Fall Break- part 1

This past weekend was our Fall Break from school!!  And we finally got to go camping again!!  :)  We hadn't been in over a year and we had so much fun!!  Barth was off of work for Columbus Day today, so that meant he only had to take off on Friday!  We had gorgeous weather for our camp out!  We went up to a place in Ohio called Hocking Hills!  It was so pretty.  All of these pictures were taken with my phone camera, so sorry if they are kind of blurry.  We did take a camera, and Barth took pictures with those, but I am going to do all the pictures from my phone first and then do those later.  The first hike that we took was to a place called Cedar Falls.  The water fall is much less full in the fall than it is in the Spring we are told.  Still, every thing about this place was gorgeous!

The kids had to do "King of the World" on these rocks on the way to the fall.  There were lots and lots of trails here.  Most were fairly easy and made for good hiking with the kids!

The kids in front of Cedar Falls.  When Barth and the boys came here in August, there was no sign saying that there was no wading.  They have since added a no wading sign.  The water is very, very shallow.  Like a small wading pool.  The kids had lots of fun playing around the water's edge!

We had to take a fun picture too at the falls!  This is what they look like most of the time!!  :)

It was pretty slippery around here, so Daddy helped the younger kids navigate over to the waterfall.

They had such a fun, fun time.  I think that we stayed here while they played around the water, gathered rocks, and just had a grand old time for close to an hour.  Others came and went, but it was just so peaceful and nice there, and Katelynn was asleep in the front pack, so we were happy to just hang out and enjoy the beautiful place!

This was the creek and trail that led to the falls.  Isn't it so pretty?!?  From where I sat, if I looked to my right, I saw the falls, and if I looked to my left, this is what I saw!  So, so beautiful!!

The kids loved searching for quartz rocks all over while we were at the state park!

Eventually Katelynn woke up and Barth helped me across the slippery rocks so I could get a close up of the waterfall!  

I loved all the trees and the beautiful sky.  I am so thankful for this beautiful world that the Lord has created for us to enjoy!  And I am thankful for my hubby who likes to camp just as much as I do, so that we can get out and go and see so many lovely places!!

On the hike back, Evan wanted to be King!  It was a little blurry, but was too sweet of him not to include!  He LOVED camping!  He has been dying to go for so long now!  He didn't want to leave!

The way the sun was filtering through in the late afternoon as we were hiking made the gorge so breathtakingly beautiful.  The pictures are lovely, but don't even begin to do justice to the beauty of the place!

All along the gorge above were cool little cave like things.  It was so fun to hike all around and see.  I think we hiked 2 or 3 miles this first day.  The kids were tired when we were done, but had a great time!

Then it was time to head back to camp to start the fire for hot dogs for dinner!  Weston helped to start the fire.  He wanted to put some magnesium shavings in it to help it start.  After a few failed attempts to start the fire, Mommy stepped in and got the fire going!  :)

Everyone was having a fun time around the camp fire!

Barth asked the kids to help carry firewood from the back of the van to the fire ring and Evan laid claim to this piece of wood!!  :)  He sat there with it on his lap until Daddy was ready to have him put it in the fire!

Later that night after a fun, full day the kids headed to the tent for bed!  Brian was hiding under his blanket there on the end in this picture.  Look how happy all these kiddos are!!

And here we have Brian, but Aaron decided to hide!!  :)  It is certainly a lot of work to get things gathered for a family our size to go camping, but the fun, the laughter, the great family time, and the memories are SOOOOO worth it!!!!

The Tube Fairy

 Amber's second set of tubes have been in her ears for 3 years now.  Since she has had a few ear infections lately without any cold symptoms, our pediatrician suggested that it was time to have a follow up with the ENT to see what he thought before we headed into the cold season.  Her appointment was today.  He confirmed what our other doctors had told us.  Her tubes were no longer in the right spots to function the way they were intended.  One tube was laying in her ear canal and then other was still in the drum, but not in the right spot.  So, he took them out.  It took all of about 2 seconds!  As she was laying on the table for him to take them out, he asked her if the tooth fairy had visited her yet.  She said that the tooth fairy had seen her and then showed her permanent teeth.  :)  He then asked Amber if she knew that the tooth fairy had a rich cousin.  She looked at him puzzled, so he went on to explain.  He said that the rich cousin was the "Tube Fairy!"  He told her that if she took her tubes from her ears and put them under her pillow, that the tube fairy would come and leave her lots of money tonight.  So, they wrapped up her tubes for her to take home.  They are currently under her pillow upstairs awaiting the fairy!!  :)  They also did a hearing test on Amber today and were pleased that she had no hearing loss at all.  Even though she has had 2 sets of tubes and more ear infections than I can count, her ears are still working the way they are supposed to.  He wants to give her ears 6 months to heal up and then see her back and go from there.  He did say that if it got to be Winter time and she was having lots of ear infections, to bring her back sooner.  So, it looks like we will be waiting and seeing. 

