The Real Life I lead...

Hello.  It is me.  I am going to try to catch up on a few things we have been up to the past couple of weeks/months....

The girls had their final dance recital nearly a month ago.  It was so wonderful as always.  Unfortunately with Mike having to take care of Cole and me helping Michelle wherever needed, I didn't get any dance pics.  And I mean ANY!  This is it.  This is a quick shot of us trying to round up the girls for one last pic at the end of the recital.  She had about 60 students this year...and it was her last year teaching. :(  It was great and I will miss her teaching and so will my girls.  Thanks Mic for all your hard work! We loved it and we love you!!

(While I am really sad that I didn't get any other pics than this, I am grateful that MJ is willing to watch Cole during the ongoings because that my friends is NOT an easy task!!)

The girls started piano lessons this year.  They have really enjoyed it and have the best piano teacher there is!  She is so great with the girls and I have been impressed with how well they have picked it up.  Their final recital was last Saturday and Grandma Lori and Crampa Jerry came to watch.  It was a short recital and a quick visit but we loved it all!!

Here is Cole at 9 months old.  (April 12th.)  I am taking pics in a laundry basket and just thought I would throw this in.  He is really growing.

One night before MJ left for work at Ray's, he slipped an Oreo to Cole and this is the result of the scrumptious treat.  I was of course on clean up committee.  Yay.

The one true thing that Cole loves is swinging.  We have had a beautiful spring and have been able to spend some time outside.  He could sit and swing all day.

The girls found my camera and decided to make a photo shoot with their brother.  Here is his western attire.  There are many, many more strange outfits and pics on the camera, but I spared you from our interesting selves. 

Tonight I decided we should go for a few pictures and MJ wanted to show us a fun place on the river he found.  So we took a few pictures of the kids and it was an ok event.

Cambree is finishing up her 4th grade year.  She has loved her teacher, loved her classmates, loved piano, dancing, ski school, friends, activity days, and pretty much everything in her life.  She is such a great girl. And will be 11 this fall!!!  WOW!

Aidan misses preschool.  He is looking forward to going in the fall.  He can count to 100 now and loves to tell you all about it.  He loves throwing rocks and climbing fences.  We are having a battle of wills with this kid and working on some discipline around here.  He is excited for summer and it will be wild with him this year.

Brinlee is finishing up 3rd grade.  She was able to pass of her times tables and received an award of one extremely large jaw breaker.  She was able to suck it 1/2 way down in 2 days and had several cankers from the effort.  She is always full of some funny story and has a lot of spunk.  It is never dull when Brin is around!

Wow.  I don't know what to say about our baby Cole.  It has literally been the longest year of my entire life.  He has cried/screamed/cried/screamed/cried....every single day for the past 10 months.  (He turned 10 months old yesterday.)  He is never, ever content.  We love him to pieces but WOW.  He is a hard little person.  He finally started crawling on the 5th of May.  He is getting better and better everyday.  I think he has allergies and I am beginning to wonder if he is just allergic to us.  We really do love this little fella but he has sure been a challenge and that is the plain and simple truth.  Someday I hope to look back on these days and remember them with fondness or at least laugh at how mean he has been.  Right now it is a struggle to get up in the morning and face the day...

MJ has 2 weeks of school left like the kids and then we get to be so lucky because he has to bring home his many pets.  He is a pet owner of a gecko, a tarantula spider and a madagascar cock roach.  Gross.  We also own a guinea pig already.  And our house is overflowing with children so don't ask me what we are going to do with all these things!!  Yay summer.... :/

I am still doing the mom thing!  I love it and am so grateful everyday that I can stay home and enjoy my kids.  The good times and the bad times.  I am looking forward to summer and have some fun things in mind of what we can do.  It will be wonderful... I hope.  What doesn't kill me will only make me stronger! :) 

WOW! We need a CATCH UP post of ALL Time!!

Life has been happening around here and it has been BUSY! I haven't taken a lot of pics lately--like for the past 2 months--but what I did capture I am going to caption briefly. You get what you get with me nowadays...

We had Christmas with my family and as always it was great! We were able to go to my Aunt Tammy and Uncle Paul's house for Christmas Eve to partake in their families festivities. We frosted sugar cookies, ate a delicious dinner, played chimes for a little competition, and went on an awesome hayride around Salem Pond. It was very fun. Christmas morning is so much fun with our kids at these ages. They get so excited for everything! It was a good Christmas and they were even able to have Mr. and Mrs. Claus come for a personal visit! It was a definite highlight!!

