Last week my grandma was in the hospital and not doing well, so we took a trip downtown to visit her, just in case. It was nice visiting with her again, even though it had only been about 2 weeks since the last time we saw her. I brought my camera this time, because I regretted not bringing it last time when she looked so healthy. I just love this picture of her, hospital and all. It reminds me of a picture my mom has in her house of two people sitting on a couch. Maybe it was even my grandma's mom, I don't know. (Mom, do you know the picture I'm talking about?) Anyway, I think my grandma looks like the lady in the picture.

Here is another picture I loved. We were taking family pictures with grandma before we left and this is what came out on one of them. Little A (Ashley's baby) is covering up her great-grandma's mouth. "Shhh...don't tell anyone our secret!"

Last of all for today, if you have ever met Kate, you'll know that she can be one of the sweetest girls around. If you've met Kate, you've also met her lip. She loves to share it often. Here she is, beautiful princess Kate, happy but a few moments ago, is now letting us meet her beautiful big lip.

I just wanted to document something Aimee said today because I thought she was so cute (even after acting like a 2 year old all day long). I went to change her diaper and when I put her on the changing table she started singing to the tune of Humpty Dumpty "Poopy girl, poopy girl sitting on a wall..." I just about cracked up when I heard her singing about herself. We did just learn to sing Humpty Dumpty this week after our trip to the library.

Ethan just started school a couple weeks ago. We put him in 1st grade so he would be the oldest in his class instead of the youngest (and smallest). It's a good fit so far and he has already found a girl that he likes. I will not repeat her name, but it rhymes with a female body part and sounds almost like it too if you're not listening close enough. Poor girl, but very sweet girl.

Ethan just started eating cafeteria lunches this week. I had to meet with a person in food and nutrition at the district level. We went over all the meal plans and had ingredient labels for everything for me to read. It was a long afternoon, but we have a special meal plan for him so he can eat school lunches every day if he wants to. It still makes me nervous, but he's done well so far. I've been sitting with him at lunch everyday (at his very own nut-free table) just to make sure. I'm not sure if I'll ever be ready to just let him do lunch all on his own, at least not this year. That just adds up to a lot of time spent driving and a VERY grumpy 2 year old that is drug along behind me the entire way.

Jayke just turned 9 and is doing fantastic in school. He got all 4's on his progress report. The teacher is a little concerned about him having everything mastered already, so she is having him tested for the ELP program next month. I think there has been less than a handful of days that Jayke actually said he learned something new in school and they were the days that they had special speakers. All the other days he says he just "had reviews" all day. He's mostly at school to socialize and stay out of my hair for a few hours while I try to gain some sanity.

Kate has turned into my little tattler. She also loves to fight and taunt Aimee. Although, on a rare occasion, she is actually nice to Aimee and my heart just melts watching them play together. I just need to have my camera out and waiting for those rare sightings. Oh, how I love 4-5 year olds...She cannot wait until she can start school in August. Some days I cannot wait either. She is starting to read, mostly by her own doing. She is so excited by it. I'm afraid she will turn out to be much like Jayke when it comes to school. She keeps telling me she wants to go to the same school as Jayke, but I keep telling her she'll be going to the same school as Ethan. She's pretty disappointed that she won't be at school with grandma all day, but I feel it is for the best.

Aimee is a 2 year old. That completely sums her up right now. She is so independent, loving to do everything on her own. She also kicks, screams, hits, tantrums, whines, talks back, and cries like a 2 year old. She is my first child to actually act like a 2 year old. She must get it from me, that stubborn and independent blood that runs through my veins. She is talking more than any of my other kids combined, which is REALLY scary when you consider how much Jayke talked. She is learning how to do puzzles very well and can even do 24 piece puzzles all by herself. Real puzzles, not the baby ones. She loves going to "church is true" and likes to play with her friends in the nursery. They have split the nursery into older kids and younger kids to make the group more managable. For some reason, they have put her with all the older kids. I don't know if they think she is older than she is or if it is just easier for them to have her in that group. She is also very shy and won't even crack her lips at all until she has been around you for a while. (And then you'd better watch out because she'll talk your ear off.) She also has some strange fears, which she probably also got from me, poor girl. She can't handle going over bumps in the road, like going down the road by the Salt River. We call them roller coasters and every time we go over one she just screams, grabs her carseat, and kicks her feet in pure and extreme fear. She has done this since she was about 2 months old, about the same time she was acting weird with her immunizations. Every once in a while we can convince her to like the hills, but it doesn't last long. She also can't handle the swings at the park, but she is always asking for me to push her.

