Happy Halloween!

[Post by Andrew]

This brings back a lot of memories for me. I came across this children's book (Jerry Seinfeld's "Halloween" -- also a stand-up routine of his) when we took the family to the dentist a few weeks ago and I about died laughing while reading it to the kids in the waiting room when Becca was getting her teeth cleaned. I had to have Tyler pick it up and continue because I was laughing so hard I couldn't even keep reading. Of course, the fit of hysteria was partly related to only getting a couple hours sleep the night before (some middle of the night kid drama).

Anyhow... Enjoy!

Back to School

I planned to give myself the month of September to take it easy and not worry about school. (That's one of the reasons why we have school year round--so we can take a break anytime we need one!) But when I found myself alone with the kids all day for the first time last Monday, I decided that a bit of routine might be helpful for all of us. So I gathered everyone together in our schoolroom to begin our devotional. That was the moment when Luke decided to have his first blowout. So we paused before we had quite begun and the kids cheerfully ran upstairs to grab me diapers and a change of clothes for Luke (the first sign that shows you how unprepared I was that morning). After carefully extricating Luke from his clothes, I began changing his diaper and bathing him with wipes. I didn't do the traditional 'put the clean diaper under the dirty one' trick because his dirty diaper was just as messy on the outside as it was on the inside. (Can you see mistake number two just around the corner? You'd think with this being my fourth child, I would have seen it a little sooner.) As soon as he was perfectly clean, I prepared to put his new diaper on, when, of course, he began to wet all over the entire couch. Don't worry, the changing pad stayed completely dry. A new errand for the kids-going to get me the vinegar spray bottle. I cleaned Luke up again, quickly put his diaper on this time, and got him dressed. Then I laid him on the one dry section of the couch so I could clean the rest of it. Please don't ask me why I didn't put a burp cloth underneath his face, because I simply can not tell you. Oh, maybe it's because it had already been used to try and catch some of the previous body fluids that were erupting from my darling babe. So I didn't have it ready to catch the spit-up that Luke decided to leave behind on the one clean space that was left.

Even with our rocky beginning and the long delay, we still had a pretty productive day. We memorized a few more lines of our Robert Frost poem, the boys got through several math lessons, Robby finished a few reading lessons, and I read and pondered this quote for the rest of the day:

"The woman receives from the Spirit of God Himself the intuitions into the child's character, the capacity of appreciating its strength and its weakness, the faculty of calling forth the one and sustaining the other, in which lies the mystery of education, apart from which all its rules and measures are utterly vain and ineffectual."

~Rev. F. D. Maurice (found in Charlotte Mason's book, Home Education)

School is going to be a little different this year, but none of us are complaining. How could we when we get to have this adorable face smiling up at us all day?

(picture courtesy of my very talented sister in law...thank you Esther!!)

We're in Love...

with our little

Luke Benjamin Pincock

We're in love with...

the way he was born, peacefully at home surrounded by his family

We're in love with...

his sweet, patient, good-natured personality...he seems to know that there are three other kids in this family and he is already so willing to patiently wait his turn

We're in love with...

his smiles~he already gives us so many of them, when he's asleep and awake, and we love every one!

We're in love with...

his velvety head, his fuzzy face, his deep blue eyes, his satin smooth skin, and his tiny everything!

We're in love with...

his perfect, soft, delicious, newborn-ness

We love everything about you Luke. We're so happy you are a part of our family!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A note about his name: If you heard it from our kids first, you might have been informed that we named our child Luke Skywalker Pincock.

I am not exactly sure where the Star Wars fascination came from, since I haven't even seen the movies (no, not even the original ones--shocking, I know)-and I know my kids haven't. But nevertheless, the obsession is there. Just in case you were wondering, we were going for more of a scriptural heritage when we named our child.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PS Thank you so much to all of you for your congratulations and kind thoughts and calls. I'm sorry I still haven't had a chance to speak with many of you and hope to soon!

Baby Boy! More Details to Come...

Hi All,

Just wanted to let you know that Becca did an awesome job today and gave birth to a beautiful, 7 lb 1 oz baby boy at 4:40 p.m. They are both doing well and are getting some rest. We'll post more pics and details soon... including a name!

