Painting Pumpkins

The Tuesday before Halloween I became brave while Dave was a Young Men's and broke out the paints and we painted our pumpkins. Grandma Nana had a family party the Saturday before and the girls got a taste of carving the pumpkins. Okay, Dave and I actually carved the pumpkins for Hannah and Ashley but that's besides the point. Where I was tackling this project on my own, it was much easier to paint than to carve.

This year I was very impressed with Hannah's artistic ability. She actually painted a face on her pumpkin all by herself. Many details came along with the face even down to the eyebrows. My favorite.....the pink hair!

Ashley, well, she's our little "Picaso" and just loves to paint. She actually did get a little face mixed in with all of the other colors. She could have painted for hours and hours and was very upset when it was time to put the paints away.

Nicole was mostly into the water, mixing and mess. Sometimes she would get her hands mistaken for the pumpkin until someone noticed that she was painting herself and we had to redirect her to the pumpkin.

Projects are always alot of work for the parent and would be much easier if skipped but it's always fun to see the smiles on their faces. It makes it worth it!

Happy Birthday Nicole!

On Saturday, October 17, Nicole turned two! We were up camping in Mantua on her "official" birthday so we waited and celebrated on Sunday at Grandma Peterson's with dinner, presents, and cake & ice cream!

Nicole's cake was pink inside (strawberry) and frosted with whipped cream cheese frosting. YUMMY! It was decorated with sprinkles and Piglet....thanks to Hannah and Ashley.

It took her awhile to catch on to opening presents but she finally got the hang of it. You will see in one of the pictures below that she is waving and saying "Hi Dad!" to Dave as he is filming her with the video camera. What a hoot! I am so glad we were able to catch this on camera.

Nicole got some new tubby toys, a baby doll, a stroller, and a cute new Sunday dress for her presents. She seems to love them all! Especially the stroller, which she has tried to ride in!

I guess with each child your memory starts to fade. My memory of having Nicole is starting to fade. It also was a very interesting time in our lives and things were pretty much a whirlwind.

It is always the same going to the hospital and being so nervous as to what's to come. We did not know if Nicole was a boy or a girl. I remember being in the OR getting prepped for my spinal and the OR nurse was telling me that she has three girls. She was giving me the stats that after two girls your chances go up by 75% that you'll have another girl and then your chances go up again from there. Yea, yea, yea....whatever. I know she was trying to do small talk to keep me calm but it wasn't working.

I do remember the spinal scaring me this go round. All of a sudden I got a zing down my left leg. It really scared me and it was difficult to make myself hold still. With Ashley, they let Dave be in the OR with me when I got my spinal, which was very calming. With Nicole, it was me, the OR nurse and the anesthesiologist. Not very calming because it's an awfully cold room!

I was nervous after having Nicole because like with Hannah my body started to hemorrhage. It was nothing like the experience with Hannah but scary non-the-less. It's a very scary feeling when you move and feel the gush that you're not suppose to feel and then the nurse panics because she knows you've hemorrhaged before. It was touch and go for awhile and I was administered some meds to try and get the bleeding under control. My body temperature was also very low, which surprisingly makes you extremely hot and I also got the itches all over my face from the spinal, which is a side effect. Why can't I have a normal delivery?!? Anyway, long story short, my body eventually took control and healed itself. By the next morning things were under control and I was no longer dizzy, hot or itchy and was able to get out of bed.

The other thing that stands out in my mind with Nicole is having to take her over and over and over again to have her heel pricked to check her beliruben for jaundice. I remember the alien she looked like when we had to put her on the belly bed lights to get her counts down. She sure make the room glow. Dave would sleep with his night mask on to drown out the light.

Through all of this and much, much more.....I wouldn't change her for the world. She is hilarious and bring TONS of joy to our family!

We love you Nicole! Happy Birthday!

Our First Camping Weekend in the Trailer

Last weekend was our first official camping trip with the trailer. On Friday, I had my Enrichment Night activity (Fabulous Friday) and Dave had been chatting with his friends and decided to take the girls and go camping. Dave, Hannah and Ashley left Friday evening and headed to Mantua to meet up with the rest of the group for a fun weekend! Nicole was going to go with them on Friday but she ended up with a little cold so we decided to have her sleep over Friday night with Grandma Peterson and then she was only out in the "cold" for one night. It was decided that Nicole and I would head up Saturday afternoon/evening to join everyone for dinner and another night of camping.

Saturday night after much playing all day with friends and enjoying the outdoors, it was time to get the girls settled down for bed. Ashley actually asked to go to bed. She is such a funny girl. She knows when she's tired and ready for bed. So, Dave and I took them inside and got them ready for bed and set up to enjoy "Shark Tales" on Dave's computer to "wind down" for bed.

Aren't the cute all cuddled up on the fold down table ready for the movie?

