LIFE AS WE KNOW IT

We're Moving

2011-05-26T21:50:00.000-05:00

Well, we aren't actually physically moving, but our blog is moving. I've decided to simplify a little and go ahead and combine the family blog with my fun blog (nurturing the nest). So head on over there to follow our family (click on the picture above). And while you are there you can grab our new button. My sister Alie, who is ever so talented, designed my blog and I think she did a great job.

Night Turtles

2011-05-16T18:54:00.000-05:00

Ben got new Jammies today and announced that he was wearing "Night Turtles".

Ben has does a lot of approximations and generalizations. We thought this one was particularly funny.

This about Sums it up

2011-05-16T16:26:00.000-05:00

Not Quite sure how to Title This

2011-05-15T10:38:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to post about our Madelyn....
Madelyn is probably our most difficult child (right now), But on the flip side she is definitely the sweetest and the funniest.

..... Randomly at dinner..... "I really like Buffalos" (that was it)

...... I couldn't find any of her panties.... she had them all over Kate, in the diaper bag and on every other doll/animal in the loft

...... Bandaids..... apparently Kate had quite the accident

AND BTW.... we have ducklings at our house... and I am pretty sure they are going to think that Mei is their Mother.

In the ~~almost~~ six years that we have been married Rich has wanted two things; a Video Game system (he got that a few years ago) and Ducks. We finally have a yard large enough. While ducklings are absolutely adorable, extremely friendly and did I mention cute, they do have a few downsides, mainly that they are loud and messy. (well louder than chickens).

Happy Birthday Afton!

2011-05-11T22:26:00.000-05:00

5 years ago our Sweet Little Afton was born!

These days this little girl is enthralled with flower fairies; we got her an entire (pop-up) book on "How to Find Flower Fairies"

Grandpa and Grandma sent her a whole package of ~~bug~~ fairy finding paraphernalia- a giant magnifying glass, two bug boxes (including a roly-poly playground) and a net.

She is thoroughly enjoying this magnifier. I would highly recommend it to anyone it is really quite cool.

The older kids outside "hunting". In the end they came in with two roly-polies and a cricket.

Her chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

Everyone was enthralled with the roly poly playground... Madelyn is sleeping with it tonight.

Happy Birthday Afton- we love you and are so glad that you chose to come to our family. You are an incredible big sister; kind, helpful and creative.

Almost There

2011-05-09T10:57:00.000-05:00

Our yard is just about done!

Rich worked REALLY hard on our sprinkler system. While it was a lot of work I am glad he did it himself. He's learned a lot and isn't intimidated by it anymore.

Ben loves having a yard to dig in and run around in. The mud boots I bought for the kids have been Awesome!

Afton would live on the swings if she could.

We still have A LOT of empty dirt, eventually this whole area will be garden boxes. On the side of our house (top right) we have a mini-orchard with four fruit trees and our chickens are housed up there.

The flooding problems are worse than ever with all the rain. Even though we paid to get a french drain put back there, we are pretty sure the excavator graded our yard in correctly so we still have lot's of mud! arrrrgh

The front of our home.
We still have some fencing/gate in the front to finish and the water problems. But other than that we are about done for now.

On a side note; we aren't really in to holidays around here. Yes I know, lame. When it comes to celebrations on the calendar I seem to always come up a day late and a dollar short, but honestly I don't care all that much. We did celebrate Mother's day with Rich's Mom up in Ogden and had a nice time. I did call my mother, but alas (in keeping with tradition) the card I bought for my mother didn't make it to the mail box until today.
I have kids who don't believe in Santa or the Easter Bunny, but are enthralled by flower fairies and can't wait until we have flowers of our own.

A Rare Day

2011-05-03T18:29:00.000-05:00

It is a rare day at our house when I let the kids create a craft. Today I had 3 milk boxes-
Ben wanted to make a Boat. Mei followed but added in a bridge with her boat. Afton wanted to make a treasure box. Then in the end we ended with 3 boats, a river and a few necklaces.
Mei started to make a necklace for Daddy, then Afton pointed out that boys don't wear necklaces. So she made two for mommy.

A few new phrases for Ben:
"Hi Mom" (and daddy, Mei, Girl and Baby)
" help glue"
Ben has been diagnosed as having a severe language delay and apraxia. We have a long road ahead of us, but he's making progress!

Spring

2011-04-18T10:54:00.000-05:00

I used to think that Spring meant that it was a perfect 70 degrees and interspersed with a light rain every 10 days or so. I now realize, after living in Utah and Nebraska, that spring means it is mostly wet and 50 degrees with occasional sunny days in the 60's.
This past Saturday just happened to be one of those great 65 degree days with a light breeze, and some wonderful sun. We spent the whole day in our yard; building fencing, moving gravel, setting up play things for the kids and getting our Chickens ready to move out of the garage.

Happy Spring!

Say What?

2011-04-15T22:48:00.000-05:00

We have been working on Word approximations with Ben- basically a simplified version of a word using the sounds he knows.
As his mother I generally understand most of his vocabulary, but most people probably wouldn't. The good news is that he is improving.
Here's what he calls all of us:

Dad: "Da-ee"

Mom: "Mum"

Afton: "Girl"

(we tried just an 'aaafff", but he settled on girl instead)

Madelyn: "Mei"

(the only problem here is that Mei no longer wants to be called Mei, she's 'Mad a win')

Ben: "Do"

(I think he was trying to say Ben, but it came out as 'Do", so we decided we'll just start calling him 'dude" and he thinks it's pretty funny.)

Ethan: "Bay-ee"

The speech therapist recommended that we keep accurate notes on progress. She thinks he'll probably have spurts where he gains a lot and then slows down. I will say we've seen an improvement since we have started really working with him and since adding fish oil to his diet.

One Day...

2011-04-15T13:36:00.000-05:00

I would just like the house to be clean for one day, I might even settle for a couple of hours.
Growing up my Mom had a sign in our house which read "Cleaning the house while children are growing is like shoveling the walk while it's still snowing." Growing up in San Diego I really had no idea what that really meant. Now I do. If you wait until it stops snowing to shovel then all you have is a frozen mess that it is impossible to get up and you might have to wait until spring to get into your driveway. And so it is with house cleaning... I put off cleaning the bathtub for far too long and it took me 2 hours instead of the usual 10 minutes...

4 Months

2011-04-13T23:29:00.000-05:00

Ethan is 4 months old! Wow time has gone by fast.

Some Stats: He weighed in at 14lbs 9oz and was 25 1/2 inches long.

He got his first hair cut last week.

He can roll over from his back to his tummy.

He's the most talkative little baby ever.

He has the bluest eyes.

Mom... This is Real

2011-04-13T23:22:00.002-05:00

Afton has an amazing book all about flower fairies. We both enjoy reading about flower fairies and can't wait until we have flowers in our own yard.

Yesterday Afton walked over to the bookshelf and picked up her Fairy Book. She proceeded to tell me that it was on the wrong shelf- "Mom this book is 'real'. It should be down here in the non-fiction."
I didn't have the heart to tell her that fairies aren't real, so like any good mother would, I promptly moved the book to the non-fiction section.
Call me crazy, but I have no problem telling her that the Easter Bunny and Santa are fake, but I'm not telling her that fairies are too.
BTW- the reason that Utah doesn't have Spring yet is because the mischievous elves stole it, duh!

Bubble World

2011-04-07T22:13:00.000-05:00

Do you ever wish you just lived in a nice little bubble? I do. I wish I could just stay in my house with my wonderful kids and only interact with the outside world as an absolute necessity. That's all.

Way to go Ben!

2011-03-31T20:48:00.000-05:00

Background: I've been a little concerned the past few months about Ben's talking or lack there of. Today I took him to the pediatrician and she referred me to an early intervention speech program. He has maybe 20 words and no sentences, or even two words together.

Tonight:
Rich was going outside to work on the sprinklers and Ben said "Mom Go Daddy".
I was so excited I was cheering and practically crying. That is the first time he's put words together. It's amazing to me how many simple skills we take for granted.

Go Ben! Hopefully he keeps this up!

Terribly Wrong

2011-03-29T10:43:00.001-05:00

Something has gone terribly wrong at our house- and I fear I have made some mistakes to add to the problem, oops.
Ethan used to sleep 9-10 hours a night... the past two weeks, not so much. I was lucky if he went 6 hours. I thought it was because he was sick, maybe he wasn't eating enough... I don't know. So here we are and this tired Momma needs sleep desperately. I thrive on 8 -9 hours of sleep. With that much sleep I can accomplish amazing things, without it I turn into a lazy, grouchy lump.
What to do, what to do, what to do...
Ethan got off his eating schedule a few weeks back, he used to eat 4-5 ounces every 3 hours. Then he decided he wanted to eat 1-2 ounces every hour or so. I feel like all I do is feed him all day and in the end he hardly eats.
So the book came out today, you know that amazing sleep, child training book called BabyWise?
So my new goals are:
1. Work on the routine of sleep, eat, play, repeat
2. Work on getting him to take a full feeding, 6 ounces every 4 hours

Wish us luck! and hopefully I can get a nap in today.

Update on the Playroom

2011-03-24T23:31:00.000-05:00

I have had numerous calls about our disastrous playroom. Now that our Blue and Gold Dinner is over (Rich is the cub master and I the committee chair) I had time today to do some rearranging. I think the biggest problem before was not that we had too many toys, but that the room wasn't arranged well enough to give the kids a larger clear play area. They like playing downstairs in the open space.

