Upgrade and Camping

The other day Kenny upgraded our birds' home, and moved it to the backyard (it was in the garage). He took their home, flipped it over and added some more wood and voila. A nice little shaded and covered area to keep them and their food, happy and dry. Then he got some more chicken wiring and built that little wood thing in the corner, and attached the wire to other wood pieces with hooks so it wouldn't ruin the shed. I know, I'm so good at explaining construction projects, haha. I don't know what he did or how he did it so fast. The birds love their new little home, and it keeps our garage from smelling so bad and having water, poop, and wood chips all over it.

Yesterday was a good, productive day. Last night Kenny and Tyler went camping in the backyard! They've been trying to do it for many weekends now, but we are either gone, or it always rains on Friday night it seems. But this weekend turned out to be perfect for them, as Tyler has been extra needy for his daddy this week. He gets so upset that he has to go to work every day! We set up our huge tent that we haven't pulled out in like 2 years, and they thought itw as the coolest thing ever. Kenny turned one of the iron pot things (that used to have potting soil in it, where we grew some tomatoes last year) into a fire pit and even had a little fire. I am not sure how often it will happen. Let's be honest, camping is fun, but it is a lot of work, and nobody gets a good night's sleep. So I think it's good that we just stick to our backyard for now. I didn't even dare try to go out there with Brynlee. She would be a horrible camper (although she really loves the tent), and my allergies are so bad inside the house, I would surely die if I tried sleeping outside!

I happily stayed inside and watched Dear John with some popcorn.

Show Week

Today was Tyler's last day of Little Gym for this semester. His age group are called "Funny Bugs". At the end of each semester they do what's called show week, where you bring whoever you want and all your cameras, and your kids show off and do little routines on the floor, the bars, and the balance beam. Kenny even got off work for a couple hours to come and watch him, which made it even more special for Tyler. He has absolutely loved going to these little classes, so it's very enjoyable for me because I've never once had to push him to do it. He gets so excited about it every week, and has improved a lot. We didn't join until halfway through the semester, but he was still performing with the best of em, seriously. Their teacher, Miss Allison, got a new job and wasn't here this week. So it was an adjustment for all of the kids to work with someone they'd never met before for their show week, but they did great and had fun. They gave them all little medals at the end, and Tyler has not taken it off once. He is so proud of that thing!

He moved very slowly and cautiously. He even told me this morning as we were driving there, "Mom, I don't like the high bar." haha I know it scares him, but he did it!

He loves all the running around and tumbling stuff on the floor and the mats on the floor, but the heights make him really nervous. I was proud of him for doing the balance beam and bars so well, even though you could see the fear on his face the whole time!

Taking a bow with his medal on. I don't think I've ever taught him what a bow was, and so it was quite the awkward bend-over. But that made it even cuter :)

We took him out to lunch afterwards at Sonic (his favorite) and made a big deal of it for him. He was pretty happy. :)

Brynlee has nothing to do with this post, and I know she looks like a drunkard in this picture. I just think she looks like Cindy Lou-who with her pigtails and I wanted to show off what little hair she has haha. We're getting there.

Getting my life back

As of yesterday I am 12 weeks along, and I can feel it!! The past week has been wonderful as I see and feel improvements with each day! I have so much more energy, fewer headaches, I don't feel nauseous all day, and I haven't thrown up in over a week! I feel like I'm getting my life back and it's so wonderful! Feeling lousy for 3 months sure makes you appreciate normal health and strength. I had another dr. appt. yesterday and my doc couldn't find the heartbeat. I started to get really worried (even though he told me not to be), scared that I had gotten this far into it and then lose the baby. I know it's selfish, but I would have been so upset to be sick for so long, all for nothing. But they hurried and did an ultrasound and everything's fine. Perfect, actually. I feel so blessed. My baby even did a little wave at me :).

Life is great, and I'm back to my old self. Days are filled with playing, coloring, painting, learning, teaching, games, cleaning, cooking, etc. etc. Even working out on some days. I am so happy.

(If only my allergies would cooperate and leave me alone.)

Let's try this again

So I have tried several times this week to upload photos, and blogger kept rejecting me. I didn't have any patience or time to mess around with it, so I'm a little behind again. But I figured it was high time I give our little additions a proper introduction. They were there waiting for us when we got home and have been the highlight of Tyler's life (and maybe Kenny's) ever since.

