Newest Addition

This month we added the newest member to our family.  Our little baby boy, C.  With this pregnancy I had lots of back and nerve pain, and generally couldn’t wait to have him in our arms.  I chose to be induced on his due date…mostly due to the fact I couldn’t stand being pregnant anymore and partly because school was going to be starting soon for the two oldest kids.  Here is a break down of the day:

*6:30 am: call in, L&D  too busy call back at 7:30 am

*7:20 am: L&D calls saying they are ready for us.

*8:00 am: Drop kids off at grandparents, B is clinging and sad that we are leaving, makes me cry.

*8:20 am: Checked in, getting all the paperwork and everything ready.

*8:45 am: Nurse tries 2 times unsuccessfully to start IV, has charge nurse come do it…meanwhile I have oxygen and still head towards passing out.

*9:00 am: Dr. gives the thumbs up to start Pitocin.

*12:30 pm: Little progress, but Dr. breaks water.

*2:00 pm: Much more progress, call in Dr.

Lets just skip to the end.  He was born about 1 1/2 hour later, with a beautiful full head of long dark hair and perfect.

He was over 8lbs., and 21 inches. As for me, I met my goal of no epidural and was soooo grateful to be done! I had different nurses over the time in the hospital, when someone asked if this was my first, I would reply, “No, this is number 4.”  But each time I was asked and gave my answer it was really setting in…I have 4 kids! Wow!! Love each of them and wouldn’t change a single thing.

The grandparents brought the other kids in to see their new brother.

B did great, she was excited to see him, K just wanted to sit and hold him the entire time she was there and every time she visited.

The kids spent some of the time with us at the hospital but mostly at their grandparents house…so thankful for all of their help! C is the perfect addition to our family and we are absolutely in love!!

B’s Birthday

Well, B is 2!  And she definitely has the personality of it.  She wants to do everything herself, wants to get into everything and where she comes up with somethings, we’ll never know.  Just the other night, the kids wanted some ice cream for dessert.  We had it out to soften.  I was with the three kids upstairs.  After a few minutes, K & L asked if it was time for dessert. I told them to ask Dad. They quickly ran downstairs & asked.  It was time.  Here is what transpired between F a& B at this point because B was in my room playing.

F: “B?” (note all words in a sing-song fashion)

B: “What?”

F: “Time for ice cream”

B: “I kno-w”  We had a good laugh about that, & I will mention she did run down to get her ice cream. 

Another funny little story…B has had to sit in “timeout” only a few times.  We put her on the bottom stair by our living room.  She sits for a minute, we talk, she says sorry and that’s it.  Well, on this particular day, she was asking for something, and I said no.  She kept asking, I kept saying no.  She got upset and was crying.  B walked over to the stairs sat down crying, and ended up curling herself up on the stair crying.  After a few minutes, she sat up composed her emotions and said, “I sorry.”  She apparently put herself in “timeout” to calm down.  Maybe we’ll rename it “calm down” area for her. She dances like nobody’s watching when everyone really is.  She is stingy about giving kisses or freely handing them out to everyone – twice.  She’ll sing songs, play her own compositions on the piano, get into every little tiny toy her sister has, play with swords with her brother, loves seeing her cousin “Pizza” each week, looks forward to seeing grandparents, wearing her boots (snow or cowgirl – any chance she can get), stomping in the snow, making silly faces, has to have a baby with her at almost all times, reading books, playing in the toy kitchen & cooking in the real kitchen at dinner time, is beginning to say prayers (with our help), takes great naps, & is constantly amazing us with things she learns and/or comes up with.  Along with that, she has been the roughest little sleeper at night, is transitioning off of the binky (thank goodness!), & is as loud as can be (especially when she is crying – more like screaming so loud, my ear drums shake in fright). We love her to pieces!! I have tried to compile a list of words in her vocabulary, this is the best I could come up with over the last few days.  It grows longer each day, so I stopped here.

u Amen u Asleep u Awake u Baby u Banana u Bath u Bear u Bib u Bird u Boat u Boo u Book u Boots u Bowl u Box u Breakfast u Bus u Bye-bye u Car u Cat/Meow u ‘Cause u Cereal u Cheek u Cheers u Cheese u Chin u Close u Coat u Cold u Color u Come here u Cook u Cow/Moo u Cut u Dad u Dance u Diaper u Ding-dong u Dinner u Dinosaur u Dog/Ruff u Don’t know u Door u Duck/Quack u Eat u Elbow (belbow) u Eyes u Face (mace) u Fall Down u Feet u Fingers u Fish u Flower u Frog u Garage u Garbage u Good u Grandma u Guys u Hair u Hands u Hat u Hello u Hi u Horse/Neigh u Hot u Hot Dog u I know u I love you u Jacket u Jesus u Juice u Keys u Kiss u Legs u Lights u Lion u Lunch u Mama u Mickey/Minnie u Milk u Mimi (binky) u Monsters u Moose u More u Mouth u Night-night (blanket) u No u Nose u Off/On u Open/Closed u Ouchies u Pajamas u Pancake u Pants u Papa u Phone u Piano u Pig u Pillow u Plate u Play u Please u Prayers u Push u Scared u School u Shirt u Shoes u Shower u Snack u Snow u Socks u Spoon u Spot u Stop u Stuck u Teeth u Toes u Treat u Two u Uh-huh u Warm u Wash u Water u Yes u Yucky u

