29 weeks 3 days

I was looking at the calendar this weekend. I noticed as I was looking at it that my due date is RIGHT after Thanksgiving. The weekend before is the Twilight movie release. The week before that is the primary program. Before that, Halloween and school parties, before that, ward parties and before that is general conference and before that is THIS WEEK! And in between of all of that is studying for Cheeto, homework, golf tournaments and Christmas preparations! Phew! Do I have time to have a baby? I'm really thinking I don't! :) Man, I hope time really goes by as fast as it did when I looked at the calendar!

Bunk Beds- finally!

Saturday started off open and just plans for cleaning and studying. Well, one thing led to another and before the day was over we had seriously gutted out 2 kids bedrooms, moved and assembled bunk beds, mowed the yard, studied, and had a movie night with the ladies. Phew! We was exhausted! A friend of ours from the ward is moving out of the country and contacted us to see if we were interested in buying their bunk beds. We went to look at them more than a month ago and thought they would work out great. However, being Shena, I still found a way to over think it. In the end, we bought them. I made the mistake of telling the boys about it last week. They have been asking when we were going to get them ever since. My friend was going to have us pick them up towards the end of this week but I got a call late Saturday morning from her asking if we could get them asap. After a quick call to Cheeto and Kris, and 30 minutes later... we had bunk beds in our front yard. When I got home with the kids, the boys were ecstatic. They were more than willing to help assemble them. Earlier that morning, Cheeto had gone with his dad to play soccer. I decided to take advantage of no kids and no husband to clean out Sassy's room. I then I had the idea of moving one of the boys box springs and frame to complete Sassy's bed. I knew I was going to get a scolding from Cheeto for moving it all by myself- but I weighed the options and decided it was worth it. The way it worked out it was a good thing I did because that made the boys room even more ready for moving bunk beds in. After getting everything put back together the boys and Sassy too were on those beds all afternoon. Cade kept saying, "Mom, I can't wait to go to bed tonight." Cade, of course, is sleeping on the top because he is older and doesn't ever get out of bed in the night. Now they have slept in them a few nights, Cade has changed his mind and wants the bottom. Oh well, can't ever make him happy! He hasn't fought much about it just mentioned it here and there about it. Kelson loves that his bed feels like a fort or something. Kelson helping daddy hold up the base while Cheeto bolts it together.

Mission complete!

Bunk bed brothers!

Funny Kid Quote of the Day
Kelson hasn't felt well the past few days. He has been stuffy and coughing. At church yesterday he was blue and didn't want to do much. I told him in sacrament meeting that when I didn't feel well that my mom would make me Jello. He loves Jello. So... if he would try really hard to be good through church then we could make him some Jello. During primary he really started to perk up some. I asked him if he was starting to feel better. He said, "Yes, but just a tiny little bit. I think I'm still going to need some Jello."

28 weeks 3 days

Yep... it's getting bigger! Analise has started talking to my stomach. She thinks she's hilarious! I'm getting more tired everyday! Almost there- right? A little over 10 weeks! I think I can... I think I can... Was it really this bad last time? I'm just really in a complaining mood right now, perhaps it's best that I not be blogging!

Loving life!

I cannot say enough how much I have enjoyed my time with Sassy the past few weeks. She is such a different little girl when big brothers are not around. I can see how much she has grown just in the few weeks they have been gone. She talks in full sentences and seems so mature on so many levels. Girls! What a difference from boys! She loves to run errands. She never has tried running away from me in stores. She loves to help grocery shop, clean, and my favorite take naps with mommy! She use to take them in her bed but now has become so content to lie next to me and dose. I love it! We have lunch everyday by ourselves. She acts like this is her favorite time of day. She helps make whatever and we sit down together for a quiet lunch. She helps with the clean up and then we nap. This particular day she wanted peanut butter sandwiches and chocolate milk (those two have to go together- it's an Arellano thing). I had remembered these Nesquik cups that were mine when I was little. I got them down and we had chocolate milk. She was so excited that... guess what... yep- she wanted to take a picture to show daddy. This is our best way of showing daddy what we do while he's working so hard! It's even on the blog that he hears about it just like the rest of you.

