A Fun-Filled Weekend

Last weekend we decided to take our little family fishing. We gave Drew some fishing supplies for his birthday and he was anxious to use his new box and gear. We headed up to the Rexburg ponds and had no idea the success and fun we were in for!! Each of us caught 3+ fish...well excluding Jed who didn't even get a chance to cast because he was so busy loading hooks and unhooking fish!!

Hannah had a blast and loved watching the wildlife. There were ducks, and of course fish, and an osprey that kept diving into the water to catch fish--that was neat.

Madelyn was pretty funny, since there was so much action she enjoyed the fishing. That is, until she got it onto the sand. She would drop her pole and run away screaming and saying that the fish was "wild and crazy" because it would flop around so much. One of the times I had to go rescue her pole because a fish was flopping back into the water and taking the pole with it!

Drew absolutely loved fishing. Loved it. We had packed a picnic dinner and he would not even think about dropping the fishing for a bite to eat. We ended up eating dinner in the dark off the tailgate of the truck at about 9:30.

My mom tried her hand at fishing too and caught two fish! She hadn't been fishing since she was 8 years old....she had a good time. There is us with our stringer full of fish, notice Drew would not put down his fishing pole for the picture...

This day was also my dad's birthday. I think he had a good time seeing the kids catch so many fish and experience pure delight!

On Sunday we enjoyed the regional conference and the open day it left us afterward. Jed suggested we go hike the Menan Butte. We had a great time. The kids were amazing and kept trudging up the mountain with no complaining!! We learned a lot of good lessons from our hike from the simple "stink bugs like volcanoes" to more complex ideas like the blessings of family and the support they offer and holding to the iron rod, and feeling the accomplishment of doing hard things.

The best part of it all was that a man on top of the butte thought I only looked 5 months pregnant. :0 My look of shock! He was extremely nice, and it must have been a long time since his wife had been pregnant because I am plainly past that!!!!

Me and my tough kids on top of the world!! I guess there was a little complaining--Hannah was upset that I wouldn't let her just run off the side of the mountain...sometimes moms are just no fun.

Jed and I celebrated our anniversary this Monday. It's been a great 7 years and we've had so many adventures together. I'm so grateful to have him, he's my best friend ever!

I had to put this picture in of Drew's artwork. I was amazed at the detail in his butterfly picture. He definitely is a perfectionist. It is perfectly symmetrical and he is so careful about his coloring. I had to document it before it got attacked by his little sister!

On Wednesday I was able to take the girls and go to Drew's kindergarten graduation. They had a program and sang lots of songs, then they were presented with their "diplomas." The graduation caps were really clever and cute. We, I should say "he," made it through kindergarten! I just can't believe we made it through this year of school. He did really well, even with a move in the school year. I'm just excited to have him home. I am really not looking forward to him being gone all day next year. I just like having my kids with me....most of the time! :)

Things are just moving along around here. I'm down to just 2 weeks left in this pregnancy and I am starting to get ancy. I'm ready to stop worrying about what having 4 kids will be like, and I'm just ready to get in the groove and get used to our new family dynamics. But there will be more worries when she is here, that is just how it goes for me....worry worry worry. :)

What We've Been Up To

In April we celebrated Drew's 6th birthday. I can't believe he is getting so old. He is getting to be a really good boy and we love him in our family. Drew got a remote control car from us, and it was really hard to keep it a secret from him. The days are long gone that you can sneak anything by the kids without much effort. He saw it before his birthday and just asked and asked about it and what it was for.....we almost had to give it to him a day early. He loves it and is very responsible at making sure the battery pack is charged, even if he has to set his alarm for 5 AM to unplug it. We have had a lot of fun flying the kite he got in our yard. I don't think I ever got a kite to fly when I was young, so it has been fun for all of us!

We took the kids to the Earth Day Celebration. Jed and I wondered how come we always go to that thing, because it really isn't all that exciting. We vowed that this year was going to be our last. They usually hand out reusable grocery bags and Great Harvest has some free food, but this year really wasn't that great. The kids enjoyed just being out and about on a fairly nice day.

Since we recently have polished our skills as kite flyers, we decided to go to the local Kite Festival after the Earth Day party. We went there with our plastic Bakugan kite ready to show everyone up....or else thats what our kids thought. :) We saw some amazing kites--this one was like 150 ft long.

Hannah loved just playing around on grass and being outside.

This is Hannah displaying her prowess at flying a kite--even in intense wind.

We went out for pizza afterwards, and the kids called that day "the best day ever!!" So glad they had a good time, even though we didn't get any reusable grocery bags......

Madelyn dancing with Hannah. She was really loving it and I thought it was so cute.

Hannah's hair is starting to get longer, so I can actually style it and leave it down--I think it makes her look so grown up! And yes she still loves to climb as you can see.


