November

      It would be much easier to write all of these old posts if I could find my notebook with all of my notes in it. I am going to just do my best and see what I can remember from the month of November. The main thing I remember is a lot of sickness. It started with Brynlee not wanting to go to school because of the bad cut she got on her face on Halloween night. On Wednesday I took Summer to the doctor for her six month check-up. Brynlee came home from school that day with a huge welt on her other eye because she got hit with a jump rope at school. Then on Thursday, Brynlee came home from school complaining that her tummy hurt and she ended up throwing up all night. She missed school the next day but was feeling better and was able to eat come lunchtime. Everyone was good on Saturday but when Sunday rolled around Kyla spent the night throwing up and Joel woke up with a terrible headache so he stayed home from church with her and they both slept the day away. By dinnertime they were both feeling better and everyone was healthy by Monday when we celebrated my birthday.

     For my birthday this year Joel brought home dinner and an ice cream cake and we had a nice night spent enjoying time with the family. Joel put up a mirror in our bedroom as my gift. Tuesday night brought sickness to both Joel and me. Joel was in the bathroom all night throwing up. I never threw up but I did not feel well all day on Wednesday. I don't know how Joel made it to work on Wednesday. He came home early and pretty much crashed in his bed for the rest of the night.

     We were all feeling better for a while and we got back into our normal routine of taking Brynlee to school, speech, library and crafts done at home. It was election day one day so I took the little kids with me and I voted. Annalyn was pretty mad that she couldn't vote and cried about it for a while. Really the choices for president weren't anything to be too excited about it my opinion. I didn't want either choice. Donald Trump won so I guess we will see how he does. On Sunday Brynlee complained of her tummy hurting again and she fell asleep in our bed right before we were about to leave for church so I ended up staying home with her and the baby. She woke up after an hour nap and came in smiling saying how much better she felt. I guess she just needed a little extra sleep.

     The weekend before Thanksgiving, we got to babysit for some friends for a few days and nights. Their parent's went to California so we watched their youngest two kids from early Thursday morning until late Sunday night. Their little girl Milli, is three and their little boy Hooper, just turned two. They were so fun to have over. All of the kids played really well together and entertained each other so well. No one even asked to watch the TV for the first two days because they were playing so well. They played lots of doctor and the kids set up a big blanket and pretended to be mermaids that were swimming in the lake several times. I was even able to brave it and take all five of the little kids to the library for music class on Thursday. I texted a friend and made sure she would be there in case things got crazy but they did really well. I had another friend give Brynlee a ride to school in the morning so we just had to get Brynlee at the end of the day and I was able to fit everyone in our little wagon and pull them over to the bus stop.

     On Friday the kids and I made cupcakes, we did some crafts, and we all stayed home and played together. Things were pretty easy until Friday night when little Hooper started throwing up. He was sick all night but he handled it like a champ and barely even cried. As soon as I had changed him he went right back to sleep. That kind of ruined our plans on Saturday. We were going to go play at McDonalds and meet up with the kids older brother for a playdate. Instead we were stuck at home with sick kids. Hooper seemed to be feeling better come lunch time but then Milli started complaining that she didn't feel good so we all stayed home. We made some slime together and everyone played well except for Brynlee who was really upset about her ruined plans so she spent most of the morning crying and complaining. Little Summer also had a cold and was up a lot the night before so between her and one sick little two year old I was going on very little sleep. I let the kids watch a few shows that day and we took it pretty easy. Joel went and brought McDonalds happy meals home for all of the kids and we got to enjoy those. Milli would get a little sad at night so we called her mom and after talking to her she always went right to bed.

    
     Saturday night brought more sickness for Hooper. This time he threw up and he had diarrhea and this time he was covered both in throw up, he had it in his hair and everywhere, and in poop. It was pretty bad. He still handled it well and went back to sleep as soon as he was changed and as soon as I scrubbed the porta crib where he was sleeping. He seemed to be feeling fine in the morning but I decided we probably shouldn't take him to church. Plus little Summer woke up with super goopy eyes that were completely glued shut. They didn't look pink to me but she was super congested and miserable looking so I didn't want to take her either. Joel took the four older girls to church with him while I stayed home with Summer and Hooper. I gave Hooper a bath and put him down for a nap. It seems like Joel handled church just fine and he said Milli was the best one. Hooper was feeling great by the end of the day so we went over to visit grandma Verna that night and went to tithing settlement. We tucked everyone into bed and their parents came to get them a little after 11pm. Annalyn cried before she went to bed because she didn't want them to go. We had a lot of fun having them over. I guess Milli got sick and threw up on the way home from our house that night though.

