And then we were done

There is no better way to start the week than spending all morning ironing, getting 3 kids dressed, hair done and managing to find something comfy to put on your ever expanding belly and then sitting in church singing the closing song and having your two year old look at you and promptly proceed to vomit all over you for 2 minutes straight. Well maybe when she is in the process of throwing up and your husband is so helpful as to throw a pack of wet wipes at you. I'm pretty proud of the fact that I didn't heave myself. Good news: She hasn't thrown up since and I got to go home and change into something far more comfortable.

Anyway, I'll do a quick wrap up of the Birthday girls celebrations and then we'll be done with her for awhile. I think we dragged that birthday out for as long as possible!Our awesome neighbor Noah always puts up the birthday cake for everyone on the street's birthday. We're sure going to miss them when they move to Virginia :(

On her actual birthday I think we did our part to contribute to childhood obesity.
For breakfast she wanted doughnuts and then Dustin and I brought her McDonald's for lunch at school, plus more doughnuts we had for her class treat. When she got home from school I had her help me make her birthday cake because she still thinks that kind of thing is fun. In fact, I even let her decorate the whole thing. I think she did a really cute job.After a quick dinner of homemade pizza -- Ellie picked pineapple and canadian bacon -- we did the fastest present opening ever because we had to head off to the softball fields. Thanks for all the fun gifts family!

(this game is super fun for littler kids on the wii, even Sadie can play it and it may have burned off a few of the birthday calories)
(guess who got into this gift the very next day and earned herself a nice long time out?)

Then Saturday we took her out for our gift: a day out with mom and dad and NO siblings. I stole the idea from Jill. I like the idea of her getting a little one-on-one time with both of us.

We went out for lunch and then to see the Hannah Montana movie. It actually wasn't as terrible as I thought it was going to be and Ellie loved it. After it was over we took her shopping. She picked out some new sun glasses, flip flops and a shirt. The cute part was everything she bought was on a two-for-such and such a price deal so she bought a second set for Sadie. What a sweet sister. And so now she is seven. :( I can't believe next year I'll be blogging about her baptism.

Oh yeah, and Nate is still alive and well.

Three Cheers for Ellie

As I was cleaning up the house I found little touches of Ellie all over the place. I guess she likes to leave a little part of her here so we don't miss her so much when she's at school. Seeing as it's her birthday week, I thought I'd share a few of the little things that make me laugh.

1. Ellie actually mocks my love for American Idol every Tuesday night, but I guess she took pity on me this week and decided to draw me pictures of the judges. Dustin and I were laughing at how "Pola" was a little more glam than poor Kara. I was totally impressed that she knew their names.

2. Where else would you put your new hair bows? Why put them in the drawer where you can never see them? I'm always finding touches of Ellie "decorating" all over the house.

3. Ellie got sent to time out the other night, which is a corner by our front door. I guess there was a dead bug over there and she was kind of upset about having to sit there. Being the mean mom that I am, I told her she was in time out and she could either live with the dead bug or pick it up and throw it away herself. The next noise I hear is Nate running around celebrating the fact that he had some money and he was going to go buy himself some bubble gum.

"Mom, look at my money."
"Where did you that get money?"
"Ellie gave me money for throwing away the dead bug."
She's a smart cookie! Of course her planned backfired later when Nate found a dead fly, threw it away and ran up to inform Ellie that he now owed her more money. I think he earned a whole 50 cents last night.

Party On Wayne

This week started off the big birthday fun of April. Between birthday parties for Zach, Kate and Ronan, we managed to squeeze in an early birthday dinner for Ellie. I figured since I had thrown Ellie 6 huge parties in the past, I could take this year off.

Instead I let her invite 3 of her best friends and I took them out to dinner. No invitations, no baking/decorating/game planning/clean up. . . basically the only work on my part was driving around to pick them all up. Best party EVER! And by party, I mean dinner because I kept telling Ellie it wasn't a party. So what if there were goodie bags and gifts -- still *not* a party. Amount of planning on my part : 2 e-mails.

