Brady and Zack's 1st 5K

The morning of October 30th, Nate, Brady and Zack all got up bright and early and ran the 5K Fundraiser for the AF Swimteam. And still as Nate and I talk about it...we are so proud of those boys. (We tried to remember the 1st time we ran 3.2 miles, and we both knew it was well into our high school or college careers.)

Brady's finishing time was 28 minutes and Zack's was 29 min and 45 seconds. Nate of course finished in 22 minutes in the top 10...and ran back to encourage both B and Z to the end. He said that as he was running the last lap with the boys, that he said, "Come on...you've got to finish under 30 minutes." That got their legs movin'. And they were so excited when they both came in under 30 minutes. They ran diligently during the summer, but with school in session, they havn't had much of a chance to. But I guess that is where football and soccer have helped to keep up their endurance.

I hope they keep with running, and find it as fun as Nate and I do. All 3 won raffle prizes, and they were pretty happy about that. (Kind of helps with motivation.) Now we are looking into a couple of Turkey Trots for Thanksgiving Weekend. Can't wait!


Zack and Brady before the race.

Nate finishing the race...22 minutes...but not his best time ;-)

Brady finishing at 28 minutes.

Zack finishing under 30 minutes...Nate loved the look of relief on his face as he crossed the finish line.

Seth 3 Weeks

Well I have to admit...it definately is easier having older kids with a new baby. I had been thinking that I needed to get a picture of Seth...and low and behold Brady did just that for me, when Seth was 3 weeks. Not too bad of a shot too. He, Zack and Rachel have been a huge help. Very willing to hold Seth or fetch this or that for me. Nate has also been going above and beyond and reigning the kids in to help with dinner, cleaning, whatever. (I even had 2 Girls Night Out last week and left him with the other kids at home.) Now if I could just figure out what to do with Miss Hannah and her tornado capabilities ;-)

Seth is growing great and at 3 weeks he weighed 8 lbs 10 oz. Still down from his birth weight...but it's because he lost so much due to jaundice. His face is getting fuller and I think he looks more like Brady every day.

We have to to run his legs a lot to help relieve his gas pains...but I've cut out all chocolate ;-( so we'll see if that helps. Just last week when I was 'running his legs' Jace walked in and said, "Mom...can I toot him?" It's funny the ideas and words they pick up when you seem to always be talking 'baby talk'.

Halloween 2010

Well Halloween has come and gone...and we had a great time with class parades, ward trunk or treating and soggy trick or treating. We again bought our kids' Halloween candy this year after all was said and done. (Brady wasn't thrilled to sell his loot since his candy total was over 8lbs, but seriously...It's worth it to pay the $5 to them and not deal with candy wrappers, and spoiled dinners...and eventually numerous cavities.) Here are some of the many pics taken during the 3 days of festivities!

School Parade

Brady designed his shirt, and I thought that was all he was going to wear...but of course the morning of he and his friend Mitchell wanted to jazz things up a bit with some Halloween makeup.

Zack was a pilot...thanks to his Uncle Kyle Holmes' old costume. We did make a leather pilots helmet and goggles to add to the costume, but he opted to not wear them at the last minute.

After MUCH deliberation...Rachel decided to be a 50's girl...I stayed up late the night before sewing her skirt to wear the next day.

Ward Trunk or Treating. Even though this is a trunk or treating the night before, most people try and think up something different to hand out other than candy. There was a 'scary movie' playing on the side of the church...fresh popcorn popped over an open fire...hot chocolate...roasting bread on sticks over a fire...and we decided to 'bob for apples'. What a great time we had. A lot of the kids had never even tried it before, and they kept coming back to try and get their apple. Luckily we always hold it in the parking lot so there isn't a lot of clean up.




They didn't want to try for an apple...but were pretty excited about the candy they got.



Ready for a soggy Trick or Treat!


Hannah loves to wear her rainboots...especially since she can put them on herself...they worked well since it was pouring rain on Trick or Treat night.

A Princess and her Knight

The Princess and her Frog

A Frog, Princess and a Knight...I'm glad I can get 3 of them to be a theme.

A cute little frog.

