Spring Happenings

Here's a few pics of things we did during the Spring. Not too much exciting to write about so I'll just let the pictures tell the story!

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Maci's Baptism

We traveled to Utah for Maci's baptism! We left on a Thurs. night and drove to Omaha, saw some friends there for a couple hours, then drove on to North Platte. We stayed the night there, and traveled the rest of the way on Friday. Delaney was amazingly good in the car, I was pretty worried about her. We put a Veggie Tales video on the ipad and put it on the seat behind her so she could watch it and she really liked that!

We played with cousins and Grandma and Grandpa Ward for a couple days and then had Maci's baptism on the 15th. It was kind of a crazy day, making food and making sure everything was ready. Right before I left for the church I got a call that my nephew Brendon had been hurt running track at school, and Don and Amy happened to be in Hawaii visiting my parents! So they had our number as a contact (well, Mom's number and I just happened to answer). So I called Katie and she went to handle that, but that left me without a piano player! I wasn't sure she was going to make it, they had to take Brendon to the emergency room to have his hip looked at. So I was kind of panicked about that, and was just flustered and didn't get some of the pictures I was hoping to, with both Ward grandparents and Maci and Chris in their white clothes, and all the beautiful food! but hey, the important stuff got done, right?!

Anyway, even though it didn't go according to exact plan, it was still a beautiful ordinance and Maci looked so happy and peaceful. Eckersley's were even able to come, and Grandma Great. It was so fun to see all those who we love most. It was a little hard not to have my parents there, but we knew they were where they were supposed to be, serving the people of Hawaii! Anne gave a wonderful talk on Baptism. She had lots of different tools in an old tool box of my dad's, and had each one represent something that Baptism helps us with in the future. I should have written them all down, it was so good. Grandma Sharon gave a great talk on the Holy Ghost and was so sweet. She loves Maci so much! It was a beautiful day and Maci just glowed.

We had a great gathering afterwards with food and friends. We chatted for a while, and then started cleaning up. Then. . . the fire alarm went off! The bishop of the building had already left, so we weren't sure what to do. Sharon tried calling him but he didn't answer. Then the sirens came! full fire department response. It was kinda crazy! We tracked down the culprit, JT! He said he just wanted to see what it would do. Curiosity got the better of him! But after a short explanation all was solved. It was a good learning lesson for all the young kids, not to pull the fire alarm! Thank goodness the water alarm didn't go off and soak the church! It was a funny end to a great day.

We love Maci so much and are so glad we could travel to Utah for her baptism so that all our friends and family could be there. Here's a few photos that we managed to snap between the chaos!

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February 2011

A little behind, but here's to catching up! Feb. was a fun month, filled with love, and somebody's 8th birthday!! Maci really wanted to go ice skating for her birthday. We've never been ice skating with the kids before, but Maci is an expert roller skater, so we thought this would be right up her alley. Her friend Lilly's birthday was a couple weeks before hers, and they had to postpone her friend party for a couple weeks, so we decided to team up and do the party together! Since they'd be inviting most of the same friends anyway, this worked out perfectly. We had pizza and drinks, and then cupcakes with some cute cake toppers I made for the special occasion. The kids had a great time, Gavin even rocked the ice and was cruising around the rink. It was a great day.

On Sunday we had Maci's favorite meal, Ravioli. Easy peasy for mommy! Here's a few things we love about Maci.

She is always willing (well almost always) to play with her little brother and sister. Gavin and Maci play pretend a lot out in the yard, puppies, dragons, etc. Gavin really loves his big sister.
She makes friends very easily with her fun and kind personality
She is an excellent student. She reads very well, at about a 4th grade level, and continues to excel in other areas as well.
She is growing in the gospel. She was so excited to get baptized, and never complains about going to church. She loves her teacher so much! and was pretty upset that our family was split into another ward, without Sister Jarvis! but I'm sure her new teacher will be equally inspiring.
She has a very unique creative sense of style. She is a girly girl through and through, but not in the usual way. She likes to put different things together and look funky and cute in her own way.
She loves doing her own hair (this is great for me as I usually forget to do it for her!)
She has been a huge help with Delaney. She's always willing to hold her or run get me something I need for her. Laney loves her big sister!
Maci is always in the mood to do something crafty. She is very creative and loves to make a crafty mess with me!
She enjoys playing spring soccer with the city league, and just started playing the piano this year!
She's kind of a perfectionist, which as most parents of perfectionists know, this is both a blessing and a curse! She's always trying to do her best, but sometimes when she doesn't think it's her best, or she doesn't get something the first time, she gets very upset!
She loves her cousins and grandparents in Utah so much, she says at least once a week how much she can't wait to move closer to Utah so she can see them more.

We love our 8 yr old! I can't believe how big she's getting and how grown up she's getting. I wish I could freeze time and just keep all my kids exactly the age they are right now, we're all having so much fun! But we're excited for things to come. Gavin will be in Kindergarten next year! and Delaney is growing like a weed. She's such a sweet addition to our little family.

