"Current Condition"

I really did think just about everyone knew. But Sunday told me a different story when 2 ladies in my ward asked the question, both assuring me theya had confirmed their suspicions with others first. So, yes I am expecting - not purely gaining weight. This is baby #5, for those who are counting. I have had several responses, including "You are crazy!" Am I? Maybe. But thrilled also.

A couple of weeks ago I could stand it no longer, I really wanted to know the gender of this baby. So after Conner's lacrosse game was cut short I convinced Jason to call Fetal Photo at the mall. I had seen the place often, but never ventured in. We were able to slip in just before they closed, with all 4 kids in tow. Jason asked if they could come watch. Could they ever, the studio had theatre seating with a big screen ! We saw the darling profile and then this . . .

Anika, Lucas and I were all teary at this point! A SISTER!! And yes, we did then shop for baby girl clothes. We are excited for this little bundle to come in November!

SGTRI

A great weekend in St. George which didn't actually include the St. George Triathlon, for me anyway! I opted out of the triathlon due to my current condition :). I knew it would be difficult for me to be at the race and not participating - but really, I was a little ridiculous. After overcoming that little jealousy issue the weekend was perfect. Great ladies, good food, relaxing time at the pool, bike rides in the morning and just a little shopping. Pretty incredible to pull off - 8 ladies for 3 days, leaving a total of 26 children at home helping their dads get together great plans for our Mother's Day return!! (And in the end I slipped in and ran the 3rd leg of the race)

Where do I go with this?

Anika came home from school frowning at the results of this spelling test, now, really, look at the grade. She gets 100% every week, but has been getting an A- on her writing. This does not make her happy! I gave her some pointers on how to write her letters and the following resulted. But, her only comment was, " I wanted an A+, I tried really hard!"

Her only true smile came after I talked to her teacher who told me she never gives out an A+. What am I to do with such a perfectionist?? I'm sure there are those who can relate to her, but it just isn't me.

We finally did it!

The HAIR - I don't know what it is about this kid, but we have always kept his hair long. His hair was long on top when he was born and just kept growing. It is definitely called "blond" in our family and so smooth and soft. So, we let it grow.

His comments about his hair (disregarding comments from other people), have been so fun:

-At 3 years - "Why is my hair not black like everyone else's?"

-At 3 years - "Do I have those things?" "Eyebrows?" "Yes"

-At 4 he was looking at a picture of himself at 1 1/2 yrs - "Why did I have girl hair?"

-At 4, many times a day, "Luke, what are you doing?" "My hair!" (He would spray it with water and brush it, just so it looked perfect.)

-At 4, several times, - "Can I please cut my hair like Kai's?" (His friend with a buzz)
-At 4, after the cut, - "Will Aunt Shelly still call me 'surfer boy'?"
-At 4, after the haircut, to his preschool teacher - "Now I don't have to move my hair to see!"

Good thing I finally gave in and cut it, the poor kid can finally see! It was a little traumatic, for me anyway. Jason filmed the whole event! And, Lucas does look rather cute!!

Nose Job

He did it! Jason's nose might actually have passage! Four weeks after Jason's sinus surgery we are still a little unclear of the final results . . .

Jason has been continually sick for lets say (oh, I won't, he will definitely argue it with me). BUT, long enough that I was done! I was not the one sick, but I'm sure I complained the most.



Anyway, Jason has never really been able to breath through his nose and during allergy season it is total blockage. Beyond this, he was sure he had arthritis, his joints had been giving him a lot of trouble, and he had gone through a few major doses of antibiotics. After a good friend of ours, and doctor, told him to be careful he could get a brain infection, we decided to get serious. Jason first went to a rheumatologist who, after several tests and x-rays, told him he had a little arthritis and A LOT of fluid in his joints. The only way it could have this much fluid would be from a chronic infection. Voila! Back to the nose and constant sinus infections! So, now on to the ENT. Surgery was scheduled.

DAY OF SURGERY: I laugh at my approach to situations and life in general. An example . . . Jason was scheduled for surgery on a Friday. We wouldn't know the time until the night before, but luckily Jason's mom was in town and available to watch the kids. When we found out the surgery was going to be at 11:30 a.m. and last a couple of hours. I figured, great! we will be home by 2:30 p.m., Jason will sleep and I will finish my list of errands, etc. HA! By 3:30 p.m. the doctor finally came out to tell me the surgery was more in-depth than he had anticipated due to build-up of the bone from infection, but Jason should be coming down to recovery in 1/2 hour. By 4:30 I get a call from the nurse, "I'm sorry, I should have called you before. Jason keeps telling us he can't breath. We gave him a breathing treatment, but every time he falls asleep he stops breathing. The doctors think we might be able to send him home, but I really think he should stay overnight." Up until now I was pretty calm, but not breathing?? She would call me when they sent him to recovery. Another 1/2 hour goes by and I get a call to go to room 5, I wait, and wait - no Jason. Finally, after another 25 minutes I get snoopy and start looking around. Jason is in a different room! That's when my tears want to come, but I don't enjoy being the weepy wife. I realize that the anesthesia has set in so deep that Jason's breathing drops off when he sleeps and has to stay on oxygen. We ended up staying overnight, my parents kept the kids, and Jason kept growling at the machine that beeped every time his oxygen got low. So, I didn't get any errands done that afternoon ;)

All in all, we are optimistic about the results and he has been healthy since!

. . . a plug

My sister-in-law has put together this cute blog to sell a couple baby items. Take a peek, it is cute! www.mysugababy.blogspot.com

Party Time!

Anika is turning 8 in two days. She is a St. Patty's Day girl, which has made that holiday something special at the Grimes'!

