Monday, Tuesday, and the Rest of the Week

My parents were suppose to leave on Monday, but decided to leave Tuesday afternoon instead. So Monday my mom made a bunch of meals to put into the freezer for us and Tuesday we spent the morning going through the baby stuff and getting some of it washed and organized. It was a huge help having her here and so nice to be able to visit with my parents again. The boys of course loved spending time with Grandma and Grandpa as well.

We said good-bye to them on Tuesday which is always sad to do and the rest of the week was fairly uneventful. Just the normal appointments and such. Actually on Friday I took Bryce up to an orthotic specialist in Phoenix to try out a device called a SWASH. His PT had seen one and was very excited about getting Bryce into one. When we got there, we had good and bad news. First, the good is that the SWASH seems like something that could really help Bryce with sitting and eventually walking. With it on, he was actually able to sit on his own and reach for things using both of his hands. I think it would give him a lot of freedom as well as making it easier for the PT to work with him. The bad news was that this particular company does not take our insurance or Bryce's extra insurance. So we will have to just wait to hear from CRS at St. Joes and get one through them. He will also be getting some AFO's to help with the spactisity in his legs. Knowing that this is all coming makes it really hard to wait for it, but at least I know we are headed in the right direction. There are so many hoops to jump through, it's just crazy. It will be worth it in the end though, I am sure!

Ok, now I think we are caught up. Now I just need to stay on top of it during the upcoming weeks!

Sunday April 19th

Saturday at the baptism, Bishop Carroll asked William and Devin to sit up in the front with him at the beginning of the meeting. They received their certificates of baptism and then were able to come sit with the family again. Only William didn't realize he could come back and sit with us, so he ended up sitting on the stand throughout the whole meeting. I felt kind of bad for him. It's hard sitting up there in front that whole time. He did a great job though and behaved much better than he ever does when he sits with us!

As many of you know, I was paranoid about someone in our family getting sick this past week since we had so many things going on that I didn't want anyone to miss (namely me!). We'll it's amazing how prayers work. I prayed hard for this blessing and received exactly what I ask for. We all stayed well through Sunday morning. On the way home from church William kept saying that he was so tired. I figured it was just because of the big weekend he had just had. But when we got home he said he was cold and covered up in a big blanket and kept saying he was so tired and then that he didn't feel well. I decided to take his temperature and sure enough he was running a fever. I gave him some medicine and he fell asleep for a few hours. When the medicine wore off he was complaining of a sore throat. By the next morning Bryce had a runny nose and a yucky cough. I just kept thinking how thankful I was that none of this happened before Sunday.

It ended up that poor William had strep throat and actually ended up missing an entire week of school! He could have gone back on Friday, but when I talked to his teacher Thursday, she gave me a handful of work for him and said to just keep him home one more day. She said that a lot of kids have been out sick and we might as well make sure he is fully well before going back. Friday is basically just tests, PE, and music day and he hadn't been there all week so she said she would just not factor that week into his grade. Cool for him! We spent Friday catching up on homework and music practice. I think he will be glad to go back to school next week.

Saturday April 18th--Baptism Day!

This was a wonderful day. Our oldest son, William was baptized. My parents were able to come into town for it. Mom gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and Dad said the opening prayer. We also had a few friends that were able to come. Grandma and Grandpa Clayton weren't able to make it since they are in Tonga on a Mission and unfortunately our siblings live all over the US and weren't able to make it either. Luckily he was baptized with Devin, another little boy in our ward. He has a lot of family around, so it made for a nice big group. It would have been pretty small if it were just our family! There were 9 baptisms going on that day in our building. William's favorite gift from that day is his very own set of scriptures that he got from Grandma and Grandpa Stephens. They have his name on them and he loves to follow along and read from them during scripture time. He stays on top of it now and doesn't let us miss or shorten scripture time one bit.

William and Dad all in white.



Grandma and Grandpa Stephens waiting for
all the fun to begin. Actually Grandma was
very nervous at this point. She doesn't like
talking in front of a lot of people, but she was
a good sport and did a great job on her talk.



William and Devin



The boys with their dads! William looks so little
here!



The Clayton boys and Devin. They were all very
excited that day.



After the baptism, we came home and had a little
party. We ended up with way too much food, but
it made for nice leftovers the next day!

