The Fuller Fantastic Seven

Train them early

2011-01-09T19:17:00.000-06:00

Logan and Liam both received a stuffed Yoda for Christmas from Grandma Fuller. After the boys took the Yodas to their room, I noticed the Yodas were missing their Jedi robes. When I asked them where the robes were, Logan said, "Well, we put them in the dirty clothes because they needed to be washed before the Yodas could wear them."

Hmmm....I think they must have learned that from Dean!

Our Lego Star Wars guys are in Dad's secret place!

2011-01-09T13:33:00.000-06:00

Background: For Christmas, the boys received some lego Star Wars sets that came with these little Lego Star Wars characters. The boys love them, but are not always the most responsible in taking care of them. So Dean put some of them away in a drawer until they are a little older so they won't get lost.

Today: Liam comes into my room and demands to have his lego guys back out of our closet (reasonable, since we hide most everything in our closet). I tell him they are not in our closet and that Dad put them somewhere else. Liam leaves and I overhear the following conversation between the boys as I am putting on my makeup for church.

Liam: We can't have our lego guys back because Dad put them in his secret place. We're NEVER going to see them again!

Logan: Yes, we are.

Liam: We have to grow up first.

Logan: How are we going to grow up?

Liam: We have to eat lots and lots of birthday cake.......and then we're going to get really fat tummies!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-21T11:41:00.000-06:00

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas this year!

Since I am a crummy poet, I am going to borrow some song lyrics from Owl City:

I believe that Jesus is truly the only way

I celebrate Christmas because it’s his birthday

I hope you all remember the reason for the season! Have a great holiday!

My Little Adventurers

2010-12-21T10:06:00.000-06:00

This is how Liam & Ava spend their mornings most of the time. Yesterday they put together a "treasure," hid it and then followed clues to find it. Today they got "weapons" (play tools) to fight pretend bad guys. When they got tired of that, they drew treasure maps and followed the maps around the house. They have such a good time playing together!

I'm a throw-away Mom

2010-11-23T20:43:00.000-06:00

So Liam came home from school today with two colored pictures from a coloring book, which I promptly sent to the garbage. Sometime I try to hide them under the current trash, but I didn't this time. Two minutes later, Liam comes to me with his pictures in hand.

Liam: "Mom! Why did you throw these away?!"
Me: "Is that where they were? Hmmm, they must have fallen out there."
Liam, eyes wide: "Maybe they FLEW in there!"

Thank goodness for sweet, trusting little ones!

The Christmas Talk

2010-11-23T20:38:00.000-06:00

So, Aundi came home from school today telling me (and everyone else in the house) that her friend Claire told her there is no Santa Claus. Skillfully deferring that question and several other follow up questions before Dean and I had a chance to discuss this with the girls alone was difficult. But we just talked to them and they took the news quite well. We kept asking them what they believed, which has always worked in the past. We were still undecided as to tell them or not, but they finally insisted that it didn't matter what they believed--they wanted the truth!

Frankly, Dean and I are a bit relieved since it is getting harder and harder to remember if Santa gave them that "thing" or if we did. And they remember perfectly, which makes it all the more difficult. Hopefully, they can keep the magic alive for the younger ones.

I am trying to be a repentant blogger

2010-11-16T08:42:00.000-06:00

Some of you may have noticed that my blogging skills have been sorely lacking for several months. I just don't know where 2010 has gone! I keep thinking things will slow down after this-and-this happens, but I'm just not getting any breaks. Anyway, part of the problem is that I got a new computer a few months back, but our camera and picture programs were set with the old computer which I rarely turn on anymore. So, yesterday I realized that my laptop actually has a card reader and I could get the pictures off my camera in about 2 minutes with the reader. I downloaded pictures all the way back from early March 2010. Yikes! This blog does also double as my journal, so I would like to try to catch up. Be on the lookout for some entries detailing our family's year in 2010.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-16T08:21:00.001-06:00

This year Liam was a skeleton, Aundi was a black cat, Ava was a leopard and Aubrie was Princess Leia.

Logan (knight) was not pictured with the other kids because he began his trick-or-treating at a Halloween party. He joined us later.

These were Aubrie and Logan's pumpkins. They designed them and then helped us carve too!

These were Aundi and Liam's pumpkins. They were not allowed to carve these because they are my pumpkin pie pumpkins. Liam was just happy as a clam that I was letting him play with different color Sharpies!

What a cute little leopard!

Soccer Spring 2010

2010-06-10T17:08:00.002-05:00

This is a brief summary of our soccer experiences this spring with the five kids. Aubrie is first in the coral shirt, Aundi next in green and Logan last in red. Ava and Liam got a lot of park play time during the practices and games!

Ava is growing up...and growing hair

2010-03-30T21:03:00.004-05:00

I thought it was time to post an updated picture of Ava since she has changed a lot from our last family picture.

