Silk or Satin, either one works

I don't think I've mentioned Noah's thing for satin and silky fabrics. He goes NUTS when he gets the texture in his hands! The minute it touches his skin, his two fingers fly up into his mouth, and his head tilts. He starts to get sleepy. He will actually push it away if he feels himself starting to fall asleep when he's not ready. It started with the edging of a fuzzy blanket he has- he used to grab for it the minute we would lay him in his bed. Then it was Nate's jogging pants when Nate would rock him to sleep. Then got worse with our satin pillowcases..... now we actually get the pillow cases out to help him fall asleep :) This is a picture of him asleep, on the floor, right next to the satin pillowcase. This was after I got tired of wrestling him and finally just set him on the floor to crawl around. He found the pillowcase on his own and was out cold in a matter of minutes. Funny little guy. I need to get him some blue or green though, right now he's sleeping on Charity's pink satin pillow..... how embarrassing for him.

Ice Cream

Grandpa Hatch took Charity out for ice cream because of her broken arm and he was so thoughtful to bring home a tub of Cotton Candy ice cream back for the rest of us :) This stuff was MESSY!! We loved it! :)


We love how it makes our tongues purple!

and foreheads and noses too

Once again Noah's ice cream cone disappeared WAY faster than I could have imagined. I swear I'm going to find a stash of cones with melted ice cream in them one of these days..... they really just vanish!

Thanks Grandpa!!!

Giveaway

My friend Olga Clark does Photography.

I am entering a giveaway on her blog so I have to post her link,

but I've had it on my sidebar up until I moved my blog anyway because

she does an AMAZING job!!!!

I am constantly looking at her blog and wishing I had her talent!

Click Here

to check out her Endless Memories Photography blog.

(hopefully I win the free photo session!)

Buckle Fractures

I took Charity in on Tuesday to get her cast. She was SOOOOOO hyper there!!!! It's been a while since I saw this girl so hyper! The nurse assured me that Charity's not the first kid to be excited to get a cast. Funny kids. She really was just so thrilled. Planning who would sign it when and how. I am still surprised that she picked blue..... she had a funny conversation with the receptionist:

Receptionist: that's a pretty color of blue! It matches your outfit! (she was wearing a white and black striped shirt....wouldn't anything have matched?? just a thought)
Charity: (shy all of a sudden)
Receptionist: is blue your favorite color?
Charity: NO!!!!!!!
Receptionist: oh,what is your favorite color?
Charity: RED!!!!!! (she really was practically yelling.... so embarrassing..... AND this was the first time I've ever heard her say her favorite color is red :))
Receptionist: did we just not have any red???
Charity: (confusion..... "what does my favorite color have to do with my cast" look)
Me: She just wanted a blue one I guess :)

I think most kids would pick their favorite color. Kelly did the same thing though so it wasn't too much of a surprise. On the way to the Dr. she was talking about getting a Black one?? So I was curious which color she would end up choosing. The good thing is the dirt won't show up as much. I like that about it. We were able to get a water proof cast this time (huge relief for me!). Charity has to have her cast on for 4 weeks. I felt bad because I had told her it probably wouldn't be more than 3 (since Kelly's was 3 and her's was WAY more broken....course that wasn't counting the 2 more with the other cast..... anyway), she was mad at me for being wrong. But 4 weeks is a good amount of time for those monkey bar blisters to heal.

The pics of the x-rays didn't turn out so good. This is the best one. You can kind of see how her radius bone has a little "bump" on it on the inside. That's what a buckle fracture looks like.


This is a terrible picture, but this is the one you could see it best on. It juts out toward the back of her arm..... this is a lame picture. I'll have to scan these one of these days. Anyway.... it's mostly for me I'm sure :)

As you can see I gave in to my inner Anatomy student self and asked for a copy of her x-rays at the clinic that casted her arm. They didn't seem too annoyed, so it's all good :) I want to get some pictures of Charity in her cast on here, but apparently I spend more time with her x-ray pictures than I do her......

For my kids

I'm sure I've said this a million times but the only reason I put video on my blog is so that my kids have something "exciting" to do when they scroll through the blog :) They love 'em. This is Noah and Luke wrestling. Luke's so good and patient with Noah all the time..... well, they're patient with each other really :)

Memorial Day- nothing too exciting....

