Ellie and Birth order

In Ellie's world......
All the kids in her Kindergarten class will notice that when she gets her bangs cut..."They are going to just DIE when they see me!"

Holding up the birdie finger is ok as long as it's accompanied by, " Mom, what does this mean?"...(no matter how many times I tell her that it means..." I REALLY don't like you")

Pink high hills go with every out fit

Sugar is one of the four food groups

She is exempt from Mom and Dad's instructions. ( We couldn't possibly mean that SHE needed to get her jammies on and brush her teeth!)

There is no one quite as cute as her...Ok that might be a fact in Mom's world too. :-)


I've been doing a lot of thinking about birth order lately. I compare my kids to my siblings and find the similarities interesting. Since this post is about Ellie, I will compare her to my sister Mindy...who is also a third child. Family...if you don't agree that the two are quite similar, just let me know.



Ellie is very into fashion and accessorising.



Ellie LOVES babies and little kids. She is drawn to them and wants to hold and be around them whenever possible.



Ellie is a natural and shameless "flirt". I just went on a field trip with her class and witnessed this first hand! (Mindy, I know you aren't like that any more....but I have a few memories....:-)



Ellie has a consuming desire to be ON TIME for things. I have never seen a five year old so concerned about missing the bus. She doesn't board until after lunch, but she starts to worry about it around 9:00. It's pretty funny. There is nothing I can do to ease her mind. I guess when your five, THREE HOURS means the same as three minutes. :-)

Ellie also has an irresistible urge to slightly tease.....dare I say torment those who are easily tormented. Not in a vicious or hateful sort of way, but a "just to get a reaction" sort of way. Now Mindy, we both know the stories of our youth. You were the tormentor and I was your prey. For those of you out there who don't know our stories, let me share a few instances:

#1 Mindy is in the bath. She frantically calls me in and says, "Jill, you have to go get Mom...I am going down the drain!" I run to Mom crying and visualizing loosing Mindy to the unknown underworld of the plumbing. I am shocked when I find that Mom doesn't share in my panic.

#2 Mindy is taking me on a bike ride. I am the passenger and have no control as to where we are heading. Mindy tells me that she is taking me to a garbage can to see a dead cat. There was no dead cat in the garbage can, but I didn't know that...I don't think I ever looked.

#3 After getting in trouble with Mom and Dad, Mindy informs me that she is going to run away. She told me that if I didn't come with her, she was going to go alone. I was only in Kindergarten, but I knew I couldn't let her face the dreary world by herself. She made me pack a bag and told me we would leave after school. I remember being in MISERY the whole day. I hoped that when she got home she would change her mind. She didn't. Off we went...to the grocery store. We bought some twinkies and then she told me she was ready to go back home. As the story goes, we both remember arriving home..(no one knew we had run away) and Grandma Hintze was visiting. She had brought all the girls Ms. Pac Man pillows and home made underwear.

I only share these stories because...well,... they are funny and should be preserved, and I can totally see Ellie doing these things to her younger siblings in the future.

I need to do some more comparing and analyzing with the other kids to see if they follow in with the birth order of my other siblings...but I do have to say that Ellie and Mindy seem to be peas in a pod. Maybe that's why they love each other so much!

I can also hope that Ellie will eventually develop some of the wonderful things that Mindy is today. Mindy is so thoughtful, caring, generous, fun, patient, spiritual and devoted to family. I hope Ellie will continue to follow in her footsteps. :-)

My Man

I've mentioned before that Mike and Voice Male have been working on a new album! I am proud to say that it is officially DONE!!....ok, except for the Mastering that will be done tomorrow, but other than that....! I really wish I would have taken some pictures of the group in our closet recording, but I didn't. (bummer!) If you end up with a copy of the album, it will list "The walk in closet" as the studio location. :-) I have to say, that this album is amazing! When The Sound of Music ended, Mike knew he had five weeks to finish an album that had barely begun. At the time, two of the fifteen songs the album would feature were completed. Some of them hadn't even been arranged yet! There were small fragments of certain songs here and there, but there was a LOT of work to be done. It was amazing to see Mike and Voice Male kick it into gear! They also had the help of an amazing mixer/editor Bodie (who also designed the amazing sassysueclips.com website) to help their project move along. After MANY late nights and sacrifices from their families, Voice Male has a new KIDS STUFF album to release next month! I am proud of these guys, and I know their hard work will bring much happiness to families everywhere!!

