new pic

If you go to Phil photo gallery here we have some super cute pictures of Calvin. My good friend Tara took them (thanks Tara). I am learning what it is like having a small baby, how fun for my last to be little, lucky me. These photos were taken when he was 3 weeks old, he is now 4 weeks and weighs a whopping 8lbs 4oz. my last 3 children were this or bigger at birth so this is fun. Enjoy the photos.

2 weeks old

The last two weeks were supposed to be filled with anxiousness, cleaning my house spotless, nervousness, impatience, and extreme crabbiness and uncomfort. Instead they have been filled with some uncomfort, but mostly just loves and kisses and cuddling with my new baby.

Calvin was supposed to be born today September 28th via scheduled c-section at 7:00am. Instead two weeks ago this is what happened. I had a normal day on September 14th. I got Parker and Everett off to school and tried to entertain Mason and Simon until they got home. We went for a walk, read books, had lunch and watched a video. Well around 2:30 right after Parker and Everett got home from school and thankfully Phil came home early I started getting some pain in my incision area (from my 4 previous c-section). So I sat down and let Phil take charge while I waited out the pain. It was intertwined with some contractions, this had happened before and died off after a two hours. well after 4:30 they were just as bad as before so Phil told me to call the doctor just to let them know what is going on and get some advice. I didn't think they were going to say much but I call anyway. They told me to go in to the hospital and get checked out. I was actually shocked and was anxious to go. Phil didn't think it was going to be a big deal at all and wanted me to go alone or take Everett with me. I said "I think this might be more than a in and out thing so YOU should take me". Well we got a babysitter right away and headed up to the hospital, which is like 30 min away. After I call the doctor I started paying attention to how often the pain and contractions were and for a solid hour including the drive they were 5 min. apart (you have to remember I have never REALLY gone into labor before so I was a little freaked out). Once at the hospital they checked us into the triage and started to monitor me and the contractions. For 2 hours the contractions stayed at 4 to 5 min apart. Phil and I weren't sure what we were waiting for, I guess we were expecting to go home soon. The nurse that was watching me came to give me and IV ,in hopes that the added fluids would stop the contractions, said casually "yea, if your still having incisional pain and your 37 weeks along with your 5th c-section your not going home tonight your having a baby". My jaw dropped to the floor, we weren't prepared at all we didn't bring the camera, I hadn't had a blessing yet, and I just realized while typing this we didn't get a picture of how big I was just before delivering. So after that we started making mental plans, whats happening with the kids who's going to bring us our camera and give me a blessing (I was not going into surgery without a Priesthood blessing). At 8:00pm the on call doctor (we missed our doctor by an hour) came in and told us he would prefer not to section me now, with being 37 weeks for the baby's health, but the consequences if he didn't (i.e. uterine rupture) were greater if he didn't. So as soon as the O.R. was open, which it would be in half an hour we would have the surgery. I was floored, I didn't have the chance to get scared or nervous because I went strait into mom mode. I got on the phone and made the arrangements for who (Marti Mcquay) was taking care of my other kids while I was in the hospital, who was picking them up from school, call the school and let them know pick up changes, canceling visiting teaching, of course had to call my mom and sisters and pregnant friends (beat ya by 12 hours Tara hee!hee!), by the time I was done they were actually waiting for ME to get off the phone to take me in there. What an experience, I am happy it is over and VERY happy to have my baby and recovering.

These Pictures are of us in the Hospital, so they are a few weeks old. I'll get some new ones once I get them downloaded.

Calvin Jim Fox

Little Calvin decided he didn't want to wait two more weeks and decided to join our family sooner. He was born Monday September 14th at 9:36 pm. He weighed a whopping 6lb 11oz and is 19 3/4 inch long. He is so cute and resembles Parker as a new born. He has spent the day in the NICU, he has an air bubble outside of he lung and he need to be kept under supervision, so it doesn't get worse. Hopefully tomorrow morning he will get to be with me in my room but we will see what the Doc says in the morning. we have taken pictures they just aren't on my laptop so we will post some later. I am doing great and recovering well from the c-section. Here hoping for tomorrow.

