Sick. Sick. Sick.

 The picture above is of V in her Easter dress on Sunday.  Look at that girl sit!  She is so much fun right now.  I actually have posts with 4/5 kids on Easter Sunday (A was already back in St. Louis).  But...that leads me to my title.  I have been sick. sick. sick.  I have only once in my life (that I can remember at least) been this sick!  It is horrible.  It has lasted over a week and a half and I am finally feeling a little better.  I went to the doctor Monday and I have an acute sinus infection.  Yuck!  It is not fun....not fun at all. 

So, I already was behind on blogging....and now I am REALLY behind.  I have to yet again just start where I am and hope I can someday catch up.  Yesterday, K and C and J all read my blog book from 2007.  I realize how important it is to keep up with our family history by blogging.  I want to.  I really do.  Now I just have to jump it up the priority ladder a few rungs.

 This picture is of V this morning. Just sitting there all by herself.  She is such a big girl.  K never sat.  She went straight to crawling and cruising.  Oh, I am not ready for that yet!  I am excited to see V grow, but I am not ready for the disaster that a crawler creates!!! It is coming.....ready or not!

V had her six month doctor visit, including shots, this morning.  She did great.  She is back up to 12-2 after losing weight last week by being sick.  :)  She is a little cranky now.  In fact, the below picture I took just a few minutes ago.  You know something is wrong when this girl isn't moving:  rolling, reaching, scooting.  Poor thing.  She does know what to do for a camera, though, and favored me with a smile....even though she is grumpy!

General Conference is in 2 days!  I am so blessed! I am excited and ready!

I am such a lucky girl:  best husband ever, five great kids, a house, the gospel, and all the other millions of blessings I enjoy!  I am blessed beyond measure!

Six Months Old

V is six months old today!  1/2 a year!  How fun she is to have around!  We sure love her.  Her little personality is shining through and it is great!

She loves to stick her tongue out.  She probably spends more awake time with her tongue out of her mouth than in.  She just is fascinated by it.  She also loves to giggle and it is so infectious when she does.

She loves her toys.  She loves being in her exersaucer.  She is content to play with her toys, either alone or with others.  She also loves books (YES!!!).  She loves singing, particularly "I Am a Child of God," "If the Savior Stood Beside Me," and "Skid-a-marink-a-dink-a-dink."

She can proficiently roll over both ways and scoots (still unintentionally...so it isn't very far, but she ends up quite a ways away from where we put her down).  She loves to sit and is ALMOST able to sit all by herself.  It is kind of hit or miss.  Sometimes she can sit for a long time and be very stable and others she topples in a matter of seconds.

We are so blessed to have her as a part of our family.  She brings such joy.  She is a very good baby, rarely fussing unless she needs something.  She loves all of her siblings.  Her whole body lights up when one of her parents walks into the room.  She is starting to recognize her name and that is fun too.  We love her and she is a huge blessing for us!

Final Day of Spring Break and Finally a Garden

 I have been really struggling with Blogger lately...so there are many posts not posted and even more not even out of my head! 

We have had a great Spring Break and especially a great trip to see A....among a million other things I need to post. 

But, I am really trying to post more...so, at least for now, I am picking up with yesterday and today.

Yesterday was our final day of Spring Break.  We went with one of my good friends and her boys down to a little train that is close to the zoo.  We knew the traffic would be crazy and....well, we were not wrong.  It was so crowded.  But, we had so much fun.  It was a perfect day and it was so fun to be together.

Here is J with J.  They are about a year apart, but both are a little on the crazy and wild side and we had so much fun together.  They were my seat mates.

 V was my other seat-mate.  She wasn't unhappy, but she also was not excited about the train either.  I think she was just taking it all in.

 K came with me too.  She is so much fun.  I love, love, love spending time with her.  As she gets older and I know that time with her is becoming more and more limited, I sure cherish every moment.

What a great way to end our Spring Break!  So fun.


Today, one of our projects was putting in our garden.  We had a great garden at our last home.  Usually it grew great vegetables, but it sometimes was also a great garden of weeds.  I have hope for this new garden. 

