On the Move

deiter finally rolled over tonight:) finally

front to back...no problem...he doesn't like to be on his stomach.

tonight, he finally got over the arm that seemed to be blocking his way. now he's rolling his way around the living room:)

now the girls are working on his crawling.

Jackson

One of my favorite places on earth is at the base of the Teton Mountains. I was happy when Sam's wrestling schedule took us there for a tournament.

We found a condo (hotel rooms don't work for us anymore), and stayed the night after he wrestled. We made a big breakfast, went to church, and enjoyed a sleigh ride through the elk refuge.

We also found time to get our first family picture since Deiter's blessing in August. It's not great, but it'll do for now.

I'm Back

WOW! I did start a post a while back, so I will finish it here. Sorry I've been gone so long:) Maybe I'm back...no promises.

December 18,2011

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I have intentions of sending a card to everyone, it just won't be a Christmas card, or arrive this year, even.

Having six children is a busy thing.

You would think that I'm so busy and tired with the baby. I am convinced, however, that Deiter (4 mos) must have promised me in our pre-earth life that he would be happy, nice, content, and good if I would let him come to our family. He is really so delightful. He will lay down just about anywhere and smile and talk to angels in the sky. He fusses if he's hungry, and sleeps all night long. He's nice, patient, and happy to watch the commotion going on around him.

Henry (2)is so busy. He is more demanding of my attention than Deiter is. He broke his little arm last week, and now sports a bright red "bandaid." Although he tells us that he wanted a purple bandaid. If you ask him what happened he will blame it on yaya (Amelia). He was trying to climb the ladder to the new bunked and Mia was protecting Emma's candy stash from the top of the ladder. Broken ulna and radius resulted. He has learned the value of his cast as a weapon, and likes to beat up Clay. He likes to help me do whatever chore I am doing around the house, and has developed an affinity towards anything electronic....ipad, iphone, tv, wii. Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Cars, Toy Story. The kid knows his alphabet, and will point out letters on any book, computer keyboard, or sign that he sees. His intellect and enthusiasm for life amaze me. He is currently afraid of the Baxon (winnie the pooh movie).

Emma (6) is our little Kindergartener. Today she put on her Easter dress from April, and it was 3 inches above her knees. She is getting so tall. She is still our little mother. She has a very kind and nurturing personality, and loves to care for babies and stuffed animals and dolls. In fact, one of her Christmas lists was: doll, puppy, tree,

Every day she asks if I will pick her up early from school. Every day I tell her no. That's usually met with a tirade of comments about how much she doesn't like the specials (art, socials studies, gym, library, music) that she has that day. Every day. We think it all may have to do with her phobia of crowds. This is the girl who hated Disneyland. But she is helpful, and loving, and delightful, and very matter-of-fact.

Amelia (7) is in first grade this year. I have never known a child who likes to pull their own teeth like she does. The minute the tooth has any give to it at all, she is in front of the bathroom mirror until she emerges with a gap in her teeth, and a request for $100 from the tooth fairy. She has begged for a retainer, and when we went for an ortho consult, learned she has a cross bite, and really needs it. I don't think she'll like it so much when she gets it. She is my responsible child, and I can count on her to relay information, give me notes from school, and remind us of everything going on. After begging for a bunk bed, she was upset when we surprised her with it, but has gotten used to it.

February 5, 2012

Well then...

Clay (10) is such a teddy bear. He has enjoyed wrestling this fall, and is excited to start back up again in March. He has a hard time being aggressive on the mat unless he is really angry, and from the time he gets paired to the time he starts the match, he's best friends with the kid.

He has found a new interest this year with Student Council. He was elected President, and seems to be enjoying this new opportunity. He does incredibly well at school, and I am very happy for his teacher this year who has instilled in him a sense of responsibility. Things are better on that front. He won the school Geography Bee, and hopes that his written test score was enough to qualify him for the state competition, and even the nationals...he wants that $25,000 scholarship to go to BYU and major in architectural engineering.

Sam (13) is such a great kid. He's always joking and making clever remarks. He loves music (loud bass) and dancing (don't tell him I told you that). He is in the middle of his middle school wrestling season and doing very well. He's 17 and 3, with the 3 losses being to the same person. He's in an 8th grade algebra class this year, and we are in a 'discussion' with the school district to find a way to offer them Geometry next year. He is 13. But we still adore him, and are happy for his helpful attitude.

