Getting Loves!

Doug was in charge of doing baths this night.  I came out from the laundry room and
found them all relaxing on Daddy fighting not to fall asleep themselves!

What's been going on . . . .

When I first came home we had lots of activities to do thanks to our wonderful daycare provider.  The kids were doing a career unit were only part way through the unit when they left.  Kimmy provided me with a few of career items that she had already purchased for the kids.  Here they are with their baker hats on while we were making brownies one day. 

Here is the constuction career. . . . . .

Who remembers playing with cardboard boxes when they were younger??  I sure do, and boy did I forget how cool they were until we had the box from Doug's gun safe.  The kids colored it for days, had me cut out windows and doors and then create a door handle for the door.  It is amazing their little imaginations, here are some pictures of their precious house and their progress. 

You can even see as their constuction hats off to the side, they wore these while I was cutting the windows and most of the time in coloring the house. 

The other nice thing with being at home is that we have had consistent Family Home Evenings.  Here are some pictures from a recent  FHE where Ayden asked to learn more about Moroni.   Doug did a great job, we talked a lot about Moroni and then made sure that the kids knew why he was on the top of the temple as well as why he looked the way he did.  As our activity we had the kids take turns standing on a kitchen stool and look like Moroni, Doug and I participated as well.  We forgot about the adult robe until my turn and I went last, but it was still a lot of fun.

I am sure that we will have many more fun activities as we go along, especially with school being out next week.

The Next Chapter . . .

Well as many of you know, we have ventured into a new chapter of our lives.  Doug have being laid off last March from teaching has now finished his certification program at Red Rocks Community College for Law Enforcement.  He is now Colorado POST certified to be a police officer; after lots and lots and lots of applying for jobs he was able to join the Loveland Police Department.  This is a HUGE blessing for us, because we didn't want to move but would if we needed.  He started on February 22nd and has been loving every moment of it.  My last day of work was Friday March 11th-  this was a great relief.  I loved my job but have been awaiting the day to stay at home with all of the kids. 
Look for posts to be happening more frequently as I will have a little more time to keep up on things around the house.

It is time to Catch up!!

I will start by apologizing for no pictures, we have had a small run with our main computer and have yet to fix it.  But here is the link to pictures from my facebook albums.

Random photos from 2010
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=198137&id=665441180&l=39325b8ca7

Staycation 2010
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=216522&id=665441180&l=2c75d49474

Lots has happened since I last updated my blog, so I am not really sure where to start so I will go down this line and see how it goes.

Ayden is doing well.  He just finished kindergarten and loved every minute of it.  As most of you know Ayden is an active kid and we were glad to have school be done just because we were out of ideas of activities for the bus.  Ayden is doing fantastic with his reading, in fact he loves to read Green Eggs and Ham and even Hop on Pop to his brother and sister.  He is constantly trying to find things to read, and sounding words out.  He also is enjoying writing, his attempts are great and sometimes very close; my favorite is when he drew me a picture for work and then wrote I luv u mommy.  Now the school is out Ayden is back into T-ball and loving it.  He is one of the older kids on the team, but still struggles with remembering when he hits the ball he needs to run to first not second.  It is thoroughly amusing to watch.

Ryry is such a goofball.  She will be turning four in October and is a burst of energy.  She loves her new "school"  and her teacher is amazing.  She is learning things quick as well.  Doug and I always talk about she would know so much more if we spent the time with her that we did with Ayden.  Ry has created that love of her babies.  Quite often we have to give her a "sicky" cup so that she can feed her baby.  A few months ago she was upset because I asked to put her baby down for a nap so that Masyn could sit in his chair for dinner, that didn't go over so well.  Recently we found at a garage sale a cute little doll size bunk bed for her babies; now they have to sleep next to her all night.

