Austin's birthday and RSV

Malachi loves to eat his big carrot

Both of these cute little boys love to eat big carrots, the bigger the better they say

Our bookshelves broke, and the books all fell to the floor, from a few of our bookshelves, so Malachi, Caleb and I built a little book tree

A lesson in static electricity on Austin's birthday, with Malachi's hair

Austin and her huge baskin robbins birthday cake

Austin, Betsy, and their friend Jessie

Samuel took a selfie

Malachi wanted to turn Austin into a dinosaur

Sweet little baby

Caleb is so full of Joy!!

Travis at "the cave of the seven sleepers"  in Jordan

Travis floated in the Dead Sea and then mudded down

cute little boy

Malachi happy about his breathing treatment due to Austin bribing him with candy

This little boy loves to stick his tongue out when he smiles

Playing at the big pile of dirt at the park

So, as usual life is crazy around here.  The main thing is that both Malachi and Gideon ended up with RSV.  So by Austin's birthday (the 25th) I knew Gideon needed to be seen again by the Dr., he was coughing, congested and still so fussy.  I took him to the Dr. in the morning and the Dr. tested him for RSV and the flu (he still had diarrhea and throwing up too)and discovered he had a double ear infection.  So we got him some more antibiotics, the poor little baby.  I tried to make Austin's cake, but the baby was just too fussy, I couldn't get anything done.  So a friend of mine picked up an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins for Austin.  Of course, Austin wanted the biggest one!  Anyway, by then the Dr. office called and said Gideon tested positive for RSV and to bring him in again tomorrow, and also Malachi to get him tested as well, since he was still struggling with sickness himself.  So I made the appointments, then we sang happy birthday to Austin and ate her ice cream cake.  She really wanted to go out to dinner with just Betsy, (their friend Jessie), Gideon and I.  I tried to convince her to wait until the weekend, but she wouldn't give in.  So we dropped Malachi and Caleb off at Jessie's parent's house, and left Joseph and Samuel home and went to the Cracker Barrel for dinner.  I warned her that if the baby woke up, we would need to go back home, but she lucked out and the baby slept in his carseat the whole time.  We had a nice dinner, and then went back home.  Austin was happy with the jewelry, and jewelry box, and scooter she got for her birthday.  She also got a bunch of cards (like 15) from Soldier's Angel people.  Even though she didn't know any of them, she loved getting the cards in the mail.  I'm so glad that Austin had a great birthday, even though her little brothers were sick.  I can't believe I have two teenagers in the house!!! Anyway, the next day I took Malachi and Gideon back in and they tested Malachi for RSV, and sent me home with breathing treatments for both of them.  So my days and nights have been filled with taking care of sick little ones,  I've missed church the past three Sundays, Luckily I have a wonderful family in the branch, our home teacher, that has taken all my healthy children to church for me each Sunday.  The wife, Amy, came and helped fix my dryer, and clean the house, and this last Sunday even kidnapped my van, (Samuel freaked out when he discovered that she had taken our van, but I assured him that she had permission) and cleaned it out really good.  I've also had two people bring us dinner.  So, even though it has been a very trying time, mostly due to my lack of sleep, I've been very blessed by those around me, and lifted up by prayer.  My home teacher also brought me the sacrament in my home the last two Sundays.  The first time, I had Malachi sitting on my lap, and we were looking at a picture of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.  I told Malachi that Jesus was praying for us, and he looked up at me and in his sweet little 2 year old voice said "Jesus, is waiting for a bus?".  Poor little guys ears were plugged up.  Samuel had his Blue and Gold dinner for cub scouts, it was a crazy night, I've realized I'm not getting enough sleep to take 7 kids to the church, and to all their various activities.  Joseph had a campout, and while there injured his ankle while playing football (must be a kirkman tradition), but thankfully, it was feeling better after a few days.  He also took the splint off his finger, and that is all better.  We had a crazy incident last weekend.  I was feeding Gideon and Malachi wanted to take a bath, so I told him to go ask Austin to start the bath for him.  A minute later I heard the water being turned on in the bathtub, so I assumed Austin was getting him in the bath.  When I was done feeding Gideon, I heard the door shut to the bathroom and the water was still running, so I went to go make sure Austin was going to turn off the water, because it had been running too long.  The bathroom door was locked, and when I knocked and asked Austin to let me in, Austin came over from the living room and said she wasn't in the bathroom.  I knocked again and asked who was in there, and got no response, but I could hear Malachi playing in the water.  I asked Austin why she wasn't in there, and she said she was never in the bathroom, Malachi didn't ask her to bathe him, he had started it himself, then Caleb said he shut and locked the door for Malachi so he could have his privacy.  I went and got out my little screwdriver to get the door open, but I could not get it to open.  I kept pounding on the door, yelling for Malachi to turn off the water or unlock the door, but he couldn't hear me with the water running.  I went and got more tools to try, and ended up breaking one of my screwdrivers off in the doorknob.  I started sending kids to neighbors and texting friends who lived nearby to see if anyone could help.  No one was home, and I finally got Malachi to try to come unlock the door, but he couldn't get it open and just climbed back into the bath, with the water still running.  I was starting to freak out a little.  I asked the kids to try one more time at neighbors a little further down the street, and kept trying different tools to try and open the door.  I was about ready to call the fire department, when Samuel said he got someone's Dad to come over.  He arrived and tried opening it with different tools and nothing worked, so he started getting out different credit cards and managed to jimmy the lock open that way.  I was so relieved to have that door opened and to see that although there was plenty of water on the floor from Malachi splashing, the overflow stop thing worked and the bathtub didn't overflow, and Malachi was still happily playing in the bath oblivious to my distress.  I thanked the Dad for his help, and drained Malachi's bath, and wiped up the floor. and after giving Malachi a bath, gave him a lesson in unlocking the door, and then took apart the doorknob to figure out how to open it from the other side if that happens again.  Betsy got to go to Kansas University as part of a school program, and got to see glowing bugs, and do fun sciency things, and got cookies.

