Organized Chaos

The Travel Bug

2012-02-10T09:14:00.003-07:00

Caleb is catching his Mom's travel bug. After school on Tuesday he started asking a lot of questions about which states he's been to and which he hasn't but wants to. The next morning, I printed us out some maps to color and compare. Mine is on top and his on the bottom. It was a fun little project and made me start thinking about where I have been and all of the places I haven't (since airplane lay-overs do not count as being there). Here in a few months though, he'll get to color in that lovely state of California.

Looks like we both have a lot of traveling left to do.

The Big Game

2012-02-06T06:48:00.003-07:00

It was a fun Sunday at our house getting ready to watch the match up between one of my favorite teams (the Patriots) and Caleb's favorite team (the Giants). Caleb very early on got all dressed up in his Giants garb. Started building decorations to root on his team in Lego's and set up his command -central in the living room which consisted of a little table full of all of his creations which would also provide a place for his snacks during the game. It was a long day of waiting for game time and I ended up napping a bit. But when it was time, we were ready. I grilled up some yummy garlic burgers for me and Mike, made some mini pigs in a blanket for the kids. I also made some homemade cinnamon rolls earlier in the morning and we had some chips and dip and other goodies. It was a fun game and even though I lost my bet with Mike, it was fun to watch Caleb's team win and his victory dance afterwards.

Weekend at Papa's

2012-01-30T20:34:00.001-07:00

Mike had to work all weekend so me and the kids took advantage and went to Price for a couple days without him. We got to hang out with everyone, go to a Bday dinner for Papa Kevin and spend some much requested time with Papa Ringo and Grandma Judi. We also got a little spoiled and got to go for my favorite dinner (Plain Jane at the Cowboy Club). The kids loved playing with their cousins and I even got to sneak away for a few hours on Saturday night to visit with a couple old friends from High School and watch one of them play in his band (The Gypsee Goat Herders) at Balance Rock in Helper. It was a really good time with good music and catching up. It was a nice trip but we were equally as happy to be home awaiting meeting back up with Daddy when he finally got home late Sunday night.

Xīn Nián Kuài Lè

2012-01-26T19:42:00.005-07:00

Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the Dragon. Last night at Caleb's school they had a Chinese New Year Celebration. All of the dual immersion students sang us some songs. We also got to listen to a parent play a Chinese instrument, watch some cute little Chinese dancers and of course the traditional dragon dance. We didn't stay for the little activities afterward this time except the Chinese market where each of the kids got to pick a prize. Zaric and Zaden picked out necklaces with Chinese symbols on them. Caleb picked out a pencil with Chinese writing on it and they all got some Chinese candy. It was a fun night, even if us adults didn't understand a word they were singing :).

4 month Checkup

2012-01-16T19:50:00.002-07:00

This afternoon was Faith's 4 month well baby check up. Since Mike was home for the holiday he opted to keep the boys for me and I took her alone. She was Miss Popularity from the start. Everyone in the waiting room remarked on how cute she was, a nurse came over from getting another patient to talk to her and check out her hair bow, and 3 kids in the waiting room were playing with her. It was almost sad when they called us back, the kids looked sad to see her go.

Once in the back she weighed in at 13 lbs 14 oz and was 24 inches long. The doctor looked her over and declared her still perfectly healthy and told me to enjoy her . I assured him I have been and will keep doing so. He also asked me if she ever quits smiling. I replied, "no, not really." She got 2 shots in the legs and one oral immunization. She was pretty pissed off at the shots but got over them quickly until the nurse that gave them talked to her then she let her know exactly what she thought of her. The nurse laughed and then left the room so as not to upset her again and she calmed right back down. Overall it was another great appt.

Na Na Na Na Batman!

2012-01-16T19:47:00.002-07:00

Zaden has been obsessed this weekend with the notion that he is Batman. He's been wearing this cape almost constantly, even to bed once. He's telling me he's Batman and jumping off the furnature and doing summer salts which is his idea of flying. He even asked me tonight to take a picture of Batman. He's so much fun and I'm so excited to see their little imaginations finally starting to take flight.

Shirts Round 2

2012-01-16T19:40:00.003-07:00

We all liked the shirts so much that I made some for regular every day wear as well. Caleb asked for Spiderman, Mike Superman and the twins are going to rock some Batman (their favorite lately). I also made some cute onesies for some people having baby boys in the next couple of months as well as another Batman for a cousin (by request). It's been a busy weekend making T shirts. A friend came over yesterday and made 8 of her own for her girls as well. Looks like I started quite the project. I have a feeling it's not over yet.

Disney-Bound

2012-01-16T19:33:00.003-07:00

We've officially booked and started planning our first Ouren family Disneyland trip for this summer. We are going to hit up Sea World in San Diego, Legoland in Carlsbad and then of course Disney, Disney, Disney! We are so excited and I decided we all needed somewhat matching shirts for at least one day there. I came across this idea on Etsy and of course replicated it with my own funky styling. The boys are all the same. I'm not sure if they'll endure my torture with dressing alike for more than 1 day so I stopped there (for now) but little Miss Faith got 3 new shirts for starters. Minnie, Ariel and Tink so far. I still need to make something for me to match Faith and decide if the boys need anything else. So much to do between now and then. I love it when something like this motivates me to turn the creative juices on.

Night with T Rex

2012-01-14T07:04:00.004-07:00

Last night Caleb got a special surprise. A date with Dad to go to Night with T Rex at Thanksgiving Point. This is a special event after the museum closes and he got to go with just him and Dad for some one on one time. They got to watch a movie on the 3D Mammoth screen, go on a scavenger hunt, tour the museum, build a 3 D puzzle of a dino, make a plaster cast, use a paleontologist drill to clean a fossil, make a petroglyph, and play in the 2 sand areas of the museum. They didn't get home until late but from the sounds of it this morning he had a blast! The first thing he did when he got up was come tell me about it and show me all the stuff he made since he got to bring it all home.

The twins, Faith and I hung out at home and had popcorn of our own and watched movies. I'm so glad Mike and Caleb got out alone and had a good time and thanks to Mike for humoring me and taking the camera along. :)

Preschool Double Trouble

2012-01-09T21:40:00.004-07:00

Well the day arrived. Both sooner and later than I wanted it to. The twins officially started preschool. Just one day a week for now until they get more used to the idea. I tried and tried this morning to get them to stand still for a good pic and this is what I got. Of course they were so confused with the idea they kept putting on their coats and backpacks and taking them back off for about 40 minutes before we had to leave so these pics are before we were totally out the door (hence the dirty face on Zaden). I was a nervous wreck imagining these monkey climbing on things and having major meltdowns about new people and new places. So I got there 15 minutes early and walked them in to talk with the teacher ( Miss Karen, Caleb's old teacher) and catch her up and tell her who's who. Well they ran right in and went right to playing with the toys and talking up a storm. When I told them I was leaving and Dad would be back to get them when it was over they didn't bat an eye. Just went right on playing. Miss Karen reported to Dad that they did just fine for a first day and they were happy when he picked them up. I asked what they did but all Zaden kept telling me was, "Yes." I guess that's a good sign. Next time in 2 weeks because of the Monday holiday. Hope they are just as excited to go back then.

Baby Doll

2012-01-08T20:32:00.002-07:00

Grandma Judi picked out this little dress for Miss Faith for Christmas. It's so stinking cute. I had my eye on some like it earlier but never bought any so I was so excited to get it. I had fun this morning dressing her up in it and taking a few pics. She's such a little doll in it. Who knew having a girl would be so much fun?

SNOW!

2012-01-08T20:28:00.002-07:00

Snow in the valley has been pretty sparse if not non-existent for us this year. So when it finally snowed even just an inch or so on Friday night/Saturday morning the boys were all too happy to run out and try out the new child size snow shovels I got them and help Dad shovel the driveway. Of course they spent more time playing and throwing snow than actually shoveling.

Even though I totally fine with no more snow I am glad they got to play in some this year and even hope for a couple more storms for their sake.

Bringing in the New Year

2012-01-02T10:21:00.003-07:00

With the exception of my Cowboys losing last night, I have to say 2012 is starting off on the right foot. Yesterday we spent even more time at home playing with all of our new stuff. But we also got a visit from Papa Ringo and Grandma Judi plus Uncle Ryan and family. We got to go to lunch with them and then open some more presents they got for everyone. Then we spent the rest of the night watching football and playing with the new stuff.
Plus little miss Faith decided she would start off the year by rolling over. She finally made it from her back to her belly. It's fun to watch her figure more stuff out but also sad that time is slipping by way too fast. Cheers to celebrating more milestones in the upcoming months.

Happy New Year 2012!

2012-01-01T05:00:00.001-07:00

Happy New Year! 2011 was a great year for my family. With the addition of the littlest Ouren, it couldn't have been any better. My resolution for 2012 is simple; to write down 1 thing each day in a notebook. Something that made me happy, made me smile or something that I am just thankful for in general. So even on the crappiest of days I am forced to write and remember something positive.

Here's looking forward to a whole new year of fun, family, friends and memories.

New Years Eve Campout

2011-12-31T22:08:00.002-07:00

Mike and I have never been big New Year's Eve party-types. Even before we had kids, it just never has meant that much to us. But even more now that we have kids, we would rather just be in. I always figure it's the safest place for them and I don't want them anywhere on the roads after dark with all of the drunk drivers out there. When we talk about what to do for New Years, going out really even doesn't come up. This year we stayed with the tent thing and after the pirate play tent went back down and dinner was over, we let Caleb set up his camping tent that Santa brought him and are having a little camp-out in the family room. Of course we are also passing the time by playing some board games and watching some movies. Caleb is super stoked that I told him he could "for reals" sleep in his tent all night if he wants to and he has nominated Dad to sleep in his tent with him in the summer when we take it camping. I'm glad he likes it.

Pirate Hide a Way

2011-12-31T22:00:00.002-07:00

We have been home and gone nowhere for the last 4 days now. We were all going a little stir crazy today and were planning on going out to do something but couldn't agree on anything. Then it dawned on us that the twins hadn't yet put up the pirate tent that Santa brought them. We've been letting them just open things as they decide they want to play with them and hadn't really given it much more thought. Once we mentioned it though, they were all about it. The tent went up and my little pirates were happy as can be for a few hours. Caleb played in there with them for a whiloe too and Mom even went in and hung out with Zaden for a bit.

I think Santa hit this one on the mark and am excited for them to play in it some more another day.

Day Date

2011-12-29T11:49:00.002-07:00

We had a great Christmas and have had fun watching the boys play with all of their new goodies. But I think the best gift of all for me and Mike was when the babysitter offered to take the kids for us one of the days we were off to include Caleb so he could play with her daughter Morgan. Mike had Tuesday off and I have the whole week off so we picked Tuesday and dropped the kids off at their normal time.
We spent the first couple hours here at home cleaning up the remainder of Christmas gifts and putting most of them away and just sitting together talking and enjoying the silence. Then we went out to the mall. We did a little shopping so I could spend my Christmas money. I got me a couple pair of super cute jeans. Then we had lunch at on of my favorite places, the Cheesecake Factory. After we were stuffed, we went to do one of Mike's favorite things, a movie. We went to see the new Sherlock Holmes. Loved it. How can you go wrong with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law in a flick together?
Then it was already time to pick up the kids and come home. We both have remarked on what a great day it was together and how we need to have more days like that. We have resolved (hopefully) to do a kid less day-date at least once every season in the next year. Since this one counts as our winter one, I can't wait for Spring!

Santa was here!

2011-12-25T15:50:00.005-07:00

Christmas 2011 - picture slideshow

It was another successful Christmas morning here at the Ouren household with spoiled kids. Santa and Mom and Dad had a good time this year for sure. This is what they got:

Caleb-
From Santa: A tent, sleeping bag, a new coat, his paper he asked for, composition notebooks, Uno Roboto, Bop It, Wii U Draw, Captain America DVD, New How to Train Your Dragon movies, Ninjago lego set, candy and small toys in his stocking.

From Mom and Dad: Dinosaur pillow pet, 1600 piece Lego set, Pirate Skull towel,a book, underwear, clothes, shoes, slippers

Zaric-
From Santa: A Harley scooter, a sleeping bag, a Star Wars Space ship, a new coat, a new Vsmile Pocket game, Cars 2 movie, Thomas the Train Movie, a stuffed owl, candy and to share with Zaden a pirate play tent , faux campfire and roasting sticks.

From Mom and Dad: Another Star Wars ship, a crayon bank, a backpack, a dinosaur pillow pet, a batman Laptop, a book, slippers, clothes, underwear

Zaden-
From Santa: A Harley scooter, a sleeping bag, a pirate ship, a new coat, a new Vsmile Pocket game, Kung Fu Panda 2 movie, Jake and the Neverland Pirates Movie, a stuffed owl, candy and to share with Zaric a pirate play tent , faux campfire and roasting sticks.

From Mom and Dad: A Thomas the train railway set, a crayon bank, a backpack, a dinosaur pillow pet, a batman Laptop, a book, slippers, clothes, underwear

Faith-
From Santa: A pink exersaucer, Stella baby Doll, Dino play set, and pink laugh and learn tea set, plus legwarmers, binkies, headbands and socks in her stocking.

From Mom and Dad: A ladybug pillow pet, turtle developmental toy, clothes, squeaky shoes

And that's just from Santa and us- Not to mention the goodies and mula from the rest of the family (Thanks Everyone!). More to come tomorrow when the grandparents visit. :)

Mike and I got spoiled as well.

Mike- From me and the kids :A few Blue Ray movies, shoes, a T shirt, dress shirt, A Wii game, Mario toys, a Mario Memory game not to mention the candy, and other goodies Santa left in his stocking. he also shopped for himself a couple months ago and picked up a Blue Ray Player and the Starwars (sixology?) on Blue Ray to go with it.

