Bugs and Baseball

This afternoon Larry was moving some of our stones around and was finding a bunch of "potato bugs" Hayden was instantly interested. She loved them. I had to convince her she couldn't bring them in the house because they lived out side! She was totally unafraid of all the bugs and was willing to pick up anything we found. Amelia (a little more like me) would hold them but then all of a sudden thing hey these are creepy and drop them.

Here is the centipede Larry found. He asked Brock if he wanted to hold it and he said NO! But Hayden instantly wanted to! This is Ethan holding it. Although Hayden did hold it for a while.

Earlier today Ethan had his 3rd baseball game. I won't be posting pictures of every game because there would be way to many baseball pictures for anyone to stand! It was a fun game though. They won this one 7 to1! Ethan didn't get any hits but he had an "exciting" play. The only hit the other team made was to the out Field and Ethan and the Rt Field guy made a dash to the ball. Ethan dove under the other boy...thus they lost the ball and the boy made an infield home run! Way to go!!! ha ha. It was the only big mistake in the game and that is ok. It made the other team not feel quit so bad when we creamed them!!!! I have to say that this minor league thing is so much more fun for me the t-ball! The boys are actually playing some real baseball, when they make mistakes it matters, there is a winner and a looser, Not that I think winning is everything and I am supper competitive. Because I am not the mom screaming on the sidelines either. But I have to admit it is more fun to watch them use the skills they have developed make real plays and not everyone hits everyone scores....
Also last night was our schools carnival. It was a lot of fun. I helped with 2 of the booths and had Hayden with me for part of the time. She was a great helper. She would pick the bean bags up after the people would toss them. That is until she got board of that. Plus we were really close to the Cookie walk station and she really wanted those cookies. I finally sent Ethan to take her to the cookie walk. She didn't win though. Each of the kids came home with a handful of junky toys that they love and I am sure they will end up the the garbage the next time I clean their rooms but it supported the school and they had lots of fun and that is all that matters. This was the first time we have ever gone in and actually bid on the baskets that the classes put together. We decided to bid on the family game not basket. There was 3 board games, a rocket launcher (Nerf), jump rope, slinky, puzzle, sudoku puzzle book, box of popcorn, plastic cups, and plates.... It looked like a lot of fun. So we took a chance. I threatened a few people from our ward to stay away from it, ONE of them out bit us but I just bid again and we ended up bringing it home. The kids were so excited! I have to admit so was I. It was fun and we will probably do it again. (I might have to beat the principal and his wife up for jacking the prices up by walking around and keep bidding on things. It is actually kind of funny, but I wonder what would happen if he ended up with like 10 baskets!

Pinewood Derby

Last night was our Pinewood Derby! They boys had a lot of fun! I think just going to the races is just fun! This first picture is a shot of Ethan's car in first place! I think this is the only race he won. But he really didn't care. Before we left he told me he hoped he won every race, but he was such a good sport. He didn't even say anything about not being the fastest this year! Last year he won them all but this year he didn't and he was ok with that. I was so proud of him for just being happy to be there and having fun!

Ethan and a few of his friends at the race! He is with Marcus and Levi.

Here he is holding his award. All the boys get some kind of award. He got Best paint job! Way to go Ethan!

Baseball!

This is Ethan's first year in Minor League baseball. He is loving it and has great coaches that are really helping him improve! He had his first game Saturday. I got there and realized that my memory card for my camera was still in the card reader at home!!! His second game was tonight. It was really cold! But I can't complain it didn't rain!!!! The only down side is whinny from the girls! Ethan plays center field.

Here they are getting ready to switch out during innings.

In the dug out!

Up to bat!
Now here is the exciting part! The very last inning it was tied 4 to 4 and we were up to bat last. If we scored we would win. One of our boys got beaned by the ball and they put Ethan in to run for him. Ethan got to steal 2nd. Run to third on a hit and we were down 2 outs! The last boy up to bat got to talk to the coach for a minute, then before we know it Ethan is running STEALING HOME!!! He slid like a pro and made the run to win the game!!!! He was soooo excited and so was the whole team! Way to go Ethan

Brock's new trick!

Saturday we took advantage of the beautiful weather and FINALLY took off Brock's training wheels. We talked about doing it all summer last year and never did. But Larry took them off and minutes later this is what I saw!

He can go straight pretty good as long as he keeps peddling. As soon as he stops so does he.... He has a hard time steering too but he will get there with practice! His balance is pretty good though and he can get going all on his own.

