For Unto Us

On Friday, April 1st at 10am we arrived at the hospital for a planned C-section. The baby was not cooperating and had flipped to breech from his typical head down position of two weeks earlier. We prayed that he would flip so that Amanda could deliver him normally, but when the nurses ran the ultrasound, they found that he was laying sideways, so they began prepping Amanda for the surgery that was scheduled for 12pm. At 11:30, her doctor came in and double checked the baby's position and wouldn't you know it, he had flipped head down. So we cancelled the surgery and moved into a berthing room. We were pretty excited that our prayers had been answered and not at all surprised that he was playing his own little April Fools joke on us. They started Amanda on Pitocin and she was on her way. Around 5pm, the doctor checked her progress and found that the baby was trying to come out face first. Well from there, it was back to surgery for delivery and while we were waiting, someone else had an emergency C-section and so we waited for our turn. At 7:30, they wheeled her into the OR and Kathy and I donned white jumpsuits, hairnets, and facemasks and went in to help Amanda. She did beautifully and though it wasn't exactly as easy as she had hoped, baby Ender was born at 7:47 weighing 8.11 and 20 1/2 inches long. After they stapled her up (literally) they wheeled her into the postpartum rooms where she really got to see Ender for the first time. He is beautiful and has a full head of hair, the most of any of the other kids. Amanda has been recuperating well and has even played some Rummikub with me. Porter, Maya, Bennett and Miles, who are being watched by the ever patient Nana and Aunt Sarah and Uncle Steve, came over for lunch yesterday to see their new brother and Maya and Porter were thrilled to have a new baby brother and kept asking to have their picture taken with him. Bennett and Miles were more interested in the Happy Meals. A few more days of recovery and we'll be bringing both momma and baby home.

Arriving at the hospital ready to go.

Calm and confident looking forward to a typical delivery.

Change of plans and suiting up the cheerleaders.

Ender Lawrence Elmer comes kicking and screaming.

ID'ing the suspect.

Ender rests casually.

Dad gets to hold the slimy guy first.

Then momma gets her turn.

Two thrilled parents.

Maya begs for a picture of her holding her new brother. She has been incessantly bugging her parents for a puppy, hopefully this allays her cravings for something cuddly and un-housebroken.

Ender giving Maya the smolder which no woman can resist.

Porter (8) Ender (.0000000008)

Even Brad and Jessica were there to welcome Ender into the world and keep us all entertained with loads of interesting things that we'd rather have not known about, while we waited.

More hair than any other Elmer before him.

Spring Break

We decided to be adventurous and head down to Lafayette for Spring break to spend a little QT with the cousins. Also Casey had to fly to Boston to attend the Harvard career fair, and then be back in Lafayette the next day for Purdue's career fair. The first day was beautiful and the kids had a blast playing together and riding bikes. Miles and Grant had a great time racing Toodle Bikes down the driveway.

But good times never last forever. The weather turned cold and gloomy, and the vomiting started. Porter and Grant woke up puking and things went down hill from there. It's must have been a super spreading virus because within three days all of us had a turn with the bug. No fun! Although as were were taking turns being sick those of us who were healthy took turns playing and cuddling. Porter and baby Ella sure were good friends.

Our last day there Casey took the kids to an art installment on Purdue campus where the artist had made a really cool playhouse out of willow branches. The kids got to run through the place and had a great time, and we actually remembered to bring the camera and document it.










Then we had to say good bye, but no tears were shed because the Harwards will be loading into their van in just a few days to be here on Friday when we welcome our new little one into the world. Yep, I'm being induced on April fools day. I know it's lame and believe me I fought it, but it seems like that's the day we're stuck with. I have gestational diabetes with this pregnancy, so they don't want to let me wait too long for fear I'll birth a toddler. Hopefully my next post will contain cute new baby pics (and dare we hope for a name?).

It's GREAT to be 8!

We had a big event in our family. Not just a birthday, but an eighth birthday. Porter was baptized on February 25th (the same day Nana and Grampy were baptized long ago)! He was very excited, as was the entire family. It was a great chance to get together. I slacked a little on the pictures. I really wanted to get a group photo, but the evening was a little chaotic and the little kids were tired, but at least I managed to get pictures with the grandparents.

