Sickness and Death

This week Rebecca flew in on Tuesday and get friend joined her on Wednesday.  They all stayed here at our house and then this evening (Sunday) Brittany,  Rebecca's friend,  flew home.  Rebecca leaves on Wednesday.  Nana found cheap flights on southwest and that's why they came.  It's been wonderful.

They had to work and Becca was sick with a bad cold so we didn't do much until Friday(yet both took the day off).  We went dress shopping and found her a beautiful wedding dress.  Then we showed Brittany downtown with the square,  the food carts, and Powell Books.  We stopped by voodoo Donuts on the way back home too.

Saturday we watching Kaila and Glenn play their second games of basketball for the season.  Both improved so much from the first game and Kaila's was improving during the game after getting some tips from us.  It's fun to watch and painful at times too since they are still learning. Then we went to lunch and drove on the old historic highway and speed at all the spots and ended with Multnomah falls.  It was quick but at least she got a taste of Oregon since Brittany hasn't ever been here before. 

Sadly Kevin's been super sick with a bad cold and fevers.  Rowan had a nasty cold too but thankfully I'm finally better after being sick most of January.  I finally got to teach my second lesson in primary today too. I've been gone so much is been crazy. 

This week had been tough in a lot of ways.  After a lot of frustrations and not being worked with we are pulling Addie out of gymnastics after this month.  I'm more heat broken over it I think than she is.  She had her meet in the 20th and is so excited about it but the gym isn't willing to work with us anymore and Tina isn't wanting to communicate with us or acknowledge any thing we've said or asked so it's time to move on.  I feel bad for Addie but she's excited to do swimming she says. 

Also this week sadly Kevin cousin,  Brian died.  His dad (Vaughn's brother) went to pick him up for a doctors appointment and found him dead in his house.  He'd been dead for a day or two.  Then Brian's brother, Roger, ended up in the hospital again with pneumonia. He had a double lung transplant when he was younger and has already lived three years past with the doctors thought so far. He's already been brought back to life 3 times this year. Then the next day Kevin's aunt posted that her daughter and son in laws fun died. I guess he was walking down the street and collapsed and died in route to the hospital in the ambulance. Brian was only 42 maybe 43 and Erin was only about 35 or so it looks like. So sad for their family.

The worst of it is Kevin's mom's light chains which is the way to measure the cancer has more than doubled from what her first diagnosis was. It's very disheartening since she just started in a very aggressive form of chemo and it didn't seem to work. Her doctor decided to give her a round off of the chemo that she was so sick with it because she said we don't want to kill her off from the chemo before the cancer has a chance. Kevin had a few breakdown this week as you can imagine. He's not ready to lose his mommy. It's going to be really hard here when that day comes. You can add her to your prayers would appreciate it along with the rest of the Lewis family of their grieving.

Summer Recap (Letter to Riley on His Mission)

Here on the home front Kaila had her 7th birthday in June and Addie had her birthday 2 weeks ago and is now 4.  She's super happy to now have gum (that's our house rule that you need to be 4 before having gum so it's been nicknamed by Glenn as "Gum Birthday").  

We were able to go on two family vacations this summer.  We went to Yellowstone to visit with my family for a family reunion with my parents, siblings, and their kids.  It was a lot of fun but really messed up Rowan and his sleeping.  He was going 7 hours at night and when we got back home was going only 2.  He was sleeping all day in the car as we were driving around which was great to make the days better but the nights were horrible!  I was so exhausted especially since he was only 5 weeks old when we were there.  

The kids loved Yellowstone (though I would go again until the youngest kids is at least 5-7).  We got to see Old Faithful, geysers, waterfalls, a wolf, coyotes, osprey, and a Moose.  The Mountains and scenery was stunning.  My favorite thing was seeing the Lower Canyon Falls hike (still can't believe I did that in flip flops while carrying a baby and only 5 weeks after giving birth).  It's steeper than Multnomah Falls but has the switch backs just like it going down but on gravel which was super tricking in flip flops with a baby pack in front of you and not being able to see your feet.  The view at the bottom was worth it all!  I'll try to attach a picture though it doesn't do it justice. 

He started to sleep better 5 hours at night but then we took off for Utah for Meg's baptism and his sleep got messed up again though one night while we were there he slept a long stretch which was wonderful.  The bad habit he picked up was needing/wanting to sleep with mommy at night.  It's nice but hard to fully sleep well too.  

