Monkeys in Logan

Pumpkin Carving

2011-10-26T09:46:00.008-06:00

Last night we carved pumpkins. It's been a few years since we've actually carved them. We've decorated them with foam stickers that make monsters faces and with the plastic push in pieces. Andrew was the most excited about the pumpkins because he doesn't ever remember doing it.

We got the tops cut off, then it was time to dig for guts!

This is the inside of Andrew's pumpkin (he said it looked like it had ribs inside).

They look so thrilled. The pumpkins had been sitting outside for almost 2 days, so they were a might chilly inside.

Aaron had to show Abbie that it was okay to stick her hand inside.

She got the hand of it pretty quickly.

I love the look of disgust on Ashley's face!

After the pumpkins were all gutted, it was time to carve!

The finished artwork:

"Ouch! Ew, boogers! Ouch! Boogers!" Yes, the pumpkin is eating her hand and she does have a finger in it's nose too.

We had lots of fun carving pumpkins! It was fun to do something together as a family without the fighting/complaining. Tonight we roast pumpkin seeds!!

Crazy Hair Day

2011-10-26T09:33:00.003-06:00

This week is Red Ribbon Week at the school. Each day the kids are encouraged to take part in this by wearing red, wearing their clothes backwards, etc. The most fun day is crazy hair day, which is today. We were at the store last night and Andrew picked out some red hair spray to use.

Austin got his hair done first. The first spray revealed that the red hair spray was really more on the pinkish side. I was originally going to do stripes on the side of his head, but that didn't work out. So, he ended up with this look.

Andrew's hair is a bit longer than Austin's, so I was thinking I could spike it and spray it. Then Andrew said he only wanted half his hair sticking up. Great idea!

I think this hairdo perfectly represents his dual personality. He can be a cute, sweet boy when he wants, but more often than not, he's a little devil who drives me crazy. You can see it in his eyes, can't ya?! He only smiled because I told him not to.

CurlyQ

2011-10-04T11:58:00.004-06:00

I love Abbie's curly, blonde hair. She's has this one huge curl on the back that I finally took a picture of. It's so boingy!

I just love this goofy, little girl!

Ashley's Birthday

2011-07-22T11:12:00.006-06:00

Ashley turned 14 on July 17. Crazy! When I asked her what kind of cake she wanted, she said she wanted minion cupcakes. I thought that was a funny request from her, but was excited to make them (we had found some online a few weeks before her birthday).

They turned out really cute!

She got a bumblebee pillow pet from Aunt Vicky. It was her favorite present (of course, it's exactly what she asked for).

We had the family over for dinner and cupcakes. It's always fun when we all get together! The adults get to visit and the cousins have a blast playing together.

Next year, Ashley gets her driving permit. YIKES!!

Aaron's Birthday

2011-05-23T12:49:00.006-06:00

Aaron turned 35 on May 19. I got a bunch of cake pans from my mom, so I thought I'd try making him a frog cake. Aaron thought that was a good idea, but only if I made a red velvet cake. So, that's what I did.

My mom always made cool cakes when we were a kid. I didn't realize then how much work went into them. My hand was so sore by the time I was done making all the little green stars that covered the frog part of the cake. I definately need more practice if I decide to try something like this again. The cake turned out ok, but I forgot to save some white frosting for the eyes. Oh well.

Aaron was happy with it and that's all that matters. The kids loved that it was red when we cut into it (cuz it looked like blood).

Sara took some goofy kid pictures while I was cutting up the cake.

All Aaron wanted for his birthday was a set of golf clubs. He even told his family he just wanted money so he could buy some.

He got some balls and tees and finally some golf clubs from Sara! They weren't what he was hoping for, but the kids thought they were cool.

I had bought golf clubs a couple weeks before this and has left them at Sara's. She brought them over the night of his party and left them in her trunk. After the presents were opened and the kids were playing, I told Aaron he needed to get a small bookshelf out of Sara's trunk that she was giving to us. He grudgingly went outside to get them and got a surprise!

Now he was finally smiling! Hopefully he'll be able to find some time to play. We're going to be pretty busy fixing up the house the next couple of months.

Fun Run

2011-05-23T11:47:00.009-06:00

Today was the Fun Run put on by Logan City School District. All the 4th and 5th grade students from 6 elementary schools get together to run. I haven't had a 4th/5th grader in Logan School District before, so I didn't know much about it (Ashley was in Cache County School District in elementary school, so we missed out on this with her). All I knew was that Austin was excited about it, but he didn't tell me I should come to it.

I got a call this morning from the secretary at Ellis this morning and learned that Austin won first place in his heat. So I headed over to Adams Park for the awards ceremony. The streets were blocked off, there were hundreds of 4th and 5th graders everywhere and each school was wearing a different colored t-shirt. That's when I realized that the Fun Run is a BIG deal for the kids.

The 4th grade boys ran in 3 heats. Austin was the winner of his heat. His good friend, Tristen, came in 2nd place.

Austin got a gold medal and Tristen got silver.

He was pretty excited about winning.

Yep, I'm proud of my goofy kid!

Unexpected Thursday

2011-03-14T20:22:00.006-06:00

Nowadays, you only need to leave stitches in for 5 days. Doctors like to pull them out before you get Frankenstein scars. So we went in on Wednesday afternoon and got Abbie's stiches out. The nurse put a little piece of surgical tape on her head where it bled and pulled apart a little as he took the stitches out. She was suppose to leave it on for a few days. Yeah, right. She pulled it off the next morning at preschool. Turns out that should have been the least of my worries that day.

Later that night, I went to my first Zumba class with my sister. Oh my gosh, that was a workout. I have no idea how the teacher can move like that!! The class was at 8 pm, so I got home a little after 9. I was sitting upstairs on the bed talking to Aaron, when I hear Ashley downstairs yell, "Mom! Abbie's bleeding!" So Aaron and I run downstairs, and Abbie's face is covered in blood. Apparently, she had moved the computer chair over to the entertainment center to try to get Austin's sucker off one of the top shelves, fell, and smacked her head on the shelves as she came down. Yep, our second trip to the ER in less than a week.

When we're checking into the ER, Aaron notices that it's not only her eye area that's bleeeding. There's blood on the back of her head. She had a puncture wound where she must have hit a corner. Yikes. The nurse who takes us back says, "You look really familiar. Weren't you just here the other day?" Yep, it's the same nurse we had on our last trip to the ER and she wasn't the only person to make a similar comment.

Abbie was smiling as usual and chatting it up with the nurses and doctor. I thought she would have been tired since it was after 10 pm by the time we were all settled in the room.

She managed to hit her head just right so that she pretty much had to get stitches where she just had them removed from her eyebrow. What are the chances of that?

We finally got to leave the hospital just after 1 am and little Abbie has 9 more stitches: 8 on her face and one on the back of her head. Yes, Aaron and I discussed putting her in a bubble or wrapping her in bubblewrap.

Here she is Friday morning, showing off her swollen eye. She never complains and always insists that it doesn't hurt. She's really good about making sure I put the antibiotic ointment on a couple times a day.

Here she is Sunday morning, sporting a nice black eye. It's getting more colorful as time goes by.

Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that nothing else will happen. You would think she would calm down a little after all this, but she's still full of energy. My sister-in-law and her family came over for dinner on Friday night, and Abbie spent all night chasing after her cousins. Crazy kid. And just for the record, I do NOT beat my child! Just felt that I needed to say that. :)

Unexpected Friday

2011-03-04T19:49:00.006-07:00

Yesterday, we found out the home we put an offer on back in October and were outbid on, is now back on the market. So today we met with our mortgage guy and our realtor. As we were leaving the house, Abbie ran to the car and fell face first onto the road. Ouch! I was talking to the realtor, so Ashley got Abbie. There was blood all over her face. Aaron ran over and determined a trip to the ER was in order.

