Happy New Year!

Caleb & Kevin protecting our tree
Monopoly game that only lasted 1 1/2 hours!

Helping Brielle open her gifts!

Fun at the mall

Brielle meets Santa and doesn't seem impressed

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and New Year's Eve celebrations! We have been so blessed with good health and a warm home! We have enjoyed reading about your families and seeing pictures of your littles ones. Thank you for sending your Christmas cards and "old fashioned" greetings!

A visit to the mall to see Santa with Brielle a couple weeks ago was a something we hadn't done for a while. She was so good. This being Brielle's first Christmas, it was a fun experience for us. I am sure she was oblivious to the events, but just the same, we had a few toys for her under the tree. She let us open them for her. She sat in her bouncer and quietly watched us open our gifts. Then she fell asleep. Skyler got his ipod dock he wanted for his ipod. The twins recieved their extra warm mummy bags, and have been sleeping in them ever since Christmas.

After eating our breakfast Mark took the boys to a local shooting range and let them play with their new BB guns. I was opposed to this purchase, but they are almost 14 and Mark says he had a gun at their age. They were very excited about these but know they can not use them unless they are at the shooting range. We then played our new electronic Monopoly game and put puzzles together.

For New Years Eve, Skyler went to the youth dance and the boys went to a friends house until 10pm. Then we watched the ball drop on tv. Brielle hasn't been feeling well these days because she has been teething. She actually has a back tooth coming in right now. The boys all got their front 2 bottom teeth first, so this is new to me. She is 4 months old today, so I think she is on track with her teething.

Out of curiosity, did any of you make or give neighbor gifts this year? I gave out a few plates of treats, and a Santa doorknob hanger with a santa poem on it to those who shouldn't be having treats. A friend gave us a bottle of JOY liquid dish soap that said "Hope you have a JOYful holiday" I like those practical gifts. Did any of you have a favorite neighbor gift?

Thankful for the family

Cousins Rhea and Brielle
Anyone up for clogging?

Our eternal igloo! (Or at least all spring)

This past weekend we had the oppertunity to visit Mark's family for Thanksgiving. It was great to see almost everyone. With parents on their mission to New York, a brother in California and another brother in Nevada, we were fortunate to get the rest of the group together. Here Brielle meets her cousin Rhea for the first time.

For Christmas we will stay in our home where it's nice and cozy.

It's hard to believe Brielle is already 3 months old. I put on this new dress and I could swear she started to move her legs like she was clogging! She has been so much fun. So we had this incredible snow storm come though Sunday night and the boys (K&C) couldn't wait to start working on thier annual igloo in the backyard. Last year we had the mound of snow until May!

Yoda, really?

Several cute names come to mind when I think of our new little girl. When we're cuddling or I'm getting her dressed in the morning, we visit and I call her "pookie", "cutie pie", "cuddle-bug" or "Bri". But never, do I refer to her as "Yoda"! However, My husband seems to think it's funny that she somehow resembles the little green jedi knight! While looking at her, he'll use his best Yoda impression and say..."Cute, I am". (I can imagine my brother Andrew, who is an obsessed Star Wars fan coming up with this.) I just don't see it!

My only question is... whose side of the family is this look suppose to be from? On a side note, I tried to obtain a picture of the real yoda for a comparrison shot, but the picture was copyrighted.

Here's hoping all your children are living free of any sad nicknames!

Regression?

I know it seems odd to even ask, because there has been nothing but warm fuzzy feelings since Brielle joined our family, but I wonder, can her siblings still regress? Case in point, Kevin loves to play with her floor toy. It's all well and good, for now. I just hope he doesn't fight her for it later.

Parent teacher conferences were yesterday and for the most part all the boys are doing really well. Skyler brought home another straight A report card and he's in the thick of swim team season. His first meet was also yesterday which he came in first (out of 6) in the 50 meter freestyle. What can I say, I'm a proud mama. He's the swimmer at the top of the video that I zoom in on.

Mark had his cast removed and stitches taken out but is still on crutches, so while I am running around trying to meet teachers and vidotape Skyler swim meet, he's home with Brielle. I am grateful for that.

