Tender Mercy

I am going to confess that during my pregnancy with Bronson I was having some questions and doubts about whether I would be able to handle a 5th child.  Life is crazy.  I am at the point right now where I am shuttling the twins to practices, games, and lessons constantly while trying to keep up with homework, piano practicing, planning preschool lessons, laundry, housework, meal planning, etc. etc. etc.  I told Zac that I felt like I was juggling bowling balls, looking at the prospect of someone throwing in a fifth flaming bowling ball and I didn't know if I could keep all the balls up in the air.

Then Bronson was born.  He is the most peaceful, happy, beautiful baby that anyone could ever ask for.  I have absolutely loved snuggling him and watching him with his wide eyes taking everything in.  He sleeps amazingly, only waking up once a night to eat and then goes quickly back to sleep, sleeping in until 7 a.m.  He is so patient with me as I am constantly needed to help the other kids... he just lays on a blanket and takes us all in.  He even smiles through his hugging ordeals with Charlotte.

Now instead of wondering how I can possibly do it with 5, I am asking myself, "How could I have ever been this happy without my Bronson?"

An Embarrasing Story with a Moral

As a Young Woman in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, every Sunday from the time I was 12-18, I would stand and repeat the Young Women's theme.  Part of that theme states, "We will stand as witnesses of God at all times, and in all things, and in all places."

Well, I had a lapse and I got caught.

When I was at one of my last OB/GYN appointments I knew I would be waiting for the doctor to come in to the room for a while while I was stripped from the waist down... to kill the time I decided to take a magazine in with me.  Usually, I will choose a Better Homes and Gardens, Good House Keeping, Family Fun, or if I want the doctor to think I'm smart, Time or Newsweek.  This time, I grabbed the trashy tabloid.  I usually don't care about celebs and their interesting lifestyles, but the cover grabbed my attention when it talked about Brad and Angelina expecting their 6th baby.  With me on my 5th, I wanted to know just how the Pitt-Jolies did it, so I grabbed the mag.

I know it isn't a "sin" but it isn't usually the kind of reading material I want to be associated with either, especially because other content in the magazine wasn't entirely wholesome... so when the doctor knocked on the door, I chucked my magazine upside down onto the chair next to me, hoping he wouldn't see what I was reading.  MISTAKE-- when the doctor came in, his eyes were immediately drawn to the advertisement on the back of the magazine, a lady standing in a risque bra and underwear and high heels.  He grabbed it up and said, "Whoa! What are you reading?"  Then exclaimed, "You used to have to secretly search through your mom's JC Penney catalogues to see women in their underwear."  At this time the nurse walked in not knowing what the doctor was commenting on... and me wrapped in a sheet from the waist down just had to reply, "Yeah, now you just have to become an OB/GYN!"  The nurses face was hysterical, and then the doctor had to show her the magazine and the rest of the visit was a conversation on the decline of morals all because of a magazine that I had chosen to read for 10 minutes at the doctors office.

Lesson learned, there is no good place to read a trashy tabloid... and guess what, the Pitt-Jolies have lots of nannies and household servants and that is how they handle 6 children.

The Snow Came Down

This has been the craziest mild Winter!  Zac said that it is almost too hard for him to enjoy because he is too worried that we are finally being smitten by global warming.  We thought that we would have to give up on the idea of our annual family snow day...

But Alas, about 2 days before the baby came, it snowed!

Even though it snowed, the weather was still quite nice, as evidenced by Zac in his shorts and tee-shirt.

Instead of an igloo or snow fort the kids opted for a snow run again this year, as we got some new sleds for Christmas and haven't been able to use them much.

planning and making improvements to the run

Ian giving the run a test drive

This is so much fun, or should I say "snow" much fun! (Check out the monkey in the background.)

She's our new pet...

We named her Charlotte and she likes to live in the snow!

Tanner was very much the master architect on this project.  He had the design concept and directed his dad on how to make the whole thing.  Zac and I can't wait to see what this boy becomes when he grows up!

