Halloween 2014

 Her majesty and her royal guards.

During this month we have had a couple people in our lives who are allergic to things and Elliot tell us she is allergic to anything she doesn't like. So in the midst of havin gher try on and off costume stuff.. "I am Allergic to England!!"

 We took Paisley and Cole to the ward trunk or treat with us. Cody got to be home. On Halloween actual we did our soup in the garage with a bonfire after

Pumpkin patch 2014

after party

"In Suuuuummmaaaaa!!!" -Olaf

Its our last Friday of Summer Break! Its gone by so fast! and all my hopes of getting some good record keeping done for mah childrens' rapidly changing lives this summer have melted away. So tonight I decided I'm just going to start where I'm at. And that is where I find myself. The last weekend of Summer break 2014.  

We just went to Rowdy's back to school night. It was different because this is our first new teacher in 2 years. Rowdy moved up with Mrs. Mechell and she has been so warm and fuzzy and wonderful. So I'm sure Rowdy's 2 new teachers will be also but Mrs. Mechell has definitely grown on us. I think Rowdy's in for a surprise going back too! He could hardly remember how to spell tonight filling in his new student questionnaire :) He has been going to Robotics camp this week. We thought it would be a fun birthday gift. He has liked it. Today they had tournaments with their robots. We were so proud of Rowdy for signing up for all 3 just for fun. There was a fighting, racing and soccer tournament. It was great to watch. We are talking him into skipping the last day of clean up and free time and watching Wall-E because Cody is home and its get a friend in free at Six Flags so we are going to take our littles Ezra and Elliot too because they haven't been yet. Ezra said in his prayer tonight. "I'm so thankful I get to go to Six Flags for my first time tomorrow. Please bless us to have a really really really really really fun time tomorrow and please bless there to be series 3 Mixels there...amen"    and speaking of prayers tonight at dinner Elliot said," Thanks for the food, please don't let us DIE here...amen" and she did it in her crazy growly voice. She has been cracking us up. Then she gets a little embarrassed when we laugh and then warms up to the idea and she'll laugh too.

Its been a crazy week for Cody's work they keep forcing him back to LA as an engineer then releasing him then forcing him back. So he's been a bit stressed and finally he got travel time extended so he doesn't have to go out there but then he can't be working out here. Its been a blessing though to be able to spend time together. and we are on a tighter budget so its fun finding inexpensive things to do and playing games at home and eating better at home anyway. and of course praying our hearts out we wouldn't be split up again. All good reminders. We also got to go to the temple together with Cody's mom yesterday and it was really nice. More good reminders. and hes hot with his beard and his 13 gray hairs in it.

Ollie is doing really good. He is such a happy baby. All you have to do is look into his eyes and he will smile at you. He waits his turn to talk too. If you ask him a question he will start cooing and babbling at he appropriate time. He is a flirt. He has a dimple in his left cheek. He sleeps most of the night he usually wakes up around 5. Then goes back to bed. He is starting to reach out and try and figuire out his hands. He is sprouting too! He looks so big! and all the sudden we have another brand new aby Bowler in our family. Tessa who is 2 weeks old! So of course Ollie looks like a gigantor compared to her. People keep forgetting he still can't hold his head up for very long! One of my nieces was thinking about putting him on her shoulders! He just looks so sturdy and big like he should be able to do it! :) Oh but I am so thankful for all the family around to help with him. They have helped me keep my sanity for sure, and be able to do fun summer stuff with my other 3. Ollie has been so adorable around Tessa. The first couple times they have met it was pretty much undeniable they knew each other. You could feel it. Ollie was talking to her and so excited. Undeniable there is a pre-existence. Its been a pretty exciting couple of weeks for our Big Bowler family. Very cool to have these sweet new little people in our family.

Elliot has been my little helper buddy. She has been loving cooking, doing kitchen stuff, writing "Instructions", reading with me, taking care of "Baby Ollie" (They sleep in the same room) sending messages on my phone and she found an old phone of mine and we charged it up and loves to take pictures with that too. and antagonizing Ezra, although this past week things have started to simmer down... I think its because Dad is home. She gets dressed all by herself, loves to get into my makeup and hair drawers, and gets pretty ticked if you ask her to put on something that, "Is not Beautiful!" She still has the loudest voice! and if a brother is bugging she screeeeeams! but shes is learning and those times are becoming less and less. I will insert a random plug here that we all get along so much better when we have time to read the scriptures at breakfast. She also loves to get on my phone and say she''s "reading the scriptures" Which is usually the fourth article of faith. and then as soon as shes done with that will sneak away and play a game :) She tells the craziest funny stories, like they really happened to her. The other day she was telling me about her three friends, "Diamonds (that is her name) Natty and someone else that she met in California and had these elaborate experiences with. Ezra says now, if he doesn't believe her, "Your just tellin' me stories." Elliot is really fun to be around. She can't get a break from me. I teach her sunbeam class and am going to do a co-op this year with her. But I love it. She is fun to be around.