Mike made a few trips out of town to work with his Mom...I mean Bodie...on mixing. Luckily Bodie's Mom...I mean Laura took some pictures of the two at work. :-)

Baby Showers

I had two baby showers thrown for me in the last two weeks! It was a bit hard for me to let so many people do nice things for me. I am far more comfortable being the one who throws the party! I really was so overwhelmed at the kindness and generosity of my friends and family. Both showers turned out fabulously. The first was thrown by my Mother in law Lois, my sister in law Melissa, and my friend Jenae...( you may recognize her from such musicals as..The sound of music). My sister Sarah also helped by bringing a fabulous balloon bouquet! I am a dork and didn't take pictures during the shower...but I did get a photo of the gifts I received. Like I said...Overwhelming! Seeing the tiny little clothes made me SO excited to see the baby that would be wearing them! Ellie had to hug each outfit and pretend like Jack was in them. She also informed me yesterday that,..." Mom, you've held Jack long enough...now it's my turn!"

The second shower was thrown my some friends in my ward. Marianne Crapo, Crystal Wixom, and Heather Ryan. Again I was overwhelmed at the thought and preparation that went into the shower. Both shower "committees" went above and beyond to make the day special. Thanks so much you guys!! Now if we can just get the anticipated guest to arrive!! Three more weeks...wait, two weeks and six days!!!!

Crystal and Heather....Sorry Crystal..I should have taken a different picture...one when you don't look "very sleepy"...you're still beautiful though..you have a "special glow!" :-)

Marianne and my friend and neighbor Emily. Thanks again Marianne!! You are awesome!

Here is me, with yet another slew of baby gifts! I seriously will have the best dressed baby in the world!

School House Rock LIVE!

OK, now for some serious catching up! We just finished our production on School House Rock Live! It was actually really fun! I was stressed about feeling over tired and burnt out because we had just finished The Sound of Music, but compared to that musical, this was a breeze! I really enjoyed directing too. I sort of...kind of...said I would direct next year too. :-) My girls had such a fun time doing this play too. We had three songs to perform: A Noun is a person place or thing, I'm just a Bill, and Conjunction Junction. Needless to say, ALL the songs from School house rock have been sung around the house lately!
If you are an early riser, you may have seen us on the Channel 2 morning News. A guy named Casey..something, came out bright and early to do a bit on our show...(we had to be there at 6:30 am) We were lucky though, the red cast had to be there at 5:00!
The girls had so much fun hanging out with their friends during the show. I love seeing my kids interact with their peers. They are so cute!
Sarah brought her girls up on closing night. We went to A&W to celebrate! Here are the crazy weirdos doing what they do best!

New Entry

I have TONS of blogging to do! I have School house Rock Live! pictures to share, a two baby showers to talk about and a picture of me so that everyone is clear on how big I really am! I also have nursery pictures to post.....now if I could just find the time.......Patience...maybe tonight.:-)

We found this in our Apple Jacks a couple of days ago. My kids wondered if it was the prize! It smells like a big clump of burnt cereal. Pretty gross huh!!!? I am going to email this photo to Kellogg's and see if they will give some free stuff. :-)

Blessed

Last night for FHE we put together some Hygiene kits for a humanitarian aid project our RS is doing. Mike pulled up an email that was sent to him. The email was talking about how much we have to be grateful for. It showed some sad pictures of the suffering in third world countries. Our kids were very touched by what they saw. Annie especially felt that our little hygiene kits were not enough. She kept saying things like, " I think we should send them some money", and " Mom, we have lots of water bottles in the fridge, let's mail them some of our water bottles." It was amazing to see the compassion that flowed from my kids. It made us all feel so grateful for our abundant blessings. I hope this experience will be the first of many humanitarian projects we do as a family. Seeing my kids response to this small act of service made me want to come up with more service we could do as a family. I am wondering what service other families do together. Anyone have any good ideas? I would love to hear some family success stories!

Like Mother, Like Daughter....

Casie thinks she's hilarious!!! Apparently, so did my Mother-in-law....:-)

Mike Mike you rock!

