Cole has croup

My poor baby boy is sick! I took him in to the doctor today. He looks awful! Hopefully he will get better soon. The doctor gave us some steroids. Cris and I joked that we will have to get him a gun show shirt like his. I'll have to post our Halloween pictures when I have more time, and without a sick baby in my arms. If any of you have any suggestions on how to make him more comfortable please let me know. Even with three older kids, I sometimes have no clue in what I'm doing.

Grandma and Grandpa Cziep

My parents came into town for the day on Saturday. It was a quick trip but the kids were so excited to see them, and so were we. (exspecially since they were bring our meat we ordered)We had a really fun , but busy day. Kaden had his last soccer game, and boy was I glad it's over. Don't get me wrong we loved to go watch him but the 8:30 games were not fun!!! Here are some fun pictures of pumpkin carving with Grandma and Grandpa Cziep. We bought Kennedy and Kaden a kind of carving kit that you carve the insides out, and them punch light brite type things into the pumpkin. They turned out really cute. My mom helped Jocelyn carve her pumpkin into a cat, and the one I carved for Cole has bats and stars all over it.

This is Cole in his old man glasses they brought each of the kids a pair.

Carving Pumpkins






The kids had a great time, and loved it. We also did their art projects that were due today. I forgot to take a picture of them. It was called the Great Potato or Great Apple Contest. Kennedy had to dress a potato up. She chose to make a ballerina out of hers, and we put it in a shoe box, and stood it up like a musical jewelry box, and then scattered some old play jewelry on the bottom of the box. Kaden had to dress up a apple. We found three sizes, and them made a snowman out of them. He sprayed it with the fake snow stuff, and my mom made him some trees out of card stock. Thank goodness my mom and dad were here to help or I don't think we could have gotten it done. It wasn't a very good project for kids, it was more of a homework assignment for the parents. But they will have to write a story about it later this week in class. I'll have to take a picture of them when they bring them back home. Kaden was sad because he couldn't take his to school. He has a sinus infection, so I had to drop it off to his teacher. I hope that he gets feeling better soon, he has been sick for three days now. I hate it when my kids are sick.

Mr. Cranky Pants

Cole has been so cranky lately. I finally figured out why last night. He had two molars and one of his front teeth come in, all within the past day! Poor boy! I knew that he was teething, but didn't realize it was that bad. So now he is up to 7 teeth. His bottom two, top two, and three molars, and his gums are swollen in many other places. At this rate he will have all his teeth in no time. He is also all over the house. And getting into everything. I found him on top the Dora kitchen, and in top of the princess table within the last 20 min. We have a climber on our hands!!

The Story of Kaden's Glasses

Kaden has had glasses for a year now, and has done very well with them. When we got them we told him that if he lost or broke them he would have to get the big fat ugly ones. This really encouraged him not to lose them. Well the day has come that they are broken. He was at school, playing on the playground. (he usually is not suppose to take them to the playground) The screw came out , and out popped the lens. It is now lost in a sea of sand. We had just taken the kids to the eye doctor for a check up, and found out that our insurance only covers lenses and frames every two years. So after $150 dollars and another visit to the eye doctor, he will have new glasses in a week. (well at least lenses, I was to cheap to buy new frames since the old ones will still work) As we were sitting in the eye doctor Kaden was talking to a boy from school. He told this little boy and his mother, "My mom had big fat glasses when she was a little girl." And then proceeded to laugh about it with this little boy. Man, kids will tell you everything and repeat what their fathers say. Thanks alot Cris!!

Primary Program

The kids did great in their Primary Program. Kennedy had her part memorized, and Kaden almost had his memorized, so he read it. All the kids sang really well, and we had lots of compliments. There was a great spirit at church today because of the children's willingness to participate. I'm so happy to be in the Presidency, and to help these kids learn the gospel. Today was also our first time as a new Presidency in Primary. It all went well, and we thought that we did a good job overall. I guess we will get the hang of it as we go along.

Girl's night

Some friends and I went shopping last night. We had alot of fun, and it was great to have a mom's night out. The reason why we went is because a Old Navy opened in Flagstaff, and it was friends and family night. (another friend of ours have us tickets to it.) We got 20% off all our purchases including clearance items. ( I thought that it was odd to have a brand new store with clearance in it.) I got the kids two new outfits each for Christmas. I've been trying to buy early so it all doesn't hit us at once. I've got Cole's Christmas completely done. I need to work on the older kids. I think that the older they get the harder it is to buy for them. I'm hoping they start to give me ideas soon, there is only two more months till Christmas!!