We were able to stay a full week after the baptism and enjoy being with Stephen and the kids.  We went to Thanksgiving Point and went through the Dinosaur Museum there, ate frozen Custard (a few times), Temple Square, saw the new Joesph Smith movie, and the boys played tennis a few times.  The kids loved playing together.  It was fun to see them interacting together and using their imagination with all these different books they were playing with. I'm still not sure what they were doing since they said it was a secret and wouldn't let me know.

We stopped over in Boise to see my brother's family on the way back and enjoyed going to the YMCA there and went swimming.  The kids took lessons this past spring and into the beginning of summer.  Kaila is doing really well and has advanced to the class that swims the length of the pool the whole time now (S3.5).  Glenn has moved to the far deep end of the pool (P5), and Addie, our little fish, has moved into P4 in the middle of the big pool.  Addie seriously amazes me at what she can do swim, pull ups, climbing, you name it she will try to figure out how to do it. 

Rowan is 4 moths old now (today-Monday).  The time is flying by.  I can't believe it.  He's grown SO much!!!  He goes to the doctor on the 18th but I got him weighed after Addie's 4 year check up and he was 15lbs 4 oz and that was at 3.5 months.  All my other kids were just 18lbs at 1!!!  He's going to pass that up by 6-7 months.  My poor arms. ;-)  He's talking so much more now and laughing.  It's the best.  He loves chewing on his hands and the little stuffed owl on the side of the strap on his car seat. He prefers to sit up and loves to sit in his bumbo watching me cook or while i'm canning (pears and soon to be peaches and tomatoes this week).  He's such an easy baby and is very mellow and patient.  We have been very blessed to have him in our family.

Kevin's super busy with work which has been a huge blessing for our family right now.  Sadly he's had to pass on a lot of jobs because they are overlapping and I pray more work will come to him in October and on through the winter.  I'm slightly worried because he had a very slow winter last year and then low paying jobs in the spring and we depleted our savings to survive and just now are catching back up and starting to put some money back in the bank.  We just don't have enough to allow for a slow winter again.  Pray for more work to come our way that will support our family and be what we and Kevin needs.

I'm finally feeling like I have my energy level back up.  I just joined a small group of ladies trying to reach their own health goals.  I'm trying to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight.  I know I can do it and hoping this group will help me over this last hurdle I have.  It starts to do so wish me luck.  I also have been enjoying canning all the fresh produce.  I'm hoping to figure out a childcare schedule so I can volunteer at the school and help the kids out with their reading like I have the past 2 years with Vaughn.  Glenn just started Kindergarten and Kaila's now in 2nd Grade so we have two classrooms to help out in this year.  I love that Vaughn like to come and be involved.  Kaila has loved having us both there and we love to see her face light up when she sees us.

Where's the Pizza?

Glenn: do we have more pizza in the fridge?
Dad: we're not having pizza for dinner.
Glenn: do we have more pizza in the fridge? (again)
Dad: we're not having pizza for dinner. (again)
Glenn: Is it in the fridge? Where is it?  I know we have some.
Dad: You're going to try the dinner Kaila made
(He liked it too.)

Happy Veteran's  Day!!!  Sadly I'm still sick today.  Ugh, my throat still hurts.  Kevin's voice sounds awful but thankfully he says he feels fine otherwise.  It's a good thing too since his job was awarded today and he had a lot of work to do.  I'm so happy this job came through.  I know he was feeling nervous about it and wanted another job to come through.

Today Addie got to go to the her first gymnastics class with the bigger class.  She was so super excited to go!!!  It was so fun to see how fearless she was there with the other kids in her class.  She did really well and had a lot of fun.  It was tough on the other kids the the entire hour since they had the day off from school and were there the whole time.  I'm so glad that for the other classes I'll be dropping Addie off earlier and then going back after getting Kaila from school so then they won't have to be entertained for the whole hour.

After class I took Rowan and Addie to her doctor appointment for the rash she's had around her mouth for the past few weeks.  Kevin thought 2 weeks and I thought a month so we took the middle at 3 weeks.  We didn't have our normal doctor but Jean Butler saw her and she was amazing talking about the little hat going on the light for going in her ear and the "TV" screen on the back for her to look through.  It was so cute and Addie ate it all up!  Rowan was amazing as always and put himself to sleep once I turned the phone on to a sound machine for him.  He's such a great little baby and makes life less stressful.  How I love that about him.  The DR decided that Addie's rash wasn't from food but probably eczema that has gotten infected.  She ordered her a prescription of antibiotic to help her get over it since it wasn't clearing up on it's own.  I also got a moisturizer to help her with it too.

