The Pie's

2010-12-21T14:20:00.000-08:00

My Little Piggies!

2010-03-31T18:59:00.000-07:00

So I was crazy busy this last week and was gone 3 nights in a row. I was taking a break in the afternoon and decided to catch up on some DVR'd shows. The side door that goes out to our back yard was open so I could "keep an eye on the kids". All I heard was giggles and giggles. I'm thinking great they are finally playing together instead of fighting, I was totally engrossed in my totaly brainless t.v show and realize it's been 20 or so minutes of giggling.... a sure sign something naughty is going on... and this is what I found. Two totally wet, dirty giggling kids splashing in the mud. My little Piggies. Needless to say we had bath time at 3 in the afternoon that day.

Sometime you just know there is going to be a prices to pay for a break.... and it's worth every lovely, lazy relaxing minute!

Exciting!!

2010-03-10T18:14:00.000-08:00

So those of you that know my mom know what an awesome lady she is. She has never been one to complain and is ALWAYS willing to help and go the extra mile. She was so concerned for everyone else after my dad passed and never wanted to make anyone worried and sad over her own grief and loss. She is one of my hero's and I will never be able to repay her for all of the life lessons she has taught me. Now she is going to be a hero to who knows how many strangers in the Vancouver, Canada mission. She just opened her call tonight. I am hoping to make the trip to SLC for her farewell in April. I am so excited for her and all the lucky Canadians that get to get a taste of what an incredible, talented, giving person she is. LOVE YOU MOM!

Tipsy Toddler

2010-02-24T10:12:00.000-08:00

So another day another adventure. I'm in the bathroom getting ready (it is 12:00 after all), and in runs Cannen. Mom, "icky" he is saying frantically. So I pick him up and get a big old wif of rubbing alcohol. I go to the front room to find a bottle opened on the floor. I am looking at it thinking that it doesn't look like much is gone and assuming that he dropped it as soon as he got a taste of what was inside. I decide to call poison control just to be safe it is 91% alcohol after all. The guy on the other end gets our info and tells me to give him something sweet to eat and drink since the real danger is if his blood sugar drops. Then he goes on to tell me if he starts to act drunk to take him to the hospital. So I gave the kids all this Valentine's candy and making him chug on apple juice. He was at his best singing Twinkle Little Star at the top of his lungs and chanting, "I'm naughty". Hmmmm, so now I am left wondering is this from the alcohol or the pound of sugar I just forced him to eat????? BTW, when I called Ryan to let him know what was going on in case I had to go to the ER, his end of the line was pretty quiet. I realized he was laughing hysterically. Don't worry Cannen is just fine! But he is definitely naughty!

Long Time

2010-02-15T17:34:00.000-08:00

Wow so it has been so long since I have blogged that I wonder if anyone even checks our blog anymore! So much has happened in the last while that is hard to even know how to begin. I think one of the reasons I haven't blogged in a while is because I just didn't feel right sharing the everyday family updates when I haven't taken the time to write about my dad. I have been avoiding it because well it sucks and it hurts. He passed away in September and it has left a big hole in our family and in my heart. It was not expected and left me feeling cheated that I haven't been able to see him much in the last 7 years since moving to Texas.
It is hard to imagine all of the family get together without him there. He is a man that loves and lived for his family. I know that great sacrifices were made on his part to provide for us. I can't say the words "he was", because I know he still is and that he still watches over my mom. I do and will miss him. Even as I write this, the words seem so inadequate and casual, but it is the best I can do for now. I still struggle to accept it and I am not quite ready to open the vault of memories, because I know it will be hard. I am not ready to face the memories of times that I felt him so proud of me, the times when I felt proud of him. The life lessons he taught through example and quiet discussion. One of the perks of being the youngest is that I got my parents all to myself for awhile as an adult and I loved the long gospel chats we would have. I wasn't ready to have him leave just yet.

HOORAY BRYNN!!!

2009-08-31T17:24:00.000-07:00

SO I received a great call from Brynn's teacher today. She was so excited she had to call to let me know the things Brynn has been doing in class. She has been working on using a button communication device called a BIGMAC. The teacher records her voice saying certain things and when the child pushes the button, it repeats. She said today while singing, she let Brynn use the MAC and she "sang" with the class, by pushing the correct buttons to fill in the words of the song!!!! This is HUGE for her. It proves that she understands WAY more then she has been given credit for. To top it off tonight after baths and teeth brushing, I couldn't find Brynn anywhere. I walked by her room and Cannen was putting his finger to his lips saying shhh. Apparently she had gone into her room, closed the door,climbed into bed and covered herself up!! I was so thrilled, I ran in and grabbed her giggling and told her I was do proud!! (then she didn't want to go back to bed of course!) Way to go big girl!!!!

another great giveaway

2009-08-26T06:14:00.000-07:00

My friend has another GREAT giveaway on her blog. If you use or want to start using coupons, you will WANT it! Just hit My litter of six on my blog list or go to www.theivanovskys.blogspot.com

WHAT!

2009-07-27T19:12:00.001-07:00

Summer is almost over! How can that be? I remember worrying how I was going to manage it all. It hasn't been too bad at all. Now I am trying to figure out how to get all the stuff done for school already!
So what have we done this summer? Hmmm, I wish I could say that we have spent hours at the pool, but with Brynn and Cannen that is way out of the question! Those two wouldn't survive for 5 minutes! They are both way too fast, have no recognition of the word danger and go in opposite directions!! So we have been splashing around in the kiddie pool out back.
Ryan's mom got us a bouncer that has come in mighty handy on a hot humid afternoon. We just push all of the furniture out of the way and blow it up in the middle of the room. It's a great way to blow off some energy.
Aden is missing school and can't wait to go back.
Brynn is getting so big.
Cannen is starting to say all sorts of cute "I want to squish him" sort of stuff.
Ryan has been working hard and studying for the LSAT.
I have been working part time and just got called into the RS pres. as the 2nd counselor again--I guess I didn't get it right the first time!
Other that that things are same old around here. I am ready for some sort of change.... Do you ever get bored with life? Not that I am unhappy or discontent, just ready for some thing exciting to happen....

Milestones

2009-06-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

Today was Aden's big day! He is officially out of Kindergarten and now on to what he calls the "big kid stuff." I took him to a book store on Saturday to get ready for some summer reading. he informed me that picture books are not cool anymore. It is all about chapter books now. He picked out a Scooby Doo to start with and we will go back ever week for a new one.

As for the graduation ceremony-Aden was pretty stoic through the whole thing. Not sure what that kid is thinking we didn't get any pictures of him smiling until the end when he had his certificate and I forced him to smile. He can be pretty serious. He walked across the stage with his hand in his pocket. I guess he is practicing for a GQ shoot. He was very handsome and we sure do love this little big guy. Here are some pic to mark the day.
P.S. I think that was the only time I have ever seen a pledge to a state before!--After the pledge of allegience, the kids then said a pledge to the Texas state flag. These Texans sure are full of pride!

Memorial Day

2009-05-29T08:39:00.000-07:00

Here I am a few days late as usual. We took our annual totally unplanned trip to the beach on Memorial Day. The kids had fun,fun fun! I am glad we took Grandma and Aunt Kristin because there is no way we could have kept Brynn and Cannen together! They were all over the place.

This kid is forever running everywhere. Always in a hurry!

He is not shy. He is "borrowing" another family's diggin tools.
Of course he was not interested in the bucket full of sand toys I brought!

Who needs a spa? Aden had is very own mud bath here on the beach. Brynn is such a water baby. I don't think she got out of the water for 2 whole hours.

I had to force her out to get out kicking and screaming.

This is our after beach barbecue at grandmas. Cannen threw all of his food all over the table. Then he happened to look at my plate and noticed something extra tasty! Who wants a burger when you can have a T-bone? Love the sly look on is face---I see at all the time. He thinks he is pretty sneaky...

Enjoying the spoils! We sure love our cute kiddos! Hope everyone else had a great holiday and is all geared up for summer fun!!!!!!!!!

Giveaways!!

2009-04-30T07:01:00.001-07:00

My friend is fabulously talented and is doing some giveaways on her blog....
www.theivanovskys.blogspot.com

SK8 or Die!

