A visit from the Elmer's

My mom and grandma came to visit us last week but unfortunately my camera was in the shop so for pictures of that visit you'll have to go to my mom's blog (http://grampyandnana.blogspot.com/). We went to the aquarium and spent some time in Boston, mom and gran took a trip up the coast, we played at the super cool parks around here, and we really had a great time together. Then to ease the pain of them leaving the Elmer's came to visit!It was so nice to have them here for Miles blessing. It was a beautiful blessing for a beautiful baby on a beautiful day (the only thing that could have made it better was to have Grampy Porter here, but being a stake president is grueling)!

That baby is more than a hand full. He's pretty big for a two month old!
Blessing Miles wasn't all we did this weekend. We also...

...had delicious caramel apples

some kids like to savor their apples by mostly just licking them

While other kids just bite right in

but, Daddy may have enjoyed his most of all!

Then we all dressed like cranberry's and headed off for the 6th annual cranberry festival!

These were some of the crates they had displayed in a big barn

And here is some of the juice they also displayed

Here are the cranberries rocking out in the music section

There was an owl show that was awesome

although we all enjoyed it Maya might have liked it the best. She was on the edge of her seat (and Porter was on the edge of Grammys lap) the whole time.

Here is a peek at miles who spent the day sleeping in the Moby (I'd just like to say Moby's were made for urban livin'. It's just too bad I don't have a red one)

I sure wish we brought our waders so we could have waded out into those beautiful berries

I think Porter is pretending to eat a cranberry and Maya is pretending to be one.

Don't you just want to dive into that truck and take a swim?

Pretty amazing!

There was this massive sand pile that the kids played on forever. It was great fun.

Little miss sandy bum didn't mind getting a little dirty

Or a lot dirty for that matter

Our handsome Daddy supervised the whole sand pile (although secretly he was dying to run up that glorious mountain of sand)

Here is Porter sliding down the slope

Another peek at Miles

This is how Bennett spent most of his day. He and Poppy were inseparable on this trip. What will I do now that they are gone and I have no one to entertain the terrorist?

We didn't spend the whole vacation at the cranberry festival (we could have but we didn't). We also had some unforgettable trips to the children museum, Plymouth plantation (where we saw the mayflower and Plymouth rock, and a really cool Pilgrim and Indian village), Sam's club (that's a whole 'nother story), and a bit of exploring Cambridge.

It was a fun visit and we're sad it's over. We're always up for company (Who's next?)

We're actually doing it!

What if every day was like summer break, and you could play all day long.

What if you never had to catch the school bus and leave your cute little brother behind.

What if recess was spent playing with your best friend.

What if your teacher thought your were the absolute cutest kid she had ever seen, and loved you more than anything in the whole entire world?

What if you could enjoy learning from the comfort of your own home?

We're HOME SCHOOLING! I can hardly believe it, and most days I think to myself "Self, is this actually possible? Am I messing my kids up big time? How can I expect anyone to focus in this chaos?" But other days I think "this is pretty great. I love having these guys home with me!". The decision was not an easy one to make, but I've had this wild idea in my head for a while and always though that in a perfect world I would definitely do it, but the truth of the matter is that it took an imperfect world to make me take the plunge. Registering for school here is different that anyplace I've ever been. You can choose any school in the whole school system, and then they do a lottery in January to see who gets into which school. Well since we registered late we did not get into the school we wanted (That's like 500 feet away from our house) instead they put Porter in one school and Maya in another (from what I hear the school they wanted to send Maya to is the worse school in the district) (a little inconvenient). I drove past the schools and thought they were so scary I wouldn't want to walk by the better yet send my kids into them. Well long story short we're trying it this year. We are only here for a year and a half, how much damage can I really do?

Danny Champion Of The World

So we finished reading Danny the Champion of the world and to celebrate we decided we had to have a midnight feast of roasted pheasant.

Here are our little champions of the world preparing the "pheasant" Can you believe Porter was hesitant to touch it at first? Maya just dived right in.

Here is another little champion dying to help. He talked about chicken for the rest of the day.

Here we are continuing the preparations.

Here is the bird before being shoved ever so carefully into the crock pot to cook all day (it's great to come home from church to an ready dinner)
And here we are enjoying the midnight feast. I voted that Caseys "Chips" (french fries) won the prize for best dish, Casey voted that the "Pheasant" was best, Porter voted for the "Sweet potatoes", Maya was rather fond of the "Pheasant", and I think Bennett liked the Juice best.