Parent teacher confrence

Today was parent teacher conference,. I can't believe that Kennedy and Kaden have already been in school for nine weeks! Time flies when your having fun. We will start with Kaden. He is doing really good in everything, except penmanship. When he writes it sometimes looks like chicken scratches. I can't believe that he is in first grade. He reads really well, I think that having all day Kindergarten helped a lot last year. Kennedy is also doing good, and she is in the second grade this year. She is struggling in her reading, and spelling though. She has been working so hard, and its hard to see her struggle. We just need to make her read out loud more often. She really likes to read the Junie B. Jones books, maybe I will get her some more. She is doing great in math. (and she didn't get that from me, I hate math) She will sit down and make up her own math problems, and figure them out. One of these days I will have her balance my check book. All in all it went well. The only complaint I have in the grading system they do for the First and Second graders. It's like this 93-100 is a A 85-92 in a B 75-84 is a C 65-74 is a D and a 64-0 is a F. So even if my kids get a 92 or 90 it is a B. So they mostly got B's and C's but the should actually be A's and B's. The grading system changes when they move up to third grade. While I'm on the subject of school, Jocelyn is doing a joy school. She loves it and has so much fun. It's my turn to teach in a few weeks, and I am having fun looking for ideas for some Halloween crafts we can do. Any suggestions would be great.
I can't believe how big my kids are getting and how grown up they are. I love them so much ,and hope that they do good in all that they do. I love you guys!!

William Tell Overture

This video is sooo funny. Says everything that I say everyday!!

And were off!!

Cole started walking last night. He is still pretty unstable but it is oh, so cute to watch him!! Here is a video I took of him on my didital camera. I hope it works. I sound like the biggest dork!!

Lime

Our cat Lime has been catching alot of birds lately. Including this one and a few humming birds. It's so crazy to watch him jump high in the air and catch them. Then he takes them to a different spot to eat them. Yummy!! I think we are going to rename him KILLER!!!

Recalls, Recalls, Recalls!!

Wow! How many recalls are going to effect me and my children! Kennedy had a bunch of Polly Pockets that were on the first big recall. She was so sad to give them up. I still need to send them back. (Don't worry they are put up high away from reach) How do you explain to your child that their beloved toys are dangerous, and could hurt her baby brother really bad. Then I bought Cole some wooden blocks and put them away for Christmas. They were recalled because of led paint a couple of weeks ago. Led paint? I can't believe it. And now the Infant Cold medicines that they recalled!! Is nothing safe for my kids anymore! I'm very disappointed if you can't tell. I hope that all this passes soon and I can feel safe buying my children toys and medicine again.

I thought that I would post a better picture of Jocelyn since the last one I put on here was with her "billy bob" teeth in. So I took some pictures of her and Cole today while Kennedy and Kaden were at school.

She enjoys getting her picture taken

Cole claping and saying yea!!

Looking out the window at the halloween decorations

Laundry

Oh how I hate laundry!! I can get everything washed just fine, it the folding part that I hate! Anyone who knows me well, knows that my house may be clean, but there is always a pile of laundry on my bed. Then when we go to bed it moves its way to the floor, until it gets folded the next day. (or sometimes even later than that) So this is my new goal, to be better at folding the laundry. We will see how long it lasts!

Marathon

My training is going well. We ran just over NINE, that's right nine miles! Woohoo. At this rate we will be ready in no time!! Go us!!

Poor Baby Cole

Poor Cole is sick. I hate seeing my kids sick. He has a temp of 102, runny nose and keeps pulling at his ear. I believe he has a ear infection. He is not a happy camper, and I'm not much of one either, he was up most of the night. Our family doctor won't be able to see him until this afternoon due to being in surgery this morning. (and that's if he even has room to see him.)Maybe he will just call him in a prescription. Hopefully this will pass by fast.

I just had to post this picture

I just had to post these pictures of Jocelyn. At our family reunion this summer we took a big family picture with our "billy bob" teeth. We all got a kick out of Jocelyn. She even posed for several people to take her picture with them in.

