Welcome 2010

2009 was great, but 2010 is going to be even BETTER! Welcome 2010!!!!

I'm excited for the new year and what it has to offer. I'm hopeful that it will be just splendid.

I make my blog into a book every year and I've started each one with a brief little description ("brief" is a relative term as I'm sure you'll notice :)) of what each of us is up to and into. This time I'm actually going to make a post of it so I don't have to try to make something up later :) This is it.

Erika is 8 weeks old. She likes to eat and sleep. Mostly eat. She enjoys the company of her family assuming someone is holding her. She likes being talked to. She has been gaining weight perfectly, and is getting more and more alert each day. She smiles a lot, but not on command. We're still working on that. She has an amazing grunt when she's filling up her diaper... very forceful. I love the new little sounds she is making each day. Everyone loves watching her grow and do new things.

Noah is turning 2 this month. He likes to wander around the house with his Ee-Oh, sucking on his fingers, just observing the happenings. He loves laughing and running around with Luke, playing tricks on people is fun too. He likes to eat goodies. And he likes to be awake past bedtime. Noah is a sweetheart. He is also very helpful especially with his baby sister. He's talking a little more each day, learning new words. Our favorite is "eeeeeYeah!" when he's answering yes, and "ummm?...." when he's not :). He has a really deep voice for his age, it's really cute. He is still taking a nap everyday and if I forget to put him down for one, he will remind me. He knows when he's tired and is not afraid to admit it. He has shown interest in the potty lately so we'll probably start working on that soon. Noah is all around really laid back. He is very sensitive and doesn't like to be reprimanded. He is a good little kid though. We all enjoy making him laugh and getting him to laugh at us.

Luke is 3. He likes to do what he wants. He likes his routine and he likes a good amount of notice before he is required to do anything. His favorite food is "evwyhing". Favorite color is "colohful". Favorite place- "evwy pwace". A very agweeable little fella. He is FULL of energy and climbs on anything that he can. He likes watching his sibs play computer games and likes to "watcha show". He started Primary this year and did really great his first week. He is really friendly no matter where we go, he makes friends. He likes to be "in charge" of things and will do really well at helping out if we put it that way. He knows all of his abc's, loves to spell his name for people, and is good at counting. He's just a bouncy little guy. We all love his energy and excitement for life.

Bradley is 5. He spends his days doing more jobs so that he can earn points to play games on the computer :). He's a hard worker. He likes being helpful. He likes asking questions and learning about things. His favorite food is sandwiches (normally he says Mac and Cheese). Favorite color is "bwown". Favorite place- "Appobees" (went there for his bday with Grandpa Hatch and got a free coupon to go again.... now it's his favorite place :)). He is looking forward to starting school in the Fall. He can't wait till his next birthday, always looking forward to what's next. He is very sensitive and likes to have things said calmly. He doesn't do well with spontanaety. He is really big for his age and gets confused for being older than his older sister pretty regularly. He is getting to be pretty social. He loves his friends. He is also really good at sticking up for his sisters and brothers.... very loyal. He is bigger. He is very comfortable with the alphabet and writing his name. He knows how to count pretty high, and is going to start on his sight words according to Kelly :). He will be all ready for school I think. We all love how Brad is always ready and willing to lend a hand.

Kelly is 6. Kelly likes to draw, color, make books, make beds for her toys, and pretend to be a horse. She is SUCH an artist with her crafts and her "projects". She gets really excited about the things she makes at school so we always display them here at home. Kelly is little miss popular at school. She's always talking about her friends at school. She is friends with a lot of boys this year which is different from last year when the boys had cooties :). She lieks it when they tell her she's cute :). She likes to wear clothes that don't bug her. Kelly doesn't mind that her little brother is bigger than her. She's very girly, likes to have her hair done for the most part, and loves jewelry. She is in First grade this year, with Miss Cottrell as her teacher. She is at the top of her class in reading and continues to impress us with her reading skills. I think she has past off her +5's now in math too. She's a good student and loves school. She loves Primary too and is glad to be in Charity's class this year. Kelly is a very loving member of this family and we all appreciate her caring and gentleness.

