I think it's a pretty safe bet...

...that boy or girl - this next baby will probably be blonde!

Weekend fun

We had a busy weekend... On Friday morning I needed to get something out of the storage room that was way in the back and once I started pulling things out I thought I may as well move some of the baby things to the front... and once I started that I thought maybe I should sort through the boxes and boxes of baby/kid clothes... and well that led to the entire basement being overtaken by clothes and containers and with some great "helpers" who love to see what is in every box you can imagine what my basement looked like. Just as everything was completely torn apart Brian called and said he had found a Toyota Sienna for sale that had just been posted so we should go look at it. So we did... and by 5pm that night it was ours. Buying a vehicle is such a process but we are now the happy new owners of a 2003 Toyota Sienna. We now have a vehicle that will fit our family when the baby comes. Yay! We plan to keep our CR-V and just not use it for the next year. I will post pictures soon.

Saturday morning it was our family's turn to go clean the church and after that we headed straight out to a Ward/Primary Activity in some beautiful countryside at someone in our church's house. The kids held baby chickens and took a hayride and we had lunch and enjoyed the company of some our ward members.

The girls on the hayride - I opted out of this because it was SO HOT!!

Brian and Miles

It was so hot I told Miles to pour some water on his head and he happily did so and was able to keep cool in the hot and humid weather.

It made him very happy!

Nora with the baby chick - although I think they are probably more tween or teen chicks?

Sophie loved holding the chickens and the King's (whose house we were at) were nice enough to give Sophie and Nora an egg to take home. Although I had to explain it wasn't going to hatch in to a baby chick at our house - which is what they thought would happen. And although there are no pictures of me you can imagine a red faced, sweaty pregnant lady easily enough! :)
Saturday night I was taking a load of laundry downstairs and slipped on a tupperware lid (my basement project had been abandoned for the weekend...) and fell down the bottom flight - luckily I fell flat on my back and really hurt my head/neck but didn't hurt my belly at all. But my neck has been super sore ever since. Today I finished the basement and made sure my stairs are object free! No more falls for me.

To the lake...

On Monday of this week we decided to go to Lake Michigan with our friends/neighbors the Firth's. We got there about 1:00 - after a stop to get a gas can and gas for the Firth's who had run out of gas on the freeway about 2 miles from a gas station! Luckily we were just a few minutes behind them! We had a great time at the lake - it was 87 degrees and HOT and HUMID so the cold water felt so good! The kids had a blast and we left at about 4 with sand filled cars, tired kids and sunburns. And it turns out walking up the massive staircase and carrying kids through the burning hot sand to the lake and back to the car is a pretty good workout - my calves were sore for 2 days afterwards!

Miles loved this tube! The water is shallow all along the shore so he just sat in that and walked around loving the freedom he had.

Cutie pie Eleanor in her ballet suit - and perfectly positioned ballet hand.

I think this girl could live at the beach! She was in heaven.

Sophie loved the tube and riding the waves the boats would make for us when they rode by.

After the lake and some lunch at Wendy's we took a nice scenic route to an ice cream store near home called Mooville. It's a dairy where they make their own ice cream and have a sandbox, petting zoo and swings/slide. We got there about 6:30 and it was perfect!

Clayton and Eleanor walking around to see the animals

Feeding the bunnies some dandelions

Miles kept getting some serious air going down this slide... and loving it of course!

Sophie and mama

You may remember a similar picture of Miles overlooking this "village" from last year...

Sophie sitting by the baby calf and eating her ice cream (bubble gum)

They also had cones filled with feed for the animals you could buy for 50 cents. I think this goat got most of it.

We had a great time (again) this year and hope to make a few more trips with the rest of our neighborhood before summer is over!

my boy

I know there's a big booger on his nose, but still... can he get any cuter?? I don't think so!

My birthday!

