Growing Up Roderick

My Baby is One!!!

2012-02-08T08:56:00.003-06:00

So Blogger won't let me load these right, but here they are

My baby is one, it is hard for me to believe. She had a thrilling night of left overs, but what does she know.3 months

6 months

9 months

after her first bath at home

12 months

Her fake sad face. It is all an act. She actually smiles at another person when she is done with this routine.

Not too sure about the candle.

She ate her cupcake like this for about 1 bite, then gave it to me to feed her.

She is such a funny baby, and her brother and sisters LOVE her. She can hardly get a moments peace from them. Some of her favorite things are:
rubbing any piece of clothing on her head
grapes
cheese
cup of milk
my purse and wallet
the bathroom, especially anything related to the toilet and toilet paper

She has the least amount of hair at this age for any of the kids, but perhaps the most attitude, which is saying a lot if you know Olivia.

We love this little girl, she makes our family complete.

Sledding

2012-01-13T08:32:00.003-06:00

We finally had some snow, so the kids were able to go sledding for the first time ever! How deprived they have been!

They loved every minute of the hour they were out there in -3 degree weather. This little hill is right across the street from our house, so I don't have to brave the weather unless I want a turn.

Christmas

2012-01-13T08:20:00.002-06:00

We had another fantastic Christmas at our house.

Claire got a walker, which is now of not much use since she is walking on her own.

Jed received enough Legos to build a house, and loves every minute of them.

Grace has a new music player for her room, when did she get big enough for that?

Liv has a vet set that she has been wanting for years. She says she is going to be a zebra doctor when she grows up.

Hope you all had very happy holidays!

The Best of Both Worlds

2011-12-23T11:00:00.003-06:00

Olivia is my child who is all girl and loves princesses and dresses, but is also very into building traps with Jed and Legos and pirates. Today she decided to combine them and came out with this lovely outfit. It was too good to pass up a picture opportunity.

Disneyland

2011-11-08T15:20:00.003-06:00

October was a super crazy month at our house, I am glad to say we survived. At the end of the month, we traveled to California for Meylssa and Seth's wedding, and had a chance to go to Disneyland with the kids. Of course, they all had to try to pull a sword from the stone.

We also had a wild ride with Mr. Toad

Jed got to battle Darth Vader

Liv did her best to keep us on our toes

We had an awesome two days and had some very tired kids. It was good though, it helped them be a little more calm on the 3 day car ride home. Never Again!!!

Olivia's Birthday

2011-10-14T14:58:00.002-05:00

Miss Olivia had birthday #4 on Saturday. The first thing she said when she woke up was "Today is my Birthday!" She has been asking when it will be her birthday since about Christmas. I am so thankful it finally came! She requested to wear her zebra dress. She also got a cool zebra fleece,

a camera that already has had hundreds of pictures taken and deleted. She told me "That is a great present!" Funny girl.

Some headphones to go with her new ipod shuffle, (it's gold, which is awesome, because she is kind of a magpie when it comes to shiny things)

And of course she wanted a zebra cake. I wanted to make one that was zebra striped inside, but she said no, it had to be zebra outside, so I found some stuff called sugar sheets and was able to cut it up and make whatever design I wanted. Yes, it was edible.

Blowing out the candles. We are so lucky to have this spunky little girl in our family. She keeps us on our toes, but we also get mass amounts of cuddles and laughs!

Found

2011-09-24T18:11:00.003-05:00

I finally found the camera cord, so here is a random sampling of pictures from this summer. This is in reverse order. Above is from last night and the hot air balloon festival we went to. We took another family's children with us.

Fourth of July

Cute Claire

Liv in front of her favorite-zebras

All 4 at the zoo

Dino biting Jed's hand

Grace and Dino

Spray park

Liv telling me how cold she is on the 4th

Claire's first cereal eating. She loved it.

Jed's 6th Birthday

2011-08-25T09:39:00.002-05:00

Jed turned 6 on the 12th of this month. The day after we went to Nauvoo, he surprised me and told me he was having a gun party that day with the family that was still here. Since it was the last day, I sprung into action and figured out a fun party for the birthday boy. We had dart guns, so we got more bullets and had "games" of target practice and shooting cans off the deck. I then gave all the kids water guns and let them have at it. And since I didn't have time to make a cake, we got doughnuts and SueAnn put army men all over. Jed loved it and it turned out pretty fun for a last minute thing.

I cant believe that he is already six. They are growing so fast.

Nauvoo

2011-08-10T09:59:00.004-05:00

We were able to go to Nauvoo with my sister's family and two nieces on Monday. These pictures are in no order, but I have been slacking in the blogging, so I just wanted to get some up.

Grace dressed as a pioneer

Claire being cute

Jed and his favorite missionary, Sister Pettit. They exchanged addresses and are going to be pen pals. She is Jed's first crush.

Learning how to make rope. The older girls were off to the side.

Liv as a pioneer.

More rope making.

Pioneer Claire

Cute pioneer Jed

Games the pioneer children used to play

Jed turning the wheel to make rope.

Alive!!

2011-07-25T18:07:00.002-05:00

We are still alive and kicking. We are in our house and trying to get all the boxes unpacked and find a new home for everything. After we left Alabama we spent a few good weeks at my parents house. We watched the annual fireworks show and had yummy Chinese food for my big 3-0. Very good way to celebrate. We are now learning a new city and enjoying life. Thankfully school will start in about 3 weeks, so we are almost done with out crazy summer. I would add some fun pictures of all we have done, but I don't know where the cords are. Perhaps in a few more weeks!

Father's Day

2011-06-20T13:14:00.002-05:00

Poor Chris was all alone in Iowa on Father's Day. At church we made some books to give to dads, so I am writing the kids here so he, and everyone else, can be happy!

They were fill in the blank, so they just had to write what they thought.

Grace
My dad is 5ft 10 in tall and weights 113 lbs. He is so strong he can lift my bookshelf. He has blue eyes and brown hair. He likes to wear shorts.

Favorites
Color-blue
food-chili hot dogs
book-Harry Potter
movie-Tangles
Song-Mean
Animal-Lion
Team-Utah

I like to go anywhere with my dad. When he has time, he likes to play with me. He always tells me to be good. When I go to bed, daddy tickles me.

I love dad because he helps me. I also love him because he is very special.

Jed
My dad is 53 tall and weights 93 lbs. He is so strong he can lift a boy. He has blue eyes and brown hair. He likes to wear hats.

Favorites
Color-blue
food-noodles
book-Harry Potter
movie-football
Song-YMCA
Animal-Tiger
Team-Utah

I like to go camping with my dad. When he has time, he likes to go running. He always tells me to clean. When I go to bed, daddy watches t.v.

I love dad because he is my buddy.

Olivia
My dad is 2 ft tall and weights 3 lbs. He is so strong he can lift a stone. He has blue eyes and black hair. He likes to wear church clothes.

Favorites
Color-black
food-cereal
book-the Scriptures
movie-Tangled
Song-I am a Child of God
Animal-Elephant
Team-Packers

I like to go to work with my dad. When he has time, he likes to take us bowling. He always tells me to go to bed. When I go to bed, daddy tucks me in.

I love dad because he's my dad.

Happy Father's Day Chris, we love you!

Iowa

2011-05-21T14:50:00.002-05:00

Who would have thought we would finally be getting closer to family?

After 5 years of being alone, we are now a short 3.5 hours from my parents house. We learned yesterday that we are moving to Davenport, Iowa. We are so excited, the kids can't wait for snow, and I can't wait for fall! Chris will be there on June 15th, the kids and I will stay until the end of June.

Just Cute

2011-05-15T07:23:00.000-05:00

Happy Easter!

2011-04-26T08:35:00.001-05:00

Swimming

2011-04-26T08:24:00.002-05:00

Since there was no school on Friday, we had the chance for the first real swim of the summer. It was 90 degrees and the water was cold, but it was a good combination. All the kids had fun and were exhausted by the end of the day. Even Claire dipped her feet in the chilly water and didn't mind it.

Olivia was checking out all the gear that was available. By the end, she was a little fish in a life jacket and went wherever she wanted in the pool.
Jed was a chicken at first, but after some not so gentle persuasion, I got him to enjoy the water. We are enrolling in swim lessons this summer, so after that, no more life jackets!
Grace trying to show off. I don't think she went under again(on purpose) after this shot!

