Where to start

This month has been a busy one, it actually started in October when we found a cute 3 bed 1 3/4 bath house we really liked, and decided it was the right house for us and so under contract we went. We were supposed to close the 25th of November which happens to be Ava's birthday and the day after Thanksgiving this year, with all that we wanted to move up out closing to the 23rd, then there was a problem that came up when the appraiser came so instead of moving up the closing it got moved back. On the 2nd of December we closed on our house. We spent the next 3 days painting and cleaning the house. For my birthday we painted and cleaned, not to exciting, The next weekend we moved our furniture and most of our stuff over and had our first night in the house. The girls love it and love their new room which is at least twice as big as their old room. We have a guest room even. the girls have really done well in the new house. Madison had decided that she wanted to start using the big girl potty before moved and I feared she would regress after we moved, she had a couple more accidents for a couple days but has been using the potty like a champ, and she hasn't had any accidents at night! We are SO proud of her since she is the one that really trained herself.
The end of November we had Ava and Kinley's well checks, Ava was 43 pounds and 43 inches tall. She right where she should be and even ahead some. Kinley was 14 pounds 11 oz, she isn't on the charts for weight and was 28 or so inches long, she is incredibly busy and has learned how to stand her self up all by herself. She has tried taking a step or two but hasn't quite gotten it down yet. She is doing great developmentally and we are amazed at her and her spirit.
We also took some time to go down to see my Grandpa Deters. He has Alzheimer"s and has gone into transition. He has not eaten or drank for 6 or so days. Today we found out that his time is limited and I am very greatful that we went Monday to see him. The girls were scared at first, he was laying there unreponsive to us. He does not hear well and then he did wake up some and the girls sang him some Christmas songs and he tried to reach out some to kinley and then the girls gave him a hug and kiss and told him good bye. I also gave him a hug before we left. I pray that his passing is and painless.
I am SO greatful for my understanding in the plan of salvation, and the knowledge that we will be perfected. I am so greatful to know that when he does pass that he will once again know who we are.

BIG NEWS!!!

No I am not pregnant but our family is going to have a big change, in the next few weeks we will be closing on our first home! It is a cute 3 bedroom 1 3/4 bath closer to my parents. It has had a lot of work done on the inside and we are VERY excited! It all came about very quickly, like 2 weeks ago we found out about the house then we put in an offer and went under contract on Friday! We are supposed to close on November 25th, Ava's 5th birthday. We are very excited to have a fenced yard that the girls can ride their bikes and toys in and to be able to go outside and burn some of their energy.
It has a garden area and a nice kitchen, and a detached 2 car garage, and one of our new neighbors' property l's behind ours and he brings in horses at times so our girls will love that! We feel truly blessed and that this the place that the Lord wants us to be, Keep you updated when we get moved in and all that funness, in the meantime I will be busy trying to pack and keep the girls entertained while Seth works out of town for most of the week

Oh Kids! LOTS of Pictures!

Yesterday was a trying day, Monday night Ava and Madison ate something that made them sick so they were up all night taking turns throwing up, about 5 ish Tuesday morning they finally were both sleeping. at 10 ish Madison came in and looked like she got in a fight with a weed wacker, she said "Sissy did it" Ava came in and her hair was not as bad but not good either....



here is a before (Monday)

After (Tuesday)


Partners in Crime

New Milestones

So today was Ava's Last First day of preschool. I can not believe that next year she will be in Kindergarten! She has been asking if she can go to school today ALL summer long. This morning I told her today was school and she was SO excited! She LOVES her teacher. She had Ms Hana last year and was SUPER excited to be in her class again, on our way to school she said Ms Hana is the best teacher in the whole world. I have known Hana since I was little since she is one of my sisters best friends, and I had to give her a heads up that Ava has about 20000 stories. She gets to have lunch at school this year and she loves it. We just got her home and she was SO excited about her day. She was the Line Leader and has had a ton of fun today, and can't wait til Wednesday for her next day of school, but she gets to ride the bus Wednesday, I love the Bus it makes life SO much easier!
Also Kinley has learned to crawl, she prefers to army crawl or roll to get where she wants to, but can crawl. She has really become a new baby in the last week or so, on the 2nd of September she had tubes put in, she had fluid behind her eardrums for alteast a month if not more, and she had a month long ear infection with 3 antibiotics to finally get rid of the infection and still had fluid, behind. She really never said any kind of words and was always leaning when she was upright, she tried to crawl but always fell over, now she says mama dada aba nenenene all kinds of things and is so much more balanced, if she hadn't had the fluid i think she would have crawled earlier.
Madison is still her crazy busy self. She loves to climb and jump and dance and wiggle and anything she can get away with. She wants to go to school so bad but still has a year before she can go.

