Merry Christmas

I can't believe it's already December. This year has literally flown by. Katharine is 7 months. She can sit (the dismount isn't the best, but we are working on it), she army crawls all over the house, loves to eat, and is finally sleeping through the night. She has been the slowest to actually sleep through the night, but considering she's my last baby, I'm okay with it. It's funny how much more patient I am with her because I know she is the last.

Christopher and Andrew are both doing well in school. I'm happy with their reading progress and I really like their school and teachers. The boys are taking piano lessons from a friend, Cassandra, in our ward. She does a great job with them and they just had their first piano recital this past weekend. Drew was super nervous and we only got him to play one song (Jingle Bells). Christopher loved all the attention and wanted to play everything he knows. He played Christmas Canon and Jack on the Beanstalk (a piece from his piano book). Haha, they couldn't be more different!

Clarissa is still as girly as can be. She loves holding and helping with Kate. She loves preschool, crafts, playdough and makeup. She is my human tornado. My house is always a mess because of all the toys she gets out. I shouldn't complain because at least she plays with her toys, contrary to the boys that like to buy them but never play with it.

We now have 3 fish. Flash is Drew's and he's still alive. He 1.5 years old. Christopher's fish, Violet, died Thanksgiving weekend. So we bought Violet the 2nd and Ashley for Christopher and Clarissa. I have actually learned to love our fish and we were all pretty sad when the first Violet died. I wish the kids would be content and satisfied with just having fish as pets. I really do not look forward to the day we get a dog. As of right now we can't anyway, because Christopher is so severely allergic to them.

Cory is almost done with his Master's program at Grand Canyon University. He's got a few classes left, and I'm looking forward to having a husband again. I'm still working with the Young Women in our ward. Of the 10 years we've been married I've held a calling in the YW for 9 of those years! I love serving with the youth, but I have to admit that I'm getting a little tired. This past year as president as really done it for me. I think it's the ward council meetings that have gotten me worn out.

The boys have said some funny things lately. I can't remember everything but I need to record 2 specific one before I forget. They both happened the same day while I was driving the kids in the car.
Andrew: Christopher when you grow up will you still go to church?
Me: (silent, just totally waiting for the answer)
Christopher: Of course I will, I want to go to the Celestial kingdom.
Me: Sigh, I guess he is learning after all.

Christopher bragging: I'm going to turn 16 first, so I get to drive before you!
Andrew with a teasing voice: Yeah, but that means you get puberty first.
Christopher: Oh man! I'm not happy about that part.
Me: What does it mean to GET puberty/
Andrew: snickers,  you get hair ALL over your body!
Haha, these boys crack me up!!!

Again, my super talented friend Rachael did a fabulous job taking our family pictures for our Christmas cards. We've been  incredibly blessed this year and are so lucky to have so many dear friends and family near us this time of year. I'm trying to make Christmas a little more Christ-centered this year. The kids initially fought me on my idea of switching out regular tree ornaments for a "Jesus" tree. I really like how the tree turned out. We have also had the kids help us move and hide “baby Jesus” throughout the house. The kids have begged for an Elf on the shelf, and I really don’t like having to move the dang Elf every night. This was my way to remind them that Christ can see them from anywhere and shift the moving responsibility to them. They’ve had fun with it, but still want an elf next year. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 I love Kate's big smile on this one!

Halloween 2015

Halloween this year was fun. My parents were actually in town, and we did our traditional Halloween night at our house with the Timothys, Kelly and Karen. It's always s nice to have Karen come over, because I get to go trick or treating with Cory and the kids. This year she also kept Kate, so we were able to get the baby down on her regular bed time.