Weeeeeee!

Hayden "graduated" to a big girl swing today! She had been using the "baby" swing still but now that I baby sit a baby she got bumped. She has been swinging on her tummy on them by herself but today was the first time I have pushed her on the big swing. She loved it!!! She kept saying weeeee and yee haw! We just loved soaking up the sunshine!

Dotty loves to chase the kids feet when they swing! This is Kade the little boy I watch. He is Amelia's best friend. Hayden loves it when they come too. She cheers "yeah Kade's home, Baby Jace is home!"

Is that a happy face or what! (how do they go from that to on the couch running a fever in about 30 minutes?)

Here are "my little boys" Larry loves it that I call them that. We just love having them at our house!

Night time chats

Sometimes Larry and I lay awake talking for a while before we go to sleep. I am sure lots of married people do. I just had to share this conversation we had Sunday night. Larry was telling me about how on the radio he had heard about these studies that someone did on how kids don't wake up to smoke detectors. The talk show hosts were talking about how they have these new ones that you can record your own voice to wake the child and this is suppose to be more effective.... They played the recording for an example and it was the mom with an urgent but kind voice saying "Johnny get up Get Up Johnny, get out of the house there is a fire" The Hosts were laughing saying that isn't going to wake up a kid it should be the dad's voice yelling "JOHNNY GET THE HECK OUT OF BED THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE!!!" Larry and I laughed and started talking about what we would record to get our kids out of bed (especially one who is a very deep sleeper!) But it eventually got to the subject that our smoke alarms are very sensitive, and go off A LOT! Probably close to 1/3 of the time that I use the oven, so that is a lot at our house!!! (it is not because I am burning thing either!) Anyway we were laughing because then it would be yelling at our kids to get out of bed at dinner time, or our other family joke is when the smoke detector goes off someone always yells dinner is ready! So we thought it would be even funnier if we just set the smoke alarms to yell, "DINNER'S READY!" We kind of laughed at what our neighbors must think when so often our smoke alarm is going off and they hear me call dinner is ready.... They must think I am the worst cook ever!

Easter Day

Here is Hayden in her pretty Easter dress. It is the same dress she wore last year. I bought the girls dresses a little big last year so that I could get two years out of them. They love them even though they aren't pink because they are like "Cinderella".

I couldn't get one normal picture of my kids! I have to laugh at this one though because Hayden was making such a funny face. She makes this face at me sometimes thinking she is funny, I think she is trying to wink at me.

This one was almost normal...

I wish I had taken a nice picture of Amelia's hair but it was really cute! She had left over hair today while we were running around Costco and Waremart and she had lots of women tell her she had pretty hair and it was falling out... so Sunday it was really cute! Maybe I will do it again and post pictures. We will see.

Coloring Easter Eggs

(Some of the finished product we colored 4 dozen!)

We seem to always wait till the night before Easter to color eggs. I don't know if there is anyone else who does but it just ends up that way for us. We actually had a lot of fun this year because the kids were not fighting over colors, or yelling about wanting more eggs.... They were all having fun laughing and being creative. It got noisy but at least it was in fun.

Amelia had lots of fun trying to color things with the crayons and then dying the eggs.

Ethan got pretty creative trying to dip the eggs in more then one color. He made several that were 3 colors!

Brock was just having fun being silly, I think his fingers are tie-dyed!

The only reason Hayden's fingers aren't multi colored is because she got orange in the beginning and was NOT going to trade with anyone! She did every one of her eggs orange! She did have a lot of fun coloring the little orange cup with the color crayons. She was more patient then I thought she would be. I thought she would be putting them in and out in just a few seconds but she took more time with hers then most of the big kids! So all the orange eggs are very pretty! She didn't even want daddy to dip the top of his egg in her color so he could use a little orange! I think eventually he got one tip done but for the most part orange was HERS!

Easter Egg Hunt

Monmouth has so many fun things for just about every holiday. I know lots of towns have Easter egg hunts but this was the first one I have actually taken my kids to (well since Brock was a tiny baby anyway!) It was fun, not overly crowded, and over quick. There were a lot of people there but it didn't seem overwhelming to me.

Here is Hayden finding an egg in the log!

Amelia desperately scrambling to find another one! Each of my kids came home with 4 (poor Brock) to about 8 eggs. Some kids had a lot more! One kid has several more thanks to Brock since he was having a hard time getting them in his bag and ended up dropping a few and another kid just kept grabbing them.

