Baby Shower

On Friday, I conquered the crowds of "Black Friday". I was at WalMart at 5:05 am. It wasn't as bad as I thought, and I did hit on a couple of really good deals. More importantly, I learned a few techniques for next year.

Then on Saturday after Thanksgiving, we had a baby Shower for Aunt Robbi. They are expecting their first baby in Febuary, and we threw a party for her when all of her family was here. It was great to visit with friends and to see the excitement a new baby brings.

Aunt Katie went all out again and made this beautiful cake for Robbi. I think all Katie has done in the last couple days was bake! We also had a chocolate fondue set, it was so yummy.

Pool Party

The last thing we did over the last few weeks was celebrate Kinley's birthday at Green Canyon with friends and family. We had a great time swimmining, eating, and visiting. Even Wylie got in the pool! Too bad that flu bug hit again, Remy started throwing up again during dinner and it has made the rounds since then. We can now add two of Kinley's friends and Grammie to the list of those who've had the bug. Uggh!



We were so glad all of Kinley's cousin's made it.

After the diaster of cake I made for her other birthday, it was a good thing Aunt Katie had already planned on this beautiful Castle Cake. We loved it. Thanks Aunt Katie for making something so special for Kinley.


I can't believe she is already 7. As we all know, time flies so fast. I am sad to see it go so quickly, but I am so excited to continue to watch her grow.

Birthday Party at Home

Holy cow! I can't believe I haven't posted anything in 4 weeks! Wow! Well, in my defense, we have been really busy.I started back to work, Eric spent a week in Canada hunting, we had two birthday parties, a baby shower, and Thanksgiving too! Let me start at the beginning...

Our first party was for Kinley's 7th birthday. We had a party at our house for the girl's in Kinley class. I picked them up from school and brought them back. Nine first grader's spent the afternoon painting, potting flower's, eating, and playing games! I think they had a blast, and I have to say that I think it went well and it was amazing how well they all got along. The party was a flower theme, I was quite proud of the "flower" balloons I made. The cake I made was a nightmare, I will definately leave the cake decorating to Aunt Katie (see below).



After her birthday party, Eric left for Canada and we spent the week in and out of the house. It was so nice to have Grandma and Grandpa around to help with the kids, especially since I was back to work. Kinley and I planned on taking Birthday cupcakes to her class on Wednesday before school got out for Thanksgiving Break (Kinley felt bad the boys missed her birthday party), but Kinley started throwing up about 1/2 hour into school! Poor thing...unfortuantley, it was a sign of things to come.

Kinley The Book Worm

Kinley is reading so well, completely independently. She is racking up the AR points at school (a reading program). She brings home two books to read every night (although I liked it better when she only had one book because it didn't take so long). She reads first thing when she gets home, before bed, and then one last time before she gets on the bus. She is so proud of herself and so am I.

A Hair Pulling Task

Wylie is so funny. He likes his hands up by his face and head. He is starting to tune into his environments a lot too and so sometimes when he gets his hand up on the back of his head, he grasps his hair and pulls! Usually he'll be lying there quietly playing and then all of the sudden starts screaming and it's because he pulled his own hair! The above picture is the "before", you can see the curosity in his face. Below is the "after", the-- Holy cow, someone is pulling my hair! OW!-- face.

Halloween

Sadly, I only have a few pictures of Halloween. It just seemed like everytime we had our costumes on we were late and in a hurry! Oh well. The kids were the Super Kids, Superwoman, Superman, and Superbaby! Fortunately, we have gotten more than our money's worth out of these costumes, the kids have been wearing them since we got them. Remy loved his cape and kept making it "fly" by jumping on the couch and spent every afternoon waiting for Kinley to get home from school to play "Superman"!

