Krispy Kreme

Thank you Tia! You are so sweet to give us free donuts! How is that going to help me get back in shape? The kids loved it though!

Girl Well Checks!

Today I took the girls for their well-checks. Analise was right in the middle of all the growth charts. She weighed 30.5 lbs and was 37" tall. She was making up shapes to be funny during her eye exam. She made quite the impression on the nurses- had them all laughing with her.

I just love our little sassy girl!

I braided Analise's hair one day and the next day when I went to re-braid it she loved the wavy look so much that she asked to keep it down. She commented multiple times during the day how much she liked her curls. We might have to do this more often just to keep her happy!

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!
Addelyn also went for her well check. She was all over the charts.
She was 90% in the length, 50% in her weight.
She weighs 12 lbs 10 oz and is 24 1/4 inches long.
I know I have said it before but she is growing SO FAST!!!

Addelyn has learned to cuddle with her babies! SO STINKIN CUTE!

Just needing to vent a little!

As Cheeto always says, this blog is not for all you- IT IS FOR US! And I need to vent a little.

I really wasn't that depressed about turning 30! Just so everyone knows- it was just fun to tease about it. However, I AM so frustrated that I am only 30 and feel like I'm over 60! Most of you know that I have suffered from some mystery chronic pain for the past 4 years. No one can figure out what it is. I got some relief for a few months last year but they are back and possibly worse. I'm so frustrated going to doctor after doctor and getting no answers. I don't know even where to go from here. A small part of me would like to keep searching for some answers but that just means more time and money put into the medical system and with my luck resulting with more problems. (Most of you know what came from my gallbladder surgery- NOTHING GOOD!) When doctors warn you about the low percentages of what "could" happen during a procedure, it always happens to me. The slim chance of something going wrong will with me. I'm jinx! I try so hard to not get into the "WHY ME?" state of thinking! I know so many have it worse than I do, so I rarely complain vocally. I put on a good smile and just keep going for the sake of my kids and husband but secretly cry behind locked doors. It's ridiculous- I KNOW! I believe that this is just the quality of life I'm going to get. I suppose I just need to deal with it and move on... but I'm so sick of hurting 24-7! And to add to the "mystery" pains- I have started getting pancreatic attacks at least 3-4 nights a week since I had Addelyn. I'm just a messed up mess! That's what I feel like- a mess! I am so grateful for a husband that doesn't think that it's all in my head. Even though we don't talk about it too much, he's probably just as frustrated as I am. How could he not be?

Shena turns 30! OUCH!

Yesterday was great! I appreciated all the phone calls, texts, facebook messages, and teasing about getting old! I have great family and friends! My mom was teasing because when I was growing up it was always the 3 younger kids. I'm the middle of 5 children so I always wondered why it couldn't be the 3 older kids! Well, mom's got jokes and says, "Honey, you finally got what you wanted... You are finally one of the older ones!" Ha ha - mom! I'm not really that depressed about it. It's just fun to tease people that I am. I enjoyed my 20's. I married a great man. Together we moved to start a life of our own, started a great family, and got through some difficult physical challenges as well as job changes. I feel like we are finally moving on. We are moving into another stage in our lives. I look forward to the next 10 years. I couldn't be happier!

Cheeto did such a good job planning the evening. It was a struggle because we had some friends email us a few weeks ago about wanting to get together. Just so happened to be on my birthday. They loved Mexico when they lived here and asked if we could eat there with them. We said sure but then we didn't hear from them until yesterday about 3pm. We weren't sure if they were still coming so Cheeto didn't know how to plan the evening. I said just let it ride and see what happens but he said he really wanted to do SOMETHING on my day. In the end it turned out great. I forgot to take a picture of the cake he bought me. I was telling him awhile ago how my mom use to get us ice cream cakes from Baskin Robins. I told him it reminded me of home. He made me my favorite- spice cake- on Sunday. Then he surprised me with a chocolate mint cake from BR's last night. He also got me a black 30 balloon- like I need to be reminded that I'm 30! :)

It was fun to catch up with Joann and Chad. We hadn't seen them in 6+ years. It's nice to have friends that you can just step back into a friendship after so many years. No awkwardness! We had a great time. They have a boy between Cade and Kelson and then 2 girls. He was in heaven playing with our boys. Analise enjoyed her new friend too! The kids got along so well! So sad to see them go again. I hope it's not another 6 years until we see them!

Cheeto- THANK YOU! I know this type of thing isn't your favorite but I appreciated all you did to make my day special! Even going to work late and playing the wii fit with me! Te Amo por siempre.

Addelyn is 3 months!