Funny story about the sweet potatoes - we have this every year at Thanksgiving and it is my absolute favorite things. Porter really loves them too, and as he was chowing down talking about how good they were Casey said "Do you know where Mom got this recipe?" Porter said no and Casey said "Who do you think gave this recipe to mom? It's the best ol gal ever..." And Porter yelled out "Sarah" (sorry Sarah I guess he thinks of you as an ol gal)

Kickin' it Miles style

Miles was neglected on the last post, so this is for all you who complained about it (MOM).

One of Miles all time favorite activities (at leas he does it frequently).

Miles looking cool and FAT. He's getting so big it's amazing he's already been with our family for a whole month. The time is flying by and it seems like only yesterday he was still a new born.

At least I get plenty of cuddle time with the little guy. I usually have to wait till the other kids are in bed, but we enjoy our evenings.

As a fourth child Miles has to spend a lot of his time on the move. Here he is catching a cat nap in his car seat.

Oh and he wanted me to tell you he loves you "This much"!

Exploring Cambridge

Here we are outside our apartment on our way to find a new park to explore. (can you feel the excitement?)

Around the block from our house there is a tree where a squirel lives, and we see him almost every time we pass. Bennett is a little fascinated by 'squirly'.

I think it looks like Bennett and the fire hydrant have matching hair do's. The fire hydrants are all painted different colors here. I usually make the kids tell me what color they are in spanish (the other day Maya yelled out "Mom, I see a gris y negro one")

Here is Porter playing at the park. There were lots of fun things to play on so obviously he was totally engrossed.

There is sand at most of the parks here and the kids love it, but it's a bit of a pain to clean them up afterwards, especially Bennett who eats it by the handfull.

More pictures...

We are (always) having problems with our camera, so I am trying to take a ton of pictures before I take it in for repair (I'm just sure it'll be in the shop forever and I'll miss Miles whole infancy, so I'm tolerating less than ideal pictures for the time.)

This is one of Bennett's favorite games called "where Miles go?"

Here is the big guy with his first scratch. We are not really sure if it was self inflicted or if he had help durring a particually rough game of "where Miles go".

Maya has been such a great helper. She loves holding him and can get him to sleep pretty well.

Who would have though such a cute little boy could be so onery.

Happy family sweating their butts off in Palmayra

Once an artist always an artist

"What's supposed to be so fun about this place?"

Kickin it at the BEACH!

'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy', so the clan decided to take a break from the headaches of moving and unpacking, and head for the beach.

We even brought baby Miles along and he was a sweaty little angel

Porter couldn't get enough of running in the huge waves (we went the day of a hurricane, so the waves were big and the tide was high)

Bennett was really weirded out by the water and screamed bloody murder anytime anyone tried to get him to play in it, but he LOVED the sand (leave it to an almost 2 year old to enjoy massive amounts of sand in all over)

And Maya just loved it all.

They all had lots of fun, but the beach excursion left me wondering "What was God thinking when he decided to mix SAND, SURF, AND SUN (AKA SWEAT)?"

Baby Elmer #4

So here we are, at the hospital on day number 2 with the new baby. He was born yesterday at 5:58pm the 2nd of August and he weighed 8lbs 13oz and measured in at 22 inches. Amanda did amazingly well, she only pushed once and it was over. We couldn't believe it. Baby Elmer was not by any means small, but not huge like Bennett either. So now we are having a dilemma with naming this poor child. We both have preferences, but we can't agree on either, it may come down to thumb wrestling. I am posting pictures of the new baby and i'd like to hear your comments on our names, and hurry, we only have till tomorrow till we leave the hospital! 

Amanda's name:  Miles Jeffrey Elmer

Casey's (and Maya's) name: Elliot Niels Elmer

Home Alone

I woke up at 3:30 this morning and got my family ready to go to the airport. The kids were real troopers (so excited to go to the Elmer Family Reunion that they didn't even complain about the absurd hour at which they were being awaken).

Casey said the flight with went well (how many dads would take 3 kids on a long flight alone? Or even if they are willing to do that, how many dads would assume full responsibility for those 3 kids for a whole week? I know HE'S AMAZING)

So now I'm wondering what I should do with myself for the next week. It's so weird having only Fraidy as company. I've never been without my children, and it's surprisingly lonely. Don't get me wrong, the are some absolutely wonderful things about it like

• When I set something down I know it'll be there till I move it
• Getting myself ready for church was a snap (I woke up late and still got there on time)
• When I'm doing the dishes from a meal it's super quick
• As I'm working in one room there is no fear of what is happening in the next room
• The project possibilities are endless...

