TV Slaves

Apparently Madison got a hold of the camera because she's not pictured. She did a pretty good job of getting pictures of everyone. They're all so into their show that they can't be distracted by a camera - now that says something!

Daddy took Madison out to read on the trampoline all by themselves. She was in such heaven! He's such a great daddy - he makes such fun memories with them.

My little fire and ice couple. They can be the best of friends or the worst of enemies. They can also go back and forth between the two multiple times in just a short time period too. Drew has a temper, which seems to have gotten worse since he started feeling better. Madison is a whiner - always has been. They are adorable, even when they make you want to rip your hair out by the handful!

Get Your Free Haircut!!

I walked into the kitchen to find lots of hair on the floor. I saw Madison and put two and two together pretty quickly. I put her in time-out and went back to the hair. I then noticed that the hair wasn't just one color, there were at least three very distinct hair color/types. Upon closer examination, I found Madison's brown/blonde and could identify the pieces that came from her. But then there were some really blonde hairs, which proved to be the doll's hair. I still had to figure out where the brown hair came from. Then Jocelyn came toddling into the room. She was missing hair too! Madison was not happy that I was not happy with her new found "profession". 

Missing bangs. There's also a chunk missing from the top that used to drape to the side. Again, I was torn as to whether or not to take pictures. I don't want to encourage such behavior but I also don't want to miss some fabulous photos!

Here are what the haircuts looked like after going to see Ms. Diane. She did the best she could. Madison did a very good job of getting as close to the head as she could!

A Hill in the Backyard is Fun For Many Reasons

Having a hill in the backyard is great - unless you're trying to carry kids up it!

John took some rope and tied it to the tree on the hill so the kids could have a swing. It is SO fun. You don't have to do anything to fly really high. John and I really enjoy swinging on it too. It gives you that fun belly flipping feeling when you're swinging - who doesn't love a little bit of that feeling every now and then?

The hill is also great for slip and sliding! You don't have to run and drop, you just lay down push a little and off you GOOO!! The kids loved having friends over to play on the slide and trampoline. They also love to feed their friends! Denayere and Sierra are Drew and Madison's ages and they love to all play together. I can see big trouble with Madison and Sierra in later years. They are both so outgoing and interested in everything. They even have the same high pitched scream/laugh. Kills both of their mothers. Drew and Denayere are both more reserved. They have fun together, but if you put them in with others they don't know so well, they'll both clam up!

Doctors, Doctors and More Doctors

Drew for the last couple of weeks had been so tired that he'd been taking 3+ hour naps in the middle of the afternoon. He's just too tired to stay awake. Because I had an appointment for Alexis and Jordan for well-child check-ups I took Drew with me to have him checked out. The doctor ordered a series of blood tests and he wanted to have him to an asthma test. They usually make kids wait until they are six years old to take the test but because Drew is such a good, cooperative kid they said they'd give it a try. It was supposed to take an hour, but because the doctor was running behind it took two and a half! Drew was fabulous though and Jordan was a happy camper for the most part too. Drew did fabulous at blowing into their machine and popping the balloon on the screen. He did it a few times for them and thought that it was great fun! His numbers weren't as high as they would've liked to have seen them so they went ahead and gave him a steroid, administered through this fun mask to see if an inhaler would help him. He improved his breathing enough that they gave him the inhaler. The doctor was surprised because it shouldn't have helped him as much as it did. It increased his breathing ability enough that he said to give it a try and we would reevaluate in six months. Drew's blood work came back in a couple of days later and we found the culprit for all of his sicknesses. He's been a sick little man since he was born. It had been worse lately, he'd had a lot less energy, he had been randomly puking for no reason and then he'd feel better a couple of hours later. He and his daddy had a lot of the same symptoms but to varying degrees. Our fabulous doctor did a celiac test. Drew did not get an official celiac diagnosis. To be officially diagnosed you have to have an eleven or higher. Drew had a ten! I knew what that meant. When he was three I was convinced that he had a IgA or IgG immune issue. Celiac falls into IgA! John went to get tested and he had a 350 with 370 and up being a celiac diagnosis. So we went Gluten Free (GF). This is not something I would recommend for fun. It's expensive and it sucks. But, it's worth it because Drew and John have both had more energy, Drew's breathing issues went away, they both quit puking and Drew started to grow! Madison is still bigger, but Drew grew one inch in two months! It's worth it for our family to be GF!

I didn't forget that Jordan and Alexis had their check-ups, but they were both just fine. Here are their stats:

Alexis - 7 years old

Weight - 46.8 lbs - 28%

Height - 48" - 46%

BMI - 14.3 - 20%

She's tall and skinny - wonder where she gets that?

