Les Miserables & a cabin trip

A couple months ago, a friend mentioned on Facebook that they got tickets to Les Mis that was coming to the valley. That night, I told Matt I wanted to go, he agreed and I ordered tickets. The day finally came a week ago. He's such a good sport and I love that he loves seeing shows with me!I'd never seen Les Miserables on stage but have seen the movie, although it's been a looooong time. I don't know if it's because of all the hype surrounding Les Mis or what, but I thought it was just ok. I know it's a classic, but I still rank it below Phantom and Wicked. Just my opinion! ;)

The next morning, the kids and I headed up to the cabin in Strawberry with Matt's mom. Jen & Dan weren't far behind, then Matt and his dad came up that evening. It seems like Matt doesn't get to come up to the cabin with us as often so I love when he's there. :) The guys all left early Sunday morning and we stayed til Monday midday.

Blake and Josh doing a job for Grandma & Grandpa, getting all the pine needles off the roofEmily, Brooklyn and a Cummard cousin went to town with the play makeup - yikes!!!

Boys playing PokemonPreston, Gavin and Adam on the porch swingBrooklyn and Emily sporting dryer sheets to keep the bugs away!!

This time I kinda let Preston just roam with the big kids and checked on his whereabouts every once in awhile. He loved the freedom and doing everything his older sibs did.I love relaxing and playing games several times a day~ Liverpool, Hand & Foot, Ticket to Ride, Sequence, etc.... I wish we didn't have to leave so early, but I'm glad we got the chance to go.

Two *minor* items of business ;)

Here's our little baby bean, due mid-December!!!

{baby in top left corner}

Yep, we've decided to go for it, one more time. FIVE kids!!! We are so, so, SO excited for this new little one to join our family!

I'm almost 12 weeks now and still feeling majorly exhausted all the time. I'm dealing with some food weirdness and occasional headaches, but really, I can't complain much. My belly is starting to push out a bit already and I already feel like time is passing so quickly!!! I can't believe I'm almost done with my first trimester. I need to enjoy every minute of this pregnancy because it will be my last. It's still kinda hard to accept because I love being pregnant/having a newborn and it is going to be hard to close this childbearing chapter of my life. *sigh*

Because of the "upgrade" to come for our family, we've decided it was time to upgrade our vehicle as well. We've been talking about it and looking online for awhile now, but I knew as soon as we started LOOKING in real life, it would be a done deal. When Matt gets something in his head, it's almost impossible to distract him from the idea.

Well, he went to a dealership on Saturday to look at cars for his brother and we ended up going back to the dealership on Monday and brought this sweet little thing home with us!!

I've always aspired to drive a Suburban. LOL! It drives so smoothly and I love the space it has, plus a few fun extra goodies like remote keyless entry (which we've never had before) and remote start, a USB hookup so I can plug my iPod right in, Bluetooth for our phones, and a backup camera that will be installed next week. Our Trailblazer was such a good car for us for the past 8 years and I hope this one will be the same!

Garden & Chickens again

Our garden is getting BIG!

We're finally starting to pull something from it nearly every day. I have to watch Preston like a hawk because he likes to pull all the green tomatoes off the plants, stinker!!

All harvested today:

And our chickens & turkey are getting BIG!!

Brooklyn just loves the chickens!!! She is always the one asking if she can hold them or put them out in the yard. She likes to swing with them gently and cuddle them close. I call her the "chicken whisperer." haha!

Brooklyn and her Matilda~

Blake with one of the Americana chicks that will produce blueish/greenish eggs!

Gavin with his Olivia

Preston and his chickie, Goldie
Me and my Maizy
Matt with Tiny, his turkey
Brooklyn launched the turkey into the air to see if it would fly.... lol

One of the chickens, Rosie (Blake's), apparently had been getting pecked at, we're assuming by the turkey. Her poor neck and shoulder were gaping open and we weren't sure if she'd even live. :( We separated her from the others for awhile so she could hopefully heal.

{pic taken 5/23/11}

Fast forward a couple weeks and she's grown so much and she's pretty much healed up!! She loves being able to mingle with the other chickens when we let them roam the yard and maybe this next week we'll put her back with them in the cage.
I can't wait until these ladies are mature enough to start laying eggs!!! We've also gotta get to work on designing and building a coop for them to live in. Such a fun adventure so far!

School is OVER!!!

