Beatrix: A Birth Story

It was a dark and stormy night as we drove to the hospital, but that is near the end of the story, so I'll back up several hours.

On Monday morning, I had some intense sporadic micro-contractions.  They were so short like 20 seconds long.  About 5pm, I was having more contractions, and instructed the children that they should pack some clothes for sleeping at their friends' houses that night - that brought much excitement and anticipation from them!  I called Ryan home from work and at 6pm we ate dinner and started timing contractions.  They were 20-50 seconds long and 8-10 minutes apart for an hour then they changed to 50-75 seconds long and 23-26 minutes apart for the next two hours.  We decided not to take the kids to friend's houses.  By 11pm, the contractions had completely stopped and I went to sleep.  At 2:20 am I awakened with a painful round ligament cramp and a contraction.  Since I had downloaded a contraction timer app for my Kindle earlier in the evening (I totally recommend it!), I decided I would monitor them by myself and let Ryan get some more sleep.  At 3:20 am, with the contractions 6-8 minutes apart, I woke up Ryan and convinced him that this was the real thing.  At 3:30, I called our across-the-street neighbor, Anne Carroll Darger, and she came right over to sleep in the house with the kids and get them off to school in the morning.  Ryan took this picture and we left for the hospital.

It was raining lightly as Ryan drove.  He called the hospital to notify them we were on our way and to alert my midwife to meet us there.  I continued to track contractions on my Kindle, thinking it was quite humorous that the app has you push a button titled "Stop Contraction" when the contraction subsides, if only.  Ryan used cruise control on the freeway, to keep his speed under the limit so we wouldn't have a repeat of Hyrum's birth story.  We passed a clock about a mile away from the hospital that was blinking 4:04.  We parked in the "Expectant Mother" parking spot, Ryan got the bags, umbrella and me.  I had 3 contractions on the way to the door.  Then I got on a wheelchair and Ryan wheeled me to labor and delivery.  According to my hospital record, I was admitted at 4:15 am.  Before I could leave the wheelchair and change into the hospital gown, I had a contraction and I felt like I needed to push.  We told that to the nurse and she had me climb right into the bed to check my cervix.  Then she called out to the hall, "I need assistance, she needs to push and she's fully dilated!"  My midwife wasn't there yet.  In the next contraction, my water broke as I was pushing.  During the lull between contractions, the nurse was worried that Beatrix' heart rate was dropping, so she put an oxygen mask over my nose and mouth.  Then the next contraction came with me pushing out her head and the rest of the body came sliding out.  4:28 am.  I felt like it was over before it even began, even though the contractions I had been having were very strong.

After Beatrix was born and the afterbirth and all the extra nurses and on-call doctor (who didn't make it in for the actual birth) left the room Ryan put my labor and delivery relaxation CD in the player and we listened to wonderful peaceful music for the next 73 minutes.  Then they came in to measure Beatrix.  8 lbs 1.2 oz, 21 inches long, 14.5 inch head circumference, 13.5 inch chest circumference.

Intruder on the blog ( ALL ABOUT BEATRIX!!!)

Isn't she the cutest thing?
 Well, I certainly think so!

Here are some pictures of the newest addition to the Gibby Family!


( That would be Beatrix, for those of you who don't know)







A long yawn is ever so good when you were born at 4:28 in the morning.



No, we will not be (officially) calling her Trixy.

Her nickname will be (most likely) B.


Baby Stats:   Weight: 8lbs, 1.2oz    Born 3 days before due date   Cranial circumference: 14.125 inches  Length Head to toe:  21 inches   Chest Circumference: 16 inches

The mighty foot.  She has extra vitamin W, for toes so long you can play the piano with them. (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)






By the way, I am the intruder on the blog, not Beatrix, because I am not Malauna!  Bwah ha ha ha!


Guess in the comments who I am! (Plus, comment on how cute Beatrix is)

Memories of Grandpa Bateman

Late Friday night (November 30) I received a text message from my mom saying that her dad was in the ICU at the Davis Hospital (Utah) suffering from a brain aneurysm and that he wasn't expected to live long.  I didn't know what a brain aneurysm was so I looked it up with some help from Google.  It is where a blood vessel bursts in the brain.  Theodore Wylie Clay Bateman died about 12:45am on Sunday, December 2, 2012.  He was 86 years old.  He was proceeded in death by his wife of 51 years, Georgie Gay, and 2 daughters Launi and Gayla.  He has 11 living children and I don't even know the number of grand children or great-grand children.  Lots and lots.

