Surprise Visit

My brother from Idaho Falls came this weekend for a few days to visit here with his cute little family (wife, 3 1/2 year old son, almost 2 year old son, and two month old son). We found out he was coming on Thursday just on Wednesday night. We reviewed our busy schedules to find a time that would work for us to get together and Friday night was about the only time (and even then, my dad and Andy couldn't come, Joe went home teaching in the middle, and Milton was on his way to a scout campout-brrr!) I love watching the cousins play so nicely together and they had plenty of room to run and wrestle there.

The highlight for me was seeing my almost newest nephew (my little sister lives in Arizona, so I haven't met her newest little boy yet.) Derek is two months old (edited to change to only one month old.) I think he'll be good friends with Abigail.

It just wouldn't be a visit with Uncle Brant without wrestling him. My mom has always told us, "It's always fun until someone gets hurt..." "Yes, that's Elizabeth on his back. No, she didn't get hurt. I think someone got scratched, but not my kids.

This reminds me of my dad playing with these kids a few years ago (2008). I think if my brothers turn out like my dad, they're probably doing pretty good! My kids love this airplane, rocking teeter totter. At one point, all the cousins except Derek ans Abby were on or very near it.

Olivia loves to hold babies (and poses well for pictures.) She had a turn holding Derek.

We get to see a little more of them on Sunday after church. We'll have to break out some Uno and Rummikub and maybe we can talk them into a more strategic game too. I bet we'll take a few more pictures of Abby and Derek too.

Sidenote-I'm full of those: I used to have a boy Barbie named Derek. In this picture, he's the one on the far right in the red shirt, although I'm pretty sure mine didn't come in that outfit. He was my favorite. He had rubberbands attaching his arms, legs, and waist, so he was all flexible and buff. He eventually fell apart. I think I kept his head for nostalgia. I think it's in a box somewhere.

FHE Fun

Andy held Abby just before FHE and she fell asleep. Olivia put her glasses on her and I had to have a picture!

Our activity was coloring Easter Eggs and the lesson was talking again about what Easter is all about. (Sure, it's the day after, but I'm pretty sure that's a safe topic year-round anyway.)

Olivia getting all ready.

I found these plastic egg holders after Easter a few years ago and they like to use them to put their eggs in to dry. The girls each colored three, Vincent colored one, and I made one. Andy doesn't like eggs to eat anyway, so he just held Abby some more.

Elizabeth with her first one colored. She took it in her lunch the next day.

I saw this recipe that uses hard boiled eggs in chocolate chip cookies. I wonder what that's like. They do say that they chop them up very fine and it makes them more moist. Maybe I'll try it sometime. I'd rather just crack a real egg in. It's easier, but if you need to use up boiled eggs, there's an alternative to egg salad sandwiches, cutting it up on a salad, or eating it plain.

Vincent wanted his eggs to be blue. He liked doing this project. He really wanted to use the silly plastic egg cover thing too.

And that big smile makes it totally worth it. Why is it that kids are so entertained by the smallest things? I guess that's better than not liking anything you do ever. Yea for memories!

Nice things-Mostly

*The other day we were driving home from the school and my eight year old daughter watched a little boy who was walking home from school fall down and she asked if we could stop so she could take him a bandaid. We could see he was crying and limping a little and she ran as fast as she could from the next corner to take him a bandaid. I know she liked helping him.

*People are always stopping me to tell me how cute Abigail is. I love it.

*A nice lady came up to me after the performance of Savior of the World, where we took our four kids, and told me that I have a beautiful family. (Before the performance, after sitting in our third row from the back on the edge seats for an hour, I sent Andy with Vincent and Elizabeth with Olivia to the bathroom so they wouldn't need to go until the intermission because it was kind of long, but I stayed there with Abby to save the seats, of course. A lady came in with about six people (mind you this is five minutes before it starts and they told us to be there a half hour early to sit and an hour before to get the actual tickets!) and got mad at me for saving seats (they also said no saving seats-like you can't just send your husband to save 20 seats in the front and you come in right before it starts.) I had just told her after she asked that my husband and kids went to the bathroom and she told me "they said no saving seats" and went off in a huff. I thought maybe she was kidding or something, but she wasn't smiling or acting nice at all. So bratty. Oh well. The other lady afterwards told me I had a beautiful family. I'm really not easily offended. I just hate it when people are jerks on purpose.

*Free samples and coupons in the mail make me happy. And while we're on the topic of mail, a nice package from a sweet friend was a nice surprise today. =) It's always nice to get more than bills and junk.

*I love it when people tell me I look nice. Who doesn't like that? But especially as a new mom again. It's nice and it makes my day.

