March Madness

We always have a little March madness around our house on St. Patrick's Day. I helped the kids make this leprechaun trap.
There were excited to wake up in the morning and find that the leprechaun escaped, but left them some treats for a nice try.
Oh, and he turned the milk in their Lucky Charms green, but that might have happened anyway.

We had some mad fun with our neighbors, the Newtons, the McNeils, and the Starks. We went to Pirate Island Pizza in Orem. My boys were scared of the pirates when we first walked in and Jacob wanted to go home. But, when we told him the whole place wasn't scary and that if he stayed he could play some games he toughened up.

Scared Nathan

That's a lot of people!

Adam, Morgan, and Harlie pretending to play the pirate's organ

All the kids with their pirate hats

Cute Pirate Adam

Jacob's school, Silver Crest Elementary, has a monthly award called Knights Pride. Every teacher picks a student who exemplified the months character trait. Jacob's teacher picked him to win the award for March, which was Empathy.

Jacob on the front row in the middle, with all the other award winners

Getting his award from the Principle, Mrs. Durrant

I am so proud of him, he is such a good boy

We had no health insurance in February because Randy switched jobs. Luckily no one got sick, but we made up for it in March. Between the 6 of us we had 8 doctors visits. I hadn't been to the dentist in a little over a year because we didn't have dental insurance before. I have always had perfect teeth, I never get cavities, so I wasn't at all worried. I was shocked to find out that not only did I have cavities this time, I had 12! Including one that needed a root canal! The dentist said being pregnant makes you more prone to cavities. I was fine through the first three, but it finally caught up to me. So, I had a root canal, not fun, and I have 5 or 6 more appointments over the next few months to get everything fixed. Natalie had her 15 month well baby. She is a whopping 20 lbs now! Randy, Jacob, and Natalie all ended up at the doctor for sick visits too. Madness!

Jacob was home sick on April Fools Day. Our neighbors thought it would be funny to put a for sale sign in their yard. So Jacob was trying to come up with jokes that involved a sign in our yard. His first idea was to put up a sign that said, "Throw Up Here." I don't know why he thought that would be a good idea. When I said no to that he said, "Lets put our swimming pool in the front yard and fill it up with water, then put a sing that says 'Sharks in Here'." He was cracking himself up trying to come up with a joke. I told him we didn't have to do anything if he was feeling too sick, but he said, "We have to do something." So, I pulled out the Family Fun Magazine and got this idea to make a "sponge cake". Nathan is famous in our family for giving away secrets, so while we were making it I kept telling the kids what we were going to tell dad about the cake. I was so proud when Nathan told Randy that we made a new recipe and didn't give anything away. We got him good. :0)

Here is a good Nathan quote to finish this post with. One night during family scripture study Nathan said, "I think when we read the scriptures, Jesus comes one cloud down. Isn't that right, Daddy? That's amazing!" :0)

Better Late Than Never!

Please excuse my absence from my blog. I have been busy with these four crazy kids. Supervising this:
Watching Cousins:

Alyssa is one of Nathan's best friends. One day I found them sitting like this. When I started taking pictures their younger siblings had to get in on the action. Adam, Nathan, Alyssa, and Sunny

Cleaning up after this:

Natalie loves to get into the kitchen drawers

And this:

She also loves pulling books off the book shelf

Teaching Preschool, February was my month:

Harlie, Nathan, Alayna, Darren, and Xander

And on top of all that I have been working a lot, trying to pay off our van (DONE! We're debt freeeee!!!), and serving as the Relief Society Secretary in our ward. (Surprisingly, I have no pictures of Adam doing crazy stuff! I guess Natalie has replaced him as the crazy one in the family.) I really want to do better at this. It is important to me to preserve my memories of this crazy, busy, but wonderful time of my families life. Here are some of the more memorable things that happened in our family in January and February.

