craziness!

Hannah's song

2011-02-28T10:06:00.002-07:00

we love hannah

(sing to the tune of 'go, diego, go')

deep inside the boyce house

where kids are running wild;

coming to our family is a very special child.

crying all the night long

eating all the day--

she's such a cute addition that people stop and say:

(chorus): we love hannah, banana, hannah. go, hannah, go!

adam's on a mission

with caleb by his side;

liam's playing legos

and seth goes off to hide.

katya playing dress-up is always so much fun,

and j protects the house with his big double-shot nerf gun.

(repeat chorus)

our lastest arrival

2011-01-24T16:54:00.006-07:00

the long awaited arrival of baby hannah

hannah cosette was born on jan 6 (katya's half-birthday--and yes, we planned it that way). she was 7 lbs 14 oz (our smallest single baby) and 21 inches long with huge feet and long fingers. labor was induced and lasted a depressing 14.5 hrs, but she came easily after just 2 pushes.

she's a wonderful baby--our easiest so far--sleeping up to 7 hrs at night, feeding like a champ, loving to be held (and there are a lot of us to hold her!), and just generally a good girl. it's also a bonus that i don't get peed on in the middle of the night.

here are pics of everyone/everything that likes to hold her:

the laundry

the katya (notice her lovely black eye!)

the twins (although in general they don't seem to care much about her)

the human train (jeremy and caleb)

the master holder (seth)--he's great at keeping her asleep

the big brother (jeremy)

the awesome aunt who babysits alot (courtney)

the liam

the princess couch cuddle time

nathan has an amazing 6 weeks off of work, so it's been nice having him home to do everything that i can't/don't want to do. he took all the kids to the science center last saturday. i just thought this picture was cute.

on sunday, the boys all spontaneously decided that they wanted to wear ties to church. it took a little time to get them all gussied-up, but it was worth it! they are so handsome.

i had to throw this in. adam and caleb (in red), just randomly fell asleep this way. even though they may fight a bit, at least sometimes they show affection (even if it is subconscious!)

um, has it really been 4 months???

2010-06-21T20:28:00.005-06:00

okay, so i've been thinking for awhile that i needed to update, but just haven't. blah, blah, blah. i was gonna make it cute and funny. blah, blah, blah. so, i thought i'd just bite the bullet and make another one cute later. also, i'm a dum-dum b/c i forget to upload the pics in the right order (so now they are backwards), and i only have from easter back. (too lazy to get the camera out and upload the others.) aren't you glad to have such friends as us?

the kids at our annual easter-egg hunt

the whole easter-egg hunting crew
my sis (steve) asleep after a long day of walking around over easter

my dad and liam walking at shaw nature reserve

taking a breather at the nature reserve (easter weekend with my padres and sis)--and yes, nate is hiding from the camera behind the babies

daffodils and kids at the nature reserve

i think they look so cute they should just stay there!

walking through meramec caverns (a hideout of jesse james!)

the babies only would say "wa-wa" the entire time we were there, whether or not there was any water to be seen. i kept trying to get them to say 'rock' or 'cave' but they never went for it

how i found caleb asleep one time

part of my bedroom (the 'library' part) that nate so graciously let me decorate in all things wonderfully giraffe

one day when i was blowing leaves off our back porch, adam decided he liked it. i'm so happy i mangaged to get the perfect pic!

since i always have to have a project going, i decided (with the kids approval, of course) to try sleeping them all (well, the 4 older ones) in room and putting everything else in the other room. it's working out pretty well, but was pretty awkward moving the beds about. luckily, they still had fun playing on everything!

4 little monkeys swinging on the bed...

J got baptized early march. such a milestone! (thanks to all our friends who helped watch the kids so nate and i could actually savor the moment!)

j and nate before the big moment!

and, last but not least, is there anything in the world more felicitious than a banana and bacon sandwich????

way behind

2010-02-21T13:51:00.007-07:00

so, this i've needed to update for quite awhile--but life just keeps moving and blogging keeps getting pushed to the rear.so, here's been our lives for the last few months...(and probably completely out of order--or at least reversed-- since i think i'm too lazy to make this organized...)

J's 8th bday--he'll be getting baptized in a couple of weeks. i feel like i've passed a significant landmark in my parenting life--my kids are getting old! he wanted a 'thanksgiving feast' for his dinner (minus the turkey, plus steak) and an ice cream pie for his 'cake'. it's fun to see the kids developing thier own personalities and preferences...

J had used this ladder to keep the younger kids out of his room, but when he shut it, the ladder wouldn't budge. i finally just kicked the door in. another project on the way...

with the advent of J turning 8, he is also now in cub scouts. i know it's a great program, and i love his leaders, but it also means the beginning of really running around for the kids for the next zillion years or so. i wish i could put all the boys in it right now and just do everything at once. the babies would make it to eagle scout by the time they are 6! he also did the pinewood derby--came in 5th. pretty good for parents who don't know what they are doing--and had to paint it while dealing with ladder problem mentioned above 10 minutes before he had to leave...

the kids on a frozen pond. we went on a hike and the kids wanted to try and go out on it...

caleb enjoying his first snow experience...adam didn't have a fun time. i haven't let them go out since then b/c it takes an hour to get them both prepped to go outside and they don't stay out long enough...maybe next year!

the boys with "spikey" hair--it never lasts very long...

after christmas, we went to visit my family in TN. here we are at the chattanooga aquarium looking at some big crab. it's a very nice place and the kids had a blast. after that, we went to a children's museum a block or two away, which was also great. we'll have to make it an annual thing!

the older 4 at the aquarium...

Jess and Steve cuddling with the babies. we plopped on a movie at night b/c by then we were too fed up with them getting into things. oh wait... that's every second of my life...

just a quick scene from the chaos that is christmas--everyone had a good one and it's more fun as the kids are getting older and enjoying it more...

we kept up with my tradition of making gingerbread houses with friends--always a holiday favorite. they didn't leave me much good candy at the end to make a good house with though. oh well!

you don't get much cuter than this...

this is how we found K one night asleep. i thought it was pretty gross, but had to get a pic anyway

classic babies--why we keep all the chairs on the floor and why i have to knwo where they are constantly...

they always find a way to get into trouble (that's Adam getting in the craft cabinet)

seth turned 5 in november. he was very excited about it. i just signed him up for kindergarten and am so stoked for him to go! i love his personality...the other day nate said that he was secretly wolverine, and seth said that it wasn't a secret anymore since he just told him...not what we were expecting, but then again, it usually never is...

anyway, more to come hopefully soon... i just repainted my bedroom (with the help of Mom Boyce) and now only have one room left to redo. hopefully this means that we won't be moving soon after. so, i'm doing a lot of reading, running kids around, trying to take on more projects than i actually get around to doing, and just trying to keep up with life in general...

roll over, henry ford

2009-11-15T13:23:00.002-07:00

so, this is just a taste of the random destructiveness the twins impose upon our lives. we also found them both in the kitchen sink this morning, in the the candy jar, after getting into our sharp knives and other things that they most definitely need not ever touch. argh! oh well--that's life!

IT'S DONE!!!!

