Friday's Fabulous Five

1. On Friday night at Heidi's birthday party the boys spent most of their time in this little room under the stairs playing with the toys. It had a cute little Mr. Ed door (not sure what those half doors are called), but the door knob was low enough, and the kind with the handle, not the knob, so Noah was able to open it himself. I had watched him do it a few times from a distance and thought that was pretty special for him and got all excited thinking about how he must feel with that kind of power :) But then he came over to me (this is way cute to me, so sorry if it sounds lame) and looks up and says, "Doh, Mom, Doh!" At first it took me a minute to figure out what he was saying, but I asked, "Door?" and he said, "Yeah." with this proud, proud look on his face. And it hit me! He was telling me the cool thing he just learned!! So he was pointing over there and I was getting all excited with him and I said, "Did you open the door all by yourself?!" And it was so fun to watch his face light up realizing that he had got his point across :) and he said, "Yeah!" SO HAPPY-LIKE!! I LOVED it!!!! Then he grabbed my hand, said "buh" (that's up), and we walked over there for him to show me how he does it. It was SO SPECIAL!! I don't know if it's just the hormones, if it is, I apologize, but I just love that I am able to communicate with Noah so well now! We can tell each other things and get our feelings across and it's just SO FUN for me! He's a sweetheart and I know he tries so hard to tell us things, so it's just fun to know what he's talking about now!!



2. Tuesday night Nate let me stay home while he took the kids to run a few errands. This probably makes me sound like a crappy wife just as much as it makes him sound like an amazing husband, but I think I'm willing to take that chance. It had been a rough day, my back and legs are just NOT working like they used to, so the whole day was just miserable, and being the loving person that Nate is, decided I needed to take a break. I had planned on just sleeping while he was gone, but that darn crafting bug in me just wouldn't rest and I ended up finishing some of my projects that I had been planning on for the baby. I will have to get pictures and post them, I'm pretty proud of myself. But anyway, the break was great, and it was nice to get these things done. I'm really just getting so anxious, so anything that lets me sit and think about my new little girl that is coming, is just therapeutic :) loved it all!! And Nate got all the errands run. Halloween costumes are finally set, and we are ready to go for the carnival Thursday. So fabulous!



3. Wednesday... I found my camera!!!! It was totally gone for a few days and I really almost cried a number of times (hormones again), but today I found it!! It was hiding in a bike helmet behind the pencil and paper drawer thing. Who woulda thought!! SO HAPPY!

4. Charity turned in her reflections story on Thursday. That was such an ordeal by the end of it. Started out just a silly little idea and then slowly because this full-blown project where Nate was running to the store in the middle of the night to get a dumb manilla file folder. Who woulda thought. But I am really proud of Charity. She really does have some pretty creative writings, and this one is no different. She should win. If she doesn't I'll have to call them and chew them out :) The theme was Beauty is.... which I think is totally generic and she wrote a story about a butterfly (well a few of them actually) that don't have nectar and have to go move a cloud to get it to rain..... I won't ruin the ending (because I plan to type it up and put it on the blog), but it was pretty cute. Charity's teacher has been really supportive of her creative writing and told her that "when she (Mrs. Owen) is old and in a wheel chair, she is going to buy one of Charity's books that she has written and read it." How cute is that!! What an awesome teacher! Now is probably a good time to point out how much I love Mrs. Owen for Charity. I think she was made for her. She has really helped Charity blossom a lot this year. I love it. So different from her teacher last year that threw a tizzy fit over Charity correcting her. (Charity is very good at noticing the teachers' mistakes, but Mrs. Owen has chosen to reward her with plusses on her plus chart when she helps her rather than making it a negative thing) I love it. Love her. She's fabulous!

5. The Snickers that Nate bought me and surprised me with Wednesday night was also just fabulous!

We're having one of those days!

Today is not a good day for happy feelings and smiles here at the Maynes house. I would like to say differently since I woke up in such a good mood, started the day out with a family prayer (lucky we did too!! can't imagine what it would be like without!) and I was so motivated!! But for some reason, this day just wants us to be off. The boys keep fighting. About EVERYTHING. I keep getting after them with more than sweet tones.... usually unnecessarily. The toilet overflowed and just two days after getting it sparkling clean (even Charity told me what a nice job I had done on the bathroom), and all the towels I just washed, dried, and folded are now back in the washer full of potty water. The dishes are still not done!! I keep telling them to wash themselves, but they're not listening, and neither are these boys!!! I'm still (VERY uncomfortably) pregnant. (need i say more) And all I can think about is the sweet little girl that will be joining this crazy mess in less than 2 weeks. Wishing she was already here, but wondering why she would want to be. Days like this keep me on my toes I guess, and keep me constantly reminding myself why I would choose this for my life (since you have to or you would totally lose it!), and well, make me grateful for the days that aren't like this. Opposition in all things I suppose. Can't recognize the good if we don't have the bad..... I just have to keep praying that we can make it through this day alive! Minus these hormones and crazy mood swings, I'm sure it could be much worse.

