Progressive Photo Shoot

My mom wanted a picture of Abby in the pillow case dress she made for her, so I snapped one with my phone this morning.

Since Annie was wearing her pillowcase dress as well, I invited her to join in the shot.  Just for my mom.  This was all I intended.

The next thing I knew, Logan decided he wanted to be in the picture.

And suddenly we were getting all sorts of cute poses, but I was still using my poor quality phone camera.

The kids wanted to take more pictures, so we finally pulled out the real camera.  Except that I think I have a ghost who adjusts the settings on it every time I put it down, and I don't actually know how to put them right.  So our first few shots were overexposed.

I decided I'd better turn off the flash (which is the only thing I know how to do), so our next shots were underexposed.  *sigh*

I still love some of these pictures anyway.

I pushed some button (??) and suddenly my picture quality improved.  (I really should learn how to use my camera properly...it's only been 7 years.)

The kids still wanted to take pictures, and I'd finally warmed up to WANTING some decent pictures, so I proposed we go outside (where the natural lighting works out in my favor more often despite my lack of camera knowledge).

We're having a very hot, humid day so the camera fogged up immediately.  Bleh!

After it adjusted and I'd dried the lens, we finally had some decent pictures.  That's a good looking pack of kids!

I love their smiles best in this one, but Annie had been rubbing her eyes so much that they look swollen.

Abby lost interest...

We tried to convince Abby to join in one more picture, but she wasn't having it.

Logan has been bugging me to take his baseball pictures (since I refuse to pay the exorbitant prices for the professional ones).  He made up all of his own poses.

Playtime finally...I tricked this stubborn girl into looking at me.

The others are out in the sprinkler right now (Abby is surprisingly uninterested).  It's a great day for getting wet.

Kids Create

I'm assuming this is true for a lot of families, but my kids are very attached to their works of art.  When I told them it was time to clean this one up, they insisted I take a picture.  :)

A few days ago I was craving chocolate, so I suggested to Logan that he could make a cake if he wanted to.  Of course he wanted to!  (These kids love to cook...I have no idea where they get it from.)  He made this (almost) completely by himself; I only monitored the bake time and helped with the powdered sugar for the frosting.  He even frosted it himself.  It was delicious!

Independence Day

We had a fabulous Independence Day weekend!  On the 3rd, Jim took the three older kids to a nearby city for an airshow and fireworks; his parents, brother, and sister also met up with them there.  I'm told it was a fun time.  I enjoyed my quiet time at home with Abby.  :)  Jim's brother came back with  them to our place that night to spend a few days with us.  The kids were really excited to have their Uncle Ben here!

On the 4th we watched a parade with friends, and then walked over to a park for some festivities.  Things were inexpensive, so we let each kid choose two inflatables to have fun in.  Then we enjoyed the petting zoo and the kids had a free train ride.

It was a HOT day.  We were glad we had water bottles with us.  After the park, we went home so the adults and Abby could rest, and the other kids could play in the sprinkler.

We borrowed our friends' daughter for the day; everyone enjoyed having her along.

After all of our daytime fun we returned to the park for fireworks, and then enjoyed the rest of our weekend with Ben.  It was nice to have such a great weekend!

Home Happenings

Our big project lately has been building a new playset for the kids.  The kids have played and played and played so much on the used one we were given that it's falling apart!  I'd been saving family gift money for quite sometime, so this is what we decided to spend it on.  Rather than purchase a ready to assemble set, we designed our own and are going to have a much nicer set for easily 1/3 of the cost.  :)

I took a couple of pictures when Jim was attaching the swing arm.  Since then, he's built the ladders, a rock wall, and finished the construction for the canopies.  Now we  just need to stain it (I bought the stain today!!) and attach the swings and such.

This thing came out bigger and sturdier than we'd envisioned on paper; it should last a very long time!  It will have a rock wall, two slides, three swings, and monkey bars in addition to the two platforms.

I've had a tired little lady after various excursions lately.  She's so cute.

Logan has been helping with the yardwork this summer by doing most of the edging.

I used to rotate our toys, but since we've lived in this house I haven't been doing it.  Most of their toys are sets that they use regularly, so I figured I'd let them have those in their closets.  Our toy mess had been too much lately, though, and they weren't being as cooperative as they should have been about cleaning it up every day.  (We don't have that many toys in the first place!)  So, we did a thorough clean and sort one day recently, and put it all on the attic landing (which is conveniently a few steps from their bedrooms).  Now we're allowing only two sets or boxes out at a time...one for each bedroom.  It's glorious! 

The kids are all realizing that clean up is easier this way, and their toys are somehow more desirable now that they are pretty much off limits.  It's easy for me to switch them out as well when they want something different.  Win win!

 

 I never tire of our countryside here.  This is the view from my mailbox.  :)

37 1/2 Weeks

I had a request from my little sister for a pregnant belly shot.  (I think little miss photo bomb is the cutest part.)  Here you go, Sarah.  :)

10 Signs That I'm VERY Pregnant With my 5th Baby
10. Cankles...enough said.
9. Baby's due in 2.5 weeks, but where are the baby things?  In the attic.
8. 'I don't care syndrome.'  This applies to the house, my hair, my yard, etc.. except once every other week when I care so much that I'm a little bit insane.
7. 'I care too much syndrome.' This is that day every other week that I go crazy with housework and yardwork, and then I can't walk for three days afterward because I overdid it.
6. Third trimester nausea for the first time ever.  The only things that sound good are junk food and fruit smoothies, but the junk food makes me feel worse.  Hooray for the new blender Jim gave me for Mother's Day!
5. A bladder the size of a ping pong ball.
4. Nightly dreams that I'm in labor or the baby is already here.  Last night I dreamed she was here, but hadn't nursed in three days and I wasn't concerned.  What?!
3. Avoiding the stairs as much as possible, especially if it involves carrying anyone/ anything.  I could be accused of tricking Abby to go upstairs when it's time for her nap.
2. 'Bed Dread'.  Because sleep isn't happening much.
1. Brain malfunction.  If it requires logical thought processing, ask someone else.