So not only does she look different, but she is growing up so fast! She is 22 months now, at our favorite age. She is slower to talk than our others, but I think that is because she does not need to talk much to communicate. She understands everything I say and she will listen, and that makes me happy. That is, except when she says, "NO!"
Ava is so sweet and only a little stubborn. The thing that sets her apart from our other kids at this age is her singing. If you think our other kids were singers, Ava puts them all to shame. She knows 4 or 5 Primary/kids songs and if she doesn't know all the words she will make up her own! She has nearly perfect pitch, so we can easily tell which song she is working on.
Her favorites are Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star; Jesus Wants Me for a SunBeep; Wheels on the Bus, Old Mcdonald (she really likes the E-I-E-I-O), and her newest one from Nursery last Sunday was Popcorn popping.
Ava's other quirky trait is her need to "help." She will carry Dean's (really heavy) dress shoes around the house until she find him because he might need them. Sometimes she is practically crying because things are so hard for her to carry. So, anything that might be needed by anyone gets carried around and delivered whether you want it or not! What a goof!

Aundi's Birthday

2010-03-30T20:48:00.004-05:00

So Aundi turned 7 (about 6 weeks ago *sigh* ). My blogging timeliness leaves something to be desired, I guess.

Aundi wanted to go to Bounce U for her birthday, so we took the whole crew and one of Aundi's friends. Then we came home and had presents, cake and ice cream. I don't make fancy cakes, but they do get to pick their flavors and such. Actually, they can have any treat they want. One year Aundi wanted Root Beer Floats for her birthday.

"Trying to figure out what to wish for is so hard!"

Grandma Fuller gave Aundi some pet shops, which is the latest craze for my girls.

Our 10-year Trip Pt. 3

2010-02-03T16:08:00.005-06:00

We spent the majority of our evenings at a piano bar with Ultimate Chocolate, the piano man, and a bunch of people who liked to sing along. Great fun!

This was a view of part of Couples Swept Away from the Caribbean Sea side.

This was our room (the garden suite). We always had fresh flowers. Through the doors was our veranda.

And these are the gardens. The greenery surrounded us, so our room felt very private.

We took this picture on our way out. One last glimpse of heaven.

Overall, we had an absolutely fabulous trip and we would recommend this place to anyone who wants a tropical vacation. I didn't post many pictures of our friends, but we met so many great people, both fellow vacationers and staff members. Great memories! We plan to go again as soon as we can!

Our 10-year Trip Pt. 2

2010-02-03T15:37:00.005-06:00

Talk about a beach-view! We miss this a lot.

On the beach at sunset, dressed for dinner.

One night we ate at the Thai Restaurant, Lemongrass. We got to sit right next to the torches--fun! I am drinking a virgin pina colada, which was absolute heaven down there because of the fresh pineapple and coconut. We lived on this drink and other fruity drinks like it.

This is how we spent the last several days of our trip. Ths sun in Jamaica is much hotter than we are used to, so we had to take frequent swims in the Caribbean Sea to cool off. The cushions on the chairs double as floaties.

We often had music while we were laying on the beach.

Our 10-year Anniversary Trip Pt. 1

2010-02-03T15:15:00.005-06:00

For some reason, this blog will not let me post more than 5 pictures at a time, so I am going to break up our trip into multiple posts.

This is right after we landed at the airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica. I didn't expect to see that beautiful, green countryside.

Entertainment was waiting a few steps away in the airport!

The bus ride from the airport to Negril was 2 hours. Along the way we saw many houses that looked just like this. I took a few pictures of different places so our kids could see how life was different there.

This is the main lobby at Couples Swept Away in Negril, Jamaica (Dean and I were a bit food-deprived at that point).

The evening after we arrived, we took a catamaran ride at sunset. Beautiful!

Scuba Diving

2010-02-03T14:53:00.003-06:00

So our resort (Couples) includes scuba diving training and one free dive with your vacation. We were super excited about this since we have always wanted to try it. Scuba Diving was even better than we expected! What a blast! We would like to become certified divers at some point.

This is our scuba instructor, Anthony, along with our friends from Canada, Dave & Kendra.

We went diving in a coral reef about 5 minutes away from the resort. Anthony took all the underwater pictures.

This is an octopus, if you couldn't tell. I did not see it, unfortunately, but Dean did.

We had to practice that rescue breathing!

Grandpa's adventures with Liam

2009-12-14T13:20:00.002-06:00

The kids spent the weekend in LaCrosse with Grandma and Grandpa. While the three older kids were at the Nutcracker with Grandma, Grandpa got to babysit the younger two.

Here is a description of how things went in my dad's words:
"Here's what happens when Linda [my mom] drops the kids with Grandpa, and Liam doesn't have a change of clothes.....
Liam got busy playing, I guess, and peed in his pants, and also a little #2 in the underwear. Fortunately, he got to the toilet with most of #2. Anyway, his pants and underwear were soaked, so I washed them, and put MY underwear on him. Take a look. By the way, the second time for #2, he made the toilet ok."

This is one for the memory books, folks!

School Time!

2009-10-12T15:18:00.003-05:00

Clearly, I am behind, but I think this is the last of my catch-up entries. So as school has been in session for 5 weeks or so, here's an update on how everyone's doing.

Aubrie: She likes school well enough, but she has lots more homework this year. She isn't so excited about getting that done after school. But being perfect Aubrie, she does it anyway! :0

Aundi: She likes school a lot. She has class this year with at least 10 kids from her class last year, so I think it is party time most of the time. She doesn't have any homework and wishes she did!

