The Snow Family

biased

2012-01-29T13:14:00.000-08:00

I know that I am 100% biased, but I think all of my kids have the most beautiful eyes. Although, these pictures are way over exposed I just love how sparkly my little Lily's eye look in them. She is one beautiful baby!

sleepy head

2012-01-29T12:58:00.000-08:00

The other day Lincoln woke up on the wrong side of the bed. He was grumpy all morning and cried about every little insignificant thing. Well, I got out of the shower only to realize Lincoln was no where to be found. I asked Lily where Lincoln was and all she would say was "Lincoln sleep." Needless to say I searched high and low until I finally found him asleep under my bed. I don't know why, but when Lincoln is tired he sometimes falls asleep in the most random places.

"Arrr" let's play matey

2012-01-29T11:50:00.000-08:00

The other day we were hanging out at home with the sniffles, and Lincoln and Lily were playing so cute together. First, they took the Tupperware tubs that we store our toys in out of the cupboard and dumped out all of the toys (which was not so great) but they ended up playing so nicely that I didn't even mind. Lincoln as the oldest directed all of the play. First they made Jets and they would look at each other through there little windows. Then Lincoln decided the Tupperware should be boats and got all of his pirate gear on. He then decided his boat was inadequate and needed a sail which he figured could be made out of a dowel he found in my craft stuff and toilet paper (I helped him a little with this part). It was fun to see them play so nicely together. I am hoping that Lily is reaching a stage where she can be a better companion for Lincoln and that they will play together more in the future.

Snow!

2012-01-21T20:15:00.000-08:00

We got 4-5 inches of snow this week! The kids LOVE the snow. I felt kind of bad for Carson, because he had to go to school and it doesn't snow that much here. Lincoln and Lily went out in the snow with me during the day, and Lincoln loved it and tried to show Lily the ropes of how to play in the snow. He kept telling Lily to lie down in the snow, to make a snow ball, and to eat the snow. Despite the fact that he gave her a snowball to throw and demonstrated several times how to make a snow angel, the only activity she would join him in was eating the snow. She LOVED to eat the snow. I had to stop her several times from lapping up the snow like a dog. Overall, I think she enjoyed herself, so much so that she didn't want to come in. Lincoln went back out in the snow with Carson when he got home from school. By this time it was raining rather than snowing outside, but that did not stop the boys. They played outside until it was dark. They had a great time just goofing off in the white stuff. I am not a huge lover of snow, but I sure love to watch my kids have a good time in it.

A little late

2012-01-15T22:35:00.001-08:00

I know this is a little late, but I wanted to post about what Lily was doing at 18 months. However, it has taken me a few months to get around to it so here is Lily at 20 months. Lily is a sweet, exasperating, spunky, fun little girl. She is our kid that had the hardest time going into nursery and virtually cried herself to sleep the first few times, but is now attached to her nursery leaders and is doing great. Lily is saying more and more all the time and has some unusual names for things. She calls her pacifier 'bite", her blankie "baby", and constantly uses the word "no" for both no and yes. She loves her blankie "baby" and it is one of her permanent accessories. She also loves books. She especially likes looking at our family calendar with pictures of all of our extended family. She loves to go outside and if the boys are outside will watch them longingly from the slider door. She loves to try and play with her brothers who don't always appreciate her interest in their things, but are pretty good sports about it. She also is a dancer. If she sees the touchpad she will come up to me and say 'dance, dance" that is her way of saying she wants to get her groove on to Pandora. In the past she has been totally a mamas girl, but things are definitely changing and I would say lately she definitely has been preferring Nate. She is definitely my sneakiest child. If the house gets really quite I can almost always find Lily doing things she is not supposed like: sneaking chocolate, getting into her brothers "collections," clogging the toilet, and coloring on furniture. Despite her mischievous side she is very sweet. If either of her brothers are upset or crying she will always ask "happen, happen?" wondering what happened and if they are going to be okay. We love this little girl to pieces and can't imagine our family without her.

Goodbye 2011

2012-01-15T21:56:00.000-08:00

We spent New Years Eve enjoying fun times with our family. We continued our yearly tradition of going bowling on New Years Eve. Our boys love bowling and they had a great time bowling with their cousins. They enjoyed themselves even more this year, because they both won one of their bowling games. Nate and I had fun, but were exhausted by the end of bowling. Watching a one year old at the bowling ally, helping a four year old bowl, and bowling ourselves made a busy, but it was a fun hour and a half. Latter we went to my Uncles for games and food. It was a great way to bring in the New Year! I hope 2012 is a great one!

Lincolns Birthday

2012-01-10T22:08:00.000-08:00

Am I the only one who is shocked by how fast these birthdays come around? I can't believe that Lincoln is 4! He is growing up so fast. He is the sweetest boy. I love that he is still a mamas boy. The other day when I was putting him to bed he said to me "mom I love you more than anyone" (so sweet.) Also the other day my sister was visiting and I asked him who would win in a game of basketball, and of course he said I would win. Latter that night he was saying the family prayer and he prayed that I would beat Heather at basketball, it totally made me crack up, but that is how loyal he is too me and what a funny boy he is. He is a very funny kid and has a deep contagious laugh, that he has had sense he was an infant. Lincoln loves to build things, color, do anything with his brother and tease/play with his sister. Although, Lincoln has his own interests he is always trying to be just like his big brother Carson. My boys are very close and although they do fight they also look out for each other. I hope they never out grow that. We love our Lincoln!

Christmas with kids

2012-01-10T21:17:00.000-08:00

These kids make Christmas so fun! Their enthusiasm is contagious and it filled our home this Christmas season. I am so blessed to have such great little people in my life. They are an amazing gift.

Christmas activities

2012-01-09T22:03:00.001-08:00

This Christmas Season was busy, busy, busy! We did all of our normal Christmas activities. The kids of course enjoyed decorating cookies and gingerbread houses, and as usual stuffed their faces with candy and frosting in the process. Seriously, I literally caught both Lincoln and Lily sucking on a pastry bag full of frosting. Luckily the frosting was for the gingerbread houses, which we don't really eat. On Christmas Eve we went to my aunt and uncles house and ate delicious food, sang Christmas songs, and watched the kids act out the Nativity. This year Carson was an angel and Lincoln was a shepherd for our little Christmas play. Stubborn little Lily refused to participate, but she was there being her cute self too. Adding to the craziness this year, were the school activities that Carson was involved in. Carson was one of very few first graders who got a speaking part in the first and second grade Christmas program. He was so excited to say his 2 little lines, and he did a great job! However, the night before the performance he was so nervous that he would get confused that he was up late in tears. I felt so bad for him! But he was a trooper and overcame his nervousness and performed like a champ. I was very proud of him! Also Carson worked very hard on his teddy bear float. He worked meticulously on coloring and cutting out the reindeer which were the main decoration on his little float. He got a lot of positive feedback on his throat and was very proud of his float. We had a great Christmas season! I love all the activities and family time it really is a special time of year.

O' Christmas Tree

2012-01-04T15:59:00.000-08:00

This year we went to a different Christmas tree lot than normal and scored the cheapest, freshest tree we have ever had since we lived in Oregon. It was a freezing and blustery day when we got the tree so we made a quick decision and I couldn't be happier. The boys always like to go help Nate trim the tree so we can get it in the tree stand. The kids had a great time putting on the decorations. As usual when decorating with kids the front middle section of the tree was overwhelmed with ornaments and needed some adjusting, but after a little tweaking it turned out great! This was Lily's first year helping to decorate the tree and she loved it! She was into absolutely everything, I think we had a couple ornament casualties due to her interest, but it was fun to see her get into the decorating.

Thanksgiving

2012-01-04T15:46:00.001-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving this Year! We spent Thanksgiving day here locally with my family, then headed off to Utah for the rest of the weekend. While in Utah the kids enjoyed riding the four wheeler with Grandpa Snow, Decorating Grandma Barlow's Christmas tree, seeing cousin Caleb being blessed, and of course seeing the lights at Temple Square. It was a jam packed weekend full of family and friends, it was a great time.

Quarterback

2011-12-08T15:17:00.001-08:00

Carson was the quarterback of his football team this fall. He did Great! Like Lincoln he totally blew me away the first game of the season when he completed 2 passes (which is way hard in peewee football). Throughout the season Carson completed more passes and even threw a touchdown pass. Nate was the assistant couch of Carson's team this year and Carson loved going to the practices and games with his dad. Carson had so much fun this season that he decided he wanted to play football in the Spring this year instead of soccer. Great work Carson. We are proud of you!

Lincoln's a soccer star!

2011-12-08T14:58:00.001-08:00

We put Lincster in soccer for the first time this fall. He did awesome! I think I was in shock the first game when he scored 5 goals! And he did great the whole season. The only time he didn't score a goal was the game when he had an ear infection. He was so cute, the first couple games whenever he scored a goal he would look over at us and give us a big thumbs up. One funny thing about Lincoln is that when he is really concentrating on something he sticks out his tongue. So, in all of my pictures when he is actually playing the game his tongue is hanging out. Lincoln gave every game his all and Loved every minute of soccer. We will definitely be having Lincoln play more soccer in the future. Great job Lincoln!

Halloween

2011-11-09T08:59:00.000-08:00

For Halloween this year the boys insisted on being super hero's, from movies they have never seen. The super hero's weapon seemed to be key to the kids choice of costume, if there was no weapon the superhero was less super in the boys eyes. Carson was Wolverine. Lincoln was Captain America. Lily veered away from the superhero theme and was a cat. On Halloween we made our traditional trip to HP for the kids to do some trick-or-treating. The kids always get way too much candy in way too short a time at Nate's work, thus the kids LOVE this tradition. While at Nate's work a lot of people would greet Lincoln as Captain America. While we were there Lincoln says to me "mom, mom they think that I am the real Captain America," it was too cute. Lily didn't want to be put down while trick-or-treating, but definitely got the gist of Halloween. She whined and said candy every time we passed by someones desk and we didn't put candy in her bucket. After trick-or-treating at Nate's work Heather came by to show the kids her cool costume. When Nate got home from work he took the boys trick-or-treating around the neighborhood while I handed out candy at home. It was a really cold Halloween but the boys both refused to wear coats, because it would cover their costumes. We were worried that they would be cold and not last very long, but the boys ran from house to house and stayed very warm. Nate was amazed at the boys stamina they wanted to keep going and going. Nate eventually had to pull the plug on the trick-or-treating and make them come home. Thus we ended Halloween with 3 pumpkins full to the brim with candy. It was a very successful Halloween!

