Special Bond

I should have taken a picture but I didn't want to wake them. Last night when I went in to check on Carolyn and Cameron they weren't in their beds. They were laying on the floor between the beds with their own covers curled up right next to each other. I hope they always stay this close!

So you want to Raise a Boy

I got a new book for Christmas called, "So you want to Raise a Boy" by W. Cleon Skousen. I started off from the very beginning and read for a while (I like to read cover to cover and not skip around) but this is the kind of book you skip around! I went straight to the "4 year old" to gain some insight into my little boy who is becoming already a little man! (More of that in a moment). The passage I liked best explaining the 4 year old is "for the moment he has more speed than direction". So true, so true... and this has given much cause for prayerful parenting!

Now for my little man. He has always been protective of me, his mother, but I have seen it increase during my pregnancy. Here are some of the things that make him my little man!

1. He gets the door and holds it open for Carolyn and I at church. (Brett drives seperately at a different time.)

2. When there is frost on my windshield and I am up on my new van trying to reach it around a huge belly, he says, "Mom, you shouldn't have to do this, Dad should. Go get him and have him do it".

3. When Brett is away at work, Cameron tells me that "he is stonger than me right now because I have the babies and he will take care of me and Carolyn while Daddy is gone." And then he procedes to do a lot of things for us!

Visit with Santa at Hearst Castle

Each year the employees are able to bring 3 guests (not sure what we'll do next year!) up to the Castle to see Santa Claus. This is our 3rd year and it is something that the kids really look forward to doing! The Castle is all decorated for Christmas and this year it was really foggy up on the hill - kind of a neat but eerie feeling.

Bab(ies) Bump

Some of you have been curious to see the size I've become. This picture was taken on Oct 11 at 14 weeks. By the next Sunday I had 3 people tell me I looked like I've doubled in size! (Like I said, I feel like the size of a bus!) I haven't really doubled in size but I do think that I am bigger by the end of each night - gravity I suppose!

I've got just 2 more pounds to gain to reach my "pre-pregnancy" weight. That darn morning sickness really took my appetite away and well, let's just say thank goodness for reserves! So I am on quite the doctors orders... eat ANYTHING - gain some fat and NO EXERCISE! Ok, so I have to admit that at my last OB appointment I tried my darndest to talk my doctor into a little lippo suction while she's in there during my C-section. Needless to say I was rejected and even laughed at! But I am telling you that some of the food I've had is not going to look so good on me after I deliver!

At this point we know that one of the babies is positively a boy. Baby B. I am feeling a lot of fluttering and movement and it is just days from feeling them externally - Cameron & Carolyn can hardly wait! One of my specialists (I have 3 doctors) thinks they are all 3 boys! Yikes! My other specialist (in the same office) only would confirm Baby B (who seems to always be telling us he's a boy!) I think Baby A is a boy and I am hoping Baby C is a girl (I know, I know, this is all quite confusing - you should see what the ultrasounds look like!)

Not only am I hoping for a girl for me but especially for Carolyn who is not too keen on the idea of having all brothers... her response to my "what if all 3 are boys?" "Well Mom, you can just have some more babies!" (Not going to happen... hence my desire for a girl!)

4 Years Old

Carolyn and Cameron turned 4 on September 26. We celebrated with Grandma & Grandpa, Aunt Molly (who made these awesome cakes, with Pat), Aunt Raena, Hadley, Vincent, Lauren, & Gentry. They each picked a cake they wanted Aunt Molly to make - these were quite a hit!

They had their annual doctors appointment today and here are their stats:
Carolyn weighs 35.5 lbs.
height 41.25 inches

Cameron wighs 35.6 lbs.
height 41.75 inches

They got a polio shot today and were very brave. And have since told me how much they don't like shots! (I agree!)

On the Contrary!

Ok, ok... so contrary to all the emails I've been getting from friends and family... I have not been horseback riding this entire time! (Thanks for the good laughs... you know who you are!)

