Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving didn't turn out quite like we had been planning on for months thanks to this lovely cold. We were going to spend the day with the kids' godparents and their family and some friends like we do almost every year. But with Brenna still sick (although on the mend) I thought it would be best not to go to our friends' house this year. I didn't want to share our germs with them.

Instead we spent a relaxing day hanging out with Nana and Poppa. We had Thanksgiving with them and the kids really enjoyed it. It was a nice quiet day. A great preparation for our shopping marathon tomorrow! :-) So here are some fun pictures of dinner and the clean up crew. Brenna enjoyed mashed potatoes today too!










FOR MATT: HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEXY! I LOVE YOU!


What I am Thankful for:

I am sitting here while my kids (yes ALL 3) are running through the house squealing and laughing with joy! It just makes me smile to hear their laughter. I am so grateful for my wonderful husband and best friend. I couldn't imagine my life without you in it. I know it sounds completely cheesy-but you complete me! I am so grateful for my kids-they truly are my blessings and joy even through the hard days. I am grateful for my friends and family and their love and support because of them life is so much sweeter. I am especially grateful for my relationship with my Savior which sees me through all of life's ups and downs.

I hope you each had the chance some time today to count your blessings and really find out what you are thankful for!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL!!!! MATT SENDS HIS LOVE AS WELL!!

Laundry Baskets

This seems to be a picture every child has in their scrapbook or baby book and our three are no different. They all love to play in laundry baskets which means Mom has to hunt all over the house for them when I am trying to get laundry done. Brenna discovered laundry baskets today. She had a blast and was in the basket for quite a while.

On a side note: Brenna got her second tooth yesterday! (don't know if I posted that or not).

Doctor Appointments

I didn't get to post about Brenna's weight on Monday like I wanted to. Unfortunately Brenna and my colds took a serious turn for the worse. I have been laying low and trying to get better so I can keep up with the kids. We have actually been staying with Nana and Poppa for a few days so I could get some help and rest. We are slowly moving towards good health but this darn cold is miserable. But here is a doctor update...

Aidan's rash is apparently a severe reaction to flea bites. No one else is being bit so I didn't know we were having problems with fleas. I am fumigating the house today to get rid of the problems. The doctor has prescribed a whole regiment of creams to get rid of the rash. Hopefully the fumigation will get rid of the fleas. We no longer have any cats so that should help. (Will explain about the cat dramas at a later date). He is doing much better and I can already see the rash beginning to fade.

Brenna is . . . du du dum . . . 18lbs, 4oz-totally naked. She is about 19.5lbs with all her clothes on. She is a big girl. She is 27+" long. She is in 18 month clothes already, so much for my little baby. She is very healthy and mobile-crawling and scooting all over the place. She can also sit up on her own. Today she finally got her second tooth. She is working on a serious cold that is trying to settle in her chest but so far it is still a head cold. She is also fighting thrush at the same time so she is a miserable girl. Her cold is was doing well last night but she is miserable again this morning. She also has a battery of medicine to help fight this cold and the thrush.

So that's all for now. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to fight this nasty virus.

Sick-Sick-Sick!!

Well, the kids finally shared their cold with Mom. I couldn't get by with just the sniffles. I have the full-blown achy, sneezy, stuffy head, miserable virus Aidan and Chloe had about ten days ago. The worst part is that I have shared with Brenna (which is hard not to do). As you can imagine, she is miserable. Poor thing!

Tomorrow is Brenna's 6th month check-up...Leave a comment and guess how much she weighs?

Future Rock Star

Brenna loves music. She loves to wiggle and dance to any music she hears. She especially loves the music at church and can rock with the best of them. So here she is playing with Chloe's Hanna Montana microphone. Our little Rocker!!

Our Girls!

Such sweet faces!!

Mmmmmm . . . Chocolate!!!

We made brownies the other day. Can't you tell? Although I must say, Aidan does not love chocolate as much as Chloe and Matt do. That will probably change as he gets older though.

Matt Update

Matt is doing well and sends you all his love. He has been doing some unexpected traveling over the past few weeks. He is now back where he is suppose to be and getting back into the same old routine. He is missing the kids and ready to come home. That is really all I can post about him without getting him in trouble.