I took a picture of her tubes from this time around so that you could see what they looked like.  Her first set looked like little white beads.  These were a little more fancy.  Here they are laying on top of the envelope before Amber put them under her pillow.  I put them next to a teeny button that came off the back of a dress of Katelynn's yesterday.  I thought that it was interesting that they had a little piece that helped the fluid drain off there in the front, as well as the rectangular piece in the back to help hold it in place better.  They are soft and squishy and bendable.  Very interesting.  I am crossing my fingers and am hoping for a good Winter that is free of ear infections.  To own the truth though, I doubt it will be that easy.  I am fully expecting ear infections this Winter.

Conference Weekend

 This past weekend, we enjoyed watching General Conference as a family at home.  We started a new tradition last conference time of having a snack buffet for the afternoon session.  The kids thought that it was so fun to get a plate of snacks to enjoy while we watched and listened to the apostles and Prophet.  :)

 Amber loved the veggies and dip as well as apples and popcorn.  She LOVES apples.  She likes to eat them for snacks and breakfast too!  :)

 Brian's favorite was the blondies.  That has been, and still is, his favorite treat that I make!

 The kids love to set up the tents to watch conference in!  They rotate who gets what tent as we watch, that way everyone get a turn in the bigger tents!

 Aaron loves to listen to President Monson.  He likes to listen to see if they announce any new temples or talk about missionaries.

 This was the first time Weston didn't want a conference packet.  He just wanted to take notes on his note pad this time around.  He is growing up, but I love that he still likes to be in the tents.  :)

 Evan always started out in the tents, but by the end of the day, was up on the couch by me.  :)  All he wanted for treats was the candy!

 Amber loved the conference packet this year and then moved on to some work books while she listened.  She liked sitting on the couch on Sunday!

 Katelynn hung out with me most of the time.  She is getting so big!  At just barely 4 months old, she sure is strong.  Look at how high she can lift up.  She has actually gotten up on her hands and knees a few times.  She can get those knees under her and scoot forward!!  She will be crawling before I know it I think!!

 She is such a sweetie!  She has been feeling a bit under the weather the last few days.  She has a bit of a cold and that has made one of her eyes goopy and weepy.  It has also made her quite fussy.  I will be happy when my happy baby is back!

 Here I go Mommy!  Watch me roll!  She can roll both ways.  And its the most amazing thing- she actually looks at her hands like they are the most interesting thing she has ever seen!!!  It keeps her occupied!!  I've never had a good baby quite like her!!  :)

I must say that I loved hearing all the talks and listening to the beautiful and uplifting music.  It was just what I needed to help me work harder to be a good parent and spouse.  It gave me a renewed energy to work hard on reading my scriptures and keeping my life in tune with the spirit.  I am so thankful that we are able to be spiritually fed twice a year!!  I am thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and my Savior.  It brings such meaning and joy to my life.  What a great weekend we had!

Funny Conversation

Lunch conversation a few weeks ago:
Amber: I love this bubble gum medicine.
Aaron: I am allergic to that amoxicillin!
Amber: Well, Evan and I are not allergic to anything!!!
Evan: Yes I am allergic to things! I'm allergic to monsters, lions, tigers, and bears!!

Yep, got a good laugh out of that one!! 

Our own version of road work! :)

A few weeks ago, we had the main road by our street worked on.  It took most of the week.  First they came and made new transitions from the sidewalk to the street.  Then, they came and stripped all the old asphalt off of the street.  Then, a few days later, they came and laid a pretty new layer of asphalt.  Here are a few pictures of their work!

It made for a few crazy days.  We had a huge truck parked on our street all week.  Also, they redirected the traffic during much of the day going down this main road.  This is the way that I go to pick up the kids from school, so with 4 (and sometimes more) trips up to the school a day, it made for extra travel time.  That was okay though.  The new road looks so nice and lovely and at least it didn't last nearly as long as the construction in Momma and Daddy's neighborhood!!!  :)

4 months old

Katelynn turned 4 months old this past Saturday!!  :)  Time is flying by for sure!  And what a good baby she is!!  She is so sweet most all of the time.  And sleeping through the night!!!  It just must be an extra blessing for having a 6th and working so hard to get her here!!!  At least that is what I keep telling myself!

Yesterday she had her 4 month check-up.  She is doing great and growing like a weed!!  She now outweighs Amber at the same age!!  :)  What a chunk!  Here are her stats from her appointment:

Weight: 16 lbs, 11.5 oz  (94%)

Height:  25 inches (though I am not sure that this one is really right.  I measured her the other day at home and got 26 inches. Their measurement puts her at the 75%, but mine puts her at the 95%, which is more consistent with what she has been in the past.  Regardless, she is long!!)