Once we got to the hospital, Abbie had calmed down. She got to put on the wonderful hopsital gown and the RN brought her in a TV and a Barbie movie. She was excited about that.

She was even in the mood to smile for the camera phone while giving Daddy a hug. She really is a tough little thing.

Ashley wanted to watch the Barbie movie too. Apparently she has the sountrack to Barbie the Princess and the Pauper and knew the words to all the songs. (Yes, I was laughing about that).

Abbie was sedated while the doctor cleaned out her gashes and stitched her up. Aaron and Ashley watched, and I was happy to sit on the other side of the room. It took 6 stitches in her forehead and 4 on her eyebrow to fix her up. Watching her coming out of sedation was pretty funny. She kept asking what happened to her eyes (they were twitching and she couldn't really focus on anything). After spending two hours in the ER, they finally let us go home.

I thought for sure that Abbie would fall right to sleep since it was 7:30 pm and she hasn't napped today. But she's wide awake, watching a movie. She's in her pajamas, wrapped up in her blanket, and cuddling with her unicorn.

She has some road rash on her face too and might end up with a black eye. Poor little girl. She's happy now, but we'll see what happens when the pain killer wears off.

Her brothers should be home soon. They'll probably think her stitches are pretty cool. I certainly didn't expect to spend my Friday night like this. Kids sure make life interesting!

Abbie's Photo Shoot

2010-09-28T10:18:00.003-06:00

Abbie's hair is just barely long enough to put in pigtails. She was so excited, she wanted me to take some pictures.

Yikes. I see trouble in my future with this one! She posed like that all by herself!

She really didn't poke herself in the eye. She just thought she'd play with her eye lid.

I really thought when I quit my job that I would have time to update my blog. I've been busier than I thought I would be. We're in the process right now of trying to buy a home, so I don't see much free time in my future...I'll do my best though!

Sledding

2010-01-23T20:43:00.005-07:00

After talking about it for a couple of weeks, we finally took the kids sledding. We dug out the snowpants and boots, bought some sleds, and off we went to a park in Cliffside. The kids were pretty excited.

Here's Ashley "helping" Andrew go down the hill.

Abbie didn't have a nap today, so she was out before we even made it to the park.

You could just see the joy in Andrew's face as he pulled his sled up the hills...

and raced back down.

He was even happy when he ran over Austin at the bottom of the hill.
Of course, everyone took their turn wiping out (except for me!). Here's Austin wondering where his sled went.

Ashley went face first off her sled...ouch!

Andrew's sled was airborne when I snapped this picture.

This is a good picture of Aaron biffing it. I wasn't fast enough with the camera to catch him smashing into the snow when he went over a jump.

This is the only time Abbie went down the hill. Yep, she got a face full of snow at the bottom of the hill when the sled flipped.

Thankfully, the boys didn't mind the wipe outs. They just got up and went again. Sometimes I never know how they're going to react.

Abbie was okay with Ashley pulling her in the sled. She made it known that she didn't want to go down the big hill again.

Ashley went down with Aaron once and only once. I love the look on her face. It's that "what did I get myself into?" look. About two seconds after I took the picture, they flipped the sled.

I forgot how much fun sledding is. I think I had as much fun as the kids going down the hills. It was so nice to have everyone get along and have fun together. We're looking forward to going again!

Busy Day

2009-12-23T23:00:00.005-07:00

I've been pretty lazy the last few days. It's just been nice to be home and not have anything pressing to do. Made a trip to the library, got the laundry done, read a book, watched a couple of movies, spent time with the kids...nice and relaxing (when the kids weren't fighting. So, today was the day to get things done.

The day started out with a laugh and a photo op. Abbie beat her big brothers into submission and convinced them to play babies with her. Guess she got tired of playing cars and blocks with them. I'm glad the boys are good sports.

Once we were done laughing, we got ready to hit the road. Our first stop was to the health department to get Abbie the second half of her N1H1 vaccine. I love how my kids cry for 2 seconds then they see the nurse hands them a sucker and they're happy again. Our next stop was the mall to see Santa, but he wasn't going to be there till 3. I'm not a fan of the mall so I wasn't looking forward to going back again. Oh well. So we headed to Walmart to fight the crowds. Woohoo!

Aaron applied for a welding job a couple weeks ago. He did the weld test and turned his application in. They said they'd call him (yeah, like the check's in the mail). We've stopped by a few times to see what's going on, but the head guy hasn't been there. Well, he was there today when we stopped by. The kids and I were waiting in the car, and we saw Aaron go by on a golf cart with some guy. Figured that must be a good sign, so I popped a movie in for the kids (I LOVE the DVD player in the car. It helped that we got treats for the kids at Walmart too!

Abbie's such a goofball when I tell her to smile. I love her little scrunch-nose smile.

Here's Aaron grinning cuz he got the job. YEAH!! He has to call the boss next week to work out a schedule and he'll start the first of the year. We're not sure if he'll be full-time or part-time, but it's a start!

After that good news, we headed to Sam's Club (another extremely crowded store). I was excited to get home and have lunch. I'm not a big fan of crowded stores, especially when I'm trying to keep track of three kids and a husband.

One of my favorite parts of the day is naptime. Abbie didn't want to lay down, so I laid in my bed with her. Yep, I fell asleep with her. She was so cuddly and warm. Aahh... Andrew was asleep when Abbie and I woke up, so we had to wait for him before we could go see Santa.

Abbie wasn't sure what to make of Santa when we got to the mall, so Austin went first to show her it was okay.

Abbie still wasn't convinced, so Andrew went next. He was excited to tell Santa that he wants a remote control car. He told me a couple weeks ago that Santa wasn't real; it's your parents that leave presents under the tree. I told him if he didn't believe in Santa, then Santa wasn't going to bring him any presents. He changed his tune pretty fast!

Aaron ended up carrying Abbie up to Santa because she still didn't know what to think of him. She wouldn't say a word to him, but happily took the candy cane he offered her. I asked Ashley if she wanted to sit on Santa's lap and she rolled her eyes at me.

We spent a little time in the mall after visiting Santa. We hit Famous Footwear for shoes for the girls. The boys weren't behaving, so I asked Aaron to take them down to the play center at the end of the mall. Nothing like jumping around on fake cupcakes and spilled soda to get their energy out.

By the time we left the mall, it was after 7. Aaron and the kids voted to go to Wendy's for dinner. I don't make a habit of eating there since I worked there for a good 4 or 5 years since I moved to Logan 15 years ago. Don't get me wrong, the foods good, but the smell brings back memories (I never could get that grease smell out of my uniforms!). It was just over $30 for the six of us, and the kids wonder why we don't go out to eat very often!

After we got home and put the kids to bed, Aaron and I finally wrapped all the Christmas presents. I think we did pretty well considering we're usually wrapping them Christmas Eve night so we can get them under the tree.

Tomorrow night my siblings and their families are coming over for dinner. It will be a busy day of cooking, cleaning, and running to the store for ingredients I thought I had. What fun! I'm excited Christmas is almost here!

Christmas concert

2009-12-09T20:57:00.007-07:00

Tonight was the Ellis Elementary Christmas Concert. Ellis is a smaller school and not able to accomodate the concert, so it was held at Logan High School. I'm glad we managed to get there early because it was standing room only once it started.

Abbie was better behaved than I thought she would be. She entertained the older people around us and made friends with a tweenage girl sitting on the floor a couple rows behind us (Abbie liked her cell phone).

She made people laugh by trying to put her coat on.

Ashley's friend, Amanda, came with us, and Abbie was content on her lap for a little while.

She also managed to get herself stuck in the chair. I had to take her shoes off her to get her out.

Here are the third graders (yes, the blonde by Austin is in his class...can you say future linebacker?!).

"Christmas bells are ringing"...glad nobody got hit in the head...

The kindergardeners were cute.