The world from Brad's eyes

The girls used to do this all the time. I don't know if I've ever let Brad do it. I gave him the camera and just let him go to town taking pictures of whatever. Some of the shots make me think twice about letting him do it again anytime soon, since I am no longer wondering how the lens gets so fingerprinty..... but what can ya do!

You can totally tell it is Saturday in these pictures. Our house gets trashed on the weekends......

I just loved brad's intro in this video.... go ahead and stop it before he pans the room and you see just how messy it really is. But what a funny kid.

Our Saturday was very interesting. We had plans for the day, but none of them really happened. All month I had had the Maynes family party on my calendar for that night, so we didn't have much planned there since it was actually the night before (and we had a blast by the way.... along with Heidi's birthday as well.... I will need to post those pictures too I guess....). But as for the rest of the day- We bummed around in the morning, got ready for the Primary Program Practice. Since we were doing a small part as a family in the beginning, I figured I would just stay and hang out through the whole two hours. It was nuts. But it made me more grateful when Luke and Noah were so good on Sunday. They sure had me fooled on Saturday though. Thinking I was going to be spending the whole meeting in the foyer. After the practice we needed to rush up to Layton for a Basketball game. My grandpa gave us tickets to a special game between former NFL players and the local law enforcement. It was a little fund raiser kind of thing. Well, it took us FOREVER to get there.... we were unfamiliar with the area, but once we did, there were no cars anywhere!! We got up to the doors to the gymnasium and sure enough the game had been cancelled and rescheduled for April 10th 2010!!! Crazyness. (it was funny to think that in April of 2010 we will have one more kid needing a lap to sit on- since the ticket was only for 5- just blows my mind that we will have a six month old baby at that time!) So anyway. We started trying to think of a new way to spend our afternoon.... the ideas were not really flowing, but we thought about the Aerospace Museum since we were right by it..... when we got there we learned that there had been an F-16 that had accidentally dropped 2 fuel tanks and 2 bombs. One of the bombs was there on the base and they were planning to detonate it that day so the Museum was closed. What are the odds!! The last time we tried to go there was October 23rd 2001 (I believe, for Jaxson's birthday party), and it was closed then too because of 9/11.... I don't think it's meant to be that we go there! So that idea was done, then we checked on a few other places and really, there was nothing. It was cold outside too. So anyway..... end of story, we just went to IHOP for their free kids meals. It was such a fun time with the kids. Which, you know, it's a restaurant! Who takes 5 kids under 7 to a restaurant?!! But they all were so well-behaved, ate ALL of their food (seriously, all five of them CLEARED their plates! need to starve these kids more often!). Noah had a funny moment. He had been coloring and working so hard on his menu, and when the waitress came to get our order he reached up to hand her his menu. She lovingly rejected it (probably wanted him to be able to keep coloring). Noah made this "how dare you reject my offering" face, and just looked in her direction for about a minute! I couldn't believe the disappointment! Then a few minutes later he did it again, just reached it up to hand it to her when she was at our table, and once again she turned it down. Well that was it for Noah. He was DONE. He slammed the menu down on the table, and then his forehead shortly followed.... he totally flung it all down in desperation, and just sat there like that for a minute. He was SO FUNNY!! I couldn't help but laugh. Which as always, upset him, but what a FUNNY FUNNY kid!! We went the store and then had a good time just hanging out at home for the rest of the evening. Overall it was a really nice day! Very relaxing. Couldn't have asked for more.