If you drive by my house and see 2-6 men in my bedroom, don't be alarmed.....I assure you there is no funny business going on! Voice Male is recording their Kids CD in our Studio/Bedroom/closet. Mike has literally been working around the clock with different members of the group at a time. Twice last week we had people here until 2am! Mike has been so amazing in his efforts to make this project come to pass. He truly amazes me with his musical talent. I think his official title is : ProducerDirectorArrangerSongwriterEditorEngineer. I am on climate control, pizza delivery, and "Stank control"....(sorry Voice Male, but six guys cooped up in a hot room calls for a couple cans of Glade!)

Yesterday, I figured Mike would be working on the CD into the wee hours of the morning again. So it surprised me when he called me from work and asked me out for a date. He didn't tell me where we were going, he just said he was sick of being cooped up and wanted to take his SMOKIN HOT WIFE out on the town...(I may be embellishing this story slightly)....anyway...He ended up taking me to Thanksgiving Point to see the comedian Brian Reagan. As if that weren't enough, he also packed a fun snack of "cheese and wine". He brought some wine glasses and sparkling grape juice. He also bought some DELICIOUS specialty cheese. (I'll never go Western Family again!...Layne, I almost cried..lol) We had fun feeling like "proper" folk. The cheese and "wine" mood didn't quite fit with our laughing our HEADS off at Brian Reagan. We were both seriously in tears. I thought I might go into labor. I love comedy that is clever and funny without being inappropriate!

I only had enough battery in my camera to get a few shots. But I will tell you it was a BEAUTIFUL night. There was an honest to goodness cool breeze and a full Moon. Perfect! Thanks Mike for such a fun night! You did good! I love you.

Here is the awesome amphitheater with the Waterfall behind it. So pretty!

My Baby starts Kindergarten!

Last Tuesday my little Ellie started Kindergarten! She was SO excited! She woke up at 6:55am and came into my room, " Is it time for school yet Mommy?" I knew then that it would be a long day. :-) Luckily we had a doctors appointment and swimming lessons to take up the morning! I put her on the bus and then got in the van and followed her to school. She was beaming. I sure love that little...I mean, big girl!....(ok, so I am slightly enjoying my three hours in the after noon, but I still miss my little buddy)

I took this footage at Ellie's swimming lesson that morning. I can't believe my baby started Kindergarten AND learned to dive (sort of) in the same day!

Sunday Afternoon

As a child I remember Sunday afternoon's as the funnest time of the week. Probably because Mom and Dad would take a nap, and the kids got free reign of the house! We did SO many fun things as brothers and sisters...usually Ben was the spear head for our adventures. I remember building tunnels, playing school..or church, and of coarse our favorite...VIDEO MAGIC! My girls seem to be following in the same footsteps of my youth. They always seem to come up with a fun game to play together on Sundays. It's funny because very rarely do all three of them play together during the week. They usually pair off, or find a friend to hang out with. Sunday's always seem to bring them together. Here is a small game they made up today. The object of the game is to balance across the couch. Annie, who is on the recliner, had to make some whooshing sound before they began. It's pretty funny....

First Day of School

After a short three week summer, the kids started school! Annie was told to bring a hat that told about her interests. She LOVES drawing and is remarkably good at it. We didn't have a hat that represented drawing, so this is what she came up with. I think it's adorable! Casie told me she would kill over in embarrassment if I came to her class and took a picture of her, so this is the best I could get. Ellie will start Kindergarten this Tues. She keeps saying, "You are going to cry SO hard when I go to school!" I told her that I might have to meet Dad at Cafe' Rio so we can cry together. lol I actually probably will shed a tear. She is my baby!

Family Fun

Friday we decided to take our family up to the mountains. It was so beautiful! I loved the cool temperature and the gorgeous scenery. We ended up riding the tram to the top of one of the mountains. The girls LOVED the ride! They saw deer, hikers, and even some little rodents that reminded them of Peaches..(our hamster) I loved being with my family in the outdoors and appreciating this beautiful world we live in. As has been the case lately, I forgot my camera:-( This photo was taken with my phone. I guess we will have to go again soon for more photo's!

Memories

I got this from Emily and Mindy.
Here's the deal:1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.It's easy to just copy and paste this to your blog if ya wanna play.

