How Did That Happen?!

I turn around and blink, and all of a sudden..

And today.

According to her doctor visit this morning Kadee is:

height: 32.6 

weight: 27.05 

BMI: 17.8

at 16 months old.

Thanksgiving in Oklahoma

It would have been too hard for us to travel for Thanksgiving this year. So we didn't. But I figured we couldn't be the only ones around with no family, so we got together a few other families in our ward that had no where to go for Thanksgiving and we feasted together. It was great. The missionaries were in the church building for a little while but for the most part, it was just our smallish group. I think the final count was.. 10 adults, 5 kids, and Kadee. We also took meals to several people who couldn't make it, but we still had A LOT of food left over. I cooked a lot. (Which I like doing.) I cooked a turkey, a ham, rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy, an apple pie, and 3 pecan pies. I was very happy with the way it all turned out.Spencer made homemade root beer for everyone but definitely made WAY more than we could all drink. We have SO MUCH left over. Everyone else also brought other things to share and we all had a great time.

Spencer also shared a story, originally written by Gordon Green almost 60 years ago, with everyone. President Thomas S. Monson retells that story here if you'd like to read it.

Spencer, hard at work.

Kadee, checking out what the kids are doing.

I feel like we have a lot to be thankful for this year. For starters, we are safe and we have each other. My diabetes has been slowly getting worse, as we knew it must, but I have been able to manage it pretty well. Especially with help from Spencer. We are blessed to comfortably meet all of our needs and we want for very little of consequence.

Other things we are very thankful for this year:

• FAMILY! (Of course)
• Spencer's hard work on his Pharmacy degree. (We cheer every time he gets an A.)
• Kadee's growing vocabulary and personality. (I love watching her grow! ...but not too fast.)
• SKYPE! We Skype with family a lot! Kadee loves it.
• Elder Cole Bertoch, serving in Missouri.
• Elder Tanner Wallace, serving in Mexico.
• Spencer has time to do his callings even with school.
• THAT KADEE CAN WALK NOW! (She's so heavy to carry..)
• How good Kadee is at going to bed. Seriously. Just lay her down. She'll fall asleep.
• The music lessons that I am able to teach with Kadee.
• Spencer's 2 part-time jobs.
• That we haven't had any big issues with our car.
• That we can all attend Institute together on Tuesdays.
• Baby Einstiens. (YouTube. Life saver.)
• To see God's hand in our lives.

Eating the Hearts of Victims

Sundays are rough with Kadee. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother. Conversations after church usually go like this:

Spencer: "How was my organ playing?"
Me: "I don't know. I was wrestling Kadee."
Spencer: "Ok. What did they talk about in Sunday School?"
Me: "I don't know!"
Spencer: "Relief Society?"
Me "I DON'T KNOW!"

Phew! It would be better if Kadee could nap at church but that definitely doesn't happen.

Today was the Primary program. The Primary leaders and kids did a good job. I tried to keep Kadee from being too disruptive during it. But I was all on my own today in sacrament meeting because Spencer was playing the organ AND he was sitting with his class in the program. I had to get up and leave a few times. Oh well. I guess that could have been worse. But after the kids all did their program, the Primary Presidency had treats for them. They made these rice krispy treats with red candy melts on top. Well any way, they had a few extra and after church, offered one to Kadee. She was more than willing to take a treat offered to her. She munched on it all the way home. But Spencer was sitting in the back of the car with her and kept saying "oh man.. oh man... She is so messy." He took a picture.

In Spencer's words, "It looks like she murdered someone, ripped out their heart, and is eating it!"

We put Kadee straight in the bathtub when we got home.

"Helping"

I have been taking Kadee with me to teach music lessons since July. She didn't take long to get used to it. BUT some days are better than others. Today was one of those questionable days. I had already been having a not-good day with Kadee before we even left for lessons. She has been sick and grumpy. The sick part is getting better. The grumpy part leaves much to be desired. Luckily, the two lessons we had today were super nice and tried to help out with Kadee. The people we teach usually do, it's been very good for us. Today, Kadee just wanted her mommy to hold her. And.. well... this was the result.

Our lesson family was so good to point out how cute it was, snap the pictures, and say "Someday you'll love to look back on these and be so glad you have these memories." 

So for now, we will keep trying with the lessons even though every day is not perfect. Wait.. Let me rephrase that. Even though every day is a different struggle with Kadee. None of our days are perfect, but we keep trying. 

In the end, it is a HUGE blessing to be able to have Kadee with me and teach music lessons.

Tanner's Birthday Without Tanner

Day 3

It was a little colder today. We played inside and went for a walk close to home. Kadee helped show Grandma and Grandpa all around the OU Health Science campus and showed them where Daddy goes to class. The trees were super pretty on campus and it was a nice walk. A little chilly, but very good. Kadee took turns running around and riding in the stroller.

After a chilly walk we had to warm up at home. Kadee wanted to read books all day. She also was spoiled by her Grandpa. He brought a little fish for her to play with AND a monkey that she absolutely loves! Kadee loves the monkey so much that she packed it all around the zoo with us the day before.

We went to the playground while we were waiting for Spencer to get out of class. It was still cold but I don't think Kadee cared at all. She also didn't care that the slides had water at the bottom. She crawled across them and splashed her hands around in the cold water. Her pants were pretty wet when we got home. She had fun on the swings, but I think she had more fun on the slides this time. Her Grandpa taught Kadee how the slides work and it was so fun to watch her! Grandma taught Kadee how to say "five"!

She wasn't quite as thrilled to swing with Grandpa. She preferred to run around.

Kadee was so funny on the slide. I had to catch videos of her going down a few times. Here is her progression of learning how to slide.

Tonight we tried some chicken and waffles for Grandma Carrie. We have determined that they are not all they are cracked up to be. In fact, it was pretty lame for something that is so famous. We also tried the chocolate soda and the butter flavor soda. The chocolate was gross. Like really. Everyone (besides myself) thought it smelled like NyQuil. Allen and Carrie said the butter flavor was super gross. Allen said it's like drinking popcorn butter. Spencer and I decided to pass on it.

Kadee has had so much attention. I don't know what she's going to do without having Grandma and Grandpa here to dote on her. She really has loved it. We are very lucky to get the extra time to spend with them.

***side note***

I didn't know what to title this blog post. So Spencer suggested "Tanner's Birthday Without Tanner". Ha! So of course.....

Sorry Tanner. But Happy Birthday