Big sister

Violet has taken quite an interest in Dexter lately. I have only been able to get him to laugh while I tickle him but I hear him giggling this morning and this is what I saw when I turned around. Love it!

These Eyes!!

This Face!!

I love my kiddos!

4 Months!

4 months old today! I took him to his doctor visit. His head is in the 92 %, height is in the 87% and his weight at 16 pounds is in the 61%. Yes we have a big boy on our hands. He got shots plus he is teething. He is one grumpy kid. And so clingy. He has never been like this I hope it passes soon! He will always smile though as you can see from these pictures. So sweet.

It's been a crazy week

Let's see, Laurie died (too young) which is weird. I went to her viewing on Wednesday.  Paul's Aunt Alice died I went to her viewing on Friday morning. Paul's friend Pat died this week also. He was only 48. He drank himself to death. Friday night was Nicole's 12th AA birthday and Saturday was Tony's 14th. Pretty sharp contrast there. I made her cake for meeting and I got to give her her medallion. We also got to go out with our friends for dinner after and while I was there I marveled at where my life has come. It is full of life and death and friends and family. It's busy and crazy and sometimes I wonder why I had more kids. But I wouldn't have it any other way. There was a time in my life where I was missing all of it. Now I am here and I am super grateful.

the park

My kids are amazing. I'm pretty lucky.

Does every post need a title?

So, I try to have something to tell Violet every morning when I'm waking her up. It makes it easier to get her moving if she has something to look forward to (she's tough to get moving). Yesterday I said "wake up Violet, Mom is going to the dentist today " She sat right up and said "oh, because you're feelings are hurt"? I swear she hears EVERYTHING. She also told me in her sweetest voice "Mom, you're my bess fend eber" Then a little while later she called me a "dumb ask" LOL Paul calls her a sour patch kid...first she's sweet, then she's sour.

Dexter is grumpy the past few days. Well, grumpy for him. I think he's teething, Paul thinks it's because he hasn't pooped for 3 days. We'll see I guess! Here's a picture of the brothers. So cute. Dalton was talking to Dexter tonight and Dex was staring at him and smiling and talking right back to him. I wish I'd have had the camera out!

Dalton is doing good. He is such a big help around here. He's into rugby right now. He bought his own ball with his allowance and he has a bunch of kids playing at lunch and is teaching them the rules. He just got a new paintball gun too. He's looking to accessorize it right now. I'm so glad his older brother Andrew includes him in so much stuff. They seem to have a great relationship and Dalton really looks up tohim.

Yay for warm weather!

We had a great day! The weather was so nice we got Dexter out for his first walk today, he liked it. I love it when it gets warm after being cooped up all winter. Violet wants to be outside all day.  She walked up to the tree gave it a hug and said "I love you tree".

It was a pretty quiet weekend. Dalton came home for church Sunday but we didn't know there was no church till we had everyone ready to go! Lynn and Alex came for dinner, I'm so glad he's doing better. He has gained about 25 pounds back already. Crazy.

Kira and Violet and Maia

Kira and Maia came over today. Violet and Kira let me do their hair. Violet usually never lets me and when she does it's pulled out as soon as I'm done. It was nice enough to play outside and then we had lunch and played playdoh. Violet is getting big enough to play outside by herself. I just have to make sure she's not being mean to Kira. Violet likes it when Kira screams I think.

We got the BUMBO

And I love it!

Sunday

We went to breakfast meeting today. I love watching Violet interacting with other people. She has such a personality. She is definitely her own person. I'm reading a book right now called "Raising your spirited child" I'm shocked that the descriptions in it describe Violet to a T. They say it's about kids who are "more"....more intense, more passionate, more sensitive. She is definitely MORE. The first thing it says is to change the way you look at them from positive to negative. Instead of "she's so hyper and crazy" we could say "She's very curious and full of energy". I'm going to work on it. I think a lot of the way we describe her could come off as negative.

After that Grandma Holdaway came over for the day so I could go visit Mom at the hospital. What a big help. You can see here why we can't just leave the kids home with Paul. Mom looks way better today. They have given her shots to increase her white blood cells, 2 antibiotics every 12 hours, and were just starting a transfusion when I left this afternoon. As soon as her white cells get to 1,000 they will let her go home (they were only at 10 this morning)!

After I got home, me and Paul cooked some dinner. hung out with the kids and waited for Dalton to get home. There is nothing I love more than having all my kids home. (even thought the chaos makes me grumpy sometimes)

Here are some pics of Dalton before his scout camp out last weekend....

Bummer

Mom had to go to the hospital today. She somehow got strep throat and she has no white blood cells to fight any infection. I know that she is taken care of there, I just hate that she has to go through this. It's stressful and I'm sure she worries about getting sick again or sicker. I just want to be there all the time. I got to go over for a couple hours this evening and have dinner with her (I ate her dinner, she doesn't feel like eating) and visit for a bit. I'll go back over tomorrow.

Happier note...I bought Iron Maiden tickets this morning for me and paul and dalton. I'm excited to take them to another concert. They are not concert goers and I haven't been to very many for years. Fun.

Here are some pics of the little kids from today. Before Lynn and Alex came to babysit.

The Joys of Owning a Business

Man it has been a crazy week. I feel like I spent the whole thing in the car! A lot of running around for the business, which was good because we are finally on rotation with Provo City. We've been waiting since around October to get here. We are also on rotation with Springville City and we now have 3 state impound yards, 2 in Provo and 1 in Springville. In addition to the city rotations, we are on rotation with UCSO in Provo, Provo Canyon, Springville and all outlying areas around those 2 cities. Next we start working on the HP. They have a long waiting list. It's so cool to be a business owner but it also involves quite a bit of sacrifice. For instance, I can't leave the kids with Paul because he is always on call. Plus, Paul now works 2 full time jobs with the stress that comes with being the boss of both. Our evenings go by so fast sometimes it feels like we never see each other (work, dinner, dishes, baths, bed, wake up, repeat) But that's life and I wouldn't have it any other way. We are blessed!

Today is Dad's birthday. Me and the little kids took him some cinnamon rolls and gave him a hug this  morning. We won't go over again for a few days. This is the week that Mom's blood cells get really low and it is too worry some that she might get sick. We don't want that, even though that is where I want to spend all of my time lately.

We went to the fights at Jeff and Teri's tonight. Even Dalton came, he is usually with his Mom on Friday nights. I love going places as a whole family. It doesn't happen very often. Their Granddaughter, Kaylee, is a couple months older that Violet. They have fun playing until Violet gets too rough. I hope she grows out of that soon. It is getting better. Jeff and Teri also have a son named Dalton. It's funny to go "hey Dalton" when they are together.

Well that was a long post since I haven't had time to post all week. Hopefully things settle down so I can post more often. 

Me and my three kids...Violet, Dexter, and Girl. Girl is part of the family now. She goes everywhere with us.