My brother Andy and his family came up on Christmas day and we took a picture of all the grandkids in front of the tree. We did this last year and since then, added Cole. Their little guy, Crew, has grown quite a bit. Next year we will have another addition to put under that tree...Kristin is expecting their 2nd baby in July! Yay cousins!! (Brinlee is holding Crew and Cam has Cole...that's a lot of C names. Haha!)

In the middle of January we went up to my grandparents to celebrate Aidan's birthday and my grandma's birthday. We have done this for the past 2 years and it has been really fun. We meet my parents and sister there and have a little weekend getaway. Here they are blowing out the candles on the cake. (Aidan's birthday is 3 days after my grandma's and Cole was born on my grandpa's birthday in July. Kind of a fun bit of trivia for you.)

Aidan started the preschool up on campus this semester. Both of the girls each had a semester in the preschool up there and it has been a wonderful thing for my kids. Aidan absolutely loves it! He loves going and playing and learning. It doesn't last long...only about 2.5 months, so it will be a sad day when it ends. He is going to preschool with his friend Keaton. Cambree and Brinlee went to preschool with Keaton's sisters. (My BFF's girls Sadie and Tess!)

Cole turned 6 months old in January. Sadly we are in March now so he is nearly 8 months old. He weighed 22 lbs at his 6 months appt. He is such a little fella. :) I have been taking pictures of him in the laundry basket so that when he is a year it will be fun to see how he grew over time. It sounds cooler in my head. He is still quite the baby...very challenging. He is very smiley when people talk to him and he has an adorable baby laugh. He is SO spoiled and refuses to be left alone ever. If he thinks you are going to put him down he stiffens up and throws a big tantrum. He learned to roll over to his stomach a couple of months ago but that is about it. He can sit up alone though so that's nice. Hopefully he gets mobile soon and happier??? Hopefully!!

Since he can sit up on his own fairly well, we will let Aidan join him in the tub every so often. This is much more exciting for Aidan than it is for Cole.

Cambree and Brinlee have been performing for dance at several basketball games and we have been busy with that. Strangely enough I have don't have any still pics of them in their costumes. Just videos. But, their recital is in April so we will get some pics then for sure!
Cambree participated in ski school this year. It was 4 days and 6 hrs each of those days. She had our cousin Jordan for her snowboard instructor and SHE LOVES SNOWBOARDING!!! Mike was able to take her skiing/boarding on President's day and it was good for both of them.

Brinlee had a talent show at school and it was very delightful. She played a piano solo and did a lot of practicing before hand to memorize the song. She did a very good job. I was proud of her.

Mike just got a new calling in church. He is now the Sunday School secretary. I am still the 2nd counselor in Young Women's and so now our calling mesh very well. This has been really nice because Cole has had a nasty cold that has lingered and we haven't been taking him out. So we tag team parent on Sundays. Mike takes the kids for the 1st half and I go for the 2nd half. It works for now.

Those were the main points for the past little bit. I will try to keep up with things on here, but who are we kidding? I am a lazy blogger nowadays... Hope all is well with you peeps!!

**Merry Christmas to ALL**
Wow! It's Christmastime and man oh man do the days fly by with all there is to accomplish. School programs, ward functions, work and school parties...the list goes on and on. Needless to say I am glad for the Christmas season. The joy it brings to our home, the excitement of our kids, the amazing feelings we have from watching the generosity of others. I am so glad for such a season.

Mike started teaching his 2nd trimester at school after the Thanksgiving vacation. He was so glad to be able to start a trimester from the beginning and not picking up where another teacher left off. He loves his students and is finding a lot of joy in teaching. (Now if only the pay were just a smidgeon better.) He teaches in Primary and likes it too!

I am still able to stay home with our kiddies. It is a challenging blessing. Aidan and Cole spend the day with me and wow! they are something else. Aidan always has something new to discover and Cole...well...Cole is a discovery in itself... I am the 2nd counselor in the Young Women's and it is a joy in my life. I really do love it and the girls and as a bonus it gets me out of the house 1 night a week!!

Cambree is in 4th grade and started at a new school. She loves, Loves, LOVES school! She is SO helpful in our home. I have really come to rely on her and am so glad she is such a willing and delightful girl. She started piano this year and has loved every minute of it. She begs to practice and it makes me happy to see her like it so much. She is going to start ski school at the beginning of the year and is really excited to try that out.

