"WINS!"

Amari gave herself a cutie mark the other night. She also was kind enough to give Yipper a cutie mark. She was so proud to show me her masterpieces "Look! WINS!!!" Yes she is twins with her dog...if only it was ok to put a muzzle on her. Totally joking. Today she claimed that she is "Queen of the puppies." She is such a doll, and a colorful doll at that.

Favorite Amari quote: "Football is boring!" She gives Jess attitude everytime he turns it on now...love it.

Sweet myspace pics

 My aunt Bobbi requested an updated pic of me...here you go...

That time of the month

                          And here I thought she was crabby from teething!

Baptized!

Pantera and Daddy

 Pantera, Daddy, and Bishop...holy moly he is tall!!! I guess I never really noticed until I looked at this picture.

Pantera was baptized on the 17th. It was such a great morning, with both sets of grandparents able to attend. She had been waiting for her big day for as long as I can remember. Jess was got to perform the ordinances, that was amazing! We are so very lucky to have the gospel in our lives, what a blessing to our family. Pantera is officially a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, congrats!!!

 I wanted to get some pictures of her in her beautiful dress, but unfortunately she wasn't feeling cooperative before the baptism and she got doughnuts all over it right afterwards. I will get them after I have it cleaned.

Surgery

Here are a couple more of Katurah's one year old pictures...

 She is such a beautiful baby, but this post isn't about her.

It also isn't about her beautiful and hilarious older sister who just informed me that my hair "is a mess!"

 Nor is it about this cupboard that they are playing in, that is a wonderful post for another day. We have big things going on at this house I tell you!

  I am posting tonight to let you all know that Zeke's surgery went great. And after a few days that I thought were really going to do me in, he is starting to feel much better. We went into the surgical center around 9am on Thursday morning. He had to fast and this worried me because he asks for a drink the minute he wakes up each morning. I had a "happy surgery toy" waiting for him, so he was very distracted and dealt well with his little fast. They took him back around 10:30 am, my eyes welled up a little bit, but I did much better then I thought I would. Seeing your child wheeled away from you on a strecher just shouldn't happen, my heart goes out to those moms whose kids have life threatening issues, this was as much as I feel I can handle and it was NOTHING!!! Anywho, surgery took about 45 minutes doctor said both tonsils and adnoids were HUGE. He woke up very angry. This is where my life gets difficult. When Zeke is upset he doesn't want to be touched, or talked to for that matter. All of my mommy instincts tell me to pick up that little boy and hold him until he stops crying, but that's not what he wants and it doesn't work. It hits me that there is nothing I can do for him...he doesn't want me. But he doesn't want me to leave so I sit. I am close, but not to close. And this is what the next 3 days were like. We came home later that afternoon, he was in pain but doesn't know how to express that so he just gets mad. He woke up all throughout the night screaming, but refusing medicine. Things peaked on Saturday, by today you would never know he was ever in pain. I am so happy to have my sweet loving little boy back. I am glad it's all over with. I love you Ezekiel, you are the only man alive I would put up with that kind of attitude from, let's never do that again ok?

ONE

 Guess what cute little girl turned one today...

She thinks she is one of the big kids, well she is nearly as big as Amari so I guess she is not to far off there. She loves to wrestle and tackle, people, pillows, blankets, she's not that picky. The other day she took Zeke down and he looked over his shoulder so confused and said "You're not Amari!" Now you have two little stinkers to pick on you, sorry Zekie. 

 The kids all call her "baby Katurah" still, I wonder how long that will last and when it will become offensive. She cries when people leave the room without her, mainly just Daddy, Papa, Grandma, and I, but she always wants to be with whoever is going. She has been my most independent baby by far, maybe it is the whole bottle thing, but her attachment to me is not nearly as intense as the other kids was at this age. That has been nice for all of the doctors and hospitals this year, no problems staying with daddy or my parents...a blessing that I have had a hard time with.

One other milestone, we officially made it to the year mark pumping, she never figured out how to nurse despite my best efforts so we did the next best thing. Now I have to figure out how to wean her, this is a new one to me.

She loves to watch Pingu with Zeke and they make happy penguin noises together while watching it, so I made her a Pingu cake.

 We celebrated with her Wamma and Papa, who she just loves. I adore this little girl, she has such an amazing personality. I can't remember what our house was like before her, she was so meant to be ours. Her siblings all still get excited to see her every morning when she wakes up. We are so blessed. We LOVE YOU KATURAH!!!! Happy first birthday!!!

Zeke

Last week was the primary program, Zeke's first primary program. He sang his little heart out on the first song, then layed strait on the floor and didn't want anyone to look at him. I guess they had a special car sign he was supposed to watch for when it was his turn, so when he saw that he jumped up off of the floor (which I was on with him at that point) and got up to give his part. He completely froze and gave the face he uses to try to get himself out of trouble, just like this in front of our whole church for about a minute...

It is quite funny looking back on it. Speaking of funny he has said some pretty great things lately. As I was changing his diaper the other day he said "I have a dingleberry!" And he did.

He tries to stay up with Jess and I every night. He is successful about 75% of the time. It's hard to tell him no when he asks to "Watch Frasier and eat otter pops." He even sings the song from Frasier, yes the show from the 90's, he loves it.

He is also starting to like preschool more. I asked him if he had any friends and he happily replied "Yes, Nick, Chase, and Roundy, he has a rock collection." Roundy's name is actually Randy, but I love that he called him Roundy and that he remembers them.

Sweet boy has surgery on Thursday, keep him in your prayers.

8

Pantera turned 8 today! I know everyone says this, but it really does seem like just yesterday that I was bringing her home from the hospital. Holding her for the first time changed my life forever, I am so grateful she is a part of our family.

 She got spoiled, as usual, but seemed to really love the books we picked out for her. She LOVES to read so much. She is eagerly awaiting her baptism, but was pretty upset when I pointed out that she was officially accountable as of today. So much pressure!!!

 While we were trick or treating she was hilarious, eating just as much as she was putting in her sack. As she opened and bit off a piece of a Milky Way bar she happily said "This tastes like it has some age to it! You know like it's been sitting on a shelf for a really long time. It makes them taste better. I like my Milky Ways with some age to them." I giggled and barfed a little at the same time.

 She is going to kill me when she sees that I posted this picture, but it was her idea...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PANTERA!!! We all love you so much!