The House

Okay Amanda, here are some pictures of the house. I know that you asked for some pictures way earlier.....sorry!! These are just of the first floor. You have seen the playroom. If you want to see pictures of the kids' rooms, let me know, but they are pretty boring! :) This is our family room. The right side of the fireplace is awfully empty. I haven't figured out what to do over there yet.
This is the formal living room. You can see the front door reflected in the glass of the french door to this room.
Here is the rest of the formal living. We put the sectional couch that we had in our family room downstairs in the playroom and the couch from the formal living in the family room. We are planning on getting new couches in the family and formal living rooms and then we will put the white couch (in the family room) into our sitting room. So, this is how the room looks right now. We only have one end table up because the movers lost one of the legs to the other end table. Strange huh?
Oops, I should have put this one after the other picture of the family room, but this is how the curtains look all closed up.....I just thought I would share that too.
This is our eating area and kitchen.
This is the formal dining. There are only 2 chairs because the movers broke the other 2. They just wanted to replace the other 2 chairs, but since they don't make this set anymore, they had to take them and fix them. We don't know when we will be getting them back, but hopefully it won't take too long.
And this is taken from the doorway of the formal living looking at the stairs. Aaron wanted me to take a picture of him, so of course I did!!! :) He is sitting in the doorway going down to the basement. You can see the rug in front of the front door and the doorway that is just behind the stairs that you can see is the formal dining. I hope you enjoyed all the pictures!!

So Proud

I am so proud of myself!!! I hung these curtains all by myself last night. I had a RS thing at my house today so I got these up. I figured out where the studs were, drilled the holes and hung everything up!!! Don't you think it looks nice?

Trying to crawl

I was excited this morning when Amber was able to get up on all fours and rock back and forth. So, I thought that I would try to capture it, but she was more interested in looking cute. She also was getting her legs under her and then lunging forward, trapping her arms. After she got them unstuck, she tried it again. It won't be long now before this little roller is crawling all over the place!!

Peep! Peep!!

First of all, I have to say that Amber is very ready to start eating food!! Every time I am eating anything, she grabs for it and opens her mouth. As you can see in this picture, she WANTS my banana!!! She tried out some pears the other day and ate half of the jar!!!! I can't believe that she is so big and is almost 6 months old.
Alright, I know that you are now asking why I titled this the way that I did. See, I got this cute outfit for Amber for Christmas (and it is really too small even though it is 6-9 mo). Every time I dress her in it, Barth says that she looks like a chicken. He peeps and squawks and has her do a chicken dance. It is all very funny. I, personally, don't think that she looks like a chicken!! Just like an adorable, frilly girl!!!! What do you think? (ps- if you think she looks like a chicken, don't say so!!!!)
She is just a smiley, happy thing most of the time. What a nice change from when she was newborn and cried all the time!!!!

Our own personal rink

We ventured out to the store this afternoon for some milk and bread. Although the roads were pretty clear, our driveway was not. You can see in the picture the tire marks from the snow yesterday that got iced over today. I had to go and chip the ice on the driveway in order to get up the driveway when we got home. Afterwards, the boys wanted to skate on the driveway, so I figured "Why Not?!!!" They had a lot of fun, but after a few falls, were ready to come back in!! Enjoy our ice skating pictures!!!
Just as I took this picture, Brian fell!!! That ice was crazy!!!! I fell 4 times trying to get the driveway cleared enough to get up it!!!!


The boys really enjoyed their own personal rink. Brian commented today that they did so well out there that the paper should have come back and taken their pictures again!!!!!

Feb. 22, 2008

Dear Family and friends,

Well, this week has not been all that exciting for us. I am a bit out of sorts as of late, so I think that this letter will more than likely be short. Here is the run down on what is happening at our house this week.

School is out again today. It is the 8th time so far this school year. Did you know that when it rains and then sleets and then has freezing rain on top of that that what was once snow becomes the consistency of a snow cone? That is what is on the ground outside right now. It is sleeting and we are having freezing rain. It is currently about 18 degrees!! They even dismissed school early yesterday due to the yucky weather. The roads are a mess.

