Bassett Reunion

At the beginning of August we went to the Bassett family reunion at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  They did a lot of work to make the stay fun.  I wish I would have thought to take a picture of the tent town that we set up on their lawn - 6 tents all set up in a little area, one for each family.  It was beautiful weather and the boys enjoyed sleeping outside.  Brooklyn and I claimed a bedroom and we slept inside. 

On Friday the adult boys went golfing in the morning.  Then the boys watched the kids while the girls went into town and threw me a baby shower.  We had a yummy chicken and avacodo salad and chocolate covered strawberries.  I got some cute clothes and it was fun to just visit with everyone.  We also tied a quilt for Brooklyn.  I didn't get any pictures of the gathering, which makes me think I need to do better about remembering my camera!

Most of these pictures are from Saturday.

G-ma and G-pa set up a zip line for the kids.  It attached to the porch and went to the swing set.  The kids had a blast.  Reed helping Micah go on the zip line:

Conner getting ready to go:

Alan zooming down the line:

Jordan really enjoyed holding Brooklyn.  She took very good care of her:

Kids playing on the swing set.  L to R Alan, Becky, James and in the front is Ava

Conner and Caden playing

Reed helping Micah go down the slip and slide:

Saturday afternoon we did the Bassett olympics.  Here is Uncle Andrew showing the kids how to get a high score on the slip and slide:

Here is Alan doing the slip and slide:

Conner was extremely grumpy and refused to participate in any of the events so this is the only picture I got of him:

Alan walking across the balance beam...

And he stuck the landing!

Aunt Kristie holding Brooklyn. 

Micah was a little young to compete so he mostly played in the pool.  Here is Ava, Micah and Chase playing in the water:

Micah loved this pool noodle and carried it around for a while:

Afterward everyone got a certificate and a candy for participating.  It was a lot of fun!

 

The next day was Sunday.  We all got up early and headed over to the church for Kyla's baptism.  It was nice to see her get baptized.  Then we blessed Brooklyn.  We decided to do it there since all of Reed's family was there and my parents drove down so they were there too.  I absolutely love to hear my babies get blessed.  Reed gave Brooklyn a wonderful blessing.  Here is Brooklyn being held by her dad, with Grandma P. admiring her: 

About 3 1/2 weeks old.  She was so pretty in her blessing dress.  It is the same dress that her mom was blessed in, kind of a neat tradition:

No matter how many times I rotate this picture it always gets posted upside down.

Here is our family afterward:

A 3 generation photo, Brooklyn, Mom and Grandma Pitcher

Brooklyn, me and Grandma and Grandpa Pitcher

Our family with Grandma and Grandpa Bassett:

 The Basset Clan.  This was the first time in a long time that we were all together.  Mom and Dad Bassett were there with all six of their children, and their spouses, and all 20 grandchildren (ranging in age from 9 years old to 3 weeks).  Pretty impressive sight!

The big group picture with the Pitchers and Eddingtons in it:

 

It was wonderful to see everyone.  I absolutely love watching my kids get to know their cousins and play with them.  I wish we could do this more often!

Brooklyn's first 2 weeks

After the boys left to spend a week with my parents it was very quiet.  It was nice to just spend time with Reed and get to know Brooklyn a little better.  I also got a lot of painting done in the boys' room, which was really nice! 

3 days old and not very happy

3 days old and much happier snuggling with dad.  She looks so tiny!

This is the outfit she came home in.  I forgot to mention earlier that when she was born her left foot was kind of curled in.  The nurse mentioned that it might be club foot but when the pediatrician checked her out she said it was just turned like that from being squished in the uterus and that it would staighten out on its own since it had lots of space now.  

4 days old

6 days old:

Brooklyn's first sponge bath at home:

All clean!  She was a good sport about her bath - no crying.

1 week old and so cute!

8 days old.  I have found that she sleeps better when her head is covered.  I guess she just likes to be really warm.

Big yawn - 10 days old

All dressed up and ready for church with mom - 2 1/2 weeks old:

Brooklyn and her dad taking a Sunday afternoon nap:

Brooklyn had her days and nights mixed up at first.  She slept a lot during the day and then she wanted to stay up all night and eat.  Luckily that only lasted a couple of weeks.

 

When I took Brooklyn in for her 2 week check up she weighed 9 lbs and 2 oz and she was 21 1/4 inches long.  So she gained half a pound and grew 1 and a quarter inches in 2 weeks.  It always amazes me how fast they grow during the first couple of months.  

4th of July

We started off the day with Micah waking Reed and I up at 5:30 am.  We both came down stairs with him so that he wouldn't wake his brothers.  He was being so silly, running around in circles and falling down, until he fell face first into our entertainment center.  Ouch!  As soon as we picked him up we could see that he was going to have an impressive black eye - it swelled immediately.  The pictures really don't do it justice:

A couple of days later:



 

It was the most impressive black eye that any of our children have ever had:

Later that morning we took the kids to the parade down town.  We got there early so that we could set up in the shade but it turned out to be kind of cool, so the sun would have felt nice.  Anyway the kids enjoyed the parade.  It was kind of long though and the first hour was just different kinds of military vehicles.  The kids enjoyed getting some candy and they liked seeing the helicopter flying right down the street.  I didn't take my camera so no pictures.

