It's Great to be a Grange

2012-02-10T20:51:00.000-08:00

We headed to Denver last weekend because the Dan Grange's from Connecticut were in town. There was a big storm on the way so we headed out earlier then planned. We left around 12:30 and as we rolled into town Thursday night around 7:00 it started to snow....and then it didn't stop until Sat. morning!

About 20 inches of snow later...

The uncles and Gramps built a great sledding ramp that sent the kids sliding out into the street. Perfect for our little guys.

Lucy made it out for about 10 minutes. Just as long as it took to get her in all the gear. (She refused the gloves).

We all got to enjoy the snow and watch the kids in a warm house.

Thanks Colorado Granges for the great food, games, fun, and of course the snow.

Lucy at 15 months

2012-01-16T21:45:00.000-08:00

still big blue eyes

her little personality is really coming out,

starting to dress up with sister,

We had a fun little photo shoot the other day, I thought she just looked so cute.

Although she is adorable, she has become more active then I would like these days: climbing up on chairs and the table and thinking she is as old as her brothers and sister.

She became a toddler over night to me. A little sad, a little happy :)

Christmas (revisited)

2012-01-16T21:37:00.000-08:00

Grandkid pictures...hard to do ;)

Sweet Lucy cuddling with Grandpa

Stocking!

A new toothbrush makes this baby happy.

My kids have become impossible with picture posing. But the tree looks pretty doesn't it?

Lucy always gets lots of help.

I didn't know Power Rangers were back...but my boys have been really into them recently.

Pillow Pets were a huge success. I love this picture of them all trying it out.

And the big presents from Santa, Remote control helicopters. Just what they asked for. And their Dad likes it too!

Friday

2012-01-02T17:43:00.000-08:00

We met up with Spencer's cousin Kyle and their family. My kids have recently rebelled against picture shoots.

On Friday we went bowling and saw Prancer and Dancer followed by Santa.

Mabel really likes sitting with Santa. She doesn't really look at him or talk to him, but seems to really enjoy just sitting on his lap.

Andrew asked for an assortment of interesting gifts this year, including a roller coaster and a flying carpet. (That even got a laugh out of Santa).

Ryan's an old pro.

And Lucy starts clawing onto you if you get much closer then this. She started crying recently when a nice man with a big white beard smiled at her at the grocery store.

Grandpa's Bike

2012-01-02T17:31:00.000-08:00

Mabel was the least nervous...she kept begging for more rides.

Spencer got to relive his glory days when he had a motorcycle long ago.

Gingerbread houses

2012-01-02T17:25:00.000-08:00

more cousin fun time. With 8 kids 6 and under in one house in the winter...we tried to keep them busy.

Spencer "helping" Mabel. He was the last one at the table.

grandparent fun

2011-12-25T17:15:00.000-08:00

We're here in Kennewick for Christmas and enjoying lots of Grandma and Grandpa fun. The kids have watched lots of movies in Grandpa's movie room and playing on his Ipad. (sorry kids, your parents are tech dorks and don't have any cool toys).

1st snow of the season

2011-12-22T10:50:00.000-08:00

This was a couple of weeks ago. We're at my parents house in Kennewick right now and I hear we're missing more snow back in ABQ. All Kennewick has is fog!

Andrew's Rock Band

2011-12-22T10:46:00.000-08:00

At Andrew's School Talent Show he did a duet with his buddy to Justin Bieber "Never say Never". (Much to his brother Ryan's dismay who "hates Justin Bieber"). It was hilarious. And very, very loud.

family pics 2011

2011-12-04T13:04:00.000-08:00

I love the girls looking at each other.

The sticks, dirt, and rocks proved to be a big hit/distraction.

We really embraced the whole living in New Mexico thing this year in our pictures. I actually really like the spot, I think it turned out great! Our kids individual pictures were great. But note to self for next year...do family pictures first! Lucy was not having it by the time we got to family pictures. Notice she and Spence are missing in a picture. We did get at least one good one though. I'll save it for my Christmas card!

crazy climber

2011-11-30T14:06:00.000-08:00

Guess what negligent mom let her 13 month old climb up on swingset? Ryan ran into the house and said, "Mom, come quick!" And there she was up there with the big kids laughing hysterically. This is what happens when you are the youngest of 4 and just want to get in on the action as quick as possible.

the plane ride

2011-11-20T20:48:00.000-08:00

My sis-in-law found us $9 flights to Denver on Southwest airlines. $9 you say? Really? Yes, it was crazy just to see the $9 flight on the website. Anyways, too good to pass up. Between Spencer's family and us, we had 4 trips lined up between ABQ and Denver. Our kids have all flown, but they were all too young to remember. They were super excited to get on the plane.

Spencer went through security with me and got us all settled. I didn't even bring the stroller or much entertainment since the flight is only one hour. Just long enough to get the fun experience of riding a plane without the pain for the mom. Spencer left just right before we should have started boarding.

Our flight was supposed to leave at 5:30. At 5:00 they announced that our plane had mechanical problems and we were delayed....until 9:00!!! Talk about wanting to cry. Andrew did. I kind of wanted too.

Luckily, when I called my sweet husband to tell him of our plight, he immediately said he would come back and help me entertain the kids. The airport let him back through security and he brought the DVD player. He stayed until we were all the way on the plane and taking off this time.

By this point I thought the kids would be so tired that it wouldn't even be the fun experience I was hoping to give them, but they were great and they LOVED it. You would have thought we were on a roller coaster ride as we took off. It was hilarious. The boys sat with some nice woman who Andrew talked to the entire time. Right after we took off, Andrew announced in his not so soft Andrew voice, "I hope we don't crash!" (with a big smile on his face). That got some laughs.