CK and I built the boxes weeks ago, but today we went and bought various bags of "dirt," mixed them together, and filled the boxes.  I am excited to follow the prophet and plant our garden.  So far, we have two tomato plants planted, but I worked forever on the layout today and we sure are ready to plant the rest. 

V was not sure about being outside.  It was warm, but quite windy.  She didn't like it much.  Because of the wind, as we were mixing up the dirt for our boxes, she ended up with dirt of her face and in her hair.  It was time for a bath anyway, right?

I am so blessed.  So blessed indeed.  Just look at the great life I have!

Transportation Parade

 How very fun it is to have a Kindergartener again!  We get to do fun things like create something out of a box.  This has been an ultra crazy time for our family, so I do wish that this assignment had come at a different time, but....it is still fun to work on a project together!  :)

Above is the only in-process picture I took.

Below is when J walked out with his submarine.  He was a little shy at the beginning of the parade, but seemed to loosen up at the parade went on. 

 And...here they come again.  Now it looks more like a parade!

 I loved seeing the different boxes that they had.  Each child's was so unique. 

 He is waving energetically to me...and his hand covered his face in the one I caught. 

 And...my little submarine driver!  :)  The funny thing is that K made a submarine when she was in Kindergarten, 8 years ago.  I don't know if J has seen the pictures and wanted to be like her or if he just likes submarines on his own.  Either way, I have had two cute Kindergarten submarine drivers!  :) 

C's Kindergarten did not do transportation day - I wonder what he would have been. 

Best Actor!

 

DISCLAIMER: All pictures were taken 3/1/13.  I don't know what is wrong with my camera this time, but it really thinks they were taken LAST year!  No! No! No!  All pictures were taken 3/1/13!!!

So, Friday was a busy day for us.  We have had a very busy February and will have a very busy March.  Just the way life is when you are so blessed to have so many kids and so blessed to have each of them very involved.  This is the wonderful life we get to lead!  :)

Speaking of lead, C had the lead in his school's UIL play competition.  There are five middle schools in the district.  Three of them have theater programs and these 7th-8th graders practice much of the year for the play.  Our school does not.  I was surprised when C came home from school announcing that he wanted to try out for the play.  At first, he wanted to help with crew, but then he got a desire to try out.

Auditions were strenuous.  One thing he had to do was find (on his own) a monologue, memorize it, and deliver it.  He did very well.  So well, that as a SIXTH grader, he was cast as the lead in the play, Candid.  Now mind you for this play he has monologue after monologue.  He has page after page of lines.  He memorized them all.  He got to work on the play for two afternoons a week for just over a month.  Kudos to that brave teacher that decided to take this project on!

Friday was his competition.  Since this was their only performance, parents were encouraged to attend.  CK, K, my sister - S, and I went to watch.  (Yes, I took K out of school to watch, but it was only a half day and so she missed only about an hour.)  A dear friend watched V and J while we went. 

C did amazing.  Way better than I expected.  He was loud, articulated, knew every line, and really got into his parts and the emotions of each scene.

We were not allowed to take pictures or record the performance at all, but it was great!

 He had to stay and watch all the other performances as well, so we left him there.  CK had taken time off work so he went back to work and K and I went to get the other kids.  We went back in the evening for his award ceremony.  At the ceremony, we waited.... Honorable Mention Cast Members:  Nope.  All-Star Cast Members:  Nope.  At this point, I thought he might get a bigger award, because he had done so very well, but....I hadn't seen the other four performances so I didn't know. 

And....Best Actor comes up...it was C!!!!!  How cool is that!!!

 
I had a difficult time with my camera last night and just never got a clear shot.  This camera isn't great any way, but I seemed to struggle more than usual for some reason.

Then, with the acting out of the way, they started to name the top three plays.  Third Place:  Nope.  Second Place:  YES!!!  Not bad for a little middle school with no theater program!

C with Mrs. H, the teacher that directed the play.  Both were so happy!

