Back Home

On Friday, we left at 5:30 a.m. for the looooong drive home. After one speeding ticket, and being stuck in traffic for a horrible accident outside of Little Rock, AR, we got home around 9 p.m. The next morning I got up around 6. I went to the temple with the RS presidency. It was great to go and do that with those wonderful women. Grabbed some groceries on the way home, getting back home around 1 p.m. and the kids were taking a nap. I ate a sandwich then left at 1:30 to take my mom to the airport. I still can't believe the sacrifice she made (she hates road trips too) just for us to be able to come there. I love her so much. But that night as we were sitting in the living room playing a game together as a family, I just felt so happy. You just can't replace the feeling of being together as a family, safe under one roof. It's good to be back. But we did have a wonderful time.

One day we went to the Bear Creek Park to see the fun animals there; birds of all varieties, donkeys, buffalo, emu, pigs, chickens, and probably other things I'm forgetting.

This cockatoo was hilarious. It brought back good memories because these were in our backyard often when we lived in Australia. This one said "Hello!" And, "I love you!" he was putting on a show for us.

We loved the warmer temperatures and Brynlee loved to run around pants-less.

Madi and my dad became good buddies. He loved to feed her a bottle, and hold her until she fell asleep in his arms. She watched a little too much sports on tv! :) Oh and that reminds me, I got to watch 2 BYU basketball games while down there and it made me so happy!! We don't have TV so I haven't seen a game this season and I miss it so much.

And now this is my kids tonight, just being silly. I put Madison in her bumbo and Tyler ran and got a chair to sit by her and thought he was pretty funny. So of course Brynlee ran and got herself a stool to sit on. Tyler has a big red line above his lip becuase he keeps licking his lips and it looks so painful.

They are such troopers to put up with all these long road trips. I sure love these cute kids.

SOS

I've been telling Kenny almost daily, "I've just gotta get out of here." We needed warmth and sunshine. Then it finally came to us, and we were all too sick to care. I needed some help, and I hated admitting that.
On Wednesday night, my mom flew in to the St. Louis airport around 9:35 p.m. Kenny worked late again so he just went straight there to pick her up. We were so glad to see her. The next morning we took Tyler in to the doctor at the earliest time we could, 9:30 a.m. He had the beginnings of pneumonia, and pink eye. So although it set our trip back several hours, I was so grateful that we left with an antibiotic, an inhaler, and eye drops. He's finally starting to get better. We didn't get on the road until about 11:30. It was a long road trip--it always is. But finally at 3 a.m. we pulled into my parent's driveway here in Katy, Texas. It is so good to be here. I'm glad to have some help for a week, especially until we all get our health back. Someday I hope to be closer to family so that it doesn't take hundreds of miles and dollars to see each other. But I'm so grateful to my mom for flying out to drive us back, only to drive us back and then fly home again in a week. My parents are the best. And so is Kenny for being understanding and letting me come whenever I need to. I'm so excited for uncle Tim and aunt Sarah and Grandpa to come home so they can meet little Madison for the first time. They are anxious to see her, and I'm happy to show her (and her big rolls) off. And, you know, sometimes a girl just needs her mom.

Valentine's Day??

I keep hearing about people's big valentine's days and I think, when was that? Oh yeah, yesterday. We're all sick here; round 3 for all of us being sick this winter. (Have I mentioned how much I HATE this winter???!!! It pretty much sucks, and I don't even use that word.) As I mentoined in my last post, Kenny got it first, then Madi soon after. Saturday evening Bryn came down with it. Saturday night was horrible. Bryn slept in between me and Kenny, and Madi's bed is to the side of me so I had two sick-o's on my left and one on my right...it was only a matter of time. Sunday I took Tyler with me to Sacrament meeting, and by the end I was really feeling horrible. I came home and took some advil and crashed. Last night, Tyler finally caught up to the rest of us and now he's on the couch. It's a fever and flu and cough, and we are all feeling lousy. So Valentine's day came and went with absolutely no candy or chocolate, but lots of medicine and cough drops. Kenny did remember to bring me a single long-stemmed red rose, which is our little tradition. And I love him for keeping it alive even though I was down and out yesterday. As soon as he got home, he took Madi from me and I went and crashed on our bed. Although really, we don't have the best history of Valentine's days. Our very first one as a married couple, I got home from the hospital that day with Tyler. Then one normal one, then the next one I had just had Brynlee. Then a normal one, and now we're all sick. So 2 of 5 is not the best record haha. But next year should be an "on" year. We're hoping for the best.

