halloween weekend

I'm not exactly sure how this holiday turned into a four-day, all weekend long, extravaganza...

I guess it all began with the kids not having school on Monday (the actual holiday). Teachers conveniently scheduled a work day.
So, school parties were Friday.
{the school principal really gets into it}


Then, Saturday we had the ward trunk-or-treat.


Sunday, a day of rest (thank goodness!) from the partying.

Monday, we visited my grandparents before going to Kempe's work for cubicle treat-or-treating.


And if each of the kids having a completely full pumpkin bucket wasn't enough, we set out for the neighborhood when we got home. The weather was gorgeous! (well, comparatively speaking. We've been rained out the past two years.)

At nine o'clock I made everyone come home.
We weighed each of the kids' bags.
Totals?
Parker: 9.5 lbs.
Riley: 9.5 lbs.
Emma: 8 lbs.
KJ: 6 lbs.
Yes you read that right.
My kids brought home 33 lbs. of candy! :P

KJ was a little disappointed when he found a box of raisins in his haul.

pumpkin carving

my fab five

kid pile

Kempe calls this the 5 x 5 {five nicolls}


{just for fun - 2008}

Berry Pickin'

This afternoon Grandma Nicoll called to invite the kids over to pick some strawberries in her garden.
They really enjoyed it ~ especially the part when they got to eat them! :)
We're lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa Nicoll so close.

Dear Doctor

Now that the kids are out of school, they get to come to my doctor visits with me.
Today we found that the baby is still breech.
In order to help the baby find the right way, my midwife has given me a few exercises to do.
First: the butterfly sit. You know, sitting with the souls of your feet touching, knees out to the sides, and leaning over to touch your head to your feet. Not comfortable or even remotely accomplishable at 32 weeks.

Second option: lay a folded ironing board on a slant from the floor to the couch, and then lay upside down for 20 minutes, two times a day.
Yes, my children all laugh at me.
And yes, they all want to try it too.
Supposedly this has something to do with gravity helping the baby turn?

Final suggestion: do handstands in the pool.
Um, seriously?
So if you're at the pool and see a pregnant lady doing handstands...don't worry, it's not me.

With my list of exercises in hand, my midwife does an ultrasound to confirm baby's position.
We find the back, what we think is the bum, but she can't find the head.
Really?
Emma says, "Just look for the hair and then you'll find the head."
Still can't find the head, but the heart's beating so that's good, right?
{my confidence in my midwife is a little shaken}
We make an assumption that the head is tucked inside since I'm so small.
Wow, comforting.

So, now my midwife wants to loosen my hips to help the baby turn. With a sheet under my hips, she stands over me and shakes.
If this wasn't enough fun, I realize my kids have been videoing and taking pictures of me with my phone the whole time. {no, I'm not posting them}

Dear Midwife,
If this wasn't my 5th baby, I would be a little worried right now that you can't find my baby's head on the ultrasound. Next time, maybe we should let Emma do it.

Dear Children,
You will not be coming to the doctor with me again. The fighting over the doctor's spinning stool was almost as bad as the video documentary you made of me on my iPhone.

Dear Baby,
I am not going to give birth four times before you, just so you can be stubborn and they have to cut me open. Turn the right way...or else!

My Mother's Day

What a wonderful Mother's Day it was!
I got the best present ever - sleep! :)
Kempe took care of the kids and kept them quiet so I could sleep in til 9:30!
I can't remember the last time I slept in that late.
Completely unheard of!

The kids made me some of the sweetest cards:
{From Emma:}


{From Riley:}


{From KJ:}


{From Parker:}


Nothin' like kids to tell ya exactly how it is.

Dying eggs

Dying Easter eggs isn't one of my favorite things to do.
Maybe because it includes eggs, 4 kids, 8 little arms, 6 cups of bright, possibly permanent liquids, all around one table.
Ha, it's like trying to dye eggs with an octopus, but with 4 little chattering mouths, too. :)
Frenzy is the word that comes to mind.

Despite not wanting wanting to, it still feels like one of those necessary traditions that has to be done before Easter can come.

Bottom line: the kids love it and we get to do it together.

One of THOSE days.

