It's been a while.... BUT....

I know it's been a while since I've blogged (like over a year) but this is a good cause! How would you like to win a free dress....not just one free dress, but TWELVE free dresses!? One dress a month for a whole year! Well, Shabby Apple (who has some amazing clothes, by the way) is having a major giveaway where they are giving away to some lucky winner one dress per month for a whole year. So if you would like to be that lucky winner, head over here Shabby Apple. You'll thank me for it if you win. ;) And I PROMISE that I'll update the last 18 months soon....relatively soon....hopefully before it's hit the 2 year mark.....maybe. ;)

Amelia's Birthday Party

Amelia's turning 7 this year...can you believe it?!? It seems like only yesterday that I found out I was pregnant with her. Time has just flown by. Anyway, it seems that her birthday is always falling during spring break and since we actually have plans to go on a trip this year (just me and the kids since Justin has work), we decided to have Amelia's party before Spring Break.

For her theme this year, Amelia picked Hello Kitty. I can't believe how popular Hello Kitty has gotten again. It seems like all the girls Amelia's age are obsessed with her. She got to invite some of her friends from school and some of her friends from church. Overall, we had a pretty good turn out. My friend, Emily, made Amelia's cake for her and she did a FABULOUS job. It turned out great.








You can see Nathan hiding behind Amelia's elbow in this picture. You can see his sneaky expression on his face. He decided he would help Amelia blow her candles out. lol




This is just a picture that I took while playing with some of the settings on my camera. I thought it turned out pretty cool.

2011!?

Where did the time go? I can't believe that it is already 2011! I realized the other day that I hadn't blogged in some time and decided I should catch up. Only I didn't realize that I hadn't blogged since August! REALLY!?!? And so much has happened since then. So lets get started with this catch up.

In August Justin was able to go to Maryland for some training. I, of course, was totally jealous cause it pretty much was a paid vacation for him. He got to go see all the historical things around Washington D.C. while I got to stay home and take care of the kids. But I am glad that he had that opportunity to go.

The end of September my mom and my Aunt Renee flew out to see us. Unfortunately, my Aunt Renee only got to stay a few days. But my mom got to stay for about a week. It was nice to see her and show her around the island. There were just so many things to see and do. It is hard to fit everything in. Especially since we were getting ready to move. Two weeks after that, my brother, Nate, flew out to spend some time with us before we left. It actually worked out perfectly that we flew out the same day he did. Justin took leave and we were able to have a real vacation in Hawaii with Nate. We even went and stayed out at Bellows Air Force Station. They have beach houses there and we stayed just off the beach. It was so beautiful there.

October was a big month for us. We moved from Hawaii, got to visit Justin's family in Las Vegas and got moved into our new house in Monterey, CA. It is so nice being back in Monterey again. It is such a great area and close enough to family that we can go and visit often. We have made plenty of trips to Vegas to see Justin's family and I am already planning on at least 2 (maybe three) long trips to see my family in Salt Lake. If we were living in Hawaii still, this wouldn't be possible at all!

Of course there was Halloween in October and that was great fun. On Saturday (the day before Halloween for all those who forgot) we went to the church for the annual Ward Trunk-or-Treat. The kids had a blast and got lots of candy (Amelia even got a marinade sauce...I guess that was a trick lol).

In November not a whole lot was going on. We made a trip to Las Vegas over Veteran's Day weekend so Justin could work on his car (I'll post about that monster later). For Thanksgiving, we were able to make it for the Adams' Family Reunion. It was so much fun to see everyone and to catch up with them.

December brought more of the same...school, kids, work, housework. Justin was able to take some time off so we headed down to Las Vegas again and had a family Christmas party with his family. We unfortunately weren't able to get enough time off to make it to Salt Lake, but we'll be using Spring Break for that. ;) Plus, I didn't want to risk driving through Donner Pass in December again. Once was enough for me. And we wanted to be home for Lily's birthday and Christmas. Both went great too. It is so nice to be home for Christmas and to have your own family and traditions.