Claire is 2 months

2011-04-07T18:55:00.002-05:00

Wow, those were both the slowest and fastest 2 months of my life. Slow perhaps because it feels like I am always a step behind, and fast because I don't remember much of them.Claire is now 2 months and is a pretty good baby. She goes to bed between 7 and 8 and usually sleeps til at least 1, usually 2. She will go back to sleep until around 5:45, at that time she like to sleep and eat in our bed.
She started smiling at 6 1/2 weeks, and would not do it in front of a camera until just yesterday, when she would smile, but put her hand in front of her mouth at the same time.
We love our little Claire bear, and are so glad she is part of our family. The kids all beg to hold her everyday and touch her as they pass her, EVERY TIME. I think she cries more to be left alone than any other reason.

Pensacola

2011-04-06T08:07:00.003-05:00

We went down to Pensacola this last weekend with some friends. We played at the beach, we to the National Air Museum and just hung out. It was a lot of fun, and the kids were great.

This was at the Air Museum. The kids were posing for a picture and being told to do different things. Here they were touching their nose.

Jed sitting in a pilot seat. There were tons of planes that were for kids to just sit and play with buttons and knobs. It was super cool.

Grace hanging out.

The crab that found it's way out of the sand under my foot. I was a little freaked.

Jed jumping of the sand cliffs.

A girl and her dad. They were getting used to the water, it was kind of freezing.

Claire loves being outside. She enjoyed the beach, the breeze was pretty strong, but she managed.

Repenting

2011-03-23T15:51:00.006-05:00

I was chastised by my mother for not putting up any updated pictures for a while. I guess she thinks I have nothing else to do... Olivia is a great big sister and tries to help everyday. She and Jed are still buddies and making new plans everyday to rid the world of the pesky cats.

Grace is truly a great helper and holds a screaming Claire while I get dinner on the table. She is a super star reader and is starting Little House on the Prairie. She also loves anything American Girl.

Jed is now in love with building new things with Lego's. He likes to make the kit at first and then build his own things after it gets destroyed. Mostly they are vehicles with guns or dragons. He makes his daddy proud.

Cute baby foot. Claire is growing and was up to 9 lbs. almost 2 weeks ago. She hates the car seat if she is awake, but loves to go for stroller rides just reclining. She wakes up around 6 every morning wanting to be in our bed. After she gets in bed, she goes right back to sleep.

He cheeks are getting super chubby and I just want to eat them. She is not shy about crying and getting really mad really fast if not seen to right away. We love her and are so glad she is here and healthy.

2011-03-02T10:53:00.002-06:00

A few pictures to enjoy along with the previous post!

Blogger Hates Me

2011-03-02T08:42:00.002-06:00

I have been trying to upload pictures of Grace's birthday for a few days now, but it won't do it for me.
She had a wonderful 7th birthday and had a fun little party with family. Some of my family was here to help with Claire, so we used the time to celebrate Grace's birthday as well. She wanted a tea party theme, so we played pin the flower on the teacup and made cute place mats and my sister made some awesome cakes in the shape of teacups. All very well illustrated by pictures that won't upload.
Anyway, we had a good time. We are all back to normal and making our way through the day. At Claire's 2 week, she was 7lb, 6oz and 20.5 inches. She is growing and always eating. We are loving the warm weather we have here and are always on the lookout for new cats!

She is here!!!

2011-02-15T18:55:00.002-06:00

Claire Elizabeth Roderick was born on February 7 at 2:26 pm. She weighed in at a hefty 6lbs 9oz and was 19in long. The proud older siblings. They couldn't get enough of her.

First sponge bath at home.

She is doing well. She really likes to eat and is getting bigger by the minute. We are so glad she is here. She makes us all happy.

Jed lost his first teeth?!?

2011-01-25T15:20:00.002-06:00

The same night of the shower, January 18th, 2011 Jed lost his first tooth. His bottom two had been loose for a while and the big teeth were even growing in behind! I think he was afraid to wiggle them. That night as I was leaving, Chis told me I would have a "surprise" when I got home. He and Jed worked on wiggling the tooth for about an hour and it finally came out. Thankfully, he didn't give it to the tooth fairy because he wanted me to see it before she took it. The next morning after surprising me with his lost tooth, I was helping with the brushing before school, and all of the sudden the other one fell out too! He lost both in a matter of 12 hours! He was pretty excited and the tooth fairy was able to collect 2 teeth that night. He now has a southern accent with a lisp...what could be better?

Baby Shower

2011-01-25T15:14:00.002-06:00

A week ago some really wonderful ladies threw me a baby shower. It was sweet of them and I am grateful for their support. We received lots of diaper, wipes and soaps, which is what we really needed. It was a fun time to get ready for baby and to have a little break from the kids. One of the ladies gave me this really cute bear present. It's body was full size towels, head was hand towels, legs were fingertip towels and the ears were baby wash cloths. Super cute! I think we are all ready for this baby to arrive. I am on the down slope and am even losing weight now, so it should be soon (hopefully!!!)

Up to Nothing

2011-01-13T08:27:00.002-06:00

We had a great Christmas. It was warm the day before, about 70, so we made the kids walk the trail by our house (3 miles), and they were tired Christmas night. Santa didn't have wait long to come to our house. He brought lots of fun things, but we don't have any pictures because we were having too much fun!
The kids received snuggies as one of their gifts. They were tailored to each child and they LOVE them. We had a movie watching day during the extra long 3 week break and they were all wrapped up for the show.

We are now onto the pressing matter of baby girl, soon to enter our lives. I am nesting a bit and Chris is doing lots of nice things for me in order to make me feel a little more sane. I guess he has it figured out by this one. We have about 3 weeks left, and I am counting the days. Other than that, we are up to nothing, just trying to stay warm!!

Gingerbread Houses

2010-12-21T15:07:00.002-06:00

Last night we made some gingerbread houses I had been promising to make for 2 weeks. We used graham crackers and the kids loved it. I am no construction worker, so none of the roofs stayed up, so we made flat roofs instead. Grace ended up making a man out of her crackers
Jed tried using all the candy in the house. I think he ate the few pieces he didn't use.

Olivia is proud of her work. Lately if she sees a bib, she insists on wearing it so her shirt doesn't get dirty.

Christmas Treats

2010-12-14T08:09:00.004-06:00

We decorated a gingerbread tree with the missionaries the last time they were here. I stacked it a little lopsided, so I guess now it looks like the tree in our house! Not the best picture of Jed, but he wasn't really into taking a break from decorating Our finished product

Adding green icing to the branches. Grace was helping spin the plate.

On Friday, we had a friend spend the night. She was nice eough to bring cookies for us to decorate. It got a little messy, and I am still finding sprinkles in the cracks of the floor, but we had fun.

Our finished cookies. Even better since I didn't have to bake them!

Little Indians

2010-12-02T14:08:00.003-06:00

About a week before Thanksgiving, Jed came out of school dressed like a little Indian. He loved his outfit and has worn it on a near daily basis since. He decided that he and the girls should hunt animals for their "buckskin". They trooped off into the trees behind out house in search of their prey. They ended up in the driveway of a sweet older lady that lives behind us. She has 3 cats. We have had a problem with cats in our yard, and the need they have to poo on our trampoline. As they were talking to this lady, I came out to find them and see who they were talking to. Jed and Olivia told her they were hunting cats.

Jed said they were going to kill them for the skin, and Olivia said she was "going to knock their teeth out!" I don't know what the lady was thinking, but I am sure it was along the lines of how crazy my kids are and how sad it was I am going to have another one soon.

We still do not have any cat skins or teeth for our collection, but we also haven't had any unwanted carts for a while. They go cat hunting on most days. Yesterday Olivia was carrying around a bat and Jed had a toy ax. I guess they mean business.

My little hunters. They are outside and happy and busy, they can kill all the cats they want.

Halloween

2010-11-01T15:12:00.001-05:00

Hiccup, a witch and Dorothy before trunk or treat
We went trick or treating at the mall because the neighborhoods here stink and you have to walk to about 10 houses to get one piece of candy, so anyway...Grace was a witch, but she didn't think it turned out very well.

Jed was Hiccup from How To Train Your Dragon, he didn't want to wear his viking helmet beause it always fell off, but he still carried his ax.

