Poor sick Cason

Little Cason picked up some virus a few weeks ago.  He threw up for a day and then ran a low-grade fever for several days.  He was just not his usual, energetic self.  It seemed like he was finally returning to normal about 5 days later and then his fever spiked again.  Later that day he started crying about his ear hurting.  Poor kid had an ear infection! 2 days later and some motrin and ear drops, he was finally on the mend.  Poor kid had quite the long, sick week!  He seems to be fine now, thankfully!  Here’s a picture of him in his sick days.  He got to watch lots of TV and take lots of naps!

Channing & Cameron – recommended and red belt

Channing and Cameron advanced in karate.  Channing is now a recommended belt (half red/half black).  He had to pass a Pre-Qual which included running a mile under 10 min., doing a certain number of push-ups and sit-ups in a min., doing a certain number of kicks and punches on a bag in a min., and breaking a board.  He did fine on everything except for the board breaking.  That proved to be very tough for him, but after a few days of practicing, he was able to break a yellow board both with his hand and his foot on the first try. 

Cameron passed his test and went from a brown belt to a red belt.  He’s about 4 months behind Channing, so not very far behind!  They’re both doing great and by years end we should have 2 little black belts!

Blue & Gold Banquet, Cameron’s Cowboy Rodeo & my 3 silly boys

Channing’s first Blue & Gold Banquet was at the end of February. Bob and Cameron were able to attend with him. He got to carry a flag for the flag ceremony. He also received some beads and his participation medal for the Pinewood Derby.

Cameron had a Cowboy Rodeo Day at school. They did all sorts of activities with their stick horse and cowboy hat. He got to see a real Police horse up close and he thought that was pretty neat. He learned several cowboy songs that they sang as a class. He came home and sang them all for me and I videotaped them. He did a great job! He was one excited little boy that day! Gotta love Kindergarten!

Channing and Cason thought they should get their pictures taken that day too. Channing’s eating a good chocolate chip cookie and Cason is holding up a Star Wars character he got in a Kids Meal. Silly Boys!

Dealing with a crisis and living to tell about it…

Well, most of Feb. I spent in bed! The hemorrhaging I experienced did not go away and I had to basically go on bed rest for 3 weeks. My mom flew in to take care of me and the boys for a week. Luckily she was available to do this or we would have really had a hard time. She took them to and from school and karate and church. I was bored in bed and watched TONS of Olympic events (thank heavens there was something good on TV)! I felt ok, but every time I did anything like bend over, the hemorrhaging would start again. So I really had to be careful and my mom made me stay down as much as possible. It took until mid-March to heal up completely and the problem seems to have been resolved though lots of rest.

Our ward and friends have been amazing throughout all of this! We had people bringing us meals, taking the boys places and coming to clean the house on a regular basis. We wouldn't have made it through without all their help. I bet half the ward did something to help us over the last 2 months! It was amazing!

On a lighter note…you may notice that I did something significant in the pictures below.

Donated to Locks of Love. What do I need all that hair for anyway? It will be so much cooler this summer! :)

Valentine’s Day

Well, after being sick for a few months (did I ever say how much I despise morning sickness)…I was starting to feel a little bit better here and there.   The only problem was that I swapped the nausea for hemorrhaging.  After thinking that I had miscarried, I was surprised to find out that the baby was completely fine.  (there’s much more to this story…I’ll share it later). So we went out for Valentine’s Day (actually the day before since it was on a Sunday).  We went to Outback with Chris and J’Nett and I managed to not toss my cookies…thankfully.  We had an enjoyable meal while Ari watched all the kiddos at the Miller house.  Bob was a sweetie and bought me these beautiful flowers.  I love flowers…

Bob’s 37th Birthday

Poor Bob.  He really had the lousiest birthday of all this year.  I was too sick to make him breakfast (but it was Fast Sunday, so that didn’t really matter).  He had meetings all morning and stuff after church (Sunday birthday’s are just great aren’t they)?  I had Brenda make some spaghetti sauce so we could have dinner without me barfing in the kitchen.  So that was about it.  He was surrounded by kids as you can see in the picture below…no adults.  I couldn’t handle having people over.  Just watching Ari and Jacob was enough.

He did get some cards from family and from the kids and I was able to make a lemon cheesecake with Ari - (family recipe from his mom).  At least he had a good dessert! :)  Well, we can’t say that we didn’t try.   Next year will be so much better! I promise!

Jan 2010 – Karate Graduation – Danya, Channing, Cameron

Well, somehow we just keep plugging along in karate.  Channing had to re-learn the first 4 forms again in order to earn his black stripe on his red belt (that just means he’s getting close to black belt).  Cameron earned his brown belt and I earned my purple belt.  This was a crazy and hard graduation for me.  Being pregnant and doing karate is not really great, especially if you feel like puking all the time.  After the sparring part I was so thirsty that I left the floor and had to go get water…and popcorn.  Ok, the popcorn was for Cason, but I had some too because I HAD to eat or else!  Needless to say, I’m sure that this form was not pretty or perfect, but I got though.  Cameron struggled because it was a long form for him, but he really did a great job and got through it fine.  Channing knew his stuff cold.  Only Cameron and I had to spar.  I love some of the pictures of him sparring.  He’s just cute in all his gear.  This was a huge graduation and all the schools attended.  It was a zoo! So if it looks like there were a lot of people there, that’s because there were and you could hardly walk!

Channing’s First Pinewood Derby

Channing’s car came in 4th in the Pinewood Derby at the end of January.  It was cute to see all the cub scouts dressed in their uniforms and racing their cars down the track.  Channing used Bob’s old car to race.  We were surprised that a 30-year old car would still work (especially without any adjustments), but it worked just fine.  Maybe next year Channing will be able to make his own car.  We just couldn’t find the time to do it this year with Bob working long hours and me being so sick and pregnant.  Doesn’t he look cute in his scout uniform and uncombed hair?