Beth's '12-'13 Artwork

Beth has decided she wants to be an artist when she grows up. She thinks. If she doesn't become a doctor.

She wanted to pose with several of her pieces. Her clay item this year was a purple dragon and a castle tower for the dragon to live in. 

First grade did prints too this year. Beth made a bee print. She made the stamp and decorated the paper. She grabbed a flower out of our hair basket for the bee to pose with. 

One of the art pieces that made it into the art show. The birds' wings are 3-D and made of tissue paper.

Beth with her drawing of a dragonfly. 

She loves her picture of a queen. She decorated it for the photo with hairbow.

This piece includes painting and weaving. And a flower clip. 

Pumpkins. She was especially proud of the shadows underneath. 

Kylie's '12-'13 Artwork

It turns out Kylie had a piece in the art show that Beth's pieces were in, we just didn't know it. Her clay sunstone made it into the show, and we can see why!

Kylie's shadow picture. 

This one reminds of a Bev Doolitle painting. 

Third grade studied hieroglyphics this year. Kylie wrote a sentence on her picture - "I love my Mom".

The duality of sun and moon. 

Megan's '12-'13 Artwork

At the end of every school year, each of the kids bring home their masterpieces from that year's art classes. Here are Megan's -

Her clay piece is a waffle, complete with butter and syrup. She even cut two pieces out of it so it looked more realistic.

I love her drawings of a leopard! Notice that one is a mirror image of the other.

A tribute to the clarinet, which Meg will be playing in band next year. She is super excited about it and is even babysitting for us to pay us back for the clarinet that we bought her. 

Sunset and shadows.

Kylie's Field Trip

By Kylie

We went to the Mint, which is the place where they make money. Daddy told me to ask for free samples, but I didn't.

First we went on the bus to go to the Mint. Then we went through this metal scanner. Then we went on this little bus. It was like the other bus, but it had very different seats and it didn't look the same. Then we got in our lines. I was in the purple group. Then we went in these lines in all of our groups.

This guy told us where we were going to go and what we were going to do. We went up and escalator and we got to this other place where this other person told us that we had to have one of the things wrapped around our wrists and when you pressed a button it told you about where you were. We went all the way to ten, then we started going down to this place. We got to go see these things that if you push it around, it will show you twenty dollars close up. You could hit close up or zoom out buttons. There was also this big twenty dollars and if you put your hand on it, it starts to glow.

Then it was lunch time. We went to this park. After we were done, we got to go play. All of my chocolate melted that my mom put in my lunch to surprise me. After that, we got on the bus again and went to the first bus. Then we drove back to school.

I forgot one thing. There were gift shops. If could bring six dollars, I could buy a little money teddy bear.

My favorite part was lunch because the rest was quite boring.

I learned that they put an FW on money because they are so proud they made it there.

Beth's Field Trip

By Beth

I went to Sea Life Aquarium. My partner was Kate Palmieri.

First, we got to school and we were getting ready for our field trip. We had to put our lunch sacks on our table. After we did morning work and calendar and everything, we walked out and got onto the bus.When we got there, we sat down and waited for the moms and dads. They got there, so we went and the grownup picked a spot and we ate lunch.

When we went in, Miss Brauer gave us a factual trail, which is a quiz. First we saw a bunch of gumball machines with gumdrops shaped as fruits and bones and bananas. And then we went on.

We went to go look around. We looked around through a lot of rooms. The first room had a kids' tunnel where the kids play in. On the other side of the tunnel was a set of stairs that led to a tall porch. There was glass on part of the porch and there was water under it with stingrays and different types of fish. We walked on the glass and some of us got a little scared and moved off the glass. Then we went back down and played in the kids' trail until Kate's mom came. I showed Kate a ginormous fish that I saw.

Then we went into different rooms. We went upstairs to do a movie quiz. They taught us about octopus, seahorse, starfish, and sharks. We went on this video where we did a quiz and she showed us shark teeth and different things. Then we went on an elevator to go back downstairs.

We went into this big room with a jump house in it. It also had a place where you could pet a shark and a starfish. First we went to pet a shark. He wiggled his tail while I petted him and then turned his head. Then I went over and petted the starfish. After that, we wiped off our hands, took off our shoes, and played in the big jump house. Then we went in the small jump house next to it. It had two slides.

