Christmas FHE

For FHE tonight, we made our own nativity. I found these patterns online (here), printed them up, and we got to coloring. The instructions say to tape them on to toilet paper rolls, but I didn't have any of those. We just used our massive set of wooden blocks and they worked out perfectly. The girls really enjoyed coloring them and have been setting them up and playing with them ever since. I thought I'd post it on here really quick in case any of you were looking for something to do with your kids this week.

i'm worse than my children

Right after yelling at gently chastising my children for the colossal mess they had made of my scrapbook/craft supplies, I proceeded to spill a whole bottle of Mod Podge all over me, the kitchen cabinets, the kitchen floor, the kitchen wall, the dishwasher, etc. Elena heard me growling in the kitchen and came to inspect. The following was our conversation....

Elena: "Wow, Mom, what happened in here?
Me: "I'm cleaning up a mess."
E: "What is this stuff? Sour cream?"
M: "No, it's glue."
E: "This is pretty bad, Mom. I didn't know you could make messes this big. I know we make big messes, but this is way worse than ours."

Thanks, Elena. Rub it in a little more please. :P

shocking, I know...

Man, I just looked at the last picture I posted of Noah and I can't believe how much he's already changed in the last 3 months. Why do babies have to grow so fast? I already feel like he's not a baby baby anymore. He's 6 months (but only for one more week) and is getting SO big. He started sitting up over a month ago...I had gone to one of Amya's soccer practices, plopped him down on the ground and realized he didn't need me to help him because he was totally sitting on his own. I had no idea he could do it. Here's a picture from that day -

LOVE the expression on his face. He's so totally expressive with those eyebrows. (I still miss the crinkly forehead though.)We had his baby blessing at the beginning of September. Finding what I thought was the perfect blessing outfit is a story in itself (12 different stores...ugh) but I think it was worth it to see how cute my little man was. (Oh and somehow the lighting here is making his hair look red but it really isn't.)

He went with me to Florida for Kara & Brad's wedding and I loved showing him off. He was SO good on the airplane (everyone commented on how well he did - no crying whatsoever) and while we were out there.

He was totally fine with being passed around to whoever was wanting to hold him next and had no problems with all the craziness that traveling entails. He loved playing in the sand at the beach. (Again with the eyebrows lol)

He is eating and LOVING food - so far he's had rice cereal, grapes, bananas, pineapple, beans, bread, and (thanks to Keith) ice cream, which he threw up. On the baby food front, he's eaten bananas, applesauce, pears, sweet potatoes, and turkey. Yeah, he didn't like the turkey. At all. In his defense though, Maricela asked to try it and, after I put it in her mouth, she cried for about 5 minutes with her mouth open, not wanting to chew it but for some reason not willing to go to the trash can to spit it out.

The most recent news is that he got his first teeth!!! (Notice it's plural.) Tooth number one came in on October 10th (it was his bottom left) and tooth number 2 (the bottom right) came in on October 18th. Coincidentally both birthdays in my family, Elena's and my dad's, respectively. While I don't have pictures of the teeth yet - it's so hard to get pics of those little things poking through until they're out a little more - he's putting them to good use. Mainly on mine and Keith's fingers. :) He is so vocal...you can often hear him in the background, talking in his 2-octaves too-high-sometimes-only-for-dogs voice. He LOVES his sisters. LOVES them. Loves to watch them, play with them, "talk" to them. He watches them all the time. We just know he's itching to be mobile and following them around, which I'm sure will come soon. He can get in the crawling position and can move backwards (all of my kids did that first) and sometimes ends up sideways from where he started. I'm sure he'll be crawling soon. So while all of this is so exciting for us (watching a baby grow and reach new milestones NEVER gets old), it's also sad to say goodbye to my baby baby.

I have some more catching up to do with the girls....hopefully I'll be back again this week with more info for you guys. Sorry I've been away for so long.

All Aboard!!!!

Welcome to stop #22 on the ScrapMatters 2nd birthday blog train!!! You were hopefully just at Jeni's blog (if not, you can always go back).

As you probably already know, the kit we've used for all the goodies on this train is perfect for summer picnics and barbeques. So we're all sharing our favorite summer memory to go along with this. And while I don't have one specific favorite memory, I do have something to share. When I was a kid my dad would take us out on the Ohio river for boat rides. I remember we'd pull over to the shore and build a little fire to roast hot dogs when we were hungry. I still only like hot dogs when they've been cooked over an open fire. And as soon as I taste them, it feels like I'm right back on the banks of the river, roasting hot dogs with my dad. Good memories. :)

Here's my freebie for you guys....a 12x12 quickpage with openings for 5 photos!


Go {here} to download it. And here's what I did with it....


