Muscles

 Tonight Jacob came up to me and asked (very enthusiastically), "Can Beau and I take off our shirts and wrestle?!" And I said yes. They didn't actually wrestle, they just ran around flexing their muscles and jumping on the couches.

Classic.

Boys through and through. 

Enjoy the pics...watch Beau - he watched Jacob and then did what he did.

Marianne at Three Months (Already?!)

Oh my...let me admit right here that I'm about to commit picture overload...but I just can't help it! Look at this chubby (or as my neighbor Nora says, "FAT!") baby! (Here's her - "Do these jammies make me look fat?" - picture.)

She is a whopping three months old as of yesterday.
Time sure flies when you have a little bug to enjoy 24/7! I wish I had her stats...but I don't. I know that she was 13 lbs. at her last check up three weeks ago and I wouldn't be surprised if she's gained a few ounces since then.
Here are some special things about Marianne:
She loves playing with her hands.

She is starting to swat at toys that hang down from her butterfly mat.
She still makes her wonderful horse noise, like when a horse breathes out its nose really fast...sort of indescribable...
She can and often does sleep through the night. Unless I tell too many people what a champ she is...then she wakes up at 2 or 3 or 4am just to remind me that she's in charge...and to get chubbier.
Marianne pays attention to everything. She will crane her head backwards just to see where a noise is coming from.
She is super strong...She loves to stand on my lap, stiff as a board, and look around.
She does not like it when Colonel (or anyone) makes loud, unexpected noises right next to her.
She sleeps on her tummy during the day and in her awesome little inclined bed at night.
She doesn't have to be swaddled to fall (and stay) asleep, and that's the first time I could say that for any of my children.
She has a beautiful smile...but she doesn't give it freely unless she's just woken up in her bed and you happen to talk to her (and tell her what an awesome sleeper she is.)
She hasn't laughed yet...I'm waiting...
She is wiggly.
She loves it when I kiss her neck, right under her jaw line. Yes she has a neck.
She loves getting a lotion massage after bath time. She especially likes her feet rubbed.

She has great hair that usually winds up in a mohawk. 

 Tonight as I took these pictures...

 She rolled over...

 For the first time!

 Good girl!

 Yep. Still in love. Still amazed. I love you Bug!

Timber, Wind & Snow, Duct Tape Barbie Clothes

 So apparently last night Timber was joy riding in Ms. Fisher Price's pink minivan. He was probably cruisin' the halls around here and Santa's crib. He showed up this morning on top of the microwave...goofy elf. (You lucky blog-readers get to see how dirty my microwave is. It's clean inside. Just kidding...it's not really.) The kids got to enjoy him all day because of the wonderful wintry conditions that prevented them from going to school. I'm not sure how much it actually snowed because the wind was pretty effective at blowing everything sideways all day. I hope you can tell from these pictures just how windy it was:

 Brrr. Seriously. It was great motivation for me to stay inside and work up a sweat cleaning my dirty, neglected bathrooms, sweeping up two massive piles of dirt, and even vacuum the cushions on my couch. Too bad all that progress will be negated by tomorrow night (that long - if I'm lucky.)

 Then later in the afternoon the sun peeked out for just a minute or two and the kids enjoyed driving their scooters through the drifts on the front porch. Yes. Scooters. Snow. Explain it to me if you figure it out.

 Then later on Bekah and I played around with duct tape clothes for Barbie. My nieces love barbies and I thought it would be fun to send them some duct tape so they could design their own fashions for their dolls. (Sorry, Katie - spoiler alert...) I played around with some duct tape we had to get the feel for it so I could give them instructions. It was actually really fun! To do it you attach the tape to wax paper and then cut it in the shape you want. You use extra strips of duct tape to close the back and cinch the waist. Then when everything is all fitted you cut the dress/shirt/skirt off Barbie an attach an extra little flap of duct tape to the slit. Then attach sticky-back velcro to the flap so that the clothes can come on and off.

 I had planned on sending these clothes to my nieces but Bekah really like them. I think it will be fun to go buy patterned duct tape (tie die, leopard print) to do some more.

Now just cross your fingers that the weather improves tomorrow...a mother can only take so much...

Snow!

This morning we woke up to a beautiful blanket of snow. My kids were dressed (with shoes on!) in record time and were out the door the second I came out of my room. Marianne woke up cooing and happy, and even Beau was in a good mood. It was a nice way to wake up, and although the serenity melted with the snow, it was still a good day all in all. I am constantly reminded (even when being a mom is hard) how wonderful these times are and how much I will miss these crazy, hectic, demanding days.
Here is a view out the back door. The cloudy sky in the top left is hiding the Sandia mountains.

 This is a view out the front door. SO pretty! I love living somewhere with trees!

 Our supremely lacking, curb-appeal-less home. One day...one day... It has so much potential.

 For some reason cactus with snow on it just looks so cool to me.

 You should hear Beau name this cactus. "Cholla!" He also knows "picky pear" and "yucca".

Bring it on, winter!

Lioness

Torture, Hiking, and Peeing in the Tub

(I started writing this last night...) 
Well, we just finished eating dinner. "We" is a stretch, actually. I ate dinner, Rus is home teaching...the kids suffered through a horrible form of torture called "Sweet Potatoes and Meatloaf."
Okay, I totally understand that the word meatloaf sounds disgusting. But sweet potatoes? I even tried to make it more appealing by cutting the baked potatoes in half and sprinkling them with brown sugar, cinnamon and marshmallows. They still met with scathing reviews. Bekah collapsed on the floor crying at the sight of her plate. (Am. Not. Kidding.) After being threatened with her life she sat in front of her food and scowled at it for five minutes. Then she scraped off all of the brown sugar and marshmallows. ("Gross.") Then she tried a bite of the potato because she saw Beau take a bite and he didn't die.
"Yum!"
If she wasn't my daughter I'd think she was really funny.
If I was a mean person I'd give in to my natural instincts and swat her.
As it was I smoldered just a little bit didn't say anything at all.
Beau happily tried just the bites with marshmallows attached and Jacob scraped off all the marshmallows and ate them, but he totally redeemed himself by eating the meatloaf.
Seriously there is no hope for my children and good food.
Anywho...
Flashback to last weekend...