Charity is 7. She loves to read. It's hard to pull her away from a good book. She saves up her money to buy books from the book orders at school. She likes to write letters to people too and is very good at expressing her love. She likes to play with her friends and have friends over. She's a social little butterfly. She enjoys the boys a lot too. She likes to play soccer at recess and is really pretty athletic for someone who's never been on any sports teams. She enjoys competition and can get pretty competitive. Charity likes to learn. She likes to be active. She's a good student and is always impressing her teacher. Her teacher says that when she's old and in a wheel chair she is going to buy one of the books Charity writes and read it :). Mrs. Owen is an awesome teacher. Charity loves to go to church. She loves to do anything with her cousins. She is a huge help at home. This family wouldn't work without Charity. We need her so much.

"Planner" (they don't get their organizational skills from me, that's for sure!

I think this was Sunday night, can't remember, but one of the nights before Christmas our cute girls did this adorable little "Surprise Party" for their Mom and Dad. They do stuff like this all the time, shows, performances, plays, etc, but this one was really special. They were working on it for quite a while.... telling us not to come in the room, or even look down the hallway.... so you can imagine the anticipation that was building up! Eventually they invited us into the playroom. As we entered the room they had us stop and look up and on the ceiling was a cute little cut out "mistletoe" just hanging there. We took full advantage of that, while they all giggled and groaned. When we were done we saw that they had set up one of the toy drawer things to look like a little table, with two chairs, one on each side. We sat down. They brought us a "gift" (something they had wrapped up with a blanket), and some "goodies" (2 pieces of bread with a candycane stuck through them- obviously we hadn't been grocery shopping in a while- and yes, Nate, I was wishing I had let them use the oranges as they had asked :) ), then they proceeded to put on a little dance show with "romantic" music. It was SO CUTE!!!! Just really sweet. I remember those days. I remember making little menus and stuff for my family. It's just so much fun being on the receiving end of one of these little surprises. And to top it off we found this cute little "Planner" a few days later. They are such good little planners.... checks and all. I love it! My sweet kids.

SO FUNNY!!!

Yesterday, Erika was trying to poop- you know how they do it.... pushing with all their might! And mid-grunt, she shot some milk, about 2 drops of it, OUT HER NOSE!!!!! They landed on my arm!!! I am still geeking out about it, it was so hilarious! Just so you know.

I was just playing with this picture and loved this version of it...

a little piece of Mommy heaven

My girls LOVE to read. It's been something that I never would have thought could happen with any kids of mine. But it's been so fun for me to watch them share their new talent with their little brothers..... so cute! Nate took these for me.... he always knows what will make me happy :)

sleep

I love taking pictures of my kids from this view. From my view. This is how I will remember them best I think. Erika looks so cute when she's full and asleep from her milk-coma. I just love it.


sleeping on mommy.... LOVE IT!!

This little boy was SO tired this day.... it's VERY rare that we get him to take a nap, much less fall asleep somewhere like the chair, in his coat....

more from tenple square

I just love my kids :)

I've mentioned before that Bradley loves holding his baby sister, and I do have about a million pictures of him holding her since he asks me to take one as often as he asks to hold her.... but this one was priceless :) I just love how he is playing with her.... he's making her fist "shoot" things.... so adorable. She is totally going to love having 3 big brothers to teach her how to "shoot" and all sorts of things I'm sure :) I love it.





Noah was asking Daddy to get him something out of the pantry and since he wasn't clear enough Daddy just put him up there to get it himself :).... we all got a good laugh.

FFF- a little late, and a little short....