Halloween Party

2011-11-09T08:41:00.000-08:00

This year I hosted a family Halloween party . Most of my siblings and their kids were able to come. We had a yummy Halloween inspired dinner, played cheesy party games, and watched some football. I think a good time was had by all.

Pumpkin Carving

2011-11-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

We carved pumpkins this year. We make the boys dig out the guts of their own pumpkins and then draw a face on paper that we try to replicate on the pumpkins. Lily got to watch the whole process and would say "ewwww" every time someone was pulling out some pumpkin guts, it was pretty cute. i think she enjoyed the pumpkin carving tradition. Both the boys wanted scary faces on their pumpkins this year. While Nate was carving the pumpkins the kids had some stickers to put on the smaller pumpkins we had. Lincoln put 4 eyes on his tiny pumpkin and then announced to me that his pumpkin could see really well, too funny. The family had a great time enjoying this tradition.

pumpkin patch

2011-11-09T07:04:00.000-08:00

The same day we went to the zoo we went to the pumpkin patch, thus everyone is in the same clothes. This year the kids were on the hunt for green pumpkins. Carson had decided that he wanted a green pumpkin, and of course Lincoln thought that was the coolest idea ever so we walked around the patch forever looking for the perfect green pumpkins. After much searching everyone finally found a green pumpkin that meet their discerning standards of perfection. Lily seemed to like the pumpkin patch and caught on to the idea she attached herself to a little gourd that she got to bring home. After all of our work we of course let the kids play a few games and go on a few rides. It was another successful trip out to Linder Farm.

October Zoo trip

2011-11-09T06:33:00.000-08:00

The kids had quite a few days out of school in October, and one of those days we took the opportunity to go to the zoo with my sisters. Even though there are no photographs with my sisters they were in fact there. Lily seemed to enjoy the zoo, or at least that is how I am going to interpret all of her pointing. The boys were there normal goofy selves and of course enjoyed running around and looking at all of the animals. Lincoln was quite nervous at the Wallaby exhibit after he found out that the animals sometimes come up to you and lick your shoes (Totally gross). He was very anxious to leave the exhibit he did not want to have a close encounter with a Wallaby (and to be honest neither did I), which makes sense since this kid is afraid of cats. Overall it was a beautiful day at the zoo and we loved getting outside and enjoying the beautiful fall weather.

School

2011-11-09T06:17:00.000-08:00

In August (I know that was a long time ago) my kids started school. Carson started the first grade. He is been doing great! On the first day of school however Carson was a little less than excited. Carson surprised me by crying at the bus stop, saying that he didn't want to go to school all day. Well that made it a little hard for me to hold it together, because I was already a little sad that he was going to be gone to school all day. So Carson got on the bus crying, but by the time he got off the bus at school he had pulled himself together and was very composed. I was proud of him for composing himself and he hasn't complained about going to school all day since. Lincoln started preschool a week latter, and has been loving it! He left for his first day of preschool with a huge smile and absolutely no nerves. He looks forward to going to preschool every week and seeing his teacher and preschool friends. I can't believe that Carson is a first grader and that Lincoln is in preschool the time just slips by soooo fast. I am sure both my boys are going to have a great year at school.

The last of Summer

2011-09-28T09:29:00.001-07:00

I know, I know, that summer was over about 2 months ago, but I was clearing my cameras memory card and found some gems that I just had to post on the blog. The pictures are mostly of us having fun at our favorite local spots like: the backyard, the pool, the park. We had loads of fun this summer playing in our favorite spots and though the pictures aren't of us going anywhere exotic or doing anything especially out of the ordinary they are a great representation of what our summer was like.

2011-09-27T19:35:00.000-07:00

Red Fish Lake

2011-08-25T21:15:00.001-07:00

I love Red Fish Lake! We have camped here 4 out of the 5 years that we have lived in Idaho. It is breathtakingly gorgeous! It is one of the few places where I will camp despite the cold, and yes the nights were cold this year they hovered around the mid 30's. The days were beautiful! The weather was in the mid 80's, perfect weather to enjoy all the outdoor activities available at Red Fish. This year all of my siblings and my parents joined us for the camping trip which made it extra fun! We did our annual trip to the fish hatchery at Red Fish. The boys each caught 3 fish. And Carson caught a fish on a cast he did all by himself, which he was extra proud of. Lily was obsessed with the fish and was constantly harassing my mom to show them to her. By the end of the fishing Lily was brave enough to hold the fish, and much to my disgust poke its eyeball over and over again (so gross)! We also hung out at the beach for a couple hours. The water was cold as usual, but the boys were initially excited to go out in the water with Nate. Their excitement changed to tears after a kayaker ran over Carson with her boat and after Lincoln didn't jump far enough away of the rock and ended up stubbing his toe. Both boys ended their swim in the lake with tears and injuries. Lily spent most of her time at the beach trying to steal other peoples flotation devices. Lily's favorite activity of the trip was probably sitting on the ground and throwing dirt on herself. I think the boys enjoyed fishing the most, but roasting marshmallows for smores was probably a close second. The trip overall was a big success. However there were a couple hiccups on the trip. One being that Lily didn't sleep well and I had to share a sleeping bag with her for a couple hours both nights, the other was that my nephew Fin tripped and his hand landed on some coals in the fire (thankfully he is okay, but did suffer some 2nd and 3rd degree burns on his hand). Despite, all of that it was a great trip and I can't wait to go back next year!

Sage Hen

2011-08-10T15:27:00.000-07:00

We managed to squeeze in one last trip in July. We went on a quick family camping trip to Sage Hen reservoir. We did our usual camping activities like fishing and hiking. We had the best camping spot! It was right next to a small stream and the boys had a great time walking over this log to go play by the stream. Nate helped them build a little boat out of sticks and they had a great time watching it go down the stream. While we were there Lincoln found a blue ball that he played with constantly and named squishy. Lily was always in hot pursuit of the ball and managed to steal it from Lincoln a fair number of times. The kids had a great time playing with the worms we brought for fishing. Lincoln tried to get Lily to touch the worms she would get close but would never touch one. Fishing was interesting this trip Lincoln caught 2 fish and Carson caught none, which led Carson to declare that "it the worst day ever". Luckily, Carson declares a day "the worst ever" a couple times a week so I knew he would recover quickly. Lily took a lot of interest in the fish we caught and even got brave enough to touch one! It was only a quick trip, and it was a LOT of work, but we had a great time !

Bear lake

2011-08-04T15:55:00.000-07:00

In July we spent about 4 days in Paris Idaho near Bear Lake with the Snow side of the family. We had a great time hanging out with family, going to the lake, boating, and visiting Lava Hot Springs. The kids had a great time at the lake even though our day there started out with bad weather. We spent probably the first 20 minutes at the beach huddled under our canopy waiting for the rain to pass, but after that the weather cleared up and we had a beautiful day boating and playing at the beach. Lily seemed interested in everything going on at the beach, but I wouldn't say she was way into it. She honestly seemed to tolerate the beach. I think if she hadn't been teething she would have played a lot more. The boys had a great time at the beach! Carson and Lincoln both enjoyed playing in the sand. Carson got a big kick out of squirting his aunt Rashell and her friend with the squirt gun. Lincoln loved to kick the little waves that would come on shore. Carson was not a hug fan of being pulled on the tube, but Lincoln loved both the boat and the tube ride and was relaxed enough on the tube to put his hands up in the air. We all had a great family trip and enjoyed the time we got to spend with family.

Salt Lake trip

2011-08-03T16:05:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago on our way to Bear Lake we stopped in Salt Lake to have fun and visit with Nate's mom. Nate's mom was nice enough to come with us on all our little day trips with the kids, and was a big help! We started out the weekend by going to the aquarium in Sandy, which was much cooler than I expected. Carson loved petting the rays and seeing the tarantula. Lincoln liked the frogs. And Lily was very entertained by the fish and was pointing at them most of the time. Next we went to the Hill Aerospace museum. Carson was WAY into all the planes, missiles, and helicopters they had on display. However, while Lincoln liked the planes he began to loose interest in the museum way before Carson was ready to go. That combined with Lily getting tired of her stroller caused us to cut the visit to the museum a little short. So Carson was a very disappointed that we didn't get to see the whole museum, but since the museum is free and very close to Nate's parents house I am sure we will go back. Our last little excursion was to the Hogle Zoo. The kids had a great time they loved the animals especially the elephants, which we don't have at our local zoo. Also while we were there the zoo was having a special dinosaur exhibit, which the boys loved probably as much as the animals. While at the zoo Lincoln was so cute he would pull out his little map of the zoo and tell us how to get to different parts of the zoo and point to where he thought we were on the map. The map was one of his favorite parts of the zoo. Lily got restless in her stroller so we had to take her out quite a bit, which got a little bit exhausting at the end, but overall the kids really enjoyed themselves. We had a great time visiting Nat es mom and playing in Salt Lake.

Swimming lessons

2011-07-21T22:00:00.001-07:00

We started off the summer with swimming lessons. The boys did great! It was Lincolns first time having swimming lessons and I don't think that he was even a bit nervous. Carson has made great progress this year and has turned into a little fish. Just a few days ago Carson almost swam the whole length of our community pool. Both the boys jumped off the diving board. Lincoln was a little hesitant about jumping off the diving board, but Carson got way into it, and LOVED IT! I love that the boys love the water. What is more enjoyable during the summer months than spending time in a nice cool pool.

