Ashley the princess
Corinne the sweet pea and Annika the frog (no idea where the frog costume came from- so if it's yours and you want it back speak up...)
Annika saying 'wibbet, wibbet'
Megan the cowgirl and her horse (she refused to wear the hat and boots and scarf- whatever)
All four with Steve
Corinne is 5 months old today!! This is her newest trick- sitting up unasissted!
First of all we have furniture!! YAY! Our living room couches and the chaise chair that's going in our bedroom arrived on Tuesday. WAHOO!! Here are the pictures:
Ashley can now ride her bike without training wheels. She's enjoying her newfound freedom. I'm enjoying the cul-de-sac...
Here's a cute picture of Megan and Annika riding bikes too. They like to start at the top of the driveway and ride down as fast as they can and wait for Steve or I to stop them at the bottom before they go into the street. You'll notice Megan's feet aren't even down so she can attempt to stop herself. No fear I'm telling you!
I made cupcakes for the trunk-or-treat cake walk and for Ashley's school Halloween party this week too. Here's the pictures:
my graveyard (these were so fun!)
The great pumpkin:
Happy Halloween!
So that last post I wrote a while ago and it apparently didn't post but saved it as a draft.... interesting. Here is an email from my mom regarding the MRI:
Everyone,
Just to let you know what is going on here. Bob had another MRI this week. The results are not so good. It shows two tumors growing again. One is size 17x18x18mm, and the other is 2.4x1.7x2.2 cm.
The radiologist compared this MRI to one taken in Aug 2002( they typed 2005) so I called to correct that since he didn't have one this year. He'll do another report comparing this one to the last one which was Nov. 2004. We'll see what that report says, but I'm sure the two new tumors will still be there on the report.
Please remember us in your prayers He is taking some herbal nutrition now that is making him feel wonderful. He's stopped using a walker altogether, and has a lot more energy. He walks back and forth in the house 20-30 times for exercise daily, and we work at the Humanitarian Center at DI 3 times a week for 2 hours each time. He couldn't do that a few months ago.
I'm boring. Really. My family (mom, dad, Becca and Angela) came to visit for UEA (long weekend) this weekend. I have nothing 'fun' to do. At all. My idea of a good time is shopping by myself, or going to the EQ social (um, yeah, we did that). I guess a good time involves good food (just ask my hips) so we are BBQing ribs and chicken tonight. But other then that life just goes on around here. Kids still have to eat and nap on time or we're in trouble- which severely cuts into 'play' time. So how are we living it up? They just got back from the park- while I stayed home with Megan who got put down for a nap because she was to beastly to have fun. We may hit Fallas Paradas (cheap mexican clothing store) for the rest of our fun afternoon. Of course Dad wants to go look for some obscure item at Walmart- which is his idea of a good time. Now we don't live close enough to walk anymore- which is a good thing since that means he won't try.
Anyway, people frequently ask how he's doing- so here's an update. He's doing great. Really, really great actually. This time last year we were told that the tumor (he has brain cancer if you didn't know) was growing and there was nothing more that they could do, that we'd have a few weeks up to a few months left. Honestly I was relieved. He was in such pain and was miserable, seemed like it'd be kinder to let go and let him die and have peace. But once again (well, I think this is the third or fourth time) he's surprised us all. Last Thanksgiving he could hardly walk, was in a wheelchair most of the time. He didn't make much sense when he talked and slept a lot. He was also grumpy. He couldn't sleep in a bed because his back hurt too much and when they came to see us they'd even bring the chair for him to sleep in.
Now he's not even using the walker. He's on almost no steriods, no pain pills (I think) and is awake most of the day. He's still struggling with words. It seems that if he just talks he's fine, but the harder he trys to think of a name for an object the more the word eludes him. His mood is terrific. He's not lost his sense of humor and there are times when humor-wise I can catch a glimpse of the 'old' Dad. Story: Hannah told me the other day when she was down for dinner they were having egg rolls. Dad was trying to convince Hannah that egg rolls were really made of cat. Hannah (going along with it) says, 'really? So do you like them?' Dad just looks at her deadpan and says, 'meow'. That is 'old dad'.
Of course there are lots of physical changes, but the mental changes are probably harder now. He's convinced that he's grown 4 new teeth and that those teeth have messed up his mouth. (He's always had an overbite, but apparently now it's bothering him). His best friend is a denstist. He's told him it's impossible, but Dad insists that these are new teeth and they need to be pulled. Of course the dentist refuses. But don't try and tell him that it didn't happen, he'll get very offended and upset.
Anyway, Dad is good. It'll be interesting to see what the future has in store for him. He's going for another MRI on Monday. I don't think that he's had one for a year now.
