Yard Sales, Pizza, and Balloon Animals

Yesterday, Saturday, we had our first Yard Sale of the year. We normally have 2 every summer - one at the beginning and one at the end. My backyard neighbor Amie joined me, as always, and a couple other neighbors brought a few things over as well. The weather was perfect! Nice and overcast and not too hot. It went pretty good - we made about what we normally do. But I know that I really overdid it this weekend! By 11 am I was feeling so worn out. And not feeling too well, either. William's had a terrible cough all week and we got him started on some meds first thing that morning, and I am afraid I am getting it, or something! Though I am feeling quite a bit better today actually.

We ended up going longer than normal with our yard sale, and it was 4 in the afternoon before we were all finished, everything packed up and a load taken to the D.I. Time to think about something for dinner! And with the way I was feeling, having to be up and fixing anything really did not sound fun - I wanted nothing more than to sit - sit and be catered to! So, since we both had gift cards to a pizza place we'd never been, Amie and I decided that going out for pizza was the perfect end to our day!

Brick Oven Pizza is pretty much right on BYU campus - it was huge inside! And SO yummy! Our family had the Deluxe Chicken Alfredo pizza and salad bar with it. I think it was the best, yummiest pizza I have ever had! (which reminds me, the one remaining piece is in the fridge - snack time!) But the best part of all, for the kids anyways, was that there was a balloon twister making the rounds.

This guy Jeremy is AMAZING!! Totally blows away the simple little dog I can make! But then again, he has been doing it for over 6 years! And does it seriously, too! Here he is working on William's awesome Triceratops!


Here's all the kids with their balloon creations: Zach has a Nimbus 2000 Broomstick (can't see it all, but it was awesome!), Madison has Tinkerbell, Gabriella has Aerial, Hannah has a dalmation (no spots, she had to draw those on herself!), Annalise has an awesome Cinderella that made Tabitha completely jealous - her Tinkerbell wasn't big enuf! And William and his Triceratops.


It was a fun, and very relazing evening! Delicious food (that I didn't have to fix!). And as soon as we got home it was bedtime and I got to lay on the couch and put my feet up and just relax!

Graduation Time!

This past Thursday was William's Preschool Graduation. I can't believe my little boy is ready for and will soon be starting Kindergarten! He has learned SO much in his fun little preschool. I admit, I was a bit worried about what he would learn, since this was a "cheap" preschool. But I have been impressed with SO much of it - I would recommend The Wooden Cottage to anyone!

The kids put on a nice little program (of which none of my pictures turned out since the camera was on a wierd setting - oops!) showing off what they have learned this year and singing lots of cute little songs. Then they got ready for their graduation march. His teacher, Mrs. Geanna (or Mrs. G as William likes to call her!) had these cute little caps and gowns for them to wear - complete with tassels! It was so cute watching each of the kids walk in and get their diploma from her!

Mrs. Geanna, William, and Miss Carrie

Ok, cute little story here!

This little girl is Lily - and I had never met her or even heard anything about her from William. But her parents came up to us after the little ceremony and said they had to get a picture of William and Lily together, because Lily said that he was her boyfriend. And she would talk about him almost everyday after preschool - telling her parents how William had told her that her hair looked pretty or he liked her shirt or something sweet like that. Her mom said that often Lily would say things like, I need to wear this shirt today because William really likes it. Or, I want my hair fixed this way because William says it is pretty. TOO STINKIN' CUTE! He is VERY nice and sweet with his compliments like that! Always telling me and his sisters that we looked pretty. If you ask William, he has 8 girlfriends. But he can't remember all their names!

Gabriella, the proud big sister, and Tabitha.

We let Gabriella miss part of school to come to the graduation. She said "I've never been to a preschool graduation before!" She was thrilled.

Congratulations, William!
You have done a great job and learned SO much!
I know you will do wonderful in Kindergarten!

The Secret to Butter

A week or so ago, William told me (very randomly) that butterflies make butter. And he knew this because our 7 year old neighbor friend, Hannah, had told him this. And Hannah knows EVERYTHING. She even knows more than his older and wiser mom.

He would NOT believe me when I told him that butter did NOT come from butterflies. It was made from cream, from milk, that comes from cows. He insisted that butterflies made butter. In a way, it kinda makes sense - why else would they be called BUTTERflies?

So Rick had the great idea that we should teach the kids how to make butter and let them make some on their own.

