James's Baptism

Words cannot express how amazing it was to watch my son James get baptized. As usual, the morning was crazy to try to get all the kids dressed, ready, and out the door on time. But when it came right down to it, the only thing that really mattered was when James was baptized and confirmed by his daddy. There were so many people there because there was 9 kids from the stake getting baptized that day. But when we broke up into ward groups for the baptisms, it was a much more intimate group of people. James even had the opportunity to bear his testimony after his confirmation. It was so sweet and sincere. He bore his testimony of the reality of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and that we can all live with Jesus Christ through the ordinance of baptism if we endure to the end. I love his sweet testimony and his strong faith.

My parent were able to be here for a few days, which was a lot of fun. Poor Charlee was sick the entire weekend, which made things interesting. Actually, the day my parents left, Charlee's eardrum ruptured, which was definitely a new experience for me. But not to worry, she is fine now. Anyway, we saw some new sites, which is always fun when my parents come into town. I really appreciate Colorado Springs a lot when they come to visit because they give me an excuse to go see the sites. We went to a charming little town right next to the Springs called Manitou Springs. Definitely a town I want to visit again. We also went to Palmer Park, which is a like going to the mountains to hike and mountain bike, but it's right in the middle of a city! All in all, a very great weekend!

I also included some pictures from the Schreiver Zoofari, which was right before Easter. The kids played lots of games, got tons of prizes, and even got to see the Easter Bunny. It was a blast for them.

I almost didn't include this picture. I have issues with how I look pregnant. Oh well, at least I know this is my last baby and I can work to "get my body back" after the birth.

The boys are standing on a lookout at the Air Force Academy. That is the chapel in the background.

Could he look any more grown-up?

Drum Roll Please.....

It's a boy! Had an ultrasound today and everything looks great with this little guy. In babies past, I haven't been able to tell much what I was looking at. But because I see ultrasounds so much more often now that I am a student midwife, I knew the whole time what I was looking at. It was fun. So, now I need to start buying boy clothes because I gave all of mine to goodwill or the garbage can (they had gone through 2 boys already and weren't really going to last through another baby anyway).

Charlee remains queen of the Hope household. At least in her mind, anyway. :)

James turns 8

Well, it is finally happening. We have a child old enough to get baptized. Who woulda thought? James turned 8 this week. Because of Jason's crazy work schedule, it was sort of a celebration spread over several days. We went camping last weekend and included some birthday celebrating into our vacation. Then, we took James to Toys R Us a couple days before his birthday (due to Jason's work day-of) and let him pick out his own present. He thought that was cool. I took cupcakes to his school class on his birthday, which he was so excited about.

But we are still looking forward to the most important part of this special birthday...the baptism. He will be baptized April 30. We have been talking a lot about baptism in our family. I really hope he feels ready and fully understands what choice he is making. I think he does. He is so full of faith. He is so GOOD.

His biggest birthday present was a new set of scriptures with his name printed on them. He picked them out himself, and they are very nice. He is really excited to take them to church for the first time tomorrow. This morning, after chores he brought them into the kitchen. He said, "Guess what I'm going to do now, mom? I'm going to read my scriptures because I want to learn more about the word of God." He teaches me so much and helps me be a better person. He gets so excited when he learns the stories of the scriptures. I hope someday I can be more like him. I am so grateful to have him as my son. I love you James!

More Pictures

OK, I just found a bunch of Christmas pictures that my camera refused to import for some reason. Anyway, I knew I wasn't as crappy as I thought about taking pictures at Christmas. :)

James's school Christmas program. I'm a terrible mom and forgot the camera for Jayden's program. :(

The boys got daddy a headlamp. They were very proud of it.

We had 2 Christmases! Lucky kids. One early with daddy and one with Grandma and Grandpa and the rest of the crew.

I got to see my good friend Marie and her family. Even at only 9 weeks pregnant, I can barely fit into that sweatshirt. :)

Life has been busy at our house, but apparently not much has happened that I felt was blog worthy because it has been quite a while. This last week was different, though.

Charlee turned 3 last weekend. Crazy! The older I get, the more time seems to fly by and it makes me kinda sad to see my kids growing up so fast. We did have a great time celebrating with Charlee, though. She is just the cutest little girl ever. She sang happy birthday to herself in the car for days before the big day. She would randomly yell out, "I love cake and presents!" for days before as well. I guess this year was really the first time she actually knew what was coming and was very excited for it. I bought the presents and was sure we were ready to have a family party. Jason came to the rescue, though, when he called me the night before (he was working a bunch of night shifts) from Walmart and asked if I had bought decorations. I said no. So, the next morning when Charlee and I took the boys to school, Jason surprised us both by decorating the kitchen with a banner, birthday tablecloth, and other fun decorations. Charlee was beside herself when she walked in and saw it! Then, that evening when we had our family party, Jason brought out some glow bracelets that he bought and invented a game on-the-spot with the kids that was a huge hit. Dads are so great at that kind of stuff! So, we ended up with a really great birthday party for our little Chars.

