Before and After...

We decided a while ago that it was time for change with sleeping arrangements. We even played "Musical Beds" a few times to try things out (yes, we called it that, and the kids still ask to play it again). We eventually decided that Cloudburst would move into the guest room to have her own space, and Sunshine and Tornado would start rooming together. The baby will get the last room, which will also double as our guest room now. So we officially have a Boys Room and a Girl room to have fun with! So I got a few colors of vinyl and went to town on my Cricut:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

And then this past weekend we completed a project that I've been wanting to do for a while... get control over the toys! We had toys in a cabinet downstairs, and also in a closet upstairs. And then they pretty much ended up all over the house, just waiting to get stepped on in the middle of the night. No more, Mama's had enough!

Before:

After:

All of the toys are now upstairs in the closet, nicely organized by toy type. Now, if you look VERY closely, you may notice the new door knob I installed... with a LOCK on it. Ha ha! Cloudburst and Sunshine kept asking me why we needed a new door handle. I just told them it was because Tornado kept making messes. Well, that's one-third true...
And this pic I had to throw in to show you Tornado's new wardrobe options... they now include underwear! Yes, we are in the midst of potty-training. He's had a few accidents, but is definitely starting to get the hang of things. It helps to have the whole cheerleading squad in the bathroom to throw him a party whenever he does his business. Having a big brother and sister definitely has its perks!

Dear Cloudburst,

My one and only daughter,
Happy Birthday! I can't believe that I am a mother of a big 6-year-old. I still remember the day you were born, with your dark hair and tan skin (yes you were born darker than I am in the summer).
I hope you felt special that morning. We had a special monkey bread breakfast (no nuts!) and then you got to go to school, where you received a special delivery from a special visitor! Yes, Dad came to visit his Princess and brought you some beautiful pink roses. You were beaming when I came to pick you up with your friend for a special lunch!
We decided to start a new family tradition this year- we are going to alternate years for family and friend birthday parties. But you have made such a good friend in school and wanted to share your birthday with her. What could be better than a birthday lunch? And let me tell you, you and your brothers were beyond excited when I said you could each get a Happy Meal and play!
Later, Dad came home from work and you opened your birthday presents. You were so excited to see new clothes, books, a towel, a sleeping bag and things for your new room (this is when you moved into a bedroom by yourself)! The whole day, you were so grateful and appreciative of the special attention you were getting.
I still can't believe what a good little reader you are. This morning I noticed your light on at 6:30 AM, and you were up reading! You work so hard to figure out the words, and now you are really getting into some great stories.
You and Sunshine are such good friends. I hope you don't miss rooming with him too much! Now you both have sleeping bags, so maybe it's time for a sleepover.
After your requested dinner of chocolate chip pancakes, we went to the Build a Bear workshop, where you and your brothers got to each make a new friend. You chose to dress your bear in baby clothes. You will be getting a new baby brother in just 11 weeks, and you are already telling me how you will help. I am glad you will be old enough to remember this new baby when he comes to our family.
Here you are with your brothers and your bears. You do have a great time with your brothers. You are such a good helper with Tornado; he doesn't even ask me for drinks anymore, he just goes straight to you. And you and Sunshine spend hours outside together, even if no one else is outside with you. I'm glad you guys feel like you are on the same team.
After building a bear, we came home to eat a bear! I had a few helpers who made sure the balloons were decorated just right.
This year we made a puzzle cake that is made out of differently shaped cupcake holders that fit together. You sure do love your sweets! You can eat chocolate faster than anyone I know. That's why your eyes are so brown, right?
As I was sitting downstairs at the end of this fun day, I kept thinking about how big you are getting. I just want to hug you tight enough to keep you small forever! But I am so proud of you and the good choices you are making. I want to remember all your fun smiles and crazy forward rolls. And wouldn't you know it, as I was thinking about how much you are growing, you came downstairs and showed me your first loose tooth! You really are getting big. I love you very much!
Love, Mom

