Christmas morning

Here are just a few of my favorite pictures from Christmas morning.....
Here is Luke with Aunt Heidi and his first Christmas ornament.

This picture is hilarious. It is Kale and Mark, sitting at opposite ends of the table, each assembly a lego kit, heheheh


This is a picture of the living room early in the morning, before the boys came upstairs
This one is so funny too! It's Kale, reading the instructions, trying to figure out how to transform his Optimus Prime.


This isn't a very good picture, but I love it. Jack got a Little Einsteins Rocket, and he just runs in circles around the house, flying it up and down, up and down.
This is another not-so-good picture, but I had to show these adorable hats my mom made for all the grandkids.



Mark, Kale and Jack all got cowboy hats, I love this shot of Kale.

Jack's drum from Uncle Casey and Aunt Jeannie.


Look at all the boy toys!

Stockings!!!

Aren't these stockings beautiful! My mom cross-stitched one of these elaborate stocking for EACH of her grandkids, what a treasure! Luke's wasn't finished this year, but we'll be proud to show it off next year.

Christmas Eve jammies

Every year my mom makes all the grandkids new flannel pajamas for Christmas, and we almost always open them on Christmas Eve. This year just might be my favorite, although the ones from Kale's very first Christmas barely come in second.

Gingerbread Houses

Every year my step-mom takes the boys for a morning and they make gingerbread houses together. This usually also works out to be a great opportunity for me to go Christmas shopping without them! Here are the pictures of the completed houses, just minutes before they were devoured!

Best baby ever!

I can't get over what an amazing baby Luke is. Most of the time its like he's not even here. When he's awake, as long as he's not abandoned in a room somewhere, he's perfectly quiet. He loves to watch his brother's play, they keep him occupied for hours. When he's tired, I just lay him in the bed. He puts his little head down, waits for me to cover him up, and I don't hear a peep for at least an hour or two. Just this morning, he was playing on the floor. Apparently his brothers had left, but I had no idea he was alone. He made no fussing sounds or anything. Mark asked me where he was, and I stated, "probably on the floor where you left him." Mark had glanced at the floor, near the basket of baby toys, but there was no Luke. After further investigating, we found he had rolled across the room, and fell asleep.

Apparently he was bored with his brothers gone, so he closed his eyes, waiting for their return. What a good boy!

Potty Training Jack

Well, we've been debating for a long time about whether or not to potty train Jack. He has shown no interest whatsoever, so its been easy for me to put off. Jeannie and I talked about getting Casey and Jack trained before she moved, but Jack had his cast on, and I just couldn't imagine trying to potty train a three year old who can't wash his hands. Right about the time that Jack got his cast off, however, little Casey J took the plunge. After a day or two, he was basically potty trained. Well, this made me REALLY commit to doing it. If Casey J could do it (even though it wasn't HIS idea) than I knew Jack could, it was just a matter of me sticking to my guns. So yesterday I decided it was time. I took him out of his pajamas, and sat him on the toilet. He cried hysterically! "The poops are gonna bite me!" I glanced at Mark who was giving me a look portraying that maybe he wasn't ready. I didn't care, it was time! After two small accidents that morning, he had it down pat! He didn't even say anything when he had to go, he would just go in, stand at the urinal (yes, we DO have a urinal, how can I not with 3 little boys in the house!) and let it all out. Hooray! We went to my mom's for dinner that night, and he had a few accidents there, but that was to be expected. Today is day two, and he is doing great. He is 100% for going #1, but we still can't get him to go #2 in the potty.

So, even though he still won't poop in the potty, I consider this a HUGE success! An entire day with no wet accidents, I'll take it!

Deer Hunt

Well, I finally did it! I shot my first deer. I decided that I was ready. I'd been on enough hunts, and shot enough guns, that I knew I'd be able to do it. There's not much of a story behind it. We just threw the whole family into the expedition, drove down to Mark's uncle's property in Hamilton, and drove around until we found the herd. I really had my heart set on my first deer being a buck, and lucky for me, there he was. He wasn't too big, but he was standing just 50 yards from the car, dumb as can be, so I took a shot. It was exciting. The only thing I remember is Mark yelling, "Nice shot hon, nice shot!" over and over again.

