Halloween 2009

I definitely need to start blogging again!

It has been almost a year since I have posted anything. Where has the time gone? Too many things to do I guess that I don't take time to stop and write. One day I know I'm going to regret that.

As far as the pumpkins go, we were not even going to get there this year. Life was that crazy. Work had me coming in extra days in order to train for a system they aren't going to start for three months! And family life seemed crazy as well. The night we were going to carve, the Selah 1st Ward ghost came and gave us goodies making it mandatory that we delay our pumpkin plans and reciprocate. By then I was ready to not go there this year. No time and no money made the tradition seem impossible.

But then a bright light appeared in the form of Wal-Mart and their crazy mark-it-all-down deals. I innocently went shopping there and low and behold, the pumpkins were marked down to $1!!! Can you believe it? Who can pass that up! So my sentimental side caved in and I bought 5 pumpkins -- one for each child. I was a little hesitant because I knew we would have to carve them on Saturday morning which is the 31st. Leaving one day for the pumpkins to come alive. But for $5, it seemed totally worth it.

Which it was.

 
 
 
 

Christmas Cheer!

OK, this post is for you Sketchy........

I have many things to post and no time to do it. Between a newborn, a toddler, two moves in the last 3 months, my energy is divided between changing diapers, cleaning up messes, packing, unpacking and other such obligations. No time for blogging.

YET I know Sketchy is dying for some Christmas pics and I have been dying to share them so here they are: (Besides I were rather blog than do any of the above items ANYDAY!)

Probably most precious though was watching Aubrey experience her first real Christmas. It was very fun, even though there were a fair amount of tears along with the joy. If you can't tell from the video, she is opening her gift of a baby doll, stroller, crib, etc. all in this box. She was torturing her siblings by tearing the wrapping paper off piece by piece, However, when she saw what it was she wanted it opened immediately and had no patience for set-up. (Mental note, next time build the stroller before Christmas morning!)



Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Aren't we glad for technology that captures these moments forever???

First smiles!

Payton just started smiling. The first smiles were cute, but we were unsure if they were voluntary. Yesterday she was smiling a ton and you knew it was her little personality starting to emerge. We had lots of fun!

The Toddler Chronicles

Aubrey is growing so fast everyday. She is really becoming her own person. Although she enjoys being like her two siblings as you can see:

Being like her brother:

She got a hold of Ethan's Indiana Jones hat and whip and started swinging it around. It was clear she was trying to emmulate someone.






Being like her sister:


These little dolls are Grace's and before I snapped the picture she was hugging and kissing them. Of course she stopped when I pulled out the camera.



Being herself:

No comment needed







Her vocabulary is growing. She understands almost everything and loves to "talk" to you (although most of what she says is inaudible.) She has mastered some of the names -- she can say Grace ("RAAAASE!") and Ethan has become "De-Dan". Addie's name comes out "Da-di" and Hannah's name has not been mastered yet. Of course she says "Mom" really well. (MAAAAAAAA!) And she has mastered "Dad" although she doesn't say that as much. And of course she can say "NOOOOOO!" which she says with total conviction.

Fortunately she has very endearing moments also. Like when she goes #2 in her diaper, she comes to me waving her hand in front of her nose and says "I sti" (meaning I stink). Hopefully that will serve us well when we start potty training. She also tries to soothe Payton by saying "Sh, sh" even when Payton is not crying. I like that better than when she tries to lay on her and smother her with kisses.

She is also quite the dancer. Anytime music is playing, she starts boogy-ing down. Especially when the "Dora" theme song comes on. She does a mini-cheer jump and then starts dancing around. Very cute.

Having a toddler is not always easy, but it definitely keeps me young. Although you couldn't tell by my gray hairs..... Oops!

Pumpkins!

Ok, this is a little late, but we had so much fun watching our cousins carve pumpkins that we had to post our carving experience as well -- even though this is 2 weeks old.

Sketchy, this is for you!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

And this was the end effect:


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books
We miss you, Sketchy family!

