Motherhood 402

Happy Grandparent's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Amber P.) — Sat, 6 Sep 2014 19:56:00 -0600

We have some pretty fabulous parents who have made amazing awesome grandparents to our four littles. It's hard being so far from them and our own grandparents. Especially when I am such a procrastinator.

So, today I realized tomorrow is Grandparent's Day and rallied the troops to pull together this cute picture to say "We love you!" to those special people.

Monster Pancakes!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 17:13:00 -0600

We love making monster pancakes! Here are some of our latest creations:

Baby Ben

noreply@blogger.com (Amber P.) — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 17:10:00 -0600

Most of you know, but baby Ben joined our family at the end of May. He was three weeks old yesterday! He's a natural part of our family now and I can't imagine life without him. All the kids dote on him with lots of kisses, cuddles and pokes. I posted pictures of him on my other blog. But here is the only picture I've taken of him since then!

Then I found this one on my phone. This whole time I've been thinking how different Ben looks from what Scott looked like. Hmmm, I guess I'm reconsidering that.

What cute boys!

Building Birdfeeders

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 6 Apr 2013 09:38:00 -0600

We always like the first Saturday of every month. We get to go to Home Depot and build stuff. This week we got to do bird houses. It was fun to have Grandma there too.

Rough Night

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 14:56:00 -0700

Scott decided to make things interesting for us last night. He was a little tired yesterday afternoon so he took a nap. The big problem with kids taking naps is that they don't like to go to bed, and that always causes problems. Typically when he takes a nap he stays up a little bit later or sits in his bed and read books until he falls asleep. Last night he was kind of fussy/tired so we tried to have him read books. Scott really didn't like that idea so he started climbing around on his bed, unfortunately, things didn't turn out so well.
A little bit after 9 o'clock I heard a thud from upstairs, and then I heard Amber's voice shouting my name. I raced upstairs to see Amber holding Scott and blood literally flowing out of his mouth. There was a trail of blood on the floor, and a bunch of blood on Amber's shirt and hands. Amber may have felt pretty frantic at the time, but to be honest she handled it very well. At first he thought he knocked out some teeth or bit through his lip, but when we got the bleeding to stop we saw the big gash in his tongue and decided to take into the hospital.
Unfortunately, we decided to take him to the closest emergency room. In hindsight it would've been smarter to take into the pediatric hospital was another 20 minutes away, since after all is done, that is where we ended up taking him anyway. The first emergency room had a long wait, and when Amber and Scott finally got in they didn't have the things needed to take care of the pediatric emergency like Scott's problem. At first we thought we might be overreacting since most tongue problems I left alone to heal by themselves. And after our visit to the emergency room we realized it was a little bit worse than we thought. At the first hospital they thought Scott needed about three stitches to fix his tongue, but they didn't have a bite block to help him keep his mouth open. When we took him to the pediatric emergency room the doctor took one look and said she needed to get the ENT to take this. Finally, at about three in the morning they took into the OR intubated him and put two layers of stitches (about 11 total) into his tongue. After that things went smoothly. Scott wasn't too excited when he woke up. He didn't really like having his tongue numb. He didn't get much rest of the hospital, but he was a trooper and he got released from the hospital around lunchtime.
Fortunately we have good friends in town they came over to our house and watched our other children through the night. It was kind of a tricky situation manage since our van was in the shop, but it all worked out in the end. The girls were very concerned for their little brother. They didn't like seeing him sad. Sammi was even kind enough to give her special necklace that she got a school that day to Scott so that he could have something nice when he went to the hospital. Her necklace made him very happy since it was a special flashing ball necklace.
All in all it was exciting night, but not exciting enough that I would want to do it again. I'm pretty sure if you asked Amber she would say the same thing especially since she braved the first hospital all by herself.

Random Drawings

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 21:27:00 -0700

Just in case anyone is interested I (Brent) have a blog that I randomly post drawings on. You can find it here at Passey Art.

Oops... Merry Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 21:24:00 -0700

I forgot to post this last month, but Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all had a great 2012. We did.

A Glimpse into Scott

noreply@blogger.com (Amber P.) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 12:26:00 -0600

Scott and I are having lots of fun while the girls are at school. We like to go on errands together and he loves it when we get to go to the park in the mornings.