Ellie picked TGI Friday's because you can get fancy drinks with their kid's meal. You could tell the girls had all got fancied up after school and they were so adorable. It probably helped that everyone gushed over how cute they were every time we turned around and all the fun little freebies they got. Ellie even got the ever embarrassing birthday song. They thought they were *so* grown up.
Ellie and Tayler have been friends since the first day of school Kindy year.

Hailey is Ellie's newest BFF this year and super sweet.

And of course, Lindsay -- Ellie's eternal BFF. On the car ride back to our house they were planning on how they would be roommates at college.

After the easiest and cutest 2 hours of my life, I dropped off Hailey and Tayler and then Lindsay came back to our house so the girls could have a little PJ party and watch a movie. I don't think I'll ever throw another party in my life.

Her official birthday isn't until next week but it was fun to spoil her a little early anyway. She's an awesome kid and she deserves a little extra attention now and then!

Easter Overload

I've got a good excuse this time!!! Sunday night while at the Ashton's I started feeling pretty sick and I don't think I even slept again until Friday night. Poor Dustin didn't get much sleep either with me being up 24-7. Anyway, I was completely out of it all week and I'm not even sure if I was making sense half the time. Dustin would ask a simple question and I would start crying.

Luckily, the kids still got some Easter fun in until I felt better.

Wednesday: Nate's pre-school Easter Egg Hunt
Thursday: Nate and Sadie got to have a little Easter Egg hunt at Jill's and then Ellie and I made some Easter cookies
Friday: Our annual Easter Egg Hunt with all of our friends Sadie got the whole concept this year, so she was fun to watch run from egg to egg and then Nate and Ellie are self-sufficient these days, so I would say it was the perfect hunt.

Saturday: Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. Our numbers were definitely few -- probably because it was soaking wet.

I heard it raining all night, so when Jill called at 8 because it was raining, I suggested we cancel it all together. Well, only Jill could convince us to do it anyway. She's just got such a positive attitude about everything that you think, "You're right! Breakfast and an Easter Egg Hunt in the rain would be perfect!" And it really was. We live in Arizona after all, how often do we get to do anything in the rain?? It was freezing cold and the kids were soaked, but they had so much fun jumping in puddles and playing in the mud.
We spent the rest of the day getting the house cleaned after my week of zombie-hood, dyed Easter Eggs -- surprisingly less work and more fun than I thought it would be -- homemade pizza picnic dinner while we watched Wall-E and then the kids and I made banana bread for breakfast or a midnight snack if you were Dustin and me.

Sunday: Baskets and an Easter Egg Hunt in the house. It was kind of sad filling Ellie's Easter basket with a purse and clothes. No toys for her this year. Sadie finally got her Dora Backpack. Dustin bought it a few weeks ago and Sadie FOUND it early, stinker. When Dustin took it away from her she cried and cried for days. She'd just be sitting there and randomly say, "Where's my Dora present?" I couldn't believe she wouldn't just forget about it. "Is it my birthday? Do I get my present now?" FINALLY today was the day.
At breakfast I gave each of the kids a special egg from Mom and Dad. Sadie got some hair clips, Ellie got earrings and Nate got. . . a BAKUGAN! Nate has been dying for a Bakugan for about 6 months. I think every other boy on our street and in our circle of friends has one. I thought they seemed kind of pointless, so I refused to get any. Then a few months ago Nate started making his own Bakugan. He takes gum wrappers or chocolate foil wrappers and rolls them up into a ball and "battles" with them. After finding them all over my washing machine from being shoved in pockets and never taken back out, I decided that maybe I'd spring the whole $5 and buy him one. Totally worth it just for the sheer number of "thank-you's" I've gotten today. Nate will run into a room just to say, "Thank you for buying me a Bakugan."

