Just the Beginning ... Or The Middle

The title refers to the fact that we are now officially done with our third Halloween Party of the week, with a couple more to go. Today marked Koria and Kimball's preschool Halloween Party/Parade. Jared was kind enough to stay with Luke and Layne while I went with the older two to help them out. After a stunning parade around town, we visited some local businesses for Trick-Or-Treating, then followed that up with passing out treats to each other, a few songs and activities back at the preschool, and finished up with Koria and Kimball detailing to me the enormous bags of loot they'd scored to top it all off. Here's the three of us right before we headed over to the festivities this morning. And for those of you thinking, "How long is Kendra going to go as the seventies hippies chick, the answer can be explained by the following:

Jared returned home late last night after his latest business conference in St. George to find me in the middle of entertaining Koria and Kimball with games of "Red Witch, Green Witch," "Witchy-Witch May I?" and any other variations of a game turned-Halloweenish you can think of (I'd promised them that they could stay up and see their dad). 70 piles of Halloween treats needing to be put into bags lay atop the cupboards (I'm going to need to get used to doing double duty on snacks for the rest of my life). Koria insisted on wearing her third costume of the week (this time a witch) for the party the next morning. I'd realized the night before that Layne had an appointment with her occupational therapist an hour before the Preschool Halloween Party was to begin ... and that's when I reread the note K&K's teacher sent home from school requesting that all parents come dressed up in a costume themselves, as it would "make it funner for the kids."

"Aaaaaahhhhhhhh" ..... that's me groaning.

Well, this year, funner equals the old seventies outfit.

Sooooooo .... this morning, after getting four kids under four ready for the day, two complete with costumes and suitable hairdos, and one therapy session underway, Jared showed up to let me have the chance to go with my older set of twins while he watched the younger two. I have to say, Layne's therapists liked the outfit. They liked my New York smoker accent. They didn't seem to mind that it's a five-year repeat.

Moral of the story is, get used to the girl from the Bronx. She's gonna be around for the next several years -- at least as far as I can see.

Chillin' before the parade began

This is one of Kimball's and Koria's good friends, Cassidy. She invited them to her dance class Halloween party on Tuesday right before school. That marked Koria's second outfit in a week's time period. Kimball, thankfully, has been just great with being Darth Vader, "as long as it scares the girls and makes them scream," according to him. Did I mention that I've been jump starting the car for the last week because our battery has been having issues and it just happened to die on me at the dance studio when I went to pick them up? Yeah, Cassidy's dad helped me jump it again. The kids were only ten minutes late for school. Maybe I should have dressed up that day too, and the teacher would have been more entertained by our tardiness.

I thought this shot was great from the parade. I loved their costumes. I know the mom of these two little ones, and she's expecting again. She told me that it was only appropriate that she play the part of Rizzo. If you don't get that, just rent a copy of "Grease" for the night. You'll laugh.

And when I said loot to describe the kids' Halloween treats from the day, I really should have termed them as being "a haul," because they were. I didn't know if they would be able to even carry their treats out of the school! Things sure have changed since the time I was in preschool .... WAIT .... I never was.

I was robbed.

Oh well, I'm not in the mood for a repeat. Guess the kids will just have to share with me. To tell you the truth, I don't think they'll notice if I just slip a few myself.

Can't wait to see how much more we'll end up with by Saturday night.

Fog 2

Fog 2

Koria and Kimball headed off early this morning on their way to a fieldtrip to the dentist's office. They assured me that they would not touch anything. We'll see how much our bill is after they return. When we drove over the the preschool, we found ourselves in the middle of a thick fog, and with the early morning sun coming up, I had to run back to the house and grab the camera to capture some of it. Nature is magical.

I found some other great scenes on the way, so here's a few more from Luke, Layne, and my drive this morning.

Alright, here's the other blog again

For those of you who don't remember the other blog, as has been noticed per email, Facebook, this blog, I'll give it to you again. It's as follows:

http://knowhowtopicem.blogspot.com

I update that one at least a few times a week. Later yo.

