Memorial Day Weekend

Although I did not take any pictures this weekend, it has been quite eventful! Since our plans of going out of town didn't work out, we decided to get together with some friends here. On Sunday after church we headed up to Mesa and spent a wonderful afternoon with the Crandall family. We ate some delicious food and had a blast playing games. The kids all get along so well and being at their home is always so comfortable, which is a big thing for me! My only wish was that we could spend more time with them.

Monday began pretty much like any other day, but right around 11 AM I was getting ready to exercise and Jacob began complaining of a stomach ache. Within a few minutes he was holding his stomach and crying really hard. He is my most dramatic child so I asked him all the normal mom questions, do you feel like you are going to throw up--no, have you pooped today--yes, where exactly is it hurting--on the side and in the middle, what kind of pain is it, etc, etc, etc. Anyway, it didn't seem to be getting better and so we had a friend come over and he and John gave him a priesthood blessing. The friend then said that he and his wife would watch the other kids if John and I wanted to take him to urgent care. We decided we would and headed off. When we got to Urgent Care, they said there was a 2 and a half hour wait. So we called the ER up the road and decided that a 15 minute wait sounded much better. By the time we got there, Jacob had stopped crying and seemed to be feeling a bit better. (of course) Anyway, they took us right in, check his urine, did an X-Ray and after waiting a while told us basically it was Gas and Constipation. So yeah, $75 and an hour or so later we headed home with a bottle of magnesium citrate which is still sitting in the medicine cabinet, because he has been fine ever since.

We had been invited over for a Bar-B-Que at the Smith's home that evening, so once we got home, we packed up and headed over. The Rapiers were there also. We again had lots of yummy food, and fantastic company. We ate, talked, and played games until way past the kids bedtime. The kids had a ball jumping on the tramp (even Bryce took a turn on the trampoline and loved it!), playing basketball, tetherball, watching the wiggles and who knows what us they were getting into! We were all just having such a great time and I really didn't want the weekend to end. However, it has and tomorrow will be another busy day...starting with a call to the bug man who will hopefully be able to help us with our ant and other pest problem. But, I don't want to think about that right now. For tonight, I will sleep well thinking of the wonderful weekend we have had!

Change of Plans

Well, we have had a change of plans for this weekend. We were planning on driving down to Sierra Vista (about 4 hours away) to visit with some friends of ours. Unfortunately they have the stomach flu. We are totally bummed, but actually very thankful that we found out before we got there! Thank you for the call Amy! I hope you guys feel better soon! Hopefully we will be able to make the trip another time soon. We don't know for sure what we will be doing instead, but since John is still sleeping and the kids are all up playing, I thought I would get on here and catch up a bit before everyone starts wanting breakfast.

This past week has been insane. William finished school Thursday and the other boys have two more days. I think it is kind of lame that they will be going back to school for two days after Memorial day, but I guess they have to get the days in. It sounds like they will just be a couple of fun days, so the boys should like that. Well, most days this past week I have tried to at least get onto our blog and mark the day so that I can go back and add pictures and stories of our happenings. We'll see how it goes.

This week I have also started training for a 5K that I will be running later in the summer with my sisters. It was Stacie's idea. At first I thought it was a totally crazy idea. I am not a runner! I hate to run, it's 100 degrees outside, I haven't run since I was at BYU many years ago, but... she called all 4 of us girls and suggested it. How could I not jump on the bandwagon with my sisters. It is going to be interesting how it all comes together since the 5 of us live in 4 different states. We are using an app on the iPhone to train and then somehow we will all get together for a run. Should be fun. Hopefully the training will go well. Time is my biggest challenge. I was able to find a good treadmill for $50 on craigslist and did my first run on Tuesday while the little ones were sleeping. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get back on since, so this afternoon will be the day. I have the treadmill in the front room right now, but I may have to move it into my bedroom since I can't turn it on without having a little girl think she needs to be on it with me. That considerably limits the time that I do have. And if it was in my room, maybe I could run at times like this morning while she is out here playing with her brothers. John may not appreciate that since he is sleeping in there, but hey, we went to sleep at the same time...maybe it is time for him to get up. =) Oh well, I'll get it figured out. Hopefully next week will be more consistent! I really do want to do this. I am also really trying to loose some weight and haven't been very successful so far. I hope that this will give me the extra boost.

Well, things are getting a bit restless here, I guess I better go get the day started. I will be back later to fill in all the fun from last week!

edit 8 AM: this morning the snake shed it's skin and my laundry room is full of ants...it's going to be a busy day!

Friday...another busy day!

First of all, I forgot to say that yesterday was William's last day of school. He was very excited to be done, but the "I'm bored" has all ready been heard today. I think that next week, once Spencer and Jacob are out of school, that will be better.