I'm In Love

Yesterday at 8:53 a.m. I found out just how much more love I had in my heart when we welcomed Bronson Micah Fillmore into this world.  He weighs 6 lbs. 12 oz. and is 21 inches long.  He is a healthy little guy and the most easy going, peaceful baby you can imagine.  Zac and I have been in Heaven these past two days getting to know him and giving him lots of snuggles in the hospital.

Big sister Ashlyn

Ian is so proud to have a little brother to train

The big brother, Tanner

Charlotte can't believe that we got a real, live baby and that we even let her touch him!  Oh, this is going to be fun!

Could he be any sweeter?

or cuter than this?

I am the luckiest girl in the world!

Fillmore Love

What a wonderful holiday Valentine's Day is.  We truly had a wonderful week celebrating the ones we love.  Here are some of the highlights...

Valentine's sugar cookies!  This girl gets really serious about decorating AND just so you know, I do comb her hair, every day in fact and it is usually ponytailed and cute (for about five minutes), but I am noticing everytime I post a picture of her, it looks like she stuck something in the electric socket (which is also usually the case).

Check out the amount of sprinkles on that cookie!

Making each cookie a masterpiece, did I ever mention this girl loves to decorate cookies?

A special Valentine cookie made just for mom, what a sweet boy!

Okay, so Tanner came home with a note from school that said he would need to provide his own Valentine's box to hold his Valentine's from his classmates.  I thought, sure, I can just give him a shoebox and some construction paper and badda bing, Valentine's Box.  Zac said, "What are you kidding me, the box can't look like a Box... it has to be something way cooler than that..."  Apparently, Valentine's boxes were a big deal to Zac growing up.  So after a brainstorming session with Tanner, and lots of glue, tape, tupperwares, plastc bags, more tape, and some spray paint, the boys came up with this...

Yes it is a Valentine's shark box.  I guarantee that no one in the school had a box as cool as this one.  Tanner loves it so much that it will have a special place in his room when Valentine's Day is long past.

Every year I swear I am just going to buy a box of Valentine's for the kids to give out, and then without fail every year, I start seeing all of the cute Valentine's there are to make and find myself trapped making 70 Valentine's and spending far more than we would have to just buy the darn things.

These are Ian's super hero Valentine suckers that he gave to his preschool class. 

They say, "Have a Super Valentine's Day".  He loved them and we had a ball making them together.

Tanner's Valentines, complete with real matchbox cars.

And when Ashlyn saw these that these Valentine's came with a stick of gum, she was sold.  She didn't even care what they looked like or said, she is just all about the gum.

Ashlyn's Valentine for her teacher, it is hand lotion with a hand that says "Mrs. Simmons, you deserve a hand."  And she really does.

Zac's surprise Valentines for me and the kids.  He is so sweet and thoughtful.  Notice the little puppy dog slippers for the new baby :)

Tanner's Valentine for his teacher.  It had flower seeds and says, "Mrs. Radford, Thanks for helping my love for learning to grow!"

Zac also gifted the family 100 piece puzzle that he thought we could all work on later that night as a family project.  Ian blew his mind when he did the whole thing by himself that morning.

Don't you just love the shirt he chose to wear on Valentine's Day?  I just love seeing what outfits he comes up with for himself in the mornings.  In fact I just looked over at him now and his pants are on backwards.  I love this age.  And I love my friends, and family, both immediate and extended.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

I Feel So Old

Lately I have been feeling SO old.  Nine months of pregnancy is hard on the body, and my mom likes to remind me that it is probably harder for me this time around because I am getting "older"... sigh... Then there is the fact that when I was in my 20's and I told people that I had 3 kids, they were aghast, "No way, you are much to young to have that many kids."  Now when I get asked what number of kids this will make for me, 5, I get no special response, just a, "Oh, good for you."  It is also disheartening when I find out that the girls working with me in my church calling are like 10 years younger than me and have kids.  I used to be the young one in the ward, and I can't reconcile the fact that I am just a middle aged soccer mom :(

But last week I REALLY felt old when the kids celebrated their 100th day of school by dressing up like they were 100 years old and drawing pictures of what they would look like. 

