just updating pictures... try to write later

Daddy think he needs a nap too. Analise loves to sleep on her tummy!

Grandma loves to read stories! And as you can tell... so do my boys! They were in heaven!

What a cutie!

Last loves with mom before she had to leave. :(

Tio Marcos' first loves with Analise.

Cade's first soccer game in the spring. Analise's first outing... guess what she did? No guesses......? she exploded out of her diaper. I had an outfit in my car but we were parked way out in nowhere. I had Cade's other soccer shirt in my bag.... we improvised. Cade thought it was funny that he had to share with his sister. He said he understood why Kelson wore his clothes... because he was a boy!
Cade loves to read books to his brother and sister. I love it... it really helps me out. Analise even likes to be read to. What a mommy helper he is!
"Let me think... Do i really want to go to sleep?"

Again... Kelson fell asleep in a funny position.
Cade had to make a project that resembled a farm. We decided to plant some seeds and put a tractor in the box to make it look like Papa C's farm. Cade doesn't immediately think a farm has animals... they are made of potatoes, grain, and combines. :)

I was just trying on Analise's Easter dress. She loved it so much she immediately started smiling. What was more funny was that when I took it off... she screamed. Think she was trying to tell me something?

Analise at 6 Weeks, 5 Days

"That's what friends are for..."

I just had to add this "Pearls Before Swine" cartoon. This is my favorite. For some reason it makes me think of Dede Plummer every time I read it. Click on the picture itself for a bigger, more easier to reader versioner. Enjoy:

Grandma and Papa Christensen with the grandkids on Analise's blessing day. Cade was getting tired of being in his sunday clothes. Man that started early!

Daddy's Lil' girl- guess who dressed her?

Daddy's Lil' Steelers fans!

We love our daddy's Steelers! Cheeto had all of us cheering for the Steelers, well everyone except my dad. I think Cade wanted it more like a party, but Cheeto was too nervous to settle down for a party. Go Steelers!

Grandma Christensen made Analise's blessing dress. She made it out of remnants of my wedding dress. That made it extra special. Grandma Arellano made her her blessing blanket. Blessed to have such wonderful talented Grandma's!

What a sweet heart!

Chemo had meetings after church and Nola wasn't feeling well and decided to try to get into an urgent care for an antibiotic. This explains why we took pictures at the church.

Analise's blessing day. I hope Cade was scratching his nose and not picking it. Isn't that just the boy thing to do in a family picture? Wow! look at the leg Kelson is showing. It was an interesting few minutes trying to get a good picture.

Amost all of the "Idaho Mamas!" Becky left early so she missed out.
This is Analise's party. She was spoiled of course, lots of fun girly clothes and blankets. Some of my friends and mom's went in together and bought me this rocking chair. It is awesome. Analise and I love rocking in each night!

Work & Play Well... we are all doing fine. Cheeto and I are adjusting to three children. Having older ones really helps most of the time. Cade and Kelson are such good mommy helpers. I'm so blessed to have them all.
Cade Cade was on the news tonight. I saw his teacher on the morning news and saw that the full report was going to be on the 5pm evening news. He was so excited to see his classroom, but was estatic when he saw himself. Fun times! He is enjoying school. He is getting better at getting up and ready for school. He is reading everything. He asks us how to spell everything. I love watching him sound out words and begin reading on his own.
Kelson Kelson loves being with his sister all day. He plays hard too. I have got him napping from 12pm- 1:45pm. This way I can get a nap each day too. I love it! He has started to copy-cat Cade's spanish. It's awesome to hear them both singing and talking in Spanish. The other day I heard Kelson asking Cade how do you say chip in Spanish. Cade answered..."I don't want to speak spanish right now, but thanks for asking nice!" Funny!
Analise Analise is such a good baby. I was blessed to have a good eater and sleeper this time around. She has had only one night of getting up more than once. She wakes up between 3 and 4 each morning to eat and then sleeps until about 6am. I can handle that. Cheeto still thinks she never sleeps. I think he has forgotten how much some babies wake up each night, which is often every couple of hours. Most nights I sleep in her room to allow him the sleep. What a nice wife I am- huh? She did the funniest thing a couple of weeks ago. I had finished changing her diaper on our bed and left to wash my hands. I heard her just screaming. The first thought that went through my mind was that one of the boys had jumped on her or something like that. I ran over and she had gotten both of her fists caught in her hair and she didn't know how to let go. She just kept pulling her own hair. She screamed more when I tried opening her hands to let it go. I should have grabbed a camera. She has done it a couple of more times since then.
Arellano Update Mom's brother-in-law passed away Sunday, so she left Monday for Idaho to attend his funeral. Dad is here and there and everywhere. Staying busy. He has had the boys playing at his house the past couple of afternoons. The boys love it and I hope it gives him some company.
Christensen Update Mom and Dad got hom Monday. We had so much fun with them. I hate to see the time go so quickly. The boys really bonded with them this time out. I think getting older helps. They are just running the crazy life they have always had. Going to Boise this weekend and Provo the next and then Mom is in NC the next. Crazy! Crazy Kids!

