Jinxed!

I have the flu...nuf said!

Bah Humbug!

What our Easter feels like!

No, not really bah humbug! Our family loves Easter so much, but this year, we are in the throes of the FLU!! Aaaahhh! It has not been fun at all, and it seems that I may be the only one not to get it yet, although I'm sure I just jinxed myself. My hands are so dry from washing them all the time. I've tried not to cry because our beautiful week and our beautiful Easter day is spent inside giving doses of medicine, wet washcloths on heads, warm baths, lying on couches and beds, and literally watching EVERY movie we own...literally! I had to go rent about 10 more videos to help our family bear with this event because we have chosen not to have cable for a while in our home. Because of how young Logan is, I've had to be very careful when I just touch my other kiddos. I love them so much and it's so hard to see them this miserable and not be able to hug, squeeze, and kiss them as much to make them feel just a little bit better.

Kannon has had a fever for a week, and finally we are seeing an end in sight for him, although I'm sure there will be a lasting cough because of his asthma. Alexa is doing better, too, but the excessive whining and crying is an indication that it's not over yet. Braden and Paul came down with it about the same time on Friday and it gets worse before it gets better. There have also been very high fevers here.

As for the flu shots, the doctor told us that this year they got the wrong strain, obviously. We've also had the variety of flu symptoms...high fever, stuffy, runny nose, cough and congestion, sore throat and chest pain, headache, body aches, and even stomach troubles. I'm just so tired of this...I've been stuck in the house for the week and I'm about to go insane. I try to look at the positives, though, and I must say that I have certainly been blessed! I have been taking care of everyone and yet I still have not gotten this illness. If I do, it will be after everyone else has gotten better and Paul can help with Logan. That is certainly a blessing and one that I am very thankful for. I was able to go to the grocery store, as well, which we were in major need of. So in this Easter season, I am very thankful for my health.

As the new season has shown up, we will definitely be able to feel the old gray days become glorious and golden because our health will be restored again hopefully soon. It's a time filled with flowers, green grasses and trees, butterflies, and the flower fairies and root gnomes that help bring about our Aunt Spring by pushing up those marvelous Spring flowers. We've missed celebrating the Spring Equinox with waking the flower fairies on a bell ringing walk. We've missed our usual egg hunt and treats from the Easter bunny, although he told me last night that when everyone is feeling better, he will make a surprise visit just for us! We've missed being with our family and friends and celebrating Logan's first Easter. We've missed going to church, especially in our new Easter clothes.

We do remember the blessing of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, though. I can feel the love that Heavenly Father has for me as I know, in this trial our family is going through, that he knows us each individually and sends abundant blessings just for us. What a wonderful gift the Atonement is so that we may be able to one day be with both our Heavenly Father and our brother, Jesus Christ again. I'm so thankful for this knowledge. So wishing everyone a wonderful new Spring and a beautiful celebration of Christ's resurrection at Easter! Happy Easter, happy Spring, happy new beginnings!

Good days to come, though!

Whoop!!

Let's see, which one did I root for? I wonder?....

VS

Gig 'Em Aggies! Our boys are moving on in the basketball tournament. We still have faith in them! The score was A&M 67 BYU 62. Good game! Whoop!!

Our Spring Break! (Part 3) - Here Comes Peter Cottontail!

My parents (Alli's) and sister came to celebrate Easter on Saturday since they will be out of town for the real thing...they are going snow skiing without me! Wah! We had an Easter egg hunt and a wonderful dinner together, plus we celebrated my dad's birthday with cake and ice cream. It's so fun to have Memaw, Papa, and Aunt Kimmie come to visit! The kids get spoiled quite often, but the love that they show us by coming to see us often really is the best! It was great to watch the kids hunt for those eggs. Braden slowly looked carefully while Papa helped him and nudged him in the right direction. Kannon and Lexi just went all out, even climbing a pole and on the playset to get those eggs. There was one egg left under a riding toy and we played the hot/cold game with them and finally Lexi threw the toy over and there it was...except big brother Kannon...well just watch the video, you'll see. There was a brawl in the backyard until the confetti eggs came to save the day. It just wouldn't be Easter without those confetti eggs, or if you're from San Antonio like I was at one time, those cascarones!

Kannon looks a little scared to go on an Easter egg hunt! Who knew?

Bound and determined to get that egg!

Braden found one in our blooming irises!

Yea! Confetti eggs!

The loot!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Our Spring Break! (Part 2) - Everybody Jump, Jump!

Thursday of Spring Break, Kannon had a friend over and we decided to go to The Bounce in College Station. It's such a great place to get kids' energy out as they climb, slide, jump, play in balls, and run around all over this big room of inflatables. I carried Logan around in our sling, but he was congested so that didn't last very long. It was pretty busy that day so trying to keep track of 4 kids with a little one in your arms was a bit crazy. Many times, though, one of the kids would come sit next to me panting for air saying they were tired and then within the next few seconds they would jump up and run away again. The Bounce also has a little diner in it with some fun foods like hot dogs, mac and cheese, etc. So we decided to just stick around and eat there, plus have some more play time. Trying to take pictures was a joke, too. I had my camera on the wrong setting with red eye reducer so there was a double flash and it was very slow. So basically all my pics were of blurry children. I guess it shows how much activity was going on. I barely could get them to stop for a few seconds to get a picture. We will definitely be going there again!

