Padawan learner

Yesterday, Jacob watched one of his Star Wars cartoon movies, which BTW are pretty good. This isn't a surprise, since there isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't want to watch a Star Wars something, play a star wars lego something, dress as a jedi, or fight with light sabers. He wanted to be Anakin when he had his Padawan Learner braid. "You know Mom," as Jacob told me," before Anakin is a Jedi. He's just a Padawan." Have I mentioned that he loves Star Wars?? Needless to say, I raided my yarn stash and we made him a braid. We used a clip to hold it in his hair. He had a blast with his braid. He is actually jigging out to the 'Hamster Dance' in these photos. Jacob is a cool boy!

Happy 11th Erin!

Happy Birthday to Erin!! Here our 1st born is getting ready to catch the bus on her birthday. She is wearing her coat over her backpack, which was stuffed with a treat to share with her classmates, which is to explain the hump on her back. It is hard to believe that she is 11. Where did the time go?

gifts & more gifts

These are a few of the gifts that Erin received for her big day. She got bunches of cards and calls. She even got some spending money. Bubbie made her the purple cat and I embroidered a sheet set for her bed. Her big present was a sleepover with some pals on Friday night. She had a good day!

birthday brownie

Erin wanted a BIG brownie for her birthday instead of cake. We put chocolate icing on top of it and boy was it good! I forgot the cool whip and cherries, but it was still very yummy!
Make a wish!!

chocolate faces

The kids were a smidge goofy last night with their birthday brownie. I was just glad that they hadn't taken their baths yet!

Enchanted

For Erin's birthday this year, she wanted to have a slumber party. We invited a few of the gals from her Primary class to sleepover. Once Clyde came home from work, I loaded up the party girls and took them to see 'Enchanted.' It was a way cute movie. I can say that it will be apart of our collection. It was the perfect girl, chick-flick, slumber party movie to watch. One of the girls had something going on until nearly 8pm, so once the film was over, we had to kill a few minutes. Once the minutes were dead, we picked up the other pal, and went to Food Lion to get a few snacks for the evening. They had cookies, chips, soda, candy, crackers, and popcorn. I bought the BIG popcorn @ the theater...so that we could get refills and refilled it when we left the theater. We also picked up a teen magazine, to which the girls had a blast drawing mustaches, scars, and missing teeth on those they didn't like. Libby squealed with delight that there was a Hannah Montana poster in the magazine and promptly taped it to her wall. Clyde's poor car got the brunt of having 4 girls in it, with the biggest bucket of popcorn and a drink that was too big for the cup holder. Popcorn spilled all over the passenger side while I was turning. Libby was responsible for holding onto it, but it slipped out of her hands while I was turning into Target. Then once we got back to our house, after Food Lion, the lid came off the big gulp sized drink and slipped out of my hands. The soda was puddled on the driver's side floor board, down my leg and in my shoe. Let the fun begin!!

Party Girls

Here the party girls are before hunkering in for the night, so we thought. This was around 11:30pm and their party was just beginning.

UNO

Late Friday night, the girls and I played a hand of UNO. One had never played before, so I taught them how to play...old school. I am quite competitive when it comes to UNO, so it doesn't matter to me if my competetion is younger than 12. I did lose the game to a girl that night, but I will practice and refresh my game for the next sleepover. I MUST WIN UNO... :) Early in our marriage, Clyde and I would play alot of UNO and to this day we have a constant argument over draw 2's and 4's. We have agreed to disagree and seldomly play UNO... without witnesses. The party girls played another round Saturday morning. I believe that the party girl who won Friday night won again on Saturday morning.

strike a pose

Saturday morning, Clyde had to ref a few games and so we had all girls here. They didn't want breakfast because of all the crap they had eaten the night before...like oreo's at 3am. The party girls played with make-up and clothes and put on a fashion show. They did each other's make-up, nails, and hair. They wore high heels and strutted their stuff. They were adorable!!

