Halloween

I saved a spot to put some Halloween pictures up, and I'm finally getting around to it! For the first time since Cade was a baby, I got the whole family to agree to coordinate costumes this year. Cade and Cole were knights in shining armor. As you can see, they take their duties very seriously.
Luke was a scary fire-breathing dragon. But he eventually got tired of breathing fire and just went with scary dragon.

Lanny and I were the king and queen. Royal as could be. I bought the crown hat, which I thought was reminiscent of Burger King commercials, and talked it up for a month so Lanny could not protest too much. At least I didn't make him wear tights. (Like I could ever even hope to have that much power. Queen or no queen.)

Happy Halloween everybody! Little late, but early November was kinda busy....Not saying what my excuse has been since then, but it's pretty much the same thing. :)

Welcome Sadie Claire!

We have a new baby at our house! Okay, so she's 3 1/2 weeks old, now, and I'm sorry for taking so long to get pictures up, but I have been spending all my time feeding, changing, staring at the adorable thing, and trying to catch up on sleep here and there when my eyes get too tired to stare anymore.

Here are the details:

Sadie Claire Barrowes
Born November 6, 2008 at 12:19 pm
6 lbs. 10 oz.
(Cutest little girl we ever saw.)

We are sure excited to have her here! Her brothers just can't get enough of her. Every time she's awake they are clustered around watching, waiting for turns to hold her, and giggling at and commenting on how cute she is. Dad is thrilled with her, too. He is very often the reason the brothers have to wait their turn to hold her. He has the magic touch with her, getting her to be calm and happy. (He has even changed a few diapers! Yay, Dad!) I am thrilled that she's not in my belly anymore! She's so much more fun on the outside! And a bit more work, but all totally worth it! I can't quit staring, kissing, and just being in awe. We are so blessed!


We know what we are thankful for this holiday! Her name is Sadie.

Cole turns 4!

So, Cole had a birthday too. I've been asking him if when he turned four, would that also mean his favorite number would change from 3 to 4? Not so far. Three is still his favorite number. Three is a great number, there's no denying. Maybe when we have four kids in the family, then the number four will have the edge for sure, I'm thinking. We'll have to wait and see.

Pretty much all Cole wanted for his birthday was, well, everything he's seen in the toy aisle at the grocery store for the last 3 months, and everything in any Lego catalog I haven't been able to sneak into the trash, and a few other random requests, plus a birthday party. No pressure.

He ended up getting a Lego Batman and a Lego Captain Rex keychain. Who is Captain Rex, you may ask? I don't know, is the answer. But I think he's like a Clone Trooper Commander or something. Star Wars guy. Plus some cheap imitation Hot Wheels cars and a Diego flying machine.

And I caved and threw the party.

I was not going to do the 4-year-old party again. I thought I learned my lesson on Luke with that one. But my neighbor friend who works at Walmart caught me on my way home the other day and gave me all this brand new free Wall-E stuff that she had saved from getting tossed in the trash. Banner, table cloth, cups, napkins, and party favors galore. Plus Cole kept talking about this party he was going to have. So we sent out the free Wall-E invitations to everyone in his primary class. Plus a couple of their siblings and one friend from our old neighborhood whom he still plays with on a weekly basis. This equals fourteen kids. Fourteen four-year-olds. Fourteen is not anybody's favorite number. But who do you not invite? He is friends with everyone. There are just way too many 4-year-olds in our ward, but that's not his fault. All great kids, by the way, but yeah, that was a lot. A couple of them were sick that day, one forgot, and one of the aforementioned siblings fell asleep in the car on the way. So we ended up with ten. Luckily, Luke and Cade were home (teacher prep day), and I had conned my sweet mother-in-law into dropping by to help. She was wise enough to recruit my two sisters-in-law also, and so I had 3 life-saver wonderful women helping me. (There's that favorite number 3 again. I can see why he likes it so much.)



