Sunday Photo

After church, post PB&J sandwich lunch.  Noah starts taking off his church clothes before we can even get the key in the door  after arriving home.

Before I could whip out 3 sandwiches there were little remnants of his Sunday morning scattered in piles.  Church pants.  Socks.  Shoes.  A shirt here.  A sweater there.  Scriptures.  All over the house.

Where is Noah?  In Noah happy land.  At the table, with Bob in one hand and playing Lego's with the other.  Bob is his blanket, which I will not let him take to church anymore.  Okay, I admit, it comes in the car, but I won't let him take it inside anymore.  Poor Noah...he has to wear pants and leave Bob.  No wonder he doesn't like church.

I told him I was going to take a Sunday photo so he had to put clothes on.  He chose his pajamas.

I like the series of events in the photo's today.  Gage is so obedient.  He tries his best to always do what is right and make people happy.  Noah loves his brother Eli.  Avery cracks me up.  My dear sweet Eli, he rolls with the punches.

3 little men

I was looking through old pictures last night and noticed I had one of Noah and Gage, the same age, in the same outfit.  I couldn't resit finding it this morning and letting Eli have a turn too.  And just to save any future brothers (if that ever happens) from this embarrassment, Eli made sure that I could never do this again and had a huge  diaper blow out shortly after this photo shoot.

I sure love these three boys!

January In Pictures

A picture review of our activities this January.

Eli has enjoyed time with his favorite girlfriend at playgroup.  Doesn't he look thrilled?  She is the cutest doll ever!!

Avery.  Never mess with what the princess wants to wear to bed.  After getting Avery ready for bed one night she noticed the pajamas that she wore the night before in the laundry pile.  She was very mad at me that she couldn't have those on on instead of the current (clean ones) she had on her body.  She was already in her crib, I was rocking and nursing Eli and Wade was gone.  So I told her she was just going to have to wait and wear them later after I cleaned them.  She kept pointing and asking for her "pink ones!"  After feeding Eli, tucking him in and telling her good night I figured she could at least have them in her bed with her, if it would stop her screaming.  So I handed her the pajamas and left the room.

Later that night I walked in to check on her and found this.  She took her pajama pants off, got both her legs through the neck hole of the shirt and both legs in one leg hole of the pajamas she wanted in the first place.

I guess she showed me.

I showed her by changing her back in her sleep.

But really, with a face like this, it's hard not to love her.  Even with all her shenanigans.

Noah.  Noah loves being at home with mom.  We've spent some fun times this month playing games, coloring, playing with his new car track (criss-cross crash) and having fun.

Noah and Gage love playing crazy made up games.  This particular day they colored all kinds of "bad guys" and then set them up so they could shoot them with their nerf guns.

Noah loves cars.  He loves to play with his tracks and line up the cars.  They all love it when they can get the track out and play with it on the stairs.  I know - total safety hazard, but really, it is pretty cool the stuff they come up with.

Noah's favorite job this month?  Putting away the clean silverware every morning.  If he is lucky Avery will help.  I love how in these particular pictures you have to combine my children to make a complete outfit....she has no shirt, he has no pants.

Don't ask why she has a hot dog bun while doing this job.  I am not sure.  All I know is I found a random half eaten hot dog bun later that day in the recycle bin.  I love how Miss Avery makes me laugh.

Gage has been very busy this month building huge Lego creations.  He asks me to take pictures of each one.  He gets really mad when I tell them they can't overtake the table or if other people touch them when he is at school.  I'm seriously considering turning the train table that's in our garage into a lego table.  It would be so cool! (and nice to have my dinning room table back)

And we've all enjoyed a few sunny days at the park this month.  Every Wednesday Gage gets out early, for some reason Avery never naps and it just so happens it's been sunny too!  We've had a good time enjoying warm temperatures and soaking up vitamin D!

I can't believe that January is almost already over!  (And I can't believe I've blogged every single day this week!  Wow!)
We all are excited for February!

