County Fair 2012

 Just some pictures from our trip to the fair this year.

 

 

 

 The only ride our son enjoyed beside riding the pony ride.  He only wanted to do it once though.

 I know you think you see our son on the ride below and you are right.  He thought he wanted to ride this until they strapped him in and then he cried to be let off and so the ride attendant unlocked it for him and he sat with me and the baby while our oldest daughter and her daddy enjoyed this ride. :)

 Well bounce houses don't count as rides so he enjoyed the bounce house.

Tile in the bathroom

 This is something I did not realize we had pictures of.  I just wanted to show off the work that my husband and our home teacher did.  Our bathroom last year flooded a little due to a leak in the toilet.  Luckily we caught it in a decent amount of time.  The previous owners had laid vinyl tile squares on top on the vinyl you see in the first picture.  The toilet leak actually loosened the glue and caused some smelly mildew underneath that first layer of "tile".  So we ripped up the tile squares to clean the mess and revealed some flooring underneath that would have to do till we could tile.  It had holes and was pretty beat up but it worked for a temporary fix.  Then fast forward 9 months and our home teacher actually helped get my husband motivated to finish it.  Well that and I very pregnant forced him to the local Lowes and helped him get the supplies needed.  Lucky for him he finished right before our baby's due date.  Not so lucky for him I was a mess but he was used to it since the previous 9 months I had been a permanent mess.  Our home teacher spent long hours helping and we couldn't be more grateful.  They even got some help laying the tile from a sister in our ward who was kind enough to get some of the girls she works with to come finish any cleaning I didn't get to when the baby came due to my house being in disarray from the construction.  

 Our home teacher cutting and ripping up count it 1..2..3.. layers of floor.

 Isn't this flooring pretty?  We almost decided to stay with this except we had the tile and figure what the hey! 

 Tile cut, measured and in stuck in place.

 Tile grouted and ugly wall.

 Placing tile border on wall.  My husband cute the tile to make the border so it would match and spent time on making sure it looked just right.

The finished floor with border.  You notice the vent whole under the cabinets?  We actually were worried that would cover that up and have to move cabinets and such.  Luckily removing 3 levels of floor boards and vinyl fixed that problem.  It looks so nice.  Now trying to decide on a nice wall color for the bathroom.  Now that I had the baby I can help get that done once I decide.

Our Baby

 So I title this Our Baby because one we are sure we are done and two because she truly is not just my husband's and my baby but our other children claim her as their baby as well.  She was born on Aug. 1st at 5:24 pm at 7lbs 7oz and 20.5 inches long.  We induced and after finding a knot in her cord at birth were grateful to have made the decision to do so.  So many things can go wrong.  If you know my email and would like to see a picture of it I can send you one but felt it a little too graphic for a blog post. 

I went in at 7:30 am and my water was broken around 7:45 am and Petocin was started around 8 am.  After having our son come in 4 hours and me starting this induction already minus a mucus plug, 2 centimeters dilated and 80 percent effaced we all expected this to go fairly quick.  She chose to take her time still.  I was glad to have the company of my Sister, Sister in law and Mother in law while my husband took a nap and I was a little bored.  Something about forgetting to bring things to entertain myself while waiting.  Yes you read that right my husband took a nap up till it was time to push.  But it is ok since we all told him to take a nap since I would rather have him awake once she was born.  It gives him a chance to do all the things I can't do while being numb from an epidural like her first bath.  

About 9 1/2 hours later she finally came.  Instantly we fell in love with her.  She has been a miracle in her own way.  We are convinced that she is meant to be here.  Her spirit is so sweet and calm.

First couple hours after birth.

 

Her first words to describe her baby sister were "She is sooo adooreable!"

 

 He is and has been convinced that he had this baby and she belongs to him.  Don't believe me try to visit and hold her he will hover over you and her making sure that you know she belongs to him.

 Our first Family photo with her.

 1 day old

 

2 days old in her going home outfit.

In her car seat ready to go home.

 

July Fun

 So in July we celebrated the 4th by watching fireworks.  Pictured above is our kids getting sticky eating Cotton Candy.

Also during July we had a ward reunion with my childhood ward.  We met everyone at a park and my kids enjoyed playing with their cousins and making new friends. 

 Two cute kids.  I love how she lets him brush her hair.  I love watching them get along and be friends.