Well, we started by building cardboard box towers in the living room to see how high we could stack them. And how widespreadedly we could crash and scatter them. That was highly entertaining for about 3 or 4 minutes. Then we went outside for a "marshmallow game" which is code for the cheesy relay where you carry a marshmallow on a spoon. But instead of passing it to the next guy, each person just ate their marshmallow when they were done and the next person got their own marshmallow to drop repeatedly and then brush off and eat. Great fun. Except the relay part of it. Taking turns took too long, and we lost half the crowd to the overgrown sandbox and the hill with loose rocks that I just knew someone would get hurt on, but was in no condition to chase them down from. So I gave Luke that job. He's not too authoritative, but eventually we got about 6 or 7 of the 10 guests to join in an exciting game of Duck-Duck-Goose. We tried link tag after that, but that no worky. Next it was craft time! I had gold foil cardboard gift boxes and miscellaneous craft supplies that we turned into robots. That project saved the day! Along with all my amazing helpers.

Then Cole opened presents. There were about three of the kids who did not want to give up the gifts they brought. I felt bad. Not like he didn't have enough stuff already, and enforced gift-giving is kind of unfortunate, but what do you do? For the most part, everyone decided to remember that oh yeah, it was Cole's birthday this time.

After presents, we all went back out on the front lawn and ate our popcorn/treat bags. (At least I have retained the cupcake lesson from Luke's third and fifth birthdays. You don't spend lots of time baking, decorating, and making amazingly cute cupcakes for anyone under the age of 7. They don't appreciate cute or even cupcakes. They only appreciate frosting and candy. Popcorn and candy worked just as well, and on the front lawn was much less messy and time-consuming.) We ate our treats and blew and shot our party favors at each other until moms came back to pick kids up. In the end, we sent everyone home happy except the one little girl who still did not want to part with the toy zebra she had brought as a gift for Cole. I wish I could have sneaked it back to her without anyone noticing. Oh well, we'll have to have her over to play zoo animals soon.

Best of all, Cole was quite pleased with his party. He had a great time with all of his friends, and he liked making his own robot just as much as the next kid. Also blowing and shooting party favors at others was a favorite feature of the party for him as well. Plus who doesn't like getting lots of presents? I took a few pictures, and my helpers brought cameras as well, so I think even though we spent a good deal of our time chasing children, I should be able to post some cute Wall-E party photos.

To conclude: I still do not recommend throwing a birthday party for anyone under the age of five. I also do not recommend inviting 14 kids. It's also not a good idea to combine these ideas with being two weeks away from delivering a baby. Waddling is not an effective means of chasing an energetic 4-year-old, not even one of them. If you are crazy enough to procede with this kind of a stunt, however, DO:
1. Invite your mom and sisters.
2. Have fewer games, and more craft time. (Pipe cleaner and pom poms anyone?)
3. Give out blowy party favors. Nothing can compare in the adventure and excitement department.

4. Take lots of pictures for proof that there is a good reason you are not giving this same child a birthday party with 14 friends next year, or when they turn fourteen, either. You did your time. They chose the year of the party, and it was the fourth year of their cute little life. In hindsight, we may all wish we would have waited another year, but hey, it was great while it lasted! And now you're off the hook for at least a year or two, anyway!

Tagged!

I don't think I've been blog tagged before. Probably nobody thought I'd ever figure it out if they tried to tag me. It took me a while, but I did catch on eventually. Deanna believes in me! So, the rules:

List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions, and 3 random facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end.

Joys
1. Watching my kids sleep...they are so perfect in their sleep.
2. Change of the seasons - I love fall leaves, crisp air, and soup, boots, and sweater weather!
3. Relaxed family time.

Fears
1. Losing my keys.
2. Losing a kid.
3. Losing my mind.

Goals
1. Finishing the basement.
2. I used to think it would be great to get the whole house clean at once, but now I'm happy with a room or two clean at once...You can't have it all!
3. Not be the only girl in our family! Less than 4 weeks to go! And have a room ready for her before she gets here.
(These are all pretty short-term...can you tell I'm in crunch mode? Not thinking very far ahead at this point.)

