life raising 6 kids is sweet, and chaotic!
Ember had a lot of fun taking pictures with me to document my belly at 7 months along. 
Pretty much all of my stretchmarks were from Payson. I guess a 9 1/2 pound baby stretches out the belly something major 😉 
At the end Ember wanted to do a whole bunch of silly faces. Most of them looked like the next two, so I’ll save you the scrolling and only post two of the 30 there are 🙂 
Yesterday I had an obgyn checkup.
I started to blow dry and straighten my hair while Ember decided to raid my makeup basket. I didn’t want her to but I also wasn’t successful at distracting her with other toys and in the end I just let her pile on eye shadow and lip gloss. She was so sticky by the time she applied her tenth coat of lip gloss.
After she was done caking her face I wiped her down with a baby wipe. She pouted and said, “But now I not have makeup anymore.” And I said, “Of course you do, you have lots of pretty makeup! I was just wiping off the cereal on your face from breakfast!” She bought that and giggled and said, “Oh yeah!” (I love this about toddlers… so easy to avoid meltdowns, ha) 
After getting ready we drove on over to the doctor’s office. 
My appointment only took like five minutes. 
After my appointment we went to Costco to print some pictures. 
Ember asked for pizza and I can almost never say no to Ember 😉 
After uploading pictures to print and eating pizza we went to Michael’s craft store to get some scrapbook stuff. I’m working on catching up on all the scrapbooking I’ve skipped since starting my blog in 2006. My goal is to finish before Everett’s born!
Ember fell asleep on the drive from Michael’s back to my doctor. (She’d left her bucket in the office so we went back to get it)
After getting her bucket from the doctor’s office we went back to Costco to pick up pictures and buy a few things for lunches. 
I’m debating buying one of these animal bean bag chair things to use for Everett’s monthly comparison pictures. I would’ve bought one but I couldn’t decide if I love them or not so I didn’t. I like the texture of the fur on the giraffe but the bear is the only one with a really cute face. So I ended up leaving with neither and maybe I’ll ask Allan what he thinks of them. 
(Ember was sitting on them because I wanted to make sure they were comfy for three year olds as well as useful for growth photos.)
Ember was obsessed with all the toys in the store. She wanted to stop and look at and try out every single item! It was hard to convince her to leave her favorite toys. A doll stroller and the kitchen pictured below were her favorites. 
In the cold section getting fruit! 
I bought us a frozen yogurt to share. I threw away about two thirds of it once we got to the car (I meant to tell them to fill it half full but forgot) and I was glad because Ember ate everything that was left in the cup. She probably would’ve eaten more if there had been more in the cup! Which I knew she would! 
And once we got home it was mad chaos for the rest of the day!
Or maybe more like, juggling?
With four kids… it’s all about juggling. Food preparation, errands, cleaning, mothering, and then anything else that a normal human being puts on their list-of-things-to-be-done.
It’s pure chaos most days in my life. I feel like I’ve never completed anything because my list is so long. I suppose everyone’s life is like that, a never ending to do list from day to day. I thought it would be easy once the big things this year were crossed off my list…
-Everett’s ultrasound to check out his syndactyly and then a visit to a pediatric hand surgeon
-the family reunion in Utah
-Jeena’s wedding
But though the major stress of those things is gone (and really- thank goodness!) I am still overwhelmed every day. It surprises me to have to use my every minute on something. When is the down time? Never again? When Everett goes to school in six years? haha!
Something that’s been important to me this year is lots of arts and crafts time with my kids. They don’t get hardly any in school and I think they need it. Even though I’d rather send them off to play in their rooms when they come home talking loudly and constantly about their day. I know this should be cute and maybe other moms find hearing every detail of their child’s day enjoyable… I don’t.
