The Wittmann Family

Big Trees

2011-10-19T15:28:00.000-07:00

The Move

2011-10-19T14:50:00.000-07:00

Around March Nathan and I were looking for ways for Nathan to attend school full-time. Our schedule was too crazy with both of us working and left no time for Nate to attend school and we wanted to take out minimal student loans. The lease with our rental property was due to be up in March so we made a decision to rent out our house in the valley and move back up to our house in the mountains, which happens to carry no house payment. It wasn't really a tough decision. We loved living there before and knew we wanted to get our kids out of the valley. Our house rented out quickly and we moved up a the end of March. Since I was now home with kids full- time (which I am absolutely esctatic about!) we tried to make it a goal to go out with the kids most weekends and do something fun. We have so many great things to experience here in our area. One of the first things we did was to take the kids to an old gold-mining town.

And of course, we stopped to get icecream at the Icecream Parlor.

Heather and Justin's Wedding

2011-10-19T14:17:00.000-07:00

The Grandkids

The Whole Fam

The boys

Chase and Great Grandpa Olsen

My sisters and I

Random

2011-10-19T13:35:00.000-07:00

Eden Kate 17 months

Fun on the trampoline

Crazy hair!

Make a mess and sleep in it too!

Chase 3 years

Christmas 2010

2011-10-19T13:17:00.000-07:00

We ran out of milk and had to serve Santa rootbeer! The kids were pretty concerned:)

Their big family gift was a trampoline. Santa had many elf helpers to help him set up that gift!

Andrew 8th Birthday

2011-10-19T12:55:00.000-07:00

Andrew wanted to go to Go Bananas for his birthday

Andrew's Baptism Day

Hallloween 2010

2011-10-19T12:35:00.000-07:00

We took the kids to Del' Osso farms again.

Helping herself to the pumpkin pie!

One Year Later

2011-10-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

So the holidays got a little hectic last year and then we moved again. We moved back up to the mountains and high speed internet is a little sparse up here. The only internet we've had for the last 7 months has been on our cell phone. Sucks. Last week we were lucky enough to get in on a great deal from a satellite internet provider. And I am so super excited to finally have internet again. I haven't coped well without it:) We are loving where we moved to though even without the internet (or a Target or Walgreens!) SO I am now going to attempt to catch up our blog. There will probably be a lot of pics and little words because I have already forgotten so much. I hate that and therefore need to put it all on the blog so in 10 years I can distinguish one year from the next and have details on what happened! I'm not good at doing a journal so this is the best we are going to get.

The Girls from 236

2010-09-30T14:40:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I was able to fly to L.A. and meet up with my college roommates from my sophomore year. We have kept in touch over the years, but it has been quite a few years since I had actually seen them. So a couple of months back a plan was put into the works for a girls weekend. We went to Disneyland and the beach, and we took a little side detour to the Apple store. It turns out I-phones don't mesh well with the water and if you go late enough in the day and spill your guts out to the Apple people they will tell you it's the best story they have heard all day and give you a free phone replacement:) It was so much fun reliving and making new memories!

2010-09-30T14:38:00.001-07:00

Our Baby is One!

2010-09-30T14:36:00.001-07:00

Just the Girls

2010-09-30T14:31:00.000-07:00

Two days a week it is just us girls for a few hours. I am still getting used to it. I still feel like I have forgotten someone at home- two is just a little too easy sometimes:) This was a peaceful moment between the sisters UNTIL Eden took a piece of Maicy's treat:)

Eden's making a run for it- she knows she's in trouble with Maicy!

It was worth it:)

The Boys Start School

2010-09-30T14:28:00.001-07:00

Andrew- 2nd Grade

Chase- Early Preschool

Ty- 1st grade

Week in Idaho

2010-09-30T14:07:00.001-07:00

3 days of the same parades - Yes, we attended all of them:)

Ice cream at Aunt Heather's work

Playing fetch with Grandpa

Ty, Grandpa, and Andrew

Willow Park

Chase Spencer

Maicy's 2nd Birthday

Lagoon!

Maicy's 1st Rollercoaster Ride

It was pretty hot outside:)

Fireworks on the 24th

Shock!

And amazement!

Cute cousins

2010-09-30T14:03:00.001-07:00

Eden spent a while just hanging out on the grass while the boys were out pulling weeds

2010-09-30T13:01:00.001-07:00

The kids took SEVERAL showers through out the day this summer. They were always into something.:)

One of their favorite activities is to dig in the dirt spot outside.

Fourth of July fireworks

2010-06-23T14:32:00.000-07:00

I got to fly into Salt Lake City a few weekends ago to spend some time shopping with my mom and my sisters. We had so much fun and I hope that we can do this every year. This is my fun sister Heather through the peek hole in the door. Love it!

Ty's Kindergarten Graduation

Father Son Campout- this year Chase got to go too, but I still had to work so again not so much of a weekend just for the girls. MAYBE next year....

2010-05-05T10:05:00.000-07:00

Our last family dinner (minus Chris) before Jenny left for BYU-Idaho last month.

Happy Birthday!

2010-03-31T16:35:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to my dad and my niece Alexia! Wish we could be there eating potato cake with you!:) LOL

My BEAUTIFUL Sisters:)

2010-03-31T15:32:00.001-07:00

Sorry girls I could not resist. Every time we load these pics up my family laughs all over again!( For the record- they were trying to see what the smile feature on my camera would consider a smile- apparently some people actually look like this when they smile.)

Idaho

2010-03-31T15:04:00.000-07:00

Soo... It's been almost a month and half ago since we took our long awaited trip to Idaho. We hadn't been back in over 17 months- which was a record for us- too long.:( We will do our best not to make that a habit. We did a lot of fun things while we were there, including playing in the snow, having a Valentines Party, and celebrating Chase and Ty's early birthdays.

All of the grandkids

There was still quite a bit of snow in Idaho when we visited and we got to play in the snow a lot. Granpa even took us up to the mountains to ride the snowmobile and do some real sledding. I think the big kids(aka the adults) enjoyed that one more than the kids.:) Being from California we don't have an extensive winter wardrobe. We had to make due with some of Uncle Bryan's old childhood boots. We only had to roll a pair (or two) of grandpa's socks into the ends of them.:) and I had the priveledge of wearing my mother's old snowmobile suit- not sure who has those pics but boy were we cute.:)

My sweet niece Alexia

This is my boys napping after a few hours of playing out in the yard in the snow.

We were there over Valentine's Day and since my boys missed their party at school I decided to throw a little party with all the grandkids. We ordered pizza, decorated cookies, and made candy necklaces.

My Little Princess

Another one of my sweet (wild:) nieces:)

Grandma ordered cakes for the boys. Ty had Spiderman and Chase had Spongebob.

2010-02-07T23:15:00.000-08:00

Eden Kate 5 months old

She just started pulling herself up on her knees this week.

And I think that we are pretty much out of the bouncy seat stage now:)

Shaving Cream

My way of keeping Chase and Maicy entertained with something new. It's still cold outside and I didn't have the guts to let them go to town in the kitchen- so I resorted to the shower- it worked-and cleaning them and the mess was a breeze. Ha!

Our Sweet Girls

2010-01-17T23:31:00.001-08:00

Or the not so sweet......:)

Eden Kate 5 months old

Maicy McKenzie 18 months old ( Yeah for going into nursery in one week!)

Look! The girl is finally starting to get a little bit of hair to play with. She actually NEEDS barrettes now to keep the hair out of her face. :)

Cruise

2010-01-17T23:15:00.001-08:00

Thanks to some (ok- a ton!) of help from family, Nathan and I were able to get away last weekend and take a cruise to Ensenada, Mexico.

