Aha! Someone else got to experience it!

The amazing speed with which this adorable little rascal gets into trouble, that is.

My brother-in-law, David, was watching the kids while my sister, stepmom and I got out of the house for a little bit. When I returned home he started by saying, "Now, I'm not trying to make excuses for myself, but I swear I just left her for two minutes...." (which is how every story of mine starts, if you haven't noticed). So in the midst of trying to keep an eye on 8 kids he lost track of her a handful of times, so she:

- pulled a dresser over on top of herself (no injuries)

- climbed onto the kitchen counter with nothing but her monkey-like skills

- burrowed under the covers with her 1 year old cousin and was found with 1 piece of gum in her mouth, and 4 chewed pieces stuck to her chest

There was something else, but now I've forgotten it.

I've also experienced her knife-throwing skills (no, I'm not kidding), her insane screaming tantrums (the terrible two's begin), chased her down countless times to wrestle clothes onto her body, cleaned up pee off the floor and windowsill where she climbed up after pulling off her diaper, and more.

Heaven love her, she's a handful.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I hope you have a wonderful, blessed day!

What is it about Christmas vacation

that lends itself to illness? I'm finishing day 2 of antibiotics to try and get rid of this horrible sore throat I have. It's the worst I can remember having in my adult life. (The nurse at the clinic I went to asked me to describe my pain on a scale from 1-10 and I almost said 8 in honor of Brian Regan.) It began with a fever, chills, body aches, coughing, and fatigue accompanying it, but now the throat and cough (along with ear pain) are all that remain. And I'm ready to bid them farewell so I can enjoy some spicy Tex-Mex instead of simply eating soothing ice cream by the bucketful. Let's keep the ice cream, but add in chips and salsa and some divine chile rellenos from Abuelo's, please. I really need to bulk up before I begin my latest and greatest attempt to regain my svelte figure of yesteryear, thus making the results all the more dramatic.

Stink!

Christmas vacation.....

Camera? Check.

Battery charger? Check.

Cord to download pictures to the computer? Doh!

We're having fun, though. Just take my word for it.

A letter to Santa

Nate asked me to type this up today.

Dear Santa Claus,

Are you having a good day? How are the reindeer doing? Are they good or bad? Because your reindeer are really cool and I really like them. Really. Really. REALLY COOL.

I am hoping for a guitar and a sword that’s not a real sword. My grandma looks like this. And my grandpa will be real embarrassed that I have a guitar that I like.

You are awesome! Are you cool or bad? Do you have a cheetah? Your coat is cool because you don’t have any butter in it.

I hope you have a nice day. I like you.

Love, Nate

It's that time of year!

Christmas!!!

I'll confess it's hard to feel the season when it's 67 degrees outside, but I'm playing carols and shopping up a storm so that's helping. And last night I watched "Elf", which is my favorite Christmas movie, while sipping warm apple cider and making the girls' teachers' gifts. Very festive. And quiet. Oh sweet heaven, I do love quiet.

Fifteen years ago around this time of year Scott and I began dating. We were puppies back then (I like to flatter myself that we still are) and playing together was so much fun. I had thought he was cute but it wasn't until we had an all-out ping pong war in the LDS institute building that made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt that I realized this guy was awesome. The good news is he's still awesome.

Fifteen Christmases, each one wonderful! Here's to a whole bunch more.

Life is surreal sometimes

I remember in the weeks after Brenna was born wondering when my life would get back to normal. Turns out, normal as I knew it didn't exist anymore. Some days I still find myself experiencing that same feeling.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday, filled with lots of cooking, eating, cleaning, and playing. And I will admit to a few surreal moments, like when I walked into the kitchen tonight where Scott was trying to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies, but could hardly move for Nate and Gwen and their chairs and eager little bodies pressing in on him. Ava sat in the family room a dozen feet away, watching a Muppet movie and playing the recorder. The noise level, between the TV, the recorder, the mixer, and the squabbling helpers, rivaled any scene in "Cheaper by the Dozen". It made me shake my head and helped me remember why I am grateful for this darling little chaotic crew.
Life has never returned to normal as I once knew it. My new normal is filled with messes and noise and sibling rivalry and stress. But it's also filled with soft little kisses, big hugs from little arms, spontaneous songs, nonsensical knock-knock jokes, plenty of warm bodies to snuggle on the couch, love notes drawn in crayon, and more love than you can wrap your arms around.