The kids seem to be adjusting better Matt's absence. Chloe misses him terribly and asks every day if it is time for him to come home. Matt and her have such a great relationship and she misses joking and playing around with him. The other day she told me that she missed Dad's hugs the most. She looks forward to his phone calls almost everyday. Aidan spent the first part of this deployment very angry at Dad's absence. Chloe and I took the brunt of it. He just couldn't understand why his world had been turned upside down. He is now doing much better and we have our little boy back. He has turned his anger towards Dad and refuses to talk to him on the phone. Brenna seems to be oblivious to any change in her life. She does get very upset if I leave or step out of the room for a moment. She does not willingly go to other people and will only let people hold her for a minute or two before wanting to go back to Mom. I think she will have a hard time with Matt's homecoming. Since it is mainly me who takes care of her, she really doesn't want anyone else.

Before we know it he will be home with us again. This is his last deployment, EVER! Yippee!! Meanwhile the constant array of visitors to our house makes the time go by much faster. Thanks for all your love, prayers and support!

Here are some great pictures of the kids just being kids. Nana, Poppa, Uncle Michael, Aunt Kim and Grandma Gerri came over for pizza and some family time (yes we did throw in some stamping as always). The kids love spending time with family especially with Poppa. Aidan needed some "guy time" so he enjoyed climbing all over Poppa for a while. And I have to add this since this is SOOO our son. Aidan's shirt says, "Look Out; Here Comes Trouble". It was so cute I had to get it for him (plus it was on sale, always a perk).

Chloe was playing dress up and was a fairy princess. With the release of the new movie Tinker Bell she is all about fairies lately. Chloe is also starting to get a bit of a cold so after playing hard all day she finally had to admit that she wasn't feeling great. She was asleep as soon as she hit the pillow, poor girl. She doesn't get sick very often but when she does it is pretty miserable.

Brenna has been in rare form all day. Squealing, screaming, growling and just chattering away. She is teething very bad and her second tooth is ready to break threw any minute. Brenna has a very joyful spirit and is the happiest baby even while teething (and in some severe pain). She is doing good just biting and chomping on everything (and everybody).

It was a fun night spent with family, getting caught up on all the happenings in each families lives.

First Tooth & On the Go!!

Big news!! Brenna got her first tooth today and she turned 6 months old! Can you believe it? She has beaten Chloe and Aidan's records (they were 10 and 9 months old before they got theirs). So I am not sure if her runny nose is due to a cold or if it is from teething. We were at a family friend's birthday party this afternoon when Brenna shoved my finger into her mouth and began gnawing. I immediately felt something sharp and looked in her mouth and there it was--her first tooth!! It is the bottom, right front tooth. It is fairly sharp. Once it is up more than I will take a picture.

Brenna also started to get up on her knees and scoot. This was new for her today although I knew that she was getting close. She was doing an inchworm crawl for quite a while but now she is up on her knees. She gets up on her knees, rocks a bit than propels herself forward. So before we know it she will be mobile. YIKES!! I will definitely have my hands full than.

Brenna & Food!

Brenna has been on cereal for a while and about two or three weeks ago I started her on fruit, which she absolutely loves. This was my first attempt at veggies. I started with Sweet Potatoes. Check out her face-too cute!

It's That Time of Year Again!

It's that time of year again--cold & flu season! I love fall, all the changing leaves, cool, crisp weather but with that comes the viruses. Yuck! I was up all night with Brenna, who couldn't sleep laying flat on her back, and Aidan, who was coughing so bad he actually threw up. Having both kids in our full-sized bed was an adventure to say the least. Mom managed about four hours of sleep between nursing, keeping the humidifier going and rubbing Vicks on Aidan between bouts of coughing.

Both kids were feeling great yesterday although Aidan had the occasional runny nose. Than at about 2AM both woke up miserable. They are still stuffed up and coughing this morning but seem to be doing a little better. Chloe has managed to avoid the cold so far but it is just a matter of time before she gets it as well, she had a headache off and on yesterday. So please pray for us as we fight our way past the first major cold of the season.

Pumpkins!!

As promised, here are our pumpkins...




Can you guess which pumpkin beongs to Chloe, Aidan and Mom? Leave a comment and I will post later in the week who did which pumpkin.