Friday Night

(alright, I've tried too many times to upload the pictures... it's not happening right now and I have a house to clean, so I will have to try again later.... just a boring word post here)

On Friday night we headed up to Nate's Parents' house for the Maynes Family Halloween Party. We had messed up with the scheduling and thought it was the next day, so we had overbooked ourselves that night and had to leave a little early, but the kids had so much fun while we were there. They got to make little shaving cream ghosts, decorate cupcakes, and basically just run around like crazy with their cousins like they love to do so much. It was really hard pulling them away from everything to go. We had left before the dinner was served at the Maynes Party, and "knew" that the Hatch family was already done eating, so we grabbed a couple of pizzas and ate those on the way to the other party. As we were driving we got a call from my family, asking if they could just start dinner without us because it was getting so late and didn't want to have to wait any longer.... go figure :) They had totally waited for us. But either way. We got to Heidi's condos, she had reserved the clubhouse, and we were able to just run around and do as we pleased the entire evening. We sat down and ate a little while the kids played. The girls found a stage and began practicing a performance, the boys found a little kids room with toys and made themselves at home there. They dragged Uncle Brent and Aunt Sarah up and down the stairs and all around looking at all the stuff, and having a good time. I was really surprised at how nice the place was and how equipped it was. Heidi surprised the kids with these gross little gummi eyeballs.... they all loved those. Cute little Luke carried his around all evening and eventually lost it somewhere.... it was all fuzzy the last I saw.... HA! It was really fun though. We're going to have to do that more often. After the girls' show we turned on "50 First Dates" and sat in the little movie theater on the many recliners they had in there and watched the movie. I'm surprised at how well all the kids did even though it was totally a parent movie. But we all had a good time I think. Hopefully Heidi had a nice birthday and enjoyed her gift. She deserves it.

Primary Program

We had our Primary Program yesterday. I cannot believe how excited my kids were for their parts and for the whole program. Charity kept chanting, "I'm so excited. I'm so excited" all through the sacrament. Sure is a change from how she was when she was a new little Sunbeam. I still remember her getting stage fright and not even trying to say her part before sitting down. So cute. But it was a really nice one this time. They actually had our whole family go up in the beginning while Brad introduced us as "his eternal family" then told how he is going to "strengthen our family by helping his mom and dad and always choosing the right". Then Luke, Noah (sleeping) and I all walked back down to our seats. Cute little Luke took the opportunity to JUMP down the steps of course... very characteristic of Luke.
Charity had a long part. They basically just took a chunk of one of her talks from Opening Exercises for her to read. She read it perfectly and did a great job. Kelly also had a chunk of a talk she read all by herself. Then Kelly and Brad each had another little one-liner later on, about things they had done to be helpful in their families. Kelly's was "helping her sister Charity when she slipped in a puddle at the end of the slide". And Brad's was "on the pioneer trek he pushed his sisters in the wagon". It was really fun to watch the kids this year. Charity and Kelly were very reverent, even when they were waving to Grandpa Hatch way in the back. Bradley was reverent for the most part, he got really into the music and did all of his hand motions very exaggerated, and even jumped a few times. At one point he disappeared. I can only imagine he was laying on the floor. Something about being in the spotlight really just makes Brad light up. He loves it. And he was cute :) so no complaints here. I was happy that Noah slept ALL through the meeting and Luke was a good little boy. My Mom and Dad both came. It was fun that the theme was about families this year. I LOVE that there has been so much focus on that. My kids are already so good to each other most of the time, but I think that it has really helped them to feel even closer.

Life is good. I'm still dying of anxiousness. I don't know if I've been this bad since I was pregnant with Kelly. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's a girl thing, but I have had the contractions the ENTIRE time, and just this constant feeling that I am READY! I am not nervous to have a new baby. I am sure I will be later, but at this point, the only thing holding me back from not trying to induce labor myself is the simple fact that I already have an October birthday, and I do not want another one. Come the first of November though.... we're pulling out all the stops!! jk. No, I feel like it's good for her to get all the time she needs, I just HATE WAITING!! It's really killing me. There are a few things to take up time here in the next couple of weeks. I am looking forward to Halloween and stuff with the kids. That will be fun, I'm glad I don't have to miss out on that. And I get to sing in a little trio in Relief Society this coming Sunday and then in Sacrament meeting the following Sunday (even though they think I'm crazy for accepting.... what else am I going to do????). I have LOVED being in this ward because they totally give everyone an opportunity to share their talents. I don't feel like there is anyone that is over used (and maybe that's rude of me to say, but it's really how I feel). I feel like it's been forever since I was able to sing in church. I used to do it ALL the time when I was younger (maybe I was one of the overused ones.... who knows). But anyway. I'm trying to keep myself busy. If anyone wants to give me something else to do.... by all means!

Friday's Fabulous Four

1. Saturday Nate surprised me with a date! He arranged the sitter and planned it all out and everything. I just love that man!! It was so nice to get out. It was nice to be together. And it was nice to eat food that neither one of us had to cook :) Thank you so much, Sweetie!! I hope it's not our last time out before this baby, but if it was... it was a good one!





