Randomness

I am so ready to be finished with this pregnancy. It has been such an emotional roller coaster and I just want to have a healthy, beautiful baby in my arms. Besides which, I sleep so much better when I'm not pregnant (yes, even with a nursing baby). My emotions are so much more controllable after my hormones go back to normal. I'm just a happier, more patient wife, mother, neighbor, etc. And then, I love the new baby stages. It's been especially fun, since having older kids. I love seeing the sweet moments between the big brothers/sisters and the baby.

One of my favorite memories was the first time Michael held DJ. We were sitting on the hospital bed and I was holding Michael, while he held DJ. The nurse came to take DJ for some baby maintenance and Michael clenched his little arms as tightly as he could and strongly stated, "Mine baby!" I had to pry his little hands off of the baby (thank goodness DJ was never especially delicate). I can't wait for the moments that will come once this baby arrives...

We had a primary activity tonight. I love working with people who plan ahead, prepare in advance, and pull off an activity with beautiful smoothness. Our kids all mentioned going to the church in their prayers tonight. They loved the night. We ate hot dogs and nachos, made cars out of boxes and paper plates (there's a good Kid Kaboodle activity), then sat in those cute cars to watch a movie all about our primary kids. It was a blast!

Of course, the day was not without its drama -- another ward decided to come in this afternoon to set up for their activity tomorrow. They were certain that we were not on the calendar (we were -- one of the presidency checked), so they wanted us to move our activity. We didn't, but it didn't go over well with the other ward. Ah, the joys of sharing a building and the blessings of learning to live with the imperfections of others... Our first counselor is an absolute saint, though, so she put all of their stuff out for them, so they will be able to walk in tomorrow and have their activity without a hitch. I need to be more like her -- I don't think I'd have done it, if it had been left up to me.

Oh, I forgot, I've set a goal. This should be big news to anyone who knows me well. I hate setting goals (or, I should say, I hate telling other people when I set goals), as I hate failing to achieve what I set out to do (and having other people know it). However, this one is set somewhat (only somewhat) in jest, so I'm putting it on here...

My goal is to have this baby in May (yes, my due date is June 27th)... I'll be 36 weeks on May 30th, so I've decided that is the day I shall set out to have this baby. I even have a plan to help me reach that goal. I'm not putting it all on here, but it just involves trying out every sane (or entertaining, but safe) sounding labor-inducing suggestion I can find, so if you have any good (not nasty, dangerous or ridiculous -- okay, ridiculous might be entertaining) ideas, feel free to suggest them and I'll give them a shot. Then I'll let all of you pregnant women know what works and what doesn't -- after all, I'll be an expert...

And finally, an update on the Sharks (you know -- hockey...): By some mighty miracle, they actually won a game in overtime. This is the 3rd of the 5 games in this series to go to overtime and the only one they have won. Good thing, too, because they have to win every game now, if they want to go on to the next round. Fortunately, our kids slept through our celebrations -- even I yelled (and I really never do that over sports -- at least when I'm watching them on television). It was beautiful!

Game 3

So I went with some Army buddies to Dallas to watch the Sharks. They lost in overtime, but it was still an awesome experience. They aren't kidding about the playoff atmosphere and croud. It was awesome! This was my first playoff game ever, so it was cool.
This marks every arena in the Pacific Division for me. The Sharks are in the Pacific, and I have seen them play in San Jose many times, Anahim twice, Los Angeles thrice, Phoenix four times, and now Dallas once.
By the way, I was threatened by some fans during the second intermission. They tried to start a fight because I was wearing a Sharks jersey. Little did they know that I hadn't been drinking (which is normal for me), and I'm in the Army, and so are my buddies. I just sopped paying attention to him, but kept him in my perifial just in case.
The other arenas I've been to, there are more Sharks fans than opposing team fans, so you don't have to worry about stuff like that.
I'll post some pictures soon. I remembered to bring my camera, but left it in the car, drat! My friend took some pictures with his phone which he said he would email me. When he does that I'll post them.
It's easy to get playoff tickets in Dallas. In San Jose they sell out in four hours. I bouht mine 48 hours after they had gone on sale and still ended up with a good seat.
The game was great, we should have won. The ref lost sight of the puck and called the play dead just before we scored. Our defense was great, but the Sharks ran out of gas in the Third. The shorthanded goal by Marleau was incredible. The refs took that one away from us. I hope the Sharks will be the third team in histor to come back from a 3-0 deficit to win. I don't know if they have it in them, but I do hope. Last night gave me an inkling of hope.
Go Sharks!!!

I've been bemoaning my pregnant state lately (I'm at the really uncomfortable, tired and somewhat nauseated -- again point of pregnancy), so I've been avoiding posting, because I really have nothing happy and positive to say. I decided to adjust my attitude today, though, and post what I meant to post over a week ago about Jon's performance.

First, the story of Jon's evolving costume:
We were given rather vague guidelines on costumes, but the one thing they were really adamant about was that the kids have no collars on their shirts. My sister-in-law (who is an excellent costume designer) was adamant that he needed button-up, collared, plaid shirt. I was stuck in the middle. So he went to the dress rehearsal in a long-sleeved t-shirt. He got there and was the best dressed orphan of the bunch, so it was easy to talk me into the other shirt the next day. Kendra also added patches to his pants and we bloused them so that they were knickers. Jon was okay with everything but the patches. He cried and insisted that he wouldn't wear them. Finally I got him to tell me that patches were girl things. There were only two boys in the group and the other boy and he were the only ones without patches at the dress rehearsal. I talked him into keeping the patches until he got to the show and then, if he still didn't like them, we'd take them off. Well, he walked in in his updated costume and immediately received several compliments, to which he replied, "And, I have patches, too!" and all was well.

My second story was his reaction: After the matinee, we went home for dinner. On the way, he said, "Mom, do I get to do that again tonight?" I answered in the affirmative, and he was so excited.

Finally, I asked him what he thought of the whole experience, once it was all over. His response: "I was good!"

Broadway Babies

This was the second number that Jon's group did. He does sing some of the time, but I don't think he was ever really aware that there were actions.

It's a Hard Knock Life

This was the evening performance. He was very excited about doing it after his positive experiences in the afternoon. He loves being on stage! Unfortunately this is a bit small, so you might have trouble seeing Jon well, but I'll put the afternoon performance on later and it shows him up close most of the time. I liked this one, because he sang his solo so well and I love the ending!

Face Painting

Derek's sister, Kendra, was able to come visit us and we've been having a great time with her. She brought her face paint along. She's not only very talented with it, but has lots of education and experience to back her up, so the kids looked fabulous! Here are a few pictures:


We have two clowns and a butterfly.

















A whale (or dolphin...), a woman (to quote Jon), me reading to them all, the three boys.

A tin man and a tiger.

One little girl in a house full of brothers...

There are those who worry that poor little Nina is a girl lost in a boy's world. I thought I'd post a few pictures that we took after DJ came to me and announced, "I a princess," just to reassure all that Nina can take care of herself.