{Flashback Friday}

These Ashton Family pictures were taken in Wyoming in the summer of 2006. Since then eight more grandchildren have been born, and there's one more on the way. I think most of us are either pregnant or just had a baby in this picture :o)

Rhett(5), Ethan (2), and I was 6 months pregnant with Kade

{Caught You!}

This is what I discovered this morning after putting away laundry upstairs and leaving Kade on his own....yum yum!

Another fun side effect of Kade's medication (heavy sarcasam here) is that he feels hungry all the time. All day long he is begging for food, sneaking food, eating food, etc. I try to feed him high-fiber foods that will help him feel hungry later, but even with our best efforts he is putting on weight faster than we would like. It's hard to not feed your child when they tell you they are hungry :o(. He is up 5 pounds since he started the medication in January....that doesn't sound like a lot but he is only two pounds less than Ethan now. Oh well, what can you do! Weight gain vs Seizures....we'll take the weight gain.

{He made it!}

Yesterday Ethan made it to his goal of 1,000 and he wants to keep on going to his new goal....one million. YIKES! Anything's possible when you are five! This morning he was up to 1,129.

{1,000}

Before the school year started, I wondered how Ethan would do with full day Kindergarten. He was 5-1/2, and very excited to start, but as moms do I worried a little! From day one he has *loved* school. If he ever has to miss a day due to a family vacation or illness he is in tears worrying about what fun things he is missing out on. I'm sure it helps that he has a class full of friends from church and the neighborhood, and a fabulous teacher who makes everything so much fun. Today he came home with a large paper, it was full of numbers on the front and back side. Today they had been writing their numbers, going as high as they could go. He told me his teacher said he could work on it most of the day if he wanted, so work away he did. In between dinner and basketball practice tonight, and even before bed he has kept writing his numbers. at 8:45pm (he begged to stay up late) he is at number 574. He wants to get to 1,000. Go Ethan Go!

{Flashback Friday}

These pictures are from four years ago, November 2005. We were in Wyoming for Thanksgiving.

Ethan (1) and Rhett (4)


Logan and Ethan


Rhett & Kaeli


Rhett, Ethan, Jodi, & Kaeli

{We're Back}

Our stay this time was short....woo-hoo! We arrived early Monday morning and Kade was hooked up to the EEG monitor. I was dreading this as it involves over an hour of holding still, pushing on his head, etc but he did great once he had some fun new toys to play with. As most of you know his medication makes it really hard for him to hold still, so I didn't know how he was going to handle being stuck in bed. My prayers were answered and he was so much more mellow and did so well. I can't say enough great things about Phoenix Children's Hospital...the staff was so wonderful, and Kade once again left the hospital with a bag full of fun new toys and prizes.

One of the things we did to keep him entertained was let him take pictures. Below is the hospital room from his point of view:



Tuesday we met with the Dr. and he reviewed his EEG results. It was good and bad news, but mostly good. The bad news is Kade had four seizures while he was sleeping, and some electrigraphical seizures. The good news is the seizures were small, his electrographical seizures are down 95% from when we left in January, and his development has not been affected. Since his development is not affected, we are sticking with the same current medications and doses, and hopefully things will either continue to improve or stay the same. Thanks for all the well wishes, it really means a lot!! x0x0

{Love Week}

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day...full of being spoiled by those who love you and also spoiling the ones you love as well...

Here are some more things that I love

*watching my boys at their basketball games....Ethan scored some points and Rhett was "defense EVERYWHERE" (as he calls it!)

*my husband taking the boys on a hike so I could get some homework done

*some Valentine surprises from Cody

*Pei Wei and a movie made for a fun date-night at home on Saturday....we have a hard time leaving Kade so don't get a babysitter too often....

*this counter top spray makes my kitchen sparkle and smell so good too! Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Counter top spray....I get it at Sprouts for $3 or so....

*the cute Primary kids listening so quietly to my story as I did sharing time....those moments are few and far between so I really appreciated it!

*listening to Kade sing "Follow The Prophet" into the (turned off) Primary microphone as I set up chairs for Primary.

*making a yummy dinner for my family

*setting the table up all cute....

*Brittany's fabulous dessert she made along with chocolate dipped strawberries....yum I want more!!

This has been fun...I should keep track of these things more often. I think this is a record for how many blog posts I have done in a week....

Here is one thing that I do not love...

Epilepsy. Bleh. Boooooo!!!