We took a tour down to the La Bufadora (the Blow Hole.)

Christmas 2009

2010-01-03T22:03:00.000-08:00

It's late and I'm not going to write much. The boys start back to school tomorrow and we are going to have a hard time as we have been sleeping in for two weeks now.:) Things here are pretty crazy, but I think they will calm down a little with the holidays being over and everything kind of getting a fresh start. Anyway I just wanted to put up some pics for Matt and Chris since I have been letting them down with the pics for like two months now:) Sorry guys! These pics are mainly of the Roberts Christmas party and of our little Christmas day here.

Grandpa Roberts and Maicy

Most of the Roberts family

Maicy got a baby doll and lots of little accessories for her. She is super cute with the baby and just loves her. So sweet.:)

Andrew loves to smile at our new camera and test out the new smile feature.

Eden at almost four months old.

Maicy and her baby.

Here is Chuck bringing up the one subject that Linda told him NOT to bring up at the party. Any guess on what that subject was?? If you know Chuck very well- you'd have guessed his number one passion right now--- Family History. Not that family history is a bad subject it's just that Chuck is very excited about it and can talk for quite a while on the subject.

And here we are when Chuck brought up the one subject he was NOT suppose to bring up. :)

All of the BIG kids forcing the LITTLE kids to wait to eat while they ate at the little kid table!

Sweet Baby Girl and a Winning

2009-11-07T09:18:00.000-08:00

Eden is two months old now. She started smiling a week or so ago and she has attempted a little laugh. It's so fun to watch her become a little person.

My sister called to inform me the other day that I had actually won a Softlips chapstick give-away on one of the blogs I follow. I was only expecting one package, so I was really excited to find ALL of the flavors when it arrived in my mailbox! It was the only drawing I entered so I am pretty hopeful for some future wins:)

Alice

2009-11-02T12:38:00.000-08:00

So through one of the blogs I use to tell me about all of the great deals out there I found ALICE. It's a website where you can buy your everyday essentials and they put coupons in there automatically for you. For most things the prices were pretty comparible to Wal-Mart and if you don't live right by a Wal-Mart and have to shop at a local grocery store or drug store they are for sure better priced. Plus it is free shipping! I just got my first order today. It was a small order because I wanted to test the service out before I did a big purchase through them. However, I was happy with the results.

2 bags of Luvs diapers= $5.78 each

8 boxes of Kotex pantiliners= $.41 each

My New Hobby

2009-11-02T10:07:00.000-08:00

My husband thought I was becoming an old crazy coupon lady when I started cutting coupons and playing the Register Rewards game at Walgreens and BUYING coupons off of Ebay. When I showed him the reciepts he didn't think I was so crazy anymore. You decide. This purchase is the one I am so far the most proud of. I got 30 bottles of Herbal Essence shampoos, conditioners, hairsprays, and gels at Rite Aid. Normally I pay $3.00 a bottle for these at Walmart. So I normally would have paid $90.00 for all 30 bottles. They were on sale for $2.50 a piece and then when you factor in all my coupons--- Guess how much I paid. Just guess. Bet you can't guess.

30 bottles of Herbal Essence= FREE!!

Plus THEY paid ME $5 to take it all.

Now who's crazy??:)

All of this came from Walgreens.

These are just from four weeks worth of deals. Nate is going to have to build us shelves out in the garage soon to hold it all. It's starting to overrun our cabinets and closets!
8 Pert Plus= $.50 each=$4.00

4 Vaseline Lotions=FREE

2 Boxes of Zantac=FREE plus they paid me $10!

6 Sure deoderants=FREE

Face Toner=$.50 each=$1.00

5 Large Crest Toothpaste with Scope= $.75 each=$3.75

3 Mach 3, Schick Razors= $4.00 each

3 Bic 3 Razors= $1.00 each=$3.00

6 Trident Gum packages=FREE

6 Chapsticks= FREE

9 bottles or boxes of Children's Triametic=FREE plus they paid me $10.50!

2 Large Bottles of NyQuil= $1.50 each=$3.00

4 boxes of Theraflu=FREE plus they paid me $3.50

3 boxes of Visine= $.75 each=$2.25

4 Oral-B Toothbrushes=.50 each=$2.00

4-9Roll Quilted Northern Toilet Paper=$2.50 each=$10.00

2 Kotex Tampons=$1.50 each=$3.00

2 large bottles of Scope=$.75 each=$1.50

Total for 10 deoderants= $1.00

I paid $.25 for each Secret and six Dove deoderants were FREE plus they paid me $5.

15 boxes of Aluminum Foil= $10.35 (.69 each!)

HONORABLE MENTIONS

At Walmart

Magic Erasers=Buy one get one free= $1.60 each

Swiffer Wood Polish= $1.30 each

Glade Sense and Spray= $1.00

At Target

Ziploc baggies= $1.30 each

Snuggle Dryer Sheets= $1.00

Degree Deoderant and Spray= $.68 each

It all makes you want to become a crazy coupon lady too right???!!!!!

( I have to put in a special thanks to Sara Storms. It was her blog and a mention of one of her great deals that got me wondering what there was to the whole coupon/drugstore world! Thanks Sara!)

Eden Kate

2009-11-02T09:58:00.000-08:00

Halloween 2009

2009-11-02T09:49:00.000-08:00

Maicy- 14 months old

2009-11-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

Hansen's Cali Trip

2009-11-02T09:19:00.001-08:00

Sisters

2009-11-02T08:54:00.000-08:00

FIVE KIDS?! Um... yes, five.

2009-09-21T18:40:00.001-07:00

Since Eden's been born, we have had two doctors appointments, one dentist appointment, and an emergency appointment from a small fall that Ty had which resulted in a nasty gash on my head. Luckily, it was a pretty clean cut and they were able to use glue rather than having to stitch it up.

Other than that we have just been hanging out at home, doing the school routine, and Eden has been doing a whole lot of this! She sleeps through a lot of noise going on around here each day. She has started to be more alert the last two days though and I am sure it won't be long before she becomes another performer in our little circus!:)

The night AFTER Heather flew home...

2009-09-21T17:51:00.000-07:00

While Heather was here I went into the doctor two days overdue and they scheduled me for an induction. HOWEVER, there were no opening at the hospital until AFTER Heather was to fly out so we were hoping all week that the baby would just come on her own BEFORE Sunday. But Sunday came and we took Heather back to the airport. I was pretty bummed out that Heather was not going to be here for the birth and that I was going to have to be induced AGAIN:( I wanted to go into labor on my own so bad. I knew it was my last shot at having that experience and I had already waited for six days past my due date so I was pretty upset. However, by Monday night with Heather gone and the induction scheduled for early Wed. morning, I had resigned my self to the fact that she was not coming on her own and I would be induced Wed.
So Monday night about 8:50 we decided to gather up the boys and head out to IHOP for dinner (it was kids eat free and since we have a few kids it's a great deal for us and we eating that late is pretty normal for us:) The IHOP is about 15 minutes from our house in the town were Nate's parents life. It was only a few minutes after getting our meals that I had my first major contractions. I had been contracting all week, but this one was bad enough that I had to get up from the table and walk it out and it hurt enough to get my eyes watering. Immediately Nate thought this was it and started timing them on his I-touch. I, however, was not quite convinced and sat down to eat my meal. Within 10 minutes another one came. The next one came in 8 minutes and from there 6, then 5, we ate our meals in a hurry and rushed out to get Nate's mom to watch the kids. And, of course, we were out of gas, Nate forgot to bring his wallet or phone, and I had given up hope and had not brought the hospital bag for this trip. So we decided we thought we had enough time to make the quick trip home to get our stuff and drop the kids off.
Once we did all that and sped back to the hospital I things were getting pretty rough. I am sure any one who could see my in the passenger side was getting a good laugh. I couldn't just sit there during the contractions and found myself almost standing in the passenger side.:) Real cute. Before we even got to the parking lot I was starting to feel the need to push. I believe Nate's reply to that one was, "Well, DON'T PUSH!":)
We made it inside to the ER and they wheeled me upstairs to maternity. From there they quickly took me into a small room to check how dialated I was. The baby's head was already there and they thought maybe they had enough time to push me down to the delivery room, but once they started rolling the bed out my water broke and she was a coming out fast. So they decided to deliver her right in that small room and in two pushes she was out. Nate had gone out to move the car since was parking in the ER driveway and he barely made it back in to see her body slide out! It was a pretty close call. One hour from the first contractions and our baby was here. Born at 10:25 p.m. Pretty fast- not at all like I had imagined. I thought it would be gradual and I would have to labor a while at home before going in, but if I had waited at all I would have delivered that baby at IHOP:) So while it was not like I had imagined I was so not disappointed by the experience and so content by the fact that I did get experience labor without an induction.