Surreal? Sometimes. Wonderful? Always.

Coming out

Meet my wonderful, handsome husband.

Scott works 50-60 hours a week, lifts weights every morning before work, teaches a spinning class two evenings a week, volunteers at our church, pitches right in around the house when he gets home from all of this, and is sweet and loving to me and our children. He also suffers from a disease called Freidreich's Ataxia.

We've suspected Scott has a problem for years now. Way before we noticed anything was wrong he realized he just wasn't any good at basketball anymore. He couldn't keep his balance while rollerblading. And playing football wasn't working either. A few years later he started to notice that he couldn't keep his balance very well when walking. He saw a neurologist in Lubbock who ran some tests but couldn't find anything that fit.

Fast forward to our move to California. Scott consulted a neurologist here who referred him to UCLA, where they very quickly recognized his disease. They ran a blood test and we had the verdict: Friedreich's Ataxia, a debilitating, progressive neurological disorder that doesn't affect the mind, but leaves him unable to control his body the way he ought to be able to. The disease affects his hands, making everything he does take more time. Typing, writing, spreading peanut butter on a sandwich, buttoning a shirt, he can do them all, just more slowly. The disease affects his speech, making it sound a little more slurred. He sometimes chokes while drinking. And most noticeably it affects his ability to walk. He can't walk in a straight line to save his life. If he slips, he can't recover fast enough to keep from falling. He can't run, or keep his balance on a bike, or catch a football. His body just flat out won't do what he tells it to anymore.

Freidreich's Ataxia is a genetic disorder. There's nothing he could have done to prevent it. Both of his parents carried a gene for it and unknowingly passed the gene on to him. Our children will not have the disease because I am not a carrier, although each of them are carriers themselves. It felt like a huge boulder was lifted off my shoulders the day we learned that I am not a carrier. FA is typically a child onset disease and thinking of the horror stories I'd read on the internet terrified me every time I watched one of my children stumble or trip. Now I know that their falls are normal, not the harbinger of a devastating disease, one that becomes more so with an earlier onset.

There's no cure. No medication to take. Scott exercises and keeps his body strong, he takes antioxidants to diminish the impact free-radicals have on his mitochondria, he tries to get enough sleep, eat right, and not overdo it. And that's really all he can do for now.

We hope the future holds some medical breakthroughs. We have no idea how much FA will affect his quality of life down the road. Chances are he will never suffer from the more serious complications of heart disease or diabetes. But we don't know if he'll need a wheelchair at some point or even if it will become noticeable to everyone who meets him. Right now it still takes being around him a little to notice that something is wrong.

I share this with you not to bum you out or make you feel sorry for us. We're good. The disease stinks but we're making our peace with it. We know life isn't supposed to be easy and perfect and we also know that we've been incredibly blessed. Scott has a world-renowned FA expert for a neurologist and she's only a couple of hours away. We have 4 incredible children who will never suffer this disease themselves. We have supportive families, good friends, and most of all, the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ, that supports us in all we do. So I'm just sharing so that you know.

For more information (or to make sense of my poor attempts to explain FA) go here:

Our Thanksgiving Plans Have Changed

My dad's in the hospital again with pancreatitis. The good news is he's alive and recovering from surgery. The bad news is he has pancreatitis again and is recovering from surgery! So it looks like our fun-filled California Thanksgiving with my parents and brother and sister-in-law is a no-go. The K crew will be flying solo. We're all worried about my dad and bummed to not see our family members that we miss so much. We're praying for his speedy recovery and that this horribly painful and occasionally life-threatening illness never, ever happens to him again (please!)

So I'm trying to look on the bright side. Dad's getting better. We see our families in 5 weeks for Christmas. And as for Thanksgiving, more leftovers for us, I guess!

Thanksgiving is coming up

And it's fall and there's a chill in the air, which apparently means people start cooking with squash.

Ick.