Our shopping trip

Yesterday my sister-in-law and I went to Flagstaff to do some shopping. We had quite the eventful day!! First off when we went to Target, Crystal went to grab us some carts so we wouldn't have to drag the kids into the store. All went well, until she accidentally locked her keys in the car, along with her 9 month old, and the diaper bag. OPPS!! I went in the store and got the police department number. ( they will unlock your car for free if there is a child in it.) So, she calls the number, and they send the fire department out. We were thinking they would send out a small emergency vehicle, but no we got the fire truck with the big ladder on it. It was a great picture opportunity, so I got out my cell, and took some pictures, but forgot to save them to my phone. I was bummed. The kids thought it was great, Boston thought that the truck was going to spray him, and Cole wasn't a big fan of the firefighters at first. Staisha was a trooper in the car and was just smiling, and playing with her bib.

We get done at Target, and head to some other stores, and all was great. Then we run into traffic getting to the mall. Once in the mall parking lot, the brakes on Crystal's car go out. We get into Sears, and she asked a automotive guy for some help. He says that their technician was almost off, and they couldn't help, but here is some brake fluid. So here we are at Sears two girls who know nothing about cars, with four kids all ages three and under. What are we to do? I get brave and ask a man in the Electronic section if he knows how to check brake fluid, and if he can help us out with our car. He kindly agrees and follows us out to the car, and checks the brake fluid. Its FULL!! Crystal drives the car around the parking lot, and the car if just fine. We both thought, " man, we waisted some good shopping time."

Not only did all this happen but Jocelyn, and Boston thought it was fun to go in every public bathroom they saw. I think we went into every stores "potty" some even twice!! We had alot of fun., and the babies were troopers. We already have our next trip planned! Hopefully we can go without kids next time though.

New Calling

I got a new church calling. My stay in Relief Society didn't last long. I am now the second counselor in the Primary Presidency. I think that Primary is a life calling, or at least until my kids are out of there. I have been the nursery leader( I cried when I got this calling), I was a teacher several times, and then I played piano for almost two years in there.I'm really excited, and so are the kids. I think that it will be a lot of fun.

I forgot to mention

Cole took TWO steps on his own last night. It took alot of bribing with a chocolate chip cookie. But he did it!! YEAH!!! Maybe we can get him to walk on his own soon. He just has to beat his cousin Boston and walk before he is 17 months old. GO COLE!!

Another busy weekend!!

I can't believe that it is October already! I guess I need to get out all the Halloween decorations, and figure out what the kids want to be. On Saturday Kaden had another early morning soccer game. We had to wake up at six thirty on our only day to sleep in. His team lost. :( Probably because I wasn't there to watch. I was getting the rest of the house clean and ready for my friends baby shower. Here is the picture of the finished diaper baby I made. The baby shower went well and the food was yummy!!

Friday morning a friend and I went to the city park. I hadn't been there in a while and it reminded me why. Don't get me wrong I love where I live and I really like the people and friends we've made here. The city park is sooooo trashed! I took some pictures but don't want to post them. There is graffiti all over the playground equipment with all sorts of things you wouldn't want any child to repeat of ask you what they mean. It's so sad that our city won't fix it up. Oh yeah, their way of fixing it is to spray paint it to make it even more trashy! This has made me want to write a letter to our mayor expressing my concerns and others concerns about it. I will be sending him the pictures also, I really don't think they think it is that bad. I'm also thinking about maybe a petition to get new equipment that is fenced in with city park hours from sun up to sun down. I don't know if it will do any good but at least I will have tried. If anyone has any suggestions on how to approach this let me know.

Friday night we went to the annual Standing on the Corner celebration. This is a city event that is put on by donations every year. They have a bunch of vendors, food, and live bands. They used to have alot more stuff for the kids but there hasn't been to much the past two years, so we left the kids with a babysitter for an hour. If you don't know "The Eagles" wrote a song about Winslow. It's their song "Take it Easy". This is where this celebration stems from.

I attempted to go to the gym this morning. I was hoping to get 4 miles or so on the treadmill but Cole wouldn't have it. Jocelyn was doing great sitting in the kids room watching Dora. Anyway back to Cole. There is this really nice old indian guy that works out at the gym all the time. As soon as we walked in the door Cole got one look at him and started screaming. The man left the room to go put his stuff in a locker, and Cole stopped as soon as he left the room. A few minutes later he came back and started to warm up on the treadmill next to me. Cole was terrified and wouldn't stop his screaming. So after running only 2 miles I had to leave. I got home and thought it was a waist of time. It took me longer to get the two kids ready to take with me, than to run the 2 miles. Needless to say I was disappointed.