Then we went through this hallway that was call the tunnel. There was glass under us, glass to the sides of us, and glass on top of us. There was a bunch of fish. The kids were a little bit scared in case the glass broke cause there were sharks and stingrays. We played in the middle of it. Then we went upstairs on an elevator to see if there were any other fun things upstairs. We saw a room with squares of glass under. Then we went back downstairs on the elevator and went to play in the jump house again.

Then it was time to leave. I went out and put my shoes on and called my partner. Kate's mom took us into the shop to get a bag for the leftovers from my lunch. We went down and I saw some things that had names on them. I saw Kate's name and my name too. We looked at stuffed animals and stuff and then went up and met our class at the bus. Kate stayed with her mom cause her dad and brother were there too. I played with my friends and then it was time for leave.

We all got on the bus and got to sit wherever we wanted. A girl sat next to me though, which meant there were three of us on the seat, so we had to tell her to move, but she didn't. In the middle of the bus ride, she scootched to the other blank seat next to us. When we got back, we packed up and played a little game called head's up 7 up. We lined up to leave and then we left. I had a great day. When I got home, I made cards for my aunt and gave them to her. I told my siblings all about my field trip.

16 Years Ago Today

I started this on Friday, but we didn't get it done that day, so the title isn't exactly accurate. For the record, we met on Saturday, May 17th, 1997.

**********

Rob: I woke up one morning and decided to go to Ricks College, on a whim. Somehow, everything fell into place for me to be able to leave my job, get housing, and get accepted to Ricks; everything came together perfectly. I didn't understand why at the time. 

Laney: I was living in Rexburg, ID, attending Ricks College. It was a Saturday night. My roommates and I decided to call some friends of ours and see if they wanted to hang out that evening. Unbeknownst to me, Rob had moved into that apartment the day before.

I called the apartment and Rob answered the phone. I asked who it was. When he replied "Rob", I thought I had dialed the wrong number by mistake and had instead called another apartment of guys that we knew, as a Rob lived there. After talking to him for a few minutes, I figured out that I had, in fact, called the correct apartment and was talking to someone I didn't know. I was very embarrassed.

Rob: This very friendly girl called. I remember thinking "Man, these Idahoans are nice people". But then I realized she must have thought I was someone else. There was something about her voice that I recognized, that I knew. I knew I had to meet her.


Laney: Rob passed the phone off to his roommate, Dave. I asked Dave to apologize to Rob and tell him I thought I had been talking to someone else. Instead, Dave told Rob I thought he sounded cute. That embarrassed me even more, but I extended our invitation. Dave and Rob talked in Portuguese for a few minutes (Dave had served his mission in Portugal and Rob served his in Brazil), then they said they would come over.

Rob: Dave asked if I wanted to go over. I asked him what sort of girl Laney was. He said she was smart, but opinionated. Not his type. She sounded even more intriguing. We had been invited over to go hang out at another girl's apartment that night, but I wanted to meet the girl on the phone. We decided we would go to Laney's apartment first and then if we got bored, we'd head over to the other girl's apartment.

Laney: I got off the phone and told my roommates the guys were coming over and that they had a new roommate. I jokingly announced that if the new guy was cute, I called dibs.

Rob: I tried to resist building an image in my mind of what this girl would look like. Her voice just sounded so different: different from anything I had ever heard. I wanted to see her, but was trying not to get my hopes up. 

Laney: They walked in and he didn't seem my type. He was wearing an old t-shirt, jeans with holes in the knees, and work boots. Not that I had anything against outfits like that, but the guys I liked usually wore things like polo shirts and dockers. Plus he was really quiet. He sat down next to me and I tried to talk to him, but he barely answered.


Rob: Right when I walked through the door, I knew who she was without a word being said. I knew she was the girl I was going to marry. My next thought was 'I must be crazy; things like this don't happen'. But I couldn't take my eyes off her. I knew she was the one. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. It felt like that scene from "Big Fish" when he sees the girl he's going to marry. Time froze. I wanted to talk with her, but I was too tongue-tied. She was too beautiful. I wondered what was wrong with her; there had to be something off because if a girl is that perfect in the looks department, something else had to be missing. But I've never found anything. As the night went on, I started realizing just how intelligent she was. I hadn't ever met a girl that I could really talk to about intellectual things before. 

