Kid Infestation!

Since Friday until today (24 hours a day) we have had at least 8 kids and as many as 18 kids! Dayv's brother, Gareth and Tasha came from Missouri on Thursday night to see Gareth's kids who live here in Salt Lake. The kid's just came here and stayed until Gareth and Tasha had to leave to go back home. Friday night we had a family party with Michael, Christy and family. We had dinner. The kids then took turns singing Christmas solos and we all sang some Christmas songs together. Tasha also made balloon animals for the kids which is always a HUGE hit! On Saturday night we had another family party and added Dayv's sister Toni and family. Then on Sunday night we watched some friend's of ours 4 children. Needless to say it's been a little crazy around here! It has been fun though. And of course our kids have had a blast with all the cousins around!

The Extent of my Creativity

I was trying to think of some creative, low-cost, stocking stuffers that I could make for the kids. An idea came to me for Carson. He has a lot of trouble with aches in his arms and legs and frequently has a "heating sock" at night. So, my idea was to make him one of those that was more than just a sock. As I was trying to come up with some other ideas for Tahirah and Noah I came across these patterns for little "cuddle pillows". They were made out of felt (which I already had tons of) and there were three different patterns. As my creative juices got flowing I came up with the idea to use the three patterns and then intead of just stuffing them, like the instructions say, I decided to make two rice packs to go inside them. One for heat and one to leave in the freezer for owies and put velcro on the bottom of the pillows to keep the rice packs inside. I have THE WORLD'S GREATEST sister in law (and NOT only for this reason) who agreed to help me by sewing them (since I don't sew). I am very happy with how they turned out and am so excited to give them to my kids!
I'm sure you can guess which one is Tahirah's. Carson's is the red one and Noah's is the green one.

An Update! (Finally...)

I know you've all been impatiently waiting for this. My life is just so exciting you can hardly handle my absence for more than a couple of days. So, here it is...an update!

Thanksgiving was yummy as usual. Some of Dayv's family was in town including his parents which was exciting. I've been keeping extremely busy. I'll be so glad when this month is over. Why can't I ever just sit back and enjoy this month?

I had another prenatal appointment today. I gained entirely too much weight again and am feeling rather frustrated by it because I have actually tried really hard this month NOT too. I have even taken up exercising (besides all the exercising I do taking care of three children). I am also still measuring big. So, I may actually be giving birth to an 11-12 pound baby in a few months here. Wish me luck! Oh! And Dayv and I have FINALLY come up with a name. YEA!!! Landon Gary Van Orman (Gary is my Dad's name).

Here are some random pics that I've taken over this past month just for fun and because I just have really cute kids.

This first picture is one of my twins born 4 years apart. I can't believe how much Carson and Noah look alike.

We took the kids to the Aquarium thanks to a friend of mine who gave us VIP tickets that got us all in for FREE. Can't beat that. Ever since we went the kids have been asking to go again. It's pretty expensive so they might have to wait awhile. This next picture is the three kids in front of one of the tanks.
This last picture is one I just love. Noah loves that little bear he is holding and one of his favorite things to do is have you read to him. So, here he is with one of his favorite people in the whole world, his dad, being read to.

Happy Birthday to Me

Here I am another year older. Yesterday was my birthday. Nothing too exciting. It rained or rather poured all day long and my husband left for Vernal (work) for the week at 3 am that morning. He ordered my birthday present online and I got it last friday. It was a big, puffy, soft robe from Bath and Body Works...I LOVE IT! It even has a hood. I have been snuggled up in it every morning and night. My mom came down last week and gave me a picture frame with a violin in it, kind of like a shadow box, very cool! And my sister-in-law, Christy and her family gave me a gift card to Mimi's (one of my favorite restaurants). Dayv and I will defiantly have to use that this Saturday (provided he doesn't have to work again). He ended up working last Saturday so we haven't been able to do anything for my birthday yet. It's been getting harder to be without him monday-friday (sometimes saturday). I cried yesterday morning when he left. The money has been nice to get caught up on things but I miss him. I know I'm not in the worst position, I'm not a widow nor is my husband overseas in the military and for that I am grateful.

I had another prenatal appointment today. Our baby boy was jumping around so much Pete (my CNM) had a hard time getting a read on his heartbeat. He seems to be more active than I remember any of my other ones being so I might be in trouble after he's born! We still don't have a name picked out. Dayv really likes Abram and I like Tanner. We've also talked about Landon. His middle name will be Leon after my Dad and Grandpa. So, what do you guys like?? Any other suggestions?

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

When the kids and I awoke this morning we found it had snowed overnight. The kids were so excited and immediately after breakfast put on their snow gear and headed outside to play in it. Noah kept running to our front window and yelling "SNOW, SNOW!" It continued to snow all day. Carson played in the snow again at school and then came home and went out in it again with Tahirah! They just couldn't get enough of it. Noah wanted to play in it but hated it when it got all over his gloves and then hated it even more when he decided to take off his gloves! Apparently, we got so much snow because of the lake effect.

Happy Halloween!

I know this is a little late but I wanted to post pictures of my kids on Halloween. We actually had a theme going on this year. Carson had told me he wanted to be a knight and Tahirah said she wanted to be a princess (Cinderella to be exact!). So, I decided to keep with the theme that they had already set and made Noah a dragon (it helped that we already had a costume available for him too!). Dayv was, of course, working in Vernal and did not get home until Friday night so the kids and I drove up to my parents and spent Halloween with them. Lewiston, my parents hometown, has a trunk-or-treat in the church parking lot and then everybody heads over for the annual Halloween carnival. You buy dinner and then the kids can play carnival games. My kids were getting a little tired and cranky by that point so Carson and Tahirah each played a couple of games each and then we went to my parents house and spent the night. This was the first year that Noah got to enjoy his candy and he was just mesmerized by all the strange creatures walking around, not getting scared once. Tahirah on the other hand was scared of anyone remotely scary looking and would not even go up to them for candy. I also saw one of the coolest costumes while in Lewiston. There was someone dressed up as the Headless Horseman. He was on a real black horse, dressed in the appropriate attire with no head and a pumpkin in his hand. It was pretty scary looking in the dark. I wish I could of gotten a picture. It was pretty cool.

New Church Calling

Dayv and I recently received new church callings. Dayv was called and set apart last sunday as the ward Athletic Cordinator. I haven't been "officially" set apart yet but I'm suppose to start this Sunday so I figured I could let the cat out of the bag as I do have a couple of readers in my ward. I have been called as the new Primary Chorister! I was a little taken back at first as it was totally unexpected. I was thinking more along the lines of activities committee or something like that. I can't sing worth anything but I have always loved children songs and one of my favorite things to do is sing with my kids. I have become a little overwhelmed with this calling as I have since joined a primary music leader yahoo group, looked at sugardoodle.net and now have a couple of primary chorister blogs on my list since I got the calling. There are SO MANY ideas out there! It's now not a matter of what should I do but WHICH ONE should I do!! I don't want to overwhelm the kids with too many new things at one time either. Anyway, I'm both excited and scared but I know the Lord will guide me through!