6 Months

So 6 days ago Kinley turned 6 months old. I can not believe how fast the time has gone! Here are a few things about Kinley
She LOVES food....baby food, your food, nursing all of them if we would let her she would eat all the time.
She loves her sisters, especially Ava....she will smiling all the time for her. They love to play with her and feed her
She loves to roll around. as long as you are paying attention to her she is happy to be playing.
She she is LEARNING TO CRAWL!
She LOVES mommy and ALWAYS wants mommy
okay here are her 6 month stats
13lbs 8 oz putting her in the 5th percentile
26 1/2 inches being the 75th-90th percentile
her head was 17 50-75th percentile
She is right where she should be developmentally and even slightly ahead.
We love her SO much and can't imagine life without her. She has been a great addition to our family, and even with her reflux she can be such a cute and happy girl, I hope that as she out grows the reflux more and more of the happy sweet girl continues to emerge!

All Done

So I finished my pattern test and like I said I won grand champion with it....I haven't decided what I am gonna do with it whether I keep it and save it or sell it I haven't decided yet, here are a few of the many pictures I have of it....Kinley is a pretty good little model

YAY ME!

Okay so usually I wouldn't really be too much into making myself sound better, but I am in such SHOCK over this that I have to share! So I have recently taken crochet back up. I learned when I was much younger and have crocheted here and there but recently I have found it relaxing so I have done much more of, like part of Kinley's blessing dress. So I was pattern testing for the lady that wrote the blessing dress pattern for another blessing dress. I decided that I would enter it in the fair so I had something to shoot for to have it done by. I finished the crocheting the night before it was due and finished with the ribbon and buttons that morning. I turned it in on Monday and today they opened the hall so we could see results. I went in and couldn't find it...after a little more looking it was in a glass case and this is what I found....



I got GRAND CHAMPION!!!!I am completely shocked! I have been thinking about selling my crocheting I will look more into it now.

4th of July and 5 Months old!

I love the 4th of July in Evanston. There are TONS of huge fireworks and lots of fun to be had. We started out the 4th weekend going to Malad to see most of my dad's family who we haven't seen in a while, it was lots of fun and the kids had a great time playing in the sprinklers and with their cousins. we had steaks there and the next night too. I love dave's stakes and my dad is great at cooking them. He were all so glad to have my dad home for atleast alittle while and are hoping he gets to come home to stay soon.
We bought some fireworks and shot them off with my parents and our family and my niece and nephew. It was super fun and made all the better since all but Kinley got to have a sleep over and grandma and grandpa's. It was kinda weird to have it so quiet in our house. On the fourth we went fishing and craydadding. We caught 1 fish and he was pretty little but he swallowed the hook to far and had to keep him, we started at the bear ponds and then we went out to sulfur creek. We didn't have a single bite but we got about 10 good sized crayfish. They were all about 5.5 inches or bigger. It was pretty fun but was raining on and off not so much fun.
That night Robert joined us and we went to my aunt and uncles for a bbq and more fireworks. We ate lots of good food and watched lots of good fireworks. The city does a great show and the residents do a great one too. One thing about living where pretty much every firework is legal means LOTS and LOTS of fireworks and LOTS and LOTS of pretty shows. You can't mistake the 4th weekend in Evanston since from 9ish am until around midnight to 2 am there are some sort of fireworks going off.
Kinley turned 5 months on the 4th. I can't believe how fast this last 5 months have gone. Here are some fun things about Kinley at 5 months,
She LOVES Ava, she is almost always smiling or laughing for her
She loves to roll around and it good at it
She can pull herself on her tummy, she puts her hands out and grabs onto something and pulls herself forward
She LOVES baby food. Her favorites and squash and sweet potatoes and carrots, she likes to eat bananas too.
She has a super cute smile and laugh. She is finally getting over the reflux, and hasn't had to have her medication since starting food.
She has kinda tried to crawl but prefers to roll.
We love our little Kinley and loved to see how all the kids have grown and changed.
Madison has developed a new phrase where she puts her hand or hands on her hips and says "I not too little, huh", she has so much attitude in her tiny little body. We love our crazy little monkey.
Ava has been playing soccer and we have learned it really isn't her thing. but she has 2 more games and then she will be done.
Madison has fully recovered from her surgery, and on the 27th Ava will be having her tonsils and adenoids out, we hope she will be all healed before her last year of preschool and the Deters get together.
Just a little on what we have been doing!

