Back to blogging! Here we come, 2016!!!

I am determined to start blogging again. It will be more of a journal style this time, trying to get something written about every day but posting once a week or so.

Friday, January 1st

We started our New Year with a visit from the Fire Department!

The kids had been up for a while, but Silas and I were lying in bed, trying to get a little more sleep and enjoying a day off of normal life. Then the CO2 alarm went off and said there was lots of carbon monoxide in house. We were pretty sure it was a fluke, but we called the fire department to come check it out. (Note: This is not the first time we have had them come check our house. We have had issues with smoke detectors for a long time, so this was probably the 4th visit. Sheesh.)

LEGO time!

While we were waiting for them, we hurriedly got dressed and went outside to hang out in the van. By the time they looked through the house with their monitors and decided that the CO2 detector was just not working right, we decided to head out for some breakfast. Maybe it will be a new New Year's tradition? IHOP was a success since the kids ate EVERYTHING. With full bellies we headed back home for some laziness.


My girls and I while we were watching Into the Woods.

We got out LEGOS and Silas helped the kids organize all the Mini-Figs. It was pretty funny because I am usually the weird organizer of the LEGOS. We had a good time. We played a few of our new games from Christmas, the kids took turns playing games on the tablet and a few of them did some watercolor painting.

To finish the night, we rented Into the Woods which was a funny, strange and interesting movie. It reminded me of one of my roommates, Julieann, from college who loved the play. Good times.


Saturday, January 2nd

After Saturday chores and some lunch, Silas took the boys to the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. They really enjoyed it and I am anxious to see it myself.


Sunday, January 3rd

With the new year, our church time has changed to 1pm. But we woke up and got ready for church at 9am today for Ronan Warby's baby blessing. I'm pretty proud to say that I got all the kids ready while Silas was at his weekly Stake High Council meetings and got to Steven and Katie's ward building before 9am!! Silas was able to make it for the blessing but then headed back to more meetings while we joined the Warbys at the firehouse for lunch. The kids enjoyed running around and I visited with Jamie, Katie and Alyson. Deruchette was home sick.

We came back home and waited until our 2nd block started at church, not really wanting to have the kids sit through another Sacrament meeting. The kids have new Primary teachers, which is always exciting. I taught in Young Women's about the Godhead and I think it went well. I had the girls write down some things they knew and some questions they had and we talked about them and read some scriptures to support what we were talking about. I am very thankful for my calling and for the Gospel.

Next week we will see how the later church time works out. I am a little concerned about having things for the kids to do in the morning that will help them to still keep the Sabbath. We shall see.


Monday, January 4th

Back to school today! I love having my kids home, but it's nice to be back to a routine too. The girls and I headed to the gym after taking boys to school and then did our normal Monday stuff: laundry, cleaning recovery from weekend (mostly the main level) and having the Huff boys over in the afternoon. Megan stayed some of the time and we had a good visit. She is the one that has inspired me to start blogging again so that I can have a history of our crazy family at this crazy time of our lives.

The normal schedule was interrupted by Ryan coming home early from school. He said his stomach hurt and I mostly thought it was anxiety because he was supposed to have braces put on tomorrow. But as the evening went on, he threw up and we realized that he had a stomach bug. Grant started saying his stomach hurt too, so for Family Home Evening we watched a movie. We watched Tomorrowland, a recent Disney movie. The kids mostly sat through it, but it wasn't their favorite.

Cleod did have piano lessons today. His awesome teacher, Peggy, gives them treats as an incentive to practice. They get double points for performing in public and since his recital was on Dec. 14th, he got double treats today and picked one of them just for me. He does this regularly actually. Sometimes he picks out things that Silas likes too, or something he can share with his siblings. He has a very generous soul.

Molly moment: This evening Molly told us that her "tummy hurt" while she was holding her forehead. We told her that it was her head and she said, "Oh. My head hurts." I love the stage she's in where she can totally communicate but doesn't speak in full sentences yet. She is so smart but still our baby.

Pregnancy #5

I decided the other night that I need to use my family blog a little bit more. I haven't written as much because I post pictures on Facebook, I write in my journal a few times a month, and I have a family history blog and a self-reliance blog that I regularly use.

And that's besides all the normal mom/wife/person stuff I do every day.

Anyway, I wanted to write a little bit about my current pregnancy.

First of all, since a few weeks before delivering my 4th baby (Cora), I knew that we had at least one more child coming to our family. I just knew there was another one.