Current Obsessions
1. Organizing computer desk and surrounding area.
2. Baby quilt.
3. Little girl clothes!

Random Facts
1. I love children's books. Probably better than grown-up books.
2. Sometimes in the winter I wear socks to bed. I don't like icy toes.
3. I'm willing to try some strange yoga moves if there's any possibility it will help my baby turn around out of her current breech position. Wish us luck!

P.S. She did turn! Yay!
I forgot to tag my next 5 people:

1. Amber Addington
2. Lacey Daily
3. Venna
4. Jenna
5. Carlie

Cade's Baptism Day

Cade had a big day yesterday! He was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has been so excited for this ever since his brother Luke was old enough to choose to be baptized. Cade has a strong desire to do what's right, and to follow Jesus. Whenever we asked him why he wanted to be baptized, or why should he get baptized, his answer was, "Because Jesus was baptized." He got to choose some of the music for the program, and the songs he wanted were "When I Am Baptized" and "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus."

Today in church he shared his testimony. He said that he knows the church is true, and that he knows Heavenly Father watches over us. It is humbling to be the mother of such a good kid. I hope I am a good enough example to him. He is sure a good example to me. I love being a family with my sweet kids and great husband!

We had several cameras going yesterday, so I'll compile the results and post the winning photos soon. :)

Baby Brothers (Meaning Brothers of a Baby)...almost

It is so fun to watch how the boys are excited to be brothers of their new baby sister. They each show their excitement in a bit different way, probably partly because they each feel just a bit differently about having a new baby in the family.

A couple nights ago, I was getting kids in bed, helping brush teeth, etc. I walked past Cade in the hall and as I scooted my big bellly past him, he asked if the baby was moving. I told him that she wasn't at the moment, but a little later I was in Luke's room sitting on his bed looking at a book he wanted to show me. That is when I had to call Cade back in because you could just look down and see my tummy getting poked all around. Cole came right along with him, too. They were both excited to see and feel.

Luke was already there, so he got in on the action first. He put his hand on my tummy and grinned when he felt the baby move. He was trying to figure out which movement might belong to which baby body part in there. Luke is excited in a smiling, all-knowing big brother sort of way. He takes it all in stride. He has been there and done that with the baby thing before. He's happy, but he knows what this is all about...it's nothing new, except for the girl part of things, which I think does add to his excitement a little. He's pretty happy and fine with the whole situation, as long as it doesn't mean he has to share a room again. :)

Cade was next. I put his hand in a good location to feel some movement, and as soon as he felt it, he just start giggling uncontrollably. This was the funniest, most amazing thing ever, to be feeling a baby move inside of me. Even when she was still, if he could feel a part poking out here or there, he would get all silly to think that he was feeling her knees or her bottom sticking up at him. "Is she naked in there? Babies are born naked, huh?" was his next comment. He loves to get all the details and be as connected as possible to what's going on right now, not just how it will be later. He's also the guy that loves to look online at the week-by-week prenatal development charts to see what the baby looks like all along the way. He kind of guessed that I was pregnant one day when I just mentioned that I wasn't feeling very well, and I was going to need some help from them. "Is there a baby in your tummy?" he asked. "I don't really think so," was my surprised, somewhat lying response. He did a happy dance when we told him later that we were expecting a baby. "I knew it!" he squealed. How'd he get so intuitive? He also giggled at the ultrasound pictures. "Giddy with excitement" would be a phrase that describes Cade's attitude towards the baby. It is pretty fun to see him so thrilled.

Cole is just a lovey little guy. He can't hold his hand on my tummy long enough to feel anything because he starts hugging and kissing the baby in there as soon as he gets close enough. "I want to tickle that little baby," he'll say, as he starts tickling my belly. Or, "I just want to give that cute little baby a hug and a kiss." And he hugs my tummy then starts laying on the little kisses. He is such a snuggly little sweetheart. He'll be such a sweet big brother. He'll love having someone smaller than him to take care of, I think.