Our kids work on a behavior system with earning rocks. They earn shiny blue rocks and fill jars when they do things without asking, sharing, good behavior in public, homework without complaints, eating all of their dinner, not wetting their pants (sassy-not so much the boys :) )... you get the idea. They finally filled them up for the second time. We treated them to the Dollar Store. Big deal right? Well, they thought so. The boys picked out some hats. Analise surprised me. She wanted this baby swimsuit. It was actually for a real child but she wanted it for her cabbage patch doll. She was so cute about it, especially because it was purple and it had flip flops on it - her two favorite things. I just had to warn her that just because her baby had a swim suit on didn't mean that she could really go swimming!

PS- Hey Doodles- I want you to notice the lights. Cheeto came home that night after your post and changed them. The next morning we about blinded the kids at breakfast.

Funny Kid Quote of the Day
Cade had me cracking up at 6:30 in the morning. Saturday we had gone to a birthday party and we got a number of misquito bites. They always look worse on my kids for some reason. He was itching and getting frustrated. Well, I thought that's what he was itching. He finally had had it and yelled, "MOM- I'm growing radishes!" I immediately stopped what I was doing to say, "What?!!?" I looked over and he had a "rash." Kelson had a rash on his legs in the summer and so we talked about what types of things cause rashes and you just have to put some cortizone on it and it will help. Well, obviously Cade was confused. It was Kelson that said, "Cade- not radishes. It's called a rash, silly!" Cade didn't like Kelson correcting him. Today I asked him about it and he still was calling it a radish.

Cheeto's office

Cheeto finally took some good pictures of his finished office. This is mostly for my parents that were here and didn't get to really see the final product. It's still taking some time to get everything figured out. Cheeto does a lot of the computer fixing and networking and such. This takes him away from doing his own business. He is also studying like a mad man to get as many tests taken before baby comes. He rocks! That's all I can say. I couldn't ask for a better man. Especially one that is so motivated and dedicated. It's been hard on us at home but I know he's feeling like he's being pulled both ways. The kids and I want him at home but he needs to be at the office so much. It's all temporary and we'll survive. We just take a day at a time.

Teacher Change and lights out!

Last friday I got a call from Cade's school letting us know that Cade's teacher was offered a position at the central offices and had accepted it. She would be helping with the transition and would be leaving by Wednesday of this week (today). The new teacher, Mrs. Foster, was a 5th grade teacher and would be moving to teach Cade's class. I wasn't really thrilled about this at first. I tried talking to parents with older kids in the same school to see what I could find out about her but came up with nothing. Last night they had an open house at the school which gave us the chance to meet her. I have to admit I never go to these things but thought we really should under the circumstances. We met with Kelson's teacher first. She was great. I pretty much knew what she would say, "Kelson is such a happy boy. He gets lots of happy sticks. He loves to help others, is kind to everyone and is a great participant." All good things. We are proud of the way he is adjusting.
My first impression of Mrs. Foster is good. In a way, I think she will better than Mrs. Saad. Mrs. Saad was very quiet and seemed almost distant in the couple of times that I met with and tried to speak with her. Mrs. Foster has a louder personality and I think that is better for Cade. Cade is so quiet and shy anyway that he does better with teachers that will be energetic and outgoing to make learning exciting. She has some good teaching tools to teach the students respect and be a good citizen of society. A great thing in today's world.
This might be an answer to my prayers- not saying that Mrs. Saad was going to be a bad thing. I just really feel like this is going to be a better situation. Cheeto said she talked too much. The open house was suppose to start at 7pm but she wanted to wait to start until some more parents filtered in. She started at 7:25pm and ended about 7:50pm. I didn't think that was too bad. I think he was just tired and hungry. You know what an empty stomach can do to people.
Cade said today went well. They have been taking pretesting the past couple of days. I think Cade likes her already because she didn't believe in having homework on these testing days- said it was a lot for them to take in. I agreed and Cade was all for a night free of homework. We'll see how the next few weeks go and I'll post an update.