Target

Once Clyde came home from reffing @ the Stake Center, I loaded up the tired party girls and headed to Target to help Erin spend her gift cards. This was the only picture I got, because the battery died in my camera. I was hoping that by having her peers with her, she would be able to pick a few things out that she liked. She ended up with a pair of shoes, some khaki's, a blue/white striped baby doll tank shirt with a white shirt under it and a 5 subject notebook. she still has a few dollars on her card and she was disappointed that she couldn't spend it. She wanted this Littlest Pet shop thing, to which I strongly discouraged. Then, I treated the girls to an icee and I took them all home. It was a fun sleepover!

Gordon B. Hinckley

We were watching the news this morning and I was reading the revolving news @ the bottom of the screen that scrolls by. It said that the Kennedy's were supporting Obama. The next sentence started with "The Mormon Leader, Gordon B. Hinckey..." to which I thought would continue with," supports ..." but to my shock said "died." I said, outloud, "What -Gordon B. Hinckley died?!" My children were all in shock and repeated the sentence, as they put down their mouth fulls of cereal. So, I jumped up and looked up the Church's official website, to which it confirmed the news of his passing last night. My children were all sad this morning as are millions of people around the world. Though, I felt at peace. I knew that he was with his wife and that he was happy. He did such an amazing thing by building more temples across the earth. By doing that, I knew that he loved not only Heavenly Father, but his wife and family as well. I was kinda relieved that he past away on the 27th and not on Erin's birthday. My great friend, Misty's birthday is the 27th, so I hope that she is ok...A birthday not to be forgotten.

CTR

Audra and I hand embroidered each of these "Choose the Right" pillowcases for our Primary activity last Friday night. (I meant to post this picture earlier.) Then, the same day that we got Zoey and Madi, Cheryl, Audra, and I finished sewing and serging these pillowcases. It took a long time and a bunch of thread! Cheryl then folded and tied these pretty bows around them. I think that the Primary children liked them. It was a way ambitious project, but I think that we pulled it together nicely. I liked Audra's handwriting and work on her pillowcases! She did a Prem-o job for her first embroidery project! How cool are Cheryl and Audra??!! The primary activity went well too. It only lasted an hour and it was easy clean up. We had different stations set up, where the children had to make choices and we talked about how we were all a Child of God. Thank goodness these activities are quarterly!

a van full

Today, I actually had to leave the house with 6 girls. Josh and Jacob are @ my parents house for the weekend. Ever wonder what a van full of girls looks like?? I had 4 carseats in it. That took some serious thought on placement. Wow!!

pizza

After our errands today, we got some yummy little caesar's pizza. Clyde is so out numbered this weekend!!

flowers

Clyde and Libby went out to make an ammendment with our taxes and they came home with these daisies. Aren't they pretty? Clyde and Libby have excellent taste!

time out

New friends...

During our photo session, Madi wasn't too happy. She started screaming, loudly. I told her that once she calmed down, she could rejoin us. After about 5 minutes, she calmed down and got up. Can you hear the scream??

shirt's on backwards

Each morning Jacob gets himself dressed. I'd say that 98% of the time he gets everything on right. About once or twice a week, he puts his shirt on backwards. I say to him, "your shirt's on backwards." Everytime he checks, as if I am teasing him. I just happened to have the camera & quickly snapped a picture, while he was checking for either the tag or the info that is on the tagless shirts.

Now it's on right...

funeral tackiness

Herbert and Mary Elizabeth

Herbert, Grandma, Mary Elizabeth and Dot

Is it tacky to take pictures @ a funeral?? Sunday morning, my great uncle Johnny past away. He was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and Sunday he was called home. He and his family lived here in town for years upon years, but moved to Alabama a few years ago to be closer to their children. They were in the Guilford Ward. His wife, Dot, children decided to bury him here, so last night I went to the funeral home. His funeral is today and he will be laid to rest @ the Colfax cemetery. Since I have 5 children here aged 4 and under, I'm not going to be able to attend the funeral. Johnny, his family, along with my Grandmother and family were a few of the members who saved and helped provide funds to build the building. Colfax has such a special place in their hearts. Anyway, while at the funeral home, Dad and Mom introduced me to a few of my relatives, to which I hadn't a clue as to who they were. We had the Stake Pres. and his wife along with our past Stake Pres. and wife come to pay condolences. I got to see my Grandmother's brother and sister-in-law, Herbert and Mary Elizabeth & of course Dot and her children, and grandchildren. I remember having family reunions at both Herbert's and Dot's houses as a child. I don't have a picture of these family members, so I sweet talked them into a photo. Herbert and Mary Elizabeth have 7-8 children and 72 grandchildren, and 40 something great- grandchildren. They won prizes year after year @ the State Fair for having that many grandchildren. Wow!! Multiply and replenish the earth!! That's my family! Neat huh? I know there are families with more, I am thinking of all the polygamist families in early Utah that have hundreds of grandchildren and hundreds upon hundreds of great grandchildren and so on... Back to the picture...I got a picture of the siblings who were able to attend the funeral, but using care not to photograph the coffin to the left. I think that would've been tacky.