I'm impressed he was singing. He likes to sing at home, but not in church or at concerts generally.

We happened to sit across from my friends Becky and Quinn in the incredibly crowded auditorium. What cute newlyweds!!

Becky's daughter, Cheyenne, has the same kindergarten teacher as Andrew, but she's in the morning class.

We had fun at the concert and I think the boys had fun singing. Glad we only have to do it once a year though!

Halloween

2009-11-22T21:29:00.007-07:00

Halloween is fun! I love getting the kids all dressed up (mostly because they love it!). Every year, Sara takes the kids to her work Halloween party. Her boss loves Halloween and throws a huge party. This year Sara just took the boys. I took some pictures of them while they were waiting for her to show up.

Here's Andrew sitting on the couch, bored. He was so cute, I just had to take a bunch of pictures!

He love his Spiderman blankie (and his thumb)!

Austin was ghostrider, but his mask was too big and kinda scary. The only time he wore it was to Sara's work Halloween party.

The boys got to dress up for school on Friday. Of course they can't wear masks, so Aaron painted Austin's face.

Abbie thought he was scary. Austin would hiss at her and she would run away crying. If he kept his mouth shut, then she was okay to look at him.

I took these pictures before the daycare halloween party. I had a few of the shots turned into cards, and sent them to my family back east.

Halloween finally arrived. Our ward had a trunk-or-treat, so we headed over there and took some more pictures, of course.

We had lots of fun this Halloween, but I'm glad it's over!!

Abbie's Birthday

2009-11-22T15:20:00.005-07:00

The hard drive on my laptop got fried somehow a few months ago. I lost everything on it, including all my pictures from the last year and a half (I'm still mourning the loss). I have all the pictures on my desktop backed up, but never got around to backing up my laptop pictures. I only had it about a year and a half when it crashed. My wonderful brother-in-law, Sean, got my laptop up and running, so now it's time to start blogging again.

Thursday was Abbie's 2nd birthday, and we had her party on Saturday. She loves Dora. Sometimes she walks around saying/singing, "Du-du-du-du-du-Dora." Silly girl.

Getting ready for cake and ice cream.

Yay! Here's the cake. Abbie blew out the candles in the middle of the birthday song, so I had to light them again so my sister could get a good action shot.

The kids were very excited for cake and ice cream. It's so much fun sugar jacking other people's kids!

I think Abbie enjoyed her cake the most...or she just made the biggest mess!

Once the cake mess was cleaned up, it was time to open presents. I think Aaron and I went a little overboard on Dora...Dora movie, Dora hat and gloves, Dora pajamas, Dora book, Dora toothbrush, Dora washcloth. Oh well. She loved them (especiall the hat!).

Happy Birthday, Abbie! It's hard to believe it's already been two years since you were ripped from my womb (with your Aunt Martha watching the whole operation...she thought it was awesome to watch my c-section, but I made her promise not to give me any grisly details!).

Willow Park

2009-07-19T21:08:00.007-06:00

Here are some more pictures from Andrew's birthday party at the park.

Sean pushing Simon and Liam on the swings.

Austin giving Abbie a push on the swings.

Yep, Abbie like the swings.

Even the big boys like the swings!

Abbie had fun following Austin around.

Liam coming down the slide.

Andrew falling out of the slide (love those action shots!)

Abbie coming down the slide.

Landon enjoying his juice box.

Off to the zoo to see the animals.

Monkey see, monkey do...

Yep, she's a climber.

Checking out the ducks.

Abbie tripped while she was running and skinned her knees. Here's Andrew examining her owie.

We had lots of fun at the park. I'm glad Andrew wanted to have his party there. I love that my kids have their cousins in town so that they can be such good friends.

Andrew's "real" birthday

2009-07-19T20:02:00.006-06:00

We had Andrew's "real" birthday at Willow Park. Parties at the park are so easy! The kids played on the playground until everyone got there. Then it was time for cake. Andrew picked out a Scooby Doo cake.

He agreed that he was 5 after he blew the candles out. Kids make me laugh. I wonder where they come up with this stuff!

After everyone ate cake, I surprised Andrew with water balloons. The kids were very excited about that. Aaron seemed to be the main target.

The only people Andrew wanted to invite to his party were his cousins. I kept asking if he wanted to invite some of the neighbors or his friends from daycare, but he kept saying no. Funny kid.

After his party, we walked around Willow Park Zoo. It's a tiny zoo, but the kids have fun when we go.

My nephew, Patrick, is 12. For the last few years, it's been my mission to kiss him whenever I see him. He doesn't like it so he fights me. I have to do it while I can, because he'll be bigger and stronger than me pretty soon. Andrew's birthday party was no exception. He put up a good fight, but I got him to the ground and pinned him. His mom thought it was so funny, she took a picture.

MWAHHH!!

Andrew's "fake" birthday

2009-07-19T18:52:00.003-06:00

Andrew's 5th birthday was on Thursday, July 9. However, we didn't have his party until the 11th. According to him, it was his fake birthday on Thursday because he didn't have a party/cake. Even Friday was his fake birthday and he kept telling people that he was still 4.

On his birthday, we went to Ryan's Place Park, had a picnic, and played. Vicky came with Simon and Liam, and Grandma came too. It was really hot, but somewhat bearable in the shade. The park even had these misters that the kids played in. You can still get really wet from the misters. Too bad I forgot my camera.

Thursday night, all 3 boys got haircuts. I was a little sad to cut off Andrew's curls, but it was time.

We had Little Ceasar's pizza for dinner and ice cream cones for desert. The kids enjoyed their ice cream and Andrew was still in denial that it was his birthday.

I can't believe my baby boy is 5 and will start kindergarten next month. How time flies...

Little Abbie

2009-07-19T17:56:00.003-06:00

My little Abbie makes me laugh. She is so full of life and curiosity. She doesn't want to miss a thing and is constantly getting into everything. She is turning into quite a little monkey. She loves climbing on the chairs, the back of the couch, the dining room table, and the top bunk. She use to struggle getting up on the top bunk, but not any more (thanks to her brothers encouraging her even though I have repeatedly told them I do not want her up there).

And she loves bugs. Yep, that's my little girl. We were sitting at the table one night, and she started squealing "Itzabug!" Sure enough, there was a spider on the ceiling. She gets so excited when she sees bugs. If it happens to be on the floor or outside, the poor little bug will be enthusiastically squished by her shoe. She even enjoys smacking pictures of bugs in books. Silly girl.

July 4th weekend, Aaron showed me this huge scab on Abbie's head. We have no idea where it came from. I would think her head would have bled from this gash. If she had done it at daycare, they would have told me. The scab is gone now, but we still have no idea what she did to her head.

This is what happens when I let Abbie play with markers. I don't know if she had more fun coloring on the paper or on herself, but I'm betting it was funner to color on herself....

Funny stuff

2009-07-13T21:48:00.005-06:00

My mom told me I need to stop spending so much time on Facebook and work on my blog. Geez, ya think she would want to see pictures of her grandkids or something. Just move out to Utah, Mom, and you can see them all the time!!

Funny story: Tasha showed up on my doorstep a couple of weeks ago with some shampoo for Abbie. She and Jim had bought a 4-pack of Suave kids shampoo at Sam's Club, and my brother refused to use the pink Fairy Berry Strawberry shampoo on his boys. Oh yes, I laughed and laughed. He grew up as the only boy with 5 sisters...I think he's scarred for life!! By the way, Andrew loves that pink shampoo!

Whenever my nephew, Landon, comes over, he has to get into my cupboards (mine aren't baby proofed). My kids think it's fun to climb in there with him too. Andrew's so nice, he even pulls the buckets of flour out so they'll all fit. :)

Abbie is a daddy's girl, no doubt about it. Her favorite thing to do is mow the lawn with him. Now, usually toddlers are afraid of the mower because it's so noisy. Not my Abbie. She's not afraid of anything. She fearlessly clings to her dad's shaved head, and enjoys the ride!

