IT'S A BOY!!......AGAIN!

So it's official! We are having ANOTHER BOY! We are excited and just hope that he is healthy and strong. Everything looked good in the ultrasound, and I am measuring right at 19 weeks today, so my due date should still be February 20th. He is about 6 inches long from the top of his head to his bum and weighs about 11 oz. So now all we have to do to get ready for his arrival is get all the boy stuff out of storage and give him a name and we're good to go! I'm sure he'll be just as cute as our other 3. We know we make cute boys, so why not have another one! So just about 5 more months in the oven and he'll be ready to join his crazy brothers. And we will welcome him with open arms.

Ultrasound!

So tomorrow morning is my first ultrasound for this pregnancy. I will also be finding out the gender. I am excited and anxious. I am just thinking it's a boy, just so I'm not so disappointed. I don't want to get my hopes up too high for a girl, but secretly, in the back of my mind, I'm saying "please let it be a girl", but then I say "it's gonna be a boy." So we will just wait and see. Only 14 more hours! Yay! So I will be back with the exciting news soon!

Zoey

I have been avoiding posting about this because it's still a very sore subject for me, but I will get it over with. Our beautiful German Shepherd, Zoey passed away last Friday due to kidney failure. We are not certain what caused it, but we think she may have gotten into some sort of rodent control or possibly something of that nature. I noticed about a month ago that her leg was bothering her and she would whine when she moved the wrong way. I'm not sure what happened, but she may have gotten hit by a car and had some internal damage that may have set things in motion also. She was about 4 years old and she was a very good dog. The kids absolutely loved her and she will be missed a lot. It will take a while for me to heal because of my love for animals. It's wierd to not have her come up to us when we go outside or to see her lying on the lawn somewhere in one of her favorite spots under the pine tree or on the front porch. I miss her running up to our car every time we would come home from town or when we were gone from home for a few days. I know that things are better now for her and she is no longer in pain or suffering. We were very lucky to have such an awesome dog like her and she will be missed. I believe that we will get to see her again someday. We love you Zoey!

The last hoo-ra before fall!

Over Labor Day weekend my whole family headed up to Afton, WY to the cabin that we enjoy spending time at every year. It was kind of our last, big fun adventure before we really get into the routine of school and colder weather. It was tons of fun, especially since Tyrel got to be there for part of it. The kids had a blast riding on the little four-wheeler and big dirt bikes. It's a lot of work to feed us all and take care of that many screaming, crazy kids, but it's worth it in the end.

This is the adults attempting to get a picture of all the kids looking perfect. You probably won't get much better than this.

Our whole family

I just thought this picture was funny. It was just a test picture, but it shows all the chaos before the "picture perfect".

Getting down & dirty

The kids ran the life, and pullstring right out of this little four-wheeler. We replaced the pullstring, but it won't start anymore.

The Chapman family's newest addition, Beckham.

Jack had this costume on practically the whole time we were there, except when he was sleeping and for the family pictures.

Reluctant to get in the freezing cold Starvalley water.

Totally zonked out with his favorite person. If he got hurt or wanted something, he wouldn't come to me, he went straight to Gramma.

We spent an afternoon at Cottonwood Lake.

Tyrel doin what he does best

After we got back from Wyoming, later that week, was Luke's 3rd bday. We took the kids to this fun place with all the big bounce houses and slides. The boys LOVED it and had a blast. We'll probably be going back for the other boys' bdays.

First day of school!

Yesterday was the first day of school. It was also Logan's first day of Kindergarten! He was excited and a little nervous, but he did so good. I took them to school for their first day, but this morning was Logan's first time on the school bus. He was so excited to ride on the bus with Easton. When the bus pulled up to our house, he ran out to get on. He sat next to Easton right on the front row. I told Easton to make sure he helped him find his classroom when they got off the bus. He made it home okay so I guess everything went well. So far he loves kindergarten, it's just a little hard to wake up at 6:45 in the morning to be ready by the time the bus comes. We are excited for him to learn and make new friends at school. Luke just wanted to be a part of the picture so he could look at himself.

Crazy, busy fun summer!

This summer has been crazy and busy and I am so far behind on blogging. Here is a quick wrap up of what we've been doing. I didn't take enough pics with my camera. I took lots of pics with my camera on my phone so I could send pics to Tyrel, but I don't have a smart phone so I can't put those pics on here. Anyway here is what we've been up to.