Mabel and Lucy did great too and Lucy was just happy to sit on my lap or the seat next to me. Then they ran off the plane into their Grammy and Gramp's arms who were waiting at the gate for us. We finally got in bed at almost midnight. (just in case you are interested, it only takes 6 1/2 hours to drive to Denver. With airport waits and drive times, it took us over 8 hours to get there)

The airline did give us all $100 vouchers. So....the long delay was Almost worth it. pretty much.

Jog-a-thon

2011-11-18T11:17:00.000-08:00

Ryan's school had a canned food drive that ended with a jogathon, so we went and cheered him on.

I don't know what got into Ryan, but he was a running fool. He ran almost the whole time.

They got a silly band for each lap they completed, Ryan got 4 bands. He was one of only a few 1st graders that got 4 bands. I'd like to think it was because his loving mother came to support him.

All tired out.

My New Baby

2011-11-10T20:22:00.000-08:00

Anyone care to venture a guess as to what this is?

Does some scale help?

How come women get babies after birth pains and men get something that looks to me like a vile insect and gives me the shivers?

is it finally over???

2011-11-04T13:23:00.000-07:00

As you can tell from the abundance of halloween posts, we had party after party this year. So you can imagine the loot these kids had. I let them just go for it Halloween night and was pretty liberal with their eating of the next day, but by the 3rd day after I had my probably 50th reeses peanut butter cup, I was dreading the amount of candy I alone would consume.

My friend let me know about the Treats for Troops at a local dentist. You bring in your halloween candy and they give you a 1$ a lb. The kids thought it was a good idea so we went in. I was afraid they would freak out once they dumped their candy in the big box, but they were thrilled with their money. (Ryan and Andrew got 3$ and Mabel got 1$). They gave the kids a cookie and goody bag with lots of free meal coupons which they were also excited about. Ryan even said as we were driving away, "Let's do that again next year!" Success!

Andrew's Party

2011-11-03T16:33:00.000-07:00

Doesn't Andrew have the most fun preschool ever? They go all out for every party, they covered the whole school in decorations.

I brought both girls. Mabel had fun...Lucy wasn't so sure. But she is a cute ladybug.

There are all these little games for the kids to play with a prize for each game.

And of course, Andrew's favorite part, the food. After about 5 minutes of playing games Andrew asked where the food was.

A Rainy Day

2011-11-02T15:23:00.001-07:00

She liked it.

Trunk or Treat

2011-11-01T13:10:00.000-07:00

Princess Belle (who wore her princess high heel dress up shoes ALL night)

Spider-Man (he will be sad if you don't comment on his muscles)

Bat (I made the costume out of a hooded sweatshirt. Ryan REALLY wanted to be a bat and I kept trying to change his mind so I didn't have long to make it)

Aerobics Instructor and her student.

Smarty Pants! ha ha ha

Mabel and I danced the night away...the boys weren't too excited about the dance. But let me tell you that there were a lot of little girls, YW and mom's getting down on the dance floor. We even did a flash mom dance to Thriller which we practiced at Zumba. It was awesome.

carvin' time

2011-10-31T13:06:00.000-07:00

Dad ends up doing all the work.

I don't even want to know the germs that we pass around with these vampire teeth year after year.

Lucy is happy to be a part of the gang.

Same pair of teeth people.

Finished product!

Birthday celebrations

2011-10-30T19:58:00.000-07:00

We had a Rainbow party for our two October 19th babies. Spencer luckily doesn't put up too much of a fuss about birthdays, he would have been fine with a big pink cake too.

We had a Rainbow fruit platter (Spencer thought it was dorky I made him take this picture, but Lucy can't hold the tray)

Rainbow jello, and tacos.

So excited! This girl had to bat her siblings away, they kept trying to take over.

She got lots of clothes at her mother's request :)

I know the cake looks ghetto from the outside, because that's just how I roll...

Mabel totally blew the candles out.

But I think the cake looked pretty cool on the inside.

I knew this girl would love her some cake.

Hurray! And for those of you interested, Lucy weighed almost 21 lbs and I don't remember her height but she was in the 50% for both.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love a good corn pit?

An intense duck race.

There was a fight for the horse head.

Serious tractor rider girl. She wouldn't ride the little bikes they had for kids her size, she has to do what the brothers do!

It has been a struggle recently to get these kids to all look at the camera. Someday I'll put all these growth chart pictures together that we take at the Pumpkin Patch each year. And then I'll probably cry at how big my boys are.

2011-10-25T09:16:00.000-07:00

Church History Museum- children's section, so fun that they did that for the kids. Our kids could have stayed a long time if we let them.

Conference Center Roof.

Ryan taking a turn with the backpack, can I tell you how much I love the backpack? So much easier then getting a stroller around.

I love Temple Square. I'm glad we took our kids this trip.

more utah

2011-10-20T20:31:00.000-07:00

This is the Place heritage Park. In all my years living in Utah, I had never been here. It was really fun and the kids loved it. In fact, Spence and I would even like to go back without kids to do all the historical stuff there.

Random, but someone built the "UP" house. It's for sale!

Our kids enjoying leaves and lots of juice (can you tell?)

Lucy Goosey

2011-10-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

From this,

to this, in just 1 year! We love our big blue eyed girl.

p.s. Happy Birthday to the Dad of all these crazy kids too. We love this big blue eyed guy.

BYU

2011-10-19T05:50:00.000-07:00

We made a stop at BYU on our trip to Utah last week. Lunch at Brick Oven Pizza, delicious.

These kids look so big! And Mabel did that Y all on her own. I have been training them.

Andrew was really excited to go to the "BIU" library (that's how he says BYU). He was fascinated by the fact that it is underground. And yes, we walked through the library with our little family and I'm sure disrupted all the studying going on.

Lucy was a trooper baby.

