I can fly high in the sky!

We are never in short supply of wind living in Idaho. We took advantage of the wind this week and took Kendal's new kite out.  The first day we went out we had the kite up and flying for quite a while. The second time we went out this week we weren't so lucky. Even if the kite gets little flight time Kendal has fun and enjoys herself.  If my yard wasn't plastered with deer scat I might have enjoyed the experience a bit more this week. It's starting to get to me that we always have to watch our step for scat, and I can't even let Pete down in the yard to enjoy himself. The schools grass / fields and park are also plastered with it, so there is no escaping it anywhere around here. Big sigh
Sorry for the rant, anyways -  I have fond memories of flying kites as a child. I can still remember windy days at my Grandparents home in Wellsville that were spent flying kites. Good times : ) Casey has always liked flying kites. We've been through a few kites throughout our marriage (one that was stuck in a tree in my parents yard for a couple of years). I know flying kites will always be a good family activity that we all enjoy.

 

Sometimes it takes a bit for Kendal to get to sleep. We hear her in her room talking to her animals / dolls, reading books, or playing around. We always check on the kids before we head off to bed; put Pete's pacifiers back in his crib, and put a blanket on Kendal. The other night we walked in to find a first. Kendal had fallen asleep on the floor while she was playing. Casey and i both laughed. Love these funny little moments.

Easter Break

Originally our Easter Break was just going to be a few days in Logan, but with the purchase of a second car, my nephew visiting, some desired family time, and my Mom's b-day during the week; the kids and I stayed a few extra days.  On our way to Logan we stopped off in Pocatello and got to eat lunch and spend time with Casey's parents, Jaxson, Hunter, and Nicole. Living so far from family has limited our time this year with the Darrington clan. It was good to see them, and I hope we can see more of the family in the coming months.
When we arrived in Logan Kendal got to go on a treasure hunt. A couple years back my parents gave my nephew a tricycle, and this year they bought Kendal a scooter that she got to go on a treasure hunt for. Kendal has been anticipating getting her scooter for quite a while now, and was so happy to get it.

On Friday we took Peter to his 9 month Dr. appointment. At 9 months Peter is 17 pounds (5th %), and 27 1/4 in. tall (25%). Even though Pete weighs as much as Kendal did at one year the doctor feels that he is underweight and recommends that we up his calories. I will also be adding formula since he's not getting enough when he nurses from me. It took time for Pete to warm up to family over our break. He's had a lot of Mommy time, and new people wanting to hold and love him was sometimes a challenge.
Casey and I have needed a second car for a long while now. Challis obviously doesn't offer any help so we've had to look online, and send my parents around Logan to car shop for us. On Friday we found our new family car. It's a small SUV with ample room for our family. We are very happy with our purchase and I'm glad to have a little more freedom at home.

On Saturday we found some Easter hunts for the kids to join. We met up with my cousin Billie and her cute brood and went to Elkridge Park in N. Logan. We made it with a couple minutes to spare. It seemed like the candy was gone in less than a minute. Kendal didn't pick up much (thankfully she doesn't mind, she was happy with the candy she got). After that we picked up my nephew Campbell and headed to Lee's grocery for a hunt. The kids got a great haul there - light up ring, toothbrush, bag of carrots, string cheese, cookie, little milk, chips. Billie and i looked at each other and said this was lunch. So we stopped by the deli and got a sandwich to complete the meal. Saturday evening we met up with family at Andy's house for a BBQ. Later we dyed eggs with Kendal (we undercooked the eggs so they weren't worth eating, but looked good anyway)

 Sunday morning I put together an egg hunt for Kendal and Campbell. They found their baskets and had fun that morning playing and eating sweets. We went to church, and came back and enjoyed a nice family dinner.

Casey returned to Challis Monday so he could get back to school. During the week we went to a castle playground in Logan, went bowling (Anica wiped the floor with us, and my Dad thinks how people bowl these days is weird.), did fun experiments, Kendal got in a lot of swinging time, and most of all we got to see family.

