The Lyon's Den

Summer Is Here

2010-06-14T19:04:00.000-07:00

We have had a lot of changes in our family, in the past few months. We sold our house (which had an offer on it within a week of listing...thank goodness!)!! And we moved in with my parents. Aaron starts Chiropractic school on July 6th, at Life Chiropractic College West, in Hayward, CA. We have found a nice LDS family for him to rent a room from, while the kids and I stay with my parents. We're very blessed to have a family who is willing to take us in when we need help. While we've been here (since the beginning of May), we have celebrated 2 birthdays; Aaron turned 31, and Brielle turned 1, (I'm afraid the attitude came with it)!!! Kelman finished Kindergarten and had a very successful year. The boys all started swim lessons; but the twins switched to a different class which starts next week. Aaron has been very busy with school and still has 2 online classes to finish up before July. If anyone is a pro at Physics or Biochemistry, let us know! He is excited to start Chiropractic school and I am eager to get things moving. I have just been busy keeping up my new website, which I am going to take a break from because it took a lot of time. I think it was pretty successful for the short time I ran it. I made a little money, met some new people, and got some great deals. Now I'm working on focusing on the kids this summer, and get them learning some new things before school starts in the Fall. We're getting Carter and Brechin ready for Kindergarten! Yay for them and especially yay for me!!!! I've also been working on some weight loss for the past several months and have done fairly well. I've been a little stuck this past month, but I'm hoping to pick it up here. Brielle is cute as ever, and adored by everyone. She isn't the chunk she once was. She has gotten taller, and slimmed way down. So much that the DR. is a little concerned about her not gaining weight. She's just petite. About 2 weeks ago, we went on a nice vacation to the Bay area. We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, went Whale watching (got sea sick), we went to a cute little place called Gilroy Gardens (you should look it up; it was PERFECT for our little family), spent some time in San Francisco, and went on a Jelly Belly Factory Tour. All in all, it was a great week! We're excited for an upcoming Stubblefield Family Reunion in July, and are eager to see everyone!!

Brielle's 1 Year Birthday Picture

The Strawberry Shortcake Birthday cake, for our Strawberry Shortcake

Brielle's new baby doll, that she had to just KISS!!

Opening presents!!

Kelman in front of some of the falls at Gilroy Gardens

Brielle's favorite ride at Gilroy Gardens!

The Golden Gate Bridge in the background

The family at Lombard Street; the crookedest Street in the world (?)

Aaron wrestling at the Mechanical Museum at Fisherman's Wharf in SF

New Website and a Giveaway

2010-02-28T18:20:00.000-08:00

I know it looks like I've been a bad blogger, and it may be true; but I have started a new website that takes up all my blogging time. I blog several times a day at http://cleverhousewife.com. Some of you may be familiar with it already. I started this website as a way to help myself and others to start saving money. I inform others of all sorts of freebies and good deals online, and at your local stores. I hope you'll all stop by and you may even find something helpful. I actually even have a giveaway going on right now that you're welcome to go and enter. I'm giving away a cute St. Patty's Day shirt and a box of Lucky Charms. You can enter HERE.

In other news... Aaron has decided to go to Chiropractic School. He is working like crazy right now by going to 5 different colleges to get all of his prerequisites done by July. He is hoping to start Life Chiropractic West College in July. We're very excited about this plan and look forward to the adventure; well, parts of it. Kelman is doing well in school and is learning to read. I even go register the twins for Kindergarten tomorrow. I'm so excited!! I just hope the teachers can handle them. ;) They are little busy bodies who don't pay much attention to what I have to say. Carter and Brechin crack us all up and they always have tons of bumps and scratches that make it look like they've been in a cat fight. They have to learn things the hard way. Brielle is crawling now and is as cute as ever! That's us in a nutshell.

An adorable Brielle video

2010-01-16T19:35:00.001-08:00

Here is a video of Brielle around Thanksgiving. She was crackin' up at the dog licking her arm, but even more when the dog would cry or squeal. My cute little doll baby! Aren't baby laughs just so cute?

Bad Blogger

2010-01-02T19:33:00.000-08:00

Yes, I admit it; I've been a bad blogger. It's been over 5 months since my last post so I won't torture you all with all the details of those months. Here are the highlights.
August
The start of school for Kelman (Kindergartner) and Aaron (pre Masters)
The first month of school was great for Kelman. Way better than I expected. After the honeymoon wore off, there began to be only a few little anxieties. He is VERY particular about what he wears to school and will not go in the classroom wearing just anything. I've learned this the hard way. He is at the top of his class academically and behaves pretty well, but could be better. We're workin' on it.
School for Aaron has had it's positives and negatives. Psychology and Physiology were excellent and he did very well. Chemistry however, not so much. He'll be taking that again this next semester, but we just found out that his professor won't make him retake the lab. Yay. We'll take what we can get. He loved all of his professors and hopes he feels the same this next semester.
September
Brielle learned to roll over!! She started getting longer and only slightly thinner. Still a chunk. I don't think anything else really happened in September.
October
Our annual trip to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm; always fun. Brechin and Carter turned 4 and are even getting a teensy bit easier. (Knock on wood) And of course, Halloween. (Pictures to follow).
November
A trip to Apple Hill with Grandma Stubz. Brielle is sitting up and has beautiful long red hair (for a babe). Grandma Hawley (my grandma) turned 90 and we had a huge birthday bash with extended family, including a fantastic variety show. Thanksgiving. Aaron and my 7th anniversary. And I turned 26 (I think that's how old I am now). This was probably our busiest, but most fun month. I got to see all of my siblings and almost all of my nieces and nephews. Such a blast!
December
Kelman turned 6 AND lost his first tooth. Brielle got 4 teeth and developed the nickname Sissy Lou (which my mom and I heard for the first time at Apple Hill a few years ago, and loved). Busy Christmas planning and shopping. Many blessings. Santa brought many presents for our family and my mom and dad (at our house). We had the Nativity reinactment and Chinese Food on Christmas Eve, with my brother Jared and his kids. Those pictures are on my mom's computer. Aaron and Kelman have had lots of time off and we're enjoying eachother for the most part. Aaron has many projects he's been doing and more still to come before the next semester. I've been keeping busy with couponing and bargain hunting. I think I've been doing pretty well at trying to keep a normal lifestyle while sending Aaron off to school instead of work. I've learned a lot, and our food storage is doing great! I'm still teaching piano lessons and even start two new students this week.
Now it's off to the New Year!
Enjoy the pictures in Chronological order, with some videos mixed in.
Kelman's first day of school

Hopefully Aaron's last first day of school

Brielle at 3-4 months

Carter and Brechin - 2+2=4?

Halloween Highlights

Mario, Luigi, Wario, Princess Peach

Apple Hill

Variety Show with my mom and sisters - Aren't we talented?

Thanks Grandma Lyon for our cool pillowcases and dolly, and thanks to our cousins for our fun jammies!

Brielle found some bath toys in her stocking

Santa brought JUST what I wanted....a DS!!

We LOVE Nerf guns!!!

I'm just checkin' out my new toy.

Just a cute new video of the twins.

Happy New Year!!!

JULY = Quite the month

2009-08-07T18:58:00.000-07:00

Lots of things have happened since my last post. I've also got a lot of pictures to show.

First off; Brielle has gotten BIG!! My first chub-o-luv. All of my boys were very average in size, but not this little girl. She has got ROLLS!! I love it too. She's an eater and she likes to be held a lot. She's not a great napper because she won't let anyone put her down and I don't have time to just sit and hold her all the time. She is however my best night sleeper as far as babies go. She does not by any means sleep through the night, but she'll have a good 5 to 6 hour stretch of sleep most nights. Too bad I'm not asleep for all of it. Her hair doesn't seem to be changing colors much either so I'm guessing it will be pretty red. We're going to get some professional pictures of her soon.

