Guilty...

So I was catching up on all the blogs that I follow and then I started feeling guilty that I haven't been keeping up on my own blog...but (thankfully) nothing has been going on, so I don't really know what to blog about.

Today in Relief Society I was sitting there and it suddenly dawned on me how blessed I am. Probably these thoughts were in the back of my mind because of a dream I had last night. I was dreaming out Mine and Michelle and Tiffany's "club house" that we used to have when I was young. Then I was dreaming about walking on the leaves that "sound like crunchy, crunchy ceeeeeaaarrrreeeeaaaalllll." (Yeah, don't worry about that one too much, only Michelle and Tiffany would think that's funny, I'm sure). Then I thought of how often I dream about my childhood when I'm pregnant. Then I started thinking about how I almost always wake up with a smile on my face when I do. I was seriously blessed with such a great childhood (I wish I could have known that while I was living my childhood. lol.) But then as Bonnie was giving the lesson on Tithing, I was noticing all the sisters that said that was the "test of their faith" to pay tithing. That they had all these obstacles to overcome because it was just hard for them to do. Then Bonnie asked what we can do to help OUR children learn to pay their tithing. I told about the time that my Dad added up our bills and our income (the bills outweighed the income). And I know...and he knew...that it was because we paid our tithing that we had enough to live on. And I told how grateful I was that my Dad didn't just say to himself "Wow, glad we pay our tithing" and then leave it at that. He made sure that us kids knew about this as well. I noticed that almost every lesson that we have in Relief Society there is always someone who says "I had a hard time with this commandment or with this task. And it is always because they had to learn when they were an adult. They didn't get to learn when they were a child, when faith was an easier thing to come by. I got to learn so much when I was a child that makes my adult life SO much easier now. I know how to do all these things. I recognize "teachable moments" when they come because I got to see first hand how to do because my parents did it. I know how to have Family Home Evening because I saw my parents do it. I know how to save because I saw my parents do it, and they taught me how to do it. I know how to pay my tithing because I saw my parents do it, and they taught me how to do it. I know how to study my scriptures by myself and with my family, because I saw my parents do it. I saw my parents do all these things, even when it would have been easier for them not to. It would have been easier at times not to pay their tithing because we could have used the money. It would have been easier at times NOT to have scripture study (I now know how hard it is to get children up that early in the morning...it's not my idea of fun). It would have been more fun NOT to save our money, we could have used that money for nicer vacations or brand name clothes or a lot of other "fun" stuff...but now I know how to save, and as an adult it is SO nice to have that money set aside when something comes up...medical bills...broken appliances that need repaired or replaced...new beds....and a million other things that aren't as "fun" to spend your money on, but you still have to do it. And it's nice when an unexpected bill comes and we don't have to scrimp on stuff like food in order to pay those bills. I'm really blessed that my parents taught me how to be self sufficient, and taught me that life isn't meant to be one big party. I'm glad they didn't teach me if you want it, get it and someone else will take care of your needs. I'm glad my parents didn't teach me to have Family Home Evening when it's easy or to go to church only when it's convenient to do so. I'm glad they taught me about the importance of temples. And most of all, I'm glad that my parents never gave up on me, even when it would have been easier to do so. I've got the greatest parents in the world.

*It's so much easier to learn how to live when what you say and what you do echo the same example. :)

Thanks to my parents for all that they have done for me.

Wow, that was kind of a long post for not having anything to blog about huh? ;)

Eventful Day!!!!

Yeah, it's been an eventful (but good eventful) day. First we went to the Doctor's (1-1/2 hours away) to get an ultra sound. We got to find out what the gender of the baby was. The boys were loving watching the baby but then they got bored when the Dr. started measuring the head and belly and checking the heart and all they. They didn't find that so interesting, so they went to play with the toys in the waiting room. Then we had to take Jon back to work (an extra...maybe 20 minutes out of the way). Then I was thinking of all that I had to do when I walked back into the house. Get the boys lunch, get Topher ready for school, find backpacks, do some laundry, clean up the living room.... As I pull in the driveway and get out I say to the boys "You guys stay in here for just a second, it's cold out so let me unlock the door before you get out." It's at that moment that I realize...Jon has the house keys...at work...mine are in the house. Great, now what? It's one of those "Rod, what do I do" moments, only now it's Jon that has to have the answer to everything. :) So I call Jon.

Me: Jon, you locked the house right?

Jon: Yeah, I told you I would.

Me: Crap.

Jon: What?

Me: Did you lock the back door? I don't have any keys.

Jon: You could check.

Me: I might come visit you at work and pick up the keys.

