The Stokers

Makin Valentines!

2012-02-13T19:25:00.003-06:00

We spent Sunday afternoon making school valentines. Abby and Dylan had fun-they drove me crazy! Dylan was soooo slow to write all his out! He would stop and watch what Abby was doing or stop to talk. I was like hurry up!!

Here is what we used----

and here is what we made!

Abby had to make a "mailbox" for her valentines so we mod podged some scrapbook paper onto a cereal box! I think she had fun making it although she wasnt really into using her fingers to spread the glue!

Then this morning Lacey and I made her valentines! She wanted to have a valentine party just like Abby and Dylan so we are having a couple of her friends over for some valentine fun tomorrow. She is so exicted! When Abby and Dylan started talking about what kind of valentines to make and their parties they were going to have at school Lacey was like I want a party too! So I was like alright we can have a part! She said "o.k. mom for my TinkerBell valentine party....."! I was like "um Lacey it is not a "TinkerBell"valentine party, it is just a valentine party! That girl and TinkerBell!

Rings!

2012-02-07T19:50:00.002-06:00

We went over to Bryan's parents house for the Super Bowl on Sunday and the kids were done watching after about 5 minutes! So Jenny kept them entertained with a fun craft! Duct tape rings!

Lacey patiently waiting for Nana to make hers.

I dont know why she always looks away at the last minute when I am trying to take a cute pic of her! The rings are super easy and the girls love them!

Time to complain

2012-01-29T19:20:00.004-06:00

Alright I am will make this short. Just a little compaining! So I have been trying to get rid of my Bronchitis but it hasnt been working. I was supposed to get back to running this month and my goal was to be running a good 3 miles a day by the end of it but having been dealing with stupid bronchitis all month this obviously hasnt happened! So super annoying! I also have alot of projects for reorganizing stuff and havent been able to do that stuff either! So anyway I guess that is enough complaining. I am hoping that I will get able to get everything back to normal and feeling better soon---I have things to do!!

You did what?!

2012-01-21T14:22:00.002-06:00

So there I was reading a book on the couch while Colby and Lacey were playing. All was wonderful and calm till Lacey came out with hair all wet and a stricken look on her face and said "mom look what I did to my hair!" Yep she cut it. I knew if any of the kids were going to do this that is was going to be her! The funny thing is is that she was all upset by it! It was almost as if she was surprised that the scissors actually cute her hair! So here she is with a lovely look on her face because now she knows she is in big trouble!

Luckily for her (and for me!) she cut them long. I think she was watching herself cut so that is why they weren't super short. But here she is after I fixed them.

She is just very lucky that she looks cute with bangs!! I dont think I would have ever cut her any so anyway good to know for her right!

But I do have to say that if she had cut bangs super short then she would have been wearing headbands and cute barrettes that would have been staying in her hair at all times in public!! yes I am that vain about how my kids look in public! I dont know what it is but especially with 4 kids I want them all to look nice and presentable! You know what I mean?!

Colby wants a snack.

2012-01-18T19:13:00.004-06:00

Colby knows where the snacks are. It is his favorite cupboard and luckily he cant reach it! Lucky for me but not for him! He will come and just start jabbering and then walk away and looks back to see it you are following. Or if you are in the kitchen he will stand in front of the cupboard with his hands stretched in the air opening and closing his hands. It is pretty funny!!

Look how happy he is now that he got one of his favorite things!!

Snow!

2012-01-15T14:31:00.006-06:00

The snow finally came! Although honestly I would be very happy if this is all we got for the rest of the winter but I know that that is really not a possibility! Anyway it has been super cold the last couple days and I have been totally out of it with my year bout of bronchitis so the kids haven't been able to go out to play. But today it was like 35 degrees so we got everyone dressed and headed outside! Of course Abby, Dylan and Lacey we all about it and had a great time. Colby on the other hand wasn't too sure about all that white stuff. He has already had 1 run in with it and wasn't too thrilled about it! I had gone out to warm up the car and didn't know he was leaning up against the screen door so I opened it and down he plopped. Right in the snow-he was not a happy little guy!!

Colby finally got a little adventurous when we put him on the grass. Don't let the grass fool you, we got about a good 5 inches, we just needed to mow the yard one more time but that doesn't look like that is going to happen!

Building a snowman!

Then they tore it down about 2 minutes later!

yeah we need to work on Abby's aim-she said she was going to throw it at my stomach-she tossed it-I was watching her through the camera and didn't see where she threw it-it smacked me right in the eye!!

More Oklahoma!

2012-01-06T07:53:00.010-06:00

Nice way to start Christmas morning huh?! Some nice warm milk! So to start this post off-I have had some problems with blogger being stupid while I was trying to compose it so I had to start new. I had everything written up and a really sweet heartfelt thing at the end but now it is basically just pic because I just want it done!!! (and sorry i dont have any pics of Luxie and Meadow opening presents because whenever I had the camera ready they werent opening anything and then it was hard to see them with kids and wrapping paper everywhere!)

The kids were all excited for Uncle Jeff to open his stocking. They had all gotten some coal along with some fun stuff so they were dying to know if he had gotten some too! and of course he did!

and he got this awesome shirt!! Most of the pics I got were from opening stocking stuff since it got really hectic after that!

Doesnt Eric look excited to up and passing out presents?! He really didnt have much room to complain since the kids didnt get up till after 7!

Dylan asked Uncle Eric to help him put together his Lego thing-how could he say no to that right?!

and Meadow asked Uncle Bryan to help her free a toy from its packaging.

Colby was having more fun with the boxes than playing with the toys he got!

One of the perks of being in Oklahoma was that while it was a little chilly it was still warm enough to go play outside! Here is Jeff capturing all the fun on video-it was hilarious!

Sarah started a tradition of new pajamas on Christmas Eve and wearing them all day on Christmas thats why they all match and look so cute! So we headed outside and it all started out nice and innocent with Bryan and Eric pitching to the kids.

Then they kids got bored and left to do other things-

--and that left the boys by themselves and with Bryan, Eric, Paul and Jeff that is a dangerous combination! It went from just pitching the ball to throwing it as hard as they could across the yard to someone and then throwing multiple balls at one time and then rapid fire.

and escalated to using this plastic pipe thing and putting the balls in and spinning so the balls fling out while someone tries to hit it! It was hilarious! And the most amazing thing was with all the kids running around no one got hurt!!

and for some reason whenever Paul was sitting on the flour he was fair game to jump on! They had been at this for like 10 minutes before I grabbed the camera.

it was such a fantastically fun time! I mean I love Bryan's family and Christmas with them is a lot of fun but there is just something about being with your own siblings that is just so much better! I totally miss those Goodrich Christmases. It was such a blast and I loved every moment of it! Love my sister, love my brother, and love Bryan for driving all the way down there!

Oklahoma!!!

2012-01-04T19:29:00.011-06:00

(this is alittle (ok alot) on the long side of things with TONS of pics because my Mom couldnt be there and she has been stalking my blog waiting to see pics! hehe!! love you Mom!!)

So this year after alot alot alot alot of talking I finally convinced Bryan that we needed to go to Oklahoma to visit my sister for Christmas. Well actually to surprise her! I know what you are thinking-"What?! oh no you didn't! not for Christmas!?"--but yes. yes I did. We did. The kids were awesome for our 11 hour drive down to Oklahoma. I had been texting Sarah all day to make sure she would be home when we got there. So we pull up and I call her and nothing. So I call and call and call and knock on the door and still nothing!! I called Eric and he answered and here is how it went-- Eric-Hey! Me-Hey! where is your wife? Eric-Well she isnt in my car, or at the corner of blah blah and blah blah cuz thats where I am. Me-Well she isnt answering her phone and she isnt at your house because I knocked on the door and she didnt answer! Eric-ummmm, you're there? Me-At your house? yes I am! Eric-ohhhhhkaaayyyy! well I will be home in 10 minutes. Me-alright we will be here! It was awesome! Eric was totally surprised! So he got home and we all went inside to wait for Sarah to get home. Eric had let thier dogs out and I thought it was him coming back in when I heard the door but when I turned the corner into thier living room Sarah was standing in the kitchen frozen with a very confused look on her face! Luxie and Meadow took off playing the my crew and I smiled at Sarah and said "Hi! Surprise! Merry Christmas!" She was like "Seriously?!" It was so much fun! We had been planning this for about half the year and successfully kept it from her! It was awesome! Then after the shock of us just showing up on the thursday before Christmas she got a call friday morning from Jeff saying he was at the airport and needed a ride to her house!! Say what?!! How much fun is that?! I mean he was totally in trouble for pulling the "I am just staying home with my snacks and my xbox and hanging out" lie! He even had Sarah and I looking for a box from him in the mail-the little stinker! But oh my gosh we had sooo much fun! Lots of laughing. Between Jeff, Eric and Paul (Erics brother) there was always something to laugh at! The kids had such a blast. We didnt tell them till we woke them up to get in the car! I had a hard time getting Lacey to get up. She kept telling me she wanted to sleep. Granted it was almost 3 in the morning! But when I asked her if she wanted to go to Aunt Sarah's she was instantly up and grabbing her stuff! They all played so well together with only a couple meltdown momments!

We had our big dinner on Christmas Eve so we could just chill out and eat left overs on Christmas Day. The food was super yummy but I dont have a pic sorry! Anyway after we ate and cleaned up the boys had to go run a last minute errand so while they were gone we popped in some Christmas music and the kids did some danceing while Sarah and I got the sugar cookies in the oven!

Cookie decorating fun!!!

After the cookies were decorated Sarah helped the kids write a letter to Santa and they any all got to pick a cookie to put on the plate-in this first pic Lacey was upset because she couldnt see!

Here is how Colby traveled around the house-you cant tell by this pic but he really did love it!

The girls hanging out with uncle Jeff while he helps Dylan with a Transformer.

So this brings up to Christmas Eve night! I think this was a long enough post so more to come!

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-25T13:05:00.000-06:00

Colby and the t.v.

2011-12-21T19:38:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago Colby discoverd the power button on the t.v.. What joy is mine. If he is wake we dont get to watch a show or a movie without it being turned off. And no amount of talking or telling him no or smacking his little hand can stop him. He hears you saying no and will press the button anyway and then turn and look at you like "what are you going to do cuz I already turned it off!"!! So totally annoying! We also hear lots of "Colby!" and "Colby NO!!" from the kids followed by groans when he does it anyway. They get all mad and ask why he does that so I just tell them that we had to live through all of them doing it so it is only fair that they have to deal with it too! So Lacey had come up with a solution. It works most of the time-unless he presses on her hand in the right spot!!

Lacey's Dance

2011-12-20T09:53:00.002-06:00

Totally just realized that Lacey's video didnt work! I flipped it because I filmed it sideways-whoops!! But apparently the whole video didnt make it when I flipped it so had to redo it. So here she is!

Holiday Dancing!

2011-12-17T15:58:00.013-06:00

(Abby is a couple inches taller than how she looks but I had her get closer to Lacey so I could get a pic!)