Kade looks to us like he is doing really well on the new medication...but tomorrow we find out for sure. We are checking into the hospital and will hook him back up to the video EEG monitors so we can see if the medication has decreased the unseen seizures he was having so many of last month. I am trying not to get my hopes up....but of course I am desperately hoping that it looks much better than when we went home last time. Best case scenario we will be home Tuesday evening....so here's hoping for that!!

{Love Week}

Things I love :


*my sweet family watching Kade today so I could go to Rhett and Ethan's Valentine's party

*The Olympics


*Pride and Prejudice....one of my favorite books that I am re-reading right now

*my sister Ally coming over to stay the night today and letting Cody and I sneak away for an hour to Ward Conference

*yummy Pizza Hut pizza we ate tonight


*listening to Kade talk "baby talk" to Socks



*reading the boys the BFG at night, I love reading them books I loved as a child!

{Flashback Friday}

I love this picture! Rhett just turned two and my youngest sister Ally was six. Ally would carry Rhett around on her hip even though he probably weighed almost as much as she did :o)

{Love Week}

These next few days I want to try and notice the little things that my kids do and say that I love....


I love that my boys are all sleeping in one room now....Rhett and Kade on bottom and Ethan on top.


I loved the surprised look that was on Rhett and Ethan's face yesterday when I told them Cody was taking them to their first Suns game that night!


I love how Brittany came over yesterday to see the kids and bring Thumper along to play :o) I also had fun being stronger than one person at the gym when she came with me...hee hee.


I love the wonderful teachers and friends that my children have this year! This is a picture of Ethan on a little field trip to the park to study trees.


I love the cellphone picture Cody sent me of Ethan's sticky Cotton Candy fingers at the Monster Truck Rally he took Ethan and Rhett to the other weekend.



I love the Kettlecorn popcorn from Sam's Club (the only thing it has that's better than Costco!) ....it' addicting!

{Christmas 2009}

My cold heart melted ever so slightly and after lots of persuasion from Cody (we are talking years!!) I consented to allowing the boys to get a puppy for Christmas. They were very excited when a couple days before Christmas they awoke to a letter from Santa explaining he had dropped off their present early since he can't bring puppies on the sleigh. They decided to name her socks since her legs are white. She is a miniature schnauzer. They are in LOVE (Rhett even said he wants to marry her) so I guess I am glad they have a dog even though it means lots of work for me and my overcoming my dog issues! I tell them they better enjoy her because she is the only dog they will ever have (mean mommy).



Christmas morning was lots of fun also! Kade was excited to get a pirate set and some new dinosaurs.



Rhett got a Star Wars movie he's been wanting, a Star Wars Laptop, and some Indiana Jones Lego's.



Ethan was very excited to get a new bike that he's had his eye on for awhile, he is having fun learning some new tricks on it.



Another favorite present was some boxing gloves that Cody bought the boys....judging from the boxing gloves, light sabers, and Nerf guns we have around here things can get a little dangerous :o)



Having Sam and Melissa, Ashley, and Brittany in town meant lots of fun family get together. One day Sam watched all three of my boys so the girls could escape to the East side for a bit to hit up our favorite stores and eat at one of our favorites, Oregano's. YUM!



We played baseball in the park across from our house, boys against girls....NOT FAIR!

Another fun tradition is gingerbread houses....of course my boys like to eat most of the candy but they get that from me!



Christmas was so fun, the best part was being around family and having family home evening lessons with the boys teaching them the true meaning of Christmas. I love all the Christmas cards, pictures, and letters from friends and family....the goodies delivered....buying presents for those I love...the excitement....acts of kindness.....etc! Although it is a busy time I miss it already and can't wait for Christmas 2010!

Now I have FINALLY somewhat caught up my blog and can sleep better at night! Whew!

{Ally's Dance Performance}

Back in December my family went to Glendale Glitters to watch my little sister Ally perform The Nutcracker. She did a fabulous job and I love watching her dance!! It was fun to see Melissa and Sam, who had just arrived from Utah. Later that night my sister Brittany bought Rhett and Ethan an early Christmas present, light sabers that glowed in the dark. They are so obsessed with anything Star Wars, so this was the perfect present!

{Baseball}

Baseball is Rhett and Ethan's favorite sport....and although it was a shorter fall season compared to the one they will do in the spring, we signed them up anyways. They had a great time, and I love being outside with Kade watching them at practices and games.

Ethan was on a team with a lot of friends from school and church, and he got his baseball medal from someone special....Santa Clause! (this was back in December!!) Rhett was on a team with his friend Johnny, and made some new friends on the team. They both did great and we loved cheering them on!