Surviving My Sickness

This has been a crazy week. I had high hopes of doing some fun things with the kids since we had no swim practice. And then Sunday night I started feeling a sore throat coming on. I slept horribly and decided that Annie and I would see a doc in the morning. She of course had an ear infection but I was diagnosed with a virus. The doctor laughed sadly as he said the only thing I could really do was rest. He was looking at my four children. HOWEVER, I only have one baby and so when she has napped I have been able to nap. It has been a very long week with jammies all day. A very messy house. Kids roaming the neighborhood in said jammies. Kids selling homemade bookmarks to neighborhood while I laid down (this time they were dressed). We have watched lots of movies and played lots of video games. And there are piles of books all over the house. Nathan also got a hold of my camera yesterday and had some fun:

Who knows what he is thinking when he starts taking pictures, or being in them for that matter.

Ryan and Annabelle love playing with their stuffed animals.

Not sure why Nathan took this, but this is what my WHOLE house looks like.

This is Nathan's apple maze. He also did every letter in the alphabet, a person and a light bulb.

Pioneer Day

While we didn't really do anything because of pioneer day, we did get to see Greg's sister's family and have a little fun.

As you can see Callie was ready to head home at the end.

I love that we were able to put all four kids to bed before 9pm AND before they were able to remember that there are fireworks on Pioneer Day. Greg and I got to relax and watch a movie while listening to other people's kids and fireworks outside.

Surviving Her First Cold

Poor Callie woke up on Thursday with a cold. She had slept through the night the previous 6 nights but woke up on the seventh with lots of mucus in her nose. If you have ever tried feeding a stuffy baby you know it is very hard since they can't suck and breathe at the same time. Well, the last two days we have been surviving, barely. For being sick she isn't too awful, just fussier.

Since we didn't go anywhere I had lots of play time with the kids when Callie slept. We played Memory and Monopoly. We painted our models we had made earlier in the week. And I read lots of books. Things weren't going too bad, we had even got a few smiles.

And then...I made the mistake of eating onions, thinking that maybe she wouldn't mind them too much anymore--boy was I wrong. She cried for over 30 minutes. While my older kids definitely don't like her crying, they all handle it in different ways. Annabelle plugs her ears. Ryan tries to play with her. And Nathan just says over and over, "It's okay, Callie." It was Greg who finally calmed her down, and he is currently walking back and forth so as not to break the calmness. I hope it was just the onions and my abstaining from them for the duration of my nursing period will keep her happier (and the rest of us sane).

Summer Party and Cake Auction

For the past few years Greg or I have brought a cake to the cub scout cake auction thanks to our callings in the cub scouting program. This year Nathan was responsible for a cake and it was fun to let him do the planning and designing (not that we didn't help...a lot). He named his cake "Lava Mountain" and was sad to see it go to another family. One thing I love about Greg is that he is really smart with his money, to the point of being really frugal and thrifty with things. Sooooo, we have never bid on a cake. This year however we did and paid $45 for this beauty:

It was really yummy! Since it was a super hot day and all of the M&Ms were melty when you took a bite they weren't hard, but just melted away into your mouth like a layer of pure chocolate frosting-YUM!

The party also had a bunch of races-three and four-legged, potato sack, and just running. Greg and the boys participated in them all and got some medals which they were all extremely proud of.

Nathan also got a 1st place ribbon for one of the stories he wrote. He was so pleased with himself and happy that someone else read and liked his story. It may have been a hot and sweaty party, but we all had fun and came home happy.

Swim Lessons

Last week the three older kids all had swim lessons Monday through Thursday. They were an hour long and I was SO impressed (especially considering our rec centers lessons last year). The kids learned a lot and had fun at the same time. It was a little hectic getting all for kids ready and out the door by 8:45am (I don't think my hair got done once that week), but we were on time each day which for me was great. I am glad we have this next week off but we will be doing another week after that and I look forward to watching them improve even more.

Chicken-Sitting

I forgot one more part of our fun and busy weekend. Our neighbors have Chickens and since they were out of town we got to feed the chickens and get their eggs. The payment was keeping the eggs. Over three days we got 14+ eggs, I don't know why I can't remember. I ended up doing most of the work, not surprising, but the kids enjoyed it a bit and it was fun doing something a little different. I had a friend tell me I would really be able to tell the difference, but I couldn't. I thought the yolks were a little more orange, but other than that, they tasted great-just like the eggs from the store.

One LONG Weekend

Greg took Thursday and Friday off of work so he could take Nathan on a big backpacking trip with a bunch of his brothers, a couple sisters-in-law, and 2 other young cousins. I was really worried about the whole thing. I worried about bears of course, but also about whether or not Nathan would be able to handle carrying a 15 pound backpack and not complaining. They were both really excited as they got ready and Ryan, Annabelle, Callie and I wished them luck. And then we had a fun couple days with 2 less people to care for.