*Winning blog giveaways is fun too.

*One of my best friends from high school who I only see at the dental office I go to (twice a year if I'm lucky=) told me that she's having her first baby in a few months. Yea! The day after another great friend who was one of my bridesmaids announced that she's expecting her third baby. There is a baby explosion going around! I hope if you are wanting a baby, you'll get one.

*Friends who trade babysitting is great. Our kids get playdates and we get to go to appointments, help at the school, or prepare for things without worrying that our kids aren't getting any attention. We've had several playdates this week. I'm so grateful for friends to watch Vincent even though in an hour and a half he makes messes big enough to need the vacuum (moonsand and dipping dots aren't advised) and poops his pullup and then your back and hips give out. I really wasn't asking that to happen to you, I promise! (I watched her kids this week too.)

*I love that my brother from Idaho Falls is RIGHT NOW on the way to my parent's house with his wife and three tiny boys (3 1/2, almost 2, and a 2 month old). I'm even more excited that he's here for a job interview!

*Creating a new pull-up hairdo that is better than the ponytail, but just as efficient, and way more stylish was fun this week. It's been so windy that it's hardly worth fixing my hair. I'll save money on mousse pulling it back, but I'm starting to get these annoying, pesky gray hairs where I part my hair and they drive me crazy. I'm not ready to dye my hair and if I do, it just won't be the same color. It's always been a huge pet peeve of mine when people dye their hair red because it's never red. This all stems from high school where a girl there would dye her hair every other week a different color and she came in to class one day talking about her beautiful new "red" hair. It was gross and like straw and looked awful. I just don't like it. I bet my cousin who does my hair could figure out what to do with mine though. Maybe when I turn 30 next year, I'll dye it so the gray doesn't show. By then, I'm sure I'll have a lot more. On a side note, because I'm constantly on a side note, my freshman English teacher was telling a story one day about how she dyed her hair and it didn't turn out right and she went on and on about how awful it was and she said it was terrible, "like the color of NaDell's hair", but she wanted it to be a different color. It was pretty funny because she realized that she didn't mean to say that and apologized enough that I was even more embarrassed. She even mentioned this incident in my senior yearbook (I did go to a small school).

*I love having game night with friends every week even when I don't win (although I like those weeks even better).

*I like it when I think we've lost something and have no idea where it went and then we find it hiding under a chair.

*I like that the girls have been invited to birthday parties lately. They love going. Olivia has been invited to FOUR that are coming up in the next week and a half. She can go to three of them because one of the is at the same time as another that we already planned on going to. Elizabeth had one for a friend from school this week and another friend asked me in the hallway this morning if Elizabeth could come and play at her house. Friends are important.

*I've decided to start a mother-daughter book group, so I emailed some friends (if you are sad you didn't get emailed, you can join us anyway. I just emailed a few people to see if they are interested) and we are up to five duos now. It's for girls older than eight and their mom. We plan on each taking a month to pick the book and host and provide the treat. I found this idea on a blog I started reading. This lady is the daughter of Linda Eyre who wrote several strengthening and teaching children books in the '80's. They have a book group with their young women age daughters (12 sets-each one takes a month). I think we will read Little House in the Big Woods first (first Little House on the Prairie book). It's been way too long since I read that. I know it's hard to have one-on-one time with our kids and this will hopefully help us do that and create a better relationship with our daughters as they head into those hard teenage years and you all should know by now that I love a night away from home relaxing with my friends.

*I'm bummed about my grandpa who has been in the hospital this week though. They must be doing too many tests because they keep finding things that are wrong with him. I hate that!

*Things are mostly going well and time keeps slipping, slipping, slipping intooooo the future!

Three Months

Abigail is now three months old.

She doesn't have to go to the doctor unless needed until she's four month old, so all I can say is that she's growing.

We are just in love with her and think she's adorable. She's fun and happy most of the time.

She's almost constantly eating when she's awake, but she sleeps all night. At least five hours and sometimes nine without interruption. That makes it sometimes so she doesn't sleep hardly at all during the day, but I think given the choice, that's how I would pick it.

She is finally growing out of newborn clothes and into some three month cute outfits.

I had to capture Abigail's little baby noises. Don't mind my baby-talking. I can't resist this time like I did with the other kids.

Easter Part 2

Sometimes I think I should post things before I should. Today was one of those days. Sorry for the double posting of Easter activities. I had a little time and don't like to make drafts.

We had a delicious meal at Andy's parent's house for Easter. We love seeing family and visiting with them and I like not having to cook. =) It's true. BUT, in the next few months we plan on hosting a few dinners because George and Shirley are remodeling their kitchen. We will make good use of our new big table and chairs.