We also had a BIG snowstorm here in Feb., well big for Missouri standards. School was out for 3-4 days, can't remember exactly. We got about 8 inches in one day, which is unheard of here. Then the temperatures dropped to below 0, and that always keeps school out as well. We had a fun week of sledding (dropped 20$ for literally the only sled left in town, I called about 5 places to find it!), building snowmen, drinking hot chocolate (thanks Sharon!) and playing the wii. It was a fun week.

Check March's post for details on Maci's baptism!

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January 2011

So my new goal is to write once a month, a recap of sorts of the month. I think I can keep up with that! So, starting the year off right, here's what we were up to in January!!

We had Todd and Grandpa Ward visit at the beginning of the year. We had a great time, visiting Branson, eating good food, celebrating Don's Birthday and New Years Eve, making Thai food, etc. etc. We were so glad they could come and Grandpa could meet Delaney!

Maci had a fun month at school as always. They did a 2nd grade music festival called Winter Jam, it was a great show! Maci had a few speaking parts and did a great job. Their music teacher at school, Mrs. Sorenson, is great with the kids. Maci was the only one who didn't get sick this month, but her streak came to a halt this week when she was diagnosed with bronchitis/close to pneumonia. So she's on an antibiotic now and hopefully it'll be gone in the next couple days! Last year she had a horrible bought of pneumonia that lasted about a month on and off, so hopefully that won't happen again this year! Maci also started piano lessons from our friend Karmen. She's doing a great job and loving practicing and learning how to play.

Gavin is my little buddy as always. I'm really starting to realize how much I'm going to miss him next year when he goes to Kindergarten! He is ALWAYS willing to help me with Delaney if I'm doing something and she starts crying, he's there in an instance trying to make her smile or putting her binki in for me. Gavin is still doing great in preschool, and loves to go with his little buddy Jason. It's been a great help to me that Jason's Mom, Mishelle, swaps driving with me on and off, the school is a ways away and it's nice to only make 2-3 trips a week instead of 6! Gavin is always making me laugh with funny dances he does or funny things he says. He and Maci had a great time tackling and wrestling Uncle Todd. Gavin had a bad bought of Sinus/Strep, we're still not sure what it was. He had a strep test but it was negative, but 5 days later he still had a fever and was pretty sick for too long, so brought him in again and she finally gave us an antibiotic. It's no fun to have sick kids and see them suffer! But he's doing better now and back to his usual self.

Delaney is growing like a weed! She weighs approx. 14lbs now at around her 4 mo mark. Her official checkup is in a couple weeks. She's smiling all the time and kind of chuckles but we can't seem to be funny enough to get her to laugh full on. Believe me, we're trying all our best jokes here! But I'm sure she'll get around to it when she's ready! She coos and googles lots though and will talk back to you when you make sounds to her. She loves baths and loves to be naked! If she's really upset if we undo her buttons and rub her bare legs she usually calms down. She's still not sleeping great, and had a double viral ear infection as well as a bacterial ear infection, so she was on antibiotics as well. She's finally feeling better, but we still can't get her to sleep through the night, or even more than 3-4 hrs. We'll get there someday hopefully! Overall though she's a happy healthy baby and we love her to pieces. My favorite time with her is right after I feed her and she's happy and awake and will talk to me for as long as I'm willing to listen.

Chris officially finished all his writing on his thesis! Now he still has a few revisions, etc, but the bulk of it is done. His schedule is opening up a little and we're seeing a little more of him, but he's still really busy at the clinic, which is good because he's getting all his hours he needs to graduate and get an amazing internship site! It's crazy to think that a year from now Chris will be interviewing at internship sites and we'll be on our way to our new adventure! We know that time will fly and are trying to make the most of our time left here.

I've been busy with kids, wood orders, etc. I'm cutting back on the orders, but it's really hard to slow down even though I know I need to. I'm only leaving the shop up 1-2 days a week and and still getting plenty of orders, which I'm really grateful for. It is nice to have less to do in that regard though, these babies won't be little forever and that's more important! We'd planned a trip to Omaha to see our friends the Dunakey's, but that weekend I got strep and Gavin was sick, and the Dunakey's had a stomach flu, so we had to cancel the trip. We rescheduled for 2 weeks later but Angelita's baby, due the 12th, thought she might go into labor, since she was having pretty regular contractions and dialated to a 4 already! So, we opted not to go and went to St. Louis instead. Of course she didn't have the baby! but we hope to visit them soon and get to meet baby Eva. We had a great time in St. Louis and spent lots of quality time in. Delaney did pretty well in the car and slept pretty well in the hotel. We did the Zoo, Art Museum, Magic House, drove by the Arch, and even went to Crown Candy Kitchen, of Man vs Food fame. We had a great time and enjoyed being "away".