Raise your had if.......

you ever sang the song:

"Jingle Bells, Batman smell

Robin laid and egg

the bat mobile lost its wheel

and the Joker got away"

Well I know I sang it a lot as a kid, now my own boys have their own song they sing. Here it is:

"I am Ironman running over people with my ice cream van"

Sung to the tune to Ironman. I think it's funny to see the next generations little (although violent) creations. Lets see what the will come up with next.

Wow, it's been awhile....

well I guess having summer and being pregnant has made me totally forget about blogging. So school start is just over 2 weeks and I am very anxious. We have had a very mellow summer for the most part since nothing my kids do is every mellow. We haven't gone any where or done much except for family reunions. We had a Bethel family reunion (minus my brother) in June and in July we had a Fox Family reunion and funnily enough both were at the same place. Other than that it has been swimming in the back yard, playing Legos and watching way to much Ben 10 (my boys favorite cartoon). I am currently 34 weeks along and we will be having this little guy on September 28th. I am getting excited to hold a new born again and hopefully we will survive the crazy school schedules with him as well. Phil just got back from a 5 day long High Adventure trip with the young men in our ward. They went sea kayaking in washington at Camp Parson. Phil enjoyed himself and hopefully his back will be feeling better soon. Not a terribly exciting summer but the boys will be very anxious to be in school and doing something every day. Hopefully I will get some pictures of our adventures this summer posted soon if not it will be new pictures of baby Calvin in just under 5 weeks.

Parkers turns 8, joins Cub scouts and gets Baptized

My once little boy Parker has turned 8 on May 13th, and was able to join my wolf den. If any of you know my family we are big scouters (my dad has worked for the Boy Scouts for the last 18 years, for those who don't know). Needless to say we were very excited about this and I am happy to be starting the journey of being a mom of scouts. He quickly earned his Bobcat and is patiently (for Parker) working on his Wolf, according to him he wants it NOW!

On June 13th he was baptized. I think I was is shock because everything seemed to just roll along smoothly. But then again I have noticed all the craziness before a spiritual event is usually just the adversary trying to get us to make wrong choices and once that has passed the spirit is overwhelming. Parker was so precious he was beaming from head to toe. As his mom I kept worrying about him not being prepared and knowing what he should for this event. But then he must take in more than I realize because he was so anxious to be baptized that as soon as the prayer was over he threw his head back and didn't even plug his nose, Phil just barely caught him to actually help him. It was wonderful. Thanks to all those who came to support Parker, we were happy you could be there.

Sweetest Boys Ever

Here is a conversation I had with Parker and Everett as I was putting them to bed tonight.

Parker: Mom, is the baby still a boy?

Me: Yes Parker it is still a boy (I had another ultrasound today as well, definitely a boy!)

Everett: Is there a chance that we can have a little girl.

Me: No, I am sorry Everett we are just going to be an all boy family.

Parker: Well you could have another baby and that one could be a girl.

Me: thats true Parker, but I have prayed about it and this baby is going to be the last baby in our family.

(Both boys get really sad looks on their faces)

Parker: is there two babies in there so one could be a girl?

Me: No Parker I am sorry there is only one baby and it is a boy.

Everett: why don't we get to have a girl baby?

Me: well Everett, heavenly father knows us better than we know ourselves and he knows that we are meant to be an all boy family.

(They were not satisfied with that answer)

Me: won't it be fun to have just brothers and mommy being the only girl?

(still not satisfied)

Me: Everett think of this, maybe when your a daddy you might get a little girl as your daughter.

(Everett gets a huge grin on his face and starts to giggle)

Everett: (very seriously)Well I won't be able to get her Legos, she won't know what to do with them.

Me: I am sure you'll figure that out Everett when the time comes. :) Good night Boys.

And the final results are....

We had an ultrasound today to find out what our baby is and we are happy to announce that we are having baby boy #5.  I am very happy.  I also want to say that I don't need sympathy for not having a girl (this is our last baby) I am quit please with my lot.  I know Heavenly Father knows me better than I know my self and this is what he has blessed me with.  I am thankful to have another boy, I know what to do with them and I get to have so many blessing of priesthood in my home and I am thrilled with the idea of daughter-in-laws and other such things.  I get to be the only girl and there for spoiled by my boys which I already am but even more so now.

