Snow Days and Tonsils

We got 6 inches of snow and 2.5 days off of school the first week of December.

The kids played for hours!!

David is always a stud and pulls the kids around on the sled first thing in the morning as soon as he finds out he doesn't have to go into work. I tried to keep Lucy inside but eventually I caved and let her out and she was so happy!

And then on Dec 9th Ashton and Mallie went into have their tonsils and adenoids out. They both snored like beasts and we were pretty sure it was causing Mallie some sleep apnea since she is always tired and falling asleep in the car even after 12 hours of sleep at night.

We wanted to document Ashton's huge tonsils for him.

Pre-op at 6:30am.

They loved getting to ride on the bed together down to the OR.

I love great nurses. Mallie was still barely waking up when they rolled her out and the nurse put down the guard rail and said, "You can hop in bed with her." She just cuddled right up on me and didn't even cry. She was so so good.

Ashton on the other hand was an emotional mess. I was holding Mallie when he came out and he couldn't see me on the other side of the room. So David was with him talking to him and he was pretty groggy and saying he was in pain. A few minutes later David and I switched kids and I walked over to his bed and as soon as he saw me he burst into tears. It's such his personality to try and hold it together and be strong in front of Dad and then when Mom comes around then he's safe to lose it.

Thank goodness for tablets. I marvel at the ease we have now of keeping kids occupied. Don't get me wrong I'd gladly live in the 50s where kids could run wild through neighborhoods and we didn't have to worry so much about safety in person and online and I definitely could do without car seats. But I AM so grateful for how much easier life is for me in moments like this!

We're now almost 2 weeks out from tonsil surgery and the kids have done really well. I don't know why we thought they would automatically know what their throats could and couldn't handle but we were wrong. Mallie walked right in from the hospital and tried to grab some pretzels from the pantry. We had to keep serious tabs on them as they are chip (and all things crunchy) junkies. But a few boxes of popsicles, lots of pancakes and lots of water got us through. Hurray for no better sleep and army medical care!

End of November

First up right before Thanksgiving. This guy turned 6!

Ashton is definitely the oldest child. We made him pay for half of his own birthday present. He wanted this lego castle so badly and we just don't do $75 on a birthday gift no matter how great it is. He was more than happy to pull out his piggy bank and make it happen.

 We're going to try and only do friend birthday parties on the 5,10,15 mark. So Ashton picked his favorite dinner and we had cake. The cake that was overcooked and then frozen. David had a Thanksgiving lunch at work and asked me to make brownies. So I made brownies... and after they were in the pan I tasted the batter only to realize it was cake mix. So I put the cake in the oven and got out the brownie mix. Then I put the brownies in the oven.... and then I left for an activity at the Church and forgot to tell David that I left things in the oven. Can we say, pregnant? So he was upstairs getting the kids ready for bed and couldn't hear the oven timer go off. I came home to overdone cake and brownies. Being awesomely frugal we cut out the center stuck it in the freezer, pulled it out and frosted it two days later for Ashton's birthday. And you know what? The kids ate it all and they didn't care!

Ashton at 6 thinks he's all grown up. He's super helpful around the house and loves his sisters. Legos are his thing now and his Dad is still his best friend. David plays Stratego with him at least a few times a week and I'm his regular checkers partner. He's the best oldest kid ever!

 

Thanksgiving came and we did our annual grateful tree. This year the kids were awesome at coming up with their own stuff. Ashton's best one was "I'm grateful to be me" and I even put on there "chocolate" more than once.

We hosted David's family again for Thanksgiving. As always we had a blast. Chanelle (David's little sister) makes all the nieces and nephews pillows when they're born. They're the only ones our kids will sleep with and are well loved. Well, Lucy finally got her own and she loves it!

I don't have any other pictures of Thanksgiving but this one of Lucy and the giant bucket of cheeseballs David's parents brought up. This girl is clever. She scouts for all her own food and because she is so darn cute and usually in the right place at the right time we let her do whatever she wants. She probably ate her weight in cheese balls over the week.

