Happy Memorial Day!

When I was growing up my family had, and still continues, a tradition of visiting the cemetary for Memorial Day, however, being over 15 hours away from it this year we accepted an invitation to our friends home for dinner and water fun instead. Let's just say that the kids had an awesome time!


It didn't take Talmage long to figure out that the slide was way cool! He got brave really fast too.


Sandra and Grant were not so daring, but loved the little pool once it got filled up. They both did end up trying the big slide and liking it by the time we were done, but the little pool was tons of fun too :).


Here is Talmage getting more daring. It's amazing to see your child have no fear of something like that!


Sandra's favorite part was being friends with their daugther, Sarah, who is 9. She was so good with Sandra and I think she had as much fun as Sandra did. It's fun to see girls loving each other, no matter the age difference!


Everything really was great. The only complaint was that Sandra (and me and Jeff a little) got eaten alive! I even put on the bug repelant, after I saw the first bite, but they still thought she tasted good. Poor thing. This will take a little while to recover from. It's a good thing she still remembers all the fun she had and not just complaining about the bug bites! Such a good attitude for a little girl!

Baby update

So it's been a while since we've updated on our "little" Mhari. She has been doing so much that we wanted to show her off. Warning...this will be a lot of cute baby overload. Enjoy :)


Rolling! She loves to play on the floor - as long as someone is around. She doesn't enjoy being left alone though. I'm glad that her siblings "play" with her for me when I need to be getting something else done! It's amazing that it can be easier to be a mother of 4 than of just 1!


Eating! She is not a big eater and she never has been. She takes about 10 bites or so of the baby food before she's done. I think it's ironic that my child that doesn't eat much is the biggest one of them all (at least in length)! It's fun to see her progressing!


So this is one of my favorite dresses that Mhari has. I love that the little baby bonnet coordinates so well with it! I just couldn't help taking lots of pictures of her (you just get a sampling). The quilt was a gift from the R.S. pres in the ward and her daughter. What a beautiful backdrop :). She also smiles really good for me now so that makes taking pictures even more fun!


Too cute!


Sandra couldn't help wanting a turn. She is cute too and getting so big I figured she could show off a little too :)

Complete - for now

After 45 bags of sand / mortar mix, sickness, and two nights of long hours we are finally done; with this section of the patio at least. Sharla helped out a bunch on the last night when I was sick. She loaded and unloaded bricks and moved them in the wheelbarrow all by herself. She tipped over a couple times but got the hang of it. Talmage and Grant were also huge helps in the getting of bricks originally and in the loading and unloading of bricks to daddy. Not too sure what Chica did but play in the sand. Glad to have this done and up next will be the garden area path, wood deck in front of the back door, patio cover and shed. Glad to know I'm 20% complete. The patio isn't perfect but all its imperfections just add character.

Handy Man

We decided to make a back patio with all of the free bricks Jeff acquired. Jeff is getting some good experience doing house projects since owning our first home. He is pretty handy so that is great too! Even if he isn't sure how to do something he's willing to figure it out. What a great talent, especially for a husband :). The brick pad is about half way completed and we are hoping to get it all done before the rain comes that is forecasted for later this week.


I guess part of being a handy man is also Dirty Jobs. It was fun to watch Jeff mix all of our "dirt" for our little garden. I really enjoyed seeing all of the different colors of dirt (compost, pete moss, garden soil, etc). We didn't have anything to mix it with, but our hands (well, his hands more specifically) so in he went. It worked out pretty well too. I don't know if using a rake would have mixed it up as well as his hands did. Our garden is progressing now and the new seeds I had to replant are starting to sprout.


Last year, after being in the house just a few months, a rock fell into the clean out drain from the house. Jeff had to dig down and find the elbow where the rock was stuck, cut out the pipe and put in a new joint (after getting the rock out). This is what it looked like after he fixed the joint.



With all of that hard work Jeff was in a hole in our yard that was filling up with water from a leak. He had to empty out the water from the hole and fix the leak (after finding it first). He didn't smell so good after this job. To add to his fun it was December so it was cold too! I'm happy to have such a handy husband who is willing to do extra work around our house along with those dirty jobs that are unexpected too! He is such a great guy and good example to our kids!

Crazy Funnies

This week has had some funny things, but also some crazy things happening so we thought we'd share them with y'all ;)
First this is our garden. Yes, it has a cage around it (chicken wire) which is hopefully going to help keep the cats out...

The crazy story for the garden is earlier this week I was looking out the window and saw a bird come down and land at the garden. It was pecking in the garden. I thought, oh good, it'll eat some bugs. Then I saw it fly away with one of my little cucumber plants! I was so shocked. It even came back for more, but I chased it away! Now maybe the cats and birds will stay out. I did replant several items becuase of the garden abuse so hopefully we will still have a good harvest.


