BAHNMILLERS

Joey's Arrow of Light

2017-03-04T21:39:00.001-08:00

Thursday, November 5th, was Joey's Arrow of Light Ceremony. We are so proud of him for accomplishing this. He worked really hard. They completely changed the program in September but because his birthday is in December there is no way he could finish it all in 3 months. His leader got permission for him to do the old program if he completed it BY September when the new program started. And that's just what he did. He worked really hard through out the summer and finished it all but the hike. They did a special 3 and 5 mile hike just for Joey as one of the first activities after the summer break was over. Joey chose to do his Arrow of Light once Vienna was born so that I would be guaranteed to go and so that hopefully Grandma could come. Sadly, she had to leave but I was so happy that I could be there!

They had a nice ceremony for him. Here he is saying the pledge, the motto, and the law of cub scouts.

Being presented with his arrow. Please excuse my swolleness. I for some reason got really swollen once I got home from the hospital. I could barely see my toes.

Joey's leader, Patti, talking about what a special kid Joey is.

Then, as his transition from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts, he made a bridge. Each piece of the bridge had a trait that he needed to have to be a loyal Boy Scout.

Once completed, he got to climb it.

And now he is a Boy Scout!

Hospital Stay and Coming Home

2017-02-24T23:10:00.000-08:00

I am so grateful for Modern Medicine and how they keep coming up with new methods and ways to cure people. I truly believe that the aspirin a day kept the Preeclampsia at bay. I also believe that my body having too much fluid around Vienna was a blessing. Joey didn't have enough fluid and was very stressed. I think this is what kept her content for so long.

Little miracles along the way that brought our V-bug here to us!

On October 30th, Amy, Dan, Sydnee and Skylar came to visit us and brought Joey and Emma to meet their new sister.

Some cute pictures of Vienna through out our hospital stay.

Jason came on Halloween morning before he had to go to work and brought the kids to keep me company for the day.

Their cute Halloween shirts

My mom also flew in today. Mike went and picked her up at the airport in Burbank and came straight to the hospital. It was fun that she got to see us in the hospital and out.

Our Home Teacher, Chad, was nice enough to pick the kids up at the hospital and take them to the Trunk or Treat.

The kids in their costumes. Joey was Iron Man and Emma was Wyldstyle from The Lego Movie. The kids had a lot of fun. There wasn't a ton of people there so they got to go around a few times until the candy was gone. Their buckets were completely full.

Finally coming home! I was happy to get home. Me and Mike usually love the hospital experience but I wasn't too impressed with the way Huntington Hospital did things. The baby stays with you the whole time which made it impossible for me to sleep and their food was horrible.

Vienna in her cute going home outfit

The kids decorated my bed for my arrival :)

They made a large Welcome Home card

Their were notes and twinkies under hats

First night home

The beautiful flowers my mom got for me

Vienna sure loved her swing. She was enthralled with the lights.

Vienna going "O" at the lights :)

Vienna Caitlin

2017-02-23T22:54:00.001-08:00

We were back and forth about when my mom should come. She had already changed her plane tickets once and was scheduled to come the following Saturday. We were all praying Vienna would come this week.

On Wednesday, October 28th, I knew something was wrong. I could feel it. I immediately took my blood pressure and it was very high. I called the doctor and they told me to come in. I called my mom, in tears. I was so worried. She calmed me down and told me she wasn't going to change her plane tickets yet.

Mike came with me to this appointment just to make sure that I was all right and that if we were going to have this baby that he would be there already. We dropped off the kids at Amy's house and headed over to the hospital. My blood pressure was still elevated so my doctor sent me to the emergency room. She thought this baby was going to come today and so did we.

The kept me on a Doppler machine and everything was sounding great with Vienna. After being there for many many hours, the nurse came in and told me that she thinks I will be fine if I am discharged. I was very fearful and she could see it. She was such a sweet lady and was trying so hard to get us to deliver. She checked to see, by chance, if I was dilated but no. She called the doctor and told her how scared I was to leave. But since, I had an appointment that next day and an ultrasound they sent me home. I was furious!

October 29th I woke up exhausted and in pain. I knew something was wrong. While getting ready for my appointment I made up this speech of what I was going to tell the Dr. if she tried to send me home. I was having Vienna today whether they liked it or not. I kept replaying it in my head and was ready to go.