Swimming Lessons 2012

So this year both kids had swim lessons in July.  Our daughter also had lessons in June.  She is now officially in the Learn to Swim lessons and is soaking up as much info as she can.  She is swimming at least 5 feet in a semi front crawl position and can float on her stomach.  She struggles a little with floating on her back and keeping her bum up.  Our son wanted desperately to be like his sister and have swim lessons to so we let him do one 2 week session of the Beginning Preschool level that is all about being comfortable in the water.  We do need to work on his ability to listen and stay with his teacher.  Hopefully by next year he will be better able to do that.  

Here are pictures of his first day where he did fairly well.  After the first day he struggled. 

 

 Also a picture of our daughter getting ready to swim to her teacher.

 

June

 So June was a busy month one day we went to an indoor amusement park near by.  Our neighbors and us split the cost for 5 kid wristbands through a Groupon deal.  Which made it around 11 bucks each.  The fun thing about this place is that parents can ride free with their kids.  So a cheap family activity.  The kids had a lot of fun.

 

Also something else I worked on during the month of June was this quilt for our new baby.

2012 Preschool Graduation

My daughter has graduated from preschool and will start Kindergarten this fall.  She misses seeing her friends and teacher regularly but so excited to make new friends.

 

Here is her graduation program which was Goldilocks and the 3 bears.  She starts out as a flower and ends up as Goldilocks.  Hope you enjoy.

Spring Dance Recital 2012

So the same day as my nieces graduation we also had my daughters dance recital.  So when I was getting my daughter ready for preschool I curled her hair how she would need it for the recital and hoped and prayed that it would stay all day.  I also hair sprayed that hair like crazy.  Looking at it I think it did well.  Luckily she does not have hair like me that when I was her age if you curled my hair it would all fall within minutes.  The only thing that really worked was my mom would braid my hair in lots of little braids before bed and take them out in the morning to have the crimped hair look for pictures. Then I took her to Preschool and my husband picked her up when he got off work early and we headed to the graduation.  Then after Graduation we headed to the Dance Recital stopping only at a Subway to get dinner.  Ironically Grandma and Grandpa by some sheer chance pulled up at the same Subway and we got to eat a little with them before we had to run to get our daughter to the recital.  She did awesome.  You can tell she knew some things a little too well and got a little rushed in The Twist and well she loved dancing to Hey Mickey and sings it everyday since.  Enjoy the pics and video.

 Couple Recital pictures taken at the end of the recital

The Twist

Hey Mickey

 The finally although it is hard to see her.  She is in the second row back on the right middle of screen.  Every now and then you see her head bob up into view.

Getting Older

So last year I talked about How I knew I was getting older because my niece graduated high school.  Well this year I now have two nieces graduated.  This young woman is talented, quirky and fun.  My memory of this girl reminds me of a time when I went to visit my brother and his family(who at the time lived in another state) and this little girl stole my heart.  She was my buddy and when it was time for me to go home she came into the room where I was packing and asked if I would come back to see them.  I told her I would and she was so worried that I wouldn't.  I remember looking in those eyes and knowing that I wanted nothing more than to make sure that I would go back and that I would be invovled in her life.  I did go back once for her baptism and then they moved close to me when I married my husband,  Whenever I look at her I can't help but see those pleading eyes hoping that the world will be fair to her and I hope she knows that I always hope to be a part of her life.

Getting her diploma

 My big brother and his second daughter to graduate

 

My daughter during graduation and well I thought she was cute.

Solar Eclipse

So we had a solar eclipse.  It was supposed to be cool.  My husband remembered something he learned in elementary school that could help us keep our eyes protected.  No one expected a large cloud to come in a ruin it.  However it was fun trying to figure something out for our kids and neighbor kids to learn a little about this cool event;  We think that we did possibly see a little of the suns light blocked with our homemade sun projectors.  and really from where we were that was all that was going to happen.  Here are some pictures really to help us remember it.

My son found a fun box and walked around with it on his head.  So I took a picture before I removed it so he could be safe.  One way he entertained himself while waiting for the chance to see the solar eclipse.

 Testing and teaching other how to use the paper projectors so they didn't look at the sun.

New Roof

So every year since we moved in we knew we would need to replace the back roof.  Every year my husband gets on the  roof before winter and patches any holes.  This year we had a nasty wind storm and although our roof was not in the best of condition the insurance gave us the money we needed to replace the roof.  It was a huge blessing that we were grateful for their generosity.  For the first time since we moved into our house I do not worry now that my roof may leak.  Who knew a giant windstorm that destroyed our recently built fence would be a blessing.  By the way looking forward to the fence being fixed as well. :)