Cory and I were originally going to keep things simple and dress as caveman and cave woman. Then we had Kate and we planned on dressing her as Pebbles. The boys both wanted to be Harry Potter so we had 2 Harries. Clarissa wanted to be a princess. Costco had a really cute Jasmine costume for sale, so I was able to convince Cissa to be Jasmine (instead of Elsa)! She looked so cute in her costume, that I just couldn't help myself but have a whole Aladin theme. So in the end Cory was Aladin, Clarissa was Jasmine, I was the genie and Katharine was Abu, the monkey. We won the best "Family Costume" prize at our ward trunk or treat and had a great time this Halloween.

The boys' school collects Halloween candy and donates it to the soldiers. The kids got an INSANE amount of candy. After spending 2 straight days eating as much candy as they wanted, and still saving a big gallon size bag of the best candies, we donated everything else to the school. We weighed our candy and it turned out to be 10 lbs of candy donated!! We probably got 15 lbs of candy total if we count the stuff the kids ate, threw away, and kept. CRAZY!!!

 

I carved all 4 pumpkins myself this year. 

Minion for Christopher, Harry Potter for Drew,ghost for me, and a kitty cat for Clarissa.

 

Neighborhood fall carnival we always attend. The kids love going on all the rides.

 

 

 

Kate's first year at the carnival. 

 

Traditional visit to the pumpkin patch. 

10 YEARS!!

Wow, Cory and I celebrated our 10th anniversary this year! Originally we wanted to go to New York and spend 3 days sight seeing, eating amazing food and go watch a Broadway show. Then we had Kate, and our plans went out the window.

Karen volunteered to watch the kids over the weekend for us so we took off to Las Vegas. We had an incredible time!! Seriously, I thought I would feel guilty for leaving the kids and baby behind, but I had no problems and we were able to to really enjoy our time together.

We watched the Blue Man Group, ate some delicious food, and finished out weekend get away at the Las Vegas temple. It was the perfect celebration. Every once in a while now we will comment on how we just need another Vegas weekend. Wish we could do it more often.

Summer 2015

This summer has been a LONG one for me and the kids. Having baby #4 right before school let out has left me grounded at home with 3 bored kids. It was nice having my parents and Alvaro's family in town until mid June. They helped watch and entertain the older kids.

To make life a little easier this year I combined Christopher and Andrew's birthday party and did it while Alvaro was in town. I invited both boys' classes, plus all the cousins, and a couple church friends. We ended up having about 30 kids come. It was a good thing we did the party at Peter Piper Pizza. The boys had a great time and I loved decorating their cake as Super Hero 6.

We kept busy in July being enrolled in several different classes and camps. The boys went to a summer "Launch It" class at Copper Canyon for a couple weeks. Then all 3 kids did two weeks of gymnastics camp (Clarissa actually only went twice) and 2 weeks of swim through the city.

Karen got a week long time share in Scottsdale and she was super kind to keep the kids a couple of days. They loved crashing grandma's hotel. The resort actually had really fun week long activities for the kids and both Andrew and Christopher won medals on one of the events. Than sometime later in August Karen booked a night at the Princess resort and again invited us to crash in her pool. It was so much fun. They had a couple water slides and a super fun pool party at night. They even had fireworks at the end. Finally in September, Karen stayed the night at the JW Marriott at the Desert Ridge and we spent an afternoon at their pool too. Lots pool crashing this summer, but it was fun.

I tried keeping Clarissa's birthday party low key after spending so much with the boys' party. We invited 3 of her best friends over, then I took the girls to get manicures and pedicures. After getting pampered we came back home for pizza and cake. I had so much fun decorating her cake this year with lipstick and makeup. This little girl LOVES lipstick, so this was the perfect little party for her.

I seriously can't believe my kids are getting this big. Christopher is now 7, Drew is 6 and Clarissa just turned 4. Where has time gone? I can't believe Christopher is in 2nd grade and that Andrew is in 1st grade. I love them so much and have been struggling lately seeing Kate grow up just as fast. Some days I wish I could freeze time and enjoy them while they're little, but then there are days I'm glad they are big enough to go to school!

