God's Little Princess

Katie has a new favorite movie called "Gigi, God's Little Princess" This morning, while watching Gigi, she dressed up like a princess and was God's Little Princess! She even wore the crown and boa to the hospital to visit Nana/friends and, out to do other errands (at least I was able to talk her into taking the high heels off before leaving the house) Of course, everyone thought she was so cute. When people asked her what she was, she'd tell them "God's little Princess"!! Thanks to Auntie Bernice who gave her that vibrant, fluffy boa :)

Trent has an appt. with a pediatric craniofacial physician in Salt Lake City on June 3rd...... Although he's serious in this picture, Trent really does love his exersaucer!

We got the walker out of storage the other day and let Trent try out his new set of wheels! He can't move around in it but, he likes being in the up right position and hanging out in the kitchen with everyone else.

Check up

Trent had his 4 month check up in Elko this morning. He weighs 17.2 lbs and still at the top of the charts for his growth rate! That was about the only good part of the visit... he then received 3 shots. And, there was some concern at his last appointment about the way/shape that the right side of his head is growing. Our doctor wanted to wait until this month's appt. to see if it had gotten any better. Well as I already figured, it hadn't. There is a noticable difference in the shape of his left side vs. right side. There is all sorts of medical terminology to explain it but, in English terms... the seams of his skull bones aren't 'fusing' together right. This is what our pediatrician thinks is happening. We are going to be making an appointment at a craniofacial clinic in Salt Lake City within the next couple of days and taking him there for treatment. Please pray for him... that we can get in quickly (since it only gets worse as he gets older) and that he won't have to go through too much to get "things" taken care of.

A Visit from Dad

On his way home from Boise, Casey's dad stayed with us last night. He arrived just in time for dinner and left early this morning... even though our time with him was short, we had a great visit!

Grandpa and the boys

Tys and Grandpa having a fun time together!

Katie enjoying her sucker from Grandpa! Too bad she wasn't feeling very good and spent most the evening on the couch. Then, this morning she woke up with a 103 fever and bad cold.. sigh.. She just had the stomach flu over Easter! I'll be happy when we're past this season of sickness.

You Know You Have Kids When...

YOU KNOW YOU HAVE KIDS WHEN......

1.You crawl into bed at night and have to remove the toys found underneath the covers
2. Your grocery list always has mac 'n cheese, popsicles and spray 'n wash on it
3. You can recite every Diego episode known to man but, have missed every episode of the newest season of American Idol
4. Going to the dentist or eye doctor is something you actually look forward to
5. You look at your clothes at the end of day and wonder how long has that "unknown bodily fluid" been there?
6. While still sleeping, you can change the baby, feed him and put him back to bed without missing out on your dream
7. A 5 minute conversation on the phone is considered a long "chat"
8. When watching your daugther's little seeds grow in its pot and you're jumping around with joy, just as she is
9. When you can torture your kids with your singing... because that's what your mother did to you
10. You drive a Suburban to carry around your wide variety of strollers, small portable potty, diaper bags, balls, the dog AND the kids

THE BEST OF YOU KNOW YOU HAVE KIDS WHEN....

1. You look forward to waking up in the morning so you can see your child's smiling face and hear his/her excitement to see you
2. You would rather listen to them sing their make-believe song instead of the radio
3. They give you great big hugs and whisper "I love you mommy" in your ear
4. They color you pictures that wouldn't win a coloring contest but, they sure won your heart
5. You chase them around the house just to hear them scream from happiness
6. You don't mind watching them get dirty because you know they're having fun
7. It's ok you haven't watched this season's American Idol because Blue's Clues is much more educational anyways
8. When you see your baby's smiles in the middle of the night and realize it wasn't just that dream you were dreaming
9. Daily watching each of them grow and learn in their own way
10. You don't mind changing at least 10 diapers a day because you know you're going to get hugs and kisses afterwards

Trent 4 months

Trent turned 4 months old today! I won't know until next Tuesday, when he has his check up, how much he weighs. However, I CAN tell you that he's packed on the pounds since his 2 month check up. Trent now wears 6/9 months clothes and has big pinchable cheeks! He is so much more interactive with us now... always smiling and "talking" to us. He is also grabbing for his toys now and has found his fingers. He's lost quite a bit of his baby hair but, what he does have continues to stay dark. And, I'm happy to say that he's only waking up once during the night now and is getting on a better routine throughout the day! However, he hasn't been taking the bottle very well lately (but, we keep trying!) He is a constant joy in our family and we all just love him so much!! His famous smile!