The 4th part 2

2011-07-21T15:55:00.001-07:00

On the 4th of July itself we had a very busy day. We started out the day by going to the Rexburg 4th of July parade. The kids love the parade! Both Carson and Lincoln got WAY into collecting the cheap taffy that the people on the floats threw to the kids. Nate was constantly having to drag Lincoln back to where we were sitting, because he would wander away in search of candy. Lily was entertained during the parade with the help of a balloon. After the parade we went to the Rexburg rodeo. I think that the rodeo might be more entertaining for our kids in a few years. Lincoln was going stir crazy after about an hour and Carson only was interested in seeing the bull riding. I was terrified during a good part of the rodeo when kids were riding bulls! Seriously, I was shocked to discover that it is common practice to put children as young as 8 on bulls weighing 900 lbs. I was freaked out the entire time that some kid was going to get trampled right in front of me. Also the rodeo had a calf chase where all the kids go into the arena and try to pull dollar bills off of a calf. I asked my boys if they wanted to chase the calf and they both said yes. So we sent them out with all their cousins and about 100 other children. Well, no sooner had we sent Lincoln out there than he got separated from Carson and started crying. So Nate went and got Lincoln put him by Carson and told Carson to hold his hand and watch out for him. Needless to say Carson in the excitement of the calf chase ditched Lincoln and once all the kids were running in mass toward the calf Lincoln was left standing in the middle of the arena crying hysterically. When Nate finally got to Lincoln he was crying hysterically that he was afraid that the calf was going to attack him. In retrospect it probably wasn't the best idea to let my little boy who is afraid of cats go into an arena with a cow. Anyway it was one of those moments that was both humorous and sad at the same time. After the rodeo we headed back to my parents for our own fireworks show. The fireworks were awesome! I seriously think that we enjoyed the best home fireworks show in Idaho.

4th part 1

2011-07-08T16:39:00.000-07:00

This 4th of July we continued our tradition of going to Rexburg. We started out the weekend hanging out around the house, playing in the sprinklers, and catching critters. I helped Carson catch the snake in the picture below. However, not being a expert snake catcher I had Carson hold it by the tail and it ended up biting him. The bite didn't hurt him just scared him a bit. Also on the Sunday before the 4th we went up to Mesa falls which is always beautiful.

Carson is 6!

2011-07-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

Well, Carson is growing up on us. We celebrated his 6th birthday on June 30th with a low key family party. We sure love Carson! He is the best older brother. He is always sharing with and looking after his younger siblings. This school year Carson got a toy for good behavior every Friday, and almost every Friday he came home and gave his toy to Lincoln, just to be nice. That is the kind of kid Carson is, and that is one of the many reasons we are so glad he is part of our family. Love ya Carson!

Kindergarten graduation

2011-06-28T21:30:00.000-07:00

Carson graduated from Kindergarten this June. Carson had a great year! He grew so much this year. Carson made lots of new friends, learned to count to 100, and learned how to read. It has been so exciting watching him catch on to reading. Nate and I can't spell stuff to each other any more because Carson now knows what we are spelling. We loved Carson's kindergarten teacher Mrs. Squire, she was so great with all the kids and got them so excited about learning. I volunteered once a week in Carson's class and loved working with the kids. Five year olds are so curious and sweet. I think I would love to teach Kindergarten someday. I am a little sad that the year is over though and am not quite ready to have Carson be gone all day long. But at least I get to enjoy Carson all summer. We sure love this Kid and are so proud of him!

Memorial Day FHE

2011-06-23T21:07:00.000-07:00

The Monday before Memorial Day we talked with the kids about the military and the sacrifices they have made for us and our country for FHE. After that we headed to a little memorial in a nearby park where there were hundreds of flags representing people who have served in the millitary from Idaho. I though that it was super cool and that it did help our kids appreciate the millitary. This may be a new Memorial Day tradition.

Motherhood

2011-06-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

Every year around Mothers day I pull out the camera and do a mom self portrtait with all of my kids. The pictures never come out as I would like or even expect. To be honest the whole process is a little crazy. That being said I love these pictures! The craziness of the pictures kind of captures the craziness of being a mother of 3. Being a mom to these kids is fun, exahusting, joyful, painful, tearful, surprising, and hillarious. Motherhood is definitely the greatest challenge and adventure of my life.

Hiking - a great adventure

2011-06-22T19:54:00.000-07:00

On what I am sure was the only nice day in April we went out for a family hike. It was good practice for the summer months when we are going to be out and about more. One very important lesson I learned on this hike is that all small children walking on uneven terrain should be in pants, because after they fall 4 or 5 times their knees are going to be a bloody mess and they are going to go into hysterics (Lincoln seriously cried like he was dying). Also, band aids when hiking with small children. You must have band aids. Seriously, when is it not a good idea to have band aids on your person? Band aids are a small child's security blanket if they are injured in anyway, big or small. Hand them a band aid and in their mind they are cured. Also, a good rule of thumb when hiking with small children is to always let an adult take the lead in case you run into some kind of dangerous beast. Carson was leading out our hike and almost stepped on a snake. It wasn't poisonous, but it scared me half to death and I am pretty sure that there were poisonous snakes in the area. Lastly, when you see inclement weather approaching do not delude yourself for a moment into thinking that you, and your hiking partyof small children, will be able to easily make it to your destination before the bad weather rolls in. Ultimately the weather will over take you, and you will probably end up turning around mid-hike and running to your car carrying all of your kids. We have learned our lessons. Now I think we are ready to enjoy the outdoors.

Soccer Time

2011-06-22T15:31:00.000-07:00

Another soccer season has come and gone. The name of Carson's team this year was the Grasshoppers. The highlight of the soccer season for Carson was having two friends from school on his team that he got to play with more often. We love that Carson played hard and always did his best.

trouble in pigtails

2011-06-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

Now that Lily is getting around really well she likes to try and climb things. A favorite spot has been this kitchen drawer. All of my kids have loved to climb in this drawer. Eventually, after much perseverance, I have trained the habit of getting in the drawer out of all of the kids. However, Lily took the climbing in the drawer to the next level. Not only would she climb in the drwaer but she would bounce in it as well. Needless to say, the poor drawer doesn't shut too well these days. Also Lily's hair got long enough for little pig-tails, which were very darling if I don't say so myself, but definitely way too much work. Since putting Lily in pig tails everyday is not an option, and since I don't want her walking around with a mullet, I opted to trim her hair. So enjoy the pig-tail pictures because who knows how long it will take before you see them again.

bath time

2011-06-21T16:38:00.000-07:00

Splish-splash our kids love playing in the bath. Give our kids their best loved bath toys: pirate ships, duckies, sharks, and balls and our kids will be entertained for hours (except for maybe Lily she is usually done bathing after 15 min.) The kids love to bathe.

Easter

2011-06-21T16:12:00.000-07:00

For Easter this year we decided to drive down to Utah and spend the holiday with family. Our drive down was essentially uneventful. The only exception was when Lincoln spotted two grown men at a restaurant with pony tails. He looked somewhat confused and then wrinkled up his nose and said very loudly "What Him have girl hair?" Nate and I were quite embarrassed, and just avoided eye contact with the men with "the girl hair" while we finished our dinner. While in Utah we went to Nate's sister Rashell's very cute play. What wasn't very cute was Lincolns behavior during said play. As a result of his misbehavior he went straight into time-out when we got back to Grandmas. During his time-out he was goofing around on his chair and fell off it onto Grandmas brick hearth, which resulted in a splitting open of the forehead and a trip to the emergency room. Although not at home the Easter Bunny found us and the kids got a few little surprises. Grandma Barlow hosted a yummy dinner and a very fun Easter egg hunt for the kids. Minus the trip to the emergency room we had a very nice Easter and our kiddos were extremely spoiled.

cupcakes

2011-06-20T21:43:00.000-07:00

A few weeks after Lily's birthday I took some pictures of her enjoying a cupcake. This girl definitely likes her baked goods! You can see how her excitement and the mess spreads as she realizes what a delicious treat she has got her hands on. The mess got a little bit out of control so I let her finish her treat in her highchair.

Lily turns 1!

2011-06-20T20:58:00.001-07:00

Lily turned 1 April 15. We had a small party with family. Lily wasn't that interested in opening gifts but luckily she has two older brothers who were more than happy to open her gifts for her. She got several dolls for her birthday, but her most favorite gift was her princess ball. I finally have a girl, and all she wants to do is play with balls like her brothers. Lily definitely loved her first cake. She ate her cake with gusto and when we moved her tray with the cake on it so we could put a better bib on her she screamed bloody murder. At one Lily is saying: ball, daddy, mom, shoe, shirt, quack, roar, uh-oh, and car. Lily started walking a few weeks before her birthday and is now fully mobile climbing into and onto everything. Lily is such a sweet fun little girl we love having her in our family.

Star Student

2011-04-11T20:55:00.000-07:00

Last Week it was Carson's turn to be the star student. When you are the star student you get to make a poster all about you, bring in your favorite snack, and bring a few of your favorite toys for show and tell. Carson has been looking forward to being the star student all year! On his poster Carson listed 3 things he would wish for they were: a fish (he said he misses his fish that died 2 years ago. Who knew?), a pet dinosaur, and a star wars ship (I'm not sure if this is a real ship or just a Lego one). On his poster Carson said when he grows up he wants to be a dragon or a army pilot. Things Carson listed that he disliked were: being sick, jellyfish, the dark, giants, and cavities (Carson has never even had a cavity, but apparently our description of them has been terrifying enough that cavities made the list). The list of Carson's likes included: pancakes, Lego's, star wars, volcano's, sharks, whales, dinosaurs, the Seattle Seahwaks (his football team last fall), his family, fishing, and tanks. Lincoln of course didn't want to be left out of all the fun, so we made a poster for him to. Lincoln wished for a buzz (he seriously has 5 already), magformers (which we have close to 100 of) and a rocket ship. Lincoln wants to make dinner when he grows up. Lincolns likes included: magformer ships, cookies, and . . . buzz (shocker). The only thing that Lincoln said he didn't like was Carson tickling him. We have the funniest sweetest boys! They are definitely stars at our house.

