Home Again :-)

Friday, July 24th: My parents and I went to see "Grease" at the movie theater. It started at 9pm, so I left after the kids were in bed. Fun! It was supposed to be outside, but it rained (surprise, surprise), so they had the movie inside instead...for FREE!

Saturday, July 25th: Eleanor spent the day with my parents, Aly, and Phil and then she spent the night. The Bucksport Bay Festival was going on, so they went to the parade in the morning and the fireworks in the evening.
Matt took Zach and Kate to the parade and then they hung out on Don's boat.
I took Noah shopping. We went to Walmart first and Noah was asleep when we arrived, so I worked on my Sunday School lesson until he woke up. We went into Walmart and first stopped by the Portrait studio to see if I could get Noah in for an appointment. The lady said she could get him right in, so I went back out to the Yukon to change him and went back in to have his 1 year old picture taken. It came out so cute! He kept standing up on the table, so the lady removed the table and had him stand on the floor. She managed to get a super cute shot even though he kept trying to run away. I did some shopping and finished up just as Noah was getting cranky. I fed him a snack in the car before moving on to Goodwill. Noah didn't last too long in the cart before he wanted to get out. I held him and looked for clothes. He tried to get down, but I held on. I managed to pick out a cart full of clothes, but I knew that Noah would be screaming while I tried them on, so I went out to the Yukon to grab the bag of applejacks I had for Noah and they kept him happy while I tried on clothes. I was happy with several of the church outfits that I had picked out, so I bought them and headed home. Noah and I were both ready to go home. I had to stop by McDonalds first though for a chocolate milkshake. It was quite a delightful ride home...quiet and yummy! Noah was asleep again when we got home, so I worked on my lesson some more. It was nice not having any siblings in the car to wake him up or to complain that they were bored.

Sunday, July 26th: It was a great church day, very uplifting. My lesson went really well. We came over to my parents' house after church for dinner. We are more aware of where Noah roams now since last Sunday he found a broken lightbulb and had a piece of glass in his mouth. I thought he had gotten into someone's juice because his outfit had red patches on the front of it, but we realized it was blood when Matt found glass in his mouth. We didn't think he had eaten any and he wasn't acting hurt or upset, so we decided he was okay, but we would keep an eye on him. He hasn't acted like anything is bothering him since and he seems to be okay. Scary!

Monday, July 27th: I had plans to sign Zach, Eleanor, and Emily up for the next session of swim lessons and then go to Walmart, but Matt came home with a broken exhaust pipe, so he took the Yukon to Portland. Bummer. Eleanor was excited to go shopping since we were going to look for some school supplies, but she took the news well that we weren't going afterall. It was a totally different reaction than what I would have heard from Zoe. Eleanor never mentioned shopping again and she was content to play at home. I had a good day and I was content to be home, too. I found something productive to do while listening to Glenn Beck...mending! Usually what is in the mending pile ends up at Goodwill, but the few things in my mending pile (Zach's blazer, Eleanor's favorite dress, Zoe's Utah shirt, and Zoe's fall coat), I was not ready to part with yet.
We had a nice FHE. Eleanor used the flannel board and we used the food pictures to decide what was good for our bodies and what is not. Zach picked out the Adam and Eve picture from the Gospel Art Kit to use for the scripture. Matt was on the game, so we sang B-i-n-g-o, which was fun. Then we had ice cream for dessert.

Tuesday, July 28th: Matt took the Yukon to work again, so the kids and I were home. It was a beautiful, sunny, perfect pool day, but we enjoyed the sprinkler instead. Eleanor and Zach enjoyed it anyway. Kate and Noah will not go near it. I grumbled to myself while I pushed Kate and Noah on the swing because it is a lot easier to sit by the pool while all the kids are content swimming, but I snapped out of it quickly. We ate lunch outside and then the kids wanted to go back inside. Sounded good to me! I did laundry throughout the day. I was exhausted at the end of the day and I happily sat and read my book when the kids were in bed.

