Fun Times On Simon Street

I have really been enjoying the kids and trying to keep them occupied with fun activities. We've been baking chocolate peanut butter chip cookies. Yummy!

Jacob loved the Vanilla bottle and he was the one who got to add it to the batter.
I told him it was special vanilla our friend Linda got us when she went to Mexico. He thought it was even cooler.


Conor LOVES to pull his sister's hair. She is always telling him "No, No Conor don't pull your sister's hair"! He just smiles at her.

Today on the way to my office Jacob was riding in the front with me. He asked me what's electricity? I said I know who to call. Papa Bill is an electrician and he has the answer for that one. I dialed my dad's work #. I was surprised when someone other then my dad answered the phone. I asked if Bill was available. When the guy said yeah. I told him Bill's Grandson had a question for him. When he got on the phone Jacob said "Hi Grandpa,it's Jacob. I'm going to school. I have a question for you . What's electricity?" Papa must have been busy. He told Jake they would talk about it when he sees him next. I was surprised Jake said OK and said" I love you bye".
No matter what the kids are playing they always go over by Conor and talk, sing, or play with him. He loves the attention so much.
Marli is always asking to hold her baby. She does such a wonderful job of helping out and being a big sister.
I made french toast for dinner a couple weeks ago . We all love it except Jake. He's not into pancakes or waffles or french toast. I tried to explain to him that he loves scramble eggs and that's all french toast is bread dipped in the egg batter. Ryan and I finally talked him into trying it. He surprised us when.....








he dipped it in his catsup from his eggs. GROSS!!! He laughed and said "MOM, you have got to try this. It's so good"! So trying to teach him to have a open mind I tried it. Guess what it wasn't bad.

Marli....I really don't even know what to say. She keeps us all laughing. She's always entertaining us with her goofey'ness. I'm so grateful she is such a free spirit.
I came across this precious picture. We took baby Conor to Bob & Jo' s when he was three days old. Conor was laying on their couch. Marli kept loving on her baby.
Conor looks at Marli and kind of studies her . He doesn't know quite how to handle her. When she's wild he'll close his eyes and pull away from her. Then she'll be so sweet and gentle with him and he lights up.

Conor loves to lay on the floor and stretch out. I swaddle him so tight at night to get him to sleep good. When he wakes up if he can get his hand or arm out of the blanket he will not go back to sleep. He thinks he needs to eat. In the morning when I unwrap him he gets so excited. He stretches out and grins so big!
Conor's trying to move around. He'll push off anything he can dig his knees or feet into. He rolls from stomach to back really well. He can roll from his back to side and then on to stomach if he sees something he wants to grab and put in his mouth.


We've been playing with lots of play dough and cookie cutters and making our own way to have fun with it. Jacob made a fishing pole with his purple play dough yesterday. We've been painting and doing some fun arts and crafts too. Using the abundance of craft supplies I have in my craft room. Yesterday the kids found water guns in Jake's toy box. Before I filled them up with water I explained to the kids...there are three things you can not squirt OK? People, cars and animals. They agreed and off they went . They had a blast. No one came in screaming or bawling. They got more wet from my neighbors sprinkler than their water guns.

One Crazy Monday

Monday was a very Crazy day. I was so busy at work. It's always nice when it's busy and I have tons to do it makes it worth it to me to be there and away from my kids. I love my patients and love what I do. We treated over fifty patients and had five new patients. The phone never stopped ringing and people who we hadn't seen in ages kept walking in . It was just Dr. Fred and I there all day and it was so good to finally be back in the right frame of mind to help others. It's always interesting to me when I think about certain people and wonder how their doing when they call or show up out of the blue. I like to think of it as the Universe is in tune with me and not that I've jinxed them and then they are suddenly in pain and need a treatment. I worked ten hours and then picked the kids up and my day started all over. Ryan is working nights right now. Its pretty brutal on me having to do it all when he's not here at the end of a long day. I just have to remember to breathe and make a list for him to do on his four days off. I know I can't do it all and am getting better at asking for help. I was unloading the car and trying to get the kids to eat dinner when Marli disappeared for a bit. It's pretty embarrassing that I have the hiccups and Conor is screaming throughout this video. I couldn't resist sharing what my daughter has just discovered....doing her own hair. Marli has her very own baffroom now so she says. Jacob was pretty excited this weekend to tell his sister "It's official this is no longer your bathroom"! I moved all her things to the bathroom downstairs. She is loving life right now as you can see by this crazy video. She doesn't want me to help her anymore. She likes to brush her teeth and put the toothpaste on by herself. Pick out her outfits. Finally as of Monday do her own hair. Alicia Keyes watch out Marli Smith is taking on her own style! Wish me Luck...I'm definitely going to need it!