The Year of the Droctors

Okay so since January I do not think there hasn't been a trip to the Dr. office or dentists office. Between having Kinley, and regular dentists check-ups, the well checks for Kinley and Madison's 2 year check, which we expect we have had a few other trips too. I end up with several cavities from the heart burn and night time reflux I have seemed to get since having Kinley. After a few trips to get them all filled I also ended up having one filling that kept falling out, i think we finally got it to stay 4th times a charm. Along with those trips we have had Kinley in the Dr.s for a few weird rashes and to see why she had such a hard time laying flat and keeping her food down. We took her to Primary Children's to see wheither she had Pyloric Stenosis. This is where the bottom muscle to the stomach that lets food out of the stomach gets too tight and they throw up forcefully. She had this and some of reflux, we watched her reflux and knew atleast she had that. She has been on medicine up until a week or 2 ago. She is doing pretty good, but teething now. The other two have also been in the dr. Ava Madison and Kinley all had ear infections in April. Ava also had en eye infection Sinus infection, strep throat along with her ear infection. Madison had the beginning of bronchitis, tonsillitis, and her ear infection. Kinley had an ear infection. Two weeks later Madison had another case or tonsillitis and another ear infection. We took her to the ENT and she ended up getting tubes put back in and tonsil and adenoids out. We took her for her 1 month check up and is all healed up, We took Ava to get a second opinion on hers. Her tonsils are big but her adenoids are HUGE. She will be getting them out on July 27th. They are impeding her breathing especially at night. All in all we have been finally getting on the mend I hope. We have learned Kinley has an allergy to band aides, and we have to watch to see if she has any other allergies. Hopefully the last month of soccer leads to no injuries for her, and we can all get on the up and up for Ava's last year of preschool for Ava.

Pattern Testing

I am Pattern testing a crochet blessing dress, It is called Heirloom Lace. Only partially done with thew skirt but this is some of what I do with my limited free time. Kinley is a good model!

Kinley is 4 months already!

Where does the time go? Saturday Marked 4 months of having our fun little Kinley!
Here are some fun things about Kinley at 4 months,
She can roll from her tummy to her back and her back to her tummy, and has learned she can keep rolling.
She loves to smile!
She has lots of stories to tell
She loves her sisters
She loves to cuddle
She likes her rice cereal in her bottle, but would rather nurse if she is with mommy
She has never had formula but has had her fair share of medicine and tests
She is finally outgrowing her reflux
Now we went for her 4 month check yesterday and she is 11 lbs 15 oz putting her in the 10th percentile, 24 inches putting her in 25-50th percentile. Her head was 40 cm also 25th to 50th. The dr was impressed with you alert and strong she is. After getting her shots we had to wait since last time her leg turned bright red and got swollen, and after waiting they lifted her bandaid and found out that like me and my mom and madison she is allergic to the band aids. At least it wasn't the vaccines. she is trying to figure out crawling and can push her self a little when she is on her tummy. We love her and feel so blessed to have her in our lives.

I will admit it is really trying having 3 kids when they all think they need your attention at the same time and with Kinley having the issues she has but I have learned a lot and have gotten more patience. I hope that they will continue to be friends and help each other with their trials, and help us to teach them too.

Oh Madison!

What a fun time we are having with our Tiny Madison. She has SO much personality in her tine body. She loves to run and climb and is SO fun, but can be a real headache sometimes too. She is very adventurous and loves to do it herself. I can see many trips to the dr or er in her future if she keeps it up. She loves the phrase, "I Funny". In the last few weeks she hasn't been at her peak. On April 19th she had an ear infection and bronchitis and we got her over that and then 2 weeks later she poked herself in the eye and we thought she had hurt her eye, so we ended up taking her into the eye dr after hours, turns out it wasn't an injury but an eye infection! We got her on antibiotics and took her to her pediatrician the next morning. Well she had an ear infection again in the same ear! Well at 9 months she had tubes put in her ears after 7 ear infections, they stayed in for about 18 months and lost one, the one she has had 2 infections in since loosing it. We had to take her into the ENT and we found out she still had the fluid behind her eardrum. luckily it wasn't infected again but she has to get tubes back in. I also mentioned that in the last 2 weeks she has had 2 cases of tonsilitis. After looking he said her tonsils are big but not huge, but since she is 2 years and almost 2 months old and is about 23 pounds with her loud snoring and restlessness that she is going to at some point have to get them out as well. After getting mine out a year and a half ago and now having a tube in my ear from the same things she is going through, her and my tonsils aren't more on the back of our throats but more on the side that it could cause damage to her ears like mine does, so we decieded if she has to get it done anyway at some point we would do it all in one surgery, so Friday Madison is having her tonsils and adenoids out and tubes put in again. We hope this will help her. I hope she recovers quick too.
Madison Also LOVES school...she has been a few times with Ava and is sad anytime that she can not stay with her. Today was a sad day since she couldn't stay with sissy, so I told her we would do school at home. As I was buckling her in her car seat I asked her if she knew how to spell her name and she said uh-huh. I asked her how and her reply t-fork....just another one of her little cute things....Sunday she wanted to go potty and Seth sent her out since i was out with Kinley who was being cranky, i say Madison and she told me mommy don't follow me I do it myself....pretty sassy for a 2 year old, she finally let me go in when i told her i had to go. she loves to talk on the phone when it is her idea, and a real big cuddler as long as it is her idea. She is finally coming out of her shell and letting people know the real her! We love our crazy Madison