Laney: I gave up trying to talk to him. We decided to play a game called "Rambo". It's basically a big game of hide and seek. The players pair up. One pair gets in a car and the others are on foot. Those on foot try to make it from one location to another without being seen by the pair in the car. We decided to go from our apartment to theirs.

Rob and my roommate Becca were the only ones with cars. We tried to decide who should be in the car. We decided Rob should drive so his car ended up at his apartment. We couldn't decide who should go with him though. Rob finally said "why don't you just come with me?" I thought he was tired of the process and just wanted to get started, so I turned to Becca and suggested she go with him.

Rob: When she suggested her roommate go with me, I thought I had found the flaw. She was a jerk. I thought she had deliberately decided she didn't want to go with me. 

Laney: My partner Debbie and I had a blast hiding under bushes and belly crawling across grassy spaces to get to Rob's apartment. When we got there an hour later, covered in dirt and leaves, we discovered that Rob and Becca drove around for ten minutes, then gave up and went to Rob's apartment.  

Rob: When she came in the door, I was taken away by just how beautiful she was. Not just looks, but her personality. I decided I had to try something again to get a spark going. We were standing in a doorway across from each other. I saw a leaf in her hair. I reached over and pulled it out and literally felt an electric spark. 

Laney: It seemed like everything stopped for a minute. Everyone seemed to stop talking and were looking at us. I don't know if that was just me, or if they felt it too. I didn't know what it was though, so I sort of brushed it off and kept talking. 

Rob: I realized there was something there beyond what I understood. I had to get to know her. I had to try something. The girls decided to walk home, so I walked home with them. As we were walking, we began to talk. We talked for the next three hours. I showed her some jiu-jitsu moves in her apartment. The two of us looked up and realized that everyone else in the room was silently watching us. I was willing to do everything I could, anything I could, just to keep talking to her. As Dave and I walked out the door when we finally left, I heard her roommates screaming and giggling. But I didn't care. I was going to marry her. As Dave and I walked home, I said "I think I like her." His response was a very sarcastic "You think?" 

The next day I was hoping it wasn't a fluke. I wanted to go back over and see if there was something there. I was hoping there was. She and her roommates invited us over for dinner. Even thought it was only the next day, it felt like I had been gone from her for a year. She was everything I had remembered and more. This was great! I knew I wanted more. 

Laney: I really enjoyed talking with Rob the night before. We seemed to be able to talk and talk about anything and never get bored. I was nervous to see him again though. Guys didn't usually like me and I was afraid he would lose interest. I didn't want to get my hopes up.

After dinner, Rob's roommates were going to a meeting. Rob mentioned he didn't want to go, but since he had just gotten to Rexburg, he didn't have anything else to do. I offered to go on a walk with him later if he wanted. He responded with "Ok, go change. I'll wait outside." I didn't mean we'd go at that moment, but since he was waiting for me, I went and changed out of my church clothes.

Rob: I knew in order for us to be able to make any type of connection, I had to get her away from everyone else. I was trying to figure out how to do this without coming across as creepy or desperate. I decided just to throw everything in on this gamble and get her alone as best I could. Once she offered to walk with me, I jumped at that.

Again, we talked for hours. I knew she was the one. 

Laney: I found myself telling him things I had never told anyone before. It was so odd; we had just met the day before, but somehow I knew him better than I had ever known anyone. I felt like I could tell him anything and he would understand.

We ended up on some bleachers at a park. I admitted I hadn't ever kissed anyone before. He said he wouldn't mind being the guy who gave me my first kiss. But he didn't. At least not then.

Rob: I knew I wanted to kiss her right then, but I was too scared. How do you kiss the most beautiful woman in the world? 

Laney: The sun went down and the mosquitoes came out. I said I'd better be getting home. Rob asked if I wanted to go for a drive with him instead.

Rob: I just had to keep spending time with her. I didn't want to let her go. We started driving, but I had no idea where to go.  So we drove and talked. And I kept desperately finding out a way to kiss her.

Laney: We ended up on the dirt roads out by the sand dunes. He was being really quiet, so I asked what he was thinking.

