A Bit of News

After a few too many *almost* "slips of the keyboard" I guess it's about time to just post the news.
We're so excited for our new addition, (and yes it will be another Philly baby:). I'm almost 4 months now and have been feeling great. A huge blessing not only for me, but for Jacob & Caleb as well!

Another fun thing about this pregnancy is that in the Stevens family there are four of us who are expecting. One is due in August with #2, one is due in September with #1, I'm due in October with #3, and one is due in November with #7. (And all 7 will be under 11-no multiples)
So we'll have 4 babies in 4 months. It will be fun family reunion!

We're not sure yet whether it's a girl or boy, but the appointment for the ultrasound is scheduled for May 29th.

We couldn't be more excited.

...And the Good Times Rolled

Well the marathon week has finally come to an end. The baby shower was great (more pictures yet to come), and the mission farewell was wonderful. We all got our fill of tennis & games & had a wonderful time visiting with the extended family. It's probably good that it didn't last longer just because I think everyone is pretty much exhausted. We would stay up late playing games & having fun, only to get up early again the next morning to continue with daily activities. I would definitely love to catch up on some sleep.
Anyway, more pictures of the week's activities will follow, but here are some that I have. We took advantage of this time to get a family picture since it's the last time we will all be together for at least two years.

I don't have the copy of the big family picture yet, but I do have some shots of the grandkids with grandma & grandpa (there are 14 now, and there will be 18 by November), Our family picture (which isn't exactly my favorite, sometimes kids don't cooperate:) But nice to have nonetheless. Hopefully the professionally taken shots will turn out better.


And the original Stevens family.


And of course a partial group shot from Jonny's farewell on Sunday. (I say partial because some people, including our kids, were already in their classes)
I wish I had pictures of everything that went on, but more than anything it's fun to have the memories. It's been a great week.

Showers, Missions & More

I think I’ve been on a blogging and picture strike this week. There’s a lot going on and my focus has been on other things.

This week has been one for family. Jeff’s younger sister Gina is having a baby shower on Saturday so I’ve been trying to come up with some fun ideas. I’m especially excited about a “Price Is Right” game, and I’ve downloaded the theme music to play during the game. Gina & Bryan have wanted a baby for seven years now, and they’re thrilled to finally be having a little boy. Everyone is so excited for them.

The other thing going on is Jeff’s younger brother Jonny is having his missionary farewell on Saturday. He’ll be leaving for Argentina on Tuesday. So family has been coming in throughout this week and more will continue to arrive before Sunday. It’s been crazy, but fun with all the games, family & chaos.

Anyway, here are some random pictures of Caleb with one of his favorite toys from the past week. He can’t get enough of cars & trucks; especially a huge, metal dump truck that was a gift from Grandma, of course. He loves anything that has to do with cars, even the movie!

If You Give a Mom a Muffin

I came across this poem today & just had to laugh. Some days it's so true.

If You Give a Mom a Muffin

If you give a mom a muffin,
She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
So she'll pour herself some.
The coffee will get spilled by her three year old.
She'll wipe it up.

Wiping the floor, she will find some dirty socks.
She'll remember she has to do some laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She'll trip over some snow boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan supper for tonight.

She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She'll look for her cookbook. (101 Things To Make With a Pound of
Hamburger.)
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill which is due tomorrow.
She will look for the checkbook.

The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two year old.
She'll smell something funny.
She'll change the two year old.
While she is changing the two year old the phone will ring. (Of course!)
Her five year old will answer it and hang up.

She remembers that she wants to phone a friend to come over for coffee on
Friday.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
She will pour herself some.
And chances are,
If she has a cup of coffee,
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

Written by Kathy Fictorie

Based on If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff

Happy 30th Birthday Jeff!

Happy Birthday Jeff! I still can’t believe he’s 30 today. The time has gone by so quickly! I’m sure this birthday will be one to remember. The 20’s are over, he’s crossed the barrier to the true adult world. It still doesn’t seem real, and it’s not necessarily a bad thing. I guess looking at what he’s done, graduating from undergrad and medical school and well into ophthalmology residency with 2 children of his own, 30 sounds about right! I’m sure he’ll still be the recipient of some teasing. (and yes, some of it will probably come from me since I’m 22 now & won’t hit the 30 mark for awhile…I’m sure Jeff will return the favor then, but at that point we’ll be looking forward to his 40^th birthday anyway, and that will be something to *celebrate!*)

More than anything, I am so grateful to be celebrating Jeff’s birthday because it’s a celebration of him and his life. I’m so grateful for him; he truly is my best friend and eternal companion. I love him more and more everyday. I guess if that’s the case, that the older we get & the more time we have together the more we love each other, then let the growing old together keep going! Happy Birthday Jeff! And here’s to many more years ahead!

