Pizza For Sam

Ally's teacher asked her and two other kids to bring a couple of books and read to the class for centers on Thursday February 18th. Ally brought Pizza For Sam and Biscuit Finds A Friend, two of her favorite books. Ally has been reading a little bit for a long time and is getting better everyday. Her teacher also had me check out books from the school library for her to start taking AR tests. I am so proud of what a good reader she is!

Countdown to 30!

Tuesday was my 29th birthday. I am not upset about turning 30 next year, probably partly because I am the youngest in our family and it's just not that big of a deal to me.

I have this goal to weigh 130 (or less) on my 30th birthday. On my 29th birthday (5 weeks after having Brayden I weigh 170. So that being said I have 52 weeks to lose 40 lbs. This works out well because I am all for losing weight scientifically (calories in and calories out, -500 calories a day =-3500 calories or 1 lb. a week.) It's a slow process, but I can't deprive myself of more than that because:
1. I am breastfeeding and will lose my milk if I don't eat.
2. I am a grouchy girl when I am hungry.
3. I believe this is the healthiest way to lose weight and keep it off. (although I always get pregnant and gain again, but you get the idea.)

I am not big into dieting, so as Allan would say, the most successful way to lose weight is to eat less and move more. I try to have small snacks throughout the day so I don't get too hungry. That's the plan, simple as that.

This is me now, my cousin gets to be in my before picture because this is the most recent picture I have.

I track my calories on a nifty spread sheet that a friend of mine gave me. Somewhere she learned that 90% of women burn 11 calories for each pound that they weigh just doing normal activities (not including exercising). So basically you multiply your weight and 11 and you know how many calories you burn. I then get to add 500 because I am breastfeeding. So in a day I burn 2370 calories with out exercising. Then when I exercise depending on how long and what I am doing, I add those calories to the total. My goal is to each day eat between 500 and 1000 calories less than that number and I should lose 1-2 lbs. a week.

I am only writing about this because I think I will hold myself more accountable if people know about my goal. I am going to update "the blog" each month on my progress.

Presidents Day Weekend

Can you guess where we went?It seems like all of my trips are quick these days! Since a week before Allan graduated (May 2007) I have gone to 3 weddings and my high school reunion all resulting in less than a week away from home! Another interesting fact is that I was pregnant on 3 of those trips.

This trip was no different, Brayden and I flew to California on Saturday and flew home on Monday, all to see my awesome cousin Laura and her family. Laura's husband Doug is in the Air Force and has been stationed in Germany for almost a year. When they found out they were going to be coming to California on leave I was disappointed because the timing was really bad for me, but I found a way to go and see them anyway with the help of my parents who let me use a flight voucher and my mom stayed in CA to pick me up and chauffeur me around, and also my amazing husband who stayed home with the four girls, and got them ready for church all by himself!

I had a wonderful time hanging out with everyone. Besides Laura, Doug and the kids(Grant, Levi, and Ezra), we also got to see her parents (Aunt Linda and Uncle Kevin) and sister (Briana) and twin brothers (Dayan and Devin), and her other sister and her family (Lacie, Jessie, and their kids Elliot, Sophia and Ruthie) . Here's the kicker, all 15 of them were staying in Lacie's 3 bedroom condo! A brave bunch to say the least, good thing they all love eachother! On Saturday we went shopping at Ontario Mills and on Sunday we went to San Dimas Canyon Park and had a picnic for Valentines Day. The funny thing is this is a park I grew up going to all the time but Jessie and Doug were so excited because they "discovered this cool new park."

I also squeezed in some time to see two of my best friends Beth (and her daughter Kayla) and Natalie on Saturday night, and went to church in the ward I grew up in on Sunday morning. It was fun returning "home" and seeing everyone, and strange how the ward was practically the same with a few new faces. Another weird thing was hearing about the kids I used to babysit being on missions, being in college and getting married, although those people I used to babysit for were all pretty shocked that I could have 5 kids as well.

