A SPOOKTACULAR TIME!

The boys had a great Halloween this year. The weather was just beautiful. This has been the first Halloween in a long time that it hasn't snowed, rained, blown, or been freezing cold. Here are some pictures from the holiday celebration.

 Will really loves to wear glasses. Just ask Daddy...

 Caden wanted to be a police officer this year, but all he really cared about was having handcuffs.

 Getting goodies from Grandpa Grover.

 Ethan dressed as a train conductor. He has always been into trains...and treats!

 

Will is scared of Grandpa Jensen right now!

I made that!

I feel like one of my kids right now when I say, look what I did!

 

This is a cub scout flag I made for our den. Back in September, our handbook suggested to make a den flag. The boys traced their hand prints and then we cut them out, but for weeks I have been thinking about how I was going to make a flag. I have little sewing knowledge and am just learning as I go. Very little sewing was done here. I wanted the hand prints to be removable so I stitched them to the flag, so that when our cub scout goes to bears, he can take his hand print as a memento. Also, I added some decorative stitches on the sides of the diamond. The rest was done with  my friend, fabric glue. I printed a copy of the wolf badge from the internet and used this to cut out the shapes. The wolf was a challenge. I happened upon a projector from a handy someone and used it to trace the wolf onto the felt with fabric paint, then I filled in the rest later. It was a bit tricky and I had to use my own artistic abilities (surprisingly, I have some). It certainly is not perfect, but I think it turned out great!

 

Okay, for my other project. I purchased a couple patterns off of etsy and made this bag to pack all the stuff we take to church. Remember I said that I have little sewing knowledge. Yeah, I also don't know how to cut patterns out. I won't embarrass myself too much here, but more than a few mistakes were made. I am still in awe that I really made this. Who would have thought I could be such a crafty person?

Whoa!

So it is really sad that the entire summer has gone by and I haven't even made one post during that time. Our summer was busy and short. The garden was terrible since our Idaho summer was a late start and early ending. We dealt with many doctor's visits and some issues with the house that really have just turned our hair gray. We are now finishing up one of those house issues and have a new patio in our backyard. It still needs to be sealed, stairs need to be built, and then perhaps we will have a short moment of peace. I have been impressed with my husband's abilities to fix things that he has no idea how to fix in the beginning. He uses every resource available to figure it out and the internet becomes a real valuable tool in those moments. I also laugh at how he can have such a difficult time when it comes to cutting and measuring items. Oh yeah, he is not going to like that I said that, but I seriously appreciate the fact that I am not the one having to do that.

The boys are back to school now. Caden is in 2nd grade and Ethan has started kindergarten. They are both doing well and liking their teachers. William is such a good boy and is becoming more active every day. Tonight he stuck a bean up his nose at dinner time. No one even saw him do it, but I noticed his eye was watery and he kept messing with one nostril, so I investigated. Sure enough, a big bean was stuck in there. Surprisingly, we have never dealt with this before. We tried tweezers, the "sucker" (we call it, you know that bulb syringe thing), and only got half of that bean out. Will was screaming so much at this point that we decided to move him to the couch and see if that wouldn't help. Luckily, in his fit of anger, he blew that bean right out! I am hoping that perhaps he now knows that putting things in your nose isn't such a good idea, but then putting a ball of yarn in the toilet isn't such a good idea either...but that is another story.

Catching up

School is out and summer is beginning, well sort of. Here it is just windy or raining or both. I have been trying to plant the garden these days and have been busy doing that with this small opening of sunshine we are having. It has been difficult to do with Will as he just stands in one place and cries. He doesn't really seem to like the grass and our lawn isn't really level so it makes things harder for him, therefore I have been trying to plant when he is napping, but that often is not enough time to get rid of the weeds that are currently booming where my garden is suppose to be. I have wondered this year why I am even bothering with a garden, but the thrill I get of growing food from a tiny seed has overcome my laziness again. Here are some pics of things that we have been up to.

William enjoying his first birthday cake. He was timid at first but soon dug right in!

Ethan at preschool graduation. What a cutie!

The boys riding the kiddie rollercoaster at Bear World on Mother's Day weekend. They had such a great time. Kudos to me who was snapping lots and lots of pictures without a memory card in the camera! Serious blond moment. Dad saved the day by snapping some photos with his phone.