    They day after we were done babysitting started Brynlee's week of Thanksgiving break. On Monday of that week we took Summer into the doctor. I thought she had pink eye but it turns out she just had a cold in her eye and a bad ear infection in both ears. The doctor put her on some antibiotics. Brynlee started coughing on Sunday and the doctor told me she had croup, which didn't mean anything at her age. My kids were all pretty excited about getting suckers and stickers at the doctor's office and happily skipped out of there. On Tuesday we took Annalyn to speech and all of my kids took quarters and got candy out of their little gumball machines. To them those were both pretty exciting excursions. We spent both nights building with Joel's K'nexs and the kids had a blast.

     I helped grandma get our Thanksgiving meal ready on Wednesday and we enjoyed a great Thanksgiving meal with my family. We had some great food and my mom had a whole bunch of fun questions that she printed out for us to answer. I took Brynlee with me to JCPenney after we ate where I got Brynlee some much needed clothes and then we came home and took the kids to bed.

     We weren't asleep for long when Annalyn woke up with a bad sounding croupy cough. She was gasping for breath and crying really bad. I stuck her in the steamy shower and as soon as she calmed down she was fine but she was running a fever and pretty miserable. She was still coughing and running a fever the next day so Joel just took Brynlee and Kyla to visit his family. He did a little shopping that morning as well. We were still able to get out all of our Christmas decorations and set up the Christmas tree that day when everyone got home.

     Friday was another bad miserable night when Annalyn woke up barely able to breath. Saturday night started out rough but then Anna slept all night and the croupy sounding cough was gone in the morning. We still figured we better not take her to church so Joel stayed home with her this time. Her cough sounded better and she was fever free for several hours so we thought she was safe to take to visit Joel's family that night. We enjoyed spending time with them but by the time we got home Annalyn was running a fever again. We canceled her speech on Tuesday cause she was still running a fever and I took her to the doctor where I was told it was not abnormal for her to have a fever for that long. Her fever was still around on Wednesday, which was the last day of the month so we were pretty much stuck inside all week.

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     Despite all of the crazy, hard, miserable, sleepless times, there were still lots of fun and great moments in the month. I would go through all the hard times again just to get to enjoy all of the happy carefree moments. Annalyn has been quite creative lately. She made a baby carrier for her "baby" and carried that giraffe all over the place that day, even to speech with her. She has been stealing Summer's baby stuff and using it on all of her babies and she has been playing lots of dress up. One day she walked to the bus stop dressed as a high heeled wearing cow. She loves high heels. I love conversations with Kyla, she is so fun to talk to. Brynlee is making lots of progress with school and Summer is starting to crawl and get into all kinds of stuff. Being a mom is such a hard job but it sure can be rewarding.

October

     October was full of lots of fun. We did all of our normal hanging out with the family and we spent some time decorating pumpkins and celebrating Halloween. We watched General Conference. Brynlee had her parent teacher conferences, she is doing well in school and still enjoys going. Annalyn had speech every Tuesday and we went to the library every Thursday. I went and did Super Saturday crafts at the church one Saturday while Joel watched the kids. The lady I teach primary with and I threw a little Halloween party at our house for our primary class. It was fun. We played lots of games and ate pizza and decorated cookies. The kids were pretty crazy but we kind of expected that. We teach the nine and ten year olds.

     Annalyn and Kyla both got invited to a little birthday party for one of Kyla's friends and they were pretty excited about that and had so much fun. Brynlee and Annnalyn both had parts in our ward's primary program and they did a great job. Annalyn said "My body is a temple of God" and Brynlee said "God has commanded his people to build temples." I couldn't really see Brynlee but they both seemed to sit well and sing when they were supposed to sing. Annalyn played with the tape that was put on her chair and stuck it on her face and was playing with it for half of the program but other than that she was well behaved. My mom and Alesha went to Australia for several days this month to visit my Uncle Eric and cousin Patricia and they both had a great time. They brought us back some candy and a few souvenirs. We were a week late but we got to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with Joel's family this year and we enjoyed some great food.

     The leaves all fell off the trees towards the end of the month and the kids had a ton of fun playing in them. We don't have any trees at our house that have very many leaves but Annalyn discovered lots of leaves over by where we wait for Brynlee's bus so she brought her little pink plastic rake to the bus stop with her several days in a row and raked up a big pile that the girls all had fun playing in.