Tonight started out fine until it was time to turn lights out. I yelled for them to get them turn out or else. Cade yelled back, "MOM! Our light won't turn off!" I thought to myself, "that's impossible. You're making this up- just another excuse!" Nope, he was right. The toggle on the switch had completely broken off and their light would not turn off unless you stood there and held it in. I sent the boys to sleep in my bed- for the time being. Cheeto was of course studying. I called to ask him what he suggested doing. He said have the boys sleep in our bed- for the time being! We are sticklers about not allowing kids to sleep in our bed! He said he would be awhile but he would take the bulbs out or figure something out for tonight. I could start to smell something burning so I called Lettie and Kris to see if they would come help. Lucky me- they were already on their way out to get dog food for Bofo. They got the light bulbs out and the switch disconnected. Of course this got the kids all wound up and not sleepy anymore. :) We had to turn the breakers off to do so. Cade came outside and yelled at me for causing a blackout! He hates when the power goes out- the world comes to an end! Well, I told them that was fine for tonight and Cheeto would fix it tomorrow. But Kris being Kris just wanted to have it fixed. So they are at Lowes as I'm typing getting a new switch and coming back to install it. What in-laws I have! Now that is love!

Funny Kid Quote of the Day
Yesterday I was at the grocery store. I was talking to a guy in the seafood department. I looked over and saw that Analise was holding her nose. As we walked away she said, "Mommy- you no buy fish. It stinky! We go smell the cookies!" Yep- she has some of her father in her too!

Saturdays!

I think I'm looking forward to not having soccer games every Saturday. However, even without soccer we do a good job at finding things to fill the day. The tropical storm Hanna had presented herself yesterday morning. It was raining pretty good. Tia Lettie helped me take the kids to Home Depot for kids. Cade was excited because they made football field goals. It wasn't too difficult helping the boys but Analise required her own adult to help her. We got along great and made some fun field goals. We came home to put on some finishing touches- ie paint. I think they liked this more than building them. Analise painted hers purple. Cade's had to be yellow- more realistic. Kelson's is Carolina Panther blue- of course. Cheeto saw them last night and assumed we had painted them Steelers Yellow, Carolina blue and Viking Purple. That man has NFL on the mind for most things! :) I love him though!
Cheeto has been killing himself everyday studying. He has a test tomorrow morning so he has been stressed to say the least. We might have seen him a total of 5 hours all week. Not much in 7 days. I miss his companionship at night. I know he's doing it for us so I try so hard not to complain and just keeping moving forward. The kids are starting to get grumpy. This often happens when they see a little too much of mom! We'll make though. We don't have any other choice do we!?!?!

can I really do this!?!?!?

Today has been one of those days where I have asked myself many times, "Can I really be a mother of 4 and still hold it together?" WOW! I have mentioned all the craziness that has been going on around here with Cheeto moving, Cheeto studying, school starting- which means homework, getting Christmas done before baby, and starting to feel really pregnant! I'm beginning to really ponder why did we ever do a fourth. I know this is just a bad day and I'll get over it especially after I have the baby in our arms and feel the love that goes with a new little one. It was seriously one thing after another today. The kids were a bunch of whiners all afternoon which just ended the day on such a good note. (feel the sarcasm!)
I officially broke out maternity clothes yesterday. I wore my first maternity shirt and pants. Analise calls them my baby clothes. She thinks the pants are funny! Of course, I hate them and think they look funny too. But hey- I only have to wear them a few months which is nice. This is part of my downer day- feeling very pregnant. The backaches are constant and makes me lose motivation.

Cade stressed me out last night by telling me that he had a project that was due yesterday. We had to start an "All about me" poster at 7:00 last night. Cheeto went to get poster board at 10pm for it. I had to wake Cade up before 6am to get the rest of it finished before school today. I totally forgot I had to get Kelson ready for school as well. It was almost 6:45am when he got up and dressed. The bus comes at 7am on the dot. Cheeto and I rushed to get them fed, lunches made and shoes tied. It was a crazy morning. I felt like I had had my work out all ready. He finished it and it looked great considering the time frame we did it in.


He also had his first night of scouts tonight. He was so excited about wearing his new shirt and feeling like one of the big kids. He asked me to take his picture but he wanted to act like he was "discovering" a new tree on a hike. Funny kid!

Cheeto went to the Scouting Office and bought him all his new gear. Kelson is so jealous that Cade gets to start scouts. Cade was pretty excited. He told me to get the camera. Cheeto was mocking me. As you can tell in these pictures!