Rob: I knew I wanted to kiss her, but I realized I was going to have to have help. Some mercy from her. She asked what I was thinking. I said "I was just thinking about kissing you". She responded "Why don't you stop thinking about it and just do it". Three hours later we headed home :)

The next day, Monday, I was waiting for her when she got home from work/school. I just couldn't be away from her. We talked and talked. I took her out to dinner at Arby's because I didn't want to stop talking. We drove around for a while. We just kept talking and talking and talking. I just couldn't get enough of her. We were parked on top of a hill overlooking the city and I knew I had to ask her to marry me. I couldn't believe I had just said what I said to her. I thought I was crazy. Somehow she said yes. 

I would have married her the next day if I could, but it took us thirteen weeks to get married. From then on, life has been good. 

Heart Update

I had my second echocardiogram today. My doctor has been kind of waiting for this before making any determinations about treatment plans as we had nothing to compare the last one to because I've never had any heart problems.

The good news is that it hasn't gotten worse. The bad news is that it hasn't gotten better. This means they are going to need to start treating it more aggressively. They are going to double my beta blockers (I'm currently at 12.5 mg twice daily and they are moving me up to 25 mg twice daily - the maximum dose usually allowed - in comparison, the first dosage they had me on was 3.125mg), then in a month they are going to put me on ACE inhibitors as well. I've had some minimal swelling (water retention is a very common side effect of heart failure), so my doctor has prescribed dietetics for me to take as needed.

This means I'll have to wean Laura. I'm not thrilled about that. At the moment I'm fairly upset about it. But I'm sure in a day or two I will be feeling better about it. After all, I can't nurse her if I'm dead either. At least I got to nurse her for eight months and I got two extra months past my diagnosis. She eats a lot of solids now, so that will make it easier. I hope :) My doctor mentioned that he wouldn't be surprised if my swelling gets worse when I stop nursing as there will be more water in my body.

Other than having to wean Laura, I'm ok with today's results. Having read stories of other women with this condition, I realized that my chances of getting better on the somewhat minimal medication they had me on were slim. I know it's important to be proactive about treating this as that gives me the best chances of healing from it completely and not having to worry about it for the rest of my life or having it shorten my life.

My body is handling the medication fairly well. Occasionally my heart rate or blood pressure drops significantly and I have to stop what I'm doing and rest. I don't have much energy, but I can still walk to school and back with the kids. I still do the grocery shopping, although Rob has me wait until the weekend so he can go with me. I can still drive. I try to rest as much as possible on the weekends to minimize the time Rob has to take off work to take care of me. We've also done all of the medicine increases on weekends so I have a few days to adjust to it.

That's about all the new information I have. I'll update again when I have anything else to add :)

The Celebration Continues!

In honor of my birthday, the kids decided to make the whole week super fun :) First Eva, Laura, and Kylie developed conjunctivitis. Beth had eye irritation the week before, but we thought it was just allergies and treated it with castor oil. Hers cleared up within two days. Kylie got to stay home both Tuesday and Wednesday, which meant I got to sleep in :) Rob gets the kids off to school now to try and give me an extra hour of sleep in the mornings. Usually Eva wakes up before 8am though. With Kylie home, she and Eva hung out together and I got lots of sleep :) Of course, I paid for it by having to take five kids to the doctor. I took Eva, Laura, and Kylie in to get antibiotic drops as the castor oil wasn't cutting it for them. I pulled Beth and Jack out of school a few hours early as I didn't know if I would be home in time to pick them up from school. Meg's grade had testing that day, so Betsy said she'd walk Megs home.

Before picking the kids up, Kylie, Laura, Eva, and I picked up gyros from a Greek cafe and took them over to Kiki's house for lunch. Kiki and I share a birthday, but she had meetings all day on Wednesday, so we decided to celebrate a day early.

The doctor's visit wasn't bad. All the kids behaved pretty well. The excitement continued that evening though when Eva slammed the door on Jack's fingers hard enough that we were afraid they were broken. Kiki came over and Rob and I headed off for a romantic evening at the urgent care center with Jack and Laura.