Divine inspiration

I have been spending a lot of time praying about how to help Parker with his reading, since we are now homeschooling and I didn't become a big reader until 2 years ago (so I have no clue how to go about this).  I opened Aprils Ensign and in the back there is a story in the Latter-day Saints voices about a mom who's first grader is struggling with reading.  Her answer was to have him read the Book of Mormon and highlight a few words and slowly he started recognizing more words.  I thought well that would definitely cover two things that he needs, learning to read and reading the scriptures.  I started it a few days ago with him and he really enjoys it (which is a first) he loves highlighting the words he knows and has surprised me and himself with words he already knows.  He just started by looking for the words Lord and God and then he started highlighting like crazy.  I am so proud of him and I know that this will help him become a more confident reader.  I am so thankful for a Father in heaven that looks out for me continually, and helps me finds answers to my prayers.

Names and Baby names

Everett was curious as to what we will name the baby, I am not even thinking about it yet. but I got out the baby book and had him point to several to see what he thought. After a while we started looking up our own names to see their meanings. When I named each of the boys I did this but I haven't looked back at it since. It was quit fun to remember naming all my kids and seeing their reactions to what their names mean.

Parker means a park keeper, Parker was with Phil at stake conference so he didn't have a reaction.

Everett means strong as a boar, so if you know Everett at all this made his day (once I explained a boar is a wild pig) and he spent the next 10 min. running around on all fours pretending to be a wild pig. Another side note to Everetts name is his middle name in my maiden name (Bethel) and coincidentally the Bethel family crest has 4 boars on it. That was a fun thing to find out.

Mason means a stone worker, decided that means he is super strong to work with stone

Simon my sweet baby his name means in hebrew he who listens to me. Could you get any sweeter.

Also I looked up Phil's name and my name. Philip means lover of horses and Katie means pure

How fun is that we have a "pure love of horses" hee! hee!

Ode to LEGOS

what a blessing legos have been in my life during the last 3 weeks.  We haven't had a toy that my kids will play with from morning to night and still want to play with the next day.  they have been my saving grace to get me through my morning sickness, and I will deal with them ending up all over my house if they keep doing their job and get me through this pregnancy.  So here's to you Legos thanks for being a life saver.

Elves and Hobbits

I saw this on my friends blog and thought it was fun, here are our names if we were Elves or Hobbits.

Hobbits

Phil - Lardo Took of Great Smials

Katie - Tigerlily Took of Great Smials

Parker - Wilibald Took of Great Smials

Everett - Longo Took of Great Smials

Mason - Berilac Took of Great Smials

Simon - Mungo Took of Great Smials

Elves

Phil - Eo Tiwele

Katie - Tari Tiwele

Parker - Golradir Tiwele

Everett - Lamalas Tiwele

Mason - Amras Tiwele

Simon - Finrod Tiwele

here is the web sight if you want to find out yours http://www.chriswetherell.com/hobbit/

New Do

So I kinda got sick of my curly hair and I really missed my healthy looking strait hair.  So I made a drastic change to get me there faster.

Tender Moment

Since the day my kids have liked legos and us having a new baby in the house we have been constantly telling the boys not to leave legos on the floor or to let Simon get them.  With our boys we have to be pretty graphic in our description of what will happen other wise we get no action out of them.  A common saying is "don't let Simon get the legos or he will eat them, then he will choke on them and die!".  I Guess we did a really good job at getting out point across.  The other day Phil and the boys (not Simon) were organizing the Legos, you know sorting the people and accessories from the building things.  When all of a sudden I hear Mason screaming bloody murder and Phil starting to calm him down (for those who don't know, Mason screams like this if he drops a toy or Parker looks at him wrong, thats why I didn't jump up and run up stairs).  I hear Mason through tears say "I swallowed a Lego and now I am going to DIE!".  I had to chuckle at that, but then a few minutes later Phil brings him to me and he is extremely distraught.  So I cuddle him and give as much comforting words as I can and he is beginning to calm down when Phil comes back down stairs carrying  Everett.  I look up and Everett is red eyed and has a tear stained face.  Phil told me he couldn't find Everett for a minute and when he did he was crying.  Everett told Phil that he was really scared for Mason and didn't want him to die.  Phil calmly told Everett not to worry Mason is not going to die but if he was that worried maybe he should say a prayer for him, Everett's response was that he already did but he would feel better if they said another one together.  If there is ever a moment that makes a mother feel on top of the world it was in that moment for me  seeing that brotherly love and faith in a prayer.  With everything I try to teach my kids everyday and sometimes feel it goes in one ear and out the other I live for the moments that you can see it actually working.  Who ever knows Everett knows he is the toughest most independent boy, but man, he has the largest spirit I have ever seen.  I pray every night that I can teach and guide that wonderful spirit to be the strongest he can be and I know with Heavenly Fathers help I can do that.  I live through all of the struggles and hard times of parenting for a tiny glimpse of those big powerful spirits and every now and then I am rewarded. 

