May so far...

Larry took the kids fishing on a free fishing day. They went with a bunch of other families from the Elder's Quorum. Spencer, Miranda, and Derek each caught a fish. They had fun- even though Derek fell into the pond. Here are my goodies from Mother's Day.

After bugging me for about 3 weeks, Miranda and I made cupcakes for FHE. Here is Kara scarfing down hers.

This past weekend my parents came into town. We did so much! Probably too much because Larry sprained his ankle and I did something to my foot, so we are both hobbling around. We went to baseball, student conferences at the school, the beach, the park, farmer's market, Jackson Bottom wetlands (where Derek, Spencer, and I sank up to our ankles in mud), fixed our back fence, shoppedng at the mall, and had a big dinner with Larry and Lori. Wow- all in 2 1/2 days, no wonder Larry and I were exhausted!

Happy Birthday, Miranda, and more...

A few weeks ago, Larry had his "chess party" at the kids' school. He gave all the kids certificates and chess keychains, did a little powerpoint presentation, and we all had ice cream and played chess. He is still the coaching chess, but just one morning a week until school ends instead of two. He likes it that he gets to help three of our kids and the school is really supportive. He plans to do it again next year. This is a typical scene around our house. Derek, especially likes to read in strange postions. He has been rather like a slug lately since he devoured the Harry Potter series in a few weeks. He is now rereading his favorite parts. Miranda has also read a couple, but she likes some variety. I'm glad my kids all like to read, but sometimes I wish that the bookcases had some kind of giant book-vacuum attached to suck all the books back onto the shelves! Kara follows me around half the day with her arms loaded with books for me to read. Luckily, she has realized that Derek, Miranda, and Spencer can also read to her, so she sometimes concedes to go with them.

Miranda celebrated her 9th birthday a little bit ago. She got LOTS of craft supplies and projects. The ladies in my ward donated a whole bunch of scrapbooking supplies/paper/scissors etc., so all I had to do was buy a large organizer for it all. She also got some color by number things, a ceramic stone to decorate for outside, markers, needle projects, and more.

Since this isn't a birthday-party-with-friends year, we just had presents, one of her favorite dinners, and brownies on her actual birthday. To make it even lamer, I miscounted and only put 8 candles in!

Luckily, I redeemed myself the next day when we celebrated with extended family. Miranda had fun decorating her cake with M&Ms. She also had her beloved potatoe soup, garlic cheese bread, and strawberries with fruit dip.

Miranda really is getting so big. She is growing and maturing before our very eyes. She has so many talents and good qualities- like being helpful, compassionate, fun to be around, eager to learn, enthusiastic, humble, willing to try new things, etc. There are so many! Miranda rocks!

As for the rest of us:

Larry is now coaching T-ball for the oldest four kids and well as chess club. With being recently called as Elder's Quorum president and his Blazers in the playoffs, he has been very busy lately. Not to mention the giant pile of bark dust in the driveway that is slowly making it's way to various spots in the yard.

I am feeling quite huge, still getting around, but having some belly-stretching pains. We have baby names down to about 10, so we are doing really good.

Derek is going to get a retainer next week to help push one of his teeth forward- thank goodness for Intel orthodontist coverage!

Spencer is doing a running club on Monday nights. He comes home SO happy! They do some running games, then go for a run in a park. I think he was made to run- he LOVES it!

Lindsey is still doing preschool for another month and is really into her friends. She still dresses up a lot (middle of the night wake up call- "Mom, my necklace fell off!"). She also loves to look at books and make up stories to them. She occassionally makes Spencer call her different names, like Tasha, Roadia, and Cassie.

Kara is FINALLY saying more words that actually sound like something. It is very frustrating for both of us when she gives me the magnadoodle and expects me to draw JIBERKIMISH or whatever sound comes out of her mouth. She can say cat, kitty, mama, dada, please,banana, cow, car, ball, no!, uh-oh, nose, eyes, fish, doggie, blankie, juice, duck, and Shadow. She also got her first haircut a couple weeks ago, so that the top of her hair can catch up to the bottom. She is adorable!

April

It's been a while, so I thought I'd catch up on the posts. Here's a picture of Lindsey, fresh off her daddy date with Larry. They got a giant Slurpee, fries and a crown at Burger King, and a gold balloon from the dollar store. Lindsey was in heaven!

For Easter, we were invited to an egg hunt at a friend's house. Kara caught on real quick! And gorged on candy to her heart's content.

They got a few more goodies the next day in their Easter baskets.

Here's Kara having fun marking up Larry's beloved calendar/endless to-do lists.

In other news, we just moved Kara into Lindsey's room, so they are sharing now. So far it hasn't been too bad, but they were both cranky from getting each other up about an hour early this morning.

I am now about 27 weeks along. My belly really got bigger in this last month, and if history repeats itself, my massive growth spurt is only about half way done. I've had to put away a few pairs of maternity pants and shirts because they suddenly don't fit anymore. I can't wait for the weather to get warmer because all my big maternity stuff is capris and tee shirts! I am feeling good, though, and this little girl is quite active, so I can't complain. Three more months to go!

Sometimes I wonder...

