Playing catch-up...

Sad story.... not even getting pictures from December off the camera until April haha. Here are some of the things we have been doing!

A few days after Christmas we headed up to the temple visitors center to see the lights. They always have fantastic trees throughout the visitor center and a room full of nativity sets from around the world. This year they also had the "Reflections of Christ" photos on exhibit, it is such a touching display. Sadly it was not a white Christmas this year (it never is here in Virginia.) It was not even cold enough for winter coats which actually made for a nice time outside with the lights.
New Years day we went bowling with the Spanbauer family. They have 4 boys close in age to our 4 girls and the kids always have a good time together. We bowled two games, ate way too much candy and had a grand time.
PAH!! SNOW!! We had a grand total of 3 snowfalls this winter. Only one stayed on the ground long enough and produced enough snow for sledding. Lizzie LOVED being in the snow. I had to drag her kicking and screaming home even though her lips were blue and her fingers and toes had become little popsicles. She was not happy I made her sit still for a photo op - she knows there is no time to waste when there is snow on the ground in VA... it is gone in a flash! Note everyone is wearing rain boots... I don't feel it worth the investment to buy snow boots for everyone when they are only going to wear them once. Sam and Emma had fun building a jump and catching some air. Sadly I didn't get any good shots of them this year as I was too busy chasing Lizzie and Max.

St. Patricks Day! I was feeling really horrible that day so I didn't go all out like I usually do for this holiday. I did manage to get shamrocks painted on everyones cheeks (but no pics) and a green dinner of lime jello, green beans, green salad, green rice and green pork chops which we all agreed would be better served for Halloween snicker.

For spirit day in March Sam's school had a 80's day. We had fun decking her out with stuff.. I made her leg warmers from a pair of soccer socks. She loved the outfit and hopes fashions will go back to the 80's again. I actually liked the 80's despite the big hair and the spandex heh.
Emma dressed up for wacky day at her school. Poor Mandi was sick that day.
CHESS CLUB! Our friend Barb got the girls hooked on chess. They joined the chess club at Sam's school and have been going every Friday since October to play. I figured I would take the camera one day and get some shots of them playing chess.


Lizzie goes mainly for the food..... she doesn't have anyone her age to play yet.Stay tuned, more updates to come!

Back to the keyboard!

People have been asking me why I have not been blogging as of late. I have been far to busy worshiping my porcelain gods or contemplating doing so. This pregnancy has had me so miserable it has been all I can do to keep my kids fed, dressed (hair not always done - but we try) and to their various events. Laundry has gotten done for the most part but housework has been sorely neglected as well. It's a good thing this is not my first pregnancy because I would NEVER have wanted to get pregnant again (and will not do so again after this haha!). It has been like having a severe case of stomach flu for 4 months. In order to go out I have had to wait until I was dry heaving to make sure I would not make a mess in the car or wherever I was going.. it led to doing a great deal of things on an empty stomach. I was worried how it would all affect the baby but the baby is growing just fine...good thing I have plenty of fat reserves. The past 2 weeks I have actually been doing much better. I am still nauseated most of the time but only throw up a couple times a week which is 500x better than how things used to be. I have gained back the weight I lost plus a few pounds so that should get the midwives off my back. The only thing I regret is not catching a video of Lizzie doing her own version of porcelain god worship. She spent so much time in the bathroom watching me heaving over the toilet I am sure she finally decided that must be what they were for. One day she went into the bathroom, lifted up the toilet seat and did her own pretend version of throwing up. I about died laughing. She would do that once in a while.. some days it was funny other days it was downright depressing. I haven't seen her do it since March. She actually has used the potty herself twice so I guess she decided sitting on it is much more pleasant than throwing up into it... I wholeheartedly agree! Well enough of the potty talk and the poor me stories. We have actually been having lots of fun despite it all!