Eternity The Short Version

OK so for those of you you haven't yet seen Miss Marli dance here's a little clip for you. This is pretty entertaining. I had a sweet little white haired lady and Mrs. Stephanie right in my view. Not on purpose by any means. I didn't take my video camera, but have found that my digital camera does a good enough job.The only bad part is it uses up my battery pretty fast. Marli is in the very front and center. Thankfully this is the short version. Enjoy!

You Can Dance...If You Want To

Marli had the opportunity to dance for some very special Grandma's & Grandpa's. Dance tech was invited to Lincoln Court retirement home to dance for the residents. They asked that only one parent bring each dancer, because of lack of room. Ryan stayed home with the boys. It was so fun to go on a date with my beautiful daughter. She was so excited. She kept asking me "Mom do you think I'm beautiful"? She sat in the front seat on the way there and had the visor down looking at her gorgeous self. I love that she has so much self confidence.



I begged her to let me take her picture before we left the house. This is in our driveway in front of the car as we were headed out.


This is the first time her class performed with the pants and tap shoes as well as their tutu and ballet shoes. They performed their ballet dance "Eternity" first then went and changed into their pants and tap shoes while other classes performed. Pretty exciting! Marli watched her teacher Mrs. Stephanie and kept a smile on her face and followed along perfectly. I'm glad she enjoys dance so much. She is always singing and dancing around the house or where ever she may be.

Conor Your So Silly

I was downstairs folding laundry and Conor was loving laying on the floor playing with his feet. You can tell why I turned the video off fairly soon. Jacob and Marli were having a sword fight upstairs. Too bad I can't edit my voice out as well as their obnoxious screaming, so all you could hear is sweet little Conor's voice and laugh. Oh well real life is just that I suppose...Real!

This One's For You CareBear & Uncle Jim

Remember about six months ago when you got baby Conor some special socks? Well I put them on today and they almost fit. They're still a little big. I have been waiting for the day I could put them on his feet. You and I both know why they are special! We love you sweetheart !!!

I thought of Firefighter Uncle Jim when I got this onesie for Conor!

You guys can come over anytime and play footsies!

Conor Is Six Months Old

Conor's six months old today! Half a year already. It doesn't seem possible. We have enjoyed him so much. He's finally sleeping through the night. We put him to bed at 8:30 and he sleeps until 6:30. He started eating baby food. He eats half a small bottle of a vegetable and half a bottle of fruit for lunch and then again for dinner. So far he's had peas, sweet potatoes, carrots, pears, applesauce and banana's. He doesn't have a favorite. He just gets so excited when he See's the little spoon coming towards him. He keeps us smiling.

Conor loves his bed. He kicks and tries so hard to roll over when we lay him down. He is constantly grabbing his feet and toes. His favorite thing is to not have his feet covered with socks or anything and he grabs his toes and talks to them. He tries so hard to get them to his mouth. All it takes to get him going is for me to say "I see piggies, I see Piggy toes"

I love these P.J.'s on little man. Conor looks like he's ready to play some baseball. One, two, three touch your toes and "whine up"!
Don't let him fool you...he looks like he's ready to take a nap, but it'll pass in less than ten minutes. All the other kids would take two long naps. One in the morning like at 10:00 and sleep for a hour and a half. Then one around 1:30 in the afternoon and sleep for two hours. Conor takes a twenty minute "Cat Nap". If he hears any noise at all he's wide awake.

Makes me wonder why Heavenly Father sent him last!?! Because he is such a light sleeper. He hears everything. He acts like he may miss out on something. We all know how quiet his sister Miss Marli is. Hahahah!!!! It's pretty impossible to get Conor to nap when Marli is in the same zip code.

Meet Mr. Delicious! He is such a yummy little guy! I absolutely adore him!
Conor LOVES his baths. He gets so excited when I take him in the bathroom and he sees the water in his little tub. I love to pour water on him and watch his little fingers grab for the water. He Oooohs and Aaahaas when the warm water covers him. He never cries when I wash his head. He knows to close his eyes and mouth.
Marli is constantly hugging and loving "Her Baby"!
Jacob loves to use his brother as a adventure. He uses the laundry basket for a space shuttle. Conor lets Jake and Marli do whatever they want with him. He just watches them and smiles. He loves the attention.

