Five for Friday

1.  On Monday morning, I woke up with a cold along with Sienna and Mason.  Having a cold plus having a baby who doesn't sleep through the night is NOT a good combination!  Thankfully, Corbin slept through the night on Monday and Tuesday nights because I was exhausted!  He didn't sleep through the night the rest of the week...but at least he gave me two nights!

2.  I had to take another look at our daily schedule Monday evening.  We were doing school until 5:00 on Monday afternoon (and Kessiah still didn't get everything done!).  So I have now set another timer on my phone to get us moving after quiet reading time in the afternoon (because sometimes, we just keep reading...which isn't really a bad thing unless you have other things that need to be done!) 

3.  Sienna discovered she had her first loose tooth at the beginning of the week, by the end of the week she couldn't take it anymore and on Friday morning she talked Ryan into pulling it out for her.  He got out the floss and out it came!  She was very excited since this was her first loose tooth!  (She is missing a top tooth that the dentist pulled a couple of months ago because it was starting to abcess)

4.  My parents arrived for a visit on Thursday afternoon, we have been very excited to have them come.

5.  And since Halloween is quickly approaching, we loaded up 4 of our children (the youngest two got to stay with Nana and Papa) and went to the grocery store where we bought 7 pumpkins!  Because at our house we each have to have our own!  We got one out of our garden that will be Corbin's...we had to buy one for the rest of us!

Six Months

This little bundle of cuteness has hit the half year mark!  He likes to roll from his back to his stomach...not so much the other way.  He has started holding onto toys.  He chews on anything he can get to his mouth...his fists are usually very handy!  And he has become fascinated with his hands!  I love this stage when they sit and move their hands while staring at them like they are the most incredible thing they have ever seen!

 His smiles come easily which makes him a joy to be around!  If only we could get him to sleep through the night...he might be perfect!!

Five (or Six) for Friday (San Diego)

OK, so it is really Sunday as I write this...but it is a wrap-up of our great week in San Diego so I'm still calling it my Five for Friday!

1.  We left on Monday morning.  The kids were so excited...Sunday evening it felt like Christmas Eve and Monday morning they were up at 5:30 ready to go!  The trip there was a little rough at first...Sienna was complaining of a headache (probably from not enough sleep!) and Jenessa got carsick because of the curvy road we took.  Thankfully, she was sitting in the middle so we could roll down the window when she threw up!

2.  Tuesday we went to SeaWorld...dolphins, sea lions, sharks, killer whales!  What more could you want!  We sat on the edge of the soak zone for every show...but we never really got wet, just splashed on...however, Mason HATED getting wet at all.  By the time we went to the last show he was freaking out and did not want to go down into the arena.  Jenessa, Sienna and Logan decided they wanted to get really wet  and so they went down several rows and they got soaked!  But they loved it...it was all part of the adventure!

3.  Wednesday we went to the San Diego Zoo...pandas, koalas, beluga whales and baby monkeys were some of our favorites.  We enjoyed the double decker bus ride and the tower ride (although I had to close my eyes on the way up...I composed myself enough to open them for the way back down).  We went to one show at the zoo...Mason did NOT want to go down into the seating area...it was too much like the SeaWorld and he thought he was going to get wet.  Mason kept trying to hide behind me and Ryan during the entire show!  We sat down on the first row which was really neat because we were so close to the sea lion and the wolf in the show.

4.  Thursday was Legoland...a great theme park for kids.  I really loved how they had little kid rides next to most of the big kid rides...that made life easier for us!  We stopped by the outlet stores in Carlsbad on the way back to our hotel and found a pillow pet kiosk where the kids all picked one out for their souvenir.  We came home with a Koala, Panda, Dolphin, Dinosaur and a Lion.  (We did not get one for Corbin!)  I told them they had to get an animal that reminded them of the Zoo or SeaWorld...but Logan snuck a dinosaur in there anyway! 

5.  Friday we stopped by the San Diego temple (beautiful!) on the way to Coronado Beach.  Coronado Beach is on an island...we had to cross a BIG bridge to get to it (I don't think I've ever been on a bridge so big...it actually started to make me sick!)  Kessiah collected a whole bucket of shells, she found several unbroken ones including some nice sand dollars.

6.  It was a fun week!  We happily survived taking our 6 kids on vacation.  Nothing was very crowded since we were there in October.  Kessiah wanted to know if we could go to San Diego every fall break!  The weather was a little cool in the mornings but warmed up in the afternoons.  Since Corbin still isn't sleeping through the night, I had to get up often with him during the night so he wouldn't wake anyone up.  Amazingly though I wasn't too tired during the days we were there.

