this is my favorite pic of my mom.  Evs just loves grandma and i think she feels the same.

Katie is definitely working the 'stache in this pic

we attended Mick's birthday 'stache party.  Katie really did a great job and we had so much fun.

btw

I saw that title on some elses post and I thought that my blog has definitely been put at the back of my mind a lot kind of a 'by the way, I forgot to tell you' sort of situation.

We just finished our spring break and we had a good time.  spring break is a good practice run for what summer is going to bring.  by Thursday i felt like we finally had a good rhythm so that bodes well for the fast approaching last days of school.  we had a craft and art day when it rained.  we played at parks and enjoyed  our trampoline when the weather was agreeable.  we even visited the BYU dinosaur museum and took the kids to baskin Robbins.  my favorite was the night we set up a projector and watched Disney cartoons outside  like at a drive in movie.  it was a little chilly but we all bundled in sleeping bags and blankets; so much fun!
here are some pics of our recent adventures.

the kids put together a bubble circus and performed amazing tricks.  i was so impressed

 we had lots of fun playing at the dinosaur museum.  Fiona was almost eaten by the prehistoric crocodile, Ian was grossed out by dino poop (coprolites; check out this link for a funny though false story about where the name came from: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2008/10/how-dinosaur-poop-got-its-name/  My college professor told me this story when he first heard my last name ), and Wesley showed me what he'd look like if a giant land sloth tried to eat him.

I had no idea

So I was thinking that I had kept up on this blog.  At least that I had posted about Christmas.  I had no idea that I had slacked off so much.  Our Christmas was great.  We celebrated New Years with friends and the kids had a great time.  Wes mess turned 9.  He had a fun Lord of the Rings party, the favorite game was looking for rings like Gollum.  A bunch of little 9 year old boys scooting around like chimpanzees and hissing 'precious' is quite entertaining.  His cake was the eye of Sauron and it actually turned out AWESOME (I was so excited with my first cake using fondant).  I forgot to get a picture but here's a link to where I found the idea http://www.geekosystem.com/eye-of-sauron-cake-always-watching/

Well, today is Fiona's special day and we also had the Kindy 500 at school.  So much fun.  I just love seeing all the fun cars.  So much creativity!  My favorites this year were the mystery machine (the little guy driving it even had a scooby-doo hat on), a butterfly and 2 princess carriages.  I was surprised by Fiona's choice.  She wanted a Hello Kitty car NOT a pony mobile or a princess carriage both of which are here passions right now.  I guess it's good she's branching out a bit.

And I have to of course include a pic of our ever sqishable Evs, he is 8 months now.  He isn't crawling, there is no need, his sisters bring him everything his heart could ever desire like a little king.  He is quite the singer and gets the giggles over certain words like 'soup', 'apple' or 'shark'.  He is so fun.

I just love those cheeks!

neglected

sorry, blogging just hasn't had my attention like it used to.  my down time now usually consists of rocking everett to sleep instead of typing or crocheting (the state of my yarn basket is very sad).  he is a great kid and so much fun to rock in a big comfy chair.  he's a first class snuggler and I'm enjoying it while I can.our Halloween was fun, even though it was A LOT warmer than I had planned for.  Poor Lydia almost passed out at the school parade because I had over dressed the poor thing.
November has been nonstop eventful for our family.  Ian had his birthday and his baptism on the same day.  He had a friend party (Tintin themed scavenger hunt for Snowy cupcakes) the next week.  Lydia also celebrated her birthday with a very tall rainbow cake.  The funnest part was sorting all the jellybeans (and eating them).  OUr Thanksgiving was a lot of fun, too.  All the cousins enjoyed the nice weather and working up an appetite for all that tasty turkey.

our vaulting princesses

I love this picture before the showcase.  I had done their makeup and hair, they were feeling pretty sassy

The girls had their fall showcase today.  they did great and it is so much fun to watch.

baCk 2 sCHooL

Well, the boys actually started last week.  But yesterday was Fiona's first day in kindergarten.  I was so excited and nervous for her.  She reminds me a lot of me and I was really hoping she wouldn't be too nervous.  I think I ended up crying and not letting my mom leave me on my first day.  She did way better than I would have done.  She even got on the bus with her brothers without any fuss.  When she got home she even told me that she didn't want her brothers to sit by her anymore because she could sit on her own (I had been drilling it into Wes and Ian that they had to watch over her for me for weeks, I guess they did such a great job she doesn't need them anymore ;-)

don't you love the socks!  she's my girl.

walking to the bus stop, Ian is into being totally cool now. 

today our cousin carter met the kids on the way to the bus stop.  he just started kindergarten with fiona and they are even in the same class.  so fun!  here they are showing carter the ropes of waiting for the bus (they stand on the little hill to watch the bus come up the road) uncle trevor was there to supervise.  (can you believe the leaves are turning colors already!!!!)

lydia wanted to be a part of the all the action so she and Captain the feisty kitten joined me to take the pictures and watch for the bus.

