Rose got to meet her Grandma and Grandpa Nettesheim yesterday and we got together again tonight for a big Family Home Evening!
first picture with paternal grandparents!
she has turned into the slobber queen - maybe that's why my laundry has doubled
our family was teaching all the cousins the song "Father Abraham"
Rose and I before we sat down to blog - now she is falling asleep in my arms, perhaps I will call it a night as well...
that’s how many kids were at my house last night when I walked out the door to go to my soccer game – – I did feel a little guilty leaving but I did leave cause my husband can handle 21 kids all by himself – can yours?? 🙂 I remember when Ben used to worry about me leaving him with Benji and then with Benji and Packer but now he doesn’t think twice – he can handle them as well as I can. I love it. Last night was a 5 month old, 15 month old, three 2 yr olds, one 3 yr old, three 4 yr olds, two 5 yr olds, and I lose track from there – the other ten kids are somewhere in the 6 – 11 range. Bottom Line is … my husband rocks!
Today I vacuumed popcorn and organized toys, folded laundry and cleaned bedrooms. Ben worked outside for several hours and the kids were back and forth ‘helping’ both of us with rolly polly catching and kite flying and video gaming in between. Rose was crying in her swing a few different times, her siblings were able to calm her down so I could keep cleaning. One time I caught Cali down reading Rose a story – it was so cute I had to grab the camera – I was to slow though – she had put the book away and started singing to her 🙂
sisters
the boys, doing boy chores
The girls are taking late naps. Ben took the boys to McDonald’s. I am watching some March Madness and putting my feet up for the first time today. It feels good.
I do wish these guys were still playing...
i am nervous. and excited. can’t concentrate. can’t sit still. getting a lot of cleaning done with my nervous energy. BYU plays in 1 hour and 23 minutes. I just want the game to get underway so we can hit a few 3’s and beat florida and make it to the ELITE 8! I have my Jimmer shirt on. I made victory cupcakes. BYU–Florida tipoff at 5:27 p.m. (Mountain Time) Thursday… that’s almost here – but coming ever so slowly. I wish they would have spaced out tonights games throughout the day. I want to watch the SDSU game that is on at the same time. Also interested in the Wisconsin-Butler game right after ours. I do realize that LOTS of people work and are glad to have evening games but for me the MADNESS could be enjoyed all day. OK – GO BYU.!. Jimmer please do your thing – even though i’ve called you a ball hog on numerous occasions. Emery and Abouo – i always cheer for you guys – please make me proud. AND hartsock and collinsworth we need you guys to be BIG –  – – lets do this…
i don’t have my camera on hand so we’ll have to settle for this cute baby playing with what babies love best – the wipes! And as a side note Cali does come over and help Rose do the BYU fight song actions when appropriate.
I'm a big girl!
Kevin and Liz came to play Friday night and Saturday! They have 4 kids – a 6 year old, 5 year old twins, and a 2 year old, we were excited to play with them and have a sleepover. When 1 sibling comes to town it’s a party so Ryan brought his 4 girls, ages 10, 8, 5, and 2 and Joel, Brady, and Kelsey spent most of the weekend here. So we had 12 kids and 8 adults. (Tara if you are reading this you need to know that if you can’t get off work for the next ‘party’ then we are going to have to move the happenings up north to your place! – we all missed you.) We just played all weekend and stayed up to late. Kelsey was my camera girl so here’s documentation of the fun.
The Game Table - Dominion, Bonanza, Monopoly Deal, For Sale, o shucks, Zooloretto ... (and Joel's friend Kristina)
Kids playing in the uncarpeted play room. Our house really felt bigger having one more place for the kids to go - it was great.
do you think Benji was excited for a sleep over????
They were ALL excited and wanted to sleep in the new room even without carpet. This was Cali's first time not sleeping in a crib!!
On Saturday we just hung out, more games, a trip to the park and of course watching a KILLER BYU game.
Joel, Brinlee, Ryan, and Taylee
Kelsey and Ella
Jaydn and Benji
This guy got in a car accident on Tuesday before they came. He totaled his car and we are pretty sure his hand is broken but he was lucky enough to walk away.
he had CDs in the visor and you can see where each one got him on the forehead.