2009-10-21T14:31:00.006-06:00

well, 4 months ago today (father's day), the main sewer line in our neighborhood got blocked, and sent lots of filthy, yucky water into our basement (as well as a house across the street). after crews cleaned everything out, nate and i started with the remodeling in august. we've now finished it! yeah! the end-result pics aren't great since nate broke our camera while using it to get jeremy's rocket out of a tree, but they still give an idea. man, it sure feels good to be done with that project! here's the story in pics...

over half of our driveway was filled with stuff they had to throw away. i think we took some stuff out of the pile that didn't really get touched by it all (like the baby swing).

um...so imagine a lot of pics here to show the stages....my bro has a few from when he came to tile the floor...um, yeah....anyway...

katya's artwork at the bottom of the stairs

jeremy's artwork on the left and seth's on the right

liam's painting

anyway, so now we are ready for guests--so come on down! our many, many, many, many, etc thanks to those who helped--family and friends. we would still be working on it if it wasn't for you.

now--who's ready for the next project????

jeremy's tubing experience

2009-10-21T14:00:00.003-06:00

i just found this story that jeremy had written about when we were in colorado. though i'd share it. (all typing is as he did it).

Once I went tubing in colorado. It took 15 minutes to get there. I went with My grampa, my aunt steve, my mom and dad and my brothers and sisters. Before we could go tubing we had to get are tubs. Soon we were packed and left. When we got there we went to start. Gampa stayed and watched the twins. first I went with dad there were lots of rocks. The water was freezing. At the end I saw there was a there was a water fall! After that we bumped into rocks then we made it to land. Then I went solo a few times I was spinning alot. Once when I went down the water fall I didn't keep going down the river. The somebody pushed me out of the water fall. Then I went in long groups witch didn't make the ride fair, before the water fall there was a big rock, and the person that was last would be fliped! And when it came to the water fall you would NOT want to be the first because then you'd get the most wet. the second time we went in goups I got fliped! it was not cool. the End

inspiration....

2009-10-17T16:43:00.003-06:00

ODE TO THE BABIES

you don't get the glue--

i know that you think you do,

but you don't get the glue!

you don't get the scissors, glitter or paint

anytime you get near them,

i just about faint.

you don't get the papers pushed 5 feet away,

the computer, the mouse--

why can't you just lay?

don't climb on the piano, we don't think it's funny.

the front door is off-limits, even if it is sunny.

don't open the trash,--or the pantry or fridge.

just don't open anything with doors or with lids!

you don't get the barstools, the counter or sink.

there will be no more climbing!

(no matter what you think.)

and as for 'no-mores', there's a long list for that:

no chair-pushing, food throwing, or hitting with bats.

no more playing in toilet water,

or pulling out books.

no getting into mischief, and then giving me cute looks!

no pulling out drawers

and empyting what's inside.

there are no more places to put things to hide!

yes, i know how one kid can cause lots of trouble,

but destruction comes sooner because now there's double.

i finally nab one of them running around,

but how to keep the other one stuck to the ground?

i will have to admit that the boys can be funny,

but at times they do cost me much more than just money.

my sanity is slowly slipping away--

so please don't touch anything...

at least for one day!

kim boyce

*this poem is dedicated to caleb and adam who try my patience on a way-more-frequently-basis than hourly. no one was harmed during the months of inspiration for this poem, and all information is factual.

and now for...the REST of the summer....

2009-09-14T21:40:00.011-06:00

Katya turned six..um, got lots of presents, had a good time...she's growing up so fast!

Aunt steve had some time off, so she made a trip up to see us. i took her up in the arch, where she freaked out a little b/c she's claustrophobic. then, we went to one of the fountains downtown and let the kids get soaked. i love impromptu visits (or not so impromptu)!

um...just a few of the boys bein silly. caleb is the silly face in the first on, adam is the one with his finger up his nose.

we went on a 2 week long vacation out to utah and colorado. unfortunately, our car's dvd player stopped working, but we somehow survived. one day, we went to see dear charlotte's grave while in salt lake. it was so peaceful and lovely. also took the kids to the oquirrah (sp?) mountain temple open house, which was very nice--except for liam throwing a fit at the end there. this is all the boyce grandkids to date.

enjoying popiscles with cousins cole and jem

cousin ella playing with adam

the boys going to play paintball--even went to d.i. to get the camo clothes. i think this is going to be one of nate's favorite activities now

cousin rachel with liam--they really hit it off and played great together--mainly b/c they weren't included in all the 'big kid' games

we went to colorado for a sloan reunion (my side). i was so excited--my dad has been fishing up at turkey creek ever since he was a boy, and i haven't been back since i was probably 16 or 17. it's where i learned how to fish, although i didn't catch anything this time (steve caught them all instead!). but i always had such great memories, that i knew i wanted my kids to come here and see how beautiful it is and get dirty and eat worms and all that. anyway, these top pics are from a hike we went on. katya spent the whole time picking wildflowers and ended up with a gorgeous bouquet.

this picture really doesn't do it justice, but the views from this hike are just incredible--they were breathtaking!

the goal of the hike is to get to the waterfall (pic left). it started raining, and then hailing (as it had been doing most afternoons on the mountain), so here we are camped out under the rock to protect ourselves. this is when liam decided he had had it, so he spent the rest of the 4 miles back wanting to be carried. as we were leaving, we did get stuck in a sudden, but short-lived hail, and then some sprinkling the rest of the way back, but i still loved the whole adventure.

we went innertubing down a small stretch of the san juan river. grandpa got to watch the twins and they just played in the river. we went down a couple of times as singles, or a couple tubes together, but it's much more fun to all try and go together--inevitably someone gets flipped! (which actually happened to jeremy once, but he was a real trooper, and kept coming back for more. the rest of the kids didn't really care for it--okay, they were crying and scared! maybe next time they'll wanna go!)

here's most of the gang--some kids are asleep and we are missing one of my uncles and his entire family as well as a few other of the grandkids. my grandparents are there in the middle and are truly the best people i know and i want to emulate them in every way! i love my family so much!

these next pics are from a place called johnson's shut-ins. here is seth with his friend christan. after my high of being in colorado, this definitely did not disappoint. we got to spend hours climbing, sliding, getting wet, laughing, exploring, jumping, and losing shoes. i was so proud of katya, who i didn't think would jump from the rock (maybe 6 ft up?), but she did--and did it a couple of times!

right across from the rock katya jumped off of, is a higher one (maybe 11 ft), which jeremy eventually jumped off a few times (i did it 3 times myself). it was so fun watching everyone try it out and helping the kids who were brave enough--including 3 year old baker!

for labor day, we went to indiana to meet up with a couple of friends from our stanford days. it was so wonderful to sit and catch up--i love that we just pick up where we left off without any problems! the pic of the kids is them jumping on the footprints left by neil armstrong on the moon. he went to purdue, which is where they live. the next is of me and two very dear friends--dacia (the one in indiana) and emily(who lives in wisconsin).

here's all of us at a fountain there at purdue. we also went to a little zoo and did some rides/activities that were going on in the area for labor day. they also introduced us to the joys and heartache and embarrassingness of 'rock band'. we stayed up talking til 1 and generally had a blast. this is also the kids sleeping in the car. katya is actually the green blanket in the back. i love sleeping kids!

katya and nate went on a father-daughter campout this last weekend. here she is with her friends katie and anna. nate is also pulling his weight by helping with the cooking.

another classic mopey katya picture taken at the caves that they got to tour at the end of the campout. katya also lost her first tooth there--from eating a cinammon roll no less! i miss all of her milestones.

