sendadaughter.com

I knew this day would come...  I've been blogging now for well over 5 years and tonight as I was uploading pictures from our Easter weekend, Blogger informed me that I'd met my space quota for photos.  Boo!  Subsequently, I'm changing domains.  My blog desperately needed an update anyhow {if you look to the far right sidebar you'll notice I've never even added our 5TH son, Atticus, who has been part of our family now for nearly a year}... With help from my brilliant husband, I already have a new site set up; it's called www.sendadaughter.com .  It's currently under construction--- we're playing around with things like fonts and layouts, but hopefully with in the next day or two I'll have new posts and pictures up {fingers crossed}.  I've already transferred most of the posts I've made here on Blogger{but not all, I'm still missing something like 60 post} over onto my new blog...  anyhow, from here on out, I hope you join me on our new site!  

Don't forget to follow the new site, www.sendadaughter.com

B.T.W. Did anyone catch the joke???
 

F.Y.I. We LOVE our sons, all 5 of them!

Chillaxin'...

This business of staying up late and sleeping in on week day mornings is BLISS! Atticus slept until nearly 11a.m., but of course, our older boys are all programed to wake up around the same time every morning {8 a.m.}, so nothing is unusual about this week for them.   I've been racking in an extra hour and a half to two hours of sleep every morning this week; waking up to sunshine verses darkness is ideal, of course it also means I didn't get up at 5a.m. and run on the treadmill like I planned to do either.  Oh well, I can try again tomorrow.

It's nearly noon and I have a million things I should be getting done right now, along with places we should visit {since it is vacation} but we're all still hanging out in bed watching Disney JR on television {f.y.i. our kids rarely EVER get to watch television...  if it's on during the day or evening when they're awake, it's flipped to the news}...  I think we will get up and get showered and dressed, someone just barely rang our doorbell 20 minutes ago and I didn't answer it because we're all still in pajamas {don't worry, I wasn't expecting anyone so I don't think it could really be that important and for future reference, if you're the one who just rang the doorbell and I didn't answer, sorry, but I rarely ever answer the door when I'm not expecting visitors... half the time it's just neighborhood kids anyhow}... it's Spring Break... I think I'll put off everything I NEED to do until next week and just enjoy this lazy week with my boys {it would make it tons better of course if only Spence didn't have to work this week}... Noah's headed somewhere with a friend today; while he's gone I think the other boys and I will go picnic in the gardens at Thanksgiving Point and get a good walk in.

He came a little early,...

but look who made his debut yesterday!

Just to set the record straight: This is NOT my baby {though he is adorable and even looks like a few of my children did at birth}.  I'd hate to start any rumors... No I did not just have a baby, nor am I pregnant.  I know it's probably hard to believe, after following my track record over the past couple of years in which I did consistently bear son after son, but I'm pleased to announce, this little bundle from heaven is our boys newest cousin.

 Welcome to the world Logan Campbell Carter!

Spencer's little sister, Megan, gave birth to baby boy Logan practically a whole month early. Her delivery was relatively quick and easy. Logan is a tiny thing, weighing in at just 5 pounds 6 ounces and measuring only 17.5 inches long.  Our lightest baby, Noah, was a whole whopping 2 pounds, 2 ounces heavier than this little dude!!!  {I probably shouldn't mention how much heavier and bigger I remember our heavy weight Cohen being at birth--- at 9 pounds Cohen looked like a man child compared to tiny little Logan.}

Megan's doing well--- I didn't ask but I imagine she's probably just feeling a little overwhelmed... her water broke in the middle of the night and Logan was born nearly a whole month early... this is her first child and since she wasn't expecting him to be born quite so early she still has lesson plans for her classroom to prepare... + initially the little guy was having a hard time breathing on his own so he's had to spend his time on earth thus far in the NICU...  He's in good hands in the NICU; I know this from experiences with my own babies being in there... I still cry when I think of how tenderly the nursing staff and doctors cared for our 2 boys who had to spend their first week of life in the NICU.  Fortunately, it looks as though Logan's health is improving and hopefully it won't be long before mother and son can cuddle.

I still can't believe MY baby, Atticus, will be a year old in just another two weeks! If you look closely in the picture above, you'll notice Spencer in the green holding him... BOY what a difference a year makes!!!  They sure grow up FAST!!!

