Bed Bath and Beyond!

I found this robe in a box of Vincent's baby clothes when I was going through them a few days ago to find some warm outfits and jammies to lend to a friend who has a foster baby boy for a little while (who knows for sure how long on those kinds of things and they already had six of their own kids and adopted three daughters from China, so I think I can lend a few baby boy things.) I don't think Andy let me use it much on Vincent anyway because it's a little girly. I forgot we had it. I love it when babies are fresh and clean. Abby bumped her chin while she was crawling on Thursday morning.....Well, there's more to that story. I walked Vincent to preschool at his friend's house down the road and after we came home I took Abby inside while Vincent held the door open, put her down, and went back outside to put the stroller in the van and he kept holding the door open for me until I came back in even though I kept telling him to not let Abby out. I wasn't quite fast enough to catch her, but she didn't bump very hard. It's just a little rug burn.
Friday afternoon Vincent went to sleep under Olivia's bed. I think this is funny because, well, he's under a bed instead of on his own, but also because every night after we cover him and he moves and isn't covered anymore, he cries that we need to come and fix it. Now I know for sure he can cover himself if he can make a whole set up under a bed! Also, if you look at that picture just above his shoulder is a grayish spot. Olivia's toddler bed used to be there and she always wore flipflops or sandals and her dirty little footprint is on the wall. I just can't clean it off. It shows every line and nook and cranny of her foot and includes every toe. She was only 2 or so when it appeared.
I'm excited to listen to/watch General Conference Saturday and Sunday, especially after the Relief Society Broadcast last week. It's amazing how millions of people can hear the same talk and think it's just for them. I love it. I plan on doing some crafty things to get ready for our Ransom Made Design Autumn Event next Friday and Saturday while I listen this weekend.

****What do you do on Conference Weekend? Do you have any traditions?****
-One family in our ward eats their 72 hour kit food every Conference and replaces it with fresh things.
-Another posted a picture of her Conference Crispies (Rice Krispy Treats).
-When I was a kid, my mom would make a big picnic to eat in the lawn in between sessions at the Stake Center where we always watched.
-The last two General Conferences I made homemade bagels.

Cooking, Growing, and Crafting

Tuesday I was able to have lunch with a friend from high school (she and I used to date best friends and her boyfriend and I set up his sister and my brother-now married nearly 12 years) and meet her sweet new baby girl. Abby and Vincent were fairly well behaved too. It was so nice to visit with her. We came home for naptime and then picked up the girls (and a friend), took Elizabeth and a friend to their activity day, then took Elizabeth to the first of two free martial arts classes that I won last spring at an event in our area. (I won a week and they just meet twice a week.) We gets to go again on Thursday afternoon and is really excited about it. We have some friends who teach at their own place, so I think we might sign her up to do lessons through them instead. Elizabeth is the one with red hair, a red shirt, and black pants. Can you find her in the sea of white Gi's?Monday I started laundry and then called a few people to make sure I could bring them dinner that night (really just to let them know that they didn't need to worry about it, went to Albertson's, the library, Safeway, and BigLots and then I spent most of the afternoon while Abby and Vincent napped making four dinners. One for us, two for friends with new babies, and one for a friend who hurt her back. I made pizza spaghetti, French bread, fruity jello, and zucchini brownies and also took them each a can of green beans, a green salad (free at Safeway with the coupons I had), Ranch dressing (also free from a month ago with coupons), and cut up tomatoes and cucumbers from Brad and Torrie's garden. It was fun to make all of it and get it all cleaned up before we ate our dinner. Then we had FHE on the regular night, read to the kids, and watched a show we like.

AND we had a breakthrough this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Vincent is now pooping in the potty instead of his pullups (with one exception since Friday). This is huge! Yesterday he even ran to the bathroom, got on the big toilet, and did his business. Finally!

