When we're helping we're happy

Maybe I would have fewer children or there would be bigger gaps in between if my "helper girl" hadn't been born first. Grace helps me with so much, especially her siblings. I know it made a few (maybe all) of my friends nervous that Grace used to carry Bella around when she was tiny. But ever since then, she has been helping me with Bella.

Grace is quiet around most other adults so not everyone gets to see her personality. She is not only my number one helper, but she also; loves to shop; is into clothes and house stuff; has a great sense of humor; notices when I get my hair done; usually minds well; and is so kind to Bella and McCade.

McCade's gift

I was getting ready to come to work and I was looking for the laptop, I couldn't find it anywhere. Really, our house isn't that big and there are only a few spots we keep it. So the longer I look the more I am thinking, "When was the last time we used it? Could someone have taken it? Horror, gasp, (what about all my photos?)" Then we asked Grace. She says, "McCade wrapped it up for you for Christmas, it's in Nana's closet."

Good wrapping job, eh?

McCade's birthday festivities

Instead of just a birthday party, McCade had two days of fun filled festivities. (Even though at the end of his "party" he said, "This wasn't a very fun party, Mom." a knife through the heart. On his birthday we took brownies to his preschool, his choice. Then after school, his friend Luke came over and they built a sweet fort with every blanket we own and opened Luke's present. Then we had "Arizona dinner" (tostadas). Later that night Don, Tracy, Hunter, Kassy, and Emma arrived from Boise so we had cake.... The story behind the "tractor cake"... Last year at WalMart we saw this cool cake with a tractor on it. McCade has been talking about it ever since. I had this great idea to dye coconut green for grass and do Oreo dirt and a hill. But no. McCade just wanted a tractor on his cake (well actually he wanted 10 but we limited him to his two favorite.) So there it is, the tractor cake. Pretty funny don't you think? Then the next day we had eleven kids at the house at different times during the day. We did the pinata and opened presents and ate more cake. I guess we should have played "duck, duck, goose", then maybe McCade would have thought it was a fun party. A full view of the "tractor cake"

Five years old, I can't take it.

Dallin hitting the T-Rex pinata. Those kids went crazy when it broke. Talk about mob mentality.

What is it about that chocolate covered boy that is so darn cute?

Bella and the black beast

You would think that Bella, being the smallest of us all, would be the most scared of Toby. But no, she loves him. (And not just because Matt is holding on to him.) She loves to get his bones out of the drawer and take them to him.

Mighty hunter

Matt got the "draw of a lifetime". He drew one of 10 tags for area 48, a trophy deer hunt. He was so thrilled and made sure I cleared the calender for the two weeks of the hunt. Small problem, I had a girl's 24, (That is 24 hours) I was invited to. He was supportive and I did my thing, the next weekend Don came over and they brought home this fine specimen. (It took them 5 hours to drag it off the mountain.) I am grateful that Don goes with Matt on these adventures. I don't worry when they are together. I am also glad Matt is such a good shot. We have all the organic meat we can eat. He's always bringing home the bacon, one way or another.

Grace's Princess pajama party

Last year Grace didn't get to have a party because we were in Montana. But we had bought some party favors so she has been waiting a year to give those little bags away. I guess you could say this party has been planned for a year. Did you notice that McCade (in the background is in pajamas too?)

Grace LOVED opening her presents. She kept asking McCade to get her the singing Ariel doll she got for Zoe's birthday. McCade kept telling me we had to get it for her. They are always looking out for each other.

An exciting game of "duck, duck, goose" Isn't Dani cute in those jammies? (Did you notice McCade is in different jammies than he was in the other pictures?)

The party goers; Ruhvnian, Sidney, Bella, Lauren, Dani, Taylor, McCade, Grace, and Zoe.

The games we play

In case you couldn't tell, Bella is playing the doggy game, complete with leash (never around the neck, too dangerous!) and a doggy bone (Bella actually eats them, yuck) The kids love this game so much that I bought them more leashes. (They play with their stuffed dogs too.)

We love to play "Go fish" but McCade's hands aren't big enough to hold all his cards so one time I gave McCade a binder that he could stand up and put his cards behind, the next time he took it a few steps further and created a card fortress.

