Random-ness

Things I'm excited about...

Having a baby, duh! These Braxton hicks contractions fake me out EVERY TIME! I try to tell myself that it's not the real thing, but deep down I get really excited that it just might be it. No such luck yet. Shucks. I was thinking the other day that one of the reasons I'm excited about this baby is that in a way it will be an escape from reality for a little while. Matt will be home from work catering to my every whim, my parents will be here for a week taking care of the kids (or napping on the couch), I won't have to think about Primary stuff, I won't care about cooking or cleaning or bathing my muddy kids. Basically, I'll just be sipping pina coladas by the pool. And occasionally nursing a baby. I can't wait. :)

Getting our backyard finished! Our neighbor, the landscaper, was kind enough to take Matt to a local nursery and get some trees and shrubs at a discount. I wasn't sure how many shrubs or trees to get and we should have gotten about double or triple of what we got...I'm kicking myself because it was a great discount. Anyway, I'm hoping that we can spend this weekend getting it finished! Yahoo! We will post pictures.

Summer!! I love this time of year! I am constantly giddy (energy bubbles), just thinking in "summer mode" - which means vacations, swimming, late nights, BBQs, etc. If only we were going to Hawaii or something, now that would be nice. I guess we'll settle for a 21 hour road trip to Utah.

Losing the baby weight! Or rather, the major extra unnecessary pounds that I've put on over the last nine months. I really am excited to start running. I get very lazy when I'm pregnant and my eating habits are the worst!! What is wrong with me?? I'm inspired by Matt and my dad and brothers who are really kicking things into gear by being healthy. Way to go, team.

Reading some good books! I am just about finished with Nelson Mandela's autobiography, "Long Walk to Freedom." My mom sent this book to Matt and I snatched it before he could start reading it. It is excellent. The man is amazing in how he literally devoted his life, including 27 years in prison, for the benefit of others and gaining freedom for blacks in South Africa. He's inspiring, too, in that he harbors no bitterness or resentment toward the former South African governing leaders even though he would be justified in doing so. Great man, great book. If anyone has suggestions for good reads, let me know.

Learning how to sew! I made a nursing cover the other day...very easy and very fun. I have a lot to learn about sewing, but I really enjoy it. I may not be the best at it because I hate paying attention to detail and usually just do things "well enough" instead of "precisely." I think sewing generally has to be quite precise in order for the end result to look good.....so we'll so how this goes. But I like it.

That's it! Peace out!

Abby's Birthday!

Abby is Five!

I can't believe we have a five-year-old!!! Abby enjoyed her birthday celebrations, although I think the anticipation for her birthday was more enjoyable than the actual big day! Oh well, that's how it usually is, right? She got a birthday crown from preschool and we brought cupcakes into her class. That night we had lasagna, garlic bread, and salad for dinner (a favorite of Abby's) and then had presents and cake.

The boys got presents too, courtesy of Grandma Joan! Thank you - they loved all the little surprises inside their sacks. Jake especially loved the chocolate and the mini camera and Nate loved the balloons the best.

Abby kept talking about how she wanted the "Littlest Pet Shop" toys, so that was mainly what we got her. She is all excited in this picture, but she's hardly touched it since. Of course I think I knew that would happen, but c'est la vie! Nate and Jake love it though. Abby is mostly into drawing, coloring, and making crafts. She'll sit for hours making cards for people, drawing pictures, or writing stories.

More cupcakes......

The Haps

Family Night

Family Night this week was great. We finally made a family home evening chart, with a rotating wheel, so that the kids don't fight over who gets to say the prayer or pick the song. We also figured it's good to help the kids do the lessons too. This week Nate did a lesson on John the Baptist. Before we started, he showed me a drawing he made of John the Baptist. We then looked at the picture of John baptizing Jesus and Nate told us a little bit about baptism, such as how we baptized when we are eight years old and that after baptism we get the gift of the Holy Ghost. He did a great job!

Jake was on for the activity, and it just so happened that Abby had planned a lesson as well, so we used her lesson for our activity (Jake didn't mind). For her activity, Abby had replicated a sharing time that we had in Primary a few weeks ago. I was pleasantly surprised that she had paid such close attention!! She started out by placing a blank piece of paper on one end of the carpet and asked Matt to jump to another blank piece of paper far across the room. He said that he could do it, but Abby was insistent that he needed help and that he in fact could not do it on his own. :) The paper that he stood on symbolized us here on earth and the paper across the room represented our Heavenly Father's presence. She then placed a paper in front of him as a stepping stone, with the word "Faith" written on it. She proceeded to place a few more stepping stones down so that Matt could make it to heaven. She had come up with the first three steps on her own (faith, repentance, baptism), and had asked me for help writing some others. Again, I'm glad that my kids are soaking these things in because sometimes I seem too focused on things far less important than teaching my children things of eternal nature.

Bucky

Thanks for the birthday stickers, grandma and grandpa! Straight out of the envelope they were used to decorate the kid's bodies.

Jake's feet...

37 Weeks and counting...

Okay, so there's other stuff going on too, besides the fact that I think NONSTOP about delivering a baby any day (hopefully sooner than later!).

