boys take pictures

The boys LOVE to take photos but lately it has been a little ridiculous. I have to negotiate with me taking their photo first and then they can take some photos. Here are a few that they took Oct 20-Nov 3.

sitting up

I took these on Nov 3rd but it has taken me a little while to post. I think he looks so cute and his onesie matches a blanket, thanks again Heather.

smiley and swing sleeping

baby i fell asleep this way and stayed asleep for over an hour- thanks again Abby, he LOVES it and I LOVE it too.

Tagged TWICE

TAG #1
Favorite Person (outside family): I have some amazing friends I couldn't pick just one...I have been really blessed!

Favorite Food: Bryan's cooking

Quirks about you: I have a little bit of OCD, I like systems...that's okay, right Dad?

Any regrets in this life: I wish that I had finished school but then would I be wishing I had career instead of staying at home with the boys?

Favorite Charity/Cause: church

Favorite Blog: my own, it is my journal

Something You Can't Get Enough of: Being around family

Worst Job You've Ever Had: Telemarketing for less than a month and I hated every minute of it.

What Job Would You Pay NOT to Have: fast food, people are really rude when their order is wrong or it is taking too long, etc

Guilty Pleasure: Reality TV, Trader Joe Ice Cream, Tapioca pudding after the boys have gone to bed

Got Any Confessions: no

If you had $1000 to spend on yourself, how would you spend it?: I would save it (how dorky is that?)

Favorite Thing About Your House: When I am making dinner, I can see or hear wherever the boys are playing (outside, play room, their room or the living room). I can also hear them when I am in my room, that helps when I am trying to feed the baby and I need the older boys to play somewhere else.

One Thing You are Bad at: I am not very creative

If You Could Change One Thing About Your Circumstances, what would it be?: student loans paid off!

Who would you like to meet someday:I honestly cannot think of anyone

Who is Your Real Life Hero?: my parents and Bryan (I know cheesy but true and if you want to know why, you'll have to ask me)

What is the hardest part of your job?: feeling guilty when I want to do things for myself

When are you most relaxed?: when I am at my grandma's house or at my parents' house

What can you not live without?: my family

Do you agree or disagree with the recent article that reported that blogs are authored by narcissists? Haven't read it, but it's just like a photo album and people choose to read it...I don't expect anyone to read this...it's more for myself...maybe that means I'm narcissistic!

Why do you blog? it is my journal

Who are you tagging? Cambrea, Misty, Emily, Shauni, Darci, and anyone else who is willing to do it

TAG #2
5 things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Falling in love with Bryan
2. totaled my car
3. started working in the OR at Loma Linda
4. planning school schedule
5. met all of Bryan's family at Thanksgiving

5 things on my "to-do" list today:
1. laundry (always on my to-do list)
2. go to Target
3. take boys to school
4. make dinner
5. clean up (dishes, my room, living room)

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. ice cream
2. Pirate Booty
3. popcorn
4. brownies/cookies
5. fruit snacks (the nasty ones)

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. visit family and friends
2. buy a house
3. pay off student loans
4. buy a car
5. set up accounts for the boys missions and college

5 places I've lived:
1. RSM/Lake Forest, CA
2. Waco, Texas
3. Provo, Utah
4. San Bernardino, CA
5. Athens, OH

5 jobs I've had:
1. mother
2. OR worker (too many positions to chose one)
3. pizza girl
4. real estate receptionist
5. telemarketer

5 people I tag:
1. Abby
2. Katie
3. Emily
4. Bethany
5. Darci
If I thought anyone else would do it, I would tag them too. So if you are feeling like you want to do a tag, consider yourself tagged. Oh, Misty might do this when she is done with her books.

Rules: Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you’ve answered the questions on your blog.

THANKS ANN!

Before Halloween we received a package in the mail from my sister, Ann, when we opened it, Big A exclaimed "cute a blanket for baby i" when he pulled out a pillow sham. But then when the costume came out, he was even more excited and it was a fight over got to wear it first. Neither one wanted to let me take their photo so this is what we have from the first night.
As soon as I get a comforter then I will post about their room but I am not in a hurry so it will be a while. Thanks Ann, the boys are having a great time being firemen and eventually I will have the energy to shop for a comforter.


