BAPTISM

Poor Janey's tummy was pretty upset, she was so nervous.  But they both did beautifully!

Jason suggested in the morning of the baptism that we try to relax.  We wanted the day to be fun and happy.  It was an emotional wonderful day.  Jason gave a talk on baptism that made me tear up and I got to do a spotlight on the girls.  Here are some of the things I said:

Elizabeth Marilynn:  Is named after my grandmothers.  She is very dependable and has a silly giggle that gets others laughing.  She is good at the wii and can beat anyone in bowling.  She loves to ride her bike, make books, and play with friends.  She is a good singer, is super smart, takes good care of Janey, and is good at art.

Jane Catherine:  Is named after my aunt and her grandma.  Jane used to entertain us all with the funny things she would say.  She now is very creative at making up stories and likes to write them down.  She is turning into a bookworm, to my delight, and likes to read anything that is a chapter book.  She is very empathetic and sensitive to others needs and feelings.

Their dad confirmed them after the blessing.  In the circle were:  both Grandpas, Richard, Ron, David T, and James,and Great Grandp T.  We were so grateful to all who made an effort to be there!

Don't mind Natalie's hair.  That's what it looks like if I leave it alone.  Obviously, her hair was WAY down on the priority list that morning.

I was so glad that Jason took these snapshots of all the kids before we left.  And yes, that is our newly tilled backyard behind the kids.

Jane and Liz spent a lot of time later in the day writing their feelings and experiences down in their new journals (thanks Ron and Kristen!) They enjoyed that more birthday gifts were brought and LOVED having so many of their favorite people in the same place. We are SO PROUD of them and what beautiful girls -inside and out-they are becoming.

*This post dedicated to KEWS CAMERA.  Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU for having great customer service, staying open late so I could still pick up my camera, and getting it done early so that I could have it for the baptism.  There would be no pictures with out your expertise and incredible attitudes.

IT'S GREAT TO BE 8

 Jane and Liz are 8!  We have LOVED having each of them a part of our family.  They are both such good examples and take good care of each other.  I can't believe how much they have matured this year.  I have really enjoyed having them at home with me so I could watch their progress in school and in spiritual things.

 We had a really fun day which started off with a scavenger hunt in the morning.  Jason and I hid their presents all around the house with clues.  The girls had fun running around screaming as they found each new package.  (I made the mistake of hiding one in the drawer where the wii remotes and games go.  They found that one before they should have.)  Daddy was able to stay a little late that morning and have breakfast with us.  Then we pulled out the video we took of the girls when they were newborns in the hospital.  There's about an hour of footage and I couldn't stop watching it, even though I got a serious headache and nauseous stomach from the moving camera.  They were such pretty little babies!  We always enjoy pulling out the video on their birthday. 

Grandma Tregaskis came over and took the girls to lunch.  When they got home, they decided to play with friends for a few hours.  We then packed everyone up (after a traditional birthday meltdown accompanied by our two toddlers screaming accompaniments-this particular meltdown was because of birthday cake) and headed to the BYU games center for bowling. 

The first 5 frames were perfect family bliss.  Seriously, you could have taken a snapshot at any moment and gone, "Awwwww.  How SWEET.  Aren't they just perfect?"  Then, they ran around the center pretending to play the arcade games.  We called them as their turns came up.  By the ninth frame, however, the golden moments were completely gone.  Eli was hungry and MAD.  He had a HOLE IN HIS SOCK.  And he wanted to shoot the guns in an arcade game that some guy was playing.  Time to go.

I took the first four who were done out to the car but had to wait for Jason because he had the keys.  Lige screamed the entire 5 minutes that we waited. All the BYU students looked at the kids with pity and at me with confusion.  I was very happy to see Jason coming down those steps with the key.  Inside the car we had a binky and MOVIES.   On the way home we stopped for a birthday cake from Harmons and pizza.  It was a glorious day.  More on why I love my girls SO MUCH in their baptism post.

