LIFE

Today, at Abby's request, I taught/played the classic board game LIFE with my kids. It was a blast. I'm so glad I put aside all the need-to-dos in my mind and enjoyed the time with my kids.

Towards the beginning, a conversation with Harvey-

I can't WAIT to get Married!!

Who DO you want to marry when you grow up Harvey?

The Crossing Lady!

(laughing)Why the crossing lady?

She's really nice but, sometimes I forget to give her a hug.

Not too far in, I traded 4 LIFE tiles for the 100,000$ salary. Shortly afterwards, Abby landed on a trade salary space. I pointed out that mine was the highest and took a big pay-cut. A little after that, Harvey landed on a trade salary space. I pointed out Abby had the biggest salary, and she took a 30% pay cut. Which resulted in tears for the next few rounds. Until she landed on ANOTHER trade salary space, and giggled delightedly. We finished up just in time for her to go to Activity Days.

Who won? HARVEY. That boy had the biggest good luck streak I have ever seen, lol. He found buried treasure, won the marathon, was the 'Tech' and got 50,000 a couple times when the spinner went wonky. There was plenty more good luck in there. Abby came in for a close 2nd, but she had gone to college, and had to pay that back. She was pretty wise in her decisions- not buying a house when she was super broke, buying insurance, etc.

Harvey was just l-u-c-k-y.

Go ahead, get out a game and play with your kids. It's so very worth the time. The house, it will still be messy later (even if you clean instead)

Announcing!!

Baby Number 4! Healthy heartbeat was found last Wednesday, so now I get to tell everyone. Pure joy, I'm super excited. I'm due October 22nd. How I feel depends on the day. Tired, mostly normal. Abby is definitely wishing for a girl. Harvey thinks a brother would be better. Jeff and I agree- either would be great, but it would be nice to have another girl. Those boys don't need another collaborator, lol.

Boys Will Be Boys!

Well the month of February has been one to really enjoy my boys. Harvey turned 4 years old on President's Day. And Willie turned 18 months on Valentine's. He hasn't gone to Jr Nursery yet, he's come with me to Sr. Nursery, and been sick. Here's some of what they've been up to:

Harvey getting ready to blow out his birthday candles. What a precious boy he is. He carefully blew out each candle, one at a time.

The rug was a present from my younger brothers and sister, as soon as it was spread out he got his fingers running over the road saying vroom, vroom. Who needs cars? Not Harvey.

Willie is growing so fast, he is always hungry. I need to feed the boy every 2 hours at least, often more. He's rapidly turning into a toddler, but keeping his sweet disposition too.

Harvey was tired. We took Abby to school, he came home and fell asleep without even taking off his jacket. Polly was happy to have someone to lie down by.

What fun these brothers are having. I'm so glad that Willie came along, right now Harvey doesn't fully appreciate it, he's not even sure he likes Willie yet, but I can see the brotherly bond forming. They are going to be great friends.

Harvey wanted to show my Aunt his Super-Harvey Costume, so he put it on for her

Then Willie decided he needed a cape and helmet too. I absolutely adore how Willie looks up to his big brother (sister too). He is really a uniting presence in our house, freely sharing his love with all of us.

Between the two of them I don't think any mother has ever been more loved. They both love to cuddle. Sometimes it is frustrating when great-big-four-year-old-Harvey insists that he not be put down. But mostly it's incredible. This morning Willie wanted to lie on my lap and Harvey hung on my back, alternately sticking his face over each of my shoulders and saying PeekABoo, silly boy. Willie loves to give hugs, and if for any reason I need him to come to me (diaper change being one) I just open my arms wide and say HUUUG!! And he'll come running right into them.

Harvey's imagination is sometimes just downright funny. Currently he has some (imaginary friend??) spiders that are actually having a birthday today. The spiders? They are his hands. They feed him, but sometimes they'd rather play in the food, or feed themselves. With Abby in school half the day, Harvey is sometimes frustrated and bored. He doesn't think that Willie is fun to play with, I'm trying to show him that Willie can play now too. If we get out the wooden blocks, Harvey will build something creative and Willie will stack a tower to knock down. They both love to play with cars and kitchen toys. Whatever Harvey is doing, Willie wants to try too. If I can just teach him to let Willie follow him around, I think we will have great success.

