October

Big news from October...A and N both celebrated birthdays! A is no longer a terrible two, and N is the big 1. There birthdays are 6 days apart and luckily they are young enough that we just combined their parties this year and had one big celebration.

Here's the two birthday boys enjoying N's present. We got this baby at a yard sale in July and managed to keep it hidden for 3 whole months. Aren't we so stinkin' sneaky?

And the cake! Poor Nelson actually didn't get any of this because of his allergy. He blew out his candle atop of a poppy seed muffin.

Of course we also had Halloween to celebrate. And celebrate we did. The boys and I hit a pumkin patch early on in the month with the preschool group. Boyd and I attended an adult only costume party (so fun!). We all enjoyed "Desk or Treating" at Daddy's work and the ward Chili Cook-off and Trunk or Treat.

Some of the gang at Linder Farms

Mommy and N waiting for the hay ride.

The whole family in our costumes. I love that the lion has two pairs of ears prominently sticking out. His wiskers were not on at this point either. But man check out that Indie!

Picture Highlights

I've got some serious catching up to do. Really I'm just posting the few pictures I've taken or received from others over the past five months with a few anecdotes.

My three handsome boys in the backyard sometime in May.
Don't let those faces fool you...

...here their true character shines through.

A dear friend from college who has lived in Chicago for the past five years was in Utah for a wedding this past June. Since Utah is a whole lot closer than Illinois, the boys and I loaded the van and spent a day with her and her family in Salt Lake. We took in the Gateway Planetarium, Temple Square, and rode the Trax (definitely the high point for J and A). Then we spent the afternoon at Kangaroo Zoo--a crazy bouncy house dreamland. It was so good to see Miss Ashley even if it was somewhat daunting to travel with the three kids all by myself. By the end of the trip I got pretty good at throwing food to the back seat for J to hand out to his brothers. That seemed to keep them all happy. Sorry about that juice box to the lip though bud. We could both benefit from a little more catch in the backyard.


The big boys in front of the temple, and the whole group at Kangaroo Zoo.





We've been in our home for just over a year now and though it definitely feels like home it is definitely still a home in progress. We broke our backs this spring putting in a sprinkler system, a garden, some rock and wood chips to get the yard in shape. Now it's high time I do something with the inside. Not by any stretch of the imagination am I a decorator, but I am trying. Here are a few projects I managed to finish.


A shelf made out of an old pallet (Boyd just shakes his head at this one).

Our inherited bedroom set with a face lift, one of the nightstands.

And the dresser. Obviously I've not finished the dresser. A streak of rainy weather has inhibited me, but I'm hoping Thursday will be the day. Then maybe I can rest better at night. At least you can kind of see the before and after look here. Does anyone have any pretty white dishes they'd love to give me to spruce this thing up?


The 2009/2010 school year I joined with five other Mom's to do a co-op preschool. It was the best thing I ever did! J made some of his favorite friends in this group and so here are a few pictures documenting the fun they had.

Making gingerbread houses at Christmas time.

A fieldtrip to the MK Nature Center.

A visit to the firehouse



The whole gang and some siblings with the Fire Dudes.

All I have to say for these next few pictures is "Brother's gotta hug!"

Early June we played a mean trick on J. We took the training wheels off his bike. He cried, he stomped around the house, he swore never to ride a bike again and then 2 days later he taught himself how to ride a two-wheeler.

See his little brother watching closely? Well it took some close watching and a few months later he hopped on the two-wheeler and started riding it himself.

That's our "Man-drew". From day one he's been in a hurry to grow up and do whatever big brother could do. The learning curve is sure faster for younger siblings.

Early August J celebrated the big 5. He spent the afternoon helping me make this "superhero" cake. Then enjoyed having family over to help him celebrate and open presents.

Where has the time gone? I can't believe I have a five-year old. He made the kindergarten cutoff, but after much deliberation and thought we decided to delay sending him to school. One more year of freedom and innocence. We're doing our best to enjoy it.

These final photos look closely at the mop on our baby boys head.

If I owned a little dress I would have put him in it with a pretty bow in his hair. Really he was starting to be mistaken for a girl so it was high time for a trim.

Two haircuts later this is what he looks like today.

No mistaking that. He's definitely all boy inside and out.

