Cloud Nine... aka The Avey House

Our house feels like it is shrinking.  It seemed so big when we first moved in.  At 1600 sqft it is significantly bigger than any other "home" we have lived in.  I need to go back and visit our first apartment, if my memory serves me it was like 600 sqft.  McKay slept in the "dining room".  It was cozy to say the least.

Currently our 1600 sq ft is being occupied by 2 adults, 3 teenagers, and 4 children.  Nine.  Nine people all bumping into eachother and fighting over one of the bathrooms (actuallly just 2 teenage girls fight over the bathroom, the rest of us just stay out of their way.) Seth bought 10 half-gallons of milk last week (he thought he was being funny) it lasted less than a week. 

Our extra teenager (besides the "stange" students as Luc likes to call them) is Seth's little brother Tate.  He's 17 and probably the best 17 year old boy I have ever known.  The kids adore him and Luc basically idolizes him.  Seth's parents are out of town for a few weeks so we've inherited him for a bit.  His first day here he walked in and Luc said "Tate, we get to share a room, that means we can snuggle-wuggle!"  Too cute.  Although we have not made him share a bed with Luc.  The 3 kids are all sleeping in one queen bed.  It's hilarious and I need to get some pictures and video of them.  I'm surprised anyone gets any sleep at all.

Anyway, that's our life right now.  It's fun.  My social-butterfly personality lends itself well to a busy, over-crowded house.   That being said I think Seth's parents owe us one child/teenager-free evening when they get back.

On a side-note Nash is getting seriously spoiled by our sweet and amazing "stange" students.  We might be in serious trouble come summer time.  Anyone want to apply for an unpaid baby spoiling internship?

Sweet Little Blessings

Thursday of last week was just one of those days.  I don't even really remember what made it that way.  Lots of little things.  I feel like I should know exactly why I was feeling the way I was feeling but I can't really remember.  I just know that when Seth got home I was DONE!  I made pancakes for dinner because that's what Luc wanted for his birthday but didn't get the day before I'm guessing because that was one of those days too.  But nobody really wanted to eat the pancakes and I was feeling defeated.  Seth said "when do we get a date?"  I looked around at my messy house, my crazy kids, the uneaten meal and replied "probably never." 

I plopped myself down on the couch having no desire to even think about tackling bedtime.  Seth was playing a game on his iPhone and got a phone call, he grumped "ah Christian (his friend who was calling) you just messed up my game" then answered the phone.  I tried to figure out the conversation (because that's what I do, I am shamelessly nosey) but had no idea and couldn't have hoped for what was to come.

Christian was delivering the sweet little blessing that I needed so badly!  He had just been handed 2 tickets (13th row) to the Phoenix Suns game and he was stuck at work so by default (and some act of God I believe) we were the lucky couple!  Thanks to Christian, our exchange students (aka last minute babysitters) and sweet children who jumped in jammies and got ready for bed lickity split, we got to enjoy a perfect impromptu date!  And Nash got to attend his 3rd professional sporting event in his short little life.

No time for make-up or cute hair but it didn't matter!

Luc-ee Ba-Duke-ee

Four Things I Love about Luc

(on his 4th birthday)



1. He is super-duper cute.  He has this way of shaping is upper lip like a turtle and it used to drive me nuts because it looked nerdy, now it's just Luc and I love it.
2. He is quick to say I love you.  He has night terrors and I know that if I can just get him to respond to me saying I love you Luc than he's woken up enough to go back to sleep and be ok. 
3. He loves his little brother.  (and his sisters but mostly his little brother!)
4. He wears cowboy boots and shorts.  Or rain boots and shorts.  Its adorable.  Totally nerdy but so cute.

SLEEP...

Nash is cute.  Super super cute.  He's fun.  He's a joy to have in our home.  Nash however is NOT a good sleeper.  In fact he is a crappy sleeper.  From about 3-6 months he was pretty good.  He would wake up once in the middle of the night, eat for about 5 minutes and go right back to sleep.  That I could deal with.  

