Introducing Matthew Porter Alvey

Our little Matthew was born February 22, 2009 @ 9:06am.
He is 8 lbs 6 oz and 21" long.
He is a beautiful happy, healthy baby boy!


We are all thrilled with his arrival. My water broke at 3:15 am Sunday morning, Zack predicted that my water would break at 3am the night before. He seems to be rather good at predicting these kinds of things. Brian & Kelsey came over to watch our kids while we were at the hospital, they were life savers as my parents were headed up to Salt Lake City that morning. My labor really started around 5:30am but with my water breaking I knew it would be fast. Zack slept through most of the labor, I woke him up when it was time to push, which took all of 3 minutes! Grandpa Belt was our first visitor, he was rather smitten by Matthew. Brian & Kelsey brought the kids to the hospital a couple hours later and our kids were thrilled to be able to see him, they all had to touch him! Joshua said "that baby popped out your belly Mommy" (he calls Matthew Pine View) and William says "I am so excited!" Katelyn and Taylor just adore the baby.

Cutest baby in the nursery!

I look a little worn out!
I guess that is what happens when you have 5 kids in 7 1/2 years!

Our little crew
Katelyn 7, Taylor 5, William 3, Joshua 2 and Matthew couple of hours old

What is up on the ceiling?

That was traumatic Mom!

Our brand new baby boy!

Only 2 weeks left!!!

Well in honor of my husband and sister's wishes here is some photos of me way pregnant!!! I thought I would include the kids to make it a little less frightening and prove that I have already birthed four others so they are partly to blame for my extra roundness!!!


Taylor (5 years), Katelyn (7 years), Joshua (2 years), William (3 years) and me (9 months pregnant)

William and I looking silly
This will be one of my motivation pictures after the baby comes to NOT look like I've birthed five children!!!

"Guys, call me Josh"

Our little guy has decided that he is no longer Joshua but Josh. He says to anyone who asks what his name is, "Guys, call me Josh" Little Mr. Independent is more like it! I've been asking the boys what they want to be called, especially William who has about 5 or 6 different options. Just so you know, William wants to be only William. When he's in trouble though, I call him DAVID WILLIAM!!!

William and Joshua decided to be "bubble heads!" They were having so much fun soaping themselves with bubbles that they wanted a picture. These two are so crazy!!! They are a great team but also get into some major trouble too!

-----------------------------------------------------------------

My bag is packed!!

I finally took the plunge and packed my bag for the hospital. I only have about 3 more weeks until I am due so I thought I better get myself ready for the real thing. I have washed all the baby clothes and bedding, sterilized everything, bought some diapers and packed my bags so now he gets to decide when to join the family! Hopefully earlier rather than later! My babies are really not very consistent so it could be anytime. Katelyn our oldest was born 2 days after the due date, Taylor our second was 5 days earlier than the due date, William our third was 13 days early and Joshua was 3 days late. I think it would be nice to be early but I am ready to deal with a healthy happy baby even if he's late!

Activity Days: Lip Gloss and Kindness

Summary: Make home made lip gloss and use the poem to teach a lesson on kindness. Good unity activity.
Activity Description: M'Shelle D.'s activity days class made home made lip gloss and then had a lesson on kindness, relating to the cute poem:

LIP GLOSS POEM
I have this pot of lip gloss,
I'll put some on each day.
I do it to remind me
To choose the words I say.

I'll try to speak with kindness
to everyone I meet.
I'll try to spread some happiness
to those that I may greet.

This pot of gloss reminds me
of the values I hold dear,
The colors are so cheerful
and the message is so clear.

If I want to live the gospel
I'll choose each word I say
I'll speak in just the kindest words
and I won't forget to pray!

Click on this link for a cute handout of the poem to give the girls: http://www.mormonshare.com/sites/default/files/images/LipGloss.pdf
-----------------------------------------------------
I found many recipes for homemade lip-gloss:
Recipe for Homemade Lip Gloss
2 T Petroleum Jelly or Vaseline
1 t Beeswax
10-14 drops flavored extract

In a small pot, melt the petroleum jelly, and then when melted, add beeswax. When melted, remove from heat then add extract. Carefully pour into small containers.
Note: Glitter can also be sprinkled on top!
-----------------------------------------------------
Lip Gloss
Materials:
Vegetable shortening, honey, unsweetened drink mix (eg. Kool-Aid), hot water

