Tanner's Birthday and Party

 

Tanner's birthday was a success!

We had a pretty mellow day while Daddy was at work. We went to MooMart (WalMart) to pick out a doll that he said he wanted for his birthday and cupcakes. We found these very cute little dolls. There was pink, blue and purple and he picked the pink and blue. I also said he could get a stroller and he picked the pink stroller opposed to the purple. This kid really likes pink!

 After Daddy got home Grandma came upstairs and gave him a tub full of coloring and drawing things and a PAW Patrol puzzle. He loved them! And we gave him the 3DS that Kollin wanted to get him. He was pretty excited about it.

The following Saturday was his birthday party. He said he wanted to go bowling and only had a few friends that he wanted to be there. So that worked! One of the friends had to cancel at the last minute, so just 2 were there. It was really fun and cute to watch 3 5 year olds bowl. 



Such a cool Transformer cupcake cake that he picked out.

5 Years Old

Such a big boy!

 

Happy Birthday to you!

You have really grown in leaps and bounds this year.

 

You are now in your second year of pre-school and you love it! You have not had anymore issues when getting dropped off at school like you did last year. You are so excited to be a big boy in class and helping your classmates, I think that may be what has helped.

 

You are a crazy talker now. Full sentences. All. The. Time. There are many things that you don't pronounce right that I really hope you'll grow out of soon. You say your C's and K's as T's, and your G's as D's. You also tend to not say your P's. Like when you say "police," it comes out "ohweese," and other words I can't think of no. But we know you can hear and say the letter P because you say "potty," "purple" and other things correctly. There are also others, but those come and go, like mixing up your N's and M's. It gets pretty frustrating for you and us sometimes when you are trying to tell us something, but it takes us a little bit to figure out what you are trying to say because you're not saying your words with the right letter sound. I'm sure it will come with time and age. Hopefully.

 

You are having so much fun with Chase now that he's mobile an can run around with you. You two are definitely boys and love to rough house and tackle each other. You have very active times when you are ripping apart the couch, jumping on the cushions, tearing each other's heads off (all in fun) to very sweet times when you will "read" a book to Chase and watch tablets together. You are such a sweet big brother.

 

You have definitely developed an attitude and we are working on helping you know how to speak nicely to us (especially Mommy) and asking for things and not demanding. We're pretty sure it has been going to school that has started this. Which is ok! I know it is normal for you to want a little freedom after being so structured at school and it comes out as aggression. You just need to learn what aggression is ok, and what is not.

 

I am starting a Birthday Interview now that you are talking so well and we will see how much it changes each year!

 

Birthday Interview

 

What is your favorite thing to do?

"To build a Lego house and build Minecraft houses."

 

What do you want to be when you grow up?

"Drive a garbage truck like Daddy."

 

What is your favorite food?

"Cereal!"

 

Who do you like to spend time with?

"My friends at school."

 

What do you do really well?

"Building houses."

 

What makes you laugh?

"When I lifted up the train track and it fell down and broke. That's kind of funny!"

 

What is the best time of the day?

"Breakfast Time."

 

What are you afraid of?

"I'm scared in the bathroom with no lights on"

 

Who is your best friend?

"Boston and Cooper and Cole and Ben and Case and you and Daddy."

 

What do you like to do with your family?

"Sledding and riding the train at the mall."

 

What do you love to learn about?

"My ABC's and numbers."

 

What is your favorite book?

"Paw Patrol book."

 

What is your favorite TV show?

"PAW Patrol and PJ Masks."

 

What is your favorite movie?

"Transformers, Avengers, Cars, Big Hero 6 and Frozen."

 

What do you want for your birthday?

"A doll and video games."

 



We love you so much and you are such a light in our lives.

Happy Birfday Buddy!

 

xoxo

Mommy and Daddy

Mommy's Going Back to Work

 

So guess what? I'm going back to work!

 

I've been feeling for a while that I want to feel more productive and able to help financially with our family. Kollin didn't even know when I applied for this job. I told him after I already did it.

 

So I got a job with USPS and I am so so excited! I am what's called a Data Conversion Operator. I will be working at a computer all night coding scanned images of mail coming in from all over the US. The location I am working at is the last one like it left in the US. We were the first one, then there were eventually 55, and now it has gone back down to 1.