Willie, oh he's growing. He's not a little baby anymore, but a curious toddler. His vocabulary is growing rather inconsistently, but growing. He recently learned the sign for food, and the word. So I hear a lot of Bfoo Peeese. His favorite new term seems to be ME. Which functions well as Mine, Pick Me Up, and more. He is learning to make animal noises, although the only one that is easily recognized is Mooo. Even it comes out Booo. He makes a cute little squeaky noise for a kitten. And can growl and grunt pretty well too. He's also learning to respect boundaries, if I teach him. He really likes to pull all the movies off the shelf, and I was getting aggravated with always putting them back on. Then one day Jeff told him 'No, leave that alone' and he did! Why didn't I think of that? Sometimes I have the most obvious DUH moments as a mom. I forget the simple things, lol. But as long as I remember to love and enjoy my children, I think we'll be ok.

Sweet Cheeks

Tonight I was completely lazy. I got cold and buried myself under blankets on the couch. Then added a layer of sweet cheeked children. I wish I had pictures, but at least I can now say I understand more fully the term sweet-cheeks. Pectol kids have them, super sweet ones. They are so very kissable. Even better, they don't seem to mind being practically slobbered on when Mommy gets a bit enthusiastic in her kisses. Soft and plump little cheeks. Squeezy little children, generous with the love and hugs. So generous that at one point Abby got off my lap and informed me that Daddy had not had enough Abby cuddles yet. Then she relocated. That was alright, Mommy had to get up anyways.

Ode to October 2009 (so far)

Crisp Fall Air

Beautiful colors

Apple and Pumpkin; Apple and Pumpkin!

Birthday Shopping!!

Size 10 pants?? Yes, really.

Conference and Inspiration

Baby Steps, walking baby.

Hopes, dreams, aspirations, goals

St.George Marathon by 2012

Dissapointments and tears

Baby Elephant at Hogle Zoo

Homemade Costumes

Cousins playing

Full nights sleep

Children playing in the wind

Mother staying busy- but a good busy

Girly Day

Or that's what Abby likes to call it. Friday afternoon Jeff's brother called and said there was some emergency work to be done on family property, and could he borrow our car so he could go get it done? We have asked them to borrow our car if they need it, as they are currently a one car, 2 job, live next to nowhere family. So we said of course. Saturday morning Jeff asked if he could be of any assistance, and decided to go help too. That is when Harvey started begging to go. So it worked out that Jeff took Harvey and the dog with him and Abby and I had the day to ourselves- baby in tow.

She rode her bike over to the playground while I helped get Harvey ready to go, then Willie and I went to meet her. It's hard to believe I have a child old enough to ride a bike and go somewhere without me, but she is basically there. After we played on the playground we came home and cleaned up the garage while Willie napped, so we could park the van in it again. Abby was a great help, sweeping and picking up garbage for me, while I hung up bikes and lifted things to shelves. It wasn't a hard job, but it was one of those things that was very nice to get done. Abby had done a lot of listening to stories to earn reading minutes, and her prize was a Happy Meal certificate. I got a certificate for a premium salad for doing the reading. So off we went to McD's for lunch. The last time we went to a play place it was no fun at all and the kids kept getting stuck. But apparently they've upgraded- adding in Foosball, air hockey, and basketball. That's in addition to the traditional tunnel maze, which Abby really loved. Her favorite thing is to play in the tunnel slides on the school playground. Next on the agenda was dropping off stuff in the back of the car- recycling and a stroller for DI. The recycling center seems to have shut down. The gates are closed, very frustrating. We went over to DI to drop off a too bulky single stroller, and found a nice compact one for just 3 dollars. Then we went inside and found that they were having a clearance sale- several racks were just one dollar. I was able to buy Abby quite a bit of fun clothes so now she has some that will work for school. Not new, but that is actually a good thing, I think. I was also able to get some onesies for Willie, and some tshirts for me. Best thing though was I ran into a friend from St George at my Cedar City DI. We came home, had a fashion show, and kicked back to relax. All in all it was a busy but good day.