Spring Break & RSV

2011-04-04T20:25:00.001-07:00

Spring Break wasn't exactly what I had been hoping for. Carson slept in the first morning until 9:30! Which is unheard of for him. I know my kids well enough to know that excessive tiredness is usually a sign of trouble ahead. It turned out that the kids had been exposed to RSV and didn't feel well the rest of the week. Lily was hit especially hard and I spent two fun filled nights with her screaming in my ear for a couple hours. On the good side at least it was Spring Break and we really didn't have any where we needed to go; on the bad side we spent a lot of time vegging around the house. I did make an attempt to make the break fun for the kids. We got some new paints and coloring books and painted, we decorated Easter eggs, we watched movies and we went to the zoo. By the time we went to the zoo the boys were not fully recovered but feeling much better. Lily on the other hand still felt pretty crummy but she tolerated the zoo trip fairly well. Here's hoping next Spring Break will be a healthy one.

hanging out in our pjs until noon

decorating Easter eggs

The boys enjoying getting out at the zoo

Lily just barely tolerating the zoo

St Patrick's Day

2011-03-20T20:09:00.001-07:00

We had a great St Patrick's Day! We tried to catch one of those sneaky Leprechauns, with our high-tech Leprechaun trap. Carson was Really excited about trying to catch a Leprechaun and imagined up a trap with nets and gears, but in the end we kept it simple with a box and a Twix candy bar as the bait. We did catch the Leprechaun for a moment, but he managed to escape by cutting a little door in our box. For our efforts he left us some chocolate gold coins and dyed our milk green. Just for fun I got the boys socks with green toes, but made sure they were wearing green where it would be seen so they would avoid any pinching. Carson is sure that we will get that Leprechaun next year. I guess we'll see ;)

Day to Day

2011-03-07T20:42:00.000-08:00

Things have been low key around here lately, which is good. I like low key. Our daily routine includes lots and lots of smiles out of our Lily girl who seems to have become exponentially happier since getting tubes in her ears. Lily also loves to pull herself up onto this little musical toy and plays with it almost daily. Lily, being the youngest, has to watch her brothers have fun without her. When the boys go outside she will plant herself by the sliding glass door and watch the boys play for long periods of time and make little noises trying to get their attention. This little display is both cute and sad. Lincoln likes to get out the magformers everyday and "muild" (Lincster has a hard time with his b sounds). He builds anything from supersonic jets to bathrooms . . . whatever tickles his fancy for that day, and has to leave his creations built until Nate gets home from work so that Dad can see his creations. Carson plays Wii most days (for a limited period of time only), but we always counterbalance that with reading. Carson is becoming a great little reader. And we have been reading a lot lately for school so that he can complete his 600 minutes of reading this month and earn a Roaring Springs pass. I Love reading with him! It is so exciting seeing him catch on to reading. The low key life suits us. We love our day to day routines.

Happy Valentines Day

2011-02-14T20:54:00.000-08:00

I love these kiddos. Although they frequently make me crazy, I wouldn't trade them for anything. Even on the days of up-all-night with a screaming baby, enduring 3-year-old tantrums, and a teasing five year old tormenting younger sibling. Although, on those days I might like to hire a nanny. Still these kids are mine. I love you little valentines.

Little Miss sickie

2011-02-13T21:05:00.000-08:00

Our little miss Lily Mae has been a sick a lot the last couple months. Lily's fifth ear infection since November has not cleared up so the doctors have decided that tubes would be a good idea. Although initially I was hesitant to do a procedure where I have to put my kid under anesthesia. I am now looking forward to the procedure as it will hopefully mean the end of the frequent night time screaming fests I have endured the last couple months. Poor Lily has had all these ear infections and has been teething all at the same time. Her first top tooth just broke through this week. Unfortunately, she is now grinding her teeth all the time. I looked up baby teeth grinding on line, and it turns out that kids often grind their teeth from the pain of teething and ear infections. So hopefully, once we get the ears fixed the horrible teeth grinding will stop. Right now Lily's main activities include: chewing on everything, but her teething toys, and pulling herself up to standing. Lily's favorite things to chew on are some adorable pink shoes and the door stops in our house. Seriously, if she sees that any of those two items are available she will turbo crawl to get them. At Lily's 9 month appointment she was 23 pounds and 29 inches tall. Those stats continue to keep her in the 95 percentile. Hopefully after her procedure tomorrow she will start feeling better. I sure hope so. I miss my baby that was an excellent sleeper.

fun times

2011-01-31T19:50:00.001-08:00

Don't you love it when everyone just gets along? The other day I pulled out the window paints for the kids, which kept them entertained for about an hour and a half, which is pretty sweet when you are trying to clean the house. What made the hour and a half even better was that the boys did this activity without any fighting, and Lily was pretty entertained watching them and trying to stand up. After the window painting the boys got on the floor and played with Lily without my even suggesting it, which is pretty shocking. The boys love Lily but don't get down and play with her all that much. Lily was eating it up. She loves to follow the boys around and be part of the action. All the kids laughing and playing happily at one time; that, my friends, is pure heaven.

school birthday

2011-01-31T19:38:00.000-08:00

Today was Carson's "school birthday." Since his birthday is in the summer he got to celebrate his half birthday today at school. The treat he chose to bring to school was lollipop cookies, which are adorable looking but not the best eating. Oh well, he sure did have a great time handing out the treats he helped make to his classmates. Carson's teacher, Mrs. Squire, asked him to tell them one birthday wish. Carson's wish was to be a T-Rex dinosaur. I am a little shocked he didn't wish to be a killer whale or a Jedi knight killer whale (that's a new type of Jedi my kids made up). Ya, this is a kid who's not afraid to dream big.

growing up

2011-01-09T16:21:00.001-08:00

My little boys are growing up. Lincoln became a sunbeam this year. Lincolns first week in Sunbeams was a rough one with him refusing to sit with his class and having to be carried out of primary because he was crying so loudly. After his first week in primary I was tempted to ask the primary president if they would let him stay in nursery one more year, after all he is the very youngest sunbeam possible. But this week he redeemed himself and was an absolute angel in primary, so hopefully it will go smoothly from here on out. Carson lost his first tooth on Christmas day. I can't believe he is old enough to be loosing his teeth! It makes him seem so old, big kids loose teeth not little kindergartners. As much as I would like to slow it down Carson is growing up on me, he is now one of the big kids. These kids grow up way too fast.

New Years Eve

2011-01-09T15:24:00.001-08:00

We ended 2010 with what is becoming our New Years Eve tradition, bowling with family. The kids had a great time, especially Carson who had the high score on the kids bowling lane. Latter that evening Carson asked me if there were going to be trophy's for the best bowlers. Apparently he was very proud of his bowling skills. Nate and I were glad to see 2010 go it was full of a lot of joy but also a lot of anxiety. We are looking forward to 2011 and hoping for a much more peaceful and less tumultuous year for our family.

Lincoln turns 3

2011-01-09T15:00:00.001-08:00

Lincoln had a great birthday! He was in good practice from opening presents at Christmas and made quick work of his birthday gifts. His hands down favorite thing that he got for his birthday was this puppy that talks and wiggles its ears. Since Lincoln is obsessed with Toy Story and Buzz Lightyear he of course wanted a Buzz cake. Feeling that a Buzz cake was a little beyond my skill set I ordered Lincolns birthday cake this year. He was not disappointed and loved his special birthday cake. Lincoln has had a rough year with lots of "pokes," but he has been a trooper and we are very proud of him. Lincoln continues to be a mamas boy and still loves to cuddle up with me. He loves to play Buzz, do puzzles, and build things with Lego's. He is a sweet boy and hates to see his siblings sad, but at the same time when he is feeling a little mischievous has no problem pushing his older brothers buttons. Lincoln continues to be a fun energetic little boy who brings much laughter and love into our home. We can't believe that he has grown so big so soon.

Christmas

2011-01-09T14:32:00.001-08:00

We had a great Christmas! Christmas Eve we went to my Aunt and Uncles house. The kids love going there and playing with their cousins. Per tradition we ate a ton of yummy food, sang Christmas carols, and acted out the Nativity. The boys played the part of the Shepard's. They did a good job in their roles, except Lincoln kept swinging around his Shepard's crook and almost hit baby Jesus (aka as baby June). On Christmas morning the kids ran down the stairs to see what Santa had brought them. Christmas morning brought excited exclamations like "this is all I ever wanted" (Lincoln talking about his Buzz lightyear stuff) and "This is exactly what I asked Santa for in my Letter" (Carson talking about his killer whale shark toy and battle bugs). Lincoln kept saying he wanted a million Buzz Lightyears for Christmas, I think he got 3 Buzz action figures but when my mom called he told her he got a million Buzzes for Christmas (too cute). Carson also loved the wii games that Santa brought our family. We spent a good part of Christmas day playing the wii. Carson was thrilled that he beat everyone at most of the wii games. Nate and my brother Sean spent quite a bit of time trying to defeat Carson on the wii without success. It was a great day of food, games, fun, and family!

traditions

2011-01-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

This year we kept up on our old favorite traditions like: doing a advent calendar, baking LOTS of cookies, and decorating our gingerbread house. The kids kept up the tradition of eating about half of the candy meant to decorate our gingerbread house before we actually started decorating. So our poor gingerbread people had a sparely decorated home again this year. A new tradition that we started was our elf Mr. Squirt. Mr. Squirt is a magic elf who watched the kids so he could tell Santa if they were good or bad this year. I would often remind the boys that Mr. Squirt was watching, this did help to quickly resolve more than one dispute at our house. Also Mr. Squirt would move to a new spot in the house every night. The boys LOVED to get up in the morning and try to find where Mr. Squirt had moved to . I think that Mr. Squirt is a tradition that we will keep for some time.

Christmas kids

2011-01-09T13:42:00.000-08:00

Cute kids. Cold days. Christmas decor. Need I say more. I just couldn't resist taking a few pics on a cold day when we were stuck inside.