Olivia as the cutest Dorothy there was. Instead of saying "trick or treat" to people, she would say "I am Dorothy"

Stats

2010-10-25T10:38:00.002-05:00

I was "lucky" enough to be able to take all 3 kids to the Dr. last week for annual checkups. They pricked Grace and Jed's fingers to run blood tests, which was new for me. It was interesting. Jed went first and couldn't see what was going on. Then he watched Grace and I could see him losing color. I told him to leave the room and went out to find him 15 seconds later. He was white as a sheet and gagging. I had him start to put his head between his knees when he puked down the front of his shirt and in my hands. Thankfully there was a bathroom about 10 steps away, so we could both wash up. Poor Jed had go through the rest of the appt. with no shirt on. On the bright side, their blood work was great!! Jed was sad to get 4 shots and Liv ended up with 2. A night of fevers and Advil later and they were all better. Here are the current stats:

Grace
46" tall (can you believe she is almost 4 feet tall??)
46 pounds

Jed
42.5" tall
41 pounds
can not handle the sight of blood

Olivia
37" tall
32 pounds
believes you have to limp for 3 days after shots

At least they are all healthy and growing. Baby 4 is growing and will be coming on the 7th of February if I am induced, but lets all pray for an earlier day.

Miss Olivia turns 3!

2010-10-11T10:00:00.000-05:00

Friday was Olivia's 3rd birthday. I seems unreal to me, but she was super excited. We dropped the older 2 off at school and came home to some fun girlie time. She is in love with pink right now, so we painted all her nails bright pink. As you can see, she was very happy about it. She also wanted to wear a dress so she looked extra pretty.

She chose to go to McDonalds for her birthday dinner, then we cames home, sanitized, and opened presents. Here she is digging in a box from grandma and grandpa.

What could be better than a pink and purple pillow pet???

She also requested a pink cake, so we had funfetti with pink frosting. I think she had a good day. On Saturday we took her to get her ears pierced. She loves them, and of course, chose PINK flowers.

It's a ...

2010-09-21T15:38:00.002-05:00

We learned today that we are having another

GIRL!!

I Finished 39.3 Miles!!!

2010-09-16T17:41:00.002-05:00

Not only did I finish, but i finished ALL 40 miles without help from a motor vehicle. My awesome friend Joy helped me pretty much every step of they way.
Here we are giving a little love to John Wayne. He was at the top of a VERY steep hill, so a little picture break was in order, along with a wet rag to tie around our neck. Surprisingly the first 20 miles were pretty "easy" except for the hills, but foot wise there were no problems. Mile 13.1 of day one. It was about lunch time and we were still going pretty strong.

The very end of day one. There was a huge line to take pictures by the official sign, so we grabbed a nice person cheering and used their sign. The last five miles of this day were terrible. My feet and ankles were throbbing and we were walking on horse trails and busy roads. Thankfully Joy was willing to go as slow as I needed even though I am sure she just wanted to be done.

After seeing the doctor for some swollen ankles and blisters, and sleeping in tents, we started again the next day. Mile 7 of day 2, or mile 33.2 for us. Fanny packs and pregnancy do nothing for me!! This was when the ankles started swelling and feet started hurting again.

The finish line. We were so ready to be done. It was a great experience and very emotional. It was hard, but it made me realize I can do pretty much anything with enough determination and a good support system.

Thanks to Joy for letting me join her for the weekend and for everyone who donated. I am awed and honored.

First Day of School

2010-08-24T15:17:00.002-05:00

Since we are now in our third week of school, I guess it is about time I posted the pics. They were not too happy about this shot being taken because a bunch of other kids were coming in without having to have their picture taken. Grace saying "I love first grade!"
Jed with a slightly evil look. I walked him to his classroom and I think he was trying to absorb it all and smile at the same time.

Happy 5th Birthday!!

2010-08-17T15:12:00.004-05:00

While SueAnn and Bonnie were here, we decided to have Jed's party a few days early so they could celebrate with us. SueAnn and Bonnie were awesome and did a great job decorating and even making the cupcakes. Jed wanted a Train Your Dragon party. We played pin the tail on the dragon(Jed won),

Dress up like a viking...no, it was Mother May I, but whoever was mother got to be the viking captain,

Stop the "dragons"(balls) from entering the "volcano"(bucket).

Opening presents, or in this case, looking at a cool new bike.

Here are the very cool viking helmet cupcakes my sister made.

And here is my 5 year old waiting for his candle and cupcake. I can't believe he is five and in kindergarten! He is still very sweet and worries about others a lot. He wants to make people happy and is such a good boy. He told me if the baby was a girl it would be okay, because then he would be my "special boy". I love this kid!

We've Been Busy...

2010-08-02T16:24:00.003-05:00

getting strikes
keeping cool

brushing our teeth

loving our cousins

riding the zoo train

playing with jelly fish at the beach (they didn't sting)

bowling with cousins

jumping waves

just being cool

learning to sew,

and so many other things. School starts a week from today, so I will be able to have a rest then.

I have been busy for 13 weeks growing a new addition to our family. Baby number 4 is due to arrive in early February!

4th of July

2010-07-10T15:46:00.004-05:00

We are in Wisconsin spending some time with my family. We had a reunion on the weekend of the 4th with 22 grand kids and 15 adults. It was quite the gathering and a good time. We had various activities to keep the kids busy and a good fireworks show.

Olivia working on the dirt pit.

Jed showing his talent of crossing his eyes. All the kids did a talent for the parents.

Grace posing with her sparkler.
We all had a good time were able to be acquainted with cousins. We are looking forward to 2013!

Close Encounters of the Reptile Kind

2010-06-30T11:05:00.003-05:00

While we were eating dinner about a week ago, Chris looked outside and found this little turtle under our trampoline. He picked him up and showed the kids, then put him back in the wooded area behind our house. About 10 minutes later we see him in our yard again, going towards the neighbors house, and the 5 dogs that live there. This time the kids went outside to love him a bit before he was put back in the woods. 20 minutes later, we had to rescue him again, and Chris put him in a box and drove to a dead end in the neighborhood that is backed by woods as well. Hopefully he was safe there.

The next day I took the kids to the library and the "gator man" was there. Grace and Jed had a chance to sit in a class and learn about alligators and at the end, they all had a chance to pet or hold a baby one. Olivia LOVED it. She oohed and aahed and giggled like it was a baby. Funny girl.

Once again, my children have no idea how to take a picture, except Grace.

Hot Hot Days

2010-06-18T14:52:00.002-05:00

It has been HOT here. The kids have spent several afternoons in the sprinklers and on the wet trampoline. We are ready to get cooled down in Wisconsin, hopefully the heat won't follow us. I am trying to figure out how to survive the next two weeks. Any suggestions?

Preschool Graduation

2010-06-10T07:35:00.003-05:00

We had another graduation to attend a week after Grace had hers. Jed graduated from preschool. These are some major milestones we are reaching here! It was fun to watch them sing a few songs and recite some poems. At the end, they all had a chance to say what they wanted to be when they grew up and why. Jed's exact words were "I want to be a viking because they get to kill dragons." His 3 teachers were shocked because he had never said that in the 2 weeks they had been practicing. I guess he was holding out for a larger audience. He is excited to start kindergarten. We will see about being a viking.

Kindergarten Graduation

2010-06-02T14:23:00.002-05:00

Grace has been out of school for almost 2 weeks now, so I decided it was about time to get this up. Of course there was a graduation, with cap and gown and everything, because how can you move to 1st grade without it? Anyway, I went to Grace's class early to help all the kids get dressed up in their gowns and her teacher was nice enough to take a picture of us. Here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Mathis. She was awesome, if she could be her teacher until she graduates, I would have no worries about her education, but alas, we have to move to another teacher.

After the ceremony. I don't have any good pictures of it because we were too far in the back because I was helping dress all the kids, go figure! All the kids had the chance to say what they wanted to be when they grew up. Grace said a librarian, which if you know Grace, probably will happen.

Last of our Vacation

2010-05-24T13:05:00.002-05:00

One day while still in Salt Lake, we took the kids to Temple Square and waked around. It was fun to be a tourist again in a city I know pretty well. The kids thought it was cool and we had a good time. I took this shot right as we were walking back to Trax. While waiting for Chris to come by on the bike, I gave the camera to the kids to keep them busy. It is fun to see the world from their perspective.

Grace is sitting on top of the electrical box. Needless to say, we were waiting for a while, so I had given up by then.

We waited for Chris for 2 1/2 hours, I think, and we still missed him. He rode by about an hour into our wait, but we just didn't see him. It was fun to watch all the bikes though.