1. Saturday night we had our little Christmas Party with my Mom and sibs. We were finally able to take the blessed picture that my mom has been so anxiously engaged in accomplishing. I will have to post those later.... it's Christmas time, we're not going to nag Sarah to get any more photo editing done right now..... from what I've seen they turned out pretty good! The kids had a good time at the party. My mom had asked Charity to play a song and since Kelly's really not into playing the piano she decided that she would just dance to Charity's playing. They both practiced their little hearts out all week! Charity had her song practically memorized within 4 days of getting the Christmas songbook. And Kelly's improv dancing was beautiful. They kept talking about how nervous they were that day and were so anxious to do it. They did great. Bradley was their "empetaiment" (I think he's saying "entertainment" but he means announcer.... kinda funny, but he gets mad when I try to correct him). I think Noah's favorite part was the singing the carols.... he was singing "Ho Ho Hoooo, Ho Ho Hooooo, Doh" and "knock knock knock" (from Up On The Housetop) all the way home from Grandma's house--- SO CUTE!!! This is his first time really singing, and I love it. Lukey LOVED the cookies and the treats that they found in the yule log that Grandma hid for everyone to find. The food was great, the company was great, it was a good time had by all..... except Steve because he thought a concert was more important than his family... HA! jk. Steve) Anyway, I had a good time, it was FABULOUS!





2. Sunday was a very special day. It was the first time Nate and I have ever sung (is that a word? I forget) together in Sacrament meeting. They called us a few weeks ago to ask if we would sing, and I consented simply because I lack the ability to say no. And because I think Nate has a good voice and needs to share it :)... jk sweetie. It was an interesting quartet of two "kind of" singers and two non music readers :).... but I thought we did a really good job, if I may say so myself. We sang "Jesus Once of Humble Biirth". We actually got the opportunity to go sing at the Care Center that morning as well, to the elderly and then again to the children upstairs. It was such a neat experience to be in the Care Center again. I totally remember going there when I was in YW and never would have imagined that I would have missed it as much as I did..... We enjoyed it. What a fun thing to be able to do with my Sweetheart. I will cherish it forever because I am pretty sure he will kill me if I ever consent to anything like it again :) Nate's in denial about his good voice.





3. Okay, I'm sure everyone's sick of my "bad day" stories, but I just have to put this to remind myself of today. We have had an AWESOME day today (Tuesday)!!!! For the last few weeks I have been struggling a little with my mood and energy level and motivation.... bla bla bla.... and it seems that everyday at about 1:00, no matter how well (or not so well) my day has been, I seem to take a turn for the worse!!!! Today is not following suit, and I am LOVING IT!!! It's taken a lot of self-control on my part and a lot of help from my cute kids, but I'm making sure it doesn't happen today. I had an awesome blessing on Saturday night that has totally been helping me. I love being able to remember the things that I have been told and let them carry me through each day. Yesterday.... well.... I didn't do that, but TODAY!!! It's been awesome!!! nuf said.

4. We had a busy week and ended it with a lovely Christmas.... more pictures and posts about that to come!

Friday's Fabulous Five

1. Friday night the kids got to go to Aunt Jen's Cookie Party. They had so much fun. I love that Jen will sacrifice a whole night and her house (and I can only imagine the damage control that goes on there with what, like 20 kids over frosting cookies) for her neices and nephews. She's a fun Aunt.



2. Sunday was amazing. I am so glad I went even though I'm sick of everyone telling me that I shouldn't be there :) (they don't mean it to be rude, they're just surprised to see me bringing my one month old to church.... they're justified, I just survive very long without church, especially when I don't go anywhere else during the week...). But it felt like every lesson was for me. I couldn't have felt more rejuvenated!



3. Monday has been a crappy day, but hearing the funny things my boys say and do all day has made it just a little more bearable. Noah had a really funny one. We had made chocolate cookies, and his face was covered in it, and I looked at him and said, "Your face is all messy!!" and he did his usual "oh." right away, but then he whipped out this really amazing, NEW word that he has never really used before (and you could see how thrilled he was by the twinkle in his eye, to use it).... "SO." Isn't it just fabulous that he learned this word! I hope we get to hear it at least once a day :) he will fit in with the 3 and 5 year old so much more now.