These photos are from later that evening. The short version of this story is a trailer gate fell on Caden when the boys were messing around on it. We took him to the emergency room where he got over 20 stitches. It was scary. It had been such a lovely day and things changed so quickly. On Memorial Day we were back for another ER visit when Caden got hit in the head (by his brother, an accident of course) with a golf club. He got two staples that time. In Cade's own words, "I'm having a bad time", and he certainly has been. I am crazy protective of him and seriously considering wrapping him in bubble wrap. I just try to breathe when I see something as a potential accident waiting to occur which is mostly everything. What I am now realizing is that we might want to be prepared on Father's day. :0  Although we now have a hefty hospital bill coming our way, I am so grateful that my boys are healthy with a few more scars that is true, but that they are safe and just as normal and active as they were before.

Guess Who Turned One!

Willliam!

Our littlest boy just turned one and I think our family was all excited over the matter. I have tried to cherish all the baby moments and get in all the cuddles I possibly could with William, but it still went by too fast. Will is now tenderly walking with quite a few falls, but has been fearless in the whole learning process. He always keeps on going. He is saying Mama, Dada, kitty, and last night, bottle, and a bunch of other sounds we haven't figured out yet. He has two bottom teeth and the two top ones are now just cutting through (fun times). He has learned much from his brothers already and thinks wrestling around on the floor is the greatest thing ever. Also, he is now sleeping through the night. YEAH!!! I think he had a good birthday and I just love the 1st cake thing. I will have to post pictures later because I left the camera on from the said event and now the batteries are dead, but it was so fun to watch. 

 

                      

Apparently, I need to get a job!

Last night during dinner my husband informed me that I needed to get a job. "Oh yeah, why is that," I said. "So we can afford to feed this boy," he said. I just smiled.

Over the past few months, Sam and I have been amazed by the increase in our oldest son's appetite. Let me give you an example. Almost every morning Caden wants eggs, either scrambled with cheese or fried which he has with 2 slices of toast and occasionally he will ask for french toast. Then he is off to school with his snack tucked away in his backpack and lunch is served there later on. When he returns home, he heads straight for the pantry for a snack. I can recall doing just that as a kid. Everything pretty normal, I guess. Then dinner last night. He ate 4 rolls with butter and jam, 3 small baked potatoes with butter, two slices of cheese, and a couple helpings of cottage cheese, and that is just what I can remember. The boy is seven! I can't imagine what he will be like as a teenager. And....I have 3 boys!

When I was a kid, my family spent a lot of time with another family who, well, they are just like my brothers and sister, and another set of parents, I guess. Hard to explain, but they were very close to us and I love them. Well, there was a total of 7 kids between our families and we went on many, many camping trips. I can't imagine trying to feed 7 hungry kids, but 'our' parents did it. When it was time to eat, I just remember it being like a big stampede for the food. You had to get there quick or nothing would be left. I still have this innate desire when I'm in a big group of people waiting for food, to get there quick! Well, the oldest of us kids seemed to have a bottomless pit of a stomach. I can recall everyone talking about his appetite. I don't think I have ever seen anyone to this day that could eat like he could. Even my brother, a waif of a kid growing up, could eat so much as a teenager.

So when I see my seven year old eating like he did last night, my thoughts go back to these moments. I wonder what his appetite will be like as a teen and if  I will ever be able to keep our pantry stocked with 3 teenage boys and their friends. Sam is right, I will need to get a job!

Look out below!

Every night before Sam and I go to bed, we always go and check that our boys are asleep and in their own beds. We often find Caden in Ethan's room on the top bunk or couch and sometimes on the floor. This night however, Sam was going down the stairs to check on them and almost stepped on an unforseen object.

This little object was Ethan under his "Halloween blankie"'.

 

  

Can you believe that he is actually ASLEEP!

I am amazed how kids can fall asleep so quickly and sleep just about anywhere.  I have had my kids sleep through fireworks, in the barber shop while getting their hair cut, in the middle of a conversation (with themselves that is), on the couch sitting indian style, half standing on a pile of blankets in the laundry basket, and so on. Wouldn't it be nice at times as adults to sleep like that and not have so many thoughts racing through our minds, although I do have to mention Sam can fall asleep almost as quick! How I will miss these fun little moments. It becomes increasingly difficult as the boys get older to actually get them to sleep, but when they do....oh, such sweet little angels!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year....can I still say that when we are half way through the month of January? Obviously I didn't make a new year's resolution to update the blog more often. I gave up making new years resolutions a few years ago. I didn't want to deal with failing all the time :O I did however make one this year and that is to have all the Christmas shopping and birthday shopping done by December 1st for 2010. I was a little fed up with making all those last minute purchases. I am actually hoping that this will help me enjoy the holiday more by not stressing on what is left to be done. Well, here is hoping I don't fail and the rest of you who made resolutions reach your goal. Cheers!