I stopped riding horses the end of June to start doing something even bigger and better! (Bigger is the "operative" word here)! I've been growing not one, not two, but three little babies in me and well, I used to think Star the horse was as big as a bus... but I might pass her by before too long!

Yep, pregnant with triplets due April 9th (my 40 weeks --- just going to try to make it to March 15th - my 36 week point!). I am about 13.5 weeks along and I am finally seeing some relief from some pretty major morning sickness (first experience with it, hasn't been so fun!)

I promise I will try to be better at this blogging stuff! I have our summer camping trip and the kids 4th birthday to put on here... and I'll keep you all posted on this next batch of kids (because apparently that is how Heavenly Father blesses our family -- in multiples!) and I know there is a lot of excitement on what possibly the sexes could be!

Horseback Riding

Back in March my friend Tationa invited our family out to their farm and see all the new spring babies! We also got one of her three horses out so the kids could ride. Well, I got a turn too! And then I said something like, "I could get used to this!" and Tationa said, "I could use the help working the horses"... and so my riding began!

I get to ride once a week (I could do more but I can't spare the time - I wish though!) and this is "Star". She is 6 years old and is as wide as a bus! She is very gentle and extremely patient with me as I learn... sometimes she pretends she doesn't know what I mean.... but I've been riding for 2 months now and she actually comes to greet me! I am enjoying building a raport with her and learning how to ride a horse!

Chili Cookoff

Our ward had our annual chili cookoff and I made my White Chili recipe from my Aunt Janet. We all got dressed in our western gear (we all had black cowboy boots on... Car's are not quite cowboy boots - but we made do - she's outgrown her pink ones!) I took 3rd place overall - and won a recipe book!

They had a parrot show and it was really entertaining! The kids loved it and were very interested in the birds!

Carolyn loves to wear her cowgirl hat!

No excuses!

Well, I am not trying to make excuses for not blogging for almost 2 months(!) - but I can't always get on the computer anymore!

One of our favorite things - Baking!

One of our favorite activities is baking/cooking. Cam & Car are really helpful in the kitchen... as you can see, Cameron is helping himself! We made little butterscotch birds nests with eggs - jelly beans.

I love this shot of Cam's hand around my face. He sits on my lap and holds my face in his hands a lot! He is very sweet and "hands-on". On a daily basis Cameron asks me, "Mom, what can you do for me?" and "Mom, what can you get for me" and "Can I have a surprise?"

Carolyn was able to get more jelly beans on the cookies than in her belly! At Christmas time I bought all 3 of us matching aprons and we wear them on all our cooking endeavors!

Playdate at the Park

A friend of mine got a group together at the park the other day and she brought her camera too! I love this shot of Cameron in the swing... and then I noticed me and Carolyn - she looks so cute between my legs! Thanks Sarah for the neat shot!

Forts

We've been building forts around here lately (using the card table) and we've gotten more elaborate with the "tubes" (which serve as the entrance to our 'igloo'). As you can see, Annie enjoys it just as much as the kids!

A Little Treat

Sunday night was a Primary Inservice meeting from 7-8pm. Afterwards we had a chocolate fountain for refreshments... I stayed until 9pm! (Gonna have to join a gym for sure now!) Ok, so really I was talking with friends more than eating.

When I got home, Cameron was still up (took a 2 hour nap during the afternoon) and he was so happy to have strawberries!!! (He asks a lot to go to the Farmer's Market to get strawberries - they are his favorite!) Brett and Cam finished the little plate of goodies that I brought home and now Cam asks me once in a while if I have to go to a primary meeting again! "Remember, you brought me a surprise from your meeting? Can you go to a primary meeting again so I can have a surprise?"

Hide and Seek

Hide and Seek is one of Car & Cam's favorite games to play. They finally really get it and hide out of sight now - (most of the time)! I came home the other day to find them playing with their babysitter "Callie". I can't believe where they are hiding... Callie is like 6 feet tall! Ah, to be young again!