Introducing Katharine Lea

Our sweet little Kate the Great, or Miss Kate, was born May 1, 2015 just as we had planned through a c-section. The delivery and recovery couldn't have gone smoother and I was very happy that I did not go into labor early with Kate, like I did with Drew and Cissa.

Katharine was born weighing 8 lbs 7 oz and measuring 21.25 inches. She felt big inside of me so I was not surprised with her size. I don't think the nurses measured her right though, because she has not measured that tall again until several weeks later.

I remember delivering Christopher and having Dr. Desanto putting him on my belly as soon as he came out. Since the other 3 kids have been c-sections I have not been able to experience this most sacred and special moment post delivery. I usually barely get a glimpse of them as I try my hardest to peek over the curtain. This time, my doctor lifted Katharine over the curtain for me to see her right away. I think I will forever have the image of her fat round face just resting on her body as he held her up for me to see. I love this first memory I have of her.

After taking me back to the post-op room the nurse handed me Kate and a bottle so I could feed her. Cory usually does the first feeding, as I'm still very numbed up and can't really move well to handle a baby. I wish I had insisted on this. Cory was gone getting our stuff from triage, and I couldn't hold the baby well. Next thing I know I have a nurse panicking that the baby was turning blue because she stopped breathing during feeding. They call this a “dusk-spell” and Kate ended up being just fine, but it was a little scary at first.

When Katharine was only 2 weeks old she had to have tongue surgery. She was born with her tongue tied and it was so bad that the doctors recommended doing the surgery as soon as possible. Poor little Kate had a terrible sore under her tongue for a couple weeks, she was in pretty bad pain the first few days and it slowly got better. The worst part was having to do the post surgery tongue exercises. 

The kids are in complete love with their new baby sister. They love holding and touching her. I just hope she survives all their germs. They have been pretty good about making sure they wash their hands before touching Kate.

My family came in for her baby blessing. I love having my brother and his family in town. My boys love playing with their cousins and Debora and the girls were a HUGE help with the baby. We have definitely felt their absence now that they’re gone. Katharine has had bad reflux and some sort of reaction to breast milk and regular formula. She’s needed to be held a lot these first weeks and I’ve had to switch her to Similac Allimentum, which is a super hypo-allergenic formula for very sensitive babies. She takes the pre-made liquid formula. It smells HORRIBLE, and her spit-up of it is even worst, but at least she is no longer projectile vomiting.

We love this little girl to pieces and already can’t imagine out lives without her.

Our traditional picture with Dr. Desanto. It's kind of crazy to think he delivered all 4 of my children.

Kate has the craziest hair. It always sticks up on the back!

  

Spring Break

The kids had spring break last week. We had a fun week and hung out with friends. I tried to keep things on the cheaper side this year and was proud of myself for actually being able to do it.

On Monday we mostly had play dates with friends. The kids played at the Chapin's in the morning and then in the afternoon we met one of Christopher's friend from last year at the park. It was a nice day playing with friends.

Tuesday we went swimming Jacob and the Finlaysons at my mom's house.  The kids swam for almost 4 hours. I was exhausted by the end of the day. Wednesday we were busy running errands.  Christopher had an appointment with the cardiologist to make sure his heart is healthy to go on ADHD medication.  After that I dropped him off at Kids Park where Drew and Cissa already were so I could get groceries done. Cory and I have struggled over the past 3 years with Christopher's behavior and whether or not we should try medication.  We have finally decided that the time is right to give it a try. 

 Christopher getting an EKG. Perfect heart!

On Thursday we made tie dye shirts and went to the dollar theaters to watch a movie. I forgot how much I hated the theaters and struggled sitting through the movie. The kids did great!

By Friday I was pooped. I took the kids to go play at the Play Factory at the Desert Ridge, then we had lunch with Cory and they played at their splash pad. It was nice to keep them busy and out of the  home for most of the day. 

Clarissa showing off her tie dye creation. So proud of it!!