In the first year of Cora's life, Silas and I both had experiences that someone was missing. I have heard people say things like this but never thought I would feel that way myself.

I am VERY grateful that we had these feelings during that time, because after Cora turned two I started to get TIRED. In April 2012, I had some blood work done and found that one of my hormone levels was way low. There is treatment for it, but it is something that CANNOT be taken while trying to get pregnant. Because we knew that we wanted to try soon for baby #5, I decided to wait on the treatment. I was working out regularly which actually helped with the fatigue and just knowing what was going on helped me to deal with feeling tired.

After a few months of trying, we were able to get pregnant. Unfortunately, I sprained my ankle badly just a few days before I found out I was pregnant. That was in mid-September and it wasn't until December that I could use my foot again regularly. So, the whole exercising thing kinda when out the window. (Plus, I am paranoid about working out while I'm pregnant because I almost lost my 3rd at 9 weeks due to working out. But that's another story.)

So, the fatigue has continued throughout my pregnancy. Morning sickness, luckily, only lasted until about week 11. And I don't feel tired ALL the time, but when I do, I CRASH. I am also not very nice when I am extra tired which has effected my kids during the last few months.

Silas has had a hard time physically due to some changes we tried with his arthritis meds during this pregnancy.

So maybe we're done...

Honestly, I don't know yet.

What I do know is that I am trying to enjoy the things that I love about pregnancy. The main thing is feeling this little girl move around inside me. It amazes me every day that my body can grow a PERSON and that she's alive in there and already being crazy like her siblings. (Seriously, she is my MOST active baby in the womb so far!)

I am trying to be patient and praying that the next 52 days until my due date will go smoothly and quickly. Compared to some, I have had an easy pregnancy and I am grateful for that.

Growing up?

I've been trying to decide something lately:

Is the world getting more complicated or am I just growing up?


I am not sure of the answer, although it's most likely both. Let me explain.

Lately, it seems like everyone around me is surrounded with trials. And I'm not taking your every day trials. Some of these trials you can see. But most, you can't.

Some of these trials that my family and friends are facing include:

Health problems
Loss of spouse
Addiction to prescription drugs
Abortion
Loss of job and income
Infertility
Pornography addiction
Communication problems in marriage
Depression and anxiety
Addictions to drugs and alcohol
Bankruptcy
Death of a child
Inadequacy

I could probably go on, but these are honestly trials going on around me. In my own family members and in my own neighborhood.

If you know me very well, you know that I am a spiritual person. I feel that we are here on this crazy, beautiful Earth to show our Creator that we can be good little creations, in spite of our mortal flaws and vices. We all will fall, but we have the chance to get up again. Over and over. Thank Heaven for that!

It just seems to me that these issues, major issues, are more common today than they were 20 years ago. Or maybe it's just that 20 years ago I was about to turn 10 and I had the best childhood a kid could ask for. Sure, we had our hardships growing up. My dad was without work a few times. But I didn't really notice. I honestly had a carefree childhood. I am truly grateful for that.

So many of my friends, and even a couple of my own siblings, did NOT have a carefree childhood. So many have grown up with scars of abuse and mistreatment. So many adults struggle every day with the effects of their actions or the actions of others.

In my own adult life, I have had to deal with some big issues. I have felt the bitter pains of hurt. Hurt that has come from the actions of another. Hurt that has made me feel like dying would be better than feeling that pain. A few years ago, I didn't think that anyone else would understand that.

But since I'm growing up...I realize that I'm not the only one. My family, my friends, and my neighbors have problems. Some are big and some are small. Sometimes we think that someone we know has the "perfect life" or the "perfect marriage."

Sometimes we place judgements on others based on what we see.

But we don't see the grieving of a mother for the child they long for. You can't see the physical need for alcohol someone is struggling to fight back.

You can't see it...but if you're open and loving, you can feel it.

A friend of mine recently shared with me that she had an abortion over 5 years ago. I was shocked, but mostly that she hadn't told me this before. We have talked for hours at a time over the last few years that we've known each other and she is very open. This was obviously not something she shares regularly.

That day I felt part of her pain with her. We cried together as she wondered what she lost. The hurt is still strong for her and she feels it every day.

I recently heard a wise man say, "Life is messy." I'm not sure how much more accurately I could have put it.

