Trunk or Treat

I am a terrible blogger.  Actually, my computer broke and all I have is my Ipad, so I can't upload any pictures or update my blogs without Jimmy being home so that I can use his laptop. Only problem with that is that he is pretty much always studying if he is at home, and therefore needs his laptop.  Anyhow, I had a few min this morning, so I thought I would just do a quick post with some pictures from this weekends "trunk or treat".  My kids looked SO cute in thier costumes!  Jimmy's mom bought them all costumes from Disneyland this year, so she saved Jimmy and I a bundle, and the kids are in love with their costumes! Not to mention, getting a package from Grandma is always exciting around here! 

In case you can't tell from the picture, we have Mom and Dad as football players, Seth is Captain Hook, Sarah is Jessi from Toy Story, Luke is Woody, and Kenna is Rapunzel.  

 Jessi and Woody riding "Bullseye".

 I just added this picture because I think it is hilarious.  This is how Kenna smiles for the camera. Kind of evil looking, but oh so cute!

Cute Rapunzel. (Sorry about the bunny ears, the joy of big brothers).

Dennis the Menace

 I don't mean to imply that my sweet little Luke is a menace....only that his antics remind me of the character in the Dennis the Menace movie.....always getting into trouble without ever really meaning to.....

Exhibit A:

Luke decides that mom's 4th of July jello looks to good to wait for the BBQ, so he decides to sneak into the refrigerator and "taste test" it a bit early.

The aftermath....not really BBQ worthy anymore :-(

Exhibit B:

Luke (aka "Dennis") thought it would be a good idea to unmake mom and dad's bed, and empty the shelf of all towels, sheets, etc..so that he would have a comfy place to take a nap.

Exhibit C:

"Hmmm.....mommy always puts the stuff on her face...maybe I should wear some too...."

(Yep, he decided to try out my brand new mascara, only he got it mixed up with lipstick).

This is his new obsession.  Superman. He seriously can't get enough of it. His Superman action figure goes everywhere with us, and every morning I have to comb his hair just like Superman.

This picture was taken in 96 degree weather.....but he will rarely let me take the costume off.

Superman

I have the flu.  

Its not fun folks. I think I might die.

Hopefully not, but just in case I do, I thought I would write a quick post about Superman.

What does Superman do when his little wifey gets the flu?  He gets up early and prepares all four of the hooligans for church by himself, and then takes them to church all by himself. Now, in case you are not familier with our religion, we go to church for three hours every Sunday.  Yep, its true. (We even enjoy it). Anyhow, I am worried that my Hubs might not survive on his own with four children. (I would most likely come home crying if the tables were turned).
 He is such a brave man.  I love him.  

This is not unusual about the Hubs.  He does this stuff often.  I am one lucky gal I tell ya.  When I was a teenager I used to pray for a wonderful husband and a man that would make my children feel as happy and content with life as my dad always made me feel.  I am happy to report that my prayers have been answered ten-fold. (Heavenly Father never forgets our prayers, even if they are from a long time ago :-)

I am laying here kid free (with a bucket next to me..just in case) and my mind keeps wandering to all the reasons I love my Superman....I thought I would share a few:


~ He laughs at my jokes (we all know he is faking it, but that is why I love him)
~ He sneaks back to get me an extra sample at Costco if it is something I really like (even when he gets the "stink eye" from the sample ladies)
~ He takes care of the bills and such
~ He is so loving and tender with our children
~ He works two jobs so that I can stay at home with our children
~ He cries each time one our children enter the world

~ He is becoming an accountant (even though he hates jobs where he has to sit in an office all day)  just because he knows it will benefit his family
~ He had no money for Mother's Day so he spent hours helping the kids write love notes to me and then put them a mason jar so that I would have something special (there were a few love notes from him in the there too...he he)
 ~ He doesn't get mad when one of the kids stays up to spend time with him, even though he is tired from working all day and night
~ He still plays church basketball with the young bucks
~ He has a very strong testimony of Jesus Christ
~ He continually tries to be a better person
~ He took all four of his kids to church so that his wife could rest at home.....I know I already mentioned that, but isn't it AWESOME?!?!?

Things I love.....

 Little Boys that fall asleep while reading scriptures....

Older siblings teaching our baby to walk....

