Fun times with Family

A couple weeks ago we had the fun of having some family come to visit. Scott, Amanda, and Mom Stevens flew into Philly to spend a couple days with us before they went to Boston for Amanda to run the Boston Marathon. To make it even more fun, Kimberly drove up from Virginia with Tyler to be with us too. Unfortunately Jeff is still on his rotation & had his big OKAPs exam Saturday morning, so he had to be away at work most of the time, but he was able to drive down for Thursday night, and then got home for the weekend on Friday night- so he got to spend at least a little time with the family.
Everyone flew in on Wednesday afternoon, and Kimberly met us at the airport. We drove home that night and just enjoyed the evening having dinner, and visiting together. Grandma, of course, came prepared with all sorts of fun games and toys for the kids.
People probably thought we were crazy with 11 people crammed into our little 2-bedroom, 1-bath apartment, but it was a blast! It's a good thing everyone is such a good sport because with that many people there wasn't even much floor space. Tyler slept in a pack 'n play in the room with the three boys, Scott & Amanda were on an air mattress that, along with our packing boxes, pretty much filled the living room; Mom Stevens was on one couch and Kimberly was on the other.

On Thursday, Jacob got to stay home from school and we all went downtown to do a tour of the city and historical sites. It was fun to spend time seeing the sites, and with three extra adults along, managing the kids was a cinch! Uncle Scott was the cool uncle pushing the stroller and racing the older boys. He was a great 'adopted' father for those couple of days. And all the kids loved all the attention from Grandma and Aunt Amanda. I think Emily especially loved being held and loved by everyone. We were saying it would have been fun if cousins could have made the trip out too, I think they would have had fun together. I loved watching Matthew and Tyler together- they became pretty good little buddies.

Emily did great hanging out in her little carrier.

We had fun spending the afternoon downtown. We definitely got a lot of walking in! Scott & Amanda even got to try their first authentic Philly cheesesteak and Rita's water ice. Jeff made it home that night just in time for dinner. After putting the kids to bed we had great intentions of breaking out the games, but we ended up talking instead.

Jacob and Uncle Scott in an intense race down the sidewalk...looks like Uncle Scott won this one.

Scott & Amanda left 7 kids at home only to come out and be surrogate parents to a few more. :)

Kimber our 'bag lady'. Sure helped us get through security a lot faster!

Friday morning, Jacob and Caleb went to school while everyone else enjoyed the morning. We had a pretty good game of marbles, then after picking up Caleb from preschool, we went down to Valley Green so Mom, Kimber, and Amanda could get a run in. Scott and I took the kids for a walk along the path while the girls were running.


Afterwards we let the kids feed the ducks- did you know that ducks will even eat hot dogs? Apparently Matthew thought it would be a good idea to spice things up a bit, so after throwing bread, random hot dogs, and rocks, he decided to toss Tyler's sandal in for fun. Kimber thought it was pretty funny that Matthew threw his own shoe in before she realized it was Tyler's sandal. I was ready to call it a lost cause & buy Tyler some new sandals, but Uncle Scott became the hero of the day and jumped in to save the sandal.


Amanda and I then headed to pick up Jacob from school and then after picking up the family we headed home. We decided to go easy that night and did pizza for dinner, followed by a little more water ice for dessert- trying to get my fill before we leave! Jeff made it back a little later that night and we were finally able to break out a round of the dice game. It would have been fun to stay up later and enjoy more time, but we hadn't had much sleep up to that point and we thought it would be a good idea with Jeff's big exam, and Amanda's marathon to try and get to bed a little earlier. Oh- and happy 4 week birthday Emily! She turned 4 weeks old on Friday- what a quick 4 weeks it's been!

We were up the next morning at 6am so Jeff could take Mom, Scott & Amanda to center city so they could catch a bus to Boston, and then he went to his exam. Kimber and I tried to get a little more sleep, but the kids thought it would be fun to get up early that morning too. I put on a movie, but eventually we knew we had to get up when Tyler & Matthew started rummaging through the trash-probably looking for breakfast since their mothers were busy sleeping. Come on boys! We made it up to them by making waffles. :) Kimber stayed until about 1pm, she was awesome and even cleaned my shower before she left to head home to Mike in Virginia. At about 2pm we met Jeff at the car rental company after his exam. It was nice to have that done!

Mom, Scott, and Amanda made it safe to Boston and Amanda did a fabulous job in the Boston Marathon. It would have been fun to see her run, but we were just glad we could enjoy a few days with them! I loved having a full house. It even makes meal prep and clean-up so fun when you have others in the kitchen with you- silly as it sounds, that's one of my favorite parts. I'm also glad the weather cooperated so well, the few days they were here were absolutely beautiful. We're sure excited to actually live closer in a few months. Thanks everyone for a great couple of days!

One Month

Hard to believe a month has already passed since Emily joined our family. It's been a whirlwind and I'm excited for all the packing to be done so I can actually sit and enjoy our little sweetheart more!

- At her one month visit she was 8lbs 13ounces (18^th percentile) and 20.5 inches (8^thpercentile).

- She rolled from her tummy to her back at 2 weeks old. We have a feeling she’s going to be a mover just like some of her brothers!

- Her hair hasn't fallen out, in fact it's getting longer, and lighter in color. Her eyebrows are still dark though- I love them!

- She absolutely loves to be held and cuddled, she especially loves to be held by daddy.

- She’s starting to give real smiles, and no one works harder for those smiles than her brothers & her daddy!

