California Novembers. I LOVE THEM!

I LOVE the beach and I loved this day at the beach. It was just what this tired, grumpy mom needed. Some fresh air, sand and a little beach combing! It was a dream day in HMB. In fact, it was warmer there than in Redwood City. We decided to take a quick family photo while we were there and I think it'll suffice so look for it in a Christmas letter coming to you soon!

Two of "our girls"-wish you were here Alli!

I love this pic of Isaiah and Grandma. I noted something remarkable about this woman during this trip. She LOVES her family more than anything. She embraces each member of her family and emphasizes, point-outs and encourages their strengths and overlooks their weaknesses. If you're not family, I'm sorry, because this is one person who will make you feel from toe to hair that you are special and loved. Need evidence, just ask my children and all seven of her other grandchildren!

Each day that passes I become more thankful for a father-in-law that truly LOVES his grandchildren and all the FUN that they can have together. He really makes each child feel loved and accepted and cared for and they have fun with each ALWAYS. He is such an example of what a Grandpa should be for so many reasons and I am thankful that he shares the Gospel and one of the greatest joys of this Gospel, family, with my children! 

I don't think I can say enough how much I love this kid! He is such an example of kindness and though he's getting to be a bit of tease these days he is always a delight to be with!

We let the "ladies" sit on the blankets. I think Camille and Grandma spent the entire time there. :)

Noah. Oh how I love my sweet, quiet, stubborn and loving little lovebug.

Balls and Isaiah are very good friends. They can keep him entertained for long periods of time. He is such a happy little babe and I'm so thankful for that!

Chelsea's art and SKINNY shadow! :)

Notice the buoy's that are now somewhere in my car liking starting to stink! How does he (Elijah) talk me into such craziness?! 

Cutest kids on the planet!

Happy baby with a wet bum! 

These two are going to be best buds! I just know it!

I love this picture of Emi. She is such a little shining gem in our family. She has so much spunk and at times I find that so challenging, but how thankful I am for her and that entails!

Our Girls

These two beautiful girls. I first met these girls when Camile (now 18) was only 2 1/2 and Chelsea (now 20) was 4? I think that's about right. Anyhow, they were two of the cutest, funniest, sweetest, most creative girls I knew (I can't forget Ali). I remember when they had to move from here to Brea, CA. I could barley stand the thought of someone else being able to experience how adorable they were. For someone else to have them climb on their laps during church or during dinner getting cheeseball scuzz all over their pants. I truly loved these girls from the moment I met them as if they were my own nieces. I will never forget seeing the adoration of Phil in Chelsea's eyes whenever he entered a room. She just loved him and wanted to always be around him and I think it's because he loved her just as much! I will always remember Camille bringing me a picture she had colored of Cinderella crying when Phil was set apart as a missionary. She came in and gave it to me and in her cute, Camille voice said, "I'll take care of you while Bupp is gone." They'll never know how much their unconditional love during those two years apart from Phil really meant. They were some sunshine in my life! 

I am so thankful for all the times they came and spent the night at my house, staying up much too late talking, watching movies, having scavenger hunts to find the ingredients for the chocolate chip cookies, dressing up, going to the mall... I only wish they stayed closer by as they grew because somehow along the way they became young women. They are still as sweet and lovely as ever, but they are grown and gone are the days that Phil can give them piggyback rides and we can play tackle on the grass at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I am so thankful for all the memories I have of them as little girls and I will treasure those memories forever. I'll have to write another entry and share some more (which I'm sure they'd LOVE -wink, wink) because these girls will never know how much Phil and I adore them. How often we pray for their success, for their ability to choose the right and be guided and protected. They are our "girls" forever and we are so thankful!

The Celebrities Arrived!

They REALLY came!

 This has been an exciting Holiday for us Fletchers. We got to have Chelsea and Camille McAlmont come and visit us!  Emi finally had some girls to bond and talk girl things with.

 She was so excited to dress herself just the way she wanted (very beautifully, she'd add) to be like the big girls. 

This is how she spent most her time with them. On their laps. Drawing pictures of princesses and ballerinas. In fact, in one of her prayers she thanked Heavenly Father that her cousins could be there and that they were such good ballerina drawers! So cute!

 They compared nails...

The boys got in on that too! HAHA College girls with salon nails?!  WOW! So cool!