This kid is going to be cool...

At least I hope he is...or he's going to have a hard time in school.

Short update

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Just a couple things.

Analise is doing fine. She's not letting us sleep, of course, but otherwise she is doing well. She's getting used to all the noise around here. Grandma and Grandpa C. are coming out tomorrow, so we'll get some pictures up of them with her.

Cade said something the other day I thought was funny: "Dad. When your stomach makes the sound ggrrrrowwwlllll it means you are hungry. And when your mouth makes the sound ggrrrrowwwllll it means you are thirsty. Yup."

Kelson tells us several times a day that he loves Analise. Maybe he feels guilty for trying to send her back after the first day. He's talking up a storm.

Shena is slowly feeling better. She's spent the last couple of days cleaning the house before her mom gets here. Can't have her mom thinking she doesn't keep a clean house. Even just a few days after she's had a baby.

The Slack Jaw Picture

Panthers Game Photos

Trying to keep you up to date on how Analise is changing. Pictures taken Sunday during the Panthers game. In the one where I'm not looking at the camera, I was reacting to a fumble by DeShaun Foster just as Shena took it. Just so you know (because I know you are concerned), he fumbled, it bounced off the ground and back into his arms as he was being tackled. Very lucky.

By Popular Request - More of Analise

We've enjoyed having Analise here at home. She's slowly getting used to all the noise and commotion. We've had great support from friends bringing dinner and stopping in for visits. We appreciate all that they do for us. The boys are adjusting ok. Kelson said "Take Analise back to the hospital for a minute." At least he said "for a minute." I guess that means he likes her the rest of the time. Every now and then the boys will come up and ask to hold her.

Analise

Pics...

Analise's Entry

Some stats:
Sleep last night (dad): 4.5 hours
Arrival: 5:20 am
Delivery: 2:24 pm
Water broken: 8:00 am
Pitocin: 11:00 am
Labor time: 3 hours 24 minutes
Pushing time: 5.5 minutes
Sex: Female
Weight: 8 lbs. 13.8 oz. (Cade was 7 lbs. 14 oz, Kelson 7 lbs. 11 oz.)
Length: 20.5 inches
Head: 13.75 inches
Chest: 14 inches
Name: Analise Arellano