Tyler turned 4!

On Friday, February 11th, Tyler had a birthday! He's pretty much been looking forward to it since his last birthday, so it was much anticipated. Kenny had come home from work a few hours early the day before because he was really sick, Madi quickly caught it, and they both were MIA the whole day. I took Tyler and Brynlee out to get donuts for his birthday breakfast, (along with chocolate milk) because that's what he requested. And the birthday boy always gets what he wants :). After that, he opened all his presents. He was so glad he didn't have to wait till the evening, since daddy was already home. We made him get out of bed for the present-opening, then he immediately went back to bed haha. (Poor guy was miserable, as we all soon found out.)

We wanted to do something fun, so I decided to make a little bike loop in our home for them. I rolled up the big run, pushed all the furniture together and that created a giant circle for them to ride their bikes around and around. Tyler loved it! And Brynlee walked her bike around, since she can't yet figure out the pedal thing.

The rest of the day, I am sorry to say, was pretty lame. We played outside for a little bit while I used a big flathead shovel to chop up the ice on our driveway, and shovel it off. It was sunny, so it felt good to be outside. Ty and Bryn also ran some errands with me, and that was pretty much it. I felt bad for Ty, but knew that he was awaiting the real fun, his first birthday party!

Saturday, February 12th, Tyler had a birthday party!! He was so excited to have all his friends over. Please excuse this atrocious cake. It's supposed to be a rocket. Towards the end of January we were learning about outer space and stuff in preschool, so that's when Tyler decided that's what he wanted for his birthday cake. In my defense, Kenny did most of the top. But I love him for trying to help me out haha. And anyway, there more important things in life.

I could kick myself for not taking more pictures, but the birthday part was seriously craziness. I meant to get a picture of everyone that was there so we could remember all his friends he has here once we move. But there was way too much going on so I'll just list them instead: Brady Hasquin, Jack Ward, Jacob Reed, Elijah (and Isaac) Pearson, Ashlynn and Payson Porter.

We played lots of games like duck-duck goose, musical chairs, and balloon games, did a pinata, ate papa murphy's pizza for lunch, had cake and ice cream and opened presents! Luckily I remembered to get him blowing out his candle.

Happy Birthday Tyler! I really can't believe he's already 4 years old!! Tyler is such a great kid. He loves books more than anything else probably. He loves babies and is very tender with them. He's also very sensitive to other people's feelings, and pays attention to others around him and what they want and need. Very smart and emotionally mature, in my un-biased opinion :). He is a fantastic big brother to his two little sisters, and a great example for them. He always wants to do what's right and be my big helper. We love you so much Tyler!!

Brynlee Turns 2!!

Yesterday, Feb. 9th, was Brynlee's birthday. She turned 2 years old!!

She loved waking up to a room full of balloons! These provide lots of entertainment.

It didn't take her long to find the cape I made her. Pink satin on one side and white minky on the other, with hot glued jewels in the shape of a B. Fit for our little princess. Now she won't have to steal Tyler's cape all the time.

We went to a place called The Sports Academy to play. It's kind of like a really big McDonald's play place, but most of it is suspended in the air, including slides and bouncing things. they had a blast! It was even funner when Heather came with her daughter Ashlynn. It's always fun to have friends around :).

When daddy came home that evening we had dinner then let the party begin!

Certainly not one of my best cakes, but she liked it just fine so that's all that matters.

