2016 Snapshot

A couple of weeks ago, we all sat around the couch as I read the entire blog to the kids. We sat there for about 2 hours reading and we had so much fun listening to our memories. The kids are begging me to start up again. So for now I will try to do our family snapshot for 2016.

In General Conference in October 2010 President Uchtdorf gave a talk called, “Of Things That Matter Most”. I need to do better and follow the counsel he gave to us in it. He said, “We would do well to slow down a little, . . . focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that matter most. . . . Strength comes not from frantic activity but from being settled on a firm foundation of truth and life. It comes from paying attention to the divine things that matter most. . . . Diligently doing things that matter most will lead us to the Savior of the World.”

With 6 kids I sometimes feel like I am running a million miles an hour (but getting nowhere). So I need to sometimes slow down and focus on the things that matter most. A lot of times I get tunnel vision and can only focus on what is right in front of me and what I am trying to get done at the time. These days it is get up, make breakfast, do school, clean up, do dinner, get everyone to bed, clean up, go to sleep and then start all over again tomorrow. I need to slow down and truly see the wonderful things I have been blessed with. One of my blessings is my, healthy, adorable, happy, energetic, crazy, beautiful, fun, weird, loving, goofy, amazing family. 

With that being said, here is us in 2016:

Luke has been learning to read and is doing great at it.

Quinn never stops talking (he only has one setting on his volume – loud).

McKinley is reading better – keep practicing :)

We got chickens last year and they have kept us busy making a chicken coop, frostbite, mice, etc.

Grant loves doing scouts, so far he has earned his 1st and 2nd class.

Jackie HATES math, but she is GOOD at it.

Quinn interrupts school every 98 seconds. Approximately 581 times a day.

Hannah loves to dance whenever she hears music. She has some sweet ballet moves already and dances with her eyes closed when she is really “feeling” it.

Luke won't eat anything if it starts with Dinner.

Jackie likes to cook.

Grant, McKinley, and Jackie are taking piano and are getting better.

McKinley and Jackie have fun at Activity Days.

Luke gets up around 5:30 or 6:00 every day – we try to finish his school before breakfast.

Everyone else gets up around 7:00 or 7:30.

Grant loves chess and he kicks mom's trash every time.

McKinley shares her testimony quite frequently on Fast Sundays.

Bart is the Young Men's President – he is a great example to them.

I am the wolf den leader and I also teach Relief Society once a month.

Bart is still working even though the economy is struggling badly right now – things are slow, but we are thankful for the work.

McKinley and Jackie are working on getting along together.

Hannah steals our hearts with her cute smiles and kisses. Don't take something from her though or you will hear her ear piercing scream.

Hannah calls most everyone “mom”. She calls mom, “mom, mommy and mimi”.  My favorite is "mommy".

Jackie is still and will forever be independent and courageous.

Family scripture study is done at the breakfast table – while everyone's mouths are full and they are somewhat sitting still.

We try to be done with school by lunchtime, but usually go until 1:00 or 2:00 most days (we start around 9:00ish). Sometimes we are lazy and don't finish until 5:00 or 6:00. :(

The kids like to listen to each others read aloud stories even though they have already heard them before. There is nothing like a fun book.

Jackie did my hair while I was doing her school.

Everyone had to get in the picture.

We have cleaning zones, but we need to change them up so we can add Quinn.

The boys room is a challenge to keep clean.

We need to get a bunk bed for the girls so we can kick Hannah out of mom and dad's room.

Hannah falls asleep in weird places.

We take baths/showers once, maybe twice a week (GROSS). One bad habit from homeschooling.

Quinn still likes to rub out ears when he cuddles.

9:00 church is hard when we aren't used to getting everyone up and out the door for school every morning.

We have pajama day at school about 4 out of 5 days a week (at least it starts out that way).

We need to do better at writing.

Hannah is trying to mimic everything we say, it's like having our very own parrot.

Hannah knows most of the animal sounds and loves to be a kitty.

I don't go to bed until 12:00 at the earliest most days and am usually up around 6:00 or 6:30.

Hopefully this shows what we are like in our day-to-day life. President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “It is not so much the major events . . . as the small day-to-day decisions . . . that map the course of our living.” So these are the things that make up our day-to-day in 2016.

For a little bonus, here are some pictures we took last fall:

Quinn was being a pill that night and we only got 1-2 pictures WITHOUT the faces.

Quinn said this was his "fiercest" face.

Catch - up Time

So it has been MONTHS since I posted last and I am a little behind. I just noticed that I didn't even post anything about being pregnant. Well, I am NOT pregnant anymore.

Meet Daniel "Quinn" Rasmussen. He was born on November 28th at 7:44 AM, he weighed 8lbs and was 20 1/2 inches long.

Quinn was quite alert while we were in the hospital.  He just wanted to look around and see what we were all about.

Luke was a little possessive and wouldn't let the girls or Grant kiss Quinn.

And what would a hospital stay be without someone crawling behind the bed trying to destroy it?  Luckily nothing was broken this time.  ;)

I have heard many people say that after you have 3 kids you may as well have 12 and that 3 is hard. I have also heard 4 is hard, but for me - 5 is hard. Okay, so maybe it isn't so hard, we just have a few different things going on in our life that is making it a little harder than the rest. #1 We have never homeschooled with a newborn (I am finally getting a handle on it though - I think), and #2 About a month before Quinn was born, I was called as the Young Women's President. This may be the big stresser because Sundays seem to be worse for me than anything. Church was at 11:00 - so getting to my meetings, getting everyone ready for church and getting Quinn fed in between was a tight squeeze for the morning. However we now have church at 1:00 so it is A LOT better.

Having a little newborn in your home really changes things. It always makes me want to sit and snuggle and not go anywhere. However, with 4 other kiddos running around, snuggling is a little harder than it has been with the others. Plus, there are more hands that want to hold Quinn too, so I have to share????!!!

When we went in for Quinn's 2 week appointment he only weighed 7 lbs, 8 oz. This was unusual for us because we like to leave the hospital a full pound heavier. We had to go in two weeks later for a weight check and he weighed a whopping 7 lbs, 10 oz. Two ounces in two weeks are you kidding me??? We we now have to add formula to breast milk to give him extra calories - twice a day. Another two weeks and we were back at the doctors office for a weight check. This time he weighed 8 lbs, 11 oz. YIPPEE!!! We are still at it with the formula supplement thing and he is at least getting bigger. He is no longer in the newborn jammies. (What a fatty!) We have his two month appointment in another week or so, so we will have to see how chubby we can get him.

I am going to try to post more often this year, but I can't make any promises. Until then . . . . . .