His most recent fascination is with pulling toys. We have a pink wooden duck from when Sammi was his age, but its back legs keep breaking. The other day Brent came home with an old school Little People bus. Scott insisted on holding on to the string with two fingers at the very end. It kept slipping through his fingers so Brent found a large heart from a broken necklace and tied it to the end. Now he pulls it happily everywhere! Here's a video:

Turns out, Scott also likes crafts. Something he has in common with Sammi! Here are a few pics of his crafting adventures:

And lastly, the kid loves, LOVES books. He won't consent to sleeping unless he has every book he can see added to his crib. It's usually about 8 books, sometimes more, rarely fewer. His favorite right now is The Chimpansneeze. It has a chimpanzee and a kinkajou who are friends and lose, then find each other, through their sneezing adventures. When Scott wants this book he does the cutest pretend sneeze. We spend a lot of time pretend sneezing these days!

Cute Picture Round Up

noreply@blogger.com (Amber P.) — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 23:15:00 -0600

Went through my phone tonight and found these gems. Enjoy the adorableness of our three. Biased? Me? Nah!

I almost forgot! Brent and I have new callings. He's a ward missionary and I'm the Bear den leader. Go Scouts! Sammi is still adjusting to first grade. She loves riding the bus but doesn't like the cafeteria food. So I guess I'll be packing lunches. Elli also did not like lunch when she went to preschool last week. Make that two lunches I'll be packing! Sammi had her first test on Friday and has another one tomorrow. It's mostly review stuff right now. I hope they move quickly before she gets bored with the novelty of the classroom, worksheets, and what not. Surprisingly she doesn't like art very much but I'm hoping once they get the class rules down and the teacher trusts them more they'll be able to do more of the things she likes. Elli doesn't get up early so I'm afraid how this week will go as she has to get up at 7 every morning for preschool. Though she is excited to go. Usually. Especially once I promised to make her lunch :) Scott did very well his first day without sisters. He played with a train for over two hours! Such dedication. He loves books and scissors. Fortunately the two interests have not collided yet! Knock on wood. Now I'm rambling. Good night.

Baltimore Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 7 Aug 2012 09:30:00 -0600

We took a trip to visit my sister Ann, her husband Andrew, and their beautiful daughter. It was a ton of fun. That doesn't mean that we didn't have any challenges... kids may have cried, bedtimes may have been a little challenging, but overall we had a great time! We had a lot of fun going to an art museum, a train museum, and the Smithsonian Aerospace, American History, and Natural Science museums.We also went to Artscape, but unfortunately I didn't take pictures there! Here are a few of the pictures that I did remember to take.

Here was one of my favorite things at the art museum. It was the most amazing toothpick sculpture ever!

Amber and I both found the styrofoam cups carved into cool faces.

Scott was a big fan of the dinosaurs... until he had an absolute meltdown at the natural science museum about 5 minutes later.

The kids and I did the obligatory picture in the giant shark mouth at the Smithsonian.

They have so many cool things at the Smithsonian! Unfortunately they wouldn't allow pictures of Old Glory. The experience seeing Old Glory and learning more of the story was definitely one of the major highlights of the trip.

While Amber took the girls to the restroom I saw something that caught my eye. It was kind of fun to find a little bit of LDS history in our nation's capitol.

It was very hot in Baltimore! Fortunately Ann recommended the splash pad! To be honest this one didn't really have many fancy things, but seriously this was one of the best splash pads we've ever been too!

That was a little peak into our trip to Baltimore. Families trips are great. Things never go as planned, kids always have to go to the bathroom when you're nowhere near an exit, and the weather always does goofy things, but when it's all said and done they are totally worth it. There are so many fun memories from the trips and activities we do as families, and I'm glad I have my family to make those memories with.

A little update

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 20:42:00 -0600

We moved to Kingsport! Actually, we moved a few weeks ago, but we are a bit slow to updat our blog. I (Brent) took my big COMLEX level 1 (licensing exam) a couple weeks ago and we are waiting a few more weeks to here back about how that went. Hopefully I pass and we get to go on with regular old med school life. I was really excited to read the handbook for clinical rotations. It states the the typical week should be around 60 work hours, but it is up to the preceptor's discretion, and we are capped at a maximum of an 80 hour work week. I sure hope I get to see my family more than that! Yesterday Amber and I celebrated a big day. I made a great choice eight years ago. I asked a cute girl out on a date to go see Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband. She agreed but insisted on providing dinner. Eight years later we went out on another date, but this time I paid for lunch. It was kind of fun to enjoy a lunch together without refereeing kids. I think we were out of practice on dating because we didn't seem to know what to say without kids around! Now that we moved to a city with more options for quick dates I think we'll do much better. I'm just glad that I have Amber. Life is better when we are together.