Despite the pain in his fingers, Jack seemed to quite enjoy the evening. The doctor walked in and Jack announced "I've never seen anyone that looked like you before!" (The doctor was a balding man of Middle Eastern descent.) Fortunately the doctor was used to children and laughed. He then explained to Jack that Jack had never seen anyone like him because he was one of a kind . . . except for his identical twin brother who was also a doctor. They had a wonderful discussion about the doctor's hair, or lack thereof. Jack is so tactful. *sigh* When the x-ray tech came in to bring Jack back for his x-rays, Jack informed him that he had never heard anyone speak like the tech did (he had a Texan accent, which I wouldn't think would be an accent Jack hadn't heard considering where we live). Jack's fingers weren't broken, but they were pretty badly bruised, so he got to stay home on Wednesday with Kylie.

We didn't do much on Wednesday until Megan and Beth got home from school. (Although Beth is reading over my shoulder as I type and wants me to be sure to include her field trip to the Sea Life Aquarium that day - we will give that it's own post). Since Kiki had meetings all day, we decided to make her birthday special. The kids each made her homemade cards and Megan made her a origami crane. We jumped in the car and drove to Kroger to get her a small red velvet cake and sushi for her dinner. Everyone except Laura (who was asleep in the car) surprised Kiki and sung happy birthday to her.

We didn't stay long as Kiki had meetings she had to be part of. Rob worked straight through lunch so he could get home early and spend half an hour with me before sending me out for the evening. My birthday present from Rob was a night out on the town, which for me means I got to go get a spa pedicure and go out to dinner!

Betsy and Jojo joined me. We had a fabulous time at the nail salon and had a lot of fun talking with each other and the nail technicians. Of course, anything with Jojo and Betsy is fun :) We headed over to Olive Garden for dinner. Our dinner conversation included references to the four horses of the apocalypse and the possibility of using my little ponies as visual aids for them in a Bible lesson, a discussion on feminist therapy (which is messed up), and philosophy (the glass is not half empty or half full, it is completely full - half water and half air), among other things. We struck up a conversation with four kids (late teens, early twenties maybe) at a nearby table and all of them loudly sung happy birthday to me (we were the only ones in our wing of the restaurant as, unbeknownst to us, a huge storm was going over us - we were laughing too much to notice). 

Thank you Betsy and Jojo for an amazing evening and thank you Rob for watching the kids and for the pedicure! Thank you also to everyone who emailed, called, texted, and left messages on facebook! You guys totally made my day :) It was one of my best birthday nights ever! Yay for being 35! :)

The Forgotten Photos

These didn't quite fit in with any of the recent posts, but I didn't want to forget to post them. Since we only use digital cameras now, any pictures I don't post sort of get lost and we never see them again. At the end of each year, I make the photos and stories I post on here into a book so we have them forever :)

Anyway . . .

Kylie bruised her knee or something the other day, so she and Megan put together a contraption to "help" her walk. 

I love watching Laura and Eva together! They love each other so much :) Eva always wants to be near Laura and has to be involved in everything Laura does, even nursing. Laura was fussy and tired the other day, so Eva informed me that she needed milk. Sure enough, Laura drifted off to sleep as soon as I started nursing her. Eva curled up right next to her and wrapped her arms around Laura as she nursed :) 

Beth was home with what was later determined to be conjunctivitis. As far as reasons to stay home are concerned, I have decided that's one of the best as the child doesn't feel sick and therefore is not whiny. I am not a fan of whining. Beth loved staying home and had a wonderful time playing with Eva. She invented a way to give Eva rides on the gazelle. Eva sat with her bum on one of the foot petals and her feet on the other while Beth swung them back and forth using the hand grips. 

Eva switched sides when she figured out that I was taking pictures. Can't you tell she hates getting her picture taken? ;)

Beth kidnapped the camera and took a few pictures.

Kylie eating rice. Out of a pot. On the couch. Of course.

Megs and Laura. Laura has developed a really close relationship with Megan. She even chooses Megan over me on a regular basis! Meg loves the attention. All the other kids are jealous that Laura doesn't choose them over Megan, but we explain that it's a natural result of all the times Megan took care of Laura because no other child wanted to. Of course, sometimes having a baby sister glued to your side when you are home can be annoying, like when you try to play on the computer and the baby presses buttons and restarts the computer. I tell Megan it's payback for when she would do that to me or Travis or Susan.

