Giving Thanks

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is over and we are on to a new week that will be full of excitement and adventure for our growing family. We had Thanksgiving with two families in our ward. I was grateful to not have to prepare the meal by myself and the company was fantastic.

Clockwise from left: Grace H, Skylar, Grace R, Reagan, Sabrina, and Benson



Grace H., Jack, Reagan, Sabrina, Skylar, Grace, and Benson

Sabrina, Skylar, and Grace

Some things I am especially grateful for this year:
- Extended family that is willing and able to help and support us for extended periods of time.
- The opportunity to add a new member to our family and being able to see our kid's reactions. They are so excited!
- Mike's job, the opportunity he has to go to school, and for how hard he works doing all of it.
- All of our friends we have made as we have moved around. Moving is hard, but the people we have met in the process have definitely blessed our family.
- Our healthy family. This pregnancy has been healthy, our kids have been blessed overall with great health this year.

That list barely scratches the surface, it could be endless. I have been greatly blessed and so has our family.

I think we are almost completely prepared for our new baby's arrival. Most everything is washed, I even have our bags pretty much packed. We put up all our Christmas decorations (outside lights, tree, etc) this weekend so that is all taken care of. Our only problem now is sick kiddos. We have been up at night more with our kids in the last 4 days than we have been probably the last 5 months. So much for our last week of good sleep before the baby! Grace and Sabrina are still running fevers. Hopefully tomorrow they will turn a corner and everyone else will remain healthy. Check back for updates on Wednesday!

The Best Kind of Shower

Yesterday my very, very sweet and kind neighbors threw me a baby shower. In lieu of traditional gifts they asked everyone to bring diapers or a frozen casserole. We have only lived here a little less than 5 months and it is surprising to me how much a part of our little neighborhood we feel. There were several neighbors there who I don't even know very well and many that I do and many people from our ward here as well. And we now have a well-stocked freezer and enough diapers and wipes that we shouldn't have to buy any for a long time depending on how fast this babe grows. As everyone introduced themselves at the shower almost everyone there mentioned that their kids were close in age to our kids and how much their kids like to play with ours. I remember feeling so sad when we left Broken Arrow that our kids were leaving friends behind for the first time really since they were too young when we moved before. I am so grateful for all the friends they have made here. It seems like they always have someone to play with and enjoy.
Moving is never easy, but I'm grateful that everytime we've moved we have a built-in support system from church ready and waiting for us. And this time we moved into the best neighborhood so we have even more support. We have had SO many offers from people to help when the baby comes, it is crazy. There have definitely been some challenges with this move and some things about Manhattan that have taken some getting used to, but we LOVE the people we've met here.
I was too busy chatting yesterday to remember to take pictures, I need to ask my neighbor because I think she took some. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who came and to everyone who has helped us or offered to help us. I feel very loved and I know that Heavenly Father is mindful of our little family because of the love that others show us on a daily basis.

The most famous person we've met

On Wednesday, there was a very special story time at our public library. Doreen Cronin, author of "Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type" came as part of Kansas Reads to Preschoolers week. Her book "Wiggle" was selected as the featured book this year so she went around Kansas reading it in different libraries. Our kids love her books. They are very clever and funny so we jumped at the chance to meet the author. I even pulled Benson out of school for the afternoon so he could go too. She read "Wiggle" and "Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type" and they sang a song in between.

Benson is wearing the green shirt in the middle with Sabrina on his left and Grace on his right.

Then each of the kids picked out their favorite book to buy and we waited in line to have her sign them.

Doreen Cronin with Benson, Sabrina, and Grace

It was a great experience for the kids and definitely not one I thought we would have here in Manhattan. If you haven't read any of her books, we highly recommend them. Our favorites are "Dooby, Dobby, Moo," "Duck for President," and "Thump, Quack, Moo."

