Tree Weekend

In preparation for tree pruning we had dinner at Aunt Anne's. The kids love to go so they can play games with Anne and Carma, food is more of an after thought for them. Uncle David is such a good cook that John and I look forward to dinner and dessert!

Grandpa is a monkey

The kids enjoyed sitting on the cut down sticks, I'm not sure why though, it looks painful!

John is just as big of a monkey as his Dad!

Post tree pruning food. Madison and Jocelyn both ate their entire dinner while sitting on Grandpa. Yes, Grandpa was able to eat too, I'm just not sure how he managed it.

For the last couple of weeks my sweet mother in law has been staying with us so that I can sit on the couch. That's right, I sit all day long while she cleans my house, plays with children and runs herself ragged! I appreciate it so much! Only three weeks to go until we are considered full term and this kid can just come! However, we're in the safe zone now - 34 weeks!

Round 2 of Why My Camera Battery is Always Dead

I'm not sure where Drew was in these pictures but I'm guessing that he was standing on the side playing Wii while this was going on.

Jumping Jacks

One of the kids' favorite things to do in Utah County is going to Jumping Jacks. Because they run like mad people there aren't that many pictures of the bigger kids. They also all sleep really well after they have had a day playing on bouncy toys! This means that Mom and Dad really like taking them here as well!

After jumping around all day the kids like to watch a show before they go to bed. Grandpa has become the jungle gym as they are still trying to adjust to being on a firm surface again.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of Jill's baby shower that we had on Saturday. Angie and Carrie put together some great games and the food was great too! We're really excited for Jill's new little one to make it's arrival - any day now!

Jazz vs Miami Heat

John, Josh Wikler, Josh's brother and Dad all went to the game! The Wikler family likes to cheer for the Heat - slightly wrong, we know. They all flew in from Vegas to watch the game and John went with them. They had  upper deck seating, but they were on the second row! Not only did they get to see the Heat players in action but the game was amazing! The Jazz ended up winning by one point! The Heat are ranked much higher this year and getting a win against them at all was great fun, but a one point win with the shot coming at the buzzer? Fabulous game to have spend lots of money on!

Drew's first blog post

When Annie jumps on me I go inside. When I was five years old I liked to play War (the card game). I have a big school drawer that is filled with school stuff. When I was five I was mean a little and a little nice. I'm practicing being nice.

(Annie is no longer with us but the story HAD to be included. Also, Drew is currently five and will be five for another eight months or so.)

Madison's first journal post

Annie likes me and she bit me the other day. Abby came over the other day too. I like to watch shows, not sleep, play everywhere, run, run, run and play, goose around, tippy toe, find people, play piano and play computer games.

(I don't think much explanation is needed here, she pretty much said it all!)

Alexis' first blog post

When I was eating a cinnamon roll, it had lots of frosting on it, my mom said: "Do you like how swirly it is?" I said Yes! And then she picked up the cinnamon roll and put it in my face.

(Alexis was telling us how cool it would be if someone splatted a cake in her face, like they do on tv. She was rather surprised when I did it right then, she didn't even see it coming. And it was a cupcake, not a cinnamon roll.)

When I was playing with my friends I had to chase these boys and I wasn't allowed in the lower field. The boys tricked me and jumped out of the way and I landed in a mud puddle. I couldn't call home because I was muddy. Then at art I was going down the sidewalk and I scraped my knee. I had to go into my classroom and my teacher said it wasn't bleeding. She went to get me a paper towel and when she came back I said it was bleeding so she went to the office to get a band-aid.

(Poor Alexis looked near tears when she got in the car after school. She said she'd had a horrible, no-good, very bad day and that she was glad it was finally over! She had mud smeared all over half her body and then her knee was so skinned she couldn't straighten it for two days!)

Sometimes on Saturday I get to stay up late and get out my blankets and put them in the family so I can watch tv and sleep there. I watch tv almost all night.

When I was putting the laundry in the dryer, I bonked my lip on the dryer and put a hole through my tongue. It hurt so bad that I was crying.

Kids' First Blog Posts

In an attempt to teach the kids about journals we let them dictate to us something that they would want to put in their journals. I tried to clarify anything in their posting that I thought needed it without taking away from it being theirs. 