A Mother Just Like You

The kids were supposed to sing this to all the mothers today at church as part of the primary choir. Eva and Laura had fevers over the past few days though and Jack and Kylie have horrible coughs (probably related to allergies, which are horrid this year), so we stayed home. Fortunately I have produced enough children to have my own children's choir :) They sang one of the songs for me while Rob was on the phone with his mother, so she got to hear it too. She mentioned that she wished she had a recording so she could hear it whenever she wanted, so we taped the kids singing it again :)

 http://youtu.be/J4uUUrH25eU

The Best Mother's Day Ever

Usually I hate Mother's Day, for several reasons. It was one of the hardest days of the year for me for the five years we were unable to have children. I think it's wonderful that the hard work and sacrifices moms make is acknowledged, but I know how hard it is for people without children, or people who have lost their mothers, or people who never had a good relationship with their mothers, and part of me always hurts for them. Despite that, I had one of the best mother's days ever :)

I got to stay up until after 3am with Laura, who was super congested last night and had problems sleeping. I had a major paper due today, so I got most of that done in between suctioning out Laura's nose.

The kids all slept in until at least 9am, which is unheard of at our house. Laura woke up shortly after because she was stuffed up again, so I got to get up and suction her out. Then her diaper leaked all over me and the bed, so I got to put new sheets on. I love new sheets :) Rob and the kids made me breakfast in bed. The kids wanted to make me eggs and sausage, so Rob bought Jimmy Dean sausage and egg english muffin sandwiches that they heated up. That way everyone could help and no one got burned on a pan. I got lemonade too and homemade cards from everyone! I also got orange jello that Megan made for me all by herself. Beth made me a necklace out of cheerios and two beads. Laura loved my cheerio necklace and ate all the cheerios off it throughout the day. They also got me a book I'd been wanting ("Shadow Puppets"), a package of double stuf oreos, and some chocolate. Plus Rob installed a new lightbulb in our shower even though it was a pain to install - just because he heard me say I wanted one :)

Then my heart started acting up and my pulse dropped to 44, so I went back to bed.

When I woke up again, several hours later, I finished my paper while Rob took a short nap. Then we went downstairs to make dinner. I was greeted with homemade confetti and a fake pink carnation that the kids had sprayed with perfume to put in my hair.

For dinner we had grilled hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and watermelon. Megan also made more jello (raspberry this time).

After dinner we had family home evening and Laura chewed the rest of the cheerios off my necklace.

We took Mother's Day pictures, which I think turned out pretty well considering how many kids we have!

We combined our Mother's Day dessert with my birthday cake as Kylie's birthday is next week and we don't want to eat three cakes within a ten day period. I picked a chocolate NY cheesecake and all the kids sung to me. We decided not to put 35 candles in it. We did light one for good luck though!

Following dessert, the kids produced a carnival that they had been working on all day. Megan pretended to play the soundtrack (which was actually a super annoying cd the kids have of peeps - as in Easter peeps - singing rock songs - it sounds sort of like Alvin and the chipmunks) and Laura helped.

Jack and Kylie demonstrated a game they designed with blocks and toy cars.

Beth put together a ring toss with lint rollers and toy rings.

We wrapped up the night with a musical performance by the kids. Megan played songs on the little piano.

Eva decided Megan's performance should be a duet.

All the kids sang several special Mother's Day songs for me.

Kylie sung me a song she wrote herself.

Beth also wrote me a song that she played and sang for me.

Jack performed a guitar solo.

I am so blessed that each of these beautiful and amazing children call me Mom! No matter what else I do with my life, they will always be my greatest accomplishments. I love that get to be the one who comforts them when they are sick and listens to their problems. I love that I am the one they pick flowers for each day as we walk home from school. I love that I get to feel their little arms around my neck and their kisses on my cheek. I love that my house is now full of noise and toys and papers from school. There's no way I'd pick having a clean house over having a house full of munchkins! And I am so lucky to have Rob as my partner through it all. Rob, thank you so much for making today such a great day!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all of those out there who mother someone, whether it's a child of your own or someone else :) The world is a better place because you are in it!

