Teagan turns 4!

What a great time we had for Teagan's 4th Birthday party! We had it here at our house with a big pink princess castle, pink cotton candy, pink princess goblets for ice cream sundae's and cake! All of her friend's dressed up as princesses. She had so much fun, as did her friends!

I felt like a spaz the whole 2 hours, running around and wish I got to enjoy her more enjoying her day. Aislinn was screaming at me the whole time, wanting me to hold her and no one else. She's been doing this screaming thing for 6 weeks now and I am officially fried on it ;-)

Teagan scored on gifts as well and more than half still haven't come out of their boxes. We have no place to put them! LOL

More pictures here! Enjoy!

It's paying off!

All my hard work with working out and clean eating!!

I come to you, after 7 weeks as of this past Tuesday 9.25 inches gone and 12 pounds lost as of this morning! 3 of those inches were off my stubborn stomach!! Yee Haw!!

So of course feeling a little crazy this morning, I ate a protein styled In and Out Burger (no cheese) and good night it was so yummy!! Thankfully In and Out uses fresh food, never frozen and fresh cut french fries! Just fried of course which is against my clean eating, but it's a splurge and while I feel a bit guilty it was worth it!

I will of course hit the elliptical since I already did Boot Camp and that will hopefully cancel it all out! HA!

The children lately have been doing a lot of pretend playing. It is so cute! Earlier this week, they were playing with their friends from school, pretending of course, and would let their friends play with their siblings. Hilarious! They have now switched to pretending to be Uncle John, Aunt Amy, Maddy, and Brendan. And they carry Brendan, whether he be a baby doll, Blue's Clue's or a piggy. I could just eat them up, they are so cute!

We have been having tons of fun, playing at home and around town. They are so wonderful and love to go to Boot Camp with me, which is probably more fun for them, because there are so many toys and their friends are so great.

Mike has been in town all week, however he was gone last night for the FBR. We had a weekend away this past weekend and had such a nice time! We ate at True Foods and Modern Steak and just literally hung out. It rained the entire time, and we had wanted to hike Camelback Mountain. No such luck, but we will still do it and soon!

Aislinn has developed bumpy speech the past couple of weeks. Totally like Caden but exactly a year earlier than him! Thankfully we have the tools to work on it with her when the time calls for it.

Hmm what else? We had a Field trip for R and T's school at Jump and Shout. It was a lot of fun, however two of my zoo members got very grouchy with me, it was hunger!, and we left about 1 1/2 hours into it. I am putting my foot down a lot lately and it seems to be paying off, yay!

Tonight I have a girls night at a friends house and tomorrow is Football Playoffs for Caden and cheer for Teagan! Not much else planned, but looking forward to it! We may take the kiddos out to True Foods if we can get away. But lazy days around the homestead sounds so inviting right now :-)

Still trying to keep up!

I sit here while looking at my sweet Riordan who has a fever of 101.8, coughing (he had the croup earlier this week but gone now) and he got sick, most likely from all the coughing.

I feel so awful for him, he's still just so yummy even when he's sick!

Aislinn broke out in the crazy rash the olders got, with full force on Saturday and now it's all over her body. Almost gone off her face. Is it really strep? I keep researching it and I think now it was 5th's disease after all. Teagan still has her rash, where scarlet fever is gone in 10 days, 5th's last up to 3 weeks. Poor Riordan, just can't catch a break!

Mike is constantly traveling and we find we have gotten into a sweet rhythm with daily routines and I for once in my life feel like I can actually do this without cracking all the time. I have never been busier running around every single day. With Boot Camp now in the mid morning, there is absolutely no down time until we get home from the first round of pick ups and only for it to happen again in a couple of hours.

I registered the girls at our preschool (well my friend Trisha did actually, so sweet to me!) I will have Teagan in M-TH from 9 to 1 and Aislinn will go into the 3's class M, W, F from 9-11:30. I have never had alone time with just Teagan with the others in school so Friday's will be our day. And I will get a lot of alone time with Aislinn as well. Will just have to figure out how the boys will work, since they will both be in all day public. GASP! Caden will be a 2nd grader and Riordan a Kindergartner! I can't believe it! I need to get R's paperwork in actually. I have it and it's ready, just can't seem to get it turned in. A friend of mine said maybe it's because I don't want him to go. She may be right ;-)

We have been staying busy at home. Doing lots of writing homework, playing outside and cooking a lot in the kitchen.