January Crafts

So, posted below are my goals for this year, and one of them includes doing at least one "craft" or fun item each month.  I know, there are super moms out there that can get one crafty item done each day or week without even breaking a sweat, but one a month is good for me.  Not too stressful, but still reminds me to take a break and do something fun every once in a while.

This month I made 3 baby blankets.  (don't be too impressed, if you can sew a straight line you can make these blankets in about 30 minutes) I just wish more people I knew were having girls, boy fabric is fun, but there are so many more cute girl patterns!

I attempted to make cake pops for the first time.  I have this vision in my head about a centerpiece of cute cake pops at our Relief Society Birthday lunch in March...so I have a lot of work to do on the decorating part.  I used strawberry and cream cheese for the filling and a chocolate cover.  They tasted yummy!  The kids had fun gobbling them up.  Next up, I need attempt decorating them AFTER my little helper hands go to bed.  Has anyone mastered these fun treats?  Have any suggestions?

And a scrapbook project too!  I had been saving old Christmas cards in a box for a couple years and really wanted to do something with them. I saw an idea about cutting out only the pictures and making a college.  I think it turned out really cute and now my over-sized box of cards can fit into just a few pages of a 12x12 book.

2011 Goals

Like how I post the kids goals for the year and never mention mine?  HA!  I promised myself I would post my thoughts about this, so here we go.

Last year my one and only goal was to not go crazy.  In January of last year we knew that I was pregnant, but we hadn't told anyone else.  I also knew that I really was scared about the babies being 18 months apart.  I was feeling overwhelmed with 3, I wasn't sure how I was going to handle 4!  I was feeling scared about Wade's program shutting down and what that meant.  I knew he was all ready gone a lot and if the program shut down that would only mean he would be gone more.  In January we weren't even sure if he would have a program at all or a job much longer.  I was feeling overwhelmed with my calling.  I was basically feeling overwhelmed all together.

I think the goal of not going crazy in 2010 was very fitting.  I think I managed to come out okay.  I had a few breakdowns, but in the end you have to just pick up and deal with life.  I think the Lord hands us blessings all the time that we just have to take the time to notice.  I was blessed in 2010.

~~

This year.  I already chose and posted about my one little word that will inspire me this year.  {Enjoy}  After fulfilling my goal last year of "not going crazy" I think it's about time to slow down and enjoy a few things.  I want each of my goals to focus around this word, enjoy.

1.  I want to work on my talents.  I do a lot of complaining to Wade that I don't have any talents.  Deep down I know that isn't true, I just need to make time to work on developing them. I want to enjoy reading and get back to my book blog.  I also want to make or create one one "craft" a month.  It can be sewing, scrapbooking or something else.  I would love to be able to do more than one a month, but I think one a month is a good goal.

2.  I want to work on our finances.  This is a tough subject.  I really hate talking about money.  Wade works his tooshie off for us.  If only residents got paid for the hours they work!  A family of 6 costs money.  We eat.  We go through diapers and wipes like candy.  Don't even get me started on medical expenses.  Anyway, I think there is room for improvement I think we can make smarter choices.

3.  I want to nurture.  I want to be better and make moments each day for each child individually.   I want to be better at having date night with Wade.  After 10 years, 4 kids and all this crazy school/residency stuff we actually might deserve a date now and then.  This might actually take hiring a babysitter (something I've only done twice in our whole marriage!)  I want to serve others.  I want to have the right attitude while doing it.

4.  I want to make the best choice.  I think I spend a lot of my time making good or better choices when really there are opportunities for me to be making best choices.  I can apply this to every aspect of my life, from eating, working out, sleeping, spending time with the kids, computer time, and even my calling.  This is inspired by the Good, Better, Best talk.  I love it and think of it often, "We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthens our families."  - Dallin H. Oaks.

~~

I'm pretty excited about 2011.  I know January is already almost all over, time never stops, life never slows down.  I don't think I can expect a day off soon.  But I can slow down, work on these goals and make this year the best it can be.

