THIS is totally true....

Blurbles got this valentine at school on Valentine's day from a friend.  He marched up to his teacher, showed her the valentine, and exclaimed, "THIS...Mrs. L...is totally true about me...absolutely true!"

Guess we don't need to worry about his sense of self worth.

The Response

I just finished reading all my other friends' posts about how they haven't written in a while...so, I'm feeling a little better about my lack of writing over the past few weeks.  I have twelve hours of testing coming up in the next few weeks, and I've had some pretty big assignments due in the last two weeks, and so the blog became one of those things I try not to think about.  I will try and catch up. 

The day after our ultrasound, my super dear friend dropped off this:

The prettiest dress and the most decked out bag labeled "Princess".  It was all so fun.  It's so weird to me that we can have pink, ruffly, pretty stuff in our house.  I have to admit, it seems a little foreign around the dinosaurs and swords; and I often hear this song in my head, "One of these things just doesn't belong here...one of these things is doing the wrong thing..." you know the song.  But, I have definitely purchased a few pink, purple, and ruffly things, so I'm getting used to the idea.  Squeakers was with me for one of the shopping sprees and he picked out cute white shoes for her and a pretty little dress.  We are having fun. 

The boys love to talk about her, and Blurbles announced the next day at school, "Guess what:?!? We are having a GIRL!!  That's crazy, cause we NEVER have girls!!!"  That's pretty much been the sentiment in the house...we are all excited to meet the only girl in our clan.

Thing 1, Thing 2, and Thing 3

It was Dr. Seuss day at school.  The boys begged me to help them be Thing 1, Thing 2, and Thing 3.  You can't see the blue hair very well in the picture, but that was their favorite part - the blue hair.



It's...a Girl!!!



Puppy Negotiations

The rule in the our home is "as long as there are young kids, we have to have quiet/nap time".  Plus, let's be honest...I'm pregnant with my 7th kid, and I don't want my older kids up during naptime.  I need a break.  So, this begins the Puppy negotiations.  He does not want to nap anymore (even though he actually still needs it).  Therefore, we have made a deal: be good during nap (i.e. quiet and read books) - and he can have a treat when he gets up.  This week did not go well in the nap department.  One day I went to get him and there was baking soda all over himself and all over his room (it's a whole 'nother post about why there is baking soda in his room to begin with).  One other day I heard some weird thumping the whole time - only to go into his room and find the hugest mess of books everywhere.  He knows the rules, and so he knows when I see baking soda that he was not "a good boy during nap", and so began the following conversation:

Puppy: Mommy, can I have a caprisun for my treat?
Mom: You don't get a treat...you were not a good napper.
Puppy: hmmmm (while he rubs his chin in thought)....could I have a treat for being a "bad napper"?

And on another day, this conversation:

Puppy: Mommy, what can I have for my treat?
Mom: Do you think you get a treat today?
Puppy: I think I should get a treat for being a "kind of good napper".
Mom: No, I don't think so...

And, still another gem of a conversation:

Puppy: Mommy! This is what I want for a 'nack (as he holds a bag of M&Ms)!
Mom: You don't get that...you were not a good napper.
Puppy: I know! That why I want it for my NACK (his way of saying "snack"). 

Pretty creative...I must say.  But, he still didn't get the treat. 

Tomorrow we have our ultrasound.  I'll post an update tomorrow.

Choir of Angels



I'm sorry that this will be another entry about the Frew (for the most part)...but, he's 18 months old.  And hilarious.  Also, I do not keep a separate journal for him (he's #6 -  I gave up on that a long time ago), and so all funny things need to be recorded here. 

Last week we went to church, and he sat with us (sometimes he sits with this wonderful woman in our ward to mitigate the effects of chaos on our bench).  Shortly after the program began, he grabbed the hymnbook, opened it up, and started to exuberantly belt out a song - with all his might.  It was some serious singing.  TPM and I laughed like crazy.  We knew we should probably stop such irreverance, but...it was so cute, we just sat there...and laughed (like the great parents we are).  Then, this week, the same thing.  Grabbed the hymnbook and started singing away.  We can't understand a word of it...cause it's all in Frew language.  But, I'm pretty sure everyone around us was feeling especially warm and fuzzy about his worshipping. 

I think he learned some of this from his big brother, Squeakers.  He loves a good hymn.  He has started writing his own songs (see picture above...he usually writes them in notebooks, but in this case, he wrote on the white board).  Today he was playing one of his songs and we asked him, "What's that song called?" to which he responded, "Smooth girls."  Hmmm....okay.  But, his new favorite thing is finishing his dinner, and running outside for a good outburst.  He stands out on the basketball court and sings his heart out - it doesn't matter what the song - and he does some moves.  It looks...kind of like...drill team tryouts.  Lots of straight arms waving around.  Brent and I sit in the kitchen (finishing our dinner, because we like to eat more than 4 bites of food), and just laugh away at the sheer entertainment of it all.  When he actually notices that people are watching him, he will quickly stop and wander away acting as if nothing were happening.  We will probably try to video record it sometime; but, he will probably have us legally removed as his parents/guardians when he is an adolescent if we ever post it on the blog.

