A Few More Pics

Halloween Party!!

Kendall had some friends over for a little Halloween party. We ate pizza, painted pumpkins, and started to watch a Goosebumps movie until Kendall got too scared!! So we watched Monster House instead. The girls had a great time!!

Cute Presley

Presley and Issac!!

Today Presley, Landon, and I went to visit Bonnie and her son Issac! Issac has been home from China for a couple of months. He will be 4 years old in January and he is such a CUTIE!! We were there for about 1 1/2 hours before Landon started getting tired and cranky. Issac was just starting to warm up to us about the time we left. So we are definitely going to be setting up some play dates for them!!

Random pics

The Many Faces of Landon (While he is watching Thomas)

I've been tagged!!

I've been tagged by my adoption buddy in Australia Ellie!!

7 random/weird facts about me:

1. I'm very adventurous! I've been skydiving and scuba diving and I've been on many other adventures! I can't wait until my kids are old enough to ride all the big rides at amusement parks and we can all go to water parks together!! Though for the last few years, I've spent most of my time indoors. :(

2. If you take the birth weight of my 3 biological kids and add them all up, you get 9 pounds 1 ounce. I don't know how big Presley was at birth, but I'm guessing that she might have weighed more than all 3 of her siblings put together!! (Kendall was 4.3, Carson 1.14, and Landon 2.14)

3. I had a unicycle when I was a kid.

4. I REALLY want to live in China or anywhere in Asia.

5. I can touch my nose with my tongue.

6. I love sushi.

7. I am NOT a girlie girl. I wear khaki shorts and polo shirts almost everyday. I know, I know, I am in need of major fashion help!! When I was a kid I refused to take ballet because I didn't want to wear a frilly tutu. Gymnastics was more my style!!

I know I'm only supposed to tag 7 people, but I just couldn't help myself!! I would've also tagged my new friend Gwen in Utah, but she is leaving for China on October 31 and she already has enough to do before she goes to get her new daughter!!

I'm tagging the following people. Click on their names to go to their blogs!!

Amber

Lani

Janet

Geneve

Jill

Marianne

Jodi

Heather

Bonnie

My smart boy!

I try not to brag about my kids too much unless they are within earshot, but I just have to pass this along! My 5-year-old son Carson is in kindergarten this year and he LOVES Youtube. He likes to watch Thomas, Disney Cars, and lately Indiana Jones videos. I help him type in what he wants to see. Last night he watched the cartoon Speed Racer and loved it. I was busy doing stuff and I came around the corner and he was watching Speed Racer movies on Youtube. I asked him how he did it. He found a Speed Racer car that he got in a Happy Meal a long time ago. He turned the car over and found the words (that were hard to read) Speed Racer. He then got himself on Youtube and typed in Speed Racer and found all of the Speed Racer videos!!

Now I know that there are probably many kindergartners that could do this, but it is extra special for him. He was born at 27 weeks and had a 50% chance of having learning disabilities. So far he hasn't shown signs of learning disabilities, but does have sensory issues. He has low muscle tone which has led to speech delays, fine motor skill deficits (we are hoping to be able to read his writing by the time he is in college), and large motor skill deficits (he has very weak core muscles). But those are things that he WILL overcome!! He may not be the smartest in his class (yet!!), but if there is something that he wants, he will find a way to get it!!!

BTW - We are hoping Santa brings him a Play Station 2 for Christmas. He is getting too good at the internet. We monitor what he does, but I'm not thrilled with some of the Indiana Jones videos that older kids make. They aren't horrible, but they talk about killing people and I really don't want my 5-year-old talking about killing people! At least with the Play Station it will be easier to monitor what he is exposed to.

Happy Birthday Landon!!

Two years ago today I went to my doctor for a checkup. I was 31 weeks along was being seen twice a week at that point. The blood flow in the umbilical cord was restricted. On that day, there was reverse blood flow in the cord, meaning that on the second beat of my heart, the blood was going away from Landon. So the doctor told me to head to the hospital to be admitted and he would deliver Landon the following week. When I got to the hospital they did a contraction test and Landon was showing signs of stress with each contraction. So they decided he needed to be born that night! He was a little guy weighing 2lbs 14 oz, but had quite the loud cry! Today he is still a little guy weighing in at 24 pounds, but he is very healthy! He is our explorer and is happiest when he is outside. He doesn't like to be held unless he is sick and doesn't sit still for very long unless he is reading his Thomas "magazine"...aka - toy train catalog. I love his new "receding hippie" hairstyle. It is getting quite long in the back and he has a strip of long hair in the middle of his head, but the sides of his head are still pretty bald!! He is a wonderful, independent little guy that we are so in love with!!!

Happy Birthday Landon!!!!

Feeding Time!!

I am holding a syringe of breast milk and he is being fed through his tube. He only got fed a few ccs at a time in the beginning.

This is probably my favorite NICU picture. When he was 10 days old he was transferred from Good Samaritan Hospital to Arrowhead Hospital that was much closer to our house. In this picture he is in the portable incubator getting ready to get in the ambulance.

Before you go to church..........

