THE STODDARD SEVEN

7 months

2012-01-04T21:46:00.000-08:00

Caroline's had a very busy month. She's been working on crawling for awhile now, but in the last week, she transferred from an army crawl, to a full-on belly-off-the-floor skooch. Then a couple weeks ago, Bud went to get Caroline out of her crib and she was standing up! She seems way too young for that, but she's doing it all the time. The Friday before Christmas she finally cut her first tooth, the bottom left, with the right one coming in just a few days later. She also dances whenever music's playing (especially "Party Rock") and even gave us a couple claps yesterday. She's been an awesome sleeper and now takes bottles too. We love this girl! As Jen Tingey said, "She is just a delight".

December

2012-01-04T20:22:00.000-08:00

December has been wonderful. It's the funnest, busiest, best month of the year! I celebrated my 33rd birthday on the 8th (with a great dinner from the Tingeys!) and then we took the whole family (minus baby) to see the Broadway production of Lion King, thanks to an early Christmas gift from Nana and Pogger. It was so much fun to see the kids faces light up when the animals came walking down the aisle. Then Kim, Christopher, and Brooklyn came into town the following week and we had a great time with the family, even though almost everyone was fighting some type of cough or cold. Unfortunately, the Kerls had to leave on Christmas Eve morning, but that also gave us the opportunity to have a very low-key Christmas. We saw a movie and then stayed home Christmas Eve. Christmas morning came dark and early at 6am with the kids barging into our bedroom, flipping on the light (and fan), jumping on our bed yelling, "WAKE UP! WAKE UP!". I remember feeling quite terrified for a couple seconds. Luckily, Caroline slept in for awhile. We had a great Christmas morning, quick breakfast, then headed to church for a great sacrament meeting. We came home and had a second breakfast of Belgian waffles, thanks to Bud's new waffle maker, then had both sets of parents and the Gieseas over for Christmas dinner, the annual "roast beast" (prime rib). Later in the week, Bud and I celebrated our 13th anniversary with a wonderful evening at Settebello Pizzeria and a movie. What an amazing 13 years it's been! We wrapped up the year with my least favorite holiday, New Year's. It's just too long a day and we always end up with sleepers who are mad they didn't get to see the fireworks even though we tried so hard to wake them up (this year it was Mae). But 2011 was a fantastic year and we are blessed beyond words. Here's hoping for the same in 2012!

Early December:

Christmas:

New Year's Eve:

Houston

2012-01-03T16:09:00.000-08:00

Over Thanksgiving we finally got to go to Houston for a week to visit the Fontanos. We toyed with the idea of driving, but thankfully came to our senses and so did Southwest's rates. I was very nervous flying with 5 kids, but luckily, all went well and the flights were great. In fact, Caroline was quite the hit. I had a little Asian grandma sitting across the aisle from me literally take her out of my arms without asking, and two Hispanic women chase us down the tarmac saying, "Stop! Stop! We need to grab your baby" (that was the literal translation Bud gave me).
We arrived at 11:15pm and the Fontanos were there to meet us even though we were getting a rental car. Their sweet kids really wanted to see their cousins. We had a great week just letting the kids play, seeing NASA, and of course, eating! We had never been to Chick-fil-a and I think we hit it at least two or three times. Sooo good! And they have Potbelly's in Houston! We discovered those in Chicago, best sandwiches ever! And although we didn't make it to Austin for Round Rock Donuts (sorry Jonah), Shipley's Do-Nuts were great! I think we even pulled off a pretty awesome Thanksgiving too. The men were very excited to deep-fry their first turkey, it was really good. Tara rocked the rolls and pies, and I pulled off some sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie. Not too shabby for not having Nana around. Thank you so much Tara and Pete for an awesome vacay! It's very rare we get to go somewhere and we really appreciate how comfortable you made us, how much fun we had, and how well you fed us! : )

Family Photos 2011

2011-12-03T14:40:00.000-08:00

Some of my favorites out of the 210 pictures we took:

6 Months

2011-11-11T22:27:00.000-08:00

Sweet Caroline turned 6 months old today. I am so grateful for this amazing, beautiful, healthy, sweet baby, but I am so sad that it's going by so fast. She is truly such an angel baby, I feel beyond blessed. She's rolling around like crazy, eating baby food (she actually prefers green beans to bananas!), sleeping through the night, and even says "mama". Ok, I know it's just a sound to her, but I'm counting it! Her older brothers and sisters are AMAZING with her and we're all so happy to be around her, I think that's why she is such a happy baby.

Halloween

2011-11-04T11:02:00.000-07:00

Another fun Halloween this year! The kids had lots of opportunities to wear their costumes from the Pumpkin Festival, to our friends, the Bairds party, to Trunk-or-Treat, to class parties, and the actual night.
Jake veered from his and Jonah's standard Star-Wars theme and opted for a skeleton. I have a $20 limit on costumes and Jonah wanted this Clone Trooper costume so bad he chipped in his own money. Elle and Mae were butterfly fairy princesses (?). The kids PE teacher at school taught all the kids a version of the Thriller dance which they performed after their costume parade. It was so cute, like a little kid flash-mob.
Pumpkin carving took on a central theme this year - vomit. The kids saw their cousin, Emmas, pumpkin and wanted to have "pumpkin throwup" too. Caroline's pumpkin made the most sense since she spits up ALL the time. I even put long eyelashes on hers.
We also cheated with trick-or-treating rolling in Jen and Mark's golf cart, but felt a little like those buses in India with 9 kids and 3 adults hanging off a four-seater cart. We had both sets of parents, Traci and Samantha, and the Tingeys over for our annual potato bar dinner. It's such a nice way to have the grandparents see the kids in their costumes. We are so lucky to have them all here with us!

Catch Up

2011-10-19T19:31:00.000-07:00

Nothing too eventful happening lately, but life in general has been pretty busy! We're getting into the swing of things with school, piano, scouts, baseball, etc., but everyone's happy and healthy and life's good.

Bud celebrated his 36th birthday earlier in Sept. We had a little family party and he got the same cake I think he's had every year with the exception of the two years he was on his mission. Baskin Robbins Mint Chip with Chocolate cake. Right before his birthday he was put on the high council at church and that has kept him really busy speaking and teaching. We got to go to Beatty last week and attend their branch together as a family. It was a great experience and the nicest people!

I've been working really hard on losing the baby weight (+ 20lbs). I actually joined Weight Watchers online and have been exercising 5-7 times a week with Insanity workouts, running, and volleyball. I've lost 30lbs since the baby was born (I only lost 10 from delivering her) and have another 20 to go. I don't know how I'm going to do though with Halloween and the holidays coming. I love sweets!

Jake and Jo have been able to keep up with school really well in addition to their other activities. Elle took the picture below of Jonah doing homework and it's one of my all time favorites! Baseball is a little painful to watch since they have a very beginner team, but they enjoy it. Nana even got them some private lessons at the batting cages to help out. They've put Jake in as a pitcher a few games and that kid is working really hard at getting the ball to the plate. : )

Elle and Mae are loving school and playing with friends all the time. I've decided to have the boys in something in the fall, and the girls can do something in the spring. It makes life a little easier. The other day I noticed that the girls had taken almost 100 pictures of themselves. Here are a couple of them.

Miss Caroline is now 5 months old and just keeps getting cuter and cuter. I had some pics taken of her about a month ago which are beautiful, but her candid ones are so fun too. She started rolling over a few weeks ago and she just started rice cereal this week. She kept it down really well and got fussy when I stopped feeding her. That's a good sign. We're still working on sleeping through the night, but she's given me a few promising nights, I just need to sleep train her to be more consistent. It's just so much easier to feed her though when I'm so tired. : )

Stay tuned for Halloween and Thanksgiving posts! We've got a cow, two butterfly fairies, a skeleton, and a Clone Tropper coming. Guess who's what. We've also decided to head to Houston for Thanksgiving to visit the Fontanos! They've only lived there for 5 years, it's about time we come visit. : )

A Peculiar People

2011-10-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

There are two Mormons running for president in our country right now. As always, our religion is being dissected, ridiculed, questioned, researched. No other candidates religion is being spoken of, but ours is. I'm always baffled to hear of people that speak out against us. We do no harm to anyone else. Why should any person mock any religion that teaches peace, hard-work, sacrifice, and love?

I know as a strong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I am a "peculiar person". I understand that my religion is unlike any other in the world. I understand that there are many things that are difficult to comprehend about its history and its teachings. However, it is the only religion on the earth today that is organized just as Jesus Christ's gospel was when he lived on the earth 2000 years ago. Because Jesus Christ is not on the earth today, we have a living prophet that receives revelation to guide us, just as prophets of old did. Because the priesthood has been restored, ours is the only religion that provides a way to be married and connected to our family not only in this life, but in the eternities as well. There were people in other areas of the earth in ancient times and they recorded their history, were visited by Christ after his death, and received his teachings as well, because Christ does not forget His people. This is the Book of Mormon.

Why would we make up that a 14-year old boy was visited by God the Father and His son, Jesus Christ, upon asking for sincere help in discovering which religion was true? We know it sounds hard to believe, but it happened. Joseph Smith was pure in heart and humble. He asked a divine question and received a divine answer, which is what I have done and what anyone can do.

Please don't tell me that I am not a Christian. I know with my whole heart that Jesus Christ died for my sins and because of that amazing sacrifice I can repent and live with Him again. Mormons are a "peculiar people", but we are a good people. I have been mocked for my beliefs, but I have never waivered in them. I believe in this religion because of the reasons stated above and so many more. I love this religion for its promises, strength, and structure and know that because of it I am a better woman, wife, and mother.

Tidbit

2011-09-22T17:13:00.000-07:00

Just had to jot down this quick story before I forget it. After detailing the car myself yesterday, I caught the kids playing "who can leave their hands on the hot window the longest", which left fingerprints all over the windows. Losing it a bit, I said, "You guys are mess after mess after mess!" Jonah quickly replied, "That's just a part of kids lives, mom." And so it is...