I didn't scrap picnic pictures with it, but I think it still looks great (if I do say so myself).

Your next stop is Cyndi's blog. Have fun on your trip!!!!

ScrapMatters is turning 2!!

Starting today and going through Sunday, there is a huge birthday celebration going on over at ScrapMatters. Almost everything is 30% off and there is an AWESOME collab kit that is free with every $15 purchase. Tomorrow there will be a blog train of wordart, clusters, and quickpages using the collab kit. So come back tomorrow to get your freebie from me and head over to the SM forums now for all the details of everything that's happening this weekend (speed scraps, games with prizes, etc). You don't want to miss it!!!

Mari singing

Mari wanted to sing a song and record it and I thought she did such a good job that I decided to post it here. After she was finished singing, we watched it back and she giggled to herself the whole time. She was so proud of herself (and so am I).



In case you can't understand her, here are the lyrics....

I am a child of God and He has sent me here,
Has given me an earthly home with parents kind and dear.
Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way.
Teach me all that I must do to live with Him some day.

wedding dance

I thought this was so cool when I saw it...what a great way to celebrate your wedding and the start of your marriage.



Then I saw this today and thought it was SO funny.

JK Divorce Entrance Dance @ Yahoo! Video

Here's a link to the article about the making of the "divorce" video click here.

4th of July

Yes, I know. I've been MIA for a month. Sorry. There really aren't any excuses besides it being summertime. We're trying to get out and do stuff because I hate it when the summer's over and you feel like you didn't do anything. So we've been going to the library a lot. We go to the nearby elementary school for lunch almost every day and then play on the playground afterwards. Keith unexpectedly had someone want to use his scaffolding and surprised us with season passes to Lagoon that he bought with the money he charged the guy for "renting" the scaffolding from him. So we've been to Lagoon 4 times already. We've spent time at the farm with the animals and Keith's family. And we're spending a lot of time in the front and back yards...on bikes, running in the sprinklers, playing soccer, etc. And I've done quite a few more scrapbook pages since I last posted, but I'll put those up later. Today I just wanted to come on and post some pics from the weekend. I always think it's been so long since I've posted that I need to recap EVERYTHING and that would take too long so I just don't bother. I've decided not to feel guilty today and just post what I want. :P

We woke up around 9 on the 4th and rushed to get dressed so we could run over and see the parade. We found a pretty good parking spot at the end of a block that had cars quadruple-parked down the whole block. I mean there were rows of 4 cars going down the whole block (I felt bad for the people parked way at the end of the block - I'm sure it took forever for them to get out) and because we were so late getting there we were able to park right at the front of the block and were the first car to leave. Anyway, then we walked down to the beginning of the block where the parade was. It had already started but we hadn't missed too much. Keith and I stood at the back with the girls, but they eventually made their way right up to the street and sat down in front of some other people already sitting there! But those people were in chairs and the girls sat on the ground out in the street in front of them, so I didn't feel too bad about it. I went up to join them later and asked the people if it was okay and they said it was. So because I was in such close quarters with the girls (I still didn't want to take up too much room in case those people got annoyed with us) I couldn't get very good pics of the girls. But I was able to get this one of Mari. Since we were so close, the bands with their drums were really loud and she covered her ears every time one passed by. I thought it was cute.


Then Elena got up and started walking into the street during a gap in the parade. I was wondering what she was doing, where she was going, and was about to start yelling for her to come back when I realized why she was going out there. Her eagle eyes had spotted a piece of candy that hadn't been claimed and was retrieving it. My girls are candy freaks!


We took these pics of Noah while we were relaxing in the front yard, waiting for it to be time to go watch the fireworks. Noah LOVES to stand up and fusses if we don't let him. He's actually standing next to me right now while I'm typing (I have my arm around him). I love the look on his face in this first picture. He raises his eyebrows like that all the time - he's been doing it since he was born. It used to make his forehead crinkle up more than it does now that he's grown in to his skin a little more. And in the second picture you can see that he's pulled one hand away from me. Already showing his independence. Isn't his outfit cute?


Earlier in the day, after the parade, we parked Keith's truck up on the mountain in the parking lot for the "Y" trail. That way we'd have a good spot for watching the fireworks without having to sit and stake out our spot for 5 hours. So we headed up there around 9:30 and waited for the show to start. This was the only picture I took of (almost) all of us. The girls enjoyed watching the fireworks while Noah slept through them. We had a wonderful time spending the whole day together.



I hope your July 4th celebrations were just as fun as ours!!! And if you also celebrated in Provo this weekend, check out this blog. She's having a little contest for people who post photos of them/their family/whatever, enjoying the 4th of July weekend in Provo.