This is definitely NOT the standard Logan "picture smile". This is his super happy face!

Logan: He LOVES school. He has been looking forward to this year for a long time. He was so excited when he got to leave with the girls in the morning to catch the bus. The structure and challenge has been wonderful for him. Actually, he is like a new boy. He has stopped whining (mostly) and talking back and is following rules so much better. He tells us that he likes school because he LEARNS, and not just PLAYS like preschool. Well, then!

I love my cute little munchkins!

Send postcards

2009-10-02T15:47:00.002-05:00

Aundi's first grade class is doing a postcard-geography project where they send and receive postcards all over the U.S. If you would like to help them map out the states, please send a postcard from your hometown to:

Mrs. Bunderson's First Grade Class
Attn: Aundrea
2215 Pennsylvania Ave
Sun Prairie, WI 53590

I know they would appreciate your participation!

Our last hurrah

2009-09-30T10:44:00.004-05:00

The kids spent some time without us in LaCrosse with two sets of their grandparents before school started. Dean and I went to meet them for a long weekend. We were able to go out on my dad's boat and enjoy the gorgeous day!

This bridge crosses over the Mississippi River, which is the official border between Wisconsin and Minnesota.

We stopped at a sandbar to play and eat. I didn't let the kids bring their swim suits because it was only 70 degrees and I thought it wouldn't be warm enough to swim. But they didn't care and went swimming anyway in their clothes. Then they would run up on the bank and warm up on the sand.

We had a great time! Thanks to Gpa & Gma Hennen for the boat ride and thanks to my mom for watching Ava.

Logan's 5th Birthday

2009-09-30T10:33:00.002-05:00

On August 15, Logan turned 5. He was so excited to turn 5 because that meant he could go to school. He's been looking forward to this birthday for months.

The Milwaukee Zoo

2009-09-30T10:22:00.003-05:00

We took a trip with Grandpa & Grandma Hennen to Milwaukee this August to visit the State Fair and zoo. The zoo is always a great time! This year, the funniest animal we saw was a spider monkey. He was a real performer and loved to put his t-shirt on while hanging upside down. Then he would take it off and do it again. The best part about this show was that the zoo money looks exactly like the stuffed monkey we bought for Logan's 1st birthday when we visited the zoo a few years ago. He named it "Z" and still sleeps with it every night.

Grandma sprang for a carousel ride.

The train was an authentic steam locomotive. We kept hearing the train rumble through the zoo throughout the day. Liam would go crazy when he heard it and start running to see it.

We couldn't very well leave without taking him on a ride. He was one excited little boy! Thanks, Grandpa!

Of course, we didn't take the family picture until we were on our way out and exhausted!

Ava Dawn

2009-09-24T13:56:00.003-05:00

Here's the update on Ava. She has been changing so much, it is hard to keep up. She took her first steps a little after a year, but she really didn't start walking until around 13 months. At 14 months, there was no stopping her. She was climbing on and off couches, stairs, chairs, tables, you name it. I thought she was going to be an easy baby, but apparently, I was wrong. At one point, she would climb on the kitchen table and RUN from one side to the other and back again. Then we had to get serious about teaching her to stay off the table. Fortunately, it worked and she does stay off the kitchen table now.

We were pretty glad when she started going up and down the stairs safely by herself.

The summer and humidity brought Ava a head full of curls. I love them!

Ava is making one of her silly faces and giving you a nice view of her teeth. She finally got some of those at 13 months. She actually cut 4 at once, but none since. She is almost 16 months now.

She's sort of a comedian, and this face always gets lots of laughs.

LSS Company Picnic

2009-09-24T13:28:00.004-05:00

We had the opportunity to attend Dean's company picnic for the first time this summer. What a blast! They had great food, DJ music, bingo with prizes, a blow-up jump house and slide and a kids tent with all sorts of carnival games and prizes. Best of all, everything was free! Sign us up for next year!

The kids spent hours in the carnival games tent.

I was actually disappointed this one was only for kids.

Aundi's expression says it all.

The kids, wearing some of their prizes.

Wisconsin Dells

2009-09-18T09:43:00.004-05:00

One of our mini-vacations this summer was to Wisconsin Dells for my Starr family reunion. We do this every three years and this was the first time that the reunion was in the midwest. We made a couple day trips to the Dells to visit with everyone. We stayed at the Meadowbrook resort, which had a great pool for little kids.

No matter how much we tried, Ava did not want anything to do with that cold water.

Grandma Winans is a very fun pal to have when you are swimming.

My Golden Three-Oh

2009-09-18T09:30:00.004-05:00

On July 30, I celebrated my 30th birthday. Ok, so I have been dreading this day all year. After all, this is the birthday that ends an era! I am now officially getting OLD! I went out with some girlfriends the day before and we had a family party the day of. The good news is, by the time my actual birthday arrived, I think I had done enough dreading that I was ready to be happy about it.

Wouldn't you know...since I have turned 30, I think 4 strangers have said, "You don't look old enough to have 5 kids." And I said, "I'm not old--I'm only 30!"

This was one of my presents from Dean (that's our microwave).

