Going, Going, and really truely totally and completely GONE!!!!

Brookie had a most traumatic morning today, but thankfully she didn't know it would be quite so traumatic! As many of you know when she was around 18 months, she slammed her face on our tile floor in the middle of a tantrum and chipped her two front teeth. She slammed the same teeth into my cedar chest last October and bit through her lip and then a couple months ago she sneezed whilst putting her dishes into the sink and slammed them into the counter. Yikes, I know it makes you cringed doesn't it? Well, the last blast to the teeth finally did in not only one, but both of her front teeth. Before we left for Utah/Idaho last week I took her to our Dentist and yep, sure enough both teeth were abcessing. Sad - they were going to have to come out. Due to the scheduled family pictures, we decided to wait until after we got home to pull them.

So, first thing this morning Brookie and I headed to the Dentist. It was so sad to sit in the corner and watch, but I was very brave and although I really wanted to, I didn't cry! I think the worst part was of course the needle, but she didn't know it was a needle. Dr. Grant was so fantastic with her. Then once he went to pull them, that really put her in tears. All the pressuer and stuff is so hard to understand pressure and all that stuff when you are only 4. She was super duper brave and although she really hates the way her nose and lip feels, my Brookie is a trooper. I'm sure I will have a good cry later today because her teeth are gone and although they were scraggle teeth, they were teeth.

Enjoy the pictures!

The Finished Product!

So, have you ever had a wall in your house that you just didn't know what to do with. For me that has been my kitchen wall. It is just a little wall, with a a stupid light switch (which we have yet to figure out what it turns on and off) in the middle of it.

At Christmas, Thanks to my Kari (I LOVE YOU KARI!) an idea was born. For Christmas she gave me this really cool magnetic frame thing with black and white pictures of all of at the beach. It is really cute, so that became the center piece for my wall. Then while at Julie's at spring break her friend Michelle took some great pictures of my kids that I thought I would frame and start adding around the other picture. Finally, while at Target the other day I spotted a framed pictures of the saying "Kitchens are made to bring families together" It matched my colors perfectly, so I thought it would be the perfect final touch.

Here it is, my final wall. As you can see I am still waiting for one picture of Brooklynn that wasn't finished today. I absolutely love it. It makes the kitchen feel so much more homey. I may have to paint the frame on the pic from Target it looked black, but it is a really dark brown and I don't know if I can handle it being different. We'll see. Oh ya, and I need to get some of that sticky stuff and level them all or it will drive me crazy!

Idaho!!!! ( long post sorry)

After Gongy's party the kids and I headed to Idaho to spend the week at Grandma's house! The kids were so excited. Steve headed out to Atlanta for work, yet again, and was coming back on Friday to drive home with us. Soon after we arrived on Sunday, Katrina brought her kids over to spend the night and play. It was so fun to see Eli, Hannah and Emmaus. They are all very cute and the kids get along great. Monday they played hard and then Mom Empey and I drove up to Idaho Falls for FHE and to swap kids. We fed the ducks with the kids, had some snow cones and then came back with Hannah and left Tyler with Katrina.

Tuesday, Brooks and Hannah played and played, we went to the park for lunch, then while Josh and I napped, Grandma to the girls to the library for a special dinosaur day. When they came home we set up 'Grandma's water world' and the kids played. There is nothing like Grandma's back yard for fun and playing. Brooklynn wore herself out everyday playing. Josh enjoyed his first popsicle and as with everything was hilarious to watch!

Wednesday Ty and Brooks were back with us - they played and then in the late afternoon we went to the swimming pool. I found out that Josh is completely fearless in the water. He started out cautiously and then just went for it in the kiddie pool. If I hadn't been right next to him the whole time he would have drowned. He would get into the deep water and then just throw is head back and go under - he is seriously insane. Brooks and Ty love the water and Tyler had a great time on the water slide and in the lazy river. Josh was so cute eating his first ever nectarine and was kind enough to share it with me. That night after a quick visit to Grandpa Nelson's, he is amazing and will be 99 in a few months, I ended up having a long night with Brooklynn who was throwing up most of the night.

Thursday Brooks and I took it easy while Grandma and Tyler ran errands and went to the zoo. And then of course the very best part of the day came when KARI AND J AND JAKE arrived. Yippy, the boys were so cute together and loved playing. On Thursday night we took the kids up to IF to see a production of Beauty and the Beast. It was pretty good, but very long so we left early as Brooklynn was still not at the top of her game. While we were gone the babies were at Grandma's with a baby sitter while Grandma was at a meeting. The baby sitter put Josh to bed and he was crying. Jakey could here him crying and would not leave the room where the baby monitor was. He was most concerned about his buddy 'osh'

Just as a side note, Jake is super cute and says a ton of words.

