Christmas

Now That's More Like It!!!

Yeah!!! It's really been snowing this week!!! These pictures are from a couple days ago. The snow is even deeper now & the roads are pretty bad because of the extremely low temperatures. The kids & I are pretty much house-bound. For me it's just as well.......I don't feel like leaving the house much anymore anyway. Maybe God is helping me hibernate. But, sadly, it's keeping Deb & the girls away for Christmas. The weather could ease up a little so they could get here safely. Then God can snow us in again. It's so pretty!!! And the kids are having a blast outside! LOVE it!


House.

Rock.

Bush.

Snow man.

Snow-something.

Before.

After.

Snowball fight.

Our First Snow of the Year........LAME!!!

YEAH!!! SNOW!!! Last week we got an, um, half an inch or so. Not enough to make a snow man.......but just enough for Jarod & Micah to make snow babies!!! Awwww. We keep hoping for more snow, but it just hasn't happened yet. (You Seattlites are hogging it all!!!) It has been extremely cold here ALL week!!! Pretty record breaking temps for Nampa. One morning it was -5 degrees!!! So we still have LAST WEEK'S snow............but we want MORE!!! It supposed to snow a lot next week. Here's hoping!!!

Titus is the only member of this family who doesn't want it to snow. Mr. Neurotic-I-Hate-Dirty-Feet-I-Love-My-Shoes-I-Want-To-Wear-My-Shoes-To-Bed-And-In-The-Bathtub.............HATED his snow boots & snow clothes!!! He went outside for about 30 seconds (it took about 10 minutes to get him dressed!!!) before he pitched a fit & wanted back inside. The week before, thinking about how he LOVES his shoes, I bought him some cute little slippers to wear around the house. He hated those as well. He said, "Mom! These are NOT shoes!!!" ........and promptly kicked them off. Brother. Where did this kid come from?! And when did he start having opinions about footwear?! (BTW.......his eyes are yellow because he wanted to highlight his prettiest assets, OK?!)

Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post of some REAL snow next week!!! And maybe a picture of Titus smiling.

Seattle Visit

I haven't posted in a while because I've been out of town visiting my family in WA. My baby sister, Keri, was having her first baby & she wanted me to be her labor coach. I was very happy to help her (& honored that she asked me!!!). I loaded up the car & all the kids & drove the whole 10 hours by myself. That was an adventure. I've decided that I HATE semi trucks. Long story there. I arrived a week before her due date & we waited.......................for 2 more weeks! We stayed with my parents who were very brave to let their 5 grandsons & I stay for 3 whole weeks!!! I am sure they must be glad to have their house back now that we are home.

Anyway, Keri finally gave birth on Monday morning of the 24th to a 9lb, 5oz, baby boy! His name is Braeden & he is ADORABLE!!! I LOVE fat babies!!! My sister Gloria is a massage therapist & aided in the labor room as well. (She says she's going to come give me some massages while I'm in labor too! YEAH!!!) My bro-in-law, Rory, was super sweet to Keri during labor. He cracked me up with his play-by-play of the contractions...........and his joking around with all the nurses. He had Keri laughing even at 7 cm!!! Together, he, Gloria & I made a pretty good labor team. And Keri did an AMAZING job!!! (I'm so proud of you, sis!!! You're such a good mommy!!!)

During my stay, I visited lots of in-laws & had two Thanksgivings. One with my family on Thursday & one with Justin's family on Friday. We picked Justin up Friday morning from the airport & the boys were SO HAPPY to see him. Gideon had started asking me if we going to live at Grandma's forever & had been starting to cry at night for his daddy. I was startin' to really miss my man too. I think the next trip to WA won't be so long. It was a very nice visit, but also very nice to get home. And Justin drove. YEAH!!! I'm sure the semi trucks were happy as well. Don't ask. I think I'm done with adventures (or even leaving the house now) for a few months. I'm starting to feel a bit like a beached whale. I need a nap every couple hours. So, I'm staying home to finish baking my own bun in the oven. If anyone wants me, I'll be hibernating. Leave a message. ;-)

PS. My sister, Trixie, is also expecting a boy a week before me (I'm due Feb 19th, she's due Feb 12th). It is her 3rd baby, but her 1st boy. Apparently, God didn't think I'd contributed enough boys to the family yet.