Garden veges

2009-09-17T17:33:00.003-05:00

Unfortunately, I failed to get a great picture of our garden in full bloom. The cherry tomato plant was so huge, it knocked its cage over and quit standing up straight in late July. It made a new home laying on the grass outside the garden, and I bet it given us at least 200 tiny, sweet tomatoes.

This was a typical harvest for us--cucumbers, green beans, sugar snap peas, carrots & tomatoes. We would pick every 2-3 days. The only underproducer we picked is watermelon. Turns out Wisconsin has the wrong climate for those. Guess we'll skip it next year! Otherwise, our first garden was a huge success!

Jazzercise!

2009-09-17T17:27:00.002-05:00

Liam got into the girls' headbands one day. He thought this was great fun (it's either this or use the headbands as slingshots). Anyone up for a little Sweatin' to the Oldies?

Yet more ER

2009-09-17T17:21:00.003-05:00

We added two more ER visits to our grand total this summer. The first was while we were in Utah. Logan was teasing Liam and Liam retaliated by pushing Logan into the counter. Logan got a small cut in his forehead, so we had to take him in. At least now Logan has a little empathy for what Liam went through this summer.

Toward the end of our trip, we started to suspect that Aundi had caught pneumonia from Aubrie. We took her in to the ER as soon as we got home, and that was the case. Grandpa Fuller sent Aundi some beautiful flowers.

Our Utah trip June 26 - July 12

2009-09-17T15:57:00.003-05:00

We had a great trip to Utah. The drive out and back was not even that bad. Day 1 in the car was not the greatest either way, but day 2 went very smoothly both ways. We borrowed my dad's Suburban too, which helped a lot with space.

One of our more memorable activities in Utah was visiting the Uinta Mountains. We hiked to Julie Andrews meadow to start.

Dean's mom, Becky, had an Indian activity planned for the grandkids. They all had Indian names and a head-dress to go along with it. The kids thought it was great!

Liam shares a birthday with Uncle Jordan. How fun that they could celebrate together in the beautiful outdoors!

How can summer be over already?!

2009-09-01T15:09:00.002-05:00

You know those days when you are running from morning until night from one thing to the next and you can't stop to think much or you'll collapse? That's how I would describe my summer. So that's why the blog has been terribly neglected. Consequently, I have loads to post.

The kids started school today, but it was a half day--to get them acclimated, I guess. Anyway, now that life has slowed some, blogging is on the priority list. Hopefully later this week, I can get all my pictures sorted and posted!

Wisconsin Dells

2009-06-26T12:52:00.003-05:00

My dad and stepmom, Mary, treated us to a day in the Dells. Our whole family was supposed to camp overnight, but we had to modify our plans with Aubrie's pneumonia.

We started out with a Duck ride. I told the kids we were going to ride giant ducks, so I'm not sure if they were disappointed or not that they weren't really giant animals. They did enjoy the ride, though.

Logan had a hard time staying in his seat!

Next, we went to the Broadway theater to see High School Musical. First you eat and then you watch the show. Food was great! Logan is keeping himself occupied, again (gargling, if you can't tell).

My own "HSM" kids!

This has got to be some sort of record

2009-06-26T12:20:00.006-05:00

These last 15 days have been eventful for many reasons, but most of all because we have been the the Emergency Room 5 times! We shattered our previously statistics at 2 times in 8 years.

Trip #1: Friday, June 5. The boys were playing with the La-Z-Boy footrest (using it as a jumping platform, actually). I told them they needed to stop and put it down before somebody got hurt. They complied, but Liam slid underneath the footrest as Logan was putting it down and Liam's head caught the metal corner of the footrest. Ouch! Required 2 layers of stitches, 5 total. Lots of screaming.

Trip #2 was actually minor--to remove his stitches a week later. Lots more screaming. Didn't help that we were in the same exam room as last time. Bad memories, apparently.

Trip #3: Monday, June 15. Since the last day of school, Aubrie had a fever and a nasty cough. She always coughs badly when she gets sick, so we didn't worry about it too much. This cough, however, was worse than any she had before. On night #3 at 3 am with no sleep and still a fever, we went into the ER. We thought she had H1N1. The staff treated it like H1N1 too with full contamination gear. Anyway, as a precaution they took an x-ray and it turns out she had pneumonia. Whew! The medicine started working right away and we all started sleeping much better. Thanks to Grandpa Fuller for the flowers.

Trip #4: Thursday, June 18. I cut the boys' hair in anticipation of family picture while we are in Utah. Dean was bathing them in our oversized stand-up shower when Liam slipped and banged his head. His gash was bigger this time. Lots of blood. Fortunately, I had been through this recently, so I knew what to do. Called the ambulance this time. But by the time they got there, Liam had stopped bleeding, so they bandaged him up and we took him to the ER. Here he is waiting to see the doctor.

Liam remembered the papoose board from the first and second visits. Not so happy to be in there again. Would you believe we were in the same exam room for a third time? Really bad memories. The ambulance drivers gave him the kitty, which has become a favorite for Liam. 2 stitches underneath and 6 on top. He screamed a lot but at least he was getting used to the procedure this time.