Next up - Kelman did a summer program at the Elementary school he will be attending for Kindergarten. It was called Smart Start, and was to prep kids for their first year of school. He did well and made some good friends. We were very surprised to find out his best friend was a girl. He's always been very anti girl/ girl things. They even got in trouble for holding hands sometimes. Very cute! He did still have some anxiety with drop off, but hopefully that won't last long into the school year. He starts the 17th. He's such a handsome little school boy.
As for the twins; they're still obsessed with Batman and Superman. We're kind of trying to break them of it because they throw many tantrums over the issue. I'm trying to get them interested in some other cool things right now - any suggestions??

Now for some BIG news.... Aaron is no longer employed. It's been quite the struggle to find out where we want to go from here. His construction company just wasn't able to stand this economy anymore. We feel like it's about time we get out of construction since this is the third job we've been through in the five years we've been out of school. We're trying to get Aaron into some prerequisites this Fall so he can apply for the Physical Therapy program for Fall 2010. Not going so well because all the classes are currently full. He's just going to have to show up the first day of school and hope people drop so he can get in. Wish us luck. Or if anyone has any other great ideas for a career choice that would suit Aaron, let us know.

Since Aaron has had so much vacation time we decided to take a nice long vacation; which we've never done (we kinda decided we would just be poor later). We ended up going to Idaho to visit Aaron's family, which had been a couple of years since we did that. We also took many day trips including going to Yellowstone. Our first stop was in Twin Falls on our way to Idaho Falls. We let the kids get some wiggles out at a Bounce House Arena type of place. They had a blast and it was the perfect thing for little boys who had been couped up in a car.

Our next adventure was going to the sand dunes around Idaho Falls. Aaron's brother Doug got to come with us and the kids had a great time with him. Unfortunately the sand was very hot on the feet so we didn't stay too long. Got a few pictures though.
Check out the cheeks!

Here's a random adorable Brielle picture

After a couple of days we headed to Yellowstone. The kids weren't too interested in all there was to see, but we still had a good time. They really enjoyed looking for all the different animals. We got fairly close to some elk and that was exciting. No buffalo though. =( We got to see old faithful; unfortunately we had to wait an hour and a half for it because we showed up right after it went off. We also went to the paint pots and saw a bald eagle.
Old Faithful

The paint pots - lots of hot stinky air

I got bangs!

Pretty scenery

Next we went to Aaron's cousin's cabin for a night. Aaron taught the boys to fish on his cousin's pond. It was beautiful up there and we loved every minute of it. Thanks Bob and Sandy for letting us stay!!

The next thing we got to do was meet up with a great college friend and let the kids play in the sprinklers together. I had fun visiting with you Kandis and wish we had pictures!! Can't wait to see you again!
Our next adventure was getting to go boating with Grandpa Lyon. We got to visit with Aaron's sister Kristie and her cute family at the lake. The boys got to see their daddy ski, and Kelman even went in a tube with Aaron.

The twins with their cousin Dallen

When we weren't going anywhere, we hung out, ate good food, and went to many garage sales with Grandma Lyon. We appreciate you putting up with us for so long and loved our stay.

We decided to drive home the Boise way, which added time but more adventure. We scheduled a train ride through Horseshoe bend with a Hogwarts theme. It was called the Frogwarts Express. This was right up my kids' alley. They dressed up as wizards and learned magic tricks while on the train. It was a great time. Everyone thought the boys were so adorable and looked like the Weasleys. We even had strangers taking their pictures. Some of the pictures are on a disposable camera which has not been processed yet - our camera died.

Kelman thought he was more of a dementor

This was the last of our adventures before we headed home. Now we're just getting done whatever house projects we can afford while Aaron has unlimited time. Wish us luck in our next adventures - school and poverty. =)

5 weeks old and I can't believe it!

2009-06-17T20:02:00.000-07:00

Just a little update on how we've been managing with our new edition. Brielle wasn't sleeping too well at night as to be expected, but she is doing a tad better. She doesn't fuss; she just wakes up frequently to eat. Instead of every 40 minutes to an hour like we were doing, it's now about every 2 hours with 1 three hour stretch. The boys are adjusting fairly well, although they're just starting to realize they don't like when Brielle cries for any length of time when we're in the car and they start to get a little frazzled when they can't make her stop. Carter is probably the sweetest to her which was to my surprise. For the first couple of weeks he would come up to me while I was holding her and say, "I like your baby." Now he says "the" baby and often hugs and kisses both of us before bed every night. Kelman really likes her, and I'm trying to teach him to LEAVE THE BABY ALONE when she's sleeping. He likes to poke her nose a lot. Brechin hasn't wanted much to do with her, but he's adjusting. He's in no way mean, but doesn't talk about her much. He just kind of misses his mommy. It broke my heart when he told me a couple of weeks ago, "you don't like me anymore." and the next day, "You're not mine anymore." It's been hard for him the most especially since I've been recovering from surgery. I've made extra efforts to spend time and cuddle with him when I can and I think it's helped. He will kiss the baby on command now and occasionally laugh at her, but that's about it.
In other news, we got to visit with Aaron's parents for a few days this last weekend. They came to see the baby and the boys. My kids adore them and are excited every time they come. They always bring tons of goodies and clothes for the kids, which they love! They also brought Aaron's transformers from his childhood and Kelman is in HEAVEN!! They're so much better than the ones they make these days.
Also, Aaron has spent a couple of Sundays in a row at urgent care. He took extra precautions this last week to not make it three Sundays in a row. The first sunday was because he scratched his eye most likely with dirt after a Saturday of laying sod. I so wish I had a picture to post because he spent the next two days looking like a pirate!! Arg!
The following Sunday, Aaron sliced his hand pretty badly with some broken glass. He got about 7 stitches and just had them removed today. Nothing major at least and all seems to be well now.
That's about it for us. We're excited for a weekend with family and for my brother Jared's family to be moving here this weekend! I hope everyone has a Happy Father's Day, especially the Fathers in my life!!

Carter all ready for church

A baby doll who LOVES her hands!

A week and two days

2009-05-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

Well, we've been home since Sunday and we're managing well. Brielle is such a good little girl. She rarely cries, and when she does it's more like one little Waah and that's it. She is an excellent eater and sleeper (especially when in her mommy's arms). I think I'm recovering well from the c-section and have hardly had to take any meds since I've been home. Granted, I've had the best mom ever taking care of me. She finally got to stay in her own bed last night for which I'm sure she was excited for. She's been feeding me very well and taking very good care of my boys. Thanks Mom for EVERYTHING!!!!! I'm curious how much Brielle weighs now, but I will take her in for her 2 week checkup on Wednesday. We've been battling a little jaundice, but not too severe and she is starting to come down each day.
Here are some pictures from our last week starting with the day coming home from the hospital (Her first ride in her carseat).

Brielle's first bath by Grandma

Kelman Absolutely adores his little sister.

You can kind of see the hair color here, although this makes it look a little more blonde.

Brielle's first dress. It's so fun to play dress up with my new little doll.

Brielle Enise is here

2009-05-14T17:31:00.000-07:00

Our baby girl arrived yesterday, May 13th at 9:51pm. We are so happy to welcome her to our family. She weighed 6lb 12oz and is 19 1/2" long. Brielle has lots of auburn hair and long piano playing fingers. Her hair color is really unusual for a baby. The nurses say they have never seen it before. This is going to be really short, cuz the meds from the C-section are making me itch like a crazy person. More to come later.

Long over due

2009-04-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

I finally uploaded a few pictures from my camera. Not Easter yet; not that I took many then. I believe a couple of months ago we took the boys to the Bok Kai Parade. They enjoyed it for a little while, but got bored half way through. We were then informed that Carter wants to learn to play the Tuba. He liked the biggest instrument he saw of course. Not that he'll ever have the body to carry it. Crazy kid. I couldn't get a good picture of all of them in front of the dragon.

Brechin in front of one of the bands

Carter lounging and eating some snacks

Not too long ago I let the boys pick out a tv dinner, I think for the first time. We set them up in front of the tv and let them watch Beverly Hills Chihuahua. They actually sat still for the whole movie and ate their whole dinners. They were in heaven.