New Family Picture

noreply@blogger.com (Amber P.) — Sat, 12 May 2012 19:00:00 -0600

We had pictures taken just after Easter in the girls' new dresses and Scott's stylish tie. Our friend Heather took them. She did a great job capturing our family style. Thanks, Heather!

February 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Amber P.) — Sun, 1 Apr 2012 15:44:00 -0600

Here's a glimpse of February. We had a lot of fun celebrating Valentine's Day, taking a pottery class at the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, painting, shopping, dressing up and losing a tooth.

Scott getting sleepy after filling up on a yummy dinner.

Super Scott saving the world one milk jug at a time.

Playing in the kitchen at the Children's Museum.

Sammi dressing up in the Pioneer room at the Children's Museum.

Elli dressing up in the Pioneer room at the Children's Museum.

Sammi lost tooth number 3. She worked a long time on loosening it and finally letting Mom pull it out. The Tooth Fairy knew how hard she worked and how patient she was and rewarded her with 2 dollars!

Scott discovering fingerpaints. He loved squishing it through his fingers. By the end it was all over his head.

Wearing hearts for Valentine's Day. They picked different shirts with hearts every day for the week before Valentine's Day. Sammi is making a heart with her arms.

On a shopping trip to Hobby Lobby. These three are such cuties all together when we are out.

I went through a box of papers from graduate school and found this paper where I doodled my name and Brent's. I think this was before we were engaged. It even has Scott up there in the top right corner.

February went by so quickly and I can hardly believe it's April already. The children are growing fast and learning so quickly. Sammi is starting to read more fluently. She's moved into first grade math. She's learning to roller skate at our homeschool co-op. Elli is also learning to roller skate. She writes her name. She knows all her letters and tells me frequently that she'll learn to read tomorrow (already a procrastinator!) Her favorite song is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Scott loves all sorts of balls. He loves for me to bounce a ball off his forehead. He's started stacking blocks instead of knocking them over.

January 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Amber P.) — Wed, 7 Mar 2012 07:46:00 -0700

January was a busy month. We started it off with Scott's birthday and ended it with Brent's birthday. Both celebrated their golden birthdays (where they turned the age of their date: Scott turned 1 on the 1st and Brent turned 31 on the 31st). I meant for there to be great amounts of celebrating, but alas, life was busy and we didn't do much.

Scott turned one and ate a marshmallow! No cake for this gluten-free boy. It still seems to bother him. Scott has become so playful. He loves to follow his sisters around and play with them. He loves fruits and veggies, especially mixed together in a smoothie. He's now in 18 month clothes, though some long 12 month pants still fit.

Elli started the new year of with lots of crafts. She is not a fan of formal school time so we do lots of songs and imaginative play. She knows all her letters and their sounds but isn't ready to sound out words yet. She does like to play with Sammi's school supplies so we have fun all together doing school. Elli loves her ballet class and often sachets around the house to her own soundtrack.

Sammi is continuing to grow at a very quick rate. She's lost her bottom two teeth and by the end of January another was getting loose. Sammi is also learning at a quick rate. She is reading early readers but doesn't really like to read. She'd rather I read a more complex book to her. She's also spelling like a champ and a whiz with numbers. But her true love is art. She must do art projects everyday. She enjoyed Grandma Devine's visit where we learned to doodle and she got to watch tons of art videos with Grandma.

Brent went back to school on the last day of his month, a.k.a. his birthday. After having been out of school for 9 months he was glad to get back. We celebrated his birthday during family home evening the night before his birthday. At church Brent is still teaching the gospel principles class, now on his third time

I'm busy with the joys and fun of homeschooling, having three little ones and all the other responsibilities that pop up throughout the days and weeks. At church I am still the Primary President. We started the year by giving the children a journal to keep track of what they learn during sharing time this year and to help them memorize the scriptures that go with each month. The kids love them! We also participate in a homeschool co-op and I volunteered to teach two classes this semester: art to 3-5th graders and an animal science class to the K-2nd graders. My part of the animal science class is to do a craft each week related to the animals we discuss. I love all the focus on art! And Sammi loves to help me plan and prep the lessons, too.

Dear Amazon

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:52:00 -0700

I have issues with the US Postal Service. On December 12th we attempted to mail a package from Harrogate, TN to Amazon in Lexington, KY. This shouldn't take long. In fact, according to Google it should only take 15 hours to ride my bike from my house to Amazon's Lexington offices. I could leave and get home in less than two days if I had the stamina.