And...a high school saw their performance and offered to have them perform it as an opener for their one-act play.  Cool!  :)

I am so proud of C.  I am so blessed to be his Mama.  I am so grateful that he is choosing to develop these talents. 

In other news, I am also proud of K.  She is also in UIL competitions and for Dictionary Skills, she got FIRST place.  Sweet!  What great kiddos I have.  I am so blessed.

Wahoo! I made it!

...to 36!

Happy Birthday to Me!  :)


So, as many of you know..I LOVE numbers.  It is such a simple pleasure in life for me.  I love it when the clock reads 12:34 or 11:55, etc.  I love dates, odometers, and so forth.  So, 36 is a much cooler number to me than 35 since it is a square number.  So cool.

I have been pondering how I want to post today.  I have WAY more than 36 blessings, so that will not work well.  I have decided to focus on that 6 X 6 thing and post 6 things in each of 6 categories.

First:

SIX PEOPLE THAT BRING ME GREAT HAPPINESS
..Okay...Impossible to narrow down. I mean I.M.P.O.S.S.I.B.L.E... but there are six particularly important people in my life:

1) CK.  He is the best husband imaginable.  He loves me so unconditionally.  I love the way he makes me laugh.  I love the way he would do anything for me.  I love the way he supports me in my goals.  He is amazing.

2) K.  She is my first-born and I love her to pieces.  I cannot believe all the joy she has brought me in her 13.5 years of life.  She is so fun to laugh with, play games with and cook with.  I am proud to call her my daughter.

3) C.  He is my oldest son and such a great joy to me.  He has so many talents.  He can literally do anything he puts his mind to.  He has a lot of faith and a strong sensitivity to the Spirit.  He works hard and plays hard and I want to be like him.

4) A.  She has only been my daughter for a couple of years, but I am so blessed to be one of her Mamas.  She accepted me as Mom right away and I love her just as much as I do the children I have birthed.  What a great kid!

5) J.  He is my Kindergartener.  He makes me feel like a celebrity through and through.  I am never as loved as when I show up each week to eat lunch with him at school.  They should have a red carpet...that is the way he makes me feel.  I am so blessed.

6) V.  My baby girl.  How grateful I am that I get to be her Mom.  I love her smiles.  I love the way she looks for me whenever she hears my voice.  It is fun (and a tad annoying) that she screams when others hold her, but calms down when she is in the safety of my arms (or CK's).

SIX SIMPLE PLEASURES THAT MAKE ME SMILE

1)  Taking a walk with my family when it is perfect weather.
2)  A tidy house
3)  Tulips coming up from the bulbs I planted last fall
4)  Laughing
5)  Cuddles
6)  Quiet moments to nurse my baby

SIX HOBBIES I HAVE (OR WILL HAVE SOMEDAY)

1)  Quilting
2)  Photography
3)  Gardening
4)  Building/ Creating with wood
5)  Food Storage/Preparedness
6)  Reading...but I do find it difficult to find books that are clean and interesting.

SIX DREAMS I HAVE
1)  Serve a mission with my hubby
2)  Visit all the temples in the United States with CK
3)  Be an amazing Mom and Grandma.
4)  Have food storage to last us a year
5)  Print and display all these pictures that are just digital
6)  Smile every day.  Be true to who I am and love the life I have...not stress over the "things" that need to be done.

SIX GIFTS I AM STRIVING TO MAGNIFY:
1)  Loving all people.  Showing them that love by the way I treat them
2)  Being trustworthy
3)  Connecting with family and friends
4)  Making my home a place where the Spirit can dwell
5)  Choosing happiness
6)  Using my education and furthering it.

And-
SIX THINGS THAT HAVE SHAPED ME AND MADE ME WHO I AM:
1)  My parents.  They love me.  They taught me.  They support me.
2)  The gospel of Jesus Christ.  Every day, I am trying to be His disciple in word and in deed.
3)  My divorce.  It wasn't in my plans, but I am stronger for it.  I am definitely a different person than I was.
4)  Being a mom.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  I have five wonderful children, for whom I would give my life.
5)  My own agency and choices.  Some good.  Some bad.  All mine.
6)  The people that surround me.  My siblings.  My friends.  When I went to school.  In every ward I have been in.  When I taught school. 