I can’t handle, in the slightest, three people talking to me in that way at once for a solid hour. It’s seriously SOFAST and SOLOUD, I feel like they’re yelling at me and it’s three people at once!! Gah. I tell them to stop talking after like one minute of it every single day now!! Then after they’re settled with a snack or with our craft they can more calmly tell me about their day, taking turns. Ugh, I swear my heart rate is up just talking about the insane, noisy hour after school! It’s worse than any other time of day! And it doesn’t really stop. They might talk more quietly but they literally talk every second of the day. At least Brooklyn and Sierra do. Payson just whines all the live long day. haha
But what was I talking about? Art? That’s more fun to hear about, I’m sure. 
Brooklyn got those glasses from the dollar store and has worn them (without lenses) for the past three days straight. Even to school. 
It was maybe two minutes before Payson was making a huge mess with his paint. 
I don’t mind my kids using their fingers or hands to paint. And I try not to mind about him painting himself but… I wasn’t happy about it, honestly. 
The kids played with Ember’s preschool boxes the rest of the afternoon. She has a bunch of different activities in 15 different dollar store storage boxes. This box in the photo was the hardware box, I think. It has nuts and bolts, a tape measurer, a key and lock, some carabiners (and stuff to link onto them) and… I’m not sure what else. haha. It’s a favorite with all the kids, though. 
The girls showed me their finished paintings. They’re actually really cute but they didn’t photograph well and I was too lazy to change locations to get a better picture just to blog 😉 
Sierra showing one of the carabiners with rubber bands “strung” on. 
The first few weeks of school I packed Payson’s lunchbag with small tupperware containers filled with veggies, fruit, meat and cheese, and other little things for his lunch. 
And every single day he’d come home with an empty lunchbag. Having thrown away the tupperware containers!
Day three of this I switched to ziploc baggies to put his food into! I had tried to teach him not to throw anything from his lunch away but it wasn’t working!
So I knew the ziploc baggies were only a temporary solution; I couldn’t stomach using dozens of ziploc baggies every week for an entire school year!
I wanted to buy some cheapy, divided tupperware containers. I figured with the large size and there only being one of them, Payson wouldn’t throw it away!
The only problem with this is his lunchbag is the wrong shape. Which meant I need to buy a new one.
So I did, and while I was at it I bought the girls new lunchbags with the same shape so I could use the divided containers for everyone! 
Those lunchbags in the picture above are the ones I bought. Luckily they were on clearance! I’ve been using these lunchbags for the last few school days and they’re working out so much better! Not only does Payson not throw his tupperware container away but it’s easier to wash one container per kid (and Allan’s as well) than three or four per person! It’s easier to pack lunches in the morning as well! I don’t have a dozen containers spread out on my counter to fill up, just the four! (Allan’s included) 
Excuse the lame nature of this post and the crappy IPod photo included, life is so flipping busy! Blogging has been more difficult than ever before!
The only boy. For now. His place as the boy has been a special one. If he wasn’t so beyond excited to have a brother I’d feel a bit guilty at “taking away” his special title. I know, though, that he’ll be happier being big brother to little brother so much more than he’s (actually not) enjoyed being the only boy!
He’s dealing with a lot these days. School has been a very difficult adjustment for him. He’s also going through that five-year-old phase. Sierra went through similar… a rough time. Testing boundaries constantly, not wanting to be told what to do. And yet, functioning so much better when things are consistent, structured, and full of the right rewards and disciplines.
I am thankful for the time we have apart while he’s at school because I know in the long run it’ll be good for him, but I miss him every day and still get teary every single stinking morning when he gets on the bus! It’s pretty silly, I guess. 
Ember has not slept well the last few nights. She crawls into my bed around 2, 3, or 4am and spends the rest of the night kicking or putting her hand down my shirt and whining for milk. I can only let her nurse for a minute once or twice a day, tops. I just can’t stand any more than that… my nipples are too sensitive and it’s a painful and annoying feeling! 
So yesterday I was particularly tired. I just wanted to sleep all day. Ember wanted me to play with her all day. And my house needed to be cleaned.
Nothing ended up going very well yesterday but that’s just how it is sometimes. 