Now here we are, January 2011! I still can't believe 2010 has already passed us by. Hopefully 2011 will be a little bit slower and we will be able to enjoy the time we have in Monterey. As of now, we are only going to be here until November of this year. But we are hoping to change that. ;)

Is it weird to you?

How do you feel about a male 1st grade teacher? My initial thoughts were that it was kinda creepy. I mean, little kids like that like to hug...ALOT. And it takes a special kind of person to deal with little people everyday, all day and and even more special kind of person to deal with kindergarten/1st grade kids. So when I found out that Amelia's teacher was a guy, I wasn't too keen on the idea. But, what are you going to do? Go to the office and ask for a different teacher just because the teacher is a guy? That seems a little sexist, don't you think? Anyway, I decided to not make any snap judgments and see how things go. The first day of school when I went to drop Amelia off I saw her classroom door and saw a dad dropping off his kid at the door. Then I realized, that guy is wearing a school shirt....wait...that's not a dad, that's the teacher. HE IS SO YOUNG! My neighbor asked her daughter's teacher and she said that he had just barely graduated from college and this was his first teaching job. So now, not only do I have to get used to the idea of him being a "him" but I also have to be patient as he gets into the swing of things. Yesterday Amelia came home from school and said that she had to turn her card cause she didn't raise her hand. There was no warning before and I thought that was kinda harsh. Of course, it was just a "practice" day so she didn't get a note sent home, but still. She is only 6. And it was only the second day of class. But it was a "practice" day but still. Amelia had NEVER gotten in trouble before. Not even one note home. And I know she talks alot and I know she talks out of turn but to not give her a reminder or a warning? That seems a little much to me. But whatever. She is only going to be in the class for a little less than 2 months. Then we get to move and get used to a new teacher and a new school. I just hope the next 2 months go smoothly for her.

If it's not one thing....

...it's another. Amelia has been sick for the last few days and hasn't been able to keep anything down. So finally, at my wits end and totally afraid that she was severely dehydrated, I took her to the Acute Care Clinic for some help. They brushed off my concerns over her being dehydrated and gave her some anti-nausea medicine that made her promptly visit the sink (there wasn't a toilet close enough). She barely had it down but apparently enough got down to do it's magic. She started feeling better and was able to start keeping Gatorade and Sprite down (our own little concoction for an upset tummy). The next morning she got up and drank a whole cup without any prodding from me. I knew she was on the mend. Then about an hour later, Lily decided to lay down on the couch with Amelia's blanket and accidentally rolled off and busted her lip on the floor. And she busted it good. I was debating taking her to the Acute Care Clinic (where I was the day before) but decided against it when my friend here told me about her son doing the same thing (only much worse) and they told her they don't do anything for it and it will heal on it's own in time. So all this is going on as I am trying to get the house clean and organized since I am going to be gone for about 3 1/2 days. There are still so many things to do. So many things to clean. So many things to make sure I pack. And big things like this keep happening that I just simply can't ignore.

Huh?

Where did the whole month of April go? It seems like I blinked and now it is already May. Not even a whole lot happened in April. I looked back at my calendar to see what had happened and I only have 4 things written on the calendar for the whole month. So where did it all go? I think I know. I think most of our time was spent in healing...physically. Lily and Nathan this month seem to be on a "let's see who can land in the ER first" kick.

This picture was taken the day after Nathan had his face slammed into the floor. You can't really tell in this picture but his nose was bruised, he had a small cut on his nose (you can see that) he has a big red bump on his forehead and he had two black eyes. He was walking around looking he had gotten into my eyeshadow for a few days there.

Then Lily had decided to play in the cabinets and somehow my slicer attachment to my food processor had been put in the cabinet instead of the drawer. Well,, Lily got it and sliced her finger open. It was really superficial but it would not stop bleeding. By the time they glued it shut it had been bleeding for almost 2 hours. And I mean bleeding ALOT! Oh and when I had gotten Lily out of her crib that morning she had a massive black eye. How she got it, I have no clue. I mean really? How do you get a black eye when you sleep in a crib??