Shirley arranged a little scavenger hunt for the kids to do while dinner was getting ready-really just to keep them out of the way. She made little eggs as placecards too. Aren't they adorable? Abby doesn't have one because she didn't need a seat at the table or the candy that is inside.

After the little scavenger hunt outside the kids kept themselves entertained downstairs. The girls took a little "nap" on the coffee table down there. Looks comfy right? No, I don't think so either. I don't know why they didn't just use the couches sitting there.

The kids did an impromptu talent show. They like to perform and get attention.

Olivia likes to dance. Maybe you already know that about her....

Aunt Torrie wanted to hold Abby anytime she wasn't sad and hungry, so about half the time. I think Abigail is teething already.
Andy and Vincent watching the little talent show.
Elizabeth played a few chords on her tiny guitar she got from Santa at Christmas. Uncle Brad accompanied her on the piano.
Grandma Ellen and new Grandpa Paul stayed for the show. They are so cute and happy together. Grandma Ellen was laughing here.

She's Shirley's mom. Paul is the Patriarch of a family in my hometown and they got married 2 1/2 years ago after his wife passed away.

We love to visit with family and hope to have a chance to see more of my side in the coming months too.

Easter Part 1

Saturday we were able to attend both a ward baptism and our stake production of Savior of the World. Both were excellent. Since they were back-to-back, we were at the church for 5+ hours (and Andy was there 2 extra hours because he filled the font.) Abby was a little fussy for the baptism, but did really well during the performance. I just fed her under a blanket when needed and she did great. Vincent was all over the place in our row, but he did alright too. Several of our friends were in this show, so we had a good time spotting them. This show originated in Salt Lake in 2000. It was a great way to get into the Easter spirit. The girls spent the rest of the afternoon drawing things to leave for the Easter Bunny while I took a little rest and then made sugar cookies.

Here is what the girls left for the Easter Bunny. Elizabeth drew a portrait of Abby, colored a bunny that she got from school, made a carrot patch, made a carrot bouquet, and left a story she wrote at school about the Easter bunny and a sign to make sure the bunny knew it was for him.

Olivia got the water ready and made a card with her and the Easter bunny pictured. I love her tiny handwriting.

Here is what the Easter bunny left for the kids. Half-eaten carrots, spilled water, and some fun treats. I like that the Easter bunny uses tissue instead of the obnoxious plastic grass stuff or confetti.

After bathtime, the kids frosted some cookies and took a plate to one of our neighbors before bed. This morning the Easter bunny did visit us.

Elizabeth with her crazy morning hair. They all waited in their beds until Abby woke me up this morning to go and see if the Easter bunny left them anything. They know what Easter is all about, but we like the fun side too.

Olivia fixes her hair as soon as she gets up in the morning. Gotta love her accessories and her shiny nightgown. She likes to see everything before picking which things to eat first. She's a saver, not a gulper.
Vincent loved all of his candy. He likes the Peeps.

Abigail with her bucket of treats. She gets to share with Andy and I. I love those Reese's eggs. My mom used to buy them for me all the time after the holidays for cheap.

We went to a very good church service and were surprised by eggs hidden in our yard with the three older kid's names on them. I actually wasn't surprised, but they were. She came over about a month ago to check and make sure it was okay with me if she hid eggs for them for after church and that she'd already bought the stuff for it. I was a little worried because she came to the door and asked to speak with me privately when Olivia came to the door too. I thought she was going to yell at me to weed my flowerbeds or something. Each kid had three eggs to find. This is the neighbor who I had the kids take a plate of cookies to last night, knowing that she was doing this the next day. She came out when they found almost all the eggs and told them that she hid them for them. It was just enough fun.

Andy held Abby for a few minutes. We finished finding the eggs just before it started to drizzle a little.

Elizabeth found two eggs pretty easily, but the third one was hidden in the branches of one of our tall trees and she couldn't reach it. I could. I guess I'm still a little taller than her.Vincent with his eggs. I think Olivia found them before him, but since their names are on them, it wasn't a big deal. They each still got three.

Olivia showing off an egg.

Our neighbor took this picture of our family for us. That's about the best we can get.

Tonight we will go and visit Andy's parents and spend some time with two of his four sisters too. Happy Easter! We are so grateful for our knowledge of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and knowing that we will all one day be resurrected and that if we live as we should that we can live with Heavenly Father again.

Life's not fair

It's something we tell our kids when one gets a smaller piece of cake than the other, less milk in their cup, or doesn't have as long to play on the computer; however, at least they get to choose to enjoy (or complain about) what they do have.