To Grandmothers House we go

2011-01-08T21:49:00.000-08:00

The weekend before Christmas we loaded up our family and headed over to Rexburg for a little pre-holiday fun with my parents and siblings. While we were there we ate way too much, stayed up way too late (especially me who was sick the entire visit), played way too many games and had way too much fun. One of the highlights of the trip was sledding in my brother-in-laws backyard. The kids had a great time! Carson loved to go down the hill on the airsboard, and was a bit of a airboard hog, but we forgive him because he is five and because the airboards were awesome. Lincoln liked the airboard, but liked having a buddy go down the hill with him on one of the more traditional sleds more. The adults got into a bit of a competition to see who could go the farthest on the airboards. It got a little intense as you can see from the facial expressions of those on the airboards (and yes my Dad is going down the hill in his church clothes he could only stay a little while because BYUI had graduation that day). Anyway, although it's not important who won, we definitely rocked every ones world in the sledding competition. The trip to my parents was a great start to our Christmas vacation.

Here comes Santa Claus

2010-12-12T15:14:00.000-08:00

The boys were able to visit with Santa at our Ward Christmas party. Lincoln snuck away from me, cut in front of a bunch of other people in line, and hopped up on Santa's lap no problem, this really surprised me because a couple of months ago when we were at Disney Land he was pretty nervous about getting close to any of the characters. Carson has been over his fear of Santa for years and sat right down and told Santa all about what he wanted for Christmas. We also mailed off our letters to Santa. Last year I saw on the news that our local post office had a special mailbox for letters to Santa. Apparently, I only imagined this because when I took my kids to the post office to mail their letters to Santa there was nothing cool or cute for them to put their letters in. Not wanting the kids to be disappointed I told them that the drive-by mail boxes were Santa's special mail box. Since it is the holiday season, there were a ton of people driving by dropping off mail. While we waited for an opportunity for the cars to clear out so the kids could put their letters to Santa in the mailbox, Carson turned to me and said "mom there sure are a ton of people sending letters to Santa." Carson was obviously impressed by the sheer number of people sending letters to Santa Claus. Lincoln's letter to Santa was primarily comprised of pictures of Buzz Lightyear. Lincoln wants every member of the family to have a Buzz so everyone can play Buzz's with him. Carson asked Santa for: battle bugs, Mario, and a killer whale/great white shark toy. It has been so fun seeing the kids get excited for Santa and Christmas morning.

snow day

2010-12-03T21:55:00.001-08:00

We started out December with a snow day! Since snow days are extremely rare in our area, I was determined to make the most of it. Making the most of the snow gets a little bit tricky though when you have to tote a 7 month old along. So we maximized the snow the best we could with Lily. I took the boys to a small hill in our area for some sledding. I bundled Lily up in case I was going to have to carry her around. Thankfully, Lily was pretty happy to sit in her car seat as long as I left the van door open so she could watch the action. The boys had a great time sledding down the little hill. The hill was a bit lame and I had to give the boys a really good push to get them enough momentum to make it down the hill, but we had fun for about 45 minutes until Lily, who was in need of a nap, let us know that she was done. There were several kids at the sledding hill, some of whom knew Carson from school, and they offered to share their much better sleds with him. It was really weird to meet some of these kids who Carson plays with at school and who I had never met. It made me realize that he is growing up and has friends and influences in his life that I am completely unaware of. It made me kind of sad. Anyway, after sledding we continued our fun in the backyard where we made snowmen. We finished off our afternoon with hot chocolate and some good old fashioned Christmas movies. It was a good day. It was a nice break from the daily grind.

Fall pictures

2010-11-21T20:30:00.000-08:00

Every fall I like to take the kids out to get pictures. This year has been crazy and I have just not been able to find an ideal time to do it. Well, when I was looking at the weather report for this week I knew that ideal or not I had to go out this week if I was going to get it done this year. So here they are for 2010. They were not taken under ideal conditions and I had to do it without the support of Nate who usually plays the clown role in order to get the kids to smile. Man, my kids are a tough audience. I pulled out my best fake farting noises for the boys and still I pretty much only got a couple of pictures with their natural smiles; and Lily was more interested in eating her hat than looking at me and smiling. I am glad I forced myself to go out and do the pictures but I am seriously considering paying someone to do it next year.

Lost

2010-11-21T20:08:00.001-08:00

Have you ever lost one of your kids at home? The other day our house was remarkably quiet. Lily was down for a nap and Carson was at the table coloring. This led me to immediately wonder where Lincoln was. So I started calling his name. No answer. So then I started searching around the house for him in some of his favorite hiding spots. He wasn't in any of his usual spots. So then I went outside and checked the backyard and then frantically the front yard. Just as I was coming in from the front yard and getting ready to call some neighbors to help me find him I looked over at the couch and saw his little backside. I was Extremely relieved. Apparently, he was in desperate need of a nap and thought what better place to sleep than behind the couch. Crazy kid.

Happy Autumn

2010-11-14T14:26:00.000-08:00

We have had some unbelievable November weather, so the kids and I have been out in the yard trying to get stuff ready for winter. First, I took the kids out to help me rake the leaves in our front yard. I let the boys play in the leaves before we got down to business. Carson was good about not throwing the leaves when it was time to clean up, and was actually a good little helper. Lincoln, on the other hand, never really got into the spirit of raking the leaves and pretty much continued to disperse the leaves all over the yard. While all this chaos was going on Lily just sat in her saucer, played nicely, and stuck her tongue out at us. A few days later we went to work in the backyard. Lily mostly occupied herself by playing with her toys and by tasting the grass. The boys helped me pick our green tomatoes, which I had every intention of ripening inside, but they cluttered my counter top too much so they ended up in the trash. Carson only helped in the back until we found a slug and then he spent the rest of the time playing with the slimy little guy and finding a safe home for him. I mostly just enjoyed getting work done in nice weather. I love autumn! It's such a beautiful time of year to get outside even if it is just to do yard work.

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T19:31:00.000-07:00

We had a great Halloween! We started out the weekend with Nate's work Halloween party and ended it with a ghoulish dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Pearce and family. The kids loved trick- or-treating (shocking I know who doesn't like going door to door collecting candy). Carson was very excited to be a Jedi for Halloween and has been talking about his costume since his birthday. Lincoln made the cutest little pirate and had his "Arrrrr" down for Halloween night. Lily mostly just came along for the ride, and although her chicken costume was a tight fit she was one adorable little chick. Happy Halloween all!

little pumpkin turns 6 months

2010-10-27T10:17:00.000-07:00

Lily is 6 months, it is crazy how the time flies. At her 6 months visit she weighed in at 19 lbs 13 ounces and was 27 1/4 inches long. Both of those numbers put her in the 95 percentile. Lily is rolling around now and starting to get into things. I was hoping that she might remain immobile until after Christmas, but I think that she will be crawling before Thanksgiving. Also, Lily is a bit of a mamas girl. She has been going through a phase where she only wants me to feed her, which is getting a bit tiresome. I am hoping that in a couple of weeks we can get her trained to accept food from anyone. Also, I think we may have our first child who has a blankie. She loves to have a certain blanket when she sleeps and rubs it on her face. Lily's sense of humor is also really developing lately. She thinks her brothers are pretty funny and laughs at their goofiness (hopefully she will always think her brothers are as funny as she does now).

pumpkin patch

2010-10-27T10:02:00.001-07:00

We made it to the pumpkin patch last week to get the perfect pumpkins. I tell you what, the perfect pumpkin's are getting more and more expensive each year. But the kids love to go to the pumpkin patch that we have been going to for the last 4 years, so we will probably stick with it even though they have raised their prices. The kids had a great time finding their pumpkins, and the weather was great, so we had a really fun time. The only catch was that Lily was not a fan of the hay ride and she cried for most of it. The picture at the bottom cracks me up because I really wanted to get a picture of everyone on the hayride, but Lily was screaming and Carson and Lincoln were concerned that the tractor was going to leave me; thus the best picture I could get of everyone together looks like we were having the worst possible time. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it the kids had a great time picking out their pumpkins.

football

2010-10-27T09:44:00.001-07:00

Carson played football this year for the first time and loved it! During one of the first weeks of practice Carson got a couple flags and his coach called him "the flag champion." From then on, all he wanted to do was play on defense and try to get flags. In order to motivate him to work hard, we told Carson that every time he got a flag we would give him a quarter. By the end of the season he had earned several dollars. During practice they would play a game called "sharks and minnows." Well, Carson got his coach to change the name of the game to "sharks and killer whales." Carson's football team was the Seahawks and I think that may have made him a Seahawks fan for life. The other day Nate was rooting for a team playing against the Sea hawks and he tried to get Carson to support his team, but he would not betray his beloved Sea hawks. I think we may have created a life-long football fan.

piggy-back ride

2010-10-15T20:55:00.001-07:00

Lily is a good sister, she puts up with a lot of unwanted attention. I was doing chores today and came down stairs to find Lincoln and Lily like this. I asked Lincoln what he was doing and expected him to tell me he was giving Lily a hug, but instead he said Lily was giving him a piggy-back ride. Yep, I would say that is a sign that you are a good sister when you give your older brother a piggy-back ride at 6 months.

Another messy eater

2010-10-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

Lily girl likes her food. Although Lily usually ends up wearing about as much food as she is eating, she definitely likes her solid foods. I would say her favorite flavor thus far is probably yams. The girl takes after her mom. I love me some yams (traditional thanksgiving yams, not the baby food kind). Anyway, I have a love-hate relationship with the solid food stage; on the one hand more people get to participate in the feeding of the baby, but on the other hand her eating solid foods produces a large mess and a considerable increase in the amount of laundry I have to do. Oh well, the girl has to eat. So I guess while I don't love the mess I do love the messy little smile and I will try to enjoy this stage while it lasts.

changes

2010-09-19T16:23:00.000-07:00

My two littlest kids are growing up so fast. The past couple weeks I have been working on potty training Lincoln. I was ready to declare him completely potty trained until today, when he had 2 accidents. Ahhhhhhh! I hate potty training. Although Lincoln has had some set backs he has been much easier to potty train than Carson. One time while potty training Lincoln had to go number 2 bad, and was doing the potty dance, when he suddenly calmed down and told me "nope the poo poo went back to his family." That made us laugh pretty hard I guess everything needs a family. At five months Lily is sitting up pretty well by herself and rolling over. Although, when she is sitting I always keep the boppy behind her in case she gets too excited and tips over. She has turned into an incredible drooler and we have to keep a bib on her or she will be soaked. She continues to be enormous and when she is in her car seat people often comment on how she has almost outgrown it. These kids change so fast! It is amazing how since I have become a mom the time really seems to just fly by.

