East Coast Pratts

New Blog

2010-01-15T14:48:00.002-05:00

I've started a new blog, it seemed like a great way to close the east coast chapter of our lives. Our new blog is ourprattpack.blogspot.com. It's still a work in progress but my hope is to move on and keep it up to date while still playing catch up on here!

Saying Goodbye

2009-09-15T19:40:00.001-05:00

Saying goodbye to all our friends was so hard for me. I loved our friends, our ward , our neighbors, our place. Our friends the Walshs had us over for one of our last meals in Va it was kind of ironic since they were also the first family in the ward to invite us to dinner when we moved into the ward. Our other friends the Sharps were there too so it was good to get some pictures of all the kids together one last time. Although leaving was hard and I started to cry once we hit the van.

Emily and I

One Last Wii Game

Todd and Patrick
Mia and KapriceAwe Mia and Andrew... Who knows maybe they'll meet up again someday at BYU
Or maybe these two...

The Girls saying Goodbye to their favorite Babysitter Renee

We couldn't leave without saying goodbye to the Garbage Men. Boston ran out every Friday to greet them.
Alana and Alexa our awesome neighbors/ dinner buddies, stopped by to give pictures to Kya of her walking the Poodles

Sassy saying goodbye to her best friends Lacey Anne and Oliver

So many people came to help us clean, pack, watch kids, haul away trash and load up the truck we made some really great friends in VA and they will be missed a TON!! Thank You EVERYONE!!

Crazy Fall- Part 1

2009-09-14T13:47:00.009-05:00

Our Fall was fast and furious and stressful and crazy and depressing and fun all in one. So here's the condensed version....

By the end of August we realized that money was running out and we couldn't wait around in Virginia for Todd's job offer anymore. So with in a week we packed up the house and headed back West. Thankfully some friends of ours were headed East and they took over the remainder of our lease. It was really hard for me to leave. I felt like it was the first time we had met friends outside of school in an area where we thought we would be for a long time and I was really upset to leave them behind. But we really had no other options especially with the economy the way it was we had half our ward and our neighbors trying to find us a job so we could stay but the jobs just weren't there.

The Drive-

We left really late around midnight the first night by 2:30am I was done so we pulled into a truck stop to snooze, after 2 hours of Kaprice climbing all over me I figured I'm awake now we might as well drive, so I woke up Todd and we drove off. Not an hour later my cell rings and Todd is now falling asleep so we pulled into a Lowes in West Virginia and slept a good 3 hours. Had a little BK for breakfast and stopped into Sears to get a Headlight replaced on the Van and we were off again. We decided that we would drive until 6pm and then stop at a Hotel with a pool to give the kids a break.

We continued to follow Pratt tradition and stop at every Cabela's along the way. The one in West Virginia was HUGE and it had a whole Safari section and a laser shooting range which we had never seen before.

Boston excited to see "Boog"

Reece not so excited

Everyone took turns but Kya was an amazing shot. We ended the day in Indiana, grabbed some KFC found a dog friendly hotel with a pool and set up camp. The pool was AWESOME it felt like a hot tub, the kids had a blast and Kya swam up and back the entire pool without any floaties, she was very excited and we were very proud. Everything seemed great until we tried to go to bed. The kids were wide awake, there was shredded biscuit all over the place Todd stepped on a BBQ sauce packet which shot everywhere, Todd and I had Zero patience because we were exhausted. We finally got everyone asleep and then had to wake up pack everything back up and hit the road.By the time we loaded up, paid the bill, and got on the road later than I would have liked, we agreed we might as well push through and get this over with. Mind you the kids were PERFECT in the car, they were either sleeping, watching a movie, coloring or eating, they never complained it was so nice.

Somewhere in Nebraska where we ate breakfast and heard everyone's life story. Seriously every old person came and sat and talked with us at one point.
We stopped at some really nice rest stops and made sandwiches along the way, one even had a HUGE really nice playground with a soft squishy ground that even Reece could crawl around on. Kya felt sick a few times but we just kept her loaded up on Dramamine and she was fine. So the day we left the hotel was a 16 1/2 hr day of driving before a 4 hr nap at a truck stop followed by a 18 1/2 hour day of driving and we finally made it to UTAH! Coming over into the mountains in Utah was a nightmare it was so dark and FYI I can' t see at night and almost never drive anywhere at night. Trucks were flying past me I thought I was going to die, I was crying Todd was way ahead in the moving truck I just kept thinking I'm gonna wreck or the van will die and Todd will have no clue where we are, we had no phone coverage for most of it and to make matters worse I had no idea where we were going. Luckily I was able to catch back up with Todd and we headed for Uncle Bobby's House.
Our visit in Utah was short but it was nice to break up the trip a little bit. We were able to catch up with family and see how huge our Nephews had gotten since we last saw them and even had time to run over and see our friends Pete and Taylor from law school. The cousins had a blast outside digging in the sand, Sassy had fun with her doggy cousins, and Kya got skateboading lessons from her long lost bud PJ.

After our 2 nights in Utah it was off to Uncle Danny's house in Nyssa, OR. It was Danny's birthday and they had wanted to go to a burger place in Boise that had been on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, so we met them in Boise and then followed them home. Our visit there was so great. We were able to see their house they had bought for the first time and see our Little Niece Lauren which we hadn't seen, who's only a few monthes older than Kaprice. Todd and Danny took the boys to a Nyssa High football game and then the next night we all went to the Drive-In movie. The kids were falling apart so Jordan and I loaded them all in the van and left after the first movie leaving the boys to see the 2nd. After sacrament we headed out onto our last leg of our journey. Home to Eugene, OR.

This leg went fairly smooth until the end where shortly after leaving Bend our GPS sent us out in the boonies to go up a windy road that our 26ft truck with car trailer in tow could barley even fit and couldn't turn without taking up both lanes. Next comes the torrential downpour (Welcome to OR) we could barely see and all I can see is the back of the trailer bouncing off the side of the mountain or off the guardrail of a cliff. We finally make it into Thurston and I call Todd because the water is coming of the trailer weird so I pull up next to him at the light and sure enough we have a blow out. Luckily I went to school out here for a few yrs and new the area so we pulled down the next street and pulled into the LDS Church parking lot. Are you kidding me we're a whole 10min from my parents house and stuck. So I left Todd to call Penske and drove to my parents house. Now we have to send out 2 drivers one to drive the extra driver for our car and one to drive the car out home and Todd can drive the truck. So my Sister Kelsie drives my Dad and I out. Penske said we could just dump the trailer and they would come pick it up so we unload our car and Todd garbs the truck and we all head back to Juju and Papa's house.

August Happenings

2009-08-27T16:09:00.004-05:00

Herndon had a really cool Trucks show for kids, it was really great. We went there and they had hard hats for all the kids. The kids loved getting to climb into all the trucks and equipment. Their favorite part was getting to use the siren on the Police Raid Truck and the demonstrations of the diggers and bobcats. And of course Firetrucks are always a hit!

Boston thought driving the raid truck was much better than riding in the back...

Riding in the back
This one is for Papa

We also kept a pet turtle for about week. While Todd was away in California interviewing we found a turtle in our backyard. I could not figure out why Sassy would not stop barking and then I finally went to investigate and there he was "Speedy". Of course we had to keep him until Daddy came home so luckily our house has so many bathrooms we had a bath tub to spare. This was our second "Pet" found at our house. We also found a frog in the garage that lived in a cookie for a few days. Kya made sure to feed her turtle veggies and take him out for fresh air a few times a day. When it was all said and done we snuck him over to our neighbors back yard and set him free.

Poop

2009-08-20T19:51:00.000-05:00

Well I guess I can't make it at least one year without a poop blog. Like my life wasn't crazy enough with trying to pack up a HUGE house with a Husband who's M. I. A. interviewing and what not, but then I also get to clean messes like this.

I walked into Kaprice's room and the smell hit me right off the bat. We're talking ALL over the room. I didn't even know a baby could produce enough poop to make a mess that bad. All over the carpet, the door, the walls, her bed, bedding, blankets, the air mattress, not to mention her face and body. She'll never go to bed without pants on again... makes the diaper too accessible!

I'm Really Sorry Mom

Just Kidding

Juju and Papa come to Virginia

2009-08-19T11:47:00.008-05:00

Right after Todd got back from taking the bar my parents flew in. This is the first time my Dad has come to see us so I was REALLY excited! The first thing we did was head out to Home Depot so the kids could do a workshop with Papa. We were planning on heading down to Six Flags but then my Dad was acting weird and we thought he might of had a baby heart attack so we kept it local instead. So we went to the Watermine a local little water park it was a blast. Kaprice would not get out of the water and we were there for like 7 hours. Kya went down their biggest slide I was so proud of her and Mia was a little water dog. Boston had fun too but insisted he go down on his belly on all the slides. The next day we went to the Zoo another fun day at the Zoo and it was pretty dang hot. We also went to the mall so Papa could ride the train with the kiddos and we got to see the chick-fil-a cow so the kids thought that was cool, and after a near death experience on the escalator with Mia, we had lunch and went home but not before piercing Reece's Ears. I know 3yrs old was my rule but everyone kept telling me how much she looked like Boston and I couldn't handle it anymore, not to mention my kids are tougher when they are younger it's the older they get the bigger wieners they become. So anyways she looks stinkin cute and I wish I would have done the other girls earlier too.

So I had my Mom smuggle some freezer jam across the country because her raspberry is my favorite. And after 4 days my Dad had eaten at least half the container I flipped out so my Mom sent Todd and I out to get raspberries and we brought back 3 times what we needed... Yeah for us we'll have jam forever! The kids had fun helping Juju make the jam and squishing the berries. After all the crazy running around we even managed to squeeze in a little Grandparent Photoshoot.

Kaprice Gets a Big Girl Bed!

2009-07-30T21:29:00.000-05:00

After watching my 9mo old try to flip herself out of her crib and use monkey toe grip to climb the bars., I decided it was time for a Big Girl Bed. She loves it! She sleeps fine in it and feels so big.

Kya is a Youtube addict

2009-07-15T10:15:00.005-05:00

Ok so we knew Kya had a gift when she could log onto the internet and check the weather before she was 3, by 4 she's surfing all the preschool gaming sites so what did age 5 bring... I found her on youtube looking up videos, mind you she's done all this without parental help, she's even picked up some German by singing to videos. These are some of her favorite videos...

4th of July Week of FUN!

2009-07-06T14:16:00.006-05:00

These last few days have been a blast. It started Thursday when Emily and I took the kids to the Zoo. They lasted 5 hours it was crazy we got to see a lot. The weather was perfect and the kids loved getting soaked in the misters. Friday was pretty quiet I was still recouping from the Zoo trip but we did manage a trip to the park after getting to the library only to find out it was closed. Saturday started early with an 8am Breakfast in the church parking lot. It was so much fun the food was good and they had lots of activities for the kids including a giant sling shot for water balloons and a rocket launcher that launched 2 Liters with water in them and let's not forget Boston's favorite the Firemen with their Big Truck. After the breakfast we swung by Home Depot so the girls could make their monthly project a picnic caddy which was great because I used them later that night for our BBQ. After home Depot it was naptime, followed by a Gorilla Glue incident I'll explain later but just know you should always read the label before using and wear gloves! We ended the evening with a small BBQ with the neighbors and some friends. Than we had smores and went out front for fireworks. I had gotten the kids glow stick braclets which I have to say was the hit of the night. Next year forget spending money on the fireworks I'll just hit up the dollar tree again for more glow sticks!

