Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

I’ve decided that I hate the Christmas tree!

Two years ago Isaac took out our tree, read funny story here. Last year we decided to save the tree, since money was tight and Matt duck taped the base like crazy. It held for the season, but had a sever lean. This year I swore the tree wasn’t going to make the move with us. It’s an old tree, Matt’s parents from the 80’s, it had server two families very well. I thought it had done its job and wasn’t going to pack it. Matt however knew that money would be tight again this year, so packed it anyways. He went out and bought a new stand and set up while I was a church yesterday and he was home with sick kids.


I didn’t always hate the Christmas tree, I used to love it. As a child I always loved decorating the tree and looking at it.
I loved starting my own tree with Matt, love watching the kids hang up their own ornaments.
I love seeing my children's eyes light up as the tree takes form.

But this morning, while we were all warm and snuggly in bed, Matt and I were woken up to the sound of the tree crashing. Nothing like that to get you out of bed. Apparently Caleb thought it would be funny to hide Isaac’s favorite stuffed dog and Adam’s favorite bear IN THE TREE. And the little boys, of course, had to rescue their animals.

I thought I had the tree instructions covered. The rules were simple,

• no touching the tree once we had all ornaments put on it,
• no jumping into the tree,
• no climbing the tree,
• no moving the tree
• No one let Gracie into the tree room without an adult.

Caleb thought since he actually wasn’t touching the tree, (the animals were) he was safe, that kid kills me.

The worst part about the tree falling over is that every time the tree crashes, ornaments break. This morning two ornaments bit the dust, one that had been on my parents tree since they got married, one that had been on Matt’s and my tree since we were married. I cried, and screamed and swore to the boys if they touched the tree again it was going down for the rest of the holiday and would not EVER be put up again.

Who ever thought that it would be a good idea to put a tree up in the house and decorate it with glass ornaments (most of ours have gone to plastic now) didn’t have kids, or at least didn’t have 4 boys. I have faith that someday, the tree will stay standing all season long, and I know I’ll probably laugh about this one day, but today I’m not laughing, the wound is too fresh.

One of Those Weeks

After Adam’s party on Monday, I got a call from the school nurse saying Andrew was running a fever.
He then spent the next two days home fighting the fever and cough

So that meant on Wednesday, I got to take 4 kids to the doctor for Adam and Gracie’s well check. Gracie is in the 97% for height and 90% for weight. Adam is in 80% for height and 99% for weight, love my chubby kid.

That night I started running a fever.
Today, I still not feeling well, fighting a major headache but at least the fever stopped. This is what the kids have been doing while I’m laying on the ground.
Walking around.
Sneaking bites of cake.
And jumping

Flying

And Landing.

Oh and on top of all this, trying to potty train the latest 3 year old in the house. Thankfully Andrew went back to school today. Hopefully I’ll be feeling better soon and no one else will get it, Adam will catch on to the whole potty training bit and we will all surive until the weekend. Is it Friday yet?

Happy Birthday Adam!

My little boy turned three today, such a big number for a little guy. He had a birthday party with his preschool friends.
The cupcakes were a huge hit.
For his choice of food for the day he chose cheese for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We settled with homemade Mac and cheese for dinner.

For his cake I made a dirt cake. Which Matt asked if it was what he wanted or his mom wanted. All I have to say is that the kid only asked for a birthday cake, and he wanted a pink one, but I wasn’t going to do that, so we went with this beauty instead.

Yep that is crushed up Reese’s Peanut better cups on top.

We had to wait until Daddy got home to open presents, he was a little tired of waiting.

But he woke up really fast.

And when it came to cake time, He waited for a bit.

But then headed off to play again.

Finally he got tasted the goodness and ate it all up.

Happy Birthday Adam, my tough little big guy. I swear you are by far the toughest of all the boys. You will try anything, and can do most of everything you try to do. You love to color and love your play-doh. You are a sweet, lovable guy and I’m so thankfully you are in our family.

Hiking in the Fall

I've decided that I like hiking in the fall much better then summer. I love the crisp bite in the air, the crunch of leaves under your feet, the array of colors all around you. But mostly I love that it is not deathly hot. After we got our chores done on Saturday, we packed a lunch and took the kids back to Paris mountain. Since our last trip was so rough, we planned this one a lot better by packing a lot more water and selecting a more kid friendly hike, a short one around the lake. I was a beautiful day.
Caleb was mad in this picture because he didn't get to have one of the camel packs.

I asked Adam to smile and this is what I got, too funny.

Isaac did much better.

We finally let Caleb have one of the packs and it changed his whole personality-yeah! We knew he was back to himself when he started doing crazy things again.

Gracie getting way to big for this carrier, but we'll still use it since we don't have a backpack for her.

This was as crazy as Andrew would get, love how their personalities are so different.

Adam, just sitting around, waiting for us.

Wonder where Caleb gets it from?

Matt was wondering why I took a picture of just him.

We had lunch on the lake, it was so beautiful, the water came right up to where we sat and the boys feed the ducks their leftover.

