Donald's First Bites

Donald started eating rice cereal this week. He really seems to enjoy it, and eats a lot. He also had his 4-month checkup. He is 27-inches long and 15 lbs, 9 oz.

Field of Dreams

Friday night we went to a Little League baseball field. Everybody took turns hitting and running around the bases. We used a wiffle ball and bat, along with some bats and balls. Here are some pictures (Sarah's not in the pictures, but she did hit and pitch to Dan):

Our future infield.

Charlie started hitting off the tee, but actually hit some pitches at the end of the night.

Donald didn't get to play, but enjoyed sitting (and pooping) in the dugout.

Swimming Lessons

This week we've been enjoying swimming lessons everyday at 9 a.m. It started out on Monday freezing cold so there was a lot of whining and bribing and finally I got Charlie to get in the pool for a few seconds. This morning everyone was in the pool and enjoying life. We've practiced with Charlie in the bathtub and he's been putting his face in the water a little. It still takes a lot of persuasion and cheering to get him to do it but he's making progress.



Adrian, Shari, and Rebecca are all enjoying lessons. Adrian and Charlie are in the same class and I can hear Adrian cheering Charlie on all the time. Shari gets to have her cousins, James and Ethan, in class with her. Rebecca has made a couple of friends and she even won the breath holding contest!

Weekend Fun

This was a busy weekend at our house. On Friday Shari went with Dad to the golf course. They golfed 18 holes with Shari's uncle Scott and cousin Ethan. Shari had a fun time hitting and putting. In fact, Shari made a 15-foot putt on the 10th hole; it was the longest made putt of the day.

Shari shows off her golfing form.

While Dad and Shari were golfing, everyone else was working. Mom and Rebecca worked in the garden. They both spent the morning weeding the corn rows. Rebecca took a little while to get started, but once she got warmed up, she was able to keep up with Mom.

Rebecca in the garden. The corn may be growing fast, but it looks like her feet are growing even faster.

With Rebecca and Mom in the garden, Adrian took care of Donald. He had to feed him his bottle and keep him happy. This mostly involved playing with him and rolling him onto his back after Donald got stuck on his stomach.

Adrian and Donald.

Friday night the Hunters came over for a visit and barbeque. The kids all ate hot dogs and Pringles, and the parents ate steak. After dinner everyone played outside. There were scooter races, games, and baseball.

On Saturday there was more yard work to be done. Rebecca watched Donald while Shari and Charlie did some weeding. Shari had to finish weeding the tomatoes that Mom started early in the morning. Charlie weeded parts of the rose garden. Adrian's job was to water and fertilize (Miracle Grow) all the plants in the garden. Speaking of the garden, we ate some beets from the garden on Thursday. Those were the first vegetables we had out of the garden, and they were a big hit (even with all the kids).

Dad's Saturday morning job was to mow the grass and do some weed eating. Mom went into Salt Lake with Jessie to go to the temple. They met up with other family members before a cousins wedding.

After all this, the yard and garden looked great, but everyone was tired. We'll probably take the rest of the weekend easy.

Trip to the Dentist

This morning I took all 5 kids to the dentist! When I made the appointments I told the receptionist that I only wanted to do 2 kids at a time and she said they could take all 4 no problem! When we got there they took Rebecca and Adrian back while I was madly trying to finish all of their paperwork. I hope it's legible but at the time I didn't care. I wanted to get back there because it was Adrian and Charlie's first time to the dentist.
I was so thankful the hygenists were very nice and they had TV's on the ceiling over each chair. Why didn't they think of that when I was a kid! I suppose if a flat screen TV drops on a kid it would do much less damage than the old style TV. Rebecca had one small cavity and Shari needed to get sealants on her molars. Adrian and Rebecca will need some serious orthodontics when they're older and Charlie needs to continue to work on no more thumb sucking.
Dr. Stobbe gave them each a toothbrush (fulfilling all of Charlie's dentist visit dreams) and he also gave them each a little prize. Needless to say, he'll be makin' out like a bandit if he manages to keep our family as his patients!
Donald was very sweet during the visit. He only required a bottle and one diaper change. Unfortunately I left his pacifier in the van so it was my job to lug all 16 lbs of him to each chair to check on each kid and hear the dentists evaluations. I wish I could say I feel myself getting stronger from carrying Donald around all day but he is growing way faster than my body can produce more muscle mass. I can't keep up!
Thankfully we all left the dentist with brighter, whiter smiles!

Our First Blog

We've decided to finally join the blogosphere. Look here for frequent updates and witty writing. In fact, this will be your one-stop-shop for all things Blodgett. We look forward to critical acclaim and worldwide recognition.

More to come ...