Drew and Madelyn have been excelling in their reading. Madelyn made it through the first level of her "school" and is reading really well. Drew wanted to be part of the party so in one day he read 12 pages in his workbook, plus read 2 more pretty good sized chapter books. In a couple days he was able to finish his level. We treat them to a party when they finish a level, so off to Blast Off we went!

It was great fun! No one else was there at first so I even went in the tunnels....at 9 mos pregnant it wasn't a pretty sight I'm sure!! I have since decided that when I end up being overdue, we should go to Blast Off and I will start crawling through those tunnels.... Later on, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Casey and cousin Macie were able to join in the fun with us. It was great!


This last weekend we headed out to the regional scout jamboree and had a lot of fun. Drew is getting really excited to be in Scouts. There was tons of fun things to see and do.



We waited a long time in line for this attraction, but it was worth it. I was really glad that Madelyn made it up there by herself. I was nervous a large pregnant mother would have to go and rescue her...and possibly pop the toy.

My husband and I truly are ONE.

So this isn't exactly a new thing. But Jed suffers, I mean literally suffers, from sympathetic wife syndrome. This happens with every pregnancy, but this one has been just a little unreal. Jed has suffered sore pregnant hips along with me, along with a few other pregnancy symptoms. Now the syndrome is branching away from being exclusively pregnancy related symptoms. This last week I had a day where I felt like I had food poisoning. I was the only one who was experiencing the stuff that goes along with that....until the next day. Then Jed all the sudden experienced the same thing. Another example, I was eating Grape Nuts one morning and the hard cereal broke the retainer off the back one of my teeth. A few days later I went in to get it fixed. The fix wasn't as good as the original glue job and my teeth rub against the retainer a lot making my teeth really sore. Well the morning after I told Jed that, he woke up with swollen gums that his bottom teeth were rubbing against!!!! WEIRD!!! The craziest part about it all is that this time the sympathetic syndrome is starting to go BOTH ways. Jed hit his head at work one day that gave him a scar on his forehead. Later that week, I woke up with a matching scar and no clue how I got it!!

Now Jed wants me to quit talking to him....
He just better not make any wrong moves...because I know how to get him back!!! :)

The top 10 signs you are reaching the end of pregnancy...

10. Your children greet you with, "Wow mom, you are BIG!"
9. Each of the family pictures your children draw include a stick figure mom with a big round circle in the center.
8. Your heart feels as if you have just run a marathon each time you heave yourself from side to side in the middle of the night.
7. Your maternity clothes are getting small.
6. You are embarrassed about exposing your middle at the doctor due to the red scratch marks on it.
5. You eat more than your husband.
4. You always underestimate your size when it comes to squeezing through tight spaces.
3. As a result of stressing so much about the weigh-in at the doctor, you actually cause yourself to have high blood pressure...
2. You sweat profusely at night, even though you have no blankets on and it is 67 degrees.
1. The lady temple workers take one look at you and decide to wait for the handicap stall to open up for you to dress in.

Gotta love the last little bit of being pregnant!!

Spring Break!

It's been such a great week! Last Saturday night my sister and her family came for a visit. It was a very special treat because they live in Nova Scotia and I hadn't seen her family for a long time!! They were able to spend some time with our family and it was really a lot of fun to have them here. It was almost like getting brand new cousins for my children, but it didn't take long at all for them to warm up to them! They played nerf wars with their nerf guns for pretty much 3 days straight. Their cousins even purchased their own arms so they could really go at it!!

It was really fun to catch up with family, enjoy some fun games, and enjoy our little ones!! On Monday night we celebrated my mom's birthday and held a talent show. Drew and Madelyn presented some of their art work and Madelyn sang a solo of her favorite primary song. It is hard to keep her away from the spotlight. Like I said in one of my previous posts, she did not get that from me!!

Thanks for visiting us! We had such a wonderful time!!


Right before their departure.

Enjoying some cool ice cream refreshment after yet another intense nerf war.

Hannah just being cute with a large flower!

For the weekend we headed up to Jed's family's cabin in Swan Valley. We had a really fun time with our family. It's amazing how much more you can relax just a little ways away from home. It was so nice to enjoy conference and celebrate easter. The city put on an Easter egg hunt, which we decided to go to. We usually avoid those ever since our experience with parents pushing..and fighting over candy......but we gave this egg hunt a chance. It turned out to be really fun. There weren't tons of people and they had lunch and prizes too. Hannah won a bike and Drew won an easter basket. Madelyn was ok about not winning, since Hannah is too little to ride the bike and wear the barbie helmet!!

Here is Madelyn in the snowy field of eggs!

It was frigid, but it is hard to dampen young spirits when candy is involved.

Hannah was content with one egg when she discovered what was inside. So daddy had to help her find just a couple more.

The loot.

