Tanner - Age 1

Just wanted to post this cute picture of Tanner -- taken just the other day on our back porch.

One year, many changes

So here I am, blogging after a year -- mostly so I won't fill up your mailboxes with the numerous pictures I'm about to post. We purchased a house a few months ago. Since then we have been remodeling -- by "we" I mean the people we hired. We can barely keep our dishes done....we aren't about to try and do this stuff by ourselves. :) Anyway, I'm excited that it finally looks like progress -- instead of tearing down, we'rebuilding. Hooray!

So I'm just going to give you a small glimpse of the place:

The Living Room -- this front room was darkened by a lava rock wall fireplace. This was Brian's least favorite thing about the house I think (unfortunately the exterior of the house still has this rock.) We had the lava rock removed and a new mantel and fireplace put in. We are going to have a brick surround, but haven't gotten that far yet. Also, I was very happy to cover up the Crayola Orange-Red wall -- I am typically drawn to the color orange -- but not this one.

The Kitchen -- what started as a laundry/kitchen/dining area with dark gray cabinets and a drop ceiling, is a beautiful, much brighter kitchen. Tomorrow we will be getting the countertops "templated" to be installed in a couple of weeks. Also, there was a wall full of small closets that we knocked out and turned to a section of coat closet/lockers/pantry. Not a mudroom, but as close as we could get!

Lastly, I'm not sure you can tell much from these pictures -- but let me describe because I think this might be the best change we made. The original stairway to the basement was right off the small entry. It was a "U" shape stairway with a weird cupboard in middle. Brian was not fond of the turns in the stairs (perhaps too many E.Q. service projects moving furniture???) Our smart Realtor suggested that we ask about having them straightened. Well, we did....thus eliminating one bend in the stairway, the weird cupboard, the hall closet (unfortunately) and opening up the entry. I think it was a great change -- the entry is much more inviting.

Oh, and don't worry -- the floor isn't pink. (I know you are surprised given my lifelong love of the color pink.) It's actually wood flooring now. The pink is just the painters paper.

Hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll be completely finished and moving in. I know everyone says that construction always takes longer than it's supposed to -- in our case it's taken more than twice as long. Luckily (and not so luckily) we haven't yet sold the house we're living in. But now's the time -- if you know of anyone looking, let us know!

September Highlights

This month has been mostly consumed with the new baby, of course. Tanner is doing well -- and I'm attempting to live off of not enough sleep without being too grumpy. I find my mood is very affected by how tired I am. Ugh.

It is Brian's birthday this month too. The one thing he asked for was a DVD learning course about probability. If anyone wants to come over for a movie night, let us know! :)

Brian also took Andrew and Eric to the Barnum and Bailey circus. They went with some friends and had a great time. The highlight seemed to be the motorcycles in the circular cage, and the cotton candy of course. Andrew insisted on saving me some of the cotton candy - so they brought me home a handful. So nice! :)

Baby Tanner

Most of you already know this given the email I sent out, but for those of you who didn't get the message....Baby Tanner was born on September 5. The labor was long, and unfortunately ended in a 2nd C-section. But he and I are doing well so I guess I shouldn't complain. Mom's here helping out -- doing housework, cooking, and being a great support as we adjust to having 3 kids. Dad was here for several days too -- the baby would fall asleep almost instantly if grandpa was holding him. He has a way with babies -- which is why I have a picture of each of my babies in the arms of their sleeping grandpa. Below is a picture of Tanner in one of our favorite little outfits (compliments of Uncle Dave and Aunt Allyson.) He's 5 days old here.

The boys LOVE the baby. I don't know that they love me not being as available these days, but they do think the baby is really cute. And he is. He weighed 9 lbs. 9 oz. Big Baby. Thus the C-section. He's adorable and sleeps a lot. (My other babies didn't sleep so much, so this is a welcome treat.)

We're back

I stopped blogging some months ago, made this private in hopes that I'd someday transfer it to a file offline. Never did that. So now I've decided to give it another go. We'll see how I do.