 Super Hero Girl with messy hair.....

Super Hero Boys in Tigger costumes....

Darling, chubby baby that unloads my pantry 50 times a day.....

The art of "paper airplane making".....

(The new hobby around our house, I think we have every single paper airplane making book checked out from the library right now. I love it)

Folded Laundry...

Why mothers don't wear make-up part 2

Part 1 found here.

#1 I woke up to the sound of Sarah throwing up all over my kitchen floor. It was lovely. Last nights dinner. #2 Luke asked for a granola bar...apparently Jimmy didn't open it properly, so crying and a huge fit ensued. I tried and apparently I opened it wrong too. Needless to say we wasted two granola bars. #3 Kenna decided that since Luke was having a tantrum, she should have one too. #4 I clean up the throw up and bleach the kitchen floor so that Luke could have a very sanitary spot to pee. #5 Bleach floor again. #6 Decide I want to take a shower (because at this point I smell like throw up and bleach)...but certain little people decide that a fist fight sounds like a lot more fun than mommy showering. #7 Kenna poops herself and gets to bathe before me. #8 Get Kenna out of the bath and discover that Luke found the mustard from the fridge. #9 Bathe Luke #10 I attempt to have the boys clean their room....I end up cleaning 98% of it myself. #11 the children all beg me to take them outside...I oblige. #12 Seth crashes his scooter and insists that he is dyeing. So we come back home. #13 Reinforcments arrive in the form of the Hubs and invites me to shower with him. I oblige. (Get your mind out of the gutter, we like to conserve water around here).

Updates on the family :-)

Things are great here in the Evans home.  We are enjoying our summer and getting outdoors as much as we can. One thing about Utah is that summers are gorgeous!  And there are so many family-friendly things to do. 
I will give you an update on everyone, since we have been outdoors so much and our little blog has gotten a bit ignored....

Seth- Seth has been loving being home for the summer.  He is still in love with soccer and plays everyday with his friends.  He is trying to earn a new soccer ball by reading to Mom for 20 min everyday. Without Daddy being home much, he is always helping me around the house and being such a great older brother to the little ones.  He is signed up for a soccer league here in town, which starts at the end of the summer, so he is looking forward to that :)

Sarah- Sarah is so excited to start school this fall.  She talks about it ALL the time, and she is so excited because we have already started buying her back to school things.  Her dance starts up again in two weeks, so she is thrilled about that.  We just redecorated her room, so she is enjoying finally having a "girl" room.  She has shared with Seth most of her life, so now that she shares with Kenna, we can make it as girly as we want :)

Luke- Luke is such a big boy! He just learned to ride his bike...so he practices that EVERY day!  We had a bike parade at church, so we encouraged him to learn to ride it so that he could participate in the parade and he did!  We are so proud of him! He also got potty trained in 3 days!  Now he is so excited because he can wear his super hero underwear everywhere we go!

Kenna- Kenna is as cute as ever. She stands up on her own and can take 2-3 steps without assistance.  She sleeps through the night now, so she is a LOT happier during her waking hours (she was waking up 3-6 times a night to nurse).  She loves her brothers and sister SO much!  She especially loves waking up Luke from his naps.  She starts giggling as soon as we start walking down the hall to wake him up.  She cries everytime Daddy leaves for work.  And she goes crazy if she sees anyone with ice cream, and she won't stop yelling until they give her a bite :)

Melissa- Well, Luke got potty trained the same week Kenna stopped nursing and slept through the night, so I am obviously GOOD!  I am working on re-doing an old dresser we have, so that is a fun project that keeps me busy right now :)

Jimmy- Jimmy found out that he got accepted to the Masters of Accounting at BYU, so he is very happy and looking forward to starting that in the fall.  Meanwhile, he is working two jobs so that we can save up money so that he won't have to work during the school year, and I can keep staying home with the kiddos.  We miss him, but we appreciate his sacrifice for us :)

Nosy Neighbor

 Since we live in an apartment, there is often a lot going on outside our window during naptime. After I put Kenna down each day, I usually hear the blinds rustling in her room a few min later.....

 I go in and find this...She is trying to peek through them to see what is going on outside!

 "What? You wanted me to go to sleep?"