This weekend Mike and I have a much needed night away planned with Grammy and Papa coming to stay with the zoo. I hope we are able to still go and Riordan gets better so he can have fun with them and we can breath easy know he will be feeling fine.

We hope to climb Camelbak mountain! We have never done it and so looking forward to the challenge! Then a late dinner at True Foods and then maybe another hike the next morning, if our muscles aren't too fatigued.

We also just booked a trip home, all of us, in April. My dad has not seen his grandchildren in 1 1/2 years!! Way too long. It's such a HUGE expense for us all 6 to fly out, hotel, and car. So we are forfeiting any major vacation and hope that we can do some fun family outings while we are there. I can't wait to get ALL the cousins together! The children haven't met their new cousin Carson, who just turned ONE, yet. It should be fun!

Speaking of new cousins! We finally met Brendan and he is just absolutely yummy!! I can't wait for Aunt Amy to send over the pictures, because we left our camera at home that day :(

Nothing major has gone on in the past few weeks.

We did have a fun Valentine's Week at the schools. The zoo was really into making Valentine's for their teachers and were so sweet handing them out! Mike and I had a fun date night at The Living Room. A wine bar with lots of ambience. And then we hit Fleming's for our delicious Lava Cake and glass of wine!! We seem to end our date nights on that note. This time however I only had TWO bites and that was painful ;-)

I am so determined to finish this weight loss journey. Two years ago I began. I have had 4 months of SI Dysfunction that prevent me from doing cardio. Healed, then 4 months later began the nightmare of stress fractures. Twice I was out of commission, the first time 3 months, the second time 4 months. So now I am DONE with running, my back still has it's moments, but it's manageable and I am working out really hard and reaping the rewards. Now if I could just still control my serious cravings for all things bad!! My goal every day is to eat clean. Nothing boxed with preservatives. Fresh as best can be, which means a lot of time in the kitchen cooking and prepping. I have made a soup every week for 3 weeks now and they are so yummy! I am really enjoying being back in the kitchen and the zoo loves getting in there and helping as well! So I'm getting SERIOUS, what I am calling it this year. I initially lost 40lbs, but couldn't hold it and teetered with 10 lbs off and on all last year. I have 4 more to go to get back to 150 and then those bonus 10, remember them? Well it's not bonus anymore, it's SERIOUS time. So 14 more to go, let's do it! Who's with me?!

I have a good excuse!

I was sick and trying to catch up to life! ;-)

December was 3 1/2 hellish weeks of vertigo after an ear infection and sinus infection. I can't believe how rough December was and thought my body couldn't go through anything else like that! Boy was I wrong!

Christmas for the children was absolutely fantastic! They were spoiled beyond belief and very thankful and grateful!! Christmas Eve we went to Uncle John and Aunt Amy's and had the yummiest Chinese food and the best family time. Finally the week after Christmas, I felt healed and like myself and treated myself to a week of movies. It was so nice and relaxing!

New Year's Eve was uneventful and I was asleep at 10 pm ;-) Nice and rested to start the New Year off on the right foot!

I got back to Boot Camp for three weeks, busy with the children, organizing the house like crazy and getting my health in check. Time to see the dentist after 3 long years. Lots of work to be done and had an abscess in an already root canaled tooth because it wasn't completely root canal'ed. This I knew, and always had sensitivity, which my previous dentist always said it was referred pain from another tooth. Really? I mean come on, I have had so much dental work and I'm really in tune to my body? So I'm referred out to an Endo. Long story short, something went wrong during the procedure.

I had a searing shooting pain go through my jaw half way through my 1 1/2 hour long procedure! It hurt the entire rest of the time. Being I was still numb, we went out to dinner with Mike's parents. In the middle of the night I woke up in excruciating pain and couldn't sleep the remainder of the night. I chalked it up to maybe the new abscess giving me issues and my body was healing. All day Friday I popped Tylenol with no relief and Friday night I took the hydrocodone.

It didn't work and I didn't sleep. Saturday I was taking my sister in law out for lunch and a pedicure, she was having a baby on Monday, so I wasn't going to cancel. At this point, my mouth can't even be touch it hurts so bad from my lower jaw to my ear. I can't chew, I can't open my mouth very much and I just want to cry. So I drink some wine at lunch to curb the pain. We had a nice time and even Mike's mom joined us for a girls afternoon out! So much fun!