Today: Matt came home in the early afternoon, so I could go pick Zoe and Emily up at the airport. My mom showed up at the airport, so we waited together. It was so nice to see Zoe and Emily! The kids were excited to see them when we got home. It's fun to hear about their trip. They had such a fun time. Thanks Janet & Steve, and all of our Utah family for taking such great care of them!
My mom watched the kids while Matt and I went to pick up the Saab. I have the Yukon back. :-) After dinner and getting the younger kids in bed, I left with Zoe and Emily to come over to my parents' house. Zoe and Emily were excited to see Aly again. This has been a fun summer for them with so many cousins!

Life in the woods

We have a porcupine hanging around during the day. I'm hoping it will be out on Saturday when Matt is around to eliminate it.

I had a well balanced day on Wednesday. The morning was spent doing fun things with the kids, the afternoon was spent cleaning and getting things done on my to-do list, and the evening was spent by myself reading and with Matt watching a movie (New in Town) with Matt. I took the kids to storytime in the morning. Then we walked along the waterfront. Noah fell asleep in his stroller. The kids were ready to relax after the long walk, which was perfect because I picked up some movies for them to watch while I got done what I needed to in the afternoon. Kate saw Eleanor smelling some flowers on our walk, so Kate had to stop and smell all the flower bushes during the rest of our walk.

I talked with Zoe and Emily on Wednesday. They went to the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple Open house. What a neat experience for them! Zoe said her favorite room was the Celestial room. She also told me that she got a bit homesick Tuesday night, which surprised me. Before she left, I told her that she would be ready to come home toward the end of her trip, but she didn't agree with me. I'm happy to know I was right. :-)

Eleanor and Zach had swim lessons yesterday. Eleanor wanted to try her first knee dive (which isn't taught until the next level), so she did one with the help of Jordan and she did a great job! She did 2 more knee dives before the end of class and she even inspired a few other kids in her class to try it. My mom took the day off yesterday, so she watched Kate and Noah while I was at swim lessons. I was able to sit and relax and I even started reading "Glenn Beck's Common Sense".

My mom and I played a few games of Phase 10 before we left to go home. Matt came home at 3:00, so we could go over to the Dauk's home to home teach them and have a barbeque. We had a great time! We played badmitton and the kids had fun playing with Smudge, the dog. Noah ate a slug...GROSS!

It is a rainy day today. I stopped by the pool to pick up Eleanor and Zach's certificates since today was the last day of lessons for this session. Both Eleanor and Zach will advance to the next level next session, so Zach will be in Beginner 1 and Eleanor will be in Beginner 2. We are hanging out at my parents' house today. I'm going to play Phase 10 with Aly and Phil. We'll have dinner here and watch "Wipeout" before going home. At least that's the plan my mom and I came up with. Now I need to call Matt...

2 in Utah, 4 at home

Zoe and Emily are loving life in Utah. Matt was up at 3:30am yesterday and Zoe and Emily were up at 4:00am. I got up to say goodbye before they left. Emily teared up as we hugged, but she was excited for her Utah adventure. I went back to bed after they left and had a dream about Zoe and Emily. In my dream, they had left for Utah, but then I was at a birthday party in Maine with them. They were being rude and obnoxious at the party, which was at a place I wasn't familiar with. Emily was trying to steal a pair of mittens and something else as we were leaving. Zoe and Emily insisted that they were going to Utah, but I was trying to explain to them that they were supposed to be on their way already and they should be getting on their connecting flight, so they were not going to Utah. When I woke up, I was glad that Zoe and Emily were on their way and I hoped that they will be on their best behavior there! Matt and I were talking about their behavior Sunday night, so I think that triggered the rude and obnoxious behavior in the dream. It's weird how my dreams have been so vivid and clear in my mind when I wake up lately.

I took the kids to the pool yesterday afternoon as we enjoyed the sunshine and upper 70's lower 80's weather. :-) Noah played in the water for the first time. He had so much fun! He was so funny bobbing his face in the water and walking around on his hands and feet.

We had FHE in the evening. We had rootbeer floats and Eleanor said, "This treat is awesome!" She was eating a bowl of vanilla ice cream when she commented on the treat. She didn't really like the rootbeer float.

I took the kids to the pool again today. It was a cloudy day, but in the 70's. It rained lightly at times, but we didn't care. When the kids were done swimming, we walked over to the kindergarten playground to play before going home. The kids have been collecting rocks lately, so they picked up some rocks from the playground to take home. Just what we need.