That evening we hung out with our friends down the street, the Porters.  We had bought a small bag of fire works and they had a bunch of fireworks so we enjoyed watching our own little firework show.   

Alan and Conner watching a black snake firework:

Micah was kind of wary of the fireworks.  He preferred to keep his distance and eat some red, white and blue trifle:

Setting up for the big tank battle: 

All the little tanks fought the big tank.  I am not sure who won, they all ended up in a big burning heap:

Micah and Josh, keeping well back from the pyro technics:

Then we took the kids to the city's firework show over the river.  We arrived just as it was starting so I dropped everyone off and went and found a parking spot.  I didn't meet up with everyone until after it was over, but that worked out.  It was really good, we might do that next year instead of doing our own thing.  I want to go earlier so that we can find a spot and watch it as a family.  It was a great 4th of July!

Summer fun

I knew that we wouldn't do anything too big this summer because I would either be very pregnant or have a brand new baby so I told the boys we would have fun around the house.  Here are some of the things we have done:

The boys made a lemonade stand with their friends.  They sold quite a bit but the highlight of the afternoon was when a teenage boy from our ward rode by and gave the kids 5 dollars for 1 cup of lemonade.  The boys were so thrilled!

We went camping with our ward.  I was 37 weeks pregnant and I debated whether I should go or just send the boys but we all went as a family.  It was really fun except the actual sleeping part.  I forgot to bring a mattress to sleep on so I spent most of the night trying (and failing) to get comfortable.  I'm still glad I went though, it was fun to visit with people and eat yummy dutch oven food and watch the kids have fun with the whole camping experience.  Then next morning we packed up and went for a short hike.

Micah, Conner and I stopped at the waterfall to take a break and rest.  Reed and Alan hiked up to the top of the falls.  Conner initially wanted to stay with me but he later changed his mind and decided he wanted to hike with dad.  It was too late by then so he was kind of grumpy as we waited on the bench:

It is hard to see but Reed and Alan are in the middle of the picture and the falls are on the right side of the picture:

Micah walked the whole way by himself.  It was nice to have a little hiking buddy so that I had a good reason to go slow:

We also explored new parks.  Some ladies in our ward started doing a picnic in the park every Wednesday afternoon.  We would pack a picnic lunch and then go to a different park every week. 

We discovered a park that had an area of old big tires - the boys had fun going through, over, and around them and playing hide and seek. 

And of course we played in the water.  We put Alan in swimming lessons again this summer.  He ended up with the same teacher that he had last year, which he was excited about.  They put him in a fairly advanced class - all the other kids were older than him and could swim better than him.  The first day they tried to get him to swim the width of the pool without any swimming aids.  I was surprised when he almost made it (I had never seen him swim more than 5 or 6 feet).  When I asked him how he liked swim lessons he said he liked it but he didn't like the part where he started to drown.  I hadn't seen anything like that so Alan explained to me that they wanted his class to tread water and he got tired so he grabbed the kid next to him and pushed off him so that he could make it to the wall.  Yikes!  By the end of it he could swim the length of the pool and tread water for 45 seconds.  Unfortunately I wasn't up to taking all the kids swimming by myself so Alan didn't get to practice much.  We did have a lot of fun with water in our backyard though, especially since it seems to have been an extra hot summer.

Playing in the pool and sprinklers

Playing with water balloons

Conner trying to get Alan wet with the hose:

The kids were so excited to play in the water that they didn't want to wait to change into swimming shorts so they got soaked in their clothes:

 

It's been a fun summer!

Last day of school

I know this post is horribly late, since Alan just started school again but I fell way behind in June and July so now I am trying to catch up.  Alan enjoyed kindergarten for the most part.  He did very well academically and he got along well with the kids in his class. 

 

A week before school got out I went on a field trip with the kindergarteners to the children's museum.  It was fun to watch Alan play with his classmates and I felt so popular on the walk to the museum and on the way back - I had 4 little boys all trying to hold my hand!

Alan dressed up as a pirate

Alan made the honor roll again for the second half of the year.  He is the one on the far right:

 

Alan standing with Mrs. Harrell, his teacher, on the last day of school

 

Alan holding his kindergarten diploma



 

Mother's Day 2012

On Mother's day the boys all got up early and made me breakfast in bed.  I love how excited they were to give it to me.  Then after church Reed got to come home earlier than usual and he and the boys made my requested dinner - carribean enchiladas - yum!  They gave me their gifts in the afternoon.  It was a great day.  I am so grateful for my children and for the opportunity to be a mother.  It is hard sometimes but it is what I have always wanted to do.

Alan and Conner made these flowers in primary:

Alan made a vase and a nice card at school.  The card is a flower that opens up and says "my love for you grows and grows".

I love my boys!