We started Halloween on Thursday night at the Carnival at Kinley's school. I helped with a game for the first hour, so Eric wrangled all three kids through the games, booths, etc. (although he did manage to pawn Wylie off...thanks, Susan, for saving him:). I bought twelve raffle tickets with hopes of winning something. Somehow we actually left with four items! We never win anything so we were quite pleased. Then on Friday morning we got dressed up again and went Trick-Or-Treating with Daycare at the hospital. Remy liked getting the candy but kept saying the carnibal (carnival) was more fun. Finally, we dressed up one more time and met up with some other mom's and kids, and headed into Driggs. We went Trick-or-Treating on main street, through the Trunk-or-Treat, and around a couple blocks in Driggs (you know, the way you're supposed to go trick-or-treating). The kids had a great time running up and down the streets, even in the dark. They ended up with plenty of loot- their buckets we're topped off- and are still eating it. No saving it until Christmas at the Baler's! Hope everyone else had a great night too!

Pictures

Luckily, before the big snow storm, I got the kids out to take a few pictures. We found the coolest log in the creek bed on our property in Felt. It made a great prop and play place! The kids did pretty good; Wylie of course didn't wake up until Remy was way past having fun and being cooperative, and we had to keep getting in and out of the truck to contend with the rain. But oh, aren't they cute! Kinley had a great time. She is very photogenic and could have taken pictures all night long!

Remy had more fun throwing rocks. I kept trying to tell him to move his head/shoulder/hand left or right and he wouldn't cooperate and then I remembered he doesn't even remember left or right!

Tongue

You would think that even after a third baby, nothing would scare a mother but I think I may be even more nervous! Wylie's tongue is possessed! He is always thrusting it, in fact my mom calls him her "little salamander" because he moves his tongue like a lizard! In fact, almost right after birth he was working his tongue and the doctor said, "Well, we know he's not tongue-tied." I know this is perfectly normaly, and probably even a good thing. However, I have asked myself, "is repetetive tongue movements a symptom or sign of something?" Crazy, I know, but there it is....always worrying about something!

Hike

I think we are slowly making it out of la-la-land and adapting. I still haven't figured out a routine, although I have figured it takes us atleast an extra half hour to get out of the house:) But we are feeling good and ready to get out and about so the other day I went with a friend on a hike with the kids. We only packed a few snacks because we didn't think the kids would go very far, but we ended up hiking for 2 hours! They would have gone farther but they were hungry! It was so beautiful and the weather was perfect. Wylie slept perfectly in the pack, and the kids were able to burn off some energy.

It is amazing how quickly we do adapt. I think we spent the first two weeks in awe, the birth a new baby is never "just another day" and I think those two weeks of awe are meant to remind us of all our blessings and the power of greater things. That's how it was for us, then all the sudden it just seemed like Wylie was always a part of us and it was weird to try and think of times when he wasn't here.

Thigh Rolls

Neither of my other two kids ever had one ounce of fat-they were, and still are -string beans! But Wylie is proving to be his own person already, complete with thigh rolls and pudgy cheeks! I LOVE, LOVE LOVE it, and I had to get a picture (just in case they go away). He was my biggest baby and is filling out quickly (he should be, he still eats every 2 hours)! Isn't he cute! While I know it's not a lot, at least now I can say I had a baby with a little chub (at least more than his siblings)!

Where's Baby?

This picture demonstrates just how well Kinley is taking to the new baby thing. Can you find baby Wylie?Obviously, she is doing pretty well and enjoying her babies as much as the real one.

The latest addition

Kinley is at soccer, Remy is outside, and Wylie is sleeping (humm...funny how he does more of that during the day than night:) so I thought I would hurry and post a few pictures. I'm not sure how to organize my pictures and posts to look nice and neat- I'm just thankful for a few minutes of air. Kinley is adapting so well, of course. She loves to cuddle him and pick out his clothes. Remy is doing ok, he is a little rough and doesn't understand the whole "fragile" thing, but he likes to love on him and sings to him too. Although, Wylie peed on Remy in the hospital, and so Remy will only hold him for small amounts of time and then Remy has to check to make sure "the baby didn't pee on me!" Anyway...thanks everyone for your love and support...see you....sometime.....

Introducing....