After getting back to their house, I am really hurting. We finally leave and all I want to do is cry going home. No sleeping of course and by midnight, I am now getting sick the pain is so intense.

At 7 am I call the Endo, they had given me his cell number. He blames it on not being able to take ibuprofen and prescribes a stronger antibiotic. I am violently sick all day long, nothing stays done and I had to be strategic in taking my meds. Monday comes, still no relief from pain and still sick, so Mike stayed home from work. My regular dentist calls and said to call the Endo on Tuesday if the pain doesn't cease and then the Endo called and said the same. Well it didn't. However, Tuesday was hectic and crazy and I had all my children and couldn't take them in with me.

Wednesday still pain, still taking drugs and still no relief from them. I take Aislinn to her Milk Challenge, which she passes! YAY! and get home and tell the Endo's office I need to be seen that day.

They get me in and the dentist says I'm stuck in a vicious cycle because he NEVER shaved down my crown the did the root canal on! It had been hit all the time by my bite and I clench my teeth when I sleep so it wasn't getting a chance to 'calm down' And he said that I was having a joint dysfunction in my jaw or other wise known as TMJ. TMJ, really, I never knew it was that painful, but when I looked it up it described my pain exactly.

Now, when he shaved down the tooth that is already excruciating without numbing it, I wanted to scream! And it sent my TMJ back to excruciating nausea pain!

He had changed my meds to percocet and took me off the antibiotics, I learned they are extremely dangerous of a certain kind. I take the percocet and finally after a week, I sleep! With NO PAIN! FINALLY! All morning Thursday I took percocet and then I needed to care for the children, so it was Tylenol for the rest of the day.

So here I am, Sunday and just taking Tylenol. I have tingling in my jaw still and pain in my tooth, but it's manageable. Friday I got out for the day with Mike and we had such a nice time!! I had such horrible cabin fever! Mike was beyond wonderful taken care of me!! So grateful!

In the meantime, Brendan Malloy was born on Monday weighing 6 lbs 15 oz! We have yet to meet him because of my health and then Aislinn got croup on Friday. Fever, throwing up, coughing, green nose. THEN Saturday morning Caden woke up covered in a rash except on his head. An hour later Teagan has the same rash on her body. We go to cheer and football and Riordan starts to get it on his face. Then Teagan starts to get it on her face! What is going on!

We convinced ourselves after an hour it was going away so we gave them benadryl and I went to the movies with a friend. I get home and it is not better. Off to Urgent care we goooooo!

One look and the doctor declared them with the strep bacteria, just like Aunt Jen said! No fever, no sore throat, no stomach ache, just Scarlet Fever

So that about catches us up since Christmas!

Mike is traveling pretty much ever week and we miss him so much when he's gone.

We have a new small group on Wednesday nights, but Mike hasn't been able to go yet, and I've made it 1 out of 2 times.

Riordan is learning to spell his last name now and just loves school so much. He's really interested in Tennis and my plan is to take him out and work with him and see where we go with it.

Teagan is hopping beautifully on one leg now, part of her dance and absolutely loves cheerleading! She is so amazing at remembering her dance and cheers and really gets loud! So adorable! I have a video, just trying to figure how to get them on here.

Aislinn is a mess, a big wonderful mess ;-) She jumps all over the place and constantly tells us how much she loves each and every one of us. She's a cuddler lately and always wants to watch Yo Gabba Gabba! She's really into puzzles and doesn't give up when trying to piece them together with a little help!

Caden! I finally sat down with him and worked with him on his handwriting and it has greatly improved! It's beautiful when he takes his time and have found that doing one homework journal a day instead of 3 in a day has helped with his improvement. We just enrolled him in a tennis class, but he doesn't know anyone so he is anxious about going. He also sprained his thumb pretty badly on Friday (which we x-rayed on the visit for strep). He wore a bandage and still played football! He's so tough! It is nice and swollen and very bruised! I have no idea where he gets his determination ;-) Play through an injury? Unheard of!

Mike is gone this week and we will stay busy with our routines. This next weekend Caden has a double header for football as do the girls for cheerleading I think? So we have from 9 am -3 pm I think for games and cheer? Teagan also has two birthday parties on Saturday afternoon at the same time! YIKES! We have a super bowl party to attend somewhere too on Sunday! I just hope everyone gets well so we can have a fun filled weekend! And somewhere work in a quick visit to visit our newest cousin!