The girls had their Holiday Recital today! They both looked so cute and they did awesome!! But I have to give myself bad mom points because I was so focused on trying to find Lacey (they had 3 tiny tot classes up on the stage so about 20 little girls) that I totally forgot to check to see it the camera was switched from pictures to video so I missed her dance!!! So so mad at myself!! The only thing that makes me feel better is that it took me half her dance to even find her and then she was behind another girl and you could only see her some of the time! Still I feel really bad about that! But she did awesome! I was afraid that she would just kind of do her own thing or that someone would make her mad before they went on stage and she would just stand there with her arms folded and a scowl on her face! So to make up for not getting her on video on stage we had her do her dance at home since we had the music and she did it way better at home! Abby did great of course and she loved being up on the stage. She was watching her dance and told me that she wasn't watching the other girls to see what to do next she was watching them to make sure they were all together! She is so funny! We are always telling her that she doesn't need to look at anyone else because she knows the dance so she should just do it!!

So at the end they sing "Santa Claus is coming to Town" and then Santa comes out and they can all go and sit on his lap. Knowing my kids and their fear of Santa I was really tempted to just get them after Abby was done and then leave but they both wanted to go out and sing. I told Abby to just find Lacey after they sang and then come to the end of the stage and I would get them. So they sang and Santa came out and they started lining up the little kids first and I could see them putting Lacey in line and a look of panic came across her face and I knew I had to get up there before she started freaking out! She ended up in the arms of one of the older girls and they brought her to the edge of the stage where I got her. Man the look of relief on her face when she saw me was way funny! She kept giving Santa side glances to make sure he wasn't anywhere near her and she told me over and over that she didn't want to see Santa. All the kids are so funny when it comes to Santa-they are all afraid of him! The only Santa they will see is the one at the Christmas party at Church because they know that it is just Papa in a Santa costume! So I had Lacey and we tracked down Abby, who was a safe distance away from Santa!) and we were out of there!

Funny real fast!

2011-12-14T08:28:00.002-06:00

I forgot to add this to either concert post and didnt want to go back and put it in because then I would have to rearrange all the pictures and this was just easier! I was asking Abby and Dylan what row they were standing in so I would have an idea of where to look for them. Dylan was in row 4 and Abby was in row 2. They line them up according to height so shortest in the front and tallest in the back. When Dylan said what row he was in Abby's mouth fell open and she screeched "WHAT?? Thats not fair! I am in row 2 and I am taller than you!" She was all mad (but still laughing!). So I explained to her that while she is taller than Dylan, for kids her age she was short and for kids Dylans age he is tall. And that she will probably always be in the front and Dylan will probably always be in the back-sorry but thats the way it is! She was all "oh man, thats so not fair!". Then I told her that more that likely she will be the shortest in the family so she should just get used to it! She thought that was funny, but I was being honest! I really do think she will be the shortest of all the kids!

Abby's Christmas Concert

2011-12-13T20:22:00.005-06:00

Abby had her Christmas Music Concert tonight. She did awesome! It was really fun to watch her really get into the music and do all the actions and the facial expressions! It is fun to see how much she has grown in her performing since she was in Kindergarten. She really had a good time. Her concert was also about snowflakes and realizing that everyone is different and special. and they also sang Silent Night and then signed it. It was really neat to see all the kids up there signing! My camera was being stupid and some of the videos are short but oh well!

Dylan's Winter Concert

2011-12-12T20:53:00.006-06:00

Dylans concert was about Snoozy Snowflake-a snowflake who didnt want to be a snowflake like all the others but then she learned that all snowflakes were different and special. It was a really cute program! Dylan was fun to watch. He was a little timid at first but then got into it. I had a hard time getting a picture of him smiling! The little stinker! At the end they sang the 1st verse of Silent Night and then they signed it. That was really awesome! He did such a great job with the signing! But man trying to get a picture with him smiling just so didnt happen! Then he kept putting his hands all over his head and in front of his face-it was pretty funny! So here are a couple of pics of me trying to get a good one of him!

The many faces of Dylan---

A Group Picture?

2011-12-05T08:29:00.005-06:00

So I thought we would get a couple picks of the kids in thier Christmas finery before somebody spilled something on themselves and they all still looked nice! Well we attempted anyway-you think it would be simple and quick right? Yeah-not so much!

"All right everyone smile!" "Lacey next time look at the camera-Colby where are your smiles?-Dylan put your hand down"

"Lacey look at the camera!" Colby before the skittles.

"Lacey look at the camera!" and Colby after the skittles!

"Lacey please scoot toward everyone else and join the family!" But hey good smiles everyone-well except Colby and Dylans tired eye look!

"Lacey look at the camera!" Oh well I give up! This is as good as we are going to get! A huge hug and a thanks to Abby and her ever camera ready smile! So on to trying to grab a pic of the girls!

"Smile real fast girls!" ok good job-just one more-

"Lacey good smile-try not to blink your eyes!"

and there we go-thats as good as it is going to get this time-and a pic of the boys? Do we dare?!

Yes. Yes, we do-armed with skittles! Tried to get Colby to smile but he really wasnt having any of it! But we got some great shots of Dylan!

and here was the keeper!

Note to self-next time take pics when Colby isnt cutting 2 molars and Bryan isnt holding skittles in his hands!

The Park

2011-12-04T20:21:00.003-06:00

We went to the park over Thanksgiving weekend-we were mostly hanging out around the house because Bryan had just gotten back and was still adjusting to the time change. It was really cold and windy but the kids needed out of the house---badly! So anyway, we get to the park and we were the only ones there (big surprise on that kind of a day!) and the kids took off running! Colby was excited to be able to walk around a little. I wish our parks had the rubber flat top like the park we went to in Ohio instead of the stupid mulch!!

After some talking we got the kids minus Colby of course on the tire swing. They were laughing and loving it until Lacey and Dylan wanted to go faster and Abby was like get me off! Dylan and Lacey are more on the daredevil side of things and Abby likes to stay on the safe side but they enjoyed it "with in reason!!" !! The definitely would not have survived with my dad turning the marry-go-round while we braced ourselves against the rails and held on for dear life while begging him to make it go faster!!

Modge Podge

2011-12-04T20:06:00.003-06:00

Doesnt Colby look super cute in his winter finery?!! It is actually nice to have mittens on him because then it is harder for him to pull off his hat! And then Abby, Dylan and Lacey crowding around the computer skyping with Bryan while he was in India. There is an 11 and a half hour time difference so when it was 7pm our time it was 6:30 in the morning the next day for Bryan which worked out pretty nicely so the kids could talk to him alot!

We have music on alot at our house and the other day while Abby and Dylan were at school and Colby was sleep Lacey heard the TinkerBell soundtrack come on and just had to have her Tink umbrella-she totally had a blast! She keeps asking to play with her umbrella but I am trying to keep it a "special" thing so it will still be fun when I need to distract her!! I think my fave is the one where she is laying behind the umbrella.

Dylan and Colby!

2011-11-22T11:31:00.004-06:00

It is fun to see Dylan and Colby playing now that Colby is a little older and more interactive. Dylan pulled all the big pillows that are in the playroom out an made a little area to play with Colby. Colby loved falling on the pillows. Even when Dylan was done playing with him Colby would walk back and fall and roll all over the pillows and his blankets, then he would come out and go back. It was really funny!

Hello Grandpa!

2011-11-13T20:46:00.003-06:00

I totally missed this pic!! My Dad got in from Cali just a couple hours after we got to Ohio so we suprised him at the airport-it was tons of fun! My Dad and the kids loved it! And since they were up way way late they actually slept in! but that was probably mostly because of the time difference more than them staying up late!

An Awesome Laugh!

2011-11-09T20:04:00.002-06:00

Abby has the touch to get Colby laughing! She can get his to laugh like noone else. It is so fun to hear them. Abby is such a great big sister. I just love her so much!! And of course Colby is just so dang cute too!!

Ohio Fun!

2011-11-09T19:26:00.004-06:00

So my parents are moving to California for a while to take care my Grandpa, Great Uncle and Great Aunt. Not the most exciting news for me but I understand why they are going. So after a rather huge pity party that I threw for myself I sucked it up and made myself get over it. Still not all that happy but it is what it is. Anyway so we went out one last time before they left and my brother and his roommates took over the house. I had a couple friends tell me I could still come out and visit them but that would just be weird to "go home" to Ohio but not "go home"-if that makes sense. Plus what would I do out there with my mom and dad gone-its pretty much why we go, so anyway enough of that. On to more fun things.

Dylan and Abby discovered Legos and they LOVED them! So they might be something we will be getting sometime soon!

Abby, Dylan and Lacey were also addicted to my Mom's DS. They were really good at taking turns. While Abby and Dylan were entranced by the legos Lacey took over the DS-she wouldnt even put it done when she had to go to the bathroom. My Dad got a picture of sitting on the potty playing! She is so funny!

Colby with his snarky face-he was tired of us all telling him that he couldnt have the legos!

The weather was great so we took the kids out to a really cool park for a picnic. I love this picture of Colby-he looks like a little Harry Potter casting a spell-hehehe!!

I love this pic too!! Way cute with my Dad and the Colbster!

Lacey wanted me to take a picture of her "playing" me a song on the music notes!

Dylan, my Dad, and Jeff doing a little disc golf. The kids love for Jeff to throw the discs so they can run around and pick them up-I know they are easily entertained!

It is always tons of fun in Ohio! I was very glad to get out there and dont really want to think about how long it will be till we get out there again.

Halloween!

2011-11-09T19:14:00.003-06:00

A little late on this post but we have been a little busy! So here is the crew in their Halloween finery!

This pile looks way bigger in person than it does in the picture! I had to carry their bags because they were complaining that they were to heavy-it was pretty funny!

Here are Abby and Dylan in their parade at school. They both had a great time!

Dylan was in charge of the snack for his party at school so we made these awesome sugar cookies. I made enough so they could have enough different pieces to make 2 faces. They loved them!!

Lacey playing

2011-10-25T11:56:00.002-05:00

I found Lacey playing in my room while I was running around cleaning and you guessed it-went and grabbed my camera! I did black and white pictures because the outfit she was wearing clashed horribly and if you know my I like everything to match!! It is really hard for me to let her pick her own clothes but I figure she can wear it around the house but I definitely get veto power when we go out in public!

Abby's seed project

2011-10-23T19:23:00.003-05:00

Abby had to do a seed project to do for school and she was super excited!! We raided our house for what seeds we could find and then lucky for us her Papa had a seed drawer! She needed over 12 for the full 4 points for the "amount of seeds" part of the project-well she had way more than that to choose from! Then we had to come up with a fun way to display them. She didnt just want to put it on a poster board because that was "boring"! So I dug around in my craft stuff and found this wooden blind thing-and she loved it! So we put the names of the seeds on one side-she ended up with 18 I think because that was what there was space for and then the seeds on the other side. It has a little handle that flips the slats. Then of course we had to use some scrapbook paper to make it look cute! She was very happy with how it turned out. She said one of her friends was waiting to turn his in on the last day because he didnt want anyone to copy his idea and she looks at me with a smile and says "well I can turn mine in because there is noway anyone can copy my project!"

Colby is 1!!

2011-10-16T21:15:00.007-05:00

(I know with this post and the 2 before it will probably put you on picture overload but there are just too many to choose from and I have a hard time editing myself!!)

Colby is 1! Man this year has gone by fast!! Colby started out on the rough side of things but man look at him now! You never guess he spent a week in the NICU with some unknown infection. He is just so much fun!

I dont know what it is but I just love babies sleeping in a t-shirt and a diaper-it is just so stinkin cute!

Colbys first time on the slide-wasnt too sure about it but didnt freak out till Bryan had the bright idea to put him down the tube slide where he screamed bloody murder-poor guy!

