We have finally transferred our blog to blogspot.  Yea!  So please from now on find all of our happenings at

http://sugarpom.blogspot.com/

Sorry to make you change your links.

Thanks,
See you there!

Rolling Bunnies and New House

Well time has passed and we have certainly been busy little beavers.  Emily had her dance recital a couple of weeks back.  She looked and danced perfectly and we really enjoyed watching her.  See below for pictures.  Kylie has learned to roll—right around her 11month birthday.  We are so proud and she is definitely getting stronger.  Slow and steady but she is progressing and we are grateful.
         

Easter came and went and with it came Preschool Easter egg hunts, Church hunts, gifts and candy from grandparents and don’t forget the Easter bunny who visited and filled baskets.  There is so much candy in this house and I am still working on post-Kylie weight.  Not a good combo!  We did have the opportunity to teach the kids last Monday about the Resurrection with one of those cute egg Family Night activities and then it was reiterated at Church on Saturday at the Easter Egg Hunt. I hope that part stuck a little better than the candy.  Dallin has been going nuts on the candy and finally last night he got out of bed and told David he needed a bowl because he was going to throw up.  Dallin also FINALLY said that he didn’t want any more candy!  By the way—nothing came up!

       

Also, we have decided to move.  We aren’t going far away, basically just to the other side of the park, from where we live now—about 5 minutes away.  We are getting a big house and I am very excited.  I will finally have a laundry room and a big kitchen and a game room upstairs.  It is very exciting to move, but my, oh my, is it work!  My life has been nothing but packing and cleaning and shipping the kids off to who knows where when our current house is showing.  Can I just say right now that I hate selling a house?!  It’s pure craziness!  We are constantly cleaning and leaving and cleaning and leaving. The kids have no toys because I packed them up.  They are bored and cranky, Dallin wets his pants, Emily cries and gets attitude and Kylie won’t nap right and AUGHHH!  Then I think about the kitchen with the granite countertops and I smile. J  

current house                                                                         new house

The good news is our house went on the market on Thursday night March 13^th.  We had four showings on Friday and a total of 14 by the following Thursday.  It sold that day, so with all my complaining I only had a week of the pure chaos, and keep your fingers crossed that everything will go smoothly and we will close without a hitch.  We are closing on the new house on April 3^rd and our current house on April 21^st.  So fun!

Yesterday, I was going about my day being the perfect mother/housewife that I am… J  I was in on the computer and the older two kids were watching Pocahontas and Kylie was asleep.  Now again being the perfect mother that I am I decided to give the kids chocolate milk for lunch (realize it was Nesquik).  I hadn’t exactly cleaned up after lunch so the left over milk was sitting on the table.  Emily had taken hers in the living room and placed it on the floor of the carpet…So there I am busily doing nothing on the computer when Dallin walks in.  He stands next to me looks down and says, “Mommy.”  Now when you are a mother of Dallin and he looks down and only says one word I normally run and start looking for the fire.  As I am streaking into the living room I do notice that his shirt is brown—it used to be blue.  It was covered in chocolate milk, but that was absolutely nothing compared to the carpet—the-we-just-had-this-cleaned-3-weeks-ago-carpet.  Not only had he spilled his cup of milk, but in the process he managed to spill his sister's as well.  Of course she took no blame whatsoever.  She’s 5.  This was Nesquik and somehow it seemed to leave white milk and brown tiny spots everywhere.  

 

So, I took off his shirt told him it was ok—he was pretty upset—took a picture in the process and began to clean.  Meanwhile, I had asked him to go potty and wash off his face.  So begins the scrubbing of the carpet and Emily continuously complaining that she can’t see Pocahontas.  Somewhere along this time I realize that I have heard the bathroom sink running for quite some time, so I leave my brown milky rags and head to the bathroom.  What do you ask, do I find there?  A completely naked boy—I guess he went potty and forget the “we get dressed after we go” part.  Dallin had dumped or filled with water (I don’t know which) the entire container of soft soap and he, the sink and vanity are now covered with bubbles.  I took another picture and really wanted to start laughing.  Yes, as they say, he is all boy!  At least I did get to use a little of his guilt for him to take a good nap.  J

The kids have been really into S’mores lately.  Dallin calls them snores.  Anyway, we did actually give him dessert last night as undeserving as he might have been and we got a couple of pictures of the gooiness—Yum!