One thing that I love most of all right now with my kids is that I get to put them to bed at 7pm. This has never happened in their lifetime, but I love actually having the evenings to myself. It is amazing how much it helps to have a little time to calm down after the kids are down before I have to go to bed.

Ryan is chugging along in his master's program. It is a ton of work and he is only taking 10 credits right now. He spends more time each day doing schoolwork than he does with everything else in his life combined. That includes working, being Elder's Quorum president, being a dad, a very good husband, applying to dental school, doing service hours, fixing our broken house, dealing with a needy invalid wife, and everything else that every regular person has to do. I really don't know how he does it all and still manages to find a little (ok very little) time for himself. Amazing. He really is. And I'm his wife.

Jayke's new life

My little man is all grown up. He is a big 3rd grader now. I look at him and wonder where all the time went. How fast these kids grow!

Today was his first day of public school. Two weeks ago we finally decided it was time to let him try it out. We initially enrolled him in our neighborhood school. Coleen was so wonderful to get him in to her school (where he might actually like school and have friends that speak English). So far he LOVES it. The thing he is most excited about is eating peanuts and eggs in the school cafeteria. It's funny the things that are important to kids. Jayke already knows to wash his hands and face after he eats anything that Ethan is allergic to. We got the boys their own toothpaste so Jayke won't introduce any allergens into Ethan's toothpaste by accident. Hopefully there won't be any issues with the whole allergy thing.

The rest of the kids were so excited to drop Jayke off at school and to pick him up in the afternoon. Ethan especially LOVED not being bossed around all the time by Jayke. We had fun with Ethan and Kate's school. It is so much easier to be legally responsible to teach one child rather than two! The kids colored for about an hour (until Kate got tired of it). They learned what -er -ir -ur say. Ethan did some grammar, math, and spelling. We made chocolate chip cookies for an after-school snack (and welcome home surprise for Jayke). Kate keeps begging to have kindergarten, but I keep telling her that she has to wait until next year when she is old enough. I let her join in with Ethan's lessons, though, just to keep her active.

When we picked Jayke up this afternoon, Ethan kept smiling and nudging (punching) Jayke in the stomach. I asked him if he wanted Jayke to give him a hug and he said yes. Jayke wrapped his arms around him and gave him a huge hug. Even though Ethan was glad to be the oldest during the day, he really missed having his big brother around. Those boys are the best of friends! I hope that doesn't change.

Good-bye Little Anne

On the 5th Jayke was completely devastated by the loss of his "Little Anne". She was attacked by a pair of vicious scissors that cut through her chest and arms, completing sucking the life right out of her. Poor Little Anne was Jayke's pride and joy. He cried, no bawled his eyes out for hours over the loss of her. He asked me over and over to help her and I kept telling him that she was lost forever. He told me he KNEW there was a way I could save her, but I told him that this is a lesson he must learn. Sometimes we need to say good-bye to those we love the most. Nobody can live forever. Nobody WANTS to die, but it is a part of life. We ended up having a funeral for her. Jayke made a paper bag "casket" for her and I buried her. When I showed Jayke the completed "grave" he decided that he wanted to put a little saying on paper for a headstone for her. He ended up crying himself to sleep that night. Here is a picture of Jayke and Little Anne before we put her in her "casket".

Yes, Little Anne is a stuffed animal. He is obviously VERY attached to her. It all started back when we had read "Where the Red Fern Grows" to him. He fell in love with that story. He named his big brown stuffed dog Old Dan (he had him since he was 18months) and when he got this dog from his church teacher a year and a half ago he knew just what to call her, Little Anne. They were a match made in heaven, Jayke and his two dogs. He loved them until he loved them more than anything else in the world. He could not sleep at night without them and often played with them during the day. They were his steady and constant companions. Then, the brutal and careless scissors got a hold of poor Little Anne. Now Jaykes story of him and his dogs is starting to become very much like the story of "Where the Red Fern Grows".

Death is a part of life. Not a very happy one, but one that must be experienced. Farewell Little Anne. Rest in Peace.

(On a little side note, Jayke apparently dug up her grave and hid her inside the house where I wouldn't find her. I just happened to find the cloth she was buried in inside Kate's room so I went outside and checked the grave, which was completely empty. I started a whole-house search for more evidence. Not finding anything, I asked Ethan what had happened and he told me where Jayke had hid her. When I had a chance to do it unnoticed, I went in and got her. Jayke had taken the rough side of the velcro and stuck it on her wounds so that she wasn't gaping open. Very creative, but it's not gonna fly. He needs this lesson. Now she is going to be conveniently placed in the black garbage bin for the garbage pick-up first thing in the morning. I'm such a heart-less mom.)

