A Day Devoted to Chelsea

A Sweet, Silly, Social, Six years old! We love our little blonde and are continually grateful for the fun she brings to our home. In her 6-years she has proved herself the most magnetic personality in our home. She simply makes life fun. I love how she gets lost in her own little magical world where she reigns supreme. I love how she is never afraid to talk to an adult and is more than willing to carry on a conversation with anyone. I love how she is so content with her life. I love her high pitched squeeky little voice. I love her beautiful tiny hands. I love how she never grins but always smiles. I love that she can play and imagine with anything. I love that she practically weightless and I can easily still swoop her up and carry her. I love that she is Cala's sister and hope some of their traits rub off on each other. I love that she fills our house with music. I love listening to her sing. I love that she can shower all by herself. I love that she can make her own bed. I love that she unloads the dishwasher. I love that she is best friends with her little brother. I love that she says a million funny things a day. I love that every milestone she reaches is so amazing to her. I love that she could spend the day in her pj's if she could. I love when she suggests that we go shopping to buy her lots of fun things like clothes and toys. But mostly, I love that she is mine. Happy Birthday CC.

H1N1 & Halloween

Wow. I wasn't prepared for the week we just had. Last Thursday the school sent home a note saying "Do not send you child to school - if they display ANY of the following symptoms, runny nose, sneezing, coughing, fever...ect." So, Friday morning when Cala's asthma flared up a bit - I kept her home. Coughing did not stop and by Monday afternoon, she started to really get sick. And I mean sick. Fever of 105 that would drop to 102 with adult doses of extra strength tylenol, horrible chills, aching so bad she asked me, "Mom, how did I break my hips? It hurts so bad." Her heart was racing and she was having a hard time breathing. Tuesday afternoon I took her to the doctors office. She said, take her to the hospital right now. Her lungs aren't clear, her heart is racing and her fever is too high. She needs tamiflu. (H1N1 anti-viral medication) The hospital was unbelievable. Sick kids everywhere, worried parents, nurses and doctors running - and everyone in a mask. After assessment and 2 hours of waiting we decided to leave. Darren called a friend and doctor we know and he directed us to an urgent care centre that could also give the drug. We dashed there, were seen in about 30 seconds and got the medication. After she got the anti-viral, things changed very fast. She's exhausted, still has a dry cough but doing well. We had company this week - which turned out to be a complete blessing. Ben Gehmlich gets An A-plus in the manny department - and we're really sorry for getting you sick. Connor and CC have colds - but so far, nothing like Cala. Now I know what they mean by pandemic. Now we're making decisions about waiting in line for the vaccination - if we're able to get it. We were very blessed this week and hope we've had our run with H1N1. One good thing, I don't have to worry about how to get rid of all the candy the kids got. We only went to about 15 houses. It was that or nothing - I think they chose well.

This guy got loads of compliments at each house - everyone loved his costume. He was supposed to wear it last year - it was too big for him. Connor got a great workout and was literally running from house to house once he realized what it all meant. Seriously, we could have got him to wear a dress and heels. He would have done anything. The level of commitment and dedication was astounding - wish that would transfer into to potty training department as well.
Cleopatra will have to wait until next year - but Cala willingly went as a pirate so she could stay warm and actually go trick-or-treating. She was VERY happy to see her friends! It was so sweet. The 3 girls she went trick-or-treating with all ran up to her and gave her a big hug. It was a good moment to be a mom.
And how do you make the sweetest almost 6 year-old in the world look like a mean witch? You don't - you just wipe off white make-up from everything she comes into a 2 foot radius of. This will be the last year of make-up that smears. CC was sooo happy we caved and decided to let them hit a few houses. She was happy hanging out with Cala and her friends and even said, "Mom, everyone included me."

Summer to September CC Style

Welcome Back. CC has made some huge strides the past few months. She graduated from preschool in June.


Had her ballet recital in June - and even got her own bouquet of flowers. She loved being on stage and smiled like crazy even though she was a bit nervous.



She got to be in a parade this summer. We left crummy Calgary weather and celebrated the 4th of July Idaho style. All the kids rode on Grandpa's float and threw candy. It was 80 degrees and way to hot for the Canadians. CC got heat stroke. (woops) but ate tons of candy to make up for it.


And this was a highlight of the summer. CC got her first pedicure and will never be the same. Since then she and her friends have been busy giving each other pedicures and Connor now has the most manicured feet of any 2 year-old.



And the big day. CC is now officially in kindergarten. She got to take the bus on her first full day even though I wanted to drive her and watch it all. She told me I could just drive her to the bus. She won. She goes 2 full days one week, 3 full days the next so it's nice to have her home at least 2 days a week. Her teacher told me about a good laugh she had. Mrs. Scaddan was asking the kids questions about the calendar and writing answers up on the board. CC raised her hand and said, "Mrs. Scaddan, you need a pedicure." The teach had on sandals and said to me, "how many kindergarten kids know what a pedicure is?" Luckily Mrs. Scaddan realizes the mentality of 5 year-olds and wasn't offended - just amused. Aren't you supposed to give the teacher an apple - no insult her?

