Happy Birthday Kesley

Kesley turned 16 yesterday... I know, how is that possible??? She's a sophmore in high school... I don't know where the time went. She wanted Spence and I to take her to the Spaghetti Factory with her boyfriend Devon and best friend Tazia (who also turned 16 the day before Kesley). And then afterwards we went back to our apt and had cake. I think she had a great time....
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KES!!!

Fun afternoon at the zoo...

We had a super fun afternoon at Hogle Zoo with our SIX kids... had a few moments with them all running in opposite directions, but it was a great afternoon. So many cute new baby animals at the zoo. Loved it...

Kids climbing on the bronze rhino.

Dallin, Hallie & Max

Audrey enjoying her ice cream - actually my ice cream that she stole ;)

Ashley & Kesley

Spencer and me =)

baby tigers

baby giraff

baby elephant


cute penguin


black bear

Ambulance, Hospital, Ugh!

Last Thursday Hallie was coming down with a cold, but was still well enough for preschool/daycare. At lunch I checked on her and she didn't want to eat, just wanted to lay down and rest... she was starting to wheeze. By 4pm I went down to check and she was struggling harder to breathe, so I took her home. I soon realized she wasn't getting better and was more lethargic, so I called her Dr and then took her to Kid Care (insta-care). As we are checking in, they tell me their facility isn't contracted with my insurance. Great... so where do I take my child??? About this time, the nurse came out into the waiting room and took her O2 reading, scooped her up and said, this kid's not going anywhere...

So we spent the next 3 hours giving her oxygen, albuterol, steriods... anything to get her to keep her oxygen levels up... nothing was working. So they transported us via ambulance to Primary Children's Hospital. After 7 1/2 hours in the ER, a chest x-ray, and more breathing treatments... she was admitted at 4 am.

She was NOT thrilled about being back in the hospital. Everytime someone walked in, she shreeked, "what are you going to do to me???" She even yelled at the janitor. Her lungs were all crackly sounding and her oxygen levels couldn't be stabilized... we got to spend the next 2 days confined to a hospital room... do you know what it's like to be in a room with a bored, overly-tired, very dramatic, bossy, scared, sick 4 year old??? I wanted to light myself on fire at several times...

But we made it. She was released Saturday night and diagnosed with severe asthma. She'll be on daily maintenance for a long time... hopefully it will help us avoid these scary flairups in the future. So scary to see your child struggling for air.

So even though she wasn't the best behaving patient... she was by far the cutest...

School update

Kesley started high school this year... seriously can she be this old??? She's taking drivers ed since she will turn 16 at the end of this month. After really struggling through jr high... at 4 different schools mind you, she loves high school. This is one relieved mom, I have really hoped this would be the case. It's fun because she is attending the same high school I did! She's excited about this weekend's football game and so far has straight A's... this is amazing!!!

Dallin is in fourth grade and is attending a brand new school... just built and opened this fall. It is a beautiful building and only a block and a half from our apartment. He has a super cute teacher and was thrilled to find out many of his friends from our old WX neighborhood are in his class! He's had a great start, now just to keep this kid motivated (and quiet... he likes to chatter). Oh, and he loves reading... yay!

Hallie is in the pre-school program at her daycare. She is so thrilled to be in the "big kid" class. She's looking forward to learning how to read and is figuring out how to sit still and follow directions... so hard when you are only four. But she wakes up excited for school everyday, especially today because she also starts dance lessons this afternoon. Seriously, it's all she's talked about for the last 2 weeks.

Audrey is attending her daycare class minus her big sister, which has really rocked her world. She's had a rough time and had a few tears missing Hallie. Yesterday was great though... she made it through the whole day without biting anyone AND she proudly stripped off ALL her clothes and used the potty all by herself! She had her teacher rolling with laughter when she found Audrey buck naked, but proud as could be. Ah, one step at a time.

Yep, I love back to school...