HILARIOUS

I'm totally on a youtube kick. So clever!

http://www.godvine.com/A-Soldier-s-S...ld-See-99.html

I couldn't see that this was something I could post other than on facebook which I'm not savvy enough to do...or just don't want to. I must admit that I get pretty huffy and emotional if you talk to me about politics. For the most part, I feel like I have done my part on keeping up on what is going on in our country. If I don't know and am introduced to something, I try to study it out so I can see where I stand on the issue.
That said, and I don't know why I said that cause it really doesn't have too much to do with what I am saying, I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR THOSE WHO ARE FIGHTING EACH DAY FOR MY FREEDOM. This touched my heart and made me teary so I thought I'd remind anyone willing to read to also have some gratitude. Sorry you have to cut and paste, but totally worth the watch. Merry Christmas!

I can't find my camera anywhere so I'm having to take pics in front of the computer. He's growing so much and is such a handsome little guy. Still hasn't given us a reactive smile yet. He smiles in his sleep and staring off into space, but he doesn't think I'm that funny yet. He just hasn't warmed up to my humor, I'm sure. Smitty is such a good baby. Sleeps, eats, poops, all fantastic and is so patient with the kids. We're still loving on him as much as we can.

WOW!!!

vid for the grandparents...

This was yesterday on his one month birthday. Poor fella has a mom who thinks his cry is so cute that I'll let him starve while I find my camera so I get it on tape. Love that cry. It's so cute!

Just Because

These are "just because" pics cause I think they are so cute.

Minding my own business.

I was sitting on the couch talking to my father on the phone when this happened.




I didn't know if someone threw a rock at me or what freakish thing happened. Dad was all worried for the two minutes it took to figure out what happened. Our gardeners were mowing and I think they must have just hit a rock that went flying. It's looks like a small enough hole, but there was glass everywhere. Fortunately, I'm in good with some of our greatest friends out here who's husband is a contractor who dropped some morning plans to come fix my window. I love good friends.

Jackson's Parade

He was so excited to see that his dad was able to make it just in time to the parade. I love that dad is always a special treat to be there. And Jack is always so good at being there for pretty much everything that's even a little important to each of our kids. He's a good dad.



I felt bad at one point because there is another kid in Jackson's class that shares the same name. He tends to single out kids on different days to be "unkind" and this day he chose Jackson. He was also wearing a spiderman costume and would walk up to Jackson and whisper "my spiderman is better that yours" or "you're stupid" or "you're a bad guy" in his ear. I saw (and heard) a couple of these whisperings as did his teacher who tried to put a stop to it, but it temporarily put a damper on Jackson's mood.



Muscle man.



I love his GQ look here. This is his best friend, Luke. He's is such a dang cute boy. We love him and his family (his mommy is my friend). Their teacher says she gets them confused because they look so much alike.



Jackson's teacher is the clown. She's not the cuddly, light talking voice a lot of preschool teachers are. She's very firm and says it how it is...even to the kids. It's good for Jackson. He's learned to respect and like her. All the mom's who have had kids in this class just rave about her.

Emma's school does a Halloween parade during school before the class party. I have enjoyed going the past two years to watch the whole school and the excitement and anticipation in Emma as she is with her peers.


Class photo. Emma is so funny. She is such a great sister. Every time we come to visit she is so excited to show off her little brothers and sister. I love that she pulled Sadi into her class pic.


Just a cute pic. I love that her teacher is Papa Smurf. When I talked to him he said he was so excited for the smurf movie to come out next year. My kids will know the Smurfs! HOORAY!


The bonus of having a Halloween week...lots of different costumes if desired.


Showin off her sister again.


Her friend, Paige. Not a planned match.


And again. (This was during the class picture.)


I was so glad that I happened to be there helping with the class party. I was going to go home after, but stayed chatting with friends when the kids went to a Spirit Assembly. Fortunately, I WAS there because Emma was given a Spirit Award. Each month the teachers pick students. Her teacher told me he gave it to Emma because they were painting in class a few days earlier and the boy next to Emma dumped water all over her painting and she didn't get upset at all. He got her new supplies to start over and a few minutes later the same boy dumped his water on her painting. Once again, he got her new supplies to start over. A third time, he dumped his water...apparently every time by accident. But he said Emma was gracious and calm every time and said it was "no big deal." She's a good girl

Church Trunk or Treat

A family pic before the food came and the kids took off for the next two hours.


Just thought a tight belly shot might make some of you not want to eat today. Good for dieting.


Emma's two best friends in the ward. They had so much fun trunk or treating. I didn't see that girl the entire party; she was having so much being with them. It's crazy they are so grown up.



Jackson dressing up as a mummy. He loved ripping off all the toilet paper when it was all done.


