Merry Christmas

I need sleep.... after an exhausting couple of days, I am hoping to be able to take it a bit easy the next couple of days.... well maybe after we finish cleaning up from Christmas and after we get ready for company....

This week has been just insane. I looked at the calendar on my phone and we had things going on almost every day this week!! We started the week off by joining some friends for a Christmas Family Home Evening. We had a great time with friends eating treats and playing games and talking about the meaning of Christmas.

Tuesday was the kids last day of school - the girls were so excited about all their Christmas parties and crafts and such (and of course the candy they brought home from school.) After school we went to piano lessons. The girls both really seem to enjoy them and after a tough first week with Anna, I hardly have to pester the kids at all about doing piano lessons.

Wednesday, I had an ultrasound. My doctor wanted to double check on the baby's size and make sure that we had the right due date set. This was the latest ultrasound I have ever had, and it's funny how much more cramped the poor kid looks in there than he did last time. Also - the baby is head down and I'm starting to sit really low. Dan took the time off for the holidays, and we spent the rest of the day trying to get ready for Christmas.

Thursday was another day of getting things ready and cleaning and wrapping - lol - even when each kid is only getting a couple things, when there are 4 kids, it really adds up! I also had a doctors appointment (separate from the ultrasound with my normal doctor) I am down to appointments every week now - kinda crazy to think I'm that close!!! The doctor said I am doing fine and we sent an induction date for January 24th. So come rain or shine the baby will be here by then! Thursday evening we headed down to Great Grandpa's house (despite getting nearly a foot of snow that day) to go caroling. The kids had fun singing and ringing bells - and no - even with all that snow it really wasn't that cold - we bundled up in hats, gloves, scarves and warm coats and were just fine! We then had some yummy chili at Grandpa's.

Friday morning, we went out and looked at washing machines and dryers. We have been wanting new ones for awhile now - the old ones (and they are OLD - they were used when we got them, and the we got the washing machine when we were married over 9 years ago) We have also been having problems with the washing machine just stopping mid cycle - that makes it rather hard to get everything done!!! Plus with another kid on the way - we have really been wanting the extra capacity so that I don't have to increase the number of loads that we have to run each week. We found our new appliances and enjoyed snagging the holiday sales and are looking forward to a delivery next week! Friday also became a bit of last minute shopping day - Dan took the kids to the dollar store to get each other gifts - Aaron didn't quite understand the idea of getting stuff for other people - he just wanted to get stuff for himself. The girls had fun picking out stuff for each other - lets just say that a lot of glow sticks were involved....

Saturday and Christmas Eve were all about cleaning the house, and cooking food. This being our first time really hosting a holiday event in our new house, I was a bit anxious about everything going well and being perfect. For dinner, we headed down to Frank and Tina's for Bagna Caulda (Francone family tradition - yummy Italian dipping sauce....mmm) We had fun singing and eating and chatting and finally headed home to get the kids in bed...late...again.... which was then followed by Dan and I staying up even later stuffing stockings and setting up the Christmas stuff.

After a late bed time for us all - morning came very early!! We had church at 9 am and Dan and I had decided that we would let the kids do the stockings before church and then would do the rest after. The kids knew this and thankfully the only trouble we had with it was Aaron complaining most of the time about wanting to go home - but part of that was him being tired too. The kids didn't wake us up at the crack of dawn to open presents - in fact, we ended up having to wake most of them up. The kids had fun opening stockings and eating pop tarts and sugar cereals for breakfast. Evie was so excited about the pop tarts that as soon as she found them, she forgot the rest of her stocking and took them to the kitchen, blessed her breakfast and started eating. After church, we stuck around for a baptism that I had been asked to sing at. (Aaron's complaining was getting MUCH more frequent by this time) Then we finally went home to finish opening presents. The kids had a ton of fun, and were happy to spend the rest of the morning and afternoon playing with their new toys. Dan found a slot car set for Aaron and the boys had tons of fun setting up the track and racing cars. The girls got a bead set from Grandma and Grandpa Jones, and had fun making necklaces. Then some last minute cleaning and cooking and the company started arriving. We had a full house with Grandpa, Frank and Tina, Doug, Mark and Julia, Newell and Becky, and of course the kids belonging with above mentioned adults. Dinner was yummy and was followed by a semi-chaotic opening of presents. The kids loved their gifts and loved being with friends and family. And loved eating dessert. LOL - oddly enough, most of what the kids ate for dinner was the veggie appetizer tray we had out. Not going to complain when it's healthy though :P The girls each got one of these adorable dolls from my Great Aunt Joan, and have been carrying them around ever since.
Plans for next week? SLEEP, finish a few more Christmas Presents, SLEEP, Play, SLEEP, set up guest rooms, SLEEP!!!!!!

What am I most grateful for this Christmas?
My Savior, and the chance to think of him a bit more often.
My family, and getting to be surrounded by them during the holidays
Sleep....

Holiday Cheer

Well it is officially feeling like the holiday madness is begun. The kids are still in school until the 20th, but with all the holiday stuff going on (and the Christmas music on the radio) and the rush to finish presents and get them mailed off, life has been busy. We had Zoe and Jacob over on Thursday to play. The girls have so much fun together and Jacob is amazingly patient with 4 giggly girls. Dan treated him to a game of Stratego when he got home to help make amends. :)

Then Saturday the whole Bessendorfer family came over to help decorate Christmas Cookies and have dinner. The kids had lots of fun. Evie was only allowed to do one cookie because all she wanted to do was eat the cookies and the frosting. :) After, the kids went and watched the Grinch while the older people played a game together (which I WON - for once) :)


Sunday was our Church Christmas program. which included the choir singing - and so we had an extra choir practice on Saturday morning. Christmas seems like it's always about the music for me - but I LOVE Christmas music :) The program went well - then we had a Stake music fireside tonight where we sang again. It was fun to sing and see friends from the Peoria ward. Is it really only a week until Christmas??? Where did the month go? I wonder when life will start to slow down again... and realize that it won't.... :)

Christmas

So Anna's middle name is Noel. I have loved this name for as long as I can remember, and wanted to use it in one of my children's names. Anna was very excited this year when we explained to her that Noel means Christmas in French. She matter-of-factly informed us recently that she wants to be called "Christmas" now instead of Anna.