Yearly Job Review

 Rob gets a yearly evaluation at work. I thought today would be a perfect time to get evaluated by my employers/employees (at least those that can talk) :)


What am I really good at as a mom?

Rob - Caring for the children and always putting them before you while still getting your Master's degree done. 

Megan - Teaching us lessons that we can use later on in life, like how to get along with people and have patience and teaching us how to love one another.

Kylie - Always trying to do stuff with us, like when we can't go to church, we always do a little church together. And we always travel, like when we went to Utah, Oregon, and Massachusetts. You cook good food. You always know what we like, like sometimes you give us stuff on our birthday that we like that we didn't even think about. Also you introduce us to new movies, like Swiss Family Robinson. 

Beth - You're good at helping us, like helping us with our homework. You help us get dressed when we can't put on our shirt or something. You help us brush our hair and get ready for school. You help us make food.

Jack - You are good at making dinner for us. You are good at being a mom. You are a really good mom because you don't tell people rude things, you don't hate people, and you don't like be a bully. You love all of us every day and you make hot cocoa for us and you make cookies and you never ever ever spank us ten times, you just spank us four times.


What can I do better?

Rob - I can't think of anything.

Megan - Sometimes you yell. 

Kylie - Actually there is nothing I can think of that you can do better. 

Beth - You can stop throwing away our toys when we don't clean up part of our bedroom.

Jack - You could stop being angry with us and just tell us to go to our room whenever we be bad. You don't be mad at Daddy - you just tell him to go to Bethy's room.


What is your favorite thing we do together?

Rob - When we are able to spend time together.

Megan - Talk to you and paint each other's nails.

Kylie - Well, my favorite thing to do together is getting all together and telling stories.

Beth - Go and do fun things like going shopping or going to the park or playing at home or reading with me. You help me clean my room. I like when you spend time with me and when you help me.

Jack - My favorite thing to do is have a birthday. When I get taller and taller and taller and older.

Beth, the Artiste

We got a note from Beth's art teacher letting us know that some of Beth's art work had been chosen for the district art show. The show was tonight, so we headed over to check out her masterpiece. We discovered that she had TWO pieces of artwork in the show!!!

The first was the tile she made with a picture of a zebra - 

The second was the picture in the middle with the pink background and three birds on branches - 

She is an amazing artist and we are so proud of her!!!

I also took a quick photo the other day when I came across four of the girls playing together. Clockwise from the top left - Beth, Eva, Kylie, and Laura  -

8 Month Update

Laura is crawling everywhere and getting into everything :) She especially loves pens and pencils. As hard as I try to keep all of them off the ground, she seems to sniff them out. Then she gets very upset when I take them away from her. Ironically, all the other kids always complain that they can never find pens or pencils to do their homework; I should just tell them to have Laura crawl around for a few minutes and she will find them one.

She loves walking around with people holding her hands. Even Eva has figured out how to help her walk. Laura even stands on her own for a few seconds at a time! I'm betting she'll be walking within a month or two at the most.

She is starting to talk a bit. Her favorite word is Dada. She also says Mama and something that sounds an awful lot like hi.

No teeth yet, which I am fine with. As she is still nursing, I have no problem if she doesn't get teeth for another year ;) She eats lots of solids, but obviously prefers nursing. She sits in her highchair at the table every night as we eat dinner and gets extremely upset if everyone else has food in front of them and her tray is empty. She insists on feeding herself. If she doesn't like a food, or if she is full, she will spit out whatever is in her mouth. Any time I wonder if it's really worth it to have a dog in the house (sometimes six kids seems enough), all I have to do is feed Laura and the need to keep Simon around becomes glaringly apparent. He's like a mop and vacuum in one and cleans up her high chair in minutes :)

Laura loves crawling around, but she still prefers being held, especially by me or Megan. She's started reaching for Daddy too and gets excited to see each of the other kids. She gives hugs by laying her head down on my chest or shoulder. They are one of my favorite things :) She gives kisses to me too, by blowing raspberries on my cheeks and chin.

She loves music, especially "The Reason" by Hoobastank. Any time she's screaming in the car, all I have to do is turn on "The Reason" and turn it up and she settles down. A girl after my own heart :)

8 Months Old

It is getting increasingly difficult to take pictures of Laura. She does not like sitting still :)