Yep, she loves it!

Andrew got a soccer medal at his last soccer game. He's so proud of it. I thought I'd better get a picture of it because I bet ya he has no idea where it is now!

Abbie's middle name is Irene, so named after my grandma. I have memories of going into my grandma's closet and looking at her rows of shoes and trying them on. Yes, my grandmother has a shoe fetish. I believe this has been passed on to Abbie, so she I named her appropriately. If she's not putting on her own shoes, she's putting on whatever shoes she can find laying around. Heck, sometimes she'll have on two shoes (that usually don't match) and be carrying around three or more other shoes. Then she'll sit down and switch the shoes on her feet. Maybe I should try to get her interested in hats to cover up her almost bald head...

Rain, rain, go away....

2009-07-13T21:29:00.003-06:00

It's rained quite a bit this spring, more than I've ever seen while living in Utah. The storms occasionally reminded me of the rain storms we'd get in Pennsylvania. (FYI: Utah drivers do NOT know how to drive in the sheeting rain....OMG!!). Anyway, on May 25 I was casually do laundry. Aaron usually does it, but I thought I'd help out. I was getting laundry out of the washing machine and putting it in the dryer. I thought I felt something splash on my arm. I looked around a little and thought that was weird; the clothes I was putting in the dryer weren't that wet. A few seconds later I felt another slight splash. I was a little curious, but couldn't figure out what it was. My brain finally started working, and I looked up. Drip, drip, drip, drip. Yep, the ceiling in my laundry room was leaking. Dang rain!!

This is what the ceiling looked like after Aaron took a look to see how much damage their was.

I know it's not really a huge hole, but I had just decided it was time to sell my house. Murphy's law, of course. The next day, Aaron got on the roof to take a look at the damage. Luckily, it was just coming in from some vent thing on the roof (yep, I'm real technical like).

Austin got up on the roof to see what Dad was doing. They put some black goo around the vent with the hope it would seal up the leak.

Of course, Aaron realized once he was on the roof that the shingles were in really bad shape. Ok, time for a new roof. Glad Aaron's handy with stuff like that. The only downfall...the rain fall. It rained for the next 6 or so weekends after that. Geesh....Now it's July and sunny. The leak has been fixed and the roof is almost done. Yeah!!!

Playing at the park

2009-07-13T21:14:00.003-06:00

Almost everyday when I would pick Andrew up from daycare, he and his friend, Justin, would ask if one of them could go to the other's house. Finally, Justin's mom and I set up a play date at the park. All the boys had fun running around and playing ball. The had fun throwing the ball over the pavilion to each other. You can see Andrew anxiously waiting for it to come over the top.

Justin and Andrew racing to see who can get to the ball first.

Abbie just loves the playground!

She loves eating black olives too. All of my kids love them, and they all have to put one on each finger and then eat them off. Crazy kids!

It turned out to be a gorgeous spring day, and we had lots of fun at the park.

Preschool Graduation

2009-07-13T21:02:00.004-06:00

Andrew's preschool graduation was on May 21. It was so fun. They sang a bunch of songs, one for each holiday/season. They even wrote their very own song about President Obama. We should have gotten there sooner, because it was packed and we had to sit in the back. I need to get the video camera out and have him sing me the songs. They make me laugh when he sings them (plus I'd love to show it to his kids someday!).

Here's a picture of Andrew singing. I was just able to zoom in and avoid all the heads in front of me.

He has the sweetest smile. Tasha told me he was the prettiest baby ever (even compared to her boys...amazing).

This is him just being Andrew. I wanted him to show me his diploma and graduation gift. He wanted me to get the picture taken quick so he could go get some juice and cookies!

I can't believe he starts kindergarten at the end of next month. He is so excited and I still can't believe he's really old enough. My little baby boy...

Wienie Roast...

2009-06-08T19:55:00.009-06:00

In May, we had a wienie roast with my brother and his family. I love hanging out with them.

Here's my nephew, Landon, getting ready to go down the slide in the backyard.

This is his little brother, Kaden. What a cutie!

Abbie was not excited to get stuck in the playpen with her cousin. She loves her freedom!

Cooking the last of the hot dogs and working on the smores.

Of course, I have to get some embarrassing ones on here of my family. Here's Tasha enjoying her smore...

and Aaron devouring a hot dog...

and Ashley make a complete mess with her smore. Aah, good times.

This is Jim and Tasha's dog, Peanut. She is the only dog that I like (no, I'm not a dog person at all. I've got a cat).

This is their cat, Patch. She thought she'd finish up the hotdogs the kids didn't finish eating.

I'm looking forward to the next get together!

Austin's Field Trip

2009-06-08T19:27:00.003-06:00

I took the day off on May 15th and went on Austin's field trip to Willow Park Zoo. He was so excited for me to go with him. He insisted that I ride the bus with him. I haven't ridden on a school bus since I was in school, but I've never ridden one with 75 2nd graders. That's an experience!

Willow Park Zoo is a very small zoo. It consists of mostly birds, but there are a couple coyotes, deer, monkeys, and other assorted small animals. The first thing on the agenda was a presentation. The zoo lady showed the kids a snake, an albino hedgehog, and a parrot.

My favorite was the albino hedgehog. He was comfortably curled up in a little ball and didn't want to come out to play.

She even ran him under some water to try to wake him up. I guess he usually likes to splash in the water, but it didn't work. He did wiggle around a little which had the kids giggling.

After the presentation, we ate lunch at the pavillion. Then I had to take the three kids I was in charge of around the zoo. They had a paper they had to fill out with all the different kind of animals they saw. The boys favorite thing was the turtles. I couldn't believe how many turtles we saw. They were everywhere!

After we made it through the zoo, we headed to the playground. Nothing like having hundreds of kids wandering around and playing. Apparently we weren't the only ones there on a school field trip.

Here's my little Austin climbing on the top of the round slide.

The Three Freaks
This is what I called Austin, Garrett and Humberto.
They thought it was pretty funny.

After the playing on the playground for almost an hour, it was time to head back to school. I'm really glad I was able to take the day off and go with Austin. I'm lucky to have a job that lets me take time off for fun things like this.

He finally gets to play!

2009-05-12T21:02:00.004-06:00

Austin finally got to play his first soccer game on Saturday! He was pretty excited. It's his first year playing positions, and he missed most of the practices to learn them, but he caught on pretty quick. He's the youngest and smallest on the team, but he's doing great!

He spent the first quarter playing goalie. Only one ball got past him.

While he played soccer, the other kids were throwing around a football with their dad. Ashley has a pretty good arm on her.

It's funny to watch Andrew throw left handed. He's got a good arm on him too.

Abbie wouldn't throw the ball. She always walked over and handed it to Andrew.

I'm so glad the weather is finally cooperating. This was the first nice weekend we've had in a while. Maybe spring is finally here to stay!

Austin's baptism

2009-05-12T20:20:00.007-06:00

On May 2, 2009, Austin was baptized and became a member of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was baptized and confirmed by my brother, Jim. It just so happened that my niece, Grace, was getting baptized on the same day, so we had Austin baptized in her stake.

Austin and Uncle Jim (aka Uncle Jungle Jim)

Jim, Austin, Grace, and Sean

Cousins...what a fun memory for them

Skyler, Rachel, and Raeyne

All of my mom's grandkids...Kaden, Austin, Landon, Andrew, Abbie, Ashley, and Raeyne (7 reasons for her to move to Utah!!)

Jim and Tasha with Kaden and Landon

Unfortunately, Abbie was sick the weekend all weekend.
Poor baby.

My mom flew out from Pennsylvania for the weekend so she could be at the baptism. I'm so proud of Austin for making the decision to be baptized.

