Dance

The girls have been taking dance and they LOVE it! This was them at their dance recital. They are taking classes in the winter/spring as well. We'll see how that goes.

Superstition Farms

For Macy's pre school we went to Superstition Farms for a field trip. We went on a hay ride, fed some animals, drank flavored milk, held a chicken, pet a bunny and some goats and played king/queen of the hay stack. We learned a lot about cows, too. Fun field trip!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Jack-O-Lantern Babies

So all of my babies have been Jack-O-Lanterns for their first Halloween. Can you guess who is who??

Halloween 2011

This is the best picture I got of all of them together. We had a fun Halloween. Aunt Sheri put together a really fun carnival at her house and then we went to our old neighborhood's carnival. Macy had a fun one at her teacher's house and the girls got to dress up in their costumes for dance class. I got so tired of dressing them up! I'm glad it is over. The kids would do it everyday if they could, but it wears a momma out!

Here they are as an Oompa Loompa, Tinkerbell, a Jack-O-Lantern and a Witch. Aren't they so cute?!

Family Pictures

We had a last minute thing where we needed a family photo for our ward newsletter(a couple months ago). We hadn't had any pictures of all of us since I had Brigg, so I asked Natalia if she could take some pictures of us last minute. She was so nice to do it. Here are some of the great shots she got. Thanks Natalia!!!

BriggMacy
Ella
Brody
All of us

Thirty, Nerdy and Striving...

Yes, I turned 30...

It was a great day, though. My mom and sister took me out to breakfast and shopping. I got some really cute new jeans! Then I went out to dinner at Native New Yorker and got to go see Breaking Dawn pt 1 with some great friends. Natalia made some chocolate cupcakes that I can still taste just thinking about them.

Then after the movie I came home to a nice gift and a cute banner that Matt and the kids made. They had written and colored all over the letters, it was so cute.

Great birthday. Sad though that I can't say that I'm in my twenties anymore. Bummer.

More fun pictures

I thought I would just post some random photos of the last couple months since I have not been updating. (what's new). So in no particular order...

Had to get his sweet cheeks

Macy after we went on a field trip to Basha's with her pre-school. It was cool, we got to see a lot of the "behind the scenes" things and go in the freezer (why she is wearing her jacket). Lucky we had our hats or else we would've had to wear hair nets. Not pretty!
Great Grandma and Grandpa Ashcroft with Brigg on his blessing day. Bummer that the Jones' Great Grandparents couldn't make it. We missed them!
Macy got to take care of the class pet Clifford for a week!
Chubs
Brody turned two!!!
Macy on her first day of pre-school. She even got to bring the snacks on the first day!
Ella at her new school. First day of first grade! Can't believe she is already a 1st grader!

Brothers... Brody climbed in Brigg's crib with him. It was naughty, but I had to get a few shots.
Sisters... I love that Ella is wearing wings in this picture.

Photoshoots

My friend Melissa came over when Brigg was just a few weeks old and was so nice to help me take some pics of him. Poor kid he was just not havin' it that day. Plus his skin was all rashy, but a couple turned out pretty cute. And I haven't "edited" them. I'm no good at that.

This one doesn't really look like him, but it's the only one we got with him propped up.

His poor splotchy skin...but I LOVE his cheeks and fat rolls.I had to add one of what he looked like in most of the pics! Not very happy.

Butterball

The recipe called for some lard... Sorry, it wouldn't let me rotate the picture for some reason.

Blessing Day - September 4th, 2011

Brigg on his blessing day. So handsome!

Happy Birthday Brody!

This cute boy is the big "2" today!

Happy Birthday Brody!

Brigg Matthew

Brigg was born on 7/7/11 at 12:42 A.M. He weighed 10lbs, 3oz and was 21 1/4 inches long. I'll get into the whole L&D details in a later post. We love him to pieces and are enjoying all the fun little baby things he does.