I think Mike new something was wrong too. He kept trying to get me to sit down and relax but I just couldn't. I was so annoyed and worried and the time wasn't going by fast enough. I was cleaning and doing everything but laying down. I was frustrating Mike so bad but I couldn't help it. I felt like everything that happened with Myra was happening again. I couldn't handle loosing another baby.

I got to the Doctor's office and went straight into the Ultrasound. Everything was looking great until she got to the placenta. I noticed that there was a break in the blood flow monitor registering on the screen. It would go thump thump and then stop and thump thump and stop. The tech had a worried look on her face and kept coming back to the blood flow. I new something was wrong and finally got up enough courage to say, without crying, is something wrong. She said, I think you are going to have this baby today. She told me to go get hooked up to the stress test and that she was going to go show the results to the Dr. I didn't even get all the way hooked up before the doctor rushed in there and told them to unbuckle me, that I was headed to the hospital. She explained to me that Vienna was no longer getting what she needed to from my placenta. She was being cut off. Babies normally only last a day or two so we were going to get her out right away.

I rushed over to the hospital. I called my mom and told her not to change her plane ticket. Mike took the kids to Amy's again and rushed over. Unfortunately, since I had eaten, they wanted to wait as long as possible to do the C-Section so that I wouldn't have any side effects. They kept Vienna monitored just in case I needed to be wheeled into the ER right away.

It was a very long and boring 6 hours. Ha Ha! Finally, 8:15 came and I was wheeled into the Operating room. It was the most painful C-Section. (well besides Myra, but that was a different situation and they ended up putting me under) The anesthesiologist put the needle in wrong the first time so I had to do it twice. UGH! Dr. Fong was so sweet though and talked with me the whole time trying to get my mind off of the pain.

Mike was finally able to come in and then the real pain started. I was so happy they didn't tie me to the table like they do in Idaho. I was able to hold Mike's hand...well squeeze his hand to death. :D The actual procedure went fast but the clean up took forever and was what caused the most pain. I am very grateful, though, because she had told me prior that since she didn't do my previous C-Sections, that she didn't know what she was going to find. Well, I guess it was pretty bad. She cleaned me out good though and I am happy about that. She also couldn't use the same incision to cut me open so now I have 2 scars. This recovery was a little hard then the others.

At 8:32pm Vienna Caitlin Bahnmiller was born. She weighed in at 6lbs. 3oz. and 20 inches long. She had blonde hair and was so beautiful. She was perfect. I was in love!

I got to hold her for the longest time skin to skin. It was such a neat bonding experience. It was great until I started throwing up of course. I did this with Joey too. Must be because I ate both times before the C-Section. Pfft.

Laying on mom

Blogging Coming to an End

2017-02-23T22:05:00.000-08:00

So, as you can see, I have not blogged for a really long time now. And, well, I don't plan on starting up again. I pretty much use facebook for everything and it seems kind of redundant to post in both places. I mostly used this as a journal of sorts and was, and still am, planning to print out every year of my blog for a scrapbook. I am going to start doing that with my facebook and it seems to be cheaper so, for now, I am going to take a hiatus from my blog. I want to just make a few more posts though so that I will have these experiences written down. Mainly, my experience with having our sweet, little miracle baby, Vienna. Facebook isn't quite as personal, so maybe for the big experiences I will blog...who knows. For now though, I am just going to blog up until Vienna's birth and Joey's arrow of light.

Saturday, September 26th, I was given a baby shower by my friend, Amy Bolin and my visiting teacher, Sherice Anderson.

I feel bad but I didn't get a picture of everyone who was there. This picture was taken at the beginning but many showed up a little late.

We had yummy chicken sandwiches on croissants, fruit, salad, punch and pumpkin chocolate cookies. Amy, having diabetes with her pregnancy, made it as carb free as possible which I very much appreciated. My glucose test had come out negative, but my body was acting like I had diabetes. Vienna had an extensive amount of fluid around her and they were worried my water would break so I had to cut down on the carbs.

I got many nice presents and was anxious for our little Vi to get here so I could use all the stuff. :)

Just like clockwork, on September 28th, they put me on bedrest. My blood pressure was a little elevated. I didn't have protein in my urine which was good. She sent me home with a 24 hour urinalysis and told me to get up only to use the bathroom. The 24 hour urinalysis came back ok so the doctor didn't think I had preeclampsia but she wanted to me to take it easy until my next appointment. Since, I had been taking baby aspirin everyday this pregnancy, we were hopeful I wouldn't get it this time. I was already having non stress tests every Tuesday and Thursday so I wasn't too worried yet.