Yey for no Travelling

Well - this Saturday Dan returned and will be home until at least the end of February! Yey!! Probably just as well - I don't think any of us would survive with me pregnant and no hubby again. 8 months pregnant is too big for moving boxes that got soaked by the snow melting off the car in the garage. It's way to pregnant for me to be out shoveling our driveway and side walks. It's too pregnant for me to be cleaning out the fridge to find out what that foul smell is. And it's too pregnant for me to be chasing the kids around cleaning up after them...only to find that they made a new mess while I was cleaning the old one.

We are now about 6 weeks from the due date. I have an ultrasound and another appointment in about a week and a half. Right now every thing seems to be moving right along - though I feel (and look) a bit like a beached whale. It's a good thing the CMC concerts were not any later in the month, or I would not have fit the dress. :) Dan is ever the sweetheart and told me last night that from the back and even from the side with a hand up to cover the baby belly - I look the same and I haven't gained any weight at all - I'm married to such an awesome man :)

LOL - now to back track a bit - Monday was piano lessons - Anna is taking a try at it (we will see how long this lasts - she had better figure out how to practice with out my forcing her to if she wants to keep it up...) so we drove out for piano lessons and then, since we were on that side of town, we stopped by Grandpa's to play and chat and have dinner. We had a nice time and were glad to see him and glad to not have to go home to a daddy-less house.

I've realized this last week that being 8 months pregnant means I cry over everything. Whether I'm frustrated with the kids, upset over the damaged stuff in the garage, singing a Christmas Song, saying a prayer, typing a blog post or the sweet little notes I found under the Christmas Tree, I cry at everything!! Poor Dan has to deal with it long distance while he's out of town. These are what I found under our Christmas Tree by the way. :) So after a crazy, rather stressful week - we are very grateful to have Dan back - to have our house getting back to some semblance of normal and Mommy is putting herself on bed rest (or craft room rest) for a day or two... I was planning on it anyway, but I seem to be coming down with a cold which is making it all the more necessary.

Sleep? What's that???

Yeah you are probably thinking.... just wait until her baby comes - then she will REALLY know sleep deprivation. Yes that is probably true, but somehow not having Dan home is always more exhausting than I expect it to be.

Monday for Family Home Evening, we decorated our Christmas tree and talked about some of the symbols of Christmas and why we celebrate it. The kids had fun decorating, though here we are a week later and we have broken like 5 of the "not easily breakable" ornaments. We keep the kid friendly ornaments separate for the kids, but they have still managed to break a rather large amount of them.... Aaron LOVE to have the lights on - the hard part is making him ask me to plug them in so that he doesn't try to do it himself.

Dan left on Thursday for Hawaii - just as it was starting to snow here. It has been snowing on and off ever since. The kids are loving playing in it. I'd rather not drive in it, but it is awfully pretty!


This weekend was the beginning of my concert season with the Colorado Mormon Chorale. The concerts were a lot of fun and went well, but my back wasn't fond of standing still with a music folder for an hour straight. At least I have a week to recover before the next ones.... :)

Church today was wonderful - the kids were fairly well behaved, the lessons were wonderful! Eileen saw the Ward Choir notice in the bulletin that said "Singers of all Ages" and decided that meant her too, so she decided to come sing with me today. She is so sweet and I love hearing her voice join in the group.

On the way out to our car today, I was carrying Evie and cautioning the kids about being very careful walking on the ice, when I managed to slip and fall on the ice - the fall was not hard, and the grand total of my injuries are a few small scratches that aren't even worth a band-aid and bit more soreness than usual. The fall really didn't hurt much and Evie was just fine (having landed on me) but I felt a bit like Bambi in his first time out on the ice..... Thankfully nothing damaged but my pride!

We Are Thankful

1. We are thankful that Dan is home safe and sound.
2. We are thankful that we have family in the area who can help out while he is gone.
3. We are thankful that our only plumbing problems have been self induced (Aaron flushed a bunch of clorox wipes and caused a backup again) and Dan was able to fix them with out a plumber.
4. We are thankful for 4 days of being together with no work or school.
5. We are thankful for the new dry wall going into our bathroom.
6. We are thankful for music and the spirit it brings.
7. We are thankful for our family nearby to spend holidays with and eat yummy food with.
8. We are thankful that even my mistakes in the kitchen in preparing for Thanksgiving - still tasted good - even if we were unsure that they would when we went....
9. We are thankful for Christmas Trees - real ones that smell good!!!
10. We are thankful for the beginning of the Christmas Season and all the reminders of our Savior's Birth
11. We are thankful for our new ward and the chances it has already brought for service.
12. We are thankful for the spirit we have felt at church.
13. We are thankful for the chance this move has provided to make new friends.
14. We are thankful for piles of leaves and how fun they are to play in!
15. We are thankful for each other - there is no other set of people I would rather be with.

We are so blessed - there is no way I could list all the many things we have to be thankful for - but this is the list of things we were thankful for this week - it's been a busy, but wonderful week!

From Zero to Disaster in.....

