A Little Video

I finished the YW video last night! Since I was in "video mode", I decided to throw one together of my little ones (when they were small). All I can say is that I truly LOVE being a mom to these five little people!

DOUBLE TROUBLE

I've been spending a lot of time on the computer, working on the video for the 7 Young Women in our ward who are graduating. They are doing a spotlight on each of the girls on Sunday as they transition them into RS, and I get to do the video spotlight portion of the meeting. It is a lot of fun, and I enjoy doing it. But I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to this, so I've been spending a little too much time on it... Anyway, Megan comes to me and says, "Mom, you won't believe what the boys are doing... it is very very bad!" I'll let the pictures do the talking...

THE ARRESTING OFFICER

CRIME SCENE PHOTO #1

CRIME SCENE PHOTO #2

CULPRIT #1

CULPRIT #2

THE WEAPON

ASSISTING OFFICER

So, as you can see, I went to the kitchen to find that the applesauce jar that was previously 4/5 full, had now been emptied all over the counter, the boys, the wall, (even some on my clock!), the bar stools, and the floor. I tried very hard to remain calm, and then decided to take some pictures and make it a memorable moment. As I started taking pictures of the boys, Seth's skin was getting irritated (he has eczema/sensitive skin), so that is why he is crying in the picture. Zack just kept on eating the applesauce, even once he had been caught. As I stripped them down, Aaron started the bath tub for me, and I sprayed them down in the tub. I let them stay in there, thinking they would be contained, while I cleaned up the mess. I also called to see when "reinforcements" (aka: Daddy) would be in, but found out he was detained at a local Man Store (aka: Lowes) and ETA was 20 more minutes at minimum. So I cleaned up that big mess, and then went upstairs to get the boys out and found the bathroom floor was soaked with water. At this point, it was no longer funny and I couldn't muster any amount of positive attitude to continue on with the "memorable moment" in a cheerful way.... I won't go into anymore details, but will say the evening did include some toothpaste on pillowcases, courtesy of Zack. I don't know what is up with that boy... he is most often so easy going, and lovable, and well behaved. I guess I need to be giving him more positive attention. So there is my effort at trying to "make the best out of the situation."

Last day of Preschool!

Well, today was my last day of teaching preschool (this school year). I enjoyed it and it was a lot of fun to watch the little ones change and progress! My dad had a great idea to have the neighbor from the ward come over and give the kids a train ride. He made a train from his riding lawn mower and pulls the "cars" behind him which are made out of barrels. It is so cool and the kids had a blast! Seth got to ride as well, and was DEVASTATED when it was all through. He came inside the house and threw himself to the floor.