Asher Antics

This kid is driving me crazy.  He's cute.  He smiles a lot.  He's a generally a happy fella...but, he never stops moving.  He loves to climb...on EVERYTHING.  He loves to get into...EVERYTHING.  I feel like I can't even step into the pantry, because who knows what I'll turn around and find.  With most kids, you can put on a video and go take a shower.  Not this boy.  Last week, I put on a video and ran up stairs for a couple of minutes.  Asher, in an attempt to celebrate my absence, showered salt and pepper all over my kitchen floor and counters like confetti on New Year's Eve.  I didn't even know that the salt and pepper were out, much less accessible to 19 month old hands. 

Here are the antics for this week:

 This is some beautiful art work drawn on my wall...(medium: Sharpie).  Thank you Asher.  I love it. 

You may not be able to tell...but, this is Asher ripping my books...and smiling while he's doing it.  (Did you notice Puppa's filthy shirt?  I give up.)

And, this is one of his favorite things to do...brush his teeth in a sink of running water (please notice the running water behind him).  He realized that hot water is not pleasant, so we are happy to report that he now knows the difference between the hot and cold knob (and only cranks the cold now).  This happens at least a few times a week (sometimes a few times a day)...pretty much whenever the boys leave the bathroom door open.  

It's a good thing he's cute.  That's probably the only way he'll survive to his second birthday. 

Girl vs Boy

I came home from my doctor's appt on Monday with a few pictures of the baby.  I showed them to the boys, and Lil' N exclaimed, "So, is it a girl?"  I've been telling them for weeks that it was probably a boy, but when Lil' N asked me the question, I hestitated.  Normally, at my first ultrasound (the real one comes in February) - I can tell that it's a boy.  When I was pregnant with the triplets, I had an ultrasound about every other week...so, we got pretty good at knowing what we were looking for.  Consequently, I am usually able to nip any hope of a girl in the bud by my first appointment.  But, this time, I never saw what I was looking for.  I'm not saying I think it's a girl...that would be foolish of me (but, I did let myself think about it the rest of the day, and now I'm back to thinking it's a boy (after TPM's "cold shower" reception at the idea--to quote him, "I don't want my tiny hopes crushed again.  It is a boy until incontrovertible evidence proves it otherwise."))....but...the ultrasound did make me pause when Lil' N gleefully asked, "Is it a girl?!?"  I couldn't really say for certaintly that it wasn't.  So, I just replied, "I don't know". 

Blurbles shouts, "YOU MEAN IT COULD BE A GIRL!!!????!! I would be SOOOO excited!" 

Then, I realized we were getting in trouble with this conversation, because too many people were getting their hopes up (myself included), so I began to backpedal and replied, "Well, no, it's probably a boy...but, I just won't be sure until February." 

Blurbles: Is that a school day?

Me: Yes

Blurbles: Will you make sure you tell me when I get home from school?

Me: Yes

Blurbles: I really hope it's a girl...we don't have any girls. 

Me:  Would you still be happy if it's a boy? 

Blurbles: (with a shrug) Ya, at least we'll get more fighting toys.  That's always cool. 

And, there you have it - the best part of having boys - are...apparently...all the fighting toys.  :)

Christmas 2011

Maybe a before and after shot might be appropriate in describing Christmas this year:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

It's just obscene when you see all the junk that 6 kids acquire on one holiday.  We even tried to be conservative this year...it just looks obscene anyway. 

Anyway, I asked the kids to find their favorite presents.  Squeakers loves his Toy Story Lego Train:

Blurbles was a fan of his new dinosaur (thank you, Aunt Shelley for suffering at Wal-Mart with Mrs. Claus while she acquired this little creature on Black Friday).

 Lil' N was thrilled that Santa heard his pleas for a tetherball:

 This little presnt combines Bug's two true loves: Batman and Robots.  Introducing, BatBot:

 Puppy asked Santa for Buzz, Woody, and Bullseye...even though he already has a dozen of each:

Frew's presents were few...since, what do you get a kid who already has every toy imagineable in that age bracket?  But, Santa discovered that he bought this cool wagon a couple of years back on a great sale...and then, realized that it was never gifted.  Thus, Frew's favorite gift...the wagon.  He's fallen out of it (head first in most incidences) at least 6 times.   

We hope your Christmas was Merry.  

Answers to FAQ's:

I should add...

Yes, we planned this one. 
No, we are not hoping for a girl...that would be foolish.  We are happily planning for a boy.
I wouldn't say that we are done...I don't like odd numbers.
The boys know...but, don't seem to care.

and...

Yes, we are crazy.