Read this

I don't think I have ever used my blog to do anything but share information about our family and mostly about our kids. But this article gave Mike and I some good food for thought. So knowing that I don't usually recommend things like this to people, when I say I think you should read and think about this, you should take me seriously.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1940395-1,00.html

Baby Update

Well the baby counter tells most of the story. We are less than 3 weeks away from the arrival of our new baby girl. Not much chance that she's going to come early since last week she was head down but not in position so I wasn't dilated at all, and this week she has now turned breech! That's right her head is nicely positioned right between my ribs. What a stinker. Maybe she's just trying to make me feel better about having to have a c-section no matter what.

Mike was off last Wednesday for Veteran's Day and he took Thursday off as well and got pretty much everything crossed off my honey-do list in preparation for the baby. He even put together the cradle. So besides doing some laundry and a little sewing we are ready to go.

We went to the Veteran's Day Parade downtown with Benson's kindergarten class. Here he is waving his flag.

Sabrina made Mike hold her the entire parade. She was lucky that he was with us, because I would not have held her.

Our cute kiddos before church yesterday. Hard to believe that in 3 weeks there will be another kid in the pictures!

Swimming Lessons

Benson finished up swimming lessons on Tuesday night. He did so well and really improved over the course of the lessons. He didn't quite pass off the level (he needs to work on straight legs when he kicks and straight arms for strokes) but came closer than any of the other kids in his class. We didn't get very many good pictures, but I took some good video which I will post when I get it all edited.

Three!!

Today our baby turned 3 and on one hand it seems like she's been 3 forever because she acts so old. But on the other hand it seems like just yesterday that Mike and I calmly drove down to Kaiser South Sac for my scheduled c-section that brought Sabrina into this world.

She was so excited about today. She was the first one up (which NEVER happens) and wanted to open her presents. She has been saying for weeks she wants a dollhouse, a puppy, and a ducky. We got her the dollhouse and the puppy which she and Grace spent ALL DAY playing with. They love it. The girls had ballet, I had a doctor appt, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon making Sabrina's dollhouse birthday cake. We chose a dollhouse birthday cake because lately Sabrina has been talking a lot about her yellow house. She will go on and on about who is there (usually it's Grandma and Grandpa), what animals she has there (yellow dog, yellow cat, yellow horse), and all the fun things she does there.

We had some friends over for pizza and cake and ice cream. Sabrina really enjoyed her party and I was glad we decided to do something because originally it was just going to be us.

1 - With her new dollhouse, 2 - Posing in front of her door, she's holding up 3 fingers the only way she can, 3 - Smiling for the camera after ballet, 4 - With her yellow dollhouse birthday cake, 5 - Posing in front of her door again, 6 - Wrapped up in her new blankie that our sweet neighbor Nellie made. She really loves the blanket and the matching little pillow.

Some things of note about Sabrina at age 3:

• Sabrina is NOT a morning person. It's a good thing she has several years before she starts school. She likes to wake up slowly and take her time with everything in the morning and if you try to rush her, watch out!
• She just learned how to swing herself on the swings and will swing herself for a long time.
• Sabrina has taken over Benson's bike (yes, it's that small...he really needs a new one) and figured out how to ride it by herself.
• Sabrina is SO EXCITED to be a big sister. She talks about the new baby all the time and I know she will be a big helper because she loves playing with and helping to take care of all babies.
• Sabrina loves to play pretend (ex: her yellow house). It is hilarious to hear her and Grace play with the dollhouse. I had to start ignoring them because I kept thinking they were talking to me and asking me for help, but they were just playing "house".
• Sabrina is our most sensitive child. It doesn't take much to discipline her and she does not let things go. She also hates it when anyone else is in trouble and will cry and defend whoever it is, even when they are in trouble for hurting her.
• Sabrina is still our worst sleeper, by far. I'm sure she will be dethroned soon by our new baby. Good times.
• Favorite color: yellow and blue
• Favorite food: cereal and yogurt
• Favorite movie: Blue's Clues and Superbabies Dora
• Favorite book: "Quack, Quack" - she just told me she has a Quack, Quack book at her yellow house...I have no idea
• Favorite toy: dollhouse and baby dolls
• Favorite drink: orange juice (I have been buying orange juice a lot lately and Mike and Sabrina pretty much finish off every gallon with not much assistance)

We sure love our Breeny baby and are grateful for the position she fills in our family. Happy Birthday big girl!