Next on the list: Church and dinner with the Wells clan. Happy Easter! HE IS RISEN! Oh and since everyone has been asking me -- Ellie's headband is from Target. Can you believe it?? I know Lynette's little girl has some adorable ones from J Crew just like it, but I got Ellie's in the adult accessory section for $7.

I apologize

I stink. I have a lot to say, but my free time and desire never seem to meet. So to pacify my mother -- a video from a week ago.

My sister came back from Italy a few weeks ago and sent a fun little package to the kids. Sadie's favorite object was not her Ciao Bella purse, but instead the 3-6 month onesie, socks and hat meant for Luke.

Within the same hour of discovering her talent of fitting in tiny little clothes, Sadie discovered another talent.

POORAY! POORAY!

"POORAY" is Sadie's term for Hooray! She also says "scoon" instead of spoon. It always cracks me up.

Anyway, POORAY! that school is back in session. It was fun having everyone home, but I think I could do without 3 kids following me everywhere and needing to be entertained. I think I've been to/had enough play dates to last awhile. Here are some of the things they came up when they had to entertain themselves:

Fashion Show



Taking random pictures with mom's camera
One day I was cleaning the playroom and Nate walked in. I asked him if he'd put something away for me. "I didn't come in here to help Mom, I came in here to do nothing."

And I wish I could post pictures of Ellie's "spa" but Sadie is stark nekkid and a little too old to make it blog appropriate. Just picture a foot bath turned wrong.

Yesterday Ellie came with me to my OB appointment. It was nice to have her company since I had to do my glucose test so we were there for an hour. But we also got a 3rd trimester ultrasound in. True to my beautiful 6-7 pound babies, Luke will be a nice easy size to pop out. POORAY! Boo-ray to having to go to appointments every 2 weeks now.

Ellie was just sitting there chatting with me for the entire hour when she went on a huge list of things she would like to be when she grows up. Things like a house designer, restaurant maker, and my personal favorite: someone who gives you driving tests and tell you how well you drive. My daughter wants to grow up to work at the DMV. POORAY! Does that mean I'll never have to wait in line again?

One of the jobs Ellie listed was fashion designer, which reminded me of Sunday. I was looking at the kids pictures from class and trying to figure out what on earth either one had to do with the Holy Ghost. Ellie explains, "Mine is a fashion model because the Holy Ghost makes me happy when I think of being a Fashion Designer." Awesome! Nate's was of a cousin which he kept calling Micheal, but after listing off all of his *actual* cousins, we determined it was Jake.

And one last POORAY for potty training. Sadie will do just about anything if she gets candy after wards. Even if it means going pee every 5 minutes. It actually started off yesterday when I was storing Sadie's cold weather clothes and getting the summer stuff out.Ellie actually wore this outfit when she was learning to WALK. And Sadie is already 2. There -- in the midst of all the clothes -- was Ellie's princess underwear. Sadie insisted on wearing them, I was running out of diapers. . . so I figured it was a fair compromise. Let's hope this is my one and only attempt at this and I'll be diaper-free for a few months!

Oooooh, and POORAY! The FedEx guy just showed up with a VERY awesome package. I'm so stinking excited - a new carseat and jogging stroller for Luke. My mom and sister ROCK!

One can only hope

Last year our really good friends, the Kimballs, moved to California for a fellowship. This weekend they're back in town for a few job interviews. I couldn't resist reminding them about how much cheaper Arizona is and what a great deal you can find on a houses right now. Sure California has perfect weather, great schools and all of Tony's family, but you can't forget the cost of living and traffic!! Plus Arizona has US!Rickie and 3 week old Avery, Michelle, me isn't 6 months pregnant a little early for fat-face-itis?, Brenna and Ryder Ellie and Noah. I can't believe how much he looks like Tony. The girls look just like Michelle so he was a surprise.The big girls: Ellie, Abby and Kyla The boys couldn't stop playing to sit still: Dane, Logan, Nate and DavenCraftingWhich masked superhero is Nate??