Me: From Mike: A necklace,new pj's and slippers, DVD's of the TV Show Dahrma and Greg, A CD, a new watch, an Amazon gift card to load up the Kindle Fire I got a few weeks ago, plus candy and Christmas socks in my stocking from Santa. Not to mention Mike came home with Christmas flowers for me after going out shopping on the 23rd.

We also got spoiled from a few other people with cute gifts, gift cards and a little Christmas cash which we will be sure to put to good use. (Thanks again Everyone!)

It's been a great Christmas! Hope yours was just a good.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T00:05:00.000-07:00

From the Ouren Family to you. We wish you a Very Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve!

2011-12-24T20:35:00.003-07:00

It's been as busy Christmas Eve here in the Ouren household....which means mostly for me. I woke up bright and early with a bit of a cold but decided it wasn't going to get me down and went to work right away making homemade cinnamon rolls. After that I followed up with a batch of chocolate chip cookies, some hot chocolate cookies and then some sugar cookies for the boys to decorate. On top of that I cooked a bit of a traditional Christmas Eve dinner. Turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls and veggies. After dinner was over and cleaned up we gave the boys and Faith their new Christmas jammies and then let them at the sugar cookies to decorate up a storm.

Zaric would put a few drops on each cookie, tell us he was done and move on to the next one.

Zaden would decorate his and then promptly eat it.

And Caleb showed a lot of effort and creativity this year with his. We were impressed.

Faith mostly watched and got packed around and then played on the floor for a bit.

I gave Mike the task of getting a pic of the boys in their Christmas jammies....this is as good as it got.

We loaded up a plate of cookies for the big man. And we snuggled and watched some of the 24 hours of Christmas Story on TBS.

We just sent the kids to bed and asked Caleb to sleep in the boyz room with them so we can all get up together in the morning. Looking forward to less time in the kitchen tomorrow and more time lounging and playing.

3 months

2011-12-19T07:50:00.004-07:00

I'm about a week late in posting this but Baby Girl is officially 3 months old already. She's so much fun, she's full of smiles and giggles these days and has recently learned to stick out her tongue on cue and thinks she's pretty funny doing it. She's learning to use those little arms and has been batting around the toys on her bouncer. She's starting to try to grasp things, she'll be doing that before long. She's also getting the legs down and continually kicks her kick toy when we lay her down on the floor with it to watch the spinnies go around. She still loves those brothers and smiles at them all the time and she thinks the word "babysitter" is funny and giggles almost every time I say it to her. But I think her favorite thing is when her Daddy swaddles her at night and cuddles her to sleep. Momma doesn't do it quite like he does.

We love this little girl !

Zoo Lights 2011

2011-12-18T08:55:00.004-07:00

Zoolights2011 - picture slideshow

We had a fun family outing last night to our yearly viewing of the Zoo lights. First off, we stopped at one of my old favorite Sugarhouse spots, The Soup Kitchen, for some dinner. We enjoyed some chicken noodle soup and some grilled cheese sandwiches. Then it was time to head to the zoo and bundle up. This year we were able to buy our tickets online ahead of time so that saved us a lot of time since we didn't have to wait in line. Once inside the boys went nuts telling us about all the lights. They were so excited. There weren't many animals out but we did get to see the owl and the tigers up close. One tiger was even sitting by the fence chewing on a bone. We grabbed some hot chocolate near the tigers which was super yummy. The boys started getting cold and crabby after about an hour so we headed out. Once back home, we enjoyed some viewings of Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman then drifted off to sleep in our nice warm beds. It was a good night.

The Elf and the Reindeer

2011-12-16T07:21:00.002-07:00

We have been trying to stay festive here at the house the last little while. Our Elf on the Shelf (Christopher Pop-In-Kins) that joined us last year has returned. He's been hiding all over the house. He's spent time in the tree, in a stocking, behind a picture, on the chandelier, in each of the kids' rooms, Mom and Dad's room, on top the fridge, above the kitchen sink and it appears that he spent last night star gazing with Caleb's telescope. The boys are having a ball with the elf this year, especially the twins that love to help us search for him every morning.

I also decided to try some fun I found on Pinterest since we were having breakfast for dinner last night and made this stylish reindeer. I didn't have the blueberries for the eyes that it had on there so I improvised with bananas and I improvised with oranges on the mouth but hey, it turned out pretty fun. Out of all of them, I think Mike was the most impressed. Zaric just told me it was a reindeer, Zaden kept telling me it was cute, and Caleb just rolled his eyes at me. Even though, it wasn't' my original idea I give myself props for the recreation.

Tonight we get to join Great Grandpa and Great Grandma's Christmas party in Omaha via Skype and then tomorrow is some Zoo Lights fun. Only 9 Days until Christmas!

Santa Visit

2011-12-11T11:34:00.004-07:00

It was finally time for Grandma Nette's Christmas party! We drove to Price and waited all day for the festivities then got ourselves ready. Faith was a pretty happy girl most of the day and kept giggling when I was getting her ready.

Once it was time, we headed down to Grandma's for some dinner and some fun. When what do you know Santa walked right through the door!

The kids immediately flocked to him and had him chuckling from the start.

Caleb sat on his lap and told him he wants lots of printer paper to draw and write on since he keeps using up all of Mom and Dad's. Santa gave him a present which just happened to be the DS game he's been wanting. So Caleb then spent some time showing Santa how to play it.

Zaden would only go see Santa is someone took him and only after I told him he would get a present. He still wasn't impressed. He did love the Vtech Smile Pocket he got though.

Zaric wouldn't come see Santa at all until after he got to open his present and then he decided he would talk to Santa to show him his gift (also a Vtech Smile Pocket) but only from a distance.

Me and Mike snuck in for a pic with Santa.

Faith had just started eating when Santa arrived. So when it was her turn, she was mighty mad that someone took away her bottle. It made for a cute classic pic of Santa and crying baby though. Santa was smart and distracted her with his Jingle Bells for a cuter pic.

It was a very fun evening and all of the kids got something they really wanted from Santa. Can't wait for the big day to actually arrive.

Festive

2011-12-09T10:34:00.003-07:00

We have been super busy around here and I have been bad not to take many pics. Only a few with my phone here and there. In the last week, we have managed to make it to the Festival of Trees, help some friends move, sneak in some more shopping, and a few other appointments along the way. The Advent calendars are out and in full swing and our Elf on the Shelf (Christopher Pop In Kins) has been hiding all over the house keeping his eye on the kids for Santa. There is no lack of Festiveness in this house. So much so, that I am kinda looking forward to it being here and gone so I can have my house back that's overflowing with decorations and gifts in every nook and cranny. Here's a few pics I grabbed off my phone.

Caleb showing off his muscles at the Festival of Trees.

Faith showing off her Christmas Leg Warmers and cute furry vest.

And my adorable nails I had a friend do to make me more festive. It's hard to get a good pic of your own nails. But there's snowflakes on my ring fingers and candy canes on my thumbs. They are super cute.

This weekend brings Grandma Nette's Christmas party and a chance to see my nieces in a performance of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!" Also, it will mark the official first delivery of some Christmas gifts. It's going to be fun. Pics of those things to come.

A Busy Thanksgiving Weekend

2011-11-27T11:54:00.003-07:00

We have a a very busy weekend here. I can't believe we've had 5 days off and it feels like only 2. We have had a very fun time starting on Wednesday when we got all packed up and ready to go to Price for Thanksgiving. On our way we stopped to have pictures taken (below) and had a nice lunch together while we were waiting for them to get printed. Then it was off to Price. Once we got there and got all situated and checked into the hotel we decided to take our nieces DaNell and Maygun on a little impromptu date (thanks Papa for watching the kids) to see another showing of Breaking Dawn (Mike hadn't seen it yet) and to Pizza Hut for some dinner. It was a very fun outing. Once it was over we scooped up 3 of the kids (Caleb wouldn't leave Papa's) and headed to the hotel for a little sleep. In the morning we got up and got ready for Thanksgiving. Here's a pic of Faith in her cute Thanksgiving attire.

We spent the entire day at Papa's house visiting and eating and playing a couple rounds of Apples to Apples with everyone. Then it was time to put on our running shoes and hit the sales (Thanks again Papa and Grandma for watching kids). Walmart opened at 10pm on Thanksgiving night and we were there with bells on to fight the crowds. We got what we wanted (and lots of stuff we didn't know we wanted) and headed back to the hotel for a snack and a couple hours sleep before we hit JCPenny's at 4am. We were able to get what we wanted there even though I had to buy bigger sizes than expected but the good thing about that is that kids grow so they will get some use out of it and for the price, they couldn't be beat. Then it was off to Kmart. Mike and I raced in and made it to the back first to get our goodies. We got most of what we wanted there as well and one more stop at Bealls and we were done. Then again it was back to the hotel to rest a bit and pack up the room.
Once back at Papa's we headed out to brunch at the Cowboy Club with the whole family. Then we stopped by Grandma Nette's for a quick visit. We went back to Papa's and snuck in a quick power nap so we would be ready to drive home. We wanted to leave right before dark in order to stop at the Festival of Lights in Spanish Fork on our way. The boys all loved it and kept pointing out things along the drive. Here's some pics of our favorites.

We made it home and did a little unpacking and watched a Sponge Bob Christmas with the boys before it was bedtime. Saturday came and we brought in all the rest of the decorations and went at it along with a little housework and some laundry in the morning. The afternoon was spent shopping for a few more gifts that would need to be mailed in the next week or so then back home to make dinner and clean up the mess we made decorating. We did manage to sneak in watching A Christmas Story with the kids as well.

Today has been spent cleaning, decorating the outside, doing more laundry and grocery shopping. I can't believe the long break is over and I didn't get all of what I wanted to done. Still so much to do and so little time. Can't the break be 2-3 days longer?

Family Pics 2011

2011-11-27T10:50:00.004-07:00

Family photos 2011 - slideshows

On our way to Price for Thanksgiving, we stopped in Draper at a place called Fotofly to get our family pictures for the year done. It was the first time we had used them and I have to say, I was really impressed. I'll definately be going back there in the future. The slideshow is of all 53 images they took so there are a lot of the same poses, so enjoy.

It's My Turn

2011-11-22T06:07:00.004-07:00

6 days after Caleb's Birthday, it's always my turn to celebrate my own day. It started a little early when I talked my friend Wes into taking me to see Breaking Dawn Friday night as his Birthday present to me (he's such a good sport). Before the movie, Mike came home early and we ventured out to the mall to check out the new stores and have some dinner. Saturday morning we started the day off getting ready spruced up. I couldn't resist putting Faith in this fun outfit. Somethings up with my camera on my phone so I apologize for the blurriness. She was sure ready to party though.

Mike ran to to the store and bought me my own mini cherry pie and some Pepsi for breakfast (does he know me or what?). Then he started on my first Birthday request.....putting up the Christmas tree. I seriously love Christmas and my favorite part of the prep is always the tree. I have tons of other decorations but really I would be ok if all we did was put up the tree and hang the stockings, that's how much I love it. So Mike went to work setting it up for me.

Caleb had a class mates Bday party to attend that day. Since we needed new lights for the tree, we took him and dropped him off at the party and then the rest of us enjoyed a lunch at one of my favorite burger joints, 5 guys. Then we went to Target to get the lights and do a little shopping.

Once we picked Caleb back up and were back home and the lights on the tree, it was time to decorate. Me and 2 of the boys went at it. Sadly Zaden napped through most of that part. But we did save him his special Buzz Lightyear ornament that he proudly put on when he woke up .

Then it was time for the remainder of my day. We ventured off to dinner at Olive Garden, one of my other favorite places. And then it was off to the Grizzlies game. We love going to watch a couple hockey games every year so it seemed fitting to do it as part of my Birthday. I didn't take the camera with us so no pics of the game but we ended up losing 5-3. We still had fun though. Zaric who had missed nap time to decorate the tree ended up falling asleep for almost 2 of the 3 periods. It was too cute not to take a pic. Zaden was really into it this time and paid close attention and cheered and clapped a lot. That totally made my night.

It was a great day spent with my favorite people. Now it's time to gear up for more celebrations with the rest of the family in Price for Thanksgiving and Black Friday Shopping.

An 8th Birthday Party!

2011-11-13T05:30:00.007-07:00

Well it happened. Today, my little boy is officially 8! We had a small party here at the house yesterday. It was Lego Star Wars all the way. He was so excited all day and couldn't wait to get a picture by his cake. Caleb put together the Lego ship for the top of it all by himself and was one proud little man.

Right before it started, him and Dad put on their Jedi attire.

Caleb got to open one of his presents early. We got him the Lego Star Wars movie on Blue Ray. So he could have it playing during his party.

We had some fun making up names for Star Wars food, so here's some pics of the spread. We started with Luke's Lightsabers.

And there were Clone Crackers

And of course we couldn't get along without Ewok food. It's a little trail mix those Ewok's use while hiking in Endor. I'm sure of it.

We had some Grievous' Greens. No wonder he stays so skinny ;)

And Vader Taters.

Hans Solo was frozen in Carbonite Jello.

And here's the treat table that housed Wookie Cookies and "Darth By Chocolate". It also held the drinks. Mike made some 2 liter wraps. We had Leia's Lemonade, R2Beer2, Yoda Soda, Obi's Orange, Palpatines Punch, Dooku's Diet and Padame's Pep.

And here he is blowing out his candle. He insisted on just an 8 and not 8 candles. Pretty smart thinking, it you want to make sure you get that wish.

And it was off to present time. He got lots of fun Lego stuff. More Lego StarWars stuff. Some books, a Mario hat and gloves and a fun drum toy. And of course, the NY Giants bean bag chair he's been wanting for his room.