The End of Summer

2010-09-19T15:58:00.001-07:00

We went to Roaring Springs for the last time this summer. We had a great time! Once it gets into September there are almost no crowds at the water park and we can go on almost anything we want without having to wait in line. Lincoln got brave this year and went down a lot of the big kid slides and loved it! Carson loves to go under all waterfalls and get soaked by the large bucket of water that tips over in the kiddie section. Both the boys love the magic carpet slide. One of Carson and Lincolns favorite things to do at the water park is race down the magic carpet slide. Several times this summer Carson took aside the life guard and asked him to give Lincoln a head start push when they were racing so that he could win ( It was really sweet). It is sad to see the place closing for the year. I think I was especially sad because I know we won't be getting season passes next year and won't be going whenever we want. We love roaring springs it is one of our families favorite places to hang out

Labor Day

2010-09-11T20:13:00.000-07:00

This labor Day we went to the Spirit of Boise balloon classic. We had to get up VERY early to see the balloons, and honestly the only reason Nate and I got up so early on a Saturday is because we were sure our kids would love it (which they did). Although we mostly went for the kids, Nate and I were both surprised by how much we enjoyed it too. The balloons were beautiful taking off in the early dawn. The boys favorite balloon was the rocket balloon, but they also enjoyed the butt balloon. If you went to the balloon classic and missed the butt balloon it was the one with the hearts. Nate told the boys that the hearts looked like butts and they thought that was hilarious so that is what the heart balloon was called the rest of the time. On Monday we went on a short hike to Jump Creek Falls. The hike was short and pretty, but there is Poison Ivy growing along the trail like crazy. We knew this going into it so we warned the boys not to touch any plants (we may have exaggerated the repercussions of touching Poison Ivy a tiny bit just to make sure that the kids were extra cautious on the trail; and when I say we I mostly mean Nate.) As a result of this exaggerations when hiking on the trail, Carson told me that "all I am thinking about is Poison Ivy." And of course Carson slipped on the trail and to catch himself put his hand right on some Poison Ivy. The poor kid immediately broke into tears, afraid he was going to get some horrible demon rash. Luckily he literally only touched the plant for a split second and we washed his hand immediately after, so no rash ensued. However, I think that Carson will be mortally afraid of Poison Ivy for some time. Despite the Poison Ivy it was a beautiful day to get out and enjoy the outdoors and we enjoyed our time as a family.

Carson goes to Kindergarten

2010-09-01T15:43:00.001-07:00

Carson started Kindergarten on Monday! I have to admit that I was way more nervous about it than he was. My stomach was in knots all morning. We got to the bus stop and there were a ton of kids and parents. But Carson didn't seem overwhelmed by it at all, he seemed perfectly relaxed. In fact once he found out you don't wear seat belts on the bus he was super excited about the bus ride. When I got to the school (which took forever the traffic was terrible! I was freaking out that he was going to be lost on the playground or in his class before I got there) he was just hanging out in front of his class waiting for the bell. While waiting he took the opportunity to ask his teacher Mrs. Squire if they have share days in Kindergarten (that was hands down Carson's favorite part of preschool). I was surprised that he had the courage to ask her a question because he seems to be a little shy around adults that he doesn't know. Then the bell rang Carson walked into his class, put his stuff in his cubby, and sat down like he had done this every day of his life. Poor Lincoln had a complete melt down once he realized that he didn't get to go with Carson. My boys are such good buddies, it was emotional seeing them separated. Once in the car I had a little cry myself. Carson has been my little buddy for the past five years, and I don't feel quite ready to let him go. I don't know how he got so big so quickly, the time has really gone by in a flash. It has reminded me to enjoy the little ones I have at home. I sure love this kid! I know he is going to have a great school year!

A new look

2010-09-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

The Lincster had to get glasses. He does look exceptionally cute in them, but I have to be honest I was sad that he needed them. I had to have glasses as a kid and always hated them and felt awkward and ugly. I hope Lincoln won't ever feel this way and that other kids are kind to him. I was tempted to not get the glasses, because he shows no symptom of any vision problem, but when the doctor told me he could go cross eyed unless we put him in glasses I didn't feel like I had a lot of choice. He has done really well with wearing them for the most part. The other day he had a bit of a fit and threw the glasses on the floor because he didn't want to put them on, but besides that the transition has been smooth. But with glasses or without he is a great kid!

Because it's too easy

2010-09-01T15:16:00.001-07:00

I know I am going a little crazy with the Lily pictures, but in my defense she is the only child I have who will sit still and smile. I know she is going to get sick of having a camera in her face like my boys so I figure I might as well take advantage of a subject who can't run away while I still can.

She's off the charts!

2010-08-27T15:20:00.000-07:00

Lily had her four month check up this week and the girl is huge! She is off the charts for weight and is in the 95% for height. I had some one ask me at Costco today if she was 1. She continues to be off the charts adorable! At four months Lily loves her excersaucer! The thing she seems to love most about the saucer is the challenge of trying to pull every toy to her mouth for a nice taste. She is definitely the most mouth oriented baby that I have ever had she seems to always want something in her mouth: fingers, toes, pacifiers, toys, blankets, or clothes pretty much everything and anything goes in her mouth. She continues to be a happy baby who smiles and laughs easily. I love to tickle her on her collar bone. And for some reason she loves the primary song "in the leafy tree tops" that song usually gets her to give a big smile. We sure love our Lily girl!

The many faces of Lily

You gotta love the girly features (the lips and eye lashes are to die for)

Family

2010-08-22T15:51:00.000-07:00

As part of our California trip we got to spend a lot of time hanging out with my family. My grandparents still live in California and it was great to be able to see them and visit their home. I love to go to my Grandparents home. I have such great memories at their house and they are such tremendous examples. It was great to have my kids finally meet them! After visiting with my Grandparents the rest of my family met up in Oceanside so that we could hang out and enjoy the condos my parents reserved for our family. Thanks mom and dad for such a great time! While we were there my mom wanted me to try and get a picture of the whole family (a little tricky when using a remote to take the picture) so below are some of the best and silliest pictures we got.

Cali part 3 - sea world

2010-08-22T15:22:00.001-07:00

We went to sea world as part of our vacation. If you know my kids very well you might have a small inkling of what a big deal this is. Carson has been obsessed with aquatic creatures since he was 3 and he particularly loves killer whales. I have been looking forward to going to sea world with them for the last year. The boys had a great time at sea world. we got there early so we had great seats in the splash zone for all the shows. Luckily we were able to sit in the splash zone and not get very wet (I was mostly worried about Lily getting soaked). When the boys first saw Shamu they were pretty much in awe of the creature. I don't think they fully comprehended how enormous a killer whale actually is. The Shamu show was really cool, but I must say I was a little disappointed, because they didn't have any people jumping off Shamus nose or anything. The kids got to choose a toy from sea world there choices so fit their personalities Lincoln wanted a cuddly stuffed animal Shamoo and Carson wanted a little container stuffed with as many aquatic creatures as would fit. Lincoln said his favorite part of sea world was the whale show. Carson surprised me by saying the thing he liked best was the bat rays. They have a place where you can feed and pet the rays. Carson got to pet one particular ray 3 times and he kept saying that he made a friend with the sting ray (it was really cute).

Cali part 2 - beach

2010-08-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

While in California we spent about 3 days at the beach. We had a great time hanging out with family and playing in the water and sand. The boys loved going out into the waves with Nate. They both said that "kicking the waves" with dad was their favorite thing to do at the beach. But they also loved digging for sand crabs, collecting sea shells and just playing in the sand. My dad who likes to fish at the beach caught a baby leopard shark, Carson thought that was just about the coolest thing ever. Nate was brave and actually let the kids bury him in sand. Lincoln took the idea of burying Dad literally and tried to cover Nates face in sand, consequently Nate ended up with a mouthful of the beach! My sister Heather was our unofficial nanny at the beach. She helped to keep an eye on the boys and entertain them while I was busy with Lily or having fun in the water. Nate and I also got a chance to dust off our mad boogie boarding skills and had a great time catching waves. I love the beach! I grew up going to the beach often and it was so much fun to see my kids enjoy something that I loved as a kid.

Our trip to Cali- part 1

2010-08-21T15:53:00.001-07:00

We went down to California for our big summer vacation. We drove to California which I was worried would be a nightmare, but the kids were great and it was overall an uneventful drive, with the exception of a small speeding ticket that Nate got in Nevada. We started out our Cali vacation with an action packed day at Disneyland. We decided since we were only spending one day at Disneyland that it would be worth our while to buy ridemax (a online program that helps you plan your day at Disneyland efficiently). We showed up at Disneyland a 1/2 hour before the gates opened ready to put our plan into action. Of course things didn't go quite as planned about 2 minutes before we were about to be admitted to Disneyland Lily had a huge diaper blowout. Not wanting to ruin our ridemax plan right at the beginning we split up Nate went and changed Lily's diaper and I took the boys on the first couple rides alone. The rest of the day went relatively smoothly. Lily did great she hardly made a peep the whole time! And Lincoln did well too he maybe had one meltdown, which I thought was pretty good for an unnapped two year old. We ended up spending 15 hours at Disneyland in total. For the most part the kids loved all the things we did. Their favorite ride was the rocket ride and the tea cups and Dumbo came in a close second. I was a bit surprised that both the boys were a little bit scared of Pirates of the Caribbean. Lincoln covered his face through the whole ride, but at the end when we asked him if he liked it he assured us that he did (too funny). Carson was a bit more honest. Although he didn't cover his face during the ride he admitted he thought it was a little bit scary. We also went to the Jedi training academy show. I was a little disappointed that Carson didn't want to participate but he and Lincoln were both in awe of the Darth Vader and Darth Mal characters that all the little Jedi's got to fight. We had a great time and ended the day with the fireworks show over Sleeping Beauty's castle. Lincoln who loves fireworks fell asleep on Nates shoulders in the middle of the show. The kid was so tired it wasn't like he just fell asleep it was as if he went into a mini coma, we could not get him to wake up for anything. I know I am going to sound like a total cheese ball but the day was so fun and the fireworks were so spectacular that I got a little bit misty eyed during the fireworks show. Disneyland with kids is so much fun!

