Conversation I heard in the car yesterday

As we were getting in from picking up Brooke:

W: Brooke, did you you know you are so excited for me?

B: Why?

W: I can tie my shoes!!!

B: WOW!

L: Wwwwwoogghhwwwwww!

Little Helpers

In our new house, there was a room for the little girl that used to live here that was pink and green. We wanted to change the color, so we have been taking down paneling and painting for the past few days. The kids were so eager to help and anytime Daddy is doing anything with tools or the like, Liam is there. Whitney, of course posed with the paintbrushes as if they were a bouquet of roses. They are so fun!

Notice in the picture that Liam is really concentrating on fixing the door, he had carried a little stuffed bear in. He had been hugging the bear until he realized the door REALLY needed fixing right then.

Liam thought it was so fun to try to stab my camera with the screwdriver. There are like five shots of him doing that. I stopped taking pictures when he got painfully close.

Fall Photos

Vote for Liam!

Adam's mom and grandma were here and we had so much fun! We were so happy they could come for a few days. Adam's grandma kept saying I need to get Liam into modeling so I can get college money for him and take him out before he becomes spoiled. So here is my attempt. I entered him in Parenting Model Search. It seems that everyone thinks their kids are the cutest and millions enter and I don't even know if my picture will be looked at, but if enough people vote for him, he could get Reader's Choice and then he'd be looked at. I read that they were looking for a child with big eyes and a nice shaped head. Well, Liam's head popped out big and round and I am happy to say it is still big and round. So, if you are wondering, that is why I chose the pic I did. So, if you could take just a moment to vote for him, I would love it. And maybe his college fund would too! You can vote once a day, just click on I Like This!

http://promotion.familytime.com/cscc/default.aspx

Vote for me in this contest!

Contest details

This is for Karly

Karly wants pictures of our new house, so here they are. This is with the other peoples' stuff in it. Eventually I will post with ours and you can decide which you like better!

Super Hero!

Whitney has a tendency to postpone putting on her seatbelt in the car as long as possible. I told her that if she didn't get buckled and I got into a wreck or had to stop really hard, she would fly out the window. She asked, "Like a superhero?"

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Liam's Birthday was Sept. 28. I am a little late blogging, but we are in the middle of moving, so at least I have an excuse. It doesn't make him any less loved or the birthday any less important. He is getting cuter and more fun every day. He dances and walks and even sings when we or the radio are singing. He says "Daddy, Hi, Car and Baby." If you ask him' "Where's Mommy?" he looks around and can't ever find that Mommy person we always ask him about. I wish I could write some sweet sentimental things, but I am not much of a writer. All I can say is our lives are much better with Liam in them. Happy Birthday Little Man, we love you!

First Steps and Vaccines

Liam took his first steps yesterday! He turns one on Monday. He is also throwing fits if he isn't allowed to feed himself. How is he so big already?

So, we are beginning flu season and I am debating whether to get flu shots or not. I don't think I know enough fact about them to make an informed decision either way. I know as a parent, it is my job to research it, but I just don't feel like there are any sources that will tell me the whole truth. I am not sure I can even believe the CDC or other government sites. Since I don't know the whole truth, I can just speak about what I am doing for my own family and I am sure whatever your decision is, is based on whatever you feel is right for your family. I completely believe in vaccines. There are many terrible diseases that have been virtually eliminated by vaccines. My children will have their vaccines (except two, unless I gain more information that leads me to believe they need those two). But....I can't forget about those mothers who insist something happened to their child because of vaccines. I believe them. I also believe vaccines are important to have. Can't really win, can I? Either way, my decision is made about vaccines, but every year I have to make the decision about flu shots. I go back and forth and back and forth and then we don't end up getting them. I would feel terrible though if my child gets so sick they need to be hospitalized, or worse and I could have prevented it. And we all know they "say" this year will be terrible with the flu, particularly H1N1. I also know (reminder: don't know if I can trust my sources, even my pediatrician) that the H1N1 vaccine contains squalene, one of the ingredients in the vaccine that caused Gulf War Syndrome. Squalene hasn't been approved for use in vaccines since then, until now and obviously they haven't done extensive long term testing on the H1N1 vaccine.

So, unless I find out something else, I think we will be steering clear of H1N1 vaccine. Not sure about the regular flu shot. If any of you have any info. or personal experience, I would love to hear it. I want to be informed, I just don't think any of the professionals have pure motives in telling me how safe they are. In fact, the night before Liam got his two month shots, I was so nervous. I felt like there was one vaccine that I should not give him. I did research on it and still felt the same. When I got to the doctor's office, I told the nurse how I felt and and she told me that she absolutely would not give it to her child and felt that it was totally unnecessary. There was a little boy in their office who had a serious complication because of this vaccine. The nurse told me, "I never talked to you about this. I could get fired if anyone knew I told you not to get it." She left and I talked to my doctor and she acted like it was totally safe and they wouldn't be giving it to people if it weren't safe. Ha, not true. My point is, even those who know, I can't believe. But, I suppose I will be led to know the truth through the spirit like I did the night before Liam's vaccines, if it is something important enough for me to know in order to protect my kids.

