To Do List

Here is my list of things to get done today while Corey is off work and home from school:

1. Clear out office clutter and file papers.
2. Get taxes together to send to our tax guy.
3. Install our new digital camera software on the computer and figure out how to upload pictures from the camera.
4. Do the money (subtract recent expenditures from checkbook, figure up the budget for March, pay the first set of bills due in March).
5. Fill out Corey's student financial aid stuff, deadline this weekend.
6. Call State Farm and get the Dodge removed from the insurance and the Focus put on.
7. Go to the store and buy milk and food for Snoopy.

Of course, there is always the regular stuff, like making dinner and taking care of the kids and the usual straightening and cleaning.

Now, if only I could get motivated to start...

Check out my Slide Show!

2008 Edition of Getting To Know Your Friends

I saw this on my friend Joy's blog and thought I'd share some fun facts:

What time did you get up this morning? I finally forced myself to get up and deal with the kids at about 6:30. They'd been up since 5:30, but Eliza was a night owl last night, so I really was awake since about 4 am.
Diamonds or pearls? I like diamonds better than pearls, but I'm not really into gems. Just the one on my ring finger!
Last movie you saw in the theater? Enchanted (with Adam and Eve on Christmas Day!)
What is your favorite TV show right now? Lost and Supernanny are all I watch lately, plus the Today Show in the morning when the kids aren't watching PBS.
What do you usually have for breakfast? Cereal--with 4 kids under 5, it's quick and easy.
What is your middle name? I don't have one.
What foods do you dislike? I don't like foods that are too spicy--so a lot of foreign foods are on my dislike list.
What is your favorite CD at the moment? Amy Grant Greatest Hits is what I like, but usually we listen to what the boys like--an oldies CD called Rock Around the Clock and the Beach Boys Sounds of Summer.
What kind of car do you drive? 2000 Ford Windstar
Favorite sandwich? Ham, bacon and swiss melt. Yummy!
What is your favorite thing to wear? Anything comfortable--jeans mostly and T-shirts, but dressing up makes me feel prettier.
If you could go anywhere in the world for a vacation, where would you go? Hawaii, I think. I've never been outside the continental U.S., except one trip to Mexico in college for an Intensive Spanish program I did.
What color is your bathroom? Tan and white (that is, the bathroom we are using at my parents' house).
Favorite brand of clothing? I don't have a favorite brand, just whatever fits, but I did find that I do like Tommy Hilfiger classic boot cut jeans.
Where would you retire? Somewhere without snow.
Most memorable birthday? 16th, and it's not necessarily a good memory.
Favorite sport to watch? Gymnastics and football, kind of weird combination, I know.
Favorite saying? It's better to aim for the sun and miss than to aim for a pile of manure and hit it. (courtesy of my mom)
When is your birthday? December 21st
What is your shoe size? 7
Pets? Just a dog who doesn't live with us right now
What did you want to be when you were little? A writer
What are you doing today? Going to the dentist
What is your favorite candy? Just about anything chocolate
Your favorite flower? Roses
What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? Going to CA next weekend, going to Utah a couple weeks later, going to Utah in May for Adam's wedding
What are you listening to right now? Eliza is crying and the boys are watching Curious George
What was the last thing you ate? a bowl of Life cereal
If you were a crayon, what color would you be? brown
What is your pet peeve? Rude drivers
Last person you spoke to on the phone? Corey at 2:30 am when he wasn't home from work yet, asking where he was
Favorite soft drink? Root beer
Favorite restauarant? Outback Steakhouse
Hair Color? brown
Favorite day of the year? Easter Sunday
What was your favorite toy as a child? Paper, scissors, glue or tape and crayons.
Summer or winter? Summer
Hugs or kisses? Hugs
Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate
Favorite Time of Day? Between 9 pm and midnight, the only hours I'm almost guaranteed to be sleeping.
When was the last time you cried? This morning when I had to get up and face the day--I was too tired to cope.
What is under your bed? My violin and guitar
What did you do last night? Watched a movie and tried to get Eliza to go to sleep.
Favorite smell? Citrus
What are you afraid of? Anything bad happening to my kids
How many keys on your key ring? Oh, 4 or 5, not really sure.
How many years at your current job? Almost five years being a stay-at-home mom
Favorite day of the week? I don't have one--they all blend together. Probably any day that Corey is home for some time and can help out.
How many states have you lived in? Six

One Word

I saw this on a blog and thought I would try it because it sounded like fun.


One Word...
You
Can
Only
Type
One
Word

(It is not as easy as it looks)

1. Where is your cell phone? table
2. Your significant other? work
3. Your hair? ugly
4. Your mother? wonderful
5. Your father? hard-working
6. Your favorite thing? Family
7. Your dream last night? Forgettable
8. Your favorite drink? milk
9. Your dream/goal? joy
10. The room you’re in? office
11. Your ex? Utah
12. Your fear? poverty
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? debt-free
14. Where were you last night? Home
15. What you’re not? Patient
16. Muffins? blueberry
17. One of your wish list items? quiet
18. Where you grew up? America
19. The last thing you did? play
20. What are you wearing? casuals
21. Your TV? Normal
22. Your pet? gone
23. Your computer? desktop
24. Your life? busy
25. Your mood? happy
26. Missing someone? nope
27. Your car? Clean
28. Something you’re not wearing? ring
29. Favorite Store? Walmart
30. Your summer? hot
31. Like someone? husband
32. Your favorite color? rainbow
33. When is the last time you laughed? Today
34. Last time you cried? Monday

A Typical Day

This is how you can find me on any given day at any given time. I'm so exhausted that I often just fall asleep with Eliza on my shoulder. I sit in the big chair in the family room and feed and hold her while the boys play. She's so sweet and I love cuddling with her.

