May....

I was going through my files of photos, and realized that I had skipped over the whole month of May! So, I am back tracking to blog about some things in May that I didn't get a chance to then (It was probably that whole exhausted pregnant woman thing that made me not blog that month!).
My Favorite spot
My favorite spot in our house is my chair in the corner of our room. It is right by the window, and I can look out at the trees and blossoms, and read a good book, and it is so comfy, I just love it! It's funny, because when we first moved in we rearranged our whole room around this chair! I fought Brian on this, because I wanted the bed on a certain wall, and the chair wouldn't fit here then, but I was set on the bed being in a certain place. Well, I gave in and tried his configuration, and that's when the chair ended up by the window, and I love it!
Apparently Ashlyn does too....I found her here reading books one day. She was so quiet, I had gone looking for her, worried she was up to no good. But she just appreciates 'the chair' as well!
I love our new yard in the spring! We have bushes that bloom pink, white, and red, and two Dogwood trees with pink and white blossoms. This is a bit of the view I get from the chair:
This was Hayden's inaugural mowing! Brian is happy to have a helper with that!
Shoes
I had to hide the shoes below from Ronan. They were his favorite pair, and it showed! His toe hung out of the top, and you could stick your finger through the bottom. He refused to wear anther pair, and every morning before school we would get in an argument over him wearing those shoes (I was sure the school would call social services or something because I couldn't get my son shoes that his feet weren't hanging out of). I finally hid them somewhere-promising him that they weren't thrown away-which they weren't until 2 weeks ago when he was finally able to let go!
Open up!
For some reason one day Duncan wanted everything OPEN! All doors and drawers in the house were opened! Here is what the kitchen looked like:
He was entertained for almost an hour with all the opening and then closing of things!

In May we set up our trampoline! Here is the set-up underway:
The kids LOVE the trampoline, and so do the neighbors. At first is was great, just the next door neighbors 2 kids over, then word got out I guess, because I looked outside one day and there were 8 children on the tramp that I didn't recognize (not to mention the other 7 that I did). The tramp has been both fun and frustrating this summer with its popularity, but I think we are finally at a peaceful state! Brian says I got what I wanted...I've always said I like to be the house that everyone wants to be at so I get to know my kids friends, and I know what their up to. Well, I certainly got my wish then!

Quiet
So here is what I thought I'd find earlier when I went looking for Ashlyn and found her in my chair. A quiet 20 month old can be a very dangerous thing! I found her eating butter!
There was butter everywhere! But you just can't get upset at a face like that!

Economy

This past week my kids had a little lesson on the state of the economy, earning money and work. When Madelyn was 2 or 3 weeks old we took everyone to the movies. It had been raining for some time and with the new baby we had been feeling a little pent up, so off to the movies we went! It had been some time since we had taken the whole clan to the movie theater, and I couldn't believe that we spent $60 to see a movie (which I actually didn't get to see because I was out with Madelyn), not to mention what we spent on popcorn and soda. I started thinking about how we spend money on outings way too easily. I HATE spending money on 'things', like toys and stuff that will soon be forgotten. But I don't think twice if it's for a 'family outing', books, or a quick trip. I started to feel guilty about this, and how I haven't been very good at teaching my kids the value of a dollar. Brian and I have had numerous discussions about allowance/spending money, and we both have differing opinions, so we just haven't started anything.
Well, this last week the kids had another movie that they wanted to go see. I told them no, it cost too much money. I added that if they could earn the money themselves for their tickets I would take them to the theater. The very next evening I found them in the front yard:

They had about 10 toys laid out on the wagon with price tags on them. They said they were having a yard sale to earn money for their tickets. The big red bucket you see to the right was empty, and I asked what that was for. "To hold all our money!" they replied! I thought it was so cute that they thought they needed that big of a bucket to hold the proceeds from their little sale. Well, it was 7:00pm on a Tuesday, and we didn't have any costumers come by. Ronan was pretty down that no one came to buy his stuff. I told them I had some jobs around the house/yard that I was willing to pay them to do so they could earn their money. Ronan of course didn't want to actually WORK for his money, that's why he preferred the whole yard sale thing, just sit and wait for the people to bring the money to you! Well, I told them that they would have better luck with a yard sale on a Sat. morning, and that I would help them go throughout the house the rest of the week and get stuff together for a yard sale. I also suggested that they try a lemonade stand at the same time to try and bring in some more money. Nana and Papa got word of their plight to go to the movies and offered to pay half of their ticket price.
So, Sat. morning we headed out with our stuff, and the lemonade stand. I was actually quite pleased with all the stuff we found to put out in our yard sale, it felt good to clear out.The kids sat at their table selling lemonade, and they made exactly enough money for the 4 of them to go to the movies! They didn't even need Nana and Papa to fund half of it! It worked great!
Ronan commented how that was the way he liked to earn money (he is my child that will always find the path with the least amount of work). I'm trying to find more opportunities for him to work. We talked about the privilege it is to work, and how a lot of people are with out work right now, and we should always be happy and willing to work. Not sure how much of that sunk in, but we'll keep trying!

