December 2015

     This last month was pretty crazy. There was lots of sickness, Christmas, packing, and we were frantically trying to finish up our house so we could move in. The month started off with a trip to take Brynlee and Annalyn to the dentist. It turns out Brynlee had another cavity in one of her back bottom teeth. They were actually able to fit her in to get the cavity filled that day and after much convincing she decided to stay and get the cavity filled. I figured that way I didn't have to drive all the way back there another day. The only bad part about that plan is that Anna and Kyla were not planning on staying any longer and they were pretty naughty. Then Annalyn had to use the bathroom so I rushed her there while I left Brynlee in the care of the dentist. They had her hooked up to this cool mask that gave her some laughing gas. By the time I got back with Anna from the bathroom they were almost done. It only took them about five minutes to fill the whole cavity and they used white filling so you can't even see it. Good thing Brynlee is a trooper and did so well with it. I am just sad that she obviously has not the best teeth. She is good at remembering to brush every night. She is also missing one of her top permanent teeth so we will see how that turns out.

     A few days later Anna, Kyla, and I went to the library and then stopped to visit Joel and brought him lunch while he worked on putting the laminate into our new house. It was terrible weather for working outside so his boss let him bring some of the workers to help us out at our house. I made everyone lunch and then we went home. I told Joel I would bring him dinner and I got it all ready only to have Annalyn start throwing up. She was miserable and just fell asleep on the couch. I couldn't get ahold of Joel to tell him that I would not be bringing dinner so I had my mom stop by and take it to him. We put all the kids in bed and a few hours later Kyla woke up after throwing up all over her bed. It was pretty bad. Then in the middle of the night Brynlee started throwing up. It was about an hour after that when the sickness hit me. It seemed to hit me the worst because I was miserable. I was supposed to go visiting teaching and I could not get ahold of the lady I visit with but there was no way we could have gone. Anna actually seemed to be feeling a little bit better by morning but we still mostly spent the day laying on the couch with a bucket and a movie on. I held Kyla and rocked her and tried to keep everyone hydrated. It was a pretty miserable day. By that night all of the kids were feeling better and able to eat some food. I couldn't eat anything until the next morning. Then I could have some toast. By then Joel was sick though. I don't know how he managed to put in a full day working on our house but he did. Luckily it was a short bug because we were all better and able to go to church on Sunday.

     Brynlee was also lucky enough to get over her sickness just in time for her Tavaci performance where a group of kids got up and sang and performed to some Christmas songs. She has been practicing for it since September so I am glad she was able to go and sing. Brynlee's part of the performance was to run across the stage and pretend to be a naughty girl that was running away from her mom. She did great at that. I wish she would have had a speaking part, she would have liked that much better. We did have a minor problem right before the performace because Brynlee's bangs were super long and her teacher was very clear that she did not want the kids to have hair in their face. I tried to just pin them back or put them in a braid or something but she didn't want anyone to see her scar. Luckily my sister Heather was able to come over right before the performance because she would not let me even attempt to cut them. We decided not to do Tavaci next year and she was just fine with that. She enjoyed learning the dances/movements to the songs but I don't think she was crazy about all the singing. Now she wants to play soccer. We will see about that one but I am secretly really excited about her wanting to play soccer since that is what I played growing up.

     The week before Christmas I was sitting in the house packing up boxes while all of the kids were sleeping when I heard what sounded like a gunshot. I thought that was kind of odd because our new neighbors have never shot guns this late at night. I went to look at the window and I heard a loud explosion. The house, a little single wide trailer that is right next to ours was completely engulfed in flames. I saw the people who live there running away from the house. Talk about a scary sight. I called 911 but they already knew about the fire and were on their way. I ran outside to make sure everyone was alright. They wanted someone to call our landlord so I gave him a call and let him know what was going on. I watched them riskily save their truck that was right next to the house. Finally the firemen showed up and they slowly walked up with their hose and started to put on the fire. I expected them to come running in with sirens blaring but at that point I guess there was really nothing they could do but to watch the fire and make sure it didn't spread. The house and everything inside was pretty much a complete loss. The family that lives there was devastated about their dog that was inside the house. I talked to the teenager a few days later and they were actually able to get their dog out. He went inside the burning house to save him and is pretty lucky that he made it out alive. It was a pretty sad thing to have happen right before Christmas.