on saturday, i was ironing and had to go answer the phone and jeremy hit the cord of the iron with his foot and it fell on his leg. it ended up being more serious than we thought--a 2nd degree burn, and nate took him to urgent care. now it has to be wrapped up all the time, but is getting better. luckily, it hasn't really bothered him since they got back. there's always something....

catching up...journal style

2009-07-03T22:47:00.006-06:00

yep, so it's been months. every week, i think i should post, but i don't and things just keep popping up. so, here's a quick summary--in pics, with as few details as possible.

um...except for the remodeling we did. thanks to mom b for pushing us to do the impossible in such a short time span--tearing down wall paper and repainting the upstairs stairwell and hallway as well as the living room. they look great. until recently, b/c of that, we only had our master bed/bath left. but, more on that later.

hey--so this is chronologically backwards (for the most part). have fun looking...
SHOUT HURRAH FOR INDEPENCY!

j's baseball game. he loved playing. not good at action photos... k and s after soccer season. k finally had fun, but s just liked doing his 'cool moves' and wanted to sit down

me and k before our date to see a cinderella ballet. it was fun and so cute to see her and all the other girls who had come dressed up. (by the way, the dress is one i used to wear.)

um..yeah, they like to make messes. they find new stuff every day to get into...

adam is definitely the climber, but he shows caleb a thing or too. adam still doesn't walk consistently, but is getting better. he can wave, though. i still never get tired of sleeping pics of them

BIRTHDAYS...nate turned 31 on june 13, 'uncle david' turned 27, liam turned 3 on may 19, and the twins turned 1 on may 26. all we have are lame pics b/c we get a lot with the video camera. but, let's face it, these older boys weren't going to take a nice picture if their lives depended on it! we ended up celebrating half-way inbetween the little boys' birthdays--b/c i know the twins aren't going to care!

this is our lovely garden. yes, the sugar snap peas are bigger than the kids and almost taller than me. we got a few big bowls full of peas (my favorite), some spinach. we also have lots of good herbs and the other vegetables are starting to come out. it's so rewarding to put a little seed in the ground and have it sprout to food!

yes, katya really did fall asleep outside like this!

k and j with some of their artwork that was at the big art show for the school system.

liam 'hunting' eggs and the kids being silly.

yeah, so this is our basement after a lovely incident with a blocked major sewer drain. well, the water (if you can call it that0 had to go somewhere!) we've remodeled and/or hung new drywall for 3 times, and now it's time to go again. argh! luckily, we didn't have to get rid of too many things. thank goodness the kids had recently cleaned up their toys, or we would be taking lots of trips to the toy store. no, scratch that. nate would be taking lots of trips to goodwill and garage sales. but, as it goes, i get to live with them all in my family room for now. and i doubt it will be finished by september. oh man! they should pay me for losing my sanity during this whole ordeal!

yep, so that's kinda it in a nutshell. feel free to tune in next time when we explore how the kids manage to stay alive even though they haven't done their chores all day...!

in other news...

2009-03-25T10:08:00.006-06:00

so previous to our great vacation, nate and i spent a grueling 3 weeks renovating the kid's bathroom. here's some pics. at least we developed some new skills...

(sorry, blogger isn't letting me move the pictures around, so they are out of order)

(end)

(beginning)

(end)

(middle)

also, here is a funny video of the babies. they aren't getting a bit stronger and more agressive and their fighting isn't as "innocent" as it was before. they are a riot! of course, they are also working together to cause trouble more...

2030 mile cartrip

2009-03-25T09:28:00.005-06:00

(the whole gang)

TO OHIO, NEW YORK AND BACK!!!

1 thr0w-up

3 potty accidents

2 swimming times

8 eating outs

9 crazy kids

4 tired parents

1 patient aunt

2 strollers left behind in new york

1 gigantic waterfall

8 dead camera batteries

1 load of laundry (see first item)

4 visits to church historical sites

too many good conversations to count

lots of movies watched

even more gallons of gas paid for

12 whites in an all "urban" mcdonalds

hundreds of dinosaur bones

2 bathroom stop that was on the other side of the highway (had to walk across on a bridge)

7 hrs driven in a stretch (a couple of times)

temper-tantrums (too many to count!)

4 tired, but satisified parents (but don't count on us doing this again any time soon!)

(palmyra temple)

(nate in front of the smith log home)

(touring the printing shop)

(touring the john johnson farm)

(at the newell k. whitney store)

(niagara falls)

(sacred grove)

(john johnson farm)

THANKS TO THE MUMFORDS (and aunt rachel) FOR AN AWESOME VACATION! LET US KNOW WHEN YOU ARE UP FOR ANOTHER ONE!

empowerment

2009-02-04T20:07:00.002-07:00

so, i woke up two mornings ago to find my kitchen counter covered in water and a huge water stain on my ceiling. (i had noticed some water on it earlier-after midnight, but cleaned it up and never found any drips). i am not a happy camper in the morning, and adding something that needs my immediate attention and is possibly a very large problem, makes me a very grumpy mommy. that, and i didn't understand how nate could have seen it and not done anything about it (he claims that he never saw it, which i don't really understand either). anyway, so i looked up in my bathroom and discovered that the tank of our toilet had been leaking. i finally got it all cleaned up (well, not the stain on our ceiling, that will have to come later) and had nate pick up a toilet on his way home from his meetings. now, until now we have been scared to tackle any plumbing issues, but figured we could probably do this. and---nate did it! all by himself!!! we are so proud of him! now, of course, he's talking about wanting to conquer remodeling the kids bathroom all by ourselves. we'll see how that goes--i'm quite nervous about doing the bathtub! but, it's exciting to have another skill down on our list of home-improvements.

in other news, i've wanted to put down something jeremy wrote for school. every week they write about what they did that weekend. a few weeks ago, he wrote about the show "man vs wild", which we watched for about 20 minutes. but, he thought it was really cool and remembered a lot more than we did. here it is:

I watched Man vs wild. The water was 11 C you could die in 2 houres. onec (once) when he got to land there was no way to get on top so he jumped back in the water and he was very highe. onec he found a better place to climb on the rocks got slippery so he put socks on the out-side of his shoes and that made it less slippery and the camera guy fell. he saw a de(a)d sheep he cut of(f) the head, legs and wool and he used the wool and skin for a sleeping bag. he found a big group of ded crmint crabs he eat a few crmint crabs they war nasty but they have lots of vitimins.

in even other news (b/c who really knows when i'll do this again), adam just got his 3rd tooth (caleb is still toothless) and they both love to stand up on anything they can--especially my legs when i'm trying to cook, and the dishwasher when i'm trying to load it. liam is almost potty trained, but can't get out of the rut of having an accident every other day. he's done that pattern for almost 2 weeks now. seth will be starting speech soon. katya is finally getting the hang of reading, i feel like i'm running around ALL the time, and nate feels like he's doing too much charity work. that, and it seems like our house is falling apart.

so, life is crazy as usual.

good craziness

2009-01-19T09:29:00.008-07:00

wow--amazing how time flies! here are some things that we have been up to--

1. mainly just trying to survive and figuring out how to juggle everything (not that i have as much extra stuff as most people--just trying to really get back in the swing of things). i think i'm getting it down. except for this past week, when i added potty training liam into the mix. what was i thinking! i mean, it takes me at least 3 days to get any decent-sized project (and sometimes pathetically less-than-decent-sized) done! i keep telling myself "someday it will all be worth it." will it?