Growth

2011-03-23T11:35:00.001-05:00

Growth is inevitable. There has been a lot at our house lately.

I planted a little early, because I didn't actually think anything would grow.

These ladies have taken up residence in our garage. They have entered the "dinosaur" stage and just aren't very cute these days.

They playroom/loft looks like this. I am tired of cleaning it up and ~~forcing~~ encouraging them to help. Orderliness is a never ending battle around here. The entire house cannot be clean all at once, so I pick my battles. Right now I am taking a vacation from the loft and apparently so are the kids.

They kids are enjoying the vacation from the loft and play quite well (for hours) with a few pillows, dolls and Bilibo seats.

I love how excited Afton is to be able to vacuum. Our family room is so clean all the time- the vacuum is a huge motivator to getting toys and books put away.

Ben has been SOOOOOOOOOOO sick. This was a nasty bug that hung onto him for over a week.

Our healthy, energetic Ben is Back!

Ethan is growing up so fast. He's almost 4 months old. He's been a little snuffly (luckily not as sick as Ben) and has stopped sleeping through the night.

He is so happy and I just love this snuggle bug (but I do wish he would stop waking up at 2am, 3 am, 4 am and 5am...)

I am loving our family of little's and have a twinge of sadness at the thought that all these little's will soon grow up.

Lessons From Japan

2011-03-14T14:23:00.001-05:00

I keep thinking about those families in Japan right now. What if something similar happened here?
Read about Emily who is living in Japan with her husband and four young boys. The internet has been spotty, but she's been able to get a few posts out.
They are doing okay- they have food and water, but they are cold, scared and very stressed. Her post has some great advice on how we can better prepare ourselves should we ever find ourselves in a similar situation.

Some things I am going to do:
1. I want down blankets for all of my kids (I have them on our bed and the boys). Emily said they are very cold and the down blanket on their bed is much better than the blankets on the kids beds.

2. Fuel for your grill and/or camp stove (like 20 bottles) of Propane and in our case, Charcoal.
3. Paper Diapers, yes cloth are great for long term cost-cutting, BUT what if our running water was cut-off. I would hate to use our few bottle of drinking water to wash diapers.
4. Candles, flashlights are nice but batteries can leak as Emily found out.
5. Food Storage; along with baby formula. Japan has anti-hoarding laws so people are not allowed to store food.
6. Cash in your emergency fund, in Emily's case the commissary was only accepting cash (no electricity, means no credit or debit)
7. Hand Crank Wheat Grinder and Hand Crank Blender (all that smoothie stuff won't be much good without a blender) Anyone know where to buy a hand crank blender?
8. Small Lightweight Energy efficient Lanterns

Go over and visit Emily's blog she has much more to say.

Soon-to-be Best Buds

2011-03-08T17:59:00.001-06:00

It has taken Ben the past three months to warm-up to his little brother. I have a feeling they will be best buds some day. When you ask Ben if Ethan's his baby is says quite resoundingly "Ya"!

Honey, I think we have a problem in here.....

2011-03-08T16:21:00.000-06:00

"Honey, I think we have a problem in here!", that's what Rich said after Church on Sunday when he saw this....

These ladies are growing fast. Look how big they are.

They aren't regularly escaping- this was this morning when I cleaned their box I let them pick at the kdis crumbs. Don't worry I mopped the floor today.

I've been meaning to post this....

2011-03-01T15:49:00.000-06:00

I call Ethan our hybrid baby- he seems to have all the best features of the other kids combined into one. He is so smiley, so cuddly, such a good sleeper... We just love our little Ethan and are so happy he chose to come to our family.

My friend Christina took some great pictures of Ethan a few weeks ago. You can check out her photography blog here. I can't wait to have her do some family pictures this summer. Thank you so much!

I finally got the "Animalphabet" poster that my sister Alie made hung up. Isn't it awesome. She is so talented. You can buy your own HERE.

I am so happy right now. Spring is on the horizon and I can't wait to get our yard and garden planted. These four little kiddos are such a delight and I feel so lucky to get to be their Mom. Life is coming together. We've had a rough few years. Looking back I have nothing but Gratitude for my trials. While they are far from over, I am happy anyways, What a beautiful feeling.

A Little Bit of Us

2011-02-25T13:57:00.000-06:00

"Ethan's crying because he's trying to laugh."

How to Make a Swimming Pool: Take all the toys (including everything from your room) and put it in a big pile in the corner of the play room. Next you sit on top of it and pretend to swim.

My friend Natalie recently had her fifth boy (I think her oldest is 6 or almost 6) I love what she said..... We smile because we're determined to be happy right now.

Mud

2011-02-22T16:55:00.001-06:00

I found an amazing deal on rain boots at the feed store the other day (originally $25 marked down to $5). The kids REALLY wanted to go outside and play.

Afton went down to the bottom of our hill and had a blast stomping around in the squishy mud. However when the younger two followed her down they weren't able to maneuver quite as well and subsequently got stuck, started crying and got more stuck.
So Afton had fun, Mei and Ben were very sad. After we cleaned up Mei and Ben, Ben was begging to go back out again- no way, was I going through that again.

Look What We've Got!

2011-02-20T18:33:00.000-06:00

Our home is filled with little chirps. Unthinkingly I said to Rich, "It sounds like a bird is flying around in the house." That "bird" would be our 4 little hens (80% chance anyways). If one turns out to be a rooster Rich want to eat him. We have two Buff Orpingtons one is named Henny and the other Penny and two Americauna , respectively named Liberty and Justice. Americaunas are the mutts of the chicken world, but the IFA guy promised they would be as gently as the buffs, plus they lay green eggs.

They are all about a week old, Liberty and Justice are slightly older and bigger, but Henny and Penny will soon pass them up. We are excited to watch them grow. They will be ready to lay in 6 months.

Before and After

2011-02-20T18:22:00.000-06:00

This is the second time we've made THESE! Delicious every time.

The Hours of 1pm-3pm

2011-02-15T14:59:00.000-06:00

Some days are better than others and some days are Worse. Today was an okay day.

Ben LOVES the playmobil catalog and always points to things and says "Mum, Mum... dat, dat"

(he is starting to talk- Yea Ben!)

Mei thinks she doesn't need a nap- Rule #1, when you throw a tantrum all about how you don't need a nap, that just tells mom how badly you really do need one.

Ethan has a funny schedule- he likes to eat lunch twice once at 11 am and again at 1pm. I tried laying him down at noon, but sure enough he woke up at 1:06 to finish lunch. Then he goes back to sleep until 4 or 5.

Afton on most days enjoys a project with Mom or some quiet time with her fairies.

The other night when I went in to check on Madelyn-- I found her with ALL the dress up clothes on.

What is Daddy Doing?

2011-02-14T15:36:00.001-06:00

No, not a playhouse...... But Room for all of this (and then some).

We have quite a bit of unused space under our stairs. A perfect climate controlled food storage room. You can read even more about our craziness HERE.

Meet The New Afton

2011-02-10T22:27:00.001-06:00

This new Afton sure is great!

She declared at dinner last night that she LOVES beans (and not just green ones)!
At breakfast this morning she said how much she loves Green Smoothies (and then drank it all gone).

I keep asking her who she is- what happened to the Real Afton... she laughs and tells me how I'm not telling the truth that she is the Afton.

Not Me

2011-02-04T10:03:00.000-06:00

No, I would never allow ~~encourage~~ such behavior in my brand-new house! Hope your winter activities are as fun as ours!

Just for fun:
This happy baby is a whoppin 11lbs 13oz .

The cutest thing!

2011-01-28T09:20:00.001-06:00

Is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen? We love our little Ethan. Next week he goes in for his 2 month check. Can you believe he's that old already?

Ben Turns 2

2011-01-26T21:08:00.003-06:00

Our Baby Ben is two years old!

Pretty Quiet Around Here

2011-01-26T15:20:00.000-06:00

It's been pretty mellow around here lately.
The kids love playing with these mini farm animals- gotta love the dollar bin at Target. Who would have thought that mini-farm animals would be so much fun.

We've moved bedrooms around and now Afton and Ben share the bunk bed and Mei has her own small room, and our Guest Room is Huge! (come visit anytime).

This little Ethan of ours sleeps like a champ (most of the time), loved being snuggled and talked to.

Today is Ben's Birthday (I'll post more later). Afton and I made him a card this afternoon.

Yesterday we had a little unexpected snow so I sent the kids out for a little while.

I've gotten so much better at making bread lately- yesterday Afton said it was so great and it was the best bread she's EVER had!

We're Getting Old

2011-01-21T21:44:00.002-06:00

Tonight Rich and I were looking through some old pictures, mainly to compare Afton's baby picture with Ethan's (I think they look alike), and we commented on how much younger we looked a mere 5 years ago.

This was taken the summer that Rich and I were married. Summer of 2005.

My twin brother and I, I think I'm the one on the left. July 15, 1981.

Here are me and my siblings. I have on the flowery warm-up suit and turquoise bow. Don't you just love the warm-up suits. I remember my Mom would have us all wear them together when we went somewhere like the San Diego Wild Animal Park- dorky yes, but now I understand the logic of dressing us all alike.

Afton as a toddler.

Mei at about a year old.

Ben at 6 or 7 months.

Ethan today at 6 weeks and 6 days old.

