Fall fun

This year Carter and Lexi were in the Legacy pumpkin walk.  Carters class did finding Nemo.  His teacher asked them what made them happy. Carter said making cookies with his mom made him happy.  It made me smile.  Lexi's class did Pete the cat.  She loves those books and was excited about it.  We had fun going as a family to see the pumpkins.

We held our annual pumpkin painting party at grandma's.  Lexi got into it but Carter did his quick and trevor didn't even want to try.  He played air hockey downstairs with cole instead and eventuality carter joined them.  We all had fun though.

Later that month we went to Gardner Village with Edens family.  It was fun and we love having them live closer so we can get together.

Lexi Turns 7

Lexi turned seven this year!  I keep asking her to stop growing up but she doesn't want to.  A few weeks before her birthday my Mom took her shopping for her birthday.  We went to Olive Garden and Lexi was very mature during our dinner.  At one point in the conversation Lexi interrupted us and said, "speaking of...".  I was shocked with her vocabulary and her mature polite way of speaking.  We then went to the mall and she picked some earrings, a stuffed cat, and made a build a bear.  It was fun making the bear.  She named it Lilly.  When she was picking the clothes she told me she picked the dress she picked because it was modest and the other one wasn't.  We had a great time.

On Lexi's birthday she got to have Kneaders french toast for breakfast, a lunchable for lunch, and Culver's for dinner.  She took Rice Krispy treats to school and picked those because she knew her friend that has allergies could eat those.  I got to volunteer in her class on her birthday.  After school she had her friend party.  It was an art party.  She invited Allie, Emily, Lexie, Ellie, Colson, Nathan, and Ryder.  We painted bird houses, did sand art, played don't eat Pete, decorated cup cakes, and made things out of pipe cleaners.  That night Lexi had her family cake party and had a lot of fun with her cousins.  It was a fun day!

Lexi is such a blessing to me.  She is a lot of fun and is good at coming up with things to do.  She is very creative and is becoming more and more caring.  I miss her a lot when she's gone because she truly is my best friend.  I love my seven year old.

funny

Carter walked out of my bathroom.  I could smell cologne on him.  Me, "Carter you're not supposed to use daddy's cologne." Carter,  "how'd you know? " Me,  "I could smell it. " Carter, "sometimes I just like to do handsome stuff. "

To Remember

The other day I read a confernece talk and they talked about making sure your kids know you love being a Mom and how important motherhood is to you.  So I told my kids that morning how I'd always wanted to be a Mom and I love being a Mom.  Later that day things got rough and I was having a hard time with the kids.  Lexi looked at me and said, "Remember you always wanted to be a Mom right."  She sure put me in my place.

Carter had a cavity that had to be filled.  When we got home it was hurting.  He told me he wanted one of those things.  I wasn't sure what he meant.  He put his hands together and on his head.  I knew then he was asking for a blessing.  He asked if Daddy and Grandpa could come give him one of those.  It was so sweet.

The other day Carter was in my bed in the  morning.  When we finally got out of bed he looked at me and said with a smile, "I smelled your pillow and it smelled like your hair."