Olive Garden

Today some of the Stevens family met at Olive Garden for lunch. Uncle Jonny (Jeff’s younger brother) works there as a waiter. He’ll be leaving on his mission in just a couple weeks, so we decided to take advantage of his last week at the restaurant. It was fun, even despite the less than perfect behavior of Jacob & Caleb. Actually, they did pretty well; there were just some other factors that made the lunch a bit stressful (One example: one of the other waiters put the big standing serving tray right behind my chair, so at one point when I needed to get out, I scooted my chair back & knocked it over. Luckily it only had plastic to-go boxes instead of food, but it was still loud & a bit embarrassing) I guess you just have to laugh & realize that things happen to everybody. Anyway, the lunch overall was pretty fun & it was nice to be with everyone.

Easter Bunny's Early Arrival

In my family we've had a tradition of having the Easter Bunny come the Saturday before Easter Sunday. It makes Sunday morning a little smoother, and most importantly allows us to keep our focus on the Savior on Easter Sunday. Jeff and I have continued that tradition with our kids. (Sometimes we'll even do it the Saturday after Easter to get the clearance candy because the boys don't know the difference yet)

Anyway, this morning it was fun to hear Jacob come out of his room and say very loudly, "It's Easter!" he was so excited. The only problem was that Jacob and Caleb were up very early.

(Side Note: Jeff and I went out together last night & didn't get back until late, then we transported the boys from my parents to our house around 12:30. We expected the boys to be tired & just sleep, but Caleb had fallen asleep at grandma's at 6:00, so he wasn't tired & was hungry. Needless to say, he was up about every 20 minutes from 1:00-4:00. I felt like I had a newborn again!)

Anyway, we were both tired when they got up at 7. Luckily I talked them into watching a little movie in our room while we tried to get just a little more sleep. It worked great, and Jacob only made about 2 trips to the living room to pick up stray pieces of candy during that time.
(Note: These are not Jacob's regular pajamas. When he went to grandma's he got the cool "Eagle Cheerleading" shirt & boxers there.)

It was so fun to see them both go out to see what the Easter Bunny had left. They each got a shirt & fleece, some play dough, a cute folding chair & a few miscellaneous items; but the hit, of course was the candy! Jacob's now at the age where he's really starting to understand & enjoy the "egg-hunting." Caleb was a little more occupied just trying to eat everything he could get his hands on, but eventually grasped the concept of putting the treats in his basket.

All in all it was a fun easter morning. Now I just need to find a place to stash candy so I can moderate the boys' intake over the next couple weeks!

Boys Fishing Trip

Jeff has been wanting to go fishing for a while, and his Dad has been wanting to take him. So it finally worked out that they were able to find a day that worked to go fishing. Jacob was so excited to go with Daddy. They got up early and went to Jeff's parents, and then drove up to the lake with Jeff's Dad. They didn't end up catching much, a little disappointing on the fishing end, but they had a great trip together. I think they enjoyed the "Boys Time" out on the lake. Even Jacob enjoyed the entire trip. Caleb and I had a fun day together going to the store for Easter supplies, picking up Subway and enjoying a little movie together.

Weekend at the Haworths

Because Jeff had time off, we decided to go down to Franklin for Conference this year. It’s been a while since we’ve seen my grandparents, and they haven’t seen Jacob and Caleb for over a year. I’m not sure when we’ll be able to see them again once we move back to Philadelphia, so we wanted to take advantage of the time we have.

My mom’s parents, my Grandma and Grandpa Haworth live in a little town called Franklin, Idaho. Just about 15 minutes from Logan Utah. It’s right next to Preston, and for all you Napoleon Dynamite fans, this is the famous little town where the movie took place. In fact, they now have streets named after the movie, and an official “Napoleon Dynamite Day.” Kind of funny, a lot of the older folks weren’t too excited about that. Anyway, it’s a beautiful place that is still mainly farmland. In fact, my grandparents have the oldest family owned farm in Idaho, and my Grandpa at 76 is still running his farm. They’re pretty amazing people.