First Day of School

2011-09-04T16:14:00.000-07:00

Four of my five started school this past week. Jacob and Jonah headed into 4th grade, Elle started Kindergarten, and Mae went to pre-K (she is very particular about this. It isn't preschool, it's "pre-K"). For the first time I felt like the boys didn't even want or need me there, they knew right where to go and I noticed a lot of other parents weren't with their kids. Then in the afternoon we took Elle to kindergarten. She's had an extremely tough time the past year going anywhere without me. I can't figure out why, but I was terrified of what kindergarten would bring. She did amazingly well though. There were a couple tears shed right before we left her room, but she just wiped them away really quickly and was so brave. I quickly put my sunglasses on as we left the school to hide my tears too. When I picked her up she was all smiles and talked a mile a minute about what they did. She even said she made two friends already although she didn't know their names. : ) Mae was a little tentative in her class when she went on Wednesday, but by the next day, she said I could just drop her off.
This year's schedule is very hectic with five pick-up and drop-offs just for school, but we'll make it work, I just hope I don't forget anyone!

Mae's 4th Birthday

2011-09-01T16:28:00.000-07:00

Mae turned four a couple weeks ago while we were in San Diego. She is such a delight. She has one of the greatest personalities I've ever seen. She makes the funniest faces and loves to make up songs. More than anything right now though, she loves being a big sister! We're so happy she's in our family!

6 months old:

Summer Vacay

2011-08-30T16:21:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: Super long post ahead!

Finally our summer vacation came! We were so excited to get the heck out of LV, we took off Friday night around 6 and drove to Rancho Cucamonga to get a head start on our vacation. We didn't realize the hotel we were staying at the following couple nights was only about 40 minutes away. : )
We went to the beach the next day and had such a great time. Caroline slept for almost 3 hours lulled by the sound of the waves. When she woke up, guess she wasn't to impressed (see pic below). The kids love the water, but Jake is obsessed. We cannot get that kid off the boogie board. He hangs with Bud and I just fine. That night we went to an ice-cream parlor called Farrells that serves great treats in an extremely loud (and annoying) atmosphere, but we enjoyed our "Pigs Troph" just fine.
The next day, Sunday, we headed up to our old stomping grounds in LA after checking out the Newport temple. We stopped by my absolute favorite, Randy's Donuts, then on to our old neighborhood where the kids played at the park we used to go to all the time. I took a picture of the kids on that tire swing because Jake and Jo used to spin on it a lot until one day Jonah threw up right in the middle of it. : ) Then with Tito's Tacos in hand, we headed up to South Pas to see our good friends, the Nielson's. Our kids get along great and we have some arranged marriages in the works... Paige and Mae are so cute together and even Caroline has a great friend with their new baby, Rees.
Monday we headed down to San Diego. We took it easy getting unpacked, doing some laundry and grocery shopping. That night we drove around downtown and walked down around the aircraft carriers.
Tuesday was Mae's 4th birthday. We went to Sea World to celebrate. It was a hot day and very crowded, but we had a great time. Elle rode her first roller coaster, which she was not impressed with. The boys went a second time, but she wanted nothing to do with that. When we asked her later what her favorite part of Sea World was she said, "the roller coaster." Go figure. The kids loved the shows and feeding the sea lions, and especially getting their little Shamu stuffed animals at the end of the day. We had tried to ride the tower earlier in the day, but weren't allowed to because all the boys were wet from one of the rides, so we waited until the very end of the day to go and there was a bit of a line. Mae ended up being a different kind of "wet" by the time we got to ride it, poor thing. They should've let us on the first time. : )
Wednesday we hit the beach again and had a great time. When we headed home around 5pm, Bud kept talking about how hungry he was and how he wanted to hurry home, shower, and be back in the car in 30 minutes. This is not like him at all (much more like me), and I couldn't figure out why he was in such a hurry. We headed to Islands for dinner. Jonah was in front and I saw him run over to a bench and start hugging some random person. I couldn't see because of a tree blocking my view, and after saying, "Jonah!", saw that it was my parents! I was so surprised! It was so much fun to see them and they spent the next couple of days with us.
We headed to Old Town the next day. This has been a tradition to get some good Mexican food (even though the restaurant's name changes every time we go), and some salt water taffy. I cannot get enough of that stuff! We headed to the Mormon Battalion visitors center afterwards. It's been redone and is so cool! My parents watched the kids that night and Bud and I got to go out to dinner. We had so much fun and I highly recommend Rappongi if you're ever in La Jolla. Friday we hit the beach for one last time. My parents ended up taking Jonah, Elle, and Mae to their hotel to swim at the pool since it was pretty cold and windy that day (thanks Tingeys for the wetsuits!). Bud, Jake, Caroline and I hung out for another 4 hours and honestly could've stayed longer. It was so nice. We were very sad to leave the next day, but so grateful to the Fullers for letting us stay at their condo. A weeks vacation with 7 people wouldn't have been possible without their generosity!

Baby Girl

2011-08-29T23:43:00.000-07:00

I can't get enough of this sweet baby. She really is amazing and so beautiful. Just some more pics...

Fonties

2011-08-29T23:34:00.000-07:00

Bud's sister, Tara and her three kids came to Vegas in July for a couple weeks. Our kids get along so well, and they just pick up right where they left off. We had so much fun with them at the movies, Pump It Up, swimming, and having a "Texas" party. So much so, that we're toying with the idea of driving (yikes) out to Houston to visit over Thanksgiving. We'll see how things go...

Still More Summer...

2011-08-03T17:36:00.000-07:00

Since we still haven't gotten a summer vacation yet, a few weeks ago, me and the kids had to get out of dodge and headed to St. George to see our good friends the Lofgrans. Baby girl did amazing on her first little trip, sleeping the whole time, both ways. We just spent a couple days relaxing and let the kids have a good time. We went to Veyo Pool and the kids tried to catch crawdads in the stream. Megan's pregnant with her fourth and Caroline helped her remember what she's going through it all for. We took the cutest pic of her. Even though she's in a boys hat, she's adorable!

Another popular summer activity has been going to the movies, thanks to our friends at M&M's. On certain packages, you can get a code that gives you $3 off or even a free ticket. Some of the theaters here offer $5 tickets before noon, so I've been taking everyone for $10! Loving it! We went and saw Cars 2 and instead of $41 for all of us, it was only $17! Needless to say we've seen quite a few movies this summer. Of course we go with lots of people in on the same deal and take up at least an entire row.

2 Months

2011-07-11T13:52:00.000-07:00

Caroline is two months old today. Hard to believe the time is going by so fast. She's getting more and more social, sweet, and chunky. We love it. I think she even gave me my first 6 hour stretch on Saturday night too, not sure though because I have a hard time remembering what happens between 10pm - 7am. Here are some pics from the past couple weeks.

The girls brought her these flowers

More Summer

2011-07-11T11:49:00.000-07:00

Black-light mini-golf

Cousin sleepover

Playing in the rain

Playdough Fun
Elle's:

Jake and Jo's:
This is the "Wipeout" course

Mae's "creation":

After their cousin Jack's 16th birthday party, the girls decided they needed to throw a party.

The refreshments: bread, water, Doritos and Rice Krispy Treats.

The entertainment: Mae dancing and fuzzy camera image racing.

Elle, entertaining herself instead of sleeping, with "Chap-Stick Hair".

4th of July

2011-07-10T14:41:00.000-07:00

We had a great 4th of July weekend. Didn't do anything especially exciting, but since we didn't get to go out of town, I treated it a little as a vacation and hardly cooked a single meal. : ) The twins were in the Summerlin Patriotic Parade again this year, but were much happier with their characters. Last year they were Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb, this year they got to be Mario and Luigi. My sister, Traci, is one of the people who puts on the parade every year, and I'm always impressed at how well it turns out. There's always such a great patriotic spirit there, especially when the national anthem is sung and the Gold and Blue Star Mothers walk by. I am so grateful to live in this country!

Blessing Day

2011-07-01T21:11:00.000-07:00

Caroline was blessed last Sunday. All three girls were blessed in this dress and I just love it. My mom made the blanket and all five children have been blessed with it. Bud gave Caroline a beautiful blessing. My favorite part of it was that he blessed Caroline would have a special relationship with me and that she would have the self-confidence to make good decisions. Caroline's Hawaiian middle name is Kei (pronounced Kay), which means "one's pride and glory". I am absolutely thrilled we got this picture of her smiling in her dress. It's my favorite thing she does right now.

Six Weeks

2011-06-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

Caroline turned 6 weeks old on Wednesday. Can I just tell you how much I love this little girl? I feel like I have more perspective with her than I've had with any of the others and am able to take a little more time with her, have a tiny bit more patience during the night and when she's crying, and just enjoy every day with her. Maybe it's having a kid after thirty, maybe it's having your fifth kid, maybe it's having your last, whatever it is, I'm lovin' it.

Took these for Bud for Father's Day

Summertime!

