Birthday Madness!

I have been stressing for weeks about the boys' birthday party or I should say parties. The boys' birthdays are 8 days apart (almost 2 years), so it becomes a little complicated when planning their day. Caden really wanted to do his own thing this year and I thought that would only be fair, so we held an afternoon party with some of his school friends. He was so excited! Once they started arriving, he just walked around with this adorable smile on his face. I thought I would go simple, as last year it was a bit crazy, so we did one craft, then had cake, and opened presents with just a bit of time to play around. It went so well.

Later that same day, we held a much larger party for family and friends. Our house was filled to the brim with people. We served dinner and sang Happy Birthday to Ethan (Caden had his earlier) and then both boys opened presents. It felt so good to finally be getting this over with. My mother-in-law told me to enjoy it and I'll admit she was right. I had put a lot of thought and time into the event and wasn't taking a moment to sit back and enjoy. So I was grateful for the reminder and I did enjoy having my family celebrate my boys' day with me. It was a lot of fun. The boys turned 6 and4 and I am amazed that it has gone by so fast. I hope each of us will take a moment among the sometimes stressful holiday (or birthday) events and as my mother-in-law says,

"Enjoy It"!

Due Date

So I have been to the doctor a few times and now have my due date which is May 10. My first appointment they told me April 28th, but it was changed on my second appointment when I actually met with the doctor. He did an ultrasound to confirm it, so he said that shouldn't change. I'm adding a week or two to that actual day since both of my boys were overdue. I would post the ultrasound pictures, but it is difficult to pick out very much. Everyone keeps asking when I will find out the sex of the baby and I'm estimating that it will be in January. I am really excited and interested to see how my little boys will behave with the new one in our family. Yesterday, Caden was asking if we would bring the baby to church. He was really concerned who would take care of him/her and worried that the baby wouldn't be quiet in church. I just giggled! He then said that maybe we should stay home and keep the baby comfortable (his words there). That should tell you how much he enjoys church. I feel like I should be having a baby soon because December is approaching and that is what I am used to. I think this is going to be one long pregnancy.

We're Expecting!!

Yes, we are expecting...a new baby that is. Most of you already know this, but hey, I'm excited. I haven't actually been to the doctor yet so I don't have a due date for you, but we are guessing it will be in May. As for that doctor thing, I have really been putting that off. I really loved my OB-GYN in Boise and I just haven't been able to find one here that even compares. So for now I am asking a lot of friends (which don't really even have one doctor in common that they go to) for referrals. I did finally grit my teeth and set up an appointment with a new doctor. I am really hoping I find a good one.

I also have two friends who are pregnant. They happen to be those girls that really look good when they are pregnant and also drop that baby weight weeks afterward. Yeah, you know the ones. I am not one of those people. I increase in size everywhere. My skin breaks out something terrible and I am left with a pooch that will never go away. I may have to avoid them for a few years. Ha! Ha! No, I won't. They are good girlfriends. Even with the terrible things that come along with my pregnancies, I really enjoy being pregnant. It is such an amazing experience and I just love, LOVE, when I feel the baby move for the first time. A wonderful feeling and I can't wait until that happens with this one. Sam strenuously tells me to enjoy it because it will be our LAST....that is disheartening, but probably true. I will try to enjoy the moments, especially when the not so fun stuff comes along. I would love to hear some of your favorite experiences from those of you who have been pregnant. So send me an email or leave me your comment!

Fun with the Bills in Driggs

Happy Birthday, Codi!

This past weekend we met the Bills family in Driggs, ID for a get together. Codi's birthday was coming up and Curtis surprised her by bringing her up to visit. I think we all had a good time visiting and watching the kids play together.

The boys were so excited to see each other. They played hard this weekend and were sad to see each other leave. This is a picture of Russell climbing the rock wall with the Tetons behind him. This kid has some amazing strength not to mention he is absolutely FEARLESS.

Pictured above is Caden, Russell, Weston, and Ethan.

