Jackson gets his Bobcat!

Jackson has really loved being in Scouts!  He has been working really hard!  At the end of September he was very excited to get his Bobcat!  :)  He got to start the Packing Meeting by leading the flag ceremony. (He's so handsome in his uniform!)  

It's tradition to hold the Cub Scout upside down while he pins the pin on mom (the pin is also upside down, and I only get to turn it right side up after get does something good.)  :)  It makes it kinda tricky, but he giggled his way through it.  :)

We are so proud of him!  He is growing up so fast and we love that scouting has served as great reinforcement for so many of the things we really want him to know and do and be. Keep it up buddy!  

Jackson gets Twisted...

September 26th:

Jackson had been complaining of pain in his hip for about 3 days, but he wasn't sure what he had done to it, so we treated it with Tylenol and attributed to growing.  It persisted, (it got bad enough that he was sent to the office at school... twice) and he seemed to be getting worse, so I finally got him in to see our dr. at about 3:00 pm on the 26th.  After a few minutes with him he told us we needed to get an ultrasound immediately!  So we were off getting an ultrasound by 4:00 pm. After that we headed straight back to our doctors office to find out results.  He told us we needed to go to the ER and see a pediatric urologist right away.  The poor kid had a twisted testicle or testicular torsion. :/   So by 5:30 we were headed to the ER. :/  We got in and seen and did another ultrasound and by 8:00 or 8:30 pm they had decided he needed to have emergency surgery.

They don't know what caused it, it's not very common in an 8 year old kiddo.  It can be caused by trauma or nothing at all.  And usually when it happens, the testicle dies and has to be removed.  When the surgeon came to talk to us before they took him in, he basically told us he was expecting that to be the outcome. :( Talk about parent guilt!  We had been telling him he needed to walk it off for days!  He even went to basketball practice!  Oops!

He was a trooper and did SO well, even though he was really scared and in a lot of pain!  I felt so bad, the first time he heard someone say the word "surgery" his eyes almost popped out of his head.  He immediately started to panic.  But we talked about him needing the doctors help and he decided he could be brave.  :) 

Pre-Op. Thankful for good friends, insurance, morphine, and priesthood blessings.  Kerri came to stay with the kids so Patrick (and Mike) could get to the hospital and give him a blessing before he went in to surgery. 

The pre-op drugs made him SO giggly!  It was hilarious!  When they were wheeling him off he was laughing hysterically and then stopped suddenly with a surprised look on his face and announced "I think I peed!" and then continued to laugh hysterically!  hahaha.  He had the doctors and nurses crying they were laughing so hard as they rolled him to surgery.

"Waiting in recovery. Surgery was a success! Thank you Kerri Elam and Mike Christensen for your help last night....

I must say though, it is rather embarrassing when you've been awake for 24 hours and finally fall asleep, but the doctor comes in 2 hours later at 6 am and wakes you up. Especially when you think the doctor is your beautiful wife telling you to go get your baby because It's your turn and you tell her, "YOU go get him. He doesn't like me." Gotta love sleep dep."  Patrick (He stayed with him through the night.) 
 

Fortunately, surgery did go well, he got to keep all his parts, and everything is now where it is supposed to be! He is feeling much better!! He got to come home that day! (Sept. 27th) 

  
...And now he'll always have a funny story about how he almost lost a nut when he was 8!  ;)

Watch Out World, He's 6!

September 18th:
Harrison turned 6!  (Although someone should tell his body, because he's almost as big as his 8 yr old brother!)  Man, this kid is the sweetest!  The funniest, cutest, sweetest, most chill middle child on the planet! We are so proud of him and all of the new things he has been doing!  He is excelling in school.  Always such a great helper at home. A wonderful big (and little) brother!  What a GREAT kid!  We are so blessed to have him!  :)

He made out like a bandit! 

The RC Helicopter!  He has wanted one of these for SO long!  :) 

And that's a record folks... 3 bikes in a year and a half.  (Each bike was a size bigger.  He really is growing that fast!)  I like that these pictures really illustrate our outstanding parenting about safety!  hahaha.  It was just a test drive, don't judge!  ;)

He didn't even complain when we had to leave right after dinner to spend the rest of the evening at Jackson's basketball practice... which meant he had to wait an extra day for his cake! He told me on the way home that he actually wanted to wait to have cake so that Dad could be there too!  Love this kid!!

