tHIRTy wEEKs

i'm staying up late and downing brownies (the chocolate chips are all gone - i wonder who ate them). all. by. my. {large-and-getting-larger.} self.

i'm celebrating 

30 weeks down.

10 to go.

we had an easter hunt at school today.

i was supposed to be a room mom and bring treats.  i didn't.  i found out it was me when i mentioned to the secretary (right after the party) that this morning i was wondering who the room mom(s) was(were) for today.  that's when she told me i was one of the two.

oops.

my legs, and especially the outside of my left ankle, hurt like poop today.  well, maybe not like poop, but it hurt really badly anyway.  

like pressure-full.

darn veins.

i think that i've lost my ankle to them.

it stinks.

i had to keep sitting down any chance i got

...on the rock pebbles on the playground

...on the dirt outside between holding the level for rancher while he was building a fence

...on the trampoline, even though it may have caused shaken baby syndrome for this little one while the big ones jumped

argh on the vein biz!

so here's a picture.

i'm actually 29 weeks and 2 days along in this picture if you care about exactness, (which i obviously do enough to state the exact).

i didn't know that it was being taken.  tyson (weston's bro) was holding my camera for me while i was taking a picture of my in-laws with their camera.  

(that like never happens that someone takes a picture of me with my own camera (or any camera really) unless i ask them to, which i hardly ever do, so it's kinda weird, but i'm glad he did because i hardly have any pictures of this prego nancy.) 

i was trying to figure out how to zoom their camera, which was dumb cuz it was exactly like my camera's zoom.  That's the "duh factor" on my face that I'm sure is on my face a lot these days, like when i open the refrigerator and can't remember what i was getting, or when i can't find my office chair when i go to the computer even though i was just sitting on it in the other room.

yeah, it's bad.

i hope this baby is smart.  i feel like i am giving up loads of brain cells for her.

there was this picture on my camera, too:

 my side view. i know for a fact that i am larger in real life than in this picture, just so you know.  like 17x larger.  i couldn't raise my arms in this shirt.  good thing that i didn't have to to save my life or anything. i couldn't button more than half of the buttons either.

here's tyson's side view at my 29 week and 2 day mark.  just because he got my side view.  he doesn't know that i took this.    

i'm pretty sure that he is 17x thinner than that jacket makes him look in this picture.  actually, it's just all muscle, right tys?

i am feeling very nesty lately.  but also so tired, so it doesn't really do my any good.  anyone want to come redo my bedroom and bathroom and girls' room with for me?  and hang pictures in the hallway and finally finish painting the trim on the hen house?  

tomorrow is our don't-go-anywhere-and-work-in-the-yard day.  i'm dropping the brownies and hitting the hay (well first my toothbrush).

sleep

and a green drink in the morn (to balance out the brownies) oughta do me good.

must. 

             get. 

                           energy. 

                                              somewher.

                                                           e.

nighty night

and...

Cousin Week, Begin!

We've been lucky this week.  

We have seen 13 cousins so far and tomorrow we'll see 5 more!

 (We're missing the other 12 that aren't with us, but we'll take what we can get.) 

My sister, Wendy,  and her husband and 7 kids came up from Utah last Saturday to spend a few days with us, which was awesome and always too short.  (And, Wendy, I wish that I could've talked to you more!)  

The concrete for our sidewalks and garage were supposed to come on Thursday, but they were late and were there when we had 11 kids running around.  Awesome.  

I get nervous with kids and machinery.

The kids were fascinated by the process of concreting, and were hanging out of windows to get the best possible view.  Literally.

I revved up a 4-wheeler and the kids jumped from the window for a ride.  Wendy got on our other one with some more chillins and we went for a little {breezy} ride.

Spencer and Landon.

Wendy with Ammon, Ellie, Kate, and Ezra, who is hiding.

Me with Landon, Sam, Spencer, and Jiles.

You get sort of muddy if you sit in the back.  The wheels spit.

Wendy and her "twins", Ammon and Ellie, who both wanted the run of the 4-wheeler.

We got back and they had finished pouring the garage and the back and front sidewalks.  (I don't have a picture of the front, but it looks great.  We FINALLY have sidewalks!  Now a fence and landscaping to go.)

It was hilarious trying to keep kids from getting near the wet cement.  

We only had 3 times that the concrete guys had to smooth it over again.  

The worst was when little 2-year-old Ellie (she's 19 days older than Jiles) stepped in and then fell forward in the wet concrete.  

She was covered.

Poor thing.  

(I wish that I had gotten a picture of it.)

Everyone else was content to catching chickens for a while.

Cornering.

Ezra, Landon, Zach, Jiles, and Kate petting the totally scared hen.

On Sunday afternoon one of my other sisters, Holly, who lives about 1 1/2 hours away, and her husband and their 5 kids, and my mom and dad came to join us to celebrate a few birthdays and my parents' 42nd wedding anniversary.

The dinner triangle had just been rung.   Chocolate chip pancakes, here they come. Mmm mmm.

