Darth Vader No More

Most of you know we have affectionately nicknamed Aidan Darth Vader because he sounds so awful when he breathes After a year of his snoring getting worse and worse and him sounding like a pug dog when he is in a resting state like watching TV, it finally hit me that maybe his tonsils had something to do with it. The doctor had never said anything about them being big before, but I decided to take him in and have them checked. Sure enough that was the problem. The ENT said, "oh my gosh, they're huge! The poor kid can barely breathe." I didn't even realize how bad it was until we went to California last month and we shared a room with him. Neither Al or I got any sleep. I don't know how poor Olivia has done it all this time.
So we took him in to get his tonsils and adnoids out the end of March. He is terrified of doctors even if they aren't touching him so you can only imagine how well he handled all of this. He has let me know in no uncertain terms that he never wants to back to the doctors house (the hospital) again!
He had a rough week and was drugged up on loritab non-stop. You know he's not feeling well at all when he puts himself down for a nap, but all the sudden he was back to normal and now I have to get close to him and listen for his breathing when he's sleeping. It's amazing what a night and day difference it made for him. The craziest thing about it all is that his voice sounds so different now. I keep waiting for it to go back, but maybe this is how he sounds without a huge obstruction in his throat. Thank you for all the sweet little gifts and cards and treats you sent to him. He was so excited about all of them. Olivia was jealous enough that she was willing to get her tonsils out. We are so lucky to have the best friends and family. The only issue now is he thinks he can have popsicles and ice cream for all three meals.

Remember When?

I just had a flashback today. Kelsee has been impatiently waiting her turn to be a lunch worker. That is one of the perks of being a forth grader. She came home from school with a little glow about her, so excited that it was finally her turn to help this week. She then gave me the play by play on how it all went down...she had to put a hair net on (boys got paper hats) and big plastic gloves and then they got to put on plastic aprons which she informed me "we throw away and get a new one the next day". She then told me with some disappointment that she handed out the cartons of milk today and "most everybody asked for chocolate, but every once and a while a first grader would ask for white and I would put down the chocolate and grab them a white one." I could instantly picture myself in grade school in my plastic apron and hair net and how excited I was to be a lunch worker.
She has told absolutely everyone she's seen today about her most important job. She is so hopeful that she will get to use a scoop and serve food tomorrow. We are crossing our fingers for her that it works out and she doesn't end up on dish duty. Who knew it was so cool to hang out with the lunch ladies?

It's the big 3 (times 2)!

Well, we rushed out of one holiday and right into the next. Aidan and Olivia turned 3!!! They were so excited for this birthday. They are starting to get what it means and that they get presents and cake. It was all pretty low-key, but they're not old enough to know the difference yet. We just had a few people over for dinner, opened presents, and had cake and ice cream. They were so excited about their cakes, I think it was their favorite part. I did a guitar for Aidan because he is so into them right now. He will even play his "air guitar". And I did a purse for Olivia because she has to carry one with her everywhere we go. I think I need to come up with a cake that works for both of them next year. I love coming up with the ideas and creating them, but this was a little time consuming!
This year was the most challenging and yet the funnest year with them yet. They learned how to tag team in order to create more mischief. I am running morning til night cleaning one disaster after another. They have learned how to blame each other. They have learned to run in different directions so I sometimes have to choose which one to run after. And they have decided they don't require as much sleep as they used to. But they are each others best friend and will take down anyone who tries to mess with the other one. They are talking non-stop and are say the funninest things (appropriate or not). And they make me happy I'm their mom everyday!
We can't wait for what's next....hopefully Aidan being potty-trained. According to him big boys do wear diapers and there is nothing wrong with that.

Rock Bottom baby

I got the funniest call from Al the other day. It's no secret he has a really crappy job right now and he is doing his best to be happy about having it. He gets to do fun things like scrape slime off produce rack at the grocery store, fix the handicap carts, and any other maintainance work at the stores around town. So he was at Lowes standing over a super smelly trash compactor trying to fix it when he looked down and spotted what he calls "a gold mine". He called me and said, "you know you've hit rock bottom when you jump into a trash compactor to fish out hundreds of little knobs that the hardware store is throwing away." One of the guys he works with walked past, saw him in there and yelled at him to get out, but Al convinced him to help him haul them to his truck for a cut of the profits. Anyway, we now have a huge tub in the garage that he is sure is worth a pretty penny.... All I'm saying is don't be surprised when you see a listing on KSL for cabinet knobs. I love my sweet husband for all his hard work and enduring this crappy job so I can stay home with our little monkeys.

GO RCC!!!

Kelsee made the competition cheer team at Raglan Coast Cheer this spring. She has the best cheer coaches! It is a husband wife team that are the coaches for the Dixie State cheer team and have now opened up their own gym. There are 3 teams at this gym and each one has about 25 girls on it. Kels is on the youngest team and loving it.

They have had a few performances at Dixie football halftime and a couple of high school games, but this last weekend she had her first competition up in Salt Lake at Alta High School (mine and Al's old stomping ground). I have to say I had no idea how serious this all was. There was a panel of judges, a crew of spotters, and a herd of girls in sparkly costumes and tons of glitter make-up. I couldn't hear anything because the music was so loud, but it was so fun to watch her. There was a huge storm that morning which meant a lot of our family traveling to see her missed it because of the roads, but she did great! And according to her she smiled and looked at the judges the whole time because that is what they get deducted for.

Her team took 2nd place!!! Way to go Kelsee! Next stop...Vegas next month, a couple more up north and onto Disneyland in the Spring.

Mommy I want an i-pod for christmas

Who' s 2 year old asks for an i-pod for Christmas? Apparently mine does. We were walking through Costco the other day and Olivia looked at me and said, "Mom, I want Santa to bring me an i-pod for Christmas, a pink one." I thought there was no possible way she knew what she was asking for so I said, "What do you do with an i-pod Liv?" She looked at me and rolled her eyes and said, "you put it in your ear an lissen moosic mom". She had been previously asking for Santa to bring her a battery powered car for Christmas and I was hoping she would come up with something else she wanted instead of that, I was just surprised that it was an electronic. I was bucking for a new doll or something. So I said Olivia if Santa brings you an i-pod he will not bring you a car too (thinking that would deter her) she said, "ok mom, I don't want the car. I want an i-pod". At this point I had to flat out tell her that Santa does not bring i-pods to 2 year olds and she asks, "why not?" What is the appropriate response to that?

Kelsee was in a panic when she heard this. She was trying to explain to Olivia that we have already sat on Santa's lap and asked for a car and we mailed him a letter that said you wanted a car and you can't change your mind. So as it turns out we are back to asking for a car (which again I didn't really think she knew what she was asking for, but she said "the kind you push the pedal and drive outside". What happened to the baby doll?