Here is the motley crew:

2 geese: one a female, so Kenny had to name her Mother Goose. So Tyler decided that the male should be Father Goose.
2 ducks: The yellow one is Donald, because it will turn white as it grows up. The black one Tyler named, Blackie, even though we tried to tell him he wasn't going to stay black.
One more chicken: This one was a surprise when we got home from Texas and Kenny had picked up one more chicken at the store when he was picking up our ducks and geese. We named him Larry (the Loner) because he doesn't really have anyone. The other chickens, Squeak and Sunny, are much bigger now and pick on him. So he hangs out with the ducks and geese, except for when they go swimming. Then he's just Larry the loner. He's pretty cute though, and will apparently lay different colored eggs, not white or brown. I'm excited to see that.

Brynlee and Mother Goose seeing eye to eye.

This is to show the cool little house that Kenny built for the birds. I get tired of trying to catch them for Tyler and put them in and out, so I just put Tyler in there to catch them himself and he loves it. :)

Don't worry, Kenny mowed the lawn shortly after this picture was taken.

It was so hot yesterday and today that we had to pull out this little pool and let them swim around. They were in heaven and it's so cute to watch them dive in and swim around. They're so cute when they're little!

This is the cutest thing to watch. They all follow Tyler around everywhere. He thinks it's pretty cool too!

I am not sure what we are going to do with all these crazy animals in a few weeks when they get real big. But for now, they are cute and little and we're sure having fun with them. I think Kenny wishes I cared about them more, or were more involved with them. But I just don't like getting pooped on, and I just don't have the love for animals that he does, haha.

Now a little catch up.

Friday night we got a babysitter and went to the Pearsons for a fun dinner and game of hand and foot with several other couples from the ward again. It was the first time we haven't had to leave early, and it was so fun! I love babysitters.

Saturday we did some serious yard work. I got up on the roof and cleaned out all the rain gutters because they were all clogged. I couldn't lift Kenny up on the roof, and we didn't have a ladder, so the only option left was for him to hoist me up there. Next time I will make sure we do it in the morning when it's not so blazing hot. That roof was burning my bum.

We also took the kids swimming. Let me re-phrase that, Kenny was kind enough to take the kids swimming while I ran. I only did 3 miles, but it was the first time I've worked out in over a month (I was feeling great yesterday! hallelujah!) I can't believe how sore I am today. I got so out of shape so quickly! Kenny went to buy a blower and a weed eater in the morning, and also brought me home a baguette and cinnamon roll from the little boulangerie, "because he was thinking of me". That made me smile :), and he knows that the taste of baguettes bring back so many memories of my childhood in France so that was so nice of him. So yeah, yesterday was a good day. We were all so tired at the end of the day, but it was productive.

Church was great, although I am counting down the weeks till nursery for Bryn. I am going to beg and plead on my knees, to see if they'll take her in at 17 months. Today we had our friends, the Reeds, over for dinner and so their kids could see the birds. It was so much fun, and I'm so grateful for Terra's friendship.

Brynlee still doesn't talk very much, but she's picking up signing really quickly and can do between 15 and 20 signs. She does several animal sounds and can point to a few more body parts. She is so stinkin cute; sometimes, I just don't know what to do with her.

I don't think I ever mentioned this earlier, but Tyler overcame his fears of the "big potty" and has not used his little potty in weeks! It was just in time for our long road trip, with stops at the gas station, he just had no choice.

I had my first ultrasound for this baby back on May 6th, and everything's looking great so far. According to the measurements of the baby, my due date is December 7th, which is 4 days off of what I thought, but that's no big deal. I feel so blessed to be carrying another healthy baby!

That's enough for now. Good night.

Home, Alive, and Well

We are back! I took the kids with me down to Houston for a week to hang out with my family. I really needed a break, and to be in a house that doesn't make me so sick. It was just what I needed. We left on Mother's Day after sacrament meeting and drove to Little Rock, Arkansas. We stayed the night in a hotel, then finished the drive on Monday. It was a long drive, 14 hours by myself with kids. But it was so worth it. It was a nice, relaxing week where I only threw up one day (the last day haha) and felt great the rest of the time. I got to nap every day and have people entertain my kids for me. I still have 3 siblings at home: Laura, Tim, and Sarah (although Laura will be leaving this summer). Tim and Ty were inseparable and Tyler practically worships him. He is a great uncle and I wish we had uncle Tim around all the time. He let Ty sleep in his bed every night, he took him swimming after school, they wrestled, jumped on the trampoline, etc. etc.