Head:  16.75 inches (85%)

She is obviously healthy and happy!  She loves to smile and coo!  She loves to "talk" to her siblings when they are around.  She is a big time talker!!  She is not so quick to smile for strangers or those that are not around her often.

She got her first round of shots at her appointment.  She has been not very happy the last few days.  Poor thing!  I don't like shots!!!  Katelynn is a very strong baby.  She can roll like I mentioned before, but she also pulls her legs up under her and can actually scoot forward on her tummy!!!  She lifts her entire chest up off the floor!  I bet she crawls early!  I am so thankful to have this sweet, cute little girl in my family!!  

Blue Ribbon Day

 Last year our elementary school was nominated as a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.  This past week we found out that we had received the national recognition.  To celebrate, they asked all the kids to wear blue for an assembly that they were having.  Amber has mostly pink things, but I decided to get out this cute dress that is just a little bit too big so that she could wear it for Blue Ribbon day!  She looked so cute in her dress that I had just had so take a few pictures to share!!  :)  Since she is in morning kindergarten, she wasn't there for the assembly that they had in the afternoon.  That was okay, because she still got to have extra recess to celebrate!   

 I have a dress very similar to this for Katelynn when she gets just a bit older!  :)  I think it is so fun to have my girls match!

 Miss Katelynn is getting so big!  We got out the exersaucer for her this week and Evan helped me to wipe it all down for her before she used it!  We have had very fall-ish weather here lately.  It is chilly in the mornings and in the 70's in the afternoon.  I think that this particular day it only got to 68.  I do enjoy this time of year here!

My cute little helper!!  I am thankful that he is finally starting to get over his cold!  Evan and I have lots of fun reading books and doing puzzles or running errands these days!!  I am thankful for my sweet and energetic little guy!

Pack Meeting

 This past Tuesday was a pack meeting.  Barth was out of town, but all the kids and I went.  :)  It looks like Weston got a sneak picture of me while I was busy paying attention to something at the front.  Evan was running a fever, but since Brian had just turned 11, this was to be his last pack meeting and he would be getting several awards.  So, I gave Evan some tylenol and off we went to the pack meeting! 

Aaron got the first of his awards at the pack meeting that night.  He actually had earned his Bobcat, but there was a bit of a mix-up with his cub scout registration paper work, so they were not able to get that for him yet.  He will get that patch at the next pack meeting.  He did get a few belt loops that all his pack had earned!  So far he is loving scouts.  He is excited to now be the only one going to and from cub scouts on Tuesday night.  Where we live, our ward and the other ward that we share the building with, have a pack combined.  The cubs meet on the other ward's mutual night.  Once you hit regular scouts at 11, the troups split.  Brian and Weston will meet for scouts on our mutual night- so Wednesday!  It will be fun to have some one on one time with just Aaron on that long ride to and from the church.  :)  I am looking forward to it!

 Brian has worked really hard the last few months to finish up the requirements in order to get his Webelos badge as well as his Arrow of Light!  He earned both.  They forgot to get his Webelos badge, but he did get about 15 pins, a few belt loops, and his Arrow of Light that night!  :)

Brian has worked so hard in cub scouts.  He has also thoroughly enjoyed the cub scouting program.  He loved day camp.  He always had fun at the weekly activities.  He would always get his book and work on things on his own without having to be asked!!  Now he is excited to be going into boy scouts.  He can't wait to have scouts on the same night as Weston!!!  :)  These boys of mine are growing up so fast!  I can't believe that half of my boys are already done with cub scouts!!  The days and years are flying by!!  Good job Brian on getting your awards!! You are a hard working boy and I love you!!

So happy

My baby girl is getting to be so big!  Last night she was so smiley that I had to snap a few pictures with my phone.  We were in the bathroom upstairs.  Sorry about the mess behind the chair!  :P  Katelynn is such a good baby!!!  I can't believe that I finally got a good one!!!  She is happy most of the time.  She still doesn't like the bouncy chair, but she will sit in it for a minute if I am right there.  And last night, she was all smiles!!

And then, of course, she had to try to roll out of it!  Because all she wants to do these days is roll!!  She has been rolling well for a little over a week now!  One day she just decided that she could roll, and did it.  She can roll back to front to both sides, and she can roll from her tummy to her back too.  She doesn't roll tummy to back quite as well, but she can do it!  :)  I can't believe she is almost 4 months old!

She fully fills out these 6-9 month clothes.  I think that she could actually go up another size.  For the most part Katelynn sleeps through the night and has for about a month now.  She still has a night here or there when she wakes up a bunch, but for the most part she sleeps a lot at night!  She is usually ready for bed between 8 and 9.  She then will usually sleep till sometime between 4 and 5 and then go back to sleep until around 8ish.

