Bryce Turns Seven!

Bryce's birthday dawned sunny and warm, perfect for a planned field trip hike with Thane's preschool co-op.  

Bryce has been obsessed with the idea of pets for months now, so he brought along his well-used bug container.  One of the preschoolers found a caterpillar, which was super exciting until...

On a small, grassy hill, one of the kids saw a small snake.  When all the kids ran over to investigate, we quickly realized there wasn't one small snake, but dozens of small snakes.

At first, it seemed like a scene straight from a recurring nightmare, but the kids were so fascinated and enthusiastic, it was hard not to be swept along with their glee.

(But I will admit I didn't touch any of the snakes.)

snake hunting

A favorite part of hiking is always throwing rocks into water.  Later, Bryce decided he wanted to "clean off his boots" in the water.  Of course, little Monkey brother Thane, tried to copy him and ended up with two boots full of water.

Did I say a favorite part of hiking was throwing rocks in water?  I meant to say snacks.  Snacks are definitely a favorite part of hiking.

What a great start to Bryce's big day!

Isn't this a good looking seven year old?

In the afternoon my sister and her family came over to help us celebrate.  It is so fun having cousins so close!  I'd elaborate, but I have a whole post on this topic I've been meaning to write.  

They stayed for dinner (Bryce chose tortellini and ravioli) and dessert (vanilla pudding pie and ice cream).

Bryce decided a couple months ago that he doesn't like chocolate.  This decision stemmed from a time when he was in the car and ate something chocolate, then desperately wanted water.  "Auuugghh," he cried, "chocolate dries out my mouth!"  And since then, he avoids chocolate whenever possible. 

I didn't hear anyone complain about the vanilla pie, though.

After dinner, Bryce opened his presents.  Dad got him a new personalized birthday CD (but of course!), and his other gift was a Marble Run.  That's been a major hit in the ensuing days.  

And here are the traditional birthday question responses (though Aubree reminded me that I forgot to ask her these questions on her birthday.  Oops!)....

What Bryce Says About Bryce:

Favorite Color: Dark Green

Favorite Candy: a mint

What he wants to be when he grows up: a Bullet Train Driver

Where he wants to go on his mission: to Canada because I think Canada would be a nice place to visit.

Favorite Primary Song: "Gethsemane"

Favorite Song: "I've Still Got Sand in my Shoes" - Dido

Favorite Animal: Giraffe

Favorite Movie: Dolphin Tale

Favorite Thing to Do: Play with my marble run

Favorite Food: Dark Red Apples

Best Friend: Charlotte

Favorite Book: How to Train a Train

Favorite Toy: my new marble run

What makes him happy: Spending time with Mom and Dad

Favorite thing to do with Mom: watch her cook

Favorite thing to do with Dad: play with him and watch him play "Monkey" on the computer (Donkey Kong)

Down on the Farm

My kids get friend birthday parties when they turn 4, 7, 10, etc.  Bryce turns seven in just a couple days.  He started talking about his party months ago.  At age seven, helping to plan the party is equally exciting as having the actual event!

Bryce had lots of theme ideas: Lego, Space, Camping, and Angry Birds to name a few.  But what he wanted most of all was a Farm themed party.  Why?  I have no idea.  When I ask him, he just says, "because that's what I want!"  And if that's what the boy wants, that's what the boy gets!

We had his party last Saturday.  My buddy Pinterest helped us come up with ideas for food, decorations, and games.  However, we wanted balloon animals, and Pinterest (and the Internet in general) really let us down in that area.  We had to use our own inventiveness (imagine the horror!).  

When Bryce's friends arrived, one of the first things they did was to select a pink balloon and turn it into their own pet pig.  

I was impressed with the inventiveness and imagination of all the kids.

When they finished, the little piggies went into their pig pen (made by Aubree) for the duration of the party.

Next, the kids made farm animal bowling pins (out of toilet paper rolls.  Okay... so I might have needed to swipe the tubes from the inside of many of my rolls of wrapping paper to get enough tubes...).  Some of the kids were extremely careful with their decorations.  Others drew on quick faces and wanted to get to the part where they got to throw balls at their creations!

The kids also got to try their hands at lassoing some stray cows, a surprisingly challenging task.

