Book Recommendation

I had to let everyone know about a really great parenting book. In all of the parenting books that I have bought I think that this one is the first one that I have finished. Usually I get bored or don't really agree with what the people are saying. This book is different. I saw it on one of my long walks through Target. I was hoping my feeling sick would end and was tired of feeling totally exhausted and boy, those hormones. I needed something to help me seem more sane (or at least so my kids and Patrick could think I was). Not to say it has led to never screaming, but it has help tremendously. For those of you who are familiar with the "Love and Logic" technique, this follows it really closely. And even for those people who don't scream or can't, (ha, ha, Cadi - is this getting old yet?) it is really about just keeping your cool when your kids are driving you crazy. Hope you enjoy it and learn as much as I did. My next book that is coming in the mail is "How to talk so your kids will listen and listen so your kids will talk". I will let you know what I think of that one.

Snips & Snails & Puppy Dog Tails

Yes - we did it! We are having a boy! We went to my Drs. appiontment yesterday and had the ultrasound. Everyone wanting to be there so Patrick and all 3 girls watched on waiting for the big news,and he had everything he needed to be a boy (a puppy dog tail-that must be where it comes from). From the beginning Lexy, Kalley and I had voted on a boy. Cassidy and Patrick were on the girl side until about 2 weeks ago when Cassidy decided that it was a boy. So Patrick was the lone duck waiting out the girl. You would think that there were all kinds of cheers from Patrick, but no-it was shock. He commented later that if it had been a girl he would have had an easier time loving it already because he could relate it to how much he loves his girls now. But this is a new thing! This is the first child that I really felt I knew what it was going to be. But I really didn't want to get myself to set up so that I wouldn't still be happy for a girl. So I went in there really OK with whatever this baby chose to be. So for all of you wondering how we managed it - I could give credit to the book How to Chose the Sex of Your Baby? (Very helpful if anyone is interested.) Yes we resorted to the book and from there I left it up to Heavenly Father what it would be in the end. I just figured that we would do the "work as if everything depends on you" and then "trust as if everything depends on Heavenly Father". So now everyone may ask if we are done - and the answer is most likely not. He needs a brother! It is amazing how all of a sudden he takes on life when you can see that little baby moving around in there will all the body parts necessary to be a real baby. About last week I had decided that I was going to write up all the awful things about pregnancy. Patrick keeps telling me that I need to write it all down so that I could look back and remeber when I started feeling like having another. I told him that it really wouldn't matter. But I thought that it would be funny to look back on. I knew though that if I didn't do it before the ultrasound that I would lose that hatered real quick. And I did. All of a sudden all of the bad things don't matter as much because I have seen my little baby who looks to be all healthy and I can now feel him moving. So once again all of us CRAZY MOM'S will understand why we forget so easily (and the father's don't)!

Cassidy's Dance Class

At Cassidy's dance class the had a parent's share day. Lexy, Kalley, and I all got to go and see what she does. I tried and tried to bribe her to do what she was suppose to the whole time but at the end she was sitting on my lap crying. With all of the performing that she does around here we are always surprised that she won't perform when she is suppose to. These pictures are prior to her breakdown.

She has her sweet cousin Tenley in the same class. So every Wednesday Jenny and I switch off letting them play before dance class. They get along so well and so it is fun that they get to dance together.

My Big Girl!

Cassidy turned 4 on the 17th, I can't believe it. I think the first 3 1/2 years we have been going crazy with this little ball of independent energy. But see has been such a joy to have around, and it is only getting better. I love having her here with me during the day. She always comes up with the funniest things. She loves singing songs and has a dance that goes with them. If only 4 years ago I would have known that everything was going to be OK with her I would not have stressed out so much those first few weeks. She is such a blessing to our family.

She seems to all of a sudden have new found abilities. She finally buckles herself in her car seat right away and without a fuss. and she writes her name, all by herself. She cracks us up.

Camping over October Break

Sorry for not posting lately. Life has been crazy!!! My parents aged on me overnight but things seem to be back to normal now. My Mom ended up having emergency surgery and had to stay in ICU overnight. And my Dad could barely walk the length of the halls to see her because he was having so much pain in his hip. After two long weeks they seem to be better and so our family decided to do an overnighter in the mountains. It was freezing cold to us and so we had to stay in the trailer(we were able to borrow it from my parents - thank goodness) most of the time. We have never camped just our family and so it was fun to spend a little time together - just us! Kalley and Cassidy were all ready for bed and it was still light out.