By accident, I captured this picture above of Linda, my mother in law; it's priceless!  Without even saying a thing, the picture says it all... "Concerned grandma just itching to get her hands on and cuddle her newest little grandbaby."

Our boys sure were anxious to meet their new little cousin... don't worry, I bet you in another year or two, they'll be showing him the ropes and introduce him to all things every little boy needs to do/know about... i.e. bugs, boogers, dirt, skateboards, baseball, etc., etc.

Dare I even say how strange it felt to walk into the same hospital that I delivered all of our children at, one year later!  Something you should keep in mind, I'd delivered a baby at the same hospital for 5 consecutive years in a row!!!  It felt sort of nice just going there to be a visitor instead of the patient this time around.



With Logan as the newest little addition to our extended family, our boys now have 24 cousins!!!  That's 6 cousins on the Campbell side of the family {3 boys/3 girls} and 18 cousins {and counting} on the Truesdell side {9 boys/9 girls}.  Only 10 of their cousins live with in the state, the rest sadly are spread out across the country {and at times across the globe} but could you imagine what FUN it would be to have ALL of their cousins together at one time?!   As each day passes, I'm beginning to get more and more excited for the Truesdell Family Reunion we're holding at the end of July in Bear Lake!!!  One week with 18 cousins our boys rarely ever get to see, along with grandma and grandpa and all their aunts and uncles... YES PLEASE!!!!

This last picture I took on our way home from the hospital visit...  All our boys packed like sardines in the car... just like I like them. Note: Cohen's wearing sunglasses... he discovered them a couple of days ago and since then he's been sporting them all.day.every.where!  From the moment he wakes up in the morning, till he crawls in bed at night, he's wearing those little sun glasses.  Something about him and the sunglasses reminds me of a Marine... I suppose growing up in San Diego with Camp Pendleton near by probably could explain why it reminds me of them... needless to say, his new look of being Marine sure is a far cry from his last, The Cowboy...  Now that it's warming up, I've been insisting Cohen wears his flip flops over his coveted red cowboy boots--- it seems the kid has to have a fetish for something and now it's the glasses. It's Spring time with out question.  Baby cows dotted the farmland between our home and grandma's and manure permeated the air; I swear the stench even singed a few of my nose hairs and burned my lungs!  I count my blessings every time we drive through that part of Lehi that we didn't decide to buy a home there {however some of the homes around that particular area are gorgeous!}...  I have enough stink in my house between diapers and sweaty boys, I'd hate to have to smell manure all Spring too.  Just saying... 

One last additional note:  I need to remember to pick up some extra hair gel next time I go get my own for our boys... baby Logan has A LOT of thick black hair!!!  Megs and John are going to have a lot of fun styling it, I'm sure.

Our annual Mad Hatter Tea Party...

We held our annual Mad Hatter Tea Party at the end of March...  Here are some photos from the madness AND the fun!!!

Note: Don't you just LOVE the mad hatter hat above?!  Our guest made it with help from his parents.  I completely dropped the ball and forgot to get our boys mad hatter hats or something that resembled a top hat, so they just used what hats they already had.

If you wish to see the post from our previous Mad Hatter Tea Parties from past years, click here or here.

Completely random...

As I mentioned in the previous post, it's been a while since I've posted anything with substance to it, and while this particular post may not have any real invigorating thoughts, or life changing experiences I care to share, it does have a bunch of random pictures, along with a few random thoughts I felt I'd share...

Look at this kid!

Is it just me, or doesn't he remind you of a Cabbage Patch doll?!

Who didn't LOVE a Cabbage Patch doll as a child?!

Now I have my own!

 I still can hardly believe my baby will be one in just another 2 weeks!

Atticus has been hitting milestone after milestone,

one after another!

Crawling, sitting up, has his top two and bottom two teeth,

can say "Dadda" now, blow raspberries, play patty cake,

he prefers to play with the his big brothers toys and not his own

 and he'll devour just about anything you give him.

He still sleeps really well {all our boys do, I really can't complain};

he sleeps until I have to wake him up @ 8 in the morning, 

then goes back down for another nap around 9:30 or 10 o'clock and sleeps until 1

and then he'll nap from 3-5:30 while all of our boys nap 

then he's down for the night once bedtime arrives @ 7:30.

Sometimes I think I'm raising felines, not boys!  

Boy do our kids love to sleep!