Buddies at the Zoo

Baby Mia was chilling in her stroller so she missed this shot
Kya thought driving the truck was pretty coolBoston's Heaven
Our little Patriots

These two were eyeing the brownies
Getting the fire ready for Smores
Yummy Smores
Um I'll take that
Back off Kaprice

Our Neighbors The McCubbins

Getting ready for the fireworks

We ended our weekend of fun with a visit with some friends from Law School today the girls were really escited and it was a great visit Thanks Janalee!

Short Stories of June

2009-06-29T18:31:00.010-05:00

The Library where we go to story time had a kick off to Summer Reading Party (Which I thought ended up being pretty lame), but the kids thought "Dora" was cool and Boston was deathly afraid of the Library's Mascot "Dewey the Fox" at which Boston screamed bloody murder "No Swiper No" every time he stepped in the room.

The Library also has a great playground. Kya wanted all three kids to slide down at the same time.

I think Boston just wanted the girls to leave so he could go down the big slide!

Kya's always been a Monkey

Boston and Mia were having a Strongman Competition

His faces were cracking me up

Oh yeah now I feel the burn

Kaprice has recently shown an interest in helping with the household chores

Boston decided to turn on the blender without the lid,while Daddy was making a smoothie.

While on the computer the other day I kept hearing this weird slurping sound only to find Boston on the stairs digging out handfuls of frosting and licking it up.

Kaprice is also enjoying the fact that she can now pull herself up on the easels and reach the crayons and markers

Surprise!- It's Boston getting caught eating something... this time it was a full pack of gum

I think the highlight of June for the kids was our backyard campout, they were so excited and Kya did an awesome job helping me set up the tent, 1 more yr and I bet she could do it by herself!

Kya's 5!

2009-06-08T12:37:00.007-05:00

Kya had a Princess/ Hannah Montana/ Pool Party this year for her 5th Birthday. I can't believe she's five already!! She had some girls from Church over, we played on the trampoline, sprinkler and in the pool. They we're really excited to hit the Princess Crown pinata that Mimi supplied us with before she left. Kya had a great time. She especially loved her guitar cake!

I'll be beefing this post up later on but was feeling the guilt for not posting about her birthday yet so enjoy.

Zoe,Mia, Kya, Hailey, Caroline, Boston and Evelyn sitting down

Kya's Princess Hair for the day

All things Kya...
~She is such a mother and always chips in
~She is always dancing and singing
~She learned to ride a bike and then 2 days later had the training wheels off
~ She's always covered in bruises
~She makes the silliest faces
~She is a blanky girl and sleeps with it over her face even in 100 degrees
~ She always mimics Todd's voicemail message from his cell phone it goes something like this " Hey this is Todd Pratt sorry I missed your phone call" and then she busts up laughing
~ She loves to read

Busted

2009-06-01T12:30:00.000-05:00

About a week ago Miss Kaprice was caught while trying to flip herself out of her crib. Mind you at this point she hadn't even pushed herself into the sitting position before. But apparently she's a pro and pulling herself up because when I knocked her down she was back up in no time!

Summertime

2009-05-29T12:21:00.000-05:00

Summer is here which means lots of this...

Followed by lots of this...

Gpa and Mimi

2009-05-26T16:50:00.007-05:00

Hurray a visit from Mimi and Gpa!! We had so much fun while they were here and they got to see a TON of stuff, some of which included Gettysburg, The Mall in DC ( Monuments and Museums) and the National Zoo. Unfortunately we used Gpa's camera most of the time and we didn't know it was on the wrong setting until I went to upload all the extremely overexposed pictures the best part is that the only pictures to turn out were these two...

We even got the chance to go the the Temple finally!!

And there was lots of Loves from Mimi!

And Lots of Walks with Mimi

These are the lovely crowns that were made at FHE, Todd drew Mimi's name and I had Gpa's

We found this Cafe when we first moved here and didn't think it would be right to eat there without Mimi, so we finally got to go there!!

We had so much fun we almost forgot to get a shot with all the grandkids! Notice the Caterpillar on Kya's arm she's become obsessed in spite of her fear of bugs.
We also caught a frog one night

Boston especially loved his Gpa time. He thought he was just the coolest!!

Thanks for the GREAT VISIT we hope you can come back soon!!

Oh Boston

2009-05-15T20:15:00.007-05:00

This is how we found Boston the other morning.

This is what I found after a huge Chocolate craving I finally found a bag of Oreos only to open it and find it full of these Oreos put back together without creme Boston's specialty... Punk!

Boston also had his 2 yr check up this week and the results were:
Height 32 lbs (75-90%)
Weight 36" (90%)
Head 51.5 cm? I never know what measurement they use for that

Boston also went for a blood draw and was so into the whole thing he never made a peep just watched, Todd said he was waiting for him to start drooling he was so out of it. Then he ran in the house and ripped off his band aide and kept pointing to his arm saying juice juice. He was so excited to find out he was full of Juice I guess!

7 mos!

2009-05-05T13:46:00.005-05:00

So Kaprice had her 7mos check up today... I know I know usually it's a 6mos but since we've moved to VA we've had the worst luck finding a Dr. and finally found one last week so now it's time for Kaprice to catch up on some shots.
Her Stats...
weight: 15lbs 14.5oz (25%)
length: 26" (50%)
Head was 50%, 43 but not sure what unit they used

Other things Kaprice can do...
She can sit by herself pretty well
She can log roll with the best of them
at 4mos she started pushing herself across the carpet with her legs
at 6mos she was full on moving across the hardwood in an army crawl
She's mastered the fake cry to the point where she laughs when you pick her up
She can hold her own bottle
She's a non-stop babbler

Happy Birthday Boston!

2009-04-29T21:15:00.012-05:00

Happy Birthday Buddy!!

Our big boy turned two today! I can't believe it, time has flown by. I was going to have a big party but with being sick for 2 weeks and then recovering I just didn't have the time to pull anything together. He had a good day though, he got a Spiderman scooter which he loves, a giant baseball from Kya, tools from Kaprice and a lightning McQueen from Mia. Mia and I went to the store at 6:30am to get cake mix and a balloon. Boston spent all morning following me around with a box of cake mix yelling " CAKE CAKE" and then blowing like he was blowing out candles, it was pretty funny. He was also excited to eat his " Mack" pancakes for breakfast ( I used my semi truck cookie cutter), we also threw in some cars and an airplane. For dinner we went to Burger King so the kids could play since it had rained all day. We had a great surprise when we saw our friends The Sharps there ( the ones that have 4 kids the same ages as ours), the kids had a blast running around. Worn out from playing we came home to have some cake when Juju called on the webcam so we pulled the kids table in front of the computer and they got to help sing Happy Birthday to Boston it was so cool.

My Favorite Boston Things
- That after everything he went through as a baby he is now a healthy BIG boy
-The way he says thank you
- The way he always bites his tongue before he attacks you
- Watching him jump on the trampoline
- The way his eyes light up when he sees Kaprice
- Sucking his finger with blanky in hand
- Watching him watch Meerkat Manner ( his new favorite show) with Marley( his Meerkat he got at the Zoo)
- How he always reminds us to bless the food
- His early Amens
-When I was sick he would climb into bed with me and just sit next to me with his hand on my back it was so sweet
- How he always tries to fix things when his sisters get upset
- How he loves to do laundry with me and unload the silverware from the dishwasher
- Watching him snuggle his best friend Sassy
- And all those hugs and kisses
- When he brings me 2 jammie bottoms instead of a top and bottoms and then gets mad that I can't make it work

Aunti Tanti

2009-04-28T11:10:00.003-05:00

A couple of weeks ago my Aunt Tammy who Mia has renamed Aunti Tanti came out with my cousin Brianna for a visit. We had so much fun. Unfortunately we took the majority of the pictures on her camera and time flew by so fast I forgot to steal them. But I did snap a few. Having Tammy here was so great, she was a great help with the kids, she cleaned my kitchen everyday, and kept us well fed! One day she took Kya and Brianna into DC on the metro, Kya was so excited, we didn't think Mia would make the trip without a meltdown so we set up an art project outside to keep her busy. I think the favorite part of the trip was the Zoo. Brianna loves Pandas and we got to see the Orangatangs out on the O-line ( cables that run over the walk ways that they can hang from) right above us! And then on their last day we had a girls trip to go see The Hannah Montanna Movie the girls looked so cute in their Hannah shirts.

Easter

2009-04-17T19:53:00.000-05:00

So Kya felt that the night before Easter we should leave a trail of carrots outside so the Easter Bunny could find our house.

Unfortunately Boston was following behind her

It all worked out in the end
Boston ready to dye some eggsReally ready

Who doesn't like 8am pics before church

Classic Pratt Kid faces

Killing each other to get out the door

And they're off

I don't know why we even bought Easter outfits, good thing we took morning pics

Home Depot

2009-04-15T16:53:00.001-05:00

So the weekend of Conference we took advantage of the fact that we live on the East coast and conference doesn't start until the afternoon and I took the girls to home depot so they could make birdhouses. Kya has been so obsessed with bird watching lately so it was the perfect project for her and even better she made 100% on her own the people working couldn't believe it.

UGH!

2009-04-14T16:54:00.005-05:00

Ok so some of you already know but for journaling sake here it goes. Last Monday I got this cramping in my lower abdomen and by the afternoon I had added the worst back pain on top of that. It was so painful that every time it would hit I would throw up so finally Todd got home around 7pm and we called our neighbors down the street to come watch the kids while we went to the ER. After a CT scan they diagnosed me with kidney stones, gave me some heavy duty painkillers and a follow up with a surgeon for Thursday. So I was stuck to my bed I couldn't even roll over without severe pain even with the meds, Todd got up every morning did diapers and breakfast and then Kya bless her heart made PBJ everyday for all the kids for lunch. By Wednesday night word had got out in the ward so 2 friends came over one to drive me and one to watch the kids. I get to my appt. still clinging to the barf bowl I've been carrying around all week just to hear him say it's not kidney stones. I have stones but too small to be causing all of this so he sent me back to the ER. I had a complete melt down in his office here my kids and I had suffered all week with the thought that this would all soon be over and now I had to start all over. So now I have an ultrasound and some antibiotics and they send me home saying cyst in both ovaries andn an appt. with a GYN on Monday. Friday Rachel who had watched the kids for the first ER visit came over for the late morning / lunch shift and then 2 sisters from the young womens came for a few hours in the late afternoon. It was awesome to have so much help and the girls fell in love with the " Big Girls", even Kaprice who always wants her Mommy tried to backflip out of my arms to get back to one of them. We also got a special surprise from their Mom when she came to pick them up she brought us the cutest bunny cake. Friday night I was still feeling pretty crappy so we called the Elders Chorum pres. over to help with a blessing and then Sat. I woke up and haven't taken pain meds since. I still feel sore and tired and if I over do it I pay for it but my Aunt flies in tomorrow to help out so that's exciting. Oh and Monday I went to the GYN and she said it wasn't cysts so how about that no one knows but I'm much better now so thanks to everyone for all the help especially Julie and Becca who came and cleaned my house today and " The Big Girls" for helping out again today. WE HAVE THE BEST WARD AND THE BEST FRIENDS EVER!

