A visit from Condie Co.

My bff {:)} came to visit with her cute little (okay, not so little) family (-)husband a few weeks ago & we had the best time not doing much! Jeremiah & Jonny were at the dunes when Wendy got here so it was 2 moms & 7 kids! We didn't get anywhere in a timely manner but we had lots of fun just hanging out with each other. Wendy lives 7 1/2-9 hours (depending on how long the stops with kids are) from me so we only see each other a few times a year, but we talk so much that Jeremiah finally had to switch my phone plan over to an unlimited one! We met when we both lived in Costa Mesa, CA. As Jeremiah & I were walking across the parking lot to our apartment after church the first Sunday we were in our new ward we saw her & Mike also walking across the parking lot dressed in church clothes & then I remembered seeing them at church. We stood & talked for a few minutes & found out that she & Mike lived in the apartment right above Jeremiah & I! We hung out a few times & clicked & have been like sisters almost ever since! We keep trying to get our husbands to let us (as in all 4 of us) go on a vacation together but they are convinced it would pretty much just be a Hillary/Wendy vacation & they'd be the 3rd & 4th wheels! Come on guys, it's still a vacation! Anyway, Wendy's visit was great! The night she got here we left all the kids with a couple of babysitters & went to a girls' night out with some of my other best friends! (Yep, I'm "seriously so blessed" [lol] to have so many great friends.) Also another afternoon/night she was here my amazing/handsome/thoughtful/sweet/kind/hot/did-I-say-amazing husband watched the 5 older kids (ages 2-5) while Wendy & I took the baby girls to do some outlet shopping. And my mom went with us & was so great because she entertained the babies while Wendy & I tried on lots of clothes & did lots of shopping. Yeah, she's awesome! So anyway, it was a little crazy with all 7 kids running around here, but it was so fun having Wendy visit & I can't wait till we get to see each other again! Wendy is such a fabulous friend to me & I'm so lucky to know her!

Tanner (2), Jack (3), Preston (almost 4), Callie (4 1/2), Ellie (10 mos), Spencer (5), Emily (10 mos)


Ellie & Emily, mini bffs

Wendy & her boys

i {heart} gap

oh yeah!

Love Day

This year was fun because Callie had her first Valentine exchange in her preschool class. I saw this really cute idea on Skip to my Lou for her Valentines and Callie & I had a great time putting them together. Callie especially loved putting the stickers on the butterflies!

Jeremiah's mom sent the kids each a card with a little heart sucker. The kids loved it & so did I! I can remember getting Valentine's cards from one of my grandmothers and I've always thought that's the kind of stuff I want to do when I have grandkids so it was fun for me to see how excited my children were when they got their Valentines. Jack's card had a rhyme about a dinosaur & I've read it to him a million times! Ellie was just as happy about her sucker as the bigger kids were!

Before we went to bed on Friday night Jeremiah & I set the table & put little valentine's treats on ours & each of the kids' plates - even Jonny's. This is his 2nd Valentine's Day with us! That's why this year I asked Jeremiah to get extra strawberries for the dip he makes me every year. Valentine's Day was low-key. Jeremiah & I made delicious stuffed french toast for breakfast & spent the rest of the day doing house work. A month earlier we'd brought the rest of our boxes (about 15-20) into our bedroom because I'd thought that maybe if they were there I'd unpack a little at a time. Wrong! After a month of tripping through a box maze during the night & having our bedroom look like heck I finally got it all unpacked & out of there. Unfortunately that meant making a mess out of my front multi-use room again! Oh well. Someday I'll get it together!