Sadi loves this girl. And such a cute pic.

I can't believe Smitty will be one month tomorrow. It is so sad how fast the first months (and years) fly by. I'll post better pics this week after his appointment, but I just have to say there is a reason I have not taken the time to post his story and more pics. We've just been loving on him and kissing on him as much as we can. Poor and lucky little guy. Sadi has no body control so if she gives him a hug she pretty much just lays on him with all her weight and he whines. He's VERY patient. So perfect for us.

He's Here!

Smith Nathaniel Hardy
Born Saturday, November 6, 2010.
6:29 am
6 lbs. 15 oz.
19 in.

Seven days or LESS!!!

Three more weeks!

You may be tired of seeing pics of my belly, but they're not for you, dangit. And only two more after this! YEAH!!!

Three more days. Just three. Then I want to sleep for three days. This will not be the most uplifting post, I am sure. I'm just tired. Truth is, my kids have been fantastic the past week while Jack has been out of town. Hardly any fighting, and really sweet and good to me, but we are all feeling the emptiness of not having dad around for this long. How do service men and women do this? Or just women who are married to traveling salesmen? Heavenly Father must really have known my limits when he hooked me up with my love because I don't function well alone.
I began contracting on Sunday night (at random, no regularities) and got the runs and had them up until I went to the doctor this morning and of course they hooked me up to the monitor and the whole time I was there I had nothing. Of course. I've had nothing since either. Not that I'm complaining. I actually got teary on my way to the doctor recognizing I'd be pretty scared doing the C-Section on my own. So I am grateful I'm not progressing, but it's just funny to me that all it takes to stop contractions is to hook yourself up to a machine. It was a very fun preview for me. I don't get the belly bands around me since I am a c-sectioner, but I have had them and it's so fun to hear his heartbeat. I got for a whole 30 minutes today. So cute. And Sadi was patient and adorable as could be sitting with me that long. She's a good girl.
We did get her results back and no fractures or anything. All is well. Phew! And I think I mentioned a couple months back how she potty trained herself. Through the night and everything. It is so impressive to me. Emma was 4 1/2 before she woke up to pee and Jackson still hasn't conquered that one. He's actually funny cause he's such a deep sleeper. We'll get him up to pee before we go to bed and stand him up at the toilet and he still has not let anything go cause he's totally asleep the whole time. I try to splash water on his hands and face to wake him up. I told him that we were trying really hard to get him to wake up and he told me to punch him. He promised he would not be mad at me if i hit him to wake him up. Funny boy.


I just think this is a cute pic.

Us at the Lion King in Chicago two weeks ago.

One day down, only seven to go! Jack left this morning at 6:30 so it felt like just a normal day of him going to work. We all hugged, said goodbye daddy, but actually didn't wave as he drove away because the kids were starving and couldn't wait for food. During breakfast I got a little choked up and was trying to keep my emotions in check (I always cry when Jack has to leave. It doesn't happen very often). Anyhow, Emma looks up and asks why my face is turning red, and I lose it just a little bit. She's says "You're missing daddy, huh." So then Jackson hands me his pillow that is carried with him every morning and says he'll help me feel better and runs into the front room to bring me a pic of Jack and I when we were dating. Sadi joins in and asks every minute for the next fifteen "Mom, why are you sad?" to which I respond "cause I miss daddy." "Oh." is all she responds every time.

Good things came with today. I chose to let it be a TV day. Well, movie cause we don't have TV. Anyhow I let Jackson and Sadi watch the 1966 version of Batman cause they love it (thank you watch instant on Netflix) and I cleaned the entire house. It is clean HOORAY!!! Lilian came over for lunch because I made indian food last night....mmmmmmmmmmm....It is just so lovely. And we put the kids in front of another movie cause I had Premonition and she had never seen it. Then, when Emma got home, we went shopping and decided we were going to have a PJ party and watch a movie so they chose Felicity cause Emma is big into horses and the American girl books. She thinks she is going to ride her horse (that she doesn't have) to school everyday in Wyoming. She must have like a Little House on the Prairie type setting in her brain. Anyway, I kept Sadi from taking a nap today so she would go down early and forgot that I did that. So when the movie was done at 9:15, fifteen minutes short of two hours past bedtime, she and Jackson were a wreck and I paid the next 15 minutes for allowing them to stay up/ I couldn't help but just giggle the whole time they are bawling cause they were just so tired. Jackson kept telling me a rat bit his finger and it hurt. At one point during the movie, the rat bit his bumb and his leg hurt and he couldn't figure out why.

While Jack and I were in Chicago last week a rat drowned in our swimming pool. Ewwwww...grandma said she made them wait another day before they could swim. I knew we had rats in our garage. We know of 5 (FIVE!!!) (RATS!!! EWWWWW!!!!!!!) But how in the world did one fall in the pool and drown?