Washington Waters

We live really close to the Puyallup River, which basically flows from Mount Rainier to the ocean..which means, we also live in a flood plain.  YAY for us, right?  Well, while we were living in Tacoma our fourth year of school the development that we currently live in had to be evacuated because the river was just a few inches shy of reaching the levy and flooding the houses.  We knew this, but we still moved into this development.  It was the right place and the right house for us, plus, what were the chances that it would flood again in the short 3 years we would be there, right?

Because of snow melt, lots of rain and tides the river can get pretty high this time of year.  We haven't been too concerned, and haven't ever been evacuated, but a couple weeks ago the river got pretty high so we decided to take a few pictures.

The river has a side road that you can tell in this first picture is completely covered.  Usually you can drive a truck down there and then the water is still a few feet below that road!

Usually a person can stand in the water in the middle of the river.The river was flowing really fast when we took the pictures and was full of logs and debris too.  Below is a picture I took in the summer of 2009.  All those little black spots are fisherman standing in the middle fishing for salmon.  

I'm glad that we didn't have to evacuate.  It was good to talk to the kids about it, Noah is pretty worried if our house did flood that his bike would get muddy.

And to finish the post off....I pass this sign every day but never take the time to stop and take a picture.  I don't think they have signs like this anywhere else that I've lived!


(They practice the lahar sirens every month at noon on the first Monday.  The first time I didn't know it was just a practice signal and I had a mini heart attack trying to get the little 3 in the car so we could speed up the hill to get Gage from school before I figured out it was just a drill!  Let's just hope a real lahar never happens the first Monday at noon or else I will just be hanging around the house and never leave!)

The story of a boy and some cereal

Once upon a time a very short time ago (like last week), there was a little boy named Eli.  Eli loved to have his mom hold him.  Especially at meal times.  

It wasn't too long before Eli was trying to head dive into her plate to grab and get food. The smart (and awesome, cute, and crafty) mom noticed this squirmy little boy and she said, 

"By George, the boy is 5 months old.  Let's get this boy some baby cereal and start him on solids!"

So one rainy afternoon their adventure began.

After the first bite.  Eli couldn't believe it.

"What is this yucky, grayish matter you are shoving into my face mom?  It looks nothing like the yummy food you guys eat at dinner!"

"Uh.  I'm not sure what I got myself into, he thought"

Under all the pressure Eli still wasn't sure.  All these people were staring at him.  His Dad was home (HOME!!!) and taking pictures of him.  His mom was shoving this yucky stuff in his mouth.  So little Eli did what he knows to do best.

That's right.  He plugged his mouth with his fingers.

In went his fingers and down went the cereal.  And that is how the pattern continued.  

Until...

duh..duh..duh......

AVERY!   Avery noticed she was not the center of attention.  This has to be stopped she said.  She climbed up in the high chair (that the loving, smart, really cool parents) got out for Eli, and demanded a bite of that yucky baby cereal for herself.

It only took two bites of that stuff before she realized it tasted like cardboard and that she could spend her time being more productive.  Like letting mom put her feet up and eat bon-bons while she herself fed Eli.  The mom, being a slave driver and non-believer in child labor laws, said GREAT!

(okay, not really, but anything goes for a good picture!)

So Avery and Eli giggled and had a great time over baby cereal.

Until Avery shoved her pink sippy cup in Eli's mouth, making him cry.

The mom zoomed in to save the day, and they all lived happily ever after.

The End.

5 Months

On Friday last week Eli turned 5 months old!

I tried and tried to get good pictures with his two fingers out of his mouth and finally he gave me the look below.  He must think he is above all these monthly pictures that I take of him.

At 5 months old Eli is such a happy boy!  He loves to be held by his mommy and give big smiles to everyone around him.

To say that he loves to suck on his two fingers is an understatement.  He has those fingers in his mouth almost 24 hours a day!  I am grateful for this now, because he sleeps well and calms himself really easily.  I know I will not be so grateful for this habit when he is older, hopefully he will be pretty easy to break of it.

