Catching up a little, 3 months old

We sure love our happy baby Charlie. He just turned 3 months old!

This is what happens when you have older sisters. They think you're their little doll.

I love that smile. I could just look at it all day. He laughs now too. So cute!

This cute picture was when we had our neighbor Jax at our house for a couple hours. He loves Thomas too and brought Darren's pillow and blanket out on our floor. Darren didn't want to share, but we talked him into it. They were so cute playing.

I've been trying to be better about things and I've been making my bed. I got on Rick's case one day when he said he'd make it after sleeping later than me and Carlyn said she wanted to make it for me. She did pretty good, but I had to help a little.

Our kids were recently at a doctor's appointment (for a study) where they had to have their blood drawn and then have a shot. The whole appointment took about 3 hours! We decided to take them to Chuck E Cheese's to compensate for the crappy day. It was hard on me too. BTW, if you sign up for the Chuck E Cheese club they give you coupons and it really wasn't much money for us to go. Their favorite is still the carousel.

Darren is absolutely terrified of this truck. It goes up and down. I'll put a video on if I get the time. I might be a mean mom because I thought it was hilarious!

Another ride

Annie looked so big doing this game.

I'd have to say this is Rick's favorite way to work. :)

Update- Birthday, Ear Piercing, Goodbye

Hey everyone, I'm on my new computer, and it runs much faster, thanks to Rick. I haven't downloaded pictures for a long time, so I'll try not to make it too long. No promises though.

We've had a busy April. I'll start with Rick's birthday.

I mentioned in a previous post that the girls wanted to dress up for his birthday dinner. This is what they wore. So sweet!

That's quite a little fire on the cake there. We had to sing fast! :)

This is the end of the movie when all the kids were sitting on Rick's lap. I love it. They love their Daddy so much, just as they should.

The next big thing was the girls getting their ears pierced. I think I mentioned that they had to earn it by being good and earning beans. They had a few not so good days, but mostly they earned it pretty quickly. I am still not sure I should have let Rick talk me into this, but the girls love them and take care of them pretty well for how young they are. We got a little choked up while we were there. I know its a lot of pictures, but again, this was hard for me so deal with it!

Annie before

Annie during

Annie after. She chose green birthstones (I don't know what month.) No tears, no flinching. I am amazed by my brave daughters. Rick tried to talk me into it and I still didn't dare and was secretly relieved that they wouldn't do mine while I'm pregnant without a doctor's note.

Carlyn before

Carlyn during. Notice that she has her lamby. Anyone who knows her well know her lamby too. She chose lamby that night to comfort her.

Carlyn after. She chose the pink birthstone, of course. Again, no tears and not even the tiniest flinch. Tough cookie! For at least a week they proudly showed their ears to everyone. They'd say, "Look, I got my ears pierced. I didn't even flinch!"

Darren was bored out of his mind and screamed through the whole thing. He also went through at least 2 suckers.

Now I need to mention that my brother,Mathew, had let us know he was working in Canada for the summer and would be leaving in May. I was having a hard time with it because we're pretty close and see him a lot and my kids just adore him, especially Darren. Plus, I'm pregnant and he won't be here for the baby to be born. I'm not sure why this is so huge to me, but it is. So we had their ears pierced on Friday night the week before Easter. That weekend was also conference weekend and a family Easter party on Saturday morning (to be blogged about later.) So Saturday morning I had everything timed just right so that we can eat, bathe, get ready and watch conference then leave to the party immediately after. Well, Mathew threw it all off :)

Rick hadn't gotten much sleep that night (thanks to WOW) and was sleeping in while I showered. Next thing I knew, Rick was up and dressed. I was surprised and he said I had a call from Mathew who was on his way to Canada that day and wanted to say goodbye to us on his way out! I just stared at Rick then finally said, "You're a little late for April Fool's." He laughed but then said it wasn't a joke. Mathew was on his way. Well, I lost it. I bawled while I got ready. I know he's a grown up and I think this adventure will be really good for him, but I still miss him. Its hard when you get used to someone being there, able to come play games or watch the kids most times when we'd call. (Mathew, if you're reading this I don't say it to make you feel bad. We really are excited for you.) Anyway, he came by hugged us, used our computer, then was off.

Look at that smile! Any questions how much she loves Mathew? He lived with us when she was born and for awhile she liked Mathew at least as much as Rick.

I don't think Darren would have been smiling if he had known he wouldn't see his buddy for such a long time :)

Carlyn is old enough to understand better what was going on and was a little more clingy to him, but it was also really sweet because every prayer for over a week prayed for Mathew to be safe and have a fun time in Canada. How sweet is that?