Here are a few highlights from the couple of months:

1. I'm pregnant. Due in 1 week. Ready to have the baby...sort of. Scared to have the baby, both the actual having of it and the taking care of it afterward. I just can't imagine waking up multiple times a night again. My body has taken this pregnancy harder than the last, maybe that's why I feel so tired. But, last night after waking up a bazillion times because of my aching hips I figure, guess I could just be up feeding a baby instead! Oh, and it's another boy.

2. Andrew started Kindergarten this week. It's all-day Kindergarten so I was worried the long hours would be hard on him. I underestimated the little guy, though. He's doing great and seems very happy. Below is a picture of Andrew and Eric on his first day -- it was rainy and almost cold. What a nice change!

3. In preparation for the baby's coming, Andrew and Eric are now sharing a room. So far it's gone okay. We painted the room, painted Brian's old dresser and bed, got new mattresses, and put up some things on the wall. Mom made the quilt from her scraps -- love it. The room is not finished, still a lot of bare walls -- but it's better than before. Andrew has asked more than once, "Why did you put so many (3) pictures on the wall, Mom?"

Before:

After:

4. We also took a great vacation to Idaho -- my sister took care of the boys for a couple of days while Brian and I went to my parent's cabin. It was a very quiet, happy couple of days. We went into Yellowstone Park and just enjoyed the time together. We walked down to the lower falls -I think I scared a few people -- this big pregnant person walking down the mountain. I got a few comments..."You're crazy" was one of them. but I made it back up the mountain just fine -- even if I did have to stop 4 times.

Then, my parents brought the boys up and we spent time with them and the boys. Dad took the boys fishing. I was tired and stayed home, but Brian and my mom went. Of course the "little hike" ended up being quite the trek. Dad's such an optimistic outdoorsman. So when they finally got to the stream, Dad got a bite right away. A small fish -- "Let's go a little farther down, maybe we'll get a bigger one." After a while of moving downstream to look for bigger fish, Brian finally said "I think the boys are good here." (hint, hint.) The boys caught some fish and we had them for breakfast the next morning. The boys were troopers and Brian was the hero as he helped the boys and Mom climb over logs, carry lunch, etc. We'll have to see what they think about going fishing next time. (:

And of course we had to spend a day in my Rexburg. We went to the Splash Park with the boys and one of their cousins. They had a great time.

5. Lastly, a lesson I learned this summer is that there are a lot of really nice people out there. Andrew begged this summer to do a lemonade stand. I was too shy as a kid for this activity, and I'm afraid I still am. But Brian came to the rescue and kindly sat at the lemonade stand with Andrew. Seriously, it brought tears to my eyes looking at the boys and Brian sit under the tree in the sweltering heat. Andrew stood out there waving his arms "Lemonade for Sale!" I just hoped they would get at least one sale.

Well, our neighbors came through! The lemonade probably lasted an hour or so -- several people stopped, often paying more than the 10 cents they were asking. And it wasn't even very good lemonade. They would talk to Andrew and ask what he was saving his money for. (Wish we had some great response....I think he probably said candy.) Several of the customers were strangers just driving by, others were neighbors down the street we'd never met, and of course there were a few neighbors we did know. So I just wanted to let you know that there are a lot of nice people out there. Sometimes I forget that, I think.

So that's a long post, we'll see if I ever post again! (: Hopefully we'll at least manage a post about the baby.

I know it's harder to follow blogs when they're private, so I'm just going to put it out there again.

The Very Best Part of Christmas

I'm back. I made this blog private for a while because I was debating taking it down. I just never felt like I had much to say. But perhaps it's getting all those fun Christmas cards recently that makes me want to get in touch with my friends and family again.

Last night we hosted a Christmas Party for Joy School. It was great. The kids did a simple skit of the Nativity. They were adorable. Then they sang a few songs. One of the songs was "The very best part of Christmas." Some of the lyrics are:

"The very best part of Christmas time, the very best part I know

Is not the tree, and not the treats, and not the lights that glow.......

The very best part of Christmas time is the present you give away."

So after singing this song, the kids were to give the parents and grandparents a card they made. When the kids finished singing I told the small crowd "We've been learning about the very best part of Christmas." Turning to the kids, I asked "Is the very best part of Christmas the presents we get?" Bailee answered with a resounding "YES!" Everyone chuckled. Andrew had responded with the appropriate "No," so I turned to him with another question - "Andrew what is the very best part of Christmas?" With smile, he said:

"The best part of Christmas is when we give away the presents that we don't like."

