Kyle's Birthday FINALLY

For the last 46 days Kyle has been counting down each day to his birthday. And each day he has to look at a calender and start counting all over. I tried to explain to him that if yesterday there were 37 days left to his birthday, that would mean the next day there are 36 days and there is no need to count them all again. But he would insist on looking at the calender and count each day- every day. At least he is old enough to do it himself. What a cute kid. So for his birthday we made a fun breakfast, opened presents, then the other kids and I cleaned up while he played his new Wii I Spy game. Kyle loves I Spy books. When Darren got home we went to the pool, then Darren took the kids on a bike ride, since Kyle just learned how to ride a bike. He also got a new helmet for his birthday- with a bell for his bike! Then we made his birthday cake and for dinner we went to a disgusting Chinese buffet that the kids loved! Kyle got rice, french fries, jello, ice cream and soda. Paul said it was the best restaurant ever! Darren and I just looked at each other. At least it was cheap- and the kids had a great time.

Kyle made his own cake!

When we got home we had cake and sung Happy Birthday.

We let Kyle choose a game to play, and of course we ended up playing the flour game. You know the game where you put a quarter on a pile of flour and whoever knocks it over has to dig the quarter out with their teeth. It's fun, and a complete mess! If you ever play this game- make sure you play it with kids, because they WANT to knock the quarter down, so you don't have to worry about fishing it out. Now, if you play this game with a bunch of adults, NO ONE wants to knock the quarter down. I would just avoid the game entirely unless it's your kids birthday;)

Ellie

I am so thankful for our little Kyle. He is such a joy to our family. Darren and I were talking about when he was born it was a very hard time in our life. In fact I wasn't wanting to have another child right then- Paul was 2, Ellie was 1 and I was working overtime trying to rescue our struggling business. But one night I had a dream. In my dream my mom came to me and said, "Emily, come with me, I want to show you something." I followed her and we went to the temple. When we got there a very sweet spirit came up to me and put their little hands on my cheeks, and said,"Momma, what are you waiting for? I want to come with with our family!" I immediately woke up- I sat straight up in bed and told Darren we needed to have another baby. He was dead asleep and didn't really know what I was talking about. A couple of months later I was expecting. Kyle brought a lot of joy to our family during such hard times. When he was a baby he had a habit of always putting both of his hands on my cheeks, now he is 6 years old and he still does it. Every time he puts his little hands on my cheeks I think of that dream, and how grateful I am for the spirit that can communicate with us so we can know what to do in our lives. I know he was meant to be with our family. I think Darren and him must have been great friends in the spirit world because they have a special connection. We love you little Kyle!

Alligator Alley

My good friend Kori came to town and we hung out. I met her at Shark Valley- which I have no idea why it's called that, as there are alligators everywhere. We rode bikes down this trail and checked out the wildlife- gators, turtles, birds etc. It was fun to see her. And yes, I rode a bike about 8 miles 31 weeks pregnant.

Kori and I with a real gator in the background. They just hang out by the trail.

Me with a baby gator in the background- there were gators of all sizes everywhere!

2 baby gators hanging out together.

We were a little concerned I might get tired- so we brought a rope for Kori to pull me just in case. I didn't really need it, but it was fun to act like teenagers and tie it on anyways. We laughed pretty hard.

Riding into the sunset. LOL

Ultrasound Drama

Ok- so today I went to have an ultrasound of my baby's heart. My doctor wanted a specialist to check it because Anthony (my nephew) was born with only 3 heart chambers. So, during the ultrasound the Ultrasound Tech was looking and said everything looked good with the heart. Then as she continued to look at other things she says, "It looks like baby has a club foot." I was shocked! I said,"What does that mean?!! Does my baby have a foot? Are you saying my baby is going to be born with a major birth defect?!!" I was in tears. She explained it means that the foot is turned in. I'm not even sure what that means. Then she said, "I could be wrong- it could be the position of the foot." So for the next 10 min she tried to get a better look at the foot. She got out the 3D ultrasound. Then she says, "Ok, looks like babies foot is ok. It was just the position."
I was so relieved! And I was kind of mad too- I'm thinking, "serious??!! don't you think you should find out for sure before you tell a mom something like that??!! It's like, oh- looks like your baby is missing an arm.... oh, wait, there it it." It was pretty scary for that 10 min and makes me even more grateful that everything looks good so far and for my currently healthy children. phew

Dreams of Sugarplums

Every year we buy a gingerbread house kit or two. Every year I am tempted to tell the kids not to touch anything and do the whole thing myself. I could make it look beautiful! Just like the picture on the box. But that's not really fun for the kids. So, I just let them go at it. My kitchen table is a mess for at least 2 days. I really want to get into it, but it's such a disaster I don't even try to make one. You know what- maybe this year I will buy a kit for myself to do. I won't let the kids touch it! Laura was telling me our mom used to make a beautiful gingerbread house every year when we were growing up- and we weren't allowed to help. Maybe that's where I get it from. All Christmas there would be a fun beautiful gingerbread house that we loved to look at and dream about eating after Christmas. Of course, when it came time to finally eat some of the delicious candy and gingerbread it was all old and stale and disgusting.

Here is the kit we bought this year. They had dreams of their gingerbread houses looking like this. I wanted to warn them that it probably took a team of professional artists weeks to get the gingerbread houses looking like that.

Reality. This is what they ended up looking like. Ellie was really pretty mad.

Here is Kyle having a grand ol time. He was not so concerned with his house being so perfect.