Six Weeks Later

It is amazing how fast time goes:

Six weeks ago we had a tiny newborn, weighing only 6 lbs, 9 oz.


Look how much she has changed! She is bigger, more alert and starting to hold her head up. Soon she will start to smile!



We are all enjoying her, but especially Aubrey. It is very cute to watch her get very close to Payton's face and "talk" to her in a high pitched "baby" voice, when she is still so much of a baby herself.
Aubrey especially loves to hold her and was very mad at me when the photo shoot was over. But she was recovered quickly. Payton started to cry and Aubrey tried to sooth her by going "Shhhhh, shhhhh." Very precious.

Kids make life so much fun.

Halloween Fun

Well I did it! I didn't think that with having a baby and moving we would actually get costumes accomplished for six children for Halloween. But we made it!!!! And I accomplished without sewing one costume (who could with everything in boxes??) With the help of Ebay, Goodwill, Amazon.com and hand-me-downs, we actually outfitted everyone for less than $50. I am so very proud of that!

First off is Grace. Her costume was very easy since she had this beautiful blue dress from being in her aunt's wedding last year. We knew it would make the perfect Cinderella costume and thankfully she agreed. As you can tell from the clock, it is 7:05 which means we were late for our ward Halloween party (again! I can never manage to get there on time.)

Ethan wanted to be Indiana Jones this year. I was very lucky to find a leather jacket for a boy at Goodwill in September before all the chaosis hit. It was black, but he looked the part. We ordered the hat and whip from Amazon.com for about 10 bucks and the rest of the costume was just his clothes. EASY!

Addie had the hardest time deciding on a costume. She considered everything from High School Musical, a babysitter, a chef, etc. Finally she decided on Junie B. Jones and it turned out really cute. Everything came from Goodwill and then we put a "Hello my name is Junie B. Jones" sticker on her so she could be recognized.

Hannah has wanted to win a costume contest FOREVER! Last year I told her "If you want to win, you have to get creative and wear a costume no one else does." Well, this year she found one, made it herself, and won a prize not only at the ward halloween party, but she also won at school where only two kids in her lunch period were given awards. Can you guess what she is??? Give up??? Ok, I'll tell you.... she's a cup of hot chocolate, Cute, huh? I was proud of her for doing it all herself.


The youngest two got the benefit of handmedowns. Aubrey was a mouse (came from Ebay)
and Payton was a peapod which was given to us. (I've always thought this costume is so cute but have never had a baby to put it in!)
Wade and I also dressed up as hippies and we should've made Aubrey a flower child and Payton a "love child", but of course I alway get these ideas after the fact. You'll have to wait for our picture however -- in all the bedlem, I didn't get our picture taken. Wade's brother took a picture of us, but I haven't gotten it yet. I'll post it when it comes -- Wade's looks hilarious with long hippie hair.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the pics! Halloween is fun, but I'm glad it's over. Now it is on to Christmas!!

October 20th -- Day of Births

It's taken me a while to blog this -- sorry I'm rather busy with six kids, what can I say?

October 20th is Ethan's birthday. He turned 7 this year. He was my first child to be born early and came all on his own, with no induction. He was also born on his grandpa's birthday which was a surprise to everyone! So every year, they spend it together. This year, Ethan wanted everything Indiana Jones -- cake, legos, etc. Grandpa also gave him the Batman racing set that he enjoyed also.





I made the Indiana Jones cake myself and really liked how it turned out. It is probably one of my favorites!! If you can't tell, it is a volcano with Indy and a warrior standing on the top. The candy symbolizes the lava. I'm not a professional, but it was fun to make.

All and all it was a very fun day. With six kids and five of them girls, it is refreshing to do boy things every now and again.

Welcome Payton!

Our sixth child surprised us by breaking my water and coming 4 weeks early on Saturday, September 27th at 10:26 p.m. We named her Payton Marilyn Fe. (Fe is Spanish for "Faith") She weighed 6 lbs, 9.5 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. She did turn head down so no cesarian for us -- just a long drawn out day!