She crawled into my bed last night, too. She wouldn’t let me go to sleep (kicking, pulling at my shirt, tossing and turning) so much so that I finally left my bed when she’d fallen into a light sleep and went to sleep on the couch. She found me there very shortly after and continued to keep me up. I was e x h a u s t e d and the second she fell into a light sleep again I went back to my own bed. Then around 6am she was up for the day but by then Payson was up for the day as well (my kids would wake up, and stay up, at like 4am if I let them!) so they played while I slept another hour.
So, yeah. I would really, really like some sleep and I don’t foresee any in my near future as today it is clear she has a cold and Ember handles colds about as well as a man does.
Which isn’t well at all 😉 
It was September 4th and 107 degrees yesterday. That is wrong. So, so, so, so, so, so wrong. 
Okay Arizona, you worthless state you, keep being as hot as the depths of hell. I’ll just hole up inside my blasted-with-A/C house and wear nothing but a thin nightgown all the live long day or pull out the baby pool in freaking September, or maybe our sprinkler… you just keep being wretched and when I move away, I will never ever ever be back. Ever. 
PS: Anyone else have A/C (or heater) “wars” with their spouse? Allan asks me, literally, every single day if I want to turn the A/C down. I am usually, I swear, sweating at the moment he asks me. And I say, “NO!! I want to turn it up !!”
Third trimester + hottest summer ever = misery. 
Finding her in the morning with my iPod. Quiet on the couch. 
Giving her things to do. She so very cheerfully helped me pick up the house that morning, without being asked, and then when she found out we were doing some fun stuff she chattered excitedly by my side, following me from room to room as I gathered supplies. 
She tells me what she’s doing as she goes along. I sit and listen to her adorable voice and feel so lucky to spend my day with her. 
She tried out painting with a toy car’s wheels. She loved it! It took her a minute to warm up to the idea of purposefully, with permission, using a toy to paint with. But once she did she happily played with the toys and paint and was oh so careful about her “work.” 
She was carefully making her painting until she accidentally got a bit of paint on one of her fingers. Her finger hovered above the plate. Knowing what she wanted but that she wouldn’t because she was in a “being good” mindset for some reason… I told her, “You can paint with your fingers if you want to.”
She looked happy and moved her finger towards the plate. Then she stopped and looked at me, checking to make sure this was still okay?
“You can. You can use your fingers or your hand if you want!” 
After painting she played with pipe cleaners on the couch. 
Then played cooking with her dishes and some letter tiles and beads for scooping and pouring. 
She went on to play with that set up for a good hour! I was surprised by how much she loved it. Though she loves scooping and pouring every time I pull stuff out to do so.
She also brought her pipe cleaners over and strung the beads on over and over again. In all kinds of patterns and talking out loud the entire time. I could happily film her playing for hours, it’s just so cute!
One day later in the week the kids and I went to WalMart. Probably Saturday. It rained. It stormed. It was a major downpour. We left the store with our groceries, the rain was coming down in buckets. I told the kids, “Well, here we go! Get ready to get soaked!” And we ran through the parking lot. Everyone was laughing, everyone took a bit longer than normal to get into the car, hoping to get rained on as much as possible.
Once in the car I waited a while until the rain calmed down. But later when I was driving it got worse than even before. It was crazy. But really fun.
At home we ate and then when the rain had calmed down to a sprinkle we went back outside. It was still hot! But it was fun anyway and the highlight of the day (maybe my kids’ entire week!) was when Brooklyn found a baby frog (probably a toad, really) in our driveway. 
Payson and Ember play so sweetly and quietly together at bedtime. It’s actually extremely difficult to make them go to bed because they’re being so darn cute!! 
Over the weekend they stayed up two hours past their usual bedtime. It makes me sad that Payson’s in school. They are such good friends and miss each other during the day. 
