Townsend Family Blog

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T15:38:00.000-07:00

The kids got dressed up for Halloween and were able to wear their costumes to School. Nico was a Jedi, Christian the Grim Reaper, Izzy Snow White and Lili was a Ballerina. I also made it to all their school parties and was able to take some pics. Izzy kept saying, "that's my mommy!" I felt like the coolest parent ever!

Christian DID NOT think I was the coolest parent ever. On the contrary, he was completely embarrassed.
Snow White decorated sugar cookies at school with purple and orange frosting. She was wearing more frosting on her face and clothes than on her cookie. She licked her dress the whole way home, snacking on the frosting she managed to save for later. Should have gotten the picture BEFORE she went to school.

Baby Ballerina! Doesn't get cuter than this my friends. Love this baby to pieces!!!

a Jedi and a Grim Reaper. What a combo. We do not coordinate costumes. You know, some families are all characters from Star Wars. This takes time and some major planning and talent. Three things I have none of recently. I do, however, love to see other people who manage to pull themselves together enough to pull something like that off. Maybe next year when I'm not in charge of Super Saturday I can focus on costumes. Please, no one hold your breath on that one.

Smart and good looking. What a fun kid!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Christian Turns 10

2011-10-31T15:19:00.000-07:00

It is crazy to think that your oldest child is x amount of years old. Mine turned 10 this month. A whole decade ago he was born and I became a mom. I know it's unbelievable, and it will be even more so when he turns, 20, 30, 40 and so on. I still can't believe he's so big. How fun! He's such a great kid. He's polite, fun, easy going and loves to have fun. For an oldest child, I got pretty dang lucky. Here are some pics to enjoy of his activities. We had a family party with my sister Elisa and brother Adrian followed by another party on Sunday with Jamie's family. This continued as the following Saturday he had a party with his friends where they got to shoot at Justin Bieber with a BB gun and have a Mario Kart tournament. One lucky 10 year old that's for sure.

Nightmare tradition. We celebrated Dianna and Christian's Birthday at Elisa's house on October 22, 2011. Look at all that ice cream melting in the bowl. The kids thought it was so cool. I couldn't get over how much sugar was about to be ingested and how many little monster would be created!

Adrian and his family came to stay with us for Christian and Dianna's birthday weekend. The kids all slept in the backyard in that super tent. Christian got a BB gun for his birthday and Jamie spent the morning showing Christian and all the little kiddos how to shoot the gun.

Big 10 years old! Happy Birthday Christian. You are one incredible boy.

Celebrating his Birthday with the Townsend's. Here he is with Gramma.

Birthday loot from Jamie and I. BB Gun, Legos, a target and more legos.

Guess who won the Mario Kart Tournament? Yup, Jaxon James Arthur! He was so super excited about it. How fun!

California

2011-10-04T08:56:00.000-07:00

Our trip to California started out with so much Excitement! We drove to Utah for one night, picked up my parents and drove the next day to Steven and Keri's house to spend our first night with them. Our first day at Venice beach started out a bit chilly, but the kids didn't care one bit. Uncle Steve taught the boys to dig for sand crabs and Christian spent the rest of our trip digging up sand crabs. At New Port Beach he also found star fish and bigger crabs under the pier. He was in heaven! Our last day at the beach we spent 8 hours there and everyone got pretty fried. We just couldn't leave, the kids were having such a good time. The girls both took naps, my parents rented beach cruisers and we just relaxed! What a great vacation.

The trip back home was a different story. We vowed to never drive again after realizing what a terror Izzy is in the car drive when she is tired. We still love her and her craziness!

Had to stop in Las Vegas and get some In-N-Out Burgers. I'm not a fan, but the kids where more than happy to eat there and keep the hats for souvenirs.

Such cute cousins! Calvin was such a sport to entertain Izzy and share his toys. How cute are they in this picture?!

The following pictures are of Venice beach with KT, Brett, Keri and Steven. What a fun time!

Digging for sand crabs. Christian couldn't be more happy with all the digging he got to do. I wish I had taken a photo of all his finds.

Nico doing his own digging for sand crabs. What a handsome kid.

Lili with her Daddy. She is a mama's girl right now, but takes time out to be with her Daddy. Her first word was "Da". I think I know who her favorite it is...

The look on Izzy's face says it all. Sorry Calvin, maybe next year she will be more kind. Let's cross our fingers!

So sad I didn't get more pictures of KT and her family. Here is Christian with Oliver, and KT.

These two have the exact same parents. I promise.

Hangin' at the pool with my sister. She is such a great sister. Everyone should have an Elli around. She's amazing!

Lili is such a water baby. My other kids liked the water. Lili LOVES the water. I'm going to have to keep my eye on her when she can walk.

Our Daddy is pooped! After a nice lunch at Husky Boy Burger, there is nothing like a nice afternoon nap in the shade while your 4 children run around and splash in the pool. How does he do it?

Dewayne!

Took the ferry to Balboa Island. Very short ride. Needs to be longer. We had enough time to get out of the car and pose for pics.

What a classic picture. I thought Elli would appreciate this one. Poor Isaac doesn't have his mom's undivided attention. Hahaha!

Matching hats!

Being lazy in one of the pull out beds. Yes, that is Izzy crashed out. She does crash once she burns all her energy. It doesn't happen too often, but when it does it is so worth it!

Christian spent a whole entire hour out catching waves on his boogie board while Jamie did some surfing. It was so fun to watch the two of them together.

Nico spent his time building castles and destroying them. Such a boy thing...

Abu spent a whole afternoon with Izzy on the shore. So much fun! Izzy LOVED spending this time with her Abu.

Yup, he's all mine! That is until his big toe nail gets yanked by the leash on his surf board, then I can't go near the toe. Thanks Jame for covering it up with a band aid after the nail came off. Wowza!

Here she is again, crashed out and napping on the beach. Only happens rarely. How lucky to have it happen twice in one week!

After all the splashing on the shore, this baby was pooped! She crashed for a while, so Abu and I rented beach cruisers and took a nice long bike ride on the beach. So much fun!

The nasty toe before the nail got clipped. There was so much sand in it, Jamie had to keep cleaning it out and putting neosporin to keep it from getting infected. Ew!

Dang that Lili! She is looking at the water. Love this picture of all my kids. I have great kiddos.

Lili was the wake up call the morning we packed it up to go home. She LOVES her brothers. I don't blame her. They are pretty awesome.

The view from our balcony. So breath taking. You don't get tired of seeing this, that is for sure.

Abu, Papa and the girls. Thanks Abu and Papa for sharing your time share with us! We had a great time. Can't wait to go back next year.

Random

2011-09-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

It's 7:30 am and my kids have been awake for an hour. Christian is off at Camp Educo and comes back today. I'm so excited to see him and see how his trip went. I bet it was FREEZING in the mountains. Nico slept with Izzy the last two nights, ergo why they woke up so early. But, at least he is at the piano punching (literally) away at the keys so he won't have to do it after school. I have great kids. They have all given me trouble at some point in their lives, but for the most part I can't complain. The older boys are so good with their younger sisters and the girls are great when they can be understood (okay, so I'm mostly talking about Izzy). Lili is such an angel. Puts up with 3 older siblings and is such a happy baby.

We are off to California tomorrow. It will be our first time driving. I'm very nervous about driving with 4 kids all different ages. I will be sure to write about our adventures. Boy does time fly these days....

4th of July

2011-07-10T10:45:00.001-07:00

We had our first official family reunion with my family over the 4th of July weekend. What a great time we had together! We drove out Thursday to Utah and the very next day we went to spend the day at Deer Creek with a boat and 2 wave runners. The kids just LOVED the wave runners and the boat was very busy all day with wake boarders and kids on the banana. I was sooo incredibly sore the rest of our stay. My body used muscles that I didn't even know I had while I was wake boarding. I think next time we go to the lake at the end of our stay, or I get in shape. One or the other will do. We stayed with Elli this trip. What a great host she and Dewayne are! They gave us their Master Bedroom, toothbrushes, lotion, a bag for our dirty clothes, unlimited amounts of cereal, fresh baked cookies when we first walked in from our long drive, bought all the meet for our BBQ on the 4th, made fantastic chicken salad sandwiches for the lake
and also gave me a bottle of Bath and Body lotion to take home, which I absolutely love! I couldn't have asked for a better time or stay! Thanks Elli for making our trip so memorable.

So after a day at the lake, we spend time with my parents. Then on Sunday we went to visit Jamie's sister Lisa in Logan. Pictures of the rest of our trip will follow.

Summer and Lili. Summer is such a fun niece! She is always so willing to help and LOVES baby Lili!On our drive to Utah. Going on a trip is always so much fun. The way back....not so much.
Christian is getting so big. He was in love with the wave runners. Jamie secretly let him drive one and he was on cloud nine! He kept asking us if he could tell people he drove one because we told him not to tell so the other kids wouldn't want to drive a wave runner as well.
Poor Izzy had a broken "egg" (that is what she says). She spent the time either on the boat, wave runner or next to McKynlee playing in the water or watching a movie. Look at how cute McKynlee's swimsuit is!
Lili is always such a happy camper! She started to dislike her car seat on this trip. The count down to turning her around has begun!
Me and my baby. I can't get enough of her!
Ooooh my! I love this chunky baby. I got her these cute shades online to protect her eyes. She looks so stinkin' cute.
Kids waiting for boat rides. Fun time with cousins!
And of course a pic of my sister Elisa and I. Elisa looks tan because she has actually gotten to go to the pool this summer. I on the other hand have stayed inside with a baby and a 2 year old with a broken leg. At least Izzy got a water proof cast after two weeks with a whole leg cast....that was torture.
Me oh my! Look at my cute nephew Caleb. If I was holding Lili or anybody else, he would want to come over and be held. It didn't matter that we hardly saw each other, he just wanted that one on one attention. Love this little guy!

Lili with her Tia Sandee! Sandee organized and planned pretty much the whole reunion. I love having her in our family. She is a great sister and so much fun....wait till you see her new kitchen! Oh my, she is one talented lady.
Izzy learned to say "punch it!" while riding the wave runner. She still talks about riding on it to this day. So much fun.
A Brazilian, Argentinian and American at the grill. No make shift BBQ or Asado or Churrasco could have been better. Around 5 pm, we were having so much fun, we decided to stay rather than go home. So, Andres took our new friend Ricardo (from Brazil), bought some meet and coals and an hour later we had yummy chicken, sausage and steak. Yumm!
Izzy and her Papa. There are no two more happy people on the planet when this photo was taken.

It's Been a While...

2011-06-21T06:32:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I have blogged. Don't even know where to begin. I'm waiting for the site for my school to come back up, so I thought I'd take a minute to update. Lili is doing so good! She is growing and doing so many things. At her last Doctors Appt she weighed 17 lbs putting her in the 25% for weight and 10% for height. She is very compact! Izzy broke her leg a bit over a week ago and has been nothing short of a pill. I am her legs, fun and entertainment, so my days are Loooooong. She will get a new cast next Monday that will allow her to walk, yipee!

This is the day after she broke her leg. She is wearing a soft cast. Monday she got a super cool sparkly orange cast. She keeps saying "my egg is broken"!
Christian LOVES to hold Lili. Look how big they both look here. How fun this baby is! We all love her.

The boys took a fly fishing class with Jamie last Saturday and had such a great time. They can't wait to go fly fishing again. How fun they can do stuff like that in Colorado!

Hospital Pics of Lili's Birth

2010-11-09T14:01:00.000-08:00

This may be a snoozer to some, but it's for my own documentation and family history. I have been wanting to document Lili's birth. So here we go. I woke up on 9/11 to another gorgeous day in Colorado. I asked Jamie if I could go get a pedicure that morning before it got crazy with moving the boys room downstairs and finishing trim work. So off I went. I sat in the message chair and noticed I was having contractions regularly, but they weren't very hard. I went home helped with the moving of some items downstairs. Aunt Roni came over with Sheridan and helped get stuff moved. I noticed that I needed to stop for contractions because they were getting hard. Roni told me the story of one of her births that went so quickly, she didn't have time for an epidural. By 5 pm I got nervous and thought that I really wanted that epidural so I wasn't going to take any chances. Jamie drove as fast as he could (he was so excited about this) to the Parker Hospital. We got there around 5:30 and I was dialated to a 4. Not much, but i knew that if I transitioned quickly like I did with Izzy, the baby wasn't too far off. The nurse had to check with the doctor before I got admitted, but said if he said 'yes', I could get my epidural right away. Well, the anesthesiologist came and started my epidural around 6:30. It took him until 8 pm, to get it in right because the first time he put it in, it didn't work and he kept asking me if I could feel my contractions, which I totally could. During this time, the on call Doctor comes to break my water. Thinking I have my epidural all set, he procedes to break my water-very unpleasant experience. When he's done he asks me if I was sure that my water didn't break at home. I tell him no. So, he tries one more time and says, "strange, I'm pretty sure I broke your water, but nothing has come out." I don't think much of this and continue with the Anesthesiologist. The Anesthesiologist thinks there must be a kink in the tube going into my spine, so he pulls it out a bit. Well, that doesn't work either, so he pulls out the whole thing and does it again. The second time around didn't hurt as bad going in, so I knew it would work. It did and I was one happy pregnant lady. Well, all that moving around and stress must have slowed my labor, so I got pitocin started at a 1. I called Elisa, told her I was on my way, and she decided to stop by with Hallie and Summer to visit. I asked for a foot rub, which feels totally funky when you are numb from the waist down. By 10:00 pm I begin to feel like I'm going to pass out, so Elisa leaves knowing that I'm getting close. I tell the nurse and she checks me to find I'm only 5 centimeters dialated. She tells me to switch sides, that may help. I do, but it doesn't, so about 15 min later I tell her I still don't feel good, so she checks me again and low and behold, I'm almost 9 centimeters, so she runs out to call the Doctor. So, we wait for the doctor who shows up around 10:00ish. I push a bunch of times and Liliana is born at 10:38. As she is being born, the doctor says "wow, I haven't seen this much meconium in a LONG time." I don't know what to think of this, all I know is that this means my baby is going to be swept away right away in order to make sure she doesn't asperate the meconium. This is the reason why no amniotic fluid. Poor Lili was COVERED in her own poop. I remember looking at her as she is being taken to her crib and thinking "wow, she is covered in black/green poop". All doctors and nurses were saying how chubby she was. Everyone in the room was taking bets on her weight-none under 8 pounds, I thought for sure she would be at least 8 if not 9 pounds. Nope, she came in at 7 lbs 1.8 oz and 19 inches long. She was just so swollen!
Lili was born at 10:38 pm. By 6:00 a.m she was in the NICU. I got to hold her and have her in my room for a little over 7 hours before she turned blue. I remember that first night with Lili she was fussy. I couldn't get her to calm down enough to sleep. I had fed her 3 times in 7 hours and by 5:00 a.m. I was exhausted so I called a nurse and asked her to take Lili for a couple hours so I could get some sleep. That was heavenly intervention and a tender mercy I will never forget. I will say that the Parker Hospital has a room in policy where they don't have a nursery, only a NICU. They expect all moms to have the babies in their rooms over night. My nurse was so kind to take Lili and sit with her in the NICU. She was holding Lili when she turned so blue, she later told me she was almost "black". The nurse holding her was talking to another nurse who pointed out how blue Lili had turned. They were already in the NICU so she was rushed to a bed and placed on a warmer, given oxygen and hooked up to a machine to check her vitals. The sweet nurse came to tell me at around 5:40 a.m. and that is the moment my whole world changed.