Eli can roll from front to back and back to front.  He doesn't really do it often, mostly he rolls in the middle of the night and gets really mad about it.

If we are at home and not running errands Eli takes a great long nap in the morning, another in the afternoon and then a short cat nap around dinner time.  Most of the time we have errands to run or places to go and he does pretty well at taking little naps in his car seat.

Eli has almost mastered sitting on his own.  If I balance him with a pillow or one hand he can do pretty well.  He has started to really like grabbing toys and brining them to his mouth.  He is the first of the four kids that actually kicks and plays with the toys that are on the bouncy seat that we own!  He loves to kick them and try to grab them  He also loves to lay on his back and play with his bare feet.

Eli has really started to notice us during meal times.  I usually start baby food around 6 months, but we gave it a try this past weekend. I will post a separate blog about that later, but let's just say he really enjoyed eating his food - thanks to his fingers!

Some of you might think I am horrible, but I am so happy - Eli has started to notice the TV and will spend a little time watching the Baby Einstein movies now!  YAY for this, I can finally make a meal without a baby in one arm!

Eli loves to talk, gurgle and coo at people.  He really has such a great temperament.  He loves Avery, Noah and Gage.  One night Wade found Avery laying completely on top of Eli (who, since it was almost bathtime, only had on a diaper). Wade quickly removed Avery and told her that she couldn't lay on her brother.  Then he noticed that Eli was giggling.  He was enjoying the wrestling and Avery had been tickling his tummy with her hair.  Silly boy!  He will be such a tough one with all these older siblings!

I can't believe how fast Eli is growing and love what a wonderful temperament he brings to our home.  His smile makes my day!  We can't imagine our little family without him.

Noah!

(Remember this picture?  This was the day after his first big seizure and a ride in the ambulance.  He looks so little there!  And his blanket Bob looks so clean!)

Bad News:  Today Noah is sick with a cold.  He woke up with a fever of 101.2 last night.

Good News:  This is the first time since he was one year old that he has developed a fever and NOT had a seizure!  I know it might seem like such a silly thing to post about, but it really is a blessing!  When he woke up sick and crying last night we got really worried, but Tylenol has been able to keep it under control and I think that is some of the best news ever, and totally worth journaling about on the blog!

He's pretty happy about this news too.  He gets to spend the day not wearing pants and watching Tom and Jerry cartoons.

Sunday Photo

Look at me.  I even got my Sunday photo blogged ON Sunday.  Imagine that!  My goal this week is to blog more than one blog post between this post and the next Sunday's photo.  I think I can manage that.  (probably not)

Today we went to my parents for Sunday dinner. I got a migraine during church and thought for sure we would have to miss it.  Thanks to Excedrin we didn't.   They had stake conference, so for once we actually had meetings at the same time instead of opposite each other.  We ate the Christmas dinner we had planned for Christmas day.  (Without the ER visits.)  It was good food & good times.  Gage drew pictures on Grandma's art easel.  Avery stole a marker and tried to draw on Grandma's house.  Eli looked cute and smiled for Grandpa.  Noah ate two ice cream comes and then told us it was time to leave.

Happy Sunday.

enjoy

I like this quote.  I am going to print this page and frame it for my kitchen.  I need the reminder.

I am trying hard to stop and enjoy.

I've decided today my attitude is enduring.  I have 2 hours - or less - until bedtime.  We aren't going to see Wade because it's not Monday - the only night he is home before bedtime.  The house is a Disaster (with a capital D!)  I have about 8 loads of clean laundry mounded on my bed that I need to fold and put away.  (at least they are clean right?) I made it through 10 minutes of a 20 minutes work out today until Avery decided to lay down on top of me while I was doing abs and Noah put his head right in the way of my foot. :(

I know someday I will miss this.  I might even miss having my hair (pulled out by large chunks) beautifully styled by my almost 2 year old while nursing a baby.  I might.

Someday's are hard to enjoy and not endure.  I'm pretty sure if I sit and think about it I can make my list go on and on about things I am enduring today.