Brynlee grew quite attached to Grandma and everyone loves what a snuggler she is. I got to be there for my mom's birthday, which was on Wednesday. It was nice to be there for that little celebration, and I wish I would have taken more pictures. I sure love my mom a lot. I was really kind of stuck in a rut for a while here, and I kind of let being so sick take over me. I was not happy with who I was and I would just think every day, "this is not me". But now I feel re-focused, and re-energized and remember what I love about being a mom, and what that entails. My mom is a fantastic example to me and I am so blessed to be her daughter, and continually learn from her.

It was a very hot day and so we turned the sprinkler on under the tramp. At first Bryn was scared of it, but then she liked it. Tyler was in heaven.

Lots of jumping on the trampoline. We really need to get one, our kids love them! I love Bryn's static hair.
(my mom made them "Indian hats" and a drum and Ty loved being an Indian Chief, and dancing around making Indian noises :)

Other things we did down in Texas:

-ate Blue Bell ice cream practically every day!!!!

-went and got a Jamba Juice since we don't have that good stuff here

-did a lot of shopping, including Ikea!!

-I got to read!

-worked on some sewing projects, and now my sailboat quilt for Ty's bed is ready to be shipped off to get quilted!! I just had the last border left to put on. I love having my mom around to teach me all her tricks. She's such an expert at sewing and quilting, so it's really helpful.

-enjoyed having an adult to talk to during the day :)

-missed Kenny like crazy

-Brynlee learned how to say tickle, but she says "thickle" and it's really cute to watch her little tongue go in and out

-My siblings performed with the rest of their stake youth in a program called "From Cumorah's Hill". It was a really neat performance, and a great missionary opportunity. My sisters, Laura and Sarah are amazing singers and both had solos in the show. I was so impressed! It's fun to be there for things like that.

Brynlee woke up on Monday night around 1 a.m. with a fever, and has had one pretty much ever since. She's still got some back molars coming in so she was (and is) extra cranky. It did NOT help the ride home. We did it all in one day, so it took 16 hours when it should have been between 13-14. It was a VERY looooooong day, pulling in around 10:00 last night. But we made it, and I have never been so happy to see Kenny. He had the house so so clean, and so organized too. Even the garage was organized!! What a guy. I know he was super lonely with us gone, but I am grateful we got to go.

We bought chickens. This is not a joke.

Today was a pretty good day. We made triple chocolate fudge cupcakes with blue frosting just for the fun of it. Then the kids played in the rain, although it didn't rain for very long, or very hard. It was a good excuse to pull out Bryn's cute raincoat.

Kenny got home around 4:00, which was really nice since he worked till 9:00 last night. As soon as he got home, he wanted to go to the Co-op grain and feed place in Hamel, a small town of 600 people just down the road. Kenny's been talking about buying a duck for the kids for a couple weeks now. They're inexpensive, and if it gets too big or annoying for us we can just let it go wild in the lake close to our house. So I finally gave in and said one duck would be okay to try, but we would absolutely not get any chickens. (He brought up getting a chicken, too). As we drove there I told him to get it out of his head because we would not be bringing home a chicken. Well somehow we ended up bringing home not one, but TWO CHICKENS and ordered TWO DUCKS, and TWO GEESE! I should clarify, this was Kenny's doing. He is thrilled about it, and so are the kids. They can't get enough of them, and I think it's hilarious. I'm disgusted by how much they poop already, but I think it will be fun to collect eggs from them. They'll both lay brown eggs by the end of the summer. Tyler claimed the black chicken is his, and named him (he doesn't believe it's a female), Squeak. Brynlee's is the yellowish/white chicken, and we named it Sunny for her. Squeak is way calm so far, and Sunny is crazy just like Bryn. It's always trying to like fly away, and it walks up your arm and nestles in the crook of your neck or in your collar bone. The ducks and geese will be here next week. What have we gotten ourselves into?!! I always thought we'd get like a dog or something, a normal pet. But since when does anything go as I plan?

Trying to be brave, but you know that he's going crazy with that chicken on his shoulder!

To be honest, I'm not sure who's happier about these pets, Kenny, or the kids.

Check out her grip on Sunny's face. I'll be surprised if her poor chicken survives a week in our house.

I recommend...

I have read some books lately that I really enjoyed and wanted to share. The first 3 are all by the same author, Malcolm Gladwell. The Tipping Point, Outliers, and Blink are all really good and make you think about things in a different way. None of them are very long, and it's quick reading. Go check them out at your library, you'll love them.

