I could cry

So I just have to say...I could cry. My Benner Boo turned 7, SEVEN, yesterday, well actually two days ago because it is very very early in the morning right now (its the only time I get to do stuff like this). I am having a hard time with this 7 thing, besides the fact that he's almost done with first grade and going to move on to second. He also finally lost his first tooth. You can't really see it in this picture but as I've been trying to take pictures of it I've just realized lost top teeth are easier to take photos of. But doesn't that make him big? Crap...doesn't that make me old? Again, I could cry. However it is amazing to watch him grow and learn and read and do all of the things that he can do. He played indoor soccer again this year and he liked it, as I knew he would. We also put him in wrestling. He hadn't wanted to do it before this year so when he said he wanted to do it...Blake was excited. Well I don't think he liked it as much as he thought he was going to, but that's okay, he still did really good for his first year and we'll see if he wants to do it again next year. I have also signed him up for t-ball which I think he will love, but I guess we'll find that out in May.

Brendon is almost done with pre-school and it's almost time for kindergarten round-up (which is are way of saying sign-up). I'm having a hard time with that too. At least I have the summer with them at home before school started again. I hate school. I know I should enjoy the break school gives me when they're gone but I miss them so much. It will be weird next fall only having two at home with me for half the day. I just thinking learning is overrated. I think they should just stay at home and we should all play all day...that's what I think.

Bill Bob is stubborn as ever and will probably never change. That's ok, because every time I look at him I'm looking at a mini Blake! And every time I look at Blake I swear I'm looking at a mini Bill (my father-in-law) and that's ok, because my father-in-law is a good man, who is a good father, and a good husband, so I can be fine with my husband and son being the same. His hair is red as ever and really really needing a cut, but that will come when I have time in my schedule to take him to get it cut. He's too small of a boy and to big of a beast to have Blake cut it. But boy does that kid do some of the cutest things ever, and when he smiles anyone that sees it will melt into a puddle.

Miss Grace is doing great. She's 7 months now, again the tears are coming. Out of all of my kids she could just stay small forever and I would be happy. She's such a beautiful baby and not that that will change as she grows up but I am 500% enjoying my little girl. The only thing that could grow and I wouldn't be hurt about is her hair. She can army crawl and is getting ready to crawl for real and that makes my heart ache. She is so adorable and loves all her brothers. Today Ben, Gracie and I were all in the car together and he was laughing and she can see him since she's rear facing and he's in the row of seats behind her, so I could her her laughing and giggling just because he was laughing. Ohhhh she's a smile butt, and to keep her smiling we are putting tubes in her ears on Friday :( But it will keep her healthy and happy so I'm all for it. We have a great ENT here. We might now have everything here but we have AMAZING pediatricians and a great ENT. I am so grateful for good doctors for my children, especially since I know the two that I normally see are worthy priesthood holders...I'm sorry but that does make them better if you ask me, they are just awesome.

Other than that I think we are just doing fine. I'm just trying to keep up with me kids and attempting to keep my house clean in the process which I really can't say if that's working out real well right now. I always feel like I'm behind on my laundry, probably because every time I fold it I have a red head that does a really good job unfolding it for me before I have the chance to get it put away...such is life.

So this last picture is hilarious. I tried so hard to get a "nice" picture of all my kids together. Why did I do that? I knew it wasn't going to work. I have like 5 more pictures similar to this one but I felt like this one really should all the emotion that was going on during the five minutes that I tried.

A little here and a little there

Well this winter we've had a few problems with our wood burning stove...unfortunately. We always seem to have problems no matter what we do. Any ways our carbon monoxide detectors kept going off. We thought it was the batteries at first. I was scared there was a problem but we called and talked to a fire chief in town and he said 90% of the time they go off is because of batteries. So we changed the batteries and they stopped...for a while. About a week or so later they started back up again. We changed batteries and they stopped. We kind of thought that one of the detectors had a short in it with the battery and was the cause of the problem seeing as they are all wired together so if one goes off they all go off. We tried a few experiments to try to test the detector including putting up a carbon monoxide detector that we bought years ago for our old house that was a ton of money. Well the high dollar one wasn't going off so I figured it probably was just the one detector, but I was still nervous. I called the fire department and asked them how much money it would cost to have them come check the house. They said it was free but that they'd have to bring out the big engines because that's where they keep their detectors. I said OK and I talked to Blake about it. He reassured me that everything was fine and we didn't need them to come...well the next night the detectors started going off again. I told Blake we needed to have everything checked out...and he gave in to my request since it was free. Well looky looky, my sneaky suspicion was right. We had carbon monoxide in our house. It made me want to cry when I found out that the highest levels were in our boys' room downstairs. We got it all aired out and were told we needed to do a few things before we started using our stove again. Grrrrr. We had to wake up the boys and bring them upstairs. We ended up staying the night at Blake's parents house to have some "fresh" air. The firefighters were super cute with our boys. They showed them their thermal imaging video device thingy, and of course let them wear their coats and get into the fire truck. Billy wouldn't have any part of it, of course but Ben and Brendon loved it! Ben was so excited because, like most little boys, he wants to be firefighter when he grows up. Since this occasion he really really wants to be a firefighter.Brendon I don't think wanted to get into the truck. But he did wear a coat. Man the firefighters are getting younger and younger these days...or maybe I'm getting older and older. You could tell he was the youngest and I think they said the newest (for their department) because all the other firefighters were teasing him a ton. They even teased him and I said something too about his uniform being really clean like it hadn't been used or "broke in" yet. He said he had a dirty one in the truck he could get out. It was pretty fun and it was a good, fun, interesting experience...but one I'm kind of okay with if we don't have again.
Now onto my crafts. This is the diaper bag that I made. I bought the material several months ago. I think maybe in October or something. But I had to borrow a machine and I had other things going on that I had to finish first so it took me a while to get this done. I kind of took the pattern off of my old quilted one that I bought forever ago. I think for as little experience I have that I did OK. I mean it could have turned out way worse. If it did turn out horrible my back up plan was since it would already be quilted to cut it up into squares and make a rag quilt out of it. I think I'm fine with the bag though!

