So Hard to say Goodbye

So our little Chloe has been under the weather for over a year now. She has had back problems, along with a lot of other things. She suddenly went blind over the summer, which really alarmed us. We have taken her in for second opinions, but without doing a several thousand dollar test, no one was able to determine the problem. We were hoping that it was just a fluke thing. This last week, she has been really out of it, and pretty uncomfortable. We took her in again, and tried antibiotics. Things were just getting worse. Late tonight, I told Kyle I thought it was time for me to stop being selfish, and get things taken care of. It is incredibly hard to have to make that kind of a call, especially where she couldn't communicate the problem. I will always feel horrible for having to do this, but I just couldn't stand to see her suffer any longer. It is like losing a family member. The saddest part is that she was only seven and a half years old. She has brought so much joy to us, and we have loved every minute that we have had with her. I hope that we gave her a happy life, she did get pushed to the back burner a little when the kids were born, but we still tried to include her as much as possible. She was the sweetest dog, and we will always remember her. I think the kids are a little too young to understand, so I don't know what I will tell them in the morning. I just wanted to make note of this, since this is our only family journal for now, and she has been a large part of it. I probably will not have the courage to look at this for a few days(possibly never). We love you Chloe, and will miss you immensely!!

Funny Stories

My dad and I went to lunch a couple of weeks ago with the kids. Carson had to use the bathroom, so I took him. When I came back my dad told me that Kylie said something really funny. I don't know how he was not laughing when I sat down. He said that Kylie told him "grandpa, there's a kitty cat over there". My dad looked and asked her again to make sure he heard her right. There was a divider and you could see sticking up over it, a lady's crazy hair style. She had a few different colors, and it was really messy. Kylie thought it was a cat! Hilarious!! My dad explained to her that it was just the lady's hair. He asked Kylie if she would like to get her hair done like that. She told him " no, that not look good"
Earlier that day we had gone to Cabela's. Kylie had to use the bathroom (funny that I always seem to spend a lot of time in the bathroom when I am out with my munchkins) while we were in there, we saw a teenage girl wearing her slippers and checking herself out in the mirror. I noticed that Kylie was staring at her seriously, and I knew she was going to say something. She said "look mommy, she has slippers on", I said "yes, aren't they cute", Kylie said " we don't wear slippers when we go out". I didn't know what to say at that point, we just hurried up to wash our hands and get out of there, before more was said. Thankfully the girl was pretty busy looking at herself, I don't think she even heard my little Kylie!
Kids are so funny and honest. I have a feeling we will be experiencing a lot more of these incidents! They make me laugh, so it is o.k.

Uh-Oh

Lexi is now 11 months old! I can't believe next month she will be 1!! Her two biggest accomplishments last month were learning to say "uh-oh", and getting her first tooth in.It is not fully erupted, but you can see it and feel it. She now says "uh-oh" quite a bit. I think she loves saying something that we can understand. It is really cute. She is still not crawling (I think she may skip it all together at this point). She occasionally will wave and say "Hi". She is still the sweetest baby. She is starting to get to the point where it is hard for her to sit still at church or at the movies. Last weekend Kylie and Carson had a slumber party at my parents house. Kyle, Lexi and I were able to do some shopping and go out to lunch. I could tell that she was enjoying having us all to herself! We look forward to seeing what she will learn next month, and most importantly her very first birthday party!

Happy New Year!!

We hope everyone had a great New Year. We are off to a good start. Our Broncos won the Fiesta Bowl last night. It was awesome! I had this special centerpiece for the big night. On New Year's Eve it was just Kyle, the kids and I. We had a fun time together. We watched movies on the big screen.........

played with poppers....this is the cool stuff that comes out of them,

celebrated with sparkling cider.... Kylie and Carson LOVED the cider!and best of all we had yummy home made cake. I got the recipe from my favorite chef on the food network. The kids hleped as you can see from this picture=0)
The primary at church had a fun activity for the kids. They got to get up and go in their jammies, or jammers as the twins call them, to meet their new teachers. They are going to be sunbeams this year. I can't believe it! They are no longer in a nursery with toys, they now go into an actual class and have a lesson. They each got a little bag and they decorated it. It is for their scriptures, and papers from class. Carson loved the muffins and fruit!

We also had a short visit with grandma and grandpa Belnap (kyle's parents). They bought the kids presents, and played a little picture bingo. They are the ones who brought us the boise state bowl with chips and dip.