...just waiting

Hey everyone, I have lots to post about: my brother leaving the country to work, Rick's birthday, fun Easter stuff, a trip to my parent's, ear piercing, a new sprinkling system, and a new kitchen faucet. Guess what I'm waiting for? My computer. Rick took my old computer minus hard drive and gave it to my sister who is a teacher, and also has 3 kids in school, and they really needed one. So he's got my hard drive and I'm waiting for a new computer. :) He promised to have it done last week and then he started to work on a few projects around the house (mentioned above), which in all reality are more important than me having a computer, but still...

So here I am doing a quick post to say Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all had a great time. We sure did, but it was pretty laid back. We had a family party with Rick's family last week and then spent some time at my parent's house after that. We had our Easter Funday Saturday waking up early to have the kids look at their baskets followed by our neighborhood egg hunt and breakfast, then naps all around, and worked/played in the yard til it started pouring rain later. We enjoyed a nice relaxing Easter Sunday at church followed by a movie marathon and a yummy dinner of ham and funeral potatoes.

A Busy Week Cont.

I forgot to add something. After Carlyn mentioned that she hadn't had a Mommy date in a long time the concert last week came up. She felt so special and Rick and I talked about it and decided that we would rotate through the kids for Daddy or Mommy dates. We plan on most of these being free dates or cheap dates but the cost isn't really the point. So Carlyn got her turn and it was Annie's turn last week. On Friday Rick and I decided it had better be that night so we gave Annie the option of having a date with Mommy or Daddy. She chose Daddy. He took her to the mall to walk around and have an ice cream. She wore a dress and everything and looked so cute. In the van Rick told her they were going to the mall and she said, "You're kidding!" She was also very shy (according to him.) They looked in a few stores and even checked out ear piercing (the girls are earning it.) They got home and she was beaming and said, "Mommy, we had the best time!" I love how special she felt and knew that she was loved. She's been in a much better mood since.

A busy week

We started our week last week with a family home evening flying kites in the park. It was a really windy day so I cajoled Rick into going. He really didn't want to but we had a lot of fun when we got there. We had cheap kites from Wal-mart and they were amazingly good flyers. Carlyn had a lot of interest in flying them but Anneliese lost interest after a few minutes. Darren played with a ball for a few minutes and played on the playground, mostly throwing wood chips, the rest of the time. Carlyn said, "Look. I'm a master at this!" She was great too. She got it really high all by herself.

Darren with his ball.
D on the slide. Probably with wood chips in his hands.

Daddy running after helping Annie get her kite up.

I know its hard to see but Carlyn is there all by herself and the kite is pretty high. She was doing it by herself. I let it go and she did the rest.

St. Patrick's Day was on a Tuesday and didn't turn out as we expected :) My mom couldn't come for our regular Tuesday visits. I had called my grandma to tell her we would eat at home and then head out. As soon as we were ready to leave my friend Denise called and said she was on her way to visit and also had some things to drop off. She had a garbage bag of barbie dolls and brat dolls. It was like Christmas at our house :) I have some extra brat doll bodies if anyone wants them. I don't like to keep the ones that don't have clothes. I never did make it to my grandma's house but we had a great visit with Denise and her two youngest kids. Carlyn must have been excited for St. Patrick's Day because she came up all in green and helped Annie wear green too. She kept asking when I was getting dressed so she could pinch me. :) I told her when I got dressed I would wear green. I made green eggs and ham for breakfast and it grossed me out and I don't think I'll do that again! I forgot what we had for lunch but we had taco salad for dinner and I figured the lettuce was green enough for me.

Annie in her green. She has on one of Carlyn's denim skirts and red tights. I did their hair all fancy too with lots of green bands in it (not in these pictures). They loved that.

Carlyn in her first outfit. The green sweater and tights are so cute, but don't match. She also decided it was too warm to wear the sweater and changed into a cute green top.

Rick wanted me to take this picture because Darren never sits still like this. I think he was watching Jungle Book, his new favorite movie.

Our ward had a Primary talent show on Saturday. I'll have to put a little clip on of Carlyn later, but I don't know how to do it from the other camera. Rick used our digital one and took several pictures of Carlyn's dance, but the lighting didn't work well so he took video of Annie's on it. This is part of Carlyn's dance class that are in our ward doing "Happy Working Song" from Enchanted. It was super cute and Carlyn was very enthusiastic. She's on the left and I'm sad I didn't get a better picture of just her. They have aprons on over their leotards and holding scarves.