Up at 1:30, 3:30 and 5:45 I cannot deal with.  And when he wakes up he wants to be fed for at least 15 minutes, then you have to stand up and hold him and he might go back in his crib asleep IF we're lucky and lay him down just right.  *We have tried making him cry it out.  Actually we are still trying but he's not catching on.  When we lay him down for the first time at night he does great, cries for 15 minutes at the very most and then goes to sleep.  Not so much in the middle of the night.  He screams for-ev-er!    Not sure what to try next. 

All of this was just to say one thing.  I'm tired.  And when I'm tired I'm grumpy.  And when I'm grumpy it seems the whole family is a bit grumpy.  So if you were thinking of just popping in for a visit... you've been warned.



*We = Seth and I.  Let's give credit where credit is due.  Seth is up just as much sometimes more than me.  If it weren't for him I would be in my bed crying in the fetal position.

BuSy BUsY bUsY!

My life has gotten seriously busy lately.  And not like I-have-4-little-kids-and-have-to-clean-up-all-day-and-night-to-keep-up busy, but like I-don't-even-have-time-to-clean-up-because-I've-been-running-around-like-a-crazy-lady-since-9am busy.

Is this what life with 6 kids is like?  Because if it is, it's exhausting and I love it.  My house is not "loving" it quite so much and I am about a week behind on laundry at all times but if I'm never home to have to look at it then it's all good.  I am a super social person (for those who have some how missed that part of my personality.)  I love being busy, I love having somewhere to go and things to do.  And I've found that being this occupied has helped me truly appreciate the quiet moments when I can just sit and hold Nash and read my scriptures or listen to a conference talk (and sometimes if I'm lucky doze off for a few blissful minutes.)

So why so busy you ask?  Well 2 teenage girls can really fill in those empty slots on my calendar.  This is our first time having girl exchange students ("the teenagers" as Luc likes to call them) and it is a whole new world.  It's been a great experience and we've bonded with them already (girls are more emotional and I think that lends to a quicker attachment maybe).  But they also need to go shopping and need to have sports physicals and need a new phone and need to go shopping some more.  You get the picture.  BUT they also tend children very well.  Which makes my busy life a little less hectic at times.  It makes it possible to run to the store with only 2 children instead of 4 and allows for sweet little moments like going on a quick jog with Seth.  So busy is ok. 

This week's busy has meant dr's appointments.  Too many dr's appointments.  I can do without that type of busy for a while.  It's the hurry up and get to an appointment so I can sit and wait that drives me nuts.  On Monday we found out that Nash has a bit of an egg allergy (which he will hopefully grow out of) and Luc has asthma.  Ugh.  One of the kids was bound to have asthma with our family history but with an almost 4 yr old it's scary, annoying, expensive and quite frankly a bit of a pain in the kiester.  But I feel blessed that we have insurance and were able to diagnose it before anything too scary happened. 

And to add to the busy I have been able to start tutoring Spanish.  Just one sweet girl and just once or twice a week but I love it.  It's been a long time since I've been able to "practice" my Spanish and it feels good to help someone out.  No big deal that we need to get through 2 semesters of Spanish in 4 months so she can graduate.  Sounds a lot like someone else I know.  (me) 

So after all that here is a super quick synopsis on the rest of my life/family:

McKay is doing awesome in school.  She amazes me with her reading (and even more since I don't feel like we do nearly enough to help her at home.)  She's playing soccer and has scored a few goals this season.  They are undefeated and having a blast.

Kimball got glasses a couple weeks ago.  They are adorable and she has been really good about wearing them.  Most of the time.  She's playing soccer too and has a lot of fun.  We are trying to teach her to use a little bit of the aggression she has at home with her siblings on the the field but she'd rather dance around and look cute out there.  (also sounds like some else I know.)

Luc is working hard on mastering Mario Kart and begs me about 12 times a day to play with him.  It's a good thing he has preschool. 

Nash is all over the place.  Not walking yet but working on it.  I'm trying not to encourage it because I know how crazy life gets when they start walking.  As I type he is under the computer desk trying to pull the keyboard off and unplug all the cords.  Time to be done.

This has turned into a novel for goodness sakes.  That's what happens when Luc has a friend over to play Mario Kart with him.  I can sit for 20 minutes.  Now its off to pick up "the teenagers".