Dinosaur Museum

2010-05-13T18:38:00.003-05:00

While in Salt Lake, we spent a day with cousins Rae and Quin and went to the Dinosaur Museum. It was pretty neat, but only held their attention for so long. I guess after a while all bones start to look the same. Here is a really bad picture of one of the dinos. It was really cool, but too dark for a good shot. There was an area for kids to make their own dinosaur. They could put on different legs, heads and tails.

There was also a huge sand and water table with toy dinosaurs and palms trees. They ended up spending some good time there.

Just a funny shot of Liv.

Jungle Jim's

2010-05-08T14:47:00.002-05:00

On Friday, after we spent 16 hours traveling to get to Salt Lake, we decided the kids needed a little time to just be kids without have to sit and be quiet. We took them to Jungle Jim's, an indoor amusement park thing. They had rides and arcade type games and a mini playground.

Jed and Olivia riding in the rockets. Jed controlled how high they could fly.

On the safari ride. As you can see it was quite thrilling.

On the carousel. It was our first ride of the day. I didn't realized how exciting it would be.

Liv enjoying the ride as well.

Ironman St. George

2010-05-05T16:13:00.002-05:00

We are back and almost recovered from our vacation. The kids are still sleeping long hours and are catching up on fruits and veggies and less treats, but a week or so off has never hurt anyone...yet. We had a good few days in Salt Lake(not counting the frigid weather), then spent the remainder of our time in St. George. Here are the only pictures I have of Chris during the race. W missed him on the bike, and I forgot my camera for the other transition we saw. He is at the finish line here, that is what really counts.

Chris did awesome in the Ironman and once again I am amazed at what he goes through for "fun". He is excited to do another one, but has to wait until my walk in September is over. Speaking of over, don't you want to go over to www.avonwalk.org/goto/k.roderick and donate????

More pictures of vacation to come...we did lots of exciting things.

Spring is Here!

2010-04-13T14:53:00.003-05:00

Spring is here...and almost gone. By the end of May we will be dying of heat and heading to the pool and beach. We are enjoying it while we can. The strawberries are just starting to ripen, so Jed, Olivia and I went strawberry picking today. I think Olivia ate as many as we picked. We will go back again when it is mid season to stock up. They will be done in a few weeks. Our city is beautiful(in the right parts) with azaleas and dogwoods. All I hear as we drive is the phrase "popcorn tree" over and over again. You would think they would realize they are surrounded, but no. By the way, that is a bush in our backyard!

The kids are outside and playing before the heat and humidity drive us inside. These were taken Easter Sunday.

Notice the evil grin on her face. Here is never a dull moment with her.

Easter 2010

2010-04-07T20:29:00.002-05:00

We had a little Easter egg hunt at church the weekend before Easter. The kids loved it. All we did was play with balls and chalk, have a picnic and hunt eggs. It was a fun relaxed event. Jed being cute as can be. We did have a guy come make balloon animals, and instead of getting a kitty like the girls, Jed had a tiger.

Liv loved finding eggs. She wanted to find the pretty ones. She tells me everyday that something is beautiful. It might be her shoes, or dress, or shirt, but it is always beautiful.

Grace looking for eggs. She looks so tall in this picture to me. She is so smart, sometimes I have a hard time remembering she is only 6. Such a good girl.

Kite Flying

2010-03-30T14:39:00.002-05:00

For Christmas the kids all had a kite in their stocking. Well, sadly almost 4 months later we pulled them out. This was more due to my laziness than the weather, but it was cold!!!
It was a warm and somewhat breezy day, so I blew them up and off they went. Thankfully all you had to do was throw the kite it the air and run and it worked great. Grace was especially excited, and once Jed figured out he had to put his hand above his head, it worked well for him too! Olivia tried for a while, but decided it was more fun to take her shoes on and off.

Big Girl Bed

2010-03-16T08:54:00.002-05:00

We have officially moved Olivia into a "big girl bed". She has been the longest to sleep in a crib, and this is the first time the crib has been down in 6 years. Funny the way I now measure the passing of time. For each of my children, I have made them a quilt when they moved to a big bed. They all are just strips of fabric, but it is easy, and then they will kind of coordinate when they share a room.

She hasn't figured that she can get out whenever she wants, which is just fine with me. She does look like a tiny little thing in bed though.

Happenings

2010-03-13T09:27:00.002-06:00

We have had really uneventful times here at our house. It finally warmed up enough to get outside and enjoy life here. It has been the coldest winter in 30 years or something. Of course it would happen when we are here.
Anyway...I made a picnic dinner for us the other night, and the kids loved it. I was nice to not have to worry about too many dishes as well! The other exciting news is Grace finally lost her fist tooth. She it came out one morning, and she was so happy to try new tricks with a gap in her smile. We had spaghetti to suck and straws to carefully place. She is growing up too fast.

I am happy to report she is doing very well and hasn't even acted sick. Olivia now has a touch of all illnesses, so now she is on meds too!

By The Numbers

2010-03-10T13:27:00.003-06:00

5-hours spent at the doctor and pharmacy

4-days of missed school this week

3-prescriptions needed

2-pharmacies I had to go to

1-sick little kindergartner

Grace had a goopy eye Monday after school, so I took her in yesterday and found out she not only has pink eye, but strep throat AND the flu. She is out for the rest of the week. She is a trooper because even today she would have gone to school because she is so chipper and happy.

10 Days

2010-02-25T12:06:00.002-06:00

Only 10 days after her sixth birthday, Grace has her very first loose tooth. She found it this morning while brushing, and it was all I could do to keep her still long enough to check for myself. She is beside herself with happpiness, and I think she may expect it to come out today. I don't think she realizes that it is a little scary to loose a tooth, but I will play up the excitement as long as she is unafraid.

Happy 6th Birthday!!

2010-02-15T19:33:00.002-06:00

Six years since I received my best Valentine present ever! I can't believe where the time has gone. We had 3 days of celebration, so I am officially tired. Tonight we had the missionaries over so Grace could open presents with them(by her request). Then we ate dinner and had cupcakes. Blowing out her candles! She is so big now. She loves Taylor Swift and knows all the words to every song.

We had a small party for her on Saturday. She had 5 friends come over and we had a craft party. We made pillow cases and painted and played with stickers.

Eating lunch with all her friends.

She is such a fun, smart little girl. She is reading at an almost 3rd grade level and wrote her own talk to give in primary yesterday. For her birthday she got a new bike that we are trying to teach her how to ride with no training wheels, and an IPod shuffle that she walks around the house with, singing all her songs. She is an amazing girl , and we love her so much.

Blizzard 2010

2010-02-15T19:18:00.002-06:00

We have dug ourselves out and are back to normal. It was a pretty exciting Friday. The kids didn't have school so we had lunch with dad (we braved the roads!) and played in the snow. Here is our lawn before the madness began. During the "storm". The kids were more excited for snow than for Christmas. They loved to watch if fall and would get really excited when it started coming down hard.

A glance at our accumulation. This tiny snow cancelled schools, colleges, state offices, and closed roads. I guess when it only snows every 15 years...

Olivia thought it best to use her time in the snow playing T-ball.

Grace and Jed spent their time throwing snowballs and running from each other. Good good fun.

We now are snow free and had wonderful weather yesterday. It was fun to have snow for a day, but I realized I don't really miss it that much.

Not to alarm anyone...

2010-02-11T09:30:00.004-06:00

Not to alarm anyone, but we are expecting some snow. And NOT just flurries, we can have up to an inch! We are bracing our selves for the shut in and hoping we will get a little lucky and get to use the fireplace! I don't know how we will dig ourselves out or get to work, but we will persevere and find a way. As for me, I am on may way to the store, I want to at least get all of Grace's presents before the storm hits. Just a few pictures to tide you over til we are back to normal!

Hope you all have a great weekend, we will update you if we don't lose power!!! Cindy, I know you feel bad for me.

UPDATE!!! School has been cancelled for tomorrow, and all of Grace's presents have been bought. Now onto food storage for the next week until we can get back on the roads!

Avon Walk for Breast Cancer

2010-02-03T13:47:00.003-06:00

I have always thought it would be cool to do a walk for something, but never really had anyone to walk with or a great cause, but this year an opportunity presented itself to me. My friend Joy wanted someone to walk with her in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I decided to go for it, and get to spend a whole weekend with just her catching up on all the last years! I can't wait to see her again, and am very excited. Except now I have to raise at least $1,800!