Rose threw a big old fit anytime anyone would take her chip bags at dinner - can't believe she's old enough to throw fits over that!
Everyone had to leave Saturday night and Sunday morning so we got some recovery time in after church. But we did get to go celebrate some Nettesheim birthdays after dinner so the fun continued. We love our families!
Rose: is ready for cereal! she loves to eat.
yummy to my tummy - 5 1/2 months
Cali: is thinking that she is to big for naps – 🙁 – last week she only took one nap. I am not ready for this 27 month old to be awake all day so I am happy to report that she did take a nap yesterday and is taking a nap right now.
to big to fast - she has also started jumping off of the ledge and doing backward somersaults off the couches.
Packer: This guy came in the kitchen a few days ago to tell me: “I stuck my finger in that thingy and it stung it.” I had no idea what he was talking about so we just went on with our day. A little while later we were in the new toy room and he showed me the light switch that didn’t have the cover on that he had stuck his finger in and gotten shocked!
THE STINGY THINGY, I quickly put the covers on!
Benji: This guy went to play at Bradley’s house again and while there he and Bradley went in a closet to play. Well once they were in they couldn’t open the door to get out because the door knob was broken from that side! Benji said that they both got scared and started crying and screaming for help. No one was coming because they were downstairs and everyone else was upstairs. Then they remembered that they could say prayers to ask Heavenly Father to help them. He said that they prayed that Bradley’s mom would hear them and come open the door. He also said that they said the prayers out loud, he said about 13 prayers and Bradley said 15! Well we think they were in there for a good 40 minutes until Bradley’s mom did hear them and let them out! I’m proud of them for their faith!!
the Benj posing in the newly painted toy room.
Ben: A good way to scare your husband is to clean out from under the bathroom sink and leave the pregnancy test box on top of the garbage. Ben came down a little worried and pale looking that night :).
toy room is painted!! where's the best deal on carpet???
Cali got to have her cousins over earlier in the week. These 2 year olds are growing up so fast and it was fun to see them interact and really play with each other.
first they rode bikes
I love that they each had their sippy cups and had to ride them around and move them from bike to bike with them.
my little tomboy
aren't they cute
then they came in and played Legos (you can tell they all have older brothers) but they did eventually play dolls and kitchen
Today Cali and I were trying to teach Rose how to role over. She can do front to back and is getting close to sitting up. My girls have both gotten so big.
not sure why Cali has on all of the protective gear
Rose with a handful of Cali's hair - I have a feeling this won't be the only time 🙂
chunky monkey
its that time of year again for us - BOO
i can be really cute and sweet when I want to be
packer did this puzzle all by himself - no help - 1st time!
yes BYU lost the MWC tourney saturday BUT we did receive 52% off at Burgers Supreme
this baby wants food - i don't want to start but I might have to
Packer flew his spiderman kite this afternoon - pure joy for this boy
sorry Benji – no pics of you this time, I’ll make sure and take some this week of all of your craziness. and last night we made some yummy homemade ice cream – brownie batter. Having no school today was wonderful to help combat the time change. my baby has turned grumpy the last few days, which makes me tired… good night.
Benji has been reminding me every day that he gets to decorate a 2 Liter Bottle and bring it to school to be used as a prize at the School Festival this month. I of course was putting it off because I’m not that creative and I didn’t have any good ideas… Well Benji went and got the 2 liter and grabbed some art supplies and he decorated it – ALL BY HIMSELF! and I think he did a great job. And in the end I was so proud of him and glad that it truly was his project and not mine…
The MONSTER
He was SO EXCITED to take it to school - Muscle Man
The other kids wanted in on the action. I wouldn’t let them do 2 Liter bottles so this is what Packer came up with. I can’t remember what he calls it but he loves it. Oh yeah – ever since I blogged about his bathroom dialog he has stopped doing it!! Now he is convinced that he can wipe himself and just lets me know that he’ll do it himself this time – yahoo for that!
the creation
After these creations I revealed some wooden cars and paint and let the kids paint them. They were so excited! It was a little messy and not a  daily activity but they sure had fun doing it.