I have realized in the last few months that I do not much care for squash. Especially pumpkin. You people with your pumpkin chocolate chip cookies? You can keep them, because I can't imagine a dessert with much more wrong going on than that one. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin bars, pumpkin Blizzards, you name it....no thank you.

You see, last year a friend made some "to die for" pumpkin bars so I tried them. And proceeded to eat nothing but the cream cheese icing. And I realized then that's what I do every single time someone makes a pumpkin dessert. I eat the icing. Or have one or two bites, if there's no icing involved. But either way, I'm wasting my time and calories.

Scott will probably still insist on a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving this year, so I'll buy one from the frozen foods section and pop it in the oven. Better yet, I'll buy one ready-made. Why waste that time keeping track of the oven for a stinking pumpkin pie? Actually, pies in general, as many of you know, are one of my main Thanksgiving complaints (although, really, I'm not doing much complaining on Thanksgiving seeing as I'm so busy being thankful). A really good meal does not end with a pie. It ends with chocolate. Or an amazing cake.

So for dessert this year I'll be making something deliciously chocolate and non-pie. And my amazing carrot cake. With cream cheese icing, of course! It's still fantabulous even when it's not masking the horror of a pumpkin-flavored dessert.

The little guy turned 4

Ask Nate when his birthday is and he'll tell you, "the day after Halloween". It sure makes it easy to remember! After a late night of trick-or-treating and total sugar overload he was a little worn out, but that didn't stop the celebration.

We started out with breakfast in bed. Nate was already awake at 6:30 (and snuggled in our bed, I might add) so he came downstairs with us and chose what he wanted to eat that morning. Bypassing the muffins I had made the night before, he chose yogurt, bacon and chocolate milk. And he ate all of 4 bites, I think.

Following breakfast, we had the opening of the presents. He upgraded from a tricycle to a real bike. Ava helped him try it out in the living room. It's hard to pedal on carpet but you just need a little push from behind.

Then he insisted on opening the rest of the presents, which included a Lego set from me and Scott (the one thing he'd really wanted) and a few very sweet presents from his sisters. Brenna gave him a bouncy ball, a rope bracelet, and a couple of other toys she'd bought for him at the school store. And Ava gave him a pencil she'd earned at school, along with a picture and a note, including some addition problems "so Nate can learn math".

I absolutely loved watching Brenna and Ava try so hard to make Nate's birthday special for him. They were very forgiving of things they usually can't tolerate. They helped him with anything he needed. They spoke sweetly to him and told him they love him. It was enough to melt their parents' hearts.

After the girls went to school, one of his best friends came over to play and ride bikes.

Here's Nate trying out the new wheels. His poor friend was waiting for his turn. We finally got out Brenna's old bike for him, which was a little feminine and small, but better than sitting around waiting! Nate still shared some turns on the new wheels.

I wanted to get a cute picture of Nate in the morning light. Something really pretty that would showcase his personality and maybe capture those pretty green eyes. Instead I got this, a big yawn:

And a whole lot of squinting and exasperation. Oh well.

That afternoon he and I decorated his cake together. He wanted funfetti cake with white frosting and Buzz and Woody on it. I bought some funky pens that are supposed to write on icing, but I actually find it much easier to just pipe frosting letters onto a cake. Still, they came in handy because Nate helped me add some pizzazz with the pens.

Here he is just before we sang "Happy Birthday" to him:

And the big moment:

I wish I could remember what he wished for, since he told us all what it was. Maybe Scott remembers....I should have written it down right away!

We ended the night by watching a home movie of the first 3 months of Nate's life, which was totally fun to see how tiny he was when he was born. He's still little, though. I was just looking at him today and enjoying how cute and small he is. So much personality packed into such a little package! Here are just a few things I love about Nate:

1. He gives lots of kisses and hugs. Tonight he even offered me a "slobber kiss", which I tried to refuse. He insisted, though, and it turned out to be a relatively dry kiss on the cheek.

2. He loves to cook. If he hears the KitchenAid coming out, he comes running.

3. He is very social and will talk to just about anyone.

4. He loves animals, especially dogs and cats.

5. He is always writing down his name, which ends up being some combination of the letters "N", "A", "T" and "M". He can spell "MOM", though.

