Eating through a straw

It was a difficult process getting Sara to learn to eat baby food. She wouldn't open her mouth very wide and once the food was in she'd gag and choke. A friend of mine had told me how she'd seen another friend feeding her child baby food through a straw and she'd tried it and it worked like a charm. The feeding time was cut drastically and there was virtually no mess. Of course I had to try it too. All I can say is why on earth did I have to learn about this with my FIFTH child instead of my first!?! So this video is for Mom who wanted to see the cuteness of Sara eating.

Christmas highlights

This year Matt was on call Christmas day. He had to go in that morning about 5am and wouldn't get home until noon the next day. (We went up to the hospital to surprise Matt and had Christmas dinner with him in the cafeteria. The only good thing I can say about the food was at least I didn't have to cook!) So we decided to have our family Christmas on Saturday morning. It was very hard for the kids not being able to open their presents, so we let them open the presents Grandma and Grandpa Peck and Grandma Westhoff had sent them. Here they are with some of the loot.

Jacob and Bryan got these really cool propeller things that they just loved and play with ALL the time. They are pretty fun as you can steer them in any direction with the remote control. Here are the boys in action.

With the Sleeping Beauty dvd Ella got, there was some play makeup. Matt is so cute painting her fingernails I couldn't resist the photo op. What he won't do for that sweet little girl! She has him totally wrapped around that painted little pinkie!

When he was done I heard him tell her, "Now wave your hands like this so it will dry." He's such a pro!

The Hunger Games

Just finished reading this book yesterday. It is a must read. Seriously. Read it. You will be thinking about it for a while after you finish. It just came out this fall, so you should be able to get it from your local library pretty easily. It's in the young adult section (Bear with me for a short tangential tirade.....I don't know why they pigeon-hole so many great books by labeling them YA. I think too many adults are put off by this label and end up missing out on some really good reads. Just because the book is written from a sixteen-year-old girl's POV doesn't mean that it's just for teenagers! I appreciate not having to read obscene language and sex in books so maybe that's why it was put in the YA section because it lacks offensive material. Anyway....) Don't waste time. Once this starts getting around more the wait list will be long. Somebody read it fast so I can have someone to talk about it with! Anyway, as far as I know, it's going to be a triolgy and I can't wait for the second one. The only problem is, since it's so new I'll probably have to wait at least a year, maybe longer. 

I hate waiting....

Ella-isms

After letting out an especially stinky toot, Ella says, " I smell like Daddy!"

"I can't stop hicking-up" (In case you don't get it, she meant hiccupping)

Ella was playing with several colors of modeling clay and had mushed them into a nice brown color. She rolled it up and came to show me her creation.

Ella-"Look Mom, I made a snake. Here's it's tail and this is it's head."

Me- "Ella that looks like a turd."

Aaron, in true big brother fashion, grabbed it from her and took off. As she was chasing him to get it back I heard her yell, "That's MY turd!" 

Coldplay=AWESOME!!

Matt and I went to the Coldplay Viva La Vida concert Saturday night in Salt Lake. In a word, AWESOME! I have been so excited for this since he bought the tickets months ago. It exceded my expectations. We had much better seats than the first time we saw them in Milwaukee!

We were only nine rows back in the first tier, straight back from the stage. Perfect view.

Part of the way through the show, we saw some guys putting up a rope in the aisle a section away from us and we knew they would be coming in the audience. We were right! Look how close, too cool!

I hope the next time we see them, it's in London. A girl can dream, can't she?

Chris Martin is such a great musician and singer! Matt thought he was drunk. I thought he was brilliant! 

Twilight

Saw Twilight a few days ago when I was in Utah. I got to see it with my sister which is only right since she was the one who turned me on to the books. My SIL Reggie also got to come down from Logan to see it with us. It was so much fun - just a night out with the girls! What can I say, I loved it! I know, I'm a sap. Sure, it had some problems. It was a low budget flick afterall. But it stayed fairly true to the book and my expectations weren't that high to begin with. I probably won't see it again in the theaters, they don't need my 8 bucks (New Moon has already gotten the go ahead). But I'm sure I'll own it on DVD someday. I would like to see the deleted scenes and behind the scenes stuff. Too bad it won't be out in time for Christmas.

My Cuties

The boys got a hold of my camera and took a bunch of pictures.

Here's Bryan being creative or silly. Or both.

Aaron loves Sara and is always wanting to hold her and play with her. Most of the time she is ok with that. Other times, not so much.

I'm not sure what Jacob's doing here. Probably just trying to be cool.

Aaron's teeth are literally falling out of his mouth. He has lost three in the past month and has another one loose. All he wants for Christmas......is money for his missing teeth.

Speaking of Christmas, yes, we already have our tree up. We opted for fake this year so we'd have more $$ for presents. I prefer real trees, but for a cheap one it really doesn't look too bad. The kids were excited real or not. They had fun decorating it and making cookies for FHE (that's Mormon slang for Family Home Evening in case you didn't know :) Sara doesn't look happy, but that's because I had to wake her up to take this pic.

Halloween, better late than never...

