Cadence took part in Cheer Camp this week as well. Today was their performances too. However, much to my dismay, my camera was almost out of batteries by the time it was Cadence's turn to cheer, so I only got part of one of her cheers. But I did get her full dance & her pretty little cartwheel. She's so good at this.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Lorien's Cheer Camp Performances
Today was the end of cheer camp for Lorien! She had a great time this week & learned a lot. At the end of the camp, they did a cute little performance for the parents. Here's some of Lorien's highlights!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Stuffed in a Locker
Cadence & Lorien have had cheerleading camp all week this week. The camp is held in the gymnastics studio on base & there is a little room in the back where the parents & siblings have to stay while the girls cheer. It's a cute room with toys & a tv with a DVD player so the kids can keep busy while the moms watch their girls. Well, Taya found her way to the gymnastics lockers & climbed right into one. The little imp figured out how to lock herself in from the inside & started screaming when she realized she couldn't get out. I was laughing so hard. She is just too curious! She just gets herself in trouble without even trying. I had a camera & started taking pictures because it was so funny. She was SO mad at me for taking pictures instead of getting her out. Once I unlocked it, it became a game, so I spent 2 hours of my morning unlocking that locker over & over & over again. (I wonder what game we'll play tomorrow at cheer camp? ha ha ha)
Toxic Waste
My friend Nancy sends us packages & there's always something new & exciting in each one. In the package we got yesterday there was a little yellow bucket that said "Toxic Waste" on it. Inside we found individually wrapped candies (similar to "warheads") that had citric acid all over the outside. SOUR!!! Trek & I knew what they would taste like & being the caring, loving parents that we are, we gave one to each of the girls without warning them first. I had a camera at the ready & here's what the girls thought of their "candy!" Ha ha ha!! (What a mean mommy & daddy!)
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
I Can't HEAR You!
So, I mentioned in my entry yesterday that Cadence was having issues with her ear. Well, last night before bed, she started to gag & ended up sleeping with a bowl in case she threw up. This morning she threw up almost every time she stood up, so I called & got an appointment with the doctor on base. She took one look in her "blocked" ear & told me that she had a terrible ear infection that had ruptured her eardrum. CRAZY! Cadence said that the first time she ever felt any pain in her ear was last night & that is obviously when it ruptured. But it had to have been infected long before that, but she had no symptoms. She's just too much of a trooper to notice anything. What a sweetheart. Anyway, the reason she is throwing up is because it's knocked out her equilibrium & she's dizzy when she moves or stands up. Poor thing. She's on amoxicillin now & after 2 doses, she is up & around, playing, eating & things are normal again. She still can't hear out of that ear, but the doctor said that it will take about a week or two to heal up completely & then she'll get her hearing back. She's such a good girl. (She insisted on going to cheer camp today...she sat in the back & watched & learned the cheers from her seat instead of fully participating, but she didn't want to "get behind" & miss any days. She's too excited for the performance on Friday.)
And then, here's a picture of Taya to make you smile. She's like her momma; she loves accessories...especially shoes & hats. Here she is wearing Bladen's monkey hat while putting on her shoes!
Ties on Boys are Too cute!
So here's some pics of Bladen in his little white shirt & tie on Sunday. Ties just make boys so cute, don't you think?
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
One of THOSE days. . .
Wow, do you ever have one of those days where you just can't imagine anything else possibly happening? Good night! Today was definitely one of THOSE days & there's still a few hours left in it.
First, as we were getting ready to go to cheer camp (with 4 separate backpacks for the 4 separate kids with lots of separate toys...you get the drift), we were all downstairs when we heard a huge CRASH from upstairs. As I walked up the stairs, my eyes started to water & I could smell "Trek." Oh NO! I peeked into our bathroom & it was exactly as I thought. Trek's cologne had fallen from the top shelf of the medicine cabinet, crashed on the counter top & shattered, then trickled all the way to the floor. Glass shards, & strong smells were everywhere. It took a good 30 minutes to clean it up. Now I smell like cologne, the vacuum smells like cologne, & don't even go upstairs! It's so strong you gag.
Second, I sat through 2 hours of cheerleading camp with Taya & Bladen in a small back room where no food was allowed. Don't they realize that's how you keep a kid quiet? They both wanted me the whole time so as I held one, the other screamed & vice versa.