Yesterday we received another package from Ann. This one had this adorable bib in it. I took better photos but either he wasn't smiling or he had the bib scrunched up and I wanted to be able to see the cute turtle. Thanks AGAIN Ann, you are great.
Oh, a side note, I have survived another night alone (well no other adult). Bryan had a campout in the high desert with the scouts, so the boys and I made the most of it, had In-N-Out for dinner and then stopped to rent a movie on the way home, they picked a Thomas movie and I got a chick flick for when they were asleep.

licorice

baby i was a little fussy one day and the older boys were having a snack and I thought maybe he wanted one too. He LOVED it. Maybe I should stick some in the diaper bag for his 6 month appt today. Big A is worried about the shots for baby i, he keeps asking me "when he goes to the doctor's, is he getting shots?" But it hasn't really gone past that. I will post about Halloween and Emily's once I get through the stuff on the camera (sorry, I need to document my life in order so I don't remember going to Em's before Halloween, I will get to it but life is crazy and it needs to be documented that way).

windy

A few weeks ago it was really windy here. Bryan had already left for work and I heard a terrible noise, louder than a creak but along those lines. It sounded like it was right outside our window, so I thought something was rubbing on the smoker...boy was I wrong.

There were so many branches like this but I only took a photo of this one.

The clean-up people told me they would be back the next day to clean-up the one that was on our fence but that they would move it off the fence. I think the clean-up was more than they expected.

rice cereal

I took these a few weeks ago but since I am a slacker blogger I am just posting them now. He loves it and enjoys a little banana in it when I add a little in. I am planning on buying baby food eventually, but until then he is quite content having just plain rice cereal. But he is still learning how to keep it in his mouth and get it down. The older boys like to inform me when he needs it and it also reminds them that they want cereal too. I have tried to give them bites of the rice cereal but they turn it down every time. Lil A doesn't even tell me he isn't a baby anymore like he did the first few times I offered it.

My baby is 6 months old today and it truly has gone by way too fast for me. Some things my little Bubba is doing:

-sleeping for decent stretches at night (not like at 2 months when he was sleeping 8 hours but still good)
-taking a great nap in the afternoon if we are home
-LOVES to talk and does it all the time (during church, at 6 am when he has decided he doesn't want to go back to bed but the rest of us are still sleeping)
-LOVES the excersaucer, swing and high chair
-LOVES his brothers, they can get him to smile and he loves to watch them play
-sits up and usually only "falls" over when he is reaching for something
-LOVES the remote, cell phones, computers...he really is a techie
-likes to nurse and have a bottle and will let you know what he wants
-still likes to be swaddled to go to sleep
-loves his mom and dad
-does a cute little head tilt
-likes the stroller
-likes to be held
-likes to roll around on the floor and gets places pretty fast this way
-scoots backwards and has scooted forwards but backwards happens more often
-LOVES the shower
-LOVES to be outside (even if it is just to get the mail and back)

my boys

**I wrote this when Bryan was in Utah for a football game (he left Thursday from work and got home about 6:30pm Sunday). This is for me to remember that I was a football widow yet again and that I have help/company when Bryan does leave.

I have been feeling very grateful for my boys, especially the last few days. Blessed to be able to have them in our home, to raise them, to love them. Each one is so different and they remind me of me in such different ways, it is almost scary. I try to remember how I would have wanted (or even now, how I would want) to be treated or talked to and that is how I try to treat them.

Friday, after Mike took my mom to the airport he came back to our house and hung out all day. We ran errands, had In-n-Out for lunch, ran more errands, hung out at our house and while Mike stayed with the boys while they ate their quesadillas, I ran to Chipotle to get burritos for Mike and me. Mike left after we finished our burritos and after we watched a few cartoon theme songs from the 80s, good times.

Saturday, we hung out at home. Well, I mopped (it took me HOURS to get it done) and vacuumed and did laundry.

Sunday, I took all 3 kids to church by myself. Big A needed to practice for the Primary program. Lisa helped with baby i. It was actually easier for me to be at church during Primary than it would have been to be at home since Big A was in Primary and Lil A is in Nursery and Lisa held baby i. I was glad when Bryan got home, even if I did have to make room in my freezer for all the beef we have.

my happy baby

My little baby is very happy in the excersaucer, which means I am very happy. I can finish dinner (or start dinner) and not have a screaming baby. I can play with the other boys while he plays in the same room as us. I didn't really think he was old enough to really enjoy it but we put him in it the day Melissa brought it over and he loved it. Thanks again Melissa, it is has made my month.