What I was noticing, though, is that my blood pressure would elevate when I was up for a long period of time and stayed normal when I layed down, so at my next appointment, we decided, to forgo hospital bedrest and just keep me at home bedrest for the time being.

October 7th, Mike took Emma in to get her eyes checked. It was a good thing because, like I had suspected, her eyes had gotten a ton worse. Poor girl had not been able to see for quite sometime. She actually has a condition that she needs bifocals as well, so she just takes off her glasses when she is reading or on the computer.

I love her new glasses, I think they make her look cute!

Here are a few of my last belly shots

35 weeks

37 weeks

37 weeks and 5 days. I look bad in this picture. This was when it all started to go down hill. :(

This was my last BIG ultrasound. I was having little ones every Thursday, but this was a fun one. She wanted to so something special for me since I was in there so much so she gave me a 4D ultrasound. Pretty cool! I was 36 weeks here.

The kids were getting really excited for their baby sister to get here. They counted all the diapers for me. Joey thought it was pretty cool that the size 1 diapers were taller than him..ha ha!

Emma's 9th Birthday

2015-10-30T10:05:00.000-07:00

For Emma's 9th Birthday, we found a children's spa in Burbank. I thought how perfect and when I showed the website to her she was so excited. So that is what we did! She got to invite up to 2 friends for it. She decided just to invite her friend, Sydnee.

The morning of her birthday, right after she opened her presents

Our morning breakfast at IHOP

After Sydnee's school got out they dropped her off at our house. Emma chose to get cupcakes at a bakery right by our house. Their cupcakes are delicious!

Singing Happy Birthday

Opening Presents

She got barbies and barbie clothes

At the Spa after getting their robes.

Soaking their fingers

Making a birthday toast with lemonade

Soaking their feet

Massages

Making necklaces

Getting their feet painted

Fingers painted

The finished product

Making one last toast :)

They got an at home spa treatment as a gift for coming

She had a pretty good birthday I would say :)

My Birthday

2015-10-28T22:23:00.000-07:00

On September 14th, for my birthday, we went to a Dodger's game. The kids were super excited. Joey because he loves baseball and the dodger's and Emma had never been to a professional game.

We bought Joey this shirt with his favorite player on it for school and he received the hat from the tooth fairy when he had to have 3 baby teeth extracted.

Emma and Joey made Dodger flags to fly at the game. I love how Emma's is spelled wrong :)

Emma and Mike made me a cake this year. They made a banana tres leche cake. So yummy!

On my actual birthday, me and the kids went to Panera Bread for lunch. It was yummy!

When Mike got off work, we went to the Dumpling House. It was pretty good. I still like the first dumpling place we went to first better but this one is closer.

First Day of School

2015-10-24T15:10:00.000-07:00

We decided to start school a day early since Mike had to work anyways and started school on Memorial Day, September 7th.

When I went to go check on the kids before going to bed, I saw this on the floor. I think they are a bit excited for school to start :)

That morning I had a big back to school breakfast buffet ready for them.

Their drinks say...School is Cool

We had banana bread, cinnamon rolls, donuts, yogurt and granola, cereal and fruit.

I made a math chandelier for them

Joey is in 5th and Emma in 3rd

Eating their breakfast. They loved the buffet. Joey said this was the biggest breakfast he has ever seen! :)

At their desks ready to go!

After school we went to a fun ice cream place called Cherry on Top

The chairs are Cherry's :)

The Discovery Center

2015-10-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day weekend we went to the Discovery Center to see the Dead Sea Scrolls before they left and the Endeavor Exhibit. Joey had one of his dreams come true...seeing an actual rocket that went into space!

Joey got to ride a bike up in the air. He was pretty scared at first but once he got the hang of it, I think he liked it. Emma wanted to go but unfortunately she was wearing sandals :(

A little worried!

All done and still alive...phew!

They all got to go on a simulator ride and see what it felt like to be on the endeavor. Joey thought that was pretty cool!