 

Well, I realize it has been awhile since I have posted anything and thanks for all of you who voted for Memorial Hermann through Colgate.  Keep voting thru the end of February!  Last we checked Houston was in first place.  Also, other stuff…Kylie is now 10 months old, she is also “drinking from a cup”.  I’ll translate before anyone gets too excited. J  The OT has us putting baby food (the fruits—they are thinner) in the cover of a bottle and letting her drink the baby food instead of spoon feeding.  This is a big improvement for her because she gets it faster and up until two weeks ago we were always thickening the baby food with rice cereal.  So, now she takes a much thinner consistency at a faster rate, which is good news for us.  Maybe, hopefully, someday we can get rid of this tube that by the way she loves to grab, pull on and chew.  Crazy kid!  My glasses on Kylie :)

  
Emily loves dance class and I’ve got to take some pictures of her in her leotard.  She is so cute!  She really is learning a lot and picking it up quickly—that of course makes her mommy very happy.

Last week we signed Emily and Dallin up for T-Ball.  Dallin seems so young, yet he is the most excited.  They start them at three and he will be three mid season…  Today at Target we walked past the T-Ball mitts and balls and it was World War 3 trying to leave that section.  All he wanted to do was play catch.  So there I was for a few minutes playing catch with my little boy in the middle of the aisle.  By the way the mitt he chose to put on was the pink camouflage one—oops, don’t tell Daddy!  They start practices next month.  Hopefully, Dallin will use up a lot of energy and Emily will learn to not duck from flying balls—we’ll see!

Ok older stuff:

For Christmas we gave my parents and sister dinner and a hockey game on us.  We had a good time.  Emily idolized the dancer girls and Dallin kept asking questions. I tried unsuccessfully to distract the older two during the fights, but with David egging them on…it didn't work too well!

 

We had a pretty cold January, so a few different nights we had a fire in the fireplace.  The kids loved it.  We read stories and talked about camping.  The kids remembered their sleeping bags and they know how to beg a lot, so that night they got to sleep on the floor of Emily’s room in their sleeping bags.  They were so cute and happy and surprisingly cheerful about sleeping in their beds again the next night.

       

One night earlier this month David came home from work, snagged Dallin and left quickly without saying much.  They returned a few minutes later with flowers for all the girls.  A yellow daisy for Kylie, pink carnation for Emily and a red rose for me.    Emily and I were so surprised and Dallin was so excited to give us our flowers.  We sure are lucky girls.  Thanks boys!!!

 

One day I had been pretty busy trying to get some stuff ready for Church and Emily was bored.  She finally decided that she was an astronaut and put on my boots and used this long string of beads for a "mission control" button.  Anyway it was hilarious.  She kept rocking in the rocking chair as hard as she could to “blast off” and then she would pretend she was walking around the moon and fighting off something.  I am not sure what.  Anyway, I had to take pictures so enjoy!

Saving the best for last…

Have I ever said on here that I love David’s job?  In case I haven’t, I love David’s job!!!  This last year has been pretty tough on us, me especially and if there was ever a person who really needed a break from it all it was me.  So apparently the Chronicle heard about my need (was it the massive hospital bills from Kylie??) and wanted to help out in anyway that they could.  (In reality David won a sales incentive back in November and the prize was awarded mid Feb.)  Anyway, we David and I along with 8 other couples spent four days in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.  For those of you that need a little refresher on geography, it’s at the southern most tip of the Baja Peninsula, straight down from California.  Also, just to be fair they were really cheap plane tickets so we had a layover in Mexico City.  So in reality we only had two full days in Cabo and two long days of travel, but that was four days without feeding tubes, time outs, whining or diapers.  Yea!  We stayed at the Crowne Plaza all inclusive resort.  It was pretty much like a cruise, but in a lot of ways better.  They had a private beach, balconies, free room service, heated pools, massages on the beach, entertainment in the evenings, and food-lots and lots of food!  They had buffets, sit down dinners, pool side bars and full service on the beach.  All I had wanted to do was sit down in the sun and read a book and think about nothing else.  On Saturday, I pulled up a lounge chair, read a book, got a massage, ordered lunch from the sweet lady that asked me what I wanted every half and hour and got really sunburned.  I hadn’t really planned on that part, but I was more relaxed than I remember being in a long long time.  It was fabulous!  David talked to his friends during this time, played volleyball and I am not sure what else.