I would post some of the many ultrasound pictures that I have, but I don't have a scanner. However; after much agonizing, I think we've got a baby name. Now we need help with a middle name. Suggestions would be appreciated; family names or otherwise. The name we're thinking of is Brielle. It means, heroine of God. So give us your best ideas on a good middle name to go with Brielle .... Lyon. We're hoping to have this little girl in just under a month. Good labor inducing thoughts are needed my way come May 17th or so.

Baby Name Joke

2009-03-25T08:17:00.000-07:00

I can't believe you all really thought I could name my baby one of those awful names. They either had a body part in them or just simply, "Yo-Anne, what's up?"
It just doesn't work. ;) My mom and I were trying to come up with baby names and got a little carried away, so we wanted to see what you all thought of our creative names. Glad to know I have your support though!

Baby

2009-03-24T13:19:00.000-07:00

I go in for another checkup today to see how everything is going with baby. I have to wait another two weeks for ultrasound though. Baby seems to be growing now, which causes me to be more uncomfortable, but I'm getting really excited. We've had a hard time coming up with baby names, so that's why I keep putting all of them to a vote. We're not set on anything yet and are up for suggestions. I think Analise was the winner of the last set of names, so I'm curious to see what the winner of this set of names will be. We're up for any suggestions as well.
I'll be posting some pictures soon. We had a great time with the Runyans last night, celebrating Sara's 10th Birthday. We went to John's Incredible Pizza and it was WAY better than any Chuck E Cheese. THe kids all had a great time and we were very tired when we got home. I think everyone fell fast asleep quickly. I'll upload pictures soon.

Interviews

2009-03-15T19:58:00.000-07:00

I don't have any pictures to post right now, but I thought I'd give a little update. Things are going pretty well with the pregnancy now, other than some excrutiatingly painful kidney stone attacks a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if I've passed the stone or not, but I'm feeling better for now. Not a whole lot longer to go now either. We're getting very excited.
On the potty training, Carter is all potty trained. He has an occasional pee pee accident, but only about once a week or so. Brechin went 5 days without any accidents, but the past 3 days, he's been poopin' his pants. Not quite sure what to do at this point, but we'll see.

Now something funny I wanted to share. I found this interview that a friend did with her five year old. I decided to try it with my boys and I got a kick out of it. I think you all should try it with your little ones.
The first interview I did was with Kelman, age 5. Then I asked the twins the same questions, individually.

Kelman
1. What is something mom always says to you?
Be good
2. What makes mom happy?
When I hug her
3. What makes mom sad?
When we be naughty
4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Tickling me
5. What was your mom like as a child?
I just don’t know
6. How old is your mom?
13
7. How tall is your mom?
I’m gonna need a tape measure for that
8. What is your mom's favorite thing to do?
Play games with me
9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Goes to the movies
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Trophy… (then he said), being rich
11. What is your mom really good at?
Playing games
12. What is your mom not very good at?
You don’t always go in the attic
13. What does your mom do for a job?
Postman, like Postman Pat (on Qubo) (I don’t know where he came up with this one)
14.What is your mom's favorite food?
vegetables
15.What makes you proud of your mom?
Taking care of me
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Mary poppins
17. What do you and your mom do together?
Play games
18. How are you and your mom the same?
While studying my face and squirming around he said, I don’t know
19. How are you and your mom different?
I have pictures of Totem Tribe (a computer game), and you don’t
20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Cause she gives me kisses
21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
When daddy gives you flowers
22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
The mall

Now Carter, age 3 1/2 (a very intuitive child)
1. What is something mom always says to you?
I love you
2. What makes mom happy?
A kiss
3. What makes mom sad?
When her belly hurts
4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Tickling me
5. What was your mom like as a child?
She would play trains
6. How old is your mom?
First he said, “how old are you?” then he said 15
7. How tall is your mom?
big
8. What is your mom's favorite thing to do?
I want you to like to play Hullabaloo
9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Click on the computer
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Being a magician
11. What is your mom really good at?
Playing games
12. What is your mom not very good at?
Not watching movies
13. What does your mom do for a job?
Make pudding (which we had for dessert tonight)
14.What is your mom's favorite food?
A taco
15.What makes you proud of your mom?
Tickle me
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
With uncontrollable laughter , he said Bob the builder
17. What do you and your mom do together?
Play games together
18. How are you and your mom the same?
stinky
19. How are you and your mom different?
You have different hair
20. How do you know your mom loves you?
I really want you to kiss me
21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
You don’t want him to be mean
22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Taco bell

Now Brechin, age 3 1/2
1. What is something mom always says to you?
Something that I like. If I poop on the potty two days, I get to watch my superman movie.
2. What makes mom happy?
Um like, putting shoes away
3. What makes mom sad?
From going outside
4. How does your mom make you laugh?
By tickling
5. What was your mom like as a child?
A girl that is in a parade
6. How old is your mom?
3.… no 6
7. How tall is your mom?
bigger
8. What is your mom's favorite thing to do?
Clicking on the computer
9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Click around
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
For clicking
11. What is your mom really good at?
Making playdoh
12. What is your mom not very good at?
From nothing
13. What does your mom do for a job?
To click on the computer
14.What is your mom's favorite food?
Carrots…vegetables, and corn
15.What makes you proud of your mom?
Like kissing
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Something that I like.
17. What do you and your mom do together?
Sit on the chair
18. How are you and your mom the same?
Um good
19. How are you and your mom different?
Like a cartoon or something
20. How do you know your mom loves you?
By talking and kissing
21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
You like him….something that you like
22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
To some place that is burger king

I don't blame you if you didn't read it all, but it was so cute and funny that I had to share. It was very interesting to see how the three of them responded differently, especially the twins.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T08:36:00.000-08:00

I can't believe we are the middle of February of 2009 already!! This year already seems to be full of projects and activities. We've been working on the whole potty training bit once again before baby comes. Brechin was doing very well and hardly having accidents, until we had some visitors and his routine got a little out of whack. Since then, Brechin and Carter have once again reversed roles. Now Brechin is back into part time diapers and Carter is doing the undies bit. He won a new "blue" batman a couple of days ago for having poo successes on the potty. He seems to be doing well now. Needless to say, I am exhausted from the constant pantless boys. It wouldn't be so bad if they could completely dress themselves after pottying, and if they didn't try to clean up poopy messes by themselves. Brechin clogged the toilet yesterday with WAAAAY too much toilet paper.

Moving on.... Aaron's parents came for a visit at the beginning of the month. The boys sure enjoyed having someone to constantly push them on the swingset in the perfect weather we WERE having. We appreciate Aaron's dad helping out with installing some new fencing we are putting in the front yard. That is another project we have been working on. Aaron's company is remodeling a Burger King in Salinas, and they had an outdoor dining area they needed to get rid of. All of the black ornamental fencing got delivered to us! Yay us!! I have been wanting to do a courtyard in my front yard for quite a while now, but it was going to be an expensive project. Then all this free fencing just fell into our laps. It needs some sanding and repainting, but so far it is looking great. I will post a picture when it's finished.

Just before Aaron's parents came for a visit, I decided to paint baby girl's bedroom. Aaron helped of course. I think it turned out really well. I then found some perfect bedding at target for the baby's crib. Matching polka dots and everything. The pink is a little off, but we'll see.
The polka dots go around the whole room.

After the Lyon's left and my parents returned from Iowa for a baby blessing, we all took a bus ride. The boys have been begging to take a bus around town so we finally did it. We watched a video on youtube of the Doodlebops singing, "Goin on a Bus Ride" before we went. The boys had a great time and can't wait to do it again. We told them once they were both completely potty trained, we would go.

Brechin is the cheesy one

A dark Kelman

Mr. Carter pants

Now on a baby update. Things are looking pretty good with the baby, but she is falling behind in her growth. We don't know if there is anything to be concerned about yet, but my Parinatologist wants to do a follow up ultrasound every 4 weeks from here on out. He just wants to follow her growth. We're hoping and praying that everything will be alright.

Lastly, for Valentine's Day, this morning I made the boys some special Love toast.
Here is Brechin posing with his breakfast. Sorry no good pics of Kelman this time.