     There was a lot of things going on with our house this month. We were hoping to be moved in by the end of the month. We almost made it. We got our appliances and enough of the cabinets put in so that we could have the granite put in our kitchen. We had someone else install the the carpet. I love the feel of our brand new soft carpets. Joel put the laminate in the kitchen, put the counters in the bathrooms and finished the tile in there. He tiled our kitchen and did the stone on our fireplace and part of it outside (his dad helped with the outside stone.) Joel finished all of the electrical stuff and put up all of the light fixtures and he did the final things for the plumbing and then he called for the inspections. The plumbing inspector had one little thing for Joel to fix and as soon as Joel fixed it we passed with flying colors. The electrical inspector was not a nice guy at all and he really gave Joel a hard time. He kept finding things he should have caught a long time ago that we now super hard to fix and that he could have just let slide and then he made us pay for another inspection. Luckily he finally passed us but he sure was mean about the whole thing.

     Joel and I figured out all of the loan stuff and the money process and got that worked out. That was a difficult process and a good learning experience for both of us. We had a preliminary appraisal and we were pretty happy with how things turned out. Joel had several little things he had to work on and fix so he took two weeks off towards the end of the month. We got to celebrate Christmas together and I spent some time over there with Joel cleaning things and helping him to get our house ready to live in. We got the final inspection done and passed on the last day of the month and we officially got the certificate of occupancy. Yahoo! The only problem is that we could not officially close on the house until the cabinets were finished. Joel's brother Josh did the cabinets for us, he lives in Rexburg and he should have had them in already, it just took him longer than expected. Joel's boss who is the person that owned the house at that point told us we could go ahead and move in since it would be at least another week until the cabinets would be done. Joel started bringing over some of our furniture that night and he got some people from the Elder's quorum to agree to come help us move the next day. We ended the year pretty excited for the next year and we were excited to start the new year by moving into our new house.

     The month of December ended with Kyla and Annalyn both getting pink eye. Joel ended up staying home from church with them so they didn't even get to say goodbye to everyone at church. I took them both into the doctor on Monday and we found out that Kyla not only had pink eye, she also had an ear infection. We got an antibiotic for her and some pink eye medicine and we got the flu shot, at least the nose spray for Brynlee. I had several people that were going to come over and help me pack that day but I had to cancel my help so that no one else got pink eye. Luckily my girls all helped me out that day. I got pink eye on Tuesday and on Wednesday Brynlee woke up with a fever. So there went all of my help. No one wanted to risk getting sick and I can't blame them. Luckily I had a pretty good start on the whole packing thing so we got most of the things packed. Plus we weren't moving that far. Everyone was better by Thursday and my mom came and helped me pack Brynlee's room up. We went to Jake and Rachel's house to play games for New Year's Eve and Brynlee and Annalyn spent the night with all of the girl cousins at Grandma Hirtle's house. They had a blast doing that.

     Yes, our month was pretty crazy but it ended on a pretty good note. We had a good Christmas. Anna and Kyla got into several things, including the sugar and my make-up and we watched Jakobee and Remi one day. My sister Alesha came home from China and we were excited to spend a little time with her. We are all pretty excited for the year 2016.

Christmas 2015

     We spent a lot of time last month working on our new house but I was determined to do what I could to make it feel like Christmas. We didn't do near as much as we have in the past but we still had a pretty good holiday. We decorated the house right away and I go out our Advent Calendar to help us focus on Jesus. I made sugar cookies with the girls during the first week of December. They had a blast doing that. I think Kyla ate more of the frosting than she put on her cookie. I put the leftover frosting in the fridge and Annalyn ended up eating all of it with a spoon one day when I was in the other room packing up boxes. They really enjoyed decorating and eating those cookies.

     We watched a few Christmas movies, read some books, and we made gingerbread houses at grandma Verna's house. It has become a fun tradition. Brynlee worked with her dad, Anna made one with Alesha, and Kyla and I just decorated a christmas tree. Kyla worked really hard putting candy on that tree. After each piece of candy was placed on it she would raise her hands in the air and yell "ta da." It was a fun day for us. I am glad Joel was able to take some time away from building the house to do that with us.

     Bryn had a Christmas party at school that I got to go and help with and the kids decorated Sugar cones to make them look like Christmas trees. It was fun to go and help out in the classroom.