Analise has been fussing about her new "big girl" bed. She still wants to sleep in the crib. This afternoon I heard her crying asking me to "let her out". I knew exactly where she was so I went in with the camera. You can see what she had been up to. T-R-O-U-B-L-E!!!!

PS - I warned you all that I'm a more efficient blogger when kids are in school!

Sassersizing

Analise loves to work out with me. She is my inspiration to start doing more. She was so excited to get all sweaty this morning. She asked me to take her picture. Can you say "mother's child"?!?!?!? I have to say she's pretty coordinated for a 2 year old. She must have some of her mother's dancer in her. I love having a little girl!

Funny Kid Quote of the Day
Last night while I was bathing Analise when she remembered that Daddy had popped her balloon the day before. She got upset all over again. Then she says, "I'm going to get Daddy's butt- SO BAD! He needs naughty mat time." I was laughing so hard.

Labor Day- is it really a vacation day?

NOPE! Yesterday was not a day off- that's for sure. Cheeto got up and mowed first thing before it got too hot. I cleaned the house. I thought that it would be the usual quick clean. As I went to mop the kitchen some annoying bugs presented themselves under my stove. I went and got Cheeto to show him. He suggested we pull out the stove and clean under it. In my mind, I'm thinking, "NO WAY! I don't think I want to know what's under there!" Thankfully it wasn't that bad... yet. It was a good thing to get it cleaned though. We found almost an entire puzzle under there.
We got cleaned up to only head back to Cheeto's office for the remainder of the day. Mom agreed to help with the kids. The boys ended up going golfing with Papa. Analise started off golfing but got tired so G'ma had to go get her. She's a bit young to walk 9 holes. (Par 3- of course!) Mom made us all dinner. YIPPEE! I was so thankful for that! Cheeto's office is really coming together. I think it looks great. His private office shows so much of his personality. I would have to say it's probably his dream office. Leather couch, yuppy desk, family pictures, steelers, panthers... what else describes my husband. I'm so proud of what he has done. We were discussing how much testing he has left. We are so close. If we can just survive the next 7 months!

Cheeto wasn't thrilled that I was taking pictures when it wasn't all completely finished. I like stage pictures. You can't appreciate it if you don't see the growing stages. On the other hand, Jim was all about taking some pictures.

While unpacking boxes we found hundreds of beanie babies. They use them in seminars for something. Not quite sure what for- so don't ask! :) Anywho... They were running short on space so Cheeto said to take a few home to the kids. Cheeto and I are far from pet people. However, the kids enjoy playing with Cheeto's brother and sister's dogs. Cheeto laughed and said to give them beanie baby dogs and tell them this is the close as they will ever come to a pet of their own. They got to pick which one they wanted. Kelson replaced his "Pippy" lamb that has pretty much been worn out. Analise looked at one and said it looked sad (it was a Bassett hound) so she picked one that looked happy. If anyone knows Analise, she is one happy little girl. She named her puppy, "Happy." Cade chose another one and name him "George". Cheeto really gave them them to the kids because of all the hard work they did helping him last week. The kids were thrilled- As you can tell!

26 weeks 3 days

Time just isn't going fast enough for this pregnancy! Seems like we got to 20 weeks really fast and now the past 6 weeks have just come to a hault. I hope because kids are in school and working on Christmas projects will help time go by faster! Kelson was able to feel him/her move the other night. He got such a twinkle in his eye. The other 2 kids haven't been around when he/she has been moving.

What a busy Saturday!

Saturday was so busy that we required Daddy all day as well as a babysitter. I started off walking with a friend at 7am. Cheeto had had a rough night so I took Analise with me, left the boys reading books in their rooms and Cheeto asleep. Pushing Analise sure adds to those big hills we walk, which was good now but awful at the time.
Cade had a picture appointment at Portrait Innovations (which is the best picture place in my opinion!)at 10am so we had to hurry to get everyone ready and out the door. It's so much easier getting boys ready for pictures- especially an 8 year old! I have never had to go on a Saturday before and I vow never to do it again. It was a zoo. I was glad Cade was in a good mood and was very patient and cooperative. We have been looking for a mattress so Cheeto took the other two and looked and priced them out while I was with Cade. Cheeto was there for the picture decision process. He vows to never do that again! :)

This is so Cade! It was one of my favorites but now my absolute favorite. I try really hard to capture who they are at this stage in their life. Cade is really into football and that is my Cade's smile. I had no other choice but to pick this one! He was thrilled that I chose the football pose.

