my heart is broken

i lost the fight! my boys have been begging for shaved heads for sooo long now. i've always told them no!! saturday night thing 2 asked one more time and i finally said, "if dad wants to do it!" yippee, and off to the bathroom he ran!










his beautiful hair is gone. those adorable little curls that flipped up around the ears are no more!

and

did you expect any differently! one look at thing 2's new doo and he had his head hanging over the sink and was hollaring at his dad to hurry up!



they love their new cuts-they can't keep their hands off. the next day during primary they just kept petting their heads.



as for me, i look forward to their hair growing back.



the next morning the dad asked thing 3 if she wanted her hair cut, she reached up, looked at dad like he was crazy, smoothed her long locks of hair and said...

"no, then my hair won't be beautiful"

with a definite tone of duh!

saturday morning trail walk

looking up at the ceiling of the "summer house"

the dad maneuvering the trail with the stroller-i promise, i won't plan a trail walk until thing 4 can ride in the back pack!

tasty little burger

i've come to really enjoy my burger! we are lucky and able to eat good beef on a regular basis. the dads father and brothers are in the kobe style beef business and we have benefited from their work. his parents always bring us a large supply of our favorite cuts when they come and his brother sent him a large shipment on his birthday. you haven't had a burger till you've had it kobe style! it truly is yummy!

recently i ate at a fudruckers, good burgers, but i decided that the best burger would be a kobe style burger on a fudrucker bun! have you ever had those yummy buns? fresh baked, soft and fluffy! that would be the burger!

i hope you're eating something yummy!

a child's eye

on our flight out west this summer we were sure to give thing 3 the window seat. this was her first time flying since she was a baby and we wanted her to have the full experience. she loved it and was so excited to be flying up in the sky, through the clouds.

going from the east coast to the west coast is quite an experience. the scenery changes dramatically! we left our plush green landscape and landed in the dry desert(beautiful in it's own way). as we flew in, thing 3 was watching out the window and turned to her dad and asked

"why is it so dirty out here?"

we just had to chuckle and kind of nod saying, hmm, yeah it is kind of dirty our here.

nothing like a child's perspective!

we do love it out there and do find the mountains beautiful so no offense to those who call the west home.

music

when my sister posted about this song, viva la vida, i had never heard it before but since then i've heard it a lot and love it. it is one of those songs i think i could listen to all day!

then the kid rock song, all summer long, is one we started hearing while on vacation and we all love it. not the best lyrics but...

maybe i'll add to the playlist but for now these are two songs i'm really enjoying lately.

blessing day

while we were visiting family we had the opportunity to bless our beautiful new baby boy. it was the first time all of the dads immediate family was able to be at one of our babies blessings.

it was a beautiful day full of fun that we took a moment from to welcome our baby with loved ones surrounding us.

this is how he was during the blessing (screaming)

this is how he was before and after (happy as can be)

i love babies dressed in white! i think they look so beautiful!

back to life, back to reality, back to the here and now.

we are back from 2 full weeks of nothing but fun!! we packed up all 6 of us and flew cross country to visit grandparents and cousins!

the kids had a blast, playing with cousins, swimming, boating, motorcycle riding, playing with fire(only on the 4th of course), playing with cousins some more and swimming some more!
unfortunatly my camera was packed away during most of the fun.

the boys got back together with cousins they know and love.

thing 3 was too little last time to remember anyone so she started brand new friendships with cousins she now, absolutely adores.

while visiting we had a big family reunion with the dad's family on his mothers side. we got to catch up with his cousins and meet spouses we hadn't met and their children. it was tons of fun!

it's good to be home, but i could live on vacation!

my blessings

i'm feeling a bit selfish and ungrateful right now. as i was wandering around the blog world i came across this blog which led me to this blog. both of these families have lost their beautiful babies recently.

my heart is broken for them. just the thought of losing my child is so painful, i can't imagine the hurt i would feel if i actually lost my beautiful baby. these women, and families must have the comfort and strength of the holy ghost. i can not imagine moving on after such a tragedy.

i am so very thankful for my 4 beautiful children. i am so thankful for their health and safety. i pray that i may be able to raise them and that they may live long, happy lives.

i have been a complainer lately as i've endured pregnancy and child birth and the long days and nights of a new baby but i wouldn't give it up for anything. i adore my beautiful new baby boy. my heart sings when he smiles. i miss him when he takes a long nap. i look forward to holding him in the middle of the night.

i need to slow down and cherish the moments with him. he will grow quickly and i can never get them back. i need to slow down and love my older children. i need to appreciate their lives and enjoy who they are more. i don't want to miss a thing.

i have been blessed greatly and i want that to show. i want my thankfulness to radiate from me. i want my children to know how much i love and adore them. i want them to know that they were wanted and that i am so much better of a person for having them in my life

why is it so easy to get caught up in the frustrations of life? the frustrations of a fussy baby or a 3 year old chatterbox? why is it so easy to get caught up in the frustrations of a messy room or dirty floors?

it's not worth it!

school's out!

picture stolen from lainakay

yippee yahoo!

it's a HUTCH

i have been packing this thing around for 11 years now. not really knowing why and not asking, for some reason either. it was just the dads bike from when he was a kid. it had no pedals and the wheels were flat. i'm actually very surprised that i didn't ask why we were storing something that seemed so useless to me.
but now i see.