2. Monday.... the water came back on!!! That was fabulous. I am now rethinking our decision to not refill the water barrels for our water storage. But luckily it was only a half a day with no water.





3. Wednesday, this may sounds really cheesey, but I LOVED it. My visiting teachers did their visiting teaching! I have some VERY faithful VTs. And it's nice because we meet at the park and the kids can play and we can talk. I have LOVED it. Maybe it's because I feel friendless here, but they are good friends. I'm thankful for them and their ability to magnify their calling. If only I was doing so well with mine.





4. I got my baby girl stuff fix today (Thursday). I found a lot of good deals on some things that we were needing at Ross. That was fun, and I got to go to several other stores looking at clothes and toys and fabric. It was a blast. I LOVE baby girl stuff. It's taken everything in me to not just buy everything I see, but alas I am not made of money. But I did splurge a little today and it felt SO GOOD!! Tomorrow I am planning on getting the fabric for the blanket and car seat cover I want to make.... I'm lame, but I'm SO EXCITED :) This little girl is already so spoiled. What to do. :)

Out with my boys

Luke's truck. He was very attached to this thing, it was hard to convince him that he needed to share... luckily the place was not all that crowded this time.


Noah was the same way with anything he touched.... "MINE!" But he also said, "cheese" really cute to make it all better :) (jk.)

he really loved these cars.




Here's Brad volunteering in the chemistry experiment. He felt so cool :)

I love the excitement in his face whenever we showed him something new.

Sadly, I've been a little on the lazy side for the last month or so with the boys. It's hard when the weather starts getting icky, and I run out of ideas and energy so fast. But we have decided to make the most of these last few weeks before our baby gets here and we have to become hermits. On Tuesday we went to Discovery at the Gateway. The boys LOVE that place, and I think this was the first time going without the girls, so they got to play with the things THEY wanted to the ENTIRE time. Which was really nice for all of us. The girls are more inclined to move from thing to thing really quickly and don't enjoy the same things as teh boys.... obviously. So we had a really good time! I couldn't believe how much time they spent in the balls area. I think this was Noah's first time really getting around and doing things. I couldn't believe he was able to carry around the boxes filled with balls. He became very possessive as well, and was very much NOT sharing with any strangers. Luke had a ball too in this area (he said afterward that it was his favorite :)). Luke had fun showing things to Noah at first. He and Bradley did great the whole day, just making things fun for Noah. I love when they do that. I love how in these pictures you can see Noah's excitement and how he just looks to his brothers for more. A Mommy's dream. Bradley spent a lot of time entertaining all of the other little boys in the construction zone... he was a hoot! They all couldn't get enough of him. Luke had fun building up towers and then falling down on them. This made Noah laugh a lot. Noah enjoyed sitting on the crane thing and watching all the action :) He's definitely a watcher. They all played house for a lot longer than I would have expected. Brad was cooking meals for everyone, Noah was pushing the baby around in the stroller, and Luke delivered the mail and really was just into getting everything out :) It was so cute. They obviously have been watching their Mr. Mom- Daddy. They know how to be good Dads :) Noah totally got a kick out of the grocery store too. And Luke had me cracking up, he didn't want to run the cash register, he wanted someone else to, so he found a little girl to do it and ring up his groceries. Then he loaded up "his truck" and drove them over to the house.... it was just funny to watch him take it all so seriously. They loved the blocks and things upstairs as usual, and we ran into a little presentation they were doing with "chemistry". Bradley got to volunteer and held the break while the lady squirted iodine on it to see if it had starch. He was all business getting his goggles and gloves on, and took it all VERY seriously. I LOVE that side of Brad. That's how he was with his preschool stuff last year too. Very studious. I was really proud of how well they all did with this outing. They all stayed close, Bradley was sure to tell me when he needed a change of scene, Luke was easygoing about it all, and remembered to go potty, and Noah kept saying cheese :) We all had a good time. I just loved being able to watch them play. I was really proud of how much playing I did with the boys, even though I had to sit a lot of the time as well. I've just had such a hard time getting around lately that it's been very seldom that I've gotten down and played real hard with the boys.... so it was nice. (until today when I could hardly move my legs getting out of bed this morning!) I love being able to hang out with them right now and I am cherishing these moments. I think we'll have to go there a few more times before our baby gets here because who knows how easily that will happen once she's here. And our pass expires in January! We were all VERY exhausted when we got home. We all took some really good naps :)

I need to get a picture of our chain, but we made a chain to count down the days till she gets here. It still seems like long time to me for some reason, but Nate has informed me that it's not :) 20 more days.... I guess I just wish I had more things planned to do, and look forward to everyday... ya know.... if anyone wants to play with us.... we're VERY available!