 

That's a wrap on November!! 2013 is coming to a close far too quickly!

 

Kansas City

Kansas City was one of the last two things on my Fort Leonard Wood bucket list. So we decided to take advantage of the 4 day weekend over Veteran's Day and go back with Ben and Emily. When we went to years ago the temple was just about to be dedicated and we really wanted to go do a session. So the Friday before we left I mentioned it to my Mom at the end of our 30 minute conversation. 10 minutes later I get a call from my Dad saying, "I want to come!" So we all met up on Thursday night while my parents watched kids so we could do a session. Then on Friday we headed to the Great Wolf Lodge!

Hannah going down the kiddie slide.

 Mom and Ellie

Dad and Lucy

We decided the Great Wolf Lodge was fun but not 3 days worth of fun especially with such young kids so we checked out early. Then we took the kids to parks, stores and out to eat for the extra day in Kansas City and they thought it was the greatest vacation ever.

I'm an independent kind of girl and pride myself on living far from most of my family and completely embracing it. But as soon as I spent a couple of hours with my parents it made me miss them so much more. We turned on FaceTime and went to their hotel room every night after the kids were asleep. I was so glad to see them and the kids were too!

On Sunday we headed to Liberty Jail and Independence to see the LDS church historical sites. I love this one of the kids looking up at Christ.

We have an almost identical picture from two years ago with two less kids at Liberty Jail. I love this place. There is nothing better than traveling with family with the exact same number of kids you have so you feel completely normal and everyone has a buddy.

Here is the picture I took of Hannah as one of the Stripling Warriors right before THIS happened...

She was standing on the leather ottoman in front of an exhibit fell off and smashed her face right up against the side of the wall. She had a black then yellow eye for almost 10 whole days. Hannah floors me. She cries over her feelings being hurt for hours. She cried over this gash that could have used stitches for 10 minutes. She'll have a scar on her cheek forever and I wanted to document for her where it happened.

We had a great time in Kansas City and are thinking of putting it on our short list of possible places to go when we move this summer. We won't know till February but it's always fun to think about the possibilities.

Halloween 2013

I saw the cutest pregnant mummy on pinterest with eyes poking out of her belly. Well, it was a total fail. By the time we got to the church all my wrappings were falling off, I had lost one of the eyes and I was blistering hot in a crowded gym. My face was totally that red because it was HOT!! David looked really good though and his mostly stayed up so it was a win!

Then actual Halloween came and it was freezing and raining. I was so glad that their costumes this year could be layered upon without taking away from what they were supposed to be.

 Wolverine

Purple Flower - for those of you who know Hannah know how appropriate this is. She is obsessed with picking flowers. It was even her part (that she wrote herself) in the Primary Program this year. "Jesus loves me because he created beautiful flowers and I love to pick them!"

Butterfly

Ladybug (that snuck a sucker) and Daddy. 

And at the end of the photo shoot we caught this gem. Ashton had pulled over all the girls on the couch and Lucy just stood their crying.

You know how Mom's take their kids candy away so they don't make themselves sick by eating too much? Well, I'll freely admit I have made myself sick on THEIR candy several nights this week while David and I have watched movies. I used to be excited to be pregnant through the holidays... now I'm wondering if overindulgence on sweets just might be the end of me. I told David if I end up testing positive for Gestation Diabetes before Thanksgiving and Christmas (even though I never have before) I would have a full on melt down and then sink into a deep depression from having to live out my worst nightmare over the holiday season. Cross your fingers for me!

Pumpkin Patch

This is our 3rd year in a row at Happy Hollow Pumpkin Patch. We tried not to get too nostalgic thinking about how much better it has gotten since our first year here in Missouri. We love Happy Hollows Pumpkin Patch in the middle of nowhere!!

 It's a frightening and enlightening moment when you start to trust your oldest to take your youngest on little rides.