Wow! How time flies! I so wish we could slow it down sometimes. I know I have said it before, but she is just growing too fast. This makes me sad! I hold and love on her every chance I get. I am almost rude sometimes because I won't just hand her over to others so they can hold her. I told Cheeto how I felt about this and if he thought I was being rude by doing so. He said it was fine, she was my baby and I had the first right to hold her as long as I wanted. I know it's just because she's my last and the time of me having a baby in my house are slipping away. I know I physically couldn't handle another pregnancy nor the more stress that 5 children would be. But it still saddens me to know that we are done with this stage in our lives and we are moving on. So... I'm enjoying every moment and being selfish in doing so. I'm glad cheeto doesn't the saddness the same way I do because we would be playing tug-a-war with constantly. He is so understanding that he lets me cuddle her all of the time! Sorry y'all- I hope you understand!

I LOVE PURPLE!

I don't wear it or decorate much with it but I sure dress my little girls in it as much as I can!

Sunday night I was changing Addelyn into her pjs. She grabs onto EVERYTHING! She grabbed onto the inside of her sleeves and wouldn't let go- resulting into pulling her shirt back over her head. She was so mad but even when I tried to pull her hands out she grabbed on tighter.

Valentines day - 2009

Since Valentines Day was on a Saturday, I really tried to do some fun things with the kids! We started off the morning with a Heart Hunt. Grandma and Papa C sent them some Valentine cards and Kyle and Becky sent them a goodie bag. I thought it would be fun to have this as a way to get their prize. They were up before us. Kelson came in and said, "Mom, what are the hearts for?" Oops- I forgot to keep it a surprise. Well, we all got up and started the hunt. Cheeto wasn't too thrilled to get up early but he was a sport and did it anyway.

After the heart hunt, we made eggs and shaped them into hearts, stamped the bread with a heart before toasting it and made some bacon. Analise said, "Hey MOM! This is just like Waffle House!" It's sad that my kids think that they only cooked breakfast they get is like Waffle House.

After breakfast, I sent Cheeto back to bed. The kids and I made some heart shaped brownies in my Heart Waffler. This was kind of fun. We also made some sugar cookies. However, these were not heart shaped. My visiting teacher as telling me about these 3-D cookie cutters she had bought for her daughter-in-law. I had mentioned what a cute idea. Friday, I get a message on my phone that says to check my door. She had bought me a set. The kids were so excited to make them Friday but when Cade came home throwing up we had to wait. Analise was really good at rolling the dough out. Kelson loved to stamp them. Cade really wasn't feeling up to it yet. We had fun. We did learn a few lessons though. You have to make sure the leg cut-outs are not too close together because some of ours were and they would slide together to make the animals stand up. Oh well, better luck next time!
Cheeto had to go to work for awhile so the rest of us stayed home and took naps. Mom and Dad wanted all the adults to go out to dinner with them. We met them and Lettie and Kris at Carrabas. It was fun. It had been a LONG time since we had done that. After dinner we were having a Wii party with the 2nd generation Idaho Group kids. C & S couldn't make it. They were missed, however, we had a great time! It's been awhile since we laughed that hard.

This video of Lettie is the funniest. Lettie is such a good sport! One of the many reasons why we love Lettie!!! Thanks K & C for the fun night. They all went home right after 9:30pm. After they left, Cheeto and I looked at each other and obviously we both had the same thought - "You know you're getting old when your parties end before 10pm." :) (sorry- it wasn't that kind of "thought")

Just something random! This is a cake mix made in my waffle iron. It turned out pretty good.
Regular cake was better but it was festive so it served it's purpose!

Don't take life for granted!

A friend of ours emailed me a week or so ago and ask me if I was back working again. She has a good friend that was told her little boy was terminal. He has weeks maybe months. She wanted to do something special and memorable for her, so she thought the impressions I do would be perfect. The boy is a month older than Cade. It was so hard to do this impression. He was such a sweet little boy. It took all I had to not just tear up for this family. When we discussed the options to hold his hand the mom was very decisive - she wanted it cupped so she could "hold" his hand after he passed. That was hard to hear as well. His hand turned out perfect! Not one flaw to fix!
I think it touched more to home for me because I have a boy the same age. How difficult it must be to know you're running out of time with your child! Knowing that today MAY be your last, knowing he might not making it through the night, and to watch him suffer like that. No parent should have to go through this! After they left, I had to shed a few tears and hug my little girls a little tighter and say a prayer thanking Heavenly Father for healthy kids. Analise wasn't quite sure what was up but she accepted my hugs anyway, wiped away my tears, gave me the biggest hug and kiss and said, "I love you the most Mommy!" This kind of set the tone for the rest of my day. I had more patience and simply enjoyed the moments. Also, thought a lot about what a gift our Heavenly Father has given us. The Plan of Salvation has to be the greatest of all. I'm so blessed to have a temple marriage and to have my family sealed to me. Heavenly Father gave us these precious children and also made a way for us to be together FOREVER!

