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?

8 months old!

Oh, my little Sunrise.  Your bright blue eyes grow more mischievous every day!

Everyone says you have your own look.  And with your blue eyes and fair skin, you are unique...

...but believe me, you fit right in with the rest of us crazies!

 You are now rolling around the place, although you do much better rolling to the right than to the left.  You are just starting to army crawl when you really want something, and you are at the fun stage where everything goes in your mouth, including paper, socks and even shoes if someone lays it around close to you.

 Somehow with all this world-tasting, your tongue seems to want to even taste the air.  Is that why it hangs out all the time?  Is that why you enjoy spitting on everyone, especially your dad?

 You eat all baby foods (except when you're not trying to playfully spit them out) and are starting to drink from a cup.  You also nurse 4-5 times a day.  But you enjoy your sleep- you are zonked from 7pm -7am and take two good naps.

 You love to take showers and baths, and love it when I warm up the Aquaphor lotion in my hands before I slather it on.  You do have a touch of eczema, so we have to keep on top of that.

 You would be addicted to your pacifier if I let you.  You would probably keep it in your mouth day and night, now that you've figured how to pop it in there yourself.  Your binky was your best friend during your days in the hospital as a sick newborn, and it's always been a source of comfort to you.  And to Mom when she needs you to be quiet during church!

 It's fun to see your personality coming out.  You seem to thrive on chaos and craziness.  That's good in our house.  Your siblings love to keep it interesting!

So, here you are with your brothers.  Along with your sister, they make up a special band of protectors! Or instigators.... depending on the day.  We all love you!  

GymFest!

For the past several months, Cloudburst has been part of a new gymnastics team program in Utah called Team Gym. Team Gym is for younger gymnasts to allow them to compete earlier and everything is done as a team, including vault jumps and tumbling passes.  Their first meet was held inside the park at California Adventure next to Disneyland!  Nana drove up and spent the day with us.  The weather was divine and the kids were in heaven!

California Adventure park is totally separate from Disneyland and was perfect for our little family!  It is a smaller park and the kids could ride most of the rides.  Their favorites were the Toy Story ride, the Tower of Terror, the swinging gondola, Soarin over California, and the Bug's Life movie (well, Tornado cried in that one, but they all loved the stink bug!)

 Around 2 pm we headed back to our hotel to rest and eat a snack.  I guess Nana thought the room was a bit cold!

 The team lined up around 4 to get ready...

 ... then it was time to perform!

Their team is the first and only team from Utah, and this was their first meet.  They got set to perform the floor routine, and got spooked a little by an opening "beep" prior to the music starting... but they ended up doing great.

 It was a quick weekend, but we all had such a great time!  We got to swim, walk in Downtown Disney, ride great rides, and of course, pick up some Mickey Mouse ears!