After getting home I quickly made a sandwich since Kaila's dinner wasn't Game On approved.  Then I feed Rowan while Kaila grabbed me a skirt to throw on and then headed out the door for Stake Leadership Training at the church.  I love those meetings.  I love getting together with friends and sharing fun ideas with each other and feeling the spirit.  It was wonderful.  After the meeting I stopped by Kari's house to draw names for our knitting Christmas party.  I love our knitting group!  I wish I could have stayed longer but Kevin had volleyball to get too and he was already late since I didn't get to her house until after 9pm.

I finished up my water intake, exercise and habits after Kevin left.  Now to bed and praying to meet weight in the morning dispite my lazy exersices the past few days.  I'm still proud of myself for doing something even I feel like crap!

Wonderful Stake Conference and Illness Strikes

Today we had Stake Conference for all of Oregon.  It was wonderful! I was privileged to able to sing an opening song with a women's choir made up of women from the Stake, lead by the awesome Eddie Richey. It was so wonderful to be surrounded with such wonderful and beautiful sisters in our stake. It was a great way to start the day and to feel the spirit so strongly! Our stake president talked before the broadcast from Salt Lake. He shared a picture of Sister Anderson (a daughter of my friend in Damascus Ward) serving her mission in Florida when she surprised a lady she had been teaching in a previous area to be there for her baptism day. Sister Anderson is in full smile and the investigator getting baptized was in full tears. It was very touching. He talked about how that is the gospel. I was explaining it to sweet Addie who was sitting on my lap the lady crying was so very, very happy. How the gospel can bring us so much love and joy. It was sweet to have a little time to talk with her. 

Sadly we are all getting a little sick in the house with colds.  If you can say a prayer of healing for us, especially Addie. She's the worst. Pray for Kevin's hand to heal.  He hit it on a persons head at volleyball weeks ago and still isn't feeling better. He went to the doctor on Friday and it's not broken but is very painful with many movements and to the touch. Kevin started some oils on it tonight and feels they are actually helping it. I pray it does because it's his right hand. Poor guy.

Today was Stake Conference for all of Oregon with a broadcast from Salt Lake.  Our own stake was given thirty minutes of time before the broadcast to have their own speakers, music, business...to take care of. I was blessed to be asked to sing in the women's choir and sing My Redeemer. It was so wonderful to surround myself with these beautiful women.  I sat by Terri Crawford and it was so wonderful to help support each other in hitting our notes through the piece.  It was a really hard 2nd's part.  It was full of accidentals and was complicated. I was proud of our little group.  We did a great job helping each other through the piece.

Conference was great. President Lewis spoke before the broadcast.  He shared a picture of Sister Anderson serving her mission in Florida when she surprised a lady she had been teaching in a previous area to be there for her baptism day.  Sister Anderson is in full smile and the investigator getting baptized was in full tears.  It was very touching.  He talked about how that is the gospel.  I was explaining it to sweet Addie who was sitting on my lap the the lady crying was so very very happy.  How the gospel can bring us so much love and joy.  It was sweet to have a little time to talk with her.  

I spent most of the broadcast in the nursing room feeding Rowan and then rocking him to sleep.  It was nice to just sit and rock him and listen to the speakers.  I'm not sure who they were since they were being broadcast from Salt Lake.  After returning to the sacrament meeting room we were blessed to hear the prophet speak to us.  Never before have we had the Prophet speak to us.  It was wonderful to feel of his spirit and love.  Kaila when asked said she learned that we need to love and help each other.  Glenn agreed saying that's what he was trying to say.  So cute.

It was nice to get out of church earlier than normal too!  We even ended 15 minutes earlier too than expected.  I took Suzi home since Vaughn was helping with clean up. The kids were begging to have her come home with us.  I told them not today that grandma wasn't feeling well and need to nap.  We all went home and napped or had quiet time.  I enjoyed reading The Fault in their Stars.  Rebecca brought me the book up to read during the summer on one of her trips.  I've enjoyed having it at my good habit to start to read daily with Game On.  I'm going back and forth between reading that book and finishing up Unbroken.  I'm close to finishing both of them now!

Tonight Kevin made a yummy Pork Tenderloin for dinner with yummy garlic.  Sadly the meat we had defrosting in the fridge leaked everywhere which caused a lot of clean up.  Also Kaila had a hard time being kind and ended up loosing her dinner and going to bed early.  It was a rough night for her and made my heart sad to see how out of control she got and how it really hurt and upset Kevin.  I love that Kevin came to me afterward saying he doesn't know what to do to not end up yelling at the kids.  He says he doesn't want to yell at them but no matter how he tries to remain calm they don't stop and he can't help but yell at them.  I gave him a couple of ideas to help him.  We will see if they help.  I love that he has a desire to be and do better!  How I love the man I married.  He's such a good soul.