It amazes me how quickly all 4 kids can turn a fairly clean house into a disaster zone. If I send them to play and do the dishes and sweep the kitchen - I will probably come downstairs to find a complete disaster. If I try to work on something downstairs, I will probably go upstairs 10 minutes later to find contraband crumbs all over the kitchen floor, and blankets and pillows all over the front room. (And of course Aaron under the table hiding because he knows he has done something wrong)

As usual when Dan is out of town, I am also amazed at what an incredible husband I have and how all my best efforts are just not enough with out him. Last night after the Aaron and Evie decided that 5:00 was too long to wait for dinner - and mashed up half a container of goldfish and then mixed it up with the brand new box of raisins and ate some random other food on the counters, I put them in PJ's and sent them to bed - figuring they had already had their supper.

Eileen got a friendship bracelet making kit from one of her friends for her birthday. Yesterday I showed her how to make a friendship bracelet and she and Anna picked it up right away. They have been doing almost nothing else ever since. They have friendship bracelets scattered all over the house to give to their cousins and friends. I was amazed at how quickly they picked it up and how long it has entertained them.

Well even as I type, the kids are supposed to be cleaning... I wonder what mess I will find next....

Church today was wonderful, if a bit tiring. We got there early to practice for the choir number today. The kids thankfully were mostly well behaved during Sacrament meeting. The talks and lessons given today all seemed to be exactly what I needed to hear. We had a wonderful Sacrament Meeting talk about finding joy in the journey. He talked about enjoying the flowers along the path, instead of just focusing on the garden at the end. He also talked about remembering to shift our focus to what is most important - the people around us. I think I had forgotten all that yesterday.... I really needed the perspective change.

I have given up on potty training Aaron. It was supposed to be Dan's job to potty train the boys - I told him tonight that I'm giving the job back over to him, I can't take it anymore. Evie on the other hand, seems to want to be potty trained. She often tells me that she wants to go potty and then poops and pees on the toilet. She seems to be closer to figuring this out than Aaron is.... Funny thing is that any time Aaron is stinky now, she follows him around going "ewwwww Anor (what she calls Aaron) ewwww STINK!!"

More Cake?!?!?!?

Well - so the sewage started backing up again late Sunday night, Dan noticed it while he was up at 2 am with a sick Anna who was covered in diarrhea and needed a bath. We stopped all water use and called the plumber again.... So at this point Dan and I are rather upset and discouraged thinking that this may cost us a lot of money and a LOT of hassle. Well we get the plumber here and he makes an interesting discovery. Our house has 2 sewage lines. All the work that has been done up to this point has been done on the smaller and less used line. The back up was occurring between the two lines under the house. So he pulled out the downstairs toilet to snake the other line. He got it cleared out and then we had a person come over and scope it (put a camera in the pipe to see if it's ok) and we found that all was free and clear now - we would not need our yard torn up, we would not need our basement torn up (any more than it already was) and we shouldn't have any more trouble. So after all that stress - it turns out to have been a fairly minor problem that would not have happened if they had realized that there were 2 pipes in the first place....

The rest of the week has gone fairly smoothly. We had another plumber in on Saturday because we saw a drip inside the wall where the dry wall had been removed - and oddly enough - we wouldn't have known that this drip was there until it had done some damage, except that we had the dry wall removed because of the sewage problems. Maybe a small reason to be grateful for all we went through - but it's one less thing we will have to worry about in the future. LOL - he only had to cut out a couple more small sections of dry wall to fix it.... But the holes he made allowed Dan to run our internet into our basement with out a cable going into our window and going all around the floor of our basement. So I might have chosen for things to go more smoothly, but it seems to be working out now. :)

Eileen had a birthday party this weekend. She hasn't had a birthday party with her friends for 3-4 years now, and I figured it was time she was able to have one. She invited a few friends over and the kids had a blast running around the house and outside. Dan did balloon animals for all the kids - which was a HUGE hit - and they fought each other with balloon swords, tromped around like balloon elephants, and walked balloon dogs. We fed them lunch, let them eat cake (and ice cream too) and finished off the party with a pinata. I think she really enjoyed it, and it wasn't even that stressful for me. Plus I can stuff the kids stockings with the left over party favors :) Then her friend Morgan (from her old school) stayed the rest of the afternoon to play.


Here they are all lined up to take their turn whacking the pinata. They loved it - they liked hitting it more than they liked collecting the candy....


The most amazing part to me was when Eileen and I sat down this afternoon to write Thank You notes - not because I made her - but because she wanted to. I helped her with the writing and spelling, but I was so proud of her wanting to do this. Such a big and responsible girl!!

Finally one last picture - I made Dan take another pic - I now officially have 2 more pictures of me pregnant that I have had with the last 2 pregnancies. This is me at about 29 weeks - ish. Amazingly I still feel good (most of the time) and while my belly noticeably impedes my ability to bend and pick things up, it is still not too uncomfortable. The baby is very active and the kids love to feel him wiggle. Anna will sit there and push gently on my belly until he starts kicking her back.


Evie has started potty training herself. She will tell me that she has to go potty and then we will go and get her sitting down and she will go. Really the only dirty diapers she has had the last couple days have been wet ones from bed time and nap time. She is so cute sitting there and so proud of herself when she does something. And she sings on the toilet - "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" of course.

Moving.....

Well - I can't believe that 2 weeks have passed since we I was last able to post. I have been with out internet until today - and honestly, even if I had had internet, I probably wouldn't have had time or energy to use it anyway.

Tuesday we dropped the kids off at Frank and Tina's for the week. They were on fall break and so they got to spend the whole week hanging out with their cousin and Aunt and Uncle.

On Wednesday the 26th, we closed on our house - which was earlier than we had hoped and gave us a couple more days to try and move before the end of the month. Despite getting snowed on all that day, we still managed to get a bunch of stuff moved over to the new house that evening. Thursday we continued to pack and move over those non-daily essentials, and build the stuff we had gotten at Ikea so that we could minimize the amount of work to be done over the weekend. Turns out this was a good idea.