Nesting...

I owe a lot of you phone calls or emails.

I'm sorry.

It's just that after two straight months of family reunions, I finally realized that I was about to have a baby, and my nesting instinct hit hard.

For those of you who have been there, you probably don't need much of an explanation. And I'm not really sure I can explain it that well anyway. But for some crazy reason, it is now absolutely essential that every single corner in my house is clean and every single unfinished project since high school is completed.

My poor kids.

I have no desire to do anything except dust, sweep, mop, fold and put away laundry, clean baseboards, reorganize every cupboard and closet in my house, hang pictures that have sat in a box for the last year, go through and throw away old papers and letters that I've had for decades...You get the picture.

You'd think that I will never have the opportunity to clean my house again (although, knowing how well I've done at that with three kids, that may not be so far off the mark!).

If only I could bottle up this crazy energy and store it for days ahead. Unfortunately, I'll just have to resort to taking some pictures of my house that at one moment in time actually happened to be clean from top to bottom. Because I really don't think this is going to happen again, at least not for a long time.

I'd REALLY LOVE to talk to you dear friends soon. But first, I really need to go mop the kitchen floor and reorganize my pantry. (And I'm being completely serious.)

Turning EIGHT is GREAT!

I think every birthday is a special reason to celebrate, but there are definitely some birthdays that change your life more than others. Tyler had one of those momentous birthdays this year when he turned eight years old. First, and most importantly, this is the age where we believe a child is ready to make the choice to be baptized. We have spent the last year talking with him a lot about what this decision means, and have been touched by his desire to follow the example of our Savior. He chose to be baptized when we went to Maryland, and we were grateful to share this experience with many family members and friends. As a mother, it is hard to describe the feelings of watching your child grow and make these kinds of decisions in their life. To use Tyler's words, "I felt warm and happy inside." It was a special day for our family.

Another change this birthday has brought to our entire family has been the introduction of CUB SCOUTS. What a world we have entered into! Wow. I must admit that although I am a huge fan of setting goals and working towards something and of the philosophy of Scouting in general, it would be very easy for me to become overwhelmed and eliminate at least some of the time commitment Scouting requires if it weren't for this face...

Tyler's first day of Scouts~on his way to Den Meeting.

Right after his first day of Cub Scout Camp. He couldn't have been more thrilled.

Our first family Pack Meeting (the Raingutter Regatta for those of you who are also entrenched in this world). Poor Robby just doesn't know how he's going to wait two years to join in the fun. When Pack Meeting was over, Tyler said, "See, Robby, why I love Scouts so much? It's SO much fun!" (Not that Robby needed any persuasion about Scouts being fun. He and Annie are practically in tears any time Tyler gets to go to Scouts and they need to stay behind.)

We love Tyler so much and are so excited for all the new experiences he is having. But it is still shocking to me that eight years have flown by this quickly.

I'm sorry...were we supposed to keep blogging during the summer?!

I'm not going to start in on all the reasons that blogging has completely stopped for our family. Nor make any promises about how long it will continue. (Not that anyone would believe me anyway with my track record.) But I will post a few of our latest family pictures and just let you know that right now we are all healthy, happy, and here. (We just returned from a month long visit with our families.) (And I do apologize to any of you who do not use google reader, and have possibly come here only to see the same post over and over and over again. Sorry!) These pictures were taken by our very talented friend Amber (see previous post). We have had many things happen over the last few months, most of them very good things, and we will attempt to make a few more updates in the very near future. Hope that all of you are happy & healthy as well!

Mothers With Style

If ever a woman had style, this one does. I first met Amber back in our early married days in our BYU ward. Of course one of the first things I noticed about her was how gorgeous she is. Just look at her fabulous hair. And she always looks so stylish! (So do her girls. And although they are beautiful all on their own, I'm pretty sure their perfect hairstyles and coordinating outfits are courtesy of their mother.) When I first visited her apartment, I realized that she is also an awesome interior decorator. And that is not something that is easy to do in an apartment on a limited budget! I also found out that she has real style with creating scrapbooks. You should see the things she comes up with! (My scrapbooking attempts are rather pitiful in comparison.) But those are not the reasons that I like Amber so much. She is just such a nice, fun, easy going person. It is a real joy to be around not only her, but her family. Her husband and daughters are just as great as she is, and we feel so lucky to know them!