It did turn out a little bigger that I had wanted it to be. I guess that was due to lack of vision on my part. If I were to do one again I know exactly how I would do it and wouldn't have to look so long and big and it would still have the amount of pockets that I would need and it would be WAY easier! You know you learn a lot from things like this but this bag will work and it was dang expensive to make you just go with it. This is the front. There are three pockets. The one that my wipes are in. The polka dotted one that has a Velcro flap and the third is behind the polka dotted one.

This is the back. These two polka dotted pockets weren't originally supposed to be there but it ended up having to be that way. I already had the pockets finished and quilted so I wasn't just not going to use them. But I think it makes the back look kind of neat and they are the perfect size for a sippy cup or bottle.

This is the inside. There are four pockets on each side. Plus the big center pocket.

This is just a better picture or the quilting and pockets so you can see what it looks like. I have to say it's nice to be able to carry all the stuff I want to carry again...although on Sundays it's heavy, but I don't have to take any other bag either so you know. It's a toss up. Well the next pictures are something I'm pretty proud of myself over. I had planned to do this with the left over material but I had to buy more. Still way worth it.

This is side one. I just measured a few of her 9-12 month dresses and decided how long I wanted it to be. And then just subtracted the inches that I wanted the trim to be. The straps were easy and then I just had to do the elastic and hand sew the buttons. Finding buttons to match was the hardest part of it. So I wanted it to fit as a dress for 9-12 months. As a tunic for 12-18 months and a shirt from 18-24 months. I think my planned worked so I'm excited. She could actually wear it right now but it goes down to her ankles...which is fine, just a long sun dress for now.
This is a close up of the top. Sorry for some reason this picture just keeps uploading sideways so...whatever. I did 2 buttons stacked cause I couldn't find any that were big. The thing that I'm impressed with is that I actually achieved at making it reversible!
Here's the other side. Blake likes the polka dot side better...but I'm in love with paisley material! You can't really tell but inside the paisley it is teal blue with some red green and yellow. This fabric is not photogenic.
Close up of the top on this side. I'm going to make bloomers for it but I haven't had time yet. I've kind of had cold feet about it too because I don't have a pattern...so I was just going to guess, but a friend of mine said she had a pattern and that I could borrow it so score on that one. They will be reversible too. You might wonder why reversible, but I wanted to have a dress each way and I figured it would take up less closet space this way, and kind of be fun. She can't wear them both at the same time...well now she can...haha.
Well that's it for today, everybody else is doing good. Smiles all around

