Poor little Malachi

Malachi playing in the new cupboard

Malachi and Daddy chewing on the elephant together

This picture is taken from my bedroom window, you can see where I have been tilling the ground for our garden area, and where I've started leveling and putting the railroad ties in.

The next two pictures showcase Malachi's scratches and bruises from being in childcare

Samuel lost his front tooth!

Monday night was fun.  We went out to dinner at Johnny Carinos and three different people commented on how well behaved the children were.  It was great!  Then we came home and burned all our tumbleweeds and roasted marshmallows.  Thursday I worked hard outside with the rototiller getting our garden area ready, and leveling off the first area, and getting the railroad ties in place, they are really heavy, so I could only lift the smaller ones, so Travis will have to help me with the bigger ones later.  On friday, Travis had a marriage retreat at Glen Eyrie (in the Garden of the Gods area)  and we did the ropes course.  Travis and I climbed the wall in record time, the last time I did it, I was 6-7 months pregnant, so it was much easier this time,  We also climbed a high ropes course that was really fun too.  Unfortunately while Malachi was in childcare he got a little beat up, another kid scratched him up really good, and he must have had a couple of tumbles, cause he had  3 new bruises on his little head.  Poor baby, I felt so bad for him, I kept him with me the last couple hours of the retreat.  The good news is that Caleb stayed in childcare the whole time, and was happy!!!  Samuel lost his top front tooth on Thursday, and was ecstatic about  it, becuase he wanted some money for the book fair that was ending the next day.  Travis painted all day Monday, and all day Saturday.  He still has plenty of painting to do still, but it is looking a lot better.  Poor Travis has been working crazy hours at work, and at home, I wonder when he is going to burn out, but he says he is doing fine, and generally Sundays are a day of rest for him, for the most part.  He has had a new commander the last couple of months and he thinks that Travis needs to be a going staff officer, so has him doing a ton of work, on top of all of his chaplain responsibilities, hopefully they can communicate with each other, and the commander will understand that Travis doesn't need all the staff stuff, his work is with the soilders.  Anyway last night one of Travis' Lieutenants died due to a hiking accident, Travis knew him pretty well, had just played football with him friday morning, and said he was a great guy, and excellent Lieutenant, so he is sad about this tragedy, and has been gone all day today, starting the arrangements for the funeral, and memorial, since Travis is his Chaplain.  Caleb was coughing all night, so we have all stayed home from church today, except for when I needed to play the piano in primary, I left Joseph and Austin home with Caleb, and took the rest of the kids to primary.  We decided it was a treat making day, since we stayed home from church, and Travis was going to go home teaching.  So we made some peanut butter bars, oreo (rice krispie) treats, and a nutella cheesecake, all no oven required.  Yummy!

The flu, more kitchen work and Easter Egg Roll

Yeah, we have cupboards

Malachi and Daddy at the Restaurant 

Daddy giving Malachi some water with a straw

Caleb was showing me his tongue, saying it was just a little tongue.