Right after his party, Caleb and I had to dash off. My friend Wes offered us 2 of his season tickets to the Utes game to celebrate Caleb's Bday some more. So we bundled up since it was snowing outside and headed up. It was too cold to take pictures so there are none from the game. But Utes won 31-6!!!

When we got back home, Caleb put on some warm jammies and then snuggled up on his new bean bag to watch some Harry Potter. It was a good day.

I wonder what he'll want to do for his "official" Bday today. It changes everytime I ask him so we'll see.

Caleb's 8 year Old Interview

2011-11-02T06:00:00.000-06:00

With Caleb's Bday creeping ever closer, we decided it was time to get to business on his 8 year old interview. This is something I started a couple years ago so we could keep track of how his answers change from year to year. The questions aren't always exactly the same but the mostly the same ideas. So here we go:

Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Food: Candy
Favorite Sports Teams: NY Giants, Grizzlies, and the Bees
Favorite Toys: Lego's
Favorite Animal: Cheetah
Favorite TV Show: Johnny Test
Favorite Movie: Sponge Bob
Favorite thing to do at School: Writing
Favorite thing about Mom: She reads books with me
Favorite thing about Dad: He works hard
Favorite thing about brothers: They play with me
Favorite thing about new sister: I like holding her
Favorite place to go: The Toy Store
Favorite Book: The Zombie Zone by Ron Roy
Favorite Restaurant: Red Robin
Favorite things to do: Watch TV, Build stuff with Lego's, write stories, drawing
What Do you want to be when you grow up: Owner/manager of a Lego Store

And of course most importantly, What do you want for your Birthday this year:
NY Giants bean bag chair
Lego's
Star Wars Toys
Model car kits
Notebooks and journals for writing stories
Sketch pads
Johnny Test DVD
Johnny Test DS game
A-Z Mysteries books by Ron Roy

Halloween 2011

2011-10-30T19:33:00.005-06:00

Happy Halloween from Snap, Crackle and Pop, the Cheerios Honeybee and the housewife and Milk man that created them.

Pumpkins

2011-10-30T19:22:00.005-06:00

Pumpkin carving was more entertaining this year since the twins actually got a little bit into it. They liked gutting them and helped me pick out what to carve in them. Zaden liked watching me carve his as well. This was the first year Caleb actually wanted to do a pattern too and learned how to transfer on the pattern and even cared out a few of the sections on his own before he handed the rest over to Mom. I ended up carving 5 pumpkins that night. But luckily they went fast and it was helped along by the pumpkin shaped pizza we got from Papa Murphy's to go along with the theme. Here's some carving/gutting fun pics.

And here are the results. From left to right. Owl (Zaden), "Hi" (Faith), spider (Caleb), Sugar Skull (Becca) and ghost (Zaric). Faith has been making some little noises lately that sound like she's telling us, "hi" and it makes us giggle so Caleb thought that would be fun to put in her pumpkin.

Of course Mike had to blow all of our skills out of the water and do something a little more elaborate with his........Show Off!

Fall Carnival

2011-10-28T17:17:00.005-06:00

Last night was the Fall Carnival at Caleb's school. We got to go have dinner and then the boys got to play with some activities. Caleb wore one of his 2 costumes this year. He is Obi Wan for his school activities and something else for the family "theme" to be revealed soon. They got to bob for worms, do a fish pond, pumpkin bowling, pumpkin golfing, spider races, make a sucker ghost and other fun stuff like get silly stringed. They had a lot of fun for the first little while until the twins decided they were tired of waiting in lines for their turns and got grumpy. But overall a good time was had by all. And of course the best part was at the end of each activity they got to pick a prize at every station.

Almost 6 weeks old

2011-10-22T13:25:00.003-06:00

Miss Faith will be 6 weeks old on Monday. Time is flying by so fast. That means only 1 full week before Mommy goes back to work and life changes again. We're having so much fun being home together and playing dress up, it's going to be a hard adjustment. I just love this new outfit I got for her. We rocked Costco in it yesterday.

And to celebrate the big 6 weeks, Faith says "Look what I can do!" She's getting pretty good at holding that head up.

Before we know it she'll be rolling and crawling and walking and talking. Some days I really want to slow time down.

Witches Night Out

2011-10-16T16:19:00.004-06:00

What a fun and Halloween-y weekend this has been for us. After we got back from Wellington on Saturday night, I was excited that I had made it back in time to go to Witches Night Out at Gardner Village with my friend Holly. I didn't think I would be so I hadn't planned ahead and had to throw together an outfit and run to Target for a hat at the last minute. But what a blast it was! I'm excited to try to make this a tradition to go to every year. Any other girlies out there that want to join us next year, just let us know. It's a great ghouls night out activity.

Party at Grandma's

2011-10-16T16:01:00.003-06:00

Gma's Halloween Party 2011 - flash slideshow maker
We took a quick day trip to Wellington to Grandma Nette's Halloween Party on Saturday. Everyone had a good time. We enjoyed some pizza, bobbing for apples, decorating cookies and visiting as well as seeing her new cute little house. It was a good trip indeed. Enjoy the party pics of the kids and all their cousins.

The Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-16T05:36:00.006-06:00

Friday night was a fun family night. We loaded up the kiddo's and took them to Pack Farms Pumpkin Patch in Farmington. This is our favorite patch and we didn't make it last year so we were super excited to go. Zaden kept asking all day everywhere we stopped if it was "time for pumpkin?" It was so cute. They had tons of pumpkins to choose from and then of course the kids got to play in the hay maze and the corn and tons of other photo props. So I have a ton to share because I'm a camera-happy Mama (so sue me). So here's some fun ones.

Above: Of course we picked out a baby Pumpkin for the baby Faith.

Below: Caleb is on the hunt for the perfect pumpkin. This first one was fun. But not the perfect one.

Below: Zaden had waited too long for the pumpkins and been too hyped up. By the time we got there he wanted nothing to do with the pumpkins. He finally posed on this one with a pout for a Mama picture.

Below: Zaric was a super-duper pumpkin hunter. He was having a ball running through the patch and pointing them all out to us. And he kept being a ham and posing for us.

Above: He picked out his own. Here's Dad helping him get it in the cart.

Below: Caleb's hunt paid off as well and he found the Perfect-Perfect one as he says.

Below: Mike.........well he's Mike. He found the biggest pumpkin in the patch that night and scooped it up for himself. I see a looooooong day ahead of carving in his future.

Below: Because Mama also picked up some white pumpkins just for fun, we ended up with 8 pumpkins all in all.

Below: Of course this is the cutest pumpkin in the cart.

Below: What a cute witches brew.

Below: Me and Faith out trolling for Scare-hotties. (You gotta start them early ;) ).

Below: All my favorite people

Below: Zaden loved this part. And the rest of us had a little fun with it too.

Below: Zaric checks out the "Torn". I tried to correct him that it was said "Ka-orn" But he insists, nope "Torn".

Below: Caleb's hot-rodder

And even though it was missing a baby girl. This turned out to be my favorite photo from the evening.

It was a super fun outing and we finished it off by trying out a new burger joint in Farmington. Tony Burgers, fries and a shake. What could be better than that?

The Big 8 Countdown

2011-10-11T12:32:00.004-06:00

Only a month and a couple days left before my first baby turns the big 8! This year he asked to have a party featuring the 2 things he loves the most right now Lego's and Star Wars. So a Lego Star Wars party of course. We've really started buckling down and putting on our thinking caps to get creative with the food and fun. We have found some great ideas out there and are hoping to pull it all together. Him and Mike already sat down and designed some invites for it (above). They are so stinking cute, I may even start liking Star Wars after this.

Boo-tiful Prints

2011-10-09T18:25:00.003-06:00

Today was a busy but good Sunday here at our house. I even managed to sneak in one of the many Halloween projects I've been wanting to do. I found this on Pinterest and loved it. Had to make one of my own. And the kids were all cooperative when it came to me painting the bottom of their feet for a print. It couldn't have been a more easy project. I even cheated when I went to Michael's for a canvas and bought a black one (who knew they even had those?) so all it was was white craft paint a little black paint for the eyes and some funky ribbon. Easy-Peasy.

It's fun, funky and something I'll be able to still cherish and display years from now.

Fall Flag Football

2011-10-05T21:33:00.006-06:00

Caleb has been playing flag football again this fall. This has been a rough year for making it to practices and games between a lot of organization flaws by the league and miscommunication by coaches and not to mention having a baby in the middle of it all. The first few games and practices were a mess and I missed them all. But we finally all got our ducks in a row and Caleb has been having fun at it again. He finally gets it this year and is listening to coach and playing the right plays and best of all, he's great at getting those flags from the other team! It took me several games to finally remember the camera. And with the change in the weather this week, I think me and baby girl will fore go his last game this Saturday so I am so glad I made Mike turn around when I again forgot it before his last game. I would have been heartbroken to have no action pictures from this season.

He got to kick off to the other team at the beginning of last game. I missed him getting the ball but this is still a fun shot of him right after.

Heading toward those flags!

So serious at the half time huddle.

And him and coach had a pretty good conversation about something.

Got the flag!

Helping his teammate down the field by doing some blocking along with running next to him.

Another shot showing him enjoying himself.

They don't keep "official" score. But me and Dad do and I'm happy to say that his team has even won a couple games this year. That's far better than last year's team he was on. As much of a pain as it's been, I'm glad he got to play again this year. We were fed up and ready to throw in the towel after the first couple missed games and communication nightmares. But since he's loving it, I'm glad we stuck it out.

TUTU Adorable

2011-10-03T13:04:00.004-06:00

After I gave Faith her bath this morning, I opted to do a little impromptu photo session with the tutu and boots I've been dying to get on her. It was a little hectic since it was almost time for her to eat and with the twins running around. But I managed to get a few shots here and there as I calmed her down in between shots with the bink. I love this one, bink and all.

Who could resist taking a shot of just the bottom half? The cheeta print tutu and boots. A big hit in my book.

This shot was toward the end when she was done cooperating and ready for some chow. So sad, but adorable.

And here's some more of the shots I've been able to go through so far. The first one is by far my favorite. I love her little face in it. I think it will need to be printed and framed. Just gotta figure out where to hang it.

I still have a ton more to play with and get off the camera card. But I wanted to share a few right away of course. I loved taking pics of the boys when they were babies too. But let's admit it and be honest, girls are more fun for this type of thing.

Falling for You

2011-10-02T10:52:00.003-06:00

2 Week Visit

2011-09-26T13:28:00.002-06:00

Baby Faith had her 2 week visit today. It was a really good visit. The Dr. thought it was phenomenal that she had gained pretty much a whole pound since her birth. She weighed in at
7 lbs 9 oz. She hadn't gained any in the height area, but that's ok. She was in the 50th percentile for her height regardless and her weight still isn't quite on the charts. Tall and skinny, just like Dad.
It was our first long interaction with our new pediatrician as well. It went great. I really liked him. We had met him a couple other times when our old one was out but they were brief encounters so it was nice to spend some longer time talking and interacting with him. He talked to us about a lot of stuff and even told us the names of her little birth marks she has. He says they are the kind that will fade over time. But the ones on the back of her neck are what's referred to as "Stork bites" and the one on her eyelid is one of what's called "angel kisses". He checked her out and said she was perfect. We agree. She only got upset twice. Once when we undressed her to get weighed and I don't blame her, it was chilly in there. I would have been mad too. And then again when they poked her heal to do the PKU testing.
The babysitter had taken the twins for the appointment and Caleb was at school so we took advantage and enjoyed a quick and quiet lunch together. Just me, Mike and baby girl. It was a nice break and little outing overall.

At the Circus

2011-09-26T07:50:00.006-06:00

Yesterday we finally got to take the kids to the Circus. It seems like every other year I have wanted to, something else came up around the same time. So this year I was determined. Even knowing I would have to tow along a newborn didn't deter me. Mike wasn't thrilled with the idea but he went along. First thing was first though, once we arrived we had to get situated with popcorn, sprites and cotton candy.

Of course so they can charge and arm and a leg you could buy the cotton candy with the souvenir hat. So we played with that a bit.

Then it was all eyes on the action once it started. The kids were mesmerized for the first little bit.

We got to see all of that fun stuff just in the first half. Then sadly right when intermission was getting started, Zaden climbed onto my lap and managed to knock the camera off of it and break it so no pics from the 2nd half. But we got to see the tigers and some other really cool acrobatics and stuff during that half.

The kids were behaved for the most part and baby girl slept cuddled in the sling with me through most of it. We were in row 3 which made the frequent potty breaks from the twins a huge undertaking. But we survived and all managed to enjoy ourselves. I even caught Mike smiling, laughing and clapping a few times. I'm so glad we were able to make it this year.

First Photo Shoot

2011-09-19T15:51:00.001-06:00

Our CD of the pictures taken at the hospital of Miss Faith arrived today. I couldn't wait to share. Now comes the hard part, deciding which ones to print.

Adjusting- 1 Week Old

2011-09-19T06:00:00.001-06:00

Baby Girl is already 1 week old today. This last week has been a blurr it went by so fast. We are loving having the experience of bringing home a baby with us from the hospital. Such a difference it makes in every one's lives. And I have to say, she is seriously the best baby ever. She hardly makes a peep and when she does, it's very short lived. She'll nurse, she'll take a bottle. She'll take formula, she'll take Mommy milk. She just goes along with everything. She sleeps right through her brothers wrestling and yelling and fighting and playing loudly. A couple of times a day she'll be awake for a couple of hours at a time for us just to talk to her and adore her. And best of all, she puts up with Mommy's need to play dress up. Of course she helps by having a diaper blowout here and there and a few spit up episodes that require wardrobe changes a couple times a day. But neither of us seem to mind. Here's a little of what we've been up to.