Sweet Lilly

Lilly has gotten to my very favorite age, I love 18 months to about 2-1/2 or so. This is when they are really starting to talk and come into their own personality. They are independent, but not disobedient. Of course part of finding her independence seems to be fighting going to sleep and getting upset if we help her into the car or make her change her shoes when she is wearing the wrong ones, but I don't mind because I know she is just growing up and learning to make decisions for herself.
Lilly is so helpful right now, sometimes this is more fun than other times. She wants to help no matter what I am doing. She runs and gets me diapers when Brayden needs changed. She loves to help me make dinner and every afternoon she likes to sit on the counter-top and help me stir or whatever I will let her do. Of course I have to be super careful that she doesn't burn or cut herself because she wants to be involved in everything.
Lilly loves her baby brother. The other night I found her sleeping on him. She likes to hold him, but usually only for a few seconds which I don't mind. (When Ally was this age, she wanted to hold the baby for hours, and of course you can't let a two year old hold a baby without constant supervision!) She is super concerned whenever he makes any noise and runs to tell me "baby crying." She also loves her big sisters, every time they come home from school or lessons she runs to the door and gives them a big hug. She wants to be just like them and do whatever they are doing. Another night she fell asleep like this, I thought it was so adorable! She is so sensitive and gets so sad if she has done something she wasn't supposed to. To me this is age is exactly what King Benjamin meant when he said, "..becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things.." I am so grateful to have my little Lilly as a sweet example in our home!

Brayden's Blessing Day

What a handsome little guy!

Allan blessed Brayden at church on February 7th. All of our immediate family was able to be there except Allan's brother's family in Arizona and his sister's husband who is a bishop in Pocatello and couldn't miss church. After church we all went over to Allan's parents house and had dinner and watched the super bowl. Well actually, the boys watched the game and the girls played a game of our own (Pinochle) We are so lucky to have such a wonderful family and to live so close to many of them. One of the things I love is since Allan is the baby in his family, my kids have lots of older cousins who set amazing examples for them.

Here is the first picture of our family together. I was glad to get one with everyone looking!

One of those rare moments!

This is Brayden right now!

For some reason I thought having a new baby would be easy, I mean I've done it four times before right? In my head I thought I will have lots of time for things like keeping my house clean and blogging and helping my kids with their homework and making meals. I must have forgotten that new babies want to eat 24/7 and on the rare occasion they are not eating they are pooping or spitting up, or crying because they want to be held. Luckily they also do sleep from time to time, so in that little bit of time I try to get as much done as possible. They say, "nap when the baby naps" but with four other kids, that's not happening, so I am pretty much a zombie, a cranky, ready to burst into tears any second zombie. All of that being said, I am so glad he is here, and I would much rather be a zombie than pregnant, for now anyway. Brayden is one month old today, and the last month has been in one word: busy. Lots of fun things have happened that I would love to take the time to blog about, but instead, I am going to put the computer down and do some laundry, and dishes, and pay attention to my kids, and hopefully someday soon I will find some time to catch my blog up!

Answers!

1-Natalie
2-Hailey
3-Lilly
4-Brayden
5-Ally

Congrats to Janae for getting them all right! Thanks for playing along everyone!

Natalie is Four!

Natalie actually turned four 6 days before I had Brayden, and I was so busy trying to get everything ready that I never posted about her birthday. Natalie is our little princess. She loves everything girly: dressing up, makeup, accessories, shoes, pink, etc. She informs us, she would like to be a princess when she grows up and marry a prince. She thinks when I say things like go clean up, I could not possibly be talking to her, that's what her servants (Hailey and Ally) are for. She is a master at finding out what will bug her sisters and then doing it. Natalie can also be very sweet and loving and she is pretty much too cute for her own good!
On Sunday (between the birthdays), we celebrated both Ally's and Natalie's birthdays at Grandma Staker's house. Aunt Robin made special cupcakes for the occasion.
Natalie has been wanting to go to Leo's for her birthday for a very long time.
We invited her cousins Ty and Matthew to come along with us. They are just a few months older than Natalie.
The next day preschool was at my house and so I planned a birthday party for Natalie during school. Natalie also wanted to invite two of her best friends Sarah and Savanna (who both live "in our backyard" as the kids would say)
Natalie of course wanted a princess party, but since there are 4 boys in her preschool, I tried to nutralize the party as much as possible. We made crowns and played games like Freeze Waltz, Hot Balloon, and Frog, Frog, Prince!
Then we had cupcakes and opened presents. Natalie had such a great time with her friends.
After the party Ally came home from school and Spencer and Hadley came over while Zoe went to help in Maddie's class and they threw all of the balloons into the bottom of the stairs and played in them and then popped them all. It was great fun.
Natalie asks me almost everyday when her other birthday is and I let her know it will be her birthday again on January 13. She gets very excited about this, too bad 11 months in kid time is a very long way away!