Haley Arrives!

Haley Korth was born on Monday, November 27th at 11:19 a.m. She weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz and was 20 inches. She is a cutie. She has "angel kisses" between her eyes like Kristin did, though not as bad. Sorry if I didn't call too many people Monday night, I had a few complications and wasn't doing so hot. I am better now...let's just say, pain medication would have been nice to have after the spinal wore off...So far, she is a good baby! The kids love her! Kristin calls her "baby Haley" constantly. Jake is smitten with her. I am surprised at how much he loves her and wants to hold her. He was only 18 months when Kristin was born, so it's fun to see him so sweet with her. Kyle likes her, for the most part, I guess for him, it's been there, done that...

This is - so far - my favorite picture of Haley. I love the close-ups!

This picture of the kids was the first time that they saw Haley. I was puking on the bed and Troy took the pictures(good job Troy!). Since I was in such bad shape, Delilas (LOVE HER) came and took the kids to spend the night at her house so that Troy could stay with me. She said that they all prayed in their prayers that I would stop puking...aw...how sweet!
This was during the c-section. A scheduled c-section sure is a lot different than an emergency one. I got my epidural right in the O.R. (which was cake!) and then it took quite awhile for them to actually take Haley out. At one point in during the surgery, Troy looked over the curtain, and looked at me and said, I better sit down. Guess it got to him this time.
I took these pictures of each kid with Haley. I was trying to capture the look each kids face, instead of making sure it was a good picture of Haley. I love these pictures! It truly is how the kids feel!
Anyways, I'm home now...in pain...wanting to sleep! Goodnight!

Kyle-ism

Kyle was saw a commercial on TV. It was some kind of an SUV commercial. He said,"Mom, people are just so DUMB! They just think they need their cars to be fancy! Duh, they're so dumb." I was thinking, he just knows of our humble cars...when I heard him mutter under his breathe, " Duh, they just get flies all over them."

Pretty brilliant huh? Who needs a nice car, when it's just going to get plastered with bugs?

Oh Baby!

Kristin loves babies. She can't wait for Haley to come out. (Our baby, we plan on naming her Haley) She loves her baby dolls. The other day, she was watching TV, and a commercial came on, and Kristin looked at Troy and said, I want that for my baby (meaning her doll), my baby needs that. We'll see how she does with the REAL baby! We are all getting anxious to meet our new baby! A little more than 24 hours now...

Boomerang

Okay, we have this Boomerang tv station here. Kyle and Jake love it and beg for it everyday! The funny thing, is that the shows that are on it, are old school cartoons from when we grew up. Examples: Pink Panther (animated), The Snorks, Yogi Bear, Rocky and Bullwinkle, The Chipmunks, and The Smurfs. I went to pick up a babysitter the other night. She got here and the kids were watching the Smurfs, and she asked "What are you watching?" I was shocked she had no clue what it was. (In my opinion, the Smurfs Christmas Special is still the best). I told her it was a "safe" show. (I had just finished telling her what shows the kids aren't allowed to watch...)Crazy, huh? Well, after church today, I noticed that the movie "Jack and the Beanstalk" was on Boomerang. I thought it would be a cute little show for them to watch while we got dinner on the table. (Thinking it was the Mickey Mouse one). Well, I was wrong. It was from the early 70's. They LOVED it. Here is a picture of all 3 kids intently watching the worst rendition of Jack and the Beanstalk known to man. It was probably the first time they tried to do animation along with normal people, and it was terrible. I normally holler at them to scoot back from the TV, cause they sit too close, but I wanted to take a picture...

Update...

We found out yesterday we are leaving Virginia on December 15th. The whole family is going - meaning Troy doesn't have to return in January. Also, I had a Dr. Appt. yesterday. Since we will be flying so soon after the scheduled C-Section, she called the hospital and scheduled me to be induced on November 27th instead of the 30th. So, good news all around! Only 12 days left until the baby's born, and 30 days left until we're home...YEA! Just wanted to keep you all updated...

Jake turns 4!