Annie was in a group with the Sunbeam girls (and a cousin of one girl-she's the tall one) and they did a cute little dance. I chose this one because you can see Annie best. She's in the front right to start with the pink leotard and shoes. She's the smallest I think.

On Sunday the kids went with Aunt Belinda and Josh while Rick and I went to the Draper Temple dedication. They were so excited, even Darren, as they waved goodbye to us from Belinda's truck. Mathew came up last night too and we finished the night with a game of Cities and Nights (Settler's expansion.)

It was such a nice week weather wise. We went for a walk everyday. Yesterday was fairly cold and rainy and this morning we woke up to snow. What a change! I think it was last Thursday we were walking around the block and a neighbor lady came running out and gave us St. Patrick's Day bags of candy. She said she just missed us on St. Patrick's Day. It was so sweet and unexpected. Carlyn now wants to take her something in return. She's so thoughtful. I love it.

Skating, Sleeping, Silly Pictures

Darren rarely falls asleep anywhere except his bed and sometimes the car. I had to capture this cute picture when he fell asleep watching tv at my grandma's house. I love it!

Our neighbors let us know about a free skating night last week at the Ice Center in Murray. Darren and I watched while Rick took the girls skating. This is Carlyn and Anneliese with Olivia, our neighbor's daughter. Rick went around a couple times before he dared take the girls on the ice. Then they'd barely started when they had to leave for the Zamboni. That was Darren's favorite part of the night.

This was toward the end and if you can see Carlyn is in the middle with Brian and Will on either side. It was really great of them to help and Will especially was really sweet. Annie's feet were hurting so she was sitting down at this point. Rick was just getting some laps in but is there next to Brian.

This isn't the best picture, but Anneliese was hesitant, understandably for a 3 year old, so she was either hanging on Daddy or the wall the whole time. If you notice the bottom left corner, that's Carlyn. She didn't look like she was having the greatest time. I was chasing Darren all over the bleachers the whole time so I still got my exercise in :)

I was trying to get a picture through the glass of them and Rick asked for the camera. This is how the girls were for a good part of the time and Darren was so excited to see them because we'd been sitting there for a long time according to him.

Not the best picture, but I had to put it in to show how brave Carlyn was getting. I was so proud of her. She did fall several times but she did great. She was grinning the rest of the night and saying that she LOVES ice skating and can she take lessons. We can't right now, but I'd like to keep that enthusiasm up. She asks to go every day now. Rick did really well too and didn't fall once.

Friday night my sister's high school choir and her 4 kids, my Mom and Dad, my brother and his girlfriend all were going to the BYU Men's & Women's Chorus Concert. My sister said they ended up with extra tickets and Carlyn and I got to have a Mommy/Daughter date. She'd specifically asked for one recently and we realized it had been awhile so this was perfect. Even though it was Friday 13th and Rick and I were having an off day, we had a really great time. We even got ice cream at McDonald's afterwards and she felt so special. She told me that she loved it so much that she could just hug me for the rest of my life :) That made it worth it for me! We really loved the concert and had a great talk in the car both ways.

My parents stayed over at my Grandma's house Friday night after the concert. Saturday morning while the men moved a pool table for my Dad, my mom helped me with my house and a few things I had to do. I'm realizing that we just don't have enough room for 6 people in this little house and I'm feeling crowded. So I'm having to get creative with a few things. I'm no good at that. I did set up the toddler bed in Darren's room and that's this picture above. Saturday he was so tired that he didn't even fuss or get up. He just fell right asleep and I had to take a picture. He's taken naps on the bed but won't go to bed at night on it. I'm okay with letting him get used to it first.

While he was napping the girls were playing. I'd done a little rearranging (not done, as obvious in the picture) and they liked the change. Here is Annie folding socks. I hate that chore and I wish she could really mate them because she's always playing with them. Plus, there seem to be a ton of ones without mates. UGH. They had been to a birthday party and then played at McDonald's while my parents, Mathew, grandma and I had lunch. The kids weren't hungry but they ate half of mine :) I should have taken pictures of them after the party with their tutus and hair clips and crowns and decorated goblets. Thanks Jess they had a blast! Also, I got a lot done with my Mom's help and I feel a lot better though I've still got a lot to do.

Then they started taking pictures of everything. They took at least 20 of their play kitchen and several of each other. These were my favorites, but not the funniest. Carlyn took this of Annie.

