Quilt in a Day

The Sister missionaries have been over a lot lately. They always ask is there is anything they can do for us, me, our family. Of course the answer in is no because they can't babysit and that is usually what I need. So one sister was saying she would be happy to come over and clean my house if I needed help - she just wanted an opportunity to serve. Well - I am not a good housekeeper but the thought of the missionaries on their hands and knees wearing skirts and cleaning my bathrooms or picking up toys was just WRONG! So I said - could you come over and sew?

She looked at me a little weird and said I don't know how to sew. So I responded, what about pinning and ironing. I love to sew in groups where you can get an assembly line working and one person doesn't have to do ALL the steps themselves. Of course I wanted them to come and work on one of my projects, but I thought it might be more fitting to do humanitarian service quilts.

So they agreed and hopefully we are going to do this twice a month.

I had an old table cloth that I was going to throw away several months ago. My linen closet is too full and this table cloth was square and I don't have a square table and couldn't remember the last time I used it. But something stopped me and I decided to put it with my fabric stash. Then while shopping at JoAnns this week I found a bunch of flannel for only $2 a yard. So I picked some up.

So I think I deserve some SRC points. I did have to buy the batting but I should be able to get 2 to 3 quilts out of it. I used less than 2 yards of fabric for the front at $2 a yard - so I spent about $3.58 on fabric for the front. I used an old table cloth for the back and crosheen in my stash to tie it. We finished it in one day and I am excited to present to the Relief Society President on Sunday.

6 and 7 Months

I am terribly behind in posts. One problem is that I am not home enough to post and the other is that anytime I have a lot to post - lots of pictures or long story - I usually push it off til I have more time - which is never. So thus I am eternally running behind on posts. Don't be surprised if you see me post something that happened several months ago!

My baby completed her 7th month on June 23rd. How can that be? She has grown developmentally by leaps and bounds but physically - not so much. She is still a little peanut. At her 6 months checkup (which was 6 months and a week) she came in at only 14 lbs 10 ozs. That is the smallest of my crew at that age. Chase was 15 lbs even, Ainsley was 15-2 and Maco reigns king again at 18-14. Piper however was not my shortest. Ainsley is the queen of short at 6 months. She was 25 inches. Piper was 25 3/4, Chase was 26 and Maco was 27 1/2 inches (where did he come from?).

At the last post (5 1/2 months) Piper was only rolling tummy to back. Well by 6 months she was rolling both ways. She was also sitting up by herself. Allbeit doing face plants and falling backward quite a bit. But now at 7 months she almost never falls. Just in the last 2 weeks she has gone from laying down to sitting up to laying down all by herself. She also gets up on her knees and rocks and I know it won't be long before she is all over the house.

She still LOVES food. Any food. I haven't found anything yet that she has turned away. Although there was one night that I was feeding her babyfood peas. She was doing fine. Then midway thru I gave her some table food (whatever we were having for dinner) and then back to the peas. Well that didn't go over well. She proceeded to gag each time she took a spoonful of peas. So now if she's eating peas, I don't give her any other flavors (good flavors) until the peas are gone. She does fine that way. She loves water in a sippy cup, although my doctor told me NOT to give her water because she needs the calories. He said she should only be drinking breast milk or formula. She won't drink the formula out of a sippy and I think she needs a drink during meal times to wash the food down - I know I do. So I do let her sip water during her meals but I don't give it to her throughout the day.

She really is not a good nurser anymore. All my kids cut way back around this age. I don't know if it's me or them. I don't think I make enough milk anymore to satisfy, but that could be because they aren't nursing enough. Anyway.... I try to nurse 2 -3 times a day. 4 on a really good day. Otherwise she takes 2-3 bottles a day so I am lucky she doesn't mind the formula. But as far as nursing goes, she gets totally distracted by what is going on so I have to be completely by myself in a quiet room. If she even hears someone talking she won't nurse and forget about a blanket over her head anymore. Of course when she is tired - first thing in the morning and last thing at night she does much better.

She is almost never fussy. She takes 2 sometimes 3 really good naps during the day. She mostly takes her naps in her swing in the living room. I don't know how she does it with all the noise from the TV and the kids, but she just snoozes away. At 6 months and week we moved her from the cradle in our room ...

upstairs to a real crib. She had not been sleeping thru the night yet and I was worried to put her upstairs with the other kids since they had school. So the first week of June, school ended and we moved Piper upstairs. She has slept thru almost everynight since - YAY! I have a monitor but I keep it turned down almost all the way so I don't hear every move she makes.

She is one of the most smiley babies I have ever known. My mom said she was smiling from the beginning. Remember this picture from the hospital?