*****

Ok so now that I've bored you to tears with the play by play of our Girly Day, I'm going to just make this longer and say how grateful I am. Abby is my personal challenge. She's very dramatic, and precocious, and I am not sure what to do with her most of the time. I usually find myself expecting her to behave much more grown up than her actual age, or treating her like she still is incapable of doing anything. Maybe it is because she's the oldest, and I'm still figuring this out?? At least partly. I have tried in the past to take time with just her, but have struggled with enjoying what she wants to do. Yesterday was a good mix. I found myself really enjoying watching Abby playing on the play ground and the Playplace. I didn't have any of my sort of thing to do, just hold the baby and watch her. Usually that would drive me batty, but I really was able to enjoy it. I had fun shopping, and while she got a little bit bored, it was mostly about her so she enjoyed it too. Abby and I were really able to just enjoy each other and that one on one time when I didn't have to worry about Harvey or the dog was really very nice. Jeff and Harvey had a good time too. They spent the day chasing cows and mending fences. Harvey occupied himself digging cow-traps, lol. Harvey declared he didn't miss me at all when they got home today- and I didn't miss him much either. Yet it was absolutely wonderful seeing him again. We need to take more opportunities to enjoy our children on a personal level. They are quite different people on their own. I don't know if Harvey will ever be as excited to spend time with me instead of Daddy, or if Abby will get quite as thrilled about a Daddy Date as she does Girly Time. But soon we will do it- split them up and enjoy them, then come back together as a family appreciating each other even more.

Worth A Thousand Words

Sunday, just before dinner- We'd had a busy week.

There really is nothing sweeter than sleeping children.

What Abby sees...

through the lens of our camera. And what happens when she enlists Harvey's help. So I let Abby use our camera for a little bit, a few of them Harvey took, but Abby was definitely deciding what he should take.

Our Camping Trip

Well now that I have 2 comments on this post already- I'll actually take a minute and tell all about our camping trip! My original plan for the 4th was to stay in town and enjoy the festivities but when Jeff said he'd like to take advantage of the 3 day weekend and go camping, that sounded better. Then the weather started looking ominous, but we decided to brave it anyways. We went to Panguitch Lake and stay in the South Campground. It was really nice. It was our first time in the area and it is so very pretty we are looking forward to going again. So, the run down...

Abby and Harvey had fun collecting pine cones, rocks, and a few wildflowers. They dug in the dirt, climbed on rocks, and played with Polly. Polly had a great time getting herself tied up with the long line we brought for her. Willie was not so sure about the whole thing. He likes to be able to explore but a crawler in the dirt- not so much. He got really mad at first every time I put him in the play pen so my arms could have a break. But eventually he got used to it and we all were able to kick back and enjoy. We got there Friday by lunch time and got the tent up, had lunch, and then proceeded to set up our big screened canopy- after all rain was in the forecast. Jeepers, in the past we've had all the Pectol men to get that thing set up, this time it was just us, so we tried to enlist Abby and Harvey's help. Abby did great with most of it, but Harvey had a hard time figuring out how to move with us. But eventually we got it up and moved it over the picnic table. Saturday we went to Panguitch and enjoyed some indoor Kiddie games during a rain/hail storm. We went to Brian Head for fireworks that night and were able to attend Sacrament meeting at the little chapel Sunday morning. I forgot to pack a skirt for myself and Abby but we saved our nicest clothes, scrubbed everyone clean and went in jeans. It was a really good experience. It was nice to know that I can feel the spirit and reverence just by preparing my best, whatever that may be. It also helped to see others doing the same, but next time I'll try to remember a skirt. The pictures loaded backwards (one day I'll remember to put them in the other way) so I'll just explain our highlights in reverse I guess.

The kids and I in the lake. The original plan was to just let them get their feet wet since it was Sunday before we made it to the lake (rain) but after Harvey fell in and got all wet I just went with the suits. They'd been looking forward to the lake all week and really enjoyed it. I did too- the water was great. Jeff wasn't interested and Willie was asleep.

Jeff and Harvey watching fireworks while Harvey works on the BRAT diet. Yep, he needed it. Sorry about the finger- it was dark outside!

Abby's unicorn. She got her face painted in Panguitch and was so thrilled with the unicorn, I promised to take a picture before it all washed off.

Willie and I during our wienie roast. He has such a good smile and is so fun to hug.

Jeff, Abby, and Harvey during the roast on Saturday. It's smokey, but was the best shot to see all 3 and Harvey's marshmallow goo.

On our way for our first hike/walk. My hat looked like a good idea. But it kept flopping in my face and didn't last. My kids are sure super cute though!

Abby and Harvey Friday afternoon. Harvey was cranky and wanted to test his sleeping bag. It was cute, but no it didn't actually result in a nap.

Willie napped though! Waiting while Mommy helped Daddy set up camp was an exhausting job for a little guy I guess.

