Fun at Papa G's

A couple of months ago we were at my parents house and my dad got out the four wheeler and took the kids around their yard on rides.  He had the little trailer hooked up and it was a perfect spot for Kimball and Megan.  It was so cute to see them all riding around the yard.  What a fun grandpa!

Megan Turns 3!

Today is Megan's birthday.  Her and Tyler went to the doctor this morning for their well-child visits.
Tyler's stats:

Weight: 56 lbs (48%)

Height: 48 3/4 inches (24%)

BMI: 67%

The doctor said that Tyler is looking really good.  No concerns at all from her.  His eyes are 20/20 and everything else is how it should be.  We need to just keep on doing what we are doing.  The gown he had to wear was a little short, but he was a good sport about wearing it. 

The doctor said Megan also looks really good.  No concerns with her either.  Megan looked adorable in the little gown and liked wearing it.  

 Megan's stats:

Weight: 33 lbs (73%)

Height: 37 inches (50%)
BMI: 80%.

Megan is so much fun.  She is silly and funny and loves having fun.  On the other hand she can be so difficult.  She loves to torment her brothers, Josh especially.  She has been so whinny lately and fake cries to try and get what she wants.  It never works, but she still tries.  I have been trying to work with her on that and with reminders and lots of patience (from me) she is getting a little better.  Megan can count to twenty on a good day.  She knows most of her colors.  She likes to color, play with stickers, make big messes, play with puzzles, watch shows, and sit with mom.  She is still a complete and total momma's girl, Grandma Margie is a good second best.  She knows what she wants and is very independent.  We love our little Megan so much and are so blessed to have her in our family.

Tony's Shoulder Surgery

Tony had surgery on his shoulder on Wednesday morning.  He had a tear that needed repair and it created a cyst that needed to be drained.  We had to be at the hospital at 6:30 am.  Thankfully Margie took the kids for the night so that we didn't have to wake them up super early.
After we got checked in we were quickly called back to our pre-op room.  Tony changed into his gown and got his IV put in him before talking with his doctor.  After talking to his doctor we only had to wait for a short time before the orderly came in ready to take Tony back for his surgery.  I gave him a kiss and watched them wheel him away, it was kind of sad.
The doctor said that he planned to start at 8:00 am and it should take about three hours.  I decided to go get some breakfast and walk around Walmart while Tony was in surgery.  I found some good finds at Walmart that were on clearance, so that was fun.  I started getting worried that Tony might get done earlier and I would miss the doctor, so I headed back to the hospital.  About a quarter to eleven the doctor came out and told me the surgery went well.  He showed me the pictures and explained what he did.
About 40 minutes later the nurse came and got me to go back and see Tony.  Tony was pretty out of it still and was really sleepy.  He was pretty funny at times.  He kept saying how tired he was and was so slow to say any words...pretty funny.  Tony started in a lot of pain, but after some drugs he was able to get the pain to go down a little and we were able to get ready to go home.  We had just wheeled him outside of the room we were in when he started throwing up, poor guy.  After a few minutes he started feeling better and we were able to leave for good.
I got Tony home and put him to bed with his sleep apnea machine on (yep, Tony has been diagnosed with sleep apnea and got his c-pap machine just this Monday morning).  He was sent home with a wrap on his shoulder that is connected to tub that is in a cooler that is full of ice water.  They want him to keep the cold on him all the time for the next three days or so and then off and on after that.  It is a pretty cool machine.  After he was situated, I got Josh (who was done with school) all set up on the I-pad and a drink before heading to Costco for Tony's drugs.  Max came over and sat with Josh and waited for Tyler to get home, which was a big help to me.  I asked Margie to bring the girls to our house so that I didn't have to leave Tony any longer then I needed to and she was so nice to bring them to me.  They were there when I got back from the store and it was so nice.
Tony rested and was able to eat some food later that evening.  He has been doing pretty good since.  He hasn't had to take as much medicine as he could, which is really good.  He is eating good and feeling pretty good over all.  As long as he doesn't move his shoulder at all he doesn't feel much pain either.  Now he just needs to be careful not to use it at all and really rest it for the next four weeks.

Birthday Party for Tyler and Megan

Megan wanted a birthday hat to wear at the party.  I didn't find any hats but I found these cute head bands.  Don't they look so cute!

Even Allie got a head band.

Megan loved her new doll.

Tyler was excited to have a new suit for turning 8!

Cool squirt gun!