 

The coding that I will be doing is entering zip codes, addresses, names and everything. When you see that bar code on the bottom of your mail, that comes from what I have coded. There are many different systems that handle different kinds of mail and I will eventually be learning all of them and switching back and forth depending on what is needed at the time.

 

I really hope it will be a good thing for our family and myself. Kollin's cousin Bekah has been working there for 8 years and loves it. So I am very confident this will be wonderful for us.

 

Wish me luck!

Christmas 2015

Christmas Eve and Christmas were a lot of fun this year.

 

We spent Christmas Eve and Grandma and Grandpa Cannon's house. We ate dinner, got Christmas PJ's, did the manger scene, opened presents and played games!

 

 

Grandma's manger scene is very special. If I remember right, I believe it belonged to Grandma of the Great Cannon. I'll have to ask her to make sure. She has all of the figurines wrapped up and in plastic bags all in a big stocking.

As she is telling the story of Baby Jesus she has each grandkid take a turn picking a back out of the stocking, opening it up and placing it in the manger. It is pretty cute and a great way to keep everyone's attention.

 

 After everyone opened presents and their PJ's we had a great Nerf gun war. Each kid (and Erik) got a really cool Nerf gun and they all ran around the house shooting each other. Mostly all the kids ganged up on Uncle Erik. It was pretty funny because each time Tanner took a shot he ran back to me to help him cock the gun because he wasn't strong enough to do it himself.

 

After the gun fight Grandma Cannon brought out a basket of stuffed animals. She started by saying how they don't allow anyone to throw things from their balcony. All of the grandkids are constantly trying to drop or throw things from it and have broken things on occasion. But on this night they were allowed to! The stuffed animals were actually like sling shots and they had a contest who could launch theirs the furthest down the hallway. We seriously have the coolest grandparents!

On Christmas morning the boys came into the living room and they both headed right for the gifts. We knew Tanner would totally go for it, but it was great to see Chase bee line it for a light saber that he got. 

They had so much fun opening their gifts and playing with each other. They both got a whole bunch of new PAW Patrol toys, Legos, Duplos, Transformers and other things.

 

We had planned to go to Great Grandma and Grandpa Richens' house like we do every year, but there was a really bad snow storm and Kollin was worried about the big hill that they live on. So we didn't end up going. I was bummed, but it was also pretty nice just spending the day at home with our little family.

Later one we went to Great Grandma Norman's house who lives really close by. We got to visit with her as well as Tiff and Seatle. They are still having a really rough time with the loss of Ashton, especially on the holidays. But it was really good to see them and Maddie and that they were able to enjoy Christmas just a little bit.

 

Overall it was a great day and so fun!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

21 Months Old

 

Well, hey there Mr. almost 2 year old!

 

These last few months there haven't been that many changes or milestones...

 

Some things that have been going on are that you are really starting to assert yourself. Most of the time it is really cute like taking our finger to show us what you need or want us to see. Others are a little tough. You can get pretty aggressive if you don't get what you want or if someone (namely Tanner or Cadence) tries to take something from you. You get this death grip and refuse to let go of something you have and are pretty good at ripping it back out of their hands. It's not very nice, but we're working on it. Don't worry, we're also working on them to not just grab things too.

You also are starting to bite and pinch. Really hard. The other day you broke my skin a few different times. No bleeding though. I think you are probably getting frustrated with your lack of words to express yourself.

 

Which brings me to your speech. The best way to explain it I think is that you have been "stuck" for quite some time. You haven't had any new words for a really long time. You still say "ball," "MOM" and "dat." Oh ya, and going back to your 18 month post, your words for "choo choo" sounds like "day day." So cute! You have also started to say "da" when you see Daddy as well as when I ask you where something is you will go find it, or point to it if it is in sight and say "dahhh!" As in "there!" I don't know if I'm just not noticing anything else you may be saying, or if you're just not. Grandpa Cannon actually brought this up with me and said he has noticed you aren't saying much. So what we've done is we're going to get you evaluated for speech therapy at the beginning of January and see if it is even needed, or what we need to do if anything. You certainly understand everything that anyone says to you which is a great sign. Who knows? You may just be one of those silly kids who just doesn't want to talk yet.

