Merry Christmas!

We went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks and to visit Santa today. The kids are so excited for Christmas. I love this time of year when there seems to be extra kindness in the air as we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

My Sweetie

Michael has a new calling (position) at church. For those who don't know, we belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and Michael has been the Bishop in our ward (congregation) for three years. A stake is made up of many wards, and Michael has been asked to be the 2nd counselor to the Stake President. He has been serving for over a month now. Life is still busy, just in a different way.

This picture was taken at our portrait session last month.

Sneak Peek

I hope you enjoy these portraits. They cropped out the Thomas train in Daniel's picture before they printed it. Letting him hold it was the only way to make him happy and get him to sit still. You can't see it, but he is holding it in his right hand in the bottom picture, also.

The kids are all feeling better. The doctor advised that we should stay home from church today, but things should be back to normal this week.

Home Sweet Home

My babies are home! We are so grateful that they are better!!!! Jonathan came home on Saturday, and Andrew came home yesterday. They are both doing really well. My dad was here to help on Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday morning. He took Nathaniel (Optimus Prime--from Transformers), Emily (Ariel the mermaid), and Daniel (Thomas the Tank Engine) trick-or-treating while I stayed home and handed out the candy. Andrew wore his James the Red Engine costume in the hospital (I took pictures with my 35mm camera, so they aren't ready yet), and different nurses and other staff from the hospital visited him in their costumes and brought him candy. After trick-or-treating Saturday night, we all went to visit him and bring him more treats.

We have had so much comfort, love, and support from family and friends and we are very, very grateful.

Daniel refused to sit still for a picture. He sure had fun, though.

Sweet Boys

Jonathan and Andrew are both in the hospital this week. Jonathan was admitted on Monday for croup, and then Andrew on Tuesday for pneumonia. Once they admitted Andrew, they moved us to a much larger room so that they could be together. Jonathan is much better and should be discharged today or tomorrow, but Andrew is having a hard time. We are hoping he can come home on Saturday.

I stayed at the hospital Monday and Tuesday night, and Michael and I switched last night. I am home doing chores and taking care of Daniel, so I thought I would take a few minutes to update everyone.

We are so grateful to the many people who have helped with rides, meals, and babysitting and also to those who have offered to help. We appreciate all the prayers offered as well!

Big Boy

As of Wednesday at his 2 month check up, Jonathan is now 13lbs 12 oz (90th percentile) and 25 in long (95th percentile). No big surprise for one of my boys! He is doing really well. I love his eyes in this first picture; he doesn't look very happy, but he sure looks cute!
Aren't the ears cute?

After four children, the motor in our old bouncer finally gave out. This is our new one (thanks again Uncle Sam and Aunt Linda).

Weekend Fun

Jonathan was blessed in church on Sunday, and Papa and Nana and Grandpa (Grandma was sick, unfortunately) were all able to be there. We also had a fun day on Saturday at the pumpkin patch, and later that day the kids decorated Halloween cupcakes. Thank you Papa, Nana, and Grandpa for coming to visit!

This was taken at the pumpkin patch on Saturday--the date is wrong.

Here is Jonathan on Sunday. Can you tell he is well fed? I love the little smile. I see resemblances to all of the other kids--and Michael--in this picture.

Tiny Angel

He is awake a lot more now, but he still sleeps great at night. Yea!

I love this picture because it shows his adorable profile, and it reminds me of the ultrasound picture below.

This is from May, when I was about 6 months along.

For the post below, here is the order from top to bottom:

Andrew, Jonathan, Nathaniel, Emily, and Daniel

Pop Quiz

Who is who? Answers next time. :-)
(Check out the post below this one--I just posted it today--and it will give you some clues.)

The Circle of Life

When one of our children is annoyed with a younger sibling about something they used to do to their older sibling, we call this the circle of life. For instance, Nathaniel used to get so frustrated playing with his tracks and trains because Emily kept messing up the tracks. A few years later, Emily would get frustrated with Andrew when she was building a track and he kept destroying it. Now, Andrew gets angry when Daniel breaks his tracks. Eventually, Jonathan will do the same to Daniel. Does it make me a bad mom that I sometimes chuckle at these situations?


