Collectively

Kacen has been waking up 3-5 times a night, had a 103 degree fever up until Monday morning and an infected left eye. Took him in Monday night and he had a double ear infection. No fun, poor little guy!
Alona is taking swimming lessons this week and next week. She really enjoys it, they played red light green light and Simon Says! She had fun kicking her feet with while holding on to the noodle yesterday. Today I talked to her swimming instructor cause she wanted to give the parents pointers on how to help the children swim better. She says that Alona is still afraid to put the back of her head in the water, not much that I can do though, she is afraid to put her head back in the bath tub too. I know being in the water is not something that she is naturally good at. If she wants this talent, she will have to work hard at it.

We went to a supposed duck park on Monday with our picnic lunch. We ate when we got there under a cotton tree. Abbi really wanted to eat her fruit snack before her sandwich. It works real well lately telling Abbi that she has to finish something before she gets something else. It worked with her lunch last Friday, homemade macaroni she left it on the table almost until dinner time and ate it to get something good. Kacen wasn't so good while we were eating, but the moment that we started moving in the stroller he was real happy. We walked on a boardwalk in some preserved wetlands to see ducks that didn't exist, Alona kept pointing out the holes in the planks of wood. "Look another hole!" Then we played at the playground, we got some exstatic pictures of Kacen in the swing.

We raced home to meet grandma and ended up going to Chuck E Cheese for dinner, they are in short supply of little kid rides:( They all loved the pizza, Abbi ate so much of it. She ate half a piece and gave the other half to her grandma. She kept trying to feed grandma. We had enough tickets to get tootsie rolls and some airplanes, pens and bracelets. I love skee ball! Alona was so excited about her airplane oh and her ball trick!

Yesterday because Abbi took a five minute nap with her dad in the car, she wouldn't take a nap at home. So we made stars! We colored yellow paper, cut it out and glued it to cardboard and then we glued googley eyes on and pom-poms for a nose and a cut pipe cleaner for mouth. Then we tried to sing twinkle twinkle, Abbi stopped us, "NO!", "self!." Abbi though she cannot sing twinkle, twinkle little star all by herself did not want us to sing it with her.

Tonight we went to the creamery, the girls enjoyed watching out the window for grandma and grandpa. Alona played hide and seek with us down the produce aisle. I liked my cheeseburger, it had a homemade bun! The ice cream was good, or maybe thats just cause of all the toppings mmm! M&M's fudge and cookies, it tasted great. Alona wanted the orange and she says, "I want the orange and Abbi can have the green or another color."And so Abbi had the lime! and she really enjoyed it.

Would you like some pork chop with that salt?

pro:our card reader finally works!
semi-pro: My camera has been shipped off to New Jersey to be fixed
con: I will not be able to take pictures for awhile :(

We had pork chops and corn for dinner last night, I asked Alona to bring the salt to the table for the corn. I get everything to the table for dinner and look at her plate and her pork chop is very generously decorated with salt and pepper of which of course she would not eat after she tasted it.

It was warm enough to go for a walk before bed last night, the one point in the day where Kacen wasn't screaming. Once again Kacen did not take a nap yesterday. I swear Kacen and Abbi would take their turns screaming at me yesterday oh every five minutes or so.

Abbi pronounces Alona's name a little better or atleast a little differently! Instead of a-non-a it is now A-yon-a

Baby What?
Certainly not baby blues any more, Kacen's eyes now have a brownish yellow tint surrounding his pupil, can't wait to see the end result.

So Exhausted

Saturday night: 5 hours of sleep, I was awakened by Kacen at 5 a.m. and was able to get all of us ready for church. We went to church with Grandma and Grandpa!! Stayed while daddy(Paul) slept most of the day and was able to see Kellie blessed. Paul and Brian shared some father-baby time! What a great thing for Andy to be able to do right after getting home from his mission.
Sunday night:Less than six hours.
Monday night: A little more than three hours, I went to sleep at midnight. Kacen woke up at 1:30 a.m. and went back to sleep at three a.m. He woke up again at 4:30 and slept a little while eating, which he finished at 6:30a.m. Tuesday morning.
Tuesday night: Not looking so great. Kacen went to bed about 9:20, Abbi kept crying to sleep with mommy until 9:45. No more two hour naps, no matter how much laundry I get folded! It is now a quarter after ten and I am so exhausted I wish that I could sleep during the day, my body will not let me. We took a detour walking home from the park to the convenient store to get chocolate, it is something that helps me to be a little less irritated when I get barely enough sleep to keep me going. I tried calling someone to be able to talk and get some stress relief, no answer! I hope that I get more sleep tonight! Wish me luck!

Tomorrow is Laura and Brian's farewell Party! For those who haven't heard, I am sure that they would love to see everyone before they leave!

Brian and Jacob, Brian made sure I caught his goofy face!

And then he did it again when taking a family picture of all three of them.