 

You LOVE to play with cars right now. You are constantly stealing Tanner's cars and trains and love to roll them along the entertainment center in front of the TV and watch them fall off or down the back. You really like to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, PAW Patrol and pretty much anything on Disney and Nick Jr. You are definitely more of a couch potato and get sucked into shows more than Tanner. It's pretty funny.

 

You and Tanner are still having tons of fun with each other. You play PAW Patrol a lot, as well as hide and seek, tag, hiding behind the curtains, making houses and tunnels out of the couch cushions and just plain rough housing. When you guys make a house, you and Tanner will find every blanket and soft toy (those are the only things I will let you take into your house) in your room and bring them into your house one by one. You just love it.

 

You are still wearing a size 3 diaper although we'll probably go up a size with the next box we buy. You wear a size 18 month shirt, but it seems the long sleeve shirts are getting a little short in the arms. Size 12 and some 18 month pants and size 5 shoes.

 

I haven't weighed or measured you this month, but on your growth chart you are taller than Tanner was at 2 years old! You always make me wonder when you are going to pass him up.

 

You are such a fun and happy kid!

 

xoxo

 

MOM and Da

Halloween 2015

 We got a bit of a late start on everything for Halloween because of everything that has happened this week.

We finally carved our pumpkins on Halloween and then went trick or treating in Grandma and Grandpa Cannon's neighborhood.

Our little Bumblebee and Optimus Prime all ready to get some treats!

 Grandma and Grandpa were in Dallas visiting Clark and Megan to help get ready for the new baby. But we still went to their street and my old street to go trick or treating like we do every year.

There was a U game that night so many people left bowls of candy on their front porches since they weren't home. Since we got a late start I don't know if the candy was gone because we were after the big rush of kids, or if the teenagers had taken all of it. But the boys still made a pretty good haul, so it worked out well.

Tanner wasn't afraid of the scary masks this year! Yay!

Our Sweet Boy Ashton

 Our 12 year old nephew (actually Kollin's cousin's son, but we have always called them aunt, uncle, nephew and niece), Ashton, was hit by a utility truck on his way to his school bus stop on the morning of October 23rd. The details are still a little jumbled but from what I understand is that he was thrown 50 feet. When the truck finally came to a stop it had stopped on his foot. His mom, Aunt Tiff, saw the entire thing happen. She actually saw it coming and was trying to honk at him and wave at him to not cross the street yet. But he thought she was just waving bye to him.

He was life flighted to Primary Children's where he was put into a medically induced coma. He had a fractured pelvis, fractured facial bones and broken skull that started at the base in the back to just over the top of his head. He had good brain activity and they were keeping a close eye on him to make sure it stayed that way.

His injuries should not have been life threatening.

We went to go visit him on Sunday and he had been doing SO well. Tiff even thanked us for Tanner. She said if it wasn't for what we went through with Tanner and his heart, she would have never got to medical school to be a nurse because she wanted to work in the NICU. She would not have known how to save her son.  From what we heard he was also doing great on Monday and were talking about waking him up on Tuesday. But on Tuesday morning I got a phone call from Aunt Linda that he had started to have some heart irregularities and his brain was starting to die. Shortly after that our sweet Ash passed away.

During the week we spent a lot of time at their home trying to help comfort and spend time with family. On Thursday Tiff asked me if I would be ok to go and dress Ash and do his hair for her along with her sister-in-law Holly. I told her I was honored and would loved to do this for her and him.

On Friday Holly and I went to the mortuary to do this final

act of love for Ashton. It was a very tender and special experience for both of us. I had never done anything like that before and I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was a very sweet time. We made sure his hair was just right and the cosmetics they used looked just how Tiff wanted them. I really hope she was happy with everything.

On Saturday, Halloween, was the funeral. Kollin and Troy were asked to be pallbearers and Tiff had asked them and Tanner and Chase to wear their kilts. Everyone was also asked to wear U of U shirts for Ash. Even the people from the mortuary wore them.

The funeral was very sweet. Unfortunately I wasn't able to hear most of it because Chase was being pretty unruly and I had retreated to the nursery to keep him entertained. But from what Kollin said it was a very nice service.

Some memories that Tiff asked me to write that was read at the funeral.