Natalie loves bowling.

Birthday girl.

NOTHER one birthday girl.

Right after this picture he fist pumped and yelled "I got a STRIKE!"

Someone eat me please.

The rule was to stay behind the silver line if it wasn't your turn to bowl.

Sweet sisters

I think the girls were trying to get one of each color of balls.

The winner.  (But I must say that Jas and I shared our turns with Natalie and Eli.  We'll see you in the rematch, Ben)

Waiting for Daddy and Ben to finish their games.  While I took this, several co-eds walked by and seemed horrified that I was completely ignoring the screaming baby sitting next to the 3 kids in the photo.  One even stopped and asked if I wanted her to take a picture so we could ALL be in it.  I already got one of the crying kid, thanks.   See:

No one likes to leave the BYU games center. 

Our hero!

US

It's noon and it's very quiet in my house right now. I had to document such a rare occurrence. Natalie and Liz walked over to Grandma's house. (Natalie is in big girl underwear: this can end in tears or triumph, only time will tell.) Eli is outside with the other three. School is done for the day and my house is semi-clean. The down side is that I feel super lazy for taking it easy right now. I'm not used to all this peace and quiet. Lately, it seems like I can't finish a sentence without several loud interruptions-unless I'm being completely ignored. So the silence of the house is almost unnerving. But I can also hear the kids playing and laughing outside if I listen really hard. It's a golden moment.
This morning, Ben totally tricked me into believing that he found a frog. In fact, he tricked all of us. He revealed his fake rubber frog only after I told him he had to let it go or it would die. The kid is brave and growing up so I had no trouble believing he could catch a frog or that he could stand holding it in his hands. The kids have since been carrying it around with them pretending it's real. It came to school today and learned that the inner core of the earth is made up of mostly iron, and though it's over 8000 degrees, the iron is solid because of the pressure from the earth.
I'm waiting for the light bulb to go on in Natalie with the potty training. Right now, she just does it if she feels like it. The rest of the time is not very pretty. Have I mentioned I hate potty training? She has become very particular in her dress and her hair. If her hair sticks up, she says it's "fricky". I have no idea what it means or where she got that word. She is silly, and independent.
Eli is learning to stay in his bed. He used to fall asleep while Jason read, but now he keeps himself up and then wants us to sit by him until he falls asleep. I think he likes the time alone together. He's been doing better the last few days, I pray it will keep going. His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds and, AND, he can sing almost all the words to several Barbie movie songs.
I realized today that Jane and Liz have pretty much taught themselves all year in math. The only things I've had to explain are oblique lines (diagonal-I didn't know that) and today I showed them how to carry numbers in addition. They are super smart girls. They are learning to play the piano too, only a bit slower. They would go a lot faster if I had my act together and gave them more regular lessons.
Liam is my little angel lately. His teacher in primary says he always knows all the answers. He likes to sit for nearly an hour at a time and read. He's very proud of himself that he can now read the scriptures on his own. Last night he lost his first front tooth. It's been all crooked for a month or so and finally he asked his dad to pull it out for him. He was very brave.
I am SO excited for conference. While I always look forward to and enjoy conference, sometimes I just feel more connected to it. This session I have been anticipating and preparing for, for a long time. I think as soon as the last session ended, I started getting ready for this one. I hope I will be able to let the messages SINK into me and I am SO grateful that I can access them over and over again through the internet. I love hearing the words of prophets!

Remember I used to blog?

Yeah. It's been a while. I've been swamped with 3 moves in 8 months and all the craziness that ensues when one has 6 kids. Also, my camera has a broken pin in the cf card slot so I'm missing out on all the fabulous pictures I could have been taking. I think I can get it fixed, but for now, there will be picture-less posts. I will sit down sometime soon for an update post but for now, this is what you get. On top of that, I'm not feelin' the love of blogging. Ya know?

