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Henry turns 8

What fun we have had this week. Henry turned 8 on the 11th and we had both sets of Grandparents here for his birthday and baptism. His cousin Amanda came from Utah and his Aunt and Uncle came with their child from Detroit. We are grateful for such a supportive family and thank those that were able to come.

Henry's Birthday
The cousins




Mom, Henry and Dad...could I be bigger? Of course I can, I still have 14 weeks to go.

Sadie

What's the deal with this pose?

Thank goodness for Digital Cameras

How mad would I have been if I had developed a roll of film and this is what was on it? 30 pics of this....

I think that I will remember what my computer looks like in 30 years (or are they documenting some high score?). I also don't think that my messy computer room needs to be documented. I do think the antenna toppers are cool though...

Candy Chains

Ben's family has a Christmas tradition of making candy chains. One piece of candy a day for the month of December. My mother-in-law is nice enough to count out the candy, cut the ribbon and send it all to us. Last night we constructed ours. Henry wasn't crazy about some of the candy options, so he pulled out his Halloween candy and put some of that on instead. Whatever works! Thanks, Annette.

Washington DC

Thanksgiving this year did not include a turkey, trimmings or any of the other usual festivities. This however is not unusual for us. I often plan a road trip over Thanksgiving. I have been promising the kids since we got here that we would go to Washington DC. I got tickets to tour the Capitol. Henry was in charge of taking pictures there. Here are some examples:


The last one is in front of the Capitol where they are setting up for the inaugaration. We also went to the National Air and Space Museum. The kids, and Mom, were pretty tired after this (it was only about 1:00) and we called it quits and went back to the hotel. I fell asleep and Ben took the kids to the hot tub. Saturday we went to the newly re-opened National American History Museum. This is one of my favorite museums. The have put in a couple of hands-on areas, which is where we spent most of our time, but we also went and saw The Star Spangled Banner flag in it's new permanent display. We also went to the National Archives and saw the Bill of Rights, the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
Sunday all we did was Sacrament meeting. I was beat. Monday morning we went to the Washington Monument, where the kids were relieved to find out that they didn't have to walk up all 898 steps. We spent the rest of the day retrieving the car from my mom's cousin's house near Georgetown, getting new tires (one blew out on me when I was driving it to park...thanks AAA.) and getting home. I think that we were all pretty tired. I'm glad we went though.

Exciting News

March 22, 2009. If you want to know the sex, listen to the video.

It's like money in the bank

This is not a picture to prove what a horrid housekeeper I am (although it does indeed prove that). It is a picture of why I have never had to buy Sadie clothes. My Sister-in-law Melissa and I have been trading clothes since Sadie was born. By some lucky twist of fate, she has 2 girls and then a boy and I have 2 boys and then a girl. We send clothes back and forth with her parents, or when I go out to visit. Melissa got the short end of the stick though--I have way less boy clothes than she has girl clothes. Also, I think her almost 3 year old is about the same size as my 5 1/2 year old, so the clothes I send her are probably too small by the time she gets them. Thanks, Melissa


This is the latest 2 suitcases of clothes and shoes she has sent.

I've never been complimented on this before

Those of you with kids know that taking them out in public is kind of like buying a grab bag...will it be good, or will it be bad? Henry seriously dislikes running errands, so I try to do them all while he's at school. Actually, I try to do them when both of the boys are at school and I only have Sadie. However, there are the inevitable Saturday errands that sometimes have to be run. We do them as infrequently as possible (every 3 weeks or so), but it's still torture to get Henry out the door. Well, Ben has decided to install the instant hot water tap on our sink that has sat dormant in it's box on a shelf since we moved to FL. This is great---hot cocoa! This meant a trip to Home Depot for a few plumbing parts. Ben walked right into the store, but I know that the best thing to do is get a car cart...it's like a jail on wheels. Of course then it was off to the bathroom because I asked them before we left the house if they needed to go and none of them did. So, Henry went into the men's room. I could hear a store employee talking in the bathroom and wondered if he was talking to Henry. First the employee came out of the men's room and then Henry came out. The employee then told me that he wanted to tell me how impressed he was with my son, because he had washed his hands. He told me that was a sign of how he was raised.


So, the time the boys were taking too long in the men's room at Wal-mart and I went in after them and found wet paper towels on the mirror--is that a sign of how they were raised too?









These pictures have nothing to do with anything...but they're cute.

Yeah!

Some of you might know that we set a family goal this year to get the Book of Mormon read before Henry turned 8 and was baptized. Well, we finished today. Thanks to the grandparents who read to our kids when they were visiting.

Being Skinny

Our kids are really pretty skinny. I often ask Samuel, "Could you be skinnier?" Today he told me why it is good to be skinny. He told me that way if he is bad and goes to jail, he will be able to fit through the bars to get out. Lovely.

