Saturday Seven No.14

1.  To avoid the inevitable, (PACKING!) I've been filling my days with lots of other hobbies.  You know, the really important things.

2.  I read Matched, and Crossed, by Ally Condie - a trilogy set.  I loved them and can't wait for the third book, Reached to come out in November.  It will be a great pre-or post (make me sit down and rest) baby read.  If you liked Hunger Games or Uglies, you might want to look these books up.

Now I'm reading House of Tyneford (which claims fans of Downton Abbey will love) and then next up waiting on my shelf is the third book in the Kane Chronicles, The Serpent's Shadow.

 3.  My friend and I sat down and made these maxi skirts Monday. I'm sure it should have taken 15 minutes.  It might have taken us a tad bit longer;).  Either way, we didn't care and  are excited about them.  I made mine a little bit big too.  I'm sure in a few months I won't mind.

4.  I've been drooling over this lego quilt I saw on Pinterest.  I want two for my boys new rooms.  If we ever find a new house.  We don't want to buy right now.  So if you know anyone who wants to rent (at least a four bedroom house) in Davis County (Utah) let me know.

5.  I've been trying to sit and scrapbook more.  I started baby 5's pregnancy book.  

You can click an enlarge - it's just the journaling from a blog post.

12 weeks.  I've finally (I think) turned a corner!  Woo hoo!

6.  Noah's preschool class has been learning about caterpillars and butterflies.  Noah's favorite book is The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  He took it in on Monday and read it to the class.  He's an expert reader of this book.  I love watching this old clip.

7.  Gage had a pack meeting (a few weeks ago).  He earned his Bobcat.  I got to paint his face and he was embarrassed because Avery said he looked pretty.  He's loving Scouts.

Happy Saturday.  

Saturday Seven No. 13

1.  If you somehow missed it this week, we're having a baby.

2.  Eli learned a new word this week:  Every morning when Wade leaves for work he gives me a good-bye kiss.  The big kids always laugh and say, "Eww...gross!"  Friday when Wade left, Eli pointed at us and said, "GOSS!"

3.  Gage found three, four leaf clovers this week.  Talk about lucky.

4.  Open the bin of blocks, animals and get out the Little People house and Avery is set for hours.  Literally. She will build and play and imagine all sorts of stories.

 5.  I started packing up some bookshelves this week.  I thought I had a lot of boxes, but I'm now out of boxes.  And I still have more books.  If you have boxes, I'll take them.

6.  I just got home from spending four hours at the district Pinewood Derby.  Wade had to work.  I got to fly solo and  take all four crazy kids to the busy Saturday mall full of rowdy cub scouts.  Three of my kids hate the mall.  One loves it.  She loves to wiggle out of the stroller and run wild because there is always something in every single store she wants to look at.

It was an interesting morning.  Gage got a participation medal.  There were 68 cars.  His car got to race 3 times, but I'm writing this up as a "heart-breaking-educational-experience."  We've always got next year.  Plus, everyone got pretzels and mall pretzels are awesome!

7.  Supposedly Wade is done with residency call Monday for good.  Most 3rd years don't take call.  But most 3rd years have other residents at their program.  I sure wish we didn't have to turn in the pager.  I kinda wish we could take it out in a field and shoot it.  I am not even kidding.

Saturday Seven No.12

1.  Spent the day being inspired by messages from our church.  Lots of good messages about family.  Love that!  It will be on again tomorrow, we will be watching at my parents.  You can watch by clicking here.

2.  The kids tried to listen.  Two bowls of candy with key words helped that.  They got to eat a piece each time they heard the key word.  Avery did a better job being a mama to all her animals than paying attention. At least she was quiet.

3.  Speaking of conference, it can be watched online,on BYU-TV, or you can watch it at church on satellite.  We don't normally get that channel, and we've tried watching online but it never works out with the kids.  So for this weekend only we upgrade our cable.  Then we call and cancel after this weekend.  It only costs a couple dollars.  And it is so fun to have BIG cable for a few days.  I am so lame!

4.  It's spring break this week for the kids.  Wish the weather forecast would look better this week.  I am beginning to really believe in seasonal affective disorder.