My goal is to get on here twice a week to stay updated! I have tons of pictures and videos, I hope I can get them on here!

Riordan and Teagan's Christmas Program

Riordan was having a most rough day yesterday. Lots of congestion and he got sick at school. They called me to come get him and once I was there, his teacher goes, I'm so sorry, but I don't think he's sick! I explained to her that his SPD cause him to have gag issues and with coughing and congestion and on top of it all, the anxiety of the performance in the evening, he just really didn't stand a chance.

So he and I stayed, watched his class practice and then Teagan's class practice and then got Teagan and came home. I really was trying to get him all excited for it, but even when he got there he said how sick he was and he wasn't going to do it. Then his other teacher Ms. Marty, who really gets him and can get him to do ANYTHING!, got him and excited and then it was a non issue!

It was a long night, as we had two performance times to do with Teagan in the first and Riordan in the second, but they both were adorable and did great. All their classmates infact! It was a wonderful night that ended with a visit from Santa and NO tears from anyone! Aislinn was hesitant at first but after 30 seconds she quickly warmed up.

Make sure you see them all ;-)

I made four postings today to catch up!

Girls Holiday Recital

The girls had their holiday dance recital this past Wednesday. Mike and I got to see both performances!

Teagan's was to Frosty the Snowman, she had no voice and a break in fever, and was fabulous!!

Aislinn's was to Wiggles Christmas and she was overwhelmed with all of us in the room and cried at first. Then when the music played she did a few movements but really just wanted me to hold her.

It was so fun to watch them both and they seemed to have a lot of fun as well. I have video and trying to figure out how to upload it since Youtube changes the quality...

RIordan's 5th birthday Pictures

Enjoying his big day!

He plays hard, it shows ;-)

Where the Birthday Prince sits!

Blowing out his candles with his dear friend Matthew right by his side!

His school party, he got a Birthday crown and pick from the treasure box.. he picked gold money ;-)

AND MORE PICS!

A few from the Polar Express

So excited! Notice out this window and the rail with the red lights and then the second to last picture with snow, pretty neat on the transformation!

Time to go to the North Pole!

So much fun on the train!

Snow!!

Matching outfits from Grammy and Papa ;-)

AND MORE PICS

Riordan turned 5 on December 8th but wait!

It has been nothing but sickness and utter inner chaos for me for 3 weeks :(

First! We had Riordan's birthday party on Dec 5th! So much fun!! His friends were so wonderful helping him celebrate such a momentous occasion and he was genuinely overjoyed the entire day. So happy for him!

So, I have had vertigo for 2 weeks exactly today, my SI Dysfunction struck up this past Thursday when Mike left town. The kids, except for Caden, were all sick with fevers, croup, ER visits, 2 am steam showers, throwing up, Tylenol chewables, missing school and pj's all week long.

And Riordan turned 5! Thankfully he wasn't sick yet, but did the very next day...

The week before, Thanksgiving week, I came home from Atlanta, sick. Fighting a sinus infection, I got to go out with a dear friend, Rebecca who was in town the night before Turkey day. Thankfully, Mike and I agreed getting AJ's to cater our dinner would be most wise. The food was fabulous but it was too much, in quantity. And the kids didn't really eat it. So from now on, no turkey.. Just going to grill steaks! I will make my potatoes and asparagus and there will be no food thrown away!

So back to Thanksgiving. That night, while sitting on the couch, I lean over to pick up Teagan and because of the way I was sitting, I torqued my back!! I couldn't move and was in the most scariest kind of pain. Not like my SI back pain, but ' I think I just did something that requires surgery' pain. We have Polar Express on that Saturday to go with our zoo and Uncle John, Aunt Amy, and Maddy!! This can't be happening!!!

Mike calls my PT and gets me in on Friday afternoon. Thankfully by the time my appointment had come around I finally could move, still with pain, but not excruciating.

But it's gets 'even better'.

Friday night Caden has his very first sleep over with his friend Michael. They both have been looking forward to it for weeks

Then Mike came down with the flu Friday night. We are still going!! I decided he can just sleep while I drive the whole way there and back, with my back in pain and a sinus infection.