2011-06-23T10:49:00.000-07:00

Thinking we'd be overwhelmed with 5 kids, Bud and I didn't plan anything for the summer until August. Well, we feel up to it now and are kind of bummed we have to wait so long for a break, but we made our "Summer Fun" list and have been checking some things off. So far the kids have made a lemonade stand, gone to Burger King, gone to the dollar store, had Dirt Dessert (Oreos and pudding with gummy worms), Slurpees, silly-string fight, and have swam in their pj's. There has also been tons and tons of regular swimming. Here are some cute pics:

Dancy Dance Time

2011-06-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

Elle and Mae had their recital last Saturday. They tap-danced to "Yellow Submarine". It was adorable to watch, but even more adorable to see them all dressed up. Their best friend Judy was in the class too, and we figured out that all these girls will be in high school together. Judy will be a senior, Elle a junior, Mae a sophomore and Judy's little sister Kate, a freshman. We are in so much trouble! : )

3 Weeks In

2011-06-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

Baby Girl turned three weeks old yesterday. Although I feel like I've been awake for most of the three weeks, it's all kind of a blur. This is kind of a candid post, mostly because I like to use our blog as a family journal, but I do want to remember what having a newborn is like so I'm no tempted to do it again in a couple years. : ) Caroline really is a wonderful baby, so beautiful and healthy and we are so blessed to have her in our home. We've just had a few kinks to work out and although it's my fifth, I've totally forgotten how hard having a newborn is. About a week ago she started spitting up like crazy. Actually, I should say throwing up, because it seemed to be pretty much everything she had taken in was coming back up. I hated the idea of her having a food allergy and having to cut out dairy, wheat, and chocolate (what else is there to eat?), but did cut back a bit and it was still happening. Finally decided she was taking in too much air and had to burp her every 1-2 minutes during her feedings (soreness!). Things got better, but it would still happen every now and then. Then we figured out I was overfeeding her. We've stuck to a pretty strict feeding schedule not overdoing it, and it seems to be working. Hopefully she'll grow in to what I have to offer.
I was telling Bud how tough it is to have this beautiful tiny baby who you just want to enjoy every second of because in a heartbeat she'll be big, but you're so tired and stressed most of the time it seems near impossible. The feelings of guilt I have because I'm not spending any time with the other four and the stress to keep Caroline thriving and wanting to enjoy the sweet moments of awake she has, added to very little sleep, really makes for one loser of a Lindsay. But I know we'll come out of this newborn fog and normal will settle in soon. Right now she's napping and I think I'll try to get a shower in, after I look at her for a little bit. Here are some pics of the past couple of weeks:

VERY loving sisters:

One of our "rough" days (all three girls were crying at once)

They're already dressing her up:

The girls made Caroline a crown:

Other happenings:

Mae's "cereal box skirt"

Dance picture day

Bud hiked Lone Mountain with the twins

After bath pictures

Sweet Caroline

2011-05-16T10:48:00.000-07:00

I can finally put "The Stoddard 7" on our blog now! Baby Caroline finally entered the world on Wednesday, May 11, 2011. She weighed in at a perfect 7lbs., 8oz. and 19.5 inches. Her delivery was my fastest yet at only 9 hours. That may not sound that great, but after Elle taking 17 hours and Mae taking 12, 9 was seriously awesome. I had the greatest nurse, Myrna, who made it her goal to deliver me on her shift. Caroline came exactly 30 minutes before her shift ended. We couldn't seem to get my epidural quite right, it was way too strong at first, then we turned it off, then back on less, but by the time I started pushing I was feeling way more than I ever felt before. I knew the only way to end the pain was to push as hard as I could through almost every contraction, so she was out in less than 15 minutes. As soon as she was delivered and placed on my chest I just wanted to shout through my tears of joy, "I did it! I got her out! I've sucessfully delivered three VBACs! I have 5 children and I'm done!!!" I've never felt so proud of myself. Then I realized that my legs were still in the stirrups and it probably wasn't the best time for bragging.
Of course, being one of our children, Caroline has jaundice and we almost didn't get to go home the next night because of it, but luckily we escaped the ~~prison~~, hospital, and got home at 10:30pm. Caroline had had a horrible first night in the hospital, but did great the next two. She's a great eater and total sweetheart. She really only cries when she's getting her diaper changed. We feel like we've hit the jackpot even though it's only been 5 days and I'm sure that could change at any moment. I'm just so grateful to have her here safely. I feel beyond blessed. The "high" is starting to wear off as the sleep deprivation and pain from nursing kick in, but hopefully the new normal will settle in over the next few months.

Spring Break and Easter

2011-04-26T11:40:00.000-07:00

I guess our school district wanted Spring Break to coincide with Easter this year, but boy was it late! And since it was so late, we weren't able to do too much since the baby will be here in just a couple of weeks, so we stayed close to home and had a pretty low-key break. Lots of cousin, friend, and family time, a little swimming, and a little surgery. Poor Jonah - he had a cyst removed last year that didn't heal right and had to have the procedure done again last week. He is seriously one of the bravest kids I know and didn't even make a peep during the procedure. 9 stitches and it already looks so much better!

The girl's Easter started early with an egg hunt with their preschool class. I loved the picture I got of them starting their run toward the eggs. Such great faces!

Nana took the kids for a sleepover Friday night and they got to have a night-time egg hunt with flashlights and find all sorts of goodies. These were some silly glasses they got that cracked me up.

Sunday morning the kids woke up to Easter baskets and a quick egg hunt before church. I really wanted a picture of the kids in their Easter clothes, but with being late for church already and posing them in the sun, we didn't get a good pic, oh well...

After church, we dyed eggs for our annual Hilbus Easter Egg Beauty Pageant and Egg Wars. Stoddard's came away victorious this year with Elle winning the Grand Champion of the beauty pageant and me winning the Egg Wars! Some people will tell you the wars were a little lax this year, but pay no attention, it doesn't matter that I had to beat my 9-year-old son and 13-year-old niece. What matters is I did what needed to be done and won. (Just joking!)

The kids each got their own thing of "Flarp" in their baskets and that's really been the hit this year. I took a little video you can check out on YouTube if you want: http://www.youtube.com/user/lkstoddard5?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/LhCgcUYGsas

9-Year-Olds

2011-04-13T19:34:00.000-07:00

How is it possible that I have 9-year-old boys? I remember the first two years of their life and thinking, "this is going by very slowly." Then somewhere it sped up and never stopped. They are truly two of the most amazing kids. They've overcome so much and continue to keep impressing me everyday with their good choices, sense of humor, and intelligence. Their birthday stretched out for days, as they all seem to do, and was filled with Cub Scouts and celebrations. On Saturday, after wrapping up four days of Cub Scout Day Camp early because of SNOW (yes, you read that right, snow in Vegas in April!) they went to the movies with a couple friends. Then we took them to Grimaldi's for pizza and Nielsen's for custard (Bud had a little influence in that decision, but we all enjoyed it). Sunday (their actual birthday) they had breakfast in bed, presents, and a family dinner. Monday I brought in 4 dozen donuts (2 for each classroom - I really miss the days they were in the same class) and then after school they got to go on their "Nana date" for frozen yogurt and shopping. They still have one more "Grandma date" to go on with my mom, but that will have to wait a week or so until she comes back from Hawaii. Then last night, they wrapped it all up with the Pinewood Derby. Bud, his dad, and the boys, worked really hard on their cars. I even helped a little bit too with the paint jobs. Last year was a little dissapointing seeing as we only had a couple days to build the cars and didn't really know what we were doing. But this year we took a little more time and it paid off with silver and bronze medals. The boys had a great time (including Bud), and it was fun to watch them all get so into it. Now the next birthday we have to look forward to is this new baby!

Torn

2011-04-08T07:09:00.000-07:00

It's about 7am on Friday morning. I've been up for three hours. I only slept for three hours. This is the second night I've done this. My skin itches, I'm uncomfortable, hungry, fat, thirsty, can't breathe, can't stay still. Yet, I love feeling this baby inside me. I love the bond that only she and I know right now. I love knowing how safe she is. I love eating whatever I want. I'm so excited to see her, but don't want to go through labor. I'm so sad to think about probably not be pregnant ever again. I'm so happy to think about probably not being pregnant ever again. I'm torn.

The Black Hole

2011-04-07T13:10:00.000-07:00

For the past few days we've been looking for Elle's DS that she got for her birthday in February. For the past few weeks we've been looking for the remote to our upstairs TV. For the past 6 months we've been looking for a missing phone. And for over a year we've been looking for a missing IPod. Yesterday they were ALL found in one location. Under the framing of our couch, hidden between the wood and the stapled lining. The girls had made a fort and while putting the cushions back, I decided to check in the cracks once more. I noticed I could reach my hand in a lot farther than I had previously thought, and so I flipped the couch and ripped off a portion of the bottom lining. Viola! Jackpot! So black holes kind of do exist, and anything you've ever been looking for might be found in one place if you have an old, crappy couch that eats everything. Check yours out!

Girls Weekend!

2011-04-06T20:23:00.000-07:00

This is a little late, but in March my great gals, Dana and Megan and I headed to SLC for a quick girls trip. It was really low-key with just good eats and lots of shopping, but we got to be together which is always a good thing. We're all in different cities now, but pick up right where we left off every time we see eachother. Dana brought her sweet baby Brock, who is seriously the best baby ever and was such a trooper. I'm so grateful for good friends who rejuvenate me and great husbands who support us every year!

Red Iguana!

Gorgeous Hotel Monaco

This one's for you Meg...

Going Green

2011-03-22T13:09:00.000-07:00

Not really talking about the enviroment here, I'm about as un-enviromentally friendly as you can get (I do recycle, I just love disposable diapers, paper plates, and bottled water), but we've seen a lot of green over the past week. Our St. Patrick's Day traditions carried on this year with our little leprechaun friend leaving green M&M "poop" or trails, as well as tiny footprints all over some of the furniture and the kids faces. We also set up our leprechaun trap which was made out of a metal box this year so he couldn't punch through and was set on the floor so he couldn't push it to the edge of a table and escape, but somehow, we STILL didn't catch him, but we did get his hat! Elle felt bad that we had it, so she wrote him a note. I'm a little surprised the twins are still into this, but I'll take it as long as I can get it.

We've also seen a lot of green in the backyard. Bud takes a lot of pride in his yard and the grass has been looking especially nice lately (I'm sure we're overwatering, sorry again enviroment :)). Over the winter, Bud also planted our first "test garden". We lost the Siberian tomatoes, weird since they should've been able to handle MUCH colder temps, but we got to harvest some beautiful beets, some small carrots, and green onions. It was really fun for us to be able to pick the food and the kids even wanted to try some of it. Bud's hooked and the same day we harvested, he planted more tomatoes, corn, strawberries, and squash.
Hopefully we'll have even better results with our summer garden.