They love opening presents.

A new bike was in order for this birthday boy.  We are going to pass down his bike to Josh and Josh's bike to Megan.

Bike Riding

Today we decided to see how the bikes were fitting the kids.  I thought maybe we would get Megan a bike for her birthday, but then thought that she would probably fit on Josh's bike.  Then Josh would need to fit on Tyler's bike and then we would have to get Tyler a new bigger bike.  So Tony lowered the seat on Josh's bike and Megan fit pretty well on it and she was able to push the peddles pretty well.

It will take some work and practice on her part but she was able to do it.  She liked to keep pushing backwards with her feet on the peddles to make the bike break, so that was annoying.  But she'll get it.   She did get tired of doing that bike and went back to her bike that she has being riding since last Spring.  She was able to peddle that bike really well all by herself, so that was good to see.  I think she'll pick up the bigger bike in no time.

Josh did not want to even try to ride Tyler's bike because he didn't want to ride a two-wheeler.  After pretty much making him try, it didn't take him long to figure it out and start riding by himself.  He was able to turn really well but he would forget to peddle sometimes and then his go to response was to steer himself into the grass and fall over (that's what he does on his scooter).  But Tony worked with him on using his breaks and then putting his foot down to balance the bike.  He still isn't in love with the two-wheeler, but he will get there. 

Happy 8th Birthday Tyler

My Tyler turned 8 years old today.  This is definitely one of the milestones that I thought about when Tyler was just a baby.  Turning 8 and getting baptized.  Now Tyler wont get baptized until April but he is now officially 8.
Tyler is really excited to get baptized.  He is so close to the spirit and it's amazing how tender he is.  He says really great prayers and is the one that says a prayer for help before I even think about it.  He is such a good example to us all.

Tyler is an AMAZING kid!  Seriously, he really is way better then he should be.  He is such an amazing big brother and son.  He is always so helpful to me.  He gets asks to do a lot more things then the other kids and he always has a great attitude about it.  He always helps clean up messes that he did not make and he is such a champ about it.  He takes on more then his fair share and never complains.

Tyler is such a great brother too.  Not only does he help pick up messes, he always helps his brother and sisters with stuff they need.  He teaches Josh how to play games and sing songs.  He plays with Megan and makes her feel included.  He is so good with Allie.  He is able to pick her up and hold her.  She loves him so much and always gets a huge smile on her face when she sees Tyler.  Tyler loves to give her lots of kisses.

We will celebrate his birthday with Megan's next Saturday but Tyler really wanted open a present today.  We let him open the one gift that he has been asking for, Pokemon cards.  He was very happy to get them and played with them for the rest of the day.  It's so nice to see him happy.  He really wanted to eat at Golden Coral, but we told him we would go another night.  We better make good on that promise, Tyler deserves it!

Allie - 6 Months Old

Our baby girl is 6 months old already.  Can not believe it!  She is cute as can be.  She is still mostly a happy-go-lucky baby.  She just cut her first tooth.  I could tell it was going to come for a couple weeks now because she has been so slobbery and chewing on everything.  I am glad it finally came out.  She did a good job with it, not too fussy about it.
Allie has a sore behind her ear.  I thought it was just really dry skin, but it turns out that she has some form of strep.  I didn't even know that you could get strep on your face in a sore.  The pediatrician said that every other of her patience has strep right now.  She said that Megan probably has it too bases on the little red marks on her face.  I told her about Tyler's sores on his nose (which looks terrible) and she said that is probably strep too.  So all three kids now are on an antibiotic for strep.  Crazy stuff.  I thought we had all gotten lucky by not getting it from Josh.
Beside the strep, Dr. Eyre says Allie looks great.  She is growing really well (too fast if you ask me) and it hitting all her milestones.  I really like Dr. Eyre.  It is so nice to have a doctor that knows me and my kids so well.  Here are Allie's stats:   
Weight: 17 lbs 7 oz (72%)

Height: 27 1/4 inches (92%)

Head: 43 cm (70%)

BMI: 45%

St. George - Last Day of Vacay

After a long day of traveling we got into St. George and went straight to Nana's house.  After playing for a little bit we went to Costco for gas and such.  After Costco we went and checked into out hotel for the night.  The kids were sad we weren't going back to Nana's house to play with her new toy.
The kids just love it.  It's a horse that has wheels and when you sit on it and push down with your feet it moves the horse. 

