Spring Break!

It was Spring break last week. We were originally going to have a stay cation but we decided that since we weren't sure what was going on with Scott's job situation that he might not have another chance to take work off. We went down on Tuesday. We were able to meet everyone for lunch at Hires. That night after dinner the kids had an Easter egg hunt in the yard. The weather was beautiful that day.

On Wednesday it was a very rainy day and Nana took Corbin and Gabby to the movies. It was also Greta's birthday so we went to the Pizza Factory for dinner for some pizza and bowling but apparently the bowling alley was full. I took Piper and Ryan home and everyone else went bowling somewhere else. Scott got 4 strikes in a row right at the end. Wow! We played Loaded Questions with everyone that night.

On Thursday we went to the brand new Living Aquarium. It just opened so it was nuts! It was crazy crowded. There were a lot more adults than children but I still felt like I couldn't keep track of my kids. It was crazy. A lot of the exhibits were still empty so that wasn't great but it was still pretty cool all be it crowded! That night we played two truths and a lie. Clark then invited everyone to go to Maggie McGee's with him for Karaoke night. Well few things speak to Scott more than 1) karaoke and 2) free. I had to change out of my pajamas to be the supportive wife and go. Ha. Nobody quite entertains like Scott and Clark with Karaoke. I guess they had a lot of practice performing back in the day with their band Bathe the Hippy. Mandy and Cory didn't disappoint either!

On Friday we went to the Discovery Gateway. There wasn't enough science for Scott's liking but the kids loved it. We went to Hires again for lunch afterwards. That night Jeff and Janet went to a play and Nicole and Rustin hosted dinner and entertainment for us that night. They roasted hot dogs in a fire pit outside and then all the boys had a video game party at Rustin's house and all the girls watched Frozen at Nana's house.

On Saturday Nana picked up some Saturday's Waffles for us and we ate and drove home. We decided to have one last Spring break splurge and get some Pizza Hut for dinner. I forgot about the women's broadcast so since I was not showered and disgusting I watched it by myself on the computer. Thank you internet.

It was such a fun spring break and it was great to see all of Scott's family. It was especially fun that Carole and Greta came up and hung out with us almost the entire time. I think one of the best parts was that I may or may not be over my crazy sleeping in the same bed as Scott drama and I slept happily in the same room with him the entire time. This is huge! Ha. This makes vacations much less of an ordeal let me tell you.

Cute Bubba.

Easter Egg Hunt!

Aquarium

Aunt Mandy was a big help at the Aquarium.

Sleepy head on the way home.

Scott's score: 158!

Helicopter at the Discovery Gateway.

So tired.

Sing it Scott!

Just because he's cute. Don't you just want to grab his chubby arms? I do!

Update

Scott went to Texas this week again. The owners are selling the Texas property so Scott is looking for a new job. He had a job interview this week as an apartment manager of a complex in Nampa and he got the job. That job doesn't start until May so until then he will continue to do his current job but he will also see if he can find an even better job between now and then.

On Thursday we went to the park for almost 2 hours. It's so nice when the weather starts to warm up after we've all been cooped up for months. Other than that we did the usual story times and went to the indoor gym for the last time this year.

Yesterday our stake had a blood drive so I signed up. I've only given blood twice and it's not easy for me. I have small veins that like to roll. The last time I gave blood was on Christmas Eve 5 years ago and all of us that donated blood came down with the stomach flu (Corbin was sick and it must have weakened our immune systems). Well I warned the phlebotomist that I have rolly veins and I think he thought I was an idiot until he tried to get my vein. He poked the needle in and then he had to dig and dig and dig. After that being unsuccessful he called over his boss who then dug a few times. They finally got the blood to flow but it was slow flowing. After nearly 20 minutes the bag was about a half an inch from the top and the guy told me he had to pull the plug. I told him to try to dig some more. He said he couldn't. I told him to try to other arm and he said he couldn't. What! If you don't get the bag filled in 20 minutes they can't accept your donation. So I went through all of that pain and lost almost a liter of blood for nothing!!! Let's just say I won't be attempting to donate blood again any time soon.