Wylie Burr Baler! Born 9-9-08 at 11:11 pm! We are so truly blessed, everything has gone so smoothly and he is perfect! My water broke while I was watching Kinley play soccer. Luckily, my mom had decided to come watch Kinley, so she stayed with the kids and I drove over to the hospital. I had to text Eric to tell him my water broke, he had just sat down in his tree stand for a good hunt in an elk wallow with sign all over! Ha! Luckily, he made it with time to spare (I think he probably ran out and drove too fast). It was just Eric and I in the delivery room this time and I can't tell you how supportive he was, he was so good to me. He still didn't look, but he did cut the cord. Wylie came out bruised and blue, but with ten fingers, ten toes and a definite little boy part!

The bag is packed....

and in the car ready to go! We are so ready for this baby! Kinley still hopes with all her might that it is a "baby sister" and Remy loves to kiss my belly and wish for a "baby brother". I am only 37 weeks, so it could be a while (I have to keep reminding myself of that), but my belly is huge! I am definately bigger than I have been with any pregnancy and it's all in my gut. Plus, the thing must be doing handstands on my groin and the head is so far down I think my bladder is the size of a quarter! The kids keep exclaiming, "Wow, Mom, you're belly got even bigger!" (Thanks for that) and Eric just laughs at my "gut" and you should have seen Adam's face the last time he got the full side-view! It was hilarious! This is the only picture of this pregnancy (third baby anybody?) but it documents it pretty well and I swear I am trying to tilt my pelvis in and not arch my back!

Remy Turns 4!

I think Remy has had the worst time adjusting to back-to-school. Luckily, he just celebrated his 4th birthday and has some new toys to play with! He is so funny because his personality can be categorized so many ways. He is sweet and lovable, aggressive and mean, cuddly and needy, and even fiercly independent! He brings so much to our family and we are so blessed to have him, truly, even at his worse. :) Remy's birthday cake was so cute too, Aunt Katie put a lot of time and effort into it. He loved it!

End of Summer

I thought I should probably share Kinley's first day of school with everyone. It was really actually prettty anti-climatic. We got there, found her desk, put away her supplies, found her teacher, and then she kissed me and bounded of too play! The most dramatic change has been her sudden passion in her appearance! We curled her hair everyday last week, she wore jewelry, and was very meticulous about her appearance. Too bad her new school clothes are for winter, it was so hot last week I think she overheated everyday!

Eric's Photography

Eric got a nice camera for Christmas last year, and he has taken some really neat pictures this year. It seems he is always in the right place at the right time and is developing a good eye. I guess it's easy to take scenery and wildlife pictures when you hike 25 miles up the canyon! These are pictures we had blown up and framed for the open class exhibit at the fair. He got a blue and a red ribbon! I'm so proud of him for exploring new talents and his artistic side.

Costume Contest

For the first time, we competed in the costume contest at the fair. (Yes, we did do more than just hang out at the fair this year :). The kids were so cute! When I asked Remy if he would be the guy on Sleepy Beauty (the prince) he said, "Yeah, as long as I can have the long, pointy thing (the sword)!" It was so cute, he drew the sword and waved it during the entire contest. He beat Kinley, and took second place!

Kinley was third place. She was pretty easy, she was a Garden Fairy Princess, but instead of a crown she wore a hat and instead of pretty slippers, she wore her boots! She rode out in the arena all by herself, and had her picture in the newspaper too! We used tape to get the unicorn horn in place and tons of glitter. Grandpa Larry couldn't believe we would do that to any self-respecting, rope horse! Guess Grandpa will do anything for his grandkids!

And the winners are....

Kinley and Remy showed their horses at the fair in Jackson this year. Remy was smiling and waving at the judge so much that a guy standing next to me said, "He must be a roper or a bronc rider!" To that, I replied, "Nope, probably just seen one too many rodeo queens!" Then we spent the rest of the afternoon riding the rides at the carnival, or at least Eric and the kids did. We had a ball and look forward to the fair every summer.

Let's see....

We'll, I've finally sat down and started a blog. I've tried myspace, and facebook, and others and I always end up getting tons of emails and other junk! So when Heather showed me this I figured I might as well try it! We'll see how it goes! Thanks!