Dani's birthday at school

Danielle celebrated her birthday on the last day of August at school. Hannah and I went to help hand out the snacks. It was done quickly and efficiently, and the birthday kids still felt very special.

Ben's first day of preschool

Ben was So excited to start preschool. He brought me his preschool shirt every morning starting on Monday wanting to go to school. He didn't actually start until Thursday, so it was a long week for him. The day finally came and he had a great time.

Here he is with Ms. Tami. He really liked holding the pencil, now we just need to practice doing it the right way.

Sisters

I realize that one day they won't want to wear anything like each other, but for now they do (and I love it!)

5 things that are just WONDERFUL!

I was currently told that I tend to be rather negative these days and it was implied that my blog was a downer. I was challenged to write about 5 happy things in my life that are going on right now.

1. I'm about to have the most beautiful, well behaved child that ever was. She will come out smiling, will sleep through the night, and will fill my life full of smiles.
   
2. I have a perfect relationship with my husband. We never fight, always see things the same way, and are still romantically intimate despite the pregnancy.
3. My children are angels. They do what they are told, clean up after themselves, and never talk back.
   
4. I live in a huge house with a pool that I don't have to clean or take care of because there is a gardener, pool man, and housekeepers that come once a week.
5. I don't work full time anymore so I can sit all day with my feet up, watch TV, and eat ice cream all day long.

Ok, I'm a Smart ASS.
(Sorry if you are offended by the language.)

Seriously, here are 5 things I'm REALLY thankful for.

1. Danielle just got into an amazing school. She has been challenged from day one and is constantly worried about staying on green (or out of trouble), doing her homework, and even taking the right kinds of foods to school. Even her spelling words are amazing to us (enchanted, ancient, principal, prairie, etc.) We are very excited for school year and will be oh so happy when Hannah to can go to school there.
   
2. I am about to be a mommy again, and I am looking forward to my last little one. Not because it will be the last time I'll have to be pregnant, breast feed, or change diapers. But because I have the opportunity to hold my infant in my arms, rock her to sleep, and hold her close. I'm excited for all those little moments that seem so long ago with Ben.
3. I have great parents. They are so understanding and giving all of the time. Whether it is overlooking the toys on the floor, picking up dinner for us, or watching the kids after they have worked outside all day, they hardly complain about us being around.
   
4. I am in love with my husband. We don't always see eye to eye, but I wouldn't do anything with out him. He has been very patient and helpful during these last few weeks of my pregnancy.
   
5. We are slowing getting out of debt or our plan is working. We are starting the process to find a home and are hopeful that we will find something that will fit our needs economically.
   

When it rains it pours!

Lately it seems that things are just sort of falling apart. I feel awful because most of them are my parents things and I really, really, really hope it wasn't our fault somehow (which I always think is the reason and immediately feel guilty we are here). Not all of it has to do with the house. Let's look at the evidence.

• We found water in the trailer on the floor that we couldn't figure out where it had come from. Brent made sure the tanks were empty (and while emptying out the little bit that was in there broke the mobile tank that he uses). The water wasn't on to the trailer, so we couldn't figure it out. We still kept finding water on the floor. Our only conclusion is that our water hose somehow was connected to the sprinkler line and would come on in the wee hours of the morning. One of the faucets (even though we checked) must have been on and was leaking just during that time. We unhooked the water line and no more water...(so far). Still it's weird and we hope there is no major damage. It doesn't look like there is, but with our luck, you never know...
• We came home one evening to find my dad's front yard flooded. Now dad has a very big front yard, so to find it almost covered with water was a real shock. One of the pipes in the front yard had burst where it came out from the house and had been spewing water for a couple of hours. We had to turn off the water to the front yard and then my dad was able to fix it the following weekend. Dad's poor yard though wasn't watered all week and now the grass is all but dead.
  
• While my dad was under the house fixing the pipes, he felt cool air from the air conditioner blowing right at him. Realizing there must be a break in one of those pipes, the following weekend he climbed under the house to find the hole. He never found one, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that it was an anomaly.
  
• During all of this, we came home another evening to find my mom's cable boxed possessed. All of the lights were blinking and and no matter what we did it wouldn't stop. We called the company and they said the box probably wasn't good anymore and they would send a new one. The sad thing, my parents lost all of their shows. They don't watch that much TV, but they were still working their way through some of their favorite shows that they had recorded, including the season finales. We received a new box a few days later and Brent hooked it up. It lasted for a week and now isn't working again. We hope Brent can fix it this time.
• The doorknob to our bedroom door broke and now our door is closed and we can't open it. Brent and I walk through the bathroom to get to the hallway. It's been this way for two weeks and I'm hoping that one of the men will just take it off soon.
  
• My dad was watching TV in his bedroom (where our 50+ inch TV is) and the TV just went black. Once again we had Brent check everything and it seems our projector has gone out. This was our only TV that we owned. Brent called to see if it was still under warranty, it wasn't and so far we can't find anyone who will fix our brand. We are going to put the TV that is in our room back in my mom's room so they can have a TV and (then we remembered) the TV that we got with the trailer and put it in here.
  

My sister-in-law uses a word that I think fits these situations perfectly.

Craptastic

Ben's first day of preschool picture

Hannah's first day

It really has happened. My Hannah is now in kindergarten. She was very excited to go the day before, but as the time ticked closer and closer to leave, she started to get a little nervous. She loved having her own backpack and lunch to take (just like Dani). We snapped a few pictures before we left.

I missed taking pictures on Danielle's first day, so we snapped one of her too. She is such a poser!
Oh and if you are wondering about the shoes, she has to wear tennis shoes everyday. Charter school rules. She loves wearing the red ones.

