Check out the video to see what we are having

The kids are quite excited. 

We know what we are having!!!!

But you can't know until we tell our kids.  We are waiting for Matt to get home from work.  They are quite excited.  We can't wait to see their reactions. 

Always up to something

So the crazy kids think it's fun to drive the bulldozer ON TOP OF THE TABLE.  Hello crazy kids, you are going to get hurt.  Guess how often I find them doing this?  Every time they are on the porch.  I guess we need to take down the table. 

Josey goes from 1 crazy thing to the next...all day long.  Makes for a long day for mommy and daddy.

Mommy was sure glad daddy stayed home.  Ally and Ben are sick and have been on and off for over a week now.

7/30 Update on the sickies: Ben and Ally are negative for strep.  Ben is being treated for strep and we are waiting to see if Ally improves before treating her.  Her appetite was amazing at lunch today...so maybe she is on the mend.

Josephine's 2nd birthday- 3rd party....and the Elkhart County Fair- Demolition Derby

My kids have been lucky with the amount of partying they've gotten to do for their birthday.  I think they've each had 3 parties on different days.

 I love how excited Josey is about Matt's present.

 Thanks for the princesses...and the boys.

 Thanks Kim, Phil and Pete.

 We LOVE legos.  Thanks Grandma and Papa.

 A Dora pillowcase.  Thanks Aunt Kate. I love Dora.

 Party time!

 Playdoh!  Thanks Grandma Lich

 Time for birthday brownies!

 After partying so hard, we all took naps.  Well the naps were so good that we woke up late and we didn't get a seat at the derby.  So we watched from afar and then walked around and checked out other things.

 Daddy and Grandpa were nice enough to loan their backs/shoulders so the kids could see some of the action.

 All ready to go.

Elkhart County Fair- Rodeo

This was my first rodeo. 

It was a bit chilly...I didn't think to dress everyone for fall weather.

We had a fun time and I think the kids enjoyed it.

Silly Jo Jo

She found some goggles and said she was going swimming in the basement.

Not sure what she did, but she didn't come back wet.

Silly Lucy

Crazy girl.  I went to check on her at nap time and she is asleep on her book.  The butt in the air is great too (Aunt Tiffney use to sleep like that...heck she still might!).

Really the older 2 are here, just not in any pictures.

After waking up from her nap, Jo came downstairs, went to the pantry, pulled out a cake mix, set it on the table and said "chocolate cake please mom". Sorry sweet girl no cake today.

 We went for a hike this morning and the kids all took their binoculars. 

I'm not sure any of them even used them, but they had them ready.

It's a sad sad Monday

We aren't feeling well.  4 of us are sick, 1 of us is teething and 1 of us left for work.  I let you figure out where everyone fits.

 Last week the 4 kids got to pick out new undies.  The older girls went for Super Heroes.  Ben went for Avengers.  Jo picked out Minnie Mouse.

That kind of day

As of this morning Lucy and mommy are sick as well.  Lucy threw up during the night...yeah lots of fun.  She made sure to get it all over her favorite pink blankie, her bed, her floor took the brunt of it, our bed, floor, the toilet and the bathroom floor.  Thanks to Matt for dealing/cleaning up the mess.  Jo has had a fever since yesterday, but hasn't thrown up.  Not sure what's going around, but maybe the kids won't miss school early on if they are sick now. 
We are watching all sorts of shows, some of us are hanging out in our pj's while others are in their undies.  I'm glad I made myself go to the grocery Saturday night.  I have all sorts of foods that will work for a bland diet.  I am in desperate need of a nap and can't wait for naptime.  Dealing with 4 sick kids while pregnant and sick is no fun, but they make up for it with cuddles and wanting to be held.  Oh and lots of laundry has been done in the last 12 hours.  I am hoping not much more, but just in case, I bought a lot more laundry detergent the other night.  Today is a rainy day, so we aren't missing anything outside.  I guess it's a great day for being sick.  Here's hoping Matt can stay healthy for his busy 2 weeks at work. 

OH my Lucy

I had to give a talk in Sacrament meeting and teach the Sunbeams (3/4 yr olds).  Ally and Ben stayed home because they were throwing up.  Jo stayed home so she could get a good nap.  I took Lucy to church with me, because she wasn't wanting a nap and wasn't sick.  I got my talk done and sat back down with Lucy and my mom.  Lucy decided she needed to go potty and wanted mommy to take her.  Grandma had just gotten some sweet tarts out and offered those to Lu if she let Grandma take her.  She said if there were 3 she'd go.  Then I went to drop her off in nursery and she looked around and decided she'd rather go with mommy.  So we went in and sat down. 

L: When's snack time?  

Me: We don't have snacks.  

L: What?  Let's go to class mommy. 