I can't believe how much my babies are growing up. I am sure my parents think the same thing. I remember a few years ago my Grandpa Miller saying how it seems just like yesterday that he brought my Mom home from the hospital.

A Few Reasons to Celebrate

2011-01-19T14:43:00.000-06:00

It seems to me like the more kids we have the more often the celebrations run together. This weekend we celebrated Ethan's blessing Day as well as Mei's 3rd Birthday. (when we blessed Ben we celebrated Afton's 3 Birthday)

Jack and Ethan, Grandma took care of them both so the rest of us could play a game.

Things can be a little chaotic right after Church... before we could get a picture Mei had already gone upstairs and changed clothes, the kids were hungry...

Picture with Grandma and Grandpa Ginos. Thank you for traveling up here to visit us.

Picture with Moma and Papa Montierth.

Mei's new dress-up clothes were a big hit with the girls.

Mei's Snowman Cake

It was a crazy day. Thank you for everyone that came. We love getting together with our families and it is so nice to finally have a house large enough to have people visit.

Ethan Wakes Up

2011-01-11T17:26:00.001-06:00

Ethan has by far been my sleepiest baby. He has stayed in the newborn stage the longest. After he was born it was still 3 days before we saw him open his eyes, and then it was only for a few seconds. (He was born asleep and never woke.) I am happy that he's awake more, but sad that he is quickly exiting the newborn stage.
So now at 5 weeks, he is starting to be awake for a few hours a day. He smiles now and is starting to make cute little baby noises. He is still an excellent sleeper, 10:30 pm until 5am, can't complain about that.

I don't think you can tell from the pictures, but this little guy has bright blue eyes. Kind of fun that 3/4 of our kids have blue eyes, when Mom and Dad both have a variation on hazel. Ben has hazel eyes.

Our D.I. is wonderful !

2011-01-10T11:41:00.000-06:00

This weekend we felt like we hit the jackpot at D.I.
Check this out:

I found a ton of nearly new Old Navy shirts for Afton this summer. A cute OshKosh shirt for Mei. Adorable sweaters (Gap and OskKosh) for Ben and Mei. A (looks brand new) Old Navy Dress for me and two Childrens Place dresses for Afton.

I also found a copy of this amazing song book (looks and feels like it has never been opened)

And the best find of all, Thank you Rich, was this:

It is so much larger than the hutch we had there, fits the space perfectly and will be great for all our homeschooling supplies.
Our office now looks like this (instead of the family dump).

We are feeling very blessed!

A few of our Favorite Things

2011-01-07T18:17:00.000-06:00

A few Questions?

2011-01-04T15:47:00.000-06:00

I am beginning to think that I really need a good friend who has more kids than I do. If you know anyone (or it is you) I have some questions?

1. How do you manage to get everyone out the door? (yesterday, I had everyone just about ready when I noticed that Madelyn had taken her shirt off and then put her coat on AND then after I finally got everyone in the car and buckled Afton said she had to go potty)

2. How do you get everyone out of the car (while in a parking lot) Safely? (do I keep everyone in until everyone is unbuckled OR do I trust a few to stand outside the car AND yet another problem is that Ben won't climb out of his carseat... so I have to get Ethan out and then walk around to the other door to get him)

3. How are nap time/rest time handled? What do you do when they outgrow the nap? What is the consequence of disturbing Mommy during quiet time? Are the kids spread throughout the house so that everyone has their own spot?

4. How do you get kids to sleep in the same rooms? (when they were babies it was easy)

Three was much easier than four. I am feeling quite a bit out numbered these days.

Family Pictures

2011-01-03T12:51:00.000-06:00

Due to budget constraints we have a severe lack of formal family pictures.... However, over Christmas vacation our Uncle Robert was able to capture some great shots. (It is amazingly difficult to get 4 little people together, let alone all smiling)

I'm thinking we'll get our Christmas cards out around Valentine's Day!

Farewell 2010... You Will Be Missed

2011-01-01T21:30:00.000-06:00

2010 kept getting better and better.... here are some of the highlights.
Re-cap of 2010:
In January Rich was offered a law clerk position and our babies (Ben and Mei) turned 1 years old and 2 years old.

In February Rich started his new job in Utah.

In March we moved from Courtney's parents house in San Diego and into our own apartment in Utah, and Ben started walking.

In April we found out we were expecting a new baby.

In May Afton turned 4, and we celebrated with a Tinkerbell cake that is still talked about.

June brought in the celebration of our fifth wedding anniversary.

July we had a fabulous vacation with the Montierth family to Aspen Grove and we also found out our new baby was a Boy!

August we moved into our brand-new house. (which was mush more finished than this picture)

September Halo Reach came out and we also enjoyed spending time with the Ginos side of the family in celebration of Logan receiving her mission call.

October we spent enjoyed the last few warm days before winter; mainly outside in our driveway and at Thanksgiving Point.

November we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Boring's and Grandpa and Grandma Ginos and eagerly awaited Ethan's birth.

December was the joyous month of all- we celebrated Ethan's birth and the birth of our Savior.

More Christmas

2010-12-29T10:39:00.000-06:00

I don't have pictures from Christmas day (they are on our other camera)... but here are a few with the kids at home. Christmas was spent up in Ogden with the Montierth family. We enjoyed visiting with Bryce and Maile's family, Rob and Marisa and meeting new cousin Fara.

Ben LOVES the Tonka tucks he received.

Afton and Mei are really enjoying all of their new school books.
Hopefully more pictures to come soon!

Christmas from the Great-Grandparents

2010-12-23T21:03:00.000-06:00

We are so blessed this year! Not only have we welcomed a perfect little new baby into our home but we have received such an outpouring of love from others. We have enjoyed spending time with so much of our family over the past few months (Logan's farewell, Thanksgiving, Ethan's Birth) and we are looking forward to spending more time with family over the next week.

We feel so blessed to have such a healthy family, a new home, and all of our needs are met and then some.
I must mention that it is awfully fun having the new baby right before Christmas. It really helps bring the birth of Christ closer to home.

Christmas is being celebrated in stages, a few gifts here and a few gifts there. Tonight we opened gifts from Great-Grandma Ginos. The girls were ecstatic to have their very own muffin baking kits; complete with tins, papers, spoons and aprons. Ben was also very pleased with his new book and Ethan got a snuggly tag blanky. The kids also received money from all of their Great-Grandparents. We've decided to put it towards slippers for all the kiddos. Our house is cold and walking around on a cement floor doesn't help much.

First Snowman

2010-12-21T15:51:00.001-06:00

The years we lived in Nebraska we experienced A LOT of snow, BUT it was not fun. It is so cold there (10 degrees, on a warm day) that you can't go outside for very long. Here in Utah the snow is great! It's soft, powdery fluff perfect for playing in. It's not icey, it's not below 30 degrees and the sun was even peeking through the clouds.

The kids and I went out this morning and built a snowman with our neighbors young boys, Jeffery and Ben. Yes, our snowman making skills need some work, but we've got all winter to practice. I've been trying to talk Rich into coming home early from work so he can play with the kids. Starting tonight we are forecasted for rain, so our snow will melt.
I am grateful that Karen came over and helped me get the kids dressed... that takes a long time. After I got them all dressed I realized I hadn't taken the girls to the potty, thank heavens no one had to go while we were playing.

Daddy's Boys

2010-12-21T15:48:00.000-06:00

We feel very blessed to have two little boys in our home. Ben can't wait for Ethan to get bigger so he'll have someone to wrestle with.

(Ethan at 13 days old)

The first 10 days

2010-12-14T21:56:00.001-06:00

Every day (for the past few weeks) my dear Mom has called to check up on me. She felt bad leaving me in such a miserable pregnancy state after Thanksgiving and then not being around for Ethan's birth. Each day she asks how I am holding up. Before the baby came I miserably replied that I was doing terrible. Thank heavens my Mother-in-law came and stayed with us the week before Ethan was born.(THANK YOU CATHY)
Now since Ethan's here, when she asks how I'm holding up, I can gladly reply, "Great, we are doing better than we have in months."
I know that any day now I will experience that great crash that normally accompanies an overzealous postpartum Mom, but so far we've been taking it easy and our "Little Buddy" is sleeping and eating well.

This afternoon, our overzealous Mei was practically in the crib as she was trying to give Ethan his Binkie.

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Other than the fact that my girls have completely forgotten how to go to bed and stay in bed obediently, we are doing pretty good. We worked for months on getting them to stay in their room (or even separate rooms) and now it looks as though we have to start all over again. I was ecstatic that tonight it only took them 15 trips to the bathroom, 20 talking too's, 0 pinches and 0 spankings until they were both sleeping (in under an hour and a half.)

Spotlight on Ethan

2010-12-09T22:27:00.000-06:00

Here are some more pictures of our newest addition! So far he is a perfect baby. Now that he's the second 9lb baby we've had, I've grown fond of the roundness. Ethan loves having his legs and knees pulled in so he looks like a little round ball. He didn't open his eyes for the first two days (not even when he was born). He was born sleeping and didn't wake up for three days. We've seen his eyes open a few times, but I haven't captured a cute picture yet.

The girls really enjoy holding Ethan. Afton more out of it's the thing to do and Mei just loves babies. Mei is our certified baby holder, it's a good thing she can't get him out of the pac'n'play or she would be carting him around the house. She loves holding "E-tan".

Ethan Peregrine

2010-12-04T14:22:00.003-06:00

Ethan Peregrine Montierth was born this morning at 4:28 AM. He was 9 lbs, 1 oz, and 20 inches long.

