Second Time's a Charm

We are pregnant again!  This one seems to be going much better then the previous one.  I am 10 weeks on Monday.  There is only 1 baby, the baby is measuring right on the dates, and it has a strong heartbeat.  I am sick as usual, but this time it isn't quite so bad in the morning and I am on Zofran in the afternoon/evening and it is a bit more bearable.  I am still exhausted and I still have that horrible saliva problem that I always get, but overall I am doing ok.  I look like I am atleast 4 months pregnant, nothing fits, and I'm eating like crazy, but I'll worry about all that later!
We told the kids this week.  Anna Elise cried and stormed out of the room.  She says we don't need anymore girls!  She knows if it's a girl she loses her room and she LOVES having her own room. She calmed down and it isn't quite so upset.  Calvin was very excited and BEGGED me to have a boy.  He doesn't seem to get it when I tell him I'm not the one that picks the gender.  Madeline told me she has a baby girl in her tummy.  Her name is Penny and her next name is Bow and her other name is Rose.  Next she will have a boy baby and name him Mountain Lion.  Lilah just looked confused - she pulled up my shirt and checked out my belly button for a while.
I am busy trying to figure out what car seat(s) to buy that will fit in my car.  We really don't want to buy a new car, but we haven't figure out how to fit 5 car seats in the one we've got.  I've haven't given up yet!
We can't wait for May!

Lost Teeth

Anna Elise has had a loose tooth for a few days.  She has been wiggling it and her Dad decided on Saturday that it was time!  Mom tied a piece of string around her tooth and tied the other end to the door and this was the result...

...nothing!

Calvin is always anxious to be first and can't stand to be left out.  So when he claimed to have a loose tooth as well, I didn't believe him.  He was begging for a turn so I checked his teeth and sure enough, he had TWO loose teeth.  While Anna Elise recovered we gave Calvin a turn.

It turned out to be a traumatic experience for him and he wouldn't let us pull the second one...

Anna Elise's second attempt...

...she wasn't very happy.  Luckily her Dad was able to get it out by tugging on it.

First Day of School

It was the first day of Kindergarten for Calvin.  He rode the bus with Anna Elise this morning.  She let him sit by her.  When they got to school Anna showed him where his class was (it's her old class room and her old teacher) and took good care of him!  Calvin had a great time!  He said he was good.  He made some friends but doesn't know anybody's name.  He told me he played with the little boy who had a Transformer backpack and a dinosaur folder - so he is remembering the important stuff!  He came home in a good mood and after about a half hour told me he was ready to go back - right now!  He is excited for tomorrow. 
Anna Elise had her first day of first grade.  She loves school - she told us that 'first grade rocks'!  She enjoyed helping Calvin out and was glad to see a few familiar faces in her class from last year.  She did get blisters from her cute shoes and I had to bring her tennis shoes and socks half way through the day - but she still had fun.  I'm glad they had such a good day!
It's sad and exciting all at the same time to watch your kids grow up!  

Another Adventure

We took our family to see Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor Rally this weekend.  The Rally was great, but our weekend also had a few disappointments.
We left on Friday afternoon and drove to our hotel.  The kids played in the pool and had a great time.  After dinner Mike left for the temple (it was his turn).  He left an hour and 15 minutes before the last session.  It was suppose to be a 25 minute drive, so we doubled it, we know DC traffic (or we thought we did).  What we didn't know was the construction schedule.  At 8:15 (15 minutes before the last session) Mike was still 20 minutes from the temple so he turned around and came back.  It seemed like a waste to be in DC and not get some time at the temple!  We shook it off and went to bed.  We were up early and arrived at the metro station to an almost full parking lot.  Luckily we've done this before (see my 9/12 post from last year) and we knew it would be crazy.  We had bought our metro tickets the day before.  We avoided the half mile line to buy the tickets and jumped into the large crowd to get on an already overflowing train.  We squeezed on and had a great trip into the city.  I loved the metro trips.  Everyone is going to the rally and it so fun to talk to everyone about where they are from and why they came.  Someone always offers me a seat because of the kids and some kind stranger is holding at least one of my other children.  We got off into a hot and crowed station.  It took a half hour to get out!  It was worth it though.  We walked to the Lincoln memorial first and sat behind the stage for a wile, but couldn't hear.  We went around the crowd and found a spot about halfway to the Washsington memorial and sat on the side and listened.  I loved Sarah Palin's speech.  After an hour we walked the rest of the way to the Washington Memorial to see the huge crowd and get a feel for the layout.  It was awesome.  We really enjoyed the rally and the best part is all the kind and good people gathered with you.  It's so inspiring to see so many people who feel the way you do.  I have to say that our first rally on 9/12 last year seemed more awe inspiring and I think had more people - but this one was good too.  The most frustrating thing is that the reports on attendance our insultingly low.  CBS news reports 87,000 people in attendance.  If you count the buses that came alone that would be close to 500,000 and then there are those that drove and flew in...I think the park rangers estimate of 650,000 is more accurate.  They did this to us last time too - reporting 30,000 people when there had to have been 800,000 or more.  Anyway - it was such an amazing experience.
We ate our lunch and walked to the Smithsonian Natural History museum.  We looked at mammals, the ocean, and dinosaurs (Calvin's favorite, he could name all the skeletons) and then realized that Mike had lost his very expensive phone with irretrievable data on it for work.  It kind of sucked the fun out the museum.  We could track the approximate location of his phone with my phone - but you can't really walk through a crowd of people and ask them all to empty their pockets.  The phone eventually left DC and settled in Arlington, then the battery died.  So sad.  The drive home was good and the kids were well behaved.  It was good a weekend, but disappointing to miss the temple and lose the phone.
We love being so close to DC and being able to go participate in these things.  Mike goes several times a year on his own, but we feel it's important for our children to have this experience as well.  Going and doing and being there is important - but oh it's a lot of work!