He got to have 2 parties this year-we had a big family party combined with Laceys birthday and then had Bryans parents over for dinner tonight for his actual birthday so the monkey cake was from the big party and the pumpkin pie was from tonight and I will say he got way more into the pie than he did the cake! So he might be getting pie every year instead of cake!

He is such an awesome little boy and he loves his mama! He will always give me kisses and hugs all day long. It just makes me so happy to see him growing and learning everyday and to just see his sweet smile. It just makes it that much more special knowing that it could have to quickly have been such a different story. I love this little guy!!

Leaves!!

2011-10-16T20:31:00.005-05:00

So our neighbor had a TON of leaves in thier yard! You couldn't even see the grass at all! so they blew them into a pile and let all the kids go at it! They had a fantastic time. They played for about an hour. Colby wasnt really into the leaves-he would barely touch them but I know he will be all over them next year! And yes we were still trying to get all the leaf pieces out of Abbys hair this morning before church!

Lacey is 4!!

2011-10-16T19:43:00.006-05:00

Wow! Lacey made it 4! Or should I say WE made it to Lacey being 4! She is so much fun but made such a little pistol-I have no idea how all that personality fits into her little body! She is my little brown-eyed sweetheart.

Things I love about her: how she can be so sweet,

how she can flip from being "so angry" to smiles and laughter in the blink of an eye,

how she has always been able to make an adult feel completly stupid with just one side long scowl,

how sweet and thoughtful she is toward her sibling,

and the awesome hugs she gives!

Eden Valley

2011-10-15T18:45:00.006-05:00

Bryan and I took the kids hiking today after Dylan's soccer game. It took us about 30 minutes to the place we were hiking at and the kids kept asking if we knew where we were going-so funny!! Most of Iowa is pretty flat or has gently rolling hills of corn but tucked away is this little valley with what the kids called "mountains"!! kinda sad! But sooo beautiful!

We hiked for about an hour and a half. There were little signs along the trail with things to read and see. Abby kept an eye out so she could read them to us.

There was a face profile in some rock.

A cellar in some rock.

A tower to climb.

A crack where if you are brave enough you can climb up to the top of the rocks-the kids were not that brave!

It was pretty fun and worth my sore back from carting around Colby!

Cheering!!

2011-10-11T19:04:00.004-05:00

Abby got the chance to attend Cheer Camp put on by the middle school Cheerleaders. It was 2 Saturdays for 3 hours and then they got to cheer for the whole 1st quarter of one of the High School football games. She was so excited and now wants to be a cheerleader! But we will see about that one!! She had a great time. They got a t-shirt and had to wear a Saber paw tattoo to wear on their cheek for the game. And yes you can totally tell that we live in a small town out in the country-check out the view from the Home bleachers!! Nice huh??!!

And I have to say a huge thank you to Jenny for going with me so I didnt have to look like a nerd and sit by myself!! Bryan who was not feeling good was home with the other 3 kids who were not feeling good! It was a great couple of weeks at our house!!--Abby had bronchitis, Dylan had a double ear infection and pneumonia, Lacey was on meds cuz she couldnt kick her nasty cough, Colby had a tooth come in which means prednizone and breathing treatments and Bryan ended up with a really nasty ear infection-super fun times!!! But anyway, here she is in all her cheerleading glory! (and I have to say my camera was not loving the lighting at the stadium! either the pic was dark or it was light and blurry!!)

And he's off!!

2011-09-30T09:14:00.002-05:00

Colby has been sortof walking for a while-just a few steps here and there. But the last couple of days he has refused to walk at all! We would stand him up and he would sit down, so we would stand him up again and he would just cry! I was pretty funny. Well yesterday afternoon he just decided to take off! He was walking all over the living room, even stopping to pick something up and then keep going! H can even stand up and walk all by himself-pretty exciting!!

silliness!

2011-09-24T10:53:00.003-05:00

Look at this sweet boy! See that mischivious look in his eye?!-

He decided to terrorize the neighbor's dog while we were outside the other day! Poor dog!

Lacey will just randomly yell "Hey Mom, take a picture of this!" and then she does something wierd or stikes a pose! So this time she was talking on her "phone" and then she was jumping!

It is a rare thing in the afternoon for Colby to get to swing-he loves it! But because of where the swing set is and where the sun is, it usually ends up in his face which he of course does not like! It is so cute to watch all the kids take turns pushing him in the swing. Whenever he starts to slow down whoever is running past will stop and give him a little push-such sweet helpers! And Abby wanted some "good pictures" of her riding her bike! And my Colbsters-he has discovered Cheerios-and he is addicted! He loves those and yogurt bites. I love that I can sit him at the table with a pile of food and he is one happy little guy for a while and I get to get some things done!

Juliet!

2011-09-19T21:07:00.003-05:00

Juliet by Ann Fortier is my total new fav book!! I was so sad when I was done reading it I just wanted to read it again! It give you a whole new view of Romeo and Juliet. I love Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet so I knew that this would be right up my alley, so I bought it and it was! So here is the trailer for the book. I am not going to talk to much about it because I dont want to get into it but it totally made me want to go hop on a plane to Siena Italy!

Dance, Soccer and Bikes!

2011-09-17T16:28:00.003-05:00

I have to say that it is getting pretty fun having the kids all starting activities outside of the house! Lacey started dance class. She is in Tiny Tot Combo-it is ballet and tap and in the middle they get to listen to a story. She totally loved it! We had a talk about the rules of how to act in class and she did pretty good till the last 10 minutes when that room was just calling to ran around in! But she did good for her first time-she came out saying "I love my class mom! I love my teacher and I love my classroom!"

Dylan started soccer. He has practice on Monday and then games on Saturday. I have been anxious to see how he does with this because he tends to be a little standoffish when he isnt too sure about a situation. Bryan is the assistant coach on his team so I think that helps. He isnt a very aggressive player but that is just his nature. After hanging around the outside of the group for a while checking things out he got in the middle of things and got some good kicks in even with his lazy run. We kept telling him that he needed to run faster! But he has this lazy enjoying myself kind of run! All in all pretty good for his first game ever!

And Abby is taking Ballet and Jazz this year and for the next 2 weeks she is going to Cheer Camp put on by the local Cheerleaders and they get to cheer at 1 of the football games-she loves it! She also finally figured out how to ride her bike! wooohooo!!! She didnt want to ride her bike because she didnt want to pedal. I was like "Abby that is kind of the whole point of riding a bike!". She said she didnt like pedaling and she couldnt keep her balance-all while crying and whining. I tried to help her but she would pedal twice and then stop and be mad because she fell over! So finally I told her that she knew how to balance and that wasnt the problem, her problem was she was lazy and didnt want to pedal so she needed to stop being lazy and just ride her bike!! She glared at me and then went into the backyard with her bike and rode it all by herself!! I know I am probably mean but sometimes she just needs to be pulled out of her little pity party and be told to just do it!! Anyway she is a very happy girl!

Not Happy!!!

2011-09-12T19:16:00.002-05:00

Lacey was mad at me the other day-I dont really remember why probably because I wouldnt let her have some candy or a soda or something silly. So she grabbed a book and went into the playroom. She looked so cute so I thought I would snap a pic but she saw me and gave me the evil eye!! I am lucky I am still alive!

Dylan had his 1st soccer practice tonight and he was soo excited!! So off he goes. He was having a really good time untill he got kicked in the head!! Bryan is assisting coaching but was on the other side of the field so he didnt see what happend but apparently one of the boys was watching some of the 1st graders on the team mess around doing cartwheels and decided that standing there in line was a good place to try one and smacked Dylan in the head with cleat. So not happy about that! I mean seriously the other coach was on Dylan's side of the field with half the team-thats 5 kids-she cant keep them from knocking each other out?!! I just hope it doesnt look too bad in the morning-He will be a sight going to school tomorrow! Other than his 1st sports injury he had a great time. He was a little hessitant at first and hid behind Bryan till he saw a kid from his class showed up and then he was running around and loving it! So that is awesome!

Sunday Afternoon

2011-09-04T16:25:00.004-05:00

Today has been gorgeous! It is sunny, in the 70's with a light breeze-just about a perfect September day! So instead of sitting inside after we got home from church we put Cobly down for a nap and headed outside. The kids, who arent normally allowed outside to play on Sunday were super excited! And since they have an attention span of about 5 seconds when it comes to outside games not called tag or hide and seek, we played alot of games!! We played croquet, ladder ball, the kids had a somersalt contest, guessed things that Abby drew in chalk, and of course played tag and hide and seek. Cant really get away from those games.

And of course I had to snap some pics-cant have to many of those!

This first one obviously isnt from outside but I had to show Colby's new trick! Look No Hands!!

You cant really see it all that well in this picture but Colby has alot of red in his hair! It will be interesting to see what color it will be when ever his hair decides to grow in thicker!

And I had to throw in a close up of this mop-anyone feel sorry for me for having to tackle that every morning?!

Outside-again!

2011-08-25T12:13:00.006-05:00

So back at the beginning of June when my parents came out for Abby's recital Bryan and my Dad made a couple sets of Ladder Ball. This kids love to play and while they haven't quite gotten it down they have fun with it.

If you know Bryan you know that he likes to push people's buttons because he thinks it is funny and he knows exactly which ones to push to get Abby going!!

So after a game between the two of them Abby came over to tell me that Bryan was cheating! She is so funny!

One thing I have really love it that Abby and Dylan and Lacey all play really together. They always are making up some kind of game to play! They are awesome!

I had to put these next pictures in because they are just too funny!

Don't worry she wasn't upset-she smiled, laughed and got back on! But man its a good thing she is young and flexible because that would be hurting if it were me!

Dylan's paper airplane!

2011-08-21T19:05:00.002-05:00

Dylan made his first paper airplane today! He was way excited! It was so cute to watch him-he was concentrating so hard! Colby noticed I was taking pictures and decided to cruise on over so he could be in one! He was pretty proud of himself!

School Starts!!

2011-08-19T12:23:00.002-05:00

Well the 1st day of school was a huge smashing success! Abby is a big 2nd grader and totally loves it. Dylan , my big Kindergartener, was a little nervous but very excited! He loves his 1st day and was excited to go again today, so thats good right?!! Abby just loves school so I think that has really helped to get Dylan pumped up for it! So, so far so good-but since its only the 2nd day we will see! hahaha!

So now it is Lacey and Colby at home and man is it quiet! Lacey has alway been awesome at playing by herself and when Colby goes down for a nap man I can get alot done! And it STAYS done! well at least untill the other 2 come home!

Poor Lacey just doesnt understand why she cant go to school. She keeps asking when Abby and Dylan will be home, hopefully that wont last to much longer as she gets used to them being gone. And I think when her dance class starts that that will help too. She is so excited for that. I cant wait to see how she does-she has a lot of personality packed into that little body!!

Outside in Ohio

2011-08-13T11:53:00.003-05:00

These are the last of the Ohio pictures. The kids love to go run around my parents huge backyard and I love the pictures I can get when the sun sets! I think it is so funny how Abby's hair always lights up like a halo!

I dont know why but I just love this picture of Lacey!

We also had fun blowing bubbles-a must-do-favorite activity with the kids!

And now back in Iowa, it took a few days for them to adjust to real life-man those guys were grumpy!! So now we are trying to beat the end of summer boredom by breaking out huge coloring pages and extra long playing on the computer time! Which they love and I actually have to force them to get off the computer. Thankfully the humidity has left for a few days and the temps are down so they can at least go outside or more than 5 minutes without melting!

