Christmas 2012

Our Christmas this year was alot of fun. The kids are at such a fun age for all of the magic and joy that Christmas brings. The kids,(Macie) have been begging to go and visit Santa so they can tell him what they want. We made her wait clear until Christmas Eve to sit on the old man's lap. (What mean parents we are!) The past 2 years we have gone to Bass Pro Shop on Christmas Eve and it is so fun! They have cookies for the kids to decorate, a free carousel ride, games to play, elves everywhere, letters to write to Santa and a mailbox to put them in, and then the have Santa himself! They love it and so do I! Everything in one stop and everything free!! YAY! 

 Here are some of the pictures from Bass Pro. After Bass Pro, we headed in to my aunt and uncles house for a nice Christmas Eve dinner. We are so lucky and blessed to have a little bit of family here. Aunt Ann and Uncle Byron are the best and we are so glad that we live close! We left their house around 8:15 and still had an hour drive to get home...needless to say the kids fell asleep in the car on the way home and Geoff and I had to put the cookies and milk out for Santa all by ourselves! (We knew that we would be getting home late,so we had the kids open up their Christmas pj's before we left.)

 The beautiful sleeping children! How I love these kids! Ages: 6 1/2, 4 1/2, 1, and 4 weeks.

 The Christmas Tree, Santa came, and he ate the cookies!! (Notice the bottom half of the tree, haha, totally undecorated because of Camden!)

 Christmas Morning waiting at the top of the stairs. Christmas Eve was a rough night. On top of being up really late, there was a thunderstorm which woke up the older girls a couple of times, Camden woke up a couple of times because I think the whole Measles reaction was starting, so he was an absolute mess...he woke up at 5 AM screaming and wouldn't stop, so by the time the girls woke up at 7, he was about ready for a nap, and so were Geoff and I!

 Macie checking out what Santa brought her. She got a guitar and a balloon making kit.

 Addie seeing what she got. Santa brought her a whole town of little people sets.

 Camden actually happy...for a minute anyways...He got lego's, with a lego table and it was the.best.gift. he could have ever gotten!

 Macie's favorite gift was a journal writing set! She was so excited! "It is exactly what I wanted!"

 Addie's favorite gift was her guitar.

 Geoff's favorite gift was his Boise State shirts that the girls gave him! (Love this picture!)

 The aftermath! What is Christmas without a huge, big, messy room! Love it!
When we were done having breakfast, opening all of the presents and playing a little bit, it was about 11. We told the girls that we had one more surprise for them upstairs....

 A teepee!!! Geoff and I decided to make this for them awhile back. So he got the poles all together and figured it out and I sewed the outside tent. It was a huge surprise and they LOVE it!

We also decided to make them some hanging poles with a beam. They can now flip and spin and walk the beam to their hearts content. They spend a TON of time upstairs with these two new toys. Everyday the girls are asking me to come upstairs so they can show me a new trick they learned, or their newest flip. It is awesome!

We hope you all had a Very Merry Christmas!

The Measles

On December 18th, Camden has his 1 year old Dr. appointment. I took him, he had his appt., all looked well except for he was starting to get a small ear infection. He didn't have a fever or anything, he had just had a cold for the past few days, so we got a prescription for his ears, got his immunizations done, and we were on our way. 

Christmas Eve, the little man starting acting a little weird. He was really whiny and he kept grabbing at his ears, he also had a fever. So, we thought, ok, maybe the prescription isn't working and he still has an ear infection. I also noticed though that on the leg he got his MMR vaccine in, there was a little red spot about the size of a nickel. I thought that was a little weird, but thought that maybe he got a bug bite or something and thought nothing else of it. Christmas day he was an absolute mess, waking up a couple of times during the night on Christmas eve and then waking up at 5 AM screaming and could not be consoled. At this point he had gone through quite alot of Tylenol and was still just a mess, so I thought, "ok, we will take you in tomorrow to the Dr. if you don't get better."