Some dreams are not meant to come true

I woke up this morning with tears in my eyes and I was thankful that I didn't have to give Kate away. In my dream, I was caring for a baby that I had to give up when the baby girl was a year old and when I was kissing the baby girl goodbye and telling the mother what a sweet girl she was, I recognized the baby girl as Kate, but she wasn't mine. I was so sad when I woke up. I'm glad it was just a dream!

Noah has discovered the fun of taking a drink of milk from a cup and then letting it dribble down his chin and onto his shirt. Fun!

Yesterday, my mom and I took Zoe, Emily, Eleanor, and Zach to the Alamo theater to see "Ice Age 3". There was a long line when we arrived and as we got near the ticket counter, there was concern about how many more tickets could be sold. There were a lot of people waiting behind us. When we got to the counter, we were told that there were 4 tickets left...there were 6 of us. I suggested to my mom that she stay for the movie with the 3 older girls and I would find something to do with Zach. My mom bought their tickets and then the guy at the counter said he would look one more time to see if any seats were left. No seats left. I was trying to convince Zach that it would be fun to go buy an ice cream and go for a walk, but he wasn't going anywhere and he sat down on the floor. Most of the people behind us in line had left the theater, so the guy said that he would get Zach and I in to see the movie with our family. There were 2 seats available, but they weren't together. I told him that Zach could sit on my lap and I tried to give him our money, but he waved us into the theater and said not to worry about it. Okay. :-) We enjoyed the movie, although Zach got bored toward the end and wanted to go for that walk that he had rebelled against earlier. We stuck it out in the theater, though and left when the movie was over.

Friday morning, Zach, Eleanor, and Emily had swim lessons. Eleanor has a crush on one of the lifeguards, Jordan who has been helping out with her class. I know this because she told me. Emily took her swim test and didn't pass her class, but she was told by her instructor, Cassie that she could pass in the middle of next session and then Emily would move up to the next level with her same instructor. Here are a few pictures of Emily diving. Her last few dives looked a lot better than her first.



Friday afternoon, Zoe and Emily hiked Blue Hill for Activity Days with Dodie, Kristen, Kayla, Natasha, Natasha's Mom, and Morgan. They enjoyed the views, they ate their lunch at the top of the hill, and they picked blueberries. Eleanor says that if Blue Hill is named Blue Hill because of the blueberries that are on it then it should really be called Blueberry Hill.
I took the younger kids to the park in the town of Blue Hill. We ate lunch, played on the playground, and walked along the beach. The kids loved chasing the eagle (seagull).









Friday evening, we all went to the pool for the evening swim. Noah is now getting closer to the water and he likes to throw the legos into the water. No more legos at the pool. After swimming, we came over to my parents' house to watch "Wipeout".

Emily, Eleanor, and Zach had swimming lessons Thursday morning and then we headed over to the middle school where my Dad works to check out the lost and found items before they get taken to goodwill. I got 2 jackets, Zoe got a jacket, a pair of capri pants, a few sweaters, and a nice duffel bag, Emily got a vest, Zach got a pair of boots to grow into, and we got a few lunch boxes and a small cooler. Eleanor insists that she is going to use her lunchbox next year for school. Sweet! We came over to my parents' house for most of the afternoon. Aly and Phil are with their other grandparents this weekend, so Thursday was the last day for Zoe and Emily to see Aly and Phil until the 29th or 30th. I took Zoe to Sunshine's house in the evening to finish her skirt. It looks really nice, especially with her matching shirt.

We left Sunshine's earlier than expected, so Zoe and I headed to Bucksport to walk along the waterfront. It was a nice walk, very peaceful and beautiful. When we got home around 9pm, Emily was waiting up for us. Matt expected us earlier since he called Sunshine and she said we had left, so he kept Emily up. Emily was barely awake when we got home and she gladly went to bed.

We are now heading home to have family council and get Zoe and Emily packed up for their trip tomorrow. They leave at 6am tomorrow morning. We did laundry yesterday and Zoe and Emily picked out the clothes they want to pack, but we are taking home a suitcase from my parents' house now to pack everything in. Matt is grilling some chicken right now before we head home. We were going to eat it last night, but the wood and ground were too wet to make a fire to cook it. We ate yummy spaghetti instead.