Anyhow, it's the weekend. I'm excited to go to bed cause I know my 7 yr old is gonna come in at 6 am and ask me to play family with her. I told her tonight it's my day off and we got a few chapter books on CD for her to read along with in the morning. Her reading improved DRAMATICALLY when we started doing that this summer and it's been fabulous for her!

I recognize I have really babbled this post. Just thought it would make all feel better if you knew that I knew.

Four Weeks from today....

So I swear when I look at myself in a mirror, I am bigger than what the pictures say. But I'm not that big this time around which is unfortuntely and vainly enough, really good for how I'm feeling about myself. Isn't that horrible?


I had to take Sadi to get some X-rays tonight. A little over a month ago Emma was sitting in the front seat of our van and was pushing the button to lay the seat down not even thinking about Sadi being in the carseat behind her. Then out of nowhere Sadi starts screaming in pain and I realized the bar on the back of the front seat was crushing her legs. She cried a real cry for quite a while. She had a small bruise on both legs for a few days and limped around for a few days. When I took her to the doctor (I couldn't get in to the one I love) she told me she didn't think there was anything to worry about. I took Sadi back in on Tuesday. She doesn't limp anymore, but if she runs around for more than 30 minutes she does a little limp and is really guarding her leg. So today she got both femurs and hips looked at and she was so brave. They wouldn't let me in being pregnant which I thought was lame cause he's pretty much full term now...not a lot of harm could be done, I wouldn't think. But she was brave as can be. I should find out results this afternoon.


Jack leaves tomorrow for Louisiana for 8 days. It could be really LONG 8 days. I don't bend over so easily anymore and I'm tired enough that I really have to watch my patience level. The kids haven't watched a whole lot of TV since school started, but I imagine that will change a little this week and continue after the baby is born for a while. We'll see. I always feel like a loser mom if I know they've been glued to the tube that day.

I actually have tons to post, but throwing up a pic is just the fastest. Less than five weeks to go. I'm ready to breathe again.

Emma coming out of the slide. You'll have to biggie size the pic to see much. You can see Jackson playing in the fountain and the top of the slide above Jackson head in between the trees.



My birthday was this weekend and my husband never fails to impress me with the effort he puts into my special day. Unfortunately, I only have this one picture because my camera ran out of batteries as soon as I took it. We went the parents of some friends of ours that have been so good to us. We went to Mammoth with them last year and stayed in their condo for the weekend and have gone to this house a couple times. I've decided I don't like being the friend with not a whole lot to offer in return. I wish we had a boat or something to take them out wakeboarding. Anyhow, we had so much fun with them and the kids always love to go swim in their pool and hot tub and go down the slide, which is surprisingly very fast. That backyard is beautiful and just fun to sit and feel like you're surrounded by a small paradise. They provided the kabobs and Jack made two apple pies and ice cream for dessert. I love how domestic Jack is. He put so much effort into these pies doing criss cross tops with his own cut outs of an apple to put on top. I agree that presentation is at least half the battle, but he is awesome!
After we left, he set up a date at argentinian restaurant and holy smokes! It was so good! Jack got this pasta called sorrentinos that was homemade potato-ravioli stuffed with ham, cheese, and asparagus and covered in a pink cream sauce with sauteed mushrooms mixed in. It was HEAVENLY!!! I haven't stopped thinking about it. Must have again. During dinner, I got the phone call my mom was back in the hospital (she went in on Thursday with appendicitis) with pneumonia. Poor mommy. I felt bad. I wish I was closer to help.
After dinner He took me shopping for some maternity clothes for these last two months. We're going to Chicago in a few weeks for an oral surgery conference (I get to see Lion King! YEAH!!!!) and he knows I wanted to feel cute with him on our hot weekend together so we got a couple new maternity things. So nice!
Anyway, I just wanted to document it and remember how he is so good to me! Especially on days when I'm being selfish and cranky and forget (not that I EVER get that way). He's so awesome! And his pies were killer good, too! I love you, Jack! Thanks for making my birthdays so special!

First Day of School

I am sitting at home at 11:45 AM in dead silence. Jackson's first day of school is today; Emma's was last week. Sadi is down for her nap. I can't help but have this giddy feeling wondering if I will have this opportunity every once in a while this year. Last week before school started, I was so sad the two days before and just cried. Emma was so excited and I was really excited for her, I just feel like time is slipping by so quickly. I have run into mothers here and there who respond that they are so excited and READY for school to start. While I understand the anticipation of being back on a schedule, I already miss my little ones. I still can't figure out a lot of things on our computer. I'm way too used to a PC and it's almost been a year. So while I understand now how blogger works, the pictures came out of order and it's too much trouble to me to fix them. So in no particular order. The first day of school!


