This is a picture along the Mississippi. While we were in Nauvoo, the girls got some bonnets to wear. This is Anna (her favorite thing to do in Nauvoo is go to the river at the end of Parley Street). In the background are some lily pads that were just starting to bloom. There was also a couple of storks and a pelican flying around but I didn't catch either of them in the picture. 

Old Fashioned Fourth of July

Well we had a wonderful 4th of July. Our little town of Bettendorf has a parade every year. We got an awesome spot to watch from. The weather was great. It was drizzly all morning and not the oppressive heat that we have had the last little while. The kids loved all the candy that was thrown out to them. We saw several people we knew in the parade (that made me realize we have lived here quite a while now, 7 years now). To top it all off, Greg and Lizzy made the 6 0'clock local news because they were having such a good time. I guess we looked like the All-American family. It was so enjoyable. Then we came home and had lunch and while the kids had quiet time Greg and I were able to read for a little bit (Adam helped entertain Ben, while the girls slept). Then Greg took the kids to a little carnival, where rides were only 50 cents and where the kids got a free jump rope. Ben and I stayed home so Ben could have a nap (I got to read some more!). Then we went to our friends house for hamburgers and hot dogs and root beer floats. We even managed to play a little Settlers of Catan while the kids played. Lastly we went to the city's fireworks display in the park. The finale was awesome. There were so many fireworks that went off at the same time. It seemed like someone had blown up an arsenal of them or something. It was such a great day. One of the most relaxing and fun days we have had in a long time. It was wonderful to just have fun for one day. We love our town and are so grateful for all of the family friendly events they have each year on the fourth of July, and other days of the year. Bettendorf, Iowa rocks man!!

ebay blues

We (Tammy especially) have taken to shopping ebay a lot lately. After moving into the new house, we found that we were needing (or wanting) a few new things to put in the house. So we've been doing some bargain shopping and have bought quite a few nice things for cheap on ebay (and some other auction sites).

Unfortunately, the one thing that we really wanted (and was really rather expensive) has turned out to be a disaster. It's an armoire we were buying to put in the living room to hide the TV. Shipping included it was coming in around $400 (still much cheaper than we could buy a decent one locally). We paid the money (PayPal) and expected the shipment to arrive in a couple of weeks. Well, a couple of weeks went by and we never heard anything from the seller. Finally, 14 days after we had sent our $400, we got an email from the seller saying that the item was "out of stock" and asking if we wanted a refund or if we wanted to wait "indefinitely". We, of course, responded that we wanted the refund and they confirmed they would issue it "ASAP".

That was the last we ever heard from the seller. No refund. No emails. No response to our series of emails. It's been a month now since we sent the money. Apparently "ASAP" hasn't arrived yet. Before we bought, we had checked on the seller's profile. 50 or 60 sales with nothing but positive remarks, so we thought we were safe. Finally, yesterday, we filed a claim with PayPal hoping we can get our money back. We also went in to leave negative feedback on the seller's profile and found that at least 3 other buyers are going through the very same thing we are right now with the same seller.

So, we're hoping PayPal will bail us out and help us get our money back ... stay tuned ...

Odds and Ends

Well, first I just wanted to let everyone know that Ben got his stitches out yesterday, where I had to explain to yet another doctor just what had happened. (Parents, try to avoid this situation at all costs!). Also, about 4 or 5 days ago Ben got his first tooth; it's in the front on the bottom. His other front bottom tooth is right there and should come through any day now. This is the earliest any of our kids have gotten teeth, and it has been pretty uneventful. Some fussiness, but compared to Adam who would run a 103 degree temp for 2 or 3 days with every tooth, this is nothing. Thank heavens. Ben has also started getting around on his belly even more, and his movements are now resembling the army crawl more. Unlike my brother's baby, Ben still puts everything in his mouth. Who knows what that kid has swallowed!

I had a little accident on Saturday. I was helping Lizzy down the stairs and just slipped. I twisted my knee up pretty bad, so life has required a few adjustments the last couple of days. It is starting to feel a little better, so hopefully it won't take too much longer to get back to normal. I am going to see someone about it today. Thanks to Greg for all he has done to take up the slack for me. Wouldn't you know it would be klutzy me to fall on the stairs, and NOT one of the kids.

It has been awful weather here lately. Totally hot, in the upper nineties, totally humid, and no rain. It has made the days seem longer because even the kids won't stay outside for long. Send some rain our way if you have any.