Rock Canyon park...oh Albuquerque, you need a little more color.

And before we went to Cafe Rio for dinner we took a lap around the stadium. I've decided I need to keep doing this to convince my kids how awesome BYU is. We took them to the bowling alley, the creamery for ice cream, and the Bean Museum. Now they think BYU is the most fun school ever.

Fiesta! 2011

2011-10-08T20:09:00.000-07:00

Get ready for a lot of pictures, but how can you not take a lot of pictures at the Balloon Fiesta?

Notice the snow on the mountain??? It's been a little cold down here.

Ryan had his first funnel cake. I thought he would get full and share, but nope, he loved it and downed the whole thing!

Balloons starting to go up!

Ryan loves collecting the balloon trading cards all the balloon pilots/crew give away.

Balloons up!

Ryan is so excited!

I was proud of how many family shots we got this year! Little Lucy was a champ and just rode in that stroller the whole time without so much as a peep.

Starting to light up..

The favorite of the Grange kids was Spider Pig. It is a brand new balloon.

I love it when they do the countdowns and all the balloons light up at once. I really do like the Balloon Glow. You don't have to wake up at 4:00 in the morning to go to it :)

what we've been up to...

2011-10-03T12:09:00.000-07:00

The boys are playing soccer. I think I just don't have the heart of a soccer mom. The boys have fun and all... but giving soccer a good part of my Saturday??? I don't know.

Andrew really likes the treats after the game. 4 year old soccer is hilarious.

Andrew has been a little destructive recently. He claims his favorite Toy Story character is Buzz...but it looks more like Sid is his favorite. He has a new saying these days. Anytime he asks you a question, he follows it with "yes or no". For example, at the store: "Can we buy this Mom? Yes or no." It's pretty funny.

Mabel is really into dress up and usually has a dress up skirt over her clothes most days. At least I have convinced her that she doesn't need to strip down (including underwear) to put on her princess clothes. Lucy is getting in on the action too.

By the way, Lucy is/was 11 months on the 19th. Almost 1!

We gave the kids pipe cleaners to play with during general conference. (random, I know, but the night before I was trying to be cool and put together conference kits for my kids and this was one of the things I found in the closet). It was actually great, quiet, not messy, and Dad got in on the fun and made fun things too.

And Mabel and her little partner in crime found my friends make up today. Yikes. But if you look closely, she did indeed get the mascara on her eyelashes.

I need to keep an eye on this girl...this isn't the first time.

School for Andrew too

2011-09-08T19:44:00.000-07:00

Our Andrew had to wait for 3 weeks after Ryan to start school...not that he has seemed to mind to much. He's pretty happy just to hang out at home.

But he LOVES his preschool and was so happy to go back.

People keep commenting recently how big and tall and old Andrew is looking. He IS. Stop it Andrew!

Mabel was not so happy to have Andrew go back to school. In fact, she thought she was staying too. She said "bye mom!" all excitedly as I was saying my goodbyes to Andrew. I had to carry her out kicking and screaming. I did not get a picture of that :)

The bus ride

2011-08-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

Ryan and his best buds. And Mabel. (Who doesn't want a picture with Mabel in it?!)

He's a pro at this now. I love the bus. Me loading up my kiddos twice a day to drive Ryan to school would not equal good times. Plus, he has lots of friends and kids from our ward that ride with him and a very sweet bus driver. We've only had good experiences with the bus.

And I like that he still waves to me and sits in the front row. Do you think I can convince him to do that in 6th grade?

Lucy 10 months

2011-08-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

Look at those teeth! 6 with one on the way. And yes, my kids teeth are huge. Wow.

This cutie- patootie is 10 months now. She has abandoned her army crawl for the real thing and is all over. Especially under the table...because she knows she can score some sweet crumbs. She desperately wants to crawl up the stairs but thankfully can't yet, and has just recently started pulling up on things.

Seriously, this age is one of my favorites. As is the baby :)

big 1st grader

2011-08-16T09:32:00.000-07:00

Ready to go in to Mrs. Hernandez 1st grade class.

He was super excited about having his own desk "to put his stuff in"

"Who's excited for their first day of 1st grade?"

Goodbye to our big kid! We can't wait until he gets home off the bus to tell us all about it.

goodbye summer

2011-08-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

We will miss you. And goodbye to your rag-a-muffin ways kids, sorry. We'll be out in public again soon.

go 'topes

2011-08-14T14:28:00.000-07:00

We tried to get in a couple more late nights. The kids did great, made it to the end of the 7th inning. Is anyone else afraid of getting hit by balls like I am?

at the beach

2011-08-10T15:26:00.000-07:00

Lucy was such a trooper, she loved the sand and didn't eat too much of it.

Ryan loved tubing with friends and riding the jet ski.

Mabel's favorite part was the food of course. But she did like riding on the fast boat. She kept freaking me out by refusing to wear a life jacket or wings while swimming and would walk farther and farther out saying "is this too deep mom?"

Don't judge the binky, it's how we got her to take a nap on the beach.

Champion baby..she took a two hour nap.

Andrew was happy to just be there. And he had a great time on the tube with Dad. He got the most air.

slip n slide

2011-08-07T20:14:00.000-07:00

We have only one more week of summer here in ABQ before school starts, can you believe it??? Summer went by so fast.

I've been campaigning for mother of the year award this summer, so I got out the slide and invited some neighbor kids over. This was even at the risk of ripping up our fragile grass (which it totally did)

Andrew still uses the running method to get to the end.

Ryan was getting it this year and getting some good runs.

We're going to try to get in as much summer fun this week as we can before our Ryan becomes a 1st grader!!!

in my garden

2011-08-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

We used chicken manure this year and look at the size of my tomatoes!

The cherry tomatoes have done great too, Spencer usually has a big bowl full to take to work each day.