Mark's aunt even made it THAT much easier on us by driving the tractor over. Mark hoisted the buck into the bucket, and she drove right into the garage. Mark didn't even have to use any muscle to get it hung! So, after he skinned it, and we loaded it into the back of the expedition, we were finally on our way back home, and Mark spots another buck, about 60 yards from the car, just lying there, staring him down. He couldn't resist. Bang!

I was a tiny bit peeved because he just couldn't give me my day. Not only did he have to go and shoot a deer after mine, but it was a bigger buck than mine too!

Really, I'm just glad that I got my first one, and that we have some more meat in the freezer. Next year I'm going for a mule deer, these whitetail are just too small :)

How many days?

Now, you may think that the title of this blogs eludes to some kind of countdown until Christmas, but you're wrong. This three word phrase is Kale's response to EVERYTHING! When he's forced to sit and eat a dinner he protests to, "How many days until I have to eat this?" When we're driving to Grandma's house, "How many days until we get to Grandma's?" When we're getting ready for bed, "How many days until bedtime?" The one he does get right is..., "How many days until Santa comes?" Apparently we need to start to teach him the different ways to measure time; minutes, hours, days, YEARS!

Mom

My adorable little three year old calls me mom. At first, he was calling other people mom, like his friends mothers. I figured they could be mom, as long as I was mommy. But recently, and especially today, he has been calling ME mom. "Good morning, Mom." "I love you, Mom." "I'm playing pic pac toe, mom!" The first few times it was cute, but I don't like it anymore. I knew eventually that they would outgrow the mommy stage, but I didn't think it would happen at 3!!! He and I just had a long discussion this morning about the differences between a baby, and a big boy. We are getting ready to potty train him, and he seems very stuck in the middle. He adamantly protests the idea of him being a baby, but refuses to give up the diapers for some big boy underwear. I pushed and pushed and pushed that he should want to be a big boy now, and not a baby like Lucas, but I didn't realize he would grow up so fast, in just a few hours! Today he's calling me mom, tomorrow he'll be borrowing my car.........slow down kid!

The Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

the boys

I just wanted to quickly post some cute pictures of the boys. I think all three of these pictures capture who they are exactly! Enjoy!

Halloween

I know it's late, but I'm finally posting Halloween pictures. It's been SUPER crazy since the 31st, and I'm just now finding the time. Our good friends Dustin and Tammi brought their three boys over from Bozeman for the weekend, so we got to take them trunk-or-treating with us. We spent the rest of the weekend playing cards and taking it easy. Then the Monday after we all packed up and trekked over to Bozeman for the week to get some work done at Mark's parents' house. We came home on Sunday just in time for Casey and Jeannie's trip home. We spent Sunday-Tuesday night with them, and I had just two days to unwind to hop on a plane and fly down to Salt Lake to go with Jeannie to the New Kids on the Block concert! And of course, just a few days after I get home is my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving!
Anyway, back to Halloween. I decided months ago that I wanted my boys to be Mario and Luigi. As you may know, I LOVE to dress them up in coordinating costumes. They have been Batman and Robin, Buzz and Woody, and now Mario and Luigi.

As the costumes evolved in my mind, I decided to incorporate the whole family (which is something I've been wanting to do for a long time.) So, Luke was Toad, the little mushroom guy, I was the princess, of course, and Mark was Donkey Kong....sorta.


And here is a photo of the whole group, we had so much fun!

And so it begins......

"Good afternoon. We're gonna have a great jump today. Okay, first crank a hard cutback as you hit the wall. There's a screaming bottom curve, so watch out. Remember: rip it, roll it, and punch it." Squirt

Do any of you recognize that quote from the adorable little sea turtle in Finding Nemo? Well, it may as well have been said by my very own adorable little Jack-Jack. Jack is ALL extreme, ALL the time, and we knew it was just a matter of time before we would start having experiences like the one we had this week. Check it out!

