Miscellaneous Happenings

It has become too daunting for me to do a big post about everything that has been going on for the past few months but I wanted to give you a little highlight. First off, Cade celebrated birthday #4 on February 16. We had a little party with some of his friends and I made a race track cake. I took pictures of it all but I can't find them. Let's just say it was cute and fun and Cade enjoyed being spoiled. I really loved helping Cade feel special on his big day...I think he loved it too!

The baby girls got RSV in February and Callie was hospitalized for 4 days - Kimber & I chilled at the hospital with her. Not my favorite idea of fun but we were very blessed to have so much help and support. Thankfully, they both recovered quickly and it was not 4 days after we got home that they both started rolling over - at about 3 1/2 months old!

Both Cole & Cade did T-Ball this year - it was so fun for them! We loved going out to their games and supporting them, although we did feel like we stuck out like a sore thumb because we actually have more than 3 kids:)

In April we celebrated Madlyn's 8th birthday - so fun! We had a cake decorating party with just a few friends and it was fun. On April 16, Madlyn made the choice to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was such a special day and we were so grateful to have lots of family here to celebrate with her. We had Jeff's parents, my parents, Sean, Lyssa & kids, and Tamara & her kids. What an amazing weekend! We are so proud of Madlyn for her decision to be baptized and for her sweet testimony.

Madlyn got to share baptism dates with her good friend Ruth!

Just a little udpate about each of the kids:

Besides getting baptized, Madlyn is growing up so quickly and is really getting so mature. Overnight, she has lost much of her interest in little-girl things and wants to be a grown-up. She loves to participate in conversations with Jeff and me and loves to help me with everything - from cooking, to cleaning, to taking care of the babies. She is such a sweetheart! Funny story about Mads: a couple of weeks ago, she was making some cookies and was asking me for guidance. I told her to put the cube of butter in the microwave for 30 seconds to soften it. A couple of minutes later, she sheepishly showed me that she had forgotten to put the butter in a bowl and that it had melted all over the microwave. I assured her it was not a big deal, we got it cleaned up, and she put another cube of butter in the microwave to melt (this time it was in a bowl)! When it was softened, she asked me to get it out since she can't reach very well. As I pulled the bowl out, somehow it slipped out of my hand and dropped. Butter splashed up and out, all over the microwave, wall, refrigerator, and stove top. Madlyn knows how much I do not like messes and so she just looked at me, wondering what my response would be. I looked at her and said, "Well...we are sure on a roll today, aren't we?" Madlyn busted up laughing and thought that was the funniest thing ever. I think she was relieved that I wasn't too upset about it:) After all that, we tried it again (we were a little worried at this point because we were running out of butter) and everything turned out all right that time. Third time's the charm, I guess!

Cole turned 6 on July 15. Wowza - he is such a big boy. Cole is such a fun boy and is growing up too fast! He has recently become fascinated with watching "The Wilderness Family", filmed circa 1975, haha. His dad introduced it to him a few weeks back and it was love at first sight. Cole asks me almost every day if we can move to the wilderness. We were looking at a piece of land the other day and I asked him if it was enough wilderness for him and he thoughtfully said, "I think I need something a little more wilderness-y. The wilderness has more trees and wild animals." We watched a magic show last week at the library and Cole decided to borrow some magic books from the library and has graced us with a few tricks already! I am actually really impressed with his sleight-of-hand, it is not always obvious to me how he makes the tricks work. Cole still likes dinosaurs, although his enthusiasm has waned slightly in the last little bit. I'm enjoying the reprieve from the dinosaur roars and matter-of-fact "you know this is not a T-Rex because it has 3 toes, not 2" and "a giant squid would be a perfect meal for a pteilosaur". Cole still tells us that he loves us about 20 times per day:)

Aaah, Cade is such a cutie! He is so extremely excited to go to Pre-K this fall and asks me often how many days until he gets to go. He is very interested in growing up and how old and how big everyone is. The other day he asked me if I was his size when he was a baby! Cade is such a sweetheart and so undemanding - the other night everyone but him was struggling to get in bed and go to sleep for the night but we thought we finally had it all under control when Cade quietly slipped out of his room and through his tears said, "Mom...my covers are not cozy." Cade is the best big brother to Callie & Kimber and loves to play with them and help feed them. I often hear him singing to them - his usual song of choice is "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". Cade is still a little pistol and occasionally gives his Sunbeam teacher a run for her money! He loves his cousin Tiki and they are so cute together - I love that we get to see them often! Cade is such a smarty-pants and is such a big helper around the house and almost always does his chores without complaint!

Lane is such a character and life is never boring with him around! He loves playing with his big brother and dotes on Madlyn (he usually ends up sleeping with her most nights) and is mostly loving to his younger sisters. He has recently started picking them up and carrying them places and occasionally he will sit on them or stand on them. Yes, I have to keep my eyes open with him around! Lane is sooo funny! Jeff & I have started saying y'all when we talk to our kids and for some reason they don't like it but Lane is the most adverse to it. "Mom! I not y'all. I Lane!" If Lane gets hurt and I ask him what happened, most often he answers with, "Hade hit me." or "Hade hurt." Sometimes he says, "I hurt mine self." I can't help but chuckle every time! Oh, Hade is how he says Cade in case that was confusing. He definitely knows how to milk it. Lane LOVES my hair and is constantly playing with it. He climbs on my back if I'm on the floor, or sits next to me on the couch. Most of the time he pulls the ponytail out of my hair. Or he pulls it and flips it around. Whatever he does, it is never gentle. One more endearing thing Lane does is that he always says 'right' after he says something. For instance, "Hade hurt me, right Mom?" Or "I am trying to watch you, right?" Except he says it 'yight', not 'right'.


Callie is 8 months today - I can hardly believe it! She is currently working on her 6th tooth and is getting more and more mobile every day. She scoots all around and is getting closer to doing an actual crawl. My tiny little girl is getting bigger every day and is now bigger than her younger sister. She is definitely all about the food! She can pound an 8-oz. bottle in no time and loves to eat her baby food and snack on Cheerios. Callie has such a sweet temperament and hardly ever cries (mostly when Kimber tries to climb on top of her or claw her face or eat her hand). She gets into these giggly moods and it is so much fun to make her laugh! She is pretty ticklish and likes raspberries on her stomach and likes to play peek-a-boo.


Kimber is also 8 months today! She is working on her 2nd tooth and is crawling all over the place and even stands up next to things. She really thinks that she is pretty cool with all of her neat tricks! Kimber is such a sweet baby and is very happy. Unless she's mad. With her it is either all or nothing. Most of the time she is happy though and it is so fun. Both of the girls' cribs are in our room and Kimber is usually the first one up in the morning (of the two of them) and will pull herself up to standing in her crib, look over the edge, and start squawking and squealing at us until we look her way. Then her face will break out into the biggest smile and she will get so excited! Kimber loves her sister and is very interested in her. Hence, the climbing on top of her, the eating of her hands, etc.


Both girls are so fun and so sweet and together, it really is double the fun! I love when I go to get them out of their cribs or their car seats and they both just light up and get so excited to see me. How could a mom not be happy with that kind of welcome?Well, that's a little update into what we've been up to. We are healthy and happy and loving life!