It seems to not be too popular anymore, but I throw a party every year for my kids. What can I say, I just love talking about and planning this special time with my kids. Forgive me, those of you who get an invitation every year!

So, in celebration, we had 15 screaming girls at our house for a late over pajama party. (For those of you who don't know "late over" it is the euphemism for "no you can't have a sleep over").

Here are some highlights:

Dance Dance Revolution on the Wii

Karaoke


Pillow Fight


A Little Drama (what is a girl's party without some)


The Wild Card (throw a big brother in the mix and the screaming increases by volumes)

All said, everyone seemed to have a great time! And, no, nobody got hurt!

It's out!

. . . well 4 days ago it came out. After many attempts at pulling with floss and even more offers to use pliers, out it came as the result of the desire to eat a sandwich. Lucas was sitting eating lunch frustrated that he couldn't bite his sandwich. I convinced him to let me "see" that dangling tooth with a napkin. One slight tug and out it came! What a thrill! If I though he was showing anyone and everyone his loose tooth I was in for a big surprise with the amount of times he shoves this darling toothless grin at people.

Here is the truth of the matter for those little ones who are wondering why him and not me???

Lucas bumped his mouth (and i actually mean smacked it really hard) on the table when he was 1 year old. So . . . he has been in the process of losing it for quite some time. Now we will see how long he is without a tooth. This is actually okay with me - he is too little for those large, bumpy, yellowish teeth that replace the darling little ones. I just am not ready for it. And the benefits = he can fit a variety of objects through that great space!!

"The best day of my life!"

We have taken the theme of February being "Dental Health Month" to heart. I took my kids to the dentist to find out (Hooray!) we have no cavities! Also, looking at the x-rays, all three are 2 years ahead in their growth of teeth. This news is okay, so far, since all of them have enough room for these large permanent teeth in their mouths. Large heads and big spaces are doing us good! Next, the Tooth Fairy visited our house twice in one week - Conner first and Anika the next day. This is where the "best day" came in. Lucas (mind you he is 4, he keeps reminding everyone) was doing his best brushing his teeth when lo and behold a loose tooth! He came running into the next room to tell me this fantastic news. Truly? Truly! That little front top tooth was wobbling to and fro. "This is the best day of my life!" exclaimed Luke, and proceeded to tell anyone who would listen "I have a loose tooth and I am still FOUR!" That little tooth is still hanging on, but is bound to drop soon. I will keep you apprised.

Ahh!

Aside from screaming fits, the desire to say no and climbing out of his crib multiple times after being laid down for a nap, Trey is at my favorite age - 2! I have heard several times lately, to various people, this great statement . . . "I love my mom." Oh, so adorable! It does make me so happy to be "the Mom". Lucky me!

skiing!

Happy to-be skiiers, and snowboarder before the day.

...and the end of the day, with smiles and all our toes! Somehow I missed all the great action shots throughout the day.

What was missed inbetween; a screw loose on Conner's snowboard - finding a screwdriver - fixing board, Anika crying and wanting to stop - promising a purchased cup of hot chocolate - allowing her to go with Jenn instead of me - one more try - loving it, frozen stiff snowboard gloves on the lift - thawing during run - steaming hands, eating soup with chips because I forgot a spoon and packed lunchers eat in the basement, Conner disappearing into the powdery trees - being found when another man asked him if he needed help, being told Jenn should be a ski teacher (i am sure this was no snub to me) - i agree - we ski on, patience-encouragement - patience, sliding down frozen rocks while carrying skiis to get to the car, lots of fun and finally hot chocolate!!

REWIND

This year the fam got creative and after eating our Thanksgiving dinner we went on a picture scavenger hunt. Spontaneous fun for sure! We split up into groups and off we went. Here are just a few of the favorites . . .

. . . make yourself look small (my 93 yr. old grandma!)

. . . something dramatic

. . . all players in a small space

. . . water fountain

. . . mav vs. wild

. . . all players dancing

New Year's

I am collecting great pics, like this one, of my brother Ryan!

We had our traditional New Year's of making no resolutions to break, and snow shoeing! I kind of think true snow shoeing is different than what we do, but we have a great time. It is always so fun to get warm enough to want your coat off while hiking through a snow covered mountain! The kids (and grandpa) spent lots of time throwing, jumping in and sliding down the snow.

Christmas

A SNOWMAN like this could only be made with the help of DAD!

When Conner has a mission, it has to be just right! With a carrot nose, raisin eyes, scarf and big hat!

NEXT, for the INDOOR snowmen . . .

We believe in Santa!!



I was very excited to see what Lucas (my cute boy who tells his preschool friends, "I am an awesome boy!") would name his 2 new hamsters he got for Christmas . . .

my guess: Luke and Lukey

Jason's guess: (we can't remember now, but not as accurate as mine :))



Results: Luke and Luke



Then, with siblings prompting him along: Luke 1 and Luke 2



And, after a good look: Luke 1 Alvin ("the skinny one") and Luke 2 Theodore ("the fat one")





I am just truly excited she still wants dolls for Christmas!





Another football lover in our family already! And for some reason (we call the Sorensen family) he shouts BYU at random times!

Christmas pj's from Grandma and Grandpa!

And Conner with his DS - the reason I have no individual shot of him. He said I could have asked for a picture, oops.



And, my great Christmas gift - a new bathroom! The first to enjoy - the kids, of course!! Jason roped off part of our bedroom for over a month and had our old bathroom gutted. He designed and decorated the entire thing without letting me look. Knowing what a great designer he is I had no desire to peek. I was not one bit nervous that I would have to put on a smile while looking at something atrocious that I knew I would have to live with. And, living up to his rep - it is gorgeous (and accented with my favorite blue). Love you, jas!