Thankfully the night ended with apologies and love.  The best way to end a day, Happy!

Day 4: Gymnastics Class

Today we are all so excited to have Daddy come back home!  I tried getting the house all cleaned but as children still live here it is lived in.  It was clean at one point but then was played in again (as they all said).  So cute but not exactly what I was hoping for Kevin to see when he got home.  Oh well, at least the thought was there.

This morning I pumped some milk to see if Rowan would take a bottle so I could leave him behind as I got to Time out for Women this weekend.  Glenn came over to me and asked if that's how I get milk in there for Rowan by pumping it in.  Smart little kid to think that.  I explained to him no but I'm pumping it out into the bottles so he can drink from the bottle.  I gave both Addie and Glenn a chance to feed Rowan.  He took the first ounce pretty well but refused to eat any more.  He wanted it straight from mamma.  I tried to put both my nipple and the bottles nipple in his mouth at the same time but he didn't like that either.

Today I signed Addie up for gymnastics class at the gym Mary goes to.  I saw on Facebook they started two new preschool classes and with a great $30 for the first two month rate. Addie was so excited her she would get to go to gymnastics that she was asking all morning if it was time to go.  I kept telling her it was after lunch then she would be able to go.  Love her enthusiasm.  Poor Glenn hated having to sit on the sidelines of the equipment.  He LOVED his mini gymnastics class that they took that Rebecca bought them.  I would love to get him into a class but I don't think we can afford it. It's so much money.

Addie ended up being the only one in her class that day. It was awesome.  She got a private lesson.  The coach was SUPER impressed with all that she could do and even had another coach come watch what she could do.  Addie did a perfect forward roll and the other coach couldn't believe it.  Addie then did a cartwheel (more like a round off) for her and the other coach  as she was leaving the gym asked what I was doing Tuesdays at 3?  I was confused and asked what and why?  She said she has a small group of younger kids and wanted her in her class.  I told her I have kids getting out of school at 3:05 but she said I could drop her off early and that I wouldn't need to stay so I could leave and go get Kaila from school.

It was so excited for Addie.  Her other highlight was being able to climb to the top of the rope for the VERY FIRST TIME!!!  She was thrilled with herself too.  I wish I had my camera to take a picture of her and a video.  It was amazing.  I love that sweet little girl.  She was tuckered out after her day at the gym.

We stopped by the store on the way home to get things we were out of and the kids loved going in the play place.  I LOVE that Glenn can go in the play place too and they raised the age to 1st grade!!!  It's so much nicer for me to shop with just Rowan.  LOVE it.

After making a quick meal of Orange Chicken (on sale at FM!) the kids and piled in the car and headed for the airport.  Kaila had made a sign that said, "WELCOME HOME DAD!" with one letter on each page.  It was too many for us to all hold so I helped her make it smaller using most of the same letters.  "Love U Dad!"  Sadly the traffic was horrible so we weren't able to make it to the airport to hold up the signs but I told her she could maybe lay it out for him when we got home.  She was excited with that prospect.  The kids still wanted to get out to pick him up so we did and meet him in baggage claim.  They were so excited to see him and ran quickly to him saying, "Daddy, Daddy!!!"  So nice to be loved.

I was so glad to have my other half home.  We love you Kevin!

Day 2: Laundry Day

First full day of having Kevin gone though yesterday was a pretty full day too.  Today was laundry day!  I got 5 loads of laundry washed.  It was crazy.  I also took the kids little kids to preschool after getting the big kids off to school.  I'm not use to having to take care of the kids because Kevin usually does the morning/school runs while I nurse or catch up on sleep with Rowan.  He seriously is an amazing husband to help me out so much and a wonderful father to take part in their lives.

Over all it was a fun day.  I was hoping to take the kids to the movie at the Hood Theater (How to Train Your Dragon 2) but after laying down with Rowan to help him sleep and taking a short nap myself I came out to find the house full of toys everywhere.  I asked the kids to clean up which they did but there was too much to get it finished in time to go so I told them we would go the next day.

Glenn was so upset that we weren't going to the movie that he went running through the house cleaning things up and crying, "no, momma!  I want to go to the movie."  I don't think he was comprehending that we were still going to see the movie just on Tuesday instead.  Kaila tried explaining it to him and I did as well but he was so distraught since he's been waiting to see this movie forever.  Finally he calmed down and we explained it to him.  He got it!

Thankfully Kevin's shoot went well in Texas.  We got to Skype with him on the computer.  The kids loved it and begged Daddy to show them his hotel room.  It was cute.  He shared a funny story with Kaila about how while they were shooting there were cows having and conversation back and forth with each other as they were trying to shoot.  Kaila love that story and thought it was so funny.