Third, I had to buy ink at the German store (the only store out here that sells our printer ink). In Germany you have to "buy" a cart for stores & I had 4 two Euro coins which would buy 8 carts, but I had ZERO one Euro coins which is what a cart costs. So, I had to truck in there with all 4 kids & no cart. Three full aisles of this store is candy. Yeah, lots of fun. As soon as we walked through the little "entrance gate" (also known as the point of no return), little man blows a diaper...& I mean BLOWS a diaper. It's all over my hands, my arm, my clothes...all over him, etc. Oh & he decides he's hungry right then too. Taya walks into a candy display & knocks a tooth pretty hard, so she starts screaming. I grab the ink, & run for the register, 2 screaming babies, & 2 whiners wanting candy or food of some sort. They ring up my ink & take my debit card. But they can't get it to work. I keep trying to tell the lady that I have to enter my pin number, but she doesn't understand a word of english. I try to talk in my horrible German, but she still won't listen to me. She ran my card about 5 times (10 full minutes) when I finally just handed her Euro cash. She wanted to make my card work. But my kids were screaming & I wanted out of there!
Fourth, I was almost late when my Visiting Teachers came. Their four kiddos came too, which is fine because they're good kids & they play well with mine...but it's always a little hectic when you have 8 kids around. As soon as they left, a friend was in a bind & needed me to watch her kids while she sorted some things out. So as I type this I've got even more kiddos. (But it's keeping my kids occupied, so that's good.)
Fifth, Cadence has blockage in her ear, so while I'm watching the kids, I'm putting hydrogen peroxide & water in her ear to loosen it up because the doctors here won't see her until tomorrow.
I just put dinner in the oven & I guess my foil wasn't as tight as I thought & now half the dinner is on the kitchen floor.
Like I said... one of THOSE days. Is it time for bed yet?
Friday, July 24, 2009
Brother Lovin'
The girls love their baby brother so much. I hope he realizes how much they love him. . . especially when he's older & they're painting his fingernails & putting him in princess dresses.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
I'm Not Tired!
Cadence always insists that she is TOO big to take naps (which I agree, she is), but there are some days when I can tell she's just exhausted from playing so hard. Today was one of these days. The 3 other kids were fast asleep & to tell you the truth, I was craving a small nap myself. But Cadence "wasn't tired at all!" I could tell she was going to pass out as soon as I left her alone. So I told her I was going to take a nap while she watched a movie. She thought that was AWESOME that I was letting her stay up by herself. I came down 15 minutes later & this is what I found. Even big girls get tired every now & again.
Little Old Man
Bladen is getting SO big! He is already in 3-6 month clothes. My mom & dad bought this little church outfit for him when they first found out I was pregnant. How stinkin' cute is that? He looks like a little old man. SO CUTE!
Hiking the Alps
We woke up our last day at the Matterhorn & it was even cloudier than the day before. We were kind of bummed that we drove all that way & wouldn't see what we came to see, but we didn't let it ruin our trip. Even if we couldn't see the Matterhorn Mountain, we were going to hike the Alps rain or shine! Ummm...I guess it was going to have to be rain this time around. Trek let me wear his rain coat (sweetie pie) & we did exactly what we set out to do. We hiked the Alps Mountains all the way up to the base of the Matterhorn. We were kind of hoping we'd be able to see it if we got closer. But the higher we got, the cloudier it became. But it was SO MUCH FUN hiking with Trek. That was one of the most strenuous hikes I've ever completed. It was straight up the side of the mountain. It was great! My heart was pumping! What a great experience! I can now say that I've hiked the Swiss Alps. How cool is that?
This is me doing my visiting teaching for the month. I got stood up. Nobody was home!
Trek was jumping for joy at the thought of hiking to the top with me!
All over the mountain side were these little houses made out of old wood & stone. Trek & I were having a blast playing around, on, & in them.
We hike rain or shine!
A view of Zermatt behind us (about halfway up the mountain).
A view from the top. The base of the Matterhorn is directly behind us hidden by clouds.
I was super proud to have hiked to the top. It was tons of fun!
On our way down the mountain, we stopped at a little restaurant & had homemade ice cream. SO GOOD! They thought we were crazy to eat ice cream on such a cold day, but it was yummy!
This was the best picture we got of the actual Matterhorn Mountain. You can kind of see it through the haze of clouds. And that's only about 1/4 of it. It would have been awesome to see it in it's majesty, but we had a wonderful trip & were glad we saw what we saw of it.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Cheezy!