Going back in time to 3 weeks ago...

2009-09-21T16:54:00.000-07:00

So my little sister Heather flew out to be here to help me with my other kiddos while I was in the hospital. We picked here up from the airport and then headed to San Fransisco for dinner at Bubba Gumps.

We also found Spongebob on the pier. Chase is a HUGE Spongebob fan so he was very excited.

We did a little bowling. Nate worked in a bowling alley for a short period of time back when we were dating in college and I, on my quest for a degree in higher education, enrolled in a bowling class:) So we are both seasoned bowlers!:) However, we have never taken our kids so we decided it would be a good oppurtunity.

This moment was so adorable! Ty got his first strike and he let out quite the cheer for himself! So CUTE!

Chase getting a good old belly laugh out of our excitment.:)

We also decided to make our way to the California State Fair in Sacramento in hopes that walking around for a couple of hours would help me go into labor:) No such luck. It just made me sore:(

Thanks Heather for coming to visit and help out- even though the little stink didn't come while you were here! The boys had so much fun and are still talking about things they did when their Aunt Heather was here. And thanks to my family in Idaho for letting her come I really was greatful to have her here. I needed it.:)

She Finally Decided to Join Us!!

2009-09-08T19:09:00.000-07:00

Eden Kate

8 lbs. 15 oz.

I'll post more about her birth story later. She came VERY fast and we are already home and everyone is doing well. Our household will be a little chaotic for the next couple of weeks I'm sure. :) So happy that she is finally here though and that I got to experience labor without the induction. She is definately an over due baby. She is very beat up, her feet and hands are super dry, and her nails are very long so she kept scratching her poor little face, and she is off the charts with her size.

Frustrated

2009-09-07T12:32:00.000-07:00

Walked and walked and walked and walked. Tried every trick in the book. Still pregnant. Six days overdue. Sister flew home yesterday. Scheduled for an induction on Wednesday- will be eight days overdue. Right in the middle of the week- which means I have to figure out scheduling for my four other children for three school days while I step away from the house for a few days. Trying not to be dissappointed with how the pieces are all falling.

Still no baby

2009-09-03T06:15:00.000-07:00

Day two of being overdue. I went to the doctor yesterday and I have progressed slightly to three centimeters. So they stripped my membranes again and we are hoping for the best. Probably, the most unfortunate part is that they are not going to be able to get me into the hospital for an induction until next Wednesday. Which means that my little sister will be gone by then and I will have to deal with scheduling my kids out anyway. Very frustrating.
In the mean time it has been really nice and fun to have her here. We have been to San Fransisco, and last night we took the boys bowling for the first time, and today- to get a lot of walking in for myself- we are headed to Sacramento to the fair. I'll get pics up soon.
So anyway we are pretty much just playing the waiting game which makes me very anxious. I just want to go into labor on my own and I want it to be before Sunday. Is that really too much to ask?:) The scary part is that my last three babies have been induced a week early and they were 9,8, and 7.15 lbs. So we are hoping that an overdue baby is not like 11 lbs!!:) Wish us luck.

Any Good Suggestions??

2009-08-30T14:58:00.000-07:00

My little sister is here now, so now I am ready for any suggestions on how to get this baby moving by the weeks end!! Now that we are finally ready for her to come it seems that now even all of the "fake" contractions having started to slow down!!:) We'll do some walking tonight and I'll probably walk the kids to and from school tomorrow. It's been so dang hot lately that walking during the day has been pretty unpleasant. Any food tricks out there BESIDES caster oil?

Same Old Story

2009-08-26T12:16:00.000-07:00

So we are now six days away and I am STILL at a two. I have been at a two for two weeks now. The doctor stripped the membranes (sorry to gross anyone out). I am hoping that she at least holds out until Saturday night AFTER my little sister has arrived to help me out with the kids for the week. AND I am REALLY hoping that the baby decides to come BEFORE Heather leaves. Life would be sooo much easier to step away from for a few days if my sister was here to help me with the kids. Otherwise it's going to get a little complicated. Having the older two in school with such crazy pick-up schedule makes it hard to organize sitters and what not. One must pretty much drive a tank to handle my four and their own children:) LOL
In the mean time I have sooo much that I still wanted to accomplish before the baby arrives. So I am trying really hard to keep myself motivated to do so.

Baby Number Five

2009-08-13T16:23:00.000-07:00

On a side note about the week... you may have noticed that we are getting close to our little girl being born. I have two more days of work before I go on maternity leave and it's a good thing since my legs, ankles, and feet have started to swell up every day. The "fake" contractions have been becoming pretty strong and at my last doc. appointment on Monday I was dialated to a two. Don't get too excited though -I am sure she will continue to hang out until September. I never go early. Since I have always been induced I am hoping this final time around to go into labor on my own- just for experiences sake. Yes, you can plan babysitters and all that jazz with an induction, but I just want the experience of having that element of suprise and excitment just once. I am just now starting to get a little nervous that I haven't really prepared for her coming- washing the clothes, setting up the bedding, getting diapers, bottles, etc.- Oh, and um...naming her. YIKES! I have like 19 more days till my due date. I suppose that's not really a lot of time and I better get a move on it.

First Day of School

2009-08-13T16:03:00.001-07:00

Within a four block radius we have two elementary schools near our house. This year I transferred them over to the school that was only a block from our house in hopes that we can sometimes walk and not have to go through all of the car seat trouble three times a day. I had heard good things about the school and was excited. Until the day before school when I found out that only Ty had been assigned a classroom and Drew had not. So Monday morning I had to go in extra early and wait in line for 25 minutes with 40-50 other parents whose child's name had been left off the lists. They finally got him assigned to a class and Ty was 10 minutes late getting to his new class because there was only one of me. After that whole ordeal I was a little ticked. I went to a lot of work getting them transferred on the first day transfers were available and then they didn't even put him in a class!!?? So lucky, they both liked their teachers and class and Drew even had a kid from church in his class. Unfortunately, since the the new principle pretty much stinks so far at her job- both boys were put into classes that had like 35-40 kids. Ty luckily got to stay put. Unfortunately, Drew who doesn't do well with change, was moved to a new classroom AFTER THREE DAYS of school. AFTER three days of getting to know his teacher, making friends, getting to know the new routine. And to top it all off they put him in a 1st/2nd grade class and Drew says the teacher has to yell a lot at the older kids and he's extremely upset about being ripped from the one friend he already knew. I was so excited when he started because he already had a friend, he really liked his new teacher, and seemed as though he was off to a good start. He didn't really enjoy last year so I was excited for a fresh new start. Today was the fourth day and he called me from the office after lunch and told me his stomach really hurt and he needed to come home. I know why that kid's stomach hurt and he's not sick. It made me so angry at that stupid school. Hope that the year improves because so far I will not be returning my students to August Knodt again.

