Baby #5

I never did make a formal announcement on this blog. So here it is...

We are pregnant with baby #5, due March 30, 2011.

I was highly suspicious in the middle of July, just because of how I was feeling, very hungry and very tired. I put off taking the test because we've had a few times in the last year when we thought I was pregnant but I wasn't and it was kind of a bummer. Within days of the positive pregnancy test, I was already feeling the morning sickness. It's been pretty bad this time around. The only other time I had it this bad was with Westley. Luckily, now that I'm nearly 14 weeks, the sickness is subsiding and I'm feeling much better.

The fun thing is that I have a couple of cousins who are also pregnant plus two sisters-in-law who are expecting. And I have two more sisters-in-law who just had babies in the last 3 months.

It's weird though that Eliza will be so much older than this baby, considering that all the rest of my kids are separated by 14 to 23 months. Eliza will be 3 years and 3 months older than this baby.

Westley is hoping for a girl. Caleb and Travis don't seem to care and Eliza is oblivious. I feel certain it will be another boy and so does Corey. So we'll see. We get to find out around the end of October/beginning of November.

And by next April, we'll be a family of SEVEN!

First Day of School

The first day of school was August 26th. Westley started 2nd grade. Caleb started kindergarten this year, but he didn't actually start school until September 3rd. They had the kindergarten doing testing and meeting with the teacher one-on-one during the whole first week of school.

Caleb is in afternoon kindergarten (they have half-day here) and he just loves it. When he went in for the testing, I was told that he knew more than they expect them to know coming into kindergarten. I was glad of that. The results also came back, though, that he didn't know it all, so he has something to learn and probably won't be bored, like Westley was.

So far this year, I like both teachers that the boys have. I think it will be a good school year.

Caleb in the car on the way to his first day of school

Caleb in front of the school

He didn't want us to stay, so we walked him in and left, walking past all the parents who had children clinging to them, crying, while Caleb played happily on the playground, not even looking back. We are so glad that our children (so far) are so independent and eager to start something new.

Caleb is also thrilled that he gets to ride the bus home from school with Westley. And I like that they get to ride the bus still, since most buses for our school were canceled this year with the budget cuts.

Apple Valley--The King Side

After leaving my brother's, we drove up north to stay with Corey's mom and see some of the cousins on Corey's side.

Westley and Felicity (both 7)
and Savannah (same age as Eliza)

Travis and Thomas (age 4) climb on Corey

Eliza, Travis, Felicity, Westley, and Caleb

On our last night there, Nana and Corey took the boys to a minor league baseball game.
I stayed home with Eliza.

Balboa Park

After leaving Arizona, we drove to Southern California to visit my brother. While there, we visited Balboa Park and the Air and Space Museum.

The boys looking in a fountain at Balboa Park

In a garden at Balboa Park

In front of an astronaut suit at the Air and Space Museum.
The girl in the picture is cousin Maggie

Travis, Eliza, and Westley at the Air and Space Museum

Westley, Travis and Mommy on the tram in Balboa Park

Family Reunion 2010

In the middle of August, we left fairly comfortable Utah (yes, upper 90's is comfortable for me!) and drove down to miserably hot Arizona. Actually, the miserable part was being about 7 weeks pregnant and very sick. We only had to stop about 8 times that day for me to go to the bathroom, sometimes within 45 minutes of a previous stop! Anyway, we made it to my parents' house by about 6 pm Arizona time and were very glad to be there, feasting on Eve's chili.

It was a great time. All my family was there--my brother from Texas with his wife and children, my brother from London with his wife and children, my brother from California with his wife and children, and my brother from Virginia with his wife and child. My parents and youngest brother, who live in Arizona, were also there, of course. There were 13 adults and 16 children (12 and under). Lots of little ones. We all stayed at my parents' house--it was crowded but it was fun. My parents set up an air conditioning unit in the garage along with several long tables for eating and we all ate buffet style meals out there.

Here are pictures from the event:

All the kids gathered for a big Family Home Evening. Other kids were scattered on parents' laps throughout the room.

Aunt Kaori's talented handiwork--a difficult task on such thin, fine hair (just like my hair!)

Westley (age 7) reads his favorite book, Dinotrux, to his cousin Matthew (age 4)

Of course swimming was the favorite past-time

We had a mini-Olympics, Fellows style (if you're a Fellows, you know what that means)

sack races

Crazy Face Contest

Root beer drinking contest (out of baby bottles)

And of course, Makutu's Island--this has become a tradition of our get-togethers

Everyone had fun, it was great for all the cousins to see each other and spend time together, and I certainly enjoyed visiting with my brothers and sisters-in-law. Hopefully for our next get-together (for my sake, anyway), I won't be pregnant and miserable, which will make it that much more fun!

Children's Gardens

We went to Thanksgiving Point's Children's Discovery Gardens a few days before our big Arizona/California trip. The kids had fun playing in the Noah's Ark splash fountain, except that the water was freezing. I had them wear their swimsuits (except Eliza) as shorts. Eliza wore her swim cover-up and then I changed her into some dry clothes afterward. They only got to play for twenty minutes. So many kids come to play in the splash fountain that they hand out colored bracelets and give you a time slot according to your bracelet to play. Kind of defeated the point of meeting at the gardens for playgroup, which we had, but since we all got there at different times, we all had different time slots for the fountain.






The rest of the visit was equally fun for the kids--they went through the maze, climbed to the top of the lighthouse, and explored the in the discovery area. However, we went on "$2 Tuesday", so it was very crowded. Since we have a pass, we didn't have to pay to get in anyway. I think next time, we'll skip "$2 Tuesday" and all the crowds!

Summer Fun

We got this used big wheel for free when we lived in Arizona. We haven't been able to use it all year here because of the snow and the cold, plus it always needs charging. We finally charged it and the kids had a blast playing with it.