It just made me realize, once again, you just don't know how the kids really understand things. This whole time we'd been practicing that song, Andrew was probably just fine with the fact that he was giving presents to others -- because they were the ones he didn't like! (:

This should teach me not to ask leading questions -- at least in front of an audience.

Biography anyone?

I am hosting book club next month and have decided that rather than choose a specific book for everyone to read, each person can read a biography of their choosing.  I thought it would be fun to do something different -- the problem is I have no idea what biography I'm going to read.  So I'm asking you -- have your read a great biography?  If you were to read a biography, what would you read?  

And just FYI - an update on our water softener.  I tracked down the phone number of the people who installed it and called them.  When I told her that someone else told us we would just have to replace it, she said "Well if you already have a water softener, let's just fix it."  So, it still wasn't an inexpensive fix, but it was MUCH cheaper that a new $1500 water softener! Hooray!  It's been a few weeks and nobody is sick, so I guess we're algae-free.  And let me just say it's doing good things for my skin.  Some days I don't even use lotion once and my knuckles still aren't bleeding.  Lotion several times a day used to be the norm.  Nice!  

Father's Day

On Father's Day we have a tradition of going to the cemetery where Brian's dad is buried.  The first year we went Andrew was checking out this sprinkler.  I've decided to take a picture each year by the same sprinkler to show how they've grown.  

  

It was a really nice day -- hope all you great dad's out there had a nice day too.  I'm lucky to have a great dad and husband, and great brothers and friends who are good dads too.  Way to go!

May Highlights

Another month has rolled by and I haven't posted anything.  So, here you have it -- more highlights!  

Joy School "Graduation" -- not sure why it's graduation when he still has another year of Joy School.  But whatever, the program was cute.  When I saw this picture I immediately thought of some pictures I've seen of Brian when he was a kid.  Everyone always comments on how much they look alike, and in this picture even I can see it!

Trying to come up with some creative things to do this summer.  Here are the 3 R's we've been working on:  Race Cars, Rockets, and "Rock Stars" (Yes, that's Andrew's very own rock star interpretation....what do you mean, you don't get it?  Let me explain -- Sun glasses, obviously.  Mom's necklace, you must be a rock star if you're a boy and you're wearing a necklace, hawaiian shirt -- Andrew just insisted on wearing a "people shirt" and this is the one I gave him, and some Converse Allstars - people size, of course.)

And Eric had tubes put in his ears for the second time and also had his adenoids removed.  The surgery went well and he seems to be hearing and talking more.  He was a trooper -- although very upset when he woke up from surgery, after we left the hospital he took a long nap and woke up as if nothing had ever happened.  Not even Tylenol was necessary.  Yeah!

I've also managed to paint the basement.  It took me forever to decide what color -- after spending $25 on samples I ended up deciding on a color that I already had in the basement.  It's really light yellow and it's doing just what I wanted -- warming up the basement without making it too dark.  I love it!  

April Highlights

I feel completely blah lately and can't figure out what to blog about.  I should call this a blahg.  ha. That just came to me.  I might have to change my oh-so-catchy blog title!

But when I downloaded pictures from my camera, I saw that we had quite a busy month.  So here are some highlights:

First, there was the big Easter Egg hunt with cousins.  Each  time Andrew found an egg he'd go racing across the lawn yelling "Dad!  Dad!  I found one!  Look Dad!"  And Eric of course had to carry a sword around with him the whole time -- just in case the Big Bad Easter Bunny showed up.

Here we are enjoying the nice weather at the farm with friends.  The boys are watching the ducks.  Hooray for Spring!

And on one big Saturday Andrew had his first soccer game.  He did a good job, and ran over to Brian several times in the middle of the game -- he was very thirsty!  Below is a picture of him doing a "super move" for the camera.   

After the soccer game we headed to a combined Graduation/Birthday party for my sister-in-law and nephew.  We had a great time visiting family and riding horses.  Brian was a trooper -- first time on a horse.  Andrew wouldn't get on without him at first.  I love the picture of Eric on the horse -- he looks so little! 

Looking at these pictures is a good reminder of how lucky we are -- fun times and good opportunities.