Thanksgiving and stuff

Well, we did Thanksgiving by ourselves this year for the second time since we have been married, so it wasn't stressful this time since I have done a turkey before. We made some good food together and played with the kids. The best part was having Daniel home for 5 days in a row! Now we miss him.

Also, that weekend I tried out the Black Friday shopping thing for the first time. I ended up going alone and tried the stores that opened at 10pm and midnight. Let's just say, it's a long story, and people are crazy when it comes to sales. They just buy it because it is on sale. It was crazy. I was wishing I had my sister with me to giggle with...

Anyways, we took no pictures over the weekend except this one of our food right before we ate it. Too bad the kids don't care about food...
The weather is all over the place right now. Sometimes we are cold, sometimes we are feeling good, sometimes we are a little too warm with too much humidity, sometimes it's raining... But, at least we can go outside everyday, which is so nice (except for the stupid mosquitos).

Boots.

Bensen loves his boots. I love that they keep the kids' feet dry. And for the life of me, I cannot get this picture to turn!

I like to try and read while the kids play outside. Addie is usually inside napping so we bring out the baby monitor. It is hard to read because I have to keep getting up a lot, but none-the-less, I try.

Staucie dressed up as a Native American at preschool right before the Thanksgiving break. Staucie's teacher had the moms come early to pick them up and they sang us a song, told us what they were thankful for and we had some treats. Staucie was Indian chief, Shining Star. By the way, Staucie is thankful when I buy her toys. Nice.

And we got some Christmas jammies, because it is fun. Staucie is so happy to have someone to match with.

Addie is s-l-o-w-l-y starting to eat baby food. She is like Parker and was really stubborn about trying something new. She is doing better now, but still pushes it out with her tongue.

Yummy carrots. Addie is SOOOOOO cute and fun. She is starting to crawl a little bit. She is skipping the army crawling, which is different then my other 3 kids. We love her. And we love all of our kiddies.

Half a Year

Addie is 6 months old. She is a cutie. She is different then the other three. When I lay her on her blanket to play, she pulls the blanket up into a ball between her arms and chews on it. I had to get her a heavier blanket for the floor. The other kids did not do that, they played with the toys. Addie is now grabbing the toys and putting them in her mouth more, but she still prefers blankets, burp cloths, and my hands. She has a tooth now so it hurts when she chews on my fingers.
She is rolly-polly and gets up on her hands and knees and rocks. She also loves jumping and jumping and jumping. She kicks her legs and feet when she is happy, excited, and when she is mad. It is really cute, especially when you are holding her and her little legs start jumping in mid air. She loves her siblings. Her and Staucie just look at each other and laugh. It is cute. Bensen also loves to look at her and poke her. Parker makes sure I remember to bring her with us.

She had her 6-month well-check on Friday.

Stats: 13.14 pounds (15%) 26 inches (60%)

Addie met with her Ophthalmologist a litle while ago and she will be having eye surgery on both of her eyes at the end of the month. She has a disorder called esotropia. The doctor will weaken the inner eye muscles of both eyes in hopes that her brain will correct her eye alignment. We are also doing it young so that she, hopefully, won't lose any of her vision.

She is supposed to be wearing an eye patch for an hour a day, alternating eyes each day, so she can practice using both eyes to help keep her vision. But, she hates wearing the eye patch. She is okay for like 2 minutes and then just keeps getting madder and madder. I play with her and hold her and she just tries rubbing it off. Eventually she is so mad that the only way I can get her to calm down and stop crying is to put her in the bath. The eye patching is not working out.

After the surgery she won't need to wear a patch. Their is a 20% chance she will need another surgery down the line or more eye patching. We are praying for the 80%. I am nervous about having her put to sleep. I am nervous that they won't do the surgery right. I am nervous that they will "weaken" the eye muscles too much. I am just nervous. I am also not looking forward to making her "fast." Lots of crying for a baby who won't take a pacifier.

Addie jumping with her patch. She was happy, til I stuck on the patch.