How Exciting....

So I just got done catching up on everyone's blogs. I had so much fun seeing everyone's pictures and reading about all of the fun things everyone's doing lately, I thought I would share the exciting evening we had yesterday. We decided it was time for the flu shots. My kids hate shots, I hate holding them down to get them, and I usually put it off, but not this year. So I made an appointment for all five of them. Purposely got a time that Nate would be there and could help out. The preparation for the shots is crucial. There are only a few kids that can be told about the shots beforehand. I told the boys earlier in the day and was just going to leave it at that, but some how it got out to the girls just before we were leaving, and.... well.... you don't want the girls to know about shots. They started their whining and complaining and almost crying. I had to beg them, bribe them and threaten them not to remind the boys about it. On the way there we talked about it a little. Bradley announced that he was going to try to not cry this time. Charity and Kelly were both getting really freaked out. Luke and Noah were clueless (luckily). I had asked beforehand who was going to be brave and go first, and no one volunteered, so when we got in there and the nurse said, "who's first?", poor little Noah was it. But the cute little guy sure surprised me! Not a peep! He made a face like, "hey? what is that painful thing going on with my leg?" but really nothing else. Pulled up his pants and moved on to the next kid. At this point I think we just mentally decided that we would go youngest to oldest.... not sure why, but whatever. So I grabbed Luke, put him on the table, and as soon as the nurse started pulling down his pants, Nate had to hold him down. He was kicking and screaming. It was quick though, he cried for a little while after. Just enough to freak the rest of the kids out. Bradley was completely hysterical at this point. It took Nate and the Nurse to hold him down.... pretty violently..... but somehow they managed to stick the needle in his leg and not tear a huge hole in him. He cried SO LOUD, and SO LONG. It was bad. By now Kelly was definitely bawling. She sure has a way of making you feel like the biggest jerk ever for putting her on the table. Luckily she had a skirt on, so it was easier to get to her leg. She wanted Mommy's hand (everyone else was okay with Daddy, and I think it was rather nice to not have to be in his position with all of them), so I held her hand, she cried, a lot. It was sad. Then Charity. Charity has been a difficult one ever since she was about 4 months old when it comes to shots. I recall a time in Alaska where we had about 3 nurses, me, and the doctor all trying to hold her down for her Kindergarten shots. It was insane, and I was SO happy to know that those were the last ones for a while (possibly the main reason we haven't had regular flu shots every year). So even though I didn't think it would make much of a difference, I couldn't help but remind her how well Noah did and tried to explain that it's not as bad as the rest of the kids made it look. Surprisingly, she toughened up! She turned off the tears, got up on the table, held on to Daddy, and did FANTASTIC! No crying or anything! It was very nice to end on that note. It was an interesting view of each of our kids in that kind of situation. I think some of them would have benefitted from NOT seeing each other, but on the other hand, I think it really helped some of them. (sorry, but I can't help but analize this whole experience.... that's what happens when you get five kids I guess) As we were leaving Noah took one look at the Nurse and mumbled out a cute little, "ouch." It was his way of saying, "I know it was you!!!" But still, no tears. It was interesting. But isn't that the most exciting thing ever :) It was a lot of work! Emotionally and physically. (especially because I'm so emotional :)) Then we had to reward the kids, we took them to Carl's Jr. (funny little Charity humored me when we decided to sit in the spot where we used to sit with Nana... "so we can remember Nana" I thought that was cute of her), as promised because they were all so brave :). I love that my kids are so different from each other and that we are able to experience each one of them individually. It never ceases to amaze me however, how often they will do the unexpected. This night was definitely one of those times! And that was our exciting evening :)
Oddly enough, the 2 who didn't cry, kick, scream, and fight were the ones who ended up with fevers in the night, and Charity missed a day of school :) Funny how that works. I'll take the 2 out of five though. Plus we all know that the fever just means it's working. I'd rather have Charity out with a fever for one day then get the flu!! And Noah was fine most of the day. Kelly has had many other issues, which may have been worsened by the flu shot, but overall, she has a lot of complaints anyway, so I'm thinking she's fine.
Can I complain about how everyday the girls come home from school with a new note about keeping your kids home and how if your kid is even remotely ill they will quarantine them until you can get there to pick them up, bla bla bla.... and yet, EVERYDAY I hear about SOMEONE ELSE who threw up at school, is losing their voice, has a cold, coughs a lot, or their mom or sister has the swine flu, bla bla bla..... it bugs. If you're going to SAY you're going to do something about it, then DO!! if not, STOP SAYING IT!! I'm just saying.