4. When asked what he wants to do for Jesus for his birthday, Luke said, "I'm going to help make the cake!" He also added that he will help him open his presents :) How cute is he. I wish I could be so innocent.

5. Today I got to go see the girls doing their little Christmas assembly. Each grade sang one song and then Santa showed up at the end.... it was way cute! It wasn't meant to be something that the parents come to, but there were a few of us there. The boys especially liked seeing Santa. It was kind of a last minute decision of mine as we were dropping the girls off, to actually stay for it, Luke was still in his pjs and I didn't have my camera, but I'm glad I got to be there. Kelly's grade sang "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Frong Teeth" and Charity's sang a song that I'm not really familiar with, I will have to ask her the title I guess.

Nate's Phone Uploaded

It's that time again.... when we upload Nate's pictures from his phone and go back in time for a really random post. (I mostly post these so that I can use them in my book if I want to.)



Sunday night was the Maynes Family Meeting where we go to Temple Square to look at the lights. Unfortunately it wasn't the warmest night so sick Kelly, baby Erika, and cold hater Noah and I stayed home. Nate took Charity, Bradley and Luke with him and they had a really good time.


Nate said that Brad spent most of his time with Aunt Jen. He actually thought of the idea himself, to run up and hold her hand. Such a sweetheart. And Jen was a sweetie to share one of her gloves with him. I love how Brad will venture out and hang out with new people every once in a while.... makes people feel good.... especially his mommy :)





Charity enjoyed having Brynn all to herself.... not having to share her with Syd or Kelly. It's always fun to get one on one time with your cousin. They had fun together.

Nate got some great pictures of the temple.... his phone is pretty amazing.

This is Luke's "I'm not smiling until you put me back on your shoulders, Dad!! who cares how tired you are?!!!" Luke did spend the majority of the time on Nate.... I think Luke must be getting bigger because Nate was pretty sore the rest of the evening.

I love Temple Square during Christmas. I've said it a million times but it totally brings back memories of when we were dating. I can't see these without thinking about the butterflies and the adrenaline from that time. Love it. I missed being able to be there with Nate, and he actually mentioned missing me a lot becuase of all the memories that came flooding back to him too :) what a sweetie. We'll have to make it down there again before Christmas stuff is put away.... maybe Erika will let me.... we'll see.

This is on the wall at the Doctor's office- I made Nate take a picture of it because I wanted to remember this great quote- it says, "Making a decision to have a child-- it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart walking around outside your body." Sorry I can't see who said it (that's rude of me). But isn't that cute!! I love it. So true.

And this is up in the Dr.'s office too (we've been in the same room the last 4 times we've been there.... do you think they do that on purpose or is that just a really strange coincidence?)--- I love this quote though. Hopefully it doesn't offend any of you.... I don't know who immunizes and who doesn't, but I'm a strong believer in doing so. And I think this is mostly true as well....

um.... so yeah..... feel free to thank me :) HA! jk.

this was from that night that Nate and I caught her smiling in her sleep when we went in to go to bed.... he got the more smiling part of it, but it wasn't as much as I thought :) still you can tell she was :)

This was from our day at Discovery.... Brad loved having his Dad there to show off to. And I loved being able to do more than just sit on the rock in the middle of the room and try to look involved while feeling like crap like I did before Erika finally came out!

He does that rock wall really well. I can't believe how big this kid is getting.... age wise too, he just seems so grown up lately.

This was Noah sleeping at Brent and Sarah's the day that we brought Erika home from the hospital. I just keep this because I was so grateful that Sarah and Brent were so willing to help out. So many times too. And five kids are a lot to just drop everything for and watch.... I know they can be a handful. I don't know what we would do without there generosity with the babysitting and the pictures.... thanks so much Sarah!!