For her birthday, we celebrated the day before.   That morning, our family with Grandpa Ericksen went to the zoo – thankfully beautiful weather, must mention we did bring a thermos of hot chocolate which helped in the early February weather.  That night we had grandparents and Aunt Bee over for presents and cake & ice cream.  B figured out the opening present idea at Christmas and obviously remembered, she opened her presents like nobody’s business.  We had a a great day celebrating our littlest lady. Happy Birthday, B! We love you!!

Lego Birthday Party

For L’s 6th birthday, we did a Lego themed birthday party.  Thanks to Pinterest, we had a load of great ideas to choose from.  I had a great time putting everything together and I think all of the boys had a great time, too!

Here is what we did.  I borrowed the large box of Legos from my parents… with three brothers, there are quite a few Legos.  I separated out body parts.  Heads, torsos, legs, and hair/hat accessories. The boys were able to pick out and built a Lego guy, which they took to the table where they could color a picture of their Lego minifig.

Then they could free build with the Legos.  I had these set up on a big queen sized bed sheet on the floor of our living room. 

After all the kids arrived, we ate some little snacks.  Chips, grapes, rectangular shaped Jell-o Jigglers, and some graham crackers filled with a little frosting topped with colored marshmallows to look like Legos. I made the banner from cardstock and made them look like Lego bricks.I added little Lego smiley faces to the side of each cup and also wrote their names on the back (I hate when I lose my cup in the sea of  cups at a party!) 

Next…games.  The games we played were: Pin the head on the minifig,

Lego toss game, simply tossing Lego blocks into the rings.

Find the minifig head: hiding the several heads from the previous game.

Lego scavenger hunt: To pick teams for the scavenger hunt, we had separated out two colors of Lego bricks.  One for each kid and having equal of each color. Let each kid blindly pick a block, determining their group.  The prize at the end was a bag of Lego brick crayons that I made earlier in the week with a mold and old broken crayons.

Last but not least, a Lego brick piñata.

For the cake: we had cupcakes instead.  Along with the brick mold, I bought a Lego minifig mold.  I used candy melts in different colors (yellow for the head/hands; blue, green, red for body and legs). I had made these earlier in the week too.  I used one to top each cupcake and displayed them on a cupcake stand. 

Party favors: I cut circles and hot glued them to the front of bags and filled them with stickers, little ninja guys, and other Lego items found at a party store. Attached a tag with the name of each boy. The font I used is from dafont.com called LEGo hic.

And as a little thank you, I used the yellow candy melts to cover marshmallows on sucker sticks. Wrapped those in little cellophane bags, attached a ribbon and thank you tag.  I don’t have a picture, but I drew a little Lego face on the cellophane bags (I didn’t have a edible writer, or I would have just drawn it on the candy.)

When everything was done, the boys went back to building Legos in the living room as parents came to pick them up.  It was a great party!! I had a fun time putting everything together and I think L had a great time too!

Birthdays and Baptisms

We have had quite a great month! We have celebrated two birthdays in our family, and one baptism. I hardly feel old enough to have an 8 year old child. Our first birthday was Baby B’s. She is officially 1-year-old! And my, how fast that first year has gone. Up until this month, she has had only two bottom teeth and now has 4 (the top two just coming in in the last two weeks). B has been a cranky baby because of the teething. She does love to eat and gets mad when she is in her highchair without any food in front of her. F and I are often giving her pieces of food during the prayer just to keep her quiet and busy. She loves to take baths and play in the water, but doesn’t like to lay down to be rinsed off. She smiles, laughs, and loves to play with K and L. For her birthday, we invited family over to celebrate with presents and cake and ice cream. It is so funny to watch baby’s on their first birthday. B had no idea what is going on. She loved to tear through the wrapping paper and low and behold a toy! As soon as she sees the toy and wants to play with it, its taken away by K and L and replaced with a new package. She would not want to open another gift when she just wanted to play with the toy she just saw. She got new clothes and some new fun toys. When we gave her the cake and let her dig in, she was not that interested. F took her hand and smashed the cake and gave her a little bit. She played a little, but didn’t care to eat any of the cake, she would push it away when we tried to give her a bite. Ice cream is another story. She loves ice cream. Some of the presents she got for her birthday were a baby doll, a little piano, a toy dog, and a wagon. Since she is not walking yet, but very close, her wagon is more of a carriage for her. K and L love to have her sit in the wagon, in which she is just the perfect size, and pull her around the room. B will sit there and enjoy the ride, usually with the dog, baby doll, and piano on her lap.