Sweets

2010-07-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

One of my nicknames for Lily is sweets

because she is the sweetest most delicious baby ever!

No I am not biased!

Car Wash

2010-07-30T11:04:00.000-07:00

Our boys love to help wash the cars! They actually are good little helpers, but with that much water a little bit of mishief is bound to happen. Carson claimed he liked to have the water squirted in his face, although he admitted to me latter that it hurt a little ( I think he let Lincoln squirt him in the face so many times because it made us laugh).

Riding Bikes

2010-07-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

Carson got a bike without training wheels for his birthday. It took about 3 days of Nate working with Carson in the evenings but he can now officially ride his bike. He is best at riding his bike in a parking lot where he doesn't have to worry about veering off the sidewalk and into the street, but still he has the mechanics down of riding a bike. We are so proud of him. I don't know why but for some reason Carson being able to ride a bike makes him seem like a grown up kid and that makes me a little sad. We also tried to transition Lincoln to Carsons old bike with training wheels. That was not a very successful endeavor I think Lincoln will be sticking to his trike for a little while longer.

The 4th

2010-07-30T09:59:00.000-07:00

We went to Rexburg to celebrate the 4th. As is tradition we attended the Rexburg parade. The parade was a perfect small town parade complete with lots of candy and plenty of small town floats like the antique tractor collection. Nate likes to count the number of tractors and four wheelers that show up in the parade every year in his annual mocking of the Rexburg parade, I'm not sure what the number was this year, but I am sure Nate wasn't disappointed. We also enjoyed the best Pearce family fireworks show yet, which included lots and lots of illegal fireworks. Liking fire must be in the genes because our boys loved the fireworks and went crazy with the sparklers. We finished off our Rexburg vacation with a quick trip to Mesa falls. We had a great time over the fourth, and especially appreciated all of my young cousins who played with our boys.

Lincoln update

2010-07-30T08:38:00.000-07:00

A quick update on Lincoln. On July 6th Lincoln went in for his second round of MRI scans for his brain tumor. Happily I can announce that he is stable and the tumor has not grown at all. I will say that our anxiety level going into these scans was extremely high. Especially since about 10 days before this last set of scans the opthamologist found Lincolns optic nerves to be inflamed, which caused us to do a ton of extra tests to make sure that he didn't have any additional horrible things like: brain tumors on his spine, blood clots in his brain, and any number of neurodegenerative disorders. By the time we got all the results back from his tests we were grateful that Lincoln just had a brain tumor. Also getting Lincolns IV put in this time was an ordeal that I hope never to replicate. It took about a half hour to get the IV in and the numbing medication did not work as a result Lincoln was screaming for us to help him, which of course we couldn't, Nate and I were both in tears by the end of the ordeal. Needless to say, it was a very emotional day. On a lighter note I wanted to tell this little anecdote about Lincoln. I was busy getting dinner ready the other day and Lincoln kept calling over to me "mom I'm feeding my penguin" I was busy getting dinner on so I didn't pay much attention, but he kept calling out to me so finally I looked up. What I saw I was completely unprepared for, Lincoln was sitting on the couch with the boppy around his waist and the hooter hider over his head feeding his penguin just like I feed baby Lily. I was so surprised I immediately started laughing really hard. This of course got Carson's attention and wanting to always be funny he took his turn feeding the penguin too. The feeding of different animals went on for a little while. So yes, my boys now think that it is funny to nurse poor motherless animals.

Carson is 5!

2010-07-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

Carson had his first birthday with friends this year. We had a Star Wars theme for his birthday and I think that it came off quite cute. When the kids arrived we had the Star Wars theme music playing and each kid was given a light saber and Jedi robe. The kids then went on to test their Jedi skills in an obstacle course which ended in a battle with Darth Vader (aka Nate). After that the kids threw water balloons at a death star (chalk drawing) until it disappeared and then we had a pinata. I learned a few things about doing a pinata like it is VERY important not to overfill it. Because if you do overfill your pinata you might have a scenario where only two kids get a chance to hit the pinata before it breaks leaving the other 7 kids disappointed. Luckily I have a very creative husband who was able to jimmy-rig our pinata with rope giving the other 7 little Jedi's a chance to whack Darth Vader's head. Over all I think it was a very successful birthday. Carson had a great time, and I know his friends did since several of them shared for their good news minute in primary that they went to a star wars party.

Swimming Lessons

2010-07-01T21:21:00.000-07:00

Nothing says summer like swimming lessons. Carson started swimming lessons this June and has been doing great! He went to swimming lessons this year without any hesitation and just loves being in the water. He has had a lot of fun this year especially because he had two of his good friends in his swim class. I told Carson the other day that he was turning into a fish to which he promptly responded that he was actually turning into a Killer Whale (such a Carson response). We sure love our little Killer Whale.

Fathers Day

2010-07-01T21:05:00.000-07:00

I know fathers day has come and gone, but I still had to do a quick post about my awesome husband. Nate is the best Dad! I always knew Nate would be a great Dad but he has seriously blown my expectations out of the water. No matter how tired he is when he comes home from work he always finds the energy to play with the kids and give me a break. Nate always keeps our family laughing. Every ones favorite time of day is when Dad comes home. We are sooo lucky to have such a great husband and father.

Lily 2 months

2010-06-18T08:16:00.001-07:00

Lily had her 2 month check up last week and she is one plumpn girl. At 2 months Lily is 14 pounds and 23 inches long. Lily is starting to coo and smile more and more. When she smiles her eyes light up it is so adorable. She is a very sweet and content baby. I hate to say it because I might jinx myself but I think she may be my easiest baby thus far. Some of her favorite things are tummy time, having her head rubbed, and being sung to. She is such a Joy!

The Lincster

2010-06-18T08:01:00.000-07:00

Lincoln hasn't been featured very much on the blog of late so I thought I would dedicate a post to him. Lincoln is definitely my most challenging child at the moment. He definitely is a master of pouting and throwing tantrums. Which I know every child does those things but what makes him more difficult is that he is hard to discipline. For example if he is acting up and we tell him he has to go to bed early he has been known to say things like "I like to go to bed early". What do you do with that? Despite the typical 2 year old behavior and some discipline issues we are having with him he really can be the sweetest kid. At Lily's 2 month check up he got protective of her. When the nurse was giving Lily her shots and she was crying he kept telling the nurse "Lily no like that" translation: stop hurting my sister. Also at the grocery store the other day Carson was upset because I didn't let him get some treat he wanted and so he kept complaining and saying he didn't like me today and Lincoln would say "no mama is a nice mommy Carson" it was so sweet. Lincoln continues to be a cuddler every afternoon at "quiet time" he wants me to lay with him in his bed for a few minutes and sing his favorite songs: Cars (Life is a highway), mission (I hope they call me on a mission,) and child God (I am a child of God). We sure love this spirited affectionate little boy!

Blessing Day

2010-06-18T07:46:00.000-07:00

We blessed Lily on June 6th, which also happened to be Nate's birthday. We had a great weekend celebrating Nate's birthday and the birth of our Lily girl. As usual Nate gave a beautiful blessing, and I was emotional and felt overwhelmed by my many blessings and by the love and support of our family and friends. We had a ton of family support for Lily's blessing, which Nate and I appreciated more than we can say. One of our friends even suggested that we should have rented out the church because we took up so many benches (I think family filled about 4 of the long pews). The day was so busy that I didn't manage to get any pictures of the actual day, but Lily and I had a little photo shoot so we could remember how beautiful she looked in her dress. Thanks to everyone who came and supported our family.

Memorial Day

2010-06-18T07:16:00.000-07:00

This memorial day although the weather wasn't great we decided to venture outdoors any way. We went fishing at a local fishing pond and although it rained some we were able to have a great time. Both the boys caught fish. Carson was so excited about his catch that the first thing he wanted to do when he got home was call Grandpa Pearce and tell him all about his fishing trip. Lincoln who likes fishing, but doesn't quite have the attention span or patience for it that Carson does spent a good portion of his time playing with worms. Lincoln would pick up a worm throw it in the dirt and then declare the "wormy dirty" and then throw him in the pond because "wormy needs a bath." Lincoln continued to get worms dirty and bathe them in the pond for some time. Many a worm didn't survive the bathing, but Lincoln had a great time. And Lily remained peaceful and sleeping through the whole event. We had a great time and it was a fun way to start off our summer.

Motherhood

2010-06-18T06:47:00.000-07:00

Every year around mothers day I pull out my camera remote and try to get some pictures of me with my kids. This event requires quite a lot of bribery (an otter pop or two was demanded for cooperation in this endeavor). These pictures are always far from perfect but I love them. I love being a mother it is definitely the biggest challenge/joy of my life. The other day I was doing some house work after the kids had been put to bed and my boys were just laughing and laughing in their room. My first instinct was to go upstairs and tell them to be quite because it was late (and it had been a some what challenging day), but then I realized that these are the joyful moments I should take more time to appreciate. It made me realize that if I looked for the joyful moments more that the challenges would seem smaller and less daunting.

