What's going on

These last few weeks have been crazy busy. So here is an update of what we've been up to:

• Lexi got a nasty cold
• Colton has some teeth coming in, but the discomfort and "teething symptoms" that I ignored for nearly a week turned out to be an ear infection.  I'm still feeling a little guilty about that one :)
• Lexi's cold has been passed around to almost the entire family
• Started the Christmas and Lexi's birthday shopping
• I've been called back into the Primary to teach.  I'm excited to be productive again at church.
• Santa drove by on the firetruck (the city does that every year) and I finally was able to grab the girls and run out the door to see them drive by this year (I've been too slow all the previous years), but unfortunately the siren and loud horn scared the crud out of the girls and woke Colton up from his nap.
• I'm still in PT, but think I'm nearing the end of that.  Although, I'm still not certain how much distance running will be in my future.
• Cam's been working hard, and even made a few appearances on the local news over the last month or two.  A couple of months ago, while at work, Cam's partner had a stroke (he's only 32 years old) and was in a coma for a couple of weeks.  He's awake now, and making progress on his recovery.  Cam's been spending as much time as he can visiting his friend at the hospital and the whole fire department is trying to raise money for him and his wife (who is pregnant with their first baby).  It's really awesome to see how these guys come together to take care of each other. 
• My dad is a little over half way done with his cancer/chemo treatment.  He had a PET scan recently, and that came back clean, so hopefully after he finishes his treatment, it will be adios to all things cancer related.
• Lexi is just talk, talk, talking.  She says tons and tons, but she is really hard to understand, even for me and Cam.  But she is amazing me everyday with all the words she is picking up.
• Colton now rolls both ways.  But still doesn't enjoy being on his tummy.  So if he accidentally rolls onto his tummy, he usually is in hysterics pretty quickly.
• Abby is so, so, so excited for Christmas, and asking tons of questions about Santa and stuff.

Decorating the tree

Last night as part of our family home evening we finished decorating the  Christmas tree.  It's been almost a week long process to get all the ornaments found in the basement and brought upstairs, then actually put on the tree. 

Colton watched all the action from his little exer-saucer

Pose

One of Abby's favorite ornaments, the firetruck that has working lights

Thanksgiving week

On Monday, Cam's sister Cynthia came to visit from California, and she and her two super cute kids stayed at our place.  That made for a very full house :)

Tuesday, we took the kids to Kangaroo Zoo, a bouncy place, and the kids had an absolute ball.  They played for a couple of hours.  Lexi even enjoyed bouncing and going down the slides.  It was a lot of fun, and wore everyone out.

Wednesday, everyone came over for dinner and we got some prep work done for the big meal on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving!  Everyone came over again, in the morning, and we went out and took some family pictures since nearly the whole family was here (we were just missing Cynthia's husband).  Then it was time to get down to business, and start the real cooking and eating.  Dinner was, of course, delicious.  The kids spent the rest of the day running around and playing.  And us adults relaxed and visited.

Friday, Cynthia, Emma and AJ left to go back home.

It was a fun week, and I really enjoyed the chance to get to spend some time with Cynthia and her kids.  There were a few hiccups though.  Both Colton and AJ (they are only 3 months apart) decided to wake up nearly every hour, every night.  I don't know what AJ's excuse was (probably just being away from home), but Colton has several teeth coming in.  There are 4 teeth that I know for sure will be coming in real soon, so he has been a little miserable.  On top of that, Lexi had a pretty horrible cold, and it seemed to be slowly working it's way around the family.

I hardly got any pictures of all the fun because the batteries in my camera died, and  I didn't have any to replace them.  But here are the few I did get, and they are pretty pathetic.

Emma trying to hold AJ on her lap

The girls on Thanksgiving

AJ and Abby

AJ.  He is the sweetest little guy.  He just melted my heart :)

Uncle Devin, holding Colton

And of course, it's another year that we have a lot to be thankful for.  All the usual stuff: job, home, health.  But most of all, I'm thankful for family and friends.  These last 6 months have been very stressful and overwhelming at times, and I know I would have lost my mind a long time ago it wasn't for all the help I've received from the people in my life.  So, I super grateful for the little "village" of people around me that are helping me raise my family.

Colton, 6 months old

Colton turned 6 months this week.  We survived the horrible first 6 months!

Weight:  16 lbs 8 oz - 25%
Height: 28.75in - 98%
Head: 75%

So, he is tall and skinny.  Like father, like son.  He's obviously not taking after me :)

What's he up to?

• He is eating cereal and fruits or vegetables at breakfast and dinner
• He is starting to sit up for a few seconds on his own, but easily topples over
• He's a pretty happy little guy...as long as he's got someones undivided attention.  He LOVES being held!
• His little personality is really starting to show.
• He is really ticklish
• He is still waking up at night, ARGGG!

Halloween night

Snow White...with attitude!

Tinkerbell...sticking out her tongue

Colton the dinosaur

Last night, we took all the kids trick-or-treating.  Both the girls LOVED it!  Lexi is a pretty slow walker, so it was a loooong trip around the block.

Abby has been saying all week long that Halloween is her favorite holiday.  I wonder if she'll change her mind as Christmas approaches :)

It was a fun, Halloween filled weekend, and now the girls have enough candy to last them till Christmas.  Although, I'm sure it will be gone before the end of the week :)

Pumpkins

Sunday we carved Abby's pumpkin.  I had entended to get a pumpkin for all the kids, but it turns out, that if you wait till the day before Halloween, the stores are all sold out of pumpkins :)  So, we just carved the pumpkin Abby had picked out on her preschool trip the pumpkin patch.

Monday afternoon, I took the kids down to Are's house, and we did some Halloween activities.  We painted their nails orange and black, watched a Halloween movie, then painted some pumpkins (Are' had a ton of pumpkins from her garden).

From left to right, Abby's pumpkin, a frog pumpkin Are' painted and gave to the girls, then Lexi's pumpkin.  So very artistic :)

The monster mash

Saturday, Eagle Mountain had a Trick-or-Treat Village with tons of activities for the kids.  Abby's dance class had learned a dance to the "Monster Mash" to perform there, so I loaded up the kids and met Cam's parents at the park. 

Doing the "monster mash"

No matter where I moved to, I could NOT get a picture of her face

Looking a little lost

The "stage".  It seemed a little chaotic at first

Colton

Lexi

Abby playing at the bounce house

It was pretty cold, so their costumes were pretty much hidden under jackets and blankets.

It was a fun day, and the girls got to practice trick-or-treating and get some candy.