'til the numbers end...

Everyone keeps asking me to post some pictures of Sumner. He is the sweetest, best baby ever! Just look at that smile! He loves his jumper. The other kids come by while he is jumping and swing him as high as can be. He gets a kick out of that.

Libby and Jeff came all the way from Pittsburg to visit us for Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving Day, Matt and Jeff traded the turkey bowl for running over 13 miles to finish the Atlanta 1/2 Marathon. They both did awesome and still had enough energy to be part of the festivities.

Ira has been spending a lot of time walking around the house with this purse. If I had any concerns about gender identity (I didn't), those concerns were without a doubt eased. I decided to see what he was carrying around in this little princess purse. I found that it was VERY heavy. The picture below is what I discovered when I opened it... Ira's a smart little boy....looking all innocent, while secretly stashing all of these bullets right in the open! He's been fascinated with all things gun since going to the range one day with Matt. He got to wear ear plugs and learn all about gun safety. Needless to say our little guy is all boy!

Emma decided to be a DIVA and Eliza was a dead bride. Can you tell? She's the one slumped over. Savannah was our little princess, and the boys were tough guys, as usual. The children can't get enough of this picture!

Savannah, Eliza, and Ira waiting to play a game. Aren't they so cute? Selah had a great time at the party. She never slowed down. She has taken Ira's long held position in the home as being the most destructive and crazy. Today on the way to church she was beating Brower (our 5 year old) up in the back of the car. She does the same to Ira on a regular basis. The girl is ruthless, but somehow they still always want to be with her. Emma, the dead bride and Bethany, the gymnast. Emma was intent on being something dead this year. She got her wish. In this picture she was playing the part. She didn't smile because she said dead brides don't smile. Now she's over that and wants to be a DIVA for Halloween. I told her she doesn't need to dress up for that!

Savannah finally lost her first tooth during FHE this week. She is very excited because she is in second grade and pretty much everyone else have been losing their baby teeth for years!

Everyone was so excited when the water started to rise. The neighbors came over with boogie boards and went surfing. Eliza is in the top picture taking her turn surfing. It was fun while it lasted. The water kept rising, making me a little nervous. Matt was out of town, so my awesome neighbor came over and dug a trench that led to some drains. The water flowed out of our backyard as fast as if we had flushed the toilet! Quite an adventure, and something the children won't soon forget!

It's been raining a lot here lately, but for one reason or another there is always an excuse for them NOT to play in the rain. Either the storm begins right after they've showered, or it's dark, or there's lightening. Well, today is Saturday and it's been raining cats and dogs with no lightening. So I let them loose out back at 9 o'clock in the morning. I hope the neighbors weren't sleeping in!

Selah likes running around the house with nothing but a swim cap on. I guess it makes her feel closer to her sister's while they are gone to school. That has GOT to be uncomfortable!

Ready to pose for pictures. Today is picture day at school. I hope they look this good after recess. I'm not holding my breath!

What a handsome dude. All ready for church....ALMOST....

Matt and I went out on a date on Saturday night and got a babysitter...as we often do. It is hard for the babysitter to focus on all 7 children at the same time. That is why we always tell them to pay close attention to Ira and Selah because they will slip out of sight and who knows what will happen! So, as he often does, Ira found a way to slip under the radar and hide in Emma's closet. He found her fingernail polish on top of her closet and somehow climbed up and got it. He did a pretty good job painting his toes and got very little on the carpet. When we got home he was asleep so I had to wait until the next morning to take it off. We have 9am church and Matt is never there in the mornings to help. The boys wear salt water sandals to church so I had no choice but to scrub the paint off. He really does love his sisters!

Selah and Ira each had a cup full of shelled peanuts they were eating out back on top of the ball bin. Selah likes to eat them, shell and all. Part of a shell is on her chin. They were having a good time though. Our favorite way to eat peanuts is to buy them boiled.

Ever since Matt broke out the lawn mower, the hedger, the blower, and the weed wacker this summer, Selah has been petrified to go outside during the manicuring of the lawn. She'll scream if she just sees them being pulled out of the shed. So today was a real break through when she decided she'd have a go at mowing the lawn with Matt. She was very serious the whole time. Maybe she's over it! I guess we'll see next week when it starts all over again!