Love in the air

We love to stretch out holidays around here, so why not Valentine's Day? We started last week with a fun hair-do for Clouburst (I found it here):
I don't usually do too much to her hair because of her beautiful curls, but this was fun. A few days later we had just a couple friends over and made some Valentine's cards.
The kids have a Valentine's Corduroy book that we read and followed (we made Valentines and then had cupcakes). We are still finding sparkles on the floor but it was fun!
On February 12 Cloudburst's school had a special pageant to honor President Lincoln's 200th birthday.
The gym was packed and Sunshine and Tornado had a great time running around in the back with all the other boys. They have no trouble making friends wherever they are.
And then it was time for Cloudburst and her class to dance the Virginia Reel! In this clip, Cloudburst and her partner are the head couple.



Now, a little trip into the past...................... about 6 years ago, Thunder and I planted a tree next to our house in Idaho Falls. After planting the tree and running errands, my wedding ring was lost! I searched high and low, made dozens of phone calls and tearfully told Thunder that I couldn't find it. Since then I've worn a lovely ring that my grandmother gave to me before she passed away. That is, until a few days before Valentine's Day, Sunshine came over to me with a small box and asked "will you marry me?" And inside was this!

I just love it!

For the actual day of Valentine's Day, we were able to drive up to our friend's ranch. What a nice break! R and M have a beautiful cabin in a stunning setting up in Idaho. Snow-covered hills stretch out as far as you can see, and it's wonderfully peaceful and quiet.
Thunder took all of us on a ride on a snowmobile and everyone took turns sledding and enjoying the outdoors. Cloudburst studied the snowflakes and noticed how beautiful they were up close....
Sunshine just preferred to eat it.....
and throw it. R and M also have two kids and they all played very well together. M is also preggo, about 2 months ahead of me, so we waddled around together. We had a great time, so thanks for some great memories!

The snow... and some lovely visitors

So today was a CaRAZY drive to school. Since Cloudburst is at a charter school, I have the lovely privilege of dragging everyone off in the car around 7:30 am. Today it was snowing again, but we have dealt with lots of snow, right? I learned to drive in the east, where we had ice storms and blizzards all the time. Hey, I even used to drive with my windshield frosted over (remember those fun times Amanda/Becca?), so a little snow should be no problem, right?

This is my lovely Nissan Quest. I really do like this car. But today, she couldn't quite make it up the hill to school. Cloudburst's school sits atop a fairly steep hill (behind the Timpanogos Temple, for those of you familiar with Utah). We started up the hill, and about half way up, the car in front of me started fishtailing, making me step on my brake. That was it. No more momentum. We were stuck- half way up the hill. "Go mom, why are you stopping?" Gee thanks kids... why don't I just go, it's just a little snow right? I figure I can't make it up the hill, so proceed to back up to turn around. I get stuck a bit more, and am now perpendicular to traffic. I can see the lady driving a Jeep behind me, and I just wave to her apologetically. I try to turn the wheel to turn to go down the hill, when the car starts sliding sideways down the hill. Towards that Jeep.
Ahhhhhhhhhh!
The jeep backed up a bit and I was able to get enough traction to turn and go down the hill. But I still had to get her to school. We drove all the way around to another road up the hill, a more traveled road (1100 East). We barely made it up this hill. I was on the side of the road, gaining traction from the new snow, getting slower and slower as we went up. By the end the kids and I were all shouting "go...go...go...GO!"
And then a big cheer at the top!
Cloudburst was about 15 minutes late, but she was not the only one. By the time school was over, all the snow had melted and the roads were clear. But what an adventure! Of course, Sunshine told me to try going down the slippery hill backwards. That would be fun, he said.


And here are a few random pictures of deer that have been in our back yard. We've seen them a few times poking around for food in the garden or on the bushes.
Now that the snow is melting we have discovered piles of poop around the whole yard!

Works for me!

While my 3 kids are in the next room vegging out from all throwing up this morning, I thought I would post some things that work for me. Ya know, some tricks of the trade I've learned.