Here is another fun example of the Circle of Life:

Nathaniel holding Emily



Emily holding Andrew

Andrew holding Daniel

Daniel holding Jonathan

Everybody loves to hold Jonathan

Jonathan is such a good sleeper. The kids get so excited when he actually opens his eyes.

These pictures are in order starting with the most recent.

Jonathan and Papa (Christine's dad)

Jonathan and Nana (Christine's stepmom)

Jonathan and Emily

Jonathan and Andrew (the date is wrong on this one)

Jonathan and Grandpa (Michael's dad)


Grandma (Michael's mom) and the boys

More Pictures

Here is a picture of me 4 days before Jonathan was born.

The kids were so excited to come to the hospital to visit us, but they were soon more interested in watching cartoons.

Nathaniel and Jonathan

Andrew's Birthday

Jonathan Allan May

Jonathan Allan May was born on August 13, 2009 at 7:55am by C-section. He was..drumroll please...10 lbs 3 oz! And 21 inches long. The first thing I heard them say when they pulled him out was, "Wow, that's a big boy!" You're telling me! I carried that heavy baby. My back and sides were suffering there the last few weeks. Now we have our beautiful, healthy boy and I am so happy and grateful. The kids adore him, even the little boys. He and I are both doing well and I am recovering nicely.

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

Today Andrew is 4 years old. We celebrated last week as a family by going to Pump It Up, where they have these huge inflatables and slides for kids. Our kids had a great time. Especially Daniel--he was so brave to go on the big slide.

Tonight, we'll have cake and ice cream and presents.

Coming soon...

First, I just want to say how great it is that Emily has learned how to ride her bike without training wheels. She was pretty scared at first, but she had the biggest smile when she realized she could do it! The sun is in her face in this picture, but she is so happy.

My C-section is scheduled for August 13. We can't wait to meet our new baby boy!!!!!

Mommy’s Boot Camp

Summer vacation is always a good time to teach the kids some new skills. Especially with a baby on the way!

So, I am giving the two older children a morning routine and a bedtime routine and giving them some new chores. In the morning, they know that they have to finish their routine and then give me their report before they can watch TV or play on the computer or whatever it is they want to do. They also have to play outside before they can earn video game time. At night they have a shorter routine, and they must complete it and give me a report before they get their dessert. They are so cooperative, and they have been spending a lot of time playing outside with each other and with friends.

Here are some of things I want them to learn this summer:
Nathaniel: Fold and put away his clothes, make his own lunch, help Daddy in the yard and garden, and vacuum; he can already empty the dishwasher and take out the trash
Emily: Fold and put away her clothes, make her own lunch, wipe down bathroom counters, empty small trash cans, and fold bath towels
Andrew: Fold washcloths and buckle himself in the car (he will get to sit in the back row with the big kids when the baby comes); he is just recently completely potty-trained--yea!
Daniel: Sleep in a big boy bed, and stop throwing tantrums!

Reptile madness

Last week, Michael saw a snake slither across our garage. I had a hard time believing it could be as big as he said it was, but I kept the children in the house while he tore apart the garage looking for its hiding place. When he finally found it under a bookshelf (we could only see the tail and the head), we decided it would be best to call for help because we had no idea if it was poisonous or not. We called a man from the yellow pages to come and get it for us, and I’m so glad we did because there were actually two of them—male and female!—and they were big. We originally had thought that since it was so expensive to have him come and get them that Michael could just do it, but he looked at me and said, "Honey, you really need to call the guy back and have him come out here." He had said a prayer to himself about it and he felt very strongly that we would need help. Michael is very wise about these things, and I'm so grateful to him. It was hard to tell since they were coiled up, but I’m sure the snakes were at least 5 feet long. The man said they were rat snakes, and they are not poisonous but one bit him. I wish I had thought to take a picture, but I was just glad to be rid of them.

Afterward, I was relieved but also sad to see my garage in such disarray. On Saturday, Michael had planned on doing yard work. Since it rained, he decided to tackle the garage. He did a wonderful job! He even went through some boxes of papers that he had been keeping for eight years or more. I was so happy! He also got rid of the bookshelf. I don’t have any “before” pictures, but here are the “after” pictures.