I've been trying to finish up some crafting projects for our next Ransom-Made design Event. It is on October 7th (5-9pm) and October 8th (9am-3pm) in Kennewick at Shirley's house (if you need directions, let me know). One of the many things we are doing differently this time is having door prizes. Each of us are putting in some of our items for three different baskets to give away to those who attend. Here is something new I made. A fun little pumpkin pillow. It fits perfectly October 1st-November 30th. I love it.
I also figured out how to make words curve around like the picture below in Powerpoint. I was so excited I had to whip one of these up again. I made one a while ago, but it was destroyed by one of my kids when they were mad about something and I needed to fix it up anyway. I'm going to make more in other fun papers to sell (inexpensively) at the Event in a week and a half.Wednesday was another errand morning with taking some baby clothes to some friends in our ward to borrow (just in case) because it's getting colder now and we have warm clothes sitting around in our house in boxes, delivering the PTA memberships to the teacher's boxes at the school (and Vincent and Abby played at someone's house so I could do that), as well as delivering a few more invites to friends to the Event. I'm excited about some of the things that the other ladies are making! One even has a fabulous idea for a Forget-Me-Not vinyl sign. I had a sneak peek and I must tell you it is great! Off to sew up some more aprons and make some lunches.

Happiness is...

(I'll stop being so cheesy in a minute!)Happiness is being alone every now and then.
And happiness is coming home again.
Happiness is morning and evening,
Day time and night time too.
For happiness is anyone and anything at all
That's loved by you.
Happiness is having a sister.
Sharing a sandwich.
Getting along.
Happiness is singing together when day is through,
And happiness is those who sing with you.
For happiness is anyone and anything at all
That's loved by you.
Select Lyrics from "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown".

My mom signed my two older brothers and I up (forced us) to sing that song in a primary talent show when I was two or three. I don't really remember, but I thought there was a picture somewhere I could show and couldn't find it in my scrapbook.
My mom reports: "You and your brothers were sooo cute I had to put you in the talent show... you were a Sunbeam probably just turned 4. It was just before Janessa was born."
And she emailed me the pictures from it too. We sang "Happiness is..." and "I Have a Family Tree". I vaguely remember...At any rate, I'm feeling much better after those few days of unbalanced moods and here are some things making me happy.
When I get up in the morning and Elizabeth has prepared breakfast (a pretty good one!) for all of the kids and they are eating so cozy and nice. (They are also watching cartoons.) These pictures are from Thursday.Who wouldn't want Cocoa Puffs for breakfast? I love them!
And now, back to their regularly scheduled program! (Olivia's bowl is paper because the real bowls were all in the dishwasher, except Elizabeth's and the one Vincent is using is too little for the girls.)
After taking the girls to school, Vincent had preschool at a friend's house and I got to help this time, then lunch, naps for the two littles, my visiting teachers came to see me, a short nap for me, picking up the girls from school, picking up a free 16x20 picture poster from Walmart ($1.07 tax), and ran into one of my best friends from high school (she and I dated best friends and set up her boyfriend's sister with my brother and they have been married since just over two months after that!) It was so great to see her and chat about her new baby. We dropped off my final finished baby cross-stitch (I will get caught up at some point, but for now, I'm still in May) and visited with a friend and her boys for a few minutes, and then went over to the place we have car insurance to sign up for some better, cheaper, and nicer health insurance. It helps a lot that it is also $250/month cheaper and our deductible for the year is less too. Insurance costs are out of control! I totally recommend this company (Harvey Monteith Insurance). I emailed my representative (Bobbi Jo) on Wednesday just before 5pm (and called her to let her know I was doing that to make sure I told her all the right info) and the next day before noon, she emailed back options and ideas and made a great policy for us. Great service! She also didn't mind that I brought four kids to her office. They colored and played with her 7 year old daughter and Vincent had a forced time-out (given by Elizabeth) and noticed the headshot pictures on Bobbi Jo's wall of Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn. He wanted to know who they were and I told him and then he said that Marilyn was naked. She wasn't. She was, however, wearing a spaghetti strap low-cut top. He also said that boys in their swim trunks were naked, so you really can't trust him. He just knows when people aren't fully clothed.)
When we got home, I made some chicken stir fry for dinner and cooked up some rice noodles (and some bean ones too) that I bought a while ago and needed to use. The kids LOVED them! The clear bean ones that looked like plastic-loved them! I'm so happy they will try new things! Even Abby had some chicken and carrots. Following dinner and cleanup, we had a delayed FHE. It was a great day!

