Oh Hello...

Hi there- yes, it's been a while. A very long while. Honestly, I am not sure that I am going to EVER catch up again. I feel like I am constantly in survival mode and life continues to get busier every day. I am so far behind on blogging (Halloween hasn't even made its appearance) and my OCD tendencies are kicking in to tell me that I must document everything and in order. I thought I could blog instead of scrapbook- ummm not so much. It remains to be seen what will happen. 

At the moment, I am only blogging because I am on a steroid for insanely, out of control hives. I know that steroids cause sleeplessness but I was desperate and when I got my prescription filled at noon, I wasn't going to wait another day. Basically, since Cal was six weeks old, I have had hives. I can count on one hand the days that I have been completely hive free (unfortunately, not exaggerating). The hives move all over my body, internally and externally. It gets really bad when they are on my face. The most painful ones are on my feet and hands and in my stomach. I am finally going to see an allergist this week. The dermatologist said that hives can be caused by stress, lack of sleep, and post pregnancy hormones. Check to all three. 

Okay, now that I have divulged too much information, on to the fun pictures. 

Max celebrated birthday number 9. Wow- time flies. Yes, I always say that but it really does, as anyone who reads this blog already well knows. 

He is starting to be too cool for little boys stuff and apparently entering the partially obnoxious pre teen years. But he can also be very sweet and helpful. We had a fun week of celebrating. Max is a very busy boy with scouts, baseball, basketball and skiing. 

 Here are my two sweet girls visiting Klaire's bunny. These two are a lot of fun but their personalities are so different. Klein is sweet and helpful. Preslee is energetic and a two year old. Preslee has started potty training herself. She goes into the bathroom, takes her diaper off, uses the toilet, gets dressed (without a diaper), and returns to playing. She does great sometimes but still has accidents. I am not participating in her potty training. I am not ready yet.

The girls have been taking dance class at a girl's studio in our ward and they both love it so much. They are pretty cute little ballerinas. Klein is still in gymnastics. She is still going to Miss Jenny's preschool and is now going to the lab school. She loves school and is doing very well. She is also excited to play soccer in the spring and she has fallen in love with skiing. Preslee is just biding her time to start doing everything Klein does and talks about it nonstop. 

 Hooray for Beaver Mountain. We are so lucky to have such a great mountain so close. It definitely makes winter bearable. Klein started lessons this year and absolutely LOVES it. She passed level 1 with flying colors and will start level 2 in the next session. Max loves skiing too and there is not a jump at the mountain that he cannot find. He passed level 4 and is excited to go on to level 5. We decided that all of our kids would pass all 6 levels before they could graduate from lessons. We want them to be good technical skiers and be able to ski anywhere on the mountain. This plan may backfire on me because I am destined to be the worst skier in the family at that point. I can no longer keep up with Max, unless I want to ski Teddy's Frolic and the South Face all day. Klein will soon pass me up at the rate she is going. I do admit that it is a fun family outing and a great way to enjoy the winter months. Maybe I will have to go through all six levels with Cal...

 Not a great picture but Max was determined to go to Chuck a Rama for his birthday. Of course, the ice cream was pretty much the only food the kids ate but they had a lot of fun.

 Okay, so sleeping around here is on the fritz. We finally got Cal settled into his crib. He gets up around 2:00 am and then up for the day around 6:00. I think he gets cold and lonely and he needs to start catching on to solid food. Preslee started climbing out of her crib. Bedtime routines were at least an hour in length and largely unsuccessful. In order to survive, we let her fall asleep in our bed, move her to her bed, and then she finds her way back to our bed (usually when Cal starts crying at 2:00 am). Needless to say, sleep is a precious, limited commodity around here lately. The picture below was a night when Klein also wandered into our room because she was scared- she is usually pretty good but it made a cute picture.

Four cute and crazy kids. Life keeps us all very busy but I wouldn't trade any of the craziness (well, maybe if I could trade it for some sleep :) 

On a random side note, I will be teaching AP US History and Government next year. The talented and amazing Mrs. Obray is retiring and I will be taking her classes. I am really looking forward to a change and excited to be teaching the two subjects that I majored in. I love teaching English but after 11 years, I am excited to rejuvenate my teaching with some new subjects. 

I hope to be back to more regular blogging soon but I can't guarantee anything. I do appreciate those out there that still blog. It gives me late night reading to catch up on when I need a break from my online courses.