We go to Polar Express and it was SO MUCH FUN! It was fantastic as much as Mike and I felt so horrible! We even got snow as we came off our trip to the North Pole. So much that the next morning there was plenty to play in!! It was sooooo cold, but the children absolutely loved it and I was so thankfully I thought ahead to bring gloves, snow jackets and hats!

As we were driving home and coming off the mountain, that's when the vertigo began for me. All the change of pressure I'm sure and the infection taking me down. Bad bad week for me. I put my life on complete hold and it's still on semi-hold. How can this work during the busiest time of the year not only for the Holidays but because my boys have their birthdays?!

But, I have amazing girls in my life both friends and helpers that I have relied on so much for the first time in my life, asking for help AND accepting it when offered. And that is how it has worked.

Yesterday was our much anticipated Boot Camp Babes Holiday Fundraiser: Babes for Babies. We raised money for Maggie's Place and had an adult evening in sophisticated attire and elegant dining with the girls and their hubbies. It was a night to remember and we raised a lot of money for a wonderful organization!! So proud of the entire affair!

This week will get busy so to begin at the beginning ;-)

Monday, Mike has a dinner meeting so I will be on my own all day with the zoo.

Tuesday we will celebrate Caden's birthday at school, a week early due to events and Holiday things all week at his school.

Tuesday evening, Riordan and Teagan have their Christmas Celebration at school where they will sing Christmas Carole's. So excited for this!

Wednesday Caden has Polar Express day at school! All day! PJ's, the book, hot chocolate, cookies and the movie in the afternoon! So fun! That night Mike has yet another dinner meeting.

Thursday, the last day of school before Christmas break, Mike and I are making Gingerbread houses with Riordan and Teagan at their school and then heading to Caden's school for their Holiday party/presentation of songs. And a much over due date night that evening for us.

Friday we take a breath.

Saturday is Caden's birthday party with his friends and then Saturday night is a birthday celebration for a friend's 40th birthday!!

Sunday, YES it's not over! I have BCB's Holiday Ornament and cookie exchange in the evening

Monday: CADEN turns 7! Weeeee!!

So the latest and greatest with the children:

Caden: They won the Superbowl for his football team and this past Saturday they had a SUPREMACY bowl. Both winning SE Chandler leagues played against each other and Caden's team won!! They got trophy's and medals and of course bragging rights. ;-) Caden and his friend Dominick move up in age groups so it will probably be challenging for them! It will be nice I think.

Riordan: Still trying to find a niche' for him.. He did not do piano after all and we even tried a general music class but he was too anxious about it :( He is a builder, loves to do Legos, and he loves to play the Wii. He is pretty good for just turning 5 if I do say myself. So not sure what to do with him now. I feel bad he doesn't have an activity. He is however, very happy these days, and I love love watching him at school because he is nothing but one big smile and lots of laughter. Just joy!

Teagan: She has just blossomed both at school and at dance. She is registered to do cheerleading while Caden plays football but she is now saying she doesn't want to do it! Of course ;-) She cracks me up lately she has become quite the little comedian. AND she is finally into her hair! She let's me blow it dry and she requests brushing and pretties now! YAY!! Today is the first time she request a dress for church, but I don't know what's happened, I don't have any! LOL Time to go shopping I guess! She is such a good big sister and is very thoughtful of everyone in our family. She is still the boss too!

Aislinn: Has been calling Naked, 'Caden' for about a month now. And Ju Ju, Julie and Jo Jo, Josie. She literally woke up one day and it was as if she had always been doing it. Caden of course was thrilled. Her foot is very healed too! On Thanksgiving day she walked, and without her boot, after two weeks from her fall! It was like a Christmas Miracle, ha! It was painful for her and to watch, but she was so proud and exclaimed, Me walking! Me Walking! Today, she is back to running and no hint of pain in her foot. So thankful for great care and insight from my friend and her doctor!

So I lay in bed, now for a few hours, praying for complete healing in my back and for the vertigo to go away. I got really down in the dumps with everything, but I am thankful for the roof over my house and food on my table. I know I will heal and I know life will get back on track ;-)

It's been a week

Since Aislinn fell from the step stool and really hurt her foot.. I was certain it was a bad sprain, but kept thinking of my friend Tracy's little girl some time ago, and how she got hurt and they never thought she had broken her leg. But she had, and in two places!

So another friend of mine works for a Foot Surgeon and had us come in Friday for x-rays, it's been 24 hrs now and she won't bear any weight on her foot, and sent us to be fitted for a boot and to return on Monday to speak with the doctor.