Friday morning I got up extra early (for me) to help with pictures at the school. Torrie babysat Vincent and Abby for me for a few hours while I did that (and by helping got the girls' pictures free!) She is so great to come over and help me out. I came home for an hour, feed Abby, changed a poopy pull up (SO FRUSTRATING, but not as much as the other day when it was overwhelming), and it was time to go and get the girls from school (early release). We came home so Elizabeth could change out of her long jeans because it was 90 degrees and I took a few pictures while I waited in the car. I even sent her up to the door with one of my sets of keys (I keep an extra set in my purse so I don't lock myself out!) She can open the door for me now. I love her independence.
Vincent can now buckle all of the sections of his seatbelt. He has been doing the top one for a while, but can now buckle the little ones into the bottom. I still check to make sure he's got them tight and he's all set. Another independence blessing!
Olivia went inside while Elizabeth changed to put the ice away from her lunch bag. She was so sad after school because she had to go to the nurse's office after she fell down hard at recess. A few of the girls Elizabeth's age helped her. NICE! Look how big those bandages are! Both knees. Poor girl!
When Olivia got back in the car, she wanted to take pictures of Abby. See how she did? These are nearly in chronological order. This is how they were cropped. =)
And finally, Elizabeth was back and we were ready to go again. The door was locked and she had my keys. All was well.
Then we went to the bank to get some cash and over to a fellow PTA lady's house to help a group count money for the fifth graders' fundraiser to go to Camp Wooten this spring. We only had time to count two classes worth, but they did an amazing job! The kids were able to play in their big backyard with some friends. Abby was upset, but that kind of made sense because her naps keep getting interrupted. She ended up being rocked to sleep by one of my friends and laying down in a crib there. We came home for an hour, Elizabeth made chicken nuggets for Olivia and Vincent and ramen for herself while I fed Abby and made a grocery list, Andy got home, and the girls and I were off to our school movie night. Andy and Vincent went to the store to get the groceries (and the newly released Star Wars blurays.) We girls watched "Mars Needs Moms" and Abby ate some bits of popcorn off the floor. I love Joan Cusack. She cracks me up.

Another busy day. But a much better attitude about it. What a difference MY mood makes! I'm excited to watch our General Relief Society Broadcast Saturday night with the sisters from my stake at church. It will be great guidance and encouragement.

Happiness is....
Kids who behave.
Children who help.
And they get along....(sometimes!)

I've seen better days...

Yeah, I think that tells the whole story enough. Some days are harder than others. Some are especially bad when you still have to function. Some days just keep getting worse and worse. The last few days have been kind of lousy, mostly in the evenings. Poor Andy. I'm sure he thinks that I just become crazy as soon as he walks in the door. I just have to go lay in my bed and calm myself down. I hate having mood swings and I think it must have something to do with nursing a baby and my hormones are still all over the place. I guess it could be the weather or just things frustrating me too.

Tuesday morning I went visiting teaching with my friend to visit another friend and we both had our boys with us. The lady we visit teach has a grocery sack full of cups that she lets kids play with. She's so smart. These cups kept the boys and Abby entertained. They didn't even get mad at Abby for knocking their tower over. They just started again. If you are ever in need of a cheap toy, cups are the way to go!
That wasn't the bad part of the day, but it was the end of the good part of my day Tuesday. When we got back home, I told Vincent to go in and go potty and he went to play in the family room instead and by the time I went back there (after putting Abby's carseat and my bag down), and took him to the bathroom, he had pooped his pullup. I am SOOOOOO sick of this! He didn't mention it (and I didn't smell it yet) until he was in the middle of taking it off, which if you've ever had kids before, you know that's the WORST! Anyway, after what seemed like the whole package of baby wipes and a spanking, he was sent to his bed for a nap in a diaper and pajamas. Meanwhile, Abby was crying because she wanted attention. Eventually they were both asleep at the same time and I slept for a bit too. I wanted to be better and not so grumpy, but it just didn't take. The girls came home and we all went outside to play, but it ended up being cleaning up the back patio outside because there were leaves and branches all over, so the girls were sweeping and I was helping them (actually I took over for Olivia and she pushed Abby in the swing while Vincent was dropping rocks on the table and had to be sent back to his bed! So frustrated with that kid!) While I was stepping over the sprinkler controller hole in the backyard that doesn't have a cover, it was covered part of the way with leaves and I ended up in the hole and broke a stupid pipe. Water filled the hole and mud caked my sandal. I was annoyed. Anyway, I called Andy a few minutes later and he told me how to turn the sprinkler water off (without turning off the house water) and I managed to do that. A while later, Andy came home from work and I was laying down (having given control of the other kids to Elizabeth) and then got back up to heat up the dinner that I made the night before and was upset the night before because the chicken wasn't cooked all the way when we sat down to eat (that's NO good!) Andy had to take over again and then he had a meeting, so I had to function sort of again. I tried to cheer up and read a little to the kids (after I made Elizabeth pray that I could stop being so grumpy). I talked to my mom and vented some frustration and then talked to a sister in law who let me vent some more frustration (life, things unfinished, not enough time, money, energy, kids bugging me, just mad about a bunch of things-mostly that irrational womanly stuff). Then I was able to read to the kids some more and talk to Andy when he got home and all was well. Abby slept and I did some crafting and felt much better.