August

Around our house, we have been really trying to teach the kids more responsibility. They are each assigned a chore to do for the week. One chore is the dishes, another is picking up the rest of the house, and Kate gets to choose one room to pick up. Aimee just helps pick up what she wants to. When Jayke has the dishes and Ethan has the rest of the house, the house is a mess the entire week. You see, Jayke hates doing dishes and Ethan can't stand picking up all the messes. BUT, when it's the other way around, the house actually feels nice and I don't have to keep reminding the boys to do their chores every five minutes, which actually frees up my time to do my responsibilities like cooking and laundry. Ethan absolutely loves doing the dishes and he actually does them pretty quickly and Jayke is the same way about tidying up the rest of the house. If it were just a matter of keeping the house clean, I would leave them with those chores permanently. But, it is not about the house, it is about the kids and responsibility, so every other week I spend most of my time bugging the kids every five minutes for a few hours until I am finally at my wits end and start threatening them with some horrible punishment like "no cookies for you today". Here is a picture of Ethan happily doing his dishes.

Earlier this week, Jayke officially turned into Mater. He lost his 8th tooth. Actually, I pulled it out. His other tooth was starting to come down, so his gums were swelling and discoloring from all the pressure. I had him get me some tissue and just started moving his tooth around. There was so much pressure on the sides from the other teeth that it was a little difficult to move, but I kept moving it around (all the while ignoring his screaming of "it hurts" and "ouch") until finally I pushed it backward and POP! It flew to the back of his mouth, about to go into his throat and I made him roll over and spit it out. Here is a picture of him before he realized what he looked like.

The toothfairy even brought him a ring-pop type of sucker that had Mater teeth on them. It was hillarious!

Here is another of my favorite things. After family prayer at night the kids like to tackle Ryan. When they are done tackling him, they force Ryan to give them "dinosaur" rides. How his body holds up to their weight, I'll never know, but those kids LOVE it when Daddy lets them have a dinosaur ride. I think he wins Father of the Year for this!

July

Just after our Canyon Creek trip with my family, we were able to meet Ryan's family at Groom Creek (near Prescott) for July 4th weekend. We were able to stay in Ryan's grandma and grandpa's cabin, which was wonderful! Don't get me wrong, I love camping, but when you have a restricted diet to adhere to it is sometimes difficult to cook over a campfire/campstove. Just down the street from the cabin was a beautifully green park with all the toys/sports equipment available. Ryan and the boys had fun playing catch while the girls rode scooters on the basketball court. I sat in the shade and enjoyed watching my family have fun. We tried to teach the kids how to play tetherball, but they didn't stand a chance against either of us. We spent one morning in Prescott and watched a parade, followed by pizza and soda at a park. We saw Ryan's parents' new cabin/home for the first time. We hung out with Ryan's parents, siblings and their kids. We enjoyed lovely afternoon naps and a nice rainstorm on our way out of town. I realized that I love green grass and I prefer deciduous trees over pine trees, although ANY trees are better than what we have here!

Ryan playing catch with the boys.

Girls hanging out on a log in the shade.

At the end of July, Ethan turned 7. He definitely doesn't look 7 (and Kate actually weighs one pound more than him) but he is surely 7 now! His cake even proves it.

For birthdays this year, we decided to skip the gifts and have the kids go on a date with Mom and Dad instead. For Ethan's date we played laser tag. He had a lot of fun. He was completely swimming in the jacket, though. I think the bottom laser was near his knees! We let him play in the arcade and he won a lot of tickets. Those tickets purchased a few items that broke within the day, but he enjoyed them anyway. We finished off the date by going to Bahama Bucks, a much sought-after location by all of my children.

The day after Ethan's birthday, we had a pretty cool looking sky. I was too lazy to take a picture of it, so Ryan did. The clouds had created a little wall-like part poking out of the bottom of the clouds, creating a ridge that went across most of the sky. This picture only shows about half of the ridge.

Next up: August.

Summertime!

At least I have caught up to the summer now. Almost done!

At the end of June, my family called me and wanted to see if I could meet them at Canyon Creek for a day trip with the kids. I got a few things arranged and we were able to spend the afternoon with my family while a lot of them were in AZ. I think half of the kids in my family (4 out of 8) were able to come, so that's a pretty good size group when you consider all the grandkids that belong to those families. The women and little ones sat around in the grassy shade for a time while the more adventurous ones went off hiking and fishing. Later, the rest of us went to play in the water while the men were still fishing. Even later, we had a few people go off and search for the men, who were STILL fishing, so some of us non-night-drivers could leave before it was completely dark. It was a fun and very relaxing afternoon, one that was well-needed! It was nice to see my siblings that came from all over the country to play together (FL, TX/OH, UT). We did REALLY miss the other half of the family, but we understand that when you have a newborn, are in the process of packing up your entire house to move cross-country, or if you have to work all day that it's a little hard to come a play for an afternoon. :-)

Grandma sitting with Kate and Aimee.

