Our STINKY week

I have not posted on the family blog in a while, but I guess this is a little personal and somewhat whiny to post on my reg. blog. So you my family get to hear about it. Ryan has been out of town in Ecuador for the past 10 days. (he is coming home today yeah) I am of course miss independant so I anticipated no problems handling these day without him. However my house has been so stinky, I mean that literally. Now those of you that grew up with Ryan are probably surprised to think that it would be stinkier in his absence (that man does have some gas issues). Let me just tell you. All of my children have puked this last week and two of them I had to clean it up. Two of my children have had diarahh (sp) one of which is in diapers. I have washed so many puked and pooped on items I am not sure if my washer will survive. Somedays I just wanted to shut the bathroom door and wait until dad got home to clean it up, then I would remember he wasn't coming home. UGH!! I did not write this intending to ellicit sympathy or gross you out. I just thought I would share about life here in PA. Anyone want to come visit??

THanksgiving

This is where we were for Thanksgiving Day. It was so great, and so worth the early morning, standing around waiting, and paying $30 for parking.
This is the huge crowd, unbelievable. Thanks to the wonderful barricade made by our double stoller and camping chairs we were able to keep our kids around us without any worries.

Here are some of our parade favorites.

This is Miley Cyrus for those that do not know (Kent). She is a popular singer for little girls.

Before the parade I asked the kids to show me how excited they were. So who wins the cheesy smile award?

Thank you to Ryan for indulging my need to be brave and see big events. Thank you to Collette, Stan and Sallee for the wonderful Thanksgiving dinner that we just showed up for after. What a WONDERFUL day.

Devon is one

On Tuesday our little boy turned one. We took him out for ice cream on his birthday, or the truth be told we took ourselves out for ice cream. He did enjoy very much the little tastes that he got. Today we had some neighbors over for cake, ice cream and presents. Our neighbors are like family to us and so it was nice to have them over celebrating this special occasion. Devon had no interest in the presents basically, however he loved the camera. It is rare I know but he actually likes to be photographed. He will probably have the best scrapbook.




Now to explain why it may seem unbelievable that Devon is one year old. I was sure he would be my biggest baby, he definitely was in my tummy. Once again I have been disappointed, and I am starting to become frustrated with the dead-beat Pederson genes. At one year Devon is my smallest child. I will not state his stats for fear that some of you may judge my ability to feed my baby. I will just say that as I got out his winter clothes (6-12 mos.) I cringed because I still had to roll the legs. Who knows when he will face forward in the car. Poor guy!!

Family Night

On Monday night we had a fun Family Home Evening. I have been trying to get our food storage and last time I wasn't able to can with our ward so we decided to do it at home. I was excited however I was not expecting that the kids would be very helpful. They did really well. First I had to tell Ryan to look the other way as they were filling the cans so that he would not see the mess. After we got over that it was all fun. Spencer even helped by giving the oxygen packets to daddy.
All done. Do those faces show how hard we worked?

Spencer is two

Our little guy has turned two. This happy birthday is a little belated because I have had a hard time finding a good picture opportunity. This little boy truly makes me realize what little kids are all about. I know that I will always find something scary if I have not seen him in a few minutes. He seems to find all of those things that I or one of the kids forgets to put away. I have seen him spill more things than I care to think about. He loves to find any way possible way to get the things that I try to put out of his reach. I am not sure if that is even possible. He has barely started talking which is not rare for my children. I love to hear his new words. He loves to say Devon's name and will say it over and over. He definitely prefers his daddy. If he needs me and I do not respond right away he refuses to let me help and will not allow me to pick him up. He is our lightweight, I will not be at all surprised when Devon weighs more than he does. He has adorable dimples and beautiful blue eyes. He loves his nursery leader. He likes to take his pants off (see below) and this drives me crazy I think children should be dressed. He loves to play with Devon and watch him do things

We love our little Spencer. Happy Birthday!

My two babies

Here is a picture of my two babies. I guess I will not be able to call Spencer a baby anymore since he is turning two on Wednesday. I haven't posted any pictures of Devon in awhile so I thought I would let you all see how big he is getting. He is seven and a half months old and such a joy right now. He is sitting and will acutally play by himself for awhile. He loves to be talked to or just watch a chaos going on around him (there is always some). He has been sleeping through the night for about a month which makes both of us happier. He is not into food very much although I know that will come soon enough. I have not had a picky eater yet and I think Ryan would just be beside himself if one came along. I used to think he looked a lot like his brother Mason now he is changing and I am not so sure. We love having his in our home

McKena turns 6

It is official. May 12th has come and McKena is another year older. She has been talking about her birthday since Nov. when Mason had his. It seemed so far away then and now it is here. Like everyone says I cannot believe that my little girl/boy is 6 already but it really feels true. I love the adorable person that she is becoming. She is so helpful some days I do not know what I would do without her. She is doing really well in school and I love to watch her learn, it has been really fun for me. Here is the birthday girl.

