Cousins! Cousins! We Love cousins!

Never let it be said that my kids don't have enough cousins to love. I start looking at the last few months and what we've had going on and I realize with extended family starting right here in Nephi, to my cousin in Cedar, follow my sister and her kids to St George, throw in a visit from Gi's brother from CA, and tie it all up with grand "cousin" picture with all 22 Frame cousins, you'll never hear my kids wish they had cousins around to play with. I love it! love it! love it!

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To sum up...

Never a good excuse for my slotful ability to stay on top of this blog :) but at least some is better than none and I'll try this week to hightlight the last few months of life at the Rogersons. In the meantime, at least give me credit for getting a family pic with Aly in it before she turned 4.

Dad: Finally home for a few days after making up a hairy work load that should have been done before Christmas. Throw in a couple of days back to California for his brothers reception and some much needed "Guy" time with the old buddies fly-fishing and I'm now not sure what to do with him underfoot :) but glad to see him home for a few days in a row

Mom: Survived the holidays (just barely) started back to the work-out routine of Jillian Michaels, keeping up with 4 kids and 20 some-odd YW still keeps life busy, throw in a couple dozen year-end tax reviews and you've got life coming at you pretty quick.

Bailey: Now the proud owner of 4 missing teeth! Two Front, and two lowers, looking really "gummy" these days. Still the best big sister, and finding out in a hurry how well she's doing with piano. Love to hear her play even if it is the same song for the 10th time that day :) Still walks in her sleep some nights, and wakes each day to ask if she can wake Aly up before she goes to school, she just doesn't get to see her enough.

Chance: Ever the man of the house :) he's up building with Lego's before the Sun, and then anxious to get to Jimmy or Jeff's after school so he can try to finagle his way into playing their wii. Still my biggest lover of TV, but will pause at the mention of his newest favorite books.. Geronimo Stilton "Holy Cheese Bites!" (He actually said that out loud to me the other day :) Also slept walked this week into our room where he climed on the bed and giggled for nearly 15 minutes... not sure what was so funny, but he sure got a good laugh out of it.

Reagan: I'm sure its somehow going to come back to haunt me that I call this child "bi-polar" but I'll tell you when she is sweet, "Mom your bed looks so beautiful" as she helps me pile pillows on, to the she-devil herself screaming at the top of her lungs NOOOO while fleeing to her room... We have plenty of time together as she's not in school and doesn't nap, most of it really pretty fun. But if I ever try to actually leave the house for an errand she's always the first to beg to come with. Never a dull moment :)

Alyssa: Our sweet baby already 1... how is that possible, didn't we just get her here :( Bitter-sweet to have your last baby grow up so fast, and still so fun to see her try her first few steps this week. Poor thing ended up with a sinus infection and her eyes have been glued shut in the morning. Even still, as miserable as she is, she's always so happy to see you, really a content baby, and if she weren't busy terrorizing my semi-clean house, she'd be the perfect baby :)

So you see life is never dull at our house, kids in and out, fun all the time, FHE, library, school, karate, piano, YW, and Elders Quorum visit nights... these are our staples, Sun to Sat we really do live for our Friday night Pizza & a movie night to just see them all sit still for 5 minutes. Saturday after the kids had helped with chores, Chance left to Jeff's, Bailey and Reagan walked down to their friends, and Aly was napping, Gi and I were in our own home with silence for over an hour and just couldn't even imagine when the last time that EVER happened. This is our life, and we love it, but I must say a clean quiet home for a full hour was a fabulous treat too.

Sisters

I do have to throw in a huge HOO-RA for our annual Park City trip with my sisters and Mom. Every year Wendy spoils us with the chance at an overnight shopping frenzie and stay at her time-share in Park city. And this year Tam enhanced an already fabulous weekend with dinner (on her). Throw in a late night watching chick-flicks, chatting, eating some more, and spending time with your favorite people, I am spoiled beyond belief. And spoiled even more when I got home to a house with 4 little huggy people, and one huggy husband, PLUS... and drum-role please, PLUS a spectacularly clean house. (He even moved appliances and scrubbed my kitchen from top to bottom ladies) Who is this man, and what have you done with my husband :)

Finally the Pay-off

A great trip with a few too many self-portrait shots, but look at those sunsets, and the beach!!! Who could complain?

