I counted my many blessings

We got these pictures taken the other day of the kids. These are just a couple of them. I thought she did a great job! Kaden pulled faces the whole time but it ended up working out.

So the other day it was NOT my day. Nothing huge happened just little things like the kids spilling gumdrops all over Winco and dumping all the toaster crumbs on the floor at breakfast. Things like this kept happening all day and I was getting grouchier and grouchier. We were at home eating lunch and Ellie had her toys all over so I said, "You guys need to be better at putting your stuff away. When the baby comes I can't clean up after you all the time because I will be taking care of the baby."

Without hesitation Kaden said, " Mom, we would do anything for you! Really! Anything!"

It melted my heart to the floor! It sure made me have a better attitude for the rest of the day even though it didn't get any better. (Including when Ellie got her earring stuck to the pillow!) I think I have the cutest blessings around! That includes their father!

© A Day to Adore
©A Day to Adore

©A Day to Adore

We got our baby's birthdate the other day! January 28th is the big day! Nine weeks to go baby!

What a week...

I promise I'm not one of those crazy TwilightMoms but I did go to the premier again at midnight on Thursday night. It was fun to socialize with friends and have a girls night out but during the movie I was thinking..."Why am I only going to get 5 hrs of sleep tonight for THIS movie?" Sorry girls, it was tons of fun but I might not make it for Eclipse in June! New Moon was definitely better than Twilight though.

Me and Tami. Yes, my shirt says "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?"

Then on Friday night we went with Nick and Tami to the Boise vs Utah State game in Logan. It was tons of fun and was nice to have a night without the kids. (Thanks mom and dad!) It was a little chilly and we stood by drunken fans (or were they high off of the permanent markers from their poster?) but it was a good time and Boise won. Go Broncos!

We truly were the only people in the Boise section who weren't in orange. Our shirts were covered by our coats. I guess we weren't true die hard fans.

So the next day I run up to IF to get my kids and was sitting there talking to my family and my mom says, "Are you wearing two different shoes?"

Yes, I was wearing two different shoes. And not just two different shoes but a black one and a brown one. I remember selecting the brown one that morning in my closet and then sliding my other foot into what I thought was the other shoe and ran out the door. But since I can't see my feet at all these days I did not notice. I was super embarrassed but decided to go to a craft fair anyway... and yes someone noticed. My sister heard her talking behind my back. SO embarrassing.

Keep in mind for this next one that I was short on sleep from the TWO previous nights. I was in the kitchen cutting an orange and decided to cut my finger instead. It was pretty obvious right away that I needed stitches. There was a lot of blood. The kids were kind of nervous. But I was brave and didn't shed a single tear, even though the anesthetic hurt more than actually cutting it and I felt him sew three of the five stitches. (It was better than having the doc shove another needle in my finger.) Sorry so graphic for those who are weak in the stomach! Jeramy-ahem!

On the way to the urgent care Kaden said, "I am not going to use knives until I am VERY old like 28 and when I do, I won't do it like mom did." Thanks Kaders. Dad most certainly agreed. The best part about it is that they told me I have to have the stitches out in 10 days which is when we will be in Chicago so the nurse just sent us with some surgical scissors and a hemostat so Jess could do it. Dr. Jesse will have to pull out those old fly-tying skills I guess... At least we will be there with a bunch of doctors right? Keep you posted on that one!

Hunting Trip

Jess went hunting with his friend Nick this week for three days. They brought Kaden and Brayden who were so excited about going! Kaden loves guns lately and so to go camping with dad for three days, looking for elk with guns was about the most exciting thing ever! They froze all day and all night but had a blast.

Even with the cold and waking up before the sun, Kaden never complained.

They had the trailers to keep them warm but they were already winterized so no bathrooms, no plug-ins and no water. Too much roughing-it for mom and Ellie!