The Latest Lesson from Disaster Class

2009-08-13T15:58:00.000-07:00

(P.S. I was not the babysitter that night.:)

Sweet Girl

2009-08-13T15:55:00.000-07:00

She climbed up into this chair herself. She was pretty proud and I was pretty terrified. It won't be long till she moves from the chairs to the countertops.

My Little Calf

2009-07-30T14:46:00.000-07:00

Maicy didn't want to nap at nap time today so I just set her bottle down in her crib knowing that she would need to take a nap soon whether she wanted to or not. I left her in her room to play with her toys. After a bit I went into her room to check on her because things were so quite. This is what I found and I just died laughing.

Maicy's 1st Birthday

2009-07-30T14:14:00.000-07:00

She was extremely dainty about eating her cake for the first five minutes. She used her spoon and didn't have any in her hair. About ten minutes into it she decided to go ahead and just take a hand full. She had already eaten a lot of the cake by then. All I had to do when she was done was wash her hands and face. So very different than the boys were. All of them needed a major hoses down after wards!

Our baby girl turned one yesterday. She seems so grown-up to me now. She walks really well now and she has turned into a little spoiled thing. She can often be heard screaming because she is not getting her way about one thing or another. It's so fun to have a little girl though and have girl toys and clothes around the house. I am so thankful to finally have that in our home. It was not to long ago that I had to hold back tears every time I saw a sweet little girl. I was so afraid at the time that there would be no little girl coming to our family. I am still amazed to this day to see a pink outfit come through the wash or to see a doll on the floor and have that thought that I actually have a little girl.

Maicy 1st Birthday Cake

2009-07-29T15:07:00.001-07:00

Today is Maicy's first birthday. I just finished making her butterfly cake. It was not as easy as I thought it was going to be. Well... I guess just the pink frosting part was hard. The rest was fun. So even though it takes a lot more time and effort I will probably do more piping of the frosting next time to avoid the frustration of trying to smooth out the pink over all of the corners. Yes, it's laying on a cutting board. I tried to find some tin foil, but apparently I forgot to buy some last time I was at the store. (Chase wasted a whole roll just a week or two ago by pulling it all out of the roll and playing with it.:) Piping words seems to be something I need a WAY more practice with! I thought it turned out ok though for my first attempt.

Ranch Masterpiece

2009-07-29T14:56:00.001-07:00

THIS is what Nate found in the kitchen the other night while I was at the store! Apparently, the fridge lock was broken and this is what not having a fridge lock looks like:)

Of course, not yet the Master behind these incidents is Miss May. Since she seems to always be in the middle of what ever Chase creates, I am sure it will not be long before she is making messes like this on her own!

She had a skin reaction to the ranch, but after a good bath her skin cleared up soon after.

A New Home and A Little Bad Luck

2009-07-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

Last January we got an eight week old black lab. We named him Jack and he grew into a giant monster. He got HUGE and was quickly at eye level with our kids and knocking them down out of puppy excitement. While he was never mean to them he was a little too rough and big for the kids liking. He also craved a lot of attention and our life's have gotten extremely busy and is about to get even more hectic. We were not able to walk him every night and give him the attention needed. He kept himself busy by destroying our yard and anything that had the misfortune of being left in the back yard or given to him out the the door by Chase! (Bibs, shirts, etc.) So a couple of weeks ago we found a new home for him. He seems to be happy there. He gets to live inside, go for car rides, and take trips to the river. Below is a pic of him in his new home with his favorite new toy duck. We are happy that he is getting the attention that he deserves. So while we now have our backyard back (or what's left of our back yard!) my kids can still not play out there. We had a kid run his car into our back fence while going way to fast around the curb. So we are left with a huge hole in our fence and the city told me it would take 5-6 weeks to fix it!! It's just a flimsy fence make out of wire and mud, but it's going to take 5-6 weeks and cost the kid at least $10,000!! Crazy huh.

(yes, the grass is very dead. Partly due to never really being able to revive it from the month of extreme heat and no water it took while we were in escrow. And part because Jack used to run around it like he was a horse in an arena doing barrel laps!:)

Our Version of a Picnic

2009-07-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

So the kids have been begging for a LONG while now to go on a picnic. We took last Friday night as a good oppurtunity to do so. It's been very hot outside so we went for a night picnic. Our version of a picnic being eating Subway subs on the park bench and then playing at the park. It was an acceptable version of a picnic to our kids! So glad to have that request under our belts. Hopefully, it won't come up again for a while. While we did take ALL of our children I did not get a good pic of the older two. An overly friendly 12 year old befriended them and engaged them in a game of chase the entire time we were there. I was annoyed, but they enjoyed themselves. :) So no pics of the boys, but here's what Nate and I did with the little two while waiting.

My Playlist

2009-07-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

Many of you may not be a big fan of the New Kids on the Block. HOWEVER, I spent a couple years of my childhood swooning over them. Therefore, for my listening pleasure as I check my blog (and for my little sister's- she was in love with Joey.) I have added some songs to bring back the good old days. I'm sure it won't be long before my husband checks by the blog and wants the music removed since this is like our FAMILY blog. We'd hate to be represented by the NKONB! I'm sure you won't have to endure the songs for too long. :)

Graduation, Birthday, and Fourth of July

2009-07-09T09:58:00.000-07:00

(I once again posted these incorrectly but you'll get the point soon enough!)

Maicy kept taking handfuls of sand out of Chase's bucket. He WAS not happy about it.:)

So it's the end of a school year and the beginning of a very short summer here. Andrew just graduated from Kindergarten and the boys both go back to school in one short month! Nate also had a birthday on the 1st. We had his birthday dinner at Roundtable pizza, of course. (Unfortunately, I didn't get one good pic out of the whole thing.) Also we have been taking the kids to do some things outdoors since school has been out. A week or two ago while Nate was at scout camp for a few days I took the kids to Mickey Grove Park- a small and very cheap little zoo out here. It took us 1/1/2 hours max to get through the whole park! I didn't get any pics though because my camera was up taking lovely pics of the scouts:) Then this last week Nate had Friday off and we took the kids to Pixie Woods. It's like a little outdoors fairy park?? Lots of neat little structures to climb and see. This time I forgot my camera.:( Then on the fourth of July we took the kids to the beach (or the BIG WATERS- as my kids refer to it). It was so much fun and although we don't have many days where we aren't stressed and in a hurry-this was a very fun, calm day for us. The kids loved the beach, especially Drew. He was really into playing in the waves this year. Ty and Chase were both still a little hesitant about the waves and spent most of their time playing in the sand. Maicy loved the sand and I think even enjoyed a bite or two of it. She also seemed to take well to the waves crashing on her little legs. It was her second time at the beach. The first was when she was only a week old. So she didn't actually get much beach action in then. ANYWAY it was a really fun day at the beach and afterwards we were able to stop and watch a firework show on the way home. It was a good day.

Shorts or Pants?

2009-06-19T09:01:00.000-07:00

My poor little boy came into my room wearing these after swimming. He had asked for a pair of shorts and I told him they were in the dryer. I couldn't help, but laugh super hard when I realized why these looked so wierd.