But in the midst of all that mess and confusion, there is love and hope. We, God's little creations, can help one another through life's bumps and bruises. Instead of judging, gossiping and avoiding, we can embrace, sympathize and work to understand.

Growing up is hard. Some days, I am not too fond of it. I often miss the lazy, innocent days of my childhood when I never wondered if I would have food or shelter and I was ignorant enough not to know how grateful I should have been. Most days though, I am thankful for the problems I have had and DO have in my life. They are messy but the messiest of trials in my life have resulted in the happiest feelings in my life.

And I think that that is what life is all about.

May ends, summer begins, and stuff

May ended! Yea! Schools out! I am so happy to have my kids home with me. It's been several weeks now and I have only had one time that I felt like sending them away. Haha! We are enjoying going to the park, library, or just being lazy.

Cleod started piano in January and just graduated into the next level of books. He's really enjoying it and I love that!

In this picture, he has a picture book on the piano and is making up a song to go along with the story. It was actually kind of cute too!

I have reconstituted QUIET TIME as well, and the boys are so good. Can you believe that 3 boys can be quiet for 30-60 minutes in the same room while their sister sleeps in the next room? I can. My boys rock. It helps that Cleod and Ryan are good readers and *usually* are good examples for Granty.

Cleod and his teacher on the last day of school.

Ryan and his teacher on the last day of school.
The big boys started baseball. Cleod's doing machine pitch and getting pretty good. Ryan is playing t-ball and is pretty bored. Because of his birthday and being the youngest in his grade, he's with kids that haven't gone to school yet. I don't know if that makes a difference, but I think he would have had more fun with machine pitch. Oh well.

Here's Grant at one of Cleod's games.

I have to pack lots of snacks and water for each game, but it's been fun.

Cora is getting big and cute. And crazy. She runs around making puppy noises. She has been saying "Ry ry" for Ryan for a month or two now. That's a big deal, because she only says a handful of words. Just this past week she's been saying Cleod. It sounds like "Cow" which makes it even more adorable. She calls Silas, "Papa" which is also absolutely adorable.

Cute girl!
Ryan at friend's birthday party.

Me and my big boys before I took them to our town's community theater production on Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It was so fun!

After the play, Ryan said, "Can I be in a play like that?" (There was a good-sized children's chorus in the play.) Me: "Actually, yes, you can!"

This last semester, Ryan has been in a little song and dance group. He really enjoyed it and I thought that maybe we'd do it again, but we had free tuition this semester and I didn't know if we could afford putting him in again. Every time I would pick him up though, he would be SO happy. Then we went to the concert. He was actually really good! There were a few other boys and most of them got distracted or looked bored but he was trying so hard and had some good moves. In fact, after one spin thing, Silas whispered to me, "Did you see that?" It was so cute.

Anyway, the group is going to be practicing in the fall to be in the community theater's next production, Annie, in January. I am really excited. I've even wondered about auditioning. I probably won't, but I am going to be involved with it for sure.

So we're going to enjoy the crazy baseball schedule in June, be super lazy in July, start August with a much anticipated family reunion and gear up for fall. (Not only do we have school and dance and normal life, and holidays, but all the kids' birthdays are from August to December! Need some serious lazy time before that comes.)

Why...

I have been neglecting my family blog lately. This is why.

1. I have 4 kids under 7.

2. Two of those 4 kids are in school, but 1 is in Kindergarten so I am taking kids to school all day it seems.

3. I have been blogging regularly on my food storage blog, Simple Self-Reliance.

4. I have also started getting more and more involved in family history. I am starting a family history blog called My Ancestors...All Part of Me.

I have tons of pictures of the kids to put up, but maybe I will just try to keep up from now on instead of trying to catch up.

My first real quilting experience

My mother-in-law, Joleen, is visiting from Washington state this weekend. Yea! She happened to bring some fabric with her, so in the last TWO days we have each made a bag (I made a bag for Cleod to carry his piano books in) one table runner and almost a topper for a quilt that will someday be Cora's.

Joleen taught me this fun and random way of quilting. You sew strips, end to end. Here is the long strip for a table runner to go on my piano. (The fabric is left over from some pillows my mom made me.)

Then, you bring the bottom up and sew the sides together. In the case of the runner, we divided the strip into 3 pieces and sewed them together.
Front and back of runner before final sewing.
Finished runner for piano. Love it! I'm so happy with it!

As Joleen ironed and cut, I sewed. Here I am sewing strips together for the quilt. You can see the pile of fabric strips on the floor. It seemed like FOREVER, but it came together quite nicely.