Got to the hospital at about 5:20. Checked in and into the delivery room by 6:00. Shena let me go out to the Biscuitville on Battleground, just south of Krispy Kreme to get me a bacon egg and cheese sandwich while the nurses (Jim Landon’s daughter, Michelle Butler, was one who helped) were getting her hooked up, taking her vitals, etc. We would have stopped on the way in, but nothing was open yet. I was in the room while Michelle was poking Shena for her IV. Michelle was bragging up about how good she was, then couldn’t get the needle into Shena’s right arm, so she had to switch to the other arm. Luckily she had given Shena some numbing stuff so she wasn’t in any pain while she was digging for a vein. I went inside Biscuitville and took my time eating. I got back to the hospital at about 6:40 or so. We waited around until about 7:50 for Dr. Lowe to come in and break Shena’s water. He did and said if she hadn’t started having good, regular contractions by 10:30, they would start the pitocin. He also said that she could have her epidural just as soon as she felt like she wanted it. He said not to worry about it slowing down the process…recent studies have been saying that there isn’t much to worry about along those lines. The time frame is about the same either way. I talked to mom for a few minutes at about 8:40 or so. She got excited when she saw the caller ID. First thing I told her was “Nothing has happened, I’m just checking in.” She was disappointed. She said Cade was talkative on the way to school. As they drove past Moses Cone he said “Grandma, look, it’s a hospital. But that’s not the hospital mommmy is at. She’s at a different one.” And when they drove past my office he said “Daddy isn’t at work today. He’s with mommy at the hospital to have the baby.” She said Kelson was just playing and hanging out. Probably oblivious to everything that is going on. They brought in a tray of breakfast for me. I’m glad I went to Biscuitville. The eggs were runny and bland, the biscuit was hard. I did eat the mandarin oranges that were included, though. It then became a waiting game. I spent some time surfing on the internet, chatted via IM with Heather Triplett and Teresa Slack (Shena chatted with her for a few minutes, too) and an hour or so listening to music. At about 10:30, Shena had had about 45 minutes worth of contractions every 6 minutes or so, but still not anything happening that meant the baby was coming. We decided to order the epidural and then start the pitocin. The epidural got done about 11:00, and Shena was having a bunch of small contractions every minute, but that was about it. So the nurse was a little hesitant to start the pitocin right away. She finally got it started a little after eleven. Shena kind of dozed in and out until about 12:30 when she started breathing a little heavier. I got up to give her ice chips (my first real contribution for the day) and she started saying that the contractions were really starting to hurt and why wasn’t the epidural working? We tried pushing the “magic button” that gives her a quick dose of it, but it wasn’t working. The contractions didn’t look real bad on the monitor, but she was in a lot of pain. The nurse checked her and she was dilated to a four. Another nurse came in with a fresh supply of epidural drugs, because the others had run out, but it still didn’t seem to be having much effect. After another ½ hour of pain, Dr. Lowe happened to show up (apparently the nurse called to tell him that Shena was in pain and that she had progressed to a four. He checked her again and this time she was too a seven. He said to call the anesthesiologist, and have him give her a different kind of drug. He showed up about 15 minutes later, gave her something else that he said would help, but Shena was still really suffering after about 15 or 20 minutes (the anesthesiologist said it should only take about 10 for it to kick in). At this point, Shena starts saying “I feel like I need to push.” So the nurse checks her again, and says that she is the same as when Dr. Lowe had checked her. Now, every contraction Shena keeps saying the same thing “I need to push.” Both the nurse and I talked her out of it about 10 times over the next ½ hour, just trying to get her to breath. Finally, at about 1:05, Shena looks at me and says “the baby is coming. I can’t not push. Please get Dr. Lowe here!” The nurse was like “Ok, just a minute, let me go and get the meds for the baby, then I will check you again.” She disappears for about 5 minutes. The whole time Shena is having major pain and keeps telling me “I need to push.” I’m not delivering the baby by myself, so I keep telling her “no you don’t. You just think you need to. Keep breathing.” The nurse finally gets back and kind of moseys around getting out the “meds” that she had gone out for. She finally checks Shena about 1:15 or so, and say’s “you are a nine. I will call Dr. Lowe now. If I can just find his number. Let’s see {pulls out little notebook from her pocket}…hmmm…I don’t think I have his number here. Just let me go up to the front desk to get it.” Shena turns and looks at me with the look of murder (I guess that’s what it was…she wasn’t very happy). The nurse has a moment of brilliance and decides it might be quicker to CALL the nurses desk and ask them for Dr. Lowe’s number. She finally gets it, calls Dr. Lowe and says “your patient is at a 9 and says that she feels like she wants to push and she can’t stop it.” About two minutes later Dr. Lowe walks in, while Shena is having a contraction. She is saying “I need to push.” I am saying, “No, don’t push, breath.” Dr. Lowe chimes in from the doorway, “go ahead and push.” Shena’s face turns red as she starts pushing. She only got one little one in when the contraction subsided, which gave Dr. Lowe time to get on his protective gear. The next contraction, for some reason, was 2 minutes later. Kind of strange because they had been coming so fast. But it gave us all time to gather ourselves and get ready. The next contraction came, Shena pushed for ten seconds, breathed, pushed for ten seconds, breathed, then Dr. Lowe said, “Ok, hang on one sec, let me use the bulb on her to get some of the gunk out of her mouth.” Next contraction he told her to “push ½ way,” and out came the baby at 2:24 pm. So her labor was relatively short, from 11:00 to 2:24, but it was extremely painful for the last hour because for some reason the epidural didn’t work the way it did the last two times. The baby came out like they all do, blue and disgusting. She rated an “8” initially (she didn’t cry much in the beginning, just a couple little ones) and then a “9” on the second evaluation (which I think they take like 10 minutes later, or something like that). She looked good…for an alien. We got to hold her after the initial tests and shots (which took about 20 minutes) for the first 45 minutes or so until they finally came and took her to the nursery, and Shena to her room. We got over to her recovery room at about 4:30. I then called mom and met her and the boys at Target so that they could by Analise her first birthday presents. They picked out their own gifts (with a little help from Dad. Kelson wanted to buy her this stuffed horse that was bigger than Cade). Cade bought her a little baby doll, Kelson got her a little white stuffed puppy. Mom stopped at Steak ‘n Shake and bought us all hamburgers, fries and chocolate milkshakes for dinner (I hadn’t eaten, really, since Biscuitville) and we brought it back to the hospital to eat dinner with mom. Just as we were finishing eating, they brought Analise back from the nursery where she had been weighed, measured, bathed, and warmed up in a warming cart they have. The boys were excited to see her. Cade wanted to hold her immediately, and Kelson did as soon as Cade did, but only for about 30 seconds, then he was done with her. The boys were excited to see that Analise had brought a present for them, too. Kind of a goodwill gesture. She got Cade a 100 piece Spiderman puzzle, and she got Kelson a 24 piece Chicken Little puzzle. They were grinning ear to ear when we told them that she had brought those for them. The boys stayed for about an hour and a half or so, and then mom took them home and put them in their pj’s, while I got Shena situated for the night. I then came home, put the boys to bed, and put together this little piece and downloaded pictures to send out to everybody we thought would want one.