Drama, Key drama

I don't know what it is about me that attracts a certain amount of drama with my cars. Let's start at the beginning. I first locked myself out when I was pregnant with Grace. There I was in the Costco parking lock, with 100 pounds of dog food and a big belly outside, lots of perishables inside (it was summertime of course). Called a lock smith...(Sadly, there is an actual category in Quicken named "Tana locked out") When I was pregnant with McCade it wasn't my fault, my clicker stopped working (in Rexburg) while I was driving from Billings to Hailey. There are alot of helpful people at the gas station on a Sunday. Ironically all going to get a Diet Coke in their church clothes.... After about four people had stopped to help me, one called her neighbor who was a police man to come break into the car and we were on our way. It seems since then I have locked myself out with increasing frequency. Since then I have taken to carrying extra keys; one in my purse, one in a hide-a-key on the car, one at Jenn's house, and of course Matt has one and has rescued me many times. So keeping all that in mind, our new "magic" minivan only came with one key. But I was determined not to lock myself out. I started the new practice of only locking the van with the remote firmly grasped in my hand. Last week Matt went out of town, hunting. I took the kids to the park and lost my one and only key. (LOST, not locked). We looked all over for it and I even put an add in the paper. (sweet McCade still prays I'll find them and I haven't the heart to tell him how highly unlikely this is, since if someone had found the keys they might have deduced that they probably belonged to the minivan parked there for four days.) I left the van at the park until Thursday when I had it towed to the dealership so they could make us a new key. It had to be towed in so they could hook it to their computer to put a chip or something...Now SERIOUSLY who is going to steal a minivan? The answer...no one. Why can't I have a regular 3 dollar key??? Why, for the love. Sadly this is not the end of the story, the computer wouldn't "talk" to the van so they wanted more $ to DIAGNOSE the problem... When I called Matt in tears over the latest development he called and "discussed" the situation with the service manager and they worked out the details. The minivan was still there over the weekend but I got it back safe and sound. The silver lining was we haven't sold our old van so I drove it around, just like old times.

Happy birthday McCade

Happy birthday little man! McCade is 5 today. McCade was a muscleman Power Ranger for Halloween. He wore the suit for days before Halloween. He is so skinny, it made the suit look that much cuter.

We (McCade and I) raked tons of leaves so they could jump into it. Of course it wasn't high enough just to jump into the pile we had to move the table from the deck to make it higher.




McCade carried this piece of ice around after our first snow.

McCade started preschool after we got back from Disneyland. A friend has a wonderful preschool in her home. There are 3 other boys. It is good for him to have the interaction with little boys but sometimes I think it is a bit much for him. His friend Luke, told his mom, "I like McCade, he makes me feel calm and he always listens to me." Isn't that a nice compliment.

"Can we play the animal game?" These are the most frequently spoken words by McCade. In the morning he comes & climbs in bed and we play the animal game until he gets tired of it, then we play, "rock, scissors, paper, shoot!" The only problem is that we have played it so often that each round has gotten rather short.

Me "I'm thinking of an animal that lives in the ocean."

McCade, "Shamu"

"no" McCade, "A shark." Me, "They jump high." Mc, "Dolphins!"

McCade, "I'm thinking of an animal that is black." Me, "Toby." Mc, "Yes!"

This is how it goes, back and forth until we can't think of anything else because we have played it so much. Sometimes I think of a funky one like a duck-billed platypus. And I still do an elephant just to hear him say, "hephelant." (I think it is ADORABLE when he mispronounces words.) It reminds me that he is still my baby boy for a little while longer.

He made my bed for me the other day when I was in the shower. He said "Mom, I made your bed for you. If I had wrapping paper I would wrap it all up like a big present." And he lays out blankets on the floor and then folds them from corner to corner and says, "Doesn't this look good, I am a good blanket folder."

My favorite things about him (right now) are... his sweet voice and the things he says. His love for his sisters and dad. That he still prays for Nana's ankle in every prayer and if someone else forgets, he reminds or says, "Zat's ok that you didn't pray for Nana's ankle." That he still says "zat" instead of "that". And when he sings, "I am a child of God" he says "has given me homely parents, kind and dear."