the boys are just about big enough now so the dad bought pedals and tubes for the tires and got the thing going again. my boys and all the neighborhood boys are enjoying it but not as much as the big boys! it has brought smiles to the faces of many neighborhood dads. turns out the HUTCH was one of the bikes to have as a boy and oh the memories it has stirred. the talk of the tricks they could do on it or the races they raced it in! and it seems that that old bike is worth a few bucks too! who knew!

















do you think the little boys know what a gem they are riding?

unfinished projects

remember those chairs i found on the side of the road last summer? well they're done!


we had finished stripping them last summer and they were ready for paint but i couldn't find the color paint i wanted in a spray, so, frustrated we stacked them out of the way for the winter and ignored them. wanting them done this summer, and knowing that the dad was getting irritated at my growing stack of unfinished projects, i told the dad to just finish spraying them the red and put them together. i like the red but i was really hoping for a coral. i'm still surprised at how limited spray paint colors are.












now i need a new project for the dad to complete for me!! -don't worry i have one!

morning light

thing 4 seems to like the early morning hours. he's usually up around 5 and no matter how hard i try he won't go back to sleep. so this morning he was up at 6, not hungry and not going back to sleep! every morning that i'm up with him i think i should just take him for a walk but i really want to be sleeping so stubborn me just keeps trying to get him back to sleep-just for 1 more hour, okay, maybe 2-please!!. but this morning i said forget it! i pulled on my sweats and bundled the boy up. as i passed the other boys- who were already zombied in front of the television-i instructed them to get dressed and i'd feed them breakfast when i got back! and out i went. as that fresh, crisp morning air hit me i wondered why i didn't do this every day! i love the feel of the morning air but i forget that as i'm snuggled in my bed. maybe this little guys sleep habits will be good for me!

HowManyOfMe.com

There is 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

found this on traci's blog, thought it was fun! i have an unusual first name so i was very curious.

boys, boys, boys!

what do two boys (at least my boys) do when they find themselves anywhere near each other?














Wrestle
















Wrestle




Wrestle!












this was last night after family home evening. they were supposed to be watching a movie that thing 1 had picked as the activity-obviously they weren't all that interested in the movie! i just sat and watched them, the dad snoozed with thing 3 in his lap-she watched the movie!

BABY LOVE!!

DADDY'S HOME!

am i ready?

thing 3's hair has gotten pretty long! i'm feeling like it may be time to get a good haircut but i'm not sure if i'm ready. i've been talking to her about it lately-trying to prepare her, but even more so i think i'm trying to prepare myself. she has always had such pretty, curly hair-that i wish i had- and now the top is all flat and straight and the bottom is curly. so has the curl grown out or is it just pulling the curl out. the new hair around her face is still really curly-which gives me hope.

most likely though-the curl has grown out and i think that is a lot of what i am afraid of-once we cut it, that curl will be gone forever-oh so sad!!!

but it has to happen some day and i'm tired of fighting with her about getting it brushed-i am still bribing her. it gets so tangled and snarly, i don't blame her for not wanting to have it brushed.

it is time.

well, watch for a new look soon-if i can muster the courage!

-the fingers in the mouth-that's a whole other issue-

check it out!

new fun blog!

let the fun begin!

I'M SO GRATEFUL

so, i can be really hard on the dad sometimes, but i soooo appreciate him! ever since i got pregnant he has been working overtime around here, picking up where i left off!


laundry-he is actually very good at it-he stays on top of it and gets it done-not like me who drags it out forever-forgetting i have a load in and just not wanting to fold yet another load!


floors-he has been mopping the floors-except for the couple of times my mom has been here-and oh how he loved the break!


anyway, the list goes on! i just needed to mention it and let him know it is GREATLY appreciated because even though i have not been able to keep the house clean i have desperately needed it clean!

THANKS DAD!

welcome thing 4

he arrived about 3 weeks ago now! he was 8lbs 2 1/2oz. labor was, well, horrible of course. but he is a sweet little guy and we are all loving having him around! the kids seem to have adjusted well-so far. they all want to hold and kiss him all the time-which is a bit exhausting to me but i'm glad they are adoring him!

it is me, the good old long lost shaka!

life has been so crazy!

I am 36 weeks now and hoping this baby will come soon! oh, so many aches and pains!

i was just talking to the dad last night and realized that if this baby decided to come in the middle of the night we really have no plan for that and i really can't think of anybody that would be available to come over and watch my kids in the middle of the night. it was never an issue with any of the other kids but this kid is up squirming around all night so i guess i'm worried that he'll decided to come during that time. what would i do? the dad says he would just drop me off at the hospital he-he! you have to know the dad.

i'm also feeling desperate to have my house clean!!! not just tidy but clean. only problem is that i physically can't do too much. it hurts to bend and to get down on my hands and knees to clean-but maybe if i do it anyway and suffer through the pain then this baby will come sooner!!!

oh, i am such a complainer! happy thoughts-spring has sprung and i LOVE that!! this is my very favorite season! doesn't it just make you feel alive again!?

well i'm off to check on the little thing 3-speaking of that-she just turned 3!!! i'll have to post about her party.

brothers, brothers and more brothers!

that is right, thing 3 will soon have 3 brothers! the ultra sound guy sent me home with the proof!

we are excited. i did hope a little bit for a sister for thing 3 but then in my head i did keep seeing a little boy to wrap things up here! (i do think i am done-can't promise though!)

3 1/2 more months to go and i am ready now-i just wish he was! i used to love being pregnant but this one just feels hard. i do still love to feel him rolling and squirming around in there. that has always been my favorite part.

well i hope you are all doing well (if anyone is checking in). i miss so many of my blogging friends.