Fall Break 2010

I'm finding it hard to keep up to both blogs these days, so as always, if you're curious at a more up-to-date look into our lives, just check out our other blog. On to other things, here's just a few pictures that I took while we were up in Sugar City for the past few days for Fall Break. All but the first picture were taken at the cabin last Thursday. Becky and the kids and I decided to head up to the cabin and the beautiful October weather that we're all enjoying.

And this first pic? Well, I'll just sum it up by saying that Luke has two great loves in his life:

One being his Aunt Becky (I'm only #1 when she's not in sight), and the other being food. He really enjoyed the whipped cream used for strawberry shortcake last Friday night.

Ash Berries in Fall

The Aspens

Old Yellow Screamer

The Tetons from a field on the far west end of the valley (I'm loving figuring out my zoom lense!)

Grandkids

While up at the cabin this past weekend for both labor Day and in support of my dad, who just found out a couple of weeks ago that he has stage IV Melanoma, I volunteered to take pictures for my parents of all of their grandchildren for their wall of fame in their home in Sugar City. I thought it only appropriate to start off the lineup with the two who started it all -- sure glad you did, Mom and Dad. I owe you the world! They're pictured in order, from youngest to oldest. Hope I didn't mess up .... I'm sure I'll hear about it if I did.

Ashlyn

(sorry for no picture here, kid. I understand you'll be arriving into the family any minute. Hope all goes well, Lance and Katrina!)

Layne

Luke

Dorrin

Landon

Grandkids (cont)

Kimball

Koria

Kedryn

Cade

Nicole

Grandkids (cont)

Elise

Kaitlyn

Micah

Tyler

Mariah

Good-Things-to-Come

Good-Things-to-Come

This is a short video from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the church to which we belong, that gave me a lot to both think about .... and cry about today. I hope that you view it and enjoy it as much as I did, especially if you've ever lived in or around Kannaraville, as we have. There are many more like it that you can view for yourself on the Church's official site at:

www.lds.org

Just Us ... Just Today.

Jared and Becky introduces K&K to "Star Wars" while I was in the hospital with Layne, and let me tell ya, it's a hit. They have been begging and begging to watch the series, so Jared let them watch episode one today (whatever it's named -- I'm not too big on the new ones). Following our cleaning out of the garage (refer to our other blog as to why Koria correlates it to the Lord trying His people's "patience and faith"), they talked their dad into letting them watch "A New Hope," per request of Kimball. He gets a kick out of the fact that Princess Leah gets captured in that one. This is a pic of the punks, mid-movie.

Meanwhile, Luke and Layne were waking up from a nap, rolling around and bouncing up and down in their cribs. Layne's learned a new skill the last few days -- hamming it up for the camera. Put a lense in front of that little girl's face, and she wips out the mega-cheeser.

Luke's still working on those molars, clearing off the finish on the side rails of his crib in his downtime, as seen in the background. Makes me cringe just thinking about it. He doesn't seem to mind though. He's still happy as ever, as long as I'm within sight. He's taken a liking to biting my clothes too, especially my pants. It's been so hot here this month that I've hesitated to even wear them, but I learned my lesson when Luke got ahold of one of my legs the other day and gave me quite a surprise. Hence, I'm dealing with heat, not bite marks.

And that's just us ... just today.

And the last pics that I'll post from Tuesday ....

All right, I'll exercise some self-restraint and not post any more pictures from the day. There's just so many I love. Anyway, here's the last of this four-part post.

Chillin' at the "I Am A Child of God" Exhibit for Children in the Church History Museum of Art (which I recommend taking your kids to if you live close by)

Kimball moving the cars through the maze by magnet

Koria playing the part of Mary

Small in comparison

The Black Family on the Square

More pictures from Tuesday

Refer to the last couple of posts for explaination as to where we were at and what we did on Tuesday. Yeah, I'm just excited to post anything.

Dad and Layne

Koria in front of the Salt Lake Temple (with the ten plus stickers she managed to get from the nurse at Primary Children's)

Kimball in front of the temple

Here's some quotes from the last few minutes as he watches me type:

When I told him that he could go have some fun playing in his room with Koria, "Mom, fun's just too fun for me. Koria just likes to throw me around and spin me up in circles."