I'm thinking again about how life really isn't fair. Last June my cousin, who is closest to me in age, lost a baby boy 17 weeks through pregnancy and last week she lost a baby girl at 16 weeks. I just feel so sad for her and totally unworthy of the kids I can (apparently) have so easily. Now, I'm not saying that I wish my journey to motherhood was harder, but it just doesn't seem fair. And it really isn't that I'm sitting here holding my fourth baby and she has two babies who she will think about forever and never hold again. It's not fair that I have never had a miscarriage (I'm really not wishing it on myself) and she has had several. It's not fair that so many couples I know have such a hard time becoming parents. I know SO many and I think they would do a much better job than I am because they struggled so much to become parents. It's not just this one instance, but many that have made me ponder this sad predicament.

I feel completely undeserving of this life I have, knowing how many people wish they had children who they would have to reprimand, potty train, and feed, while I complain about it sometimes. I try not to complain, knowing this, but it's hard to remember and put it into perspective sometimes. I really do love my children and this family of mine that I have been allowed and blessed to have. I just wish it was easier for those I love to have children as well. I also wish that those people making dumb decisions about their kids and who shouldn't even have them would be the ones unable to have them. It's really just not fair. Life is not fair, but it's a journey to become better everyday. Today I'm feeling very sympathetic and soft-hearted. I can't say I empathize. I can say that I care. I really do. I wish everyone who wants to could take care of a newborn baby and stay up all night with them and try to decide where to start with one of those diapers that just doesn't hold it all in. I wish they could teach their kids to read and smile from ear to ear hearing that child read to their sibling(s). I wish they could see in the near future grandchildren and great grandchildren and all that having children entails. Life is a precious, precious thing and I need to remember that when I'm getting upset with my kids about spilt milk, literally.

So, the next time I think that life's not fair, I'm going to remember just how unfair it really is, and not just about the petty how many sprinkles you get on your cupcake kind of unfair. I'm thankful for prayer and the sealing power of the priesthood and knowing that all of this will be sorted out in heaven.

The spring event

I went over to our Ransom Made design sale Saturday. Abigail got some good Auntie Torrie time.Big smiles!
Some of my aprons I made for our Event.

They are reversible and come in child and adult sizes. I can make them with fabrics you choose, if you want.

It's fun to hang out all day with Andy's mom, aunt, great family friend, and my fun sister in laws. I bought some cute stuff too. =) There was a lot of laughing, chatting, and creating inside jokes. Andy is great to take care of the older three kids and support me in this fun crafty adventure, even though I didn't have very many things to contribute to it. Andy even watched our two little nieces for a few hours and fed all the kids too. They all had fun!

I did pretty good anyway and bought less than I earned. Gotta love that!

Singing and Carnival

Olivia's kindergarten music program was Thursday night. She did a great job. She has so much spunk and personality. They kept the program short at only 30 minutes total, including the five minutes for pictures at the beginning. It was nice. Olivia's buddy Sebastian is on the left (her right) and a kid from the PM class is on the other side. Two of her primary classmates are in this shot too.

Olivia's favorite song is Tooty Ta. She asked me to video it. It's fun and cute. Just watch. The end gets going even better.

Vincent is silly. We took some pictures before the kids came in.Andy was making Abby smile enough that she spit her pacifier out.

He loves to play with her. See that nice lady behind Andy? She's pretty great too. She watched the three older kids Friday afternoon while I set up the bake sale. I know, right, super nice.

Abigail slept awesome Thursday night. She went to bed before 11pm and didn't wake up until nearly 8am. It was SUPER nice to have a good night's sleep.

As expected, we were pretty busy with the bake sale for carnival the end of the week. I started pricing the items on Thursday after school. I planned on starting Thursday morning, but there were only two grocery bags of treats, so we sent out a desperate sounding email and started baking instead. I even begged a little on facebook. My little sister's best friend growing up made some cupcakes for me. Nice. I made a ton of cookies, some brownies that we sold by the pan, and some rice crispy treats without butter. My Thursday afternoon, we had quite a few things to price. We spent an hour or so doing that. Actually, I bagged some treats and Olivia priced them for me OR I fed Abigail and Olivia priced already bagged treats. Vincent even helped some too. Elizabeth did a little after school one day, but mostly we did it while we waited for school to get out. This picture was taken Thursday after school in her regular dress. She had to have a fancier one for the performance.