He is happiest as a "naked baby"...

Yummy fingers!

The kids had a great time playing in the front yard yesterday! While my mom and I planted some flowers in pots, the kids kept themselves busy "watering" the grass. They also found a hole and filled it with water... then, had a great time playing in the mud!

This was a one-time event because Casey filled in that hole this morning and is re-seeding the grass....

What can I say... Katie dressed herself today! Someday she'll hate me when I use this picture for blackmail :) She did change when we went to her friend, Marisa's, birthday party this afternoon... The kids and I had a great morning playing outside in the front yard. The weather has been warm and sunny!

Just a week late, Katie wore her new Easter dress to church this morning!

Casey and Tys ready to leave for church. Casey's looking pretty good for having worked nights last night and only got 3 hours of sleep before church!

The Beginning of Mobility

Trent is learning how to get himself around on his back! To start out he is directly straight underneath the Entertainer... within just 5 minutes he's scooted himself sideways. He slept in the big crib in the boy's room last night and, did great! It took Tys a while to fall asleep (he was wound up after having friends over for dinner!) but, Trent slept right through Tys' singing and banging his bottle on the wall.....

We enjoyed a beautiful spring day here! The kids got outside to play (in the mud) and Casey dug our spring clothes out of storage. I'm getting the spring fever cleaning and traveling "itch"!!

Snow in April

Yesterday we woke up to snow... lots of snow! And, it continued falling throughout the day. The kids were excited about it; I, on the other hand, was not!! I pulled their snowsuits out of storage (since I had just switched all their winter clothes to SPRING clothes) and they got to play in the snow one last time. "look Mom, snow in April"!!

Casey shoveling the stairs and playing with the kids

Casey and the kids built a snowman. He had a carrot for his nose and clumps of raisins for his eyes. Right after I took this picture Tys decided he was hungary and ate poor Mr Snowman's eyes!!

The forecast now predicts 70 degree weather for the weekend. This means lots of melted snow and possible flooding! Crazy Nevada weather.....

16 hours of work in the last 24 hours: $550
Gas to go see pigs at friend's house: $5
Ice cream at McDonalds: $2.50
Napping together on the couch: Priceless

Egg hunt

Katie was feeling lots better today and it was another beautiful spring day so, after the boys' naps we took the kids over to my parent's house for their Easter egg hunt. There were lots of eggs for them to find and, Casey & I had fun hiding them :) There were all kinds of them: eggs they dyed, Cars eggs with candy, Princess eggs with stickers or bracelets and, colorful plastic eggs. Katie had been waiting all day for the hunt and got to work right away finding them... this was Tys' first year and he wasn't quite sure what to do. With a little help he caught on quickly and had a great time! After they were done he kept saying "more" Tys filling up his Cars bucket.... and, yes, he's still wearing his favorite Cars shoes! And, that's his favorite tractor shirt from Oma and Grandpa. It's funny because he's actually kind of picky about his clothes and how they fit!

Katie proudly showing off her bucket of eggs!

The boys are now in bed, Katie is spending the night at my parent's and Casey is working an overtime night shift.... I'm taking advantage of the quietness and going to go do some reading....

Trent's first Easter

Trent's first Easter ~ of course I took a ton of pictures! Here are just a few.... Looking handsome in his special sweater vest.... I say "special" because I couldn't find a suit outfit for him anywhere and ended up spending WAY TO MUCH $$ for this little thing!! But, once I got it on him I decided he was just TOO cute and that it was worth it :)

Trent and I heading to church. My mom was great and finished sewing my new skirt for me!