March Madness

2011-03-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

I'm only a little into college basketball, but the March madness I'm referring to is my nesting period. I find it hilarious that I'm taking on projects right now that have no real purpose (I should be concentrating on the nursery), but I get an idea in my head and have to finish it. The past few weeks has been the downstairs guest bath. It started as light blue when we moved in, but then I went with more of a teal/metallic theme and wanted to change the bathroom. We had it painted a dark teal, but something was still missing. So I decided to try a stencil. I've never stenciled before in my life and the one's sold at JoAnnes and Michaels are small and only one kind of went with what I was thinking of. I got it home and realized it was way too small, but being too cheap and impatient to get another stencil, I decided to quadruple and invert it to make a new design. It took a lot longer and a lot more work than I thought (as does everything I start), but the bathroom's done, I love the outcome, but won't stencil anything else ever again. : )

Elle's Birthday

2011-02-26T17:51:00.000-08:00

Our Elle-belly turned five this month. The first thing she asked was if she could go to kindergarden now. I try to only do parties every four years, so this was an "off" year for Elle, but it still seemed like she did a ton! On Valentine's Day we had both sets of grandparents over for dinner and cake. In the morning she opened her gifts and had breakfast in bed. Then after school her grandma's came and picked her up for lunch, a mani-pedi, and some shopping. Then I took her, Mae, and their friend Judy to Chuck-E-Cheeses. We finished up the night at Blue and Gold for Jacob and Jonah's cub scouts. Needless to say she crashed that night pretty quickly. I'm so grateful for our sassy little Elle. She's so smart and quick and has the most lovable little face! She keeps telling me to stop kissing her cheeks, but I told her I never will, I'm her mom and it's my right. : )

Palm Springs

2011-02-26T16:27:00.000-08:00

We wanted to do one last family trip before the baby came and February seemed like a good time to do it. We didn't want to do an amusement park since that would be a waste of money on my part and difficult for Bud to have to take everyone and we just wanted to RELAX. Palm Springs seemed like a good option and we took a three-day weekend. We took an interesting route there (keep an eye out for the Cima Rd. exit between Stateline and Baker) which put us on a two-way road in the middle of the desert. It did however lead us through Kelso, which has a beautiful train station and museum and it did cut a lot of time off our drive. We stayed at the Hyatt in Indian Springs, which was awesome. It had 6 pools, a waterslide, bikes, tennis, foosball and ping-pong tables (sorry I totally had to school you, Bud. It was funny to be in California again where a family of 6 plus one on the way really stands out. I even had one lady tell me I looked like a mama duck with all my little ones behind me. We really enjoyed the beauty of Indian Springs and just had a nice time together.

Holidaze

2011-02-26T14:25:00.000-08:00

December was a whirlwind. We were so lucky to have all the family here for most of the month. The Reids got to come early and stay for almost three weeks. Mark and Jenni came in for a week and the Fontano's flew in and surprised all of us a couple days after Christmas. Kim and her family left a couple days after Christmas to move to Denver, but it was so fun to have them here for three months! We had a great time with all the cousins. Jacob, Jonah, and Elle got to try ice-skating for the first time and we had a really fun New Years too. It was a little tough to juggle time with both families, but what a great problem to have. We're so blessed to have so many loved ones so close. The morning the kids had to go back to school we were shocked with a morning snow-storm! Jonah came in and said, "It's snowing!" and I thought, yeah, yeah, little flurries, but he said, "No, it's really snowing, look outside!" When I did, I felt like a little kid growing up in Virginia looking out my window and seeing white everywhere. Unfortunately, it all melted 2 hours later and the kids had to go to school, but it was a nice little end to Christmas break.

Halloween

2011-02-26T13:43:00.000-08:00

Halloween is one of our favorites around here. It seems to last all week, but it's great with parades, parties and the girls even got to go to a pumpkin patch. This year was a little strange though since it landed on a four-day weekend and a Sunday and what is usually a super crowded, fun neighborhood, was really pretty quiet. I even took two bags of candy back to Costco that weren't used. The kids like to collaborate their costumes with our good friends and neighbors, the Tingey's as well as their cousins, so this years theme was Star Wars (again) and Witches.

Fall Frenzy

2011-02-26T13:17:00.000-08:00

Fall 2010 was crazy! Our lazy summer came to an abrupt end in late August with the news that baby #5 was on the way. We had been trying and were very excited but I wasn't thrilled with the idea of an overscheduled fall coinciding with morning sickness. School started a couple days later with the twins entering third grade in seperate classes for the first time and Mae and Elle in preschool together. That gave me 2.5 hours to myself Monday - Wednesday and it was glorious! Almost every kid had something(s) going on. Mae in gymnastics, Elle in gymnastics and soccer with practice once a week and games on Saturday. The boys played their first season of baseball also with a mid-week practice and games on Saturday on the opposite side of town from Elle's games. The twins were also in cub scouts and piano lessons. Thank goodness my dad totally helped out and took the boys to their baseball practices for almost three hours on Wednesdays! Elle didn't love soccer, but she sure looked cute in her uniform. We pretty much had to bribe her to even play the first few Saturdays. The twins worked really hard in baseball and played on a really good team. It was really tough for me to sit through games in the hot sun during my first trimester, and wouldn't you know the one time I didn't stick it out, Jake got his first hit. Luckily, he gave us one more in the last game. When the season came to an end in November, no one was too sad. : )

)

The Gum Incident

2011-02-26T12:27:00.000-08:00

Back in August, Jake had a little mishap. He's going to kill me for publishing these pics, but it's too funny not to. He had been playing with gum he was chewing, pulling it out and wrapping it around his face (don't ask me why), when it got stuck to his little peach fuzz face. He was afraid to tell me because I had already told him to keep his gum in his mouth, so he tried to wash it off himself with COLD water. That only made the gum harden to his face and he came to me bawling. I got to smother his face in peanut butter while his brother and sisters watched and laughed. When I got out the camera, he got really mad, but he laughs at it now. Kind of...

Mae's Day

2011-02-26T12:21:00.000-08:00

Our little Mae-Mae turned three in August. We kept it pretty low-key and had a family bbq/swim party. She also has a good friend with the same birthday, so she and Elle got to go to her party and I kind of got to count it. : ) Mae is such a light in our family and I'm so grateful for her sweet little voice and funny personality!

Road Trip

2011-02-25T15:00:00.000-08:00

Nothing like a week of sickness to make you think, hmm, maybe I should update my blog. Besides, it's only been 7 MONTHS!!! Pathetic, but gettin' it done.

Last July-August we spent 10 days in the car on our first big road trip as a family. It was awesome! We traveled 2,132 miles and hit 6 states. It started as a trip to the Stoddard family reunion to Salmon, ID, but we thought we should make the most of it and hit Yellowstone and Jackson too. In almost twelve years of marriage, I had never been up to Salmon and really wanted the kids to see it. The pictures show some great highlights, but I have to mention the motorcycle couple. We took the "road less traveled" to Yellowstone, which had us following a couple on a motorcycle who wiped out right in front of us! We had to drive the girlfriend (who had a serious concussion and shared WAY too much) back to Dubois, ID (try and find that on a map!). After back-tracking over an hour the road turned to dirt for about 25 miles. Little scary, but we made it. It was a fantastic trip and I can't wait to do it again in another 12 years. :) Hopefully sooner!
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Summer Happenings

2010-07-28T16:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I've put up four new posts in one day. Not the easiest way to blog, but I'm almost caught up now. Just wanted to post about a few more things that have been filling our summertime.

Elle had her dance recital in June. Her class danced to "Say a Little Prayer". She did great and looked so cute!

Our fruit trees gave us great apricots and plums this year!

Elle took her first set of swim lessons. She's so much braver in the water now!

The twins were in Summerlin's Patriotic Parade for the 4th of July. They were Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb. Man, they're going to hate these pics when they get older!

Fun trip to So Cal to see the Nielson's.

Playdates galore!

Fitting piano practice in between swimming everyday.

Carlsbad

2010-07-28T12:18:00.000-07:00

The week after school got out, we headed down to Carlsbad for the Stoddard family camping tradition. Growing up, Bud's family went to Carlsbad every year with other families in their ward. The tradition's been interuppted with all of Bud's siblings out-of-state and Will and Carol on their mission, but we got to go this year and it was a blast. The Fontano's came all the way from Houston and the kids had the greatest time. Tuesday the boys headed up to LA for a Dodgers game, Wednesday we hit Disneyland (almost for FREE - thank you "Give a Day, Get a Day"!), Thursday we boogie boarded and my sister Kim and her family came to visit for a bit and enjoy some dutch oven cooking, and Friday we headed home. It was a whirlwind, but so awesome. Hopefully we'll be doing it more often.

San Francisco

2010-07-28T09:44:00.000-07:00

My annual girls-trip with Megan and Dana was amazing this year. We headed to San Fran and had the most fabulous time despite the freezing cold weather (in May!). Ate great, walked a-lot, and reconnected with friends who have known eachother since Arizona! Love you gals!

Baptism

2010-07-28T08:28:00.000-07:00

This is crazy late, but better late than never. After a very fun-filled Star Wars party (complete with a life-size talking Darth Vader) on April 9th, the boys got to be baptized on their actual birthday, Sat., the 10th. It was such a beautiful experience and we were so grateful to have so many dear friends and family there. Right before we left for their baptism, I walked down the stairs to see my little men dressed in their suits standing in front of me. Of course, I started crying and told them they looked like missionaries. Jake said, "We look like kid-anaries!" It was truly a wonderful day topped off with a Cafe-Rio catered lunch at our house after. Doesn't get much better than that!