WOO-HOO!!!

**Warning: bragging wife post**

I really wish I had a cheesy/happy photo of him but all he seems to let me take these days are ones like this...

Bryan trying to watch football while I am playing with my little camera (thanks again honey).

On Thursday, October 9th, we found out that Bryan passed the Colorado Bar. With the lack of studying we were a little worried, okay, not really, but we, no he would not have been surprised if he didn't pass. I would have been a little surprised because Bryan doesn't fail anything. Even with him making dinner and putting the boys to bed and grocery shopping and helping with housework and working a full day at the office and helping with the baby, he managed to study enough for him to pass (which I can tell you wasn't a lot). When Bryan first told me he was going to take the Bar this summer, I thought (and told him) that this was a bad time because we would have a newborn and I wasn't really sure how well I would be handling 3 kids. And then when my parents and Matt and Jill went to Germany and they would be there while Bryan was taking the Bar, I was really worried. But Bryan assured me that I would be fine and I was. And I think that is why I am okay sending him off to Utah for a few days, because I know that he knows that I can handle it and he helped me so much when he should have been studying- and I am getting beef.

Here is a cheesy photo of us together (see, he really does smile).

Karin & Bryan at Shoguns in Bakersfield on Oct 3, 2008.

When Bryan is gone, I stay up late and post. I bet some of you wish he was gone more. More posts to come about what we did while he was away.

More Disney

We went to Disneyland 3 times with Beebe and kids when they were here. These photos are from Thursday night with Dad and Bryan and Friday with Jill and Kevin. Good thing we had great helpers with the 5 kids between us (2 of them babies needing more attention than the other 3).

I LOVED this picture of Big A.

Papa with Big A and C-rad on Haunted Mansion.

The 3 "older" boys waiting in line for Autopia.

Papa with the babies while we were getting on Autopia.

Lil A was my driver on Autopia, he kept saying, "my car broken," every time it would bump into the center thing that keeps the car on the road. Hilarious.

Bryan took this photo. Aren't we funny?

We are on Haunted Mansion. This is the closest thing to a family photo we have.

Lil A picked out the boys' shirts and Bryan is wearing his 'Y' hat, Papa, baby g and I were the only ones not representing the 'Y.' Tons of people kept shouting "GO COUGS!" as they would pass by.

This is at the end of Haunted Mansion, I LOVED C-rad's hands on his ears.

What cute cousins. baby i wide awake and baby g sound asleep.

On our way out of the park, Bryan and Big A were ahead of me. C-rad is the back of the sit-n-stand stroller.

Jill and I with the babies on the caterpillar ride in Bug's Land in CA.

We loved their shirt colors together. This lady gave us so much bread, it was AWESOME!

baby i is awake here and kept adjusting his feet on the stroller tray. baby g is (obviously) asleep.
We are loving the new Toy Story ride. Bryan still has not gone on it and really, I think I need to go a few more times so I can be better than him.
C-rad was cracking me up with his glasses. He saw Kevin with his glasses up and had to have his glasses up too.

**There are 2 more Disney trips after this (one with Beebe, one without) that I need to post about, I know you are so excited but remember this is my journal and if I don't post about it, it didn't happen and I want to remember that I did all of these trips to Disneyland with 3 kids! (and helpers).

yum.

We had grilled cheese sandwiches (on homemade bread) for lunch last week and they were de.lic.ious.

Tag from Melissa

1. We don't buy bread anymore. We make bread.
2. I LOVE Trader Joe's Ice Cream.
3. I like systems. I take after my dad and like things to have a system. I load the dishwasher with a system. I do things on certain days. I do things in a certain order. Bryan tells me I am OCD but I think I am only a little OCD.
4. I like watching TV with Bryan, even if it is something that I don't like but it is better when we both like it (The Office and Pushing Daisies and House and Wipeout).
5. I enjoy swimming but I don't like "after-swimming" so I don't do it very often.
6. I LOVE getting emails. It is so much easier to communicate (with kids) through email.
7. I love quesadillas. They are so easy to make and so good (and it helps that the boys like they too).
Tagged: Emily, Abby, Lisa, Darci, Kelly, Cambrea, Misty (I chose these 7 because I think they will do it but feel free to do it even if I didn't tag you).