We went to Costco while waiting for the pictures for our weekly restocking of milk, bread and cheese. We decided that Costco had the best deal on a mattress so we bought one there. It was originally going to go in Analise's room but then we decided that Kelson was older and had the crappiest bed so he should get the new one- my frustration will come with this decision later! We got home when I got a phone call asking for an impression appointment at 2pm. We all ate fast, rushed to get the mattresses situated, the house picked up, and all the kids in quiet time. Analise was so excited about her new bed at first that she required us to put her pj's on for nap. However, that excitement only lasted 2 minutes. She never did take a nap. Cheeto took the kids to see Papa and G'ma while I had my appointment. Of course, my client was over 30 minutes late! I hate that! I got to mom's with only about 20 minutes to say hi, make a sandwich for the little kids and get them to a friends house. Cheeto and I were taking Cade out for his birthday dinner and shopping with his birthday money. Cade was so wired. We ate dinner at IHOP- I know- big deal. We took him to Barnes and Noble to get some new chapter books for him. He also got himself a nice Spiderman bookmark. He has been reading non-stop since we got home last night. I'm so proud of him and how he loves to read. Thanks G'ma and Papa for the gift card!


After Barnes and Noble we had to run to Target real fast for last minute school supplies and a mattress cover. I decided not to buy the expensive waterproof ones since Kelson has pretty much outgrown wetting the bed- or so I thought.
Bedtime was quite exciting for everyone. Cade was even excited for his brother and sister! Cheeto was pretty jealous of Kelson's new bed. He told Kelson to come and tell me that he was sleeping in Kelson's bed. Analise went right to sleep- no qualms or questions!
I woke up at 3am with Kelson in bed with us. I went to carry him back and found that he had wet his bed. I had put a wet mattress crib mat under his sheets where he sleeps so just in case he had an accident it was catch it all. Of course, he was on his pillow when it happened so he soaked his pillow and the new mattress. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!?!?! Is what I was silently screaming at 3am this morning. The whole thing woke up Cheeto and neither one of us got back to sleep for quite awhile. Cheeto was up much longer than I was though. Poor guy is exhausted! I'm just very grumpy from a lack of sleep and looking at a brand new, NICE wet mattress. Why couldn't Cheeto and I have the new one! :)

Funny Kid Quote of the Day
I hope this doesn't gross anyone out... but I it's seriously the funniest thing I have heard from Analise in a long time! This morning I was going to the bathroom. All you mother's out there- can you remember the last time you got to go by yourself! The occassions are rare for me too! Analise has been potty trained for quiet awhile now but I still praise her for going and not having accidents. I didn't realize I did it until this morning but I must say, "Great job sweetheart" and then kiss her cheek. Well, when I went this morning, Analise yelled, "Great job sweetheart" and kissed my cheek. She then went on to say, "Good job, Mommy- that was a good girl!" It still makes me laugh!

Cheeto moves in...

Friday was a busy, exhausting day. It all really started Thursday after school. I took the boys down to the new office just about as soon as they got off the bus. After snack of course! Cheeto was able to start moving a few things. He had bought some furniture carts to make the move easier. We would load them up and push them one way and then the kids got to take turns riding the cart back. This was the highlight of moving day! At one point we had all three kids on the cart. We got a lot of smiles and laughs as we walked the "what seems like a mile" walk back and forth. We also got lots of compliments about how nice it must be to have so much help. It's good for the kids to learn how to work and help each other as a family! I loved watching them. This was good time to spend with daddy too!