Annie took this of Carlyn. Good pictures. Maybe they'll be photographers :)

Another thing Darren has gotten in the habit of doing is washing his hands in the bathroom sink. Yes our bathroom is that yellow! Short story: our other bathroom has rubber ducks and is so cute. When I was pregnant with Carlyn Rick painted the bathrooms (both of them) to match the ducks on the shower curtain. I love it in the other bathroom. :) Anyway, Darren is standing on a cute stool our neighbor gave us and if I can't find him, this is where he is. He turns it on, tries to get soap, and washes his hands. He usually won't stop on his own so I have to turn it off, dry his hands, and pull him out of there. It really is cute though. You can't see in this picture, but he's standing on his tippy toes. He just wants to do big kid things like the girls. See how proud he is of himself!

A Busy, Crazy Weekend

So we had offered to take Carisa's four girls for the weekend to give her a break. We almost skipped it because my kids had only been on antibiotics for strep 24 hours as of Friday night. But Rick was really great and insisted we take them still but meet Friday night so our kids would be in bed already. It was really important to him that he do this for them and I really appreciated him for that. I love my nieces, but I'm really tired and don't have a lot of patience right now so I didn't know if it was the best timing.

Friday night Rick put the kids to bed and I headed to Provo to meet Carisa and the kids. They were all asleep even though it was only 9:30. I was happy about that because it would mean they'd go to sleep at our house easier. Every child was awake by 8:10 Saturday morning. Didn't anyone teach them to sleep in? My kids usually do but for some reason they didn't. We messed around for a little while then started on a huge breakfast of bacon, sausage, pancakes, and eggs. I should explain that they are 13 (almost 14-very important) , 11, 8, and 5. 4 extra children added quite a bit to the quantities of food we made. We all got ready and made lunches and headed to the Safe Kids Fair. They have booths and activities and I usually go on Friday, but as we were still in the contagious period, decided against it. Plus, it provided a good free activity for all 9 of us.

I knew we were in trouble when we got there and had to circle for 15 minutes to find parking. There were literally thousands of people there. It was insane, especially with 7 kids. We also wondered what people thought of us. 7 kids plus I'm pregnant. :) We got a few funny looks and a few not so nice comment about there being so many of us. I have a lot of respect for anyone with that many kids and I am reminded why 4 is plenty for me. It was crazy because they usually have spinners or games to win a prize and there were huge lines for these and the prizes were sometimes nothing but a pencil or sucker. CRAZY. We tried to skip the busiest things and let the kids take stickers and candy from tables without lines.

We ate lunch after awhile and realized that we were about done. We'd promised that if they were good they could get their faces painted. Well, we found that line and it was terrible! It was longer than any line we stood in at Disneyland. I wish I was exaggerating. We barely moved and it took us an hour and a half to get to the front. We had one adult stand with Darren and the stroller in line and the other would take the kids to different booths. One of their favorites was the company that had the Burmese Pythons. They went nuts petting those. Yes, 6 girls.

Somewhere about then Evynn, my niece who is 5, had wandered away from her sister who was her "buddy." We aren't even sure exactly where she was because she wouldn't tell us after we found her, but she was missing for about 15 minutes. I think she was in line to see Spiderman. Well, once we realized that she was missing, Rick stayed with the kids in line and I ran around trying to find someone "official" to help me. I mostly got pointed from one person to another and I was getting frantic. Finally I found a very helpful lady who got a description from me and told me to stay put. It felt like forever that I waited there praying that somehow we would find her, but looking around me realized how many people where there. I heard them announce it and burst into tears. The lady came back and told me to stand somewhere else which was where they would bring her. I don't know who found her or anything else, but when I saw that little girl with a look like, "Oh, I'm going to get it now" look on her face and not an ounce of being scared I dropped to my knees and hugged her. I'm sure she thought I was going to yell, but I couldn't. I was so relieved. How scary that was. I would like to thank those people who found her but I don't know who they are. Well, that's when she made a comment about wanting to see Spiderman. Her older sisters had been a upset too and were relieved to see her. The line was getting to everyone, but they all insisted that they didn't care. Darren was going crazy and we tried to sedate him with suckers and his bottle. He finally fell asleep when we were at the end of the line and got a little nap. On the upside, their face painting was awesome. Sharice had half of a rainbow butterfly. Jaycie's whole face was a colorful peace sign. Aili and Evynn had bunny faces. Carlyn had half a pink butterfly and a flower on the other side. Annie had a whole brown butterfly. They were super cute.

When we got home I was totally sore and exhausted. I said I was making spaghetti and everyone complained so we got pizza from Papa Murphy's. We ended up making butter noodles too (long story) and most of them wanted that. UGH. That's why I don't do special orders, but butter noodles tasted better to my picky pregnant tastes so I couldn't be too grumpy. Rick wasn't too pleased though. We rented High School Musical 3 (wow, was that a dumb show!) and the kids all loved it. Rick watched a few minutes with us, but couldn't handle it and left. :) We had ice cream sandwiches and went to bed later than we meant to. I meant to give the kids all baths/showers that night because church was at 9 the next morning.