In case you've ever wondered, Yes they do make Baby Nike's. I found these at Ross for $3. No, seriously $3. There's no way they were staying there without me.

The big Utah state college rivalry game was this weekend. Of course we (ok I) adorned her in the appropriate attire. Go Utes! Final score Utes 54, BYU 10. I'm pretty sure it was her giving them good luck. Mike tried to remind me that day that Nebraska also had a game and she has some Husker stuff. Me and baby girl ignored that.

I couldn't resist taking a sleeping pic of this little lady bug in her crib.

I asked Zaden who the cutie pie was the other day. He promptly replied, "Baby Sister." I can't argue with that.

Caleb adores her.

It took Zaric almost all week, but he finally wanted to hold her yesterday morning. He liked talking to her and checking on her before that, but it took a while to actually want to touch her.

Zaden insisted at the hospital when he came to visit that she was, "Scawry." That faded pretty quickly once we got home. He warmed up in just a couple days and it constantly checking on her and making sure he knows where Baby Sister is at all times.

Daddy and I just can't get enough of her. We love to hold her and feed her and we have both remarked that it doesn't even feel like we have a newborn here. She's such a part of our family already, it seems like she's always been here.

Healing-wise, I feel really good. Other than a little soreness and most of that being in my back. I have felt great every day for most of the day. I was pretty nervous about going with the VBAC option, but I am so glad I did. That's one decision, I will never regret.

I also wanted to say a thank you to all of you who have endured all of the ups,downs, complaints and worries with us throughout this pregnancy. It's meant a lot to us to have so much support behind us. A special thanks to Mike and my sister, Tracey, who endured the brunt of my nervousness and complaints almost on a daily basis. I couldn't have done it without you. And having you both by my side while we welcomed baby Faith into this world and to listen to her first cry was the perfect ending to a long 9 months. I love you guys.

Baby Faith- A Birth and Middle Name Story

2011-09-14T18:39:00.005-06:00

Most of you have seen the other pics floating around FB so I won't blast this post with pics. After being my biggest baby and my hardest pregnancy, Faith was my easiest birth and we were able to sucessfully do the VBAC. For those of you (like myself) that like to hear all about babies coming into this world. I thought I'd share our short, sweet story.
I was expecting the hospital to call on Monday around 9 am. Of course I was nervous and excited so I was up and showered and ready to go by around 6. It worked out well because they ended up calling around 7:30 and telling me if I was ready to head on over. Mike had morning school duty to get Caleb off to and my Dad was close but not quite to the house yet so I drove myself over and got checked in and all settled into my room. They managed to burst 3 of my veins getting the IV in so that took a bit. The Dr came in and said he would be back after they got it started to break my water. They finally got it started and started the meds around 9 and Mike showed up just a few minutes later. The contractions started right away but they were bearable enough. They came in to check on me about 11 and told me that the anesthesiologist was going into a C section and wouldn't be available until after 1 pm and asked if I would like my epidural then. I figured I could handle it just 2 more hours and elected not to.....and that's when the trouble started. :)
Not 5 minutes after they left the room I shifted to one side and bam! My water broke on it's own. This was great but we also knew that would intensify the contractions. I immediately called the nurse in and told her I was changing my mind and would love the epidural NOW if she could catch him. He was in my room pretty quickly after that and did a hurry job. And after it took effect all was right with the world.
My sister showed up not too long after that. And we all hung out and talked and laughed and and even napped a little while we waited. It took what seemed like forever for me to move from the 3 I was when I got there to first a 4 after several hours and then finally a 7. I didn't feel much of anything all this time which was wonderful. Once I hit a 7 though.....Watch out!
They came in and started getting stuff prepared. My Doc had 4 women in labor at the same time and we were all getting complete about the same time too. He came in and checked me himself and said the lady next door was pushing and he thought she'd be done shortly and then he thought I would be 2nd in line after that. Well the nurse that was helping me got everything set up and checked me again about 20 minutes later and viola...I had went from a 7 to complete that quickly. She said the baby was pretty high up still and so we would do some pushes to get her to come down and be all ready for the Dr. She had me do one practice push and said things seemed to be working well. Then she told me to get down to business and we would do 4 big pushes. Well I was just finishing with push #1 when she said "Whoa" and told me to stop pushing. The baby's head was starting to crown.
She went to find the Dr. who was still next door pushing with that lady. It seemed like forever to get him in there and we were all thinking she was going to come out on her own before he got there. Turns out he had to abandon the poor lady next door who had been pushing for about an hour at that point and rush over to me. Once he was in place, I pushed 3 times and we had a baby girl. She came out crying without any help. They laid her on me and Mike cut the cord. I knew right away that she was for sure a Faith. She was born at 5:19 pm. We won the race and were his first birth out of the 4. Way to go baby girl!
She was 100 % perfect and weighed in at 6 lbs 10 oz and was 21 inches long. They cleaned her up while we held and adored her and while we were waiting the 40 minutes or so to be moved upstairs we had a chat about her middle name. We thought we had narrowed it down to 3 options. Mike was holding her at this time and our conversation went a little something like this :
Me : Ok I'm not feeling the Olivia-Nicole option. That name is bigger than she is.
Mike: Yeah me neither
Me: Ok so is she a Faith McKaylyn?
Mike: No
Me: Ok so she's a Faith Isabella?
Mike: No
Me: (insert confused look on my face): then what is she?
Mike: (with a little tear in his eye that he won't admit to): She's an Ellisyn

Ellisyn was a name we had tossed around a little bit. Mostly as our only other option that we could agree on as a possible other first name if we felt like Faith didn't fit. We weren't sure before we went in that we liked it as a middle name so it was never on the "list" as an option. After we talked about it some more and made sure we were both ok with it, I did the closest thing there is to making it "official" and posted it to Facebook. It just felt right. Not a second thought in the world. So Mike then officially wrote it on the birth certificate documents and here we are.

Welcome to our world Faith Ellisyn Ouren

Leaving it to the Professionals

2011-09-09T08:40:00.005-06:00

Between weeks 32 and 38 of this pregnancy when I was told to stay off my feet at home as much as possible, I decided that I needed something to at least keep my hands busy during that time and keep me from going crazy. Since I had been seeing, ordering and receiving so many gifts for baby girl from the crocheting world, I decided to try my hand at learning how to make a few things of my own. So I set off to Michaels for a book, some hooks and some yarn. I was rip-roaring ready to learn something new.

I am happy to say that I got that basic chain stitch down fairly well and have been practicing keeping my stitches even off and on.

And yeah, that's where the education ends for me.......right there......basic chain stitch. For the life of me, I can't figure out how to get to the next row and no matter which stich from the book I try to replicate, it looks juvenile. So to make some comparisons of what I am talking about I thought I would share some of my goodies. Starting with this cute sock monkey hat I ordered from Etsy.

Random Etsy Lady

Leg Warmers from a co-worker

Afghan from Roberta in Nebraska

Another one of Roberta's afghans complete with Ladybugs.

So I am hanging up my hooks and deciding to leave this business to the professionals. I'll keep my begging for stuff to a minimum and my debit card handy. Anyone want a free crocheting book and hooks?

Eviction Notice

2011-09-07T18:47:00.002-06:00

Today was my 38 week appointment. The Dr. is still in shock and awe that I lasted so long and so am I. He checked me and I haven't moved since last week despite all of the painful contractions I have been having so he decided it was best to go ahead and plan an inducement for next week. He called and got my name on the list for Monday. They will call me that morning with the time and instructions so I don't know anything more than the day at this point.

So it's official, she's been served her notice of get out this weekend or get kicked out on Monday. Any bets on which offer she'll take?

Shark Board

2011-09-04T06:42:00.004-06:00

Yesterday I had very good intentions of getting the house back in order. I mentioned to my sister in the morning that I was feeling crafty and was trying to decide which one of my millions of projects in my head to work on. I noticed Mike had been outside for a bit. When I went out to see what he was up to, I found him drawing on a board to do the project we've been talking about to finish of the kids new shark bathroom. Apparently he was feeling a little crafty too. So he cut it out for me, sanded it and painted it. Then I broke out the Cricut for the decorations and words. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. Now we just need to get it hung.

Needless to say, the house chores went neglected one more day and we created more of a mess to clean up. I also tried out another project I had seen on another blog while I had the Cricut out. It didn't turn out perfect but it turned out pretty darn good for a first try. I might be making some more for Christmas gifts this year so sorry no pictures yet. Good thing it's a 3 day weekend. Time to get to those chores, unless another project pops up ;).

A Visit from Omaha

2011-09-03T10:00:00.002-06:00

Grandma Braska and Aunt Kari headed out of town this morning after a week long visit with the boys. It was fun to have them here. Sorry I didn't take any pictures during their time here. Mostly because I was just plain lazy. But they had fun with the boys for sure. The boys got to stay home from the babysitter and be with them every day. They went to the park, to the zoo and played here at the house a lot. Mike got to go race them at the fast track go-karts while me and the boys watched and we got to spend time just visiting, eating and playing a couple games together. I also had the bright idea to take the twins to Build a Bear on Friday to let them build their first animals. Zaden picked out a puppy and Zaric picked out a koala bear. After they were stuffed we picked out a light saber accessory for them each and boy was that a mistake. Now they want nothing to do with the animals. All they want to do is play with the sabers and play Star Wars. So much for good intentions. We then ventured up to Midway to Swiss days for their last evening here and walked around all the craft booths. I bought only a few girly things. Mike and his sister also got some new tattoo's during the visit. They also got their first tattoos together at the same place 5 years ago so we thought it was funny to do their 2nd ones that way too.
We were all hoping for a visit from little Miss Faith and a couple of times with the wicked contractions I've been having, we thought we were onto something but no go. She's still baking and comfy. So I guess they'll have to plan another trip after she gets here.

On the Move (again)

2011-08-31T15:58:00.002-06:00

I know it's been a couple of weeks since I posted any baby updates. That's mostly because we had no news. And the good news is, we still don't have much. Baby is starting to be on the move again and I am now more effaced and dilated to a whopping 2. We have no idea how long/short it will take again for her to keep moving on down at this point. Since we made 37 weeks, we are technically considered "full term." This is truly a feat nobody (not even us nor the doc) thought we would make. Any time this little diva decides to grace us with her presence, we are ready and willing! Our anxiety is now turning from worrying about keeping her in there to an anxious excitement getting ready to meet our baby girl.
We are both glad that she stayed in and getting a little impatient for her to make her next move at the same time. Grandma Braska and Aunt Kari are in town this week. We were all hoping that she would make her appearance while they are here so they get to meet her before going back to Omaha, but it's any body's guess at this point. The doc still thinks I'll go into labor on my own soon. But he also says at 39 weeks we will talk inducement. That's only a week and a half away! I can't believe she'll be here either way between now and the 17th. Can't wait!

Up on the Wall

2011-08-26T07:44:00.003-06:00

Last night was Back to School night at Caleb's school. He really wanted us to go meet his teachers, so we decided to go. On our way to his classroom, walking past the office we noticed some new pics they had hanging on the wall of about 15 students or so. Right at the very end of the hall before we turned the corner, bam! Guess who popped up? It's Caleb!

I asked him if he knew it was there and of course he told me, "yes, it's been there all year (all 4 days of it so far)." Well geeze, thanks for letting mom and dad know that you'll be gracing the halls for a while. It's really fun to see him there and have proof that yes, he does pay attention in school. Look at that concentration. We are so proud of our student.

2nd Grader!

2011-08-22T06:49:00.003-06:00

It's official. Caleb starts the 2nd grade today. Isn't he one handsome lad? He's very excited (and so are we) to be going back. He got up by 6 this morning and has already had breakfast and gotten ready to go. I can't believe I am old enough to have a 2nd grader. But I also can't believe I am old enough to be the mother of 4 (here shortly). Where does the time go?

Here's hoping for a great first day of school and another great school year!

Art Show

2011-08-21T18:33:00.004-06:00

Feeling a little bored and in a semi-creative mood today we headed to Michael's to find a craft. The boys all picked out a toy to paint. Zaden picked out a snake and the other 2 picked out spiders. We came home and set up shop on the counter and let them at it. It started out pretty well.

And as soon as we weren't looking the twins took a more modern approach to painting. Body Art! They painted their arms and Zaric painted his hair.

Picasso has nothing over on our little artists. Even the tub water was pretty afterwards.

Eat your heart out Michaelangelo.

She's Teasing Us

2011-08-15T15:09:00.003-06:00

I woke up this morning feeling pretty awful. Hurting everywhere, having some contractions and feeling like I got hit by a mac truck. I told Mike and my sister that this was going to be the week....I just knew it.And truthfully with school and everything starting next week, it would be a great week (not baking-wise, but schedule-wise). Well little girl must have already caught on that she's coming into a family that loves to tease each other and is already showing us what she's got. After all of the headaches, worries and grief she gave us weeks 31-33, she's decided to tease us and do what she should be doing and staying put.
It seemed like an eternity to get to our Dr. appt this afternoon. When we were heading to the back with the nurse we passed the Dr. in the hall and his exact words to us were, "Wow, are you still pregnant?" Seems he was/is as surprised as the rest of us. He did a quick check of everything and wanted to take bets on when she was coming. He said he would be surprised if we go another week, but that's what he's said the last few weeks. So the next baby-step goal is one more week to 36. He joked with us once that maybe we'd go past due. I think I will go crazy before that happens, but we'll just see what little girls plans are.

