soccer

noah's getting better at soccer

other than wanting to sit on the field...

we told him a soccer monster 

was going to get him if he sat

bad parenting? maybe

but it seemed to help

 michael kicked the ball around with hazel during noah's practice

and she's a natural

we'll have to sign her up in the spring

and 

in true olive fashion

 because she thinks she's big

olive learned how to dribble the soccer ball

pretty soon we'll have enough

members of our family

for our own soccer team

tuesday night = date night

yeah, that's right

tuesday is our new date night

not only do we have free childcare through wsu

it's the only day we aren't busy

so it works great!

tonight we went to teriyaki

(yes i wore michael's shirt. all day.)

 then stopped for some frozen yogurt

(i especially like michael's sample cup hanging out of his pocket)

then we hit the mall 

we were supposed to grocery shop

but didn't

oh well

we had lots of fun

we're singing in the rain

our kids love that it gets dark early lately

and tonight they loved that it was raining

so we made a dance party out of it

and michael played the guitar

i love our little fam

13.5 weeks

 the three i have keep me pretty busy lately

we'll see how we handle four...

hazel is recovering fine

thank goodness
and thank you for all of your
e-mails, phone calls and comments
we are just grateful she is ok

oh my hazel

it was just a fluke

noah found the flag pole

that attaches to our bike trailer

and brought it inside to play with

hazel got jealous and needed a turn with it 

so she played with it for a couple minutes 

and then just as she set it on the couch

she walked right into it

and it made a hole

in the back of her throat

she cried and i looked at it

and called the doctor immediately

then e-mailed michael with a subject line of 

EMERGENCY!!

since his phone was dead i couldn't call him

he came home and took hazel to the doctor

they hadn't ever seen anything like it

and assumed things were fine

but contacted a specialist in spokane to check

they said to get a cat scan to make sure

everything was ok

it took hours to get the cat scan

because hazel wouldn't cooperate

so they had to heavily drug her though iv

she finally passed out

and in her cat scan they saw

that her throat was punctured

millimeters away from the artery

that leads blood to her brain

MILLIMETERS!!!!!!

she would have died for sure

you can't stop that artery from bleeding

MILLIMETERS!

i can't believe we almost lost hazel today

by such a fluke

but i am so grateful

to my Heavenly Father

for letting me keep her

when hazel finally woke up at the hospital

she was all sorts of upset

and only wanted her mom

i only wanted her, too

but couldn't be with her during her cat scan

since i'm pregnant

and i was in charge of the

stake primary leadership training

i was about to be the next speaker

when michael called to tell me she needed me

i'm so happy to be a mom

that i could go rescue her from that hospital 

she was hating so bad

and bring her home

where she wanted to be

it's hard being a mom

as soon as noah woke up

and i mentioned getting him dressed for school

he cried that he didn't want to go

then the reasons why just kept coming

1. he has a test today. about numbers. i don't know if he does or doesn't but it made me sad that he didn't want to go and if he does have a test that is making him nervous, how sad! i told him no matter how he does on the test i love him and after school he can ride his bike.

2. it's so cold at school. it's snowing there and it feels like ice cubes. i told him he can wear a warmer shirt and he has a jacket he can wear. and no it is not snowing there. we haven't had snow yet.

3. he doesn't like the kids there. i asked where? he said in his class. i didn't know what to say about this one so...

my solution was to drive him to school. we stopped at walmart to pick a few things we needed up and got donuts. by the time we got to school he forgot he didn't want to go. 

a date

i suppose this could be about the date

 michael and i went on

last night

where we went to dinner

and a movie

we saw the help

because i just read the book 

it was fun

but no

this is about the date i took the kids on today

we went to the science center

right after noah got home from kindergarten

and we ate lunch there

that i packed

the kids all had fun 

and we topped the afternoon off

with mini ice cream cones 

i love these kiddies

and might as well take advantage

of the fact that there are only three

for now....

this week....

i spoke at the stake general priesthood meeting. i was the only woman there and spoke on fathers as the stake primary president and as a mother. it was interesting. it went better that i thought it would. i was mostly glad when it was over so i could stop stressing.

michael took the GRE (the test for grad school). that was also stressful. not as much for me but still. that day he was so busy he was gone for 13 hours. it wasn't my favorite. we are glad the test is over.

noah started soccer. not my favorite but he loves it.

hazel started potty training. we're having our ups and downs but she's more ready than she ever has been. we'll see how it goes.

olive is a fluent walker. she never really crawls anymore and has most recently learned how to carry balls with her when she walks. preferably two at a time.