The Grand Canyon

2010-04-04T08:31:00.000-07:00

About six months ago, our bishop challenged every family to read the Book of Mormon before our next General Conference. Well, thanks to Jake and Jonah's desire to read almost every day, we got it done last Wednesday. I am so proud of our family for finishing it, especially before the boys get baptized Saturday. To celebrate (and to get out of town), we headed for a quick 30-hour trip to the Grand Canyon. It was amazing. Truly a sight to be seen! Crazy dangerous though! There are so few rails and walls, you can literally walk right off the side. At one point Mae said, "Owie Mommy", holding up her hand where I was holding it too tight. : )

Spring Break

2010-04-03T19:47:00.001-07:00

Spring Break started a little early for us when the Fontano's came into town for their spring break and the boys missed a couple days of school. It's one of the first times I played tourist in my own city taking the kids to the Ethel M chocolate factory and the Mirage Secret Garden. Of course a trip to Chuck E Cheese's, lots of jumping on the trampoline, and way too many of Nana's cookies were in order too.

Last week, Samantha was baptized and it was great to have the whole family together. It's amazing that Traci's youngest got baptized and even crazier that the twins will get baptized next week! That same day, all the cousins got to attend the Summerlin Egg Hunt which my mom, dad, and Traci worked at. Kim got to stay an extra few days and all the kids had a great time together.

There's a couple more fun events, but I'm going to give them their own due post...

Fish

2010-04-03T19:43:00.001-07:00

Just had to give our fish some props for staying alive for over 13 months now! What goldfish stay alive over a year? My dad asks everytime he comes over, "Are those the same fish?" They are, I can't believe it either. I find it hilarious I've spent probably over $100 on two goldfish that cost me $7 total. Keep on truckin' Goldie and Cinderella!

Elle's Birthday

2010-02-22T11:28:00.000-08:00

Elle's 4th birthday was last Monday. Sorry I'm so late in posting, but last week was crazy! Family in town, spoke in sacrament, birthday party, Silver Beaver banquet for Bud's dad, Relief Society at my house, yada, yada, yada. ANYWAY, Elle's party was really fun and easy. A friend of ours dressed up like Belle and came over for an hour to sing, dance, face-paint, do makeup, and take pictures. Those little girl's faces were priceless! They just stared at her in awe the whole time. The only thing that overshadowed her just a little bit was when they jumped on the trampoline at the end. So cute to see all those little princesses jumping up and down in their dresses.

Oh, my little Elle, you are so loved, but boy are you a handful! We are so happy you're part of our family though. You keep us on our toes and give us plenty to laugh (and sometimes cry) about!

Long Weekend

2010-01-19T22:04:00.000-08:00

Ooo, look at me! Two posts in less than a week. We were lucky enough to get a four day weekend and packed it chock-full. We headed to St. George to visit our friends, the Lofgrans. The kids had a great time playing and we all loved exploring Snow Canyon. Thanks for having us Megan and Adam!

About 24 hours later, we headed back to Vegas because my sister, Kim and her kids came into town to surprise my dad for his 65th birthday. We had a birthday dinner Sunday night (gotta love my mom's meatloaf!), followed by a cousins sleepover and a birthday lunch at Chevy's on Monday. Happy Birthday Dad! I love and appreciate you so much!

2009 Holiday Review

2010-01-14T11:05:00.000-08:00

Ready for the longest blog post ever? We had wonderful holidays with lots of family around. Here's a very condensed review:
- It was our first year back to two Thanksgivings, which I had forgotten is not that bad a racket!
- I celebrated my 31st birthday in early December with a very fun, relaxing, selfish day.
- I got called into the Relief Society presidency and was initiated by hosting the Christmas party.
- My parents got the cutest golden retriever puppy, Nani Wahini Nui (Beautiful Big Girl) to give my dad lots to do.
- Our first Christmas in our own house was terrific. It was one of those rare, pretty nearly perfect days.
- The day after Christmas, Bud and I had the funnest spur-of-the-moment anniversary night out.
- For New Years, after a "Nertz" tournament and partying with the cousins, the boys actually stayed awake until midnight and we had fun playing games and yelling "Happy New Year" off our balcony.
- The family left, school started back up and we got back to real life, which for some reason was a little bit welcome. But it really was a terrific holiday season!

Below are tons of pictures of the past month or so:

Practicing with my new camera:

Relief Society Christmas party which helped get my house in check:

Cousins, Cousins, Cousins (and Nani)!:

Christmas morning:

Anniversary:

New Years (check out our antique TV stand that I re-tiled):

SERIOUSLY?!?

2010-01-11T15:49:00.000-08:00

I am so LAME!! I got a new camera, have had a TON to blog about, but just haven't. It's not even a resolution of mine to do better, but I will try!

Happy Veteran's Day!

2009-11-11T09:34:00.000-08:00

My entire life, my father has always made it a point to hang the flag on patriotic holidays. I loved it. I've always thought it was very important to hang the American flag whenever possible, and couldn't wait to start the tradition with my own home. Unfortunately, we live in Las Vegas where all the houses are made of stucco and I missed two major holidays because I didn't have the right equipment. I was bound and determine to get the flag up today for Veteran's Day. We purchased a new drill with more power and today I finally succeeded. I was so proud to hang that flag! I'm so proud of my Dad, Mike, the grandpa's and their families who have all sacrificed so much for our country. I'm so proud to finally be able to show my support and respect for all those who have served and our serving our country with a flag outside my home.

Halloween

2009-11-07T22:03:00.000-08:00

I was so excited to celebrate our first Halloween in our new house. Too bad I didn't really do much decorating until the day of, but it was a fun-filled week. The kids certaintly got my money's worth out of their costumes. Between school parties, trunk or treats, and the actual night, I got pretty sick of those things. We were a Star-Wars themed family this year. Jacob was Darth Vader, Jonah was Commander Cody, Elle was Queen Amidala, and Mae was R2D2. A lot of people asked if I made the costumes, obviously people who don't know me too well. I'm not that crafty and don't know if you even really save that much money. Anyway, Elle's costume stole the show I thought, and that little trooper wore the mask even though it would cut in to her little chubby face. Mae picked up on trick-or-treating REALLY fast. Even though she couldn't say, "Trick or Treat" she would go up to the door and shake her pumpkin up and down. It was hilarious. She also would not let me help hold it for her even though it was really heavy. Guess she was on to me. We went around our neighborhood with the Tingey's and Traci and Samantha came too. The neighborhood was awesome and lived up to my expectations. It was a great night.

Oh, how cute is that pumpkin face in the upstairs window? I got the idea from Family Fun. It's just cardboard and tissue paper.

Trips

2009-11-07T21:36:00.000-08:00

I don't know why I can't get my act together with blogging. Probably because we've been going through a computer change (we now own our first desktop!) and because I've been borrowing my mother-in-law's camera for the past month (thanks Carol!). But I'm sure my once-a-month posting will change with my birthday right around the corner (you now have a REALLY good excuse to get me a camera, Bud).

ANYWAY, things have been great. We took a couple of quick trips in the last month to Utah and Arizona. Bud had a mission reunion in Salt Lake the first weekend in October and afterwards we spent a day in Park City. It was such a blast! We took the girls on the Alpine Slide and the boys on the Coaster (so awesome!). Mae did so much better in the car and it put me at ease for our Arizona trip just two weeks later.

A couple weeks ago, we headed down to our old stomping grounds in Gilbert, AZ, to see our super good friends, the Fuller's. Our kids got along great and even got to wear their Halloween costumes a week early for their ward's Trunk or Treat. Thanks so much Dana and Chad!

Oh, and btw, has anyone seen the Hoover Dam bypass lately? I think I may have a little trouble driving over that thing! It's crazy tall!!

First Day of School (seven weeks late)

2009-10-10T13:12:00.000-07:00

Finally downloaded my phone pics. All the kids looked so cute on their first day. Jake and Jo did great at their new school and noticed funny things like newer computers, nicer lunch ladies, and no cracks in the blacktop. : )

Elle did shockingly well at her first day of preschool. We pulled up and she said, "Bye mom!". I told her I had to take her inside to her classroom and with a sigh she said, "And then you'll leave?". Needless to say, tears weren't really necessary.

Happy Birthday Bud!

2009-09-10T14:51:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to wish my dear hubby a happy 34th birthday! You are fantastic at all that you do! We love and appreciate you so much!

Hilarious

2009-08-26T16:10:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I need to post about the first day of school, but I had to write down the conversation I had with Elle and Jonah this afternoon before I forget. I told Elle she was so cute I could just eat her up for dinner. She said, "But if you eat me I won't be part of your family". Then Jonah said, "Yes you will, you'll just be inside her stomach. Then you can come out and start all over again and you'll be smaller than Mae."

Oh kids...

Mae's 2!

2009-08-17T09:25:00.000-07:00

My baby turned 2 yesterday. I hate that with each kid, time seems to go faster and faster. I love this little brown-eyed beauty. She's a love-bug and I think she's not really talking yet to make her still seem like a baby to me. Hope you had a great day Mae-Mae. We love you so much!

House Pics

2009-08-12T13:57:00.000-07:00

Well, after all the dumb drama over my camera, now it's broken. Luckily, my friend Dana was in town last week and after helping me wrap up some projects, she let me borrow her camera for some pics of the house. Here are some of the most completed rooms. Most of the house is still quite bare, but I've got a LONG time to fill it.

Master bedroom:

Girls room:

Family room:

Kitchen nook:

I'm Baaack

2009-07-28T16:14:00.000-07:00

Hooray! I've found my camera (it was in the glove compartment of my car) and have the desire to blog again! So happy! First, a catch up post. Here are the last two months in a nutshell:
Last day of first grade for the twins:

Last days in the Stoddard's house:

Twins got their yellow belts in karate:

First night in the new house:

Fun evenings playing in our new backyard:

Mae had spaghetti for dinner and an ice cream sandwich for dessert. Lovely, isn't it?

Not pictured because I was missing my camera:
Elle's gymnastics recital
Nana and Pogger came home!
Hours and hours of playing with cousins
Lots of swimming
Still unpacking

I'll have a post with some pics of the new house soon!