When he asked me if he could play the Wii and I told him that there are a lot more exciting and good things to use his time doing in life, "But I have done other things today, Mom. I ate breakfast and stuff."

When saying the prayer this morning, "Heavenly Father, I thank thee that Mom's so brilliant." I love that kid.

When on the couch, waiting for the fifth snack of the day, "Mom, my tummy's exhausted. It just needs more food."

And from Koria regarding the same issue, "Waiting ..... waiting ..... waiting....." in a singing voice, over and over, and over ......

Joseph and Emma

More of Jared (he's gonna kill me)

Pictures from Tuesday, August 24th

Like I mentioned in the post below, we maximized the day after Layne's doctor's appointment with a few different activities. The next few blogs will highlight a few of those, mostly in picture.

Lion's Head at the Lion House

L&L swinging at the Orem City Park

Nap time on Temple Square (notice what Layne loves to do during naptime)

Luke enjoying the shade

Scenes from the reflection pool

Kleefstra Syndrome

Last Friday, we received a call from a geneticist that looked at Layne while she was admitted to Primary Children's Hospital. We had been concerned about her development and abilities already, but he decided to do some genetic testing after several questions and physical exams where done. To sum up the results of that genetic testing, Layne's just been diagnosed with a very rare genetic disorder called "Kleefstra Syndrome," a problem with the 9th chromosome. It has only been discovered over the last three to five years due to advances in the way chromosomes can be examined and studied, and because of that, Layne is one of only a small number of people to be diagnosed in the world, the first seen at Primary Children's. There are some specific issues that result from this, which you can read up on more fully, if interested, by doing a search for Kleefstra Syndrome on the internet. That'll save me a lot of time a detailed explanation, but what it all comes down to is that, from what is known, she will be facing some physical and mental disabilities throughout her life, which we feel blessed to know about and encouraged to help her with. Some of the feature of this disability include:

Developmental delay

Learning difficulty or disability

Recognisable facial appearance

Low muscle tone

Possible heart conditions

Sleep difficulties

Seizures

Behavior difficulties (similar to those with Autism)

Strabismus (the syptoms she has already shown with her eye sight)

Slightly unusual hands or feet

Hearing impairment

Kidney anomalies (which we have already ruled out for her)

Connective tissue disorder

Patches of lighter skin colouring

Dental anomalies

Possibly, overweight

Layne fits a lot of the symptoms, and not so much the others, but she will be needing extra help from professionals, and family alike. We were quite relieved to find out that there is help for her, what the condition is, and that this is managable, at least from what is know to date. She's one special girl, and we value her and all of our children. We have hope for the future, and know that she's come to us the way that our Father in Heaven meant her to, that with His help, all things are possible.

We found all of this out early on Friday morning, and then decided to make the most of the day by wandering around Temple Square with the kids, enjoying some Mongolian BBQ and all-you-can-eat ice cream (especially Luke!), and an afternoon at the Orem City Park. Since Koria and Kimball zonked out on the trip home, we treated them to a late-night movie of "The Empire Strikes Back." They are now convinced that they are Han Solo and Princess Leah. I caught them pretending to call each other on make-believe phones yesterday while they were playing outside, using the names Han Solo and "Princess," as Koria prefers to be called. They really have an imagination. They've decided that Star Wars characters will be a good theme for all of us this year for Halloween. We'll be sure to take pictures.

Thanks for all of the prayers and support on our behalf. We've found peace over the last couple of weeks, due to our own prayers and many of yours, the temple, scriptures, and the gospel in general. I have a new theme for life. I messed up some wording while offering a prayer this past week, and accidentally said, "I have faith in life before death," instead of "after," but caught myself and started to think, "It's as much about having faith in life here and now as it is having hope of a perfect life to come. We're going to try and live each day to the fullest, enjoying each step in the journey. Hard to say when five loads of laundry still need to be folded, kids fed, changed, etc., but each day offers some spark of happiness if we'll let it. Hope you join us on the journey.