Abby is loving soccer this season. We've had tons of rain this spring and have had 4 games cancelled (out of 9) due to severe weather (I love the sound of that)...so it's been kind of sporadic. But, she really enjoys playing. It's fun to watch her out on the field. This photo is courtesy of one of our friends.

Abby turns 5 tomorrow and we have some fun things planned for her birthday this week. She is bursting with excitement about her birthday and has been telling everyone we see that it is May 19!

Nate's newfound hobby is sticking things up his nose. Two weeks ago, I was talking to a friend on her front porch when I heard Nate crying in the car. When I made it back to the car, he told me, "I stuck my gum up my nose." What? Trying not to panic, I looked up there, but couldn't see anything. When we got home, I pulled out the tweezers and tried to pull the gum out. Eventually, I got it out by sticking a toothpick into the blob of gum and pulling it out. Nate was a trooper and surprisingly calm throughout the whole thing.

Well, you'd think that would be the end of that, but last Wednesday, as we were heading out the door to meet Abby's soccer team for ice cream, Nate informed me, "I stuck a button up my nose." Again? I looked up there, couldn't see anything, but nevertheless stuck the tweezers up there anyway. I probably pushed the button (which later turned out to be a sticky jewel) up farther. We ended up going for ice cream and than walking across the parking lot to our local instacare clinic. We didn't have to wait long to see the doctor. He used a tube of suction to pull the jewel down and then some large tweezers to pull it out the rest of the way. The doctor had originially told me that because it as so high up and because of Nate's age, we might have to see an ENT and have Nate sedated. However, it was an easy recovery, because as the doctor said, Nate acted very well and just let the doctor do his thing. Nate later told me, "His tweezers are bigger than ours." They really were huge. :)

Abby had a program at her preschool last week. The class sang some songs and recited some poems for us. Abby was really excited for it all week. All the kids were really fun to watch - I love how uninhibited they are. Abby sang really loudly and did all the actions. She had a shy smile on her face at first and then when she got into it, she was just grinning from ear to ear. Afterwards we had cookies and punch...including the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten. Oh how I crave those constantly.

Abby and one of her teachers, Ms. Chris.


This is the BEST PURCHASE EVER! I had been eyeing this playhouse at Costco for a long time and simultaneously trying to convince Matt that we needed it. We finally buckled down on Saturday, went to Costco, let Matt load the box into the van (which was no small feat), and came home to put it together. Since then, the kids have been playing in it constantly. The first thing they did yesterday and today when they woke up was ask if they could play in the playhouse. I'm sure the novelty will wear off eventually, but I LOVE how it gives them something to do outside (besides play in the mud).

And finally...just a few more weeks! I really spent a long time trying to figure out how to make a pregnant picture of me look more flattering, but to no avail. Oh well, maybe once I pop the baby out, I will start eating healthy again (ha ha!). I am really excited to have this baby and just anxious to go through it all. Wish me luck!

No pictures of Jake, but he is nevertheless still such a sweetheart. He is talking a bunch. He loves to call Abby's name all day to show her things or tell her things. In the morning, he will just call "Abby" from his crib when he wakes up. He's also starting to put phrases together like "Mama's shoes" and "Nate's water," or "Abby's baby," etc. When he accomplishes something, he will say, "Did it!" and grin. He's also more opinionated about things and more disheartened when things don't go his way...I guess it comes with the age. Anyway, life is good!

Buying guns?

Matt is convinced that we need a gun (is firearm the proper term?) in our house to protect ourselves when the world comes to an end and people are fighting to get at our food storage. Our conversations must have filtered down to Abby because she asked me yesterday, out of the blue, "Why can't we get a gun, mommy?" A little surprised, I explained to her that we don't know how to use guns safely or properly and that with little kids in the house, we might have an accident with the gun where someone would get hurt. This didn't seem to convince her, "Well, we can LEARN to use the guns. I would be safe." Nice. I'm still paranoid about getting one, mostly because I am careless and will probably leave a loaded gun just sitting on a counter somewhere.

On a related note, both Nate and Jake love to use the nerf gun that shoots balls out. In fact, Jake even says the word gun: "Gu?" AND all the kids talk about shooting people and killing bad guys (it's all from Star Wars). Should I be worried about my kids????? :)

Painting....

This is what I learned yesterday. Making fingerprint cards with the kids leads to putting their whole hands in the paint.......

...which leads to messy children (but happy)....

...and a messy table, chair, and floor...

...and handprints on the wall...of course!

First Fruits

Our vegetable garden is growing! Hallelujah! We picked the two long peppers, which were ripe, and Nate got a little overzealous and pulled off the bell pepper before it was fully grown. I was hoping that the long peppers would be like mild chiles, but they had a little more spice than I thought. I pulled out the seeds with my bare hands and paid for it with some fiery burning for the next few hours! The kids all tried the pepper before promptly spitting it out. We have tons of peppers growing out there and our onions and herbs are ready to pick as well. Our tomato plants are getting huge but have yet to produce any fruit. It's so exciting! The kids love it as well.

A Clean House

Now here's something that we don't see very often around here...a clean house! How about that? Abby really wanted to take pictures after the work was done - probably to preserve the memory before it was lost forever.