It was soooo windy out that while we were there a huge tree fell over - we went to investigate and this is what we found.

There were these huge worms inside the remaining stump! It was disgusting. We also stayed busy making fairy homes. This kept Lexy busy the whole time! It was fun to look around and find things that would work. We also did a lot of rock collecting. I couldn't convince Cassidy to not pick up so many so I would have to throw some the other way while she wasn't looking.

I tried at all costs to hide me growing belly. It is amazing how quickly my body has decided to be pregnant with this one. I am 3 months pregnant looking like I am going on 5 months. Oh well !

Sick and Tired!

So I know it has been awhile since I posted last. But I have a very good reason. We are expecting a new baby. With that though there have been lots of sick and tired days. The baby is due on April 8th and so far the ultrasound shows that everything is going good. I don't think that I am as sick as I have been with the other pregnancies but Patrick thinks that I just don't remember. On most days I feel like I am managing things just fine. If I just eat when I am suppose to, I usually feel OK. I don't know if I can contribute this to a different pregnancy or a stage in life. I don't think I have the option to be sick and not cook food. I don't have the option to lay in bed and just feel sick. So here we are just trying to keep the dirty dishes out of the sink and the house under control. We just told the girls on Monday. We were waiting till the first Drs. appiontment to make sure that everything was for sure OK. They were so excited! It has been all the talk around here - Our girls kept asking when we were going to have a baby because "everyone else is". So now Lexy can't stop patting my belly (which is already growing) and they have to say goodbye to the baby before they go to school. It is an exciting time, but I have to say it has been overwhelming. I keep having dreams with babies -that aren't mine- and they aren't being taken care of. For some reason when I find the babies their diapers are never changed. Is this a sign of some fear I have? So aside from being so tired that I am in bed at 8 o'clock and gaggin everytime I brush my teeth. I think we will survive this one-we shall see!

First Day of School - 5 weeks late!

Here are Lexy and Kalley at school on the first day. I always take a picture of them by this wall so I can compare how much they have grown since the last year.
Cassidy started preschool 3 weeks later but here is her showing off her artwork from the first day.

What are we going to do?

Cassidy is already wearing clothes that are too tight and too small. She came in wearing this the other day. They are Build-a-Bear clothes and shoes!

My Baby is 8! I can hardly believe that she could be that old. She came into this world without a cry, just wide open, observing eyes- and she hasn't stopped.

Patrick and I are constantly telling her how glad we are that she came first. She is such a wonderful example for her younger sisters. She keeps us all on track. She came knowing and loving good things. Her prayers always amaze us at the things she comprehends. She is thoughtful and loving. What more could a parent want?
She had her birthday party yesterday and as she was blowing her candles out, I wondered if I had taught her all that she needed to learn. That is something I keep worrying about as she prepares for her baptism. I know that she is ready, but I don't know that I can take the credit.

We Love you Lexy! Thanks for being such a blessing!

Mexico side note

I forgot to mention one of the most crazy things that happened in Mexico. On Sunday we went over to where my brothers were staying for the first time. We were having church there and just hanging out trying to keep the kids from not wanting to go in the water. Some of the older kids were playing around and we thought nothing of it. Then one of my nieces informed us that Lexy and Kelsey(my oldest niece) were stuck on an elevator. So we had to go to the eighth floor were sure enough they were stuck. They were all having elevator races and some how broke the elevator that they were on. So after getting a little upset at Lexy, because she hadn't told me that she was going outside, I was a little panicked. Here we were in Mexico - what if they didn't know how to get the elevator opened or didn't have the right tools. We were able to crack the doors open and then my sister wedge her shoe in between the doors till help arrived. Thank goodness it was very simple and they got them out right away. Of course this was the best lesson for Lexy, she never left again without telling me first.

Mexico 2008

We just got back from Mexico last week and so I have finally recovered and can post once again. This is how our trip started - what was suppose to take only 4 hours took 7. Thank goodness Mitch and his family were with us and helped us pass the three hour wait. There was a really bad accident ahead of us and so all of us got stuck, Randy was 10 cars behind the accident and had to wait 5 hours.Here we are trying to figure out a new game while we waited.
We did get to the beach safely and here are the first few pictures. It was so sweet to watch Cassidy pull her little wagon full of beach toys.

I think when ever we go to the beach we have a picture like this. Patrick just loves laying in the water and there is always someone on his back. Where am I? Of course behind the camera trying to get a tan.
My Mom wanted all the kids to take a picture while we were there. So Patrick snapped a few from the side. Do you see Cassidy's little pose? All of the pictures have here doing this sexy pose. What are we going to do when she is 16?