Hold Out

2011-08-08T14:55:00.003-06:00

I'm happy to report that (at least for a minute) little girl is holding out and staying put. As of this morning's Dr. Appt there was no change. We still don't know how much longer this can hold, but that restored our confidence a little. We asked the Dr what he thought time- wise and he really couldn't say. He told us not to have her this week since he's out of town the rest of the week and he'd really like to be there. We replied with "yeah next week is better for our schedule too." He said with a patient like me it could be tomorrow, days or maybe even another week before we see a change. So our next goal is 1 more week (35 weeks). We go back again next Monday to check again. It was a short, sweet and happy appt. He mentioned possibly making it to even 36 weeks, but for now that seems a little too far out (for us and him) so we'll stick with the 35 weeks. The contractions are still there but so far less again so that's helping us keep our sanity up and our paranoia down a little.
I don't know why I ever doubted (if even for a few days) this little girls name. Really given all of the ups and downs of this pregnancy, every time we seem lose our Faith in things she does something to surprise us and remind us what having Faith is all about. So yeah, I guess that's my way of saying we are sticking with it. Still fighting over the middle name/names issue. But we'll figure it out eventually. Hopefully she gives us a little more time to think about it.

In other updates: The boys loved their camping trip and came home dirty and tired- a sure sign of a good time. They've already been asking to see Papa again and Zaden tells me, "fun at camping." I'm glad they had a good time.
The rest of our weekend was really mellow (in an effort to stay down) here with no boys. We watched a couple movies, I kicked Mike's butt at Monopoly on the Wii and we just hung out and did laundry. We did make it grocery shopping and picked up some gifts for baby girl to give the boys when she arrives. Otherwise, we just enjoyed the silence and found ourselves completely bored a few times with no boys to keep us busy. Today I'm not sure if I am loving or hating the chaos being being back in the house. I think it's mostly love, but they are driving me a little crazy already. I sure miss them when they are gone though. So yeah, let's go with love.

Red Light, Green Light

2011-08-06T06:34:00.003-06:00

Disclaimer: If this post sounds like a downer, I apologize in advance. It's not meant to be, mostly I am trying to be completely open and honest about what's going on with us and this baby. Really we are happy and excited about her joining us whenever she arrives. This has just been a rough week. Life isn't always as happy and simple and blogs sometimes portray since we tend to always write about only the good/fun stuff.

This has been a long, long week full of mixed emotions and tons of contractions. I decided yesterday that this baby girl is playing a game of Red Light, Green Light with us. It seems like every time things start to move quickly, she then throws out the red light and we slow back down. After our appointment on Monday, we were emotionally vexed. We were both disappointed and scared and I had myself a good cry. Knowing that no matter what ( going another week or 3) this baby is coming early. I spent some time feeling bad for myself that the odds are she won't be coming home with us and I will never have the experience of actually leaving the hospital with my child in tow. While I know she'll be fine at this point and the hospital will take great care of her. I've never even had a child be able to be in our room with us at the hospital, even for more than 3 minutes. While there is a chance still that things will slowly, slowly progress from here on out and I may get my wish, it's hard for us to imagine at this point.
Monday night-Wednesday night were filled with tons of contractions and taking meds every day to stop them. On Wednesday night they were terribly painful. I got them to go away long enough to get a few hours of sleep. On Thursday they started back up bright and early. Thankfully not as painful but consistent throughout most of the day. So I called the Dr office and luckily the on-call Dr there (my doc was out) was nice enough to slide me in quickly and check me real quick. He reassured me that at this point they weren't changing anything and warned me to keep staying hydrated and off my feet as much as possible. This lead to an array of mixed emotions, ranging from relief and happiness to almost a disappointment and a "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)", attitude. At one point we were both feeling (if even for a couple hours) that we we ready to give up the nightly fight with the meds and just let her come.

My sister was up here for a baseball tournament and ended up taking the boys home with her on Thursday night so they could go to the reunion/camping with them and Papa this weekend. So Friday was a lot more slow paced for me and Mike had the day off. We did some low-key errands and went out to a couple meals together and really took it easy. The result was more low key contractions as well. This renewed our spirits a little that if nothing else, we WILL beat our all time record and make it to tomorrow and we will continue the fight for a little while longer. So the pessimism is fading a little at least for a few days and we are feeling refreshed and happy. Time to celebrate meeting our original goal!

We are receiving tons of encouraging words from friends and family and we appreciate it, we really do. Something that people don't know about us is that every time in the past when I've even had 3 consistent contractions we have gone into full on labor. So this slowly progressing, effacing, dilating stuff is completely NEW to us. I've never once been sent home from Labor and Delivery once I went there. We are trying our best to stay upbeat and positive so keep them coming. They may not help at that exact moment (while we are feeling down) but they do help later on to keep us going.
We see the Dr. again bright and early Monday morning. We are thinking we should take him a cupcake to celebrate meeting our first goal of 34 weeks! But we are afraid that might weird him out as well. :) I'll try to post a quick update after of what the doc says and let you know how the rest of our kid-free weekend goes and how the boy's camping trip went. Until then I fully plan to keep baby girl baking at least a little longer.

33 Week Update

2011-08-01T14:33:00.004-06:00

Because of scheduling conflicts, we went to our 33 week checkup early in the week this week. We thought things were going pretty well as I had had relatively few contractions throughout the weekend and really stayed off my feet a lot. The Dr. decided to check me again and boy were we surprised to hear him tell us that she has moved on down into my pelvis and I am 70% effaced. I am still only dilated to a 1. But going from not effaced at Labor and Delivery last week to 70% in one week really makes us nervous. The doc is still shooting for at least next week or even the week after, but anything after that is probably NOT going to happen. Since we can't and don't want to schedule anything this early (with hopes of keeping her in there), it's going to be really hard to find someone to sit the boys when she decides it's time to go for sure which makes us even more nervous. The Dr. also strongly suggested that I not travel to my family reunion this weekend in Huntington Canyon since that would put us nearly 3 hours away if something happens. So I am disappointed in that, but know it's for the best.

Keep crossing your fingers and toes for us and maybe she'll surprise us all still and beat the odds. We are trying to stay optimistic, but truthfully the pessimism is getting the best of us. We are fully expecting to meet baby girl in the next week or 2.

Happy Birthday Mike!

2011-07-30T07:15:00.004-06:00

Yesterday we got to celebrate Mike's Bday. He took the day off from work and spent the first 4 hours of the morning out on the golf course with a co-worker. Then he came home pooped and we lounged around the rest of the day, watching the kids play and watching a movie. Caleb and I slipped out to go pick him up the ice cream cake that I convinced him he wanted. After dinner it was time for dessert. The boys insisted that they sing Happy Birthday to him, so afterwards he blew out his pretend candles.

This is his, "I'm so glad you and your cravings suggested ice cream cake for my Bday" look.

I'm not sure, but I think maybe me and the twins enjoyed it a little more than he did.

Happy Bday Daddy! We love you. When you decide what you really want for your Bday, let us know. :)

La La La- Not listening! (32 weeks)

2011-07-28T07:54:00.003-06:00

My uterus and little girl are Not Listening! I've been having a lot of contractions and on Tuesday evening they started coming 3 minutes apart! This went on for a couple of hours before I let the worry get the best of me and headed to Labor and Delivery. They were able to monitor me and document that yes I am not crazy and those were contractions and were that close together. Luckily they were able to get them to slow down and send me home. I am only dilated to a 1 which is not uncommon for a third time mom so that was reassuring at least. I saw my regular doc yesterday. We are still sticking with the game plan for now and he sent me home with a perscrip for the same meds they gave me at the hospital that night to try to stop them at home if they get that frequent again. I've still been having them since then but a lot more sporadic. He didn't do an ultrasound this time but I know she's fine and while they monitored me at the hospital that night, she wasn't phased by the contractions at all. Her heartrate stayed perfectly normal and she was just enjoying the ride.
Her Dad has let her know that he will NOT share his birthday with her tomorrow, so she better stay in there longer. And I have been telling her that really it's only a week and a half that she has to go at this point to beat her brothers and help Momma obtain an "all time personal best record". I think we can do it but I have this image of her in my head covering her ears at us and chanting, "La La La-Not Listening!"
4 more days until week 33- We can do it!

It's SOOOO Girly!

2011-07-25T12:02:00.003-06:00

I've been a total slave driver to poor Mike this weekend. I knows he knows how much I appreciate it and am so relieved to finally say that baby girls room is pretty much done. We went on a hunt for some decor on Saturday, but didn't come home with much other than these cute metal flowers for the wall. So I broke out the Cricut and went to work cutting and Mike helped by doing all the standing and putting it on the wall for me. I think it turned out super cute.

The Cricut also came in handy to Polka Dot this wall to match the sheets and curtains. It's so fun. And we found this nice dresser at IKEA Sunday evening and the lamp at Hobby Lobby. I am still on the hunt for something fun to put on the shelf. Some saying or her name or ladybugs/flowers. I just can't seem to find anything.

Because of size constraints I am not able to get a good pic of the changing table and these pics together. But these go above the changing table.

And the cute, cute curtains that tie it all together.

I Love it and am so excited that we were able to get it all together before she makes her appearance. Makes me a lot less stressed for sure. Every time Mike walks into or past that room I hear, "It's SOOOO Girly in here!" I'll take that as a compliment. I done good. :)

Shark Swim

2011-07-24T21:05:00.004-06:00

Last Year's pool had sprung a leak at the end of the season and so far we had yet to replace it. That was until today when we had to run to Toys R Us and I came across this one on sale. Knowing that we should be speinding more time at home for the rest of the summer, I opted to go ahead and buy it. As you can see, our money is already not going to waste. The boys played and played in it all this afternoon and have been asking to go out tonight to play some more. We keep having to explain to the twins that it's too late and they can play in it tomorrow afternoon. It's going to be a long morning of them asking to go out and "play in water."

Top Bunk

2011-07-24T20:58:00.003-06:00

For months and months Zaric has been claiming the top bunk and all the while Zaden has never seemed to care and has been perfectly content on the bottom bunk. We thought this would be an easy, natural arrangement to uphold. That was until we moved them into the "airplane room." Apparently the moved has now sparked an interest in the top bunk position for Zaden and we've had to resort to a schedule of taking turns for the top bunk spot night after night. It was Zaden's turn last night. I took this picture late into the morning today and as you can tell, he's pretty content there now as well. I wonder how long this will last before we have to break down and give permanent assignments.

31 Week Visit

2011-07-20T03:48:00.004-06:00

We had a good OB visit yesterday packed full of questions and mostly answers. We got to have a little look at baby girl. She is growing and looking great. From the inside view, my cervix seems to be holding up, but the uterus is starting to thin. For most "normal" women this wouldn't be a huge issue. It seemed to concern him (and us) just a little more with me. It was kinda fun to see how it does that on the machine. You could see wrinkles in it that were starting to shrink and fold. I never had that pointed out to me before.
From his demeanor and explanations of many things, we got the impression that he fully expects this to be another early delivery. How early is still TBD. The goal is still 34 weeks for now. He called the next 2.5 weeks the "biggest payback weeks" for keeping her in there. He's still letting me go to work since it's mainly a desk job. But wants me off my feet and resting as much as possible at home. We are hoping to work something out with Mike's work so that he can be home when I am home to help with this over the next few weeks with the boys who want their mama up and moving all the time. And to prevent me from trying to clean and be more productive than I should be. I know I will have a hard time with this part so I really need someone here yelling at me and keeping me in line.
Expecting her to come early, we also opted to get in the lung-developing Steroid shots for little girl. I got one in the office yesterday and will get another later today. This is something that they gave me with the boys while in the hospital trying to prevent labor. To be most effective they need to be in there at least 48 hours, so we opted to get them in now rather than waiting it out to see what happens to give her the best odds of only a small NICU stay if she follows her brothers leads.
Right now, she is still cooperating and is head down. He read over my surgical analysis from the twins C-section and thinks it may be possible for us to at least try a Vback. This is something that we were hoping for but trying not to get too excited about. Of course that decision will ultimately be made at the last minute, but at least we know he's willing to try. And we trust that in the end he will make the best decision of what is safest for me and for baby girl. He joked that he would basically have a catchers mitt on one hand and a scalpel in the other at the ready.
I am experiencing more and more contractions these days. Nothing at regular intervals, so they aren't too alarming at the moment, but definitely something to keep track of and not ignore. So I will be started to keep a notepad handy to be writing down times throughout the day that I feel them so we know when to get concerned.
Unlike the boys, I haven't had much insomnia with this one which has been really great until tonight. I'm hoping it's a one day fluke and can feel a sick day coming on as the morning wears on. I've been tossing and turning and up and down (mostly up now) most of the night. Mostly its the normal pregnancy stuff (being uncomfortable, acid reflux, bathroom visits) keeping me up. Mental note: Do not eat French Toast sticks for dinner with the boys.
That's most of the updates that I can think of at this hour. We got a few more things out of storage over the weekend and are getting them looked through and washed up and Papa Ringo and Grandma Judi are so far planning on coming up this weekend to help with the last of it (we hope). But at least we now feel functional at least knowing she's on her way anytime between the next 1-8 weeks. ;) How's that for an expected delivery time? We will start weekly visits now and will keep you updated as much as possible. Fingers and toes (and legs) still crossed. :)

Nesting Mode

2011-07-17T08:50:00.003-06:00

We have reached 31 weeks today! Knowing that we are only 1 week away from when the twins made their appearance and only 2 weeks away from Caleb's surprise arrival our anxiety levels are on the rise. We have gone into full on nesting mode. We got the twins moved into Caleb's old room, took down the Nascar decor and up went the airplane decor. Zaden keeps telling us that now he sleeps in the "airplane room". Their room has been airplanes for a while but I guess he's finally noticing now that he's moved into Caleb's old one and he watched us put up some decorations. They haven't seemed to have minded the change which has been awesome.
While we are still hopeful and trying everything possible to keep little girl in there longer, but the anxiety is getting the best of us and we've started digging things out of the storage shed. The crib and changing table are finally put together and the swing up. The car seat and bouncer are washed and ready and I've been spending time getting her Newborn size clothes all washed. Mike brought in a bunch of other stuff for me to go through in the next little bit as well. We are making so much progress but still feel like there's so much more to do. As I rearrange her room in my head a million times (knowing that I am still waiting for a dresser and the glider to come in) I keep questioning everything and wanting it to be just right. So sorry, no pictures for now until I get it all perfect.
I know it's probably the anxiety, but I've even been having dreams about changing little girl's name. I don't know if it will happen, but I'm leaving myself open to the suggestion just in case Faith no longer feels right when we meet her. I've not ever had that problem thus far with the boys. It's probably partly because we STILL can't agree on a middle name, that it's making me question if we should go back to the original thought of using Faith as a middle name instead. Decisions, decisions. I also know that whatever we decide in the end will be just perfect for us and her, but it doesn't help the anxiety level any. We've been so sure of it up until we started getting her things ready.
We see the Dr. again on Tuesday for a normal visit and I am sure a bunch of questions knowing that we are approaching what I refer to as "the danger zone." At our last visit he said that his goal was to just get to 34 weeks and then discuss from there. At this point that would be a record for us so we'd take it, but realistically I would love to make it to at least 35 or 36. Start crossing your fingers and toes for us and I'll be trying to post more updates as we keep getting closer and closer.