If you're following the pathetic catch-up string of posts here you'll now see why it all comes full circle that when you endure a couple of crazy hectic months, an ER visit, chasing 4 kids, 20 YW and ten years of marriage, you finally get the pay-off...

And of course after 10 years my sweet husband will understand the humor in harassing him about "enduring" all these years. We've had a great ride, and yes there are moments to endure, but for the most part we feel truly blessed to have so much happiness, so much chaos and mess with 4 kids, and so many, many, memories to cherish for 10 more years, and then 10... as long as we both shall live :)

Love you Giegh, Happy Anniversary!

Then came Thanksgiving...

The month of November should have been great, started the month of right with an overnight stay in Salt Lake with my Mom and Sisters at Time Out for Women, but fighting some stress-induced exauhstion and a Sinus Infection I just couldn't kick, I didn't get all that I should have out of my time there.

A week or two more til Thanksgiving and I'm bustling to keep up with my kids and still feeling like I'm waking up with a headache every day. Even Gi's recovered from surgery faster than me, fortunately I finally got on the right anti-biotics in time for our every other year Thanksgiving Feast with the extended Bird Cousins and I was so glad to be there in good health. 2 Grandparents, 3 kids, their spouses add 3, they procreate 16 grandkids who marry (add 16), the next generation tops 56 (and still counting at dinner that day)... All because 2 people fell in love. Thats nearly 100 people. Take away 16 for a few cousins unable to make it, a couple extra special family members passed on, and you still have a roudy group of nearly 70 to host at the Old Red Church in Orem. What a GREAT event, one note-worthy of pictures, food, fun, games, more food and enough leftovers to last til the next event... in 2 years. Never leave one of our family events hungry, it'll be your own fault.

So loved seeing my cousins, missed those who couldn't come, and missed Dad and Grandpa even more... So glad to still have Grandma in her 89 someodd years. We love her and feel especially grateful that we get to now live close to Salina to visit as often as we can. Happy Thanksgiving!!

A Scary Halloween...

So its a week after Christmas and I'm posting Halloween, better late than never right... and hopefully with the next few posts you'll see why we're so slow. But we'll start with Halloween, who could pass up these little gremlins, all dressed up ready for the Trunk-or-Treat when Dad asks if we can make a stop at the ER on our way... "Just drop me off, by the time they're done running tests and stuff the kids will have all their candy"

Boy were we lucky that he thought to stop... and in the middle of his "Hunt" to come home and crawl in bed you know somethings got to be wrong, acute appendicitis, and of the extrodinary type where his appendix was not in the right spot, hidden somewhere behind and attached to his intestines. We were VERY blessed that it didn't rupture, and although his first 8-10 hours after surgery were a little rough, we were still checked out in under 24 hrs and he was back driving to pick up a trailer the next day. So glad he was ok, and even though the kids were safely staying at Grandma's house by then, it was still a Scary Halloween!

Cutest mugs ever...

So many days, so little time, and then I see these and really great smiles and remember again why we call ourselve mom's and don't leave the country when the word "Mom" has been yelled for the 150th time that day... the smiles we can capture, the people our kids are, and the things they do to amaze us. I love being a Mom! I love that my husband chooses to work really hard all the time so that I can be here every day when they get up, when they leave, and when they get home. It's a blessing I sometimes take for granted I hope I'll be better at remembering it next time I want to scream for the messes I'm never caught up on cleaning.

Alyssa, now almost 9 mos. is army crawling as fast as she can. She's pulling herself up in her crib and rattling the bars like a prison cell, giggling out-loud belly laughs at her siblings, and just keeping us all smiling. I LOVE that she is such a happy baby, a great napper, and lets be honest, its not so bad that she can't quite say Mom yet :) But she is a light in our family and everyone is genuinely excited to see her each and every day!