months in review

Work & Play OK! OK! So we've been REALLY bad about keeping up with this lately. I'll try to keep this extremely brief but let you in as much as possible. Not much went on in November. Nola and Chemo went to Utah/California for Thanksgiving; which left us to fend for ourselves over the holiday. We are adults, we managed just fine. In a way it was a blessing that a bunch of family wasn't in town over the holiday. All of us got sick. Cade, Kelson, and I were sick with sinus infections, pink eye, colds, and vomiting. The boys were so congested that everytime they would get mucus drainage they would throw up. Not fun for me. I handled it pretty well the first few days just because I was so congested and couldn't smell anything. Cheeto left to get tissues one afternoon and returned later informing me that the house smelled awful, like vomit and such. I couldn't tell until about 2 days later. It made an interesting 4 days. Cheeto wasn't real entertained. Cade talked me into decorating for Christmas 2 days after Thanksgiving. I felt awful but couldn't tell my 5 year old no. We picked up my recently scratched van up a couple days later. We picked it up at night and didn't notice what an awful drop Crown Paint and Body did. They left the inside looking awful. Also, the only way you could open the front passenger door was from the inside. I was so upset. I use to have a brand new car with a 12" white scratch, now I had a car that looked trashed on the inside, a door that is broken that wasn't broken in the first place and an incomplete paint job. We picked it up Friday night and had to wait until Monday to take it back to the shop. Luckly our prayers were answered, Crown was more than willing to fix their mistakes.
To fill you in on some more recent news. Christmas was good. Of course, we were all spoiled and grateful for everything everyone did for us. Adam and Melissa came in a week early. We had a couple of snow days right after their arrival. It was nice for Cade to not have to school for those days. I think he would have had a really hard time being the only kid that had to leave all day. We went to Tanglewood for FHE one night. I struggled sitting in a car for such a long period of time, but the boys loved it! So that makes it all worth it. Christmas morning was lots of fun. Kelson got mad that Santa ate the cookies he left out for him. That was pretty funny. I was grateful that the boys were so pleased with all of their presents. Santa brought them some battery-operated Polar Express trains. They opened those first, anything after that wasn't too exciting I guess. It was funny because they would open a couple of presents

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)