Make sure you quickly scan the floor for any diapers lying around. Because while you are at church, your sweet Presley may lift up her dress and you will discover that she has NOTHING on underneath!!!

Also, when you take that 5 minutes to get ready for church. Make sure you check yourself in the mirror before you walk out the door. Someone may tell you at the END of church that the collar on your shirt was tucked in the whole time!!

Ahhhhhh.......the joys of having 4 children 7 and under and taking them all to church where they are to act somewhat civilized!!!

Lexi is 2!!

Sweet Lexi turned 2 years old today!! She celebrated it at Heartbridge while recovering from her lip surgery. We sent her a soft teddy bear that she can hold on to and keep with her wherever her life takes her. We love you baby girl!!

What were you thinking mom??

This morning I was getting Landon dressed. I took off his pajama bottoms and what did I find underneath?? His shorts that he was wearing yesterday!! So last night I guess I changed his diaper, put on his shorts, and then put on his pajama bottoms right over his shorts!! Nice one!!!

My Stash

I went on a shopping spree yesterday.....for food! A local grocery store here (Fry's) had a sale on their cereal and oatmeal for $1 a box. So on Saturday I went to Walmart and bought lots of boxes of our favorite Walmart brand - Cinnamon Roll and price-matched the price with my Fry's ad. I didn't buy the cereal because on the ad it said "selected varieties" and I wasn't sure if Walmart would price match it. So on Monday morning, I went to Fry's and bought 36 boxes of cereal. I then went to Walmart to buy more oatmeal since I had cleared the shelf on Saturday. When I was checking out I asked the checker about the cereal. She said that I could buy ANY Walmart generic brand of cereal for $1 a box. Since some checkers say different things about price-matching, I left my cart of oatmeal there, got another cart, and went back and bought a cart full of cereal!!

I got some pretty strange looks from people. It makes me laugh because when I lived in Utah, fellow shoppers wouldn't even bat an eye with my cart full of cereal. They would have just asked me what was on sale!! See, us crazy Mormons try to have some food storage. Our church teaches us that whenever possible, we should have a year supply of food. That isn't neccessarily because we think there will be a major disaster and we will need food (though I'm sure many people with food storage in recent hurricanes were happy with their stash), but also to help save money. Why buy a box of cereal for $3 or $4 when I can get several month's supply at just $1 a box?? It also helps to have some food storage built up in our horrible economy. There is a very good chance that Derek will get laid off this month. He does have 7 months of full severance luckily. Best case scenario, he finds a job right away making more money than he is now and we have double income for 7 months and use that money to pay off our cars. But in this economy, we aren't banking on it. At least we have breakfast covered until sometime next year!!

I got the following in generic brands:

6 - Captain Crunch with crunch berries
4 - Grape Nuts
6 - Strawberry Awake (This is a Walmart brand like Honey Bunches of Oats, but with strawberries)
4 - Honey Nut Cheerios
12 - Raisin Bran
10 - Honey Bunches of Oats
2 - Frosted Flakes
5 - Froot Loops
9 - Rice Chex (great for making Monkey Munch...Yum!!!)
4 - Apple Jacks
4 - Lucky Charms
10 - Fruit and cream variety oatmeal
7 - Maple and brown sugar oatmeal
16 - Brown sugar and cream variety oatmeal
15 - Cinnamon Roll oatmeal

TOTAL: 66 boxes of cereal and 48 boxes of oatmeal packets. Since there is no tax on food in Arizona, the total cost for breakfast until sometime next year.....$114.

My kids were very happy to see some sugar cereals, since I TRY not to buy them too often. So they were sent to school today happy and on a sugar high. I'm sure they were struggling to stay awake around 10 am when that sugar was wearing off!! So if there is a big disaster in Arizona, you can all come to my house for dinner. Bring milk and a spoon.....we're having cereal.

Sunday's Sweets

Our family has a new favorite treat! They are called "Sweet Tooth Treats" and I found the recipe at http://www.allrecipes.com/.
Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup shredded coconut
2 cups Cheerios
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon shortening

DIRECTIONS
In a bowl, combine peanut butter, corn syrup, sugar and coconut until blended. Stir in cereal. Shape into 1-1/2-in. balls.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt chocolate chips and shortening. Dip balls halfway into chocolate; place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets to harden.


I didn't use the coconut. Also, it helps after you shape them into balls, to put them in the freezer for about 10 minutes or so. That way they are hard and that makes it easier to dip them into the chocolate. Also, when they are done, put them in the refrigerator. They are much better that way!! Also, they are much less messy than when they are first dipped. See below to see what I mean!!


Notice Presley with the messy face?? Well, I had just dipped them in chocolate and had 2 plates of them. I put one plate in the fridge, turned around and got the other plate and put it in. Then I heard Kendall yell "Mom, Presley has a sweet tooth treat and it's all over the couch!!" I guess when I was putting the first plate in the fridge, she reached up and grabbed one and ran off! There are a LOT more issues that come up when you have a TALL toddler!!

And then of course she had to share with Jake! I try not to watch when she does this!!