2009-04-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

So Ryan and I had a date night last Friday. You know the typical go to dinner sort of thing. Afterwards we were wanting to do something a little different and the night was still young, so Ryan suggested roller skating. What! Any of you that know me very well-know that I am what I call a "heavy footed person". I am not a good dancer, ice skater etc. Anything requiring grace or fancy footwork looks and feels awkward to me. I'm not too swift on my feet and putting wheels under them-not such a good idea. I was never any good at it when I was a kid. Ryan on the other hand is pretty much opposite of me. He is a great dancer and used to rollerblade all over the place. He has been asking me to go for awhile now to Sk8town. I agreed. Lets just say we wasted 14 bucks and had a good laugh as did the rest of the speeding skaters. I am pretty sure that any moving I did was with my hands clenched to the 1976 shag carpet walls. Anytime I let go, my legs ended up "splitting". Too bad we didn't have a camera-you could have had a good laugh.

3-D

2009-04-03T17:35:00.000-07:00

Aden got to go and see Monsters Vs. Aliens in 3-D with his aunt Kristin. He had a great time and we had fun playing with his 3-D glasses. They are pretty cool . I was expecting the good old red/blue glasses, if that gives you any idea of how long it has been since I have seen anything in 3-D!!!! Peace out.

2009-03-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

Man am I a lazy blogger or what. Honestly, I forget I even have a blog most days, even though I check everyone else out all the time. I just told an old friend about my blog on Facebook and realized I hadn't written anything for some time now. Writing seems like too much brain work by the time I get around to it (kids in bed, house clean, etc.). My brain seems to have been shrinking lately. I have to admit I have been having some deep thoughts though. I should do better at putting them down, since I forget so quickly.- I would tell them to you now, but I've already forgoten... That will be my new goal.
Nothing really new around here. Ryan has been working like crazy and is headed to Mexico next week. I have been teasing him about finding a Latina and setting up house on the beach somewhere. I just hope the trip is without event. He has been to South America 2 times. Once with me once with work and both times ended up in a sticky situation that had to be resolved with a little $$$ if ya know what I mean.
Aden is loving school and doing great. He is a wiz with his spelling, often getting 108% (they have bonus words and a sentence).
Brynn is making progress. I think that Cannen is giving her a little motivation at home. She is very jealous and since they are on the same development level in a lot of areas, she is becoming competitive. Poor Cannen also becomes her punching bag! I'm thinking he is either going to grow as the most patient sweet guy or have a huge chip on his shoulders!
I am trying to get back to running more regularly and fiddling with the idea of trying a triathlon. They are very popular here.

Update

2009-03-04T07:21:00.001-08:00

Results for Angelmans Syndrome=negative.
Still looking for some answers....

LOVE

2009-02-18T06:34:00.000-08:00

A little late, but it's still love! Here are some Valentine's hugs and kisses from our house....

Ryan's mom surprised us with balloons, treats and a yummy fruit pizza, which I am sure I ate the majority of! Hope you all had a good one.

WHAT THEN?????

2009-02-02T08:23:00.000-08:00

So I called the Dr. to see if Brynn's test result for Retts came back . After the girl helping me put me on hold for 5 min three different times, I started to think, Oh it must have come back positive and she doesn't know how to tell me. I wanted to say, "look- this isn't a surprise to us or anything so just spit it out already." So you can imagine the confusion as she said, there seems to be no abnormality present based on the test result. -Hugh????!!! So here I am thinking that finally we were going to get answers, you know have a tangible real live name for what Brynn has. Nope back to square one. Her aid at school suggested Angelmans Syndrome. So of course I spent hours reading about it. And of course she seems to fit the criteria pretty darn well. That is the frustration-so many symptoms over lap for all of these conditions. I just called the Dr. and asked the nurse to ask the Dr. to order the test so we can have it done before her next appointment in March. I figure why bother going if there just going to tell me what the girl on the phone just did. These appointments and tests aren't cheap ya know!
So I'll keep you posted. We already feel like she is a little angel, so maybe it is Angelmans syndrome :)

Good Times

2009-01-08T19:50:00.000-08:00

We have a streaker at our house. This little kido loves to be in the buff. He is so quick too. I get him all undressed in the morning and he is off before I can get a clean diaper on him. He seems to think he is unreachable on the top of this slide. It is the first place he runs to when he is trying to get away from me!

All smiles! More smiles! We had blood drawn last week to test Brynn for Retts Syndrome. It takes 6-8 weeks for results. We learned the waiting game a long time ago, so it doesn't seem like that long. I had a friend that was totally shocked when I told her we had to wait 6 weeks to get Bryn into a neurologist. I told her I was happy to get her in that quick. When I first called her geneticist, they told me it was one year wait and to just let them call me! I can handle 6-8 weeks!

I was so happy we found this robot. Or should I say Santa found this robot. Apparently it was on Aden's list but we didn't find out about it until the week of Christmas. He had made a list in his class and was telling me he was worried Santa wouldn't get it. I had no idea he ever wanted a robot. I am sure if he did not get one, he would have figured the whole Santa thing out. I already had to tell him there is no tooth fairy. After he lost his first tooth, he was freaking out because he didn't want the tooth fairy ( a strange man with a beard, according to him) to come into his room in the middle of the night and he refused to go to bed. I am sure I could of come up with a creative way around the truth, but I must have been too tired at the time, so I just told him it was me to get him to be already! I was surprised after that he didn't suspect anything with Santa.

Cute boy. He had a fun morning!

Ryan took most of Christmas a New Years week's off. It was nice to have him home. It really helped out tremendously. I am not sure how I will manage this summer with all the kids home all day. It is quite the feat with Brynn and Cannen. They have such a love/hate relationship. I am sure we will be at the YMCA lots!!!

LOTS OF PICTURES!

2008-12-01T08:29:00.000-08:00

OK so these are in reverse order of occurrence. This is Cannens 1st B-Day. We were flying in on his actual birthday, so we celebrated on Sunday afternoon. He was a fan of the chocolate cake. He paid no attention to our laughing at him. He was in his own chocolate reality!

He knew exactly what to do when it came to the presents! Christmas should be fun.

Aden with his cousins at the cabin in UT. He was sad to say goodbye. They had so much fun and played so good together. Much better than when he was a toddler and bit the same cousin about 20 times when we visited 4 or so years ago!!!

It actually snowed while we were there. Aden said a prayer for snow at dinner time and a few hours later it snowed. Unfortunately. I didn't get any pics of him playing in it. My mom was giggling as she told me how Aden exclaimed he was going to make his first snow angel. Then he laid down in the sand box and started flapping his arms. What a funny head!

Thanksgiving at the cabin. I was pretty busy taking care of the little ones, so this is the only picture I got of the whole event. It was fun and yummy. You know all that good stuff.

Our visit to temple square. Nothing says nativity like a spiderman pose, don't ya think!

Up on the observation deck of the Church Office Bldg. Ryan kept freaking out when the kids would run to the window. It is a little weird being up that high.

Strike a pose Brynn.

Ahhhhh

BYU vs UTAH with the Mendenhalls
They were red, we were blue.

THE END

WHY IS THAT?

2008-11-20T11:40:00.001-08:00

So we are leaving for our trip to UT tomorrow. SO it goes without saying, I have lots to do. So Why do Brynn and Cannen pick today to refuse naps?????
They are both sitting in thier cribs yapping away. I have too much to catch up on before we go. You know the drill. I want all of the laundry and bedding clean before we go, all the bathrooms scrubbed, the fridge cleaned out, because who wants to come home to a mess. Then the packing-clothes, gifts, airplane bags with busy stuff for the kids. It is crazy and near impossible to get anything at all done with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum pulling everything out right behind me. So wish me luck. We'll be gone for a week. Can't wait. Aden woke up at 5:oo this morning because he thought we were leaving today. He is so excited to go to my parents cabin. I asked why and he said because there are guns (b.b.) and video games and fire. Sounds like a 6 year olds dream come true. I'll take some pictures, so you can get a feel for what it is like. The cabin is huge, but gets pretty crowded when you put 60 or so people in it!!!!
p.s. Burnside's, what happend to your blog??

Happy B-Day Brynn E.

2008-10-29T18:52:00.000-07:00

She is now 4! Is it just me or does time go faster and faster the more kids you have ands the older they get? This last year seems to have gone the fastest for sure! Brynn has made some great progress. We are so excited for accomplishments. Her teacher informed me that she can now open the door to leave the classroom by herself. While we are all so proud of her for this, I know the teachers are going to have fun keeping her distracted and in the classroom! She has her first field trip with the school next week to Old McDonald's farm. I am anxious to see how she does. I have no doubt she will have tons of fun as she LOVES to be outside. I just know she will be all over the place.

We are getting excited to go the UT for Thanksgiving. Aden is hoping for snow once again. I hope it works out for him, seeing as we only get to visit every other year or so.

