weird times

'kay I know that I've already blogged about Joseph and Potty Training, but this time I just have some funny things to say. He can be so bizarre sometimes. Part of our potty training is having him "practice" when he has accidents. So we have him practice taking off his underwear, getting on the toilet, sitting until he's ready to get down, and then getting his underwear on again. The book we got the idea from suggests to have them do it ten times, but for our sanity and his lack of attention span, we only have him do it five times. He hates it and has been very creative in figuring out ways to get out of it. One of his favorite is that he has to give me hugs and kisses, so he's too busy. He also likes to yell "I want to dance!" and then starts to boogey naked around the bathroom. Today I must have been tired because I tried to sing him that Ray Stevens song "I want to sing and dance" but he wasn't very amused. Maybe it's my pirate accent, or my lack of remembering the lyrics. He does like me to sing "Where is Thumbkin?" and the french version which I have no idea how to spell, both with actions. Someday you can sneak into our house and listen to me tiredly singing (with my thumbs going) those two songs for the twentieth time in twenty minutes. When he's not practicing he's trying to sneak out of the house in his underwear. The other day my neighbor was taking out the trash and caught me on the doorstep scolding a whitey-tighty clad (and nothing else) little boy about going outside without me. She has grandkids, she should understand, right? So yeah, we're the rednecks of the neighborhood, kids running around naked and me singing Ray Stevens. Oh, yes, they call him the streak (lookatthat, lookatthat), he likes to show off his physique (lookatthat, lookatthat)...

Scary

So yesterday was a little bit scary. When I woke up and tried to get out of bed I had a really hard braxton hicks contraction. I didn't think much of it because I've had a lot of those. But then all morning I had them over and over again, and my stomach felt really tight. Every time I moved, even just leaning forward, it was really painful. I took a nap after lunch, but every time I moved it hurt and kept me from sleeping. So I finally called my doctor and was told to go to the hospital. Farris came home as fast as he could and my friend Julie (thank you!) took the kids and off to Provo we went for a bunch of tests. The baby was good (he was moving so much it was hard to get his heartbeat, I think we might have another crazy kid on the way) and I hadn't dilated at all, but it felt like I was in labor. Eventually all the tests came back, and I have a urinary tract infection that was causing contractions. Luckily, everything else is good so I'm on antibiotics and lots of cranberry juice (yuck) and any other liquids. I didn't even know I had one, the kids had all had fevers spread out over the last week and a half, so when I got a fever and fatigue I thought that's all it was. Anyway, I feel better today after a lot of sleep last night. I'm still pretty tired and I have an occasional contraction but nothing like yesterday. So a little bit scary but nothing too bad.

1st grade happiness/blues

Felicity started first grade yesterday, it was her first full day of school with eating lunch and everything. She enjoyed it, but said the day was really long. She said the teacher told her the days wouldn't be so long soon( I think the teacher said feel so long), and she was wondering how early she got to come home today. That took a little bit of explaining, and I think she was still a little skeptical of my explanation. Farris is driving her and one of her friends into school, and then her friend's mom is bringing them home in the afternoon. It's nice because I don't have to hurry so much in the mornings, but I'm still a little jealous. I love to watch these tiny little kids walking so happily and confidently into a huge school (OK, it's not huge, it's just a lot bigger than what I was used to!). Sigh, the inconsistencies of being a mom. Caleb was a little grumpy when she left yesterday morning, he refused to give Farris and Felicity hugs, I think he's jealous. He does get excited when we say that he gets to go to Kindergarten next year. I don't think Joseph noticed much, but he was delighted to see her when she got back. There was a little less arguing in the house. I shut Felicity's door so Joseph couldn't go in and mess up her markers and crayons, which is a huge source of contention in our home. Someone told me that first graders change so much in the first few months of school, with confidence and independence growing. That is another inconsistency, it makes me want to cry and to smile. I know I have a long way to go before she's gone, but it's still one of those apron strings getting cut. Goodness, I think I better go have a good cry. Or just play with the boys while I still have them all the time. Maybe both.