Trip #5: Saturday, June 20. The older three kids and I were in the Dells for the day. Dean was home with Liam & Ava. Dean was feeding Ava when Liam fell somewhere around the piano. He split open all his stitches from trip #4. Dean was frantic, but he got Liam to the ER where they re-stitched him. 2 underneath and 8 on top this time.

You can see that his scar on the left side from trip #1 is healing quite nicely.

Thanks to our friends who watched the other kids at a moment's notice while we took Liam in!

Aundi & Aundi.2

2009-06-24T22:38:00.004-05:00

I thought I'd show you this picture so you can see how our clone experiment is working out.

You can click on the picture to get a blown up version if you really want to compare.

We have a graduate

2009-06-24T22:35:00.001-05:00

We had the privilege of attending Logan's graduation from La Petite Academy on June 14. I will say, I rolled my eyes when I first heard about it, but, I must admit, the kids were cute.

So Logan is now officially a Kindergartener.

Ava had a birthday!

2009-06-24T22:26:00.003-05:00

We were a little worried about Ava's birthday treat because she wasn't eating real food by her first birthday (still pureed stuff). So we made some cupcakes the week before to test her. She quickly realized that they were yummy! So when Ava saw another cupcake, she was pretty excited!

"Are you sure this candle is safe?"

"I think I can fit it all in....!"

It's summer!

2009-06-24T22:21:00.002-05:00

So it is officially summer now in Wisconsin. We had a beautiful month or so when it was perfect to be outside.

One day, Liam's friend, Nicholas, was over and they were chillin' on the deck.

As soon as Ava sees the patio door open, she crawls as fast as she can to get through it before it closes.

The nice thing about our deck is that it has no stairs down to the backyard, so it is like a giant playpen. We will probably put stairs down next summer.

It's Jamaica, mon!

2009-06-04T10:43:00.002-05:00

Dean and I booked our 10th Anniversary trip last night. It's a little early, I know, but there are deals right now, so we had to take advantage of them! We are going to Couples Swept Away in Negril, Jamaica, from January 17-24, 2010. The resort is all-inclusive, but I know there are off-site excursions you can do too. If anyone has any thoughts or things we should do, let me know. We are super excited!

Our Garden

2009-05-20T11:32:00.002-05:00

We have wanted to plant a garden for a couple years now, but things never worked out between our move and having Ava. So, this year we finally built a raised bed on the south side of our house. We planted seeds 9 days ago, so, hopefully, we will start seeing somw results.

We also started our outdoor landscaping projects. This one took us several hours one day. The only problem was we didn't start until about 4:30 pm, so we didn't finish until 11:30 that night.

We all have days like this...

2009-05-18T17:54:00.003-05:00

Apparently, making it into bed was too much effort for Liam...

Aubrie's Baptism

2009-05-18T17:49:00.005-05:00

In our church, we baptize at 8 years old. So this was a big birthday for Aubrie. Dean baptized her at our church about 3 weeks ago. We had extended family from all over the U.S. in attendance. We are grateful for their support!

Afterwards, Aubrie got to wear a special Princess dress.

Aubrie said she had a GREAT day!

Basement Progress Report

2009-05-18T17:32:00.003-05:00

This is the guest bedroom, and also the place where the lime green paint really belongs (see next entry). It is not finished yet. Next is the trim and doors, but we are getting close!

You probably can't see the texture in this picture, but we did this room in knockdown finish.

Gotta love color!

I can do it, really!

2009-05-18T17:16:00.004-05:00

This might just be one of the messiest scenarios that you imagine only in your worst nightmares. But it happened to us. Here's the story: I had just walked in the door from buying paint at Home Depot. We had 4 gallons and Logan decided he really wanted to help carry a can downstairs. "You can't, Logan, it's too heavy."

"I can do it!" (while grabbing a paint can)

"No, you can't. Put it down!"

"No, I really can!" CRASH! The paint can falls, the lid pops off, and the paint can rolls all the way down the stairwell.

So, my stepmom, Mary and I are standing there in shock, trying to figure out what to do. My dad says, "Go rent a carpet cleaner. NOW." Fortunately, we have a rental place nearby. I ran to get an industrial strength carpet cleaner while Dad and Mary started pouring water over everything so the paint would not set (I know you're not supposed to do that, but we didn't know what else TO do). While they were trying to get started cleaning up, Liam came running through the paint, so then we had lots of little lime green footprints running through the Living Room too. After that, the kids were banished to their rooms while we worked.

The sad part is these pictures don't even do it justice! There was paint splattered on the walls, woodwork and on the back of the stair parts that you can't see in the picture. These pictures were also taken after we cleaned up the worst spot at the the very top of the stairs where the paint can fell initially.

Ta-da! Two hours later and we have UNBELIEVABLE results! Seriously, I was already mentally pricing out our carpet replacement. Hooray for carpet cleaners and extra adults to help!

Crazy Hair Day

2009-05-18T17:11:00.002-05:00

Here in Wisconsin, the schools have to do dress up days during the winter to keep the kids from going nuts indoors. This was Crazy Hair Day about a month ago. Both the girls have the same 'do.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-11T11:00:00.002-05:00

My day yesterday was great! Church was really nice. The last two years, our ward's Mother's Day present is to have the men bring in treats for the women. We had cookies, all sorts of brownies, chocolate turtle cheesecake, cake, fruit cobblers, ice cream and punch. Wow! They went all out.