Visiting Grandpa & Grandma Green

On Wednesday last week my mom, the kids & I went to Heber (okay actually Overgaard), AZ to visit my grandparents. I hadn't been to their house in a while and it was nice to have a laid back visit & spend time with them. The highlight of our first full day there was a trip to Show Low's WalMart. I only brought one toy & some coloring stuff for each of the kids so at WalMart I let them pick something out. Callie got a Polly Pocket & Jack chose a Transformer. Well I might have guided that choice. He actually was leaning towards another toy but I thought he'd get more play out of the Transformer & I think it was a great choice! He played with it a LOT! He even slept with it! He's calling him Bee instead of Bumblebee. Jack loves his new toy! The Polly Pocket also turned out to be a fantastic choice (also a choice I may have influenced). Callie has several little sets of PP-type Disney princesses but their clothes are really difficult to get on & off. This was the first Polly we've ever bought or played with & I think it's awesome! (oh yeah, so does Callie!) The clothes go off & on very easily. She's played with it a lot already.







The kids have been dying to make snow angels so they got all dressed in their warm clothes to go outside & play in the few patches of snow that were still in my grandparents' yard. Unfortunately for the kids the snow was hard & crystally. They had to pack it pretty hard to get a snowball to stay together. After the snow angels I hurt my back & couldn't really play with them anymore. The kids were so bummed so my grandpa was sympathetic to their plight & helped them with a little snowball fight.

It was nice seeing my grandparents. We had some good food, good conversation, and just a nice relaxing time.

Happy Birthday Chelsea!

In honor of your birthday, I'm updating my blog! :)

Tana's baby shower

I really didn't think about throwing a surprise shower until about a week before Tana came to Kingman for a visit, so I'm so glad that most everybody that I called was able to make it to Tana's shower! We'd decided to get together for lunch so I told her Chili's at 1 on Friday. She was completely surprised when she walked in expecting to just see me & the kids & instead saw a whole group of friends & family. It was so fun for me to do this shower for Tana. It was her first boy & plus she's one of my best friends!

The only con about doing a shower at a place like Chili's (and when I say like Chili's I mean any place w/out a party room) is that it's very difficult to converse with more than just the people right around you. But a huge pro is that there's not a lot of decorating to do. Oh, & no prep cleaning or post clean-up. And it's not necessary to do games (although I like them but if you've thrown a shower you know it's obviously easier to not have them). So there were balloons (a must for a casual restaurant shower!), a couple centerpieces, & cupcakes! Wallah! It's a shower!

As a side note I've really had a change of heart about baby showers. I remember thinking one time (years ago) when I heard a co-worker talking about her upcoming shower for her 2nd daughter how stupid that was & why was she getting another shower. But like I said I've had a change of heart. Jeremiah's mom told me once that in their old ward every baby got a shower and every mom was made to feel special. And I just love that because babies are special & plus it's also a lot of work for the moms so I think they need a big high-5 in the form of a party with presents! :) I think mom's & their babies should be celebrated whether it's their first or fifth child (and so on)! And even if it's your second girl or second boy & you might not need any new clothes or anything, it's still fun. Besides, we women all update our wardrobes, right? Why wouldn't we want to update our kids' wardrobes too if we can? And diapers don't grow on trees. And what about baby shampoo & baby tylenol & all those kinds of things? Okay, I'll step off my soapbox. But really, if you're from the old school of thought on baby showers I truly think you should reconsider. I'm done now.

Jack & Kiera tickling each other.

Ellie enjoying spinach artichoke dip. She loved it. Hand & fisting it!

Tana & me.

The cupcakes & centerpieces to match her PBK Oscar bedding. I have to admit, I love how they turned out!

Another Snow Day!

When we had a snow day in December the kids were sick & didn't even get to go play in it before it rained (later the same afternoon). This time (2/9) they were ready for some fun!



I know this is sad, but this was the first time my kids ever built a snowman! When we were in WA 2 Christmases ago the snow was too wet for snowmen, so they have been wishing & hoping for snow to build a snowman in! Here he is! (quite small since the snow wasn't that thick when we built him & was pulling up dirt).

