What a lucky girl.

So Kathryn came home from school all excited. Once again this kid has won something, a really cool something. This time she's won a Kobo E-reader. Very cool. I shouldn't say she's lucky. She worked for this. The School attended an Agriculture Safety day and at the end of it they were asked to make a poster depicting an aspect of farm safety and write a short essay explaining it. She did a wonderful job, as always. The past few years she has also won first or second place in the Milk River Watershed poster contest and has received a number of cool prizes and cash to go along with it. She is a very talented kid.

Growing pains

Wow, what a crazy, happy, busy, grumpy, peeing on the floor, sleepless, contentious, loving, cranky, messy, and enjoyable couple of weeks we've had. I swear that everyday since we brought Ella home can be described with each one of those words. The whole family seems to be having a hard time adjusting to our beautiful new addition. Although each and everyone of us absolutely adore her, that alone can be the source of our troubles, especially among the Big, Bigger and Biggest sisters...I constantly here "I want to hold her, you've been holding her more than me!" Oh to be loved so much that everyone fights over you. On top of that my darling boy has decided that maybe that potty is not all that it's been talked up to be. Peeing on the floor, deliberately, is totally the way to go. One day last week he came up stairs and said to me, "Pee potty". I was thrilled because we had already had a few "accidents" that day, so I said "good boy, go pee in the potty" to which he responded "NO, pee floor" as he walked into the bathroom. I called after him and said, "Don't pee on the floor, sit on the potty". Yeah...he just stood in the bathroom with his pants on and everything and peed on the floor, just like he said he was going to do. The next day, he pooped on the floor in the girls bedroom....I just about lost it....correction...I completely lost it. I had anticipated that we would have potty training set backs when Baby was finally born...I just didn't think that these set backs would be worse than when we started the whole potty training business. So I was forced to step back and start from the beginning. I got out the little portable training potty again, and hoped that he would at least be willing to sit on it. I've gone back to the cheering every time he does it on his own. I've stooped to bribing him with chocolate eggs when he refuses to sit on it at all. There is a lot less peeing on the floor, and that is always a good thing.

The girls never gave me so much grief when a new baby joined our family. But this boy of mine, he is really giving me the gears. He hadn't ever reached that Terrible Two stage, even though he is almost three, that is until he wasn't mom's baby anymore and the big sisters all went back to school. For the most part, he is still my lovable boy, but he can have a melt down over the littlest things. And when he has a melt down...Watch out! All Hell breaks loose and the whole house gets turned upside down. Some how he has the power to turn everyone in the house into a miserable monster and everything just goes up in flames.

Bed time is my favorite time of day. Honestly it has always been my favorite time of day, but these days I love it like I have never loved it before. Thankfully my kids have always been great at going to bed. Even the boy in his melt down, once he has been put to bed will stay in his room with the door shut. He may continue the melt down, but at least he does it behind closed doors. I have been trying really hard to continue with our regular bedtime routine, regardless of how he is acting. I want him to know that mommy still has time for him, and that some things will always be the same. But there are nights where nothing will console the monster, and the only thing that can be done is to leave him alone with his blanket and let him cry it out. And then when he has started to calm down, I always try to go in and tuck him in and give him a kiss and let him know I love him.

I have moments where all I can do is cry, but thankfully there are so many other moments that just make me smile or laugh right out loud. Yeah it's hard to be a mom to five kids....what, did I just say FIVE kids? How did that happen? Seriously, am I even old enough to have five...oh,right, yes I am. Not sure how that happened either, didn't I just graduate high school? (almost 20 years ago Mandy).....
Right, so it is hard and complicated and challenging to be a mom of five, but it's all good. We'll get this figured out before it's over....or at least working functionally well, in a way that we can all survive with smiles on our faces...That is the plan.

We did it again.

I seem to be in the habit of creating fairly large babies. For this reason in addition to my high blood pressure during this pregnancy, my doctor took pity on me and sent me to be induced on the same day as our due date. On the afternoon of Friday, Feb 15, we dropped this kids off at my parents house and we headed to the hospital to get the show on the road. We were blessed to have the best nurses ever. We had Jenn, the nurse in charge; Rebecca, a nurse in training; and Brittany, second year nursing student. These ladies were fabulous. We bonded over my belly. At times I'd have three sets of hands on my belly feeling the contractions.We joked and laughed non stop. It was a real party...but nobody brought in a veggie tray. Time seemed to fly by, but yet at the same time it seemed to stand still. This time around Doc decided to go with the oxytocin drip for induction rather than the gel stuff that was used for both James and Kymberly. As a result it seemed to me that we were going to be there all night, I just wasn't feeling the same intensity that had come with my last two. The nurses would ask how I would rate my pain and I never did get past a 5 or 6 out of ten, because I was waiting for the intensity that I knew was to come. It never did come. Five hours and seventeen minutes after starting the induction, at precisely 7:32pm(or 19:32 {note that the numbers add to 15}), we welcomed our 9lb 6oz (also adding to 15) baby girl into this world. She came a little bit slower requiring just a little bit more pushing than her older brother and sister, and as a result she came into this world with out the bruising, her normal sized head may also have had something to do with that.

Meet our beautiful  Ella Reese

Daddy thinks she's pretty great, even if she is a girl. You see, 15 is daddy's number, and that number just kept creeping in. Maybe it's a sign...she might just have daddy wrapped around her pinky for the rest of his life.

Our little peanut

Cozy in her pea pod, AKA: her peanut shell

The Big Sisters and Brother

Daddy and his crew

The Biggest Sister, simply over the moon.