Harvest Party

Pumpkin Farm

Cute Little Pumpkins

Crazy Petting Zoo

Emus?!

Horses

Zebra?!

Ok..........pretty sure this was a horse.......or a largish pony?

More Fun Stuff

Scare Crows

Hay Ride....Jarod provided the corn

Hay Maze

IT'S A BOY!!!

Yup! It's true. We're going to have six boys! That's good because now I don't have to change the name of my blog. And I can still sign all my Christmas cards "Justin, Heather & the boys". I'm SO HAPPY & relieved, to be honest. I was not sure what I was going to do with a girl. I'm sure we would have adjusted our thinking & she would have been adored. But I was starting to get nervous the past couple days, trying to picture that it might be a girl........and I couldn't. Guess I'm used to boys. I was just visualizing this cute little boy growing inside me. He is definitely a boy!!! He wouldn't hold still during the ultra sound today! He's bouncing off the walls already. Justin & the boys are all so happy too. Jarod was dancing a little jig (proving his white heritage) & singing on the way out of the Dr.'s office. "We're having a boy, we're having a boy!" And how cool am I? I have six boys!!! No matter how lazy I am, people think I'm super woman! I am the mom of 6 boys! I must be able to lift tall buildings! Seriously, Justin & I feel very blessed. Really.........did anyone actually think it was going to be anything BUT a boy?

Family Camp-Out

A few weeks ago, in mid-September, was our Sturgeon family camp-out. It was a week long vacation. Grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins (Abigail & Olivia), Nanny & Papa were all there. Of course, Justin, the boys were all there as well. We went to Lake Wallowa. The kids did lots of swimming, playing in the sand (Aunt Emily helped them build a giant castle), finding bugs, playing in the dirt. I think Jarod & Micah had the most fun, playing with the Hulk hands that Nanny & Papa brought for them. A couple trips were made into the little near-by town. At night we had devotionals & singing. Joshua played guitar. He lead us, during the days, in some very rousing games of croquet. I discovered I stink at croquet, but it was still fun.

I also discovered Titus has.........um........issues. Whenever we would walk down to the lake, he would have to stop every two minutes, take off his shoes, brush off the bottoms of his feet, shake out his shoes, put them back on. Two minutes later.........same thing. When we would (FINALLY) get to the lake, I would try to set him down in the wet sand & shallow water. He would have NONE of that! I figured out that he was happier, sitting on his little camp chair with a DRY towel under his feet. If anyone moved that towel.........BIG trouble!!! Most of my two year olds have been a little nuerotic at times as they figure out what they like & don't like. However..........this is a little rediculous.

Justin did some fishing in the lake. He caught his ear at one point (see picture). I don't think he caught anything else there. However, the river was full of old salmon. Justin & the boys caught a bunch of them with their bare hands & threw them back.

Seth was too cool to hang out with his dad & brothers, so he chilled with his rad uncles for most of the week. He got to go on hikes, practice karate moves, talk about (extremely exaggerated) animal facts, hitch-hike (don't ask) & took a hilarious ride in the raft on the river. There was a bit of a current wanting to push them back to shore. It took them about 10 minutes to even leave the shore. They bumbled around, trying to coordinate their rowing efforts. Eventually they made it over to a dock. (Thanks, Michael & Nic, for being Seth's buddies!!! You were SO GREAT with him!!! He had a BLAST with you!)

The last night, we were rained on, so everyone piled into our tent, bundled & snuggled up & played a really fun game called Mafia (Emily introduced us to it). Even the kids were able to play & LOVED it!!! I don't know why everyone kept killing me, but it was still fun (OK..........croquet is not the only game I suck at).