Day 1 of Single Mommyhood

Kevin took off for Texas this morning.  His Dad picked him up and took him to the airport shortly after 8am for his 10:30 flight.  That left me to get all the kids ready for church too...one of my least favorite tasks.  Really I hate anything that has a set time that I need to be at.  Life happens and things never go the way I hope so we are usually late which is frustrating.  Like today I got Rowan all changed and dressed.  I came downstairs to find all the kids had gone outside in their boots (thankfully) to play.  The rains we have been having the past two weeks have made some lovely mud in the back so then the girls who came in the house with their boots on tracked muddy water over my new door run and the floor.  Now I had a load of laundry to do.  Glenn took his boots off outside as did the girls after I shooed them back out.  Glenn sat on the couch and I looked over at him from the kitchen and could see his mud caked knees from there. Add Showers to the list of what needs to be done. I sent everyone upstairs to shower as I finished making pancakes.

Good with the Bad

Good- The kids playing well together while I slept some more with Rowan in the morning
Bad- they were playing in the garage with things they shouldn't (baby toys-climbing up shelves to get them, suit cases, Dad's motorcycle)

Good- time to visit with my friend Jen Card while the kids got to play at McD's and burn off some energy.
Bad- Addie peed her pants again there...ugh!
Good- Kevin came home around dinner time
Bad- Addie peed her pants again right by the toilet
Good- Kaila went straight upstairs to finish organizing her desk after school.
Bad- Her two friends came to play but she didn't have time to play with them before dinner
Good- We found Kaila's other soccer shoe so she could go to practice
Bad- While trying to find the shoe we discovered the kids rooms were a mess and so was the office.
Good- I got to spend time with my mom going to a doTERRA meeting on the Leaky Gut
Bad- it was in Hilsboro and there was a huge traffic jam and we were 45 minutes late.
Good- Pa came to watch the kids while Kevin was with Kaila at her soccer game and after while he was at YM
Bad- he let the kids watch a TV show and not put them to bed after they were in trouble for the messes they made and were told to clean and go straight to bed.
Good- I learned a lot about different foods and tips to help our family
Bad- it didn't end until after 10pm and we still had an hour drive home

Soccer, school, new calling OH MY!

Lately we've been doing a lot of soccer with the kids. Kaila has the soccer game or two every week along with a practice. Glenn also has practice once a week and games every Saturday. It's really hard because a lot of time the games are at the exact same time. But we are trying really hard to make sure each of us are attending both kids games. Both kids have gotten so good at soccer lately, it's really fun to watch them play. They really enjoy playing soccer.

Addie loves her preschool class that she's in at Reynold's High School Community Preschool. She has a couple of friends from the neighborhood that go with her, Brooklyn Pappenfuss and Collin Godfrey. Addie is a lot like Grandma Suzi in the fact that she's making up crazy stories about what they did that day. Hello Kevin, said today that he did the same thing...the truth just didn't sound as fun. He use the comment in his journal writing that they went to Disneyland everyday after school. Silly kids! (Three generations worth of storytellers). Addie is still loving climbing all over the place. 

Rowan's growing like crazy. He loves to laugh and smile is such a great little baby. We're so blessed to have them in our family.

Glenn has been enjoying kindergarten and thriving there. His teacher says that the kids have discovered that he is a "cool kid" and they want to be his friend and sit by him. It's pretty cute to watch. Although it's taken me all school year so far to get him to tell me what they did at school that day. I think he enjoys having something all to himself and having control over it.  I love that his Buddy, Koen Hoeppner is in the same class and I can't find out through him and his mom what they did that day!  See, mom's have their ways of finding things out! :-)

Kaila is loving second grade. She's reading super well and making new friends. I really like her teacher, Melissa McGowan, this year. She's super nice. It's been fun to work with her since I've been volunteering every Tuesday. Today at church, Kaila got a huge cookie for passing off all 13 articles of faith this year! I'm so proud of her for reaching her goal. The primary stake presidency has encouraged all the kids to learn the13 articles of faith and they said that they would bring them a huge cookie when they did. Glenn's going to be super close. He only has 3 more to learn and pass off. We are hoping to get that done before the end of December.

We have the children's primary program this coming Sunday. We've been practicing really really hard for it. I hope everything goes well. The kids all have a speaking part and Kaila and I are also singing with two other girls and their mothers. I'm a little nervous with conducting since sometimes I mess up. It'll be really embarrassing to do that in front of the entire congregation. Please pray for us.