     My girl's got to sit on Santa's lap a total of three times. We went to the public library and Brynlee and Anna were super excited to see Santa. Especially Annalyn. She was sure to wear her Christmas dress and she sat on his lap with the hugest grin. Kyla only got close enough to grab the candy cane out of Santa's hand and that was it. Annalyn got her picture with Santa put in the small community newspaper and Brynlee has been really jealous ever since. She just can't understand why they didn't want a picture with her. Haha.

     The girls and I went to the ward party for our new ward and we enjoyed good food and another chance for Brynlee and Anna to sit on Santa's lap. Brynlee ran up really fast so I didn't get a picture of her while Anna would not wait in line so I had to wait with her. This time Annalyn melted into Santa's lap and gave him the biggest hug. Kyla refused to get close and I didn't push her. At our ward party Brynlee got to be in a little play they did. She dressed up as a little doll with three of her good friends and they got to march up on the stage. Everyone sang together at the end. Santa came at the end of the party so Brynlee and Annalyn both got another chance to sit on his lap. Brynlee told him she wanted Shopkins while Annalyn wanted an Anna and Elsa polly pocket.

     On Christmas eve we went Christmas caroling with Joel's family after we ate our traditional Christmas eve taco diner. My girls sure enjoy singing with the family. Grandma Hirtle had a few presents for the kids to open when we got back from caroling. Then we had to hurry home and get to bed so Santa could come.

     On Christmas day the girls all woke up around 6:30 and I went with them to watch them see what Santa got them. Bryn and Anna got new scooters while Kyla got a cute pink shopping cart. They rode their scooters around and ate candy until Joel woke up and we could eat breakfast. After reading the Christmas story and getting dressed we got to open presents. We didn't spend much money this year but the girls were still spoiled with lots of presents and they had a great day. Joel and I got a few things that we needed as well but we mostly just bought things for the kids. Our big present this year is our new house.   

      After we opened up presents we went to visit my family and we enjoyed a nice dinner and we got to play some games. My parents gave the girls a few more gifts and we had a lot of fun spending time with them. Eventually we left for a quick visit to see Joel's parents. We played one short game and then we headed home. It was a long fun day and we were all tired and very grateful for our Savior and for the time we got to spend with our family. 

Gender Reveal

     Joel and I got to go in and find out the gender of our baby a few weeks ago when I was 20 weeks along. Brynlee had school that day and Annalyn said she would rather stay with my sister Alesha so she stayed with her and Joel and I took Kyla with us. I could have found out what I was having several days earlier but Joel told me if I wanted him to come, I needed to schedule the appointment for a Friday. Then on Thursday the weather was terrible so Joel decided there was no way they could work that day. He called everyone and told them they would work on Friday instead. I was really mad at Joel for making me wait and then not even being able to come with me. He had several things scheduled for the house that he needed to do on Friday anyways so he called everyone back and told them they were going to work on Saturday instead.

     Joel left to work on our house that morning and came home barely in time to leave. We dropped off Anna and made it to the hospital just in time for our appointment. The roads were snowy and slick so I was a little worried we would be late. We got checked in and waited for our turn for several minutes when someone came over to us and told us that their ultrasound machine was not working. They were trying to get a new one but we would have to come back later that day or they could squeeze us in at the other hospital on the other side of town. Joel and I both had plans for later that day so we opted to drive all the way to the other side of Nampa to the other hospital. Again we had to check in and we had to wait a long time for them to have time to squeeze us in. I am just glad they were able to see us.

     The ultrasound took forever; an entire hour and the lady who did the ultrasound hardly said anything the whole time. She did not have the best bedside manners. She spent forever measuring everything. I think we spent over three minutes just taking measurements of our baby's foot. Kyla feel asleep after the first 15 minutes. We kept trying to figure out what was going and what we were having but we couldn't tell. After about 45 minutes the ultrasound tech just blurted it out. "It's a girl." I couldn't believe she had just told us such news in such an anti climatic way. I kept asking her if she was sure and she assured me that she was pretty sure. Joel just looked at me and said, "well that's pretty cool." I think he had prepared himself pretty well for another girl. I was kind of hoping for a boy but I am pretty excited that we get to have one more little girl join our family. It will make sharing a room easier, two girls in each room. If we don't have a boy next time I will be really disappointed but right now I am really excited about having a little girl.

     As soon as we found out what we were having we were ready to go but the doctor needed a lot more measurements. Finally she asked us if we wanted a copy of some of the pictures and then she spent forever finding us some good profile pictures. Then she put them on a CD and handed it to me. I felt a little bit disappointed that they couldn't print me an actual picture. I didn't get to try out the CD for several weeks but when I did the CD didn't have anything on it. I am hoping my doctor will do another ultrasound for me later in this pregnancy so I can have a picture for the baby book.

