This is Kelson's latest napping position. I was working on the computer and he was whining so I of course wasn't going to answer him. All of a sudden he was quiet, I looked and this is how I found him. ASLEEP!!!! CRAZY KID!

Finally a chance to blog!

Work & Play Wow! has it been a while or what? Cheeto has been working like crazy. I think he is really starting to enjoy the profession he chose. If he's not, he does a good job a faking it. He seems to be more relaxed at home and in much better moods most of the time. I'm not saying that he doesn't stress about his job, but I think this is the first time in our married life that when he doesn't dread leaving for work. What a blessing that is! He does a fabulous job at what he does and even a better job at taking care of all of us. I'm so proud of him and his self-motivation. What a guy! He has been in Des Moine, IA for the past 3 days. He left Tuesday morning and we went to pick him up last night. I don't think he was too thrilled about having a business trip to Des Moine. But after all was said and done.... I think he quite enjoyed it. My dad served part of his mission there years ago and has always said how much he enjoyed that city. I think part of it was that Des Moine doesn't sound very glamorous. The boys really were glad to see him last night. They had a hard time expressing that when it was time for bed. That was my fault though, I let them sleep with me while he was gone. They didn't like having to go back to their own beds, even after I gave them the "heads up" that they would have to go back to their beds after daddy got home. Oh well... how much do you think a 5 and 2 year old really cared? .... not much!!!!!
I told Cheeto that I was going to paint while he was gone. I think he really thought I was going to do the baby's room. I wanted to surprise him and do our room instead. Nola had bought me a duvet cover from Eddie Bauer for Christmas... and that set me off to repaint our bedroom. I still can't have the cover and such until Christmas but I don't think I'd be in the mood at 9 months pregnant to paint much! ;) We had always discussed that we would have to get a new crib for this baby because Kelson chewed the sides of the crib we had. Yep... he ate everything at that age too.... including wood! Well, I took the undamaged ends of the crib and screwed them together and made us a head board for our bed. I don't want to brag.... but it looks pretty nice for something we thought would be trash! With a lot of help from Chemo... we got that room torn apart and put back together within 24 hours. I think Cheeto was surprised and please last night when he saw it.

Cade's News Cade has been doing well at school. He actually doesn't fight us at all anymore when he has to get ready for school. We had a potluck dinner at his school last night and that was hard to get him to go along with. He didn't want to back to school until morning. In fact, he was playing outside with g'pa and Kelson right before we left. I called for them to come in that it was time to go. I thought he was going to the bathroom. I said, "Let's go!" I looked down the hall.... and there was Cade naked with the bath water running. He was ready to take a bath! I was already a late. Like I really needed to struggle with him to get dressed again. The lil' stinker! He loves bringing home new books to read. The Accelerated Reading program requires them to be tested on the books the check out from the library. I thought we had to read them and send them back the next day for testing. I finally looked at his scores. He was average... which surprised me because he was understanding them great with me. Then I found out that sometimes it would be a week to 10 days before he was tested on one book. No wonder why he wasn't doing better on the tests.... he had probably forgotten about them.

Kelson Adventures WOW!!!! Kelson!!!!!! has he had me going this week. If it wasn't one thing... it was another! I could write all day about the stuff he has done. But one in particular... yesterday I cleaned all morning to have the house nice when Cheeto got home. He loves coming home to a clean house. Well, I just got out of the shower and I heard a thud in the kitchen followed by crying. I ran out there to find my kitchen pretty much standing in water. The counters were covered with water and waterfalls were flowing off into puddles on the floor. And then there was Kelson... lying naked on the rug crying. He had plugged the sink and had begun to fill it with water. I asked him what he thought he was doing, "taking a bath" was his answer. He had found a picture of him when he was only a couple of days old getting a bath in the sink. He wanted to do that again. My kids and baths yesterday. I found Kelson again at 4:30pm naked and in the bathtub taking a bath. No water on yet... but still. My kids must like to be clean.

Arellano Update Dad has finished his wall garden thing in the back of his yard. He has lined up some guys from the branch to help us get started in the process of planting grass in our backyard. These guys were in dire need of work and we would rather pay them knowing they NEED the money than some lawn care business. Nola has been helping Cheeto with the Elder's Quorum enchilada dinner tonight. So she has been working on that for the past two days.