Jack was almost in tears by the time we came in because he was so cold! We don't have snow pants or good snow gloves because it only snows good maybe once a year here (usually). So we had to make due & the poor boy was freezing! Callie was having too much fun to worry about a little thing like freezing. Thank goodness for delicious hot cocoa!

Jeremiah, Jonny & my bros. Kenny & Stuart all came home early from work so they could go 4-wheeling in the snow. They had a great time - well except for Stuart I think who got lost & almost froze to death! :)

L-R: Kenny, Jonny, Jeremiah, Stuart

The snow lasted for days this time but my kids were very upset with Uncle Jonny because when he pulled the Rhino & the King Quad into the backyard to park under the patio that evening he couldn't just park them, he had to do donuts & race all around the backyard, ruining all the snow for the kids. All that was left was muddy tire tracks & small patches of snow. Callie was mad at him about it the entire next afternoon because at preschool kids had talked about snow angels & she really wanted to make one when she got home but of course she couldn't. I think Jonny's been sufficiently reprimanded!

some house pictures

A few of you have wanted to see some pictures of our house. Here are just a couple rooms although they're not put together yet. I have several things I plan on getting & then there's the stuff I already have that's still in boxes or piles just waiting to be hung. Sometime I'll get to it. I keep forgetting to take pictures of the other parts when the house is picked up. I snapped these ones before we moved Ellie's crib into Callie's room when Jonny came (Jan 18). Jonny's here till April so maybe once Ellie has her room back I'll get to the decorating part of it.

Ellie's room:

Callie's room:

Oh, the wall behind Callie's bed used to be a double door into the entryway. We added a new door (it's where I'm taking the first picture from so you can't actually see it) & filled in the old. I just thought it was kind of strange to have a kids' bedroom door go into the entryway & since we never plan on using the room as a den it made sense to put a doorway going into the hall by the other rooms.

The kids' bathroom with awesome hotel rod per Tara's request:

Straw Incident

How does this happen? The kids & I were eating dinner while Jeremiah was at a meeting. Callie was standing on her chair leaning over the table & for some reason her placemat was on the chair. She slipped & fell just the wrong way so that the straw in her cup went a little up her nose! I wasn't freaking out but I was definitely concerned! How would I know if it'd gone too far up? I sent Jeremiah a text to call home now! & he excused himself from the meeting & called right away. He said that if the straw had gone too far up she'd be dead so she was probably okay & to just put a tampon up her nose to stop the bleeding. Here's our happy girl! Kind of put a damper on the Italian Sodas!

good things

Some pictures of my smallest cutie pie:

(read the shirt)


And everything about this picture. The bread was awesome! Somebody in our ward (I'm assuming) made it & dropped it off on our doorstep & rang the bell & ran. We had thick slices of toast for breakfast with creamy honey twice. Check out Jack in the background. Love that boy!

Havalina, Javelina

Jeremiah and my brother Kenny went hunting for Javelina last weekend & smoked one! Jeremiah was stoked since AZ hunting has not always been good to him.





Sweet hat Kenny.

Callie & Jack were fascinated. I don't know how much of this they stayed & watched because it smelled really bad & I went back inside. Jeremiah gave the meat to one of the guys who works for him who made carnitas out of it. I tried it & it wasn't bad, but I'm not going to be requesting it. Jeremiah will be happy to know that when we visited my friend Tana a few days later her husband was looking at a javelina online & Callie knew exactly what it was!