They were MAICY'S pants. A little scary that my five year old's waist is the same as my 10 month old babys. When I started laughing he thought he was wearing Chase's pants. Sad to say Chase has passed up Ty in the clothing sizes so I knew that was not the case. We all got a good laugh out of it.

Swimming?

2009-06-19T08:55:00.000-07:00

So this is probably the closest to swimming my boys are going to get this summer. ( I just don't see myself running out to buy a maternity swim suit right now.) Nate just turned on the sprinkers for them in the front yard. They seemed to enjoy themselves though.

Karen- My Computer Wife

2009-06-09T12:09:00.000-07:00

Many of you may know of Karen The Computer Wife from Spongebob Square Pants.

Full Name: Karen
Occupation: Computer/(future world ruler?)
About: Karen is the computer/ wife of Plankton (oh what a world we live in!). She's the smarter of the two, and she comes up with all of the good plans.
Quote: "seaweed, 50% sea, 50% weed"

Ty has gotten married recently to Karen. For a couple of days I have heard mention of Karen and all that she can do. Today after "I" had spent several hours cleaning the house, Ty informed me that he had programed "Karen" to clean the whole house and that I should come see what an amazing job Karen did. Nothing like having an imaginary computer wife take all the credit!

After a week like that...

2009-06-08T10:56:00.001-07:00

Chase has been spending a lot of time in his room. So happy that he managed to figure out how to do THIS last night. His room has pretty much been stripped of anything that we think he may be able to use as a ladder to get over the gate - Although I have had him move his BED across the room in an attempt to use it.:) I have always been against gating my kid in his room, but with this kid sometimes a mom just needs a little hour of sanity. He has his books, toys, and a tv so he's not suffering. I know I have mentioned how crazy this child is, but I am sometimes seriously amazed at the extent of his naughtiness. Just when I think I have seen it all I find him dumping out containers full of garlic powder on the counter, pouring in a little vanilla, top it off with some of that expensive baby formula!! AHHH!! Love the kid, but WOW. He was not happy to have to work so hard to get out and then find himself stuck up there! He made a jump to grab onto my neck as soon as I got close enough. :)

WAIT the week's not over!

2009-06-08T10:44:00.000-07:00

Remember that beautiful carpet that we laid about a week or so ago.... Yup, that's right folks- nothing like putting a little dishwasher detergent WITH BLEACH all over the carpet to round off the week! I'm still grieving. :( Nate warned it would happen with that kid in the house, but my little brain was imaganing red kool-aid, make-up, garlic powder, chocolate syrup, ketchup, etc. All those stains that could be eventually worked out. Bleach never went through my head. (The detergent had just come in to the house from the grocery shopping trip so it's not usually something that he has access to. ) So as much as I scrub and run the carpet cleaner it is what it is. :(

Our Week in Review

2009-06-08T10:21:00.001-07:00

First, we had a little of this. Then some of this.

And this.

And some of that.

And more of that.

And then I came home from work to find this. So sweet and innocent. At least I THOUGHT it was so sweet, until I saw....

THIS next to him!! (A bottle of baby lotion poured all over my rocking chair and the carpet.

(The room was a little out to sorts to begin with since the living room and our master bedroom furninture and belongings were stuck in all of the other bedrooms while our new carpet was being laid. Hence the bedding on the floor.)

The next night after the boys had their bubble bath- since all the bubbles were left behind after the water was let out Chase thought he'd jump in for some bubble action himself. Dressed OF COURSE.

ALL that fun in one week thanks to one speacial little two year old boy!!

Ty's Preschool Graduation

2009-05-29T09:43:00.001-07:00

Ty had his preschool graduation this last Wednesday. It was very short and sweet. Nate and I, of course, arrived late and were stuck in the corner of the room. Of course, our little boys was planted on the opposite side of the room. So the video of his dance was taken from a distance. We were able to sneak across the room while the kids went out to prepare for getting their dipolomas. He's a pretty excited guy to get to move onto Kindergarten in a couple of months.

Father/Son Camout

2009-05-29T09:11:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago Nate and the boys got to attend their first father/son campout. They camped about five minutes from our house at a little RV park area near the boat drop-off ramp. Very extravagent camping! The boys were very excited though and were thrilled by the packing, pitching a tent, eating smores, and having light saber wars with the other boys there- not sure who's great idea it was to bring those to a camping activity. So it was a fun 10 hour camping trip. We are hoping to some time work in an actual camping trip with the boys sometime soon. We like to camp a lot, but the scheduling gets a little rough.

Babies and Bathrooms

2009-05-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

What is it about babies and bathrooms?? With every single one of them I have had to gate and lock the bathroom. It's as if they are just drawn there. Usually if I can't find Maicy she'll be hiding out in the shower and once in a while she really ventures out and finds the toliet (Shudder!) I know it should be easy to keep them out of these places, but our master bedroom doesn't have a door (to the shower, tub, and sink area anyway) so we have to put a gate up and with two little guys always needing to use the toliet and a mother who has gotten so big and is so short that she can not longer hurdle over the gate, Maicy has found many oppurtunities to sneak in.

Mother's Day and Missionaries

2009-05-12T19:59:00.000-07:00

So Mother's Day we went to church- where I recieved the customery rose and chocolate:) Then we rushed to Grandma and Grandpa Roberts house to recieve the phone call from the Matt and Chris. Still so wierd that they are together and able to call us on the same phone. Matt only has one more phone call before he will be home-also wierd.

Chuck records each of our phone calls with them, hence the computer next to the phone.

Matt and Chris made these and sent them home to Linda for Mother's Day. They used their old shirts, the matching ties, and one of their name tags. I thought they were super creative. They have gotten very crafty since being on the missions! Very cool guys.

My Birthday

2009-05-12T19:46:00.000-07:00

Last week I celebrated my 28th birthday. Yeah. Not too much longer till 30 and I really am NOT that excited for that time. I am already starting to notice wrinkles around my eyes! It's like they just appeared out of no where. (No comments neccessary from any of you who have been noticing those wrinkles for a couple of years now!!) Our family went out to dinner for my birthday to my favorite restaurant The Old Spaghetti Factory. At the end of our meal and without asking my age they announced to the whole restaruant that I was turning 21. Nice to know that I look old enough that they are afraid to ask me my age and assume and are correct in the fact that I am indeed older than 21. I guess even if I did look like a striking young 20 year old the four kids in tow and pregnant belly might lead them astray from the truth.

Random Happenings

2009-05-12T19:31:00.000-07:00

This was the attire that Drew insisted was necessary to wear if he was to help with the dishes.

Maicy attempting the cup.

Just another "wonderful" moment of the day brought to you by Chase!

Maicy Trying To Stand

2009-05-06T09:35:00.000-07:00

Our Little Girl

2009-05-06T09:33:00.000-07:00

She's finally sitting up on her knees now and once a while will let go and stand for a slight moment in time.

Still not much hair.

They Grow Up So Fast

2009-05-06T09:25:00.000-07:00

REMEMBER THIS???? So Cute.

And I thought my kids were growing up quick.

Jack is so big now. He easily knocks a kid out if they are not prepared for the punch. The dog loves to walk-scratch that- RUN! Walks are a little interesting. I think he and Chase must have been buddies up in heaven. Chase loves the dumb dog-even when it knocks him down. You've seen what Chase does to the inside of my house... Jack does about the same outside. Two peas in a pod. Just this morning I found him ripping the screen off of my screen door! Has anyone seen Marley and Me??? He can be a sweet dog though. But it's usually when the sun is out and he has been sleeping in it. That's when he gets his pets from me. Other than that he is so active that he barely holds still to be pet. And let's not get started about how excited he gets when Nate walks in the door from work.