Disneyland

I finally got some pictures on here of Disneyland and I am still working on Legoland (I working with how my morning sickness goes) so here is Disneyland.  We will have a lot more pictures on our Phils Photo Gallery we have a link on the side of the blog.  I didn't want to post everything we took a lot of pictures

This is what Simon did most of the time he still had fun, I think he like to Dumbo ride the best.

This is our first ride, If you notice Mason was not to happy.  We learned he is a lot different than his brothers he doesn't like fast rides.

on Pirate Island trying to escape.

Phil took this of Parker and Emma during the ride, they had fun.

in front of the castle the boys didn't want to be there because princess are icky.

Everett trying to drive he didn't have the leg power to push the gas, he enjoyed it though.

Everett and Adam got picked to do Jedi training, it was so fun.  Everett even got to battle Darth Vader and resist the dark side to become a padowan.

Mason loved the tea cups (me:yuck!)  Luckily Emma liked them as well and took him on it several times.

Here we are at the front of  the park.

CALIFORNIA

I thought I would get these picture on here sooner but I have been feeling like crap (morning sickness) so sorry.  We had so much fun on our trip to Cali.  After our stop to the Redwoods we drove down to San Franscio.  I have only been slightly interested in this city to see the Golden Gate Bridge and Lombard street.  After being there I am so intrigued.  I really want to make a trip just to see the city.  I was so impressed with it, it was such a fascinating city.  

Going Private

I think it is time to go private.  If you want to keep reading my blog just post you email or email me at pkfox@comcast.net I will send you an invite.  Thanks for reading!

Here is a quick video Phil put together and some pics from today's events. The Redwoods are amazing. Stay tuned for more videos and pictures from our California trip.

Trip to Caifornia

I am so excited we are leaving on our trip today.  Our plan is to drive to Cresent City tonight stay their and tomorrow we will check out the Redwood Forest.  Then we will dive to San Fransico Drive over the Golden Gate Bridge stay their a night.  Then off to Anaheim were we'll hopefully go to a Mona Vie conference (we think its sold out).  We will then hang out at the beach and catch some sun and swimming.  We plan to go one day to Lego Land and one day to Disney Land.  I am so excited.  We are taking my niece Emma and nephew Adam.  I'll post pictures next week when we get back.  CALIFORNIA AND SUN HERE WE COME!!!

Thanks Mom and Dad

Well my parents sent us money for Christmas to get out family something.  I had the wonderful Idea to get a fondue pot.  We tried it out today and we had a blast (Thanks Kate and Brent for the oil we forgot that in our grocery shopping and didn't realize until today).  And if your wondering where Mason is he is crashed on the couch, he made it through church today, yea.  Thanks so much Mom and Dad we love it.

Here is a great little video Phil put together of Simon rocking out. This was the actual song he was dancing to.  Notice his mouth he is actually pretending to sing.  What Can I say my kids are so cool. Pause the music on the side to hear the song.

Wall of Photos

Here is my completed project pictures and all.

Family Pictures

We had my friend Tara do our family Photos (thanks Tara) and they turned out so cute.  Man if my kids are this cute now what am I going to do when they are teenagers, Yikes!!  There is also one on just Phil and I on the side bar.  I also had to put two of Simon he was just to darn cute.

Enjoy!

Simon 14 1/2 months

Mason 4

Everett 6

Parker 7 1/2

I am spoiled!!

I did a post the other day on being overruled by being the only girl, now here is the other end of it.  I get to be pampered and spoiled by all my loving boys.  I let them work with some craft stuff just to play with yesterday and this is what they came up with.

No help from me they made some fun little earrings that I can change the color to match my outfits.  Boy, do they know their mom or what I am so lucky.

It Time to Clean the Bathroom When...