April 17

Friday I left the kids with Alea while my mom and I had a little girls day out. We had so much fun. We went over to Ikea to pick up the crib that I have been wanting for quite some time. I saw it many years ago, but it's white and kind of girly and the one we were using was working fine at the time, so I have just been waiting until now to get it. Since we are having a girl, I have finally been able to justify it and am so excited about it. We'll unfortunately it is currently out of stock. Bummer. I hope they get more in soon. We went ahead and bought the mattress and of course a few other things we saw and then headed to Babies R Us. There we looked for a new rocking chair since ours no longer rocks. I can't believe how expensive these have gotten. We ended up finding one that I liked more than the others and it was on clearance. I love it when that happens! On top of that, they were having a sale that when you buy the glider you get the ottoman for free! They didn't have any currently in stock, but they ordered it for me and it should be in any day. We then went to Mimi's Cafe for a late lunch and then headed for home. It was a great day out with my mom.

Unfortunately things didn't go so well at home. I called to check in while we were at lunch and Alea said that Bryce was crying a lot but she had not been able to get him down for a nap. I gave her a few ideas and then asked if he had eaten lunch for her. She said that she had asked him if he wanted to eat and he would shake his head no, so she hadn't fed him yet. We'll Bryce doesn't always understand what he is being asked, so I told her to go ahead and put him up in his high chair and put some food in front of him and that he would most likely eat it. She did, and he did! Poor kid. I decided to head home after lunch and then go back out to Costco later. When we got home, he had eaten and had calmed down. We then took him with us to Costco and he fell right to sleep in the car. We got what we needed for Saturday and a pizza for dinner and headed home for the evening. It was really nice to spend some time with my mom.

Catching up...Again!

OK, so it has been over a week since I have been here to let you know what's happening now in our crazy, always moving life. I have about 8 minutes now, so I will at least get a bit written here and then be back later. Hopefully before another week passes.

April 16th

This was the day of my Baby Shower. Wow, what a shower it was. Shantell Carroll threw the shower for me and everything was beautiful and treats were yummy. We had a great turnout and our little girl got many wonderful gifts. She will certainly be the best dressed girl around! It was so fun getting all that girly stuff. I'm actually getting excited about bows and frill and all that girl stuff after all. It sure is becoming more real to me now! I just realized that I haven't gotten my pictures onto my computer yet. I'll have to do that and add one that I took of all the pretty packages after the shower.

Back Up and Running

My computer took a nose dive and has been down for a few days. I have missed keeping in touch with everyone terribly and am looking forward to getting back into things here again. I am too tired to write tonight and am going to bed, but hopefully tomorrow I will be able to do some updating here. A lot has been happening!

Day One

Well, Alea began work here today. Ok, I think I am going to love this! We started out with one of Bryce's therapy sessions today. I had Alea sit in on it with me so that she will know what types of things we are doing with him. The therapist that came is my least favorite one of the group as far as therapists go. She is a nice person, but I just didn't feel like she was doing much for Bryce most of the time. Well, for one thing we found out that she is going to be leaving and as of next week he will have a new developmental specialist. Also, Alea did great with Bryce during the session. She actually did more with Bryce than the therapist did. She was just totally confident with getting down with Bryce and making noises for him and all kinds of things. Bryce loved it!

After therapy I took a quick shower and the boys and I headed out to pick up Kindergarten kids and then to the Matheson's for the play group potluck. Well, Bryce fell asleep in the car on the way over and so I decided to take him home and lie him down since Alea would be there doing some cleaning. So I got to go with just the older boys to the potluck which made it nice, because I could actually sit and talk with the other ladies there while the boys played. And Bryce actually got in a nice full nap today!

Then I took the boys home and headed up to the scout shop to buy William's new uniform for Cub Scouts. Normally I would have had at least two boys with me and a shop like that is just not a fun place to take two little kids that like to touch everything. On the way home I had to stop somewhere to use a restroom. Yes, this baby appears to be sitting right on my bladder! Anyway, so I pulled into a store parking lot, climbed out of the car, went in, used the restroom, and came out again. It took all of about 2 minutes instead of 10-15 minutes that it normally takes when I have to get everyone out of the car, get Bryce buckled into his stroller and make the trek into the store. So that was great. Then as I was getting closer to home, I realized that I still had about an hour left before William needed to be at cub Scouts, so I decided to stop and get a very needed haircut. I would never have done that with kids along and normally I am trying to get back super fast so that I can get the babysitter home when I told her I would, and not have to pay like an extra six bucks just to get my hair cut. The whole trip just felt so freeing. And it was wonderful to come home to a house where the dishes were not still waiting in the sink for me and my floor had actually been mopped. It was a good first day!

