and to give them an opportunity to play with them I've allowed Hunter and Madelyn to play whatever sport or participate in whatever acitivity they have had an interest in at school. 

Over these past few months (since November) both Hunter and Madelyn have played baskettball. This year Hunter's team wasn't too bad. His practices were after school and almost every game was at our local highschool. This still gives me a 30min. drive one way but it was an oppportunity that Hunter really enjoyed. Somehow my pictures that I took got "lost" so I have none to share. His team had 19 kids on it and they were 3rd/4th graders. Our team was split into two due to it's size. They were almost undefeated! They only lost one game and it was to our other half which is kind of funny being all kids played for both teams. Hunter's season ran from the beginning of November until the middle of January.

The week after the boy's season was complete the girls started. No rest for this family. Madelyn's team has had practice 3x a week before school at 6:00am. This has been difficult. Where as there wasn't anyone local I could car pool with Hunter's team I've had another mom to car pool with Madelyn's which had made her crazy schedule a little easier to deal with. We get our 8 year olds up about 5:15 a.m, pick each other's kids up about 5:35 and have our kids to practice by 6am. In my opinion this is way too early for any 8 year old!! On top of the 3x a week practice she has one game. Unfortunatley only 2 games of the 6 were home games. We've had to travel to Kanab and Fredonia which are an hour away from home. All of her games have started at 4:30 pm too. I hate this time. How our dad's suppose to make it to these early games?? Madelyn is #10

 I feel like we've been living in our van lately. If the kids were to ride the bus home from school we would be late for these far away games. So instead I pick everyone up from school, drive to the game and hang out in the car for up to an hour! Hunter's teacher at school realized what I was doing and offered her classroom to us to use after school.  I've taken her up on this these past few weeks. While we wait in her classroom we read, do homework and visit. Basicly the same thing we do in the van while we wait but we each have more personal space and moving room. The kids still get bored but it beats sitting in the van. If only we didn't have freezing temperatures and we could play outside!

Maddies team is also 3rd and 4th girls. She being in 3rd makes this her 1st year playing the game. Last year she was able to participate in a baskettball camp. At the end of the 2 weeks the girls played each other.  

We've got one more week of baskettball. I can hardly wait!! Her last game this week is a home game which makes it even better. The majority of her team are 3rd graders, just learning. It's been a little hard on her knowing Hunter's team was basicly undefeated and they've only won one game of the 5 they have played. We keep telling her that as long as she's playing her best that is all that counts. Winning is fun but it's not everything.

I'm so looking forward to the season ending. I feel like I'm at the end of my rope. Most mon/wed I drive to at least Orderville 2x for practice and preschool which is being in the car for just under 2 hours throughout the morning. When there's a game on the same day I feel like I've been gone and in the car most of the day. On game days I get the 2 hours in the morning of being in the car than another 2 hours in the afternoon/evening for games. I leave my house on these days at 2:30 and don't get home until 6:30/7. So glad it's almost over. Wed are my hardest day's. So glad I've only got one more. Till next year'!

Brayden Starts Preschool...

I love all of my 5 kids.

That being said I have to admit that I have really enjoyed the time I have with my 2 youngest at home by ourselves. We have fun. We play with playdough, we color, we paint and

 we fix yummy snacks. It's a great time to see and watch the personality come out of my 3 year old. Sometimes he seems to get overshadowed by his older siblings, especially when they get home from school and I've got 5 kids asking for my attention all at the same time.

 During Christmas break we were able to visit with lots of family members on both sides of the family. Many times I was asked to interpret what Brayden was saying. It was brought to my attention that this little man of my life didn't/couldn't say some of the letter sounds and therefore wasn't easily understood. After talking to my mom about this I finally got the nerve to call our school district and make an appt. to have his speech tested. Three weeks later he had his appt. with the speach therapist. Brayden's going to be turning 4 in April and there are several letter sounds that he can't make yet and should be able to at this point.  His hearing test came out fine and after some paperwork was completed Brayden qualified for free speach therapy done at the school twice a week. On top of that because of this "impairment" he qualifies to attend preschool 2x a week for free. I wasn't ready for my little man to leave my side quite yet. Brayden however LOVES school.  

 Brayden in front of his school!

 Brayden just loves his "Diego" back pack.

 This is Miss Wendy, his teacher. He has a cubby with his name on it and a picture of a ball. Ball starts with the letter "B" therefore marking Brayden's spot throughout the classroom!