I think I already posted one like this, but isn't she CUTE!!!

family meeting.... I only post this because it's one of the few I have of me pregnant. (that reminds me.... Sarah, did any of those ones we took the night before I had her turn out at all??? I'll have to get one from ya) I have very few pictures of me pregnant which is crazy considering I've been pregnant 6 times!!! We figured out that I have been pregnant or nursing for all but 16 months of our 8 1/2 year marriage.... how crazy is that!! Poor Nate.

This picture is weird, but I think Charity will like it and it will bring back the memories of our little Halloween Carnival at the school. This is Charity's teacher Mrs. Owen, she was in the room where you go to hear Spooky Stories. She just sat there reading all night!! What a great teacher. I LOVE this woman. She and Charity are just SO compatible... she seems to just know the perfect ways to motivate, discipline, and entertain Charity :) It's great.

these can be kinda lame.... but whatever

1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year? I would love a new house, a new vacuum, either some sanity or a straight jacket, a new diaper bag (the ones they gave me this time in the hospital just aren't my favorite. They're usable, but I should have saved my old one), a laminating machine



2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received? handmade?? that's a tough one.... I guess I always loved the handmade doll clothes my mom always made for my Cabbage Patch Dolls every year..... I can't think of any others right now.....



3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle? I really would love to make blankets for my kids (not sure why that is so important to me), with matching pillowcases, but it's just never been in the budget.... I need to get started sooner in the year, but I'm a procrastinator....



4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child? I LOVED my Cabbage Patch Dolls. I got one every year for about 5 years. I remember getting one for Christmas and one for my birthday the same year (yes, that is two CPK dolls in one day :)) I loved them. And I had 7 when I was finally told that I couldn't have anymore "da#* dolls" by my loving Nana :) What she didn't know is that I was just trying to prepare myself for my 6 kids later on in life :).... I did have some practice back then.... maybe that's how I "do it"!



5. What items are on your kid’s wish list this year? Charity- still not sure, I need to tell her to make a list. Kelly- her list has over 50 things on it and most of them I am not sure what they say... I will need to get some clarification on that one. Bradley- I think he would be satisfied with any games (and I mean board games... he loves them!), but I should have him make a list too. Luke- refuses to tell me what he wants from Santa. He likes mazes though, so since I have him this year, I think I'm going to make him a maze book.... we'll see. Noah- he loved Jarom's toy guitar when we were there, so I think we need to get him one of those... he does love music. Erika- she wants a new Sunday dress- a really frilly one, some cute girly toys to hang from her carseat, some flowers and ribbons to make new hair things..... I am sure I could go on, but that might look strange :)



6. What is your favorite holiday food? chocolate. Anything chocolate. I do like the colorful candycanes too, the ones that are not peppermint. And I love my Nana's peanut brittle... not that I will get any this year, but I will miss it.



7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays? I haven't actually started any of the things I wanted to do this year, so we will see. The girls want to make flower clips for their friends, so we will see if that happens. I'm not big on the hand-crafts for Christmas mainly because it adds stress. I like my Christmas time to be stress free. Sometimes it makes things cheaper though, so we will see what happens this year..... I've got less than two weeks though.



8. What is your favorite holiday movie? I like the Christmas Carol and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer



9. Favorite holiday song? Santa Claus is Coming to Town is a new favorite just because it reminds my kids to be good :) But I have always loved O Holy Night and Carol of the Bells and this year Christmas Shoes since I don't have a radio to have it overplayed on



10. Favorite holiday pastime? I have always loved Christmas Eve at Nana's. I will miss that this year. But I love going to Temple Square to see the lights, I love decorating the tree, wrapping presents, taking around neighbor gifts.... I could go on I'm sure :) I just love Christmas.

Emma would have killed for a place like this....