A Pretty Princess

A Handsome Knight

Rock and Roll 50's girl

Fighter Pilot

Am I getting too old for this?


Dang that's a lot of kiddos!

Jace and Hannah's loot.

Maybe I shouldn't let Nate take the kids out next year...he brought in a stray kitty from the rain. We feed and kept it over night...but when we opened the garage the next morning, she ran out and was adopted by our neighbors...I was kind of glad. Not really ready to train another kitty

Zack and Brady's loot...I still can't believe how much stuff they can come back with.

Jace's 5th Birthday

5 Things I Love About Jace

He tends to be a little grumpy in the morning until he gets a love from me.

Jace loves to wrestle especially with dad (this will satisfy him in the morning if he hasn't had a love yet.) When his older brothers are willing, they will let him take 'em to the ground, and he is very serious about his wrestling matches.

He already 'wheels and deals' with me to be rewarded. If he wants to play the Wii, Lego Batman, or a game on my phone, he knows he needs to get a job done beforehand.

Jace is always looking out for his sister Hannah...He let's Rachel dress him up for whatever production she is putting on...He loves to share anything with Zack, and would follow Z to the ends of the earth...and he always complains about Brady teasing him.

He plays hard all day long...but just like his dad...he crashes at the end of the day. It's been said that Jace has 2 speeds....go and dead to the world.

Happy Birthday buddy...we hope you had an excellent Lego party.



Breakfast in bed...always a tradition.

Taking a bite out of his cake...another fun tradition.

Fun Lego candy for the tops of the cupcakes.

Jake Clayson bonking Jace on the head.

We make giant legos for his friend birthday party.

Blowing the candles out on the cake.

Jacob, Robert, Reagan, and Alyssa.

Chloe, Rachel, Mitchell, Jace and Bryson.

Baby Seth

He's here! Seth Eldon Holmes was born Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 1:55pm. He weighed 8 lbs. 14 oz. and was 20 inches long. He didn't come out screaming which always makes me a little nervous...I'd rather have my babies pinching a fit, but he just seems to be very mild tempered. (Let's see how he reacts to the chaos at home with 5 siblings.) Am I surprised that it's a boy? Nope...I had a feeling all along. (Even though the only other child I had guessed correctly was Brady...11 1/2 years ago.) But I'm glad I was right...even though I would have been glad if I had been wrong too.
Anyhow the delivery went great...only 3 1/2 hours...I told the nurses when we came in that I would probably go fast. (My total labor time for all 6 kids...adds up to a grand total of 23 hours, so I have no room to complain.) We were hoping he'd make his grand entrance on Sunday, when the date was 10/10/10, but he was just too snug and cozy I guess. I walked 3 miles after church that day by myself (which was quite enjoyable since I was able to listen to the General Relief Society meeting un-interupped). And that evening before dinner the whole family went on a 2 mile walk...that actually took us about an hour, Nate was disappointed with our time of 30 minute miles, but what do you expect with 5 kids and a pregnant/waddling mama? Needless to say, my calves were a little sore from Dead Mans Hill the next day, even though I worked out 4 times last week.
When we came in Tuesday morning, Nate was going on 30+ hours of being awake, but as long as he kept moving around and got something to eat, his adrenaline kicked right in. (He worked Monday, and then had to go in Monday night for a midnight maintenance.) When he got home at 5:30am... he knew he'd rather play basketball than sleep...so off he went. Priorities right? By the time Nate got home, the hospital had called and asked us to be there by 8:30...or as soon as we could make it in. Once we got the 3 older kids off to school, our good friend Annie Clayson watched Jace and Hannah for us for the day.
Seth is doing great, he just got back from his hearing screening and passed. He's only lost 3 oz, but since he is considered a bigger baby, that's just fine. He does have to keep having his glucose checked because he is bigger (I guess being 4 days early and nearly 9 lbs, labels you as a bigger baby), but it always comes back in the low-average scale.
I think he looks a lot like Brady and Rachel. He's not as blond, but he's definitely not a brunette like the other 3. Plus the round chubby cheeks remind me of those 2. The kids are all smitten, of course, and now that Seth is here, I don't think they even remember if they wanted a girl or boy sibling.
Luckily Nate has 5 days paid paternity leave (I'm loving ancestry.com right now ;-), and is getting to play Mr. Mom. I never really worry when I have to leave, because he is such a great dad, and can get the kids up and going as long as he promises a good WWF match.
I'm just so happy Seth is here, and I can't wait to see how his personality will blend with those that are at home. Looking at the picture with all 6 kids really does make me feel that our family is complete. I'm so grateful that my Heavenly Father trusts me with all these souls, even though I'm the one that is supposed to be teaching them daily, I feel like I learn something new each day from at least one of them. I'm also to thankful for Nate and his sweet blessing for me before we came into the hospital. He works so hard for our family and always just says that he merely 'finances' the operation, but he does so much more behind the scenes. But I am grateful that I do have the opportunity to stay home and watch these sweet spirits grow into awesome kids!
Sorry to be a little sappy, you know how emotional new mama's can get.