A Day at the Mall

On Wednesday, we took the kids to play at the mall play place. The boys had fun, and played together really well while we were there. And sweet Eliza just slept the whole time.






After playing, we went and had lunch at the food court. Mall food is so expensive! But we enjoyed spending the time together. It was a fun day!

Enchanting Mobile

Eliza LOVES her mobile! She is always staring at it, and will sometimes spend up to 45 minutes just looking at it and watching it spin. None of my other babies were even interested in a mobile, so we ended up just taking it off the crib. We love that something will keep her entertained for a little while when she is awake so we can spend time with the other kids and their shenanigans. I was able to leave Eliza looking at her mobile this afternoon while cleaning up the shattered remains of the porcelain lid to the tank of the toilet, which Caleb had pushed to the tile floor and broke. It was nice to clean up the mess without having to listen to her cry.

Basket Boat

Westley and Travis often play together after Travis wakes up from his nap and Caleb is still sleeping. Here they are playing that the laundry basket is a boat. I did push them around in it a little bit, but together they are quite heavy, and I got tired pretty quickly. Westley ended up pushing Travis around in the basket, with Travis loving every minute of it! They really play well together. Westley is a very good big brother to his younger siblings.

Pretty Girl Eliza

Eliza on Valentine's Day. She spit up on her first outfit, so we changed her to another one. Actually, she ended up wearing three different Valentine's outfits that day, I just didn't get a picture of her in the very first one, she only wore it for about fifteen minutes before it was covered in spit-up.


Eliza also had her two-month checkup on Valentine's Day, and she is now 11 lbs 8 oz. All of the boys were at 11-1/2 pounds by the time they were four weeks old, so she's a bit smaller than they were. We like that!

Riding My Tricycle

Caleb LOVES to ride his tricycle outside on the back patio. Westley will often zoom around on Uncle Austin's old scooter, but he refuses to touch his bicycle. He finds working the pedals too hard, and doesn't want to try at all. I think it's because he never learned to work the pedals on a tricycle before going to a bicycle. I hope someday he'll want to try a bike, but I guess if he never does, that's okay. As long as he doesn't go somewhere on his mission that requires a bike, right? Or maybe I need to get him a bike with hand brakes because that's the part he has a hard time with--the fact that when he pushes his feet back by accident, the bike brakes and he can't go forward.

Anyway, these are some cute pictures of Caleb enjoying his tricycle. Whenever it's not raining, he goes outside and rides around and around and around. It's great that he enjoys it.

Tuesday Afternoon Bath

Don't you just love little kids? Caleb is currently potty training. He goes back and forth on being successful. This week is a bad week. Yesterday he wore diapers all day because he had three consecutive accidents involving #2 in the morning in his underwear. Today, he did great all morning. At naptime, I put him in a diaper, as usual. Unfortunately, the diaper didn't hold it all. In addition to having to wash his sheets, I had to put him in the tub. Travis wandered in at the same time and wanted to take a bath too. So, here we are, on a Tuesday afternoon, taking a bath.

Max

Now that we are living with my parents, Max is having to adjust to being around kids. So far, it's been okay. He tends to follow me around most of the day. I think he enjoys it when the kids and I play with him. But he still tries to avoid the kids. Here he wanted to be on the couch, but he didn't want to be next to Caleb, so he climbed up to the arm of the couch instead.

My New Buddy

With Westley starting school this fall, Caleb is going to have to find a new buddy. Lately, Caleb and Travis have started playing well together. It's great to see the brothers forging these relationships that will hopefully carry through time. Caleb and Westley have been best buddies for a while, but since Travis has become more active in walking and trying to talk and trying to do what the "big" boys do, they have both been playing with him more. Often, Travis wakes up from his nap before Caleb wakes up, and he and Westley will go outside and play together. And when Corey or I take Westley with us on an errand, Caleb will play well with Travis. It's great. Hopefully they'll become buddies while Westley is in school. Caleb doesn't start for two more years after Westley, so they'll have two years to become best buds.

Westley and Eliza

Isn't Eliza pretty in her church dress? Up until about two weeks ago, I had been putting Eliza in the same dress each Sunday, a dress I got her for Christmas. Finally, after moving, I had a chance to go through all the clothes we've been given, many of them hand-me-downs from some generous people, and found that we have a HUGE abundance of baby girl clothes in the sizes 0-3 months. So I now try to dress her in an outfit every day (often it ends up being about 2-3 outfits a day with all her spit-up) and sleepers for pajamas at night. I was just putting her in sleepers all the time before. This is a picture of her the first time I dressed her in something different for church.



Westley is my big helper when it comes to Eliza. Recently, she's had RSV, and he's even helped by giving her the last few minutes of a breathing treatment while I was getting Travis down for a nap. Here he is feeding her a bottle. Usually he only helps for just a few minutes while I am busy with the other boys (changing Travis' diaper, helping Caleb wash his hands, putting them down for naps, etc.). He loves to help out, though, and he sure loves babies! Guess he was definitely supposed to be the oldest in our family!

Mastering the Spoon

Caleb and Travis are eating cereal for breakfast. Recently, Travis has figured out how to manipulate the spoon to eat cereal. Since we eat cereal on a regular basis, this is great news for Mom!



Travis sometimes gets messy still, though. He doesn't always remember to keep the spoon level, so the milk often ends up all over him.