Here is our four tables of treats. There are even some under the table in some places. The far end tables have all the cupcakes. I arrange them by price so they can easily know where to go depending on how many tickets they have or how much money they want to spend. The umbrellas at the end are the Italian shaved ice, not us. We were B-U-S-Y. Nearly everything sold. We just had a dozen or so cupcakes left and a bunch of the cookies I made. I guess kids didn't trust them. They were Rocky Mountain Cookies with oatmeal, rice crispy cereal (sounds weird, but tastes delicious!), m&m's, and chocolate chips. SO good. The leftovers went to the volunteers who helped clean up after it was over.
Andy drove up to Ellensburg today and got to the school just in time to help these three cute kids go around and play the carnival games. They got some fun little face tattoos too. I hope they wash off well tomorrow night...

Vincent's tattoo freaked me out when I went in after I got back from helping (a little) with clean up. I had to get laundry started. The baskets were SO full. I figure if I'm up with Abby anyway, I might as well get that done.

Mostly by then, I was just feeding Abigail. The mom of a girl who was in Elizabeth's kindergarten and first grade classes held Abigail for a few hours during carnival. She really wanted to hold a baby since her sister just had one a few days ago and she can't go visit her for a while. She loves babies. I even saw her husband making faces at Abby to make her smile. It was great.

Olivia was hanging on to the ladder from the bunkbeds. They must have been pretty tired because they were all asleep when I got home at 9pm.
Next up: Ransom Made design Spring Spectacular and then maybe, just maybe, I'll get to rest a little more. =)

Half a Busy Week Done

This week has been so crazy. I just stay up to date here so I can remember all that we did and I have a little time while I take care of Abigail anyway. I might as well write our family history down as it happens.

This is where I can put the stories behind the pictures.

Monday was an almost restful day, but mostly just because I was holding Abigail nearly the entire day. She slept until 10:30am or so after her morning feeding and then was UP until 3am Tuesday with just five minute "naps" here and there. I did manage to sew a little on aprons for our Ransom.Made design Spring Spectacular Friday night and Saturday this weekend. It's also the carnival at the school put on by PTA and I'm in charge of the bake sale and Olivia's kindergarten music program Thursday night. Busy, busy week.

Event after Andy got home and held her for me. I made pockets and the ties. I ironed those on Tuesday morning and put them all together Tuesday night and did the top stitching around all nine aprons Wednesday morning. Anyway, I spent the whole day holding Abigail or listening to her fuss Monday. Laundry finishing, dishes, dinner, and getting meals set for the sister missionaries was also on the schedule.

Vincent tidbit from Monday: While we were waiting in the parking lot for Elizabeth to get done at school, I let Vincent and Olivia get out and run in a big triangle of grass in front of my car and watched them and Abby from the sidewalk. Vincent was rolling in the grass saying "BEST DAY EVER!!!" We love the movie Tangled

. I think I made his day letting him run in the 60 degree nice, sunny weather in green grass. And he was singing one line, "Don't you want me baby? Don't you want me baby? Don't you want me baby? Don't you want me baby?" I kept finishing the second part of the song, but he didn't seem to understand.

Tuesday was more sewing and planning the week, as well as Olivia's ballet class, th

e Clot Trot (Andy took the three big kids since his boss is the one who puts it on), and a PTA meeting.

During the ballet class, I took Elizabeth, Vincent, and Abigail to a fun park close to the ballet studio to play. They just built this new section of the park and they hadn't played there yet. Olivia went with a friend last week.

Abigail sleeps with one eye open to make sure I don't really rest at all. (Not really, but it sure seems that way sometimes.)

Vincent liked the playground and had a great time on the twisty slide.Elizabeth liked the tunnels and running.Here are the kids by the Columbia River during the Clot Trot. It was the perfect weather for it.I went to the PTA meeting and took the minutes since I'm the secretary this year. I'm taking a break next year from being an officer. I'll still be involved though. Abby is starting to grow out of a few newborn things.
I'm glad she's a smiley, pretty baby. It makes the four hours of sleep nights a little easier. Yes, I said four hours. Tuesday night she slept from 4am-8am. She slept in the morning while I was at the school fixing a sign and when I came home to finish sewing too. Then I laid down for ten minutes after making Vincent nap and she woke up. It was a nice ten minutes while it lasted. After school Wednesday we went and dropped off our things for the big sale Friday and Saturday in Kennewick at Andy's parent's house, made dinner, the kids had bathes, ate dinner, read stories, and then we played games at our weekly game night. Then my night began when I get real one-on-one time with Abigail. It's nearly her real sleep time, so I've got to go get some rest myself. I'll leave you with another cute picture of her. See? She's wide awake. (She has since fallen asleep. Time for bed for me too.)More to come with all the events of this week. We'll see when I'm up to blogging about all of that. I might just do it in one last burst to be done. =)