Soon it was time for lunch.  Pinterest suggested numerous themed ideas (like pigs in a blanket), but Bryce really wanted turkey and cheese sandwiches.  I'm always impressed how well kids eat at parties. I get that usually that's a result of "junk" type food, but this time around we served fairly typical lunch foods (sandwiches, veggies, fruit salad, chips, and jello jigglers), and the kids ate and ate and ate!  Mark kept encouraging me, "remind them to save room for cake and ice cream!"

After lunch I reminded the kids that on a farm, everyone is expected to work hard, so if they wanted ice cream... they were going to have to make it themselves!  Each kid got their own bag of ice-cream mixture put in another bag of ice and salt, and told to start shaking.

A good idea in theory... but soon all the bags started to leak and water was flying everywhere.  We quickly double bagged all the concoctions, and the kids got back to their shaking.  Eventually they made a shaking train and chanted their way around the kitchen.  Very funny!

The ice cream didn't turn out as well as I'd envisioned (I think we needed more ice and more salt in each bag), but the kids seemed to enjoy the experience, and I guess that's what's most important, right?

To go along with the ice cream, Bryce requested a cow cake.  We looked at lots of options.  Bless the boy!  The one he chose was well within my limited artistic abilities.

With just a few minutes left, Bryce got to open his presents.  I still dream of a time when we can have present-less birthday parties, but when I suggested the idea to Bryce he responded, "that would be horrible!"

In the end, Bryce said it was better than he imagined.  But then he told me he didn't want me to blog about it because, "he wanted his brain to be his computer."  

His brain can be his computer, but I don't trust my brain's back-up system, so I went ahead and blogged about it anyway.

Bookends!

It's a Girl!!

 Probably a good thing too, because Thane was adamant that if it was a boy he was going to "throw it in the trash!"

Everyone is super excited.  A sister, a sister, a SISTER!

Last, but Not Least

Early in my pregnancy with Graham, I knew that he wasn't our last baby.  "Even if this is a girl," I told Mark before our 20-week ultrasound, "there's still another baby."

I'm grateful for that clarity.  I also think Heavenly Father knew what He was doing by making it so clear.  You see, despite the fact that I love to plan, we don't plan our babies; They come when Heavenly Father sends them (if it had been up to us, we would have had this fifth baby last April - that was my plan).

When Graham turned two, I wasn't pregnant.  I've never had a two year old and not been pregnant before, and it was glorious!  Life had gotten so much simpler - all the kids sleeping through the night, no need to carry around a diaper bag, consistent schedules and routines... I could see an alluring, close-at-hand vision of a diaper-free, nap-free household, and if I didn't know there was another baby meant for our family, it would have been very easy to say, "We're done. Time for the next phase of our life."

******

I found out I was pregnant the day after Thanksgiving.  I didn't want to take the pregnancy test.  I hate taking pregnancy tests.  I'm always haunted by the fear and disappointment of that stupid negative line. Yet, I had a dentist appointment and I knew they'd want to take x-rays, so I grudgingly took the test just moments before leaving for the appointment.  The vivid positive sign took my breath away, which was just as well since I didn't have a chance to tell Mark the news before I had to leave (he was surrounded by all four kids!).

I arrived at the dentist office still flushed and surprised, and flustered at the thought of having to tell them when I'd only just figured it out myself.  All the technicians made such a fuss.  "Oh! How exciting," they trilled, "is this your first?"

"No," I countered, "it's actually my..." At which point I literally had to stop and count. Five?  Really, five kids?  "It's my fifth."

Cue the expected overwhelmed reactions.  One of the techs kept saying, "I only have two and I can't keep up with the laundry.  I can't imagine how much laundry you'd have with five kids!  Oh! The LAUNDRY!"

Seriously friend, if laundry is your biggest concern, you're doing just fine.

*******

While all of my pregnancies have been unique, there have been some consistencies.  For example, I'm almost always sick from about week five through week ten or eleven.  As I approached week five, I braced myself for the month plus of misery.  Nothing.  "Wow! I got a reprieve," I thought, "maybe I won't get sick this time till week six."  

Week six came, still nothing.  I started to get worried.  I'd have rare moments of nausea, and one or two evenings I felt a little off, but nothing like I'd felt with all four other pregnancies.  You'd think I'd be jumping up and down with excitement to not be sick, right?  Part of me really was, but the other part of me whispered, "this means you'll most likely miscarry."  It didn't help that I read one article that suggested that women who are sick with previous pregnancies, and then don't get sick are 8x more likely to miscarry (I ignored all the articles that said morning sickness doesn't matter).  Every day I braced myself for what I expected to be the end.