Sandwich

As always when I first move to a new place, I have been on the quest for a good sandwich place. So far I have not had much luck here in Pittsburgh. However, last Friday before Trick or Treating we all drove downtown to try a "Pittsburgh style" sandwich. I enjoyed it, but not something I'm going to get too often. As you can see, a Pittsburgh sandwich has fries and coleslaw on the sandwich. I had pastrami and cheese. After I put on salt and pepper and stole the egg off of Sadie's sandwich it was very good. Samuel liked it as you can see. Henry had chicken fingers.

Circus

For Christmas this year my parents decided to buy us tickets to the circus. I don't think I have been to the circus since I was probably about 10 years old. When we lived in FL they had a very mini show that we went to, but that was right after we moved there, so Henry didn't remember it. We went on Saturday with Ben's parents. We had great seats...about 5 rows up. The kids didn't know what to expect, but they all seemed to love it. Afterwards I asked Samuel what he thought and he yelled, "AWESOME." We had a great time. After the show we drove around Pittsburgh for a while and then walked around the "Strip District." This is an area of shops and restaurants of many ethnicities. There were lots of street vendors and it was really crowded, but I enjoyed it.

Halloween

Ben's parents were here to celebrate Halloween with us. On Friday Ben worked from home, so he came to school for the Halloween parade with the rest of us. Henry was "Ash" from Pokemon (thanks Grandma for making the costume). Samuel was Ben 10. Sadie was herself. She refused to wear a costume. She is definately a girl with her own mind. Grandma also helped carve pumpkins.

Deer

This is what was in our backyard this morning....Why did Uncle Robert go all the way to UT to get one?

Perfect Dinner

Tonight we discovered the perfect dinner. I got thank you's from all of the kids. The menu?....Shrimp, french toast and cold pizza...yum

It's snowing

See the white dots...it's snow

Making cupcakes with Grandma

Ben's Mom is here for the week. His Dad is here too, but he opted not too stay with us...Bum. She took Sadie and Henry to the Zoo yesterday (Brrrr....), but forgot the camera. Here are some of the kids making cupcakes for Family Home Evening.

After Grandma turned on the mixer covered in batter, and got it all over the kids, Henry decided to fashion himself some protection.

My kids might be related to me after all

Well, Samuel anyway....

Notice any similarities?

Me in kindergarten

News Article

The following is a news article from the Tampa Tribune. The hospital where I had my miscarriage is trying very hard to help parents who have lost pregnancies (far enough along to deliver) with their grief. They have called me numerous times in the last 8 months, and sent cards. This, in addition to the loving care and pictures that were taken at the hospital by the staff. The pictures were then put on a cd and set to music. We were also sent home with blanket, booties and hat that the baby wore while we were holding him. They have actually won awards for their perinatel bereavement program. The latest addition to this program is explained in the following article.

There are times in your life when you are really touched by the love of others (both those who love you and complete strangers). This was one of those times for me. This has also been a time when it is clearly evident that Heavenly Father knows us individually and is aware of our own individual needs and circumstances. So many things could have played out worse than they did this past February....we were blessed in a multitude of ways, for which we are very grateful.

By YVETTE C. HAMMETT The Tampa Tribune > > Published: October 15, 2008> > BRANDON - A candlelight ceremony will illuminate a special garden tonight> at Brandon Regional Hospital, built in honor of the many babies lost before or> shortly after birth.> > The ceremony will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Adam's Garden, an extension of> the hospital's perinatal bereavement program that has received worldwide> recognition because, in part, of the keepsake memorial DVDs the nurses create> for grieving families.> > The garden, built with the help of volunteers and a number of local> businesses, features tile images with babies' names listed on them, a> granite bench, plantings and mosaic art.

Thank you Kirsten for taking the time to take the pictures for me. Thank you also to all of you who helped us through this.

I am Grateful for...

Cold cereal and chicken nuggets. No, I am not kidding. Both Ben and I (and Samuel) woke up with a stomach bug of some kind yesterday and consequently spent most of the day on the couch or in bed. Neither one of us was up to doing anything. Thankfully the kids can get their own cereal and Henry can make chicken nuggets. The kids were all very good through this mini ordeal. The worst part however is that it was Stake Conference and Elder Bednar of the 12 was the speaker. Thankfully, I had gone to the Adult session on Saturday night, so at least I got to hear him.

Having Kids Finally Pays Off

3 Kids, 3 Bathrooms...it's a perfect match.

Sadie's Inheritance

This summer I took the kids to UT for 3 weeks. While we were there we spent a couple of days with my mother-in-law "helping" clean out her parent's house. I was very careful to tell the kids not to ask for anything, but couldn't resist when she took a shine to this particular item in the toy boxes.

This is her "wheel purse" she takes it with her almost everywhere. I had a mom tell me at ice skating that when she walked in with it she thought it was bagels on a string....wouldn't that be handy? What are those wheels you might ask? They are from a children's shopping cart.

Henry ice skating

Here are some pictures of Henry ice-skating. He finally decided that he liked it and wants to keep taking them...we'll see.