We have two Kali/Callie's in our lives... Aunt Kali (3000 miles away in PA) and Callie, the kid's absolute favorite sitter! (We also have a few Kelly's in our lives and it is funny to see that they make the distinction between the names!)

Horse Cutting

All week long here at the Paso Robles Event Center (the Mid-State Fairgrounds) is a Horse Cutting competition. So I took the kids down for a couple of hours to watch it. I don't know anything about horse cutting and though it is quiet, slow and methodical -- it is very fun to watch them work.

The rider wearing red is starting the "cutting" process by going right down the middle and eventually getting just one bull out and alone from the heard. Then the rider keeps the bull seperated by cutting back and forth, heading off the bull. He does it a couple of times in his 2.5 minutes.

The horses are just amazing to watch - they are so quick and obedient. The horse and rider work seamlessly. There are 4 other assisting riders that keep the herd together, etc.

It is still cold here in Paso, about 35 degrees... you could see the horses breath and ours too! It warmed up a little but all 3 of our noses started to run sitting in the arena!

Here they had just changed out all the cattle and a cowboy had just rode over to talk to Cameron! Cam is watching him trot away in the picture. (Of course I missed a great photo op!)

Except for the unbearably hot summers - I love living here in Paso Robles! We have so many neat things in the area and I love the ruralness! Brett is anxious to return to Orange County someday.... but I'm in no hurry!!!

Some of the words we hear!

I love to watch in amazement at how smart little kids are and how they put words and thoughts together. Both my kids have some of the same words they use:

two-ones = another one "Please can I have two-ones?"
the left = what is left in the bottom of a cup of juice, bowl of cereal, etc "Mommy, can you get me the left?"
yester-later = a version of yesterday "Do you remember we went to Disneyland yester-later" (And of course, yesterday means - yesterday, last week, last year, etc)

Things Carolyn says:
Gush = Hush "Annie, gush!" (Annie is our dog and when she barks, we say 'Annie, hush')
Pliglit = Piglit (from Winnie the Pooh)
Blelax = Relax "Annie, blelax" (What we tell Annie when she see's another dog and starts to get excited---relax now applies to me too when Carolyn wants me to hold still to do my hair, look in my ears like a doctor, etc)
Kerrilyn = Carolyn How she says her name (Cameron says "Carolyn")

Things Cameron says:
Mommy, what can you do for me? = Mommy, what can you do for me? (heard about 40 times a day on average! :)
Mommy, can I have a surprise? = Mommy, can I have a surprise? (surprise is a sweet... any sweet!)
sport = fort (we build forts out of blankets and tables and he asks me to correct his word sport "Mommy what's a sport?" so I can answer "a fort"
Sfeety = sweety "Don't cry sfeety, I'll protect you" (what he calls Carolyn on rare occassions that I just love to hear!) -I've only heard him say it about 12 times, and I love it!

Well, there are tons more and I wish I was keeping a better journal of all of this! It goes by so fast and I am just really in the middle of it enjoying it all!

Rainy Day Activities

We've been getting a lot of much needed rain and so we have had a lot of "rainy day activities" but I think this has been the best so far! A good friend of ours (thanks Warren - and Aubrey & Clayton!) gave us this bounce house a couple of months ago. We've had it in the garage and the kids know exactly what it is. Well, as I was setting out to get my hair done (a yearly event) I tell Brett, "Hey, here is our camping tarp, why don't you set the little bounce house up in the garage - I am sure there is plenty of room". (I was obviously thinking it was the smaller type!) And I came home to this! (Granted, my garage could be cleaner... but I am getting ready for a garage sale!)

Needless to say they had so much fun! Brett took these pictures and when I got home, it was only Cameron left bouncing... Carolyn was fast asleep in my rocking chair! Good exercise!

We are expecting rain on Thursday! :)

Tour of California Bicycle Race

Yesterday the Tour of California Amgen Bicycle Race came through Paso and it was an awesome sight to see and we were so happy to have gotten to be a part of it! The kids were home with a babysitter and we had a two hour break! (They would have gotten bored with waiting for the bikers to come - and I've since shown them these pictures and they call it a parade.)