April 15, 1985



Throughout my childhood, my grandparents lived in Upstate New York.  I lived near them until I was 4, when my family moved to Utah.  When I was about to turn 8, we learned that they were coming west on a trip and would be in Mesa, Arizona at my Aunt Teddie's house on my birthday.  Our family made a plan to be there as well and we had a big family reunion, including me getting baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I asked my grandpa to baptize me.

When I was 12, I got to go to New York for the summer to live with my grandparents, along with my little brother, Conan, and cousin Lonny.  We drove from Utah to New York with us kids sitting/rolling around in the back of my grandparent's Nissan truck.  No seats, no seat belts, it did have a shell to protect us from the elements.  When we crossed the boarder from Canada back to the USA, a border guard opened the window hatch and asked our situation.  I replied that we were driving with our grandparents to their home in New York and pointing to the boys said, "He's my brother and he's my cousin."  The guard closed the hatch and we continued on.  Grandpa was the branch president and interviewed me (after talking to my bishop on the phone) for a temple recommend so I could go to the Washington, DC temple with the youth in the stake to do Baptisms for the Dead.  That was my first time going to the temple, visiting Washington, DC and staying at a Marriott Hotel.  I remember going to the Hill Cummorah Pageant (multiple times) that summer and one night complaining to my grandpa about the mosquitoes biting me.  He told me that he grew his arm hairs long so that the mosquitoes would get trapped in the hairs so he could easily kill them before they bit him.

I was so proud of my grandparents when they went on their first mission.  They served in Lima Peru.  I remember that at their missionary farewell, someone asked all of the grandchildren to stand up if they were planning to serve a mission.  I stood up proudly.  I wanted to be like them.  Their second mission was to Costa Rica.  After they returned from that mission (1994), I got to drive across the country with my dad, brothers, Conan and Cortney, Cortney's friend Marty and cousin Lonny to help them put up sheet rock in their home to make it tighter from the New York winters.  Really, I was there to help Grandma cook for these hungry workers.

In 1997, they invited all of their family to come to New York in the summer to celebrate their 50th Wedding anniversary.  They were married on November 5, 1947, but we celebrated a few months early (better weather in July for people sleeping in tents on their property).

The next year they moved to West Point, Utah to be closer to family, as most of their children lived there and in the western US and needed some help with Grandma's Parkinson's disease care.

Grandpa came to visit me in Provo, UT a few days after my daughter, Sabrina, was born in April 1999 with his sister Billie.  He commented that it didn't look like Sabrina had the 'Bateman cowlick'.  After Grandma died in August 1999, Grandpa moved back to New York and married Harriet.

In July 2001, I orchestrated a trip with my in-laws to fly to New York to see the city (and Auntie Lulu and Uncle Tony), drive to Kirtland, OH, Niagara Falls, and Palmyra to see the sights of the Restoration of the Gospel.  We got to spend some time with Grandpa and Harriet - at the Palmyra Temple, at their home and on a tour of the Johnston home near Mendon, NY where Brigham Young first heard the gospel preached.

After a few years, Grandpa and Harriet moved to West Point, UT to again be closer to family.  He turned 80 on May 9, 2006 and had a big party to celebrate on May 13.  It was at this party that I learned that my grandpa had graduated from Beauty School.  I flew from Boise to Salt Lake with my son Roderic, so I could sing with my sisters "You Are My Sunshine" and "Side By Side".  Ryan and Sabrina drove down after her soccer game that day.  The next day Kierra Ludlow was blessed in church and Grandpa was caught taking a nap in a fairly comfortable office desk chair.

In April of 2011, we celebrated Grandpa's 85th birthday at the Senior Center in West Point.  My Aunt Luella orchestrated the whole thing.  This picture contains only a fraction of his posterity.