Courtney went into labor this morning at about 3:00 AM, woke me up at around 3:30, and we left for the hospital at around 3:45. We got to the hospital at 4:15 and it took around 10 minutes to get to the labor and delivery area. When we got to the room, she said she had to go to the bathroom, and she did. I don't want to be too graphic, but he was born pretty much on the potty, and if the nurses didn't catch him he would have had a cold bath. Anyway, Mommy and Baby are doing great.

Mei-mei was really excited to see her new baby brother.

Baby update #2

2010-12-02T17:11:00.000-06:00

A hospital should never, ever call a humongously pregnant woman and tell her that there is No Room at the Inn.
Please pray that this baby comes on his own SOON!!!! (Like tonight).

Baby Update

2010-12-01T17:00:00.000-06:00

So my actual due date is sometime between Tomorrow and Sunday (December 2-5). We were so hoping this ~~little~~ huge baby would come early. I have actually gone into labor twice but due to his size and posterior direction he just wasn't ready. I am measuring about 2-3 weeks ahead and we are pretty confident that he is a large baby (think like 9-10lbs). So .... what to do.... with my history of hemorrhaging it's not advisable to go past my due date.
We have an induction scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully we have a baby Ethan by dinner time tomorrow. Please pray that all goes smoothly for Mom and Baby.

Animal Naming- Please Vote

2010-11-24T15:27:00.001-06:00

IF YOU PICK OTHER, PLEASE PUT WHAT YOU THINK IT SHOULD BE IN THE COMMENTS

Ethan is coming soon, we thought he might be born yesterday, but it was a false alarm. Anyway, he is getting this little tiger for his birthday. All of our kids have a "special" animal friend with a special name. So we were thinking what to name this little guy. Typically we just pick a name that was a rejected name (like Thaddeus, Baxter or Fiona.) However we really couldn't come up with a consensus on the tiger's name, so we thought we'd put it up for a vote. Pick your favorite name to the right. If you have another suggestion, please enter it into the comments.

We couldn't resist posting this picture as well.

Guest Post by Rich

Freakin' Huge

2010-11-18T20:42:00.000-06:00

.Here I am at 37 weeks and 4 days. As Madelyn says, "You Huge Mom, You Huge."
On the plus side, I am about 15 pounds lighter than I have ever been this late in the game. However, I am measuring 2 weeks ahead, so expect a posting of a huge baby over the next few weeks.

Our Budding Seamstress

2010-11-16T20:04:00.005-06:00

Little Miss Afton LOVES to sew. I have been a little hesitant to start teaching her; I wasn't sure she had the patience, and I don't believe in making useless junk.

But with Christmas coming up she has had plenty of reasons to get sewing. She's been practicing her
straight stitches, (burp rag for Mei's baby doll)

learned how to sew buttons on (minus the knots),

and she's working on the whip stitch.
I love it! She has a ton of patience, she worked on her handiwork for almost 2 hours this afternoon and didn't throw a fit when I had her re-do some of it.

I am amazed at her eye hand coordination. She is really good at getting the needle lined up on the underside of the fabric to pull it through in the right spot. She'd like to learn to use the sewing machine, but I told her she would need to learn hand stitching first.
Sometimes I am sad to see my baby growing up, but other times it is so much fun!
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Out of the mouths of babes:
I told Mei that I was going to go upstairs and take a bath. Here's what she said:
"You can't take a baf Mom, you can't... you huge, you huge. " Thank you Madelyn. I assured her, that even though I am "huge" I still fit quite well in the bathtub.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
As we are trying to send the girls off to bed.
Mei is reluctant to go upstairs, and Afton after a few minutes of waiting, comes back downstairs...
"I need Mei, I just love her so much that I don't really like leaving without her."
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Afton has nearly perfect enunciation, considering she's only 4 1/2 its quite remarkable. There is only one word that she has a hard time with- Magazine.... we love how she says it.... "Maz-a-gine". (she has been practicing how to say it correctly, and I admit we'll be sad when she says it correctly.

Our Pet

2010-11-13T15:47:00.002-06:00

So this is our "pet". It is the closest my kids will be getting to the real thing for a long time.This little guy has been with us for a few weeks now. One morning I thought for sure he had died, in our breakfast prayer we prayed that he would still be alive and sure enough as soon as the prayer was over he started crawling around in his box.

I've been told that this kind of caterpillar hibernates in the winter and doesn't make it's cocoon until later. So I wonder what our little guy will do?
Afton would really like a dog, I explained to her that a dog is a lot of work. You have to teach it things, take it potty, give it baths, as well as feeding it and playing. So I told her that it would be as much work as having another child and right now we don't have enough people in our house that take care of themselves. SO maybe in a few years when the kids can feed, clothe and bathe themselves a little better we could discuss getting another kind of pet.
----------------------------------------------------------
In a few short weeks we will be adding another one to this picture. The was the day we brought Ben home from the hospital, so almost 2 years ago. Doesn't Ben look so big? I'm hoping Ethan isn't another 9 pounder (or as my midwife and I predict he could be 10lbs)

Journal: Part 3 (Responsibility)

2010-11-08T17:58:00.000-06:00

I'd like to think that I have very responsible children. They are generally respectful to each other, to our home and to their belongings. Lately I have been amazed by the level of responsibility each of them has shown. Here are a few examples from the past week:

Afton: I was really sick a week ago and hardly got out of Bed. Afton completely took over the care of her siblings. She cleared the breakfast dishes and wiped the table. She played well with the little ones all morning. When it came time for lunch I pulled out some peanut butter, jelly and bread and she made everyone sandwiches. In the afternoon she put Ben down for his nap and played quietly with Mei. It was a wonderful day!

Mei: She really does surprise me. I often find her alone in Ben's room quietly cleaning up his toys. When she has an accident she gets a rag, wipes up the floor, puts her wet clothes in the laundry and gets new ones all with out me having to say anything. She enjoys switching the laundry and can now start the dryer on her own (I love front loaders).

Ben: He is always helpful when asked to put books away- he is the king book and couch pillow picker-upper at our house. The other day when he finished lunch I sent him upstairs to his bed for nap, with the intent of following right behind him, when I came up a few minutes later had already closed his door and tucked himself in bed and was nearly asleep.

and there is always a BUT.... every once in awhile all responsibility goes out the window and after Mommy had to clean the playroom without enough help, I just had to do this....

Funny thing, they are playing so much better without the toys, do I dare give them back?

Journal: Part 2 (School Update)

2010-11-08T17:47:00.002-06:00

This year is kind of our introduction to homeschooling, where I am trying to add some structured learning to our routine in preparation for the years ahead. Next year Afton will more formally begin her Kindergarten year. Afton craves formal learning, she like worksheets, she like reading books with a purpose, she wants to learn to read and do math.

Here is an update on how things are going:
Goal: 1)Do math 2-3 times a week, 2) Do a reading lesson 2-3 times a week 3) learn about whatever we are interested in

1. Math: we probably only do about 1-2 lessons a week, but having the curriculum has been nice to know what to be teaching her. So even though we don't always do a worksheet I remember to talk about and teach her counting to 100, shapes, writing her numbers, grouping objects and we incorporate this in our daily life. When we do a math lesson it only takes about 15 minutes, I think this will increase as the material gets progressively more difficult.

2. Reading: We started off with the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, I know it works for many families, but Afton and I didn't like it. We got to around lesson 20 and found that it was difficult for her to remember all of the sounds and it wasn't interactive enough- she wanted an activity to do. So, I went to my old teaching box and found my Reading A-Z phonics lessons. We have been enjoying these very much. The pace is slower and there are activities to go with each lesson. Each lesson focuses on a sound, after the second lesson they begin reading simple words like Pap, pan, nap, Nan, and the lessons build on each other. They include a few activity sheets, a phonics book (beginning in lesson 3) and a book that I read aloud to her emphasizing the letter sounds. So this is going much better and she has much joy in reading books to others. I break each lesson up into two 30 minute parts over two different days.

3. Child Directed Learning; We have spent time learning about the phases of the moon, reading about the body, reading about the upcoming Holidays, learning about the Preying Mantis and this week we found a furry caterpillar and are learning all about that.

Overall, I feel that the homeschooling is going to work for our family and I am excited to learn with my kids. I think that once they can read on their own it will help learning go much faster and more child directed. I have also noticed how much Mei is picking up on things from Afton's lessons.

I have heard many people talk about teaching their child to read using the Book of Mormon. How do you do that? The major hurdle I see is that the font is so small how could a 4 year old track that? Any ideas?

I almost forgot, our most important subject- read aloud. I try to read aloud to the kids at least a half hour every day and we do really well at this. I choose a few books and then if we have time they pick, but read aloud time is mostly Moms discretion. I have been reading them a lot of Martin and Judy, Shel Silverstein, Beatrix Potter, and we are reading Charlotte's Web for the third time and The Book of Mormon. (I have decided that we aren't going to read from the picture book version anymore, we are reading straight from the scriptures)

Journal: Part 1(calm before the storm)

2010-11-08T17:30:00.000-06:00

In the weeks of anticipation before the birth of another child there is a great deal of anxiety; Can I really handle another one? What if the kids don't welcome the new sibling? Will I have the energy for another one?

