Spur of the moment fun!

While I was out this morning with friends one of them asked if she should get her ears pierced. We all agreed that it was a good idea and that we should all be there to go with her. So off we went in our caravan of cars with our 10 children off to the mall. We were all like giddy high school girls, picking out earrings, taking pictures....it was so much fun. I never thought I would be in my thirties taking a friend to get her ears pierced! What a fun memory with great friends!

Here she is all done. Now we just have to get her to leave them in. Apparently she blocked from her memory that she actually has done this before but took her earrings out within hours of having it done! We are so proud of you and they look so cute! Oh and if anyone who reads this knows her hubby keep your lips zipped.....we want to see how long it takes him to notice!

Ethan's Birthday

Today is Ethan's official birthday but we told him it was yesterday because Charlie is out of town today and we did not want him to miss it. We let Ethan choose what he wanted to do so below are some pictures of his fun day!
We started with a trip to Dunkin Donuts which Ethan calls, "The Donut Store". The kids stuffed their faces with donuts and got good and loaded up on sugar as all kids should on their birthday.
We then went bowling and miniature golfing. Ethan is actually REALLY good at bowling and he loves to play.
When the kids play mini golf they start and are finished in about 8 minutes. It hardly seems worth the money. They pretty much pick up their ball put it next to the hole, hit it in and then run as fast as they can to the next hole. They have a blast though so I guess it is worth it.
We then went home and opened presents and ate cake. I again tried my hand at a new cake and it was quite the hit. It made it all worth it when Ethan was eating his cake and said, "This is the best cake in the whole world!". I thought it turned out pretty cool.
Ethan has been LOVING playing baseball lately so we got him a ton of baseball stuff. So after cake Charlie and Ethan went out to play ball in the yard for a bit. The kids all then slept in Abby's room for a sleepover and stayed up way too late. I think he had a great day and the month of birthday's is finally over!

Happy Birthday Buddy!!!!!!

Father's Day

Need I say more???? I think Charlie enjoyed his day!

My Birthday

For my birthday Charlie made the kids these adorable shirts. He made them the night before my birthday and put them on the kids when they were sleeping. They all woke up that morning wondering why they were wearing "funny shirts". They each had something different written on them but Samuel's shirt was the funniest. It had a picture of me when I was pregnant and on the bottom it said, "Great job pushing". My husband still manages to surprise me with his creative ability.

The night ended with a get together at my good friends house. It was so nice to spend the evening with girlfriends eating brownies and ice cream and feeling somewhat like a "normal" person again. I also had the chance to see my friends baby who was born 6 days before Samuel. I can't wait to see them grow up together and hopefully be good friends. Yet another great birthday!!!!

Soccer Anyone?

I've hijacked Brook's blog for a noble cause

To the Wives in Midland.

Please make your husbands aware of this and pass it on to them. I'm trying to arrange a Men's soccer game for July 4th in the morning.

http://fathercarnage.blogspot.com/2008/06/soccer-anyone.html

Chuck

You be the judge

Everyone keeps asking who I think the baby looks like and I am not quite sure. You be the judge and let me know what you think!



Abby/ Ethan



Morgan/ Samuel

Samuel James

I thought I would add a few new pictures of the baby as well as announce that yes he finally has a name!
He has been an AMAZING baby so far. I feel so blessed to have my mother in law here helping. It is so nice to have an extra set of hands to worry about cooking and cleaning and keeping the kids entertained so I can spend time with little Sam.

How did I forget how much I LOVE this tiny baby stage????? I love holding him and feeling his little body just melt into mine.

Baby Boy* - To be named later

5 AM before the baby came after solid contractions from 12:15 AM to 2:15 AM and then again from 3:00 AM to 4:30 AM.

10 minutes after the baby was born. He arrived at 2:41 PM on 6/3/08. He was 6 lbs, 14.6 OZ and 19" long. 10 fingers and toes and all of his parts functioning as far as we know. We feel very blessed and lucky to have another healthy baby.

The whole family at 5 PM now one member bigger and everyone prouder to be a new DAD, MOM, Big Brother and Big Sister.

Name and more pictures and video to come. Just not tonight. We are tired and are going to try to get some sleep!

7 years ago

7 years ago this little princess entered my life! What a great gift she has been.

I am amazed that I have a 7 year old!!!! Up until now I have been ok with all of my kids birthdays, but I remember being 7. I remember being in second grade...I remember a lot of it and it scares me that I now have a child that is old enough to remember things happening now far into her adult life.

We celebrated her birthday yesterday and what a day it was. We started the morning at the McDonalds play place for breakfast. The day was then filled with mini golf, roller skating, a special birthday cake, presents, treats and a sleepover with brother and sister that included way too many sweets! I can honestly say that yesterday was a great family day that the kids will remember for a long time. Abby even filled out invitations to give to all of us for her party. The kids LOVED the invites and have carried them around all week feeling so proud that they got an official invite to the party!