Kids say the funniest things

2009-04-29T15:13:00.003-06:00

I wish I would remember to write down all the funny things that my kids say. I always think I should write it down, but usually forget by the time I'm near paper or my computer. It occured to me today that I should blog the funny things my kids say (if I remember, of course).

A couple days ago, we passed a couple people riding horses on the road. Andrew thought that was very interesting. He was apparently thinking about that this morning, because he referred to "the horses that were wearing people." It's so funny how kids think. I sure hope I remember to start writing down the things that mine say.

Spacer fun

2009-04-28T20:34:00.004-06:00

Last month, Ashley got a spacer put in to correct her bite. She talks kinda funny and now she has a huge gap between her two front teeth. Ha ha hee hee (she's not happy I posted this picture!)

Soccer??

2009-04-28T19:47:00.007-06:00

When soccer season started, I was expecting four games and two practices per week. That hasn't happened due to the wonderful Utah weather. Austin's first game was canceled due to snow, and Andrew's first game was canceled due to rain. The first game Austin made it to was the day after he hurt his elbow, so he only watched the game. Andrew spent his first game holding the coach's hand because he didn't like the other kids pushing him when he was going for the ball (he's the smallest/youngest kid on the team).

Here he is attached to his coach.

Andrew is doing better at soccer now. He's more aggressive and doesn't hang on the coach anymore. This is the third week of soccer, and he has played two and a half games. His game on Saturday made it through the first quarter before they called it due to snow.

Austin has yet to play his first soccer game. The two games that haven't been canceled he couldn't play in because of his elbow. We headed to his game tonight with high hopes that he would finally be able to play.

The wind was blowing like crazy and the rain was just barely coming down as we were setting up. Here's a picture of Ashley trying to get her blanket under control.

Austin was at least able to get warmed up and play a little with his teammates before the rain really started coming down and the game was canceled.

I love this action shot!

Austin has a game on Saturday, but he'll miss that because he's getting baptized. Hopefully he'll finally get to play next week!!

Good news...

2009-04-28T19:37:00.004-06:00

We took Austin to the orthopedic doctor last week to get his elbow looked at. The good news is that there are no broken bones, just a really bad sprain. Guess the ER doc and the radiologist were wrong; there were no visible fractures in the xrays, but they were pretty confident that was a fracture in there. I'm so glad he's ok. Broken bones are no fun, especially in the spring when he can finally get outside again.

Boys will be boys

2009-04-19T18:10:00.006-06:00

I grew up as the oldest of six children with one brother and four sisters. My brother is 13 months younger than me (I now have 2 brothers, but Jason is 22 years younger than me, so I didn't grow up with him). I know how sisters treat each other, but I didn't have a clue how brothers treated each other. It's been a whole new experience having two boys and seeing how they interact with each other. Of course when I say interact with, I really mean beat on and wrestle with.

One time Andrew threw a matchbox car at Austin and made his head bleed. Andrew thought the blood was the coolest thing ever. They seem to be constantly wrestling and playing rough until someone starts crying. Then the boy who is not crying teases the one who is. It's never ending, and I hear it only gets worse....sigh.

Thursday night, the boys were suppose to be getting ready for bed. Instead, they were wrestling...again. Pretty soon Austin came out of the bedroom crying, complaining that his arm hurt. It looked fine and he had full range of motion, so Aaron gave him some Tylenol and put him in bed. Friday morning, Austin couldn't get out of bed because his arm hurt too much (he's on the top bunk). So I got him down and noticed how swollen his elbow was. Uh oh. Off to the emergency room we went. The diagnosis: broken elbow.

This isn't the first time he's broken a bone. He broke his left arm in October 2005 at daycare. This time it's his right elbow. The funny/ironic thing is that he's getting baptized in two weeks. They do make waterproof casts, but that's not the funny part. Aaron broke his arm when he was 8, right before his baptism too. Can you say "Like father, like son?"

Here's my skinny, little Austin posing for some pictures. He has a splint on now, but should get a cast later this week.

Friday night I had my brother and brother-in-law come over and give Austin a blessing. I'm so thankful for them and their willingness to come do that. Austin's doing great and isn't in much pain. In fact, I caught Andrew and Austin wrestling today on the couch. I guess boys will be boys, no matter what's broken!

So it begins...

2009-04-13T21:49:00.004-06:00

Soccer season has begun. Austin and Andrew are playing this year. They both had their first practice tonight and games start later this week. Four games a week ~ should be fun!

Easter

2009-04-13T21:36:00.005-06:00

I woke up Easter morning with the WORST headache. Luckily, the Easter bunny hid eggs & candy late Saturday night. The kids had found everything before I even made it out of bed so I didn't get any pictures. We didn't make it to church, because my headache didn't dull till almost noon.

The kids dyed eggs Sunday afternoon.

Ashley working hard on decorating her egg.

Abbie didn't quite know what was going on, but that didn't stop her from trying to eat an egg before it got dyed.

Spring Break...Day 7

2009-04-12T21:01:00.003-06:00

We left Henderson, Nevada just before 11 am. We hit Dunkin Donuts again (yum!) and headed north. We drove and drove and drove and drove until we hit Logan about 11:30 pm. We made pretty good time considering the numerous stops we made along the way...lunch in Mesquite, Walmart in St. George, rest stops, Cracker Barrell in Provo for dinner. Traffic was pretty good, road construction wasn't too bad, and my Durango got better gas mileage than I thought. It was so nice to sleep in my own bed Friday night. Vacation was fun, but it's great to be home!

Spring Break...Day 6

2009-04-09T22:26:00.004-06:00

Today was a nice, lazy day. We packed a lot into the last 5 days, and I'm worn out. It was nice to have a day with no big plans. The highlight of my day was a trip to Dunkin Donuts...yeah!!!! I grew up with Dunkin Donuts and absolutely love them. Unfortunately, there aren't any in Logan or the surrounding areas. When I go back to Pennsylvania to visit, I pig out on them (and the real Italian pizza and hoagies and Tastycakes...no wonder I always gain so much weight when I visit!). Walking into Dunkin Donuts took me back to my childhood...the smell, the excitement, the decision making.

Yum, yum, yum. Yep, I ate three. My kids love them as much as I do, but there's no nostalgia associated with the donuts like there is with me. We made a big powdered sugar mess. Thank goodness for housekeeping!

After gorging ourselves on donuts, we went swimming. Thought maybe we could burn off some calories. It's an outside pool, so I think we burned off some calories between the swimming and the shivering. We showered and headed off the the movies.

This was a fun movies. Lots of laughs and a lesson too. We all enjoyed it.

After the laughs, we went to the arcade and let the kids play for a while. Then off to our room for some rest and relaxation. We ordered pizza and did nothing for a while...until the kids complained about being bored. So off to the bowling alley for a couple games. I was kinda tired, so I was the official Abbie chaser while the others played. Afterward, it was my favorite time of the day...bedtime!! I ran to the gas station to get some milk for Abbie's bottle, then we put the kids to bed. Wow. It's quiet now. Aaron and Ashley are watching tv while I blog.

I'm not quite sure what we're going to do tomorrow. I'm all for heading home. It's been a really fun vacation, but I'm getting tired of hotels and living out of suitcases. I miss my own home and my bed. I know we won't be able to make it home tomorrow, but we should be there on Saturday sometime. It will be nice to be home. I'm looking forward to Monday when the kids go back to school and daycare and I have the day off. I'll be able to enjoy a nice, quiet house...

Spring Break...Day 5

2009-04-09T21:58:00.004-06:00

We packed the car up again, and headed west. Aaron has gotten really good at packing the car up. I bought a bag-type carrier for the top of the car, and it works really well. Gives us plenty of room inside the car for kids, snacks, and assorted stuff.

We visited the Hoover Dam three years ago on spring break, but we thought we'd hit it again since the kids are older. We didn't do the tour, we just walked around the dam and took some pictures.