Spring/ Summer Fun

We took a day down in Nauvoo last month.  The kids enjoyed the pioneer games while Jim and I took turns in the temple.

Jim gave me a Ninja blender for Mother's Day.  It's the first decent blender I've owned; I've been using it almost every day!  The kids are especially liking the frozen treats I've made in it, like this berry sorbet.

We've had a fair amount of rain the last several weeks.  The kids have played in it a few times.

We rotate parent/ child dates every week.  Here's my handsome date one evening.  :)

I took the kids to the arboretum.  We fed the fish, and then played in the children's area for a while.

We went to a party for a friend recently, and Jim decided to take a nap.  Alex joined him; everyone thought they were pretty funny.

Bubbles!

On a really hot day last week I gave the kids permission to use the sprinkler.  They first had to untangle our mess of hoses.  We have three hoses connected in order to reach certain parts of our property, but I couldn't disconnect them because Jim had screwed them together so tight!  So the kids had their work cut out for them.  After a sweaty 45 minutes of work, they more than earned their water time!

Jumping on the trampoline with a sprinkler underneath was one of my favorite things as a kid!  I would have joined them if I wasn't so pregnant.

Home Happenings

I can't claim busyness to be my excuse for not blogging lately, but can I claim pregnancy?  I won't have that excuse soon...ha ha!  Anyway, life continues moving for our family.  There are a million things I haven't taken pictures of that I'd probably like to document, but alas, my brain can't seem to hold on to them.  :)

We spent a fair amount of effort this spring trying to catch a gopher that was wreaking havoc in our yard.  One afternoon we found an open hole, so I sat out there for HOURS trying to get him.  He kept popping up and down determined to close his hole, and I kept reopening it after my unsuccessful attempts to catch him.  Finally, I decided to at least take a picture of him.  You'd think he would have been easier to snag! 

Jim eventually came home from work, so he took over the watch while I went to the store to buy a trap.  We were determined!  He was putting this hills all over the yard.  In the end, we didn't succeed unfortunately, but we've learned some things for next time!

Annie has always wanted long beautiful hair, so this past year we kept it as long as it would grow.  Her hair is really thin and wispy, though, so it never looked decent unless it was up somehow.  Anything I put in her hair would break it, and by spring her hair was a total uneven mess.  I finally talked her into cutting it short so it could be healthier.  Last week she had a good chop, and she's looking a lot less wild!  She's had a few tears over it, but we're telling her she looks like Kit Kittredge from the American Girl books.  That's a good consolation in her eyes.  :)

A few weeks ago, I needed to make laundry detergent again.  This is our third round.  Each batch costs $20, and lasts us 1 1/2 years!  It leaves our clothes smelling fresher than any detergent we've used as well; we love this stuff!   Here is the recipe/ how to.

The kids pretty much made the detergent by themselves this time.  Grate, mix, ta da!

We have birds galore on our property, but we have no idea what this one was.  The kids found it on the day I was watching the gopher.  We're certain it was a baby because it made no attempt to escape.  It just held very still for HOURS.

We put in our vegetable garden last month, and now we're starting to enjoy the harvest.  Most of our plants are growing really well, as are the weeds.  This Midwest weather/ soil makes growing easy!

When we made Father's Day cards (which Logan reminded me today we forgot to give Jim) Abby took a maroon marker and colored her lips.  I don't wear lipstick at all, so I'm pretty amazed she came up with this!

Abby tends to fall asleep on the way home from church every week, and Jim loves cuddling with her when we come inside.

Sweet little girl...

My big venture right now is starting a Bountiful Baskets site in our area.  I was trained for it last winter, but we had a bunch of delays with getting our site started.  Two weeks ago we were finally up and running!  I'm really enjoying the opportunity to serve in my community this way so far (it's a totally volunteer run thing), and I'm pleased to be saving money on our produce!  

Kids and Dads Say

Alex to me, "I'm going to eat forever!  I mean all night and all day.  Will my tummy be as big as yours?"

Me, "Look!  The storm is ending."  Alex, "I KNOW!  My PRAYERS!!  I didn't work for the thunder.  It worked for the lightning though!"

It was a little after bedtime and Annie came out of her room.  "I'm cold."  Me, "Lay under your blanket."  Annie, "I'll try that."  Because the obvious isn't always obvious...ha ha!

Alex chewing on a drumstick, "These kind of birds are good to eat when they're dead."  Jim, "So not when they're alive?"  Alex, "Yep."

Logan, "Mom, am I small and stout and hardy?"

Alex giving an excuse for being naughty, "Mom!  My tempter is in, so it tempts me!"

Jim, meaning to ask the kids to be reverent for scriptures, but must have been looking at me, "Okay everyone!  Get pregnant!!"  Let's just say he produced the opposite effect of what he was going for.