The big score. Hannah does love to go for rides on her new bike, and even stand on it....but that is what you would expect from Hannah. :)

Then on Sunday we were able to enjoy more General Conference. I love conference, and I especially loved that conference was on Easter weekend. We headed back home and had a birthday celebration for Grandpa Jody. We had such a party week!! We also were able to go visit our little Ellie's headstone and bring the meaning to Easter to home for our little family. We're so grateful for the love of the Savior and the wonderful gift He has given to each of us.

Here is me and all my little ones!

Priceless

We had an experience this weekend that served as a reminder of how priceless life is, and how precious our little ones are to us. On Sunday, Hannah got into some of her great-grandmas sleeping pills. Jed had taken her out to the car and noticed she was acting funny. I was in the house getting ready to leave when my sister-in-law Julie noticed the spilled pills on the floor. As soon as Jed came in the house and said that Hannah was acting weird, my heart sank. They called poison control and they said just go to the ER. What an emotional ride that was. We didn't really know how much she ate, and she was acting so dazed and blank that it was quite frightening. Jed gave her a blessing on the way to the hospital which did help me to feel more at peace.
They monitered Hannah's heart rate and oxygen levels which were normal. They also gave her a drink of charcoal to stick to the contents of her stomach. It was really nasty looking-Jed tasted it and it instantly stained his mouth and teeth black! It was a thick pure black liquid and it stained everything it touched. Hannah did look pretty funny drinking it, it was ALL over, but who would think to take a camera to the ER? She did really well at drinking it surprisingly. She was really hard to keep restrained in the hospital and was screaming the whole time there. That made it really hard to know how she was really feeling. She was way more cranky with me holding her than Jed, which was sad because of course I wanted to hold her when she was having such a rough time! They let us go after two hours of monitoring her, so at 11 pm we headed home. They told us to wake her up every hour in the night and keep her in the same room as us. Having taken Ambien, you would think this would cause her to sleep pretty heavily. But the opposite was true. She wanted nothing to do with sleep and was acting like a little drunk girl--really sad. She would start screaming at nothing, would just stare at her hands like she had never seen them before, stare at me blankly like she had no idea who I was--definitely the worst part for me, play with the carpet over and over again, pinched and pulled, couldn't walk or even stand, and would not lay down. We stayed up with her all night until 3 Am and she finally threw up the charcoal yucky stuff. We gave her a much needed bath and finally her little body started to settle down. About 4 Am she fell asleep. The next day she was much more herself, but I would describe it as Hannah and a half. She was off the walls and still a bit woosy. Not a good combo with her love of climbing.... Her grandpa Jody and her dad were able to give her another blessing that morning and she improved a lot.
Now Hannah is back to normal and everything has run its course and she is my happy, energetic, full of personality--and mischief--girl as always. I sure do LOVE that girl. She is SUCH a blessing in our lives. It seems like Heavenly Father allows us these experiences to just remind us how grateful we should be, how precious our little ones are, how dear life is, and how life truly is fragile, and everyday is a gift! Life could change in an instant, and we feel grateful that the change we experienced was temporary, but life could take a turn at any time. I'm so deeply grateful for the priesthood and for a loving Heavenly Father who hears our prayers and loves and watches over our family!!

Is it SPRING already??

I can't believe the weather is warming up! This winter has been the fastest of my life, and I'm even pregnant!!
Our update:
Jed and I finished putting in the kitchen tile--tile is work let me tell you. Even more so when there are little ones running around un-doing the work!! It is such a blessing to have a fully functioning wonderful kitchen!!
Drew has lost his bottom two teeth. He is learning about saving for things that he wants and has been doing extra chores around the house to do just that. He is just getting more and more grown up.
Madelyn bore her testimony in church yesterday. I have to admit that bad mother instincts shot right through me when she said "Can I go up and bear my testimony?" Instantly my insides were on fire. I almost wanted to say "no..." because of my own intense fear of public speaking/public anything. I knew if I took her up there it would be incredibly odd for me to just turn around and sit down with not saying anything. I hadn't planned on getting up....although, I knew that it would not be right to stifle such an opportunity, so my insides felt even more intensely hot and knotted up!! She knew exactly what she wanted to say, so at the next opportunity I walked her up to the podium. She did experience some fright, so she wanted me to help her. I'm amazed at our little girl and am so impressed by her example. That was one of motherhood's cherished moments.
Drew and Madelyn have been handling making dinner/breakfast on occasion. I love all the help I can get!! They do a great job. Hannah likes to do her part, even though it is usually just snacking....
Hannah is getting a handle on a lot more words. And of course she is still my adventurous climbin girl. Her favorite spots: the table, and Drew's upper bunk on the bunkbed. She gets to be in nursery with Jed and I and we love that. I have been in primary with my other kids, so I love that it is Hannah's turn! We love the nursery and so does Hannah. (she loves their tables too :)). Her favorite song is Book of Mormon Stories and she often chooses it for FHE!
We LOVE the sunshine and even tricked our kids into a 2 MILE WALK on Saturday. Probably almost 2 1/2 miles actually!! Can't wait for spring!