And of course the zucchini, a gardeners confidence booster has done great.

We did basil this year and I even made some spaghetti sauce the other night with my tomatoes and basil.

And since we live in New Mexico, I thought I should grow some sort of hot chili pepper.

Those were the successes....I didn't take pictures of my dead peas (they did great for a couple weeks, and then died in our hot July weather), green beans, wimpy onions, and strawberries. But again, this is New Mexico. ;)

Lucy 9 months

2011-07-22T22:09:00.000-07:00

Lucy was 9 months on the 19th...and the only recent picture of her includes her siblings...but she is the 4th child so we get credit for even making note of this milestone right??

At 9 months Lucy:

weights 18 lb. 6 oz. 50%
27 inches 50%
head 75%

-is army crawling like crazy and is starting to get up on her hands and knees,

-and is so cute we can't get enough of her.

I love this age, they are still cute and baby like...but sleep through the night and don't have to be fed all the time :)

Ryan rides a bike

2011-07-22T21:54:00.000-07:00

Hurray for Ryan! And Hurray for Spencer for successfully teaching our first kid how to ride a bike. It was a lot of running for Spencer, but Ryan got it after about 5 bike riding sessions.

p.s. If you are wondering what the deal is with our neighbors wacky paint job on half their trim...don't even get me started.

socks

2011-07-15T20:49:00.000-07:00

Andrew came down after rest time with 3 pairs of socks on. "Now my feet will be warm" he said. Andrew, don't you know it's 100 degrees outside??!!!

4th of july

2011-07-12T15:01:00.000-07:00

Our ward has a breakfast and kid bike parade every year. We've been out of town the last 2 years so it was great to be there for it.

That night we BBQ'd with friends, watched fireworks, and had fun. Mabel is always up for face painting.

we want s'more

2011-06-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

We took a little trip up north to Denver to see family last week.

I think one of my kids favorite things we do is making smores at Grammy and Gramps. Delicious, I could eat at least 3...and I did :)

We did so many fun things: swimming at the pool, John's company picnic, splash pad, lots of games, and LOTS of food. But the only thing I took pictures of was the Children's museum.

They had a tent outside where kids could make rockets and launch them.

I made Andrew's and Mabel's. I was pretty proud that they got to the 60 foot marker once.

Ryan was smart and had his engineer Dad make his...yep, it made it all the way to the moon. It hit it in fact. Spencer's always trying to one up me :)

backyard 2011

2011-06-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

Spencer has been wanting to take apart my old truck and rebuild it...especially now since it failed emissions. But I told him he had to finish the backyard first.

He finished covering up all the dirt with rocks, we planted more plants and he put in the drip system all around the yard.

We had planned on having absolutely no dirt left, but our boys were so sad that Spencer build them a sand box.

Isn't that a fancy sand box? With a pergola and everything. Spencer''s honey-do list is done for the summer!

Lucy's Pics

2011-06-11T08:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry, way too many pictures for one post...but I just couldn't help myself.

The fabulous Sharleen came through again. We LOVE Lucy's 6 month pictures (she was probably closer to 7 months, but that's ok)

I had to include this one because it is classic Grange baby face. Mouth wide open!

If you are thinking that those are the biggest and bluest eyes you have ever seen on a baby, you are right :)

I love this pictures, her face looks perfect. And doesn't it look like we put lip gloss on her? I assure you, we did not.

I just want to squeeze her in all her chubby goodness.

1st grade promotion

2011-05-27T14:38:00.000-07:00

Ryan was "promoted" to 1st Grade...or that's what they called his little end of the year celebration.

His teacher gave all the kids little awards. She said that Ryan has made the class laugh all year, apparently he's somewhat of a class clown.

Afterwards, we all got to go out to recess with Ryan and his little friends.

Kindergarten has been so great. Ryan loved it, we loved it, and his teacher was so awesome.

Ryan's best friend Kai.

Ryan will get off the bus in just about 20 minutes....summer's about to start!

7 months of lucy

2011-05-26T09:45:00.000-07:00

Our beautiful Lucy is 7 months old. She is sweet, happy, and still our chubby baby. Our new favorite thing to do is blow on her tummy. Mabel does it the best, seriously, some good noises. She is starting to roll to get to things and pushing up on her arms. Crawling could be soon!

Andrew the dinosaur

2011-05-25T19:40:00.000-07:00

Andrew's end of the year program: He was "a scary T-rex, that lives on a mountain, and ROARS"

His teachers awarded him the "million dollar smile" award. Very fitting. They said he always has a smile, and he does.

And on a side note: They spray painted Andrew's hair green for his role as a dinosaur. On the way home Spencer and I were having a discussion if we wanted to give him a bath or not. We were wondering if the spray paint would get on his bed. Andrew must have been listening, because as soon as we got home, he ran upstairs and started rubbing his head all over his pillow. Luckily (for him) the spray paint didn't come off.

summer's a comin

2011-05-09T20:16:00.000-07:00

We are loving the nice weather we've been having. (As long as the wind isn't blowing). I love it when the kids come home, drop their backpacks, and head straight out side to play.

Andrew being...Andrew. The things this kid comes up with. He thought it was hilarious pedaling like this.

Ryan about to hop over to the neighbors. We LOVE our new neighbors, they have boys our boys age, perfect! And they're in our ward.

Spencer was trying to take a candid picture of her playing in the dirt, but she saw the camera and struck a pose instead.

happy easter

2011-04-24T19:34:00.000-07:00

out with the old, in with the new!

2011-04-24T13:55:00.000-07:00

Ryan lost his first tooth yesterday. It was so loose that he just pushed it out with his tongue. This was the first lost tooth for our family, so fun! It was just as exciting for all of us. I thought Andrew was going to burst trying to wait for Spencer to get home to tell him.

