Totally Random

So tonite we were all sitting at the table, eating dinner. And out of the blue comes this:

William (completely serious) - I want to move to Hollywood.

Rick & I - Why do you want to move to Hollywood?!
Total shocker - had no idea the boy even knows what Hollywood is!

William - Cuz I want to be famous!

Me - Who do you want to be famous like?
Again, NO idea he understands the concept of "being famous"!

William - Like GRANDMA!


So, there you have it! William wants to move to Hollywood to be famous like Grandma!!

OR . . .

Maybe he will become a famous dancer?!?!?

I'm Home!

I am back from being a full-time working mom to being a full-time stay-at-home mom! Wednesday last week was my last day, but starting Monday, I will go in for a few hours once a week and keep the filing, mailing, billing, etc. done. - and the kiddos can go with me.
I must admit, I can get pretty impatient at times with these kids - William and Tabitha can REALLY go at it! And I have wished that I was back at work, but I really am enjoying being home. I love that I can do dishes, laundry, sweep, mop, go grocery shopping, scrub toilets, and all the other mundane household chores during the day, and not spend all of my evenings doing that. My evenings can now be my own again for doing what I WANT to do, instead of what I HAVE to do. (Ok, so not saying that I do all of that all day long, but I am trying to keep up!)
There are also some bigger projects that have needed done for months that I am now trying to get done in the next few weeks! I've gotten all of my little boy clothes organized and boxed up (some were in boxes, some in a pile in my "messy room" and others William has more recently outgrown were tossed on the changing table.) and still needing to do all the little girl clothes! Today I spent a good part of the morning outside spraying dandelions! Our yard is really about 1/2 grass and 1/2 weeds and I HATE it! So I am hoping my efforts will pay off! It would be nice if it would rain Weed-B-Gone one night.
I am also excited to get back to doing some scrapbooking - my goal was to have each of my children's first year of life done by the end of the year and I think I've done 1 or 2 pages for each. And bow making! I want to make lots more pretty little hair bows for my girls! (yes Joy, I know I STILL owe you some!) And I told Gabriella I'd make her some cute pajamas. I really better get busy!
I am hearing lots of unhappy, yelling whiny voices from upstairs, so I guess my time here is done!

Catching Up: Easter

We had a fun Easter weekend. Saturday morning we spent at 2 Easter Egg Hunts - one the city put on (not too fun - way too many people, cold and drizzling, and not near enuf eggs for the kids - oh and Gabriella had a little squabble with a boy in her class over a little blue bunny - the boy won and Gabriella's basket broke - not a good way to start off the big hunt!) and then one put on by our backyard neighbors which was tons of fun! Way too many eggs and treats for the kids! William's and Tabitha's baskets were full within 5 minutes so they started filling up a plastic bag! The hunt was followed by a hot dog roast. Lots of fun!

Here's the kiddos, Sunday morning, after getting their baskets
and finding all the eggs and candy left by the Easter Bunny.

Proudly showing off their capes I made them (you can see the
other side in the top picture - reversible! Thanks to
Rachel for the fun idea - they are loving them!)

Ready for church!
and even on time at 9 am!
(Thanks to Nana & Papa for the beautiful dresses!)

Ready to take off!
(wearing new spring outfits from Grandma!)

Sunday evening we went to Nana & Papa's (Rick's parents) for dinner and yet ANOTHER egg hunt! Rick's brother Ross and his girlfriend Kari were there and the kids had lots of fun playing with them, climbing a tree and running around in their new capes - until Gabriella wiped out. :(

Sunday was a gorgeous day, but a couple days later,
we woke to this! Hello Spring Break!

Catching Up: Dance Competition Pictures

Ok, trying to get caught up here a bit - so lots of pictures!! These are from Gabriella's Dance Competition, end of March.

She is Gorgeous - don't ya think?

Ready to perform "When Somebody Loves Me"

With her company before "Shake a Tail Feather" -
and of course, she is the one really not looking!

Afterwards, proudly showing her trophy!

I just couldn't resist taking this picture of the
gorgeous sunrise on our drive that morning!

Baby Stuff

Hypnobirthing. Ever heard of it? Anyone ever tried it? I am SO excited to do it! This birth is going to be amazing!! I've been reading a book that a friend lent me and was hoping to take a class on it, but I don't know what is up with the gal teaching the class I was wanting to take. She won't respond to me or another friend's emails or phone calls. And the first class is Monday. So I have decided - Who needs to take a class? I can do it! And I am excited!

My baby has yet to be named. Rick is being difficult. He finally told me that he really does not like either the girl's or the boy's name that I have picked out. And he is totally not helpful in giving me new ideas. So I need help!! Please anyone, give me some name ideas that sound good with the 3 kiddos we already have!! But really, I keep telling myself I shouldn't worry too much. He'll come around. He didn't like Gabriella or Tabitha either.