I've got a great story that he told me in 2009 on my blog here.  And then there was the time that he had to contact the records department of the church to let them know he wasn't dead yet so he could continue to log into lds.org and do family history research.  And he loved to go out to his garden with salt shaker in hand to eat fresh cucumber. 

She put what in her mouth?

Yesterday at my routine prenatal exam, the midwife intern was unable to feel the baby's head with her hands and so we did an ultrasound to make sure she wasn't breach or transverse.  Seeing the ultrasound was awesome.  Baby is indeed head down, already in my pelvis, which is why the midwife intern couldn't feel it.  We saw baby's two fists and the umbilical cord.  It looked like the cord was in her fists and then she moved her fist to her mouth.  So cute to think that she is 'playing' with what is in the womb to entertain her.  But what is she doing biting the cord that feeds her?

In the photo of the ultrasound, the dark circle is her eye socket.  Her fist, holding the umbilical cord, is located right under the word FACE and is in her mouth.  We're at week 39, so if this pregnancy finishes like the other 4 (which is what I'm expecting), anytime this week we'll get to welcome her!

Boise Idaho Temple

Last July, our temple closed for renovations.  Oh how I've missed it.  I've written about it here.  The temple is right next to the interstate, quite a sight - especially at night when the lights are on.  But during the construction phase the exterior lights were off.  I was so happy to see them turn on again at the beginning of October!

Now we are in the Open House phase - until November 10.  Last Friday I got to take the tour twice - in the morning with my husband and children and in the afternoon with a friend from chorus and her children.  Can I just say how beautiful it is!

The Entry, with 2 Carl Bloch paintings (there are many of his paintings throughout the temple).

 The Baptismal Font, with stained glass 

and murals depicting Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery being baptized and confirmed.

 The Sealing Room, with eternity mirrors.  

Sabrina says this is the most beautiful room in the entire temple.

The Celestial Room

On the 26th of October, Sabrina and 3 of her friends (the Mad for Music String Serenaders Quartet) had the opportunity to play at the open house in the reception hall.  The had weekly practices for a month before hand to prepare 30 minutes of church and classical music.  We invited Ryan's parents to come and tour the temple and hear them play, so that day Ryan, Roderic and Hyrum got to tour the temple as well.  Leo was really sad when he learned that he missed going to the temple with them (it was during nap time).  Just imagine his exuberance at being able to go to the temple the next week!  "I going temple? Hurray!" complete with jumping.

The cultural celebration will be held on November 17 in the Taco Bell Arena on BSU campus and the temple will be dedicated by President Monson on November 18.  The temple will reopen on November 20 and I have plans to go twice that week because there is no school for the children so Sabrina will be able to babysit for me!  My goal is to attend the temple at least 3 times before Beatrix is born.

We're Expecting! It's a Girl! We're Entering the Weekly appointment phase!

I have not yet officially announced my pregnancy on the blog, which is pretty funny, since we started telling people very early in this pregnancy (we told our children during week 6).  Now I'm 35.5 weeks along.  I took Leo with me to my first appointment and recorded the baby's heartbeat on my digital voice recorder.  He would say, "Baby?  No!  Choo-Choo!" whenever we listened to it.

To do something different this pregnancy, Ryan convinced me that we should have an ultrasound at 20 weeks and find out the sex of our baby.  It took a lot of convincing.  At the ultrasound appointment, the technician was looking all over and took lots of pictures of the baby's parts.  Very unceremoniously she said, "And you're sure you want to find out the sex?"  "Yes," we replied.  "It's a girl," she said and kept moving on.  It was not as exciting as finding out when the baby is born and they put him or her in your arms, for sure.  Ryan, being the engineer, asked, "How often are you right?"  To which she replied, "I've been wrong 3 times and those were all at the beginning of my 11 year career."  So we're pretty confident that we're having a girl.  Sabrina, Roderic and Hyrum are all so very excited to have a little sister.  Leo is still coming to grips that it's a baby and not a train.

With this being my 6th pregnancy, my body remembered very early on what a pregnant woman is supposed to look like and my belly popped out at about week 12, forcing me into maternity clothes.  I was also very tired early on, taking naps daily.  In fact, that was the clue that had me convinced I should take a pregnancy test.  Every day during spring break, I got so tired about 2pm I just had to fall asleep.  I've been sleeping a lot (and yet still not enough!).