So I told Julie I was going to be stealing her "Big Girls" this summer and using them a lot. One reason would be when they leave I shortly there after find the girls like this...

Today when the "Big Girls" were putting their shoes on to leave, Mia came running over so sad and said Mommy I miss them.

Hurray For Spring!

2009-04-02T08:28:00.005-05:00

Spring has brought a lot of outside time for my kids. Todd helped a lady in our ward move some stuff 2 weeks ago and in turn she gave us her trampoline so the girls have been on that none stop! And last week my friend Julia in our ward called to invite us to go to this farm that was literally up the street and I had no idea about it. I didn't get very good pictures because I had Kaprice on my chest and she kept hitting my camera because she was hungry and cold not a good combo. But we had fun and got to see lots of babies. They also had these really cool little metal tractors the kids could play on so I'll get pics of those next time we go.Kya's getting good... hey Dad notice my Squirrel feeder in the background Love IT!

We have the best luck with Peacocks

This picture cracked me up when I got home and looked at it because it reminded me of the first farm trip we went on in NH as a playdate and if the 2 babies would have been in this one that's almost the same amount of kids that were in the old picture and this is just between Julia and I... 8 kids!Checking out the old OuthouseSo Interesting

The Juice Bandit

2009-03-25T16:27:00.002-05:00

Sisters beware the Juice Bandit... this is what happens when you leave the table without finishing your juice!

More Juju

2009-03-18T14:28:00.008-05:00

The Saturday before Juju left we went to the Zoo. It was freezing but it was a lot of fun. They had a members only thing from 8-10am so we got free Krispy Kremes and Hot Chocolate and great parking. We went to see the New Baby Gorilla but by the the Zoo had opened to the public and the Mom and turned away from everyone so you couldn't see her. But I did have anm encounter with an Orangatang it was too funny. My Mom thougth she saw one over in the corner so I walked over to get a closer look and I was like yeah it his and he has a blanket around him, no sooner had I said this when he gave me a dirty look and pulled the blanket over his head and whole body I thought I was going to pee my pants I wish I had had my camcorder on. After the Zoo we took advantage of our new GPS and went to drive by the monuments in d.C. so Mom could catch a glimpse, which she was fine with because she was too cold to walk the Mall.

Here's Kaprice spitting on Juju it's her new thing now

2 of these Monkeys went home with me

Kya thought posing with the statues of animals was the best part

This red panda's name was Tate which happens to be my Dad and Brother's name

I'll Pass

Pretending to Kiss Papa

We got sick of holding her

Yes I'm the lucky one who gets to walk around 100's of people while breastfeeding

A rare photo opp. ( because I'm in it)

The Last Supper
Todd watched the kids so Mom and I could go to Dinner the night before she left.
We had fun and we miss you already you better come back!!

What I miss about New Hampshire

2009-03-18T09:26:00.002-05:00

I have to say lately there has been not much that I miss about New Hampshire besides our good friends, at least until yesterday when I found this in our basement
Mind you are basement is completely finished and serves as a playroom with a guest bedroom attached and a bathroom, so we can't just have gross things running around. This is a House Centipede absolutely disgusting this is an image of a different one sense the real one saw the bottom of my shoe about 3 sec after I saw it. It was HUGE about 3-4in long there was one on google images that a guy was holding and it had to be close to 10-12in. So I would have to say what I miss about NH would be that nothing servives a NH winter and you don't see HUGE bugs like this!!

Happy St. Patty's!!

2009-03-17T08:06:00.003-05:00

So I let the kids pick out their own outfits this year. I wasn't aware the requirements included pink. Mia actually picked her pink pants first which I thought was cute because they really did match her shirt, so then of course Kya had to have pink. Too funny! I actually had a green sweater on Boston but once he saw his Celtics shirt he demanded a wardrobe change.

Juju's HERE!!

2009-03-13T13:11:00.003-05:00

Juju flew in bright and early Tuesday morning and we have been having a blast! Boston got to challenge her in a one on one game of soccer, she took the girls to Toys R Us and emptied the entire play food section for their new kitchen, she even found time to ride the train at the mall with the kids and read with Kaprice.

I Fought the Floor and the Floor Won!

2009-03-03T17:07:00.005-05:00

I don't know how many times I've told Kya to quit running in the house especially since she lives in tights so she can ice skate all over the hardwood floors. Well she finally did it I thought this was definitely going to need a trip to the hospital but it didn't split good thing on a side note as I'm typing this Kya just flipped backwards off the side of the desk and hit the cupboard on the way down, seriously does she have a death wish I don't know about. Here's some pics taken a week after... yea a week it was pretty bad.
Here's a pictures from today nearly 2 and half weeks later we finally found our Arnica pills because the bruise was so deep the gel wasn't cutting it. After 2 days it finally started to break up.

Busted

2009-03-03T17:03:00.003-05:00

Ok I admit it I have a problem... I have a weakness for brownie batter and often have a bowl stashed in the fridge. Boston has obviously taken advantage of this and was caught numerous times sneaking in the fridge... looks like a guilty face to me!

Did anyone else picture this when they saw the pic of Boston?

And Everything in Between

2009-03-03T17:00:00.000-05:00

The last few weeks have been a blur. After Kya's injury I decided to finally take her out on a Mommy Daughter date she had been begging for. We hadn't had one on one that didn't involve errands since 2 wks before Boston was born. She wanted to go to the mall and ride the train and carousel and then go to a restaurant (which is Kya's favorite thing to do). We had a great time we even found some gauchos for $6 at Old Navy so she walked a way with 2 new pairs. We ate at the Macaroni Grill which Kya thought was pretty cool because you could write on the table with crayons. I really enjoyed our special time and can't wait to do it more often.

We were also hit by the PLAGUE! Now mind you I'm glad this was not a barfing diarrhea flu but I did feel like I was going to die none the less and it lasted a whole week. I had a fever for 4 days!! Are you kidding me!! Every bone in my body was aching, my lungs were on fire and then I got the congestion part of it all and couldn't breathe which resulted in an asthma attack at 4am one morning. Luckily the kids did not get it as bad and I'm happy to report that we have conquered this evil in our household.

One day having fun grooming your little sister, the next temp over 100 and watching your siblings play outside. Poor Mia!

And then yesterday we woke up to almost a foot of snow! Mia as usual got all bundled up and as soon as I shut the door cried to come back in, which was fine because Boston has zero snow gear besides a coat. Kya and Boston were outside for hours until Boston fell on his face and his hands were numb so he couldn't get up. Yes that is my son in Pink bibs and boots, whatever don't like it then you can chip in and buy him some bibs and boots!

Valentine's Weekend

2009-02-19T14:13:00.004-05:00

Our weekend was crazy busy. It started off Thursday when I got Roses in the mail from Todd, such a huge surprise! Many of you know my husband hates to spend money and I think everytime I've received flowers they've been random bouquets that were days old and on clearance at the grocery store, not that I don't love getting those too but it just made this bouquet that much better. Unfortunately by the time I went to take a picture of them Mia had already played he loves me loves me not with them, but take my word for it it was the prettiest bouquet I've ever seen! Thursday and Friday it was a baking frenzy around here, we made Lemon Almond Biscotti, sugar cookies, and a version of Becky's $250 cookies, I had no space in my kitchen that wasn't covered by cookies. Friday we walked some around to the neighbors and then the girls had a primary party that night. Bright and early on Vday we went to watch Todd play bball and then we went to Ikea in Maryland and stopped by the temple to buy new garments and walk through the visitors center. We saw quite a few couples from our ward there it was great. That night Todd made me Steak and mashed Potatoes just what I wanted.

Sunday was nice and relaxing which was good because Monday we headed into DC. Obviously bragging about our 70 degree weather was going to catch up to me sooner or later because it was 34 when we got there with a bitter wind. Needless to say we didn't take many pictures. My favorite part though would have to be when we went to the Natural History Museum and Boston saw the Grizzly Bear in the glass Case and took off running towards it yelling "BOOG BOOG"(the bear from open Season) and bounced his face so hard off the glass, if we would have had the video camera going we definitely would have had a $20,000 prize coming our way from AFHV.
Air & Space Museum

This is for you Kels... these were the coolest if I could find away to get four carseats in there I would totally drive this around. I should have had Todd in the pic to make the van look even smaller.

Christmas in February

2009-02-19T13:57:00.007-05:00

So a few weeks ago we had 4 packages come to the door, one for each kid. I was totally shocked and not expecting anything to come. They turned out to be packages from Grandma LaDonna and Aunt SaVanna. The kids we're so excited!! They each got a new blanket which they all now sleep with, a new outfit a huge stuffed animal a duck shirt for Mom and Dad, and crayons etc. What an awesome surprise, Thanks again Guys here's some photos...

Here's Mia in her new sweater

Boston in his new warm up out fit it was so dang cute on him and fit perfectly.

A Day or 2 after these packages came a much awaited package from Juju and Papa which had my SQUIRREL FEEDER!! I was so excited I also got some Oregon fleece pants and Todd got some Oregon Sweat pants and the kids got Bibidee Bobadee Boos and Kaprice got some cute little hats. Thanks Papa for the feeder!!

What's Rachel Cookin today?

2009-02-04T17:32:00.003-05:00

Ok so all my kids now love watching the Food Network channel, they started over a year ago watching Ace of Cakes and The Food Network Challenges but now they like the cooking shows. Mia however is obsessed with Rachel Ray. She even asks to turn off the cartoons to see what Rachel's cooking today. The other day we were in Walmart and one of her shows was on the TVs there and Mia goes hey What's Rachel doing cooking here. You can hear Mia playing by herself now with empty plates saying then you add a cup of this and a cup of that. It's also progressed into what she eats, she now wants to add her own twists to things. First up a salad with lett., broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, cheese, ranch these are the usual than she adds in grapes and shakes the cinnamon sugar on top. Last night she had pasta with spaghetti sauce, cheese and maple syrup, the night before she wanted to dip her chicken fingers and tater tots in maple syrup. The most normal thing she's made was her apple turnovers she did all by herself for the Super bowl. She cut out heart shapes with a cookie cutter out of pie crust cut up apples and sprinkled cinn, sugar on top then topped them and forked the edges closed they were pretty good. So Look our Rachel cuz Mia's on her way!

January

2009-01-26T13:09:00.003-05:00

It's been insane around here and Jan has just been nuts. I think next month we will have everything set up and we can settle in finally and not spend every weekend running around. Jan 2nd was Todd's bday we had the Madsens over and another guy from the firm and his family, it was real casual and so nice to take our mind off unpacking and getting the house ready . Thanks for coming over guys! We also had the chance to meet up with Paula who was done visiting her family for xmas. She had the pleasure of meeting us at Chuck E Cheese and all it's glory ( which is down the st. for anyone who wants to visit). The kids had a blast and she even graciously handed over her tickets and some extra tokens Thanks Paula we hope to see you on your next trip down! Everything else has just been trips to Kmart and walmart trying to replace things we had to leave. Not too exciting I know but hopefully soon I'll be posting more and on time.

SEXY?!