I woke up really early and had a hard time getting anyone to get in the shower after me. Sharice did the best, but everyone else was sluggish, even Rick. Jaycie complained of being sick and Annie and Carlyn came up with fevers and feeling sick too. For crying out loud, they'd been on antibiotics for days so I really wasn't expecting that. Annie was supposed to have her first talk in Primary that day. I was so sad that she didn't get to. She'd done so well when we'd practiced. Anyway, Jaycie stayed home with my girls and they rest of us made it to church on time! A miracle in itself, I know. Darren was really difficult during Sacrament, probably just tired, but he and Rick (who wasn't feeling too great himself) went home after Sacrament.

We had tons of leftovers in the fridge so we had a leftover lunch and then we played some wii. I don't know if it was just that nobody had enough sleep the night before but they kids were all driving me crazy because they were fighting over everything. Which game to play, who got to play, etc. I really just wanted to put on a movie because I thought it would be more mellow. It really doesn't seem like a lot of time looking back on it and we really did have a fun time, but it was crazy. It was really good for the cousins to bond a little. They've been out of state so long and every time we see them it seems like its always a little hectic. This was a nice way to just have fun and spend some time together and let them know that we love them. I really, really appreciated Rick that he made such efforts to show them he cared and he did a lot of the work. He was great and I love him so much for making the effort with my sister's kids. Rick met my sister late Sunday afternoon in Provo to do the switcheroo. She sounded so happy to have had someone look after her kids while she was working and to have a little time to herself. I'm so glad that it was so good for her, and that is a lot of why we did it. We love you, Carisa, and we love your kids too.

Mathew's Birthday

Last weekend we went to my parent's house to celebrate Mathew's birthday. We played a card game or two and ate a delicious lasagna lunch.

Too cute! I couldn't resist this one. Mathew blowing out the candles, while Evynn and Darren eye the cheesecake.

Mathew with all the grandkids in Utah. Jaycie in back, Aili on the left, then Evynn, Mathew holding Darren, Carlyn, Sharice, and Anneliese. And don't forget the cheesecakes!!!

I love you little brother!

PS3 and Wii

Rick's new project is fixing PS3s and selling them. He's always got one trying out new games before he sells them. (BTW, if anyone is interested in buying one, let me know.) The biggest problem is that the games are not really for kids. Most of them are so graphic that I don't even like them to watch Rick play. So when one guy called and offered to trade a wii plus accessories and games for a PS3 Rick couldn't pass it up. Annie still has trouble using the controller sometimes, but Carlyn is getting better and wants to play all the time.

Look at what a natural she is. If only she had the coordination to watch the screen and strum she's beat me! Our future guitarist.

Serious game faces.
I couldn't get one of him pretending to play once he saw the camera. He thinks he needs a controller if someone else is playing so we like these legacy controllers for him.

New Years Fun

We spent New Year's Eve and a few days afterwards at my parent's new home. It is really nice because we have a little more room than their old house. The kids love it there and we do too. We had a nice dinner on Christmas Eve. My brother and his family were here from CA and my sister who lives in my parent's old house was there most of the time too. My younger brother, Mathew was there with his girlfriend Lindsay that night too, so we just missed Emily and her family from TX. We had a lot of fun playing card games, eating, playing the wii, playing the PS3, and watching movies.

Darren trying to play rock band. He did not want to be left out.

Barrett and the kids playing in the snow.

Last time I brought all the snow clothes they didn't use them, so I didn't this time. They had cowboy boots and Carlyn was fine until they got so weighed down with snow that she lost them and stepped into the snow in bare feet! Thank goodness uncle Barrett came to the rescue.

The little girls playing the wii. We had 3 at the house plus Rick's PS3 so there was never a lack of video games.

My parent's house is lovely with lots of light. Unfortunately sunlight is one of Rick's biggest triggers for migraines. So he wore his sunglasses almost the whole time, but still got one the first day. This is Rick getting accupuncture from my brother in law. What a fun way to bring in the new year. He had something like 28 in his body and 6 in his head. It was really great of Dallin to do that but my girls take after me and got a little freaked out. Rick spent most of his time in the closet playing PS3. It was kind of funny. My brother kept asking when Rick was going to come out of the closet :)

The girls got Rick's new shorts and this is what came of it. Too funny!