- She doesn’t like having a dirty diaper...at all.

-She wants to sleep on her tummy, and sleeps so much better that way. I try to keep her on her back at nights, but during the day I'll let her nap on a blanket on her tummy.

- She loves to listen to sounds, voices, music, etc. She’ll stop whatever she’s doing and just listen intently. She especially loves family members voices.

- She doesn’t love her carseat. Hopefully this changes in a couple months before we make a cross country drive!

- She is a very efficient burper! I can get a burp almost every time! Don’t know if this is good or bad yet…J

- So far she’s been a great night sleeper, the best out of all my kids. Since the very beginning she’s always given at least 4 hour stretches, which means I’ve only had to get up once a night. She’s even starting to go 6-7 hours. I’m hoping this continues & only gets better from here on out.

We all absolutely adore this sweet little girl and couldn't imagine life without her. :)

Easter Fun

We had a fun Easter egg hunt with friends at the park the Saturday before Easter. Everyone met up at the park between general conference sessions and let the kids do an egg hunt. It was fun to see them- I especially love watching Matthew & all the younger kids because they're just so excited. It was fun to visit with the adults and enjoy the beautiful spring weather. Unfortunately I forgot to charge the battery on the camera so I was only able to take one picture, luckily my friend Teresa took a picture of our kids and family together.

I thought with everything going on that we would just do the Easter egg hunt with friends at the park and call it good, but a few days after Jacob asked me why the Easter bunny hadn't visited our house. So I decided it would probably be a good idea if he made a trip- I have a feeling he got a great deal on 75% off candy at Target too. We celebrated Easter at our house about 2 weeks late but it sure didn't make it any less exciting for the kids. They had fun finding the treats and enjoying their chocolate bunnies.

Happy Easter

I thought it would be fun to get some pictures for Easter while the kids were dressed up for church. While they're definitely not the 'picture perfect' masterpieces I was going for, I think they did a good job of capturing personalities. And once again, I was reminded as a mother, just how impossible the task of taking pictures really is, especially when you add a newborn to a group of 3 busy boys.

These are the acceptable pictures, I won't post the 30-something other outtakes, as funny as they are. I think I've let my expectations slide, maybe that's not a good thing, but it sure makes the process more enjoyable and entertaining. :) Maybe someday we'll get a good picture where everyone is happy, looking at the camera, sitting up, not doing something funny, and not giving a smirk or pained expression, maybe someday they'll even give a real SMILE! Or maybe not... but regardless, they're our cute, funny kids and we sure love them!

I was happy to get this one

Daddy enjoying his snuggle time before he has to leave again.

I know exactly how she feels...taking pictures is exhausting.

Bruderer's Visit

(6 of our now 8 children!)

On Saturday, April 11th, we had the treat of meeting up with some good friends, the Bruderers, who we haven't seen in about 4 years. What started out as a thoughtful offer to bring moving boxes turned into a fun night of enjoying an evening together. Michelle and the kids were picking Steve up from the airport, so we decided to meet up and do dinner together with the families.

(Emily & Calvin, born the SAME day)

The Bruderers moved to Philadelphia for dental school when Jeff was just starting his 2nd year of medical school. Jeff and Steve worked in young men's together, and Michelle and I were in Primary together. During those 3 years that we were both in Philly, we also had 2 children each. We moved away for a year and then returned, and the Bruderers also moved away for a year and returned to New Jersey to complete their residency. Over the past couple years, we've each added 2 additional children, our youngests- Emily and Calvin were even born on the SAME day! How's that for timing? Even though we haven't lived far apart in distance, it's just far enough, and life is just busy enough that we haven't gotten together- so it was so so fun to finally have the chance to reconnect.

(Angela & Michelle and our March 19th babies)

(Jeff & Steve)

Funny story-I think it's because our last name is Stevens, but people used to call Jeff Steve all the time. Maybe because they worked together, or had similar personalities, or maybe just because of the name similarities, but we always laughed about how Jeff was constantly called Steve

It was great to have the chance to sit and talk again. We reminisced about the past, talked about friends and memories and future plans. It was so fun to watch the kids together. The oldest four spent time together when they were younger, but obviously wouldn't have remembered it. They were all a little shy when we first met up, but by the end of the evening they were running around playing games like best friends. Sally is 5 months older than Jacob (isn't the height difference a crack-up?), Adri is 7 months older than Caleb, Matthew is 4 months older than Weston, and Emily & Calvin were born on the SAME day, March 19th.

(Weston & Matthew had a ball riding bikes around together, they're both definitely 2-year old boys!)

The night was so enjoyable, it was sad to see it come to an end. Jacob and Caleb kept asking me when their new friends could come and play again. Thanks Bruderers for making the trip! Hopefully we'll be able to get together again sometime in the future, maybe even before another 4 years passes!

(Emily decided to snooze through the whole night-and all the pictures- but she did manage to wake up right after everyone left)

3 Weeks

I have a lot of catching up to do, but in the meantime, here are a few pictures of Emily from the past week. She's 3 weeks today, and just yesterday gave her first real heart-melting smile. I promise I haven't forgotten about the boys...I have some fun pictures of them to put up soon. :) More to come soon.

Who can resist taking a picture of a cute crying baby. :)

2 Weeks Old

Emily is 2 weeks old today!

(I know I've done lots of pictures, but newborns are just so much fun and they change so fast! Plus grandmas keep asking for updated pictures:)