  

Half of the children of 2 of my sisters and I.  There are 17 (almost 18) kids ages 23.5 months old to 16 years old.

Andy, Holly, Neal, Mom, Dad, Wendy.

Mom, Dad, Natalie, Sadie, Brendan, Ellie, Wendy, Kate.

Ezra and Zach are BUDS!

Whitney (the oldest grandchild at 16) and her baby sister, Olivia.

The just-turned-2 Ellie and the almost-2 Jiles.

Weston and Brian (12)

My family is gone now, but Weston's family are all just arriving for the round-up this weekend.  4 of his 5 brothers and their families (plus a son from the brother that can't come) are here or are coming tomorrow.  

We love when people we love come visit us 

ALL THE WAY OUT HERE!

Fantastic Futball

We started soccer this week.  

Mmm, mmm.  How I LOVE me some soccer!

I'm excited for my kids to play and I hope that they are just as excited.  It is a little crazy, though, with 3 kids on 3 different teams, plus a super energetic and wandering toddler, plus a 6 1/2 month pregnant me.  I opted on NOT coaching this season, even though they were desperate for coaches.

Oh and this whole equation added to the situation is quite interesting:

3 kids + 3 different teams = lots of gas burned up by Black Magic 99 = $$$$$$$ (and nothing minor).  

Black Magic 99 gets 12 miles to the gallon these days and we live 30 miles from the sports complex where all of this soccer-ing goes down.  Let us finish the expenditure equation:  60 miles round trip x 4 days a week x 5 weeks divided by 12 miles to the gallon x $3.45 per gallon (which is the rate around here lately)

 = $345 in gas for the season.  

Are we dedicated or what?

Awesome.

I think that we'll skip Spencer's practices on Mondays which will save us $86.25, more or less.  And then we can still have Family Home Evening (at home).

Now on to the good stuff.  Meet the athletes:

Spencer McDrille

(Oh, wait.  I didn't have my camera at his practice, so we'll have to wait on that one.)

Miss Katie Wyn

She is happy that she knows 4 kids on her team.  Considering that she can be a little shy for new things, knowing those kids already really helped her.  She had no problem jumping in.

The E-Man-cipator

This boy has been waiting for this day for 3 years.  Seriously.  When I coached Spencer's team when Spencer was 5 and Ezra was not even 2 (3 years ago), Ezra would be right with the rest of the team at practice with his little red size 4 ball dribbling around (and on my hip at the games - that was fun running and reffing and holding a toddler), while Spencer was busy laying on the grass, dreaming about the playground that was in sight, or flipping the goal on top of himself.  

This boy Ezra is serious about it.  

He practiced dribbling through the cones by himself at Kate's practice when her team was shooting on the goal. 

Unfortunately, I think that he was a bit disappointed in his first practice.  The coach didn't even start until 6:25 (practice is supposed to start at 6:00) because he was waiting for everyone to show up!  (Which they didn't all ever show up).  Who does that?!  I was bugged.  At 6:20 I finally asked him if Ezra and I could use a ball to play with while we waited (since he and everyone else were just standing around talking).  That was fun.  When they finally started, they practiced for 20 minutes doing a dinky (and very stationary) keep-away game.  That was it.  I know I shouldn't complain, but...   I mainly just felt bad for Ezra.  After all that hype and excitement of him finally starting soccer, he was disappointed.  I hope that the next practice will be more fun for him.  (I was wishing that I had volunteered to be the coach.)

And I suppose we shouldn't forget this one.

Sideline Jiles

athlete-in-waiting

My mom sent us this video last week which was fun to watch right before the kids started playing.  It's in Thai, since it is in Thailand, and it reminded me of the jersey that my brother brought me home from his mission there like 12 years ago.

The jersey, and my boots that I've had since high school.

  

