At the Lake with the Cahoons

Well, after 34 events that I have captured pictures of thus far this summer and only 18 blog posts to show for it, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with updates. I guess when you're busy DOING, it's harder to write it down. Ironic, isn't it? Anyway, I'll probably combine some and skip others that I can just remember later, but we're going to start and do a blog marathon. Here goes!

LAKE BONAVISTA WITH THE CAHOON COUSINS!

This was a super fun day with all the Cahoon Cousins that are in Calgary. We met at Lake Bonavista on a super hot day (for May) and as soon as we hit the water the wind picked up and chilled us to the bone. The kids had a lot of fun though and even found a dead fish to bury. Some snapshots of the day:

One of THOSE days....

So, I was woken up at 1:15 this morning by Kienna. She was scared. I don't know if it was a dream or strictly imagination, but she was SURE that a spider was going to bite her and make her grow another hand. It took me a good half hour to assure her that even if there was a spider there to bite her, in Alberta there isn't any spiders dangerous enough to really hurt you. I don't know how convinced she was, but she FINALLY went back to bed.

After what seemed like mere minutes, Kaia came in. It was around 6 and she had a sore tummy. Those of you who know Kaia well can understand where I'm coming from when I told her just to drink some water and go back to bed. It didn't work. She drank some water and stayed snuggling with me. She was moaning and tossing and turning. I finally gave up on going back to sleep just after 7 when Jaymeson woke up. Jarett brought him in to me and then left for work. I got up, got dressed and looked back. Kaia had FINALLY fallen asleep.

I was feeding Jaymeson his breakfast while talking to my MIL. Suddenly we hear some screaming from upstairs. It was Saryn. She also had a bad dream. I carried her out of the room so that Kienna could go back to sleep. Kienna had woken up but as soon as I told her to go back asleep, she did. I brought Saryn downstairs and she said, "Mom, I Growed Up". I was so confused as to why that would be a scary dream, but I put on a movie and went back to feeding Jaymeson.

Another scream soon followed from upstairs. I ran up to find Kaia lying on the floor. Then I saw it. She had thrown up on my bed. I brought her downstairs to watch the show too and then went to go clean it up. I came back down and finished feeding poor Jaymeson who had been waiting. He had finished, I put him on the ground to play. Went into the office to talk to my MIL and turned around to see this:


Kaia was also looking quite miserable while lying on the couch for over an hour after the show ended.


Soon after, Saryn woke up and climbed into Granni's chair to snuggle until she got the breakfast she was demanding. I was a little busy, so she had to wait for a minute. When I turned around again it was to her screaming and throwing up all over the chair. I guess I found out what "Growing Up" Saryn thought she had done. So much for breakfast...

After sending out Grandpa Bucey for Gingerale, cleaning up the chair and the bed, making Jello and putting Jaymeson to bed, I realized it was almost 11:00 and Kienna still wasn't awake. Of course, my kids track record wasn't that great for the day, so I decided to check on her quickly. Of course, she had also just thrown up - this time on the carpet in her room.

And so the day continues. We're taking it easy. Anne of Green Gables is entertaining us...

and I've decided that while the kids are being low-key, I'll update my much neglected blog. So hopefully by the end of the day we'll have a blog post overload!

That Darn Plural

The English Language is supposed to be one of the most difficult languages to learn. Saryn has been reminding me of this recently. My favorite examples deal with pluralizing things.


While I make dinner,

"Mom, Can I PLEASE have just ONE Chee?"

...Cheese apparently is the plural.

While putting on a new dress,

"Oh wow, That is my favorite Clothe"

...It's one of her clothes I suppose.

While learning her manners,

"I already said a plea"

...I guess she's used to saying please many times.

Saryn Explains

"Mom, these are Cinderella's Step Sisters and Step Mother - THEY ARE MAD PEOPLE!"

The Stair-Master

You can't get this little man away from the stairs. Thank heaven for baby gates! He's done this since before I was sure that he could even sit (I have decided that he DOES know how to sit, he just doesn't want to stay put long enough to show me). Anyway, it's been about a month....and he has them absolutely mastered. We just have to teach him how to go DOWN them now...