We took off a little later than expected, but we made it down there on Saturday afternoon. Jeff and Grandpa went to the Priesthood session that night together, and the boys and I stayed and visited with Grandma and a couple of my aunts that were there. It’s funny how memories I have as a child come flooding back whenever I visit my grandparent’s house. Not much has changed over the years, and I like it that way. Grandma still has all the same toys, bedspreads & décor. Some of it is different, but the overall feel is the same. I love that my children can experience the same things as I did when I was a child. I have so many memories of coming to grandma & grandpa’s. Playing hide-and-go-seek in their long hallway downstairs, having Easter egg hunts & playing outside on the farm and down by the river, great food & every movie you could imagine. Even as a child, I loved going to sleep and waking up in the morning with the vent blowing cool air on my face. Most of all, the happy times I remember spending with cousins, and family. With 7 daughters, we always had lots of family around!

It is different as you get older. People have moved away and don’t come around as often, and grandparents get older. Some things are hard to see, but life goes on and you just have to enjoy life as it is.

We had a wonderful trip. The boys enjoyed being at Grandma & Grandpa’s. They absolutely loved the farm. They liked to see the cows, especially when they were driving around watching them on the 4-wheeler. They loved jumping on the tramp and just being with grandparents. It was fun to watch conference with Grandma and Grandpa. I remember when I was young my parents had us watch every session and I didn’t necessarily love it, but it was sure enjoyable this time.

The trip was great and the one complaint I had was that the time just went by much too quickly. We had to leave Sunday night so we could be back home by Monday. I wish we could have stayed a week; there was still so much I wanted to do. But all good times have to come to an end sometime. I’m glad we took the trip and could spend time with Grandma & Grandpa. I’m grateful for the memories.

The Rest of the Pics

The Madness is Over

So just to set the record. I won March Madness this year! Yea! It was pretty close at the end between Jeff and I. My bracket didn't end up looking quite as good as it did when we started, but it was good enough to win. So as my prize, I will be enjoying a couple shopping trips all by myself. They might just be trips to the grocery store alone, but I also still have a couple gift cards from Christmas that *need* to be used too. Jacob & Caleb aren't real patient shopppers, especially when it comes to clothes, crafts, etc. so I'm going to go & enjoy every minute of slow, taking time to look at whatever, shopping!

Spring Break...Cont.

This past week has once again been one of those where the time seems to fly! We’ve been home most of the time, but everything has just been busy.

We’ve done a lot of yard work trying to get our home ready to put up for sale. Jeff rented a sod cutter, and spent a few hours of a day cutting the sod out of our yard. Then we had the fun task of getting it all pulled up and moved. It was actually a good family activity for the boys. They enjoyed playing in the dirt, finding worms and other interesting bugs. They would even help out here and there. I do enjoy working together as a family, it’s more fun that way and I feel like a better parent when I can help teach my children to work and learn to enjoy it. We did some other miscellaneous work this week as well. We’ve moved most of the wood to family who wants it. Now they’re happy with the wood, and we’re happy that it’s out of the way.

We have had some time for fun this week as well. Thursday afternoon most of the Stevens clan met at the park for pizza dinner & tennis. We met up around 5 and didn’t end up leaving until around 9:00. The park is great, it’s big and far away from the road, so you’re not worried about kids getting into the street. Plus there’s not only a huge playground, but a large grassy area where they can run around and play. All the adults enjoyed the tennis. Jeff and I had a pretty good night as partners. I haven’t really had a lot of experience with tennis. I never played until about a year ago when we started playing with family. I’m definitely not the greatest player, but I’m pleased that I’m starting to play a little better, and at least understand the scoring!

Friday night after working in the yard again we met up with Jeff’s Mom and sister Janette to do some more tennis. They’ve joined a tournament group and wanted to get some more practice in. It was a crazy night, we met them around 8:45 and played until almost 10. Yes we had Jacob and Caleb with us. We put some blankets in the back of our explorer and set up our convenient little portable DVD player. So they were able to just lay down and watch a movie; it worked out pretty well.

This week of “Spring Break” hasn’t necessarily been a huge vacation, but it’s sure been fun to have Jeff home and we’ve enjoyed working together & playing together.