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 :)

Halloween 2013

We opened our garage up again this year made root beer and soup 

and then trick or treated.

The kids did Napolean Dynamite this year.

 Ezra did not want to be Pedro, so we put a batman shirt under his collared shirt and told him he was Bruce Wayne. Nan helped make Deb's so awesome sleeves, and then we just did an iron on for Rowdy's shirt.

 We just had a little left over black harispray and I wanted to wear a mu-mu so I'm Pedro's mom

 Cody went as the Kiss guy. This is pretty much Cody's favorite purchase this year

 The picture is somewhere, but to carve out our pumpkins Cody put a beater on the end of his electric drill.

 A face only a mother could love

We had a bon-fire in our driveway and the Carmacks & Byrds came over after a homecoming parade.

It was a fun evening.

A Little March-iness

 Another train man.

Saint Patty's Day Pasta. mmmmm

 The Andersons were over and Cody painted everyones toes. Thats Rocco with the gray sweat pants.

 A Diet Coke and Mentos experiment after church was pretty awesome with the wind. Doesn't it look like Rowdy's is floating away?!

Easter crafties

A Valentine from Feb. but I had to remember. 

translation= "I love you Mom. Thank you for this lovely year mom. Thank you. My Valentines to you

Ding Dong ditched!! yum

 

Elliot has discovered her closet..and Ezra's cruiser. Watch out Cedar crest

Hedges gone-ish!

 

Elliot's "baby worm"

 

 

Cody might have baby fever. Sweet Paravel.

 

Yaya came for her spring break

Cody Surprised me with a fancy new phone! In a fancy new track jacket. Tryin' it out on my Mom & co.

  

Its springish! One tree green. One tree popcorn. See Rowdy?

  

november

November November. 

Its so hard to write back-blog because a lot of the details are gone. But then sometimes you see weird themes for the month. I just remember November being kind of hard. The Bowlers were here all month, well, Nan and Pops came for a month. Nan helped out in Seminary a lot. I think the seminary fatigue was beginning to set in with me, and then insecurity as a teacher. Which kind of ebbed out as insecurity and unhappiness in other facets of my life.  So I mentally struggled during November. Letti, I'm sure felt the pang of lonliness being the only sibling not here so she came out with some of her kids, and half stayed with us. Its easy to look back now and see that some of my feeling were just me being self-centered.  Feeling left out but then again not really wanting to be hanging out all the time. I did not feel myself. Its silly, but it felt real and sad at the time. It was a hard month. Then I felt horrible because its supposed to be a happy and grateful and I was depressed. Like I couldn't shake it. It did make me appreciate and rely on my own little family much more.

The kids had a great month so that was good. They loved seeing Nan and Pops & Yaya and Aunts and Uncles and cousins.

My Mom came down for Thanksgiving, at the end of the month, these pics are from her. Cody went and played soccer one morning with Locke.

Was this pre-meditated?

I had to put myself in check a few days ago because I was raising my voice way way to often at my kids. I don't like it. I don't feel like I ever had this problem pre-children.  I know it happens, but I didn't feel like I could even control it. I was feeling like my kids were waking me up and I immediately had to be on the defensive because things were already happening and I had no time to give my self a head start. Plus lets be honest, I have control issues.

So myself and I had a good talk, and it is cracking me up today as I mentally go over some events. Seems like the self evaluation was just in time. I am really happy with the way today went, even after Rowdy :)...
• Chewed a whole pack of gum (at least he shared it with Ezra)
• Turned the stove on, and luckily only burned a hot pad (in his defense I had asked him to turn on the oven for cookies)
• Locked the bathroom door, told Ezra to get in the sink shoes and all, squirted hand soap all over him and then turned the water on
• Rolled down the window on the 156 (a busy highway) and stuck his new hat out the window, of course having it blow away.

It was like Rowdy was just waiting for me to mellow out. Maybe all of these things were amusing to me, or just out of the blue for Rowdy to do. Anyway the timing is ironic so I am going to pat myself on the back regardless. Then when a not so cute/ out of the blue situation arises I will know I can handle it without the volume or the stress.

and on a last note of awesomeness Rowdy and I snuck off mid-day to meet Karin and Bryan's new baby boy Luke Walter. It was a nice date w Rowdy. and always so neat to meet new little people. Congratulations Brownies
....maybe that's why today went so smoothly.

captivated

Elliot Kays Bowler

She came!!!
After many miracles with timing, family, and temple trips, she's here. Here's her stats:

D.O.B. November 13, 2010
Time 9:37 am
Height 20.5 inches
Weight 9lbs 8oz

You read that correctly. Elliot is perfectly healthy and perfect. Here's some pics.