I am not a huge fan of Halloween but my kids, like all kids, adore it. The one thing I love love love about Halloween and any other holiday is doing the parties in the kids classrooms. Kaden was gone hunting for his Halloween party but Ashley, Maryanne and I went and did Kamri, Ryans, and Hannah's. Ashley had some friends who ran a ranch and were moving and needed to get rid of 75 pumpkins so she offered to take them off of their hands. We let all the kids pick a pumpkin and decorate it. Then we made this cool witches brew that was black and we put dry ice in it to make it all smokey and the kids got a kick out of it. My mom used to do that for my class when I was little, and I always thought it was the best! KyKy even got to come along and help out and was such a good trooper! I had such a good time and can't wait to do their Christmas party! Then for Halloween night we took the kids around to a few houses and ended up getting a ton of candy. So the rule was that they had to eat it all within 2 days then it was going in the garbage. If I didn't throw it away then I would eat it and once I start I'm out of control. So we endured lots of tummy aches but they got accomplished their mission! (FYI-I don't normally let my kids eat a bucket of candy all at one sitting very often, only at Halloween and Easter)

Camping

Ever since Dave moved to Mesa we try and do something fun as a family every weekend when he comes home so last weekend we went to the mountain and went camping. I have to say I have a wonderful dad. He helped me get together all the "man work" of camping and then he even pulled our trailer up to the mountain, set it up, made these cool lights to hang from the trees and then stayed there with us til Dave got there Friday night. It rained all night on Friday and then Chris and Ashley and their family came up for the day on Saturday, and so did Holt and Allison, and we all had such a good time. The kids had a blast making bird feeders with pine cones, peanut butter and bird seed. (Thanks Ash) Then we took them on a hike and they decided to climb the side of the mountain. It was so nice to get out of the house and away from life for a few days. Plus camping is great when you have a trailer!

Little Miss Cheerleader!

Last Saturday Kamri went to the THS cheer camp. It was so fun to take her and brought so many memories of when I was little. She LOVED it! She loved learning the dance and the cheer. She now tells me that when she grows up she wants to be a cheerleader! I have to admit, she would be a dang CUTE one too! Here are some pictures of her cheering at the football game last night with her cousin Kenzee!

Chronic Ethmoid and Sphenoid Sinusitis

The last couple of days have been 2 very LONG days for us. Kaden woke up early Thursday morning about 330am from a bad dream. I got up and gave him a hug and he felt warm. So I gave him some motrin and didn't think much of it. At 6am his fever was back and was pretty high so I kept him home from school and he ended up sleeping on and off til about 1pm (which is NOT like him). He had said that his stomach hurt so I just figured he had the stomach bug. Well, then I decided to check his throat to see if it was red and sure enough he had a few pockets on his tonsil. He also had really bad body aches, and a pounding headache that wouldn't go away. So I took him in and they ran a strep test and a flu test and it all came back negative.

So, that night I gave him motrin for his fever again and he went to bed. At about 1030pm, I got woke up by him SCREAMING like he's being brutally hurt. So, I go to his room and after listening to him for a few minutes and the bizarre things he is saying I realize he is hallucinating. He was so scared and so convinced that he was seeing everything he was telling me and didn't understand why I couldn't see them. He scared me so bad that for a second I wondered if maybe someone was in our house and he wasn't seeing things. But I got him to calm down and I just put him to bed in my room.

The next morning I call the Dr. and he tells me to take him to the ER. They ran tons of blood work and put an IV in him and did a CT and tested his urine and did another strep test and they found blood in his urine, and his white clood count was 25,000 and normal is 10,000! The CT of his head showed that he has what is called Chronic Ethmoid and Spenoid Sinusitis. This basically means that he has had a sinus infection for about 2 years!!! (Yes, I feel like the WORST mom ever) The Dr. asked me if he had symptoms of sinus infections and I told him he had a stuffy nose alot from allergies and he said it wasn't allergies! When Kaden started 1st grade he started getting a stuffy nose but it wasn't bad and he didn't feel bad so I really thought he had allergies. My gosh we live in Arizona, we all have allergies! So he gave us antibiotics for 10 days and told us we had to see an ENT specialist and Kaden would then be on meds for 6 weeks before this would go away. He also said that this disease has caused his bad headaches, hallucination, body aches, the pain in his eye (2 days prior to this), his not being able to focus in school (we thought he was ADD and were going to have him tested next week), and his not being able to make it to the bathroom because this disease causes urgency! It is most common in adolescent males and it can also cause meningitis! It still blows me away as I type it!