There was another family member there, a man, who was older...he was wearing a cowboy hat, and was sporting a pony tail, that was about as long as mine. This isn't what impressed me though. What impressed me was that he was wearing a dress shirt with his name embroidered on the collar. Clyde would have flipped and gotten onto me for not embroidering his name on his collars. The man told me that he didn't have a shirt that didn't have his name on it, either on the collar or on the cuff. Way snazzy!! All he was missing were cuff links to make his suit that much snazzier.

Children update...

I think that I am winning the food battle. Madi was still crying ast night at dinner, but ate our version of gorditas just fine. They were a bit hungry yesterday and were very excited to see the Wheat thins. I made them each say please before they got one. Zoey picked up on it right away, but Madi refused. So, she didn't get one. After a few minutes of not getting one, when the other girls did, she started signing please. Zoey seems so sad. I think that she is going a bit house crazy, because whenever someone leaves, she cries to have her jacket. Her sadness is more than simply not leaving the house though. She is so emotionally fragile. I hope that she can relax and be herself soon, without any worries.

dinner and a show

Since it was MLK day yesterday, Clyde and the children had the day off. I has been nice lately to get a few more hours of sleep. We spent yesterday folding laundry, matching our 2 baskets of mix matched socks, and just general house cleaning. Libby was invited to go to a pals house, so once it was time to pick her up and once the little girls were awake from their naps, we loaded up both cars for a trip to Costco. We didn't go on Saturday, so we were in need of a few items. Once @ Costco, we loaded up our 2 buggies of children and did our grocery shopping. We got a bunch of funny stares and we could see people counting heads. We knew that this would happen, but we still got a good giggle out of it. We get it normally with our 5 children, but throw in 2 more and we are a spectacle. Clyde wanted to get the children out of the house, but it was too cold to go to the park. They really needed to get the wiggles out. We decided to treat them and take them to McDonalds, which BTW is unlike us, the McDonalds part, not treating them. We have just about sworn McDonalds off, especially after seeing "Super-Size Me." (It is an interesting documentary on the fast food industry, McDonalds specifically.) The only thing that Clyde will buy is a milk shake here and there. However, it was either Chick-fil-a, which would cost us as much as going to a buffet, or McDonalds, which is still expensive, but I wouldn't feel so bad if the new girls didn't eat their $1 hamburger as I would for a $2.39 pack of 4 chicken nuggets. Yep, I'm cheap that way. We get in the restaurant, find a few tables close enough so that we can sit together, grabbed 2 high chairs (if they had a 3rd I would have grabbed it too), got the children all situated, while Clyde ordered the food. It took them a good 10 minutes to have our order. I think that they were a bit short handed and then when someone orders 10 of anything, probably throws them for a loop, especially when a few of them are special orders, you know...not mustard, or ketchup, or a combination of the two. We get the food, then it takes another few trips to get drinks. I am unwrapping the burgers, and giving everyone their fries as quickly as I could, while making sure that the little girls don't slide their food off the table. We had everyone wait for Clyde and Erin, so that we could pray. Amen...and the fun began. Actually everyone did fine. Madi only wanted fries, so once I noticed that she wasn't eating her burger, I moved the fries out of her reach, so that she could see them, but were motivation to eat her burger. She wasn't too thrilled. Once she opened her mouth to cry, a piece of burger was placed in. She even tries the gagging thing, but alas, I have too many children to allow that. All said and done, she ate 3/4 of a double cheeseburger. Zoey was the same way minus the gagging thing. She covers her eyes and just cries. I think that Zoey just needs the comfort of positive attention. I was feeding her as well. My behavior needs to change. They should be feeding themselves. Penny was in good spirits, as she was laughing and eating her burger. Meanwhile, there was this lady, who came with her two girls to eat. They were eating and watching us like a sitcom. The Mom was telling her older girl not to stare, as they counted children and were whispering...while she was gawking. We told the children, that when everyone had eaten, they could play in the germ ridden play house. I'm not a fan of those places either. Thank goodness for germ-x. We got up, handed the older girls and boys their cups, got coats on everyone and headed back to the playhouse, when our observer family made comments, all nice, but comment after loud comment, along with their stares after stares, about the number of children and how beautiful they were, were they all mine etc. I seriously had to bite my tongue as I had Penny screaming, Madi wanting to take off running, while crying, Zoey glued to my legs, while I was calling for Jacob and Josh to wait a sec; I wanted to say, to the gal "Well, I'm glad that you had a show with your dinner." I was nice. That may not happen the next time, so at least I behaved well last night. I learned a valuable lesson...drive-thru's are a blessing.