Masyn is the chunky baby he has always been.  He is now 18 months old and it is so hard to believe.    He loves running after the older kids and playing with them.  We can tell that he wishes he could communicate better with us as to his needs.  He can sign please and says "gank goo" and every so often he will sign water.  He is also loving the daycare that we use.  There is another a girl that is his same age at the daycare and they are best buddies.  Masyn has become our little climber; we have caught him standing on the coffee table, kitchen chairs, and the dining room table.  As long as he stays away from the bar stools for now we are okay. 

Doug as most of you know was not renewed for his teacher contract.  While this was tough news, it helped make a few decisions for him and for our family.  Doug has been thinking for a long time about a career change, this nudged him in that direction.  He has since gotten the okay to receive unemployment benefits while in going to school.  Yes, he is going back to school.  Doug was just recently accepted to Red Rocks Community College Law Enforcement Academy.  This is a great step and will get him certified for police agencies, hopefully making him more marketable.  He is also active with the Army National Guard.  They just had their annual state tour through the western slope, he had a blast. 

As for myself, I am plugging away.  Back in November I was asked by my district manager to transfer to our local Wachovia location to assist with the conversion and ensure that the employees were transitioned properly.  I went ahead and took the offer and it cut my commute down by about 10 minutes, but you take what you can get.  My job has kept me busy that is for sure.  About the same time I started at my new store I also received a new calling, primary sectary.  Needless to say my life always has something going on. 

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home, Glad as I can can be

Doug returned from his military basic training and AIT in July. The kids thoroughly enjoyed having him home again, let alone it made things easier around the house and with the kids. 

This is a picture that was taken by someone at the airport after Ry found Doug.  The gentleman was so nice as to send a larger copy as well as a digital image.  It has become a favorite.

Adventures in waiting

Some of you may or may not know, Doug joined the Army National Guard last July. With joining he has had his drill weekends in Denver once a month to help him prepare for his basic training. Then the day came when it was time for him to report to Fort Jackson, South Carolina. The kids and I took him do a hotel in Denver where he would spend the night and fly out the next day. That was March 30. After about a month of the kids not understanding fully why Daddy was gone let alone when he would be back I decided it was time to create something tangible, that they could understand. This is our beloved countdown chain to see our Daddy!. When we built it in FHE at the very end of April it seemed to far away to fathom the day we would reach the blue and orange chain you see hanging to the lower left of the picture on the wall. That was the coveted link, when that chain came off we would fly to see our Daddy. Each month had a different color to help the kids break it down. Ayden and Ry alternate nights as to whose turn it is to take the chain off. It has been wonderful watching the kids build up their excitement for our big trip.

One day I went into get Ayden out of the bath tub and he wanted me to help him write a note to Doug. Here is what he wanted me to write.

Above is a picture of the opening ceremony of family day at Fort Jackson. It was really neat they had a presentation of what things they had been working on. There were hummers and mortar shells going off. After the presentation the colors were brought forward. It is hard to see but behind all of the smoke and the colors are the trees, the soldiers were "hiding" in. I had completely missed them, but Ayden was quick to notice them right away.

After the officers were done talking we were allowed to go onto the field and pick up our soldier. My Mom joined us on the trip and watched the kids while I went to get Doug. When I came back with him the kids were super excited. We had made signs the night before for the kids to hold up, so that Doug could find them a little easier. Needless to say it was a tearful reunion. Ry did take a little while to warm up to Doug, with him being in his ACU's not being something she was used to.

One of our family day visits was to the Fort Jackson Museum. Unfortunately the actual museum was closed for renovations. We ended up touring the outside where there were several tanks, a helicopter, a spotlight and many other things.

This is a picture of Doug's company while at graduation. If you look real close you can see Doug he is in the second row from the left and fourth down from the back.

While our traveling for the trip was the most stressful, and not because of kids, the trip was great. With Doug traveling to his AIT site he had a layover in the Atlanta airport right over the time we were waiting for our flight home. So the kids and I were able to get one more squeeze and spend lunch with him before he left for the next journey.

we have got some catching up to do. . .