Well, Amber has another amazing talent. She is a phenomenal photographer. She just recently started a photography business, and if you live in Arizona, you are very lucky. If not, see if you can plan a trip to Utah when she might be in town. We lucked out with not only having the chance to have Amber take some family pictures for us while she was here, but also to have her fun family stay with us for a day. It was so much fun to visit and catch up. Just look at these cute kids!

Amber & Josh make taking family pictures easy and even fun. It was really one of the best experiences we've had, and believe me when I say that our family has had a LOT of family picture taking experiences! You can check out some of the other fabulous pictures Amber has taken at her photography site or her photography blog.

Thanks again Amber & Josh for coming to stay. We're so happy to call you friends!

Happy Birthday Tyler!

We have an 8 year old!

I still remember so well the night he was born and made me a mother. How has it possibly been eight years since then?

We like to have cake twice a day for birthdays around here. Coffee cake for breakfast and birthday cake for dessert.

Tyler had a special treat this year. His grandpa was able to be in town for two days, and one of those days happened to be his birthday! These kids adore their grandparents, and getting to go birding, swimming, and to the store to pick out a present (or two) with Papa was almost more fun than he could handle on his big day!

The fun didn't end there...even though it was already more fun than should be allowed to fit into one day! Tyler invited a few of his friends to go bowling with our family. We all had a blast. Andrew and I had a little competition, which boosted both of our usual scores a bit (he won); Tyler & Robby made some awesome shots (is that even correct bowling terminology?) and showed us their cool moves; and Annie outscored every person there (except her dad)!

And just so you can laugh a little at our expense, Andrew decided to take a few action shots of our bowling skills.

Check out the concentration!

How can such feminine delicateness outscore everyone else?!

We're so lucky Andrew makes so much effort to be there for the kids' birthdays for as much time as possible. His presence is really what makes the day so great!

And in going along with our 'theme' of not having any theme and just throwing in as many different things as Tyler loves into one day, here is the BYU cake he asked for!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ty, I love you so much bear. I'll always be so thankful that Heavenly Father sent you to me. You made me a mother, which is the greatest thing I could ever hope to be. Now I'll keep working to be the best mother I can possibly be, because you deserve all the best. I am so proud of your pure and tender heart, your desire to learn new things, and the way you loyally protect those you love. I love you so much!

Love always, Mom

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is AP, signing off for now

[Disclaimer: Post by Andrew]

Okay, this is the last time you'll have to hear from me for a while... was that sigh of relief from me or you? ;-)

Becca works so hard, and this past week has been so crazy busy, that I told her I'd post some pictures to catch up the blog. Done and done. Now you can go back to the cutesy clever posts you're accustomed to :-)

Hopefully you'll enjoy the pictures and remember that we're grateful for our friendship with all of you.

Over and out.

Annie's 3rd Birthday

[Disclaimer: Post by Andrew]

Time sure flies way too fast for me when I spend time with this little girl -- I can't believe she's 3!

The day she was born...


First birthday...


Second birthday...


Big girl now -- 3 years old!

Waking up to PINK balloons


Painting her nails with Mom


Opening some cards over breakfast


After lunch, a quick "date" with dad to play games at Chuck E Cheese






Birthday party at cousins' house


Excited about birthday gifts

Climate Change -- Please change!

[Disclaimer: Post by Andrew]

So, Al Gore swung by Utah to plead his case for climate change recently... I just wish he would have left some of his global warming with us!

I woke up today to over a FOOT of snow. I'm done shoveling the driveway for the year. It's April 16th for crying out loud! I opened the garage and hit the gas to plow right over the snow. Fortunately the roads weren't too bad and by the end of the day all the roads, drives, and sidewalks were completely clear (Good thing, or somebody would have gotten hurt. I don't know who, but somebody...)

So here are a few pics from the crazy day!