I begged Phil to let ME take this so HE could be IN it, but he insisted no. 
We were eating at a favorite of ours, Izzy's.  It's delish, but it took a LONG time to get the food and buy 9pm we were finally leaving. The kids were shot and so was I from wrestling Isaiah, but oh how we loved having the "girls" here to talk with and visit with and just be with.

Got Dirt, Will Dump!

We are STILL fixing the backyard. We hope to be ready for sod on Wednesday (Yes, the DAY BEFORE Thanksgiving). I think there's something about us and this holiday. Last year we bought the house and the day after Thanksgiving we gutted both bathrooms! I am truly GRATEFUL that I am living in this sweet, still needs work, but OURS home! I love it here and so do the kids. Each year just gets better. It's KINDA fun that way. It gives us somethingt o look forward to with each approaching Thanksgiving, I guess. :)

P.S. The baby was NOT a fan of the dump truck!

Tonsillectomies R Us!

Noah had a cut on his finger which required a band-aid before he was ready.

Notice the socks, he LOVES those. He kept the gown on for a total of about 10 minutes and then he was more into the diaper and warm blanket wrapped around him.

 He did get in a quick game of "where's my legs" before he decided the gown was not for him though.

 Emi's getting ready.  She's starting to wonder what she's gotten herself into it seems.

 Noah's had the funny stuff by now and is cracking up at little things. It was pretty funny.  Emi's blood pressure cuff popped off of her arm and he couldn't stop laughing.

They came and got Noah and carried him away in a blanket. He looked like a little baby. I nearly fainted, but we still had Emi and no way was I going to get her upset!  She liked her gown, of course and wanted Auntie Debbie to be there.

Now she's ready, plugie and all. Don't judge until you've had to walk in her shoes! :)  I figure if she sucked her thumb she'd be doing it then so what's the difference?

 Noah was pretty groggy when he came out. He was a typical kid coming out of anesthesia and cried a bit, but the nurses were amazed at how calm he actually was compared with most kids.

Now he's really beginning to get back to normal. If you look closely you'll notice the Church keys in his hand. That was his comfort item! HAHA!

Emi asked for her dad to be the one to be with her for her recovery. They were just a few feet away from each other, but we played pass back and forth a bit. She was VERY out of it and cried a bit, but again the nurses were amazed at how well they did. I know that it was the result of the priesthood blessings they had the night before. They were calm and knew that they would be taken care of just as I knew. I am so thankful this day is behind us and that we have two kids who can breathe and eat and sleep without snoring! What a marvelous thing to live in a country that has the advantages of modern medicine and an ability for us to receive such skilled care!  I am SOOOO thankful these two little loves are doing much better and seem to be healing well. Now I just need to figure out how to get them to take their medicines (steroids, tylenol with codine and antibiotics) without gagging/throwing up-at least it was on Phil:)!
I tried to post this last week, but here it is now!

Isaiah Learns to Swing!

Once again my kind mom came over to help me around the house. I am desperate to get the garage a little more organized so that the kids will have a place to play this winter!  So we're getting rid of lots of things. Including BABY things! It feels so good to start to clean out the stuff I don't need, but it's also hard to admit that I won't have any more babies. Now, that is not to say that I am even close to wanting another one, but the finality of it is somehow sad. I think it's because I've been with a toddler, pregnant or nursing for so long I can't believe I might actually begin to be a mom who sleeps all night and has more energy (as if) and doesn't have to worry about what medicine I can or can't take because I'm pregnant or nursing...Anyhow, as I said it is with mixed emotions that I finally get rid of the things that LITERALLY SAVED me with all four of my kids. 

This swing is the only way I was able to tear myself away from Elijah. It was the only way Emi would sleep for her morning nap. It wasn't Noah's favorite thing, but he was known to take a ride on occasion. It was Isaiah's BEST friend. It was where he spent almost his whole day when he wasn't be nursed, changed or held because it was one of the only places that he didn't cry!

So I decided to let him have one last ride in the swing while we cleaned and when we turned around he had the swing rocking so much it nearly fell over!  That little smarty figured out how to rock forward and...

back to make himself swing. We all had a good laugh about it and I even caught it on video.  We'll miss you blue teddy bear swing!

Happy Birthday in Advance

I write this entry to let it be known that I do in fact buy cards for family members and intend to send them so they will arrive on their birthday but then my little friends around the house find the cards and they hide them in various locations because they enjoy them so much!