Lots has gone on since I last updated my blog, but then life has been really busy. I have been back at work now for a little over a month. It is hard to believe but it has gone by fast. Work has been a difficult thing for me to do lately; partially because I would love to stay at home with the kiddos and live the dream. But the nice thing about work is that it fills the time and sometimes with good things!!

Since the last time I blogged Doug has since left for Basic Training. The time that he has been gone has been a definite challenge. I have learned many things about myself and about my kids. We have since created popcorn party night in Mom's bed on Friday nights. This has become a fun evening for all. We usually eat leftovers, so that I don't have to cook and dinner happens quicker. Then it is fast baths for all the kids and while Ry is in the bath Ayden will pick the movie, and while Ayden is in the bath Ry and I make the popcorn. We then go watch the movie on my bed and eat popcorn. Yes, it creates quite a mess in my bed but you know it is totally worth it having all three of the kids to cuddle with and watch a silly movie.

Saturdays have fondly become "stay at home" days because that is the day I don't have to work and the kids don't go to Candice's. While they love going there it is nice to stay and play at your own house. The kids sleep in to all of 7:15 if I am lucky, even after staying up until almost 10:00 the night before watching movies. Sometimes we will visit Grandma's. Last week we went down to the Savage's and spent the weekend with them. The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Here are some pictures of our adventures.

Ayden and Ryleigh in their Easter outfits.

The kids with their Easter baskets

They had so much fun on Easter. We went to my Mom's the day before to dye eggs. It was a lot of fun. We had just about all of the grand kids there as well as my brother's girlfriend's three boys, let's just I am sure we set a record for dying five dozen Easter eggs. The morning of Easter the kids were so surprised the the Easter bunny came. It is so much fun seeing their reactions! As you can tell in the picture the Easter bunny didn't pull price tags off of the clothes, Ayden was sure to point that out.

Daniel with James, Masyn and Q

Just before Doug left we blessed Masyn. We had everyone at my house for a shin dig and Daniel wanted to hold of the new babies. . . you think he was a proud uncle or something.

Doug took this the Sunday before he left. Ry was loving holding Masyn so much we had to tell her that it is good to love him we just have to be soft so as to not hurt him.


Ry loves to hold and feed Masyn whenever the opportunity arises.

A lot of morning Ryleigh wakes up and says she needs wake up loves from Ayden, you see how thrilled he is about that.

Our Family!

My beloved sister is a talented photographer and took this photo. This is the most recent and taken just before he left for BCT.

Why do they have to grow up!

Okay, Okay, I think I am becoming the queen of procrastination, because just in my last blog there are so many other things I should be doing and am not.

I had a revelation the other day, it was that my little Ayden is starting Kindergarten this year, not only that but he will be riding the bus! I could deal with the starting school, it is hitting a little hard because of the fact he will be in Loveland and I work in Fort Collins, so I am not as close. Bummer! The bus ride is what is freaking me out, I never had to ride the bus to or from school when I was younger. Now I know that some of you are thinking it will be fine, let me tell you I am sure that these people are well qualified in their driving skills, as my own mother trains bus drivers for Poudre school district, but I have heard some of her stories of drivers and the things that can go on. There is still something about trusting your child to be transported safely to school in the hands of someone you don't know on a vehicle could swallow your child without a single thought. Now mind you Ayden thinks this is the coolest thing ever and can't hardly wait for the opportunity to ride the bus, I am sure he thinks that it is going to be like the magic school bus in the stories at grandma's house.

Now Ry she is starting to show more and more personality. Anymore if we say that we are going to Grandma's house, she says "no, umpapa's house". She is becoming a daddy's girl! If Doug's runs to the store she wants to go, if he goes running she wants to go. She is also starting to show some interest in having her hair done, now mind you I am not allowed to touch it unless she needs help. She does such a lovely job as you can see below. She is doing extremely well with being potty-trained. I bought her princess underwear a couple of weeks ago and she could hardly wait to put some on. If she hadn't been buckled into the cart I am sure she would have stripped right there in Target to change out of training pants into "rella". She is starting to speak more clearly so that you can understand her, there are somethings that she struggles with one being "lucky chick" it comes out sounding like "ucky hick". She is a hoot!