When he gets to preschool he's suppose to put his "homework" in a box, put his backpack in his cubby and sign in. He loves writing his name to sign in. He is loving preschool. Everyday he asks what day it is and if it's preschool day. I have to take him to school but in the afternoons he get's to ride the bus home with all the other kids. He and two other preschoolers sit behind the bus driver and wear safety harnesses to help keep them in their seats. I've always worked with my kids at home on learning letter's, number's, sound's etc. but I have been so impressed with how quickly he's learning attending preschool twice a week. He comes home with homework to do each day. It started with a paper having him draw straight lines, cirlces, his name, etc. Now it's tracing and writing phonograms. If that wasn't enough he also brings a book home that I am suppose to read to him enough times that he can than take the book and tell me the story back. He get's so excited to do his homework and it's been fun to do it with him. I miss my little guy during the day. I miss his stories, his laughter, his willingness to help me with my chores, his wanting to bake banana bread each and every day but I know he's having a great time at school.  

Kylie is 7 months old..

After Christmas the lil' pumpkin of mine hit her 7 month mark. She's getting so big! Well I should re phrase that... Developmentally we can see her growth but she's still pretty petite and at this time could still wear some of her 0-3 month outfits.

 She sits's up great. She finally started to play on her own with some of her toys. I love that I no longer need to entertain her constantly! Her two bottom teeth are fully in and she's learning how to use them.

 She's no where near crawling yet as she really doesn't like to be on her belly. And really this being baby 5 I'm totally allright with her not crawling. I am so not ready for that next stage.

Little stinker is no longer a good sleeper. She wakes up severals time during the night wanting to nurse. We've started feeding her baby food before bed with the hopes of getting more than 4 hours between feedings. She's starting to eat more table foods like green beans that we bottled this past fall, canned peaches, soft bread and store bought baby snacks.  

Plumbing Issues

So in the middle of January one night Kory ran to the basement to grab some ice cream. He came back up the stair's not a very happy man. We had a water leak! Really we're just so very thankful that he discovered the leak and soggy packing boxes before the basement flooded!

We thought that with the numerous day's in a row that were below freezing temperatures that maybe the pipes had frozen or the leech lines. To make sure we didn't end up with a flooded basement he shut the water off with the intention's of working on it the following day. The kids and I got to go the whole next day without running water. We survived the inconvenience and was hopefull that it would only be the one day. No such luck! Kory called our landlords and explained the situation to them.  They thought that maybe the septic tank was full and needed pumped. So on day 2 Kory took some time off work, borrowed a mini excavator and tried to find the septic tank. After digging around in the area our landlord thought it was in but was still unsuccesfull he decided to move to the other side of the white picnic fence.  He found  a random water line and broke the pvc pipe. We had a mini geiser! After the water cleared and a little more digging accomplished the missing septic tank was found. It wasn't full to the top but it was in need of emptying so we found someone who could do that on day 3. The septic tank is now empty and the broken water line is fixed. We turned the water back on to discover that the pipes still leaked but only when the water was running like the flushing of a toilet or a faucet that was turned on. So Kory left the water on for us but we just couldn't use it.

Day 4 Kory took some more time off work to work on our plumbing issue. He finally discovered that the inlet pump going into the septic tank had broken off. Meaning some of the flow could get in but not very much. Unfortunatley we couldn'd find anyone in town that had the needed parts. So day 5 we  got someone to bring us the parts from the "city" and not only had running water again but usable running water. Hip Hip Hooray!!! I got just what I wanted for my birthday that day. A SHOWER in my own home!!! I was a long week to say the least.

Emily's 1st Lost Tooth

Right after Christmas Break this big girl of mine finally lost her 1st tooth. She is the youngest of her siblings to loose her 1st tooth. Hunter didn't loose his 1st tooth until 2nd grade and Madelyn was in 1st. She's quite proud of herself for being the youngest in the family to loose a tooth thus far.

 Our Tooth Fairy quite frankly needs to be fired. She does an absolute terrible job. There have been too many times to count that it's taken her 3-5 days after the lost tooth before she finally finds her way here. We make up all sorts of excuses for her like, it's a sunday and the tooth fairy doesn't work on sunday's or you must have stayed up too late and she had to pass us by or the opposite, you got up to early before she was done with her visits. I really do feel terrible that our tooth fairy can't seem to come the same night as this grand event.