This last weekend, she woke up around midnight, just screaming. F got up with her, tried to give her a binky and rock her back to sleep. B was not going for it. She continued to cry and point to our room, where I was still in bed. After a little bit of this, I got up and decided to sit in our room with her. Shortly after being in my arms, she took her binky and settled down. She did not, however, go back to sleep. She laid her head on my shoulder and was wide awake. I did try to put her back in bed after a while, but she screamed again. I tried to bring her into our bed and hold her there, again screaming. By this time, I was done. F took her again and gave her some pain reliever. This time, I got bundled up and sat/laid on the couch in our family room and we stayed there for about an hour. She was wide awake, but laid still, adjusting every so often. I tried to get a little rest with her, and I might have, but I was thinking how I love this! I would have preferred all of us in our own beds sleeping peacefully, but loved the fact that she only wanted her mommy and how she simply wanted to be cuddled. She won’t want this forever and I was loving it – as tired as I would be the next day, it didn’t matter because of the moment.

Well, Birthday #2 was for our oldest – K. She is now 8 years old. She has had nearly a weeks worth of celebrations and attention. It all began with a birthday party with her friends. She wanted a makeover party. When the girls came, they began with decorating their own little bag and colored a picture of a face. We then had a little bit of food – a popcorn-trail mix, strawberry jell-o and juice. After that we separated into 3 groups. Thankfully my mom and sister came to help out! There were four stations. Make-up, Nails, Hair, and Accessories. Here is what we did at each station:

Make-up: Eyeshadow & lipstick. My mom had picked up some eyeshadow that looks like a lipgloss and was bright colored and a big hit.

Nails: Crackle nail polish and several colors to choose from.

Hair: Combs, elastics, headbands.

Accessories: The girls made felt flowers to put onto their headband and spelled their name with letters that slide onto a bracelet.

After we finished that, K opened her presents and ate cake and ice cream. The girls had a great time and loved being able to put on make-up and paint their nails.

The next day we had family over for presents, cake and ice cream. We saved a few of our presents for her real birthday. On K’s birthday she opened up a new outfit before heading off to school. I volunteer for her class and teach art, so I had arranged to come in and teach that day, which I also brought in cookies for her to share with her class. As we drove home, F (who was home for the day) set out her big gift – a new bike. K was excited for her new big bike (the other one was getting a bit too small). Thankfully the weather was warm enough that she was able to ride for a while before we headed out to dinner. K chose to go to Black Bear Diner for dinner, She had a great day, and so did we. Only one more event!

Friday, K had the day off from school. I had plans to go to shopping for food for her baptism, but we got a call from a friend who said they were going to go sledding (it had just snowed the day before). We jumped on the chance to go. B was not fond of the snow (we don’t have snow clothes for her). The kids had a great time with friends going down the hills, despite the fact that their snow pants were too short. After sledding, K went to her friends house, and I took the other kids shopping. We got all the food we needed for the baptism and as an added bonus, I found snow pants on clearance for $3-5!

Saturday, we spent getting food cooked and ready, and cleaning & straightening up the house. K was baptized and confirmed by F and we  were glad to be surrounded by family and friends. K had invited our next door neighbors who came, they have been like an extra set of grandparents to the kids. F’s mother gave a great talk on Baptism and my dad gave a great talk on the Holy Ghost. We invited everyone over following the baptism for an early dinner. The menu was simple, but delicious. We served BBQ Chicken Salad, fruit and dessert. F had spent all morning cooking the chicken and we devoted quite a bit of time to shredding the chicken before the baptism. It was a beautiful day and wonderful way to end the birthday month. We are so proud that K made her own decision to be baptized and know she is blessed because of it.
It was fun to see how excited she was for all of it! When she and I were in the dressing room changing before the confirmation, she kept telling me to move faster. We still got out before F. Both of our girls are beautiful smart girls, with a smart and clever brother in the middle. We love to cuddle up with each of them and see their smiling faces each day. We love them all!

Big investments...