They took four wheelers since they had the little boys with them. They must have scared off all the elk because they didn't see a single one. Plenty of moose but no elk. Kaden had a good idea though. "How about we just sneak up on a moose and tell him to hold really still so we can shoot him and then we will just put him back together." Probably not.

This is their "campsite". They just pulled off the road and parked. Unfortunately they didn't get anything but they had fun with just the boys anyway. When Kaden came home this is how our conversation went...

"Mom, are you so glad I'm home?"

"Yes, Kaden I am very glad you are home. Are you glad to be home?"

"Um... I was glad when I was hunting."

Oh...ok. Me and Ellie had a great time at home just the girls. We went shopping, went to see my sister in Logan and watched movies in bed. It was lots of fun. Ellie loved being the center of my attention. But it was nice to have our boys home again!

Halloween

Finally I have an excuse to post again! Nothing exciting happened in a month so Halloween is my only excuse to post!

Kaden going to his preschool Halloween party. There were three Raphael's there!

We had a princess and a GI Joe this year. Ellie actually picked out a giraffe costume at the store so she could be Melman from Madagascar but she ditched that idea and insisted she was a princess. She picked out these horrible pink high heel shoes from the store that were way too big for her. I'm surprised she didn't break her ankle walking around in them!

Here's the pumpkins we carved. Jesse made a big confession this year... he always has and always will hate carving pumpkins. He put on a good face for the kids though.

We went up to visit some friends house across town and the kids got a pretty good load at their house. We came back home to go trick-or-treating around our neighborhood and Kaden was like..." I don't want to go trick-or-treating, I'm just gonna stay home." So he stayed at home the rest of the night handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. I don't blame the kid actually, he doesn't even eat candy.

Ellie on the other hand would sell her right arm for a bucket full of candy so Jess took her out all over the neighborhood. She loved it.

They came back and twenty minutes later Ellie wanted to go again! So mom took her out for round number two. She lasted quite a while then got too cold. But she was very nice and said, "Thanks you!" at every door.

My Babies...

This is just a random post about all of my babies...

Kaden said a few things that made me chuckle this week....

We came home from our trip Sunday night and I worked on Monday. Tuesday morning I told Kaden to go get dressed for school and he came back downstairs and said, "Mom, did you do the laundry?"

"Nope, I didn't Kaden."

"Mom, I don't have plenty of clothes! Do the laundry TODAY!"

What a turkey. Also clothes related, he had been telling me for a couple days that he needed new socks because his were too small. Today I went upstairs when I sent him up to get dressed and he was laying there on the floor all depressed and said, "Mom, see this giant thing? (He held up his foot for me.) I can't get this into those tiny socks anymore!"

We went to Walmart and got new socks today.

My Ellie baby. She had her three-year check up this week. She gained one whole pound in a year! She weighs 27 lbs and is 36 inches tall. She's so little. She still wears 2T clothes and most of those are too big still. I was shopping with Jess today and said, "At least I know Ellie's not running short on clothes, she hasn't grown out of anything!"

Baby number 3! I went in for my 20 wk ultrasound today. You can see his heart beating and can see him swallowing amniotic fluid. I was kind of anxious to see if it was still a boy! We had that first ultrasound early so it could have been a mistake, but it's a boy for sure and he looks healthy and strong. This pregnancy is going by so fast. Probably because I am perfectly content where he is. No diapers to change and no restless nights!

San Diego

CAUTION!! THIS IS AN EXTRA-LONG POST!

We went to San Diego again this year for Jesse's convention but this time the kids came along. It was a blast! The kids made it that much more fun! None of us wanted to come home!

Oh ya, the day before we left it was my birthday and we went to the fair. I turned 27 and in Kaden's words, "Whoa, that's old!" Jess got me a new camera for our trip! It was perfect!

I was nervous to see how Kaden would do flying. I knew Ellie wouldn't care and I was right. I kept trying to show her out the window to see stuff and she kept saying things like, "I want peanuts! Where's my apple juice?" Kaden did great and said it was his favorite part of the trip. He just had 101 questions!