Arellano Update

Christensen Update

Work & Play I knew I would be bad a keeping up with this. I had to go back to my Franklin to catch you all up on the events. Cheeto stole me for 3 days last weekend. He had a trip to Charlotte planned for our anniversary. We took advantage of it this year. Next year with the baby and all, we don't think we'll get to do anything overnight and such. We left Thursday morning. He had massage appointments lined up and a day spa in Charlotte. He got me a prenatal massage and he just had a deep tissue massage. I was really excited but turned out the lady that did mine wasn't all that great. She made me, well- I guess she didn't hold a gun to my head, but she did have lie on my back for the last 30 minutes or so. I was enjoying it up until then, but as soon as I was on my back I had trouble breathing, back started hurting, and then the heartburn set in. After the massages we went to check in at the hotel and then got some lunch/dinner at CrackerBarrel. We wanted to go to a movie but all that was playing close to us was either rated R or nothing we felt like seeing. We ended up watching Chicken Little. We knew that Grandma nad Grandpa were taking the boys to see it, so we figured if we saw at least we would know what the boys were talking about when the tell us about it. It was pretty good. I think it will be one we will add to the home collection. Friday we went to an IMAX at the Discovery Place downtown Charlotte. We were impressed with the downtown area, very nice and clean. The theatre was dome shaped and somewhat distorted the film. Cheeto and I were both sick when it was over. We spent the afternoon shopping at Concord Mills. Cheeto told me we could whatever I wanted. I took advantage of the outlets and got some Christmas shopping done. It was nice. That night I knew we had tickets to Cirque de Soleil's Varekai. Plummers were going to meet us down there. Cheeto kept telling me were having dinner alone. I thought he was kinda rude not to invite them to eat with us. Well, he was trying to surprise me. They were waiting for us at the restaraunt when we got there. They couldn't find a babysitter so they got a hotel room for their kids for a couple of hours. They just brought toys and food and such for them. It made it so they were only gone a couple of hours instead 6 hours paying for a babysitter. They didn't even stay overnight. We had lots of fun. Saturday Cheeto and I just went looking for cribs. We ended up finding one in Greensboro. That set me off to this weeks events. I worked almost everyday on the baby's room. I think I'm pretty much finished. If not, whatever else I want to do it doesn't have to be done before she gets here. I'm very pleased with the result. I seriously spent Tuesday-Friday sewing most of the day. It's a good thing I enjoy it so much. Cheeto has just been working and studying, studying and working. Between preparing for the test he has to take in December and Elders Quorum stuff he stays very busy. I'm amazing on how well he budgets his time between it all. He still finds time to spend evenings with us once in awhile. Last night there was a ward father-son camp out. It was going to get down to about 25-27 degrees so they decided because of the lil' boys they didn't want to go. Grandpa wasn't wild about the cold either. We ended up ordering pizza and watching Kicking and Screaming with Grandma and Grandpa. It was a fun family night.
OH, I almost forgot. I went to Walmart after picking Cade up from school on Wednesday. We got out of the car and stood in front of "Millie" to wait for this cadillac to pull into the spot next to us, and SHE HIT my new van. I just stood there in shock as she backed up scratching it again. It is just a dent and scratch, but still my van is only 3 months old. I called Cheeto to find out what I should do. As soon as I heard his voice and I opened my mouth to say, "Honey, this lady just hit my car." I just started to cry. I was so sad. The lady was 83 years old and living in an assisted living home just out for an afternoon with her friend. When she found out that my van was new she asked me if I was used to driving such a big vehicle. I laughed at her. She said it was my fault because I parked retarded. I was off a bit, but if I had been straight in she would have hit me way before she did. She wants to leave insurance companies out of it and just pay for it with a check. The estimate we received was not quite $700. She and her friend kept telling me that it couldn't be more than just a touch up paint job- no more than $200- $300. It's the passenger sliding door. The door is dented and they said they would have to paint the entire door. We'll see what happens.
Cade's News Cade played his last soccer game for the fall season. He did much better during this game than he had the past few games. He is one that likes to look along the sidelines to make sure mom and dad are still watching him. He didn't like it when Kelson would be playing with his soccer ball with grandpa and dad. I think he thought it looked like more fun to play with them than playing in a real game. Marcos surprised Cade and flew home from New York for the "big" game. Cade was very pleased. Kelson wasn't sure of Marcos when he first showed up at the game but by that evening we couldn't keep either one of them away from their Tio. It was sweet. Cade has always had a special bond with his Tio Marcos. I was glad he made such an effort to make it to his game. Cade is getting more and more content at school. Cheeto doesn't even have to walk him inside to drop him off in the morning. Cheeto said he finally convinced him that he was a big boy and could get dropped at the car rider drop-off door. I'm proud of my lil' boy. He's really not so little anymore. It really is true what our parents say, "Enjoy them while they are small because it really isn't long before you blink and they are married and out of the house having kids of their own." I don't want to think about Cade married and having kids, but 5 years have really gone by too fast. Cade is reading more and more. I think he loves it. He's quite the show off sometimes. He's reading more in spanish at school as well. His teacher tells me he is doing so well and is such a good kid. Kelson still misses him some. Cade was home this past Thursday and Friday with "the runs." Poor Kid! I think he was doing better on Friday but I just couldn't send him and think if he were to have an accident at school how humilating that would be for him. We also noticed he had some sores on his right leg. I took him to the doctor and found it was some sort of staph infection. We have no idea where he would have gotten it, but that is what he is being treated for. He only had 3 sores but Dr. Ross said it could easily spread if left untreated. Cade was funny at the doctor's office. He was so nervous because the last two visits weren't very nice visits for him. I kept telling him that Dr. Ross would simply just look at his leg and that would be it. I dont' think he really believed me. When we were done and Dr. Ross left the room, Cade turned around and said, "THAT'S IT? I'M DONE?" He was quite amazed!