Cannen is battling a touch on pneumonia right now. Poor kido has to do albuterol with a nebulizer and he hates it. He fight and fights until he realizes he doesn't have a choice and then he just sits there and hums while I song him primary songs. I can't believe he'll be one next month!

Brynn had fun "blowing" out her candles. We practiced and she almost got it, but then decided she was going to lick the wick instead, so I hurried and blew it out for her. We had pumpkin cobbler--yummy!

Hope everyone has fun and stays safe on Halloween! Over and out.

Pics

2008-10-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

Ahhh. They really do love each other!

Entertaining ourselves without electricity. I remember doing these little "shows" when I was a kid. Aden thought it was so funny. Mostly he just giggled.

Aden's hurricane Party. He turned 6 on the 17th . We still didn't have power. Luckily Ryan scored some blue crisco covered cupcakes at the grocery store. Yum-can't be too picky when the pickins are slim, right? We also found a Burger King open 15 miles or so away. It wasn't the Chuck E Cheese party we were planning, but it turned out OK and he didn't seem the least bit disappointed. He is such a fun, sweet kido.

Just a taste of what was going on here. This Ryan's moms house. The pictures don't really give you the full effect. You have to multiply what you are seeing to every house in almost every neighborhood. It was a mess. Things are still not completely cleaned up.

These guys had 2 trees inside there house.

Once again. This is the only time we have been happy that all the trees were taken down to build our neighborhood.

All in all we are doing great. We are getting excited for our upcoming trip to UT for Thanksgiving. It will be here before ya know it. Nothing else too exciting going down.

Sweet Silence

2008-09-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

Silence for the first time in 2 weeks. No humming of generators permeating the neighborhood. Just quiet. Love it. We have power as of 2:00 this afternoon. We are enjoying the A/C! I have some pics of some of the destruction here. Ryan's mom's street looked liked a war zone and is still far from being back to normal. We never thought we would be happy that we did not have trees. We live in a new neighborhood where the builder just happened to wipe out the forest and for that we are grateful, just this once. I think trees were the main weapon of destruction in our area. Trees everywhere. Across the street, in houses, ripping up entire yards. These are huge trees. 100 footers. I'll post pictures ASAP. Right now we are enjoying the quiet. Thanks for the good thoughts!

Our Status

2008-09-14T19:32:00.000-07:00

As a quick note, we're are ok after the storm. There has been, however, quite a bit of destruction in our area and it will be sometime before things are cleaned up. Our biggest issue is not having electricity, thank goodness for wireless connections!! Anyhow, we look forward to things getting back to normal.

THE END OF THE WORLD!

2008-09-11T07:35:00.000-07:00

Or so it would seem at Walmart this morning. I went to pick up diapers and encountered the chaos that is ensuing. It was the same three years ago with Rita. People running around with carts full of water and Progresso Soup. Thank goodness for food storage! I have to admit the feeling of mass panic is a bit contagious though. I grabbed a case of the very quickly disappearing water as well.
There are a bunch of counties issuing mandatory evacuations. We are not in that category. We are inland enough that our major concerns are winds. We are expected to get 75-100 mph winds in our area. There is also the worry of flooding if the storm "rests" too long in our area dumping rain. Our power lines are underground so we are hoping power outage for us will be minimal. Anyways we are ready to leave if we have to. The 72 hours kits will be in the car ready to roll.
We evacuated for the last storm that was projected to come our way (Rita). But only because we got a call from our High Priest group leader telling us that the Stake President wanted anyone who could leave to go. It was crazy on the roads. I think it was a "practice round". And sent the message to be prepared to all of us!
Hope everyone else is experiencing some nice weather in their own neck of the woods. I heard is was nice and cool in UT. Lucky ducks.

Pics

2008-08-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

Aden meeting his classmates

Brynn back to class.

Cannen at the Aqaurium. Love the chubby cheek smiles!

My two monkeys at the Aquarium.

A rare pic to have them both smiling while in the stroller. Typically one of them is pulling on the others hair or scratching faces!

Big Day

2008-08-25T20:46:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of school!!! I know that I haven't been the best of mommies when it comes to blogging important events, but I didn't want to miss this one. Even thought it is way past my bed time and my eyes are getting heavy I had to mark the day we sent our big boy out into the world. We have pics but our computer has been on the fritz, so I'll get them on here as soon as I can.
So Aden loved, loved. loved school. I was so relieved seeing as this was our conversation last week:
A: "where are we going on Monday?" (a game he plays he'll ask me for plans for a week at a time)
Me: "Your going to school!"
A: "What about the next day?"
Me: "Your going to school again!!"
A: looking worried " And the next day?"
Me: heehee "To school!"
A: " I don't want to go every day!"
Me: "Don't worry you only have like 20 or more years to go my son."

So I was happy to hear that he actually wants to go everyday now. I asked if his teacher was nice and he said no,she is really cool.

Brynn has a new teacher this year too. I was happy that she walked right in and let the teacher help her and everything. She is usually so nervous and cries when things are not in her routine.

Off to bed for momma. The bus comes at 7:05 for Brynn!

"I Love Everybody"

2008-07-27T18:44:00.000-07:00

Aden's Turn

2008-07-08T09:49:00.000-07:00

Aden had a fun week last week. He went to San Antonio with Ryan's mom and sister. He went to Sea World and loved it! They also went to Wonder World and saw animals and got to go through a cave. He gave us a good report. He says his favorite thing was the huge roller coaster with splashing water. We were surprised to hear this since he is usually a little timid about things like that. I guess he is getting older. It was great for him to get so much undivided attention. I worry about that with Brynn needing so much and Cannen being so little. So last week was all about him. He is trying to talk us into going back -tomorrow. I told him maybe next year when the other two are a little bigger!

Brynn had a visit with a neurologist last week as well. We are getting set up for another round of testing. He feels she might possibly have Retts Syndrome. She sure fits the criteria. It is a condition that is currently in the autistic spectrum, but they are trying to have it removed and listed as it's own condition. She will be tested for that and she will have another MRI and a spinal tap done.

We are loving the humidity! We went for a walk this morning and ended up making it around the block once before we were all dripping wet. mmmmm its great.

Funny

2008-06-20T13:59:00.000-07:00

http://www.despair.com/
My favorite is the poster on failure!

New Background....

2008-06-08T14:17:00.000-07:00

Bare with me--I'm trying to figure out how to rearrange a few things--Got this background from a web site I saw on Jessica's blog. Still needs some tweaking...All of my side stuff has moved to the bottom-not sure I like that.

2008-06-05T19:58:00.000-07:00

Just look at that big smile. Ryan got to fulfill every little boys dream. He and a buddy got to play fireman at a job training. --You know just in case they are ever on a rig and need to put out an oil fire....wink, wink. He had a good time and has a new found respect for all those men and women in the world that suit up in the interest of our safety. He got some cool pictures too.

On the home front, I have been working quit a bit lately. It is the beginning of the summer and marks my busy time. All of the new staff at the Y (lifeguards, camp counselors, etc..) have to be CPR/First aid certified. I taught 6 classes last week for the Y and 4 classes for the Country club in the area. It was my first time working a "real job" on my own. Meaning not affiliated with the Y and not a friend. It was pretty good and a good way to make some good money fast. In case anyone is wanting to look into it. I never would have guessed you could make such good money teaching CPR!

The kids are both out of pre-school. And I am happy to report they both made good progress. And we got through it for the most part without incident. Every time I picked Aden up I would wait for his teacher to tell me that he told the class to pick up their damn toys. Or ask "where the hell is my show and tell". Two word I am afraid he has learned from his sometimes potty mouth momma. He also went through a phase were he asked about his penis all of the time. All of which he reserved for the privacy of our family. He is getting way too big and is so fun to talk with now. I can't believe he will be in kindergarten in a few months. Which is all day here. I'll miss him.

Brynn is making progress. I know I mentioned the new diet for her. We have also started some alternative therapies for her. She is drinking a Native American tea from www.ojibwatea.com. The owner called me after my initial order and talked to me about Brynn. She is a good soul and is very focused on helping people naturally. Especially the autistic community. We are also doing some acupressure type treatments called NAET. I try to explain it to people and they look at my like I have two heads. It is based on kinesiology, chiropractic and oriental medicine. We have seen good things so far and expect to see more. She can actually almost say book! It is more like oook (strong emphasis on the k). I always dreamed her first word would be mommy. But I'll take book!

Cannen is just cute.