The Endeavor

End of August

2015-10-16T14:26:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, August 25th, Joey received his Webelo and Religious Knot. It was pretty exciting and we are very proud of him. The scouting program completely changed over the summer and that was going to be hard for Joey since his birthday isn't until December. We either had to get everything done over the summer or start that new program in September and get everything done in 3 months. So we worked really hard and continued on with the old program. We finished a week before he got his awards. :)

Brother Ngo presenting Joey with his knot.

They Webelo symbol that was painted on him.

All of his 8 pins

Emma started to do extra chores and she sewed all of daddy's pajamas that had holes in them to make some extra money. She is saving up for a Zoomer. She is just about there :)

One of our last activities we did before school started was go down Route 66 and stop for some famous donuts from Donut Man. We went on August 31st.

Their huge maple bars

Famous fresh strawberry donut. (they also make peach but unfortunately due to the drought, we didn't have much of a peach season)

How do you even eat one of these?

San Diego

2015-10-13T23:00:00.003-07:00

On August 20th -24th, we went on a mini vacation. I was supposed to be in Utah that week for 2 weddings and a baby shower but my doctor vetoed that idea. I wanted to do something as a family, though, before the baby came and the kid's life changed drastically! So we decided to go to San Diego so the kids could finally go and see Lego Land.

Here are a few pictures of our trip. You can see all the pictures on my facebook wall by clicking on the San Diego link under Our Trips.

Friday, we went to Lego Land

The kids had a blast and there was something for each one there.

Joey has been wanting to drive a lego car for so long and get his "driver's license"

He also got to see the real set to the Lego Movie. He was pretty excited about that!

Emma got to see Heartlake City which was a new attraction this year

And she was very brave and went on a big roller coaster with Joey and Daddy.

She screamed the whole time which was not good for the mommy, but I was happy to see that Mike was holding her hand.

Because of her bravery, she got to play a game and actually won this huge bear!

On Saturday, we went to Oceanside Pier and to Old Town San Diego

We ate lunch at a fun 50's restaurant at the end of the pier called Ruby's Diner.

Old Town San Diego was really fun. So many fun shops to look at restaurants to try.

We went and toured the Mormon Battalion Visitor's Center and the kids got to pan for gold.

We ate dinner at a really yummy mexican restaurant called Cafe Coyotes. And I finally got me some more Mexican Vanilla...yay!

On Monday, we went on a fairy and went to Coronado Island. That was a fun little island to explore.

We had fun exploring it on a Surey.

Middle of August

2015-10-13T16:19:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, August 12th, was Emma's end of summer Activity Days party. They had it up at one of their leaders in-laws house. It was gorgeous up there. It is what you dream of when you think of living in Southern California. Pool, palm trees, gorgeous view.

I love how the pool goes off the side.

Pretty sunset

On Friday, the 14th, was Mike's summer work party at the beach.

Mike and the kids playing in the water

They had volleyball tournaments going on through out the day. Here is Mike's team. They didn't win but still had fun. The kids had fun watching their daddy play a sport.

More playing

Mike's coworker had a kite and let the kids fly it. They absolutely loved it! I can't believe they had have never flown one before.

One of Emma's favorite things to do at the beach...being a mermaid :)

The company tent where we had yummy food and snacks!

Emma found a whole seashell. She was pretty excited!

Beginning of August

2015-09-21T22:31:00.001-07:00

Saturday, August 1st, we went to another dinner and a movie. This time we took the kids. We found a different theater in long beach that was a little cheaper and was playing the Minion movie. The kids had a blast. They loved the reclining chairs and the ability to order food whenever they wanted. :)

Tuesday, the 4th, I took the kids to a Lego Mini Build. It is a free activity the Lego Store puts on once a month. You have to be quick though and sign them up right when it is available online. I was glad we got a spot.

They built Kangaroos

Here I am at 26 weeks along. Getting bigger!

Emma was having a little too much fun one Saturday. She built something she could put he horse on to pretend she was riding it. I thought it was pretty cute and clever. She had fun!

After Church, one Sunday, Mike noticed we had things growing on our tree. Apparently, we have a fig tree. Mike found some ripe ones that weren't too bad. They aren't my favorite but he enjoyed taking them to work. The kids had fun helping him navigate where they were on the tree.

And I enjoyed taking pictures :)

Also, on that Sunday, we went and had a bbq in a local park they have here called the Pirate Park. Everything is pirate themed and the whole playground is a big ship. It's pretty cool! It is the biggest park in Pasadena with a ton of grassy areas and bbq pits.