I know a lot of people out there have been affected by this disease, so when you all get you tax refunds, remember me and my effort to raise money, and it is tax deductible! Don't think you are getting off easy with this one little post, I will be doing this for almost a year, so you might as well donate now, and I will get off your case. If you need more information, PLEASE leave me a note or send an email and I will give you all the details.

A few weeks with Rachael

2010-01-21T18:05:00.003-06:00

We had the chance to spend a few weeks with Rachael when she and SueAnn were here. It was fun to see her funny personality and attitude. She and Olivia couldn't decide if they were friends of enemies. One way was beautiful so we biked/waggoned to the park and played. The best shot of all 4
On another beautiful day when it was just Rachael and Liv. We tried to get one of both, but they were not cooperating. Rachael is showing off her kitty shirt.

Jed playing pirate. Have we come to expect anything else?

Liv showing off her new trick. She was pretty excited to be so adventurous.

On the trampoline. Grace and her hair. They all loved to jump together.

2010-01-14T12:16:00.002-06:00

During our trip to South Carolina, we went to Charleston and visited Fort Sumter. It was a freezing windy day, but we had fun and were with family. We had to ride a boat out to the fort, as it is a island. the kids thought it was the best part, naturally.

All 4 munchkins standing by a cannon facing the water.

A smaller cannon on display. Jed says "you could put a whole dog in there!" Yes, Jed, I suppose you could.

Jed watching out his makeshift window on the boat.

It was a fun time and was very interesting for me. Since we had to take a boat, there was a time limit as to how long we could stay. It would be an interesting place to walk around when it wasn't cold, and without kids. Maybe another time.

Christmas

2010-01-07T09:11:00.002-06:00

So I am a little late with this post. We left the day after Christmas to go to South Carolina to be with my sister's family and parents for a few days. I convinced SueAnn's husband to let her come home with me, so we have been playing since we got home. We had the chance to see Santa, but Jed was the only child willing to sit on his lap. He asked for a "plane shooter", which was news to us. Needless to say, Santa may bring it next yer!

Christmas morning. Santa brought Jed and old school instrument. It can be changed from a recorder to a trombone, to a flute, to a kazoo. Santa in beginning to wonder about the wisdom of that particular gift.

Olivia on Christmas morning. She was pretty excited to open a few presents, and then just wanted to play with them, so a little coaxing was involved to open the rest, but she still had fun.

Grace opening a locket she asked Santa for. She wanted to put a picture of her and Olivia in it, but sadly pulled on it too hard and broke it. We are still trying to find a replacement.

Sweet Little Shepherd

2009-12-19T14:23:00.002-06:00

For Christmas, Jed's preschool put on a Nativity for the parents. The kids all had costumes and sang cute little songs. Jed played a shepherd. They were singing a song about giving gifts to Jesus, so he is sticking his hands out to give gifts.

After the show. He was so happy Chris and I could both watch him. He kept waving to us from the stage.

Costume shot. When the show ended, all the parents were clapping. Jed had the BIGGEST smile ever on his face, as if everyone was there and clapping for him. Love this little boy. There is a visit with Santa and some Joseph beards coming soon, stay tuned!!

Conversations with Jed

2009-12-07T19:10:00.002-06:00

On the way home from preschool

J: God and Bumblebee are magic.
Me: Hmmm, I think maybe Heavenly Father is powerful.
J: No, no, army guys are powerful because the have whoopins. God is magic.
Me: I think maybe heavenly Father is more powerful than all of them, even Bumblebee. He created Bumblebee, so he is stronger.
J: Bumblebee is magic too.

Jed and Chris were playing about a week ago. Jed ended up kneeing Chris in the unmentionables. As Chris was trying to recover, Grace started in on him. He told Grace she had to wait a minute. Jed looks at her and says "I broke him!"

Holiday Fun

2009-12-01T12:54:00.002-06:00

Last night we decorated the tree and made a ginger bread house. Thankfully a wonderful lady from our ward gave us a kit and all we had to do was decorate, so it went well. The kids all decorated a side and ate some stray candy. While the icing was drying we decorated the tree. I set it up and put lights on it earlier in the day, so all we needed was ornaments. The kids were SO happy to help. All they needed from time to time was a lift from daddy.

Our cool hats from Melyssa for Thanksgiving. It was quiet and calm and wonderful.

Jed told me he was going to be a pilgrim when he grows up. Better than nothing I suppose.

Busy

2009-11-24T13:59:00.002-06:00

A busy couple of weeks have passed, but they were great fun, and we had the chance to see family. What could be better? Nothing new is going on, we are preparing for Thanksgiving and the kids are writing letters to Santa. Just being cute. A baby is usually attached to her in some way.
The kindergarten at Grace's school had a feast/program for the parents. They sang songs and dressed up. Grace had the only speaking part out of 81 kids. She was so proud!

Cute Pilgrims and Indians.

Jed took it upon himself to draw a face on his belly. Pretty good for a little boy doing it upside down. He follows daddy's lead.

Here is belly face talking to Grace. It wanted kisses.

Ironman Florida

2009-11-10T08:35:00.003-06:00

My super hero husband completed his first Ironman this weekend. He did awesome and it was amazing to watch. Here is part of the swim, in the ocean, with big swells. Not so easy, especially 2.4 miles of it.

After the swim, heading out on the 112 mile bike ride. CRAZY!

Almost at the finish line after 26.2 miles of running. He started the race at 7 am, and was done with his 140.6 miles of working out at around 8:30(I think).

After the race. I am amazed at his strength and willpower and dedication. He worked and trained very hard, but always early morning or late night, so he wouldn't miss time with the kids. I am so proud of him and honored to be his wife. I love you babe!

Halloween

2009-11-03T07:46:00.003-06:00

Halloween on our street was a little disappointing. There were 2 other houses with their lights on, so after walking the whole street with the kids, we decided to leave for another neighborhood. I left our candy in a bowl by the front door, and we were off. We drove for a bit, and finally turned into another neighborhood, with no luck again.

So we went to another one, and had enough luck to call it quits. The kids had fun. A few people jumped out and scared them, and gave Chris and me a good laugh.

When we got home my bowl of candy was still full! Crazy.

By the way, I asked Jed if he wanted a bandanna for his pirate costume. His reply "NO, I am a captain, NOT a matey!"

Last Week of Soccer

2009-11-03T07:36:00.002-06:00

Last week was the last week of soccer for the kids. I saw major improvement in both kids. At the end of the last game they handed out goodie bags for the kids, including a trophy. BIG hit!

Jed still wasn't into the actual mechanics of the game. He just liked to run around and play with other kids. It is fun and frustrating to watch at the same time. You want him to have fun, but you also want him to actually TRY and kick the ball. I did get a shot of him right after he kicked it.

Grace throwing the ball in. She scored the last week and was so excited. It was all she talked about for the rest of the day. I was watching Jed's game, so I missed it, but Chris says it was really good. She had a great time and is even going to play on the same team in the spring.

Carving Pumpkins

2009-10-28T15:56:00.002-05:00

I love days when I don't have to cook dinner. It seems so much easier to get important things done, like blog posts. Tonight is trunk or treat, so in a few minutes it will be preparation madness. I thought I would have a rest before the storm.

On Saturday we carved the pumpkins we brought home from the field trip. I was dreading it, and was going to just let them color on them, but they didn't like that idea. Thankfully, the goo inside the pumpkins was easy to get rid of, so it was easy. And they loved it. Grace in her typical cute fashion.
Jed would get grouchy when I scooped out the junk for him. He told me I was doing it all and he needed a turn.

The results, kind of. I cut off the bottom half of the jack o lanterns, but I LOVE this picture of Olivia. I don't know what she was so happy about, but it makes me laugh to see it.

Jed's Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

2009-10-26T13:17:00.003-05:00

Jed's preschool had a field trip to the pumpkin patch on Wednesday, so Olivia and I tagged along for the fun. It was a beautiful day, bordering on hot, but Jed really wanted to wear his Halloween shirt. We went on a hay ride to the pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins and sunflowers. We then went to the barn to learn where food comes from and then went to another barn to pet some animals. After all that, Olivia, Jed and I tried the corn maze. We came out the same way we went in, but neither of the kids know that, so a good time was had by all! Olivia trying to feed the chickens. She tried to feed every animal we saw.

Jed "milking" a cow. I guess he needed a better look at what was going on.

