Journaling

- Thursday I got to go to lunch with my cousins.  Alicia was visiting from AZ and Maija was close enough to brave the storm.  I was just crazy enough and desperate enough to see them, that I went out in the crazy FREEZING RAIN, and drove down to SL.  They're totally worth risking my life apparently :).  It was a really nice time.  1-24-13

- We had an interesting Saturday.  Things just kept happening and I felt like I sat and watched the whirlwind.  Kelly and Charity had play practice, we went grocery shopping with everyone, grabbed a present for Bradley's "friend" (I use the quotes because the crazy little animal bit my son on the way to the W-AIR-house and it was such a bite that it left marks on his arm for hours!  I'm still ticked about it), took Bradley, all the while trying to get some laundry done because it was going to be my new laundry day, but that of course didn't last.  Then Nate went to work and when Bradley came home, we all headed out for Wreck-It Ralph!  That was a lot of fun.  The kids and I are mastering the art of the Movie Theater with a very outnumbered Adult.  It's actually a lot of fun!  I could do without the screaming about why we don't have MORE popcorn, from Noah, when we've already had a large and refill.  My favorite part was when Kelly said that she didn't really want to see hte movie, but she wanted to go (AND pay her own way, I might add- yes, I was mean and made them pay for their own tickets) just so that she could see Lukey watch it!  How cute is that!  She knew he would love it and wanted to watch him giggle and enjoy all the parts that she knew he would :).  SO fun.  This was a reward for Lukey, for sleeping in his own bed for 2 weeks.  It's been a wonderful two weeks.  He was kind enough to let everyone else come, but yes, that is why they had to pay their own way.  I had made the mistake of inviting everyone before checking with Luke though, so he was disappointed that we weren't going as a date.  (awww!!)  So we will be going on a date soon :).  We loved the movie, (again, for most of us).  Cute cute show.  1-26-13

- Bradley and Erika were not feeling well this morning.  And frankly, Jack and I weren't feeling well either, so we all stayed home from church.  This is a huge deal for me.  I HATE missing church.  I'm sure I've said this a million times.  I thought it was an okay day though, minus all the bickering.  I really think there are some lingering bugs here and I'm hoping it's the end, not the beginning.  Nate was good to take the rest of the kids to church and then go to work at 2:00.  We don't love that part of his schedule so far.  It stinks to say good bye to him Sunday afternoons.  We'll see how long it takes us to adjust to this new schedule.  1-27-13

Jumping Jacks

I just love this little guy... he is SO SWEET!!!

This was his first and only (so far) time eating solid foods.  A little rice cereal.  He didn't love it and I wasn't convinced that he was ready.  But we decided to get pictures anyway :)

He's like, "Hey, Mom, ya know that stuff you were eating the other day that smelled kind of chocolatey and melted all over your hands... do you have any of THAT that I can try??  I think I would like that better."  

He looked so cute sitting up like a big boy on the couch.  Kelly got some cute shots of him.

We're finding that the hard thing about photographing Jack is that he while he is easy to get to smile, he uses his whole body to smile, and ends up wiggling and squirming around whenever he does!  It's difficult to get one that's not blurry or with his head looking up.  Kelly did pretty good on these ones though.

Baby Jack is such a BIG BOY!!  He's growing like a weed.  I feel the need to make a post to mark his 5th month.  He's been changing a lot!  He's so alert, reaching for things, holding toys, and of course putting everything in his mouth :).  He likes being in the walker, that's been a fun new thing for him.  He's been getting into the little rainbow toy thing, that he lays under, that's been fun too.  Both of which are pink... he doesn't seem to be bothered by the fact that his toys are girly :).  He is still just so sweet.  Everyone says that when they see him too.  Either that or they talk about how chubby he is :).  Which he is!  He slept 9 hours straight the other night and when he woke up he was too small for his 3-6 month clothes :).  Might be a growth spurt.  I love to sit and stare at him.  He lets me which is adorable, but he'll coo and just look at me and grab my face and hair and stuff.  It's so sweet.  He doesn't need to be constantly entertained still, but he does like to be held MOST of the time :).  He does make a few exceptions and for the most part, he doesn't have to :).  Plenty of people happy to hold him.  I'm convinced Heavenly Father did that on purpose :).  I think that if he had enough opportunities to spend time on the floor, he would learn how to crawl. His legs move nonstop.  If his legs aren't moving his arms are :).  I do need a vacuum though, before he can do that.  Anyway.  We love him!  He's an angel.