Here is a picture of my little crew. With a few more additions - Ben and Zack (this one is mine) are in the front, then you see the back of my Megan's head. Behind her is Julia sitting nicely with Seth (another one of mine). Then there is Bryce and Lindsay - my dad's neighbors children who are nearly the exact same ages as Zack and Seth. Then you can see the back of Tai's head, and on the caboose is "Little Megan Huffy" - as my children affectionately call her (my sister's daughter who is 4... born 2 1/2 years after my Megan. My sister thinks I'm so cool, she had to start copying me on the whole name thing... but I am winning in the end because I'll be THE ONLY ONE in my whole entire family with SIX KIDDO'S!!... Woooo Hooo! Oops, I'm getting off topic).

~~~~~Back to the preschool fun~~~~

The pictures are funny because the there is flying hair, so it looks like they were going fast... they weren't - it was just a very windy (but warm thankfully!) day...

Here is Megan and Seth having a great time on the train ride!

And here is a little video of the fun and excitement..

BE SURE TO VOTE!

Look to your right and be sure to vote for the name you like the best for the nameless Yoder baby!

"MISS AND HER MOM" PICTURE

Here is the picture I mentioned the other night about Haley and me dressing similar for the Miss and Moms party. It looks like I'm giving Haley a kink in her back because of my protruding belly. They gave us matching necklaces to wear (Haley LOVES purple!), and we had a lot of fun!

My Flower Bed is Nearly Done!

For Mothers Day, I told Roman that the only thing I wanted was help getting my flower beds done. This is my favorite thing about spring - doing my flower beds! And since I have a rather large obstruction, it was a little difficult to work on all by myself! So he was happy to do this (rather than go and try to find me a "gift"). He worked all day Saturday, fixing the sprinkler heads, clearing out the old bark (from 3 years ago that I hate), and we had a lot of stucco remnants since that was done last August/September. The kids helped me weed the beds Thursday evening. Anyway, Roman cleared out the junk, raked the dirt level, fixed and added a sprinkler head, and added in some beautiful compost dirt! While he was doing it, I went over to the greenhouse and looked at everything for a good hour before I decided on my color scheme and what I wanted to use. We didn't have time Saturday night to actually plant, so we did started planting on Monday. I didn't have any time until Wednesday evening to work on it, then I ran out of daylight and only got a small portion done. So finally yesterday I determined that I was going to finish it - and I did! I'll have to take pictures in a month or so when everything has grown some.

This is the shady section where I planted pansies that will come back EVERY YEAR! I've never really LOVED pansies, but decided they were a nice hardy flower that wouldn't take much upkeep. I also planted some Vincas (white with dark pink dot in the middle), and some Dianthus.

This is my sunny section. I planted some yellow daylillies which will come back every year and are super low maintenance. I love dark red geraniums, so I had to plant some of those, and in the middle I did purple petunias. I still need to figure out something tall to put behind the purple petunias. I guess I could do more daylillies. This is the last thing I need to decide on.

Here is a picture of our home. I have a few friends who have never seen it, and asked me to post some pix. I'll have to do some of the inside another day. : )

OUR NEW FRIEND HOPPY

Roman found a frog Wednesday evening while we were cleaning up outside. The kids were in bed, so he put the frog in a bucket near the front door. Thursday afternoon I was working in the flower beds with the boys and Zack discovered the frog. He decided to give it more water in the bucket, which then must have inspired the frog to climb up the bucket and get out! Here he is sitting on the ledge.

Here is Zack by his new friend, "Hoppy". When Zack first told me the name of the frog, I thought he said "Hot Bee". I was quickly corrected (phew!).

Here is Hoppy after he lept off the bucket ledge and landed on my watering hose.

Here are my boys posing for a picture. The other kids were all gone to friends or a birthday party. The boys love "helping" me outside!

Cute little poops!

I CAN'T SLEEP!!

So I've truly hit the stage of uncomfortableness (I realize that isn't even a word). On Monday I went to the doctor. I was 34 weeks on Monday, but measured at 38 weeks. Needless to say I have a big baby! Unfortunately, he has a surgery scheduled for a different hospital on the 13th, so I am now down in his book for June 16th. Although, I am CERTAIN that if I wait that long I will have a 10 pound baby! So I MUST do some things to induce labor on my own. I seriously can not imagine waiting 4 1/2 more weeks! I'm dying here!

Anyway, I laid in bed, trying to get comfortable ("heave-ho, heave-ho!"), for about an hour, and finally gave up when I started getting hungry (I've been RAVENOUS today!). So here it is, after midnight, and I can't sleep. What a bummer (one of my preschool kids pointed out that I say "What a bummer" a lot).

What have I been up to? Today I worked for about 4 hours on my bookkeeping job for Optimist Youth Football. May is the month of sign ups (there are 8 different days for registration), and I'm the one that gets to count all the $, deposit the checks, and count the #'s of players for each age group and also count all the merchandise that was sold. Then I've got to make sure the #'s match. I was about 2 behind, so I worked on that all afternoon. Zack went and hung out with grandpa (while he was doing stuff outside), and Seth had a 3 1/2 hour nap. I was able to get a nap in as well. Hooray! I also confirmed that I am out of jury duty that I was summoned to for next week. Thank goodness.... apparently I can only postpone two months, so they may be sending me another postcard in July (sure, that'll work well with a newborn! - I wonder how many times you can request to "postpone").

This evening after dinner was done and the three little one's were in bed, I worked out in my flower bed. I will take a pix and post after I'm all done! I love doing it, but it has been a little more difficult to work on this year (obviously). Roman and the kids have helped me out a lot - THANK YOU!

Last night Haley and I went to a "Miss and Her Mom" party for Activity Days. We got to dress a like, so we put on our long sleeved black t's, blue jeans, I put on my glasses, and we did hair up in messy buns. I'll have to get a copy of the pix and post it. It looks pretty funny with my massive belly sticking out. People used to tell me how cute I looked - I warned them though... I told them that in the end I would be "whale-like"! And now I most definitely am! I thought about taking a picture of my bare belly, but decided that would be just bit TMI (too much info). I know you're dying to see my stretch marks, veins, and mass of belly - but you have to be family to have that privilege!

OK - I'm now rambling, so I'd better stop. It's almost 1am, so I'll go try to get some sleep before Seth comes in my bed and puts his face right to mine and says "mommy, mommy, mommy..." What a fun way to wake up! : )

ZACK AT THE ZOO