We went to Shoshone Falls at the end of May and the water level was so high. The falls were just gushing water. It was pretty spectacular and very intimidating!

Then we headed up to North Dakota for 4 weeks. I think the boys had a good time up there, but they were glad to come home to all their toys they hadn't seen in a month.

We went to City of Rocks over the 4th of July weekend. We just stayed one night. The boys had a blast climbing all over the rocks. We tried to get the boys to do a little repelling, but I think they are still a little too young and need to get a little bigger. It was too scary for them.

We had a heck of a time finding a camping spot. It was already filling up for the holiday. We got lucky though, and ended up with a pretty sweet spot. We had like a little cave there behid Tyrel and it made for good shade and playing for the boys.

Making yummy smores!

Stuffing his face with a marshmallow!

Luke keeping his feet toasty warm by the fire! It was pretty windy that night and made it hard to get good sleep.

I spent the first 2 weeks of July down in Utah to just hang out and be with family and to be there when my sister had her baby. It was lots of fun. We went to the Living Planet Aquarium. It was way cool. The kids got to see all kinds of sea life and other animals and reptiles from around the world. They even had a place to pet the stingrays.

We even got to go to Lagoon with my Mom. It is Lagoon's 125th anniversary this year, so they had a deal going on that week, so we couldn't pass it up. Thanks Mom for going with us and going on the rides with my boys. It was a blast!

We spent the 4th of July over at my sister's house and watched street fireworks and the kids did sparklers. I also burned the crap out of the bottom of my foot, chasing after Easton in the street. I accidentally stepped on some hot embers from his sparkler. The rest of the time there we spent just visiting and eating and the kids played on the slip n slide and played with the neighbor kids a lot. It was a fun 2 weeks!

After we got home from Utah we just hung out at home for 2 weeks and the last weekend in July was the Gierisch family reunion, which I didn't take any pics of, but it was fun and everyone in my family stayed at our house, except for Tia's family, they had a hotel room. Tyrel came home the next week and we went to Lagoon again so we could something fun while he was home and before school started. Then, 2 weeks later, it was fair week, so my brother Shane and his family came down to join in the festivities. Lame me didn't take pics again. The kids had soooo much fun jumping on our new tramp with the hose spraying. Easton and Sam played pretend Harry Potter and even created a new character for the movie. His name was Eric and Easton played his part.:) They played the Wii plenty also. Logan & Katie enjoyed dressing up as superman and a pretty princess and played "save". Luke mostly just followed whoever around and did what they were doing or just did his own thing in his own world. Of course we went to the fair and rode the carnival rides and got us a maple bar. Yummy! It was fun, fun, fun! It was a crazy, fun filled summer and went by soooo fast. Now I am ready for school to start and get back into a routine and early bedtime! Logan will be starting Kindergarten this year so we are excited for that, and Tyrel will be homein about a week and a half! Yay! We are not moving to N. Dakota beacuse it's too expensive, but more importantly, we are expecting baby #4! I want to be closer to home for lots of help! Not to mention the frigid winters up there. I am 14 weeks and have a due date of Feb. 20th. We'll post more about baby when we find out what we're having! Hoping for a girl, but planning on boy! We find out in about 2 1/2 weeks!

Summer plans!

Well Tyrel will be home again in one week! We are counting down the days! He'll be home for a week and then we will all pack up and go up to North Dakota with him for a good part of the summer and see what it's all about up there. It's possible we will move up there for a while since Tyrel wants to stay up there for a few years, but we will keep our residency here in Idaho since this is where we want to be in the long run! It will be fun and interesting and a crazy adventure. I know the summer and fall months will be okay, I am just dreading the frigid winter! So..... we will see how it goes after the summer and just go from there! We just love flying by the seat of our pants.......or atleast Tyrel does =)

The dentist!