He started acting a little better and didn't wake up at all that night. He even slept in the next morning until 8:30. When he woke up though, he had a little rash starting on his face and stomach. I text Geoff to see what he thought and still decided to wait it out. (It wasn't very bad at this point and I thought that maybe it was a fever rash since he had had a fever for a few days now.) I laid him down for his nap and when he woke up, he looked 10 times worse. It wasn't just a small rash anymore. So we took him to the Dr. She said she had no idea what it could be besides an awful reaction to the MMR vaccine. She said she sees it maybe one time a year and that was all she could think it was. She said he basically has the measles and that it will start to go away within 3-5 days. 

 Here he is the morning it started.

 Here he is after his first nap... starting to spread to his back

 Here he is after his second nap...starting to look diseased.

Here he is day 2 at breakfast. He looked just awful. Poor kid. Macie was really worried that we were going to be taking him out in public...she didn't want to be embarrassed by him. Sadly this is the last picture I have of him. It got worse as the day went on, and continued to spread all over his body. (We are pretty sure that this is why he was grabbing at his ears. They were inside his ears as well.) On Sunday morning he woke up with his face looking almost normal and the rest of his body looking worse. It looked as though it was just working its way down his body. By Tuesday he was almost looking completely normal. We went through at least a bottle of Tylenol during this whole process. Poor thing. It was really sad to see him feeling so gross and itchy and in pain. He was a mess for at least a week (and when I say mess, I mean mess...he wasn't eating normal, he completely stopped and downright refused to drink any milk for about 4 days, we could only get him to drink apple juice. We are just grateful that he would drink something though. All he wanted was to be held and he did was cry all.day.long.) Luckily (for everyone)he is feeling and acting  and looking completely normal again!

Surprise Visitor

On Camden's birthday we were heading downstairs to do the cake and presents, when my family called and wanted to skype. So, we went down and turned on the computer so they could watch Camden on his birthday....little did we know that they had planned the whole thing out. Right as we were getting it all set up and about ready to sing happy birthday, there was a knock on the door...followed by a little pounding, and a few more knocks. I went to the door to see my aunt and uncle, who live about 45 minutes away. I thought, oh how nice, they remembered that it was Camden's birthday and came over to say hi. Then out of nowhere....my mom jumps out and says "hi!"  CRAZY!!! It was soooo exciting to have her come and visit. It was so needed and just lovely to have her here. I was happy that she got to see Brynlee and spend time with the other kids. It is so hard being away from family and I want my kids to know their grandparents and cousins, so any extra time we get with them, we love! It was a great, special, happy surprise and one that I am sure we will never forget. Thanks mom for coming! We love you and loved the visit!

Camden turns one!

Our little guy turned 1 last Sunday. I cannot believe that it has already been a year!! It has been quite the year with him. He has been such a joy and terror all at the same time. 

 He went from being this tiny, sweet thing

 To this giant monster who loves to walk around and destroy anything in his path!

This little man loves to be held...all of the time!!! He loves to sit and scream at me when he is not being held and grab onto both of my legs so I can't move. 

When he isn't crying at me, he is walking around the house destroying it and yelling at the top of his lungs. This guy does NOT know how to be quiet! He is loud. He is 100% boy and loves to tackle anything in his way. He falls down all of the time and constantly has bruises and bumps on his head. (see picture below!) 

Here he is in his Sunday best on his birthday. I was laughing so hard seeing him in his little vest and tie. He looked like a member of the mafia. It was hilarious!

 He has been almost 100% healthy his entire first year of life. It wasn't until the past month that he started getting sick and it hasn't stopped.
He loves to give hugs and loves to laugh.
His favorite food is banana's and toast.

 I was so excited to do the whole cake thing with this little guy. He is soooo messy when he eats and insists on feeding himself. (So opposite of our girls, who hated being dirty ever.) I knew that it would be a fun thing to watch him dig into his cake, so we gave him half of the cake, stripped him down, and put him on the table and waited to see what he would do. He lived up to all of my expectations!! He went to town and destroyed the entire thing, shoving huge amounts in his mouth at a time. It was perfect!