Kevin's enjoying his new calling. He's one of the Young Men's counselors over the teachers quorum. He even went to training tonight so they could get all of their position filled. He loves that he gets a teach every Sunday too. He had a break from work which is nice. Although there's nothing coming up in the future so it's a little nerve wracking for him. I know he would like to know that there's more coming. I know God will watch over us. And He always does!

Making Ghost to hang on the trees outside with plastic bags!

Crazy week ahead

sooooooo......that whole breathing thing will definitely be a Yellowstone deal.  Here's what I/we have going on starting the rest of this week and going into next:

Tonight:          I'm supposed to mountain bike with the Teachers for mutual.....I should be home in time but considering my week and the schedule below I want to be home.  I would like to                         go to the church at 7pm for the stake part of my temple recommend renewal, but that could wait until after Yellowstone if needs be.  My rec expires end of June.

Thursday 6/5 - I shoot from 8am-9pm

Friday 6/6 -      I have a meeting with my graphics guy for Glukos at 12pm.  

                       I shoot from 5pm-3:30am

                       Dinner group @ Hoeppners' that I will be missing, but you should still go.

*Stephen arrives Friday evening at some point

Saturday 6/7 -  9:30am - scout OMSI sub with Jason Chau and Parkie for Jason's short film.                        

                       2pm - PCS Play (maybe see if Annie is available for sitting?)

                       Choosing one of these, or none of these, depending on what we feel like:

                                     - Chloe's 2nd birthday (Jason's girl) 2pm-6pm

                                     - Boyles' going away party 3pm-7pm

                       Again, Stephen will be here by now so we may want to spend time with him. Kristi and fam land at like 9pm or something Saturday night.

Sunday 6/8 -    Church, of course.  But I may need to spend the afternoon/evening with Parkie working on the edit for Glukos.  Not ideal, but I really don't know when there will be another                              time for us to have hours together in the same room that we need.  We'll see....

Monday 6/9 -    I'm wrapping Reed's job from home.  

                        That night at 6pm you and I have a premier to go to.....or at least I RSVP'd with a +1.  Its for David Poulshock so I should really make it.  Not many people were invited                                 apparently.  I could go alone though as it won't be baby-conducive.  Ugh.

[Email I received from Kevin]

Tuesday 6/10 -  hopefully done with 95% of the wrap, would have to deliver materials to Grow some time that day.  Otherwise might be a decent down day, though I'll need to be working with                         Josh Schroeder on music for Glukos 

Wednesday 6/11 - graphics work on Glukos - most of the day

                            Timbers game that night w/Stephen @ 7pm

                            prep food for dinner the next day

Thursday 6/12 - should be farely buttoned up on Glukos, but finishing touches.

                          dinner with the Cards (Chris & Kirstin) at our house.  Would like to see if we can do that with our kids not home (other than Rowan obviously)

Friday 6/13 -     you have dentist appointment at 8am

                        GLUKOS spot is DUE (might be able to be pushed to the 15th)

Saturday 6/14 - Kaila's Birthday!!!  Our little angel will be 7!!!

Sunday 6/15 -  should be a regular Sunday - probably a celebration for my Mom's birthday?

Monday 6/16 - going away party for Ponds???  saw that on the calendar

Tuesday 6/17 -  Leave for Yellowstone & my Mom's birthday

Among all of this............Stephen is in town + K&K and family is in town + Michael and Michelle Richey are in town!

I think we need to Pow-Wo tonight.

Day of fun Surprises

My sweet friend Sandy Ollila came over and helped clean my house for me again while Kevin’s gone in Florida, helping me out at the end of this pregnancy.  A true friend!  I’m so blessed.  Addie loved having Neive over to play.  I think Neive loved playing dolls with her since she has three older rambunctious brothers.

While Sandy was there she mentioned that everyone was getting together to go on the Ricker’s big water slide.  She asked if I was going.  I said that I might head over for a bit but had to be back home to get Kaila from school.  Sadly Mitchell didn’t want to go so Sandy didn’t end up making it over.

The kids LOVED the slide.  It was nice to hang out with friends too!  It was such a hot day but not too bad in the shade.  The kids wanted to come back after we got Kaila and Kaila was thrilled to be able to go play in the water too.  A nice surprise was having Kevin getting home early (he was able to get an earlier flight home) and being able to join us for the last little bit before soccer practice.

After our super HOT soccer practice we took the kids to Red Robin for dinner to celebrate being together again as a family.  The kids LOVE that place and I enjoy not cooking in the 90 degree weather. Win! Win!