My Mom is amazing. She is the definition of unconditional love.
YAY! We have our new house! Moving is a pain, but I'm feeling mostly unpacked. Not quite settled yet since we've still got a lot of furniture that we've bought and are waiting for it to arrive and furniture we plan on buying and haven't yet. Can I just say that furniture shopping with four children 6 and under is a form of torture???
I also forgot to take a picture of the front of the house. Sorry. You'll have to wait until my camera is fixed since I used Katie's while she was here and she emailed me the pictures. I'll start downstairs and work my way up... the best tour I can give.
Here is the living room and dining room. One big area. We figure this way we can arrange it how we need, and as that need changes then we can change the room.
We've ordered living room couches and were told 4-6 weeks. We're on week two. I'm ready for a place to sit.
Here is my large pantry which I'm enjoying. It's nice to have a spot to put my broom and mop. It's also nice that it has a knob on it so I can 'lock' the kids out.
View #1 of the kitchen. I really like my island. I want to put a 'kiddie table' in the breakfast nook area to confine messes to one area not in the immediate view of the front door, well, at least for breakfast, snacks and lunch.
Two things I love, my Corian countertops with the seamless sink and my tile backsplash.
View two of the kitchen. I'm not sure where to put my garbage can. Seems in an unconveinent spot where it is now, but if I put it on the end then it blocks the path when I've got the dishwasher open. I'm not a fan of trashcans in closets or under sinks, mostly because I'm lazy. 
Office/craft room- still in a state of unpacking.
Guest bathroom. There is a stall shower behind the door.
Under the stairs storage. LOVE IT!! I'm going to get shelves built in for food storage. It continues around the corner as well.
My stairs. With a missing railing. See that funny looking spot? That's where my genious customer service dude painted over some patch work with flat paint. That's another post though. I requested a new customer service dude.
Apparently this is the only picture I took of Megan and Corinne's room. But we did these closet organizers in every closet. So nice!
Ashley's room. Sorta messy and we need to take the bassinet out. Continue to the next post.
Here are Ashley and Lily in the loft/play room. We're going to have an entertainment until built into this little nook for the tv and stuff. But we haven't gotten to that yet. We've ordered a couch that should be here sometime in November. Apparently we have good taste and are 75 on the waiting list for it... until then we lay on lots of pillows (see them in the corner)?
This is my laundry room. I 
having a laundry room rather then a laundry closet. I'm still working on organizing this room (as you can see.) I'm also loving my front loading washer and cool new dryer. 
Down the hall is Annika's room. She seems to sleep better in a room by herself. She's also enjoying her toddler bed.
The girls bathroom. Very exciting. 
The masterbedroom. It's a bit bigger then our other one- which is nice. We're also having a bedroom set made by this same guy. Yay!
This is my huge linen closet in the bathroom. I love it. I also love my shower curtain.
Here is a shot of my huge countertop. We had two sinks in our other master bath and only ever used one, so we opted to just have the extended vanity and I'm REALLY enjoying it.
Here is our amazing master closet. I'm loving all the shelves and doublehang. Now I need more clothes to fill it up.
Anyway, that's the tour.
This was fun-
Go to google and google your name with the word "needs" in quotes like this:
"Amber needs"
and watch what comes up. According to Google, I need (some silly, some quite insightful- forget the psychic!):
Amber needs two-to-three hours of therapy a day
Good on a leash, Amber needs to lose a few pounds. Would make a great walking/joggingworkout buddy. No cats for this gal. ID#234078. ..."We can only give Amber so much. Amber will need more," admitted Melody
Amber needs an attorney.
Amber needs to be believable
Amber needs a Kleenex
Amber needs some motivation...get the stick
amber needs protecting from harsh sunlight to keepits youthful good looks
Amber needs an outlet for her strong nurturing instincts
Amber needs a change in her life
Amber needs to die. She is 100% mafia.
amber needs polishing with emery paper
Amber needs a huge line of books or a new system
Amber needs to get this chance
Amber needs to be focused and not worry what Dad is going to do
Amber, needs you now
Amber needs to lose weight
Amber Needs Analysis
Amber needs to get a hold of herself
Amber needs a sweater
We were late to church today- not that it's unusual for us, but we're usually 5 minutes late, today we didn't wake up until 8am... church is at 9 and it takes us 20 minutes to get there... yeah, so we were late. I felt like the Sunday School lesson was okay, but I struggle with Sunday School lessons and Sunday School teachers. It's probably the calling in the ward I fear most having as well. Relief Society was good. I actually feel like I got to know a couple of people, and it turns out that there is a new family in the ward that's in our neighborhood! (WAHOO!) They've got two little girls, one that looks about Megan's age and one that is a baby a little older then Corinne. So we're going to go over there tonight after dinner and meet them (I think).