I don't like to think about what would have happened had I not asked for Lili to be taken or if the Nurse had not taken her. I would have put her back to sleep for the fourth time that night and woken up to a completely different scenario. I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for my sweet precious baby. We all have a purpose here on earth and I know Lili has much yet to accomplish. I just hope as Parents, Jamie and I will be able to give her what she needs spiritually and physically.

Her first couple hours in the NICU. She was such a good NICU baby! I loved her from the first moment. It's amazing how you can feel such a connection to such a little person you just met for the first time on this earth. I love her!

Pictures of Lili

2010-10-14T17:48:00.001-07:00

Our Baby #4. I think we finally got it right on the fourth try. I love that Izzy has a sister and the boys are just in love with her. She is lucky. She has so many people that love her. I couldn't be happier with the pics. I'm also enjoying the newborn stage. She eats ALL THE TIME and goes right back to sleep after waking for a feeding. This time will go by so quickly. Before I know it she will be running around the house saying "Basta!" I hope that is not too soon.

Lili Update

2010-10-03T09:30:00.000-07:00

Liliana is home and we are enjoying her so much. It's been quite a trying time for our family and we are so thankful for all the prayers on her behalf. I am convinced she has already been blessed. My friend Lisa Rentz took some pics of little Lili the other day and I love these pictures so much. I need to figure out how to make these picstures bigger and then I'll post more.

Lili has been such a huge blessing in our lives. It has made me stop and think of the most important things in this life. I still struggle with her little eye, but I know she chose to come to our family under these conditions and she still picked our family and came to us. I love her for this and hope that we can give her all she will need in this life. Lili has coloboma and micropthalmia in her right eye, which means her eye didn't develop correctly, so doctors have told us she will not see out of that eye. We are blessed because so far her left eye looks normal and well. How greatful we are for this. Her condition is a red flag for other other health issues and so she has been undergoing test after test to make sure everything else developed correctly. So far, the doctors have found nothing other than a slight trachial malasia (this may be what caused her to turn blue that first night and also what may have caused her inability to eat for the first 3 to 4 days). Doctors believe she will outgrow this. We pray she does and also keep praying that she will continue to grow healthy and strong. I can't help but think that had she been born during pioneer times, she probably would not have lived. How blessed we are that she is with us!

We still have more testing to complete, but we are optimistic that nothing else will be found. We will keep praying for her and ask for you to do the same. I have felt the power of prayer through this whole experience and am so thankful for a Heavenly Father who hears our prayers and a Savior who suffered so much for us so that we can feel comfort in his sacrifice and also know that he has felt our pain and more. Again, thanks to everyone who has brought food, prayed, stopped by, brought gifts...we are so greatfull!

Suprise! She's home!

2010-09-21T16:57:00.001-07:00

Doesn't she look like a little person already!! She is so beautiful!!! These pictures were taken only at a few days old.

Notice something different about me??? no more Oxygen!!

Lili seemed to progress rapidly. She was off of Oxegyn by the 16th and home by the 17th! Abu says Lili is such a peaceful baby, sleeping most of the day, yet waking every 3 hours to eat and go back to sleep. Everyone suspects Lili will soon out weigh Isabella! There is much that we don't know about Lili... In time we will find out. She will be tested for CHARGE syndrome. Carolina is as expected...very tired. She pumps every 3 hours, while Abu feeds Lili a bottle. Carolina and Lili recently had a consultation with the lactation specialist, as her oral anatomy and difficulty swallowing make breast feeding a challenge.

Thoughts from a sister....

In reflection, how grateful we all are for the gospel. It's times like these that really push us to regain our close relationship with our Heavenly Father. And it's times like these that reveal the purpose of the antonement and the power that Jesus Christ has to perfect us, and ease our burdens. The Lord loves Carolina and Jamie so much that he is trying to perfect them through Lili, and what an honor that truley is!!! Lili will teach these two more about Christ than anyone ever could or ever will. There is no doubt in my mind that these two parents have more than enough unconditional love and patience to meet Lili's emotional, physical and spiritual needs. They truley are amazing disciples.

Thank you for all of your prayers! Jamie and Caro...pressforward with a steadfastness in Christ. Let the atonement take care of the rest. You have many people praying for you, and waiting to offer their love and support. We love you!

A Better Day!

2010-09-15T10:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Lili had a Naso Gastric (NG) tube placed because she has not yet perfected swallowing. The tube inserts at the nose and ends in her stomach. Carolina says her droop is getting better. Lili had to get a new IV placed in her head to continue receiving nutrition through her veing. For some reason Lili's sodium levels are low. The NG tube and IV nutrition are helping bring those up. The eye specialist has not yet seen Lili, hopefully he/she will come sometime this week. Lili had an Ultra Sound of her brain, and it looks like the brain is well developed, Carolia says "that's a big releif." The 48 hour blood work came back as negative, and the antibiotics were stopped, Yeah!! Carolina is doing well, she 's very grateful for all the love and support from friends and family! Thank you so much for your prayers and your thoughts!

A very special thanks to Katie Smith for scrubbing the house top to bottom! the second Carolina walked in the house and smelled the sentsy, she got very emotional. On her behalf I feel it safe to say she feels so blessed living near close friends who recognize her needs and who are so willing to help fulfill those needs. It's also comforting knowing that Elisa is there too! Carolina couldn't ask for a better sister (other than me, haha). Thanks for taking Isabella!

Liliana Sofia Townsend is here!!

2010-09-13T06:32:00.000-07:00

Weighing 7 lbs 2 ounces, 19 inches long Liliana Townsend arrived on september 11! Carolina is very excited not to be prego, and is doing well! Not too long after Lili was born she began experiencing a series of complications. Lili was a little bit fussy so Carolina held her most of the night trying to rock her to sleep. When morning came the nurse took Lili so Carolina could get some rest. While Lil was with the nurse she began having some respiratory distress and turned blue. Shortly after, Lili was taken to the NICU (New born Intensive Care Unit). The doctors suspect she may have inhaled meconium into her lungs because she had pooped inside the womb. Lili's right eye is smaller than her left eye. The iris is smaller and the pupil is smaller. Lili is also suspected to have facial nerve damage likely due to being born "sunny side up." Her L lip droops when she cries, and she has a hard time eating. Carolina has been feeding her about every 3 hours, but Lili gets most of her nutrition directly into her vein. Her heart is also bigger than normal. As of last night, Carollina says Lili seems to be doing better, she is breathing on her own, though she still requires oxygen. Carolina is able to hold her and give skin to skin care. Carolina says "Lili looks like Nico when he was a baby." There is an eye specialist coming to see Lili today.

Please refer to the blog or call Elisa Arthur for updates. Carolina, Jamie and Lili are very tired and would like to catch up on some lost sleep.

We are so excited to have Lili here! Carolina and Jamie already love her immensely. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated

pictures coming your way soon!

Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

This is it. The final stretch for me. It is 11 days to my due date. Christian was 14 days early, so I keep thinking at any time now. Most everyone who I've spoken with to help out with kids (specially that midnight run to the hospital) will now be gone for labor day weekend. Good thing it is a weekend, so no school. But, with my luck, it will happen this weekend. If it doesn't, I will count my lucky stars. I have so much to complete before this baby comes. Here is a rundown of what I need to get done:

Paint trim and doors for basement
Have installers install trim and doors in basement
Pick carpet
Pick tile
Have tile and carpet installed
Move Boys to basement
Re-paint the boys old room for new nursery
Put crib in nursery
Put baby stuff in nursery

Yup, this is not getting done in 11 days. I have come to grips with the fact that I may just not be done and that will be okay. Who needs a nursery when my babies sleep in their swings the first 2 months anyway? I figure I've got some time. I just wanted the dust and crap cleaned up a bit from all the construction in the basement. Not to mention how glorious is will be to have all that extra room and be able to park my car in the garage once again!

I have gained more weight this time around than with my other 3 babies and these are some of the things that come with the weight gain:

Swollen ankles and toes-hobbit feet, I am now convinced, were probably really pregnant ladies about to give birth.

Swollen hands-For the first time in 12 years of marriage, I can't wear my wedding ring. My watch is getting close to the same.

My right hand falls asleep-I wake up in the middle of the night unable to feel my right hand. Completely numb! How strange that feels.

Indigestion-this has been a curse for all 4 pregnancies.

Back pain-this also has been a curse for all 4 pregnancies, but this time I'm going to a chiropractor and it appears to help.

Dizzy spells-I tend to pass out when pregers. This is the worst because it is so debilitating, but I think the Chiro has been helping me a ton in this area because I am up and about this time around.

Broken Toe-Yeah! I can finally walk on my foot without pain. I think it has healed pretty well.

Scratch on left leg-Also healing, but still tender. It was pretty nasty!

Of course, I have the belly-by far my largest belly thus far. My belly button popped out. That has never happened before. What a funny thing to have happen.

I am just so thankful that this is my last time. I would almost be sad about it, but being pregnant isn't easy for me or anybody else who's around me. Poor Jamie has had to deal with my moody, crazy thinking self. He's a trooper and a keeper. So, keep posted, this weekend may be it!

Broken Toe and Some...

2010-08-01T17:11:00.000-07:00

Last week I was busy trying to unload items from the car and putting them on my porch. As I turned back around to step down, I missed the step and went flying down 3 steps, scratched up my left leg from the ankle to the knee and broke my big right toe. It was a clean break, so no casting or surgery needed (thank goodness!). But I am in awe at the predicament that I am in. 34 weeks pregnant, my back hurts, indigestion, dizzy spells in the morning (already blacked out...hoping not to do it again), and now I have two legs that are so very sore. I have to say that as hard as this has been, I feel so blessed knowing that I am still able to keep myself together enough to get through the day and accomplish all my tasks. I can only say that Heavenly Father has been by my side and is daily helping me get through difficult situations. The sisters in my ward have been so kind and compassionate. They have watched my kids, brought me dinner, cooked for my kiddos the day I broke my toe, and drove me to the doc. I couldn't be in a better place and I feel so blessed. I couldn't have done it without them and it really makes me think that our Heavenly Father watches out for us even in our most difficult times. He blesses us with amazing people to help us and gives us the strength we need to keep it all together. This has reminded me of one of my seminary scripture mastery scriptures (yes, I actually remember one):

"I know that am I nothing, as to my strength I am week, therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God in whose strength I can do all things".

Unfortunately, I cannot find the reference or remember where it is ( I haven't looked to hard). The point is we can accomplish anything as long as we have Heavenly Father on our side, even getting through the last 6 weeks of my pregnancy.

Good Referrals Needed

2010-07-08T19:59:00.001-07:00

So we have started to finish our basement. Yahoo! I need some referrals. The framing will be done on saturday, so I'm looking for a plumber, electrician and sheetrocker. Anybody have some people they've worked with that can help out? I'm so excited to get this project done. Once I get the boys moved to the basement I will feel like I can start planning for this baby!

June in a Nutshell

2010-06-30T14:30:00.001-07:00

June has been filled with so much already. I can't believe it's over and we are headed straight into July! Jamie and I had a lunch date with Isabella recently, luckily there was a flower to keep her entertained while we waited for our Chicago style pizza.

I love Izzy's blue outfit. It makes her eyes look so pretty. I also LOVE her new haircut. I will post pics as soon as I get some taken.

Christian was asked to give a talk on Baptism for his cousisn's Livi's baptism. He did such a great job! Jamie and I were both in tears from shock at his composure and confidence. He's such a great kid. After he finished he came up to me and said "Mom, I'm glad I did it. I think it was good for me." He was so nervous before and kept practicing. What a great experience for him. He will remember this for ever. Thanks Ben and Lisa for thinking of him and asking him to do this.

Our cute Olivia with her Daddy. She is such a kind hearted girl, I just love her!

....and yes, my very first midnight showing of any movie! Summer and Cassidy both came and were sooooo good while we waited in line. Lucky me, I was pregers, so I got to bring along a camping chair to sit in. It was such a life saver!

Team Edward or Jacob? Definately Jacob! Have you seen what Edward looks like in the movie? Not even a competition there.

My cute sister Elisa, Summer and I waiting and waiting and waiting some more. I've never waited this long...not even at disneyland!

The group of girls from my ward that came with. Teri was there with Cassidy, but I didn't get any pics of her. She's such a great mom to take Cass and hang out till 3 am!

Lisa Comes to Visit

2010-06-30T14:23:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law Lisa came to visit a couple of weeks ago and we had such a great time going to the pool, visiting and having sleepovers. Ben and Rio were such a joy to be with. It was fun to get the kids together after not seeing them for so long. Thanks Biba for such a fun few days!

Dinner at T's house. Those ribs were amazing!! Food at the Ogdens is always fabuloso....I need to learn to cook more like that.

Biba, Jamie and Crunch N' Munch, a family must have for the Townsend household.

Max, Christian, Ben and Rio-cousins having fun and enjoying life at the pool!

Baseball

2010-06-30T14:17:00.000-07:00

Christian is playing on a baseball team and is doing pretty well. He's had a couple of games and loves going to practice which is a new thing for us. I normally have to push them to go to practice. Nico is also playing Tball, but we forgot our camera at his first game, so Jamie took pics with his phone, which I have no access to. Anyway, here are some fun pics of Christian's first bball game.

My company at the games. Izzy loves Christian, but when he's not around, Nico is the second best choice. She loves her brothers!

Fun Times with Isabella

2010-06-24T07:16:00.000-07:00

We went to Elitch Gardens on Tuesday with Max, Cassidy and my kids. Isabella was being such a pill all the way there. She screamed in the car the whole way to the park (30 min drive). She kept yelling at the kids sitting behind her. Anytime one of them would talk, she would start yelling and gabbing at the top of her lungs. By the time we were there I told the kids, "maybe she'll loose her voice and then not be able to scream anymore even if she wants to!" They thought it was funny. Good thing they have a sense of humor. Then we get to the park and all the kid rides are being tested. Since we got there right when they opened, we waited for about 45 minutes to get on any of the rides that Izzy could go on. So, lets just say she was not happy. We end up waiting in line for a truck ride and she is not having any of it. She wants to go in NOW! So, she does what she does best and throws herself on the ground, starts kicking, yelling and rolling around on the hot cement of the amusement park. I'm pregnant and not about to pick her up in that condition, so I let her have her moment. Then this conversation occurs with a local spectator who probably had a very well behaved two year old:

Spectator: Gotta love those two year olds!
Me: Yeah, tell me about it.
Spectator: ...AND OH MY GOSH YOU'RE HAVING ANOTHER ONE!

Yes, at that very moment I was so thankful that my other TWO children where on rides and no where to be seen. I may be a freek show now, but just wait. Five years from now when the baby is five and christian is 13...no wait...Ten years from now when the youngest is ten, and Christian is off to college...no wait Fifteen years from now I'll be so glad I did it. Okay, so I have a long road ahead, but I wouldn't trade any of it. As hard as raising these kids may be on a daily basis, they are mine forever and I know that is the biggest blessing of all. Lets just hope that our next baby is much calmer than Izzy. I don't know if I can handle two of those!!!

Piano Recital

2010-06-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

The boys had a piano recital in May. It was so much fun to watch them. The teacher told the students that she wanted the recital tob e casual, so she said no need to dress up. Nico wouldn't hear of such a thing, so he insisted on wearing his suit to the recital. I reminded him no need to dress up, but he was persistant. So I said "Nico, you will get so many compliments cause you look so handsome." he says "no mom, people are going to say Huba Huba!" Let's just say I made sure he got some "Huba Hubas" that day!