She still smiles these HUGE smiles all the time. She smiles for strangers and they LOVE it. I think she has made the day of many an old person at the grocery store. I LOVE HER GUMMER SMILE!! She is not showing any signs of teeth yet and I am glad. I'd be happy if she didn't cut her first tooth til after her first birthday. I will miss those little gums.

Daniel is already studying her as a dental implant candidate.

Her hair is another issue. Just a little fine fuzz. It is getting a bit longer though. Here's a picture of her hair blowing in the wind. I just thought that was funny!

Because of lack of hair, I still keep a bow glued to her head as often as I can, otherwise she is accused of being a boy. Although the glue I keep in my diaperbag got confiscated by the airport (give me a break, I used it real quick before security took it though)

She still puts everything in her mouth and loves a good pizza crust or stick of celery to chew on. I have told the big kids to make sure all the little things are off the floor now because she is getting around and WILL eat everything in sight.

We've been to the pool several times this summer and she loves the water. Luckily we have a zero entry pool so she sits on the ramp and splashes in the water that is only a few inches deep. We hope she continues to like the water and that the water warms up (we've has some major rain lately which has cooled the pools down a lot).

We have sure enjoyed Miss Piper's first half year of life!

Baby Doll

Everyone loves a newborn. I'm not sure if it's their cuddly curled up bodies or the sweet smell of their skin, perhaps it's their milk breath or their super soft hair, but Everyone loves a newborn! I think 4 year old girls have a special magnetic attraction to newborns and Ainlsey sure enjoyed visiting her cousin Emma. From the day she was born, Ainlsey asked when she could go see Emma. Everytime we went to my mom's house Ainlsey would ask if Emma was going to be there. We had to keep a special watch on Ainlsey because she wanted to be touching the baby at all times - especially very inconvenient times.... like when she was nursing or finally asleep. Ainlsey always had her face about 2 inches away from Emma and was constantly asking to hold her.

"Is Emma coming to the cabin?" Ainsley asked. She did come to the cabin and hung out with Piper.

"Is Emma coming to my recital? Will she watch me dance?" I can't tell you how many times I heard that question. And Yes, Emma did come to the recital and whether she watched or not I can't say. But she was there to make Ainsley's day! *** On a quick side note, Ainsley did a fabulous job on her dance. She forgot the two parts that she always forgot at home during practice but other than that she wasn't nervous and performed just great. She told me as she walked down from the stage, "I forgot the sliding board" I assured her she did a wonderful job.




Now that Emma has moved west, we all miss her. I am thankful for blogs so we will get to see her constant growth and changes. We all look forward to holding her again on our next visit.

Summer Playground or Neighborhood Eyesore

I got the BJs catalog in April and saw these blowup waterslides. I thought I really wanted one but I waited and just kept thinking about it. I was trying to take my time and see if it would really be worth it or not.

Some of my thought processes went like this: "Although we have a pool pass, it is going to be a really hard year at the pool with Piper. She's not toddling around playing in the baby pool, she needs her afternoon nap, she doesn't sleep very long in her car seat, there is SOOO much to pack when going to the pool ... It might be nice to have the waterslide as an alternative so the baby can sleep in her own bed and the kids can still play in the water" .... "My kids always want to have friends over to play and since we don't have an official rec room, I feel like our toys/games are always everywhere and I am hesitant to have kids in the house, this way kids can come over and play in the backyard"...." Both the boys want to have their birthday partys at Lazerdome which would be very expensive, if I can convince them to have it at home and play on the waterslide, it will pay for more than half the price of the slide"..... "We are not going on an official family vacation this year so we can use the extra money on the slide"

So I convinced myself and bought it a couple days before my sister Brielle arrived for a visit from ID. She was planning on coming to my house one afternoon and I told her to bring her girl's swimsuits because I picked up a little something that hooked up to the hose for the backyard. She was surprised, to say the least, when I asked her to help me move it out of the car.

The girls had a GREAT time even though the water was freezing. We packed up 2 days later, which was a HUGE task for two little ladies, and drove it up to the cabin for our Memorial Day family gathering. Again the kids had a great time and an alternative to swimming in the muddy pond. (Although my boys did plenty of that stating that the pond was much warmer than the hose water) This time we dried it out throughly and two brawny men (Dan and Brock) folded it up so tight that it fit back in that tiny little dufflebag they give to you as a carrying case. (The smallest we girls could fold it was about 3 times the size of that bag :)

MacGregor had a friend over 2 Saturdays ago and they played outside on the waterslide for about 4 hours. We had taken it down when we left for Oklahoma and Daniel helped me set it up again last night. (We have to move it around the back yard because it's a huge grass killer, but somethings ie.. childhood memories... are worth more than a perfect lawn) We then sat outside and enjoyed our children enjoying life for about 45 minutes. So I must admit. Already it has been totally worth it! I just hope a bunch of 10 year old boys don't ruin it this Saturday.