2009-01-15T17:06:00.004-05:00

Ok so I don't know where it came from certainly not from me but the girls are obsessed with the word Sexy. Everything is sexy, it's all I hear all day long. You're sexy if you eat all your dinner, you have to get sexy (naked) before you take a bath, if you change your outfit 10 times a day you're sexy after each one, if you comb Barbie's hair she's sexy, my new cell phone... sexy. If I do their hair they look in the mirror and say oooohhh sexy. My favorite one is when everyone gets ready for church and the girls tell us all we're sexy... not exactly the look I go for when going to church but then I'm also " Sexy" when I put on my slippers and sweat pants so I guess it doesn't really matter. The other day I was trying to teach them about energy and turning off lights, not wasting water ect. I was explaining how these things cost money. I went into why Daddy is gone all day at work. When I said Daddy has to work all day so he can make lots of money ... Mia cut me off with "and be sexy" where I was going to say so we can pay our bills. But seriously what is up with the word sexy.

Ok so I had to add this... I just asked the girls to load up the fridge with my soda and I can hear Mia saying these are sexy sodas!

A Little Xmas

2009-01-09T06:16:00.019-05:00

The Girl's were very excited for their Barbie Movies

Another big hit were chairs from Mimi

Happy in our new
home... happy enough for some 3 way kissing.

Kya's favorite part about the holidays?... I'm guessing sneaking into the kitchen to finish off the egg nog!

The Move From HADES!

2009-01-06T15:21:00.008-05:00

Well before I start I want you all to know that we are all alive and safe in Virginia because this post might cause some question. I don't even know where to begin but let's start off with the Monday before we were supposed to pull out (Thurs the 18th). Like trying to pack up a house all by yourself with 4 little ones, while your husband is trying to study for his last 3 finals wasn't stressful enough, we get a call saying that they are not going to allow us to have our dog Sassy. So I'm bawling and freaking out she's Boston's best friend and since we got rid of our male she's been practically perfect. Finally late that night I finally call my Mom and demand she takes our dog because I just can't get rid of her and our lease was only for 6mos. So I go to bed feeling better. The next day was Tues Todd picks up the truck a day early ( another stress reliever) and with the help of some friends gets it pretty well loaded. 4:30pm comes around and we get another phone call from the Realtors. Seems like the guy living in our house only gave a verbal that he was leaving and is now staying...WHAT?! And that was it they said they would over night our checks back and meanwhile I call the Realtor we met with in the first place in Nov and asked for his help. He sent me a ton of listings and I narrowed it down to 2 and our friend Gina was nice enough to run out and look at one of them for us. So Wednesday we choose the place Gina looked at and start frantically trying to get applications faxed ( thanks Richard & Pete), empty out our bank account and getting checks overnighted, because the owner was leaving on Friday. So now I've wasted 2 days of packing and cleaning not to mention cutting into Todd's studying time to find a new place to live before Friday. The missionaries came Wed night to clean out all the food in the house and we in turn recruited them for some last minute truck loading on Thurs. Thurs came and luckily Jamie took the kids for us so we could really go to town. Still no sign of our checks, and Todd ended up backing into a parked car returning our modem and at that point we just had to laugh and move on. So it's now 1:30 am and we just got the trailer attached to the truck and we're ready to load the van onto it. Well we had had some snow and ice since we got it and there was a good few inches on the trailer and I could not get any traction. We were dumping boiling water on it Todd was chipping away with a screwdriver finally we were like let's just gun it over the last bump and be done.Well that took the van over the bump and OFF the front of the trailer onto the jack of the trailer. Are you kidding me... we're stuck here! So and 3:30am I finally went in the house and the whole family was just curled up on the living room floor by the radiator, thank goodness we didn't shut the gas off yet! Around 4am the tow guy came and Todd helped get the van off. Then he pushed the trailer back into the parking lot next to our house. At 7:00am we start calling Penske to get a new trailer since we broke the one we had. Instead they send out a repair guy so we have to wait for him to come and fix the jack, meanwhile all the lawyers start parking in the parking lot and of course parking on all sides of the trailer. Luckily we had parked our car in the entry way so we could get the truck out but there was no way we were going to be able to turn that huge truck around and attach the trailer. Yet again another friend comes to the rescue and Mike lent us his pick-up to hook up the trailer and with Travis' help we got the truck, trailer and the van all to Mikes to hook up. But it keeps getting better... Todd gets pulled over on the way to Mikes and is told that he must climb on top of our 26ft truck and clear off the snow, so I'm waiting for him at Mikes and watching him clear off the truck thinking that the way our week has gone I could very well witness my Husbands death at any moment. Luckily he got the job done safely and then what do you know we get stuck in a huge snow storm and what would have been an hour and half drive took us like 5 and I was in the little white car with 3 of our kids sliding all over the road and couldn't get any traction and kept spinning out up hills. I even had a sheriff help push my car because a wreck he was attending to had slowed me down so much I couldn't get moving again. We stayed in Greenfield Mass the first night in a disgusting hotel and pulled in with about 8in on the ground already. When we got up there was over a foot of snow and it was still coming down hard, but another storm was coming in that night so we trekked off through the snow once more. The kids did awesome for not having any T.V.s we just kicked it old school all the way to Va only stopped in Pa at a little truck stop for dinner. About 2 hours before we were done however all 3 kids in my car were screaming and I finally broke down into the tears I had been holding back all week and called Todd with the famous words "I'm so done" But we made it into Leesburg around 10:30pm not knowing what the plan was, our Realtor called us with dog friendly hotels but then when Todd's boss heard we made it in finally he offered to let us stay there. So you think we're in the clear by now... think again. Sunday our realtor heads out and we take the van off the trailer unload all our stuff in the Morehouse's garage and head out to look at some places with him just in case #2 falls through. We barely make it a mile and the van overheats. Turns out our little jump onto the trailer sent the jack right through the radiator of the van. Problem is we don't all fit in the car. At this point I just want my own space and a home base to work from so our realtor comes, takes Todd back to the Morehouse's house to get our white car, comes back Todd and Kya jump in his truck we leave our van for AAA and head to the Residence Inn in Herndon ( AWESOME HOTEL by the way). So the kids and I unload and Todd goes with the realtor and AAA to our realtor's friend who's a mechanic. Then we get the call that the lady who owns place #2 wants to wait until Jan 1st to rent the place. By the time Todd gets back it's dark and we just decide to start fresh in the morning. It's now 8am the Monday before Xmas and our realtor Chuck shows up to take Kya and I to a few places. We look at 3 and the last one was it, we left it at 11:30am and by 1:30pm we were signing papers and getting keys. The only problem is that the deposit check we got back from house #2 was written from our credit union in Nh which we had since closed so Bank of America was holding all our money. The people worked out a deal with us so that was nice. We wasted no time calling our new bishop and Elders Chorum president who sent 5 members and 2 missionares to unload the truck it took maybe an hour they were great. We had already paid for our hotel room for that night so we stayed there. Now it's Tues and we need to drop off the truck and trailer.... what's the problem here? Um no room in the car to take everyone back after so we had to drop Kya off at someone from the ward for 2 hours while we hooked everything up dropped it off and came back. Luckily for us our neighbors are members, and there's members on the st. that T's into ours and the street off of that. So we got that done popped up a tree and broke out the presents and unpacked like mad. Did I mention that Todd's boss wanted Todd to start early like the Monday before xmas but was gracious enough to move that until the Monday after( mind you he wasn't supposed to start until the 16th of Jan) So yes STRESSED again! Xmas Eve we get a call Vans done YEAH... problem no money to pay for it still being held until the 26th, solution switch the car for the van as collateral and pay the man what we have. Xmas eve night we open gifts all is well, we're starting to breath a littleXmas day we get invited over by the relief society president Tiana for a fondue party, very nice. The 26th Hurray we get some of our money and give most of it to our mechanic but hey we can all get around now. And that's where our crazy saga ends. What a Nightmare and I haven't even started the crappy stuff like getting the kids on ins. and finding a pediatrician and dentists, etc.

After finding out we had no where to live but we could keep Sassy the girls and I decided to start fresh with New Hampshire's best. So we put on our winter coats including Sassy and trudged out in the Snow for some Hot Cocoa from Dunkin Donuts

It's that time of the year!

2008-12-13T12:58:00.005-05:00

We had a special visitor last night stop by to assure the kids that he knows where we're moving and he'll be there Christmas Eve! Boston actually had nothing to do with Santa until he saw him hand Jace a hot wheel and then he came flying in from the kitchen to claim his present from Santa.

Kaprice in Santa's bag

We had some of our friends who were busy packing swing by to get a picture with Santa too.
I had to put this one in because I was so proud of my self for getting one that had Jace in it too!

Happy Birthday Mia!

2008-12-02T18:57:00.002-05:00

Mia at 6mos
Now Mia's 3!!

Little Miss Mia turned 3 today something she's been talking about for almost a year, and the day finally came! We had a crazy morning and do to the fact that the girls slept in until 10min before swimming lessons our traditional Choc Chip Mickey Mouse Birthday Pancake Breakfast turned into a #3 PBJ sandwich which surprisingly the girls thought it was the coolest thing ever and Kya's already talking about her #5 sandwich that she wants on her birthday. When we got back from swimming lessons Juju had planned a big surprise and boy was it big taller than me to be exact. Mia answered the door to an enormous balloon bouquet it was way cool, she loved it!

During the evening we had a combined birthday planned with Mia's friend Ellie at Chuck E Cheese. Ellie's bday isn't until Jan. but since we are all moving in 2 wks we joined us for a great celebration. The party was perfect I was so glad we decided to have it at Chuck E Cheese and not in the middle of my packing Chaos at the house. Mia made a haul of good presents ... Thanks to all the girls!!Mia found out what a good wrapper Lexi was

A Snow White Barbie from Mom & Dad

I thought this one was hillarious

Some typical Boston eating pics

The Pratt Crane Clan

Kya, Ellie & Gretta... Mia's still only a fan of the fake singing Chuck E Cheese

Happy Birthday Mia!!

We love you and can't wait to celebrate the many more birthdays to come!

Random

2008-11-24T13:53:00.004-05:00

Here's some random pics:
I'm Lucky to have such cute men in my life

I caught these two dancing in the kitchen together on Sunday before church

Kaprice has been banished from our room into her big girl crib in the girls' room. This is from her first nap in her crib.

Twilight

2008-11-21T21:18:00.002-05:00

Ok so I had to vent... first of all one of the things that bugged me the most was Jasper's Zoolander face the WHOLE MOVIE! I also hated how they added off the wall things at the sacrifice of some important parts of the book. I told myself not to go in with high expectations since I hate almost all movies that are based off books, but then I reread right before going to see the movie and I got myself all caught up in a Twilight frenzy that I didn't collect myself before going and ended up disappointed. Edward was a lot better than I thought I was not pleased with the casting choice at first,Bella spot on for me, Alice I thought was perfect, Esme and Rosalie I thought should have been more striking, Jasper would have been ok considering he didn't speak the whole movie expect he kept making that stupid face, Carlisle I thought was good too. I've picked a part this movie with tons of people since going to the midnight showing and I'm almost tempted just to clear my thoughts and see it again, there were good parts and some over the top. I just have a hard time thinking anyone who hasn't read the books would be able to follow that movie, and the one's who have read it and are in love with Edw... I mean the book ie. Me would not particularly like the movie either. I wonder what will happen if they do #2 hopefully someone else takes over on the directing because I think that was part of the problem.