Life is to be enjoyed not endured.  So I am going to enjoy it.  We are headed upstairs for pajamas, cuddling and reading.  I believe Alexander and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, will be first on our list.






ps.  Knight in shinning armor just walked in the door, had the kids strip down to their undies and then sprayed them (and me!!) with ethyl chloride....of the joys of a good joy scream!  Life really is good!

Sunday Photo

I promise I fix my daughters hair.  But after three hours of church I just don't care any more.  She was being my "helpful" helper while I was making rolls yesterday afternoon.  Helpful like eating trying to stick her fingers in the mixer while it's mixing, eating (licking) flour off the counter, poking everything she can find with her spoon.  Right around the moment she grabbed a big glob of raw dough, shoved it in her mouth, and then attempted (with no success! YAY!) to put it back in the mixing bowl - I put her up on the bunk bed with her brothers.  She can get up, but not down.  It's heaven.

2010 Goal Wrap Up & Kid Goals 2011

Last week I sat down with the kids and we talked about how our goals went last year.  We had made posters of our goals last year and displayed them on a bulletin board in our room for the year.  It was fun to look back at what we planned on working on.  We also planned out some new goals for this year.  It was fun looking back at last year.

Our goals in 2010 included:

Gage:

Learn all site words

Memorize more Articles of Faith

Be nice

Ride a skateboard

Help clean the bathrooms

Review:  He is still working on site words.  Reading skills are developing slow and steady.  He works really hard every day practicing.  He did memorize a few more Articles of Faith.  He still has more to work on!  Be nice...well, this one easy.  Gage works really had at being a nice big brother to everyone, he loves helping Avery and holding Eli.  He tries really hard to be nice to Noah, even when Noah bothers him.  Gage didn't learn to ride a skateboard this year.  It would help if he would make goals that included items he owns.  And I suppose he does help clean the bathrooms.  I'm not really sure why he wanted this to be a goal, but whatever, right?  I clean the bathrooms every Friday morning.  During the summer he was home and would help me wipe things clean or watch Avery while I cleaned.

Noah:

Say prayers

Learn letters

Ride a bike

Share

Learn to go potty

Review:  Noah did a great job with his goals in 2010.  He loves to say prayers and it's really rare if anyone else in the house gets to say them.  He also is the most patient at mealtime prayers.  Sometimes I put breakfast or lunch on the table and get busy with other chores and he is sitting there waiting to eat!  He is such a great example to Avery.  He is still learning letters, occasionally he will surprise me with letters he knows that we haven't reviewed yet.  It was a great day when Noah learned to finally ride the big bike.  He was the biggest kid I had ever seen pushing his way around on our little red tricycle, but now he rides his bike any chance he gets.  If it's out on the porch he will run outside and ride it to the end of the road and back before we leave anywhere.  He loves that he gets to take it to playgroup and ride at church.  Noah does a great job sharing.  He has really blossomed into a big helper during the days since Gage has started all day school.  He loves to share with Eli the most.  And I think the biggest thing happened way back in January of 2010 when Noah got the potty training business down.  I can't say enough about how easy it is to potty train them when they are big enough and want to do it on their own.  I believe he potty trained in 2 days!  Woo hoo!

Avery Ann:

learn to walk

learn to talk

go to nursery

Review:  100% for Avery Ann!  When we made these goals I already knew I was pregnant with Eli.  I knew she was going to have to grow up this year and she did!  I love that Avery learns new words every day.  One of her new favorites is at dinner or lunch time..."ranch please...ketchup please...."  It cracks us up every time.  Or the fact that she says "I toot I toot" when you ask her to say "I'm cute!"  I am glad that she finally figured out that they sing in nursery and now she loves to stay.  We had a couple crazy weeks with two babies out of nursery, Wade on call and myself conducting, but we made it through.