While he's awake though he's a mover!

He enjoys playing with his brothers---

in fact on days when it's still a little too chilly to take him outside to play with the rest of his brothers,

he'll crawl over and sit by the back door and just watch as his older brothers play outside in the yard.

He hates to be alone;

he thrives when he's in on the action in the house 

and without question,

we all know that in a house of 5 little boys,

there's plenty of action to be had here at home!

 I celebrated my 31ST birthday last month...

I still can't get over how it is I'm 31 years old but don't feel a day older than 23!!!

My goal for this new year that life has leased me...

get in shape!

It's easier said than done,

but geez I figure if I still feel like I'm 23,

I better look like it.

Of course the plan would work much more better if only it were easier to crawl out of bed an hour earlier each morning to get my run in...

I'm working on it...

Spencer and the boys baked me gluten free chocolate chip cookies 

while I was gone doing cub scouts the evening of my birthday...

{this picture above was taken right as I returned home from cub scouts 

and my boys surprised me}

We waited until the following day to celebrate for real 

by taking the whole fam out to eat at a restaurant 

and get ice cream after.

Oh!

 I nearly forgot to mention, 

my sister Tricia sent me a HUGE bird cage for my birthday,

so later this week my boys and I will be visiting a pet store 

to pick out one or two new birds...

I'm having the hardest time deciding which kind of bird to get...

we just finished reading Judy Blooms "Superfudge" book to our boys

 and like Fudge from the book,

our boys want a bird that they can train to talk... 

If it were up to me, I'd get a Lovebird;

 they're beautiful, they can interact with us

and I can train it to talk a little 

but they live for something like 15 years!

I'm not exactly sure I'm ready for a commitment like that...

if it were a dog or a cat, that's different,

but a bird,

I'm just not sure.

If I choose NOT to get a Lovebird, I'll probably get a parakeet...

Or a canary... 

Or a couple of finches...

Gee, I guess I really haven't narrowed it down much yet,

but our boys sure our anxious to get their bird!...

Speaking of scouts,

we offered to hold Pack meeting in our backyard this past month...

things couldn't have gone any better---

the weather was PERFECT 

and not a single scout caught on fire during the marshmallow roast.

Our boys can.not.wait 

until they're all old enough to start cub scouts!!!

{and I might actually be kind of excited for them to eventually start too!}

If you've been following my blog now for a while,

you might recall our Galleria dos Tres Irmaos...

I failed to take any pictures of our art gallery during the previous months of 

December, January and February {I blame it all due to laziness}

but I'm back on track now,

so here's the boys art from March.

Along with Spring Cleaning,

yes I really did do Spring Cleaning

{but you wouldn't know now

 because my house is in dire need of a good clean sweep AGAIN!}

I also tackled a few home projects I've been meaning to do now for a while...

like these fish canvases above and below for our boys Dr Seuss themed bathroom.

You might remember I purchased the shower curtain on sale from Pottery Barn Kids a while back...

I also purchased these small square canvases 

and painted them bright yellow about a year ago too

but never got around to finishing them.

About a month ago I scanned, printed and cut out these pictures of fish 

then mod pogged them onto the painted canvas 

and VOILA!

They were EXACTLY the right finishing touches I needed to complete the look in their bathroom.

These canisters in my kitchen were another project I worked on recently...

They'd been red for years but now they're this beautiful shade of blue.

LOVE!

Since Spring is here {my favorite season!},

I strung up some more pinwheels to brighten our home up!

Our flowerbeds are in full bloom this Spring

with these gorgeous daffodils and our tulips are beginning to make their debut too!

These profiles below are another little project I've been working on...

Can you tell who's who?

I'll help you out.

Top left is Noah, then Ian.

Bottom left is Cohen

 (I might have messed up on his nose a little.  I promise it's not really that curved).

Next to Cohen, in the middle, is Bentley,

and the far one on the bottom right is Atticus.

I ran out of red spray paint so I couldn't finish his when I did all of the other boys...

probably a good thing too because I only realized after the fact that his profile is turned facing the wrong way.

I've got to remember to fix that before I make anything permanent.

Anyhow,

these profiles add just the right pop of color to our upstairs hallway.

Who does love red and turquoise?!

Now I need to get more of our family pictures printed,

 framed and hung around the rest of the house.

I'm slightly obsessed with photos, in case you can't tell.