Bill Bob

Well this little bug has had a rough last few months. He woke up Oct. 8th with an ear infection. Ever since then it hasn't been to great. By December 1st he had had three ear infections, strept throat, and had got two or three of his eye teeth. Then on the first he had surgery. A second set of tubes and they took out his adenoids. From the first of December to now he has had two ear infections, got his last eye tooth, and had a sinus infection. Really? Any ways here's some pictures.
He was so cute but it just jerks on your heart to see the little dude like that.
He was a bear coming out of the anesthetic. Think I spelled that right, but if I didn't you know what I mean.
Finally we got him to eat a popsicle which reduced the "bear" personality. Then he drank some juice and that helped too. But wow, he wanted that IV out and oxygen monitor off as soon as he woke up.
I felt bad for him but what do you do? We had planned to go with Blake's sister Jill to the bookcliffs to get our Christmas tree that Saturday I think. So here he is in the car two days after his surgery. We just kept him druged. I had to basically stay in the car anyways because I wasn't wanting to get Gracie out. So we stayed inside while everyone else was outside.
I know I've posted some pictures of him sleeping because he's been falling asleep in the weirdest ways, or doing the funniest things. This was Christmas evening.
Okay this actually happened a couple of months ago. I knew he was downstairs playing with his trains, and I got in the shower. After I had been out a while I realized Billy wasn't around and I wasn't hearing him play anymore. Brendon said he didn't know where he was. I scoured that house for him but couldn't find him. My heart was really starting to race. I went back downstairs and had a feeling to look in this rubbermade container, and there he was...sleeping!
I can't believe anyone could fall asleep like this....willingly! I couldn't leave him in there so I picked him up, which of course woke him up. He had a huge red spot on the middle of his forehead, as you could imagine.
Another time..basically same situation. He was busy playing with his trains...stopped hearing noise went down to check on him and there he was. At least this time he had put his hands on the floor first and was resting his head on his hands.
Look at that cute little butt in the air.
Another pass time for him...falling asleep eating. This time he was eating chicken nuggets...last time I believe it was mac n cheese.
This one's pretty cute all tuckered out at the bottom of the stairs. Man couldn't he just learn to go put himself in his bed? He actually did 2 weeks ago, so I started searching the house for him never thinking he would actually be in his bed. Well to some surprise after looking through all the rubbermades in the house I found him peacefully in his bed. I'm sure his head and neck appreciated his choice.

Blessing Day

Gracie's blessing day went great. We had lots of family and friends here for it so that always makes a day special. She was such a good baby and didn't fuss during her blessing. Which, to me, is a miracle...she's a bit of a Mommy's girl. She looked awesome in her dress but by the end of the day it was ready to go to the cleaners. Luckily she waited until the evening to start spitting up all over it. I took it to get preserved the next day. I was so worried if I didn't get it cleaned right a way that it would yellow from the spit up. I'm glad it's preserved but at the same time I'm kind of sad that I can't look at the whole thing anymore or show it off.

Here's a picture of the little doll with her Auntie Jill in the background. I think Jill was pretty proud of herself, she was holding Gracie is sacrament meeting when some girls behind us who were visiting the ward for another blessing told her..."oh what a beautiful dress". She smiled at them and said, "yeah, I made it."

So precious

Grandma and Grandpa Bodily. She wore the pearls they gave her for her blessing. I was so afraid her braclet would fall off.

My Mom and Steve.

Grandma and Grandpa.

Blaker Bod and his little girl.

My Baby and I.

And proud proud brother Benjamin. He is so excited that he's getting big enough to hold her on her own. Actually about a month ago now, I was really trying hard to get my chores done and it just didn't seem like anything was going my way. He told me "Mom I can hold Gracie while you do your chores." I was hesitant at first but then decided to let him try. He holds her really good if he's holding her like in the picture above (in his right shoulder). So, I decided I'd try it out. I told him that he could not move and that if he needed to move or needed something else, or if she wsa moving to much that he could yell for me and I would be right there to help. He was amazing and I was able to whip through cleaning my bathrooms. It wasn't bad I could ckeck on them like every minute and it didn't take me that long to get them all done anyways. What a helper!!!!!!!!!!

Fall Festivities

I havent blogged forever...now it's coming back to haunt me because I have a bunch that I want to post. So hopefully over the next few days I can get all caught up because I've got all the pictures I want to post ready to go on my computer now. Well when Gracie was about a month old, we went to the church to let the kids ride their bikes. It was so much fun, plus we kind of made a mess out of the church parking lot because we shook all of the leaves off of the trees. The kids had a blast they ended up playing in the leaves more than they did riding their bikes.

The kids thought their Dad was AWESOME when he would make the leaves fall. And honestly it did look really awesome to me too. They had a blast and kept picking hanfuls up off the ground and throwing them up in the air. I had a little video of it but blogger sucks and it took forever to upload and still didn't go through so these pictures will have to be enough. Well below we will start on Halloween. There's lots of pictures of Miss Grace because it was her first Halloween and I'm obsessed with how cute she is!

Billy would not pose for the camera at all. He didn’t like being in his costume and he
would NOT put on his Captain America mask.
So I never got a really good picture of him in his costume…ohhh the life
of being a Mom to a two year old.

Ben and Brendon were so cute together. They still love to put their costumes on and play. Seriously the best toys I've ever bought have ended up being their halloween costume. Although I don't think that Billy's will get much use. Brendon tried to put it on once cause he really wanted to be Captain America...yeah didn't work out to well for him, I laughed and he was embarrassed and had to take it off. It was a little snug!

He was so proud of himself. He had waited a long time to get to wear this costume. The suspense had been killing him.

I know the shoes drive me crazy! He's like allergic to tieing his shoe laces. He can do it...he just doesn't want to.

Ohhhh....sooo cute.... Sorry didn't realize I didn't get this picture rotated...oh well

She's so precious!

Gal I am obsessed.

Okay back to Captain America. This was the end of the night. Don't you love the chocolate drool he has running down his costume! Yummo.
She was so stinkin cute in her Halloween costume. I had to show of her little lady bug wings.