Goings on and begging for a baby name

Whew! It feels like I've been really busy the last while, too busy to blog...and then I think, what was I doing??? We did have Felicity's birthday, which entailed several six-year-olds and a few others with water balloons (only one kid cried), we've put up about five gallons of beans, picked, dried, and jammed LOTS of apricots (with more coming, plus plums, yum), frozen quite a few bell peppers, and spent lots of time weeding our garden that seems much too big now. We also had Grandma Child and Charitie spend Thursday night and Grandma Newey and Nicki spend Friday night, and a lot of Farris' family for dinner on Sunday. Oh, and I've finished the top for the baby's quilt, I'm planning on taking a couple recuperating hours today and see how much I can finish. Speaking (Blogging?) of baby, we'd appreciate any suggestions of names for our baby boy. Cindi told me last night she only has eight weeks left, and since I'm due a couple weeks after her (and with my record and her record, I just might beat her getting a baby) so the baby is coming soon. Make a good suggestion and it will at least be on the list we take to the hospital. Just remember our last name, and try not to be too mean. We're slowly getting ready for him, gathering clothes and other baby things. I got a new baby swing at a yard sale, and we've had a lot of people give us clothes since he'll be a fall baby instead of a summer baby like Joseph and Caleb were. Our other kids are doing good. Joseph is trying to grow up and be just like Caleb, he repeats his big brother and does all the crazy things Caleb does. It's really frustrating to him when Felicity won't let him color with her or play with (break) her things. It will be good for him to have a little brother that he can play with in about a year or so. He loves his hat and wears it all the time. We've prohibited it at church, at the table, and during prayers, but he's wearing it pretty much all the rest of the time, he even sleeps with it sometimes. Just don't touch it, he likes to wear it his own way, which is so low he has to tip his head back to see. But if you try to fix it, ouch. Caleb is getting bigger and growing up so much right now. He loves his bike Rocket and is getting a little too fearless on it for my sake. He's got one more year before Kindergarten, and we might be organizing a mother preschool for him to go to this year. He's really into tractors and tried to sleep with his tractor coloring book last night. Felicity just turned six and is all registered now for 1st grade. She's excited, we'll see how her first all-day-long day goes. Her birthday was a lot of fun. We made birthday invites on the night of the father/son camp-out when it was just us girls at home. Her party was a water party, with water balloons and other water games and I made a jewelry box cake with candy rings and necklaces. Nicki took a lot of pictures, so I should be able to post some up here soon. Mom and Nicki left after lunch and we all crashed for a couple hours. On Sunday the primary sang to Felicity and gave her a pencil, she was like a little puppy, just wiggling all over the room. Then Rocky and Cindi and Desi and their families came over for dinner. Felicity wanted ebel skevers, so we added crepes and lots of fruit and home grown veggies to the mix, then had cake and ice cream. The kids all had fun, but were tuckered out. And so was Farris and I! And this blog is way too long, and I'm still in my p.j.s, so I'll go for now.

It's raining!

I love the rain. Growing up in a drought has made me appreciate every drop that comes. This has been a good day already (I took a nap and when I woke up I thought an hour had gone by, but I slept for two hours, wow!) , but the rain makes everything seem even better. It's been over 100 degrees this weekend, so the rain has cooled everything down and made our plants happy.
It seems like every family has their own Sunday dinner traditions. My mom declared it her day of rest from the kitchen, and about half the time she would put in a roast in the slowcooker and we were on our own in making the rest of our meal. It was actually kind of fun, we'd poke around to see what everyone else was fixing up. Our tradition is evolving into breakfast dinners. I don't make anything for breakfast beyond oatmeal unless we have visitors, so our french toast, waffles, crepes, and ebelskivers (they're these yummy pancake balls with a fruit filling that my mom made a lot growing up) are only made a dinner time. Sunday feels like a good day to make breakfast at night because it feels kind of special with out spending three hours cooking and cleaning. Plus, Farris helps out a lot with sunday dinners (hurrah, he's home at dinner making time!) and he makes excellent french toast. So, now I'm happy from eating a good breakfast dinner and from the rain. There's nothing like food and cooler temperatures to make a pregnant woman happy. Maybe I'll even have some ice cream...