Weston is good. He is excited about the upcoming book fair at school. He is always excited when it comes to books! They are learning all about voting at school right now. He came home the other day and told me that there were 2 people running for president.....one was a black man and the other was a woman. When I said that those were the people running for the democratic ticket and that there were others running for the republican ticket, he was sure that I was wrong. Oh my!!! The teacher is always the smart one!!!! :)

Brian learned about the presidents this past week at preschool. (although he only went 2 days because of weather and holidays) He brought home a picture that he had colored of George Washington. I told him to go and show Daddy what a great job he had done on it. When Barth saw it, he asked Brian if he knew who that person was. As proud as could be he said, "That is one of our prophets!!!!!!" So funny!

Aaron continues to potty train. As long as I remember to take him, he does a great job. When I don't.....he doesn't!! Oh well!! He continues to be happy and a good helper. Whenever he gives Amber a toy, he turns to me and says, "I a GOOD helper! Um, hum!" Then he shakes his head yes!

Amber can now roll over and over. She has only done it a few times, and is always surprised when it happens. I think that it is about time to give up the swing since she can sit all the way forward and grab onto the bars. Her new found love is her thumb!! It is so cute to see her stick it in her mouth. She can now also take her binky out and then put it back in!! She masters new skills every day.

My excitement this week was that I went to the doctor. I hate going, so this was big for me!!! :) I have had a lump in my hand since December that I wanted someone to take a look at so I bit the bullet and went yesterday. It is probably just a ganglion cyst. It is harmless although it can be painful and it is a little in my case. They took some x-rays and did some blood work to make sure that all was fine and I will have the results back on Monday but am not worried. Right now the course of action is to just wait and see if it will resolve on its own. If it gets larger, more painful, or gets in the way (of like playing the piano) I could have it removed by a surgeon. I think I'll just wait for the time being!!!!!! :)

Barth is good. Just working like crazy to support our family. He is the one that gets to brave most of the weather since he has to travel to work!!! When he is home, he plays with the boys and takes lots of shifts with Amber in the night!!!! I don't think I could survive without him!!! If I did, I would be a zombie from lack of sleep!

Well, that is it for us this week. We hope that everyone had a good week. We love you all!!!! Till next week.......

Love,

Kristie

Our Summer Vacation

I know, you are thinking, "What in the world are you talking about Kristie? These are snow pictures!!" And yet, when we have to go to school halfway through the month of June because they have cancelled school too many times for snow, I will pull out these pictures and remind the boys of how much fun they had playing in the snow. Maybe that will help!!! So, as you can see, it snowed again today. We had a fair amount at least. We had a grand time playing in it this morning. Since the roads were bad this morning and the commute time was said to be an hour and a half, Barth is working from home today. He is in on a conference call now, so that frees up the computer for me to post our pictures. It was nice that he was home this morning though, because then I could leave Amber asleep inside and I could go out and enjoy the snow with the boys!!! Here are some pictures of our morning playing in the snow.
Nothing like sledding down the hill. Our neighbors next door don't have any kids, but the lady teaches piano lessons and they are always nice to the boys. This morning when they heard them outside they came out to say hello and watch the sledding for a bit!! The boys were happy to have an audience.
Here are Weston and Brian getting ready to race. I must say that this house it just perfect for lots of reasons. The back yard is pretty flat, which will be great for playing in when it gets hot, and yet, we have got the best sledding hill on the block out front. Perfect for the winter. It doesn't get much better than that!!!!
Aaron is making snow angels!!! He made tons of them this morning!!!!!
This was taken out back and I like this shot because you can see on the deck rails how much snow we got. Not tons, but just the right amount for a days worth of fun!!!
Our street looked so peaceful and serene this morning while we were out that I had to take pictures. This one is taken standing in the front yard and looking left. Our mailbox is the one that is the closest in the picture.
And here is a picture as you look to the right. Pretty huh?
I took this one because I just love the look of evergreen trees covered in snow!!! They are so beautiful.
Of course I had to take pictures of the little cutie when I got in. She was just waking up from her nap in these pictures. And yes, she sleeps in her carseat.......strange I know!!
Amber is growing like a weed! Look how she fills up the car seat now!
Don't you love the bow? I do!!! Daddy just rolled his eyes when he saw the bow. He thinks that Mommy is silly sometimes to be sticking bows and such in my hair, but I love it!!!!
The bow doesn't actually stay in all that long, but Mommy just keeps trying!!!!!!!!