He is also climbing up on everything and cruising along furniture. He LOVES to stand on his feet and hold onto fingers to walk or anything else that can balance him. I caught him TWICE yesterday letting go of what he was using to balance and try to stand on his own. I really wouldn't be surprised if he walked faster than all his sisters. He certainly seems to have a desire to do that a lot faster. We shall see!

Day of "Rest" aka "Act II"

You know that peaceful feeling the Sabbath brings. The rest and relaxation. The time to meditate and enjoy all the things that make you happy?? I hope so....because I would love to be told what that is like.

I woke up at 7 this morning (this was a good sleep in) and hopped into the shower after shoeing the kids downstairs to make their own breakfast.

As I hopped in the shower, I noticed my reflection in the mirror. Now, I usually get a little bit depressed, but this time I was absolutely SHOCKED!! I had about 30-40 red spots all over my back. No WONDER my back was uncomfortable and itchy. I do a quick shower and call my mom (who else do you call when a weird appearance shows up??). *Oh, side note, we're staying at my sister-in-law's house for a week while she's out of town, so I'm not calling my mom in the same house - I'm calling her from a different one*. She said that she doesn't know what it could be, but to come over and she'd have a look.

I get dressed, put on make-up and do my hair and get the kids in their clothes to take them to Gran's house to get all the way ready for church. Before I leave, Jarett has to run to get to a rehearsal to run through a song that he is singing at a chapel dedication. I get to pack up the 4 kids in the car and race over to my moms. She diagnoses me with a second round of chicken pox. That's perfect because Jarett and I are both volunteering in nursery today - I'm sure that all the kids have secretly been longing for chicken pox, right? Sigh. Anyway, quick rush to finish getting dressed and looking decent for a potential church meeting - I get all my girls in their dresses and ask my sisters to take care of their hair. I pick out an outfit for Jaymeson and I head over to the chapel dedication and stayed clear of any kids. I heard Jarett sing with Jared Palmer (it was wonderful) and then I took off to the doctors office before I came in contact with anyone.

At the doctors office, it was one of the fastest waits EVER. I only waited for slightly over an hour. How's that for perfect? Jarett was anxiously waiting at home to see if any of us should go to church or if it was just some weird skin irritation. I get in and show the Dr. my back and she asks right away, "Have you been in a hot tub recently?" Um, yeah - my sister-in-law (you remember I'm staying at her house) has a hot tub and I was in it on Thursday night for a bit. "Okay, well, this is NOT chicken pox. It's NOT contageous, but you picked up some sort of bacterial infection from the water in the hot tub.

INTERESTING!!

(Background quickly: Before Erin headed out of town, she gave Jarett a walk through of the house showing him how to use everything. She was very thorough and showed him how to water all the plants, use the security system, use the hot tub, etc. They checked the levels of the hot tub and the bromine was low. Now, Jarett assumed Erin had changed this and I can only assume that Erin thought Jarett would check it again before we got in. Either way, it was not changed. Jarett forgot to mention this little detail until Saturday when the kids were about to get in. I checked it and the bromine was about level 0. We've added the bromine now and no one else seems to have been effected (thank heaven).)

I call Jarett quickly and tell him that he can still go to church and cover in nursery with Dustin, but I didn't feel up to dealing with 10 toddlers. Luckily I wasn't contageous, so I decided to go to church.....

Fast and testimony meeting is usually my favorite Sunday. Kaia bore her testimony last month for the first time and I was beaming with pride. She did it again today and did wonderfully well. She bore testimony that she knows that Heavenly Father answers her prayers. It was so neat to see her little testimony growing. This was truly the high point of the meeting.

Jarett and I must have been seated on a teeter-totter, however, because whenever I came back in with a child from the hallway, Jarett bounced up with another and took them out. It was one of THOSE meetings. Jarett even missed Kaia's testimony. Jaymeson was fussy, Kaia was playing with her cousins, Kienna had to go to the bathroom, Saryn was dancing in front of our row, I was hungry (first FAST since before the baby), and it just wasn't working out "ideally".

