These are the joys of parenting!!!

What was so funny is she was doing this for a minute or so before I grabbed the camera. We are so mean just to sit and laugh but we couldn't stop, it was hilarious!

Who doesn't love the sound of children laughing. We got this game for Christmas from Kevin's Brother Matt and his wife Kristine. THANK YOU! The kids have loved it, and I have loved watching them play it.

Look who got braces

Andrew got his braces on yesterday. He was really nervous but he was such a trooper. The orthodontist was really impressed at how he never complained. I think they will only be on for six months. I'm amazed that out of the seven kids in my family NONE had braces. Eyes were another story. We have already had a expander on Danika and now braces with Andrew. I just hope the other kids teeth come in nice and straight....wishful thinking I know, but one can always hope.This is the picture I took before he went into the Orthodontist. I love the flaring of the nostrils and BriLynn wanting to be in it.
And after. You can tell better in this one how sideways that front tooth is. We needed to fix that and move it closer to his other front tooth for the others to come in more properly. My baby has braces (sigh).

Tell me you've done it too

Tonight was wonderful. The bishopric and their wives were invited to the etiquette dinner the young women and young men put on. It was a nice "date" night with my hubby. I wasn't going to go but the second counselors wife said she had a babysitter and didn't want to be the only wife there, so I decided to go. Ummm..all the babysitters would be at the activity so what to do.... I ask my nine year old to babysit. When I asked her she was more than willing to watch the rest of the kids. Tell me you've done this, left your oldest to babysit. If so, how old were they when you left them? For how long?
I got a movie earlier for them and they watched that while I was gone. Things got started late so after the dinner I looked at the time and it had been an hour and a half. I called home and this is what she said, "I already put BriLynn to bed and the boys and I are playing a quiet game."
My joy was overflowing he he. When I got home she had told me she had the kids play a game to clean up the popcorn they had since she knew I wouldn't like seeing the mess when I got home. Can you say angel! Really do we need to call for a babysitter anymore when we have one at home? Sure she is young but she's responsible.

Tonight when Kevin had come home he mentioned he was going to say a few words before the dinner. I asked him what he was going to say, and he thought it would be something about being virtuous, lovely, of good report or praiseworthy. So those of you who know me, know I love to come up with funny quirky things. This is what I came up with. He embarrassed me by sharing it with the group.

The 14th article of faith

We believe in being polite, clean, proper
and keeping our mouths closed when we chew;
Indeed we may say that we follow an etiquette code
- We chew all things, we swallow all things,
we have tasted some nasty things
and hope to be able to digest all things.
If there is anything healthy, delicious,
scrumptious or good looking,
we seek after these things.

I wanted to add something like:
If there is anything nasty, allergic, or blackened we seek not for these things.

I could have also mentioned stuff about proper sounds at the table but I decided to steer clear of that one.

Happy etiquette everyone.

Random

I have to jot this down because I know I will forget and I think it's hilarious.
On Sunday I was in my dress and we were ready to have breakfast. I accidentally dropped my fork and it hit my dress. I had to get a rag and wipe it off.

So Andrew asks: Mom, why aren't you wearing your foo foo?
Me: My what?
Andrew: You know that foo foo thing you wear to cover your dress.
Me: Oh the moo moo dress ha ha

Thanks for your comments on the last post. It's amazing how pregnancy can put you on an emotional roller coaster.

On another random note we are trying a program on our computer to limit the time the kids spend on it. It's only a two week trial and so far it's working great. Kevin said he could write a program to do the same thing. We set how much per week they are allowed. This last week it was three hours. They each have their own password to log on. I love that I don't have to say "times up". If they use all their time in one day then it won't let them log back on. Mommy doesn't have to be the big bad wolf since it's the computer telling them they can't play anymore he he.

Lonely

Most Sundays are fine but today for some reason I'm really missing my hubby. Even as I sit here and type this tears are coming to my eyes. I'm blaming the hormones. Maybe it's that there has been more screaming and tantrums thrown this morning. (breath)....okay I'm feeling better already. UGH...Jacob's screaming now, good feeling gone :(

I've got it!

I never made a new years resolution and after an enlightening relief society meeting on Wednesday night I think I've got it. We were discussing nutrition. I have always taken my role as a mother and wife as a "job". Now this may sound silly but it gets me in the mood to do those mundane tasks aka laundry we do as mothers. I feel that if Kevin has to go to work and perform to the best of his ability in his field. So should I. My payoff is the many blessing given by a loving Father in Heaven. Anyway...as I was listening to the sister talk about nutrition she brought up our bodies being like temples. I've heard this since I was in young womens but it struck me that I am responsible right now for not only my body but my children as well. I need to do better at increasing certain things in our diets. I have always felt I have done a good job. We rarely go out to eat (maybe once or twice a month, and thats without the kids) and we only drink pop on special occasions. I make sure we have a vegetable with every meal and I've stopped buying sugary treats like fruit snacks.
I'm not perfect and I know that this will take some time but I am going to start increasing the fiber and fruits in our diets. I also want to decrease the amount of sugar consumed. I like how she referred to sugar as "the new drug for our society" Sugar is in everything. I hope I can stick to this. If any of you have fiber friendly recipes please send them my way.
One thing I'm going to start with is making wheat bread. This recipe is so simple and my kids love it. I may start making it weekly like Kevin's aunt. She does it every week for her family of eleven.
Yummy Wheat Bread