Instructions:
1. Use a small bowl to mix 1 tbsp of the solid vegetable shortening and 1 tsp of honey. In a separate bowl, mix the drink mix and 1/4 tsp of hot water until it is dissolved. Stir in as much of the drink mix as possible. The actual amount will depend on the temperature of water. The more you can dissolve, the stronger the flavour will be.
2.You can choose the color and flavor of you lip gloss by the type of drink mix you use.
3. Add one drop of the water mixture to the shortening/honey base. Stir well. Repeat until you get the color/flavor combination you want. Pour into a clean container or old lip gloss pot.
4. Store in the refrigerator. Keeps for 3 days, but it tastes so good that you will use it up very fast!
http://www.creativekidsathome.com/activities/activity_40.html
-----------------------------------------------------
St. Patrick's Day activity- Make your own Green Lipstick
Wet & Wild Mega Eyes trio in Amazon Greens
One full tablespoon of Vaseline
A few squirts of pure Vanilla extract
One small pot
One small plastic container with lid
Colored glitter is optional

First step- First place your pot on the stove. Now add a ¼ cup of water to the pot. Bring this almost to a complete boil. Slowly begin to drop your tablespoon of Vaseline into the water. Take a spoon and mix this up for about five minutes until you see the Vaseline completely liquefied.
Second step- Remove the mixture off the stove allow it to cool down for 30 seconds. Then place your Green eye shadow and Vanilla into this pot. You should use at least a couple spoonfuls of the eye shadow. I have used the whole rectangle of eye shadow and it made a pretty decent size amount of Green lip gloss for all the little kids in my area last year for St. Patrick's Day.
-----------------------------------------------------
Lip-Smacking Good
Make homemade lip-gloss.
You Need:
Vaseline or Crisco: Crisco version goes bad after three days or so
Unsweetened Kool-Aid or any flavored drink mix
Vanilla extract
Cocoa powder
A small mixing bowl
A spoon: For mixing
Measuring spoons
Microwave
Cake decorating glitter: To add a little sparkle.
A container for the lip gloss: Find them at your local craft or beauty supply shop. You may want to pick up a dozen or so.
Stickers: For a label. Food coloring

How to do it:
1. Have your kid decide what flavor of lip gloss she wants to make before she starts mixing things together.
2. To start, have your kid put some Vaseline (or Crisco) into a (microwaveable) mixing bowl and microwave it for about two minutes—until it's a liquid. Try not to let it boil!
3. If she's making chocolate gloss, have her add cocoa powder to the base and mix and stir it up to get rid of any lumps. She should add as little or as much powder as she wants, keeping in mind the more she adds, the darker the tint will be.
4. Then have her return the mixture to the microwave for another 20 seconds and then stir again.
5. If she wants to make vanilla flavored lip gloss, instead of heating the Vaseline in the mixing bowl, just have her add a tiny amount of vanilla extract to it (like 1/8 teaspoon for every 2 tablespoons of Vaseline).
6. To make red cherry-flavored lip-gloss, warm the Vaseline in the microwave for about 20 seconds, then stir in some cherry Kool-Aid.
7. Your kid can now stir in food coloring to tint her lip-gloss or add cake glitter to make it sparkle. 8. Finally, get her to pour or scrape the mixture into the lip gloss containers and let it cool. (If you've been using the microwave, be careful, it'll be hot!)
9. When she's finished making the lip gloss, have her make some labels for it. She can print or draw a label on paper and stick it on with a glue stick or print or draw one on a sticky blank address label. She can dress her gloss up with stickers, too!
10. That's it! Have her pucker up and slap on some of her homemade lip-gloss. She'll be licking her chops all day long. Homemade lip-gloss makes a great gift for your kid's girlfriends. Do this DO at your kid's next birthday party. An activity and party favor all in one! http://www.parentsconnect.com/do/lip-smacking_good.jhtml?cc=10492&psc=10027&mid=null
-----------------------------------------------------
Here are a few stories I read to the girls regarding kindness they both have very good morals:
http://www.sugardoodle.net/Anger/Nail%20in%20the%20Fence.shtml
and
http://www.sugardoodle.net/Work,%20Employment/The%20Legend%20of%20the%20King%20and%20the%20Water.shtml

Joshua's 2nd Birthday Party @ Pirate Island Pizza

We celebrated Joshua's 2nd Birthday at Pirate Island Pizza. A new pizza/arcade restaurant here in Saint George. The atmosphere was great and the kids really seemed to enjoy themselves! I was surprised to find out that they actually had a regular menu but we were getting food for 19 people and just went with the pizzas. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The younger families stayed after lunch and played at the arcades! It was fun! Thanks to everyone who came, Joshua had a great time! I almost forgot, I made Joshua a really cute pirate birthday cake. I included the picture here in this collage. PS. If you click on the collage it will open up much larger to see the pictures better!

Later that evening Katelyn and I went to my mom's house for Stephanie's baby shower. Her friend Chelsey put it on. It was nice and quiet compared to the events of earlier in the day. Katelyn was fascinated with decorating little onesies and made three very cute ones! I didn't get any pictures because I was too tired by then to use much creativity or energy for that matter.