Florida Sun

Kevin got a job working with the Tampa Bay Broncos which landed him a week in Florida.  He left yesterday and is there until Saturday.  Today he was able to escape work for a few hours and was able to enjoy the beach.  Glad for him but very jealous too since I was back home dealing with a cranky crying girl.  Poor Addie had a GREAT morning...wanting to do homework and everything but ended up cranky after preschool and couldn't talk much without whining.  It was a long day even a nap didn't help her but thankfully we made it through!

We're So Glad When Daddy Comes Home!

So happy to have Daddy home! They all jumped out of the car and ran to him. A surprise since they weren't expecting him to come home till tomorrow.  Kaila even started to cry.  I love her and her sweet spirit.

13 Years and Counting

Kevin's post on Facebook:
So instead of looking back on the last 13 years Sarah and I briefly looked to the next thirteen years.....Kaila will be almost 20 and most likely halfway through her mission, Glenn will be 6 months from graduating high school and heading out as a missionary, Addie will be driving (and dating!! yikes) and the little knucklehead in Sarah's belly right now will be a junior high kid just shy of 13. Maybe looking back would have been better. A baker's dozen down, an eternity ahead. Here's to the many adventures heading our way, around the corner as well as on the far side of the world. Happy anniversary!

My post:
Happy Anniversary Kevin Lewis...can't believe 13 years have come and gone. Thanks for spending them with me.

To celebrate we headed out to Bamboo for some yummy sushi.  Ever since Alex and Katie Woolner took us out to sushi and I tried the "green machine" I have been craving it ever since. It's a vegetarian roll with the most yummy sweet and spicy sauce.  It's the best!!!  I ordered two whole rolls though I did share one on each with Kevin (it was tough but a nice thing to do).

For Dessert we headed over to Salt and Straw from some yummy ice cream.  Thankfully the ice cream didn't affect me at all which was a relief and allowed me to enjoy it even more.  We got home in time to pick the kids up from our friend's house (Erin Giusto) and put them to bed since it was a school night.  It was a wonderful evening.

Reading Thursday

I love being able to go and help with the reading at Kaila's school.  Today we only got to read with about half the kids since they had a math test in the middle of the time frame we are normally there.  I got to teach Vaughn how to use the die cut machine to help make hearts for their class. Mrs. Taylor came out to talk to me right before I left and let me know that she got the results from the reading test the the class took the Thursday before while I was there.  The class as a whole moved up 30% from where they were reading at.  The Principle of the school was amazed.  Mrs. Taylor explain it's because she focuses on reading in everything they do along with the parent volunteers who are there all the time to help read with the kids every week.  I told her I was noticing a huge growth in the kids as well and was pointing it out to many of them today how much they have improved since the beginning of the year. She said Kaila has flown up the charts too!  She said she'd show me later once she had all the official results.  I'm so happy for all those kids.  I remember struggling so much in reading and I hate for another kid to feel the way I did.  I really want to help them out as much as I can!

I came home and Kevin left to go to the temple.  I helped the kids work on cleaning up the mess in the office and Addie's mess in her room.  Then I found the library book Kaila needed to turn in so she could get a new book so I told the kids to hurry and finish so we could all go and eat lunch with Kaila at school.  They were all so excited!  I made a protein shake for me and a sandwich, go-gurt, crackers for the kids and we headed out the door.  I was worried we were going to get there after Kaila had headed out the door for recess but thankfully we got there with still about 8 minutes before they had to leave.  Kaila was thrilled to see us and moved to sit next to us.  Her friends too loved the novelty of having younger kids being there.

Poor Addie and Glenn got so scared and nervous from all the different kids running around on the playground and all of Kaila's friends circling around them.  Addie wanted me to just hold her.  Glenn wouldn't leave my side.  I told Kaila I was just going to leave and take them home.  She wanted to take Glenn to Tyrus and her other friends that are boys but Glenn wouldn't go without me so we all walked over there and then recess was over.  I felt bad for Kaila missing out on her recess which she mentioned after school.

I was so tired from not getting much sleep from the girls having a little party at 4:30am which didn't end very well...Kevin wasn't able to get back to sleep until 6:30 and I had to get up early to be ready myself to take Kai to school so I told the little kids after getting back from lunch that I was going to take a nap upstairs and to not make a big mess, since we cleaned up right before we left.  Kevin got home and I heard him saying to Addie that there was a huge mess in her room and for her to clean it up.  Really,  she said to me "okay mom" as I walked up the stairs.  I even put on Tangled to keep them occupied until when Kaila was to be getting home from school. Kevin said they were even watching it when he got home.  Ugh!