Remember when we went through Sugar Detox and didn't eat sweets for a week? Turned out to be a good thing for our family. So now we have treats on Sundays and Mondays and no sweets during the rest of the week. There are exceptions for treats at school or special occasions, but for the most part, we are sweet-free. It's not too bad actually! We now have popcorn at night after dinner, and the kids love it.

And my new favorite jeans! Now that I'm 24 weeks, these are so comfortable that I wear them every day except laundry day. Seriously. The "Secret Fit" panel is like a giant spandex band that goes all the way around, with no tight elastic at the top. My mom-in-law found them at Kohl's and I have worn them all the time since Christmas!

And these are something else I wear almost every day... support socks (for the lovely vericose veins popping up on my legs) and $5 crock shoes from Wally World (=Wal-Mart). I was wearing red crocks every day until I found these normal-looking shoes. I just don't want to bend over anymore to put on shoes. Sometimes I wear them around the house when my feet hurt.

I put a gallon-sized ziploc bag into my diaper bag for miscellaneous trash and wrappers. That thing really gets used during church... and makes a great place to stash a nasty diaper when we're out.

And my new favorite place! DinnerMarket makes fresh meals that they then freeze and deliver to your house. It works out to be $11 per dinner for us. With the time I've put in for accounting and taxes lately (not to mention the kids), it's so nice to pull a dinner out of the freezer when we need it.

Sledding!

***First a note to all Spaghetti Factory lovers: Tomorrow is the last day of their 40th Anniversary celebration, which includes 40% off many of their entrees. Their adult meals are about $5 and kids meals are around $2 and all meals include ice-cream.
Anyway, back to sledding. We had a favorite spot up on the mountain by Cedar Hills, but this year they had it all blocked off. Well, I guess it did go over a tiny part of the golf course... so we ended up at a city park in Lindon.

It was pretty fun. The hills were not too big and the kids even played on the swing set while we were there. Someone had been thoughtful enough to build a jump half way down the hill... about 10 feet in front of a big pole. Let's think things through, people! But Sunshine still managed to get some great air off that jump! Thunder tried to find another steep spot on the hill, and just about cracked his head open to protect Sunshine when they both flew off the sled together.

Cloudburst decided that she wanted to do the monkey bars, even though it was about 15 degrees outside. She tried a few times, cried and got really upset and I told her it was OK to wait until summer! But she had it in her head that she MUST DO THE MONKEYBARS. So she tucked her hands inside her coat to warm them up, took a big breath and scooted across every last bar as fast as she could. I thought she was crazy, but was proud of her for sticking with it!

"Happy Inauguration Day"

We've been talking a lot lately about the President of the United States and how it changes every four years. We practiced saying the word "inauguration" and the kids all recognize President Obama. In fact, they think his name is fun to say. I volunteer at Cloudburst's kindergarten class on Tuesdays (thanks Bethany for helping with Tornado!) and the entire school watched President Obama take the Oath of Office. Pretty neat, considering her school is called the Lincoln Academy. What a marvelous celebration of American democracy.


Today Sunshine walked into preschool and told his teacher "Happy Inauguration Day!" She asked him if he knew what that meant, and he said Barack Obama is the new president. Then she asked what he will do now that he's president. "Make us pay taxes."

Super Reader!

Cloudburst has found a new love. I've seen her with this love at 10:30 at night, in the car, on the couch, in bed, at the store, in the kitchen and on the floor.
She loves reading! She has really taken off with reading in the last few months. Her kindergarten teacher just did assessments and said she was "embarrassed" that she hadn't moved Cloudburst up on her reading level. She put her in the 2nd grade level Take Home Reader books and said she may finish ALL the take home readers that they have for elementary school by the end of the year. So that day we drove to the library and picked out a chapter book called "Junie B. Jones." This is a whole series of books, and the first one is called "The Stupid Smelly Bus." So a concerned Cloudburst said she would whisper one of those words. :-) She is also enrolled in a dance class and will resume gymnastics this week. I figure I need to get her a few more hair bows or something. After all she is surrounded by boys!