Christian waiting to play his song. He didn't care to dress up like his brother. He wanted to be casual.

Here is Nico so proud of himself. I love his cute smile and his funny personality.

and of course, our little miss trouble maker. She spent most the time out in the hall.

Our Last Vacation for the Year

2010-06-06T08:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, we have been busy vacationing in the Spring. But, since I'm due in September, I figure no more going away from home for me. It's too much to travel with a huge belly and three kids. I'm happy staying home and trying my best to make summer fun for the kids, and myself of course!

So Jamie and I went down to Mexico with two other couples from our ward. We had such a great time. No kids, no diapers, no feedings, no schedules, no homework, no piano, no scouts, no baseball, no nothing! All we did was exactly what we wanted for one whole week. It was funny, but it felt so natural to be on my own, I wondered half way through if I would be able to go back home and deal with my crazy life. Anyway, we had so much fun with these friends (Fausetts and Ravstens). We will be vacationing together with them again for sure....at least that's what I hope they want as well! Here are some pics of us in Mazatlan....

At El Cid resort in Mazatlan. This was a pretty fun pool. We hung out here our first day and just RELAXED and decompressed.

The infamous shrimp platter for two...shared by Brad and Jamie.

We stayed in this condo that did not have TV or a phone, so we read all week. I got through two and a half books....the most I've read in the last 8 years since I had kids.

Our favorite restaurant on the beach. We ate here almost daily. The highlight may have been the lobster dinner jamie and I splurged on. I can't believe how beautiful it was.

I love spending time with Jamie. He's my best friend and I can't seem to get enough of him!

California 2010

2010-04-18T19:25:00.001-07:00

We made a last minute trip to Cali due to timeshare availability and ended up having a blast. We started our trip with delicious pastries from an Argentine Bakery thanks to Steve and SJ (Steven James has now decided he wants to be called SJ). The weather was a bit on the colder side, but we got to enjoy everything we set out to do. Here are a few pics of our trip.

Not sure what is being said here, but Christian was on one this trip. Everything had to be comical.

I am now beginning to understand why little girls have short hair. Comb anyone?

KT is such a cute mommy! She is also pregers, but not showing nearly as much as I was. If only I hadn't gained 10 lbs right off the bat....

Laguna Beach is our new favorite beach in California. So kid and Caro friendly. Icecream shop was only across the street....a stone through away. The beach also had a playground for kids who get bored of the beach...as if that ever has happened.

Of course D-Land was part of our adventure. Call me a cheapo, but those 274 bucks hurt more than I can explain. We will only be doing this once in a while. I would be content with never doing it again, but can that be considered child neglect and abandonment?

This was merely for the 1 and a half year old who has already forgotten about this event. At least this proof will keep it alive in her mind for the rest of her life. All is not a wasted.

Look at the happy look on her face. That was almost priceless. I can only imagine what she was thinking. Going from seeing this character on TV to real life must be some what confusing to a one year old. Too bad Mikey was wearing some kind of crazy winter outfit. Where are the traditional red overalls?

The whole clan at Disney. Minus KT who is of course behind the camera. These guys were troopers.

Love these kids. Am I the luckiest Mom in the world or what? It was so fun being together with them. They were so gracious, it was so pleasant to be there with them. Christian even got a blister on his foot from walking around so much and didn't complain about it till we were walking out of the park at 8:30 at night (by far our longest stay at any park ever).

And of course, our Cali trip wouldn't be complete without Best Buddy. These guys are the best and so much fun to hang out with. Glad we could visit the California Townsends while we were there.

Democracy is No More

2010-03-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

I have tried so desperately to stay out of what is currenlty happening in our country. I feel so helpless thinking about politician's who disregard the will of the people and make decisions for us. But I don't know that I can do this much longer. I'm astonished and shocked at the way the health care bill passed. No republican votes, yet democrats called it bipartisan? How can we even sit back and let something like this happen? This has only made me realize the importance of learning about candidates. Not that we had much of a luxury between Obama and McCain, but I do believe a more conservative President would have known better. This is what I'm currently confused about. I know Obama is a smart individual. He's got degrees and all sorts of accomplishments behind him, so what is he really after? He knows what a bill like this will do to our healthcare system. All he has to do is take one look at a state like California. Too many people on welfare (Such as this new bill) and not enough doctors = shortages on healthcare. We currently cannot afford great health insurance, so if something were to happen to anyone in our family, we would go to the ER and get treated. With this new bill, we can go to the ER, but we may end up dead because there will not be enough doctors to go around. Not to mention what it will do to the economy, or hard working middle class Americans who cannot afford health insurance, but now will pay a tax if they do not have it. How is this a democracy is we are forced against our will? I'm beginning to believe that we are no longer a democracy but headed toward socialism and fast.

So, we will all now have some form of health insurance with all insurance companies forced to accept pre-existing conditions. So, why not pay the tax imposed on individuals who do not have insurance and then get health insurance when I get cancer? It appears more economical that way. I feel I still have one foot in the door and one foot out because if things get bad-move to a country with a better democratic government, but is there such a thing? I think this post is to help me feel that this is country worth fighting for and to not give up. Maybe someone else who reads this may be inspired in some way. But I must say, at this point I feel that it is helpless. Maybe Obama should pass a law that everyone must purchase GM cars so his car company can make a profit (I'm sure you've heard this being said) but is this not as ridiculous as forcing us by a penalty to buy health insurance?

Sinusitis

2010-03-06T07:42:00.000-08:00

I have a sinus infection and haven't been able to breath through my nose for three days now. Afrin is heaven sent, except for I just used it for my third time last night and cannot do another day. I heard you can only use it for three days before your nose gets dependent on it? Not sure, but I know it's only good for emergencies, which this was. I will now be using my sinus rinse more often. Anybody else have other ideas? I just started on a z-pack which has greatly helped with the pressure. I can't wait to feel well again. The sad part is I finally started working out this week and then my sinus crap just got too bad. I am determined to run the 10K in May. Okay, maybe I won't totally run the 10K, but dang it, I'm going to do something besides lay around and feel sick-that, I am determined about!

Belated Birthday Blog

2010-02-26T11:38:00.001-08:00

My sweet Nico has a birthday on December 29th and every year we seem to shuffle through it as quickly as we can. This year was his first year having a birthday party with friends. I also made a cake for a family celebration we did. He wanted a Lego Cake, so that is what I came up with. It took forever to frost the marshmellows, but that boy was one happy lego lover. Anyway, Nico turned 6 and I'm so thankful for the little guy. He has some pretty gross habits that are not blog worthy, but his sweetness and cute voice absolutely surpass all those other things we work on with him. Nico at six years old loves to do the following:

Play video games such as the Nintendo Wii and his DS (which he got from Santa-lucky kid)
Play the piano. He is such a great Piano player. He started a year after Christian and has caught up to him (may have passed him, but we switched books for him so it wouldn't be an issue).
Ride his bike around the "big block" all by himself.
Give Izzy so many hugs and kisses he gets into trouble for making her cry.
Getting Valentine's from his mommy (he got a belated one, but it was good! can't got wrong with candy).
Playing with his cousins in Colorado Springs and his Utah cousins. He can't wait for the Arthurs to move here. He keeps asking me how many days the Arthurs are staying. He does not comprehend "moving to Denver".
Loves to play Kid's Winter Olympics-he and his brother created olympic flags for their teams and they play hockey in my dinning room. I love this game!
He's great at putting puzzles together
Loves to play Uno Attack-I love to watch him play. He says the silliest things!
Says great prayers and works very hard at coming up with new things to say each time.
Loves to make Christian and Isabella laugh.
Makes a killer Top Ramen. We call him "Our Little Chef"!

That is my Nico in a nutshell. Happy late birthday kiddo!

The following are a small glimpse of our Christmas. I had so much fun with the boys tracking santa on Norad's website. If you have not done it, it is very entertaining and my boys could not go to bed. They had to check every minute to see where Santa was and where he was going next. I finally made them go to bed late and promised to take a picture of when Santa was in Colorado Springs. So, here is the picture. The website was great because it even has live footage of Santa flying over certain cities. We had a blast watching some of those.

Santa is currently in Cedar City, Utah on his way to Colorado Springs, Colorado (pretty much as close as he gets to Castle Rock.

We just put out the cookies and milk and thought we'd take a pic. Christian and his wanting to be funny phase....could do without!

February thus far...

2010-02-23T12:31:00.000-08:00

has been quite interesting and not boring in the slightest. My sister came to visit for one weekend for a Job interview for her hubby and they're moving to Denver! I'm so excited. She's waiting till school gets out to move out here in May. Seriously? May is never going to come.

My parents came out the following weekend and stayed for a week, which included my birthday. I was sick for most of their visit (morning sickness, yes I'm pregnant and due in September, baby looks great). Their visit was a blessing because I ended up on the couch for most of the days they were here. I think they felt bad leaving me in such a predicament, but I've done this before and I'm sure somehow I can do it again. How do people work out with morning sickness that lasts ALL DAY LONG! I keep hoping my second trimester will be less harsh and I can start to do some slight running. I had a dream about running the other night, so Jamie took a hint and bought me new running shoes and workout clothes for my birthday. The kids also had to say three nice things to me for my b-day and Nico says, "I like it when my mommy gives me valentines, but she hasn't given me one yet. I gave one to her, but she hasn't given one to me." It appears I'm also a slacker in the mothering department because not only did I forget to give him and all the other kids valentines, I also completely spaced the valentine boxes for school and the valentine's for their class mates. Yup, mother of the year at your service. Christian woke up in the middle of the night crying because the next day was the valentine party and he didn't have any valentine's for his friends or classmates. I didn't even get up for that part because I sleep so hard when I'm pregnant. My mom was there and was able to tell him that his Daddy had gone out that night to buy them for him. Nico just missed the school valentine party all together because Christian was staying home and I didn't have the energy to drive him to school that day. So he didn't get any valentine's from his friends. Guess what I'm doing today?

On to other news, Jamie partnered up with another attorney this month. Seems like people need bankruptcies more than ever. It's great news for us, not so good for everyone else who appears to be struggling to pay the bills.

That about does it. Isabella is teething like a monster and now has 4 molars-thank goodness, she can finally eat more than mushy foods! Am I really ready to deal with 4 kids? You bet I'm not, I think Jamie and I think having lots of kids is such a great idea, and then we have to take care of them....totally different story.

My Proud Moment of the day!

2010-01-28T21:34:00.000-08:00

So Isabella got what ever Nico had last week and started throwing up on tuesday. It continued through wednesday. I cleaned up so much up chuck, I think I stopped counting at 15. In the mess of things, I went to do the plethera of laundry piling up and noticed some water under the washer. This worried me, so I pull the washer out, cleaned up the water and called for help. Jamie had clients, so my father-in-law (aka Raggy) suggest I google it. Yes! What a great idea. I had fixed my vaccuum from watching you tube videos, so I went to You Tube and found out that not only did I have a leak, but my agitator was broken. It must have just happened because I never noticed it not agitating. Anyway, I had done a bunch of loads and watched for leaks (as stated in the You Tube videos), and nothing. The water was not leaking from anywhere. My conclusion was that the bucket may have been pushed to the side and water was coming down the side of the bucket. Easy fix. The agitator was a bit more complicated, only because I'm completely ignorant when it comes to using tools. How was I to know that there is a metric and a US system of measurement in tools? I had pretty much stripped the bolt and was about to toss the dang washer when Jamie came to my rescue and got the bolt out. I quickly replaced the agitator dogs and my washer now works marvelously! I've been pretty proud of myself for doing such a task, but when it comes down to it, the hard part was getting the stickin' bolt loose and Jamie did that for me. At least we make a great team and we were able to save $200!

If anyone else knows of why I was leaking the water in the first place, I would love the input. It happened again today, but a very small amount. Of course, this was after I had fit my whole body into the bucket in order to unscrew that stinkin' bolt, so I may have done something to the balance of the bucket. Anyway, I'm still proud and hope that the washer keeps working. I've had it for 12 years and I just don't think it's time to call it quits yet. I want to get a nice front loader, but I've heard they are not as durable as the old school washers (I guess they break more frequently-according to a repair man), so I'm going to wait until the kinks get worked out, then maybe I'll splurge!

New Year's Resolutions

2010-01-07T22:01:00.000-08:00

My friend Korby put her new year's resolution (or her resolution for the month) on her blog and I thought it would be fun to share what our kids came up with for resolutions for this year. We did it for family night and had a good time/laugh doing it. Our kids pretty much came up with these all on their own. We helped with the wording, but the ideas are theirs:

Nico’s Resolutions

1. I will try not to cry if I lose my video games
2. I will try to be a better brother
3. Help friends at school
4. I will be reverent in Class and Sacrament

Christian’s Resolutions

1. I will try to not be so bossy to Nico (be more patient).
2. I will not give Mom a hard time about piano
3. I will try to pay attention in class
4. I will be more reverent in church
5. I will try to be a better example
6. I will read for the scriptures for twenty minutes every Sunday

Obviously Christian has more because he has more issues. Then we also did some family goals that once again, the kids came up with. We gave them the topics and they set the goal and then they gave us ideas on things we could do to accomplish those goals. Overall I thought they did pretty well. Christian really wanted to use the word "perservere", so we went with it and this is what we came up with:

Townsend Family Goals for 2010

Church

1. We will try to help one family find the gospel this year

a. Invite friends to church
b. Invite friends to come over and hear the missionary discussion
c. We will pray to help us find a family to share the gospel with

Family

1. We will try to be more patient with each other and not yell at one another

a. Have more patience
b. Read the scriptures to have the spirit in our home
c. Use our manners saying “please” and “thank you”

Work/School

1. We will persevere

a. Work hard
b. Get better grades
c. Not give up

After reading this you may think our family has yelling issues along with bulling issues and just plain issues all over the place. We do. I went one day without yelling at my kids and realized that it's theraputic for me and that the yelling I do is actually releasing some kind of stress/tension. What am I going to do if I can't yell at them in the morning to "hurry up or I'm taking video games away for the weekend," "You have 5 minutes left and if you're not out of the shower you're going to have to skip breakfast" (ha! like that's ever going to happen-such empty threats) My personal favorite, "What were you thinking?" Wow! I got going and now I can't stop. Here are just a few of the things you hear being yeld around our house (before our new resolution that is):

" Do you really think Isabella likes it when you do that if she's cries the WHOLE time?"

"Quit killing your brother" (video games really turn you into bad people all together)

"If you tell on your brother one more time I'm going to spank you!"

"Don't tell me, tell your Dad" (this one is one of my favorites as well)

"Quit talking and eat your food!"

"Quit talking and get your shoes on, NOW!!!!"

"MOM, Christian hit me"

"MOM, Nico is telling on me!"

"NO Christian, it was my turn!"

"NO Nico, this is how you do it, you're doing it all wrong!!!!"

"DADAADAADAADADADA!" (even Isabella gets in on the action)

So may the new year erase all these old ways and bring new and exciting blunders to our home. I need to find a new outlet soon!

Eight years old!

2010-01-07T13:54:00.000-08:00

Where has the time gone? I know everyone says they feel that time goes by fast, but I feel that it's happening way too fast. I remember holding this little guy at night when he was a baby. Once he got the flu so bad he threw up for 2 days. I was worried sick, but loved that he let me hold him and WANTED to be held. He has always been such a kind boy with a great big heart. I love his laugh, it's contagious and the way he plays with Izzy always cracks me up. He loves to make people happy and at such a young age he could feel the spirit. I'm all over with this, but I have so many great memories of Christian. He started out with a very questionable "no mama no", but has turned into a very bright, sweet young boy. Here he is on his baptism day....