trips and temples and (fruity) kids

We're back from our trip to Idaho, we had lots of fun and enjoyed spending time with family and being in our homes. We are glad to be back though! Felicity and Caleb were gone for two whole weeks and I think they were missing their rooms and the regular routine. They were showing lots of grumpiness the last few days and I'm hoping that a couple nights of real sleep and regular activities will get them back on even keel. The highlight of our trip was going through the open house for the new Twin Falls Temple. It was gorgeous! I wish we could go through it all again, we went on Saturday and because of so many people waiting to go we didn't get to look as closely at everything as I would have liked to. I can't wait to sit still in the Celestial room and just sit. Guess I'll just have to do some sessions there! We're all very excited that the Magic Valley has a temple, finally, finally.
We've been busy with fruit lately...I think I understand why Washington chopped the cherry tree down. He was tired of finding those gross worms in the fruit! Some friends in our ward gave us permission to pick from their tree, but it hadn't been sprayed and we spent a lot of time dissecting to find the good cherries. I don't think I'll be able to eat cherries for awhile now. Then, when we were in Idaho, Farris spent about three hours at a strawberry farm and came back with nine gallons of strawberries. Mom (thank you again!) helped us freeze some and make jam with the rest, and it's yummy! Yesterday on the way home we stopped in Burley and picked raspberries (thanks again, Judy!) and brought home a lot to make more jam and maybe just freeze some of those, too. We've had two offers this week to pick apricots and eventually we want to raid some peach trees, too. This winter I will be very grateful, I just hope I don't keel over with all this now.
Our garden decided to double itself while we were gone, including the weeds unfortunately. Our tomato plants are loaded with green fruit and our bell peppers are popping out all over, our carrots are getting close to pick, the watermelon has a little melon and the beans and corn are getting really big and I think our strawberries are looking much better if we can find them under the weeds. Yikes! We've created a monster. Now we have to do something with it all.
The kids are doing great. Joseph had fun trying to keep Grandpa Newey from taking naps (from just saying "wake up, sleepyhead!" to joining his cousin Michael in bouncing blocks off grandpa's head), Felicity is observing our driving much how a teenager would, and asked me if the other car could hear me talking to it? Caleb is the same mellow kid, he loved playing with his big boy cousins. When we were driving through Jerome he saw some cows out the window and announced it. I was making sure I knew the way I was going and not really paying attention and just said "Really? Lucky duck!" and he confusedly answered, "No, Mom, COWS."
Whew, I knew this was going to be a long one. And I know we don't put pictures on here, I'm sorry. Someday we will leave the past and actually get a digital camera, until then, you'll have to come see us and take your own pictures. Our house is always open for guests. Especially if they like to weed...

Camping at Outhouse Flats

Happy 4th of July! We had a great time this weekend (but it sure felt great to take a really long nap on Saturday after everyone had left!) . On Thursday after many calls to coordinate efforts, we met my mom, dad, Tasha, and the kids at Nicki's in Ogden and then headed up to Outhouse Flats by Pine View Reservoir in the Ogden Canyon to go camping. Now, the camp ground is not really called Outhouse Flats, but my mischievous dad and his equally so friends named it that when the forest service first opened the campground on a flat area between the highway and the reservoir. They had planted trees, but the trees were still really small compared to the outhouses. The kids tried to put up signs saying Outhouse Flats, but the forest service didn't think it was funny and kept taking down the signs. Frustrated, dad and his friends looked for something more permanent. Such as the white reflective highway paint. And Dad's cousin Paul's dad worked for the highway department...all was going well. They only had one more hitch in their plan. In the middle of painting the new name on the highway, going both ways, the local sheriff's deputy stopped by. They hid, but it was a cold night and the paint was steaming up from their hiding place in the bushes. The deputy's flashlight shined right on it. But after reading what was written he just laughed, announced to the steam that he'd be swinging through the area in a little while so they better hurry, and left them to finish the job. So to get back to the original topic, we went camping at Outhouse Flats, but the trees are much bigger now. Melissa and Rob joined us in a little while, then Chad and Tarilynn and kids, so everybody was there. Grandma and Grandpa were practically floating with all their grandkids around them. In the morning we went to the Huntsville park for the town breakfast and parade. Huntsville is growing but it still has a lot of the traditions that it had when we were kids (luckily, since we were out of the town we missed the sheriff driving through town at six with his siren on to wake everyone up for the breakfast. That was a tradition gladly missed) and it was really fun for Dad to see so many people he grew up with, including his cousin Paul. After the parade we went to grandma Newey's house that Aunt DaNeice owns now and had lunch with our cousins. We left to meet a college roommate of mine for a few minutes and then met back at our house here for dinner, except Chad and Tarilynn who headed back to Idaho. Saturday morning we just enjoyed being together and then packed everybody up to head back home. Felicity and Caleb jumped in with grandma at the last minute and I'm still trying to remember if I packed enough underwear for them in the frantic packing. As loud and busy as Joseph is, it sure is a lot quieter with the older two gone, and it was amazing how much faster we got ready for Church this morning. We do miss them, Joseph wandered the house this morning looking for Felicity. We'll pick them up when we head to Idaho for a family reunion this coming weekend. When we talked to them on the phone I think we missed them more than they missed us, Felicity was just excited that she got french frys and a hamburger for dinner. And speaking of that, I better go make dinner, Joseph is declaring he's hungry.