Brinlee is in 3rd grade and she is a great student. Her teacher really loves her and Brin really loves her teacher. It has been a good experience and I feel blessed about that. Brin also started piano this year and she seems to like it just fine. She tried gymnastics earlier in the fall and while she loved doing it, she loved going to Activity Days a little more so she had to give up one or the other and chose to give up gymnastics. She is quite the comedian in our family and she comes up with hilarious things to make us laugh.

Aidan is nearly 4. He has been looking forward to this birthday for quite sometime. He is enrolled in preschool at the college and it starts in the middle of January. He can hardly wait to be a big kid in school. He got a new Nursery leader a few months ago and fell immediately in love. She is so good to him and he thinks she is so beautiful. He talks about her all the time. Aidan is quite a clown himself. He is also VERY independent. He cooks his own oatmeal and mixes his own crystal light "drinks". He pretty much rules this place. It is a challenge.

Cole is 5 1/2 months old and is going to be the death of me. He cries ALL THE TIME! And I mean all the time. I am starting to think he will never learn to roll over, crawl, walk or do anything for himself because he is held all the time. I have taken him to several Drs, a chiropractor, and have tried many kinds of remedies...all to no avail. I am hopeful that when he turns 6 months old that a miracle will happen and he will turn into an angel baby. I am convinced that he was switched at birth and my mild mannered nice baby went home with the wrong people. :) HOWEVER!! I love this little baby boy. He has amazing smiles and laughs that bring joy to our family. He is starting to eat more solid foods and it is fun to watch this milestone. We do love him and are glad he is part of our family.

I wasn't very good this year so I am getting COLE in my stocking!! Hahaha!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hopefully this next year will be amazing for ALL!!

**October's Wrap-Up**

Whew! I am always behind with everything it seems. Here is the rundow of our October. MJ worked in Spud Harvest driving truck for our great friends the Ashton's. It was kind of a crazy harvest...they usually are. The week he was out of school it was so rainy they didn't dig much. The week after he went to school during the day and then drove spud truck at night. It was a long time for the kids and me. I didn't know if I was going to survive. But of course I did. :) We are glad that we don't have to do that every day...

We celebrated Halloween like the rest of everyone else. Here are the costumes in all their glory. We did simple costumes this year and it was nice.







Aidan loved Halloween. He especially thought these green fangs were the best things ever. He must not get out much. :)

Cole continues to grow and grow. He is close to 20 lbs. He is a very unhappy baby. Sure we can get him to smile and giggle. BUT, he is not content with anything. He wants to be held ALL the time. And as you can imagine, 20 lbs of baby is not that easy to carry around. He is breaking my arms and back. And to be quite honest, the crying is really, really hard to cope with some days. There. Now you know that the life I try to portray on my blog is FAR FROM PERFECT!!! I have a fussy baby, a 3 year old who won't leave said baby alone and to be honest, I have no patience with either of these issues. :):)
This picture was taken in a laundry basket because my cute sister-in-law showed me a fun idea to take a picture of your baby every 3 months in the basket for the 1st year to see how quickly they grow. This is Cole and his cute little self. Makes you wanna just cuddle him doesn't it??

Aidan and his friend Keaton get to come play at our house every Wednesday afternoon while the girls are at dance. This past Wednesday while I was feeding Cole and putting him down for a nap, these two little angels decided to make use of their time. Aidan even had green hair. How adorable. Everyone wishes I would watch their children.

Here is a picture of our 4 children. It is as good as it gets. We had at least 3 of the 4 looking. Cole was more interested in chewing on his shirt. Sigh. At least they were ready for church on time. That's something.

**September has come and nearly gone...**

At the beginning of the month we blessed Cole. Well, MJ blessed him, and the rest of us were in attendance. It was a nice summer day and MJ did a great job. Thank you to those who came. It meant a lot to me.

Cambree played soccer through the end of August and into September. It was starting to get chilly the last couple of games so it was a good thing it didn't go much longer. She had a lot of fun playing.