Ezra, has discovered another toy obsession. He sits at a little garage sale desk most of the day and makes Mixels, a new little Lego toy. He follows instructions or makes his own. and loves it and when he are away he just wants to come home and build them some more. He gets started talking about them and he is like one of the computer guys so caught up in his own jargon no one even knows whats going on. he loves to tell everyone about them. Anyway I'm glad he is enjoying them, and I'm also glad when I can pry him away from them. He started soccer on Tuesday, as well as Rowdy. They are on 2 different teams but luckily at the same field at the same time! Yay!! We have been swimming quite a bit too. and he's doing really good. We still have to keep a close eye on him but he will come up for air and everything. He has been really jolly this summer. Just really happy. and all of the sudden he is 5!! He is drawing awesome too. He is smart enough to do Kindergarten this year but I think he needs one more year to just be a kid. He is so sweet with Ollie, and also Paravel. He adores them. It melts my heart. He still has a contagious laugh too, that comes out often when he is helping or playing with Ollie. He says Ollie so funny too. I should get it on tape. He throws his tongue back in his throat when he says it. He also does a great impression of Goofy, but will get shy when we ask him to do it. He still has baby soft skin and fine hair. & his hugs melt my heart.

Rowdy is into Pokemon right now & I already talked about the other stuff that has been going on with him. but he is a really great helper and sweet brother. He is a really good boy. Thankfully his "teenage attitude" he had going on this summer simmered down and he feels like my little boy again.

We had to take our trampoline down because of insurance. That's been an adjustment. We have been trying to swim a bunch too and just soak up the summer before its back to school!

6 weeks

This past week in California he started waking up to the world a little more. On our drive home from California in New Mexico he was super happy. We asked him to smile for a Nan birthday picture.

Like Father like Daughter. World cup 2014 in Carlsbad, CA

My Bun-Bun

We have a book called Bun Bun the middle one. And its pretty much Ezra.

He takes his time and does things right. 

Sometimes he gets in a muddle.

But he plays hard, has a contagious laugh, & great huggle (half hug half snuggle)

He is an awesome drawer. He likes to draw with his fist though

Is a tender and loving brother (and son)

Always got a song! 

Crazy good/scary how fast he memorizes songs!

(This was karaoke at the Stamps home)

Loooooves spaghetti

These 2 are best friends and worst enemies

He's a gem

Hi Little Guy

 Had a sonogram today to check the baby's weight. Its April 17th I am "Due" May 17th but hes is already 7.14. Dr. Wai thinks he will probably come a little early. 

Aww. I love this picture. I think he's going to have Cody's eyelashes

 

 I wasn't feeling too hot after my Dr.'s appointment. Need to get things a little more in order I guess. I had my littles at preschool and a friend's house and so it was just Cody and I... finally :) we got to spend a good hour together then he got called in ;) better than nothing.

It was Chloe's birthday dinner. I was debating because I wasn't feeling very good, but I'm glad we went.

Small Med and Extra Large :)

 

Due: Syd- September, Iya- August, me- May? maybe April? :)

Ezra and Elliot spent the night at Nan's house so Rowdy and I had a mini date. 

He is a read-aholic these days though. He read most of our ride in the car. He has found a Tree House series he really likes and is trying to finish the series before school gets out for summer. He goes to the school library at least every other day to get 2 new books :) 

He also had a fundraiser run today and ran almost 3 miles! for the fundraiser he just wanted the prizes so I told him I'd give him 5 bucks to either put toward the boosterthon (we had already pledged a very decent amount of $) or he could take it to the dollar store and buy some of his own prizes. So he chose the latter. and It melted my heart he spent half of it on Ezra and Elliot. He is a sweet big brother. But really all 3 of these kids are so sweet to each other (most of the time :). It makes my heart happy. He is loving the story of Captain Moroni and so we read in bed together and he actually came up with a really beautiful principle from the story. 

I was recently reminded from Conference about the power of the Book of Mormon so I've tried to be better at helping my kids understand it and there is a noticeable difference in the feeling  of our home the days we get to really read together. Its like magic :)

Gender Reveal

I had a sonogram scheduled the morning of ST. Patrick's day. Cody and Ezra and Elliot came. On the way there Cody couldn't handle the suspense any more so we decided to find out. It was sweet and intimate to find out in the sonogram room with our 2 littles. We were definitely surprised.3 to 1 Elliot!
I had a feeling it might be a boy because I couldn't think of any boy names :)
The sonogram tech did say he was a wiggle worm!
We went to a cute little pizza place in Southlake Town center to celebrate.

We came home threw together the leprechaun scavenger hunt. I think the kids liked it. I sent the Byrds and Cody out while I worked on neighborhood petition stuff.  I just saw them when they came home and we added an extra little surprise for Rowdy to read to everyone basically.. "oh what joy we are having a baby boy" and he got to hand out almond joys. He was wanting a girl named Isabelle but that instantly melted into joy when he found out about his baby brother.