Friday, Analise and I spent all but the 30 minutes to come and get the boys helping daddy. We got down there about 8:30am and left at 6pm. We made a few trips before anyone else got there. Analise would ride inside the desks holding the drawers shut and such. She was aon cloud 9 being the only one there and getting A LOT of attention. Cheeto knows how much I love to assemble/build things. He put me in charge of putting together a massive desk. It took until after 2pm to put it together. I did have to help with other things in between. Their assistant was very grateful for my handy work. Mom and Dad also came down for the morning.
The office is looking really good! It has such character. I LOVE IT! Couple of more days of moving and he should be up and working again. I pray they don't move again anytime in the next 40 years! :)

Sassy Toes

A little over a week ago, I got a much needed pedicure. Grandma was watching Analise and dropped by just as my toes were getting polish. Analise came to sit on my lap and was just memorized by this process. Ever since, she wanted an "official" pedicure. So the second day of school as the boys left she had all of the stuff pulled out. If I have ever panted her toes in the past it has been a very pale color. This time time she wanted BOLD! She was so proud of her purple toes. Hey, whatever makes her happy- right! :)

Rain, moving, and much needed sleep!

Yesterday did not greet the morning happily for the boys. They woke up to rolling thunder and flashes of lightening. Kelson immediately stated that he wasn't going to ride the bus in this weather. I assured him he would be fine. He still wanted me to ask Cheeto to take them to school. I may be a bad mother but I didn't want to start taking them in the morning or giving them an excuse for us to take them. Cheeto did stand out in the rain covering them with an umbrella until the bus came; of course, it was 10 minutes late. Cheeto's suit pants were soaked! What a good daddy he is! It pretty much rained, no I mean, POURED, all day. It was part of the tropical storm Faye that went through Florida a week ago. About 2:25pm our neighbor knocked on the door to drop of some coupons. I'm so glad he did because he said I needed to check the news and see what was up with the schools. Evidently some counties were holding all students until the national weather gave the ok to dismiss them because of flooding and tornado's. Our schools were holding all buses but we were still allowed, for the time being, to go pick up our kids. Mom and Dad live less than a mile from the school. I called Mom and she went as fast as she could to go get the boys. I can't remember what happened but there was a time last year that Cade had to sit at the school for 2 extra hours. This did not make him happy- so I was hoping that Mom could still get them. Analise was still napping and I knew it would take me 15 to 20 minutes to get there. Mom, bless her heart, got them in no time and took them back to her house. Phew! Cade was bummed because they put the kids in the halls for the tornado warning right after his lunch. He had his lunch box but was not allowed back in the class room to get his backpack. He was worried about it. Kelson was fine. He has lunch really early so he came home with all of his belongings. The county did have some tornado's touch down with minimal damage. Thankfully we were all kept safe! It was after 4pm when I got the call stating that the buses were allowed to take students home. I'm so thankful for great grandma's and papas that are willing to run and get them fast.
Today Cheeto got the ok to move into his new office. The day has come. He is excited. I'm sure he wishes it was a new home rather than a new office but we take what we get. I'm excited for him. It's a great stepping stone in his career. After school, I packed up the kids and went down to start helping him move some things. I know it probably takes him a bit longer having us help but its a great teaching tool for the boys. They worked hard. We are really going to start moving tomorrow. I'll take some more pictures. You know me! :)
We are all exhausted. Cheeto isn't use to the 6am wake up. The boys usually get up around 6:15 so the 15 minutes isn't too hard on them. Analise has been more than willing to take her naps this week. I've been grateful for this one. We both took a great 2 hour nap today. I love it when this happens. She is a great little helper during the day. I've been really able to see her personality come out now that it's just the two of us. She still really misses her brothers though. I told her it would only be a few short months and she would have a baby all to her self to play with. This brought a sassy little grin to her face. What busy lives we live... but I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's been exciting to see the boys getting ready together, leaving together, and walking together off the bus. I'm a proud mommy and wife right now!

PS... I was so excited when my sister-in-law informed me today that we are in the double digits until our due date. Why hadn't I been counting down better? I hope the next 99 days just fly by. I'm starting to feel really pregnant and really disliking it! I try to stay positive and keep telling myself... this is the last one! It has to be!!!!