Grandpa helping the boys fish.

This one is probably my favorite from the entire trip. I think I might just have it framed sometime.

Everyone else playing in the water.

Another vicory for Jayke. He's now up to two fish. Cousin Isaac was so kind and let Jayke take home his two fish, so we were able to enjoy eating three fish that night. So yummy! I still can't believe that Ryan can't stand to eat fish.

Up next...July.

More...

Back in January of this year, I found Kate playing doctor. (No, not THAT kind of doctor.) She looks so grown up with a stethoscope around her shoulders.

Back when I was harvesting our experimental wheat garden, Kate found the seedhead to one of them and decided to turn herself into a country girl. I thought it was hillarious! Although, I think she looks better as a doctor.

On Aimee's birthday this year, she saw my camera and immediately started begging, "Take picture me! Take picture me, Mom! Take picture me!" So, I gave in and took pictures while she posed.

"I'm two."

"I'm silly!"

"I'm so funny!"

My silly face!

Still can't put the other fingers down to say she's two.

Absolutely TERRIFIED of the flame! She was standing up to run away from it.

Thanks for blowing it out for me, Dad.

Yummy ice cream, my favorite!

Normally, I would not post pictures of myself on here. For one, I don't take pictures of myself. That means that I'm not the one posing myself just right in order to hide all of my double chin-ness caused by my 4 beautiful children and amazing cook husband. BUT, the reason I am posting this one is because the other day I was scrolling through my pictures on the computer and Jayke saw this one and told me, "Mom, that's you when you looked pretty." This one was taken shortly after my surgery after I had my hair cut. I thought it was sweet that Jayke thought I was pretty (for at least a few weeks in my life before my hair grew out again). So, for his sake I am including it on here.

Some of my favorite moments as a mom are when I happen to find my husband playing outside with the kids. It makes my heart want to burst from an outpouring of love. This one of Ryan pushing Aimee in the swing was taken through the blinds so as to not disturb their together moment, so forgive the horizontal lines and fuzzy screen look to the picture.

Later on that same evening, Ryan was testing the golf cart to make sure the new battery worked in it. Oh, how those kids love their daddy!

Also from the same day, since I had my camera out, Aimee started begging for me to take her picture. I think this girl loves the camera more than anyone else in the entire world! Gotta love the messy faces of 2-year-olds!

Then there is Jayke. He is so fascinated with anything from nature. Lately, he has been talking about how different things mate (yes, including humans). We were out in the yard and he found these two insects obviously in the middle of something, so he picked them up so he could observe them better. He discovered which one was the male and which one was the female by the way they were connected. Very observant little guy! His curiosity makes me laugh.



Yes, there is still more to come...

Catch-up

I realized that it has been a few months since I last posted, so I'm going to attempt to fill in a few gaps. I have noticed that since I got my new camera, I have more pictures of other people's kids than I do of my own. So, my goal for the next 12 months is to change that. I will take pictures of other people's kids when it does not interfere with my time with my own kids. :-)

This post will go back all the way to May 2010, when I found Kate trying to potty-train her dollies. I have to say that it was the most adorable thing I have ever seen!

When I was in my furniture building spree a few months later, Kate decided that she wanted to build,too. Can you tell it was a miserable hot and muggy August day on the back porch?

And Ethan, oh how I love his creativity. I have no idea what he was trying to dress up as in this picture, but it is such a great blackmail picture. The little stick he is holding has a little branch on it that he is pretending is his gun's trigger. That boy! He loves his weapons!

Then we had Kate's 4th birthday. I made her cupcake cones instead of regular cupcakes.

And this is what Dad thought of them.

Then in November we had the chance to go to the mountains and visit my parents. On the last day, we decided to take a day trip to Canyon Creek and go fishing. My mom came even though she had to study for a test. She ended up studying while the "guys" were fishing. The first pictures are from when we walked around the fish hatchery.

Excited about all the fish!

Grandma and Aimee posing for mom.

Grandpa walking with Aimee.

Grandpa and the girls looking at the little fish.

Checking out the huge fish.

Girls chillin on a rock while the men fish.

Grandpa and the boys getting ready to fish.

Grandpa teaching Ethan how to fish.

Grandpa teaching Jayke how to cast his line.

Grandpa teaching Ethan where to fish.

Victory! First fish he caught!

More to come in the near future...