The answer is simple- Yes, we will be fine and in a few months we will be back to thriving and I'll wonder why I ever worried in the first place. Most days our house runs smoothly and we have a great little routine, everyone gets along, everyone is learning, everyone is clothed and we even leave the house a few times a week. Lately, I have found myself dragging more and more and as my sleep is becoming less and less restful I am not on my best Mommy behavior lately and my kids know it.

Mei is perhaps the most sensitive to my mood... and it shows in her behavior. She isn't naughty (very often) but is seems like as my energy goes down hers goes up. The days when I most want her to take a nap is when she fights it the most. Mei brings such a spirit of laughter and funnies that sometimes it is a little much and this tired Mom needs a break. Mei caused such a raucous during rest time today that Ben was woken up early. I love Mei dearly, don’t get me wrong, but every once in awhile I just need a rest. That respite came today around 3pm, when Mei finally fell asleep. She doesn’t need a nap every day, but today was just one of those days. The calmness has taken over our house and it is nice.

I will be happy when the spunk returns, in another hour…

In the meantime Ben and Afton are quite content.... Honestly without Mei our house would be really boring.

Mice

2010-11-06T17:10:00.000-05:00

We have mice in our garage! YUCK!!!! So Rich got some mouse traps and the battle is underway.

Daddy: "So that's, Us Two, Mice Zero"

Afton: "Why?"

Daddy: "Well, we've killed two mice and they haven't killed any of us, yet."

"How long do you think it will take to get rid of the mice?"

Afton: "Well, we can't catch all the mice in the world."

Daddy: "No, we can't. How many mice do you think we will catch?"

Afton: "Um.... 25, no 26, no... 28, no... 105."

----------------------------------------------------

The giant mice on the second floor haven't calmed down much. Our good fortune was short lived.

Breakfast with Kate

2010-11-04T10:31:00.000-05:00

We have had quite the struggle the past few months keeping little Miss Mei in her bed at bedtime. I honestly don't care if she reads, sings, talks, plays with her baby- whatever as long as she's not running in or out of the room, crying at the top of the stairs, wandering downstairs, etc..... So we've tried lecturing, bribing, a social story, spanking, pinching her bum, taking her blanket away, taking Kate away, tuning off her music, turning off their favorite Scripture Scouts.... nothing seemed to be working, UNTIL.... we took some advice from here and had an FHE lesson on being obedient and staying in our room at bedtime.
We had the lesson on Sunday night and throughout the week we have continued to play the game. Last night was a perfect night!! (and actually this whole week has been an improvement).

With the social story I wrote I included that if Mei stayed in her bed then she could eat breakfast with baby Kate. Well, she finally did it today and boy was she pleased. So hopefully this means she is turning over a new leaf and we will be seeing more of baby Kate at the breakfast table.

The "Game"
I went online and found clipart of various bedtime scenes with kids; child praying, child sleeping, child reading in bed, child screaming on bed, child opening door, a child waking up a sibling, a child laying in bed.... and so on until I had about 20 pictures. The game was to sort the pictures into two piles appropriate bedtime behavior and inappropriate. A few days later I let the girls color all of the cards that were depicting good bedtime behavior.

Halloween

2010-10-31T16:44:00.001-05:00

Here are our annual Halloween Pics.

The kids have been enjoying wearing their costumes all month long, so it was very exciting when they were able to wear them out of the house. (The kids arms are folded to keep them still, don't worry they aren't freezing)

Friday the kids went with Daddy to the neighborhood/ward Trunk-or-Treat. Sadly Mommy was too ill to attend.

Saturday Moma and Papa came down to visit. Daddy and Papa took the kids out in the rain to just a few of our neighbors.

Then late Saturday night we had a visit from the Halloween Fairy. So other then the few candies they each have saved the rest of the candy will be going with Daddy to work, hopefully to be eaten by his co-workers and not himself.

I made the girls skirts 2 years ago and Ben's Bee this year. He also had a little stinger that I safety pinned on.

Trains

2010-10-23T19:14:00.000-05:00

This little boy LOVES Trains (and cars). The girls were coloring downstairs without Ben so I took him upstairs and opened his bag of trains. I came back a few minutes later and this is what I found:

Here is a very sad picture of Afton when I told her that she couldn't play with Ben. Since she wasn't allowing him to color it was only fair that he get to play by himself and build how he wanted.

Lucky for them Santa will be filling all four of their stocking with train tracks and trains, now they will have enough to all play together.

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-22T23:04:00.003-05:00

The Pumpkin Patch is definitely the thing to do this time of year. I didn't get any pictures of our trip to the Vineyard, but we had fun with our pumpkins once we got home. The Vineyard had a maze, which we Mom's didn't figure out, then a bunch of random play house type things, some goats, lots of rabbits, chickens and at the end there was a great playground. (too bad we had spent so much time in the maze we had to skip the playground).

Showing off their pumpkins. (Ben was fell asleep on the way home). I am so glad we thought to bring a lunch.

I don't trust "washable" paint- so the girls went shirtless for the occasion of painting.

Both of the girls had some paint on their bodies- all an accident of course... they would never actually start painting themselves once their pumpkin was full.

It was fun and we can't wait to go next year. I thought their pumpkin prices were very reasonable. I asked the kids if they wanted to spend $5 and get one decent sized pumpkin or they could have $1 each and get their own. They opted for their own. It's funny because even though Ben doesn't talk he was jabbering away when I had knelt down to have our family meeting. He was so excited when Afton handed him a pumpkin.
I even splurged on myself and bought a few gourds and some pretty corn.
Can I dry the gourds and keep them for a few years????

Their shirts are the 2009 Old Navy. I will probably go and buy shirts their again for next year, they are like $2 the day after Halloween.

Gourds- How do I dry them? What happens so they don't rot?

A Few Funnies

2010-10-18T23:03:00.000-05:00

Tonight over dinner Daddy was telling Mei what BIG pretty eyes she had- Here's how it went down:
Daddy: "You really have big beautiful eyes"
Mei: "No Daddy! I have wittle eyes!"
Daddy: "You have big blue eyes"
Mei: (even more adamant this time) "You taken Daddy!" "Taken" (meaning Mistaken)
Here is where the conversation ended because we all started laughing....
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My friend Heidi asked me the other day how I reacted to temper tantrums, I told her that for the most part I ignore them. On Saturday, Afton and I went to the Dinosaur Museum, we left before seeing all of the exhibits due to time constraints. Here's what she said on the car ride home.
"I know that when I cry I don't get what I want"
"Crying doesn't get you what you want"

Today at rest time Afton was having difficulty settling down and in the process was ~~screaming and yelling at me~~ insisting that I come upstairs and button Peachies jammies (one of her stuffed monkeys). I calmly said that it was rest time and I would not be coming upstairs. After a short while the screaming stopped and here's what I found at the top of the stairs. (Unfortunately in the process she woke Ben up which I was none to happy about.)

Make Believe

2010-10-18T19:56:00.000-05:00

Rich asked the other day if our kids "Make- Believe", well that's all they do all day.

Ben is always pretending to be a doggy. Crawling around barking, with or with out the ears and tail. If he thinks about it he runs and grabs the ears and tail to help you put it on.

I was just about to throw some cardboard into the trash.... Afton made a game

Ben made a book (with Afton's help)

Ben ate a crayon, and along with the snotty nose it was a lovely sight.

Mei a box person.

Most days are a lot of fun at our house. I hope it's always this much fun, even as they get older.

Halloween Decor. for my Mom

2010-10-13T16:38:00.000-05:00

These reminded me of my Mom's Mary and Joseph that she used to put up in the yard. I am thinking it may return this year, since last year someone stole a piece from her Peanuts Nativity scene.
We went to the Thanksgiving Point Farm this morning. The animals were nice and all, but I really thought some of their Halloween decorations were cool. My photography skills are severely lacking, but MOM I think you should paint one of these for your front yard.

Success or Fail? Not Quite Sure?

2010-10-13T16:26:00.001-05:00

I'm not a fan of messes, especially ones created by little people and consisting of things like glue, paint and stickers. With that being said, every once in a while I feel like I am depriving my children of some great something and so I pull out something messy.... then every once in a while I think I should somehow duplicate the craft experiences of commercial preschools. Sometimes these sorts of activities are successful and well... sometimes they are not.

Flash back to yesterday afternoon.
      Activity #1- In Theory, a great idea, small foam stickers of leaves and letters.
   In Reality, a BAD idea. In a matter of seconds we had sticky letters everywhere. All over the table, chairs, socks, linoleum, carpet and the darn things work like static cling and stick to walls too. So basically they were everywhere but on the bright colored construction paper I gave them...
                         In the end, we are putting those stickers away for a very long time.

      Activity #2- In Theory, a great idea, thread some Cheerios or noodles on yarn
                         In reality,

Ben loved eating the cheerios and when I managed to wrestle away his string he thoroughly enjoyed eating them from the yarn.

Mei was actually quite successful at threading Cheerios and made herself a nice necklace.

Afton said, "I thought this would be boring, but it's fun. It's just like sewing."

Final thoughts- Kids have lived for thousands of years without paint and glue, hopefully mine will survive too. I'll take a nice pile of mud any day.

Trip to the Park

2010-10-11T22:36:00.003-05:00

We've been enjoying the use of our FLIP camera for awhile now, but haven't been very good about organizing the randomness. The HD quality is amazing, but you can't tell on blogger. We've even been teaching Afton how to use it and she has had a blast. This is video from the park the other day. (sorry about the random other girl and her parents)

To Sling or not to Sling?