This is what happens when you spin too hard :)

Found Emma this way :)

They had these petty cool swings. The kids thought it felt like a ride.

The Rest of July

2015-09-13T23:10:00.002-07:00

On July 11th, we took the kids to see a classic, Back to the Future! It is their 30th anniversary this year, so a lot of places were showing it. I was excited when I found out the Movies in a Park in Pasadena was going ot play it. I knew we had to go! It was a lot of fun!

Eating burgers from one of the food trucks

I wasn't feeling well on July 17th, so we stayed in our pajamas all day and played games. Here are the kids playing twister...snowman style :)

We sadly had to say goodbye to another missionary. Sis. Argueta left us on July 20th. We have gotten really close to the Sis. Missionaries. I often give them rides and they invite investigators to our home for FHE and we have dinner with them a lot. It is sad when they go..they really become friends. I made her favorite dessert, homemade cheesecake! It was delicious!

Taking fun pictures. The one on the far left is her companion (who has since left) Sis. Iaboo. She is the funniest lady! The lady next to her is Stephanie. She just got baptized and we invited her over for dinner and then the missionaries came over for dessert.

On July 20th, we decided to walk to Rite Aid and get some ice cream from their ice cream parlor they have in the store. It was a longer walk than expected especially being pregnant and all but we made it and it was yummy!

More of July

2015-08-08T22:59:00.000-07:00

Here I am at 21 weeks pregnant :)

The week of July 6 - 10th, Joey had webelo camp. He is getting so big! He has never been to a week long camp before. He had so much fun though.

Here him and his friend Ronan are shooting bbguns

Ronan and Joey waiting to do archery

There were only 3 webelos that went this year. One of the other webelos was out of town and all the others graduated to boy scouts the month prior.

On Wednesday, Emma and I decided to have a girls day. We went to Panera Bread for lunch. I had a soup and half sandwich and Emma of course had grilled cheese :)

After that, we drove to Glendale and had dessert at Porto's Bakery. It's a very popular bakery here in California. The lines are always pretty much out the door all day long. It was sooo good though! Emma got a chocolate covered strawberry and I got a caramel eclair! Yum!

4th of July

2015-07-26T15:36:00.002-07:00

Our ward was having a 4th of July breakfast and bike parade on the morning of the 4th. Here is Joey and Emma decorating their bikes 2 nights before the 4th.

Joey's favorite number is 4 and thought it would be pretty cool to put it on his bike since it was the 4th of July as well :)

I love their helmets!

I love all the bows Emma made on hers

We had a very yummy pancake breakfast with bacon, fruit and muffins. After the breakfast the kids all lined up and got ready to go

And their off!

I love the glasses everyone got for the parade :)

When we got home we put up our pinwheels. It was fun watching them twirl all day

That night we went and got burgers at one of our favorite places called Dog Haus. We then headed to the Alhambra Park to watch the firework show. Due to the severe drought here, we are banned from doing personal fireworks but it is always fun to watch them in the sky!

While we waited the kids played some outdoor games we had gotten in happy meals.

Frisbee tic tac toe

Trying to get the frisbees in certain circles for points

They also danced to the music

All ready to watch the fireworks with their flag and star light sticks!

Some of the fireworks!

And the yummy dessert I made this year. Berry Shortcakes. It is layered with lemon shortbread stars, blueberries and strawberries, and whipped cream.

June

2015-07-14T21:36:00.000-07:00

On June 2nd, Joey received 5 pins and 2 belt loops at Pack Meeting. He has worked really hard the last few months as they are changing the program starting this fall and we want to get Joey done with the old program by the time we start school again. I am so excited! He will be getting his arrow of light soon :)

One June 23rd, I took the kids to a water park in a near by town. They both got on the honor roll this year at school. Emma got a 4.0! We went to celebrate!

Going down the slides!

Playing at the splash pad

Waiting for the water to pour on them out of the buckets. They were a little scared..lol!

Swimming!

I couldn't believe how cheap it was to go. It was only 1.00 per child and 2.00 per adult. After we left there was an ice cream truck outside so we went and got some yummy ice cream treats!

Saturday, June 27th, I took the kids to a lego club they have at the Lego Store in Glendale. It was pretty cool!