Well I took the kids to the dentist last month and they all made out okay except for Logan. He had possibly 4-8 cavities, so they told me they would have to put some silver caps on his teeth and they would have to put him to sleep for it since there was so many. He did okay. He was nervous being there and didn't want anyone to touch him. I couldn't be with him when they put him to sleep so I had to sneak out when he wasn't looking. They said he only fussed for about 15 seconds and then went right to sleep. When he was all done, they brought me back and I could hear him crying cuz he was trying to wake up and didn't like any of the nurses touching him. Once they brought him to me he was fine, just a little groggy still. So he had a total of 5 caps put on. He was back to his old self by the time we got home! It was kind of hard for me to let them take him back without me there, cuz I knew he would be scared once he knew I wasn't there, and I knew they were going to put him to sleep, but it all turned out okay! Note to self: make sure you brush & FLOSS your kids teeth so you can hopefully avoid this kind of stuff!

SURPRISE!!

Well Tyrel surprised us and came home 2 weeks early. I had no clue he was coming. Both his parents knew and they were keeping it a secret. It was so nice to have him home for a week. The boys were glued to him the whole time wanting to wrestle and play and just sit on his lap. He has left again and has been gone for about a week and a half. He'll be gone for 2 more weeks, then come home again. I have been busy with the kids and just haven't gotten around to blogging. This past week was spring break. I packed up the kids in the car and drove to Logan for the weekend to visit my brother and his family. He is going to school to be a helicopter pilot, so we took the kids to the airport and looked at the helicopters, but I am lame and didn't take pictures, but it was fun and the kids had a blast playin on the Wii with their Uncle. Luke had a blast playin with all the girl toys. He played with the strollers and shopping cart, and even played with the dollies. So now it's back to school until SUMMER! That's what's goin on with us lately. Hopefully I'll have a more exciting post next time.

It's gonna be a long 5 weeks!

Well, Tyrel left for North Dakota yesterday morning. He left around 8:15 and got there around 9:00PM that day. It's about a 12 hour drive, but he had to stop to get gas and eat, stuff like that. I called him throughout the day to see where he was and to make sure he was wearing his seatbelt! I did way better than I thought I would when he left. I didn't even cry! That is a big thing for me because I do not like to be away from him for long periods of time. I think by the time it was time for him to leave, I was SO sick of the anticipation of him leaving for five weeks, that I was just like, just hurry up and leave so we can get this over with. Also, all the stress and pressure of getting everything that we needed to get done before he left. Even though I didn't want him to leave. I have been keeping busy with the boys and the puppies, but I know when the down time comes, like on the weekends and in the evenings, when he's usually here, it will get harder. I am staying positive and looking at the big picture. I have already had several people talk to me and offer help at any time or just to see how I'm doing. I appreciate it so much. The reason why he'll be gone for 5 weeks at first is because the first 2 weeks is just training, and then he'll start his regular 3 week on 1 week off shift. He said there is around 2 feet of snow up there and it's just pretty much like Idaho, flat and windy. So I think he'll be used to the weather, and it is supposed to warm up quite a bit this weekend. He passed his physical and drug test today, so tomorrow he'll get the gear that he'll need with his boss and then probably just hang out for the weekend until he starts his training on Monday! The last night he was here, we went to Pizza Hut with the boys, then went and got Root Beer to make root beer floats. We rented a movie to watch together while eating our root beer floats. So hopefully I don't go completely crazy, and we are looking forward to him coming home! Then he'll turn around and do it again, but for 3 weeks!

Change!

Well, I have been putting off posting about this because I was really hoping that it wouldn't happen. Tyrel is changing jobs. He has decided to go work up in North Dakota in the oil fields as a truck driver hauling water for a while. He just hasn't been completely happy with his current job. He likes the people he works with, but not the pay. He feels as though he can't really progress like he wants to or it's just not happening fast enough for him. It will definitely be a sacrifice for both of us. He will leave to go up there on Feb. 9th, he will be gone for about 3 weeks at a time and then come home for a week, but he has to spend 2 of those days driving because it's a 14 hour drive there and back. We think it will be worth it in the end because the pay is really good and we can pay off our debts way faster than we are now. I know it will be a really hard adjustment on me and the kids. I have a good support system up here. There is actually another guy in our ward who is also going up there, so I feel better knowing someone we know is up there and I can call his wife and talk to her when I feel like I'm having a hard day! The biggest thing I'm worried about is the long drive, especially cuz it's winter right now, and the roads can really get messy. The guy that is in our ward has already been up there once and is not working for the same guy, so they won't really be able to carpool together which would be so awesome if they could take turns driving such a long drive. We did get a diesel Jetta car that gets like 50 MPG. So we won't have to spend so much on gas. I know this experience will be very hard, but I know it will also be a rewarding and learning experience, especially for me. I don't really see myself as a very independent person, and I think this will make me a more strong and confident person if I can get through this. I know it will not be easy at all and I will have a lot of days that I will probably lose it and just have a meltdown, but that's what family is for right? So I am trying to stay positive and just tell myself that I am going to do this and get through it. I will have to rely on the Lord a lot and pray for help to be as patient as I can with 3 crazy boys. So that's the latest thing that's happening in our lives. I hope all goes well!