That's right, barely even three and he's had his first fracture! Now, here is where I should plug in some awesome story about how it happened. Maybe he was using the railing on our back porch as a balance beam, and fell the 12 feet to the ground. Or maybe he decided to take our battery powered four-wheeler down the flight of stairs. Possibly he scaled the pine tree in our front yard, or maybe he was even chasing the flock of turkeys. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I actually don't have the great story I expected to have for this occasion. He and daddy were wrestling on the bed, and he fell backward onto his hand. That's it, that's the story.

The near 48 hours it took to get from break to cast, now that is where the story is. True, its no fall from a tall tree, but 48 hours is a long time for a little boy to live with a broken wrist. At about five o'clock on Monday afternoon, Jack hurt his wrist, and I felt right away that something was wrong, but it didn't swell up or anything, so I convinced myself that it was just a sprain or bruising. So, we suffered through a long night of him up over and over, because he just could not find a comfortable place to lay his hand. Tuesday morning I wrapped it in an ace bandage, and took off to a few meetings. When I got home at about one, I still couldn't shake the feeling that it was broken, so I called our doctor here in town, and she asked us to come in so she could look at it. So at three, we met with her, she squeezed it once or twice, and decided that an x-ray was needed. So then Jack and I raced into town to get to the Lab before they closed, and he had his arm x-rayed by 4:30 that afternoon. Since it was so late, we didn't expect to get the results from the x-ray until the following morning, so we were facing another possibly long night, ugh. Fortunately, the ace bandage held it in place pretty well, and we all woke the next morning pretty well-rested. After a bit of phone tag, we found out at 12:30 on Wednesday that his wrist was in fact broken, and that our local doctor had made an appointment for him with the Orthopaedic Surgeon in town, at 3:15 that afternoon, 46 hours after the initial break. So now, we have 4 weeks to go with our little monster and his 'green arm', as he calls it. What a long couple of days....

No More Gobble Gobble Gobble!

Those of you who have read my blog from the beginning just might remember my 'love' of our local turkeys. Well, since the county that we live in is a special draw only, Mark applied for a tag, and to my joy, he got one! So sure enough, my mighty hunter stepped out our front door, and filled his tag, right in the front yard. True, this is only 1 turkey of the 27 or so that we've got gobbling around here, it's a start! A start to quiet the gobble, and a nice start on Thanksgiving Dinner!

Luke's first cereal

Well, our chunky monkey has finally been allowed to eat solid food! Well, mostly solid. I've been waiting for this day, hoping maybe cereal would sit in his tummy better than liquid formula. I sat him down in his bumbo,

gave him the first bite, and he was hooked!

He kept grabbing the spoon from me, and then sucking on his fingers vigorously. It was almost as though he thought the yummy new food was coming out of his fingertips.

I had to practially duct tape his hands down so I could get the rest of the bowl in him! Needless to say, our beefy baby just may be getting beefier....

Happy Birthday, Honey!

The big THREE-OH! It's hard to believe you're thirty years old this year! (You don't look a day over 42 ;) I just wanted to say that I love you, and that I am so lucky to have you in my life. You are an amazing father and husband. You are so generous and selfless. I hope you had a great birthday, and I hope that this year brings you everything you could ever wish for.

Lagoon

What is a trip to Utah without a day at Lagoon? We took Sunday afternoon to hit the amusement park. It had been 3 years since I'd even been to Lagoon, and even longer since I'd ridden any rides, since I was pregnant at my last visit, so I was super excited to try some of the newer rides. Jeannie and I bought all the kids matching T-shirts, so it would be easier to keep track of them, aren't they adorable?!







The kids rode all their rides first, then us adults took turns watching them while two of us at a time rode the big kid rides. We were there for about 5 hours, and it was just about perfect. The weather wasn't TOO hot, the kids were pretty much behaved, and I got to ride the WICKED!! Sa-weet roller coaster!

The zoo

Bless her heart! On Saturday, Jeannie offered to watch Luke while Mark and the older boys and I went to the zoo. Bummer that I didn't take very many pictures, but it was fun having an outing just the four of us.