Today is Jake's fourth birthday! We went to Chuck E Cheese's tonight to celebrate. We invited some friends from the ward, the Elmer's who have kids the exact ages as our kids. Their son Aden, and daughter Addie are best friends with Jake and Kristin, so it was a good fit! They had never been to "The Cheese" before, and had a blast! My kids had a blast too! I, of course, forgot my camera. He got a helium balloon at Chuck E Cheese's along with a crown. As we were leaving, Jake was hollering "I'm the queen of the world!" Troy was very quick to correct him as a KING! It was funny though! He opened his present from Aden, which was a hot wheels car shooting thing, and his comment was, "I wanted this my whole life!" I am pretty positive he had no clue what the gift was at that point. If I would have known how hilarious Jake is at his birthday party, I would have had one for him earlier (previous years). He dances while you sing Happy Birthday to him. He's definately a booty shaker too! So, as soon as we got home, I wanted to take a picture of him with his balloon and crown, but unfortunately, Troy had already drugged all 3 kids with helium and was giggling at how funny they sounded. So, this picture is of Jake and his crown holding up 4 fingers. The kid doesn't know how to pose for the camera. He thinks he's a model, and he dances around. The picture isn't that great, but it sure depicts how he has been acting all day...ANYWAYS...HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKE!

Coming to an end...

This week Jake had his last swimming lesson. He has done so great! He can swim! It's awesome! Now we just need a pool for him to practice in! When we get to Utah, we are joining the rec center. Troy likes to play raquetball, and I want to work out, so we thought we'd get a family pass and take the kids swimming too. Hopefully they'll get a lot of practice! I was amazed at Jake's progress through the past few months!

Today was Kyle's last soccer game. It was such a nice day! The high was 77 today! Miracle! Kyle is so into soccer! When he's out (being a sub) he watches intently. He hollers and everything. The favorite thing (of mine) that I heard him holler, was "I want a replay! Come on - REPLAY" It was hilarious! Kyle did score 2 goals today! He was kicking butt! He really is good at soccer! I love that! One of the goals he scored was the last 5 seconds of the season! It was awesome! There was another kid on Kyle's team that - to put it bluntly - is a boob. He's an only child. His mom is probably in her 40's. She wears a wedding ring, but we have NEVER seen a father figure (or grandparent, or anybody) but the mom come to practices or games. He freaked out on his mom one practice, and I thought he was going to beat her up. The coach had to step in for this mom. Anyways, this kid shoves the other team down, is a ball hog, and cries if he misses a goal. He missed probably 4 goals today. He has no control over the ball. Kyle kept getting mad at him. I think the coach was happy to be rid of this kid. After the game, we told Kyle the reason that he made his goals, and that Eric (said kids name) didn't, was "karma". We told him that as long as he was a good sport, nice to others, worked hard, and played by the rules, he would always score. The reason Eric kept missing was because he didn't have good sportsmanship. Kyle was in awe. Hopefully that worked! If Kyle ever acted like that kid, I have no doubt Troy would pull him off the field and not let him go back. Anyways, I always like to see my kids being great kids - when others aren't. (Trust me, it doesn't happen that often!)

Since soccer and swimming are over now, it feels like our time here is coming to an end. Kristin still has ballet until December. She loves it now too! She goes by herself and loves every second! As excited as we are to be in our home in Utah, I will kind of miss being back here. Okay, not really, but I will miss the very few friends we've made. I think most of me just doesn't want to start over being the "new person" again. It's such a pain! 41 days until we fly home! 18 days until our baby is born (let's be honest, hopefully she comes before then!) 12 days until Thanksgiving (not that Thanksgiving means anything for us out here...just another day! I am not cooking a turkey for our family. Troy works the night before and that night - so no point! I will only be 1 week from giving birth too, so I am definately not cooking a turkey! Everyone eat lots for us!)

We're home!