P.S. Yes I still plan on changing the name of the blog. I just still haven't come up with one that I REALLY like and will be a name that I wouldn't ever have to change again.

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Since we were up after midnight last night (this morning) Keith was the first to tell me Happy Birthday today. Then when I woke Elena up for school, the first thing she said to me was Happy Birthday. She's normally a little grumpy in the mornings and I hadn't thought she'd remember, so I said "Elena, you remembered!!" And she said "Of course I remembered your birthday, Mom. I would be bad if I didn't remember your birthday". (Of course I assured her she wouldn't be, and then thanked her for remembering!) Then when Mari, Téa, and Amya woke up, they all came into our room and sang Happy Birthday to me with Keith. Then Keith took them to the kitchen to make me some breakfast - yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Probably not the most nutritious breakfast, but very yummy. Mari keeps walking up to me and singing Happy Birthday - it's very cute.

And the mail just came and it was ALL for me! A birthday card from Memmie (to which Amya said "She always sends pretty cards"), one from Sally&Ben (to which Amya said "They always send cute cards...usually with dogs" (and this one was no exception)) and one from my mom (to which Amya said "Is my money in there?" (long story, but it was)). Oh and I got a card from Ceci on Monday...the first one to arrive. After I opened the card from my mom and pulled out the 3 gift cards to Target, Bath&Body Works and Old Navy, plus a little cash (THANKS Mom), Keith had something to say - "Hey, is she trying to outdo me or what?" :) Thanks for the cards guys!! Love ya!

So far this is shaping up to be a pretty good birthday. And since it's my last one (I don't plan on getting older than 29), that's a very good thing.

Here's Mari singing to me....


And this is totally unrelated, but we think it's hilarious so I'm including it. We like to play a game we call "Who Says? Who Says?" (Amya made up the name when she was 2). We say a quote from a movie and the first person to correctly name the movie it's from or the character who says it, gets the next turn. Last night Téa came up to me with this gem....

I didn't think to have her say it again and tape it last night, but we got it this morning. I think it's SO funny how she changes her voice for the different parts. In case you can't figure it out, she's singing a line from the "A Whole New World" song in the movie Aladdin. She says "Don't you dare close your eyes (Aladdin's part) and then "A whole new world" (Jasmine's part). Oh and that's chocolate frosting from the cupcakes all over their mouths.

silly boy

Keith made these delicious and wonderful cinnamon rolls for the second time last night. He started around 9 and I think the first batch came out of the oven around 11:30 pm. They looked so light and golden. I was looking at them and wondering why they didn't look exactly the same as last time. Then it hit me. "Keith, did you put cinnamon in these?" I asked him. "No...why?" was his reply. I waited. A few seconds later, "Aw, man!" Yes, he forgot to put the cinnamon in the cinnamon rolls. I think we'll forgive him though - they still tasted wonderful. Here's a pic of the ones that he made the first time...before baking. I never got around to taking a picture of them after they came out of the oven because we were too excited to eat them.

7 weeks

Ack!! I keep meaning to get on here and post, and then I get too busy with everything else and forget. But our cute little boy is now 7 weeks old! We can't believe how much he's already growing. He is getting quite good at holding his head up and is SO alert. He loves to be up on our shoulder so that he can look around at everything. When someone is talking, he's trying to find where they are. He's turned into quite the expert pooper, gracing us with blowouts almost every day now. And he's starting to make little noises. I LOVE it when babies are first starting to "talk"- I think their little coos are the sweetest things ever. We are loving our time with our little Noah boy (that's what Mari likes to call him). Here are some pictures of what he's looking like at 7 weeks.

I think we all know where he gets that double chin from. :)





And here are two scrapbook pages I made for him...

weeks 17&18

weeks 15&16

4 weeks?!?!?

How can it have already been 4 weeks? It seems like we JUST came home from the hospital and now he's 4 weeks old today and will be a month on Sunday. I just can't believe how fast time goes by....especially when we haven't been doing much of anything these last 4 weeks. I knew a newborn didn't do much but sleep, eat, and poo, but I forgot how much time those things actually take. I am on the couch almost all day long...I'm either pumping, changing him, feeding him his bottle, burping him, holding him while he sleeps (I know it spoils him, but sometimes I just can't help it), holding him while he's awake, or helping the girls hold him. He is a really good baby....he only cries if we don't get him his bottle in time. :P

On the bottle subject...I'm pumping and then he gets the breast milk in the bottle. We started doing this to monitor how much he was eating to make sure he didn't get too jaundiced (as he was falling asleep almost right after he started to nurse and then didn't eat enough) and have continued to do this as I'm pumping out twice the amount he eats and would DIE (after I exploded) if I was only nursing. Keith and I figured it out the other night. I have over 100 6 oz bags of milk, frozen in our deep freezer. That means over 600 oz I've frozen, which is over 1200 total pumped out. Do you know how much 1200 oz is? Over 10 gallons. 10 gallons. In 4 weeks. I feel like a freaking cow.