Well I guess it looks like we're going to always try and save some $$$ 

and just cut our own boys hair from here on out...  I

t may not seem like we can save much, 

but once you figure even the cheapest cut, after tip, probably cost around 8 or 10 dollars,

multiply that by 5 (because we have 5 boys all in need of hair cuts)

that's somewhere between $40 and $50 dollars just for their cuts alone,

and they need cuts just about every 6-8 weeks!

....

So, we've opted to cut their hair on our own.

It may not look completely perfect,

and we tend to find a few spots generally AFTER we're done cutting their hair 

that we've forgotten to snip

but we're getting better at cutting it

and we're saving $$$ for other things, 

like braces, scouts, sports, missions, college, cars, etc., etc.

Naturally any time we have fairly decent weather outside,

you'll find our boys outside too...

that's only because we

 A. Worship the sunshine.

and

B. 5 little boys tend to make great BIG messes, 

and mom {that's me} 

is much happier when the messes are contained to outside of the house.

{I just thought I'd add that currently all 4 older boys are outside with their bug vacuum 

hunting for bugs to suck up and put in their little bug house they built... 

Poor poor beetle bugs, you all better run and hide

 or else you don't stand a chance of escaping alive for that matter}.

Our boys had a little friend of theirs over a couple of weeks ago 

who was spinning and turning all kinds of flips on the trampoline.

I wish I had recorded Ian's reaction...

he was truly fascinated 

and ever since he's been outside on the trampoline with every spare moment he gets

trying to do the same somersaults and back flips!

This picture of Bentley on the trampoline below makes me chuckle...

He finally wants to jump on the trampoline like all of his brothers!

Another little fact you ought to know:

if the weather's decent outside and neither too windy, wet or cold,

meals are eaten outside as a picnic...

our boys LOVE a good picnic and mom {that would be me, again} 

doesn't have much of a mess to clean up after, 

which ultimately means we're all happy campers.

I must had taken this picture of our boys shortly before they all got hair cuts...

Look at that mop of hair on top of Atticus' head!!!

It was ridiculously long!!!

I never could have imagined that he would be blond before we trimmed his hair.

With all of that brown hair, I thought for sure his hair was going to resemble Cohen's...

I was completely wrong!

Now he looks like Bentley!!!

Hello!

I'm here. 

It's been a while since I wrote last... I apologize.  Between "Spring Cleaning", crafting, play dates, cub scouts, parties, outings, Easter,  and oh, of course the boys, I haven't had much time to post any pictures or add any new thoughts here to the blog. I promise to do better.  Of course it also didn't help that our Mac crashed {Thanks again Bentley!  We credit your constant turning it "on" and "off" for causing the whole thing to crash.  A few words for you my son: From now on, keep your hands off! Sincerely, Mom}  A couple hundred $$$ later, we have a new hard drive and about 30,000+ pictures we still need  to recover; don't worry, we haven't lost them- they're on our Time Capsule, it's just the matter of finding them and downloading all of them. again.  It all doesn't matter now though... I'm here, again.  Our boys have the week off from school for Spring Break, which ultimately means we'll be busy finding ways to keep busy, but hopefully it also means I'll find a little more time to post all the pictures I've taken recently of our family.

Today just so happened to also be Spencer's day off from work... {it's Spring Break for the school district he teaches in, but school for him resumes tomorrow. LAME!  I sure wish he had a week off from school--- it's hard to go anywhere with just 3 days off. The end of the school year sure can't come quick enough!}  We took it easy today... after a long, BUSY weekend, we all needed to rest and relax.  Our boys played out back in the yard most of the morning, afternoon and evening...  the weather was practically summer like today--- nearly 80.  80 in April!  Insane--- but I won't complain.  We enjoyed every drop of sunshine that poured out of the clear blue sky--- I hear it's supposed to be hotter tomorrow.... Hooray!!! but then rain is forecasted for the rest of the week... such a shame, but until the colder temps and rain arrive, we'll enjoy our playtime outside!  

I think our boys were as anxious as I have been to work on their tans...

Yep, that's me... 

enjoying a little fun time on the trampoline with the sprinklers and my boys!

Valentine's Day!

These were our boys Valentines they I made, that they passed out in school.

{Okay honestly, I printed them, cut most of them out

 and they each helped hot glue the bugs on. 