I got up after Kaila read part of her Eiffel Tower book she had just gotten from the library.  She was so excited to share it with me.  That girl LOVES Pairs and can't wait to go there someday.  I got the kids cleaning up their stuff and worked on part of my room too.  I have to get it finished tomorrow since I have it on my new years resolution for being finished January.  Though being sick half the month and in bed for a few of those days I think I'll allow myself till the 5th of January to get all of January's finished but I can't get too far into February because I have a whole other set of things to finish for that month and it's a shorter month.  I'm so glad I'm starting to feel much better though! These past two weeks have been so much nicer!

Finishing the rest of their lunch 

Addie wouldn't let me take her visitor tag off

Sadly Addie fell running out to the
car after eating lunch with Kaila

Kevin made a new pizza recipe for dinner.  Sadly it didn't cook all the way through.  We ate bits of it and supplemented with 4- hot dogs for Addie, and Eggos for the rest of us.  I forgot how much I love eggos while I'm PG!  So yummy.  Kevin hurried and ate so he could leave for his basketball game.  I realized then that it was the best opportunity we had to go and watch him play since it started at 7 and the kids didn't have school the next day which was ideal! The kids finished up and I had them all brush their teeth before heading out to the car...Addie didn't listen to that though and took her fourth hot dog out to the car with her to eat there.  Bless Kaila's heart, she got all the kids floss and vitamins and fluoride along with Addie's toothbrush and paste so we just brushed during half time.

Kaila's Sweet Table setting for dinner--love the paper towel place mats

Walter's Hill had a lot of players but the other team forfeited but they still played a game.  It was fun to cheer on Kevin and the kids LOVED seeing their daddy play.  They also loved running all around and being goofs.  After the game ended they all went out to play with Dad.  Addie said that was her favorite part and watching Daddy score.  :-)

I love having family moments and supporting each other in what we love to do.  I think it's really important for the kids to do that for mom and dad just like we all do for them.

Go Dad, Go!

Notice Addie playing with the curtain in the background...

Beauty

Kevin was able to go to the temple today and captured a beautiful picture 

of it with a rare blue sky for January.

Work!!!

Kevin was blessed with work this week.  We are so grateful for some work coming his way.  It's been a long time since he's worked and we are thrilled God had answered our prayers.

Lots of church with Baptism Preview

Sunday was a very busy day.  Kevin and I met with the Bishop before church.  I was told Kevin was getting released and would be getting a new calling as the Venture Leader Assistant working in scouts with the teachers.  The Bishop felt he could do a lot of good there.  I hope he can too.

The Bishop gave each of us blessings after our meeting.  I was so grateful for that.  It was just what I needed.  I was told to study the scriptures about love.  It was just what I needed to hear.  Something for me to do to help me through all of the trails and challenges I was currently facing.

At church the change in Kevin getting released came as a surprise to most.  The Bishop got up called Kevin to his new calling and explained why he was needed there at this time.  I wasn't able to listen to much of what he had to say since the kids were being needy at that time.  Lots of people afterward said I hit the jack pot with him getting released.  We will see.  The scouts program is a lot of time commitment too especially if you do your calling to the fullest.  The kids are thrilled to have Daddy sitting with us again during church.  It will be nice to have him there to help when the baby is born too.

After church I headed up to Erin's house.  She lovingly made the mini cupcakes for me to decorate for the baptism preview the night.  I was going to make them in the morning but with the meeting with the Bishop I didn't have time to do that and wouldn't have enough time to bake them afterward.  How I love Erin and our friendship!  She's amazing and has been a great support to me.  I'm glad I have been able to be there for her too as she's been going through a tough time with her Husband right now too.  God is so good to send those we need at the times we need them.

I decorated the cupcakes and then made the 8 shape out of cardboard, wrapped it in foil, and then quickly ate dinner.  Kevin, bless him made quesadillas for the kids for dinner and I was able to eat half of one before running out the door.  I wanted to get there earlier enough to get everything set up.  Sadly I ran out the door without the 8 so I had to turn around and get it.  I still made it 10 minutes early but that was cutting it way too close for me.  We were able to set it all up before anyone arrived.

It was a beautiful program and the kids felt very special.  You could see it in their eyes.  All of this was for them.  For me it was a bit touching knowing that Kaila would be coming to this next year.  Wow...time has gone way too quickly.  I was so blessed to be able to be a part of it and to lead the music for everyone.  Sadly I did indulge in the ice cream that everyone was raving about and it killed my poor tummy.  Not worth it.  I'm still learning.

 

Reagan, Henry, Bella, Sam, Jonathon, Harrison, and Hailey

Funny Pic...Bella cracks me up in this one