Thursday was my Mom's birthday. While she got a haircut and went to lunch with my Dad Katherine, Andy, Billie, and I took the kids to baby animal days at the American Heritage Farm. We got to go on a horse carriage ride, a train ride, see the baby animals, and a do a few more things. Kendal got to hold a duck and chick. She squeezed the duck a bit too much, but loved holding them and petting the other animals. Thursday night my family took my mom out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Kendal had been acting a bit sick for a day or so; at dinner she ended up throwing up all over herself and me. : / We left right away, and the family joined us for cake soon afterwards.

On Friday the kids and I made the trek home. We stopped off for a mini break at my Great Uncle Arnolds and Aunt Margarets home in Blackfoot. We had so much fun in Logan with family and they were so wonderful for helping me with the kids during the week. We are glad to be back home with Casey again, have our beds back, and enjoy some conference this weekend with a visit from Casey's parents! 

Peter is 9 months / Kendal's doings

At nine months old Peter is getting bigger and looking more and more like his dad. This past month Peter has learned to crawl, climb up and stand at things, and after what seems like forever he finally cut his first tooth last week. We are now officially at beginning of a long road of teething. Pete is doing great at picking up food and eating. He uses his left hand predominantly when he eats, and when he does pick up food with his right transfers it to his left to eat. Pete seems to be weaning himself. It makes me nervous because I worry about nutrition and needs his first year (we'll see what the pedi. says next week).  Pete loves to babble, and it's sweet listening to him sometimes go off on a babble rant. He often sticks his toung out the side of his mouth - silly, but cute. Now that Peter is mobile his curiosity has blossomed. If he can open it, reach it, or find it, he will. He has learned to pry open the bathroom door and crawl in, not fun when I'm trying to shower. Unfortunately our wood stove and propane heater are very prominent and available for Pete to discover and potentially get hurt, so I've had to keep my eye on him all day, and remove him from the areas before he hurts himself. He's adventurous and loves to explore; we'd better keep up with this active little guy. : )

I feel like i post a lot of little things Kendal does in the side bar. I keep a record of what I write and plan on making a post out of them at the end of the year when I make a copy of the blog. I hope I'm able to keep track of what Peter does at this age too like I have Kendal. Kendal definitely fills the role of big sister. She wants to know what's going on at all times, and likes to be in the middle of things. If it involves Pete she's there. She has recently become a human obstacle course for Pete. She finds it amusing to get in his way so he has to crawl over or around her. She also likes to shove chairs and toys around him to watch him climb and play. Helpful in her mind, kind of a nuisance in ours.  She loves to help in the kitchen. Casey and i harbor a lot of patience when she joins us in the kitchen because she constantly grabs things, licks things, asks questions, and wants to be in the middle of the prep zone. Since Pete hasn't had teeth till now Kendal has asked where they come from. We've been explaining to her how we have teeth in our mouths and they come out when we're babies like Pete is; and she'll start to loose teeth in the next few years and new ones will grow in. Kendal said she doesn't want to loose her teeth. We've had to reassure her it'll be fine when the time comes.
(Small medical update on Kendal) She has developed a lump on her eyelid over the past couple of months. Casey and i assumed she hit it, and the lump hasn't bothered her, so we decided to just keep an eye on it to make sure it didn't get worse. We'll when weeks rolled into months and the lump is still there we decided to get it checked out. We took her to the local clinic and Doctor Jannet (sweet lady in our ward) looked at Kendal. Kendal's lump is called Blepheritis. The doctor figures Kendal either hit it or got something in her eye that caused an infection to form on the inside of the eyelid. She assured us we have nothing to worry about and it will go away with time. We only need worry if if opens and leaks into her eye, or get's bigger. But for now it's fine.
Sad but true we haven't been to the local library until just last week. Why haven't we gone to the library before? Well my home is already littered with a plethora of children's books. I love them and we have a lot; plus the library hours are limited and as I've said before our outings have been limited. (I know that's no excuse a library is a wonderful place).  The library in Challis has two small rooms. One room has children - adolescent books; the other holds adult books and a few computers. We spent almost an hour reading books on a mini couch. Kendal loved it (and surprisingly Peter behaved the whole time). Casey took her back the next morning for a kid activity hour that the librarian invited us to. (We think she thought Kendal was older because the program was for preschool age kids, but who cares) Kendal got to listen to stories; and just as she is in primary she was out of her seat a lot looking at the book and asking questions. After they made an Easter craft and had snacks. Kendal loves any time she gets with other kids and books so it was an awesome morning for Her!
 Now that Kendal is three and can sit and listen for at least five minutes we've been having family home evenings. Our topics range from scripture stories, gospel topics, primary topics, etc. Kendal likes family home evening and looks forward to it each week. Our most recent lesson was about seasons, Kendal made pictures that are on the fridge and she likes to look at the pictures and talk about what goes on each season. I love it when Kendal remembers things she learns from church, songs, and lessons at home. She's super smart, and doing well at reading simple words. Love this little Lady.