Rise and Shine

I went into Kacen's room this morning and noticed him sleeping on his tummy. He now rolls over in the process of getting to sleep. It was so cute by the time that I found my camera he had woken up and found a my little pony that one of his sisters had left in his bed and had started chewing on it. Once again falling asleep tonight he ended up on his tummy. It was so calming, tonight he was laughing and giggly, I laid him down and he didn't make a peep. He went right to sleep! And he even took more than a three hour nap today! So different than yesterday where he stayed up until 11:00 and did not take any nap at all.
Today was Alona's preschool program, so darn cute they taught the children sign language to go along with the songs that they were singing! And they got to dance to Over the Rainbow with paper rainbows! Alona knew most of the sign language and was really awesome to watch. I took three pictures and video taped some of it and only one of the photos came out to where you actually depict what was actually happening, the other photos are too dark! That really sucks, the other photos are the ones that had Alona in them she was standing on the back row in between two taller children. She is going to be one of the shorter kids, so I guess that it is a good thing she will have another year to grow before going to Kindergarten. I remember my Kindergarten picture, I was the shortest girl in the class. She sang songs that I had already taught her, I guess I should learn the sign language to keep that going. In between all of the songs there were some little girls that were twirling around, some playing with their hair and some picking their noses I was quite amused but not shocked at which my child was doing. When we left Alona was able to take home her wind sock and I asked her if Abbi could hold it because she left out, Alona says no Mom, "it's special!" It's hard being a Mom and wanted all of your children to be happy at the same time. One of the teacher's helpers gave Abbi a paper rainbow to take home instead.

Abbi wanted to be a part of it, she kept wandering up to the stage and just sitting with the kids and doing as they were doing. She was so distraught when the teacher made her come back and sit with her mommy. I didn't see any harm in her being up there though.

Love is Spoken Here

It was a great birthday! Paul went to the store with the girls and got balloons and came home and blew them up. They really enjoyed decorating the walls and the ceiling with them. Then we sang happy birthday, had a little cake and ice cream and opened presents and fed Kacen before I left. Every time that Abbi sings Happy Birthday, she says, Happy Birthday to...Abbi! She wasn't so convinced that it was mom's birthday! Alona picked out the birthday card, it had two bunnies on the front. Paul and the girls gave me three books, Twilight, New Moon and I am a Mother along with a pastry blender and a cheese grater. Paul's mom gave me The first volume of the work and the Glory Books and the third movie. Also a framed saying for mother's day and from Val and Ruth a framed picture of Kacen and a gift certificate to Deseret Book.

Me and Paul went on our first date since his birthday last year. I missed my little boy and had a very hard time being without him for about the first twenty minutes, but then I was able to enjoy the time that I had with Paul. We went to Big 5 and we got roller blades and then went to Provo River Parkway trail to go roller blading, Paul had gotten his roller blades at Wal-Mart. His blades gave him horrible blisters, we had to turn back to the car, it was fun while it lasted. The roller blades that I had were so comfortable and soo fast! I was scared to go down hill. Some pads would be a good investment.
Then we went to Los Hermanos for dinner. That is the greatest Mexican food! Warm tortilla chips that weren't dry or too greasy and homemade salsa to go with it. I ordered a chimichanga, I didn't like chimi's when I worked at Taco Time, they were too greasy, not this place! MMM delicious! Paul got the smothered burrito and he really seemed to enjoy it. They came and sang Happy Birthday to me and gave me some fried ice cream, I had never before tasted fried ice cream and to tell you the truth I have been afraid to, but it actually is quite good though I could have done without the coconut.
The title of this post is the words that came on the frame from Marta, when I read that I think of the song that it goes to. "I see my Mother kneeling, with our family each day, I hear the words she whispers as she bows her head to pray, her plea to the Father quiets all my fears and I am thankful, Love is Spoken here!" I only hope I can live up to that and that my children can feel that way about me. On a day like today its hard to imagine, Kacen didn't sleep much at all last night and then today did not take much more than a thirty minute nap, I was a bit irritated. I love my children, it is really hard to let go and know that Alona doesn't need instruction every minute. She is a big girl now and can choose the right and make her own decisions!

I've walked 12 miles in the past eight days. Two miles a day every week day, I take all three kids with me in the double stroller and go up and down some pretty awesome hills. Alona wants swimming lessons this summer instead of preschool so we will see how that goes!

A Father's Encouragement

Yesterday Kacen was having tummy time and Paul says, you need to learn how to crawl. And so he did! So well, it is not the hands and knees here I come world quite yet, but he drags his body or pushes with his feet while pulling his body and he goes!! He got up on his knees tonight and pushed with his feet and then his face went forward and he flipped over, poor thing! He is catching on quickly. He can now turn himself in circles and get to anything that catches his eye(which usually mommy does the trick, toys aren't always as special). He enjoyed going after other babies tonight, one of them was older by a month and the other a few months younger and he crawled a foot or so to grab on to their feet and take the older ones pillow. Kacen puts everything that he finds on the floor into his mouth, so I get to be more cautious and vacuum a little more.