Goodbye Bowling

2011-07-14T16:25:00.003-06:00

As I mentioned in a previous post. Our good friend Allison is leaving us for Seattle by the end of this month. We had to get in one last hang out time with her. She mentioned that she had a bowling gift certificate that she needed to use up before she left and we were all about helping her use it. We first went to a yummy dinner at Salt Lake Pizza and Pasta and then it was onto bowling. The twins and Caleb joined us the first game. Zaric loved bowling but had a really hard time in between learning that we had to take turns with the ball. Zaden just went with the flow and Caleb was super excited about it all. The 2nd game the twins dropped out and we played with Caleb and the 3rd game was just us adults. Mike won the first 2 games, but Allison and I whipped him the 3rd game. Allison beat me by 1 lousy point! Thanks again Allison for a good time and a fun way for the kiddos to hang out with you one last time. You will be missed. Here's just a few of the tons of pictures me and Caleb took. Enjoy.

Happy Belated 4th

2011-07-05T18:25:00.002-06:00

We hope you all had a happy and safe 4th of July! We took the opportunity here to have an extended weekend together and have had a good mix of work, fun and relaxing. On Friday night we started phase 1 of baby prep and got some of Caleb's room moved downstairs. That created more of a mess than I was ready for and we spent most of the day Saturday finishing that up and starting to prep his now "old" room for phase 2 - Moving the twins later in the month. But I am happy to say we got it done and he's a happy camper in his new space. We also took a couple breaks that day to let the kids play outside and run through the sprinklers and have some fun. On Sunday we took the kids to the local outdoor swimming pool and let them at it. They had a ball for nearly 3 hours. After we were done there we decided to grab a quick late lunch and ice cream at Dairy Queen then came home for some much needed naps. We finished off the night with lighting off the fireworks we had purchased for home. On the 4th we woke up and I made some red white and blue and star shaped pancakes and some flag sugar cookies for the boys. We spent most of the day at home lounging and waiting for time for the Bees baseball game. When the time finally arrived we headed out and had some fun watching the game, eating ballpark food and mostly watching the fireworks after the game. They always do a great fireworks show after it which is why we try to make it our tradition to go every year. We got home late and hit the sack. Today we took off "just because" and have spent the day relaxing for the most part. We did venture down to Orem to take the kids to Pirate Island Pizza. I'm not really going to say I was disappointed in it, because we did have some fun. But really, not sure it was worth the drive for us. It was fun to try out something new though. I can't believe our long weekend is coming to a close and it's back to the grindstone tomorrow for a few days of work before another weekend. I think we can handle it though and are looking forward to a quick Price trip this weekend to visit and go to a wedding.

Camp Out

2011-06-26T19:33:00.004-06:00

If there's one thing I love about summer, it's escaping to the mountains for a few days here and there. With little girl on the way, we won't be able to make it as much this year (Mike is jumping for joy) but we did make it at least this one time to camp with some friends at Granite Flats campground. The weather couldn't have been more perfect all weekend and the kids were loving it. They even stopped to pose for a few pictures the first night in our site with hardly any prodding.

They were super excited that we put up our "house" to sleep in and it had it's own door they could go in and out of a million times.

We tried out some new marshmallows I found at the store called stackers from jet puffed. They are basically flat and made just for smores. I have to say, they worked out pretty good. This smore right here, was amazing.

The boys thought that Mom roasting some hot dogs the first night was the best thing ever, so of course they wouldn't eat the yummy dinner Mom made the next night and had to roast their own hot dogs. I have to say it was pretty cute.

All in all, it was a pretty good trip. We had a rough time getting out of there this morning after we got it all cleaned up. The wheel prop on the trailer broke it's bolt, the kids played in the truck while we put down the tent trailer and managed to flood it which delayed our leave time and we noticed a brand new crack in the passenger side of the Durango windshield that wasn't there before we left. Thank goodness we were camping with a friend that knows how to fix stuff and was able to help us out before we left. But even with all that aside, at least 4 of the 5 of us had an awesome time. Mike is just going to have to keep indulging us for years to come I'm afraid. Caleb is already saying he is asking Santa for his own camping stuff this year.....That's my boy!

West Fest

2011-06-24T11:34:00.004-06:00

After swimming lessons last night, we got to take the boys to a treat and go to the first evening of the West Valley Days or West Fest Celebration underway at the park. We walked around and checked out the few booths they had there and then headed for the rides of course. Caleb was in heaven that he got to go on a few rides by himself, indulged in a few kiddie rides with the twins and even got to go on one big kid ride with Dad. He told me it was the "most awesomest carnival ever!" Afterwards we stopped by McD's and got some ice cream cones. It was a good night indeed. Silly Mom forgot to put the memory card in the camera, so we only got a few shots from my phone of the fun. Enjoy!

The Fisherman and the Pirate

2011-06-20T20:41:00.003-06:00

Meet the newest Fisherman in the family. The twins discovered Caleb's old toy fishing (or Pishing, as they call it) set yesterday and have been having a ball fishing all over the house. Zaric is especially fond of "pishing" and sits here catching his "pishes" with a big grin on his face.
"Aaargh!" Is what you will hear if you show either one of these boys anything with a pirate on it. Zaden is officially my "pirate boy" and loves anything to do with pirates. He loves the hats, the handkerchiefs, the boats and especially anything with skulls and crossbones on it. He was thrilled when he discovered that Mom knew how to tie this one to his head like a pirate and wore it for quite a while.

It's so fun to watch these boys and how they enjoy playing things together, but are still different in how much they favor one thing or the other. That being said, I think they would make a great team if they were ever at sea together. One to catch dinner and the other to steer the boat.

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T10:36:00.002-06:00

Happy Father's Day to a great Daddy who does so many things for us:

Like not minding when we get him dirty.

Taking us on Field Trips

Indulging Mommy in her need to camp every summer.

And so much, much more. You are the glue that holds us together sometimes.

We Love you Daddy!

In honor of Mike's day, we have done just what he requested.....nothing! I did make our tradition started last year of homemade doughnuts. And the rest of the day will be spent in our jammies taking advantage of the rainy day outside and relaxing inside.

And Happy Father's Day to my Dad's out there. Thank you so much for all the stuff you do for our family and always being there for the kids. They have some of the greatest Grandpa's in the world! Sorry, I haven't gotten a chance to go shopping yet, so your gifts will be late. :)

Chalk Art Festival

2011-06-19T10:19:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, we had plans to hang out with our friends, The Jones's. We hadn't made a firm plan of what to do yet and I came across some info (totally by chance) that there was a Chalk Art Festival going on downtown at the Gateway. So we invited them along and they were all for it. So we got to go admire the wonderful artwork and visit with great friends along the way. And the kids (and me) got to enjoy the first Snowies of the summer. It was a great afternoon and a great kick off to Father's Day since this is something that Mike is totally into. We tried to talk him into entering it next year as one of the artists. I don't think he will go for it, but he definitely wants to go again. Here's some pics of some of the favorites.

Sharked

2011-06-15T15:17:00.002-06:00

More of the goodies I ordered have been pouring in and I am happy to say the boys bathroom has been mostly sharked out. Here's the cute stuff I found to adorn the sink.

I think this toothbrush holder is my favorite piece.

And we have a large framed shark picture up above the potty.

And this curtain greets those brave enough to enter and shower there.

The best part of this project is that no painting was involved. Just the switching out of decorations. We have one more idea for a crafty decoration in there but since it may take a while to get up the time and energy to do it, I thought I would share the rest. The boys love it!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes....

2011-06-11T19:25:00.003-06:00

Caleb seems to be getting a good dose of the life lesson of "Change" and learning to roll with the punches this summer. About 2 weeks ago we received a letter from his pediatrician Dr. Joe whom Caleb and we adore both as a Dr. and a friend (since Mike and him were friends and co-workers for a time before he became our Dr.). Dr. Joe is leaving his practice and taking a position with the State of Utah as the Director of Medicaid. You could have heard Caleb's heart breaking into pieces when we explained to him that we would have to pick another Dr. for them to see. And he asked, "but who's little buddy will I be now?" It was so sad. We have since called the office and gotten switched to another Dr. there and we'll see how that turns out the next time we need to go in.
Last weekend Mike and I got to have a few hours away from the kids to go to our beloved friends, Allison and her boyfriend's going away party. After 13 years of her being a prominent fixture in our lives, since our chance assignment of being Freshman roommates, they have decided to leave and move to Seattle. When we had to finally tell Caleb why we were going out and a babysitter was coming over, he was again heartbroken that his "Auntie Allison" was moving away. He asked , "do you mean like to live there?" and when I replied with a yes, he held in the tears but his little lip quivered a bit. Then he made me promise that we could go visit sometime.
With all of this talk of moving rooms and preparing for baby, I am beginning to wonder how much this little boy can take this summer. Luckily, so far he seems excited for that change. He has helped me map out a plan of where to put his furniture and is thrilled that his new comforter and body pillow arrived this week. He's been packing the pillow with him everywhere and had to put it together on the family room floor today to test it out before it goes onto his bed when we move him in just a few weeks.

We are wondering what other changes he will encounter this summer and marveling at how resilient kids really are. Even with being sad about the current changes, he continues to be a ray of sunshine and happiness day after day. We are truly blessed to have him.

Ouren Updates-June edition

2011-06-05T09:58:00.002-06:00

I decided it was about time to do some updates on all of us. So here we go:

Mike: Mike continues to be the best husband and Daddy possible (most days anyway). His department of work is going through a lot of changing and reorganization since combining forces with another entity in New Mexico. He'll continue to be the IT Manager until August and then we are anxiously awaiting to see where he'll fit in after that. He continues to work so hard and we are anxious to see what happens. His loves of science fiction, movies, Nintendo, Xbox, and reading are never wavering.

Becca: I continue to work part time at SLCC. It has its good days and it's bad days, but I enjoy it much more now that I work a normal day-time shift. I am both happy and sad that it's summer. Happy to be able to let the kids outside to play, to BBQ often, to camp, to be outdoors etc. but sad that means an entire school year has gone by and the kids are another year older. I am super excited to start rearranging rooms in this house and finally be able to start my "nesting" phase for baby girl. I've been ordering goodies and gearing up to get started next month.

Caleb: Caleb officially finished the First Grade on Friday. He was both happy and sad to have it be his last day. He has loved his school and especially the Chinese program. He has already asked both me and Dad several times if he can go back to the same school and learn more Chinese. He came home with another beaming report card. We are so proud of his progress over the last year. He really worked hard, learned a lot and continues to baffle us with how much Chinese he knows already. Some of his favorite things right now are his DS, Lego's, playing Lego Star Wars on the Xbox with Dad, learning all about the planets and space, and some of his old favorites, like dinosaurs and stuffed animals linger on. He chose not to play baseball this summer but is looking forward to getting back into a few swim lessons over the break and playing at the babysitters house while Mom is working. He also has a new fond love of Otter Pops and has wanted one most every day since June hit so far. I think the thing he's most looking forward to this summer is going to the Bees game on the 4th of July like we normally do. He's been talking about it non-stop. He continues to be both an awesome and an obnoxious (at times) big brother to the twins and he's looking forward to baby girls arrival, and to have a new room soon.

Zaric- Zaric has finally been moved off the waiting list for speech therapy and we attended our first 2 sessions. The first session wasn't very productive as he wasn't very cooperative. But the 2nd one was a lot better and I can see progress in him just in the last few weeks. Both on his own and from the sessions. He continues to love playing outside, running, cars, trucks, airplanes and is finally starting to like to take a few minutes out to actually be read to. Up until now he's never had the patience for it. He continues to be our "Dennis the Menace" and is always innocently causing mischief wherever he goes. He's my early riser and worries about his brothers whenever they aren't around, especially his Doodle, whenever Zaden is missing, he starts to panic a little. He's starting to show some interest in potty training and loves to sit on the potty, we just can't seem to catch him at the right time to actually get him to go on it. But we'll keep working at it.

Zaden- Zaden loves to be outside as well. He loves to be read to and is having fun starting to learn his shapes and colors and a few numbers and letters. He loves to watch cartoons and movies with his big brother. He continues to also love playing with car, trucks and airplanes. He is my only child that will sleep in (past 7) on a regular basis and still loves to be my cuddle bug. He is also starting to like to sing along with songs on the radio and can already sing the tune to Star Wars on his own. He cracks us up regularly. He's starting to also show a little potty training interest and follows Zaric's lead of sitting on the potty, even if it's just sitting.