Fun Times

2008-04-13T13:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day in the Houston, TX area. So on a whim, we decided to take a drive to the beach. The kids had a blast. They LOVED the waves. Usually the water in the gulf is bath water warm and pretty nasty to play in. It was a nice a refreshing yesterday. I think Brynn loved the chill as much as much as anything. Aden is typically nervous and very careful around water ( I am afraid I have turned him into a bit of a paranoid little boy-what can I say, he my first and I was a paranoid first time mom). Yesterday, he was pretty brave -running out, chest deep to catch the waves. We are working on it. I hope to having him swimming this summer.

Cannen is still growing like a madman. He is so sweet and chubby. Lovin the squishy. Today he was wearing 12mnths clothes!!!! He is only 4 1/2 mnths!!! Slow down kido.

That is about it on our home front. Ryan is going to be out of town for half the week. Going to New Iberia. I thought he was leaving the country at first, but soon learned this was just 4 hours away in Louisiana.

Oh, we started Brynn on a special diet. We are having her eat a gluten and casein free diet. I know she hasn't been officially diagnosed as autistic. But I am sure she is in that realm. This diet has helped some kids with some of the same things she struggles with, so we are giving it a shot for 3 months. If it helps then forever. So prayers and positive thinking are appreciated!!!

Cheers

2008-03-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure these two are related. Ryan now has two mini me's. I think the only feature our kids got from me was my dimple. They all have one on the right cheek-just like me. Pretty handsom boys if I do say so myself.

Ryan is out of town this week. The poor guy is slumin at the Venetian in Las Vegas for a conference. He called me at 9:30 this morning to let me know he was just getting out of bed and about to enjoy their gourmet breakfast buffet. I of course had been up for a good three hours with the kids, whith whom I enjoyed a lovely breakfast of Life cereal. Needless to say I will be taking a few hours of shopping time to myself when he gets back!

We are hitting the humidity pretty hard the last few days. A preview of the upcoming months. Uugh! The kids have all been a bit cranky. I think they are adjusting to the change and just don't know why they are so uncomfortable.

We all met some friends at McDonalds for lunch today. Man it is a job all on it's own getting those kids together , out the door and buckled in. Only to undo it all in 10 min. Thank goodness for good friends to help out. It is extra challenging with Brynn. Just imagine a big 3 year old with the mind of a 1 year old. I can't put her down until we are safely inside, because she wanders off so quickly. So I usually have her in one arm and the baby carrier in the other. I hate getting the double stroller out when we are just running in to a place. So I have to plan on getting everwhere early. Man I am glad I never had twins!!

I hope everyone has a great Easter. We already did a few egg hunts in the community and I am sick of kids (Aden) begging for candy all day long. So we will do quarters at home this year. Were planning on dinner at Ryan's mom's house. Should be a good time. Take care.

New Stuff

2008-02-06T19:03:00.001-08:00

So Ryan and I were talking the other day about all of the changes we have gone through in the last year. He was approached by a reqruiter for an new job and after all has been said and done he accepted the position. It will be a great opportunity for him and there will be a lot of room for growth. He will be working for Parker Drilling in their HR. I am so proud of him. We know there has been some heavenly help involved and are very grateful. So as I mentioned before, we have had so many 'big' changes- New house, 2 new jobs in the last year, a new baby and two new cars. That might not seem like a lot to some people, but to us it has seemed like that since we have been married. We are ready to stay steady for awhile. We have also moved 5 times in the 6 years we have been married-one to a new state. Yikes.
I'm back in the work out groove. Got some baby weight to loose and I insist on doing it! It has been great for my mental health as well. I seem to get stuck in a depressing funk when I go without excersize for too long. Today I ran for the first time in a long time and am feeling pretty sore, not to sound sadistical, but I love it. Makes me feel like I accomplished something.
The kids are good. Brynn had a yucky case of the flu last week and missed an entire week of school. Luckily no one else seemed to catch it (knock on wood). She is walking wonderfully and we are really working on communication. We are trying to get her into a nuerologist, hoping for some answers.
Aden is doing well. He is growing up and starting to engage in more meaningful conversation. The other morning I made pancakes and as he sat down he said with his happy voice, "mmm, fresh pancakes." What 5 year old says fresh pancakes?? I should have him audition for IHOP.
Cannen is growing way too fast. The kid is 9 weeks old and wearing 9 month clothes! He is very aware now and loves to babble with you. It is the cutest thing. I love his smile.
Well that is our little update hope everyone is healthy and happy out there!!

pic update

2008-01-17T11:56:00.001-08:00

A pic of Brynn, just because she is so cute!

A pic of Cannen in his blessing outfit. Grandma and Grandpa Spencer made it out for the big day! We are missing them already. They we had lots of fun and they built us a beautiful fence and landscaped or flower bed (pic's to come).

A pic of Aden at his preschool Christmas program. He practiced all week. The girl in the black shirt, Ashlee, is his "girlfriend".

A pic of Aden on his new bike from Santa.

Happy Birthday Ryan!

2007-12-17T11:34:00.000-08:00

Here is our little cutie! It seems like he has changed so much already! He is getting those chubby little cheeks that we love so much. The older he gets the more he looking like Aden. He has been such an easy going baby-something new for me. We are loving having him in our family.

Here are a few pictures of the kids with there little brother. Brynn has gotten used to him and is actually trying to play with him. I will put Cannen in his swing and she will try to push it and makes the cutest "weeee" sound. It is very sweet, especially since she can't talk. Aden is our big helper, and loves any chance he get get to hold his little brother.

Happy Birthday Ryan! We celebrated Ryan's birthday last night with his family. Some friends came over for desert and some sad news. They are moving back to UT. All of our good friends have moved out of TX in the last year or so. We are sad and jealous at the same time!

We hope everyone is having fun getting ready for Christmas. It has been a little busy around here and I am still hoping to get cards out (something I happen to be terrible at!). Take care!

He's Here!!!!

2007-12-01T11:20:00.001-08:00

Well, he's finally here!!! Cannen Lee Piekarski was born on Wednesday, November 28th at 1:09pm and weighed 7lbs 11oz and was 21 inches long. He's a happy and healthy baby boy.

We weren't sure of his name until the nurse pressured us for a name, we initially chose Afton, but then rethought it and ended up on Cannen.

Mom is feeling good besides being tired. Brynn seems to be the only one struggling with the new arrival. She's pretty jealous!!! Aden can't stop telling us how "Cute" his little brother is. He's so excited to share all of his toys and he wants Cannen to move in to his room.

Happy Fall Ya'll

2007-11-10T07:18:00.000-08:00

Our little girl turned 3! She got to wear her Birthday Princess crown from Aunt Kristin. Of course Aden had to have a turn in it as well. They both look beautiful! Brynn also got to wear her cap and gown in honor of graduating from the Early Childhood Intervention program here. She is now officially in school. This has been her first first full week. She is slowly adjusting. She cried the first two days, but her teachers are great and say she is doing better. Now for the next big change...Monday she goes on the bus. I really didn't want to put her on the bus, but her teachers think it will help her to make the transition from home to school . I have to admit it will be a little easier for me as well. Her schedule is a little off from Aden's schedule and dropping them off at very different times was becoming a chore.

As you may have guessed, no baby yet. I am starting to feel really irritated with pregnancy. I see my D. on Tuesday and am hoping he will let me be induced. Still no definites on names. Suggestions anyone?

Poor Baby!

2007-10-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

So this is how I spent my 30th birthday... In the ER. Brynn fractured her wrist by "falling" out of her crib.----I think a well meaning older brother was helping her out. I have to say I was relieved when I found that her pain was coming from her hand, not her legs or hips. She has started walking so well on her own and at first I thought her legs were hurt and I started to cry, thinking she would be set way back. Actually this is forcing her to walk even more because she can not crawl. Poor thing though, she is such a skinny minny, that the temporary cast looks mondo huge. She will get a hard cast on Monday morning assuming everything looks OK. Not fun stuff.
I am still getting ready for baby. The name this week is Cade Spencer. We'll see if it changes. We have gone through about 20 different names so far. Today I registered at the hospital. Yikes this is coming way too fast!!!

Pictures

2007-10-11T14:44:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pics of the kids. Aden is enjoying soccer and Brynn loves to be outside cheering him on....

Aden had his 5th birthday! He had a Super hero birthday party. His friends came dressed up in different costumes. He of course was Spider man. They had hero sandwiches, played hero games and painted capes that my mom so kindly made for them all.

This is the super cool, one of a kind cake my mom decorated... She was my hero while she was here!

The house looks great after my moms very productive visit. Ryan came home from Chicago and couldn't believe all that she had done. I need to take some pictures. It finally feels like we have moved in. I love it. I am lucky to have such a creative, talented and giving mom.