They were doing construction on the dam when we were there three years ago, and they're still doing it now. I think there is some sort of bridge going up across from the dam. It's pretty cool how they're doing the curved concrete. You couldn't pay me enough to do a job like that!

Andrew staying hydrated.

Showing Abbie the dam.

We brought the stroller for Abbie, but she didn't like that either. She just wanted to run. I don't blame her since we spent most of the day in the car.

She was okay with Andrew riding in her stroller. She even tried to help buckle him in.

After our quick visit to Hoover Dam, we headed to Henderson, Nevada. It's just south of Vegas. We got a good deal on a room at Sunset Station Casino. They have a movie theater and a bowling alley. We took a walk around the huge hotel/casino and decided to head out to eat cuz it was way too expensive. Pancakes at IHOP was just what we needed...yum.

Spring Break....Day 4

2009-04-09T16:17:00.007-06:00

The Grand Canyon...one of the seven natural wonders of the world. The weather was gorgeous, a perfect day for a hike. We got to the canyon around 10 am. It was packed! After finding a parking spot, we got ready to go. Ashley volunteered to carry Abbie in the carrier. Abbie was fascinated with it for a minute or two. Then she started screaming and throwing her body around, trying to get free.

It was almost half a mile from the parking spot to the rim of the canyon. The boys busied themselves playing with what they called acorns (and everyone else calls pine cones). Andrew thought he'd give a tree a hug after he saw his brother hugging a tree for fun.

Our first view of the Grand Canyon.

Photo op - Abbie was more interested in eating rocks than sitting on a rock.

Pretty much every time Abbie got put down, she tried picking up rocks and eating them. The path is paved, so she could see the rocks, but not pick them up...until she found them alongside the path.

Austin kept climbing trees.

These signs were all over the place...guess it's for the people with no common sense or really accident prone!

The only way I would go near the edge was if it had a fence like this. Of course, that didn't stop Austin from tripping over a rock and falling into it. That scared me pretty good.

Of course, I'd freak out a little if any of the kids got too close to the edge...kinda like this.

This is Andrew pouting because he wanted to go back to the hotel and go swimming.

Abbie grabbing the camera as I'm trying to take a picture.

Good thing I brought Aaron along to do the heavy lifting.

Oh, look. A picture of me. How exciting.

It took us about 4 hours to walk almost 4 miles. ALL the kids were whining and complaining by the end. Andrew rode on my shoulders for quite a while at the end because his "feet were tired." Aaron and I were both kinda grouchy by the time we got back to the car. The sunburn didn't help my mood either. I remembered to put it on the kids, but it didn't even occur to me to put in on myself. Why is that?

Once we made it back to the hotel in Flagstaff, we had laundry to do. I can't even remember the last time I went to a laundromat. We had dinner while the clothes washed, but then hung around waiting for them to dry. We finally had the kids watch a movie in the car while the clothes dried. Then it was back to the hotel. Aaron took the kids swimming while I put Abbie to bed and put all the clothes away. How fun.

Spring Break...Day 3

2009-04-06T22:32:00.005-06:00

Today started out as a lazy day. We weren't in a hurry to get anywhere. We got the car all packed up, and left the hotel at 11 am. We moseyed over to Walmart and did a little shopping (had to get those Little Swimmers for Abbie!). We grabbed some new movies for the kids...they're better entertained by movies they haven't seen before. Even Abbie was watching LABYRINTH.

It wasn't a very long drive to the four corners. It's in the middle of nowhere. If you're in the area, it's worth stopping in. Now when the kids talk about it and school, they can say they've been there.

It's 2 pm. Do you know where you're kids are? Hmm, Ashley's in Utah, Abbie's in Arizona, Andrew's in Colorado, and Austin's in New Mexico. All accounted for!

I told Austin to lay down so I could get a picture of him in all four states at once. For some reason, he thought he needed to pretend he was dead. So the other kids thought they needed to do the same thing.

Except for Abbie. She just wanted to run and be free. Every time we get her out of the car and put her down, she takes off. I'm getting the feeling she's getting tired of being in the car...

After Four Corners, we headed to Flagstaff, Arizona. Yep, it was a long drive, but we made it without too much fighting and arguing from the kids. We hit a time zone, so we're an hour behind Utah time. So after dinner, Aaron took the kids swimming and I put Abbie to bed and got some peace and quiet. What a nice treat for me!!

Tomorrow we're headed to the Grand Canyon. We've been having a ton of fun. We don't have our trip completely planned out, so we're just kinda going where the wind blows us. After that, we might head over to Hoover Dam. Should be fun!!

Spring Break...Day 2

2009-04-06T21:49:00.003-06:00

We got off to an early start Sunday morning to head to Arches National Park in Moab, Utah. This really is a beautiful state. I've lived here almost 15 years, and haven't really seen much of it. Arches was amazing. I can't believe some of the rock formations we saw. I wish I knew how some of these were created.

The kids were really excited to get out and look around. I didn't realize how huge the park is. There are lots of scenic overlooks to stop at.

Austin pretending he's going to jump over the edge.

These are the three gossips.

This was my favorite site...Balanced Rock. I just think it's absolutely amazing. How the heck does that stay up there?!! I was awed by this.

The Fiery Furnace.

There were a bunch of these old, curly trees laying around. I think they're pretty cool. Andrew was the only one who would pose by one for me.

Delicate Arch. This is the arch on the Utah license plates. We originally wanted to hike up to it and walk around like the people in the photo, but the parking lot was packed. So we went further up the road, and hiked to an overlook of it. That hike wore the boys out, so they certainly didn't want to walk the mile and a half to the arch.

I don't remember what arch this is. I just remember that Ashley and Austin didn't want to get out of the car to come look at it. It was the last one we looked at before we headed out.

Abbie spent most of the day on her daddy's shoulders.

Austin and Abbie were intrigued by the metal statues at the Visitor's Center. I don't think Abbie really knew what to make of them, but she had fun inspecting them with Austin.

We spent about 3 hours at Arches National Park. I would definitely recommend seeing it if you're in the area. If the kids were older, we could have easily spent all day hiking around to see everything.

After leaving the park, we headed south. We ended up staying the night in Cortez, Colorado. Not much to see there (or worth seeing), but it's close to Four Corners.

Spring Break....Day 1

2009-04-04T20:04:00.006-06:00

Today is the first day of Spring Break. So, of course, we woke up to snow. No problem. We're headed south where it's suppose to be warmer. We packed up the car and kids, popped a movie in the DVD player, and were on the road before 9 am.

Our first destination was Goblin Valley State Park in Green River, Utah (about a 5 hour drive). The weather was nice in some spots and snowy in many others. We actually made it to Price (3 hours) before we had to stop for the first time. I was amazed they lasted that long. We finally made it to Goblin Valley. It's amazing.

We walked down into the valley and right up to the "goblins." The kids had lots of fun climbing up on them and running around. Abbie was trying to figure out how the big kids got all the way up there.

Less then 10 minutes after we got into the valley, a blowing snow storm came out of nowhere. It had been a little chilly, but I didn't think it was going to snow. Even weirder than that, we heard thunder as we were hurrying back to the car.

We decided pretty quickly it was time to head to the hotel. We're thinking we should head back to Goblin Valley in the summer when there's no chance of snow. They have a campground and lots of places to hike. I think it would be a really fun place to explore.

Once we got to the hotel, the kids were stoked to go swimming. It was Abbie's first time, so she was a little tentative. It didn't take her long to decide she loved being in the water.

The kids had fun jumping back and forth between the pool and the hot tub. The hot tub was my favorite. The pool was too dang cold after being so warm! It was a nice way to relax after all that driving.

Of course, I forgot a Little Swimmer for Abbie. Man, Huggies can absorb a LOT of water. Baby got back!!

Tomorrow, we're headed to Arches National Park in Moab. Supposedly, the weather is suppose to be a lot nicer. I hope I can survive the bickering children...