Ryan has been medium crabby this week. He has been waking up almost every night though this week. I don't know if he's having a growth spurt or what. On Wednesday night he was having some sort of drama mama and he was up screaming most of the night. I gave him gas drops, gripe water, and Tylenol. Nothing seemed to do the trick. I was up all night with him. We had three small power naps where he would finally give it up and sleep for 30 minutes to an hour. It was crazy. I think it was his tummy by the way he was arching his body and screaming. It was nuts. I've never been up in the night like that with one of my babies before that wasn't a few days or weeks old.

Corbin likes to try to sneak the iPad in his bed at night. Scott went to go and find it and Corbin said, "I wonder how this keeps getting in my bed?" I wonder.

Gabby: "He's just making me crazy." (Corbin)
"I really love Ryan."

Piper:
Me: "Piper can you say ga ga Gabby?" P:"Ga, ga, Abby."
Often when my kids get up in the morning they come to me in my bed and request breakfast or to watch a show. One morning Piper came to me first thing in the morning and instead woke me up to say, "go to Nana, Papa's house." Ha!

Ryan keeps rolling himself into trouble.

Sunday nap

He's started to grab his toes. I love when babies do that.

Cute piggies. Almost any time I ask Piper to smile for a picture she pulls that face.

Gabby:"Hi Piper." P: "Hi, Abby I'm habing a nack."

Or she also likes to pull this face.

Gabby coloring and coloring and coloring.

Cuddles. This baby has me wrapped around his finger.

One of Ryan's nicknames is "Stinky Pete" because he spits up all the time and rarely doesn't smell like barf. It's extra awesome now that he is rolling over everywhere. I get to clean up barf piles all over my floor.

I had to get into the headbands and Gabby kept putting them on Ryan.

Do you know why the pig is pink?

Gabby's been on antibiotics for over 10 days and she hasn't been snoring anymore. She goes to the doctor for a follow up appointment on the 24th. When this is all over I will have been giving either Piper or Gabby antibiotics for 30 days in a row, twice a day. I'm going to be excited when I don't have to worry about that anymore.

A few random things with me. Nursing is going well. I have had the least amount of trouble with Ryan. That has been a relief. I'm still a milk cow and my body doesn't like to make adjustments. I cut out Ryan's 10:00 pm feeding a month ago and let's just say I wake up very uncomfortably still. I have to pump in the morning and I was just throwing it out but after Christmas I started giving it to the girl I visit teach. I take bags of frozen breast milk to her every week. Another totally random thing is that for years I have been moving out to the couch in the night to sleep for years. Well for the past month I have only gone out to the couch 2 times. 2 times! I don't know if I'm going to be able to keep this up but I sure hope so. This will especially make our vacations much nicer. On our Hawaiian cruise Scott was kicked out of our room more than once.

Corbin is my big project right now. We just got his report card and he is on grade level with everything (thank goodness) but I'm pretty sure he's at the lower end with reading. I go into his class every week and his classmates read to me so I have a pretty good idea. Mrs. Poole told me that this particular class is ahead but I want Corbin to be at the top.  Everyday I have to try to find time to help him do his homework, flash cards, letter and sound time tests, have him read to me and me read to him. Woo! We are working hard over here. I feel like reading success is critical to school success so we are hard at work.

We are at the stage with Piper where we are trying to figure out her naps. If she naps for 2 hours she's up until 10:00 half the time. I started cutting out her naps altogether and that wasn't great. She was very tired and crabby. I'm trying to give her only an hour nap now. We'll see what ends up working out. All I have to say is that Corbin took a 4 hour nap everyday until he was 3 1/2 and he went to bed at 8:00. Seriously! That was amazing.

I am not adjusting to daylight savings. Seriously I've been an hour behind all week. I really think they need to just get rid of it!

