Cousin Fun

This past week we've enjoyed a lot of cousin time. Carden and Ecksen came to Thatcher for a little under a week. Ridge loved having them here along with Brille. Gave us more reason to get out :) We went to Garretts tennis match and the kids loved watching it. 

 We also did a picnic with Connie's kids which was a nice change.

Oh Brielle

I don't know why, but I feel like she's grown up a ton these past couple of weeks. She is copying words a lot more, her personality has just blossomed so much. She is stink'n cute. She's just a ball of energy and keeps us rolling all the time. She has more faces than anyone I know. 

 Then there's these times. Unfortunately they are happening more and more often. She drops everywhere and face plants it on the ground and cries if she doesn't get what she wants. Quite frustrating. Her cuteness is the only thing that saves her at times.

 This was this morning...she had toast and chocolate milk. Or was it just butter. Ya she looks innocent...but is she?

I can't believe she is turning 2 in just over a month. No longer a baby. 

Car Cleaning

Our kids love to help us clean. We went to the car wash and all the kids jumped out to help us dry off. Can you find Brielle's rag? She kept hiding it here. 

Cambrees Play

Cambree was in a little musical performance. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend due to preschool. My parents and sister Jarica came up to support her. Her nana helped make her little starfish. She had a little part and not everyone did. So it was a big deal. I hear she did fantastic and stayed in character the whole time. 

 That same day, I got her report card. I was so proud of her. She's been working very hard on homework and reading. She's an amazing student. I might be a little biased :)

Tonsils

For the last couple of months, Brecklynn has had several cases of strep. After her last bout of it, we scheduled to go ahead and get her tonsils out. She had lost 5 pounds since beginning of January so she really needed to get it taken care of so she'd start eating again. So we scheduled her surgery for Monday of Spring Break. My mom was amazing and took Cambree, Ridge and Brielle for several days so I could focus strictly on Brecklynn. I had heard from countless people that this surgery was a very tough recovery so I was extremely nervous on the recovery days after.

Like any mom, I was pretty sick to my stomach about the surgery. I know its a simple procedure but I kept having those thoughts of 'what if' pop into my head. 

We didn't tell her what was going on. She wasn't allowed to have anything to eat after 9 Sunday night as her surgery was scheduled for 8 Monday morning. We kept her up late and tried our best to get her to eat to 'stock' up. I took her to the hospital and told her hte Dr. wanted to look at her throat and make her better. You could tell she didn't understand but she was ok with it. As the surgery neared and more nurses started coming in, you could tell she was getting anxious and scared. I was so grateful to have my Mother in law and brother in law Aaron there. Aaron actually helped Brecklynn during surgery and I truly feel he helped her not be as scared. Curtis gave her a blessing of comfort for her and me right before and it was a very tender moment for me. 

It was great to have my mother in law there to keep my mind busy. Her surgery was quick but her recovery was a bit longer. The nurses kept telling me that they'd hope she would sleep a couple hours but more than likely would wake up pretty soon. She shocked them all by sleeping for a couple hours. Her wake up was easy and she did amazing! I hated seeing her like that and really wanted her to wake up so I could hold her but knew it was better for her to lay and sleep. Finally after 4 hours of observation, we were released from the hospital and she was on a strict clear liquid diet. No dairy, only jello, slushies etc but not straws. The first day she basically slept away. But for a week after, she struggled. She wouldn't eat. No matter what we'd offer her, she would say yes and then freak out almost immediately and say she didn't want it. It was a difficult couple of days. She was in a lot of pain more in her ears than anything else. Nights were like having a newborn again. She would get up every hour crying and screaming. I'm guessing it was her throat drying out and getting sore. It was very hard. She would struggle to swallow and drool a lot. 

After the first couple of days, the next struggle was getting her to eat anything, and also her overrall smell. We had heard she would stink, but omg it was so so so hard to hold her. THat's all she wanted for over a week, was you to hold her and rock her and it made it so hard with how she smelled. We would give her several baths, brush her teeth etc but there was nothing you could do. She knew it too. People would comment on it and even her cousin Darrek did and she turned to him and told him to plug his nose :) 

Her ears still hurt almost 2 weeks after and we hear 20 days is a typical recovery period. She is finally starting to eat again which is so good to see. She's lost a lot of weight and looked so sickly from over a  a week and a half of not eating so we are excited to see her normal again. I am so grateful to my mom and dad for all their help with the kids and my mother in law for all the help she offered during this really hard time. 

 This is her even on a short 1 or 2 minute drives. She has no energy at all.

Probably the longest post ever :)

Holy Cow. I am such a slacker. I posted Disneyland and the just left the blogging world and now I am so behind. So this is a huge huge update. Sorry for the picture overload. 

In February we had dental month. It was a lot of fun for the kiddos.

Valentine party at preschool

My niece Kensley Anne Meikle was born in February and she is an absolute doll.

Kids had their first sleep over. It was a lot of fun to experience this first.

 Brielle has been super attached to babies lately. These babies go everywhere with her. Its cute but obnoxious to have to carry them everywhere. They all get tucked into bed with her too.

For Valentine Day we did our scavenger hunt. Kids loved it. They each got a treat from Grandma Meikle and a balloon and treat from mom and dad.