Summer

I thought I would do a last post before I have the baby. 4 more hours until we go! I have been trying to keep myself busy to pass the time.

Anyway, here are a few of our pictures from the last little bit.

We have been swimming quite a bit this summer. Brody is such a daddy's boy, he loves to hang out with him in the pool. He'll even let Matt throw him up and let him fall into the water and every time he comes up he says "again".
I LOVE when my girls get along. It is a very rare occasion when that happens but they are the best kids when it does. My sisters and I fought a lot while growing up and we are now very close. I hope that will be the case with my girls. (Or maybe they can quit fighting altogether and still be close when they are older.) :)
My super handsome man! He always says he's not photogenic, I guess I have to catch him at candid times like this.
My belly. I took this a few days ago. I may have even grown significantly since then, sadly! I think that shirt helps me not look as big as I really am, too. Don't mind my nasty mirror.

Welp, wish us luck!

Almost 39 weeks!

I am almost 39 weeks and am scheduled to be induced tomorrow night (wed)! I'm really excited and scared all at the same time. I think about how fun it will be to be able to hold a tiny one again, but then think about all the sleep I will not get and all the attention babies need and the attention my other kids will need and I get nervous about it. But I am more excited than anything else! We are happy to have another addition to our family.

I have been contracting a bit, but still not as much as I had with all three others. It has been kind of nice!

I am also more comfortable this time around towards the end than with all the others. I don't know why, but that's how it has been. I can't complain too much! Plus I FINALLY found the heartburn medicine that works best for me and haven't had it bad for 4 weeks! That has made the biggest difference!

We have come up with a name, finally! His name will be Brig or Brigg. We haven't decided on the spelling.

What do you think?? Comment and let me know what you like better and your reasoning (if any).

Also we don't have a middle name yet, but that will come easier, I think.

Our baby, 34 weeks, 5 days.

Six weeks left! (maybe five)

This pregnancy has gone by pretty fast. Recently, I have been told by a few people that they didn't know I was pregnant (until they saw me that is). There's no mistaking now! Anyway I have come to the conclusion that it is because I don't blog enough. Plus I don't like pictures taken of me lately. (so you get none!)

So I guess I'll update on the pregnancy since apparently no one knows...
I am technically almost 34 weeks along, but measuring around 37 weeks. In one week from today I'm going in for an ultrasound to see how big he really is and see if the doctor will induce early. I'm pretty sure that will be the case, but probably only one week early. He said I can handle another nine pounder but would like to prevent me from having an eleven pounder. Yikes! I think he was kidding a little about 11 lbs. (I hope)

I am having small contractions but not like with all three of the other pregnancies. They were all day long for weeks and weeks. This time around it seemed like they started later and that they are fewer and farther between. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. I feel like that's what helped my body be more ready for labor. It makes me worry that my labor might end up being longer (I am planning another natural birth so that makes me nervous!).

Everyone that asks me how much longer I have gives interesting comments. One of them was, "I would shoot myself in the head if I had that much longer to go." Wow! I guess I am THAT huge! I know I get big, but geez, hold back the comments! No, I really just laugh about it. I'm used to it. With Brody I got the are you having twins comments.

We are kind of hoping that he looks a little more like Ella because Macy and Brody look so much alike, we need a little dark haired boy to balance it out. But either way, we're excited to have another little baby around here again. They grow out of that stage WAY too fast.

And no, Andrea, he doesn't have a name yet. :)
Every time we start to talk about naming him we get nowhere. So he might be another no name until about an hour before we bring him home from the hospital! Any name suggestions are welcome...

Our House

I've been meaning to post a picture so here it is finally!

Spring Break

It was a very eventful spring break.

We went to lunch with Nana and the cousins, played with lots of friends, went to the dollar movies, more playing with friends, had a "late-over" at our new house, ate tin-foil dinners with friends, and spent lots of time with family.