It was still raining the next day when we were packing up to leave. We shoved everything into cars & trailers as fast as possible, hugged each other goodbye & went home......wet. All in all, it was a great family bonding time. There were no big fights, it was sunny almost all week.................it was wonderful. And now I miss everyone. *sigh*

Coming tomorrow: the gender of our baby.

Titus' 1st ER Trip

Last night, around 10 pm, the boys were all wrestling around, when someone landed on Titus. He cried for a couple minutes, but seemed fine.........until I put him down. His right foot was hurt & he couldn't walk on it. It didn't hurt him unless he was standing on it. Then he would collapse. It was really sad. I didn't take him to the ER until today. I just wanted to see if it would get better over night. It didn't. I was in the bathroom when he got out of bed this morning. I heard him crying, saying, "Foot-hurt! Foot-hurt!" I came out to get him. He was standing on the floor, holding on to the foot board of his bed for support. He couldn't go anywhere. So I took the kids to church.........& then to the ER. Justin had to work today so I was on my own. The boys were all really good however. It wasn't too horribly stressful. Seth was extremely helpful as always. It helped that the room had a TV in it. The wait wasn't very long either. The Dr came in & asked what had happened. We explained. He looked around at all of the boys in the room... and just nodded. I got the feeling that even if I'd brought Titus in bleeding from the head with two black eyes & bruises all over his body, he still would have looked around at all the boys.... and just nodded. The Dr wanted to see Titus try to walk to me.........and of course...........he did, the little goof. First time all day. Made a liar out of me. Brother. But then he did collapse after taking a couple more steps, so I was vindicated. However, that tells me he's already doing somewhat better! He couldn't even take one step just hours before. It must have been a slow ER day because nurses kept coming by to look at all my boys. They brought the X-ray machine right into the room. Titus was nervous about all of us going out of the room & leaving him alone with the tech. But as soon as the tech brought the machine close to him, he was extremely intrigued with the whole process. It was decided that he didn't have an obvious break, but the Dr thought he probably did have a little fracture. He put Titus in a splint, which Titus was not happy about. He wanted that thing off STAT.  But, now that we're home & he's had a nap, he's doing fine with it. He's crawling around like a champ & adjusting to life as a cripple. The splint can come off in a few days. I have a good feeling that he'll already be better by then. Just in time to run around during next week's camping trip! No real harm done.

Picture Day

The Latest:

* Emily came home from Seattle. Yeah! We're all so glad she's home.

* Seth turned 12 on August 31. He was so happy Emily was home in time for his birthday.

* We started school a couple weeks ago. It's been somewhat of a slow start, but we're picking up speed.

* Last week a nice little stomach bug went around the family & a good percentage of the kids caught it. Deborah, Emily & I all had it as well. Fun times.

* Yesterday Emily decided that we should all go to the park & take pictures of the kids. Emily took the most pictures & probably got lots of good ones. I got a few cute ones myself as you can see. The kids were all pretty well behaved for the most part, until the end. They started getting a little antsy. Trying to get 7 little kids to hold still for pictures is pretty much a pointless undertaking. Not too many things went wrong however. Olivia only fell in the mud once. That upset her, so Deb picked her up to comfort her, wearing white pants. What a nice mommy, sacrificing her pants to console her baby. I wasn't as nice when Olivia got herself into a little predicament (see the pictures to your right) & I had to snap a picture of it before rescuing her. And, really, I didn't rescue her because she fell before I got to her. Don't worry, it was only a six inch drop into soft dirt, though SHE probably didn't know that. She WAS pretty terrified hanging there. Poor thing. In my defense, I did pick her up & hug her after she fell. Of course, I was laughing at her..........but she was cool with that. Jarod & Micah climbed to the very top of a tree & I didn't take a picture of that. It was a little more than a six-inch drop, and I really didn't want to catch their deaths on camera. I just yelled at them to get down. The reason the girls are crying in the pictures? That was towards the end of our fun picture-taking time & the kids were quickly fizzling out. Emily & Deborah were kindly asking the kids to "SMILE AND SAY CHEESE ALREADY, DANG IT!!!" They decided, for some reason, that that wasn't very good motivation for the kids to smile, so they started singing the Veggie-Tale's classic song, "God is Bigger Than the Boogie Man" & tried to get the kids to be happy & sing along. It came out a little more grumpy & scary-sounding than it was supposed to. Strangely, it didn't have the desired effect. (Deb & Em's voices did blend nicely, however.) I think that's when we decided that picture day was coming to a close. We got a few more cute candid shots & let the kids run around a bit. Sarah bought everyone happy meals at McDonald's (I ate my 2nd big & tasty cheese burger of the day. I really like cheese burgers right now.) & we called it a day. 