We got home late Tuesday night. It was the busiest 10 days of my life I think. Here's a little bit of what we did: Carve Pumpkins, buy a house, got said home inspected, Halloween, painted a room for my mom, had a birthday party for Jake, had a birthday party for my mom, Troy drove to Colorado to watch the BYU game with his dad, Troy and I stayed at the Anniversary Inn for our anniversary, (which was yesterday and which we both forgot until last night at about 9 when he was already at work!) saw Makenna Paige Owens be born (to Kenny and Cherice) bought all new appliances for our new kitchen. One of the highlights of our trip: Troy was in Colorado and I was staying at the hotel with the kids. At 12:00 in the morning, the fire alarm went off throughout the hotel. So, I had to get 3 crying kids dressed, and out of the hotel. It was not fun. We had to sit in the lobby for about an hour while the firemen checked out the hotel. It was pretty much horrible. To make it worse, once they sent us back to our room, the alarm went off again at about 2:30a.m. Luckily, it turned off after about 5 minutes. I was the grouchiest pregnant woman anyone had every seen! Trust me! WOW! That was our week! Oh, a helpful tip for flying: barf bags make great puppets! Just bring markers or crayons! It kept Jake busy decorating it for about 25 minutes! Kristin thought we were flying on "American Air Lions" I wonder what she is envisioning in her head...Kyle thought it would be great to holler: TOUCHDOWN when we landed...he got a few giggles. Oh, and if you're ever seated in an isle row next to a pregnant lady, offer to let her stand up and stretch her legs! You should have seen my cankles at the end of the flight! WHEW! I hada doctor appointment today...nothing happening. Still the same as I was 5 weeks ago! AUGHHH! I am having the baby in 3 weeks from today though! Pray the time goes by fast! See, and you all thought I would have the baby on the plane! :)

Halloween!

These are all the kids. From left to right: Kristin(witch), Kyle(mummy), Jake(skeleton), McCall (Princess Aurora - my cousin Katie's daughter) and Maddie (chicken - also Katie's daughter). Mine and Katie's dads are brothers. The picture below has all the kids in costume, with their great grandma who is also in costume! NOPE! No pink hair for Grandma Great except on Halloween! (You never know these days, just wanted to clarify!)

The house...

Front of house

Back of house

Kitchen: I hate the color of the cabinets, my brother in law is going to help me glaze them a dark brown. I have to go figure out the exact color. We are also getting all new stainless steel appliances.

Dining room and view to the deck, family room to the left.

Looking down into the family room from the dining room...still wondering how we're going to keep the kids from climbing on the railing...

Stairway down into the basement. My scrapbook room will be straight ahead, toy room is to the left.

Kids bathroom

Master bathroom...don't think I like the black checkered tiles, but oh well.

Master walk in closet

We found a house!

Hello all! Well, we found our house! Troy's family thought we found it really fast, but they don't know all the looking we have done the past month -- the power of the internet! The second we saw it, we knew it was by far the best house we would be able to find in our price range. I took photos, but my camera got left in a different car. I will try to post a few pics later. We had it inspected today, and all went really well. A few minor problems to be addressed, and lots of caulking for Troy to do once we're moved in. The home has been newly remodeled. All new tile and carpet throughout the whole house. No linolieum in the whole house (woohoo!) and freshly painted...white...but it will do until we can paint it...room by room! The house is about 2150 square feet. Not as large as we would have liked, but better than the 1200 we have lived in the past 9 years. It is also on a quarter of an acre lot. Troy has many visions dancing through his head of what he's going to do...starting with a basketball court and extending the deck. It has 5 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths. The master bath is my favorite! Complete with jetted tub and seperate stand up shower! We feel really grateful to have found this home! We close on the house either the day I have the baby, or the day I get home from the hospital...we're not sure yet! Crazy, huh? I am doing fine. The flight here was uneventful! The flight was pretty empty, and I got my own row, so I was able to keep my legs up the whole flight! I can't believe this baby will be born in less than 4 weeks! Crazy!

Our kids had a great Halloween! We let them do a little trick or treating. We had our ward trunk or treat last Saturday, so they got enough candy then. We went to my Grandma Peterson's house (just like I did when I was little) and it was fun! They had bread bowls shaped as pumpkins and plenty of chili, clam chowder, and stew to eat! It was awesome! Once again, I will post pics as soon as I download them!

Troy decided to drive to Colorado on Saturday with his dad to go to the BYU vs CSU football game. I still am wondering why it's worth a 14 hour drive (round trip) when he could watch it on tv. He claims I just don't understand...

We are also celebrating Jake's 4th Birthday this weekend, and Troy and I are celebrating our 9th anniversary next Wednesday. We got a room at the Anniversary Inn while we are here and my parents are going to watch the kids! Hopefully it will be a fun, relaxing night. Any night away from kids can't be anything but! Anyways...pics to be posted later!