Being this was Emily's 1st lost tooth the tooth fairy did make her much anticipated appearance on the 1st night and left her a whole dollar.  A few weeks ago Miss Emily lost another tooth. The tooth fairy didn't come for 3 days!! It was just terrible on my little 5 year old. Just last week Miss Emily lost her 3rd tooth.  The tooth fairy made numerous mental notes and actually left notes in her bed so she wouldn't forget. The next morning Emily came down so excited with Madelyn right behind her. The tooth fairy had left 2- one dollar bills??? After Emily walked away Madelyn replied, "Yeah mom, you always forget so I did it for you". Madelyn is such a sweetheart! Can I give her the money and ask her to play our tooth fairy?

Madelyn's 2nd Surgery

Remember this from about 2 years ago??

I do! And even though it wasn't that terrible I told myself and everyone around that I hoped we'd never have to go through that again. Madelyn was about 4 months shy of turning 7.

 Earlier this year I noticed that some of Madelyn's original symptoms seemed to be returning. She started snoring again, complained she didn't sleep good and had a hard time breathing out of her nose. Being it was allergy season and we were living our 1st Spring surrounded by Alfalfa fields, fresh hay, dirt roads and farm animals of every kind I kind of just assumed that all of these factors were playing with her allergies. During the Summer, her Aunt Camille asked if she was still struggling from her Adenoid removal as she sounded nasally to her. I'll admit I was a bit irritated with the question because I had wondered the same thing but really didn't want to be bothered with it. I didn't want to awknowledge that her adenoids may have grown back and we had another surgery on the horizon.  So life moved on... I had baby Kylie, Emily broke her leg, school started for me and the kids, Kylie's shoulder was popped out of it's socket, Kory's shift at work changed, etc., etc.

Once my classes for the semester had ended and my life slowed down I realized that Madelyn's breathing problems had progressively gotten worse. Pour girl couldn't even chew with her mouth closed. So I googled Adenoids and learned that generally speaking Adenoids removed from a toddler do have a slight chance of re-growth but if removed after the age of 5 they very rarely re-grow to be big enough to cause problems. Madelyn had  been 6 1/2! So I broke down and made an appt. with Dr. Chase (same doctor). At her appt. the nurse came in and asked why we were there. I told her that I had thought Madelyn's adenoids had re-grown. She looked right at me and said, "Noooo, Adenoids don't grow back!"  I said O.K but she sure has the same symptoms she had had before they were removed the first time. The nurse just kinda chuckled and informed me that Dr. Chase would be in to talk with us. So several minutes go by and in walks Dr. Chase. Apparently the nurse has informed him of my self diagnosis and he is quick to tell me that generally speaking adenoids don't grow back. Back in the time this did occur quite often but with the newest and latest technology now day's it really doesn't happen! So he pulls out his little tools and looks in her mouth, up her nose, etc. He sits back in his chair and looks right at me and says,"WOW! Mom, your self diagnosis is correct. This girls Adenoids have grown back. This is his 1st patient of 12+ years that this has happened. On top of her adenoid issue her tonsils were twice the size they should have been. Her tonsils were larger than most adults. In the end we decided to have her adenoids removed once more along with her tonsils. Knowing that the end of the year was quickly approaching and knowing we had already met our deductible we took what appt. we could. One week before Christmas Day.

Madelyn was a bit nervous of course but than so was I!

 About 15 minutes before she was wheeled away from me she was given a "sleepy" drink. This calms the nerves, and makes her tired. Due to her age her IV was placed after she was knocked out.

 Madelyn did not wake up very happy! She had a much harder time coming out of the anesthesia than she did last time. But we made it through and before to long we were back at Grandma's. We stayed at Grandma's for 2 days before heading home. She ate lots of ice chips!

 She really struggled that first week at home. She fought us on her pain meds and refused to eat. She lost about 10 pounds that week.  At times she would come to the kitchen to help (something she loves) but within minutes she would be sitting at the island just watching or had fallen asleep.

 Christmas Day was day 7, after surgery, which I had been warned could be the worse day of recovery. Christmas morning she came down the stairs in tears and in pain. I really felt for her. After a mini battle of taking her pain meds she decided she was ready to see what Santa had brought but not to many smiles were seen that day. Madelyn had recently played Clue at a friends house and that's all we heard her say she wanted. She certainly didn't act to excited about it that day but I've lost count the amount of times we've played this game with her over the past few weeks!

