Spring Break 2009

This past week was spring break and this year we had a full week off from school. Mom had fun taking pictures of the kids as they played together and even got some pictures of the family was playing basketball together one day. Yes...even getting some of dad. Each day mom took one of older 5 kids for some alone time with her. This was lots of fun!!

Abe Said The Funniest Thing

Today at church Abe was sitting next to mom when he turned to her and started to ask a question about cereal. Mom quickly stopped him and reminded Abe that we were at church and we needed to think about Jesus and not cereal. Abe then said, "But I don't want to think about Jesus". Mom patiently asked him again to think about Jesus.

Abe was quiet for a couple minutes when he turned to mom again and said, "Mom, I am thinking about Jesus eating cereal." Mom had to smile and admitted to rolling her eyes.

Easter 2009

Today is Easter and after dinner tonight we decided to hide the Easter eggs. We decided to divide our kids into 2 groups. First to find the eggs were Elijah, Abe and Olivia. Justin, Jayd, Chancey and Lilah asked if they could hide the eggs for the younger kids and we agreed. It was really fun watching the younger kids as they went around the backyard to find their eggs.

Next dad and mom hid the eggs for the older four kids. This was fun as dad and mom as we were able to choose more difficult places to hide the eggs. It was fun to see all the kids working together to help find the eggs.

Of course the most difficult part of this whole process was trying to teach the children that they are now not just going to sit and eat all their candy. Abe has such a huge tantrum about this that he had to be sent to his room. Mom who was outside happen to see him crying out the window as he was pouting and snapped a picture. Someday that picture may become good blackmail. Our dog Dale enjoyed watching the kids and even shared some cute moments with Elijah.

Most of all this day is about our Savior Jesus Christ and our knowledge that he was Resurrected and lives to teach and direct our lives each day. We know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can repent of our sins and work toward living as an eternal family with our Heavenly Father some day. We are so grateful that we have this knowledge and that each day we can try harder to be worthy.

"Tie" Dyed Easter Eggs

I was told about a new way to dye eggs for Easter. You use mens silk ties. I think for our first try they turned out pretty nice. Here is the website that we learned how to do this. http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/03/silk-dyed-eggs.html

Cupcakes

I had lots of flowers in the freezer left over from making my friends birthday cake that I decided to made Easter cupcakes for Matt's home teaching families and our friends Dave and Shauni Snow. I'm enjoying this new hobby although it is hard to do it with the boys around because they think they should eat everything I am making. My next project is a castle cake for Abe's birthday.

Too Cute For Words

Here are 2 more times that Elijah has kept me laughing. Yesterday he decided to put Olivia's pink hat on and make a mess of his breakfast. Cheerios were smashed all over him and the table. Of course he wanted to show me his messy hands that he was so proud of.

Tonight I asked Chancey to give Elijah his shower. After about a minute Chancey came running over to me asking for the camera. Then she came out a minute later laughing so hard and said that she couldn't take the pictures because she couldn't stop laughing so Jayd took over taking the pictures. Elijah had put on Abe's swimming goggles and with lasagna all over his face he sure made a great subject for the pictures.

How Can They Be So Smart

The other day Abe was asking me why an chicken egg needed a mother. I told him that "everything has a mother" but before I could finish what I was going to tell him he proceeded to tell me that the reason is so that a mother tells the kids when to sleep, eat, play, and have treats. It made perfect sense to him.

Today at lunch Elijah decided he was done with his cheese tortilla melt so he got down from the table and got into the cabinets where we kept the Tupperware containers. He then got back up to the table and put his lunch in it deciding he would save it for later I guess.
Elijah is definitely observant. Today after we dropped the kids off at school I proceeded to take us home. Elijah started saying to me "not that way. See horse's other way". I usually go by a small farm that have 2 horses in the field but today with the rain I did not think they would be out. I told him the horses were in the barn and we would be going home. He said "OK home this way" and we continued home. It's amazing that our 2 year old watches where we go and how we get there as much as he does.

Elijah's Day

Elijah is getting over a very bad cold but today he was much better...today he only cried on my lap one time rather than all day long so I was very grateful. He had some great moments so I'm glad I grabbed my camera when I did. Elijah LOVES to color. At good times we get him to color in his coloring books and at bad times he will draw on anything. The latest have been walls, books, measuring cups and a dish.

While Elijah was feeling sick Jayd brought up her "comfy chair" and let Elijah use it while watching video's in his room. He loves to snuggle with a blanket and a stuffed animal when he is in "his chair" which is what he calls it now. I'm sure Jayd is going to have to fight him for it in order to get it back.

After school today Jayd had track. The mom who picked her up stopped and got the girls an ice cream. Of course when she got home Elijah was sure it was for him. She was nice enough to share with him and he definitely enjoyed it.

My First Decorated Cake

My good friend Shauni Snow is a cake decorator and makes such beautiful cakes. Shauni has been so kind to make birthday cakes for Abe and myself so because her birthday was coming up I decided to venture out of my comfort zone and try and decorate a cake for her. I picked a cake from the Wilton Cake Decorating Course 1 book and went for it. There were a ton of little flowers to make for this cake and Elijah and Abe enjoyed helping me make the icing and then eating it too of course. I still have so much to learn but it was a fun project and most of all fun to make it for Shauni.