Callie's hair is awesome! We get compliments from everyone about it. We do nothing though. It just likes to stick straight up, even now when it is longer than before. What a cutie!

We get some pretty windy nights here and as I laid in bed I heard our pool flying around, but was shocked the next morning when it was a block down the street. Thankfully Ryan was a stud and went to get it for us, as long as I stood outside and watched him.

We went on a walk to the park one day and I let these two take Callie on the little slide. Don't worry, I was right next to them the whole time. I think she enjoyed herself, I know Ry and Annie did.

The joys of a cardboard box. We cleaned out the garage and found this gem. Ryan and Annabelle decorated it and then took turns sitting, standing or hiding beneath it.

You've gotta make a sign for a homecoming, it makes the day go by quicker, and made Nathan smile really big when he got home.

When Greg and Nate got home they were exhausted, but all smiles. They had a great time and took lots of video footage (but no pictures). Greg said Nathan did awesome-no complaining-and I loved hearing about all that they did and saw. Next time I think Greg will venture to take Ryan as well-who knows, maybe I will be able to tag along as well.

On the fourth of July we went to church and then headed down to Grandma Pam's house for some yummy food and fireworks. My boys love fire and enjoyed helping to light the fireworks with Uncle Jeff and others. I stayed inside with Annabelle but we convinced her to go out at the very end. It was a fun, but long day.


On the 5th the whole family went to the Freedom Festival to support Aunt Katie in her selling Dippin' Dots. It was so hot and she was nice enough to give us each a free cup. I don't know how some people hang out at carnivals all day, I guess most aren't toting around 4 children (but some are and I don't know how they do it. After the 30 minutes we could bear at the festival (and one delicious funnel cake) we headed to the mall to relax and play and eat. We ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory and thanks to coupons paid 30 instead of 60 for a really complete and yummy meal-why did I ever think Spumoni ice cream was bad? Back when I was in high school we would always go to this restaurant before our championship meet. I remember always taking a whole loaf of bread home with me for the meet the next day-ahh memories.

So that was our busy 4th of July weekend. I hope you all had wonderful weekends as well.

2 Months!!

My little Callie is 2 months old today. She is starting to smile and look at us more-what a cutie! She will have her check-up next week where we will get the official stats and the shots. Callie is a such a great baby. I feel I can't complain about anything:
She sleeps during the day.
She will take a binkie.
She wakes up once at night.
She eats well.
Her siblings LOVE her.
She doesn't spit up very much.
Her clogged tear duct cleared up.
Her gas went away (once I stopped eating onions).
Her hair isn't falling out, it just keeps growing and growing-but what color will it be??
She is now officially out of my room (tonight will be night #2!)
We love our little finale. I can't imagine life without her. I look forward to watching her grow and can't wait to meet the little personality the Lord has sent to our family. We love you Callie Terese!!

MY Family Comes to Town

Thanks to a cousin's wedding and Callie's baby blessing my family was due for a trip out here. My mom came first on Monday and it was VERY nice to have her all to myself (well I did have to share her with four kids). She was happy to hang out, go grocery shopping, make her new granddaughter smile, and just sit back and chat. I LOVE my mom.


Nana loved doing projects with the big kids.

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Aunt Tara with her two boys and Grumpy showed up on Wednesday afternoon and we had a full house. But a fun house!



We had lots of fun with our brand new slip-n-slide. I tried to do it like I did last year but the pictures looked pretty awful so I will keep them to myself. Unfortunately the slide broke after a good half hour of slipping-darn cheap things! Perhaps I will try to mend it so we can have some more summer fun.


Book time is precious, especially with Nana. And of course everyone wants a front row seat.

Nana, Grumpy and Tara took the boys to the park and due to the heat were already on their way home by the time I was ready to go with Callie.

Ryan and Ethan had a blast together.

On Sunday Greg and a bunch of grandpas and uncles blessed Callie. She was a little angel and the blessing Greg gave her was beautiful. We had 40+ people over afterward for a BBQ. Thanks to everyone who brought something to share. It was a lot of fun!

We had lots of fun at the Dinosaur museum. I am not sure why Ryan looks scared, but I love how my three big kids are such good friends.

The boys love when Grumpy gets down and wrestles them. It makes us all happy to see him so happy.

My dad loves to play Wii sports. He has the top score for basketball right now and the boys are always ready to play a round of something. Ryan has tried to get him to play Star Wars, but to no avail ( I'd rather do sports too!).

On their last night Dad treated us all to Magelby's. They unfortunately have a smaller menu and it was a little disappointing, but it was still yummy. I love my family. It is hard to live so far away from everyone (Michigan, Washington, Sacramento, San Diego, and Afghanistan). Unfortunately both Greg and I got strep throat over the time they were here, but at the same time it was nice to have some extra hands to help. I am sad they are all gone, but enjoy the relatively quieter and cleaner house.