There you have it 6 X 6 things about me.  It was fun to think about.  The hardest part was the people.  I love people.  I love my sister.  I love my parents and brothers.  I love my in-laws (both sets)  I love my friends.  I love people.  After filling up the six people with my family members, I considered another people category, but I really love people and it would absolutely break my heart if I left anyone out.  I have been blessed with amazing friends.  I love you all, each of you has a unique roll that you fill in my life that no one else can.  You are important to me.

I have many sisters-in-law and I love them all dearly and I sure wish they each lived closer, but I only have one blood sister.  I am so blessed to have her as one of my very best friends.  We went on a spur-of-the-moment outing and she treated me to pedicures this afternoon.  So cool.  It was a great birthday present and time almost alone with her (V came too).  We have 9 kids between us so alone time is rare.  I loved it.  I am so glad that Heavenly Father sent us to the same family and, more recently, sent her and her family here to Texas.  I am so blessed.

Overall...what a great life I have.  36 years and counting!  I can't wait to see what this next year has in store for me.  The past 36 have been full of ups and downs and I assume the next 36 will also, but I will face it all with faith.  I have the love of CK, my children, my parents, other family members, and friends.  I am so blessed.

5 Months Old!

Taken 2/19/2013...not sure why the error on the date stamp

V is 5 months old today!!!  Wow!  She is getting bigger and bigger.  We are so grateful that she is gaining weight.  I usually think that she looks so much like CK, but there are moments when she looks like my baby pictures.  Since none of my other children look at all like me, it is an odd feeling to have her look like me on occasion.  

She is so much fun right now.  She loves to sit up (with a little help still...but almost alone already!), stand (definitely with help, but she is always so proud of herself when she is standing), and smile.  She is very aware of each member of our family, especially her parents and she rewards us with big open-mouthed smiles.  She is starting to laugh, usually when she is tickled.  We are so grateful that she is part of our family.

Taken 2/19/2013...not sure why the error on the date stamp

In other news....Sad but true (Ms. Bindergarten got the flu..(from one of our favorite books))...I have 8, yep-you can count them-EIGHT posts that need to be posted.  -sigh- Life is busy.  We are so blessed and it is, indeed, a good busy, but busy nonetheless.

One final note, I feel that we have been so blessed as we work on our food storage.  I have been storing some long-term storage for a while, but I have felt the need to follow local and global church leaders' counsel and store a 3-month supply of "regular" food.  We have a relatively tight budget.  We have enough, but not really extra to just go and buy more food.  I have noticed, though, that as we consistently work on adding more to our storage that our food budget goes further.  It just stretches somehow.  I KNOW it is a blessing from God.  I KNOW He is blessing us as we strive to be both obedient and prepared.  I feel so blessed.  And, being prepared just makes me happy.  It was the one thing I could focus on throughout the divorce and always feel happiness and peace.  It continues to bring me such joy.  There is nothing quite as fulfilling as a slowly-filling freezer or finding more food in the pantry.  I also love how it makes it so easy to serve others.  If anyone needs a meal, no need to make a special trip to the store, I already have the ingredients and I can make a meal and replace the ingredients next time I am at the store.  So cool.  :)

I am so blessed.  So blessed indeed!

I Love to See the Temple

Yes, I am behind once again.  -sigh-  Life just keeps happening.  All these kids!  They all have somewhere to be and something they need.  Love it.  I love being Mom.  I am so blessed, but I am quite a busy woman these days. 

I should have taken a picture last night, but I didn't think about it.  CK and I got to go to the temple. It was beautiful.  It has been 5 1/2 months since we were able to go due to V being born.  I am so glad she takes a bottle, since I have missed it so much.  In some ways, this one time going was more of a sacrifice than going 3 times a month.  It just took a lot more planning to be able to leave V.  Luckily, I have an AMAZING sister, who was willing to take care of her, AND her own four kids (hubby was at school), AND prepare to teach seminary out of her home this morning.  AMAZING.  Thank-you, S.  Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you.