Parades and Pets

This Saturday we had our Primary parade. As we were getting ready, Ellie asked, " So is this parade for The Sound of Music, or for School house rock?" I guess she is getting used to the "parade circuit" she's been on lately. BTW School house rock is our next theatrical adventure. It's the cities children's play. They asked me to help direct months ago and I said yes (um, what was I thinking??)....this was all before I knew how tired I would be at this point! It will give Casie a chance to be on stage, so that's a plus. :-) Anyway, back to the parade.....The kids all dressed in Red, White, and Blue, and brought instruments to play. We had about 10 people watching, but it was still fun. The fire truck even showed up to escort us down the road. We ended up at the park where we were fed a nice pancake breakfast. Mike was at Scout camp so he missed all the excitement, but we had a good time. :-)
On the way home, the girls found a strange caterpillar. The texture feels just like human skin and it has two little spots on it's head that look like eyes. My research on-line told me that these, "pretend eyes" are to make the caterpillar look like a "big scary snake" so that birds wouldn't want to eat it. Do you ever wonder where this information comes from? How do they know that the caterpillar wants to look like a snake? How on earth did they extract that information from it's little brain? I'm thinking torture,... but it could also be a tiny lie detector test....Anyway, the caterpillar is now named"Pumpkin", and resides in a jar on Annie's dresser. We are all awaiting the transformation of our new pet.
I had to laugh as I watched the girls fight over who got to hold Pumpkin. They were all taking turns between Peaches( the hamster) and Pumpkin, (the caterpillar),.... and there sat BIG ol' Brandon (the dog) without a hand to pet him. Why must things be "tiny" to capture my daughters affection? :-)

Opening night...again!

We had another fabulous opening night tonight! Here's a little teaser for ya'll!

Opening night!

Last night was me and Annie's opening night for the play! Annie was AMAZING! We had such a fun time!! We had 15 people there supporting just us!...(there were other people there too) :-) Annie was on cloud nine after the show. She had groups of people surrounding her asking for her autograph! I was so proud. Mike and Ellie will have their opening night tonight!!!

I'm having a baby???

It's become a little tradition that when a new baby is born into the family, my amazingly talented sister-in-law Anna, comes and helps decorate a nursery. Along with the amazingly talented Anna, comes a dedicated, hard working and able bodied husband, Brian. Together with Rich and Melissa as work horses/comical entertainment, and Grandma to feed and nourish our bodies, we were able to paint a nursery for Jack yesterday! It was so fun to watch it come together so quickly! I am so grateful to my awesome family for their sacrifice to come and do this for me! I love you guys! I will post more pictures when the room has been sufficiently decorated and "babied up", but here is the base for my adorable nursery!

"The Amazingly talented Anna"! This is our blank canvas! We had lots of energy at this point.

Here is the dedicated, hard working, able bodied Brian measuring and sawing the boards. Melissa is watching over to make sure all is done right, and I'm pretty sure Rich just got done doing a Neil Diamond impersonation. You can also see we had a few "little helpers."...I did mention that I was grateful for the sacrifices my family made didn't I?.....needless to say, the toy room/house made a sacrifice as well. :-)
Almost done! The top color is actually a dark brown...it looks a little black in this photo...ok, so it looks a little black in real life too, but I really like it. I plan on decorating in different brown plaids, sepia photos, and "old looking" toys. Isn't this a "boyish" room!? I am really happy with it.

Fourth of July!

I am finally getting around to posting about our busy Fourth of July Weekend. I honestly think that each of these days could warrant a post of it's own, but instead, I will sum up our weekend in photo's!

The top high light of any holiday for Casie is the presence of her cousins! It is so fun and satisfying to see these three become close. They were inseparable this weekend. They laughed, stayed up late, played the computer, and devoured a whole bag of Marshmallow Maties!


On to the Hintze family BBQ! Every 4th we gather at my Uncle Richards house for a family reunion. We do the same things every year and we love it! It starts out with YUMMY food..."we got burgers, .....we got dogs....we got chicken..." This is photo only represents a FEW of the yummy desserts that were present at the feast...WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS YEAR TO QUIT SUGAR! Can you believe the temptation!? Because I knew the baby wanted it, I did end up eating a piece of key lime pie...and lemon cake....and two bites of Mindy's chocolate cake. :-) Mike the goodie goodie had nothing!...(oh and he has now lost 13 pounds...I am proud of him)
After eating we all play volley ball, slip and slide and all the kids run around like wild children...it's so fun!

