Bowling

Today we decided to take the kids and go and do something as a family. We went bowling at Sparetime and had a great time. Kaymin got the high score of 104 and Blake and I came in last place in the 70's. Yeah, our family isn't the greatest bowlers, but we sure had a great time. Gerrit kept throwing fits because it wasn't his turn all of the time. He would throw himself down on the ground and pout. Earlier today I went to Robert's Arts and Crafts and he came with me and got a balloon. I got so tired of him letting it go and me having to climb up on chairs to get it from our vaulted ceilings that I finally tied it to his pants. It came in really handy, because I could always see where he was. All I had to do was look for the blue balloon.

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we were going to spend it with Blake's family. My sister-in-law is working at Marie Calendars and she was bringing the pies. Since I wasn't making any this year and pie is my FAVORITE dessert ever, I made some the day before. While I was making them, Kameni wanted to make one of her own. I have little pie pans and she grabbed it along with some dough and got busy. She made this pie all by herself. I didn't even help her.
It snowed the day before, but it ended up not being the blizzard of the century, but it did leave us with a couple of inches of snow. While Kameni and I made pies, the other kids went out to play. I didn't want Gerrit outside since the high was in the teens, but he threw a BIG stink fit, so I caved. He had a ball and stayed out about an hour. The neighbor kids were outside too. I have no idea what my kids would do without these neighbor kids. I am sure glad they are there.

I stayed up late that night doing my usual online shopping until about 1am. At 6am I woke up sick to my stomach. I was nauseated and crampy and plain old yucky. I was SO mad. Why couldn't have been the day before or even the day after. But NO, it had to be on Thanksgiving. I am guessing it was the stomach flu since Kameni had it a couple of days before. I cried while Blake took the kids to Thanksgiving. I ended up sleeping almost 4 hours and it was really nice to be able to rest when I didn't feel good without anyone wanting anything from me. I still wish I would have felt good so I could enjoy them yummy meal. Oh well, Blake brought me home and plate and I ate it the next day. It wasn't the same, but it sure tasted great!

The next day we always set up for Christmas. This year Kaymin and Kameni decorated the whole entire tree by themselves, including putting on the lights. Blake and I were both working and they didn't want to wait for us so they didn't it themselves. I was so happy and it turned out great! I am loving them getting older. It sure helps me out a ton.

4th Grade Thanksgiving Party

Kaymin's 4th grade Thanksgiving party was on November 19th. I was called to see if I would come up with the game. Fremont football team was playing in the finals so a lot of parents were unable to help out. My wonderful mom came with me to help and I appreciated her so much. I decided to do 4 different A Minute to Win It games. I think the kids had fun. They were really noisy and usually kids don't really care what we do as long as they are having a "party". For once I actually remembered my camera, but forgot to take pictures...go figure!

Moving Stinks

So my best friend and next door neighbor, Sarah, moved the first of November. I have dreaded this moment FOREVER! I have loved her living right next door. She is the one that I would go to at 5:30am in the morning when I took Blake to the emergency room. She is the one that I would call when I needed to vent. Her daughter, Rylee and Kameni are best friends and would practically live at each other's houses. Sarah packed everything up herself and didn't need my help, so I took Rylee. Kameni was thrilled and Rylee is so easy to have over. I don't even know she is here. Well, now that Sarah is gone...I feel so lonely. But, I have to say that the new neighbors seem super nice. Maybe I can find me another walking buddy. Here's to hoping!

Update on the Girls

Yesterday the girls finally went back to school. They were out for 7 days. I think it was good. They got plenty of rest and were pretty much back to themselves by then. Kameni really struggled and wouldn't eat. Finally when she felt like it, she wanted jerky. Here I bought a million Popsicles and she wanted jerky. Whatever...I was so happy she was eating something...anything. Kameni wouldn't eat or drink so I had to basically force water down her just so I wouldn't have to take her back to the hospital. She sure would get mad at me, but I really didn't care. I just wanted her feeling better.

The kids had parent teacher conference on Wednesday. All of the kids are doing really well. In fact their teachers all told me that they are above average. Maybe they tell that to all of the parents. Anyhow, I was very proud of my kids. Kameni went and wasn't doing too well. Their scabs still hadn't fallen off so I decided to just keep them home for the rest of the week. I was worried about Kaymin's teacher since they have tests every Friday. However, her teacher has to be the best teacher so far Kaymin has had. She just told me to not worry about it. Since Kaymin is doing so well, she needs to focus on getting better and not about getting caught up. She told me that Kaymin would just start on Monday and not worry about anything she missed. Oh how I appreciate and love her so much for that comment. So for now the girls will go back to school on Monday.