I am so blessed to have a temple only about an hour away.
I am so blessed to have a wonderful husband that loves the temple as much as I do.
I am so blessed to have been able to go last night- so relatively quickly after having V.
I am so blessed to have S take care of V.
I am so blessed to have K be old enough to babysit herself and her brothers while we went.

So blessed.  So blessed.  So blessed.

In other news, V lost 2/10 of an ounce last week.  That is so little it is not really "losing," but it is definitely not gaining 1/2 pound either.  I was bummed.  I thought maybe we had turned the corner.  Nope.  Not yet.  I still am so glad that she is happy and enjoys life.  It is so fun to be around her.  Now, if only she could put on the needed weight!!

Lunch with Friends

A good friend of mine was coming over on Monday.  We hadn't seen each other in forever and I was super excited to see her.  But....as life goes, C stayed home sick with a sore throat and tummy ache.  He got better quickly, but at that time I did not know if it would turn in to strep or worse.  So we decided maybe to meet for lunch.

That is when she remembered that a bunch of wonderful women were meeting for lunch to celebrate some birthdays in my old ward.  It was so fun!  There was only one woman that I did not know and I am certain that she is wonderful.  All the others, I KNOW from many years of friendship that they are amazing women.  I was so blessed to get to go.  

My friend's baby, A, and V:

 A is three months or so older than V, but they loved looking at each other in their car seats.  :)  A also rocked V.  It was great!

As I got home and realized how many of my other things I had not accomplished, I was reminded of the talk by President Uchtdorf on making time for those we love so we don't have regrets later.  Well, I don't regret this use of my time.  I love these women and now that I have moved, I miss them a lot.  I am so blessed to have such great friends surround me and sustain me.  Truly, how blessed I am!

My Day with Niece C

Have I said before how very awesome it is that my sister lives just about 20 minutes away?  It is sooooooooooooooooooo cool.  One of the benefits is that I get the chance to spend time with my nieces and nephew.  I am truly blessed.

 

 

My niece, C, turned 5 back in December.  The gift we purchased for her they already owned.  Hmm...time for a new gift.  At that time, I told her I would take her shopping to exchange it for another.  With the holidays and sicknesses and V's multitude of doctor appointments, it has taken us a while to get there, but today was the day.

 

Although my sister and I arranged it a while ago, I called C last night and invited her to spend time with me today.  I was so excited this morning to do it.

 

My sister and I met in the middle and I picked her up. We headed to eat lunch with J at his school.  We got there early and had a great time chatting, spreading out our lunches, and watching C be killer at Angry Birds.  That girl is good!  Once J got there, the two of them had so much fun together!  I am so glad they get to grow up together.

 

 

Then, we were off to shop.  We returned gift A and went shopping for its replacement.  It didn't take long to find the perfect gifts.  C surprises me sometimes.  She is very shy at moments and at others so capable and not shy.  Paying at the store was one of those moments.  She put her gifts right up, took out the gift card and paid-no hesitation.

 The cashier realized that C was paying and asked her if she would like to keep the gift card to play with even though the value was used.  C thought that was a great idea.

 I was planning on taking C out for frozen yogurt or ice cream, but, since it was relatively cold today, she opted for hot chocolate.  We drove around looking for somewhere that had it (She didn't want Starbucks hot chocolate).  Finally, we found that Sonic did.  It was super hot and we brought it back to drink and play. 

 Since the hot chocolate was still too hot after a bit, we added ice cream.  YUM!  C loves ice cream.  She ate scoop after scoop and since it was our special day, all normal aunt rules went out the window and I allowed it.  :)

It was such a great day.  I am so glad that we had that chance.  It makes me remember to make more time to be with my family individually, both my own kids and my nieces and nephew.  This is where true joy is found.