Okay, so I'm having a lame day. I feel completely unmotivated, and mostly discouraged by anything and everything. I'm sure it will pass, but I had to write about the thoughts I had yesterday in Relief Society and Sunday School... maybe it will help boost my spirits... who knows.

So the lesson was on Joseph Smith's feelings of his mission as Prophet, and the teacher put on a movie (normally I frown on the movie thing because I have a hard time focusing on movies and don't usually get much out of them, but not this time), I have no idea which one it was, but it was amazing! There were different clips from his life, and from the lives of Hyrum's and some quotes from different prophets and such.... the MAIN thing that I kept noticing and focusing on was the fact that he had a REALLY HARD LIFE!!!! And the thing that stood out a lot to me was that Emma was right by his side going through most of it with him, and supporting him through it all. She was the perfect example of how a wife should be, in my opinion. I couldn't help but feel really stupid for all my complaining about having to live in a basement and having to be patient with the career getting. I realized that she went through SO MUCH MORE than I EVER will. He was rarely home. He was tortured. They lost children because of the persecution, and other reasons. She was always there for him when he came home, and she was always supportive of his calling. I don't have any room to complain. I have Nate home everyday, for more than most wives. I don't have to worry about whether he will be dragged out of our home in the middle of the night and tarred and feathered. And I don't have to worry about what kind of affect this could have on my children. Nate has a good job, we have money, we have a home, we have food.....etc. As much as I would love to be in my own house, decorating it and having Christmas there, this is a home. We have everything we need. I think Emma would laugh in my face if she heard me complaining about how small it is, or how much I wish it was different. I feel bad. So anyway, everytime I start to feel those negative thoughts rolling in about how long it's taking and how we were only supposed to be here a few months, I stop myself and remember this. I have no idea what her home was like, or how impossible it was to wash clothes in a bucket, but I'm grateful to have what I have. And I will be grateful until that blessed day when we are finally able to be in our own home..... till then!
Then in Sunday School we were talking a little bit about Service (I'm not sure what the topic was, I was kind of in and out with Erika). Serving God, Self, Family, and Community. An elderly gentlman made a comment about how Women/Mothers are the ultimate when it comes to serving family. He talked a lot about how he watched his wife do so much for his children, meals, compassion for owies, driving them around from thing to thing, tucking them in bed....etc. He went on and on really. He was impressed with how much one woman could do and how much that resembled the Savior in her willingness to forget herself and serve her family. I loved what he said about his wife, and I thought it was really sweet of him, but I really couldn't help but feel like it wasn't quite the same for Nate and I. Nate is ALWAYS there for me. He is ALWAYS helping and ALWAYS doing what he can to make things run smoothly around here. I don't feel like I am like that man's wife.... I don't do everything, not by myself. I have Nate. He really does carry a lot of the load, along with his own job. So anyway, this lesson made me more grateful for what he does. I know that it isn't like this in everyone's home, I know that there are husbands out there that only carry part of the extra load. I know that I am blessed to have someone who is so willing to be there and take up the slack. I hope everyone knows how much I appreciate Nate, I hope HE knows how much I appreciate Nate, and I hope that nobody ever thinks that I take that for granted. I'm well aware of the fact that if it weren't for Nate, we wouldn't be able to have 6 kids (besides the obvious baby-making-ingredients), he does a lot more than a lot of husbands I know, and he makes it possible. I definitely couldn't do it on my own.
Okay, so then, today, I was reading someone else's blog, a friend of a friend, who underwent several tests, surgeries, researching, heartache, and you name it, for years and years, to get pregnant. She now has a little boy (probably her only little boy), and she wrote about it on her blog. It was heartwrenching to read what she went through. I feel like I've always been surrounded with people who have difficulty getting pregnant (if at all) and struggle with that trial. It's always been difficult for me to understand how the Lord decides to let that happen for certain people. I was told when I was 17 that it would "be difficult for me to get pregnant if at all", and I struggled with that news until I was finally holding my sweet little baby in my arms. But I got my baby. I can't imagine my life without my children. All of them are little miracles in my eyes. Little angels sent here to make my life worth living. I always pray for those who have difficulty, and I always wish there was something more I could do. It must be annoying for them to see us having kids like a couple of bunnies when they struggle so much. I'm sorry. This blog really made me grateful for the blessing of my children. Sometimes it's easy to feel overwhelmed or frustrated with them, but after reading what she went through to have her one son..... it will take a lot longer for me to get get frustrated and overwhelmed. I hope to be reminded of this often.... I know I am weak and struggle with my own trials, but that is one I don't know I would have survived.