Girls Get Their Tonsils Out

On Thursday, November 4 Kaymin and Kameni got their tonsils out. This has been a long time coming. We have money in our flexible spending account and we will lose if we don't spend it. This is the first year in 5 years that we haven't had a surgery. Anyway, I took them in to our ENT and he wouldn't take Kaymin's out since she hasn't had strep throat 3 times in one year and he told me he would take Kameni's out when she had her 3rd set of tubes. At the last minute he decided against it since she didn't snore really loud. Well, here we are 1 year later and she is still getting ear infections. Kaymin has had strep throat twice this year and tonsilitis 3 times. I finally decided to get a second opinion and took them to another ENT. I went in ready to fight, but he was WONDERFUL. He looked down Kaymin's throat and told me that she should have had them taken out a long time ago. He then turned to Kameni and told me that any child that has had 3 sets of tubes, should have their tonsils removed regardless. He then preceded to tell me that he throws the textbook out the window and uses his knowledge of 30 years experience to say that my girls need their tonsils out. I was SO happy. I felt such a relief that someone would actually listen to me. He explained everything in detail and we set up a surgery date. We had to be at Ogden Regional Hospital at 8am. My mom came with me and Blake stayed home with Gerrit so he could work from home. We were suppose to go in for surgery at 9am, but there was a child ahead of us that went in for tubes and our doctor ended up having to rebuild his whole inner ear. So the 30 minute procedure took over 3 hours. Finally at 11:30am Kameni went in. Kaymin was SO nervous and Kameni just wanted to get it over with. Once they took Kameni, Kaymin's butterflies went crazy. After about 30-45 minutes they came back for Kaymin and the doctor came in and told me that everything went great for Kameni. He said that her tonsils were larger than he anticipated and that as he was getting ready to cut them out, her left tonsil just fell out. He told me that I was really lucky to have brought her in when I did. We then went down to Pediatrics to wait for Kameni to come out and into recovery. The rooms in the Pediatrics were right by each other. I wished they could have been in the same room (shoot...I should have taken a picture of that...bummer), but they didn't have a room large enough to hold both of them. Blake called and said that he had a meeting in SLC and needed to leave by 12:30pm so my mom left right when Kameni was wheeled back to her room and headed to my house to watch the boys. I thought I would be alright but it was pretty tricky taking care of both girls in different rooms. Lucky for me there was this hospital executive that was shadowing us. I thought at first she wanted to sit in on the operation, but she wanted to observe the care and hospitality I was receiving. I was really glad she was there even though it was kind of crazy having a lady with you for 8 hours that you really don't know. But once we were in the Peds area, the alarm sounded twice and the doors on the room would close and we would be in lock down. Once we were in separate rooms (each of us with one of the girls) and the second time we were both in the same room. Luckily we were in Kameni's room. Kaymin didn't even realize what was going on. But Kameni came out and was willing to drink her apple juice. She did really well and you couldn't hardly tell she had just came out of surgery. When Kaymin's surgery was done the doctor came back to talk to me and told me that Kaymin did really well and her tonsils were huge and full of gunk. Again he told me that I was lucky to have brought both of them in to get them taken out because they really needed to come out. When Kaymin was wheeled back she began to cry and have coughing spasms. She was saying she couldn't breathe and something was caught in her throat. She was coughing up mucus and blood. The nurses were trying to calm her down, but she really had a hard time. They ended up giving her some Loratab to settle her down and it really worked. She was able to drink some apple juice but just wasn't doing as great as Kameni. Once Kameni was discharged she ran into Kaymin's room and climbed in bed with her. It was wonderful to have both girls together. Since I was there so long, the nurse ordered lunch for me. I got to choose what I wanted from their menu had chose steak, with red potatoes and carrots. It was delicious. After observing them for 2 hours, we were free to go home. The hospital spoiled the girls. They each got a teddy bear, a patient doll to color her face, a princess crown, a wand, two rubber princess ducks, a princess trick-or-treat bucket, a princess PEZ dispenser, and fruit snacks. SPOILED!!! Not to mention that grandparents gave them wood stuff to paint and paint books. We got home around 4pm and I ran to Wal-mart to get their prescriptions filled. Kaymin ran in the door and threw up. The doctor did tell me that with tonsils they usually throw up twice. I set my alarm that night and got up at 1:30am to give them more Loratab so they could sleep. The next morning Kameni woke up with a fever of 101 and didn't want to eat or drink. Kaymin looked SO much better than the day before and she was been really good and eating and drinking. She wanted Top Ramen for lunch and ate the whole package. She was been drinking quite a bit of Gatorade. Kameni wanted Macaroni and Cheese for lunch and ate one bite and started to cry. She has been drinking water and apple juice...not very good, but I have been mean and making her. The girls have been laying down in my bed watching movies and relaxing, just the way they should so they can get better. So many wonderful friends and family have come over to see them and have brought them things to do or eat. What a bunch of spoiled girls, but they definitely deserve it.

Today, Kameni is throwing up and not drinking or eating yet again. I made her drink water AGAIN. She threw up shortly after and got really mad at me and told me that she threw up because I gave her toilet water. I swear...where does this girl come up with these things? Again, I have been making her and one day I hope she realizes it is for her own good. Kaymin is looking great and is doing really well. I am so happy to have it behind me and can't wait until they are feeling back to normal. It has been wonderful for me to have to stay home and take care of them. I am actually finally able to get some stuff around here done and I am so glad that the hard part is over.

Halloween

Halloween was cold and wet this year...kind of a bummer! Deep down I was actually hoping we would get rained out, but I remember Halloween as a kid and how upset I would have been. However, the weather cooperated and we went out when it was still sprinkling. It was fun to have Blake with us. We left our candy on our porch and ventured around the block. By the time we got about 1/4 of the way around, the rain stopped. The kids got a ton and I can't imagine if they got anymore. It sure was a TON of fun. I ended up buying 180 Airheads and had 7 left over when we finally turned out lights out at 8pm. I figured I had better turn them off when a little old Hispanic lady about 60 years old showed up dressed up like a princess and was trick-or-treating. This year Kaymin is still a Vampire (wouldn't wear her Sharpay costume I bought for her), Deilen was Spiderman AGAIN (wouldn't wear his mummy costume), Kameni was a Pixie, and Gerrit was a giraffe. You really can't tell what they are with their coats on.