         

David's first time on the tarmac--very exciting

One day there, we went whale watching which was a ton of fun! It was great chasing the whales in the tour boat and seeing the tour guide get so excited.  We also saw sea lions basking on the rocks and incredible scenery.  We walked around the city of Cabo that afternoon and again in the evening and did a little shopping.  We stopped by the famous CaboWabo and saw some pretty amazing street vendors.  So, to the Chronicle I say thank you.  Thank you for forcing this trip upon us because I know there is no way I would have left Kylie unless it was free.  Yes, I am that cheap! 

They had real pirate ships.  The kids really liked this one.
 


Here's the famous arch.

  
Here's a whale- I swear!
   

A gorilla outside a night club.  Hey, if they have a gorilla, it's gotta be good!  We didn't go in, but a picture seemed like a great idea.

The kids stayed with my parents and they kept them busy busy.  They went to the Children’s Museum, PJ Story time at the Library, birthday parties, dance and I don’t know what else.  Of course I called and checked in often and I was so relieved that they were all surviving.  We came back feeling great and my poor parents and sister looked thoroughly exhausted.  Thanks guys!

(David takes over the blog for a day)

I know today is Super Tuesday, a huge voting day (though not in Texas), but here is one more thing to vote for.  Colgate has a contest to vote for your favorite Children's Hospital.  The Houston hospital is Kylie's own Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital.  The winning hospital gets a free Fun Center:

Fun Centers are mobile units that provide endless entertainment and help turn worry into laughter and weariness into delight! Fun Centers feature a flat screen monitor, DVD player and a Nintendo® Wii. The Centers roll right up to a child’s bedside to provide hours of game play and movie watching.

After seeing so many kids that spend their lives in this hospital, we want to help them get all the perks possible!  We personally owe a lot to this hospital, so this is a fun way to give back.  Please click here and vote for Houston!  You can vote once a day until 2-29, and no, this isn't a bogus "Bill Gates will donate a nickle for every click" thing, it is a real contest.

Thanks for your help, it will be really cool if Houston wins.

Here is a picture of Kylie I just found that David had taken with his phone.  She was in a hospital gown for a little while during her stay in the hospital because in our panic to get there we had forgotten to pack sufficient clothes.  Also they put the kids in these cage cribs, which I think is barbaric, but I guess the 2 & 3 year-olds try to climb out.  Anyway, we hung her beads from the top and that kept her happy. 

Also, some other big news in the life of Dallin: He has been pacifier free for almost two weeks now, which is huge news for him.  For those of you who don’t know he has always been very addicted to the thing, so much so that he needed not one, but two to go to bed.  We had many a late night trauma turning the house upside down looking for missing pacifiers.  I am glad that is over.  We were sitting at the dinner table the day after Christmas and I just started talking to him and telling him that he was a big boy and it was time to give up the “paci” and to learn to wear “big boy underwear.”   As luck would have it the next day was the day that we went to the Living Farm and to see the Christmas lights.  Somewhere during that trip he lost the one and only pacifier we had packed.  He screamed and fussed and we told him sorry it was gone.  Well, he fell asleep without it and when we transferred him to bed that night we didn’t give him one.  The poor kid had no idea what was coming when we realized the next morning that he had gone an entire night without a pacifier.  We simply told him the next morning that his pacifiers were all gone.  After that he only had a couple of nights of fussing and then they were forgotten.

This leads me to the other most wonderful announcement that we are once again, a one-kid-only diaper changing family.  David helped start the process while he was off of work for the Holidays.  Dallin has been successfully potty trained for a week!  Yea!  Gone are the days of quiet trips to Target.  We normally get about halfway through my list when he loudly proclaims his dire circumstances and thus begins the race to the front of the store and procession of getting us all into the bathroom.  I swear we do make a scene.  But it is all for the best and he is now trained both day and night.  So, yea for Dallin in having a very big couple of weeks!