So I go and check the back door - LOCKED. We don't have time to go to Jon's work and back and get back in time for Topher to get to school. Fine...we'll go to Pizza Hut for lunch. The boys loved it and thankfully they were well behaved so I didn't feel like ripping my hair out by the end of the meal. After lunch is over what do we do? Just hang out in the car until time for school? Drive past the trains 100 times? Go play outside and risk the attitude that ALWAYS follows when it's time to come in? IDEA: So I call Tara (she picks up Topher for school), so I ask Tara if I can drop Topher off today instead of her picking him up. Thankfully she was totally willing to keep Topher for a few minutes before school. So we drop Topher off then we go to see Jon (30 min up) and as we are waiting in the lobby for Jon there are some guys waiting there for someone else. They are standing there talking and my boys are kind of wandering around looking at everything when suddenly Ethan walks up to one of the guy and spanks him...yeah, I said he spanked him. (The boys play that as a game at home...but seriously, this is a total stranger). So I apologized - I mean what more can you do after that? Then these guys get a hold of the person they needed to on the phone, they say "He said it's going to be 5 or 10 minutes" so they all start sitting down and Ethan sits RIGHT down in the chair that this guy (yeah, the one he just spanked) was starting to sit in. I'm like "Jon, please hurry...." Jon shows up and we got to hang out at his work for a few minutes then another 30 min. back home. We get in and almost as soon as we get settled in it was time to go pick up the boys from school. Yeah, it's been a fun day. :) So that's about all of my interesting day (so far).

Hahahaha, you thought I wasn't going to tell you....yeah, it's a GIRL!

My life would be so boring...

I just don't know what I'd do without my kids. I love when you can tell they've been listening to what you say...and to know that they are so protective of me...it's great.

We were in the parking lot yesterday getting ready to go back home. Jon started the car while I was buckling in the boys. Topher apparently thought that Jon was getting ready to drive away. Topher: "DAD! WHAT'S THE NUMBER ONE RULE WHEN WE GET INTO THE CAR?!?!!?!? DON'T DRIVE OFF UNTIL MOM IS BUCKLED!"

While he was sharing the Cookie Crisp with the other boys: "Alright guys, you can have ONE MORE, but no more or you are going to turn into cookies."

And I don't know what I'd do without the oldest "kid" (you know, the one I married). I was in the dollar store (looking for candles...see my previous post) and suddenly I hear the loudest "WAHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMPPPPPPP" (one of those really loud toys)...then I hear a "FFFFFFMMMMMMMPPPPPP....Daddy, I can't do it."

"Here, put your lips like this...now do it."

"WAHHHHMMMMMPPPP"

"Yeah, good job."

I just kept walking right past the toy isle. Oh, I love these guys. I can't wait for the next one.

Just had to share

I've been trying to keep myself busy lately so the days will go by quicker and then it'll be time to see my baby before I know it. (Just on the ultra-sound, you guys haven't missed THAT much). I learned a new (and really easy) technique for stamping on candles. I just wanted to show what I made today. (Assuming blogger will let me load my pictures this time).

This was the first one I did using the Circle Circus Stamp set. It's quickly becoming one of my new favorites. I can use it for almost anything, it's really great.

This one I did because, any of you that know me know that I will add sparkle to anything I can. You can't see it real well on this picture, but it's got the rhinestones and it really is sparkly. I really love it.

This one was fun (but very time consuming to do). This is my "Tote-ally Tess" stamp set. I wanted to see if the Stampin' Up! markers worked for this technique. I was glad to see they did. I think this turned out well, although Tess is really hard to cut out when she's stamped on tissue paper.

This one I did because we STILL don't know if we are having a boy or a girl. I was complaining on Facebook that my creativity was being stunted because I wanted to do all this baby stuff, but I didn't know if I should make it blue or pink. Cassandra suggested I do something "gender neutral", but I'm not a big fan of the greens and yellows. But when I saw my fox and friends stamp set it always reminds me of a baby project so I thought I would do that because it seems pretty gender neutral but it got my "baby project" fix for now.
If you want to know how to do these (super simple by the way) go to http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/karenegeland/blog?directBlogUrl=/blog/2041982/entry/stamping_on_candles

Oh and I don't think I let everyone on here know that I got a promotion (I thought Mary especially would be happy to hear that). I'm WAY excited, it seems to have sparked my creativity all over again. :)

So now we have to head to Wal*mart or the dollar store and get some more candles and whatnot so that I can keep myself busy for a few more days. I REALLY hope the baby cooperates so that we can start calling the baby something other than "the baby" or "he/she", we can actually call him/her by a name. Speaking of which, if you all have any baby names (boys or girls) that you like...that you don't intend on using...leave them in the comment area. We have a few names picked out, but we still aren't settled on any one name for either gender.

I had to make a "calendar" for the boys. My count down calendar just wasn't doing it for them. They asked me about 100 times a day if it was the "let's go watch the baby on the TV at the Doctor's Day". I made a make-shift one with labels on it like "No School Day", "Daddy's Home Day", "Karate Day" etc. that way it's easier for the kids to keep track of how many more days we have until we get to see the baby. I'm not sure who's more excited about it me or the kids. I'll make sure to let you all know when we find out what we're having though. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

SOOOOOO SLOW!!!!!