2010-10-10T17:39:00.003-05:00

I'll start by saying, this is a really dumb question...

Can I buy a new sling just because I hate the pattern of my current one?

I do like the sling a lot and find it perfect for carting around a tiny baby that you don't want others touching and for going places like the grocery store and church. I need a comfortable and easy way to carry this new baby around since Mei is not ready to give up her seat in the stroller. I have looked at the Moby Wrap, but it just seems so cumbersome. The sling is so easy. Yes, it can get uncomfortable after awhile, but it is easy to cart around, keep in the car, take on and off, adjust, wear different sized kids, etc....
But, I HATE my pattern. When I got it it really was the BEST pattern available, but now I have seen these ...
from what I gather they no longer make the Over The Shoulder Baby Holder, but this sling looks so similar. I think a simple green would be so cute!

So HERE is the current sling (so glad I am 30 lbs lighter than this picture)
HERE is the one I want to buy (or one of the other prints, I am open to suggestions)

Update:
Could I make my own K'tan? that one looks great, how do you adjust if for different sized babies?

UPDATE:
I went ahead and made a K'tan type carrier. I couldn't spend the $70 on the name brand, but I could afford the $10 it cost me to make one. You can read my notes on my other blog. HERE

Happy October!

2010-10-06T12:40:00.000-05:00

Zoobooks

2010-10-04T13:44:00.000-05:00

We would really like to start collecting these:

Can everyone keep an eye out for us... for anyone throwing these away, giving them away or if you find them at a Thrift Store (I'll reimburse you). It is about $30 for a year subscription and you only get 10. At that rate it will take us YEARS to get a decent collection.

What We've Been Up To

2010-09-28T18:03:00.002-05:00

We don't have an official school calendar, but this little girl has started Pre-K. She loves doing her " School Stuff". School starts at 9am and as you can tell not everyone is always dressed.

We've started a Kindergarten Math book which she loves as well as reading (with this Great book) and penmanship. Since starting to use some curriculum I've come to realize that I CAN do this, that this home schooling thing is going to work for us. (now ask me in a few months, after Ethan is born).

Most of our day is play. We've been enjoying some nice weather in the high 70's and the kids are loving all the dirt, now if I can just keep them out of the mud.

Ben is big into tackling, sometimes his sisters are too!

Today Afton took a late nap. So.... the little ones had a bawl playing without their ~~bossy~~ loving older sister.

It's fun to see how differently the younger two play when it's not as directed.

The girls are so excited to have their own dressers and lamps. Thank you Grandpa, Grandma and Moma.

Ben's Animal Noises

2010-09-26T21:04:00.000-05:00

Playing Together

2010-09-24T10:58:00.001-05:00

As Rich was leaving for work this morning (and I was laying in bed), we could hear Ben playing quietly in his room. (he can't open his door).
Rich jokingly said, 'so should I go bring a Benjamin into you'. I replied go ahead, because he'll run straight to the girls room anyway.
As the conversation continued he asked me if the kids play together well and if they enjoyed one another s' company. That was an easy question- Yes.

As I meandered out of bed- this is what I came upon.... what a wonderful sight to wake-up to.

One of my (many) goals of homeschooling is that our children develop healthy relationships with one another, that they play well together, care for one another and help each other. I had the opportunity this weekend to meet my cousins mother-in-law who homeschooled her four (grown) children. She said that one of the greatest things was the way that her kids played so well together and didn't fight.

Now I can't say that my children don't fight, but I can honestly say that they genuinely enjoy one another s companionship. Nor, could I say that the only way to have a fight free home is to homeschool your children. My point is that children love to play and as parents we have a responsibility to facilitate this in a healthy way.
I came across this blog post this morning about the benefits of Play- check it out at Raising Olives.

Family Gathering

2010-09-24T10:43:00.001-05:00

While this past weekend was great having all of the Ginos family together- I have delayed blogging about it because I neglected to take any pictures. So if you want pictures you can check out the Boring's Post or the Jones'.
We all gathered together in our home this weekend in celebration of Logan receiving her own endowment in the Logan temple in preparation for her mission to Spokane, Washington. It was wonderful to all be in the temple together.

As the Montierth's like to say "A great time was had by all." We all fell in love with this little goat at the Thanksgiving Point Farm.

A Big Deal

2010-09-14T22:55:00.000-05:00

So apparently THIS is a Big Deal! Somehow I seemed to miss it... oops. Halo Reach came out today and for my husband it was a big deal. Unlike my great friend Heidi who was on top of this and had a pretty little gift box and some brownies for her husband... I totally forgot that today, September 14 was THE day!

I love this man! There are few things in this world (other than me and the kids) that he genuinely likes- I can't even get him to nail down a favorite food- but he loves playing on the X-box. Lucky for me (and the kids) his hobby has never interfered with our family.
He was so excited to play!So far here's what he's said:

"The graphics are amazing!"

"It's cool"

"The graphics are immensely better"

Ben's Growng Up

2010-09-12T23:28:00.001-05:00

This was totally unexpected! Ben has been playing around on the bunk bed for a few weeks now, we'd tell him to go to his bed and he'd climb onto the bunkbed. We'd just laugh and put him back in the pack 'n' play. Well tonight, he climbed into the bottom bunk as usual. Only this time we decided we'd let him try it out. With the idea that in two minutes he'd be running around the room and we'd put him in the pack 'n' play. Well that's not what happened.

I wonder what the morning will be like. He has a few cars, trains and puzzles in his room, so I am going to assume that when he wakes up he will start to play.
I have to admit I've been feeling a little sad this week as I have been putting away the kids summer clothes- sad to see Mei's 18month clothes being put away (or mostly thrown away, because she's worn them two summers in a row), sad to see Ben's 18 month clothes being put away, and especially sad to realize that Afton will soon be wearing 5T.
* In looking at the picture I noticed a book that was not there... so he must have gotten out of bed grabbed the book and climbed back in.

Uncle Dean's Farm

2010-09-10T09:46:00.000-05:00

We had a busy labor day weekend- we spent Saturday driving to Idaho and back (in one day) so we could go to the Perry Family Reunion, held on Uncle Deans Farm. (picture from our HHR- the Yukon has about 3 1/2 times as many miles)

We had a great time visiting my grandparents (forget to get a picture) and meeting up with my cousin Dusty, his cute wife Meagan and baby Tucker.

We had a fun filled day of eating at Big Judd's and then hanging out at the farm. If you've never been there; the hamburgers are HUGE. We got a regular size, so it was only 1 lb. We split it 4 ways. Rich (and the two little ones) ate half, Afton ate 1/4 and I ate 1/4.

The little ones are not the meat eater that their big sister is. I've concluded it's all about exposure, when Afton was little we ate a lot of meat, so she definitely has an affinity to it. The little ones just wanted french fries.

The kids loved the swing set. It was so sturdy and simple (I want one of these) and of course they just loved running around. It was all so beautiful.

Late Saturday night we crashed at the Montierth's and woke up to spend the morning with Bryce, Maile, Brady, Leilani and Carter. Then we hurried home, changed into Sunday clothes and attended Nathan's blessing.
We had a nice weekend visiting with lots of family. More pictures on Minda's blog.

Snack Time

2010-09-10T09:31:00.000-05:00

The other day we had snack out on the driveway. Ben ate the snack while the girls rode bikes. I thought Ben was just so cute as he was shoveling in mini-grapes and then apple slice after apple slice. All in all I think he consumed two large apples and a small bunch of grapes. No wonder he seems to always have a sore bum- he just loves fruit!

You Know I'm Pregnant When...

2010-09-03T13:55:00.001-05:00

1. I can be seen eating Junk Food (this is a dead give away- ask my sisters).
               Normally I wouldn't be caught dead eating lovely things like Doritoes, soda, hamburgers or ice cream.
2. My Husband is not sleeping the same bed.
               At some point in every pregnancy, poor Rich is on the floor. Sometimes this happens in the beginning, sometimes later, and sometimes at the very end. He only slept on the floor when I was pregnant with Madelyn (just for a few weeks) I couldn't handle anything (or anyone) touching or breathing near me. Currently I just can't fall asleep with him in the bed, so we read scriptures then he leaves until I fall asleep.
3. I look as big as a barn.
                My belly seems to get larger with each baby and I show sooner. Even though I have greatly improved my pregnancy weight management, I still look huge.
4. I go from an energizer bunny to crash in 5 minutes.
                 Currently the day goes well until I lose all steam around 4:30, and if I have taken a nap then I'm good until 6.
5. I do a lot of sewing.
                With each new baby I worry I am not making them special enough so I start to sew for them. Then I also think that once the baby is born that I'll never see my sewing machine again (so far this hasn't proven true).
About 12 more weeks until baby Ethan arrives.

Boxcar Children

2010-08-31T11:21:00.000-05:00

We are nearing the end of the boxes and I decided before we threw the last of them out that we should do something fun, So ...we made cars.

By the way, I don't know if you've ever read the book The Boxcar Children, but it's fabulous. I personally only like the first book, the series is pretty dumb.

Sleep

2010-08-28T23:37:00.000-05:00

Sleep, that is what I should probably be doing right now. But I am feeling like I need to use every waking moment productively, that 4 kids is going to be astronomically harder than 3 and that if I don't get every single project done now that it will never happen. Did I feel this way before Ben was born? Apparently, I have been extra cranky in the evenings and so Rich has been trying really hard to coax me into bed by 8pm. He's wonderful. What a great guy to send me to bed at 8pm while he finishes up the dishes... So really I was sent to bed hours ago, but I talked him into letting me stay up past my bedtime, being that it is a Saturday.