Sometimes we relax and think you know life is going pretty good…don’t do that! J  Well, sometime in the last couple of entries I put that the dramas with Kylie had slowed down enough for us to relax and enjoy the holidays.  Apparently, she is constantly in need of attention and a visit with old friends.

On to our news:

It all started the 13^th of December.  Kylie went to the surgeon to get a new g-button.  She had outgrown the first one.  By the time I got home she had gotten pretty fussy.  The other two seemed to be having a mild cold, but anyone who knows us knows that some mild fussiness and drippy noses won’t stop the fun.  So off we headed to Westchase Winter Wonderland (it was called something like that).  Our kids rode trains and listened to stories with Mrs. Claus and played in the “snow”.  We met some friends there and had a good time.  That was Thursday.  We know now taking them out in the cold was probably not the best idea—hindsight is 20/20.




.       
                                                                                                                                                                         This is from the MIssouri City Winterfest

Monday morning bright and early I was at the doctor’s office with all three.  Diagnosis: Emily walking pneumonia, Dallin walking pneumonia and an ear infection & Kylie a mild cold.  She was supposed to be the least concerning.  So began the every-3-hour nebulizer treatments around the clock and so began a very tired mommy.

Tuesday afternoon arrived and Kylie, by the way, who was supposedly fine didn’t sleep more than a couple of hours that night on top of walking up to let the other two breathe with face masks on.  So Tuesday afternoon, Kylie had finally taken a good 3 hour morning nap and when I went to get her up, she was burning up.  I took her temp. 102.2—oh geez!  Doctor called, David home from work, and I headed to a local clinic to get a chest x-ray for Kylie.  Then back to the doctor’s office where blood and urine are taken, the fever is not dropping and I am now told that on top of two kids with walking pneumonia I have a daughter with another urinary tract infection and I need to get her down to the Medical Center immediately.  Ahhh, home sweet home.  By the way, crying in the doctors office from lack of sleep and the fears of a sick baby do gain some points, but not enough to keep us out of the hospital.

So, a few panicked phone calls later, my parents show up, Kylie is given a blessing, I give a handful of medicine and instructions for the other two kids to my bewildered parents (“we have to get up in the middle of the night and do what?!) and we head for the lovely Memorial Hermann ER. 

Now, with experience comes knowledge and with knowledge comes power and when you heap that on top of complete exhaustion (it’s now about 8:30pm) I didn’t handle the “you have about 6 people in front of you” business in the ER.  The sweet resident who spoke to my pediatrician on the phone was sitting right there and I saw his name tag and again I was tired and so regretfully he felt a little bit of my pain as I “nicely” explained to him in “hushed tones” that Kylie needed to get out of the waiting room.  As I said before I have experience in this area and approximately 3 minutes later we were in a room.  Thank goodness.

So begins the hospital journey.  The older two got better, I went home occasionally and showered, Kylie was diagnosed with RSV on top of it which quarantined us to our room, oh brother!  She had the mildest case of RSV I have ever heard of, no breathing treatments, no nothing.  When Santa came by Thursday night he waved from the doorway.  We couldn’t take her out to the big party, but hey it’s not like she was begging to go anyway. 

During this time Emily had her really cute Christmas party Wednesday morning at Preschool.  David stayed at the hospital and I rushed home after another sleepless night and showered and then rushed to Target to buy a present for her teacher and then to the party where they put on the cutest production of the 12 days of Christmas.  Most of the time Emily just stood there with her hands over her ears singing because the other kids were screaming so loud.  It was a good distraction for me to be able to think about something else.  As I drove back to the hospital a couple of hours later I kept nodding off and feared I would die from sleep deprivation, (the dark circles by the this point were so bad that my mom actually asked me if I had makeup under my eyes I needed to wash off) but instead I said a prayer and called David and he talked to me until I got back.  Once there I did get to take a couple hour nap and that felt good.

Friday afternoon finally dragged around and with it came discharge papers.  Kylie was feeling great by this point and the other kids were too.  We are truly grateful for that.  David had gone back to work Thursday and Friday and now he was done.  Even though I didn’t think I could take anymore, somewhere in the midst of getting lost on the way to the bus stop to pick David up, (the hospital had messed up the car situation) I realized that David had the next 11 days off and I would get a break too.  I rejoiced!  So somehow having the week before Christmas taken away from us we still got everything done, the food was prepped, presents wrapped and put together, and we slept.