Rus and I took the kids on an adventure on Saturday to Cabezon Peak.  It was once a volcano; the peak has eroded to reveal that interesting-looking basalt column.

It was about an hour and a half drive from ABQ and the kids did really well on the drive. Bekah is great at sitting by Marianne and keeping her happy - what a change from when Bekah was a baby and Rus or I had to sit by her when she was mad/sad/tired. Rus was truly in his element driving down dirt roads and deciphering what I consider vague directions: south on 1114, second left past ghost town onto 259, left at the watering hole and right at the pile of sticks. (I'm exaggerating. Sort of.) Our van said it was 46 degrees outside and I was a little nervous that we would all freeze, Marianne especially. But I wrapped her up in my Moby and used my coat as a windbreak and all was well. Except for the muscles in my legs. Because I obviously haven't been asking enough of them lately, and that hike was a butt-kicker. Lots of up and lots of rocks. The kids did great, considering. Aww...look at this great family picture. Even Colonel is in it. The fifth child that lives outside most of the time.

And here's where I step in and grab Marianne because she looks slightly uncomfortable the way Bekah is holding her.

Love this view of the peak - the sky was so perfectly blue.

Rus brought along the gps and the kids had fun finding two geocaches. Rus would basically find the cache and then tell the kids where to look. They call it "treasure hunting." Luckily Jacob and Bekah each found one or I never would have heard the end of it.

Beautiful view from the mountain...

And on another note we decorated for Christmas a few nights ago. Doesn't Beau look like this little picture of Rus from when he was a kid?

Jacob looks like him, too, but I couldn't get him to take a picture with it.

The kids in front of the tree, Jakey looks slightly crazy here, maybe there was a bug on Beau's head:

Okay and this was so funny...the other night Jacob woke up and needed to pee. It was about ten pm when he walked out of his room (he had slept in his Santa hat), walked into the bathroom, climbed into the tub and peed. I took this pic as he was finishing his business. Rus was the one who saw him first and he whisper-yelled to me, "KERI! Come here now!!" AAH! So funny. And Jacob never woke up enough to realize what he was doing; the next morning we asked him about it and he was clueless.

Back to Halloween

 I realize that I'm behind and it's hard and slightly boring to go back in time...but I have these great pictures from Halloween and I want to include them...
For Halloween we invited Rus' brother and sister and all the kids to our house for dinner and trick-or-treating. I had gone to Jacob's class at school for a party earlier in the day and the kids had played a fun game, bobbing for powdered donuts. It was hilarious to see them try to catch the donuts and wind up with powdered sugar all over their faces, and Jakey and I decided to play it with all the cousins. Here are some pics of them trying to get their donuts:

 Ben needed some help; I love Beau just trying to get a lick of his...

 And here are my kids. Bekah as Mother Gothel, Beau the Army Guy, and Spidey Jakey. Earlier in the day Bekah was a cheerleader and Jacob was a ninja, but last minute they decided to change.

And here are all the cousins (just Marianne was missing)
Zaya, baby Spencer, Beau, Jacob, Libby, Bekah, Ben, Russel, and Emma. They were all so cute and so excited to get candy.

The end.
That wasn't too painful, was it? :)

Separate Vacations

You know that you and your husband have been married past that "honeymoon" phase when you wind up taking separate vacations. Rus drew out for deer and had been planning his trip to Lordsburg for months. I didn't want to be home alone for the weekend so I went to visit my sister Amy in Flagstaff. (Actually, she called me and said, "I came to visit you when Mikey was two months old. So when are you coming?")
I was actually hoping that Rus didn't get a deer because (a) I have no idea what to do with deer meat, and (b) we don't have any freezer space, and (c) I don't know if I actually like venison. But it turns out my man is a gifted hunter because he snagged this little fork horn deer the first morning he went out. He was slightly disappointed - he'd been planning on having more time bumming around the boonies. I could have attached the picture of the deer split open but I didn't really feel the need to save that for our posterity.

So once the deer was hanging out in the garage Rus and his parents went out taking pictures. Rus and his mom both have the same Canon Rebel XS and wanted to practice using it. I love this picture Rus snuck of his parents.

 I thought this one was pretty, too.

 Rus and farm implements...he loves them...

 And what did I do on my vacation? Amy and I were champion crafters considering all the kids we had to take care of (hers, mine, and several others that came over to play). We found these ideas on Pinterest (LOVE Pinterest!)

 This snowman just needs a scarf. Cute and simple.

I had a great time visiting her - we shared some good laughs, played scrabble, had homemade-pumpkin-from-an-actual-pumpkin-pie, hugged Marianne, watched underwater synchronized ninjas with Mike and then made him watch a show with overdramatic teenage gymnasts. Good times...
I also wanted to include a picture of some trees I came up with to use as centerpieces for a Relief Society dinner. They have a cardstock cone center and are made of rolled up, twisted newspapers that are spray painted gold and silver with glitter on top. They are standing on pedestal glasses. I thought they turned out awesome; Amy took one look and started laughing. She thought they just looked like rolled up newspapers. I made her keep one on her table all weekend until she finally admitted that it was slightly cute. What do you think? For a zero-dollar centerpiece (with the exception of the spray paint), I thought they turned out pretty cool.