Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Yesterday I was looking through some pictures of my kiddos on the computer. (I REALLY need to print them off so we can look at them more.) I got lost in the pictures, in the memories.  How on earth has time gone so fast?????  I had the kids come in and look at a few funny ones like the ones when Jackie got stitches, and when McKinley had stitches (okay it was just super glue and closures).  We probably spent 2 hours looking and laughing at pictures.  It made me miss my kids, even though they were sitting right next to me.  McKinley, believe it or not use to have chubby cheeks - Jackie used to have hair that didn't want to lay down so we had to spike it a little in the back (cute).  Grant was (and still is) a handsome little guy.  Luke - well, he still has his squishy puffy cheeks.  :)  It made me dread the day when we won't have toddlers and babies.  Even though some days it is hard and I think I am going insane, I will miss these days.

Anyway, the whole reason I started this post was because of what happened tonight.  I was reading stories to the kids and Luke wanted me to read, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See".  We read it twice and McKinley read / recited it once.  That was one of her favorite books when she was about 2 and she memorized it.  This book always reminds me of her because at this same time she was learning about colors and I would ask her what color something was and she would respond with the appropriate, "Red Bird" or "White Dog", etc.  I haven't thought of this memory for a while and it was fun to remember it.  I need to keep track of the day to day memories because one day they are going to fade.

Puddin' Face

Kissing the squishy puffy cheeks of a sleeping two year old with a chocolate puddin' goatee could be a new addiction! ;)

Memories - Part 1

In Young Women's today our lesson was on "Honoring your Parents" and it kind of made me cry. (Just side note - (I don't think have shared this yet) - I was put in as our Young Women's President about a month before I had Quinn. Crazy - yes! Stressful - yes! Fun - yes! Inadequate - DEFINITELY!!) Anyway, back to our lesson.

During the lesson, we were given a little questionnaire about our parents. It was titled, "What do you know about your Mother? / What do you know about your Father?". Well I was just reading some of the questions, 1. Maiden Name, 2. Birthplace, 3. Was she raised by her parents?, etc. Then I got to some that I couldn't answer, 13. What are her most memorable school experiences?, 14. What kind of work did she do before her marriage?. I remember hearing stories about some of these things, but I couldn't for the life of me remember any of them. At the end of the questionnaire I got to this, 18. What hardships has she overcome?, 20. What does she enjoy doing in her spare time? The way these were put stuck in my mind, they didn't refer to her as past tense, and it made me think of what she is doing right now. What does she enjoy doing in her spare time?

I know that my Mom is waiting and working in Heaven. I also know a lot of times I wish she was here. I have given birth to five beautiful children and not had her there to give me some motherly advice. I have experienced some of the best times of my life since I became a mom and I haven't been able to share that with her. I know I took a lot of things for granted when she was alive and I really regret that. I wish I could have just one day to sit with her and talk about all the things I want to know about her and about her roll as a mother. I also know that that day would not be near enough because I would also want her to know my joys about being a mom and to know each of my children. To say that she would have loved to spoil them to death is an understatement. I would love to hear her say she was proud of me, but somehow I think I know she is. At least I like to think that. :) Only two more years and I will have lived just as long without her as I did with her. That kind of scares me. I worry that I will forget things!! Which brings me to the real point of this entry. (Sorry - I went off on a little tangent there.) During our lesson today I thought to myself, "I need to write down stuff like this for my kids so that they can know me and my grandkids can know me after I am gone".

For one of our read-alouds for school we just finished "In My Grandma's Attic". It is a book that someone wrote all the stories that their Grandma told them about when she was little and published them. Since reading this McKinley keeps asking me about things I did when I was a little girl. Even Jackie asked me yesterday if I was ever 6 years old and what did I do when I was 6. So I am going to try to write some stories about myself and my life for them. However, I will have to do it later this week because it is getting late and I need to get to bed. I think I will start just by answering the questions on the questionnaire.

1. Maiden name - Wendy Graves

2. Birthplace - SLC

3. Was I raised by my parents - yes.

4. Number of my brothers and sisters - two sisters.

5. My place in the family (oldest, youngest, etc) - youngest.

6. Occupation of her father - Construction Worker.

7. Did they have financial security? No, Dad worked hard to get us what we had, which wasn't much but it was enough. Mom worked most of the time too probably until I was in High School.