We were lucky to have a lot of family in attendance. Even though James missed his flight from Salt Lake and we had to stall for about an hour. We were just glad he made it. Lucklie we had prepared food (sandwiches, pasta salad, fruit salad, and a chocolate and vanilla layered cake with a picture of Porter on it) so we just served the food first while we waited for James to get there. Also in attendance was Grammy and Poppy, Nana Grampy and Hanny, Sarah, Steven, Landon, Addie, Grant, and baby Ella, Brad and Jessica, James and his friend Hannah and of course Me, Casey, Maya, Bennett, and Miles. Porters friend Thula from Philadelphia and her mom Elaine even came.


It was great to have everyone together, and even more fun because we all stayed with my parents so we got to extend the party. When we got home we let Porter open his presents and he was happy to get a new set of scriptures and a cap gun (Me and Casey), a beautiful quilt and a star-wars movie (Grammy and Poppy), a gift card, his scouting uniform and book (Nana and Grampy), a cute handmade scripture case (Sarah and family) an IU sweatshirt (James friend Hannah) and cash from (Thula and Elaine). Grammy was great to play games with. Here they are all playing Stone Age, which is quite the feat when you are playing with 4 kids under 8.

These little yahoos were cute all playing together. Everyone had a great time together and we were sad to see them leave.

Probably the most exciting thing for Porter was becoming a SCOUT. He was so excited for it, and he was quite the little stud muffin in his uniform.

Last Years Book List

These are the books I read last year. The highlighted ones are books I would highly recommend, the others may have been good, but my memory is not that great. Let me know if you have any recommendations for this years reading list. I'm always looking for a good book to read.
Bamboo People
Burned
Three To Get Deadly
Two For The Dough
One For The Money
The Maze Runner
Sackett
Olive Kitteridge
Teaching Your Child About Sex
Mockingjay
Outliers
The Book Thief
The Help
The Devil in the White City
The Graveyard Book
Garden Spells
A Year Down Yonder
A Long Way From Chicago
These Is My Words
Catching Fire
Hunger Games

A Funny Story

Today we were having a nice relaxing Saturday. Casey, Hanny, my mom, and I were just finishing up a rousing game of Rummikub and my Dad had opted out of the game in order to do some yard work. We had enjoyed watching him burn the tufts of elephant grass in order to prepare them for the new spring growth, when suddenly we noticed my Dad running to the garage, then away from the garage with a rake. He was running fast enough to alert us that something was going on, it wasn't a leisurely run. We all sprang from the table to see what was the matter and what to our wondering eyes should appear but a blaze of fire and to our neighbors wood pile it was drawing near. To be a little more accurate the wood pile was actually on fire, and on the opposite side of the yard one of the grass fires had spread and was leaving charred yard in it's wake. A few of us flew into action and manned the water hose in a way that would have impressed even the best fire departments, and my Mom grabbed a large metal shovel and began beating the tire out of the lawn fire. The situation was so funny we couldn't help laughing as we worked to subdue the flames, but as we finished my dad said "I guess you should never plant that stuff close to your house, I only used one match, just imagine if you had them close to the house one cigarette butt could burn down your whole house". On a brighter note, I know know what I'm doing for Dad for next years memory Christmas. I'm getting him a box of matches and labeling it "The Amazing All Inclusive Lawn Care Kit".

P.S. I've been getting a lot of slack about ignoring my blog, and I just wanted to submit photographic evidence (these are just the ones I could find easily) that I have not been sitting around eating bonbons and watching Soap Operas. I'm (actually everyone in this house) is frantically trying to keep up with this little scoundrel! Exhibit number one - he smeared butter all over the refrigerator, himself, the counter, and the floor (then he had the audacity to look at me as if he were totally innocent). Exhibit number two - he managed to trap himself inside the lamp shade (if we'd been smart we would have left him in there). Exhibit numbers three and four - you can just see the mischief in this little boy.

A wordie update

It's been so fun being at my parents house I haven't found much time to blog, but I've gotten some heckling (mostly my dad and Grandpa) so I'm going to try to do better. We've been without a laundry machine for the past week, which really stinks. That is one thing I NEVER take for granted. Every day I feel grateful for a washing machine (I think it's because I've lived without one for so long), but Casey being the sweetheart that he is has been taking on the responsibility of taking the wash to the Laundromat.