This is one of the little boys I watch with my girls. Kade is one of Amelia's best friends! They just love each other and play so well together. It was fun for both of them to see each other at the egg hunt!

This was the only shot I got of Ethan. The big kids egg hunt was a mad dash!!!! I never did get one of Brock! He was so desperate to get those eggs in his bag and then lost a few that he had to try to find more... Poor guy never did. He was kind of sad coming home with just 4 eggs but his very sweet brother had enough he shared some with his brother!

Cravings and true love!

So at 13 weeks pregnant I have had some off and on food cravings. My husband has learned that if I start fixating on a food it is much easier to run out and get it for me (because I am to lazy to do it my self!) then to listen to me keep going man I really want..... for days on end! So Last night I just kind of mentioned the fact that I had been craving pie for 2 days! He very sweetly said what kind do you want. I tried to do the "no, you don't have to I don't NEED pie." But he asked what time the store closed and decided he better do it now asked what flavor I wanted and headed out. The phone rang a few minutes latter because they didn't have the kind I had asked for. I ended up with Half a very yummy apple pie and me being the big pig that I am lately ate all but about 5 bites of it. Larry came in to finish it up and said, Mmmm what I could taste was really good. He is so nice to me and I was so selfish and pigged out! What a wonderful husband! I actually considered taking a picture of the pie last night for proof but I ate it too fast so sorry the only proof is the wrapper in my garbage can!

Gymnastics

Amelia is doing Gymnastics at the YMCA for the next week. (It is a 4 week program and she just finished week 3) She is loving it! They have done lots of tumbling, uneven bars, balance beam, and vault. I think they will do rings next week too. We will see. She has had lots of fun doing it.
It was funny her teacher kept telling her to put her hands up after she landed and she didn't understand why. So when we got home we looked up some of Shawn Johnson in the Olympics and watched her doing a bunch of stuff and Amelia was really excited. I think she would love to do this for a long time and do all kinds of fancy tricks. I don't know if the program is set up for that but maybe in a year she will learn how to do a cartwheel.

(p.s. this may be one of the only or few pictures you will see of Amelia in pants! She will rarely if ever wear pants but I told her she could NOT do gymnastics in a dress or skirt! So she gives in for the 1/2 hour and promptly changes back into her skirt when we get home!)

Welcome to the Family Reagan!

My Brother Sunny and His Wife had their baby girl today! I am so excited for them and can hardly wait to go see her! They named her Reagan Joy. She is so beautiful, and healthy!!! (I stole this picture from my moms blog you can read more about her there. )

This evening we were watching Ethan at his baseball practice and Amelia wanted to pick flowers for Grandma and Reagen so that they would know that she loves them. It told her they would die before we got to see them again so we thought we could post the pictures on our blog for them.

Hayden had to be part of the action so she picked a handful of weeds to show to Grandma too! (Sorry I didn't turn it before I posted it!)

Brock never to be left out had to pick flowers for Grandma and the baby too! Only he couldn't hold his he had to put them on a paper towel. (Not sure why!) So consider these your first virtual flowers Reagan! We love you and congratulations Sunny and Angela!