Thoughts from an ADD-ish Prego

• I caught my reflection in the window tonight - the side view.  Ugh.  Really?  Really.  I'm round.  27 weeks down, 13 to go. 
• Our baby has a name.  Kate named her.  When I told the kids that we were having a girl, Kate jumped (seat-belted in the car) and squealed in excitement, quite loudly and with her hands flying over her head, "BABY!" Except she didn't say "baby" she said the name that she has liked for the last however long.  How can you say that it would be anything different after that cute reaction?  And what a cool bonding thing for Kate to name this baby and for the baby to be named by her big sister.  The kids all call her this name pretty much every day now.  Again, how can you say that it would be anything different after that?  I'm not saying what name it is until she is here, though. Sorry.     
• Jiles would not stop crying at dinner time tonight.  He was so tired and couldn't figure out what he wanted and neither could I.  I tried giving him cold cereal, but he couldn't figure out what spoon he wanted and it just made him more frustrated and cry harder.  I tried giving him ice cream, but he didn't want it.  Weston was gone tonight and when he is we just sort of eat whatever for dinner.  I made some burritos for the kids.  He wanted those.  I ate cold cereal and ice cream.  A great dinner for my girlish figure.
• I listened to General Conference today (and will again tomorrow)(it was really good) while cutting fabric for a banner thing that I'm making for our school carnival next week.  When I wasn't looking Ezra took my rotary cutter apart and left it on the table.  I noticed it and fussed at him just as he came up to me asking me to put a bandage ("band-AGE" as he says) on his finger that he sliced in the process of taking it apart.  I fussed at him some more and told him to go throw the bandage wrapper in the trash.  A few minutes later I heard faint crying and went around listening until I figured out it was Ezra crying upstairs.  I felt shame instantly.  He had held in the crying of his hurt finger and his hurt feelings until he was upstairs in his room by himself.  I felt SO horribly mean!  And I had just listened to the talk about how precious children are.  I held him for a long time.  He cried for a long time and then fell asleep.  I kept thinking how I need to be a nicer and more understanding mom.  When he woke up I hugged him tight, apologized, told him I loved him so much and then gave him the rest of the cookies-n-cream ice cream.  
• We went out for Weston's birthday on Tuesday night.  We drove 120 miles round trip and spent $34 in gas to get Red Robin.  His birthday "FREE Gourmet Burger of your choice" coupon didn't come before we left because I hadn't signed him up for the birthday club until that morning, but we went anyway.  On the way down I kept smelling something nasty.  "It smells like POOP in here! And not cow poop!"   After bringing up that I smelled poop a few times with several minutes in between, Weston finally smelled it (his nose is not nearly as keen as mine) and declared that it was indeed poop, and that it was pig poop.  Spencer was sitting in the middle of the seat behind us wearing none other than the boots that he had worn to feed the pigs before we left.  Weston stopped and wiped them in some grass on the side of the road as best as he could and put them in the back of the suburban.  They still stank.  We met my mom (my dad was at work) and Weston's parents at the restaurant.  I "sneakily" told the waitress that it was Weston's birthday.  She said that they would sing to him after we got our food.  We got our food.  Weston got a not-so-"FREE Gourmet Burger" of his choice and a strawberry milkshake.  The waitress came around to clean off some plates and said to me that they'd be right out to "embarrass" him with a song.  Jiles spilled Weston's milkshake, which we both caught at the same time and kept it from shattering on the floor, but the shake spilled, barely missing everything but the floor and the side of my chair.  A guy came to mop it up, we got our check, and everyone stood up to leave.  Waitress? Song? Hello?  Weston never did get sung to on his birthday.  But I didn't realize that until the next day.  How lame am I?  We celebrated with cake and ice cream and the song 2 days later.  Poor Weston.  
• I have so many things that I want to do - projects, and so many things that I need to do and really don't want to do - like the dishes.  I am a major day dreamer and I probably have ADD (doesn't everyone these days) and I get side-tracked extremely easily, so I have projects started everywhere.  Really, how does Weston put up with me?   
• I need to free up room in my brain.  I feel like my brain is like my computer sometimes.  I need to delete older stuff in order to fit the new stuff that I need to put in there.  It is only 140 gigs - my computer, don't know about my brain.  
• I'm tired.  My legs hurt.  I was going to put a picture on here, but I'm too tired.  That would require walking upstairs to get my camera and I'd really just rather use the last of my energy typing about how tired I am instead of standing up and getting my camera.  But I'm getting up now.

I'm
going
to
b
e
d.
    
gute nacht.

Shout a Happy Birthday to Weston!

Happy Birthday, Rancher!

Have a great day feeding and chasing cows, birthing and ear-tagging calves, and all that other fun rancher stuff.  

I know that you love it. 

Thanks for scrubbing the mud room sink today.

You're the man!

I love you, my honey-pumpkin rancher love.

Check your email for a Red Robin birthday club free hamburger, or whatever they give you.

Oh, and

Ezra says that you're the boss today.

Just in case you needed his permission.

Kissy kissy oo-la-la!

Some Spring-y Moments In Our Neckathewoods

It's the first day of Spring Break for my Littlins today.

They played hard core ALL day, and mostly outside.

It was also the first day for some of these Spring-y moments.

"Spring!  Spring!  Spring!"

(singing from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers)

{1}

 Life emerging from a soggy earth.  

=amazing! miraculous! God-given!

{2}

Blossoms and Birdies

{3}

Snow boots are traded in for another kind of boot - either mud ones or these:

You many think that there were children in those boots.  

Well...

When you want to get a picture of 4 pairs of boots staying still for longer than you can put the camera up to your face and push the button, then childless is the more realistic option.

Even more realisic, or rather the actual reality (is that redundant?) is what was going on here:

I love those spindly legs, mud and all!

And I love the origin of each of these pairs of boots.  Well at least, I suppose, the just-before-me origin.

{4}

31 eggs were tucked into the incubator today.  21 days to go.

The picture below is for our nephews, Carter and Landon,

who had an egg laid on their birthday.

When they hatch we'll name them after them (that is if we can tell them apart from the other chickies).
Golly, what an honor.
(My kids really think so.)

{5}

Overall Springy freshness,

being outside, no more snow (finally after 4 months!), and lots of wetness and mud.