{March}

 ...the month in which it finally snowed enough to make a real snowman!

...and also when Elizabeth made her great acting debut in "Shakespeare Unshackled"

...and Todd turned the mighty 35!

...and last but not least, it was the month that Levi discovered his chuckle.

{Mama's Boys}

Mind bullets. 

(4 1/2 months)

Bath time!

(5 months)

I laid Levi down in the hallway outside of the bathroom door while I did the girls' hair for school.

Big brother didn't want him to get lonely, I guess.

(5 months)

Golly I love my bonus baby!

(next 3 pics 6 months)

My life would be so quiet and boring without my handsome little fellas!

{Caroline. Baptized.}

Caroline was baptized on January 7th, 2012.  We are so proud of her for making this choice and covenant with her Heavenly Father.  She was so excited to get baptized... the month wait was almost more than she could take!  We could feel the Spirit so strongly as her daddy baptized her (he's getting soft when it comes to these big milestones and his little girls!)  I am so thankful for all our friends and family that made special effort and traveled to come and support Caroline!  It touched my heart so much!  Caroline is such a sweet, happy girl  and is trying to hard to do what is right!  

We love you so much, our own Sweet Caroline!

{Mommy's Day}

These are my special little somethings that allow me to celebrate Mother's Day.

...and this little note has a permanent spot on my fridge to remind me who they're on loan from.  It's magical powers make me laugh and give me patience.  

 (It's the mohawks!)

These are the wonderful ladies that loved me up and taught me how to be a mommy (along with so, so many others).

Somehow my kids see the most generous side of me...

...and think I'm beautiful no matter what.

{Bumbomania}

To my dear friend who lent me her Bumbo,

THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!  

For me and my super attached mama's boy, this Bumbo (or 'bum bowl' as it's now known around here) was a life saver.  I'm not exactly sure how I raised three other kids without one...

It helped Levi express his more serious side. (4 months)

To explore his culinary interests. (5 months)

It saw Levi through his "all natural" phase. OK, not really, but Todd got quite a shock when he thought Levi was nakie in there.  (5 months)

It was there when Levi was exploring his own individual style. (5 months)

...and during some silly sibling bonding time. (5 1/2 months)

This bumbo supported him through the good times and the bad. "My bib may say Yummmm, but I beg to differ." (6 months)

It held baby up when preparing for grand celebrations, like making daddy's birthday cake (6 1/2 months).

Until the day came (March 29, 2012) when Levi decided to do it all on his own.   

{I take it all back!}

Oh, karma.  You think you're sooo funny.  I finally get back on the blogging bandwagon with my Today post, and then you decide you'll really show me.  "Crazy?" you say?  "You ain't SEEN crazy yet. I'll show you craaa-zy."

Minutes after I hit that innocent little 'publish' button I find out that Elizabeth has a bloody nose. After a little investigation I find that she was hit by a rake.
Which she, herself stepped on. 
On purpose. 
Turns out her reflexes aren't quite as sharp as she'd planned on. 
Poor girl.  The good news is she didn't get one single drop of blood on her new outfit.  At least she has some skilz.  And thank heavens no permanent damage was done.  No doctors office visit required or anything.

The next day:  The kids are on spring break and we've made plans to meet my mom and go out to lunch.  I pull into my mom's driveway, but hate to honk because her neighbor's house is so close.  So I put the van into park, leaving it running with quick instructions to the kids to hang tight while I run inside to tell my mom we're there.  Mom and I hear a crunch from inside.  She looks out the kitchen window and shouts that the van is gone.  Gone?  GONE?!?  My reaction was to look down the driveway and out onto the street, where THANK HEAVEN I don't see anything.  Instead we find my van sunk into her garage door.  What sound do you type for that gut sinking feeling?  ugh?  blug? bluuu-ahhhh?  urragabluuuck?  Elizabeth had gotten up to get Louis a tissue out of the glove compartment and somehow had bumped the gear shift into drive.  urragabluuuck.

The next day: Todd is smoking a sheep for a neighbor's party.  It's been smoking all night perfectly.  He's pleased as punch and even brings me a sample to try (although, let's be honest, I find it pretty darn hard to eat sheep, especially before I've even managed to sit up in bed).  Next thing we know there's a grease fire and the hoses are frozen.  I run around in crazed unproductive circles while Todd puts it out with snow.  Thank heaven it didn't spread.  I spend almost the entire day trimming up all that meat so it's edible.  If I ever see another sheep it'll be too darn soon.

Sunday.  Thank heaven for a day of rest.

The next day: I get sick.  Sick, sick, sick.  I never get sick.  It was awful.  Awwwwful. Thank heaven I have some wonderful children.  Somehow they all survived 5 days of almost constant neglect while I attempted to sleep it off.  And, knock on wood, nobody else has gotten it. (Karma, be kind to me now!)

Turns out that my Friday the 13th luck extended over an entire week.  Please let it be over.