Jail Break, The Greene, Cows and Croquet

2011-07-31T21:03:00.007-05:00

Okay so just warn you this post has alot of pics! First up is Abby and Dylan with Uncle Jeff and his duct tape hat-this picture cracks me up because Dylan is striking a total Jeff pose!

We had to build a chair barricade to keep Colby in the living room since he likes to put any small thing he can grab in his mouth but that little stinker was like Houdini!! He could always find a way out! Every time he would get out the kids would yell "Jail Break!"!

We took the kids to Young's Dairy which is always so much fun! I thought Lacey would be in heaven because of all the cows turns out she isnt really interested in the brown cows only the black and white ones! We saw some baby black and white goats and she kept saying that they looked like cows!

One morning we took the kids to The Greene-an outdoor shopping center, which is super fun! They have a splash pad fountain that you can play in so we let the kids go play since it was sooo stupidly hot!! They loved it! And bonus we stopped in at Payless and they had a great deal going we spent under $20 and got 5 pairs of shoes worth about $130 altogether!! woohoo!! This first picture is blurry but it is just so funny!

Jeff and I got together and threw an Unbirthday Party for everyone! It was way fun with yummy snacks and silly toys and of course some croquet!

I still have some more pics of things we did-I know it is ALOT of pics but we had so much fun and I love taking pics of these guys!

Carriage Hill Farm

2011-07-28T10:58:00.006-05:00

So a while ago Bryan and I made the decision that instead of all of us driving out to Utah-it would be way less expensive for him to fly to Arizona and drive up with his parents and I took the kids to Ohio. There was absolutely no way I was going to do 4 kids trapped inside because we were under an Extreme Heat Warning all week long with the heat index about 115-120 everyday and no one coming home in the evening to help balance out the crazy! We both really wanted to take the kids to Utah and be with Bryan's whole extended family but I knew Bryan just did not want to pass up the opportunity to go to Arizona. He hadn't been back since his mission and I know he was dieing to go. I feel torn about the whole thing. I feel bad that we didn't just bite the bullet and go but then hearing about how things worked out almost makes me glad we didn't go! Not that anything went wrong it is just that I like (well love is probably the better word) a schedule, and I like to be on time, and I don't do well with up in the air just go with the flow, let have breakfast even though it is 11 in the morning kind of things. My kids are on a regular schedule and if they get off it heaven help anyone around them! So my type A retardedness along with my kids just does not mesh well with Bryan's family relaxed stance on things!! Plus I did a scrapbook for his Grandparents with pics we had gathered from his extended family, which turned out amazing and it would have been super embarrassing to have everyone talking about it with me there. I am more a behind the scene kind of girl rather than the spotlight seeking kind! So anyway Bryan took off and had a blast and the kids and I had a great time with my parents.

The heat in Ohio was still quite high although not as high as Iowa! So we did morning trips with the kids that lasted about 1-2 hours, its about all we could take! Went to Carriage Hill Farm one day. The kids love this place, it has sheep, chickens, horses, cows, and sheep and huge barns you can go into and walk paths through the woods and a penny candy store(which was closed cuz they changed the hours and didn't put it on the website-not cool!! not cool!!). It was fun and as always I got tons of cute pics! I just love taking pictures of my sweet kids!

Here is Dylan looking in the little creek as some small fish swimming around

We came across the creek at the end of the walk path we were on and had to do some rock hoping to cross it! The kids loved it! And I snapped a couple cute of my mom-doesn't she look amazing?!

Check out this gorgeous rooster! Isn't he beautiful?!

I love this pic of the kids! It is so hard to get them all to smile at the same time!

all about Colby!

2011-07-15T19:39:00.002-05:00

So Colby lately has gotten tired of being put in the bouncy chair when we are eating-the kids have been eating in the living room since the table has been taken up by scrapbook stuff from the project I was doing and Colby likes to try to eat everyones food. So when he has reached his limit he squirms around and tries to get himself out

he gets to this point and is usually crying and then gets tired of holding himself up and so he rests on his head-so fuuny and so sad at the same time!

and this is how I get and fold the laundry now a days-its the only way to keep Colby in one spot while I try to speed fold the laundry!

Colby has also learned a couple of new tricks-he can clap-super cute and he can shrug his shoulders-which is hilarious! Abby likes to ask him questions and he answers straight faced and shrugs his shoulders! In this first clip she asks him if he likes her and in the second on she asks him if he is part of our family. It is funny to watch him but equally funny to watch Abby crack up at him!

4th of July!!

2011-07-05T10:13:00.004-05:00

Independence Day!

Abby, Dylan, Lacey and Colby in their America finery! We started the day off with our towns 4th of July Parade-always super fun! They kids waved-

and picked up candy! (the highlight for them of course!)

Colby chilling out-

After the parade we went home and got some stuff ready then headed up to our friends the Butlers house for some fun, they kids ran around and swam in the pool-it takes Abby and Dylan a while to get over being petrified of the water but once they do they are all about it! Lacey of course has no fear, she just wanted in the water! Then we ate super yummy food and then headed out for fireworks. We brought games to keep the kids busy so Lacey played memory-and we waited.....

Bryan and Paul played Bop It-and we waited.....

Jenn and Abby played Guess Who -and waited.....

Lacey and I played Mancala and then she told me she wanted to play by herself!-and we waited some more....

Cobly was awesome the whole day and didnt mind waiting and waiting....

Dylan and Logan played Guess Who and we waited.....

Abby (with a little "help" from Brendan) and Breanne played Battleship and waited..

Everyone played Bingo and you guess it waited some more!

Colby couldn't hang on anymore and fell asleep but then woke up when the fireworks started-he did pretty good he just didnt like me trying to cover his ears!

we pulled out the glow braclets when it got dark enough and the entertained everyone till the fireworks got started!

This picture doesnt do the fireworks justice-they were amazing!

All and all it was a very great day and even worth paying for it in grumpy short tempered kids today!

Pioneer village

2011-06-28T09:13:00.003-05:00

We went to the Walnut Grove pioneer village with Jenny last week and let the kids play around. This place is so cute and it had a train that the kids, especially Dylan could not get enough of! Abby didnt get to go because she was at a friends house but we are going back with some friends this week so she can check it out. I am sure it will become a favorite place for them to want to go and the best thing is it is free!!

Ok Lacey is just hilarious! There is a small fake cemetary-its really cute with a white picket fence and it has a couple of blank tombstones in it. We walked over to see it and this is what Lacey does---!!!

Abby Spring Recital

2011-06-16T19:03:00.007-05:00

Sometimes I feel like all I do is post stuff about Abby! but she is the only one who is doing extra stuff right now! I guess it will even out this next year with Dylan starting school! So anyway Abby had her spring recital. She was so excited that she got to dance on both nights! I volunteered on Friday night for level 1 classes. Oh my gosh was that crazy busy!! Trying to get the right girls in the right costume with all the right accessories at the right time! Totally crazy especially when there were over 40 level 1 girls.

Tina, the owner of the Studio does this thing before the show where she gathers all the girls and gives them a little pep talk-she ends with "what do you do if your hair falls out?" the girls "keep dancing" "what do you do if your shoe comes off?" "keep dancing"-its pretty cute.

Then my parents came in to surprise Abby because she had asked them earlier to come to her recital. How could they say no?! She totally love having both sets of grandparents there to watch her.

She got a little spoiled this year with flowers and a stuffed animal! She has grown so much as a dancer this past year. She doesn't watch all the other girls to see if she is doing the right move and she has gotten so graceful. It has really been fun to watch her! This year all the ballet classes combined to do a whole Beatles medley. Each class did a dance then they all came out to end with about 80 dancers on the stage. This first clip is Abby's classes dance. This is from the rehearsal-she got a little nervous and got a little mixed up at the end but did awesome when it came time for the real thing!

This is the rest of it. It was really awesome! the video is giving me trouble so I am trying to upload it seperatly-we will see how that goes!

oh and I do have to say that all the mom's were jealous of Abby's hair because her hair was so easy to put in the required "messy buns"! Almost everyone else that has full buns have fake hair. So for once her curly madness pays off!!

hello internet connection......

2011-06-15T21:36:00.012-05:00

....its nice to see you again! Finally I can put some pics and some of whats been going on! So settle in to a nice spot and try not to get too bored cuz here we go! First off April Fool's Day! I was so mad because I had planned to do some fun things for dinner and then got Scarlet Fever!! I was sooooo sick, but made the stuff anyway! We told the kids we were having dessert first and they were all excited to have pie for dinner!

We had "berry pie" which actually was meatloaf and mashed potatoes and then sherbet and sprite for a drink. They were bouncing out of their seats for a piece of pie and when I gave Abby a piece she stopped and looked at it and said "this doesn't smell like pie, hey this smells like beef!!" Totally funny! So after "dessert" for dinner we had "breakfast" for dessert!

We had bacon, eggs and toast-the bacon is a carmel and a tootsie roll, the eggs are melted marshmallows with yellow food gel and the toast is toasted pound cake! It was a super hit! Next, Abby's birthday way back in April!! We let her invite 3 girls for a Tangled sleepover birthday party. Only 2 could come which worked out well, the girls had a blast.

I made Rapunzel hair braids that they got to decorate with flowers and then they wore them all night! They made lighted lanterns by drawing on paper lunch bags and then putting in flameless votive candles to light them up. They turned out so cute!

They made pizza and then we put on Tangled to watch. They were all so cute they all wore their hair and made them light up with the votives when she sang and then made their lanterns "fly" when that part came. Abby had a great time! Then for her family party we had an Easter theme with fun bright colors, the one bad thing is that my super fun game for outside totally got rained out!! Totally bummed!! Then one night we used our fire ring in the backyard for the first time-what losers are we! lived in our house for almost 5 years and this is the first time we have used it! We probably would have used it more if I liked hot dogs, but I don't!

The kids loved it and of course we made smores, which I don't like but the kids do!!

Here is Abby on her last day of 1st grade with her totally awesome teacher Mrs. Wall! and a couple of pics of the other 3 crazies being silly with their "hey mom take of a picture of this!"

Lacey gets painted toenails!

2011-05-12T13:20:00.000-05:00

I was right in the middle of making dinner the other night when Lacey asked me if I could paint her toes. I told her I could do that in just a couple mintes when dinner was in the oven. But before I was done she went in and asked Bryan to paint her toes for her! How cute is this?!

Easter Weekend in Ohio!

2011-05-04T19:16:00.013-05:00

(this is a goose in my parents front yard that we give my mom the hardest time for having and Lacey-the animal lover that she is decided she wanted to travel by goose instead of car)

We went to Ohio over Easter weekend-Abby was on Spring Break that weekend too so it worked out good. The weather was gray cold an rainy the whole time but we had so much fun! We took the kids to Boonshoft Discovery Museum, which it totally awesome!! The kids had a blast! They played with the water table, where Bryan and Uncle Jeff tried to show off their building expertise--tried...!

There was a huge climbing thing with slides and stuff-I dont have pics of that because I had to help the kids climb up a spiral rope net thing and I thought it would be better to have both hands free to catch someone if they slipped!!

There was a recycling room with a game where you had to match up things you recycle with the things it saves and a recycling truck where you sort items-once a again Bryan and Jeff got in the fun with the kids and were trying to sort all the items as fast as the could because they wanted to see if the could jam the machine-nice huh?!

Colby wasn't very interested in recycling-he opted to drink his bottle instead.

The kids got to go to jail-they were guilty as charged and were sentenced to time already spent in jail for failure to clean up toys.