Warning if you are sensitive about cleaning don't read any further.

1. You notice the red ring around the toilet and at the bottom of the sink.

2. You have dust bunnies/hair balls the size of golf balls (slight exaggeration)

3.  Your tripping on all the things your toddler has pulled out of the  drawers and cabinets.

4. You dirty your shirt with makeup when you lean over the sink. 

5. You have to creatively balance Q-tips on the mound that is your garbage.

and the biggest way to tell it is time to clean your bathroom is...

 

6. When your 4 year old walks in and says "Mom, your bathroom is really messy you should do something about that"

Fox Crew

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I am overruled

One of the many down falls of being the only girl in the house is there have been a few times that testosterone overrules any objection that I have to some activities that take place in the house like this for example.

Yes they are throwing a football in the HOUSE!  Isn't that the number one no no rule we have heard all of our lives.  Not only that but they had to be higher to match dads hight so almost smash the light with their throws.  Well I guess thats what happens when you have been snowed in for a week and need some physical activity (that is why I let them do it by-the-way)

I just played with Simon or I should say kept the ball away from him and made sure he didn't fall of the window ledge :-)

Dinner with Parker

As part of my plan of raising boys I am determined to have boys that can cook and do house hold things before they go on missions so I have a while to get them ready for that task.  In view of that I have decided to let Parker plan and cook a meal for the family of his choice every other week and as he gets older more often.  We went to the store and he decided that he wanted some steaks, shrimp, fish, fruit salad, and rolls.  I was very fun shopping with him and helping him think about how much we will eat.  I think he was more excited about the fruit salad than anything else, he picked out apples, bananas, pears, star fruit, mango, watermelon and grapes, it was very good.  We planned to grill everything but silly me I didn't know how to hook up the grill, so he cooked them up on the stove instead.  He was having a wonderful time cutting the fruit and I could tell he loved the responsibility.  

First Attempt

I have been having fun decorating my house.  For Christmas Phil gave me a 12inch Cricut.  So here is my first time decorating with Vinyl.  I also covered the mat for the picture frames myself.  I had no help on this project and had so much fun with it.  If you'll notice the pictures are empty we haven't taken the pictures yet so it will just have to wait.  What do you think?

Journals

Here are my boys journals, remember I typed what they said, except I did tweak a few sentences to make more cense 

Parker 1-4-09

I am excited to turn 8 in May and get baptized .  I was excited to get my Webkin bat for Christmas.  I got two other Webkins for Christmas and I gave my elephant one to Everett.  I can't believe I got to go on Webkin world and get stuff for my bat.  I did have fun in the snow trying to built a snowman, and snow angles, and jumping on the snow trap.  Today in church we talked about getting older and now I am in CTR 8 and my class is with CTR 7, we get to sit in the back row.  We got some brand new Legos.  I can't believe I got a science kit which I am very excited to do.

Everett 1-4-09  

I like my cool robotic remote control "Spike" dinosaur that I got for Christmas.  I love to be with my mom.  The snow is super fun.  I am now in CTR 7 the same class with Parker, we got to keep one of the same teachers as last year.  I love my baby brother and I love my family.  I don't like mice.  We built with our blocks this week and played with our new legos.  I don't like rats.

Mason 1-4-09

(This part is written by me)Here is a quote of the week for Mason, "Gimme a beat" proceeded my air guitar and head banging.  What can I say my kids are so cool.

Now here is Mason:

I like guinea pigs.  I love my mommy.  I love my daddy.  I love Simon, and I love my brothers.  I love the earth.

(This is me again)

This is such a fun project to do with my kids (when I remember)  They are so funny and cute when they are trying really hard to come up with some serious answers to my questions.

Happy New Year!!

I am so happy for this new year, it brings many new and exciting things.  I remember talking about the year 2009, 8 years ago when I was 5 months pregnant with Parker.  I was thinking that in eight years our little boy will be getting baptized but that was so far away.  Now here I am already planning the big day 6 months in advance.  I am going to be a reck, just thinking about it tonight made me start to cry with happiness.  I have a lot a new years resolutions but I am going to try the hardest at reading to my children more.  I tend to forget to do this a lot, not that I don't think it is important I just get busy with meals and bedtime that I forget. So #1 on my list for this year is that.  What are some of your resolutions?