Preschool

2010-06-18T06:22:00.001-07:00

At the end of May Carson had several preschool events. The first was a mothers tea. All the mothers were invited to come and the kids got dressed up (the boys wore a mans shirt and tie and the girls wore aprons) and served us a little lunch. The kids also sang songs and presented each mom with a little place mat with a picture of something that they love about their mom. Carson's place mat said "I love you Mom because you tuck me into bed." Needless to say I was a little bit choked up. Also Carson graduated from preschool. At the graduation the kids demonstrated things they had learned. For example, Carson and his class sang a song that covered all the sounds of the alphabet and each kids stood up and recited a nursery rhyme they had memorized. Carson stood up and recited his rhyme loud and clear he didn't seem a bit nervous. I was so proud of him. I guess it is on to Kindergarten. AHHHHHH I am not ready!

Soccer

2010-05-27T21:29:00.000-07:00

Carson finished up another soccer season. As usual soccer season was quite the crack up. This year Carson developed the habit of "talking smack" to the opposing team. This "smack talking" was quite hilarious especially since Carson is not a very aggressive kid and wouldn't hurt a fly. Carson's "smack talk" definitely needs improvement since the things he would say to other players were things like "I am going to take you to death" (we are not sure where he got this from), but trust me when we figured out what he was saying to the other kids we put the kabosh on his smack talking death threats. Conversely we have heard Carson in the same game where he dished out death threats congratulate people on the other team for scoring a goal or doing a good kick. I think his soccer strategy may have been to scare the other team with his death threats and then confuse them with his compliments. It was a complex strategy for his age if you think about it. I think the highlight of every game for Carson was the kick off. When it was Carson's turn to do the kick off he would run from his goal to the ball so he could kick it extra hard. Amazingly enough he scored a couple of goals this way. Also frequently by the end of a soccer game the other team thought that running to the soccer ball was a good strategy and all the kids would be kicking the ball this way. One funny thing about this season is that Carson when really trying to kick the ball hard would close his eyes (see the last photo) as a result his foot to ball contact was not always what it could have been. Carson loved this soccer season and looked forward to his games every Saturday. We are proud of Carson and his going out every Saturday and playing his hardest.

family

2010-05-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

We have such a great family! With the arrival of Lily and all that has been going on with Lincoln I have more than ever appreciated the support of family. I was lucky enough when I had Lily to have my mom and mother-in-law both come and stay for a week. I can't say what a relief it was to have them come and help with the kids while I got back on my feet. Whenever my Dad comes up he always takes time to play with the boys. The boys love their Grandpa! Last time he was here he went and played on our new play set with them, which is quite the feat since my Dad is a huge guy (6ft 8in tall). Here are some snap shots of family members over the recent weeks who have been visiting or helping out. We love you guys! Thank you so much!

Tummy Time

2010-05-23T13:54:00.001-07:00

Since Lily's umbilical cord fell off I have been trying to get her a good amount of tummy time (so her head won't be flat like Lincolns) These are pictures of her a few weeks ago when I first put her on her tummy. I was surprised by how strong she was. Look at our Lily girl holding her head up like a champ.

Such Good brothers

2010-05-21T09:30:00.000-07:00

The boys have really taken to Lily. Lincoln loves to get down on the floor and talk with Lily and he always says such cute things like "I got ya little girl no cry" and whenever he holds her (with help of course) he will say to Carson: "Carson I need your help to get Lily a stuffed animal" and Carson of course complies. Carson also loves to hold Lily and get on the ground and talk to her and sing songs to her. Whenever Lily grabs onto Carson's finger he gets excited and tells us that Lily is holding his finger because she loves her brother. Both boys insist on giving Lily a goodnight kiss every night, and if Lily is crying and I can't get to her immediately I almost always find a little stuffed animal laying by her that one of the boys brought to her to make her feel better. Lily is one lucky girl to have such sweet brothers.

More cuteness

2010-05-02T15:11:00.000-07:00

I didn't want to do this, but some of my family have been harassing me about posting some more pictures of Lily. Basically I have been a victim of Internet harassment, and was forced to post pictures of our adorable little girl for me and my families safety :) I just can't get enough of our adorable little girl; she is soooo sweet! Lily had her 2 week check up on Friday and she is doing great. She weighed in at 10 lbs 7 ounces. Lily has gotten into a pretty good schedule. At night Lily will sleep for a good 4 hour stretch, which means generally I am only getting up once a night. Also Lily is definitely a cuddler. She loves to be held and have people stroke her cheek. And if she is good and content she makes little cooing sounds while you hold her. I know I am biased but it really is precious.

Her eyelashes are coming in. I think she is going to inherit the amazing Snow eyelashes. I admit, I am a little jealous.

One sweet girl

2010-04-21T20:44:00.000-07:00

Well, after about 3 nights of screaming herself hoarse things are getting a bit more settled around here. I think that Lily is begining to get her nights and days straightened out and I am getting enough sleep to where I feel like I can do other things besides sleep and feed a baby during day light hours (thus this blog posting). I know she is a big baby but as you can see from the pictures she carries most of her weight in her cheeks. Oh, how we love to kiss those not-so-little cheeks.

Oh, if she would only be this peaceful at night!

Lily on her first day home

Lily Mae Snow

2010-04-21T18:44:00.000-07:00

Lily Mae Snow arrived in our family April 15 at 7:15 am. She was a whopping 9 lbs 15 ounces and 22 inches long. While her delivery was far from easy she is definitely worth it. We love having this little girl in our family.

our swollen little Lily Mae

The Proud and exhausted parents

Carson cheesing it up with Lily

Lincoln not sure what to do with little "willy"

The proud Grandpa

A little bit personal

2010-04-11T10:04:00.001-07:00

Generally I try to keep this blog very light and anecdotal. But recently we have had some bad news come into our family, that I am going to share on the blog so that I don't have to rehash an emotional story that causes me to cry a million times. On Monday I was at a store when Lincoln fell off a chair onto the cement floor causing him to have a severe bloody nose. I got him cleaned up the best I could and we left as quickly as possible. On the drive home I noticed Lincoln was getting drowsy, which immediately made me worry about a concussion since it wasn't anywhere close to his nap time. So I took him to my pediatrician's office on the way home from the store and she thought that he was iffy enough that we should get him a CAT scan. So we headed to St. Lukes so Lincoln could get his scan and we could be certain that he didn't have a concussion or any skull fractures. About a 1/2 hour after the scan my pediatrician calls me and tells me that Lincoln doesn't have a concussion or skull fracture, but that the scan did reveal a "incidental density" on the right side of his brain and that he needed to have a MRI scan as soon as possible to get more information about this "density." This news immediately put me on the verge of hysterics as "density" sounded eerily like a code word for tumor that doctors use to avoid freaking out parents. We scheduled a MRI for 3 days latter and we composed ourselves with the knowledge that we didn't have enough information to freak out just yet. On Friday we had a meeting with the pediatric neurosurgeon who had reviewed the scans with a radiologist and the news was not very good. Lincoln was diagnosed with a "low grade glioma" which in normal speak is a slow growing brain tumor. The good news is that the tumor is slow growing, it is operable, it is not cancerous, it is not life threatening, and for the time being it does not seem to be affecting him at all. The bad news is without getting too technical that the location of the tumor is such that removal of the tumor will cause him physical deficits that will affect the quality of his life. Now what these deficits will be and how severe is somewhat of a mystery do to the location of the tumor. On the positive side his brain may be able to rewire and adjust to some of these deficits so that they are not as problematic. The problem is that with the brain they just don't know what to expect for certain. Lincoln could have the tumor removed and make a full recovery, or he could have it removed and never be the same again. For right now the neurosurgeon recommends that we monitor the tumor so we can learn more about it's growth pattern and because it is not causing Lincoln any problems. So the plan right now is to watch and wait. With these slow growing tumors it is possible that it could be years before it is an issue that will require an immediate action or it could be a matter of months. We will probably have a better idea of what we are looking at in 3 months when we have another MRI scan. I am hopeful that we may see a miracle in the future, but at the same time I am coming to terms with the fact that in all likely hood we will have to make decisions about this tumor that could affect Lincolns quality of life potentially forever. Even in this trying time I feel immensely blessed that we found this tumor so early so that it is likely we will be able to manage it in such a way that we can minimize brain damage. In many ways I consider the finding of the tumor so early a miracle. Although we are stressed and a little overwhelmed by this news we know that God is aware of our family and our little Lincoln.

Easter

2010-04-07T15:19:00.000-07:00

We had a very low key Easter weekend. On Saturday we spent the day hanging out at home and doing our best to listen to conference while the kids ran around. Between conference sessions we helped the kids dye Easter eggs. The kids had fun dyeing the eggs (as did the adults I still love to dye Easter eggs). On Sunday morning the kids got their Easter baskets, which included new swim shorts, a sprinkler for summer, books, and chocolate bunnies. As usual the chocolate bunnies were the big hit of the Easter basket. Our kids could not eat their bunnies like civilized folks starting with the feet or the ears. No, no they went straight for the bunny faces like ravenous animals and left the cute little chocolate bunnies mutilated and saliva drenched. Nate and I were a little bit horrified and a little bit amused to see the way they attacked their bunnies. Despite the chocolate bunny incident we had a great Easter and enjoyed listening to conference and spending time with family.

Our egg dying set up

Lincster dying a blue egg (blue is his favorite color)

Carson giving me his cheesy smile and showing off his red egg (it really looked more pink than red but I didn't have the hear to tell him).

Cheesy group pic

The fruit of our labors

The boys hamming it up with their Easter buckets

Ravenous animal #1

Ravenous animal #2

The poor little chocolate bunny

A moment of peace during conference

The highlight of March

2010-04-04T09:51:00.000-07:00

The highlight of this month is that we got a play set! It was a huge project! It took Nate 7 hours just to get all the parts organized. After Nate got all the parts organized he took a day off work to get a good jump start on the project. Then he spent all of his free time for about 2 weeks working on the project. I couldn't be more pleased with the results. The play set has already been awesome. Our kids are going outside to play on it several times a day for 30 minutes to an hour. And although the kids aren't aware of it I plan on them spending some serious quality time on the play set after the baby is born :)

We started out with 5 boxes

Then the millions of pieces were labeled and divided

Construction begins

Little helpers join in the construction fun

Making progress

making progress very very, slowly

Completion! Yea!

Play Time