End of the year preschool activities!

Avery finished up her first year of preschool in May. She LOVED going to preschool. She had a great teacher and met many new friends.



Towards the end of the year, the kids took a field trip to the zoo and to ride some rides at the park. I invited my friend, Heather, and her two little kids to come with us.








We had a really fun afternoon!

On the last day of preschool, the kids put on a little program for the parents. It was very cute!



They did several little songs with actions:

They did the Chicken Dance:




Sang The Itsy Bitsy Spider with some spider puppets:



They did a fun song with ribbons:



And, sang a song that involved animal puppets:



Afterward, they sat at the tables and had a little picnic together.



I am so glad that preschool was such a fun experience for Avery! We are looking forward to another preschool year this fall!

Roadshow!

This spring, our stake did road shows. I thought that participating in our ward's road show would be a lot of fun for our family. We all got involved. Easton and Paisley were in the cast.

The show consisted of several different stereotypical families.

Paisley's family was the King Family. They were very self righteous and snooty. Paisley was one of the daughters in the family.




Bowing down to her "dad".


Paisley LOVED being onstage! She was very sad when she found out that she didn't have any lines. So, she talked to the director and was able to "write in" her own line. She did a part where she threw a big fit while trick-or-treating because her "mom" wouldn't let her go trick-or-treat at the Addam's family's house. She screamed, "Let me down! I want to go to their house!" She hammed it up, for sure! She got a big laugh from the audience and did a great job!





Easton's family was the Addam's Family, like from the old TV show. Easton played Cousin It.




He looked awesome in his costume!




It was a perfect part for him because he is pretty shy and it made him more comfortable on stage to be disguised. It cracked me up to watch him on stage!

Our ward did a great job! A lot of hard work and hours of time went into the production. I helped gather props, and also helped with the microphones. Dave was in charge of the lighting. So, it was a family affair for us.

We can't forget this little girl, our biggest supporter:



She patiently (most of the time) sat through many rehearsals and hours at the church!

Easter 2011

Easter isn't Easter for me unless we dye some Easter eggs. It is just tradition. Dave, on the other hand, could really do without this tradition. Most years, I just color the eggs with the kids while Dave is at work. This year, I decided that Dave really needed to be in on the fun. But, to make it more bearable for him, we decided to invite our friends to dye eggs with us. This way he at least had another adult male to converse with during the process. :)

We invited ourselves over to our friends, the Kunz's . We brought all the supplies and just used their house, as they had just had a new baby girl. The kids all had a lot of fun, and we did, too. :)






On Easter, the kids woke up to baskets, a new church outfit, and a toy from the Easter bunny.



Easton got new batting gloves for baseball.



Paisley got a hula hoop. (Oh yeah, and her FAVORITE thing, a Justin Bieber shirt!!)



Avery got a pink ball and bat.


It is always fun to hang out with the kids and share their excitement about their gifts and candy!

We spent Easter evening with Dave's family. We had a great dinner and the kids got to go on an Easter egg hunt around the house. It was a great night!

Avery's Friend Birthday Party!

It is officially catch up time for this blog! Get ready for many posts to come, finally!

I let Easton have his first "friend" party for his birthday at age 5. Then, I let Paisley have her first at 4. Avery has been watching Easton and Paisley have friend parties and was constantly asking about having her own party. So, I gave in and let her also have her first friend party at age 4 this year.

We had the party on her actual birthday, which was March 9th. We didn't want to do anything too crazy, so we let her invite 3 friends, one of them being her cousin. We took them to see Tangled and then went to dinner at Pizza Hut afterwards with my parents.




It was the perfect little party! The girls had a lot of fun and were really well behaved.





Avery was in high heaven the whole night. She really felt special! It was really fun to watch her with her friends!



She was spoiled and loved opening all her gifts!





I love Avery so much and am so sad that she is growing so quickly! She really is my little buddy and my sweet helper!



I am so glad we let her have a party because there is nothing better than seeing her smile!

Easton's Birthday Party (and a few other things)

Clear back in February, we had a friend birthday party for Easton that was really fun.

We reserved the gym at the church and had a Nerf gun war! We bought a whole bunch of Nerf darts, set up a few tables and chairs for them to hide behind, and had each boy bring a Nerf gun. Then, we kind of just let them go at it. What more could a boy ask for??

Here are some pictures of the fun:








It really was a lot fun. We had them play a few rounds of Steal the Flag and then, just let them have an all out war.

Afterwards, we had cake and ice cream and Easton opened presents. Dave's mom made Easton an R2-D2 cake. It turned out awesome! (I hope I got the name of the character right. I am not really a Star Wars fan.)




Easton was completely spoiled! Thanks, everyone!




There were many great things from our perspective about this party:

1. It was cheap!
2. It was super fun!
3. It was at the church!! We weren't stuck in our small house with 14 boys! :)
4. It was easy to clean-up. (And, I didn't have to spend a lot of time cleaning before the party as well.)
5. The party ran itself, I mean, we didn't have to do much.

It was a success. One of the best friend parties we have thrown, in my opinion.