Friday night, Dan picked up the U-Haul and a few teen-age boys from the ward, who live nearby, came over to help load boxes. Then Dan unloaded the truck at the new house... by himself. I tried to help with as much of the small stuff as I could - but being the sweet caring hubby that he is, he wouldn't let me do much.

Saturday, a few guys from the Elder's quorum at church came over to help with moving the furniture. Dan and 4 other guys spent almost the whole day moving all our furniture into the van and then back out of the van and into our new home. The lunch we fed them doesn't seem like thanks enough for the hard work - which I know led to sore muscles later. :) Saturday we also picked up the kids and brought them to their new home. We showed them their new rooms and they had fun checking everything out. We also made a little stop at Peoria ward Halloween party - the kids enjoyed getting dressed up and weren't even too disappointed that we totally missed the trunk-or-treat part of the party.

Sunday was a bit of a break for church, and Dan trying to finish a few last things before he had to go out of town.... Thankfully my mom also arrived late Sunday from Texas to help. That night - he was up being sick half the night.

Monday, he left for Chicago. Unfortunately for him - every time he leaves - everything goes wrong - then he feels bad for being gone. Things started out relatively small and just got worse.... For starters, that night - I had the same bug Dan had and it left me exhausted, sore and barely functioning. I'm not quite sure how I would have managed with out my mom there. Tuesday was mostly my mom trying to help unpack with me spending a lot of time napping.

Monday was also Halloween - the kids loved getting dressed up - and loved answering the door for trick-or-treaters. My mom passed our candy while I walked the kids around the block - that was plenty of candy and plenty of walking for all of them. They had fun - they all got into saying "Trick-or-Treat!!!" And Evie seemed to enjoy herself... a least until she saw a scary mask. After that she wanted to be held a lot and kept talking over and over about the "Scary Monsters!!" One was particularly bad and had her screaming and crying until we got to the next house. Aaron has been a pirate for the last 3 years now - I guess it's he favorite. Funny - he never really talks about pirates any other time of the year.... By the way - Eileen is showing off her rings.


Wednesday was Eileen's birthday - My big girl is now 7 years old!! And for her birthday she got a Snow Day.... that's right - no school. We celebrated that night with cupcakes and Great Grandpa coming over. Eileen enjoyed her birthday dinner of cheeseburgers and beans and mommy tried to do something other than sleep and wish the kids were at school....


Also on Wednesday, we found out that the cable guy would not put cable into our basement - so he ran a line into the upstairs and then I had to wait for Dan to get it down to my comp (which is not set up for wireless)

Friday was when things started going really wrong. We had had a bit of trouble with some of the drains in the house, on Friday, it got a lot worse - like a huge inch deep puddle of sewage water in our laundry room. We had a plumber come over to snake the pipe. After working for an hour and a half, he was unable to pull out any problems - he concluded that there must be a break in the line. With a house stinking of sewage and no way to fix it, we woke up the kids and dragged them to Frank and Tina's in the night. I was up until after midnight talking to claims adjusters and trying to figure out why this was happening and what insurance or home warranty would cover.

Saturday we were met at the house by the sewage clean-up people, and the plumbers. The plumbers tried a few other things while waiting for the people to come mark the power lines so that they wouldn't dig into them while trying to fix the pipe. In they process, they were able to push something through the line and clear it up. They still don't know exactly what the problem was, because they weren't able to pull anything out, but for now we have working water. So thankfully (since both the insurance company and the home warranty people were trying to tell us that they would NOT cover replacing the pipe since it's not in the house, and since replacing the pipe might have taken at least another whole day) we were spared a large cost of repair, another night away from home and more emotional distress. Now we just need to get the sewage clean up done and the claims done and this will all be a distant memory.... I have pictures of this... but you don't want to see them... trust me....

Sunday, Dan came home to a wife who had actually recovered some of her sanity and to his own bed. He met us at church and we enjoyed meeting our new ward and are eager to make new friends. I went to choir today - it was nice to not be in charge of it, and it was nice to see the good turn out they have.

Parent Teacher Conferences

We had parent/teacher conferences this week. It was nice to talk to my kids teachers and learn what I'm doing right and more ways that I can help them. It's nice to know that my children are indeed smart (and it's not just mommy pride) It's interesting that their teachers had noticed the same strengths that I have seen in them. It was also interesting to see just how differently they learn and how different their strengths and weaknesses are. Eileen is reading around a 3rd grade level - but it was interesting to see in some of her responses and work how she thinks. If you ask her a question, she skips the obvious and simple answers and gives one that requires more thought - the only problem is that she doesn't always explain how she got to that answer, so it doesn't make sense to her teacher. Anna has a huge imagination and as she tries to write, she has so many ideas she wants to write down that she gets frustrated with her slow writing (lol - not slow for a kindergartener - but slower than her thoughts) It's nice to know I have a couple gifted children :)

We got some good news this week - we will be closing on Wednesday - a full 2 days earlier than we had hoped!! Aunt Tina and Uncle Frank are going to watch the kid for a few days this week so that Dan and I can focus on getting stuff moved and some unpacking and set up done so that we can pick up the kids and bring them back to our new home!

It's kinda funny - Eileen has taken to reading in the most unusual positions - this is one of the less odd - but she caught me taking out the camera and moved :( It's funny to watch her squirm and wiggle around while she reads though :)

Thursday I had a doctor's appointment. Aaron and Anna came with me and were SO well behaved!! It helped that the wait wasn't too long - but they sat in the two chairs in the room patiently while the doctor talked to me and checked me and the baby out. The baby is doing great - I am about 26-ish weeks along and I have a very wiggle boy in my belly. As the doc tried to check the heart beat, he kept running away - she would find a spot where she could hear it really well - then he would wiggle and move so she could hardly hear it again.