The Blessing- lots of pictures

She wasn't feeling very good in these ear infections

Last week we blessed Kinley and were SO greatful for those who could make it. My dad was home for a couple of days so we took advantage of it and blessed our little angel. My mother in law Beth made the fabric dress and I decided before she was born I wanted to try my hand at crocheting a dress. I think it turned it pretty good, and am even considering doing more, in fact i am working on the other pattern I bought at the time. I just might even sell them, along with the car seat covers I will have to take some pictures of ones I have made and add them later. here are some pictures, they were taken a few days ago since I forgot to take them at the time. I also made the crocheted blanket,been having fun being crafty at least as crafty as you can with 3 kids 4 and under

Kinley's Blessing

We are blessing Kinley on April 17th. Our sacrament starts at 12:30 p.m. and is at our stake center on Morse Lee. We will have a lunch after the blessing at my parents house, there is no way we would fit in our house! let me know if you got have any questions

Madison Jade Graham!

Yesterday Madison Turned 2! I can not believe how fast this time has gone. The last 2 years have been crazy and SO fun with her in them. She loves her sister Ava SO much and wants to do everything she does. If Ava is doing it she wants to do it. Some of the major events of the past 2 years include...RSV, 6 Ear Infections, Ear Tubes, 2 Trips to the ER for the same injury, lots of bumps and bruises and LOTS and Lots of laughs.
For those of you who don't know Madison you are missing out on one of the cutest kids ever. We call her our living doll since she not only looks like one but is about the size of one too. Today we went to the DR for her well check and she is a massive 21 lbs 12.5 ounces and is 33 1/2 inches tall. She has SO much personality in that little body. Some of the things that come out of that little girl still surprise us. She loves to growl at you, and it is funny how low she can growl. She has recently begun to say no I Madison. She wants you to know who she is. She likes to put her hands on her hip s and talk to you. She Loves animals and colors and food, not that you would guess by her weight.
One of her favorite things is drawing especially with daddy and sissy. She loves Mickey mouse and wants to go see him at his house....one day we hope. Now she likes Kinley but she is starting to like her more. We love our crazy Monkey Madison and all her crazy anticts and are so glad that she came to us. We also love that she is starting to let other people see her and her personality.

Farewell to a dear friend

Today was a hard day because we had to put a dear friend to sleep today. We have had Chinook for 13 years. We got her as a small puppy my sister's senior year and loved her. She was our little snowball and a lot of fun. We have taken her as many places as we could and loved having her. About 7 years ago Seth met Chinook and just after that we found out she was very sick and had to have an emergency surgery to save her life and she had a 50 or so present chance of making it. She came out of that and did pretty well for several years. Later she got sick but has always pulled through. Last year she had a spot she licked so much she got a major infection in it and it looked like a tumor, and had it removed, not to long after that she chewed the end off a leather belt and got it lodged in her throat and had to have it surgically removed. My mom and dad looked at putting her down then since we thought she might have a tumor in her throat or something like that, but my dad wasn't ready to give up on her then and we found the end of my mom's new belt in her throat. After that my mom was thinking her time was coming. We took her camping 2 times and to Jackson hunting at thanksgiving. After our trip to Jackson my mom thought she might pass because the trip took so much out of her.
Today my mom called and wanted me to come and check her because she hadn't been acting like her self this week. When seth got home at lunch we went to go see her. Usually she is barking anytime anyone comes near the house and we hadn't heard her, but i figured she was outside so she hadn't barked at us, so I got her in and had Seth go out and ring the doorbell and knock and she just laid there and I knew she was not feeling good and needed to see the vet. My mom had told me she hadn't been eating or drinking either. We got an appointment for a few hours later and got her taken in. We did blood work and found out that her kidneys were bad. The vet put it this way that if she was a human then she would be on dialysis and on a list for a kidney transplant, but since she was a dog there was nothing they could do for her other hen to humanely euthanize her. I called everyone and Gina came out to say her good byes. Everyone but my sister and dad already had, but my dad is in North Dakota and we didn't want to make her suffer until he could. Gina and I stayed with her when they put her to sleep, it was a very quick and peaceful passing. She just slept and that was all. She was a fiesty and crazy dog and I can't imagine never having her but it is hard to say good bye. I felt she was ready to go and wanted us to feel good about her going. Rest In Peace Chinook January 30, 1998-March 4, 2011

OUR NEW ADDITION!!!

