All Hallow Eve

So, we decided to go as a family of superheros this year.  Brynli went as Black Canary- a little know superhero with amazing screeching abilities.  Very few people knew who she was, it weeded out who was and was not die hard comic book fans!  Ari went as Wonder Woman, Chance as Cpt. America.  Chase went to the ward Trunk or Treat as Superman and trick or treating as batman.  Pierce was Robin.  Nick went as Mr. Incredible and I pretended that I was Pepper Potts.

Chase got sooooo much attention as a superhero that he has taken to wearing his costume to the doctors and to casual church activities.  The boy loves attention!  It was raining the night of Halloween and there weren't many out in our neighborhood, so our neighbors were emptying their bowls into the kid's bags!  What a haul!

I don't post at all for over half a year, and then I do multiple ones to try to get us caught up!

As of Nov. 1st, we have been in Zanesville for one year.  Just before that one year mark, I finally got our family picture on the wall.  The only problem was that it was lacking two of our children.  Yes, the picture was four years old, which is a big deal when you have two babies in those four years.  While mom and dad here, they were kind enough to let me use their nice camera to take our family pictures myself.  The older four kids really got into the individual picture taking part.  They loved posing and smiling.  Some enjoyed to so much it was scary!  The group and family picture sessions did not go as well.  People were not as enthusiastic about looking happy together.  I was pretty grumpy myself a few seconds into it myself.  So... our family picture is... the best that can be expected.  The individual ones of the kids are great (yes, I took them, but it was all the camera).  They were so good that when I had them printed, the lady told me she believed they were not professional, but her attitude told me she didn't really believe it.  I had to sign all this paperwork about the pictures not being copywrited before I could get my hands on them!   So... here you go distant Grandparents....

All the kids think this is the best picture ever.  They spend tons of time talking about it and looking at it on the slide show.  Pierce is pretty dang cute.  There is something about him (and the fact that he is a baby) that makes all the kids love him.  I don't know if he will ever crawl, he is waited on hand and foot, having his every need met before he even knows he has it.

I think I may be overdue for something.  Apologies to Grandparents in foreign lands that don't get to see my kids much.  We do love you!

Ari was baptised last month.  It was really special for all of us.  Grandpa and Grandma Smathers, Tyler and Matney and Rob's families were able to make it.

Uncle Tyler, as usual, was especially popular.  Will his student's ever learn anything other than how to have fun?!

Dad and Ty had to get back to "work," so we had a week to play with Grandma Jo.  We didn't know it when we moved here, but we have a lot of family history right here.  The Comin side of our family lived here and we went and visited  their graves.  The leaves had started changing color and it was beautiful visiting these small country grave yards.  We had almost left without finding some of the graves, but after some gps and traffic cerffafles, we ended up, providentaly, at the right grave yard.  Mom found a gravestone of a Young Comin.  I was standing several yards away and she lost it, she was so excited.  The next contestant on the price is right has nothing on her screaming and jumping abilities!  For a few hours, we even thought we had found someone we hadn't known about.  Even if we didn't find any new information, it felt to me like we were standing in holy places, standing next to our kindred dead.  Chase and Pierce were great while we explored too!

So life has been really crazy lately.  Part of that is my own fault, and part of that is just life.  I painted the boys room a few weeks ago.  Painting with a new baby is tricky, but I enjoyed it, and I'm really proud of the end result.  The camera messed with the blue color a little, but this picture is pretty close.

Chance thought that now he can drive his cars on the walls!

We celbrated Chance's 6th Birthday yesterday. He wanted a Captain America cake, a batman pinata, and he got the green aliens from Toy Story for his class treat. The cake was my first fondant experiment, which was fun.

This side looked more like cat woman!

Chance got boxing gloves from his mom and dad and an air soft gun from his aunt and uncle.  We may be crazy!

The first Sunday of the month, Pierce was blessed.  Matney, Rob and their family were here.  It will be so nice to have family closer!  It is always a really sweet thing to see one of our babies blessed.