I totally spaced even getting my camera out yesterday. I don't know what was wrong with me. But I wanted to jot down a few of the things we did. Just for memories sake. We took Nana to visit the gravesites that she so faithfully visits every single year. It was, as always, fun to hang out with Nana. We went to the Bountiful Cemetary and after driving around in the ridiculous traffic (do ALL the dead people really need to be remembered on ONE day?? Could we not separate it by like last names or something?? totally kidding, please don't be offended). I decided I'm going to get Nate a megaphone for the next traffic jam so that he doesn't have to keep it all bottled up inside, he can just start telling everyone when to go. I need to remember that Virginia and her husband, Albert, and Robbie are all at this cemetary. They are on the last street, a few rows back from the road. (this shouldn't mean a thing to any of you, just hoping that I will look back at this next year and then I won't have to go to the office to get a printout) Then we went out to the cemetary on Vine Street, and saw my Great Grandma and Grandpa Ferguson's graves. I could NOT believe how quickly Nana found those!! It was miraculous! I guess it has been 26 years that she's been going there and paying her respects, but for how forgetful she's getting..... it was miraculous. Then Nana treated us (at gunpoint, since I tried to offer to pay for it.... YEAH RIGHT! Nana is so insistant!) to lunch at Quiznos. Nana was so good to put up with our potty stops and our crazy kids (she insisted on riding in the back too! how crazy is she!), but I sure was glad that we were able to do that with her. After that we went to the park and let the kids get out some wiggles (they thought the drive out to Murray was SO LONG..... good thing we don't live in Eagle Mt anymore, that was like the drive to Walmart!). I enjoyed visiting with Nana while we watched Noah crawl around and the kids playing. Then we took Nana home and got ready for the BBQ. I don't know why but we never did go to the cemetary on Redwood Road, that's where Mabel is.... sorry Nana!
So we came home and went and got the neighbor dog to come play. It was our last day dogsitting. Then left for the Maynes Family BBQ. We had a good time. Charity, Kelly, Bradley and Luke took turns with the "big kids" jumping on the trampoline, and Noah spent the majority of his time in the little playhouse....he was so adorable playing in there. I had like 3 or 4 (lost count) helpings of potato salad and pretty much just sat there the entire time. All that sitting all day had made me tired :) But it was a nice time.

Mr. Mom

I've been fighting the urge to post this since it's basically just a "praise my amazing husband" post, but he totally deserves it and I like the reminder of how much he cares about me and our family.... so hears the summed up version (most of the mushiness removed).....

Saturday was Nate's "extra" day off. They gave him Saturday off since Monday, his usual day off, was a holiday. This way he was still able to collect his holiday pay for Monday. So it was one of those really exciting days off! Well, of course I woke up puking my guts out again! It was another one of those, "can't keep anything down" kind of days and Nate had to take the brunt of it. But here's the amazing part! Not only did I wake up puking, I woke up to a SPOTLESS house!! He had rallied up the troops and "the kids" had cleaned up everything! It really was nice too!! (of course I say "was" because we have had the weekend since then) He did breakfast, lunch, naps, playtime, took care of the neighbors dog....you name it.... ALL BY HIMSELF (and with 5 little kids)! AND he cleaned out my bowl, held my hair back, and stayed by me a few times while I vomitted.... now THAT'S love!
Later on in the day he loaded everyone up in the car and went to check out my $1 flip flop deal at Old Navy that I had obsessed over all week. Unfortunately they were all gone. But that didn't stop Nate from taking everyone all through the Gateway!! He's such a fun dad. I should mention that when they went downtown he not only had 5 little kids, he had an Uncle Steve with him and THAT is not an easy task!!! (no offense to Steve, he's just..... well..... like another kid :)) So anyway. He even stopped at Walmart to get me some crackers and juice, and a cute dress (yes, my husband went dress shopping for my daughter!!!! since we had wanted to get her one before Sunday....), with a shirt to go under it!!!!! What a man. They got home around 8:00 and he got them all ready for bed and read scriptures, said prayers, sang songs, and had everyone in bed! With a smile on his face! I just can't help but feel so blessed. He really did it all!! And he was way sweet the whole time too. I felt so bad that I couldn't be helping or having fun with them and he just made it all better. Sometimes I wonder if this happens because I am not feeling grateful enough and somehow Heavenly Father punishes Nate to teach me that I need to stop taking him for granted so much, but I don't know. I hope not. I just need to remember how lucky I am to have such an awesome husband. I love him.

Oreo the "Dawbee"

We have a few dogs in the neighborhood who will grace us with their presence every once in a while. My kids LOOOOOOOVE dogs. It's not long before they finally convince Nate and I that they need their own, I'm sure, but for now.....