Found this a couple of mornings ago

2009-05-06T09:01:00.000-07:00

Notice the chair.

More of Chase

2009-05-06T08:54:00.000-07:00

Why not?? And while we're at it maybe we should stomp around on the pieces. Maybe a piece or two will stick into the bottom of the shoes so mom can spend a half hour of her day digging it out. (Cause last time this happened I thought I would just let him walk around outside until it all crumbled out. Good idea right?? Did I mention it was still wet outside and did you know that when play dough is wet the colors bleed. Not good for my car.)

There are certain pieces of furniture in the house that Chase seems drawn to... drawn to destroy that is. This table is constantly getting knocked over, along with the baby swing, and the plant in the corner of the room.

Big Girl-9 months

2009-05-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

So happy Mace has gotten to this stage of the feeding process. It's so much easier to hand her some ceral or a cracker when things are crazy here.

Maicy's First Bite of Chocolate

2009-05-06T08:06:00.000-07:00

The girl gets around now and with three brothers leaving things around she often finds a treat or two. Those treats are usually like a random Cheerio. This time Chase left a piece of Easter candy sitting on the coffee table. She seemed to enjoy it and was pretty upset with me when I took the remnants out of her hands and mouth.

Partner in Crime

}

Maicy's Going to Get a Sister!

2009-04-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

I was very surprised to learn that our baby is a little GIRL! I thought we'd used up all of our luck getting Maicy here. So excited for Maicy to have a sister and to even our family out a little. The ultrasound showed things are going well with baby. I am very big already and have to endure the constant shock on people's faces when I tell them that "No, it's not my first. Actually, it's my fifth." Most people out here think that is an insanely huge family and are shocked that they are all under the age of six. What can we say- I guess we're just glutten for punishment. :)

May-le

2009-04-27T10:42:00.000-07:00

Maicy LOVES to eat. She eats it all. She doesn't refuse anything anymore.

We love this pic. She had just woken up and was getting her bath. Something about those sleepy eyes.

Easter day at Grandpa's house. She finally broke her first tooth last Tuesday so we are happy that she may be able to eat some more solids soon.

Easter

2009-04-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

Easter was so long again I hesitate to even post about it, but I suppose I better. We didn't do anyway out of the ordinary this year. The Easter Bunny was pretty lazy this year. We did the eggs, did the dinner, did the hunt, did A basket. (Like I said for some reason the bunny was just not into it this year.)

Basket for the whole Wittmann family. Personally, I feel like it's a tradition we may carry on. There was no fighting over anything because it was just a basket full of stuff for EVERYONE including mom and dad (who probably ate most of the candy anyway!) The bunny did hide eggs around the yard though and a special egg for each of them filled with money.

Apparently, last year in the move I threw away their Easter buckets. I suppose that I figured they were like a dollar a piece and rather than try to carry them around in the move I would just get new ones. So when I mentioned to Drew that I had to buy new ones, he told me we didn't have to because he knew how to make some. These were the impressive bags that Drew made for the boys. (I really was impressed that he took paper, scissors, tape, and no adult help and made these real bags.) After that I didn't have the heart to buy new baskets even though these bags were a little too flimsy for the egg hunt and we ended up finding replacements at the last minute.

WORST BLOGGER EVER

2009-04-07T16:03:00.000-07:00

My sister has given me the title of WORST BLOGGER EVER. I suppose it's time to get past my laziness and do some blogging. For some reason, it has just seemed terribly overwhelming to take the card out of the camera, put it into the computer, and THEN have to blog and post. Whew! So I am now playing catch-up. We have not been any busier than ususal, but we have passed a few milestones and birthdays. Oh, and we found out that we will be welcoming another little one to our family in September. Yeah, not much happening here.:)

What Chase Has Been Up To

2009-04-07T16:01:00.000-07:00

I love this picture. Just watchin' a little Spongebob. He is addicted and it is the ONLY thing that can keep the kid entertained for longer than 10 mintues- we love it.

We got him a potty for his birthday- he has yet to show much interest in it, but I am hoping to get him at least moving in that direction before the baby comes.

Just a typical day at our house.

At least he was trying to clean it up.

Ty's Birthday

2009-04-07T15:44:00.000-07:00

Ty turned five last month. Hard to believe he's five. Unfortunately, his two year old brother Chase has passed him up in size. He is just my tiny little man. He is probably our loudest child. Man can that boy carry on a whine! For those of you who sent him money for his birthday he bought two lego sets with it. The boys have worked up quite a collection of legos over the last couple of months. Every dime they get goes to buying another set. Ty stated this morning that he doesn't want to be a firefighter anymore when he grows up- he want to work in the Lego store. :)

It was a very Diego-y card birthday! These all came from the grandparents.

Hunting through the traditional "Candy Bag" from Grandma and Grandpa Hansen.

Chase's Birthday

2009-04-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

Chase turned two last month. We just had a little family party. One of these years I'll get my act together and let them have a party WITH friends. Until then they are stuck with us, but I don't think they mind too much as long as they get presents and get to eat cake.

2009-04-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have ever met or even heard stories of our little Chase these presents would make a lot more sense. These were all from funny Grandpa Roberts. Chase tends to find ways ALL day to get into to trouble. He loves the fridge and pantry and the week or two before his birthday he had taken to getting things out of the fridge and using them for purposes other than that for which they were intended. There was the Great Barbecue Sauce incident which resulted in pulling out the carpet cleaner for a good 45 minutes scrubbing of the carpet and rug. Then there was the the ranch all over the kitchen floor and then the ketchup... well, you get the idea. Grandpa thought they would make great gifts for Chase since he seems to really like these things! We have since purchased a fridge lock and Nate took the door knob off the pantry and we have to use a screw driver to push the locking mechanism over!! And I have to make a running jump to get over the gate to get into our bathroom (there's no door from our master bedroom to the shower,sinks, tub so we had to gate it. Yes, I realize that I could take the gate down every time, but like I said before I've been lazy.)

Maicy- Moo

2009-04-07T15:05:00.000-07:00

Maicy started to self-feed. She loves the little yogurt dots, but we had to hold off on them because once she started the sweets then she started turning up her nose on her green beans and peas. I AM not going to mess this kid up!:) We ruined our first child's taste buds with whip cream at 3 months and by 5 months he was eating slices of banana cream pie at Grandpa Hansen's house! (Yes, Grandma, we have the pictures to prove you were part of the "ruining"!) Let's say my boys are not big veggie eaters and I am hoping to get just one who will still eat green beans and peas by the time she is able to self-feed herself a bean or two. So for now all she gets are the little puffed wheat sweet potatoe pieces. YUM! (Happy to note that she is back to eating her veggies, just as long as she can hold a spoon as well. )

Helen Wittmann Elementary

2009-02-21T21:20:00.000-08:00

So Chuck (Grandpa Roberts) has been really into family history right now and we have all caught the bug a little. Nathan did some research and found out that an elementary school that was named after one of his relatives was right near the area we were going to be at so we made a stop. It was super wierd to see our name since the spelling of W-i-t-t-m-a-n-n is pretty uncommon.

Greatest Place on Earth

2009-02-21T20:49:00.000-08:00

Andrew looking at R2D2 at the Lego store.

"Going wild" in the Lego store.

Andrew and Ty in front of the castle.

Honey I Shrunk the Audience 3D. This made both of the boys a little nervous. Every time I would look over at them they were putting their glasses up at all of the good parts! I spent most of the show telling them to put their glasses back on.