Scary, but Proud Mom Moment

This actually happened yesterday, but I was just thinking about it and thought I would share. The boys were all playing outside before school with the neighbor kids. Once William and Jacob left for school, Spencer decided to stay out for a little bit longer. Before long I heard him come into the house. I was in the other room and he soon found me. Once he did, he just stood there for a minute kind of fidgeting and then he told me that the little boy next door had given him some candy and told him to come in the house and hide it and not to tell his mom. He said," but I wanted to tell you. I didn't want to keep it a secret from you. I'll go give it back to him now." So we talked about it for a minute and I had him show me what it was. Luckily it really was just a box of nerds that the boy had gotten for Easter. I made sure Spencer knew how proud I was of him for telling me and let him know that he did the right thing. I told him that if the boy had given him the candy he didn't have to give it back, but that he did right in telling me about it and showing it to me before eating it. It made me really nervous that at 4 years old he already is confronted with older kids giving him things and telling him not to tell his parents. It just gives me a scary feeling for the future, but I am so glad that he was able to come and tell me. I hope that line of communication stays open when the really important tests come!

Stomach Flu

No, as of now we do not have it. KNOCK ON WOOD! It sounds like it is going around though. Both Saturday and Sunday multiple people told me that they or someone they had been around is now sick with the flu. So I was starting to get a little paranoid. I hate dealing with the stomach flu! Then John just called me and said that one of his co-workers was in his office talking to him and saying that his kids were all sick and that they got it from someone else's kid's whose babysitter had it and threw up 10 times while she was babysitting, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, John said the whole time he was sitting there thinking, "so why are you in my little office, breathing in my breathing space when you are most likely contagious as well?" So I am here just hoping beyond hope that we do not get it...at least not this week. Alea starts work here tomorrow, my parents come into town on Wednesday, Thursday is my baby shower, and Saturday is William's baptism. Not the week to be sick! Anyone know of a good way to ward off stomach flu when it appears to be everywhere around you?

Happy Easter

It's been a good Easter weekend. It started Friday morning with an Easter egg hunt at the Allen's house. I couldn't find my camera that morning, so I don't have pictures of that, but I did get one of the colored chicks that ended up coming home with us. Yes they are died blue and orange. The boys have named them Domino and Wally.


The boys woke up Sunday morning to baskets from
the Easter bunny. Here William is trying to decide
which basket should be his. He didn't end up picking
the one which was intended for him, but they
were all pretty much the same this year anyway.


Spencer was happy with the one he got!

At first Bryce just kept turning his basket around

and around. Then he discovered there were

things inside and he decided to check them out.

After a breakfast of Chocolate, eggs, and little smokies, we sent Dad off to church since he had to be there early for choir practice and then got everyone else bathed and ready to go. Luckily the boys were very cooperative and we made it to church just in time for our 8:oo meeting! John had saved us a seat but only got to sit with us through the Sacrament. After that he was up on the stand with the choir. They did a really good job today. I know they were a little worried about one of the songs. After church, William met with the Bishop for his baptismal interview. We then came home had some lunch and Bryce and I took a nice nap. After Sacrament meeting and nursery we were both ready for one!

This evening the sister missionaries came over and had Easter dinner with us. I forgot to pull the camera out until we were eating dessert, but at least I got a few shots. It was so nice to have company for our holiday dinner.

Sister Pieper, Sister Uhl, and Sister Garcia

I guess Bryce thought he needed more pie!

Chocolate overload? I think so!


After dinner we went outside to pick some grapefruits

for the sisters. There was one grapefruit that Sister

Uhl just had to get, and with the help of her companions

she got it.

Mother's Helper-Is it really happening?