Pierce is growing too fast.  He isn't a really chubby baby, but his fat cheeks make him look a lot chubbier than he is.  Right now, with his last growth spurt that has left him bald and his chubby cheeks, he looks like a hound dog!  It is sweet to me how preciouse a baby is and how beautiful I think he is, even when he is in a funny looking stage.  He hasn't slept in his own bed for more than a nap since he was born.  

Last week, I drove home from church.  That was the last time that we saw our car keys.  We looked in every conceivable place for them.  I looked in most inconceivable places for them.  We can’t find them.  I was pretty bummed about it; I knew that keys with chips are expensive; I just didn’t know how expensive.  The keys are pricy and then we have to pay to program them, but the bad part is that the car has to be at the dealership for them to program new keys.  Yes, the friendly man at the dealership was kind enough to clarify it for me; this means that the car has to be towed, since the keys are lost.  I became a little more upset over the lost keys after figuring this out.  The kids and I talked about it and we said a prayer and began to tear the house apart- again.  Still no keys.  Every time we prayed, we asked to find the keys- still no keys.  One night, as I put the girls to bed, Brynli asked me, a little upset, why Heavenly Father hadn’t answered our prayers yet.  I must admit that I had struggled with asking them to pray for the keys, knowing that if we didn’t find them it could precipitate this very question.  Oh ye of little faith!  I asked them why Heavenly Father doesn’t answer all our prayers right away.  Ari, smart girl, piped right up: “Because then our lives would be too perfect.”  And then I asked the really hard question, “Why don’t we want our lives to be too perfect.”  Ari new the answer again!  “Because then it wouldn’t be a test,” she answered.  She’s right and although Heavenly Father maybe hasn’t answered that prayer yet, the way we would have like, He gave us a better opportunity to talk about things that are more important.  This week as I’ve stressed and thought about those stupid keys, I’ve had a chance to really see how unimportant those keys are.

 (Thanks to my visiting teacher, who suggested I call our car insurance agent, the car got towed Saturday, no expense to us- thank you State Farm!)  Now we just have to wait for our appointment on Tues, pay a ridiculous amount of money for keys, but not towing, and I should be able to drive again!)

Pierce Grey Rowley is here!

 

The day Pierce was born, I had a doctor's appointment.  He said I was already at a 5 and should go straight over to labor and delivery.  Instead, I had to stop home because I had forgotten to give Nick the van keys and he was stranded at home with all of the kids, who were out of school on a snow day.  (They will cancel snow here for almost anything it seems.  For those of us used to rugged weather it seems a little wimpy and on that day inconvenient!)  At around 11 the doctor broke my water and at 3, I was still at a 5.  Things picked up from there and Pierce was born at 5:20.  He came so quickly in the end, I think we scared the nurse, who was hollering out the door... "I need anyone in here, I don't care who...help."  Our doctor was delivering another baby at the same time and got there just in time to pick our new boy off the bed...he missed the birth by a few seconds.


The kids are fascinated with the baby and all things associated with him.  The girls want to watch a labor on the internet (not happening) and Chance especially is curious about this breast feeding thing.

Pierce's hair is a little darker than the other boys' when they were born.  It is especially cute, since he has the same hairy ears that Nick and the boys have, his is just a lot more obvious, since it is dark.  He was 7 lbs. 7 oz and 19.5 in. long.  Despite his average size, he has Smathers' sized feet and when touched he can spread them out like his Mom!

Pierce was a real mover when he was in my stomach, so I was a little worried about him being too active once he arrived.  He is the sweetest, most peaceful boy.  Which is a good thing, because he has a really "piercing" cry when he does use it!

I'm doing well recovering and Nick and the kids have been great about stepping up and helping.  The kids were already discussing at dinner the other night where the next few kids would be able to sleep and how we could rearrange rooms to accomodate more!