Here are some of Mckena's favorite things at the age of six.
PRINCESS - Sleeping Beauty
FRUIT - Grapes
STORY - Strawberry Shortcake
THING TO PLAY WITH HER BROTHER - cars
COLOR - Pink
THING TO DO AT SCHOOL - Make crafts
ANIMAL - Horse
VEGETABLE - Carrots
SONG - Love One Another

Wacky Wednesday

Wednesday was wacky day at school. McKena and I had fun coming up with the wackiest outfit that we could think of. I do say that I think we did a decent job. I was especially proud of McKena's wacky hair (two braids in the back as well), however upon arriving home she declared that she did not have the wackiest hair. Seliah's hair was more wacky with "a bun at the top, a braid on one side, and a poof in the back." Who knew hair could get so wacky.

Easter festivities

Last Saturday we went to some friends house for a very fun Easter egg hunt. The kids really enjoyed themselves and they all got their fair share of eggs. Ryan was a little disappointed that the eggs were so out in the open so that it was more of an "egg pickup" than an "egg hunt". However, since we did not organize it who are we to complain. By the end of the day the weather had turned out quite warm and my kids played outside until I dragged them in. So nice when the weather turns warm. Although I wonder how they can get quite so dirty. Bring on summer!!!

Christmas

This is the first year that we decided to not wrap the Santa gifts. Ryan and I have not agreed on this yet because my mom always wrapped everything. Anyway we (meaning mostly me) were just to tired to wrap another gift. So the kids woke up to a few unwrapped gifts. It was actually fun. I am undecided what to do next year. I guess it will depend on my tired meter.
Here are McKena and Mason with their Christmas cookies for Santa. McKena even got some reindeer food from school to sprinkle on the grass the night before. I am now just remembering that she forgot to check the next morning to be sure it was gone. I guess it was evident that Santa had come when she saw all of the gifts. Our family of six in our Christmas pjs. We had a great day.

Snow

We love having a back yard to play in. The snow is so much fun for the kids. Notice Mason's mismatched gloves. Why is it that there is only one of everything.
I think Spencer was rooted to this spot the whole time. He doesn't look very happy, however he was quite upset when it was time for him to come in.
McKena has here snowball in hand and is ready to get Mason. Thank goodness they miss half of the time so a snowball fight is still fun.

devon's blessing

Two weeks ago we had Devon's blessing. It was so great and a little crazy. Spencer has recently really found his voice and it only comes out in screams not words. He usually chooses to scream during most of sacrament and that Sunday was no different. A nice man in our ward took him off of my hands so that I could sit and listen. Upon returning to our bench I see Mason with blood smeared all over his face from a bloody nose. I guess with this many kids it never ends.

Halloween

Here we are all dressed up. Ryan is a mechanic in case you are wondering.
We went to a fun pumpkin patch while my grandma was here. I think fall activities are so much fun.

These are some squash that grow to look like ducks. Ryan rarely gets excited about things like this however he thought these were quite cool and we ended up bringing one home.
McKena dashing through the maze of hay bales.
Mason using all of his strength to lift two pumpkins. His muscles surely have grown since turning four.
I love this picture of our little Spencer the skunk. Not only is the costume cute but it also is a rare moment when he is smiling for the camera.

mason's #4

Our Mason turned four this last week. We actually celebrated about a week ago so that my grandma could help me with his party. Mason invited three of his little friends over and we had a spiderman party. The boys had a really fun time creating a spider web with the chairs. Too bad they couldn't really play in it.

One of Mason's gifts was a tee ball set. He really enjoys any sport and has taken quite the liking to baseball. After only his second time at the park he was able to hit the ball quite far. I recognize that it is a plastic ball and bat but I was a proud mom nonetheless.
Mason blowing out his candles. Ryan always makes fun of my birthday cakes. They are never cute or fun and half of the time the writing looks pretty bad. Last year's cake was really cute and I cannot even take credit because Ryan did it all. I give up. At least it tastes good.