Fears

A couple hours ago I heard Seth from the kitchen, "M-o-o-o-o-m! Guess wh-a-a-a-a-at?"

Jarod was screaming, crying, "NO, SETH!!! Don't tell mom!"

Thinking Seth was tattling & that Jarod didn't want to get in trouble I said, "Seth, be quiet. Jarod, you need to tell me yourself."

"No, Mom. It's too embarressing." Still crying in shame.

Seth said, "Mom, Jarod has a fear! Hahaha!"

I told Jarod to come to me. I hugged him & coaxed him into telling me. His fear was that squirrels would jump out of the tree and bite him.

I said, "Are you kidding? That's nothing to be embarrassed about. I am afraid when birds are flying over that they will poop on my head. And Seth has had fears too. He used to be afraid of dolls when he was little. And he used to be afraid of clowns. That was only two months ago."

The reason I say that it was only two months ago is this: Seth had quite the spiritual experience at Summer camp this year. He really connected with God. He came home & told me all about it. I was so excited when he said, "Mom, God spoke to me at camp this year." He said the counselors had them go off alone for quiet time with the Lord & encouraged the kids to "hear" what He had to say to them in their hearts.

"What did God say to you, Seth?"

"He told me I didn't need to be afraid of clowns any more."

Well, that was a different kind of testimony than I'd ever heard before, but that's cool. 

When Seth was 5 years old he did have a fear of dolls. I used to have these porcelain decorative dolls lining my plant shelf up by the ceiling. At night, when he'd have a bad dream & want to come to my room for comfort, I would hear the "thump-thump-thump" of his little feet running past the shelf in the living room to get to his mommy. I always heard the thump-thump, but just thought he was wanting hugs ASAP. Took me quite a while to realize he was running because of those stupid dolls. He was afraid they would come to life, I learned later. I'm not even sure how long that went on. Mom fail. But I eventually got rid of them, which resolved that fear. Poor Sethy. Speaking  of fears, I will share my deepest fear with all of you. My deepest fear is that I will die & not be able to raise my children. If Justin doesn't die with me, please find him a very nice (but not too pretty) wife who really loves kids. I don't want him just marrying some hottie who will only tolerate my children because of how handsome Justin is. And if Justin dies with me, I need someone who will step up and raise all 6 of my children for me. I don't want them separated, and I want them home schooled. And they're not allowed to watch Simpsons or Family Guy. Or SpongeBob...for your sanity mainly. Any takers? 

Happy Birthday Titus & Joshua

As you all know, August 4th was Joshua Nathan's & Titus Nathan's birthdays. Mom, Deborah, the girls, the boys, & I all went to the park for a little party on the 5th. We let the kids run themselves ragged. We ate fried chicken & cupcakes (mom made the cupcakes). The three older boys ate almost an entire watermelon by themselves. Justin had to work & Sarah had to sleep before going to work, so neither of them could be there. The kids had fun anyway. The boys, before we left, went all over the house looking for presents for Titus. He got a nice big pick-up truck with only a few holes in it from Micah. Jarod gave him his musical bear from when he was a baby. Seth bought him a car with his own money. Gideon just emptied an entire toy drawer into a big gift bag & called it good. Of course, Grandma & I had some nice new presents for him as well. It was down-right hot & muggy, but it was a fun little party. I can't believe believe my baby is 2 yrs old already! How did that happen? You're pretty old too, Joshua.