There. I'm done. Wish me luck for tomorrow..... I think it will be better......

Friday's Fabulous Five

1. On Friday night at our Ward Christmas Party, there were about 5 or 6 women who came and sat by us during the program to "ooooh" and "ahhhh" all over Erika. It was THE cutest thing ever. And maybe it's because I've actually tried to keep her inside and away from large groups of people more than I have with my other babies, and there haven't been much chances for her to get that much attention, but it felt like a much needed moment for her :). I love it when my babies get that. They just couldn't stop talking about how beautiful she is, and they all just got so into her.... I loved it. It's fun to be in a ward where everyone is older and done having kids.... then they just can't get enough of the babies :)





2. On Sunday Charity and Bradley bore their testimonies. It was so neat for us. Charity got the idea and went up there all on her own. Then Brad saw her and wanted to go up, so he headed up there. Charity got up and bore her testimony and did a really nice job, and then Brad got up. He said the first part and then got a little nervous, so Charity, being the awesome big sister that she is ran back up there (and I mean "ran") and prompted him on the rest of it.... It was great. I was slightly nervous to be letting them go up there on their own, Nate and I both had sleeping babies on us, but they did awesome. What a neat thing.





3. Also on Sunday, I did my third Sharing Time and it went well. I cannot believe how nervous I still get. It's gotten so bad I think it could be considered a disorder. But I'm totally going to overcome it.... it's just ridiculous to be like that for the Primary..... I did better this month.





4. Erika slept for 4 hours straight Sunday night.... I loved it.






5. We took Brad in for his 5 year well child check up on Tuesday. He did so good!! He is now 50 lbs, and 46 inches tall. I seriously can't believe how big this kid is. He has passed up Kelly in height and weight, and is not far from passing up Charity. He hasn't even started Kindergarten yet.... he's totally going to tower over those kids! He had to get 3 shots and we almost made it out of there with no tears at all, but I screwed up on the knock-knock joke, and he remembered what was going on.... it was really all my fault ;).... but he did great otherwise. He even passed his eye test which I was curious about. No glasses for him yet. I just love a good well-child visit.... very uneventful.





6. Thursday morning on the way to school I got the optimist bug, and we had a nice cheerful HAPPY drive to school!! This may frighten some of you to know that this is something that would stand out and be mentionable, but honestly, it's been a while since I was able to feel anything but "I'm cold, I'm tired, or I don't feel good" so this was fabulous. The kids totally caught on and we turned the freezing cold- below 0, whatever it was- into a nice cozy day. I loved it. And for the first hour or so that we were home Bradley went around doing nice things for people. Making beds and leaving treats under pillows and stuff.... way cute. I'm going to give my good attitude the credit for this one.... and try to have it more often!

One Month Already!