2. crafts--yes! i am finally to the point where i SOMETIMES don't stress about letting the kids do craft time.

katya's own version of santa and his reindeer.

although that doesn't stop me from doing my own....

i figure since we are "done", i can finally make everyone their own individualized stocking.

3. christmas--complete with a leaning and not-very-full tree. had a blast with the kiddos this year. i've decided that one reason i love real christmas trees are because until i empty out the vacuum cleaner bag, every time i turn on the vacuum, it smells like pine needles. what a great way to make a chore pleasant!

4. (notice how this is entirely not even close to being in order) thanksgiving--had to cook it all by myself for the first time ever--turned out pretty good.

5. gingerbread houses--man, i love this tradition! had our neighbors and some old friends over to help make a bigger and more sugary mess! it was great! another thing that just gets better as the kids get older.

6. visiting my fam in tennessee--too bad we were all sick most of the time. man, we have never had it that bad. luckily, we had some help to get us through. (i think they were glad to have some peace and quiet back though--8 people invading your house is not an easy thing to adapt to!)

here's grandpa helping caleb learn how to eat graham crackers.

7. crawling babies--yes, they are now on the go! adam has been "army crawling" for a while now, and caleb really started moving right before christmas and adam figured out the real way shortly thereafter. now, they are trying to figure out the step from our kitchen to family room, and how to stand up on things like the fireplace and whatever they think they can reach! yes, they've both fallen down the stairs and we are all trying to be better about watching them. they sure get in to a lot of funny situtions!

caleb asleep under the piano

and adam takes the lead...

nap time--good time

8. seth's 4th bday. had a blast, except now he keeps telling me everything he wants for his birthday. dude, not even CLOSE to thinking about that yet.

9. random shots of the kids

somehow, wearing mommy and daddy shoes make you one. i sometimes wish it were that easy to turn off!

yeah, that's katya

my, you have your hands full....

2008-11-07T19:26:00.003-07:00

well, so i was going to post earlier (kinda sounds like the beginning of all of my journal entries), but we lost our camera there for a while and have been trying to get back to normal after courtney left. yes, we are now without a babysitter and will never leave the house again. thank goodness we have a ton of movies at home to watch and no time to watch them anyway! but, the camera has been found (nate had left it in the back of a stroller), although it was discovered AFTER halloween, so now i can pretend like people care about what is going on.

as for exciting news, i went to sams this past week with the younger 4 kids (even their carts aren't quite big enough for us--maybe i need to start using those flat-bed things). i was so excited b/c i almost made it through the entire store before hearing the "my, you sure have your hands full" comment, which i hear everwhere i go. at least, my cashier said it to the other cashier and not to me, and then i had to brag about having others, but only one girl, and sharemy whole life story...blah, blah, blah. they were very complimentary of me, which was nice. normally, i think people are usually thinking that i'm quite insane (like the other moms at seth's preschool). that, or i'm some kind of saint, and we all know that's not true!

i like pics of the twins "fighting"--here's adam rolling over on top of caleb.

here's caleb kicking adam in the face--they end up kicking, or eating, or rolling on, or bonking each other a lot. it's fun to watch.

yeah! we got them both really smiling. they like to see me do "peek-a-boo" and caleb now rolls both ways, so he might start getting around. they are also on solids (which is the worst baby phase ever, and believe me, it's even more worse with 2 than 1). now i just need to get them sitting up and we'll be good for a while.

something else funny: here is a conversation that i walked in on between seth and liam last week:

Seth: Liam?

Liam: what seth?

Seth: watch this! (and then he jumps over some pillows)

Liam: awesome, seth, awesome. (repeated 8 times in a row)

anyway, on to the pics....

here's the only real halloween pic--we had to use nate's camera phone and i haven't tried to get it turned around. the kids had a blast though and got some great candy (kit-kats were my lunch today).

earlier on halloween, seth comes in our room and says: "i'm the stamping monster! (growl)" and boy, was he ever. he had gotten a stamp at his school party, and i'm still finding evidence of it all over the house. i think he went through a second time and stamped more walls after i finished the first pass. katya and liam were also attacked. i didn't even try to clean him up--ninja turtles were usually dirty, right? too bad princesses weren't!

in general though--the twins are sleeping great, the kids love school, nate will hopefully get released in the next 6 months, i'm almost in my skinny clothes, and the trees have been absolutely gorgeous. can life really get any better? i think not!

yet again...

2008-09-22T19:16:00.007-06:00

well, i wanted to post last month, but things just keep happening, so i kept postponing and then someone didn't send me some much needed pics, so i had to wait. not like i really had anything else to keep me busy though...here are some of the happenings from the last couple of months...

this is our first official family pic--the days the boys got blessed. i think it was the first sunday in august. man, we are a big family!

first day of school! first day of school! of course, all the seth and liam had to have their backpacks on as well. i was terrified that katya would be scared and run away at some point, but she did great and loved it. it's so weird having jeremy gone all day--i need to train the younger kids now to be my big helpers. seth gets to go to preschool now and absolutely loves it.

a fire hydrant was busted up the street, so the kids had fun running around in the street and getting soaked. i think all the people in the cars that drove by thought i was crazy for letting them do that, but they had fun.

yeah--caleb may be smaller,but he can sure kick adam! it's funny when they beat each other up without meaning to (or eat each other...). they are now about 4months old and caleb is over 14lbs (75%) and adam is over 16 lbs (95%). it's so great! caleb has rolled over a few times, but really all they are doing is laughing and smiling. it's still pretty fun though. at least they are sleeping better!

we went to tennessee for a quick weekend for my brother's wedding reception. jeremy ended up losing his tooth right at the beginning of it (well, grandma amy got to pull it out!) it was pretty exciting for us all. he ended up losing his second one a couple of weeks later on. katya can't wait to lose hers now.

yeah! the whole sloan clan! someday we'll get a family pic where everyone is happy and no one is in their pajamas!

gotta love dog piles! it'll be so great when the kids are older and we can make a pyramid. those are the best! last nite i introduced the kids to indian leg wrestling (and arm wrestling) and the kids got a kick outta them).

just a random pic. at least katya is smiling normally--which she rarely does. caleb is in the white and adam is in the blue.

life is fun!!!

2008-07-21T18:50:00.004-06:00

well, i have to say that having twins around is pretty cool. all the cuteness that comes with one is doubled. of course, the hard times are doubled as well, but i try not to think about it. it only has been really bad when we are trying to get to church. but, in a few weeks, when nate goes back to work, i'm sure the bad moments will be pretty much 24-7. again, i try not to think about it.

here are a bunch of random pics--not necessairly in order b/c i'm too lazy to organize them and i spent at least 3 hrs yesterday going through our pics that i haven't dealt with since last august.

feeding two babies has to be creative at times--this is nate's innovation.

we took all the kids to the drive-in to see wall-e, and this is how they looked once we got home. it was a great movie, but we needed one more adult or one less child (not mentioning any names, liam).

just liam and seth being silly. these kids really do feed off each other. sometimes it's cute

katya blowing out her candles--just turned the big 5!!! happy birthday princess (which, by the way, it was liam calls her-"sinsess" and he calls himself "ye-um")

gotta love liam not caring about being a princess. the kids love dressing up and making stories with their random characters.

here are the boys in their thing 1 and thing 2 outfits (courtesy of grandma amy). caleb is on the left, adam on the right. adam is bigger by about a pound (as of 2 weeks ago), but they are both the same length. i think they are becoming more more distinct.

my great friend emily came down with her girls for a quick visit. it was so great to hang out, even though i slept and she had to take care of babies and all. we did get out for the morning (or sweltering heat) and had some fun, so it wasn't a total waste. i keep looking forward to when the twins are older and we can really get out and have some fun. just remember--we love company!

this one is caleb

this one is adam
me with both of them--it's really kinda fun and fulfilling to hold both at the same time--and to take naps together!

nate with the boys--this is from a while ago--luckily they don't mind being too close together (although now that they are starting to move around more, they sure to bonk each other a lot. it's really funny when a tries to eat b b/c b's fist got too close to a's mouth!)

nate has been really great at helping and getting stuff done while on his leave. i don't know what i'm going to do when he has to go back to work and it's all on me again. he thinks that it's worth it to have another baby just so he can get his 6 weeks off again. me, i'm not so sure about that.

so, for the next few weeks, we'll just keep hanging out--with swimming lessons, soccer camp, lesson time, fixing/cleaning the house, appointments, movies, outtings for mom and praying that the twins keep upping their hours of straight sleep at night. what a blessing life is!