The dads were too busy playing football/rock banding/going to the movies to get their picture taken. Having them here only reminded me how much we miss them. I'd much rather pay for a hotel when I go to Disneyland and have them here. Crossing my fingers and toes. Now if only we could get Tasha down for a visit. . .

Actually -- you're all welcome to visit OR move here anytime.

Rest and relaxation

It's been a really great break so far -- despite the bickering and power struggles. It always takes a good week for everyone to learn how to deal with each other all day and no normal routines. Case in point: Nate's nose. Ellie got mad at him one morning and threw a domino at him. This was then followed by much lecturing from me and then a note: Thanks for making me feel like the worst sister in the world mom. Love, Ellie. At least I found it in the trash. I think she realized it was mean after she settles down a little. I think it was a great lesson for all about why we don't throw things. As you can see, Nate also has a new camera face: Deer in Headlights.

The weather has been gorgeous and we haven't had a shortage of playdates, trips to the park, bike rides or spring cleaning.

Dustin was out of town for the beginning of the week and I went on a purge-fest. I got all the cabinets, closets, baskets etc. cleaned out and organized. A whole month ahead of schedule! Usually April kicks off my clean-fest, but I've had so much energy lately I decided to nest early.

The other day Sadie was watching D-d-d-dora on TV and I started thinking that they kind of have some similarities.
1. Big brown eyes
2. Usually accompanied by a monkey
3. If you don't do what she says the first time, she just says it louder

Yesterday some friends and I hit up the Gap friends and family sale followed by lunch. I got the girls the cutest Easter dresses. These are actually the 3rd Easter dresses I've bought and returned, but I swear I'm keeping these. Ellie was distraught because she liked the second one the best and I returned it yesterday afternoon, so I had to let the kids try their new clothes on to convince them that they actually liked them. Sneak peek: This was then followed by a photo session of Nate and Sadie with their mouths open. Why they thought this was funny I have no idea.Now we just need to find some time to relax. Enjoy your weekend.

Wow -- was that almost a week?

Sunday was not a good day for me so maybe that's why I disappeared for awhile. In the space of about 15 minutes I got the following comments: "You look like you're going to burst" "You're looking rolly poley" and "You look like you're going to pop." Lesson learned: I will not be wearing that dress ever again. I still have 15 weeks left people!

I then decided to go on a diet and cut all the bread and dessert out of my life. Until 7 pm tonight that is. When we finally rounded up the kids and Dustin was done working, we opted for pizza and Planet Earth. Oh and that yummy piece of toast earlier today. Who am I kidding -- we all knew I wouldn't last long. I've decided to bring that whole, "You look glowing" thing back. How come no one says that any more? You can be fat AND glowing, right??

Back to Sunday and Sadie: after I cried in the car for a few minutes -- I'm pregnant, I'm allowed a few hormonal moments -- we could focus on the fact that Sadie had been acting funny all day. She actually SAT throught Sacrament Meeting and cried in Nursery. Usually she demands to be taken to Nursery directly after the water. Two days later with a fever we took her in and sure enough it was an ear infection.

You know Sadie is sick when she'll just fall asleep in my arms. I loved actually getting to hold her, but she seemed to have an extreme case of paranoia. She'd be sitting there quietly and suddenly bolt straight up crying, "MY BABY! MY BABY! Where's my baby???" One morning she was having trouble sleeping so I brought her in bed with me around 5 am. Dustin was already off at the gym and Sadie couldn't not go back to sleep because she was so concerned about Dustin missing. "Where's my dad? I need my dad." Poor baby :( Please stop taking my picture mom.

2 doses of antibiotics later and good old wild girl Sadie is back. I tried taking her out for a run in the jogging stroller and she kept trying to climb out and pick flowers. The first day she was feeling better, she found a pair of Ellie's underwear in a laundry basket, put it on over her clothes and ran up to Nate, "I like your underwear Nate." Obviously she couldn't even see his, she was just waiting for him to compliment her back.