The whole Spring Street (our main street) was lined and packed down at the finish line. It was amazing to see these guys coming. They had ridden 120 miles and passed us in their last sprint at 42 miles an hour! They were here and gone so fast you could feel the whhooosssshhhhh as they went by! Exhilerating!

Like I said, they went by so fast!!! And they were so close you could almost reach out and touch them!

We didn't get to see Lance Armstrong (well, technically I did - I just don't know which rider he was!) but we know he was there!

Ga-brellas

It has been raining here a lot (we are very happy about that!) and the kids have enjoyed a couple of jaunts in the rain with their "gabrellas"! And sometimes Carolyn calls it a "bralella". It is fun to hear the cute words they say!

At Thanksgiving time in our Parent & Me class, they made "turkey hands" by painting their palm and printing it on a piece of paper - making it look like a turkey. Cameron had no problem having his palm painted and really liked it. Carolyn, (who for a long time didn't like getting her hand stamped) on the other hand, I knew wouldn't like it... so I called them "turkey hands" and tried to make it fun. So then a few days later while driving, Carolyn saw the white hand in the cross walk and started yelling... "look, there's a turkey hand!" They still point them out!

Valentines Party

We had a Valentine Party with Cam & Car's friends. We had 16 little kids here... sounds like a lot but it sure didn't feel like it! We decorated cookies, made water globes, laminated placemats, & made valentines for some ladies at our church.

The Real Deal

I am the primary children's music chorister at Church on Sunday and I just taught the kids the song "Feliz Cumpleanos". For those of you unfamiliar with the song, it has 6 different nationalities in it saying "Happy Birthday". I had several people dress up as the different countries and Carolyn was our Norweigen. Her dress is authentic from Austria. Aunt Molly bought it years ago when my niece Karinne was Car's age and Molly took a trip to Europe.

Cameron was our Korean because I had the little "china doll" outfits I used for Halloween a few years ago. It barely fit, but it worked and most importantly he felt just as involved as Carolyn was. (There is a lot of healthy competition at our house!) I don't have a picture of that - but it was cute!

"Good News From Wisconsin"

Brett forwarded this in an email to me today and I laughed so hard! This is a shout out to all my family and friends from and in the midwest! Stay warm!

Got some good news from Wisconsin today!

Winter is almost over; we can see the deer wandering around now.

So I caught the 'Twilight' Bug

For over a year my friends have been telling me to read the Twilight books by Stephanie Meyer, so I finally borrowed one and read it. I couldn't put it down and now I have just read the first 3 books (of 4) in the last 5 days! And they are between 500 and 600 pages each! (Brett can't believe I've been reading this much!)

So now I'm dying (Ha, no pun intended!) to get my hands on the last one! I plan to have it in my hands by the end of today!!!

(Oh, and I can't wait to see the movie for the first time when it comes out on DVD on March 21st! I'm thinking of pre-ordering... does that make me crazy?)

Laptops

Carolyn & Cameron got their own laptops so they can "go to work". Aunt Molly gave them to them for Christmas and they loved playing with them at the hotel . I love these photos!

Christopher Columbus' Nina

(I thought I would try a little photo collage - I think if you click on it, it will get bigger. I don't know what I am doing so let me know if you like it.)

In November 2008 Brett took us to Morro Bay to see a replica of Christopher Columbus' Nina. It was built in the same manner (has no nails and uses the tar pitch and stuff) as the original. They said it was the smallest of the 3 ships (can you name the other two?) and it was Columbus' favorite. I personally found it very small and cannot imagine crossing the ocean on it! What true pioneers these historical people were!

The rock in the background is Morro Rock. Cameron & Carolyn loved climbing around on the ship. They were very curious about the people down below. (Some of the crew was down below and once in a while you could see or hear them.)

As we were leaving we saw a bunch of crabs and starfish in the ocean right by the "no fishing" sign. We like to see the crabs in the water because we have a joke in the family. When someone starts crabbing - we ask them if they want to go to the ocean and join all the other crabs!