Hannah playing on the playground before school started.

This is Hannah's teacher Ms. Simson. (Looks young huh!)
Hannah says she is very nice and pretty.

Hannah with Jenny Noll. Jenny goes to our ward at church and I was very grateful for her this morning. The kids line up and wave good-bye to the mom and dads and then walk in. At this point Hannah got that 'deer in the head lights' look as if there was no way she was going in to class. But she held Jenny's hand, walked in together, and I avoided the mommy mental down that I foresaw coming.

I was really proud of Hannah today. She tends to be my nervous one and she was very brave to go to school by herself. Brent says I don't give her enough credit and that the nervousness I see in Hannah is just my nerves and not hers. Maybe that is a little true. It was hard to watch her go to school, knowing that I won't have her home all day anymore. But I know she will be a fantastic learner and will love school. It is where she needs to be and will help her develop those skills that I can't.
We Love You Hannah!

Colby's here!

During the weekend from H---, Colby was here staying with Mom and Dad. We had lots of fun things planned that didn't happen, but Colby was a very good boy. Christie had flown in for a girls weekend with her best friend Des. My parents had driven to the airport and given Christie a car, picked up Colby, and brought him here. That next morning was when I put Brent into the ER. Sunday we were able to spend some time with him finally. Christie and Des had come back and we had a really fun evening.

The kids LOVED playing with him and were so sad when he left on Monday. We are hoping he can come for Thanksgiving and we will be able to spend some quality time with him and Christie.

Seriously...Again?

As I mentioned before, Brent and Danielle weren't feeling well at the beginning of the week. The "flu" went through the rest of my family with a vengeance. Dani recovered Tuesday and Ben started that afternoon. Ben recovered Wednesday and Hannah broke out Thursday morning. But poor Brent, who had gotten over the fever, never really recovered from the headache. Friday morning he said it was so bad he couldn't get out of bed. I called the doctor and he said just to take him in to the ER.

Now, we HATE the ER just like everyone else. Although there are wonderful doctors there that are trying to do all they can for you, in the back of your mind you know you will be sitting there all day hoping that at the end, you will find out what is going on with you. That is basically what happened. We went in at 10 am and found out at 4:30 that Brent had viral meningitis, AGAIN! (Two years ago, after my sister's wedding in Texas, Brent, Ben, and LaNell were all in the hospital with viral meningitis for a week. I never thought I would have to deal with it again, but I was wrong!)

They admitted him and he spent two nights at Sutter by himself, while I ran around picking up kids, dropping off kids, buying dinner, bring stuff, etc. I never hated my car so much ever! I did have two (hormonal) break downs of tears, but recovered quickly knowing my family needed me. I am grateful for the family and friends that I have here who were so willing to take my kids or bring by food while I was trying to keep Brent company at the hospital.

I'm thankful that it was just the meningitis and not something more serious (which they had suggested while in the ER, hence one hormonal crying episode). I am thankful Brent is home now and really trying hard to help me again, as I'm approaching that "I'm so cranky, tired, hot, and uncomfortable that if you come near me I could litteraly rip your head off" stage of my pregnancy. I'm thankful my kids only had a little bit of the virus and it didn't turn into anything more serious. (I'm not sure I could have handled holding down my child for a spinal tap. I had to leave the first time they did it to Ben, there is no way I could have done it by myself now!) I'm thankful for my faith in a loving Heavenly Father and Savior who consistently test me and my strength. It has allowed me to handle many things I never thought I could and shown me that I'm stronger than I think. (Although, I would really like to bypass some of these tests in the near future!)

Danielle's first week at Primary

Danielle's first day at Primary Charter School was August 3rd. She was very excited and had attended the Back to School night with Brent and I. We were very impressed with the discipline that was established and was hopeful that Dani would fit right in. The Sunday before, Brent woke up with a terrible headache and by the time the kids and I got home from church, he had a fever. Danielle then began to have a headache that evening too, but begged to go to school the next day. We decided if she wasn't running a fever we should probably just let her go. I took her to school the next morning hoping to get some photos of her in front of the school, yet Danielle asked that I just drop her off in the car line because she was in 2nd grade now and old enough to get to class by herself. Um.....I guess so. The school has a policy that no parents are to go in the gate, but to drop the kids off with their teacher at the front. Then their teachers take them back to play. So, I kissed my soon to be 7 year old, pulled up in front of the school, and let her get out. I was so grateful that one of her new teachers opened the car door and personally walked Dani back to where she was suppose to be. This made me feel a little better, but I have to be honest, I was a little disappointed that she didn't want me to go with her. I wiped a single tear from my eye and figured I would get some pictures after school.

I got to the school early so I could park and walk in. I talked to some other parents while I waited. When I saw Dani I knew something was wrong. Once her teachers released her to me she immediately started crying and said her head hurt REALLY bad and just wanted to go home. I felt her forehead and she was running a fever, so we went straight to the car so she could lay down. She cried the whole way home and I realized that she probably should have just missed the first day. Well, she missed the second instead and was feeling fine most of Tuesday. Wednesday she had a good day and by Friday she was really enjoying school and had met some girls that she had gotten to know a little. I figure I will eventually get some pictures of her at school, hopefully happy and enjoying herself.

Brent turns 30!

He finally joined the rest of us and turned the big 30. Here are some of my favorite pictures of our married life together. Brent is my other half that has been with me since I was 10 years old. We can't possibly imagine life without each other because we have been together for the majority of it. I love him and our life together: the good, the beautiful, the bad and the ugly I love him more now than ever before.

Eventually I'll get some of our early years scanned into the computer!
We love you Daddy!

Happy 30th Birthday!