I had a birthday, my 31st if you must know. To sweeten the deal my neighbor, Brian, made me this awesome cake. Seriously the best birthday cake I have ever had. It had to be at lease 5 lbs of chocolate. I was in heaven. Unfortunately, that 5 lbs of chocolate translated to 5 lbs on me.

Jacob had a birthday 3 days later, his 7th. He is getting so big. He can read, he can do math, he can reason. It is fun to watch him grow up. I love him so much, he is an awesome boy.

I guess having "Happy Birthday" sung to him at his party made him embarrassed.

Randy got a new job. He started February 1st. It is awesome. He is now working for a company called Xi3. They make computers that can sit in your palm and use a ton less power than regular desk top computers. You can read more about them here. Randy is the VP of operations, which sounds really impressive until you find out there are only 6 employees. Even though it is a small company now, they have the potential to be HUGE. We are so excited about this opportunity, not to mention the way better pay and benefits, which will allow me to quit the before mentioned job that has been keeping me extra busy. I am really excited that I will be able to just stay home and focus on my kids for a while. I am scheduled through April and then I will be done.

My sweet Grandma, Ruth Carmen Larsen Christopherson Dement, passed away on February 8th, her funeral was the following Saturday, February 12th. It was an interesting week. My dad had a business trip in Layton and so my mom came down with him. She was going to spend the week at my house. I was excited to have her, and had all kinds of things planned for us to do. They got to my house on Friday night. On their way they got a call from my mom's brother saying that Grandma Ruth was in the hospital and not doing well. On Saturday she was still doing poorly and the doctors were saying she wouldn't live much longer. My mom's oldest brother lives in Layton, and he called my mom Saturday afternoon and asked her to drive to California with him so they could see their mom one last time. So, Saturday night they left. My mom was able to spend a few days with her mom, she was there holding her hand as she took her last breaths. It was a really good experience for my mom and I am glad that she got to go, even if she didn't get to spend the week with me. Since my dad was here in Utah working I was able to hitch a ride with him down to California for the funeral. I took Natalie, but left all the boys behind. I just didn't think it would be any fun for them. We left on Friday morning and drove all day. Natalie did really well, considering. We got to my Uncle Gerry's house late in the afternoon. Grandma Ruth lived with Gerry and his family for about 9 years. I was able to stay there, I even slept in my Grandma's bed. It was neat staying in her room. I felt close to her there. I was able to look through her things, her music books, her pictures, her recipe cards. I read a life history that she had written. My Grandma was a quiet woman, I guess I got that from her, and I didn't feel like I knew her well, but I do know that she loved her family, and that she had a very strong testimony of the Gospel. I am grateful for her example. I realized, staying in her room, that I am a lot like her. The best part about going to the funeral was seeing all my cousins, aunts, uncles, my other Grandma, and most importantly my brother, Aaron and his family. I miss them now that they live in New Mexico.

Aaron, Sophia, Grandma Vicky, Me, Natalie, and my dad

Me, my mom, my dad, Aaron, Natalie, and Sammy
for some reason we couldn't get all of us together for a picture.

So, that is my update, if anyone is still reading here is one more thing. In January Natalie's hair was long enough to do this:

But now it is long enough to do this:

Natalie's first pig tails, aren't they so cute!

Our Happy Holidays

We had a wonderful holiday week this year. We were lucky enough to have my parents and my youngest brother come and spend a week with us. They got here the Wednesday before Christmas and went home the next Thursday. While they were here we got to do some of our favorite Christmas traditions. On Christmas Eve the boys made Gingerbread boys with Grandma Gina. They turned out so cute this year. Jacob was particularly pleased with this boy in a Santa suit.

Some of out finished products, which ones should we leave out for Santa?