Friday we just hung out and played and Dad Empey and Jason went to pick up Steve from the airport. It was nice to have him back.

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Our week ended with a fishing derby, hosted by a veterans organization, I just can't remember which one. Tyler had been asking to go fishing all week, so this was the perfect opportunity. Grandpa and dad were most excited to take the kids and Brooklynn was excited about her first fishing expedition. We arrived at the pond about noon. It was our family, Kari and J, Mom and Dad Empey and Grandpa Nelson at first. Then the Wayments, The Dave Empey's, and the Averetts arrived. Not too many fish were caught, but with only 20 minutes or so remaining in the derby things got exciting. Steve noticed that while most of the fish were not eating anything a few were still downing the bread that was dropped in the water. So he loaded the line up with some bread and low and behold Tyler caught a big 16 or 17 inch fish. He was pleased, but they had to throw it back because it was too big to keep. (Sorry no pictures). With only a few minutes remaining Steve loaded up the line again and let Brooklynn have a go. She reeled in a huge 22 inch trout with a girth of 13 inches. She was most excited and ended up winning a trophy for the biggest fish caught by a girl. Her picture was taken for the local paper and everything. She was so excited and although I missed seeing it because I was at home with Josh who was sleeping, she told me all about it!

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After the fishing derby we went back to the house and hung out with the family and the kids played in the back yard. Of course a water fight started, probably thanks to Kari, and Steve and Dave turned on Dad. With Kari's help the drenched him with the hose, tackled him onto the slip'n'slide and had a great time doing it. Dad was ready to kill them, but they had a good time and we all had a good laugh.

We drove home on Sunday, with a rotten little whiney 18 month old named Josh. He was miserable in the car for about 12 of our 14 hours. He is very happy to be home. He has a rough trip. I think we slept in four different places over a week and a half and he met all of his cousins on both sides of the family except for Kayla's boys. He was very clingy, but eventually warmed up to Grandma - thank heavens. Every time I was out of sight he would cry. It was hard on him, but he survived and has some fun in there too!

Grandma and Grandpa are know making there way to Germany to see Paul and Kayla. We love and miss you Paul and Kayla. Have fun with Grandma and Grandpa!!!!

Grandma's 80th

Last week the kids, Steve and I piled in the Jeep for a nice long drive to Utah for my Grandma's 80th Birthday party. We had a great time seeing all of my cousins, except Courtney, and my kids were able to see all of their 'Miller' cousins. It was wonderful to see everyone and great to meet the Chris Miller families newest little cutie Fraser. On Friday there was a big dinner for Grandma with all her friends and family invited, there was a little program, the kids sang, us Grandaughters threw on some MuMu's and did a dance/lipsink number, we even had some wigs and jewelry, we all did our best to look like Grandma, but everyone said I took the prize for looking the most like her. I can say I don't mind because she is beautiful. Anyway, I have no pictures of it because I was lame and didn't pull out my camera, but someone in the family did and as soon as I get pictures or can download my video I will blog it.

Saturday started with Julie and I taking, Brooklynn, Josh, Brady, Natalie, Garett, and Logan to McDonald's for Breakfast. We got all kinds of stares from people because of the number of kids and their closeness in age. At the play place Logan thought that he would strike up a conversation with the Ronald McDonald statue that was sitting on a bench. I took a picture of his cute self after his conversation. Little did Julie and I know that a few minutes later Garett would feel the need to confide in Ronald also. After that adventure we played a mean round of mini golf, while the 'real' golfers played in a scramble. Tyler played in the scramble with Steve and he had a so much fun being with the big guys.

Unfortunatly I only took a few pictures the whole weekend and I am relying on others to email me more pics.

Logan

Justin

Harris

Campbell

Brooklynn

Jeremy

And of course me looking my hottest ever. I can't even believe I am posting this beautiful picture.

Going, Going.......GONE!

So for those of you who know Josh, he has the greatest (and I'm totally not kidding) the absolute most fantastic hair ever. It has body and just a touch of curl and is blonde with lots of strawberry in it. So for a while now I have kept it pretty long. His hair is just so great.

Well, this week it has been driving me crazy, it was just getting way to messy and out of control. Not wanting to cut it before family pictures next week, I was trying to hold out, but alas I couldn't stand it anymore. So here are the before and after shots. He is so handsome and was very patient with us as we cut his hair with our very bad clippers. I talked daddy out of totally buzzing it and it still can be combed and lays down just perfectly.

What a mess! He had such a mop growing!

I guess now we'll get to see his big blue eyes better.

This picture is totally cute, we caught him with a half blink, but his smile is so cute!