Christensen Update Another year of potato harvest is behind them. Today when I talked to mom all of them were in Provo spending time with Erin and her family. They guys were headed golfing this morning. Even Kyle and his family are down there. Ryan has mission something or other tonight in Salt Lake. They will head home tomorrow and turn around Monday for Canada. Can't remember what mom said they were going to do in Canada. Sounds like they are having lots of fun without Alyssa and me. Oh well... such is life.

Work & Play I've come to the conclusion that writing on this everyday is an impossibility. I wish I had the time but I suppose you'll just get an ear full on the days I can write. I have started teaching piano for the fall semester. I started last week I have 3 students that only wish to take them every other week. So this is officially my first "full" week of piano teaching. I don't really agree with the every other week option, but money is money. And at least the kids are still interested enough to do it that often. I teach Monday and Tuesday from 3:30 to 5:00ish. Last year I taught them all on Thursdays. It made for a really long afternoon. I do like this better already. Last night was enrichment meeting. I think you all know I'm the commitee chair person. I don't know what the official name of the calling is. I just know I'm in charge of getting it planned and pulled off every second tuesday of each month. Last night was September service. We assemble hygiene kits for bishop's store house. We also have a goal to make 200 bunnies before christmas to donate to Moses Cone Pediatrics. We counted what we had either completed or in progress last night and we are up to 100. Not bad! I was so pleased! It took us awhile to get in a rhythm last night, but soon we got on beat and had quite the assembly line going. I almost felt like I was running a sweat shop.
Cade's News Cade has been surprising us with how much spanish he knows. He doesn't speak much at home to us anyway. However, when he's playing he talks to himself and sings in spanish. It's quite impressive. He has to read a book every night in English and pass a test on that book the next day. This is the only English that he will get for school work until he is in the second grade. We are suppose to help him sound out the words and teach him the sight words. Well, because I was at enrichment, Cheeto was reading to him. The word "yuck" was in the book. Cade stopped Cheeto and spelled the word in spanish then continue to say the word in English. Cheeto was impressed. Monday, Cheeto said Cade cried when he dropped him off, but the last two days he has been just fine. Maybe he gets the Monday blues, too. He has been a happier kid this week.

Kelson's Adventures Monday was a rough day with the potty training. He drank so much apple juice in the morning that he was having to pee/"make water" every 20 minutes or so. He was wetting pants like it was our first day trying to make it to the toilet. I didn't want to clean up a poopy mess after that much apple juice so we opted for a diaper. I was glad. I think Nola was glad he had one on while she was watching them during piano. Today he hasn't had any accidents. He is still doing well. He has been quite the lil' companion during the day. It was weird going to Wal-mart yesterday morning with only one child to hang onto. Cheeto has been eating lunches at work to save on gas. Kelson and I have been eating sandwiches everyday. I found out that Kelson loves lunch meats, so far at least turkey and ham. He eats like Bob in the movie "What about Bob?" If you haven't seen it, watch it and then you'll find it funny.

Arellano Update Dad has completed building brick wall dividers between all the trees and the grass now. His yard is look awesome. I asked him when he was going to start on ours. He just laughed and looked the other way. I think he knew I wasn't serious. I hope he knew I wasn't serious. Our yard is looking pretty sad. Cheeto and I haven't had a Saturday to spare to get working on it. We better get on it soon or we are going to miss our prime grass planting opportunity.

Christensen Update They are going to be starting potatoes soon. I think school lets out next thursday for harvest release time. However, mom told me dad said his are ready now and might be done by then. That's not going to make very many kids happy. They won't have jobs for the week. Mom has been busy canning pears and peaches. Each time she calls or I call it seems like she's always cleaning up the canning mess. MAN, what I wouldn't give to have just one bottle to myself. I would have a hard time sharing with mi familia. That's sad isn't it? But they don't get better then Cherie's peaches/pears.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11pm - 6:35pm

TODAY:
Breakfast: Frosted Mini Wheats

Lunch: potatoes, carrots and roast beef - leftovers from last night- someone has to eat them! ;) no offense cheeto!

Dinner: Taco soup and cheese bread- 2nd time I've cooked this week. I'm on a roll! :)

Work or play?

I put this one on just for Sissy! She would be the one to want to see it! :)
Kelson reminded me of my brother Ryan. He had one of these cars and drove it around for hours. That's just what Kelson did. It's a good thing the only kid he had to fight for it was Cade. This was at Coit Slack's bday party.

Cade is the one kicking the ball. Look at that form! His coach let him kick and throw the ball a lot. Perhaps that was because Cade was just running behind the rest of the team up and down the field. He hasn't learned the concept of taking it away yet. He likes to share! ;)
This was just 4 of the 6 team members warming up before the game. Such cute lil' guys. So innocent at this age.