 I let them do all the signing of course.}

56 bugs. 

Each one, glued onto its own card stock mason jar, carefully signed...

These LOVE BUG Valentines beat out all of the other humdrum Valentines.

They were PERFECTION!

Totally macho AND cool.

Thanks dandee for the free downloads 

{click here for your own!}! 

Valentine's Day was a LOT of fun this year.

It helps that I had 6 Valentines to share it with!!!

Breakfast...

Chocolate doughnuts and chocolate milk.

It was Valentine's Day...

Everyone NEEDS a little chocolate to start their day!

I surprised each of our boys with their own LOVE BUG balloon and candy arrow.

 While Noah was at school,

I scrambled to pack the other 4 boys up in our car 

and we drove up to Spencer's school 

to surprise him with lunch from In-N-Out and a balloon/candy bouquet!

 I got lost getting to Spencer's school,

{it had been a while since I'd been last}...

The plan was to get there before his lunch break,

but as it turns out,

after a few wrong turns and a long detour

we didn't make it there until the end of lunch...

Oops!

No matter-

our boys still enjoyed getting to see Dad at work

and Spencer's students enjoyed meeting our boys.

We might have arrived later than originally planned,

but we really did surprise Spencer!  

He had no clue we were coming!

We found him in his classroom,

eating lunch. Already!

It's all good though-

he still ate the Double Double we brought him.

Our boys LOVE to visit the turtle 

in the science class next door to Spencer's classroom...

They keep hoping that one of these weekends 

Spencer will bring it home for us to watch and care for...

perhaps one of these days...

until then, I'm in no hurry to have him come and visit.

We couldn't stay for very long;

Spencer had a class to teach 

and Noah was going to be arriving home from school on the bus at any minute,

so we snapped this picture of the gang 

on the fancy shmancy orange couch outside of Spencer's class.

I'm not sure what makes the couch look more ugly---

the fact that it's a burnt orange color

or the fact that someone tried to cover it up with that hideous plaid blanket.

It's hard to imagine that in just a few more years,

these tots will be teens running the halls of a junior high similar to Spencer's.

Oh, just in case if you were curious,

Atticus came along on the trip to Spencer's school with us.

Our visit was literally a "hit and run" visit,

with no time to waste

so the babe sat chillin' in the stroller.

What we eat is always an important matter on Valentines...

Everyone knows,

the food we eat on Valentines must consist of 1 of 2 things...

chocolate,

or

it.must.be red...

Come on, you didn't know that?!

I thought everyone knew!

So,

needless to say

our lunch was very red!

Homemade gluten free pepperoni pizza,

heart shaped strawberry jello

and vanilla yogurt with fresh cut strawberries.

We watched "Lady and the Tramp"

and spent the rest of the afternoon playing games...

Noah and Ian attended a Valentine's Day party for an hour at a friends house...

{this scratch off heart garland above is an idea I found online-

click to see here}

{I found these adorable Valentine fortune tellers above here}...

 Okay, so I realize pulled pork sandwiches 

don't meet either of the two mandatory Valentine food criteria

- chocolate and/or red in color,-

but pulled pork sandwiches, along with carrots and Doritos

sure tasted delish!

Don't you worry though-

I made some Love Potion Punch for the fam to drink.

You better believe, I made the Mr. drink it too! (wink.wink.)

Love Potion= Red raspberry soda + a little dry ice.

For dessert, 

I made chocolate mousse with fresh pink whipped cream.

O.M.G.!

I had never before in my life eaten chocolate mousse,

but let me tell you,

my gosh!

It.was.SO.good!!!

not to mention, 

extremely easy to make.

Before piling into bed for the evening,

we played a few more games...

Blow darts into the tin can

(a.k.a. blowing a q-tip out of a straw)...

Please take notice of the fact

 that Bentley decided to use his q-tips for other purposes...

Valentine's Day bingo...

I nearly forgot...

here are Ian and Cohen with their Valentine's Day loot 

they brought home from their parties at school...

It will all probably still be sitting in my cupboard by the time summer arrives...

they wanted to eat it all right away,

but I wouldn't let them,

so after choosing one piece to eat,

I hid the rest away in a cupboard

and they haven't asked for it since.

 I hope every one had a fantastic Valentine's Day!

We enjoyed ours!

It warms my heart knowing that my 6 Valentines 

are eternally mine!