Jed and his pumpkin

Olivia and the pumpkin she chose.

On the wagon going to the patch.

Olivia

2009-10-14T13:32:00.003-05:00

It has been nearly a week since Olivia's birthday, and I am just now getting around to it. I am pretty bad. Even worse, I have no pictures from her birthday. Not even one with her and the cupcakes, which she had for breakfast the day after! At least I was nice enough to have cupcakes for breakfast, right? In honor of her birthday, I have decided to just share a few things about the cutest 2 year old ever. So cute. She loves to be ticked, and then tell you to "stop it" Also requests a book and song before bed and nap.

As I was making dinner the other day, she decided she was not going to wait for me, and took a chunk of cheese. Funny little teeth marks.

She loves to play with Grace's doll house and must have the animals sitting at chairs around the table. I helped her here. She was trying to put plates and cups bigger than the table out for them. She kept telling me "eat", so I guess they needed food on the plates as well.

She plays with her hair when she is tired, and as she falls asleep. We often find knots it in the next morning. This is the worst one I have seen yet.

Her original artwork. The only child I have had that thinks it's okay to color on walls.

Happy Birthday Bugs! We love you and are so happy you are part of our lives forever.

Too Fast

2009-10-06T07:45:00.003-05:00

The weeks seem to go by too fast. I swear I just posted yesterday!! I am glad they are not going slow, so no complaints, it is just hard to keep up! This weekend Chris took the kids to a park around here. He said it was amazing and they loved it. This picture was taken on the drive. Olivia just wanted to say "Hi" Here is a shot of the park. It doesn't show all of it. There was another section with a rocket. I suppose the kids were in heaven.

This is what Olivia likes to do during the soccer games. Well, this or run out on the field to give them loves, or put the sideline cones on her head like a hat. One of those is always a good option.

Jed with his team. He is getting better and almost scored a goal last week.

I love this shot. It encompasses all things microsoccer to me. . .fallen kids, a stampede after the ball, coaches trying to "herd cats" , as Jed's coach put it. I am assuming the ball is behind one of the players, and Grace is going after it, but we all know what assuming does.

Random Happenings

2009-09-27T12:14:00.003-05:00

Now that school has started and we are in a good routine, I feel like we don't have anything exciting going on. We are more than ready to be done with the heat, but I won't be complaining in January when it is still nice.

The other day we had some work going on outside our house and Jed and Liv were pretty excited to be so close to the action. We ended up opening the van up and having a picnic snack while watching the workers. Jed wants to be a "worker" for Halloween.
We went mini golfing again, and Grace got a hole in one on this hole. She was so excited to get her free tokens. It was too good to pass up a picture. She was SO happy. Love the pose.

Also, the other day we were all in the car, and I hear the following conversation between Grace and Jed

Jed: What color is she? (I am a little concerned hearing this, so I listen even closer)

Grace: White.

J: White? (totally confused, Grace is a little bothered he is questioning her)

G: Yes, white, like us.

J: OH! Shes peach!

I guess they realize there is a difference, but Jed wanted to make sure that we were the right color!

Soccer

2009-09-16T15:45:00.002-05:00

This last weekend started an adventure filled season of soccer for Grace and Jed. It was hot and humid and tiring, but also fun, exciting and well worth it. Jed is on a team with 3 and 4 year old kids, so you can imagine the chaos. They don't keep score and have no goalie. They are trying to teach fundamentals and love of the game. It was great.

Here is Jed's team(green) giving 5 after the game. They didn't know you had to walk and stick your hand out at the same time. Jed is 3rd in line. Grace's team doing the same thing. They understood the walking part. She is also 3rd in line in light blue. They are called the Dolphins.

Jed running for the ball. He was so nice and didn't want to take the ball from the kids who were kicking it, so he just ran around with them. When he does get the ball he goes for it!

Grace during practice. She was trying to score, and she did. She had a rougher day because of some mean boys on another tam, but we told her next week would be better. I just hope she doesn't hate it in the end.

Trampoline

2009-09-16T15:38:00.002-05:00

As an early Christmas present from their Grandparents, the kids received a trampoline. There was a deal too good to pass up, so we did it now, and maybe will even put a bow on it again for Christmas. Jed was a good helper and put it together with me. It was all done when Grace got home from school, and the night was spent playing and jumping. Some favorite new games are crack the egg, fox and rabbit(a blind fox trying to get jumpy rabbits) and running as fast as you can in a circle until you fall.

I am exhausted already. Hopefully they will be too!

Favorite Prophets

2009-09-12T18:55:00.002-05:00

Last Sunday in primary the kids were asked to draw their favorite Book of Mormon prophets during the week, and have them ready for this Sunday. Well, my kids were all about this, and the task was done that night. Jed came up with Captain Moroni, and has even wanted to be him when he grows up. Grace and Jed have played Captain Moroni a few times in the last week. As you can see there is a Title of Liberty in his hand. He is holding a sword in the other hand. The circle with a line in it is a shield, and there is another sword on the left hand side of the page. The box with lines through it is his house.

Grace chose Ammon. She is a little more detailed in he drawings. There are a few very happy sheep, and a very happy Ammon, after cutting off a few arms. Notice on the left is an arm that is holding a sling shot, and well as having a bloody stump. I have to give her credit for knowing her stories.

I think it is awesome they both were able to think of a prophet to draw, as well as remember the story that goes along with him. I guess something is sticking in their brain.

Lazy Sunday

2009-09-02T13:30:00.003-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, we decided that we were going to have dinner outside on the patio. Since it is still summer here, and it is blazing hot, it was a great idea to the kids. Luckily by the time dinner was ready, it was shady where we were eating. Anyway, as I was cleaning up dinner and doing the dishes, Chris and the kids were playing a little baseball.

Here is Jed after an excellent hit.Grace throwing the ball into Chris.
Olivia running like mad to bring the ball back to the batter.

After the game was over, they helped bring the table and bench back inside. Thank heavens for french doors that open big so we can take the table outside and do this another time. Perhaps not in the heat of summer though.

Happy Birthday Jed

2009-08-23T20:29:00.002-05:00

I know I am almost 2 weeks late with this post, but at least it is getting done.
Jed's birthday was on the 12th, and he was so excited for it. He had talked about things that he wanted and the cake he would like to have for almost a month before it happened. I guess at 4 they are aware of what happens on a birthday. Here he is with his cupcakes and new pajamas! Opening presents. The girls wanted to help, but he got to do it on his own.

This is a picture of him seeing one of his presents for the first time. Chris and I set it up while we were eating dinner, so we kept him out of the room until we were ready. It was the GeoTracks airplane, that we connected to his train set. He was SO excited.

Here he is "flying" the plane. I love this picture because he is leaning to help it get around the loop. Classic little kid move.

Olivia's Help

2009-08-19T13:18:00.002-05:00

Now that Grace and Jed are in school, Olivia has decided to become the best help around the house. Her favorite "chore" is putting the silverware away. She as learned what the camera does, so she will look at me and say cheese whenever she sees it in my hands. Here is the shot of her amazing work. It is good that she is willing to help, I think I will nurture this desire for a long time.

First Day of School

2009-08-17T10:05:00.004-05:00

Well, I still don't have my camera, but at least now it is in the mail to me. Thankfully I was able to use Chris' camera from work in order to get some shot of important events during the last few weeks.
Here is Grace on her first day of Kindergarten. She was so excited and ready. Since then she has become a little bored and has even told me she doesn't want to go back. Hopefully things will pick up soon so she will stay excited about it. They have uniforms, and it is pretty strict. Lucky she is cute in everything she wears!

Jed the same morning on his first day of preschool. He was so excited and was such a big boy. He just walked in and didn't say another word to me until I forced him to give me a kiss.

When he got home at 1, he didn't take his backpack off until I made him, and then wore it again after we had dinner. He also took it to bed and wore it out of his room at 6 in the morning. Needless to say, he loves school.

Update

2009-07-28T13:21:00.002-05:00

Since I still don't have my camera, I thought I would just do an update on us all.

Chris: Working lots of hours. He is enjoying his job, but it is a lot of work. He is also training for Ironman Florida in November, so he is swimming, biking and running a lot. Late to bed and early to rise. Hopefully the heat will not be as bad soon, but I think it will last until the race is over.

Kate: Doing the same as always. I am still trying to organize this house and garage to my liking. I now have an official permanent place for my sewing machine, so I am looking forward to sewing something!

