Arise, and Shine Forth

We showed this video (click the link) to our kids for FHE last night and they LOVED it! I played it this morning while they were waking up and getting ready for school and everyone was so cheerful (and they watched it about 10 times)! As a mother, it spoke to me since this is what I hope for my kids - for them to be fearless and humble and an inspiration to the world. We have all been inspired by its message and are doing our best to arise! and shine forth. We have also all been singing the song all day, hehe:)

I am so in love with my kids - they bring so much joy to my life! Madlyn is getting so grown up; Jeff & I were just wondering where time has gone - where is that cute toddler who walked around our little apartment wearing my high heels? She is so sweet and thoughtful and organized - I love that girl! Cole is so tenderhearted and sweet; he melts my heart. Lately he has been giving us lots of little gifts and love notes - and he is starting to be a little stud on the basketball court! Cade is so fun - I get a kick out of his little dimpled mischievous grin! He is super good at MarioKart and is so fun to play with! Lane is such a darling! He is a Sunbeam this year and is quickly charming his new teachers! I am loving the little bit of one-on-one time I get with him. Callie & Kimber are really starting to interact with each other and it is hilarious! Usually Callie will instigate some sort of game of chase or peek-a-boo and Kimber will just laugh and laugh. They make me smile.

Life is good - we are happy!

Today my heart is sad. A friend of mine who used to live here in Hewitt gave birth to a baby girl two days ago, a baby born at term with Trisomy 9, spina bifida, and many heart problems. Gracie Belle passed away early this morning. My heart is tender for those sweet parents who have struggled for months with the knowledge that their baby would not survive and who are now dealing with the loss of their baby girl.

How thankful I am for our Heavenly Father's goodness and mercy to us, especially in these times of trial. How wonderful it is to be able to be sealed as a family for all of eternity in the house of the Lord. I know it does not take away the pain and heartbreak of losing a child but I know it can help bring peace.

I am thankful for my opportunity to be a mom and to have these precious souls with me. I know I will be giving lots of extra hugs and kisses today:)

Christmas, The Girls Turn 1!, Halloween, Lane's Birthday

We have had some wonderful months! Our kids are so much fun and we truly enjoy being together and love being their parents. Often, after a busy day of working and playing together, I will turn to Jeff and say, "This is why we have kids!" Enjoy a few pictures of some of our big events:
Christmas Eve with new jammies from Dad & Mom

We told our kids that we would be able to open one present on Christmas Eve evening and they all wanted to choose the gift they wanted to open but we told them that they had to open the one we chose. They weren't too happy about opening the "soft" gifts because they knew that they were clothes. But when they opened them and found their jammies, they immediately were so excited! They loved that they were all button-down and went on and on about it - it was so cute! Lane, in particular, said, "I don't believe it! It has buttons!" I am not sure why they were so excited but it was so gratifying to see their grateful hearts. We didn't hear one more word of complaint about only opening the soft present:)

Christmas morning

Callie on her birthday

Kimber on her birthday - she was pooped!

Halloween - L to R: Batman, Thing 1, Cat in the Hat, Thing 2, Martin Kratt (from PBS), and Spiderman

Lane's 3rd birthday

Christmas Eve before opening our button pajamas:)

Our new year has started off great - we are busy and happy! Stay tuned for more of our adventures! I promise to do a better job at posting - my kids are growing up too quickly and I want our families to be able to see them!

Randomness

Just because I like my family...I added this picture. This was taken in July at Zion's National Park in Utah. I think this was one of our biggest tests with our 6 kids yet - it was such a long day! But so fun and so worth it! We got to go with Jeff's family during our Family Reunion and loved it!

I like math and numbers and money. I really do. But did you know that when you put them all together in a graduate-degree Finance class it is the most ridiculously boring, difficult-to-understand subject you could ever study? For reals. I have learned that I have no business savvy whatsoever. Or maybe I have truly lost half of my brain cells with each baby that I have had. Either way, it's kind of a disturbing thought.

Taking our thoughts elsewhere, what do you think of a bakery? I want to have a bakery. Maybe not an actual store with actual hours where I have to commit to working every day, but maybe something where I can take special orders for people. I have the name of my bakery all picked out (I've had it for at least 6 years now) but I can't say it out loud yet because I don't want anyone to steal it. And I'm pretty sure someone would because it is so good.

I also think it would be pretty sweet sauce to have a bed -and- breakfast somewhere. Jeff does not agree. So I guess that idea is out the window. Oh well. All of my "restaurant recipes" (as my family is starting to call them) will just have to find some other way of making their way to your plates and into your tummies.

Family Fun

Today we dressed everyone up and took some pictures. I needed some pictures for some frames in the kids' rooms and we thought this would be the best day to get it done. Here is my Kimber girl - she is totally walking around these days! She is so much fun!

Callie - she is such a sweetie and so much fun!

Our boys - can't believe how big they are getting!

This is a picture from our vacation this past summer - I really liked it so I thought I'd throw it in here. I just love my man!

And here is our Maddie girl - so beautiful!

It was a great day today - we did pictures, watched Conference, enjoyed our first apple crisp of the fall season & some cookies with some friends, and did gymnastics! We were spiritually fed and physically rejuvenated. I love my little family so much and feel so grateful to get to be a wife and mother:)

Thoughts

Do you want to know about how many diapers I change in one day? At least 10 but usually more like 12 or 14. Every day. Sometimes I am lucky and get to change 15. It is unreal to me. In a week or so, I am pushing one little bum out of the diapers and into his cute little Lightning McQueen underwear. And believe me when I say I will be pushing...we have been talking about this and practicing for at least a full year and he does NOT think it is a good idea. But 3 is my limit, absolutely. And so like it or not, that little boy is learning to use the toilet.

I think my baby girls can sense my sadness that they are growing up way too fast. They have been indulging my need for lots of cuddles & snuggles. Even Callie will snuggle with me a little bit. I just love how their cute squishy bodies fit so well next to mine. I love how they laugh when I give them machine-gunner kisses on their cheeks and necks. I love how they come to me when they need protected from the mean ol' vacuum. I love how they get so excited to see me when they wake up and can't hardly stand to wait for me to get them out of bed. My Kimber is starting to walk. Callie is cruising around things and crawling all over the place. They are 10 months on Wednesday.

I love my job. It's been a little hard lately. I'm tired. I worry about things. Sometimes I get emotional and needy. Occasionally I get sick of doing the laundry and the dishes. I am forgetful (I really hate that one). This too shall pass.

I have the best husband in the world. Hands down.

That is all.

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!