Kelson Adventures Kelson has been just putting up with his mother lately. I think the hours spent sewing and cleaning have finally affected the poor child. He has gotten so clingy lately. He even went and fell asleep on my side of the bed the other night. He has been such a good kid this week though. He has had NO accidents this week as far as potty training goes. Thursday he was yelling from the bathroom, "Mommy, Cade, come and see! Hurry! Come and See!" So of course, Cade and I go running to see what's the matter. Nothing bad, actually more like amazing. He had made "yuckies" in the toilet. I didn't even know he was going to the bathroom. I was so proud. That night we celebrated by getting Krispy Kreme with Grandpa and Grandma. He also was successful this morning. I can't tell you how happy I was not to have to clean poopy underwear. One thing that we pray won't be too serious with Kelson is that we noticed that his feet were turning in. We asked Dr. Ross about it and said we shouldn't wait too long to get him into an orthopedic doctor to get it checked out.

Arellano Update They are packing up to leave again. This time to Utah/California. They are headed there for Thanksgiving. We have to share with the other siblings. They leave Monday and are gone for a couple of weeks. We are having dinner with the Plummers this year. It's all good.

Christensen Update Mom and Dad have spent the last week with Uncle Dale and Aunt Nancy golfing and such in southern Utah and Nevada. Sounds like they had lots of fun. They went to Cirque de Soleil's "O" in Las Vegas. Mom said it was awesome.

Week in review

Work & Play WOW!!! So I don't write much anymore. My christmas craft making has begun and I have been sewing, knitting, painting, and card making up a storm. I can't say what in case your on my list of receiving crafty gifts. :) It's been fun but a lot of work. Monday the boys, grandma and I went to pick out pumpkins to carve for FHE. I thought Cade might struggle with the cleaning of the pumpkin, but to all of our surprise- it was Kelson. He was gagging like crazy. He didn't like the smell of it or something. We were carving it in the garage and we had to make Kelson sit with Cheeto inside. We had lots of fun. Cade picked to do the Spider and web. Not really surprised. He is so into Spiderman right now. The movie is too scary for him. But all he has asked for for Christmas is Spiderman stuff.
Friday night we had a trunk-n- treat at church. Our bishop wanted to combine with Guilford ward. We were NOT excited about this one. There were so many people there, not much food, and not enough seating for everyone. It took 1 hour and 20 minutes just to get people seated with food. The Trunk-n-Treat was fun with so many cars, but the rest of it wasn't worth our time. I think next year we might opt to just trunk-n- treat and eat pizza by our car or something, if they decided to make this an annual thing. The Spanish Branch one was fun though. I think Chemo had fun dressing up and getting into the Halloween spirit. Funny thing that happened there was someone asked Chemo how do you say "Ladybug" in spanish. His little girl was dressed up like a ladybug. Chemo was struggle for the word. Cade walks up and says, "It's Mariquita." Chemo said, "Yeah, that's it!" Funny!!!!! Cade finds the words quicker than g'pa these days. I love seeing what Cade has learned.