It is! I can't believe it. They moved in today! As of Monday, Alea Bunker will be my full time "helper" around the house. For a few months now John and I have been discussing the idea of hiring someone to help me out with some of the responsibility around here right now. John just has so much going on outside of the house and I just seem to be getting further and further behind in my duties. And although in a lot of ways the idea sounded great, we didn't really have the money to hire someone. In fact, we were considering renting out our guest house to make a little extra money. Well, then John came up with the great idea of putting those two things together and hiring someone to work for us in exchange for a place to live. It sounded like the perfect solution on one hand, but I had kind of been dragging my feet about the whole thing for a few different reasons. First of all I have this idea in my head that I should be able to handle all of this on my own. My whole life I have dreamed of having a large family and being a stay at home mom who spent all day taking care of and loving her babies. Before having children, I just knew I could do it and be the kool-aid Mom type of person and the June Cleaver type of wife and all of that. Each of the children that we have has come after a lot of prayer and very clear answers that yes, it is time for another child. I know that they each have come when they were suppose to and that they are meant to be a part of this family. Ok, cleaning up (especially nasty bathrooms) after a house full of boys was never quite what I would picture in my dreams, but anyway, you get the idea. Besides that, I grew up in a house where my Mom always seemed to have everything under control. I know she will laugh at that statement, but that is how it seemed to me. She always had a full meal on the table that we ate as soon as my dad came home from work, and although our house was always full of "tidy piles", she kept the house relatively clean. I've only seen her cry 3 times in my entire life, and I never remember her ever asking anyone for help. Growing up I thought we had the greatest family and I wanted to be just like my Mom. What's funny is she is one person now who has been greatly encouraging me to get some help. Hmmm, maybe it wasn't as easy for her as she made it seem to my teenage mind! Anyway, so I know it is a pride thing, but it is REALLY hard to admit that I just plain can't keep up with everything that needs to be done right now, I can't do everything on my own and I really do need another set of hands to help with things around the house.

Another reason I wasn't so sure about the whole idea is that I am a pretty private person. It takes a long time for me to really open up and feel comfortable around a person. I like to have my space where I know I can be myself and feel comfortable. Luckily I finally met a man who took the time to get to know me and loves me anyway and kids, well, they are always so accepting and make you feel so good, at least when they are little. So my home is like my safe place. I didn't really like the idea of a total stranger living that close to us who would be so involved with our lives. I'm still not totally excited about this aspect of it, but hopefully it will all work out.

Finally, though a few weeks ago, two things happened that made me realize that this situation was in the best interest of my family and I needed to get over my pride and accept this opportunity that we are being given. First was when simple things like moping my floor, or lifting our son sent my body into crazy contractions that really made me worry that our daughter may be born too early. And second was when John got a part in the play and I realized that he will be at rehearsal Monday through Saturday throughout the entire month of June. Just a week after our baby is due. Other than Sundays, I really don't see him during this time. So a few weeks ago, we put an ad out on craigslist and sent it out through a friend's ward newsletter. Wow, we got some responses, but let's just say, not ones that made me feel instantly comfortable about having these people near my children. Then at Play try-outs John ran into Kenyen and Alea Bunker. We had known Kenyen's family from our first ward here in Queen Creek and John knew Alea a little bit from past plays that he has been in. Actually he introduced the two of them, and we attended their reception a few months back. Anyway, John mentioned to them that we were hoping to find a couple to move into our house in exchange for some help, and did they know anybody. Well, the Lord works in mysterious ways and come to find out, they did...themselves! So they came over the next day and we talked about what we were really looking for, and they basically knew. It's hard to explain, but it is like they have been being prepared for this for a few weeks now. After talking with them that night, they prayed about it, we prayed about it and we all feel good about the situation. Alea needed to give notice to her work, so we thought she would not be able to begin work until a week from Monday. Ends up that she was able to just change her schedule there to work on Saturdays and she can now start this Monday. It's truly a huge answer to prayers. It's going to be a big change and take some getting use to, but I am really excited about what this might mean and the relief that it might bring to my heart and mind in the upcoming months. Now maybe I will be able to be a little more like the Mom in my dreams and spend more time with my kids and have them know a Mom who is not constantly stressed out and frustrated. What's also great is that my kids, especially Jacob loved Alea instantly. I really am excited about this.

Milk, Milk, and More Milk!

