Happy birthday my Sweet J!!!

Today J turns SIX!!!!!! D is out of town today, so we decided to celebrate with our cousins up North! :) they were soooo awesome to J and had balloons, presents, and fun for her. :)

I had taken up balloons, so everyone played with balloons while the cake was baking--crowns, dogs, weasels, flowers, etc. were made. Afterwards, everyone got to decorate the cake. You can't really tell because there is soooo much candy on top of it, but it IS a butterfly. 3 cupcakes down the center and a circle cake cut in half for the wings. :) They had a blast. After cake, it was present time.

It was a pretty low-key party, but J really did have a GREAT time and felt she had a great party. Thanks to our cousins for helping her have such a great day.

Here are a few things that make J amazing to me:

* J seriously has the BEST heart . . ever. She is determined to do what is right. Not because we want her to, but because she really wants to. I really think she was born with this great quality.

* J--just like her daddy--loves to try new things. She loves to try new sports/activities/vacation spots/ living locations, etc. She has an adventurous spirit.

* J is soooo driven. Whatever she puts her mind to do, she will do it. I don't need to help or prod or push, she just finds a way to do it and finds the satisfaction of 'accomplishing,' She is so interested in everything and loves to learn how to do NEW things.

* J LOVES to talk to me. She is seriously my awesome friend. She tells me all sorts of things all day long. She will talk and talk and talk when we get in the van (undivided attention, I guess). She tells me of things she wants to invent, things she did at school, places she wants to go, languages she wants to learn, What made her happy, what made her sad, etc, etc, etc,

* J is very logical. She must get this from her daddy also. She will deductive reason all day long and tell me the logic behind how she came to this conclusion or that conclusion.

* J is silly and loves to do crazy dancing in the family room with her brothers.

* J is excited about living life and VERY eager to learn right now. . . . which makes it fun to be around her.

* J is a great friend and really enjoys being around others. She is determined to take cookies to all her school friends during the summer because she misses seeing them. I think I'm going to be making A LOT of cookies this summer. Whenever she sees someone from her class, she is always excited to say hello to them and even run across a soccer field to catch a boy from her class before he gets to his car. . . just to say hello and run all the way back. Everyone is her friend.

*And can we seriously forget her AWESOME eyes and happy smile.

We love you, J. We are sooooo happy you came to our house and are apart of our family. :) Happy birthday bright eyes.! :)

All of the great balloon creations!!







Getting ready to blow out candles!!

BLOW!!!!!!!

Ty made J her crown!!!!

PRESENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

baby M update

I just got back from the dr. They did the strep B test, which I'm sure will be positive since it was with all my other kids. And I'm dilated to a whoppin' ZERO!!! Baby M hasn't decended into the pelvis yet and although head down, slightly turned sideways. I have an ultrasound on Monday to determine the EXACT location of her head. The Dr. doesn't want her to 'flip' and go breech. I guess if she does go breech and I have to have a c-section, I might be able to convince my dr. to do a little liposuction and tummy tucking during the process!!! :)

Soooo, my job for the next couple of weeks is to WALK, WALK, WALK!!!!! and then walk some more so I can get this little girls head to come down. :)

So come on over to the Y and hit the treadmill with me if you want. :)

dreams

I had a dream last night that I had baby M. . cool right? Well, except, I went to the store to buy binki's and for some reason took in the brand new package I had already purchased. There was another lady there fighting me (literally) for the package of binki's. Meanwhile, of course, I can't remember where I left baby M. Finally I have to re-pay for the binki's, give one out of the package to the other lady I was fighting with and go find baby M. After I found her at home, she was crying, but I didn't understand why. Then it dawned on me she was probably hungry since I hadn't fed her yet.. . so I tried getting a bottle together, but things kept going wrong. For some reason there were a TON of kids at my house that day and they kept coming and taking the bottles I would make before I could get them to baby M. Then I couldn't figure out how to get the bottle put together (because you know they are soooo hard). Then, I woke up to L happily jumping down the stairs this morning to get breakfast.

The general feeling of my dream was chaos!!!! What is the interpretation??? I think my house is going to be full of chaos with 4 kids. :) :) Ahhh, bring on the good times!

Fathers Day! ! ! !