Sometimes I wonder about what is going on inside Derek's head. When Melissa posted about checking her kids for ticks, I thought about this assignment Derek had at school. If you know about the story, "If you give a Pig a Pancake", then you know the story starts with giving a pig a pancake, who then asks for your favorite syrup, then needs a bath, etc, etc. Based off this book, he was supposed to come up with his own "IF" situation. This is what he said, "If you take a mite or tick to the hospital...

"It will get the sick people more sick". Lovely. I'm not sure where Derek's knowledge of mites and ticks comes from, but he had mentioned it quite a bit over the week preceeding that.

Here's another assignment. One side is Good and one side is Bad...( Sorry it's sideways)

"Bad- A ninja is trying to kill me when i was graduating college. HEY! (At least I know he's planning on graduating from college- note that he even has a graduation cap).

Good- I got a trillion dollars! Cool. ( I think those are giant presents surrounding him apparently full of money).

For a while he was also praying a lot for poor people or people that don't have food or houses to live in. I have read that gifted children are more aware of larger social issues and are bothered by them, but this is the first time I had seen it in Derek. I think it was because they were raising money at school for Haiti.

This month's randomness

Miranda had a recorder concert at the school. All the third graders played songs that were incorporated into a play. It was actually not bad! On Saturday, Spencer got his reward for finishing all 100 lessons in his reading book. We had a "puzzle party", which meant that we did all the puzzles that we could find in our house in about 1 1/2 hours. I did not realize how many we had! I think the official count is 38 in this photo. Of course, we didn't attempt any puzzles over 150 peices for the pictures- it wouldn't look as impressive. Spencer loved it all. He also got to pick what we had for dinner and dessert that night.

A week or so ago, we went to a robotics competition at the Memorial Collesium. Larry's dad took us around to see all the robots and watch them play soccer. It was cool, and the kids loved collecting the buttons and free stuff from each of the teams.

I think this picture deserves an explanation. Every so often Larry and I have a reward treat for those willing to try a new food. This night it was Asian BBQ Chicken. I gave them each about a pinkie's size of chicken to try. Most of them plug their noses or try to wash it down with milk after each little bite. Poor kids! All that suffering for a popcicle! Derek chewed but could not force himself to swallow the chicken for about 5 minutes. (I had to say that chicken was absolutely DELICIOUS!- in my opinion...)

And our final randomness...We caught Kara jumping back into the tub after her bath. Silly!

It's a Girl-- for sure!

It's been confirmed- it's another girl for us. I'm not sure how three girls in a row is going to be, but I am excited. Since I've strongly suspected this since the last ultrasound, it wasn't big news to me. Mostly it means that I need to start thinking of girl names!
Miranda came to the ultrasound to see the baby. It was fun to see her- we got some great profile pictures and could even see her tongue moving around in her mouth a little! It will be exciting to see how she turns out to be when we see her next- in July. I would say that I can't wait, but I really am not ready yet!

January/February

Hello all! It has been ages since I've updated the blog, so here are some random pictures and updates from us. One of Spencer's major accomplishments in January was completing the 500 peice Chicken puzzle he got for Christmas. Spencer is still obsessed with puzzles, loves Chess, and has recently rediscovered how much he likes to play outside, ride bikes, and run. He also loves school, especially PE.

Lindsey is enjoying preschool with her three little friends. She still zonks out at least 4 days a week. She loves falling asleep during church, and I think she's only made it twice through church without sleeping in class or even right in front of the primary conductor! She is also loving the outdoors. She loves to throw rocks into my flowerbeds and ride her bike. She is also playing quite a bit with Kara- which is SO wonderful for me. (You mean, I can do something for 20 minutes without being interrupted???) She likes to trap the cats in her room so they are forced to play with her.

Shadow and Penny (the cats): Shadow has at least doubled in size and now both of them have the softest fur ever. They are great and have free reign of the house/garage for most of the day. We're starting to ease them into being outside. Shadow, who Miranda thinks we should rename "Mischief", especially relishes his time outside.

Kara is growing up. She is almost 18 months old and says a few random words here and there. In this photo, she decided that one bath just wasn't enough and jumped back in fully dressed. Kara is so cute and often has a big open-mouthed grin. She recently hit two milestones- NO pacifier at all, and NO more highchair! She is really quite good at the table and uses her utensils most of the time. Now I've just got to get her sleeping in Lindsey's room!

Derek's passion for Star Wars is on the back-burner as he is into Legos, chess, and other random pastimes. He recently decided that he wanted to get back to piano lessons and retaught himself the first couple levels of lessons- I guess I will have to participate within the next week or so. He also likes to ride bikes down our street with Spencer and Miranda.

Miranda LOVES having our cats and loves to steal Shadow away to cuddle with her while she reads. She still loves to cook, make crafts, watch Tom and Jerry, and play with everyone. She is currently doing a Youth Theatre group and they will put on a play with songs and choreography in a few weeks. She has really enjoyed the practices and going to Activity Days.

Me- Life is going good in the second trimester. I am offically 20 weeks- half way. We find out for sure the sex of the baby this Thursday, so I will make sure to post again soon. It has been SO nice to work on projects inside and outside of the house and have more energy lately. I was also called to be Beehive advisor, so that has been fun and new recently.

Larry continues to be his busy self with training for the Hood to Coast run, basketball, Blazers, chess coaching, and just being an awesome husband and father- not to mention, work. I don't know how he stays sane.