12 weeks down

Here is a picture of some of my "Conference Cookies" I am going to make one more kind this is Oatmeal Scotchies, and Peanut butter blossoms. I am still working on either Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chocolate raisin cookies or just plain Chocolate chip cookies!
Today I am officially 12 weeks pregnant with our 5th child. I am feeling... well as good as it gets I guess. I hate to complain since I know I have it soooo easy compared to the many who spend the entire time sick, on bed rest..... I am fairly lucky I get tired, and most food sounds yucky to me most of the day. There are a few things I really like to eat that always seem to help. Apples are a big thing for me right now and have been for about 3 weeks. To much sugar is really not good (which is totally opposite of my normal eating habits!) Meat is actually not repulsive to me. I don't love it but I don't hate it which usually I am a all or nothing when it comes to meat and pregnancy. My weight remains the same which is good since I started out heavier this time and can afford to not gain any for a while. My body kind of does the same weight thing each time. I am hoping it will hold true with #5 so that I don't have even more to loose when I am done. My main "complaints" this time around are that since it is baby number 5 (actually pregnancy #9) my body really has been stretched to the limits and doesn't have much support left. My muscles have given up already (I am showing to the point people close to me notice!) Since there isn't much muscle tone left it not only shows but it hurts. The ligaments are all stretched too so if I move quick, or wrong, roll over in bed I get a really bad sharp pain clear across my belly. I wake my self up moaning because my body hurts, and I have a hard time breathing. The baby is what the size of a peanut? How can I feel crowded??? I hope things don't get worse they just kind of remain the same for a while. I keep thinking I want a baby bad enough to do this! I can do this! Last time right??? We'll see about that one but for now I can believe that to keep my sanity. I love my children and I love babies. I actually typically don't mind pregnancy, but this seems to be much worse much earlier. Partly because it is #5 and partly as my mother keeps reminding me I AM OLDER! Sure it is almost a decade since I got pregnant with my first one but in my mind I am that same young 20 year old having my first baby!!! Apparently my body doesn't agree. Oh well. It will totally be worth it! The other side effect I suffer from is a bit of grouchiness. I feel bad because I often feel a little bit like Jeckle and Hyde to my kids. I try really hard and hope that in another week when my 2nd trimester is gear maybe I won't be so tired and cranky. This morning was probably my worst day yet. I won't go into details because I feel like the worst mom ever. Lets just say, my boys were fighting instead of getting ready for school, they got in BIG trouble, and ended up loosing their pizza and movie night (every Friday we have a pizza picnic and watch a movie). I told them they would be eating PB&J and going straight to bed. There was a lot more crying and then Brock almost had to walk to school instead of ride in the car! It was a very rough morning and I left my boys at school feeling awful! I tried to get my head back on this morning before my presidency meeting, I almost made it. So I was frazzled all morning but a short nap on the couch has helped. I am hoping that my boys and I can patch things up this afternoon. I told them just before they left that they could earn back their pizza if they could get their room clean before dinner time WITH OUT fighting! This is almost an impossible task but I am hoping it is insentive enough that maybe just maybe we can find some peace, and I can regain my sanity. If not then I guess they will have an early bed time and I will regain my sanity in the quiet of the evening!

On the happy side one of my most favorite weekends of the year is this weekend and I can hardly wait! It is our General Conference when the Prophet and all the apostles and many leaders speak to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It always fills my heart and it always ends before I am done listening. The other benefit is that my dear friend Allison and I always spend the entire weekend scrap booking and listening. This year I have some good packets and bingo cards the kids have to do while we listen and I plan on kicking them outside or up stairs during the in between so that they can work their wiggles out. So today I am spending the rest of my day baking cookies! I call them "conference cookies" I bake lots of them and this time several different kinds so that there are lots of choices. This gives the "kids" something that they can easily snack on with out disturbing anyone, or asking what can I eat.... plus who doesn't love to have yummy treats. I just love to make the weekend special. It almost feels like a holiday to me! I even have a special breakfast we have. I always make waffles. I don't make them a ton in between conference, so the feel like a treat. I make sure there is some yummy fruit, jam or something to put one them! I think I am salivating already. But I am smelling the cookies too, not to mention I already ate one! I am hoping to "fill my cup" this weekend! Which I am sure I will.

There hasn't been a whole lot else happen this week. Last Saturday my wonderful friend Kelli came to visit us from Wyonming! It was so wonderful to sit and visit with her. She stayed till 2 am and it was a lot of fun. I miss her lots! So it felt good to visit and get to meet her new baby! She looks a lot like her big sister to me. She is definatly a Gard baby that is for sure! I have been doing my part time child care, which I actually really like. The boys I watch are so good and Amelia is actually lonely when they aren't here. So it is really nice to have them. Plus Wed I took the girls to the library for story time. A highlight of our week always! The fun thing for me is I actually got our book club book for this month so I will actually get it all read this month. We are reading "This I Believe." I am about 100 pages in and loving it! I keep thinking about what am I going to have be my "This I believe" statement for our club meeting. I am not sure yet so I will maybe post it when I decide.

The only sad news of the week for me anyway is that ER ended last night. I know totally lame! But I have been a fan since I started college 12 years ago! There were times where I didn't see it because I didn't always have tv. But for the most part I watched and I will be sad to say good bye to the characters. I am one of those lame people who gets so into these characters the feel real to me, when they stop showing the show I start to wonder stupid things like, I wonder what "Abby and Luka are doing?" DUMB I know! I went through the same thing with Friends when it went off. But I am sure I will get over it! It sure was fun seeing all the old characters they brought back though even for a short time. Ok Enough of my lame chatter I will get back to making my cookies, get a load or two of laundry done, maybe get by toilets clean before we have people here all weekend, and make pizza for my girls and maybe the boys.