We spent Christmas Eve at David’s parents’ house and the kids put on a cute Nativity scene with great costumes thanks to Aunt Michelle.  Christmas morning was full of excitement back here at home because Santa had fulfilled a little girl’s wish and there was a huge trampoline in our backyard.  Of course, our camera broke Christmas morning about halfway into the presents, but hey we’re starting to get used to things like this.  J

 
     
Dallin wouldn't participate
 

Christmas Presents
 
New toy from great grandpa Hufstedler, I am helping her head a little

The Thursday after Christmas everyone was feeling well enough (mentally and physically) to head to Washington on the Brazos Living Farm.  We went with David’s sister’s family and his other sister Jennifer.  The kids washed clothes on a washboard and tried on old 1850’s hats and learned how to build a fire etc.  It was a ton of fun and they really enjoyed the pigs.  I couldn’t believe the slave quarters just how small they really were.  This country sure has come a long way, I am grateful to be born in the time I was. 

After that we headed to College Station to the Drive through Christmas light display and go to Santa’s Wonderland.  It was a fun filled day.

Well, we hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a great New Year’s celebration; we were in bed at 12:15am and barely had our eyes open until then.  Isn’t great getting old?!  We are all doing well and now I am going to go knock on some wood.

Today is a very special day in the life of Kylie…She finally has two teeth!  Her bottom two both broke through tonight and she has had the crankiness all day to prove it, the poor thing.
                                                                                   If you blow up the pic and squint, I promise, they are there
 

On Saturday Emily and I along with Kate and Sally went to see the local rendition of the Nutcracker.  David and I had taken her last year and she enjoyed it a lot more this time around.  She asked questions and paid attention and thoroughly enjoyed clapping.  She was also very excited to visit with the ballerinas afterward.  The crowds were so thick we called it quits after the first flower fairy.
     

We went to a friend’s house last night to see Santa.  He was gracious enough to stop by during his busy schedule and we didn’t have to stand in line at the mall.  J Emily asked him for a trampoline and a pink bouncy ball that will bounce up to the moon—oh my!

This morning I got out of the shower and glanced out at the kids to see how they were doing and found Driscella (from Cinderella) in time out.  After inquiring what that poor girl had done, I learned that they were having a race and Driscella tore up the finish line. So, she was in trouble.  I love kids!

Our little lady, Emily, is now 5 years old (on November 29^th).  We can hardly believe it!  She requested castle pancakes for breakfast, so here is a picture of my attempt.  She went to Preschool and was decked out by her teacher with a sticker and crown.  That evening was our city’s tree lighting, so why not tell the kid it’s all for her? J  There were tons of events there.  The kids watched a puppet show, played in pink limo and there was even a place that did up-do’s for the girls.  While Emily was getting her hair fixed and glittered the teenager fixing her up found out it was her birthday and had all the other Sweet and Sassy employees sing to her.  She was very impressed.  What could be better for a little princess?!  

Castle Pancakes                                      



 
    Inside the Sweet & Sassy Limo
 

Getting Dolled Up!
  

Showing off the face painting
  
                                                  Whee!
                                                 

On Saturday we took Emily and her best friend Kate to the Incredible Pizza Company and let them eat, bowl and play.  They had a really good time and I didn’t have to have 12 little 4-5 year olds in my house—whew!

One day last week I had a heap of laundry on the bed and a couple of crazy whiny kids who didn’t want to play out back anymore.  So, I had some plastic tablecloths and told them they were superheroes.  It was great!  They gave me at least another half and hour, however I was taking pictures of them…oh well, there is always laundry.

Thanksgiving morning was great!  We went to the park that is behind our house and went for a walk (there is a 3 mile trail) and David rode his bike with Dallin in the trailer.  There is also a BMX bike trail and I venture to say that is the first time a bike trailer and a two-year-old have been over those dirt hills, but the boys had a blast.  We came home watched the parade and made our fruit turkey.  What is a fruit turkey you ask?  See below.  We spent Thanksgiving at my parent’s house (Hufstedler’s) and had a great time.