Wednesday was looking to be better. I went visiting teaching again (even though I really wanted to call and cancel and just stay in bed all day) and had a good visit. We came home to pick up books to return to the library and I made Vincent come in and go potty and he even pooped in the toilet. I was so excited and came him two cookies as a reward. He was proud of himself. (It's terrible that my day revolves around the toilet. Sorry!) We had a good visit to the library and came home for lunch. Vincent laid down for his nap as Abby woke up and then she and I both went back to sleep for a little bit. I had to wake them both up to pick up the girls from school (hate that!) The girls built a train set up for Vincent and I worked on the laundry with their help. Elizabeth did her homework (while I stood over her to make sure she had legible handwriting) and she didn't argue when I made her redo her p's that looked like 9's and her other letters that didn't make sense. It was one of the most pleasant homework times ever! I made some dinner and we waited for Andy to get home by putting all the laundry away, cleaning up most of the toys, and putting school things away. We started eating dinner and then Vincent said that he had pooped his underwear (I was so happy for him to have done that this morning and he's normally regular enough to just do that once a day, I thought he'd be fine in them...So wrong!) Andy cleaned him up, gave him a cold shower (punishment for pooping pants in our house-a first for Vincent though), and put him to bed at 7:00. Andy played games with the girls and our game night buddies while I took care of dishes and Abby and then the girls went to bed while we played board games. It was a nice evening (despite Vincent's attempt to wreck my mood again.)

Elizabeth even snapped this picture of me doing the dishes. (And I thought it turned out pretty good.)
Being a mom is hard work. Some days are harder than others and make me want to appreciate the good ones. Ache to appreciate the good ones, even. I think I probably need to notice each good moment instead of trying to have a complete good day.
I'm posting this just so you all don't think that I do everything and it's all happy and fun all the time. It can be fun a lot of the time, but one little thing can trigger a mother's fury (not major fury, but enough to jar the whole household). I have so much to work on!

Any tips for potty training little boys (or any kids) who don't seem to care that they are pooping themselves? He's going to be four in January! The girls did not have this problem!

Are You Thirsty?

Vincent is "a growing boy" and I come out to find him eating all sorts of things he's taken from the fridge while I shower or change a diaper. Here's his latest:He says, "It tastes like lemonade!" I guess that makes sense.He must be growing because he is eating everything we give him lately. Just a year ago, we could hardly get him to have anything over than milk. Now, he has a cup of milk a day and some on his breakfast cereal. I gave him a yogurt after we dropped the girls off at school, which was after his cereal and milk Andy gave him before he left and he usually finished the soggy cereal the girls leave behind in the mornings.
Soon enough he'll be a teenager and we'll need a second fridge.
....
Maybe he had Abby try some and that's why she was sad after my shower.....

A Cousin's Birthday

Our nephew Colby turned seven on Saturday and we went over to their place to help them celebrate. Because he's allergic to milk products, eggs, nuts, and a few other things, his mom is forced to be awesomely creative in making his birthdays just as great as other kids' birthdays (and most of the time exceeding expectations). Check out the cake she made below:She got the recipe for the actual cake from a store in Seattle that caters to kids who are allergic to things and made all that fondant and the characters. She said she worked on the cake for about three days and that each character took about a half hour to make. She's very creative, so it would take a normal person about three times as long to make something half as nice.