Abby had a special cake request. She wanted a purple and pink butterfly cake. So I thought I would give it a try and I was so impressed with how it turned out. Yes, I MADE this cake. No store was involved this was all me and although it was quite a bit of work I had fun making it and hope to do more fun cakes in the future.

This is the kids at their sleepover. They watched Alvin and the Chipmunks and loved it. It was so fun to watch them giggle and have fun together. I love days like these where you can see the brother sister bonds growing stronger.

Happy Birthday to my Little Princess!

Best Night Ever!

Last night we had a Girls Night In. Our good friend invited us over to her beautiful new home for a night of treats and chick flicks. It turned out that they had a little surprise! After eating they pulled out a bunch of gifts for the new baby. I can say that I am not surprised very often but this was a HUGE surprise. I got some really cute and thoughtful gifts and I am so grateful to my amazing friends!

I sat at the table last night surrounded by some of the most amazing women and mothers I have ever met and I felt so blessed. With all of the moving we have done in our marriage I have not really been able to make many good friends until now and wow have I got some good ones! So thank you ladies for the best night ever. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. You are the best!!!!!

Ethan's Last Day!

We left the house very frazzled this morning. It was a rush of making lunches, kids not getting dressed, finding coats for the chilly morning and on and on. And then it all changed.

It was Ethan's last day at preschool and they got to spend the day at the park. It started with an award ceremony where each child got a special award from their teacher and a little gift. Ethan got an award for obedience. As he stood there next to his teacher the rush of the morning was gone and I was so proud to watch my son and realize how much he has grown this year.

In the last conference Elder M. Russell Ballard gave a talk where he said, "The joy of motherhood comes in moments." This morning was one of those moments. Motherhood is not always rewarding or pretty or fun but this morning for a brief moment in the park on a beautiful day it was.

I feel very blessed today that I have been allowed to be a mother. Thank you Ethan for being the boy that you are and for all you teach me. Thank goodness for mornings like today!

Memorial Day

What a great weekend is all I can say! The weather was BEAUTIFUL and we had great fun with friends. The day started with a great home town parade and ended with a fun B-B-Q that included yummy food, fun games, and friends. I sat back yesterday and watched as everyone was playing and socializing and really felt like I was home. I looked around at everyone and felt so blessed to be in such a great town with so many great people. Thanks to all our friends that made the day so special!!!!!

FALSE labor - A REAL pain!

So last night at around 3ish I woke up to a not so great feeling. I have been having stronger contractions this last week but this one by far was the worst and woke me up out of a deep sleep. I brushed it off and snuggled back down into my covers to go back to sleep. Well not long after that another one hit and then another.

On the 3rd one I decided to wake up Charlie. This is how the conversation went:

Me: I think something is going on

Him: Who is awake and where are they (he thought one of the kids was awake)

Me: No...not the kids the baby...I am having contractions

Him: Well, you need to lay down and relax!

Me: Ummm...I am laying in bed and was asleep how much more relaxed do you want me to be?

I had to laugh at this point because I could tell I was having a conversation with my husband who was still 1/2 asleep. I mean did he think I was up at 3 o'clock running a marathon or something?

So I spent the next two hours laying wide awake in bed with all the thoughts rushing through my head of how I don't have a bag packed yet and who am I going to call and on and on....I woke Charlie up each time I had a contraction and he would jot it down and quickly fall back to sleep. I am always amazed at my husbands ability to sleep through such an event but I guess he was REALLY tired! After two hours of pretty regular painful contractions they stopped!

Don't get me wrong I am glad they did but man what a crazy night! I hope there are not too many more nights like last night until it is the real thing because that was quite the roller coaster of emotions.

So now instead of laying my head down and trying to get a few more winks I am blogging and then off to the grocery store to throw together a meal for a new family in the ward we invited over for dinner. Do you think they would be impressed with frozen pizza????

This little piggy....

This little piggy went to the day spa
This little piggy didn't stay home
This little piggy has red toes
This little piggy had fun
And this little piggy went Yeah, Yeah, Yeah all the way home!

So for mothers day Charlie sent me to the spa to get my toes painted. It was such a nice morning and such a nice gift considering I can't reach my feet anymore. Do you think I can keep them looking this nice for the next few weeks? I hope so...but if not maybe I have an excuse to go again! Thanks sweet husband for being so thoughtful!

Take me out to the ball game!

So I just got home from a great day at the ball park with the kids. I knew that there was a morning game today but I did not mention it to the kids until this morning when I was sure I was feeling up for going. I threw some blankets and snacks in a bag and I headed to the ball field ready for some fun mommy-kid time. I figure I don't have too many more days ahead of me that I can just throw everyone in the car last minute without too much planning. The weather was BEAUTIFUL and I really had a great time with the kids. We ate "baseball" food and sang take me out to the ball game and danced and just had fun together. I hope I can get in a few more days like today before the new baby arrives!

Miracle Worker

This is one of my FAVORITE products. This stuff has removed stains from things that I never thought would come out. The other day Abby came home from school with pants so dirty I thought I may just have to trash them. I ran them through the wash twice without much change. Then I pulled out my secret weapon. I sprayed this all over and let them sit for a bit and washed them again. They came out spotless! I love this stuff. If you have a stain give it a try!