 Madelyn spent almost the rest of the week on the couch. She wasn't reading, or coloring or playing with anything. She'd just sit/lay down on the couch in her own little world and drift in and out of consciousness.

 I was told that the recovery  time would be about 3 full weeks. That was pretty accurate for this girl. After the 2nd week she started to eat things like banana's, bottled pears, yoghurt, etc. There were many moments that I didn't think we'd survive this experience but somehow we managed. Once she started to eat I think she started to feel better despite what she say's. The girl was just starving herself. She refused to eat anything but ice chips in fear that it would hurt. We tried jello, pudding, apple juice, chicken noodle soup, ice cream, smoothies, yoghurt's, mashed potato's, etc, but she wouldn't eat any of it. It's no wonder she had no energy, didn't feel good and slept most of the time. She was on a diet of ice chips for about 10 day's. Finally I got mad and I'll admit lost my temper with her and told she was going to sit and eat whatever it was I had placed in front of her or I'd spoon feed her. It took her more than 30 minutes to eat 1/3 cup but she did eat it and I started making her eat every couple of hours with the threat hanging over her head! It worked and we started to see the recovery happening. Madelyn had her follow up recently and everything's looks great. She is healing nicely. Tonsils don't grow back, EVER! And hopefully her adenoids are good and gone this time. I really really really don't ever want to go through that again!

Christmas Day

My son is 9 years old soon to be 10. I can't believe how time flies. This year Hunter asked Santa for a BB Gun OR the Skylander's game with figures for the WII. I prefer that Santa bring my children NON electronic toys. This left us with the BB Gun. Being only 9 I was not/am not ready to have my child have a gun. Hunter is a responsible kid and I trust him to use his head around guns but really???? Just not ready. After talking to my mom who informed me both my brother's received their bb guns around the same age and many friends and other family member's received their bb guns at this same age I relented  and told Santa the BB Gun would be fine. Despite his silly look he was beyond thrilled with this gift. He knew I was against it and really didn't think he'd get this.  

 Over the past few months Brayden has discovered Super Heroes. His favorite is Spider Man and Captain America. He told Santa all he wanted was a Spider Man house. Despite his face he was thrilled. He loved this new toy so much that he refused to open any other gifts until later that day when was done playing with this one.

 Santa won the heart of Emily this year. All she wanted was her very own camera. I kept telling her that I didn't think she was old enough to have her own camera. She begged me over and over to tell Santa when he called that it was O.K for her to have her very own camera. I never would tell her what I told Santa so she was thrilled to see this.

 Madelyn still recovering from her tonsillectomy was pleased to see that Santa brought her what she asked for too.

 Miss Kylie slept beyond the 6:30 am wake up call the rest of us had so opened her gifts a little later. Santa brought her, her very 1st baby doll! This year when our kiddo's exchanged names with each other we decided that our theme this year was homemade gifts (last year was food storage). Hunter drew out Kylie's name and with some help he decided to make her some towel bibs. I drew the circle on the towel to be cut out and helped him pin the ribbing but he did the rest with me watching over his shoulder. He did a great job!  Mom and Dad gave Kylie a few new toys and slipper's. I

 Each year I try to make my kids some sort of a homemade gift. As they get older it has become more and more difficult. Sometimes I succeed and well.... sometimes I don't. This year I succeeded with her and was able to made an indoor hop scotch. Being it's been in the 20-35 degree weather lately this has been a great indoor energy release. All Madelyn wanted this year was more baking stuff. So I filled a box with more cake mixes, brownie mixes, muffin pouches, frosting, sprinkles and the such. We also gave her some more drawing/crafty fashion books. Brayden drew his big sister's name and I helped him make her some new bracelets for his homemade gift.

 Brayden this year was pretty easy for us. We gave him more puzzles. I made him a homemade gift which was the super hero cape with mask. One side is Superman and the other Captain America. Madelyn had Brayden this year and decided to make him some more play dough which is something he really enjoys playing with.

 Emily scored this year according to her pictures. Santa brought the girls several years ago a Barbie house and asked mom to provide the furniture. I made the majority of it using cardboard boxes and the such. After several years of abuse the furniture was needing to be replaced. So... wanting the furniture to last a bit longer this time I bit the bullet and scored a few deals when it came to the barbie furniture.  I was going to make Emily some dress ups as her homemade gift from me but in the end I took advantage of some 80-90% off Halloween costumes instead. Kylie drew Emily's name to exchange this year so Mom helped out by making Emily some LPS necklaces.