So, the anticipated due date is December 7, which is a short 4.5 weeks away.  I can hardly believe it.  Roderic was born on the due date and the rest have come 2 or 3 days before, so we're expecting that again.  Yes, we have a name picked out.  Beatrix Beryl.  No, we don't have a boys name picked out so that ultrasound tech better be right!

Peanut-Butter-Filled Cupcakes

Each week during Sabrina's violin lesson, I thumb through the latest issue of Everyday Food magazine (when I'm not playing Sudoku on my Kindle Fire).  They have some really good recipes in it. (some I've copied down and tried: Simple Crepes, Quinoa Cakes, Pecan Chocolate Chip Pie, Gingerbread mini cakes, Blueberry-Orange cornmeal muffins, Curried Chicken Potpie)  Last week I was especially grateful that I passed my recent Glucose Tolerance test, so I could try this one out.  I made them for Family Home Evening last night and they are delicious, especially if you like chocolate and peanut butter which I do.  The peanut butter filling is also good on graham crackers and with Nutella on bread.  Yum!  I'm toying with the idea of sending these in for Hyrum's birthday snack at Kindergarten, so I can have another excuse to eat them.

Peanut-Butter-Filled Cupcakes

• Cooking spray
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for pan
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup water
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat 12 (I made 18 from this recipe) standard muffin cups with cooking spray, then dust with cocoa, tapping out excess. In a large bowl, whisk together cocoa, flour, granulated sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Using a mixer, beat in eggs, buttermilk, oil, and water on medium until smooth, about 3 minutes.
   
2. Divide batter among cups and bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cake comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes and let cool completely on rack.
   
3. In a large bowl, using mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and peanut butter on high until fluffy, 3 minutes; fold in marshmallow topping. Transfer to a zip-top bag and cut off one corner to make a 1/2-inch opening.
   
4. With a melon baller, scoop out center of each cupcake base and set aside (these pieces will plug cupcakes after filling). Hollow out each cupcake a bit more, discarding eating crumbs. Fill cavities with peanut butter mixture and replace plugs. (Refrigerate in an airtight container, up to 1 week.) To serve, dust with confectioners' sugar. (I didn't feel like dusting with confectioners' sugar.)
   

Camping Success!

Last year on Labor Day weekend, we tried to go camping to Shafer Butte.  Here is the post I never published about that experience.

Sept. 3, 2011.  Camping Fail

Our kids decided that we hadn't done any "real" camping this year because we never had a fire lit or cooked s'mores. They refused to acknowledge the fact that we spent more nights in sleeping bags in July than in beds. So we planned a camping trip for this weekend. We made a reservation for Shafer Butte, which is 18 miles up the road from downtown Boise, a 1 hour drive from our house.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to camp overnight, but we learned valuable lessons, like:

Firewood is necessary to build a fire.
It is cool in the mountains when the valley is hot, so Leo needs a jacket.
Moms need to be able to see. It's not an option to forget glasses and contact lens solution.
Packing for a camping excursion must be done before it's time to leave.
Children need to help their parents pack.

I didn't want to repeat the experience. at. all. All week, Ryan kept mentioning that he'd like to take the family camping, but I didn't really think he was serious.  I sure wasn't.  I am not getting comfortable sleep on my own bed, so why would I like to try to get some sleep in a tent?

Well, Friday morning, he was bound and determined and I found it was futile to resist, so I spent the day working to get ready.  I knew our neighbors were going camping on Friday night, so I asked if we could join their family. (Already better than last year, when you camp with others, what you forget, they most likely have.)

Sabrina had a tennis match, so we couldn't leave until 6:30pm.  We arrived at Ten Mile campground (9 miles beyond Idaho City on Highway 21) about an hour later.  The fire was already going (another perk of going with another family!), so the hot dogs cooked up quickly and we ate.  The kids did some exploring at the nearby creek.  We set up the tent, ate s'mores and JiffyPop, sat around the campfire enjoying the beautiful scenery and talking with the other two families that were sharing our group site.  I slept terribly.  There was a cool rainstorm in the middle of the night that woke us up, although we all stayed quiet so we didn't know others were awake until the morning.