Masyn is now coming up on 8 weeks old. I can't even believe that my leave is almost over. I have enjoyed myself beyond belief. Seeing Ayden and Ryleigh interact with Masyn is the greatest thing. They are both very protective of him and want to keep him safe from other people. They are both quick to tell me that he is crying, even if I am holding him. They have taken to taking care of their own babies the way they see mommy and daddy take care of them.

Doug is getting ready to ship out to basic training. He leaves on March 30th, he will be gone until mid-July at the earliest. He is starting to get excited, and I myself am trying to be excited with him. I am trying to get the kids prepared for the length of time he is away and create a countdown calendar for when we will be able to see him.

Ayden LOVES his little brother!

Ayden and Ry "breastfeeding" their babies from their belly buttons

I use a blanket almost 100% of the time, WOW do they have imaginations!

Ryleigh demonstrating her future as a hair stylist

Ayden making googlie eyes at Masyn

New pictures of Masyn

Here are some pictures that a lady in our ward offered to take of Masyn.

Been way too long!!!

So it has been a LONG time since I have posted anything. Well now I am home for a little while, kids are sleeping and I should be doing something else more productive but oh well!

LOTS has happened since Halloween. Thanksgiving we spent at my older sister's house, which was a blast, lots of yummy food and lots of socialization. It was nice to have just about the whole family together. The boys all hing out upstairs playing the wii trying to beat Ayden's top score on bowling. I understood that they may have beat him in a game but the records were still Ayden's. My brothers could not understand how a 4 year old could do so well when he has never bowled a real game in his life.

Thanksgiving came and went pretty quickly, but not as fast as Christmas. Doug and I were so busy with work that we didn't have much time to make sure that we had what we needed for Ayden and Ryleigh for Christmas. We did a lot of last minute shopping right down to the day before. We spent the week of Christmas down at Doug's parents house all but his older sister were there for the entire week. We went to zoo lights, which is something we all enjoyed and had never done before and again there was lots of wii playing again trying to beat Ayden's scores. There were lots of avid attempts but the records held strong.

Christmas eve Ayden was reminded by Uncle Daniel to put out treats for Santa and even some carrots for Rudolph. Boy was he shocked when he woke up the next day and went upstairs to see that the treats were gone! I believe his exact words were "holy smokers!" Ayden also had a close run-in with Santa. On Christmas eve Santa was putting gifts under the tree (now understand this is the first year that Ayden truly understands Santa) and a present he had in his hand dropped and hit an empty tin that was under the tree. Ayden woke up and looked at Santa's helper who promptly left and hid what she had in her arms. Ayden was covered up with a blanket and told to go back to sleep Santa doesn't come when you are awake. Needless to say that was all we needed was to traumatize a 4 year old on the first year he believed. All in all it ended well and the kids were very excited with what they got, they made out like bandits as you can see!

New year's came and went, we spent the time with my family playing games until we realized it was midnight (thanks to Kim :) ). The next thing we had to look forward to was January 8th the long awaited due date, the 8th passed so did the 10th, and the 15th. I was starting to think I was never going to have this kid, I was doomed to be pregnant for the rest of my life, just what I always wanted!! Then on the 16th about 1:00 I started to have contractions, we timed them for awhile before calling the doctor, then we called and we were told to go into the birthing center.

As I started to get things ready for myself and for the kids I noticed that the contractions were slowing in consistency. I told myself nonsense and we pushed on. My Dad met us at the hospital to take the Ayden and Ryleigh to his place to sleep. We were at the hospital for an hour or so and then we were told to go home the contractions had stopped.