After going in a laying her back down 200 times, she finally falls asleep :-)  

Oh, how I love this little girl.

A year from heaven....

Congrats to my amazing, smart, wonderful Hubby! He was accepted to the BYU Masters of Accounting program! First of all, let me explain a few things.....the accounting program at BYU is the top rated accounting program in the US. This means two things: a. It is super hard to get in, and b. it is an extremely tough program. They really put you through the ringer, and so keeping your grades up is difficult and exhausting. But, somehow my Jimmy managed to do it despite the fact that he had to work full time providing for a family of six. I am one proud wife!!! I really don't understand how he managed to do it during our family's year from hell, let alone do it well enough to be accepted to the Masters program. I have been pondering this a lot lately, which leads me to my random train of thought...... This year our family has really had a tough go....not as tough as some, but tough none the less. Here is our year in a nutshell....... It started of with us rushing our Sarah to the urgent care because we thought she had tumors in her throat...(it turns out they were just her tonsils that had swollen so large that they were threatening to cut off her airway, so she had to have emergency surgery to get them removed).... Next I gave birth to our "surprise" baby. She of course is a huge blessing, but it took me a long time to come to grips with the fact the I was pregnant again without planning on having a baby. (anyone who has ever had an "oops" pregnancy can relate....it was SO hard to wrap my brain around).... When our sweet surprise was a week old, Daddy started the accounting program at BYU....which meant mommy was alone with four children six and under ALL the time.... When she was six weeks old, I got so sick with my gallbladder that I could hardly function as a mom/wife, then ended up having emergency surgery to get it removed, which meant I was laid up for way too long (have you ever seen a house with a sick mom? NOT a pretty site).... Then when she was two months old we found out that she would need to have the top of her skull removed due to a birth defect, which meant a hospital stay and lots of follow up treatments.... Then, as if things were not hard enough, Jimmy lost his job.... Then I caught our kitchen on fire (yes, I was JUST boiling water. Don't make fun, it could happen to anyone:-) Writing this down it doesn't seem so bad to me, but going through it was TOUGH! But you know what? I wouldn't trade any of it for anything. I have never felt closer to our Savior, never had such a strong bond with my husband, or appreciated my children so much. This past year has left me so grateful for what I have. I am learning that it doesn't matter what you may or may not have in life...if you have your family and the Gospel of Jesus Christ you have it all. My husband and I joke that we have had the year from hell, but when we look back we can see that it was really a year from heaven. With trials sent our way to help strengthen us as a family. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that gives us just enough to help us grow and a Wonderful Savior who steps in and takes over when we can't take any more. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

My Sweet Kenna Girl.....

 ~Kenna crawling~

Well, I was hoping that my next post would be filled with pictures of a cute itty bitty blond girl adorned with super cute hair bows made by Aunt Nikki.  But, sadly....we still have the helmet.  We went to the plastic surgeon's office with high hopes that the helmet would be coming off (so much so that we accidentally left the car running in the parking garage of the hospital the ENTIRE time we were there! No, I am NOT joking....true story).  Anyway, we will save the car-running-unlocked-in-the-parking-garage-story for next time :-)

Since Kenna's skull is almost completely grown back, we thought for sure the helmet therapy would be over. The Dr. told us that her head looked good, but he is afraid if we take the helmet off too early her forehead will protrude out again. Boo! I almost started crying when he told us that (I know that I am silly, most people have much worse problems than kids with helmets). After a few min of talking with my sweet, wise husband, I felt better.  He reminded me that we chose to have the less invasive surgery knowing she would need the helmet for a whole year.  So, I have come to terms with it and have stopped feeling sorry for myself.

We did have good news also.  The Dr still doesn't think Kenna has any developmental delays, so that is wonderful!  She has not had any seizures (the most common side effect of craniosynostosis), and she is hitting all her milestones on time.  50% of kids with this birth defect have delayed reading and spelling skills, so will have to wait and see on that one. 

On a funny side note, she does have 8 teeth with one more cutting through.  This wouldn't be so weird except for the fact that we just learned that children with this birth defect usually grow extra teeth!  Our babies are usually just getting their first tooth around 9 months old, so having 8 teeth at 8 months old is a little worrisome.  They say getting extra teeth really isn't that big of a deal, they just pull out the ones that the babies don't need.  Weird.  Hopefully she is just an early teether and not a "grow too many teeth" kind of girl!