1 month

2008-06-25T13:06:00.004-06:00

well, tomorrow (the 26th), the boys are going to be one month old. what a great month it's been! it's gone by so fast and seems like yesterday that we brought them home. but, i guess it's helped that so much has happened. i have to say that it hasn't been as bad as i thought, but ask me again in august when i don't have help anymore and have to get the kids to school and all...

the boys are starting to go longer than 3 hrs btwn feedings, but will still keep me up for 1 1/2 hrs at night, so i still have to sleep in quite a bit. they are getting to be more distinct from each other. adam is a better eater. caleb actually turned over a couple of times (of course, he hasn't done it since). caleb likes to cuddle more. it's really nice to have 2 kids around so anyoen who wants to hold a baby can--there's plenty to go around! i think it's going to be great once they start developing and can do stuff.

also, i totally get props for being the coolest wife ever. the 13th was nate's 30th bday, and courtney and i planned a great weekend for him and dave carlsruh (basically a bro who turned 27 the next day). we flew in aaron (--nate's bro, and wife kristen and daughter)and dave's older bro dan for a boys weekend. court and i had been planning this since jan/feb and it was SO HARD to keep it a secret! but, when nate and i showed up back at home on friday afternoon, he was totally surprised to see the boys there. we had a great dinner and then they went to a cardinal's game (to bad they got blown out!). then, on sat, they played bball at their old church building, and then played paintball with some friends for 3 hrs. everyone got some nice welts and scrapes. yeah! then, we had dinner and cake/cookie and sang "happy bday" and all. then, the boys took off for the evening to play video games--something they also did back in the day. we also had a great father's day on sunday and ever yone had a great time! nate was so worried that he'd be embarrassed or something, but i finished him off. at least he has a lot of time to plan something for when i turn 30!

the weekend before all this, we kinda had a mini-reunion of sorts. nate's dad flew in (his mom was already here), and 2 of his sisters came in as well (rachel and kim). some of the carlsruhs' also came--the parents, 2 sisters, and dave was already here of course. court planned a reunion with all their old church friends from YEARS ago and all the kids got to go to city museum and had a blast. we also had a pre-bday celebration for nate and dave's bdays. gotta love having cake 2 weekends in a row!!!!!! i loved being able to see everyone, even if i was kinda outta it. company is always welcome!!!!!

my mom is here this week and loving the time with the babies. then, nate starts his leave on monday and it's time to put him to work!!! i think he'll be excited to go back to the office. all in all, it's been a great month and we feel so blessed. it's going to be wonderful to see our family grow and develop together. once i get some more pics uploaded, i'll add another entry to show some more of what all we did...

Finally!!!

2008-06-10T12:49:00.005-06:00

well, it's been 2 weeks since the boys were born and i'm getting to feel more normal, so i thought i'd send some pics to update everyone.

here are J and K at J's school showing off of all the cool stuff they do. K is a lot happier here than she was at her own preschool graduation (major mopey time!)

here they are at L's 2nd bday--yes, the kids decorated the cake by themselves--at least it still tasted good!

here is S at the father's and son's campout. the boys (minus L) all had a great time!

here's another pic of the boys holding hands. it's fun to see them together. especially when one is trying to eat the other(usually it's caleb attacking adam).

here they aren't too happy, but usually they ignore each other. yes, they do have very skinny arms (and legs). i can't wait until they fatten up a bit!

usually i don't have to feed/hold them at the same time, but i feel quite accomplished when i'm able to pull it off. it's nice to have twice the cuddles and very convienent when people want to hold them and there is usually at least one available. adam is the good sleeper (and on the left), and caleb usually wakes up first and is harder to get back to sleep (on the right). adam has a wider nose and longer ears--it's getting much easier to tell them apart (thank goodness!)

crazy missouri!!!

2008-03-27T15:09:00.003-06:00

well, the last couple weeks have been quite interesting. first, there was a huge blizzard that came through--it was actually quite cool to just sit and watch the big beautiful flakes fall all day and into the night. the next day, there were quite a few inches of gorgeous snow to play in.

after that melted, we had about 2 days of wonderful warm weather and made the kids play outside as much as kidly possible. then, the rains came down and the floods came up. many in this area were quite affected, although it took a few days for the floods to come down the river. they closed a huge intersection close by and i think only a few people were displaced--that we knew. nate went a couple of nights to do sandbagging. the river almost reached record highs, but luckily it was gone faster than it came.

yes, these stairs leading up to the bank start in the water. the building behind them is the post office--thankfully it never got up to there!

this is again behind the bank, and yes, that is a speedlimit sign so there is a road somewhere under there. it was kinda freaky to see all this stuff under water, but also kinda cool at the same time. lots of people would stop on the highways and see what is undercover. i think some towns south of us got it a little worse, or they just weren't prepared as well.

in other news, the twins are still growing and doing fine. they are each a little over 2 1/2 lbs each and starting to annoy me. adam (baby 2) is up in my ribs and hurts me a lot. i feel quite big. i'm at 28 weeks and am measuring like i'm at about 36. yuck!

we played musical rooms with the kids--painting katya's room a more neutral gray, and moving jeremy into it, and then moving liam in with seth. poor seth! liam isn't used to sleeping with anyone and tends to be a lttle forceful, so most of the time seth falls asleep somewhere else so we can lock liam in there by himself until he falls asleep. now we just have to get working on the twins room!

we've also started potty training seth, and it has been marvelously easy compared to other kids. thank goodness--it's not like i can chase after him too easily.

isn't life great!!????

update-part 2

2008-03-09T17:23:00.004-06:00

this is nate's favorite hat that he got on his mission and that he wears when he is cold--like when playing in the snow, or walking around the house in summer clothes in the middle of winter--sorry, but we aren't turning the heater up any higher!!!!

this is one from seth's 3rd bday--he's really becoming a big kid. he's starting to enjoy church more now that he is a big boy and goes to a real class, although he fought us on it for a while. we've also tried to start potty training him--the possibility of 4 kids in diapers is really too much to fathom!

this is when jeremy turned 6--he was so excited about his bday--not that we did anything, but he still really enjoyed it. he's doing great in school and loves reading and doing activities. he's really grown up a lot since going to school.

katya's favorite pastime is to sit on the air vent and try to get warm--even though we keep the house quite warm. liam likes to join her b/c he loves to do whatever the older kids are doing. sometimes they are all so silly together and it is adorable!

i'll try to be better about updating in the future.

