Brynlee's Post

Brynlee has been wanting to write on the family blog for a while now. Here is what she has to say.

A month ago  my  mom   gave  me  my medicine and boom my tooth came out. and what do you know the tooth farey  came and what eise do you  know her name was Jo. My favorite name in the whole wide world. So cool huh? Do you like her name? Oh and guess what else. She gave me a $20 bill and a $1 bill too. How fun does that sound. Oh guess what else. There is something even more fun. I went to the dollar tree the next day. Fun Huh. 



 THE  END  TA DA!

January 2017

     I think it is safe to say that the theme for the month of January is snow. It was a record breaking year for snowfall here in the Boise/Kuna area. We have never seen this much snow here. Normally we have no snow days. This school year we had one in December and six of them in January. There were several days of ice/rain too so the roads were terrible. There was so much snow that people were getting stuck in our subdivision, cars were buried, and it was too cold to even leave the house.

     Our new year started out on a Sunday this year. Brynlee and Annalyn both got new teachers at church and I got a new group of kids to teach. Kyla is in a much smaller nursery since several of the kids in her class moved up to an older class. We have had several new people move in all around us so our ward is getting much bigger so they moved us to the stake center building. Now we don't have to cross the train tracks and we are a tiny bit closer to our building.

     On the second day of January grandma Verna brought over a gingerbread making house kits that she got on sale. It was a shopkins one and she knew our kids were sad that we didn't get to make gingerbread houses. Our girls were thrilled. They didn't care that Christmas was over, they had so much fun decorating that house. Brynlee was super excited to eat it but I don't think she liked the taste of it cause I ended up throwing it away a few days later. They did eat all the candy off of it.

     Brynlee was supposed to start school on Wednesday the 4th of January but we had so much snow that school was canceled. We stayed in the house, it was so cold. We ventured out on Thursday and the kids helped me clean off the driveway and they played in the snow quite a bit. Friday was another snow day. Joel did a lot of snow shoveling and plowing around our subdivision so we could drive in it. Things got bad and the snow plows could not move fast enough. Joel still had to work and was super grateful that he wasn't framing outside in the miserable weather.

     Saturday started out nice but the weathermen were predicting a big huge snow and ice storm that was set to hit that afternoon. I wanted to go to the grocery store early that morning and have Joel watch the kids but Joel had other plans. He said he would go to the store later that day if he could go on a snowmobile ride. He picked the right year to get snowmobiles and has so much fun riding around on those things. Joel ended up stopping to help some people so it was late when he got home. By the time he got home the storm was in full force. I told Joel we could just wait and go to the store later but he wanted donuts so he took a few of the kids and went to Albertsons. Only Joel would go snowmobiling and then go out for donuts when a storm is brewing. We did get a lot of snow and ice and the roads were pretty bad so they canceled church on Sunday.

     Monday and Tuesday brought some more snow days for Brynlee. Annalyn's speech was even canceled. The kids spent a lot of time playing in the snow. We had some friends over that live close a few times and we did our best to stay busy. Brynlee made dinner for us one night and made brownies almost all on her own and we watched some movies and played with toys. We were all going a little stir crazy from being stuck in the house for so long. Brynlee was beyond excited when she actually got to go back to school on Wednesday.

  On Thursday we went to the library and the missionaries came over that night and we fed them. Brynlee took an instant liking to them and talked their ear off. On Friday I took Brynlee back to the doctor because she was still coughing like crazy. The doctor prescribed me some Steroids to get rid of the cough. Boy, did she hate that medicine. On Saturday we went swimming at the YMCA for a friends birthday. We ended up all getting to go swimming, even the baby. Joel wasn't feeling that great though so he opted to just watch. Summer seemed to really like the water and we all had a good time.

     Brynlee went to school on Martin Luther King day as a snow make-up day. After school I took her to another school where she tried out for the Missoula Children's Theater. They were doing a musical called Treasure Island and they practice and put it on in just a week. The kids that didn't get a part got to do a little preshow song and dance and I would have been fine if Brynlee got to be in that but she actually got a part as a seagull. She was pretty excited about it and the best part is that her good friend Josie got to be a seagull as well. There were lots of practices and it made for an extra long and fun week. They put the show on two times on Saturday and we invited all of our extended family and bought our tickets early for the discount. On Saturday morning Brynlee woke up not feeling well. She had a slight fever and just wanted to stay home and sleep. I gave her some ibuprofen and a little bit later she felt fine so I ended up sending her and she rocked the performance. I was pretty impressed with how well all those kids did. We gave her some more medicine before her next performance and she did great and was feeling good. I felt kind of bad for sending a sick kid to do that performance but since a lot of people paid money to watch her I just let her go. She had a fantastic time and keeps talking about it. She got my mom to buy her a t-shirt and we paid for a DVD of the show which she can't wait to watch.

     During that week of Brynlee's performance the kids all had dentist appointment and everyone did great and no one had cavities. It still snowed on and off that week and we got dumped on again on Wednesday so Thursday was another snow day. A friend invited my girls over to play for a while that day and they sure enjoyed doing that.