Crazy weather

Okay, so these pictures don't do it justice, but this afternoon we had some crazy weather. It was warm yesterday, 55, and cold today (in the 30's). Today we kept having periods of sunshine and then snow. It was like someone kept shaking the snow globe. Then, this afternoon, it got really dark and all of the sudden it just got REALLY windy and the snow fell hard. So hard that the boys were commenting that you couldn't see the trees very well out back. It was already letting up by this point, but looked so neat that I wanted to snap a few pictures. I think that it is kind of neat in some ways that we have traveled around so much. It makes us really appreciate the different types of weather. I don't think that we would think that the snow was so novel if we had always had it!!!
Oh, and I just have to mention that once again, the siding is falling off of our house. This time on the side. Looks like they will have to come out and fix it again and they won't be happy about it. It was hard enough to get the company to come and fix it in the back!!! Oh well. As long as it gets fixed before a huge piece falls off....... :)

400th POST!!!!!!

Yes, today is my 400th post!!!!!! Hooray!!!!! Also, as you can see, I got my hair cut today. I had been talking of doing it again this summer, but when we got a coupon stuck on our paper this week for a $4.99 cut, I had to seize the oppotunity. It is not quite as short as when I had it cut 18 months ago, but I still like it and it is quick and easy. Barth likes it too, so how can you go wrong? Just so you have some idea of how simple this is for me, I got home from a baby shower and then getting it cut today at 2:30. I then fed Amber, took a shower, dried and did my hair and makeup and was totally dressed and everything by 3pm!!!! Thirty minutes for all that is great!!!!!!!!

Alright, if you checked this blog earlier, I had a different picture here but thought that I would try it again. I looked a little drunk in the other picture. (ha!ha!) I am not sure that this one is that much better but, oh well!!!

Feb. 15, 2008

Dear Family and friends,

Happy Friday!!!! It is the end of another week and I am glad to be feeling better. Since I didn't write last week, this will serve for the last 2 weeks for our family. In all honesty, if I just wrote about each week individually, it would read something like: We were sick. The End. We really had more going on than that, so here we go.......

This week I will start with Barth and I. This year we had the Valentine's day that wasn't. I did get flowers and a cool thing to hang on the wall about faith, but I was so tired and not feeling good. Barth didn't get home till 7 and his Valentine's present from me was the fact that I actually made dinner (which of course, he liked, but no one else did!) The whole sick thing prevented me from getting him anything, even a card. And by the time I got home from the doctor's office, I was too tired to make one and it was time to cook dinner! I guess that I shouldn't have waited until the last minute. I did get him the new John Grisham book for Valentine's, but gave it to him before his trip to Jacksonville so that he would have something to read on the plane. I know that most of you are saying, "Okay, so what is the big deal? Sounds like what we did".....or something like that. See, for me, I have always done the 14 days of Valentines. Always. Since I was 16 and Barth was 17. Even when he was on his mission, I would sit for hours making little Valentines to send to him in time for him to get them for Valentines. Last year was the first year that I didn't get everyday. I missed like 3 days because I was feeling sick from my pregnancy. But still, I did make cute cards and do heart attacks, and so on and so forth. So I feel bad about this year being a total flop. But I just have to tell myself, that I do what I can, and he still loves me no matter what. And that is true. But I still feel bad.