For his party he wanted to go see "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: 2" at the theater with some friends.  :)  These were the best behaved kiddos ever!  They were so cute and had a blast!

All ready to go!  :)

Harrison's FAVORITES:
Favorite Food:  spaghetti and meatballs
Favorite Color:  Blue and red
Favorite Thing To Play With: Legos sets and video games
Best Friend: Levi and Jackson
Favorite Song: "Let's Go!" (From his school program)
Favorite Sport:  Football
What do you want to be when you grow up: Construction Work
Favorite Things to do: Play with friends, cook and play video games
Favorite Book: Dinosaur and spider books
Favorite Movie: "Hobbit 2" and "LOTR"
Favorite TV Show: "AFV" and "Duck Dynasty"
Favorite Animal: Cheetah, Kangaroo and Leopard
Favorite Holiday:  Christmas and Easter and Halloween

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRISON BUDDY!!

Kids are Freaking Hilarious!

 

I'm afraid things like this are going to come out of my children's mouths sooner than I'd like!  And I'm pretty sure I won't be able to keep myself from laughing, they should get points for being clever! :)

September 15th:

The other day my boys where supposed to be cleaning their room and when I went in, nothing was done. So I picked up one of their stuff animals and threw it to Harrison. He missed it and it hit him right in the face. Super serious he looks at me and says "You broke my smolder!" Then everyone was laughing, him the hardest! LOL!

 

Grant's Blessing Pics

Love this cute boy!!  He has the best smile and giggle ever!  :) 
August 14th: 

I took these, so they aren't the best, which makes me sad!  But what can you do?!  He is still the cutest boy ever!  :)

And the winner is...

We are kinda wild at our house sometimes!  We are known for getting carried away with light-saber battles, nerf gun wars and a mean game of dodge ball... all indoors, of course!  ;)  But our most recent competition was.... hand stands!  I don't remember who's idea it was... (I think it was Harrison that started it, he has been trying to master it for awhile.)  :)  But when Patrick and I agreed to jump in we had forgotten a few very important things: 

#1 - How hard it is to succeed at standing on your hands!
#2 - How many muscles it take to do a hand stand! (Muscles I do not use on a daily basis!) 
and most importantly,
#3 - How old we are! Hahaha.

August 30th:
We both walked around a little stiff for a few days afterwards, but it was a lot of good fun!  :)
Me:

 Harrison:

 Patrick:

 Jackson:  :)

Um, I think we all know who won!  ...Not that it matters... ;) 

FiRsT DaY of PrEScHOol 2013

August 15th:
How is this girl so BIG?! (There's a lot of pictures, she is just really cute, it's hard not to!) First day of preschool today! She was SO excited! But I think I had a harder time leaving her today than when she started last year. Maybe it's because she's going to ride the BUS home! Holy cow! My kids are getting too big, too fast!

And she really does ride the bus home all by her big self!  And the biggest surprise of all.... She LOVES the bus!  haha.

And the best part about her riding the bus... the AWESOME hugs I get when she gets off!  :)

I miss her so much when she's gone!  She is sunshine and giggles... and a hooligan!  :)  Sweet girl!

FiRsT DaY of ScHOoL 2013

Holy cow, I don't know how this day snuck up on me so fast, but it did!  This year we have a 3rd Grader and a Kindergartener... and a cute little Preschooler!  How did that happen?  3 kids in 3 different schools!  It's going to be crazy! 

August 5th:
First day of school for the boys! Some mixed feelings for sure! Jackson was SO excited! And Harrison was SO nervous! (There were even some tears, he panicked a little right before pictures.) I love these boys more than words can say and am so proud to be their mom! I hope they have an amazing first day! I miss them already!

 And their off!  :(

This is Harrison getting off the bus at school! (I was so nervous for him I went with a couple of other moms and made sure he was ok. Of course, he was!) 

Their triumphant return!  :)  They LOVED it!  Neither one of them could contain their excitement about all the fun they had! 

And a sweet treat for their bravery!  And because they really do ROCK!  :)

My boys are SO BIG!