All the cousins from both sides. You can see Guy on the right hand corner...Max is eyeing him, probably wondering what the Guy was up to.

I LOVE this picture. I'm going to frame it and put it in his room. He looks so grown up!

Four generations. Harold Townsend faught in WWII on an aircraft carrier. He has amazing stories to tell. He is also the kindest, most amazing man I have ever met. He is the true definition of a gentlemen.

Matching! I love the Izzy is a girl. How much fun I'm having!!!

Rumble after the Baptism at our house. That trampoline looks big in this picture.

I appreciate him more and more every day. He's very considerate and patient with me.

Brother in laws! the BEST!

These two played checkers for what seemed like 2 hours. They were very into it!

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-01-07T13:30:00.000-08:00

My family came over for Thanksgiving and Christian's baptism in November. We had a full house, but loved having everyone together. I got to spend some time with all the kids and even made some time with the adults for a night out. These pics should be self explanatory:

My Dad at the Piano. He knows two songs by memory and plays them over and over-but with much enthusiasm.
My family is known for eating a chicken/turkey leg all the way down to the bone. Nothing left but bone. Bone marrow gone, all that is left is bone. I can't do it...wish I could stomach it.

My cutie sister is having her baby in March and I can't wait! I want to be there, so we'll see if all the stars align and I get my way!!!

Alan and Elisa, my party people. Every time we get together we have good times. Even when we're not together we chat on the phone and have a hoot!

Sandee taught us to make super cute flowers while she was here. If anyone is interested, go to her blog and check them out. She's wearing one in her hair in this pic, but you can't see very well. She is talented beyond reach. I wish I had some spark of talent like she does....

Kids at dinner. Yup, we had 12 kids daily at our house. We had the party house and I loved it.

We look great. No makeup, dress up or hair done. This is true beauty!

what the?

Jamie with Calvin Wallace. I love his name. Such a great name for him. He's just like Izzy, into everything!

Halloween!

2009-11-04T19:58:00.001-08:00

Look at me staying on top of things. It's only Novemer 4th and I'm already posting Halloween photos. Usually these wouldn't be up until Christmas! Our Halloween festivities started with a Halloween Party at our House, followed by a church party, continued with Halloween itself and ending with a Post Halloween Party at Teri and Todds. Wow, no wonder I've gained a few pounds this month!

Our Halloween Party at home: Jamie and I dressed up as Octomom and a Sperm Donor. Those eight babies were too much for me. Can't imagine them in real life.

Berglunds getting very cozy with our balloon popping game.

After a while it was rough coming up with ways to pop those tiny balloons. Note to self: next year, get bigger balloons!

Way to go Rudds!

Random photo, but had to share. Jamie and I have been into Top Chef lately and so one night (the boys were gone at a b-day party for 3 hours), we put Izzy down and grilled up some yummy steak with salmon, asparagus and a bernaise sauce. Delisioso! I had to take a pic. We had such a great time together....love those random dates that end up being so fun.

My little witch. She was in character the whole week.

Nico was a skeleton pirate from Pirates of the Caribean. Christian was Frankenstein and Izzy, she was herself, I mean a witch.

Scary Pirate!

She looks more like a wizard. If only she could cast a spell and not be so grouchy!

In the morning, random pic, random day.

At the Ogden's for the after Halloween party.

Just had to put this one in here. Look how excited Izzy is!

I was so proud of myself for making Isabella's costume. That skirt took no skill, yet I was so proud of my effort. I even made the wizrard like purple robe and decorated the hat. Then we get to Teri and Todds. Let's just say I shouldn't claim any talent or effort on this posting because Teri went all out and made Max's costume (he was Max from Where the Wild Things Are movie). I had to show the picture above, because you can see more detail. She had the gloves, dirt, the whole ensamble. She didn't stop there, she also made (with the help of Cassidy), Cassidy's costume. A fairy princess. The detail on the costume was fantastic and it fit Cassidy perfectly. Oh, did I mention that Christian and Nico are wearing costumes that Teri made in previous years for her kids? Yeah, I have no glory in this posting, just bragging rights - I'm related to amazing talent. If only that relation was through blood, then I could say there is hope, it might be in the genes...nope....just bragging rights.

Snow Days!

2009-10-29T23:10:00.000-07:00

Two days off from school due to snow storm. It's not even Halloween yet and we have SO much snow. The boys went out every day to play in it. One day they went out three times. They would come in super wet and ready for Hot Chocolate. This is the reason I love Colorado. The seasons are so much fun. We had the fireplace going and treats and hot chocolate non stop. I may have gained a few pounds, but totally worth it! Check out these photos:

The side of our house got huge snow drifts. They were pretty much as tall as the boys.

Snow days wouldn't be as fun without the sledding. We need to find some steeper hills for the next storm or for tomorrow even. We still don't know if tomorrow is a snow day or not.

Happy Birthday Big Boy!

2009-10-29T22:48:00.001-07:00

We used to call Christian Big Boy when he was little. It's been a while, but I remember it used to be his only name for a time. He would carry around this navy blue blanket with white stars on it. I can't believe my big boy is eight. I'm so proud of him. Who would have thought this kid who used to talk in a Darf Vader voice would turn out to be so kind and loving. Christian has a big heart. It kills him when ever he does something wrong. He's smart and great at the piano. He can take Izzy out of the crib for me and does so all the time. He's good about getting his homework done after school and loves playing video games. His favorite color is blue, changed from orange. His favorite food is Chicken Pot Pie and Chicken Bakes from Costco. He loves to ride his bike and read the Diary of a Whimpy Kid series. He also finished reading Where the Red Fern Grows with his Dad and decided to read it on his own in school. I love christian and I'm so proud of him for getting baptized and realizing what an important step he's about to take.

So his birthday started out with a big birthday breakfast. We made oreo pancakes (chocolate and vanilla pancakes) with bacon and hash browns. He LOVES bacon. I think at one time he may have said he would marry bacon?! Since it was during fall break, we had his party at Chuck E Cheese's that afternoon with his friends. I love parties away from home. So easy to clean up! Birthday week continued with a birthday dinner at home on Sunday with family. I made him the Fun Fort cake from the kid's cook book he and Nico are totally into these days. He was so excited about the cake-love it when I get reactions for things I do (how selfish of me). And, birthday continued on to the Monday after when I sent in Jamie with a super fro wig to hand out treats to his class. Christian did say he was emberrased at first, but then he thought it was way cool. Thanks Sandee for your great birthday ideas-so much fun! And thanks to Jaymie Thorpe for the Wig-great costume! So, it was a great week for Christian. He is now anxiously anticipating his baptism in November. What a great kid!

Fun Fort Cake. Not bad for my first time using icing tips and such. Kinda liked making it.

Chuck E Cheeses. Spend 3 hours there. I believe that gives me amunity for at least a year!

Daddy Fro, Ms Hanni and Christian. Look how happy that boy looks!

I love the tiger on the back of his shirt. He found it at the Goodwill for $5 bucks. Love thrift stores for that reason.

Fall Break and Swine Flu?

2009-10-29T22:29:00.000-07:00

So Fall break started on a Thursday. The kids got home from school, just in time to have Nico come down with a fever. But I should back up to Monday night of that week where we went to a function where my kids where exposed to the flu. By tuesday I knew Izzy wasn't feeling well, so the next day I took her in to the Doctor. She wasn't feverish or throwing up, but she was just laying around like you see below. If any of you have a one year old, you know that's not normal. By the time I took her in on Wednesday, she had developed a fever of 101 (not too bad), but got progressively worse by the end of Wednesday. She ended the week with not eating, throwing up, fever and laying around all the time and wanting to be held (is that so bad?). By Thursday night Nico had it and held on to it. By Sunday night Christian had it. It took us a whole week to get better. Good thing fall break is two weeks. So by the second week we started to feel better and so I promised them to cook some of the food from their kids cookbook Nico had purchased at the book fair. (He loves it when I call him My Little Chef. This came from Hallie, Summer and Jaxon who called him this once he made his favorite soup for them-top roman). So, we started with these cookie caterpillars-totally gross. I wouldn't even eat it. They were fun to make though. Then moved on to Pizza pinwheels-big hit! We also did Octopus something, the pic is below. That is pretty much what kept us entertained for two weeks since we were all sick and by the second week Christian had developed a secondary infection in his ear, so we tried the pool after he was better, but not a good idea when you're recoverying from an ear infection. Great break!

So, we had one doctor just say that Izzy had the flu, while the ER doctor said she had the Swine flu. Funny thing is that if you test possitive for Influenza A, doctors where automatically saying it was the H1N1 virus. She didn't even get the test for Influenza because the doctor said she had all the symptoms of the flu and had already been screaming the entire time. Poor doctor probably didn't want to hear any more after swabbing her to check for influenza A. It turns out that only a handful of labs in the US test for the H1N1 and it costs about $300 for the test. So, most doctors are not testing for it. The influenza A can be tested in the doctors office very easily. It only takes a few minutes. So, I would like to think we received a free vaccination of the H1N1 that week since Jamie and I also got sick-no fevers for us though. We may get the flu again this year (hope we don't), but I must say the media sure is hyped up about this. We did give Izzy Tamiflu right away, and she was still pretty sick. Out of the five of us, she got it the worst. Phew! That was long winded.

don't they look cute in the photo? My boys where bummed because their cookies didn't look as good as the picture. It really was much tougher than it looked!

Family Pictures

2009-10-29T22:18:00.001-07:00

We did some fun family photos at the Ogden home in September. Wish we all looked good for the camera, but one can only dream of such a day with 3 kids. No need to explain, just enjoy:

This is a classic Nico look. If I posted any other photo it would not do him justice.

If I could let my boys pick which picture to put in their room, Nico would totally pick this one. He loves to grab Christian's face for photos. What a strange kid.

Labor Day Weekend - Utah

2009-10-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

For the Labor Day weekend we headed to Utah. We always have so much fun when we go. Alan and Elisa are always making sure we do fun stuff. I personally would be more than happy to sit around and hang out, but it sure is nice to have so much fun. The boys took the bigger kids to ride dirt bikes while the girls shopped with the babies. It was heavenly!

Uncle Dewayne! What a champ. He didn't have any of his kids there, but was such a trooper hanging out with the kiddos. Love that guy!

Jaxon, Nico, Christian and Hallie. These four love each other so very much. I love to see them together hanging out. They had so much fun that day!

Top Chef

2009-09-27T19:35:00.000-07:00

So fall TV season has arrived and I haven't even been all that excited except for one random show Jamie and I stumbled upon a couple of weeks ago on demnad. Top Chef. I can't help it. I LOVE food. I love the way it tastes, the way it looks, how it makes me feel nostalgic for different events in my life. The smell of chocolate chip cookies is a Townsend family memory I have. The smell of empanadas or milanesas in the oven reminds me of being little and so excited for dinner because we were FINALLY eating something I liked to eat. Any barbeque, specially charcoal, reminds me of the asados my family put on when I was little. I associate asados with two things, summer and Christmas. Those two don't go together in this climate, but in Argie, it's summer when Santa Comes and leaves candy in your newly polished worn out shoes.

So, Top Chef has got me excited to cook again. I was talking with my mother-in-law last night and she was telling me about how much she loves aprons. I don't think I've ever worn an Apron, at least not in the last 10 years (at least not to cook. Jamie makes me wear it when I cut his hair). Anyway, she said she remembered years ago, wearing an Apron when a boy from church came to pick up fast offerings and that boy went home to tell his mom, "mom, Sister Townsend must be a good cook because she was wearing and Apron and her house smelled like fresh bread!" I love that. At least I know I can fool everyone out there with an Apron and Scenty wax.

Jamie and I have had the same one and only Apron for the last 8 years. I think I washed it once-maybe. I picked it up for his last hair cut and realized the Apron was very stiff. It no longer bends and is very rock solid...is that dangerous? So I'm going to look for an Apron and start wearing it more often. I think it will help me get even more excited about cooking. After watching Top Chef, I may want the whole ensamble! That show is amazing. How can people whip up such amazing food in such little time? My favorite are the quick fires where they have 45 minutes to put something together with a mystery ingredient-last time it was Cactus. WOW, I want to eat cactus so badly now. The presentations just look spectacular. You can almost smell the dishes with their fancy names and unbelievable presentations! So, if anyone has a fancy recipe to share, I would love it! Jamie and I have set a goal for our law firm and once we hit it, we are not going out to eat, but rather we will stay home and make something together. I'm thinking it will include one of those $30 lobster tails from Costco or something with a saffron sauce, which I don't even know what it is, but doesn't it sound delicious?

Sunday

2009-09-27T12:36:00.001-07:00

Jamie got a new calling-Ward Clerk. Can't believe how much time it takes. Want to complain. But gotta be greatful for the calling. Need to figure out how to stop time. Jamie will be gone all day today.

Missing Jamie

2009-09-14T14:53:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are getting older and time seems to fly by these days, but I had to post some pics of my husband/attorney at his ripe old age of 33. I just hope he doesn't run into clients while he participates in these activities, but than again-will it really matter? Since we've been so busy lately, I've been missing him. Last week I saw him once a day for 5 min and that was it....I had to schedule a date through his "secretary" for next week. I'm beginning to miss him, so here are some great pics for my memory book and I'm sure he'll appreciate them since he hasn't seen them yet :)

He did hurt his back a few weeks ago, so he's been on pain killers and mega IBU, but we're hoping he's on the up and up. Thanks Todd for the pics, I robbed them from your flickr site-should I pay you for your artistic talent?

p.s. jame, your XBOX came today!

My Precious Time...

2009-09-01T19:36:00.000-07:00

I just spent an hour reading everyone's blogs and having a great old time. I have realized a few things about myself in this hour. I no longer watch any television. I spend what little time I have working online or reading blogs (Facebook has also been time consuming). I look at all these beautiful blogs and clever comments and realize, I will never be either. Now that my kids are back in school, I tend to have more "free" time, but haven't quite decided what to do with it and I'm terrified of getting sucked in by Television. So, I have now been sucked in by the wonders of the internet. I have realized that I've been shopping more and I've spent some time on You Tube learning how to lay hardwood floors. So, I think I'm just going through withdrawls now that my kids are gone from 8:15 am to 4:14 pm. I keep wanting to go to the pool, but is it cool to do that without your kids? I have Isabella, but she may just sleep through the outing and then it's just me at the pool. I've also realized that I don't know how to play with my baby. Maybe I should join a playgroup so other kids can play with her. She's got to learn to walk...it's driving me nutts that she can't do that yet.

Alright, I'm out. I really should turn this off.

Here we go...

2009-08-17T21:20:00.001-07:00

Now that Izzy is crawling, I'm finding things like this more often. I forgot how much trouble a mobile baby can get into.

Not sure why she's crying. She was so happy making the mess. I had come down to see what she was up to because she was so quiet. The moment she heard me say "Isabella", she got all crazy sad.

Of course toilet paper is only good to play with if it can be eaten.

Okay, now she's fake crying. Can you see it? Cause I totally can. How in the world. She's only 1 and already knows how to work her charm. Oh don't worry, I laughed, took pictures and snuggled her and put her to bed. I showed her who's boss!