Okay, now one more thing for me. A little over a week ago, I saw a monk. A real, live monk. He was dressed in the robes with the little cap and the beads. I looked at him and smiled and he just looked away. I thought that was kind of sad, but cool that I saw him at the same time. And if you didn't know, Lint is going on right now. There are signs on every other street corner about fish fryday here at such and such church. It is predominately Catholic here.

Weston is good. Nothing really new with him. The changing weather keeps giving him problems with his asthma. It is supposed to be 50 this weekend and then 20 on Monday. This hot/ cold thing is what is causing his trouble. He is LOVING piano lessons. The cute thing about that is that he thinks he should be perfect from the first moment he plays a song and cries if he isn't. I wonder who he gets that from........(um- me!) He was sure that I never had to write down the note names on the songs when I was first learning to play. Silly boy!!! I sure do love him.

Brian is a loving boy, as usual. I was excited when he had his Valentine's party this week because I finally got to find out the names of the kids in his class. When I ask him what the names of his friends are he just tells me that he doesn't remember. :) Not too long ago he told me that I could just drop him off and not walk him to the door at school. While that would be nice, unfortunately that is not how his school works....I have to walk him to the door. He never looks back and is thrilled each and every day to go!!! Yesterday Brian declared that he was going to marry Auntie M when he grew up!! When I told him she was too old for him, he told me that she was not. I then told him that we don't marry our Aunts because we were related to them. He told me that was fine for other people, but not him. He could marry her. How sweet is that? We all love Auntie M!!!!

Aaron is a ball of energy. He loves to write, but we have to restrict him to the kitchen where I can keep a close eye on him. If he steps onto the carpet, he looks at me and says very seriously, "Don't color on the walls!" Yep, we have already had to paint over some wall scribbles. Hopefully no more though. Aaron's newest thing is that he introduces himself to anyone and everyone. At the store if someone smiles, he will say, "I Aaron Baron. This Ammer Mammer!" And then he smiles. It is so cute!!! The thing about Aaron is that you HAVE to acknowledge what he says or he will keep saying it until you make some comment. For instance, on the way to and from school, we pass a few little ponds. Everyday, Aaron will say one of two comments. The first is, "A pond! A pond!! I go ice skating!!!" and he keeps saying it until I say, "Yes Aaron, a pond." Obviously this is what he says when the pond is frozen and white. The second is, "A pond, a pond!! I go fishing. Uncle Aaron." The only correct response to this one is, "Oh! You like to fish like Uncle Aaron, huh? That is who you are named for. Uncle Aaron loved to fish!!" No other response will do. I just love little kids!!!

Amber, aside from being continually sick, is getting bigger everyday and LOVES to smile. If you lay her down she automatically rolls to her tummy. She doesn't mind it for a few minutes, but after more than about 2, she gets frustrated and cries. Even though she can roll from tummy to back, she rarely does. On her tummy she can now rotate a full 180 degrees. She is about done with the swing. She likes to sit forward and try to eat the tray. She thinks that everything is tasty now-a-days!!

Okay, well I think that about sums it up for us. I hope that everyone is well (we have had enough illness for everyone I think) and happy!!! We count our many blessings that, although we have our share of colds, we are healthy and happy. We have the gospel and each other. We have a home and good cars to drive. We have money to pay for the doctor's visits and I never have to worry about that. That is a true blessing indeed!!! Barth has a good job and I can do what I love best.....stay home with my kids. We have clothes to wear and food to eat. We are an eternal family. We have modern technology to keep us connected to family and friends that are far away. I personally am so grateful for the invention of the telephone!!! Momma can attest to that. :) And so, things are good and I am happy and grateful to be alive!!!! Until next time......

Love,

Kristie

Our newest Chessmaster!