I took these pictures of Noah and Oreo. He gets so excited when the dogs come around. It's cute. He even says, "dawdee" sometimes. Which is pretty impressive considering he barely knows that I am "Mama" and calls everyone and everything else "Na-nah". I love the words kids choose to learn first. He will say "bee-bee" for birds too, and gets very excited when he hears the birds. I love that!

A Few Steps In The Right Direction

So on May 21st, after all my whining and complaining about the walking issue with Noah, Nate stepped in and started REALLY working on it with him (we've both done this every night for like the last 3 months, just not as hard I guess). We found out that Nate was actually the trick! He did have a little reward sitting in his lap, but even when I hold out a treat for him, Noah won't really walk to me. He wimps out halfway and crawls :) So it's still a work in progress and takes a LOT of work to get him to do it, but hey! I'll take what I can get for now :) And how cute that he will do it for his Daddy :) That makes me smile.

Luke Reincarnated?

At the hospital the other day, Luke was looking at and pointing to the fish in the fish tank. Out of nowhere he pointed to this blue one and announced, "That was me when I was little, huh mom!"

I couldn't help but laugh. He seemed somewhat offended that I didn't take him seriously, but he totally cracks me up!! The kid is hilarious!

Brothers

This was a cute little "brother moment". I was vacuuming and noticed the door to the outside was opened and since crawling outside without my permission is Noah's new thing, I thought I better find out where he was. When I turned off the vacuum I could hear that he was in fact outside, and then when I walked out there this is what I saw. He and Bradley were hanging out together, talking, laughing, and of course throwing rocks! Noah too has a love for this pasttime, just like his obsessed brothers. I know I say this WAY more than I should, but when my kids are getting along with each other I just get all warm and fuzzy inside. It's totally my favorite.


They didn't notice me for a while. Love that too.

Sorry for the blurry pictures.

What luck!

Yesterday was Kelly's last doctor visit to follow up on her broken arm. It's been like 2 or three months since she had her cast taken off, that we've had to keep going back for more x-rays. Apparently her bone was just not ALL THE WAY healed. For the first month or so it was "no monkey bars, no trampoline" and then after that they eased up and she could do monkey bars, but "NO TRAMPOLINE" so it was a happy day for Kelly when she finally got the go ahead on the trampoline jumping. (not that we have one, or any nearby, but it was just the thought of being restricted I think :)) So that was nice, to know that I don't have to drag all of my kids all the way up to Shriner's Hospital again! We were happy.
Well, here's the funny thing. Last night around 7:00 Charity came home with Grandpa and Kelly from shopping for fruit snacks and playing at the park and she was just bawling! She had been trying to "skip two" on the monkey bars, and Grandpa was helping her, but he pushed her just a little too hard and she slipped, fell, and hurt her arm. Her arm was killing her. Nate and I were hesitant to jump right up and go to the Instacare. Mainly because we're lazy. But also because it just didn't seem to be that serious. We kind thought she was milking it (jerks!!!). So I'm sure you could figure out where this is going. Today (she cried all night long about her arm hurting and I gave in) I took her to the Instacare first thing when they opened this morning, and sure enough.... it's broken! She has buckle fractures in both bones near her wrist (it's killing me that they didn't show me the x-ray, but I'm proud of myself for not annoying them by asking to see it). A buckle fracture is like the simplest kind of fracture and not too serious, THANKFULLY!! But she did get a splint and in a few days she will go back in to get it casted. She's a funny little girl because her eyes just lit up when she found out it was broken and she got all hyper and happy to the nurse. Reminds me of me when I was little. I always wanted something to break so I could have a cast, or crutches or soemthing. I know she's kind of excited to have a cast like Kelly did, but I don't think she realizes what a pain they are. She'll find out :) Until then, she can feel special and get lots of pampering and attention :). I always have to look at these things as an excuse to give her more one on one attention, and good quality time with Mom. Since she won't be dressing, bathing, etc. on her own. Kelly filled her in on all the pros and cons of a broken arm, and they were both relieved that it was her left arm and she won't have to relearn how to write and eat like Kelly did. Fun little bonding moment for the girls :).
Grandpa Hatch feels terrible. I didn't even know if I should tell how it happened because I feel bad for him. But hats off to Grandpa for even taking them places and having fun with them. They love Grandpa. After I hung up with him telling what had happened, I laughed about how he felt like it was all his fault. Charity got very concerned and wanted to reassure me that it wasn't his fault and that it really didn't hurt that bad. She is a sweetie- protecting her Grandpa :). So anyway.