I guess it's time

2009-01-05T10:46:00.000-08:00

I don't even know where to begin since it's been so long since my last post. I guess the last thing I posted on was Halloween so I'll start from there. I'll try to keep everything brief so it's not a LONG read, just lots of pictures. November was fairly uneventful except for our trip to Arizona for Thanksgiving. We stayed with my brother Micah and his family. The boys all had a blast playing with Jackson, wrestling with Jackson, and jumping on the airbed with Jackson.

The drive home however was VERY long due to Holiday traffic,(which happened to be on my birthday). Aaron and I also celebrated our 6th anniversary in November.

December started off with Christmas decorating of course.
Carter and Brechin getting ready to put ornaments on the tree.

Kelman putting an ornament on the tree.

Me, of course decorating the tree.

The boys in front of our finished tree.

Kelman's 5th birthday party was next. Unfortunately none of his preschool friends showed up, which I half expected, but we were bailed out last minute by our church friends to make a successful party. Our next door neighbor Devan also came. We even rented a Scooby Doo bounce house; which was also a last minute decision.

My boys in the bounce house.

The kids playing red rover in the backyard.

Kelman blowing out his birthday cupcake, which was a snowman.

Kelman bouncing once again in the bounce house.

The cupcakes I made for the party. I made snowmen and Rudolphs.

Kelman chose to have a Jack the Pumpkin King cake, from Nightmare Before Christmas for his actual birthday, which we celebrated a week later, on his actual birthday.

The Nightmare Before Christmas figurines

Pirate legos which Kelman got from his Grandma and Grandpa Lyon. He plays with them almost daily.

Grandma and Grandpa Stubblefield got Kelman Star Wars dress ups. So here he is Darth Vader.

I had my 18 week ultrasound the day before Christmas Eve. I was very nervous and excited all at the same time. I went to the Perinatologist for this visit just to be on the safe side. So far everything looks great with the baby, which is a huge relief. I am still nervous though, and I think I will be until this baby is born. We did however find out that we are having another little girl. Yay us!! We're very excited and I've got friends and sister passing along all their girl clothes. Thanks everyone for your support. ;)

I don't have any Christmas morning picture because my parents took those with their camera. I think this was the boys' best Christmas ever. Carter and Brechin obviously got Batman and Superman EVERYTHING, including big wheels. Kelman got a variety of fun things. It was a great holiday and it was nice having Aaron home from work for a few days.
This last weekend we decided to get a hotel in Sacramento for fun. Saturday morning we went to the Discovery Science and Space Center. Kelman loved it since he is recently quite interested in space. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Kelman in a space suit.

All the boys, including Aaron, in space.

Carter and Brechin loved the dress ups.

The boys in their true form.

That's everything for us for now. Sorry for the huge post. My fault for waiting so long to update you on everything. I really just wanted to wait until after my ultrasound when I had some peace of mind, which I think I am finally STARTING to get.
We hope everyone enjoyed their holidays!

You can see more pictures of us from Christmas Eve on my Mom's blog. http://mapastubz.blogspot.com/

Catch up

2008-10-30T16:07:00.001-07:00

Sorry everyone it's been so long since I've updated. I hope you're prepared for a marathon of pictures. A lot has been going on, but my camera has only been taking blurry pictures so I was waiting to get pics with mom and dad's camera. Here's what's been going on.
We went to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm, like every other year. This year they made big improvements and there was more to do; including watching piggy races. They were so cute! The kids enjoyed the goats and petting zoo, jumping in hay, the train ride, climbing on huge tires and tractors and trains, and of course sharing a pumpkin spice cake. I did take pictures, but unfortunately it was with my blurry camera. Bummer.
For family night that next week, we painted the pumpkins the kids had picked out. Because of my blurry camera, I wasn't able to get a good picture of them until yesterday. Some of the paint had started chipping off because we forgot to spray them afterwards, so they're not quite as good as they once were.
Kelman with his "Jack the Pumpkin King" pumpkin, from Nightmare before Christmas

Carter and his Batman pumpkin of course

And Brechin chose an M&M

Kelman has been doing well with school still. However, getting him to let us leave him at the beginning has been a struggle. Once we're gone and he's warmed up he is fine. The teachers have been bribing him with stickers. He does enjoy it and has made some good friends, whom now are talking about play dates. I can't really fathom having another little kid at my house right now though with how crummy I've been feeling. A very nasty bug went around the whole family, but of course hit me harder with my pregnant immune system being down. I think we are pretty much over that; now it's just headaches and nausea. It will pass, and hopefully soon. I'm still happy to be pregnant, but it's not been as easy as I had hoped. Lots of mixed emotions into the batch this time that I've never experienced before. I just can't wait to hear this little one's heartbeat in another two weeks.
Next up would have to be the twins' birthday! It was on the 28th of this month, but we celebrated it on Saturday due to the fact that their Grandma was going to be out of town on the actual day. They didn't know the difference. They awoke to a family room full of Red and black streamers (representing batman and superman OF COURSE; which is who the twins think they are), and yellow and blue balloons with the batman and superman logo on them. I hand drew them all and I think next time, I will try to buy premade ones! They were excited none the less. We took them for their first time bowling and I think they enjoyed it. Unfortunately I forgot to get pictures of that. They were pretty cute though. After bowling, we went home for lasagna and cake and ice cream. Just to clarify, Brechin is Superman, and Carter is Batman. After dinner the boys were surprised by their nursery leaders, who brought them some brooms to be their quidditch brooms. They told us a story of one week in nursery when the boys wanted to play quidditch, but didn't have a broom. So they improvised. They grabbed their tiny pretzel rods from snacktime and stuck them between their legs and proceeded to fly around the room. Sister Sannar and her sister Joene got a kick out of it and found them some brooms online. They were thrilled to receive them.

Carter is in green and Brechin is in blue

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Lyon for the cool sweatshirts and books!

Just talking on their new cell phones that we surprised them with from Disneyland

Superman/ Brechin getting ready for flight

Batman/ Carter is flapping his wings I believe to prepare for takeoff

I will be taking some pictures soon of them in their new cowboy boots that Grandma and Grandpa Stubz got them.

Oh yeah, the night before we celebrated Brechin and Carter's birthday, they all got to go trick or treating at the Courtyard (the assisted living where my grandparents live). They loved it. Because they didn't get their Halloween costumes (batman and superman jammies) until their birthday, they had to dress up as something else. Kelman was Buzz Lightyear, Carter was a cowboy, and Brechin was a pirate. I think that's about it for us for now. We will take pictures tonight at the Trunk or treat at church and of course tomorrow on Halloween. I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween.
Kelman - To infinity and beyond

Brechin, little pirate - Argg

Carter, my cowboy - Giddyup

The three little musketeers

Irritated!!!!!

2008-10-13T17:07:00.000-07:00

I just got home from running errands and noticed my "Vote Yes on Prop 8" sign was missing from my yard. I got inside and had a message from the man in our ward who has been helping campaign, asking if our sign was stolen too. Apparently they are being stolen all over town! And these are the kind of people that we have backing up the "No" on Prop 8...criminals. We are simply stating our belief and our vote; not tearing anyone down. Then they come and steal off our property. This only makes me even more for Prop 8. I don't want to be associated with a group of people who will stand up for stealing just to get their point made. Bad point to make. I think it's very sad for the gay community that the type of people backing them up, are thieves! Anyhow, I just wanted to vent a little. I'm getting a new sign and possibly borrowing my parents' surveillance camera to catch the thieves stealing everyone's signs.

Tagged

2008-10-11T19:59:00.000-07:00

I got tagged by my dear friend Summer!! I was asked to go to the 4th file in my Pictures and select the 4th picture in that file. Here is what I came up with.

This is a goat from Apple Hill 2006. He's quite the looker isn't he?? My files are alphabetical. Now I get to tag 4 people to do the same thing.
Micah, Jill, Dan, and Kandis

Preschool, grapes, and other excitement!!