cute girls

I just loved Penny in this outfit yesterday.
Madi and Penny
Zoey

Church went fine yesterday. Thankfully Maylee stayed the night with us and lent a much needed hand on Sunday morning, getting all the kids dressed. Going from 5 to 7 children over night has been hectic. We are still trying to figure out routines and they are still testing the boundaries. I am holding strong though. An awesome family from church made us two meals and delivered them on Saturday. Thank you, Thank you!! We ate on them for the past two days. Anyway, yesterday we heated up the 2nd meal and Madi refused to eat it for lunch. She had eaten a snack @ church in the nursery, so it could've been that she simply wasn't hungry. When she woke up from her nap, we re-heated the tetrazinni and gave it to her again. We had baked a cake yesterday, so her eyes were set on it to eat in lu of the pasta. She sat for at least an hour, relentless to eat. I showed her cake and bribed her. She cried the entire time, but she ate the pasta. Each time she would swallow and open her mouth to cry, to placed more food in it. Once she has finished her meal, she inhaled the cake, opening her mouth as wide as she possibly could to shove it in. Madi ate every crumb!! Then once Zoey woke up, I made her a PB & J sandwich. (The pasta was gone.) She behaved the same way. Zoey cried and cried. She was a bit better than Madi and after a few minutes, she ate her sandwich. Madi waited for Zoey to eat and watch with big eyes as she ate her reward...the cake. Wow, I am hoping that this eating struggle will end soon. I am just as stubborn as they are and determined to win this battle.

week 2

Erin & Madi after church. I just had to show that this was week 2 of wearing the same dress to church. Libby wore hers too.

P.S. I noticed this morning (1/22) that Erin's dress was hung up, but Libby's is in a ball @ the bottom of her bunk bed. I guess that Erin will be able to get a dress from under the bags before Libby.

knitting nap

While I was knitting this beret, Jacob climbed up beside me and fell asleep. The girls were all napping so I had a break and picked-up where I left off on the hat the night before. Church at 11:30 is throwing our routine off on Sunday's.

red beret

Shena is holding a knitting class this week. She is showing us how to knit a hat. I wanted to at least try a beret on my own, before the class, so that I wouldn't look silly if I didn't get it right the first time. I had a pattern in a book, so I followed it. It wasn't too bad, until I had to switch to the double-pointed needles. I used size 5, 16" circular needles for the brim and then switched to size 8, 16" needles for the remaining hat. The pattern called for a single rib on the brim, and I changed it to a double rib. The pattern called for 6's and 7's. I didn't have either of those, so I used what I had. I think that it turned out cute. The next one I make I'll make the hat part a smidge longer, so that the hat would fit my older girls.

new developments...