5.  I had the worst migraine Wednesday.  The kind where you can't even keep medicine down so it just seems impossible for you to feel better.  Lucky for me it was early out day and somehow I managed to get all the kids home before it got the best of me.  I then paid Gage 50 cents to babysit the other kids.  (Eli was taking a nap).  I took a nap.  I think  that was the best 50 cents I've ever spent.

5.  If you missed it on facebook, Noah got in trouble at preschool this week.  When I asked why he replied nonchalantly, "Licking my shoe."  When I asked him why he was licking his shoe, he looked at me straight faced and replied, "it tasted good."  Avery and Eli also try to lick the rain puddles at school.  Every single day.  What is up with my kids?

6.  I should start packing my house.  I think it every day.   Here, there or in between.... Either way it's got to be done.  yuck.  Anyone want to do it for me?

7.  Looking forward to Easter this week.  We like to celebrate with little activities every day.  The activities don't focus that much on the Easter bunny and eggs, (although there will be a little of that too) but more the true meaning of Easter.  I sat down and made my outline of activities today and am pretty excited. What a great time of year and what a wonderful holiday to celebrate.

Saturday Seven No. 11

1. Tuesday I went with some girlfriends to the Lady Antebellum concert. We stayed up way too late and had way too much fun. I'm waiting to check out the other girls pictures then I'll blog them. It was such a great night.

2. Haven't seen The Hunger Games yet. But trust me, We are very excited! Wade is on-call so we are waiting till next week to go together. I reread them all last week & he is finishing book 3 this weekend.  I saw this on Facebook.  Pretty funny.

3. My parents had all their slides converted to jpegs and DVDs. My grandparents had all passed away before I graduated high school.  My mom is the only person left in her family at all. So it's nice to introduce these people to my kids. Avery thinks all the baby pictures of my mom are herself. Noah looks like my brothers. And the clothes...I love looking at our crazy clothes!

4. Eli and Avery have the sniffles and coughs. Boo! But Avery had a small fever today without a seizure! And Eli had a fever earlier this week (his first one ever) and no seizure! Woo Hoo!

5. Found the kids a mega pack of Bendaroos at the store for $2. Hours of fun.  Awesomeness.

6. After Hunger Games I started to re-read The Host.  I though it was so-so the first time I read it, but I was  drugged up on pain killers and recovering from a surgery.  Anyone have any other book suggestions?  I tell myself every single day I should resurrect my book blog.  Then I do 7 loads of laundry, 2 loads of dishes, 3 meals, snacks, help with homework, reading, taxi everyone around and wonder when I would make the time.

7.   I got out a few Easter decorations this week.  And that lovely Easter grass.  It did entertain Eli and Avery for a long time.  But it was a pain to clean up.  I put some eggs on the table in a vase.  The boys have already taken over.  What do you think?  Of course there are Lego men in those eggs.

Saturday Seven No. 10

1.  It's been pretty quiet around here this week.  Just the littles and me quiet.  Wade had to drive to Utah this week, so he decided to take Noah and Gage with him!  They left early Wednesday morning.  It's been like a mini vacation with just two kids.  Now that is something I thought I would never say.

Avery has loved all the girl time she gets with mommy.  We've painted nails, danced to music, read lots of girly books and watched Tinkerbell every single day.  Today we took a special trip to the store to buy her "lipstick" (fancy chapstick)...so she can stop stealing mine.  Eli has decided that since no one else is here talking, he might as well.  He has so much to say! (car, baby, blankie, meow, woof, baa baa, choo choo, ball, and a lot more we can't understand)

I've totally enjoyed NOT doing laundry every single day...and running the dishwasher every other instead of twice daily.

But my birthday was Thursday and they missed it.  If I mentioned it was my birthday to Avery, she got jealous and told me it was HER pink birthday.  I spent the evening celebrating at a Relief Society dinner with some amazing women.  It really was great.  But I'm missing my big boys.  I'm ready for their return.

2.  Happy Saint Patrick's Day!  We are playing it pretty low-key around here, gold coins and some spinach-green pinwheels to go with our dinner tonight.

3.  Avery is totally into crafting lately.  Gluing, cutting, coloring, making colossal messes on the table.

4.  I've been re-reading the Hunger Game Trilogy this week.  Wade's been reading them too.  I have two down, one more to go and I have to finish it fast because Wade will be home tomorrow night and he needs Mockingjay too.