New favorite toy: Dora and her babies. It's a big sister Dora doll we bought for Ellie long ago as a reward and I think Sadie loves it more than Ellie ever did.

Nate is as passionate and funny as ever. I got out the Easter stuff and he was so excited to see the plastic eggs. He plays Easter Bunny over at his friend, Daven's house, so he decided this would be the perfect game to play with Sadie. It was not the perfect game. Sadie would not pretend to be asleep and she would not hunt for eggs. Even worse, when it was her turn she just ran away with eggs instead of hiding them. Poor Nate was really distraught over the whole thing, so the plastic eggs have disappeared.

Ellie had student lead conferences this week and I have to say -- that girl is such a joy! She's just so sweet and thoughtful and you can tell she tries so hard to be good. She wrote us the cutest letter:

Dear Mom and Dad,

I am so lucky you help make me a great *insert name of school here* student! Mom, I love it when you comb my hair so I look like a star! Dad thank you so much for helping me do my very hard homework. Mom and Dad I love it when you pack my yummy lunch. I love you as much as a beautiful rose.

Love, Ellie

When we were done with Conferences, we ran to Target to pick up some goodies where Ellie insisted that she needed black leggings to wear the next day for Black and White day. They've been studying penguins all quarter, so this was the big hoorah -- they got to wear black and white clothes and bring in a black and white snack. Of course I agreed to the leggings. My memory's not so far gone that I can't remember needing jelly shoes about that same age. We whipped up some heart shaped homemade oreos and then in an effort to get rid of the rest of the frosting forced cookies on our friends. La la la - beautiful day.

Fast forward to this morning. I can't find the leggings. Ellie has decided she doesn't want to wear the leggings so she hid them. It took every ounce of patience to remember what a good girl that kid is, but dang it if I hadn't bought those leggings on special request for today and she was going to wear them. I hunted them down and insisted she wear them. Meanest mom ever?

Lucky for me I was up in her class teaching Art Masterpiece today when she hugged me, "Thanks for making me wear my leggings mom." Drat, all that work and I didn't get a picture of the leggings!

And with that -- we're on break. WOO HOO!!!

So I was disappointed

Thursday was Ellie's First Grade concert. After her concert last year, I was pretty sure the entire Kindergarten was going to be asked to go on tour or sing in Carnegie Hall or something equally great. Unfortunately, her music teacher left unexpectedly over the summer and I think we got stuck with whoever didn't have a contract for the upcoming year in July.

My first clue that the concert was going to be lack luster was when the sheet with the "songs" and their lyrics came home. I say "songs" because Miss Marry Mack does not necessarily constitute a song to me. I guess it's slightly better than Cici My Playmate, but that would have brought back way better memories at least. Remember the alternative version -- Cici my enemy, come out and fight with me, and bring your dragons three. . . Something about sliding down my razor blade into my dungeon door. Niiiiiiiice.

Second clue should have been when I was singing some of the songs and Ellie had no clue what the words were. One song was Momma's Little Baby Loves Shortenin' Bread. Apparently the kids only learned the chorus and the Ms. Husky, the music teacher, would be singing the verses which include gems like: Three little children, lyin' in bed Two were sick and the other 'most dead
At least she didn't sing the traditional lyrics I ran across when googling the song. For heavens sakes, I think this song should never be sung again. SERIOUSLY! I'm kind of appalled right now.

Third clue: They had to wear their uniform. BLAHHH! They wear their uniforms all stinking day, we can't let them dress up a little bit at night??? They asked them to wear white collared shirts and navy blue uniform pants. Only too bad for whoever "they" are because like half the school doesn't own a pair of navy blue pants and we weren't about to go buy a pair. So they at least had a few navy skirts and some dark jeans. Hooray for indivuality one night of the year. :p

So Thursday night I put Ellie in her white polo and dark jeans, but then Ellie decided that she might need a belt. In a moment of defiance, I agreed and picked out her flower belt which probably has 6-7 colors on them, none of which is red, white or navy blue. Then she picked out her pink boots. Great choice. Why not add a chunky pink necklace while were accessorizing?? After we did her hair she wanted to add a large hot pink flower in the back. Why not! Let's add a few bangles too while we're having fun. By the time we were done, I thought she looked appropriatley individualized.