I've been wanting to get a picture of all 5 kiddos together and this one came together last night spontaneously.  I thought it was so funny.

ev is just looking so different I had to get a pic of him.  he is such a pleasant little guy.  and those legs are just as much fun to squeeze as they look :-)

And thank you friends for not giving up on my blog and checking in on me every once in a while.  I love hearing from you and checking on your cute little families as well.  And Mel, I desperately want to get up that way again soon.   hopefully there will be a Washington trip in our future soon.  I will keep you posted so we can get together.

2 months, too many things to catch up on

With this 5th child I am finding myself more okay with leaving things unfinished.  I just don't feel that driving anxiety to get everything done or updated right now.  I just want to sit and rock the baby.  I'm so grateful that the other 4 are such good sports about all of it.  I've been trying to balance adventure time for them and an overwhelming desire to just sit at home.
We've had a lot of bumps along the way.  Poor little Ev has been to the doctor twice for fevers.  Being so little, they automatically have to check his urine and blood, the second time he even ended up getting a spinal tap.  I cried a lot, we cried together a lot.  It all turned out okay, just viral stuff going around.  In fact Fiona has had a horrible stomach thing for the last 3 days.  I'm just grateful that it's not RSV season on top of it all.  It's been a crazy summer.
The kids are way excited that school will be starting this coming week and so am I.  They are all very happy about their teachers (especially Fiona, she got Grandma for kindergarten).
We had a back to school party this past Thursday and it was a lot of fun.  We had neighbors come up for fun recess games and treats.  Pretty low key but a big hit.  I made 'wise old owl' cookies (that's what Wes called them) and they turned out so cute.  I found the recipe on FamilyFun.com, I highly recommend them.  They were easier than they seemed and very tasty.  That's where I found all the fun games to play, too.  I love that site.
Here are some pics of our last few adventures.  And as you will see, being sick hasn't kept Ev from growing like crazy.  He's already 13 lbs!  I love his fat rolls!

With this 5th child I am finding myself more okay with leaving things unfinished.  I just don't feel that driving anxiety to get everything done or updated right now.  I just want to sit and rock the baby.  I'm so grateful that the other 4 are such good sports about all of it.  I've been trying to balance adventure time for them and an overwhelming desire to just sit at home.
We've had a lot of bumps along the way.  Poor little Ev has been to the doctor twice for fevers.  Being so little, they automatically have to check his urine and blood, the second time he even ended up getting a spinal tap.  I cried a lot, we cried together a lot.  It all turned out okay, just viral stuff going around.  In fact Fiona has had a horrible stomach thing for the last 3 days.  I'm just grateful that it's not RSV season on top of it all.  It's been a crazy summer.
The kids are way excited that school will be starting this coming week and so am I.  They are all very happy about their teachers (especially Fiona, she got Grandma for kindergarten).
We had a back to school party this past Thursday and it was a lot of fun.  We had neighbors come up for fun recess games and treats.  Pretty low key but a big hit.  I made 'wise old owl' cookies (that's what Wes called them) and they turned out so cute.  I found the recipe on FamilyFun.com, I highly recommend them.  They were easier than they seemed and very tasty.  That's where I found all the fun games to play, too.  I love that site.
Here are some pics of our last few adventures.  And as you will see, being sick hasn't kept Ev from growing like crazy.  He's already 13 lbs!  I love his fat rolls!

 for the 24th of july we were going to try to go to lagoon, but it didn't work out so we stayed at home and played in the sprinklers with our cousins/neighbors.  it's so nice to have cousins to come up whenever we want to play.  austin made a slip and slide on our little hill, and the kids all loved jumping on the trampoline with a sprinkler.

later that evening we went to the park with the birches and enjoyed a fun bbq.  we even found a water snake in the river behind the park.  all the kids were fighting over who would get to catch it.  they take after their mom :-)

 we played at a friends house where they had kittens.  i just loved the pictures i got at their house, they are so perfect and filled with fun summer, carefree memories.

 for salem days we entered everett in the baby contest.  the theme was 'making life better'  they had little signs at all the businesses around town that said 'making life better, shop local'  so i made everett dress as a bunch of grapes from our local grocery store.  he was such a good sport.

 we finally made it to lagoon this past week.  it was the first time for all the kiddos.  they loved it.  our little lydia is quite the thrill seeker , she never found a ride that she didn't like and was upset that she was too small for some of them.  fiona takes after me, she's more of a chicken, but she & i still had a great time together.  Wes loved the haunted house and Ian thought the drops were the best thing ever.

 we also took the kids to bridal veil falls to play in the freezing water.  austin and I couldn't even keep our feet in the water it was so cold, but that didn't stop our little crazies from splashing up a storm.  I love lydia and fiona's new poses for pictures.

 thursday i took the kids to the kenecott copper mine.  i've been wanting to do it all summer.  i knew wesley would love it and it turned out to a hit with all four of them.  when we were driving up the mountain, wes spotted a track hoe with the cables and yelled out happily, "it's a snort!!"  those of you who have read the book will know what he was talking about.

 we blessed everett this past month.  it was wonderful and our families are so thoughtful and supportive.  we are blessed with so many good people in our lives and the lives of our children.  i am so grateful.  he was blessed in the outfit that austin (and later ian) was blessed in.  it almost didn't fit, I actually couldn't snap all the snaps at the bottom because his legs have gotten so fat.  i love the chub!

i hope that you are all having wonderful summers and making great memories with your loved ones, too.