Isabella Turns 1.

2009-08-17T21:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, she finally made it to 1 and is crawling like a champ! I don't like to admit this, but we kinda forgot her birthday. I woke up in the morning, gave her a bottle, started planning my day, when Christian comes in and says, "It's Isabella's birthday, I thought we were going to sing to her!" Of course it is and of course we were! Good thing I had bought her a toy at Ikea in California while we were there. Anyway, we sang, gave her the present and went to Red Robin for diner. She was very happy with the balloon they gave her at Red Robin. She could have had that as her present and been just fine. Good think one year olds don't want expensive gifts. They just want some attention-easy enough!

We celebrated her Birthday with family the following Sunday. Doesn't she look cute in pig tails? Aaaah, the joys of having a girl.

First Day of School!

2009-08-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

August 8th was the first day of School for my kids. Seems like it's too early to be back in school. I remember having at least 3 months off. Well, I can't complain. If I had kept them in year round school, they would have started July 7th.

The neighborhood kids. We all go to the same school, so we've been walking in the mornings together. So nice.

Nico couldn't wait for me to leave him in Kindergarden. He had waited so long for this day, he could wait no longer. There were no tears on either part. School-what a blessing!

Our next door Neighbor Brendan is in Nico's class. These two found a spot on a table right away and began their playing. All other parents were clinging to their kids and holding on to their last moments with their babies. These two didn't want any part of that.

Christian is now a big kid. He later told me I embarrased him by going into his class to get this photo. What!? Seriously, he couldn't possibly be embarrased by his crazy Mommy with a Camera and baby stroller. Poor guy. I'll try harder next year!

California 2009

2009-08-17T20:31:00.000-07:00

It appears Townsend's only know how to make blue eyed babies. At least they also get killer good looks! Sabastian, Calvin and Isabella.

Jamie and his best buddy. I think they look a bit more alike lately. I would never dare say they look totally different. I learned that lesson long ago! :)

First time Christian and Nico figured out how these boards worked. They had such a good time with them.

Ah, my Nico Pico. Can you even use goggles in the ocean? I wouldn't know, I hate the salt water.

They look so cute having fun together. If only all moments were this great...but we have fighting/teasing about 50% of the time (probably more, I just don't want to admit it).

Look how happy those boys look! I love these kiddos.

Best Pals! Of course there was some fighting/teasing among the cousins as well. It must come with the age.

The Princesa just minutes before she realized how much she hated the sand and started to freak out on me. Good thing I could still lay her on her back in those days since she was not yet rolling over!

I love this photo. Christian look so grown up and Keri looks beautiful. I have such a great sister-in-law. By the way, she started her own cookie business. If you're in the LA area and need FABULOUS cookies, try these http://www.dots-goodeats.com/ you will love them!

This is were they spent much of their time. In Steven's room playing video games. They were in boy heaven!

Isabella Learns to Crawl

2009-08-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

It only took almost 12 months, but she has finally learned to crawl. She did not, however, roll over. She just learned to do that a few weeks ago. I've never heard of a baby who was a year old that couldn't roll over. I could place her on her back and she would be like a turtle, completely helpless. This came in handy when at the beach in California. I just put her on her back so she would stay out of the sand. Worked great.

Here is Elisa trying to get Izzy to crawl to a toy she just pushed farther away. Obviously, my well tempered baby girl did not like it one bit!

Izzy with Abu and Papa

2009-08-17T20:14:00.000-07:00

I love this pic of my Dad and Izzy. My Dad is an amazing person. He has taught me so much and I can't wait for Izzy to be a little older so she can make her own memories with him.

My Mom is amazing. I think we've all learned to appreciate her more after her surgery. She has been on bed rest and is not allowed to lift anything for 6 weeks. I think all of my brothers, sisters and I have all seen just how much she does for us since she's not able to help out like she would like. She's such a giving person. I love my mom.

How to Get Pancreatitis

2009-08-02T13:35:00.000-07:00

Follow the pictures below to see how one goes about getting Pancreatitis.

This is called the "Nightmare". It includes 2 gallons of ice cream with all the topings. This was the first night my sister came to visit.

The next day we spent the day at the pool and came home to make home made french fries with hamburgers (with mushrooms, bacon, cheese, lettuce and tomato) and crab legs.

Just cookin' up some bacon to endulge ourselves. These hamburgers were fabulous!

Followed by a river rafting trip down the Arkansa River in Pueblo Colorado. The lunches we packed included Oreos, Chips, Granola bars (seems healthy-but they were covered in chocolate), sandwich rolls made with white bread and lots of other kinds of goodies including candy (skittles and lemon heads I believe).

Of course every night consisted of either milk shakes, cake or cookies. We were livin' it up!!!

After a whole week of super fun and crummy food, Elisa headed home on Tuesday. By wednesday night she had her first (second of the month) pancreatic attach and by thursday night she was on her way to the ER. When she got to the hospital her enzyme levels were 40,000 (300 is normally high-none of the stuff I just typed is a typo). She just had surgery this morning to remove her gallbladder that was covered with hundreds of gallstones.

Moral of the story-my sis and I can no longer eat like stinking savages when she comes to visit. I felt horrible when I got the news (2 days latter because our cell phones were dead). Had we eaten a bit better, she could have delayed the surgery. Anyway, she's on her way to getting better with one less gallbladder-how many does a person need? No idea.

Freedom Run 10K

2009-07-08T21:45:00.001-07:00

So I stole this pic from my sister-in-law Sandee's website. Thanks Sandee! I love this pic. It's funny how close you feel to the people you just ran a race with. Aaaah, so much fun! I love Adrian's face-he looks like he's about to blow chunks. Funny thing about him, he ran two days before the race to see if he could do it, then proceeded to run the WHOLE race. Not fair, I've been running for months now and when I started I know I could never have done a 10K. Andres had only been running for a couple of weeks, but runs 6 miles a day now. What a champ! He's such a fun brother-always up for a good time. Me, at least I have tan legs-no amazing running story here. Jamie-not only is he hot, but appearantly he was born to be a runner, yet hates running. Somehow I got him to do this race with us, he kept trying to run during the weeks before, but something would always come up. He finally gave up trying to run the week before, but ran the race and stayed with the group the whole time....until he had to go to the bathroom. All of a sudden he got this huge burst of energy and sprinted the last half mile up 9th east straight to the bathroom, beating all of us (Elisa and I) who had been training. Then there's my sister Elisa. She's great. We both finally like running. Sometimes I would like it, then she wouldn't or visa versa. It has been so fun to get together to run. The last couple of visits we've had, we always get at least one or two runs in just for fun. I love that she and I can run together. We run at the same pace, although I would swear she's only staying with me to be nice. And, there's Alan. I have the most radical brother-in-law! He pushed the stroller the whole way (should I mention we didn't stop, we ran the whole way). I don't know how he did it. I know he ran the race last year in under an hour, so just over an hour for this race was more of a breeze, but he had the stroller with two babies! What a champ.

So this race started the 4th of July festivities for us. We proceeded to head to the Parade-were Jamie's migraine began-and continued on to my parents house for an amazing asado by my dad and an inflatable jump house for the kids. We ended the night with fireworks. I was exhausted at the end of the day. We had such a great time in Utah. Thanks to all our family who took time out of their schedules to see us. Adrian and Katie, your new home is beautiful!

Hopefully next year we can do it all over again!

Pics Please!

2009-07-08T21:24:00.000-07:00

We spent the 4th of July weekend in Utah with my family. It was such a fun vacation. Unfortunately, my camera died. I took it out to take photos, and the batteries were gone. Of course we left the charger in Colorado, so now I'm asking for pics. If you have a pictures of us, please send them my way. I'll just name a few people I would like pics from: Elisa, Elisa, Elisa, Elli, Elisa, Sandee, Elisa. I think that should do it.

To: Jamie

2009-06-21T22:26:00.000-07:00

Jamie, you're a great Father to our kids and such a kind husband. Even on Father's day you helped me out with the kids, cleaned the bathroom and helped me with dishes after a fun Father's Day dinner. Thanks for all you do for us!

Kids Photos

2009-06-21T22:18:00.001-07:00

Do I need to say anything about these? Christian is 7, Nico 5 and Izzy is 9 months. These were taken sometime in May.

Father's Day

2009-06-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

I have a great Dad. I have so many memories with him, even from the time I was little. He called me "dulce" and I always felt so loved by him. He taught me to work hard and work through my problems. He taught me to drive a stick shift, to thread a Wire EDM machine, run a molding press, assemble furniture, mow the lawn, he gave me confidence in all that I did. I have been so blessed with such an amazing father. Hope you had a great Father's day Pa!

We had a great father's day today. We had dinner at our house and were able to enjoy Jamie's Dad, Jamie and Todd. I have great in-laws. They are so kind and patient with me and love me even when I'm not perfect.

My favorite memory of Pop is when Jamie and I got engaged and he said, "you know Caro, if you marry Jamie, you marry Steve." He just wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting myself into. Good thing Steve turned out to be a rad brother-in-law.

Anyway, Happy Father's Day Pop!

Economics 101 with Nico

2009-06-01T21:11:00.000-07:00

I know I've written about Nico a ton lately, but this kid just has so much going on in his life right now. The latest is his Lemonade stand. I bought this cute lemonade stand at a garage sale a couple of saturdays ago and Nico had been dying to try it out. Finally, I let him go at it one day. The kid made 4.25 in almost 1 hour selling lemonade at 25 cents. One lady just gave him money for being so cute and drove away. Everyone else gave more than 25 cents. (I'm beginning to think he should charge 50) Anyway, at the end of the day Nico and I had this conversation:

Caro: Nico, I think I'm going to charge you taxes for selling your lemonade. I'll take half your money.

Nico: What?!! No way, it's my money

Caro: Well, I have to pay taxes, so you should too, don't you think?

Nico: But mom, it's my money

Caro: Alright, I'll settle for tithing at 10 percent. That will only be 40 cents.

Nico: Okay, I can totally do that (he says this with a smile-fills out a tithing slip and I swear the kid couldn't be prouder).

After the incident, Jamie and I began brainstorming on ideas to teach Nico about some basic economics. So we did, this is what we came up with:

Caro: Nico, you were very successful with your lemonade stand and made some good money, but the other 2 lemonade stands in the neighborhood didn't do as well as you did. They didn't make as much money, so we're going to take some of your money and give it to them. This way they can be happy because they also have money.

Nico: Ummm, okay, they can have 1 dollar. (at this point I'm thinking, maybe if we were all like little children we could live in a utopian society, but the conversation continues....)

Caro: Okay, go get your money, I'll take 2 dollars.

Nico: Wait, no, not my money. That's my money, I don't want to GIVE AWAY my money!!! (aaah, basic economics understood by a five year old....so simple, yet so hard for so many politicians, darn)

Jamie and I also thought of scenarios like forcing Nico to hire Christian to work for him at $7 an hour, while Cesar down the street would do it for only $1. Or how about just giving Christian some money because he didn't work, he was too busy playing video games so Nico (who now has money) is forced to give money to Christian who sat around all day playing video games. I would say Nico would quickly quit working and join his brother at video games if he knew that other lemonade stands would subsidize his income for him. Aaaah, so many possibilities. Jamie and I had fun with this one.

Family Night and Uno Attack

2009-06-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

"You-know" is how I would pronounce it, but anyway, we played Uno with the kids for family night tonight and I laughed so hard I was crying, here is why:

Caro: Nico, it's your turn, play a card

(with this look of I've got something you wont believe, Nico lays down a wild)

Christian: Nico, don't say Green! What ever you do, don't say Green!

(I've got one card left-a green card. This is known to everyone because Christian had my hand before we exchanged cards. Nico has all his cards face up and has 1 wild-which he played-and 2 yellow cards)

Nico: I say, GREEN!

Jamie and I can't help but bust out laughing. He had no idea why Christian was saying "don't say green," but it seemed to be the thing to do. With this look of, I'm going to do something tricky, he says "Green".

Another play is Nico wanting to push the "Uno Attack" button which gives you cards. If it was his turn to push the button, he would almost be happy about it, even though we told him over and over the object of the game is to get RID of all the cards. If he got a wild card in the process, you'd think he was just handed a bag full of candy. He would lay his cards all face up, except for his precious wild card, and then say, "I'm not going to show you this card because it's a surprise!" Wow, I wonder what that card could be, hummm????

We must have played almost 2 hours. We had a blast. If anyone is looking for a fun family game, this one is great. Even Isabella sat in her high chair and watched while we rolled in laughter over Nico's comments/plays. Moments like these are seriously priceless!

Watch out, the Swine Flu is Going to Get You!

2009-05-03T21:32:00.001-07:00

I can't help myself, I must share my enthusiasm about the new "epidemic". First we begin with the bird flu, now we're on to the swine flu. Really? Is that the worst stuff out there-animal named diseases? So this whole swine flu thing has got me a bit curious. I mean, people are actually dying from this thing. We should keep our kids from school and restrict all travel to Mexico. So I did a little research for fun and ran across this statistic on web MD:

"Death rate extrapolations for USA for Flu: 63,729 per year, 5,310 per month, 1,225 per week, 174 per day, 7 per hour, 0 per minute."

That's right people, you read it correctly. 7 people per hour die of influenza-you know, the flu that is always lurking in every corner and your next door neighbor is probably currently having it. So board up your homes and pull out the food storage because now we're all at risk. Of course I'm being a bit cynical about this, but why the hype if a gazillion more people die of the regular flu? I don't get it. Maybe it's a secret attack on the Mexican government. By scaring people of some crazy pig flu, Mexico will now suffer from one of their major sources of revenue-tourism. Any other ideas on what is on the agenda, because unless you absolutely never wash your hands-you might be in danger, otherwise-what is the big deal?

Conversations with Nico

2009-04-26T09:33:00.000-07:00

I love my five year old. He keeps me wondering and constantly re-thinking my parenting skills. Here's a recent conversation with Nico:

Caro: If you help me pull weeds for an hour, I'll give you two dollars.

Nico: Um, no, I want five dollars.

Caro: You don't get to choose how much money. This job is worth two dollars. If you want to dollars, you can pull weeds. If you don't pull weeds you don't get two dollars.

Nico: But mom, I really just want five dollars.

Caro: You can have two.

This continues for twenty minutes as I pull weeds and he watches. The conversation then turns around a bit:

Nico: How about ten minutes? I'll do it for ten minutes?

Caro: Sure, you can do it for ten minutes, but that will be 25 cents not two dollars.

Nico: But mom, I reall just want five dollars! (notice he didn't say two dollars)

What do I do? How do I teach him to work hard? Maybe I should focus on his great ability to stand up for his view point and not back down. Maybe he'll be an attorney like his daddy. I just want him to know he's got to work around here! The kid is awsome and gives hugs and kisses like no other, but when it's time to clean up, he goes upstairs and watches Christian clean up all the toys. I set a timer for five minutes. If the toys are not picked up in five minutes, what ever is left I throw away in the trash. I had to do this because it would take half a day for them to clean up their room. Well, what I have discovered is that Christian does all the cleaning because he's afraid of having his toys thrown away, while Nico watches because he figures Christian will pick them up anyway. Now, I've had to have Christian stop after 3 minutes and have Nico do the rest. Oh my, you'd think we just cut off his right arm the way he whines about it. But, he's so slow at doing it that Christian jumps in to help because he doesn't want his toys thrown away. Being a parent I should have all the answers, but I don't know how to get him to do things without the argument like the one above. He ALWAYS has a better suggestion or idea when it I ask him to do something:

Caro: Nico, get your shoes on, we're leaving
Nico: Where are we going
Caro: To the store and to run some errands
Nico: I don't like the store. I don't want to go
Caro: Too bad, you're going
Nico: But I don't want to go
Caro: I have stuff I need to get done, so you're coming with me.
Nico: Nah, let's go to walmart. I want to spend my two dollars.