Leo loved sleeping in the tent.  And playing in it while I cleaned up the sleeping pads and bags.  Hyrum loved playing IN the creek.  It was a good thing he had a change of clothes to wear.  Next time I'll have to remember our swim suits and sandals for that campground.  Roderic loved adding wood and pine cones to the fire.  Sabrina wasn't too thrilled about going, she had planned on doing all her homework on Friday night so she wouldn't have to do any the rest of the long weekend.  The s'mores made it worth it.  Next time I need to remember the HOT COCOA for breakfast!

Thank you Egberts and Thorntons for helping me have a positive camping experience so I'll want to do it again with my family!

Explained

So our neighbor's cat has been spending a fair amount of time in our yard.  I haven't found any poop, so I'm not overly concerned.  I figure we have mice living under the wood pile on the side of our house.  We found evidence of mice earlier this year (prepping for paint) when we moved the pile away from the house and next to the fence.

I now believe it is not mice that has the cat spending so much time at our house.  We've got a cotton-tail instead.

A whole lot cuter than mice, but are they as destructive?

First Day of School

8th Grade!

She is attending Treasure Valley Math & Science Center again for half the day (Biology, Geometry and Earth Science) and then Les Bois for the rest (Choir, World Studies, Orchestra and PE/Health).  She is on the tennis team, and prefers playing doubles.

3rd Grade!

He gets to pick up Hyrum from Kindergarten every day.  Said his teacher is the BEST because she gave MOM homework on the first day of school, not him.  He didn't really care for the homework on the second day of school, though.

 Kindergarten!

August 27, 2012 was Hyrum's best day ever!  He started school!  Interestingly, he has said that every school day since has been his best day ever.  I hope he continues his enthusiasm for school.  Wearing his backpack starting at 9am (when school starts at 12:30pm) can be dropped, though.

Rewarded for not going to sleep

The other night, Roderic and Hyrum were delaying going to sleep.  Not unusual at all, unfortunately.  "I need a story."  "I need a drink."  "I need some music." "I need the light on."  "I need the light off."  "Roderic isn't letting me fall asleep."  "Hyrum isn't letting me fall asleep."  "It's too hot."  They were using all of them.

Ryan was finishing the front lawn and I was enjoying the cool evening without the smell of fire on the front porch swing.  Our neighbor, Stan, was working on his Hot Rod.  Its a Model A cab, with an early corvette engine, a sweet ride.  I told the boys to go ask if they could have a ride.  They were too shy.  I told them I would go with them.  So we walked down to the end of the cul-de-sac, where he was taking pictures (it's for sale, if you're interested I can get you the info).  He told them to hop in and off they went.    Five or so minutes of driving around the neighborhood and the boys came home so happy.  Tired?  Not at all.  They still needed a story, some music, the light off and a drink.

A new dress!

 This has been a hot summer.  Even more so since I'm pregnant.  So I am finding that skirts dresses are by far the coolest thing to wear.  I bought this dress at Wal-mart at the beginning of the summer and have worn it a couple of times with a shirt under it. The armhole openings required a shirt under it and as my belly has grown, the length has shrunk.  And did I mention it is hot?  I didn't want to continue to wear a shirt under it or even think about wearing leggings with it.  Stacy and I went to Caledonia Fine Fabrics downtown, looking for some chambray to make a ruffly, flowing sleeve and instead found this perfect ruffle fabric so I could add sleeves and 4 inches to the bottom. It was a $3 fix and took about 3 hours from thought process to cutting to sewing to be able to wear.  I am very pleased with how it turned out!

I believe I even have enough of this fabric left over from the 1/4 yard I bought to be able to make a onesie dress for the baby!

Summertime

My kids found this comic strip in the book "The Days Are Just Packed" by Bill Watterson, which they checked out from the library on the first day of summer vacation.  Hyrum has been adamant that it has NOT been summer until today (who taught that boy to read, anyway?).  So these past 2.5 weeks of non-summer summer vacation have been a bonus!