Summer Activities

This past couple of weeks have been pretty busy. We had a lot of last minute school work to finish up. Last week I had a Haukaas family reunion in WA to attend. Seth couldn't come with us because he had church camp. (Well, he could've come, but then he would have hated me until church camp next year.) I was disappointed because I wanted to show everyone how big, handsome, & polite he's become. But I still had a good time showing off my other cuties. It was fun seeing so many relatives. Some of them I hadn't seen since I was about ten. Justin was a little uncomfortable being around so many people he didn't know, but he was a good sport. He kept threatening to go out to the car to read his book, but he never did. My parents paid for a pretty nice hotel for us. It was a family suite & had two queen beds & a king. The boys loved the hotel & got to go swimming a couple of times. I don't have a lot of pictures of the trip since I forgot to bring extra batteries for my camera. The trip was a whirl wind & we didn't get to go see any Sturgeon family, unfortunately. We left Friday from Nampa & got home Sunday. We picked up Seth from our friends' house. He was still wishing he was at camp. 

Then there was Thursday this week. Our biggest Summer adventure yet. Aunt Rara came over, brought Abi & we took all of the kids to McDonalds & the park. We wore the kids out (& ourselves) & came home, ready to sit for a while & drink a nice glass of water. I didn't have a house key because I forgot to get it from Emily before she left for Seattle. I usually come in through the garage......no problem. Except that earlier that day I must have been having one of my OCD-need-to-make-sure-doors-are-locked-even-though-it's-the-middle-of-the-day-moments & locked the house/garage door. So, we were good & locked out. We tried to take the air conditioner box out of the back window, but it wouldn't budge. We tried to squeeze Micah in through the gap between the AC box & the tiny amount of space that the window would open above it. Apparently, he has a big head & that didn't work. So, we got in the car & drove back to Boise to get a house key from Justin at work. We got as far as Sarah's (Aunt Rara) house, when my car died. We hung out at Sarah's house. She was trying to be a gracious hostess to all six kids in her non-child proofed home.  Deb came over, she & Sarah drove over to Moms & got her car, came back took us all to Justin's work to get the house key, drove us home. Of course we got stuck in traffic on the way there. But we made it through alive, though not completely sane. Don't know what I would've done w/out Sarah & Deborah. Justin fixed my car the next day. It was the alternator (not the U-joint, Mom).

The girls are staying the weekend w/ me while Deb goes on a church retreat. We're having fun. So far the kids have all been covered in several different substances. Mud, chalk dust from some neato toys Sarah brought over (they looked like little pink & blue people.......the toys were pretty cool: giant feet you strap on, stomp around & make animal prints), food, water, food, more mud. At the end of the day, I just hosed them down out back.

By the way, happy late birthday, Emily!!! We miss you!!!

4th of July Weekend

Well, we didn't do fireworks this year, but we did ........go on another camping trip! (Big surprise there, I know!) We went with some friends, who shall remain nameless for reasons of privacy (but they have a little girl named Tommy, which may or may not be their internet nickname for her). Despite kids getting sick & mosquitoes eating us alive........we had a great time. No really. It was pretty nice. I especially liked the giant biting flies. Justin spent a lot of time fishing with his buddy. I spent a lot of time gabbing it up with my buddy. The kids had an awesome time floating down the river (the 2 foot deep parts, that is). Seth snorkeled & played fetch with the dogs. The dogs also also played fetch with him...for real: sticks-in-Seth's-mouth-doggie-paddling-real. Jarod & Micah swam & played in the sand with their friends. Titus & Gideon pretty much played next to me & didn't get too brave with the river, which was just fine with me. It's a lot less work when you don't have to continually save your kids from drowning. Oh, and they played with their friend Tommy. We had fun, but this time I was kind of glad to get home. No offense to my friends. Love you guys. 


