Last week:

Cami has been sick.  She threw up on Sunday night and was sick every afternoon this week.  She kept saying her tummy hurts and has no energy or appetite.  She has had a hard time getting comfortable.  Hopefully it resolves soon.  We missed going to the pumpkin patch with her preschool group.

We did go to Country Mercantile on the Friday before that with Cade's preschool.  It was a windy day and I left Ellie with one of my friends, which worked out great.  The kids got to do a hay ride, pick their pumpkin, climb up the bales of hay, see the farm animals and go through the hay bale maze.  They loved it.

We had a campfire party on Saturday evening with some friends and roasted marshmallows in our backyard.  I got some cookies and cream fudge stripes cookies and they were very good.  Cade and Kirk went fishing earlier that day.  They had a good time and the weather was great.

Kirk had an operating room day on Wednesday.  He was a little nervous about it going in because they had scheduled 5 cases for him and it is really important to stay on time and get out on time.  He prefers 3 big ones or 4 smaller ones.  Anyway, the second case ended up being every tooth instead of the 4 they had planned on (once they saw the x-rays).  Kirk had a total anxiety attack and panicked.  He couldn't really explain why it happened, but he started sweating, couldn't see straight and almost fainted.  He was able to get out and another doctor finished the case.  He saw the other doctor's patients the rest of the day.  It was kind of weird.  He gets stressed out at work frequently, but this was the first time it hit him so physicallly.

Friday Kirk had a meeting in the morning and then the rest of the day off.  We took the kids out to Wendy's for lunch.

Cade has been a great kid lately.  He likes to get his own snacks which is great.  He likes to peel carrots and eat them with ranch or make toast and butter it.  He always gets himself dressed in the morning, brushes his teeth after breakfast and puts his own laundry away.  He likes to unload the dishwasher or vacuum to get stickers and earn prizes.  He is a thinker and plans a head.  Last week he planned a "party" for us after dinner.  He set up the play table and chairs on top of a blanket.  He put a book by each chair that we can read.  Then, we watched a show of him sword fighting and he gave us all a prize at the end.  He loves to draw and make cards for his friends and family.  He is learning how to write correctly and has really taken off with reading.  He loves to play with Liam, our neighbor, and Walter at preschool.  They all like star wars and light sabers and stuff.  I took him to the ward halloween party when Cami was sick.  He played the games and then really wanted a hot dog, so we waited about 20 minutes for dinner to start so he could have his hot dog.  He is good to his sisters and watches out for Ellie.

Cami is learning a lot of new stuff.  She is starting to figure out how things work and definitely has her own ideas about what she should be doing.  She likes to give me threats like "If you make me do that I will not play with Cade all day!"  She likes to go to her preschool and see her new friends.  She loves to wear dresses, choose how we do her hair and make sure she has her favorite shoes on (changes each day).  Cami loves to go shopping, especially if we are getting something for her.  The other day, she walked past me and simply said, "I love you mom."  I was putting her to bed another night and said "I hope you sleep well."  She said "I hope you sleep well too mom.  I love you."  She is a caring, loving girl.  She likes to help Cade, even though they are very competitive with each other.  Cami loves to read stories and has the book "100 things that make me happy" memorized.  We were having family night and talking about things we can be thankful for in prayers.  We suggested houses.  Cami explained that we need to have our houses so we don't see scary shadows outside.

Ellie is crazy!  We have always said that about Cami too.  She has so much energy.  She started walking more than crawling about October 15, 10.5 months old.  She gets into everything--empties cupboards and drawers.  She loves to escape and run away upstairs.  She loves to play with toilet paper.  She likes to play in the garbage cans.  She loves to wrestle on beds and pillows.  She eats a lot and wants to tell us what she wants by yelling and grunting.  She smiles a lot and giggles.

today.
5:45 Cami woke me up because she needed help with her covers.  I put her back to bed and luckily she fell back asleep.

Got up at 6:15, got dressed, went down and made oatmeal and Kirk's lunch.

Kids got up about 6:45 (good for Ellie, she's been waking up at 5:30 lately)

We ate breakfast and Kirk left about 7:15.

Got the kids showered/bathed and dressed for the day.  Started laundry, read books with Cade until it was time for preschool.