Kelly, Kelly, Kelly

Conversation with Kelly this morning:

Me: So.... today is Monday! What do you guys do on Monday again??
Kelly: I don't know. But Nathan has to finish his witch.
Me: what?
Kelly: Nathan didn't finish his witch on Friday so he has to finish it today.
Me: But what are you going to do today??
Kelly: I don't know.

And really... who cares what Kelly is doing, right? Why would that be important when there are important things like Nathan's unfinished assignment. She keeps tabs on EVERYONE, it's hilarious!! Girls.

know-it-all

I love it when I catch these conversations. Nate and Brad were fixing our table....

Brad: I know what that's called, it's called a scwew dwiver.
Nate: This is called a drill actually.
Brad: That's what I meant to say.

Practice Practice Practice

(Just so you know, this is not our baby :) She is not scheduled to be here until the 10th of November... sorry for any confusion :))

Last night Chris and Stephanie and their new little baby Sophie came over for game night. We decided to let the kids (Luke was already asleep) get out of bed and come see the baby. This was the girls' first time seeing/holding her. So they were excited! We've all been so excited for Baby Sophie to get here ;). I let Charity hold her first, and then as I was passing her to Kelly, our little baby hungry, baby boy reached out and totally grabbed her almost away from us.... Noah was very anxious to hold her apparently! So after Kelly had had her turn, Noah got his fill. He is so dang cute with babies!! Very sweet and soft surprisingly! Although towards the end he does start to get more and more comfortable and eventually pushes the envelope with the touching. So we'll see how well he does with his baby sister in a few weeks! Bradley even enjoyed holding her a little. He's definitely not as into babies as the other three, and I'm sure had Luke been there, he would have passed on holding her, but it's fun to get the kids all excited and used to the idea of a baby. Fun stuff.

Mr. Mom

I just cannot get over how sweet this little boy is!!! Or how into babies that he is right now. I can't help but think that he was meant to be a big brother. This was on Monday (sorry all of these recent posts are out of order, my camera was all the way out in the car and I was too lazy to go get it), just as we were getting ready to leave to go to the park, he started playing with this doll. He was pushing her in the stroller, feeding her a bottle (which I'm not really sure where he learned that), and wrapping her up in blankets. He was just being a regular old Daddy. SO CUTE!! Well, I offered to let him bring the baby with him and this is how he ended up carrying her out to the car :) I guess he is a boy afterall :) Not exactly the most gentle way to carry her, but gets the job done ;) When we were at Carl's I made him leave the doll in the car, and when we came back out to the car he was just OVERJOYED at the sight of his "beebee". He loves babies.... what can I say :)


And while I'm on the subject of good dads. I have to mention how much I am grateful for Nate right now. He has been AMAZING with this pregnancy. I don't know how the rest of you are when you're pregnant, but I know I'm not the best at controlling the mood swings, overcoming the fatigue, and overall just being a regular human being. But Nate has put up with SO MUCH with me. He's stepped in and made dinner probably more times than I have in the last couple of months. He really just goes above and beyond pretty much all the time for me and I really don't know what I would do without him. He even took ALL of the kids grocery shopping the other day so that I could have a break!!! Pretty amazing huh! Well, anyway. I love you Nate! I hope I am back to "normal" soon and can make it all up to you!!

Flying the new plane

For Brad's birthday we got him a little remote control jet. On Saturday we finally got to take it out and see what she could do. I'm pretty sure that all of the kids had a blast with it. We all had to take turns holding the remote, throwing the thing into the air, and chasing after it. It was a nice time to spend together.

Cute little Noah enjoyed the playground by the baseball field... it was so much easier to get up to the slide and down it by himself.

I think this is cute with Noah watching his big brothers chase after plane. That thing really went far!

I really had no idea that something so inexpensive could be so much fun and so exciting :) It's not even broken yet either!

Now this kid just cracks me up with the camera lately. Any time I have it out, he is right there making faces for me and then wanting to see them after.... what a nut. Here are a few.

Noah wasn't all that thrilled about posing for pictures. It's really lost it's thrill with him. Kinda makes me sad, but that's what they all do as they grow up! darn kids.

What a fun day!