My little cub scout

2009-04-01T21:22:00.003-06:00

Tonight was Austin's first night of cub scouts. He had so much fun. He was sure to remind me this morning that I needed to go get his book and shirt on my lunch break. I think scouting will be a fun adventure for the whole family.

Cache Valley weather

2009-04-01T21:14:00.003-06:00

Spring seems to elude Cache Valley each year. This year seems to be worse than normal. Mother Nature gives us a couple of nice days and then dumps snow on us. Then she gives us a couple more nice, spring days and then dumps more snow on us. This has been happening the last couple of weeks and is suppose to continue a little while longer. Austin's birthday was a wonderful spring day. We woke up Sunday morning to the wind howling and the snow blowing. Ugh. That didn't stop my brother from grilling Sunday night!

It's lots of fun having Jim and Tasha live next door, even though I don't see them very often in the winter (that hibernating thing again). I'm sure I'll look out my kitchen window and see Jim grilling more often now that spring is approaching.

Partying at home

2009-04-01T20:48:00.005-06:00

Saturday night, we had the whole family over for dinner and cake & ice cream. I've noticed we tend to hibernate in the winter, so I don't see much of my family. I forgot how much fun (chaotic) it is to have everyone over to my home to eat, hang out, and let the kids play. Saturday was the perfect day for it. It actually felt like spring outside, so the kids spent most of the time outside playing. We even had them eat outside. Of course, I don't think there was much eating going on. I kept seeing kids running around and balls going everywhere. At least they saved room for cake and ice cream.

I did forget to buy candles. So, Austin found a 7 and a single candle and said we could just add those together and get 8. Funny kid. That's what we did.

After most of the family left, we played Phase 10 with Vicky and Sean. That's kind of a tradition in our family. I don't think we've played since New Year's Eve (yes, another tradition), so it was definitely time for a game. Aaron won by default. We got tired of playing, and he was on the highest phase. We'll have to start earlier next time!

Austin said he had a good birthday. Now, we're looking forward to his baptism in May. He and his cousin, Grace, will be getting baptized on the same day. I think we've got it worked out so that Austin can get baptized in her stake so family won't have to choose between the two. Should be fun!

Party at the Fun Park

2009-04-01T20:07:00.007-06:00

Austin turned 8 on Saturday, so he had his friend party at the Fun Park. After pepperoni pizza and pop, the kids headed off for some Cosmic Bowling. They were so much fun to watch.

Andrew's "Yes!" and victory stance after he slowly rolled the ball down the lane.

Casey did fun break dance moves after his turn bowling.

After bowling, it was time for cake and ice cream.

Austin had a great time with his friends. I loved not having to set up/clean up!

Here kitty, kitty...

2009-03-25T21:10:00.003-06:00

Have you ever wondered where the phrase "love you to death" comes from?

Love ya! Mwwaaahh!!

Ducks in a row

2009-03-25T20:48:00.004-06:00

Last week Abbie had her first ear infection. Of course, both ears were infected and she was MISERABLE. And if baby ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!! Thankfully, the drugs are working, and she's finally feeling better.

One day last week (when she was drugged up on Tylenol and Motrin), she was happily playing in the tub with her duckies. She lined them up on the side of the tub. It was so funny! I just had to take some pictures and share them.

Chocolate is a girl's best friend

2009-03-14T22:56:00.007-06:00

A girl is never to young to enjoy chocolate...or Diet Coke!

Sorry cutie. There's no way you're getting that thing open!

How to keep warm

2009-03-14T22:40:00.003-06:00

This is how I find Austin most mornings....sitting on the heater vent in the kitchen with his blanket, toasty warm. Smart kid. Looks like we have a smart cat too.

Meet Raeyne

2009-03-01T19:09:00.005-07:00

My niece, Raeyne Schvaneveldt, was born on January 21, 2009. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 4 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long. She had her first bowel movement while still in the womb, inhaled it, and had to spend a few days in the NICU.

She's home now and doing great!! Grandma flew out from Pennsylvania to help out. I think this was the first time she didn't stay at my house. It was kinda weird. I didn't see her as much as I usually do, but hopefully she'll be back in May for Austin's baptism and definitely in July for Rachel and Skyler's wedding.

Monster Teeth

2009-03-01T17:24:00.006-07:00

My boys are big time thumb suckers and there's no easy way to get to get them to stop. Austin's kindergarten teacher was the only person who could get him to voluntarily stop. They worked out a secret little finger-wiggling signal that she would do when he was sucking it. He would immediately take his thumb out of his mouth. I tried that at home, and he just laughed at me. So, I've pretty much given up trying to get them to stop. Nothing works, though people are happy to share thumb sucking stories with me (summation: nothing works till the kid is ready).

When the kids went to the dentist in January, the dentist finally said it's time for Austin to stop. After all, he'll be 8 at the end of the month. Since Austin is not willing to stop on his own, the dentist recommended an appliance (aka, monster teeth...as named by Richie). So, Austin went to the dentist a few weeks ago and had a mold made of his teeth. A week later, the appliance was ready to be glued in. It wasn't quite what I expected, but it seems to be working!

Initially, he had a hard time eating and talking. He eats fine now, but still slurs his words a little. The first night he had it in, his finger was constantly in his mouth touching it. He hasn't sucked his thumb in quite a while now. Once he's gone a month without sucking it, they'll cut it down a little so it's not so in the way. After another month of not sucking his thumb, the dentist will take it out (but hold onto it for a couple more months in case he regresses). All in all, I'm happy with the results. FYI: The appliance is $350 and most insurances (like mine) don't cover it.

One year pictures

2009-02-21T08:45:00.017-07:00

I had Abbie's one year pictures taken at JC Penny. She did not want to sit/stand still at all. I was sweaty and tired from chasing her around. Her personality sure came through in some of these pictures, so it was worth it.

Snow, snow, and more snow...

2009-01-19T21:06:00.003-07:00

You can't fully enjoy Christmas without snow. We got plenty of it right after Christmas. Luckily, I didn't have to shovel any of it. Aaron and the kids did it. The boys got small snow shovels for Christmas, so they were excited to use them. I love that they like to help out with stuff like that. Austin is the first one to start shoveling whenever it snows.

I took Abbie outside to see the snow. The first thing she did was grab it off the handrail and shove it in her mouth (kinda reminded me of her birthday). That child is not afraid of anything and will put anything in her mouth. I got her dressed in her snow suit so she could walk around with the big kids, but she was not happy with that.

Daddy's here...and boy is he hairy!!

2009-01-19T20:48:00.002-07:00

The kids were excited for Christmas, but I think they were more excited to see their dad. They attacked him when he got here and climbed all over him. It didn't take long for Abbie to warm up to him either.

However, he was in dire need of a haircut and shave when he got here. Coincidentally, the boys needed haircuts too. So I made coupons good for one free haircut and put them in all the boys' stockings. Yes, I have been known to cut their hair. It's not to hard to buzz it.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Abbie fits right in with the boys and their short hair cuts!

Christmas...finally!

2009-01-03T21:11:00.006-07:00

Ok, thought I'd better get some of my Christmas pictures posted finally. Everyone got what they wanted most. Ashley got a Nintendo DS (I haven't been able to separate her from it!). Austin got a bike and a skateboard. Andrew got a bike and a friend for his turkey. For those of you who don't know, he has this beanie baby turkey that my mom got him. He takes it everywhere! Abbie got some toys and clothes. I got a break since Aaron was here. We had a nice, relaxing Christmas. It's tradition in my house to stay in your pajamas all day, be lazy, watch movies, and eat whatever you can find. Gotta love it!

2008-12-28T17:21:00.004-07:00

We just went and saw BEDTIME STORIES. It was the funniest movie I've seen in a long time. I walked out of the theater thinking, "I'm so buying that movie when it comes out!" So, if you're looking for something fun to do with your kids (or not), I highly recommend going to see this. You'll be laughing the whole time.