It's amazing how quickly the Lord blesses us for doing the smallest bit of service. The sister missionaries stopped by today and while they were here I asked them if they had some place to go for dinner tomorrow. They didn't, so I invited them to come to our house. Not really a big deal. So this evening I went to Basha's to get some things for dinner tomorrow. Nothing like waiting until the last minute I know. Anyway I was just hoping that they would still have everything I would need. Well, let's just say they did...plus some! As I was going into the store I noticed a table set up and it looked like some type of display for Shamrock farms milk. I figured it was samples or coupons or something so I didn't bother to stop since I was kind of in a hurry to get the shopping done and get home to make dinner. Well, on my way out I noticed that people were walking away from the table with cases of something. I couldn't pass it up. I had to find out what was going on. Well, ends up they were giving away milk. By this time, they were ready to close up shop so instead of giving people a half gallon of milk, they were giving away cases which had 6 half gallons of milk in them! At the table they only had 1% and skim available so they gave me a case with a mixture of those two and then said to go over to the truck and they would give me a case of 2% as well! So I went and put my groceries into the car and then went over and picked up the the other case. I couldn't believe it. 6 free gallons of milk! I love it. Then to top it off, when I got home just after 5 my boys all said that they had just had pizza for dinner. I asked them where they got pizza from and they said that the people who moved into our guest house today (more on that in my next post) had pizza delivered and they shared with all of them. So great! All I had to do was feed Bryce and myself. The leftovers in the fridge worked great for that!

Non-Stop Days

It's been another non-stop day. As you know it started off with a wonderful look at our little girl. We got home in time for Bryce to have a short morning nap before Jacob came home from school and we had to take Spencer to preschool. We then returned home and quickly picked up the toy room a little bit before Bryce's therapists arrived. His OT and PT both came today which ended up working out really well. Since he qualifies for long term care, we are now eligible for the adaptive devices that he has been needing. The way it works I guess is that the companies will take whatever our insurance will pay and then the access care covers the rest. It's all totally new to me, so they kind of explained how it all works and what I need to do now to get everything rolling. We talked about what types of things we need most for Bryce at this time and then they measured him all over so that things can be custom made for him. It is truly a blessing that this is finally coming together. Then as soon as the therapists left, it was time to pick up kids from school. We came home, got homework done, fed Bryce and put him down to bed. He went down early because he had not gotten an afternoon nap and he was needing some sleep! Then I made dinner, OK, so it was just Mac and cheese for John and the boys and when John got home at 6pm, I quickly made myself presentable, spouted some orders for the evening, and left for Bunco. I love it when they need subs for Bunco because it means a fun night out for me. It was a nice way to end the day. Speaking of ending the day, since it is now almost 11pm, I guess I need to get to bed before everyone starts waking up and it starts all over again. Morning comes early around here!

33 Weeks and Another Look at Our Little Girl

This morning started with a trip to my Ob's office for an ultrasound. I love seeing my baby. It makes it all more real and exciting! She is measuring at about 33 weeks 4 days, so just a few days ahead of schedule. He said she appears to be just under 5 lbs at this point and she is head down. There is plenty of fluid in there and her heart beat is great at 144 beats/minute. All good news. John, Spencer, and Bryce went with me today. Spencer thought it was really cool to see the baby inside of my tummy. I can't believe she will be in my arms next month!

While I'm talking about her I wanted to share something kind of funny that happened the other morning. While I was reading my scriptures, I had them resting on the top of my belly...it makes a great table at this point you know. Well, all of a sudden my book began moving just slightly and I realized that the baby must have had the hick-ups. It went on for just a little while, but I thought it was so funny and strange to see my belly moving my book!

Swimming and Cub Scouts

The three younger boys and I went to the pool today and met up with some other members of our ward. We were pretty late in getting there, since we waited for Jacob to come home from school before going, but we had a great time once we got there.

Then this afternoon William had his first Cub Scout meeting. He was a little nervous about starting cub scouts, but very excited at the same time. Once he got home tonight, he kept telling me about all the fun things they did and how excited he is to be in Cub Scouts. I think he is going to love it!

Why My Boys Love Conference

Once again we enjoyed listening to some fantastic messages as we watched General Conference this weekend.

This picture shows why my boys look forward
to General Conference Sunday. Sitting around
watching T.V. in their underwear eating snacks
out of their 72hour kits and it counts as church.
Does it get any better than this? Not for a bunch
of boys!

William's Birthday Party

On Saturday William celebrated his birthday with a dinosaur party. We had 5 kids come which he thought was not enough, but with those 5 and our 4, I believe it was plenty. We got things ready during and between sessions of conference and had the party from 3:30-5 pm. I was trying to decide which cake to make when William said that none of those dinosaurs looked real enough. He wanted me to just make a plain white frosted cake and he would decorate it himself.