6. Nate is a man's man, really relating to the men in his life.

7. Although highly masculine and everything a boy should be, he still enjoys playing with Littlest Pet Shop and Barbies if Ava will allow him. And he occasionally requests to watch a princess movie when the girls are at school.

8. He wants to be a dad when he grows up, which just melts my heart every time I hear him say it.

9. He's still a ladies man. Every now and then a girl or woman will catch his eye and he'll tell me he's going to marry her. Usually it's a woman.

10. He loves to be read to but absolutely refuses to sit in his bed at night and look at books by himself before he falls asleep. So most nights either Scott or I will lay down with him until he passes out. Otherwise he comes downstairs to party with us in the living room.

11. He still ends up in bed with us every single night, along with little sister. It's getting very cozy in there.

12. Do not under any circumstances call him "little". He is big and don't you forget it.

13. He is, without a doubt, the most precious little guy I've ever known and I'm so glad Heavenly Father knew better than me and sent me a boy who was everything I'd feared and also everything I could ever want.

We love you, Nate! Happy Birthday!

My favorite photos from the pumpkin patch

Here ya go:

Halloween

We had a great Halloween. Church trunk-or-treat on Friday night, trick-or-treating tonight. I'll spare you the details, except to say that I decided to spare the kids my usual 30 minute photo session and just snake a few pics before enjoying both evenings. The only problem: I think my best picture is this one:She hates this sweatshirt, but she starts shivering when it's 65 degrees so too bad!

Ava at trunk-or-treat with two of her best friends, Mackenzie and Kea.

Pouty puppy:

Gwen's face for much of both evenings:
She was a ladybug, by the way.

Our little football player. I think people liked this costume best when they realized there was a girl in there:
Go Tech!

Ladybug #2, wearing her costume from her dance recital in the spring:

There's our happy boy! He liked being a puppy after all (after spending the last month protesting that he'd changed his mind and wanted to be a Clone Trooper):

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Sweetness and Innocence

Or mischief and mayhem?

Gwen is definitely both. I love her sweet kisses and enthusiasm for all the new things she's discovering in the world. She's talking much more; favorite words include "cacker" (aka, cracker, indicating any kind of food), wawa (aka, water, or any kind of drink), dog, bird, and Lila (her best friend in the whole world). So there's the sweetness and innocence. As for madness and mayhem, she is turning into quite the artist, lending her own special touch to walls, tables, and even (heaven help me) the leather couch at Lila's house. Thank heaven for washable crayons and markers and the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.

Here is Mr. Wonderful himself. You know all about this guy.

Together they are something else. I don't know why I think I need to get dressed in the mornings, but when I do I can't always convince them to follow me upstairs. I never know when I come down in 5 minutes if I'll find them innocently playing, like this:

Or if I'll discover Gwen with a black crayon in hand, rapidly covering the back wall and back door in scribbles and Nate with the hose from the back yard, watering the family room carpet.

Yikes.

A flip out ensued. (I'm not ashamed. You'd flip out too.)

And then prayers of gratitude were offered for the Magic Eraser and my handy carpet cleaner, which sucks up water when times demand it.

Both kids are still alive. And probably plotting their next misadventure.

Is there anything sweeter?

My little guy has been wanting to go on a date with me for some time now. Brenna and Ava got mommy and me dates a few months ago and ever since then Nate has wanted one of his own. Finally a couple of weeks ago he insisted that it was the day. Here were his requirements for the date:

I had to rollerblade and push him and Gwen in the stroller.

We had to make it all the way to Los Angeles.

We had to eat burritos there.

Don't ask me where any of that came from.

So I strapped on my rollerblades, put Nate and Gwen in the stroller and pushed them for 2 miles, at which point I informed him we were going to have to drive the rest of the way to L.A. (2 miles on rollerblades while pushing approximately 90 pounds feels a lot farther than it sounds!) While he was not happy, he finally conceded the point and we went home and got cleaned up.

Now, maybe you're not so good with geography, but L.A. isn't close enough by car to schlep there and back before the girls get out of school, so I had to fool him into thinking a 10-minute in-town drive was all it took to get there. We pulled up to a local burrito place, I told some pretty convincing lies, and we went inside for a lovely lunch.