5.  Of course, my hot Doctor goes out of town and I wake up Friday to the worst pain in my right foot.  According to his highly-educated-over-the-phone diagnosis it is one of two things:  either a neuroma or I am getting old and my body is falling apart.  (HA! He will always be 4 years older, I don't let him forget.)  I have been ordered to wear my running shoes all the time, try some ibuprofen and take it easy.  He knows I never "take it easy" but thanks to # 4, it is pretty do-able.

6.  Eli thinks the little space under the kitchen bar is his own little home.  He giggles and stands there eating snacks, playing cars, or looking at books all the time.  He fits almost perfectly.

7.  A snuggly little Eli after his nap. He now wants to have his 2 blankets, pillow pet and this silly money go with him everywhere.

Saturday Seven No. 9

Sunday night we got Wade came home from Texas.  Then he got to stay up half the night with Noah.

Monday Noah had his test.  The office called yesterday and said the results were in, they said a nurse will call me on Monday with them.  I'm thinking this is good.  If it were bad news, we would have to come in.

After Noah's EEG test he got to pick a prize.  He decided to pick this black bear for his sister.  It's been well loved and taken care of this week by her.

A trip to the bank means suckers all around.  Avery learned a hard lesson.  She was waving her sucker around like a magic wand, and Eli seized he opportunity.  He grabbed it and ate both!

We had some really nice weather and spent a fun afternoon at the park Thursday.  IT was all fun and games until Gage decided to play hide and seek and took his sister down the street.  After a few panic minutes of not knowing where they went, I found them, and everyone had to come home.

For family night this week we turned off the lights and the kids danced around with their glow stick flashlights.  Yeah, we have awesome family nights.

And last but certainly not least...Today Gage was baptized!

He deserves his own post for this one!

Happy Day!

Saturday Seven No. 8

Technically it is 6.

Monday: Morning weekly meeting for Relief Society (church), my parents came to visit, Noah showed them around preschool & they brought us lots of Girl Scout Cookies

Tuesday: Morning "coffee brunch" with some mom's from school. We had a great visit, and found out none of us even drink coffee!

Wednesday: Dropped Wade off at the airport for a conference in Texas. Noah has two seizures in the car. Ambulance ride, ER visit, my parents save the day, science fair family night, and by 10 pm the Girl Scout cookies are gone.

Thursday: Gage's 8th birthday! We also lay low and recover.

Friday: Housekeeping day. Noah's fever tries to make a come back.

Saturday: Noah is feeling better. Gage's birthday party. Lots of Legos and energy. I wish they could pass some to me!

Ready for a new week.
Bring it on.

Saturday Seven No. 7

Someone decided to finally stop procrastinating and do his science fair project today.  That is due next week (when Wade is out of town again).  At least he decided to finish it today while Wade could help, instead of next week, right?  So between that, 7 loads of laundry, taxes, Eli teething, and the lingering man-cold at our house I am finally posting my Saturday Seven.  Enjoy.

1.  Gage turns 8 on Thursday, then he will be baptized on the 10th.  I attempted a few pictures of him for an announcement this week.  It sure went well. :/  We'll be trying again this weekend.

2.  Bikes at playgroup.

3.  Monday night family home evening project.  Self portraits and pictures of what we are each good at.

4.  Wade was gone to scouts at bedtime Wednesday.  I had a million and half loads of laundry to fold and put away, that I had already avoided 2 days in a row.  So I made a deal, I would put away their laundry if I could skip reading to them.  Gage decided that wasn't good enough and read the book to Noah himself.

5.  Working on his first pinewood derby car.

6.  Thursday night the women at our church got together for a pie social.  Here is my trusty set up crew being bribed with a little dinner before their hard work.

7.  Friday night means pizza and movie night.  

We danced our little hearts out while watching Lemonade Mouth.  

 We liked it on Disney, now it's on Netflix.

Saturday Seven No.6

1.  Tuesday after school drop off we headed home.  The 3 enjoyed some shows on the "little TV" while I got ready for the day. Many, many moons ago I bought this TV for my college dorm room. Wade is always trying to convince me to get rid of it, but it works for mornings like this.  The kids love hanging out in our bedroom.