While we we there we went to the Aquarium, if you can call it that. It was probably about 1000 square feet of old fish tanks with a chain link fence around a poor sea lion. To quote Patrick, "If only the animal activist knew about this!"Behind Patrick you can see the fish tanks. He is looking in a big water barrel where they had other bigger fish.
This is where they kept the sea turtles.
And here is the sea lion. My brother Randy paid money to go in its cage and feed it. Kalley is standing by me and wants me to write that she was scared of it, she thought it was freaky.
On the floor they had a couple little tide pool things. So the kids got to touch sea cucumbers, anemone, and see hermit crabs.

Here is Kalley holding a sea cucumber with my brother Mitchel and her cousin Jolie (A'Lisa's daughter).
Here is my Mom trying to convince Lexy to touch something. The rest of my girls don't have a problem with that.

This is Patrick and Lexy enjoying authentic Mexican churros at the Mud Mall.

The kids had fun finding these tiny snails crawling in the ocean.

Here is my girls with my two oldest nieces Kelsey and Sydney. They had fun making a sand castle for the tiny snails.
But of course when you are at the beach nothing is as fun as a swimming pool. My kids were bothered that I made them go down to the beach. All they wanted to do was swim in the pools. Cassidy tried on her first set of floaties, and loved to float in the deep part.

At the resort they have face painting. The girls had this done when we were there in 2004 and so they couldn't wait to do it again.
Here are just some fun beach pictures.

Like mother like daughter! It was fun for us to wake up every morning and take a walk on the beach with Lexy and look for sea shells. My Mom also loves to do the same thing, so we would all walk together.
Here is Patrick and Cassidy with the Mayan Palace behind them. You can't tell but Cassidy was holding herself because she needed to go to the bathroom. Without fail we would walk all the way out to the beach (and you can see how far that is) and I would have to turn around and walk Cassidy back to the bathroom. It was such a far walk that by the time we got to the bathroom she had usually already had accidents - and it wasn't the clean kind.
Here she is posing, after the potty break, of course!
Cassidy loves her Grandpa more then anything . Here they are hanging out on the beach together.


Part of the fun for the guys was flying the huge kite that Mitch brought. Here is Randy having his turn with Patrick and Mitch waiting for theirs. It was so windy - or either the kite was so big- that they were sore the next day after having to hang on.

Randy and Mitch's family stayed out another place since there wasn't any other rooms at the Mayan Palace. So we would take turn driving the 30 minutes to their place every other day. Here is Kalley with Mitchel's boy Cobe. They were finding a bunch of tiny hermit crabs and snails.
The last night we got fireworks and set some off . The girls loved the sparklers the most, since they didn't make any noise.


I just need to thank my Mom and Dad for the wonderful memories. It was a great experience for the kids to spend time with there cousins and get to know their aunts and uncles a little better.

A day in the life of a Chicken Farmer!

I am a little late in posting this but here is Cassidy with the first egg we got. We got this from one of our Chicken that has two names - Old Faithful (since she laid the first egg and has every day since) as well as Ceruso (from the "Water Horse"). When you open the coop, and she is laying, she makes the same sound as the Water Horse.

Funny story from a couple weeks ago. We were getting about 9 eggs a day until I realized that a chicken wasn't laying in the coop. Here is the culprit - Sweetheart. She is my favorite because she is so pretty. She was able to fly over the fence and get out. A few times we found her in our neighbors yard (thankfully it is vacant at the moment). First I would look on the side of our house to see if she was laying on our trash pile. But when I would come outside and couldn't find her I would call her name and she would fly up on the wall and come home. One day I found an egg on the trash pile and so we would look over there to make sure that there wasn't an egg rotting. When the trash finally got taken away we discovered 14 eggs hiding there. Yep, she had been laying there and they would roll down to where we couldn't find them. Now that the trash is gone she is back to laying in the coop. I tried to catch her on the trash pile for this picture but she wasn't cooperating.

Now for the sad part of being a want-to-be chicken farmer. We lost our first Chicken on the 17th. It happened to be Patrick's birthday and so the kids thought that was very unfair. We think that it just got too hot. So that night after some birthday celebrating Patrick had to construct a misting system for the chickens. I tell you what, these Chickens keep getting more and more expensive. Needless to say if anyone wants to purchase eggs I sell them for $2 a dozen. Just trying to make up for their food cost and the pent house that they are living in. Here is a preview of our next family photo.