We were on our way to the store (had maybe been in the car 15 minutes) and Lily started crying. I just thought she was upset about being in her car seat, something Nathan did or some other little thing. When we got out of the car I went to get her out of her seat and there was blood everywhere. She had decided to take off her bandaid and in the process ripped it open all over again. We took her into Walmart and got her all cleaned off and luckily I still had a bandaid in my purse that the doctors had given me.

And once again Nathan had his face meet the floor again. He was sitting at the desk when suddenly he fell off the stool and landed on the floor face first. I am still not quite sure how he managed to do this, but he got ANOTHER black eye. I think people are going to think that I abuse my children.
Lily has yet another black eye (I think it was Nathan this time) but Nathan doesn't have any visible wounds or bruises. Not that I know of at least. Let's hope it stays that way.

Oh yeah. And on Sunday Lily decided to eat some Pepto-Bismol tablets. Let's just say I called Poison Control to be safe. She was/is ok and all is well. I'm just glad she only got her grubby little hands on two of them instead of a whole package.

Slacking

I know I have been slacking again. I was trying to get all caught up and then my schedule got thrown all out of whack and now I am trying to get it back again.
So here is to sum up the last few months.

January- At the end of January Justin left for Singapore for a month. He was going for a Chinese Immersion class.

February- The beginning of February we went to the aquarium down in Honolulu with our friends. It was no where near as big or as impressive as the Monterey Bay Aquarium but it was pretty cool. They had some sea lions, some huge fish, a nice touch pool and some MASSIVE clams.

Brooke, Lily, Nathan, Shelbie and Amelia

Feeding time for the sea lions

Checking out the fish in the tank.
Shelbie, Nathan, Amelia, Brooke and KrystenThe HUGE fishThe awesome little octopusI just loved this picture of Lily.
Can you see the MASSIVE clam in the middle of the picture?

Also this month Lily started to really walk. She had been cruising and walking here and there since December but this month she really took off! Sorry that the video is sideways. I can't turn it.

March- Amelia had her first field trip this month. They went to the Honolulu Zoo. I love this zoo. Not to big, not too small and lots of awesome things to see and do. Luckily, I got to go with Amelia on this field trip. They needed another parent volunteer and since I had already taken the class needed I was asked to go. So Justin took the day off to stay home with Lily and Nathan and Amelia and I went to the zoo with her class. It was so much fun!

On the bus

Looking at the cool stuff

PoseCupcakes for her birthday (her birthday was during Spring Break so I brought cupcakes for the class the last day before Spring Break...just so happened to be Field Trip Day).

We had Amelia's birthday this month. She turned 6! YIKES! When did she get so old?

Amelia also had her last game to cheer for for this season. She loved it and is looking forward to cheering again next season. Here is their half time dance routine. She worked so hard on it.

Amelia is the second to last on the right. The little girl on the end was the coaches daughter and almost 2 years older than Amelia.

Amelia also was Student of the Month for her class for the month of March. She has been wanting to be Student of the Month for such a long time and has been trying to be so patient about it. She was so excited when she got to come sit with her dad and me and eat her lunch at the special table. She is such a good kid and I couldn't be more proud of her.

Amelia also had her school pictures and we got them back this last week. They turned out so great and they really captured her personality.We also got Amelia's cheer pictures too. Like I said, she really enjoyed cheering. That is just who she is. Amelia, the cheerleader.


We were able to go to the beach twice last week. We went on Friday for 324th day and on Saturday for an Elder's Quorum activity. On Friday I left the camera in the car on accident but it turned out to be a good thing. While we were playing volleyball we had left all our stuff out on the beach and it started to POUR. I mean like buckets and buckets of water. I don't think I have even been in that hard of a downpour before. It wasn't cold, just lots and lots of water. And our camera would have most likely gotten ruined.

On Saturday though I remembered the camera and it was a BEAUTIFUL day. We spent a few hour out there and we all had a great time.