 Behind the stage looking towards the Washington Memorial.

 The view of the stage and the Lincoln Memorial behind it.

 The kids - Lilah is actually smiling, not crying (click on the picture).  Madeline was not in a good mood.

 All of us

 Mike took 'giant' pictures of the kids next to the Washington Monument (or in Calvin's case the George Washington Monument)

 Anna Elise's 'giant' picture.

Lilah's 'giant' picture.  She is 'roaring' at Mike.

 Madeline was hiding behind this tree during lunch.  She was poking her sandwich with a stick and then licking the peanut butter off the stick.  Yes, it's gross, but she was quiet and happy while doing it!

Kids behind a prehistoric shark's jaw.

Very cool dinosaur bones!

9 Years and Counting

On August 10th we celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary.  We took our annual anniversary trip this weekend.  We were able to get away overnight and had a great time!  We went to Charlottesville on Friday and went to a spa, dinner, and a movie.  On Saturday we took our rental 1957 red convertible Triumph TR3 for a tour through the Blue Ridge Mountains.  We had a great time driving on winding country roads, up the mountains and back down.  We stopped several times for pictures, a quick hike to the lower Crabtree falls, lunch at Gerti's Country Store (it was just as quaint as it sounds), and at a gift shop to watch a glass blowing demonstration.  It was a really good, relaxing day and we had a blast driving the car!  We drew more attention to ourselves than I like, but it was worth it!  We loved the car, but we also appreciate the modern amenities in our cars - like windows, heat and A/C, music, comfortable seats, power steering, and  a working speedometer! 

 Triumph TR3

 Our view

The car is so tiny!

 Mike 

 One of the cool pictures Mike took of the reflection in the side view mirrors.  

  A typical road in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

 One of our amazing views on the way.

the lower Crabtree Falls

Visiting the Allens

After our week visit with the Russells we drove the 55 miles to my parents house.  We had a great time there as well.  All of my siblings were able to come (not all the husbands) but most of us were there.  It was a bit of a squeeze - but the more the merrier and we love being together.  The cousins had a blast!  There was more slip N sliding, water balloon fights (one included grandpa), 4-wheeler rides, rock coloring, and the list goes on!  For the adults we had a couple of crafts, we ate lots of food, and I got my annual water skiing trip in (I hurt for DAYS afterward).  Again, lots of pictures!

 tubing on the Columbia

 water balloon fight

 Coloring rocks (pretty cool, you heat the rocks up in the oven and then crayons melt like paint)

 cousins in their shirts we decorated

 playing in the garden

all the kids loved feeding Angie treats.  

 The three 3 year olds 'tying' each others' bows on their swim suits

We love going home to visit our families, but it can be tough.  We always leave Washington state feeling like we have to find a way to get back west so we can be closer to those we love!  We like Virginia and we are happy here, it's just 2,000 miles too far away!  Someday...

Visiting the Russells

We took a two week trip to WA state to visit our family.  We started with Mike's family and spent a week with most of his family.  We had a great time!  We were able to go the temple, spend lots of time playing in the water with cousins, had 2 birthday parties, had a little bit of 'girl time', and Mike was able to hang out with his brothers go shooting, look at real estate, and other manly things.   We have way too many pictures, but I think pictures say it best!

 The kids couldn't get enough of Pop's jeep.  They all got lots of jeep rides.

 Slip N Slid'n' in the back yard with cousins

 Lilah playing Peek A Boo with Pops and then tickling his feet.

 Grammy had some great western wear for the kids to dress up in!

 Family pictures after church

 Devyn's 9th birthday and a big birthday celebration for all the cousins' birthdays - including a pinata!

Here's most of the gang - minus the babies and Jenny who was taking the picture!