Your battery has reached the end of its usable life

That is what pops up on our laptop computer every time it is turned on and that is pretty much how I feel every Monday afternoon at 4:00pm. Some of you (probably very few of you) may not know that Monday is my laundry day. I rarely stray from this routine, only for sickness, holidays, or the occasional visiting relative. I have weighed the pros and cons of doing all the laundry in one day vs. a few loads a day. (The cons being that I find stinky loads in my washer that I have to rewash, and loads in my dryer that I have to refluff and the pros being a few glorious hours when there is no laundry to be washed). This is what works for me...except at 4:00 on Monday afternoon when I am dragging and still have mountains of laundry that must be put away before Matt gets home. (My own self imposed deadline, officially ending laundry day.) Then I feel like the battery...that I have reached the end of my usable life...no use recharging. Since this is not an option I crack open a Diet Cherry Pepsi, sit on the couch out of site of the laundry piles and get some much needed perspective (the caffeine doesn't hurt either). Next thing I know I am ready to go again. Happy Laundry Day!

The excellent adventures of Don and Matt

Matt and his best friend, Don, go on an annual hunting trip. Matt always comes back tired and rejuvenated with tales of freezing temperatures, wildlife and adventure. "Do you think this house went into foreclosure?"

This is a test to see how often Matt checks the blog. Sorry, Matt, I couldn't resist. Nice guns!

The elk he shot this year.

Bella Boo

Bella is talking so much now and the increase in communication has caused less frustration on all counts. We still have to use the "Happy Girl Spot" (This is kind of like a naughty spot or time out but Bella goes there (on her own) when she is being unacceptably whiny or unhappy for no reason, she sits until she is ready to be a "Happy Girl") She comes back from the spot and says, "I happy girl" with a big smile on her face. Sometimes if she doesn't want to get separated from the group she will say it between tears while forcing a smile. She also brings it to your attention if she thinks the other kids are crying to much, just to remind you. It is pretty darn cute. She put McCade in the naughty spot the other day. It was hilarious. He went willingly, without me saying anything, because he too, found her creased brow and serious look to cute to argue with.

I had to take my friend Judi to the ER last week and Bella came with us. She charmed the nurses and all the staff in my department with her outgoing personality and laugh. She was wonderful, going for walks around the department with the nurses and my friends while I attended to Judi. That day especcially I was so grateful for her willingness to go with the flow, as long as the flow involved attention being lavished on her. It's a small price to pay.

She sings beautiful songs in her crib. I don't know what she is saying but she sings it like she means it. The older kids adore her and dote on her, she accepts their affection about half the time, other times she gives them the stiff arm. They always include her in whatever game they are playing but, of course she knows no different so she can't appreciate how wonderful they are to her. Bella laughs all the time at anything and everything. Most days (and especcially in publice where she acts adorable) I think I might like her to stop growing for a little while so I can enjoy this phase a bit longer other times I am so grateful when bedtime comes. Often both occur in the same day.

Happy birthday Grace

Happy birthday Grace! Grace turns 7 this year.

Grace's cute cards she made for her party invitations.

The morning of her birthday when I was doing her hair she said, "If I were a lady bug, I would have 7 spots." It struck me as so cute.

A few of the things I love about her (right now). She is into clothes and outfits and she loves to shop and plan things with me. She still (mostly) shares with Bella. She loves getting her homework done for the whole week on Monday night. Her clothes are sometimes muddy because she and her friends go to the swings and play with a worm they named "wiggle bum." At night she will ask me to lay with her and rub her back and "chat" with her. She doesn't like to play with friends who aren't nice to McCade.

Soccer girl Grace

Grace played her first season of soccer this fall. She was unsure at first because there was only one other girl, she didn't know what to expect etc. But once she got into it, she loved it. Matt practiced with her and McCade in the backyard alot, this built up her confidence.

Sometimes she was focused and intense, kicking her little heart out and other times she was doing ballet moves in front of the goal (fear not, the ball was on the other end of the field when she was practicing dance. ) She even scored a goal. In her words, "The boy, um, got distracted, and I just kicked it in!" It was awesome. She decided she liked playing defense the most. I wish I had a picture of her in her soccer shorts and socks but alas, the weather turned to cold to wear them. (Oh, come on, I can't help it, I love clothes, even sporty girl clothes.) Enjoying a treat after the big goal.