     One Friday in October was spent out playing at the Farmstead where the kids rode a few rides, we all went on a hayride, and we even got to feed some bees. We watched a pig race and watched them launch candy into the air. They had a slide the kids played on and they all got some cotton candy to end the night. My brother's wife Heather got us in for a discounted price and we had a fun night hanging out with them. At the end of the night Heather took our girls into the mouth of this huge blow up lizard thing that Brynlee really wanted to try. Annalyn got a little bit scared and said she never wants to do that again but they had fun and made it to the end. We did the little corn maze and a potato sack slide while we were there as well.

     Joel turned thirty-one this month. The kids and I went to the store to buy him a present the Friday before his birthday. Brynlee didn't have school so she even got to go. We didn't get very far before our van got a flat tire. I called Joel and he was able to get away from work and come help me change the tire (good thing since I didn't even have all of the tools I would have needed) but it took him a while to get there. Annalyn was really freaking out about that. Joel went with me to the gas station and made sure the tire was aired up and then sent me on my way. I was feeling super grateful that he was able to help me when the van died right toward the exit of the gas station. Two men came to my rescue and helped me move my van out of the way of traffic and since Joel was still at the gas station he hopped in the van and took it for a test drive. I followed him to Wal Mart where he added some coolant and did several things before heading back to work. He told me the van should run great now. I got the things we needed at Wal Mart and then headed home. We didn't get far before the van died once more on the side of the road. I could not get it to start and Joel couldn't leave work again so I called grandma and she came and rescued us. The kids were a little squished in the backseat but we made it home. Joel went and got our van that night and left his truck in someone's driveway until the next morning when my dad drove him to get his truck. The van started right up for Joel when he went and got it. Joel spent the next day buying and putting on new tires, changing out parts, and fixing the brakes on our van. The good news is that our van runs better than ever now. I sure am grateful for him and for all of his work to help take care of us. What would we do without him?

     For Joel's birthday Brynlee begged and begged to decorate Joel's cake all on her own. I made her let her sister's help and they were all pretty pleased with the results. I think Joel liked it cause he knew they made that cake with him in mind and they were so proud of their creation. It was kind of fun to see what they created.

I sure do love this little family of mine.

Halloween 2016

     I got a new computer for Christmas so now let the catch-up begin. There is so much to write about so I will probably be brief. Here is a little bit about our Halloween night. Halloween was on a Monday this year. the little girls and I all went to a little Halloween party at a friend's house on the Friday before Halloween. Annalyn dressed up as Sleeping Beauty and Kyla was Cinderella and we had a fun time.

     I went to Brynlee's class at school and helped out with her school party. I was in charge of the treat and the snack station so I got to help all the kids decorate a cookie. It was fun and I know Brynlee enjoyed it. She dressed up as a witch. After dinner that night my mom and my sister Alesha and brother Brian and his family came over and went trick or treating with the girls and I while Joel stayed home with Summer to pass out candy. We got several trick or treaters but there weren't a ton of them. Kyla decided to be a spider for the night and I dressed Summer up as a witch. Brian and his family were all dressed up as Peter Pan characters. Maybe someday we will do a family theme but probably not.

     We started out trick or treating in our neighborhood and then crossed the street to the other subdivision. Kyla sat in her stroller after every house and then got out to go to the door and get candy. For the most part they all said trick or treat and 'thank you.' It was a pretty fun and exciting night for all of us. No one really got scared at all. After the first row of houses Brynlee and Annalyn had to use the bathroom so we ran home for a quick bathroom break. It was a warm night so Brynlee insisted on wearing her flip flops. She was running fast and tripped and landed right on her face and skinned her face all up. She cried pretty good so I carried her home. The kids went to the bathroom and Brynlee changed shoes and then we were off again. We were out till after 8:30 and everyone was pretty tired at the end of the night. Alesha's boyfriend Chase came at the end of the night and we all got to meet him for the first time and the girls inventoried their candy and then went to bed. Joel was a little astounded that all three of our kids picked a sucker as their first treat of choice to enjoy. That was good news for us because they all shared some of their chocolate with us. Brynlee was pretty sore and self conscious about her fall and skinned up face. She refused to go to school the next day. I took her in at lunchtime after Annalyn's speech and we talked to the teacher and then Brynlee seemed fine. Overall it was fun night with the family.