Conor is one happy little guy. He loves music and loves to have people sing to him. When he gets fussy we just need to find some music or make our own and he is happy!
His brother and sister are quite fond of him.
He is very ticklish! He loves it when Daddy "Gets Him"!

Conor is always observing his surroundings.
He loves to laugh and make us laugh. The harder we laugh, the harder he laughs. He'll snort when he gets laughing.

Sometimes he seems so serious. I wonder what he thinks about. I watch him and am jealous of what he might possibly be looking at. Angels? Brother Jaxon? I know Jaxon is always close by. I have a picture of Jax in these same Jammie's swinging in this same swing.
He loves a good "Cookie"!

Oh Bubby...we love you! Thank you for being so brave and coming to our family. Also Thanks for putting up with your crazy family!

Daddy Blabbering With Conor

I came across this video Ryan took with my digital camera. It's from a few weeks ago when he was watching the kids and I was at work. This video made me smile. Ry is so good at making Conor happy. When Conor sees his Dad he lights up and tries so hard to talk to him. It's been nice for the kids to be able to spend time with their Dad. I think it's nice to give my parents a break, and for Ryan to see what it's like to have three kids to take care of. He hasn't had to take care of them for more than a few hours at a time. We need to break him in gently!

The Good Brother & Mickey Mouse

Please Take A Minute To Pray

I just read this email from my friend Kim Rose. She owns the local scrapbook store Express The Moment (formerly the scrapcoop). She's been a great friend to me over the years and I appreciate all of you praying for her nephew. Thanks!


Express the Moment
557 S. Woodruff
Idaho Falls, Id 83401
208-552-4847
http://www.expressthemoment.com
kim@expressthemoment.com

Business Hours: Mon. - Fri. 10:00 am - 6:00 pm Sat.10:00 am - 7:00 pm

Prayers NEEDED

I know that each of us receive e-mails, forwards, etc daily
about heart breaking situations. I am not one that usually
forwards these types of e-mails, but... this time I
am personally asking for your prayers.
My sweet nephew who is only 18 months old was
run over/hit by a car yesterday. He is the only son
of my baby sister Emily who lives in Phoenix.
My heart is full. It has been a emotional 24 hours for
our family. PLEASE take a minute today
and remember him in your prayers. I can't stand
the fact that we are here and she is so far a way. My
older sister Jen was able to fly in last night and is with
her now, but they still have a long road a head.
He had surgery yesterday and faces surgery again tom.
Please know I love and appreciate each of you for
thinking of him and sending support their way.

CLICK here to view Emily's blog for updates!
http://gobroncos-stephensfam.blogspot.com/

What A Week!

I can't believe a week has gone by already! Thursday at lunch time I picked the kids up from my dad's and took them home to spend the afternoon with Ryan. On my way back to work I stopped at Ethel Boyes elementrary to register Jacob for morning Kindergarten. I was an emotional mess. The paperwork was ridiculous. It was six pages of the same questions. Annoying! I got in my car and bawled all the way to my office. I can't believe Jake is going to ride the bus and go to Kindergarten. I thought for sure the end of the world would come before this day.When I got home I started dinner.I had quite the eventful cooking experience. I was browning hamburger for dinner and went downstairs to throw a batch of clothes in the dryer. I got half way up the stairs and smelt smoke. Big clouds of smoke were in the living room. Oh my! Jake and Marli were flipping out. I sent them both downstairs and told them not to come up until I said it was ok. Conor was asleep in his crib. Ryan was in our room reading. My hamburger had disintegrated and started a grease fire. Pretty frightening. I poured baking soda on the pan and covered it with a lid. I resisted the urge to lift the pan and put it in the sink. I remember seeing a video about a lady who received serious burns from lifting the pan to the sink and pouring water on it. Instinctively that's what I wanted to do.Weird thing no smoke detectors went off. Not good! I think because the hamburger was sirloin and 99% fat free it burned easily.I opened all the windows and front door to air out the smoke. Ryan came out and was not happy. Our house stunk so bad. I finally let Jake and Marli come upstairs a hour or so later. I had to figure out something else for dinner. I learned a valuable lesson too. Never ever leave the kitchen when your cooking. I've done it a zillion times and nothing has ever happened until this. All it takes is once though.

