J was right...

I thought this story deserves a post of it's own. Yesterday, I took E and L shopping. Since we had to stop by Deseret book I decided to head down to the factory outlets and stock up on some clothes for P. Heading back up the freeway, L informed me that he needed to pee. I was going to just pull over to the offramp and have him pee there, but then I spotted a Target and decided to stop there. When we pulled into the parking lot, L got really upset because he wanted to pee on the side of the road. Sadly, I relented and let him pee in a secluded area of the parking lot. When I was talking to J later he thought that I would come to regret it.

Later that night, at home, E came up to me and said "I think L peed in the garage, there is a big puddle". Sure enough, he had stood on the top step and peed right on the garage floor. I kept asking him "where do we pee?" and he kept answering "in the garage". Hopefully the whopping he received will stave off more of that.

I hate February!

75% of our kids are sick right now. L is the only healthy one right now. I'm sure his time will come. B and P both have croup, which E had last week. E currently has some type of stomach flu (at least we are hoping it is not regular flu). I"m loading them all up on acidophilus to hopefully stave off worse puking.

J and I had talks in sacrament meeting today. I guess we aren't getting enough of an influx to cover talks, that or they are trying to spread the love amongst those of us that have been in the ward for awhile. I thought both our talks went great, J's particularly. I was the most comfortable up there that I've ever been. I think it really helped that I felt inspired in my topic.

Despite the sickness, we have been having some beautiful weather up here. J has continued to practice bunny hops in an effort to prove he is not as old as he feels. I need to start running now that the weather is nice, but I'm going to have to build up to it since my body is about as wimpy as it gets.

I had E tested for TAG (talented & gifted) and we finally got the results back the other day. I'm glad I did now. She scored in the 98% (for reading) and is reading at about a mid 5th grade level. We'll be meeting with her teacher and principal soon to figure out what she needs. She's complained alot about being bored so hopefully this'll jumpstart her some.

Speaking of reading, B is really progressing. He's enjoying sounding words out when we are out shopping now. He's really thriving in school, thank goodness for an amazing teacher.

P is now sitting up on her own. Now we just need to get her crawling. It is amazing how much happier they are when they can get around on their own. I also started feeding her rice cereal the other day and she is loving it. It is nice to finally have a baby that enjoys it. The other three pretty much started out with sweet potatoes because they hated the rice cereal. You'd think I'd give up and not even try the rice cereal anymore, but I'm stubborn.

Here are some pictures I've taken recently.

A Breath of Fresh Air From the OC

My brother came to visit this weekend with Lucy. The kids had a great time since Chris and Lucy have way more energy than their poor tired parents. Sadly this does not translate into sleeping longer in the morning. Of course part of that might be due to the beautiful weather we are having right now. Monday, the trick bikes were pulled out and many jumps were attempted, some completed successfully, others not so much.

How sad is it

to slip on the stairs and give yourself whiplash.

What is wrong with this picture?

Yes, his underwear was on backwards too.

Why My Backyard Smells like a Petting Zoo

The weather was decent enough yesterday for a bike ride so the kids and I went on a ride around town. Towards the end we stopped by Goodwill for a quick peek. While there, J called me and asked who to call about 2 goats in the front yard. I was fairly incredulous at first so he then asked what you do about 2 bears in the front yard. He really loves pulling my chain. but I told him to call the animal shelter and then asked him if we were going to get eaten by bears when we came home. He said no, but there really were goats in the front yard. We rushed home so the kids could see the goats. When we arrived there were quite a few friends, kids and adults, congregated around the goats in the culdesac. The black one was quite frisky, but would follow the brown one wherever it went so all we had to do was grab the brown one's collar and drag it somewhere. The kids were a tad scared, L and B got over it eventually, but E ended up in the house due to her fear. J ended up calling the Sheriff's department and they said they would dispatch an officer. After an hour or so we put them in our backyard so they would stop eating everyone's bushes. A police officer finally showed up another hour later and canvassed the neighborhood to find out who they belonged to. He called the owner, who said he would be out in a couple hours to pick them up (he was working in Aloha at the time). While we waited the goats got in a head butting match and the black one ended up pouring blood all over our backyard (disgusting!). Here are some pictures for your viewing enjoyment:

Some More Cutie Patootsie

I think the first one looks alot like her cousin Sadie.

P is experimenting... with her face.

Cuddling with Daddy.

Names

Whenever I tell L he is a bad boy, he says "I'm not a bad boy, I'm L".

The swelling has gone down on his gums and he is not complaining as much when he eats now. It'll be several years till we know the full impact, but he does seem to have avoided an abcess, which is a blessing.

I've been switching P over to regular formula ever so slowly the last few weeks. Sadly it was all for nought. She got constipated today and was not happy. I don't think it is due to an allergy, her doctor thinks she just has a slow digestive system. So, I'm going to give her the regular formula and also some milk of magnesia to help her along till she is older. I was really enjoying having a medication free baby, but at least this one isn't a prescription.

We went to the library yesterday and signed E up for her first library card. She's pretty excited. I even showed her how to order books online. She is turning into quite the little reader. I ended up buying her an Led booklight so she can read in bed while the boys are falling asleep. We went to Costco the other day and bought a mattress so we could put her other bed together in P's room. She's not quite ready to move in yet though. Both she and B don't really want to be separated. B asked why he and E couldn't continue to share a room and have L move in with P. I told him we are going to have a girl's room and a boy's room. Poor kids. They've been sharing a room for over 3 years now so they are going to miss each other. I think E won't get quite as much comfort out of sharing a room with a baby, but she is excited to be with her eventually.