     On Sunday the 22nd Brynlee still had a fever so Joel ended up staying home with her and the baby. Kyla ended up getting a fever that lasted for two days and Summer also had a fever one day and they all got colds and were feeling yucky. Brynlee was still coughing even after she finished those steroids and I had to take Summer in for her nine month check-up so I decided to take Brynlee back it too. I was debating if I should not take her and then the night before her appointment she starting crying that her ears hurt. Turns out she had and ear infection and Summer did too. There was nothing we could do for her cough but at least we could fix the ear infection. We also found out that Summer had RSV so we had to change her check-up to a sick visit. I stayed home from church with Summer and Kyla on the last Sunday of the month. Kyla had a fever all weekend so I was worried she might have an ear infection. Her fever was gone for a few days and then it came back for the whole weekend. I took her to the doctor on Monday and we couldn't find anything wrong with her and her fever never came back. I didn't get much done those weeks when Kyla and Summer were sick. Seems like the only thing I did was to hold and snuggle sick babies.

     Towards the end of the month Joel and the kids all went out and made some pretty cool snow creatures. Brynlee wanted a dragon, Annalyn picked a unicorn and a turtle, and Kyla requested a lion. Those things lasted for a long time and were still there at the end of the month. They sure loved looking at those things. Joel also made a castle out of the big snow pile that was in our yard but I didn't get a picture of that.

     Joel also made the kids a jewelry box and they had so much fun painting those boxes. Annalyn has been pretty creative lately and makes all kinds of things out of boxes. She made a house and a computer in the picture below. My sister in law Heather brought over some cakes she made and frosting just for fun and let my girls decorate a cake all on their own. She made one of the cakes look like a unicorn and my kids thought it was pretty cool. My uncle Gary died this month, he is my grandma's older brother. We didn't make it to the funeral, it was on a super snowy and icy day and the ground was so frozen that no one could even get to the spot where they were going to put the body. He was getting old and was ready to go but it is always sad to have a loved one go.

     This month had a lot of hard, cold, and miserable day but it was also filled with a lot of fun times. Those snow days were long but I enjoyed getting to spend some extra days with all of my girls. We tried playing pie face with our girls but they were all pretty squeamish and kept running away. The kids played lots of make believe. Annalyn and Kyla play babies all the time and take turns pretending to be the baby. Brynlee lost her first tooth this month as well. I will have to write that story later. Life is pretty good.

Summer at 9 Months

     Baby Summer is nine months old and she is cruising along all the furniture and crawling all over the house. She likes to be where her sister are right in the center of all the action. I took her to her nine month check-up on the day she turned nine months so I thought I would be able to put her stats on here but instead we found out she had an ear infection in her left ear and she had RSV so we ended up changing the visit to a sick check-up. When they weighed her she weighed less than 17 pounds which surprised me. In fact at first the nurse said she was only 15 something and I panicked a little thinking she had lost weight but it turns out the five was really a six. It seems like she has been sick so much lately. She had such a bad cough and was so miserable with the RSV. She just cried and wanted to be held. Poor baby. At least she really liked taking her medicine. Every time she would see me come with the medicine dropper, she would spit out her binky and get a big smile on her face. She was pretty cranky and fussy when she was sick but most of the time she is a pretty happy and smiley baby. Every time I look at her she usually gives me a great big grin and she is quick to laugh. (Three weeks later her official nine months stats are 17.62 lbs. (34%) and 27.5 in. (32%) with a head that is 18 in. (89%)

Summer is super tickilish, especially on her legs and she giggles the best giggles when her sisters play with her. Her little laughs can make the entire family laugh and smile with her. It's the best. She also does her little wiggle dance whenever the family starts to sing or when we listen to music and it is the best.

This month Summer learned how to clap. She doesn't do it very often and it is a very soft and dainty little clap without much sounds but whenever everyone else starts to clap, she will do it too. She also learned how to give kisses. They are great big slobbery kisses and I love them a lot. If you catch her in the right mood she will give you lots, over and over again. Summer is constantly scratching. Mostly her little belly and even though I can't see anything there the doctor said she probably has eczema that makes her really itchy. I can see a little eczema on her knees and cheeks sometimes so I am sure that it what the problem. is.

Now that Summer is crawling, she has no time for things like getting her diaper changed. She makes it so hard by rolling away and crawling out of my grasp any chance she can get. She cries the whole time I hold her down to change her. She is also getting good at standing and has attempted to let go for a few seconds. The first time she did it she fell and landed right on her eye and gave herself a nice looking black eye. She still likes being in the baby carrier but not as much as she used to. Now she cranes her neck and likes to hang her head all the way back so she is looking backward at what it going on behind her. It is actually pretty funny.

We had lots of snow again this month. Summer seemed to warm up to it a little better when I let her crawl around in the stuff but she still isn't a huge fan. Partly she hated all of the warm restricting clothes I made her wear.

Summer Loves to eat. She has been sleeping a little better in her crib, at least she will spend a small amount of the night in her bed. She won't take naps in there though. She just stands up in her bed and cries the whole time I try to get her to take a nap.

Summer sure is a lot of fun. She gets packed around by her sisters a lot and usually just loves all of the attention. She is a serious mama's girl though. Every time Joel tries to hold her for me he makes me leave the room or she tends to whine at me. Especially when she is tired. She will follow me around the house crying until I hold her. If she can't see me she is fine and will go to other people. She doesn't like her jumperoo anymore either. She wants to be crawling and getting into things. Kyla is the best at getting her things and giving her food and Summer just eats that up. She loves when Kyla gives her the leftover suckers or things she doesn't want. Summer is one well loved little baby and we all feel pretty blessed to have her in our family.