Brynners:
We are so glad to have you as a part of our family! You have adjusted amazingly well to becoming the middle child and you are so sweet to your little sister. It makes me so happy to see the good relationship you have with your brother, as well. We love you for your adventurous personality. You are extremely independent, and you always know what you want. I appreciate all the hugs and kisses you give to us so freely. You have gorgeous blue eyes and a smile that lights up our house. You are so much fun to have around! I feel so blessed to be your mommy. We love you beautiful Bryn!

Just bloggin

So it's 8:30 p.m. right now, and Kenny's still not home :( Tyler kept saying tonight "I wish daddy were here to play with me. Call him again" poor kiddo. Daddy coming home is like the highlight of the day, and when that's taken away it's kind of lame. He also worked all day Saturday, but thankfully he got paid for it. We are very grateful he has a job though, so we'll definitely take late nights and weekends if we have to.

On Saturday night we went over to the Reed's for a "work people party". There's several LDS folks that work for URS and I've never met them. So Jared and Terra were kind enough to have us all over so we could be better acquainted. Some of them couldn't come, but we still had fun. I am totally embarrassed but my arms are STILL sore from playing the kayaking game on the Wii. Pathetic, I know. But I haven't lifted weights since before I was pregnant, so my arms are weak sauce.

Here's something that was one of those "precious moments" that I caught the other night. After baths, Ty and Bryn were in their pj's and rain boots (just because they like them) and they were reading books at their cute little table. Tyler would read to Brynlee from memory and it was just the cutest thing. I watched them from their doorway, and looked down at sleeping Madi in my arms, and I felt very happy to be a mother. And I felt like maybe I'm not doing such a horrible job after all.

Saturday was also Madison's 2-month b-day. She is huge, by the way. But she is just as sweet and well-behaved as can be.

Hurry up, spring. Today I've been drowning my winter blues in chocolate and it's not helping me get rid of alllll this baby fat. We want to go outside!!

That's about it.

I had a birthday...Hooray!

It's true, I am now a whopping 24 years old. Isn't that great?! I had a fun birthday. We did ty's preschool just like every day, thenI took the kids to story time at Border's, then we went to McDonald's for lunch. We met up with a bunch of ladies and kids from the ward and it was fun to see people and get out of the house. This winter is seriously depressing me. Anyway, we got home from that and all took a little nap. Kenny came home at 3:30!!! I love when he surprises me like that, and he brought home a bouquet of pretty flowers which is always nice. We drove the 45 minutes out to Fairview Heights and went to a restaurant called Lotawata Creek (as in, a lot of water creek). It was fun. We only had one big spill, but it was water, and it was on the floor so the trip was a success. And Madi did pee through her diaper onto her clothes, but I was prepared so again, disaster averted. Anyway the portions are massive there and I wish we would have got only one meal for the 4 of us to share! But we've been enjyoying the leftovers all weekend. We got home and made birthday brownies. (We've got 2 more birthdays this week so I really didn't want to do cake) It was already 8:00 though, and the kids normally are in bed by then so we didn't want to wait for the brownies to cool off before we stuck the candles in to sing. Anyway the candles totally started melting into the brownies and they were more colorful :). we didn't eat those parts.

blowing out a 2 and 4 candles :)

I felt very loved with all the phone calls and well-wishes. It's a great year to be 24!

What would I do?

My children make me laugh so hard, for different reasons.

Today during preschool, Tyler was sitting on his feet so he'd be higher up while writing at the table, and his foot fell asleep. He said, "my foot is sparkling" hahaha.

A few weeks ago Tyler found something I was looking for and I said, "Ty, what would I do without you?". He really liked that I said that. I know, because he reminds me almost daily.

"Mom, remember that one time you said, what would I do without you Tyler?"

Or he'll say, "What would you do without me mom?"

Really, I don't know what I would do without these sweet kids. They fill my life with so much joy. Real joy.

Ice Storm

As you can see (in case you haven't watched the news), several states are experiencing quite the winter storm. It looks beautiful. But we stay inside and don't go anywhere. I am grateful for it because it means that Kenny has worked from home the past 2 days, and we love having him around. I'm so glad that our power hasn't gone out (knock on wood...). Hope you're all staying warm and cozy inside. I would have hated to live here before heaters were invented!