A company contacted Allan about a job (well, two!) that they wanted to interview him for. He hadn’t applied for the job, they just heard about him and decided to initiate! So this company is a good company and the jobs (one where we want to move to, one in Colorado- where we don’t want to move to) are awesome. We’re pretty excited and anxious to hear more information. I think he has a second interview really soon and we’re hoping that means we’re moving soon! But I’ve been let down so freaking much I’m trying to mentally prepare for living here in Arizona for the rest of the year. If I plan for that I won’t be so let down if that’s what happens. There’s a lot going on with Everett coming in two months so, I can deal with it.
But I still prefer to move! ha
Anyway, Allan was sending off a thank you email for the interview he’d had that week. Ember watched. 
And I’m spent.
Normally Allan records the football games so we can watch them once the kids go to bed. Our kids are a loud and crazy bunch and enjoying a TV show (or football game!) with them around isn’t really a possibility.
But since it was the very first game of the season we thought it’d be fun to have a family affair of it. I prepared a football-friendly lunch (corn dog muffins, chips and dip, root beer, and football shaped brownies!) and we got in the football spirit with black under the eyes and all of the footballs we own (four?) brought out and thrown around.
The kids were excited. Allan was excited. The day was set to be awesome. 
My goal was to spend no money on this little bitty table setup. I did spend $2, though… the table cloth and blue plates. I couldn’t resist. 
I printed a picture of us at Bridal Veil Falls from two years ago in Utah in our BYU shirts. 
I would’ve really loved to eat a corn dog muffin but, baby on board means nope to the hotdogs! Oh well, my salad was delish, too! (I did have chips and guac! I made that guacamole that morning and it was SO good! Extra lime and cilantro is my faaaaaave!) 
We ate just before the game started and then I smeared black paint under the kids eyes and showed them intimidating faces and muscle poses. They were having a blast running around posing (they were breaking out some awesome football poses before I grabbed my camera!) and saying, “Go BYU!” and “Go cougars!” and a bunch of other supportive stuff like that 🙂 
I took so many pictures of them like this. I had a hard time narrowing it down from my favorite ten to my favorite four for this post! Even that is a lot! ha 
And if that isn’t enough 😉
I took a picture of each kid by themselves for their albums. So, more pictures! haha 
I had planned on printing out the lyrics to the fight song for the girls to practice (because they always want to learn it) and was pleasantly surprised when Brooklyn asked that morning if I could print the lyrics out. She hadn’t known my plan and wanted to learn it all on her own.
I printed the lyrics and then we watched a youtube video with the music and lyrics and sang along three or four times. haha! Ember kept saying to play it again and again! She loves the “rah rah rah” part!
And Brooklyn and Sierra were obsessed with making up cheerleader moves all morning, too! They kept wanting Ember to join them for some cool tricks. I have a bunch of videos of them doing these but only a few pictures. Lucky for you 😉
(this post is so long) 
So the football game itself was quite an experience. First of all we weren’t playing well in the first quarter. Allan and I were kinda bummed but… we support our team no matter what! But then there was a lightning storm and they delayed the game TWO hours! So by the time it started playing again we only got to watch a bit more before the channel we were watching stopped coverage to switch to a different football game and we had to listen to the rest of the game on the radio online! It kinda, a lot, sucked! haha!
And then… we lost because of some yucky plays and… it was a big disappointment of a day! haha. But we were still in good moods and had a great time as a family.
During the lightning delay the kids were SOOOOOOO cute playing football with their toys and with each other!! I should’ve filmed it because it was seriously adorable! They had a blanket set out as a field and they looked at a picture online to learn how to line up all the toys just right and they had our small, toy football and they were running routes. And then Brooklyn and Sierra (Payson and Ember were playing with smurfs, ha) kept practicing plays they made up and kept track of their touchdowns and everything. TOO cute! And Brooklyn and Sierra drew a bunch of football themed pictures. It was so sweet!
I didn’t photograph any of that because I was just enjoying the day with the family. I did have Allan snap a picture of Ember asleep on me during the game. 
She was exhausted for some reason and slept for like three hours in the late afternoon! And yes she was up CRAZY early this morning and I’m dead tired. haha! 