First Word

Adam got little RC car to use with the kids. They all love it, except Liam goes absolutely crazy when he sees it. He said his first word two days ago and you can tell he is Adam's son - it was CAR! He will crawl around saying, "Caw. Caw." and go looking for it. He will look for it in its place and when he finds it he starts saying, "Oooooh. Ooooooh," in an I'm so excited I can't even stand it voice. So, dada may have been his first word, but I am not convinced he actually means dada when he says it, but 110% for sure he means car when he says, "Caw."

House Under Contract

Thanks for the prayers and good thoughts. It worked! Our house is supposed to close Sept. 18, maybe sooner! We also found a house here that we are going to put an offer on! Things are moving fast.

Kid Portraits

Here We Go Again

The man who was contracted to buy our house is Utah is being transferred to Logan, so he will be moving out August 1st. We will be putting it on the market yet again. We will be making payments on two places yet again. We will be waiting to buy a house in Wisconsin even longer. If this goes on too long, I think it may kill me. Really. If you feel like praying for us, it would be really appreciated. I know many other people have much bigger trials such as illness or death and when compared to those, I am grateful for this trial, but I REALLY hope this won't last forever. Right now, it seems it will.

MIA

Has it really ben over a month? I was going to make the blog private forever ago and still haven't gotten around to it. I wonder if I can just change the address to just take our last name out.

Anyway, we have been busy traveling. We drove from WI to CA and went to DISNEYLAND with my parents and brother and his wife - pics to come! Then on to Utah for 4th of July celebrations. Adam flew back early and the kids and I stayed another week. For that trip we drove a total of 60 hours, not to mention the driving from one person's house to the next while we were there. Whew. The kids were awesome though! The first day, we planned to drive 10 hours and the kids were so good we just kept going and going and going 'til we got to Adam's parents' house in South Jordan, Utah. 20 hours in one day. We must be crazy. Our GPS keeps track of the stops along the way and we stopped a total of 1 hour and 2 minutes in that 20 hour period. Thank goodness we will forget what it was like by next July.

Then, Tuesday (yesterday) I got a call from my brother-in-law and my sister-in-law's water broke. Yay! It was a few weeks early and had no plans for anyone to help with the other kids while they were at the hospital. So, I got to be the one to share in their joy! Yay! We packed up in 2 hours and drove to Minneapolis. Thankfully that is only 4 1/2 hours. I am really glad I remembered underwear and diapers for everyone! Unfortunately, the baby came by c-section so they will be in the hospital 4 days (just means more time for me to bond with their girls!) but everyone is healthy and the baby is so cute! I hope to be able to do a photo shoot before I leave.

So, I am sorry if I skipped out on any plans this week and forgot to tell you. Now you know why. I'll be back to normal life again soon...maybe.

Kindergarten Graduation

Kindergarten Graduation - I don't know who wrote that sign. I don't think it was a kindergartener, but I sure hope it wasn't the teacher.

We had a camp out in the bedroom on Brooke's last day of school to celebrate.  Liam thought it was the greatest thing in the world!  The girls had fun too!  We brought a TV into their room and let them stay up late watching a movie.  We had microwave smores too. 

Run Over by a Car

So, we all have a goal to read the Book of Mormon by a certain date.  Brooke is going to read it all by herself by her next birthday - April 27th.  We just started this week and I have been asking her every day about what she has read to make sure she is comprehending it and to see if she has any questions.  Yesterday I asked her what happened and she said that Nephi and his brothers went back to get the plates and they went to Laban's house and he went across the street and "I think... he got hit by a car."  When I finally stopped laughing I said they didn't have cars back then and she came back saying, "Well, maybe it was a bike or a haystack."  I think she knew something happened to Laban, but wasn't sure what.

Photo shoot with baby Reed

I took these for a friend of her baby when he was one week old.  

Funnies

When Liam was three months old, I put him up on my knees for tummy time and Brooke said he looked like he was giving a talk at the pulpit in church!

For Family Home Evening, we have been memorizing the Articles of Faith.  We are on week four, which has been the hardest so far, but I am amazed at how well both kids are doing.  The first time Whitney heard the second article, she said, " We believe that men will be punished for their own sins and not for Daddy's transgressions."  Another time time, she said, "....not for Adam's transformers."

On the third, instead of we believe that through the Atonement of Christ, she said, "We believe that through the toenail of Christ, all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel."

More

Which one is best?

1.

I want to print one of these up for Father's Day.  I think I know which one I like best, but then I see another and that looks better.  Some are better from a photography stand point and others are cuter of the kids, so which do you think?  I tried to number them but it didn't work. Just use the order they are given.  Thanks!

Best Husband Ever

So, last night I found a tutorial on how to make a backdrop stand out of PVC pipe and mentioned to Adam that I would like to make one some day.  At  8:45 pm with me begging him not to and with strep throat, Adam went to Home Depot and got me stuff to make my back drop.  He made it in like 20 minutes and I tried it out today with just one type of fabric.  He and it are fabulous!!! In the one of Brooke, the backdrop looks a little sloppy, I just haven't figured out a good way to secure it yet.

The Battle of the Diaper

When Whitney offered to change Liam, I said SURE!  I am willing to let anyone change a diaper if it means I don't have to!  She was so proud of herself after she got it on! A few red marks on Liam and a crooked diaper later, he was all ready for bed.  I guess we'll see if he leaks tonight.

A