Grace: 5 1/2 years, 42 inches, 35? pounds. She is funny and is always trying to make someone laugh. Has learned how to swim under water and have the waves push her toward the front. She also loves the water slide and will go down it alone until I make her stop. Will start kindergarten in 2 weeks, and is so excited. Loves to draw and make people cards. I get at least one a day.

Jed: Almost 4(in 2 weeks), 38 inches, 30 pounds. He is a funny boy and knows it. Tells Grace stories every night while lying in bed. Loves Transformers, Star Wars, and pirates. He is excited to start preschool in 2 weeks, and take cupcakes to his class on his birthday. He loves to talk and play make believe.

Olivia: nearly 22 months, 22 pounds, and won't sit still long enough to be measured. She is a firecracker and sassy. Loves babies and rocking and cuddling them. She also loves to bother Grace and Jed. Her favorite word is no, and she requests apples and cheese on a daily basis. Loves the water and slides. She may possibly be the death of me.

I am the youngest of 9 children

2009-07-21T09:11:00.002-05:00

The other day, Chris took the kids to the store. On the way they took a detour past a house that has kittens. Here is the conversation as they drove past.

Chris: Look, there they are
Grace: Are there just two?
C: No, I think there are 4 or5.
G: Wow, that mom just kept having babies and babies and babies. Just like Grandma Moss!

I guess she has that figured out.

ps-My camera is broken, I am working on getting it replaced!

Twice in One Week!

2009-07-15T13:23:00.002-05:00

I am trying to make an effort to update this blog again on a regular basis. We will see how it goes. Last week, a good family from church offered us a piano they had, since they were getting a new one. We have been looking for one, as we want the kids to play, so we snatched it right up. It is older, but to my very musically challenged ear it sounds good. As you can tell by the decorations, the kids love it as well. Now we have to get someone to teach them. As something to do to keep the kids busy and cool, I gave them baggies of marsh mellows and some cups, and told them to throw the marsh mellows in the cups. Little did I know the fun that would be had. Olivia went around eating all the marsh mellows that missed, so we moved on to Rotini noodles, which broke in half if they hit the floor. Even if sweeping had to be done, it was a good time.

Jed decided he could make it in the cup if he were a little closer.

Happy 11th!!!!

2009-07-11T19:06:00.002-05:00

Oh- I guess I mean the 4th, but what is one little week?
We had a good 4th of July, we decided not to do fireworks, instead we treated the kids to miniature golf(they beg to go weekly!), and a Chucky Cheese type place here called Kids Castle. Here is Olivia riding the horse. She pretty much wanted to get off the minute it started. This was her first ride, we had just come from mini-golf. Call you tell by her steaming cheeks?Grace and Jed playing air hockey. They love this game, and thankfully it is a little more gentle than some, so fingers don't get smashed as easily.

Grace taking her turn. We got to about hole 13 and called it quits.

Jed having a go. Hole 13 is the farthest we have gotten.

Olivia insisting on her turn. It was 102 degrees. Hole 13 was far enough.

Boring Life

2009-06-29T12:20:00.003-05:00

We lead a real boring life around here. Between the heat and humidity, we try to stay cool in the water, library, movies, or bookstores. None of them seem to be a good spot for pictures, so we do with out. I did capture a few recently, so here they are in no particular order. Jed has been wanting a suit for sometime now. I have no idea why, except that he will look like daddy. I found one for him at a a KidtoKid a few weeks ago, and we tried it out on Sunday. He was so excited to wear it. The jacket was still big(and it's too hot), but he was stoked to look so grown up.

Jed watching Transformers. He is suddenly in love with them. He was concerned that Bumblebee was in danger.

Grace doing the "booty tooty dance" on the sprinkler. We set it up for the kids, but Grace was the only one who had fun with it.

Jed and Olivia did like the water balloons though. They used them faster than I could fill them. Chris was the target.

Olivia after she found some markers. She was really proud of herself. I told her to show me her teeth in this picture, Notice the bottoms are lopsided. We are still missing 5 teeth with this child.

Panama City Beach

2009-06-16T17:12:00.003-05:00

We had an exciting week last week. Chris' mom came to visit, and the kids were ready. Grace wrote out a list of all that she wanted to do with Grandma. They varied from getting ice cream, to playing soccer, to going to the "beach on the ocean". On Saturday we went to Panama City, which is only about 1.5 hours away and spent the day on the beach. It was really hot and humid, but being on the beach with a breeze made it bearable. This was the view from our towels. The sand was super soft, almost like powdered sugar. It was great to play and walk on, but it stuck EVERYWHERE. I am still finding sand.

Olivia loved the sand. She was a little leery of the water, but she had no problem laying and rolling around in the sand. She also had no concept of towel etiquette. She would track sand anywhere she wanted to.

Grace digging in the sand. They had lots fun digging and Grace loved to go in the water. There was a sand bar a ways out, so we would put her life jacket on and take her out there, and then she could stand and jump the waves with us. So much fun.

Jed was also a little leery of the water, but once again, he loved to dig in the sand. Hours spent burying things and finding them again. Sometimes we didn't find them, but it was worth the fun.

Deck

2009-06-08T13:39:00.002-05:00

This past weekend Chris, the kids, and I went to Georgia to work on the house. We needed to redo the deck, and so Chris took a couple days off work and we went. We stayed in our empty house and slept on air mattresses and in sleeping bags. It was a long few nights, but we survived. The kids were ready to come home, seeing as we have no television, toys, or things to do except watch Chris and I work. We did get to see some good friends and play with them, so it was alright. This is a before picture of the deck. I don't know which is worse, the color or the shabby shape it was in! Here is the same corner after. It is a pretty good size deck, about 20x12, so we had a lot of work to do,but it looks great. Now we just need a buyer!

Tallahassee

2009-06-02T07:53:00.003-05:00

On Sunday we drove to Tallahassee. We didn't find what we were looking for, but we did find this cool park. It had a sidewalk all the way around and it was a fun walk to see everything.

There were these crazy looking ducks everywhere, and they were not afraid of people. We also saw a bunch of tiny fish and turtles.

We also saw a mommy duck and her babies. The kids wanted to pet them. . . We told them it wasn't a good idea!

At the start there was this helicopter from Vietnam era. It was fun to get a closer look at it.

WaterWorld

2009-05-25T19:43:00.003-05:00

It has rained here for a week, again!, and the kids were house crazy, so we took them to WaterWorld today. It is the city's pool that we have passes to. There is a wave pool, a couple slides, and a kiddie area. It was sprinkling when we got there, but thought it was worth it. We are going to get wet anyway, right? The weather turned better, and the kids had a blast. It was good to get all the energy out of them. It has only been open weekends so far this season, but as of Friday it is open everyday, that is my summer for you! Grace putting her head in the water
Olivia on a float type thing in the kid pool. It is only a foot deep, so I don;t have to worry too much. She likes to lay there and have someone spin her around. If you don't do it right away, she yells "GO!" at you.

Grace and Jed wading in the wave pool. They are standing at about the 2 foot mark. There are no waves running in the picture, but they can get pretty violent. Grace loves when the waves come, Jed is a little more cautious.

Just a cute boy

Wrestling the alligator in the kids pool.

Uneventful.

2009-05-20T08:29:00.003-05:00

I feel like I have not posted anything important for the last few weeks, but there is nothing to report, so you all get the mundane stuff of our life. The kids are still loving our house, and spend hours in the morning playing and begging to stay in their pajamas a little bit longer. Here is Olivia playing with the baby. She has grown attached to several babies and pushes them in the stroller and put them in the laundry basket(their bed). She even likes to get in the basket to sleep with them. She is getting more personality and attitude everyday. Yesterday she shot her spiderwebs at Jed. I guess we have played a lot of Spiderman in front of her!

Jed and Grace at the train table. Lots of hours are spent here with trains, cars, Lego's and princesses. Who knew the possibilities?

Olivia the pirate. She brought me the bandanna and the slippers. I think the is taking cues from her cousin Megan!

As a side note, the other day, I was doing Grace's hair and she told me that some people do not have hair on their head. I said she was right, and we talked about how they are born with hair, but as they get older it falls out. We talked about her old primary teacher and how he was bald, and the she looked at me and said "Does Uncle Rob have hair?" My poor 32(?) year older brother is slowly losing it, but apparently it was more obvious to Grace than I thought!