In other news Miles is really starting to talk. Well, I guess I should clarify, he likes to repeats words, but there is a little list of words he'll say on his own. Some of his most frequently used words are "Juice", "Nana" (meaning banana, much to the dismay of Nana - my mom), "Hot", "Shoes", "Belly", "Shoot", "Ball", and "Bath". He's learned to climb out of his crib (grrr), I'm not sure why my boys insist on being so adventurous at such a young age, but I'm just telling myself it's only a phase. He'll also start Nursery this week which should make church much more enjoyable (YIPPIE).

Bennett is enjoying the peace and quiet of the days when the kids are at school. He's quite the square eyes and wants to watch TV every chance he gets. I think we got into quite a bad habit because for the past 3 weeks we've been passing sicknesses back and forth, and since we can't leave the house with sick kids we've been relying on the TV a bit too much. Bennett really wishes he could go to school like Porter and Maya, but I'm just not ready to give him up yet. He's still at that age where he really loves his Momma and I love that he will cuddle with me throughout the day.

Maya is loving school and although she seems to be a bit behind in math she does well with reading and spelling. She is such a pleasant kid and like Bennett would be happy to sit in front of the TV all day. I'm really grateful to have Maya in our family. She is so easy to get along with. She is still dying to get a pet, and sometimes we have to put up with tears because she doesn't have one. They had the 100th day of school on Friday and in her 100th day of school book she wrote "I wish I had 100 pets". I keep thinking I should just get her a hamster and be done with it, but I remember when we were kids my Grandpa got us two hamsters which turned into more hamsters! Then the mom hamster went crazy and ate the babies and starved the dad to death. It wasn't the cute little happy hamster family you imagine. I'm just not sure I'm willing to gamble on my ability to pick a non-pregnant hamster.

Porter is also loving school (he's been kicking butt on his spelling tests) although he almost always puts up a fight about waking up. Recently we've discovered he'll wake up pretty willingly for one of Nana's egg sandwiches. That boy loves his Nana. She took him to the church for the scout pinewood derby race the other night and he was absolutely in heaven. He's getting really excited for his eighth birthday. We've been talking about baptism in Family Home Evening and trying to prepare him for that, but I think after the Pinewood Derby he's more excited for Scouts. We are really excited that Casey's parents will be able to come out for the baptism! It'll be so fun to see Grammy and Poppy again. Porter and Maya were putting together a puzzle of the United States, and I was showing them all the places Casey has sent portfolio's to (Washington D.C., Mass., Ohio, Indiana, Texas, Utah, and Washington). I asked them which place they would like to live the most. Maya picked Utah "So we can see Benji" and Porter picked Indiana, Ohio, or Pennsylvania "Because Utah is too far from Nana".

Fancy Lunch

The other day we were all sitting around when Grampy had the brilliant idea to take the kids to Cici's Pizza for a "Fancy Nancy Lunch". We donned our fancy apparel and headed out. Some of us were a bit more fancy than others, but we had a great time.




Maya felt a little shy once she realized no one else was fancy at the restaurant, but she got over it pretty quick. I personally think we could have been fairly inconspicuous had it not been for Grampy, who looked like the hillbilly version of Uncle Sam. Even though he took fancy to new extremes we were grateful for his fun idea.

Wha'd you say?

I was printing coloring pages off the internet and Bennett would run over to the printer and collect the pages, but he kept saying "You need to push paw". I think he was thinking about paw prints.

Bennett was feeding me popcorn and said "You have to nibble it, like a hedge hog".

Bennett had to go the the bathroom on a Walmart shopping trip, so I took him and when he finished I decided I'd better go also. Not wanting him to wander around the bathroom I made him stay in the stall with me. He kept trying to unlock the door and sit on the questionably wet floor. I finally grabed him by the arm and said "YOU CAN NOT SIT ON THE FLOOR. It's disgusting." He glared at me and said "Your bum is disgusting."

While drawing a picture of me Maya said "If anyone wants to know, this is NOT a Chinese boy."

After trying to play my old trumpet Maya shrugged her shoulders and said "I thought it would sound more jazzy."

As Casey read a Christmas story to the kids he read a part where Santa pulled a small bell from his bag and said "There was a soft tinkling sound", Porter quickly blurted out "And it was Santa peeing".