And my next little dilemma. A car seat. Has anyone ever had a regular carseat, one that can be rear facing for the baby and then forward facing when they are older? I was at Wal-Mart today and just went down the car seat aisle for fun (we do need a new one!) and saw this pretty pink flowered one and I love it! And I thot how cool that that would be the only carseat we would need. AND it was on clearance!! So I snatched it up. But now I am just wondering, what do people do with their baby? If it falls asleep, do they just carry it, cuz you certainly can't lug that big thing around like you do the infant carrier carseats! And to go anywhere, you have to hold it the whole time - not that that's bad, but your arms do get tired! And then again, if this baby of mine is a boy, the car seat is a definite no! So opinions please! Tabitha took one look at it and got SO excited and said "Is that a new car seat for ME?!" and she has been sitting in it, cuddling up in it all day! Maybe we should just keep it for her - she really could use a new seat, too.

I did not eat a whole banana a couple of days ago and woke up several times in the middle of the nite with either horrid charlie horses in BOTH feet or even horrider ones in BOTH legs. I seriously thot my left shin bone was going to split in 2. It was NOT a good nite, to say the least. For a while I had been getting frequent cramps like this, some terribly painful like the other nite. So I started eating a banana a day for potassium and taking a calcium/magnesium supplement and as long as I do both of those every day I am fine. But if not, I am in trouble!

I get rather annoyed when people tell me how tiny I am. I'm now 7 months pregnant and certainly feel it. But I have not gained near as much weight with this baby as I did with the other 3 (eating healthier and going up and down stairs numerous times at work really helps!) so I am trying to learn to take it as a compliment when someone says something like how small I am.

And I am starting to get tired of my maternity clothes.

And I really wish I was on a cruise right now, someplace nice and warm. (Then I could wear all my cute maternity swimsuits that I haven't had a chance to wear.)

And I have missed riding my bike to work the last couple of weeks. We had one gorgeous week that I rode to work every day and I LOVED it! Go away snow!! Go away rain! Come back 60 degree weather!

Saturday's Catch-up

The last 2 weeks:

1 - Gabriella had another dance competition last Saturday. Her team did great again, placing 1st and 4th and she got to bring home another trophy. She was one happy little dancer.

2 - Rick participated in his first ever mini Triathlon. And I did not get to be there (see #1). But he accomplished his goal - he finished! Swimming 300 meters, biking 11 miles (half of that being uphill) and running 3 miles took him just over 2 hours, finishing 2nd from last. I am so proud of him for doing it and for not giving up! And he is thinking he wants to do another 1 or 2 this year. I even told him that maybe I would do this one, The Icebreaker, with him next year. Maybe.

3 - William has been learning about the weather, volcanoes, the letter V, and much more at preschool. He loves telling us if it is just breezy, instead of windy, or if it is a blizzard instead of just snowing outside. And yes, we've had snow off and on all week - yucky yucky, blizzardy snow! What happened to spring?!

4 - I have just started my next fun sewing project - I am SO excited! Something fun for the kids - was going to be a surprise from the Easter Bunny, but they've all got a glimpse so it will just be a surprise from Mommy in their baskets. (I will post pictures later!)

5 - Tabitha didn't want to go to sleep tonite. First her kitty kept meowing loudly. Then she insited on a drink. And then she kept hollering "MOM!" until I hollered (quietly) back "What?" and she asked (holleringfrom her room to me in the lving room again) "Are my cousins in Lehi?" She is such a crazy little nutcase!

6 - I only have a week and a half working full-time left. And I am both excited by that and kinda bummed too - it's really been a lot of fun. Nites are still hectic, trying to cram everything in with the kids in just a couple of hours, but I've really enjoyed it.

7 - I did some awesome multi-tasking while listening to conference today! First, Gabriella helped me do some cleaning/organizing in my "messy room." Christmas and Halloween is officially put away - completely away!! Next I put away lots of canned foods and boxes of cereal in the storage room. I get lazy, I get in a hurry, and I just toss the bags in, or pile up the cases of canned foods. So it really needed some attention. I have 41 boxes of cereal, 2 cases of black beans (1 that I didn't know I had), a case of tomato sauce I didn't know about and I am completely out of peanut butter! AND I got all the material for my kiddos surprise cut out!

8 -Rick got a job!! (Sorry, thot I had already posted about that, but guess not!) We were lucky - very lucky. He was only out of work for 2 weeks and then started working for Franson Civil Engineers. For now it is just a temporary position, about 3 months they said, but it could very well end up being permanent if they get some big projects they are bidding on and/or they see how awesome of an engineer he is. And lots of perks - higher wage, closer to room (right down the street!!! He can ride his bike if it will stop snowing!) and HEALT INSURANCE!!! That will definitely come in handy. And he says the bosses are better, employees are better (a few were buddies he studied with at USU), and the work is more what he has wanted to do - "Cooler projects" he says.

9 - Tabitha cracks us up with how she eats apples. Most people eat apples going around the core. Not her. She starts in one spot and digs in, going right into the middle of the apple. And she will eat it ALL. She got very upset with me today when I picked up the half of a core that was left and tossed it in the garbage, thinking she was done. Nope. She would have eaten that half of the core, seeds and all. What was I thinking?

10 - My baby is kicking. A lot. And I LOVE it! Sometimes she/he gets so active and moving so much that just by looking at my covered tummy, you can see it moving. (I'm sure anyone who has been pregnant knows what I'm talking about!) I just love it - like right now. It is just fun and makes me laugh.