They each got to build a parrot to take home

Then using the building blocks from the store, they built a house for the parrots and told the story behind it.

Joey explaining his house

Their finished houses

Then they were given each a mini happy meal type box and were told they got to fill it up with the legos on the wall. As many as could fit inside the box. The kids were really excited about that one. It was a pretty good size box too. Bigger than what you get when you just go into the store and fill up their plastic containers.

Emma was pretty happy with all the girl legos they had there :)

All their legos.

I think Lego Club was a success. We may need to go back in August! :)

May

2015-06-01T15:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a recap of May.

Here I am at 14 weeks.

My first ultrasound was at 10 weeks and at the hospital but they didn't allow me to take pictures home. Very strange. But here is my first ultrasound at 12 weeks with my doctor.

I had a very nice Mother's Day. I got the new Our Best Bites cookbook and my kids made me some fun pictures and cards. Joey made me this cute mom card. Mike also made yummy steak and we had Texas Roadhouse style baked potatoes and rolls.

On Mike's actual birthday, Joey took him to a Dodger's game. They had so much fun and came home with an actual ball that was played in that night's game. They had hot dogs and ice cream in baseball hats. I totally remember going to the Boise Hawk's games and getting ice cream out of a baseball hat, so I made sure Mike got one for Joey :)

On Saturday, as Jason's present to Mike..he gave us a date night! We went to a theater here called ipix that is dinner and a movie. You get recliners as seats and a blanket and pillow. A waiter comes and takes your order and you gets drinks and popcorn all night. It was very cool!

My yummy nachos!

For memorial day, we had a bbq and I made this yummy dessert pizza!

Friday, May 29th, was the kids last day of school!

YAY! We are done! And we survived!

Easter

2015-04-12T15:12:00.000-07:00

Easter was a little different this year. It was on conference Sunday. I have always enjoyed going to church on Easter and seeing everyone in their new Easter dresses and having lessons reflecting on the Savior and how he died for us. So, it is a little hard for me sometimes when Easter falls on Conference weekend. It was still nice though to just relax, snack on Easter candy and listen to the prophets.

All the Easter baskets filled up. Emma got a paint maker, Joey got a lego set from the Lego Movie and me and Mike got the movie, Meet the Mormons.

The kids seeing what is in their baskets

We had our traditional cinnamon rolls on Saturday this year so that I could make the Resurrection rolls on Sunday. They were delicious as always. The kids enjoy helping me make them every year and reflect what they mean. For anyone who doesn't know what I am talking about. It is a marshmallow (the Savior in his white robe) rolled in butter and cinnamon and sugar (the spices they put on the dead so they wouldn't smell) rolled up into a rhodes roll (the tomb) We always make them the night before and let them rise in the fridge overnight. Then when you bake them in the morning the marshmallow melts and the tomb is empty.

In between conferences, we went to a local garden here in Pasadena and took Easter photos.

The boys in their matching ties

Our matching skirts. I am not a fan of this picture. I am at the stage in pregnancy where people are too afraid to ask you if you are pregnant or just eating too many cookies!

Having fun with the camera :)

Joey taking pics of Emma with the palm trees. I really like this one!

April Activities

2015-04-08T14:30:00.000-07:00

On April Fool's Day I made the kids a fun lunch. I put marshmallows in their chip bag and made lollipops out of broccoli. I loved their faces when they opened everything up. They didn't mind the marshmallows so much but didn't care for the broccoli :)

On April 2nd we dyed Easter Eggs and had a giant Easter Egg cookie. Didn't quite look as good as I as wanting but it still tasted yummy!

Joey showing me the cool lines that his egg made

Joey accidentally dropped on of his favorite eggs and it cracked. This is him saying, oops! :)

Joey's 2 favorite eggs

Emma's favorite

On Saturday, the 4th, Mike was at a music thing so we decided to make peep houses. This was our first year doing this. It was fun. I bought edible grass for them to lay their peeps in.

Easter Egg Hunt

2015-04-01T20:36:00.000-07:00

March 28th, our ward had an Easter breakfast and egg hunt.

Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough to get over there to take pictures. Everything went too fast. This is their loot the first round :)

One of the ladies in our ward had a golden egg so she thought it would be fun to put money in it. Emma was the lucky one to find it!