Unfortunately they took her to the NICU for some breathing issues and kept her ever since due to some blood tests that concerned them. They still have her and will hopefully be sending her home this week. We miss her, but know that she will be home soon. Seeing the sick babies in the NICU make you realize how truly blessed you are since she is one of the healthier ones by comparison.

Her siblings (and grandma) waiting to play with her. They only got to see her for a moment:

We'll keep you posted!

What goes up, must come down........

Breech! I learned two days ago that my baby is breech. The head is up top and she is sitting in a V shape with her bottom where the head should go. The feet are up by the head which sounds uncomfortable I know, but explains the tickling sensation I have felt in my ribs (little toes, I am sure). It also explains why I can only lay on my left side comfortably and not my right and why I am not running to the bathroom every 15 minutes since there isn't much pressure on my bladder. Crazy, huh?? Thus, she looks something like this:

I have never had a breech baby before. I found out at my doctor's appointment on Wednesday -- I was concerned the baby was transverse because they continue to hear the heartbeat on the right side. My midwife tried to feel my stomach to get a sense of where the baby was, but things were inconclusive so they did an ultrasound right there in the office. And sure enough, the baby was upside down (or is that right side up?)

I also learned that the baby is definitely a girl which was comforting since my SIL just found out her first ultrasound was wrong and after having her baby shower and buying everything, they discovered it is a boy not a girl as they were first told. (Her first baby too!!! How sad is that!) So for me, this 2nd ultrasound confirmed the first diagnosis of gender so there is no hope left for Ethan my only son.

(Yesterday he said to me, "You don't want to have another one do you?" I told him, "Sweetheart, if we did, you'd probably have another sister!")

Now the prognosis is to see if the baby turns by next week (I'm 36 weeks now.) If not, the OB will try to do an aversion to turn the baby and see what happens with that. (Yes, that does sound very painful) They are about 65% successful so I guess it depends on how stubborn the baby is. Because if it doesn't work, it will a cesarian for me.

My first midwife for a pregnancy and a possible c-section. Isn't it funny how life works???

SOLD!!!!

Just a quick update on our house................


We have sold it! It went fast once we listed with a realtor, and it should close on October 13th which is only 10 days from my due date! Needless to say, we are stressing some, but we found out we can rent a 4 bedroom house in our ward and school district from an LDS couple in Sunnyside. So we are hoping to start moving on October 1st and give ourselves time to move and get the house cleaned for the new owners.

It is a very strange feeling to think of someone else living here mainly because of all the work we have put into it, but we are excited to start building our next house and are hoping we won't need to rent for very long. We just need to decide where we want to build and if we want to be in a housing development or out in the country. Of course hopefully the banking industry doesn't collapse shortly and we are left with no house and renting for a long time, but that is just the pessimistic side of me talking.

As far as the rest of life goes, I love my new work schedule, but it has depleted our finances so that is an adjustment. Fall sports have begun and Hannah is playing school volleyball and Ethan & Grace are doing soccer. So far, I haven't managed to get Addie interested in anything, but still trying. The baby is coming soon and some days (ok, most days) I feel completely overwelmed and depleted, but I know God won't give us anything we can't handle, so I have faith in that. Plus, the maternity leave will be nice and having a new spirit in the home is always a blessing. This is the last child so I have to enjoy every part of it.

Just an update for you all!!! I will share again soon.......

SNL Has Done It Again

No matter what side you are on, this is hysterical!

Change, change, change.....

A new school year has begun.

So many changes happening around here.

Four out of my five children started back to school this fall. Mornings are rather quiet now with only my 19-month-old. I have to say that I am enjoying it. (Does that make me a bad mother??)
It is nice to have 3 hours in the morning to clean the house, enjoy the computer, and get a good start on the day.