She made a Superwoman to go on the cake too, but she was (ahem!) a little top heavy and wouldn't stand up.

Colby appreciates the work his mom puts into the cakes and treats she makes for him and he does get to have soy ice cream to go with his cake.
I put Abby on the grass for a minute and she ate a leaf. I wanted to take a picture and she showed it to me.

It was a chilly evening, so she was a hot commodity in her fleece outfit. Several people wanted to hold her just to warm up.

Colby with one of the pointy parts of his pinata. He's a great kid.
Here is Vincent hitting the pinata. (He was not the one who made that big dent.)
Olivia taking her turn with the pinata.
And Elizabeth when the pinata was just about done. I like her stance. She's serious about it.
I like to take pictures of the kids all diving in for candy. I think you can pick out my kids. They are wearing orange, hot pink, and red. Vincent is going the other way because he was crying that he couldn't reach any candy. It was just about time to go home and go to bed.
He said that his tummy hurt, which really just means that he's hungry, so Andy got him a piece of broccoli. Vincent picked the big one and then didn't like it that much, so after this picture, Andy took most of it from him and he ate it. (Andy doesn't like broccoli all that much either. I usually serve it cooked in our stir-fry or something.)
This Sunday night we are feeling the love. A family in the ward invited us over for dinner (which was great because Andy's parents were busy with their calling in the single's branch in Kennewick) and after visiting with them for a few hours, we came home to a surprise bag of fresh garden vegetables on our porch. Elizabeth said she thinks we have a secret admirer, but there was a card inside, so I quickly found out who it was. Gotta love fresh produce! I peeled three of the funky carrots (they hardly know what real carrots look like because we always buy baby carrots) for the kids for their nighttime snack. It was great.

I think I need to make some cookies tomorrow (or maybe some zucchini bread because we have an overabundance of that!) to deliver to our nice friends. =)

Getting better every day.

Abby is getting better at standing next to furniture already and is crawling pretty fast these days. We still have to put her next to furniture to stand, but she can crawl over to things and get both hands up and be up on her knees. She's just got to learn how to get her feet under her, although since she's still not quite 8 months yet, she has PLENTY of time.

I love how she stands on her tippy toes. She has perfect little calves and cute feet. (If this little outfit looks familiar to you, Janessa, it's because you bought it for Olivia when she was this size....And HAPPY BIRTHDAY, little sister. 25 is still very young and you are really only as old as you act.)

Abby found the camera. She likes it when I take her picture, but won't smile for professionals. Oh, well. I'd rather have smiley candid pictures for me anyway.Here she is reaching out to grab the camera. I can't get enough of her....well, not in the middle of the day anyway.
Here are a few videos of her crawling and her noises. Watch and enjoy, if you'd like to.

Here is Abby making raspberries and attacking the camera.
I like this one too. Sorry. I couldn't pick just one.