Jordan - 2 months

Weight - 12.38 lbs - 72%

Height - 26.5" - 94%

Head - 15.4" - 25%

He is also tall and skinny, but really he's getting chunky!

In case you were wondering, taking all three to be checked at the same time = CRAZY!!! We survived though and they're all doing much better!

Ms. Diane and the Outdoors

Our neighbor Ms. Diane has two horses. She's been riding since she was a teenager. Which is FOREVER ago - just kidding!! She was nice enough to let my kids come out and ride horses for an hour. They were in such heaven and all I hear from them is: "When can we go riding again?" We thought that Jocelyn might be scared being on such a big animal but she was in heaven! A couple of days after this she saw a horse walking down the rode - yes, in Millville horses walking down the road is not uncommon - and she started chasing after it yelling for it to stop!

As part of our yard renovation we - by we I mean John - built a fun fire pit. The kids have loved roasting  marshmallows and hot dogs. Because we have such a new baby, we didn't get to go camping this year. So John being the fun, nice dad that he is, he set up the tent in the back yard and slept outside with them. Jocelyn didn't make it, she came in and slept in her bed.

For the Millville parade our ward primary decided to ride bikes. Drew was too tired to ride so he stayed with us and we watched. Alexis and Madison went by so quickly I only got the back of their heads! Alexis is ahead in the pink and blue helmet and Madison is riding next to the gorilla!

Two Months and Meeting the World

Because Mom Wadley came to stay with us for six weeks and babysit me - preterm labor - we wanted to thank her. Granted, this is not the best thank you that one could get, but we have five children - we're a little busy! For those who can't read small print, it reads: 

Now just LOOK here. We are so EXTRA grateful for your help watching our SUGAR BABIES while Tiffani was having MOUNDS of fun with preterm labor. There are GOOD & PLENTY of reasons why you're worth 100 GRAND. So don't SNICKERS when we refer to your invaluable service as a... a... a... WHATCHAMACALLIT?? Oh Yeah, a SYMPHONY of blessings. Thank you!!

Baby Isabella and Jordan at two months old - exactly. Isabella is 10 days older than Jordan, but that doesn't mean that she's going to be bigger by any means! When people tell me that my baby has a lot of hair I smile. I know he has more than most babies, but compared to Isabella he is nearly bald!

We took Jordan to Great Grandpa John's rest home during their sacrament meeting. He got to meet Jordan and be attacked by all of the other munchkins at the same time! 

Then to make sure that we didn't let Jordan rest any at all, we took him to see Great Grandpa Fred. GG Fred is not doing so well, he has Alzheimer's so we don't know how long he'll be around. He also lives in South Dakota so we took advantage of getting some pictures with him while we could!

Graduation!!

Jordan was only a month old and I had graduation! I was worried about taking him because he was so little, but he did great and I didn't have a massive coronary - although I worried I might a couple of times! I wasn't going to go to the speaker because Jordan was so small, but John insisted that I do all of the graduation. So we compromised, I went to the speaker but I didn't sit with all the other graduates. It was a good thing I didn't, Jordan decided he was hungry in the middle of the speech and I am the only source of food for the little man!

I did sit down with all of the graduating class in my department. I took Jordan with me because he refused to eat beforehand. He's only a little stubborn, nothing like his mother at all! I ended up having to feed him in the middle of the ceremony and then hand him off to John so that I could walk across without him. I wanted to walk across with him but John was going to have a coronary if I tried it.

Jordan's head looks like it is going to fall off but he truly preferred to stretch it out as far as humanly possible. 

Aunt Pam was able to come up and she brought fun stuff for the kids - and me!

Just because Mom is graduating doesn't mean that the kids don't have time to play!

Finding something that fit a month after having my fifth child was challenging. I ended up with a Hawaiian skirt that could be pinned wherever it fit best! My sweet Mother-In-Law bought me a Plumeria Lei. It smelled amazing and was wonderful to have!

My Mom was able to fly in for the graduation - it was such fun to have grandma here!

My Mother-In-Law also got my mom a fun lei to wear for graduation. I know, you're all jealous that I have such a fabulous M-I-L - I would be too if I were you!

Five kids and getting a Bachelors with a minor took a lot of work. I wouldn't advise doing it unless you have a husband as amazing as mine! Good luck with that!
We lost the camera for the second part of the graduation so we didn't have pictures of me walking that I can post. My dad was able to make it up for the second part, so we had a fun crowd!