Then, my gift from Dean was for him to be "mother" for the day. I didn't want to cook or clean. He delivered and made my day very restful. He also made one of his special Mission dishes, tortilla de potata (that's probably spelled wrong), from Spain. It takes about 90 minutes to make, so he only does it a few times a year. Yum!

My kids gave me lots of things like really pretty flowers and flower picture and necklaces and pretty decorated boxes with nice notes. It doesn't get any better! What a great family I have. Happy Mother's Day to all you women out there!

It's official: she can move

2009-05-06T14:51:00.003-05:00

In mid-April, at Ava's 10-month mark, she started making tracks around the house.

I can hardly take the next picture before she is right in my lap.

She started pulling up on furniture and cruising within a couple days of crawling.

It has been a while since we have had one in this stage. I don't think I am looking forward to doing this again...

They're boys, I promise

2009-05-06T14:45:00.002-05:00

I probably shouldn't post this picture, but here it is anyway. The boys got a hold of the girls Easter hats and wanted to model. Logan also has one of the girls' play jewelry pins on too. Hmmmm.....

Barbie gone bad?

2009-05-06T14:39:00.005-05:00

Dean and I walked into the girls' room one day and found this scene.

We were a little dumbfounded at first, but then we realized that the girls were trying to make Princess Leia dolls, like in Wii Lego Star Wars. Princess Leia gets to fight with a blaster in the game. Gotta give them points for creativity.

Aubrie's 8th Birthday

2009-05-06T14:25:00.004-05:00

Where has the time gone? How is it my baby is 8? Aubrie requested a chocolate cake with violet frosting.

One of her gifts, by request, was a Hannah Montana wig. And, like most things she wants, it was worn for a few minutes and is now in the vast void of her closet somewhere. *sigh*

Of course, Logan had to try the wig too. He makes a great Hannah, don'tcha think?

This is flexibility

2009-05-06T14:20:00.003-05:00

I am incredibly behind with my blogging. Things have been very busy the last month and I will attempt to catch up with several entries over the next few days. Starting with the beginning of April (that's important because she wasn't mobile then): The kids and I were eating breakfast and Ava was playing quietly in the living room next to us with some of her toys. All of a sudden, I realized she was being very quiet. I went to check on her and this is what I found.

Poor thing! She didn't make a peep. I wish I could do that.

Not my favorite way to lose weight

2009-03-23T10:56:00.003-05:00

Ok, I haven't blogged about my weekly sweet abstinance because I have had the stomach flu since last Wednesday. Today I am feeling pretty good although still a little tired. I did eat three popsicles when I was recovering, but other than that I am still on the bandwagon.

Lucky the Leprechaun

2009-03-18T11:41:00.004-05:00

Aubrie came home from school a few days ago and informed me that we needed to leave some treats out for Lucky on St. Patrick's Day. So last night the kids prepared their "presents" for Lucky along with notes.

Logan's present was very simple. It started out as a chocolate covered caramel. However, he held it in his hand too long and it started to melt. So then it just looked like a terd! I was trying so hard not to laugh as I wrote his note to Lucky. It says, "Lucky, this is for you. Eat this (poor Lucky!). What is your middle name? Logan"

The girls got a little more involved. They made Lucky a bachelor pad from their Barbie furniture complete with Aubrie's mp3 player. Here's what Aundi's note said, "The food on the plate is for you!" Ok, nice and simple. Here's Aubrie's note: "Dear Lucky, I hope you find the rado (radio). I hope find the button on the side. The swich on the top is to go to the next song. The thigs that hang down from it you put in your ears to listen. If you want to write, please do! I wish I had my ears pearst and I want to now if Matt likes me." (To which, Dean about had a heart attack.) Lucky responded to the last statement by saying, "Who wouldn't like you? You are a sweet girl." The next morning when Aubrie showed me Lucky's answer, the Matt part was crossed out!

I'm at war...with my scale

2009-03-17T19:57:00.002-05:00

So my pregnancy weight loss is now going the wrong way...up instead of down. I decided today after my pants keep getting tighter and tighter that I am going to cut out all sweets for one week to see if I can reverse the trend. I am going to be accountable daily to the blog, and I'll also post how much, if any, weight losss I have this week. GOOOOO . . . . (insert cheer here). Since I can't think of one and neither can my creative husband, I'll have to fill that one in later this week.

I am woman, hear me roar (and see me drill)

2009-03-17T10:09:00.005-05:00

Ok, I learned a new skill this weekend. I got to use the electric drill to help screw in the sheetrock on the bedroom walls.

It was a little hard at first, but once I got the hang of it, not too bad. However, after a few hours my hands and arms were very tired.

So here's the downside: now every time something needs to be drilled, Dean will say "why don't you do it?"

What a cutie!

2009-03-13T10:33:00.004-05:00

Ava is growing up too fast. She is just past nine months now and her little personality is really starting to show. She has finally decided that mobility is fun. In the last couple weeks she has been squirming and rolling like crazy. She actually rolled over two months ago, but had no interest in doing it very much until recently.