Update and Random Pictures

We tried going swimming today at the pool, but it was TOO COLD! Today is supposed to be the nicest day of the week, reaching the mid-70's, but it has only reached the upper 60's. All of my kids were shivering during the pool break after a few sessions in the water, so I suggested we leave and come over to my parents' house. Eleanor had asked if we could come over to my parents' house a little earlier and I said "We'll see". She replied, "We'll see always means yes." Me: "It does?" Eleanor: "Well, most of the time." It meant yes today. The last two days have been nice out, but we have had appointments in the afternoon, so we haven't made it to the pool. We were counting on today being a fun pool day. Oh well.

Noah had his one year check-up on Monday. He is healthy and growing. He is 30 1/4" long and he weighs 21.35lbs. He was cooperative for the nurse and doctor and he even did well when he got 4 shots. He only cried a tiny bit. I would have cried a lot more than he did!

Emily finished her skirt on Monday! It has been several months since Emily and Zoe started the skirts for Activity Days, so Sunshine made it over to our house on Monday and worked with Zoe and Emily. We're hoping to get Zoe's skirt done tomorrow night. Here is Emily with her finished skirt. Very nice!


Zoe and Eleanor had dentist appointments yesterday afternoon. Matt came home to watch the kids, so I was able to read a bit while I waited for Zoe and Eleanor. :-) Eleanor finally has her first loose tooth! No cavities were found (Zoe thought for sure that Eleanor would have a cavity with the way she brushes), so Eleanor was very relieved about that. Eleanor was also very happy that she didn't have to brush her teeth last night after the flouride treatment she received. What fun to get ready for bed and not have to brush your teeth!

Emily won't be around next week for the last week of swim lessons, so she made up one lesson yesterday and the other lesson on Monday. She'll have her regular lesson tomorrow and then she'll test on Friday. Zoe and Emily are off to Utah on Monday!

On Saturday, Matt took Zoe over to Hailey's house to help out with their yardsale. Emily went with Matt, so they went for a ride on Don's boat after dropping off Zoe and before coming home. In the afternoon, Matt took all of the kids to the pool and I stayed home to read and take a nap. It was so nice! I realized that Matt and Noah matched before they left, so I had to get a picture.


Matt made a grill Saturday evening and cooked some yummy Terriyaki chicken.



Noah has learned to say "Hi". He also says "Mama". I love to hear that one. :-)

Now for some random photos:
Playing Hangman...

Noah being his cute self...

Noah likes to get in the lego box, even if it's filled with legos...


Noah was asleep on my chair yesterday when I got home from the dentist. How cute is this?...


Cousins...

The kids love to help cook...

Zach had a minor accident at the pool last week. He started to run across the blanket that I was picking up and he tripped. His nose and forehead got scraped up and are still healing.

Eleanor's dinosaur artwork...

Zoe's mammoth...

Aly, Phil, and Noah...

Zoe, Emily, Aly, and Eleanor...

Zoe, Aly, and Emily...

My parents...

Me and Matt...

Zoe and My Mom...

Warning: Very Long Post!

My one goal today was to blog, but it didn't happen during the day, so here I am this evening at my parents' computer with no children to interrupt me. Sweet. :-) I'll start by saying that awhile ago, my parents bought tickets for themselves, me, Matt, my sister Donna, and her husband Doug to go to a Portland SeaDogs game on July 9th. It was to be an adults only event and Norm's Barbeque was in the plans as well. Then Donna and Doug cancelled their trip to Maine, so we decided that Zoe and Emily would go to Portland with us. Then plans were made for Aly and Phil to come to Maine, so my Dad bought 2 more tickets for them and they were included in our trip. I was going to have Noah weaned and sleeping through the night (which he is, but not without crying first), so he could be left behind, but he's not weaned and I decided I couldn't leave him behind, so he was included in the trip. Well, yesterday was the big day of the game, so Aimee agreed to keep Eleanor, Zach, and Kate at her house last night, so after swimming lessons and after my mom and I went shopping for picnic food (Norm's was not going to happen with little money, and children with us), my mom and I drove to Bar Harbor to drop the kids off at Courtney's house and then Aimee was going to pick them up there. We had planned to drop them off at 2pm, but it was 2:30 by the time we got the kids settled in and we left. We wanted to leave Bucksport by 3pm at the latest, but we left at 4pm. The game started at 7pm. We parked the car at 7pm and we still needed to have our picnic before going in to the game. We had our picnic and we made it into the game during the 2nd inning. We could finally relax! Noah did better than I expected and we all enjoyed the game, even though the SeaDogs lost by one run. We had awesome seats. We tried to keep our eyes on the ball at all times because foul balls were flying all around us into the stands.