Saturday, we made a trip to Ikea for some shelves and other things for the new house, and we met the real estate agent at the house to spend some time there planning and measuring and letting the kids see it and see their rooms. The especially loved running around in the yard and Eileen gave us a careful count of the number of trees we have in the back yard. We also found some rather amusing little things that got left at the house - including a golf club stuck in the corrugated roof over the back porch and a stuffed animal hanging from a tree.

Now comes the insanity!!!!!

In case you hadn't heard....

Well 2 weeks to moving day - the last 2 weeks have gone so fast. Plus we still don't know for sure when we are moving - we don't know if we are going to be able to cram it into the weekend of the 28th - partially because we don't know if we will close on the 28th or the 31th.

We are very excited about the house and about having a place of our own again. We are planning and preparing and already mentally making a plan for future improvements in the yard and the furnishings :) Yes we are actually considering the idea of maybe some day getting furniture that isn't second hand..... :)

As you can see - the kids are still enamored with Dan's balloon animals. Eileen and Anna love trying to make them, Aaron loves taking them apart and Evie wanders into our room where the balloons are kept and tries to get one saying "loon?" over and over again.

This week has been rather long and exhausting for me. I have spent a lot of it working on a quilt for the service part of our Super Saturday. On Tuesday, I watched my friends 3 little boys in addition to my own kids and we also had preschool kids over. The kids were generally well behaved - but they had a penchant for exploring and getting into things that they shouldn't. And I don't have that many sets of eyes! My house may be fairly Evie and Aaron proof, but apparently it isn't that kid proof....

The choir had concerts this weekend. We had a concert on Saturday night and sang at the Temple Workers Devotional tonight. It was wonderful - but exhausting!

In addition to choir stuff, the primary had an activity on Saturday morning to prepare for their program today and the big Super Saturday thing was right after. It was all fun, but it kinda felt like we never had a moments rest!!

The primary program today was wonderful. The leaders did a great job preparing and managing a large group of kids. My sweet girls sing so loud that you can hear them over all the other kids even from the back of the chapel. Eileen got to sing as part of a small group. She was so excited and practiced hard for it. While she was up there, I was mouthing the words at her - she didn't like it - she put her finger to her mouth - shushing me and then rolled her eyes at me. But she sang wonderfully!! It's so fun to watch them gain a love of music - I hope they keep that for their entire lives!

We miss Daddy!!

Well - the week was normal. I realized that I am not capable of doing everything that I usually do around the house, and everything Dan usually does around the house - I think i have to re-realize that with each trip.... By Wednesday the house was a DISASTER!!! and driving me nuts. Dan kept telling me that I didn't have to worry about it, but it's hard when you can't walk across your basement floor.... The kids were mostly well behaved, but between a lack of sleep (theirs and mine) and a week with out daddy, I am not sure we could have gone one more day than we did with him gone. We need him and miss him too much. I guess that's the problem with being married to such an amazing guy (lol - not a bad problem to have!)

Thankfully Daddy came home to help restore order, and to provide another lap for Evie's millions of daily requests of "Up pease!!" with book in hand. She promptly sat down in his lap with this book and started reading all the parts she remembered to him. Such a smartie pants!


Just a couple more weeks and I will be into my 3rd trimester. This pregnancy has gone so fast! I really am starting to feel it though - I have gotten to the point where I fall into my chair instead of sitting down. As fast as the first part of this pregnancy has gone - I get the feeling that the next few months are going to go even faster.

Bye Bye Daddy :(

Yep - after nearly 2 months with no traveling, Dan left on a business trip this Friday. So we are all missing daddy, and the kids keep looking for him and thinking that he is getting home from work.
Thankfully we have had a weekend of General Conference to distract us. We watched the first session with some friends from Church, and the kids have really been well behaved for the rest of them. Though for some reason, Eileen doesn't understand that sometimes "Shhhh" doesn't mean speak quietly, it means now is not a time for talking. :) Either way, I really enjoyed conference. I always end General Conference with a desire to be better and a feeling of peace that I'm not doing too badly :)

This Friday was a carnival at the school. Anna wanted to be part of the Clown Contest, so we dressed her up for that in a clown wig and pj's. She loved it and had a great time. She especially loved winning "Smallest Clown" and getting a slinky (which is already about busted) Of course they kept making up new categories until all the clowns had won something, but she was excited anyway!

The other kids enjoyed the carnival - they loved the silly little games and the bounce house. They loved the face painting and the balloon person (though I think that was less exciting than it might have been since they can make some themselves!!)


Evie didn't like how loud the DJ was and kept pressing her hands over her ears and saying "noisy!" She liked the games, but wasn't really big enough to play most of them. And because it was noisy she wanted to be held most of the time.
Aaron was a bit reluctant at first to do anything but be grumpy and shy. After about 20 minutes he started getting into things a bit more - he really liked the mini golf stand. :)


I think over all the kids had a good time - mommy however has decided that she will NEVER again go to one of these with out Dan. Between having 4 kids to stress out about losing, a 2 year old who wanted to be carried around, a cranky 3 year old, and standing in the hot sun for 2 hours, I was tired to the point that I was feeling light headed and woozy. Even making the kids sit down with me for a while didn't seem to help much, so instead of staying and having hot dogs there like I had planned, we went home for left overs.

So Dan and I have been looking at houses. We are ready to get into our own home. At the same time we were not feeling any real rush to decide. We just looked at houses as they interested us and while we found lots of stuff that was close - there was nothing that just grabbed us, so we were content to wait. We had mostly decided that with the start of Dan's traveling, that once we got to the end of September, we would take a break from house hunting and wait until spring. We looked at one last house on Thursday before he left. We loved it - a nice home, a great size, a great neighborhood, and well suited to us. We made an offer and we are now officially under contract!!!!! We close October 28th.... right before Dan leave for another trip... HELP!!!!