And... for an update on V....she had her weigh-in today:  UP ONE WHOLE POUND!!!  Yes, I did not say ounce, I said POUND!!!! 

It truly is a miracle.  I can see her chunkiness coming.  I miss her super happy personality, as I just think she is so overstuffed at all times and it just isn't as comfortable.  But, hey, she is growing.  We are so blessed.  I like her GI doctor, I like her nutritionist, I like her new pediatrician.  I think things are going well....and that is also shown by this weight gain!!!

(I have no idea why this picture won't turn the other way.  It is right-side-up until I add it.  And, now I have two and I cannot delete one.  Odd.)

"Just Let Me Cry..."

Okay....I realized that this title might make you wonder if all is well with V and with me and with our family.  Yep.  All is great!  The only struggles of today have come with frustrations:  internet issues, a lost camera charger, and a cranky baby.  Nothing major.  Life is good.

But, that wasn't always the case.  If you read my blog, you know that life did not turn out the way I planned.  I went through times of great sorrow and struggle.

This morning, I was listening to one of my Hilary Weeks CDs.  On there is a song entitled, "Just Let Me Cry."  Oh, the memories that this song brings back.  I heard her once speak regarding the inspiration for this song:  it was for a friend that lost a young child, 8 years old or so.  I didn't have that trial, but I did lose a husband.

I have a very poignant memory that includes this song.  One of my angels (and best friends), A, and I had gone to the temple the night before I was to be at divorce mediation.  We stopped at a gas station on the way home and this song came on my CD player.  We sat and cried together.  It is a moment I will never forget for the words of this song capture that feeling so well--resolve that the future will be better and that there is nothing that anyone can do---it just is painful for now. 

I am glad I have been blessed to retain this memory.  While my eyes tear up at the memory, I feel the great love of my Savior and His arms around me at this time.  I feel the great blessing that A was in my life.  I am so glad that it was to the temple that I turned for strength before the struggles.  I have been blessed beyond measure.  I have been through some crappy times, but each step of the way held blessings for me.  I now can weep with joy rather than heartache.  I am so blessed.

(P.S....V's ultrasound results came in today:  normal.  :)  I think she is growing.  Tomorrow is a weight check!  We will see then.)

First Band Concert - 1/23/13

C is taking band this year.  As a 6th grader, this is his first time in band and this was their first concert.  (On a side note....notice that I am blogging about this pretty much AS it happened!!!  Whoot! Whoot!)

He plays the trumpet.  Here he comes....

In pictures it is difficult to tell what is going on, but this picture is of C leading them in a difficult warm-up.  This concert was to kind of show the parents what they do each day in school, including warm-ups.  I was proud that his teacher chose him to lead this warm-up.  It meant playing by himself in front of lots and lots of people.  The stands in front were full, the extra chairs they brought in:  full, and (as you can see in the picture) some parents had to sit behind the band.  I was proud of both his composure and his skill.

V, however, did not like the clarinets.  She was fine with the band concert until then.  She screamed every time they played.  Luckily it was after the trumpets, so I got to see C perform.  We were sitting in the top row of the bleachers right in front of C.  I thought about moving down to the floor when they added chairs off to the side, but I didn't do it.  I should of.  I had to climb over a bunch of parents while holding a screaming baby.

I went and changed her diaper and held her and rocked her and tried to help her sleep.  Now and then, I was able to sneak back in and watch a part of it.  Luckily, it was a BAND concert and I could HEAR all of it.  One of the times that I snuck back in, this is what I saw (and I couldn't grab my camera fast enough or steady it well enough).  It is J asking if he can climb over everyone and come get a drink.  Funny thing is every time he did this, it looked like he was in jail.  This picture doesn't do it justice at all.

This is the final song....your traditional school spirit song..."Go Big __________ (fill in your school's colors)."  It was fun to see how much they are learning.  It was great to see C perform.  I am proud of him.