The Bigger Sister, giddy as can be.

The Big Sister, pleased as punch.

The Big Brother, simply in love with Baby Sister.

Little randoms about me

OK, so this was a little facebook dealy thing that you were to "like" your friends post and then they would give you an age to start with. It looked like a fun idea, so I liked a post and I got the age 24. I wanted to have it recorded here for me to look back on. If anyone else wants to play along on their blog, just leave me a comment saying so and I'll give you an age.


The year was 2000

I was: 24
I lived in: at my parents house in Lethbridge, AB
I was: Studying biblical Hebrew and Ancient Greek along with anything else that related to it at the University of Lethbridge. Dating and soon to be engaged to a great guy.
I drove: a little green geo metro named Lanny
I feared: the idea of not being able to finish my degree because the right class wasn't being offered the next semester.
I worked: 3 part time jobs at Bentley Leathers, Fanny's Fabrics, and marking beginner computer science papers.

Now
I am: 36
I live in: A house, we own, in Milk River, AB
I am married to: My best friend, and the man I have loved for longer than I'm willing to admit.
I drive: A dodge grand caravan
I fear: That I wont be able to teach my kids everything they need to know to make it in this world. Also that my doc wont see things as I do, and I'll have to be pregnant longer than just until this Friday, thus resulting in the delivery of another 10lb 13oz baby.(been there, done that, don't need to do it again).
I work: to keep a balance between being a somewhat efficient stay at home mom, having fun with my kids and finding time to be the woman I want to be.
I want to be: the coolest house in town. A home where others want to be, where my kids and their friends want to hang out at, and a safe place for anybody who needs a listening ear.

Meet Frank the Frog

Frank some how managed to sneek a ride home with my hubby. He's a clever frog. He also brought with him a 1kg bag of eggies.

For those of you keeping track at home, that's 2 bags and it's only Feb 4th.

I just have to say...

Please stop judging HIM for the decisions WE made.

It is true that my husband leaves the house for work about the same time that the kids do for school. It is true that he isn't ever home for dinner except on his days off. And it is true that he is rarely home before the kids go to bed. BUT that is the life that WE chose when we moved to Milk River. We were both aware of the fact that it would require an hours commute(on an open, well maintained highway not a traffic crammed deerfoot trail in Calgary or something of the like) to and from work and that his store opens at 9am and closes at 6pm, so even if it were possible for him to leave at the moment that the store closed, that still means he isn't home until 7pm. However, anyone that has ever worked in retail knows that leaving the store at what is officially closing time is impossible. First of all, somebody has to actually close the store, secondly, many customers don't seem to notice the time and don't actually leave the store right at closing time. It is also true that my husband works nearly every Saturday, this is the reality of working at a retail store, Saturdays are the busiest day, and everyone works on Saturday. However he also doesn't ever work a Sunday or on any holiday because the store is closed, a rarity in this day and age and Mondays are his regular day off, which means we get to have him home for Family Home Evenings. So yes, it's true, I am on my own a lot of the time. It is true that I put the kids to bed on my own nearly every night. It is true that he rarely graces our dinner table. BUT when he is home, he's home. He can get those girls to clean up in half the time they'll do it for me. He takes the girls out on Daddy daughter dates, simple ones like just running errands, or going Home Teaching, or out to Tim's shop to fix the car or the van, and sometimes even out for lunch. When the girls have school stuff going on, he leaves work early so that he can be there for them. When the kids are misbehaving at home, all I have to do is make a call to his work and he takes the time to talk to them and set them straight(why do they listen to their father better than me? so not fair.). We have great fun on our family outings, whether it's a one day day trip to some random town in Montana, a short and wet camping trip to Whitlash in the spring or a fabulous summer camping trip in the mountains. Oh yes, and did I mention that he stepped out of his comfort zone and figured out how to fix the washer, the dryer and the dishwasher? He also attempted to fix the garage door opener, but that kinda backfired. Best of all, he spoils me with flowers and chocolate and cheesecake for no reason at all. He makes time for him and I time, date nights and little weekend getaways. He often has some kind of surprise up his sleeve of some kind or another, or one brewing for some time down the road. He makes me feel special and loved and needed. And I'm pretty darn certain that the girls would tell you the same thing and there is no wondering how the boy feels about him.

Having said all that, I will also say this, it isn't easy. I'll admit I have days where I wish that he had the typical Mon-Fri, 9-5 job that would allow him to be home for supper and helping put the kids to bed. But those moments are few and fairly far between. The reality is this: We love living in Milk River, we love the community, we love the school and the teachers, and we love our ward. But not only that, we KNOW this is where we are supposed to be. This is where the Lord wants us to be. And knowing that makes everything else fall into place.

So please, stop telling me that my husband should be home at a certain time or work different hours. Or that I deserve more, or that I put up with too much. I'm tired of hearing it and I am tired of defending him over OUR choice.

What I have is a man who loves me and our children and works hard for us. I have a man who is a righteous Priesthood holder. I have a man with a tender heart, and isn't afraid to show it. I have a man who treats me like a queen. No, our life isn't perfect, but like the sign on my living room wall says "life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful". Yeah, I saw that sign in a little shop in Eureka, Montana and mentioned to him how much I loved it. So he went back later and bought for me. What can I say, I'm a lucky gal!

A story of Two fishes

When James asks me to draw a fish it looks like this:

When James asks daddy to draw a fish it looks like this:

Complete with a pirate tat. He just has to out do me every time. Remember this time. Clearly I can't compete.