I'm so bad. In all my hurrying to get all my kids dressed in thier costumes to go trick-or-treating, I didn't get a single picture! Luckily my friend, Jen was more on the ball than me and got this one (I swiped it off her blog!) The kids had a great time with all their friends. We're so lucky to have so many great families with kids the same ages as mine right here in our neighborhood!

Jacob was Link (from the Legend of Zelda video game), Bryan was a Luke Skywalker, Ella was a baby and Aaron (hidden behind Emily, the green fairy) was a tiger.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY!!!!

Amy through the years.....

I hope you have a wonderful birthday! You deserve it. I'm so glad Heavenly Father sent us to the earth together as sisters! You're the best. I love ya more than my luggage!

Random Sampler

I hadn't posted for awhile, so here's some random photos of the fam. Enjoy.

Matt will kill me for posting this, but oh well. He's just too cute! I mean sexy :D  

I love Jacob's expression. What a couple of goofballs! 

Aaron lost his first tooth! Literally. We can't find it anywhere. It might be somewhere in his room. I should have confiscated it instead of letting him be in charge of it. You'd think I'd know better by now. Alas, the tooth fairy has yet to visit our home.

My beautiful girls. I know all Mommies think their kids are wonderful and perfect, but seriously, aren't they just gorgeous? Chubby-dimpled cheeks are my favorite! Ella is such a good big sister. I'm so grateful Heavenly Father knew better than me and blessed us with another precious little girl.

Bryan and his friend Matthew came home one day wearing these. I think Bryan looks like Garth. Party on, EX-CEL-ENT!

Aaron's 6th Birthday

I totally neglected to post anything from Aaron's birthday. Bad Mommy. He did have a great birthday, though. I hadn't really planned anything special besides a small family party and dinner out ( why do kids ALWAYS choose Chuck E. Cheese?!?!), but we ended up having TWO parties with some of the great friends we've made here in Washington. Thanks to everyone who came last minute and made Aaron's special day even better! My littlest guy is SIX years old! He still seems so small and squishy to me. He doesn't like to be treated like a little kid, but he's still very cuddly and let's me kiss his cheeks (at least at bed time). Aaron is so smart, precocious and fun-loving. I love him to pieces! We're so glad he's part of our family!

Sara sits

My little baby is now a sitter! 

I just love this baby girl! I can't believe how big she is getting. She's such a sweet, wonderful, precious baby. I love her big eyes, chubby cheeks, cute grin (and especially the string of drool hanging off her chin). Our family is so blessed to have her as a part of it.

Wild blackberries

There are blackberry bushes everywhere here! There are tons of bushes just growing wild right in our neighborhood. I see people out picking them all the time. So one day we went to a place near our neighborhood and had a great time picking berries. I think more went into their mouths than the bag, but that's half the fun, right? Eating them straight off the tree, bugs and all.

The next day my friend Jennifer (domestic goddess... she also taught me how to make a 'hooter hider') came over and walked me through making my first ever batch of homemade blackberry jam. It is de-lish. Thanks Jen, you're the best! I'm so proud of me for all the homemaking stuff I've been doing lately! Sewing, canning, reupholstering, crafty wall art....

Museum of Flight

We took the kids to the Museum of Flight in Seattle. It was a lot of fun and they really loved it. They especially liked the hands on stuff you could ride, climb and play on. They have a Concord out back that you can get on and walk through, but we didn't get over there before it closed for the day. (Matt was actually the most disappointed!) So we'll have to go back another day. 

She's a Roller!

          

Sara has learned to roll from her back to her tummy. No more leaving her on the couch or bed! My baby is getting big so FAST. 

Note: Please disregard Matt in the background interrogating a neighbor boy. I didn't realize it would be so loud when I was recording!

  

 

This is what she had to say about it afterward.

Happy Birthday, Bella

Tomorrow, Sept. 13th, is Bella's birthday. If you're a fan of Twilight you know what I'm talking about. A friend of mine, Laurie- also a huge fan, invited me to go with her and a couple other ladies to Forks where they 're having Stephenie Meyer Day. There's a bunch of Twilight- themed activities going on all day in Forks and La Push. I'm so excited. I've already been to Forks and Port Angeles with Matt and the kids (see earlier post) but they were not nearly as enthusiastic as I was. It will be so much fun to be there with other people who appreciate it as much as me! Matt, not to be outdone by by all the fun I will be having, has decided to take the four older kids camping. Have fun with that, Babe!

Matt in front of Forks High School doing his Edward impersonation. What a good sport! Edward has nothing on you, Sweetie!

Mt. Rainier National Park

Over Labor Day weekend we took a day trip to Mt. Rainier National Park. It was so beautiful. The kids had a blast taking hikes, seeing waterfalls and feeding birds. It was cloudy the day we went so we didn't get to see Mt. Rainier. Then as we were leaving, just as we got to the base, the sky started to clear up. Oh well, we bought an annual pass, so we'll be going again. Hopefully it will be on a clear day :)

First Day of School

School has finally started again for the boys. YAY! Here's some pics from their first day, except for Aaron. The pictures of him are actually his 2nd day. I took him to afternoon kindergarten the first day and forgot my camera! But it's his first day riding the bus. (Bryan didn't want his picture taken at the bus stop, so I just got the back of him)