FINALLY...an update!!!!!!

2008-03-09T16:02:00.003-06:00

yes, yes, i know that i haven't posted anything in FOREVER, but since becoming pregnant, i have caught the biggest laziness bug i have ever had. maybe since i drove myself (and nate) crazy with all my house projects, church work, etc, etc, etc...i have now deserved to NOT DO ANYTHING on a daily basis. that, and nate's sis courtney helps me out A LOT and i've started getting really uncomfortable and sore rather quickly. (ie we put together a a piece of furniture and i couldn't move for 2 days!)

so.....anyway, for those who don't know, we are having 2 boys, which i was quite a little sad about b/c now katya will be the only girl around (as long as this gets to be it for us). but, it'll still be nice. i guess i should be grateful that i at least have one girl. we are having trouble coming up with names--we are pretty sure that we want to use Adam, but can't decide on the first one's name. we can only use the letters c, e,f,g,h,i,o,p,q,r,t,u,v,x,y,z. so, if you have any ideas--that are good!--let me know! in all though, things are looking really good and the boys are healthy and i'm doing fine--so hopefully i'll make it all the way before i deliver!

so, obviously since i haven't been doing anything, we don't have much to show. but, here are a few pics to show what we've been up to. (never mind, i'll have to do this later b/c the comp is being dumb and we are about to eat--food is always the priority!) i'll try again later tonight.

BEAT YA!

2007-11-27T12:08:00.001-07:00

well, i have to say that i always thought it was very impressive of my aunt carol and uncle wes to have had 6 boys in ~8 yrs. we were on the path to beating them, until we took a little bit longer break this time after liam.

however, we are now pleased to announce that if things go well, we will have beaten them1

try 6 kids under the age of 6.5!!!!!!

yes, we are going to have twins. we are quite excited, but i am also a bit scared. next week we should find out if they are identical or fraternal. hopefully i'll have the energy to send a pic at that time. the latest they would come is june 5th, but they'll probably be here before that!

life is so crazy! but, we feel extrememly blessed--except for the fact that now we HAVE to buy a full-sized van and i'll never get to try those cool vans that have the moving seats and table in the middle. (sigh!)

we could use your prayers that all goes well with the babies and that they are healthy and everything. that's the biggest thing i'm worried about--although at this point all looks fine.

at least now i know why i got so huge so quick!

love to all!!!!

fall fun

2007-11-09T19:17:00.000-07:00

thanks to a request from my mom, i realized that i hadn't posted much lately. too much going on i guess. well, here are some picks to show life as of late....

nate and liam at the zoo

all the kids in their halloween costumes--this was for the ward trun-or-treat. liam didn't enjoy being in a costume much and so we didn't even take him out on halloween night. next year he'll care...

seth learning how to "climb a tree"--thank goodness he doesn't know any better and thank goodness we don't have any good climbing trees in our yards or we'd never see these monkeys!

we don't know how liam ended up with the big chair--i guess babies always end up getting their way! i love it when we catch cute moments like this!

more to come soon--hopefully our basement will be done soon and then we can share horror pics of that!

the big debate

2007-10-11T21:51:00.000-06:00

BLOWER vs RAKE

so, for my birthday this year, i asked for a leaf blower--yes, a leaf blower. i realized that after spending every day (and i mean EVERY DAY) last fall raking up leaves and putting them in bins/bags for the trash guys to take, that i really don't have the time to do that again. and, unfortunately, the kids are still a little too young to do much good moving around the big, hefty rakes (esp when nate bought the super cheap one, so the rake part keeps coming off the stick). so anyway, i buckled down and begged for a blower.

now, it may not seem like a big deal to most, but i love the fact that i grew up doing manual labor. i raked, shoved, painted, cleaned gutters, mowed, weeded, mulched, etc, etc. i firmly believe in the good work ethics that working actually produces. so, it's quite difficult to relinquish this and grab technology that provides an "easy way out". i'm scared that the kids are just going to see that raking and such is a waste of time and complain if i make them do stuff that is "too hard."

now, of course, i acknowledge that some advances in technology are good, but nothing beats having to go out and shovel snow for a couple of hours to get the heart pounding and the blood flowing. blowers don't really do that. however, jeremy did have fun trying it out and blowing leaves all over seth (i admit i had fun doing it to them as well! anyone see that spongebob...) so, anyway, i think though that i'm over this for the time being--at least until the kids are 7 or 8 and can be useful and then maybe the blower will "break" and we'll be too poor to replace it. i have to admit that it's actually quite a quick and useful thing and it's fun. oh, it also has a vacuum so i can suck up all the leaves instead of spending hours trying to balance them on a rake and spill half as i try to put them in a bag. it also sucks up all the acorns that hurt your feet when you walk barefoot in our extremely threadbare grass--i thought we had enough rascals in our yard to take care of all of them, but maybe they aren't hungry enough. oh well.

our first pile of leaves this year!!!

power tools and yard equipment are quite cool. i think i want a good nail gun next...

silly seth!

2007-10-09T21:07:00.000-06:00

so, i just want to share the joy of my life, which is a conversation with seth (read with a sarcastic tone). this was basically what happened at dinner, but is characteristic of what goes on many times a day.

me: anyone who finishes thier dinner gets a cookie

seth: i wanna cookie

m: okay, finish your dinner

s: otay

m: (after a minute or so) seth, eat your dinner.

s: i don't like dinner (it's shepherd's pie)

m: you have this all the time

s: i don't want to eat

m: do you want a cookie?

s: yeah i wanna cookie

m: okay, eat your food

s: i don't like food

m: okay, no cookie

s: i wanna cookie

m: okay eat your dinner first, and then you get a cookie

s: i don't want to eat

m: fine, no cookie

s: i wanna cookie

m: sorry, only if you eat your food.

s: i wanna cookie

m: eat your dinner all gone

s: i don't like dinner

m: okay, no cookie...

anyway, it keeps going on like this for at least half an hour. finally, after all the other kids got theirs, seth got serious and wanted to eat (after i had to explain again multiple times that he only gets one if he eats his dinner). but, he first wanted jeremy to feed him, but then i had to sit there for the next 15 minutes feeding him bites, in between him running all over the house chasing liam. after each bite, he would ask for the cookie again, but i kept having to say that he only gets it after it's ALL gone. this boy is relentless!

however, i do have to say that there have been worse ones, like him wanting to watch tv and i say no, about 20 times in response to his 20 of the same question. eventually he'll say "otay" and drop it, but i haven't figured out the magical response that gets him to that point. some day!

i've been tagged

2007-10-01T16:00:00.000-06:00

Jobs I've held:
1. wife and mommy (and all that goes along with it)
2. statistics intern at sandia nat'l labs
3. waitress and life guard during the same summer
4. mcdonalds
5. bagel store (for the entire 6 months that it was in business

Places for a Weekend Getaway:not that i've ever had one, but anywhere i can take a nap and not be stressed about trying to take care of my kids somewhere away from home.