3 Tbs yeast
3 Tbs vital gluten
1 Tbs salt
1/2-1 cup wheat germ
1 cup honey
2/3 cup oil
6 cups hot water
6 cups+ white flour
6 cups+ wheat flour

Instructions:
1 Preheat oven for 200 Combine in bowl first four ingredients.
2 Combine in the mixing bowl honey, oil and water.
3 Add six cups flour to the mixing bowl; mix well. Add yeast mixture. Start timer for 12 minutes. Add 6+ flour till the dough cleans the sides of the bowl (I find it's quite a bit more flour). Continue mixing until the 12 minutes is up. Divide dough into four loaves and place in 4 oiled and sprayed bread pans. Place loaves in oven and set timer for 20 minutes
4 If loaves have risen to just above the rim after the 20 minutes turn oven to 350 and bake for 20 minutes. Check for doneness by tapping and listening for a hollow sound; add five minutes if necessary.
5 For softer loaves, immediately turn the bread out of pans and onto a damp kitchen towel. Spritz with water. Allow them to cool and then slice or freeze.

I also want to make homemade granola more often.

8 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups wheat germ
1 1/2 cups oat bran
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup finely chopped almonds
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup honey
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups raisins or sweetened dried cranberries

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment or aluminum foil.
Combine the oats, wheat germ, oat bran, sunflower seeds, almonds, pecans, and walnuts in a large bowl. Stir together the salt, brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, oil, cinnamon, and vanilla in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then pour over the dry ingredients, and stir to coat. Spread the mixture out evenly on the baking sheets.
Bake in the preheated oven until crispy and toasted, about 20 minutes. Stir once halfway through. Cool, then stir in the raisins or cranberries before storing in an airtight container.

I'm sure it will be baby steps from here but I feel I'm on my way to making my family healthier.

Changes

Since we will have a new little one in 11 weeks (wow that sounds like a short time) We needed to do some rearranging. We had the three boys in one room and it was cramped. We decided to moved them downstairs. Jacob now has his own room till the baby comes. We moved the toys into his room also.It makes bed time so much nicer. I was worried about putting Luke and Andrew downstairs but they love it. We had to move the guest bed into the office. It actually looks less cluttered than it did before which is surprising since a bed is now in there.
It's amazing how moving things around makes thing feel newer (do you know what I mean?) We had talked about moving before Kevin was called to be the Bishop and so I guess moving things around makes us feel like we are in a way. So while moving the boys we rearranged the living room. We will be buying a new set of bunk-beds this weekend and then we will have six beds for the six kids. I still feel cramped at times, especially when I see things like buckets of clothes piled high in the garage. We are running out of places to put things. Our neighbor offered us his home, it's bigger than ours. He wants to get into a home with less stairs (his wife just broke her back slipping down them). It's funny how much Kevin has entertained the idea. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful we have the rooms we do. I remember sharing a room with my four sisters when we lived in a government trailer camp. I can't imagine seven kids in a three bedroom trailer but we did it.

Jr Jazz

This year we put Andrew in Jr. Jazz. His first game was yesterday and he loved it. He had so much fun with basketball, a lot more than he did with soccer. (Plus it's cheaper, and you get a jersey. With soccer you have to buy all the gear.) So we probably won't do soccer again with him. Here are some pics I took at his game. This is Luke with a flag he made to cheer on his brother. It says "go Andrew".
This is blurry but if you look through the two kids in green jerseys you'll see a leg and arm sticking out. It was right after a basket was made and Andrew was excited.
His team the Hawks.
Our cute player.
He didn't pick his jersey number but Kevin thought it was cool that he got Deron Williams number. Lets just say Daddy likes that his boy is playing ball.

On a side note: I didn't think I would like having church at 1. I'm a morning person and I like to have the rest of the day. I didn't want to wait around all day for church to start. But, I'm finding that it's nice. I get to sleep in and I don't have to rush. I think it will be nice for when the baby comes too. What is your favorite time for church?

A new kind of patch

With Andrew turning eight he is now going to cub scouts. He is super excited. Seeing the price tag after buying all the "stuff" they need, I wasn't as excited. His first meeting is tonight. He has been glued to the Wolf handbook. After sewing on the patches to his shirt, I'm ready to buy the sticky stuff to put them on. Atleast the Lowe's patches gave me some practice ha ha.It will be fun to see him get some new kind of patches.
On other news, the van is officially gone. The family that was buying it gave us some money down and we held it till they paid the rest. They came and got the title and keys last night. Kinda sad, we had it for five years. Lots of memories.

It's Great to be Eight

It's hard to believe that I have two kids that have been baptized. Do you ever feel like your younger than you are.
It's neat that those in our stake are baptized in the Logan Tabernacle, such a historic place. I know Andrew will remember the date too since it was the first day of the year. I worried about doing it on the first but after hearing that nine are scheduled for this coming Saturday I'm glad we did. It was a beautiful day full of the spirit, family, and friends. Look at these handsome boys!It was pretty warm with the humidity from the water so I look like the state puff marshmallow man. It took awhile for the swelling to go down.

I did the same thing I did at Danika's baptism and had those that attended write their testimonies while Andrew and Kevin were getting dressed. I love that he can open his baptism book and read through them anytime to help his testimony grow. We were going to have the luncheon at our home but we decided to scheduled the church instead. I'm glad we did, I can't imagine this many people in our house. Thank you to everyone who came and supported Andrew on his special day. Now I can relax for two more years till I have to plan the next baptism luncheon, invites, book etc. Oh wait...I guess there will be a baby blessing before that. Snap.