EVERYTIME!!! Or, he wants to go to Chuck E Cheeses, Orem Utah, the Pool or stay home. The funny thing is, I NEVER let him stay. I make him go every time. You'd think he'd have figure it out by now. So, what is a mother to do? I just keep praying and trying to come up with creative ways to get him to do the things I say. Aaah, maybe someday!

My Spring Break

2009-04-16T21:20:00.000-07:00

So the kids had spring break two weeks ago, but I got a great taste of my own spring break this week. I just finished two big project deadlines for my work and decided not to take on anything else this week, so I've had nothing to do! You know, I can honestly say I get so much more accomplished when I have a zillion things to do. I don't miss my crazy schedule, but I sure had a nice week of sitting around, baking, cooking, going to soccer games, driving to piano practice, running a bit and doing a little service here and there. It felt like a vacation. The best part about it-it was completely FREE! I did absolute NO shopping (this includes groceries-which by no we are in need of very badly) and the furthest I ventured was the local park for soccer games. Now as I'm sitting here and gearing up for a work conference I have to attend to tomorrow I realize I have missed my 941 filing deadline for Jamie's law firm, sending my tax return on the 15th (good news is we get a refund, so no fees for that), mailing a textbook back to my supervisor, making copies of our IDs for the refinancing and making the dentist appointments I've been meaning to get to all week. Most of this is no big deal (minus the 941 filing), what I do have to show for a week full of doing nothing is that I am now closer to coming up with a perfect whole wheat bread recipe. My friend Mary makes it amazing with the help of a food scale, but like I mentioned before-shopping was not on my list of things to do this week. I would love a fluffy and light whole wheat bread recipes if you have one. I think mine is off by the gluten just a bit, and I didn't want to purchase dough enhancer (which would mean going to the store). Anyway, if anyone has a good recipe-I would be so appreciative. Does anyone else HATE grocery shopping as much as I do???

Music at our house

2009-03-29T14:03:00.001-07:00

Christian Started Playing the piano about a year ago. Nico just started about 2 months ago. They are both very talented. Christian gets the counting and paterns that come with playing the piano. Nico loves the sound and can memorize a song after playing it one or two times. I usually practice with them 2 times after their piano lessons to make sure they are practicing the correct fingering and playing the correct notes. After that, they can pretty much go on their own. Piano has been a big part of our family lately. Mostly because Nico plays the thing about 3 to 4 times a day waiting for Christian to get home from school. He is so bored, he ends up at the piano constantly. He has even started to write down more songs for himself to practice because he gets bored with the ones the teacher has given him. It's super cute. He gets the paper out, writes down page numbers and starts marking down how many times he plays the song.

Nico's favorite song is Yankee Doodle and he composed a song and called it "Ode to Joy". Not a very original name, but he thought it was so cool!

Christian just finished book 1 and is starting book 2a in the faber series. He has a tougher time getting motivated to play, but once he sits down, he gets it done.

Nico has been interested in playing the guitar for a long time. I'm hesitant to let him take lessons because I think he's too little. Maybe if I make him wait, he'll eat it up when he does start taking lessons.

Nico's New Dew

2009-03-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

I had this really cute conversation with Nico yesterday. I had to write it down.

Nico walks in and has his hair all spiky in the front.

Me: Wow Nico, you look so handsome. I love what you did with your hair.

Nico: Yeah, I know. I just fixed it

Me: How did you do it?

Nico: I just put water in it and did this (pulls his hair up with his hands).

Me: Well, it looks cool.

Nico: Yeah, my friend Memphis at school, he has the same hair. But his stays up all the time, how does he do it?

Me: He probably puts gel or hairspray in it. It helps your hair stick up like that.

Nico: Can I get gel for my hair?

You had to see his face when I told him he could use gel to make it stay. He was so excited! Not only was memphis going to have cool hair-but I could just imagine what Nico was thinking! He was now going to have cool hair too!

This is what he looked like that first day-minus the food all over his face of course. He has since done his hair like this every day. Probably attempts to make it look like this about 3 times a day since water doesn't make your hair stay sticking straight up.

Economy Crisis?....Let's Spend Money!

2009-03-26T22:54:00.001-07:00

Gotta rant for a bit today.
When you're down on your luck and not much good is happening to you in the way of jobs, you probably don't go right out and max out all your credit cards. If you did, you might get refered to some kind of counseling. So, maybe that is what Obama needs-credit counseling. I believe 99.99 percent of Americans (Obama and his cabinet being the .01 percent) were not happy with the stimulus package, yet he continues to spend money like it's going out of style. I'm very conservative and have faith in a free market. This may mean things would need to get worse before they get better, but I would rather fix things right. Stimulus spending has proven ineffective not just in other countries, but our own! Does anyone else remember the great depression? I don't because I wasn't alive back then and neither was Obama, but I did pay attention in my Econ 101 class when this issue was being discussed. Who ever said history repeats itself is right on the money. Here we go again-get ready people cause I don't think things are going to get better any time soon. This stimulus will actually do what it was meant to do-prolong the inevitable. Here's to the next year! Ah, that felt good.

New Pics

2009-03-26T21:53:00.000-07:00

I used to love photography. I even used to work at Kiddie Kandids (twice!). I guess I don't have time for hobbies these days, but being snowed in today brought out the artist in me only to make me realize that I no longer have artistic ability. All I wanted was one pic of all three of my kids together. Nothing fancy, just something I could put in a frame and say, "yeah, we have three kids and here they are". (Jamie and I like to entertain once the kids have gone to bed-it's the only way to do it) Anyway, this is what I came up with.

Lighting is a little off in this pic, but I have a pic of myself at nine months in this exact pose and background.

I love these cute boys! I can't believe how big they are. Seven and five. Times goes by way too fast.

Happy Anniversary-11 Radical Years!

2009-03-17T15:09:00.000-07:00

Jamie and I celebrated 11 years of being married on Feb 28th. I can't believe how young we were when we got married. I do have to say it was the best decision I have ever made. Jamie got tickets to the Rascal Flats concert here in Denver and surprised me. This is a big deal for us because any major event like this cannot stay a surprise. We always have to make sure we have enough mula and make sure that it's within our budget before we do something like this. But, there is an attorney in the office where Jamie office shares whose wife works for the Pepsi Center, so Jamie got $5 tickets for 19th row seats-so awsome! I also have to mention it was the best concert I have ever been to. These words were also repeated by Jamie as we left the concert. He may deny the statement in the future, (since he's not at all a country fan) but he did say it. I only wish I had some kind of proof for later!

Happy 60th Pop!

2009-03-17T14:52:00.001-07:00

We spent the weekend of Feb 23rd up in the mountains to celebrate Raggy's 60th bday. We had such a good time. We lazied the whole weekend. Isabella got sick for the first time, but we made the best of it. Thanks Beryl and Roni for letting us spend time up in your cabin!
Happy 60th Bday Raggy! You bring so much joy into our lives. Hope the next decade is as fun as the last!
Jamie's Aunt Roni is the kindest person you will ever meet. Not to mention she is also very fun and incredibly beautiful!

This is what we did pretty much all weekend. The adults laid around, while the kids played in the snow. There were some hot tub moments/movie watching here and there, but this was the favorite past time.

Sheridan and Isabella share the same birthday. Sheridan and Taylor are such cute sisters. They remind me a lot of my sisters and I when we were in High School-only I do believe they are better siblings to each other! :)

Happy Birthday To Me!

2009-03-17T14:48:00.000-07:00

My birthday was February 19th and Jamie and I celebrated by going to this Argentine Bakery downtown Denver. I LOVE their empanadas, so I order a choripan for dinner and a dozen empanadas to take home and enjoy the rest of the week-which I did!

The Law Firm of James K. Townsend

2009-03-11T22:54:00.001-07:00

So our law firm has recently been experiencing some good pick up. I would like to give the credit to our new tech guy who is our friend. Somehow we've been busy with calls coming in from our website. We'd like to continue our good streak. Anyway, our friend told us something about search engines picking up our site if we had links to our website. So, if any of you are dying to have a link to Jamie's website, here it is:

www.thedenverattorney.com

Not a bad name either! Sorry about the no posts lately, life has been crazy! Just to give an update though, we've been in business for 8 months now. It's been a tough 8 months, so we feel our prayers are getting answered. Thanks to our families for all the love and support!

Printing Blog Help

2009-02-24T18:41:00.000-08:00

I found a website to print my blog, but I'm not sure if it's a good one, or not. It's www.blog2print.com. Anyone have any other ideas? I thought I'd check with all my fellow bloggers out there before I actually purchased a blog book. It looks very cool. If all works well, I will never scrap book again-not that I've done any of that in the last 5 years, but at least I wont be feeling guilty about it anymore.

Fun weekend with my Sister

2009-02-08T15:49:00.000-08:00

Elisa is visiting this weekend while Jamie is in Las Vegas. We've had a blast. The boys slept over at the Hunters house and had tons of fun. They can't wait to sleep over again. So, Elisa and I took the opportunity to get some quality time shopping, hanging out and cutting Isabella's hair! It really has been a great weekend. I love my sis-she is the best. We've laughed over and over. Most of the stuff we laugh about is not funny in the morning, but we sure have a good time while we're hanging out!

Look at that mullet! Can you believe I let it get this long? I really was waiting for Elisa to help me chop it.

I may have cut it too short, but her hair has been growing so fast, I think I'll be glad I did. That way it can grow out more evenly.

Why is the sky blue?

2009-02-05T22:50:00.000-08:00

Colorado is the BEST! We've had 50 to 60 degree weather all through January with beautiful sunny skies. While the rest of the country is experiencing ice storms, freezing temps and many feet of snow, we've been playing at the park and even jumping on the trampoline with our swimsuits (my boys, not I!).

So, the other day, as my boys are jumping on the trampoline half naked, I noticed just how blue the sky really is. Christian had set up these "stations" for he and Nico to play and one of those "stations" was a relaxing station. There were two towels layed out on the lawn. It looked very inviting, so I went to the relaxing station. Isabella and I got back rubs and lots of hugs and kisses-just what I wanted that day. Once the back rubs ended, I laid on my back and the blueness of the sky hit me like a rock! How in the world can such a beautiful color just occur in the sky? I was struck by the beauty of it. Colorado is great-no smog, fog...just pure air and sky! It was gorgeous and breath taking. So, why is the sky blue? How come it's not green or purple? Maybe when I create a world I'll have green skies-except for what I saw the other day was perfect- blue skies it is!

I Love My Sisters

2009-01-17T08:48:00.000-08:00

This is the reason I want to have more girls. I have two great sisters that I love so very much. We are completely different, yet share so many memories together. Elisa can ALWAYS make me laugh. Elli has such a great heart. I love being with them. We know we're having a good time together when we can get Elli to bust out! Then we're all laughing and just being plain old silly.

Let's go to Max and Cassidy's house!

2009-01-17T08:40:00.000-08:00

...we must here that all the time! But can you blame them? Look at how fun their Aunt Teri is? Who can compete with the tickel train (except for Christian who is choking Nico)? My kids (and I'm sure the rest of the Townsend cousins) LOVE going to Max and Cassidy's house. The Ogdens are the best. Aunt Teri spoils them, Uncle Todd diggs having them over, Cassidy let's them pick a gift out of her babysitting box and Max is just cool.

....and 7 makes it full!

2009-01-17T08:36:00.000-08:00

Over Christmas break we spent much time at the Townsend household. One one crazy cold day, the boys decided to get in the hot tub. I have a great in-laws! Who else would let three little boys into the hot tub????

Isabella's Laugh

2009-01-10T21:53:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZSLIy7u2sI

Pics of Isabella & Nico's Birthday

2009-01-10T13:43:00.000-08:00

We made it through the Holidays. We had fun with the Townsend's in Colorado Springs. Mucho fun y mucha comida! Jamie did take some super cute photos of Isabella right before, so here they are. She has been such a great baby. Life has been crazy for us lately. I've been working and doing more than I probably should, but I feel so blessed to have such a great baby. She sleeps through the night and takes great naps throughout the day. You can bet on her crying for food, diaper change or because she's tired. I think babies like Isabella trick people into thinking that having another baby wouldn't be so bad, and then you get the baby that puts you over the edge! Anyway, in the meantime I'm very grateful!
Isabella-4 months old with pig tails. I love all her hair. It actually needs a hair cut in the back. She's got a mullet going. That will be our next goal!

I wish I had a pic of myself when I was this age. I think she looks exactly like me when I was a baby. Oh, and notice those dimples-I don't know where she gets those!
Such a cute look. This is what Isabella looks like most of the time. You can see her learning and taking it all in with those eyes!

Jamie hates this pic, but I love it. They both look great and you can see how red her hair looks. The other day a women goes "look at all that red hair". So strange. I don't think her hair is THAT red.My birthday boy! Nico turned 5 on Dec. 29th. Jamie made him Hot Wheels pancakes in bed. Look at how excited he is! Nico is such a sweet kid. I wish I could keep him little for ever. The day before his birthday I said, "Nico, I can't believe you're turning 5...I'm so sad!" He answers with "don't worry mom, I'll still love you when I'm 5." So precious!

Hot Wheels Pancakes by Jamie

Some fun stuff you might now know about me...

2008-12-20T20:16:00.000-08:00

I was tagged by my cousin Cambrea. She is so fun. We got together for a Sosa Cousin reunion and had a blast. I need to be better about keeping in tough with them. I loved meeting their spouses and their kids. The funnest part was seeing how much we all looked alike. I think the Sosa gene is very dominant because I think we could have all passed as sisters. I'll post pics latter so you can see.

My 4 Favorite T.V. Shows:
* Desperate Housewives
* The Office
* Arrested Development (no longer on air-so sad)
* Cuidado con el Angel (my new addiction-Mexican Novelas)

4 Favorite Restaurants:
* Bombay House-they have the best Chicken Coconut Kurma (Provo)
* Thai on Main- best curry ever (Park City)
* Good old Applebees (memories from Moscow and all the girl's night outs)
* Argentine Bakery-best empanadas (Denver)

4 Things That Happened Yesterday:
* Jamie threw up all night
* Isabella needed to be fed last night at 5 am
* Christian had an "accident" at 5:15 am
* Slept a total of about 3 hours

4 Things I'm Looking Forward To:
* Spending time with the Townsend's for Christmas (Jamie's twin brother is here from Cali)
* Meeting my new nephew-Calvin Wallace Townsend
* Christian to go back to school
* Summer (my favorite time of year-I love the heat!!!)

4 Things On My Wish List:
* Jamie to get more clients
* Isabella to get back on her 10 hours of sleep
* My kids to have a good Christmas-without all the fancy stuff
* A date with Jamie-we are so busy these days.

People I'm Tagging:
* Anyone who wants to take some time off to do this-it was kinda fun!

New Venture

2008-12-14T20:27:00.000-08:00

Since life wasn't crazy enough around here with Jamie's new law firm and new baby, I decided to jump in and start my own accounting practice. I've been wanting to do this for a while now. So, after the learning curve with Jamie's firm in Quickbooks and some help from my friend, Jeff Conley, I will be doing taxes this tax season. So, if anybody needs their taxes done, I'm good and cheap!