It didn't help that my biggest symptom (besides fatigue and total brain loss) was back pain.  Back pain often goes hand in hand with miscarriages.  After a month of back pain (sometimes just annoying, sometimes debilitating) and no sickness at all, I finally had my first midwives appointment.  Even though I was just 9 1/2 weeks along, they tried to listen for a heart beat with the doppler.  I had braced myself so completely for a negative outcome, that when I heard the steady, beautiful heart beat I began to weep.

Hearing the heart beat did wonders for my level of hope and excitement, but I was still wary.  I decided not to tell anyone until the next appointment, when I was 15 weeks.  Part of that was to avoid having to share a potential loss with people I'm not super close too, but by that point, more of it was just because I didn't have to tell.  It's my last baby, and it was kind of neat to have it be something that just Mark and I knew about.

********

The day of my second appointment, I asked my sister, Katie, if we could borrow her easel.  When she got to our house she asked, "Why do you need the easel?"  I showed her the sign I'd made in preparation for our announcement photo shoot.

 Katie gave me a big hug, then turned to Anna, her 5-year old daughter, and said, "Aunt Erin is going to have a baby!"

Anna cocked her head to the side, studied me for a moment, then announced, "My mom is going to have a baby too!"

Turns out Katie had come down to visit with an announcement for us as well!  She's about 10 weeks behind me.  How fun is that?!

 The day before my 15-week appointment, Bryce came over and sat on my legs.  He looked at me seriously, then asked, "Is there a baby in your tummy?  There is, isn't there?" He put his ear against my belly, then announced, "Yep! There's a baby in there!"

I didn't confirm or deny, nor did he wait for a response.  The next moment he hopped down and went about his day playing.  He didn't mention it again until that afternoon when Aubree got home from school and he matter-of-factly told her, "There's a baby in Mom's tummy."  Aubree raised her eyebrows at me, but again I didn't confirm or deny and they both promptly turned to other pursuits.

The morning of my appointment, I finally did tell the kids that we were going to be having another baby.  They were giddy with excitement.  Bryce was completely shocked.  "But," I reminded him, "just yesterday you were telling me there was a baby in my belly!"

"I was just kidding," he replied, "I had no idea!"

I told the kids about the idea I had for the pregnancy announcement.  Aubree went off to school, bursting with a secret she had to keep for just one day.  She came home with a detailed picture of the outfit she wanted to wear for the photo shoot.  

Bryce and Thane totally latched on to the idea of "big brother training."  They sat down and made a list of all the things they thought Graham should know before the baby came, then set up chairs and earnestly tried to teach him.

At the midwives office, Bryce would not stop talking.  He was so excited.  The boys all got to hear the baby's heart beat, and afterwards Bryce told every single person he saw about his baby's heart beat!  It was really quite adorable.  

******

On Monday we go in for our big 20-week ultrasound.  Part of me is still nervous that since this pregnancy has been SO different from my other four (much easier...so I'm not complaining!), that something might be wrong.  Most of me is just excited to find out if we're having a girl or a boy.  

I think we're having a girl.  So do all the kids.  Mark doesn't believe in guessing.  It might just be wishful thinking.  If it's a boy, that's fabulous too.  We'd be specialists at that point, wouldn't we?

The main reason I think it's a girl is that the kids have been talking about their baby sister (by name) for years.  I mean, pre-Graham, YEARS.  They don't talk about her as an "if," but rather, "When Nellie comes, she will sleep in the crib." or "Let's put this away for when Nellie comes."

At one point about a year ago, Thane asked, "How do we know our next baby is a girl?"

"We DON'T!" I responded, "You kids are the ones who always just assume so!"

So, what do you think?  Girl or boy?

Rockin' the 80's

On my birthday (yes, way back in November), Aubree and I went to a mother/daughter Activity Days 80's night.  Such a fun idea!  Aubree had no idea what 80's clothing entailed, so we turned to a trusty Google image search.  After looking at a few pages, Aubree remarked, "I see kids at school wearing some of these things!"  

Yes, the 80's are making a come back.  We rummaged through our own closets and put together outfits.