Cade came home and ran right to the bathroom! Kelson told me that Cade threw up on the bus and was still throwing up. Poor kid! Cade was so embarressed. I was grateful that it was Kelson that sat next to him on the bus and helped him off with his things. What are brothers for!?! Cade spent the rest of the afternoon just chillen. Kelson was waiting on him hand and foot. He even gave him his favorite blanket to sleep with and said, "It's ok if you puke on it, mom will wash it and make it smell good again!" Man- I LOVE MY KIDS!!!!!

Flip flops in February

It's been so nice here the last few days. My car said it was 75 on the way home from G'ma's in the afternoon. It was so nice that we decided to take the kids to the park to run off some energy. We normally would do this on a Sunday afternoon but thought we should take advantage of the nice weather.
Our friends live across the street from this park close to our house. They saw us when the pulled in their garage so they came to visit with us. Our kids adore them so they were excited to have them to play. Our baby girls are less than 4 weeks apart. They will be good friends! We hope anyway! Cade took this pictures. Such a Cheesey picture of me!

Yesterday was so nice that we did our homework routine outside. The boys got sidewalk chalk and wrote the spelling words on the driveway. I took pictures to email to their teachers for proof. I hope they will accept this as completed work!

I have been quite the home-body lately! I noticed today that I haven't even used a half a tank of gas since January 30th. Last week, Friday was the first time I left the house since church on Sunday. Today was the first time we really got out this week. I ran our Costco errands and then Analise got invited to a Valentine's Party. She was so excited. They decorated little cakes, had a "Heart Hunt", and played A LOT! She was jumping on the trampoline with all these girls when I hear her screaming! I thought she just wanted down but then noticed she was screaming from pain. I ran to her to find out that her braids had gotten caught in the zipper of the net that goes around the trampoline. Every time the girls jumped her hair would get pulled and tangled more. I had to lift her up and detangle at the same time. When I got her out she said, "I HATE ZIPPERS!" I get her hair caught in my coat quite a bit. Poor thing! All the girls she plays with moved up to Sunbeams this year and she has missed them. She hasn't really enjoyed nursery the same since. We met another little girl that moved into our ward that will be 3 in April so we are excited to get them together more. Perhaps this will change her mind about nursery.

Funny Kid Quote of the Day
Saturday we were out running errands. Kelson got in the car and started telling people which Star Wars characters they were going to be. He said he was Anakin. Then he said, "Analise you going to be Queen Amidala." Analise says, "Ok, Mom, I'm Queen of the Dollar!" Kelson says, "NO! ANALISE! I said, Queen Amidala!" Analise says, "Ok, I'll be Princess Leia!"

All in a days work!

We woke up to snow this morning so of course y'all know what that means in North Carolina. NO SCHOOL! My plan was to work on some business stuff but I knew that was going to happen with all the kids around me. Kelson was suppose to have a field trip today. He was bummed all morning about school always being canceled on the days his class was suppose to do something fun. By the time 9am came around I had the brilliant idea of finally going through all the kids clothes in the attic. Cheeto helped me get the 10 garbage bags and 11 bins down from the attic. I wasn't going to buy new bins for all the girls clothes when I knew I was going to be getting of all the boys clothes, so I just kept filling garbage bags and throwing them up there. Out of site- out of mind... right? Nope! This is a task I have been dreading and looking forward to at the same time. This is what my bedroom and living room looked like after 2 hours of organzing.
I had my doubts I could get it all done in one day. I decided about 10am that I would call a few friends that I knew were interested and have them come by this afternoon/evening to go through it. I knew by doing this that I would have to force myself to get it all done. By noon Cade asked, "Mom, do you think we'll be able to sit on the couch sometime today?" An hour later Kelson says, "Mom, I don't think you will ever get all of this junk put away!" It was about 2:30pm when I finally finished. Kelson and Analise found some new fun stuff. The kids believe there is an actual store in our attic. Whenever they grow out of something... I simply go upstairs. Analise was excited to finally see what the "store" has. Everytime I turned around she was in something new. At one point she had on a 12 month Strawberry Shortcake pj top and some 24 month capris. They matched but the shirt came above her belly button and she barely got the pants buttoned. She looked hilarious! She had changed again before I got back with my camera. It was a lot of work which made a long day but I'm SO GLAD it's finally done! I think Cheeto is too!

The kids help me make piles for friends to sort through. We have been so blessed with friends giving us clothes for Analise that I knew that I should really find some friends to "pay it forward". I feel so good as our little boy clothes can be loved another few years. It will be funny to hear the boys say in church, "Hey, that looks like mine."

I wore the kids out. No surprise to find Analise in bed with Kelson! She says he make her feel better when she gets scared. Oh- our sweet Kelson! Cade would have kicked her out of his bed!

I just had to add this one. I was working on the computer Monday right after lunch. Analise asked if she could have some "Muddy Buddies" It wasn't 5 minutes later I noticed she hadn't moved in awhile. She had fallen asleep with her hand in the bag.