Well, today was another busy day. It started with an early morning meeting that I had and some grocery shopping. I arrived home from that just in time to get Annalise ready for her one year well check with Dr. Nason. She seems to be nice and healthy...and small. She is only 17 lbs, 11oz. My smallest at 1 year so far. William was the next at 18 lbs. She is growing steady though, so everything should be fine. I guess we won't need that new car seat for a little bit longer. She also has just two teeth still. It is encouraging that she has begun walking and developing as she should be.

After getting the kids fed and down for naps, I headed over to Spencer's school for his kindergarten celebration. They did a nice job. They had the parent's sit down and then the kids marched in, sung a few songs, got their certificates of completion, had a short dance, and finished off with cookies and pictures with the teacher. It was short and sweet...just how I like them. As we ate cookies, the teacher showed a video of the kids "big, big dreams". She said that they all had many, but had them narrow their choice down to one that she would share with the parents. Spencer's big big dream is to go to the moon!

Here is a video of the kids walking into the room! Spencer was excited because he got to stand next to his best friend, Joseph!


During the program, Spencer kept looking over at the teacher instead of out at the parents.






The frog song seemed to be the kids favorite. They were cute little frogs!










Spencer with Mrs. Sisson...A wonderful teacher! It is amazing what she has done for Spencer in the short time that he has been going to Patterson Elementary. I hope he gets a great teacher as well for first grade.


This is a video of the kids singing "Everything Grows". It was one of my favorites, brought tears to my eyes! I can't believe how much Spencer has grown this year!

More Birthday and Pictures

Thursday morning I took Annalise to get her picture taken. Poor 5th child has only had professional pictures taken once before! She did a pretty good job and they turned out really cute.

I then went to Spencer's school to take birthday treats in for his class. His birthday isn't actually until July, but since it is a summer birthday, his teacher picked a day at the end of the year to celebrate. He wanted me to bring in Twinkies. The only ones I could find had green filling in them. It was a little different, but the kids all seemed to enjoy them. I got there a little early and was able to watch the end of their PE class. They were playing kick ball and fire and ice (tag).

The Big 4-0!

I can't believe it. Only 10 more years and I can have my mid-life crisis! 40 used to feel so old. It just doesn't seem so old anymore. Today has been a very full yet nice day. It started by John giving me my birthday gift of a new camera. I am very excited about it and once I learn how to work it, it should be great. My sister, Sheri, came down to spend the day and watch kids as I attended the various events of the day.

First, Bryce had his end of the year ice cream party this morning at 9:30. They had planned a little program and Bryce was fine until he saw me. Then he started crying and wouldn't stop until I sat on the floor with him. Luckily I was able to get a few shots of him while he was happy. He wasn't interested in the ice-cream so we just visited with the others and then came home.





This is Mrs. Elissa Cooper, Bryce's teacher. All of his teachers, aides, and the bus driver were wonderful. He loved school and I am glad that he will be going back to this same preschool next year.


After getting Bryce to sleep I left he and Annalise with my sister and went for a quick, free birthday lunch at Joe's Real Bar-B-Que and then on to William's school to see him perform in his class reader's theater. William was the tricky monkey in "Little Late Riding Hood". And although the pictures didn't turn out so well, he did a great job!








This picture shows some of his friends in "The 3 Little Elephants and the Big, Bad Mouse"


William with Mrs. Reddell...his favorite teacher so far. She was fantastic for William! I am so glad that he has had such a wonderful year this year!


Once John got home from school, we had a very quick birthday celebration with cupcakes that my visiting teachers brought over. Thanks Stephanie and Elli! Then John, William, and Jacob headed off to play rehearsal.

The Celebration!

I was so excited about celebrating Annalise's first birthday. We had a fun day although I'm sure she didn't understand what all the hype was about. Since all of her brothers had school that morning, she and I spent some mommy/daughter time shopping. Actually she slept most of the time we were out and I was able to get her cake and some of her gifts while she slept quietly in her chair.



When the boys got home from school they helped me wrap her presents. Then after dinner we had a little family party for her. She was mesmerized by the candle on her cake.


The cake itself also intrigued her. It took her a bit to start digging in, but once Jacob gave her a taste of the frosting, she needed no more coaxing!












I think she enjoyed playing with it and squishing it between her fingers even more than eating it.






A little too much sugar perhaps?




Once we got her cleaned up, the boys helped her open her presents.
























Her first doll and stroller. It was a gift from Grandma Stephens and by far the favorite toy!


Unfortunately Dad put it together without reading the instructions and realizing there were screws to hold it all together.






So as John RE-put the stroller together, the boys enjoyed playing with Annalise's doll house...




while she waited...not so patiently...for him to finish.






She had a fun time playing with her toys. When bedtime came around she was still quite hyper and not able to settle down. Two hours later, she finally fell asleep.

In the meantime, John and I set up the treadmill that I bought on Craigslist for $50 to help me train for the 5K. The older boys had gone to bed, but Annalise and Bryce thought the treadmill was a great toy!