Grandma Ashlyn... there was a lot more that I would have liked to have done to add to her outfit... pulled up her skirt a little higher, placed some used tissues in some strategic places, etc.  But she was only comfortable to this level of dressing up, so I let her be.

She did let me powder her hair however.  Won't she make such a cute old lady?

And here is Tanner's rendition of what he will look like.  I am just too lazy today to turn the picture, so help me out and turn your head.  I am honestly not sure if he is wearing pants or not in this picture.  Yes, he is going to be one of those kind of grandpas!

Feel free to tell me that I don't look old enough to have two, One-hundred year olds.  I might just make my day!

Why it pays to check your pockets when you do the laundry...

Early in my marriage I learned to always check pockets before doing the laundry.  Especially after incidents involving pink jeans and orange crayon stained whites... which has also inspired my husband to thoroughly check his pockets before I do the laundry.  Therefore, the amount of treasures that I find in pockets lately have been few and far between.  However, a $5 bill in Zac's pants pockets last week encouraged me to keep checking and this is what I found in Zac's shirt pocket today...

It says, "My wife, because she is resourceful, smart, fun, pretty, pretty good @ everything, educator, funny, she is brave, practical, happy, & my friend."

This was in response to an activity that we participated in at a Blue & Gold Scout banquet that we attended with Tanner last week.  The question was, "What one person or thing would you take with you if you were stranded on a desert island?"

This was the perfect reward for doing the laundry today. 

I choose you too honey, I couldn't get through a day without you.  I love you Zac!

Big Sister

Can you believe this little fashionista is going to be a big sister?

Poor little brother... I hope he likes dressing up like 'Rella (Cinderella)!

Basketball, Uh Huh!

Second grade marks the official year that you can start basketball in the Rigby Youth League and boy have we been ballers.  Since they separate the teams into boys teams and girls teams, this is the first year that the twins have done sports where they haven't been on the same team.  Which means that there are Wednesdays when I have to take Ashlyn to practice 15 minutes early so that I can get Tanner across town and on time for his practice, then pick up one of kids 10 minutes early so that I can pick the other one a little late.  In between it all we are working around piano lessons, practicing, and homework.  Our days can certainly get crazy and this is just my first two kids.  Ian will be starting soccer and football this year and I can't wait to live in my van for the rest of my life :)

Ashlyn was a little nervous to start basketball as she is still developing the muscle to shoot and the coordination skills to dribble, and pass.  But this girl has the most positive attitude of any kid I know and she said that she wanted to try and play so that she could learn new skills and have fun.  And every week she tells us how much fun she is having playing basketball.  She has also learned so much and come a long way in developing her skills.

I always thought that having a dad that is 6' 4", would give my kids a height advantage.  Not so much... Ashlyn is the shortest on her team.  Some girls are a full head taller than her!  Maybe someday that superhuman Fillmore growth will kick in, but for now, she is the shrimp of the team!

Our Ashlyn truly is a sweetheart.  It has been a hard concept for her to want to guard and take away the ball from her opponent, as she is just too nice and always smiley and kind.  She would so much rather make friends and chat with the girl she is guarding than trying anything sneaky like stealing the ball.  (She certainly did not get that from me!)

And then there's Tanner... He takes this sport seriously!  He meets his dad at the door almost every night dressed and ready to practice.  Zac has set up a hoop in the garage and found a way to keep it heated in there so that the boys can practice to their hearts content.

Needless to say, Tanner is a little more aggressive than his sister and he is not afraid to go in for the steal.

This boy has some mad dribbling skills, but also specializes in shooting.  He is his teams top scorer and rarely misses a shot.  We are so proud of his dedication.  Basketball has been so great for Tanner and he has made lots of new friends and gained so much confidence in his new found skills. 

Both Zac and I love watching the kids and are so proud of them both and all of their accomplishments.  We also can't wait until Ian can play.  All of his practicing with Tanner and Ashlyn has already made him quite the baller!