Bring on the warm weather!

There is a glimmer of spring in the air!! We haven't had much snow on the ground for a while now, and any major storm that has hit east Idaho this past month didn't make it up to Challis. So, we're seeing a lot of grass (dead grass covered in deer scat, but grass none the less). It's also been a bit warmer this past week which is so nice. We ventured out to the local park last Friday. Kendal was over the moon! We don't get out much; between Casey having the car for work / coaching, and freezing winter temperatures we've been stuck at home a lot this winter. Kendal wanted to run around and do everything. She was also so proud of herself because she's learned how to pump on the swing. We weren't there long before another family pulled up to play. Funny enough Kendal's little football buddy Cassy was among the kids. We haven't seen them since the last home football game, but it didn't matter. The girls spent the next little while following each other around and having a ball. We think Peter liked the park. I say think because this dude doesn't always express himself. Going down the slide - no reaction, swinging - no reaction (unless Casey prodded him for one).
Hopefully the warm weather continues for us to get out some more this spring : D

 I thought i would venture down memory lane and try out kinky hair on Kendal. My arthritic hands paid the price for a couple of days but it was sweet to see Kendal all cute and fluffy (just like i remembered). 

Peter is loving to explore. He loves to pull himself up on things lately. We've had to lower his crib mattress twice in the past few weeks because he's learned to get to a sitting position by himself, and now can stand at his crib. Also he has finally started to crawl on all fours the last couple of days. He's loving his new found independence.

8 months old!

Eight months have flown by since Pete joined the family. At 8 months Pete is not quite crawling. He gets up on his hands and knees and bobs their for a few seconds before he launches himself and scoots towards his destination. He has done a tiny bit of crawling on all fours but nothing more than a few paces. He will also climb, scoot, and shuffle around, over, and through anything in his way. He wants to see everything, and get at everything. Pete's appetite is growing and he is in love with food. He's starting to notice that we have different food at dinner, and sometimes begs for what he sees on the table. My only problem is that he has been horrible at nursing lately; he'd rather nurse quickly and get to the real food. (I think he's weening himself) No teeth yet for Pete. I thought for sure he'd have teeth by now especially with how much he drools and is favoring chew toys lately, but alas no teeth yet. Pete is going to bed a lot earlier and doing very well at going to sleep on his own. He rolls over onto his belly, finds a blanket for his head, and sticks his bum in the air. Nights when he does have issues are when Kendal is still wide awake and thinks it's her duty to talk to him, climb his crib to turn on his mobile, or stick his Binky in. Pete loves to babble and has a cute laugh.

Kendal is growing and learning everyday. We love the age she is at; she says and does funny things all of the time. We just wish she would listen to mom and dad better (mostly about not getting into things and not taking away toys from Pete). She has also been coming up with odd / funny outfits lately.

For example . . .

This week was the end of Casey's basketball season. JV ended on a high note, beating the top ranked team in the district; however their record for the season wasn't enough to get them to districts this year. Varsity showed great potential and put forth a good effort in districts, but didn't make it to state. Casey said that next years varsity should be really good and IF we're around he looks forward to coaching these boys again.