At the cemetery his grave site was dedicated by Uncle Duane and everything was very short and sweet.

It was a very nice day although it was definitely the worst day of Tiff and Seatle's lives. We were honored to be a part of it.

Fly high Little Man!

The white heart on the far right are the flowers we got for him. I had to do a heart.

This was Ash's last English assignment. His teach had printed it up and framed it for the family.

Back in September 2014 when we all went to California for cousin Malinda's wedding. Ashe was always so sweet and fun with Tanner even with their 8 year age difference.

Tanner went Bonk

The boys and I went to the gym so I could go running today. I dropped them off at the day care and went up to the track. I didn't even get 3 minutes into my run when I could have sworn I heard my name over the PA system. I could barely hear it since I was listening to music on my head phones. I thought I heard something along the lines of "Allison Stark" and "day care."

 

So I left the track and walked right over to the day care. My mind was racing as to what could have been wrong, but it never crossed my mind that someone was actually hurt. I got in there and the 3 daycare ladies were all around Tanner sitting in a rocking chair with a paper towel on his head and blood all over his face. They moved the paper towel to reveal this big cut on his head!

They said that they didn't even see what happened because everything was supposedly fine. From what they could get out of Tanner is he was pushing a big toy car around and ran right into the corner of the table. The reason they didn't even know it happened was because he never cried. He just went over to a corner of the room and sat down. When one of the women went to investigate why it got so quiet all of the sudden she thought he had a bloody nose. But when she got closer is when she saw he actually had a cut.

I told them it is completely normal for Tanner to run away and hide. I said if he ever stumbles or hurts himself at home he gets really embarrassed  and does not like to be the center of attention. So when people ask him if he is ok he yells at us to not look at him or talk to him. So since it happened at day care, he went and hid because he's not as familiar with them as he is with family and didn't want to bring unwanted attention to himself.

After I got there a few more people showed up. A life guard from the pool came over and did some basic first aid so it would stop bleeding and got it bandaged. And another lady came who I am assuming was probably someone over the entire fitness center to fill out an accident report. She asked me if I was ok since I was just sitting there being quiet letting the life guard do his thing. I told her this was nothing after what we had been through with Tanner's heart and with Chase's penny! It was pretty funny and probably strange for her to see a parent so calm I guess.

Everyone kept apologizing and I kept reassuring them that everything was ok and that it happens. That I am not one of those crazy parents that is going to sue you because my child hurt himself on their property. 4 year olds get hurt. Totally normal in my book! I understand they felt terrible and it was very nice and professional how they handled the entire incident.

We went back the next day so I could actually finish my workout that I missed out on and Tanner was just fine to go back.

 

On to the stitches!

Tanner never started crying until I told him that we had to go see the doctor to see if he needed stitches or not. With his obvious fear of doctors, he was pretty scared and was the first time he shed a tear.

I was able to get an appointment at our pediatrician's office right away and we saw the same Dr that helped us when Tanner was very sick back in March as well as who helped us with Chase and the penny incident! It's pretty funny that it is always Dr Crowell that sees us for injuries or illness when he isn't even our regular doctor.

Dr Crowell thought it would be best to either glue the cut or stitch it. He said it was such a beautiful and straight cut that gluing it would go really well. The only issues is with Tanner's age he may pick at it and pop it open, and also gluing wounds shut tend to leave worse scars. So I opted for 3 stitches so he wouldn't be able to pick it open and it would scar better since it's on his face.

They gave him the shot to numb him up and that was the only other time he cried. I know from experience that those shots sting, and I felt so bad to put him through that.

While Dr Crowell was doing the stitches Tanner was doing so well! Until he saw the thread, which kind of made him freak out and squirm a little bit. Little weirdo. He squirmed so much the middle stitch had to be redone but other than that he was great!

He sure is such a brave kid and tough as nails!

IHH Birthday Party and Pumpkin Patch

We went to this year's IHH Birthday Party which was at Petersen Family Farm.

We climbed all over some tractors, played in the corn pit, picked out our pumpkins for Halloween, went through a mini corn maze, chased chickens, went down a huge slide and crawled through a tunnel under the slide and got thoroughly covered in hay. The boys wore their Halloween costumes and they both had so much fun!

 

Thank you for the fun night IHH!