2008-09-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

After much agonizing over what to do with Kelman, I finally decided to start him in Preschool. Kelman has been experiencing a lot of anxiety, especially socially. He is still not real comfortable and happy in his primary class of two years. I had him evaluated with the Preschool Intervention Program, because of our concerns. We had wondered if he maybe had PDD (Pervasive Development Disorder), which is under the Autism spectrum. After some observation, the counselor concluded that Kelman must just have an Anxiety Disorder (not formally diagnosed though). I had been trying to get Kelman into preschool, although I was concerned how he would go to class without me. I figured he would just cry and cling to me for days; which is why he needed it even more so we wouldn't have to go through that during Kindergarten. Anyhow...I got a letter in the mail last week saying there was an opening at one of the preschools. Kelman had his first day on Friday, and he LOVED it. I had to stay the first half and then he allowed me to leave. All weekend, he was asking when he'd get to go back. Today he walked right in and didn't need me at all. Both days when I've gone to pick him up, his hair is all sweaty and messy from playing hard. I'm so excited!!! Some preschool was all he needed. He's still not a fan of church, because he says it's boring. He either cries or acts up. I think if they had some games and activities in there it might help. Any ideas of how to address that???
Unfortunately, preschool came up kind of last minute, so I didn't get any pictures until today after school.

Another exciting thing happened this weekend..... We borrowed my mom's fun sprinkler hose thingy for the kids to get wet and play with. We all got in our swimsuits and ran through it and swung on the swing set. While playing outside, I noticed we got some beautiful purple grapes from our grapevine!! I've never done grapes before, so I thought they were long gone since the leaves were turning brown. But finally, the grapes turned from green to purple and are edible! YAY!!! Hopefully we'll get even more next year.

Brechin

Saturday night I got to go to dinner and the Relief Society broadcast with my mom. We had a good time and the waitress at Applebee's was GREAT! We told her we were in a hurry, and we didn't have to wait for a single thing! It was wonderful. When I got home, Aaron was out in the family room and I found the twins asleep in the hallway. they had dragged their blankets and pillows out into the hall and fell asleep there together. I thought it was adorable.

That's about it for excitement for us. Oh yeah...except that we're gonna have a baby!!! I've been feeling healthy and strong and decided I was ready to go this road again. I feel really happy and confident that everything is going to be okay! That's about it for us.

Huntington Beach and Disneyland

2008-09-18T12:49:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a three day trip to Disneyland and the beach! We took a long weekend and went with Aaron's parents. We were very fortunate to get some free tickets to park hop between California Adventure and Disneyland for two days. We had a great time and got to do some things we've never done before. It was especially neat because Kelman is tall enough to go on some of the bigger rides with us, like Soarin' Over California (a great, non scary ride). Both parks had a new ride we'd never been on; Finding Nemo, and Toy Story Mania (I think our favorite ride). Unfortunately we didn't get to see very many characters this time, but I think the kids were relieved to have less photo opps. I absolutely loved watching the kids in the Bug's life 3d show. Brechin started crying in the middle because it was kinda scary, so I took his glasses off for him to show him it wasn't real. He grabbed them from me and put them back on as he continued to cry. I think he was curious to see what happened next. Saturday was the day we went to the beach, and we had never been as a family. The kids were hesitant at the idea of a beach instead of Disneyland, but they ended up loving it, especially Kelman. Brechin didn't care for the cold moving water so much, so I just stayed on the sand and helped his Grandpa build a sand castle. It was so nice to have a vacation and to let Kelman unwind a little because he's been kind of uptight and anxious lately. He was pretty carefree at the beach, and it was a nice change! Oh yeah...and I can't forget to tell you about our little drive to the beach. We were driving down the freeway around Santa Monica and saw a cute little convertible old style car about like this one, but green.

I made a comment to everyone as we came up behind it, saying...I'll bet it's someone famous. Low and behold...we caught up to it, and it was Jay Leno, cruising along with the top down. He was driving at a comfortable pace and I tried to get Aaron to slow down to take a picture, but he wouldn't do it. =( Kinda funny though!

The beach was absolutely beautiful and not too crowded at all.

Kelman striking a pose in the water

Aaron and Brechin on The Buzz Light Year Astro Blasters

Kelman and I on the Jumpin' Jellyfish

On the Mark Twain boat

Carter and Tigger

The Pixar parade at California Adventure

HaHa!!

2008-09-02T14:07:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't read my last post, I think I've found my stalker! Are you ready for it... I'M MY OWN STALKER!!!! You might want to read my last post to better understand what's going on. Anyhow...I was at a friend's site and saw the Live Feed (that I have to the right) and noticed it said my visit was from Smartville, Ca. Well, I'm not from Smartville, but obviously my internet provider is! So I think I've been the one visiting my own page from Nevada City. My blog is my homepage so that's why I was getting so many visits from Nevada City. I was busting up laughing when I made this discovery! I'm such a nerd!

Who are you?

2008-09-02T12:57:00.001-07:00

Soo.. my brother Micah told me about this thing called Google Analytics. It tracks who visits your blog or other webpages. It doesn't give names, but it gives locations and tells how many times a certain location (IP address) has visited your page in a 24 hour period. It updates every day and you can check to see what new visits have popped up. I've been doing this for over a week now, just out of curiosity; as has my mom. My point in this whole post, is to find out WHO is from Nevada City or Rough and Ready?!? I know you're reading this, so please leave a comment. Don't be afraid to leave a comment and show me who you are. Unless you enjoy being my private stalker!haha Even still...let's share the secret kay. Thanks!

Camping

2008-08-26T09:04:00.000-07:00

We were disappointed that we haven't taken a camping trip this summer, so we decided to have one in our family room Saturday. We rearranged the furniture and made room for a tent, and set it up right in front of the TV. We gave each of the boys a sleeping bag and put a beanbag in the tent, and turned in a Christmas movie. The boys like to celebrate Christmas year round. We always have on, the Polar Express, The Grinch, Christmas with the Kranks (don't know why they like that one), and the Santa Clause III. Strange children. Anyway, we were supposed to make S'mores while camping, but we ended up going swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's and didn't get home until bedtime. Besides, Grandpa fed them banana splits while we were at his house. The kids only need so much sugar in a day. So, instead we did it Sunday after dinner, using the S'more maker my parents gave us for Christmas a couple of years ago. And they were yummy! Unfortunately we didn't get pictures of our S'more adventures, but here are some of the boys in their tent. Just kidding. I'm so sad!! I just went to put the pictures on my computer from the camera, and they're ALL GONE!!! One of the kids must have gotten to it last night and erased them. So sad! =( I guess you will all have to imagine how cute the boys were in their sleeping bags.

Homemade Apple Pie

2008-08-21T08:47:00.001-07:00

We planted a Gala Apple tree in our back yard shortly after we moved in; And this year we got about 8 apples from it. It was so fun to have our own fresh apples. They tasted good too. So, on Sunday I decided to make a homemade apple pie. It was so pretty and so yummy!!! I'm sad I don't have more apples to do more with, but I will next year. :)
Here is a picture of Kelman since I left him off my last post. And me with my apple pie. Oh yeah...and don't laugh at my Sunday Moomoo. It used to be my Grandma's.