It is now snowing again. Cade was to have a field trip tomorrow.
I'm betting that they will be home again tomorrow.

Picture Princesses

ANALISE

Analise is such little girly girl! Every time she gets dressed up she has to seek out approval from "her boys." She will ask them, "Am I pretty?" They will return with, "You look like our princess!" Of course, Daddy says she always looks like his princess. Our rule: Look like one, but don't act like one! She is really getting into the lotions and lip glosses. She has such a spunky attitude. We have nicknamed her Sassy! Girls are just so much fun! I think the "Avery" or "Botanical" (little girls dresses from Shabby Baby) would be so cute on her! As you can tell, we have to take pictures in all her different dresses!

ADDELYN

Wow... does she have some crazy girl shoes to follow. Analise has such a fun way of loving life that Addelyn already smiles and enjoys her company. Analise and I love to dress her up and enjoy having a baby girl to love on!

GO STEELERS!!!

What a fun weekend we had! Cheeto took Analise all morning for some "daddy" time. They got home at 2pm and I immediately left to see a movie with the girls. We were going to see Twilight but it was sold out so we rushed to another theatre and watched "New in Town" instead. What a great movie. It was the cleanest chick flick I have seen in a long time! I recommend it to everyone! I got home about 4:30pm, just in time to get ready for my date with Cheeto. We went to Mimi's cafe with some friends, Kristi and Ozzie.We had so much fun! It was our first date since Addelyn without her. Thankfully all the kids were great so we might be able to do it again! :)

(This is the "NOW" picture)

'Sunday. Oh Sunday! SUPERBOWL SUNDAY! As most of you know... we are die hard Steelers fans. The boys were so excited. And when I say boys, Cheeto is included. He wore his very tasteful Steelers tie to church. I just asked him the other day who his home teaching companion was. He had no idea. Well, he found out on sunday who it was AND that he had set up a visit for 5pm (one hour before the game). Cheeto was very obiedent and went! While he was gone, Cade and Kelson got all excited for the game and wanted to decorate. I found Kelson getting the crayons and a notebook of paper. And everyone knows when Kelson gets out a notebook that the entire book will be gone in no time, along with the tape! I intervened and tried to make them happy. We tore pictures out of an old Steelers calendar and hung up some player's pictures.
We made the table look a bit more festive. Kelson asked if we could leave the table like this all of the time. I said, "I dunno Kelson." He said, "Let's ask daddy! I know daddy will say YES!" :)

Cade asked if we could bring out the kids Steelers table that I made. So we hauled that out of the office. It sad that we have plenty of stuff to decorate at the last minute! It was good thing... the kids were thrilled. When the family showed up for the game Kelson opened the door and said, "Welcome to the party. OH- I'm so glad you brought food!" Like I didn't already have food for them! Cheeto watched the first half with us and then went to a party with some friends. Everyone left after he did. I guess they came to be with him and not me. :) (No offense taken- guys!) I hung out and watched the end of the game here. If you saw the game, you know it was a great 4th quarter! I was thinking the entire time, "I'm really glad Cheeto's having some fun with the guys. But I sure miss watching the game with him!" I will never compare to the "guys" but I do enjoy watching "our" teams play with Cheeto. It's the only way to watch them in my opinion! He got home really shortly after it was over. He said he was the only one rooting for the Steelers.

(These are the "THEN" pictures.
Notice- Cade and Cheeto won't stop watching the game for the family picture!)

I'm so glad they won because now we can say,
"We got Analise and the Steelers won the Superbowl."

We got Addelyn and the Steelers won the Superbowl." How cool is that?!?!?!?
Could Cheeto ask for anything more!

Cheeto asked me to find the grey romper that Analise wore for the 2006 superbowl. I looked and looked and couldn't find it. I had this dress I had made for Analise so we used it instead. It was huge on Addelyn but it worked and we all were able to sport of Steelers gear!
All of us had on the same jersey's as in 2006.
We sure love our Daddy and his Steelers!

Funny Kid Quote of the Day
Saturday, Cheeto took Analise to run errands and shop for my birthday. This is a conversation her and I had last week sometime.

Analise: "Mommy, is it really your birthday?"
Me: "Yes, why?"
Analise: "Cade tell me your birthday is next."
Me: "Yep."
Analise: "Can I buy you a present?"
Me: "SURE!"
Analise: "Can we buy me a present, too?"
Me: "No, your birthday was a couple of weeks ago."
Analise: "Oh... can I buy you bubbles and you share with me?"

So Cheeto took her shopping Saturday. She walked in with a bag and I ignored her because she was trying to show it to me then. Sunday morning I told her it was time for a bath. She asked for a bubble bath. I told her I didn't have any more bubbles. She said, "Yes mommy! I buy you some yesterday!"