2.  We finished the second Harry Potter this week. It takes us so long to get through the books. If Wade is gone during bedtime (which happens a lot) it's hard for me to find time to read to them.  We watched the movie this weekend, and even though they knew exactly what would happen, I ended up with 3 little boys on my lap. I didn't mind.

3.  If you ignore me when I ask to clean up your legos, I threaten.  And if you then take your battle ship lego, point it at me and "blast" me into space so you don't have to listen, this is what happens.  They get taped up and taken away all week long.

4. It's been a cold and deary day today.  But the zoo membership came to the rescue. (Is there any way to go then a membership when you have 6 people in the family?)  We only went to the aquarium, that's all Eli loves. He's all about the fish and sharks.

5. Hair cut. It's sad that I only make time to do this 2 or 3 times a year.  I didn't do much, trimmed the ends and some bangs.  I've never had this long of hair before.

6.  At playgroup this week some of us decorated sugar cookies.  And some of us just ate a bunch of sprinkles.

7.  On early out Wednesday we had pretty nice, dry weather too!  While Eli took a nap the older 3 went out back and played for 2 hours!  They made mud houses, found bugs, all sorts of messy stuff.  We are ready for spring.

Saturday Seven No.5

1.  Monday we picked up Wade at the airport! We surprised him by making signs and going inside to meet him.  The kids were fascinated with the airport.  If only flying a family of 6 were more affordable.

2.  Tuesday I planned out a 2 week menu plan and skipped out on bedtime.  I let Wade tuck everyone in while I hung out at my favorite grocery store.  Seriously, the best prices and the one I go to has the friendliest employes and is NEVER crowded.  Would Walmart every look this empty at 6:30?  No way!

3.  Wade came home with a Bullet Blender from Utah.  The kids are in love and enjoying smoothies all the time now. Noah's favorite is chocolate milk with peanut butter and a little banana.

4.  Thursday is a our down day.  We play around the house, run to the library, catch up.  It's always good to have a catch up day.

5.  Friday is always cleaning day.  I clean bathrooms, sweep, mop, vacuum, laundry.  I get followed around by lots of little helpers.

6.  Wade plays tennis every Friday night, so I get to have a girly movie.  I watched two episodes of my new favorite Show, Downton Abbey Sunday night while Wade was gone (and couldn't take over the remote).  Now I'm hooked.  Friday I watched 3 episodes of season 1.  If you haven't seen it yet, you should.

7.  And last, but not least, we spent today celebrating this very special girls 3rd birthday. (it's tomorrow).

She requested pink cup cakes, chicken legs, her friend Linkin and Grandma and Pa-Pa (Grandpa).  We now have a very messy house, overload of pink balloons, dress up clothes and one very happy three year old princess.

Saturday Seven No. 4

1.  I promised the kids a Lego-all-day day today.  They've made the most of making a mess on the table.  I am trying hard to not think about cleaning it up.
2.  Practicing our last name.  We've got a hard one.  Loving the wipe board I found in the dollar bins at Target.
3. Sunday night Wade and Eli played on the kitchen floor.  With surgical hemostats.  They are also the go-to tool for stuck legos.
4.  A good book and a stack of library movies.  Yes, please.
5.  The sun has been shining this week, which means Noah asks if he can "race" every time we drive into our neighborhood.  I drop him off at the corner and then after a few engine revs I race him home.
6.  We went to our first Cub Scout Blue and Gold banquet this week.  Since Gage turns 8 in just a few weeks and will then be a part of the pack at our church he got invited.  I can't believe I have a scout!
7.  We sang happy birthday to Wade on Skype this morning.  He has been at a ski conference in Utah all week.  It sounds rough, doesn't it?  Happy Happy Birthday.  Can't wait for him to get home so we can celebrate with him in person.

Saturday Seven No. 3

This week:

1.  Gage worked hard all day building a temple with his Legos.  When we told him that bad guys don't go to the temple, he said to us, "Okay, those aren't bad guys, they are angel WARRIORS!"

2.  Eli & his pink shopping cart.  Of course, it's actually Avery's, but you can't tell him that.  He pushes it around and around and around some more.  All day long. Every day. No one else can touch it.  He puts his blanket in it, and since he has two sometimes I catch him with a blanket on top and a blanket on the bottom.  Don't tell him it's pink, although honestly, I don't think he would care.