 The girls thought that he needed some help and opened his presents for him.

 After a long day, he just wanted to relax and go to bed. Happy Birthday buddy!! We love you and don't know what we would do without you!

Busy, Busy, Busy

The past couple of weeks have been super busy. Between getting ready for Christmas, having Christmas programs and parties, and just life in general I feel like I can't catch up! Here are a few things that we have been up to.

 Addie at her Christmas program. She really got into it. It was pretty fun to watch her!

 Geoff and the babe just trying to relax amidst the chaos. This baby can sleep through anything!!

 Looking for our reindeer Nelsie each morning was a highlight for the girls!

 Watching Christmas movies in a nice cozy bed helped us feel like it was Christmas.

 Camden trying his first donut. He sure liked it.

Making treats for friends and neighbors.

Brynlee

This little girl is now 1 month old!! Crazy how time flies. She is still a very good baby. She still sleeps a ton and has to be woken up for most feedings. She is still pretty small only weighing about 7 lbs. She is starting to gain a little weight though and her cheeks are starting to show that. I tried to take a few pictures of her the other day. Here are some of my favorites.

 All ready for church in the dress that Aunt Tina made for her.

 

Life as a mother of 4

Coming into this whole mother of 4 thing, I thought that it would be pretty overwhelming. I didn't know how we would function. I am not saying that it has been easy, but we are alive and functioning!! Thanks to some amazing people who been a huge blessing and help. While I was in the hospital we were fortunate enough to have our Sister in law, Tina here helping us for the entire week. I seriously don't know what we would have done without her. I am pretty sure the only reason we survived the hospital stay so well, was because of her and my not having to worry about the other kids. Such a blessing!! We have also had a ton of help from people in our wonderful ward. They have brought in meals, provided rides for the kids and been here to help hold Camden right when I was about to break down because he just needed some love and someone to hold him, and I couldn't do that. The Lord has truly blessed us through all of this and I know he is aware of our family and the things that we need. 

We have also been blessed with a VERY sleepy baby. She has to be woken up every 3 hours to eat and at night, Geoff feeds her at 10:30, she wakes up about 3 am, and then I wake her up at 7:30 to feed her before we head out to take kids to school and such. She is hardly ever awake. It takes alot for us to get her to open those little eyes. I feel rested and blessed that I do not feel completely exhausted each morning. Life has basically carried on as normal, besides that fact that I can't really lift Camden and he is a little emotional about life lately. (He has some serious jealousy issues!)

 Here are my 3 beautiful girls. These girls love little Brynlee. They are finally starting to remember her name! It has only taken 2 weeks!! HAHA

 This little guy is getting a free ride from dad in a bag. He thought that this was pretty fun!

 He has also been busy getting into things. I was wiping down the table after dinner one night and left the dishwasher open. When I turned around, this is what I found.

 He has unloaded about half of the silverware. Silly little guy.

 For family night we decorated gingerbread houses. (I bought the kit after Halloween on clearance, hence the Halloween colors!)

 The girls loved it and couldn't wait to start eating them!

The final products! They immediately began eating them. 

 My aunt who lives about an hour away, also took a couple of days off of work to come and help us out. She kept Camden busy playing with the nativity, while we decorated the houses.

 Here is the little princess snoozing away while we all were busy making houses.

Farm Girls

The girls LOVE to play farm. They get their boots on, head into the back yard and see what bugs they can find, make a garden, pick berries, and do whatever else they find to do. I love it!! I particularly love seeing them in their boots, especially when they are wearing shorts. For some reason, I think that it is sooo cute! I really wish that we lived on some land and could have some chickens or something for them. I know that they would love it and would be outside all of the time. I love that they can make up their little world and make up chores to go with it. That they can leave the backyard and always be excited the next time they head out to play like their game has been on pause or something. I also love that the weather is still nice enough for us to be out doing this, although I do miss a good snow storm and being to play in it.

The girls making a garden and planting "seeds".

 Macie getting the garden spot ready.

Addie picking berries. One of her "chores".