6:45 am - Drag myself out of bed, after another night of listening to Riley cough her lungs out (goin' on 3 weeks now)
7:15 am - KJ up {as usual. He's very punctual that way}
7:30 am - Emma's up
8:00 am - Wake big kids up
8:35 am - Big kids rushed to school
8:55 am - Get doctor appointment for Riley
9:00 am - Scurry around getting myself, Emma, and KJ ready
9:30 am - Check Riley out from school
9:50 am - Doctor appointment for Riley
11:00 am - Riley back to school
11:05 am - Arrive home to find a message on the phone from Parker saying he's smashed his finger in the door and wants me to bring him some pain medicine.
11:06 am - Make everyone lunch
11:20 am - Riley calls to say that her cough is really bad and needs some cough medicine. Also, her head hurts from coughing so hard. I told her I will come up in a little while.
12:00 pm - Give Emma some nasty-looking green medicine to help her relax for her upcoming dental work in an hour.
12:30 pm - Head up to the school armed with a bottle of cough medicine and a bottle of children's Ibuprofen.
12:35 pm - Get Parker out of class to check out his purple finger and give him medicine.
12:40 pm - Pull Riley out of class to give her cough medicine and ibuprofen. {Feelin' like a drug dealin' momma at the elementary school. Hopefully they don't have hidden cameras in the hallways}
1:00 pm - Emma's dentist appointment.
Emma has a tooth that partially chipped off and needed to be fixed. Last week when I noticed the chip, and made the appointment to have it looked at, she was hysterical. Even after explaining to her over and over that all they had time to do was look at her tooth, she was still sobbing and I had to sit in the dentist chair with her. So the dentist gave me a prescription for Emma to take for today's appointment so she wouldn't be so nervous.
She did great! Still a little nervous, but noticeably more relaxed, nearly falling asleep.
1:30 pm - Emma's done.
She stands up and looks really tired. She picks a prize and says she feels funny. Holding her hand, I reach for my purse and notice she's getting limp. She asks if she can lay down right now on the floor.
She can't even walk.
So I hefted up my 50 pound daughter with one arm, and grabbed my 2 year-old with my other hand and out we went.
To my great dismay, I found the elevator was broken, so we headed down two flights of stairs to the van. Emma could barely make her way to the back seat of the van, where she crashed.
I crashed with exhaustion in the front seat.
Am I really that out of shape?
1:45 pm - Drop Riley's prescriptions off at Walgreen's.
2:00 pm - Home for a nap {not really, but just relaxing in front of a movie}
3:20 pm - Get big kids from school.
3:35 pm - Everyone home - now the real work begins :)

Our Christmas Day.

For Christmas Eve we went to our neighbors' house, the Burks, and enjoyed pizza and their new xBox 360 with Kinect.
It was a blast!
We had so much fun doing Kinect Adventures and Dance Central.
I'm thinking I need to get the dance game for me.
It was awesome!
We came home and opened a family gift from my mom...


Yes, my mom made us all matching BYU flannel pajama pants.
Best.pajamas.ever!

We herded the little ones to bed around 9:30.
It was a long night.
My brother came up from Orem to stay with us and got here at 10:30.
Parker was up until 11 pm.
We got to bed about 12:15.
2:30 am KJ woke up screaming and I ended up in his bed.
4 am I hear Parker go downstairs to check if Santa had come.
6 am I wake up with a stiff neck and sneak make to my bed.
6:55 am All kids are at my bedside to tell me Santa had been here. I ask why they were in before our set 7 am wake up time and Parker said, "We wanted time to come hug you."

Then Christmas frenzy began.
Lots of fun gifts.


We relaxed for the rest of the day, enjoying our gifts.
Just how Christmas Day should be.
I love sitting and doing nothing, except watching my kids enjoy Christmas.
At 5 pm we went to my in-laws' house for my mother-in-law's fabulous Belgian waffles, topped with ice cream.
mmmmmm.....my favorite!
We took a picture of the Utah Nicolls out front.


My parents called me while we were there to tell me that they were talking with my little brother, Ben, who's on a mission in Peru. The Church gave each of the missionaries 45 minutes on Skype with their families. I wasn't able to see him, but my parents had me on speaker phone so I could sit and listen the whole time.
So cool.
My mom took pictures of Ben on Skype.
Elder Wright:


Elder Wright and his companion:


Afterwards my in-laws gave a sweet lesson about the Savior's life.


A beautiful ending to our Christmas Day.

Christmas Sunday

Well, I tried.

Surprising Sister

This whole week Parker and Riley had early out at school due to parent conferences.
However, Emma did not.
It's kinda hard to shorten preschool.
So the bigger kids were with me when it was time to get Emma.
They were so excited to see her school and completely jealous that she had a locker and they didn't.
In fact, they were so jealous that they stuffed themselves in it while we waited for Emma to get out.