Game Night Highlights

- Everyone was a good sport!  No matter how hard it was at times, everyone did SO good!
- Noah came running out of the bathroom with his headbandz game card on his head yelling, "I looked in the mirror and I STILL don't know what I am!"
- Kelly "helping" Noah play It Came To Pass by laying down the reverse card to make it her turn again :).
- Erika announcing what was on everyone's cards the minute we put them in the headbandz.
- Me having to say, "I command you to be silent" anytime someone laughed, while laughing...
- Bradley winning Quelf (AGAIN!)
- Nate finally guessing that he was Cruella DeVille.
- When Nate yelled at Kelly's game piece like he was a drill sargeant.
- Watching Luke try to think of questions to lead him to guess the card that he cheated to look at :) They seriously work harder to make it look like they didn't cheat than they would have to actually guess :)  Makes me laugh.
- Pizza, pizza and more pizza!

FAVORITES
Jack- sitting in Bradley's lap, on his team, to play It Came To Pass, and kicking his legs really hard so that Bradley could barely hold on to his cards.
Erika- playing the "Mickey Mouse game".
Noah- "Headbandz"
Luke- "the whole thing was boring"
Bradley- "All of it!"
Kelly- "The little kids cheating"
Charity- Noah's attempt to look at his card in the bathroom mirror.

1-25-13

Favorite Things

Some of my favorite things lately:

Seeing my sweet little Erika's hand holding the chubby little hand of my baby boy, and her tiny thumb stroking his hand.... sweetest. thing. ever.  She loves him.  What more can I say.

Watching Bradley giggle as he struggles to wrestle Jack while he's changing his diaper.  Jack kicks his legs and flails his arms so much that it's quite a challenge sometimes to change him :).  He's of course smiling and having fun and Bradley was too.  I love my boys.  I love that Bradley is willing to help out with the baby and that he has so much fun with him in the process.

Journaling

- Our big fun weekend was big and fun!  I wish I'd kept better track of what we did and documented it all, but clearly we just had too much fun ;).... some of the highlights:  The Life of Pi at the movie theater, Texas Roadhouse, Subway, Bowling, lots of rounds of It Came To Pass (our new favorite card game--- new to the kids, Nate and I got it many many years ago... we just dusted it off and taught it to the kids), lots of Beam Me Up, some other board games, friends over, swimming.... it was a good weekend.  Time to go back to school. :(  1-22-13

- I took Charity swimming with me this morning!!!  And it was a morning that we had to go at 5:00!!!  She and I got up and out of bed at a quarter to for Sarah to pick us up.  I can't believe she did it!!!  (heck, I can't believe I did it after all my mornings of waking up late!)  She was so fun to have there!  I loved her company and I loved being able to share that time with her.  All the big kids want a turn... we'll see how it goes :).  She was pretty exhausted toward the end of the day, but she had even gone swimming with her friends in the afternoon, so she really handled her tiredness well.  I'm just so proud of her!!  1-22-13

- So Jack slept for 9 hours straight the night before last.  It was AMAZING!!  And worked out really well, since I was getting up at 4:45 am.  He slept through my swim and even let me read my scriptures when I got home.  I really thought it was because I had finally gotten him to sleep before 1:00 as has become the habit lately.  But last night, when I laid down in my bed at 10:45 for what I hoped was going to be another full night of sleep, much to my surprise, Jack woke right up.  He did go right back to sleep, but only for about a half hour.  Then it was difficult to get him back to sleep and that only took for a couple hours... anyway, I was up all night with him!  It was nuts!  Then he threw up all over me and my bed, so we made our way onto the couch.  I didn't want to hog Nate's side of the bed because I wanted him to be able to come home from the mid to a nice cozy bed.  It was a very long night!  And Buddy didn't help with his barking.  And it got me thinking- I think that it would have been a perfectly okay night if I had not ben hoping for him to sleep like the night before.  It made me think about expectations and how much of a hold they have on me.  It is really hard for me to change my plans.  It's really hard for me to not get what I think I am getting.  I realized how much I have riding on stuff.  I think this is evident in my desire to get into a house.  If I was never expecting anything, just planning on staying where I am all the time, with no plans to move or be into something different, I think I would enjoy my life a little more.  If I could just stop expecting to find a house at a certain time or "before...." I would be able to just relax and enjoy what I have now.  Because we all know that I have it pretty good!  I have an amazing husband, beautiful, obedient children, and lots of them :).  A place to live, steady income, food, clothing, I mean, I don't even know how to explain how good I have it (without sounding like I'm bragging) but for some reason, I still get disappointed about the fact that I don't have the next thing.  I'm sure I've come to this conclusion too many times for you all to count... I've lost count myself... but it just helps I think, every once in a while, to realize that what I've got, what I'm doing, is good enough!  And it should be appreciated.