Going to Oregon, Caleb's birthday, and more sickness!

getting ready for some boxing!

so cute!!!

Sweet little Malachi!!

I love cuddling this boy

Aunt Kellie carrying 3 babies (she's pregnant)

The Hardy family together again for my Mom's birthday!

The Hardy family and Oregon nieces and nephews

Valentine's Day games, blowing q-tips through a straw into a bowl with a heart bulls-eye

Austin's turn

Betsy's turn

Samuel's turn

Caleb's turn

Playing Hershey's Kiss Memory with hearts

Caleb got a match!!!

Such a cute little Valentine

Gideon is helping Samuel do his HW

Caleb is 5!!  

Caleb asked for a race car, rainbow, marshmallow cake!

Caleb loves his Elmo he got

I can't get enough of this cute little chubby face!!

Austin was playing with Gideon in the ball pit

Such a happy boy!

It's been a busy couple of weeks as usual around here.  Malachi has been driving me a little nuts with his 2-year old shenanigans.  He colored all over himself with a purple dry erase marker (right after a bath) and as I followed the trail of purple marker all down the hallway on the wall and the carpet. I finally reached the end of his coloring with my $3000 piano covered in purple marker, he didn't miss a single key, (yes, I let out a scream), with the marker with lid off sitting on the colored piano bench. (After much scrubbing managed to get it all off). He got my deep blue roll on (kind of like icy hot for muscles) and rolled in on his lips like Chapstick an all over his hands and tummy before he started screaming. (We went through about a cup of coconut oil to try an dilute it, and he finally stopped screaming) at least he didn't rub his eyes. I had just finished putting all my papers and files into nice neat stacks all over my bed and he ran in and shoved them all over the floor. He took all the little clay people we had made to represent our family and send to Travis and broke them into little pieces. Aahhhh!!!!! He also stole my glasses and left shoe one morning when I didn't get up with him at 5am.  I barely found them in time to drive the girls to school.  I flew to Oregon for my Mom's 60th surprise birthday party.  Gideon came with me of course, but the rest of the kids stayed home, and my visiting teacher (she's awesome) stayed with them Friday and Saturday.  It was a really quick trip, I left early Friday morning (5am) and came back late Saturday night (11pm).  Gideon was a great travel companion, he was cute and cuddly, and very good, for a total of 6 hours flight time between two flights.  I ended up sitting next to men on both flights, which is always a little awkward with a breastfeeding baby, even if I am covered up.  A really nice gentleman (a grandpa) helped me get off the airplane and get my bags, and even wheeled it with me out to meet my sister.  It wasn't necessary, but was really sweet, and kind.  My sister Misha picked us up from the airport. I always forget how green Oregon is, it is awesome.  We ran a couple errands for the party and then I hung out at her house, playing with my nephews and helping to get ready for the party.  We went back to the airport and picked up Cristin, then went back to Misha's house and ate dinner, and finished the party preparations, and then drove over to my parent's house (my Dad took my Mom out to dinner) and decorated the house.  All the other guests arrived, and just before my Mom and Dad got home, we turned off the lights.  My Mom was so surprised, she couldn't believe both Cristin and I were there.  All her children were at the party for her, she loved it!  I loved it too, it was so awesome being home and with all my siblings, and my parent's friends who I've known all my life.  Everyone loved Gideon, and enjoyed holding him.  As part of the party everyone told funny stories about my Mom, it was fun to reminisce.   Then my Dad and Misha played a cello/piano duet, and then Misha and I sang a song to my Mom.  It was a very fun evening.  The next morning we had a breakfast of crepes with all the family there, it was really fun, then we took pictures, and it was time for me to go to the airport again.  Gideon was a little fussier going back, but still did awesome, and we lucked out and had an empty seat next to us on both flights.  I drove home, and relieved the babysitter and fell asleep exhausted, but happy.  The next morning woke everyone up and got them ready for church and went to church.  Caleb and Malachi had both started getting colds a few days before I left, but apparently they had gotten a lot worse, because Malachi couldn't stay in nursery because he was coughing so much.  So Betsy had to skip primary and watch both Malachi and Gideon in the Mother's room, while I played the piano.  Then during choir practice, Malachi was coughing so hard he threw up in the hallway, and Betsy had to take him to the bathroom and clean him up, while Samuel cleaned up the mess in the hallway.  I was so relieved when choir practice was finally over and I could take my poor, sick little boy home to take care of him.  It was also Valentine's day, so I made a fun scavenger hunt that I got from the internet and the kids and I all had fun playing the games while Malachi slept.  Now a week later Malachi and Caleb are both still coughing way too much, and Malachi has even had fevers and wheezing, so we didn't go to church today.  Even though I've had sick kids all week, it was Caleb's birthday on the 17th, so we celebrated his birthday with cake and ice cream and opening presents.  He had a great day playing with his new toys!  We have had a couple really nice days weather wise and enjoyed a few walks to the park.  Gideon had his well-baby check up on Wednesday, and he has not been happy about it, it had a fever for two days, and has had diarrhea the past two days, and started crying so much today, that I took him to the ER to see if he had an ear infection, They said everything looked good, and just gave him more tylenol and said he was probably still upset about his immunizations, and I took him back home.