Singin' or should I say Dancin' in the rain

Can I just say I love the rain, I always have. My kids must have inherited that interest because a few weeks ago when the rain hit, Ben let them out to play. They had a blast but were drenched and freezing by the time they were finished.
At one point Elli stood under the broken part of the rain gutter and let the run-off dump all over her hat. Poor Max had to stand at the door and watch.

Duh.

Ok, so the two blogs were supposed to post the other way around and I am too tired to figure out how to switch them around. And I forgot to mention in the one that we went to my Fave Aunt's house for a craft day over the fourth to make a really cute firecracker thing that I made a joke out of which is why there will be no pictures. I love doing it though and appreciate Teresa and Dale for the work they put into us getting together. I can't wait for the next one.

Oh Say Can You See.

Over the fourth of July, I actually got a four day weekend so spur of the moment Ben decided we should go camping. We took the kids up to the usual spot. They had a blast, it rained the whole night the first night but turned out to be really nice. We didn't take the camera for fear of it getting ruined in the rain. We came home on Saturday in time to take the kids to see fireworks. Last year I took the girls to them by myself because Ben was moving his brother to Idaho. This year he was able to make it and Elli hated it as much as she did last year. She sat for the entire half hour with her hands over her ears. Although, last year I had to cover her ears so she could cover her eyes. Maybe next year. Before the show, they had a few activities for the kids and a band playing. We bought about 4 dollars worth of tickets and Grace and Elli took about 20 trips through the obstacle course. They had so much fun. On Sunday we went to my Dad's house for a BBQ. YUM! He is a dang good cook, he made prime rib, chicken, burgers and dogs for the kids. We ate way to much like always, but it was really great. Evidently that is Thanksgiving because he doesn't want to cram us into his tiny living room in the winter. Thanks Dad for such a good time. Here are a few pictures from that weekend.










Kenadee sharing her ice cream sandwich with Max. Delicious!

Are You Ready?

Hard as it is to believe, I am finally updating. Our life has been a little crazy the last couple of months, so it has been kind of hard to take the time to put anything on here. I am working full time and Ben is working part-time and going to school full-time (19 credit hours). We have moved to our own place ,again finally and life is good. Grace turned five going on 13 in May. She has the full head shaking and is using "like" about every other word. I am terrified of what the teenage years are going to bring. Elli is just as sweet as always, she has grown up a lot the last couple of months. She has adjusted pretty well to all of the change going on in our lives. Max is just Max. He is definitely a boy. I don't know if I have the energy for him. He is so much fun, but quite a handful, I am sure you can tell just by the smile. Ben's condition is rapidly getting worse and we are anticipating him being in a wheelchair before winter. It has been really hard watching my athletic, driven, happy husband change so much. This whole thing will only make us stronger but we have to get through it first. I am so thankful for all of the loving support we have received over the last few years. It has helped our whole family keep going and moving forward. We need it more than ever.

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

My wonderful husband surprised me this year with pictures of my beautiful children. My Sister really needs to do this photography thing full time. Please help me convince her. The pictures were supposed to be a surprise, obviously, but on Friday after I got home from work, I told Elli that I could tell it was a Daddy day because of the way her hair looked. She told me that someone did do her hair, Malorie did! I knew right then what had happened. She wouldn't even look at Ben because she knew she had spilled the beans. So needless to say I didn't have to wait until Sunday to get my gift. My Mom also had all of the talking Grand kids answer some questions about their Moms. And here are my girls answers...
How old is your Mom?
Grace:16
Elli:6
What is your Mom's favorite color?
Grace: brown
Elli: pink
What is your most favorite meal that your mom cooks?
Grace: White noodle and sauce (Fettuccine Alfredo)
Elli: Pizza
What do you like to do with your Mom?
Grace: put away dishes
Elli: Make flowers
What is your mom's favorite thing to do?
Grace: go to Grandma's
Elli: shop
What color of eyes does your mom have?
Grace: brown
Elli: green
What's your favorite thing about your Mom?
Grace: nice
Elli: she plays with me
Those are the kinds of things that I will cherish forever.

Teething + Tubes = TRAUMA!!!!

We have had one sick little boy since about January. He has had one ear infection after another, 5 to be exact. He has also had RSV and Croup. He had a rough start and they told me his immune system had taken a huge hit. I had finally had enough after fourth infection, I told the Dr. that I wanted to talk about getting tubes put in his ears. She told me that you are a good candidate if you have had 3ear infections in 6 months, or 4 in one year. We met that quota so we made an appointment that day for the ENT. We had our consultation 2 weeks ago and the tests showed he has a significant hearing loss due to the built up pressure. He also has flat eardrums. He has ruptured his eardrums twice during the last four months. We scheduled the surgery for the next week. He has been so miserable because he got another infection last week, but we decided not to give him an antibiotic since they were doing surgery and would be clearing out the infection anyway. He had the tubes put in on Wednesday and is already a new kid. The Dr. told me when he made the incision on his eardrum that it was like a volcano of infection that came spewing out of his ears. Poor kid, he has been so miserable. And on top of that his two bottom teeth are coming in. One of them cut through on Wednesday, but we are still awaiting the other. Hopefully we can be finished with the painful ears. We go back in a few weeks to have his hearing tested, hopefully this has fixed the problem and the hearing loss isn't permanent.

The Latest and Greatest.

There hasn't been much going on around here these days. Thus the reason for me not posting. Also, our router for the wireless internet kicks me off everytime I try to download pictures. So it may not happen for a while. I am going to try this time but I'm not going to make any promises. Max is growing and changing every day and I am loving it but sad because we won't be able to go through this fun stage again. On Saturday he started saying MaMa which of course melts my heart. He has been saying DaDa for a while so it's about time. Also he has graduated from the army crawl to a very speedy crawl. It is hilarious to watch.
Second I have a really funny story about Grace. Evidently she really likes church and everything that goes along with it. Aside from wanting to take her Book of Mormon to school for show and tell, she told her entire class that Heavenly Father kept us in heaven while the dinosaurs were here so they wouldn't eat us. She also has a friend in her class that is also in her primary class. They were playing in the play kitchen at school and had the table set. Grace yells "we haven't said the prayer yet" so they both folded their arms and the other little girl blessed the food. I've told her that we really shouldn't talk about that kind of stuff at school but it's kind of hard for her to grasp. I love to see how excited she is about the church and just life in general.