Friday my dad took Jake and Marli to school for me because our plumber was supposed to come first thing and finish the downstairs bathroom. Ryan ran to Home Depot and I stayed home with Conor. The plumber finally showed up at 9:30. Here's a crazy thing...our plumber's name is Darryl and he looks so much like my brother-in-law Rod. He's a lot older than Rod, but if you closed your eyes and listened to him talk you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Ryan and I both thought that Darryl looks like a older version of Rod. It was pretty interesting. He did a great job and even helped Ryan hook up our new water softener. We're pretty close to having the downstairs bathroom up and running. If anyone wants to have a sleepover and try it out your all invited. Ryan just needs to install the towel racks and toilet paper holder. I need to clean the shower and tub really good. Then we're just waiting on the cabinet door any day. Pretty exciting.




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Saturday Carrie and Jim came over. I didn't get any pictures. I wasn't even thinking. The kids had so much fun. Ryan was at work. Jake took Jim downstairs and they played X-box. Marli asked Carebear to watch Daredevil the movie with her. Carrie said I could run to Walmart and get a few groceries and laundry soap. I was pretty excited to not have to take all three kids with me. Carrie cuddled with Conor and watched the movie with Marli. When I got home Conor was so tired, but wouldn't take a nap. I think he was loving having Carrie hold him. I know Jaxon has told Conor all about Aunt Carebear. Conor wasn't scared to go to Carrie at all. He smiled at her and kept starring at her. It was so sweet to watch them.Carrie was telling the kids that her and Jim are moving to I.F. in a couple weeks. Marli was so excited. She asked if they were going to live with us, PLEASE!!! I agree with Marli it would be one great big party at our house! Fun! Later Jake told me he used to be scared of Uncle Jim, but now he knows that was silly. He said "Mom, I love Jim he is so fun and so smart". I'm so grateful my kids were able to spend quality time with them.

Sunday Grandpa Reuel and Koby surprised us by stopping by. Jake was so excited. He's been wanting to play with Koby. Marli kept watching for Kamri. She didn't understand why Koby was with Grandpa by himself. The kids had fun together.

Monday where do I start. This day could possibly go down in history as one of the worst day of my life. I met my dad at my office with the kids. He took them to school and picked them up. I didn't get to have lunch with them. I had to go to a doctor appointment at 2:30. I saw a spine specialist. My neck, back and shoulder have been really bothering me. I tried Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Massage, medical doctors, physical therapy. I haven't gotten any relief. It's gotten so bad that I can't do my day to day activities. I've had a constant migraine and am just really hating life. Ryan has commented on me being grouchy because of the pain. So anyway I went in and after a hour exam the spine doctor wants me to have a MRI. I didn't want one. They explained to me they need the scan to rule out what could be the source of the problem. As I was leaving the hospital I saw my friend Devon's husband Eric. We visited for a bit and he wished me luck. He's a therapist at the hospital. I went to Teton Open MRI. This is where the worst part of my day comes in. After waiting for over a hour, they take me back and get me ready for the MRI. The technician is telling me all the things not to do. You have to hold super still,each scan builds off of the one before. You can't move at all or they have to re-do it. You can't swallow,cough,sneeze. They put huge headphones on me to drown out the noise. I had music blaring in my ears...with a migraine! Nice! The table is metal and so uncomfortable. The back of my head that hurts from falling on the ice is resting on this awful metal. It hurt so bad. Then they slide you into the machine. It is so scary. There's loud knocking and banging. I had to do some serious self talk, telling myself it was OK. Breathing nice and slow. When I shut my eyes I was getting really nausea's and felt like I was spinning. I'd open my eyes so I could tell I wasn't actually moving. My mind got the best of me and I lost it. I started bawling. I was thinking about Jax. I thought of all the scans he had in his life and all he went through. I felt so inadequate. The tech asked me if I was ok. He was in a different room and could only hear me if he turned on the speaker. I told him yeah. He said "Lori there's a lot of motion going on, we're going to have to re-do that last scan. I was in that stupid machine for a hour. The tech came in and pulled me out. I knew that the look on his face wasn't good. He felt so bad that I had such a hard time.I was doing really good until the last few minutes. I was soaking wet from sweat and tears. He sat down and talked to me for quite awhile. We talked about Jaxon and he wouldn't let me leave until he knew I was ok. Man it was pretty brutal. I consider myself pretty tough and that experience kicked my keester. I picked the kids up at my mom's and went home. We realized Jacob left his coat at Mrs. Di's. Shame on him and Grandpa Bill. The kids and I ate dinner. We watched part of dancing with the stars. When Ryan got home we all went to bed. What a long awful day!