And baby sister is busy growing in the same tooth her big brother just lost.

what's new with us

2011-04-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

*We buzzed the boys hair. Andrew calls it his "Bode haircut" (Bode is his little friend). He suggested I just "cut it all off like Grandpa's.)

*Mabel gets bossier by the second. She now copies all discipline/commands I give the boys and when we were grocery shopping the other day she was making sure Ryan was right with us.

*Andrew saw his first little person at the store. I saw his eyes watching him and I knew something was coming. Luckily he waited until the guy was at the other end of the aisle before he burst out laughing and said "that little boy had a mustache!" I had to explain to him that dad's (all grown up men) all come in different sizes.

*I'm actually getting a little anxious for summer. I thought I would be dreading it, but I look forward to having no schedule and to not have to nag people to get dressed/make beds, and eat faster.

*How did we get so lucky to have these 4 kiddos? Wouldn't trade this life for anything.

6 months

2011-04-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

computer time, we are so tech savvy here.

mastering sitting up!

she's getting her first tooth, it's about to poke through.

love this big blue eyed baby.

soccer part 2

2011-04-17T19:04:00.000-07:00

This is kind of Ryan's signature look..."thoughtful looking into nothingness". Seriously, it's amazing this kid is so smart. I have been in his classroom and he has it all the time there too. It's hilarious.

Ryan has had a lot of fun this spring season. He has improved a ton and actually seemed to really get into the games and go after the ball.

That's why we were so surprised when he told me he absolutely doesn't want to play next year! He says it's boring and too hard. He really wants to do karate, but that is SO expensive for a 6 year old who might want to quit 2 weeks later. I think I might sign him up again next year anyways :)

end of birthday month

2011-04-05T20:42:00.000-07:00

Ryan's birthday was the end of the birthday month here at the Grange house. Hurray! No more cake until October!

We had a space party for our big 6 year old. There was beanbags thrown into planets,

lots of big boy toys for little brother and sisters to break or choke on,

a fun group of boys (the bullseye behind them was where we aimed our rockets)

kryptonite spoon races (really just green ice cubes)

a moon cake...which I thought turned out cute. I baked it in a bowl.

but still a little bit ghetto.

and we shot off rockets at the end. We only lost 2!

oh Ryan...if you leave the house at 18, that means our time with you under our roof is 1/3 of the way through. sniff, sniff. We love you Ryan!

eat baby eat!

2011-04-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

Don't let the stink face fool you....she loves her some baby cereal!

(This was her first time and she wasn't so sure, but now she is a believer.)

5 months

2011-03-24T08:36:00.000-07:00

our sweet lucy is 5 months old now. She is rolling all over both ways now and has a good layer of blonde fuzz on her head now. As Mabel always says, she is "soooo cute!"

and Andrew is 4???

2011-03-05T12:31:00.000-08:00

Andrew is still riding the Buzz Lightyear train. So of course we had to have a Buzz party. (if you are wondering who the cute alien is, it's our neice Isabel. No, we didn't sneak a 5th child in).

My friend had all these cute Toy Story costumes from Halloween last year she let us borrow.

We washed all of the Z's (for Zurg) off of the wall. Zurg must have known we were having a Buzz party and tried to leave his mark. (this is our version of the buzz ride at Disneyland)

We also found all the army men scouting out Andrew's party and reporting to the rest of the toys what presents he got.

My cute woody.

The crazy group (no girls allowed, except sister and cousin).

Dad riding in on Andrew's new buzz bike.

The last happy face of the birthday.

Again, in Grange family tradition I guess, right after blowing out the candles, he THREW UP. And didn't stop all night.

While I was cleaning him up he said "Mom, I'm a sick happy birthday boy".

mabel is 2? no....

2011-03-01T20:17:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Mabel. We can't believe our big girl is 2 already. Mabel has such a fun personality, she can sure be sassy, but she is also super sweet. She is the first to say thank you mommy, please, your welcome, and I love you. And I'm pretty sure she already knows how adorable we think she is. And that's ok :)

2 minutes after she blew out the candles on the completely ghetto cake her mommy made...she threw up. So sad!

happy 2 years to you house

2011-02-27T20:24:00.000-08:00

We've been in our house 2 years now, hurray! We've really enjoyed our house and neighborhood. These pics are mainly for my sister, who hasn't see any of our rooms after we've actually done something with them, so here you go Lindsey.

girls room: Mabel followed me around when she saw the camera out.

Lucy sleeps in her baby room still, so it will be her room one day. I didn't take a picture of her room, because we haven't painted it yet, so it looked boring.

Boys room

I thought it turned out pretty good, especially since it's hard to get excited about decorating for boys.

Our room, we finally got a bedroom set last year so our mattress wasn't lying on the ground like we were homeless. I won't even show you what the other side of the bedroom looks like. Does anyone else's master bedroom turn into the room where all junk/misc. items end up? Ours does, for instance, we have an old organ up here.

Living room

And for our houses 2nd anniversary Spencer promised to get this out of the driveway. (anyone interested? It's listed on craigslist!)

4 month Lucy

2011-02-19T13:44:00.000-08:00

You can see her hair loss is almost complete. Her hair pattern is a lot like Ryan's was...a tuff on top and in the back. She is still the best baby ever and yesterday rolled over for the first time!

andrew, andrew, andrew

2011-02-08T18:55:00.000-08:00

This is mainly to write this all done...because aren't we told that someday we'll look back on all this and laugh? Actually...to be honest, I kind of laugh right now when Andrew does half the stuff he does, because he is such a goof.