I'm seriously in denial that Erika is already a month old. She's been such a sweetheart and things have gone so well that the time has just flown by! She's still nursing really well, and growing just as well, I assume. She really likes to eat. She is getting more and more alert, she looks at you really intently when you talk to her, it's sweet. She has smiled a few times at us when we smile at her, but we're not sure if it's on purpose yet or not. She has a really cute smile though. Like I said before, her cephalohematoma is almost gone.... it's really not noticeable to anyone else. Her hair seems to be getting a little lighter though it still has the reddish tint we are all so interested in :). It does look a lot like Charity's did. As far as I can tell Erika is going to be the halfway point between Charity and Kelly.... she has Charity's body type and hair, but Kelly's face :).... I'm kidding. She is herself :) She looks EXACTLY like Erika Maynes :).......



this just looked funny to me.... like she was watching tv with the girls :) The kids are always trying to get her to watch tv for some reason. Yesterday Luke put on Baby Einstein for her to watch.... funny kids.



and I just loved this the other night when Nate was holding both of them. What a cute Daddy!


I am having a hard time putting into words how I feel about this sweet little girl. I feel so close to her and I feel like she is so close to our Heavenly Father's Spirit. It's been so awesome to try to maintain the peace and do our best to keep the Spirit here in our home for her... the kids have done so well, and Nate and I have too! It's always important to me that we keep the house calm and full of the Spirit when we have a new baby, but this time it feels even more so for some reason. I'm glad. I've loved it. It feels like Erika is just so sensitive. To loud noises, to rough movement, to chaos..... she just seems really aware of what's going on and likes it to be peaceful. I think that's why she came after Noah. The other kids are all old enough that they know how to be soft and calm around her and Noah just happens to be a really calm, gentle little two year old boy, so it has been perfect for her. I don't think she could have come when Noah did or anyone else for that matter because things were too chaotic. Anyway, I just love to see the Lord's hand in all those kinds of things. I have a strong belief that the Lord has planned things out, and that each kid comes when they are supposed to, for their specific position. It's always been obvious to me that Charity was meant to be the oldest.... the other kids are less obvious, but it's just cool to me. Erika is a sweet little girl. She sure sleeps a lot. There are a lot of you that have never even seen her awake. One cool thing about being her mom is that I do. I have absolutely LOVED sitting up with her at night and just looking at her. We've had some pretty special talks as well. It's been heavenly. As much as I love to sleep, and feel like I need to start getting some more, I wouldn't trade that time for the world. It's mine and Erika's alone time. "Erika time with Mommy" as Kelly might call it. I've really felt the Spirit telling me that she needs that time with me. I have felt like I have had a lot of extra help making it through each day because of that. It's been really neat actually. I hope that she is getting all the alone time with me that she needs and I hope that I can be the mom that she was sent here to have. I love her so much. Her brothers and sisters love her so much too. I think she's spent at least 95% of her life in someone's arms so far :) I'm sure it will taper off and get to be less and less, but how cool for her. I love it. I love the help I have had from everyone as well. Things have been really good these last couple of weeks. No more trips to the ER, and everyone seems to be doing well. I think I am healing just fine from the c-section. I am able to wear my jeans already and that has been nice. Helps me not feel like such a hermit, even if I'm not going anywhere.... I could and be dressed in socially acceptable attire. I feel like the adjustment from 5 kids to 6 has been very minimal (as was expected). It's really not that big of a deal anymore :). You just get used to chaos maybe :). It's nice to feel like we have help all around us if we need it and it's been really nice to have so much support and love from so many. Thanks to all of you. So that's it.... she's a month old, and I'm sure she's just going to keep growing.... they always do. We'll keep ya posted.

And now, here are too many pictures of my sweet little angel. They're almost all the same pose, but she looks different in them to me :) but again, I couldn't decide.



Luke kept wanting to be in the picture.... took me forever to get him to stay out for a few....

"just a widdo mo miwk mommy? pweeeeese??"

she was totally looking up at her brothers during these.... so cute.

I don't know why, but I like how you can see Luke's hands in this one.... they are so protective of her.... she's gonna have 3 body guards to take care of her when she gets in school!

bradley insisted that we get one of him with her :) These are the moments Mommy lives for :)

cute Noah can't get enough of her either.

luckily he hasn't tried sharing his food yet, we know how that goes.... not too well

This is Noah's "hug".... the lean in..... love it.