These are the boys, playing while Cloudburst is reading on the other couch. Sunshine has been really interested in history lately, asking all about Columbus, President Lincoln and the pilgrims. Those are the stories we tell when we are all in the car on the way to kindergarten. Lately he says he wants to be a baseball player and a doctor when he grows up. That's fine with us! And Tornado has entered the "why" phase of life. He is having real conversations now, and answering questions with real answers. He learning a ton of words and is a big jokester! He'll come in the room and just make a funny face or noise to get everyone to laugh.

Here is Thunder working on a rocket that Sunshine got for Christmas. It was quite the project to get it together, but flew so high and so far that we lost it! He is staying busy in the Bishopric at church and of course at work. He still gets up early every morning to exercise, which I cheer on from the comfort of bed.
And this is me with a new haircut! I got it cut at a friend's house (Marissa Armstrong) and she did great! I've been working on the books for work, and that has been consuming a lot of time. Quarterly taxes are coming up! I've been exercising three times a week and so far my hips have been pretty good. I am now 5 months pregnant and feeling pretty good. Then again, I was at a choir recording for a Jenny Phillips CD, and the producer asked me if I had a few weeks left before I deliver... hmmmmmm. No, 4 months buddy! My cousin Tera said we Ashdown ladies are all blessed with big pregnant bellies. In the scheme of things, not too big a price to pay for these cute little guys we get to take care of.

Little Fish

Snow? Ice? Wind? Blizzards? Slippery roads? Bone-chilling temperatures? Let's go swimming!

No, we were not recently on a flight leaving JFK. With the arrival of #4 approaching soon (well, not THAT soon, I guess... I still have 18 weeks left), I decided that it would be better to do swimming lessons now than wait for summer.
Poor Tornado had to spend most days watching while the bigger kids got to swim, but on the last day I put him in a life jacket and let him play in the shallow section (I watched from the side). Cloudburst and Sunshine also got to play at the end of their lesson. Nothing like a little chlorinated water to add some sunshine to a cold day!

DETOX

During Christmas we had an abundance of treats, candy, sugar, pies, cheesecakes and sweets.... Mmmm doesn't that just sound fabulous? In fact, the kids would wake up in the morning and ask for treats! And wouldn't quit asking until bedtime! And half the time they would find the stash on their own anyway! Great right?

No, no! We are trying to eat healthier now! This week we are ridding ourselves of our addiction to sugar. Really! We have gone since Saturday with no sugary treats at all. And we are eating a ton of fruit. The kids are doing alright. But this is torture for me! I'm prego, I should be able to eat whatever I want! Give me a cookie!

Actually, this is good for me (grrrrrrr). I am usually over the blood sugar limit on my glucose test during pregnancy, so the Doctor will probably restrict my sugar in a few weeks any way. And I must say, fruit is simply delicious. But we have a pack of Rolo's in the pantry that always stares at me when I go in there. I really should get rid of those....

Happy New Year, Baby!

We rang in the new year last night with a family sleep over and having our friends Ryan and Julie M. over today. The kids each have a pull-out couch that they hauled into our room along with blankets and pillows. Then we watched a cartoon Spider-Man marathon until the ball dropped! Well, at least the East coast one... I'm not that crazy! Dad was the first to fall asleep, a side effect of getting in to work early to get out early, and the last crazy one going strong at 11:30? Yes, 2 year-old Tornado. "Turn on Batman mama!" He thinks all superheroes are called Batman. I turned out the lights and he kept climbing on the other kids, coming over to my side of the bed and asking for "more Batman." So he ended up in bed. Ah boys.

Speaking of boys.......

It's a boy!
We took Cloudburst and Sunshine with us to the ultrasound. They both did great. Cloudburst was a bit upset that she's not getting a sister, until the words magically appeared on the screen "I love my sister!" The baby said "Hi" to Sunshine too and they were both amazed that the baby can already "speak English." Thanks to a great ultrasound tech!