Here's Julie..(who has a weakness for all things pertaining to water) doing a beautiful, toe pointed, Super man, slip and slide dive. Notice her beauty and grace. :-)

Here's my sweet little Annie. She was actually COLD in this photo! Who's cold on the fourth of July? :-)

Introducing my skinny sexy hubby! I think in this photo he is giving me a smug look because he knew I was about to break our sugar fast....and he was NOT. I really do respect his will power though. He's such a babe!My cute, cute niece!

After the BBQ we went home for some much needed rest! We had a nice siesta, then were up and ready for some fireworks! Mike and I decided to just do some good ol' Harmons Grocery Store fireworks instead of attending an actual show. Most of that decision was based on the fact that we had been up till mid-night the whole week for play practice, and had an early morning rehearsal the next day. The kids loved the fireworks, and we loved that they were in bed early....ok these days 11:00 is early!
This is where "Brandon the Brave" spent the night of the Fourth. For every ounce we enjoy fireworks,...Brandon despises them! He found the darkest corner of the house and cowered there all night. :-)

The next day Mike and the kids were off to rehearsals, and I was off to another wonderful Sister Saturday! We had a fun time learning first aide and CPR. This is a photo of Sarah doing a "breath check". We also had a "tea party"( I was too busy eating to snap a photo). Then we did pedicures and manicures. It was great! Thanks Cait!

The NEXT day....we to got to drive to Richfield to see Heston blessed. It was so wonderful. Stephen and Kenzie are such cute parents! Heston is absolutely adorable! We had a yummy lunch in my Mom's back yard while once again...the kids ran wild with their cousins. I love being with family!

Stephen was trying to get Heston to smile in this photo. I think it's an adorable photo of father and son!

Here we are after enjoying a wonderful lunch! We look so content and refreshed.........

or not.... Needless to say, we were all very tired at the end of this fun packed weekend!

Celebrate good times!

If I didn't know it would scare away all my readers and friends, I would post a picture of me (six months pregnant) in mid-air, doing a heel click!.....why would I do such an act of joy you ask?....well, because SCHOOL IS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh the pain of waking my under slept children in the morning! The swatting and whining and kicking and pouting....and all the things the kids did too! lol With play practice running until 10 or 11 every night, my kids have been zombies lately...Little disobedient, emotional, grouchy,over tired zombies! I should have recorded one of our infamous mornings and posted it. I will tell you it wasn't pretty. Mike and I made a VALIANT effort to be cheerful and bright. I even devised plans of pancakes, bacon, eggs, and french toast (on different mornings) to lure them out of bed, but somehow, we never had a smooth morning....BUT....now that school is out, they can sleep in as late as their little bladders will allow!! We still have another 2 weeks of late nights, but I think we will be more rested now!

To prove my point...or to prove that I am a mean Mom, I will say that it's 2:30 pm on the last day of school and my kids are ALL asleep! We had such a late night last night, and another tonight, so I insisted that they take a nap. When they wake up I told them I would take them swimming to celebrate their freedom....wait...that means I will have to get in a swimming suit...maybe they will settle for the splash park!

On a different note...and pardon me as I hoist my large body onto this soap box....but I have to share a life altering change Mike and I have made! Believe it or not, we have decided to stop eating sugar! It's been a week and 1/2 and Mike has already lost 7 pounds! I feel better than I have in a long time! We are both amazed at how much sugar we are presented with on a daily basis! It's EVERYWHERE! We aren't going too extreme. We still eat foods that contain a little sugar, but we stay away from things that are inherently sweet, like desserts and candy. It hasn't been easy for this sugaroholic, but I really feel good about the decision. Obviously, I haven't noticed any weight loss...that's not my goal, but I have only gained 5 pounds so far, and I feel great. Considering I gained between 25-40 with my other pregnancies I feel like I am on a good track......( I am not going to mention how I almost chased down,tackled, and stole an ice cream cone from a lady in the mall.)