I definitely feel so blessed to have my wonderful kids.  As I was walking with V, I walked down the school hallway.  I saw C on the A honor roll list.  :)  I saw K on the A/B honor roll list.  :)  I saw pictures of them both on the library board for reading enough Lone Star books to go on the Lone Star field trip.  We are blessed that they have the opportunity to go to a good school.  I am blessed that they are my kiddos.  So blessed.  So very blessed.

On a side note-V goes to a Gastroenterologist tomorrow.  Hope we get answers soon.

Four Months old...and another doctor....

I took V to yet another doctor today.  It was good.  He spent an hour with us talking to us and examining her.  I am glad we went.  He assured me that all that her previous pediatrician had done was right in line with what was needed, but that it was, indeed, time for more testing and more specialists and to find out what is going on.  I agree.  She isn't growing.  It is time.  I really appreciated the time he spent with me and with her and for his explanations which I wasn't getting before.  He said her heart sounds great.  Good sign.  He said she is hitting all her milestones perfectly.  Another good sign.

So...he is sending her first for a cystic fibrosis test.  I was tested during pregnancy and was negative for being a carrier, but he said that there are a few types of cystic fibrosis that don't show up on the test.  It is the "most common of the uncommon" and needs to be ruled out.  We are also going to a GI specialist.  There are a bunch of tests that they might run, but he is obviously leaving it to them to decide what is best for her.

He was even kind enough to tell me that it might say "Failure to Thrive" on the chart, but that doesn't mean "Failure to feed", "Failure to love", or "Failure as a mom."  I appreciated that.

And...I am so glad I already had an appointment scheduled for today.  She was not herself today at all.  It began this morning while I was making lunches.  I heard her over the monitor as she was starting to wake up.  All of a sudden there was a blood-curdling cry.  I ran in the bedroom and could not tell anything was wrong.  I picked her up and held her.  But, all morning, she struggled to open her eyes, was somewhat lethargic, and cried more than usual.  When I took her in to the doctor, she was still not herself.  In fact, the first part of our visit she just screamed and screamed.

He, of course, looked at her and got the story from me and decided to put some dye in her eye to make sure.  It was cool because after the dye he used a special light....sure enough, she has a pretty big corneal scratch.  Poor kid.  It hurts.

 Here is my happy (although very little) four-month old!

 In the middle of downloading the four-month pictures, I found this one.  We finally had a large wedding picture printed and framed and is proudly displayed in our living room.  I love it.  I especially love that the temple is right behind us.  That is important.

We are so blessed to have modern medicine to keep this happy girl happy.  I am so blessed indeed.

New Year's Eve 2012-2013

** Disclaimer....this was on the same camera and the same download as the pictures from Christmas #3....but the date is way wrong....almost 6 years wrong.  All these pictures were taken 12/31/12 or 1/1/13**

We had a great New Year's Eve.  I am so grateful for family.  This was truly a time to be together as a family.  Unless you are a teen--then it is time to be with friends and that is okay too.  K went with friends.  There are three of them that are close and love being together.  They spent the night eating junk, playing games, talking, and being on Facebook while they sat right next to each other.  -sigh- I guess that is the generation we live in.  Still crazy.

The rest of us went to my sister's house for New Year's.  We decided to do separate dinners and each bring snacks for the evening.  It worked out really well.  The snacks were yummy, the company outstanding, and the games were fun.  I think our favorite was Telestrations, a new game that my sister's family got for Christmas.  It is so funny and so fun.  

Here the kids are playing it, from left to right:  E, J, Ch, C, S, and T.  I love the cousins!!!!!

V spent part of the evening zonked on her favorite toy.  So cute.

 And....the countdown.....

And the toast.. 

 Then, before we went to bed, we took J's rocket outside to shoot it off.  It is very cool.  My sister's family actually gave it to him for Christmas and we brought it with us that night.  It has a light so we could see it even at night.  You jump on the pad and the air pushes the rocket up.  Pretty cool.

Then, because the kids have been wanting to have a cousins sleepover all break, we all just stayed the night.  How blessed we are to have them live so close.  I can't imagine having a better sister and I just love her, love her hubby, and I love their kids.  We are blessed beyond measure!