She does not have a visible break on the x-rays, but it was discovered that she has cysts in her heel bone, read here about them, which is a weakness to begin with and can hairline fracture as well as her growth plate where her ankle and leg come together. She has the typical bruising of a sprained ankle and swelling to go with it so it's quite possible.

Our course of action: She should be walking in 1 to 2 weeks in her boot, which she's to stay in at all time, and then walking without it in about 3. Now at week 1, she has no desire to still walk or put her foot down for that matter.

IF she does not walk in 3 weeks, she will be sent in for a CT scan and then hard casted most likely. He does not think her needs will be surgical at this point.

Now when she's 14 we will be doing an x-ray to be sure the cysts in her heel have dissolved. If not she will require surgery so she won't break her heel playing sports. We would have never known she had this unless she got injured! Crazy!

Also, what an amazing girl she is! She crawls everywhere dragging her boot with her! She can vault up on the couch or a chair on her good leg with never putting weight on her booted leg! She did dance class today and never once felt left out or complained she couldn't do what her friends were doing. Let me tell you how eye opening this lesson was for me today and my stress fracture issues! She's determined to still live life with her injury and not letting it get her down. AND when she needs help to get around, she simply ask for it, unless she's tired and then the crabby crabs come in ;-) She has been so easy about this though and I am immensely impressed! Praying she can start walking on the boot soon and not have to go any further with treatment....

Pictures

Here are a few pictures of the zoo lately and a link to the rest!!

Lots to update on! This is a long one!

I am able to take the time to update this past month because Riordan has sweet friends from school over and the girls are enthralled with all the boys! Also Mike is home for just today before he goes back out on the road tomorrow morning. One more week of travel and we will have him home for the rest of the year! Hooray!!

Yesterday:

We had dentist appointments for the three olders and I took them by myself! It was by far the best experience ever! I was very organized with the dental tecs and made sure that Teagan went first, then Riordan and Caden at the same time. Riordan and Teagan did EVERYTHING asked of them and didn't cry AND had fun! I was almost in tears I was so proud and felt we had a huge breakthrough for Riordan!! OT is still paying off and so glad we did it! Results:

Caden's first adult molars are in and we had no idea! They came in the last 6 months and he never noticed! He has a cavity in a baby molar and will be getting sealants on the new adult teeth.

Teagan has her first two cavity's in her back upper molars. Pretty deep, but we are going to attempt nitrous for the visit since she did SO well for this one. Dr. Welch is fast and great, so we trust his recommendations.

Riordan is completely cavity free! So awesome!

Needless to say, I was so impressed with them all that we went to Target and got new Wii games AND they were buy two get one free! Score for everyone!

Halloween:

Aislinn got the croup the day before and was feeling pretty bad. So Mike took Caden to Football and I stayed home with the three olders.. We had to miss Trunk or Treat at R and T's school in order to save up energy for Trick or Treating. They had such a great time! We hit the same houses as last year and then sat out on our porch handing out candy. This year was the first time the weather was so incredible that I think it brought more people out! I couldn't believe how many people we saw! We had to start rationing candy because we would have run out at the rate we were giving it out.

The day before Halloween:

Mike and I took everyone to the zoo. He flew in that morning and I kept Caden out of school. We have all been missing him badly with his constant travel schedule and took the time to have a family day during the week. Mike had never been to the zoo before, so it was fun to do things with him, like get TWO double strollers so no one complained, and do the hiking trails. A lot of construction going on at the zoo, so some things we couldn't see. We are so excited for the Komodo dragon exhibit to open, in the next week if I remember! Then we went to Oregano's for dinner, so yummy and came home and played the Wii. They love that so much!

Aislinn had a very rough night that night. I felt so bad for her, but boy do showers work with croup and she had a cold so she was snooky too! So not humid out here, so that didn't help. She still has a croupy cough today.

Last week was full of play dates and normal crazy busy stuff. We got to spend time with our dear friends, the St. Geme's and Riordan got to go to his buddy Matthew's house after school on Wednesday.

Caden has been excelling in football scoring touch downs, interceptions, safety's, flag pulls galore. We are broke ;-)

Teagan and Aislinn absolutely love their dance lessons and are doing great and improving each week with their skills, so impressive!