Random Things

2009-05-12T15:01:00.003-05:00

Another week past, and I still feel like I am playing catch up with everything. We had a wonderful weekend of swimming and unpacking. There were requests of more house pictures, so here they are. This is our eating area. The french door open onto a patio, and they both open, so it is a huge opening. It was nice when furniture was being moved in! Looking from the table into the living room. I am still working on the placement of things, and furniture, so it is always changing, but this is the general idea. I want to paint, Chris says leave it red and move this furniture to the other empty half of the house, and get new stuff in here. We will see, all in due time!

My Mother's day present. We have been without a grill since we moved to Georgia, so almost 3 years. First, how did we last that long without one, and second, has it been almost 3 years???

Just a very cute picture of Jed!

Busy, Busy, Busy

2009-05-06T13:05:00.003-05:00

We have had an eventful past week with the move and Chris being gone for work, so I am now just catching up. We are now in the house and are thrilled with the space. We are still working on getting everything in the right place, but are very excited. The kids have a play room(below) that is doubling as a guestroom(so come visit!) that is a life saver. At night I just shut the door and we are good. No clean up necessary. Grace and Jed are again sharing a room.
Olivia has her own room. She thinks she is hot stuff now because she can open doors. We have the door handles that you just pull down, so I pretty much hate them. She goes into the bathroom and gets the stool, and then takes it to all the rooms and turns the lights on. What a helper.
Otherwise we are doing well. One funny story, the other night we were getting ready for bed, and Jed had just put his pajama bottoms on. He had no shirt on and he looks at me and says "Look, I am a Lamanite!" Confused, I asked why he was a Lamanite, and he said it was because he had not shirt on. In the pictures they don't wear shirts, so it makes sense in the 3 year old mind!

Swimming (in April!)

2009-04-25T09:18:00.002-05:00

A few days ago, the kids and I were walking/riding our bikes around the parking lot at the apartment. We decided we wanted to put our feet in the pool water. It turned out the water was pretty warm, so yesterday we went swimming. The kids had a blast, and were really good about listening and being careful. Olivia shaking like a dog.
Grace shaking like a dog.

Jed shaking like a dog.

Grace jumping in. It only came up to her armpits.

Just being cute!

Too bad we are moving in 3 days, so no more pool, but we did buy a pass to the city pool, so we will get all the swimming we want!

Easter Pictures

2009-04-14T21:19:00.002-05:00

The kids had a wonderful Easter. The bunny brought simple baskets, but totally scored with them. Who know the dollar bins could be so fun. This is the best picture I could get of the three of them. Of course Olivia did not want to cooperate. Once again, Olivia did not want to stand still, so here she is running away from me.

Jed being super fly with his hands in his pockets and handsome boy shirt on. He loved his new shoes and belt!

Grace is the prettiest 5 year old ever. She loved her pretty dress and how it looked when she twirled. I can't believe how big they are all getting.

A big shout out and thank you to Grandma for all the Easter outfits. They were perfect!

Easter Egg Hunt

2009-04-11T21:10:00.004-05:00

Today was our ward's Easter Egg hunt and the kids were so excited to get there. I am in primary, so I had to be there early to set up, so they were tortured and had to wait a bit until all the eggs were sorted and hidden for 3 different age groups. Chris went with Grace and Jed while I stayed with Olivia in the nursery age group. Olivia didn't understand at first, but once we started, she was all about it. I had to take her to the side and let her have her basket once she reached her limit. No pictures since Chris had the camera.

I do have a picture of her fully enjoying her ice cream and strawberries we had for dessert the other night. This way of eating it is much more efficient.

Fun for all (except Olivia)

2009-04-07T14:42:00.002-05:00

On Monday as I was putting all the stuff away from our Georgia weekend, the kids found the empty suitcase. They decided they were going to play in it and go to "Timbuktu". Grace would lock Jed in and fully zip it, and then try to tip it up or over and go on a trip. It was fun that lasted for hours. This is Grace taking her turn. Jed isn't quite as strong, but she had some short trips to Timbuktu. Also, her hair would get caught in the zipper. Jed was actually very nice and tried to be careful.

Olivia thought she wanted a turn, but as it was being zipped, she thought different. Here she is getting our as fast as she can while screaming!

News

2009-04-02T11:52:00.004-05:00

We are going to Georgia to do some more work on the house this weekend, hopefully a few minor improvements will make it sell (as well as praying a lot!) It has now been raining for a week straight, and my kids are going crazy. We have little room here, so we are anxious to get to a new place.

Like this one. We are buying this house when ours sells and are renting it until that happens. We are moving in the end of this month and are very excited. It has over 2 times the space. I think our family relations will improve with the ability to spread out a little. Perhaps less fighting between little ones?

Rain and a Little Bit of Shine

2009-03-28T19:22:00.004-05:00

It has rained and rained for about 3 days here, so not only do we have a lot of extra water in out parts, but we also have some very housebound crazy kids. We have a had 6 inches in 2 days, so as Chris and I were driving around today, we found a lot of obstacles in our way, such as this bridge that was covered in water. This was one of 3 we saw, and the others in the area had only a few more feet to rise before they we covered as well. It has now stopped raining, so we are thinking the worst is behind us. Most of the flooded lawns are now just soggy, so I hope we are done! This was on Thursday after it rained in the morning. The kids went outside in the afternoon and were playing. Olivia decided she wanted to eat the "mud soup" Grace and Jed had made.

Friday we were stuck inside so I broke out a magical toy. Grace and Jed both received their first box of 64 count crayons with a sharpener. It was magic. Jed had gotten a baseball on Thursday, so all day Friday was spent begging to go outside and play ball. He settled for just coloring with it.

Grace of course was overjoyed with her color choices and went right to work.

Pleased as punch to have new crayons!

Update!!!

2009-03-23T09:27:00.002-05:00

Thanks to some amazing friends, Chris raised enough money to enter the St. George Ironman! It only took 48 hours, and we are both more impressed with peoples' willingness to give than that he raised the money. It just goes to show that good friends will always support you, even from 3000 miles away!

Ironman St. George

2009-03-21T16:46:00.004-05:00

So, earlier this week there was an announcement that the Ironman series will hold a race in St. George, Utah. Chris found this really exciting and wanted to do the race. I said I would love for him to do the race, but since it is a little pricey, it most likely wouldn't happen for 2010. Chris, who is on Facebook, wrote on his wall that he thought I would kill him if he spent the money for the entry fee. A few of his friends told him to do it, so I told Chris he could certainly do it, if his friends paid his entry fee. So he jokingly wrote on Facebook that he needed donations to enter the race, and he got some. So, now he decided he really will take donations, and I offered him 100 of our own money for the race. He now is up to 180, so only 340 more to go! I guess we will see how far he gets. I will keep you posted!

Happenings

2009-03-20T12:36:00.003-05:00

Poor Chris doesn't even get his own post devoted to him for his birthday. He will survive. Here he is blowing out his candle. Grace took this picture. Happy 31st Chris!!! Olivia has discovered how to work the sit'nspin. She also likes to lay and spin. Whatever keeps her busy. I bought that toy 2 years ago at Goodwill for 2 dollars. It was the best 2 dollars ever spent!

Jed has officially received the summer haircut, a buzz! Sad to say that I have to do it in March, but not very sad. We are enjoying the warm weather before the humidity and real heat kick in.

Grace making funny faces for the camera. We are both ready for her to go to school again.

Kids Thoughts

2009-03-18T19:12:00.002-05:00

Today we were reading a book before bed, and it was "Franklin Says I Love You" (apparently there are no underlines in blogworld, so quotes will have to do!) In the book, it says that Franklin has the best mom. To this, Chris was really sweet and says Franklin was wrong, and our kids have the best mom. Grace says "No, Franklin does. He gets TWO stories before bed time." And this whole time I thought I was doing a pretty good job. I need to up my game.

Soccer

2009-03-13T13:15:00.002-05:00

The kids have been really into soccer since Christmas. We have been out practicing a bunch, but have not found a league for them to play in. I guess for now Chris and my limited soccer knowledge will have to do. We did hear about a micro-soccer league for them, but we are too late for the spring season. Anyway, here are a few shot of them playing. Jed loves to play. He also loves to coach. He will put on his bling bling from the Sugar Bowl, and his Utah hat and stand on the sideline and kick it out into the field for me to run after. I will have to get a picture of that next time.

And how could we go a day with out some sort of bat in the house. She brought the costume to me and was pretty happy to get her chance.