Now that it IS summer, we're going to continue with sewing and cooking classes for Sabrina and Roderic, swimming lessons for Roderic and Hyrum, lunch at the park at least once a week, eating a popsicle or two each day, reading for the Summer Reading Program at the Library!, writing in Summer journals, hiking, swimming, and riding bikes.  We'll add camping and traveling to visit family and anything else to keep our days just packed!

Happy Flag Day!

 The first holiday with our newly painted house!

 We had a little bike parade.  Even Leo got in on the action.

It's GREAT to be 8!

Roderic turned 8 last Tuesday, it rained and rained.  He got to open all his presents and then Ryan and I took him out to dinner alone to his favorite sit-down restaurant, Fiesta Guadalajara.  He liked the one-on-two dinner and was a little surprised by the talk we gave him during and after dinner.  Yet, we think he took it all in stride.

Friday was a spectacular day.  We (I use the term loosely) went on a hike to Table Rock with Daniel & Michelle and family.  Ryan, Daniel, Carson, Sabrina, Roderic, Hyrum, Ethan, Hailee and Jaron hiked up to Table Rock while Michelle, Kallise, Leo and I went strolling along the Boise Greenbelt.  About 5 pm more family came rolling into town for Roderic's baptism. 

He was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by his father.  Both sets of grandparents were in attendance along with Daniel & Michelle and kids, Shanda and kids, Carson, and many friends.  My awesome visiting teacher made cookies for refreshments because she asked me in April what she could do to help me out (after spending several days at my house in February painting) and that is what I came up with.

Saturday was cold and rainy.  And yet it was Cub Scout Day camp, so we bundled up Ryan and Roderic and sent them on their way to the "Quest for Excalibur".  He got to go through Squire Training (the station Ryan was running - an obstacle course), leather punching, catapult building, a game of kick ball, and knots.  All the boys in his pack were so cold that they left right after lunch, before they did archery or shooting BB guns.  Roderic said his experience at day camp was awesome!

The Magic Bike

In February, a family moved into the house across the street with a boy the same age as Hyrum.  With a little prodding from the moms, by mid-March Hyrum and Marion were good friends.  Starting in April, they have spent every. single. afternoon. together playing outside.  Hyrum has had several days of sun-kissed cheeks because I forget to put sunscreen on him.

Marion has a bike that is magic.  It is a Huffy Rock It with 12" wheels.  It doesn't have training wheels.  For the longest time, the boys would ride around the cul-de-sac on their 3-wheeled bikes and occasionally, Hyrum would pull out his yellow bike with training wheels, but it wasn't as fast as the 3-wheeler.

In mid-May, next door neighbor Rachel started to play with the boys in the afternoons.  Rachel started to show some interest in riding a two-wheeler and her mom helped her out a bit but she was still quite wobbly.  And then it was the last day of school for the older siblings.  June 1, 2012.  Rachel and Hyrum played outside all morning long.  Marion was at school, but his garage was open and since they are all good friends, Rachel and Hyrum got his bike out and started to balance ride it.  WITHOUT ANY HELP FROM THEIR MOMS.  Rachel got pretty good on it, so she decided she would try her own 16" bike.  She never looked back and just went riding around the cul-de-sac.  Hyrum, upon seeing Rachel ride a 2-wheeler, decided that he too could ride on Marion's bike.  And he did.  Then he came inside and got me to watch him go!  It was fantastic!  I was so excited to tell Ryan, but he was in training meetings all day, so he didn't learn the awesome news until dinner.  (We showed him the movie I took of Hyrum riding in the morning.)

Soon after lunch, it was time for me to ride to the school to pick up Roderic, Anna and Lily.  Hyrum said he wanted to come along and then Rachel wanted to go as well, so we rode all the way to the Jr. High to pick them up.  Happily, these 3 kids were so impressed and surprised that their 5-year-old brother or sister could ride a bike!  And they praised them for it, which was just what the little ones needed to hear.

That afternoon when Marion returned from pre-school, Hyrum and Rachel were so excited to show Marion what they could do, let alone everyone else who came to our street!  We asked Marion if he wanted a turn riding his bike and he replied that he was going to wait to do it with his dad.