Riordan is taking his first piano lesson on Saturday and we are so excited! Hoping that he enjoys it so he can do it every week ;-)

What else... Caden had his Fall Festival a couple of Saturday's ago and it was an awesome turn out. The moms did an amazing job organizing with great items to raffle for and all the vendors were fun for the kids! Dunk the Teacher was the best I think ;)

Medical update:

Aislinn had her first skin test for her allergies and passed with soaring colors! However, dust mites and dog came up for the first time. We had to get her blood drawn to do the second phase of clearance and we are waiting on those results. She was a perfect patient getting that done, so impressed! She sat still and did everything she was told to do. I'm just impressed with the children all the time lately!

I had my DXA scan, which is a bone density test and I came out great results as well. So my recurrence of stress fractures are simply not enough healing time! YAY! 7 more months to go LOL, oh well...

And the next posting under this is about my San Fran trip with the girls which was an amazing time. I have been writing it for a couple of weeks now and still not done.. but soon, soon I will be!

Pics from Michael's visit

Mario Kart Racing all weekend

Michael going for it

His love, rocket launching. His first ever, dirt devils!

They even got hit by one! He loved every minute of it!

Nice shot by Marco ;-)

Camel Riding!

At the Zebra's

The only picture Riordan would take :(

Michael showing the turtles and fish in the lake

My 'first' boys ;-)

Pics from Ailsinn's birthday party

Birthday Princess, she is just so yummy!

Yo Gabba Gabba Cake

She's been practicing blowing her candle for weeks and she did it in one shot!

First time I have ever seen her like cake!

Sweet Marcie made this tu tu for her

Cousin's

and more pics here

SO much!

To update on!

We had a wonderful visit with my nephew Michael this past weekend. He was truly such a joy to have and I am just amazed at his intelligence and what a wonderful young man he is turning into! How neat it was to have him without his siblings and how wonderful it was to see him smiling and laughing all day long.

He's so into astronomy, following satellites and the planets, and taught us so much and how to see them in the sky! He got to do all but one of his rocket launches. We think he was afraid to do the last one because there were a few casualties on some. One was Nicolas's rocket and it exploded ;-)

We took him to the zoo where he and Caden rode a camel for the first time ever! They were so cute. Caden really was Michael's shadow, just so interested in everything he did. I'm sure quite a change from his siblings who as we know, siblings fight more than adore each other ;-)

We were so sad to see him go and can not wait till we see each other again.

So updates:

I think I'm at peace to go on the SF trip and watch everyone run a race that once again I am not able to run. Thankfully my friend Kristi will be there with me and we have decided that it would be to hard for me to be at the finish line so we will wait for everyone back at the hotel or around the start line. I don't think my heart can take watching a 5th race in a year that I couldn't run in due to my legs. I am planning on hopefully the week I'm back to renting a bike so I can see if it's something I want to do.

So Kristi and I will eat and shop ;-) I can't wait!

Mike is working so hard and so much and will be out of town the next two weeks in Colorado. Thankfully Jo Jo's schedule will change to our favor so I will have a lot more help around the house and sanity breaks! And we have Ju Ju on nights for a bit until she gets a new job! Boy have we missed her! I am covered and can use that time to either work or work out on the elliptical.

Caden only one slightly lose tooth. He is growing his hair out to be cool like all the boys with the longer do's. We will see how long we can put up with it. We have been on Fall break, in week two now, and I think we are all bored and ready to get back to routine.

Riordan is really into play Lego.com games. He just loves to build legos and is infatuated with anything related to it lately. Our latest need is to find his Christmas outfit, because he got upset with me for getting the girls dresses and not him. He's so sensitive or ungrateful maybe? ;-) to this kind of thing. So being frustrated with them all yelling at me one night, saying I NEVER get them anything and I'm a mean mom, I taught them about the starving people in Africa. I told them a lot, how they are starving, have no homes, no Wii, no milk, no icecream, etc. How bad people kicked them out of their homes and how their country isn't taking care of them. How Missionaries have gone to help them. I even showed them pictures. Boy did they change their tunes in a HEARTBEAT! Caden immediately want to ship them all his clothes that don't fit anymore so they don't have to be naked and they all prayed so hard for them. Teagan wanted to know their names! So now anytime anyone utters ungratefulness, I simply say the children of Africa. It has worked!