Our Spring Break! (Part 1)- We're Going to the Zoo!

Since the schools had off for Spring Break this last week, the kids and I decided to have one, too! What's fun to realize is that we can do these fun things anytime we want, but it's so much better when you get to go with close friends. On Wednesday we went to the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco. It was Logan's first big trip anywhere and luckily we had some good friends to help out. It was just the perfect size zoo to see everything and play at their beautiful playground. The kids and I had a blast!

The howling monkeys; the Gibbons

King of the Jungle in the background

A shot of all 3 kids right next to a lion, even though you can't see the lion.

The aquarium; notice the little stream next to the window. Not sure if that was placed there to deter the kids from getting up next to the glass or not. They all ended up jumping into it and playing in it!

The otter...Brett (my cousin) would love this!

An elephant!

This was so fun...a slide that goes into the water of the otter exhibit.

The beautiful playground...I want this in our future backyard!

Brand new boys

(This was done end of Feb) We decided the boys needed haircuts after trying to grow it long...thought it would be fun for the summer being the cute surfer boys look. I couldn't take it anymore and on a whim Paul and I took them to chop it. I had to take a before and after pic so I could remember what they used to look like. I like their new clean cut, but sure wish I could hold out to see what they would have looked like...here's my brand new boys!


Before (Surfer boys w/cute beach babe)




After (Smooth and clean)

Snow Day...in March!

I absolutely had to add our snow pictures. It takes me a while to upload the pics off my camera, but this was so much fun. We had the largest flakes I have seen in a while, but they immediately melted when they hit the ground. Luckily we had received a phone call (from whom, we still don't know) at 7 a.m. and finally looked outside to find this great surprise. The kids are still in their pj's and were woken suddenly so excuse the groggy eyes and little protection from the cold. What a wonderful gift to have on a beautiful Friday, March 7th morning.

Nature...through a child's eyes

The other day, when the weather wasn't so wet, we went on a nature walk in our neighborhood. Kannon brought along his kid digital camera, hence the lower quality, and took some pictures. I was really interested to see how they would turn out. He was really proud and so was I. It's great to see through a child's eyes every once in a while!

The start of our nature walk...A rolie polie on Alexa's finger, even though you can't see it.


Our street


Standing in front of a yellow flower blooming bush.


A dandelion...we all blew the seeds everywhere!


One blooming daffodil!


I love this picture Kannon caught...the red berries of a youpon holly.


This was supposed to be a comparison of trees starting to bud and a dead one that was losing its branches.


Our neighborhood park


Our neighbor's beautiful garden!

The Luckiest

Well, I've been playing around with all the features on Blogger and had to add in a little music! I put only one song on right now because I just love this song so much. You may have to scroll down a little bit to get the song to automatically play. "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds of Ben Folds Five, was introduced to me by my sister-in-law and I have been in love with it ever since. I feel like I am the luckiest woman. Every time I listen to it, I think of my family and everything that they mean to me. Of course there are hard times and plain terrible days when it seems nothing is going right. In the end, though, I remember what is most important. All I have to do is go look through all of the pictures of my children on my computer and I remember what life is all about. My wonderful husband is my best friend and works so hard to make sure our family is taken care of. I love them with all of my heart! I am the luckiest!! So enjoy listening...

I'm 2 months old!

2 months old!

Logan now is 2 months old and is such a joy! He is smiling so much...has done the real thing since he was 2 weeks old. I don't know what else you would call it when a baby stops in the middle of eating, looks up at you with his beaming eyes, and gets a huge grin on his face. I had to stop looking at him to get him to start eating again. He is also doing some baby talking already. Here's a video just showing a glimpse of what he does every time he looks us in the face. Sorry it's a little crooked...Logan would stop and watch the camera so I had to film from the side. Hopefully his temperament will remain with him after he's 15 months. That's when my children's true colors shine through! Logan has slept through the night 3 times, and other times he only wakes up one time. What a blessing as a fourth baby! We just can't believe it's been two months already...wish we could slow time down a little!

Logan's stats (done 3/18, almost 11 weeks old):
Weight: 13 lbs, 4 oz.
Length: 23 inches

Logan's Blessing!

Today was Logan Blake's blessing day where he was given a name and a blessing in our sacrament meeting at church. It was a wonderful day! Paul gave him a beautiful blessing and I just found out that a dear friend wrote some of it down for us to remember. So many family members were able to come and made us feel very loved for this special occasion. Logan had aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and even great-grandparents! How exciting! I think it's so interesting that we were all color-coordinated in either blue or red/black/white. How funny! After church we had a luncheon at our home and all the cousins had a fun time playing together. Wish I had gotten more pictures of that. Logan looked precious in his white clothes. He also had fallen asleep in Paul's arms right before his blessing and slept through the whole thing. Very peaceful! For Logan's blessing, we feel very blessed!