Before Dave and I headed outside so the girls could enjoy the movie, Ashley asked to be put in her bunk. She wasn't going to make it through any of the movie. She was READY for bed. After about an hour enjoying the adults around the campfire, it was time for us to go inside for bed. This is how we found Hannah and Nicole when we came in.

I love taking pictures of sleeping kids. They look so peaceful AND they aren't fighting and picking on each other. So, I had to take a picture of Hannah and Ashley in their bunk beds and Nicole asleep on the fold down table.

We survived the night! We were very nice and toasty warm in the trailer. I love camping in style! Nothing better! I can't believe we have waited so long! And the best part.......it has a potty!

Here's Hannah and Ashley the next morning waiting patiently for breakfast.

After breakfast, we decided to take the girls on a walk. Some of the others in the group had gone for a four-wheeler ride so it was a perfect time for us to be together as a family. We found some fun spots to take pictures of the girls.

Nicole was not too fond of being left behind.......

She made it!

Here's Ashley and Taylor Benson. Two peas in a pod. These two get along so well! Even though Taylor is six and Ashley is four they are the best of friends.

The downfall to this camp trip was the wasps. They were atrocious! I have never seen so many wasps in one spot. AWFUL! Three of the five of us got stung. As I was chatting with Dave on the phone earlier in the day, he got stung. Then Hannah got stung early Sunday morning. I thought we were good to go but as we were packing up and about 10 minutes before we pulled out, I saw a wasp climbing up Nicole's sleeve. In the attempt to get it out, it stung her. A very tired child and a bee sting do not mix well. It was very traumatic to her. She eventually fell asleep in my arms and stayed asleep through the car ride home. Before she fell asleep though any time a wasp came near she FREAKED! I can't say I blame her. If I never see a wasp again, it will be too soon.

Here's Hannah showing off her bee sting.

All in all it was a fun time making memories with family and friends! We can't wait to do it again!

Craft Nights

The past two Mondays I have been a brave mom and done a craft with the girls. Two Mondays ago we painted. I painted a wood project to hold our keys, Hannah painted a wood heart, Ashley painted a wood egg (they picked their projects from Michael's) and Nicole painted an egg carton. In the end, all of the girls ended up painting egg cartons and we quickly stopped Nicole from drinking the brush washing water. Phew!

I am the Enrichment Night Leader for our ward and the first "event" I am over is Fabulous Friday (or sometimes knows as Super Saturday), which turns in to a HUGE craft night. Oh, what a joy it has been coordinating, planning, scheduling, and all that fun stuff. I will sure be glad when it's Saturday.

Well, Hannah and Ashley have been helping me tote the crafts to church on Sundays for people to see and sign up. They have been particulary interested in the journals we are making, which basically has been "scrapbooked". So, this past Monday Hannah and Ashley started making their own journals. Nicole has been put to bed for this one. Nicole and glue didn't seem to go together. This project actually took three nights to finish and tonight was the ending.

As I start these projects, I always wonder what I've gotten myself in to but as I see how much the girls enjoy the project and making something, it makes me realize that I need to do it more often!

We Finally Did It......

After many years of "talking about it" and almost a year of "seriously looking", we purchased a travel trailer a week ago today.

It seriously has been years that we have been talking about "some day" getting a travel trailer especially now that we have kids......or should I say girls! I think we started talking about it when Hannah was three months old and we borrowed my Uncle's tent trailer for the very first time when we attended the Oler Family Reunion in 2002.

Dave has been watching KSL since last November trying to find the right trailer and always checking the new posts. This summer was the first camp trip I had taken in a travel trailer and although it ended up being quite the experience I was totally sold on the trailer idea. With three little girls and me in the family, there can be camping no other way than with a potty.

We have been "really" watching KSL since August and have been tempted many times to travel way down south to look/buy trailers. We did make the step and call on one a month or so ago but by the time we got in touch with the seller it was already sold. When trailers come up on KSL for the right price, they do not last long.

Last Monday while I was at work, Dave sent me an e-mail with pictures of this trailer. The nice thing......it was here in Logan. Just days before we were looking at one in Mount Pleasant and another one way down south. Things went pretty fast after this. Dave got in touch with the seller and went and looked at the trailer right after work and the next thing I knew I was heading to the bank for a cashiers check. As Dave was pulling away from looking at the trailer and had a commitment for the seller, an older couple came to take a look and they were willing to pay asking price. Thank goodness Dave was able to get a verbal agreement from the seller for a lower price or we would have lost out on this one too.

The girls were ecstatic about the trailer. We went with Dave to look at it for the first time and to deliver the money. We came home and got the truck and headed back to Logan to pick it up. The girls were on cloud nine! They have played house many times in it already as it's been parked in the driveway.

Dave took the trailer on the maiden voyage last Friday for his first day of hunting. I'm sure it will be going out again this upcoming weekend for another hunting trip. We are hoping the weather cooperates a little longer so we can get one more trip in this year with the girls and our friends!

I can tell we will be the Camping Welkers next summer!