Unfortunately the USPS decided to ship to Memphis, then Cincinnati, and currently I have no idea where it is going. All I know is it left Cincinnati on December 20th and has not made it to Lexington yet. This seems like poor planning on the postal service.

All they needed to do was follow that red line. It would have taken about 3 hours... maybe less, but now we are sitting on 15 days. Oh Amazon, I hope you get my package soon.

Sincerely,
Brent

Monster Pancakes

noreply@blogger.com (Amber P.) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 08:59:00 -0600

We had a deliciously fun and Halloweeny breakfast this morning.

The girls loved creating their own monsters.

To read more about our monster day (and see pics of the kids), check out Because Babies Grow Up!

Studying General Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Amber P.) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 22:11:00 -0600

Elder Richard G. Scott

Brent and I started our official review/catch up/study of General Conference. He missed the Saturday morning session and one of the talks that inspired me to action was Elder Scott's talk in that session. I loved his powerful testimony of the scriptures and their value as friends in our lives.

When I was studying at the University of Utah I took Teachings of the Latter-day Prophets. In it our instructor had us watch different conference talks from the general authorities. He consolidated the talk onto one page and gave it to us to use while we watched the talk. I really liked marking up the written text while feeling the Spirit through listening to the general authorities teach the gospel.

I decided to do the same thing to study conference. It really helps me stay awake! As we watched Elder Scott's talk tonight I was reminded of the power of the scriptures. I loved his analogy that the scriptures "can become stalwart friends." Here are my favorite quotes:

"Scriptures are like packets of light that illuminate our minds and give place to guidance and inspiration from on high."

"To memorize a scripture is to forge a new friendship."

"A memorized scripture becomes an enduring friend that is not weakened with the passage of time."

"Jeanene (his wife) confirmed early in her life that those who consistently read the Book of Mormon are blessed with an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a greater resolve to obey His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the divinity of the Son of God."

My plan of action for this talk is to memorize the 8 verses Elder Scott quoted in his talk and then to re-memorize the scripture mastery scriptures from seminary.

If you want the one-page version of Elder Scott's talk, you can download it here.

The next talk I want to study is Elder Ian Ardern's talk, A Time to Prepare. Here's the one-page version of his talk, as well.

What talks inspired you to action?

Self-Portraits

noreply@blogger.com (Amber P.) — Sat, 3 Sep 2011 15:32:00 -0600

We had a great first month of homeschooling. We learned about the ocean and finished up with a field trip to the aquarium in Gatlinburg. That could be a post all in its own so I think I'll save that for later. This post is about a must do at the beginning of the school year: self-portraits!

I had thought about it and meant to do it, but hadn't done it at all. Then we started doing art with another homeschool family following their curriculum and lesson two was about portraits and self-portraits with the assignment to do one.

I wasn't sure what we were going to get. Sammi has been drawing lots and lots lately, but I didn't know if she'd be that interested in a self-portrait. Boy was I wrong! The lesson was great because it talked about emotion, clothing and setting for the picture and Sammi made very conscious choices about each in her picture. Here it is:

Elli is always along for the ride on the more formal instruction lessons and I wasn't sure what to expect out of her. But I am very impressed with how she filled the page. And I love her orange hands!

Sammi was having such a blast that she created two more pictures. I love the story she wrote to go with the second one. She did it all on her own, no help from me! She's getting pretty good at sounding out words, if English wasn't so tricky, she'd have it mastered!

Bedroom at Night

Eating Breakfast

Here's the transcription, in case you need help. No cheating, though, this is only AFTER you've read her story! I am sitting at the table. Eating at the table and I am having breakfast.
Here's the deal, she still says breafkast which I think is adorable. I say it correctly as does everyone else, but I haven't specifically told her she's not saying it correctly. I love how her spelling reflects her pronunciation: brefgist.

Mud Daubers

noreply@blogger.com (Amber P.) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 20:39:00 -0600

We found something similar to the picture below on the back of the jogging stroller and the bike trailer:
When we peeled it off and broke it open, we found something inside I wish I had never seen! I hate spiders. And there were too many spiders. But these spiders were all dried up. They were grown up spiders, red, and shriveled. Looking something like this:

My toes curled at the sight and my whole body cringed thinking of what could possibly have created that fate for those spiders. I told Brent it would forever be a mystery because there was NO way I was researching that on the internet! Imagine the pictures I would find. Yuck! But as a twisted luck would have it, a friend knew what they were and filled me in.