First Day of School

The day had finally arrived. Kelson couldn't stand the wait. He has been counting down days, hours and minutes. Last night was just about unbearable for him. As you can see in one of the pictures... he was up way past his bedtime. The excitement was just too much for him. Cade, on the other hand, was mad that school was starting. My parents had to leave about the same we had to get kids up for school. Good byes usually turn into a day of tears. However, today with school starting and knowing they are going to be back in just a few short months to see the new baby it made it easier. Cheeto gave Kelson a blessing and of course Cade refused! We knoew this is the way it would be. Cade said it was because mom always cries during blessings. We tried to explain that that wasn't a bad thing. What can I say- we all feel the spirit differently! I cry- it's that simple! Cheeto and I took the boys to their classrooms this morning. We wanted Cade to be able to take Kelson to his classroom for the first few days. He did a great job helping him. Some parents let their kids ride the bus and then met them at the school. I was glad that we weren't one of those. :) Kelson did great! He walked right in, put his backpack away, signed his name and sat at his desk. I gave him a love and said good bye and he was fine. Nothing more! Cade pouted all the way to his class. He does this every year. I told Cheeto that again it was harder to leave Cade than it was to leave Kelson. And I'm use to Cade being gone all day. The fact that I have to leave my son so unhappy just makes me sad. Of course he comes home fine, but it still bothers me every year. I got through the entire day without crying. Analise was not the same. Poor little girl was so sad without her brothers. She cried all the way home from the school. At lunch, she was expecting her brothers as well. She woke from her nap thinking they would be home. Finally, when it was time to wait outside for the bus she was right there waiting.
They made it off the bus just fine. Kelson was all smiles until I asked how his day was. It was a rainy day so he was bummed about not being able to go on the playground. He said they were so busy they had no time for play. He also was mad because his teacher just gave him a hot lunch, not even asking him if he had a lunch box. She also didn't give them a snack. Poor kid was starving!
Cade didn't have much to say. He was excited to be the big brother and show Kelson the ropes. He likes his teacher, which is nice. We shall see how the next few days go.

Cade's Birthday Weekend

Wednesday started with cleaning the house before my parents flew. We made a mad dash to cut hair and get it cleaned before leaving for the airport. We literally picked up my parents and drove to the Outer Banks. We seemed like it took forever to get there. We stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner. We got to the hotel just after 9pm. It made a late night for the kids. They did great in the car though. Thursday we woke up and got on the road to Cape Hatteras early, which was good because it was really getting busy by the time we left. It was here that I realized that I had left my camera's memory card in my computer at home. I was so mad! Thankfully we brought our digital video camera. We just got it for Christmas and still haven't learned all it's features. I had to learn real quick how to make it take still pictures. The picture quality isn't near as good but it's better than no pictures at all! Cade, Kelson, G'ma and I climbed the lighthouse. Papa's foot was hurt and Analise was too short to go so they patiently waited at the bottom. Kelson climbed up so fast. He beat us all. However, he wasn't so excited to make the trek down. G'ma was paranoid once she got to the top. She walked around it once and only paused long enough to have someone take our picture. She wouldn't let go of the inside wall even for that though. We didn't have any idea how bad our legs would hurt the next few days.
We got some lunch and ventured to Kitty Hawk. It wasn't the most fun for the kids. They were more focused on getting their time on the beach. Once on the beach, they were tickled pink. It was so windy though. I don't think I'm a beach person. I'm perfectly content to live inland away from the musty smell, salty water, and sand. Analise got sand in her swim suit and wanted to go back to the room. I thought it was going to be hard to get the kids off the beach. I had no idea it was going to take convincing my mother to leave. We got showered, went to dinner and miniture golfing. The wind started to really pick up by this time. We had ordered ice cream cones and WOW it was a mess. The wind was causing them to melt so fast that none of us could keep up. We got some cups but Cade refused to use it. I was getting so frustrated with him. This is when the frustration for the entire weekend would start with Cade.

Cade's 8th birthday was Friday. I had planned a special day for him even though we wouldn't be having the traditional cake and ice cream with presents that night with the family. We took the kids to the NC Aquarium (which was a disappointment- BTW). We got him a Star Wars happy meal at McDonalds (something he had been asking for). We got home and waited for Cheeto to get home from Philadelphia (he had been there on a business trip). It was friday night fireworks at the Hoppers game. I thought Cade would enjoy doing this for his birthday. I called ahead and had them announce and put his name on the big screen during the 5th inning. Cade was not impressed with this either. It didn't matter what I did he was not going to be happy. We had to change his baptism to Saturday morning instead of Sunday. He started pitching fits about this Friday night.