The following weekend was decorate the house time—yea!  David doesn’t seem to have quite the same excitement I do about the whole idea, but I love it.  Emily again was our little angel who put the star on top of the tree.  She did a fabulous job.  The outside lights were completed awhile later due to rain, but except for a sprained ankle, the roof climbing really wasn’t that big of  a deal was it David?

Time has flown by and we have not kept up with the blog as we should—oops!  Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching, along with Emily’s birthday and all the Christmas festivities.  At least for the time being Kylie’s life has settled down enough to make room for the upcoming fun-thank goodness!

Last week I took the kiddos to McDonalds.  Apparently on Tuesday afternoons they have a clown that comes and face paints and lets the kids sing karaoke.  They asked Emily to sing Twinkle Twinkle.  No surprise for those of you who know her, she refused and sang with all her might... I am a Child of God.  How can we not be proud of that kid?  Anyway here is a picture of the outcome of that afternoon.  Dallin is looking a little cranky, it was well past naptime, by the time we got home.

 

We found this bathrobe that someone had given us and put it on Kylie.  We think she is very stylish.

Last week we packed up the kids and car and headed to San Antonio.  David had a client he had to meet there, so the Chronicle footed the bill for the hotel and gas.  J  We had a great time just relaxing, and David and the kids swam in the pool.  I was suffering from a really bad case of bronchitis and poor David ended up packing everything as I sat there with a 102+ degree fever.  Pretty miserable, but I did start feeling better later in the week.  After we left San Antonio we headed to Del Rio, Texas.  David’s brother Jeff and his family live there.  Their oldest daughter Rachel was baptized that weekend so the whole family went to celebrate.  The kids had a marvelous time playing with all their cousins and amazingly enough we actually got some good visiting in even with all 11 kids under 9.  Whew!  

  

Jeff''s son Jordan


Emily getting sword fighting lessons from her cousin Jacob.
 

On Saturday we headed to the border and spent the morning in Mexico.  We tried on cheap hats, bought cheap souvenirs and ate cheap taquitos.  Our nephew, Jacob, really got into the spirit of things and had a good time sitting against a building drinking a bottle of apple soda (see: drunk kid, below).  We headed home Saturday afternoon and with the invention of the DVD player and some good Disney classics we had an uneventful trip home.

 

A couple of weeks back I made a blueberry pie to take out to my parents house for Sunday dinner.  I gave the kids the leftover dough to play with and boy oh boy did they have fun.  They made a disaster of the kitchen floor, but those budding little chefs had a blast.

 

The end of October came with a bang in this house hold.  The kids decided long ago that Disney’s JoJo’s Circus had to be our theme.  Unless you are a parent of a toddler/preschooler you probably have no idea what I am talking about and that is fine—bask in it!  With the help of eBay and Disney online we found the costumes.  Since Emily insisted that David, Kylie, and I all dress as clowns, we looked a little ridiculous trick-or-treating, but the kids loved it.  We had our BooBash at Church that night and most everyone was dressed up there, so some of the embarrassment subsided.  Also, to make it all right we won the best dressed family—yea, the icing on the cake. J

  

Don't drop Kylie!


 

Emily had a Halloween party at her preschool which all the moms and siblings were invited to.

   

Of course Halloween was preceded by a night of carving and scooping and mess.  Aren’t our traditions weird?  We had a good time, and for about a week following Dallin kept asking why the trash man took his pumpkin away.  Poor kid.

 
 

Kylie loves beads--we just discovered this.  This is how she spent the evening. 

Well wouldn’t you know that the weather had been unbelievably perfect, so on October 26^th we decided to take the family camping.  Just our luck, it was the coldest night we’ve had so far this fall.  Wow, we always seem to know how to pick them-same thing happened last year.  Each kid went to bed with 14 layers on, we said prayers and we survived.  Really it wasn’t that cold (the low was about 44), but it sure seemed to be when it had been so warm.  We went to Brazos Bend State Park and spent the following morning going on a nature walk and scaring our kids silly of alligators!
    

  

  
Dallin is staring at one alligator, not noticing the other once over his shoulder.