Sunrise is 9 months!

Little Sunrise continues to grow.  Good for him!  Too bad for mommy.

His sister and brothers are still enthralled with him.  They are always trying to help him crawl, or plugging in the pacifier or standing at the top of the stairs saying, "Mom I got him out of his crib!  But now I think I might drop him!  Hurry and get him!"

Yeah, I know this is a very flattering shot.  But it's "real life."  Yeah, and funny too.

I just had to throw this one in to show that his hair does have a little red in it sometimes!

One moment he was sitting playing.  The next he was just too tired.  You know, too tired to even sit up any more.  So he just bent forward and went to sleep!

Gosh we love this little guy!  He is just cutting his first tooth and starting on a little milk every day.  He loves to eat with the rest of us, though he seems to be taking after his brother Tornado as far as gaining weight.

At his checkup, he was 29.25 inches tall (75 %ile)....

... 18 lb. 10 oz. (10 %ile)....

..with a head circumference of 43.7 (5 %ile).  So he's tall and thin with a small head!

He loves to scream and make people laugh.  He's still not full-on crawling, but he can get pretty much where ever he wants to go by rolling and scooting.

Everyone remarks that he really has his own look.  He adds a little sparkle to our family and we are enjoying this fun time!

Dear Cloudburst,

How the time flies!  I remember writing you a letter last year when you turned 6.  Now you are my big 7 year old!

When you woke up we ate a special breakfast at your request: pink, heart-shaped pancakes.  You got up early, around 6:30.  You've been getting up before your alarm a lot lately.  Maybe we should start having you practice piano then.  You've really liked starting those lessons!

At school you had a special visitor.  Dad came into your class with some balloons and a few treats.  You couldn't have smiled any bigger!  After school was done and Dad came home from work, we went to your favorite restaurant- the Mayan.  Your brothers were excited too.  You all enjoy each other so much, even if they do tell you to "stop acting like the mom!"

And here is a special birthday treat!  You still love treats and can just about eat more sugary goodness than anyone in the family.

When we got home we opened presents from family.  You especially loved the doll with clothes to match yours, and the kid's cooking utensils.  And I believe you are set for summer with all those cute clothes!

The day after your birthday we had a fun friends party.  It was "Tink's Workshop!"  I got the idea from my friend Amber who had a similar party for her daughter last year.

Since we alternate years for family/friend parties, you were very excited this year to have a few friends over.  You decided to have a lot of friends come that you met at school.  And we told everyone to wear green!  We first decorated our fairy toolboxes, to hold everything else we would be doing.  You all also decorated some bubble containers.  A fairy needs bubbles right?  (I found those in the wedding section at the store)

After we set everyone's Toolbox on the counter to dry, we made our own pizzas.  I had set out Gourmet sized Rhode's Rolls to rise earlier, and then each girl got to pick out her own toppings to make the pizza.  We wrote everyone's name on the foil next to their pizza.  They actually were very good.  I think we may start having Pizza Friday at our house.

Next, we made Jolly pops.  Too bad I overcooked them!  Everyone took 3 Jolly Ranchers and arranged them however they wanted, then I put them in the oven.  I got held up helping everyone do the next project so they spread out a little too far.  But they still taste good!

One of the funnest projects of the night was making our own lip gloss!  I kind of made my own recipe for this, although the overall idea was not mine.  We used cherry and grape Kool-Aid mixes.  The package says to add 1 C of regular sugar, but I used powdered sugar instead to avoid a grainy texture.   Each girl got a spoonful of the Kool-Aid/sugar mixture, a few drops of water, and a glob of Vasaline!  We used tongue depressors to mix inside dixie cups.  Then I used Amber's great idea of putting the lip gloss inside used paint strips, cut apart.

It's been so fun to watch you grow up this last year.  You are still doing so well in school.  You are right with your class in math, but you read at a 4th or 5th grade level.  You have also decided to read a chapter a night in the Book of Mormon and hope to finish it before you get baptized next year!

You are on a gym team and love the thrill of performing in front of a crowd.  You also look forward to every Friday when you get to go to choir at school.  It's all Disney songs this year!

You also consider yourself an artist.  You love to draw, paint, arrange, sort, design and teach.  You often hold lessons in your room for your brothers.

You joke and laugh and smile!  You love to wrestle around with your dad.  At your party, he became a surprise hit by pretending to turn into a girl.  And then a monster or something.  You loved it!

You also totally love your little baby brother.  You get him out of his crib, help feed him and just love to hold him!  You can be absent-minded and do still cry sometimes, but, gosh girl, I sure love ya!  I'm so glad I get to be your mom.  It is fun to watch you grow.  But please try to stay small a little longer.

Love, Mom

Young love

Following our yearly tradition, we had a few friends over to read Corduroy's Valentine's Day and make Valentines.  Always fun to find glitter for days after!

Then a few days before Valentine's Day, we had some special visitors!  My sister Allie and her "special friend" (aka boyfriend) came to visit for a few days.  We were glad they made it because they were flying out of Washingtone DC, which was pretty much buried in snow.

Meet Matt.  The boys were happy to have a substitute wrestle buddy while Dad was at work.