 Another picture as proof that they all get tucked into to bed

 These kids LOVE outdoors. They love their trampoline. Santa really gave them the best gift. Notice the boys...yep they are shirtless. They say they are better fighters without shirts.

 Another pic of the sleepover. Several times that night I'd come out because there would be noise and they'd all have moved to the hallway with their pillows and blankets and then I'd shoo them back to the living room. Next time I came out they were having a full on pillow fight. They were up till 1 that night.

 Curtis sweeping the floor with the kids.

 Meeting baby Kensley.

 Brielle LOVES baby Kensley. She would bawl her eyes out when we'd take her away. I've joked with Jaymon that he might end up with 2 babies instead of one.

 And classic Brecklynn. Actually turns out she had strep AGAIN. She's scheduled to get her tonsils out on Monday. Hopefully we'll see a new Brecklynn soon.

 I came down one day to brecklynn's bed and do you see the picture in the window? Yep that's a picture of me at my wedding. She said she just loved it Thought it was cute.

 Sunday best. Brielle was dressed up in one of my favorite outifts. I got it from my Aunt Teddie. Fur coat!! Love it. Perfect day too. It snowed this Sunday unexpectedly.

 Cambree lost her first bottom tooth at school. It started wiggling the night before and was out less than 12 hours later. Tooth fairy kept slacking though. Took her 3 days to get her tooth but she got a good pay out from it. $5.00!

 SNOW!!!

 Brielle is in a coloring phase. She colors herself any chance she gets a marker or pen. This time happened to be a highlighter. She's amazing cause it will only be on her and never on her clothes or anything else.

 Curtis celebrated his 29th birthday March 1st. The kids were so funny with it. They wanted to buy him a gun and a new swimsuit. We ended up with some new work shirts and an ice cream cake.

 Dr. Seuss unit was this month.

 We went down for Kensley's blessing. The kids love their Uncle Connor.

 And their Grandpa

 And their Aunt Jarica

 Brielle tried on Ridge's wig for Green Day. She loved wearing it.

 Funny Hat Day

 Brielle found Brecklynn's bathing suit and insisted on wearing it. She was so cute in it.

 Baby day. They were matching and I bought Cambree a binky and Brielle had to try it too.

 Wacky Wednesday. Everything was wacky at school. Clothes on the curtains, bananas on our charts, table upside down...kids loved it

 I added these names to the wall. I love how this wall is turning out.

 We also had shoes on the wall for Wacky Wednesday (Brielle didn't like her shoes on the wall one bit)

 Brielle has started the tantrum phase. She literally screams and throws herself on the tile. Face down and muffled. Its pretty pathetic but we get a laugh out of it.

 Dance night with friends.

 Being just stink'n cute.

 Green Day

 Cambree dressed up for favorite character day as Thing 1. I think it was pretty creative right :)

 Funny Hat day

 Silly Sock Day

 Pajama Day

 Wacky Day

 One Fish Two Fish Day

 2nd Green Day

We tried green eggs. Reactions of kids was great.

 Ridge liked it!

 And so did Brecklynn

 Brielle has finally grown out of her morning nap as much as I tried to not let her. So she's been joining us in preschool. Been extremely tough but she is so cute.

More updates about the kids. Cambree just won first place for her poetry in school. She is pretty excited about that. She almost has her back hand spring. She is practicing daily and does cartwheels and handstands literally everywhere (even in stores). She loves to read and is a great reader. She is a great help with her siblings. Her drawing is great!! 

Ridge is constantly in character still. Always shooting webs wherever he goes. His drawing abilities are quite amazing. He also can write quite well. His reading is coming along. He is so excited to start kindergarten. Round-up is early April which we are all excited about. He is in first gymnatics show here pretty soon. 

Brecklynn is a ball of personality. We never what Brecklynn we're going to get moment to moment. We are truly helping that her procedure monday will really help her be happier. She has lost 4 pounds since January and she doesn't eat all that much because of her throat. Should be interesting to see what happens. She is a chapstick girl. Always begs Curtis for chapstick. She loves to color and read books. 

Brielle is just plain and simple a crack up. Every day I laugh so hard about the silly little things she does. She has the best little smile. She is talking so well now. She still can't say Cambree (without a lot of coaxing) and it drives Cambree nuts but she will with time. She has a huge obsession with baby dolls, swings, outside, Nana and drinks. She is vey independent and hates to be messy. If she is eating yogurt, every little drop of it has to be cleaned up before her next bite. If she eats a burger, I have to fix it between every bite. She loves shoes except her own. This has been hard for me because she refuses to wear her shoes that are SO cute and like Brecklynn's shoes or Ridge's shoes. But she loves my shoes as well. She's curious about everything. She will spend HOURS outside by herself pushing trucks around or just walking around. She loves books and could read them all day. She loves to sing. She has a couple songs down that are pretty funny. She can count to 10 with help and tries to call out letters when I recite them with Brecklynn. She writes on anyhting she can. She LOVES bubble guppies and would watch them all day every day if she was allowed. She's my snuggle bug. I hate that she's getting big so fast. 

Well hopefully that catches us up for now. And hopefully I'll stay on top of it better.