After lunch we drove farther up the mountain and hiked some more. Andrew loved it, but Caleb started complaining really bad.
We finally stopped for a break and Caleb decided he was going to hike back down himself, so we all turned around. Come to find out the poor guy had started running a fever, no wonder he was such a grump. On the whole it was a wonderful day.

It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want To

Poor Gracie was kind of sick and grumpy all day on her birthday. We did have a fun day though, even through the tears.

She got to have a little friend come over for a play date.

Then she open presents. The joys of having older siblings, they are always willing to help you open your presents.

She got a some cute cothes from Nana and Papa, more pictures to come of those later. And a walker from Grandma and Papa.

Which we had to put away on the frig, so her older brothers wouldn't break it the first night.

But her favorite present was her Baby Doll.

Look at that face, pure joy.

She had to carry her baby everywhere.

We then had dinner, and let her have at her cake.

Why is it I can't make a birthday cake look good for the life of me? I swear every birthday cake is a flop. Caleb called this one the pink volcano, that is exploding with our love for Gracie.

Love this picture, she is checking to make sure her brothers are staying away.

A handfull of ice cream is aways good.

And we'll end with the sugar daze. Isn't that always the way you feel after eating too much cake and ice cream, oh I guess that is just me and Gracie.

Happy Birthday Sweetness.

ONE!

Today, my baby turned one, can you believe it? What a wonderful year this has been. She is so sweet, so happy, so wonderful. I'm so thankful she chose me to be her mom. Everyday I find myself loving her more and more.

She took four steps last night, and has seemed to think it's okay to walk now. Her favorite word is Happy, and tells so much about her personality. She will eat anything and everything.
She is fought over every morning on who gets to get her out of her crib. She only has two teeth and very little hair and the longest eyelashes ever.

She loves to be outside and will sit for hours in her swing happy as can be.

She is such a joy. I've loved every minute of her and can't wait to see what the future holds for this sweet spirit.

Just had to share

Sorry I promised something funny, but this moved me so much more. This is how I felt about my race. Sums it up perfectly. Watch this it is so good.

Don't Worry...

I'm still here and all is well. I've just been enjoying these guys

and this girl

and resting my legs.

Funny posts to come when I get the chance.

The RACE

Today was all about ME ad my father in law Brent. After over nine years of either being pregnant or nursing today was all about me claiming my body back. Thank you Matt and Cora for watching the kids and taking care of them all day so I could run and recover.

This morning, Brent and I ran our first half marathon.

The start time was 8 am and we were all too excited to get started.

It rained the whole race, which was kind of nice since it was cooler.

Our fans with Nana taking the picture.

The first three miles we did at a crazy pace, around 8 minute pace. Excitement and adrenalin got the best of us. By the time we hit mile six we where still running 9 minute miles, which is crazy in my eyes. Then the hills started. I swear miles 9 and 10 where all up hill, or at least it felt that way to my body. The low point, or humbling part of the race came when a guy with an above the knee amputation passed us.

The hardest mile for me was 12, I finally told Brent to go on; I was dying.

Thankfully Scott, a good friend from church who runs marathons but wasn’t running today, found us just before that and ran the rest of the way in with me. He talked my ear off, encouraged me, told me what else I had to expect for the rest of the race and took my mind off running which was so helpful.

Brent came in with a time of 2 hours 4 minutes.

I came in just a little slower with a time of 2 hours 6 minutes.

I am so happy! When I started working out last December, I could barely run a mile and was so depressed because everything jiggled when I ran.

Now I’m happy with my body and am planning my next race in February, in Myrtle Beach, anyone want to run it with me?

Nana and Papa day 2

We started off the day by going to the Zoo.

Then we let the kids play at the park by the zoo.

After that Brent and I picked up our race packages and we ate lunch.

We ended the morning with a trip to Falls park.

As you can see from the picture, we had some babies ready for naps, so I took the 3 little ones home and made these while everyone else went to see this. We are all going to bed early in hopes of surriving this tomorrow.

Nana and Papa Visit Our New Home

Nana and Papa came in to town today for our big race this weekend. But today we spent the day playing. We first went out to lunch at my favorite place, Jason's Deli and did a little shopping, can't wait to show the cute clothes off. We then met Matt and went to the best place, Frankie's Fun Park.

We started at the fun house.

Where Caleb was so nice and took care of Isaac when he got scared and lost in the maze.

She loved riding the ride that didn't move.

Then we did some putt putt.

This little guy loved it and was purple afterwards from playing so hard.

This guy got a little angry.

She had the patience of a saint with all the little guys.

He got really upset when he couldn't get the little ball in the hole.

These guys where the professionals.

Then we moved on to the bumper boats.

Too much fun.

Notice how dry we are.

She got to hang out with Nana and enjoy the show from the sidelines.

Check out Isaac's face, love it.
This is how I spent most of the time, hiding from Caleb, I swear that kid had the best water gun on his boat.

Getting soaked.
Notice how I'm getting wetter.

Look how Isaac is hiding by Papa, he asked to get out mutiple times.