So, as established - we had a miniature gong show going on. My mom (who is incredible) somehow was still able to feel the spirit with all 7 of her grandkids crawling and dancing around her and got up to bare her testimony. Anyone who knows my mom knows that it was a moving and powerful testimony. I LOVE to hear my mom speak. She went to the stand and sat down to wait for her turn. Saryn was going to scream if she couldn't sit with her Gran. I said that if she could be VERY VERY reverent, she could sit next to Gran while she waited and come back to me when Gran stood up. She agreed and went up to the stand. She sat SO reverently - for all of 5 seconds. Then she stood up and started playing with the seat. She ran down the aisle to the point where I still couldn't grab her without making a scene and then she'd turn around and bolt back up to the front. One of the times, she found the little kids stool and jumped off of it and tripped on her way down. I was hoping that she would've been startled enough to cry and come running to me. NOPE! This was a great laugh and she had to come (only half way) down the aisle to tell me that was funny and then ran back up to Gran.

THEN Gran got up to bare her testimony. Saryn came down the aisle - just like we had discussed, but apparently her "show" (see previous post) was not over. She bolted back up to the front of the chapel, found the kid stool and started to do a show for the whole congregation. I about DIED. Jarett was out with Jaymeson, Saryn was dancing and posing leaning against the podium and I had NO idea what to do. I had 2 options:

1. I could run up to the front, yank her off the stand and make an even bigger scene; or

2. I could hide my head in my hands and pretend I just didn't know what was going on.

Neither seemed particularily appealing, but I finally decided that it was REALLY distracting the spirit from the meeting. I HAD to go and get her. I was absolutely mortified, but I walked up to the front of the chapel, sat in the front row and mouthed to Saryn, "GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!!" She looked at me and said in her always loud voice, "Okay Mommy, I just going to jump first". She had to jump off of the stool one more time. Then she came right to me and we went out to the hall and had a long lesson on repentence.

How my mom still bore a testimony that made people go into tears, I do not know....but I think it shows how wonderful of a speaker she is.

Jaymeson fell asleep in my arms during Sunday School; Jarett and Dustin took care of nursery and I enjoyed Relief Society sitting next to my Mother-in-law. We quickly came home, changed and headed to Archie's house for dinner (Manya and her kids are out of town too, so we kept him

company and had a wonderful Indian Food dinner). The kids played while we chatted and then we headed home an hour after bedtime. The kids are all wired and won't sleep quickly. Well, all except Kienna who is SO excited for her birthday tomorrow that she konked out as soon as her head hit the pillow. Sigh. Now I get a chance to breathe - apply my medication and have a little break.

I know the Sabbath day is a gift from God. I know it is such an important day to regroup and reassess your life.....I just LONG for the day that I can use it for that reason....

Anyone have any other great Sabbath day moments?? or am I the only one who has a 2 year old that seizes every opportunity to put on a show?

Today's Favorites:

Favorite Joke:

The kids have been on a HUGE Knock Knock joke kick. We can't go ANYWHERE without MANY knock knock jokes being told. Most are along the lines of:

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Strawberry Shortcake
Strawberry Shortcake who?
Strawberry Shortcake Strawberry Shortcake (don't worry, I don't get it either)

Then yesterday Saryn surprised me by doing one that actually made sense. It may have been the long line of knock knock flops preceding it, but I laughed REALLY hard. I thought I'd share it:

Knock Knock
Who's there?
House
House Who?
House Granny? (sounds like How's Granny)

Funny, right??

Favorite Kienna Prayer lines:

"Please bless Brittany in Utah that she won't feel lonely even though she is."

"Please help Gran to be happy and help her house to stay clean." (one day she'll realize that she could be a major factor in why Gran's house DOESN'T stay clean)

"Please help me be faster." (She might be the biggest dawdler I've ever met....but she's been trying to be better...it's been GREAT!)

Favorite Tattle:

While driving in the car, Kienna sits behind Jaymeson and plays with him to keep him happy. Kaia, apparently, finds this frustrating:

"MOM!! It's not fair, Kienna is making Jaymeson love her the most!"