Trevor

Trevor is quite the toddler.  He is into everything and is my most destructive child.  If something gets left out it won't be in one piece for long.  He likes to tare things and bite things off.  He knows what he wants and if you don't give it to him he will either hit you, bite you, or scream until he gets it.  He doesn't forget what he wants.  He once asked me for a cookie before nap time and I told him he could have one after his nap.  Literally the first thing he said when he woke up was, "Cookie."  He keeps putting legos in his mouth and knows he isn't supposed to.  He will look at me and wait for me to look away to put them in.  He gets time outs in his room now.  He is getting revenge on Carter for all the times he tortured him.  Carter is always running to me screaming because Trevor is hitting him or trying to bite him.  We took away the bottle at the beginning of the month.  He doesn't like sippy cups so he just uses a straw.  He is extremly difficult to get to eat.  We tried taking him off his reflux medicine and he stopped eating almost entirely.  He's back on them and is doing better but is still difficult.  He loves treats though.  He eats oatmeal for breakfast, pb&j for lunch, and soup or hot dogs for dinner.  He likes fruit, fishies, crackers, cereal, and fruit snacks.  He threw up the night we gave him spaghetti so I think it had too much acid in it for him.  Despite his difficulties he is so fun.  He is amazing with balls.  He throws anything he can in the air and chases it and then repeats.  Cole played air hockey with him and he was so good at it.  He could return the puck without any problem and scored all the time.  He likes to dance and recently started doing the pony.  He winds up his arms and then does twirls.  He likes nursery a lot more now and plays ball most of the time he is in there.  Lexi has dressed him as a girl a few times which is quite entertaining but I had to put a stop to it.  He still has amazing hair.  His favorite thing to say is No.  He gets in a very negative mood at least once a day and will only respond with a NO to anything you say.  He is becoming more of a Daddy's boy.  He loves my hair and pulls it a lot.  He doesn't sleep through the night consistently.  He loves balloons but always rips the strings off of them so they get stuck in our high ceiling for weeks.  He gives the best kisses and is the most polite child I've ever met.  He always tells everyone thank you and if he accidently hurts you he says sorry.  We love him.

The Good and the Bad

It has been quite the year for me health wise.  I have had more challenges and flukes than ever before.  Despite everything that's happened it's been amazing to see the tender mercies that have helped lessen my suffering.  At the beginning of the summer I went in for a lasik exam. Everything was going well until they looked at my nerves behind my eyes.  The doctor then asked me if I get many head aches.  He then asked the nurse to get another doctor.  The other doctor examined my nerves and they concluded that they were inflamed.  It wouldn't effect whether or not I could have lasik but it could mean there was a tumor behind my eye.  They sent me to a specialist.  In the meantime while waiting for my appointment with the specialist I began to have terrible head aches and mouth pain.  It felt like a sinus infection.  I had been having them on and off again for the past 10 years.  They had recently gotten more frequent and typically I couldn't get a cold without getting an infection.  Thus, I'd been on and off of anti biotics a lot.  My pain was getting really bad and happened every day.  I went to the ENT and got put on a new anti biotic.  It wasn't helping.  I then got into the eye doctor speialist to have an ultrasound of my eye.  I was very nervous but felt like it was going to be ok.  Luckily I didn't have cancer.  My nerves were just inflamed.  I went to the dentist to make sure I didn't have any teeth problems.  He assured me there weren't and could even see the infection in my sinuses on his x-ray.  He looked at older ones and they were infected too.  I then knew I wasn't making up the chronic infections.  I'd had them for years.  After that I called my ENT because my symptoms weren't getting any better and they scheduled a catscan.  I waited and waited for the scan and results but they weren't happening.  Then I broke out in hives.  Everyday I was dealing with headaches, mouth pain, and now hives.  He put me on a steroid and read my catscan results.  I had a cyst in my sinuses.  The steroid he put me on took away my headaches, hives, and mouth pain.  It was such a blessing because Carter was having his tonsils out and I needed to feel well enough to take care of him.  We were also blessed because Trevor got sick while Carter was recovering and Carter didn't get it.  Once my surgery happened the recovery was harder than I had anticipated.  Cole was able to help me for a few days but the day he went back to work was so hard.  Luckily it got better after that.  I was also blessed because Trevor was sick during this time and I didn't get it.  At my one week follow up appointment I almost passed out.  Then right before my three week appointment I got a bad cold. and a weird mark on my forehead that hurt.  It got worse and looked swollen.  When I went in for my follow up they looked at it and told me I had shingles.  I just wanted to laugh. When I texted Cole to tell him he never responded and then when he came home he didn't mention it.  I asked him if he got my text and he looked confused and then said he thought I was kidding when I said I had shingles.  Even my shingles have had mixed blessings.  They happened on my forehead which is one of the more comfortable places to get them.  I was already going in to the doctor anyway so I didn't have to make a special visit to find out what was going on and pay more money.  It was general conference when they were happening so I didn't have to go be seen at church with them.  All in all it has been one thing after another but truly we have been blessed and I'm grateful for my Father in Heavens watchcare over me and my family.