School's Cool

This week Vincent started the mommy swap preschool. It's just on Thursdays for an hour and a half with some friends from church. One mom teaches one week, helps the next (we all have newish babies too-the other three are the oldest kid), then takes two weeks off from helping or teaching while the other moms do it. It's awesome (and cheap....which I love!) We actually ended up moving last Thursday to Tuesday because the kid whose house it was at was throwing up. Yea, we can change it! So, the four boys in the preschool learned about the letter A and number 1 then. Vincent, Abby, and I walked over to his friend's house with his new backpack on.Here is the crew. Vincent is oldest. The two in the middle are summer birthdays and the one on the end is the September birthday. Vincent is the only one who looks funny in this one. This was the best of all of them. I taught the letter B and number 2 Thursday. I had B when Olivia was doing the mommy swap preschool years ago, so I had some ideas that went over well the last time, but this time it's all boys and no girls so a little less focus on butterflies and more on bugs and bears and all boyish B things. Here's what I did: We started off with blocks and books, then read a book with a big, brown bear, then looked through binoculars (TP tubes and yarn)to take turns picking B things out of my big, brown B bag (batteries, baby bottle, baby doll, butterfly, bread, banana, belt, etc.), then put on band-aids and blew up bouncy balloons, took a bathroom break =), Sang a two little bell rhyme (the number was two), walked backward to the other room, made paper bag bear puppets, ate blueberry bagels and bananas (cut in two) and drank berry blue punch, and blew bubbles. What a BLAST and no balloons burst. The lady helping me today told me at the end that the boys are going to think we are all crazy by the end of this preschool. She had it at her house Tuesday. I was changing pretty much everything I said to include a B sound. It's not too hard and it's kind of fun to overdo themes like this sometimes. I figure if they know what B sounds like and some things that start with B, they'll be (haha) all set. They won't start kindergarten for two more years (and one even has three more-his birthday is in September), so they have plenty of time to learn to write the actual letters and tracing. None of them are quite focused enough to sit and do a worksheet anyway. I loved it. It was great and they are nice little boys.
Also on Tuesday after school, I took the kids to have their pictures taken all together at Walmart. (They offered me some free pictures in addition to their inexpensive package and you know I love cheap things and it was time). You can click on that link above to look at the pictures. Abby was a little sad and doesn't ever smile very well for professional pictures, but the kids still did pretty good. I like pictures that show their personalities and how they normally are. One of my friends came over to help me pick out their picture outfits so they'd go well together. It was nice to visit with her too.
On Tuesday morning at 5am Andy left for Mt. Vernon on the other side of the State to do some work and didn't get home until Wednesday night about 11pm and reports that he was working the whole time he was there and got a lot done.
Abby moves herself around a lot in her crib and often ends up like this. I moved her after a while and she stayed asleep.Wednesday we went over to playgroup for a little bit before I left my keys and kids and carseats with a friend who brought them home, fed them lunch, put Abby to sleep, and kept her daughter and Vincent entertained while I went and had a relaxing hour massage and chiropractor adjustment. It was super nice. I was a little weirded out by massages before I had one, but I totally recommend them now. My back gets so tense! Then my mom came by for a visit to show me the pattern she and her quilt buddy self-published that she was taking around to quilt shops to sell to them. Awesome! She is having a giveaway over on her blog for a quilting novel.
We had our weekly game night without Andy. One of our buddies read to the kids, then they played MarioKart with the girls, and I played Ticket to Ride with them. They left early and then I put the kids to bed.
Thursday night was the school Open House. I already met the girl's teachers, but we were able to go and see their classrooms and remeet the teachers and I helped with the PTA table for membership too.
Mrs. Spencer with Olivia.Mrs. Sullivan with Elizabeth
Elizabeth's self portrait. It cracks me up. Sorry to ramble on again. I always do that. Hope it's entertaining at least... Does anybody read all of this?

My Ramblings of the Rest of the Week

This has been a busy (as always), but fun (as usual) weekend. It was also a weekend where we were able to spend time with family and friends and also listen to several great talks at our adult session of Stake Conference (for church) and Regional Conference (broadcast from Salt Lake to all wards and stakes in Washington and Alaska).
To get back to where I started off with my last blog, I felt completely crummy all day on Thursday. I still had to function as a mommy, so I did the minimum and laid around most of the day with a gurgling tummy, sore back, and headache. I hate feeling lousy. (I have an appointment with the chiropractor and massage therapist there on Wednesday and cannot wait to have them fix my back.) I'm pretty sure walking to the school and all over is supposed to help me have more energy instead of making me hurt all over and want to lounge around doing nothing. I have to just keep up the exercise and hope it goes away, I guess (along with this extra weight!) Vincent's preschool was cancelled because the kid whose mom was in charge this week was throwing up, so we are having two next week instead. (This may or may not have been the reason I suddenly felt lousy.....) I dropped the girls off at school, turned on a show for Vincent, showered hoping to feel better, still didn't feel better, went back to bed because Abby was still sleeping after her morning feeding, woke up a few minutes later, and my friend brought her daughter over to take her nap here while she went to an appointment-she will only sleep at her house and mine because I was tough enough to make her sleep when she was small and she knows she does that here (her grandma can't handle letting her fuss). Vincent took longer to go to sleep than normal, so I had to wake up three kids from naps (and myself-although I kept having crazy dreams, so I didn't sleep that well!) to go and pick the girls up from school and drop off my friend's daughter (along with buckling three kids in and out of seatbelts-ugh!) All while feeling crummy. Once we were home, I made sure Abby was fed and left the big girls to play with Vincent and Abby (if she was awake....it was all a blur) until Andy got home. Luckily, he got home early and took care of the kids until bedtime when I felt slightly better. I got up long enough to make lunches, tidy up, and the family room was bugging me (because I went to my pregnant friend's clean and organized-well nested-house the day before) and so I rearranged it. We still had our old dining room table next to the new one which is just too much table in one spot, so I moved it across the room to make things look and work better.
I like this better now. It makes me smile when I go in there. Above:DVD cabinet, table and chairs, recliner, love seat on one side.
Below: Cleaned off (mosty) back counter-I like the kid DVD shelf up there and boxes the girls collect papers in. They don't have toys in their room.), blue plastic drawers behind the love seat, and white shelf with baby-approved toys, old table with extra new chairs for homework and small toy playing and the big hide-a-bed by our back door.I also went through the toys and sorted out the ones that Abby can choke on (polly pockets, pet shops, and zhuzhu toys) and put them away. I got out the Fisher Price Little People and baby toys that are good for her. The older kids can ask for the choking hazards when she's sleeping.