Cade News Cade had an ok week. I was thinking I would go with him on his first "real" field trip. They were going to "Mr. B's Pumpkin Patch." It's towards Burlington, NC in a town called Graham, NC. I drove all of the other room mom's in his class, plus the other teacher's parents, who were from Columbia and didn't speak more than one word of English. Interesting! Well, I thought all along it was Friday morning. I found out Monday night that it was Tuesday morning. I made a mad dash to call mom and ask if she could watch Kelson. Thankfully, she came to my rescue... as usual! We had fun. They got to go through a bubble maze, pick them a pumpkin, pet some farm animals, and take a hay ride. Cade was such a good boy until he saw that I was driving "Millie" (our van). After that he started to cry and didn't want to ride the bus home. He wanted to go home with me. I felt bad, but school rules!
This week was also his book fair at school. Each class got to go in and make a list of the books they would like. I was so proud of Cade. The list he brought home had only one book on it. I saw other kids with multiple sheets of paper with their lists. Showed me that he knows that he knows better than to ask for everything. Made me one proud mom! Mom and I went Monday to get the books and were told we couldn't purchase them until Wednesday. Neither one of us were thrilled, but we put our name on them and put the aside. Well, Cheeto went to buy them Wednesday when he ate lunch with Cade. That way Kelson wouldn't see all of the books either. Well, guess what? They couldn't find the books we set aside. We had to try to remember which books we wanted. Got kinda crazy! I know Cheeto wasn't thrilled about having to find them either. But being the good father, husband, and son that he is; he did with a good attitude.

Kelson Adventures Kelson has had an interesting week. The potty training has seriously digressed. He wet his pants a couple of times last Saturday. Sunday he wet them during nursery. He hasn't once made "yuckies" in the toilet, always in a diaper or in his pants. GROSS!!! By Friday he was doing better again. Thursday we went to Costco. He fell asleep on the way home and while I was unloading the car I told him to run to the bathroom. I don't think he was quite awake- but he stood on our porch and wet his pants. He was running off the steps, in his shoes, and everything. I was so mad. I think we got somewhat back on track this weekend. But it has definately been a rough wee for the both of us!

Arellano Update Yesterday was Sunday of course. We always to go to mom and dad's for dinner. Unless they are out of town of course. Well, the oven never turned on and we had to wait until almost 3pm to eat dinner. We were all starving, except for the boys. We fed them Mac n'cheese. We didn't think they could wait. Mom made guiso's and of course there was separate one made by dad himself, HOT of course! We were all sitting around the table. Cheeto was watching the end of the Panthers game and mom and I were just chit chatting, when Dad shot up out of his chair and headed for the watertank. He just started drinking and drinking. I think dad finally made one TOO HOT for himself. I know it wasn't funny that he was suffering, but the rest of us had to chuckle. I don't think he even finished all of his dinner. He was hurting pretty bad.

Christensen Update Mom and Dad finally got there tickets to come in February for baby and such. I found them tickets for $149 each. I was so excited they didn't have to pay so much to come and visit. We can't wait to see them! Also, mom said she had been having lots of problems with her car and decided after 250,000 miles and over 12 years of driving it, it was time to reinvest in a new one. They bought one Friday. She loves it, sad to see her other one go, be excited about the new one. It's always fun to get a new car. Don't know why, but it is! They spent most of their week in Park City, UT. There for golf business of something. Don't remember exactly what it was for. They had fun. They have all been sick and it's been lingering for weeks. Sucks to be sick this time of year when there is so much to get done.

Recent Pictures

Cade sittin with a bunch of girls. The girls like Cade. I don't know if it's because he's nice or his stunning good looks! :) He was such a good boy. I was glad I was able to arrange to spend the day with him. We had lots of fun!

Cade helping his classmates stuff a scarecrow. He had lots of fun doing this!

Cade's field trip to the pumpkin patch. He's in the back row- up against the wall.

The boys with Grandpa at the Summit Ward Trunk-N-Treat. Kelson finally warmed up to the idea of G'pa in a costume!

Kelson pretending to drive like Grandma. Cute picture! This is one of his favorite ways to pass time. Note: how close he pushes the seat up.

This is what cheeto did while we were trunk-n- treatin! Doesn't look really entertained does he?

This is the back of the Explorer after dad and los ninos decorated it.

Grandpa really got into halloween this year. He surprised us at the Summit Ward Trunk-n-Treat on friday night. Kelson was pretty concerned that it was really his Grandpa. By the time we went to the Spanish Branch party.... he was back to loving he Grandpa. Dad decorated Mom's explorer with cobwebs, tinsil and pumpkins. Nola said she could see something flying off the back of her car on the way to church sunday morning. She got there.... it was more cobwebs. She said she had to laugh out loud to herself.