So this week, we had more work on the kitchen.  On Monday the cabinet installers came, and took two days and put together all of our cabinets.  They look so nice!  Tuesday night, Malachi and I both got sick with the flu.  It was not fun, Travis had an important meeting that day, that he had spent half the night at work preparing for, so he couldn't stay home.  Poor little Malachi would throw up all over me, then I would have to get up and get us all cleaned up, which would cause me to throw up, and it was just miserable.  Samuel ended up staying home from school to help take care of us and Caleb.  (of course he was only able to do a few things, but was still helpful).  We had to cancel everything we had going on, on Wednesday and some of thursdays.  I wasn't able to eat or drink for 36 hours, but finally by Thursday morning I could get liquids down, and minimal food, and the baby finally was able to keep down breast milk.  It was not a fun time, and the kids, caleb in particular made a mess of the entire house, it was horrible.  So Thursday morning Travis had a military prayer breakfast, that he had asked me to play the piano for, so even though I still felt weak and tired we got up early and went.  I was playing the keyboard during the songs, and Caleb was fascinated by all the buttons, especially the one that altered the pitch, so he kept pushing it back and forth during the song altering the pitch of the music drastically throughout the song .  He definitely made the songs more interesting.  The soldiers didn't say anything, but I'm sure they enjoyed the entertainment.     We rushed back home, where the guy who was doing the kitchen counter tops, came to make a template, the sprinkler guy came to help me turn on the system, and the guy who had done the walls came to fix some mistakes he had made.  It was definitely a busy morning.  I skipped the luncheon I was supposed to go to, because I was just too tired.  I taught piano lessons, and then Travis got home and took Austin to the Jr. High to pick out her instrument for next year, she picked the flute.  Then I took Malachi and went to the Commander's wife welcome dinner, and enjoyed some company with the other wives in the unit, while following Malachi as he crawled around her house.  Travis took the rest of the kids to Samuel's school concert he was in, and then dropped the older kids off at the church for there activities, and took Samuel and Caleb to his Stake Military Relations meeting.  I was impressed he was able to get everyone to their events while I went to the dinner, he is awesome!  Friday I went visiting teaching, and Joseph called me and told me he felt sick to his stomach, so after I was done visiting teaching, we picked him up from school and brought him home, where he promptly started throwing up.  Travis had the day off, but he had some counseling to do the first half of the day, so when he got home we went to a restaurant called "Dat's Italian"  (I had a groupon that expired that day we had to use).  I ordered a chicken broth based soup, with Parmesean dumplings called "Setti Soup" since I was still having a hard time eating much, and it was delicious.  Caleb got some homemade noodles and alfredo sauce, he just ate the noodles, but he loved them so much, he said he ate a "big bit" and he was full up to here (and pointed to his head).  I don't think Caleb has ever eaten so much.  Travis had a sausage sandwich and a cannoli for dessert, the food was delicious and we had a good time.  After that we went next door to a popcorn shop and sampled different popcorn flavors, and bought some to put in the kids eggs for their easter egg hunt.  I even tried a dill pickle flavored popcorn,and liked it.  On the drive home, Caleb asked me to "stretchercise" with him and we stretched our bodies this way and that, until he was satisfied we had gotten our "workout" in, it was pretty cute.  After we got home, and wrapped the popcorn in plastic wrap and put it in the eggs, and hid them in the backyard.  I love our backyard, so many great hiding spots.  Since Joseph was sick, I hid his eggs really well, and told him when he was feeling better he could go find them.  The kids had a great time looking for the eggs.  The didn't seem to like the pickle popcorn, but loved the butterfinger popcorn.  Saturday we did some major cleaning, and also went to the ward Easter egg hunt, but arrived 6 minutes late, and all the eggs had been found, but luckily some kids were nice and gave some to my kids.  We also went to a party to say goodbye to some friends, and had a good time there.  We planted some seeds indoors and got the tumbleweeds out of the backyard.  Everyone had some interesting dreams Friday night, Joseph dreamt he was a bunny, Austin dreamt about baby chicks, and I had a dream about an evil bag of sugar chasing me (Travis showed me a video about the evils  of sugar before we went to bed)  Saturday night we had our pizza and movie night, and Travis finished the grout in the tile.  Samuel was a great helper working hard with him, and switching out his water.  Easter Egg Roll pictures below!  Malachi was the winner this year, and Caleb kept throwing himself on the floor in between the people rolling eggs, or trying to catch the eggs.

Trying to remove Caleb from in between the people rolling eggs, he kept throwing himself on the floor right as people were going to throw there eggs.  

Malachi the Winner!!!

Mobile Malachi

Malachi trying to eat the couch

Malachi got a scratch from trying to climb into a box

Betsy climbing a tree in our backyard

Caleb painting his box "house"