Friday, I felt TONS better. My back and head still hurt, but I'm growing used to that (and I know many people whose back hurts worse than mine and I moved enough furniture around that it made sense). I got this in the mail.I ordered it a few weeks ago from the company that made the first three, but our hospital changed how they do baby pictures from the hospital, so I had to track down the company, figure out the price, print out our own picture for it, and mail it in. I wanted Abby to have one that matched the others enough that all that work was worth it.
My mom made it to the final round of the McCall's Quilting Magazine Challenge! Their final challenge is to make a quilt using inspiration from the lyrics of any well-recognized song. WHAT SONG WOULD YOU PICK? Thank you so much for voting for my mom! She can't share any details of the next quilt until it's up for voting in the middle of October, but I'll let you know when to start voting.
Friday night we went over to Kennewick for a family birthday party for Sara and Daphne. Sara brought her two girls down for a night to visit and see the new baby.

Sara with Daphne opening her playground ball from us.
We brought the ice cream we forgot for Olivia's birthday there and some cones. I had to put these pictures side-by-side of Daphne (nearly two) and Abby (seven months). People keep telling me Abby looks like her.

Oh, and Abby's cone does not have ice cream. After we got home I cleaned up my craft room enough to sew (which means putting things away and uncluttering my food storage I get with coupons) and mended some things and sewed up the baby cross-stitches that are from just after Abby (end of January) until the middle of May. I'm way behind, but I'll catch up soon! I like making them, but Abby doesn't let me cross-stitch without pulling on my thread and trying to grab the needle, so I can't do it when I hold her like I could with the other kids. She's just too busy for it.
Saturday was a busy day with five different things on the calendar that we planned on doing. One of the kids who comes to our ward with his grandparents was baptized at 9am and Andy helped fill the font and then came home to get us just before it started, so the older three kids got ready and when Andy came home, he got Abby dressed because I wasn't quite ready yet. The baptism was great, but Elizabeth was a little disappointed that they didn't have refreshments. When we got home, I took care of Abby and took a little nap before taking Elizabeth and Abby to Sonic for lunch (I took Olivia when Vincent was at the fair and Elizabeth was in Walla Walla and then took Vincent after the girls started school, so it was her turn), Nutcracker auditions for Elizabeth (she wants to be a mouse), a quick, but fun stop at a baby shower for a friend, then home to send Andy off to a Priesthood Leadership Stake meeting, while I napped (and so did Abby and Vincent). Olivia was playing a game on the Wii with three computer players and made the one on her team hard and then others easy "because I want to make sure I win". She's one clever kid. We had a little break before going to pick up the babysitter to watch our kids while we went to the adult session of stake conference with Abby. It was great to listen to the talks by our Stake Presidency and see so many of our friends and visit with them after the meeting. When we got home, I finished the hand stitching of the cross-stitches and took pictures of them, so I can deliver them and watched a movie or two while I did some busy work.