She is starting to pull up on stuff....which usually means walking is not too far off.  I LOVE it when my babies start walking.  Much less gross than crawling on dirty floors and having gross dirty hands all the time! 

Basketball Star

This is Seth's second season playing basketball. He loves it!

His daddy LOVES that he plays too. I think that is one of the main reasons Seth loves it so much....because it is something that he can share with his Dad. He gets really upset and doesn't play as good if his Dad can't make it to a game. And every time he makes a shot he looks around until he finds Jimmy in the crowd to make sure Daddy was watching. Jimmy yells the entire time Seth plays...(yep, he is one of those dads), but Seth loves it.

Seth plays really well. He hustles, passes well, shoots well, and does his fair share of goofing off also....
He is completely fair....when he passes the ball, he will pass it to each teamate and once he has passed it to everyone he starts over. He also will pass once, shoot once, pass, shoot, etc.. every time he gets the ball....(mathematical kid, just like his dad....everything has to have a plan and be in some kind of system).
I love watching him play. His confidence has grown so much since he played last season.

*Disclaimer....His jersey only says "JAZZ" because we live in Utah and that is what the league is called (Junior Jazz) and it is sponsored by the Utah Jazz.
We in no way support, endorse, or affiliate with the Jazz organization :-)
We are still 100% a LAKERS FAMILY!!!!!!!!!

Cooking adventures

Our family LOVES to cook! The kids almost always have a cookbook checked out from the library. Lately they have been wanting to make ethnic foods, so we have been letting them each choose a theme and make a meal once a month....

Seth made us a Chinese meal. It was so yummy! White rice, Chinese style cabbage, and egg drop soup. Seth was proud because he did it pretty much all on his own!

Sarah made us a Brazilian meal. Our friend is from Brazil and she had Sarah and I come help prepare the food for her daughter's birthday party.....after helping, Sarah was convinced she was a Brazilian Chef and wanted to make a traditional meal for us. She was so cute, she asked the librarian for "Brazil Cookbooks" and looked through all of them before making her choice.
She made us traditional Brazilian candy, Pork with a yummy citrus marinade, and cilantro-lime rice. It was super tasty!

Whenever Jimmy has a spare Saturday morning he likes to make the kids a special breakfast. The kids love helping him and he always so patient with them. This week he taught Sarah and Luke how to make biscuits from scratch and let them do most of it! They so excited to help daddy!

Lukes Chores

Luke has two chores. One is making his bed everyday (which he somehow manages to get Sarah to do everyday for him) and the other is to wash and dry the table after each meal. He loves doing his chore (the table one only) and takes his job very seriously. Nobody is allowed to help him wash it, but sometimes we can help him dry it. He is so much fun :-)

Ham

Being the third child, Luke does not get as much attention as he needs or wants.
Anyhow, when he gets an "ouch" he likes to make up for all of the attention he feels he is lacking.
The other day he fell off of his stool and hurt his knee. THis is how he sat for an hour while waiting for Daddy to come home (according to Luke, Daddy can fix anything...even knee injurys). Seth, Sarah, or I had to sit and hold him while he told us over and over that he could not walk. It was actually quite cute. Now whenever he doesn't want to do something he tells me he "can't walk" because his knee has an "ouch". Such a little ham.

Kenna at six months

If anyone reading this has heart problems....stop reading now. The pictures below will give you a heart attack and you might die from too much cuteness....consider yourself warned. Now, on to the fun stuff.

My Kenna is six months old! Time seems to go faster with each child I have (maybe because I get busier?). Anyway, I am still coming to terms with the fact that I have four children...let alone a six month old. I'm old. And completely crazy. But who cares???? I am happy and I have four adorable children. Ok, enough of my nonsense. Here are Kenna's 6 month "stats"....