Ben Update

Well, I took Ben to the doctor for his 9 month checkup on Monday, so I thought it would be a good time to let everyone know how he is doing. Ben is happy and healthy. He was in the 10th percentile for both his height and his weight, weighing in at about 17 lb. 8 oz., or there abouts. Of course he is in the 90th percentile for his head. We like to think that means he'll be smart, right? He hates baby food and gags whenever I try to feed it to him. He really hates getting fed at all. He likes to be the one to feed himself, so he eats a lot of finger food. I have also given him a lot more of the food we eat, since he won't eat baby food (I can't say that I blame him). I am still nursing him and he has still been getting up about once a night (although the last two nights he has slept through the night). He is not crawling. He stills rolls a lot and he scoots on his belly to get where he wants to go. It is not like the army crawl, it is more like he is swimming, sort of reaching big with his arms and pushing with his feet. He wants to pull up, but since he hasn't mastered kneeling it is difficult. He is just a pleasant child. So sweet and smiley. He also has this funny hair, that will not lay down flat on the top in the back. It just sticks straight up. I am hoping that if it gets a little bit longer it will lay down. He is pretty quiet, but happy most of the time. He really likes watching what is going on around him (and there is a lot to watch around here). We are so thankful that he is healthy and that he is a part of our family.

Slicing up Baby Ben

Okay, so the title of this entry is a little morbid, but unfortunately it's true. Yesterday afternoon we were trying to get everything together to go to a party that some friends were hosting. It was going to be great - volleyball and badmitton, swimming for the kids, horseshoes for the old men (yeah - I had another birthday the other day) - a fun time for all! As we were racing around getting the potatoe salad finished up and and trying find everybody's shoes, we had left little Ben on the kitchen floor. A sudden loud screech from the kitchen stopped us all in our tracks. Little Ben was in trouble! Everyone ran to the kitchen to see what the commotion was about and the first thing that caught our attention was blood everywhere. Then I saw poor little Ben with blood litterally dripping from his hand, holding a lid from an aluminum can.

I grabbed him and carefully got the lid away from him, then rushed him to the sink to wash up. It quickly became apparent that the cut was bigger than just a little scratch, so we started to do what we could to get the bleeding to stop. After about 15 minutes of constant blood flow, we decided to call the doctor. "Keep a lot of pressure on it for a while and it should stop. If it doesn't stop - go to the emergency room." Well, pressure we had been applying, but we kept it up. Finally after about a half hour the blood finally stopped. So we got a bandage and tried to apply it only to see the finger start flowing with blood again. For the next two hours we repeated this routine. The blood would stop for a little while only to start up again a few minutes later.

Finally, we gave up and headed to the hospital. Ben ended up with two stitches right across the pad of his middle finger (probably not the most comfortable place for stitches!). We have to keep it bandaged up for a week or so, then the stitches can come out. Keeping it bandaged has proved to be quite a challenge - it usually only lasts a couple of hours at most before he's managed to pull it off. We've tried tying several fingers together and wrapping the bandage with tape, but somehow he always manages to get it off. Looking on the bright side - at least he's developing his small-motor skills!

So, needlesstosay, we missed our fun party (Adam was particularly distraught about that), and got to spend Ben's nine month birthday in the hospital. We did enjoy flamed broiled burgers on the way home (Burger King style), but it just wasn't quite the same.

Looking back, we realize it could have been much worse. We're lucky he escaped with just a sliced finger. Lesson learned: Don't leave your baby alone in a room with sharp metal objects on the floor (and don't leave your trash on the floor)! You'd think after four kids we would have learned that one already!

This is a shot of Ben after he cut off his hand. At least it looks like he cut off his hand in this shot! I was trying to get a picture of the injury, but he wouldn't hold it still!! 

Happy Father's Day!!! The kids (and Tammy) created a fun Father's Day candy card. Of course they were counting on their dad to share some of the goods! 

Lizzy did her own hair this morning. She was trying to look like her baby doll. 

Blink Review

Well, months after my brother, Shane read it, I have finally read "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell. I know you are all dying to know what I thought so here it is. (Todd did you ever finish it? I know you had started it at one point?) First, overall impression, pretty favorable. I really enjoyed the detailed descriptions of some of the awesome studies that people have done about the mind and decision making. I was totally amazed at the capacity some of these psychologists and scientists have to get so detailed and spend years catalogueing what they have found. He was also fantastic at making things interesting and understandable to those of us who are unfamiliar with scientific lingo and the sometimes dryness of reading about a particular study. For a nonfiction book it was so enjoyable to read because he had all of these great stories and studies weaved together to help it move along without pages and pages where you were too bored or unsure of what was being said.

That being said, I had a few problems with the book. On the surface level there was a bit of harsh language in it. Not tons, but enough to shock me (I know, I know that's not hard). I really don't like those words, so that was a big turn off to me. The other thing was, because he did use so many stories and examples from studies, I felt there wasn't a lot of his own material in there. In fact sometimes I felt he was vague and even amibiguous, at times. First he talks about how often our first impressions are right, then he talks about how our first impressions are wrong, because of prejudices, etc. that we are not even aware of. I think what he was trying to get across is how we can fine tune our first impressions so that they are right more than they are wrong, but I didn't feel like he was very clear on how to do that; certainly he was far from specific on that point. I think he brought some great ideas to the table, but I felt like they needed some developing, especially if he is truly hoping to change the way people think.