I am however now in my 8th month of pregnancy. A major change is coming to our family next month. I'm not sure if I am ready, but then again, who is??? It is doesn't matter what number of child it is, you are never quite prepared. They say it is another girl -- you think after 4 girls and 1 boy we would've tipped the odds, but God must want us to take stock in wedding announcements.

I changed my shift at work so no more night shifts! I'm now on swing shift, still part-time (10 shifts a month) but much better for my physical well-being. It is hard because I am working every other Sunday and every Monday evenings, but it is so much better for my sanity. I know that when the baby comes, I need to be able to function during the day instead of just lying on the couch waiting for nap time.

We got another offer on our house (the second this month). We countered and are waiting to hear back. This could mean some major changes soon -- packing up, moving to a rental and starting to build. If I think about it too long, I start to hyperventilate, so I just have to have faith and be patient. I can't decide if it is better to sell before the baby comes or after. Either brings challenges and blessings. I just have to leave this one to God's hands.

Last change: I have a new calling at church. I was released as the Primary President at the end of August and am now the secretary in Young Womens. I am very excited about this calling which is another reason I'm not sure I want to move. The only affordable land we have found is in the other ward. I'm afraid to change wards because I'm sure they would put me back in Primary! I guess I just need to have faith on this one also.

So September has brought many changes for me. What about you? Are you changing too?

Vacation..... All I Ever Wanted

Vacations! I love them! The time to get away from life and reality and be together as a family. I love every part of them. And I'm always sad to come home again despite the stress of being away from home. It's just so much fun to be in another town doing things just for fun and of course, visit family.

Our vacation this year was to UTAH! We have never been together as a family before and I really have wanted to take the kids to Salt Lake City and do the whole Utah toursit thing -- go to Temple Square, BYU, etc. etc. So this year, Wade's family reunion was in Preston, Idaho which is only 2 1/2 hours from SLC so we decided to take advantage of spending that much money in gas ($500 by the way) and take 10 days to go to Salt Lake after the reunion, stay with my aunt and see as much as we could. We had a great time.

FIRST STOP: Preston, ID for Family Reunion

Because Hannah had Girls Camp, we didn't get to the famly reunion until Sat afternoon and only had 1 day to see everyone. It felt very rushed, but it was still great to see people we hadn't seen for a very long time. And it was very fun to enjoy the pool at the lodge although unfortunately that was the cleanest part of the facility.






SECOND STOP: Salt Lake City, UT

We then traveled to SLC where my aunt lives and spent 5 days there. We had a wonderful time. We went to Temple square and both visitors' centers there.

We also went to the Church History Museum which is one of my favorite places. I have been before, but have not taken my children. It was neat to see their reactions to things. My second daughter who is 9 was in awe and stated "I can't believe they have saved all these things from the pioneers!"

We also went to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and saw the new Joseph Smith movie. Aubrey (my 18 month old) conveniently took her nap during the movie so that worked out just fine.

Our favorite place however was the This is the Place Heritage Park.

We spent two days there and had a blast! If you haven't been, it is a park by the "This is the Place" Monument where they have recreated SLC from the pioneer days. Some of the buildings are the actual buildings/homes/cabins that were relocated to the park. Other buildings are recreations of the buildings. There was a large train that takes you around the park because it was tiring to walk from one end to the other. And a smaller train to ride around the pond. We enjoyed both as well as many other things. The kids got to wash clothes, pull a handcart, ride horses, tie rugs and make candles. It was much better than an amusement park. I highly recommend it.




After five nights with my aunt, (does she look tired to you?) we left Utah for our third and final stop--

THIRD AND FINAL STOP: Boise, ID

This was a perfect stop on our way home and we got to see my brother, sister and cousins at the same time. We stayed for 2 days and had lots of fun. It was the perfect end to our vacation.

So that is our vacation for 2008. Gas was outrageous, but what can you do? Gotta create those family memories. What did you do this summer? Or is it still to come? I have to admit that I now have vacation blues -- facing reality until the next vacation comes along.