Noah really got into the excitement of the fans. He entertained the ladies sitting behind us.


Zoe, Emily, and Aly met up with Slugger (the mascot) to shake his hand. Aly was the ring leader.

Zoe and Emily stayed over at my parents' house last night. We got home at 1am and I was up this morning at 6:40 and I needed to leave at 6:45 to pick up Eleanor, Zach, and Kate from Aimee's house. Aimee needed to go to work and I needed to get Zach and Eleanor to swimming lessons. The kids had a great time with Aimee and her daughter, Marian. Eleanor left with some tadpoles. She was so excited to finally have some pets to take care of! The highlight of staying at Aimee's was getting in her bathtub that makes bubbles. If only bathtime could be so much fun at our house!

Kate, Noah, and Zoe stayed at my parents' house during swimming lessons today, so I was able to take some pictures of Zach, Eleanor, and Emily during their lessons. Zach's and Eleanor's classes start by running across the shallow end of the pool.


Their classes played Green Light Red Light today where they had to blow bubbles in the water every time they stopped.

Ring-around-the-Rosies is popular, too. The kids blow bubbles in the water instead of falling down.

Eleanor's class practiced holding their breath under water. Here is Eleanor under water while her class counts. She was under for 6 seconds.

Here is Eleanor practicing her doggie paddle as she swims across the pool.

Zach is supposed to use a noodle to practice his doggie paddle, but he prefers to make his instructors hold him instead. Here is Zach with Sam...

Jumping into the deep end is the last part of swim class. Today was the first time that Zach jumped by himself while Sam stood near to catch him.

Here is Eleanor jumping into the pool...

Emily is required to jump in at the beginning of her class. She stays in the water during her entire class, which is an advantage on cool, Maine mornings! The younger children spend the majority of their class time shivering as they sit on the side of the pool and wait for their turn. This morning was hot and sunny, though.

Here is Emily practicing her rhythmic breathing...

And here is Emily putting her rythmic breathing into action...

Emily practicing a back stroke...

I took a few pictures of Zach last week with his instructor, Emily...


Here is an example of the younger kids sitting and waiting...


Eleanor was so excited to sleep over at Aimee's house that she wanted to pack her suitcase the minute she found out about the sleepover...4 days before it happened. Yesterday morning finally came and Eleanor says to me: "Mom, it's fun sleeping over because you get what you want and you want what you get." No wonder she was so anxious to get on with this sleepover!

It was in the 80's this afternoon! Of course we went to the pool. Eleanor brought the tadpoles along for the ride (which I didn't realize until we were at the pool) and she was heartbroken to find them dead when we were done swimming. It was sad to see her so upset. She was determined that they were not dead. We came back to my parents' house after swimming to eat dinner and to watch "Wipeout". Matt was here, too.

Noah turned 1 on Wednesday (the 8th)! He showed us throughout the day that he is 1 (or #1). I think he feels special because he is our only 1 year old to be officially walking on his/her birthday! Yay, Noah!

Aly is always saying how cute Noah is and she is right! Noah started out the morning opening his gifts from his Great Grammie. Much needed diapers! This was truly a tithing blessing because we had used our last diaper the night before and we had no money for diapers. Thanks Grammie! The kids love that the diapers have Blue's Clues on them. Here is Noah with his first gift of the day...

Notice the long sleeves and pants? It was rainy and in the 60's on Wednesday. Too cold for July!


Noah had a fun birthday party in the evening. My parents, Aly and Phil came over to celebrate. Right before they arrived, Noah's package from Grandma and Grandpa arrived. Yay! It was a Noah sized sleeping bag. I don't have a picture of it yet because I didn't have my camera with me when we got the sleeping bag out of its bag, but it is the smallest sleeping bag we have seen, which makes it so adorable! All the younger kids had to try it out. Eleanor squeezed herself into it, but she didn't look comfortable.
Noah was not anxious to open his presents, but his sisters were, so he watched them.