Teagan is officially out of pull ups for a week now! She was so proud of herself! We took her on an ice cream date to celebrate it! She is missing her school and classmates so much on this break and demands to do homework everyday. We did get back to dance yesterday and she was awesome. Just so adorable!

Aislinn had a poop break through and now is completely potty trained! What a delight and SHE is so proud of herself! I went and bought her a big My Little Pony as a reward and she treasured it! Just turned 2 and we are just amazed by her. She is such a big kid ;-)

I'm off to pack for my trip and clean up the house. Pedicure later this afternoon and pick up essentials!

Hanging up the running shoes

It has been the hardest year I have ever had for my physical health and after a visit with my doctor yesterday, I will be hanging up my running shoes for some time after the Nike Women's 1/2 marathon.

After doing more research and talking with him, tibial stress fractures actually take up to a year to heal. He recommends no running for 9 months and to take up biking and swimming (I am so not a strong swimmer).

I am trying to handle this all very well.

I don't like being told I can't do something, but my body didn't get the proper time to heal and I'm frustrated that my initial doctor told me differently and sent me on my way.

I have just been able to start using the elliptical with no pain this week and just for 30 mins at a time every other day. Sigh..

This is very difficult, although I am taking it better this time around, but I still hate not being able to get out and just run! It's so mind-freeing and stress-relieving for me.

I am going in for a bone density scan, as soon as we get our insurance cards, and doing a blood draw as well to look for calcium and Vitamin D deficiencies. I am lactose intolerant so I don't get in the calcium I know I should be getting so he wants to gauge exactly how low they may be, although Vit D should be fine since we live in the Valley of the Sun. I am thankful that Dr. T is running all these tests to rule out everything other than not enough healing time.

AND The fall I endured with Teagan, the day after my stress fractures showed back up, caused permanent tissue damage in my thigh muscle. Basically, I have a dent in my leg from the injury and it will never fill back in again because the trauma was so intense it compressed my muscle and permanently. WILD! So now there goes my career as a thigh model.

On a completely other note, we had school conferences for all three olders this week and I was SO impressed and here I brag by my own right ;-)

Teagan: Is the only one who can write a letter of her name on the first day and is considered very mature for her age even with her high anxiety of being away from me. She is engaging in the classroom with her peers and having finally talking to her teachers! Her academic skills are considered to be above level for her age and already will have no issues graduating to Pre-K next year! Her teacher, Mrs. Karin, is just so amazing and rather cool really. I love her teaching style, her mannerism with the children, and her look on life! She's a mom and just really gets it and this is truly her gift to teach children. Teagan LOVEs to do homework and is so proud to turn it in for a sticker ;-)

Riordan: Is doing really well academically in class and is finally engaging as well with his peers and 'sharing' feelings and thoughts in circle time! They exclaimed how much he has grown since August and love having him in their classroom! When I asked about his speech and understanding him, they were quick to say they can't understand him when he's excited and that I should talk to our doctor if he needs more speech therapy. That to me screams a yes, so as soon as we get our cards, we will set up a re-eval for him. He has only had one bad day at school with his anxiety and I am so proud of him! He loves loves to do homework and is so detail oriented with every aspect of school from taking out his folder to coloring in the lines.

Caden: Got a soaring report and words we have heard before. He is every one's friend, a leader, but not in a bossy kind of way, but in a peace keeping kind of a way. He is extremely helpful in the classroom with his teacher and his friends and always accepts challenges that come his way. He is at second grade level for reading, in the advance reading group for his room, and is on target for math, science, and writing skills. He does get tired and can be inconsistent in his work, so that is an area we are working on. Also, his misbehavior in class has been rectified, which was when he engaged in classroom talks he was very loud and silly, so we have had no more issues since those two weeks.

Mike and I got to do Teagan and Riordan's assessments together, which was neat, because he's never been for any. We are both so proud of our children and feel like as much as rearing children can be hard, tiring, taxing, difficult and frustrating at times, we are enlightened that we are doing a great job as parents to be raising well rounded children! It was a fun day to hear everything and see their work in progress!

Aislinn is 2!

As of this past Tuesday she turned two!

We had a fun filled day with just breakfast for her and I at Mimi's Cafe, a shopping trip to Nordstrom Rack and then dinner that night at Fire Fire, aka Hon Machi, with the whole family!

She was so adorable and just so fun to spend such great quality time with!

Every where we went friends were telling her Happy Birthday!