But as always, along with the good comes the bad

• There was no one to greet me, with coloring pages and hugs, when I left my young women's classroom today
• The house is so quiet it's creeping me out
• The cat is kind of driving me nuts
• I haven't heard little Benny say "momma, grampy, truck" in over 12 hours
• Casey wasn't here to tell me how great I look as I got ready for church
• There is no Porter to jingle around the Lego's in the Lego bucket (IT'S JUST TOO QUIET)
• I haven't been able to catch Maya sucking her thumb
• I guess most of all I just miss seeing those cute guys...

But for now I'll just be sitting here with my legs crossed, trying to hold this baby in until daddy gets home.

Now that's one BRAVE girl!

Notice anything different about this little cutie?

Look closely...

It's something small and pink...

She got her ears pierced, and boy does she feel fancy!!!!!!

Maya's cousin Addie has been wanting her ears pierced for a while now, but Maya always said she didn't want hers done "cause it'll hurt, right mommy". I would have been happy for her to be earring free for the rest of her life, but my Aunt Rhonda came to visit this week with her 7 year old daughter, Jenna. Jenna explained the whole ear piercing process to Maya (Jenna just got hers done a few weeks ago) and it really excited Maya. So Maya has continued to ask to have hers done since Jenna left. Yesterday at 4:30 she says "Mom I really want to get my ears pierced today and surprise daddy." So off we rushed to Wal-Mart, where we were told there was only one jeweler who could do piercings so they would have to do one ear, then the other. I had visions of loud screaming, and leaving the store frustrated, with a little girl with only one earring. The jeweler did tell me that if we wait till Tuesday there would be two jewelers and they could do both at once. Maya wouldn't have any of that. After assuring me she would be brave she hopped up onto the chair, hugged her elephant and proceeded to be pierced. They pierced the first ear and she just sat the with a little smirk on her face. I was AMAZED!!! Only 5 years old and not even even a whimper. They they did the next ear, and she hasn't stopped smiling since. I keep catching her touching the ear rings and smiling this really self satisfied smile (oh and she brags about it to everyone she sees).

I haven't posted in a while...

because I haven't taken any pictures in a while. I know that is a pathetic excuse, but its true. I hate posting with out pictures. Some people are interesting enough to get away with this, but not me. In order to get some info out there with out writing a novel I'm just going to make a list of some of the events we've had in the last little while.

• I had my ultrasound and despite my measuring big, the baby is only weighing in at 6lbs 6oz. So no luck with my dreams of a super early induction. He did say he'd be willing to induce me the first week of Aug. so at least I will not go over this time:)
• We got our first zucchini out of our garden (Yummy. I love those guys)
• My mom and grandma, and aunt (plus her two girls) came up for a short visit. Although they were here for less than 24 hours we had a blast. We took the kids to a water park called Buccaneer bay and they all loved it. (here's where I really wish I had pictures)
• One of Casey's co-workers gave us an Amish Friendship Bread starter, and now we're all addicted (I don't think its from very health conscious Amish people)
• We finally got our car situation worked out with the shop that faultily repaired Casey's car (remember the burning bronco?). We were absolutely under compensated, but it's done and I'm relived.
• Porter and Maya finished their two weeks of swim lessons. They always love swimming lessons, but sometimes I wonder how those teachers do it. Maya can be quite the little stinker.
• Bennett has started saying Awesome (where did he learn that word?) along with tons of other words. His vocab. amazes me. Some of his most repeated phrases are "truck grampy backyard", "Asher hair" (his little friend Asher pulled his hair like two weeks ago, and he is unable to forgive and forget) "Stev-o truck" (yes he loves talking about trucks, and luckily he can pronounce it fairly well)
• I got all my freezer jam made. I bought 40 lbs. of strawberry's last week and between me, my sister, and my neighbor we got it all made into jam (in only two days). I amaze myself sometimes.
• Last but not least I drank two mason jars full of strawberry milkshake in one setting (I didn't intend on doing this, but I made two milkshakes, one for me and one for Casey, and when I finished mine and noticed Casey wasn't eating his (I think because I snuck a little banana in it) and I just couldn't let it go to waste). I DO NOT RECOMMEND ATTEMPTING THIS. I was miserably full after this episode of gluttony.

I'm sure now that you have seen how jam packed with excitement our summer has been you will be able to understand why I've been unable to post more frequently (OK, so I'm just lazy).