P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT RA-RA!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Family in Town

Last week was a busy one for us. Joshua & his Heather (my brother in law & sister in law) came into town for a visit. We all went to the lake & had a picnic. I swam with the kids quite a bit & Justin worked on honing his fly-fishing skills. Mom & Sarah watched the smaller children who didn't want to go in the water as much.....and of course they brought lots of yummy food. Joshua took the kids out in the raft for a while. It was a pretty nice little day trip.

Later in the week my parents came to visit. The boys were so excited to see them. Gideon introduced himself when he ran outside to greet them (no, it wasn't their first meeting). "Hi! I'm Gideon!" We went to the usual fun hang-outs while they were here: Costco, out for Chinese, the bank.....though, no WalMart this time. Grandpa helped Seth with his math (it's nice having a grandpa with a masters in mathematics!) & played lots of ball in the front yard with the boys. Grandma brought some pretty funny Christian comedian videos & had the boys cracking up......especially during the part when a ventriloquist was performing. Jarod has been walking around the house imitating him (the dummy, not the ventriloquist) for the past couple of days now. It was sad saying goodbye to them, but we're going to see them in a couple of weeks when we go to Vancouver for a family reunion.

My pregnancy seems to be going normally. I think I'm between 6 & 8 wks along now. I haven't gained any weight, but somehow pants are already not buttoning so well. Seems kind of early for that, but I guess this is #6. I started feeling really nauseated yesterday......so YEAH!!! Here I go again! But it I think I am doing well & am pretty healthy. I thank God that He is creating another person inside of me. I feel blessed. I'm getting excited to hold another little one in my arms again. 

A couple more quick things I am thankful for: We are getting much closer to getting caught up w/ the boys' school work (at least the important stuff) & today is my last day for jury duty. I am so happy about that. I never had to even be on a jury. Phew. Not that I don't want to fulfill my civic duty, but, you know....kids, nausea, life, etc...

My Baby's Not a Baby Anymore

Titus is now talking up a storm. While we were camping, he'd say, "Watch this, Mom!" Then he'd throw a rock in the water & ask, "You see dat? You see dat?" Or whenever he'd fall, he'd get up & say, "I'm alright, Mom!" As I type this blog, I am trying to get him to lie down for a nap. I can hear him from his bed crying & calling out, "I sad, Mom! I sad!" (It is quite the guilt trip, by the way.....he's making me sad!) When did my BABY start being able to verbally articulate his emotions to me?! Good grief.

We Love Camping

We just got back from our third camping trip of the Summer & it's only mid-June. Sometimes I wish we could live out there in God's beautiful mountains. I think the boys just belong out there; they fit right in with all the other wild things. They love to hunt for bugs, snakes, frogs, lizards, & they even pick flowers for their mommy. We actually got to do some swimming this time. Justin took a fly-fishing class before we left & spent almost the entire time standing in the river with his new fly fishing pole. The boys & I played in the water & went for lots of walks. We hiked up some pretty steep hills & of course I had to carry Titus when it got really steep. By the time we got to the tops, I felt like I was going to die. (I may be a little out of shape.) We got to the top of one hill. It was flat for quite a ways & completely covered in beautiful yellow flowers. We went exploring & looked over a few different sides of the hill & saw the river wayyyyyyyyy down below. I was a little nervous because it was very dry & hot at the top, & I could see lots of holes in the ground that looked like snakes might live in them. I think they were hiding from the heat however. The dogs were with us & were great guides. They lead us back to camp & helped us find easier trails. They took good care of us. It was fun but tiring. When we got back to camp (and after some lunch) the older boys went fishing with daddy while I took a nap in the tent trailer with the babies. That was fun too. ZZZzzzzzzzz

#6, Here We Come!!!

I just found out on Sunday that I'm expecting baby #6. This caught me a little off-gaurd, but I somehow already love this kid. I can picture a whole new child with his (of course it'll be a boy! What else? :-) own little adorable personality coming to life inside of me. It amazes me every time. God is good.