Longing for a swimming pool

The longer we live here in the land of hot summers, the more we wish for a swimming pool. Steve had the great idea of getting one of those Easy Set, soft sided pool things. So, since last summer we didn't get one, yesterday he decided it was time. He brought it home and in true fashion after getting everything set so we could fill it with water, we realized there was a significant tear in it. Back in the box it went and Steve took it to exchange it. After returning we set it all up again and after much debate over where it would fit and whether or not the group was level enough for it to even work, we attempted to fill it up. This is what happened.....

As you can tell it didn't quite work the way it supposed to.... we actually have quite a slope in our yard, it sure didn't seem like it until we attempted this. So, all the water collected in the half of the pool closest to the house. Needless to say, Steve was most bummed and we are boxing it up to take it back. I'm not sure what his next plan of action will be, I'll keep you posted! On a positive note though the kids had a good time being thrown in the pool and splashing around. They were adorable. Josh had a great time splashing until Brooklynn, while trying to help him sit, pulled Josh under. You can see in the last picture of Josh that he was terrified as he fell in. I can't believe I caught it on film because I was jumping up to pull him out of the water.

Is Joshua glowing?

PreSchool Graduation/ Swimming Awards

Here are a few pictures from the preschool graduation party for Brooklynn's group. We had a swimming party and the kids had a blast. Brooklynn also successfully finished her swimming and was so pleased when she recieved a 'Champion' Swimmer medal. After a few uncertain moments of crying and clinging to me, Joshua warmed up to the swimming thing. He looked so cute with his earplugs coverd by his head band that they (the doctors) insist that he wears. If it will help keep the ear infections away I'm happy to make him look silly!

Tyler... Brooklynn...Joshua

I thought a good update on all three of my crazy kids would be in order since it has been a while.

Tyler has been very busy with school and Tball continues for another few weeks. He is getting very restless for school to be out (aren't we all), but has loved his first year. He is a superstar reader and really has a good time at school. He has grown up so much this year and it is sort of sad to see how independent he is becoming, I love him so much he is such a great kid. He just had a big growth spurt, I can't believe how tall he is getting. I don't know if he will catch up to Jaq'eal, but he is going to be taller than me before I know it. I keep telling him that he is getting so big that someday I will have to sit on his lap so he can snuggle me. He just giggles at me. Brooklynn, Josh and I went to "Miner" day at school the other day (their mascot is a Miner as in gold) anyway, it was fun to see him having fun with all his classmates and showing his sister around his class room. Here are a few pics of him.

The Star Wars chalk art

Can you tell someone likes his big brother?

As for Brooklynn, she is almost done with her preschool group. You know the one that I have taken turns teaching. It has been great for her and for me, but I don't know if I'll do it ever again. Anyway, she is excited to be registered to go to Tyler's old preschool next year. She has also been very busy taking swimming lessons. They have a great swim school here which is super expensive, but I was able to get her into some of the teacher training sessions with a discounted rate, so she is now my little fish. She can swim across the pool all by herself and when she needs to she rolls over onto her back to take a breath and then rolls over and keeps going. It is cute to watch and she loves it. I have been amazed at the little kids they teach at this place. They teach 2 year olds how to do what Brooks is doing. Amazing. I have attached a video of her swimming so check it out!

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Joshua. Where to start. The kid is really funny. For some reason he just is funny. He does things that he knows will get a laugh and is constantly looking at us to see if we think he is funny. He is so delightful and we can't help but smile at him. He is also climbing onto everything he can reach. It started with the stool in the bathroom and taking whatever he could reach off the counters, but now it is worse. The coffee table, the ottoman, where ever his little self can reach. Just yesterday he climbed up on the coffee table and then thought wow it would be a great idea to dive into moms lap over there on the couch. Oh yes and he did, over and over and over again (at the encouragement of Steve of course). He was most pleased with himself. He is also starting to throw some great and very ineffective tantrums. I will say however that daddy is a sucker for Joshua and gives in way too much. We'll see how that goes as the tantrums get worse.

I took this picture before the child lock went on the cupboard with the colors today. He had a great tantrum when he figured out he was officially banned from the colors. Can you see the twinkle in his eyes? I am so in trouble with him.

I can't finish my post with out mentioning that GRANDMA came to visit us this weekend. We had lots of fun and ate lots of fresh fruit, vegies and homemade salsa. It was great and the kids were in heaven. She was able to go with us to Ty's Tball game and see what a nut Josh is. She and Brooklynn spent tons of time playing games and coloring. Joshy warmed up to her in record breaking time and I took a picture for proof. He has been very clingy lately, maybe this is a sign of getting over it. It was wonderful to have her with us. I always hate it when we have to say goodbye, we miss you Grandma, thanks for coming!!!

James or Mike?