Tuesday morning my Mom and Dad ran out to Mrs. Di's and got Jake's coat. My Mom came and picked Jake up at our house. They both got haircuts. I cleaned both the upstairs bathrooms. I mean really cleaned them. From the floor boards to the ceiling and everything in between. Three hours later, I got caught up on laundry and made Marli lunch. Marli had dance and then we went to my parents. Grandma Bette agreed to go with us to get all the kids shots. Super D' Duper! We get to the Pediatric center and all is well. The kids are playing and looking at the fish. Then we find out Conor can't get his shots today because he's not exactly six mo. old. Grandma says she'll wait with Conor in the waiting area. The nurse takes us back. We saw our two favorite nurses and they were so nice. We get in the room and Marli asked me to read to her. I'm reading to her and Jacob is getting himself worked up and is totally freaking out. Melt down! The nurse looked at their charts and said Jake needs three shots and Marli needs four. Marli said she'd go first. When the nurse came back in the room Jacob took off. I had to pull down Marli's jeans so she could poke her thigh. Marli was trying to pull her pants up and said this isn't right everyone is going to see my underwear. I told her it was OK. All she cared about was getting the sparkly band-aid. She said Ow each time she felt the needle, but was so brave. She didn't cry or anything. I was so proud of her. I opened the door to go find the missing patient. Here comes nurse Kathy holding Conor and Grandma Bette pulling Jake down the hall. I took Jake from my mom. She took Conor back out front. Jake broke out in hives and was screaming hysterically "Grandma, save me"! It took all of us to get him up on the table. I told him to count with me and it would be over. He finally started counting. He made it to twenty-five. Than it was over. He said "Oh, I thought I was going to die before I got to thirty"! He calmed down and was fine. Man! The nurse was so funny she said "You sure can tell who's the stronger of the sexes. This is why woman have the babies"! We ran a few errands and then met Papa Bill at Leo's for a early dinner. The kids had fun riding the rides and playing a few video games. My dad went home to get ready to go catch the bus for work. The kids and I went to Fred Meyers with Grandma. Then I took them all to my mom's while I went and had my friend Shannon work on mt neck and back. She's a massage therapist/Acupuncturist/Chi/Essential oil guru. She's amazing. She worked on me for two hours. I came out and my car was covered in snow. I was so disgusted. I went and picked the kids up and headed home. Ryan got home before us. What a day off!

Wednesday so far so good. I dropped the kids off at my dad's on the way to work. He took Jake and Marli to school and picked them up. I went and picked everyone up and took them home to spend the afternoon with Ry. I've been drinking a ton of water to get all the toxins out from the treatment Shannon gave me last night. She left two needles in my back on a pressure point. I'm supposed to leave them in for three days. I feel sore, but I can tell she helped a lot. I go back to the Spine specialist tomm. she'll go over my MRI results with me. I'm going to call it a day and go see my Kiddies. We're having Ham and eggs for dinner. Marli dances tommorow night, she'll do two dances. She's excited to finally do the tap dance they've been practicing. It'll be the first time they perform with tap shoes. She was so cute telling us she's going to dance for a bunch of Grandma's and Grandpa's that aren't hers.

Oh Miss Marli

Oh Miss marli...

The last time Marli performed, to say I was overwhelmed would be a huge understatement. I had to get her to Bonneville High School which is clear across town at a ridiculous time of day. There were two dance competitions going on at the same time.There was no where to park.Not only did I have her to get ready,but Jacob and Conor by myself. I had to pack them all in the school with Marli's dance bag, Conor's diaper bag, carry the car seat and direct Jacob and Marli in the right direction. It was pretty insane. When I finally get Marli to her teacher I realize I hadn't packed her tutu. Great! My daughter was the only one that didn't have part of her costume. OH Well! Good thing she's only four and the whole getting docked points doesn't really matter. Marli was totally OK with it. I was proud of her. I think if it was me, I would have begged my mom to just let me go home and not perform.

Today I took all three kids to Marli's dance practice. When we got there I realized that I didn't pack her shoes. I apologized to Marli. She smiled at me and said "Mom, when did you loose your mind"? I laughed. She was right I have lost my mind. I told her I must have lost it when Conor was born. She told me it was OK and she loved me and forgave me. I told her to tell her Teacher I was sorry. She always wants me to walk her into class. I opened the classroom door and before I could say anything she tells her teacher "My mom is really sorry,she lost her mind and forgot my dance shoes"! I felt so stupid. I looked at her teacher and said she's right I'm really sorry. The first part of dance is ballet and the second half is tap. So I forgot both pairs of shoes. They won't allow street shoes on the dance floor. Marli had to dance the whole class in her tights. She was OK with it. I hope I'm not scarring her for life.