Expecting Twins

Lately I have been feeling a need to blog again. Our family is expecting twins in Sept/Oct 2013. We are really excited and nervous.  I am really bad at journal writing, so I decided I'm going to write down my 9 month pregnancy adventure to always remember. 

Now I have to wait until Karlee gets home from school to take a belly photo for me!

This has been a crazy week filled with Dr appointments.

  This is a picture of Stella a year ago!  She was admitted into the hospital for 3 days because of this weird abscess she developed! Crazy!  Luckily Dr. Olson was able to take her back to the OR and drain it for her.  The point to sharing the story of a year ago is #1. I really have no record besides the events in my brain and #2. It happened again. AWWW!

(Sorry Matt, its the only picture I have of the whole event!)

This time the infection started out on her thumb and moved to her belly!  We are not sure how it spread to her abdomen but it did and was causing her a LOT of pain.



It was so weird.  It started out as these little red spots, that looked like a zit and then within a day became hard and huge like a boil.  Then started to spread across her belly.  Monday we took her to the Dr and they decided to give her a shot of antibiotics.  Tuesday they gave her another shot of antibiotics and Wednesday they kicked us out the door and told us to go to a Plastic Surgeon.  Luckily she hasn't had any fevers or they would have admitted her.  Now we are just placing a silver, yes silver patch on it.  Its pretty cool, the silver is suppose to draw out the infection and hopefully by next week they wont have to put her under to drain the rest! 

 But she is still her crazy, happy self! 

Biggest Slacker

I figure its time to start blogging again! My goal is to be more diligent on journal writing for my family! We have a great time looking back at old pictures and post. Plus I taught a lesson Sunday about the importance of record/journal keeping.......and I don't want to be a hypocrite! Right?? So no recap of the last year and a half, just the pictures I have saved on my computer will do. I don't want to get overwhelmed so we are starting April 1st!

My little boy isn't so little anymore! Cannon had his 9th birthday on April 11th. I love that little man. He is so strong willed yet very tender hearted. The other morning he melted my heart. The kids love racing each other to the bus stop. Karlee thinks she has to win all the time or she gets really mad and pouts. Well they were about half way there and Karlee tripped and slammed into the cement (HARD). I wanted to run out there so bad and pick her up and make sure she was okay, but I stopped and started watching what she would do. Cannon realized Karlee wasn't racing anymore and turned around and saw her laying on the cement crying! He immediately turned around and ran to her side! He gave her a big hug and helped her brush off her hands and knees and they slowly walked side by side to the bus stop together!

I couldn't believe it! Its such a great feeling as a mother to know your kids really do love each other.

The next day was his birthday. All he wanted was a gift-card so he could go pick out his own presents. He spent his gift card on a few presents of his own and put one back so he could have enough to buy Karlee a Barbie!?!

Shocked yet again! I can't believe my little boy is growing up to be such a great person with a huge heart!

Happy Birthday Cannon! We love you!

Surprise!

Last night we crashed YW's to have a surprise birthday party for Skye! It has been so hard to pull this off without her knowing. So many different things going on and trying to rearrange the plans they already had for the activity that night took some time and a few lies. Thank goodness Matt had a night off!

Thanks to all those who came and helped pull it off.

(Yes Skye! You are blushing!)

(The two boys were so excited to spray her with silly string. )

We learned a few things about Skye for example, it is true she almost died going skydiving, she hates mint chocolate, has been to Canada, likes to tell stories (Cohen said that!), been to the bus stop with highlight foils all over her head and that she really is turning 30.

random pics from Oct- Dec

Friday we took the kids to see Santa at the mall! Cannon was the only one who wanted to go.

Karlee wanted nothing to do with Santa, but she had no problem jumping up on Mrs. Claus's lap. Then she had to whisper in Santa's ear what she wanted. I was really happy Mrs Claus was there! She made Karlee's day!

Stella was little red riding hood for Halloween!

I wanted to post this picture because you can see in the background our coffee table and end tables that we got for FREE. I decided to re-finish them an antique red.

I LOVE the way they turned out!

Our NOT SO SCARY witch!

my two favorite ham's! He is going to kill me but how could you not love the CHEEZE smiles!