Abbi was throwing up tonight, who knows what. Alona was happy to help and try to scrub the throw-up out of the floor until she stands up and says, Mom this smells like Yuck! Abbi didn't eat lunch or dinner. I was able to get her to drink some juice and of course when she drank some milk it came up. So me, Abbi and Kacen will probably stay home from church if she is still not feeling good tomorrow and Alona will get sent with her dad to see Andy talk in church. I wish that I could go and see Alona sing in sacrament!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Hordes of Happiness

1.Pictures of seeing Laura the day she got to Utah!
2.Here is the picture of my children's first bus ride last week, we sang the wheels on the bus many times.
3.The zoo was pretty good. We learned a little bit about the animals, I stopped with the girls to read about the turtles, the rhinos, elephants and other such things. The tortoises can live to be 200 years old. The elephants grow their entire lives, so the biggest elephant is the oldest one:) Alona had to do homework on the animals that she saw and something that she saw or learned about them. The butterfly house is no longer a butterfly house, it now houses a huge alligator and we missed the birdshow:( We rode the train for the first time at the zoo last Wednesday with kids, some of the expressions that we captured of them are just priceless!! We ate at Friday's after the zoo, their fajitas were great, a little too much. I still remember before we got married and we went on a date to Garcias, I really enjoyed their fajitas!

4.Andy came over with Natalie on Sunday. They make a great couple and Natalie is really great with kids and shhh, I think Andy likes her! They stayed for dinner, I hope that they enjoyed what I made them. Spanish rice from scratch, probably not as flavorful as Andy is used to, but hey I tried!
5.As of Sunday Kacen is getting in teeth number 5 and number 6! He isn't so good at eating cheerios yet, but loves graham crackers and paper!!

6.I dragged the children to LakePoint tonight, retarded me. Just because I wanted to get out of the house. I need to stop feeling so alone and lonely and left out of things. We didn't get home until past eleven thirty, of course they fell asleep around ten thirty in the car after we had left his moms house. What was I thinking? No one was there anyways, I had to take my kids to find food, so we went to McDonalds and Abbi and Alona were both afraid to play on the tall slides so we left to find an outside park. Talk about dangerous, There was playground equipment all over the ground that was not put together like a slide that was not attached to the rest of the playground equipment, so a child could climb up and fall twenty feet or so to the ground because the slide is not attached. But thank goodness my children listened and only played on the small slide and the jungle gym and swings. We were there when horse riding was going on. We went up to one of the adults that were giving the lessons and asked if we could pet the horses. I lifted Abbi up and she was just laughing hysterically every time that I lifted her up and helped her pet the horse. So darn cute!

7.Kacen is playing with his siblings, look look!!And with a smile on his face and it was Abbi that I captured, they were playing so well together.Which usually is not the case, I am so cautious at leaving them alone together.

8.Rubbing balloons on the head and then sticking them on the wall. Great concept that their grandmother gets credit for teaching my children.
9.I really wish that my state of mind was in a more creative, fun spot. I feel like I am the disciplinarian and that I get to worry about cleaning and teaching my kids and have no time for sleep, showering, dates or anything involving myself and don't seem as though I'm much fun for my kids.

A Simple Conversation

Me: Andy's coming home today!
Abbi: Yesh, Annie Missin(Mission)
Me:Andy's coming home, do you want to go see him soon?
Abbi: YES!! SHOES!!
(Abbi ran off to get her shoes, she is so excited to see him!Hopefully we will get to soon.)

Seems like a Family Reunion

~We saw Laura Friday and Sunday. Spaghetti at Val and Ruth's on Friday and burgers at Marta's on Sunday. Food was good all around. So weird, different seeing Laura. Nice to have Kellie be much more realistic. She is a real, cryin, screamin baby of which coos to her uncle Paul!

~We go to the zoo tomorrow, with Laura and Ruth and the girls daddy! Much to see that we haven't seen this year. The Asian Highlands, looks fantastic can't wait to go and see up close. I wonder if the girls will love the butterfly house and the bird show?? I heard Grease Music playing for that! And I hope to let them play at the play ground. Alona wanted to see the snakes and turtles, her dad will love showing her the reptile building.

~Andy comes home Saturday!!! We got his last email today, Doesn't seem like two years, but then I look at my children and just go, WOW! It will be nice to see him. So hard to think that we are all growing up. Paul's brothers and sisters were almost all teenagers before Andy left on his mission, now their is just one left at home.

~Because Alona's preschool is done by the Provo Early Education Program they can set their own rules. Their new rule I am at odds with, When a child turns five years old they can no longer be enrolled in their program. Alona will be 5 this September, but then she will have another year before she will be able to go to Kindergarten. I would love for her to have that preparation right before she goes to Elementary School. I love that preschool gives her the attention that I find it hard to give her because I have two other children who are not at her level.

~Paul got Kacen asleep last night, by pushing him in his swing. I went out to get a movie, came back and my little guy was slumped over in his seat sound asleep. But I wanted to feed him, though I do really dislike that he loves to fall asleep while nursing.

~We watched The third Work and the Glory movie, I didn't think that it was as good as the first two movies. I am not so sure about buying it. Though I would still love to read the six book series.

~The girls got to go on a bus today for the first time. Not no UTA or school bus. It was a charter bus! With bathrooms, music, televisions, cushy seats and foot rests! I was so glad for the bathrooms, a bus won't exactly pull over to the side of the road whenever you ask them to!