Kids:
Corbin:
"I know why the pig is pink. Because it's pink." Oh that makes sense.
Corbin was trying on a new shirt while still wearing his pajama pants. "Even in my pajamas, I'm still handsome."
"Mom can I have something with nutrients in it." Ha. He is always interested in knowing if something is good for him.
"I know why Ryan is crabby, it's because of all of this drama." Ha!

Gabby:
"Piper stop doing that it's so obnoxious."
"Mom, where is that jewelry necklace that Piper let me have and keep forever?"

Piper:
"Don't worry about it." When Piper says this it's so funny!
"I pee in the river, hahaha!" (The parks don't open their bathrooms until the middle of April. I took her to the bathroom before we went but she still had to go while we were there. I had to let her go in the river bed). Good times!
"Ahhh...that makes me annoying." Piper what you meant to say was, "that makes me annoyed" but your way was much funnier.
Me: "Piper come and take your coat and put it away please." Piper:"hmmmm...I'm busy."
"Daddy, I'm busy. Gonna watch Care Bears for awhile."
"A lady bug!....What in the world?"
The funniest thing about anything that Piper says is the way she says it. It's usually very loud and exaggerated. I wish you could all hear. So funny!

Piper sleeping with her tutu skirt and Gabby's shoes.

Ryan's been a bit of a crabster this week. I can't help but think that crying pictures are cute too. He's a rolling machine these days.

Gabby is obsessed with coloring. She is constantly wanting us to print out or draw pictures for her to color. It takes us longer to print them than it does for her to color them I swear, What to do with 50 million Gabby pictures?

Gabby's picture she colored from church. Pretty good huh?

Crabster. He finally gave it up and fell asleep in my arms last night.

Scott captured a spider to let go outside but not before he and the kids checked it out.

Piper was so tired after church (1:00 church) that she put herself down for a nap.

Ryan's 4 Months

Ryan had his 4 month appointment. I also needed the doctor to check out Gabby and Piper as well. Other than having a little cold and spitting up all the live long day Ryan is great. I forgot to mention last week that Ryan is rolling over now. He can roll over both ways but he mostly rolls over from his back to his stomach.

4 month stats:
Weight: 15-2 75%
Height: 25 3/4 75%
Head Circ. 42 3/4 cm 60%

Here are my other kids 4 month stats. Corbin so far continues to be my biggest baby. link

I had the doctor check out Piper and her ear is healing nicely. I also had the doctor check out Gabby's tonsils. I've been worried about her. She snores/breathes so loud that I can hear her when the door is closed when I'm in my kitchen. She is also my kid that always seems to have a cough or cold. Well sure enough her tonsils are huge. The doctor prescribed 3 weeks of heavy duty antibiotics and steroids to try to shrink them down. If they don't shrink she will have to get them removed. I'm kind of wanting to just take them out. It seems like even if they go down that they will still be a chronic problem for her. I had to get my tonsils out when I was 4. We'll see what happens. It does kind of freak me out to think of her having surgery though. Gabby doesn't like yogurt very much but luckily I found some chew-able kid probiotics that she doesn't like but she will eat. I'm glad because 3 weeks on antibiotics can't be good for your system.

Well I'm just chugging along. Having 4 little kids is kind of rough. I'm grateful but I'm also stressed and tired most of the time. I feel like raising kids is a marathon, but I'm sprinting. I can't sprint forever. I'm just a bit of a perfectionist and I want my house to be perfect, my kids to be perfect, and myself to be perfect. It just can't happen! I really am grateful though, but it's tiring!

Corbin:
"You know, I know something. Dragons are real but unicorns aren't real."
Corbin talking about reading night at school. "We are going to read to dogs. Is that crazy? Are parents supposed to come? You will be amazed."
"You better believe I have another ouchie."
Me: "Sometimes moms need to go out by themselves." Corbin: "Cause sometimes kids are annoying." Ha!

Gabby:
After she woke up she came in and said, "Mom, I am totally too tired."
Corbin was singing a song, "Mom, that song is killing me."