Mohawk??

This morning as we were getting ready for church, I hear Dan come out of the bathroom with Aaron and say "Do you want to show mommy your hair?" So I head out to see what they are talking about. This is what I find....
It actually looked pretty cute while it stayed, but about an hour later it started just looking kinda trashy - so this evening he got a buzz. :)

This week has been kinda crazy busy - not with anything terribly exciting, just usefully busy. I finished each day tired - but a good kind of tired. We had fun with friends, doctors appointment (and the baby is still doing great!) choir, preschool, piano, Relief Society Broadcast, service and life to keep us busy.

The Relief Society Broadcast was wonderful. An evening full of good food, good friends, and most of all uplifting messages. Now I just have a week to wait for General Conference (and to hope that I actually get to hear any of it...) :) Dan leaves town this Friday, and I hope to get a bunch of dinners made before he goes so that I don't have to worry about cooking much while he is gone. Gonna be a busy week again. :)

And for anyone who in interested, here is my 22 week belly... It was such a pain to get Dan to take this picture, that I doubt there will be many more.

Aaron

Aaron has kept up a constant stream of chatter all day. He just told me "Mommy - all the boogers moving around in my tummy are making me laugh!" His nose has been running all day - he's not sick - just drippy - I think he and Evie must have a slight allergy to something in the air right now.

Birthday Girls

Well mama didn't get her birthday wish.... actually, Dan and I would have been happy to just get through one day this week with out cleaning up one kids poop. Despite this - Dan did his best to try and spoil me - including making me a YUMMY angel food cake!

Well - I won't gross everyone out by going into poop details, just know that there was WAY too much of it this week - and the problem was not any one kid in particular, but the three youngest combining their efforts to make this week rather stinky....

Evie's birthday was also this week. On Friday, we had cupcakes and let her open her presents. She loved the cupcakes and has been trying to sneak one from the leftovers ever since. She enjoyed opening her presents. She got a couple birthday cards - both with cats on them. With each one, she opened it and looked at it very seriously. Then she looked at the cat, cocked her head to the side and meowed at it. She also loved her cute outfit and socks (which she has insisted on wearing every day since) and the pillow pet from Mommy and Daddy.

Since she has figured out how to climb out of her bed, we went this weekend and got a mattress for her. She is now the proud occupant of a big girl bed. I just wish she would use it for something other than a trampoline.... Unfortunately, this has led to 2 very late nights for her. She can't seem to go to sleep with so much to entertain her. Tonight, more than an hour and a half after laying them down, I went upstairs to find her in the kitchen, trying to steal some banana bread and wearing Aaron's clothes. Aaron was fast asleep. She had also gotten into his drawers and scattered his clothes all over their bedroom. I don't know why she hasn't passed out yet - she has been EXHAUSTED all day! Sigh - oh well - hopefully she will get used to this and get into a routine before too long.

Thursday evening, we went to look at some more houses and found a couple that we liked, but we still aren't so smitten that we are making offers. We aren't in any rush to move, so we figure we will wait until we know for sure.

Friday I had an appointment with the ultrasound people at the hospital, we got to see the newest little Jones and we now know that we are expecting a little boy! And here is our first pic of our little man!


Saturday evening we went to a ward potluck. Yummy food and good company and letting the kids run amok with other kids their age = a fun evening. :) But we left a bit early because we had some VERY tired kids....

What Mama Wants for her Birthday

After two days filled with more bodily excrement than any person should have to deal with, I have decided that what I really want for my birthday is a day off. A day where I don't have to clean up poopy accidents and wet accidents. A day where I don't have to spent 15 minutes in the Wal-mart bathroom cleaning up my son's underwear and pants. A day where I don't find poop smeared all over the kids bathroom. A day where I don't have to pick up my daughter from school wearing pants that aren't her's because she had an accident in her own.
Sigh....
well a girl can wish can't she??

Insane is my Middle Name....

...well, not really, it's Lynn, but it might as well be after this weekend... So for the most part Evie - after figuring out how to escape the crib has wreaked minor havoc on her room - then fallen asleep on the floor. She has however decided that her favorite way of wreaking havoc is to change her clothes, and in the process, remove her diaper.

This Friday we had a bunch of friends over for a pot-luck fondue party. The party was Dan's idea and he planned it in his head, but I wasn't totally sure what he had in mind, or what he had told people. Plus, he kept inviting more people last minute. I was rather paranoid that there would not be enough food. We ended up with 6 families (with their kids too) plus the missionaries. There was more than ample food however. The food was delicious, we ended up with delicious appetizers, yummy cheese dip, great meats and dips, and of course Chocolate....mmmmm. We had a great time with some great people. We have been trying to finish the dishes from the party for the last 3 days now....

Saturday morning we got up and met a real estate agent to look at houses. We saw some stuff we liked and some stuff we didn't. Nothing that we fell in love with and had to grab right away, but there were a couple houses we aren't totally ready to discount either. We still aren't really sure if we want to do this now or in 6 months or so, but we figured we might as well look :) We spent the whole morning looking at houses, then we quickly drove back to the house for me to change and grab lunch before heading off to Denver for the Rockies game. The Colorado Mormon Chorale (and me included) got to sing the National Anthem at the game. It was rather exciting to be down in the outfield at a major baseball game singing The Star Spangled Banner! After I met up with Dan and the kids and sat down to watch some baseball. I tried to explain the game to Eileen, and explained enough that she got very excited when we had scored 2 home runs in the first inning. It's funny, the Rockies have had a rough season, but they have done well the only times we have gone to see them! Unfortunately Aaron wasn't feeling good, and threw up all over Dan in the second inning.... we went home after that.... then he threw up again in the car about 30 seconds from our house. My sweet loving husband dealt with the car (which I couldn't have dealt with without throwing up myself) while I stuck Aaron in the bath tub. Fortunately, he seems to have got out whatever was bothering him - he's been fine ever since.