Waterton Weekend

Ever heard of Watterton National Park? That's where we were this weekend and if you ever decide to visit Alberta - this stop is a must. We stayed with our BFF's Ben and Janell and had a great time. So, if you go be sure to.... rent these babies - but only for 30 minutes. We did an hour and whew what a workout.Be sure to hit "The Big Scoop" for some really good ice cream. Darren had his allotment for the summer thanks to Ben. (that's what you get when you know the manager)
Roast hot dogs around a campfire and don't worry that your kids burned more in the fire than they ate.
And let your 2 year-old shadow this guy. Ben was nice enough to let Connor help with the lawn mowing. (at 7 am - a sign of a good friend) And good friends they are. We love having them back in Canada for the summer and can't wait to see them again. Thanks for a great weekend guys! oxoxo

Tractor, Thomas & and Two years-old

The first thing I thought about when I woke up this morning was - I feel a lot better today than I did 2 years ago. We woke up to snow but managed through the cold thanks to the many charming antics of this guy. Happy Birthday Connor - we all adore you. And that's true - everyone of us absolutely adores you. We had a theme for his birthday: "Let's turn him into a boy." He is now well supplied in the Tonka truck department, John Deer department (thanks to our neighbours the Suttons) and the Thomas the Train department. He loves his new pj's and notice he did his own accessorizing with his sister's patent leather shoes. Nice touch don't you think? We're happy to note that in the last year he did not gain a significant amount of weight - only one pound. But he's still on the top of the charts - just in the 92nd percentile. We love him... all 31 pounds of him. xoxox Connor!

The eyes have it....

My enjoyment of this kid is at an all time high. (to borrow a quote from J.Romney) I'm loving the great personality. Here are a few reasons why. Back the fall we found out CC needed glasses... so we got her one pair, then another one, then sunglasses, then another pair. Yes, that's 4 pair of glasses in less than 6 months. The doctors office is now adding on a new wing and since she started at the age of 5 wearing glasses - she's a cash cow. (for the dr. not us) Connor's favorite past time (other than getting into my make-up) is ripping them off her face, twisting them and laughing. We have been to the eye doctor numerous times to get them "an-justed" (that's CC for adjusted) and the last time we were there one of the assistants told her "You have got to keep your little brother away from your glasses." (which was totally helpful because we just never thought of that) So here they are in order of appearance and in order of Connor destroying them. (sorry, if you want to see then sunglasses - they're on the previous post)






She is so funny about her glasses. She loves her cleaning cloths - which is ironic because I'm the only one who uses them. Going to church on Sunday she was telling me the following. "Mom, if you're like wearing an outfit and it's going wrong, one of the things you can do is change your shoes, change your belt. But me, I'm lucky because I wear glasses so they're always like a part of my outfit and they match anything. So my outfits mostly don't go wrong because hello - I wear glasses. And also, you cant wear a busy top with a busy bottom - even if they are the same colors. Stuff like that doesn't work. Those are some of the things I'm learning." Awesome. I hit a bird in the car a few days ago, CC said, "Don't worry mom, Canada has lots of birds." We shaved the dog - a black and white border collie - Daisy comes back home and CC says, "Sweet, we got a Dalmatian. In response to just about any question you ask her: "I have no idea." And, a least twice a day, "Who's your favorite child? And don't say Cala's your favorite 8 year old and I'm your favorite 5 year old." Finally, she got a new primary teacher at church. He was in Darrens youth group at church but graduated and went to BYU for a year. He's back while he waits for his mission call - on Sunday, he's now stuck with a bunch of 5 year-olds. CC was telling us about her new teacher and said, "I don't know his name but he used to hang out with dad." Oh ya - one more thing. Ballet class. For a big stretch she didn't want to go. I kept telling her if she wanted out of it she had to talk to her teacher. One day after class she said, "I asked my teacher about quitting. She said to talk to you." Don't worry, we're not quitting until the recital is over next week. But she has started to like it so I glad I didn't let her quit.

Mother of all updates

Cala turned 8 in March and it was an event. For her b-day Cala got her ears pierced... note the bling. Darren had to wait out in the hall so he wouldn't pass out. I got through it okay and Cala - she just look stunned and was quiet. why didn't someone tell me ear piercing was soooo $$. Didn't see that one coming.



G&G Byram came for Cala's baptism. Here we all are. We love it when they come and visit. It's nothing but a party. This round, they also brought cousins Curtis and Spencer to surprize Cala... she was shocked.






ps: Spencer (the one on the right is also 8 and on some growth hormone - His parents will probably be arrested soon)






This is Cala's awesome 8th b-day party. We took her friends to a casino (I know, sounds bad but it was a good b-day package) They swam for an hour in the pool and played on the water slide... then lunch, gift opening and cake for an hour in the restaurant. It was easy - easy. Darren and I just sat and talked the entire time - the party basically ran itself. We did manage to take pictures. It was worth every ridiculous penny we had to pay. Highly recommended.



Whenever it gets somewhat warm we like to get these babies out... and put all ours on top of them. Here are all 3 on Leo. Connor loves the horses and being outside.




Easter was crazy funny thanks to this kid. We hid Easter eggs and Darren showed Connor how to find them and then look inside to find the candy. When he realized that's all he had to do for his favorite thing in the whole world it was a frenzy to find all the eggs possible. He kept jumping up and down, laughing and shoving it in his mouth as fast as possible. For the next few days he would randomly open cupboards and look behind things for more eggs. Priceless. Oh, and the girl were great too. And didn't even notice they didn't get Easter dresses... I couldn't be bothered this year. er scratch that - one of them got a new one. I'm not saying which one - but she's blonde.




Darren went to Costa Rica in Feb to visit our dear friends Ben and Janell. These are some of the pictures Ben and Darren managed to take. Note to Ben: If you take a dumb picture I'm gonna post it.





And that's the mother of all updates. Thanks for reading.