lovey dovey.

We decided to deck our halls for Valentine's a little early this year.... I have been using naptimes really wisely lately.  Mostly because if I spend my time crafting it keeps the nausea at bay.  Pinterest has been good to me lately.

Still my favorite decoration for this holiday...

I found this in the box of decorations... read it... and started bawling.  Like crocodile tears bawling.  A good friend from Dental School gave it to me right before she moved after graduation.  This time reading it I was thinking of my bestie who will be moving to Utah in a few short months.  I'm so grateful for this gentle reminder that we will always be close even though we're thousands of miles apart.

"dath".

Peter got some birthday money from gramma and grampa so we went to the store and he picked out the cutest little barn toy and some snuggly pajamas.  The best part was that he had leftover money so he took me and Jayne to lunch!  I enjoyed that burger so much.  It was my first craving of my pregnancy.  Now I want another.

He got brave and decided to hold Dash.  He adores this bird so much.  Every time he walks into the room and sees him he says, "Dath!"  I love that he can't say the 'sh' sound.  It makes me melt every time.  He loved holding Dash and now does it every day, several times a day.  He's in heaven.

He also has become completely obsessed with the toys in his room.  He has a bin of trains, cars and giant Legos and he could spend all day in there.  He has on occasion!  He usually finds Graham and pulls him by the wrist up to his room to play with the "choo-chooths".  I love it.  Luckily Graham does too.  These two are going to have so much fun when they share a room in the fall.

temple day!

We are doing awesome with our monthly Temple trips!  Three months in a row!  Wahoo!  This time I spent my time with the kids in the gym instead of the primary room.  It was much better.  We stopped at Wal*Mart for treats right after we dropped Jeremy off.  That helped too.  We played our hearts out while he was in his session.

Jayne always gets sad when it's my turn.  She's quite the mommy's girl.

I made sure to give her lots of good-bye hugs and helped her understand that I would be right back and I needed to spend some time in the temple.  She cheered up much quicker than last time.

I love, love, love this new tradition.  We've had to give up a few things and say no to things we would normally say yes to... but having the time with our family on the grounds of the temple each month is so worth it.  I've been struggling to come up with a New Years Resolution this year... After pondering about it the last few weeks I've decided that it's really quite simple.  I want to gain a deeper relationship with my Savior.  I plan to do this through continuing to attend the temple once a month, getting into my scriptures each day, communicating with him through personal prayer each day, and magnifying my calling in church.  It's going to be a great year.

These pictures are from several weeks ago... we get to go again next Saturday.... all by ourselves this time because someone offered to watch our kids so we can make a date of it!  I'm so excited!

First picture.

I went to the doctor this morning and got to see the baby for the first time. The good news is, I'm really pregnant. The bad news is, I'm only 5 weeks instead of 9 like we thought. We don't really know when I ovulated last. Without going into too much detail, there was bleeding, an iud taken out, more bleeding and then a positive pregnancy test.

Based on the ultrasound, and the date I got my first positive result, I am due somewhere between September 25-29. We'll know more in 3 weeks when we go back for another ultrasound.

I asked how my tummy could be so big already and he said, "6th baby, small torso, pregnancies close together... There you go!" Nice.

Here's our little circle baby...

spreading the news.

We've had a lot of fun spreading our baby news.  We have a hard time waiting until we've seen the doctor.  I actually see him later this afternoon... I'll probably make a second post later with the ultrasound photo.  This is how I told Jeremy.  He came home from work and I handed him this coupon...  he was SO excited!

Part of the reason we started telling so early is because my belly popped super quick this time.  It's crazy because the baby is as tiny as a grain of rice and my belly looks like I'm 4 months pregnant.  Graham walked into the door from school the day I got my positive result and took one look at my tummy and said, "Mom!  Do you have a baby in there!?"  I decided that if Graham could tell... the whole world could tell and I would rather have them know then be whispering behind my back. :)

We told the kids later that night in a truly unconventional way... it's a little creepy now that I'm writing about it.  I found these little babies at Wal*Mart and wanted to use them somehow.  We decided to just add them to the noodles we were having with dinner and see what happened.  It was fantastic.

