Early Summer at Palisades.

We just returned from our Memorial weekend camping trip. It rained a lot, but the temperatures weren't too cold, so it was bearable. We were able to do some fishing, although we didn't catch anything. At one point, I asked Noah if he was having fun, since he didn't seem to be, and he said: "I would be if you would just tell me exactly where the fish are and how to catch them!" Well, wouldn't that be something.We also spotted some wildlife: bison, antelope, elk and lots of deer. When we arrived at the campground, the camp host told us that just two days before, a moose had walked right through our campsite, but we never caught a glimpse of him, unfortunately. I was hoping we'd see some newborns, since it's that time of year. Maybe next time...

Sophie's big day.

Congratulations, sweet girl, on making it through Kindergarten!

(In case you couldn't hear that, her teacher said Sophie wants to be a nurse and live in Michigan when she grows up. After the presentation, Sophie informed us that her teacher left out the best part - she wants to make the world a better place by recycling! How very green of her.:)

To sleep, per chance to dream...

Call me crazy, but I'm beginning to believe that this little boy isn't getting enough sleep at night. This is him at around 5pm, while eating his dinner. After I took this picture, I carried him up to bed, where he fell right back to sleep. It's now after 8pm, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's out for the night. Maybe I need to rethink his nap frequency.

Birthday celebrations.

Today is Chris' 32ND birthday. It was such a great day! He didn't have to work, or go to school, which was such a nice change. While the three older kids were in school, we took Nicolas and went to lunch, then went to Costco. After the kids came home from school, we celebrated with giant cupcakes, courtesy of Costco:) It's kind of nice that our birthdays are close together (I turned 34 last Friday), because we can always figure out a way to combine them whatever way we need to work around our schedules.
Hmm...I wonder where Noah gets it?

First games.

Last night Sophie and Sammy had their first t-ball/baseball games of the season. They were so excited; this is Sophie's first year to play and she loves it! Sam woke up at 5:30am, ready and waiting for his game, which wasn't until after school - at 6:30pm. Great job, kids!

It's Super-duper Nick, all hopped up!

Grandparent's Day, May 2009!

Near the end of every school year, the elementary hosts a Grandparent's Day, where the kids can show off their teachers, classrooms, artwork and talents to their grandmas and grandpas. I took some photos and video to post on the blog, so that our children's grandparents can enjoy seeing them, despite the long distances between us!

I guess it's been a long day for little Nicolas; he is pretty proud of his cool green cast, though.

It's official ~ we can breathe!

IDAHO STATE

U N I V E R S I T Y

Chris just finished his last final, and thus ends his days as full-time student, full-time trooper, and part-time daddy and husband! We're all so proud of how hard he has worked for the past few years, and now hopefully we can reset our balance of family, fun and adventure. Thanks to all of you that have sent your congratulations and best wishes recently; we both appreciate all the support we have received.

Tough break!

(Don't you just love my tongue-in-cheek post titles?)
Anyway...just an update. Sweet little Nick's elbow is broken, unfortunately. One more set of x-rays coming later this week, before getting a cast put on. I'm sure I'll post more pictures of him later. It's such a bummer, for him, with his last day of preschool coming up next week, baseball season starting and lots of other school activities going on the next couple of weeks, not to mention the fact that having his right arm incapacitated makes playing video games very difficult ~ his little life is a mess! Not really; he's actually handling this well. The first couple of nights he woke up crying when he'd inadvertently rolled over onto his "owie", but mostly he's been doing okay. I'm not particularly looking forward to trying to do the bathing thing with a cast, but I guess it's not a big deal. Things could always be worse...!:)

A break in the "silence"...

Aahh, my poor little guy! Today Nicolas was climbing down from the trampoline to the bench used to get on and off, and he fell, landing straight down on his arms. One of his little arms didn't fare so well! He cried all afternoon and wouldn't move (or let us move or touch) it at the elbow. We took him in to the pediatrician's office where the doctor felt just by examining him that it was probably fractured. I carried him into the x-ray room, while Chris sat waiting with the rest of the kids. It was awful! I had to hold back my own tears, while trying to help the x-ray tech bend, contort, and basically force his arm into the most painful looking position to get the right picture. Afterwards, Chris said he could hear his cries of pain out in the waiting room.

Thankfully, the x-rays showed only some minor abnormalities around the elbow and ulnar bones, meaning that there was no obvious fracture, but some trauma there. They put a cast-like splint on the little guy, and on Monday we'll take him back for a repeat x-ray (yippee), to see if any breaks have materialized, as the doctor said it can sometimes take a few days after the injury to appear. Hopefully that won't be the case and he'll just have to wear the splint for a little while. It makes it harder that Nick can't talk enough to be able to explain what he's feeling. When we got home, he just kept saying: "Owie, owie!" over and over. Well, so much for the progress we were making with him sleeping in the big boy bed; I put him in his porta-crib in our bedroom for tonight so I can keep an eye on him. It's funny that he's smiling for these pictures I took, considering how sad he was all afternoon!

Happy May Day, and other updates.

I opened my bedroom door this morning to find this sweet treasure:Not much need for me to speculate which of my darling children put it there; it was Samuel, of course. I don't deserve such a thoughtful, loving child! What a happy way to begin May Day. Thanks, Sam!
Following up with the new sleeping arrangements for Nicolas, I can gladly report that things are going considerably well. He's done okay with the transition from his crib, although if I want him to fall asleep at a reasonable time, I have to lay with him in the bed for just a bit, and he usually will fall asleep pretty fast. The older boys also go to sleep much sooner if I am in their room with them for a while when they first go to bed. On the few occasions I haven't (weekends, etc.), they stay up "talking/playing" and this is the price Nicolas pays the following day:I think Zipper was intrigued by the lump on the floor, but Nick didn't care much for being licked awake!