Luckily her floors are all tile so the kids were able to ride the horse in circle around the kitchen and living room.  They each got to go a couple times around and then it was the next kids turn.  They loved it and couldn't wait for their turn.  But they were not allowed to fight over it (always a good rule).

My kids all love Nana so much and are always so excited when we go to her house.  She is their last Great Grandma living and they are so lucky to have memories with her.  She is a great lady and a wonderful example to us all. 

Last Day in California

Today was our last day in California and our day to spend with the Pulliam family.  We made our way to Wendy's house about 10:30 in the morning.  They live in a beautiful neighborhood and you can see the ocean from their house.  It was a beautiful view when we got into her town.  The ocean views were amazing!

After checking out their new house we walked down to their kids school where we watched the boys run in their fun run.  Well we mostly let the kids play on the play ground and then we walked back to Wendy's house
After Gabe checked Alex and Jacob out of school and got back home we headed out to go to Gabe's work.  We picked up lunch on the way and drove to the Coast Guard station in LA.  It is located right by LAX.

I was super surprised at how inconspicuous the station was.   We drove around the airport and pulled into a very plain looking business building, no security or anything.  I guess you did need a code or key to get into the building.  When you entered there were a couple offices and then you went in and saw the big hanger with helicopters and it was super cool.  I was really excited to see everything.

Gabe showed us the helicopter first.  He let the kids climb all over it.  They got to sit in the swimmer seat in the back of the helicopter (that is wear Gabe sits), the pilot and co-pilot seats, and they also had a flight mechanic seat.  The kids really liked the pilot seats and all the buttons.  

Gabe showed us how he would sit on the edge of the helicopter and jump off.  He also pulled out the basket that they pull people up from the water in and let the kids all climb in.  He also showed us how he would rescue people with the different life jacket things.  He used Josh as an example and it was fun to watch him lift him up and show us how he rescues people.  Gave is super humble and never talks about his rescues so it was cool to see him in his element.

After he showed us the helicopter he showed us his life jacket that he wears in the water with all the different pockets and the stuff that they have in them that he might need in the water.  Josh and Megan both put on jacket and it almost made Megan fall over.  Gabe said it weighs like 15 pounds.  Tyler didn't want to try it on, party pooper.

After the jackets Josh and Megan got to try on his helmet.  It pretty much took over Megan's face.  Tyler once again didn't want to try it on.  Too cool.

Then Gabe showed us his shop/office work area that he spends most of his time in when he's on duty.  Then the kids all wanted to go to the gym and play on the machines.  They have a lot of machines for the people to workout on while they are on duty so the kids went wild on all the stuff.  They went a little too wild and we had to calm them down a lot.

Before we left we got to watch a helicopter take off.  Since it is right by the airport we also got to see some really big airplanes come by.  It really was so much fun to go and see everything up close and personal.

We left the station and went to an arboretum that is by their house.  They had a little museum and a lovely view of the ocean where you can look for whales.  It was pretty windy and cool when we were there so we didn't take much time to look for whales.  But it was beautiful and the kids seemed to like the little museum.  

After that we went back to Wendy's house for dinner and to let the kids hang out and play.  The kids loved playing with their cousins and it was nice catching up with Wendy and Gabe.  Once it started getting dark we decided we should say our good byes and head back to the hotel.  It was a long day but a super fun one.

Last Day at Disneyland

We woke up early, again, and headed to Disneyland where we could go in an hour early.  It was still way busy even though not everyone could go in early.  The first ride we did was the carousel.  Allie got to ride this time and really liked it.  She kept trying to eat the poll.  Megan must have ridden this ride two or three more times after this throughout the day.

We also rode a bunch of other rides in this area before moving onto another land.  We rode Buzz Lightyear (a favorite of Josh's) and then the others were going to ride on Autotobia while I fed Allie.  The line for that ride was super long so they decided to go and watch the Jedi show while they waited for their Space Mountain Fast Passes to be good.

Turned that they got their at a good time because Tyler was chosen to be one of the kids to do the Jedi training.  He was really excited and took it very seriously.  He listened very well and did exactly what he was told.   He was so happy with himself after.  It was a fun thing to watch and he was a good Jedi.

We got some more pictures with characters today.  Tyler didn't want to take pictures again but was still into getting the autographs so I guess that was good.  He can have quite the attitude sometimes.  Good thing he is such a sweaty most of the time.

They repainted the castle and it looked great.

Tyler - Jedi in Training