Cannon's Thanksgiving Program!

starting today

In an effort to "catch up" on my blog I have decided to start with today's date instead of trying to catch up from August! I'm trying to get better! I really like to journal my thoughts and events, but I have been really busy and have put it off. In the last 2 months we have had many visitors. Dave and Averee came out in October. Steve and Tammy came out for Halloween. Gert and Quinton came a few days later. Then on Tuesday I took my parents back to the airport. And right now, we have one of the sweetest girls staying with us, Cherrell! Needless to say life has been busy! We are so excited for the Christmas season to start. We have put up and decorated the Christmas tree and today we are trying to get the rest of the decorations out. This season I am trying really hard to get my kids to understand the true meaning of Christmas. We have been thinking of things to give to other people, whether it is in the act of a service or a gift. We have started going through toys to donate to salvation army and stalked up on our baking supplies to start making goodies for friends. Hopefully in the next few days I will be able to get some pictures up of our progress.........but don't hold your breath, I am the worlds biggest procrastinator!

Maddilyn Stella's Birthday Bash

Maddilyn celebrated her 1st birthday on July 8th. She is such a fun baby and totally different than the other kids. She was born with curly, curly black hair which has slowly transformed into wavy, brown hair. I can't believe how fast a year has gone. We love her very much and can't imagine life without her. We celebrated her 1st birthday with the people who get to see her almost everyday.....our great neighbors.

Maddilyn with her crazy curly hair!--6months

1 month
1 year, and 4 teeth later!

Maddi loves to play with her brother and sister. She loves to have them chase her around the coffee table.

Her nicknames are"goat." Simply because she eats everything or atleast puts everything in her mouth. Other nicknames are Mad Maddi, Baby Stella, Maddikinz, Maddi lou or just Mads.

All of the kids wanted to help her open her presents. They kept getting closer and closer until........

she escaped from underneath them and the presents.

All of the guests who came and celebrated with us

Two of a kind!

Happy Birthday Maddi!

Harsen's Island, Michigan

A couple of months ago I got invited to take my jewelry to Harsen's Island for the shopping day during Ladies Week. What that is, is a week where the ladies that belong to this Yachet club go for a day to go shopping. They invited different boutiques and gift shops to set up a booth so these ladies could go shopping right on the island. I was lucky enough to be invited. It was an experience I will never forget. My mother in law flew out to Michigan to help me get ready. We took a week and made a whole bunch of necklace dangles, watchbands and bracelets. It was so fun to bead with her again. After all she is the one who started this addiction for me.

We started the journey early Wednesday morning after dropping the kids off and headed to Harsen's Island. Its about an hour north from where we live.

This island is so beautiful and some of the houses on this island are AMAZING!

We set up our booth at "The Old Club". It was so fun to have one of my best friends right beside me selling her cute wallets, purses, aprons and makeup bags. Click on my "Skye-O shop" tab to see all of the cute things she makes.
Here is what Tammy and I came up with for my booth. I thought it turned out pretty cute.

After all was said and done, I felt it was totally worth it. I had a blast and will not forget the incredible experience. Hopefully they will invite me back next year!

This is just outside "The Old Club". It was so beautiful to be so close to the water. I can't believe something so beautiful can be so close to Detroit.

On Sunday while getting ready for church, Karlee decided she needed to fix Maddi up a bit. She ran in the bathroom and said "Mommy, you need to see this, Maddi is such a cutie pie!" I couldn't help but laugh when I found a total of 8 bows in her hair. She was so upset when I told her we needed to take them out for church. It is so funny how Karlee thinks Maddi is her own personal life size doll.

My sister gave us this idea and so far it works great. Instead of using the naughty chair or sending them to there rooms we make them hold a quarter on the wall with there nose until the timer rings. It sounds like a cruel and unusual punishment but they have to hold still, can't talk and if the quarter drops, the time has to start over. Yesterday during dinner I had enough of there bickering so they both got in trouble. I was trying not to laugh, but it was pretty funny.

Monday Cannons class had a mothers day program. It was lots of fun to see my son actually singing and participating. It was a great mothers day treat.

I remember singing this song when I was little. So cute!

Lil' bit of Maddilyn

It feels like forever since I have posted pictures of Maddi. Steve was in Uganda for a month and took our camera so, I'm using him as an excuse. We have been back from Idaho almost 2 months and Maddi has changed so much.

We let her soak in the sink because of a nasty diaper rash caused by antibiotics. She normally doesn't bathe in the sink!

She looks so much like her daddy it is scary. I have pictures when he was a baby and they both have the same crazy hair and adorable faces.