On to other news.... :) Noah is super sweet. He smiles a lot, sleeping and awake. And not when he's tooting. He's just happy. He holds his head up really well already and is really alert. He's always looking around and has recently starting really looking at things. He will hear me talking and start looking around till he finds me and then stare at me for awhile. I LOVE it. Today was the first rough day we had with him. I don't know if it was something I ate or he wasn't burped enough or what, but he had bad gas pains. He was crying and fussing and couldn't lay down. I had to hold him up on my shoulder to get him to stop crying and he was tooting like there was no tomorrow. He would fuss, toot, calm down, and then fuss again right before he tooted again. I felt so bad for him. I let him sleep on me all day today so he wouldn't be in pain. I've never had a baby have gas problems before...it was so sad. I think he's finally feeling better, as he's asleep in his bed and not crying. I sure hope this doesn't happen again. I know I wouldn't be able to hold him all day long, all the time, like I did today (Keith was here and able to help out), and it would be sad to have him crying and not be able to give him all of my time and attention (as I have four other kids who do need me every now and then).

And now it's time to pump again. The cycle goes on. :P Here's a sweet pic I took of our little Noah today.

weeks 13 & 14

So now that I'll be posting my 365 layouts here, I can stay more up to date and not bore you with an extremely long post. Here are the layouts for the last two weeks....

Noah video

I thought I'd try to take a video of Noah with the webcam on my laptop....this is what we got. Hopefully this will work and you'll be able to see it.

boy update #3

Man, it's already been more than a week!! I can't believe my little boy is already over a week old. I just realized I never came back on here to let you guys know his name and all that (I put it on my facebook, but forgot about the blog). We named him Noah Keith. We think it fits him very well...we filled out the birth certificate JUST before leaving the hospital. I think the nurse was about to have a cow about us not having it filled out. Seriously, what law says that your baby has to be named before you leave the hospital? And that you can't turn in your own birth certificate form - that someone at the hospital has to do it? I think it's so funny how they freak out about it....every time the nurse would come into the room, she'd look over at the empty birth certificate form and make some comment about how I hadn't gotten around to filling it out yet. Very annoying.

Noah is SUCH a good baby. He hardly ever cries - only if we're making him wait too long before we feed him. He wasn't eating very well at first...he'd suck for about 5 minutes and then fall asleep and I could not get him to wake back up. I was afraid he was going to get jaundice like Maricela and need the bili bed. And I was dying because my milk had come in and he was not doing much to relieve me. So I started pumping and we are feeding him the milk in a bottle so we can monitor how much he's eating. He went from barely eating an ounce to eating about 3 oz every 3-4 hours. All the yellowness is gone and he's looking good. He's already back up to birth weight and I've got a stockpile of milk in the freezer. I think we'll keep up the pumping, as I'm getting out at least 8 oz every 3-4 hours...yep, I'm a cow.

He had his circumcision on Tue and did awesome. He fussed right at first when the doctor was cleaning him off - he doesn't like us to clean him off when we change his diaper either (I think it's the cold wipie) - and then didn't even make a peep after that. The nurse was giving him sugar water in a syringe and that's all he cared about. Didn't cry for the numbing shots or anything. The nurse and the doctor kept saying what a good baby he was. It's been healing really well (except it started bleeding a little today when I was changing him) and everything seems to be going fine.

He wakes up about twice during the night to be fed, usually around 11/12 and then 3/4. I get up at those times to pump and Keith gets up to feed him. I am so grateful Keith is SO willing to help out - he changes diapers, gives baths, and gets up to help with feedings. I have a couple friends who have told me their husbands don't help out at all. One friend has four boys (and is pregnant again) and said her husband has never once changed a diaper. I think I would freak out if Keith was like that. I'm really lucky that he is so willing to be such an active participant in the care of our children. He doesn't just say it's my job.

Well, it's about time to pump again, so I better get going. I'll leave you with a cute picture of our little Noah that I just took yesterday. He's already been smiling quite often and we've seen dimples! One for sure on the right side and Kara said she saw the left side one also. He gets those from Keith.

project 365 update

I don't know if you guys have been checking my 365 blog or not and if you haven't, don't worry - I haven't updated it since February. I have, however, stayed up-to-date on my pictures and layouts. I've just found that it's too much to try to upload the photos to a separate blog and don't really see the point...So I'll be deleting that blog and just posting the weekly layouts here, for those of you interested and so that I can keep it documented for myself. So, without further ado, here are the pages I have done so far....(watch out, there's a ton!)