Brinlee and her dad went up to the temple to have some baptism dress pictures taken. We did the same with Cambree, but it was nicer weather in July versus October. :)
Aidan is quite the character. He loves his brother but a little too fiercely. It is hard for him to understand why Cole is crying from all the "love" he gives him. :) Cole has continued to grow. At his 2 month appointment he weighed a whopping 14 lbs. 13 oz. Which ironically is just 1 oz over what Aidan weighed at his 2 month appointment. We like 'em big, we like 'em husky. :)

MJ and I have been so blessed the past 2 years. He became unemployed in August 2009 and immediately went back to school to get this teaching certificate. In February 2011 he landed a job teaching high school economics and computer classes. In May the principal told him there was a budget cut and his position was being cut with it. So, we went back to searching for jobs. ALL summer...Nothing was offered to us...So we continued to wait and receive multiple blessings from numerous sources. Two weekends ago he became aware of a position at a local Jr High and applied. It was teaching 7th grade science which was what he taught while student teaching. We had a to wait a very long week, but in the end he was offered a job!! He started teaching this past Monday and is really enjoying it. It has been a long trial with much learning for us both. I am sure we have more trials awaiting us, but it is nice having this amazing blessing in our lives! (Cheesy, but TRUE!!)

Cambree turned 10 years old yesterday!

It was so strange to see the anniversary of 9/11 come and go and think about what I was doing 10 years ago...just 12 days away from having my 1st baby. I can't believe that 10 years have passed. Cambree has grown up so quickly. Ten fun things about Cambree are:
She is VERY helpful.

Very responsible.

VERY friendly.

So loving and kind.

Loves to laugh.

Loves to read.

Loves to help cook, clean, sew...

Loves to create and "invent" things.

Loves to try new things (basically everything).

LOVES LIFE!

We love Cambree. She is such a joy to raise and is a great member of our family!!

**Our August in a nutshell**

As you can guess we have had a busy month and a half. This past Tuesday was Cole's 6 week birthday. :) We took him to get his pictures taken in his blessing outfit. (Will bless him over Labor Day weekend.) He started smiling at us when he was 5 weeks old and now it is a big contest to see who can get him to smile the most....However, this is usually the face we get. Not so sure how he really feels about us. (At least not Aidan. Heehee.)

Since Cole was about 5 days old, he has had a bum rash that just won't quit. It is the worst rash I have ever seen on a baby and we can NOT get it to go away. We have tried every trick we can think of. Lay under a lightbulb, wash with soap and water EVERY diaper change, every bum cream you can imagine, every cornstarch remedy and air it out solution possible. It just will not go away. It is painful for everyone involved because the poor thing has never known a good diaper change and it breaks my heart to hear him so sad. Ugh!! (We have literally been to the Dr's office every week since he was born...EVERY week!!)



But, he continues to grow and grow. Last Friday he weighed in at 13 lbs. 1 oz. and today he weighed in at 13 lbs. 11 oz. He is putting on the weight and we love it!

The girls started school on the 17th of August. They were so excited. Cam is in 4th and Brin is in 3rd. They go to different schools this year but don't seem to mind a bit. They love their teachers and I am hating the early mornings and homework already. It could be a long year!!

Aidan was so excited for the girls to start school too. He would have liked to go, but decided that having everything at home to himself was way better than anything in the world. So, he plays the Wii a lot and he is my little buddy who loves to watch everything I do for the baby. Change diapers, dress him and feed him. It is so special to have such an attentive audience. :) It is fun to see him love his little brother so much!
MJ and I celebrated our 13th anniversary this year. I can't believe how fast the time goes. I never would have dreamed what our years together would be like, but I am excited to see what the next 13 bring. :)

**A quick update**

All is well in our household. Summer is going by quickly. The kids are home from a week long vacation to their grandparents in Utah. (Thanks again Grandpa Jer-Bear and Grandma Lori and Auntie Em--even you Uncle Sean :)). It has been quite an adjustment having 4 kids. We have been taking it easy all week since little newborns make me a lot nervouse. :) The kids are bored but would it be any different any other summer?

Cambree has proven to be a great helper with many things. She is growing up so fast and I appreciate her kindness to her siblings and her helpful attitude.

Brinlee. Sigh. She is dealing with some middle child syndrome issues I think. She has developed a need to wash her hands and worries constantly about things that supposedly make her dirty. After a chat with the Dr. I feel that I can help her past this but man is it trying my patience. Hopefully with school starting and getting her back into a routine she will overcome this need for being a clean freak. :)

Aidan has actually adjusted way better than I expected with a new baby in the house. He loves this little fella and is very interested in the ongoings of caring for a baby. Feedings bring on quite the audience and it is special. He is learning to self entertain really well and I have only had to deal with 2 meltdowns from him. These are possibly from being over tired.

Cole went to the Dr. for a 2 week check up yesterday and he now weighs 9 lbs. 14 oz. He is growing very quickly and once we get this nighttime stuff under control, I will be a happy mom!! :):)

Cole on his 2 week birthday.