Last night was Gavin's preschool graduation. We hosted the shindig at our house and boy was it crammed; 12 families, most of those families having 3 or more children!!! Let's just say it was a *little* crazy. ;) The preschoolers did a little program, singing a few songs, saying the Pledge of Allegiance, then reciting their own nursery rhyme. Gavin picked Humpty Dumpty. Each child was then presented with their diploma and a memory book with pictures and pieces of their work throughout the year. After, it was over, I picked Gavin up to give him a hug and he whispered in my ear, "Do I get to go to kindergarten tomorrow??" Sweet boy! He's so excited to officially be a kindergartener in the Fall!!

Future Class of 2024!!!L-R: Susan Barreto, Hannah Connolly, Kimberly Fairbanks, Annika Suckow, Janelle Carlton, Anya Mower,
Madelynn Candland, Kate Oitzman, Gavin Palmer, Carson Carrasco, Alec Painter, Joshua Thornes

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Today, Brooklyn and Blake had their last day of 2nd grade!!

This is part of the teacher gift that I did for each of their teachers~ cute framed subway art (from here) and 16 scrapbook paper magnets for their whiteboards. I also included a restaurant gift card and a thank you note from both us (parents) and the child in their class.

Both Brooklyn and Blake's teachers were newbies, straight out of school. At first, I thought this would be an issue with not having more experience, but I really think it translated into enthusiasm in the classroom and each of the teachers were a good fit for each of our kids. :)

Brooklyn with Mrs. Shiflett

Blake with Mrs. Medina

I think you can tell in the picture above how much Blake adores his teacher. I frequently witnessed him giving her a quick hug before he got into the car after school. ♥ Even though he had some struggles with staying on task and calling out frequently in class, Mrs. Medina worked with him and made sure that he still was doing his best.

I can't wait to sit down with the kids and plan out our adventures during the break. Library, kids cooking, swimming, movies, playdates, cabin trips, etc. Looking forward to sleeping in, lazy days, not packing lunches, rushing out the door every morning, torturous homework every afternoon.

Bring on summer!!!!!!!!!

Last Days of Preschool!!!!

I finished out our last week of preschool for our co-op group.

Tuesday, we did a whole alphabet review. I decorated up my door to celebrate the occasion. :) We practiced writing all the letters in the alphabet. Read the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, then did a project in conjunction with the book. I didn't get pictures of the process because I had to help so this didn't get too messy. You can't really tell behind the alpha foamies, but the trunk of the coconut tree was stamped with the kids' forearms, then the leaves are the kids' hands. We played a memory game with upper case and lower case letters. Snack consisted of homemade jumbo soft pretzels in the shape of each kiddo's initial. :)Thursday, we had a water fun day. I set up a kiddie pool in the backyard, had the water table and a cute sprinkler for the kids to play with. And what would a water party be without water balloons?? Popsicles were a perfect treat to end the day.~~~~

This whole preschool experience has been pretty positive overall. I'm so glad that we participated with this group of mom's and kids. We've built good relationships with each other and the kids have become friends. I tend to stress myself out and get really worked up about the whole thing when it's my turn to teach, but it's been fun coming up with ways to teach the kids each time. I know Gavin has really enjoyed going to preschool and that has made it all worth it. :)

The cost of a #2 pencil

Well this sweet little one has cost us several hundred dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last Monday, the 9th, I had dropped Brooklyn off at dance (after her complaining of a stomachache, should've listened...) and came back home to practice Blake's poem with him before heading to baseball practice. I was sitting on the couch in the family room and he was standing up, shuffling his bare foot on the ground when all of a sudden he screamed and lifted his foot. The above mentioned pencil had stabbed into the bottom of his foot!!! After Blake yanked it out, it was bleeding pretty good and the lead was gone from the pencil so I knew it was in his foot. Thank heavens Matt was only 5 minutes away from getting home, so he was able to assess the damage immediately.

Not even joking, in that very moment, the dance studio called to say that Brooklyn was vomitting in the bathroom and that I needed to come get her. Aaaahhhhh! As soon as I got back with Brooklyn, Matt & Blake headed off to urgent care to get his foot looked at.
The physician's assistant tried getting the lead out and was unsuccessful, then called in the MD, who wasn't able to get it out either. So they stitched his foot and wrapped it up and referred us to a podiatrist the next day. After the podiatrist dug around for awhile, he gave up too. No need to cause unnecessary damage to the foot, I guess. Poor Blakey!!! Matt said he was such a trooper through all these processes. He just ended up being stitched up again and had to wear a shoe-boot thingie until our follow-up with the podiatrist today, a week later.

His foot is healING, but not completely healED, so the stitches stay in, but he can wear a normal shoe again and we have to come back in a week. Ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching!!!

We've joked that Blake will always have a "lead foot" now. ;)

Both Brooklyn and Blake HAD whined that they didn't want to go to baseball practice that day, so I think they did this on purpose. LOL!