Time Flys

2007-09-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

What, is it already the middle of September??? Someone needs to slow things down just a bit! We are hanging in there down here in TX. We are missing the season changes pretty bad. The news reported a "cold front" here last Tuesday. It was about 85 that day. Yes a bit cooler than before, but a cold front???

The kids are getting bigger and funnier. The other day Aden decided he was jealous of my current condition, and put a small rubber basketball under his shirt. He was a very good mommy, talking to his tummy and all. He kept it in for a good half an hour or so. The best was when he was playing Lego's and was unconsciously rubbing his belly, just like there was something "real" in there. What a kido. He started Pre-school last week and is loving it so far. I have a pic of him leaving the house with his backpack on. He was up early that morning and got completely dressed himself, without any nagging from me or anything. He was a bit excited.

Brynn started horse back riding therapy today. She isn't a fan yet to say the least. She was pretty fussy the whole time. The therapists were so good with her though. She rode for a good 20 min. Poor thing was so tuckered out. Nap time was nice and long today.

We are busy getting ready for my mom to visit next week. I am glad she will be here. Ryan is going to Chicago for a week with work, so the timing is great.

OK so this is a random picture I accidentally added it to the blog and can't erase it for some reason. Or move it or turn it for that matter. Anyways these are some flowers my sweetie brought home the other day. What a nice surprise.

Take Care Ya'll!!

ATTENTION!

2007-08-14T19:48:00.000-07:00

This is a public service announcement: The state of Texas has failed to teach any of it's drivers how to use a blinker!!! My pet peeve of all pet peeves!!!!! Unlike Ryan, I am not usually a honker. He has no problem honking, because he has no fear. I am always paranoid someone will chase me down or shoot me. But this no blinker thing has driven me to honking.
Anyways. Things are going good on the home front. We have just been very busy getting ready for all of the changes coming up this fall. Both kids are going to be going to school, so I have been filling out forms and getting Dr. releases signed. Aden is also playing soccer-his first time at organized sports. Brynn is going to be doing horse back riding therapy. My mom is coming to visit and to help decorate the house. Then we have all of our birthdays, the new baby and the holidays to think about. Time goes too fast! Hope ya'll are doing well!

A few things...

2007-07-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

Brynn with her walker. She loves it, it makes her look so much bigger than just crawling around.

This is what happens when you leave your children unattended! I asked Aden what he was doing and he said he had to shave so he could fight some bad guys. Then he said, "do you want a piece of me?" Who is this kid???

Yes I realize that my children are both only half way dressed. We have a clothing optional rule at our house! Don't worry Ryan and I won't take any pictures of us! :)'

OK so you know it has been a long time since you have blogged, when you can 't remember your password and have to reset everything! So sad. Being pregnant seems to eat away at brain cells for me as well. Speaking of which, It is a boy due Nov 25th. We are trying to decide on a name Ryan and I can't agree. I like Liam, he likes Chase. So let us know what you all think.

Other good news, Ryan started a new job with Tetra Technologies last week. He is really enjoying it. We have been very blessed. We have no doubt it is because we started doubling our fast offerings. Now I can quit the front desk at the YMCA ! Yippie, Fridays nights are free again!! I'll still teach classes though.

Brynn went to the geneticist today. The appointment we waited for for 6 months. They are as clueless as everyone else. They say she has a few distinctive characteristics, but nothing dramatic enough for them to pin point any one thing. They ordered some blood work to be done and they are going to look at her chromosomes again. So once again, we wait.

Aden is getting to be a silly kid. I need to blog more oftent so I can remember all of the funny things he says. He did ask me if he could borrow some money the other day. I started to laugh--he is only 4! He wants a gameboy so bad. I am in no hurry to get him one. I'm not a fan.

I just keep getting bigger. I hate it. I really don't enjoy being pregnant. Especially in the summer!! I tend to turn into something resembling a woolly mammoth in the end. It is lovely. I'll make sure there aren't any pictures of that !!!

Hope everyone had a good fourth will lots of fun and fireworks. We stayed home and BBQ'd, tried to do a few fireworks, but they turned out to be duds. I'm sure the humidity had something to do with that.

Hugs and kisses from Texas

2007-05-21T12:08:00.000-07:00

Some pics of the kids at Ryan's mom's company picnic. I had to work so I missed the whole thing :( I tried to add them to my previous post, but blogger was being picky. They are so cute!!!

Long Time No Blog

2007-05-21T11:47:00.000-07:00

You know it has been awhile when you try to sign on to blogger and had to re-enter your password 5 times! There has been a lot going on here and quite frankly I have not really been in the mood to blog. I have been staying up to date with all of your blogs out there.
So a short run down of things around here. Two weeks ago I ran over a big piece of concrete and busted out the oil pan and screwed up the rear axle of our car. In my defense, it was the safest thing to do at the time. I could have dodge it and ran into traffic head on or side swiped the guy next me. It was around a curve so by the time I saw it I could not stop. So I ran it over. Reminded me of 4 wheeling. Only problem was I wasn't in a truck or a jeep , I was in a little Lancer. I got to drive Ryan's dads old Chevy Caprice for 2 weeks. The thing must be 20 years old. It rides like a boat. We have named it Big Pimpin. So I am grateful to have my little car back.
More news, Brynn just got a walker. She is standing by herself now-Yippie for Brynn!! She is so cute pushing the walker. I will have to get some pictures. It looks just like an old persons walker, but her size. She loves sometimes and hates it others. I am determined to get her walking, since we have a surprise addition to our family coming in Dec! Yes that is right we will change from a family of 4 to a family of 5. I have just started telling people, because I was so shocked myself I did not know what to think about it all. I am getting excited though. I am about 12 weeks along.
Poor Aden had scarlet fever this weekend. When the Dr. announced his diagnosis, I was shocked I immediately pictured a hospital hallway of 19th century people clinging to life. Apparently it isn't that dramatic nowadays. He said it is from a certain strain of strep. Antibiotics cleared everything up in a couple of days thank goodness. The boy is known for dramatics. It is good to have him well.
Well that is it for our little family for now.
Chow for now

2007-04-06T20:54:00.000-07:00

So we are officially moved in! Un-packing , now that is another story. It is amazing how we have so much more space and are managing to fill every bit of it. How we fit all of this stuff into a space half the size is a wonder. Everything is just spreading. I need to play the need it, use it game and throw half of it away. Ryan took a few pics before the offical move in. I only like a couple of them- I'll take more once we are not bombarded with boxes:

The kitchen is by far my favorite of all the rooms. I love the backsplash. I love the space. I can actually turn around without running over someone. The kids are enjoying all the extra room as well. We already have a new time out spot and everything.- One of the first arrangements to be sure! Aden is getting to know it well. All of the changes have been hard on everyones schedules and we have all been a bit grumpy. It is sad when your four year old has to come to you and say "mom, I'm really sorry you got angry with me." Or has to ask, "are you mad at me." He is too big for his own britches.

It will be just lovely when we have everything in it's place. We even got hit up by the vacume door to door salesman the other night. This really is official. That is a story for another time..... Ryan thought he was funny by keeping the guy here until 12:30 in the morning. He figured if the guy was going to bug us, he was going to make him his audience. He made him sit there while he played the guitar and tell silly jokes. It was pretty entertaining.

Sick

2007-03-07T18:22:00.000-08:00

We have been sick, sick and more sick at our house- the flu bug has hit home! Aden was sick for a week two weeks ago and we all seemed to dodge it for the time being. Last week I was sick for three days then Brynn got it and has been sick for the last 3 days as well. Poor baby She is miserable. Ryan even got it and he had a flu shot this year. So needless to say we have been inside for days now I am a feeling a bit of cabin fever.
I have a new job at the YMCA. I will now be teaching the CPR and First Aid classes. I went through my certification throught the American Heart Association at the Fire Station last week. I am a bit nervous, but also really excited. I think it will be fun. I think I am the official Jack of all Trades at the "Y" now. I will still work with the kids there and in Member Services. It will give me something to do especially since both of the kids will be in school next fall. Brynn will start special ed preschool through the school district and Aden will go to a private preschool somewhere. I am still deciding where. They are growing up way too fast! It is fun though. Adens personality is so cute and Brynn well she is something else! Ryan has taken the term "daddy's little girl" to a whole new level. They are cute together!! I just have a cute family, what can I say!!!

Growing Up!