The excellent adventures of Bella and Nana

Some of you may have noticed Bella's absence in our Disneyland pictures (nice job Cari)...that is because she did not meet the age or height requirement for our Disneyland adventure. (Before you call child services, rest assured we will go again and she will get to come next time.) Instead she spent a fun, one-on-one attention filled week with Nana. My mom broke her ankle six weeks before the trip so were all a little worried that she might not be able to handle it. But they did great. Mom said to my sister Wynn, "Bella is just my pace." They settled into their own routine quickly and I know Bella had fun and was well taken care of, thus alleviating any guilt I may have been feeling over leaving her behind.
Just helping Nana clean a spot on the floor.

A link to the article I referenced

My last post talked about the article I read, www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/10/26/20081026sisters1026a1.html here is the link to it.

For all my sisters

If you are uncomfortable with public displays of affection you should stop reading right now. (That means you Shalece.) I just read an article ( I will try to figure out how to link it some time so you can all cry as hard as I have) and it made me want to thank my own sisters. Not just my two blood sisters, but the sisters of my heart. While I have never even come close to anything as horrible as what the Nielsen family is going through, my life has not been without it's own struggles. And always I have been blessed enough to have "sisters" come to my aid countless times; Help with my children, cook meals for my family and I, visit me in the hospital (and by visit I mean hang out for long periods of time when I may or may not have been coherant), stay with us to help me and the kids, take our horse of a dog for a few nights, drive me to the ER in the middle of the night, work my shifts at the hospital, even vacuum out heat vents (at the ridiculous request of my dear mother). I don't know what I have done to deserve all the love and service that my "sisters" have given me over the years but I guess that is the thing about sisters. You don't have to deserve it, to get it. I love you! T

Grace's Greatest Disney Moments

Grace... wanted to get right back in the line to meet more princesses after she met three; wanted a balloon everytime we saw one; obsessed about how much money she had left to spend; loved Splash Mountain all but one time we rode; worried about getting wet more than I did (no easy task);wiped her seat after we went down one time so the person next in line wouldn't have a wet bum; loved being with her cousin, Sadie; liked all the rides we went on except the roller coaster type...had a great time in Disneyland. I loved being her "buddy"!

Details of Disneyland- Top seven

I don't know why the details are always what get to me, but they are. The thing I loved most about DL (aside from the delight on my children's faces and the little jolt of adrenaline I got from some of the rides) are the intricate details at every turn. No matter where you look there are amazing works of art. Even the bathrooms are a work of art in my opinion, it's downright amazing how clean they stay when there are like billions of flushes per day. Everything is so clean and safe and no detail is to small. The expressions on the pirate's faces, the bugs under the bum at the Bug's Life show, the smell of oranges on Soarin', the half eaten donut on Grizzly River, the possums hanging upside down on Splash Mountain... you probably get the point. Every ride and show is amazing in it's own right. I get a huge smile on my face just thinking about it!
McCade & Katelyn straight into the whale's mouth.

One of the many lights I found fascinating at "It's a Bug's Life."

Matt & Tana's top seven favorite rides

(not in actual order of favoritism but in order of frequency ridden)

Splash Mountain

Pirates of the Caribbean

Indiana Jones

Grizzley River

Soarin'

Tower of Terror

Screamin'

McCade's fav's

McCade loves to be Matt's "buddy". The reason this trip was so much fun for him could be because he got to hold Matt's hand 8 hours a day for 6+ days.

McCade's pants kept falling down because they were so wet. He said, "Whose pants are falling down? Raise your hand."

That radiant smile is because he is having a cupcake for breakfast, complete with chocolate Mickey topper and enough sugar filled icing to meet his quota for the day.

"Dad, we are buddies, huh?"

"I MISS MY BUDDY! Call Dad and ask him to come home. When is the next "Daddy stay home day?" McCade cried the day after we got home.

McCade checking out the ocean from our hotel room in San Diego. (I thought he looked a little like Peter Pan, hands on hips, seeing all he could see)
I know it's a horrible picture of a picture, (this isn't the one we bought) but check out the expression on McCade's face. He was so amazing on all the rides. He is an adrenaline junky already.

He LOVED getting wet. He didn't even cover up when we were in the Soak Zone at Sea World, he walked straight into the ocean nearly to his waist, he sat as far forward as they would let him on Splash Mountain (one of his only meltdowns on the whole trip was because he was so far towards the back one time on Splash.) A couple of times he was literally soaked through and through. He never complained. All he said was, "I love getting wet!" (with that cute little grin on his face.)