I turned 29 yesterday. It was a good day. We just did the normal every day thing and that night had a bbq and cobbler & ice cream with the neighborhood outside. I went walking with my friend Angela in the morning and later Miles took a nap and Nora played with her ponies in the bathroom sink for about 45 minutes so I got to take a rest on the couch - I am usually not a napping person but it was a nice treat yesterday. Thanks to both sets of grandparents and Brian I got some $$ to go buy some new maternity clothes. Hooray! THANKS! I can't wait to do some shopping - alone. Brian and the kids made a big poster with a tree that had little flaps for me to open and under each flap was either money or a coupon from the kids that said things like "Good for one back scratch" or "Good for one stair cleaning". It was perfect! Happy Birthday to me!

Miles was too busy playing with his trains to be in the picture.

Neighborhood fun & a sad good-bye!

You all know how much we love our neighborhood! In warm weather it's like a party every night.

Between the five families there are 12 kids running around playing/fighting together pretty much like siblings. It has truly been a blessing to have such wonderful friends close by. They are our family out here! Here are some pictures taken in the last few weeks of some of the things that go on in our backyard:

lots of fort building by the older kids and playing "family"

These two are pretty much the only two that get along all the time! Lauren and Zach.

Look at that smile - what a cutie!

This is Miles' beloved Eleanor. She is the only child who is safe when Miles is around! He has a hard time saying her name. It's gone from "Nowa" to "wittle Nowa" to Elnowa".
She is a seriously cute little girl.

The Overson's watching one of the many little tikes basketball games

The dad's get pretty creative playing PIG and make each other do all kinds of tricks when shooting the basketball. This was a pretty awesome jump by Tim - with Ryan looking on in amazement! :)

Nora got hurt or something so I was trying to cheer her up by taking a picture with her... and it's the only one of me (which I really don't mind!) so I had to prove I was there.

Sweet baby Benny - the newest neighborhood addition!

I think that cup is empty - although she is known to eat sand.

Brian playing Spencer in basketball

Eleanor and her cute & hilarious mama Marianne

Eliza and Miles - these two are just hilarious to watch and listen to. They point their fingers at each other and say "No!" just in case the other one was considering doing anything to them. And then sometimes they can play together and have a great time!

Miles and Zach living the good life eating push pops in a wagon... what else is there?

Ice cream seems to be a staple!

Ruth and Marianne watching an intense game of PIG

E.Jay and Brian hoping whoever is shooting will miss!

The 3 amigos - Lauren, Zach and Eliza

Some of the kids eating dinner

And Wow! This is ALL of us together in one picture! We had to say good-bye to the Overson's last week. They were done with school and moved back to Utah. I hate saying good-bye. We miss them already but are excited for them to be done with school.

Mothers Day

I had a great Mother's day yesterday. It started out with breakfast in bed (a tradition...) the kids were so excited to get up "early" and help dad make breakfast for me. I got some cute homemade cards and pictures and a glass bowl from Ikea that I love. The girls sang in sacrament meeting with the primary and it was sweet. Sophie sang very seriously and earnestly and Nora couldn't stop wiggling. After church we had a frozen lasagna and breadsticks with corn on the cob followed by peach cobbler and vanilla ice cream. Yum! I also had a nap which was super. Saturday we went to the temple and I got to attend a session while Brian played with the kids - followed by a trip to Ikea. That night Brian replaced our bathroom sink faucet and drain that was broken and nasty - (our landlord gave him permission to go get the stuff and do it himself and then deduct the amount from our rent). I am thrilled to have a lovely new sink that drains well and smells new! It was a great weekend. Happy mothers day to all the wonderful women in my life who help me and inspire me to be a better mother: my mama, my mother-in-law, grandma's, sisters, sisters-in-law and friends old and new. Love ya!

Me and the kids right before church

Sweet Sophie girl

Our half monkey child

Miles and his true love - (besides you Eleanor) his blanky!

And the good man who makes me feel like every day is Mother's Day!