What a beautiful couple!! And just look at that little pregnant belly on Codi. She is always looks so cute when she is pregnant and when she is not for that matter :)

That is the best family picture we could get of the Bills. Just try and get a 5 and 3 year old to sit still while two other hooligans are running around in front of them.
This is Ethan walking the balance beam. He had a death grip on my hand and was terrified I was going to let go even though I swear he could have done it himself.
A picture of the boys on the swings. These were certainly a source of a little contention for the guys. With four kids and only two swings they had to do a lot of sharing and they did pretty good for the most part. After posting all these pictures, I think that maybe next time I will try a slide show. Something else for me to figure out. We had such a good time with the Bills family and it went by so quick. It was nice to relax and catch up a bit with them. Hopefully, we will be seeing you again soon.

Scrapbooking

I am really behind on my scrapbooking...about a year behind that is. These are some layouts I did of our kids and the Bill's kids when we visited them in Seattle. I thought they turned out so cute so I thought I would share.

Cade's 1st Day of Kindergarten!

Caden started Kindergarten on Thursday. I have been so nervous about it (he is my first). I have been stressing if he would remember which bus to get on, which door to go in, where his class was, if he would be starving, and if he would actually make it home again. Among all these things, I have really felt unprepared just because I didn't know what to expect. I suppose I should just get used to it because he is my first after all and you really do learn a lot with your first.

Caden was really excited to start Kindergarten. I think he was more excited to actually ride the bus. We picked out all his school supplies together and his new school clothes and I wondered if I should have just been doing this myself for how uninterested he was in doing these things, but the first day arrived and he was up at 6:30 a.m. fully dressed in his clothes that we had laid out the night before. That is when I realized how excited he was. I persuaded him to lay in bed with me until the clock turned to 7:00 a.m. only to be asked every five minutes why the clock wasn't changing to seven. So, I dragged myself out of bed and cooked eggs and toast as requested. After taking care of the hair and teeth and a few other things, we had plenty of time to take some fun pictures before he headed off.
This is Caden with our cat, Tipper. You think that she would have learned to run away when she sees the boys coming, but they always seem to catch her. Poor thing.

Caden with his new backpack. I really wasn't planning on buying a new one, but he really liked this one and I well I just couldn't resist getting him one. It is a very important day after all!

Transformer shoes that he just loves.

Clothes shopping didn't take Caden and I very long. There just isn't as much variety for little boys as there are for girls. I guess it just makes my life easier. This is a shirt that he picked out. Such a boy thing!

Not a very good picture of Cade catching the bus, I know, but I was trying to snap this photo while running after him. Once he saw the bus, he just started running towards it and that pulled at my heartstrings a bit and I started chasing after him. I must have looked so crazy. Once he was gone I got Ethan dressed and we took a drive to the elementary school (because I was really going into town anyway). We watched all the kids unload from the buses and go into school, but I never saw Caden, so we sneaked inside and peeked into his classroom and there he was sitting all alone at his desk concentrating on getting his pencil box open. It was the sweetest thing. I left quickly so he wouldn't know I had been spying on him and waited 20 minutes just to get out the the school parking lot. It was a mad house.

Well, he is so grown up and enjoying school for now. After Labor day Ethan starts preschool. Yeah!!! That boy is a handful. It will be nice to have both boys gone for a few hours a few times a week. I have a lot of ideas about what to do with my time to myself, but most likely I will actually get to have a shower and fix my hair :)

Artwork

If your kids are anything like mine then you are probably drowning in all the papers that are accumulating in your house. Between what the kids bring home from school and those special things they like to make at home our house is a mess of artwork strung from top to bottom. My kids also get insanely upset if I should ever try to throw away their artwork, but some of it does have to go, so I have started to scan some of my favorites. The kids think this is really cool because they get to see their pictures on the computer. In fact, when I was scanning some of their pictures, they hurriedly starting making more (not really what I wanted to accomplish). So here our some of my favorites to share with you and brighten up my boys' faces. Note that Caden is more of a drawer than Ethan, he just really likes to cut things up.

Our Anniversary.