The kids thought they were totally ripped off when they found out dad STILL had to go to work in San Diego! We managed to fill up our days until he was off though. The kids weren't super impressed with the temple but I still am every time.

Exploring the hotel while dad is in meetings! Don't feel too bad for Jess though! He got to eat catered meals of steak and fish while we had PB&J in the hotel room!

The kids loved the ocean, especially Ellie. She ran out into the water and then when she saw a little 6 inch wave coming she turned around and ran back to the sand! Way funny! I don't blame her I guess because it did end up knocking her over!

Kaden loved playing in the sand. He repeatedly hit Ellie with a shovel-full.

I don't know what the deal is with my kids' obsession for birds but they chase them EVERYWHERE we go! California birds were no exception.

My hair has just enough wave in it that it goes CrAzY FrIzZy with the humidity! Jess said, "You're hair is kind of crinkly!"

This is the view from our hotel balcony. Mission Bay is on the left and the Pacific Ocean is on the right.

The resort has these exotic birds everywhere to look at. They talk back to you too! I called them birds and both kids said, "No mom! It's a parrot!"

Seaworld was Ellie's favorite. We timed it perfectly-- we got there right when a Shamu show started so we were by ourselves by the other whales' tanks. It was nice.

The kids could have stayed here all day!

All Ellie wanted to see in San Diego were dolphins and Snow White. Here's half of her wish.

Ellie absolutely LOVED the Shamu show. She kept saying, "Whoa! WOW! Mommy I want to swim with the whales!"

Then I looked over at Kaden and this is what he was doing. He got a little bored!

They both still liked it though.

This is a steamboat that takes you on a ride in the bay. We took it right at sunset one night. It was so pretty!

Ellie had a tummy ache from the stale popcorn at Seaworld! Kaden loved the boat though.

We saw the best sunsets on the beach!

And of course, Disneyland. We stayed for 9 hours and only saw half of the park! It was great though, the kids had a blast. Jess and I enjoyed ourselves too. I made the kids wear these harnesses. My greatest fear was losing them somewhere in California! I felt like I had two puppies!

The Dumbo ride. Kaden's favorites were the Pinocchio story ride and the Matterhorn Mountain. He did so good on the rides! He kept asking for more! The kid gets sick in a car, but bring on the rollercoasters!

The Mickey Mouse House line was pretty short. We did really good all day! The lines went by really fast. I think we hit them all at the right time.

The only character Kaden had to see was Goofy. We finally found him after searching all day. We mobbed him right when he came out of the door. Kaden was pretty excited.

Ok I lied. All of the lines were pretty short EXCEPT the Princess line. We waited for over an hour so Ellie could see the princesses and when we finally get back there.... she won't even look at them! She buried her head in my shoulder and wouldn't talk to them. Kaden liked them though!

I felt silly getting my picture taken with princesses but Ellie wouldn't do it without me there.

Like I said, Kaden wasn't shy. Him and Ariel had a talk about sharks because she's been chased by one, you know!

Ya, this is the face Ellie had for the whole princess thing. What a stinker! She was disappointed though because Snow White was nowhere to be found. That's OK, she wouldn't have looked at her anyway!

We thought this sign was too funny not to take a picture of it.

It's a boy!

For those of you who don't know yet, we are expecting a baby boy in January! I am 17 weeks along and super happy to be done with my first trimester! It was the worst one I've had by far. Jess and the kids have been super patient with me and my lack of desire to cook and clean. Kaden and Ellie are so excited to have a baby brother. They are already fighting over who gets to get the diapers and wipes to change his diaper.

I had Kaden take these pics for me. He did pretty good!

People constantly remind me about how large I get. For those of you who have never seen me pregnant, watch out!

I found these pictures on my camera. Boys will be boys! Can't wait to add another one to the pack!