While looking back at older pictures of Miles with his long hair Maya said "I like it when Miles looked kinda like a girl. I didn't like it when he got his hair cut."

A slower Christmas song came on the raido and Bennett said "I don't like this song, I just like 'Holy Diver'!" I said "Holy Diver?" and he said "Yeah, Holy Diver's my favorite".

I asked Maya what she played at school with her friends and she said "We just played princes and dragons, but we cut the princess out". I should have know Maya's friends would prefer to be a dragon over a princess.

Bennett: "I'm sorry I spilled all the pictures Mom. Do you forpologise me?"
Me: "Yes Bennett I forgive you."

Maya was talking about a field trip her class was going to take where they were going to the public library and then a restaurant for pizza. I said "Yeah, you're going to a fancy restaurant" and she said "I'm going to use my best manners" to which Bennett replied "Hey, you don't got manners, I got manners."

After Thanksgiving dinner Maya found two turkey bones and glued them to her head band. She wore them for the next few days saying she was a reindeer.

When I brought home the thanksgiving turkey it was wrapped in green packaging. Bennett took one look and said "You got a big huge WATERMELON".

At bedtime Bennett came wandering into our room so I told him to go get back into his bed. He said "I'm not tired", so I said "You don't have to go to sleep, just go lay in your bed and listen to your music." He quickly said "I'm not song-y".

As I was reading my scriptures Bennett curled up next to me so I asked him if he wanted me to read out loud. He said yes, so I began reading out loud. He then told me "No, SCREAM louder!"

Porter saw something gross and said "Oh gross, I'm gonna gromit".

Porter while looking at a picture of Miles "I wish I had a phone, I'd put that picture on it."

While at the doctors office the doctor walked past Bennett, he quickly turned to me and said "Her dress is like stinky".

I was laying in bed the other day trying to sleep in and overheard Maya say to Porter "You even hit my nose, it's the hardiest part of my body".

Maya used the bathroom immediately after Porter and with a tone of disgust in her voice stormed up to him and said "Porter, you didn't wipe the seat off!" He tried to deny it and she snatched up a piece of toilet paper and said "ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS THIS" while demonstrating how to wipe off the seat.

Porter learned a new word after watching White Fang and decided to implement it when Bennett kept shutting the door on him. He yelled "Stop shutting the damn freaking door!" Then he glanced over at me, and realizing I heard him, said "Oh, I'm dead".

Some choice lines from Bennett age 2 "I serious do want some milk" and "My whole life is cereal mom"

After a long period of being downstairs Bennett came into my room. I asked him what he was doing and he said "Not eating cookies" (with crumbs all over his mouth). I said "Oh, you weren't eating a cookie? What were you doing?" He replied "I was eating a banana." (we don't even have any banana's)

Maya "Who wants to play Super Family?"
Casey "How do you play Super Family?"
Maya "You just be super heros and if anything drops from Bennett or Miles (car seats) we get it, and Dad you drive the supermobil and Mom you watch the super kids."
Me "Are Super Kids as annoying as regular kids?"
Maya "Yeah, their SUPER."
(side note-this was on our super long car trip. I don't typically infer that my children are annoying.)

Maya "Knock Knock"
Me "Whose there?"
Maya "Interrupting orange"
Me "Interrupting orange..."
Maya "SQUEEZE"

Bennett "But dad I like rolly coasters their my best friends".

We drove past a K-Mart and Porter said "Hey, Big K". I said "What do you know about Big K?" and he said "I see it on soda and on a store".

While driving in the car Maya asked me "Mom, WHEN can I get a dog?" I said I didn't know and Porter said "I really want a hamster, can I get a hamster mom?" I ignored him and Maya chimed in with "Yeah, a hamster would be good cause it wouldn't chase cats". (Yeah, THAT'S the reason we aren't getting a dog)

Maya - "Who wants to feel my kind of beard-ish chin?"

I threatened to spank Benny and he said "You a tough mommy."