Reagan, just turned 3, is my forever "shadow" and as every Mother will imply, "I hope you have a daughter just like you one day!" This statement has come to fruition with this child #3. She does not leave my side for much, she loves to go wherever I go, do whatever I do, and ask 100 questions to decipher the things she's not sure she can keep up with. She LOVES Bailey and Chance and shadows them as long as they'll let her, but being that she's 3, sometimes they're not anxious to have her tag along. My favorite quote of the day came last week on the night of Parent Teacher Conferences and she was frustrated that she had to stay home with a sitter, while Bailey and Chance got to go with me to visit the school. When I tried explaining that Ba would meet with Mrs. Boswell and I, and Chance with Mrs. Bryan... she finally rattles off "Well I need to meet with my teacher too." And who is that Reagan? (She's not in Pre-school yet) "With Bailey, she is my teacher, she teaches me letters and colors, I need to meet with her too" ... man I love that girl!

Chance, 5 is just a little man-cub, from the grunting sounds that he makes, the machine guns, the kung-fu kicks, to the hours building with legos. They are his new love and he is lucky to make it through the day without having to stop to clean those things up at least twice if not three times. He is also the resident artist in our home, his ability to see things in his mind and create it on paper astounds me, especially considering his age. He's Daddy's little buddy, and still my 2nd Boyfriend :) Ever concious of his clothes matching and his hair spiking, I think we're in for a ride when the girls really start to notice him.

Bailey 6 - Now in 1st Grade and reading up a storm, she told me yesterday she stayed in from recess to finish her chapter in Junie B Jones ???? stayed inside on a BEAUTIFUL sunny fall day... who does that! She's the teacher in our house, the 2nd Mom, the organizer and director of all kids available.

Pretty much a Type A personality.... I wonder where she gets that :) But she's my greatest helper, usually my most apt to pick-up and help with whatever I need help with, and add to that her newly acquired piano skills she's one of my favorite people. I just can't imagine what life would be without her in it.

And lastly, but certainly not least... is the daddy :) This shot from my cell phone this week just made my day. Aly had been chewing on a straw and I got one of her doing that alone, then had to get one with her dad since thats his second favorite past time. Many here in Nephi think he's a smoker since he's always got a straw hanging out of his mouth. But recently I've been reminded of just a few of the reasons I love this guy so much (no pu intended) and I hope that while I try to show him, that he knows I could never survive without him to crawl into bed and talk til all hours of the night with. Thanks for all you do... and mostly for these 4 rugrats!!

A quiet Sunday...

I think we finally simmered down after the hullabaloo of summer and had a quiet Sunday at home, by ourselves, without a meeting or an agenda to go anywhere or do anything. On occasion I've matched the girls and as of late Reagan is apt to pick out a color and make sure we all get something to match her. Then Chance jumps on the bandwagon to match Dad and well... here's what you get :

Chance is 5

Just in time for the end of summer we took Chance's training wheels off and look at him go!!


Then a couple of weeks later the Birthday celebrating began.. 1st w/G&G Rogerson in town we decided to have his favorite meal (he chose Taco Soup and Chocolate Pie???) and Grandpa made him a great Treasure Chest that they filled w/Lego's and other surprises. After that we had Grandma Frame come down on the 13th to celebrate on Grandpa Frame's Birthday so we could have a party for both men (and she could stay for the softball game I had right on Dad's birthday). Next came the Ward Campout where Chance decided to announce to all the little boys there under 6 or 7 that they could all come for Transformer Cake and a movie the next night... and they came :) And that was all just leading up to the 16th, his actual birthday where we had a relatively quiet Sunday w/his favorite food again and in lieu of the Demolition Derby we'd planned to take him to as a family, we opted for $2 Tuesday at the Dinasour Museum at Thanksgiving Point. G Frame and his cousins Josh and Grant came with us and we had a great time!! School started for him the very next day and with all the excitement you would have thought he'd have been exhausted (I was) and no... 7:05 am he's dressed, bed made, backpack on, shoes on... "Mom is it time to go to school yet?" Can we go, Can we go?" "No honey, you have afternoon kindergarten buddy, it will be a while." So for the next few hours the same question was prompted about every 15 min, is it time, can we go? Needless to say I think my little man is ready for school and I love that he's excited, I hope he always is! Happy three week birthday party Chance :)