8:55  off Cade at his preschool then took Cami to her co-op preschool.  Went home, put Ellie to bed and Kara stopped by to bring back a sippy cup we left at her house.  She stayed for a few minutes and then I did a workout and vacuumed the family room.  Dar came by to bring us some apples.  I woke up Ellie and went to pick up Cami.

11:00  She was at the park with her preschool.  We stayed there for about 20 minutes until it was time to pick up Cade.  She had to go potty while we were there and ended up wetting her pants while trying to get her button undone.  Luckily I had extra clothes in the car.

11:30 Picked up Cade, came home, had lunch got ready for a bike ride

12:30 left for a bike ride with our friends Liam and Becky.  Cami decided she did not want to ride at all so she walked the whole way, making us a little slow.  I walk with Ellie in a stroller.  Becky took the boys a little further to play on a big rock after our loop and I took the girls home. Liam stayed at our house for a bit and the kids played in the back yard.  I got dinner started, part of the kitchen cleaned and dishes done.

3:00 Liam left, Cade and Cami watched Princess Sophia and I folded laundry.  Ellie woke up at 3:45 and we went to Costco.  I picked up formula for Ellie and was about to leave and then Cade asked for samples.  We did a loop around the store and tried a few things.  Came home, finished Sophia, finished dinner

5:30 Kirk came home and we ate.  Cleaned up some leaves in the backyard.  Came in and read stories then put the kids to bed.

7:15 all three kids in bed, finished the dishes and talked to my mom for a bit.  Now it is 8:00 and I'm finishing up this.  Kirk went back to work at 7:00 to finish up  some notes and should be home in an hour or so.

It was a busy day, but pretty typical around here.  The rest of the week brings a park trip, visiting teaching, babysitting for a friend, pumpkin patch field trip with Cade's preschool.  It just keeps going!  I love my life right now, but it sure wears me out.

jumping off rocks in to leaves

Bath time

Little monkey

Walking

worn out at dinner--she fell asleep

Super hero sprint at Cade's preschool Cami wanted to join in

Cade's note to ?  it says need help, the fire breathing dragon. I was the dragon that day

playing in the leaves with a ninja fairy

ninja fairy

More super hero sprint

I was trying to post every week.  It's been a while this time.  Shoot!

Last weekend I went with a group of 5 ladies to hike Mt. St Helens.  We made it 1/3 to 1/2 of the way to the top and turned around.  It was windy, snowing and very foggy.  We debated about seeing how far we could make it, but heard from other hikers that it was colder and foggier up a head.  We decided to cut the hike short and went back to the cabin to shower and relax.  We then headed to Vancouver, WA and saw a movie and went to Ikea in Portland.  We had time the next day to do a cool hike on the way home in the Columbia river Gorge.  It was a very fun, relaxing trip.  I talked and laughed more than I ever do.  It was awesome to be able to be spontaneous and not have to worry about kids and everything.  I definitely want to hike that mountain another time.  Hopefully in the next couple of years I get up there again.

Kirk was an awesome dad.  He took the kids to Boise to his cousin Cody's wedding while I was gone.  They left Friday morning and Scott drove with them.  They met up with his parents for lunch and then Kirk watched our kids and Jex (Scott's boy) during the sealing.  They played and swam and drove home Saturday afternoon.

This weekend was conference.  Katie and Jason Scott came to visit with their kids.  We have known them for a long time.  We each have 3 kids all within a few months of each other.  They have a great time playing and we all love talking together.  Kirk and Jason went fishing on Saturday.  Conference was great.  I learned that I need to learn more about repentance and the atonement.  I need to focus on having joy each day.  I need to be more concerned with what Heavenly Father thinks of me and less on what other people think of me.  I need to try to be more loving, kind, unselfish, patient and forgiving.  I cannot change other people, but I can change myself and ultimately, that is what matters.  How I act and treat others.  I had several moments through the weekend when I felt the spirit and knew that what they were saying was true.  I did not hear most of the talks in their entirety, but I heard pieces of all of them.  Our kids were very excited every time an apostle talked.  They would get a treat if they sat still for a few minutes and listened.  It was a fun weekend.