While watching a movie Porter asked Maya "Do you know what Rodger means" Maya said "Yeah, it means Copy"

On our drive to Washington Bennett saw the mountains in the distance and kept saying "I see the Rolly Coaster (Roller coaster)"

Snow Day

Casey and I were a little wishy washy as to what to do with the kids as far as schooling goes while we are staying with my parents. At first we thought we would homeschool again, but they loved their old school so much and we could end up being here a fair amount of time, so we enrolled them in school. I really love the school they are going to, and the both Porter and Maya seem to have gotten excellent teachers. There is a bit of an adjustment because this school starts an hour eariler than their last school so we're getting use to waking up at 6 am. I don't know who's taking it harder the parents or the kids (Miles, on the other hand, loves it and is pushing his luck by waking up at 5:45 (the little stinker).
We got an awful lot of snow here and the kids were blessed with not one, but two snow days. They were pretty excited, unfortunately the second day's snow was accompanied by bitter cold, so they only got to enjoy the snow on the first day. Fortunately we put forth the effort to bundle up and I dusted off the camera and got a few pictures of them enjoying the winter splendor.

Maya makes a stunningly beautiful eskimo.

Aunt Hannie taught the kids that if you wear your pajamas inside out and backwards the night before a predicted snow storm school will be canceled, I think they'll be testing this theory on a regular basis.

Post Note: Maya, missed her school fieldtrip on the second snow day and was super bummed, but hopefully they'll make it up to her. That girl loves school.

Happy New Years

I've been MIA for a while, but as usual I have a good reason. We spent the early part of December preparing for Casey's finals and our big move. We boxed up all our earthly belongings and with the help of several (wonderful) ward members we packed everything into a storage unit in Boston. On the 18th we left Boston for the great state of Indiana. Porter and Maya were disappointed to leave their friends but they were so excited to be going to see their cousins. After a two day car trip (where I refused to drive for fear I would purposely drive head on into oncoming traffic just to put myself out of my misery) we arrived at my parents house. Casey spent the days before Christmas working like a mad man trying to get his portfolio ready (it's finally done and we're just waiting for it to come back from the printer). I on the other hand spent the time trying to find Christmas gifts that fit all our 'temporary living' requirements (not too big, not too junky, not too many).

We made it through Christmas without anyone getting sick, and everyone felt it was the best Christmas ever (I think we say that every year). Porter got some tech decks with little magnetic guys that ride them, a comic book making/drawing box, new church clothes, and best of all he got a pogo stick from Nana and Grampy, and a Leapster Explorer from Poppy and Grammy which he is still glued to. Maya was thrilled with her unicorn pillow pet, house shoes, mood ring, and stilts (again from Nana and Grampy - They must think my children have real potential as circus performers), she also received a Leapster from Grammy and Poppy. Bennett got some toy trucks, a Night Fury dragon toy, new shoes, and a bouncy ball from Nana and Grampy and a toy laptop from Grammy and Poppy. Miles got a toy cell phone with lots of buttons to push, another little button toy, a toy laptop from Nana and Grampy, and a mechanical guitar from Grammy and Poppy. Casey and I got spoiled also. Casey got new hiking boots, a bathroom book, and some marshmallow candies he loves. I got a new set of scriptures, ear rings, a new pot, Tupperware, and BIGGEST surprise of all UGG boots! All things I would never buy for myself but LOVE having.

After Christmas we all traveled to West Lafayette for baby Ella's baby blessing. It was so fun hanging out with the Harward's, and we even accomplished some great projects. We painted Sarah's front room and her downstairs bathroom for our New Years Eve Party. The kids had a great time playing together and got to go swimming a couple times at Nana and Grampy's hotel. They loved it. Bennett and Miles each got little colds and are still fighting off nasty coughs. The cold has been spreading though the whole family now, but lucky for us it's not too miserable.

After New Years we headed back to Louisville, and we've been enjoying our time here. Porter and Maya have started school here, and are really enjoying it, although they are still adjusting to waking up about an hour earlier than they did at their last school. Bennett and Miles and I enjoy our days at home with Nana, and Casey is busily job hunting. I slacked on the picture taking, but I have a goal to post some pictures within the next few days. I took a few today when Grampy spontaneously decided we should take the kids to Cici's pizza for 'Fancy Nancy' lunch. What fun...