This last week Andrew has:

-covered his body in toothpaste
-swiped my credit card and hid it in his pocket
-told everyone at Target about his new underwear
-worn 6 pairs of his new underwear in one day
-showed said underwear to his friends...while it is on
-told Ryan he pushes like a girl (Ryan was pushing him on the swing) The boys are very anti-girl right now.

When Andrew picks out his own clothes it's always a hoot. The other day he came down with brown pants and a brown shirt backwards so it was straight brown. (Spencer said he was dressing as poop).

I think Andrew will forever be my sweet goofy boy.

i forgot

2011-02-01T13:44:00.000-08:00

Little Lucy is 3 months old....almost 3 1/2. Our family was trying to figure out who she looks like last weekend when we were all together.

Andrew at 3 months. Andrew kind of seems to be the odd man out. I think the rest of the kids look more alike. And by the way, this is one of the only pictures we have of him from newborn until he's about 1. I don't know what happened. We still have plenty of Mabel and Lucy. Sorry Andrew, we'll just have to remember how cute you were!

I think Ryan is the closest match. Probably because they both have a good amount of hair.

Lucy at 3 months. I remembered to take a picture, just forgot to post it!

Mabel at about 3 months. She had a lot less hair and was smaller.

by the way, she loves her dress up stuff. I was putting on my jewelry one morning and she ran to get hers too. She even grabbed her purse and you can't see her princess shoes, but she's got them too. Good thing she's so cute, because she's been so cranky lately. She's in her big girl bed now, and while she's doing pretty good, she is waking up earlier, going to bed later, and her naps have gotten much shorter (although today she's been down for 1 hour and 1/2 and still going!)

2011-01-28T13:28:00.000-08:00

The big event this weekend was the Stock Show. Ryan was happy to be picked twice by the somewhat creepy rodeo clown in his presentation.

We saw lots of animals and were proud that we didn't lose one kid. There were 8 kids 5 and under.

Grammy and Gramps house was packed. Babies sleeping in every closet and corner.

It was really crazy. And fun.

3 grange baby girls

2011-01-28T13:25:00.000-08:00

All the Grange boys got together this past weekend with all their baby girls...(we were there too). The babies were all born in 2010 within 5 months of each other.

p.s. all my pictures were stolen from our family photographer, Teri.

ha ha ha

2011-01-14T15:44:00.000-08:00

Ryan: "I know how you get a mustache" How? "You let your nose hairs grow really long".

Ryan told me the other day that he really liked his new hooded sweatshirt because he thought it made him look like a teenager.

Andrew: I heard crying in the backyard. I went to go find him, but didn't see him. He had fallen off the wall (that I repeatedly tell him not to walk on) into our neighbors yard. I comforted and scolded him. 5 minutes later what do I see? Andrew walking on the wall.

His first week of sunbeams he and the boy next to him were kissing.

One of his last weeks of nursery, he and his little friends were standing in a circle pretending to pee. making the noises too. (I think they were re-enacting what happened a couple months ago, when they really did pee...at the park...in the woodchips at the bottom of a slide).

Mabel: Is way more advanced in dressing and undressing her self then her brothers were at this age. Her favorite things to put on are her princess shoes, dresses, and her brothers underwear.

have you had enough of her yet?

2011-01-14T15:34:00.000-08:00

no?

me either.

p.s. you can see how blue her eyes are in these pics.

sweet baby Lucy

2011-01-05T20:51:00.000-08:00

yes, she pretty much is this content all the time. Thank you, baby #4.

She hangs out on the floor a lot. I sometimes feel bad, because she is so content, she doesn't get held much! But we sure do like this little baby. She gets cuter all the time.

Lucy at 2 1/2 months weighs 12 lbs. (50%)

24 inches (90%)

Head 50%

2011-01-01T20:11:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

I went to pick up my kids from a friends house the other day and this is what ran out to our car. I couldn't believe they sat still enough for her to paint their faces! They both loved staring in the mirror and Andrew cried when I finally made him wash it off because we were going to a baptism.

The kids have had fun going up on the ladder checking up on Dad's progress in the attic. Spencer used his Christmas break to build shelves up in the attic and made a new entrance so it would be easier to get all our stuff up there.

christmas 2010

2010-12-28T18:40:00.000-08:00

Picture overload:

On Christmas Eve we went to Old Town to check out the luminaries. They were lining all the sidewalks and streets and some roofs, it really was cool.

In front of the church at Old Town they had a stable set up with animals, we were surprised at how eager Andrew was to get up on the donkey, after he refused to ride horses at the pumpkin patch.

My parents and little sister Allie came and stayed a week with us, it was so fun to have them here!

Christmas morning and new P.J.'s...yes, Andrew's pajamas are not the cutest, but they are Buzz Lightyear, how could I not buy them for the kid? Mabel is also wearing Minnie Mouse slippers that she got and LOVES.

Andrew got everything Toy Story for Christmas.

Mabel had a very girl Christmas, Disney princess shoes and dress up clothes, purses and jewelry. It is so cute to see her dressing up.

Spencer doubted some of my present choices for the kids, like the bean bag. But he loves it, it has even been a point of contention between the kids.

Ryan got his "wish" that he "ordered" from Santa. A dinosaur with a trigger that makes noise.

Little Lucy missed all of Christmas morning, but we did show her the beautiful quilt she got from her Grammy and didn't she look cute in her Christmas reindeer jammies?

Merry Christmas everyone! It was a great Christmas for our family...is anyone feeling the post Christmas let down though? You plan and get ready for Christmas for months and then it's over! I'm keeping my tree up for a couple more days :)

dad's are more fun

2010-12-19T20:34:00.000-08:00

when Dad is home he helps us build the biggest snowman the neighborhood has ever seen (and possibly hurt his back shoving those big balls up)

all mom wants to do is make us dress up in clothes we don't like and take pictures.

seriously, why does Mabel look so old in pictures recently??? The girl looks way older than 22 months.