When we put the kids to bed on Christmas Eve we told them that they couldn't wake up until 7. But at 6 on Christmas morning Adam woke up to go potty and Jacob got up with him. I sent them both back to bed, but after hearing my mom and my brother get up to use the bathroom Randy and I decided that since everyone was awake we should just get up. So at 6:15 I went down stairs to get Jacob. When I opened the door he was in bed under the covers, but when he sat up I saw that he was fully dressed. I guess he was too excited to just go back to bed.

We had a fun time opening presents. The kids got some fun games and toys. Randy and I didn't get much for each other because we just bought a membership to the Rec Center that will be opening up behind our house. It was kind of expensive and so we decided that should be our Christmas to each other. He did surprise me with a wad of cash in my stocking for me to buy clothes. Santa also brought our family a big gift, a red Wii with several games. After opening presents we had a yummy Christmas morning breakfast. We had a Sausage and Egg Strata and a Blueberry French Toast Casserole with blueberry syrup. Natalie loved it!

Later in the day we met most of Randy's family at his brothers church building for a family dinner. We decided to do it at a church because there are just so many of us Wardles. Randy is one of six and between them we have 20 children. We were afraid that with all of those excited children Grandma's house would seem to small, and the church was a great place for them to run around.

Can you tell this is a girl with brothers? She goes for the monster truck instead of the doll.

Jacob, of course, had the week off of school, and Randy took the week off of work. We had some fun days with Grandma Gina and Grandpa Sam going shopping, playing games, and playing with new toys. Grandma gave the boys these fun blocks. They built a tower almost to the ceiling.

While my parents were here we also did one of our other favorite holiday traditions, make tamales. I didn't take any pictures, but they turned out so good this year. Between the tamales and all the holiday treats I think I gained about 5 pounds. I guess my New Years Resolution will be to loose that.

The best thing about getting a Wii for Christmas is that it is a great bargaining tool for Jacob. He will do just about anything if he can play the Wii after. Jacob has a little problem with shoes. He slips his feet in and out of them without undoing them and smashes the backs. And, he won't leave his shoes on, even at school. His kindergarten teacher was okay with it, but it is not so good in 1st grade. He also wears his shoes out really fast, probably because he smashes the backs. I decided to buy him some nice shoes for Christmas, no more Payless special. I also decided to go with tie laces instead of velcro in the hopes that he will leave them on if they are tied tightly to his feet. But, I told him that the condition for getting these nice new shoes is that he had to learn to tie them before he goes back to school. To motivate him to learn we told him he couldn't play the wii until he could do it. After a morning of learning how Randy let him play Super Mario Bros. but every time he died he had to tie his shoes again. It turned into great practice. He still needs some practice, but he is getting it.
We have had such a fun time together as a family. I am kind of sad that tomorrow Jacob and Nathan go back to school and Randy has to go back to work. I love my family and I love spending all my time with them. It will be nice to get back into a routine thought and maybe tackle some News Years Resolutions.

Natalie's Birthday

My sweet baby girl turned one on December 10th. I can't believe it has already been a year. Time flies when you are taking care of four little ones. She has been such a good baby and has brought so much joy to our family. Her brothers adore her. It has been fun to watch her grow this year from a tiny baby into a walking, not quite talking, little girl. I love her cute, four toothed, smile, and way she say "Mom", she sounds just like a lamb.

The Birthday Girl

We had a very low key birthday party for her. I made mint chocolate chip cupcakes with candy cane white chocolate frosting. They turned out really good.

This was her first time having sugar, at least that I gave her, I can't say the same for her dad. I thought that she would dig in the way her brothers did. But, being the sweet girl that she is, she daintily took little pinches of frosting off the top and then licked her fingers. It didn't make for a very interesting video.
When the frosting was mostly gone she finally picked up the cupcake.
She ate about half of it and then handed it to me, she was done.

Natalie got three dolls for her birthday. One for us, one from Grandma, and one from our neighbors. She likes them, but doesn't quite know what to do with them. After all the kids went to bed that night the dolls were laying on the floor, it was so weird for Randy and I to see actual girl toys in our house. So far she has not been much different from her brothers, I guess she is going to start to seem more like a girl now. I can't wait to see what her next year will bring.