I dished them up a spoonful and made sure that each of them got a little baby.  There was a lot of, "What the heck!?" "Why is there a baby in my noodles?!"  "What in the world?!"  I asked them why they thought there was a baby in their noodles.  They paused and then Lincoln said, "To help us think of Jesus?"  :)  

I looked at Graham and pointed to my tummy and he said, "You really do have a baby in your tummy?!" And then the cheering went wild.  They are all so so excited.  Jayne looked at me and said, "Mommy!  You better finish your dinner and go straight to the hospital to get that baby right out of your tummy!!"  It's going to be a long 9 months for that little girl.

After the news settled in and we started eating dinner the kids got a little creative with their babies.  I felt like it was Halloween or something....  it was a very memorable dinner.

 The sad news is that I ordered these little postcards to send to our families to tell them our news on the day of my first appointment (today) but couldn't wait to share the news... now I have 20 of these beauties for the baby book.  Unless someone still wants me to send them one......

naptime.

Jaynie girl and I love to do projects when Peter is down for his nap.  I've been working on several quilts the past few weeks and she asked me so nicely if I would make a quilt for her baby doll.  I had some scraps left over from a Valentine's project I made and they were perfect for a rag quilt.  She was thrilled to be my little helper!  (we stayed in our pajamas that day...)

The finished top:

 The finished back:

 It's the perfect fit!  She loves how snuggly it is.  I love how snuggle she is!

 That night Jayne came down from bed after she had been in there for a good thirty minutes.  She looked at me with the sweetest face and said, "Mum-mum, could you pretty pretty pretty please come and snuggle Gracie and me up?"  Who could resist?!  She is the sweetest girl in the world.

haircuts.

The boys asked me to cut their hair the other day.  I hate doing it... but they begged.  

Lincoln before....

Lincoln after...

Graham before....

Graham after...

I decided it was time to cut Peter's too... it was getting rather unruly...

He held so still!

And the after... he did not want to take pictures as you can see.  He looks so grown up now!

old pictures.

Jeremy let me download all of the pictures from his phone onto the computer.  I found so many little gems!  Here is baby Jayne running through the halls at the Stake Center.

Darling Grace and Jayne at the grocery store.  I love how chubby Gracie's little cheeks are!

Little Graham.

Gracie girl.

Lincoln in the hospital for one of his asthma attacks.

All the kiddos outside of the grocery store.

Baby Jayne.

Baby Graham... I cannot get over how much he looks like Peter in this picture.

Silly kids.  Graham still makes that face sometimes.

Brothers. I miss those built in carseats.

Another grocery store picture.  He must get bored at the grocery store.  I can't remember the last time he went with me!

Another baby Jayne.

Lincoln, cousin Jonas and Grace at ta metropark.  They were so little!

this week.

We had a stay in your pajamas and watch tv all afternoon day.  Peter decided that clothing was optional.  And he decided to make the grumpiest face on earth.  Crazy kid.  The shows of choice lately have been Super Why!  and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.  Both adorable.

We played a fun game for Family Home Evening the other night.  All of the kids loved it.  It was nice to change things up a little bit.  It was called the Choose the Right game.  It was just like chutes and ladders but with a Gospel twist.

Lately I can't sit down anywhere without at least one kid snuggling up right next to me.  Usually it's this little girl... love her.

After school pick up is my least favorite part of the day.  I love picking up my kids, but I hate the mess that the parking lot is every day.  It is out of control.  I pick up a neighbor friend three times a week and her school has this amazing system... then I come over to Oxford and it's pure chaos.  I hate it.

We met with a realtor about selling our house last week.  If we want to sell it for less than half of what we paid... then we can go ahead and list it.  It looks like we'll be looking for renters.  Wish us luck!

The boys made up a game the other night.  It's called run as fast as you can, yell like a crazy person, and slam into the couch.  Then do it over and over again.  They went strong for a half hour.

My besties birthday was last week.  Her husband surprised her with a triple date.  We went to dinner, bowled and had dessert at Menchie's.  It was SO fun!  I love our friends.

 Lincoln has been such a good kid lately.  SO so good.  It's amazing how kids go through phases.  I'm rather enjoying this one.  His siblings really love to play with him because he's been so nice.  This picture states otherwise....

 This kid is a spazzoid!  He tackles me and gives me bruises every time I sit down on the couch.  It's a good thing he's so adorable.

 We had the prettiest sunset the other night.  The whole sky was different shades of pink.  This picture doesn't do it justice.

 This kid is also full of awesome dance moves lately.  He has found a new love in Super Why and he tries to do their dance each time it comes on.  I love it!