That means that I can usually get a shower and everything in the morning before taking the kids to school!  Sometimes I feel guilty that I am able to get so much done because she is so good!!  :)  She also really likes to look at her hands!  I've never had a baby that likes that either!!  She loves to lay on a blanket and just watch what is going on at our house!!!  :)  (And there is usually quite a bit going on!)

I am so thankful for this sweet, happy baby girl!!!

Kid picture and other things

 The kiddos looked so cute on Sunday that I decided to take a quick picture of them all!!  :)  It wasn't perfect, but I thought that it came out pretty good!  These guys are getting so big so fast!!!

 I have to include that I had a nice birthday too!  Barth made me my favorite lemon cake!  :)  And he got me the coolest candle for it that I had ever seen!!  That flower went around and around and played "Happy Birthday to you!"  Weston took the pictures at the table!  He did a good job!

It was a good day!  I am so thankful for my sweet family that made sure I had a good day!!  :)  I am happy to be alive. I'm thankful for the children that I have been blessed with.  I am thankful for my wonderful husband!  I am thankful for my parents!!  I am thankful for my good health!!  I love life and I love to be happy!! The Lord has been very good to me!!!

It isn't always sunshine and roses!! :)

Most of the time it is at our house, but sometimes it isn't!!  :)  Just for the sake of my journal, I have to write down what a crazy month this has been for me!  It started off about a month ago when I was going to mop my floor late a night after the kids had gone to bed.  I had a rag that  was just slightly too big to fit my swiffer, and I just wanted to use a rag and water to clean the floor.  I was just looking to do a quick mop job.  I decided to rip the towel piece down to size so it would fit the swiffer, so I did as I walked into the other room.  My timing was off and I hit my arm/wrist right on the door jam.  It started to swell right away.  I went to the doctor the next day because it hurt so bad!  They x-rayed it, but it wasn't broken thankfully (though it is still tender to the touch a month later!)  Just days later, our AC went out.  Then we had all those birthdays.  In the midst of that, I got the worst case of mastitis that I have ever had.  EVER!! It was terrible!!  After several days I finally started to feel better.  Then we had more birthdays!  Then, just this past weekend, Amber woke up with ear pain.  We found out at her well visit a little over a month ago that her tubes, that have been in for 3 years, were out.  I took her in to the doctor, and sure enough, she has an infection!!!  And then on Friday late afternoon, our sink got all backed up in the kitchen.  We finally got it fixed on Saturday!!  Thank goodness there is only one more birthday left this month!  Lets just hope that October turns out to be very dull indeed!!!!  I'm ready for this month to be done!!!!  :)

Happy 11th Birthday Brian!!!

This past Monday was Brian's 11th birthday!  He had a great day!!  :)  After school and homework and once Daddy was home, we got to have our celebration!!  Weston made Brian this very fun and thoughtful card.  It was all about how Brian was so cool!  He had bought a pack of Brian's favorite gum several weeks before with his own money for Brian's birthday.

Next up was Aaron's turn.  The three older boys have a lot of fun.  Aaron has been reading with them in the evenings before bed time and they have gotten closer from the shared time. :)

Evan looked and looked for just the right thing for Brian for his birthday!  (Though I must admit that after so many birthdays and since so many days have passed since then, that I can't remember what it was that he got his brother!!  My mind is going!)  Evan read Brian his card.  Evan loves all of his brothers.  Weston and Brian especially are so good and kind to him!

Amber made Brian a card with flowers and then took some of the coins that she got for her birthday and taped it into a card for Brian.  She does love to give her money away. :)  She got Brian some glow necklaces in Brian's favorite color of blue!

After all the presents from his siblings, it was time for presents from us.  Brian LOVES monopoly!!  When I saw a minion monopoly game I knew that Brian would love it!  I was right!!!  The kids have all had a lot of fun playing this newest version of monopoly this week!!

Brian was sure that I had wrapped a roll of wrapping paper to give him for his birthday!  It wasn't. ;)  But it was a new poster for his wall!!  Brian has decorated up his side of the room very carefully and loves the way that it is done up.  He was happy to have a new poster to put up on the wall!!

After presents was cake!  Brian wanted a cake from Sam's this year!!  I tried to hunt up someone to write happy birthday on it, but there was no one around.  Then I was going to write something on there myself, but I ran out of time!!  He loved his cake anyway!

I am so thankful for Brian and the good young man that he is becoming!!  :)  He is helpful and kind.  He is generous and forgiving.  He loves to try and scare us all the time!!  :)  Must be the curly hair!!!  Whatever he does he does it wholeheartedly.  He tries his very hardest at everything!!!  Just this past week he was asked to try out for the academic team at our school.  He was soooo excited.  He may not make the team, but he was okay with that.  He was happy just to have made it to the buzzer tryouts!  I so so thankful for my sweet, curly headed boy!  I am lucky to be his Momma!  Happy Birthday Brian!!!!