Yesterday February 4, 2011 we added a new baby girl to the family. She was born at 2:34 p.m. and was 7 lbs and 3 oz, measuring 20 inches in length. We named her Kinley Ann Graham. She was induced because I tested positive for group b strep, which probably wouldn't have been a big deal except I am allergic to the cillian family and the medication they have to give for those with this allergy has to be given 6 hours apart, and I don't have labors that long. After alot of talking and such we decided that induction would be best since we could have her before I got to dilated, I was already almost 3 cm at 37 weeks and decided 38 weeks would be best.
Friday morning we got up around 6 ish and got the girls ready so that they could go stay with grandma and we could go have the new baby. We ate breakfast and then got to the hospital about 7:30 and got checked in. They started my IV and My 1st dose of antibiotics, and then started my pitocin. A little later the dr came and checked and I was 3-4 cm and he wanted to wait to break my water since I go 1 to 3 cm from just that. We had a pretty boring morning watching tv and playing games waiting til they broke my water. At lunch the dr broke my water and then the contractions started to kinda hurt, this was 12:30 ish. About 1:15 my back labor was getting to me and I decided that I wanted an epidural since she was having some declarations with the contractions and I didn't want to worry about a sleepy baby. They checked and I was 6 cm, and got the epidural. At 1:30ish I felt different and still sore since it only took in my back and my right side. I was 8-9 cm and she had dropped to a -1. Up tp that point she was a -2. They started my 2nd dose and we new they could speed it up and get it in. At 2:10ish I noticed it felt really different and I felt like I needed to push so Seth went and got the nurse and she checked and I was fully dilated and baby was down lower, and they called the dr to HURRY and get there so we could have the dr there, since we had joked that I wanted him there when she was born, and it was looking like he was going to miss the big event. I spent a good or so minutes trying NOT to push. He got there and I still felt like I had to push and they hurried and got everything ready for her to come, just when they got it ready my contraction started and I started to push. In that same contraction she was born. When she was born she was kinda purple and didn't really want to cry. We were all sure she was around 8lbs, when they got her cring good we got to have her back and she seemed kinda dark faced and had chubby cheeks. She wanted to eat so we let her nurse and then they took her back to the nursery to weigh and measure her. We found out her face was bruised with how fast she dropped and came. She has lost a lot of the dark color and swelling. She still has some good bruises on her ears and her face is darker and still swollen but it is getting better.
We are glad to be home and excited to pick up the girls tomorrow, and see how they all get along. We had the girls come out and meet her yesterday but Madison and Ava didn't nap yesterday and then Madison fell off Seth's bed while we were waiting for Kinley to come out of the nursery. She bonked her head pretty good, and with that and being tired she fell asleep and wasn't too excited to see her. She did give her a kiss. Ava was all about holding her and wanted to carry her and change her diaper and everything. we will add more pictures when we get them.

Happy Birthday!!!! and other NEWS!!!

Today is my dear sweet husband's birthday! I can not believe how fast this year is going! Ava has been wishing him a happy birthday since my mom's birthday at the beginning of the month. This morning she gave him a hug and a kiss and told him happy birthday, although i think that it will be more excited at 11:45 instead of 6:00 in the morning. Ava has to be up earlier so she can get on the bus at 7:30 but she thinks that means like 5:30!

Here are a Few of my FAVORITE things about Seth
He loves to be with his girls
He works hard to give this family everything he can
he is SUPER creative and loves to share his talent
Is still like a kid but can be serious if needed
He makes me laugh
He married me for Time and All eternity fulfilling my childhood dream
He teaches the girls all kinds of things
He holds and uses his priesthood
He has a wacky sense of humor and can get many people comfortable easily
there are so many reasons but time is limited and there are only a few of them.

In other news we will be having a baby on Feb 4! I am being induced to ensure the best chance of getting the 2 doses of antibiotics I need, since they have to be given 6 hours apart and I haven't been in labor that long before we wanted to be safe and be induced at 38 weeks and have the least dialation as possible since I am already a 3.