I'm a Big Girl!

2008-11-19T18:09:00.006-05:00

So with the move coming up right after Mia's bday Todd and I decided to take her out on a special Mia day early since we could leave the rest of the kids with Mimi. Mia has been patiently waiting to turn 3 so she could have her ears pierced like her big Sissy, so she got to cheat and have it done a few weeks early. Here's the play by play...

This is what it took to get the other side done and lucky for us this kiosk was located in the food court. I'm sure everyone was ready to call CSD. Although there wasn't so much crying as there was screaming " GET ME OUT OF HERE!" over and over, but I think you all should know that the minute we held up a mirror to her she went from histarics to laughing in under a second... what a brat!

Busy Busy

2008-11-17T14:25:00.006-05:00

That last 2 weeks have been so busy but so much fun! The kids have gotten a TON of Mimi time and loved every minute unfortunately we had to send her back to Gpa today:(
Todd, Kaprice and I were able to drive down for a real quick trip to Virginia to look at places, we found 2 that we really liked but are still waiting to hear from a place Todd's boss told us about. I can't tell you how excited I am to start new in Virginia! Also taking advantage of having a live-in babysitter Todd and I went together up north for Kaprice's hearing test and stayed at the David's House ( McDonald's House). We are pleased to announce that she did finally pass her hearing. We didn't do too much outside of the house except for going to see Madagascar 2 and a quick trip to the outlets for some work shirts for Todd and Mimi picked up some xmas gifts to save on the shipping. Mimi also got the girls the cutest dresses for winter and today we tried to do another quick photoshoot which of course Boston and Mia were not feeling. Other than that we just soaked up some Mimi time and did some packing and organizing here and there. Thanks Mimi for a wonderful visit.

Here's some random pictures

Resting during an exhausting trip to VA

Just so you get an idea of what I go through taking pics of all the kids, I usually get 3 cute kids and a face like one of these, I just happened to get all 4 of the "Faces" in this shot!

What a Blessing

2008-11-02T19:39:00.004-05:00

Today we had Kaprice's blessing, it was so sweet. It was so great to share it with all our friends who we'll soon be leaving. Todd did an amazing job and we're so grateful for our beautiful new blessing in our lives.She may be screaming because it was 30 degrees out

The Circle- Tyson, Mike, Todd, Dillion, Richard, and Pete

The Circle plus some Law school friends Constance, Jermaine & Gaelan

Boston looked so cool today in his new church clothes unfortunately he puked all over himself right after they passed sacrament and Mimi and I made a quick exit with the kids home which is why there's no family blessing pics.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T09:22:00.007-05:00

Halloween was crazy this year, everywhere in town ran out of pumpkins and we had to go to a Farm supply store after checking 4 grocery stores and getting a tip off that even Walmart ran out, we could not find Boston's shirt anywhere that went under his outfit, we forgot to put Kya's jewelry on, I carved 4 pumpkins just hours before we left for pictures and broke every carving tool we had due to the thickest pumpkins EVER, Boston and Kaprice cried all day from having awful colds, I was trying to clean up for Mimi's arrival while tearing apart the house at the same time looking for Boston's shirt, all in all we dropped the ball this year but we'll be all over it next year when we don't have so much going on.

Hannah Montana putting on a show for all the cars stuck in traffic in front of our house

Every year we've gotten the law student kids from the ward together for pictures before going downtown to trick or treat. This year I stayed home with Boston and Kaprice since they were sick but they did make a brief appearance for pictures. I heard that Mia was a huge hit downtown and Kya got recognized by all the candy givers under 25, so they had a blast.

The Princesses ( Ellie, Abby, & Mia)
The Ladybugs ( Kaprice & Leah)

The Oh so excited Boys ( Boston & Jace)The Group minus a few
Vampire-PJ, Buzz-Zach, Dragon- Henry, Turtle- Lil Boston, Ladybug- Kaprice, Hannah Montana- Kya, Angel- Kallyn, Jasmine- Abby, Dragon- Russell, Ariel- Ellie, Batman-Jace, Fairy Princess- Lexi, Snow White- Mia, Shirley Temple- Allison, Butterfly- Gretta, Caterpillar- Issac, Monkey- Big Boston and Ladybug Leah didn't make this shot

Will I ever get ahead?!

2008-10-27T20:21:00.008-05:00

Ugh ok I admit it I'm way behind on EVERYTHING! Well not everything, blogging, sewing, my super saturday stuff, packing etc. I'm still managing to get my day to day stuff done which I guess is something, I'm not falling to much behind just not feeling like I'm going forward either. Anyways here's some things that have been going on...

Boston pooped on the potty yesterday, he actually came to us said stinky and ran to the potty and went, he did it again later but after sitting forever nothing came of it and he shortly there after went in his diaper. I know not to expect this to become a regular thing, but hey I'm still proud of him!
Kya has been such a huge help with Kaprice, I don't know how I would get things done without her!

Kya just had her last class in her first session of Ballet/Tap, she loved it... but who's surprised.
Todd let Kya do her own hair the other day.

This last Saturday we went to the Keene Pumpkin Festival, we saw some really cool pumpkins, unfortunatley we didn't get there until nighttime because Todd had school stuff so we didn't get very many pics and it didn't help that it was raining off and on. But we still had a good time I think the highlight for the girls was the shuttle ride on the bus... go figure!

We saw this and a guy was saying they painted it for the movie Jumanji which was filmed there.
Wall of Pumpkins close up
Wall of Pumpkins Far Away
Monkey from Madagascar

Today we went to a Halloween party at Janalee's house. It was fun to see the kids all dressed up. It was pretty crazy though so I didn't get a lot of pics. We're going to our old ward's Trunk or Treate tomorrow night so I'll get some better pics but here's a preview of their costumes...

My Quick Interview with Hannah Montana

Sleeping Ladybug

Dude ( Turtle from Nemo)

Snow White

Photoshoot

2008-10-18T11:18:00.004-05:00

The ward did these really cool fake tile picture things for Super Sat. so we decided to take pics of the kids for mine. Mia was being a complete pill and Boston's just an 18mo old Boy so we got what we got. Not much but I'm sure I'll love them later on!

Coming Home

2008-10-09T12:31:00.006-05:00

Ok so I always say I'm going to take pictures of everyone who comes to see our babies at the hospital and then I always get to excited when they get there because I've been bored out of my mind and I forget. I remembered to take one of Paula at the last minute... sorry Melanie & Issac and McRae & Kids.

Getting ready to go home Wed around Noon

Finally Home WooHoo!!

Day 2 at homeEveryone thinks they need to hold Kaprice all the time!

Boston can not get enough of Baby Kaprice. He never thinks his turn holding her is long enough and he'll put a death grip around her when you try to take her back.

She's Here!

2008-10-06T20:15:00.003-05:00

Before

After

Kaprice Brooklyn Pratt

arrived at 2:57 this afterrnon

7lbs 1oz

19" Long

More Pics

2008-10-06T20:00:00.000-05:00

Catching Up

2008-10-04T14:11:00.006-05:00

So a few things happened this week I thought I should jot them down before the baby comes and I get even more behind. We'll start with Tuesday after my Amnio I went to take a bath and Kya came upstairs to hop in. I noticed a pretty good sized chuck of hair hanging down lower than the rest. I yelled for Todd and sure enough she had been in the kitchen hacking away. Luckily for us our daughter seems to have a natural talent and did a pretty good job. She just added some bangs and a few layers on one side. Also lucky for us we have Taylor who was immediately called to assess and even up the situation. Thanks Taylor!
Obviously She thinks she thinks she did a good job

Later that day we found some Batman Jammies on clearance at Target. Boston loves them... he thinks he's so cool. I don't know who was more excited Boston or Todd... Todd says this is why everyone should have a boy.

Thursday we went to the circus. It was a lot of fun. We went a hour early so the kids could see some of the acts up close. They had an elephant about a foot away from them at one point they were so excited. Boston thought it was pretty cool too until about 2 hours past his bedtime. We skipped out before the last few acts but my goodness it was already 9pm. When we went to see Nemo on Ice in the same arena they didn't allow my camera so we brought Kya's and unfortunately the pics didn't turn out that great, just the pre-show ones.
Pics to Come Later

Today we went on our last outing as a family of 5. Todd's old Boss from last year was nice enough to invite us back to his annual apple picking at his house/Orchard. Boston probably had the most fun he was eating dirt, eating apples, playing football, running around and following their huge dog around. The girls also had a great time and each filled huge bags full of apples.

We have a date!

2008-10-01T16:09:00.002-05:00

So I went to the Dr. today and the baby checked out fine on the monitor and they've set us up to go to the hospital Sunday evening at 7pm. He also said there may be a chance of me going on my own earlier since I went from nothing on Friday when I was checked to 2cm and 80% effaced, I really don't care if I go early or not I'm just hoping for a quick labor and the more dilated I am when I go in the better. So we'll see but no later than Monday we should have the new one!

Amnio Results

2008-09-30T18:57:00.003-05:00

So I had my amnio this morning and at 6:30pm they called with the results. She tested borderline positive for lung maturity in one lab and low positive in another. There won't be an immediate delivery but I go in tomorrow to discuss possible steroid treatments to deliver Friday or Saturday. Regardless I have been told the latest I will carry her will be Monday which is one day past 37wks. I'll try to get everyone posted.

Quick Update

2008-09-24T14:55:00.004-05:00

Things have been a little crazy right now. The kids had colds and were but on lockdown until the baby comes. Luckily they have all gotten better. As far as the baby we're going in on Tuesday the 30th for a lung amnio if everything looks fine we'll be set up for delivery, if not we'll be waiting another week. The good news is that I was 35wks Sunday so we've made it past the point of having to go up North and now have the convenience of heading up the street.

Kya started Ballet and Tap last week and is absolutely loving it which I'm sure is no surprise to anyone.

Mia is just saying the craziest things lately and wanting to tell us stories, she's a hoot. She also just got her first haircut at almost 3.

Boston is starting to talk a lot more it's so weird seeing him get so big. His new thing is he thinks he needs to wear a helmet when he rides his rocking motorcycle... unfortunately all we have our princess ones. He also recently chipped his front tooth and now looks like a goober.

We all had a night out last Saturday with the B.L.S.A. that Todd's a part of and went bowling. The girls were excited to see the Fish girls had come too. Boston loved it he kept grabbing the balls and hucking them down the lane. We had so much fun we have really great friends here and we're really going to miss them when we leave. Unfortunately it was cosmic bowl night so with the lights off I only got a few shots in and by the time my flash quit metering they weren't that great anymore, but enjoy anyways.Todd, Boston and Jermaine

Buddy about to make his move on the ballsKallyn and Kya

Happy Anniversary to US!