Potty Training

2008-08-14T15:37:00.000-07:00

It's been just over two weeks of potty training and the twins still don't quite have it down. I have to say; Carter and Brechin really do have a lot of successes in the potty. I think I just need another day for just me and them to do some refocusing. It seems like Brechin now has the ability to hold it, because he can sometimes stay dry all night, and during naps. I can also sometimes tell when he is needing to go, and I can get him to go on the potty. Carter is a little behind in that department, but still not without his successes. What got me started on the whole potty training bit was that one day, between my mom and I, we had changed about 15 diapers. It was insane...and expensive! Right around that time, my friend Donna told me about this lady in Chicago or something who runs a "Booty Camp". She was on some morning talk show discussing how she takes your child for 5 hours at a rate of $250. She feeds them all kinds of salty junk foods and really sugary drinks. All as a ploy to get them to drink even more and to have more opportunities to go on the potty. This lady also says it is important for the children to take responsibility for their own bodies and to make them clean up any accidents. We should be saying, "if you need to go potty, go on the potty," instead of, "do you need to go potty?" It supposedly makes a difference as to who is responsible for their body. Anyhow, I decided to give it a try. I cannot even tell you how hard and frustrating it was to just focus on potty training for at least 5 hours straight! That first day was awful. What this lady doesn't warn you of, is that by feeding your children all this garbage all day is going to result in a huge sugar rush...times 2!! So, I had these two little boys running mad, bottomless, through the whole house. BUT...they did have many successes and learned what the potty was all about. The booty camp lady asks that you take an additional three days to focus with them and then guarantees no accidents. Now maybe my following three days weren't so focused because we still aren't quite there, and we're going on day 16. I'm proud of the boys and their success, but I also can't wait until we're completely done with diapers and pull ups. The pull ups have been great for them, but they are so darn expensive, times 2!
Okay, so now for a funny story. I believe it was either day 1 or day 2 of the potty training, and the twins still hadn't gone poo poo on the potty. Well, a couple of things. 1. Brechin knew I kept saying, "you need to put your poopy in the potty." So...Brechin did just this. He pooped on the floor...picked it up....and put it in the potty. So your first rule in potty training has got to be, be careful what you tell your child. They take everything literal! 2. I was on the computer or something and heard Carter and Brechin making growling noises in the other room. I got up to go see what they were doing and low and behold... here lies a poopy on the floor, and Carter and Brechin, together, were holding the end of a stick horse whacking...yes I said WHACKING, the poop! Gross!! It was Brechin's first poopy during potty training, and I guess when they saw it lying on the ground they just thought...hm...let's whack it!! My mom called it poop polo!
So there are some of our latest adventures.

Family Reunion

2008-07-14T14:33:00.000-07:00

4th of July weekend we had a family reunion with my side of the family. We had a great time and it was a good distraction for me a lot of the time. We went to Soda Springs which is about an hour and a half east of here; up in the mountains. We mainly did a lot of hanging out, but had some games in there too. Our family reunions kind of remind of the movie Dan in Real Life. Except I couldn't convince everyone to go outside and do Yoga. We did however stand in a circle holding hands, passing a hula hoop all the way around without ever letting go of eachother. When the music stopped, whoever had the hula hoop on their person got to go eat dinner. Thanks for the idea Donna; it worked great! My dad made a homemade rocket launcher and each family had to design a rocket and we timed them. Ours didn't get the fastest but it was still good fun. They occasionally launched Water balloons too. :) One of the two houses was right on the lake and had a trampoline in the backyard that the boys loved playing on. At night we would sometimes play games or watch a movie and just relax. On the morning of the 4th most of us went to a parade in Truckee. Candy was thrown, the kids got free necklaces and stickers and we all got sprayed by squirt guns and a hose from a fire truck. Oh and I can't forget about our talent show. My family along with my brother Jared's family did a dance to Cotton Eyed Joe. It was hilarious and great fun. It was so nice to be able to hang out with family and laugh a lot. I can't wait until we have our next one; which I'm sure will have even more family members by the time it happens. At the reunion we learned of at least one more addition that will be coming to the family. Congrats Josh and Courtney!
I want to thank Jared and Debbie for coming and supporting me; and staying for such a long time. I know that had to of been difficult to be away from their home for so long but it meant so much to me. It was so great of them constantly checking on me and doing anything I needed from them; including Debbie making me rolls one day because it was the only thing that sounded good. My boys, especially Kelman, will miss their cousin Hannah. He was just telling me today how much he loves her. And I will miss that "not so" little Ben!!! He always made me smile. Thanks again guys!!

Kelman feeding his newest cousin Lacey

Our Cotton Eyed Joe dance

Brechin playing darts with his cousin Jackson

Carter and Brechin jumping on one of the bunk beds in the loft. They were also chucking books out the window, which was three stories high.

The whole family. We had to draw stick figures on our backs for each member of our own family.

June Events

2008-06-23T16:36:00.000-07:00

Things have slowly been getting back to normal at the Lyon household. I finally have the kids to myself, except for days that Jared decides to come over and help out for a bit. I'm back to cooking and shopping again which is a tad of an adjustment. I went to Walmart today for the first time in about 2 months. I must say I didn't do it alone; Jared and Debbie helped with my kids so I wouldn't go insane while doing it. It was a huge help. I'm so glad to have them here right now. They have been so fun to hang out with and a good distraction for me as well.

Life has defintately been a huge adjustment for me and will probably continue to be for a while. I thought I would breeze right through the hard parts after losing Gianna but I guess I was wrong. I thought I did quite well, considering, the first two weeks but it seems to have gotten worse. I'm hoping that once I feel completely recovered from surgery that I will feel better all around. We'll just have to wait and see and take things slowly. I'm really looking forward to our family reunion next week; it will be so much fun.

Now onto some more fun things we've done in the last week or so. We have gotten to play with the Stubblefields quite a bit and the boys and I have loved it. My brother Jared and his family have been here ever since Gianna's funeral and are here until after the reunion. We've gotten together to play games, go out to lunch, and have FHE together. Last monday they taught us how to make Flubber for FHE and the boys had so much fun. Then last thursday we went to Ikea, Fairtytale Town, and Funderland with the my sister Andrea's family and Jared and Debbie, with their kids. It was a very long day for me but I think everyone had a great time.

Grandpa Stubblefield with half of his grandchildren on Father's Day.

Kelman with his cousin Hannah. He begs to play with her every single day since they've been here. He does torment her at times but loves her to pieces.

Carter being thrown in the air by his uncle Jared. The boys now know uncle Jared as the wild uncle who roughs them up. Whenever he comes over they get their pillows ready for throwing.

Kelman playing with Flubber...our new found concoction thanks to the Stubblefields!

The boys and their cousins at Fairytale town. They're all pulling Cinderella's carriage.

Me and the boys at Fairytale Town. It was difficult to get them to pose with me. :(

Carter riding his pony Cheyenne.

Brechin on his pony named Rocky.

Kelman and his pony whose name he can't remember.

The boys and their cousins on their ponies and horses outside of Funderland.

Memorial Services

2008-06-09T08:09:00.000-07:00

Gianna's memorial service turned out very nice. If you'd like to read more about it and see pictures, you can visit my mom's blog.
"http://mapastubz.blogspot.com"

Gianna Rae Lyon

2008-06-07T16:27:00.000-07:00

I don't have the stomach to write about the whole heart wrenching process right now, but I wanted to share some pictures and a brief rundown of our last moments with our sweet baby girl. Gianna Rae Lyon was born May 29th at 5:46pm. She was 2 lbs 7oz and 14 inches long. Gianna was only 30 weeks gestation when she was born. I was at the hospital for a routine Non Stress Test to make sure everything was going okay and Gianna's heartrate indicated that she might have been struggling. After further monitoring, her heart rate began to get worse and the doctors decided to do an emergency c-section. My parents were able to make it in time and be in the room with me, but Aaron arrived about 10 minutes after our baby girl was born. She had many problems and we had to make a very difficult decision saturday May 31st. We decided to take Gianna off of all the machines. I couldn't bear standing there watching my baby girl look so weak and hear all of the machines constantly beeping, indicating something was wrong. We finally got to just hold our little butterfly and she passed in my arms after about an hour. We enjoyed our time with her and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. She is so precious to us and we cherish her presence in our lives. Our lives and testimonies will forever be altered for good because of this little angel. I didn't get to share Gianna with many people because she didn't live very long so I'd like to share a few pictures with all of you.

Home from the hospital

2008-05-17T14:41:00.000-07:00

After 6 full long days at the hospital I am now home and on strict bedrest. I need to keep this brief cause I need to get back to laying down. The doctor released me but I have to stay down and continue taking the meds to stop contractions every 4 hours (even through the night). I go back to the doctor on monday for another ultrasound and also to the pediatric cardiologist. I start my non stress tests twice a week next week as well. That's all for now and I'll keep you updated. Thanks everyone for the thoughts, prayers, and phone calls!!