The food specialty of Switzerland is FONDUE!! How awesome does that sound? We quickly learned that everything in Zermatt was horribly expensive, but we just had to try the fondue. We found a cute little restaurant & ordered 1 serving of the cheese fondue to share (1 serving was $26). Boy were we glad we only got one. We're weren't prepared for the expensive aged cheese we got. We're good ole' American kids who like cheddar cheese...we don't have the palate for this type of stuff. After about 3 bites, both Trek & I started to gag. This cheese literally tasted like stinky foot. We wondered if maybe there was some alcohol or beer or something inside (which cooks out because of the temperature) because it tasted like nothing we've ever had before. Or maybe it was just the flavor of the cheese.
We felt SO bad for not liking it. I ate as much as I could without throwing up & then Trek took one for the team & finished it off for us. The last thing we wanted to do was hurt the chef's feelings.
We left & went back to the hotel to swim for a bit & then we headed back to the restaurant for chocolate fondue. We had finally gotten over the horrible taste of the cheese, & now we wanted SWEET! We got 2 servings this time ($13 each...EXPENSIVE) & it was AWESOME! They had a bowl of yummy Swiss chocolate & we dipped strawberries, pineapple, bananas, & a fruit we've never had before into the chocolaty goodness. The server said the unknown fruit was called a "Leek" but it wasn't a "leek" like the vegetable. It kind of looked like a human heart, but small & it tasted exactly like a mandarin orange. They were seriously gross looking & had an interesting texture, but they were good. Trek wouldn't touch them, so I ate them all. I liked them. So, if you ever go to Switzerland....just say NO to cheese, but YES to chocolate!!!
Where's Waldo?
If you look close enough at the picture above, you'll see that right between those 2 tall trees is the majestic Matterhorn Mountain towering above all of Switzerland.
What?
You don't see it?
Neither did we. It was cloudy, rainy, & overcast our entire trip. We never saw it the whole time we were there. But we didn't let it get us down. We still had an amazing time there.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
The "REAL" Matterhorn ride
On our way from the Temple to the Matterhorn we followed our GPS faithfully. But all of a sudden, the road ended, but "Birgit" (that's what we named our GPS) showed us to continue driving on a non-existent road in front of us. We were so puzzled as to what to do. Then we saw a car come up behind us & drive onto a little metal platform right next to us. We hadn't noticed the platform before. There were several cars pulling onto it, so we followed. It was a small metal platform that could barely fit cars on it & soon after we pulled onto it, it began to move. . . FAST!! It was a ferry train that ferried your vehicle through the alps. Trek & I had our windows rolled down because it was beautiful outside, but then we entered a tunnel. We could feel the air hit our faces which told us we were flying at top speed & the air in the tunnel almost wasn't breathable. We had to roll up the windows so we could breath. This tunnel had NO lights. We could feel ourselves moving, but could see NOTHING. I held my hand in front of my face & all I saw was blackness. It was engulfing. I actually started to panic. Five minutes passed. We were still in the tunnel. I reached for Trek & we both laughed at how scared we both were. Just then we saw 2 red lights directly above us. We both jumped & then laughed at ourselves. It reminded us of the Matterhorn ride at Disneyland: the dark tunnel, the train, the ups & downs, & then the bright red "eyes" of the Monster staring down at us. We were a little creeped out. 10 minutes passed, we were still in the tunnel, but now we had seen the red lights about 3 times. 11 minutes. . . 12 minutes. . .how long was this thing? 13 minutes. . . we finally exited the tunnel almost 20 minutes after we entered it. We literally went 20 miles through a tunnel in the alps. It was crazy! It was like our own personal Matterhorn ride...but the Matterhorn ride when you're a kid & don't know what's going on & feel like you're going to pee your pants because you're scared. The ride back in the tunnel was much more enjoyable because we knew what to expect. Even though it was scary, it was a very memorable experience!
Swiss Temple
Monday the 20th is Trek & my 8th anniversary. Every year we try to make a special trip to a new temple together. It's kind of our way of "renewing our vows" so to speak. We love the way we feel after we go to the temple & we always come out loving each other even more than we did before. This year we took a special trip to the Swiss Temple in Bern, Switzerland. The Miller's were kind enough to watch our kids for the weekend so we could have this special weekend all to ourselves. The Bern Temple is about a 5 hour drive from our house in Germany, so we woke up early & left by 4:30 in the morning. We got there a little after 10 & were able to do some temple work for about an hour. It was great. It was "Italian" day that day so we did the work in Italian which was super fun! I love hearing things done in different languages. It only goes to prove the the Spirit of the Lord speaks one language & no matter what language you speak or what language others speak, he can always speak to you through the spirit & you will understand. It was a wonderful beginning of our 8th year together. Love you sweetie!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Little Daddy or Little Baba?