Sweet Baby Boy

Willie is 10 months old now, plus a week. I started a post when he had turned 9 months to announce his crawling, and never finished it. I did post about the puppy, right? Well apparently the puppy motivated Willie to start moving around too. For most of my readers this is not news- you've all seen him at it since then! It has made him a much more content baby because being set down on the floor is now an opportunity for adventure rather than a sure sign of abandonment. Right now Willie is just full of life and character. He loves his mommy, hates his bed. He has an incredibly expressive little face, and is just funny to watch. (He was pretty thrilled with himself when he was up and wide awake with everyone else before 6 am, thought that was great fun. I disagree.) He is starting to stand without support for a few seconds, and cruising will come very soon I just feel it. My sweet little baby boy is growing up way too fast, so I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts.

Our Cups Runneth Over

Well has it really been just a week since I posted that email because I had nothing to blog about? Ha ha the laughs on me. I considered titling this, 'Biting Off More Than We Can Chew', but decided to stay optimistic about all of our blessings. After a mad mad mad month of not being home on weekends, we had a Saturday at home, oh YEAH! In just one day at home my cup began to fill up, and quickly started running over. Our day started with an easy breakfast and then clearing out our old garden spot, a new spot for a strawberry patch, and measuring off the fence for grapes. We went over to LadyBug Nursery and got 4 grape plants, 6 new strawberry plants, a six pack of Rainbow Peppers, a six pack of grape tomatoes, a 6 pack of pear tomatoes, a 6 pack of sugar snap peas, and a packet of wild flower seeds for Abby. We will start the zucchini from seeds.
My cup is Full. I'm not planting a garden with any aspirations of bottling, no sir. This garden is all about the joy of eating, and being healthy. I'll work up to bottling some day. After arriving home with all of our lovely plants we know we need to hunt down some mulch, at a hopefully better price than the nursery had. So during lunch I called up my good friend Tia and ask where the stuff they put in their garden. Walmart, of course. Willie was worn out so Jeff and Harvey went to Walmart while Abby and I stayed home to clean up and clear out a patch for her flowers, I also started digging the holes for the grapes. Jeff calls and asks if he can get ---- I am not so sure but I don't like to tell my husband NO, I'm not his boss. So I tell him so, I don't really think so but whatever. What does Jeff come home with? Peat moss, soil conditioner, manure, potting soil, stepping stones, landscape edging stones, and a puppy.
Yes a PUPPY. Overflow. Really life is just too perfect in it's way right now. Jeff got the grapes and strawberries planted (oh happiness). Yesterday my sister and new brother in law stopped on their way home from Vegas, we had Jeff's mom over to teach us a little about dog behavior and training. Our garden is shaping up to be beautiful, the kids are thrilled about the puppy, and I'm just grateful for such simple pleasures that God has blessed us with. I'm also really intimidated and overwhelmed. But when I focus on the blessings, it seems like I'll get through it.

Simple Pleasures from my kids

What simple pleasures can I find every day? Well my children provide plenty

Willie- with his little one toothed grin, he is an absolute joy. He is most content in the arms of his parents. He is so observant, his eyes are like little bright sponges- they soak it all in. His laugh, his smile, his little baby voice babbling away. What is he trying to tell us?



Harvey- Aaahh my Harvey boy. He tells us several times a day that he loves his WHOLE family. I think my favorite thing right now is his little mispronunciations, they are sweet but I know he will outgrow them soon. Willie is pronounced with an 'L' at the front. Huggy, checky, a lot of ee sounds at the end of a word. Tonight he sat on my lap while listening to scriptures, reached over and patted Willie's head and said 'Oh Lillie I'm you big brother'. Harvey is always trying to save us from the monsters- he is a hero, a superboy, a GOOD GUY.



Abby- My precious daughter! What would we be without you. Abby loves to surprise us by doing a special chore without us knowing. She creates parties to entertain mommy all the time. She is always trying to help and play with Willie. When we made a lentil dish called Yamiser Wat for dinner she devoured the first helping, asked if she could have more and shouted 'oh YES' when we inquired if she liked it. She is pretty frank about things- when I asked her how I looked one day, her eyes got really big and she responded almost breathlessly- 'Barbie!'. She is mighty good at laying on the compliments. She has the best laugh in the whole world- it is downright ticklish. When Abby laughs, so do I.