We headed to the High School where I noticed that very few kids had decided to rebel against the uniform like we had, but I felt confident in my decision when I asked her teacher if Ellie's outfit was appropriate and she said, "It wouldn't be Ellie if she hadn't accessorized."

Finally the concert starts and the kids come marching in -- a sea of blue and white so overwhelming that you could barely tell Ellie was even wearing pink. I was glad she was, though, because at least I could pick her out in the crowd. They had sorely underestimated the amount of risers needed for the kids and you could barely see half the kids in the mosh pit at the front of the stage. Luckily Ellie was on a riser. PHEW! My girlfriend didn't find her son until after 3 songs. Three really booooooooooring songs. He was unfortunately hidden three rows back, behind the music stand, and behind the music teacher who is probably as tall as Dustin.

The 30 minute concert included two solos by employees of the school. Super fun when I came to hear MY kid sing. At least one of them has a decent voice. I have to tell you that the screeching rendition of Shortenin' Bread was almost painful. Now, I know I can't sing, so you'll never find me sticking up my nose when someone's singing off key at church or in a choir, but I also would never willing sign myself up to sing a solo. And that's all I'll say on the subject seeing as how I now think the song shouldn't even exist.

I felt so bad because you could tell even the kids were bored. Some highlights were when they sang, "This Train is Bound for Glory" and Nate sat actually sat still and when Sadie took off running down the aisle trying to find Dustin who was trying to get an angle where he could take a picture of friend's barely visible son. I'm sure the audience enjoyed seeing my haul my pregnant belly after that kid. She is REALLY fast. She's also really cute as you from Ezra trying to put the moves on her.
The best part of the night was when Ellie came up to us and gave us a great big hug and said, "Thank you for coming to my concert Mom and Dad." Man, I'd sit through anything for her. And I'm sure there will be many more boring and long concerts/assemblies to come.

The rest of the weekend was fun: VTing, playgroup, Molly's 30th birthday party eek are we really turning 30 this year, Dustin had Little Philmont, Women's Conference for me, swimming for the kids, a Temple sealing, dinner date with my husband. . . I'm just sad church is in the middle of my nap time because I could really use it today. Here's the view this morning

blah blah blah

Seriously, nothing to see here, I'm sort of just writing something to have *something* to put up on here. We've been running around like crazy. Birthday parties, baby showers for Rickie and Shauna, movies, good bye dinner for Katherine and the best news of the last week: Rickie had her baby girl.

Monday I spent the day over at Karen's with all of our kids, and Rickie's, moaning about how long labor is for normal people. She went to the hospital around 4 am and we still hadn't heard anything at 1 pm, so I got antsy and called for an update only to learn later she had been born about 3 minutes earlier. My labors -from first contraction to baby- have ranged from 6 hours to 90 minutes, so this waiting all day thing is for the birds!

In my competitive spirit I had to rush over to the hospital and then trip Karen in order to be the FIRST to hold Avery. It was really late at night and I obviously had not looked in the mirror before I left the house, so I just cropped myself right out. She has the cutest, longest little toes and fingers and the sweetest cry ever. And look at that little bow!!

To be honest, I haven't been very excited to have another baby and I've been ESPECIALLY cranky about having to be pregnant again, but the second I held that baby I couldn't help but think, "I want mine. Like right now." Well, I mainly want mine right now so I don't have to be pregnant any longer. How on earth do people "cherish" this??

You will never find me posing for a belly shot mainly because I think I look about 8 months pregnant, I'm only like 5, and my face is already starting to get fat. My hips are killing me, I still need a nap every day, I can barely walk past 7 at night and I feel like an old lady half the time. I guess I just needed to hold a little one again to remind me that it will all be worth it.