These days she sits a lot and plays with toys around her. When she gets tired of that, she will fall on her tummy and move that way. No crawling yet, but I would guess it's not too far off.

She loves to blow raspberries, especially when she is tired of eating.

This is her "oh, no, that thing is going to flash at me again" face.

We see this face a lot along with squealing and giggling and arm-flapping.

This should be the project every Saturday

2009-03-13T10:20:00.002-05:00

So we are working on sheetrocking the ceilings of the 2 future bedrooms downstairs. We decided to rent a lift to these ceilings after doing the bathroom ceiling without one. Best $28.50 we ever spent! Dean and my dad were able to put up 16 sheets of drywall up in about 8 hours. Not bad!

Also, kudos to Dean for carrying all 16 sheets downstairs by himself. They weigh about 70 lbs each. Glad I didn't sign up for that job! Looking great, and love the face, Dean (he did that on purpose).

Success!

Thanks guys!

Aundi turned 6!

2009-02-17T11:10:00.005-06:00

My second little darlin' is now 6 years old. Where does the time go?

Aundi's request was chocolate cake with white frosting.

She is into Littlest Pet Shop toys right now.

Liam really liked the cake. As a matter of fact, he loves all treats.

Sayonara white walls!

2009-02-17T10:56:00.005-06:00

Last week we finally finished the "paint the entire main level" project that we started last summer. It took us forever to decide on a color and then we had to find the time and evergy! Anyway, we are thrilled with the results. And, as Dean says, even more important than the color, we are excited that we can now actually clean the walls when someone draws on them!

We almost contracted this job out because of this wall (it extends all the wall down to the basement). But it turned out to be easier than we thought it would be.

Many thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Hennen for their help!

Before

After. Wow! What a difference a little paint makes!

Bounce U

2009-02-15T20:10:00.005-06:00

One of Aundi's birthday presents this year was a trip to BounceU. It's basically a place with jumphouses similar to what you would find at a carnival or theme park. The kids had an absolute blast. Aundi wore her wristband for 5 days.

Logan had a great time on this climbing tower. It ended with a slide.

Logan was our little spider monkey, and he beat Dean up to the top every time.

This was a general bouncing ring with some basketball hoops.

This was the small double slide following the obstacle course. We had lots of races through this one. Dean even beat the BounceU attendant. Go, honey!

Grandpa and Grandma Hennen came with us and THEY even had a good time playing! This is the big slide.

2009-02-02T11:32:00.002-06:00

100 Random Things
I'm copying Becky and highlighting the ones I've done.
1. started your own blog
2. slept under the stars
3. played in a band
4. visited Hawaii
5. watched a meteor shower
6. given more than you can afford to charity
7. been to Disneyland
8. climbed a mountain
9. held a praying mantis
10. sang a solo
11. bungee jumped
12. visited Paris
13. watched a lightning storm at sea
14. taught yourself an art from scratch (scrapbooking counts, right?)
15. adopted a child
16. had food poisoning (WAY too many times)
17. seen in person the Statue of Liberty
18. grown your own vegetables
19. seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. slept on an overnight train
21. had a pillow fight
22. hitch-hiked
23. taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. built a snow fort
25. held a lamb
26. gone skinny dipping
27. run a marathon
28. ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. seen a total eclipse
30. watched a sunrise or a sunset
31. hit a home run
32. been on a cruise
33. seen Niagara Falls in person
34. visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. seen an Amish community
36. taught yourself a new language
37. had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. gone rock climbing
40. seen Michaelangelo's David
41. sung karaoke
42. seen the Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. visited Africa
45. walked on a beach by moonlight
46. been transported in an ambulance
47. received a prestigious award
48. gone deep sea fishing
49. seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. kissed in the rain
53. played in the mud
54. gone to a drive-in theater
55. been in a movie ("Joseph" currently playing in Nauvoo or the Joseph Smith Building in Salt Lake)
56. visited the Great Wall of China
57. started a business
58. taken a martial arts class
59. visited Russia
60. served at a soup kitchen
61. sold girl scout cookies
62. gone whale watching
63. got flowers for no reason
64. donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. gone sky diving
66. visited a nazi concentration camp (Dachau, twice)
67. bounced a check
68. flown in a helicopter
69. saved a favorite childhood toy
70. visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. eaten caviar
72. pieced a quilt
73. stood in Times Square
74. toured the Everglades
75. been fired from a job (I hope I never am!)
76. seen the changing of the guards in London
77. broken a bone (my pinky toe while I was pregnant, and it was miserable)
78. been on a speeding motorcycle
79. seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. published a book
81. visited the Vatican
82. bought a brand new car
83. walked in Jerusalem
84. had your picture in the newspaper
85. read the entire Bible (the Old Testament is just too long!)
86. visited the White House
87. killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. had chickenpox
89. saved someone's life
90. sat on a jury
91. met someone famous
92. joined a book club
93. lost a loved one
94. had a baby
95. seen the Alamo in person
96. swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. been involved in a law suit
98. owned a cell phone
99. been stung by a bee
100. learned to play an instrument (piano and oboe, sort-of)
Hmmm...only 59/100. I guess I have some work to do. Your turn!