After we busted them out we went and made some pizza and did some shopping. While the girls did some hands on excavating-dylan worked with the microscope!

There was also a section on electricity with a bunch of hands on things to do-we were there in time to catch a little show where they made peoples hair stand on end! It was pretty cool but of course none of my kids would volunteer to help!

Later at home Grandpa played Polly Pockets with the girls!! But he had to have Abby help change the clothes because his hand were to big to work with the tiny clothes!!

I was able to spend time with a couple of my friends-it was so fun!! I dont know what it is about being back "home" and spending time with people you grew up with. I miss it! Then my friend Sarah came over in the evening and we had a blast-she is so hilarious-I just love her!! I was so sad to leave. I wish we could live in Ohio.

It was just such a wonderful weekend and thankfully after a few hard couple of days Bryans allergies calmed down and he was able to have a little fun too!

My Dad, Jeff and Bryan hid eggs for the kids to find-they hid them good, it was fun to watch them hunt the eggs. My Dad is a amazing egg hider!

I have a couple other stories but this post is super long with the pictures and stuff so I will add those soon!!

Abby's Spring Music Concert

2011-04-11T21:11:00.004-05:00

Abby had her Spring Music Concert this morning and again this evening. She had a great time. She didnt have a part other than just singing the songs this time. A couple of days after her music teacher asked who wanted speaking parts she decided that she should have put her name on the list but it was too late by then. I asked her why she didnt put her name on the list from the begining and she was like "well it would be scary" i was like "whatever Abby! you get up in front of people at church and at your dance recital!!" she is so funny! So here are a couple video clips and some pics of her little concert!

ok I am having major video uploading issues! so I will get the other video up when blogger decides to not take forever to load!!

Goodies

2011-04-01T22:07:00.005-05:00

Well first off I have to say that the reponsibility wheel has been a huge success! Thankfully! The kids try to put a bid in for the jobs they want to do when we rotate the wheels-its kinda funny!

Over the last couple of weeks Colby has really been rolling over and playing with toys. It is so fun to see him learning to do new things. Once he rolls over he then can push himself backwards and in a circle! He gets himself into some interesting spots and them he will cry for help when he has nowhere left to go! He also jabbers and talks ALOT! So I guess he will fit right in with the other three running around here. I don't know why Heavenly Father thought that I could handle 4 loud talkative non-sleeping kids---I NEED SLEEP!!!!! I mean come on here!!

He also is starting to hold his own bottle which is so cute to see him do especially when he falls asleep with his little hands on it!

Its funny, sometimes I look at him and it just amazes me that we have a baby! I dont know why but sometimes it just hits me-he is just such a fun baby!

Responsibilities not Chores!

2011-03-01T12:16:00.003-06:00

In an effort to help the kids learn more about reponsibility and that the have to help out with things around the house because they are part of the family we have intoduced the Responsibilty Wheel. I didnt want to call it a chore chart because I wanted them to feel like they are in charge of doing certain jobs and not like we were forcing them to do it. Does that make any sense? I am having a hard time explaining it!

Anyway, We talked about what responsibility is and then I found a game about family members reponsibilites in the family that fit right in! In the game you answer questions about how to help other family members and what certain family members are in charge of and along the way you collect your family! The kids totally loved it!

Then we introduced the Reponsibility Wheel.

All the wheels rotate so they wont be in charge of the same combination of jobs week after week. The were pretty excited so we will see how it works! I made the wheel so that all the jobs get done after dinner so the house is pick-up and clean ready for the next day. So the first wheel has the names of course, the second wheel is for the kitchen, the third wheel is for both bedrooms (Abby, Dylan and Lacey all play in each others rooms so with toys being taken from room to room I figured this would be the easiest for a quick evening pick up) the fourth wheel is thier Room of Resposibility-in this room they are in chare of making sure all the kid things are pick-up and put away and the trash is thrown away and the last wheel is for the bathroom. All the jobs are easy so all three of the kids can do them mostly by themselves. Obviously we will have to help Lacey on some of them! We talked about how if we all do the things that we are responsible for and work together that it would make the family happy. So cross your fingers and let's hope this works and the kids learn a little reponsibility!

Taking Pics

2011-02-18T14:09:00.004-06:00

I have to say that sometimes I feel bad when I tell the other kids to get out of the way when I am taking a picture of Colby! Does anyone else with more than one kid feel that way?! I love to take pic of my kids (obviously right?!!) and they all love getting thier picture taken so they want to be in every picture. So when I want a picture of just one of them and have to tell the others to scooch over a little and they get all sad I feel a little mean! But I mean hey they all have individual pictures of themselves so Colby deserves some too right?!

Here is the Colbster at 4 months. That went by crazy fast!! He is getting so big! He can roll over from his back on the tummy and from his tummy on to his back! He only likes to be on his tummy for a few minutes and if we leave him there longer than he thinks he needs to be there he will lay flat with his face nose down on the blanket and cry while slowly moving in a circle. It is hilarious although I do feel a little bad because he is upset but it is funny!!

Valentine Time!

2011-02-11T12:06:00.002-06:00

Since Abby was off of school we took advantage of ALL the free time and did her valentines for her school party! Plus it saved me from having to think of someting fun for her to do! We went for a conversation heart theme this year! We cut out hearts, wrote a little thing on the front, filled then with a little candy and a ring for the girls and a sports eraser for the boys and sealed them up and viola! Done! Abby loves them and they turned out super cute! She also has a little gift for her teacher staying with the conversation heart theme!!

Blizzard 2011

2011-02-04T13:33:00.003-06:00

Well here are some pics of all our stupid snow! When all was said and done we got about 18 inches at our house. One of the snow drifts was 33 inches high! The snow depth in the backyard was all over the place because the wind was so strong it just blew that snow all over the place. We had a couple huge drifts in the backyard so we let the kids go play for a few minutes. It was really cold probably hovering around about 5ish or so and with the windchill it was well below 0 but I didnt want the kids to miss out on the fun fresh snow just because it was freezing so we let them out for seriously 5 minutes! Plus I knew once it was warm enough for them to go play in the snow then the snow would be a yucky and gross crusty snow! Abby and Dylan had fun climbing all over the snow and falling in it and all that stuff-Lacey was way to little to try to walk through the snow she she ended up crawling on top of the snow!! So anyway here are some pics! I know that spring is supposed to be coming early but I dont know if it will be coming to Iowa early with all this snow to melt!! We have gotten over 60 inches of snow this winter-twice what we normally get. Sooooooo not cool!!!

To read or Not to read

2011-02-02T20:21:00.002-06:00

I will probably get in trouble by my friend for this but oh well! I am supposed to be reading The Host but I still cant bring mtself to do it! Everyone tells me that I will love it and that it is awesome. But......the storyline kinda freaks me out! I have read the prologue but cant seem to make myself read anymore. I just dont want to not like it! I do have it sitting out where I see it all day long and it stares at me begging to be read. So while I am trying to talk myself in reading the Host I picked up City of Bones. The cover always seemed a little wierd to me but some friends recommended it and I have to say that I really like it! It caught my attention right away and I cant wait to read the other 2 in the series! So I will get around to reading the Host.......sometime........maybe.........totally before the movie comes out!!

New Project!

2011-01-31T23:02:00.001-06:00

Well, I really have about a bazillion projects "in progress" but this one I a super excited about! I scrapped these pages on one of my total fav sites scrapblog.com. I have a tentative idea of what I want to do with them, still working it out in my head but I just had to share them because I totally love them!!

One Project Finished!

2011-01-24T10:22:00.003-06:00

I have had pictures up in the hallway for a really long time but it was always missing something. I knew I wanted to do some vinyl something but never could figure out what I really wanted. Then when I was searching for something to put with some other pics in the family room I came across this saying. I totally love it! But I did change some of the words and added a some of my own, I always have to change things just a little to make it more me!

It says,

in this Family, we do second chances, we do mistakes, we do hugs, we do i'm sorrys, we do prayer, we do laughter, we do loud really well, we do love, we do family

Anyway the wall is almost done I just have to get a pic of Colby developed and get a frame! I am so excited I got it done and I also have to give a huge enormous thanks to my mom who gave me her little Cricut when she got her new big one! Those things are awesome! So thats one project finished and on to another one!

Quick Update!

2011-01-23T20:02:00.002-06:00

Man, it feels like I haven't posted anything in about forever! I remind myself everyday that I need to put something up but I am wiped out by about 6pm! 4 kids is a lot of work! Thankfully Colby is a good baby-looks like fourth times the charm for us! I only wish he would sleep during the day but honestly I shouldn't be surprised because he is a Stoker baby and Stoker babies dont like to sleep. He is usually a happy little guy but likes to be carried everywhere so he can see whats going on so as you can guess it isnt easy to get much done during the day. I try to tell him that being the fourth kid he isnt allowed to be so demanding but he doesn't listen. He hits fussy meltdown time about 4:30-5ish-just in time for the dinner and bedtime busyness! He has great timing! One really nice thing although I will probably jinx it now that I am talking about it but he does have 1 good block of sleep usually about 5 or 6 hours starting between 6 and 8 where he will actually sleep by himself and then when he starts to stir and you hold him them he will sleep for a few hours longer. So that is way nice and something we have never enjoyed before! It has taken a while to get him to sleep by himself-he is a huge snuggle bug!

So anyway thats enough about Colby! Lacey has adjusted better than I thought she would! I was worried because she is totally a mama's girl! She is one funny girl! I got some pictures developed and in the 5 pics of her she had 5 completely different looks on her face!

Abby is an awesome helper with Colby although she thinks she is should be able to do more with him then I let her do. And Dylan is making plans for when he and Colby share a room! All 3 of them are dying for warmer weather so they can go play outside! Lacey was begging to go to the park we were like "sorry Lacey but it is only 5 degrees outside and the park is under about a foot of snow!"

Funny kids! anyway thats a quick update and since I am starting to get back into the normal swing of things I should be posting more stuff! And as I just noticed this I will try not to use exclamation points at the end of every sentence!

So here are a couple picks of the Colbster-

I love him in his coat-he is so dang cute!

Christmas!!!

2010-12-25T08:09:00.002-06:00

This is Christmas so far at our house! The gifts from the grandparents far out do anything we got them this year and you can tell my parents managed to get the one thing they really really wanted!!

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-24T01:39:00.002-06:00

I knew there was NO way Christmas cards were going to get mailed out this year with a new baby and my address book disappeared!! So were are going cyber this year!

Colby's photo shoot!

2010-12-11T14:29:00.003-06:00

We had a little photo shoot with our awesome friends at Butler Photgraphy! Jen and Paul are so amazing at what they do! I had a hard time picking which ones to post so you get a bunch to look at but thats o.k. for 2 reasons-1. they are awesome pictures and 2. Colby is just so dang cute!

Abby's Winter Concert

2010-12-11T14:16:00.004-06:00

Abby had her Winter Concert on monday. It was also Grandparents day and since both sets of Grandparents were out of town I went to both the morning and evening show. I got the video of her in the morning and didnt take the camera in the evening but shouls have because we were able to sit on the second row right in front of where she was!! But oh well right! It was alot of fun because we only had Dylan with us-we dropped Lacey and Colby off with some friends so we were actually able to watch and enjoy the whole thing! Abby got to play the tone bars so she had to dress-up-she was so excited!

Tree Decorating!