I found Uncle Bob's card behind the window shade. It plays music and each of the kids takes a turn, on any given day, carrying the card around and dancing to the music. So, although I wish I could send them to whom they were intended I am happy that they are enjoyed more than I thought possible. As I write this Noah has recognized the card in the photo, ran and found it (from a location Emi placed it) and is dancing while I write. :) Happy Birthday one and all!

The Thankful Tree

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2010!

As my family now knows most good ideas around here are coming from blogs. Especially from THIS one! Well, Elijah, Emi and Noah were all thrilled to help with the cutting and gluing and Elijah even did the writing. I don't think I could make box lettering until I was in the double digits! :) The things Phil and I were most thankful for aside from our kids, the church and family was our shower! We love that crazy thing that uses WAY TOO MUCH water. It's as though you are enveloped in warmth and water. Anyway, Elijah cracked us up when he proclaimed that he was thankful for illusions! :) Who knew? I think Isaiah is thankful that I am still nursing considering his latest trick-biting-to the point of infection antibiotics and neosporin! NOT FUN! We are truly grateful for all the blessings we have and don't know what we'd do without our Savior and the fullness of the Gospel in our lives! 

Elijah was at school and Isaiah is on the floor!

Grami with an "i" for Love

I have many angels in my life. Best of all one of them is my mom...

During the recent tonsillectomies (YUCK!-we're still recovering and it's not going too smoothly) this amazing woman spent EVERY day here, at my home, helping us get through it all.  She came at 7:30 and for the first two days only left during nap-time and arrived again until Phil came home as back-up. Thankful isn't even enough for how I felt to have her here.

Hers is the lap that all the kids fight for (as evidenced in the picture).  They just know she loves them and wants to be with them. She radiates love to them and them to her. She recently shared with me that she wouldn't trade anything in the world for the experience of seeing their little faces, so fresh from heaven, so innocent, look at hers with such unconditional love and hear the excited screams when she arrives at their houses and they run and jump into her arms. 

It's amazing how much more comforting it is to have your mom by your side as you tackle the enormous responsibility of mothering. To have someone to worry about how sick your kids are. To laugh about how naughty but cute they are. To encourage you when you think you just might collapse!
She has been a reassuring, calming and ever helpful presence after the birth of each of my four little stinker-binkers (that's what they are for the first three months, just ask her).

Elijah was the first. He was attached to her from the first moment she held him. As all new moms are, I was nervous, overwhelmed, EXHAUSTED and so in love with this baby. She came over every day after work because she couldn't help but hold and love him. She drank him in and he soaked it up and became such a loving, confidant little boy that I know she had a hand in creating.

Emi was next. She was the cutest "little" chunky thing. I remember one morning calling Grami crying because Emi had pooped and spit up on me and I hadn't been able to put her down for five minutes without her screaming. Needless to say I hadn't gotten to take a shower or do anything for myself, let alone Elijah. No sooner had I hung up the phone than there was a front door being opened and her arms swooping up the little bundle  and giving her mom much needed relief. 




Noah. Grami's little love bug. He became her little love bug as I attended to the very needy and slightly displaced Emi. She held him, took him to Church meetings with her, and gave him the love that only a grami can give. She has been his person of solace and comfort. It is a tremendous blessing for him (and my other children) to have someone he loves as much as Phil and I in his daily life. He knows she loves him unconditionally and I can never repay her for that. 

And then there was Isaiah. Boy, he almost did us all in, and if it hadn't been for the angelic touch and endearing love of this Grami we wouldn't have made it through this in one piece. He liked to cry. He liked to be held and bounced CONSTANTLY. He didn't like to sleep and he didn't want to nurse at first. What a blessing to have a pair 

of arms arrive every morning at 7:30am and stay ALL day until I felt confidant that I would be able to handle it all without her support and love. She did the laundry, she did the dishes, she held the baby, she helped me start to organize. I can hardly stand to look at the background of the photos as it was such a crazy time of getting moved in and trying to get settled, which was impossible with a newborn colicky baby!  What an amazing experience I've been able to have in my life while I raise my children. Having my mom by my side and being able to ask her questions, worry with her, receive her reassurance, her reminders of how quickly this time will go and just her friendship. Not a day goes by that I don't thank my Heavenly Father for sending me to her and for her willingness to love and be part of this grand experience of raising a family. Thank you, Mom!  I love you more than you can even imagine. I appreciate the help, I enjoy your company and I sure do have some fun memories that I will cherish forever as will my children!

By the way, she spells it Grami so that she can sign it with a heart on the "i" at the end. :) Hope you enjoy the music, Mom! ;)