Wilderness Lodge

2009-01-30T15:33:00.003-06:00

We took our "winter" vacation with my dad and step-mom at Wilderness Lodge in Wisconsin Dells for a few days. It was non-stop swimming in the two huge indoor waterparks or running around the indoor dry parks. The kids had a blast and we had fun too, but it took us a few days to recover after we got home.

Happy 9th Anniversary!

2009-01-14T16:26:00.005-06:00

So Dean and I were married nine years ago today in Salt Lake City, UT.

I've done some reflecting today and, between the two of us, here's what progress we have made in those nine years:

1. Moved 8 times & lived in 6 different cities

2. Received 2 undergraduate degrees and 1 master's degree

3. Been pregnant for 3 years and 9 months

4. Had five healthy children

5. Held 5 part-time jobs and 3 full-time positions

6. Gained 40 lbs (although, to be fair, I am still losing baby weight)

7. Owned 5 cars

8. TV, then and now: then--my Grandpa's old RCA color set (so old that it didn't have a power button; you pushed the volume up to turn it on), now--40" Samsung LCD mounted on our wall

9.Biggest fights, then and now: then--one of our biggest fights after we were first married was about which drawer the silverware was going to go in--I'm serious! It was a real adjustment for me not to get my way all the time, now--which one of us is going to get up with the kids on Saturday morning

Overall, what a great 9 years! I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat!

My Little Formula Haters

2009-01-14T11:33:00.003-06:00

My kids have all detested formula. I added it to their cereal when they were babies. The girls tolerated it, but the boys both spit their cereal out and clamped their mouths shut until I stopped using formula. Ava started eating cereal with water really well about a month ago. This is how she normally looks when she eats:

This was her face after the cereal with formula bite:

Yuck, mom!

Thomas the Train

2009-01-14T11:28:00.003-06:00

We built up our Thomas the Train set for Christmas this year. The kids really enjoy building a monster track. Of course, it gets wrecked rather quickly, but it's fun in the meantime.

Our Christmas Tree

2009-01-14T11:21:00.005-06:00

Grandpa and Grandma Starr gave the kids a train set to go around the tree for Christmas. The kids loved it and played with it all the time.

I kept waiting to take a picture of our tree until I could get the garland on it. But, you will notice, that didn't happen this year. Oh, well, no one seemed to care anyway!

It's Time for the Tooth Fairy. . .

2009-01-14T11:12:00.003-06:00

Aubrie is now 7 1/2 years old, and she has been asking for months when she will lose her first tooth, since all her friends already have. Finally, on December 23, she lost her bottom front tooth. Actually, her two bottom center permanent teeth came in behind her baby teeth. The other bottom center baby tooth is quite loose too.

My wonderful husband

2008-12-23T09:58:00.002-06:00

Last weekend, we had our second big snowstorm of the year. Last winter we had a record snowfall, and I think we may beat that this winter if the snow keeps up. Dean's work let him bring home a laptop the day before the storm to work from home so he wouldn't have to drive to work on bad roads.

Note how tall the snow is in the next picture. Our snowblower has a 24" clearing height. So far, though, it has been working great! We splurged and bought it a couple months ago, and it has been a great purchase. Our first major snowstorm was also more than 24" deep in some places.

How sweet!

2008-12-18T11:09:00.003-06:00

I was walking by the living room a few days ago and I saw this:

I couldn't quite figure out what I was seeing at first, so I took a closer look.

Aubrie has to read every day for school, and she prefers to read aloud. Ava seemed to really enjoy it!

The cutest kids in the world

2008-12-04T14:19:00.002-06:00

Aubrie, Aundi & Logan

Gingerbread Houses

2008-12-04T14:09:00.003-06:00

One of Dean's Christmas traditions growing up was making Gingerbread houses. Watching the creative juices flow was lots of fun for me.

Grandma Becky helped the girls with their house.

This is Logan and Liam's final product.

This is what Liam looked like when he was done making the Gingerbread house. I think he REALLY enjoyed this activity!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-04T12:54:00.005-06:00

Jordan (Dean's brother) and his wife, Lisa, and their two boys, Derek and Nathan came to visit for Thanksgiving. Dean's mom, Becky, also flew in from Utah to join us. We had a fun time and a great meal!

Liam and Derek playing on the piano.

Lisa helping with Thanksgiving Dinner.

Grandma Becky and Nathan.

Dean, Jordan and the other kids.

Dean: "Is dinner ready YET?"

My Little Butterball

2008-11-25T20:44:00.004-06:00

This is Ava's favorite position now. Ava discovered her feet about a month ago (at five months). She loves to arch her back, grab her feet and roll around from side to side.

Halloween

2008-11-24T14:52:00.003-06:00

This is a little late, but here's our adventures on Halloween in pictures. We had absolutely beautiful weather that night, so we were able to do quite a bit of Trick-or-Treating. The kids had a blast! If you can't tell, Aubrie & Aundi were "Hex girls" from Scooby-Doo.

Testing...

2008-11-21T15:26:00.000-06:00

I'm finally going to try to join the 21st Century...Everyone says this is so easy, so I hope so!