Here is our newest little chessmaster. The boys, including Barth, love to play chess. Weston and Brian play everyday, usually multiple times. They think that it is great fun. And so, following in the footsteps of his older brothers, Aaron likes to play as well. The other night, he decided to set up the board to play a game. It was so cute to watch. As he got each piece, he would tell me the name of it (the ones that he knew anyway) and then place it on the board. Now, I don't really know what piece goes where (I am new to this game), but I know that all the pawns go in the front and that the king and queen go in the middle on the back. Aaron was very particular on where he put everything and even got a few of the pieces right. He was so cute about the whole thing that I had to take pictures so that I would remember it. (and please try to overlook the mess in the background....I was still feeling sick that day!)
Here he is setting it up.
Here is the finished board. He had actually started to play here.....he moved his knight out. It was funny because he would say, "Your turn Mommy." Then I would move and he would immediately move his piece to my spot and take it, and then say, "Let's play again!!" No getting the king in check for him!!!
And this is how the finished board is supposed to look, just in case you were wondering.
Aaron getting ready to play with me.
Here is Amber chillin' on the floor while I play with Aaron. I thought that the sweater was cute for a buck at our resale shop.....just the perfect price for a valentine thing!
And here is Weston and Brian goofing off together while Aaron and I played!!!

Here is a tidbit for you about Aaron's doctor's appointment that I took him to yesterday morning. He was not going in for an ear infection, but because he has been complaining of a stomach ache for the past few weeks. The doctor couldn't find anything that could be wrong and so then I decided to ask him about Aaron's growth. He lives up to his namesake, in that he is a small little guy, especially if you compare him to how big his brothers were at the same age. Aaron has actually worn the same size of clothes for the past 2 years now and just seems small. Not that I think that there is anything wrong with being small (heck, both Barth and I are short), but when he went from being in the 75th percentile for height and weight at age 1, to the 35th at age 2, I stated to get a little concerned. So, at his appointment yesterday, they weighed and measured him. While his weight was fine in comparison with the last time he had been weighed (he was up to the 40 % mark) , his height had fallen considerably. He is now just barely on the 5th percentile mark for his age, having grown only a half an inch in the last 7+ months. Although the doctor was pretty sure that things would be fine, they will do some further testing to make sure that all is well.

You've got to be kidding me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It must be a cruel, cruel joke!!! Amber is going into the dr....... again. For an ear infection. Just finished round 2 of antibiotics on Sunday. Got a stuffy nose the night before last and now is screaming non stop and has been for the last hour!! Why, oh why, couldn't she have done that about 5 hours ago before I took Aaron in to the dr???? Can anyone tell me that? Oh well!!!!!!! Poor baby! I know how she feels. But really......2 trips to the dr in one day?!!!! It must be my lucky Valentine's Day present......red ears!!!!

Tag from Amanda

10 years ago-
I was 20, going to BYU, an RA there, and engaged to Barth!!

5 things on my to do list today are:
1. take Aaron to the doctor
2. bake a Valentine's cake for Barth
3. mop the kitchen floor
4. laundry, laundry, laundry
5. get a shower and look nice!!


Snacks I enjoy-
I enjoy LOTS of things, I just can't eat them right now. So, things I enjoy right now are fruit roll-ups and rice crispy treats.

Things I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire-
Buy Barth a new car!!! (I always get the newer car and he drives the old ones- his current one has almost 300K miles on it!!!)
Move back to TX!!
Buy a comfy home - but not too big, I don't want my kids to be spoiled and selfish - with a nice, big yard!!!
Buy my parents the home of their choice. (maybe they would move next to me!!!)
Make sure that I had the things I needed and then help others.

3 of my bad habbits-
1. procratination
2. bad housekeeper
3. exhaggeration

Jobs I've had-
babysitter
lifeguard
house cleaner
dish washer
resident assistant
BYU student honor association
piano teacher
wife
mother

Things people don't know about me-
????? I am kind of shy until I get to know people. ???? (this one has me stumped!)

I am supposed to tag 5 people, but very few people read my blog-- and the ones that do read are already tagged!!!! SO I guess that I am off the hook!!!!!!!!!!!

5 month camparison

I was looking through my photo albums recently and came across pictures of the boys at the same age Amber is now. So, I thought for fun, I would post up some pictures for how they compare. Do you think any of them look alike? This first picture is obviously of Amber.
This is Weston. Look at those FAT legs!!!
This one's Brian. (And Weston too of course....at the same age Aaron is now)
And lastly, our little Aaron!