Bladen is changing more & more each & every day. Today I got him dressed & looked at him & I started to cry a little bit because he looked just like my dad did when he was a baby. I'm homesick for my daddy right now & so it made me cry. I still think he's a spitting image of his dad, but I'm happy to see some of my own dad in him as well. Miss you daddy!
"Cool Treat"
So, I'm in charge of Lunch Bunch today. Lunch Bunch is where a bunch of us women get together at a park with all the kids & we have a picnic lunch together. Everybody brings their own lunches, but we take turns bringing a treat for the kids to eat after lunch. The weather has been so beautiful here, so I thought ice cream would be great on a hot day....but ice cream melts. So I looked online & found this adorable idea. Ice cream cone cupcakes. They are absolutely adorable!
First you put hard candies in the bottom of the cones to weigh them down. Then you put a normal sized cupcake upside down on the top of the cone with frosting. Then you put a mini-cupcake upside down on top of the 1st one with frosting. Then you just frost it. The messier it looks, the better...just like real soft serve. Add some sprinkles & you have a fun ice cream cone cupcake. The kids are going to love them!
"Berry" Sticky Situations
Lorien is so funny. She just loves life! As long as she's having fun, nothing else matters. We've told her several times that sometimes "fun" can be dangerous & that she should be a little more careful in her "fun." That kid has a fresh cut, scrape, or scar every single day. I go through a box of band-aids weekly because of her. Well, her newest thrill is BERRIES! Out here in Germany, there are several wild berry plants everywhere. It drives me nuts because some are totally fine to eat, & others are deadly poisonous. We've told the girls NOT to eat ANY berries unless mommy or daddy says it's okay. We're so scared they'll eat something & get really sick. We've told them this several times since summer started because the berries are out everywhere. Well, Saturday evening, Lorien comes in the house from playing out back & she is covered in red berry juice! "LORIEN!! WHAT? WHERE? GRRRR!" She took us to the tree she picked "cherries" from & I knew she was going to be fine. Our neighbor has a giant cherry tree in her backyard & last year she made us a pie with them. So Lorien was going to be fine, but we were still upset that she didn't heed our warning. Trek sat her down on the couch & explained again why we don't pick berries without asking mom or dad first. She said she would never do it again & we left it at that. Then, later that night, we were at a ward BBQ & Lorien runs over to me saying "the kids are picking berries in the bushes over there!" I told her not to touch the wild berries & she agreed. Then she said she was going to tell the other kids to ask their mommies about eating the berries too. I said that was fine & when she didn't come back, I decided to go check on her. Sure enough, there she was, crouched under a bush shoving berries in her own mouth. I was furious! "But everybody else was eating them!" She is going to be TROUBLE when she's a teenager! To top the whole berry thing off, two nights ago, we were at a park & all the kids had once again found a berry bush & were eating to their hearts content. For once, Lorien was not participating & I was happy about that. There was a wasp hive in the bush & one little girl (7 years old) got stung over 25 times & ended up having to go to the ER. I think that scared my girls into submission when it comes to berry bushes. Theron is doing fine now (poor little girl), but I think the kids will think twice about picking berries from now on!
Princess & the Pea Video
Hey guys, The video we took of Cadence in her play is too big for my blog, but we have it uploaded to our website if you want to check it out. It's darling!! Here's the link to the video on our website:
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Dust Bunny
This week, Cadence was given the opportunity to be in the base children's play. The Missoula Children's Theater comes every summer & for one week they put on a "drama camp" for all kids ages 6-17. This year's play was "The Princess & the Pea." They held auditions on Monday (the 6th) & by the end of auditions they had the cast picked out & Cadence actually got a part. She got to be a dust bunny that lives under the Princess' bed. She had rehearsals all week long & then on Saturday was the live performance. She had SO MUCH FUN!! She now wants to be in every play she can. She loved being on stage in front of the audience & she did a wonderful job. She's adorable. I will post video a little later so watch for it!