*Also, notice in the pictures who seems to be "climbing up" on everything? For the first time he put a little chair by my island and climbed up yesterday. Carolyn would never have done it on her own, but of course seeing her brother... just that Cam has the upper body strength and Car doesn't. It is probably good exercise and all... but I am still not allowing it! I did look into gymnastics classes though!

Nutcracker Ballet

One night in December at 6pm just as we were sitting down to dinner... there was a knock at the door. Our neighbor had 4 tickets to the Nutcracker Ballet and his whole family was sick so he hoped we could use them. Did I mention it was for that night at 7:30! I was a little reluctant to take them and asked if he for sure couldn't come up with someone else - but all the while calculating that if we eat now, finish at 6:20, start to get dressed divided by two, we'd have to leave by 6:55... ya la la ya la... we might be able to make it! And I am up for a challenge whenever it involves exposing my kids to good stuff! (By the way the "get dressed divided by two" means that I technically only have to dress one kid because Brett is there to do the other - it just makes me feel like I have less work, that's all!)

So off we went (with a little prodding for Brett) and the kids ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! They were so excited and it kept their attention the whole time. At intermission, Brett took Carolyn out for refreshments but Cameron didn't want to miss it so he wouldn't go. When they came back and found out she had a cookie... he was in a quandry as he would like a cookie, but didn't want to miss it! He did go out but only had 2 bites and insisted on coming back in!

The play went until 10:20pm. Carolyn finally gave out at 10:10pm - after sitting for most of it on the edge of her seat in anticipation! Cameron was able to stay up for the whole thing and actually started crying as the dancers came out at the end to take their bows (how he knew it was the end I don't know!). He said over and over, "I don't want to leave", "I don't want it over". When it was all over, he even got to meet the lead girl... but he was too sad... so we headed out to the car. Poor Cameron cried the whole way home that he didn't want it to be over and he did NOT want to leave.

I am glad they had such a great time! And they still talk about it often!

"Winter Heat Wave"

So I like to say that we get 3 seasons here in Paso Robles. We get the beautiful spring where the hills look like Ireland (well, what I would think Ireland looks like since I don't have first hand experience - hint for Brett). We get the summer where we are in the high 90's and mid 100's (still not used to it, much rather prefer the beach weather - Brett doesn't need a hint here... the summers kill my beach boy!) And in the fall, the leaves change colors and actually fall off the trees (unlike southern california). And our winter is usually 50's-60's in the day and 20's-30's in the nights. We wrap our pipes and actually had them freeze two winters ago! (My Grandma laughed and said I should know better how to keep them from freezing... to which I replied "but this is California, it shouldn't freeze"! Ha ha! She gave me some good advice and we haven't had a frozen pipe since!

So, ok, on to my story. I was on the phone with my cousin on Friday. She lives in Illinois (this has to do with the story!) We were talking and talking and I hear her dog "Tanner" (now some of you know who it was!) barking and barking, so my cousin says can you hold on a minute. Then I hear her laughing and she comes back on the phone and says Tanner has to go out but the door is frozen shut! Then she tells me about how the kids haven't had school the last two days because it has been too cold. (She said one morning is what -16)!

Boy, my blood has really thinned because I don't think I could handle that kind of temperature. I think my fillings would freeze and give me frost-bite on my tonge! So poor Tanner, the kids even tried the door! Last I knew Amy was putting a space heater on the door to try and warm it loose!

Oh, and all this while I am sitting in my house during a "winter heat wave" with the windows open to actually warm the house to 71 degrees! Sometimes I really miss the midwest and want to move back... but I don't know if I could do it (and especially not my beach boy!)

New Years Resolutions

So I'm not big on making new year resolution lists... but maybe I ought to be! I will try harder to write on this blog as I know how much I love to read all of yours!

I have some good pictures of some fun things we've done... I'll add that to my list - be better at downloading pictures!