Ella still has spring break today, but everyone we know has gone back to school. We are enjoying relaxing at home and soaking in the rainy weather! It is beautiful today!

I can't seem to find my camera's battery charger so I didn't capture most of the weeks events. I got some on my phone, but they are just not great. So no pics. Hoping I can find that dang thing soon!

I hope everyone enjoyed their spring break!

Now to get back into a normal routine...

I knew the phone call would come...

the one where we get asked to speak in church. Yes, this Sunday we will be speaking in church. Our topic is "Peace through trials and adversity".

I'm just wondering if any of you have any examples or stories on this topic that I could share. Personal or not, and I won't use names. :)

If you have anything that I could share, please email me!!
Thanks so much!

I'm not always wrong...

Because it's a BOY!!!!!!

I was right on with my gut on this one. Until the last couple of days when I was doubting myself. I had prepared to hear that it was a girl (I got a little excited about adorable dresses and frills), but when I saw on the ultrasound the little peeper sticking out, I knew I had been right all along. Matt said his whole drive over he just knew it would be a girl, mostly because he really wanted another boy. Anyway, we are excited that Brody will have a little boy close to him and that Ella and Macy have each other. Now we might be done, we'll see...

2/15/2010

I feel like I have nothing to blog about lately. I think mostly because I have so much to blog about, I don't know where to start. I guess I'll get caught up one of these days. (I still want to document Thanksgiving and Christmas!)

This week is a pretty exciting one for us. On Thursday I get to have an ultrasound and you better believe we will be finding out what we are having! I guess as long as baby cooperates, that is.

With this pregnancy, I really think it's a boy, but I have been known to be wrong. Not just once, but with all of my pregnancy's! I think now that I have had both, that maybe, just maybe this once I might be right. We'll see...

Everyone asks, "Are you hoping for one or the other?" and I'll be honest... we are hoping for another boy so that Brody has a buddy close to his age and that he's not the poor little boy stuck in the middle of a bunch of girls. But as I think about it more, I really don't mind if we have another girl. We'll just have to find Brody a best bud and we'll be fine! So either way, it doesn't really matter what we have. (it wouldn't matter anyway even if I had 5 boys and really wanted a girl, we love our kids no matter what!)

I'll post on Thursday with update!!

Brody needs a bro!

...he got some valentine chocolates and stuffed all 3 in his mouth at once. Just like his dad!

Lots happening...

Wow, a lot has happened in the last few months I can't even remember most of it! Probably because Christmas was in the middle of all of it.

We moved! That's right, we found a house that we love, put in an offer and before we knew it, we were closing on our 2nd house! It was a short sale so we thought it would be a while before anything happened, (if anything) so we didn't tell anyone until it was for sure. It seemed like we snapped our fingers and we were in our new home.

The part that didn't seem to go fast was getting our old house "rent-able". There were a lot of unfinished things that needed to get done and little things that we had just learned to live with that we kind of forgot about. Thanks to my parents for letting us live with them for a few weeks while we got stuff ready.

Also stressing about getting renters was hard, but we got some!! Woo hoo! And they're good people that we know will take care of our house.

Ella will be attending her last day at the school she's been going to tomorrow and moving on to a school out here next week. I have been driving her out there everyday and staying at my mom's until school's out so we haven't had much time at the new house. I'll be glad when we can stay home all day for once. She's very excited and not scared at all! I'm so much more nervous for her than she is.

We really miss our old ward, but have met a lot of nice people here and know that we will grow to love it!

Also not being so close to my mom and sister has been hard, but we're close enough to take a little drive whenever needed.

The kids love the new house! Every time we had to go to the old house to clean or paint or whatever, they would complain and want to go to the "new house". They told me they never want to go to our old house again! Turds! I do miss it a little and can still picture myself there. But we fit so much better here, and I really love it, too!!! :)

I'll post pictures of our new house soon (when I take some).

And come visit!!!!! We love to have people over!