Busy Month....

So...it took me 3 weeks to post about Madelyn's birth, and I'm trying really hard not to get behind, here is a quick catch-up about the past month. Today Madelyn is a month old, times flying by already, but we've done a lot in that month!
Four days after Madelyn was born, Duncan had his Pre-K graduation! They did a short little program, sang 3 songs, received their certificates, then had refreshments in the room. I can't believe my little guy will be in Kindergarten all day next year!
Duncan and his classmates singing their songs.
Duncan got his certificate and then was off!

Here's a happy brother with his little sister...

Horse Lessons

Morgan started horse lessons a week or two before Madelyn was born (funny how time is now measured around when the baby was born). Brian's mom came out to help us when Madelyn was born (which was wonderful), and she was able to go to a horse lesson with Morgan and Brian and take some photos!Morgan is a horse lover, and has been from the time she could walk! She is in heaven at horse lessons! She also attended a Horse Summer Camp the second week school was out from 9-4 every day, and LOVED it! They groomed the horses, rode the horses, fed the horses, she was in heaven!

End of Year Celebrations
The day Madelyn turned 1 week old, Morgan had her 1st grade celebration. This was the day that I was originally scheduled to be induced, and would of missed the program, so I was so happy to be able to attend. Seats were limited this year, and we were only given 3 tickets, so Karen (Brian's mom) thankfully stayed home with the other kids so Brian, I & Madelyn could attend!Two days later was Hayden's Elementary School Graduation. Again I was glad that Madelyn had come early and I didn't miss this event. They had a nice program with a slide show of the kids from Kindergarten to the end of 5th grade. It was fun to see how much has changed in 5 years! He is now our Middle School er! Wow!

Blessing Day
Sunday, June 21st (Father's Day), Madelyn was blessed at church by Brian. It was so nice, and we had several friends from other wards come to share the blessing with us, along with Grammy and Aunt Missy. It was a great day.
Our happy little girl....

Ashlyn had a rough time when she was trying to go out the garage door just as someone was coming in, and the door took off her toenail! Ouch! The poor thing had the same thing happen to the same toe just 2 days later!
Cherry Picking
We really enjoyed all of the help that Brian's mom gave us while she was here. I felt bad, it seemed like she was constantly doing dishes and laundry! Or helping to keep Ashlyn from assaulting Madelyn while I was nursing her!
We were able to do some fun things with her while she was here though! We went to the swimming pool, and to the beach to search for sharks teeth (both occasions I forgot to bring my camera!), and cherry picking! I did have my camera for the cherries!Grandma made two cherry pies while she was here, and we still have two bags of cherries frozen in the freezer!
Grandma's Last Day
The Sunday that grandma left we tried to get some photos of us all! That was a circus show to see! Hayden took a picture of Brian, Madelyn, myself and Karen (with Ashlyn hanging on daddy in the background).
Then for the 8 of us! I think there is actually 6 out of 8 looking in the general direction of the camera....that's success!
I had Hayden snap a photo when I realized that there wasn't many photos of ME with MY baby!Here's Madelyn at 3 weeks old...4th of July
This past weekend we had a fun BBQ with my sister for the 4th of July. She was house-sitting for her best friend, who said she should have us over to play in her pool! So of course we came for the fun! We had a little BBQ, and lots of pool time!
Brian was trying out some water board that Missy had.... the video of this is hilarious!

Madelyn and I hung out on the side of the pool in the shade and watched everyone! Quite an exhausting day!She is now 4 weeks old, and is filling out and looking cute. We are having so much fun with her! She still sleeps great, 6-7 hours straight at night, has mastered the nursing thing, and life is just peachy!

Ashlyn still has some jealousy issues, and often calls out "Me baby! Me baby" while sitting in the car seat, sucking on Madelyn's binky, or swinging in the swing! Luckily she is such a light little thing, I don't mind her swinging (it keeps her from attacking the baby while I feed her). She gets herself buckled in and then turns the swing on herself, and she's off! I think it's so cute!Over all this has been a good first month after having a baby. I am very grateful to Karen (Brian's mom) for the help she gave us for almost 3 weeks while she was here. Brian and I even enjoyed a few dinners out as well, bonus! She also helped him in getting his garage insulated and dry wall up. The first 3 days after she left I realized just how much cleaning she had been doing (when all of a sudden it wasn't staying clean :)), but we have whipped the kids back into shape, and things are running smoothly now! I think the kids really miss the help that grandma was giving as well!
Madelyn is doing well. Sleeping well, eating well, and putting up with all the crazies around her. She really is very tolerent of all the 'attention' (minus the 'love' from Ashlyn), but I guess she'd have to be being the youngest of 6 in this clan. I refered to the family as 'The Clan' the other night, and Hayden said, "What? Are we a clan now?" "Do you not like being called a clan?" I said. "Well, I think of us more of a Tribe." he responded. That seems to fit, tribe sounds more like something wild out of the trees to me, which is how I picture this crew at times! :)