Noah had more fun playing with the wrapping paper.

The kids were having fun playing with Noah's new toys, as Noah looked on, but we interrupted their fun for cake. I had the cake closer to Noah, but he tried to demolish the cake, so I moved it away from him.

Noah needed help blowing out his candles, too.

Zoe was so excited to watch Noah make a big mess with his chocolate cake. Noah started out using his spoon...

But he soon abandoned the spoon and used his hands...


Several of our 1 year olds have needed a bath after their birthday cake, but Noah stayed pretty clean. Zoe was disappointed. I love the green sprinkle on his chin!


Tuesday was another day in the 60's, so I cleaned. The Booths also came over for a visit. Noah opened a present from them and we all enjoyed the cookies Judy made for us. She is such a great Visiting Teacher...and not just because she makes delicious treats for us. :-)

Monday was in the 70's, so we made it to the pool. Janet, the kids and adults at the pool LOVE the bathing suit you bought for Kate for her birthday. I need to take a picture of her because she does look adorable in it!

We had FHE in the evening.

On Sunday, we all made it to church in Ellsworth. We went over to my parents' house for dinner.

4th of July: Hot and sunny?

No. I could have used this weather last year when I was heavy with child. We felt a few sprinkles while watching the parade, but it was nothing major. Zach was prepared, though.

Zach had a bit of a tantrum when we wouldn't fold up the poncho exactly the way it was before we opened it, so he could open it himself. We were well into the parade before he settled down to enjoy it. Kate enjoyed it after she got used to the horns and loud noises. The candy she received made her happy.

Noah went with the flow.

After the parade, Zoe wanted to have a picnic and then get ice cream and walk along the waterfront in Bucksport. We didn't have money for the Dairy Port, so we decided we would get ice cream at the grocery store and then use the cones we had at home and walk along the waterfront. Zoe was fine with that. We went to the grocery store to pick up some food, we met my mom, Aly, and Phil at our house to put together the sandwiches, and then we headed to the waterfront for our picnic.

Notice Zach is crying? He was having a tantrum because I didn't buckle him in his seat when we left for the picnic, someone else buckled him in. He cried from our house to the waterfront and he was still crying when we settled in to eat. I brought him back to the car, buckled him in, unbuckled him, walked back to the picnic table, and took a picture of him...


A cruise ship came in as we were eating...

Our view...

It didn't rain on our parade, but it did rain on our picnic...


We had a few rain showers, but Zoe was still determined to eat ice cream while walking along the waterfront. The dark clouds were encouraging the rest of us to head to my parents' house for ice cream. The thunder sealed the deal and everyone except Zoe was convinced this was a great idea. When we were all loaded into the car, it started to pour. We watched an episode of "Wipeout" at my parents' before going home to eat, give baths, and get ready for the fireworks...if they still had them. Matt made pretzels for the first time and even though they didn't look like pretzels, they were delicious! I was hoping the fireworks would be cancelled, but they weren't, so I left with Zoe, Emily, and Eleanor. We picked up my mom and Aly and we headed to the park in Brewer which is across the street from where Matt works. We usually watch the fireworks from the bridge, but it costs $1 a person to get on the bridge and being low on money and having poor weather, we decided not to spend the money this year. In past years, we had seen people waiting to watch the fireworks at the park, so we tried it. I thought it was perfect. The kids were able to play on the playground while they waited (usually we're entertaining the kids as we sit on the bridge waiting), and we could see the fireworks fine from the hill we were on, which didn't cost any money. Zoe being in the mood she was in was not happy with the fireworks because we were too far away. We could have been standing next to the people shooting off the fireworks and she would have complained about them. I'm hoping that next year she will see the perfectness of that spot. I had a great 4th of July. I was with my family and we made the most of an unpredictable (weatherwise) day. My Sunday School lesson that was in the back of my mind all day was annoying, but I ignored it most of the time and finished preparing my lesson before I went to bed.
Here's one last picture of Kate's cute 4th of July outfit...

Yes Aly, WE root for the Patriots!