2007-02-21T20:13:00.000-08:00

You would think I was talking about our kids growing up in the title. I am actually talking about Ryan and I. We are finally entering the world of home ownership! This is our cute little house. It should be done at the end of March, right when our lease is up. We are so excited. The extra space is much needed! The house is much bigger than it looks on the picture. It is long in the back. The kids will finally have there own rooms, which hopefully means I will get to sleep through the night soon!-- Brynn still wakes up and I get her in fear of her waking Aden and all the neighbors up. We keep counting down the days. This picture is already old. I drove by yesterday and the brick is all up already. I'll have to get a new picture next time we are over there. We feel so grown up!!
Aden is conviced that he is going to have a Spider Man room and that grandma Spencer will come down from Utah to paint Spider Man coming out of his wall... We'll see. It is a good thing his room is already red and blue- not much to change.
Other than that we are all doing about the same. Life is good. Hope ya'll are good

Hello

2007-02-02T13:21:00.000-08:00

Yes Brynn is still in her pj's and Aden has no pants on in this picture. Are anyone else's mornings like this?

Were still here. I have actualoly tried to blog a few times in the last couple of weeks, but have had a hard time getting on. Ryan helped with with a few computer problems and now were back in business. We are doing good. Life has been going on as normal. I have been working more shifts at the YMCA so we are stretched a little more for time.

Aden is getting so big. It is funny how there are moments when you look at your child and realize they are becoming little big people. Aden has informed me that he wants to be a YMCA worker when he grows up. Hmmm. We'll see. The YMCA is great and all but he's going to have a hard time making a go at it on $7 an hour! His new thing is listing all of the things he wnats (e.g. Video games costumes, etc..) He is always sure to mention that they aren't expensive, since he already knows what my reply will be.

Brynn is so tall. She is getting closer and closer at walking. They have a mini walker at her therapy place and she loves to cruise around the halls with it.. She loves to be a big girl. we had our visit with her Dr. and we still don't have an answer. All of the tests came back negative. So she ordered a few more and refered us on to genetics. I have mixed feelings about it all. On one side I think it would be nice to have an official diagnosis. But at the same time it isn't going to change anything. I wonder if it is worth all the running around and the blood draws and the emotional ups and downs of what she might possibly have. She is still the cutest girl to us and has such a big happy smile no matter what.

Ryan is doing well at work. He might be traveling starting in a couple of months. He is excited for the opportunity.

That is our little family update. Take Care

The Worst Feeling

2007-01-08T18:22:00.000-08:00

I think I actually felt the worst feeling of my life this week. We had quite the scare with little Brynn. She had a fever for a day or so and we were out of Tylenol so I headed to Walgreens to stock up. I was browsing the isle and when I turned around Brynn was convulsing like crazy. Her head was thrown back along with her arms. I picked her up and tried to get her attention with no luck. I had no idea what was happening, but I was in a total panic. I ran to the clerk with Brynn still going crazy. Suddenly she stopped shaking or even moving and her eyes rolled to one side she was totally limp and turning blue. The clerk called 911 and an ambulance was on it's way. I was totally blank and couldn't remember a thing about CPR. She finally came too and was totally drowsy. Anyway the Dr at the ER said she had a febrile seizure. Apparently there is absolutely no harm to the child and they usually grow out of it. Chances are that she will have one again in the future when she has another high fever. So in short I was totally freaked out for nothing. I am glad there are Two Walgreens in The Woodlands since I can never go back to "that one" and I hope that someone else is around in case of a "real" emergency since I totally froze. In my defense I trully thought Brynn was dying and that was the WORST feeling in the world. I felt totally helpless. I just wanted to hold on to my kids all night.
Anyways that is the big story for the week. We are still fighting off viruses. Aden is the lucky carrier right now. I hate it. We are home bound for weeks when a bug gets into our house. On a happy note. Ryan and I celebrated out 5 year anniversary this week. We went to the Cheesecake Factory for some yummy grub. He is still my sweetheart and I am still his. It is a good feelng. Hope everyone is happy and healthy.

Still Alive!

2007-01-01T18:39:00.000-08:00

In case anyone was wondering...I know I haven't been a faithful blogger. No real reason, just lazy!! We have had a great holiday season at our house. We tried to keep things as stress free as possible this year. We didn't even get cards out in the mail. Thanks to all of you that remembered us. We remembered you too. I was again- just lazy. Here are some pictures from Christmas morning at our house and then at Ryan's mom's. Aden seemed to think everything was for him. His all time favorite was a Darth Vader voice changer helmet. He asked for it for weeks before Christmas. It worked great on the box, but as soon as we got it out it wouldn't work--so sad. We can't find another one either. But he has gotten over it. He has two new costumes (Teenage Mutant Nija Turtles& Power Rangers) and he is happy with them. He also got his first game system. We got him a V-Smile. Apparently he inherited our talent with video games because he gives up after about 5 min. of playing. He will get the hang of it. We got Brynn a little ball pit. The ball pit at the physical therapist is her favorite thing. So we got a little one for home. She loves it the only problem is that Aden thinks it is his too. As soon as she starts to play in it he is there to push her out! She also got a dolly from grandma that she loves. She just giggled and giggleds when she got it. It was very cute. Ryan and I had a good holiday as well. We feel so grateful for our family and everything else good in our lives. We hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy and safe New Year!! We love you all.

Home Sweet Home

2006-11-30T18:23:00.000-08:00

We had a fun, crazy, relaxing and cozy Thanksgiving. I am so sad to day that we totally forgot our camera- What who does that?? e haven't been home to UT for a year and a half and we forgot our camera!!! My sisters and mom too lots of pictures for us, so I'll have to post them at a later time.
We had Thanksgiving at my parents cabin this year and then celebrated Christmas the morning after. It was quite the experience. There was a total of 50 people and 4 dogs up there! Luckily that was only for one night. Aden loved seeing all of his cousins. We were a bit nervous because last time we visited, he beat up one of his cousins the whole time we were there. This year they were the best of friends and got into plenty of trouble together! Brynn did great with the big crowd we weren't sure how that would go either. Everyone loved her up. Ryan got her MRI results back from the Dr while I was in UT. Apparently the Mylan (Sp??) between the two sides of her brain is not completely developed. That is all the info he got from the Dr. Naturally I have a million questions! Luckily we have a parent Dr. consult on Dec 11th we should have the results of all her blood work as well.
We really loved visiting and going to our favorite food joints. Aden was happy he got to see snow and play in it. I think he threw a snow ball at my mom as soon as we got out of the car at the cabin! We had a good time, but of course loved to come home and be in our own beds and back into a routine. We got most of our Christmas decorations up already. Not that there is a whole lot in our little apartment, but it is cozy. That is about it. I hope everyone had a great holiday!!!

2006-11-08T12:11:00.000-08:00

Ok so Here are a few Halloween pictures. Sorry for the weird layout, but Blogger has been giving me problems posting pictures. This is the 3rd time this week I have tried to post and this time if I tried to move the pictures they just disappear. Anyways Brynn was our little clown and Aden was Spiderman (that is his buddy Gordon). We had fun trunk or treating one night and trick- or-treating on Halloween. I am so sick of candy. I keep finding opportunities to sneak more and more into the garbage. Well since the last post Brynn turned 2! We had a small get to together here with Ryans family. Here a re few pictures of her on her special day.

Once again pardon the layout!!! I'm just working with what I have here!! She had a fun day and got some cute stuff.

We are just pluggin along. Excited to visit UT in just 10 days!! Ryan is totally focused on the LSAT. I will be glad when it is all over with!! I am proud of all the hard work he is putting into his studying.
We are going to do a walk this Saturday to support a friend who's son was just diagnosed with cancer. It is all so sad he is the cutest little guy. I wish I could run it, but I'll have the kids and we don't have a running stroller. Here is the blog site for the little boy if anyone wants to help out in any way. www.hansjourney.blogspot.com . I can't imagine going through that. I am so sick to my stomach when I think of Brynn going for an MRI and blood work on the 17th and that isn't even invasive. I just know she will be so scared when they take her away from me. I hope I am there when she wakes up. Anyway we are doing well. The weather is great here right now. Were enjoying the great outdoors. I hope everyone is well. We'll be seeing some of you soon!!!

Oooops!