A Shortie

My sister, Hanny, has been giving me a hard time about not blogging frequently enough (as if I'm not busy with 4 children, 3 days of packing left before we move, 2 busy baby boys at home all day, 1 hubby who is married to Harvard Graduate School of Design, and 1/2 a busy baby boy in my tummy making everything more difficult - but whatever), anyway in an attempt to make Hanny happy I'm going to share a few funny story about Maya (quite possibly my weirdest child).
Story #1
The other day I was combing Maya's hair after her bath, and thinking what a BEAUTIFUL little girl she is. She's had a few times where she has mentioned that she wanted to play with certain girls at school, and they told her she couldn't play with them. She never seems bothered by these instances (she's a lot like Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter), but as the mother I'm bothered. I was thinking to myself "Who wouldn't want to play with Maya? She's cute and nice and friendly and so many other wonderful attributes" when she suddenly looked into the mirror, flared her nostrils, and said "hey, doesn't this look like a pig nose". Oh, that's why, she's weird.
Story #2
Maya came home from school and told me that she had to bring a dollar to school tomorrow because she was buying a pony from Jocelyn. I wasn't too concerned because I thought she meant a toy pony, but as the conversation progressed I discovered that Jocelyn lives on a farm and Maya had some sort of bargain with her that she would sell Maya a "real, white, pony named Snowflake" for a dollar. I tried to explain to Maya that a pony cannot live in her bedroom, and I thought she understood until the next day she came home and told me that she had given Jocelyn a dollar for a puppy (since she could keep a puppy in her bedroom). Lucky for us Jocelyn has yet to smuggle a puppy into the school.
Story #3
I was watching a show where the family home-schooled their children and they were talking about how their children were less influenced by fads and trends (They were buying shoes at a thrift store). I was fondly reflecting on my home-school days and thinking, "Yeah, that's one of the nice things about homeschooling, the kids are much less judgmental towards each other, and feel free to express their individual styles. Anything goes fashion wise". Then it suddenly dawned on me that Maya has been wearing a big furry Santa hat to school everyday this week. She doesn't just wear it to and from school (in lieu of her stocking cap) but leaves it on all day long. I thought about interfering until she told me that her friend Kimberly loves her hat and is going to wear one just like it tomorrow (I guess if Kimberly says it's ok...)

I miss the Fall

I think winter is starting to take it's toll on all of us. Bennett is resorting to creating his very own computer spaces and Miles is just running around all adorable like he doesn't even realize he's cooped up. Bennett is a total bath addict. He asks for a bath at least twice a day. It's sad when bath time is the highlight of your day. Miles has learned to jump. He jumps around like a cute little lunatic. We've started a reward system in which the kids can earn Service Stickers by doing services for one another. When they're Service Sticker chart is full they get a string of Christmas lights to hang in their bedroom. Pretty exciting, some of the services I've noticed are : trash being taken out (without asking), Porter shared his stocking treat with me and Miles, the other day he unloaded Maya's part of the dishwasher, Maya decided to play secret santa and leave fruit snacks in everyone's stockings. They seem to really like it, and I love the improved attitudes. Oh, the joys of bribery.

On another note, the storage space is reserved and Casey and Bennett took the first load over today. We're getting there. I'm thinking we will try to get everything loaded into the storage unit on the 18th, then we're out of here. Casey had his big presentation yesterday and I, for one, am glad it's over. He still has work to do, but we can breath a sigh of relief (hopefully no more absolutely absurd work schedules). I can't believe he's almost done. He's applied for a few Army Corp of Engineer jobs (I'm keeping my fingers crossed), and within the next few weeks we'll start job hunting in earnest. I'm praying the job will come quickly so the kids can get back into school, I can find a new OB, and we can start to settle ourselves into a new chapter of our lives. If it weren't for the uncertainty this would be totally exciting!

Stir Crazy

We've been home bound for a few weeks now. With Casey working from 6am-12am every day we've been without a car. Porter and Maya spend the majority of the day at school (luckily we haven't missed the bus), and the babies and I putter around the house all day. Last night the kids were all jumping all over my bed (a huge pet peeve) and I turned around to yell at them and noticed they were all in their undies. They looked so cute I decided to allow the misbehavior and snap some pictures. Don't you love their "What Mom? We weren't doing anything wrong" Faces. Crazy little hooligans. Miles and Bennett both seem to be getting colds, but we were left with the car today so I could take the kids to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's and I'll be danged it a little snotty nose is going to keep us from all that fun.