     Joel and I had planned on doing some Christmas shopping at the dollar store right after the appointment but there was no time. Joel did run in and he got three pink balloons for us to use in revealing the news to our girls. I asked Joel to take care of the balloons and he said he would. The plan was to put them in a box and then the girls would open the box at our new house and they would know what we were having based upon the color of the balloons. We had to wait until Brynlee got home from school. I made some frozen pizzas to eat while we were there. My parents, my brothers, Alesha, my grandma, and my cousin Ryder all met us there. Everyone was excited to find out what we were having and we were ready to go. I asked Joel where the box was and he looked at me and said, "what do you mean? It's at home." He put the balloons in the box and then left the box at home for me to bring. I did not see it at all and just assumed Joel took it to the new house. Joel had to drive all the way home to get the box so everyone was left in even more suspense.

     As soon as Joel got back Brynlee and Annalyn opened up the box and the pink balloons came floating up. They both started jumping up and down with excitement and they shouted over and over again, "it's a girl, it's a girl." They really wanted another sister so they were beyond thrilled. They kept declaring the baby a girl the whole time. They both ran around the house jumping up and down with their balloons in pure excitement for several minute. My cousin Ryder was pretty disappointed and I think my family and Joel's family were all a little shocked that we are going to have so many girls but everyone seems pretty excited for us. Joel has four older sisters so I am sure he will handle it well. Hooray for another little girl to join our family soon. Now we just have to come up with a name. That is going to be the hard part.

Bryn is Five and a Half

     I am so far behind in my blogging. Life has been crazy lately. We celebrated Christmas, packed up all of our stuff, and have officially moved into our new house. We just got the internet set up today. To start the official catch up of the last year; I want to write a few things about miss Brynlee. She turned five and a half in December and is really growing up lately. She can be super helpful when she wants to. She is good at playing with almost anyone, and has been making her bed and Kyla's bed everyday since we moved into our new house. She still has several meltdowns about clothes and I get lots of meltdown from her when things don't go her way but overall she is pretty happy. She loves to go places and do things. I have had some issues with her being bossy and trying to tell people including me, what to do. She will sometimes stick her tongue out at me when she gets in trouble which never works well for her. She loves to sing songs and is a fun girl to be around.

     Brynlee loves school and has made lots of friends. She plays with different kids all of the time but her best friends at school are all boys. She knows all of her letters and all of the sounds and all of the sight words. She likes to read books to her sisters and when I read to her she loves it when I let her read me the words she knows. She is working on sounding out short words as well. She is constantly writing notes to people and she is starting to sound out the words and write the sounds she hears. Her drawings are getting really good too. She likes to teach Annalyn all of the stuff she learns at school.

     Brynlee loves movies and seems to pick a certain movie and her and Anna will watch that movie all week. This week it is Rio 2, Last week it was Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, and before that it was Despicable Me 2. Her favorite movie seems to be Spy Kids and I am sure she would watch that one a lot more often if Annalyn liked it more.

     Brynlee usually eats pretty well but she can be a little bit picky sometimes. We went to Dairy Queen and she did not like their crispy chicken strips because they didn't look like McDonald's chicken nuggets. I told her she needed to at least try one and she obediently took a bite and then gagged on it. She told me it was too "Crisperty" so Kyla got to eat them. She usually has me pack her a lunch for school and the only sandwich she will eat is peanut butter and Jelly. I will sometimes send cold pizza or crackers and cheese with pepperoni to mix things up a little bit. She usually eats her fruit but I stopped sending veggies because she never eats them.

     Bryn loves games and can be quite competitive. She is usually pretty lucky and does well at games like memory. She is good at the "spot it" game and usually does better than me. She gets really mad when she doesn't win.

     Brynlee loves books and I read her all of the Junie B. Jones books last year. I had one of those books on tape and Brynlee would listen to that book over and over again. She has listened to it at least 50 times. Then she discovered that the library has the rest of the books on tape so we check those out all the time and Brynlee will listen to a story while she plays.

     Brynlee is a pretty sweet girl and I don't know what I would do without all of her help. I know her sister's adore her and Joel and I feel pretty blessed to be her parents. She wanted to make a video where she said all of her favorite things so here it is...