Malachi is getting so big, he is climbing and crawling and pulling himself up onto everything in sight.  I can hardly get anything done, because, if I put him down he is either putting something into his mouth that he shouldn't, or climbing into precarious positions.  He can now crawl up the stairs, and is climbing up his crib, (Samuel lowered the mattress for me, so he can't climb out).  He is getting all sorts of little bumps and scratches from his new adventures.  This was also our week to paint the kitchen and put the tile in.  (see pictures below)  Tuesday night, Travis and I painted until about 11pm.  We discovered we worked really well together.  I was good at rolling, and Travis was good at cutting in the lines, so we worked this way, making good time.  We were only able to get the first coat on, but we still need to paint the second coat.  Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday night were really busy for Travis, he had too much work to do, and things kept coming up at work, so we weren't able to work on the kitchen at all, until a little bit friday night.  Travis was able to prep the kitchen for laying the tile, while I took all the kids to the YM service and dessert auction fundraiser  and bid $50 on service for 4 hours of labor from a handyman in our ward, and won.  So he came over Saturday morning and helped Travis lay down the tile.  Thursday Caleb got the stomach flu and was sick all day and night.  I spent the day cleaning up after throw up, and taking care of him, cancelling numerous appointments, and not getting any work done.  But Caleb started feeling better the next day, so I was happy and so was he.  We had some beautiful weather in the 70s this week, and I got a little outside work done too.  I planted two fruit trees (apple, and peach) in the front yard, and started using the rototiller in the backyard to prepare for planting a garden.  Joseph has been home all week from school, still not feeling good.  The dr. told me he doesn't have pneumonia anymore, but his lungs are only working at 60%  so his brain is not getting enough oxygen and that is why he is so exhausted all the time.  So he has been doing breathing treatments, and taking lots of medicines to help his lungs get better.  He is slowly improving.  

Our new cabinets delivered

Kitchen has been painted, and tile has been lain  (lots of work)

More painting done, and boxes containing our cabinets

Austin's Birthday, Spring break, Baby Chicks, April Fool's Day

Austin opening up her birthday presents

Austin's new chair from Grandma

Austin's birthday cake (I didn't make it)

Malachi in his jumper

Joseph hurt his arm, when crashing his bike (bad sprain)

Daddy feeding Malachi

Caleb riding his bike

I love this little guys' smile

Austin at her award assembly

Betsy winning her award

He is just so cute

Travis said this is a good shot of his "baby cleavage"

Samuel and his crazy face

Austin is growing up so fast

This is Samuel eating our St. Patrick's Day dinner of corned beef, steamed cabbage, and goat cheese toastinis

Samuel working hard pulling up the floor in the kitchen

Betsy was a great helper too

Austin and Betsy at their choir concert

Malachi watching his sister's concert

A dog wandered into our yard, and Caleb followed it around calling it "his puppy", and kept telling me thankyou for getting him a puppy.

Costco trip with my two cuties

Pulling up more layers of flooring, Travis had to replace this section of floor, due to it being damaged.

Austin and Malachi playing at the chiropractor office

So cute, when he sleeps, here it looks like he is pinching his nose while sleeping.  Maybe he had a poopy diaper

At our spring break retreat, Malachi falling asleep during lunch

Playing Poly Pong at the retreat

Betsy trying to roller skate, she finally let go of the wall at the very end.

Caleb had a great time roller skating

Joseph Roller skating

Samuel was roller skating so fast, I had a hard time getting a picture of him.

Austin roller skating

We got home from our retreat to see all the messages the electrician left for the drywaller, we thought it was funny.

Caleb missed his scooter while at the retreat, and has been taking it everywhere with him, he bathes with it, sleeps with it, and takes it everywhere we go.  

The baby chicks have invaded, Joseph holding his baby chick "Fluffy"

Samuel holding his baby chick "puff ball"

Betsy and her baby chick "angel"

Samuel and his baby chick "dinosaur"

Austin and her baby chick "jewel"

Malachi smiling at the baby chicks

Malachi trying to grab a baby chick

Malachi and his baby chick "baby"

My april fool's day dessert

Austin brought me Malachi in this box, and he was covered by the towel, and she said it was april fool's day present, I opened it to find it to be Malachi, (she even gave him a roll to chew on, to keep him quiet

April fools day dinner "little boys", and "cheese" (pureed butternut squash) quesadilla 

"rose petals"( watermelon)

"apple juice" (jello)

The inside of the "cake" watermelon

Kitchen in progress

I haven't blogged in over a month, so there are way too many things that I have forgotten by now, but the main thing is that Malachi is crawling around like crazy, and getting into everything.  He has two little teeth, and loves to chew on anything he can get his hands on.  We have still been working on remodeling our kitchen, we went to Estes Park, CO for a retreat during spring break, and had a great time.  When we came back, we bought some baby chicks, and we had a fun april fool's day dinner.  Caleb missed his scooter while we were gone, and goes everywhere with it.