8. Religious affiliation of my family - I was raised LDS, but Mom and Dad were never active. Dad would go to church when someone was blessed or baptized and he would go to our Young Women's Programs and Daddy Daughter dates. Mom would go when she had a calling in Primary or Young Women's.

Well, that is enough for tonight. I will answer more this week sometime.

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 . . . . . .

Teeth Brushing

Last month we went to the dentist and found out that we have to go back to the dentist about 14 more times for Grant so we have been pushing, pushing and pushing for him to brush his teeth better.

This morning while reading scriptures, Grant was looking at the scripture readers and leaned over to Bart and whispered, "Dad, did Jesus brush his teeth?"

I was reading at the time and got the giggles. Sooooo - what do you think? Did Jesus brush his teeth?

Laughter Adds Length to Your Life

Today we went to dinner at the Grill with Bart's family to celebrate aunt Jeana almost becoming the "champion" in her volleyball tournament. We were magically able to squeeze Grandma, Grandpa, uncle Ryan, aunt Jeana, uncle Wayne, baby Kaelyn, and all of us into a corner booth. Ryan was not allowed to sit on the bench and Jackie and Luke were sitting in high chairs next to him blocking the rest of us in.

Jackie was being a great big sister and wanted to help me feed Luke her french fries. While I was handing a french fry to him, she started to stick one in his mouth, he opened up wide to eat it and she pulled it back (DENIED). Apparently she forgot to put some ketchup on it so she dunked and plunged. Luke shaked and bobbed and the fry was inserted into his nose. Right then the waitress came by and asked if we were all doing okay. Grandpa busted out and said, "We're fine, but he's got a bloody nose". The horrified waitress sprinted off to the rescue and came back with a stack of about 20 napkins. Sadly, none of us could gain enough composure to tell her it was just ketchup.

Husbands and Mailmen

Today was my turn to teach Joyschool which is always fun just to have friends over. This year our group consists of 3 boys and 2 girls. While I was getting things set up for our snack, the kids were having free play. Needless to say we have a segregated joyschool at times. All the boys were all in the boys room and the girls in the girls room.

I could tell the girls were playing house because I could hear them playing with the dishes and talking about babies. Then all three girls (Jackie included) knocked on the boys door and McKinley said, "Hi, we need a husband and a mailman." :)

Slim?? Pickin's

It feels like I haven't updated this thing since Valentines Day!!! I have about 5 other posts started, but I run out of time before I finish them . . . . blah, blah, blah. So now that I am so behind, I will just try to keep up with what we are doing now and then go back and play catch up one post at a time.

Bart has been working like a mad dog trying to get this job done so that we can go on our trip next month and there have been days that the kids only get to see him for about 15 - 30 minutes(maybe). Anyway, it has started to show in everyone's demeanor. WE MISS HIM!!!!

Anyway, last Saturday Bart was going to go to work and we were going to go up the canyon and have a picnic with him just to spend time with him. Then as we were going to bed Friday night he said he wasn't going to go to work and that he wanted to stay home with us(and sleep in of course). So we got up, ate breakfast, then went to work. We weeded and cultivated the garden, picked raspberries, gave Aspen a bath and just hung out with each other working all day long. It was great!!!! Even though we were working all day, it was nice to do it with Dad home!! :)

While we were picking raspberries, I was in this "life is wonderful" mindset as I was sweating like a pig in the heat, and I had to run in and grab my camera. Here are some pictures of our yummy raspberies - - - and our cute raspberry pickers. :)

I went out yesterday with the kids again and picked even more than we got on Saturday, Grant was a BIG helper and stuck with me the whole time. Jackie just filled her bowl and went and sat on the sidewalk and polished them off. McKinley just wanted to ride her bike and run around. So THANK YOU Grant for your help!!!

"MMMMMMMM"

Jackie is the "raspberry thief" because she sneaks out the garage door to go eat all she can pick before she gets caught.

After we were done, we made fresh raspberry milk shakes - even more YUM!!!!! I was going to take a picture of the actual shake, but apparently I was to hungry to do that so you only get the picture of the bucket of raspberries by the blender. :)