On the way to the activity, I stopped at a friend's house to pick up something for the activity.  Her husband opened the door, then immediately stepped back in surprise.  "Oh!," he asked, "Is it an 80's costume party?"

"No," I joked, "I always dress up like this on my birthday."

The activity involved a mystery dinner, 80's trivia, and lots of laughter.  We had a great time.  I love spending time with my girl!

Wrapping up Christmas

It's March.  This is way overdue!  

We were blessed to have Mark's brother, Eric, spend a few days with us at Christmas.  The kids wasted no time in taking advantage of having an extra adult around who was 100% willing to play with them. I'm surprised Eric didn't leave with huge holes in the knees of all his pants! 

We waited to do our annual graham cracker house decorating until Eric arrived.  Mark helped Graham, but the older kids were totally capable of decorating their houses by themselves.

It was fun to see their unique ideas and reasons behind their choice of decorations (more of them are catching on to the "decorate-with-what-you-like-best-to-eat" mentality).

As soon as they were finished, Thane asked, "Can we eat them now?!"

I was newly pregnant, and tired and unmotivated, but we did try to leave the house a few times.  Some excursions were more successful than others.  For example, we'd heard amazing things about the Snowflake Lane parade in Bellevue.  But all we encountered was dead-stop traffic, trillions of people, and zero parking.  That was a bust.

Another day we tried a less ambitious outing - to Bounce it Up.  

This proved to be a much better choice.  Graham latched on to Eric, and convinced him to take him up and down the big slide countless times.  Thane was happy bouncing until he found the arcade games.  Of course, we didn't give him any money, but that didn't deter him one bit.  By the time we left, he was convinced he was a super gamer!

Christmas Eve we spent the day in the tiny town of Buckley, exploring where Mark and Eric's mom grew up.  It was freezing cold, but the kids were thrilled to play outside regardless.  

Graham's mittens worked well until he found a water puddle and thoroughly soaked them.  Oops.

Mark found computer games he played as a kid and figured out a way to load them onto our computer. The kids spent more time than I'd care to admit watching Eric try to get the high score on Digger.  They became pretty impressive imitating the music... 

We are so glad Eric was able to come!

Flaming Geysers

Like last year, Aubree had a great opportunity to participate in the Destination Imagination program.  Most of the kids from last year's group stayed together, with a couple personnel changes.  This time around, they chose to pursue a "technical challenge," which required that they build a creature that used technical methods to perform three different actions, and present a story of adventure with the creature as a character.  And just like last year, parents aren't allowed to help or provide suggestions.  

The kids named their team the "Flaming Geysers," and their adventure story revolved around a sick wolf family who desperately needed a "Keepa Seed" in order to be healed.  The Keepa Seed was guarded by a ferocious lion, who makes them perform a serious of ridiculous stunts to obtain the seed.  

Aubree helping the "Evil Tree" into his costume

Saturday was the culmination of their months of planning and preparing.  They were the last team to perform, full of excitement and nerves, but when they went to get their creature (Mr. Wolf), they discovered that a portable wall in the staging/props area had fallen on him and knocked off his head!

Mr. Wolf - prior to his tragic accident

The kids handled this unexpected set-back with remarkable calm and resilience.  Lots and lots of tape, and numerous adjustments to their original plans later, they walked on stage and performed their skit with smiles and enthusiasm.  The gentleman introducing their team accidentally called them the "Flaming Geezers," which provided a good laugh for the kids and the audience and helped dissipate some of the tension.

As they said their final lines, though, Mr. Wolf's jerry-rigged head fell off.  One of the cast members, ZZ, jumped in, proclaiming, "and he was so excited his daughters were healed, his head exploded!"

The girls in the group: Aubree, ZZ, Lena, & Kira

Overall, the group got 8th out of 12 teams.  Aubree was disappointed in that result, as she was hoping to improve on last year's performance.  However, their group also received the DI Spirit Award.  Only one team in the entire tournament gets this award, and they received it as a result of their "dedication, teamwork, perseverance, and 'show-must-go-on' attitude" following their creature's decapitation. 

I'm proud of the whole group for how well they worked together.  They had a very strong "don't help us!" attitude, and really did every single thing on their own.  In the last few weeks, Aubree really stepped up and took on a leadership role in the group and that was a lot of fun to watch.  They're already making plans for how to improve in next year's competition.