After everyone had their dozen eggs in their basket, there were still more eggs to be found so they let the kids go again :)

And their baskets the 2nd round!

And We're................

2015-04-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

FINALLY pregnant! Only after 4 1/2 years of trying!!!!!!!!

Flowers that Mike brought home for me after we found out :)

I found a great doctor who is going to watch me like a hawk. I feel very good about her and I think everything will work out great! We are pretty much starting over. It has been 7 years since I have been pregnant and 8 1/2 years since I had a baby to care for. We have to purchase everything again. This will be interesting :)

This is how I announced it on facebook :)

St. Patrick's Day

2015-03-30T13:36:00.000-07:00

So, the kids had their traditional lucky charms and fruit for breakfast and then we proceeded with our normal school day. For lunch I made them an all green meal. We ate sausages in crescent rolls that I dyed green, pistachio pudding, green apples, rainbow goldfish, mini green sugar cookies and green lemonade.

After school, we had our traditional scavenger hunt to find what the leprechaun left them :)

They had to do skip to find their next clue

Since they are getting older, I wanted to make it a little bit trickier. I had them do cross word puzzles, scattegories and activities like that in order to get their next clue. Joey was a little surprised by this.:)

Walking backwards to their next clue

Love this picture. Emma's photo bomb :)

Emma was excited to get a Lego Movie lego set.

Emma got the new Tinkerbell that I did so well hiding from her. She didn't even know the new one came out yet :)

They both got gold at the end of the rainbow treats as well

And of course our yummy all green dinner. Green mac and cheese, green rolls, broccoli, and a rainbow fruit kabob.

March

2015-03-16T16:28:00.000-07:00

A few things that happened in March:

Emma started wearing glasses!

Joey FINALLY had his first Pinewood derby. I can't believe he managed to go through all of cubscouts and only getting to do a derby once. He didn't win but he had fun! He named his car Thin Ride because of how thin it was.

Joey showing off his car and Patti (the cubmaster) telling some nice things about Joey

Joey Won!

He won again!

The kids have been enjoying going to Lego Club at our Library every Monday. Here is one of Emma's creations.

And Joey's

March 10th, would have been Myra's 7th birthday. For lunch me and the kids made butterfly pizzas.

For dinner we had butterfly lettuce wraps with carrots as the body

We had butterfly tarts for dessert

Joey was so sweet...he took some of his money from his piggy bank and made it into a butterfly and told me to put it in my Paris fund :)

For her present this year, I made a purple butterfly clock. We were needing a new clock in our bathroom and it is purple and green so I thought how perfect!

Crystal Cove

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On Tuesday, February 17th, our friends from Utah were here visiting and we met them at the beach.

Crystal Cove is such a pretty beach. I think it has been our favorite so far. Very secluded and just beautiful!

Joey had fun playing with his friend, Samuel.

Striking a pose apparently :)

Me and Emma

Sitting in their cars they made

Valentine Week

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I have always wanted to have nice solid book shelves in my living room..not only for books but to decorate :) I have really wanted to make buntings for holidays, so I made these Valentine's ones this year. I think they turned out great!

It's nice that things have finally calmed down here in our world...I even had enough time to make these cupcakes that I have been wanting to make for years. The Sister Missionaries came over the Sunday before Valentine's Day so I thought this would be perfect!

Friday, February 13th, was the kids 100th day of school. I made them this doughnut 100 for breakfast.

I did little things throughout the day like they had to find as many words as they could out of ONE HUNDRED. For snack time they had to count out 100 pieces of a variety of snacks. For PE, I had them do a variety of things 100 times like jump roping 100 times or hopping, etc. For art, Emma drew herself as 100 years old and for Joey I drew 100 on a paper and he had to make some sort of drawing out of it. I think the kids had fun!

For Valentine's, both Emma and Joey got a cute Chinese box full of chocolates. Joey got a stuffed dragon and Emma got a turtle.

They painted magnets

We also had a variety of Minute to Win it games. Here the kids had to stack conversation hearts as fast as they could in a minute.

They had to pick up a variety of shapes and sizes of candy with chopsticks

They also had a relay race and another one that for some reason I can't remember.

For lunch I made heart shaped sandwiches, heart carrots, Valentine Mike n Ikes, and pudding with a strawberry heart (tried anyway)

And here is a cute photo of my boys reading The Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites together one Sunday afternoon. :)