2010-12-04T18:52:00.003-06:00

Well we finally got around to decorating the tree today! It has been up with lights on it but none of the fun stuff!! We have a small tree with plastic ornaments and it will stay that way for a few more years until little fingers can learn to not play with them! We also went to a fundraiser the Scouts were having where they were taking family pics courtesy of Butler Photography-some of my favorite people!

Its just the kids this year-a pic of the whole fam will have to wait till the summer when all the baby weight is gone!

Catch Up Time!

2010-12-01T14:01:00.012-06:00

Well now that I have a few minutes to stop and breathe!-I thought I would write about what we have been up to! Some of these pics and stuff are way over due but here we go! First off -one day when Colby was still in the hospitol I took Lacey and Dylan with me to go see him. While I snuggled with Colby, Dylan and Lacey played with file folder games I made-Lacey also spent time rolling all over the floor and playing in the curtain!

Back at the Beginning of September my Aunt Becky passed away so off to Ohio the kids and I went. My cousin Meagan (my aunt was her mom) her boyfriend and my Grandpa flew out from California and my sister and her 2 girls were able to be there also. Everyone but my brother Keven were there but Keven was there in spirit! As sad as the circumstances of our gathering were my family has always been able to find something to keep things on the lighter side.

My Aunt was alot of fun and always very sweet. I am really glad she was able to spend time with my kids-they totally loved her and everytime the see a PT Cruiser the say "thats Aunt Becky's car mom!".

My Aunt's passing was the 3rd in my family in just a couple of months we decided -as probably only my family can do-to have some laughs amid all the tears and to just really enjoy spending time with each other. Since Keven couldn't be there and we knew he really wanted to we had a photo developed and taped it to a tiki torch and took him with us! We then sent him the pics so he could feel apart of things.

Here he is hula hooping with Abby.

Here he is with my sister and mom and the flowers we all bought for her.

Here he is eating some tomatoes from the garden.

Here he is at the Air Force Museum.

We were able to there with my Grandpa who worked on the development of the SR-71 and the U2 Spy Plane. It was really pretty fun to hear all his stories.

(this is the one and only prego-pic you will see of me!)

Amid all the things that needed to be done for my Aunt we had to come up with things to keep the kids busy. We bought a roll of coloring pages from Micheals-it was awesome! We just taped it to the table and then the kids could color whenever they wanted and then we spent alot of time outside!

I know this ended up being long but I am covering a lot of time!! I am so glad to have my camera cord back!! Anyway I am so grateful for my family and all the time we have been able to spend together-it is a very rare thing that we can be together! And I was very excited that my Grandpa was able to meet his great-grandkids-Lacey totally fell in love with him and was his little shadow!

Skinny Colby!

2010-11-10T12:18:00.003-06:00

Well poor Colby is getting the short end of the nursing stick! He hasnt gained any weight and has lost weight since he has been home. It really isnt his fault-I have totally have skim-no cream here! So he pretty much uses everything he gets and has nothing to store. We have had to go in for weight checks 3 times and have another one on friday. We have been supplementing a couple feedings with formula in hopes that he will put on some weight. I started that on monday after we saw the doc. so hopefully it will work otherwise it might not be too good! But I am pretty sure he will be fine-he will just be on yucky formula instead of getting the good stuff! I am a little sad because I like nursing but if he cant get the fat he needs to gain some weight then there isnt much I can do about that- He needs to start packing it on! I do have some way cute pics but my cord to upload the pics off the camera onto the computer is at my mom's house so you have to wait a couple weeks for those!

"You are having a baby today!"

2010-10-19T22:49:00.006-05:00

Well on Saturday Colby James decided it was time to meet the world and he did it on his own terms which has me slightly scared for what we are in store with with him! So here are all the gory details for those who want to know! And for those who don't want to you better stop reading!! So I had been measuring big the whole pregnancy-just like with Dylan and he was almost 10 lbs so I was slightly concerned when we found out we were having another boy-we hold the family record for the biggest baby and we did not want to raise that bar any higher! We had planed to be induced on Oct. 29th and the baby would share a birthday with Bryan-which he said he was fine with! So anyway that is what we were planning on but the baby had other ideas.

Saturday I woke up and usually the baby would be moving around but he wasn't doing anything. I tried all the things they say to do-lay on your side-eat-drink water-drink something cold, I was poking him, which usually you would get something back on-but nothing. Not a roll or a kick or anything. I was having really light contractions but they were really light and not consistent. So after a couple hours of trying to get some kind of response I call the doctors office to leave a message with the nurse and was then connected with one of our midwives who happened to be checking in at that moment and was told to come to the hospital and get checked out. So the kids get dropped off at the In-Laws and Bryan and I headed to the hospital. We got there and were monitored for a couple hours-they had me doing the same things I did at home to try to get some response and still nothing. His heartbeat was nice and strong there just wasn't any movement. Then we were sent down to have a ultrasound. We spent 30-45 mins down there where they rated him on a scale-he only scored 2 out of 8, he only got points for the amount of amniotic fluid. And still we couldn't get him to move-not a finger. They then tell us that the doctor will come talk to us when we get back upstairs-not the midwife-the doctor. We get back upstairs and the nurses are like well it looks like you are having a baby today-Bryan and I were like "o.k. what way are we having a baby?"! So by now I am totally freaked out because we don't really know whats going on. They went ahead and checked me and I was dialated to a 4. We were then moved to a Labor and Delivery room and started on some meds since I was group B pos. and the doctor came in. He was like "o.k. here is the deal-your having a baby today. We are going to go ahead and try to do this natural since things are moving along but we will have no tolerance for the baby-if he shows any sign of distress or their is a change in heart rate-anything and we are stopping and immediately doing a c-section." Those are always comforting words. We then had to sign all the paperwork and consent forms just incase and have bloodwork done just incase. I was checked again and was a 5+, the contractions still weren't very consistent but were a little stronger so they started pitocin to get things going. Pitocin was started at 3:05 and a little after that they broke my water and then at 4:50 Colby was born after 5 mins of pushing! 7lbs 8oz and 19 inches long. He was quiet at first but as they started cleaning him off he woke up and started screaming with his strong Stoker lungs all our children were blessed with! They took him to check him out and clean him up and he scored a 9.9 on the apgar scale, which is awesome! The bad thing was because he came so fast he didn't get the full dose of antibiotics for the group B-so they went ahead and had some lab work done to check him out. Those results came back fast and showed and infection level that was 6 times as high as a normal newborn. So they were like "o.k. here is the deal-he is going to the NICU as soon as they can get up here and will be put on 2 antibiotics, have some more lab work done, a chest x-ray and a Lumbar Puncture so we can make sure the spinal fluid is clear because we don't want a chance that he could get meningitis" oh yea! more comforting things. So off he went for a little 7-10 day vacation in the NICU. He was breathing really fast and grunting like he was having trouble-that is why they did the chest x-ray but thankfully that came back normal. So now we wait for all the cultures to come back in the next few days and watch the results of all the blood work they do to watch the infection and antibiotic levels. On Monday morning I was hanging out with Colby when the NICU doctor came doing rounds with 2 students. They were going over Colby's history and the students were asking and answering questions. They were asking why they even did an ultrasound and the doctor was trying to find the answer in his chart so I just answered. Then they were asking how long before he was born was my water broken so i gave then the edited version of the time line-so the the doctor mentioned that I was group b pos and they started talking about how much of the antibiotic the baby got and again I answered the questions. The doctor was like "wow! you are doing 75% of my work!" I think he was surprised at how much I knew and remembered! They they were asking why we even came in in the first place so I explained about waking up and him not moving and the doctor was like "See sometimes you don't know whats wrong, sometimes you just have a mother who said something just isn't right." He then said that is was amazing that I was so in tune with the baby and his normal habits that I knew right away that something was wrong and that if I had waited longer to come in that it would have been a very different story and he would even more sick then he is. So points to me for my mommy intuition! They don't know what kind of infection or where it is but they are pretty sure that he came early because he was sick and not sick because of the group b. Colby is doing awesome-you can tell he is feeling better because he is acting like a real baby! The first couple days he just slept and rarely opened his eyes and then he started being awake more and making normal baby noises and smiling and making faces. So fingers crossed everything thing keeps coming back good and he can come home soon! And that's the story-long I know but pretty interesting if i do say so myself! Sucks to not bring home a baby but he is where he needs to be and I would rather bring home a nice healthy baby rather then bring one home early and then have to take him back! Abby, Dylan and Lacey got to go see him in the hospital so they were excited about that and they know that Colby is at the hospital because he is sick and needs to get all of his medicine before he can come home and they are totally fine with that! oh and I should say that since he came early he obviously will not be sharing a birthday with Bryan but Colby does share a birthday with his Aunt Brigetta!

Happy Birthday Lacey!!

2010-10-01T12:36:00.003-05:00

Well I guess I lied about not posting anything!!! But it's Lacey's birthday!!! Happy Birthday Lace!! It has been an awesome day for me, my mother-in-law came and got Abby, Dylan and Lacey (abby didn't have school) so they could hang out with her-so I was able to take a shower uninterrupted!!, got most of the house clean and Lacey's cupcakes made so that was very cool. The kids got to play with Nana and help make Opening Day cookies. Opening Day is when Jenny (Bryan's mom) gets to start listening to Christmas music. Yep you heard me right-she is alittle on the obsessed side of things when it comes to Christmas! She makes special Santa cookies and goes around delivering them and you have to sing a Christmas carol to get them!! So anyway she was excited for Lacey to be an Opening Day Baby and is determined to one day have a Christmas birthday party for her! But if you ask me it wont happen because Christmas stuff starts after Thanksgiving!!! She thinks she will convert me one of theses days! She is so funny!

So anyway Lacey will always celebrate Christmas and Halloween on her Birthday-poor thing! Here are some pics of Lacey-her birthday party is tomorrow so that will be fun-she is having a Tinker Bell party-----again-----for the 3rd year in a row. I am really hoping that we can talk her into something else next year!!

nothing new!

2010-09-30T21:16:00.002-05:00

I know everyone looks at my blog everyday just waiting for a new post to see what is going on here! right?! dont you?! Well hopefully not everyday!! Anyway sorry I havnt put anything new and fun but honestly if I did do a normal post I would probably end up complaining and who really wants to read that?!! So you will just have to wait a couple more weeks till this baby comes! This pregnancy is totally kicking my butt! I havnt ever been this uncomfortable at the end of a pregnancy so between no sleep, horrindous heartburn, and super sore hips that hurt everytime I move---see there I go complaining!! So I am outa here and will post something when it can be fun, happy and silly!!

Dance Pics!

2010-08-29T21:23:00.003-05:00

How beautiful are these?!!! A big HUGE thanks to our awesome friends Jen and Paul!!! Butler Photography is by new best friend!! We were finally able to do Abby's dance pictures and even got some of her in last years costume (the yellow one). Is it kind of sad that she still fit into it! I mean seriously it fit her perfectly still!!! She obviously on the petit side of things!! Anyway I am so excited how these turned out and cant wait to get some developed!!

Well.......

2010-08-18T11:45:00.002-05:00

......at least it isn't food or condiments this time. And the markers are washable and not permanent. But man she was doing so good!!! We went and got her some "Lacey Lotion"-some baby lotion that I put in a small container. We also had a talk about not putting food on our arms, legs, and face and if you want to put some thing on then you can use Lacey's lotion! She was all excited and was putting it on and loving it! So I guess in her defence never in that talk did I say she couldn't use markers.

Back to School!