Last night we had lasagna for dinner. Too bad we didn't get a before picture. She had sauce from head to toe. Matt decided to bathe her in the kitchen sink. As you can see, she had a blast!

This was the meat that we bought, ground, bagged, and froze the other day. I only got a half a box (30lbs) because I didn't really know how much that would end up being space wise. I wasn't sure we could fit all of it in our freezer. A friend in the ward came across a good deal at Sam's Club per box, so a bunch of ladies in the ward got together and bought a few. She had a meat grinder and invited us all to her house to grind away. I love stocking up on food! It makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something worthwhile. I haven't done much stocking up on fresh foods. I mostly have the dry stuff. Next time I'll get a whole box...30 lbs didn't end up taking that much space!

The top picture is Brower, Ira, and Sumner right before church. The bottom picture is the girls right before they left to travel to Abby and Abba's house for two weeks! Selah didn't go with them, but I wanted them all to match anyway. Emma, Eliza, and Savannah have been there for 24 hours so far and are loving it! Sweets everywhere they turn, prizes galore, and new clothes! Oh, and of course Abby, Abba, Erika, Marshall and the cousins.

We thought that Selah had made a smooth transition from her crib to the toddler bed...until we found her one morning back in the crib. She has NEVER climbed out of her crib. But she is expert at climbing in. We have to be careful when Sumner's napping because she likes to get in and play with him.

Emma, Brower, Eliza, Savannah, and Ira eating lunch out back.

Every Saturday evening there is an outdoor concert at the mall. We decided to go and check it out last week. The boys had a blast dancing and jumping around. Ira kept trying to sneak on stage. The girls just had fun watching the spectacle. Selah and Sumner were strapped to the stroller the whole time. Aaaaah, summer!

Abby (Grandma Nickel) has given the girls some pretty sweet dresses over the years. The one that Selah is wearing used to be Eliza's. The one that Eliza is wearing used to be Emma's. Savannah is wearing Emma's old one. Emma's birthday was last week and Abby sent a much needed Sunday outfit for her. They all look beautiful.

Sumner looking Dapper in his Sunday dudds. The second picture is after church while he is taking a snooze.

We decided to grind some wheat and bake a loaf of bread for each of the kids teachers. Emma's birthday was last week and I totally forgot to bake cup cakes for her class! So, we all made some tonight to bring to school tomorrow.

Matt, Sumner, Selah, Ira and I went scouting out estate sales the past two weekends. We finally found some great stuff on Saturday. It was a longer day than we had anticipated, and the kids didn't get their daily naps. This is Selah on the way home. Ira was right next to her nodding off. I'll have to take some pictures of the treasures we brought home. Matt did some wheeling and dealing and we came home pretty happy.

Matt made Selah put her nose in the corner the other day for being naughty. Poor little girl was devastated. It is hard to punish her...look at that face!

I just can't get over the sweetness!

This is what Selah did when Matt announced we were going to have a prayer to bless the food for lunch. As you can tell she put down what she was playing with and got ready. Matt waited to start while I took the picture and she stayed like that until the prayer was over. Selah is our little cutie and seems to be doing new things every day!

He's finally here! The children, and us, have been eagerly anticipating Sumner's arrival and we can finally say that he's here. Sumner was born yesterday (4/21/09) at 5:09 pm. He weighed in at a hefty (for our family of six pounders) 7lbs 12 oz. and measured at 19.5 inches long. Heather is my hero! She, again, solidified herself as the toughest person in our home. That title will not ever be relinquished. Heather and Sumner are both home and are doing very well. They both worked hard yesterday and are looking forward to some needed rest in the coming days. We love you Sumner...'til the numbers end (and they never end).

Here is Brower posing for a picture at the clubhouse in our neighborhood. I brought the children here to play on the playground. Brower preferred roller skating in the parking lot (which was vacant) with his new roller derby roller skates.

Aunt Julie sent us a yummy recipe that has a nilla wafer at the bottom and a chocolate egg in the middle of the cupcake. Emma, Eliza, and Savannah helped me bake and decorate. Thanks Julie!!

The kids really get a kick out of this picture. Selah is so funny looking, starting out of the corner of her eye at the camera. Every time we look at it we get a good laugh. It's on our desktop.

This morning before school Ira and Brower were fighting over a blanket. They know that there are two of the exact same kind! The one that they refuse to use is on the floor right behind Ira! All of us girls got a kick out of watching this.