Wasps. Specifically organ pipe mud daubers. They make the mud tunnels as nests for their larvae. Then they sting the spiders and cram them up the tunnels so that when the larvae hatch, they have a meal waiting for them. My toes are still curling thinking about all this awfulness that happened in our very own carport.

If this is any comfort, Wikipedia says, "Organ pipe mud daubers are also an exceedingly docile species of wasp, and generally pleasant to have around, as they serve to keep spider populations down. Stings to humans are very rare, bordering on non-existent, although if squeezed, they will sting in self-defense." Lovely.

Brent has decided against hugging them, even though we are grateful they keep the spider population under control.

Using Our Family Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Amber P.) — Sat, 28 May 2011 10:13:00 -0600

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

You can get up to 5 free cards for Father's Day right now at Shutterfly! I just paid a buck for shipping and tax for this cute card for Brent.

Family Photos 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Amber P.) — Sun, 22 May 2011 20:40:00 -0600

It was time to do family photos again. The last time we did this, Elli was barely older than Scott is now. Hard to believe it was that long ago! These ones were done by a fabulous friend here in Tennessee. We love how they turned out.

The best part, they are already hanging on my wall. It feels great to have all the empty frames filled. Our family picture was is Elli's favorite wall in our house. She loves naming everyone and gets SO excited when she sees all the people she loves.

Amen

noreply@blogger.com (Amber P.) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 22:09:00 -0600

At church today Elli acknowledged the end of the sacrament prayer not with her typical "amen," but rather with the second half of the ABC song. I'm guessing she sang the first half in her head during the prayer. I can't explain why, but I got a lot of joy out of that moment.

Pre-Spring Break

noreply@blogger.com (Amber P.) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:52:00 -0600

We got to go to Colorado again this year for Brent's convocation for OMT. I look forward to this trip to see my dad, Kim, brothers and nephew and niece. Not to mention my fave friends from my high school days. We had so much fun! Here are some pictures to show just how great the trip was.

All the cousins.
It was such a fun dinner seeing them all interact together.

I love sleeping pictures! This is Elli when we arrived at Julie's house.

I went to bed with this beautiful sight.
I had to turn on the light just to get the picture. So glad they didn't wake up!

It's always so hard to get a good family picture. This one epitomizes the trial of parents to get everyone looking at the camera with a pretty smile.

Sammi's first kite-flying experience. She loved it! I love that I got to share it with her. Thanks Julie for having awesome kites and thanks to the Colorado plains for all the wind.

Isn't he the cutest? I needed a place to set him down while I took off my jacket and shoes. It struck me as so comical that I just had to take the picture. They were kind enough to stop the conveyor belt and let me get a good picture.

We had a fun but very exhausting trip. I didn't realize how adjusted we are to the humidity of Tennessee nor how much drier the climate in Colorado is. Poor Scott was stuffy the whole week. But from the moment we left the airport in Louisville, he has been clear and gunk-free. It's good to be "home!"

Two Months, Too Fast

noreply@blogger.com (Amber P.) — Fri, 4 Mar 2011 19:43:00 -0700

Scott joined our family two months ago. It seems like he's been a part of our family forever and also that those two months have gone by way too fast. He no longer looks like a newborn. His little cheeks are filling out. His cry is changing to a "waaaa" or "maaaa" when he's hungry or his diaper is wet. He sleeps about eight hours at night waking only once sometime between 2 and 4 and then sleeping till 7. He's been a little colicky, but I still feel really blessed to have such an agreeable baby (again!)

We've had a lot of fun moments over the last two months.
The girls loved this dinosaur outfit. Elli commandeered the short-sleeved shirt that came with the set.
Brent and the girls built snowmen. Sammi took this photo.
Sammi holding baby Scott.
Elli holding baby Scott.
We took Uncle Will and Aunt Sara to the Pinnacle to show off the beautiful area where we live. There are remnants from the Civil War spread around Cumberland Gap National Park. The walk up to this canon is one of my favorites.
I love this boy's smile. He is always ready to brighten my day with this happy face.
I woke up to this beautiful sight this morning. We spent the night in Johnson City at my friend's parents' house. The three of us snuggled in bed after Scott woke up about 6:30 and were able to sleep until 8. I love that they are sleeping in exactly the same position.

Brent has Another Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 4 Feb 2011 22:05:00 -0700

I recently started plying around with another blog. You can find it at brent.passey.me It has a little bit about me and some of my drawings and things that I make on my computer. I don't know how often I will update it, probably once or twice a month.
If any of you want to do your own blog, or website, with your name I (or Amber) can set that up easily. Just let us know.