Guilty Pleasures:
1. Spending an entire day reading. (totally agree with you on this one, emily!)
2. decorating the house
3. taking naps

Movies I could watch over and over:
1. A&E version of Pride and Prejudice
2. Italian job
3. national treasure
4. any light-hearted romantic comedy

Places I've lived:
1. albuquerque, nm
2. oak ridge, tn
3. provo, ut (then tn, ut, nm, ut,nm, ut, tn, nm, tn)
4. stanford, ca
5. st. louis, mo

What was likely the first thing you thought of when you saw your husband for the first time?
here is a boy that is kinda a dork and doesn't know how to flirt. obviously, he didn't make an impression!

Places I've Been on Vacation
1) various camping in colorado
2)mexico
3)disneyland a few times
4) florida at least 4 times
5) connecticut
6)new york/new jersey
7)washington, dc
8) alabama
i think there is more, but can't remember them all.

Favorite Foods:Guacamole (yes, i know it's kinda a condiment, but for me, it's food), dark chocolate, olive garden salads

If in a "jam" with your spouse what are your tactics to get out of the "doghouse"?
I am NEVER in the doghouse. (thanks, emily)

Websites I visit daily:1. gmail

Best first Kisses landmarks:sorry, but none of my first kisses were really that good.

Places I would rather be right now:out to eat, in bed asleep, on vacation, swimming

Now I get to pick 3 blog friends to tag:1. melissa 2. alycia 3. dacia

a little bit better...

2007-09-16T16:34:00.000-06:00

well, the water was turned back on (yeah!) after over 3 full days without. it took them all day to fix it and they destroyed half our yard, but it's on. katya was so excited to be able to flush the toilet. so was i! when i went to sams, i bought a lot more bottles of juice, so we can stock up on our water supply even more!

on another note, we think we've got my sleepiness kinda-sorta figured out. i went and did a sleep study b/c i'm always so tired during the day and don't sleep well at night (and no, it's not just related to the kids). for a continuation of the test, they had me take a series of short naps during the day and i fell asleep rather quickly all 4 times. hummmm--i guess i must be tired. so, it seems like a chemical in my brain doesn't do it's job at telling me it's time to get up and there's one that doesn't want me to go to sleep.

so, now i take melatonin to fall asleep at night (i'm often out before nate is now) and a drug called provigil to keep me going during the day. i still feel sleepy, but not enough to have to take a nap or anything. i've only been taking it for a couple of weeks, so we'll see how it goes--i'll probably be taking it the rest of my life. [although probably not on sundays so i can get my good nap in!] it's funny how in general we all function the same, but one little hiccup or problem can cause such difficulties. thanks goodness for modern medicine!

on a different note, we were able to go to the balloon race here in st.louis yesterday. it was pretty cool and an absolutely gorgeous day. (we are right in the middle of some great fall weather, even though it's a little early and it should warm back up here temporarally). we saw lots of balloons take off (though not quite all since we had to park in the outer reaches of mongolia). the kids all really loved it and even liam got into it. the energizer bunny is the first to go, and then all the other balloons try to catch up and drop their "marker" closest to where he lands. it's a pretty big event here--although i do have to say that i believe albuquerque has a bigger and better one! but, it was still quite fun!

i had to throw in this pic of seth--getting one that turns out well with these kids is a rare occurrence, so i'm quite excited that it worked out--especially since i was not a happy camper at this point of leaving the balloon race.

now it is really pouring...

2007-09-10T15:15:00.000-06:00

so, i walk outside yesterday morning to go to a church meeting, glance over at the garden and notice that there is a lot of water in it. i start walking over there, and the lawn is completely soaked. i can see that the water is bubbling up out of the ground.

so, i decide this is more important than the meeting, wake up nate and show him the phenomenon. it's not looking good. we call the water company, and they get a guy down there after an hour (not too bad!) and of course, our water line is leaking. (thanks for that info!) of course, this is not a problem they fix, but the county. so, he gives me this paper work, where we have to say we won't sue the county for damages, etc that we can't fax in until monday. meanwhile, water is pouring into the street. he says the only way to stop it is to turn off all the water to the house. well, he didn't seem too concerned with this situation, so i said no, and we went on our merry way.

of course, the water keeps coming up like that all day, so the garden becomes drenched as well as the yard (although it did need water after that hot dry spell we had), and makes a "river" going into the drainage point outside our neighbors house.

a couple of our concerned neighbors alerted us to the fact that there seems to be a lot of water coming out of our yard. thanks. so we just try to forget about it and move on.

of course, this morning i'm frantically trying to clean the basement before the contractor comes over to look at our remolding situation, and notice water on the floor. i had hoped that it was just one of the many times that liam had purposely turned over a water bottle onto the floor. alas, it was the water from the leaking pipe that had saturated the ground and was not flooding my basement. so, i call the company and have them send guys over to turn off the water. after a few phone calls to relatives by the company so they could track me down and tell me that it would be $10 to shut it off (my basement is flooding and you think i care about $10?), they come and do the job promptly.

of course, the problem is that we don't have any water now. NONE. no flushing, no dishwasher, no laundry, no baths, no showers, NADA. luckily, i had been storing water for the last 6 months or so, so we do have quite a few gallons of that, and plenty of water bottles. (thank goodness for prophets!) the bigger problem is that although we won't have to pay to get it fixed, the county has to do it, which means we should have water by the end of the week. END OF THE WEEK! i've got 4 little kids at home, and i'm supposed to live without water for 5 days! the guys that turned off the water said to put pressure on them to get us done sooner. "but there are lots of people with leaks" says the lady at the county. argh!

so, i'll let you know how we survive. i may go to mcdonalds a lot. they have restrooms that work (at least most of the time!)

when it rains, it pours... or lack thereof

2007-09-10T14:48:00.000-06:00

well, i've been meaning to post for some time now, but things just keep happening! this last month has been a whirlwind, and it's only going to get more outta control!

a couple of weekends ago, we had the bennions over (nate's 1st cuz once removed and his family) for the weekend. they're from kansas city and were here on a temple trip, so they just extended it. it was totally fun, but completely crazy, since they are also a family of 6, so there were 12 people running around. we got to get out and do a bunch of things (thanks for getting me out of the house, you guys!) hopefully, they'll want to come back!

these goats are vicious! seth couldn't handle being in there with them, and liam didn't know what to think!

all the kids are going on the lewis and clark expedition--hope they have fun!

katya was able to finally start preschool--hallelujah! but, it took me 5 full minutes to get her to go in the room, and that was after dragging her in there. poor seth kept saying that he wanted to go, and kept running down there--next year babe! here she is on the way there.

now she is fine and totally is back in the groove and making friends and all. seth and liam are more accustomed to being without their older siblings and have even started to play games together.

my dad and sis, steve, drove through her last friday on the way to taking her back out to ricks (oops--i mean, byu-i). it was fun to see them. visits with my family are always way too short!

courtney is moving out here next week, probably for the next year or so, and it looks like we'll be doing some remodeling in the basement. i thought i was going to take a break from house work for a while after the dining room, but i guess i was wrong! still, it'll be fun to have a babysitter/while-they-sleep sitter for the next while so we can go on dates again!

so, between all this, and our church callings, nate's work, other worries, having people over for movies, games, dinner, etc and taking time out to read a couple of books (which means i get ABSOLUTELY NOTHING done), i'm going a little crazy.

i had to throw this in b/c liam is making such a funny face!

maybe this will help...

2007-08-23T21:30:00.000-06:00

thanks to a response, i just realized that my work can be more appreciated when viewing what it used to look like! here it is, as the previous owner had it. enjoy (or not!)

It is finished!