So I took her back to nursery, where she happily stayed for the snack.  Every week she can tell me exactly what the snack was.  The girl is driven by food, unlike the rest of the kids.

Goofy kids

The older 3 kids requested "big" carrots for lunch.  So that's what they ate.

They loved it.

 Jo wanted grapes.

 Mom: Smile Jo

Jo: No smile mom

 Jo: Haha here's my smile mom!

Look how blonde her hair is.  It just keeps getting whiter the more we are outside.

Jo Jo's birthday

 Knowing that Jo wasn't going to eat whatever was in front of her, I just made a basic chocolate cake.

She decided to surprise me and ate some of her cake.  She knows that messes= showers, so she often makes a mess, just as a free ticket to the shower. 

 Love this face!  Lately she only wants chocolate milk.  Nothing else will do.  Kind of frustrating, but this too will pass.  The other kids went through phases with food, its her turn now.

 The girls obviously didn't get enough to drink, so they were drinking (clean) shower water.

Happy 2nd Birthday crazy baby

We started off our morning buying a bunch of blueberries.

Then we played at Blast Off Park for as long as the kids could stand the temp/humidity.

Came home and let them play.

 

She has been waiting anxiously for her birthday.  I make a countdown chain every few months and have birthdays, vacations, school days, days off of school.  The kids all know where everyones birthdays are.  Jo was so excited to see her birthday getting closer.  

Josey definitely makes sure we are always on our toes and aware of her whereabouts.

Her latest way to find trouble is to strip down out of her clothes, remove her diaper, climb out of the crib, pee somewhere on her floor, slither under the low to the ground toddler bed, make a mess on the side of the room mom has blocked off with the toddler bed, slither back under the toddler bed, sit in the toddler bed and yell for mom until she comes in.  When I find her she is sitting there looking guiltless and asks for some chocolate milk. 

She also likes to climb up on the 2 computer desks and try her hand at reconfiguring the computers.  We put an end to that when Matt got a new computer for his birthday.  We gated off a hallway.  She figured out that the gate in the basement was a tad bit high enough for her to squeeze and wiggle her body backwards, just so she could create chaos for mommy and the cat.  She has dumped the cat's water and food and mixed them together, thrown cat litter around the laundry room and emptied Rubbermaid tubs with toys in them.  You might ask where I was during some of these things.  Well the little girl watched how Ben and Lucy would together create a distraction and then go off and find mischief. She figured out how to create a distraction and find trouble on her own.  Her distraction is usually something big and time consuming to clean up.  I am amazed at the end of each day that I was able to get laundry done, dishes cleaned, meals made for the kids, and if I am really lucky I have gotten the house cleaned and dinner has at least been thought of.  But when I am attempting to do my chores, is when she makes her distraction. 

We love this crazy ball of Josey and love that she makes us laugh with the things she says and does.  Her vocabulary is endless.  She is good at asking questions and figuring out answers.  Most of the time she plays well with her siblings.  She could care less that mommy wants her potty trained.  She loves to torture Holly the cat.  She doesn't care that Holly nips her and scratches her and thinks its funny.  She loves Diego, Dora and Princesses.  She can count to 14 and then skips to 18, 21.  She loves to sit and do "homework" with mommy.  Puzzles are a favorite.  Building with Lego Duplos are another favorite.

Tired babies

I took the kids to my friend Julie's house to go swimming.

Lets just say they LOVED it.  She has a diving board that the kids LOVED.  Lots of fun pool toys that the kids LOVED.  I had planned on staying 2 hours, but it turned into over 3 hours.  Lucy clung to Julie and loved the attention.  Jo was jumping off the side of the pool and the diving board like she'd been doing it forever.  Ben and Ally were complete fish and everywhere in the pool.  It was so nice to go to her pool, that way it was just the 4 kids we had to keep an eye on and they didn't blend in with other kids.  Jo was asleep within a minute of me buckling her into her seat.  The other 3 stayed awake, thanks to a movie. Then crashed hard once they got to their beds. 

 Pretty Holly.

 We went for a drive last night and Jo watched the movie in the van, with her sunglasses on.

 I love this dress.  But someone's legs are getting longer and it's growing shorter by the week.

She's been eating so much lately.

Yesterday for lunch she ate her sandwich and half of Josey's, pretzels, a taco, 1/3 of Lucy's taco and 2 capri suns.  She must be growing.

Rockin Hair

Ally had her Rockin' Reading Camp and they were suppose to wear their hair like a rockstar.

Well, we just added some hair spray, a French braid and a bit of teasing.

She was quite excited about it.

Cheese...burger

We had a crazy Monday morning that we finished off with cheeseburgers...then naps.

 I thought her braid was really sweet.

July birthdays

We went to Tara and Jeff's house to celebrate Matt, Tara and Josey's birthdays.