San Antonio

The week before Halloween, I went with Daniel to San Antonio for work. My mom flew out to be with our kids. Daniel went last year at the same time and so we planned this trip a long time ago. We left Wednesday at noon and were supposed to come back Friday night. But, our ward Halloween/Trunk-or-treat party was Friday night and Daniel wouldn't be done with his meetings in time to drive back. I didn't want the kids to miss trick-or-treating since Halloween was on Sunday so I ended up flying home Friday morning.

Anyways, while we were in San Antonio we had dinner with Daniel's boss and his wife on Wednesday when we got there before they drove back to Houston. Then we walked around The Riverwalk. Thursday while Daniel was at his meetings, I tried to sleep in, but it wasn't happening. I lazily got ready for the day and then went and walked around the mall, for some lunch, and took it back to the hotel to eat, watch tv, and read.
I even soaked my tendonitis/arthritis feet, that haven't recovered yet from my pregnancy, in a hot bath while I sat on a towel on the toilet and read. It felt nice.

When Daniel got back to the hotel, we went and watched Toy Story 3 in 3-D at the Imax theater and then had dinner on The Riverwalk. It was a nice little trip and it ended too soon.

Cute 3-D glasses.

Daniel trying to decide what to eat.

Thanks mom for coming. It was so fun to hang out with you!

The Forest (or the Frost's)

A few Staurdays ago the Frosts had a campout up at their property that they invited us to. We skipped out on the camping part (I didn't want to with a baby and I wanted to sleep). We showed up late Saturday morning when everyone was packing up to leave. Joe and Nannette entertained us anyways (thanks guys).

When we were driving up, Daniel tried to explain where we were going. So, it was then called "The Forest." The kids had fun running around, looking at the lake, riding on four-wheelers, in a boat, and unfortunatley, being attacked by hornets.

Addie was there too. She was carried around and then took a nap upstairs in their cabin. Thanks, Nate, for lending us your bed.

I look very unattractive here, but we needed proof that I actually drove one around with the kids.

The boys.

Staucie's friend, Ellie, took her for a ride. They are the same age. Ellie was even nice enough to take Parker for a ride too.

Daniel on the boat with 5 of the little kids. It was cute.

(Ellie, Staucie, Bensen, Parker, Nate)

At lunchtime, Nannette and I left with Nate to go get sandwiches for us to eat. When we got back and were putting things on the table outside, Staucie, Parker, and Ellie came screaming out of the trees a little ways down. It took us a minute to figure out what was going on and who was screaming. Eventually, all 3 were screaming. Anyways, turns out they all got stung by hornets. Daniel and Joe went to investigate the trees and found a hornets nest in a hole on the ground. Staucie got stung twice on the leg, Parker on the earlobe, and Ellie on her bum. They stung right through the girls' stretch pants.

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I have never been stung by a bee, hornet, etc., but it must have hurt because those girls screamed and cried for a long time. Getting stung on the earlobe must not hurt as much because Parker didn't cry very long. And while we were sitting outside, there were a few hornets flying around us and Staucie got stung again on the wrist. We put her in the cabin after that. She cried for a long time and we had ice packs on each sting. Daniel said that hornets have a smell in their venom that attracks more hornets, so we think that is why Staucie got stung again. Now she is afraid to be outside sometimes. Poor thing. It did not look fun.

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And then on the way home, they all passed out.

Thanks Joe and Nannette for letting us crash your Saturday.

Back Outside!

The weather finally feels so good! We are outside everyday again and loving it! Summer finally ended around the middle/end of October. Ugh. Too hot for me. I love the 80 degree weather and low humidity. And now it is even in the 70's and we are wearing jackets some of the time. These pictures were from a couple of weeks ago when we first put on our pants. I think it was still a little on the warm side, but I was tired of shorts!

Bensen is all wet from playing with a bucket of water.

Parker had pants on earlier but he got them wet and went in the house, stripped, and came back out with no pants! I made him go back in to put on some shorts.

Bensen is playing with bubbles.