2010-08-16T14:53:00.003-05:00

Well Abby made it through the summer! For her summer was just something that she had to deal with till school started. She has been dying for school to start pretty much since it ended in May.

We got her some new clothes and having them sit in the closet, not being able to wear them has been killing her! It was nice to be able to put the first day of school on our calender on the fridge because then she wasn't asking me every day when it was. Then to add to her torture/excitement last Thursday was Unpack Your Backpack Night. So we got to go find her classroom and put away all her supplies. At the end of the school year last year they already had the kids assigned to the next years classes so she was able to meet her teacher before summer. This year she had Mrs. Wall and Abby is one excited girl!! She had big smiles when I picked her up that day after school-she jumped in the car and said "I have Mrs. Wall!! I wanted her to be my teacher! She came into the gym one time when we were having gym class and she had on the coolest shirt Mom! And I said to myself "oh I hope she is my next teacher because she wears super pretty shirts!" ! How funny is she?!!

So anyway she has not stopped talking since we were there on Thursday. She has had her outfit all picked out and has been telling what she thinks she will say on Monday when she wakes up! She said "I think when I wake up on Monday and I remember that it is the first day of school then I will say "oh I'm so excited its the first day of school! School is starting school is starting!"!

She was all smiles when we took her to school and to her classroom. Then this afternoon she hops in the car and says "I had a GREAT day!"

War of the Walls

2010-08-13T13:54:00.004-05:00

A war of the walls has begun in Stokerville- it seems to be 2 against 3. Bryan and Allison aka "The Rules and Cleanliness Enforcers" or RCE's against the 3 kids. Thier ultimate goal is to win obviously! They are fighting for the right to have clean walls. The opposing forces-Abby, Dylan and mostly Lacey aka "The In-House Graffiti Artists" or IHGA's for short are fighting against the No-Drawing-On-The-Walls rule. Now the leader of the IHGA's is not the oldest as you would expect. A funny change of influence happened when Lacey the youngest join the group. She became the undisputed leader. Armed with her imposing personality, strong lungs, loud voice and willingness to do harm to anyone around her, the older 2 members quickly cowered under her dominance. The 2 other members, Abby and Dylan knew the rules of Stokerville. Having been minor offenders once upon a time but quickly reformed after consequences were quickly enforced, they had led rule abiding lives from then on. All was calm on the walls until Lacey came of age and discovered what is usually the wonderful world of coloring. One day Lacey decided that the paper she had just wasnt big enough-she needed a big canvas for her masterpiece. She looked around and saw plenty of empty space on the wall. So quietly with a crafty smile on her face she drew on the wall. Abby and Dylan knowing the repercussions of alerting both sides of the rule breaking could not figure out from what side the would get the biggest punishment-from their leader they would be yelled at and possible chased down and beaten, from the RCE's they would have to clean it up, get a lecture and some solitary confinement. Weighing both sides they decided that it would be worse to upset their Leader. They then decided that if she could then they could and so began what they would call beautiful murals and what the RCE's call graffiti. The latest battle in the War of the Walls was waged just this morning. It has led to drastic measures being taken on the side of the RCE's and a massive regrouping of the IHGAs. The morning was quiet on all fronts till an Officer of the RCE realized it was a little too quiet and looked around to account for all the IHGAs. 2 were found and accounted for 1 was MIA. Dylan's name was called and he came to check in with his hands behind his back and an innocent smile on his face. Upon the following questioning it was discovered that he "wasn't doing anything in Lacey room" and was in possession of a contraband red crayon. An investigation was quickly launched. At the scene of the crime 3 things were discovered. First, Lacey was not involved, having gotten her graffiti urge out the day before with a black crayon on the yellow living room wall. Second, when asked Dylan readily confessed to drawing on the wall and third, Abby was also obviously involved in today's dirty work. Even though she wasn't around to question what was on the wall had her name written all over it. Literally-she wrote her name in red on the baseboard! Confessions were made and included answers to questions like "I don''t know", "just because" and "I know". Consequences were handed out including but not limited to cleaning up the mess they made and all of the contraband coloring instruments being thrown in the trashcan. Now while this latest attempt of the RCE to stop the colorful actions of the IHGAs is fresh and the full effect has not been felt, it will be soon enough. All coloring paraphernalia will be properly dealt with and stored till further notice. These changes might take a while to truly be felt by the members of the IHGAs-maybe days, maybe weeks. They will be under surveillance for any possible rebellions. (As an added note these actions might not have any effect on the offenders at all-all members of the IHGA are also members of the Kids-Against-Picking-Up-Toys aka KA-PUT's. The consequence handed out to them was all toys, books, everything taken way-they went over 6 months without asking for anything back).

I'm having a flashback!

2010-08-10T11:59:00.004-05:00

This morning while I was putting away clothes Lacey decided to have a little unsupervised fun. In the kitchen. With the butter.

At least this time she knew when she got caught she was in trouble and that didnt make her happy at all!!

Is anyone else having a flashback to a couple years ago??!! Lacey and some crisco? I really dont know what her deal is with playing in food. Crisco, butter, soap, lotion, sour cream, ketchup, ranch dressing-you name it and it has been on her arms, legs, face, and hair or in a fun little picture on the kitchen table. She is diffinatly ALOT busier that Abby or Dylan was. I think it is because she is the 3rd kid. Does anyone else have the 3rd kids curse?!!! (and I mean curse in the most loving way possible!!!)

Crazy Crazy!

2010-08-06T12:45:00.003-05:00

Alright I am back! The laptop has been down for the count so blogging has been a little hard and then my energy level has been pretty much on low the last couple months! But the laptop is back so that makes me happy! Anyway update on us-Abby is registered for 1 grade and for her Ballet class so she is a happy camper. She is very excited for school to start-so am I cuz then I wont have to hear her ask everyday when school is starting! Dylan is sad that he cant go to school yet-but I have some preschool activities planned for him so that should make him happy! We are trying to get Lacey potty trained before the baby comes. She is doing pretty good so hopefully we will be able to get a few weeks diaper free! That would be awesome!! I am dying to redo the kids's rooms but Bryan keeps trying to hold me off! I know it seems like I am always redoing the kids rooms but really they haven't been completely finished and then we decide to rearrange what kids is in what room so what was going on the walls doesn't fit who is in the room!!! We are actually switching kids around again. Abby and Dylan will share the bunk beds in a room and Lacey will be in a room by herself. It is the only solution to deal with Lacey! She is such a stinker-she has a hard time going to sleep if anyone else is in the room and that keeps Abby and Dylan up because she will walk over anyone on the floor or throw pillows or poke someone-we have had all 3 sleeping in the same room because the girls room had the air unit in the window. So anyway Abby and Dylan will fall asleep quickly if Lacey isn't there and Lacey by herself falls asleep fast-so that is why the switch so we will see how that goes!! Anyway everything else is on the good side of things-we have a list of things we need to for the baby-which is just about everything! All the baby boy clothes I have from Dylan are summer so those wont work! And our infant carrier we have used for the others expired this year!! So the list goes on but I am waiting till school starts to worry about all that! Anyway off to put Lacey down for a nap that she wont take!!

Can You Say "Excited"?!!!

2010-06-25T19:06:00.004-05:00

Well I am officially announcing the coming arrival of one more Stoker baby!! Baby number 4 is one its way! I am 21 weeks and we found out today that it is a boy!! Wahooo!!! I am very excited that it is not a girl-that may sound mean and I love my 2 girls but they are very intense about ohhhh everything! Now we will have 2 of each and as Abby said as she danced around the room after we told her it was a boy "It's equal! It's equal! It's equal!!!" She was very happy that we would have the same number of boys and girls in the family!! The pic is blurry but will just have to do for now!!

Dancing Fun!

2010-06-07T16:07:00.004-05:00

Abby had her Spring Recital on Saturday. I volunteered to be one of the class mom's to help with all the girls. Now you might be wondering why I did that when I should be sitting in the audience to watch with all the other parents-well I did it for a couple of reasons-first they needed people and didn't have any volunteers for her class and night-second she wanted to stay for the finale and I knew that if she was going to stay that long she wouldn't want to be with someone she didn't know and third it was one less ticket we had to buy! and fourth it saved Bryan from having to sit through 3 hours of dances when Abby's was 7th of the night!! He was a happy boy!

Anyway Abby was excited that I was going to be with her the whole time and that I would be able to watch her dance from backstage. She did awesome and had a great time!

The video of her dancing is from the Rehearsal night-they don't allow recording or taking picture on the actual performance night which is too bad for you guys because Abby spends most of this dance watching the other girls as she dances and on the actual performance she looked straight ahead like she was supposed to! I was so proud of her!

Bill and Jenny were able to come and they brought her flower-which she was soooo excited for, she had been talking all day about hoping someone brought her some flowers!

Abby's last day of Kindergarten!

2010-05-25T19:22:00.003-05:00

Abby wanted to do something for her teacher since it was the last day of school so we made a candy gram! I totally love these! We bought a bunch of candy and used them to write a little note. I wrote it out on the poster board to make sure we could get it all on there and Abby decorated all of the empty space.

Then this morning I helped her take it to school. Her teacher loved it! It was fun to see Abby give it to her. She loves Mrs. McCulloh!-she was just the kind of teacher Abby needed to get her in the groove of going to school. She also has Abby so excited about 1st grade! All I hear about is "when I am in 1st grade..., I am doing 1st grade coloring..., when does 1st grade start?". They were able to go to the classroom they will be in next year and meet their teacher. When I asked her about her teacher for next year she said "Mrs. Wall is my teacher! I wanted Mrs. Wall to be my teacher! She came into gym one time and she had on a really cool shirt!". Leave it to a girl to want a teacher because of what she is wearing!

She also got a list of Scholastic Summer Challenge book list and is excited to read her way through it and is ready to go to the library and get started! She is hilarious!

For those who are interested the candy gram said

"Dear Mrs. McCulloh,

You started the year with a bunch of RUNTS but are ending it with a bunch of

STAR(s)BURST(ing) with the (sour punch straws) PUNCH of knowlege you gave! We had MOUNDS of SNICKERS in class when we learned about WHATCHAMACALLIT?! We might have made some WHOPPERS and sort have fallen to PIECES but ....DOTS.... you were there with hugs and the supply of those were GOOD & PLENTY! You are an awesome teacher and the REISON that for me the MILKYWAY is the limit! So this summer TAKE 5 and go on a shopping SPREE on 5th AVE.- You deserve it!!!

So on more EXTRA big thank you!

Love, Abby"

Happy Birthday Dylan!

2010-05-14T10:34:00.003-05:00

This is a couple days late but I can't find my discs of pictures so I had to spend some time looking then gave up and had to figure out how to share files between computers! And I did it! So that was really exciting!!

Anyway Dylan is 4!! I can't even believe it! These are a couple of my favorite pics of him just after he was born. He was reall jaundiced even though he was a big baby so he got to wear a belly blanket for a couple weeks! Wasn't he so cute!!

A lot of people dont believe me when I say that despite being amost 10 pounds he was really skinny so this pic is for all of you! He is in a 3 month outfit.

See I told you! It took him a while to get some meat on those bones!

He is really excited for his Transformer party on Sunday so I will have pics of that. We have some fun stuff planned! He has been living and breathing Transformers for the last little bit and wants to watch the movie pretty much everyday. He is one silly boy!

We made it!!