Piper prayer:
Heavenly Father
thank you daddy's work
thank you mommy feel better
thank you baby ryan
thank you go to the doctor
thank you go to sleep
me: "in the name of Jesus Christ"
Piper: "Amen!"

Love!

Gabby held Ryan forever while I went around and around on the gym floor. I'm glad someone was burning off energy.

Blurry darn it. Corbin and Gabby slept on the floor and you can see that Corbin abandoned his own pillow to sleep up close and personal to Gabby. Ha! Corbin is the worst to sleep with he totally crowds you!

Pictures from Scott's petco trip with the kids last week.

Sicky Bears

On Monday I gathered up all my chicks and we walked/rode bikes/rode in strollers to pick Corbin up from school. We went straight to the park and played for awhile until we ventured back home for lunch. It was a beautiful day and it was the only day we enjoyed spending time outside. Gabby and Piper have been sick all week. Monday night Piper came into our room screaming around midnight and continued to be awake and crying off and on the rest of the night. Scott was kind enough to take Piper to urgent care so I could stay home and rest after being awake most of the night. I suspected an ear infection because one of her ears was full of gunk. Well sure enough Piper's ear drum had ruptured. Not sure how that happens exactly. Tuesday night was a rough night with both girls up several times all night. Gabby being the ever jealous type came into my room and said, "my mouth hurts, and my ears hurt." me "I'm sorry if you go back to sleep it will help you get better." Gabby walked away and got to the doorway and turned back to me crying and said, "I can't handle it." Ha. Oh my gosh so funny. (She was jealous because Piper had to take antibiotics for her ear drum and she took medicine in her mouth and in her ears). She really was sick with a cold and not feeling well but it was funny.

Wednesday morning Gabby spent most of the morning sleeping. She really was sick because she never does that. Piper was quite perky and much better even on just one day with her antibiotics. Corbin has had a slight cough all week and even poor Ryan has got his first legit cold. He is all stuffed up and has watery eyes and is coughing. So sad and cute.

On Thursday I realized that it was the end of the month so I decided to try to squeeze a temple session in before I had a dentist appointment. (Always a bad idea). I got there at 10:00 and the 10:30 session was already full. I had to wait an hour before the session even started. I had to drive straight from the temple to the dentist. Good thing there was a bottle in the fridge for Ryan. I was at the dentist for 2 hours getting three cavities filled. My dentist will give an on call discount of $50 an hour if you are willing to come in when there is a last minute cancellation. Bless his heart I think he was just trying to give me a bigger discount and take his sweet time. I got to watch a lot of HGTV which I love and never get to watch. Rehab addict, that show is crazy. She takes old condemned houses and restores them. It looks crazy hard and like a ton of work. I loved watching it though. I ended up not having to pay anything for my fillings. Bless our dentists heart! That night I had to do my visiting teaching too. Procrastinate much!

On Saturday I went to Zumba again and then I had to go do some serious grocery shopping. After lunch Scott took the three big kids on an outing and they went to the pet store and the library. We didn't go out all week so I'm sure they loved that. Ryan and I ended up going with my friend Jen to do a little shopping.

Corbin quote on the way home from church almost talking to himself he said, "Wait, I am sick, for real."
Gabby: "Mom did you know that the grinch was 10 years tall" Did you know that?
Piper: "Mommy, I'm so happy!" (Corbin and Gabby built a fort and didn't include Piper, I made them include Piper. While Gabby was in a time out for not being a good sport about that Piper triumphantly said in her fort over and over how happy she was).

Tuckered out on our little Monday outing.

I tried hard to read with the kids individually this week. Man if I read to all of my kids alone I'm reading out loud forever. It hurts my throat. I do my best. Ryan was a fussy pants so I had to hold him too.

Gabby put tissues in her own nose to help stop the drainage. Ha.

Sick girl.

Ha!

I wanted to take a naked picture of my chubby bubba. Look at those rosy red cheeks and chubs. Love him!

He's so cute!