Lucy started walking at 14 months exactly. It felt like forever. We're thrilled we can take her places without a stroller!

Last year I was wearing a 2 month old Lucy in a backpack and next year we'll have an 8 month old at Halloween. Can't wait!!

October Wrap Up

I figure Halloween will get it's own post in a few days and I wanted to document a few iphone pics and our October happenings.
This is Mallie's cousin James who lives down the street. They are 10 months apart and when he was little Mallie used to try to hurt him on a regular basis. Crazily enough for the last 4 months or so these two have been inseparable. When we get together these two always go hide out and play together. In Nursery at church they don't talk to or play with anyone else. They are the best of friends and it's so cute!

 

For Veteran's Day we made the 8 hour drive to Wisconsin to see Jeffrey and Debbie. This is one of the only pictures I got that weekend and only includes the oldest 5. Lucy and Molly are about the same age and Debbie and I are both pregnant again due just a couple weeks apart. We joked as we walked into Target we were quite the scene with 7 kids under the age of 6 and two pregnant women. It was the most fun weekend we have had in a long time! You know the people you can visit and their is no pressure to go and do anything because all the kids are happily playing and you're content to just sit and hang out? That was this weekend. Then at nighttime the board gaming ensued. Once again Debbie and I teamed up for Pictionary and lost BAD 4 games in a row. We're just a little competitive and a little pregnant and we couldn't believe the boys would just decimate us without a second thought. But they did and I may have been a little bitter about it for a good 30 minutes. But we love the Wisconsin Jakes and can't wait to see them for Thanksgiving!

 

This was one of my better Mom moments this month. I wonder why I spend any time pinning ideas for the kids on pinterest instead of just letting them be kids. They were emptying out the water hydrant in front of our house and even though it was 48 degrees outside I let the girls go crazy. They ran up and down the gutters splashing for a good 30 minutes before they froze. I have to remind myself that an extra load of laundry is 100% worth it!

 

Kindergarten update:

At the beginning of the year I was less than impressed with Ashton's teacher. I almost pulled him out at the end of September. It's her first year, there are lots of naughty kids and quite frankly I think she was overwhelmed. Ashton would get in trouble and not know why and he felt like his teacher was upset at the class a lot. After a full on pregnant, hormonal melt down in the Principal's office things turned around rapidly. The teacher got her act together once she knew parents were watching and Ashton is now happy when he comes home. I've been pretty vocal lately that we don't see public school in any of our kids' futures long term but for now Ashton is really happy. When we went in for the parent conference he showed us his desk and the bucket that held every one's boxes of supplies. All the other kids had haphazardly thrown in their crayons, pencils and glue and Ashton's box was perfectly organized. It was a proud moment for David when he saw every single crayon lined up in the box and every little thing had it's place. Then he showed us where they turned in homework and remarked about how the last person who turned in their homework had forgotten to write their name and how that was not good. This is David's mini me and I'm positive academics will be his thing. His teacher then told us he is the best quiet example, he is cruising through everything, and she sometimes has not to call on him because he is always raising his hands with the right answers. It made us super proud and reminded me this kid needs to continue to be taught at home because public school can't keep up with him. I'm not so naïve to think that we breed braniacs and this is how it will be with all our other kids but for now I'll relish in the fact that I get to raise my husbands' clone and that is pretty awesome.

October has been good to us! Next up Halloween!

#5 is a BOY!

 

At 14.5 weeks I had my first prenatal appointment and the midwife pulled out the ultrasound machine to check my dates. I was due on Valentine's Day and then she informed she after looking around that she "didn't see any boy parts". I came home and broke the news to Ashton and David and told them it was probably a girl so they should prepare themselves for the inevitable. Ashton kept saying "it's probably a girl" but when I told him straight out "it's a girl" one day he looked at me and almost cried. It was heartbreaking and I told him we're not done so there was still hope for a brother somewhere along the way.