2007-08-23T14:54:00.000-06:00

well, after almost 3 long months of working, our dining room is now finished. i have to say that i think it is the coolest room we've done so far and more over-the-top than the others, but that i have also been the most patient with it. i'm really glad to have it done, especially so i can have a break before we break into the basement! (it looks like nate's sis courtney is going to come live with us for a while, in which case we need to convert part of the basement into a bedroom and put a bathroom down there--things we were planning on doing anyways). here are some pics of how it turned out.

thanks to steve knese for doing the electrical and linda for letting me bounce off ideas!

yes, the table cloths and draperies were made by me. it's amazing what can be accomplished with a good sewing machine (thanks, mom!)

thanks to emily thomas for helping me put this bear of a sideboard together. oh, it was still worth it though!

in other news--things are just going along here. man, it is hot! i'm ready for fall to come. jeremy is still loving school and katya is still having a hard time with it. luckily, it seems i only need to do 10 min of school time with her to make up for it. maybe i'm not a very cool teacher, though. how in the world am i going to handle seth and liam when katya starts preschool? we just got finished with a bout of stomach bugs (throwing up and the like--only 3 of us got it), but now we are all back to normal. here's a fun pic of seth "playing" a horn that nate had decorated years ago in his floral design class. thank goodness it doesn't really work!

First day of school

2007-08-18T10:47:00.000-06:00

well, this past wednesday was jeremy's first day of kindergarten. yes, we officially have a school-aged child. just think, in 5 more years, they'll all be in school and i'll have to get a job or something (yeah, right). he was really excited and counting down the days. nate went to work late, so we all walked together up to the bus stop (4 houses up the street)
all these kids that i've never seen before congregated at the corner, waiting for the bus. once it came, jeremy gave everyone hugs and just turned and went on. no tears, no nervousness, nothing. i have to admit that i teared up a bit, but i probably wouldn't have if jeremy had needed some extra support.

he waved to us while sitting on the bus and then he was gone. once we got home, katya said that it was boring, but she's still gone to drop him off every day since then. it's been a rough adjustment for the kids to have him gone--and now i have a lot more work entertaining them! but, it's still an exciting event.

vacation from vacation

2007-08-11T12:01:00.000-06:00

well...we just got back from a long, intense, but fun, trip to utah and colorado to see family and friends. liam cried the whole way. we spent some time in slc where jeremy became enraptured with the pool slide and the kids all had their cousins to play with. we also got to see some movies (don't wanna see "rescue dawn" for another 10 years, and "bourne ultimatum" was awesome), and i helped aunt rachel decorate her room. it's really interesting to decorate someone else's house--i only had a limited time to get things right! at ikea, i ran into nate's old byu roommate, luke nichols, and his wife becca, which was quite random. too bad the store was about to close, or i would have spent more time catching up!

after a few days there, we drove with our stanford friends, the clarkes, to colorado (they went to spend time with her parents, and nate's family was having a reunion), which worked out wonderfully (except for liam crying the whole way).

for the reunion, we stayed at the estes park ymca, which is where the boyce family had their last reunion 14 years ago. we figured we had to go now, b/c gramma and grandad won't be alive in another 14 years! it was great, although our room was a little small, but the endless supply of chocolate milk made up for it (although i think the cafeteria people wanted to kick us out for allowing liam to make such huge messes all over the floor!). jeremy became addicted to mini golf and katya spent her time hiding her supply of sticks or rocks from her cousins. liam and seth took turns wanting to be held constantly.

here are some of the extended cousins all hanging out before we went horseback riding.

here we are on a hayride, which was cool (and raining!)

all told, there were about 60 people from the family there, so it was fun getting to know people we've never met before. there were also late-night games of mafia, which showed nate's true colors of lying well (i guess being a lawyer is a good fit).

anyway, after all of that, we went back down to denver to hang out with the clarkes again--went to a playground, had family night (which we used to do together back at stanford), and ate dinner. the best part was when we were moving our stuff, some guy comes toward us carrying liam, saying that he was out in the street. of course i thank him for getting my child, but then he says something to the effect of "well, i hope you've learned your lesson." so, to the colorado guy who saved my child (luckily it wasn't a busy road), i'm sorry that we've we inconvienced you by making it possible for you to perform a small act of service to our family. we won't ask you to do it again.

on our way on the road again, nate got the sudden idea to call his trainer from his mission, who lives close to denver. so, they got to catch up a little bit and he knows my family members who live in the area--better than i do! the world is such a small place.

so, then on our real way back home (with liam crying the whole time), we decide to get back sooner rather than later to catch up on our callings and recover from this trip. plus, we wanted to be able to sleep in our own beds without the kids in the same room! it was so nice to be home, although we are in the middle of a heat wave and my plants are suffering--we had to put the kids to bed in the basement since the upstairs was so hot from the cooler not being on. but, i had 4 large zucchini and some beans waiting for us, which was nice. now we are just trying to get things taken care of and i'm finding that being home isn't that much more relaxing, but it's better to be getting stuff done now than by myself once nate starts work again on monday!

jeremy starts kindergarten on wednesday. yeah!

how does your garden grow?

2007-07-21T20:11:00.000-06:00

i really have no idea why some of my garden is growing. i don't know what i'm doing and don't really have much of a green thumb, but we've been successful in about half of the seeds we planted.
here is katya with our 18 beans that we got on our first harvest--the kids didn't care for them too much!

then, i finally noticed that we had some zucchini, which by then had grown to 3 lbs. the kids didn't care for that much either, but nate and i thoroughly enjoyed it!

eventually, we should have some carrots and some mini pumpkins--next year i'll try to figure out how to do more!

the week of katya

2007-07-21T19:54:00.000-06:00

well, this happened quite a few weeks ago, but was most truamatic, so i had to include a post about this scandalous period of time.
first of all, she was not allowed to play with scissors (for cutting up her curtains), or with markers (for coloring on various pieces of furniture)
second, she decided to sneak into our room when we were on a date, secure a sharpie, and then proceed to color all over her door and door know with said sharpie.
the next day, she was informed of her punishments--which were many
third, when i proceed to repaint the parts of the door, i noticed crayon markings on the back of the door and on the wall behind it, which must have been put there after her first offense. needless to say, she was punished more, including being grounded from all markers and crayons (kinda hard to do art that way!)
fourth, we proceeded to have a rough week of "battles" and just as i thought things were getting better, i noticed that the kid scissors were missing, after we had just been using them. you can imagine what job they were unwittingly called in to do......

i have changed it a little since then, and it is quite nice not to have to do her hair as much, but if i don't do something with it, it looks a little masculine...oh well, at least it'll grow back in another 4 years!

some silliness

2007-04-26T13:28:00.000-06:00

jeremy in a silly mood

liam being cute--he walked around like this for hours!

liam helping with the gardening

so this is how it all starts

2007-04-26T13:16:00.000-06:00

i'm sitting here knowing that i need to fold laundry or i won't have time for a nap (which i desperately need, but i can't take now anyway since katya has a friend over), and yet i'm creating this blog, which i probably won't upkeep well (just look at my journal), but i became inspired by looking at my friends' blogs and you can tell i need sleep b/c this is a honker long sentence that doesn't really go anywhere (kinda like me, except i go to sam's club and the kid's preschool, etc).

anyway, thought i'd try my hand at annoying everyone by relating all of my current obsessions and boring them to death with my stories of painting and planting and the such. i can't spend all my life letting everyone think they are cooler than me (although they really are).