That night at home he gets another bad headache and fever and can't hold the antibiotics down so back to the ER we go. I was so worried about a seizure or any permanant damage that might happen. It just broke my heart because he knew that they were going to poke him again and he was so scared. He fell asleep in the waiting room and would wake up crying and saying that he won't throw his medicane up again. It was awful! Dave was working and my dad came to sit with us at the hospital and Dave didn't want us to wait until he got back to give him a blessing so I called Ashley and she sent Chris right down so he and my dad could give Kaden a blessing. I felt much better and so did Kaden. Within minutes he was cracking jokes and made us laugh the rest of the night with his comedian show! I am so grateful for the Priesthood and that I have a husband who holds it. They had to poke him 3 times to get the IV in. After the first time we asked for something to numb it and it worked so he was better after that. He was extremely dehyrated so they gave him fluids and a high dose of antibiotics. They checked his blood again and did another flu test and x-rays and checked him for mono and talked about doing a spinal tap, but didn't. Everything came back negative and his white count had come down a little. I don't know if I have ever been so scared in my life. All I wanted was to make him better and there was nothing I could do. I can't imagine my life without him.

We got home at 330am and Kaden woke up today and was so excited to tell me how everything feels better! We will go see the ENT as soon as we can get in and hopefully put this whole thing behind us! As much as Kaden hated being poked he LOVED watching his blood being drawn! He had us take pictures with our phones to send to his Aunt Halie! He is such a good kid with a sweet spirit and I am so proud of the little guy he has become!

Busy Busy Busy!!!

Hey blogging buddies-I know I'm the worst blogger ever. So much has been going on and changed in the last 8 months I haven't had any time to do anything, especially blog. But here I am ready to go. So let me rewind to January. Dave was not able to find any work and planning on going to school soon, so after a lot of thought I decided to find a job. Luckily for me it was pretty easy. I started working at Thriftee at the beginning of January and immediately it was heartbreaking for me to leave my kids. I cried on my way to work, on my lunch and then for the rest of the night. They did let me work nights so that I could atleast be with my kids during the day. Dave was able to find work hit or miss. So he was home most of the time and was a GREAT stay at home dad! He did it all! Cooked, cleaned, laundry, helped with homework, the whole nine yards. Then I kinda pushed him to go to school for nursing, and being the wonderful husband he is, he agreed whole heartedly even though it wasn't what he wanted to do. He's always wanted to be a cop but I didn't because of my own personal issues with the idea. So the closer it got to him starting school I just couldn't let him do it. So I gave in and he is now trying to get into the police academy. In the mean time he is working for CTI hauling acid. And I got to the point where it was killing me to leave my kids. Kyra was waking up every night with really bad dreams and screaming for me to not leave her and I just couldn't do it anymore. So again, after alot of thought and prayer, I decided to go back to school and finish my nursing degree. I quit my job in May and went back this summer full time and soon realized that I had to reteach myself how to think like a student after thinking like a mom for 8 years. I went to school when Kaden was 2 but quit when I got pregnant with Kamri, so it had been awhile. Plus, I never was dedicated to going to school. I never applied myself in H.S. and just got by. Well, I worked really hard this summer took 4 classes and got straight A's! (I've never done that before). Anyways, I'm not taking as much this semester but hope to enter the program in Spring 2011. I'm excited and scared at the same time. Did I mention how hard it was to go back to school with 3 kids?!

Today was the first day of school. I'm having mixed feelings. Kamri started kindergarten. I thought she was going to do great and not be upset, and boy was I wrong. She didn't want me to leave and she was scared and nervous and I just wanted to pick her up and take her home with me. I'm so sad. I asked her this summer if she would stay home with me for 1 more year and she said, "Mom I can't stay home forever"! Her teacher's aid was great and came to the rescue and I was able to bribe her with an ocean water after school. I love that I get to spend time with Kyra but am so sad that Kamri is gone. I miss her like crazy and wish time would stand still. Kaden on the other hand ran off to the playground before I could even take his picture at his desk. Little stinker. He's so cute and is such a good kid. I can't believe he's in 3rd grade. Here are some pictures of the first day of school. Hope the rest of you moms are ok today.

This is the month that I most dread and the month that I love most! Last Saturday, May 9th, was Kaden and Kamri's birthday. Kaden turned 8 and Kamri turned 5. O' where has the time gone?! In the morning we did a combined birthday for Kamri and her friend Payton. Payton's mom made the super awesome castle cake! LOVED IT! Then we hurried home and got ready and had Kaden's baptism, (which was so neat). Then after the baptism we had a BBQ for Kaden at the park. The day was exhausting but perfect. I am so proud of Kaden for being baptized and making those special convenants with his Heavenly Father. He is such a good kid and I know that he will grow up and make a great missionary someday. And my little Kamri, what can I say? She is growing up so fast, I can't hardly stand it. I want to keep her young forever. She is my sassy and stubborn child, but also the most sincere, giving and sweet little girl and is ALWAYS willing and wanting to help others. I am so proud of her for standing up for what she believes in. I love you both so much and hope you had a GREAT day!!!

DUBLI

Ok, so we have been introduced to a new website that has just launched in the U.S. It's called Dubli and it's kind of like ebay but a little different. All of the items on Dubli are brand new and are under warranty. Dave and I have our own website for it and would love for everyone to check it out. If there is something that you want to check the price on and need some credits just email us and we would be glad to send you some free credits. You don't need to contact us if you want to purchase anything, it's just like a regular website that you would order from, we just want you to go through our domain! If you would like to know more about it please let us know and we would love to help. There is a click through on my sidebar under my favorite websites. Have Fun!
www.udubli4u.com