Thanks!

2008-11-23T21:32:00.001-08:00

Thanks to those of you who answered my plea for help. It was actually very helpfull to know I have resources. Thanks Shauna for leaving that link to quickbooks-Awsome! I had no idea that Erin worked for a law firm in accounting. Erin, I may be calling you in the future!

I will be in Utah for thanksgiving and then the kids and I will stay for another 2 weeks. Christian is off track until January 5th (don't you just love year round school?). When we get back I'm hoping that Steve and Keri will be here with their new Baby (Calvin Wallace-is that not such an adorable name?) and I'm thinking it will be a bit crazy around here. So, if I don't get to posting, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

HELP!

2008-11-18T18:41:00.001-08:00

I've been crazy busy with Jamie's Law Firm, my online teaching job, the other accounting job I picked up cause I thought it would be "fun". Not to mention I'm also a full-time mom. So, just for fun, here is a breakdown of my house chores and how often they get done:

Laundry-once a week, sometimes I wait two weeks.
Bathrooms-once a month-if I'm lucky
Vacuum-Three times since I've lived in this house (been here 6 months)
Weeds-Let's just say I'm praying for snow to cover the ground
Make beds-Three times since I've been in this house (probably the same day I vacuumed)

So, now you know when you come to my house to stay away from using the restrooms and what ever you do, don't lay on the floor. I feel like my house is always a mess. I'm hoping many of you are experiencing the same thing, but doing a better job of keeping your homes organized and clean.

So, I'm actually writing to see if anybody has any Quickbooks experience. I'm dealing with a retainer account (liability account), which needs to run through my invoices. It's for Law Firms. I need someone to walk me through a process. I've completely messed up my books with trial and error, and now I know I have hours ahead of me in order to get it all straightened out. If it wasn't for the invoice, I would have it figured out, but that dang invoice is complicating my process. Here I am an accountant and for the life of me can't figure out how to process a retainer account! Alright, so I'm venting. But, if anybody knows what I'm talking about, I would LOVE the help!

Check this out!

2008-11-13T21:02:00.001-08:00

I was going through old photos for my Dad (who is working on a top secret project), and came across these great memories. Ah, those were the days! Funny, these are only a few years old, but it feels like such a long time ago.

This is what it meant to go study at the law school. Meating at Stans for shakes and then stopping by our house for some video games. Who said law school was hard?

I love this pic. It's Summer and Christian when Christian is only a few days old. How precious.

Nico and Hallie. It's Nico's birthday and look who's blowing out the Candles! I LOVE it. I laughed so hard when I found it, I had to post it!

Look at these two love birds. I think they are still dating in this photo. Don't they look cute?

So life is super busy these days. We've been blessed with more clients for Jamie and more work for me. I hope we get the hang out it soon. Life doesn't seem to slow down and I find myself wishing everyday I had a few extra hours to finish all that I have to do. Does anybody else feel that way? Sometimes I want to let it all go and do NOTHING. I was so behind on watching my shows that I finally sat down to watch Desperate, and had 6 NEW episodes. Who does that? How did I let it get so far?

One thing I have accomplished this past week is put up my Christmas stuff. I keep getting comments about how Thanksgiving is this poor holiday people don't celebrate anymore, blah blah blah blah. I'm going to be gone for 2 1/2 weeks after Thanksgiving, and I dont' want to pull my Christmas stuff out for 1 week, only to take it down again. I love Christmas and would seriously consider keeping my decorations up all year-but I bet Jamie wouldn't be down with that. Anybody out there with me? Anyway, hope you enjoyed the pics above-it was a fun trip down memory lane.

Isabella's Blessing

2008-11-02T21:09:00.001-08:00

Isabella was blessed on September 28th. It was such a nice beautiful day. We had my family and Jamie's family together. How fun that such a small thing can have so much power to bring two families together. I loved having my brother Adrian with his family, Elli and her family and my parents there. Jamie's family came up from Colorado Springs so we had the Ogdens and Mom Townsend. Dad Townsend was in California, so we missed him. We also had the Hunters come and that was fun because our boys have had so much fun with their girls. I wish Isabella could know how much she is loved. She is only 3 months old, but she already has the love of her parents, brothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. She is one lucky girl. All these photos are courtesy of my super talented sister Elli. I love having such a talented photographer in the family.

Look at those baby blue eyes! She looks so content in this photo-I love it.

Our baby girl in her cute blessing dress. Why do they make those dresses so slippery?

With Grandma Townsend

With Abu and Papa Sosa. My Dad has a very cute relationship with her already. She will talk to him on the phone. She'll talk to him more than she does to anybody else I know including myself. It's so cute to watch her try so hard to tell him things. Ah, those precious moments. If they could only last forever...

Random

2008-10-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

After a long day, we like to play with Isabella and see all the new things she's learned to do. So far it consists of smiling and hitting her head with a rattle. Some day she'll learn to control those muscles!
This is me multi tasking. I'm breastfeeding, on the computer and answering Jamie's questions at the same time. Sometimes I'm even on the phone. But, I can only multi-task sitting down. Once I'm standing up, I can't do it anymore. If I'm on the phone, I can't vacuum or clean the bathroom-my sister Elisa rocks at multi tasking all the time. I need to be more like her!

Look how cute these two are. I love Isabella's puffy hair and Jamie's killer smile! I fell for that smile 10 years ago and it still gets me every time.

Sock Hop

2008-10-28T20:56:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, Christian's school had what they call a Sock Hop. It's a fund raiser for some parent organization and they invite the families of the students to come and partake of some festivities which include dancing, cake walk, face painting, pizza, root beer, fake tattoos and pretty much anything else they could come up with to get more money. The neat thing is that all year (remember these kids started school july 7th) they teach the students how to dance to the popcorn song, the macarena and a bunch of other dances. They even teach them to dance with a partner. It was so fun. Christian had been telling me his favorite class was PE, which is when they do all the dance teaching. Anyway, the dancing reminded me of Argie. I remember being a kid and going to the Christmas, New Years, Quincenieras and many other bailes that our ward would have. They all started late, but kids (like myself who was only 5-7 for these memories) would dance until 1 in the morning. Good thing the Sock Hop only lasted 2 hours and started at 6:30 because I was ready to be done! How fun his school does such a good job of preparing the kids to dance and teaching them how to get out there and boogie!!!

Christian dancing with Anika from his school. She is also in our ward and I found out on Sunday from her little sister that Anika has a "crush" on Christian. Nico was told by the little sister and came to tell me. These are his exact words "Mom, Anika just has a crush right on my brother!" Then he proceeded to tell me that he had a crush on me and Isabella. What do you say to that? I tried to set him straight, but I still think he's still confused. What a ham!

Snow Angel

2008-10-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

So our first snow of this season was on Christian's birthday. Nicolas was set on getting all dressed up and going outside to play in the snow. So, we hauled on downstairs, found the winter box, found his winter clothes, put them on and 20 minutes later he was ready to trek through 2 feet of snow. Well, he went outside, tried out two snow angels and decided it was time to call it quits. He was out there for a total of 3 minutes. Was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY!!!! I made him clean up all his gear (took him two days, but he did it). We'll see if he wants to pull that same stunt any time soon.

Drum Roll Please.....

2008-10-28T20:42:00.000-07:00

So, I pulled my sewing machine out recently to put it to some use. I had to brush off the dust and clean out some parts, but it's still working and running great. I thought it would be a good idea to make the boys Jedi Costumes for Halloween. While at Disneyland, they were trained in the ways of a Jedi at the Jedi Training Academy. They received diplomas and everything. As I watched the program I thought, "hey, I could make those costumes". So I got online, downloaded some instructions and a trip to wal mart and 10 bucks later I had made these costumes. Not bad for 10 bucks! The Karate tops were hand me downs from Max and Cassidy. I love hand me downs!

Happy Birthday Christian!

2008-10-22T18:48:00.001-07:00

Christian turned 7 today. How time does fly. Our baby boys is in first grade and doing all sorts of things. He's been playing the piano and has told me that he wants to be famous for playing the piano someday. As a mom, I gotta love that statement! Here are some memories that Jamie and I have of Christian:

I remember being pregnant with him and watching the twin towers come crashing down and wondering what this world would be like for my unborn baby.
I remember how he always needed the perfect "symphony" as my dad called it, in order to fall asleep. That is where he got the nickname Beethoven (my Dad re-names all the grandkids what ever he wants!). The perfect symphony meant it had to be dark, quiet and no distractions.
I remember him at 18 months with these cute navy blue overalls trying to climb the porch steps in our Orem house.
I remember him holding up his hand to my and in a deep dark creepy voice saying "no mom, no."
I remember his first day of Headstart in Moscow getting on the bus. I wanted to cry, but I had to run to my classes and couldn't give myself that luxury.
I remember how he used to tell everyone at his preschool he loved them. His teacher said he must have said it to everyone, except maybe the male bus driver.
I remember how he used to hum himself to sleep. He would sit in the car and make this crazy one tone sound in order to fall asleep.

He is such a unique kid. We love how much joy and entertainment he brings into our lives. He has always been a good kid. he loves to make sure things are fair. He is especially good at obeying rules. He loves rules, math, science and is beginning to appreciate reading. We love you Beethoven!

Bubbles Liquor World

2008-10-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

If you have ever been down from Denver and exited at the Castle Rock Outlets exit, you have probably noticed the large store called Bubbles Liquor World. It's written in blue and yellow making it very vibrant and cheerful. Check out this conversation in the car today as we drive by the liquor store:

Christian: Bubbles....World (has a hard time reading the 'liquor' part).
Nico: How come we never get to go there? (in his new whiney voice-can't wait for that to end.)
Me: Because it's really called Bubbles Liquor World and liquor means stuff like beer and alcohol.
Christian: Why do they call it Bubbles?
Me: I don't know, just for...-(interupted by Christian).
Christian: Oh, probably because the beer has bubbles and stuff.

I can't believe I was outsmarted by my first grader. How many times have I driven by Bubbles Liquor World and actually wondered why they use 'bubbles' in the name? MANY times. I've been reading it far longer than he has-he just learned how to read!

Anyway, it's my smarty pants birthday tomorrow and I'm hoping he has a good day. I still haven't planned his birthday party, but I did get him a present. The plan is to make Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast, go to his school with cupcakes and finish the day at Nico's end of season soccer party. We'll have a family party Sunday and I'm trying to put a Video Game party together for him and a few friends (thanks Elisa for the idea).

California, Knows How to Party!

2008-10-16T20:34:00.000-07:00

Warning-this post may be too much if you're not related to the Townsends or Sosas in some way. Here we go...

California was great! We had so much fun hanging out with family, going to Disneyland, Seaworld and shopping by Steve and Keri's house. We can't wait to do it again. I'm already on the lookout for cheap tickets to Cali. Next time we wont spend as much money cause we've already done all the "fun" stuff! Our trip started out with a cold saturday at Steve and Keri's house. Keri was 8 months prego and look AMAZING. How funy that pregnant women look so beautiful when you're not pregnant. I know how she feels though, it feels great to get that bundle of joy out. Christian, Nico and Steve James had a great time playing and ripping Steve James' room apart. If you see the pic below, you will notice the beginnings of a gynormous mess. By the time Christian and Nico got ready for bed, Jamie and Steven had to literally brush all the toys to one side of the room to make room for the pull out bed. The boys had a great slumber party that first night. Steve and Keri were great about letting them party-what fun our boys had. We can't wait for the slumber party at our house in Colorado!

This room is temporarily clean. It eventually turned into such a mess that you couldn't even see the floor. They had a blast!

Look at these cute boys! How much fun we had with Steve and Keri. All three of them are so much alike in their likes and dislikes, it was very fun to see. Notice the Lego Star Wars shirt-my boys totally dig that kind of stuff.

Saturday we took the opportunity to walk through this great shopping center by Steve and Keri's house. It's called the Grove (sp?) and has fabulous outdoor shopping. I ran into the GAP and everyone else got together for a great pic in front of a fountain.

Sunday we took it easy and hung out at the Hotel, which was like 2 blocks from the beach. We hung by the pool and Steve, keri and KT and Brett came by. Elisa and I made dinner with the help of Alan at the grill. It was so fun hanging out and chatting. It felt like old times. The pic above cracks me up because Isabella looks like she's wearing a wig. I love all her hair.

I miss living by these guys. KT is also prego and due in the early spring. Can't wait to find out what she's having.

Monday was Disneyland with the Arthurs. We had a blast with them. The three older boys got to be in the Jedi training academy and were so excited about it. Crazy thing about this day. Very crowded and very hot. Who thought a Monday in October would be so busy. I was glad when Disneyland closed at 8 pm for the day. It was a long day and Isabella did fairly well. The cousins LOVED being together.

These cousins are two months apart and love each other. It's so cute to hear them talk on the phone. Hallie always has a nice compliment for Nico and Nico loves to talk to anyone who will listen.

Not the best pic. I didn't have as many pics of Summer, Jaxon or Hallie-Elisa you need to send me some. Tuesday was Seaworld and we LOVED that. The Shamu show was great. I could have done without all the cheesy "believe" crap, but it was amazing. We sat in the soak zone and got soaked! Jaxon and Hallie didn't love getting wet as much as everyone else, which I thought was hilarious.

Shamu-what a fun show to watch!

Wednesday was our day off to relax and go to the Beach. Jamie, Steve and Alan got up early to get in some surfing before any of us got up. Steve ended up pushing his teeth through his skin and had to go to the emergency room for some stiches. Poor guy didn't even get to surf, I think the first run they did Steve gets hurt and Jamie busts his board in two. These two guys have had bad luck lately. We hope that things don't continue to turn out so badly when they get together.

Thursday was Disneyland with Steve and Steven James. The boys had a blast and so did Jamie and Steve. We had such a good time with them. Friday we spent the day at their house again and Christian, Nico and Steven James put on a play for us. It was so cute. They all had speaking parts and rehearsed at least "seven" times, as Christian told us. The play involved light sabers, fighting and someone dying at the end-too much fun.

So that was our trip to Cali. We loved it. Thanks Alan, Elise, Steve, Keri, KT and Brett. We had a great time with all of you and wish we could see you guys every day!

A Day in the Life of Baby Isabella

2008-09-13T14:40:00.000-07:00

It has been almost 6 weeks since I had Isabella (Jamie's very excited about that), and I can't believe how much she has grown. Everyone's favorite question to ask is "is she sleeping through the night". No, she is not. She likes to wake up 1 to 2 times at night, but goes right back to sleep. Except for last night of course. Jamie was gone, so she woke up 3 times and the third time she was ready to party! With Christian I was a wreck thinking I would never sleep through the night again-with her, I know it will all be over soon and I don't want her to grow up too fast. I used to dislike the infant stage, but everything she does is so magical that I have to say this is by far my favorite time. Anyway, it has been an adjustment for everyone. Christian and Nico have quickly learned that she consumes much of my time and they have been very patient about that. Poor Jamie feels like he never gets to hold her because she's always eating. I think we're all getting used to some changes, but we love having her and wouldn't have it any other way.

Elli, my little sister took pics of Isabella and designed the cards. She is very talented. People keep asking me if she does this for a living. Nope, she does it for fun. I think she makes more money in her Nursing career than taking free photos for family and friends. Although, I believe she has started to charge some money because it is time consuming. Anyway, I love her great talent!