Trent and his Easter basket

Very happy about his new goodies in the Easter basket!! Little does he know, mama will be eating his chocolate :)

Checking out one of his new books... he is beginning to grasp and chew his toys now

This one is for Mere, who thinks Trent is ALWAYS so smiley and happy :)

Easter

Happy Easter everyone! I was reminded today that you can make plans however, they may not always turn out the way you planned them. For today's celebration, we had planned on having my parents, Joe and 2 other friends over for a special lunch, eggs were dyed for the egg hunt, Katie's newly sewn dress was ready to go and Easter baskets filled. We suddenly turned a whole new direction for the day when Katie woke up with the stomach flu... a very bad case of it that lasted all day! Of course, I always feel so bad for my kids when they're sick but, it's worse when it happens on a special day (like two Christmases ago...) So, we cancelled lunch plans (although my mom still came over... us three adults ate a huge ham meal and we have a ton of leftovers!) are saving the egg hunt until a better day and, her dress is still hanging in the closet! Casey went to Sunday School then, I took the boys to the morning service. Katie stayed on the couch the whole day and watched movies or slept (that is, in between being sick) Oh, and to top it off.... about 15 vehicles on our street got vandalized today and, Jerry's truck included. Casey's brother has had his truck parked at our place and some punk smashed out the side window. Inspite of it all, it was a beautiful spring day outside and perfect day to celebrate Christ's resurrection! Katie snuggling with her new Easter bunny and watching a movie. Thankfully, she was better this evening and able to keep some water/toast down.

Tys all dressed up for church!

Me and my little buddy!

Nana brought over his Easter basket after church.... actually his basket this year was a Cars bucket. He LOVES Cars and was using his new bucket all afternoon!

Nana and Tys reading his new book

The kids had a great time dying Easter eggs last night! The only challenge was keeping Tys from playing around in the liquid dye :) But, he got the hang of it and has recently been learning his colors.

Trent wasn't really up to dying eggs and took a nap instead....

Tys ~ happy with his colorful eggs and eating M&M's

I know I haven't blogged very much this week (sorry Judy!) but, I have some good excuses! First, the week began very busy when I spent all day Monday cleaning and baking for my Scentsy/wine & dessert party that night. About 12 or 13 of mine and my mom's girlfriends (a few from church and friends from the hospital) came and we had a great time! There were even a couple of little girls for Katie to play with ~ which she thought was so cool! Besides trying the different wines and smelling all of those scents till our noses no longer worked... we also had yummy desserts. My mom made a cheesecake and creme de menthe bars and, I made sopapillas and spinach/artichoke dip. Tuesday and Wednesday my back was so bad that I ended up on the floor, with ice, for most of the day. It's been giving me troubles every since Trent was born but, those two days were the worse. Thankfully, my mom was off and helped me out. She made dinner, watched the kids and finished sewing my new skirt for Easter! My back was better yesterday however, I then started getting sick with the chills, body aches and a sore throat. So, the kids and I watched movies and were lazy bums :) In between all that, I still managed to get laundry done, finish my N. Sparks book, run errands and I went through the kid's clothes closests and dressers... out with the old winter clothes and in with their new spring/summer clothes. Here are a few pictures from the week..... Tuesday night we had a "foot party". Using our new pedicure stuff from the Body Shop, mom and I gave ourselves pedicures. The kids wanted in on the action too! On my list: bigger/better tubs for soaking our feet :)

She doesn't look very thrilled but, Katie did have fun! She also got too much sun 4-wheeling that day.

Casey with "the boys". Check out Tys' bruise between his eyes... he got that when he fell on a metal stool at Judy's the weekend before. Poor kid... but, it didn't really bother him. Guess he's going to be hard-headed!

Our good friend, Jona! She and my mom work together at the hospital and, she makes the best Chinese food I've ever tasted!! She usually cooks US dinner but, on Tuesday night we had her over and my mom made HER dinner. An avid golfer, she's going to teach me how to golf this summer....

Our always happy little guy, Trent :)
Today Casey and I are headed to Elko with the kids... grocery shopping and a stop at Home Depot.

First Ride

The weather was beautiful this morning so, my parents took the kids and I out to ride the 4-wheelers. This was Tys' first time to ride and he wasn't too sure about it at first however, after watching Katie he saw that it was lots of fun and decided to try it. Once he got on we couldn't get him off! He kept asking to "ride". Katie was excited to see 3 jack rabbits while out on a ride! Katie is waiting for her turn to ride...

Tys ~ doing some exploring in the desert.

Papa and Tys.... Tys is getting used to the 4-wheeler before going on a ride

Tys on his first ride! He kept waving "Hi" to me!

Katie and I getting ready to head out

Trent being a sweet little boy and hanging out in the vehicle