2008-09-13T22:27:00.000-05:00

So for our 5 yr Anniversary Todd Surprised me with Red Sox Tickets. I was so excited I really had wanted to go to a game while we were here and that time was quickly coming to an end. He was even nice enough to loan me his Fenway shirt since my Red Sox shirt would have been quite the midriff at this point. Then came the stressful part... babysitting. I hate leaving my kids not because my friends don't do an awesome job because they do, but because I'm practically dumping a whole other family on them and taking up a whole Saturday which I know all of us Law Wives hold so near and dear to our hearts. Solution a little rotation we dropped the kids off at Taylor's after swim lessons, then dropped the van keys off with Michelle and headed to Boston. Michelle picked the kids up at naptime took them home put Boston down and then in comes Melanie to relieve her until we got home... Thank you all so MUCH!!As far as the game went we lost but I still had so much fun. Our seats were crazy good about 10 ft diagonally behind the 1st basemen, one foul ball or over throw and I would have been toast. Luckily I found a good angle in my seat where I could hind behind the guy next to me if needed. The weather turned out to be really hot, but at least it wasn't a rainout ( which Todd has had happen twice now). We were a cutting it a little close getting to the game on time so when Todd realized this prego women would not be running down the hill to the game like everyone else he splurged and got us a ride on a rickshaw bike it was too much fun.

I love my husband so much he has been a huge help despite all he has going on right now with school. I'm grateful to share these special memo with him and so very grateful to have him for all eternity!

Views from our seats

This guy's from Oregon State ( I know we're duck fans but since UofO just got a baseball team we did fall to the darkside for previous baseball seasons)

The Green Monster1st BasemenScoreboardI had to take a pic of this lady she was like eighty and wearing her hat sideways. I hope when we're eighty Todd and I can celebrate another Anniversary Rockin sideways caps at a ballgame.

Sleepover

2008-09-13T21:05:00.000-05:00

So Michelle and the kids were heading out to Washington and didn't know when they would be back. The girls were really upset that Lexi was leaving so we decided to have a sleepover and give Michelle some time to pack. It went really well we picked up Lexi and headed to Wendy's to pick up some nuggets, then there was a lot of dress up going on. Lexi was nice enough to bring her castle so the girls could all sleep in it. It filled our whole playroom! We moved the TV down off the storage cubbies so they could watch movies through the door. All in all the girls had a blast!

Boston's Stats

2008-09-13T20:00:00.002-05:00

Buddy went to the Dr. for a check up on Friday and was 80% for length, and 75% for weight. The real numbers being weight- 27lbs 2oz, length 33" and Head 20 cm( I think that's what the measurement is in). I'll post a pic later of my big boy!

33 Wks and Counting

2008-09-07T09:10:00.004-05:00

Well it wouldn't be a normal pregnancy for me unless something abnormal came up. I thought we got off easy with the Glucose scare but I was wrong. The Dr.s are pretty sure I have the rare liver condition ICP that I had when I was pregnant with Kya that causes stillbirths after 37wks. I had 2 blood draws last week, the 1st was supposed to be a baseline test to work off of later since I had started itching again. Well the 1st came back with already elevated liver levels which isn't supposed to show up in a test until 34wks, so I had another draw on Friday to see if there going up even more and we should have the results early this week. Pretty much I'm itching like crazy and can't get any sleep, I'm grateful that I have Dr.s that are so all over this and know what they're doing, I had to fight my Dr. with Mia about it and thankfully she came 4wks early on her own. I have an appt. Wed so I should know more about the upcoming plans, for now it looks like a lot of blood draws, ultrasounds, stress tests and an induced delivery. I'll keep you all posted.

This is me rockin out my huge belly in my new jammies

1st Day of School

2008-09-07T09:04:00.003-05:00

Kya had her first day of her second year of preschool last week. Of course we had to drive all over town to find her the right Hannah Montana backpack. Walmart only had the over the shoulder blue HM book bags and when I asked Kya why she couldn't just get that one, she quickly replied " Mom I'll look like the Mailman" after that we had no choice but to go to one more store, where Dad came out with the perfect backpack!

Bitter Sweet

2008-09-02T09:08:00.014-05:00

Well it was a Bitter Sweet start to a great Labor Day Weekend. After looking at places online it was clear that it was going to be hard enough to find a place big enough for our family in D.C. with a short term lease, yet alone one that would allow dogs. So we tried to place Tarzan with friends and family and it just wasn't working so we had to sell him. When I went to do the ad I was so upset, Boston loves Tarzan their birthdays are a day a apart and I always planned on them being the best of friends. I couldn't post the ad and then Todd came home from school and said there was a girl there that wanted Tarzan. I felt much better knowing that he would be with kids and a yard and that we actually knew who he was going with. So before we headed off to our camping trip we said our last goodbyes to Tarzan and then Todd and the girls dropped him off at his new home.

All though the day started off sucky it was a great rest of the weekend. We went on a camping trip with 5 other 3rd year Law Student families from our ward as a sort of last hurrah before we all start going our separate ways in Dec. We had such a blast! We got there early and set up camp Kya helped put up the tent she did such a great job. The kids loved going into the trees to find wood and pine cones. Boston loved being in the dirt and would not keep his shoes on for anything. We ended up putting his rain boots on because he couldn't get those off. He looked so funny, unfortunately we had such a great time I didn't remember to take pictures. I did get a few but hopefully I can steal some off other people. We left a day earlier than everyone else which was probably for the best since the million trips to the bathroom and my back were starting to kill me. We had planned on packing up and spending Sunday at the Lake at the campground, but once we had everything packed, we realized the Van battery was dead and we were going to have to drive for a while to recharge it after we got jumped so we decided to head towards home and stop somewhere on the way. It was perfect the kids were asleep before we left the campground and we drove to Elm Brook Park which is like 15 min from our house. You can pull right up to the beach area on Everett Lake which was so nice, we didn't have to take the cooler out or unload the Van we could just make trips back and forth when we needed to. We spent about 3 hours on the beach and then changed everybody and headed back to the playground where the kids played soccer, ran around, and ate for another 2 hours. We got home around 6 and started laundry, took our sweet time unpacking and then just vegged out and watched all our Tivoed College Football... the perfect Labor Day Weekend! Thanks again Mike and Melanie for planning the campout!!

Lexi, PJ, & Kya... our Collectors of Wood

Rehydrating after the Soccer Game

Paybacks to the girls for being ball hogs

Tid Bits

2008-08-28T03:53:00.006-05:00

Ok so this blog is going to be a little all over the place, so bare with me. First to clear things up, yes Todd got the externship in D.C. so we'll be closing the New Hampshire chapter of our lives in Dec. After so much school the last few years it feels great to be moving on. He had some job interviews in Kansas but we haven't heard anything on those yet. Before Todd left we did run up to Storyland real quick to check it out and get some free passes. It was so cool the girls loved it there despite our short trip. We're going to try to get back up there in the next few weeks. For all you locals check it out at storylandnh.com.
I passed my second glucose test thank goodness because I got so sick I would have died if I had to test again. So everything's good in that department. We had some preschool drama here recently. The school that Kya went to last year decided 2 weeks before school started to let us know that our area wasn't considered low income anymore and that they wouldn't be letting her return. Since it was too late to get her in anywhere else and we can't afford a private preschool, and maybe do to the extra hormones I flipped my lid. After going after the principal, preschool supervisor and the District Superintendent I'm pleased to announce they made an extra spot for her at her old school just in a different program. Kya also got excepted into a Ballet on scholarship which saved us like half the money so we're happy and she's going to be one busy girl this fall.
Ok so some of you have noticed that Mia has an extremely high pitched voice... she sounds like Mickey Mouse. You would think having such a small sounding voice would make her nice and quiet... Not the case. Mia has no volume control! She's also been obsessed with our Missionaries, so every Sunday we walk into the Chapel Mia points and screams out "There's the Missionaries". Luckily for us we get there early enough it's not an issue, but there's been a few times where they have come in late so she doesn't notice them until The Sacrament is being passed and that's just lovely. And since one time we made brownies when they came over now we can't make brownies without having them over or have them over with no brownies. I think this is why they never mind stopping by to see the girls.
Boston is getting to be such a big boy. He's such a Mama's boy I love getting all my loves from him through out the day. His new favorite thing is to back up against something and point his 2 fingers at me and say " Ma, Set, GO" ( On your Marks, Get Set, GO) and then take off across the room, although if you don't repeat him in just the right way he doesn't take off just looks at you more intensely and makes you start over again. He also had his 1st trip to the dentist which I thought would be a disaster but he did really well, ad was very excited when he found a mini dude ( sea turtle) in the toy bin to take home, and he's cutting another 2 teeth on top with more getting close on the bottom which makes too many to count, he has all his molars in so he pretty much has a mouthful of teeth.

Please Excuse the crappy pics it took me awhile to realize I had stuff on my lens.

Todd about to send in his acceptance letter to D.C.

Storyland Pics

Riding in Cinderella's Pumpkin Carriage

Boston in the Spray Park

My Little Miss Muffets... when you sat on the stump the spider came down it was pretty funny.
Another visit from Our favorite Missionaries this time they came with gifts... Clay!

Soap Box

2008-08-16T04:08:00.000-05:00

Ok so I hate complaining well not really I just like to vent and then refuse all help when it's offered. Anyways If you notice the post time yes it's 4 am. I can't sleep I've been up since 2, I've already cleaned my upstairs bathroom and the playroom. I just have way to much going on in my head to sleep. I'm stressed about the move (post coming soon), finding a place to rent short term ( always a pain), downsizing our crap, dealing with everyday kid stuff, finding new Dr.s, not having the energy to get anything done until I should be sleeping, I could go on forever. On top of that I was looking forward to having Todd for a week before school started so we can get organized before the storm. For those of you who don't know our crazy timeline it goes something like this... school, midterms/baby in Oct, finals/move in Dec., all in a few short months, on top of that Todd will also be working 2 jobs and studying for the Patten Bar which means he will be M. I. A. until he probably has to drive the truck. Anyways back to looking forward to the help... instead Todd is spending all day in Boston today for some stupid training thing, then I found out that I have to spend 4 hours in a lab Monday for failing my glucose test, Tuesday I have WIC and another appt. in the afternoon, if we don't do something fun Wednesday I'll kill myself, and then Todd's off to Kansas City for 2 job interviews only to make it back just in time for school. UGH!!

11 wks to go!

2008-08-11T07:31:00.003-05:00

29 Wks!

Ok so some of you may have noticed that I looked huge in my D.C. and family pics, that would be because the baby had painfully turned into a weird position which she has done 2 other times now. This is what I look like in normal mode. I haven't posted pics because they looked the same until 25 wks when over night my belly just popped out!

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

2008-08-09T17:40:00.004-05:00

So My Mom called us when we were in D.C. to tell us Boston had a nasty fall, she thought he may need a stitch in his lip but then he was fine. Seems like hanging out with Juju and getting hurt went hand in hand for Boston. He had quite the number of bloody noses in just over a week. I gave her such a hard time about always trying to shove him head first into the ground, it was pretty fun to tease her and she's gonna freak out when she sees this post. Well I'll just show you and you tell me what you think.

Looks Innocent Enough

Busted
Hmmm, this was taken shortly after leaving on another "walk" with Juju

So Much More

2008-08-07T10:53:00.003-05:00

My Mom and sister left Tuesday, I was pretty bummed. Mia thought they were coming back later that night. Kya was not so naive and had a complete break down as soon as they entered the airport. She tried to hide it she covered her face and slumped over her car seat. Then I could hear her start to hyperventilate, shortly after came the water works. Then of course I lost it so we had to pull over at this cute little park just past the airport. I held her for a little bit she calmed down pretty fast and then we swung through "Old McDonalds" and headed back to our sad empty house.