Nesquik!!

Well, he kept telling me he wanted some and I kept saying, " okay, hold on just a minute," and I would continue doing what I was doing. So he decided to get it himself! Luckily it wasn't very much. He could've dumped out the whole thing cuz it was full. Note to self: keep the nesquik on a higher shelf. (Not that he won't figure out a way to get it down from there either!)

Puppies new sleeping quarters

So now that the puppies are a week old, we decided they are old enough to go out to the dog house. They are starting to get pretty loud when they whine and even though they were downstairs, they were keeping us up at night. They are doing fine outside. It is so warm in there and there is a wall in there so Zoey can get a break when she wants. When they get old enough to climb over the wall, we will make some sort of fenced area outside the dog house so they don't run off and get lost or hit by a car! So this is what it is for now atleast!

The stork has come!

After staying up all night last night with Zoey, she finally has given birth to 9, so far, cute, little, black pups. She was pacing the floor and panting all night long. I thought she was going to have them last night. So I stayed with her all night and got hardly any sleep. When I got too tired I just went to bed and decided I would get up and check on her in a little bit. Later that morning she was acting more & more strange. She kept going down to the basement and walking around just looking for a place to give birth. So I got the kiddie pool all ready. She jumped right in and stayed there. About 30 min. later, her first pup was born. We had to go to Tyrel's Grandma's funeral, so when we left she had 3 pups. When we came home about 4 hours later, she had 8. About 2 hours later, she gave birth to a 9th. They are so cute and black as black! Good job Zoey....... but I hope you're done!:)

Zoey's birthing chamber!:) The vet told me that for big dogs, it's a good idea to get a kiddie pool, and fill it with blankets and towels for her "nesting" period!

Zoey's all tuckered out. It's been a long 2 months!

Such a good mommy!

This is before she gave birth to her 9th pup. I let her out to go toidy, and she dropped another pup right there on the lawn! She might have more. So far 6 girls and 3 boys. They are so cute and little. They just whimper and whine all the time. Zoey does such a good job taking care of them. We'll keep you posted!

Puppies on the way!

The day after we got back from Jackson, I noticed that our dog Zoey was looking a little more plump than usual. And upon further inspection, I realized that she was indeed expecting. She was in heat a couple of months ago, and did take off a couple of nights, and even though we would call for her, she wouldn't come. I was just hoping that nothing got too seriuos cuz it happened the last time she was in heat and no puppies came from that. Well, we weren't so lucky this time. I am only guessing that the daddy is a chocolate lab cuz that's the only dog that would hang around here, and it was a male. The last litter of pups she had a couple of years ago were black lab mix and they were so stinkin' cute. So I'm hoping that the daddy is the chocolate lab and they should be cute. We are keeping our fingers crossed. She is almost due, so I've been keeping an eye on her and letting her in to just be more comfortable and sprawl out on the floor. When it gets really close to her due date, which I'm assuming is the end of this week, I will let her sleep downstairs, so she doesn't have to have her pups outside in the frigid cold. Tyrel did build a very luxurious dog house with a heat lamp in it that can fit our whole family inside. Once the puppies are a little bit older they can be nice and snug out there and I don't have to worry about cleaning up their little messes!:) I feel so bad for her right now. You can tell she is just miserable and getting more and more uncomfortable. It totally reminds me of being pregnant in the last trimester. Sometimes she will come over to me and just rest her head on my lap or snuggle her head into my stomach, as if to say, "make this go away." Poor Zoey, "it will all be over soon", is what I say to her. I hope it's not in the middle of the night, which it probably will be. So I will definitely post pics of the little ones when they finally decide to arrive!