Uhhhhh...these days seem like they are taking YEARS to pass. Mama, you're right, I can't wait 9 months for anything. In 2 weeks I get to see if we are having a boy or a girl (or both as Eric informed me, lol). I've got my count down calendar and I love waking up in the morning and flipping one more number over. I think maybe it'll seem to go a little faster once the numbers get into the single digits...probably not, but I can wish.

Ethan is still completely convinced that he's got a baby too. We always make sure that the new baby brings a present for the other kids, it seems to ease the transition...maybe the baby will bring a doll for Ethan so he doesn't get upset when I have a baby and his is "still in his tummy". When he got out of the tub today he quickly wrapped his towel around his belly and informed me that he "had to cover up his belly so his baby wouldn't get cold." He tells me all the food that he can and can't eat because this food will make the baby sick (aka "morning sickness") or this food is good for the baby and his baby wants more. Yesterday after his 3rd bowl of cereal I told him that he needs to eat some toast or something, he's had enough cereal. He started throwing a fit and yelling "but Mom! My baby is HUNGRY!!!!" I really hope this is a phase because if this keeps up after we've had the baby I don't know what I'm going to do. :)

But, all in all, everything seems to be going well with this baby. Hopefully it stays that way.

It's about time...

I have been such a slacker on blogging. I was thinking "Well, I have an excuse..." but then as I was checking all the blog updates of friends and family, I saw Nina's blog and decided that I have an excuse...it's just not a very good one. :)

We finally got to see our baby on Dec. 22. (And yes, since everyone keeps asking, we are further along with this one than we were with Elizabeth - our last baby). I was all excited about posting "pictures" - but our scanner is broken. Darn the luck. So you'll just have to believe me that we have the ultra sound pictures. That is one active little guy/girl. The baby kept moving and shifting and kicking...it was very reassuring and real nice to see. I don't know when we'll find out if it's a boy or a girl. For sure not our next appointment, but maybe the one after that. I was so pleased to find out that we can go to our same Dr., but to a different office (as long as we are not having an ultra-sound done). My OB is 2 hours away...and on these Wyoming roads in winter...not fun. But this other office cuts off about 45 min of drive time for us. Yeah-a-h! Jon's not sure whether to be happy about it or not. A closer office means less driving for him, but it also means that it's close enough that he doesn't get the ENTIRE 1/2 of the day off of work...it means we're done in enough time that he has to go back. :) Jon always comes with me because if I leave the kids with someone that's an all day job. Since the Dr. is 2 hours away (on good roads), that means 2 hours up, 2 hours back, plus the time in the Dr. office and usually a stop for something to eat. It's a minimum of 5 hours for babysitting. I hate to ask anyone to do that.

I thought it was SO adorable though. We've FINALLY convinced Topher that boys can't have babies. He was thoroughly convinced that the Daddies had the boy babies and the Mommies had the girl babies...like I'm going to let Jon get the credit for all that hard work I did. lol. Ethan hadn't said much until about a week before the appointment. He's convinced that he's also got a baby in his tummy as well. So when we were ready for the ultra-sound the nurse went and got Jon and the boys. They were thrilled to see the baby on the "TV". They thought it was so cool. Then when we were ready to leave, Ethan started to walk into another exam room (thankfully an unoccupied one) and started to climb onto the table. I said "Ethan, what are you doing? We're all done, it's time to go home." Then he started to throw a fit (not a big one, but big enough you could tell he was MAD). He said "MOM! It's MY TURN NOW!" and he pulls up his shirt to show his belly "It's time to watch MY baby on the TV." All the nurses had a good laugh watching me trying to convince him that there was no baby in his belly. Then the next morning I was feeling pretty sick so I figured the TV could babysit for a little while until I was feeling better. I pulled out the DVDs and asked Ethan what he wanted to watch. He searched through the DVDs for a while saying "Nope, it's not that one...Nope, not that one." Then he hands them to me and says "Mom, I want to watch the baby on the TV." I thought that was so stinkin' cute. So that's the main things that have been going on in our family.

I love this family!

My boys are the greatest! Ethan was sitting on a stool and leaned over to get his blanket that was on the floor. Obviously, he tipped over, then as I was heading over to see if he was alright I could see the stool going too. He flipped head over heels on the way down, so when the stool fell it landed right on top of him, hitting him in the head. As I scooped him up in my arms and was cradling him and checking that he was alright I saw Topher JUMP UP from the table (he was eating lunch) and run over to Ethan. Then I saw Justin running as fast as his little legs could carry him, both were coming to see if Ethan was alright. Justin gave him a hug and said "Brother OK? And then Topher got up and spanked the chair yelling "Don't you hurt my Ethan! SHAME ON YOU!" Then Topher picked up the blanket that Ethan was reaching for when he fell and wrapped it around him. Then Topher went and got 2 of HIS favorite blankets so that he would feel better. Justin saw this and decided to follow suite. He went and got Ethan's frog blanket and gave it to him. It was so stinkin' cute. Apparently Topher went and got 2 pillows because they are laying on the kitchen floor together showing each other their owies. :)