Hunter this year was quite difficult. He will soon be 10 and wanted expensive electronics along with most of his friends. You know things like his very own Ipod or the newest WII system, an X Box 360 or a DS. All things that weren't exactly on mom and dad's list. My brother in law several weeks ago taught him how to play Battleship. This is all he's talked about. Now he has his own and mom and dad have tried to play the game every time we've been asked. Hunter also read the Percy Jackson series and LOVED it! The library has had a hard time keeping the next little series that goes along with it on their shelves. So... we gave him that too. What kind of a homemade gift can you get a 9 year old boy???  I was able to come up with something after all. We bought him a football and then I made 10 belts and 10 blue/red pieces of fabric that attached to the belts for his own game of flag football. He was a bit disappointed  that we couldn't go out and play in the 2 feet of snow we've got but we were able to play a good game later that weekend with several Aunts, Uncles, Grandpa and cousins down in Hurricane. Emily drew Hunter's name and was able to talk her dad into helping her build him a night stand to hold all his books that were currently all over his dresser and pushed under his bed. He was thrilled and Emily was thrilled to spend some alone time with her dad building this together.

Emily was having a hard time figuring out her new camera so big sister sat and helped her figure it out. I love their looks of concentration. 

 Emily loved her new dress ups. All day long every time we saw her she was dressed up as something new. This was her favorite dress to wear.

 I think Kylie enjoyed the extra love and attention she received. We stayed in our P.J's almost the whole day (something we never do) and just played and played and played.

At the beginning of Christmas week we thought we would have most of Kory's sibling's over for a big dinner and a few other families that weren't able to make it home this year. We were expecting a total of 9 families. Christmas Eve, thanks to some major sickness going around we were down to 5 families. About an hour before our big dinner the phone began to ring and we learned the sickness had spread. In the end it was just us and Kory's sister, Harmony's family. We had PLENTY of food that lasted several day's but it was a great day. After dinner we sent the little kids upstairs to play and set up an extra table for the bigger kids. The adults played games on one table and the bigger kids played games on the other table. We had a great time.

Christmas Eve Tradition

Growing up Kory's family had a tradition of being able to open up one gift. It was a gift that Mom and Dad chose. In that gift it was always a new pair of pajama's, sometimes matching sometimes not. We've carried that tradition on with our family. This year it was quite comical to listen to the three oldest (9,8 &6) talk about the gift they were going to open. The three agreed that this was a terrible tradition because they already knew what was inside! Why did Mom, even bother to wrap them up. Kory laughed and laughed. He told the kids he remember's saying some of the same things to his parents. Regardless of what my children think I love the tradition and will continue to carry it on. I've told my bigger kids that when they are the mom or dad they can choose to torture their kids in the same way or start the tradition of opening all the gifts Christmas Eve as Hunter said he's going to do. Can't wait to see what his future wife thinks about that plan!

Here's Brayden waiting so patiently for everyone to come down so he can finally open one of his gifts. Despite the numerous conversations of the new pajama's he was still pretty clueless as to what was inside.

 Kylie being almost 7 months old loved the box as most babies do.

 Hunter trying to act thrilled about opening a gift, NOT of his choosing. 

 This kid makes us laugh. It has become quite difficult to get a good picture of him. He see's the camera and starts pulling all sorts of faces. In the end he was excited to see some Angry Birds P.J's.

 Madelyn was not feeling well. Almost got a smile from her!

 Having 5 kids I've realized how EXTREMELY DIFFICULT it can be to get just ONE pict. of everyone looking at the camera. I don't know if I'll ever succeed at this. But regardless, here they are all excited for the big night that has finally come. 

 Emily is 6 and still LOVES baby doll's. She was thrilled that her pajama's once again came with a matching one for her baby doll.

 Miss Kylie's nightie has been passed down to each of my girls. Grandma Heaton made it for Madelyn when she was a baby for her Christmas gift. She was 6 months old at the time. I packed it up and saved it for our future baby girls to use. Emily was then born and even though she was only 3 mo. old at the time I used it for her pajama gift too. Miss Kylie hit her 7 month mark just after Christmas and we used it once again. Makes me sad to think this little tradition is now complete. No more of my babies will be sleeping in this gown again.  I think I'll hang on to it and pass it to my girls when they are married and start having their own babies. I'll let them decide if they want to use it with their girls.