We bought a couch! Our last couch purchase (well, for a long time) so YAY!! The sad thing is that it's on backorder and won't be here until November sometime... maybe December. So we're in for a long wait for it. Our other couches haven't arrived yet either- it's hard to feel 'at home' and unpacked when there isn't furniture. I'm hoping they get here before everyone comes to visit in two weeks.
Speaking of visitors- Barbara showed up for less then 24 hours this week. That was fun. We took her to dinner for her birthday and stuff. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BARBARA!!! It's nice that she's close enough to visit with. I need more family close by. I'm voting for my Mom to move to Vegas (do you know how much that would rock!)
Katie is coming to visit us tomorrow since Gordon has kicked her out of the house (mean, mean Gordon) so that he can study for his upcoming professional exam. So yay! I'm hoping having Lily to play with will help Megan a little bit. Who knows. But it'll be fun to have Katie here.
Tomorrow is the big day as far as 'fixing stuff'. All the guys (except one) are scheduled to come and fix things that they screwed up or missed. Then they get to start on the new list. This 'new' house has been a lot of work to get right. Frustrating.
Corinne has decided to sleep through the night. Not sure if I've shared this yet or not- but YAY!! So it's partly her fault that we slept so late. I put her down at 9:30 and she slept until Steve got her out of bed at 8 (still asleep) to come and eat. That is a lovely, lovely thing. We also split Megan and Annika up hoping that it'd help their beastlyness to get more sleep. My theory is that they're not sleeping long enough because as soon as one is up from naps or in the morning they wake up the other one. So we switched Annika and Corinne. We also moved Annika to a toddler bed and she seems to be enjoying it. I'll report later if they're attitude improves with more sleep.
Actually today i got a nap for the first time in a very long time... my house shows it but whatever. I've been fighting a cold for a month it seems like- and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. Now it's gotten windy and coldish (well, for vegas) and I think my allergies are making it even worse. I'm just dragging today, I'm not feeling motivated to do anything at all... except sleep.
I should have stayed in bed this morning, I should have known it was going to be a very long day when the first thing that greeted me in Megan and Annika's room was a very large crayon mural on their wall. I should have known it was going to be an even longer day when while trying to get myself dressed Annika stuck her hand down the back of her diaper and pulled out a finger covered in poop. Gross. Kids are disgusting. I had lofty plans this morning. Visions of a clean/organized house (at least a room or two) and napping toddlers. So far all I've done is feed Corinne and then clean up the messes that her sisters made while I was unable to follow them around and say no. Our day so far....
Woke up to Steve telling me about Megan and Annika's artwork.
Tried to get dressed- got interupted by miss poopy fingers.
Family prayer (not feeling the spirit so much while megan and annika played musical laps)
Watched Steve leave for work and wished that I could leave too
Changed poopy fingers diaper
Changed Corinne's diaper
Listened to Corinne poop- changed her again
went downstairs and fed the kids breakfast
tried to make ashley's lunch- realized we were out of bread- poor kid will have to have school lunch today
tried to find shoes for everyone
was successful for everyone but megan
too bad for megan- she has to ride in the stroller
it's okay though because we're not playing today on the way home, they have to miss the swings and come home and clean up crayons on the wall
Get home- introduce Megan and Annika to Mr. Clean Magic Eraser
start laundry
come downstairs to a puddle of water (on my wood floor) and two girl splashing in it
cleaned that up
feed Corinne
hear lots of flushing upstairs
find megan and annika flushing wipes down the toilet. (Annika also did this earlier this weekend)
lock them in their room so I can finish feeding corinne and they can live
Go to let them out and find that they've destroyed one of my favorite children's books
Lock them in again
Let them out and turn on the tv (hoping for peace)
try to fold towels
get inturrupted by megan biting annika
she gets to sit in the naughty chair (and hopefully not destroy anything since I can see her)
finish folding laundry
make megan apologize
switch laundry with way too much help
start to clean loft
megan disappears (not a good sign)
find her downstairs helping herself to cheerios
decide to feed them lunch
we're out of bread so it's mac and cheese
annika got in the baby swing
she's now too big to get out so I leave her there while I finish lunch- at least she's contained right?
Annika falls asleep in the swing
megan decides to set the table with 8 bowls- not sure who she's invited for lunch
feed them lunch
did dishes while they ate
now it's NAPTIME!! I'm tired- can I quit yet?? It's only noon!