Well, this week has been a way interesting one at our house. I called our home loan folks to just check in, since our agent is panicking. Good news, our loan has been funded, so we just need to sign our souls away and once they have received our attorney info, termite report, and a survey, within a few weeks the keys are ours. Yippee!! Now, getting in touch with our agent is the problem. Three phone calls have been made to him and apparently he is MIA. I'll give him a few more hours, before my phone voice becomes angry. That usually gets him hopping.
The same day, Sammy, my brother-in-law, asked if a few of his children could stay with us for the weekend. That's all fine with me. I wanted to get to know the nieces anyway. It's been a long time since we had seen them. Well, to make a long, complicated story short, we have our 2 nieces temporarily permanently, for awhile. It has been an adjustment to say the least. My friend, Cheryl has loaned us her crib, so that Madi had a bed to sleep in. Zoey and Jacob are like peas and carrots, so they have been sleeping on the bottom bunk. Josh hasn't slept better!! Jacob and he share the top bunk, even though they each have their own bed. The girls arrived on Wednesday. They did well the first night, as well, as could be expected. Last night was a bit harder on Zoey. They both now have colds and Madi has refused to eat from the high chair. I am hoping that hunger wins out. We have appreciated all the concerns and the offers of help. We are all fine here. We just hope that the girls adjust well to being with us and that our children can adjust well to have 2 more little girls with them.

Duke Fan

Libby drew this picture for Clyde this week. Clyde is a Maryland Fan first and Duke is 2nd. I thought that Libby did an excellent job!!

pie eating contest

At school last week, Clyde was entered into a pie-eating contest with a few other students @ a pep rally. Unbeknownest to him, he was the victim of a practical joke...an initiation of new teachers. So, while the faculty and students were in on it, Clyde was in the dark and was eager to put on a show...Clyde style. He was growling @ the other students & intimidating them. Clyde isn't too competitive until it comes to eating... :)
Time to dig in...
Clyde stood up, mid eating, while the entire school was chanting, "Mr. Ward!!! Mr. Ward!!!", to do the Kobayashi wiggle...you know to wiggle the pie down.
Once the entire school burst with loud howling, @ Clyde's expense, they announced the winner, while unblindfolding him. He was shocked to discover that he had been alone @ the table and he was the last to find this out information. It is a good thing that Clyde is such a good sport! He came home with the nasty smell of sour milk. For the last week, students have been rubbing this initiation in his face...literally.

Mr. Ward, Welcome to SWRMS!!!

After Church Fun

After Church, I wanted to snap a few pictures of the girls in their matching dresses. The older girls don't have a choice in their Sunday clothes anymore, but to add to their cuteness, we dressed Penny the same today. She has outgrown this dress in length, hence the flannel slip underneath it. I have more fabric like this, so I may add some on the hem...hmmm... Anyway- since we had time yesterday morning, because of the late start time with Ward Conference, I decided to give Jacob his haircut. He complained the entire time. With each snip it was, "are we done yet?" "This hurts." "Am I done?" It was getting way old. I wait until his hair is pretty lengthy, before I trim it, because of the complaints. Mid haircut, Libby comes in and asks if I'd cut her hair too. We had been growing it for Locks of love, but her hair had started bugging her. She liked it long, but it was getting to long for her to maintain alone. So, after Jacob's cut, I cut Libby's hair too. I asked her about 100 times if she was sure, because once I make that first cut, it isn't coming back...it all has to be done. She was absolutely positive that this is what she wanted. She was very brave too! We are going to send the cut hair, as a surprise, to Grammy, along with a new photo of Libby! I think it looks cute, but Libby has the cutest face, so whatever hair style would look cute on her! She played with it all day long...she talked about it all day long...she asked about it all day long! I think that she really likes it. She was nervous to go to church yesterday and way nervous to go to school this morning, but she happily brushed her new do and headed out the door for school this morning. I am curious to see how many people notice!!! We trimmed a bit of Erin's hair as well: mainly her bangs. Joshua and Penny got out of haircuts yesterday. :)
Aren't the boys adorable! They look like little men!! Doesn't Jacob's new hair cut make him look older?
Group picture.

Penny didn't want to cooperate anymore. First she had to have Jacob's Star Wars scripture tote. Then she had to have his little babies (aka Star Wars Galatic Hero's...Luke Skywalker and Obi Wan Kenobi.) Erin was trying her best to hold onto Penny & smile at the same time.
We don't have very many pictures of us. Libby did a good job taking this one!
Just some silly girls posing for the camera on our way back up to our house. I have to say that I love them in matching clothes, even if it is a punishment for a dirty room.