Five for Friday

1.  I should learn not to leave the Desitin in easily accessible places!  There is a daybed in the boy's room where I lay a towel down and change diapers...so I have all the diaper stuff on the bed...including the Desitin.  I took Mason in there one night this week to get him ready for bed and found Desitin spread all over the bedspread (he obviously had a lot of fun!)  I looked at him and said "Did you do this?" and he got a very guilty look on his face that answered my question!

2.  Corbin has got the hang of the bottle!  Finally!  I've let the kid's help me feed him occasionally when my attention could really be used elsewhere...but in reality I hate to give up those moments with Corbin!  They all love the opportunity to feed him, even Logan has done it (although he gets bored halfway through the bottle or else tries to stuff the entire bottle in Corbin's mouth!)

3.  I have given up trying to get Corbin to sleep through the night!  I have tried for the past 6-8 weeks or so to let him cry himself back to sleep in the middle of the night...but the fact is that he just doesn't!  And I'm tired of losing 1-2 hours of sleep every night while I listen to him cry.  So, I decided to just get up and feed him (he just wakes up once) then he goes right back to sleep and so do I...we both get more sleep at night this way!  Someday, he will sleep all night (I hope!)

4.  The weather was back to being beautiful this week.  So after getting out all the long-sleeved shirts and jeans last week...the girls were back in short-sleeved shirts and capris!

5.  Logan and Mason have have really benefited from us spending a couple of evenings every week at the park for Jenessa's soccer practices.  I've been bringing Logan's bike that he got for his birthday, he loves riding around on the sidewalks around the play area.  The first several practices I was able to keep Mason on the grassy area where they hold the soccer practices, we would kick balls or play with toy vehicles that I would bring.  But then he noticed all the kids were around the playground so he found his way over there.  At first I was able to keep him on the little slide.  But the past couple of practices he has found his way past me to the high slides...he does manage them ok...my problem is the opening nearby where he could potentially fall!  It makes me a little crazy!

Five for Friday

1.  The tooth fairy around here can be a little forgetful at times!  Jenessa lost a tooth on Monday evening and when she woke up on Tuesday morning....her tooth was still under her pillow.  Of course, there were tears...but we convinced her to put her tooth back and try again on Tuesday night.  Thankfully, the tooth fairy was on the ball that night!  Unfortunately, the same thing happened the last time she lost a tooth as well!

2.  Corbin has been enjoying his veggies this week!  He has tried squash and carrots...yummy!  He also continues to get some oatmeal before going to bed.

3.  We have been rather frustrated with Corbin's stubborness in taking a bottle...he just wouldn't do it!  Last Saturday Ryan decided we should buy a different bottle to try...so we did...and we are seeing some success!  The first few days, he was still stubborn at first but he finally drank 2 ounces.  By Friday (today) he will happily drink 4 ounces at a time before going to bed.

4.  It suddenly turned cold during the middle of this week so the kids were begging to get out the jeans and long-sleeved shirts.  It was fun for them to get a new wardrobe!  I've been looking on ebay to help fill in the missing gaps.

5.  On Friday for lunch we went to Golden Corral...it was our celebration for finishing the Book of Mormon as a family.  (Does anyone else see the humor...Golden Corral for finishing the Gold Plates!)  The kids came home stuffed.  Sienna was thrilled to see that they had cotton candy...I think my kids ate 4 of them!  I was happy to hear Kessiah tell me that my meatloaf was better than theirs!

Weekend Edition

We went to the fair on Friday, we just walked around and looked at the exhibits and the animals.  We told the kids we weren't going on any rides since we are planning on going to San Diego in a few weeks.  Kessiah and Jenessa won blue ribbons for their entries, Jenessa really wanted to win a BIG ribbon with sparkles!

We had soccer games in the morning and then some of us enjoyed the afternoon session of General Conference, Kessiah had a birthday party during that time...so she was enjoying some time with friends.

During the priesthood session I had Kessiah and Jenessa help me get breakfast ready for Sunday morning.  We made cinnamon rolls and a breakfast casserole

Sunday was spent watching General Conference in our pajamas!  The kids were pretty good as they worked on their conference worksheets.  They also enjoyed a new activity...snickers and kisses!  They got a small snickers bar if a speaker or the audience laughed and a Hersey's kiss if there were tears.  I had to limit it to one snickers and one kiss per speaker since sometimes their were multiple moments of laughter in one talk!  We also enjoyed our traditional ice cream sundaes in the family room during the Sunday afternoon session.

But the biggest news of the weekend is that we finished the Book of Mormon as a family!!!!  We have been working on it for years!  But we keep plugging away...we tend to be inconsistent when I'm pregnant (I'm inconsistent with everything when I'm pregnant!) but we always get going again!  Lately, we have each been reading 2 verses with Sienna and Logan each repeating one verse.  Sometimes Sienna will try to read...if she's in the mood.  We were very excited as we read the last verses this evening!