So he did. He told me what colors of frosting to
make and set to work. Once he tried making the
dinosaur though, he decided it was too hard to
get just what he wanted, so he turned it into just
a design instead.


The finished product!

Opening presents

The football was a big hit. Luckily we got that

game moved outside before anything got broken!


William blowing out the candles

My boys always think that as long as there is a

Pinata, the party is complete.


Although the pinata fell to the ground before

breaking completely open, the kids all seemed

to find their way to the candy without any trouble.


Hyper Jump was a game that he got

for his birthday. This game is great!

It kept my hyper boys busy the rest

of the evening! I even had to try it,

which was quite a sight I'm sure!

Fun, fun game. Thanks Nicole and

Trevor!

Catching up--April 1st

I finally got my pictures onto the computer, so I thought I would catch up from this past week by adding a few here. Two big things happened on April 1st. Spencer had his preschool field trip and William turned 8. We celebrated as a family at IHOP that night.

Spencer and the other kids inside the fire truck.

Mr. Dieu showed the kids what was inside the first aid kit.

He took the blood pressure of any child who was brave enough

to let him do it. Most, including Spencer, just wanted to watch!

Shortly after we arrived there was a huge car accident and

the fire truck got called away. So we all went outside and

waved goodbye as they drove away using sirens, lights

and all. Pretty exciting for the kids.

After the fire truck left we went inside and had a tour of

the station and then Mr. Dieu had the kids sit while he

talked about safety. You can tell by this picture how

thrilled these two were by that. Hopefully some of it sank

in anyway.

At IHOP we were trying out a friend's camera and unfortunately it didn't take such great pictures. I'll post a few that turned out ok.

We let William open his gifts while we waited for our food.

The boys loved their pancakes and sausages. I can't believe

how much these boys can eat! William had finished his and

was looking for more just minutes after the food came.

They're growing boys!

They brought William a sundae and sang to him. Everyone

in the restaurant joined in with the clapping and singing.

We also got one for the rest of us to share. It was a pretty

fun time.

HE QUALIFIES!!!!!!

I am in tears once again...this time huge tears of JOY! Bryce qualifies for long term care! I am so glad that he did this time. I am relieved actually. Now he will continue to get the therapy that he needs and I don't have to worry about this craziness that is going on with the state of Arizona and wondering/worrying what it will mean for Bryce! I am so glad. This also means that any additional item(s) he may need now or in the future like that great chair we have been able to borrow, or leg braces, or a stander or a communication device, etc., etc., etc., all of which we believe will help him so much, will be taken care of. I don't know yet what all else long term care involves, but I am so thankful that he qualifies and that we will now be able to move forward with his care. Of course I still hope and pray that some day we will find out what is causing all of this and be able to help him and that he will no longer need all these services, but for now I am so thankful that he will be able to get what he needs to help him during this time! Thanks so much to everyone who has been so supportive during all of this. It really does help a lot!

Happy Birthday William

Yes, today my little April Fool turned 8 years old! I can't believe it was eight years ago that he was born and I finally became a Mom. What a happy day that was! Today on the other hand was a totally crazy, busy day full of therapies, field trips, and issues at school. Luckily William was at school during most of that so he didn't even notice. Unfortunately I didn't even get out to get the gift I wanted to give him today, but luckily I had picked up a couple of baptism themed gifts last week when I was up at the bookstore so he got that for today and a promise of other gifts to come at his birthday party. He will be having his party this Saturday. We had to kind of work it in around conference sessions even though for some reason he decided that this year he only wanted to invite friends from school, no one from church, unless of course they were in his school class and then it would be ok. I don't totally understand that one, but, hey whatever, we'll go with it this year.

Tonight we went out to dinner as a family to celebrate. At first he wanted to go to Chuck E. cheese and then decided Sonic would be better. Finally he remembered the big Sunday that you get for free at IHOP on your birthday and with some coaxing from Jacob, decided that is where he wanted to go. John and I were both glad that he decided against Chuck E. Cheese. IHOP actually worked out really well. I realized while we were there that it has been a long time since we have gone out to dinner with the whole family...and I also remembered why! You definitely get noticed when you are in a restaurant with 4 little boys! There were only a few other people there and they were mostly older couples who kept saying how cute the boys were and how well behaved they were. I guess some of their sight and hearing must be gone. A blessing in disguise for them! Anyway, I got some pictures but can't get them on here tonight so I will try to post them tomorrow.

Happy Birthday William!