I love my kids...I love my kids...

2008-12-04T21:35:00.003-07:00

I love my kids...I love my kids...Do you ever find yourself repeating that phrase over and over and over again? I do, especially with my boys. I have the hardest time getting them to sleep at night. I put them in bed, shut the door, and they think it's time to play. Last night about 10 pm, Andrew came crying and bleeding into my room. Austin had cut the tip of his finger with a pair of scissors. Not just any scissors, but my kitchen shears. Austin's excuse was that Andrew put his finger in the way. In the way of what?!! I didn't know boys could be so violent and destructive and frustrating. There's a reason I call them evil, little monsters (and that's putting it nicely!).

So, tonight we decided to go to McDonalds playland for dinner. We were a couple minutes away, and I could hear Abbie throw up...everywhere. Ugh. We hit drive-thru. On the way home, I got to listen to the boys whine and complain about how bad it smelled (keep in mind Abbie had been snacking on fruity cheerios and milk before we left). I pulled out the carseat with baby still strapped in when we got home. Unfortunately, she managed to get puke all over the seat of my Durango...dang it. Inside the house, I managed to carefully remove her from the carseat, strip her down, and throw her in the tub. That was the easy part. Then I had to figure out how to remove the straps from the carseat, remove the cover, and deal with the chunks (gag!). Once I got all that in the washing machine, I had to go deal with my poor car. I'm hoping it doesn't smell too bad tomorrow. Of course, I had to go change my clothes after that because you can't do all that without some transfer. Yes, I live a glamourous life. Abbie waited until I put her in bed to throw up everywhere again. I can honestly say, I missed Aaron tonight. I could have used someone else on puke duty.

I love my kids...I love being a mom...I love my kids...I love being a mom.....

More party pictures

2008-11-23T16:15:00.005-07:00

My baby is one

2008-11-23T15:40:00.006-07:00

Abbie's birthday was on Wednesday. I can't believe my baby girl is one already. She weighs 20 lbs. 12 oz. and is 29.5 inches long. The poor, little girl got 7 shots on Friday. Ouch! She had her immunizations plus a flu shot (she starts at All About Kids on December 1, so it seemed like a good idea). She actually has done pretty well. She didn't like it when I took her 5 bandaids off though!

I had her birthday party on Saturday. She dug into her birthday cake before we could even finish singing Happy Birthday to her. It was hilarious!! I've never had a child dig into a birthday cake like that before. She needed no encouragement at all.

All of these cute pictures were taken by my neighbor. He did an incredible job, and I think he had fun taking them too!

Expressions...

2008-11-06T21:17:00.006-07:00

The following shots show just how much fun it really was taking family pictures last month. The expression "a picture is worth a thousand words" comes to mind. These expressions prove my kids are not as cute as they look!

Halloween

2008-11-05T13:30:00.007-07:00

Another Halloween has come and gone. Interestingly enough, I've decided that it really is fun to dress up for Halloween. My original plan had been for all of us to be jailbirds. Unfortunately, I couldn't find costumes for Ashley and Austin (I had tried ordering them from Oriental Trading Company, but they were out...just my luck). So, my little family consisted of 3 jailbirds, one race car driver (go, Tony Stewart!), and a goth tweener.

We really didn't do much trick-or-treating this year. We mostly went visiting people which was funner. Who needs all that candy anyway! We went to my sister-in-law's tunk-or-treat. It's always fun to hang out with the Heiners...

and the Whitehead pirates!

Once we made it back home from our journeys, my cute little nephews came over to show off their costumes.

Laugh for today....

2008-10-29T14:37:00.001-06:00

More Pumpkins

2008-10-28T22:19:00.004-06:00

I'm not a big fan of carving pumpkins. This year I ordered some fun monster pumpkin decorations from Oriental Trading Company. I thought the kids would enjoy that, and I would enjoy the non-mess.

Pumpkins

2008-10-28T21:32:00.007-06:00

Pumkins, pumkins everywhere...it must be fall! We went to the Pumpkin Walk on Saturday morning, a Whitehead family tradition. We always have fun walking around, seeing what the creative people come up with. The Pepperidge Farm cookies are always yummy too!

These were some of our favorites.

The boys wore their costumes.

Gotta love the photo ops!!

Abbie had fun riding in the stroller, chewing on her jacket zipper. What a goof!

Family pictures

2008-10-20T22:02:00.013-06:00

I was going to take the kids to JC Penny's next month for family pictures, but I thought it might be fun (and cheaper) to have my mom take some pictures while she was here. She loves taking pictures and she has an awesome camera. It seemed like a good idea.

I forgot how much I hate doing family pictures. By the time I actually have everyone ready for pictures, I want to strangle each of my wonderful, little children. Then, they don't sit still and you can't get all of them to look at the camera and smile at the same time. Taking pictures at the park doesn't help either, because all the boys wanted to do was go play. So, they were bribed with lunch at McDonald's and cold, hard cash. That still didn't work very well.

This picture is so Andrew. He has so much energy I just don't know what to do with him!!

All Abbie really wanted to do was yank the bow off her head.

These are some of the better ones.

It's cold today!

2008-10-11T15:00:00.006-06:00

I woke up this moring and the wind was whipping around the house. I knew right then it was going to be a cold morning. Figures. We were all signed up to do the 1 mile Red Ribbon Walk in Hyde Park. So, we put on multiple layers, and off we went. It really wasn't too bad, even when we got snowed on at the end....Welcome to Utah, Mom.

Abbie and Andrew rode in strollers, so we had to bundle them up pretty good. The t-shirts from the walk came in handy to hide Abbie from the wind. Way to be creative, Sara! Abbie stayed toasty warm and even slept through most of the walk.

Kids are CRAZY!!!

2008-10-09T20:52:00.013-06:00

My life is crazy, but uneventful. So I thought I would share some pictures of my crazy kids.

We were eating dinner tonight, and Andrew killed a fly with his hand. He's either really fast or that was one slow fly!!

Austin proves that position is everything!!

Eww! Abbie doesn't quite know what to think of the thing on her high chair.

Look at that cute little crinkle-nosed baby!

Andrew has the curliest hair. This is what it looked like before we got it cut on Saturday.

Ashley seems to hide when I'm taking pictures. That didn't stop me from getting this funny picture of her and her cousin, Grace!

My mom flies out from Pennsylvania tomorrow. We're all excited about that (even if I didn't manage to get my house clean...because of that dang Twilight series!)

The Greatest Show on Earth

2008-10-01T11:52:00.000-06:00

To make up for doing absolutely nothing over the summer, I took my kids and sister (helper!) to the circus on Sunday. I remember how much fun I had going when I was a kid, so I wanted my kids to have that same experience. We had a blast!

Abbie had a hard time sitting still for 2 1/2 hours, but we passed her back and forth and kept her entertained. She bopped along to the music and loved the elephants!

Of course, the best part of going to circus is the sugar high! The kids enjoyed cotton candy (yes, even Abbie had a tiny bit). They loved the smores on a stick, as you can see. The boys had chocolate all over their faces when they were done.

We decided we're going to make this a family tradition and go every year (driving in Salt Lake wasn't as bad as I expected!).

Splish Splash

2008-09-30T21:31:00.001-06:00

Thought it was time to go ahead and start a blog. I have fun reading them, so thought I might as well give it a try!

Tonight, Abbie had her first bath without the bath seat. She absolutely loved it. I put her in the tub with Andrew, and she was crawling all over him trying to get all the toys so she could chew on each one of them.

Those are some big, blue eyes! Of course, Andrew thought he had to chew on the toys too since his baby sister was doing it! Monkey see, monkey do!!

I can tell Andrew has had fun at daycare when he comes home this filthy!