Jedi Knight Training

We just got back from Disneyland tonight and we are all a little tired. We had so much fun both experiencing and watching the boys experience the excitement of Disneyland. We were on a pretty tight schedule since we had to get it all done in one day so by 10:30 that night we were already REALLY tired. The boys (and myself) were asleep about six minutes after we got into the car. Ty was, unfortunately, about four inches too short to go on the majority of the big rides, but Nate took Andrew on most of them while I took Ty to do something else. Andrew's favorite ride was Indiana Jones and Ty's was the new Buzz light Year Laser shooter ride. When asked if there was a ride they didn't like Ty replied "No, I liked all of them." Drew was quick to add, "Uh, are you sure Ty? What about the Haunted house one?" Apparently Drew is just a tad more wimpy than our tiny Ty! After the day was through and we made our way back to our nice suite at the Hilton (Which by the way we got for a grand total of $63 thanks to Priceline. If you have never "Named Your Own Price!" before you should. We haven't paid full price for a hotel in years). So anyway once we got to the hotel and we were changing into our pj's Drew throws himself on the couch and says, "Whew, what a day!" Very funny! The boys were almost more excited about the Lego store in downtown Disney and the hotel than they were about Disneyland. For those of you who don't know my little boys are Lego fanatics. They both could just sit and build for hours and hours. So they got to fill a tub with what ever Legos they wanted and they got to build their own Lego man. And since Ty's birthday is next Monday he also got to pick out a Lego set for his B-Day.

A Quick Trip and a New Computer

2009-02-13T11:16:00.001-08:00

As many of you know Nathan and I have had computer issues over the last couple of years. Between this old, slow (but still kicking) Dell that Nate bought just before we got married and the laptop that we bought three or four years ago that only worked for two and we have been attempting to "fix" for the last two years, I have had my fill of crappy computers. SO we were both pretty willing to spend some of our tax return this year to invest in a GOOD computer. This is my first morning working on it and so far everything is super fast. We have had cable internet, but the computer was just barely keeping up. Of course, we also were able to get Windows Vista so there's quite a bit of new things to explore. Very excited to use the new programs.

We have also decided to take the older two boys on an impromptu trip to Disneyland next weekend. I happen to finally have a Friday and a Saturday off so we are going to wake up super early Friday drive to Disneyland and spend the day there and then casually make our way back Saturday and perhaps take in some other attractions and sites along the road back home. So excited to finally take the boys to Disneyland. Nate and I have been there, but we have been wanting to take the boys for a couple of summers now and it seems there is always a pregnancy or new baby to deal with so... the babies are staying with Grandma Roberts so that Nate and I can fully enjoy the experience with the older two who are old enough to actually remember the experience and enjoy themselves. So it will be a quick trip, but we are still pretty excited and the boys are so excited since they have been asking to go since Drew went to preschool for the first time 3 years ago and one of kids in his class went to Disneyland.

So Sad

2009-01-30T20:13:00.000-08:00

I know, I know. It's been over a month since my last post. I just have been pretty unmotivated to get with the program. So over the last month we had Christmas, I started my new job, and Maicy started to crawl A LOT and pull herself up onto things. Next month she'll be standing!!:) She just turned six months old yesterday. Jack (our lab) is getting SO big now. He's doubled in size. He destroys everything you put out for him and he loves to pull the blankets out of his nice warm, dry doghouse and then lay out in the freezing cold on the blanket. Nate finally admitted last night that having Jack was like having a fifth child around! So true. Maicy finally sleeps through the night, but now NATE has to get up with Jack to take him out and bring him back in when he is barking so loud we are afraid the neighbors will be upset. We have a couple of more shots to give him before he can go out for a walk. Hopefully, being able to walk him will cause him to sleep better and longer. He's fun though, but there are days- well, mostly nights- that I would like to go back to having only four children who've already mastered sleeping at night. As for our other children- Drew is taking spelling tests in class now. Yes kindergarten spelling tests. Ty is having fun in his class and we heard through the grape vine that there is a new little girl with red hair in his class that he has taken quite the liken to. We also took Ty in for some blood tests a couple of weeks ago to find out why our little man is not growing. We thought it might be celiac disease, or some other allergy, but all of the tests came back normal. So I guess our next stop is a growth specialist. Chase is still up to his old tricks. Love the kid, but man he wears me thin! I posted a lot of pics for my family and Matt and Chris since they haven't seen any new pics of the kids for a month! Sorry guys! You may have to scroll to the next page to get all the pics in!:)

More Adventures with Chase

2009-01-30T19:55:00.000-08:00

A "ticked off" moment.

Lotion (a regular occurance.)

I know what you're all thinking, but he didn't get them in far and in my defence this photo was taken while I was at work!

More Pics

2009-01-30T19:49:00.000-08:00

One of Chase's Christmas presents.

Andrew and Ty in their new white shirts and ties.

This was pretty entertaining for a bit. He was using the shop vac for blowing up Chase's bus and this is what popped into his mind to do next! We got a kick out of it.

My Princess

2009-01-30T19:26:00.000-08:00

Playing with the big boys now!:)

Mom and "May May" (It came from Chase's version of Maicy)

Sweet Maicy

Still sucking on her fingers:(

New Addition to the Family

2008-12-30T20:05:00.000-08:00

No we are not expecting again...yet. :) We are now the proud owners of a 9 week old black lab puppy named Jack. He is a handful. At first he was pretty mellow, but he seems to be warming up to us. He is a really cute puppy though. This was NOT my idea and this is Nate's baby, which means NATE gets up to take the puppy out to the bathroom at night. Right now Jack is confined to the backyard and the kitchen and to his cage at night. MY intentions are only to have him in the kitchen until it warms up outside. Well see though. He seems to be adjusting well though. For now he has been a fun addition to the family, but that statement could change rather quickly. (for me any way!)

She's a Growing Up

2008-12-22T09:53:00.000-08:00

Little Maicy is growing up. She has been on her knees now for about two weeks and she has recently taken up finger sucking-she uses her first two fingers. It's been kind of nice having her comfort herself though. She'll be 5 months old at the end of the month.

Christmas FHE

2008-12-22T09:38:00.000-08:00

So every year we have a Christmas FHE with the Roberts side of the family. There are a lot of pics of the night cause I am posting mainly for Matt and Chris. "The House" as Chuck refers to it. The guy that lives here works for PG&E. He has Santa out in front of the house and they offer hot chocolate and snickerdoodles. I think it's the only house in town that really goes all out. The neighbors him don't even bother to put a strand out!

Jen and the new "boyfriend".

Chuck reading the Christmas story.

This is the white elephant gift that Nate brought to the game. We had several people want to buy it at the garage sale, but Nate kept pricing it super high so that he could use it for this game! Poor kid!

Oddly enough these were a hot item during the game. I think Shayla ended up with them.

NBA

2008-12-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

Nate was given some tickets to the Golden State Warrior game last Monday. Now he has been before, but I am usually not the one to get the other ticket because a) I am not super into sports and b) usually he would take one of his brothers. Since both brothers are on a mission I am the default. Ok- maybe that sounds bad, but I would almost put money on the fact that Chris would have gone had he been here. Anyway it was actually fun to go. They make such a big fuss over a bunch of sweaty guys running around after a ball that it was kind of neat. Lots of lights and sounds. Pretty fun way to spend the evening, but I will probably be ok with handing the ticket over to Matt or Chris when they get home.