Faith- Baby girl (as far as we can tell) continues to grow, thrive and kick her mommy. We have hit 25 weeks today. It seems like she's coming too slow and too fast all at the same time. The last OB appt was short and sweet and we have another coming up this week. I continue to give myself progresterone shots in hopes that she stays in there longer than her brothers at least and have been trying to take it easy as much as possible which is easier said than done with 3 others running around demanding Mom's attention most of the time. The middle name debate continues, we'll eventually agree on something. We are so excited to meet our little pink caboose and bring her home to this family full of chaos and love.

HOly SmokES BaTman!!

2011-06-03T06:45:00.005-06:00

We got a real treat last night when one of the local elementary school's was holding a car show fundraiser. And not just any car show, a car show that featured the Batmobile from the 1998 Batman movie release. Of course Mike was rearing to go for weeks after getting wind of it. Luckily it turned out to only be a slightly chilly evening and we set off.

Of course we got to see lots of other cool cars as well. And we got to see the Mascots from several sports team as well as the Ken Garff dog and Caleb and I got silly Stringed by the Utah Blaze Tiger and the Ken Garff dog at the same time. Caleb also collected their autographs. He thought that was the best thing.......ever!

Afterwards we decided to take the kids to get ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Caleb decided he wanted to try a chocolate dipped waffle cone for the first time. He loved it but I think he ended up with more of that and his oreo ice cream on his face than in his belly. He was worse than the twins. But look at this smile. What a happy Boy!

It was a great kickoff to summer vacation. Hopefully the weather finally continues to improve so we can actually have a summer.

Wowza!

2011-06-01T15:59:00.003-06:00

I love it when a plan comes together. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I had taken a bunch of the twins old stuff to the Salt Lake Mother's of Twins yard/consignment sale. I knew that I had sold quite a bit of it and was anxiously awaiting the check to come in the mail. Well it finally did and I was actually shocked! I made more than expected. Over $300!!!!! Whoot, Whoot! And that was after the club kept 10% of it. I am so excited both to be rid of those things and to be able to buy some new things that I've had my eye on like this cute lady bug bedding that I've been eye- balling for baby Faith.

And Caleb has put in his orders for some new bedding for his room since he'll be moving downstairs. Of course he has picked his beloved NY Giants.

And there might even be enough left over to change the boys bathroom from dogs to sharks as also requested by Caleb. So much fun!

Forsgren Fun

2011-05-30T15:41:00.005-06:00

We just got home from a long 4 day weekend in Price. We got to visit a lot of family, but the best part was being able to get together with my Mom's side of the family on Saturday, which doesn't happen that often, The Forsgren's. We had fun blowing bubbles, the kids played some baseball and on the playground, visiting and taking pictures of my mom with her siblings. Here's some pics from that day.

What a fun afternoon. The rest of the weekend was spent hanging with my Dad and siblings, playing games, attempting to make some baby stuff, eating good food, a couple trips to the cemetery, and relaxing while the kids played and played.

And Onto the Weekend

2011-05-27T06:50:00.002-06:00

We've had one of those weeks where it seems like if anything can go wrong it will and has. Which has left us both stressed out and cranky. But this too shall pass and we'll get through it just like we do everything else. But that means I am looking forward to this long weekend even more so than normal. We kicked it off already last night by seeing Kung Fu Panda 2 with the kids. The boys and Mike loved it of course. And today while Mike is working his last day before the weekend, I am packing and cleaning getting ready for 3 1/2 days in Price hanging with Family and hopefully a friend. So here's to getting past trials and looking for the light at the end of the tunnel.

Hope your weekend plans are big. Have fun and be safe!

Happy Anniversary!

2011-05-20T06:00:00.000-06:00

Today I have been married to the same handsome man for 11 years! I just wanted to say

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life (yes, Mike that means you).

Etsy-Oholic

2011-05-19T09:39:00.003-06:00

I have to admit that I am a full-fledged addict to the Etsy website. Seems like I can always find whatever I am looking for on there no matter how strange the request. I love that I can get so many unique hand made things and also occasionally get inspired to make something on my own. A friend of mine was recently inquiring about a purchase I made and where to get one for herself. So I looked up my order history from the past couple of years to get her the link to the seller. Then I found myself glancing through the various old orders and remembering some of my favorites, so I thought I would share a few pics of my favorite purchases.

This owl case perfectly holds my pink DS I got for Christmas
And you better believe I ordered one of these cute bags to use as a diaper bag for baby Faith. I even got her name on it. These would be great bags for any little girls, especially little dancers.

I bought a couple of these bowls made out of old vinyl records one year as Christmas gifts.

And this is the play tent Papa Ring and Grandma Judi gave the twins a couple Christmases ago.

The ornaments I ordered for the boys last Christmas.

Mike gave all of his employees these hard drive clocks one year for Christmas

These fabric curlers. They work so well and don't leave the lines in your hair like the pink foam and plastic ones.

Caleb's dino-apron

And this case that hold my little point and shoot camera in my purse for easy access

These are just a few of my favorites, there are many more purchases I've made and will be making as I find myself browsing the site nearly every day for new ideas and unique items. If you are into this sort of thing, I highly suggest you check it out.

ZOOrasic Park

2011-05-14T16:03:00.002-06:00

This morning we finally got the weather we've been waiting on to take our first spring zoo trip this year. And just in time too because today they opened the Zoorasic exhibits in the zoo. They have mechanical dino's positioned all throughout the zoo for a little extra fun. We got to see some of our favorite dino's and a couple even spit water on Caleb. And the boys got to dig for dino bones and Caleb got to join in a story about a Utah Ceratops with a group of other kids.

Of course we had loads of fun looking at all the regular animals as well and got to see some very active tigers playing with a ball hanging from a tree and one of them playing with a ball in the water. And it wouldn't have been a trip to the zoo without a ride on the carousel and the train. We were sad that the bears and zebra's had been shipped away while they build the new Arctic exhibit, but am excited to see that coming along.

After we were done it was just about lunch time, so Mike was nice enough to take me to indulge in my craving for a burger at Ruth's Diner up Emigration Canyon since we were right there. It was delicious as always. What a great Saturday morning with my boys!

Double Trouble Meets the Window!

2011-05-14T15:16:00.002-06:00

Before Mike left for work on Friday, he was taking advantage of the beautiful weather and opening the windows in the house. He opened the window in the twins room as well. This window lost it's screen last year and we still have yet to replace it. Well while I was busy crafting away on my bow holder they were in their room playing happily and quietly for the most part and I thought nothing of it and was loving having 30 minutes to do something I wanted to do. Well when I went to check on them toward the end of my project this is what I found...................

Yes, they were being that good because they were busy throwing things out their window. They emptied 3 bookshelves, 2 dresser drawers and had started on random toys by the time I got up there. At first I laughed and took this picture, but by the time I was done picking it all up to bring it in...I was starting to be in a pretty fowl mood (it had been quite the morning already without this). So I made Mike put it all away when he got home from work. After all, he's the one that opened their window, right? Luckily he agreed and did it happily, that made it better. And now I can laugh about it, just like I knew I would later. And a new window screen has now moved to the top of the priority list. Double Trouble, meet Home Depot!

Bow Holder

2011-05-13T13:43:00.003-06:00

I was perusing the net this morning trying to get some ideas of storage for the hair bows and flower clips I have already started collecting for little miss Faith when I came across something like this and thought, "I could do that." So then I was on a mission to get to the craft store and get my supplies. I picked up some various ribbons in the color scheme that we are dreaming about for her room. Ladybugs, pink, green and browns. A blank canvas and some liquid fusion glue as well and I was on my way to projectville.

First I measured and cut some ribbons the length (plus a little extra to wrap around the back) of the canvas. Then I also cut up an old index card to use as a spacer between the ribbons to keep the spacing as even as possible and started gluing, gluing, gluing.

This is what the back looks like when I was done gluing and waiting for it to dry. I love projects that the back doesn't matter. Only add glue to the ends since you want the ribbon on the front to be loose enough to clip the bows and flowers onto.

Once they were all dry enough I flipped it over and attached another ribbon for hanging and some loose ribbons for decoration on the top.

Now that it's all finally dry, I hung it in that room for a little test run to make sure the glue is going to hold up and added a few of the bows to it.

I love it. Of course you could always paint the canvas first, or cover it with a patterned material. That's the thing I loved about this project, the possibilities were endless with material, paint, and ribbon possibilities. But plain white seemed to work in my case for the look I was going for. And it was super simple. I am thinking these would be great little baby shower gifts and/or birthday gifts for the little girls in your life. Other than drying time it only took me about 30 minutes. Happy Crafting Day to me.

Mother's Day Weekend

2011-05-09T06:51:00.002-06:00

Mother's Day this year turned into a spread out weekend. On Friday night we stopped to by the traditional flowers for the Mother's Day flower bed planting and brought them home. After Mike did the regular yard work that night, he opted to go ahead and just get them planted as well since the weather was expected to turn cruddy again by Sunday anyway. So I put them where I wanted them and sat and watched him and Caleb plant them all.
Saturday I was able to go up to Park City all afternoon with a girlfriend of mine and shop, shop, shop. So much fun and great deals, as always, a little bit came home for everyone. I got home in time for dinner with the boys and to relax on the sofa while watching a movie. And when I pulled in the driveway, I pulled into this message. The sunlight made it hard to see with the camera, but it says "We love Mom," in sidewalk chalk.

Sunday morning, I got breakfast in bed. Pancakes, eggs and some watermelon. It was super yummy. And Caleb brought me the gifts he'd been working on for me. He made me a counting book that he said I could read to the boys to teach them to count. And also a beautiful card in Chinese that he made at school.

The rest of Sunday was mostly like any other Sunday. We relaxed and watched TV and did laundry. Mike and Caleb snuck off to see Thor for a couple hours and I stayed here and watched another running of Despicable Me with the twins. Another Mother's Day down, now onto planning for Father's Day next month.

Mother's Day Project

2011-05-05T20:53:00.003-06:00

Caleb is really getting into a phase of wanting to make gifts for people instead of picking them out something in the store. He is always making cards for people and drawings and so when Mother's Day was coming up this year of course we decided to go with the homemade route again for all of the Grandma's. We went to Hobby Lobby for a little inspiration and Caleb decided he would like to try out soap making. I had never done it before either so I thought it sounded kinda fun. So we bought a few essentials to start out and came home to give it a whirl.

I am happy to say that Caleb loved every minute of it. He got to help run the microwave to melt the soap, put coloring in to make fun colors and pour them into the bug mold he had picked out in the store.

It was a very fun project for him and the twins loved watching and yelling "BUG!" every time we would squeeze the completed ones out of the mold. We wrapped up a set for each Grandma and enclosed a card. Now that they have all been delivered, I get to share the pics. We made enough for 4 Grandma's and we even had some extra to send to Aunt Tracey for a little Happy Mother's Day as well. Caleb has already asked to make it again and requested that we get some more molds and more specifically, a shark mold to make some more with. Should be loads of "clean" fun coming up in this house.

Swimming Into May

2011-05-02T20:30:00.004-06:00

May is here already! After waking up to 5 inches of fluffy white snow on Saturday, we spent some time cleaning the house and then took the boys on a little outing to close out the end of April. We took them to our local pool that they love. I didn't feel much like swimming, but Mike jumped in with them and they all had a blast for almost 2 hours playing in the water and going down the Pickles the Duck water slide. I had fun just watching from the sidelines and taking a few pictures here and there.

After they were worn out we stopped by the store for a few groceries and ended up buying the newest Harry Potter on DVD. So that made for the perfect evening to relax and watch it on the sofa. The next day, the official first day of May was spent at home in our PJ's doing some laundry and taking some much needed naps.

Today was my routine 20 week ultrasound with the tech at the Dr. office. Everything looked great to her and she said again that it was still 100% a little girl. We got to see lots of baby Faith swimming around and kicking me and came home with another CD full of pics. It was a nice visit.

Here's to May being a full and busy month and to Caleb only having 5 weeks left of the first grade. Where does the time go?

20 Weeks and A Name

2011-04-29T11:50:00.003-06:00

I have officially made it to the half way point with baby girl. Half way for someone with "normal" pregnancies anyway. For me, who knows when I really hit that point, but we'll call it today. We have been busy shopping, planning and mulling over names for this little one for the last little while. And I think that we have finally come to a first name conclusion. Hooray!

Here's a little background on the name we have chosen (if you want to know, if not skip to the end.) For those of you that don't know the whole story, at my first 2 appointments with this one, we were told that we would most likely miscarry again. My blood work was all wrong and they couldn't locate the baby nor a heartbeat either time via ultrasound. We were distraught and sad and didn't know what to think when the Dr. kept telling us, "let's wait one more week before terminating." And then was told the same thing the next week, "let's wait one more week." I came home heartbroken and told Mike that the the only thing we could do or have control over was to have a little faith. I even joked with him that if it hung in there and it was a girl, we needed to use the name Faith as a middle name. Finally that 3rd appointment, a shocked me and an equally shocked Dr. found a heartbeat. A good, strong, fast heartbeat. It was amazing and not at all what I expected when we went in.
Fast forward a little bit and Mike was certain that they were going to tell us that we were having another little boy. Again I muttered the words, "lets just have a little faith that they will surprise us." We would have loved a little boy all the same, but still our hearts were pretty set on having a girl. And when they told us it was a little girl, the name Faith rose on the ongoing list to be both a consideration of first and middle name possibilities.
After the small scare again in Omaha, I think it became abundantly clear to us that the only name that fits this baby truly is Faith. We discussed multiple names together and that one always seemed to trump the others. So it's now 95% official...This baby will have the first name of Faith.
We are agreed that we both love it. No decisions, just ideas of a middle name so far. But at least we are making progress. Baby Faith is on her way.