I love all three of my boys and their distinct personalities. Each one of them brings me so much joy. Being a mom is the best! Good thing I like it huh? Because I'm in it for the long haul it looks like...

Cade's Birthday

Cade turned 8 years old! He is so excited to be this age of all ages. He can't wait for his baptism, nor can he wait to go to a Cub Scout activity! He loved his new set of scriptures that he got for his birthday just as much as any other gift, which was pretty fun. (He also got some Mars Mission Legos and a Transformer.)

His birthday fell exactly on Labor Day this year, so we got to celebrate all day. We took the kids up to Discovery Gateway, a children's museum at the Gateway Mall in Salt Lake. All of us had a blast. Every exhibit there is hands-on. There was kind of a mini community type place with a play house, a construction site, a grocery store, a farm, a waterway, and all kinds of fun things to do.

Luke ran around delivering mail, then anchored a newscast while Cade and Cole took turns riding the horse at the barn and building buildings and robots. There was also an invention area where they could build all kinds of things with all different kinds of materials, then test them out in different ways, like could their building withstand an earthquake or could their paper kite, balloon, or plane really fly and how high.

We all had a great time, and agreed that we'll have to return again soon.

Back to School

The kids started school on August 20th. Luke is in 5th grade now, and Cade in 2nd. We are almost adjusted to being on a tighter schedule again, with school, karate, and piano taking more than their fair share of our time. But I'll tell you what, it is so nice to be home again! I finished working for Dr. Barrowes at the orthodontist office the beginning of August, and I am LOVING having more time with my family. I even get a few things done around the house! Imagine! (At least for another month or two until I have a new baby to take up all my time again.)

Cole and I are having fun hanging out during the day. We like to watch Blue's Clues while folding laundry, snuggle on the couch while we reading library books, and Cole's favorite activity is to just "play," which usually means we are either Star Wars action figures or superheroes who fight bad guys by various means (shooting, punching, bombing, etc.) and using all variety of weapons. Occasionally we find more peaceful methods of "play," but not very often. Dang it. What else can you do with a 3- almost 4-year-old's imagination? I try to steer it away from violence, but Lego guys can only feed Lego ducks for so long before they're back to using light sabers on their enemies, I'm afraid. Oh well. I remember Luke used to go around shooting people with his pretend bow and arrow at that age, and he's a pretty peaceful kid now.

And Cole is still the sweetest, friendliest guy you could ever hope for. He introduces himself to everyone he sees. In the checkout line at WalMart the other day, he yelled to the (probably 40-something-year-old) guy behind us, "Hey, old man! My name's Cole! And my brother is Luke Skywalker. What's your name?" He is constantly telling me that I'm a good mom and that he loves me. He'll come up and say, "I'm just going to give you a little kiss, okay?" It doesn't get much better than that. I'm going to miss him being my littlest guy. But it will sure be fun to see his sweetness extend to being a big brother too.

With the start of school I started teaching Let's Play Music classes last week too. I have a morning class with five 4-year-olds, and an afternoon class with seven 4- through 7-year-olds. The afternoon class is mostly Kindergarten and First-graders, and all boys! They are by far my bigger challenge, but we have lots of fun. I LOVE teaching these classes. I enjoy it so much. The kids are great, the music is fun, and it is so fun to see how much they love it! Cole comes to my morning class too. We are waiting to do preschool with him until next year since he still has two years until Kindergarten, but it is fun to have just a bit of structure and learning time for him, and I love having him in my class. He loves it too, and would come to both classes if he could, but the other class is too full and I know he would get bored doing the same class twice every week.

Luke and Cade are both loving their teachers and classes, and it is shaping up to be a great year. (Especially with Cade's everything is MINE! attitude...I really don't know where that came from. He is not really like that. I think he just liked the graphic image that he made, and it had to measure something, so why not that?) Cade's class has Monarch caterpillars and Cade has already been totally enthralled watching them eat and grow so fast. Can't wait for the whole cocoon and butterfly thing. Luke never has a great attitude about going back to school, but luckily the last two years he has had teachers who were able to turn his attitude around. Yay for wonderful teachers! Fifth grade should be one of the best grades, I think. I hope he continues to enjoy it.