Lost

2009-06-23T09:22:00.000-07:00

I've lost my camera in the move somewhere, which should make me happy since that might make Bud buy a new, better camera, but we don't have time to even think about that right now, so I'm just sad that I'm missing out on little experiences my kids are having like swimming in their new pool for the first time, making Father's Day projects at Home Depot, Father's Day itself, and spending time with their onslaught of cousins. And let's face it, blogs just aren't as much fun without pics.

M.I.A.

2009-06-18T10:15:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe it's been so long since I've posted, but moving has kind of taken it out of me. Things went really well, I'm loving our house and new area, but I'm kind of burned out and have come to the point where if you can't see a box from the front door, that's good enough. We're so excited to be here. The boys started cooking camp this past Monday with their cousin, Samantha, and are loving it. Bud's parents come home in less than two weeks so we're spending a lot of time down at their house getting it ready to go. Starting Sunday, the festivities begin. My dad's getting released as bishop, there's Father's Day, we've got lots of family coming into town Sunday, Monday, and Saturday, there's just all sorts of stuff going on. I can't wait! I'll try to post some pics soon, of what, I'm not sure, but Bud has taken my camera and I can't seem to get it back. Anyway, back to unpacking...

6 weeks and 16 days

2009-05-20T09:38:00.000-07:00

Today marks 6 weeks until Carol and Will come home! We cannot wait! I've dubbed it the Stoddard Summer '09 since it will pretty much be a party from late June through July. In 16 days we'll offically move into our new house, which is making me feel a bit overwhelmed since all we've done as far as packing goes is to unload our old stuff that was in the storage trailer:

We've been so focused on our new house, getting repairs taken care of, painting, floors, landscaping, etc., I forgot that our stuff won't magically appear there when it's all done. I'm going to need to start packing, but I don't know where to start. So, I'm going to procrastinate yet another day and think about what I'll miss at this gorgeous house.

#1 - The central vacuum system. I LOVE IT! I don't know what I'll do without it, but one day, I vow to have it again.
#2 - The basement. A room where the mess can build, but you don't see it and they can be as loud as they want, but you don't have to hear it - fabulous!
#3 - The laundry room. It's huge, maybe that's why I only did laundry about once a week, because I could just keep piling it in there.
#4 - The three fridges and four freezers. What will I do without my beverage fridge, breakfast fridge and lunch and dinner fridge? So sad.

And #5 - The neighborhood. The trees and birds are amazing down here. I love how lush it all is.

I know there's more that I'll realize as we move and live without, but I'm excited to move one and see what I love about our new house. I know one thing already - we only have three bathrooms instead of five to clean. Yippee!

Hallelujah!

2009-05-06T21:06:00.000-07:00

Well, the day has finally come! We closed on our house today - we are officially first-time homeowners! After almost 5 months, we got the house I posted about a couple months ago, and I could not be happier. It is overwhelming and so exciting at the same time. If anyone has good references for painters, plumbers, flooring, and pool fence people, let me know. : )

Ladybug Hunt

2009-05-02T14:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we were playing in the backyard and we started to notice a lot of ladybugs in the grass. It was kind of like finding ants in your house. You see one, then two, then your peripheral vision kicks in and you see dozens. It was really cool. We all held a bunch, except for Elle who would think they were the cutest things in the world, but scream her head off when we put one on her foot (it was so funny we did it a few times). Mae had no fear and picked up one after another, but I had to stop her when she was pinching them to pick them up. Oops.

Girl's Trip!

2009-05-01T16:13:00.001-07:00

I got to go away last weekend for our annual girls trip with my fantastic friends, Dana and Megan. About 6 years ago while living in Phoenix, our husbands surprised us for Mother's Day and sent us to Sedona for the weekend. We've continued the tradition pretty much every year since and it's so rejuvinating! Especially this year since I didn't have Mae, and no one was pregnant (bring on the jacuzzi). We basically just ate and vegged for 2 days straight. It was wonderful! I'm so grateful to Bud for watching our four crazy kids this weekend with no complaints. And I'm sure there was plenty to complain about, especially during three hours of church. : ) I'm grateful for great friends in my life too. It's nice to get away and just be a girl for a weekend.

Doozy

2009-04-19T23:16:00.000-07:00

I know it's been awhile since I've blogged, and now I don't know if I should do seperate posts for everything, or just tie it all into one. I'm going with the one big post because it's past midnight and I'm tired and really want to get this up before yet another week begins. So, here are the past two weeks in a nutshell:

Spring Break finally came - yahoo! We headed down to San Diego to finally meet our new niece/cousin, Brooklyn. Such a sweetie and happy to have another girl in the family. That now brings my parents up to 9 grandkids. My dad and sister and her kids came with. We hit the beach even though it was pretty cold, made it to IKEA (why do we not have one in Vegas?!), celebrated the twin's birthday, and swam and soaked in the pool/jacuzzi (Thanks Dana for the great accomodations!). It was a fun trip, but we weren't done yet!

Bud took the kids out to dinner the night we got back to give me a little peace and quiet for a couple hours and to celebrate the boys birthday since he couldn't be with us in SD for their actual day. That drew their birthday out to a full week from getting their presents from Nana two Saturdays ago, to Nintendo DS's on the morning of our trip for the car, to their actual birthday on Friday, breakfast in bed on Sunday, then they STILL had donuts for their class the following Monday. After they got home from school that day I told them, "Your birthday is officially over" (lovingly, of course).
Wednesday I also got to go on a fun field trip to the Natural History Museum with them. This picture cracks me up, it looks like the dinosaur is going to attack our poor tour guide.

Easter was great last Sunday. I didn't have my camera, but the Hilbus traditions were alive and well (except for egg wars, that one kind of fizzled out this year). Kim came back from San Diego with us so she could celebrate with the family. All the cousins were together and yesterday we took family pictures of the whole crew which I'm sure I'll post soon.

So, I think that's pretty much it. Man, I do not like catch-up posts, but it's just been a crazy couple weeks. At least we're up-to-date now.

You're Turning Violet, Violet!

2009-04-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

Well, she's at it again. Sometime during the night, Elle colored her hands purple with a non-washable highlighter. Then she slept on her hands and got it on her face. I've tried to get it off, but to no avail. Looks like we'll have to wait out the fading process over the next few days. But, notice how we color-coordinated her outfit? Now, you might ask, "well, where is she getting these markers?" Perhaps I am a little at fault, but the girl rumages through her toy basket during the night and finds the darndest things. She's supposed to be SLEEPING!

Mae's been a total handful too. She's teething and she's either crying all the time or if she's quiet, then she's getting into something. These girls are driving me crazy!!

April Fools

2009-04-01T11:53:00.000-07:00

So right about now my sweet boys should be finishing up their lunches where they were treated to a little April Fools joke. I wanted to put toothpaste in lieu of the cream filling in some oreo's, but we didn't have any, so I had to settle for some other little pranks. First, I swapped their honey and jelly sandwiches, which for some reason they get really upset about. Then I took the straws off their juice boxes. But the best part was I filled their lunch bags to the brim with goldfish. Lots of em. Wish I could see their little faces when they opened them. Hee Hee!
I tried so hard to get them to play a joke on their teacher, Mrs. Medina, and what better trick to play with twins then to switch places. But they would not do it. I kept telling them they were missing out on a prime opportunity where they most likely wouldn't get in trouble, but I guess I just raised them too well. Wusses.

Now to think of something for Bud... I don't think the fake pregnancy test would be too funny since I've done that to him for real and it's just not something we can joke about in our family. With our luck, I really would be. BUT I'M NOT! Anyway, gotta keep thinking.

Homework

2009-03-20T10:46:00.000-07:00

I was checking Jonah's homework this morning, and thought the sentence in the middle was pretty funny:

Newest Member(s) of the Family!

2009-03-09T06:34:00.001-07:00

There's a new baby in the family, and it's not mine! : ) Congrats to my sister Kim and her hubby, Mike, for their new baby girl born on Friday! Brooklyn Kawehikapuokalani Kerl. Don't even ask how to pronounce the middle name - we're crazy Hawaiians and all our kids get middle names, but this one takes the cake. I'm so sad I won't be able to see her until Spring Break, but we're so happy for you guys and she looks SOOOO cute!

Since I was sad it wasn't our family adding on (yeah right!), we added two more family members last week too. Here are Cinderella and Goldie:

Sisters

2009-03-02T10:43:00.000-08:00

I had a fun week with the girls last week (except for the everyday "Mommy, your mean" rant from Elle). It's getting more and more fun to watch she and Mae interact. It reminds me of my sisters and how much fun (and drama) we had growing up. They look so different, but are so close.

I caught the two of them whispering secrets and laughing on the window sill.

We had our first official tea party (thanks Aunt Traci for the birthday gift!), where Elle fell in love with sugar and strawberries (especially the sugar part).

And seperately, they have their own funny little things they do. Elle and her toys in bed. Every night I say, "no toys in bed" and every night or morning I find her surrounded by them. She's such a ham and got really upset when she realized one of the arms to her Cinderella Christmas ornament had broken off. I'm sure due to her rolling on it during the night.

And my little Mae, always trying her best to keep up with her big brother's and sister. She carries a stool everywhere she goes to do the things they do. She is almost always around me and has to be a part of everything I do including right on the desk if I'm on the computer.
And the little stinker thinks it's hilarious to say "Dada" whenever I ask her to say Mama.

By the way, I'm aware that the girls kind of look like urchins in about 80% of these pictures (except for their sweet faces of course), but what can I say, we really don't like to get dressed until we have to and I'm definitely not doing there hair unless we're going somewhere. : ) It's pretty much a true account of our day to day.