Sunday was Stake Conference. 2 hours with 4 wiggly kids is exhausting in itself, but Dan also helped out with ushering, and I joined the choir (last minute) since I knew the songs already. Some how we survived with no serious damage done and Dan and I even managed to feel the spirit and learn a thing or two. :)
Dan has been learning how to make balloon animals. The kids LOVE it. They are so excited when ever he gets out the balloons and pump. Eileen has decided lately that she wants to learn how too. So Dan taught her how to make a dog and a mouse. She can now do all the twists and such to make a dog or mouse all by herself! As you can imagine, Anna and Aaron also want to try and they have fun twisting and playing with the balloons until they pop.


Evie is a very polite little girl and is prompting her older siblings to being more polite too. Any time anyone does anything for her or gives her anything she says "Tank you Daddy!" Whether or not it's Daddy who is helping her. It's so cute and she says it so often that it's a common occurrence to her it many many times each meal. Oddly enough - for being the youngest of 4, she is not a loud child, so her sweet little voice is so kind and gentle saying it!

Evie's new trick....

Evie has officially learned how to climb out of her crib....

Yesterday, I laid her down for a nap. Within 20 minutes or so, I heard the pattering of little feet on the floor, then banging on her door. I went up and checked on her - she had a stinky diaper - I changed it and put her back in her crib. Half an hour later, I heard more little feet on the floor. Then about half an hour after that I heard the toilet lid closing and flushing. I dashed upstairs and found Evie - totally naked in the bathroom. She told me "pee pee - pee pee!!" I took her back in her room, put on a new diaper, put her clothes back on (which were in the clothes hamper) rescued the other 3 sets of PJ's that she had pulled out of drawers - put on, taken off and then discarded to the hamper and gave up on nap time.....

Anna is the Best

Last week at school Anna collected the most 'gold coins' of anyone in her class. The kids are given gold coins for behaving well and doing good things, and black coins for disobeying or breaking class rules. Last week, Anna earned 39 gold coins and no black ones - she even got a coin during Friday Fun Time (which is the reward for kids with 10 gold coins or more.) She was so excited and proud of herself. She told us "I'm the BEST! I got 39 gold coins. I'm even better than James and he's taller than I am and he's six! I'm the BEST!!!

Labor Day Fun

For Labor Day this year, we packed up and spent the long weekend up at the cabin. We were joined by the Bessendorfers for a wonderful weekend!

We spent the the weekend walking the beautiful trails, cooking over fires, enjoying nature, playing games and letting our kids run amok! The kids had fun exhausting themselves together. The weather was perfect and the company was wonderful. The weekend was relaxing and fun.

Eileen and Zoe were thick as thieves. Evie got VERY attached to Zoe and Jacob and Adena and spent the whole time talking about, or talking to or just calling their names and looking for them. She still keeps asking about Zoe and where she is.

The kids loved campfire cooking - which of course HAD to include s'mores. Mmmmm - yummy. Evie couldn't wait for her marshmallow to be cooked - she just helped herself to what she wanted at the table.

Anna was enthralled by an old hula-hoop she found. She spent most of the weekend playing with it, and has since been telling us over and over that we need to get her a hula-hoop of her own.


The kids were all exhausted when we got home, and we sent them to bed early to get ready for school the next day.

Last week was a bit crazy - besides the usual craziness, we had the sewage shut off in our neighborhood on Thursday. Becky was nice enough to let me crash there until I went to pick up the girls - at which point, we expected the water to be back on - they had said no more than 8 hours.... well after about 12 hours it was turned on.... How they expected a pregnant woman and 4 kids to go 12 hours with out using a bathroom - I don't know....

La La La La Life goes on.

This Tuesday Aaron and Evie and I met some friends at a nearby theater which does kids movies for only $1.25 on Tuesdays. We was the new Winnie the Pooh movie. It was cute - Aaron loved it. Evie thought it was rather loud, but as she got used to it she really enjoyed it also.

Thursday morning, I had a doctors appointment. I am about 18 weeks along, the baby is healthy and doing well - now I am just waiting on a call from the ultrasound people to set up an appointment to find out the gender. So hopefully in a week or two, we will know. :)

Thursday was also the girls school party at Skate City. They wanted daddy to take them, so the picture is just from his cell phone, but they had a blast. Apparently the only time Eileen would go near him was when he was offering food. They came home exhausted but have been talking about it ever since.



Saturday we went out and looked at houses. We aren't really sure if we want to buy and move right now, but we figured we would look around. We had a couple houses in the area that were in the price range we wanted that we had a realtor take us to. Neither one would suit us, but it was kinda fun to look and think about a house of our own again.

Normal?

Well I think life is finally settling into some sort of normal. I am back to being healthy, the two older kids are in school and adjusting to new schedules and new habits. Life is beginning to get back to a routine.

Mornings around here are pretty quiet. The two older ones get off with Daddy nice and early, then Evie and Aaron enjoy the morning with mommy's attention - having books read to them and playing with toys.

I finally saw a doctor who put me on antibiotics and I'm finally starting to feel like myself again. I can breathe, talk and sing again, so I'm good :)

This was a week full of birthdays. Monday was my Dad's birthday. I called him and we had a nice chat. He has since been enjoying his birthday present - a Nintendo 3DS - his favorite part is the ability to take 3D pictures....

On Friday, one of my friends had a birthday party for her son who was turning 8. There was yummy food, lots of friends and a magician. The kids just LOVED the magician and are still talking about it 2 days later. They just watched in rapt attention and laughed and giggled and oohed and ahhed the whole time.

Saturday we went down to celebrate my Uncle's 60th birthday. We got to eat roast pig, and have fun playing with cousins, including water fights, and cake and ice cream. I had a really nice time chatting with Aunt Joan and other family members there.