The piano

So about a week ago my visiting teacher and friend Tylene called and said, "Are you interested in getting a piano?" My response, "Well...Yes and No." Then she excitedly unraveled the story of how she checks Craigslist frequently for free pianos, and some piano repair place is giving away 20+ antique uprights, and that she was going to (in her pregnant state) hook up her husbands trailer, and if we hurry there might be some left. The price was about right so next thing I know the boys and I are standing in a large shed surrounded by dusty old pianos trying to decide which one to take home and fix up. And the winner is...

It definitely needs some tender, loving, care. Boyd feels pretty confident that with replacement parts, we can get the few broken keys to work. We've got some things to glue back together, the front cover to repair, sand, refinish, and then just maybe we'll have a beatiful piano. So here's the before picture. My hope is by the end of the summer I'll have a fabulous after picture to share.

Of course pulling the camera out means the boys will beg for a turn. Andrew was already napping so here' just a few of James's better shots.

A purple iris

The lilac bush

Momma & Nelson

Now lets talk about this Nelson baby, shall we? This time around more people are saying he looks like me. What do you think? And check out that hair. It has a mind of it's own. I can't get it to lay flat so it is always just sticking up like he has a faux hawk. I'm kind of looking forward to how wild it will get before we give him a trim. Here's some more pictures of him we took Sunday just because Boyd and I can't get over how giant he is compared to our others. He's 7-months old and has just about reached the size James and Andrew both were at 12-months.

Muscle man

Where's my neck?

He sure is a lot of fun! Just for the record he's got three teeth, and is moving around everywhere. I think that pretty soon he'll be a good little army crawler.

I really should be ironing

It's a rare moment, but Nelson is asleep, Andrew is asleep, and James is in quiet time! I can hear James building something with blocks, but other than that all is still. I have a list of things I need to do, but sat down on the computer to check my e-mail and obviously got sidetracked. Anyways, today is our 6th Anniversary! I wish I could tell you about all our fun plans, but Boyd has to go out of town early, early tomorrow morning and Nelson is still just a little too dependent on Mommy for me to leave for very long. This being the case, we're postponing celebration till I can think of something really great to do. Any suggestions? I am making fondue for dinner and strawberry shortcake for dessert (what we served at our reception) so the boys can help us celebrate a little. Here's the catch...I won't be dipping my bread or sausage in no cheese. I am currently on a non-dairy diet. We finally determined Nelson's problems (constant green bowel movements for those who are curious) are an allergic reaction, and since dairy products are the most likely culprit we're starting there. It's only been a few days so too early to see much imporvement, but here's hoping. For an avid milk drinker this is somewhat of a sacrifice. I didn't realize how often we eat cheese until now, and I had headaches for the first 2 days I think from chocolate withdrawls (horrible I know). Wish me luck. Well, here's just some fun pictures of the kids. Again, I have to give photography credit to the amazing Bethany (who by the way may be joining the 3 little boys club soon through the miracle of adoption, we're all on pins and needles for her).

This is a classic James grin

Can you tell they're brothers?

Nelson is my chubbiest baby by far

Andrew is always close by to clean the spoon for me

Just want to lick him

You know you're a mom when...

…you are writing instructions for the babysitter and have to stop and look up the word raisin to make sure you spelled it right.

…you let dirty little hands rub lotion all over your legs, gel in your hair, and "makeup" on your face because if feels so good to just sit there (yes, boys like to play beauty parlor too).

…you're reading the newspaper and come across a word only to think, "I use to know what that means."

…the song running over and over in your head as you drift off to sleep is "Baby Beluga".

…you can walk in a room and in 2 seconds find exactly what your child has "looked everywhere for".

…your intelligence might be slipping, but your hearing is only growing more acute. You can hear little feet sneaking out of bed a mile away, or your baby stirring even before you're awake.

…you act like a clown half the day in hopes to score a few toothless grins.

Just a few things I noticed about myself this week. I'm sure many of you can relate and add to the list.

And here's just another little somethin' somethin'. Andrew was feeling rather snuggly last night at dinner and kept trying to give me kisses . I kept dodging them since he had lasagna all over his face. Well, he managed to get me right on the ear, and left some of his dinner there as well. But that's okay he picked it off and then ate it. Definitely not the grossest thing that has ever happened to me though.