Sundays talks from our church leaders were equally wonderful. There are plenty of things I need to work on. After church, I napped (because I'm a big napper) and then because the kids were quiet and let me sleep the afternoon away, we went to Andy's parent's house for dinner. I love going there for Sunday dinners and not having to cook anything. It's the best. We like to visit with them and we were there when their home teacher came over too, which was nice because he's been their home teacher since we got married and our home teachers haven't visited since our ward switched around last November. Andy read to the kids while I took care of Abby (I promise I feed her more than I write in here, but it gets redundant I'm sure!) and then I read a little more of the first Nancy Drew book with Elizabeth because it's our next mother-daughter book group book.
There is a fire close to Andy's parent's place (where we went Labor Day weekend), but at this point it's mostly contained and the fire break is below their property, so it looks like it will be safe from the fire. It would be really awful for their brand new beautiful home to be burned up so soon after finishing it, not to mention that their land would be stubble and not really worth anything to rebuild on. We are glad the firefighters are working so much on the fire. Last year I wrote about 9/11 and where we were, so you can read about it here if you'd like to. We are still brought to tears when we think about the destruction caused by the terrorists and when we explain what happened to our kids to help them know what 9/11 is all about. The road up the hill to the church this morning was lined with flags that represented each person who died on 9/11 and was so moving to see how far those 3,000 flags go and to think about each person one flag represents. Amazing.
I think you all know I'm a rambler by now and that this is my journal, so sorry to make you read so much, but hopefully you at least like the pictures and can read something when you're tired. =)

New Nephew and Graham Crackers

We were able to go and meet our new little nephew Tuesday after the girls were done at school.
(That sentence is as far as I got when my neighbors called and asked if I could hang out at their house with their boys while they went to the hospital because she was having contractions two minutes apart. I ended up staying there just from 12-1:30-no problem for me-because she wasn't dilated and she's not quite to 39 weeks yet and the hospital sent them home, so Abby-who came with me and slept in her carseat-and I went home to pack lunches and do this...)
Anyway, babies all around, so back to the hospital on Tuesday to visit our newest nephew/cousin. He is actually my 18th nephew and the kids' 18th boy cousin (17 total grandkids on my side and now 15 on Andy's side with one on the way).
Abby was a little jealous that I was holding him, so Elizabeth had to get her out of the stroller and pay attention to her a little.
Olivia with her new little cousin and Vincent (whose cheeks are all pink from the juice he had at the brunch earlier that morning). He has so much hair! Elizabeth with another boy cousin. He's cute and sweet and we are excited to see who he becomes.Before the hospital visit I dropped the girls off at school, went to a birthday brunch with some friends for another friend, went shopping at Kohl's (my favorite store) for some baby things for boys, came home for lunch and a little rest, picked up girls from school, met adorable little Ryder born Tuesday just after midnight.
Then we went home to make dinner and the kids played while I did some PTA things, dinner, and finally the first PTA meeting of the year. Kids all went to sleep and I folded some laundry and made some lunches and swept and mopped the floor and loaded the dishwasher while Andy vacuumed. Doing so much in one day makes the next day so much more refreshing. I didn't have hardly anything to do (cleaning wise) on Wednesday, so Vincent, Abby, and I walked to the park to meet up with friends from our ward and their kids and Vincent and Abby napped for a little bit, so I made some banana bread and did a few more things that have been hanging out on my list and rested myself before going back to pick up the girls. At game night Wednesday, Abby was acting hungry, so I gave her a graham cracker. She had some Tuesday at the brunch with my friends, so I knew she liked them. She can tell when I'm taking pictures. She put the food down and started pulling faces. (Thanks for the shirt, Emily!)
This little girl is so sweet and pretty happy most of the time. I think she might even be done spitting up finally (fingers crossed!)
I love the faces she makes. I don't know if her little pink heart between her eyes will go away ever, but I like it anyway.
She ended up eating one whole (four sections) graham cracker. She loves real food. No baby food for this girl.
She ate it all herself and didn't even make a very big mess. When she was done, I gave her a wet washcloth and she pretty much cleaned herself. I love all the excitement kids bring to our lives, even though some of it I could do without (ie: potty training, spilled food, etc.)