Anticipation

2009-02-25T09:09:00.000-08:00

We've been waiting a long time for our first home. We've been very blessed to find great houses in Phoenix and LA to rent, and I cannot begin to articulate the miracle it's been to live in my in-laws house while our family's grown and the markets crashed over the past three years. That being said though, I AM SO READY TO GET OUR FIRST HOME! It's finally the right time for us to buy and we think we've found the right house for us, unfortunately, it's a short sale. We've had an offer on this house for over 6 weeks now and haven't heard much from the bank. Bud is so annoyed with how obsessed I am and keeps encouraging me to channel my anxiety into something more productive than talking about it 24/7 and watching every real-estate show on TLC and HGTV, but it's killing me not to know. The worst part is it could be late March/early April before we hear anything. I keep telling myself, I've waited 10 years for this, I can wait 2 more months, but there's something about being so close and yet so far that is just so frustrating. So, Mr. Bank - please find it in your heart to get back to us soon with good news.

I'd love to have this house, but I do know we'll end up where we're supposed to be and we'll be taken care of like we always have been. I just really like this one. : )

Happy Birthday Elle!

2009-02-16T10:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Elle's 3rd birthday. We had a great family dinner and party for her. The highlight was her cake. Let me preface this by mentioning the great cake disaster of 07'. See, I have this small desire to be a great cake decorator like the guys you see on Ace of Cakes, or even like my good friend, Courtney. For Elle's 1st birthday I got this bright idea to make an ABC block cake. Well, it didn't turn out so well and I ended up freaking out and sending Bud to Costco to buy something 5 minutes before her little party began. Here's a pic of the attempt, and no, we hadn't eaten the cake yet. I couldn't even get it frosted without it crumbling like this:

It's taken me a couple years to want to try again, but while looking at cakes on Family Fun, Elle and I came across this Princess Castle cake and she got really excited and so I tried again. Things turned out much better this year, thank goodness or Bud would've ended up breaking the sabbath to get me another cake.

We also had a great Valentine's Day on Saturday. We "heart-attacked" the kids again this year. Jake and Jo got red, green and white hearts for their Mario and Luigi obsession. They all looked so cute, but unfortunately, they didn't get to see much of it because all four kids woke up in the middle of the night and three of them ended up sleeping in our room! Ugh. Also, my camera battery died and I cannot find the charger, thus the crappy pictures from Bud's phone, sorry.
Bud and I agreed not to do anything this year except a card, but the jerk had a dozen roses delivered to me Saturday afternoon. I'm obviously joking about the jerk thing, but I did go to See's Candy last minute and get him his favorites so he couldn't one-up me. The flowers were the most beautiful I had ever seen though and I love em!

Misery Loves Company

2009-02-11T17:58:00.000-08:00

It's been way too long since I last posted, although that last post is pretty tough to top. The last few weeks were great, and I'll post more about them when I get some pics. Quick recap though: Elle potty trained quickly and successfully (no pics of this - you're welcome)! I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to have only one child in diapers with no "possibilities" of another one right around the corner. If you think about it, I've only had a three month break with no one in diapers for the past 6.5 years! Sorry planet, we're definitely not doing our share to help in that sense.
We also got to go to Chicago for 6 days for Carol's 60th birthday. Almost the entire family was there and it was a terrific time with great food, on-time flights and cooperative weather! We are so happy that the next time we see Will and Carol, it will be here!

Now, to the reason for the post title. We've got four sick kids home today as well as two parents with head colds. Lots of fun. The twins have pink eye and the girls have nasty coughs and borderline ear infections. Let's just hope the boys and girls don't swap illnesses. Oh well, it is what it is, and it makes me all that more grateful for the 90% of the time we're all pretty healthy.

The World is Her Canvas...

2009-01-12T14:12:00.000-08:00

Aren't these lovely? Such nice use of color and variety of design. Quite good for a two-year old. She could have some serious potential.

TOO BAD THIS WAS ON ELLE'S BED THIS MORNING!

When I asked her why in the world she did it, she said because she wanted her sheets pink. I'm not kidding.

Wow, as if THAT wasn't enough, this afternoon, after organizing the laundry, I found Elle like this:

2009 - at last!

2009-01-09T21:24:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the delay, but New Year's was fun. We bet the twins a quarter they couldn't stay up until midnight. Jake was so sure he would. He and Jonah had all sorts of plans for the family room campout - watching movies, playing games, etc. Yeah, they were both out by 10pm. FYI, I did not make them pay me a quarter - first, because I don't condone gambling : ), secondly, because I fell asleep in the family room at 9:30pm. The real shocker of the night was Miss Elle who stayed up with Bud the entire time and then fought us like crazy when we tried to put her down at 12:30. The boys were very upset with us the next day that we didn't wake them up for fireworks. Well, we tried. Let me tell you, I have never seen kids sleep like these two. When they're out, they're out! Luckily, I took pictures for proof.

On New Year's Day Bud got the idea that we should head down to Hoover Dam. I thought for sure the traffic would be horrible, but it wasn't too bad and we had fun showing the kids around. I have to say though, it's quite terrifying to look over the edge. Especially when you're holding one of your babies!

I have high hopes for 2009. I've been looking forward to this year for a very long time. We will buy our first home in the next few months. That's a whole other post with all my excitement, fears, and questions. Also, the Stoddard's come home this summer. I cannot wait. Even though it's flown by, day by day is sometimes slow and I'm so excited to have Nana and Pogger back close by. What a neat thing for our kids to have both sets of grandparents in the same city! I'm looking forward to all '09 has to offer!

10 Years

2008-12-31T09:18:00.000-08:00

Bud and I celebrated our ten year anniversary on Monday. Thanks to amazing parents, sisters, and friends, we got to go up to Salt Lake City for a few days and spend some time together. It was surreal to do whatever we wanted. Surreal and wonderful! We ate great, watched movies, slept in, went skiing, just got to be selfish for awhile and it was awesome. Unfortunately, I forgot the memory card for my camera, so I didn't get any pictures, but it was a fantastic trip. Thank you again to everyone who helped with the kids and a special thanks to Bud who makes everything good in my life possible. I love you more now than I did when we got married and can't wait to see what the coming decades bring!

It's a Wonderful Life

2008-12-26T10:29:00.000-08:00

Jake's nativity scene

Christmas was perfect. Very low-key and the kids had a great time. It was so much fun to watch them. We had the kids get gifts for eachother at the dollar store and they had so much fun giving them to eachother. It was such a nice morning and even nicer once I got a nap in. In the evening we had my sister's family and my parents over for a "roast beast" dinner. It was delicious and so nice to spend time with everyone. We miss the family that wasn't here, but love everyone so much and are so grateful for the birth of Jesus Christ and the blessings His life brings us. Merry Christmas!

If I Never See Another Cookie...

2008-12-23T11:11:00.000-08:00

195 cookies. I am so done.

The girls were pretty cute with their beaters though.

hello?

2008-12-19T20:59:00.000-08:00

Someone could've told me I still had an "Autumn" background on my blog. You'd think I would've noticed it after posting about our snow. Sheesh, the holidays are making me lose my mind!

Snow Day!?!

2008-12-18T16:00:00.001-08:00

It was amazing. There was a bonafide snow storm here Monday and Wednesday. I've never seen anything like it in Las Vegas in the 18 (on and off) years I've lived here. But then they declared a "snow day" and cancelled school today. Here's what today looked like:
Yeah, I think that might have been a bad call. But, it was fun while it lasted! On Monday I took Mae and Elle to Costco and was telling Elle how you can tilt your head back and eat the falling snow. She didn't have much luck with that so when we got to the car she went right up to the side and licked it. After a quick, "Elle, no!", she looked at me and simply stated, "I'm eatin da snow."

thirty

2008-12-08T11:20:00.001-08:00

I am thirty today. That's really all I have to say about that.

Just joking (kind of). I certainly have a lot to show for my 20's. I can think of four things in particular, plus a 10 year marriage.

It really has been an amazing birthday! Friday night, Bud took me to dinner and to see Phantom of the Opera at the Venentian. It was so good. We had great seats where the chandelier dropped right on top of us. Then Bud was amazing and took the kids Saturday and Sunday while I made a quick trip to Phoenix to see my dearest friends, Dana and Megan. We ate at my favorite sandwich shop in Gilbert, Flancer's, then did a little shopping. Dana's husband surprised us that night with a "fascinating" scavenger hunt that included a movie, dinner, and a couple other stops all around town. It was so much fun! This morning the kids woke me up with cards and a couple presents then breakfast at my favorite - The Original Pancake House. When we walked out to the car at 7am, my car was covered in 30's. Thank you to my sweet friend, Courtney who came by late last night with that surprise. She's also the one who left the crazy dolls outside my house. Apparently she likes stalking around my home late at night. : )

I'm so grateful for my life and even moreso, the people in it. If things keep going the way they are, my thirties should be fantastic!

Primary Program

2008-11-23T21:57:00.000-08:00

Today was our ward's primary program. Being a member of the primary presidency it makes for a pretty stressful week, but all that went away today as my boys got up, said their parts and then sang the second verse of Called To Serve - at the pulpit, by themselves. I was so nervous for them, worried if they were nervous about all the people, worried they'd forget the words, but they did so good. A little territorial over the microphone, but they sang loud and clear. In fact, I heard the comment more than once today that you could hear Jacob over all the other kids during the songs (he was practically yelling). Now, I'm not saying they're Pavarotti's by any stretch of the imagination, but that they had the confidence and courage to get up there really impressed me! Since Nana and Pogger couldn't be there, I recorded our rehearsal from Friday. It was pretty much the same except Jake didn't let Jonah have the microphone quite so easily today.

Kids Pics

2008-11-17T13:29:00.000-08:00

This post is a LONG time coming. The boys and Elle are always taking pictures with their little v-tech digital camera they got last year for Christmas. It took me months to download some of their pics and now months to put them on the blog, but I do love to see the world through their little eyes!