So, this morning I pulled out some of my baby pictures and some of Steve's so that we could get a feel for where Josh fits into the pictures and as I thought he is a good combo of both of us. I first pulled out a pictures of me and Steve and I both thought our Tater looked a lot like it, then we came across one of him that Josh also looks like. He is definitely built just like Steve was, but then the classic moment came. I was flipping through the pics and came across the one posted above. Brooklynn was sitting next to me and asked, "Mommy is that daddy sitting on James lap?" We started laughing because we always say how much James looks like Mike, well Mike he looks enough like you that Brooks thought you were James. Here are the pictures.

Steve as a Baby

Alright this post is mostly for the Empey Family. I saw the pictures that Kayla posted of Chase and thought that it really looked like Steve's baby pictures. So I pulled out a few pictures of Steve at around 6 months old, a little younger than Chase, but I thought I would post them so that everyone can weigh in and see if they think that they look alike. So here they are, let me know what you think.

Strep Throat and Beautiful Flowers!

You have to love Strep Throat. After finding out that the Fever Brooklynn had on Sunday morning and then again on Sunday Night when it was 102.8 (in my opinion that is higher than I am comfortable with) was due to Strep Throat, I thought and hoped that I would not get it and that the boys would not get it. Well, after having a really bad headache and upset stomach all day, I decided to examine my own throat because it was starting to feel sort of scratchy. Indeed it looked a little funky so I trucked us all off to the Dr. again today and yep I have it. I only remember having Strep one other time in my life. It was over Christmas and we were going to Florida. Anyway, I am holding out that Ty and Josh won't get it, but who knows for sure.

On a lighter note, when I got home on Sunday night I noticed that my rose tree named 'First Prize' was in full bloom along with everything else around here. It is so beautiful, so I took some pictures of it. Enjoy!

'First Prize', I'm not sure why the kids call the tree that, I think it is the color of the flower or the name of this particular tree. The kids and Steve bought it and planted it last spring. Ty and Brookie on Easter

Brady making sure his money was in his pocket, you never know when you'll need some cash

Josh on Easter Sunday, this was the only picture I got with my camera because he was to busy exploring and being crazy.

The Freezer aka CHICAGO

I realize that I have not updated my blog in quite a long time. So now that I am at Julie's in Chicago, I figured it was a good time. We arrived here on Saturday and what an adventure I had. Steve, the kids and I flew to Salt Lake and then Steve had to head to Atlanta for work and me and the kids went on to Chicago. The trip was mostly uneventful. except that Josh didn't sleep a wink and was having fits and throwing soothers and blankets at people. Of course when we were ready to land, some sort of funky micro burst cloud or something planted itself right over the airport and we had to divert and fly around for another hour before we landed. Julie in the mean time thought I was lost in the deep dark trenches of the O'Hare airport because Delta kept telling her we had landed. Then, as we are getting off the plane we realize that they don't have a jetway for us, so we have to go down the stairs and then back up some stairs into the jet way. Under normal conditions not that big a deal, but at 10 pm in the pouring rain with no coats, big deal. Luckily I had a really nice flight attendant who was flying home helping me. So, I got to the bottom of the stairs and had to stand there and wait for my stroller, which ended up being at the top of the other stairs. Is this making any sense at all? I finally got up the stairs unfold my stoller and what rolls out, but my wheel. Yep, they broke the wheel right off my stroller. I was most annoyed and may have let a small swear escape my lips, I'm not saying I did, but I may have. Now what made it most annoying was that I had purchased the stroller the night before I left. So, there I was hauling me and my kids through the airport and pushing a stroller with three wheels. Oh the fun! We finally found Julie and got the luggage and filed a claim for the stroller, which of course was denied and off we went.

So, then the fun started the kids were most excited to see each other and I was most happy to see my sister. It has been since July that we last saw each other. On Sunday when we woke up I went in and said Hi to Brady and he immediately looked at Julie and asked to go to the zoo. He had been asking for days and she kept telling him that we would all go when I arrived. So, Monday morning, after getting a new stroller for me, we went to the zoo. The kids had a great time, the weather was nice and it was fun. We got to see a dolphin show, and then all the usual zoo animals. We had a lot of fun and made it home right as Jack arrived home from school.

Since Monday the tempurature has dropped and we are very cold! My California, wimpy kids, have not enjoyed the deep freeze. We did go bowling and then to the mall for a ride the carousel and Uncle TJ being the champion that he is took all the older monkey's to a movie! It has been wonderful to be here. We are looking forward to Coloring Easter Eggs this evening and just relaxing before we have to leave for home tomorrow, but we aren't talking about that.

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The video of TJ really needs no explanation, but I will say that after a couple of stressful days he needed to 'unwind.'