Our Little Painters
NEW PAJAMAS!!
Packer and Cali convinced me that we NEEDED these pajamas – Yes Packer chose Sponge Bob AGAIN, Cali wanted Dora and Packer decided that Benji would want Toy Story more than Cars. When Benji got home from school Packer told him to go up to his room and look in his Jammie Drawer – – they were all so excited – totally worth the 10$ splurge.
DID you KNOW that MY parents WENT cruising LAST week? They flew to Puerto Rico and then got on the boat and went to a lot of cool islands. They got to go with a BUNCH of their friends and I’m sure they were missing me the whole time but they still had fun 🙂
HUGE BOAT
My Mom on the beach somewhere in another country - jealous!
My Dad!
I'm amazed that they got to cruise with so many good friends!
AND did you know that my littlest sister camped out at the Marriott Center for 3 nights so that she could get a good seat for Saturdays BYU basketball game – They got 6th row! We saw her on TV passing  Cosmo up the stands, and they did a fun DANCE and she got to chill with some players after/during the MWC champion celebration…
That's my Kelsey in the Red Sweatshirt
COLLINSWORTH
with ABOUO
Fredette and Emery were too busy for a picture
But I just found this link and Kelsey is right there on the loading screen – first picture!
BENJI AFter SCHOOL. This guy is a creature of habit. He always has been and I’m thinking he always will be. If I am going to change anything up on him he has to be warned and talked through it and then he is still nervous until he gets used to the change. A friend has been picking him up for school in the mornings since the beginning of the year – the first few days were really hard to get him in their car and he needed bribing BUT now it is the routine and I LOVE IT….
coming home from school - kindergarten is flying by!!
It’s flying by for me anyway – this guy has grown leaps and bounds in kindergarten. He can READ. He can Write! he can actually draw and color and count by 5, 10, 20 or whatever. He is so big and it is so fun. He and Packer woke up early on Friday and started creating some art work, they continued some of the art they started with their friend Lucie – here is what they came up with. Mostly monsters…
Benji's work
Packer's work
Packer has this really weird habit that I have almost blogged about a few times because as much as I don’t like it I kind of want to tell him about it when he is older… so I will hide the details here in this really long post so that only the diligent readers will have the chance of reading the bathroom talk 🙂 So every time Packer goes #2 he says, (and I quote) “Mom can you come wipe my bum. I went poop but some poop is stuck in and you need to come wipe it out. ok mom?” That is word for word and he says it EVERY time and the first part is loud to get my attention and then he just trails off with the rest of the sentence and explanation.
our only Brown Eyed Child! He makes us laugh a lot.
Packer is also just getting over a little issue at primary. He went in and started crying the last 2 weeks and it was all because they switched his class to the other side of the room and he felt like he couldn’t see his big brother anymore and so he has been in tears and all of the wonderful primary peops have been trying to help, so we had a talk and I believe that this week went well, he just needed a little assurance that it is ok to sit on the new side. And on that note CALI is becoming Super Nursery Girl. She lets me drop her off and doesn’t cry! The teachers are even starting to say that she does GOOD in there. They told me on Sunday that she knows how to count from 5-10, I wasn’t sure what they meant because I try to get her to count and she stumbles with 1, 2, 3. So today we were reading a book and counting and I started but she picked up at 5 and took it to 9!
JUST THE GIRLS photo by Packer
Well, we had another FUN FULL weekend! For date night we went to a little Thai restaurant and then picked out paint for the toy room. We had ambitions to get some more work done in there but that didn’t happen. On Saturday morning we got to go to see Caitlin and Lalo get baptized! We spent the whole morning with family, eating and playing and visiting. That afternoon we watched BYU defeat Wyoming. I ran out to get a part for the hot tub and we were wornout from crabby Cali so we put the kids to bed a little before 8, and then just relaxed. Sunday was another early morning for church, a relaxing afternoon and then we invited my siblings over for dinner. Ben made some killer stroganoff and then we lost 3 rounds of Dominion, while discussing futures, dating, family trips, and the BYU craze. Now Monday is half over so I better get going.
i loved this pic - pure PJ happiness