Sunday, Sunday

We put the crazy in crazy! Jeremiah's in the stake YM & it's that wonderful time of year that is ward conferences so he won't be with me in Sacrament Mtg for the next several weeks. Today was day 1. Callie & Jack actually did pretty well in Sacrament other than Jack may have put his hands into some other peoples water cups? Ellie was the big offender. She had fallen asleep as we parked our car & I hoped she'd fall back asleep in my arms but that was too much to hope for. Instead she fought sleep & acted crazy the whole time. If you've been around my children you know that they all have a very special set of lungs. They do the highest pitched shrieks I (and most people) have ever heard! All 3 of them! So Ellie let out of couple of her mid-range shrieks just for fun. After Sacrament Jack took off & then Callie thought she was helping get him by chasing him. I got them to the primary room and they both cried. Today was my first day teaching the 7 year old class so one of the primary presidency members got Jack & calmed him down, Callie's teacher got her & calmed her down, & I took Ellie & made my way past 8 kids to the chair by the wall for opening exercises. 2 more kids joined my class & there weren't enough seats so kids were sharing & some rowdy boys had to be talked to & separated. Ellie fell asleep finally & then Jack came & wanted me to hold him too so as I tried to hoist him onto my lap I hit Ellie's head on the wall & woke her up & she let out some loud screams. After I got her back to sleep, I took her to this really nice woman who'd said she'd keep her for the rest of church for me. Then it was time to go to classes & Jack & Callie both cried again. And then Jack smacked the primary president because he was mad that she was trying to help me deal with him. I was pretty embarrassed & upset with Jack for doing that. He may occassionally hit but it's never been a problem & I can't believe that he'd hit another adult! I taught my class & tried to keep the crazy boys from getting out of control (out of the 10 kids, 8 were boys), and then it was time to go home. I collected my older 2 children & stopped off at the library to drop off my chalk & thought they were walking in behind me but Jack kept going & then Callie "helped" me again. She chased Jack almost all the way around the church! I was trying to walk as quickly as I could yet still be reverent to get my hooligans! I passed by the woman who'd taken Ellie for me & asked if she could keep her for another minute while I caught the 2 who'd got away. It was great to finally get the kids in the door when we got home.

The Mom Song

Jeremiah's grandma sent this to me. I love it! I hope it makes you chuckle too.

{the one I linked to before has been removed - this version is similar (not quite as good)}

Finally!

At long last I have decided to update my blog! And in case you're confused by the stuff that wasn't there before, I'm back-dating all my posts. Well this is a journal after all!

Oh, and if you're feeling bummed about not getting my Christmas card this year (I'm sure you're all just crying yourselves to sleep over it) cheer up - you're still on my list. I just didn't send any this year. I actually got them printed but there were technical difficulties & it just didn't work out. Sorry! I loved all the cards we received though - thank you for thinking of us!

Ringing in the new year!

We had a fun time with the Haws & Rupp families ringing in the new year! We ate way too many snacks & had lots of fun. The kids were wild until after our countdown at 10 when we put them in our room with a movie - they didn't last long once they got all snuggled in! Once the kids were in bed we played a million rounds of Scum & then a game of Oh Heck. Sweet Jeremiah let me sleep till 10 the next day (we went to bed at 2) and he got up at 8. Happy New Year to me!

December Pictures

Random pictures from the month:


I put Ellie in the tub (dry) with toys while I was getting ready. Somebody (I won't say it was Jack because I can't prove it) turned on the water (they say it was Ellie - & yes I was right next to them all). Ellie had a great time splashing around in the teensy bit of water that was around the drain.

Little Mommy loves to help. She begged & begged to help feed Ellie. Ellie wasn't as clean as usual after her meal, but Callie did a great job & has helped several times now.

Apparently we're out of the regular sized straws! (it's a snorkel)

9 months old!

The sweetest present!

Halloween pajamas, Callie's hat, rainboots, and a "horsey ride" around the yard.

She dressed herself. Can you see where Jack gets his fashion sense?

Family Night gingerbread house building. A Divis tradition.

I knew Jack was in my bathroom playing with some toys in the sink, but I didn't realize he was IN the sink! He was quite pleased with himself for giving himself a bath in the sink! lol!

Callie & one of her best friends Kenadee (who she gets to play with every Thursday).

The reindeer who never made the song.

Notice the angel at the back? Yeah, that's Callie. She cried & refused to participate with her classmates in their Christmas program at school.

For some reason Ellie loved crawling under the tree.