So here's a picture of the kids with their little jars, shaking and shaking the cream, watching it turn into butter, leaving behind the buttermilk (which we used to make buttermilk pancakes!)
You can see the butter on a little plate in front on them.

But, even after all of that, William still insists that Butterflies make Butter!

Mother's Day 2009

I had a great Mother's Day this year. The kids woke me up nice and early around 7, (not so great!) so excited to bring me their little gifts they had made in school and primary - each one wrapped in either paper towels or a blanket. Pretty darn cute! After oohing and ahhing over each one, I nudged Rick to wake him up. He had a very nice card for me with a gift card to Kohl's - my favorite store! - with strict instructions that it was to be used on me, NOT the kids. Yeah, I kinda have a little problem with that!

Rick and the kids fixed me breakfast in bed, then it was off to church, where mothers were given a giant candy bar - chocolate, yummy! We spent the late afternoon and evening at Rick's parents', where we had a very yummy dinner and enjoyed visiting.

Me and my sweet, silly kiddos!

Me and the kids with my mom a week recently.

For Your Listening Pleasure!

Time to plant!

This week we have been SO busy getting our garden area ready! Ok, ok, by "we" I really mean Rick - mostly Rick! I DID help.
The beginning of the week there just seemed to be SO much to do - our little garden spots were just full of huge weeds, grass over a foot high, and more weeds! So we needed to get all the weeds/grass cleared out, compost brought in, tilled, and planted - and guess what? We did it!
Rick and I spent a couple of evenings after the kids were in bed, pulling out all the weeds. One evening a backyard neighbor saw us and offered us raspberry starts. I LOVE raspberries! We have a few very small plants that my sister gave us last year, so we gladly took what was offered us! And Rick spent even more time outside, in the dark, that evening, clearing away more weeds/grass and planting the new raspberries.
He went and got a truckload of compost before work one morning, came home on his lunch break to unload it, and spread it out and tilled it in that evening.
Today has been spent cleaning up a big rock pile (we have very rocky dirt!) weed whacking the rest of the horrid weeds, shopping for seeds and plants, and planting! The kids helped me plant beans, carrots, squash and zucchini. And then Rick, William, and I planted tomatoes, green peppers, onions, cucumbers, corn, pumpkin, and broccoli. Busy day! And still to come - watermelon and potatoes - and possibly more - depending on whatever else I come up with!
Thanks Rick, for all your hard work and help this week! No way I could have done it all myself! I was worried I was going to put myself into labor pulling out some of those weeds!

My men - hard at work!

On another note - I lost 2 pounds in the last 2 weeks! My goal for this pregnancy has been to keep my weight gain around 30 pounds, hopefully no more than 35. As of Tuesday, I was at 29 pounds, down 2 (probably because I had been yucky sick Monday morning!)

The doctor is sure that the baby is head down! Very good news! And she/he is more active than ever! One of my favorite things is being able to see my tummy move - big waves and sudden pokes - love it!

And most exciting of all: The baby has a name!! As Rick and I were tossing rocks into the wheelbarrow today, I brought up the topic of names - again. And with a little bit of help from the kids, and a bit of compromise from both of us, we have officially decided on first AND middle names for the baby - a boy name and a girl name. So happy and excited to have that taken care of! Oh, but don't ask, cuz we won't tell! Nope - no one will know until the baby is here! :)

Any guesses when that might be? I'd love to get some guesses of dates and boy/girl and see if anyone gets it right! The kids are all hoping for a girl. Rick definitely wants a boy, and I am hoping for a girl, but I kinda feel like it's going to be a boy AND that he is going to come early - or at least on time! (May 30! only 3 weeks left! ) No idea why I feel that way - my kids have all been late, but who knows? What do you think?

8 Down, Only 1 to Go!

4 Weeks to Go! SO EXCITED!
(It's a bit blurry - sorry!)
Also shows off my not-so-new haircut -
I know, it's taken me a long time to get a picture of me on here!

Until a week or so ago, the baby had been breech. Not fun at all when your doctor tells you you may have to have a C-Section! So I took matters into my own hands and tried out some natural methods to try and get the baby to turn. Mostly laying on my ironing board, on the stairs, upside down. It was pretty hilarious. The kids got great laughs out of that. But it worked! Or something did! Or the baby just moved on its own. Who knows? I like to think that it was the crazy upside down ironing board laying!