Today was a fun Father's day. J loves a good celebration. . of ANY KIND. She made cards and put them by his bed before he woke up this morning, wrapped presents, made up father's day songs and pretty much kept the celebration going all day!! :) Logan was most excited about 'helping' Dad open his presents (since he knew what they were!) and Z-man had no clue, but he loves on Daddy all the time anyway.

D is seriously the BEST husband/daddy ever. I am constantly amazed at who he is. I really feel so blessed to be his wife and that he loves me as much as he does despite who I am at times. Here are a few things that make him. . . the BEST!

1-He genuinely loves to play with the kids and not all dad's like that or do that. Our kids adore their daddy and run to the garage when he gets home from work to give hugs and hello's.

2- He is adventurous and loves to experience different cultures/people/places/ideas. he is definitely NOT closed minded.

3- He 'loves' to listen to me talk. :) and I can talk a lot! :) He loves to dream with me, solve problems with me, laugh with me about really stupid things, etc.

4- He has ALWAYS been able to make me laugh. D and I dated for a little over a year, broke up, then got back together and got engaged. I remember dating other people during the break up time and realizing that nobody made me laugh. . or laughed at the same silly things I did. I realized how much I truly missed laughing and enjoying life with him.

5- I LOVE being around D. We really have a great time together and are best friends. I can't wait until retirement when we don't have to be apart all day. I am HAPPY when I'm with him--what more can I say, really?. . . oh wait, there is more.

6- He is NEVER without some sort of goal. He is always thinking of how he can be better--physically, mentally, spiritually, socially, etc.

7- He always thinks of other people. This is one of the things that attracted me most to him. He has always cared about people. Helping, serving, and genuine conversations are just a natural part of who he is.

8-He thinks I'm beautiful. . even when I'm not. :)

9-He teaches our kids so much about life, the gospel, sports, money, etc. Anything really they will listen to, he will teach them.

10- Most importantly, he loves the gospel and our Savior. All of the things that make him who he is, is based on his love for Jesus Christ and wanting to do what is right. He listens to the spirit and follows what he thinks he should be doing and has led our family to many wonderful things because of it.

I really am SOOOO very grateful for D. He is amazing. I'm so so so so so so so grateful that he waited for me until I was brave enough to get married--that he saw what we had together before I did and waited patiently for me to see it too. I'm so glad I get to spend ETERNITY with this wonderful man-my best friend. I love you, D!! Thanks for being such a great dad to our kids, husband to me, and friend to everyone! You really are the BEST!!!! Happy Father's DAY!!!

I'm also soo very grateful for my daddy for all of his love for me and all that he taught me. He was an amazing dad and still is. I'm grateful for D's dad also for raising him. . for me! :)

D and the kids before he opened presents.

All it takes is a little kiss to make this man smile soooo big!! :)

D and Me. We don't get pictures together too often. . . but J and L have been VERY into taking pictures lately.

Heavy, Heavy hang over thy poor head.

What do you wish this person with a BUMP on their head?

After opening presents, I paid the kids to play with my hair. I LOVE having my hair played with and the kids like to earn money different way around the house. . . . sooo recently, they have been earning quarters by playing with my hair. Sooo, tonight J and L did my hair and this is how it turned out!! :) I think I'm rather beautiful! :)

o.k. so I really don't like myself in these pictures with my pregnant face and no make up, but look at beautiful J. I LOVE her eyes. . and her smile. . . she really is gorgeous. . Is that mommy biased??? :)

L likes to give Baby M kisses. Here he is going in for a kiss. Biiiiiiggggg, belly, big, belly, big belly, big belly, big belly!!! *sung to the big booda song. :)

we had a GREAT day today! :) We love celebrations and we love daddies. :)

Fun Neighbors and new favorites

We love our neighborhood. We really have GREAT neighbors and a wonderful spot to play. Today some of the neighbor kids came to play in the sprinkler, jump on the tramp, eat popcicles, dig for worms under the deck (the boys did anyway), and enjoy the hot weather. Don't they look cute!



This is my new favorite thing. We have purchased the spray-on sunscreen before and still have to rub it in, etc. Well, this is the Target brand (I think compared to coppertone) and it really is a spray on. No rub needed. It took me 1/4 of the time to get sunscreen on everyone today. Ahh, don't we love things that make life easier!! :)

Biker Man

He's the newest biker on the street. :) L was sooooo excited to have D teach him how to ride his bike without his training wheels. He caught on to balancing very quickly. He is just so short he can't reach the peddles to start on his own. I think I'm going to have to pull out his smaller bike to teach him how to start by himself. :) :) He was so proud of himself though. It makes my mommy heart happy to see him happy.