Craigslist

2008-12-19T13:24:00.000-08:00

These past two weeks have been filed with dentist appointments, primary parties, garage sales, and Craiglist selling. I have become a pretty big fan of Craigslist. Nate likes to pick up free stuff and it's usually good stuff, but it seems like we go to so much trouble to get the free stuff that it ends up costing us money. Example: A co-worker of a co-worker of a co-worker was going through forclosure and wanted to give away some of their big stuff. So we got a nice "64 projection tv, complete with cabinets, washer and dryer set, a fridge, and one crappy couch that Nate took off their hands so they didn't have to haul it. Yes, we already have all this stuff, but we have a rental property that could benefit from a fridge and W/D set. Now we don't have a trailer so we had to rent one AND a dolly because Nate forgot to get one from work. AND did I mention the place was an hour drive away. So off Nate and I go and when we get there we realize that this tv is HUGE-AND the base does not come off so we are going to need to come back tomorrow with a truck- which we will have to rent as well. And it's pouring rain so a cheap trailor is no good. So next day he rents the truck, gets some buddies to help, fills up the truck with gas and off they go. It gets to my house and it is barely making it through the door and it was WAY over bearing in my room and there was a permanant green tint to the screen. SO I decided to sell the thing on Craiglslist for $175 hoping to at least break even! So yes, I sold it to some college kids- I am sure for video game playing! and I put the couch up for free- Fou weeks later Iwas still getting interested people! We've been selling my mother-in-laws stuff too and some things that renters left behind. I am amazed at the response I get from Craigslist. I'm thinking of making it my part-time job!!:)

The Hunt is Over

2008-12-11T21:14:00.000-08:00

I FINALLY found a job today. I was hired on at a brand new JcPenneys that is opening up here. I was hired in the shoe department and I am very excited AND very relieved. I thought I would NEVER find a job that was going to work with my hours. So I don't start until the end of December since they haven't even opened the store yet. So I will be doing my training in another store and then helping to set up the new store. I am excited to have an excuse to finally change out of my "mommy" attire and get slightly more dressed up during the day!

Yeah for Friday!

2008-12-05T16:33:00.000-08:00

We have renters!! Yeah!! We signed the papers last night. Nathan and I didn't get home until 5 a.m. this morning. We were up there all night cleaning, making repairs, and cleaning carpets. NOT fun, but at least it's done and we don't have to waste a weekend up there dealing with it. However, we are both just dead tired today and we will probably find ourselves in bed early on a Friday night. I think we are all VERY happy it is Friday. Including Drew who stated that he was very excited today because he did not have any homework to do tonight.
Ty made us a sweet little gingerbread house and Ty has told his brothers that once we show show Grandpa and Grandma Roberts and Dad, and we take pictures to put on the blog for Grandpa and Grandma Hansen and Matt and Chris to see, THEN he will allow them to eat a piece of his creation!

Surprisingly Chase has not done anything TOO naughty lately. (Knock on wood.) Just little things like dumping spices all over the counter, and drawing on his shoes with a pen. :)

Maicy is just growing right before our eyes. She has been very dramatic lately. Screaming (girl screaming.) if she is put down at all. Making it hard for whom ever is watching her to get anything done. She's been enjoying riding face-forward in the Snuggly looking on to what ever activity we are doing at the moment. I think my favorite was when Nate was carrying her while he was installing new locks up at our rental. Her little face was very close to the action and she was just soaking it all in. Very cute. She has also started "real" laughing. Drew and I took turns poking our faces at her and saying "Boo!" She thought we were pretty funny.

Hopefully, we have a good weekend and get caught back up on our housework. My house is pretty atrocious looking right now, but I have pretty much been ignoring it while I finished up the week. Life is chaotic as usual!

Routine

2008-12-01T08:37:00.000-08:00

Andrew tracked back on to school today and it was a pretty rough morning. Over the past month off the boys have gradually worked their way up to sleeping until sometimes 11:00 a.m. and we had a CRAZY weekend so we didn't get to work much on the going to bed early thing. So it was tough for them to get up this morning and I am sure they will be exhausted tonight. I had to bribe them out of bed with a slice of pumpkin pie-(yes, pie for breakfast!) sweets usually do the trick for my children. So it's back to the regular school schedule for us for at least a couple of weeks and I have to say that I am pretty happy about it. I need a routine. We have been so off for the past month.

Happy Thanksgiving and Birthday!

2008-11-29T00:02:00.001-08:00

I don't have my pics off of the camera yet so I will have to post them later, but this week has already been so crazy I wanted to keep up.

For Thanksgiving it was just our family, Jenny (Nate's sister) and my in-laws. Matt and Chris are both gone this year so we felt kind of small in numbers. (Matt and Chris- It's kind of wierd with you guys not being here. You should have seen how many leftovers we had even after we all went back for seconds!! I think we still have half of the seven layer bean dip! I was actually kind of excited this year that I got more than three bites of the dip before you two inhaled it!)

Every 5 five years (I think?) Andrew's birthday falls on Thanksgiving. So after dinner we sang Happy Birthday and he got to open all of his presents. We attempted to take the kids to Go Bananas (a warehouse full of huge inflatable jumping toys and slides) on Wednesday in honor Andrew's birthday. The kids were so excited to go all day. They counted down the clock every 10-15 minutes! I even called ahead earlier in the week because it was going to be the day before Thanksgiving and I wanted to make sure they would be open. They said sure. We get there and it is stinkin CLOSED!!! I was so mad and the kids were a bit disappointed until we asked if they would like to go to McDonald's to get icecream and play on the Playplace. Honestly I think they were just as content to do that. I rarely take them to those things because I get quite a bit grossed out by all the little kid germs mixed with sticky icecream hands and ketchupy fingers all tossed together in those little tunnels!! So it was quite a treat for them. That's pretty much all we got to do for Drew's B-Day, but he got a lot of fun toys and I think he's pretty happy with it all.

The Boy Who Was Very Naughty.

2008-11-25T14:37:00.000-08:00

Another good day. (Again, roll the eyes.) I'm thinking I may start writing children's stories called, The Boy Who Was VERY Naughty. It would go something like this.

"Today Mom made yummy pancakes. When we were done Chase took the syrup and dumped the whole bottle all over the counter, chair, and the floor. Next Chase found a marker and drew pretty pictures all over his arms, face, and pants. Later he chased his brother around the house hitting them with a toy. Next he went into the bathroom, closed the door behind him and picked up one of mommies paint brushes that still had paint on it and started painting himself, the floors, walls, and the door. To finish up the afternoon he decided to take a cup filled with paint and pour it on the kitchen counter and into the door of the fridge right into the ice maker. The end- till Chase wakes up from his nap that is."

(Mom- Make up a bed, Chase is coming to stay in Idaho for a while before this mom loses her mind!!!!!!)

Dentist

2008-11-24T17:03:00.000-08:00

Spent 6 hours at the dentist today getting a root canal, a cap, and teeth cleaning. It, of course, cost money. Nate hates dentist. He thinks they rip you off and was VERY happy to hear how much I spent -even with insurance. (Roll the eyes.) Yeah, great day.

Wow

2008-11-23T23:01:00.000-08:00

Life is of course a whirl wind. We have been switching renters, getting property ready, finishing painting the last two rooms in our house (No, Mom and Dad we have not touched the painting since you were here- It is the same tape and all! LOL), U-hauling free W/D and fridge up to our property, U-hauling my mother-in-law's furnture to our house (she's moving in to live with us for bit and I am really going to be happy to have an extra adult at the house for a while! I think I have bitten off too much with the fourth baby!) ,hoping for good things out of my job interview next week, hoping not to have to spend too much at the dentist this week and we'll...as usual...stressing out!!!!! That about sums it up for now.