In my mind I was thinking well that confirms it I will be pregnant for the rest of my life. We went home and slept in to 9:00 which is a first since we had kids. We then said let's clean the house and see if contractions will start again. Three hours later. . . . nothing; I gave up. I was doomed to be induced the following day at 7:30. We went to my Mom's house so that we could play with the kids for awhile they were going to be spending another night at Grandma's because of the induction. I tried everything to avoid being induced but it wasn't happening, so I thought. Thank goodness I woke up just before 1 am with contractions again. I woke up Doug and said we are not going in until we are positive that they are for real. Once again we called the Doctor after about an hour of contractions and were told to go into the birthing center and were assured that we would not be sent home because of the induction that was already scheduled.

We arrived and and told that sure enough labor had started by itself, THANK GOODNESS!! I went strong for the first four hours and then asked for the epidural. This is when it got exciting! The doctor came in to give the epidural and he had Doug hold me and help me concentrate on relaxing. You would think that after doing this twice before that Doug would be familiar with the process. When the doctor when to put in the local Doug passed out. He fell straight back nothing was in the way it was straight back arms in front of him like Frankenstein. I heard his head hit the floor. All of a sudden the doctor and the nurse buzz for help and are over him trying to wake him up. He was out for a good 10 seconds or so. When he came to he was confused as to why people were over him and not taking care of his wife. The doctor had called for people to come and help from the ER, and they took him down for a CT scan as well as a 12 lead EKG. They ended up giving him a bag a IV fluid and discharging him. They wheeled him back up to my room and had him sit down for awhile next to the bed. My doctor held off on breaking my water until Doug returned from the ER which was about 8:00, he was taken down at 6:30. From then on out it was smooth sailing through the birth.

Later in the afternoon around 3:00 I was getting transferred to the recovery floor. They decided based on what happened earlier in the day that Doug shouldn't walk himself so the nurse wheeled him over first. It was a good thing, shortly after I arrived Doug threw up. The nurse called our doctor to find out what they should do, needless to say it was another trip to the ER with another bag of fluids. When they discharged him they sent him with some pain medication for his headache and some anti-nausea pills. He still spent the first night in the hospital with me and Masyn. It was quite exciting and quite a story to tell Masyn when he is older.

Masyn Kahana Savage was born on Sunday January 18th at 12:52 pm. he was a whopping 8 pounds and 7 ounces (Ryleigh still holds the record) and he was 20 1/4 inches. I was corrected with his height at the doctors office a couple of days after birth. We originally were told 21 inches in the hospital.

Ayden and Ryleigh have loved having him around. Ryleigh still calls him "baby" because she confuses him with my sisters baby, who is two weeks older. Ayden is protective and wants to make sure that he is all right. The instance Masyn starts to cry he is right there telling him that it is okay and the his mommy was here to take care of him. It is really sweet.

Here are some pictures of how things are going. I am sure one day I will figure out how to take care of three kids, maybe just in time to have another. Who knows???

Here is a website with additional photos http://kile.game-host.org:8080/mason_savage/

Halloween 2008

This was the first year that Ayden and Ry were somewhat interested in carving pumpkins. They were funny to watch, Ayden refused to get dirty and touch the pulp. Ry once she started had to make sure the pumpkin was cleaned out good!

Ayden is such a neat freak Doug was not allowed to touch him until Ayden watched him watch his hands with soap!

Ryleigh was not afraid. She couldn't get enough pumpkin out. She became upset when it was time to actually carve the pumpkin.

This is all of the grand kids on the Kile side of the family minus Tristan. We have Maggie dressed as a bee and Lexi as a little bee. Trevor was supposed to be mater be he didn't want to put on his costume. Ry is a cheerleader, Ayden was a modified woody, because he didn't want to wear all of the stuff. Adriana was a pirate and Katie Jo was a cat/witch. They were all so cute and enjoyed trick or treating a bit too much. It was good to see them get into it a little bit more this year.