Here at last...he is our biggest baby...I guess he's the winner!

It'll be interesting to see how her emotions play out not being the baby of the family anymore.

He sleeps just like his daddy.

Rachel is going to be a great helper...both with Seth and Hannah.

I'm glad he woke up for when the kids came to see him.

Last week when I doubled over in pain because of the baby hitting my nerve, Jace asked me if I was Okay. I told hid that the baby had just kicked me. He then replied, "That's not good manners."

As Brady was holding him, he says..."He looks like a football player." The boy has a one track mind.

Me and all 6 kiddos...it doesn't seem like a lot of kids until I say it.

First family photo.

Disney Character Breakfast

Last year a friend of mine started a tradition to have 'Back to School' breakfasts' the week before school started, to get our kids back in the habit of getting up early and getting ready for school. We had 5 families sign up, with about 24 kids all together, and started breakfast every morning at a different house. It was a lot of fun, and the kids absolutely love it. (Of course some mornings, I think they played together more than they ate, but at least they were up and at-em.)

But I wanted to make a special post about a family in our neighborhood that went above and beyond the call of duty. Heather Pack and her family put together a Disney Character breakfast to cap off our week long activity. (All 5 of her kids, except for Johnny age 10, are in Jr High or High School, so they didn't join us during the previous week...although we would have gladly taken them in.)

On Monday morning, at 8:00am we had a fantastic breakfast at the Packs' home. Complete with Mickey Mouse pancakes, eggs, sausage, fruit and juice. Yummy...yummy...but of course the highlights were the Disney Characters that served the kids their breakfast. (Heather even made sure the actors weren't people that the kids would recognize.) There was Alice in Wonderland, Snow White (who apparantly worked at Disneyland and has had great practice), Prince Charming, and Cinderella.

The kids were able to wear costumes if they wanted. Jace was 'all over' dressing up as Capt' Jake Sparrow...he looked so cute. Hannah had on a Cinderella dress before she realized that Rachel wasn't dressing up, and then wouldn't have anything to do with it after that....;-( sigh. Zack just wore his Indiana Jones hat, and Brady thought about wearing a basketball jersey to be a character from High School Musical, but all of our are blue, so that didn't really pan out. But dressed up or not, the kids LOVED LOVED LOVED it. We even pointed out, as moms, of their GREAT table manners, since it was such a different experience. (I of course grilled my kids on good behavior before we went, and told them that if we were to attend a character breakfast in Disneyland...it would have cost about $30 a person...so they knew it was a special opportunity.) In talking with Heather, who has attended a character breakfast, it was a lot more fun than the original. (She said the food was better at Disneyland...but the characters were more of a treat here.)
I'm just in awe of how generous the Packs' were...and we couldn't thank them enough...what a great way to end our tradition!


Capt' Jace Sparrow

All the Holmes' Kids on top of the castle


Zack was trying to hide underneath his Indiana Jones hat from my camera...he must have been smitten by Alice in Wonderland

Jace also would only mummer an answer to Cinderella...but look at that cute little grin peeking out.


Cinderella talking to Brady


All the Holmes' Kids with the Disney Characters


Heather Pack with all the Disney Characters