Ellie ended up having a great time.

Sand Castles and Snow Cones

This last Saturday we went to the World Championship of Sand Sculpting- after we went to the beach and watched the sunset. It was awesome! Sometimes I miss the snow, and sometimes, I think this weather is pretty nice.

Here is one of the many cool sand sculptures.

Another cool one.

So amazing! Ellie stole my sunglasses.

Here's all of us.

LOL- this was hilarious, the sun was right in our eyes and the kids were whining like crazy about having to get their pictures taken.

Cool little Christmas area

Ellie and Kyle

Paul enjoying a snow cone. The weather was so pleasant!

Ellie and her snow cone.

The kids creating their own sculptures. The sand there was incredible! It was like butter.

We watched a contest were the sand sculptors were given a topic and had 10 min to create a sculpture. It was fun.

Here they are done. They both sculpted dogs.

We went to the beach right by the contest. It was beautiful. It was such a nice beach and beautiful evening!

Kyle with a cool starfish they found in the water- it was moving like crazy- so cool!

Ellie with the starfish.

Paul's turn.

Grandma Freda's Funeral

This is from my sister Laura's blog- I wasn't able to go to the funeral, so here is what she had to say about it.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Grandma's funeral

Today was my grandma Freda's funeral. My grandma was one tough cookie. She was tough as nails. She was born at a time "when men were men and women were too." You just had to know her. I didn't know my grandmother well when I was young. My grandparents lived in Montana and I only saw them once or twice a year and we were always afraid of my grandma. One time when she came to help my mom after my mom had had a baby my grandma hung David up by his ears. As I got older I realized she was strict but she wasn't mean. I began to appreciate what a fountain of knowledge she was. She knew how to do things that I will never know. She knew how to live off the land, how to garden an acre of land, how to sew and make do. She was frugal and they never went hungry because of her hard work and planning for a rainy day. The older I got the more I loved to ask my grandma questions about the things she knew. I felt like those things will be lost when that generation passes away. She taught me how to make carmel one Christmas, strawberry freezer jam, and real applesauce. This past week I was a little concerned that her children (my aunts and uncles) would get up and say things at her funeral like "She was so sweet. She never said a mean thing to anyone" I didn't want to go to a funeral that was not true to who she was. My Aunt, Mom and uncles did a great job. My uncle Dick's talk started out saying he had the meanest mom in the world. She made him learn to work, she made him eat balanced meals, she always had to know where he was going and what he was doing. The three things that came up again and again were: She taught them how to work, she loved them and they knew it, and she loved the gospel of Jesus Christ. She even wrote a book about genealogy in the 50's- I never knew that. I also learned that my Leckie ancestors were "rounders" as my grandfather called them. They had been around the block and to places that they didn't want people knowing where they had been. So when my grandma would start asking questions for her genealogical records, people would pack up and leave. The grandchildren sang the first verse of "I know that my Redeemer lives" and the great grandchildren sang "I will follow God's plan" and "I am a child of God". Gordon accompanied and James played his violin. It was really nice. It has been so nice to see cousins and uncles that I rarely see. That is the best part about funerals. My Aunt Rilla's ward hosted the dinner after the funeral. It is nice to have the blessing of the relief society. I will remember the next time I sign up to take food to a funeral that it is appreciated and makes a difference. My Grandmother lived a great life. She was unwavering in her testimony. "It's true. It's all true. It's glorious." Live for that great day.

It's a Christmas Miracle!

We went down town to the year tree lighting ceremony. It starts with Santa riding down the street in a wagon, then they light the tree and then it starts to "snow". I am really missing some snow right now so I really wanted to go see the snow.

Here was a pretty Christmas tree.

Beautiful flowers in November

Paul by some more flowers.

Here is a street view of the festivities. Notice the dark clouds moving in.

I had to take this picture to show the crowd there- rich, old people. Naples is mostly retired people. There is a ton of money here. The Naples area has more millionaires per capita than any area in the United States. It makes it interesting driving down the street and seeing all the cars. Lexus is like the bottom of the line here. I didn't know what a Bentley or Maserati was until we moved here. I thought Bentley must be a guy and Maserati was his girlfriend or something.

Paul and Kyle with a nutcracker.

This was one of the many wine tasting tables. There was a LOT of alcohol there- but not like cheap beer. It's all fine wines.

After a while it started to downpour. Everyone stood under the awnings- except my kids. They were out playing in the streets while everyone watched.

Here is one of the lamp posts with a machine that is going to shoot out the "snow". I was so excited to see what it looked like!

Paul playing in the rain- for like an hour while we waited.

Here are my friends Megan and Jillian waiting under another awning. Hoping it will stop raining- it never did.

Kyle and Joselyn playing in the rain.

Me-I got wet going from one awning to the other.

Finally! We waited at waited for the snow and it came! It was actually bubbles- but looked pretty real.

Eventually we gave up trying to stay dry and played in the snow. All the lamps posts along the street sprayed the snow and it looked awesome. Just like home, except 85 degrees.

More playing in the snow.

Paul in the "snowy" bubbles.

Ellie- we ended up having such a great time! It was pouring rain the whole time, but it was warm and my kids loved it. As we were walking back to the car in the rain, I walked down the street looking like a drenched rat! A man came running up to me and said- "Are you pregnant? Here take my umbrella!" I said, "oh, I'm fine, I'm already drenched." He handed it to me and ran away before I could say another word. It was very kind of him- it is nice to see some chivalry. And now I own a very expensive umbrella:)