A few days later, it was my 32nd birthday. I don't have many pictures, but I did get breakfast made for me that morning! Dave HATES eggs, I mean HATES them. So, he has never cooked them. But, in honor of my birthday he cooked eggs for the very first time. And, he did a really good job of it.




The kids helped and fixed my plate (thus the 3 marachino cherries included on my breakfast plate.) It was awesome and MUCH appreciated!!



Just a couple more pictures that I wanted to include. A while back, Paisley had brought home a bunch of little cups from school to play with for the weekend. She spent a long time building a cup pyramid and this is what the final product was:





It took her quite a while, and many times it fell down. But she was persistent and finally made it. She was SO proud of herself!

ANNOUNCING...

So, the amount of posts on my blog the last few months has been, well, less than desirable. I at least got in Easton and Avery's birthday posts. But, that is about it. There have been many things going on in our lives that have occupied my mind and actions, but, a big reason that I haven't been up to blogging is THIS:





Yep, it is what you think it is. A new little baby is on it's way to our home! Hurray! Yippee!! Yee-haw!!! Ummmm....YIKES!! :)

I have always kind of known that I wanted 4 children. Dave and I always knew we would have 3, but 4 has always been the debate. So, for the past couple years I have been trying to convince Dave that we need one more. I didn't feel like we were "complete" and I never went through the whole "last" pregnancy thing. I didn't appreciate with Avery that this was the "last" pregnancy, the "last" birth, the "last" newborn. I wanted to experience it all knowing it was the "last" time. With, Avery I never thought it was the last. (I hope that all makes sense.)

So, a little over a year ago, I got Dave more or less on board. I had my IUD removed in January of last year. I thought we would have a baby within the year. But, it just didn't happen. I didn't get pregnant month after month. I wasn't too concerned, more surprised.

Through that whole year, and the previous 2 years, I had been experiencing horrible back pain on my lower left side. I went to a few doctors and got a couple different diagnoses. By last year, I was taking 800 mg. Ibruprofen like it was candy. I had to take it almost daily for the pain. Finally at the end of last year, I was diagnosed with kidney stones in both kidneys. One very large one on the left side, and two smaller ones on the right. (This was discovered after I passed a kidney stone in September which was a horrendous experience!) So, in December, I had 2 lithrotripsy procedures to blast each kidney and break up the stones which I was then able to pass. Since then I have been pain free which has been wonderful.

Three weeks after my 2nd procedure, I got pregnant.

I really believe that I was meant to get my kidney stones taken care of before I got pregnant. If I would have gotten pregnant with the kidney stones, I would have been MISERABLE! I couldn't have taken Ibruprofen and I would have more or less had to have just dealt with the pain. I am soooo grateful that I was able to have the kidney stones taken care of and put that chapter behind me BEFORE I got pregnant. The timing was right.

So, I found out about February 8th or so that I was pregnant. I was pretty sure that I was, but a little afraid to take a test. Scared of a negative, I guess. I finally did and it was positive. I was sooo happy, but super nervous. I have been nervous so far this whole pregnancy. Scared of miscarriage or whatever. So, I waited quite a while longer than we normally do to tell everyone.

I have not been sick much at all. Just a bit nauseous here and there. The very worst part so far is that I have been EXTREMELY and COMPLETELY MISERABLY tired. I mean, I had to have one or two naps a day just to make it to the kids' bed time. It was horrible. But, now that I am in my 2nd trimester, I definitely am getting my energy back. It feels good.

So, everything is going well. I went to my 2nd doctor appointment today and was able to hear the heart beat. That is such an awesome, awesome sound! I was so relieved to hear it and know that the baby is doing just fine. I am losing a bit of my nervousness and now becoming just plain EXCITED!

I absolutely can not wait to hold this new baby in my arms. I completely love the newborn stage. It has to be my favorite part. I am trying, however, to cherish every part. A few months ago I received my "last" postive result on a pregnancy test. (Hopefully.) :) Today was the "last" first time to hear the baby's heart beat. I am trying to really enjoy every bit and not take any part for granted. It does make me a little sad, but also excited to put a chapter of life behind me and move on to the next one.

The kids are SUPER excited about their new sibling!! Avery is already rubbing my tummy and talking to it. I over heard Easton tell Paisley that they need to "figure out what we are going to name the kid." :) It is going to be so much fun to enjoy this new baby with children who are old enough to really enjoy it with us. When the baby is born, Easton will be 9 1/2, Paisley will be 8, and Avery will be 4 1/2. It is quite a bit bigger gap that I imagined we'd have, but I don't think I will regret that. This baby is going to be loved more than I ever thought possible!! :) (And probably spoiled more than I thought possible, too!)

I set up the appointment for our ultra sound for May 24th, 5 weeks from today! I am really excited to find out what our last child will be. Either a second boy or a third girl. Dave and all 3 of the kids REALLY want a boy. I don't have a preference. I am just over the moon that we are having a baby at all. So, I will take either one happily.

But, just for the record, I am thinking it's a girl. :)

We will see.