Veterans Day

2008-11-11T16:37:00.000-08:00

I just want to wish all those who are defending and have defended our country a Happy Veterans Day. Growing up with my dad in the Air Force, I had a childhood unlike most - and I loved it! I have a special place in my heart for the military and am so grateful for the spirit of patriotism. I'm especially thankful that my dad remained safe during his 24 years of service, as well as my brother-in-law Mike, who served 10 years.

I found this great picture of my dad (he's on the right) while looking for one of him by his F-4 Phantom that he flew in Vietnam. It was taken in England in 1977. I love his smile and how dapper he looks in his uniform. And a big thanks to my mom who dealt with his many absences while raising three girls. Love you!

Bummer

2008-11-04T22:24:00.000-08:00

Well, at least I voted.

Happy Belated Halloween

2008-11-03T11:32:00.001-08:00

Little behind the 8 ball on getting these pictures up, but Halloween was a blast and by the actual end of trick or treating, can't say I was sad to see it end. But, between the Pumpkin Festival, school and church parties and the actual day itself, I feel like we got our money's worth out of the costumes along with a great haul of candy, and isn't that what it's really all about? : )

The boys were awesome as Mario and Luigi. It's a great twin costume!

Elle was a beautiful Cinderella down to the black ribbon choker which I loved. And Mae Mae was shoved into a 6-12 month bumblebee costume - she's a small 14 months, ok? Besides it was just too cute to watch her toddle along in the tutu!

Highlight of the holiday? Probably trick or treating into Mayor Oscar Goodman's house who personally passed out pins and pencils in addition to candy. The kids had no idea who he was, but were excited anyway.

New Do's

2008-10-24T20:58:00.000-07:00

The Stoddard's and the Hilbus' are known to have some pretty thick hair and a lot of it. Well, our little Elle just doesn't (yet). About 6 months ago, I noticed she was losing a lot of hair. I took her to the doctor and the dermatologist, we had a blood test run (everything was fine), but they concluded that due to a lasting fever she had in the beginning of the year, it may have caused a mild form of alopecia (hair loss). Luckily, it did start growing back in, but she unfortunately looked like she had a mullet, with the spikey regrowth on top and her long thin hair. So we decided to cut it pretty short. It's so cute, but I am glad she's not old enough to realize how much hair we cut. She does like it, but as you can tell from the pictures, she was a little schizo about smiling for the camera that day.

Then, yesterday, we gave Mae her first official cut. She was sporting a little mullet as well, so we trimmed that up. She was not a big fan of the scissors as you can see.

I Heart October!

2008-10-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

October is one of my favorite months in Vegas. The weather finally cools (usually). We have perfect temps almost everyday. The kids are outside nonstop, and it's the beginning of the holiday season. We had one of those great October days last Friday with the kids playing outside in the afternoon and then Bud surprising them with a backyard campout that night. The girls and I slept in the house, but the boys were troopers and stayed in the tent all night. Even when Jake got a bloody nose, he wouldn't come in the house (that was fun to clean up the next day). The next morning, all the kids loved playing in the tent, especially Mae. She quickly found the doggie door and would crawl through it over and over.

Uh, I Don't Think So...

2008-10-16T09:32:00.000-07:00

Bud's brother Mark and his wife Jenni were in town the last few days. They are definitely the "fun" aunt and uncle who the kids get really excited to see. Unfortunately (for us), they both have iPhones. The twins got so hooked on the different games they could play. A couple days ago, we talked about how Christmas would be here soon and they asked if they could write their Christmas lists. Here's what we got from Jonah:

Mark made the point that if we got him one, we would take care of five of the items on his list. Yeah, he's 6 - he's not getting an iPhone. Oh, and apparently we can talk to Michael Phelps for the gold medal.

I do have to say though, the iPhones take great pictures. Jenni took a couple cute ones of the kids:

Sweet Peace

2008-10-09T17:50:00.000-07:00

Just a little "shout-out" to Bud who's been kind enough to take all four kids to karate this week when the twins go on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. I can't believe how nice one little hour of peace can be. Thanks so much!

Vacation!

2008-10-06T10:49:00.000-07:00

This year we have a lot of big celebrations on my side of the family - my parents 40th wedding anniversary, my moms 60th birthday, me and Bud's 10th anniversary, me and my brother-in-laws 30th birthday, my other bro-in-laws 40th birthday, etc. So, instead of having parties every other month, this year we rented a beach house and made a week of it. It was so nice to do practically nothing. Unfortunately, Bud had to work a lot, but lucky for me my sister's kids were there who love to help out and play with my kids. We did Disneyland on Wednesday and there were hardly any lines, although Bud and I both came away thinking it would be a good few years until we went back. The rest of the week was filled with boogie boarding, sand castles, some failed attempts at meals (the stove and oven seemed to have it out for us), a visit to the Dana Point tide pools (awesome!), cards, campfires, and way too many smores. A big thank you to my folks for inviting us all to come and spend a week in the crazy pink and blue beach house. Maybe in 10 years we can celebrate like this again!

Aargh!

2008-10-01T20:59:00.000-07:00

I really want to post pics from our beach trip last week, but I can't find our camera. Stay tuned...

Hurricane Mae

2008-09-16T10:22:00.000-07:00

Mae has turned into quite the bundle of energy lately. She's into EVERYTHING. I've nicknamed her Hurricane Mae because she leaves a path of destruction wherever she goes. Trash cans, clothes, dishes, food, it all gets pulled out and tossed on the floor. It's driving me CRAZY! She's also started walking. Here's a little video:

In serious hurricane related issues though, I just want the Fontano's (Bud's sister and family) to know we are praying for you and hope that things return back to normal soon. They are in Houston and Ike passed right over them last week. They are still without power and it could take 2 weeks or more to get it turned back on. We love you guys!

Happy Birthday Bud!

2008-09-10T21:16:00.001-07:00

Today is Bud's b-day. 33! Sorry for the stereotypical, "my husband's the best" post, but he's as great as he seems and I'm so grateful that this man is mine! He's a fantastic dad (evident by the homecoming he receives EVERY day after work) and takes such good care of all of us. I'm so glad I get to be with him for the next 33+ years! Happy Birthday hon!

Random

2008-09-08T23:09:00.000-07:00

Nothing too exciting going on lately, just getting into the new routine. Here's how we're passing the time lately:
Easiest and messiest dinner

Halloween preview

Oh no! Here we go again with the toilet obsession

Elle a year and half ago

Playing in the rain

The boys are addicted to their new Webkinz (I don't know where they get that from)

Oh, and just a small shout-out to my good ol' pleather chair that we threw out a couple weeks ago. I bought this chair right before the twins were born. It nicely sat me and my two babies. However, after a few moves and four kids and a roll or two of brown duct tape, we decided it was time to say goodbye. Bud couldn't believe I took a picture of it in the trash pile, but I had to. I don't have any digitals dating back to when the twins were babies, but I found one of them on it in LA. We're just using some of Carol and Will's recliners in its place for now. Just yesterday all the kids were on top of me in one of them and we all fell backward. I couldn't help but think, "That wouldn't have happened in MY chair." Jonah said we should probably just have one person on at a time.

Weird

2008-08-28T11:35:00.000-07:00

That's the word that comes to mind for this week. You know that feeling when you're adjusting to something new? It's just been weird. The boys are loving first grade, no meltdowns (except for me while making their first lunches), no nerves. They adjust so quickly and so well. Although, Jake did tell me he hoped they wouldn't have any more tours of the school because it's too hot outside and he sweats too much. I think Elle thought she was going right into their classroom with them because she was not happy when the teacher closed the door and she was on the outside. Her tears helped mine from coming. Guess you just gotta keep on going. The boys got to choose their dinner Monday night and they chose "big waffles" which are Belgian waffles with whipped cream and chocolate chips. Now we're just adjusting to having them gone so much. Monday and Tuesday were packed, but the last couple days have been pretty quiet. Lunch is the strangest. Just me and Elle and Mae if she's awake. I need to make the most of this time to bond with the girls, especially Elle. I think now's the time to introduce tea party's and make-believe, take her to the library and ballet classes. I defintely miss my boys, but I think it'll be a good year. Thank goodness Monday's Labor Day!

So Long Summer...

2008-08-21T18:34:00.000-07:00

It just hit me that tomorrow is my last summer day home alone with my four kids. I'm totally bummed. I just can't believe it's already over. I feel like we did a ton, but had some lazy days too, it was a great summer. The twins will be in first grade, full day for the first time. I had a hard enough time with 2 1/2 hours, I'm going to be a basket case come Monday. My boys are my helpers and so obedient, such good examples for their sisters. I'll be so sad to not have them around. But I am excited for them, first grade was my all-time favorite. I know they'll love every minute, I just hate feeling like I lose a little more of them every year. I know that's a bit melodramatic, but can't they just stay little forever?

Oh, and yeah, not looking forward to making two sack lunches and getting everybody out the door by 9am. That should be interesting!

Happy 1st Birthday Mae!

2008-08-16T22:40:00.000-07:00

Mae turned 1 today! We had a little family get together this evening with swimming and BBQ. Mae liked her cake, but was enthralled by the candle. She also actually seemed to like her gifts although she played more with the tissue paper and video camera.

I'm so grateful for my beautiful brown-eyed baby. She's such a sweetheart and so obviously loves her family. Happy Birthday Mae Mae!

Catch Up

2008-08-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

We've had an eventful and fun week. This is a pretty vague overview of the past week, but there's too much to write about so, I'll do a picture review:

Dentist visit Monday - No cavities!

Fontano's here Monday afternoon through Wednesday. We LOVE our Texas cousins!

**Not pictured - 3rd trip to Chuck-E-Cheese's in three weeks. Yeah, I'm good for about 2 years.

Princess bad-a**es

Happy Birthday Jeremy and Abbie!

Mae FINALLY tried her first cup of milk. OF COURSE she didn't like it.

Since the kids were so sad to see their cousins leave, we tried to cheer them up with a living-room campout Friday night.