We ended out the month with a major winter storm, blizzard even! We've gotten about 8" today, and that is A LOT of snow for Missouri. We had about 1/4" of ice before that, so the roads are pretty bad. We haven't ventured out yet, everything was canceled today and tomorrow, so we probably will just stay in all day tomorrow too. Luckily we haven't lost power or anything, and were prepared with plenty of bread, milk, and Mt. Dew! I wouldn't be surprised if we had school canceled for the rest of the week, that would be 4 days of missed school this week. We cleaned out our closet today, I've been on a major de-cluttering kick since reading a book by Peter Walsh of Clean House. We've gotten rid of a lot of stuff! and it feels good to rid ourselves of STUFF we don't NEED!!!

Well, I wrote more than I planned, but this is my journal! Just skip to the pictures in the Smilebox if you want to cut to the chase :-D
Happy February to all! see ya next month.

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Christmas 2010

We had a fabulous month of December. We decorated the tree even before Thanksgiving! We were all anxious to get into the Christmas Spirit. We did lots of fun things this month including making gingerbread houses, decorating the tree, going to our Stake Nativity two times, driving around to look at lights, lots of outings to the mall and such, my birthday on the 19th, and of course the crowning glory of Christmas morning! We did our own little Nativity on Christmas Eve which was really fun. We also watched Luke 2 and I think the kids really did understand what Christmas is really about. We talked about it a lot all month, but emphasized it before all the present sharing started.

We tried to keep the presents to a minimum, and did a pretty good job but as always we could have done better! Somehow it never looks like enough, which is Satan I'm sure trying to worm his way into Christ's holiday! But the kids were ecstatic with what they got and Chris and I were pretty blessed as well. The favorites were Pillow Pets, Legos, new Robes to snuggle in, and plenty of gum!! Chris got me a really cute coat, that I may or may not have picked out on a shopping trip prior, and lots of cute accesories, a new hat to wear on bad hair days, and a new cd. I got him a cool pair of dress shoes, cds, a new dress sweater and shirt (he dresses up pretty much every day for the clinic), and some shirts with his Motorcycle Trip decal transferred onto them with T-shirt vinyl I cut with my machine. That was my "surprise" gift to him, everything else was pretty main stream and boring! He was really happy with that gift and I felt best about it because it was the most thoughtful. Isn't that what Christmas gifts are all about?!

We chatted with family on all sides during the day, ate a wonderful Turkey dinner, and then went and saw the new Tron. It was a good flick, can't beat a movie on Christmas day! We got home plenty tuckered out and all crashed. Chris is home for a whole week with no clinic!! but will be working on his thesis here and there, but I'm so glad to have him home in the evenings for a week. Chris's dad and brother are coming to visit on Thurs. night for a couple days so that will be something to look forward to as well. I'm feeling the "After Christmas Blues" and hope the next couple months of cold will go quickly.

We do feel so blessed as a family for everything we have and all our wonderful friends and family. Heavenly Father has poured out his spirit on us this year with too many blessings to count, and we hope we can always remember him and give thanks throughout the year, not just at Christmastime. Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

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November 2010

November was kind of a blur to be honest! Getting in a routine with Delaney has been harder than with the other kids, just too many other schedules to deal with. She's not sleeping through the night at all, still wakes up every 3-4 hours, and has lots of gas we can't seem to remedy. But generally she's still a very happy baby and we love her to pieces!

Chris's mom and Todd came for a visit! They brought all the kids' Christmas presents and we had an early Christmas celebration. We went and stayed in a condo down in Branson for a couple of days. It was really fun! We went to Ripley's Believe it or Not, and walked around Branson seeing the sites. It was great having them and for them to meet Delaney.

We blessed Delaney the Sunday Chris's family was here. It happened to be our stake conference so we did the blessing at our home. Chris's friends from school, Mike, Tessa, Kylie, and Kylie's husband Robbie were able to come as well. We were so grateful for their support! It was a special night for us and our little sweetheart. Chris gave a beautiful blessing, one she'll be blessed with her entire life. I'm so thankful for the priesthood Chris holds in our home worthily!

We stayed home for Thanksgiving this year and just did our own dinner. Chris baked the turkey and it was delicious!! He's a chef deep down. We went and saw Tangled afterwards, it was a great and fun movie. We missed all our family in UT and abroad, but it's always kind of nice to have a low key holiday as well. Here's some pics from our month.

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Ward Family Halloween 2010

This free photo slideshow customized with Smilebox We had a wonderful Halloween this year with lots of fun activities. Thanks to the Chapmans for inviting us over for Halloween Eve, as Halloween was on Sunday this year. We had a great time at their wonderful party! We didn't go trick or treating so we could focus on the Sabbath that day, but did have a great Trunk or Treat at church the Thursday before. Our little genie and Raphael TMNT had a great time, and we had a lot less candy to deal with! Happy Halloween!