Sabrina's 3rd Year (24-35 months). For more pictures of her life, see here.

The funny things they say...

So the past few weeks, Grace has taken up a new habit...she only calls me Mother. Not mom, mommy, momma, hey you...just Mother. At first it really annoyed me, but now it's sort of become her thing and I think it's cute. It sounds more like Mudder when she says it anyways. She was teasing Mike the other day and called him Dadder which she will now do to try and be funny but mostly he's still Daddy.

Sabrina has been talking about how the baby is going to pop out of my tummy for months, but the other day I overheard a conversation between her and Mike that took the description of childbirth to a whole new level.
M: Are you so excited about our new baby coming?
S: Yes, and she's going to pop out of Mommy's tummy, and, and, and it's going to be a really big pop, and, and, and then she's going to fly through the air and Mommy will catch her.
We have no idea where she got this idea, but it has really stuck through my whole pregnancy. We have tried to explain to her that in my case the doctor is going to help take the baby out of mommy's tummy but she still talks about how the baby will pop out of my tummy all the time.

The Holiday that Never Ends...part 2

In addition to all the trick-or-treating we also carried out a few other Halloween traditions. On Monday night we carved our pumpkin. Sabrina was more than willing to help Mike clean out the pumpkin innards and since Sabrina was doing it, Grace also took out one big handful. Benson was not interested. They really enjoyed painting their little pumpkins from the pumpkin patch. Grace started out painting a face on hers which I think you can see on the picture, but then she kept going and basically painted the whole thing red. She told us her pumpkin was dressing up as an apple for Halloween which we thought was very clever and super funny. Benson also painted a face on his and Sabrina's was very colorful and had the most paint on it out of all of them when she was done.

When my mom and Kathleen were here on Thursday it rained ALL DAY LONG. We decided to make caramel apples to pass the time and they were delicious and pretty easy. We decided we needed to cook the caramel a little longer next time, but the taste was right on.

The Never-Ending Holiday...AKA Halloween

My enthusiasm for Halloween dwindles every year. But, my kids enjoy some aspects of it, so we continue to celebrate. They have been trick-or-treating 4 times in the last week, so don't worry I don't let my bad attitude interfere with their fun.
1st trick-or-treating - Sunset Zoo Spooktacular. Mike took them last Saturday to our local zoo's celebration. They got lots of candy, but as an added bonus they got to check out all the animals. They even had a special animal presentation and got to pet a boa constrictor and a blue-tongued skink.


2nd trick-or-treating - Ward Trunk-or-Treat. We went to our ward celebration on Wednesday night. Lucky for us, Grandma Stacey, Aunt Kathleen, and Spencer came up that afternoon to spend a few days so they got to come with us. We got lots more candy and played some fun games.




3rd trick-or-treating - Public Library. They had a special Halloween story time and then we got to go all over the library to different stations to trick or treat. Added bonus we got some new library books while we were there.


4th trick-or-treating - Halloween night in our neighborhood. Mike took the kids out and they made it all the way around the loop that our street is part of. Lots more candy. Unfortunately I bought a lot of candy and we only had a handful of trick-or-treaters. We have plenty of candy to last us to Christmas.

In case it isn't obvious, Benson is dressed up as a reptile veterinarian (compromise since he wanted to BE a reptile or a dinosaur and I'm cheap). Grace is Princess Jasmine (from Aladdin). Sabrina was supposed to be the lion (same costume that Benson and Grace have both worn) but she thought it was too scary so she was a bride/Cinderella/generic princess. Also, I should note that Grace is wearing the same costume my sister Chelsea wore when she was about the same age and Sabrina is wearing the same costume my sister Jenny wore at about the same age. They are in pretty good shape for being 16 or so years old. Maybe I can find a picture and post for comparison.