I am so proud of the hard work and dedication Casey has put into coaching. I'm happy to have my husband back though (seriously Vanessa I don't know how you do it year round).

Our song

For my Valentine Casey - our song - The Raggae song by Colors

I don't want anything that I can't hold.
Don't give me money please, cause all my pockets have holes.
and I don't need no fancy cars, I don't even drive.
all I need is oxygen and you just keep me alive.
I want someone to hold and to love and grow old with and be together two by two. We can dance and we'll sing, and we'll do anything that we ever really wanted to. Oo I want you
Don't need no Rolex watch, just to tell me the time. tick tock, tick tock no
As long as the sun comes up everyday hey we're gonna be fine.
And if I had a private Jet to fly me places that i've never been all over the world.
I'd rather take the ol v-dub (goob) and you and me we can go for a spin.
I want someone to hold and to love and grow old with and be together two by two. We can dance and we'll sing, and we'll do anything that we ever really wanted to. Oo I want you
o if you let me stay let me stay, just the way that I am. don't want to change no
You can be my wonder woman and I will be your superman.
I want someone to hold and to love and grow old with and be together two by two. We can dance and we'll sing, and we'll do anything that we ever really wanted to. Oo Oo I want someone to hold and to love and grow old with and be together two by two by two. We can dance and we'll sing, and we'll do anything that we ever really wanted to. Oo i want you!

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH CASEY!!

What fills our time

 I've recently wanted a maxi skirt. I couldn't order one because stores don't ship to PO boxes and my address doesn't exist according to stores. I knew my Mom was sending Kendal a valentines so I asked for some fabric to make my own skirt. Yesterday I pulled out my machine and busted out a skirt for me, one for Kendal out of an old t-shirt, and a couple of hooded towels for Pete.

Thank you so much Mom for the fabric!! My options at crafting and hobbies are limited living in Challis. I clean, read, bake, and dream of doing things that i have on my pinterest page. I was grateful to make a skirt for this cold winter season, and get a little hobby time in also.

We now have a little inch worm on our hands. Peter has started to scoot around. Pete sticks his little butt in the air, and stretches out to scoot forward. I feel like my vacuuming and sweeping has tripled because Pete can and will put most anything in his mouth. ( I know that I'll have to do some more child proofing before he crawls too.) He also won't sit still anymore. If i put Pete sitting down he just flops onto his belly to go get something. He also doesn't want to just sit on my lap he is constantly moving, pulling hair, bending over, etc. (like I've said before - way more energetic and mobile than Kendal was at this age) Now that Pete can get to things Kendal has started getting defensive about toys. She either pushes Pete or steals the toy (we think she wonders why Pete is so fascinated with it, so she feels that she just has to play with it too, and that she thinks it's HER toy not Pete's). We're working on Kendal only toys, Pete only toys (yep, Kendal puts Pete's teething rings into her mouth : / ), and toys that both Kendal and Pete can have.

Filling our time this winter has been a bit hard. We're stuck at home most days so Kendal and i have done a lot of activities. She now insists on activities every day (we either make something, learn something, or do something new / not often done). This past week we made special valentines that Kendal can't wait to give out. We've lost all but a few of our TV channels; the saddest one being PBS. Having Kendal watch a PBS cartoon in the mornings is how i showered knowing my house isn't being disassembled. We've had to resort to our children's videos and movies. Kendal now has Veggie Tales memorized and has seen a lot of Disney lately. Kendal LOVES going to Casey's games. It lets us get out of the house, and she loves watching, socializing, and playing around. A couple of the varsity coaches kids let Kendal pal around with them sometimes and even try to teach her to dribble. She loves going out on the court and playing around with the players once in a while too.

I love this picture with Kendal staring up at the far away hoop thinking of course i can get this,  right before she tosses the ball about a couple of feet into the air.

Casey's season wraps up in the next couple of weeks; which is good (the kids and i want our Daddy back). It hasn't been easy, but Casey has very much enjoyed his time coaching.

- Couple more pics, just because : )