Saturday morning he woke up and refused to get dressed or go to the church. I woke up Cheeto and said he needed to talk to him. After 15 minutes or so, Cade came out and said he was ready to be baptized. So many friends and family came for his special day. I would like to thank those who took the time and money to make the trip to participate in such a milestone in Cade's life. Cheeto did a great job. I had never been more proud to be married to such a man. Such a worthy man, that made this day more special. Nothing touches my heart more than to see my husband acting with the priesthood. I was emotional of course. I always do this however, pregnancy hormones weren't helping I'm sure! Things went smoothly until we started taking pictures afterwards. Then the Cade grumpies set in! He wasn't happy with us then. It semi-spiraled down from there. I decorated his cake finally that night and that perked him up a bit but not enough.

Sunday was a different day. We had two wards get divided up to make 3 so we had a joined meeting at 1pm. It was nice to have my parents in town so we didn't have to haul kids to a 2 hour sacrament meeting. We are in the same ward so no changes for us other than some new leaders. We had Cade's "party" right after. A friend has a helium balloon maker and gave me some great balloons to hang everywhere. Cade requested a Steelers/Panthers birthday. This was very convenient- made decorating very easy. Cade wanted us all to wear our shirts. I wasn't sure if mine would still fit. It was close but it worked fine for today anyway. I have started a tradition to make the kids videos of their last year. I spent hours getting his together, tried burning it 3 times and it still didn't work. What a waste of time! Some friends and family came to share the afternoon with us. I thought Cade would like this as well. NOPE! After presents his exact words were, "Was that it?" I wanted to scream in his face, "IS THAT IT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?!?!?!" I was so mad. I'm still fuming a bit. Can you tell? I have bent over backwards for 3 days to make the child have a great 8th birthday. 3 days! And this is how he acts? If I remember right this is exactly what he did last year. I'm sure I'm threatening... but I refuse to do anything at all next year.
It's been a crazy 5 days. I drove the entire time at the beach, which I never do. I don't mind driving. It's just being married to Cheeto it doesn't require me to drive. He refuses to allow anyone else to drive. After driving, late nights, stress of the baptism and birthday party- I'm exhausted. Tomorrow the boys have their open house at school and Tuesday is the first day of school as well as having to have my parents at the airport by 7am. It's going to be exhausting for a couple of more days if I can just make it that long.

Funny Kid Quote of the Day
When we leaving the hotel to drive to Cape Hatteras, Cade noticed that the gas was getting low. It wasn't even close to the "E" yet but he kept saying, "Mom we need to get gas." I said we would but later. Another 15 minutes goes by, "Mom- We need to get gas now!" I asked why he was concerned about the gas. He said, "Mom, I really don't want to push Millie when she runs our of gas." (Millie is what we named the van) Where do they get these ideas?

Last Summer Bash with Papa A

Yesterday morning Papa A came to take the boys golfing at 9am. The last words out of his mouth were, "We have nothing to be back for, right?" I really didn't think he meant it. They were gone all day and still stayed the night over there last night. WOW! An entire 24 hours without my boys. I thought Analise would go through brother withdrawal at some point. It wasn't until about 4:30pm that she was asking for "her" Kelson. It was Monday night bean night so we were headed that way anyway. When we got there Cade and Kelson showed us what they had done all afternoon. They were busy little boys. They had built this 'fort' with a little bit of help from Papa. I was impressed with their dedicated efforts. They were stinky, sweaty, tired little boys when I saw them.

Analise was helping G'ma again with rolling out tortillas. It almost looks like she had a fight with the flour this time. We couldn't resist taking some pictures.

We got through dinner and started FHE. We did a special lesson for Cade's baptism, which is Saturday. It turned out perfect. I had placed objects in a bag to discuss that related to baptism. The last object was a CTR ring that we gave to Cade to wear. It was perfect. We all shared stories of our baptism day and some when the Holy Ghost has protected us or guided us in making the right decisions. It was one of those lessons that I had walked away feeling very happy with what I had prepared. I think the kids enjoyed it as well.

Funny Kid Quote of the Day
During FHE, Cade had chose an eraser out of the bag. We discussed how when you are baptized all our sins are "erased" per say. However, after we are baptized we can just erase them we have to do something else that Heavenly Father and our Savior gave us something wonderful to help us. I was trying to get them to say repentance. So I started saying... "Re.... " to help them. Kelson said, "I know.... REFRESHMENTS!"