Tonight, since Mei took a nice long nap I let her stay up for an hour and play by herself. I could hear her playing (boy was that funny) and didn't think too much of it. Then I saw the mess- she made a bigger mess than all 3 of them combined. Oh well, she had a fabulous time doing it.

I was sewing and Rich was busy installing a couple of these. I keep waking him up in the middle of the night complaining that I am too hot, so we had to break down and get a ceiling fan for our room. Hopefully tonight is blissfully better.

I just went and peeked on my little people and here's what I saw.

Ben- sleeps on his tummy, usually snuggled up to Thadius' Cape (which has long been removed from Thadius), and now he insists on taking a book to bed too.

Mei- This little thing takes a long time to fall asleep (although she is getting better about staying in her bed), she snuggles up with her "dankit" and "Fina" (her blanky and her Giraffe Fiona) and of course we can't forget about Baby Kate too.

Afton- She is so sad that she has outgrown her dolly blanket- notice her toes sticking out the end. She likes to sleep with her blanket as well and Baxter, Peachy and a dolly. Tonight the she made a bunk bed for them all out of pillows. In the future I will be making the kids blankets bigger than hers since she is so heartbroken. Luckily Ben and Mei's are both larger.

Pregnancy Question:
Is this normal? Should I be worried? Twice now in the past few weeks when I have been waiting in lines I have felt like I was going to pass out. I will be standing in line and start to get warm, my ears will plug up, I get all dizzy, I feel like I might throw up. Both times I have managed to find somewhere to sit down before I fainted. Is that normal. It happens after 15 or 20 minutes of standing. When it happened the first time I was in Costco returning something and I just left instead, I almost called Rich to come pick me up. It passes after 20 minutes of sitting and getting a drink.

Benjamin The Red Nosed Baby

2010-08-26T16:54:00.001-05:00

This little man fell down our front step yesterday. I didn't look that bad until today, kind of a mix of a bruise and a scrape.

Wanted

2010-08-23T13:23:00.000-05:00

One Baby Brother! Ben definitely needs a brother to play with. Only about 15 more weeks to go (give or take 2 weeks) until Ethan comes. (Then another 9 months until he can play with Ben)

He Speaks

2010-08-22T17:28:00.000-05:00

Ben, at almost 19 months has started talking... he is so laid back most of the time that I think he simply hasn't seen a reason to start talking any sooner.

Here's what this handsome little man can say:

His first, clearest, and most favorite word is "Duck". But he can also say "book", Dada", "Daddy", "car", "dog" and occasionally "mama".
He has also learned a few animal sounds:
Cow- "mmmmmm"
Dog- "ef ef ef"
Cat- a squeaky sound with his face scrunched up

My Little Bookworms

2010-08-19T12:39:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2010-08-17T13:16:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Rich's birthday! We celebrated by making him Pizza for dinner (well actually I made the dough and he made the pizza, because he is so much better at it than I) and then we had yellow cake with chocolate almond frosting. The cake was a little dense, but the frosting was sure yummy!

And just for fun, here's what the kids did this morning while I did all the dishes that I was too tired to do last night. Rich normally would have stepped in and done the dishes but he just HAD to finish reading Catching Fire.

The Art of Homemaking

2010-08-15T19:26:00.001-05:00

I picked this book up at DI a few months ago. It is full of great tips about being an efficient and happy homemaker.

This is the useful stuff they should be teaching us in school. I am sure I will be posting some of my notes on my other blog. I truly think this is a lost art.
Rich just pointed out that it's probably not 'politically correct' for me to be reading this.

Our House

2010-08-12T15:28:00.000-05:00

We are loving our new house and never want to move again.

Here is the interior of our house (or atleast the parts that I feel are clean enough to share).

The side of our dining room where the kids now enjoy breakfast and lunch.

The eating room. I call it a dining room, other people call it the eat-in-kitchen since we don't have a formal dining room. I think in our family it will just be called the eating room.
Recognize the long black curtains on the sliding glass door? They used to be our shower curtain, I love repurposing stuff.

The Gathering Room. We've never lived anywhere large enough that we could have both of our couches in the same room comfortably. This is my favorite room of the house. No toys, not TV, just couches and books.

Kitchen- loving all the counter space.

The stairs. I only include this because Rich and I fought about whether or not to get the railing. My argument is that you need the railing for visual effect because it's the first thing you see when you open the front door.

Here's the loft or our playroom.

The "boys room".

The "girls room". They will have a double bed to share, it is currently under construction, so hopefully they have a bed by Thanksgiving. Right now Afton's favorite thing about the house is getting to sleep in a sleeping bag.

I am still working on unpacking the office, the master bedroom and the extra bedroom/sewing room and the garage is almost organized enough that I can park in it. I just need to get rid of 6 extra dining room chairs and some other random stuff.

Question

2010-08-10T10:18:00.000-05:00

Here's what Afton asked when I was getting dressed this morning:

When the new baby's born are you going to button your pants?

Moving

2010-08-05T23:27:00.000-05:00

We moved earlier than planned and life has been a little crazy.
Our apartment leasor/realtor double booked our apartment. The original plan was to close on our house in early August and move the Saturday after. Well, they rented out our apartment for the 1st. Completely their mistake. And other than having two days to frantically pack the move went relatively smoothly, even considering we were homeless for a few days and had our belongings in a trailer plus two different peoples garages. BUT, we are in our house and it is great.We even made some money on the deal, got help moving and got a great fridge. So all in all we came out pretty well.

We closed on our house Monday, August 2nd, Rich and I slept on the floor in sleeping bags that first night. Luckily my in-laws had our kids. I would not recommend sleeping on the floor when you have the cheapest carpet ever...
Then on Tuesday (with a few different trips) our stuff was delivered. I think we have a lot of stuff, but I am pretty sure we don't. Although I think the boys were ready to kill me when they saw how many boxes of books we have. Brad and Cathy came down and brought our kids back. A huge thank you to them for packing up a ton of our apartment, taking the kids for a few nights, providing place for us to stay over the weekend and then taking our kids for another night. I am sure they were glad to return home kid-less and get some rest.
Wednesday and Thursday have been spent unpacking. I love unpacking, hate packing, but I love unpacking. This afternoon I got some of the pictures hung and the downstairs looks like a normal house. I still have some work to do on the upstairs, mostly our bedroom and the spare room, and maybe one day we'll tackle the garage.

Our house is great! I love having a family room large enough for two couches (plus book cases) and still have extra space. The office is wonderful, I love the dining room- it is large enough for our big table plus I have the kids table in their too. I love all the space. Our house is twice the size of our apartment and tons bigger than our house in Nebraska. The loft is wonderful, I no longer have toys in the family room. Now we actually have room enough for people to visit us!

I'll try to post pictures soon. I would be embarrassed if anyone saw all the boxes around and the beds unmade.

Now we just have to get going on that To-Do list.

A Compelling Reason

2010-07-27T09:33:00.000-05:00

Last night for FHE we made some brownies (by we, I mean Rich made them, while I bathed the kids). Rich even added in walnuts, my favorite. Well as you can imagine we ate most of them (and by we I mean me).
This morning as I was preparing breakfast and nibbling at the last brownie.
Afton: "What are you eating Mom?"
Mom: "The last brownie"
Afton: "Can I eat the last brownie?"

Here, I totally could have pulled the mom card and said something like, "No,... because I'm the Mom."
Instead I thought to myself, well if she can come up with a compelling reason then I'll give it to her.

Mom: "Well, why should you get it?"
Afton: In a very sweet, matter of fact way, that only Afton can do she said, "Well last night you had 3 brownies and I only had one."
Mom: "Fair enough, here you go." I just couldn't argue with that, she was right.

And just for fun:

This little boy loves Olives, thanks Papa for bringing over a whole bag.

San Diego

2010-07-26T10:14:00.000-05:00

This past week the kids and I made the 12 hour drive to San Diego to visit Grandpa and Grandma. I didn't take too many pictures, but here are a few. Traveling with 3 kids makes for one tired Mommy, it was all worth it, but I think I need a vacation, alone.

We attended Church on Sunday and that was nice to visit a few friends. Afton threw the hugest fit ever during Sacrament meeting (over a pencil) which is funny because the ward members always thought Afton was the perfect one. Monday, we went over to a friends house and played and chatted the morning away. We went to the beach that afternoon with great plans of enjoying the warm sun, but it was so cool we only stayed an hour and never touched the water.

Tuesday, we planned on spending the day at Sea World. We drove down their, payed for parking, took one look at the parking lot overflowing with cars and decided against it. It's no fun when it is crowded we'd rather go in the off-season when we have the place to ourselves. When we lived in San Diego we had passes and went pretty often. Funny thing too, it was so much warmer in January. Instead of Sea World we toured Old Town (nothing terribly exciting) and ended the day with a visit to The Mormon Battalion Visitors Center (which we love).

Wednesday, we went over to the Carlsbad outlets where we thought their would be crafts for the kids, it turned out to be pipe cleaners on a table. Mei made a bug and a headband and Afton made a bracelet. However, Grandma did get a lot of Christmas shopping done, so that's exciting.
Even though our plans changed every 5 minutes, (originally we were going to go camping), we had a great time, relaxing, eating out (I love the fish burritos at Jaunitas) enjoying time spent with Aunts, uncle and Grandma and Grandpa and roasting Marshmallows in the backyard.