we went to the fair today but i kind of wondered why. michael and i like the fair but our kids are afraid of animals/think they stink/think they're loud and won't ride any of the rides because they're too afraid. maybe next time michael and i want to go to a fair we should find a babysitter.

what can i say? i'm pretty glad this week is over.

oh the life of a soccer mom

little miss had ballet today

i always think she looks so pretty for ballet

 noah started soccer today

i thought it would be a good experience

he did soccer when he was 3

but it wasn't competitive then

 boy do things change when you're five

all the parents are way too in to it

and the coaches, too

and noah likes it

but he's not that in to contact sports

he's very self preserving

i left soccer with so much anxiety

that i never want to go back

but noah liked it!

for the first time, he likes the thing i put him in

why now?!

 hopefully i can get over it

and not mind hearing his name barked at him

by his coach

and ignore the other parents talking about

all the strong kickers, etc.

at least olive rocked the shirt i made her today

ps. don't mind noah's shin guards on the outside

i didn't know!

call me crazy

but i'm strongly considering

not finding out the sex of this baby

the funny thing is,

i've never, ever thought i could/would

do that

wait?

i'm not that patient

but

we're having this baby 2 months before
michael graduates

and whether we stay at wsu
for grad school

or move to a new school

we will move apartments

we can't fit in a 3 bedroom apartment

with 4 kids for long

so i can't really nest

which is the main reason i find out what i'm having

instead i'll be busy prepping us to move

so

sure i didn't save noah's clothes

for the simple fact that i was a single mom

when i birthed him

and thought i may never have more children

and i've most recently had 2 girls

meaning we're set if we have a girl

and we have pretty much nothing

other than a few special outfits of noah's

that i probably wouldn't put on a new baby

for sentimental reasons

anyway

we would have no boy clothes

other than that, no biggie

right?

plus i'm mostly planning on  having a v-bac

despite my last attempt not working out

so it seems extra motivating

to wait and see what we're having

to be able to push it out and be surprised

am i crazy?

boyer park

who knew there was a pretty river

just 30 minutes away?

michael and noah walked across to the island

olive covered in sand

 hazel thinks building sand castles is the coolest

so she built several of them all over

 noah was happy we let him bring some hot wheels

he had so much fun with them in the water

 cute michael

i'll spare you the swimsuit picture of me

not so cute

we had a lot of fun at the river

and wished we'd been there more this summer

while the boys are away...

the girls will play

dress up, that is

michael's work party

michael's work is awesome

and so family friendly

we went to the park for their yearly party today

and it did not disappoint

i think there were 4 bouncy contraptions

 noah was in heaven

 hazel loved this castle

olive thought she would, too

until she tried it

noah won $12 

two from the cake walk where you get money

instead of cake

and ten from his name being drawn in a raffle

lucky boy

he cannot wait to go spend it

noah and hazel's room

this isn't their whole room

just one wall, really

but we recently got a sweet

ten dollar dresser at a garage sale

that we (michael) painted gray

with our paint sprayer

 this wall is a mish-mash of every piece of art

that i hadn't been hanging because

 there wasn't a place

but it seems to fit together

and belong on their wall

it includes some pictures,

a painting of noah's

just this and that

 and another picture of the dresser

i'm happy with the improvements

other than the fact that i want their dresser

for our room..

ballet

hazel started ballet again today

she LOVES it

and i'm glad she has it since she is still on the

waitlist for preschool

this gives her some structure

and something to look forward to

she has to wear a ponytail

so i'm glad i've been growing her hair out!

 hazel is so pretty

i think she just gets prettier and prettier

 showing me her moves

 pretty decent ponytail, right?

hazel and her friend ava

and another friend ellie was there, too

watching them in ballet is so much fun

i love it

labor day weekend

we like to go on a whim

so friday afternoon

we decided to head to seattle for the weekend

we stayed at michael's aunt's house

not knowing she would be gone

so we felt like we'd rented a house for the weekend

we got to wash our car,

go on a walk and eat blackberries,

play in the yard

it was so much fun

thanks, debbie!!

we had a fun visit with my parents

and my grandma

here's me, my grandma and my mom

 the kids always have fun with grandpa

 we went to alki

noah is proudly standing in front of his 

sand castle

 us girls playin' in the sand

 michael helped noah bury his legs

michael is the best dad

he is way more fun than i am

always up for playing

our cute hazel girl

 olive would not stop eating sand

silly girl

 we went up the space needle

here's our cheesy photo they took

hazel got a little freaked out

so instead of going outside
 to see the view right away

she and i had a little hot chocolate date inside

 cute olive

 we also went to the science center

to see the butterflies

and happened to run in to two of michael's cousins

and their families which was so much fun

we had a really good trip

happy labor day