This next one is called These is my Words, by Nancy E. Turner. This book is written in diary form in the late 1800's and early 1900's, about a wonderful and strong pioneer woman. Not pioneer as in Mormon, though. It's full of adventure, action, love, and romance and I totally cried more than once. I hadn't heard of it before, but it's the current book for our Relief Society book club and I'm so glad I read it.

Also some good movies I've seen lately are The Blind Side, and Sherlock Holmes. I know they've been out a while and we're way behind on our movie watching. But if you haven't seen them yet, they're good.

Lastly, I recommend being married. Mostly to Kenny, but since I've already got him, you'll have to figure that one out on your own :).

Super Ty

Tyler was always putting his blanket around his shoulders and pretending to be a super hero, or a king. I would just pin it with a safety pin, but it was too long and he tripped on it and it was wearing out. So I finally wised up last week and made him a reversible cape of his very own! I looked up a free tutorial online (I love people that do tutorials!) and got the stuff, and made it. They're really simple. I customized it for him, because he's always calling himself SUPER TY! (Coined from the show, Super Why.) So I just typed it up on the computer, printed it off, and cut it out in felt. The other side is Batman. He doesn't really know who batman is (he asked me if he's a good guy or a bad guy, and if he could fly) but he got some batman underwear the other day that he's really proud of. So now he can match with his undies. He loves to wear this around and fight bad guys, dragons, or good guys if he wants to be the bad guy. Whenever I'm looking for something he says "I'm Super Ty! I will find it for you!" He's my great little helper. (Below he's checking himself out in the mirror)





On a totally unrelated note. I looked over at the laundry room door today and had to laugh. This is where we hang the calendar, and it's laminated, with velcro on each of the numbers and the kids love to play with it. But as I looked at it, I realized it is a good reflection of our days around here. I haven't changed it to May because we're always behind. All our days are mixed up, backwards, upside down, and some missing altogether. I am so absent-minded these days, but as my mom reassured me today, it will pass.

What a day

Today was interesting.

Tyler pooped his pants which he's never done before and it ticked me off.

Brynlee got into the vaseline and that's hard stuff to clean off. She also fell off the fireplace and got a nice big bonk on her head, which is good timing because the other bruises on her head are starting to fade so I'm glad she replaced it with a fresh hit. I swear that girl will never learn.
She also stuck her hands in the toilet after Tyler peed in it, I think he had just flushed it, but still.

I'm still feeling like crap 80% of the day. I haven't showered in 2 days. I make food and can't eat it. I lay down exhausted at night and can't sleep because I have such bad headaches and am constantly on the verge of throwing up. (But I only really throw up in the morning, as long as I eat often so that's good.) Nothing ever sounds good except fatty food that's bad for me. I have to eat all the time so I don't throw up, and I swear it's catching up to me. I feel like I'm already starting to poke out, or just look fat. It's not really the baby yet, everything's just sagging out like my body knows what's coming. I win the "lamest, loser mom of the last 2 months" award, and I feel so bad for my kids.

BUT. We had a tender mercy today...a major one. I took the kids to the park this morning so I would stop puking and stop sitting around feeling sorry for myself. We left and I told them we'd stop and get icecream on the way home. Well the sign said they were open and they weren't really. The guy opening came out and apologized before I got the kids unloaded out of the car and said they didn't open for another 40 minutes. So we went back to the park, because we live too far away to drive back home, and then come back, and Tyler really wanted some ice cream (okay so I did too). They loved playing at the park some more. When 40 more min. passed we went back to the ice cream place.
"I'm so glad you made it back, I'm so sorry about earlier this morning", said the nice man we saw earlier.
I said, "well when you promise your kids ice cream, you have to come back." I placed our order, he told me the cost, and I handed him my debit card.
"Oh, sorry, but this is a cash only." !!!
"Oh, it is? I said, feeling more stupid than ever."
"Boy that's two strikes against us. Do you live around here?"
Yeah, just up the road in Holiday Shores.
Okay well I'll just push your order through, and you can pay us next time you stop by.
Are you sure? (now I'm trying not to cry I'm so grateful)
Oh yeah, you've already come twice this morning, I know you'll be back, but no need to rush back today or anything.
Oh I promise you'll get your money, sir.

Later when he brought us out our twist ice cream cones and french fries I told him how much I appreciated it, and that it had been a rough morning. I am sure I was quite the pathetic sight. I had no make up on, spots all over my eyes and face from the throwing up that morning, and I had been crying on the phone talking to Kenny earlier. That man made my day, and I will leave a large tip for him when we go back to pay our cash.

What a day.