Day 4 in the hospital

2008-05-13T14:57:00.000-07:00

So I thought I would give everyone updates from my hospital bed now that I am connected to the outside world with the laptop my parent's brought me today. I really don't know a whole lot about how long I'm going to be here; we just have to take one day at a time.
For those of you who haven't heard, I decided to go to the hospital on saturday evening because I was having some mild but regular contractions. The ER docs decided to call my Dr in Sacramento to see what they should do. They decided to transfer me to Sutter Memorial in downtown Sac by amblance. Code 3 with the flashing lights and sirens. It was kind of nerve racking and the ride was not nearly as smooth as I had expected. Then the contractions got worse and was put on three different meds to stop the contractions. So here I am at day four and I'm still on all the meds and the doc has no idea if and when he will send me home. Every day we just wait and see if anything new changes. My cervix doesn't appear to be changing which is very good. The baby seems to be doing very well other than measuring really small. I have been given both steroid shots to develop her lungs and they will be in effect by tonight. I'm feeling very positive about the abilities of this hospital and all the doctors. The hospital has about 6 or 7 floors (not that I've seen the outside because I was brought in by ambulance). When I first got here there were 58 babies in the NICU. I've met with a neonatologist who will be taking care of my baby when she's here. He was very reassuring. It's just kind of a wait and see game here for us. Aaron returned to work yesterday and mom and dad have had the kids during the day; Aaron kinda takes over at night. I just got a visit from the boys and it was very nice to see them. I've feel pretty isolated here but it should be getting better. Let me just tell you, daytime television is awful. If anyone cares to make a visit or give a call I'm at Sutter Memorial room 222B. I'll keep ya posted.

A hot full day

2008-04-27T18:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a very full day and I have sunburns on my calves and arms to show for it. We started the day with the local Run Drugs Out of Town 5K. Aaron hasn't done a fun run in almost five years and thought it was about time. He didn't get to do a whole lot of training beforehand...maybe got out with the jogging stroller twice a week for a couple weeks. He ended up doing very well, and lots better than he thought he could do. Aaron ran a mile around the Tierra Buena track not too long ago and could only pull it off in about 8 and a half minutes and was kinda disappointed. Well yesterday he managed to average just under 7 minutes a mile for the whole 5K. He came in 4th in his age category (20-29) and he'll be 29 in just a couple of weeks. Not too shabby I say! It was pretty well organized and they even had games and a bounce house set up for the kids. And some raffles that we didn't win. :(

As soon as we got home and got Aaron cleaned up from the run, we headed to Woodland to the Scottish Highland games. I think that is where most of the sun damage happened. It was pretty interesting watching all the men in skirts and the events that went on. IE: caber toss, hammer throw and highland dance competition. I think the kids' favorite part was visiting the Scottish animals. I personally thought the Scottish cow was beautiful. The dogs were the boys' favorites though and got to play with little Scottie dogs the most. All in all it was a good day and everyone seemed to have a good time. Oh, and I must not forget to mention tasting Scottish Pasties (meat pies) and Haggis (you don't want to know, but it involves sheep stomach, heart liver and lungs).

Post Easter Catch up

2008-04-14T11:07:00.000-07:00

The boys had an Easter Egg Hunt at Great Grandma and Grandpa Hawley's place. It was a really nice day and lots of fun for the kids; as you can tell by their huge cheesy grins!

Brechin was pretending to fall into the ditch/ creek. He really was just copying his big brother.

Well as most of you know, we've had a very challenging past 5 weeks....all to do with my pregnancy. We've been through the depths of despair and are on the upside right now. We had some tragic news about our baby girl and things are finally beginning to look more and more up. I've seen a couple of different perinatologists and today I even went and saw a Pediatric Cardiologist to have an echo-cardiogram done on our little girl. In case some of you haven't heard, we were told our baby most likely had a chromosome problem and would be incompatible with life. By an amniocentesis, we have ruled that out which now gives us some hope. We don't and won't know the extent of any structural defects or brain defects really until she's born. But we did find out about her heart this morning. It looks like she has what is called a Primum septum defect, which is a hole in a certain spot of the heart. It really is great news compared to what we were looking at. This heart defect has nothing to do with the rest of her development. Blood is going where it should and the heart shouldn't slow her down any until about 4 to 5 months by which she will have had surgery by then. She should have a normal delivery (from the heart's standpoint at least) and will hopefully be able to come home with me from the hospital. About three or so months later they will have to do open heart surgery and close the gap. It is a very successful surgery and as far as the heart goes, she should have a normal life once that is fixed. We still aren't out of the woods with her other problems. I have another ultrasound in 2 and a half weeks and maybe we can rule out some other problems. We truly appreciate everyone's prayers and fasts in our behalf. We know many of you have been suffering along with us. I know that it is by the faith and prayers of so many that things are really coming together. We love and appreciate all of you. We will keep you updated with the progress of our little girl.

We're having a .......

2008-03-12T14:16:00.001-07:00

BABY!!! So we had an ultra sound yesterday and got to see our very wiggly, modest little girl!! Yes...we can make girls after all!!! We're very excited. She kept crossing her legs and squeezing her little knees together. The techs let me get up and walk around and try to get her to move again...as if she wasn't moving a ton already. So finally after two techs taking a look they decided it WAS a girl. Most everything looked great and heartbeat was strong, but after going to my Dr's appt right after he let me know they found some fluid around the baby; other than amniotic. They're not sure what it is or if it's anything. But to be sure my Dr is doing some blood work on me and referring me to a Perinatologist for a detailed ultrasound. I guess we'll know from there what to expect. We don't know much more for now. We'll let ya all know when we find out but we're praying they won't find a darn thing when we go back in. :)

Our Date Night

2008-02-23T14:10:00.000-08:00

Sorry It's been so long everyone...We have a super slow internet and it takes forever to load my page let alone a post with pictures! I had to wait for a day where I had much patience and that doesn't come very often these days. Let's see...what are some highlights of the last two months.

Well, this week we sold our dog Nia. We posted her in the paper wednesday and we had a call at 6:45AM and the lady came and got her with money and everything by 7:30. Insane!!! We got several calls and probably could've gotten more money for her. I know I should feel sad about selling our dog but I mostly feel relieved. Kelman needs to grow up a little before he can have a dog because he was always hitting her with pillows and trying to torment her. Even though he did like her. Plus she had sooooo much hair all over the house; it was driving me crazy. Especially when I started finding it in my dinner or the thought of it mixed with brand new baby things. I really think she's in a better place cause she's got a nine month old boy Corgi to play with. It'll happen again someday for us.

In January, Aaron and I were able to get away for a night and go to Sacramento to this really nice bed and breakfast spa resort. The way everything was set up was sooo nice and relaxing. I just wish we would've gotten a room in their newer building because the old house we were staying in; although it was very nice, the windows hadn't been updated and it was quite noisy from outside traffic. Other than that it was very nice and we got to go to the downtown plaza the next day and just enjoy shopping with no kids. We even met a very nice couple during wine/ sparkling cider and cheese hour the night before. Although, we suspect it was a married man and his mistress on a get away for the weekend from LA. Who knows.

As I'm writing this I'm realizing I don't have anything really exciting to tell about the kids, or any new pictures. I will get on that soon. I will tell about Carter though. He has been having some bum issues since at least december. Don't quite know what's up with him but he HATES to go potty because it hurts him so much. On the diet regimen and meds we have him on right now it's not so bad but the kid's gotta learn to go on his own. We are taking him to a pediatric GI specialist in two weeks so hopefully we'll get some answers. The doctor says that as a side effect his skin as been really rough so we're having to do stuff for that as well.

I guess as some other news on the boys...we moved the twins into Kelman's room!! Big BOYS!!!! They're in big beds now and are loving it...a little too much. Brechin and Carter would play for hours at nap time before falling asleep so we've eased that up by separating them for nap time now that we have a free room. I kept Brechin's toddler bed up in their old room and he naps in there. Now to make up for the lost 2 hours of play time together, they play for about that long every night before falling asleep. Kelman falls right to sleep on the top bunk but not the twins. We're trying to break them of the habit but it's hard. I sat in their doorway last night in hopes it would keep them in their own beds (Carter tends to climb into Brechin's bed and play). But they were so funny to listen to I couldn't help laughing so I don't think I helped settle them down much. We usually have to stick Brechin in the other room for a while until they both settle down...almost to sleep and then return him to his big bed. They cry and hate being separated though. I'm glad I have some time before this baby comes to get this all figured out.