On Saturday, we took the training wheels off of Hyrum's bike and Ryan saw him ride live.  For the next several days, every time Rachel or Hyrum were playing in the front yard, they spent a lot of time riding their bikes.  The next Wednesday afternoon, Marion decided he could learn to ride on his bike BY HIMSELF.  I tell you it is a magic bike.  It teaches kids how to ride!  Awesome.

Happy Mother's Day

A few weeks ago, when I was teaching Joy School, the unit included an art project of the children drawing a portrait of their mom as a gift for Mother's Day.  To demonstrate to these 6 adorable 4 & 5 year olds, I decided I would draw a picture of my mom.   I thought they all turned out so cute, I just had to take a picture of them all together.

Can you tell which one is me and which one is my mom?

I have had a good experience teaching Joy School and am really glad that my neighbor introduced the program to me.  Sometimes it has been quite stressful to prepare the lessons, but it has been so rewarding to be one of Hyrum's teachers!  And it has been great to be involved with a group of women who want to take an active part in teaching their children.  We get to break for a year and then it will be Leo's turn to sing "O Boy, I Got Joy".

Sewing in my new room

The first room that had anything put in it upstairs (as soon as the carpets were in) was my sewing room - followed closely by Sabrina hanging some clothes in her new closet.  My visiting teaching companion had a baby girl at the end of March and Ryan's niece had a baby girl in February, so I just HAD to sew for them!

I bought the shirts for Laureen's girls at Carters and had some fabric to match them already.  Stacy had some colored tulle, so I was able to make them extra girly.  Its a onesie dress for the baby and a ruffled tunic length shirt for the big sister.

For Missy's baby, I went with a plain white onesie and some red fabric, since that is one of her favorite colors.  Sabrina loom knitted the matching hat.  (Leo wouldn't let me take a photo without him in it.)

Certificate of Completion

The city of Boise has issued us a Certificate of Completion on our addition. That means we're done, right? Nope. But we're close. Really close.

And can I tell you how beautiful the view is from that front bedroom right now with the pear and plum trees in full bloom! Stunning.

Because one major construction project just isn't enough...

During a snow/rain storm in January, a leak in our roof made itself manifest. A small, steady stream of water started running down the inside of our door. The walls got wet, the ceiling got wet, the floors got wet. Our homeowners insurance covers the damage to the inside of our house. Not to the outside because there was no visible damage to any shingles. The leak was not caused by our addition.

The contractor who is doing our upstairs is doing the repair work for us. The kitchen table is in the front room, on top of some vinyl tablecloths. Some hardwood needs replacing and then the entire floor will be sanded and refinished. Some sub-floor needs replacing. The insulation was replaced. A microbial solution was sprayed on the interior of the wall cavities. (It was really stinky!) The sliding door will be changed to an atrium door (the insurance isn't covering this, I'm paying for it). Since we've recently gained a lot of experience in painting, we'll be painting these walls and ceiling, too.

Both the upstairs and downstairs should be completed at the same time. Perhaps before my birthday!

Totally 80s

When we were in Utah a few weeks back, Ryan's little sister hosted the annual Gibby Family "Fish In Love Under The Sea Dance". This year's theme was "Totally 80s". We've never attended before, but knew that Heather and Trever dress to the theme each year, so I decided we'd do the same.

Doesn't Heather look totally awesome in those acid washed jeans and a side pony tail?

Ryan scoured the Internet to find a picture of what he'd like to wear and we found this one of Huey Lewis sporting a purple suit.

That began my quest of finding a purple suit for Ryan. And I found one. And I bought it.

For my costume, I rummaged through my friend's closet who actually has clothes that she wore during the 80s. This is a shirt that she sewed herself and wore when singing with her family - with the original big belt that buckles in the back! D.I. helped me with the pants and shoes.

We had sunglasses with neon ear pieces to dance to "I Wear My Sunglasses at Night". We had plastic guitars and had an "Air Guitar Contest". Those Biddulph men were the big winners with their in-sync choreography!

My boys weren't keen on dancing, but when the air guitar contest started, they decided they could participate with style. The rest of the night, they walked around playing on their guitars. Two and a half weeks later and Leo still walks around making music with his air guitar anytime he finds it.