Feeling a little better

I am feeling a little bit better today. I am not sure if I am really feeling better, or if it is just that I have to be better because Barth has gone back to work and I have to function as a mommy and do things. Luckily we are having our second snow day in a row (although there isn't much snow- just a huge sheet of ICE covering everything!!) and so I have the help of Weston and Brian today. But I have loads of laundry to be done and the house needs to be cleaned! I think that when I have to get up and get going it helps me to feel better. Then I am not sitting around focused on how bad I am feeling. Here are a few things that I learned the past few days that will help me in the future:
*from now on I will be giving my kids Ibuprofen if they have ear infections instead of tylenol. I had been taking tylenol for the last few days, but couldn't find it towards the evening time yesterday, so I took ibuprofen instead. It made a WORLD of difference on my ear. Obviously it should have been since it is an anti-inflammatory and my ear was inflamed.....somehow, when you are sick, you just can't think clearly.
*I think that the next time I take it, I will avoid it at night time since it makes me sweat.....like bucket loads of sweat. I had to change my sheets and clothes 3 times last night due to all the sweating!!!! Once it wore off, I was back to normal. Isn't that weird?
*Ear infections must HURT!!! Mine has only has fluid on it and it hurts like crazy....no wonder kids can't sleep and scream non-stop when they have them. I have a LOT more sympathy for when my kids have ear infections now!!
*I have super good kids that played without complaint that I was not feeling well enough to do anything. At every prayer they prayed that I would feel better. Must be the reason that I am better today. I already knew they were good, but thought I would share anyway!!!
*Today should be a better day!!!!!!!!

sick

I'm sick and running a fever!! Here's hoping that I get over whatever I have soon. Mommy's aren't supposed to get sick! Till then, I have no idea when I'll post again.

Check it out!

Here is a new little gadget that I bought this last week. As you may or may not know, I have odd kids when it comes to being sick. While Aaron will run a very high fever (104 or higher) for nothing more than an ear infection, Weston and Brian, and now it seems like Amber too, simply DO NOT run fevers for anything. I can't tell you how many times I have been to the doctor to see if my kids had an ear infection since there is no accompanying fever. Sometimes they would have one so bad their eardrums were ready to burst, and other times they wouldn't have anything. So, when I saw this featured a few months ago in my Parents magazine, I really thought that it was a good thing to have. When Aaron and Amber got ear infections this past week, I decided to get one and see if it did, in fact, work. Well, it does!!!!! I am hopeing that even though it was a little more expensive than I would have thought, that it will be worth it in the long run!!!!! It even works on big people like me. I got the crud that the rest of my family had last week and my ears are all stopped up. Even though I don't have an infection, I do have fluid on my ears and I can tell it!! When I stick this thing in my ear and press the button, it registers as yellow-monitor, which if you read the book, it means that there is fluid on the ear, but no infection as of yet!!! Just thought that I would share my newly found device!

Purse Tag

Alright, here it is Jessie!! Here are the contents of my purse. Nothing too exciting. There was one more thing in my purse that got snagged before I could get the picture and that was a teeny tiny tape measure. Aaron always has one and once he saw it, he wanted to play with it!! :) I am tagging Melissa (although she probably won't see this) and Jenny!!

Aaron and Amber

I should be doing something productive like cleaning, but decided instead, to take pictures of Aaron and Amber. They both still have a nasty coughs, and are tugging at their ears, but are doing better. Here they are looking cute together.
So sweet. This is Aaron's cheesy smile.
It has been warm enough for short sleeves the last few days but will be turning colder as the day goes on today and there is snow in the forcast for tonight.
Look how big she is getting. She is 5 months old today!!! Wow! It sure has gone fast!!!!
And more of her standing....her favorite thing to do!!! And guess what? She slept in her crib for 3 whole hours last night!!!!!!!!!