This is a tentative schedule. We need to clear it with the Bishopric and make sure it will be okay. She sent them to me today, so I had to post.
This pic is for my mother-in-law. She is the only person I know that giggles when babies cry-she thinks it's so cute (I think she's secretly laughing because they aren't her kids to deal with, she gets to spoil them and then go home. I can't wait to be a grandma-did I just say that????).

Typical morning at our house. I just finished feeding Isabella and Nico and Christian are all over her trying to kiss her or hold her.

Isabella Elise Townsend

2008-08-13T08:37:00.001-07:00

Isabella Elise Townsend 8/06/08

Yeah, she's finally here! We are so excited to have her and to find out that we had a baby girl! The boys are very excited. I kept telling Nico we might just have a boy because he was convinced we were having a girl. So he says "that's okay mom, we'll just put the boy back in your belly until it comes out a girl." I don't think that is an acceptable return policy with babies. Anyway. She was born on Aug. 6th around 6 pm. Weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and 20 1/4 inches. But I think the funnest news is that it was a girl. The surprise of not knowing what we were having was so exciting! I recommend it to anyone. So, here are pics of Isabella and that amazing day!

This is where it all begins. It's hard to imagine that a 7 lb baby is swimming around in there.

Jamie and I hanging out before the contractions got too bad. It took about 3 hours for the oxytocin to kick in and start making me feel the pain.

Isabella Elise Townsend 7 lbs 2 oz and a full head of hair!

I finally got to hold Isabella for the first time 45 minutes after she was born. I don't like that about hospitals these days. Must they wrap them up so tight and make me wait so long to hold my baby?

The proud boys!

I swore I wouldn't breastfeed, but in this picture I actually look like I'm enjoying myself. I think I don't mind it so much this time.

She looks so peaceful!

She has lazy eye and you can almost tell in this pic. I think all babies have it this early in life, or we may have another Christian-how cute!

They were so excited to hold her. They did and still do point out her ambilical cord and ask me about it everyday. It was the first thing they noticed about her when they saw her for the first time. They can't wait for it to fall off-what a funny thing.

She looks so serious!

Tired baby! I know I was.

Also, this was the first time we brought a baby home from the hospital without a name. She was Gabriella Elise for the first day and somehow it didn't fit. So, we went home and had to think about it. Jamie really liked Isabella, so I had to do it. I think it fits her now. My dad kept calling her "it's-a-bella", so now Nico thinks her name is Abella. Her middle name Elise is after my sister Elisa. We just had to change it a bit because two a's at the end of each name was too much. So, it's pronounced like Elisa without saying the "a". I also think its a perfect middle name because it reminds me of my sister Elli as well. Good thing my sisters have such similar names-it worked out so nicely!

The Countdown Begins!

2008-07-30T21:11:00.000-07:00

So I'm down to less than two weeks and I'm getting nervous about all the stuff I need to do before I have this baby. My mom and sister left today after a nice week of playing and shopping. I'm exhausted, but loved every minute of it. It really was nice to have my mind on something else. The only thing was that as soon as they left, my mind went to all of the stuff I procrastinated with Jamie's Law Firm and now I'm feeling OVERWHELMED! I think I need a good month to catch up and get things moving, but I doubt my baby will be two weeks late. Not to mention I would never let that happen! I would have giant baby for sure and not to mention the recovery. I do secretly keep hoping that I will go into labor and I can procrastinate some more. This pregnancy thing is getting very tiring and I'm ready to have my body back. I've had contractions at night and at one point I thought I was in labor, but then they stopped. I'm beginning to think I should just pretend that my water broke, head to the hospital and see if they catch on to my tricks! Anyway, I'm still here, large as ever and counting the days I still have and the days I don't. Isn't life great!

We are Open for Business!!

2008-07-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

So we moved to Castle Rock only to find that we were ready to hang our shingle! Jamie opened his law practice last tuesday and so far has had two clients! We are so excited and so scared to go out on our own. But, it was the perfect time to do it since I'm 8+ months pregnant, we just bought 3 homes and we just moved to a new town, so why not? I'm still in shock. It's been such a fast paced month. We went from a steady paycheck, to maybe we'll get money and maybe we wont. The funny thing is that I'm not as paranoid as I thought I would be. So, if anybody needs an attorney I know a good reasonably priced one!

Great Holiday Week!

2008-07-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

We went to Utah for the 4th of July. Jamie and I haven't had such a fun vacation in a long time. It was one of those vacations were you get home and you wish you were still there. We stayed with my way fun sister and went to the pool, saw WALLe, went boating, had a reunion with friends from high school and a barbeque with my family on our last night. It was packed with things to do, but we had lots of fun. Here are some pics. Enjoy.

Elisa made me take this photo, but I got it. Here is the belly. 8 months and counting. Can I just say, I want to be done yesterday?

Is this not the cutest face ever? Look at his face. He always has those eyes by the way. The deer in the headlights look never goes away. It's because he's so inquisative! I can't bet enough of this boy. Also, Tyson has the most handsome face. I love his cute face. Look at his hair, he's had that much hair since the day he was born.

My brother-in-law Dewayne and Jamie. We love Dewayne and Elli. They are so much fun to hand out with. Not to mention these two share a passion for video games.

My amazinly cute sister Elli. She's so incredible. She works full time as a nurse and is a great mom to her little boy.

I do have to point out that she's feeding me a ravioli, not Pizza. She's so crazy. I love her!

My super awsome niece Summer trying to help Christian get adjusted on the knee board. She was so brave and was such a big help. Christian was able to get up on his first try-I had to brag!

Jamie and the boys on the tubes. Having a great time-this was a fun day for sure.

Cousins enjoying the boat ride and waiting for their turn. They all had so much fun.

The "HOTS" is what we were called in high school. I think we named ourselves-humble we were. Anyway, we had a great reunion at Gardner Village.

First Day of School

2008-07-07T08:42:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is the beginning of the summer and Christian went back to school. Our school district in Castle Rock has a year round school system for elementary kids. I'm a bit sad about it, but I need to try it out before I go looking for something different. Here are pics of Christian's first day. He kept telling me how nervous he was and told his teacher as well. I left him in his classroom for a minute to get his lunches paid for and then went back to find him and asked him how it was going, he said, "not so good". Poor guy, you can see in the picture with him in his classroom that he's having a hard time. I couldn't get him to smile at all!

Most emberrasing moment of the week!

2008-06-30T20:49:00.000-07:00

Here it is. My most emberrasing moment, probably in a VERY long time. I would like to say ever, but that would be a different blog story. So, the boys and I are at the pool with a girl from my ward today. It's the first time I've ever hung out with her (her name is Tara). She and I planned a pool day with the boys and headed over to our pool at the club house. Well, two hours into the afternoon I begin to feel a bit hot and dizzy so I tell her I'm going to sit in the shade. She says okay and heads into the pool with her two kids. I'm sitting in the shade and I start to get more and more dizzy. I decide it's time to head home, but by the time I make that decision I realize I'm not going anywhere. Another friend (whom I had met at the pool-she and I go all the time and end up hanging out) comes over and asks me if I'm okay. I think I'm beginning to look a bit pale. I ask her to bring me my water, which she does. By the time she gets there I'm pretty much gone and pass out in her arms. Nothing like passing out in public into the arms of a stranger, let me tell you. I come to and the lifeguards have ice packs on my head and neck and I'm getting water forced into my mouth. The best part is that I'm passed out right in front of the lifeguard station next to the entrance of the pool. So, huge pregnant lady passed out in a green bathing suit at the entrance of the pool. I was so mortified when I came to. All I wanted to do was get up and walk FAR away. The lifeguards weren't having any of that, they called the ambulance. So, five minutes later I'm the big pregnant lady passed out by the endtrance of the pool with 4 paramedics surrounding her and trying to get an IV going (which wasn't working). To make this short, I did get shipped off to the ER while my friend Tara took my boys and called Jamie on my cell phone. I don't know what happend to the friend who caught me on my way down, but I think I should give her a ring and let her know all is good. Which by the way, I'm totally fine. It took the rest of the day resting to get past it, but I think I was just dehydrated. The thing is though, I was totally careful and kept drinking lots of water and eating lots of fruit. It also wasn't that hot-only about 85 degrees. I'm proned to passing out, but this was my first time doing it in public. So there you have it. It may be a whole year before I can go back to that pool again. People will definately remember the prego lady in the large green bathing suit sprawled on the floor by the entrance of the pool. No need to worries though, I'm fine and the baby is good.

Green thumb anyone?

2008-06-21T18:05:00.000-07:00

So Jamie and I are tackling the yard this week. We started in the front and ended up digging up the mulch because grass had overgrown and it was thick. We're going to lay down rock. Also, our back yard is covered in weeds in the rock beds and I'm wondering if anyone has a good idea on how to get them out. We're thinking we'll do a week killer this week, wait a couple days, hose it down really nice and then pull them out. Anybody have a good idea on how to get rid of rockbed weeds? Our backyard is so big we're affraid to start! If anyone has good ideas, I'm totally open. Jamie and I are not good in the garden. I've killed every plant I've ever owned-not a good sign.

Prego & Chicken Pox

2008-06-19T09:27:00.001-07:00

So here is the best I can do. I really need to be better about taking photos. I promise to get some better pictures of the belly. How funny, I feel gynormous (is that even a word?)-therefore not in the least bit cute. Yet, I remember thinking how cute pregnant women looked. How come I don't feel like that? It may be because I have constant back pain which causes me to walk like a penguin and move around in bed like a whale. I get stuck if I'm laying on the floor or sitting in a position my back doesn't like. Indigestion is so bad I have stopped eating ANYTHING after 6 pm. This causes me to wake up hungry, therefore nausea kicks in and I usually can't shake it until about lunch time, which I can't eat because my stomach is so small from this tiny baby taking up TONS of room. My feet are beginning to hurt and I believe I may be retaining water-but luckily that hasn't bothered me too much yet thanks to this cool summer we've been having. Pregnancy is full of oxymorons. The great thing about being pregnant is my enlarged chest (can I keep those after I'm done?) and the great hair (which is up most the time anyway because I'm always hot). I have just under 2 months left and the days couldn't be passing by more quickly. So there you have it. I'm also whiney when I'm pregnant and my house is a wreck because my back doesn't let me do anything without paying the price later (this means I can't walk-seriously, I have to lay and wait for the pain to pass). So, I hope you enjoy this photo. I will try to get a better shot of the belly, but we'll see. I have also lost the desire to do anything lately. Thank goodness for the pool. I can sit all day and watch my kids swim for hours. Sorry about this large venting session. At least I feel a bit better!

Oh, but it does get better. I woke up this morning ready for my first doctors appointment in over a month (I've been lazy about finding a doctor in Castle Rock), and found Nicolas with a case of the Chicken Pox. Appearantly I haven't had the Chicken Pox, so I have to get blood work done today to see if I am amuned to the disease, otherwise the baby runs the risk of getting them after birth, or something else. My new doctor's office wasn't very specific, I had to do my own research online. Nicolas appears to be doing fine-it looks like a mild case with spots on his belly, back, face and legs and not many of them either. He's had the shot for Chicken Pox, but appearantly it's only 80% effective. Christian appears to be doing okay. Hopefully he doesn't get it because that would put a damper on our trip to Utah for the 4th and I've been anxiously anticipating this vacation since we left Fort Collins. Something fun to do, and my husband is taking some days off of work. Plus, the Fourth of July is so much more fun in Utah! Not to mention Elisa just told me this morning of our Fourth of July day plans and I couldn't be more excited! Dang those pox!

Frisco Barbeque Weekend

2008-06-14T18:55:00.000-07:00

We went to the Frisco Barbeque this weekend. It was so much fun. People from all over the world come to compete with their world famous barbeque and onlookers can purchase samples of the goods for a dollar, or you can get a whole meal for 4-9 bucks. It was my kind of eating! I love Food Network because I think I'm in love with food and this felt like those specials they do when they have a food challenge of any kind. Anyway, we left very full and very happy. We went with Teri and Todd Ogden (Jamie's sister and her fam), and spend the night in a hotel till the wee hours of the night playing cards and laughing till our sides hurt. We love hanging out with the Ogdens-they are so much fun.

The next morning we went on this "hike" to feed these chipmunks. The hike was to the lookout point down the hill-so not much of a hike, but we thought it would be a bit more involved, so we keep calling it a hike. Anyway, these chipmunks came right up to us and ate out of our hands. One even jumped on Jamie's hand to eat some seeds. The boys could have stayed all day (including Jamie), but I wanted to get going-my back was killing me! So here are some pics of our adventures!

Funnel cakes, YUMMY!!!

Nico was so excited when the chipmunks finally ate out of his hands. He had a harder time staying still and waiting for the chipmunks to come.

This chipmunk had no problems eating out of Jamie's hands!

Max and Christian feeding Chipmunks.

Nico's Mop is Finally Gone!

2008-06-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

This poor kid has been sporting around this rediculously long hair for too long. I did come to love it after a while, but then it started to get tangled, caught in his goggles and he would cry when I combed it out in the morning. It was time to say goodbye! He was scared that it would hurt (obviously hasn't had too many haircuts in his life), but after the first cut, he was good to go. For the next three days following his chop, he kept saying "mom, don't I look handsome with my new hair?" I think it took a bit of getting used to all around. He still looks so much more grown up with his shorter hair.

Nico getting ready for his haircut.

Nico with Christian. Couldn't find a picture of him up closer to show his new style.

Great Friends are Hard to Find!

2008-06-14T18:44:00.000-07:00

It was tough for me to move from Fort Collins. I had made some great friends. They were the kind of friends that would do anything for you. The best part is that it wasn't just one or two friends, but we felt like the whole ward was there for us always interested in our lives and what was going on. I will miss them terribly. I hope they don't get sick of me coming up to visit. I haven't had such luck in Castle Rock with friends like that, so I may be seeing them more than they anticipated!

Kindergarten Graduation

2008-06-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

So Christian Graduated from Kindergarten and his school had a Kindergarten graduation. I don't know if its post worthy, but he was so excited about it I had to do it. He wants me to throw him a graduation party with a cake. I think that may be a bit much, but he's convinced since he had a graduation he certainly deserves a cake and a party. What a funny kid!

Christian and his two friends from School (Kinncaid and Collin)

Christian and Mrs. Unrein-a great and amazing teacher!

August 12th

2008-06-05T07:56:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted anything about my pregnancy. Time has just gone by so fast. I originally wanted to post pictures of the ultrasound, but we had problems with our camera and all sorts of stories that go along with my excuses. Here is the just of it:

I'm due August 12th. We decided not to find out what we're having, so it should be nice big surprise the day of delivery. I thought this would be so fun, but now I'm worried I'm not prepared since I have given all my baby stuff away and my mom keeps asking me if I'm still not going to find out. I can't find anything I like as far as baby clothes go, so I've decided white onsies will due until then. It's the hottest time of summer, so this baby wont be wearing much.

We have no names at all. We keep talking about it and only for a short period of time because it's such a daunting task that the topic changes quickly and we are stuck with no ideas. It would be easier to know if it was a boy or a girl so we could narrow it down to a boy or girl name, but I like to make things more difficult. :)

Lastly, we are so excited for this new baby. We waited a long time and feel we are very ready for a new person in our family. The boys really want a girl and I don't think I care too much, except that I keep thinking it's a girl. I've only recently changed my mind about it being a girl when my sister-in-law Keri just found out they're having a boy and Jamie and Steve tend to do things together, so we may be having a boy too-who knows!