I really enjoyed having them visit though, after the long D.C. trip we cut things out like going to the Waterpark and Storyland but we did go to the beach in York and the girls were so excited they totally forgot the previous plans. It looked so crappy when we got there but then it got hot. Mia and Kya would not stay out of the water and they weren't happy unless the waves were hitting them in the face. Buddy ran around with the wagon the whole time, for a home body he absolutely loves the beach. We also got to celebrate my Mom's bday which was fun. Todd bought her this huge Hula Monkey Balloon because the girls think it can't be your bday if you don't have a balloon. Then she got the famous frozen Heath pie and a massage from my favorite spa. And somehow we managed a quick photo shoot before they took off Tuesday morning. The time goes by so fast, I feel like there were a million things we didn't get to do. I can't wait for them to come back out!

D.C. Baby !

2008-08-06T10:27:00.004-05:00

Todd got a call for an interview in D.C. at the beginning of summer and we were lucky enough to have my Mom and littlest sister KaLeah come to watch the kids so that we could take off for a few days together. My Mom totally pulled one over on me and showed up a day early, which was awesome because I was so stressed about leaving Boston. The original plan was to pick her up drop her off and leave for D.C. , with the surprise he was able to warm up a little before we took off. The drive down sucked we hit unbelievable traffic really late Sunday night. Pretty much from CT to VA. I had to pee like a million times, I couldn't even blame the kids for all the stops it was just me and my pregnant bladder. Anyways we were so lucky to have our great friends the Madsens welcome us into their home for our first night in town. As soon as their little boy Landon woke up he was my sidekick. It helped me get over the fact that I had just left my baby boy for the first time. He was so cute I loved it.

Our first day we did just about everything. We walked all of "The Mall", saw the white house, went to the Natural History Museum and the Holocaust Museum. The only thing we didn't get to do that was on our list was go to the Federal Bureau of Engraving which Todd really wanted to do. That night we drove into the cutest Downtown area of Arlington and ate at the Cheesecake Factory. The next day Todd had his interview and when he got back to our hotel we headed back to the Metro station to the Arlington Cemetery. My favorite part was watching the changing of the guard at The Tomb of the Unknown Solider, it was worth almost dying of heat stroke and having contractions like you wouldn't believe. We definitely headed straight for the hotel after that. I was ready to pay any price just to have someone drive me down that hill to the Metro station. A hot bath and a night in helped a ton. Anyways all in all it was a great little trip and we loved the area.

Love This Book!

2008-08-04T10:41:00.000-05:00

Ok so I know I'm way behind on my blogging and I'm trying to catch up it may take me a few days but I had to post that I just finished this book yesterday and I LOVED IT!!

And for all you local ladies the Twilight movie comes out the day before my bday... anyone for a midnight showing?!

Downtown

2008-07-24T07:47:00.005-05:00

With the help of my trusty right hand man, we walked downtown last week to yet another little festival. The girls got to make up for not doing the bounce house at the fairytale days, so they were pretty happy. Todd bought Home brewed Root beer in a special mug last year that promised free refills if you brought it back to any event this guy was at. When he saw the guy's stand he quickly ran home to retrieve his mug, a good thing too because we had forgotten to grab the camera and Buddy's Didi ( blanky) and Dude (turtle from Nemo) . We didn't take many pics but it was fun just to get out of the house without needing to drive somewhere.

Who doesn't love a huge pink truck

This one's for Papa

When we were walking towards downtown Dunkin Donuts had parked these 2 cars on a side street that had giant cups attached on the back.

Boston loves to say cheese for the camera now and we've been getting some cute pics

If You've Ever Wondered...

2008-07-22T12:54:00.006-05:00

If you've ever wondered why...

I don't blog as much as I used to

I don't comment on your blogs like I used to

I count the very minutes until my husband comes home from work

I don't go on as many playgroup outings

I pray everyday that the kids will nap so I can

I'm counting the days until my Mom comes and Todd & I take off for DC

My kids have picked up phrases like, you're driving me nuts, get out of here, I'm freakin out and you're busted.

Well it's probably because almost every time I've turned my back the last few weeks I've come to find a situation similar to this...

Yes that's an empty gallon of milk

And I don't care if you wanted to ice skate

Will you still be laughing in the cold shower Mia?And Sorry Mimi but Strawberry Quick is forever banned from this house... NO EXCEPTIONS!!

Nashua's Annual Fairytale Day

2008-07-14T07:34:00.003-05:00

Friday I heard on the radio that Nashua was going to have this Fairytale Day to promote Literacy. They were going to to face painting, give away books, have a bounce house and lots more. So Saturday the girls picked out their costumes and away we went. It was a really cute set up, they had an amphitheater that they put a huge woodland backdrop in front of and did little skits and shows. Some moving company brought a huge semi in and opened the back and the side door, and covered the floor with the bubble packing material so kids could go in and jump around popping them, it was a huge hit! They also had this women doing caricatures which I've always wanted done, so we had the kids done and it took her like 2 mins. it was crazy. The girls got their face painted and hand tattoos, which Kya freaked out and didn't want one because she thought it wouldn't come off like mine, but we convinced her it would come off and it was the 1st thing she did when she came home. They had a bubble station and a make your own wings station it was very cool. We avoided the bounce house since it was miserably hot and muggy and kids were dropping like flies they had 4 ambulances leave while we were there. Luckily we had frozen the girls canteens the night before so they drank water the whole time. I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted, between the whole thing being on a hill and the stroller leaving every time you let go or making sure the girls didn't get walked over or pushed out of line, and keeping all of our goodies from falling off the top of the stroller since the under carriage was full of food for Boston. All in all though it was great and I would recommend it to anyone who's going to still be here next summer.

The Pool

2008-07-14T07:15:00.000-05:00

So the one thing we've been good about doing when we don't have puppy people coming over or it's not raining is going to the pool. Concord has all these parks everywhere that also have outdoor public pools which are free to Concord residents. We just happen to live within walking distance of the best one for kids. So here's some pics I took one day. Kya loves the Mushroom, which no matter how many times I correct her she still calls the Marshmallow!

So the one thing we've been good about doing when we don't have puppy people coming over or it's not raining is going to the pool. Concord has all these parks everywhere that also have outdoor public pools which are free to Concord residents. We just happen to live within walking distance of the best one for kids. So here's some pics I took one day. Kya loves the Mushroom, which no matter how many times I correct her she still calls the Marshmallow!

Happy 4th of July!!

2008-07-08T10:48:00.003-05:00

The 4th was so much fun! We started out at the church. We packed sandwiches, snacks, drinks, and all our new stuff we bought and the Christmas tree shop that day like the kids chairs, and 4th of July wands. Todd started off in the church playing basketball, then Kya biffed it on the pavement which required band-aids, and Boston flipped out of his chair onto the sidewalk and totally scraped around his nose which would not stop bleeding (luckily I had a red shirt on), and Mia had to pee, so after peeing I went to get Todd so I could get a break and surprisingly he had been looking for us. Turns out he landed a nice elbow on Laura's face and decided to take a bball break. I told him it was good timing because I've already bloodied 2 kids. Then the Relief Society President whipped out Snaps and the girls went nuts. Next came the Sparklers and I was shocked that the girls did some. After some Popsicles from Pres. Anderson it was time to kick back and watch the show. I couldn't believe how close we were to the fireworks. They were going off right on top of us, and they were so loud you could feel them in your chest. Once again I was amazed by our kids, they loved them! Mia went off dancing in the dark trying to get closer, Boston would squeal and cheer for more, Kya had her fingers in her ears but still loved it... turns out it was probably a good idea because my ears were killing me when we got home. We continued the party the next night at our friends the Weeche's. Turns out her husband is a pyro which is right up our alley, plus they have a trampoline which is a huge plus if you ask the girls. I brought my camera but got caught up in the fun so there's no pics from that night. He put on quite the show it was so cool to actually be able to light off fireworks that leave the ground unlike the ban on at home fireworks in Southern Oregon. Nh is the place to be for the 4th and 5th that's for sure!

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream

2008-07-04T09:57:00.000-05:00

The night before the 4th was pretty eventful. We drove up to the outlet mall to hit a Carters Sale and an " Old McDonalds" with a outdoor playground. The girls had a blast and when we got home we had a big surprise. The Ice Cream Man came by. It was the kid's 1st Ice Cream Truck experience, and they were sooooo excited. Mia picked Dora of course, Kya had Brats, I had Spiderman which I would totally recommend, Boston had a 4th of July pop and Todd had a Strawberry Crunch bar.

What do you do...

2008-06-27T14:44:00.006-05:00

What do you do when you've taken a early nap, gotten already in your swimsuit, are taken the dogs out to pee so you can head up to the pool and it starts to MONSOON?! Take a "ShowShow" or Shower in the rain.Perhaps a wet t-shirt contest

And for those of you wondering we did have another ultrasound that confirms the girl rumor!

22 wks
Please note the dark shadow behind me, my butt may be big but it's not that big...yet!

What's up with the Pratts

2008-06-27T14:24:00.016-05:00

So as much as I feel my life revolves around puppies now, I wanted to reassure everyone by posting that there is more to our life right now than just puppies. Last Thursday there was a carnival up the road and we decided to run the kids up real quick before Todd went out with the missionaries... good thing because than it poured the next 3 days. The girls had a blast! They were doing bracelets for rides that day and we figured in the 1st hour we had already saved $25, pretty sweet deal and we didn't have to limit the kids rides. The girls were pretty bummed when they had to leave but than Daddy surprised them by rushing home and taking them back and to top it off took them for ice cream afterwards... what a man!

Do to Mia's peanut sized body Todd got roped into riding a few rides... doesn't he look thrilled!

Happy Father's Day!!

2008-06-15T18:05:00.000-05:00

Happy Father's Day DADDY!!

And also to Papa, Gpa, and Tarzan!

A special thanks to Mimi who sent these cute dresses priority so they would get here the day before Father's Day... perfect timing!!

Puppy Drama

2008-06-14T10:53:00.004-05:00

Well at about 10pm last night Sassy lost a puppy. I went to check on her and the sack had popped and he was still half way in and not the better half. I helped her get him out and it was so heart breaking to watch her clean him and try to nudge him back to life. About 3 hours later Sassy started to push the 2nd puppy out. After 2 hours and only a head she was exhausted and after trying to assist the baby out I decided to take her to the ER. Kya being such an intuitive child had wondered downstairs at 3:30am and got caught in the action so she went to the ER with me. The Dr. lubed Sassy up and tried with no success to pull the baby out and push it back in. They did an Xray and saw she had 4 more to still get out... our only choice was a C-section. Sassy did a great job and had 5 healthy beautiful pups, that's right they even saved the booger that was stuck with her arms back at her sides. They are all home and doing well. Sassy's been great and even allowed the family to maul the pups.

Our Little Boy that didn't make it

Mama saying her goodbyes

Sassy and her babies... 2 boys( the brown ones) and 3 girls

Kya's Last Day

2008-06-14T10:52:00.003-05:00

Well Kya had her last day of preschool for the year and is officially on her first summer vacation!Mia wanted a picture with Miss. Kristen too since she's her teacher in Family Room on Fridays.

Quiet Afternoon

2008-06-12T08:02:00.006-05:00

What better way to spend an afternoon than sit in your cardboard car, talk on your cell phone, sippin on some milk, while watching the movie Cars?