Work & Play Feels like we have been running around for days. I'm exhausted tonight. Don't know if it's just from the busy weekend or from being pregnant. We started yesterday off with Cade 1st soccer game. I've finally become a soccer mom. Kinda a weird feeling. Am I really getting a son that old? Yep! I must be. Well, Cade didn't want to play at first. He saw we brought the soccer chairs and decided he would rather just sit and watch the game. Of course, Cheeto nor I would let that fly. He was one of the first three to start the game. He soon started to enjoy it. It was a perfect morning for soccer, warm with a cool breeze. If only they could all be at 9am. After the game, we went to Kohls. We had heard they had Spiderman pj's on sale. Coit Slack, one of our friends son, was having a "super hero" party and said it was optional to dress up. DeDe had lent us some of Hank's pj's and costumes, but neither was big enough to fit Cade. He was able to get the costume on, but it cut him pretty short in the body part, they were also about 3 or 4 inches from reaching his ankles. He wanted to wear it so badly, but I could not let him be seen in public like that. One day this week he had it on and he wanted to go get the mail. I wouldn't even let him walk to the mailbox, it looked that bad. I'm serious! Awful. Kohl's had a set of 2 pj's for the almost the same price as the set that he wanted. Do you think I could talk him out of the others. I kept telling him, "Cade, you get TWO with this set and with that one you only get ONE!" It didn't matter, he wanted the one that looked like a Spiderman suit rather that the one's that just a picture of spiderman on it. Well, we decided that's what he'd have to wear for Halloween as well. Cheeto found him some deals on some new work clothes. I thought it was funny to have Cheeto so excited about shopping for his clothes. He hates shopping period, even for him. I had to enjoy the moment. It was fun. He knew exactly what he wanted and we almost couldn't find that. We were successful. He was happy. I think? Afterward, we went home, showered (not all at the same time, by the way), ate some lunch, and chilled. I got ready to go to Raleigh with mom for Miss Jenny's wedding. We had fun. Her wedding was simple as far as the decorating, but you could tell it was still a costly one. The church was incredible. The room we ate in had two huge screens showing a video of the pictures. You got to eat and watch the movie from where ever you sat. Kinda fun. We got home in good time and found grandpa and the boys drawing with sidewalk chalk in the driveway. Of course I had to play too. Cheeto and the boys ran to cook or dinner and shakes. Boring night, but we just ate, gave baths and went to bed. Today was church as usual.

Cade's News Cade had his first soccer practice on Friday. He was so excited. His team name is the "Earthquakes." The coach that was suppose to have coached his team flaked and caused Cade's team to be one practice behind the rest of the league. It somewhat showed at his game Saturday morning. The other team was killing us with goals. It took the Earthquakes until the 4th quarter to finally score. Our boys just had a hard time figuring out to get in front of the ball and block the goal. Cade still had fun. He has learned more this season in one practice than he did the whole season at the YMCA league. His coach really worked some drills with them and got them understanding the game. I hope it continues to go well.

Kelson Adventures Kelson has just been Kelson. He hasn't had an accident since a minor one on Friday. Oh wait, he did have a pretty good poopy one for Cheeto yesterday after I had left for Raleigh. He pooped right before I left and I thought to myself..... "Awesome... this should make it easier for Cheeto while I'm gone." Nope, I called before we walked into the wedding and Cheeto didn't sound very happy. Sure enough, Kelson pooped for him. Kelson didn't like just having to watch Cade's soccer game. He kept wanting to run out there and play with them. He also kept trying to take Cade his soccer ball and bottle of water. Very cute. After a couple of times, Cade would turn and run sideways down the field waving and yelling, "Hi, Kelson! Watch me!" Very funny.

Arellano Update Nada

Christensen Update Haven't talked to mom in a few days. It has still been crazy with the new lil' one. Erin and Sky were up for a few days. I didn't hear if Alyssa and Jeff went.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 9:30pm - 6:25am

TODAY:
Breakfast: bowl of frosted flakes and glass of Apple juice

Lunch: Toquitos, rice and beans

Dinner: Cheese Nachos with the boys - not so healthy for sure!