I enjoyed that so much I even took him (and little sis) to my favorite cupcake shop for dessert. He wants to do it all again very soon, although it's probably time daddy got a turn.

Yes, amidst all his energy and mess-making Nate is quite charming. Especially today when he very seriously and sweetly gave me a hug and told me that I was a "very brave mommy."

He must have seen some of the diapers I've changed over the years.

The great county fair

This year we took two trips to the fair; first, a date night with just me, Scott and some friends. Second, a Saturday afternoon with all the kids in tow. No pictures of the first trip, just the second.

We love to see the animals, like this beautiful mooing cow.

Initially Gwen loved looking at the baby chicks on display.

Just seconds later she decided they were pretty gross. Here she is repeatedly yelling "Yuck!"

The full grown chickens were not quite so disgusting. (Hands down, the grossest animal at the fair was the pig. We could hardly force ourselves to go get a quick look, they stunk so bad. The things they don't tell you in "Charlotte's Web"!)

Once again the hands-on play areas are fun. Nate dug in the corn.

Brenna still had fun with most of the kids' stuff. I wonder if she'll still like it all next year....

Ava saddled up and brushed down a giant stuffed horse.

A very tired Gwen enjoyed grooming the horse as well.

Here's Little Miss Sleepy Eyes making a mess of an ice cream cone just before she screamed and thrashed through most of the BMX bike show. Don't worry; she and I took a walk so we wouldn't disturb the awesomeness.

The kids posed with one of the BMX bikers. These guys were impressive to watch and the kids loved meeting them and getting their autographs after the show. Nate was adorable; at one point during the show one of the guys finished a trick and came around to all the kids in the audience and got high-5's. Nate was so excited, he yelled to Scott, "He gave me a high-5!" One of the highlights of his young life.

The girls took a ride down the big slide.

And Gwen finally got her much-needed nap.

So what do you like to do for fun?

Huh. No kidding?

The very hungry caterpillar

Was living on our tomato plant in the backyard and has now been lovingly relocated to a jar full of tomato leaves. That's him with the white stripes. He is without a doubt the biggest caterpillar I have ever seen.We're hoping he'll form a chrysalis like the painted lady caterpillars we bought from Insectlore this summer. They were mega-cool when they emerged and we think this guy might kick their tiny little butts with his awesomeness if we don't kill him first.

If we thought she was lisping before

losing her tooth has kicked it up a notch!

The many faces of Gwen

I'm really enjoying getting to know Gwen's personality. She's a spark-plug, so she fits right in with the rest of the gang. I've captured a few photos recently that show a little of that personality, so I thought I'd share.

First, this girl loves a good beverage. She wants something to drink all. the. time. In fact, now that I think about it, I'll bring this up at her 2 year checkup in a few months, just in case. So this is very frequently what she looks like:

Lunchtime, and she's munching while babbling. Most of her "talk" is still unintelligible at this point, but that doesn't keep her from babbling on. At least she knows exactly what she's saying, even if I don't.

This afternoon after church (and another day of refusing a much-needed nap) she played in the backyard, shoveling mulch into our kiddie pool. Once again, I have no idea what she was telling me about here:

She's always amusing herself:

Look at that sweet, innocent face.

Don't let it fool you too much. In recent weeks I have caught this little girl:

- Filling the bathtub

- Jumping fully-clothed into the tub with a bathing sibling

- Sitting on the bathroom counter using every toothbrush she could find

- On top of the very highest counter in our kitchen "cleaning" the fish tank with a paper towel (I also found one of the fish laying on the living room floor, fighting for his life)

- Biting older siblings who will not let her have her way

- Sneaking chocolate chips out of the pantry

- Applying my expensive anti-aging eye cream to every part of her body

- Flushing copious amounts of toilet paper down the toilet

- Picking up dog poop in the backyard with her bare hands (hence why I scoop as fast as I can!) She would love nothing more than to be given a shovel and put in charge of pooper-scooping.

- Sneaking my Diet Coke every chance she gets

- Sneaking out of the house and into the garage to climb on top of the now unused changing table in storage out there

Those are just a few. She gives her big brother a run for his money!