---Insert Rowdy reveal video--

This day was super busy we had scheduled to walk the neighborhood with flyers and Letti called and asked if we could help w a scavenger hunt, and we ended up having everyone over for dinner (I didn't cook thankfully). I had a little bit of a headache from going going all day, but it ended up being magical.
At the end of the day we had a bonfire and visited with family, but my favorite was when everyone left and it was just our little family of five. We were all joking and laughing around the fire and the kids were participating in our conversation and we just had a sweet little family time.We did giggle about names we shouldn't call our baby brother. Elliot wanted to name him Snake Skin Bowler.. (Im sure insprired by all the Monster Truck talk around her brothers :)
Anyway it was just a sweet little reward of a mom moment seeing these independent beautiful little people finding their personalities. Excited to meet another little boy.

Spring Break 2014

 Saturday Cody was in Temple stuck in a motel teasing me that I liked candy more than him. So I tried to go on a sweets fast and discovered I am probably addicted to sugar. I felt like the world was so un-fun! and I was so grumpy! We needed camp treats anyway so I did a portrait of Cody out of candy with the kids

Sunday we had post church dinner at Nan & Pop's new house. The kids used their moving boxes to make an awesome little house. We then went home & started to pack for our camping trip.

 

We went to Lake Ray Roberts. We've been a couple of times & were thinking about trying another part of the park but we've got a good thing going. The weather was amazing and our site was backed right up against the lake. My kids love sand which is part of the reason I wanted to come to Ray Roberts/ the sandy beach part.

It sounded like we were camping near the beach all night, with waves from the lake. I loved it. ITs even prettier in the spring when all this stuff is green, but you can't beat the no bug weather we had.

1 o clock vs 2 o clock ...Rowdy started digging, discovered mud. Cody suggests filling it w water, then helps them make a mud slip n slide. They were joined by other crazy campers too.

Thank goodness there were warm showers. Elliot wasn't into the mud. She liked the worms we brought for fishing though. Her "pet worms"

 The kids had fun in their own tent, and just running around exploring. but mostly eating camp snacks. I feel like Ezra had his hand in a Doritos bag or cheese it box most of our camping trip :) One of their favorite things was riding our scooters up to a park in the evening/ night where we played flashlight hide and go seek. Rowdy also loved the shower with a bench in it. Elliot is crazy good at riding her little scooter and was always excited to scoot to the bathrooom or on camp errands with me.

I am 7 months pregnant and was worried about sleeping and peeing and all that, but with our air mattress and my outdoor "skills" I got a pretty OK nights sleep. No worse than any other camping trip.
We made bacon in the morning....and honey buns... by default. I had so much fun planning the meals then forgot an ingredient from almost every meal :) but we ate well. Cody was the pit master. & pretty hot chopping wood & fishing with our kids. We went to a kids fishing pond & the kids helped with the worms & made "happy habitats" for them. The weather was so perfect it made for a brilliant camping trip.

We did decided to cut it a little short because of Cody's work, but felt like we got a solid 2 days of fun. We really would've only stayed to sleep n clean up the next morning. The children all had meltdowns when it was time to go.  Guess we need to do it again. We'll soon be needing a bigger kid tent.

Wednesday We went to Joe T Garcia's with the Bowler Adults. It was nice to laugh with everyone. Bobby and Tiffany had come up from Round Rock for the week. Then Rowdy spent the night at Nan's with the 5 boy cousins.

Thursday cousin Jill & Letti stopped by with just enough time for Lucy to hurt her foot on our trampoline :/ (first accident) then Tiffany Nan and I took a bunch of the kids on a hike to Eagle Mountain Lake. Another gorgeous day. Elliot did good! She was slow but never asked to be held. Ezra was cracking us up because on the way out I had grabbed a bunch of Peanut butter crackers for lunch only to discover Andee was allergic to Peanut butter. Ezra saw she didn't have to eat them so he decided he was allergic to Peanut Butter too. Andee was telling us about hives and goosebumps and Ezra somehow ended up telling Aunt Tiff all about he had eaten peanut butter and now his feet were "puzzled." which I think he was trying to say allergic or hivey or something. I don't even know but now he and Aunt Tiffany are best friends. The kids were all really good on the hike even on the hike back with wet jeans.

Later I went to pictionary at Letti's and had a great time. Cody and the boys went to a boy barbeque/ swim party at Uncle Tad's, where Rowdy ended up spending the night again.

Friday we had a family Soccer game.

 Go gett'em Ezra

Rowdy was loving it. He played the whole game. Even after getting pegged in the face

 Then we went to Chik-Fil-A

Saturday Cody was in OKC. I worked on a petition and flyers because I'm grumpy they may be building low income apartment in front of our neighborhood. Then right as a thunderstorm began Locke & Katie blew in. We ate chicken tortilla soup, caramel and made a sign for the Anderson house. The kids had fun jumping on the trampoline together in the rain and out of the rain. and sweet Katie did my laundry while I painted. I definitely got the funner job.

Sunday my sunbeam Elliot was cray cray in class. We ended up at Nan & Pops house after church. It was nice visiting w Jill & Letti & Kellie. Nan was with the Carmacks in Temple because Craig's leg landed him in the hospital :( 

 Looking back on this week I already feel the gratefulness of keeping a record. These are sweet sweet times. Couldn't have asked for a nicer week.

Tomorrow I have a sonogram, protest to organize, and a St. Patrick's day to make magical...Its going to be hard to wake up.