She can finally roll over both ways!
She can sit up with help.
Loves avocados
Loves her siblings
Got her first tooth 3 days ago
Has reddish hair (no joke...Her daddy even calls her "Little Red")
She enjoys being tossed into the air more than mommy likes
Cries for daddy if he is anywhere within a ten mile radius
Won't go to anyone but mom, dad, or her siblings
Hates all doctors and/or anyone in/or around a doctors office
Has beautiful blue eyes
Sticks her tongue out ALL the time
She gets very offended if we eat dinner and she is not at the table with us
She loves to jump in her bouncy chair
Is adorable (just thought I would add that....the pictures really speak for themselves)
Is getting super chubby (again, the pictures speak for themselves)


Oh my....maybe my favorite picture EVER?


Cuteness. Playing with her toy.


They were in the room with Jimmy and she just randomly put her arm around Luke.


She was chatting SO MUCH when I took this picture!

Chunky Monkey :-)

Raising Kids....

Raising kids is a lot like riding a roller coaster...

You sit in the coaster and gradually scoot up the track, all the while thinking that the chain that's pulling you up is going to snap at any second and plummet you backwards towards the earth. But then you somehow make it to the top and the view is absolutely incredible ~for a second~ and then gravity pulls your poor body down faster than a human is meant to travel and your stomach is sucked up into your throat and you feel like your going to die...but then it's over and you somehow want to do it again.

That's how my days go...it's a scary ride but sometimes in the midst of it the view is breathtaking and I wouldn't trade it for anything. But before I know it I am free falling again and it's scary and unpredictable......but for some strange reason I always want to get up and do it again the next day.

Maybe I am crazy, but sometimes I think that I have the best job in the world. (I did say sometimes....today Luke spit milk in my face and I could have been the person that cleans up the puke at Disneyland and it would have been easier).

Luke

My sister informed me today that she doesn't even know what Luke is up to these days because I haven't posted about him in a while....So this post is mostly because Aunt Jessi yelled at me, but you can all indulge in the sweet cuteness that is my Lukie Butt!!!

He is still up to all things naughty...including (but not limited too): Throwing things at people, screaming at me for anything he is told "no" about, spitting, head butting....etc.




Absoulutly in love with Kenna. From the moment he wakes up, he wants to be around her all day. He is always bringing her toys and taking the ones I have given her away because as he would say: "She choke that mom".



Dancing. Anytime, anywhere...just like Seth and Sarah. He will bust a move in the middle of the grocery store if they play anything even remotely "hip hop"-ish. (Bruno Mars is his favorite).




Already protective of Kenna. If anyone says anything about her that he doesn't think is right he will yell "Kenna my baby" at the top his lungs :-)



His Buzz backpack goes everywhere with him. At any time you can find it packed with all sorts of treasures. (The other day I found toilet paper and a string cheese in there). Random kid...but I sure can't get enough of him!!!!

Craniosynostosis Part 3

The Helmet Process......

Part of choosing the less invasive surgery for Kenna's birth defect meant that she would have to wear a helmet for a year after the surgery to reshape her head and also to protect her head. They told us that the bone they removed from her skull would take a year to grow most of the way in and the rest (a small quarter size area) would slowly grow until she turned five or six.

Well....I am happy to report that her skull has already grown back! She has two quarter size areas on each side of her skull that have not grown back yet, but they think those spots will continue to fill in. If not, she will get another surgery when she is five to fill in the spots with bone cement (can you believe what they can do these days? I mean seriously, cement for your head?!?). Anyway, I am choosing not to think about that because I am telling myself that those spots will fill in by then ;-)

Every two months Kenna has to get a new helmet. The process for getting a new one is so not fun! She is not a fan and neither am I. Anyhow, what they do is put her in this little chair, put a nylon down over her face and arms, measure a million times (this is only a slight exaggeration, it is close to a million ;-), and then they cast her head. Let me tell you, trying to hold down a 6 month old while they put strips of plaster all over her head one by one is not easy! And then we have to sit and entertain her while it dries, and then the Dr. has to pull it off of her head without messing it up......fun times :)
Her Orthopedic Dr. is absolutely the best Dr ever......The day before her surgery I had called about 20 different offices and they had either never heard of the surgery and the kind of helmet she needed, or they didn't take our insurance. By the time I called the Dr she has now I was in tears and he was so sweet. He saw her that very same day (canceling an important meeting to do so) and has met with her every two weeks since the surgery.

I only have a picture of her in the nylons, because this is before she got completely ticked off at the Dr and at me and I couldn't walk away from her to take another picture. As you can see, she was already getting upset at this point....