My infant and my invalid

My scouts
Scouts helping a little lady
sweet pea
my infant
my invalid

AS you can see from the pictures, Mark is "down for the count!" Last Thursday the boys were asked to attend the church dodgeball tournament.(Which, BTW, I have never heard of church dodogeball) Mark decided to take them and watch along the sidelines. After the tournament was over, the referees said the adults could join in the fun and play dodgeball with the kids. Mark said he had barely started to run when he felt a pain in the back of his leg. He said it felt like someone had hit him with a baseball bat! He said the floor started to move, like he was going to passout, and he hobbled over to the stage to sit down. A friend in the ward who is a nurse looked at Mark's ankle and said it seemed like he had torn his achellies tendon. After coming home with the kids, he drove to the E.R. and was told he had indeed torn his Achellies tendon and he would need surgery. He came home that night and went in to surgery on Monday. (To redeem myself as a good wife, the reason I didn't take Mark to the E.R. is becasue I didn't want to take Brielle into the germy hospital and I wasn't sure how long Mark would be there. Plus, Mark injured his left ankle so he could still drive. Mark is in a cast for 4 weeks and has his laptop here so he can still get work done. It has been a crazy week!

Brielle is a month old today and has been so much fun. It has been interesting to see her grow and adapt to our crazy family. The boys are very helpful as they like to pick out her outfits and put bows in her hair. We took her to the court of honor last Wednesday where Kevin and Caleb earned their "Life" and Skyler earned his first palm. We still haven't taken Brielle to church as we are trying to keep her healthy and away from anyone having the flu. We will take her to church for her blessing on Oct. 10th. I guess I could say I am grateful that Mark is an invalid right now as he can watch her while I run errands. Life is full of surprises. Not all of them are good, but we can choose to look at the positive.

Here she is!!

Ok, for all you mothers out there who want to know the details of Brielle's birth, read on; Aug. 31st was a typical day. For dinner we had cheese ravioli with spinich sauce and a salad. We did homework. Then, by 8pm the Braxton hicks I had been feeling all month were replaced with stronger more consistant pains. Mark took Skyler driving (that's all Skyer wants to do these days) and the twins went with them. They got back around 8:30 and we had our scripture study time. By 9:00 i was timing these contractions which were 5-7 minutes apart and mentioned to Mark we should get the boys to bed on time. 10:00 and everyone is in bed except Mark. I told him not to bother getting ready for bed because I need to call the hospital to see if I should go in. I called Labor & Delivery and said, "I think I am in labor". The nurse said, just come in and well check you. Good thing the hospital is only 8 minutes away. Once we got to the hospital they checked me into a birthing room and called my Dr. I was at a 4 and 75% effaced. They said it was good I came in. My Dr. arrived shortly after 11pm and broke my water. I had the epidural put in around 12 and was finally getting relief from the aweful conrtations that were right on top of each other. The Dr. would come in and check on me every 30 minutes and by 2am said, "we should see this little girl in about half an hour." Sure enough, 30 minutes later, I had given birth to our sweet little girl, Brielle. (My apologies to Andrew and Toshia, who so kindly called me only 7 minutes after Reagan was born, I didn't think anyone wanted us to call at 2:30 am!!)
Brielle weighed 6 lbs. 12 oz and barely cried at all. They said she was still spitting up a lot of fluid, but should be fine. Mark went home around 4am to get a couple hours of sleep then told the boys, when they woke up to get ready for school at 6:30am, that they were going to the hospital to meet their new baby sister. Mark said he had never seen Kevin and Caleb jump out of bed so fast in their lives! Caleb didn't even want to eat breakfast. The boys got to the hospital around 7am. They put on hopital gowns and took turns holding her. Then Mark took them to school.
She is now 11 days old and the boys are still taking turns holding her. I am waiting for that day in a few months from now, when I hear; "she stinks, it's your turn to hold her." Or.. "Mom, she is crying again". But for now, I'll enjoy the moments when I can get a few things done while the boys pass her around.

First day of school

I will be the first to admit that I am not a crafty person. However, about 6 years ago I saw this idea for edible crayons and made them for the boys first day of school. Now they are a tradition. They are so easy and fun to make. Just take the 3" thick twisty pretzel sticks, (I find mine at walmart) and buy a bag of white chocolate chips or candy melts. Divide up the white chocolate into separate containers, melt for 30 sec in the microwave until desired consistancy and add food coloring. I like to stay with 5 or 6 colors. But use as many as you want. Dip each end of the pretzel into the colored chocolate and put on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Then put all the Crayons in the fridge over night. I think they set up better. Then I use colored construction paper to make the wrappers. Just tape the wrappers around the crayons with clear tape and you're done. I am usually able to make about 80 crayons with one bag of white chips. I can send enough to school for the boys to share with some friends.

Normally, I would take the boys to school on their first day, but I didn't today because#1) After a month of hot summer weather, it was actually cold and raining this morning and #2) I am due any day, so I didn't want to get out for pictures. I can take them on another day and have a better picture experience. I don't think my teenage boys want me embarrasing them anyway!