A long awaited update, at least by my mom

This post is dedicated to my awesome mom, who lives so far away from us she misses my cute little ones desperately. These four little ones just keep me so busy. Even now, while Natalie and Adam are sleeping and I want to sit and write, Jacob and Nathan are begging me to look at toy magazines from the newspaper with them. What is a mom to do? Here are some highlights from our last few months.

BYU Football Game
Our awesome neighbor, Brian, gave us some free tickets to yesterday's BYU game. Usually football games in November are to be avoided, but with this freakish weather, it was a beautiful day, sunny and 70 degrees. We had enough tickets to take the whole family. Adam and Natalie slept in the car on the way down and they did surprisingly well at the game. We had a great time, and the Cougars even pulled out a huge victory!

We had a picnic lunch outside of the stadium.

Some members of the family didn't want their pictures taken

The boys loved cheering on our Cougars

Halloween
This year for Halloween I had a Jedi Knight, Batman, a Cowboy (Woody), and a little Witch. Lucky for me they all choose easy costumes to make, or costumes that have been worn on Halloween before. I made Jacob's Jedi costume out of two pillow cases I got a Ross for $1.99. And I made Natalie's tutu, too bad you can't see her costume better, she wouldn't leave her hat on. I found a witches hat that fit her little head perfectly at Target for $1.

These are the worms we ate for dinner. Mmm. Okay they are really made of jello that we put in straws to solidify, don't they look real?

We never got around to carving our pumpkins, they just looked to good sitting on the porch uncut, but Jacob did make this pumpkin for his school's pumpkin decorating contest. It is two pumpkins that grew into one that he made into a spider.

Pumpkin Patch
There is fun little pumpkin patch close to our house that we like to go to every year. This year we went as a preschool field trip. My sister-in-law, Erika, me, and some of our neighbors are doing our own preschool. We take turns teaching by the month and October was my month to teach, just one of the many things that keeps me busy.

This is our neighbor Xander, Nathan, and his cousin Alayna

Adam on the search for the perfect pumpkin

First Lost Tooth
Jacob lost his first tooth on September 25, the big tooth was already starting to grown in so we had to get that baby one out. The tooth fairy left $1 under his pillow.

Soccer

Jacob loves to play soccer. He is on a different team this year with some of the kids in our neighborhood, including his best friend Katelynn. They have a really good team. They only lost one game, and they tied once, to Jacob's cousin Isaac's team, which was his old team. It was an awesome game.

Jacob and Isaac both going for the ball

First Grade
Jacob started 1st grade at the very end of August.

Here is Jacob and his friends Katelynn and Lexi in front of their school

The first day of school I got plates down to make lunch, I automatically pulled down three plates, I didn't realize until I was making sandwiches that Jacob was gone and we only needed two plates, it was sad, we missed him.

Jacob had a hard time adjusting to 1st grade. He cried every day that I dropped him off. He would say, "I just miss you, it is just a long day." It was so sad. His teacher told me to give him something to keep with him. So we took this picture of the two of us and I glued it to the back of one of those clear pebbles. That helped, and since then he has not cried, but he still carries it with him every day.

A new job and a new calling
After school started I decided that I needed to go back to work. I quit my old job back in April to stay home with the kids. It was really nice to be off for the summer, but finances wouldn't let me not work for very long. I got a job as a home health nurse. The jury is still out on weather or not I like it. So far they haven't had much for me to, which is frustrating because I clear my schedule to work, and then I don't work, and then I don't get paid. I think that I will stick with it for a little while longer and see if it gets better. I also got a new calling. I am now the Relief Society Secretary. I like it a lot, but it is busy. Maybe not busier than doing four callings at once like I was before, but busy.

And there you have it. Life right now is crazy for me, but good.