On Friday, we all went up to Brighton for the kids first ever ski adventure.  We figured it was a good time to go since we had a few extra hands!  We had Sunrise with us, so Thunder and I took turns staying with him in the lodge.  Cloudburst, Sunshine and Tornado all took ski lessons and did great!  I was pretty surprised that they were actually skiing by the end of the evening.  I haven't been skiing myself in over 10 years, and it was great to get up to the mountains again.  I think Thunder and I will have to make a date and go again.  I'm not sure I can handle all the rug rats more than once a year!

Then on Saturday Thunder was able to score some awesome seats to a BYU basketball game.  After sitting next to Tornado for the game, Matt declared that he could be fine with raising just one child some day!  The kids enjoyed yelling to their heart's content and loved the half time chocolate fountain.  And we only spilled 4 bins of popcorn!

This was a common sight at our house when ever there was a spare moment.  Matt gets a thumbs-up from me for being able to handle all the kids!

This year's winter has been unusually mild, so we went outside and jumped on the tramp.

Get him Allie! 

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.  Or as Sunshine said when they kissed once, "eeeeew."

This young lady is now 7 years old today!  I'll post more after I upload the pics from her birthday party tomorrow.

And this is Thunder's new BFF.  Yes, it's an iPod touch.  We never had iPods before, but got one for Valentine's Day.  It is pretty addicting.

This is Allie: former gymnast, math teacher, world traveler, goofy giggler!

And me with the kiddies.  It was such a nice night.

Thanks for coming to visit us guys, we all had a blast!

Sunrise wanted to get up and move so bad that his nose started running.  {har, har}

And this sweet baby wrote me this lovely note!

And I had to show you my beautiful roses!  It was a mix of roses and lilies and smelled divine.  Thunder also cooked the most delicious dinner by grilling fillet mignon.  Yes, the weather really is pretty good these days!

You have been sent 24 pictures.

It's Raining Meatballs!

 
Last week we had a very interesting dinner.  The different choices consisted of meatballs, giant pancakes, a jello tower, and an ice cream mountain.  Sound familiar?

Then after dinner we watch the movie... which I love!  So many memorable one-liners.

Bad Things Come in Threes

...or at least that's what my parents say.  After this last week, I hope they are right!  No more!

#1 Sunshine began having headaches about 3 weeks ago (when he started piano... connection????).  They don't last long, or hurt horribly bad, but it was still very strange.  After getting several, I finally took him to the pediatrician.  I figured he would tell me to start a headache journal (which he did) and send me home, but he actually was quite concerned and ordered an MRI for the next day.

They sedated him, which was good.  For goodness sake, that machine is LOUD! 

Here he is ready to go in.  It was actually pretty freaky because he slept with his eyes open!  Thunder and I were cracking jokes and trying to hold his eyelids closed.  Yes, we are the most reverent parents.

After he woke up, he ate a popsicle in his sleep, no joke.  Later he told us he wasn't sleeping, the light was just too darn bright.  The results in the MRI showed no emergency situations, but there were a few abnormalities on the left side of his brain.  We took him to an eye doc that afternoon to check for brain swelling (which would push on the back of his retina or optic nerve) and everything looks fine.  As of now, we are on a waiting list to see a pediatric neurologist.  And he's had a few more headaches.

#2  Last Saturday, the kids jumped in our bed early in the morning.  I ran downstairs to put some cinnamon rolls in the oven, when I heard some yelling upstairs.  I came up to see Thunder cradling his right eye.  Tornado had gouged it with his fingernail and he was in sooooooo much pain.  I had never seen him like that before.  By lunch time, it was clear that Thunder needed to see an eye doctor.  Unfortunately it was Saturday.  However, after I called 10 doctors, one graciously agreed to see us after hours. She put an unwilling Thunder in her chair, numbed him up, and he finally opened his eye enough for her to see that Tornado had scratched off 20% of his cornea!  She said that raw nerves were exposed to the air, which was why he was in so much pain.  

He was given a protective eye contact to wear, and had to miss a prized BYU- Uof U basketball game that night.  And early church meetings the next day were held in the dark (or so I was told).  He looked very celebrity-ish wearing his sunglasses around the house.  But now he is almost back to normal.  We are hoping that it won't repeel.

#3  Tuesday morning I decided to run.  I had the three boys with me.  I did my run on the treadmill and was sitting next to it stretching when Sunrise and Tornado began to play on it.  I had told them before to get off... but I wasn't diligent enough this time.  Sunrise managed to turn it on to number 4 and Tornado fell down.  He was pinned between the wall and the back of the treadmill.  In the short time it took me to jump up and turn it off, Tornado had received substantial burns to his feet, ankle and hand.  We rushed to the pediatrician where they dressed his wounds and informed me that he had sustained 2nd degree burns.  Then the doctor made a joke that CPS may be visiting me.  Thanks!  I REALLY need that!!!

I have to change his dressings once a day.  We use special burn ointment that he loves, and we call it "frosting" because it tastes so good.  Just kidding... it just looks like frosting. I promise I'm not letting him taste the burn ointment, even though he probably wants to.  He's definitely not letting a few bandages slow him down at all.

So that's our THREE.  Can we stay away from doctors for a while please?