2006-10-24T19:25:00.000-07:00

So I have been a blogging slacker. I have no excuse. Just plain old laziness. Things have been good. I had a b-day and am one year older. I don't feel any different. Brynn will be one year older on Thursday. I can't believe she will be 2 years old!! I love her more and more. She has the sweetest little smile and a laugh that will make you join in. Aden has been pretty entertaining. He is becoming a little copy cat. I have to be very careful about what I say!! I was complaining to Ryan the other day about feeling "burned out" and out of nowhere in the other room, we hear Aden saying I feel burned out too. Like his whole 4 years of life have been too much to handle or something. What a silly. We had spaghetti and meat balls the other day. Or in Aden's terms "neat balls" He also thinks bobby pins are "Barbie pins". He was in his first primary program his only line was, " the gift of life" we practiced all week. Then the morning of the program I asked him one more time, what is your line? He said, "the gift of movies", then "the gift of hot sauce". I was so nervous that he would say something silly, but he did very good and said his lines without any problem-sigh of relief. He makes me laugh.
The weather is finally cooling off. I have taken up running and it couldn't be more perfect outside. - I also run at the YMCA, but outside is much more fun for the kids. There isn't much more going on for us. Ryan is still studying for the LSAT and has been scheduled to take it Dec. 2nd so send some prayer his way. We are excited to visit UT for Thanksgiving. Aden is supper excited to see snow. I hope he isn't disappointed. Well. I hope everyone is doing good. Thanks for checkin in...

Updates and Pics

2006-09-28T20:19:00.000-07:00

Our fishing "trip" I think I mentioned this in an earlier entry. It was a Kids Fishing tournament that turned into a cast and reel in tournament for Aden. I think we casted for him a thousand times he just wanted to reel it in :).

Here are a couple of pics from Aden's party at the park. That is his best buddy, Tegan to the left. He just moved an hour away from us so we are sad. His other best buddy the girl in the pink shirt to the right, Cami is going to move to Colorado soon. Poor kid all his friends are leaving!

OK so here is the story here. Brynn has been sick with a stuffy nose and cough, so I went to Walgreens and bought these suckers that have zinc in them which is supposed to help some of the symptoms. So I give it to her in the back seat of the car hoping it would cheer her up since she has been so cranky. She was sucking on it just lovin it and then suddenly starts throwing a fit. I turned around and saw that her sucker was missing, so I was looking all over in the car thinking it fell onto the floor or behind her in her car seat...hmm I'll give a dollar to anyone that can tell me where it is... Poor Brynn. If ever you are having a bad day, just think of this picture.
FYI, she is now terrified of the camera, hence the crying. I'm going to have to get sneaky.
Oh update on the Dr apt. Apparently she is more severly delayed than we thought. She is at a 10 month old level (she is almost 2). She will have an MRI and chromosone and DNA testing in November, just to rule any genetic defect out. I still think she is autistic, but the Dr said she can not give her that dx at this time because it is too hard to know in a child this young. We'll just keep on working with her and loving her. Take care!!

He is 4!!

2006-09-17T17:41:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my little big boy Aden Lee Piekarski!! I can not believe how time fly's! Aden is now 4 years old. We had lots of fun planning his birthday party. It was "Cars" themed at his request. He had a hard time giving his invitations away, because he wanted them all for himself. It was pretty cute. We were all ready for the big day and Aden got sick Wed night. He laid in bed all day Thursday. He stopped throwing up and his fever went away for the most part, so I figured on going ahead with the party. Well I guess he wasn't feeling as well as I thought. He sat in the corner by his presents (at the park) the whole time. He didn't want any pizza or even a cupcake. I felt like I had to hurry everyone along. The poor kid opened his presents and then asked if he could sit in the car. I felt so bad for him. We had better luck with family party. He was feeling a little better. I guess the fact that we were inside and not in the blazzing heat helped. He was so cute after opening his last and favorite present ( big Lighting McQueen), He looked at me and put his hand on my shoulder and then said, "don't worry, your birthday is coming soon." I have to admit I feel so much better now! What a sweet boy. We sure do love him. I need to post some pics... next time I promisse. Hope everyone is well! Love to all....Oh I almost forgot Brynn is going to the specialist tomorrow--they had a cancelation and because of her head hitting, they got her in ASAP!! yippie.

Update

2006-09-05T19:22:00.000-07:00

This is a visitor we found on our front door the other day. The picture does not even give it justice. It was about the size of my hand and so bright on color. At first we thought it was dead, so Aden and I got a jar ready to put it in. But it flew away as soon as we touched it. The next few minutes were filled with Aden chasing it around outside and giggling ever time he got closer to touching it. It was fun to watch.
Well Aden went fishing for the first time on Saturday. I have some pics I'll post later. He was so cute. The Kiwanis club had a fishing tournament for kids. Everyone there was so serious about the whole thing. I am sure they were laughing at us behind our backs. I think the longest the line actually stayed in the water was a whole 60 seconds. Aden wanted to reel it in over and over. He didn't quite understand the whole sitting and waiting part. After that he just started throwing his worms in the lake. I am sure our fellow fishers loved us for giving all the fish "freebies".
The weather has actually cooled off here the last couple of days we have been enjoying some outside time. Who knows how long it will last. The way things go here it could be 90 again
tomorrow. We are all doing great. We started walking as a family this week. It has been fun. Ryan and I are determined to shed a few pounds. It seems like we always have that goal though. We are trying to make our focus being healthy this time around.
Tomorrow I am starting a weekly class on learning to communicate with your autistic child. It is titled, "More than Words" Brynn's ECI teacher suggested it. We are also looking into HIPPO therapy with horses for her. It was recommended by her PT. There is a program close by that we are working on getting enrolled into.
Hope everyone is good. Take care y"all!!

2006-08-27T20:07:00.000-07:00

My big boy- I don't know where he learned this from!!!
OK OK so I was looking at my last post and it was the 8th and it is the 27th today! Hello I need to get back with it!! We are all doing well. Aden is getting so big I can't believe it. It is so crazy because you always see your kids as so little and dependent on you. Then there are moments when you look at them and they seem so big and grown up. He says the funniest things. Today he had a potty accident and I was trying to talk to him sternly and he looked me in the face and said, "Look, mom don't be angry" It was as if he was the grown up it was so cute. Then I put him to bed tonight and we kept saying, " mom don't you want to come and see me?" What I am I supposed to say?? So we snuggled for a while. I sure do love that little guy!
Brynn is making good progress. She is getting fitted for some ankle braces on Tueasday. There just little plastic things that go barely over her ankles. We are hoping it will give her a little extra support and she will feel confident enough to stand and walk on her own. We are still waiting to get her in and diagnosed. I found out it won't be quite as long of a wait, Nov/Dec. Much better than a year! I mentioned her hitting head on the wall and they might ecven be able to get her in sooner. I am pretty convinced she is somewhere in the autistic spectrum. I have read so much. Some cases I have read about match her so closely. I have already had my sad and sick feeling about it. I am accepting it now. The good news is she is probably on the low end of the spectrum. Which means with lots of therapy she will probably be pretty close to normal. That sounds so wierd because we already think of her as normal. She is a cutie! Anyways hope all is well. I try to be a little more regular on the blog!!!

Crazy Days

2006-08-06T19:11:00.000-07:00

OK OK So this is how the last two weeks have been. Work at the YMCA Mon a.m. and p. m., Tues a.m. and p.m., Thurs, Fri and Sat. Young Womens Wed. night. Brynn's therapy thursdays. Last week I did all that plus babysat for a friend 9 1/2 hours a day Tues-Fri. (I had no idea it would be that long each day when I agreed). I just started the Mary Kay business and Ryan has been working every night when I am home until 2 in the morning. So in short it has been crazyville!!! Hence I have not posted for awhile. Things should slow way down this week and I am looking forward to it. I really want to get back into a work-out routine and spend more quality time with my kids. We have been rushing around so much and just trying to keep it together that I wonder if it is healthy for them. Ryan says I do it to myself and he is right, but we need the $$ so what can you do right!!
It was a nice break to go to church today. I don't know how I would get by if I didn't have that time of peace every week. Plus it is fun to catch up with friends, since we have been total strangers to everyone the last two weeks.
The one "fun" thing we did this week was go to a puppet show at the library on Friday. It was pretty cute. We met some friends there and after getting our kids situated on the floor in front of the stage, we stepped back and started to visit, thinking they were occupied. Well 5 min or so into the show, we heard everyone giggling, I looked up briefly and saw another woman I know give me a big smile. I thought she was just trying to say hi and then I realized she was laughing because Aden had led his other friends up to the performers and was peeking behind the puppet stage. He was announce so proudly tht he could see them. Well we got them to sit down for a few minutes and silly me started chatting again (you think I would have learned) and everyone started to giggle again. There was Aden on is way up and half way turns around to the audience with his hands on his cheeks and does a little dance step. I had to grab him while he was kicking and screeming to get him out of the spot light. It was cute and embarassing all at the same time. I guess he has a little of Ryan in him... That was the most interesting thing this week. Take care.