1st snow!

2010-12-17T14:35:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not, New Mexico does get snow :) We got about 5 inches at our house and even got a school delay. The kids have loved playing in the snow, the boys lasted for over an hour each day...Mabel, not so much. But she did look cute in all her warm padding!

family pictures 2011

2010-12-16T14:03:00.000-08:00

My friend Sharleen (who moved to Albuquerque not long after us..and just happened to be my V.T. companion at BYU, small world) took these pictures of our family at Old Town and I think they turned out great! Our kids were so good, it's always stressful going into photo sessions with little kids, but it was a success!

2010-12-14T12:33:00.000-08:00

We checked out the Christmas Corral this year with our cute little friend Jocelyn. The kids had a blast and probably would have stayed there longer then the hour we were there, but I was cold :)

"A Merry Castle Christmas"

2010-12-12T07:20:00.000-08:00

Andrew's Preschool has been studying castle life this quarter and ended up the year with their cute Christmas play. Andrew said the final line of the play..."and they were happy when they lived in the castle".

I have no idea what any other kid even said, in fact, I wouldn't have understood Andrew either if I hadn't known what he was going to say. 3 year olds talking into microphones is really funny.

After the short play, they sang and danced. Andrew had his big Andrew smile on the whole time.

Our little knight after his preschool program.

Thanksgiving and Blessings

2010-12-11T10:12:00.000-08:00

The baby girl cousins, just missing Ellie! The baby girls were all born within 5 months of each other this year.

The rowdy kids table, notice drinks had already been spilled.

Talent Show-Mabel loves the stage.

The tired Dad's after a morning of shopping for the ladies.

Lucy is wearing my blessing dress...so if you were thinking it looks a little out of style, it is :) But it was very sweet on her.

Lucy was blessed on the Sunday after Thanksgiving and we loved having family here to join us.

Thank you for coming Grange's! We'll try to produce non-windy and less freezing weather next time :)

cuteness supreme

2010-11-24T12:23:00.000-08:00

1 month

2010-11-19T20:57:00.000-08:00

Our little lucy is 1 month old today. Really? Already? In some ways this month has flown by... but in other ways it seems like years ago that I was pregnant with her and we had 3 kids. It's amazing how quickly a baby becomes a part of your family and you can't remember life without them.

Lucy is growing quickly now and is 10 lbs. She started smiling at us this week, which of course, we love! She loves being wrapped up tight to sleep and is a great sleeper still. She seems to really come awake when the big kids are in bed. We love this girl!

cute kids

2010-11-16T05:50:00.000-08:00

mabel...you look way too old in this picture!

greasy baby

2010-11-15T12:15:00.000-08:00

We didn't get pictures of Lucy's first bath...this is probably her 3rd or 4th.

All that dark hair gets greasy fast...we love to rub her cute head of hair!

little helpers

2010-11-14T06:59:00.001-08:00

worlds funnest mom

2010-11-13T07:06:00.000-08:00

On Veteran's Day, I attempted my first outing alone with all 4 kids in tow. We hit up the free museum day at the Natural Museum of Science and History and went to see Toy Story 3 at the dollar theater. I didn't attempt the movie alone, my friend and her 2 girls came with us and helped with the kids. The kids had fun and nobody got lost!

2 weeks

2010-11-03T12:22:00.000-07:00

First off, here's a picture of the first of many I'm sure...matching outfits.

And Lucy is already 2 weeks old! It seems like forever ago that I was pregnant. I think the first 2 weeks of a baby's life are in some ways really fast, but in other ways, it feels like an eternity! Lucy weighed 8 lb. 12 oz at her appt. today. Almost back to birth weight. We have really lazy baby eaters. But she is perfect in every way and healthy and happy.

first time to church

2010-11-02T11:24:00.000-07:00

Lucy was an angel of course and slept through most of church. And for those of you wondering how I did at church with 4 KIDS...well, we all survived. We sat in the very back row, which I think will become our regular spot. Spencer can still hear Andrew from the front. He heard him announce a couple weeks ago "I tooted" during the Sacrament.

bright eyed baby

2010-11-01T10:06:00.000-07:00

Baby Lucy is starting to wake up a little out of her newborn sleep. It's so fun to see those beautiful big blue eyes and try to figure out who she looks like...jury's still out on this kid. But she sure is cute and a great baby.

trick or treat

2010-10-31T11:16:00.001-07:00

halloween still came...

2010-10-29T19:40:00.000-07:00

Despite having a week old baby, Halloween activities still happened.

Ryan was diligent in drawing the face on his pumpkin for Dad to carve. Our kids still refuse to help pull out the seeds and guts of the pumpkin. I shoved Ryan's hand in the bowl (kind of a mean mom moment) and he was not happy!

Andrew all ready for his preschool Halloween party. He only wanted to be Buzz again, surprise surprise!

And Ryan after his nighttime party at school. They aren't allowed to dress up, so they have a pajama party to celebrate their study of nocturnal animals. Ryan cheated a little and wore his Batman pj's.

The Big Brother

2010-10-29T19:25:00.000-07:00

Adorable Pictures

2010-10-25T21:16:00.000-07:00

Lucy's Story...and more pics

2010-10-20T09:50:00.000-07:00

We got to the hospital around 6 a.m. The hospital was really busy, and since I was being induced, we didn't get to see the doctor until 8:45. They started me on pitocin at 9:30 (I was already dilated to a 5) but it didn't do much. In my past experiences, the contractions never get strong until they break my water. My midwife had 3 other babies to deliver, but once she was done she came in at 12:30 and broke my water. Within a half an hour the contractions were really intense and I asked for an epidural. My midwife came in to tell me the anthesteologist had just gone to a c-section. I started to cry. She said they were going to find me another one. He came in not too much longer and got the epidural going. They checked me before he got started and I was an 8. As soon as he was done I felt like pushing and she was born about 5 minutes later. So I never got the drugs going. It was crazy. I was hooting and hollering. I am asking for the epidural when I walk into the hospital next time :)

Lucy is doing great now. Since she came out so fast, she swallowed a lot of amniotic fluid and keeps spitting it up and gagging on it, but hopefully she'll get it all out soon. She also has to have some tests done on her kidneys before we go home since they were showing up as being dilated with extra fluid around them in my ultrasounds, but hopefully we'll get to go home tomorrow! Let the craziness begin!