Random February Happenings

Ignore the mess, mommy is on couch rest and so this is not uncommon. Jocelyn loves to get the barbie car and sit in it. Sometimes she'll go for a ride around the kitchen, other times she just likes to sit in front of the TV and watch Little Einsteins. She almost always has a baby with her on her adventures unless the baby is impeding her ability to scoot around on her rides.

This is Jocelyn's I got caught face. Madison had made a nice little sitting area for herself on the couch. She had her pillow, a blanket and a drink. Madison had to run and do or get something quickly and while she was gone Jocelyn climbed right into her seat and covered herself up. She knew as soon as she was discovered that she was going to get booted - and she did!

Looking through my pictures I'm beginning to wonder if Madison isn't really Brixton's child. When Brixton was younger every single picture we'd take he'd pull a face in. Madison seems to have inherited this knack. For now it is cute but she best realize that if she does this during a nice family picture mommy will not be a happy camper!

Jocelyn for some reason got really ticked with me. This is not uncommon at all. She has quit napping though so the later the day gets the better the tantrum is. This particular day she was throwing herself all over the place while having her fit. I was ignoring her in hopes that it would end sooner rather than later, then it got quiet. All parents know that quietness usually equals trouble. I found her curled up in the car seat fast asleep. She slept like this for half an hour before we realized that she wasn't going to be waking up any time soon and we moved the seat so she'd be a little more comfortable.

Painting the Bathtub

There was a fun recipe for making bath "paint" that required corn starch, food coloring and shampoo.

I had all three ingredients, plus some bath loving children which made the recipe complete.

The kids loved the bath paints and stayed in the tub painting for nearly ninety minutes!

Valentines Day

For Valentines the kids made poppy flowers out tissue paper and they attached a pencil and an airhead with the saying "Valentine - you're all write!" There was no airhead to begin with but when Alexis' friend came over she gave her some grief that there wasn't any candy with it. Mommy felt bad that we were dorks so we went and bought a treat to go with them.

Daddy made these little boats full of treats so when the kids woke up they would have a fun surprise.

One of the favorites out of the boat was the big lips! 

Crazy Hair

Madison may look mad but she was making a "cute face" according to her. As soon as I was done taking pictures she had a huge smile!

Crazy hair day for the elementary school and this is what I came up with. She was so excited to have this done until she got to school, then she got a little shy about going in looking so different. Alexis said everyone called her an alien all day. 

Things we do

Madison loves to wear her dress and pose for the camera. Any dress will do, sometimes it's two dresses at once, with a pair of leggings some jeans and some church shoes!

Jocelyn loves this baby, which is bigger than she is. She is 18 months old and still her head is smaller than this babies head!

Drew loves to play war with mommy, multiple games a day is the norm in this house. The witch hat is from Alexis helping us in our gaming. Whoever had the most cards at the moment would get to wear the witches hat. Sometimes every hand would require that the hat move from one person to the other - the kids thought it was such great fun!

Rock Star Cooking

All the kids love to cook. I think it's because they are able to get dirty and lick the bowl when we're done. While this was great fun, Madison seems to be giving the impression that this was a lot more fun than it really was.

Aunt Carma came and watched the kids for us while John and I went out on a date for Valentines. We went out the Thursday before Valentines to beat the crowds and to be able to utilize such a wonderful babysitter. We went out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner, courtesy of a gift certificate, then we went to the mall to get John a new hat for his Jazz vs Miami game and to use my Bath and Body Works gift certificate. Then we went and got ice cream. John is getting fat so he was only allowed a mini cone - just kidding. I had been restricted to the couch for two or three weeks at this point to help stop the labor that started in earnest. It was so nice to get out of the house, even if I was in pain for the next two days because of it.

These are the Wellsville Mountains. John took this picture from his work one morning when the clouds were perfectly covering the top and the bottom portions.

Wheeling around with Grandpa

Immediately after this picture Jocelyn burst into tears.

The kids loved driving the four wheeler around and they each made Grandpa Rod let go so they could go faster. Even Madison was able to drive it by herself - although the fence and tree were thankful Grandpa was there to quickly turn the four wheeler at some opportune moments.

All the cousins together. Our camera was being stinky so this is the best there is. With ten kids all under ten I think it turned out pretty good!