I thought it kind of ironic that the day of Kelly's FINAL follow-up visit for her broken arm was the day that Charity broke hers! Funny kids. Time to start all over!

Treasure Hunting, Bug Catching, Geocaching.... whatever you call it, it was a fun little outing

Nate took us out Geocaching (or Treasure Hunting as the boys call it) Saturday night. We went back to this one spot that we had tried before and were unsuccessful as far as the geocaching goes. But this didn't stop Kelly from loading up on caterpillars.... there were about a million of them all over the place.

(I took this to show Noah rubbing my arm.... he's always rubbing something. It's so adorable.)

caterpillars.

This was one of the other spots we checked out. Noah and Luke were asleep so I stayed back in the car with them.

This was milliseconds before Bradley fell on the cactus bush. That was a major devastation. The poor kid had cactus spines ALL OVER HIM!! In his clothes espcially, so that was nice that a lot of them came out when we took his clothes off, but the poor kid couldn't even set his hands down without them hurting even after Nate worked on them for an hour. I think he's all done with it now, but that was sad. No treasure there either.... they were so close right before Brad fell though. bummer. Anyway. It was a fun time either way.

While I'm at it

This was Saturday. I figured I might as well post all the othe rpictures I took of my other kids too :) We were really just bumming around. Riding bikes, dodging the speeding cars that can't seem to slow down as they drive by, nagging Uncle Steve to get a helmet on. Just a usual day.

My kids are so funny to Steve. If it's not the seatbelt thing it's the coffee thing, and that day it was the helmet thing. They're pretty naggy, but I am glad that they know what is best.

We're still trying to talk Bradley into letting us take the training wheels off.... no such luck.

This poor girl needs a bigger bike.

Our new little bike rider.... this is her new love too. She's the only reason we go out and ride bikes anymore.

Call me crazy but I really love this picture and I think I might frame it for the boys' room.

traded vehicles

I need a video of him shaking his head. This is the look he has on his face when he shakes it no.

Here's a video of Charity riding her bike, as requested.... by her.

The Extent of it

This is the extent of Noah's walking at this point. As frstrated as I am with the whole not walking thing, I do have to say I think he looks adorable when he pushes his little walker. He's actually pretty amazing with it too. I'm not sure what his hold up is other than I think he's being too cautious and might be a little scared. That's just how he acts when we try to get him to take a step. He's to the point where he just shakes his head when we ask him to walk or try to get him to walk between two of us. He's stubborn. Not a big surprise, I think we've managed to pull a clean 5 out of 5 with major stubbornness issues and I wonder where they all get it! I'm still trying to motivate myself to call the doctor since he said to call once he got to 16 months and wasn't walking. I can't. I'm in denial as far as doctors go. I guess I just hope it's not something developmental, but when I watch him with this little thing..... it can't be! He actually pushed the thing down my Dad's steep driveway! I don't think I have a good picture of it, but this driveway would normally be a death trap for a walking intern. But not Noah, he had the thing steady, walking kind of sideways..... I didn't even have to help him! Very impressive if you ask me. Just a huge let down that he won't even attempt a simple little step across the room. Anyway. I'm just getting more frustrated now. Try to enjoy these cute pictures of my handsome little man without thinking about the fact that he is 16 1/2 months and NOT walking on his own yet :) And bring on the comforting "my kid was 5 when he learned to walk.... it's going to be okay!" stories!

You can't see them, but I purposely left the price tag on this toy.... DI special.... $1.00!!

He must not be too easily frightened.... he tried to venture out into the road several times!

here he is going UP the driveway, that's pretty amazing too, if you ask me!

He's really in for a surprise when he realizes how much easier it is to get around when you walk. Isn't it crazy to watch your kids work through the unknown. If only they would just take our word for it! He still is the cutest little thing ever though :)

Seems to be pretty common

Sarah and I were looking at Charlie sleeping in the back seat of their car. He was completely folded over kinked neck and all, in his car seat. Sarah asked if I had any good ideas to fix that problem and well...........

not really. This was the next day when they all fell asleep in the car, so I had to snap a few pictures of my FIVE, ALL (believe it or not, Bradley is asleep!) kinked necks, flopped over in their seats. You can't even see Charity so I had to take a separate one of her....

at least she found something to rest her head on I guess.

But how funny.

Does anyone out there have any ideas for this problem? I guess we've given them a wadded up blanket on road trips before, but then you have to worry about them getting too hot......

Anyway. Just thought this was cute.