Meanwhile, I got really excited to have 4 girls right in a row just like my sisters and I. Thinking that now the girls could room 2 and 2 instead of all 3 in one room got me planning their futures as a pack of 4. Fast forward to my 20 week ultrasound. I was chatting with the ultrasound woman who wanted to know if I was Mormon or Catholic and she did her 20 minutes of checking the anatomy of the baby. I was interested in our conversation and she knew I thought it was a girl so I was totally distracted. When she paused before she turned the computer screen around for the big gender reveal I wondered if something was up.

 She turned the computer screen around and it was very obviously a BOY!! I just kept saying, "It's a boy. Oh my gosh." I. was. shocked. Then I thought about getting to tell Ashton and David and how they would react and I started to cry right there laying on the table. She kept saying, "Oh good, I'm glad you're happy! You sounded so excited for a 4th girl." Happy didn't begin to describe the emotions flowing though me.

Then I hurried to catch Ashton during his lunch because I couldn't wait till 3:30. He has faithfully prayed for a boy for almost a year now. He was thrilled. He never gave up hope.  I think he's always known it would be a boy.

I picked the girls up from preschool and drove to David's office to catch him at lunch. Usually he answers his phone and I was planning on having him come out to the parking lot. He didn't pick up the phone so I took the 3 girls inside and waited in his office. He walked in and I handed him the ultrasound pictures without saying a word. He started looking at them and then he got to the picture labeled "boy". He kept looking at me and saying, "is it for sure?" "This is for real?" As I said "yes" a few times, I'll embarrass him and say, he started to cry. Like a manly cry. David is a great Dad to girls. We would have kept having kids even if they were all girls and every single one of them would have been loved by their Daddy. But David really has been hoping for a brother for Ashton and another son. So it was really magical seeing him tear up over finding out about his 2nd son.

 In hind sight...Just a few nights ago I was telling David I felt completely disconnected from this pregnancy. I didn't even feel pregnant and have refused to wear maternity clothes. I was calling it a "she" and talking about girl names like crazy trying to name her so I would feel connected... so it makes sense that I wasn't connecting with my imaginary girl baby. I did note the one resemblance from Ashton's pregnancy to this one was the craving for the cheap, comes in a jar, fake nacho cheese. Oh I love it. Anyway, it's a boy. I'm still processing it. Walking around for 5 weeks thinking it was a girl made the surprise that much more awesome!

Tennis Thursdays

Before we had kids David and I would play tennis at least a couple times a month. We loved it and were sad we hadn't figured out a way to make it work with kids. Well, when we moved here and saw through the fields of our backyard 3 tennis courts we promised ourselves we would figure a way to play. And we finally have! The past couple of Thursdays we've deemed Tennis Nights. We eat an early light dinner and get to the courts behind our house by 6pm. We bring the plasma cars and bikes and the kids love it! David and I can usually fit in a couple real games before the kids start cruising through our side of the courts.

 

 They run back and forth getting the balls an after an hour they are toasted.

 We love helping the kids learn to hit a ball.

Just after a few practices Ashton is getting a lot better.

And this is how we handle a non walking baby. She rides for a little and then completely tears up her knees chasing balls. Next week I'm going to fashion out some sort of knee pads.

 

Growing up in my house tennis was a family sport. All of us can still play to some degree. As I drive past soccer fields on Saturday morning I know 100% I cannot/do not want to commit to those kinds of team sports when we have so many little ones we'd have to drag around to practices and games. In fact none of our kids have participated in any class or organized sport yet. Part of it is because we're cheap and the other part is because it's not worth it to our family yet. Tennis as a family? Perfect. Secretly David and I are hoping to breed them all into tennis players so we can always hit up the courts as a family and play together. So tennis lessons? If they were available in this area... we'd probably splurge but they're not an I'm glad. I'm sure sports and dance will come eventually but I'm relishing in this time where we can still play as family on a weekly basis.