So, would I recommend this book? Well, probably. I did recommend it to my husband (you will have to look for his review). If you are tolerant of a bit of language, it is a very interesting read. Some of the stories, which are real, are so fascinating. I think I will check out his book "The Tipping Point" and see what I think of that.

Three generations

Well, I have been meaning to post this for some time now. For the the past couple of months (no kidding) the girls have been calling us all different things. What I mean by that is, Lizzy and Anna are always pretending things, usually dealing with mothers and babies. For a while, Anna was the mom and Lizzy was her baby, but then one day a couple months ago, that all changed. Lizzy is now the mama (and very often will only answer to such) and Anna is the baby, and acts well her part. They really do go around calling each other mama and baby. Mama will command the baby to do such things as cry, goo and gah, and poop in her diaper (thank heavens Anna just pretends on this one). Well this alone is enough to drive a real mother crazy sometimes, but now this little role play includes the whole family, ALL THE TIME!! I am now known as Grandama. Greg is Grandpa. Ben is Uncle Ben (Greg's wonderful contribution), and poor Adam is boy, pronounced BOY!! (Such as in the sentence, "Stop that BOY!!"). It is often confused who is the mom. One child says, "Mom said,.....". Which mom? Grandma or mom? It is also quite amusing sometimes. "Lizzy come here and let me change your diaper." "I'm not Lizzy, I'm Mommy." "Ok mommy, come here and let grandma change your diaper."

Another funny thing happened the other day because of this, but semi unrelated. Lizzy was talking about grandpa, and I said "you mean Papa?" "No, grandpa." "A real grandpa, or the pretend grandpa?" "Real grandpa." "You mean hairy grandpa?" "Yes", she says, "what does he look like?" I reply with "oh, he has glasses and a beard." Then, with the sincerity of a two year old figuring out the world, she asks, "Does he have fingers and toes?" "Yes, Liz, he has fingers and toes!" I said, not trying to supress my laugh.

She is just a crack up and always keeps this three generation household on its toes.

Vocal Point

Well our family went to Nauvoo yesterday. Yes we do go down there a lot. It's awesome!! It is especially fun in the summer time because there is so much to do. Yesterday, we went to the temple and then later in the evening, we went to see a BYU performing group called Vocal Point. It was totally free and open to the public. No tickets were even required. It is no big deal to bring the kids, so of course we did. This group is an all male acapella group. The were fantastic!! It was so much fun. They did a wide range of songs and just really put on a great show.

What did the kids think? Well...Adam turns to me and asks, "Mom are these guys famous?" At another point he says, "I think that guy held that note longer than any other note in the whole world!". He loved it. Anna liked the fast, silly songs, but whenever things would slow down a bit, she would wiggle around, start to cry and say, "I want to go home." Lizzy also enjoyed the faster pace of things. Once they were slowing things down a bit, and the stage was really quiet and the lights were all off and she says, very loudly (not quite a yell), "I can't see them!!" Well half the auditorium heard her and gave a hearty laugh. Ben was sleepy and tolerated it all very well. Anytime he would get close to going to sleep, the clapping would wake him up.

Greg and I loved being able to do something fun and different to break the monotony of life. This is not something we get out to do very often, but it is something we both enjoy a great deal. So if you are looking for a good time this summer, come visit us and we'll take you to Nauvoo. The BYU ballroom dance team is coming in a couple of weeks. Then in July is the brand new pagaent. Then BYU folkdancing team is coming in August. The greatest part, it's all free!!

Pictures

You may have noticed we haven't posted any pictures for a while. Somehow during the move we packed away the cable that connects the camera to the computer. We thought it was gone forever - but then it resurfaced yesterday. So, following are some recent pictures. We haven't taken many pictures of the new house yet because there's still a good amount of boxes and clutter everywhere. We're getting there though!!!

Anna spotted this little guy in a tree in the back yard. It's a baby robin. I saw the mama robin feeding the baby and thought I would try to grab a picture. By the time I made it out with the camera, the feeding was over and mom was gone. 

Little Ben playing... 

A sleepy Saturday morning. Anna and Lizzy resting on the floor. This is a shot from the loft in the new house. 

Pretty Lizzy on the floor in the new house... 

Here's Anna showing off one of her favorite talents. She can also touch her nose with her tongue. I'm still trying to get her to cross her eyes and touch her nose with her tongue at the same time. I'll post another picture if I can catch her doing that one!

Adam, Anna, and Liz out on the town. This is in the old house a couple of days before the move.  

Here's little Ben all wrapped up and ready for the move. He loved the packing paper!!!