Mini Dachshund Puppies

2008-06-09T11:24:00.002-05:00

Most of you who have been reading our blog over the last year know that we've started breeding Mini Dachshunds. Well we're about to have our first batch of puppies and I've started a blog to sell them please spread the word. I still need to update the pics we only have pics of Sassy and Tarzan when they're little. It's a work in progress but it should be done in the next few days. kyleeniesweenies.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday Kya!

2008-06-05T09:14:00.012-05:00

I can't believe my Baby's 4! And I'm pretty sure 4 is the new 14 cuz she's been flickin attitude all week. Although Mimi left on Wednesday which was the day after her bday so we're still adjusting and trying to get back on schedule. This year Kya had her first party with just her school friends. She has had a Barbie Island Princess dress hanging in our closet since after Xmas when we got it on clearance and told her that it would be for her bday, so she was very excited to run into our room and put it on. She'd been popping in every now and then just to make sure it's still there. I told her she had to wait until after breakfast so she laid it on the bed and spent 5 min running her hands over it straightening every last section it was so over the top funny.
Her party was so cute we had everyone come dress up for a Princess Luncheon. We did it on Monday a day before her bday so we could have 2 sisters from the afternoon class come. We had mini bagel sandwiches, cookies, princess fruit snacks and everyone got an ice cream cone cup to take home. After lunch we made necklaces and bracelets and the girls had a balloon war while we cleaned up for Barbie Cake. I bought the cake for stresses sake but I wish I would have made it because I was not impressed but what ever Kya like it after she made me fix the Barbie's ugly ratty hair. Anyways the girls were so well behaved and quiet it was nice and she made a haul from the gifts.

On Tuesday June 3rd her real bday Kya seemed to have gone from 4 to 14. She quickly informed me that she was too old for Mickey Mouse pancakes and would only be eating the K shaped one I made. Mimi took her jammie shopping for her bday and it was Hannah Montana this and Hannah Montana that she's never even seen the show. To top it off we got her a Barbie scooter which has a little pic of Barbie's head on it and Mia said " Hey it's Hannah Montana" and Kya got all excited and said" You bought me a Hannah Montana scooter!" I'm glad to say she at least wasn't disappointed when she found out it was Barbie.

A Weekend of 1sts

2008-06-05T08:52:00.004-05:00

So Mimi's last weekend here we took her to the drive-in to see Indiana Jones and Iron Man... I flipped my seat around popped in my MP3 headphones and watched Baby's Mama which was playing on the screen behind us while they watched Iron Man. I can't praise drive-ins enough it's just the perfect date when you have kids. It's $17 for the both of us to go see a double feature, we pack tons of snacks and drinks, and the best part we don't have to pay a sitter we just pop in a Barbie movie in the way back lay down some sleeping bags and they're passed out shortly after the 1st movie's over. LOVE IT!! The Drive-In is in this cool touristy area called Weirs Beach so there's a lake, miniature, golf a little water slide park, bumper cars, go carts, train rides, dinner cruises, the weather was pretty crappy so we found a little arcade to kill sometime before the movie. The girls got to play air hockey for the 1st time and they thougth that was pretty cool and then Kya challenged Todd in an intence round of Dance Dance Revolution

Kya also got invited to her 1st bday party from school. The girl wasn't from her class but we see her and her sister every Friday for Family room. The girls get along great they are 18mos apart like our girls and almost exactly a yr older give and take 2 days. It was the older one's bday but they were nice enough to have Mia along too. It was our first experience with New England bowling otherwise known as candlepin bowling. It's so weird the balls are a little bigger than a softball and you roll 3 times in a row instead of 2 but the weird part is they don't sweep in between so you just have pins laying around until your turn is over then you have to push a button that sweepes and sets up for the next person. Oh and picking up a spare is so hard! The girls had a blast though because they could actually roll the balls down by themselves. We decided we're taking Daddy for Father's Day.

80% Chance of Girl

2008-06-02T14:53:00.000-05:00

So we had our ultrasound a week ago and after making special secret arrangements to have Mimi here for it they couldn't even tell us for sure what we were having... go figure. I knew this was going to happen, I've had 3 babies spread eagle for their ultrasounds and now the 4th is stuck down low breech and crossed legged. I heard a rumor that a Dr. in the practice does a quick gender ultrasound for those who got crappy results so I have an appt. with him in 2wks. So hopefully "she" will be big enough to pop out of her little nest and start movin around so we can get a better look with no feet in the way.

19 Weeks

Mimi's Bday

2008-05-28T13:36:00.000-05:00

Since Mimi spent her Bday here with us we knew we had to make it a good one. We started off by spoiling her at my favorite get away Serendipity Day Spa for a pedicure the night befoer her bday. I was going to take a pic of her feet but unfortunately the next day when I got around to it she chipped a toe and declined photos. On Mimi's bday we went to see Horton Here's a Who and then came home for some awesome Heath pie that Todd made. I'll try to post the recipe on here. Anyways I think we did a pretty good job. Happy Birthday Mimi!

Memorial Day

2008-05-26T14:58:00.003-05:00

We had a laid back Memorial Day that was perfect, unfortunately I was so relaxed I didn't bother to take any pictures throughout the day... woops. We started off the morning 2 blocks down to watch the parade it was short but the kids still loved it especially once they got their flags. We ran into the Coils and that started off a day of plans. We headed up to their house with our volcano sprinkler and the kids had fun running around out in the sun. The guys went on a wild goose hunt for a park with a bbq pit and after a couple hours we decided to hit some drive thrus and go to Rollins park. After dinner we ran home put our kids to bed with Mimi and went back to the Coils for some St. Petersburg our latest and greatest board game.

It's Been Awhile

2008-05-21T13:36:00.010-05:00

It's been way too long since I've posted I know! We've been crazy busy in the Pratt House. It started on the night before Mother's Day when Mimi and Gpa finally arrived, the girls had been counting the days. Mother's day was great Todd and Gpa made us breakfast and they got Mimi and I corsages to wear to church and Todd got me an external flash for my camera. Being such a special day we also took the opportunity to tell everyone that we are expecting baby #4.

On Monday we hit the ground running and took off to VT. We visited Joseph Smith's Birthplace and then headed on North to Ben & Jerry's. I had the best Coconut almond fudge ice cream and recommend to everyone who goes there to try it.

Tuesday it was off to Maine, we went up to York and played at the Short Sands Beach. It was freezing and windy when we first got there but that didn't stop the girls from stripping down to their suits and Kya eventually ending up in the ocean. It ended up being pretty warm when we left and we ended the trip warming up on the playground and then headed home. We made a quick stop in Kittery at the Trading Post which is like a small Cabellas. The girls loved it, there was a giant moose right when you walked in that was shot by a 13 yr old girl pretty impressive. We stopped on our way out for a photo shoot with some benches.

Wednesday the girls plus Boston stayed home and Todd and Gpa headed down to Mass to the NBA Hall of Fame. Which was followed by another drive to Boston Friday night only to hang out for 2 hours in the rain and find out that the Red Sox game was rained out. We forgot to upload Gpa's pics off his camera before he left so he has the pics from Fenway and the NBA Hall of Fame.

So we had lots of crazy trips all over the place but still managed to get in some quality time in with Gpa before flying back home yesterday. Mia became a total Gpa girl and had to be talking to him every minute of every day. Kya never failed to remind Gpa to take his medicine every day. And it took a couple of days but Boston warmed up and thought Gpa was pretty cool stuff. I think the kids' highlight would have to be starting breakfast every morning by singing with Gpa Jesus Wants me For a Sunbeam!

Happy BDay Boston & Jace

2008-04-30T18:40:00.008-05:00

Boston & Jace Then

Jace & Boston Now

So yesterday was Boston's real 1st bday, but since Todd had to study for his final for this morning we celebrated it today by going to Build a Bear and then to Chuck E Cheese with the Cranes since today is Jace's Bday. Boston got a new dog at Build a Bear and surprisingly stepped on the thing to fill it up without freaking out... I think both girls feraked when they did it and they were both 2. Chuck E Cheese was insane we've always gone early and it was like we went on a Friday night so it was a little stressful but still fun and the kids did surprisingly well for it being nap time. I can't believe my baby boy is 1! It really flew by, I thought I was going to lose my mind when we were going through all his medical stuff but I'm so blessed that that is over and I can just sit back and play with him. He's getting so big he just started walking last week and I love it when he sneaks up behind me and lays his head on my shoulder to give his Mommy some loves, he's such a sweetheart. I keep telling Todd I hope it's girls from now on so he can always be my baby boy!

We're riding a crazy roller coaster in case you can't tell

This is the only pic where you can kind of see my new short hair, it's all spiky in the back and the sides barely cover my ears but you can't really tell here

Tid Bits

2008-04-29T19:58:00.004-05:00

So I'm a little behind but I have 2 separate 3 day barfing migraines to thank for that. So here's just a few things that happened last week...

Wednesday was my friend Becky's Bday and since the guys picked up a final that day and she was 5 days away from her due date I thought the girls and I would make her a cake and throw her a little party. I'm happy to report she had her baby Sat. before her due date.... which is a huge blessing in Nh since they like you to go 42 wks before inducing kill me know!

Friday we went to this ghetto grocery store since we had limited Todd time and I saw these juices called Rip Sips it was such a great name I had to get them for the girls and just in case you're wondering they stain tongues!

Saturday we went to the Library where Kya filled out her full name to get her very 1st Library card she was so excited and the Librarian made a huge deal about it for her and gave her an I Love to Read pencil which she has told everyone everyday about it since.

Here's a better pic of the car bed

I also had all my hair chopped off a few wks ago so I'll try to get a pic up soon!

What a Big Boy

2008-04-21T10:34:00.004-05:00

So part of Boston's Bday present from us was to get him a car bed. I've been looking on craigslist for months now and finally found one Friday that was the right size for the right price... well and then I sent Todd who got it for even cheaper $30!! Anyways I put it together Saturday morning just in time for Boston to take a nap in it. He LOVES his new bed!! He sits up and then gets excited and buries his head in his new Cars sheets. He has successfully taken 3 naps and 2 full night sleeps in it. Way to go Buddy! I'll try to get a better pic of the bed but he's sleeping in it right now so that'll have to wait.

Boston's 1st nap in his Big Boy bed!

Wakin Up and ready to escape

Boston's 1st Bday Party!!

2008-04-17T18:03:00.005-05:00

I know it was a little early, Boston's real birthday isn't until the 29th but all our friends are dispersing in the next few weeks so we decided to have his party before they all left. So last Friday was the big day we had to start it early at 9:30am since he goes to bed at 11am. I think he had a good time we had a Cars theme party so I made him a Mater cake which he took down to the last inch. I'm also happy to report that Boston now has more to play with then My Little Ponys. He got some tools, a tool bench, some cars and his favorite his Cars cell phone which I'm glad to say replaced the Cinderella one he's been carrying around for weeks. All in all it was a good time!!
Goin Strong...

Check Please!

Sunny Days

2008-04-17T17:40:00.006-05:00

So last week it got up to around the 60's so we finally got out and headed for the park. It was perfect the playground had no snow except for the swings so the kids were able to play and Tarzan was able to do his favorite thing pounce around in the snow. Boston spent the 1st hour just hangin out in the wagon with his milk and teddy grahams he was too funny.