She is a little bugger, though, I gotta say. I tried really hard to make her hair all cute for her big day because I knew we'd be taking pictures. That girl really hates to have her hair done. Anything I do to it, be it ponytails, barrettes, whatever...she has it out within minutes. So, even though I DID do her hair that day, you can't really tell. :) She also insisted on wearing her hat like a horn. :)

The kids got a hold of the camera and took several hundred pictures. I am including a few that were not too blurry or, you know, just pics of the fridge and carpet. :) The kids had just eaten birthday cake in a couple of these.

Christmas

OK, once again I'm crappy at taking pictures. I really should have tried harder because I saw so many loved ones over Christmas that I hardly ever get to see.

I went to Utah and Idaho for a week for Christmas. Jason had to work all through the Christmas break, so he didn't come with us. We missed him a lot, but we had fun seeing family.

We spent a couple of days in Utah with Jason's parents. It was really fun to see them. The kids had a great time being wild and crazy with their cousins.

Then we went to Idaho to spend a couple days. Brent and Jenn were there, which was a special treat. I got to hold baby Cameron for the first time. He is a very sweet baby.

I announced to the families during our visit that I'm expecting baby number 4 this summer! It came as a bit of a surprise to Jason and I, but we are happy about it. Unfortunately, I was feeling kinda yucky during the visit due to the loveliness of the first trimester, so sorry everybody if I wasn't up to my usual standards. :)

I love it when I can make time to see my Grandma when I am in that neck of the woods. It is sort of becoming a tradition to go see the lights on temple square with her when I go home for Christmas. She is always so great with my kids and they love seeing her and the magnificent lights. Here are the only pics I took on the whole trip.

New pictures

Keeping up with this blog has its good times and bad. Plus, I don't take that many pictures, unfortunately. But, thanks to my dad, I have a few to post here.

My parents came up in October along with my sister Kelli and my neice. We had a good visit, and went to the zoo and garden of the gods. Kelli had her baby boy just a few weeks later. Can't wait to meet him!!

The boys just finished swimming lessons. They start basketball in January. Charlee feels very sorry for herself that she doesn't get to do these things. I'm thinking dance lessons in the next year or so.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...at our house at least

I am that girl...the one who listens to Christmas music right after Halloween, puts up the Christmas tree before Thanksgiving and this year I even put the lights up a few days before Thanksgiving. I can't help myself. I just love this time of year. I don't feel so bad about the house lights, though, because I've got at least 6 neighbors who turned on their before I did.

I hate my crappy camera and the injustice it always does to everything, but here is one of the house lights, which I proudly did myself! I had to crawl on the roof to get the lights up beyond the driveway. It was really scary at first, but I got over it and then it was fun to look around my neighborhood from that vantage point.

In other news, I finally created a website. I have been resisting for years because it was just too intimidating. But I finally did it because I really need the exposure. So, if anyone actually reads this blog, check out my new website and give me your constructive criticism. Really. I need all the help and ideas I can get. It's www.hopemidwifery.com. Since I don't have my cushy birth center job anymore, we are feeling the crunch a bit here in Colorado since I am still attending births and paying babysitters, but not getting paid for any of them. So I was hoping to make up for it doing doula work, but that has not worked out for me yet. I think that the competition is pretty fierce here. So, I need a lot more exposure. Any of you business minded people out there in a sharing mood need to give me all your good tips.

The kids are growing up fast and they amaze me everyday. Jayden is doing well in school. He is a super speller and he loves being in school. When I ask him at the end of school how it was, he says to me, "It was super, super, super, super, super, super fun!!!" And then I say, "What was so super, super (you get the idea), fun about it?" He says, "We had gym!" I think he is going to be the athlete of the family.

Charlee is talking like a big girl now, which makes me kinda sad since she is my baby. I was in my room, and she came to the door and started to close it. She says to me, "Goodnight, sweetheart." It was 9 in the morning. The other day, James found a spider in his bathtub. I came in and killed it, but not before all the kids took a good look. This morning, I told Charlee it was time for a bath. She said, "No mama, theow a scawy spida in the bathtub." I said, "No, I killed it, remember?" She screams, "Oh, yeah! You kiwwed it. Yea!!" and then strips naked and sings herself all the way to the tub. She loves to sing. She sings to herself in her carseat all the time. But if you pay too much attention to her while she is doing it, she'll get shy and stop. I love it so much.