Today Zack's "Preschool #2", went on a field trip to the zoo. I really do not like the zoo. I think it is boring and it is always so stinkin hot when I go! Lucky for me, my sister Jennifer went as well (her daughter Megan is in the same class as Zack). So that, along with BEAUTIFUL weather made it much more enjoyable than previous outings.

Well, Here I Go!!

So more and more people I know are doing this whole blog thing. As I read them, I've thought, "what a great way to journal everyday life!". So I decided this just may be a great investment of my time! Plus, since we are having baby #6 in 5 weeks and (hopefully) 3 days, it would be a great way to keep everyone up to date.

A quick run down on our crew at the moment:

Aaron is 12 and just finished track. He was on a relay team with his cousin Allison and a two other friends. They did a great job in all the meets and finished 4th in the city. He loves sports and he loves friends, and spending time in sports WITH friends is heaven for him! He also LOVES school and can hardly wait until August 25th, when he starts Jr. High at the new West which will just be 1 1/2 miles from here! I'm afraid it's going to be a LONG summer.

Haley is my little 9 year old who loves art, reading, "bball", playing with friends, and going on dates with mom or dad. She has a nice little spirit about her (well, most of the time), and is always the one to remind us to have prayer. She recently acquired her very own bedroom and loves it. She has been reading Little House on the Prairie books lately, so I started putting the Little House DVD's in our Netflix Que. Everyone has been secretly enjoying these funny shows.

Megs is either a slice of heaven, or a slice of you-know-what. For the most part, she is fun, happy and easy going. But she has that streak of Yoder stubbornness in her like no other and if she is determined to do something, she'll fight me tooth and nail - which most often results in her screaming and crying in her room. As long as I can make sure she gets enough sleep at night, we can usually avoid these "episodes". She is LOVING kindergarten and has THE VERY BEST teacher ever - Mrs. Makaafi (Mahka-aw-fee), whom we will dearly miss when Megs starts 1st grade.

Zack is my happy-go-lucky four year old. He is fun to be around, has cute chubby cheeks, and is so easy going. Right now he goes to my preschool on T/TH mornings, and then goes to Shepherd of the Valley preschool on T/TH afternoons. He just loves life and is so innocently sweet. He thinks we should name the baby Billy Bob. He loves superheros, playing with Megan, football and basketball, riding his bike, and running errands with me on Wednesday afternoons (this is a time when it is just the two of us - Megan goes to Kindergarten and Seth takes a nap at Grandpa's house).

Seth is the hardest two year old I've ever had - yet at the same time he is such a cute little poop. It's nice that he is a little older and reasoning is beginning to work at times with him. Also, when I start to count to three, he'll usually stop (or start) doing. He recently graduated to a "big boy bed" - Spiderman style. He's done a terrific job staying in bed, although he does wake a little earlier than usual, and comes into my room ready to start the day (6:30ish). Last night I think he got out of bed at some odd hour because I have a foggy memory of someone turning the bathroom light on and off about 10 times. I can only imagine that he would be the one doing it! He's saying so many more words now. We love to hear him say the prayer, and he now says Zack's name "Yack" - he used to say "Zaw". I guess it is an improvement! He loves the days we have preschool, and wishes he could stay with the big kids. He always gets to see us when we go play outside though, and has started calling the kids by name. It's pretty funny.

Roman has been busy working 10 hours a day at EWS and then a few nights a week has been umpiring city rec softball. And he has also spent a few Saturday evenings refereeing a "Semi-pro" football league (don't let the name fool you - I think it is just a bunch of 30 somethings living out their glory days). When he happens to be home, you'll find him working outside. This 1/2 acre we're on is WAY TOO MUCH WORK!! I just wish we could hire someone to get it all done in 2 weeks... but unfortunately, it takes $$ to do that! So we just slowly plug away.

As you can tell, I've been busy with preschool. It's been a fun first year and I've learned a lot. One thing being, "Why didn't I start this sooner?". I guess I should be thankful I was blessed with the job at Citi for 3 years because the medical benefits were amazing. It was the only great thing about that job. Anyway, I've been focusing on registration for next fall. I'm offering a 3rd day for the 4 year olds (on Wednesdays), and I'll be taking up to 10 kids on T and TH (only 6 on W's). I'm nearly full, and I hope I don't regret increasing my numbers. There are times when more #'s make some of the games and things work better, so I'm hoping it'll turn out to be a good choice. The past few weeks I've been working more on the whole digital scrapbooking thing. That has been fun - I guess I'll need to figure out how to post a page here. I also made an announcement for an Enrichment Night we're having in June. It turned out pretty cute and I think it is a cheap way of advertising too! I'm also working on a slide show for the YW in our ward who are graduating. In RS we do this transition spot light thing for the girls and I did a movie/slide show thing last year. It is a lot of work, but I LOVE putting them together! This time I have more notice, so I think it'll be less stressful. So I seem to be pretty busy with all of that stuff this month.

About the baby - for those who don't know, we are having another little boy. At first I was slightly disappointed because I really wanted another girl... but now that I'm used to the idea, I'm really looking forward to it. Not only will it make the whole bedroom arrangement easier, the idea of 3 little boys in a row being buddies and playing together all the time sounds pretty fun. So my original due date was June 27th. My ultrasound changed it to June 23rd. But since I'm measuring (and looking) so big, my doctor keeps saying I'm going to have a big baby (Seth was my biggest at 8lb 12oz! - and I was induced 8 days early with him!!!). The very earliest they will induce for non-medical reasons is 10 days prior to due date. I'd love to actually start labor on my own for once, but I'm afraid it won't happen. When I went in with Seth, I was dilated to a 6 and still not in active labor - eeek!!!!!!! I've already started having contractions on days that I work too hard... but it just never seems to actually get me movin. So if anyone has some great tips on inducing labor naturally, let me know, because I really don't want to have a 9 or 10 pound baby! (Good news is that so far I've only gained 30 pounds - with Seth I gained a total of 50!!). Anyway, the doc is planning on inducing me on Friday, June 13th ("I'm not superstitious - just stitious"). Unless he ends up having a surgery on that day, then it will be Monday the 16th. I'm really hoping for the 13th though.

So there you go - that is our update. I'll have to post the silly day to day happenings as they happen - which hopefully won't turn out like a novel... as this post has.

NOW I'M DONE!