2010-05-06T12:11:00.004-05:00

The end is here!! Lacey was able to get her cast off for good yesterday! Can you tell how excited I am! Lacey did really good when they cut this one off and once it was done she pulled her blanket over her leg just like she did last time. I don't know what kind of powers that blanket has but apparently it does something! Once we got the news that she was good to go I put her shoe on and stood her up-she held her foot up and tried to sit down. She wouldn't walk or do anything on her foot. So when we went to pick up Dylan I got her out of the car and stood her on the ground, held her hand and made her walk. And she did of course-but it was a little diffucult. She kept a death grip on my hand-it was sad but also funny to watch her try to refind her center of balance after walking with her cast for 2 and a half weeks!

In the afternoon we went outside and she spent about 25 mins in the sand box-she has been missing the sand box! And then the momment that I have been waiting for----BATH TIME!! Once Lacey got in the tub she just laughed and laughed she was so happy! and I was happy because she was clean! A sponge bath in the kitchen sink for 5 and a half weeks for a 2 year old just does not cut it!!! (I know this picture makes her look a little wierd but with her wiggling all around and the picture coming from my phone not much I can do!)

Abby's Spring Program

2010-04-26T11:17:00.006-05:00

Abby had her Spring Program at school today. She has been so excited! She did great! Thier theme was "American All"- the narration was they were doing an internet search of the word "American" and it talked about all the people who came from other countries and that we are all Americans. So the songs they sang were from all around the world. Abby had a great time. Here are a couple clips. I tried to pick ones that you could understand most of the words, sometimes it wasnt that easy!!

Sorry this one is a little bumpy but Lacey was trying to climb all over me! Abby specifially asked me to get this song-she likes at the end when they all bow thier heads-she thought that was cool!

Happy Birthday Abigail!!

2010-04-19T11:33:00.005-05:00

Abby is 6! She has been so excited about her birthday! She has been talking about what kind of party she wants for about the last 8 months. Since then it has been Fancy Nancy. So we planned a Fancy Nancy themed party-luckily I hadnt botten anything yet because last monday she changed her mind and wanted a Pinkalicious party. She loves loves loves pink and loves the book Pinkalicious! So we scraped the Fancy Nancy plans and went on to the Pink!

Everything was pink! Streamers, balloons, tablecloth, plates, silverware, napkins, pink cupcakes (the girl in Pinkalicious turns pink by eating too many pink cupcakes) with pink frosting and pink sprinkles! She got lots of pink presents, including her own copy of the Pinkalicious book! (You might think it wierd that she didn't already have a copy but last year my mom took her to the book store to buy it for her for her birthday and she decided to get Purpleicious because she hadnt read that one yet!)

Here she is with one of her fav presents-her pink hula-hoop! And man she can hula!!

Lacey's New Cast

2010-04-13T12:31:00.005-05:00

Well Lacey got her new cast yesterday! I was a little worried about how she would handle it when they had to cut her cast off-but she did awesome! She was upset of course but didn't completely freak out. Once it was off she immediately covered her leg with her blanket like it had some special protection powers or something-it was kinda funny! She wouldn't even let me look at her leg or touch it. Every time I would try to pull the blanket back she would say "No! Stop it! Don't touch!" as she pulled her blanket back over it. She barely let the Doctor look and touch her leg! the funny thing was as much as she didn't want anyone touching it as soon as the guys came in to put on the new cast and he pulled out the sock thing they put on first she held her leg out for him and didn't put up any fuss at all! She just sat there totally fine and didn't make a sound! Before the doctor came in I showed her the paper with all the cast colors and asked her which one she wanted-she picked purple as you can tell! I asked her twice just to make sure and she picked purple both times!

So now she has her little shoe so she can walk-but will she? Nope! She wont but any weight on it, she wouldn't even crawl! It is almost like she needs to figure out how to do things all over again-since she wont use her leg at all, not even her knee-it is pretty funny to watch her try to get up on a chair or the couch! I finally got her to crawl this morning but mostly she just scoots on her bum. I knew it would take her a little while before she would walk on it so we will keep you posted!

How Lacey entertains herself

2010-03-31T18:01:00.004-05:00

Since mobility is an issue for Lacey and she doesn't really have the patience to crawl or scoot around this is what she does-

Lacey's Exciting Day!

2010-03-31T13:00:00.003-05:00

Well it all began on Sunday afternoon. Lacey and Abby were dancing around to some music in their room while we were moving the kids bedrooms around. One second everyone was happy, the next Lacey was crying on the floor saying her foot hurt. So we just figured that she had sprained her ankle. There wasn't anything in their room to jump off of since we were moving stuff around so I don't even know what really happened. She cried for a while and we gave her some Motrin and put a little wrap on it, but she wouldn't but any pressure on it at all, she wouldn't even crawl around! She wanted to be carried all around.

Monday morning she was the same, still said it hurt and still would not put any pressure on it. So I called my Dad who give excellent advise on just about everything! He said keep an eye on her and call the doctor and see what they say. So I ended up calling mostly just to see "how long is too long to wait to take her in", the lady went to ask a nurse, got back on the phone and asked it I could bring her in later that morning. So to the doctor we went.

The doctor felt her foot and ankle and moved her foot around and only once did Lacey flinch. She never said a word or made a sound! The only time she cried was when he stood her up to see if she would walk, which of course she didn't. He was like "well if she was really hurt she wouldn't be letting me poke and push on her like that but we will take some x-rays just in case.

So now we are back in the room after x-rays which she didn't enjoy at all and we waited for the doctor to come in. The door opens and the doctors stands there for like 3 seconds with this look of astonishment on his face and is silent! I was like "what?" He said "she broke her tibia!" I asked where at and as he turns to leave the room he says "I'll get the x-ray, I just can't believe it!" I was really funny!

Then he says that she will be in a cast for 6 weeks and I was like "oh great-this will be fun!". So then we were off the the Orthopedic place to get her cast. She was awesome!! When we got there she was all smiles and talking and all the nurses were like "She doesn't seem like a little girl with a broken leg!" What can I say, I have weird kids.

So then the Pediatric Orthopedic guy comes in and says "All right we need to keep her leg immobilized so she will be in a cast from her toes to the top of her thigh for 2 weeks then come back and we will put on that goes to her knee for 4 weeks" I was like "oh my gosh!! there goes your Easter egg hunt Lacey!"

She sat on my lap the whole time they put her purple cast on with one of her famous scowls on her cute little face and was completely silent! She didn't utter one sound! She was awesome and they were all amazed at how good she did.

So now she want everyone to sign it, its pretty cute. And we painted her toes so now they look cute sticking out of her cast.

She is doing really well. She can get down off of anything, but only get up onto the couch, everything else is too high for her. She has tried crawling but since we don't have carpet in the living room her cast slips all over the place and she doesn't get very far! So most of the time she scoots on her butt, even then she mostly is scooting over to someone for them to pick her up. Here is her new position while we are shopping!

It will be a long two weeks!!

Music in my dreams!

2010-03-25T08:19:00.002-05:00

I was peacefully dreaming early this morning, I don't remember what I was dreaming about but I remember all of sudden I realized music started playing in the background! It was real quiet like in a movie. So then I was wondering where the music was coming from! That was when I started to wake up and realized it was coming from the tv!! Bryan uses the tv as an alarm clock and has the timer set to turn on in the morning-last night I fell asleep watching Real World (I know I know but it can be pretty funny!). So anyway they play music videos in the morning apparently-I was just lucky that it was a nice mellow clean song that was playing! It kind of scares me to think of what would have happened in my dream if the song had been different!! It also makes you wonders what else influences your dreams at night!

Catching Up!

2010-03-16T12:58:00.007-05:00

We finally got a new power cord thing for the laptop so now I can update the blog. I have been putting off because the cord we had wasn't charging the battery and you had to have it positioned a certain way or it would turn off! Totally annoying and not easy to work with! So now with pictures loaded up here we go! Lacey found the flour container while Bryan was cooking dinner and I was on my way home with Abby from her dance class! She was not happy to have her fun put to an end!

(if laceys shirt looks a little wierd its because it was edited a little because she was shirtless)

Here is Dylan proudly displaying his letter puzzle that he did all by himself. He is really good at it when he isn't peeling the pictures of the top of the puzzle pieces! What is it with boys and taking things apart?! Abby bought herself a "life size" barbie puzzle with some Christmas money-she was so excited! Lacey was awesome doing her breathing treatments-she would hold it by herself, we just had to keep an eye on her to make sure she kept it in her mouth!

One saturday a couple weeks ago we were watching some kids of a friend of mine while they went to the temple, I was cleaning and went into my room and found everyone squeezed on to the bed watching cartoons! Lacey was up there too but she doesn't sit still for too long and apparently taking a picture put her way past her limit!

Poor Bryan!

This is Lacey pretty much all day. She talks and talks and talks. In the beginning of the video when she is all scowling she was mad that I was watching her through the camera and not looking directly at her! she is so funny!

Super Slacker!

2010-02-12T13:38:00.003-06:00

o.k. well I thought I should put something up since it has been a while. We have been partly busy and partly lazy. Life has just been crazy with my kids, the 2 boys I babysit and then we started watching our neighbors' little girl after school. But these last 2 weeks we have been dealing with sick kids. Not fun! Abby, Lacey, Bryan and I all got an 8 hour flu bug all on different days of course. Dylan and Lacey both had really bad ear infections and respiratory crap so they were both on breathing treatments-Dylan twice a day and Lacey every 4 hours. Lacey pretty much stopped eating and drinking because her ears were bothering her because she refused to take the antibiotic-so that has been stressful-but after a week and a half of that-her second trip to the doctor and a different antibiotic she was finally eating today. Abby was off and on with a fever every couple days, not having one long enough to have to take her in but just long and often enough to make it annoying! Everyone seems to be doing pretty good now so that is good. I can finally catch up on all the things that I needed and wanted to do but couldn't because I was sleep deprived after sitting up with Dylan 3 nights in a row. I am so ready for winter to be done!!! On a fun note, last Saturday I had a girls game night and it was a total blast!! Lots and lots of laughing going on and needed by everyone I think! I didn't get home till 11:30-it had been a long time since I was even up that late not to mention out some where! And tonight is the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics!! wahooo!!!!!! I absolutely love the Olympics! It is on pretty much all day at our house, I am so excited! 2 conversations with Abby- A-hey mom I want some of that Me-no way abby is moms and i am not sharing this time! A-why? I want some Me-Because I am the mom and when you are the mom you have have a goody all to yourself too A-When I'm the mom I can have whatever I want? Me-yep! That is one of the fun things of being a mom! A-oh o.k. (big smile) A-Mom are we to the store yet? Me-almost just a couple more minutes A-you live to far from the store-when I am a mom I will live close to the store-you can come see me mom. Me-o.k. I think I will do that thanks! A-but then I will live far from Mc Donalds so I will come visit you!

Lacey's Naps

2010-01-03T18:59:00.005-06:00

I went to check on Lacey one afternoon while she was taking a nap and this is what I found. Who knows what goes on in her little 2 year old mind!

Snow Much Fun!!

2009-12-30T19:24:00.004-06:00

We got a couple more inches of snow yesturday and since it was relativly warm (right around 30 degrees) we went out to play! The kids had a blast! We made a pile of snowballs and had them ready for when Bryan got home from work and when he came into the backyard Abby and Dylan both hit them with one and ran back for more. They threw those and came back for more and Bryan was like "how many do you have made?!!" It was pretty funny! The har part was getting them all back inside-there were lots of tears and bribing going on so I cant really say who was the winner, the parents for stopping the crying and whining or the kids getting som candy!