Orme Family Visit

Last weekend we were delighted to have my sister Jenn and her family come for a couple day visit. They arrived last Friday night so Saturday all the kids were excited to see each other and start playing. Jenn took the girls running (Jenn is training for a race) and Chancey, Lilah and Olivia were able to go almost a mile with her. GREAT job girls. Jayd and Jenn then continued and did a total of 4 1/2 miles. Jayd has joined the schools track team so the run was good for her. Later that day Bruno and his kids came for a visit. Drostan and Bruno then took all the kids to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden. They had a great time there. We were sure glad that the Orme family stayed with us and can't wait for them to come visit again. (It's too bad all the kids were not outside when I grabbed my camera.)

Jayd Playing Basketball

Jayd was on her church girls basketball team this year. She really enjoyed playing but we think it was the scoring of the boys basketball game after hers that she was really there for. :) Jayd's team got to the first round of regionals but unfortunately they lost. She did great at that game and I got a couple pictures of her as she played. Unfortunately my flash did not work very well but you can get the idea of how cute she was while she was playing.

Sharing A Swing

The children are really enjoying the new outside play sets that we put in the backyard. One of their favorite is definitely the swing set. With only 3 swings this means the kids need to share. Yes, mom said share. :) Jayd found a great way that she could swing at the same time as Elijah. She hooked the baby seat in higher so that she could still sit on the regular seat at the same time. Elijah now loves to swing with Jayd. Yes, Elijah is also eating "fishy crackers" at the same time as enjoying his ride.

Imaginary Friends Shirt

Thank you Mariah for reading about Elijah's imaginary friends and then sending him a shirt about imaginary friends. One of the pictures below looks like he is drugged...but we thought it was so funny that we had to include it. :-)

Our New Backyard Toys

Now that we know we are staying in our home here in Layton we have decided to get some fun things for the kids in the backyard. We already had the trampoline so we decided to get a swing set and a playground set. They installed them about a week ago and the kids are having so much fun with it. The playground has 2 towers with a 10' bridge connecting them. One tower has a ladder up to it and then a great slide coming down. The other tower has a rock wall up to it, a fireman pole and monkey bars. Under the play set was a planting area that we are taking the rocks, dirt and plants out of and filling it with sand. We are still working on that area. The swing set has 3 swings and is metal so that it will be strong enough for even the big kids. I took the pictures below yesterday. I took so many pictures that I had to make 2 slide shows. The kids were having such a great time together playing.

The Adventures of Abe & Elijah

Abe was sick last week with the stomach flu. I set up a little "bed" for Abe so he could watch TV and have his "bucket" next to him. Elijah of course wanted his own bed...so here is a picture of them together as they are watching TV.

Our sweet neighbor brought in dinner one night last week after 3 of us had the flu in just 24 hrs (Lilah, Justin and Cayr). Elijah loved the dessert so much that he kept asking for more and more. I had told him no but that was not the right answer to him. Once I left the kitchen, Elijah pulled a chair up to the cabinet and snuck the dessert. I found him hiding it from me as he was trying to eat it. See that innocent face.

Abe's pre-school is doing a month about farms. They have had eggs in an incubator for the past 3 weeks and yesterday the eggs started to hatch. I took Elijah into the pre-school and we were able to see 2 chicks that had hatched within the past 2 hours. Today we went back and there were 5 more hatched. We got there just in time to see egg number 6 hatch. It was so fun for the two boys to see it happening. The teacher took pictures of the boys holding one of the chicks that had hatched yesterday and I will post it as soon as I get a copy of it. Here is a picture of Abe and Elijah sitting in front of the "chick house" with the warmer keeping the new chicks safe and happy. It was so fun to watch the boys be so excited about this process.

Justin Factoring Elijah

It's Justin's turn to factor Elijah. He mixed the factor and did absolutely perfect on putting the needle into Elijah's port. We were so impressed with how well he did. Justin was a little nervous at first but he once he did it he realized it was something he could do again without a problem. Again, we are so very grateful for Justin and Jayd for wanting to learn how to give the infusions of factor to Elijah. We will continue to have Justin and Jayd trade off on Saturdays doing this so that they keep this skill up.

Crazy Hair Day

On Friday it was Crazy Hair Day and Olivia wanted to join in on the fun with her class. Doesn't she look beautiful!!!

Swimming Lessons

Chancey, Lilah, Olivia and Abraham have been taking swimming lessons the past 4 weeks at our city pool. They have really enjoyed it and are anxious to show everyone what they have learned. We hope to start the next classes for them soon. Here are some pictures from the last day of class. Some of the kids have life vests on due to the deepness of the area they were in and the activities they were doing.

Factoring Elijah

With Elijah's hemophilia we need to give him infusions 3x's a week. These infusions give him the clotting factor that is not made by his body. This is very important as just normal activities can make him bleed internally and can be fatal if not controlled. Elijah has a port in his chest that then has a tube that goes into his heart. This is how we inject the factor as his veins are very difficult to get at this time. Even the IV team at Primary Children's Hospital have a hard time getting a vein on Elijah.

Matt and I have been trained on mixing the factor and then infusing Elijah and we are now teaching Justin and Jayd how to do this. This has to be a very sterile procedure and they have been mixing the factor and doing the prep work now for several months but this past Saturday was the first time that Jayd used the needle to poke through his skin and into the port. She was very nervous but did a great job. Next Saturday will be Justin's first time. We are grateful that they are willing to learn this life saving procedure for their little brother.

Happy Birthday Chancey!!

Chancey turned 12 on Monday, February 23rd. She was so excited for this birthday. Some of the things Chancey got were a camera, camera case, new scriptures with her name on them, body spray, Young Women theme poster, hair things and more. Mom made her cake and she chose Fat Noodles for her birthday dinner. We sure love Chancey. She is growing up way too fast.