Caleb even took aim at Nana on the side line.

Love how Andrew is hiding while trying to get away from me.

Now look at how wet I am and how squished Adam is.
The after shot, the water was really dripping off me.

One Hot Mama and her baby.
A girl and her boy on their hogs.

I then put my head under the hand dryer in the bathroom and we went out to dinner at Red Robin, so good.

Trunk and Treat

We had our churches Trunk and Treat party tonight. First off, I have to go off on the weather again; it was so beautiful, cool but not freezing, perfect fall weather. The kids and I went as characters from Peter Pan, I was Mrs. Darling, and then we had two pirates, Tink, Peter, and a lost boy.

The kids did great with the dinner, and actually sat well with me. We then hit the games, which were really good and the kids loved them.

We even brought Nana along with us to help hand out the candy.

Then the treating began. I love my job at church, I teach the 12 year olds and they are awesome. One boy from my class took Isaac around for me so I could hand out candy and another one who is going to be in my class next year took Adam around. I hope my boys grow up to be as wonderful as these young men are.

We came away with a ton of candy, hyper kids and happy memories.

Guess What

Dear Dad,

I lost my second tooth at school today. I pulled it out myself during social studies. First I pulled it down, then I pulled it up and then I pulled it forward and it came out. But my teacher was grossed out by all the blood. Now I'm at home and it's under my pillow and when you come home I want to talk to you. Check out moms blog for pictures.

love,
Caleb

Fall in the Blue Ridge Mountains

We drove up to Caesar Head this afternoon to experience a true fall in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Let me tell you it was beautiful. The boys complained the whole drive up saying looking at leaves was boring and asking when we will get there. But they loved it once we stopped. The pictures don’t do it justice; it was like looking out over a carpet of color. It was beautiful to see the artwork of the Lord. Enjoy the pictures.

Check out that color.

It just went on for miles and miles.

The whole family.

Kind of tight, good thing I wasn't pregnant.

Hiking off the trail and loving it.

Lookout.

My boys.

She's getting kind of too big for this.

Can you see the worm on Caleb's head, he was pretty proud of himself for this one.

Beautiful.

The drive.

X marks the spot.

So beautiful.

We ate peanuts on the top of this hill, then hiked down it. I would have loved this as a child, but as a mom it freaked me out, I just knew one of the boys was going to slip and roll all the way down the hill. We made it and no one got hurt.

Eating peanuts.

Look out.

Throwing sticks and rocks into the creek.

Sweetness.

Me Too, Isaac, Me Too

The other day Isaac and I were sitting at the table coloring when he looked up at me an said, "Hey mom, you remember that weekend we let you sleep in and Dad and us kids did all the work? Remember that?" I said I did remember that, that it was last Mothers day. Isaac then said, "I think we need to do another one of those weekends, Mom you need it." I think so too Isaac, now if only we could get Daddy on board.

The Sweetest Thing

Once a week our church leaders have asked us to gather our family around and have a family home evening. An evening where we teach our children the gospel. An evening of song, of prayer, of family bonding, of sweets.

I’m so thankful for this time we get to be together, and know that our family is better when we have these nights every week.

Tonight was one of those wonderful evenings when everything went wonderful, where all the kids were good, were we felt the Spirit of the Lord in our home. I think they learned something from the lesson and I know they enjoyed the snack.

Cooler Weather

I can’t begin to tell you how much I’ve loved the fall here in beautiful South Carolina. Fall in Minnesota always depressed me; it meant that the dreaded winter was just around the corner. I hated it and would yell at the trees when they started to turn colors. Not that it helped any, but it sure made me feel better. But here in SC, fall has been a gradual, inviting time, a celebration that the summer heat has finally come to an end. The trees have been changing colors so gradually; it is a different picture every time I drive around. And the temperatures are wonderful.

It was another beautiful afternoon today, so after our Sunday naps, we went on a short family walk.
Isaac has been fighting a cough, still wanted to go, so it was a short, short walk.
Poor Adam hit his head again, not as bad as last time, but the poor guy just can't get a break. Didn't seem to bother him on this walk though.

We made it down to our super cool, fun neighbor’s house.

The best Halloween house on the block and the boys had to have their picture taken by the graves.
It was a beautiful outing, we are hoping to take a drive next weekend up to the mountains and are hoping the fall color isn’t all used up for some even better pictures.

Bunny Ears

I love my boys!

For the last 40 minutes they have been putting their stuffed animals to bed in their room. They have been singing them songs, tucking them in, quietly whispering so not to wake them up. They even brought Gracie in to enjoy the fun. (Don't worry I was there watching over so no one feel off or split their head open again.)

Try to ignore Isaac's wandering finger and instead enjoy Adam.

My fourth son, at 2 he thinks bunny ears are so funny he does them to himself. Gotta love him.

On a side note, can you guess who played photographer this afternoon?

Can you tell by the eyes alone?

My Girl

Last Day of Soccer

It was a good season, the boys loved it, and we are all happy now to be moving on to basketball.