Sam and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on the 17th. I can't believe that it has been 9 years already! This year I wanted to celebrate a little differently than the dinner and movie that we usually do. Sam has been doing some computer work for our brother-in-law, James. James suggested a fishing trip as a trade. I can't tell you how happy I was when I heard that. I LOVE to fish and getting Sam to go is not always easy. So for our anniversary we had a fishing trip. Sam's co-workers kept on teasing him about how much trouble he was going to be in for taking me fishing on our anniversary, but they don't know me too well. In fact, for me, it has been the best anniversary to date.We got up about 5:00 that morning to get things together and take the kids to Grandma's. It was cooler than I had expected and I grabbed the first jacket I could find. Boy, was my husband not happy when he saw that I was wearing his BSU jacket. I assured him I wouldn't wear it in the boat. Well, this is proof that I totally lied! He must really love me. This was the first fish I caught that day. I was so excited!This is James, our brother-in-law. He is married to Sam's sister, Michele. James is the manager of Heise Expeditions and has been a river guide for over 13 years. Sam and I have only fly fished once before and James is such a great teacher. It was easy to learn with his instructions not to mention that he is fun to be around. He is a great fisherman. I was impressed how he could place the fly in just the right position and make it look so easy.This was Sam's first catch of the day. We are all just laughing because it was just a little thing.The scenery was beautiful while we floated the river and the river was freezing cold. Sam and James both waded in, but I could barely put my feet in for 30 seconds.
Sam and I had such a great time. We caught a lot of fish and only kept one for me (so sorry James about your no fish cooler). I managed to keep the same lucky fly throughout the float and Sam, well if you know Sam, he managed to lose more than a few. HEE HEE!
It was a great anniversary and one memory that is sure to last. Thank you so much James for taking the time and energy to make this happen for us.

Sam-thanks for making the last 9 years so wonderful for me and I look forward to the many years we have ahead of us. I love you (even if you don't like to eat fish)!

Celebrations

I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July celebrations. Our family celebrated in Driggs, ID at my in-laws "cabin". We have spent our 4th up here for the last three years and seem to always enjoy it. I really like not having to deal with crowds and crowds of people just to see a parade or fireworks show and the scenery just can't be beat.

When we arrived the place had been flooded from irrigation, so the kids spent the day playing in the water and even some grown ups played water badminton (I won't post those humiliating pictures). The next morning the early risers (not me) enjoyed watching the hot air balloons go by. Usually, they fly right over us, but this year the wind was blowing them away from us, but my husband did manage to get some pictures.

Later we all went on a hike. I believe I like this the best. It is an easy, but beautiful hike to go on. The kids enjoyed breaking rocks with Grandpa and putting them into their backpacks. Caden's backpack ended up being too heavy for him, so his cousin carried it for him. Thanks Jaser!



That evening we drove in town for the fireworks show and watched the neighborhood come alive with fireworks and realized later that the BIG fireworks were in Victor. Oh well, at least we weren't the only idiots who thought they were in Driggs. We went back to the "cabin" and started our own fireworks show. We all went to bed late that night :) It was a fun 4th of July weekend, but I was exhausted and glad to come home when it was over even though I have piles of laundry to do now. Who am I kidding? I always have piles of laundry....

A Little Dirt Never Hurt...

This week our family has been enjoying the warm weather after a couple weeks of chaotic wind and temperatures. The boys and I have been working outside every morning and I have had to deal with my boys coming into the house a bit dirty (not to mention myself), but no complaining here; I am enjoying the sun. However, this morning I caught Ethan in the house (I had gone in thinking he needed to make a bathroom run) covered, and I do mean covered, in dirt! A small statement said it all, "Caden threw dirt on me," he said. I decided to grab the camera so that I could share my shock when I saw him. Hopefully it brings a smile to you.

YEAH!

After searching through many free blogging templates, I actually found one that was cute and worked when I tried to load it. Yeah! :) Thank you to the cutest blog on the block for making such a sweet background and providing clear instructions on how to upload it. I will hopefully be adding more fun things in the future, but for now I really need to get some other errands done. Also, if any of you bloggers out there have any fun blogging items you have come across PLEASE SHARE with me. I am totally new to this and could use any advice or tips you have. Thanks.

Trying this again.

Okay, I'm trying this blogging thing again. I keep looking at some friend's blogs and think, well maybe I should do that. This will be the 3rd blog I have created and need to post (or at least I think I do) to get things set up. So wish me luck!