Makes Me Laugh

Clay came into my room the other morning with the thermometer in his hand and says

"mom, it's 98 ffflllaaatttt."

"Well, normal is 98.6 , so that's just about right. You're fine."

Clay takes his temperature again.

"mom, it's 97!!!?!?!?!"

"yep, you don't have a fever."

"Do I have a cold?"

I was driving home from school with the girls.

Mia describes something as being "screamin" and explains that she is using that word because "freakin" isn't a nice word because it sounds like the "f" word.

Emma, in her very matter of fact way says...it is an "f" word.

We had a really good snow yesterday. We woke up to about 6 inches of snow. When Henry woke up it was snowing pretty good. We were in the kitchen eating and Henry notices the snow out the sliding door. A while later we are in the living room, and Henry notices the snow out the front door. "2 snows" he says. "right there," pointing to the back door.

"right there, " pointing to the front door.

Look Who's 6

Pictures for Jenny. Details to come after we watch Lion King on our wall.

Look Who's 2

Happy

Funny

Laughing

Silly

Dancing

Engaging

Henry

He is a breath of fresh air.

He makes all of us laugh with his antics and his infectious laughter.

He is so dang cute.

A little of Henry's likes

Food: cheese, hotdogs?!?!?! and candy. doesn't like breakfast food

Movies/TV: Mickey Mouse and Lightning McQueen

Toys: Playdough and cars

Outside: Throwing rocks into water, swinging, walks in the stroller, the trampoline, four-wheeler rides

Book: photo album of our trip to Disneyland

Loves Ya Ya (Mia), Memma (Emma), Yam (Sam), A (Clay) and can just about guess the time of day when we have to start getting ready to get the kids.

He makes me laugh when we are in the car. He knows where we need to turn to go to the school, grandma's, Aunt Lindsey's, Nate's office, or Rips. He can throw a pretty good fit if I don't go the way he wants to go. It took me a couple weeks to figure out what was making him so upset:)

Has a recent interest in the iPad...loves to play the Starfall Alphabet game. It's a great way to pass the time while I'm feeding the baby.

He doesn't like to wear diapers. I decided to try two things. First, I bought pull-ups. That seemed to be a good move. He actually went potty after I told him that is what he needed to do in order to wear them. And, he has continued to do so. There is only one problem. Some pull-ups have Mater on them. Then there are some with Mater and Lightning McQueen on them. {from the movie Cars} He goes through them one by one..."no...no...no...no...ya...ning" Wanting only the ones that have both characters on them. What a funny kid.

The other thing I decided was that we might as well teach him to go in the toilet, since he wouldn't keep a diaper on...{he ran around naked quite a bit this summer}... I bought a box and filled it with little prizes...playdough, cars, granola bars, goldfish, crayons, etc...and he gets a prize every time he goes "boop" in the toilet. He's doing exceptionally well, considering that he's just barely 2.

Tonight he was refusing to get on the toilet.

I pretty much told him that he had to at least try.

He still didn't want to.

"Why not?" I asked.

"no prize"

It occurred to me that we were running low on prizes, and he was not going to "boop" in the toilet if he wasn't going to get a prize.

I assured him that there were prizes (there were a couple left), and he promptly sat on the toilet for 15 minutes to take care of business.

Clearly, the prize box is having the desired effect.

Yes, we love all of our kids. But we all call Henry "the favorite."

see what I mean?

Got Pictures

Finally, I have resolved the almost 2-month long old issue of not being able to transfer my pictures to my computer. Hard for me to post without pictures.

So, I'll break it down a little and not overwhelm y'all with one post. We have football, first day of school, Henry's birthday, Deiter awake and smiling....lots of that one.

So, here are a few, and I'll add a couple posts, time permitting.

Here are some of my favorites of our newest cutie.

Sleeping...he's still pretty good at this. He sleeps for about 6 hours at night, and naps frequently during the day. However, he has several "not quite ready to sleep, but not wanting to be awake, and really tired, causing severe crankiness and wanting to be held really tight and rocked and not put down." I still maintain that he is a good baby despite the aforementioned condition. This was during one of Sam's football games. He really sleeps well despite all the chaos that is consistently around:)
Here he is at the homecoming parade, beautiful day, warm and sunny, smiling for Grandma.

Fresh from a bath (maybe???), wrapped up tight and cozy, looking mighty cute:)