Pile of sewn strips.
Joleen had another pack of the same fabric that was cut in triangles, so we decided to use those for a border.
After a quick trip to the fabric store and several hours of sewing, here is the quilt progress after Day 2.

Now that I know what I'm doing (sort of), I am going to take a break. I have a good idea of how to finish the front, but I need to pick a backing and then get it quilted. It won't be really soon, but I am so excited to have a nice, old-fashioned-looking quilt for Cora to enjoy someday that was made by her mom and her Grandma Aitchison.

Aitchison update

So, I am copying this idea from my cute cousin Meredith. Just wanted to document some of the things that are going on with each of us right now.

Silas- Going on his 6th year at the bank. Good stable job, although he wishes for his dream job. Doesn't everyone? My job, then, is to continue to make him feel good about himself in general so he doesn't get too discouraged. :)

He is the Financial Clerk in our ward at church, which means he helps pay bills and count the donations. It's a good calling for him and he loves working with the Bishopric. He is trying to play racquetball once or twice a week. He loves it and it makes him feel lots better.

Speaking of how he's feeling...it has almost been a year since we found out his has Psoriatic Arthritis. He's been on HUMIRA, an arthritis med, for 9 months now and off the prednisone for about 5 months, I think. He has lost the extra weight that the prednisone caused him to gain, which makes him very happy. The new meds are a BLESSING that's for sure. They are also expensive ($1700 a month), but we have found several foundations who help patients with their prescriptions, so we're doing fine.

Me- I just started a new blog which I think about all the time. I have been trying to get some more family history done, but it's not happening very fast. I have been trying to INDEX though, which is fun and rewarding. I love staying home with the kids, but we are ready for some warmer weather. We need outside time! I have been teaching Relief Society once a month now for 4 years or so. I love it. I hope to do it for years more!

Cleod- Just turned 7 in November but I swear he is getting so grown up. A year ago, even 6 months ago, he was my hardest kids. Not anymore. He still drives me crazy every once in a while, but he is nice and helpful. He has been reading the Book of Mormon on his own and has had some good experiences with prayer and the Holy Ghost. It's so rewarding as a parent to see your child feeling these things and having good experiences. Love it! He reads a ton still, even without being reminded, loves playing the computer or Silas's phone (a little too much) and has a new, annoying habit of messing with his teeth and tongue while he talks. Oh and he just started piano lessons and LOVES it.

Ryan- This 5 year old is an emotional roller coaster ride! He was the happiest toddler ever and still can be SO happy but he also gets SO sad. Something will make him sad and he's sad for 20 or 30 minutes. For an adult, that's not long, but for a 5 year old, it's forever. Hopefully it doesn't last long. Ryan is loving Kindergarten and I love his teacher. She's adorable. He's starting to really figure out reading. He can pretty much read a verse of scripture with little or no help. He is also getting to be quite an artist. He got a sketch pad for Christmas and it's pretty fun to see what he draws. A few weeks ago he started a little song and dance group that a lady in town runs. She was offering free tuition so we are going to see if he likes it and maybe do it again in the fall. So far he loves it and it's right up his alley with music, dance and a little drama.

Grant- Our cute toddler is turning into quite the little stinker. He takes his precious time to respond to his parents, which drives them CRAZY. Good thing he's cute. He just started Sunbeams at church and that seems to be going...ok. His teacher told me that she has to be strict with him because he's pushing the boundaries. I was like, "Um, that sounds about right." I was a little embarrassed but he's just barely 3, so it's normal. He is a champ at the whole potty thing. He is small for his age, which I love. The only bad thing about it is that he always wants to sit in Ryan's booster when Ryan's at school, but he is too short. He is a really good eater and loves to help Mom whenever she's in the kitchen.

Cora- Our little, 13 month old princess! She is going to be so spoiled! We love everything about her. She is so good and entertains herself so well. She loves her brothers and is rowdy just like they are. She loves her blankie and goes to sleep like a champ. She's a little small for her age, but she eats as much or more than her brothers. She hates getting her hair done. She mastered the stairs a few months ago and it sometimes takes me a while to find her. She's usually playing in her room or following Grant around. She started walking about a week after her birthday but she doesn't stop walking now. She is very friendly and it seems like she almost expects attention from people at the grocery store. She isn't talking much, and refuses to say "Da da" although she used to all the time. She is so smart though.