The best B-day present ever

2010-10-19T22:13:00.000-07:00

Erin got me a baby for my birthday and I love it.

Lucile Maureen Grange

October 19, 2010, 2:37 pm

8 lb. 14 oz., 20 in. long, 37 cm. head

Brown hair?

Grammy brought the whole family to visit.

(you come up with the caption here)

baby time

2010-10-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

39 Weeks, 3 days:

I don't know how to take a good pregnancy shot, but here it is. We head into the hospital at 6 a.m. to be induced. We are excited to see this little lady! I think it will feel a little like Christmas trying to fall asleep tonight.

another post???

2010-10-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

I know, can you believe it, I'm posting again! But with all the fun fall festivities going on, I just can't help myself. We went to our favorite pumpkin patch, Galloping Grace, on Saturday.

Ryan really is taller than Andrew. Still only about 3 inches, but he's still got him for now.

A new addition to the pumpkin patch, the tractors. They could have rode on these all day.

Notice the not very fall apparel? We can still get away with flip flops and shorts in the afternoon, but it's starting to be really chilly in the morning and night. We actually put on sweatshirts the other morning.

The boys thought it was awesome to pull their sister.

Andrew refused to ride a horse. Funny, but he really didn't want to.

And how cute is this. Mabel LOVED riding the horse and was so excited to get on. She even went willingly to a strangers arms to get on one.

She was smiling like she was so proud of herself the whole time.

She looks so small!! We love this place so much and think it is so great (all these activities are free, their is no admission into the patch), that the kids are able to convince us to buy gigantic pumpkins afterwards.

Fiesta! 2010

2010-10-08T10:09:00.000-07:00

We braved the 5 am wake up call this year to go down and watch the balloons take off at the Balloon Fiesta. There was a little bit of lightning as we drove down and a little rain, but it turned out fine and wasn't even cold. Unfortunately, there was a little bit of wind, I guess too much for the balloons, so not many actually went up. But they all at least blew up on the ground and the kids got to see all the balloons they were looking for.

11 more days! I guess it's not that good of a pregnancy shot, but it's the best I have.

Kindergarten Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-08T10:05:00.000-07:00

Mabel and I got to go on Ryan's field trip to the pumpkin patch and corn maze. Each kid got to pick a pumpkin, and there was also a petting zoo and hay ride. Ryan was so excited for his first field trip and kept reminding me about all the stuff he was supposed to do for his field trip. I think almost every kid in his class had their parent there, so we were each only in charge of our own kid!

bad hair day

2010-10-06T20:50:00.000-07:00

the bed hair just gets better as it gets longer. Look how happy she is after her nap. She didn't even cry when I left her in the crib to go downstairs to get the camera.

preschool pancake breakfast

2010-10-06T20:48:00.000-07:00

Andrew's preschool had a fun pancake breakfast with games put on my some high school kids. We came home with lots of great carnival toys that the kids played with for hours (before they broke). I think I will do my Christmas shopping through Oriental Trading this year.

Bean bag toss, we let Mabel cheat a little.

Water balloon toss...before

and right after the first throw. Poor Andrew :)

I'm getting excited...

2010-09-29T21:06:00.000-07:00

to hold another one of these. 3 weeks left!

Go Tarantulas!

2010-09-11T14:07:00.000-07:00

Ryan started soccer today. It is hilarious to watch 5 year olds play soccer. One big group running around the field. They are required to wear shin guards and I can see why.

They practice for 30 minutes and then play a 30 minute game. They play 3 on 3 against another team with no goalie. It is just right for these little guys. Ryan loved playing and was running up and down the field having a great time.

Mabel -18 months

2010-09-09T14:22:00.000-07:00

Mabel and her best friend Andrew- they are already becoming cute playmates.

Her new big girl bed...we don't actually plan on having her sleep in it until after the baby comes.

Mabel had her 18 month appt. today and I guess she isn't as small as we thought:

Height: 32 inches, 50%
Weight: 22.6 lb., 20%
Head: 55%

She started nursery and loves it! I thought she might actually be our kid who cries when we take them to nursery, but she ran in, sat down and smiled. I guess we really do make church that awful for all of our children, because they have all RUN into nursery and never looked back!

Sandia Man Cave

2010-09-07T14:44:00.000-07:00

We took a hike to the "Sandia Man Cave" on Monday. It was the perfect length of a hike for our little guys and a beautiful drive. Plus, Ryan had actually specifically requested seeing a cave so his Dad found him one.

Ryan had wanted to go further in, but we didn't bring any flashlights. Not that I would have gone much further anyways.

Spencer took the kids off the trail to climb some rocks..

Then I hear him call to me from about 30 feet up standing on the edge of a cliff with our small children.

And we had Mabel wear the boys old shoes.

Happy Hiking Day!

and then there was 1...

2010-09-07T14:39:00.000-07:00

Look who gets to go to school too!

Andrew and his awesome teacher Mrs. Lindsay

The school doesn't look like much from the outside...but it's a great preschool and Andrew thinks it is so much fun already. Now what are Mabel and I going to do while Andrew is gone?? Good thing it's only 2 mornings a week!