Now on to Sandra....
This is what Sandra looked like yesterday (like my new camera?). I think she's cute, even if she's got messy hair sometimes :). She has been pretty happy these days, but is a bit crazy too. Monday night before bed she was playing on one of the chairs she's sitting in (there are two) and tipped it over and cracked her head on the train table. Ouch. Yes, there was a big gash and yes I ended up in the ER with her forever (well it felt that long).


At the end of the long night she ended up with two staples to show for her craziness. She was so good while we waited and hasn't even complained about the pain. We'll have to get those things out in a few more days. I'm glad it was the back of her head at least. It made for a very crazy evening. It's amazing parents survive their children's craziness.

So on to the funnies....well, I don't have pictures of these, but I thought I'd share anyway.
For Family Home Evening Monday night we played a game where we told each other things we are grateful that each other does. The boys liked it because we got to roll a ball to each other when we said what we were grateful that the other person did. So the game was going well and then we started getting interesting responses from the boys. Here are just a few...
Talmage told me "Mommy, I'm so glad you went upstairs and saw what a good job I did cleaning up." Wasn't he supposed to say something about me? Such humility about his great job too. I must add that he did do a great job though :)
Not to forget me he did mention on another turn that he was glad I clean the counters. And then on another turn he added that I clean the table. I guess the kids are used to me cleaning!
I think our favorite was Grant though, "Daddy, I'm so glad that when you need to go stinkies you go stinkies on the potty." Now isn't that something truly to be grateful for :).

I'm glad that with all of the crazy (sometimes funny crazy) things in life there are lots of funnies too! Kids really are good entertainment! It makes it worth the harder crazy times that are spent in the ER!

To my Moms...

Happy Mother's Day! I thought it is important to let you two know what great Mom's you are and what a good example you have been to me.
Mom you are amazing! I still can't believe that you had 9 kids and now have 27 grandkids (with 2 on the way)! I think you must have been a little crazy to survive us and now you get to enjoy the fruits of your labors (no punn intended) with your grandchildren. I know you work really hard all of the time and life seems crazy, but I want you to know that I love you for being such a loving mom to me and helping me have a desire to be a mom when I was young. Loving and teaching my kids is one of the most challenging, yet rewarding things I have ever done. Thanks for your example of patience and dedication to the gospel. I wouldn't be who I am today without my testimony and love of the Lord. Your effect on your children will last for generations! I love you Mom!



Now to my "other" mother . . . even though you are not my mom, I truly think of you as my mom. I wanted to let you know how grateful I am for how you raised your children. I found an amazing man to marry because of the way you taught him. Thank you for teaching your children so well. Thanks for putting up with me for two years before I was "officially" part of the family. You have always treated me with love and made me feel welcome. Thanks for being such an amazing Grandma. Someone has to teach my children strange things (even if I don't like it) :). You are so fun and have a great personality. Watching Stardust with you was a blast! You make me laugh. Thanks for all the support you have given to me and my family! I love you!

Feliz Cinco De Mayo

Talmage and the pinata! (after it had fallen off the string)


Grant swinging


The line of kids waiting for their turn . . .


Sandra with the prize at last!

We had an awesome Cinco De Mayo party at the Rice home this last Monday for FHE. There was a homemade pinata which was the funnest part for the kids! None of them were quiet strong enough to get it to open, but with some help from the Daddies the goodies were freed. It was such a fun time and when else do we teach our kids it's okay to break something with a bat!? My favorite part was the yummy mexican food, mmmm enchiladas, oh and the ice cream sundae too! It was something fun for the kids and a good excuse for a party!

A special thanks to Melissa for the great photos! (still no new camera yet)

Intruder!

So I'm happy to report that all of my little seeds have sprouted and our garden is getting greener every day. I know it's exciting isn't it. Well, the only problem is that we have a visitor in our garden. The other day we noticed that the dirt wasn't all even like usual and I figured the kids were playing in the garden. I told Jeff and he leveled it out. Afterwards he noticed a yummy smell on his hands (and washed them thankfully)... cat pooh, yuck. So our tomato plant has been attacked and the broccoli isn't looking too good either. The cat has dug around the squash plants too! The peppers are doing fine so that's a plus. Jeff is not a patient person when it comes to cats so I'm trying to get other alternatives than trapping it and relocating it (that's better than shooting it right). Does anyone have any advice on how to keep neighborhood cats out of the garden? We have had a few suggestions and are looking into repellents, but any advice would be helpful! I just want my plants to survive and eat yummy garden food, is that too much to ask?!?!