Peeps

My friends got chicks to raise and invited us over to see the "peeps." They were so cute and the kids all got a kick out of them. Katurah got to meet there cat, she was thrilled! Teaching the middle two to be gentle is a big challenge, so the chicks were only kind of choked.

We made Easter cookies yesterday. They turned out fluffy and amazing! I am trying to micromanage a little bit less, hence the huge pile of sprinkles with some cookies underneath...life is short and Zeke was really proud.

Pantera was super excited for conference today. She has since informed me that her new favorite speaker is Boyd K. Packer. She spent the afternoon creating a fake chicken habitat and making a feather chick, she did a really great job.

This past week we met a friend at McDonalds for lunch. Zeke hit it off with a little boy in the playplace. They played together for over an hour and Zeke even cried when he didn't want to leave "I want to play with Max!" It made me so happy to see.

Amari is my little workout buddy, she does Insanity with me everyday. You should see her do "mummy kicks" it is hilarious!!! We are done with the first month today, I feel great and have lost all but 2lbs of the baby weight. I am so scared for what month 2 brings, I hear it's insane...wawawa. Amari also thinks she is quite the hairstylist. She is constantly attacking me with brushes and combs, I guess she really digs that windblown look. When you ask her how you llook when she is done she seriously replies "better." Not good, not great, just better, I guess the old saying holds true "I'm a beautician, not a magician."

family

It's been a crazy couple of weeks! On the 9th, Zeke started breathing funky, when I couldn't get him calmed down we ended up staying the night at children's hospital. He was on steroids and breathing treatments all night. Now we know he has asthma...random. I just have to laugh (ok to keep from crying) I uped our insurance deductible because we are never in the hospital, we have had 2 nights in children's since...annoying to say the least. But, I will continue to count my blessings as my children are healthy. Speaking of which, my friends 14 month old little boy has a heart blockage that they just found out about, please say a prayer for Eli and his family.My family came to visit this past week. It was my brother's idea to surprise my mom before he deploys again this summer. I wish we would have recorded her reaction, she screamed so loud it was priceless. I feel so boring compared to his life risking adventures, my lil sister's college life, and my older sister's up and coming counseling practice. Look at me, I can make babies! That's pretty much all I do. Anywho, to fit in with the cool kids, we went and sang karaoke with Alex-this is his favorite thing to do these days. He cracks me up.

Pantera has been playing Sonic the Hedgehog instead of Mario at playtime...this is big news. Of course it still involves her bff's Carter and Logan. Best pals since kindergarten, they go way back (1 year:). She has been invited to a birthday party almost every weekend, her social life is out of control. I am glad she is loved by her classmates.

Zeke was so crabby after the hospital, we figured it must be roid rage. Unfortunately it hasn't subsided. Ok, so he can be a pill and we have had people in town and the house under construction, yes his schedule has been ripped. But he does say and do very cute things. He uses the word almost in nearly every sentence such as "I'm almost a boy." He greets Amari each morning with "Did you sleep good princess Amari?" He often tells me to "Check it out!" Thanks to garfield he is obsessed with zombies and pretends to be one most of the time. Great Zeke quote "I need a sippy cup and an ipod!"

Amari prefers to communicate through squeaks. She can talk when she wants, but is alot like me, she doesn't feel the need to constantly hear her own voice. She loves Katurah and asks her "who's cute?" over and over, she then makes Katurah raise her hand and say "me!" in a high pitched voice, just like Amari used to do when she was a baby...last week. She is my big helper wanting to be involved with everything. She is starting to take some initiative with potty training, yesterday she took off her pants and diaper and told me she had to go potty. I was holding the baby and pumping, this is pretty routine for her so I stayed put, then she brought me the bumbo, full of pee...good times! I guess I left it a little too close to the bathroom, if it's within 20 feet it's fair game.

Katurah is cute and chubby. She just seems huge, I'm really curious to see how big she is at her next appointment. She is so happy all the time. I've never seen a baby who smiles as easily as she does. She is such a blessing.

Jess got a promotion a couple weeks back. He is no longer hourly! This is as always a double edged sword, but we hope it leads to more time at home. I am really proud of him, this was a step out of his comfort zone, but I know he will do awesome. That's all for now...and now my hands might fall off.

The writing's on the wall

A couple weeks ago Pantera was telling me the story of St.Patrick. She started it like this "This happened a long time ago, before George Washington's time, before TV and even juice boxes." Yes, the juice box truely defines an era. She is learning some really neat things in her "intervention" class, today it was the meaning behind each line of the pledge of allegiance. She does at least 2 chapter book reports a week for extra work from her teacher. She had a mystery illness yesterday morning that magically went away after the school bus passed our house, I guess she needed a break from her intense studies;)

Zeke loves hard boiled eggs. After biting into one the other day he happily said "I found the bird!" refering to the yoke. He was pretending to read the bread package yesterday, he had his little finger out and where it said split top wheat he read "for ham and cheese and peanut butter jelly." That's all bread is used for.

Amari can't stop coloring on the walls. She loves to draw so much, I have a hard time discouraging her creativity, but I have to constantly remind her pens and pencils are for paper. One day I swear I caught her 7 times and I just couldn't figure out where she was getting all these pencils from. A couple days later, I was putting away laundry and found a stash of about 10 pencils in her bottom drawer. Kind of like the day she woke up from nap with yellow on her and I found a marker in her bed.

Katurah is getting so big! Jess was commenting that she and Amari are almost the same size and he's not to far off. I think Kat's legs are bigger around then Zeke's, she's a little chunk! She is the most vocal baby I remember, she loves to hear herself talk. We love to hear her as well.

The new basement!!!

My computer has been packed away for a couple weeks while we remodeled the downstairs. We still have a couple things to do, but I LOVE it now!!! My dad knocked down a couple walls, replaced light fixtures, replaced the carpet and padding, we painted, got a new couch, and got Jess his big TV (a life long dream of his:). My dad is so very talented and I can't thank him enough for all of his hard work! My sister is visiting next week and will help me decorate, I can't wait! Next project is getting rid of the pool...wish us luck!