This is D giving L some instructions before the biking begins. Look how excited he is .

Here we go

down we go. . .

I'm a big boy.

All by myself!!! YEAH!!!!!!

I love it when this little guy is happy.

yeah!!!! Mom's not feeling well.

"yeah!!!! Mom's not feeling well. "

This was the response I got from L when I told him he could watch a cartoon since I wasn't feeling well today. . . . HA. :)

solutions

So recently Z has been a bit grumpy. We can't figure out if it's because he's getting more teeth, or if it's because he's frusterated since he can't communicate what he wants, but knows what he wants. ANYWAY, getting ANYTHING done lately has been a challenge. . . well, my solution-minded husband came up with a GREAT idea today. He pulled Z around in a laundry basket while he picked things up, cleaned, and put things away. Z-man thought it was a GREAT idea, there was NO screaming, AND the house got picked up. I'm sure glad I married an engineer!! :)

thoughts from a mother with many small children.

Soo, I have 6-7 more weeks before baby M arrives to our family. And as I'm glad to only have that long before I'm done being pregnant, I'm afraid that sometimes (like nights similar to tonight), I realize I'm beyond my capabilities with the three I have, let alone one more. I love them sooo much, but my patience is lacking in supply and frustration kicks in more often than I would like. Life seems so crazy and hectic right now and we don't seem to have time for anything. D is taking classes and seems to be gone much more than he was. I'm proud of him for wanting to learn more and continue moving in a forward direction; however, it has been hard to be big, pregnant, AND take care of 3 little ones even more than I did before AND not being with D as much as I would like.

I find myself wondering if the things I try to teach my children will ever sink in or if I will be like a broken record repeating all the same things over and over again--trying new tactics to get them to understand the same ONE principle. Sometimes I play the 'mom' role so much, I forget I'm H and that I'm a person with interests, hobbies, and desires too.

With all that said. I KNOW this little girl is suppose to be a part of our family and I know she is suppose to be a part of our family NOW! I don't know why, but I do know these things. So I'm putting my faith in Heavenly Father that he knows what he is doing and that my kids will eventually get the things I'm trying to teach them, that I will be able to function with 4 children 6 years old and under (with the last 3 only being 4 years apart from each other), that they will each receive the attention and love that they need and that my emotions and sanity will stay in tact. I worry about missing something that they need. I know I'm not a perfect parent. I know I never will be, but I worry I will miss some big thing they need because I'm so caught up being frustrated that they won't see things my way.

I do love my little family. . . . even if it's hard and takes every ounce of inner strength to continue forward.

Everything is growing.

Everything/everyone seems to be growing and growing this spring. Each of the kids have a tree that we planted a year ago or so. They each are very proud of their tree and like to go look and see how much it's grown. L's tree is doing the best and he is VERY proud of that fact. He is putting his arm at the height the tree was before spring. The rains this season and sun have made this little guy shoot about 18". It is now taller than L and he thinks that is soooo funny that his tree is taller than him now. :) Thanks D and S for giving us such fun trees to watch grow. The other trees are doing well also, but L's tulip tree takes the blue ribbon. :)


The other 'thing' that seems to be growing night and day is my little z-man. He is getting SOOO tall. He can reach so many things off of counters and tables. We have had many spilled cups off the table lately. . . oh and look what Z-man figured out how to do recently. . . CLIMB!!! We have to pull the chairs away from the table now or he climbs and sits on top of the table like he is totally in charge of the world. :) Here are the progressive climbing shots. :) He really is getting sooo big. :)

Summer. . .is. . . . HERE!

Today is hot and very much summer!!! The kids played in the sprinklers today to cool off. :) Z-man isn't too much into cold water. . :) But J and L didn't seem to mind. :)


Handsome z-man sporting the shades.

BOO!

This is z-man's neighbor friend. He is only a few months younger that Z. :)

This is Z climbing out of the pool 2 seconds after I put him in. . . it was much to cold for his liking. :)

I'm READY to play with the big kids.

L trying to part the water with his hands as he runs though!! :)

on your marks. . gets set. . . GO!!!!!!!

o.k. mom, we posed for a picture. Can we go now?

I love watching my kids explore and play. It's the BEST!!!