The goals the kids have come up with for 2011 include:

Gage:
Ride bike with no training wheels
Read Book of Mormon
Read!
Learn musical instrument

Noah:
Learn letters and sounds
Be nice
Pass swimming level this summer
Memorize articles of faith

Avery:
Be nice to Eli
Potty train
Sleep through the night
Learn colors and shapes

Eli:
Sleep through the night
Eat
Crawl
Walk

Sunday Photo

My good friend Sarah takes a photo every Sunday.  She's been doing this for so long, I love the idea, I have tried the photo a day challenge, but haven't been too successful.  I have a 365 app on my phone this year, so I actually think I might succeed at the picture a day challenge this year.  But the Sunday photo.  It's such a great idea.  Or maybe it's that Sarah's pictures are always so cool too look at, and she should write novels the way she journals.

Here are yesterday's Sunday pictures.  As you can tell we are throughly enjoying lounging around in our pajama's the rest of the day after the 9-Noon church slot this year.  (It really is the most glorious time slot, right?)

Can you tell no one really wanted to participate but Gage, and maybe Eli?  I actually like the second picture the best.

Fast Song

During the day while we are running errands Noah likes to sit in the backseat of the van and sing songs to himself.  Yesterday after leaving Target Noah informed me that we needed to drive fast because he needed to go potty.  He then sang this song:

Drive fast.
Drive fast.
Drive fast mommy.
I need to go potty.


Drive fast like Daddy's race car.
Drive fast like the trees grow.
Drive fast.

{4 Months}

The week of Christmas my little Eli turned four months old!  I can't believe how fast time flies!

At four months Eli is such a joy.  He loves to smile and giggle at people.  He loves to watch his siblings play.  He kicks his feet and tries to go with them.  He is a pro at tummy time and can lift up his head so high!  He has even started to move a little bit and show signs of crawling.  He has a lot to keep up with that little man!

Eli's personality is so easy going.  Somewhere in between 3 and four months he switched himself from a 2 hour feeding schedule to eating every 3 hours.  Glorious days!  I've had to "make" all my other kids switch, but Eli, the little stud, beat me to it!

If he isn't being held or sleeping, Eli wants to sit up.  He tries so hard but just isn't there yet.  He likes his bumbo chair and the corner of the couch.  Sometimes he gets so excited about sitting up and watching everyone that I find him face-down on the couch squirming to get off!  Silly boy.

The two fingers.  Eli has found his two fingers this past month and they are here to stay.  I haven't ever had a thumb sucker and Gage was my only baby to take a binky...but the two fingers, they crack us up.  Eli sucks his right hand pointer and middle finger to self-sooth.  It really is such a site.  I can lay him down during a cranky time and I know exactly when he has found his fingers...things get quiet and he goes right to sleep!  Wade tells me I'm mean because I will pop them out of his mouth during happy times just to get him smile and  talk to me!  I honestly think he would keep those two fingers in his mouth almost 24 hours a day if I let him!  This might be trouble!!!

Honestly, I say this with every baby, but I cannot get over this feeling of how fast time flies. At four months, Eli is now the age that Avery was when we moved here!  I now watch Avery walk up the stairs and it makes me a little bit said that in just a blink of an eye Eli will be doing it too!

At four months Eli wakes up about 2 times each night to nurse.  I know he is big enough that I can let him cry it out, but some nights I really like the cuddle alone time I get with him.  It's hard to get alone time with any of them, so if I have to get it in the middle of the night, so be it!

A lot of people tell me that Eli looks like Avery.  On the other hand I have people tell me he looks exactly like Gage.  I think he looks more like Gage than Avery..but with his own little happy blue eyed look mixed in as well.  While Eli might look like Gage and Avery, he has a little bit of Noah in him as well.  If he is fussy and his two fingers aren't doing the trick...simply take off his socks and pants and he is one happy boy!  Noah loves cuddling, holding and talking to Eli.  Sometimes I really wonder if Noah is whispering sweet nothings of "pants-less" dreams into his ears.

Eli now has a new talent of rolling over.  While he doesn't do it often, we have seen him do it a handful of times...mostly while he is chasing those two fingers down trying to shove them in his mouth!

I am so thankful for little Eli in our family.  I can't imagine a day without his smiley little face!