And I do appologize to the neighbors because it is a bit of an eyesore, but at least it's only inflated when the kids are on it, once you turn off the blower the whole thing deflates and lies flat.

Promotion, Promotion, Promooootion!

I am proud to announce that Daniel has received a promotion in the United States Army!
Lookie there - The President even gave his stamp of approval.




Daniel was promoted from Captain to Major. Sorry, I know it's a bit blurry! So we spent the day today traveling to various military facilities upgrading both our ID cards and getting Daniel the new rank pins he needs for his uniforms. It's exciting to see the gold Major symbol (I think its a palm or flower) where the silver Captains bars had been.





Way to go Major Hen. You've worked hard and certainly have given of your time and your talents to your country. I am so proud of you! Congratulations!

Very Presidential

We as dedicated members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints give an awful lot of time to serving others. One of the major ways we serve is by accepting callings in the ward or stake. These callings require us to teach, plan activites, conduct meetings etc... I know the members of the Hen family are all very service oriented but they must also have very strong leadership qualities as well. Daniel just accepted a new calling a few weeks ago and as I started thinking of his calling some other callings came to mind.

Daniel was called as Young Mens President. Lara happens to be Young Women's President. Sharon, Bethany and Christine are all Relief Society Presidents of their respective wards. Can you believe that? What a family of leaders that take on tough time consuming responsibilities!!! I am sure I am missing more Hens in major leadership positions, please add them in the comment section, these are just the few I knew of off hand.

I know every calling is important and I truly believe that. But I think it takes someone with a strong testimony, confidence, someone truly willing to sacrifice their time for the Lord's cause, and someone who truly loves those they serve to take on the mantle of running an organization. Many people wouldn't accept that kind of responsibility. So I say to you HENS - Thank you! Thank you for serving. Thank you for being PRESIDENTIAL!!!

** OOPS. I just spoke of the Hens and I am very proud to be one, but I am also a VS and I neglected to mention that my mother is the Stake Primary President, my father is the High Priest group leader and my sister's husband, Brock, was just released as Elders Quorum President. So I am very grateful for you too Mom, Dad and Brock. You are wonderful examples and are truly Presidential as well!

I Want to be a Cowboy!

Somebody likes to play dress up.

Can you guess who's skinny little legs those are?

We are a boot lovin family!!

Ain't she cute?

Polka Dottie!

Well the recital is this week. I had really debated wether to allow Ainsley to do the recital. About the 3rd or 4th week in they needed measurements for the costumes so you had to decide if they were going to be in the recital or not. At this point Ainsley wasn't really focused at dance class and I really debated. I used a bribe and told her that if she really started paying attention and trying everything her teacher did then I would buy her a fancy dress and she could be in a show on stage. It worked! She got better and better with each week and asked each week when she would get her dress. (don't get me wrong, she was better NOT perfect!). But the way I look at it now is that I am glad we stuck with it and if she decides she wants to take dance again after the summer she will go in prepared for what is expected. This was our "practice" year.

This week we have practice on Monday, dress rehearsal on Thursday and the show on Friday. I really hope she won't have stage fright. I am going to try to do at least one or two "run throughs" each day this week. She doesn't have the whole dance down perfect but she can follow some of the girls who do - if she pays attention. It's a guessing game from here. I'll let you how it goes. (Their song is "Do you love me? Now that I can dance?")

Saturday we had pictures. They don't hire a professional photographer like some places so it was nice not to HAVE to buy a photo. The teacher just organizes it and everyone comes dressed and each parent takes their own pictures. So here's our little polka dottie!

The Right Shoes

I received a new pair of shoes as a gift recently. Ok ok, they were a Mother's Day gift, but I hate to say that because when you find out I took them back you may think I am a terrible person. I received a pair of red patent leather high tops. Dan said my kids really wanted to give me the red ones and they really wanted to give me court shoes so I could play basketball. I wish he had been a better guide for them as to what my style is. When it comes to sneakers, flashy is not my choice. I'm more of a plain jane. Also since I have played basketball only one time in the last 6 years, I think court shoes wouldn't get much wear.


The store must have been expecting me, because to my great pleasure, when I went to exchange them I found a pair with my name and shoe size on them.


That sure made it easy!! And I really like them! (Although I do find the pink springs a little bright)