On your marks, get set, go!!!!!

This weekend we signed the kids up for their first big race. It was a 1 mile fun run/walk. We prepared with the kids over the weeks doing several mini races in the neighborhood when the weather was nice. Ethan was funny about the whole thing. Every time we talked about the race he would say how he just wanted to watch and how he did not want to see Lou E. Loon (the Loons mascot) and on and on. He seemed really nervous about the whole thing. Abby and Morgan seemed really excited.

Well race day arrived and the plan was to let Abby run with Charlie and I was going to walk/run with Morgan and Ethan. About 30 seconds into the race Abby was throwing a huge fit and crying. Morgan about 5 minutes into the race was whining for ice cream and saying she was bored. I started to think we had made a mistake signing up for this thing. Then the funniest thing happened.

We hit the half way mark and Ethan out of nowhere took off! It was like someone lit a match under the kid. He ran the rest of the race without stopping. I could see him the whole time but I kept calling his name trying to get him to slow down but he was determined. I was worried that Charlie would not be watching for him at the finish line because he would be looking for me. Sure enough Ethan hit the finish line and Charlie had no idea he had even finished the race. It was all pretty funny that the kid who had no interest in the race had the most fun. I think Ethan has more races in his future! I was so proud of him.

We ran the race with our good friends. I loved this picture of them! It was nice to have another mom to walk with. Let's just say starting an exercise routine when your 9 months prego is not pretty. We both were able to laugh at our out of shape bodies and are determined after I have this kid we are going to get into shape. Right Steph?

This is the kids cooling off after the race. It did not last long though. Ethan got a hold of a muffin with walnuts in it and started to have an allergic reaction and race #2 began. Charlie ran to get the car and I stayed with the kids. Our friends we were with ran to see if there was a first aid station that may have some medicine. That set off a chain of events including an ambulance and someone calling 9-1-1. I quickly informed them that we did not need 9-1-1 or an ambulance! Just then Charlie pulled up. We threw everyone in the car and rushed to the pharmacy got Ethan some medicine and all was back to normal. Let's just say we were all a little tired by the time we got home.

Here is some video of Morgan crossing the finish line!

Hooray!!!!

I just got home from my new doctor and I was so excited I had to blog about it. I just had my first appointment with a new OB/GYN practice even though I am 31 weeks. I had some unexpected things occur at my last office that until that point I thought I was happy at so I decided it was time to make a change but I was very nervous since I am so far along.

Wow! What a blessing...this place was AMAZING!!!! Ok, so I know I am not super picky at this point but they had everything I was looking for.

First, every staff member has always been super friendly and happy. I have been to some great practices before but have run into grouchy nurses and staff members - not here.

Second, I showed up and there was one other woman in the waiting room not 15 like most practices. I filled out my needed paper work and they called me right back. The nurse immediately came in and sat down with me and was so kind and understanding and friendly.

Third, after the nurse was done I waited maybe 5 minutes before my new doctor came in. He was quick and efficient but took a seat after he was done checking the heart rate and stuff and let me ask any questions I had. He had great answers for all of my questions. He was nice and clear to understand and has 3 children of his own and seemed very understanding of our situation. Overall, I really really enjoyed him.

Fourth, my hubby came along to this appointment to check out the new office and he was equally impressed. He really liked the doctor and was impressed with how efficient they were and loved that we did not sit in the waiting room for 45 minutes before my name even got called.

Fifth, and this is the best news I have heard in 7 months......I CAN GET AN EPIDURAL!!!!! Did you hear me?????? I had to ask 2 or 3 times just to make sure I heard him right. Now he did have to give his warnings like well if you are delivering in the elevator you are not going to get one...blah blah blah...but given a normal delivery he assured me he saw no reason why I should not be able to get one! Anyone who is familiar with the back woods hospital out here knows that up to a few months ago an epidural was NEVER given unless you had a c-section so this is BIG news.

I know this is a funny thing to blog about but it is something that has been weighing heavily on my mind and I am so thrilled that it went well. Time will tell if my future visits go as smooth but I am very hopeful that this was a great choice and if anything I wish I would have started at this practice to begin with.

I am on cloud 9 and am anxiously awaiting my friend-the epidural!

3-2-1 blast off !!!

We took the kids to the planetarium over spring break and it was great. There was a nice man there that did a demonstration of a bottle rocket and gave out instructions on how to make your own. Ever since Ethan has been asking to build his rocket. So this morning we tried to find random parts around the house to build it since it was Sunday and we did not want to go out and buy stuff we had to try and make what we had work. So I have posted two videos of our "great" attempt at a bottle rocket. Somehow I think we will need to revisit this little project at a later date!

First fire of 2008

Anyone who knows us knows that we LOVE our fire pit. Well yesterday we finally had nice enough weather to enjoy our first fire and it was wonderful! The kids jumped on the trampoline and we had hot dogs and s'mores and sat around the fire soaking up some sun. I have been waiting for a day like this for a long time.