Most of the vacation went fantastic and the kids were well behaved. Madelyn is showing us all that she is 2 1/2 and is definitely expressing her personality especially when it comes to bedtime. Almost every night she fell asleep against the bedroom door in the middle of a tantrum.
Also, if you are interested, I posted my traveling tips HERE.

MISSING: Reward If Found

2010-07-15T10:59:00.001-05:00

MISSING: Reward If Found

I have been casually looking for Ben's other shoe for a few days. Now I am beginning to Worry. THESE ARE HIS SHOES! The only ones he wears.

Update:
My Mom relayed a story to me about a time when Logan lost her glasses. She told us other kids that she would pay us five dollars if we found the glasses, no glasses, BUT when she bumped it up to twenty dollars the glasses were found.
So I told Afton I would buy her a fairy something from the store if she could find his other shoe. She prayed a lot, looked a lot and after a few hours she found it under a doll bed. (I swear I looked there, and I cleaned the playroom quite a few times)
The good new is, Ben now has a right and a left shoe!

Complete Randomness

2010-07-15T10:07:00.000-05:00

Just some pictures from this past week. Our house is nearing completion and it looks like we will be closing the first week of August. We played a lot, we slept a lot, we ate a lot. We took a trip to the Bean Museum where we met Otis (a Tortoise) and we have checked on our house every night because everyday they do something major every day.

Fun Game

2010-07-15T09:59:00.001-05:00

One of the magazines we used to get when I was growing up (maybe ZooBooks) had this game on the back of every edition. It would have a close-up picture of 10 or 12 things and you had to identify them. As I was going through the pictures this morning I saw that Afton had been experimenting with the zoom feature.

See if you can guess what these are: Hint: all pictures were taken inside the house.
1.

Bonus: I have no idea what this is a picture of?

What's in a Name?

2010-07-11T23:13:00.001-05:00

I think I mentioned this before, but I am funny when it comes to picking the new babies name. I like the names picked early so the baby becomes a part of our family even before he/she is born and I have a few of rules concerning the name.

The name needs to flow well with the other siblings names; so pretty much ending in 'n'.
Their middle name needs to come from family and/or have some significance.
The boys names have to come from the top 100 list and girls names we would like to be more unique.

So with these 'rules' of ours it takes a while to come up with a proper name. I have chosen all the kids names before their birth and haven't changed one yet. Here's a little background on everyone so far- before we announce new baby boys full name.

Our eldest daughter is Afton. Rich and I both new people named Afton when we were growing up and we just really liked the name. Her middle name Lynn is the same as her mother's and grandmother's.

Next we have Madelyn. When we named her we really had no idea the name was popular. We were having a difficult time coming up with a name and my Dad called and suggested the name (I think he knew a Greek girl in school with that name). We had to do some research on how to spell it and decided that is was more important that her name was pronounced correctly than spelled correctly. She has a great-aunt named Madeline (pronounced Madelyn), I believe she is the Aunt of my Grandma Ina. Her middle name is Mei and comes from Chinese, meaning beautiful. In Taiwan the little girls are called Mei-Mei, meaning little sister, that name has stuck. And given the popularity of Madelyn, we choose to call her Mei (May) most of the time.

Then we move on to our first son, who Daddy feared would be our only son. We had loved the name Benjamin since the time we were dating, so that was a given, there was no debate there. I also wanted the boys to have 'popular names' so that fit as well. Benjamin is also a name that appears a lot in the ancestry. Then we come to Moroni, his middle name. We got this name from his Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather Alvin Moroni Montierth, who changed his name from Samuel Miller Somes when he joined the Church, and Alvin's father also happens to be named Benjamin. I like Ben's name because it has religious, familial and historical (Benjamin Franklin) significance.

Now onto baby #4. We really bounced a lot of names around. We learned a few things; some of the names we love have been used too recently, others haven't been on the 'popular' list. We quite easily have decided on a first name, but it's the middle name that we have had the heated debates over. Well for awhile Rich has mentioned that he has some ancestors who came across on the Mayflower (cool, huh?) of the 100 or so people that came, only 51 survived the first year. Of those people there was a boy named Resolved and his little brother Peregrine. This week Afton and I were reading THIS book about the First Thanksgiving, and these young boys were mentioned. So, after much thought, debate, laughing, tears and family history search we have finally decided on a middle name. I am not going to deny that it is weird, but it has some cool historical history and really, it's only his middle name, who ever uses that name anyways? You can read all about the history HERE. Resolved White is our kids 14th Great-Grandfather.

Without further ado, this new little man will be named Ethan Peregrine

A Day in the Life

2010-07-09T09:49:00.000-05:00

All's Well that ends well, right?
Yesterday (morning) was a BAD day! I thought of this great plan for us to go to the Children's Discovery Garden, stay for lunch, play in the water, build in the sandbox, meet some friends- great right?
Well, the girls didn't think so. They were awful. (Ben was perfect)
Madelyn was crying and whining for Hummus.
Afton wanted to do whatever activity we weren't doing.
Madelyn wanted to be carried.
Afton was whining because she couldn't see the fish.
We stopped on a bench for lunch.... you would think feeding them would help with the crankiness?
Madelyn, pushed Ben over, whined for more Hummus.
When we needed to take Mei potty, Afton threw a huge tantrum.

Needless to say, I excused ourselves from our friends, apologized for the kids behavior and we left the park. Oh, how I would have loved to have stayed longer. I put the kids in the car, sternly looked at the girls briefly listed what had gone on and why their behavior was unacceptable. I think they got the point. Mei, said "Mommy Angry" and Afton said "Sorry Mom" about 15 times. I told them that when we got home they would all be going straight to bed for naps, including me.

All's well that ends well!
Everyone took 3 1/2 hour naps, including myself. Oh it was Heaven! and so worth every minute of that cranky morning! The kids went down around 12:45, were asleep by 1pm and I didn''t here a peep until 4:27 when the kids bedroom door opened and I heard this little voice say, "where's Aton, miss Aton.... where's Aton, miss Aton". (I love that Mei, she is so loving)

So the moral of the story: when you go on vacation for a week, remember the kids need a week to recover before getting back into normal life.
If you want to know why Afton is in the Pac'n'play see HERE.
And, finally in other news;

We had our medical ultrasound and Baby Ethan is looking quite healthy and is projected to come around the first few days of December.
Our house is almost done being framed and looks like we'll be moving in the first part of August.

Apsen Grove

2010-07-05T21:42:00.001-05:00

We just got back from a fabulous stay with the Montierth side of the family at Aspen Grove. You can read all about Aspen Grove HERE. This will mostly be pictures... I hardly had the camera with me, but we enjoyed all the family games, time alone while the kids were at their classes, visits from the Pixie (thank you Moma), great speakers, not cooking for a week and just spending time with extended family. Thank you Brad and Cathy for a wonderful experience.

Ben with his Papa!

Afton went with her Kitten class to the rock wall. They put her up on the wall (just like the picture), she hung on for dear life and said, "I'm done, get me down". She is a clone of her Grandma Ginos.

Frontier Village

Now these are the kind of horses I want in our yard some day!

As if you can't already tell from the picture Ben loved riding the horse.

We concluded the week by celebrating Grandma Montierth's 80th birthday. As part of the festivities we spent some time at the North Ogden Aqutics Center, which is a little ironic since Grandma doesn't swim, and other than showering hasn't been in water for 72 years.

IT'S A .....

2010-06-26T12:55:00.001-05:00

So this morning my sister-in-law Maile called and said "Do want to come do an ultrasound?" Yes, of course. Her best friend Jodie is an ultrasound tech here in the area. So we left the house 5 minutes later. THANK YOU MAILE! It was so much fun, especially for Daddy!

Apparently the only one excited about this news is Ben.

We are still contemplating names for this one. I want something traditional yet I also want it to flow well with the other names; Afton, Madelyn and Benjamin.

So I am thinking maybe Lincoln, William, Landon, Mason... we accidentally pigeonholed ourselves into this trend. Maybe on the final four kids we'll start a new trend?

New Dress

2010-06-24T09:33:00.003-05:00

So I have been eyeing this dress at Kohls for a few months now. I have a gift card (Thanks Mom) but just couldn't bring myself to spend the $40. BUT, yesterday when I ran into Kohls to grab a sun hat for our upcoming vacation... I thought I would just look to see the dress in real life. Guess what- they were on sale for $15.99, so needless to say I was excited. I think I am going to go back today and grab a second color. Rich, who never says anything about my clothes, loved it and thought it looked very feminine. It is made of such a cool, breathable fabric I think I might wear it every day. Would that be a little much? Did I mention I also found a 15% off coupon.

The kids were excellent shoppers and I could go and try it on. Even though it's not maternity I am pretty sure it will fit for through the summer. Although I seem to be getting rapidly huge with the baby even though I have gained less than 10 lbs. I am about 17-18 weeks along now. We should find out the gender of this new little one in just a few weeks. I want another girl, but now that we have a Boy name picked out that I love almost as much as our girl name I would be okay with either.
I am funny about the names, I like to have their name picked out very early.

P.S. See you in a few weeks, we are headed to Aspen Grove for a week with family.

Father's Day!

2010-06-20T21:23:00.000-05:00

We aren't much for celebrating holidays, But we do love our Daddy!

You can click HERE to see the yummy dessert we made tonight.