What was I thinking????????

I have a saying in the kids bathroom that says "Insanity is when your mind says no, but your mouth says sure I'd love to."
Well I'm sure "I'd love to" wasn't in my answer but I still said yes none the less. I just hope I can handle it all.

Three children in school (the homework battle begins), a son going to preschool three days a week. A two year old who swears she's Dora and a five month old who nurses and is just learning to eat. Oh did I mention he is still waking up two to three times a night... ugh. A husband who is gone every Tuesday, some Thursdays and all day Sunday. Taking care of the lawn and garden. Making meal plans, Fixing meals, shopping. Paying the bills, visiting teaching, preparing music time in primary, doctors visits, dental visits, orthodontist visits (you get the picture). Cleaning the house, doing laundry, making sure the kids get attention from Mommy and everything else that comes along. Well that doesn't seem to be enough... So I'll just add on PTA president. Yep...what was I thinking? Oh yeah...I wasn't.

Prepare yourself

Don't say I didn't warn you. This is a bunch of pictures from some of our recent activities.

Swimming lessons.







Fun painting



Water fun with friends at the park.




Fun at the cabin.
Notice Danika's poses ha ha

Cute Cute Boys!!!




Fun visiting Grandparents. This is my Grandma Steele, she is turning 94 this month. She was snapping beans when we got there. Just an amazing women!


Just having fun being together


I'm amazed how fast the Summer has gone. Only a few more weeks till School begins (sigh)....I'm missing the kids already

A lot of firsts!

My baby is 4 months old....sigh...as I was telling my friends yesterday he has been such a fun and happy baby that I actually entertained the idea of having a seventh. That thought quickly diminished as the other kids started fighting. I couldn't decide which one to post so I'll post both.

Here is his first time trying a pickle. He actually liked to suck on it after the first taste.
And his first time with cereal. He has been waking up every two hours through the night so I thought maybe it was time for solids....it didn't help, he is still waking up a lot through the night.
I read this idea in a book and thought it would be fun. To do smores with mini marshmallows over candle light. The kids had fun. Of course many started on fire he he.

Life Lessons

Yesterday was eventful. As we had packed up from camping up at our ward campout we decided to drive around and find a small hiking trail. We found one that lead to Rosy's mine. Sounds interesting eh?

Clue #1: Those coming off the trail said it was "a hard hike" (They were scout age)
Clue #2: They also mentioned you had to cross through water three times(their pants and shoes were soaked)
Clue#3: It was a 3 mile hike with 6 SMALL children
Clue #4: We had two small water containers
Clue#5: Jacob just had sandles on
Clue #6: Kevin and I were running on probably three hours of sleep
Clue #7: NO BABY CARRIER

Poor Jacob thought we were headed to Treasure Island (from a Dora video). He was all sorts of excited on the way up. After finding that there wasn't any treasure there he was pretty bummed.

Ummm...what were we thinking?

I just took this picture, BriLynn is still recouping today.

I have to say I'm proud that we made it the whole way and back. We were all wet and tired but I think it made us stronger as a family. Sure made my arms stronger too from carrying one child on my shoulders while another in my arms. I guess that old saying "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." applies well this time :)

Proud Momma

Danika sang in church yesterday. She did such a great job. I on the other hand made many mistakes on the piano but thankfully no one noticed. I don't know why I sign up for these things, I guess I hope that if I do it enough the nervousness of performing in front of people will go away. No luck so far. I'm pretty sure I'm more nervous playing the piano than I was dancing for a crowd in college.
We took a video later while Kevin's parents were listening on the phone but alas it won't upload.

This picture will though... I'm all for free stuff so when my neighbor told us about free meals at Chick-fil-a on July 8th, I was all sorts of excited. You could wear a cow hat that would get you a free entree or if you dressed fully like a cow you could get a combo meal free. I had my costume planned out but that day I got mastitis (I think the only other time I've had it was when I nursed Danika) I didn't feel up to making costume so we just wore the hats. BriLynn loved the cows. She hugged them many times.

Blah....

Ever felt like not doing anything? There are so many things I should be doing (like making my meal plan or cleaning) but I don't feel like it. It's one of those days that the kids have probably watched more TV than they should but I need some down time.

Here are some pics from the last month.

BriLynn wanted to be like Mommy. What can I say, I'm a cheapskate and won't pay the 40 plus dollars it is to highlight my hair. So my sister comes over and does the 6 dollar cap kind at wally world. You can't tell but BriLynn has plastic wrap on her head for her cap.A little FHE fun.

Guess who's three months!
This little guy is growing too fast. I love his pose in this, it looks like he is cheering for himself.

I thought it would be cute to take a picture comparing Jonathan's feet to Kevin's.

We took these pictures to see if the kids looked like us. BriLynn and Jonathan are not in them but what do you think?

Newest addition

I'm so excited we have a piano now. The keyboard that we had was awesome. The damper peddle wasn't working and a song I played needed the lower keys that the keyboard didn't have but it was a great piano. I think the kids will miss the demo songs....me...well... not so much. One gets sick of a song played over and over again. The best part is we got this for FREE (insert smiley face....a big smiley face) It's in great condition, all it needs is to be tuned but even now it doesn't sound bad. I'm also excited because it can be locked so the little kids don't bang on the keys during FHE like they could on the keyboard. I know it's silly to post about a piano but I'm just super excited. Whats wonderful is that we were able to give the keyboard to a friend who didn't have anything to practice on. Just goes to show that one persons kindness can be felt my many.

A bit early I know

I have to say Happy Fathers Day to my WONDERFUL, FABULOUS, HOT hubby. He is such a good Father and I couldn't have asked for a better eternal companion. He is such a great example to me.

I get people asking me how I'm doing with Kevin being gone all the time but he has it harder than I do. His calling could be a full time job. He is gone a lot and not just physically. He ponders a lot at home and when I ask him what he is thinking about, he of course can't tell me. It seems as soon as the kids go down he's finishing up letters that need to be written or other stuff. I have a greater respect for all "ward fathers".

Happy Fathers Day to all the Fathers out there! Thanks for all you do!

B is for Baby

I can't believe our baby is two months old. He weighs 11 lbs 8 oz.

The doctor says he is perfect. He is in the 50th percentile in everything, which surprised me since he seems a bit chunky....a very cute chunky of course.
I had to share these photos I took today. The kids crack me up. They dressed up like this to look like spys but I told them since it was B day they could be a Boy Band. Danika didn't like that idea ha ha. Of course BriLynn wanted to get in on the show.


I highly recommend making these bubble wands with kids, we had so much fun. You can find out how on the summer idea site I posted earlier.

Cool huh?

Summer is here!

The kids kicked off summer with a gathering of friends. There was about 25 kids here. Can you say crazy! Most of them were Danika's and Andrew's age so it wasn't that bad. Now if I had 25 two year olds here I'm sure I would have pulled my hair out ha ha.
I hope to focus on keeping my kids entertained and happy this summer. They are only little once. I want them to have fond memories of Summers at home. I started a blog of Summer ideas for kids. summerideasforkids.blogspot.com. If you have any ideas of fun crafts, games, activities etc. you have done with kids please share.
Here is a picture from our "A" day.
Their paper craft Animals turned out cute. Even BriLynn had fun coloring and putting it together. Thats the struggle I'll have, keeping kids between the ages of 2-10 interested.