Well, that's all for now. I'll try and keep you better posted. Later! :)

Luke's Birthday

We headed to Idaho for the Fourth of July weekend.  Clint came up with the idea to help Mom and Dad build their deck for our family reunion this year.  

It was great...the guys all worked on the deck while the girls did fun crafts and games with the kids and made lots of delicious food to eat.  Luke's birthday fit quite nicely into this celebration.  We had lots of cousins to party with  and I only had to come up with some of the treats and games.  It was kind of like an insta-party.  

He wanted a flag cake, so we came up with the idea of frosting cupcakes in red, white, and blue frosting, then arranging them in stripes to resemble a flag.  It turned out cute, and the kids loved the cupcakes.  

He got some fun presents including lots of games, so we had even more insta-fun.  We watched the fireworks that night from Jake's and Michelle's backyard.  It was a great view and no crowds to get lost in.  We had a wonderful time with family.

Probably the most memorable event of the weekend, besides Luke turning 10, was Saturday night at the completion of the deck.  We broke it in by using it as an American Idol stage.  Chris was Simon, Jana was Paula, and Luke was a guest judge.  They were very harsh on all the adult competitors: "I don't think you're even taking this competition seriously!" and "You can pack your bags because you're going home," were some of Simon/Chris's English-accented comments.  And glowing reports for the kids, especially Kaylee and Kayla.  "You are a star, and you should know that," and  "That is what makes you so special," were some common phrases Paula/Jana used to describe these two.  "I really think you could make it all the way," and "Ladies and gentlemen, you're looking at the next American Idol," were some of Simon/Chris's nicer calls.  Luke was a little on the judgemental side, but he really got into the spirit of the thing.  He just didn't know to differentiate between grown-ups and kids as well as the other judges did when he was handing out criticisms.  He had some great comments, too, though, and in the end all the kids were winners, just like they deserved to be.  We sure had a good time.  My family's awesome!

Loungin' in San Diego

After two adventure-packed days at Disneyland, we were ready to kick back and relax at Lawrence Welk resort in Escondido, right outside of San Diego. We spent our time at the pool, waterslide, and gameroom, barbecuing on the back patio, and then watching movies and playing Mario Kart Racing on the rainy day we had.

We spent one afternoon at Lanny's Aunt Mary's eating a delicious dinner, playing in their jacuzzi, and visiting. Lanny's cousin Ashley is just a bit older than Luke and after Disneyland, the first thing the kids wanted to do in California was "visit Ashley!" They lent us some beach gear, too, and we spent another afternoon at La Jolla beach building sandcastles and playing in the waves. This was our kids' first ocean experience, and they had a great time.

My sweet cousin Amber took the kids for a day and a half while Lanny and I took some time to ourselves to celebrate our anniversary. We were having so much fun with the kids that it was hard to drop them off, but we had a great time on our own too.

We spent the morning golfing the beginner course at the resort. Later we cleaned up for an evening at the San Diego temple and dinner at Roy's in La Jolla. It was a perfect anniversary (11 years and loving it!) and many thanks to Amber and Mike for watching the kids! Our kids had a great time with theirs, too, with more swimming, barbecuing, and video gaming. Heaven! Isn't this a cute picture of Staci and Cole? They're good friends now. Luke and Cade had a great time with Brinley and Spencer too.

We took two days to drive home, stopping over in Las Vegas for a night. We went to the shark aquarium at Mandalay Bay. That was pretty awsome!

Then we had to jump in the pool one more time the next morning before hitting the hot car and long road again. What a fun vacation! We had such a good time together. It was hard to come home to reality again, but we sure got our summer off to a great start! And we've got some great memories from our fun bonding time. I love spending time with my boys...all four of them!