Evie is talking a lot now. Dan took the kids for a walk and any time Evie got ahead of him - she would keep turning around and saying "come on!!" After our preschool group on Tuesday, one of my friends took one of her kids out to the car, while the other kept playing in the back yard. When Evie heard him out there, she yelled "BIGGG" (his name is Brigg) then ran to the back door and front door yelling "BIGG BIGGG BIGGG BIGGGG" afraid that his mommy was going to leave with out him. She is so cute and helpful and thoughtful. She is also adventurous and explorative....

Anna has been loving school. Her teacher gives out gold coins for good behavior and she loves to talk about how many gold coins she has and how the naughty boys have black coins. She makes sure to tell me every day how she has been good. :)

Eileen is adjusting, but still misses her Park Lane friends. I have been meaning to invite her friend over, but figured I should wait until I was healthy! Didn't want to bring a little girl with asthma over to a house where I was congested and coughing....

Dan has decided that he needs a hobby. So he has decided to learn how to make balloon animals.

Eileen has been listening to a CD from her piano teacher with a bunch of classical music from Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, and Bach. She loves the ballet type music and loves to dance around the room to Swan Lake. Evie likes to copy her by spinning in circles on her toes with her arms in the air. This was the best pic I could get of them dancing.

First Day of School Part 2

Anna is now officially a Kindergartener. She has been very excited about starting school all week, so off she went with anticipation this morning. This afternoon, after school, she said it was boring.... but she seemed rather excited about it either way :) And here she is all dolled up and ready for her first day of school!

Cough cough, sniff sniff....

Well - we managed to come back from Idaho with a few colds... Anna was coughing, but I think that was the dryness more than anything else. I thought Colorado was dry... Utah and Idaho are much worse. It was actually a relief to get back to CO. We have also had a cool summer here, so it was nice to get back to that too. Dan had Tuesday off, so we spent that day un-packing, and doing laundry and settling back in. Wednesday and Thursday I moped around the house while the kids went stir crazy and got into everything. Dan took Friday off to let me try and get some rest and try and shake the cold that has been hanging on for more than a week now. I finally gave up and made an appointment with the doctor... I just hope he can do something about this... I can't take another week of this!! Evie and Aaron have had some runny and stuff noses, but theirs seem to be clearing up, while mine just seems determined to hang around and make itself comfy.

Saturday morning we got to pick up the fruit we ordered from Bithell Farms. We ordered fruit from them 2 years ago and made lots of yummy home made jam with it, but we have run out and so Becky came up last night to help us make jam. We did a few batches last night and a few more tonight. Hopefully we will be able to finish it off tomorrow. I've been eating the foam we scrape off the top on everything I can find, there is just nothing quite like homemade jam on homemade bread... mmmmmmm. The best part is - that this year we ordered purees - which comes already ready (and de-seeded) to make into jam - so most of the hard part is already done! :)

Back to School - Part 1

Well Eileen started school this week. She started at the Quest Academy - and she is missing her old friends - but slowly making new friends. Anna won't start until next Monday, but she did get to go in and meet her teacher and see her class room this week. So here is my beautiful girl, all dolled up for her first day of school - Mommy was sick in bed still, but got up long enough to take a picture, and give lots of hugs and reassurances. Then Dan drove her to school. Good luck big girl first grader!! We LOVE you!

Back Home

Last Monday we left the wonderful hospitality of Paul and Candace for Idaho and Grandma and Grandpa Jones' house. We arrived in the afternoon - tired and ready to be out of the car, but happy to be with Grandpa and Grandma. Eileen quickly ran for the back yard to check out Grandpa and Grandma's new play house and swing set - in testament to the spotless house that Grandma keeps - she ran promptly into the transparent back door. Haha - she's never seen glass so clean! Thankfully that didn't dampen her excitement.

We got the girls hair cut - Eileen and Anna have been asking for shorter hair for awhile now - and so Grandma called a lady in her ward and let up a time for them to get their hair cut. I told them that they could have it cut however they wanted - they both look adorable!

The kids had a blast running around with cousins, playing with Grandma and Grandpa, going swimming and running around outside. Mommy and Grandma had fun sewing, and choosing out the fabric for Evie's quilt.
On Thursday more cousins started to arrive. Steve and Claire showed up and Eileen loved having an older girl cousin to play with - she and Elise got along wonderfully.

On Friday, the rest of the gang arrived - Paul and Candace, John and Melissa and Dave and Stephanie all showed up with their kids in tow and best of all - Dan got in from Florida. We all got together for a wonderful hamburger dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The kids all had fun running amok and playing together and even doing a bit of eating. It's amazing that SO many kids and people can get together and still have so few traumatic situations. I was excited to meet Stephanie finally - she's awesome - she fits right in with this crazy bunch!


Saturday we headed up to the cabin - but it wasn't "ready" for us - so we spent the morning and afternoon down playing in the river. The water was FREEZING for those of us spoiled by Texas water and weather - but it was a beautiful spot. The kids all had tons of fun - Eileen and Anna (and some of the other younger kids) were a bit scared by the current. Evie with lack of nap time and too much play, got a bit cranky at the end. Finally we were able to head over and settle in. We had a yummy dinner, played some games, put the kids to bed, played more games and crashed hard for the night.
Sunday we went to church near by and doubled the size of their nursery and primary. Then came back for an afternoon of crafts, and games and relaxing. The kids (and some adults) got their faces painted by some of the older girls - LOL - some of the paint really didn't want to come off though.... We had a family home evening together that night and had fun singing and learning together.

Monday morning, we loaded up the car with kids and stuff and hit the road for the long trip ahead. The car trip was uneventful and late that night we arrived back in Colorado and quickly went to bed.