Ten years ago, F invested his hard earned money into a truck. This said truck has served us well. It has driven countless miles (not really countless, at least 106,000), taken trips from Lake Powell to Yellowstone, hauled many moving boxes (mostly others), pulled boats and atvs - and occasionally other cars. Sadly, it gave up as it was driving up the canyon pulling our little boat as F and his brother were headed to go fishing. The next Monday, F received the bad news that the engine was done for. Our options were to replace the engine, or call it quits. We chose the latter. F was (and still might be) in mourning for his first love. Our truck was lovingly named "Mater" by the kids. When we had it towed back to our house it was definitely Tow-Mater. We were down to one car that fits our family. Our plan when we had the baby had initially been to buy a vehicle to replace the truck later this year. Well, that plan was out the door and we began our search. After looking online in the classifieds, visiting a few of the local dealerships, all we could find were used cars that were top of the line and more money than we wanted to spend. We really did not need the bells and whistles of leather seating, dvd players, and all the extras - not to mention most of them had high mileage. Finally we ended up at a dealership in the next county over and found just what we were looking for. We test drove it and loved it. After price negotiations, we got the price down to where we wanted it and drove home with a new big rig for the family. So without further ado, introducing "Prime" named after Optimus Prime because of the color and size. We couldn't be happier! Except we are sad to see have to sell Mater.

Happy, Happy Birthday, K!

7 Things We Love about K:

1. She is sensitive and kind to everyone.

2. She is loving toward L and Baby B.

3. She plays the piano very well.

4. She is a great reader and student.

5. She works hard.

6. She is a big help around the home.

7.She is a great example to others.

K just recently celebrated her 7th birthday! She was (and always is) so excited for her birthday. This year, we were prepared. I had mentioned to F that K's birthday was coming up, he reply was "We need to figure out what we are doing." My answer, "We've have all of her presents already." Knowing we would be having a new baby in the house, we got all of K's presents before Christmas when we were already out shopping. That's how it is most years. Whatever she doesn't get for Christmas, we give for her birthday. It has made things a whole lot easier, especially this year. For her birthday, we took her out to dinner the night before to the restaurant of her choice, The Mayan. We had a great table right in the splash zone of the divers. F's sister came along with us.

For her birthday, K requested a Rapunzel from Tangled birthday cake - specifically asking for the tower to be on the cake too. I was in for a real challenge, but I always love the outcome. I searched the Internet for pictures to help out for weeks before. I finally found a few pictures to help out. I really do think it turned out nicely - for an amateur cake decorator.

F's brother, his friend, and sister came over for dinner before the rest of my family came over for presents and cake and ice cream. K loved being surrounded by her family, but if you ask who came over for her birthday, she'll say, "My cousins." She loves to be with them and they all have a great time together. We gave K some new shirts, a Tinkerbell movie, the game Scrambled States of America, and a large Disney art set. L gave her a few new Littlest Pet Shop pets. From other family, she got a Strawberry Shortcake Manicure set, more clothes, and a kit to make Friendship bracelets. F's parents were island hopping in the Caribbean during this time, so they came over later that week when they were home and had recovered from jet lag. They brought K a doll from St. Lucia, some clothes, nail polish and hair clips that change color in the sun. Now for a few sunny days!

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4 Years Old

My, where has the time gone! Early this month, we had a whole weekend of celebration for lil' L and his 4th birthday. He was so excited that it lasted for 3 days! The actual day was filled with lots of other busy-iness, so the night before we went to dinner as a family. Usually the kids will choose a fast food restaurant, but we found it to be useful to use the coupons for free kids meals (since we don't go out to eat as a family much). He chose to go to Joe's Crab Shack, which the kids both loved. We had the servers sing to him, he was a bit surprised by the strangers singing to him and having to wear a strange hat, but I think he enjoyed it, definitely loved the playground right next to our table in the restaurant. On his birthday, he opened presents from our family. It has been a tradition from my family to have a "birthday outfit," but the one we gave him was pants and long sleeve, but the weather was quite warm, so I pulled out a new pair of shorts and t-shirt we had. lil' L has begun to like superheroes more and more, he requested an Iron Man cake, therefore he got an Iron Man and Spiderman action figures. Spiderman came with a car that shoots out a web to catch the bad guys. He also loves Toy Story, so we bought him a Toy Story car racer. He was in heaven playing with his new toys. For his big party, that came Sunday night, we invited grandparents, Patty, and Cameron. lil' L opened his presents and loved the fireman kit (with a working fire extinguisher-shoots water), his batmobile, and a car that flips over when it runs into something. Patty game him a Toy Story domino game, coloring book, and a mosiac kit (which he has loved putting together).
After working all afternoon on his cake, he told me he wanted Iron Man to be standing up so everyone could see him, but he was excited about it, and I was just glad it turned out.
lil' L never ceases to amaze us. He is so weet and very smart. He is all boy, loving to run and dress up as Superman or just dress up. We are so glad he is a part of our family. I am amazed how well he and his sister get along. They love to play with each other. He loves to cuddle, spend time with dad doing "boy stuff." He is always wanting to do things for himself, such as making himself a sandwich or his favorite lunch - quesadilla. I love spending time with him while lil' K is at school and is my little helper when we have errands or places to go. Love you, Buddy!

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