3.  Playtime in the racqetball courts while we drop off Noah at preschool.  Avery was invited a princess party last weekend.  She is now obsessed with wearing her princess dress every day of the week.  Can't wait till her birthday in a few weeks.  I've been hiding/saving some princess dresses I found on clearance after Halloween just for this occasion!

4.  Gage started chess club at school this week.  Our new Thursday schedule.  He was pretty excited he got to join.  Before joining they had to fill out a form explaining their experience and why chess was important to them.  Gage's answer was pretty sweet.  "Chess is important to me because I get to play it with my Dad."

5.  Visited the new branch of our library system.  They don't use the Dewey decimal system.  Kinda strange.  Not that it really matters too much to me, I spend most of my time in the kid section.  Now I don't have to stress about the kids pulling books off the shelves so much.  And honestly, when I want a certain book I usually find it online and put it on hold so I don't have to search for it with all the kids.  They have a new movie machine - similar to a Redbox - 7 movies for 7 days for free!  It's pretty awesome.

6.  Friday was a teacher in-service day at school.  So we had another day off.  My friend and I took our kids to the zoo.  Noah and Eli loved the shark tank.  Eli just danced around squealing and pointing the whole time.  Noah wouldn't stop talking to the zoo volunteer, he had SO many questions.  Then we all came back here and spent the afternoon here playing chess, battleship, legos and with flashlights.  The hubbies joined us and we ate Chinese take out for dinner.  Love a good day with friends.

7.  Up on the to-do list today: visiting the library (different branch) again to get books for Gage's science project.  Then off to the wood shop for Gage and Wade to work on his pinewood derby car.  We are spending the morning watching Beauty and the Beast.  The kids have been requesting brownies for a while, so I think we can manage that too.  Sounds like a perfect Saturday to me.

Saturday Seven No. 2

Pretty exciting week. And we barely left the house.

1.  Noah and Gage unload the dishwasher twice a day now.  My cupboards and drawers will never look organized the way I imagine them ever again, but they do it.  And actually kinda enjoy it.  (And sometimes I just sit on the couch and act lazy and watch them do it.)

2.  I picked up a bunch of random toys and kids things from the downstairs and put it in a bin one night this week.  The next morning I told the kids they had to put it away and in the right place.  Noah couldn't find a right place for these postcards.   Then he saw an easel my craft table and came up with this.  (My craft corner is in our bedroom right next to my bed). I've woke up every morning to this.  Pretty sweet.

3.  In a few short weeks Avery will be 3.  In a moment of braveness I told her that we need to throw away all sippy cups.  What was I thinking?  Sippy cups are my crutch for her.  I am not sure I am strong enough to make it through February.

4.  We had a horrific snow ice storm hit our state this week.  About 300,000 people lost power this week and some still don't have it on.  Somehow we were some of the few blessed ones to never lose our power.  Wednesday through just a few minutes ago we had our best friends staying with us.  It's been a great party.  Today we had another family and some extra kids too.  10 kids under 10 to be exact.  I am so grateful for our warm house and that we were able to help.  While I so happy that all our friends have power now, I was sad to see them go.

5.  Power and heat are nice, but electronics are even better.  We had a good laugh when we looked around and saw 4 iphones, an ipad, 2 lap tops, the xbox and tv on.  

6.  Tested Noah's blood sugar again this week.  Just call me paranoid.  We had it tested last summer and it was fine, but I have always wondered because we never knew the score.  Since both of us have sisters with Type 1 diabetes, his frequent (as in 4 or more times an hour) trips to the bathroom kinda worry me.  But his Dr. said everything was fine in the summer, and apparently it is still fine.  Maybe it's just out of habit? Just another something to figure out.

7.  I love scrapbooker/organizer Becky Higgins.  A few years ago I bought her 365 scrapbook kit.  It is now called Project Life.   She recently came out with a Shutterfly version and I am so excited.  I've been working on making a Becky Higgins Project Life album of my Sunday Photos from last year.  Honestly, I can't decide who to print my blog book anymore, Blurb, or Blog2Print.  But this book I adore and am so excited to finish.  Double score, I have a pretty sweet coupon that expires this week so I can order it soon!