But it got me thinking.  For every bad thing that happened, there was the "thank heaven" factor.  Thank heavens for no broken bones. Thank heavens there was no major car accident, everyone was safe! Thank heaven the fire was contained, and quickly put out (and the smoker has been through a safety renovation as well).  Thank heaven my kids are smart and helpful and so good to care for each other. 
What a week full of amazing blessings! 
I'm just hoping not to experience another one like it for a long time.  A long, long, looooong time.  Do you hear me karma?!?

{Today}

I could call today a totally crazy day.  But if I did, that would mean that every day for the last 7 months has been a crazy day.  Someday I'll have to accept that the fact that the crazy days of yore are now my regular-everyday-normal-days.  Yikes.  I told myself I'd have it all together when baby turned 3 months old. Fail.

So instead, today I enjoyed the sunshine and cleaned out another little piece of my flowerbeds (little green things are poking up!)
Today I (finally) went to the store.  But only because we're all out of milk AND toilet paper.
Today I'll try not to regret buzzing Lou's head - he looks like a cancer patient!
Today I'm listening to my kids laughing (and screaming) outside with their friends.
Today I did more laundry.
Today I'll change about a hundred diapers and wipe a gallon of drool and treasure a thousand gummy baby smiles.  I secretly love that he's such a mama's boy.
Today I'll untangle Elizabeth's sweet new goat April over, and over, and over again.  They are so in love with each other - it's adorable!
Today I'll reheat leftovers for dinner because Todd will probably work until at least 8 o'clock.  :(
Today I took one extra moment to realize how tall Caroline is getting, and how pretty her baby blue eyes still are and how adorable her little freckled nose is.
Today I found 10 minutes to do a little indexing.  Addicting much?!?
Today I downloaded the pictures off my camera for the first time since before Christmas.
Today I'll be grateful for the noise, and the chaos, and the messes because it means everyone who lives here is happy and healthy and loved.
Today is a good day.

{Love for Sadie}

Last year I babysat this sweet little girl and her little sister every day while their mom taught school.  I still cannot believe that sweet, energetic Sadie has survived a liver transplant and is in Primary Children's hospital right now! 

Her and her family need our help! 

There is a fund raiser for Sadie Saturday, February 18th at Midway Middle School in Rigby, Idaho.  There will be a dinner and lots of items for purchase.  Here's the link for more information, it also has her aunt's info if you want to get in touch and help in any other way.  They also have set up a blog Love for Sadie, of you want to follow her story.

Our prayers are with you and your family, Sadie!  Get better soon!

{The "P" Party}

Not only has Caroline waited forever for this birthday, she has been planning her birthday party for just as long.  What exactly did she come up with?  A "P" party!  Pajamas, pillows, pizza, "P" games (didn't get any picts of those, but we played pop balloon games, musical pillows, a memory 'p' game and some others.  They were so fun!), the works. 

The kiddos:

Top row: Elizabeth

Middle row: Analyse, Louis, Brooklyn, Sierra, Bella

Bottom row: Anna, Caroline, Addy and Lacie

Making their own little pillows:

Making their own little English muffin pizzas

Present time!

Levi and Nana were overseeing all festivities to make sure everything went smoothly!

Then the girls got to decorate their own cupcakes (noticing a trend here?!? The more they do the less I have to do and the more fun they have -- hopefully!)  Check out the sheer frosting height on some of these cupcakes! 

Notice Caroline's birthday place mat she made for herself.  I'm telling you the preparations for this party went on forever!  She was so excited!

I'm so glad that Caroline has such sweet girls as friends.  They were so cute, it turned out to be such a fun party!

{Eight. That's right, 8!}

My sweet little Caroline is eight!  Somehow I am now the mother of big kids.  I have no idea how this happened.  Caroline is my sweet little social butterfly with a happy soul and a sweet giant giggle.  She's not one to cause a fuss, and is always in for a hug or a snuggle.   It seems like she has been waiting for this birthday forever.  It turned out to be quite the extravaganza, so I hope it was worth it! 

First off, gotta go get those ears pierced!  She jumped so high after the first one, I was sure it was going to be all wonky, but thank goodness this gal was a pro.  Caroline said it wasn't the hurt that surprised her, just the loud clicking noise the piercing gun made!

For the next three days she asked me over and over, "Do I look older now?  Do I look older?"  Yes, my sweet little baby girl, you do.  *sniff, sniff*  Stop rubbing it in, will ya?

Next up, the family party.  Heavy heavy hang over, thy poor head.  If this drops, you'll drop dead.  Whatcha gonna do with it?!?  Deep question.

Chocolate cake.  Chocolate frosting.  Every year.  My kind of girl.

The Birthday Tree!  We don't do this every year, but she loves it when we get our tree early enough to.  I tried really hard to convince the kids to leave it this way through Christmas (we are celebrating a birthday after all!) but they wouldn't hear of it!