Oh yeah....and we get to find out if we're having a boy or a girl in just over two weeks!! YEA!!!

Okay so onto the title of this blog. Micah and Sarah sent us a really fun date night idea for Christmas. It was a Yuba Sutter Mall Scavenger Hunt. We were to go into the mall and find certain items and play certain games. And to also take pictures while doing it. At the end we were to share a snack in the food court and play mall bingo. it was hilarious. They had pictures on a bingo card of things such as a cigarette, crying baby, turban/east indian man, ipod, fat belly and lots of other funny things. Surprisingly it took a long time to get a bingo. No turbans out that night. After bingo they treated us to dinner at Chili's...YUM!! Here are some pictures and descriptions of our fun night.

We had to go into a store our spouse wouldn't shop in and pick out an outfit for them to try on. This was particularly funny because we went into Images (a gangster store) and we got in so much trouble for taking pictures in there. An old man worked there and came and gave me a hard time about it and said "how do I know you're not spying to check on prices in another store". Totally lame. Then on Aaron's way out of the store he stopped him and asked him to remove his shirt (button up) and show him what was underneath to make sure he wasn't stealing. For one...like that baggy stuff could fit under his clothes...and two, why would we take pictures of ourselves committing a crime. Lame old man!

We also had to go to GNC and do the body weight/fat test. And my belly HAS grown since this picture.

We had to go into the arcade and race eachother on a game, which I won and also play games for tickets and buy eachother a prize. We bought some candy, fangs, and cute little rings.

We had to try on some shades at a sunglass stand.

We had a blast...thanks Micah and Sarah!!

Time to share our news

2008-01-02T16:29:00.000-08:00

All of our family knows our news so I guess it's time to share with the rest of the class. We're expecting baby number 4. I will be due the first week of August. My symptoms have been very different this pregnancy from my other two so we're hoping for some pink this time around. But of course we'd be happy with another boy! :) Besides, I don't know if a girl would survive with all these wild boys.
Here are some of my favorite Christmas pictures. We had a good Christmas and New Year, although we couldn't manage to stay up till midnight...but we were close. I quite enjoy my sleep.
We hope you all have enjoyed the holidays!!

The boys all got cowboy belts from Grandma and Grandpa Stubz.

This has got to be their favorite present. They all sure love COOKIN'! Brechin even calls himself "chef". But that is Carter in the Picture.

This cool thing has all the loopty loops and fun stuff!

We told Brechin to sit by the game so we could take his picture and he ended up sitting ON the game!

They sure love playing their new Elefun game. Those are butterflies they are catching.
Just checking out their stocking goodies!!

Kelman's 4th Birthday

2007-12-13T15:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Kelman's 4th Birthday and I think he had a great day. Unfortunately Brechin was throwing up all afternoon and evening but at least it wasn't Kelman. He got lots of presents and got to choose all three of his meals. For breakfast he wanted donuts. Then lunch he wanted to go to Sam's Club for hot dogs and ice cream (what a nut). And dinner he wanted meatloaf, pasta with cheese sauce, and corn. For dessert, he wanted chocolate pie (with apples on top), but needless to say, we left off the apples for the sake of taste. I think he was pretty pleased with how the day went and all the presents he got.

Costumes

2007-11-07T17:17:00.000-08:00

I thought I would be so much better at keeping this thing updated but I'm not!! I feel like I've hardly even had a chance to get on the computer for the past few weeks. So, the twins are now 2 years old. They getting so big!!! They all play with eachother so well...most of the time. Kelman has adopted some of Brechin and Carter's new presents as his own.
Halloween was also a success. We managed to not have a ton of candy left to eat because as the kids got home from trick or treating, I went through their candy and stuck most of it in our pass out (to trick or treaters) dish. Good way to go I think. The day before Halloween was actually much crazier. I had piano students late afternoon and as soon as I finished, we all got dressed up (in about 20 minutes) and headed to G&G Hawley's for trick or treating. Then after about 20 minutes we had to go to the church for trunk or treating. It was all fun and the kids had a great time. Aaron and I even dressed up as Jack and Jill. We had a costume party at our house the saturday before Halloween. It was a lot of fun; and thanks Micah and Sarah for the game ideas. Well, here is all of us dressed up. Mom and dad probably have some better pictures on their camera but here is what I've got. We even added a handerchief around Brechin's neck for the next night. The last picture is just a picture of some of our Halloween decorations. Those are giant hands that have stick inside for you to hold onto. Pretty fun.

Finally...an update

2007-10-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

Everyone's been begging me to update this thing since it's been so long. Sorry, I've been slacking. And I've been waiting to get some pictures to put up here. Wanted to share with everyone something funny Kelman said last week. We went to Burger King for lunch; which was a complete zoo, and as we were all sitting around eating, Grandpa put one of the Burger King crowns on Carter's head. Kelman starting smiling and shouting out...."he's the king of the Jews!!!!" We were bustin' a gut. I dont't think he realized who the king of the Jews is but he definitely knew he'd head it before. Kids just say the darndest things.

We had a great time when Micah and Sarah, and Jared and his family came to visit. My boys miss their cuzzies already. I will post some pictures from Bishop's Pumpkin Farm and 6 flags as soon as I finish downloading them to my computer...later today hopefully. We had a great time and I even went on the big fast roller coasters with Aaron before the day ended.

Now I am working on the kid's costumes for Halloween. I've got to remember how to sew and then we should be set. Kelman is going to be Harry Potter (Anyone know where to get some cheap non prescription frames????), Carter an Indian, and Brechin a Cowboy. Wish me luck! If any of you know any cheap place good for Harry Potter items please let me know! Check back for pictures later.

Going on the potty!

2007-09-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

The twins will be 2 at the end of October and to my amazement this morning, I found Carter trying to climb onto the potty, diaper and all. I asked him what he was doing and he said poo poo. And I said, "do you need to go potty?" and he responded with "Potty!" So I helped him up and sure enough, he went poo poo on the potty!!! I couldn't believe it. How blessed would I be if these boys got potty trained early like Kelman. I really lucked out with one (Kelman) getting completely potty trained at 2 1/2 but to have at least one of the twins if not both that early...that would be somethin'!!

Camping

2007-09-04T12:16:00.000-07:00

We went camping over the weekend and it was great. I have to say, by sunday afternoon, my kids had finally had enough of being dirty!!! And I admit, I had had enough of it as well. It's hard keeping track of three little guys in the wilderness. Surprisingly, the boys figured out they needed to stay close by so we didn't have to go looking too far for them. We had a ton of HUGE rocks in our campsite that the boys loved climbing and being the King of the Mountain. We also went down to the lake one day. On sunday we took a drove up to Lake Tahoe and boy was it busy up there. We found a quiet little spot to take a bike ride and picnic. There was a huge soccer field along the bike path that we played on as well. Brechin and Carter caught on to the whole sleeping bag thing rather quickly. Although, by morning Aaron or I had some little critter in our bag with us. All in all, we had a great time and we were very glad that there were showers close by.

Good deals

2007-08-24T15:12:00.000-07:00

I've decided August is a good time to do Christmas shopping. It seems to be when all the stores clearance out a ton of items to get new ones in. The last couple of years I have found some of the best deals in August. Well, I went to Toys R Us on Tuesday and found a bunch of good deals. I found a $100 blow up slide that turns into a slip 'n' slide for only $8.00. Isn't that amazing?!! Of course we couldn't wait until Christmas to give that one away so naturally, I blew it up that night and the kids had a blast. I of course needed to show them how to do the slip 'n' slide part so I joined them, clothes and all! Good times! : )

Finally starting a blog

2007-08-21T22:41:00.000-07:00

So, I never really cared about having a blog before but it seems that all of a sudden, everyone I know has one and we're the only ones who don't. Okay maybe not everyone but I figured it was perhaps time we began. Maybe it's not so bad to follow the crowd every now and then right? We'll see where it takes us I suppose. Couldn't hurt to better keep in touch with a few old and new friends. Keep tabs on what's going on with everyone.