Random thoughts:

1. Dealing with insurance is a sticky business. BUT, I would rather call my insurance company every day than have to deal with medicaid again. The end.
2. I am addicted to pinterest. However, I reserve the right to "pin" things but never attempt to make anything I pin.
3. My kids are GOOD kids. Holy cow. They have really been through a lot, and when you add medication and stuff to the load, I think they are holding up really well, and anyone who thinks (insert JUDGES) otherwise didn't take the time to get to know them.
4. I went to Missouri. By myself. I had fun-a blast really. I want to go again. I was glad to get home to my crazy family. Flying on an airplane is just as fun as I remembered it. It sure felt a lot safer than the little 2-4 seater Jason was training in.
5. I love snow. I think it's romantic. It is welcome to snow, snow, snow...until Feb 29th. Then I think it should be spring.
6. I also love IKEA. And antique stores. When leaving, I have this panicked feeling that I missed something REALLY GOOD. There isn't enough TIME to see it all.
   
7. This list could go on a lot longer, but it's not going to. So there.
   

CHRISTMAS 2011

Christmas this year was magical. We did fun scripture activities the 2 weeks leading up to Christmas eve to help the kids understand the reason for the season. We also did a gingerbread house again this year. Ben was too sick to help build it, but I did get some pictures. I constructed the house and the kids decorated it and then ate it as soon as I was done taking pictures. (reminder for next year: the kids don't like gingerbread, so just buy the pre-made stuff or use graham crackers-not the homemade yummy stuff.)
What is it about ribbon candy that I find so appealing? Something about it says "Christmas" to me.

We felt bad Ben didn't get to help with the gingerbread house so we made sweet rolls for FHE.
Christmas Eve was magnificent. We LOVED having the whole Findlay family over for a lunch time bash. It was wonderful to have the space and take our turn hosting. (Though our house WAS a little crowded with so many family members.) It was fun to let the cousins play. The women skipped out and went to John and Misa's to make lotion and lip gloss. That night, we let the kids open their pj's and then the excitement really began when we took pictures. We read the story from Luke and then watched parts of the new church movie. The kids kept asking to watch more. Then they went to bed. They actually fell asleep really fast and all slept through the night. We would have slept well too, but stayed up late to finish projects. One of which was a super cape for Liam with a big L on it. It was worth staying up to finish it.
As I was heading down to take some pre-present pictures, I noticed the manger scene and thought that it was a good indication of things to come...
This was our attempt at reminding the kids to stay downstairs with their stockings until we were ready for them to come up. I think most of them had a good look before we got up though. (Jane did come in at 4 and ask if it was 6 yet.)
release the hounds...
One day during vacation, we took a trip up to the Logan temple and told our kids how important temples are to us. They had a lot of fun getting out and running around outside together.
Following Elder Cook's instruction to "Look UP"
We also really enjoyed going down to Orem while Daddy worked at UVU and we stayed at Grandma's house. We stopped at Grandma Findlay's on the way and Jason and I were able to go to the temple. It was SO peaceful and we got a lot of good pondering done and took the time to slow down a little during the busy holiday. The kids watched lots of movies and played with their old friends at Grandma Tregaskis's house. (Natalie came rushing up the stairs when she learned that "her Elsie" was there. They shared the sweetest little 3-year-old hug ever.) When we got home, we got to have Jake and Leslie and their kids stay with us for a night. WE LOVE COUSINS!
Such sweet girls! I'm so mad I didn't get a picture of our new niece, Agnes. But she was adorable and put up with me wanting cuddles.
The boys spent the morning in their pj's watching movies and playing nintendo. They played outside a lot too, which I was really grateful for.
We also had a great time at the Findlay white elephant party. There was a fun talent show (which my kids barely saw while they ran around) and the yummiest dinner and white elephants, of course. James and Erin had everything set up and even did a photo shoot. I'm hoping to get copies to put on the blog later. As you can see, Jason ended up with the grand prize-a 5 POUND BOX OF CHOCOLATES. This thing is massive. I'm ashamed to say we have put a HUGE dent in it.