Okay, so Sadi is not going to school, but she's so cute and there is much to say. She turned two a couple of months ago and I still have blogged about that day (BAD mommy!) When Jackson was younger I said I would not potty train him until he potty trained himself because I get WAY too emotional and it is not good for my parenting. So a few months before Jackson turned three he began figuring it out and although there were still accidents, he did it on his own. I have (or had) no intentions of potty training Sadi before this baby came because I figured she would revert back to diapers when the baby was born and then I would probably wait six months until my sanity returned some so she'd be pretty close to three when we worked on it.
She quit wearing diapers a few weeks ago and put on little panties and has had two accidents (one in a pool #2. Not pleasant). She was never scared of pooping or peeing on the toilet, though, so we have been so impressed. I still put a diaper on her for bed, but she wakes up dry every morning (at 6) yelling to me that she needs to go potty. It is very impressive to both her dad and me.

We also moved her to a big girl bed two weeks ago that she shares with her older sister now. We tried it for the week before school started, but Sadi is such a talker that she wouldn't shut her trap and let her siblings sleep and they were starting to get angry so for now she falls asleep in the big bed alone while Emma and Jackson fall asleep in mom and dad's bed and we just move them when we hit the sack. I'm starting to get little man Hardy's room ready and I'm just getting so excited! I love, love, LOVE watching my stomach move and pushing in on it while he pushes back. While I hope this is not my last pregnancy, if it is, I am going to miss this so much. I love being a mom and having this connection with my babies.



So this is Emma at her desk the first day. She didn't even care to say good bye to me as I walked out the classroom door. She comes home everyday and tells me how many recesses she had that day INCLUDING P.F. (according to her. The rest of us know it as P.E.) I've heard about books they have been reading and that they work HARD all day and do so much math. Her teacher this year is a MR. so that is fun and his favorite subject is math, apparently. They're doing something new this year and are doing some split level classes. Emma was put in a 1st and 2nd grade split class. I'm a little apprehensive about it, but her reading has improved DRAMATICALLY this summer and I know she's up for the task. It's so fun to hear her read scriptures because she reads so smoothly and does so well on most words.

She got this skirt and two others from a friend who has to wear uniforms and Emma loves them and this was the outfit she chose for the first day of school. today she totally looks like she should be at a dress code school. She's so cute!

Jackson is going to a new preschool this year and I am very excited about it! While I agree that preschool should be more about social stuff and not a whole lot of academic, i do think there should be some academic (my personal opinion). Otherwise I'm just putting him into daycare. Anyhow, he got into the school that I wanted with his best friend from church and they got the teacher that I wanted who I understand is FANTASTIC! My friend Shannon put all of her kids (her fourth is also in this class) through this teacher and said they come out knowing how to write their name, address, phone #, and know all the ABC's by sight and sound, and the numbers 1-30. Sounds good to me. I did homework with Jackson and Emma throughout the summer and Jackson loved it, but he had a really hard time with the writing part. He got so much better by the end of the summer doing shapes, but letters mean nothing to him. He recognizes the letter A. I think that's it.

This is his classroom. True to his genes, like his sibling, there were no tears, just a "bye Mom!" and off to play. He did, however, make sure as we were getting out of the car in the parking lot to let me know that he would always be my son and I would always be his mom. Sweet boy.

He is such a handsome little sucker.

These kids have some intense strings attached to my heart. I feel like these moments right now are so precious. I get to pick Jackson up in 25 minutes and can't wait to see his little face light up. As a parent, if you have not seen this ad on parenting, go to www.lds.org and watch the video called PARENTING. It makes me tear up everytime.

And me in my glory today. I think 25-26-ish weeks. I'm not sure. It is almost noon and I took a bath and got back into my pjs. We got home from Idaho last night after being gone for two weeks.
Within a half hour of walking in the door last night I started to feel queasy and then the runs and puking began (I get it, too much information). However, that being said I was in the bathroom every 10-15 minutes like clockwork last night. Finally at 4 am, I took a bath and fell asleep in the tub until 4:30, got out and puked one last time and was finally able to go to bed until just before 7 am when the kids woke me up. Those are the hard times being a mom. When you're sick, haven't had much sleep, and you're expected to perform your motherly duties...and yet apparently I have enough energy to sit here and blog.
I was reading to Emma this morning and my little baby was just kicking like crazy. Emma has tried several times to feel this baby with no luck, but she felt him three times this morning while I was reading. It was so fun. I love that she gets to be such a bigger part of this as she gets older. It will be so fun!

These were from July 20th.