Frightening

It's frightening to think that this blog is over a year behind and I don't think I'll ever catch up!


My kids were frightening on Halloween last year.

It was frightening (okay, not really) that we revealed the baby's gender with sprinkles in cookies and codes.

It was frightening to know we were having a GIRL (actually, just exciting...we would've been excited either way)!

It's frightening how fast these kids grow. Isaac's 9th birthday featured a Harry Potter-themed dinner with our good friends, the Souths.

The formal invitation

Potter Party

Birthday morning with a present from Grandma and strawberry crepes

Oh, the Messes We Make and the Things We Create!

Above we have a prime example of what goes on regularly at our house. It's very serious. Here are some more examples:

That's my girl, showing off her preschool creations and hilarious expressions!

Before and after...Ellie's room took so long to finish we never got an "after" picture! Room cleaning is always a source of frustration for everyone involved.

Noah and his tangrams in homeschool one day.

Sometimes you've got to take advantage of September rain...and wrestle on the trampoline!

Yes, this ridiculous tower was built just days after that "clean room" pic.

More dress-up/fight-type play

Even moms can make messes and be creative. These snickerdoodles and the accompanying key revealed that BABY #4 was a girl! Nice Halloween surprise for us all.

-From October & November 2014.

More adventures with Bob & Tiffany

Noah, Malachi, Isaac--cousins!

While the Bob Laney family was here, we had some good times. We even hiked to the dinosaur tracks at Government Canyon.

There were some hilarious times in the back yard, just hanging out and being super silly.

We went to get the giantest pizza you ever saw at Big Lou's. We thought we could take it, but clearly we were mistaken. Even the leftovers' boxes had to be folded to fit into our fridge.

One of the last things we did was get a giant cinnamon roll. Not the best breakfast place, but the size was, again, impressive.

Bob, Tiffany, and Malachi at the Ranch!

We were thrilled to have Bob, Tiffany and Malachi come visit us early in September of 2014. We got to meet Malachi for the first time since his adoption (well, Jared got to visit them for their sealing in July). Lots of fun!

One thing was HAD to do with them was go to Enchanted Springs Ranch.

So there are the usual poses we have to include from the cooky community.

The coffin was especially popular. Malachi is sitting waiting for one of the shows to begin, which has nothing to do with coffins. But I just love his face!

And of course, everybody needs to give some love to Woodrow the Longhorn.

Waiting for the wagon ride, Ellie enjoyed showing off her many expressions.

And then there's the kids' play area!

Puking and Pupils

So, around July 2014 I was in the best shape of my life. I had a running group plus I would go to Easy Fit to train 2-4 times a week. It was awesome. And I felt great. I knew I would be pregnant soon and I thought it was going to be my best pregnancy yet.

I was wrong.

Around August I suddenly got very sick. Like, "oh, I'm shopping. Now I'm puking! I'm so glad I just took Noah to the bathroom here because I know where the water fountain is. Yikes, this is embarrassing!" I spent many daylight hours on the porch trying to not smell anything and eat something that would stay down (and also to warm up and stop the shaking I had from frequent vomiting). I spent even more on the couch trying to listen and be a part of the family during meals, play time, scriptures and FHEs. Sometimes I remember what it was like and I shudder.

Luckily, I had wonderful support from my husband, who took the kids places and spent time with them as much as he could.
   
I wasn't able to see Isaac off on his first day of 3rd grade, but Jared sent him. Sadly, there are no pictures to document this event.


Then Jared took Noah for his first PE class-- a bike ride! I stayed home and languished miserably inside right after I took these pictures.

The first day of school for Ellie was several days later and I was able to drop her at her new preschool with Ms. Yvonne! She was so excited and today she still talks about how she misses it there.

And to make up for Isaac's first day of school being missed, here's some evidence of his awesomeness from August 9, 2014 when he had an entire menu planned, a table set, and even dressed the part of breakfast waiter and cook. It was adorable.

A Fabulous Summer

We enjoyed the summer of 2014 quite a lot! Here are a few collages (unedited in any other way) to illustrate:

 The many faces of Noah Grey

 

 Isaac on the swim team again.

 Isaac at Scout camp

Hanging at the pool at Iron Horse 

And the 4th of July (post bike parade).

One Good Daddy

 Jared has been known to be an awesome dad for...his entire Dad Life.... His family has been known to observe this fact at least on Father's Day every year. Including 2014.

 Of course he has to carefully [and slowly] study each gift from his parents.

Our gifts didn't need much studying to figure out!

 Some well-deserved pictures in front of the SUPERDAD sign (which just finally got taken down last month)...

...and that was our Father's Day! Once.

Little I and His Trauma

There's no question that Isaac's a special guy. I thought this picture exemplified that (He let his siblings decorate him with stickers all the way home from the Lindgrens').

 But the poor guy gets hurt so much! Remember that head-and-door incident in 2nd grade? 

Well, one morning when he and his brother were supposedly "cleaning their room," his teeth came into contact with a giant water-squirting toy. It slipped and broke two teeth in half!

Since then, he has had more appointments with Dr. Vaughn than I can count (bless you, Doctor)! The teeth have been reattached, broken off, swallowed in his sleep, reattached with synthetics, and broken and/or lost some more. Once we waited so long to go back that Isaac had a deep infection that required a root canal.

 

I have to say, he is one of the bravest kids I know. He hardly complains of pain, even with stuff I consider fairly significant trauma. Here's my brave boy at a swim meet, where he'd beaten a personal record:

This was the year he kept getting a head wound reopened by the kids accidentally kicking him at swim practice. Poor fella! I love you, Isaac.