This is Dad's wall I mentioned. This is taken from the basketball hoop Nice- eh?
This is standing from the back sliding doors.
On our way home from school we got behind a funeral. The guy must of been an avid biker. We were stopped at a light and this was the procession. Here is one of the 3 only choppers. This is taken from the stop light we were at. The building is the new baseball stadium. The entire street was full of bikes. I quit counting at around 50 or 60. Cade just kept saying.... "Those are lots of bikes mommy. They keep coming and coming and coming!"

Kelson's new way of taking naps! Maybe he had heartburn too! ;)

finally healthy.....

Work & Play
yeah...yeah.... so i've heard that y'all have been giving us a hard time about not blogging much. We are so blessed to have Cade in school. the second day he brought home a nasty cold virus or something. Both Cade and I were in pretty tough shape. I started feeling better just a couple of days ago. I have been working on projects and more projects. I made cards all morning today. I knitted most of the day yesterday. Project working works well while potty training Kelson. I devote myself to staying home, and if I'm staying home, I don't spend any money, which Cheeto loves too! I'm still think about what to do for the baby's room. I've decide I'm going to wait awhile to paint. Going to let it cool off a bunch, so I can open windows and have lots of ventilation.

Cade's News
Cade has done fabulous the past couple of days. Cheeto said he didn't fight too much yesterday. When I picked him up the first thing he told me was, "Mommy, I didn't have to cry today! I missed you lots, but I didn't cry!" He was so proud of himself, but I think I was more proud of him. Today, Cheeto had to leave for Raleigh early, so I was in charge of taking Cade to and from school. We talked to Mom last night and thought it might be better for her to take Cade this morning since he just started getting over the "mama blues." G'ma said he told her, "I don't need to cry, do I?" Sweet boy! He also has eaten school lunch the past few days. He said he loved the pizza and grilled cheese. He loved having chocolate milk! They have the kids memorize their student numbers. Cade walked around the house repeating his number. It was funny. Yesterday on the way home from school we past a wreck and the police car had his "student number" on the back window. He yelled, "Mom, STOP!" I was glad that I was already stopped because of the wreck, that would have scared me while driving! But he wanted me to see that the police car had "his" number on it. He's very observant.

Kelson's Adventures
Kelson is Kelson! Yesterday seemed like a really long day! He was into, climbing, eating, and curious about everything. He had one accident in the morning as far as the potty training went. He was dry the rest of the day. I was a slacker and had forgotten to wash more underwear for him, so I put Cade's Bob the Builder underwear on Kelson after his bath last night. There is a picture of Bob right in front. Kelson was very specific in telling me that Bob needed to stay dry. This morning while running to the toilet, Kelson pauses first to talk to Bob. "Bob, you still dry. Yeah! That's a good boy! Ok, sit on the floor- I make water." I was laughing. I don't think Kelson understood why I was laughing so hard. He was trying to bend over and talk to the front of his underwear. Looked hilarious. I guess you had to be there. Yesterday Susie Hiatt came over to watch movies and cut out more bunnies. I think Kelson was making her nervous. He wanted to bad for Madeline to get out and play with him. Well, Kelson got mad at me and went to open the blinds- he knows he's not to touch the blinds. In the process of trying to get even.... he actually pulled the blinds down, crashing to the floor. Scared him, but he got in more trouble, of course. He was pouting and looking out the window, hanging over the back of the black chair. He was there being real quiet. Susie and I looked over and the little stinker had fallen asleep like that. Thus explaining the pictures attached. What a nugget!

Arellano Update
Dad has been working his tail off in his back yard. He has constructed a curved garden wall taking up half of his yard. It's beautiful. He's quite the craftmans. Y'all know him once he gets an idea. :) I'll go over this afternoon and take pictures!

Christensen Update
Becky had her baby! Well, their baby. It's partly Kyle's too, I suppose! :) She went in Tuesday morning and was dilating so the doctor stirred things up some more and told her to come back in a few hours. She had her in about an hour and 20 minutes. Kyle said it was fast and easy. Easy for him to say. I haven't actually talked to Becky, yet. We'll see what she says. She's still very lucky her labors don't last long. Jacie Brynn was 7 lbs. 9 oz. Definately Becky's biggest baby, especially after the tiny Allie. Mom said they all would be home some time today. Tanner has pink eye and can't go to school. Mom said it's been a crazy week. She loves having the kids, but is glad she doesn't have to keep up with them everyday. There is a reason why we have children when we are young! :)

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 9:30pm - 6:30am

TODAY:
Breakfast: bowl of frosted flakes

Lunch: Ham sandwich with cheese and water

Dinner: last night... beans and tortillas