Trottin along

2006-07-19T18:38:00.000-07:00

I haven't been too motivated to write for the past week or so. I am not sure why. I guess I am waiting for some big occasion or event. We have just been trotting a long. Brynn had shots last Monday and has been sick with a fever since then. I hate it when my kids don't feel good. She just wants to be held and I feel so bad for her. She just moans and it is so sad. Aden went to our YW activity with me tonight. We spread mulch arouond the church. It was fun. As always he seemed to capture everyone's heart! I have been working a bunch at the YMCA. I will be glad when the next week is over I won't be working as much then. We got tickets to go the UT for Thanksgiving and are totally excited. We are already planning the trip out. It seems like there is never enough time to do everything we want to and to see everyone we want to.
So Brynns Dr refered her to the Developmental Center at the Childrens hospital in Houston. We have been anxious to get her in and diagnosed. I recieved our application packet from them and it stated that they usually have a one year waiting list!!!! Yikes I have never heard of such a thing. I have been looking at another therapy center. I will set up a consultation with them tomorrow. I don't know if they diagnose or just provide therapy. It has been a source of stress to me! I would love to get some answers. In the meantime I just keep working with her.
That is it for us for now. Hope everyone is doing good
Here's some pics for smiles sake...

Just like daddy!!!

Splish splash....

4th of July

2006-07-05T20:16:00.000-07:00

So we went to the parade here in the Woodlands and had a great time. We walked about a mile from a park by us in what felt like 90% humidity. Other than that and the rain that came down on us at the end, we had a great time. The kids loved the marching bands and Ryan and I got a kick out of all the coupons and advertising that most of the "floats" were passing out. Nothing says America like a little good old-fashioned capitalism!

I got a new calling at church in the YW as the Mia Maids teacher. I am excited. From what I hear there is a great bunch of girls in this ward. It will be fun to meet new people as well after being in RS the last year. The kids are doing good. Brynn has a Dr. apt on Monday, so I am hoping they will be able to refer her or give us some answers or something as to her development. She is 20 months old and not walking or talking at all. Her "teacher"- a women that comes to our house from the Early Childhood Intervention program- has mentioned a few different conditions Brynn might have. I am hoping for some more definite answers next week.

Aden has his 4th birthday all planned out- never mind that it isn't for another 3 months! The theme has changed a few times in the past couple of weeks. At first it was going to be all T-Rex, then Spider Man and now of course Cars (after the movie). It has been moved in his mind from the park to the pool to our "new house" (his imagination) and finally to inside our car. I can just see 10 4 year olds jumping around our little compact car for two hours- should be fun. Aden sure keeps me laughing!

Ryan is good. He is still focusing on law school. I tried to get a picture of him at the parade, but he deleted it when I wasn't looking. That turkey, I'll have to get him while he is sleeping! Hope everyone had a good 4th of July!

HO HUM

2006-06-29T19:27:00.000-07:00

So I have been totally reflective the past couple of days. I just found out this week I would be released from the RS Presidency. I was serving as the enrichment counselor. The whole presidency is being changed. It is bitter sweet like all things that make a big impact in our lives. I wonder if I did OK ya know. I was gathering all of my books and materials together to pass on and started thinking wow I really didn't even scratch the surface here. I did do my best though so that is what matters I guess. I know for sure that I was on the learning end the whole time!!!
I am feeling relieved as well. I really want to focus on my kids. Especially Brynn. She is developmentally delayed and is having different therapies right now. She will be fine, but right now she requires a lot of time and work in order to get "caught up". She is such a beautiful little girl. We went to the playground this afternoon and she actually took two step all by herself. I was so proud of her. I hope she will be walking by her second birthday. Aden does such a good job at helping me with her exercise and special games.
We have been spending lots of time at the pools this week. It is my goal to get Aden swimming this summer or at least willing to go under the water all by himself. He is scared to get his face wet. It is so funny when we are at the pool and he gets a little bit of water in his face, he jumps out runs to his towel and wipes his face of. As you can imagine his face is constantly getting wet since, hello it is a swimming pool, so pretty much most of the time he is just going back and forth from the pool to his towel. I try to explain that it is OK to get your face wet at the pool! Brynn is total opposite, she wants to keep her face in the pool the whole time, which creates a whole new set of problems!! It is funny to see the differences in personalities. I love them both!!

Father's Day

2006-06-21T19:57:00.000-07:00

Aden and I made Ryan a candy bar poster for Father's Day - You know the kind that you made for your daddy when you were a kid or to answer your prom date in High School.It was fun to buy the treats together and make up the little saying. Of course it was a bit challenging to keep it a secret for two whole days. I hid it under our bed, but we all know that little kids have sugar radar. Aden told Ryan about it a whole 5 minutes after seeing him. Ryan was laughing as he got him to tell what the other present was as well. I am going to have to plan my present shopping in secret and alone for now on. I swear every hour from Friday until Sunday, Aden would look under our bed, just to make sure that the poster was still there. He had already planned out which treats Ryan was going to share with him. Needless to say it was the first thing he wanted to to Sunday morning- get the poster out. Ryan made him wait until after church to have a treat so that we could take a quick picture.

Brynn wasn't very happy in the pic, because she wanted the 100 Grand candy bar right then and there. Unfortunately they both have my sweet tooth. Aden has 3 cavities in the plans to get filled-yikes! (I promise I make him brush!)

This Father's Day was a bit challenging for the Piekarski bunch as it is the first without Ryan's dad, Lee. Ryan's mom gave him some really great pictures of his dad and it made us all realize how much we love and miss him.

I have been thinking of my own little family tonight and how much they mean to me. I sure love them and am grateful for them. We had so much fun shooting hoops on Aden's little plastic basketball stand. I also bought Brynn the cutest pair of knee high boots on clearance from Toys R Us. They are big, being meant for next winter. They go right up to her thighs. She looked so cute, we got a kick out of it.

Well that is is for tonight. We are still getting over this yucky sickness we have had for the last three weeks, so I am beat! Take Care

Fun Times

2006-06-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

Today was a fun and eventful day. The movie theater here sells summer movie passes for $5 a person, so we got some. Today we saw Shrek 2. I am surprised by how well the kids did. I was so worried they would be flying off the walls.
Afterwards we went to the park with some friends. As soon as we pulled up and I let Aden out of the car, he ran to the nearest bush and dropped his drawers all the way down to his ankles and took a wiz right in front of everyone. Ahh, what a proud parenting moment. The three little girls there with us looked a bit confused since they don't have any brothers at home. They must have gotten over it pretty quicly though, because later I saw one of them holding Aden's hand and calling him "honey". He looked a little bewildered, but played along anyways. He is used to just digging in the dirt with his boy friends at the park. It was cute and funny at the same time.

Tonight we had the ward missionaries over to go over our family missionary plan. We watched this great movie, "Small and Simple Things," I think that is the name. It is a movie that was made by the San Jose, CA mission. There are a bunch of people sharing their conversion stories and testimonies. It was very spiritual and motivating. We seem to get so caught up and comfortable in our own little lives. I am resolving to be a better member missionary.

The kids are in bed and Ry is out right now. It is noce and quiet. Maybe, I'll get some reading in!! Take Care

Mothers Day Weekend

2006-06-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

We had Ryan's family over for Mother's Day. It was good times, with good food and good people. Aden seems to think the presents are for him no matter the occasion...Happy Mother's day Penny, hope you don't mind sharing with a three year old. He wasn't as excited about the present once he found out it wasn't a T-Rex or a race car.

We have such cute little kids. They are lucky cause it's what keeps them alive :) They can be quite naughty like most kids...But we love them to death.

This week should be busy as usual. Ryan is really hitting the books as he studies for the LSAT, which he plans to take in September. We will both be so happy once he can start applying for schools and we can make some plans for the future. Of course we have learned that things don't always turn out how you plan, but we still gotta dream right! I should be very busy playing with the kids as much as possible hee hee. Take care y'all.
P.S. I am sure this blog of ours looks a little funky, but I am still learning...so be kind!

Finally

2006-06-11T20:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are finally entering the era of the bloggers. I have been dragging my feet long enough! I have a few friends that faithfuly post and I have so much fun reading their family news and updates. As well as looking at the pics of course. Hopefully I can prove to be just as entertaining:)
Our little family is doing great. We are just dealing with the Texas heat right now, which can prove to be a bit challenging. We spend a lot of time at the pool and inside. These are the days that we dream of being back in UT!! We sure miss the mountains.
Well this is just a test run for me, so I am keeping it short (I just want to make sure this blog stuff works). Next time we'll get som pic of the kiddos on here...till then...bye bye