Easter At Our House

2011-04-24T19:31:00.007-06:00

The Easter Bunny managed to make it to our house this year even though we were all exhausted from our trip. The boys woke up to baskets of goodies on the counter this morning.

Here's a close up of Caleb's loot. Yes he himself chose a pink basket this year. We still have no idea why but he insisted, so we went with it. He left it out empty before going to bed in hopes the Easter Bunny would find it. Not only did he find it but he filled it with lots of candy. Then he added a couple sets of Micro Ridez, stickers and some Sidewalk Tattoo's with chalk.

And here's a closeup of the twins loot. The Easter Bunny found cute wheel barrow's for them and used them as baskets. Then they each got their share of candy, a new Goofy and Donald Duck, stickers and each got a new monster truck.

We spent some time looking through the baskets and showing Mom and Dad every single piece of candy and toy the Easter Bunny left for them.

Then it was time for the long awaited egg hunt. Caleb was chomping at the bit to get started and kept spotting them all over while we made him wait for the twins to be ready. When we said "go" he was off like a lightning bolt. He was nice and let the twins find some of their own as well.

I think he found more than plenty for himself!

And the boys were happy with the few they found.

We spent time emptying all of the contents of the plastic eggs into a bowl. They contained candy, more stickers and a few even had some coins in them for the piggy banks. Then it was off to the races with the wheel barrows.

The boys spent the morning, eating some candy and playing with their new trucks and things. Then realty set in and all the things neglected while we were away needed to get done. We got to spend some time in the nicer weather getting yard work done, inside doing laundry and then going grocery shopping. Tonight we got to meet Papa Ringo and Grandma Judi in Provo with Uncle Ryan and Melanie for dinner and to get our beloved doggy back that they were babysitting. It was a nice ending to our Easter Day. Even with the chores and business, it was a good day indeed.

Omaha 2011

2011-04-24T08:38:00.003-06:00

This years Omaha trip was a little more laid back than usual. The first couple of days, the boys arrived without me while I was in Dallas. Mike spent some time with his siblings playing video games and go-carting and the boys spent lots of time with Sue and Grandma Annie playing away. I arrived on Sunday evening just in time for dinner with everyone. On Monday we went to the Space and Air Museum (SAC) and the boys got to walk around and see all sorts of military planes and even some old cars they had on display. They had a great time and were thrilled to leave the gift shop each with a new toy plane or a space shuttle. Our second destination ended up being closed, so we made an unplanned stop at the outlet mall (it was just right there, I promise) and I made off with some more great deals on girly stuff. Then it was back home to prepare for another family dinner and small late Bday party for the twins. And Caleb got to go to Tai Chi class with Great Aunt Sue and talk to her teacher in Chinese. He loved it.
On Tuesday, I went shopping with Aunt Peggy and Kari and scored some Huskers stuff for Mike and Caleb some little outfits for the twins and of course a couple bags full of pink stuff. Meanwhile Mike and Grandma Annie and Sean took the boys to a play place and let them run off energy. Poor Aunt Sue got to stay home after her septic tank sprung a leak on us. She ended up waiting all day for the sewer people to come fix it for her. It made for a lot of fun jokes and razzing from the family about what a "crappy day" that turned out to be for her.
Wednesday didn't quite go as planned. Mike and I went and did some grocery shopping in the morning with the twins for some items we needed to fix dinner on Thursday while Caleb went to Tai Chi again. I had started having a few minor pregnancy complications the night before and when they were still going on on Wednesday morning, I placed a call to my Dr's office here in Utah. Even though we were pretty sure that everything was ok, the on-call Dr there suggested that we go to the ER in Omaha and get checked out as a precaution, so we called Grandma Annie over to watch the boys and off we went for a 4 hour detour. Everything there checked out pretty ok and I was just told to take it easy and follow up with the Dr when we got back. Meanwhile, Grandma Annie, Great Grandpa and Great Grandma had fun with the boys at Sue's house coloring eggs. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and then we all went out to dinner for some pizza.
Thursday was spent all day at Sue's, relaxing some more, doing some laundry and packing up. Mike and I prepared homemade lasagna for the entire fam for dinner and we got in a lot of visiting for our last night there. We left early Friday morning and drove to Cheyenne before we stopped for the night and then we made it back home Saturday afternoon.
We had a great visit, even with the minor detours. Although I don't miss Omaha itself, I do miss all the family and wish we could see them more often. Enjoy some pics from our trip.

DALLAS!!!

2011-04-23T18:21:00.004-06:00

The long awaited Dallas trip finally came and went. My sister and I took off early on Friday morning and flew out there. We found our way around fairly easy thanks to my sisters GPS on her phone (Lola) and got all checked into the hotel. We wanted a pretty easy going day from there and went to the Cheesecake Factory for some late lunch/early dinner and then wandered around the mall where this little gem jumped into my shopping bags for little girl. RAH!

After some sleep, we headed off the next morning to goof around and bam! Who would have known it was try-outs? Pretty fortunate timing if you ask me. I made the squad! lol :)

We went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum and had an absolute ball there. We went to that museum, the adjoining wax museum and through a mirror maze all at the same place. I was having camera issues all day (don't ask) so my sister took all those pics. If she posts them soon, I will steal them and share. All the rest of the pics were taken from my phone. Then it was time to go locate the stadium. We found it with no problems and let me just say, IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! Brought a little tear to my eye.

Since we found it so quickly we went to grab a bite to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings nearby then headed over early to brave the parking crowd and hung out with the other die hards in the parking lot until the doors opened. Once inside, we had a good time in the pro-shop buying souvenirs. Ok mostly I had a good time, but she bought Kenny stuff at least. We got very lucky and got front row parking and once inside our seats were right where the escalator dropped us off. Very little walking for us. We found our seats and marveled at the inside of the stadium (ok again more me, than her). Look at how huge this thing is. This is the mostly empty pic.

We were excited and ready for Kenny in our new fancy hats we also picked up at the mall the day before.

I looked behind us and notice our seats were right in the section of a few of my all time favorite players. I couldn't help but take a couple pics.

We got a little surprise and found out the night before that not only would we be seeing Kenny Chesney and the Zac Brown Band, but we would also be seeing Uncle Kracker and Billy Currington. Whoo Hoo! My phone sucked at trying to get pictures on the stage but here's Billy on one of the screens.

And Zac Brown Band.

And by the time Kenny was up the stadium was full- This is my full pic. Isn't it the most awesome thing ever? Just me and about 60,000 of my friends.

Kenny came out, my phone was almost dead and I was loving it too much to take pics anyway. It was an awesome concert. I am so glad I was able to go with my sister and have some fun. All in all, it lasted almost 7 hours! We definitely got our monies worth. Then it was back to the hotel and I flew out early the next day to meet my hubby and kids who had already made it to Omaha without me for the 2nd leg of our vacation. Stay tuned for those pics.

17 Weeks and the Weekend

2011-04-09T18:27:00.008-06:00

This has been a pretty good weekend so far. Mike decided to work from home on Friday and got started early in the day so that he could have a break in the middle of the day to go to the Dr and run some errands with me. It was time (already) for my regular 17 week checkup. It was pretty mellow. We listened to the heartbeat and he did a quick ultrasound like normal and he decided to check for himself if this was a a girl. He fully agreed with Fetal Foto that it is a little girl. We are seriously so excited. And in other great news, we think we have found a work around to the Progesterone thing. ( I'll explain in another post). While we were running the first errand after the appt, our friend Laurel let us know about a huge kid stuff consignment sale that she was currently volunteering at and we just happened to be on that side of town so we decided to run on up and check it out. I went a little crazy with the girl clothes and shoes but they were all so cute and in such good shape (some still with store tags on them) all for each $1-3 each! I couldn't pass it up. Here's my mostly pink haul. After we gathered up the kids from school and the babysitter, we came home for a while to allow Mike to get some more work done and then it was time again for our 2nd complimentary visit to Fetal Foto. We went and this time the tech found it in less than 3 minutes and said she was 100% sure that it is a girl as well. So finally after 3 different techs there and the Dr. I think Mike is convinced. :)

We had a good dinner together at IHOP in that shopping center and then since Cold Stone was right next door, I decided that we should officially celebrate and do it right so we walked over and bought us an Oreo ice cream cake. When we got home and it was time for dessert, I layered on the pink sprinkles. The Girl Celebration was on!

Today started out with some more errands and a bunch of house cleaning. I told myself to be good but every store I went in had such cute girl stuff that I couldn't resist buying a few little things. After the housework was done, we ran another errand on the other side of town and then took the boys for a little surprise and took them to Chuck E Cheese for a little late lunch. They had a ball. It was the first time the twins really started understanding what was going on and wanting to play the games. It was so funny to watch them try to play and throw their hands in the air and say "Horray " and "I win." Then we ran across the street to the mall to walk around. And you guessed it, I found more girl stuff both at Gymboree and Childrens Place. But it was all on sale or clearance, so I get some points right? Oh yes, this little Girl is going to be hard on the budget. She already is and she's not even here yet. Heaven help us. :)

Think Pink!

2011-04-06T20:38:00.002-06:00

Being the impatient people that we are, we wanted to know what this little one was before we went on vacation in a couple weeks, so we opted to go to Fetal Foto and find out. I was thrilled when I called to make an appt and they told me I was already far enough along to find out so we scheduled an appointment for Tuesday night. We went and took the boys with us and this little one was completely uncooperative. It had it's legs crossed and the cord between them and would not budge from that position no matter how hard that poor tech tried to get it to. She "guessed" that it was a girl, but told us she would rather us come back again for another visit to look again and gave us a voucher for a free visit. So we made an appointment for this afternoon and tried again. This time the baby was a little more cooperative and here are a few cute shots.

I call this one the high-five shot. and a little foot kicking me

Here's that cute little face

And Bam! The money shot.

That's the one and only shot baby GIRL allowed them before she promptly crossed her legs again. She's so modest already. ;) The tech was so nice today and felt like we didn't get enough good shots of the girl parts and while she is 98% confident that is in fact a girl, she again gave us a voucher to come back for a third visit, just to get more pics. So that one is scheduled for Friday evening. If she cooperates, I'll post more.

Bikes for the Birthday Boyz!

2011-04-04T07:17:00.003-06:00

We waited until after the party when we were having a relaxing day at home on Sunday to break out the presents we got for the twins. We found them these cool 2 in 1 trikes. They are trikes now but when they get a little bigger they turn into big wheels so we can enjoy these for years to come hopefully. Mike put them together during nap time and the boyz have been having fun on them ever since.

We also spent some more time playing Monster yesterday and trying to scare Mom. I love these

Little Monsters!

Monster Party

2011-04-02T17:07:00.001-06:00

The Monster Party was another success. We had some of the cutest monsters hanging around our house and it was a nice enough day that they spent some time outside during it. I can't believe my babies are turning 3 in 2 more days. Where does the time go?

Grizz Game 2

2011-04-02T05:00:00.001-06:00

We have had a busy Birthday weekend for the twins. We started off on Friday by going to a friend's birthday party and then right after that, another Grizzlies hockey game with my entire family. We all had a great time, even if the Grizzles ended up losing again 3-1. Here's are some pics of a couple fights, some action and the fam having fun.

Then today was time for the party. Pics to come!

2 Months, 2 Losses

2011-03-27T10:30:00.002-06:00

2011 has not started out well for the Schade side of my family. Over the last 2 months, my dad has lost 2 of his older brothers and I have lost 2 beloved Uncles. Uncle Ralph (aka Skeeter) left us in February. I will miss his smile and his way of making me laugh.

And just last night I got the news that Uncle Jerald (aka Skin) passed away. I will miss him as well. The reunion will not be the same this year. We will miss your presence.

Rest in Peace Uncle Skeeter and Uncle Skin.

Candlelight Night

2011-03-26T08:06:00.003-06:00

After a quick trip to the mall last night, we returned home to find that our power was out. Mike called the power company and was told there was a pole fire and they didn't expect it to be back up for hours. It was nearing dark so we did what we could to get the boys ready for bed with the little sunlight we had then had to find other ways to entertain them and ourselves. We ended up enjoying some cookies, coloring and Mike and I played a mean game of Rummy all by candlelight.

It turned out to be a pretty fun evening after all. That was until about midnight when the battery backups went out in the fire alarms and they all went off, waking us all.The power came back on sometime between then and 2:30 am. We were reminded of how spoiled we are and how tech dependent we are when it took us a while to figure out what to do. Good thing we still had our cell phones to connect us to the world or it could have gotten bad ;).

House Rules

2011-03-23T18:25:00.003-06:00

I promise my blog isn't becoming a review blog. But literally we haven't don't much else but been home lately. I thought I had braved the cold bug with the boys last week. Boy was I wrong! It hit me like a freight train late Sunday night and all this week (so far). I have been in bed almost non-stop watching smut daytime tv and reading. I finally broke out the book Mike gave me for Christmas from one of my favorite authors, Jodi Picoult. I started and finished all 532 pages along with some Maury, Dr Phil, Opera, What Not to Wear and Fresh Prince of Bel Air episodes, over the last 3 days. I have to say I was kinda in a lull with her last couple of books I read, but I really enjoyed this one. If you are looking for a good book, here's one I recommend.

I finally broke down and looked up what kinds of cold medication I could take while being pregnant and Web MD suggested Tylenol Cold. I braved the store last night and got some only to find out the GB does not approve and ended up fighting a nasty bought of morning sickness along with the cold after taking it. So looks like just some more r&r for me and hopefully I kick this soon.

A big thanks to Mike who has been bearing the brunt of dropping kids off, picking them up and doing most all of the upkeep and childcare in the house these last few days. He really is a saint sometimes.