What Could Be Cuter?

What could be cuter than my little Nathan?  NOTHING!!!  He brings such joy and happiness to our family!  He doles out big toothy, cheesy smiles and hugs like candy.  I couldn't resist posting some of these recent pictures of him.



 Nathan rarely plays with toys, but he sure enjoys all the dangerous grown-up things around.  He loves to cart around my vacuum . . . and try to plug it in.

 And he loves to pull the books off the shelves and then rip them.

 He loves to get into the cleaning supplies.  One day it'll be fun to remember how he use to fit in this little bucket!

 Look at these curly locks.  Daddy isn't far away from cutting them off.  Mommy is trying desperately to keep her baby little for as long as possible.  These little boys never look the same again once those baby curls are gone.  (Boo-hoo!)

Oh, I love my little Nathan.  He's my little buddy, my mess maker, and my baby.  He definitely has everyone in our family wrapped around his little finger.  There's nothing we wouldn't do for our Nathan!

Dirty Jobs

I spent all morning scrubbing out vomit and diarrhea.  It doesn't get much better than that.  I'm livin' the dream.  Definitely livin' the dream.

You know that show Dirty Jobs?  They should send that guy into a home of children with the stomach flu.  It doesn't get much worse than that!

Thank goodness for sunny days warm enough to open the windows to let out the smell, modern appliances such as washing machines, and healthy children who I know will be better tomorrow . . . that is until the next kid gets it.

What Kind of Chopper Do You Use?

Okay, so I'm appealing to the wonderful friends and ladies in my life that cook for their families.  For years I have used a Pampered Chef chopper for all my dicing and chopping.  It's been a great tool, but . . . is there something easier?  A small food processor?  I need something easy to clean and easy to pull out to use.  Something you use almost everyday.  I know I'm super lazy, but honestly, when I have lots to chop and dice for a meal my arm gets tired, ya know?  I know I'm in desperate need of the tricep burning exercise the chopper gives me, but most times I need my chopping done faster.  I went out and bought the OXO chopper, and it's TERRIBLE!  Every time I have to chop up an onion (which is often) I dread it!  So I need something new.  I can get a new Pampered Chef chopper, but my guess is there's something better out there that every one's using that I know nothing about.  So please share!  And then if you see me with flabby triceps you'll know that at least I'm happy because I've found something to replace my chopper!!!

A Lowering of Standards

When I had my first baby I was given one of these Baby Einstein movies.  Right away I noticed a "Repeat Play" option on the menu.  I thought, "How ridiculous!  What kind of terrible mother would continue playing a DVD over and over for her child!"

Fast forward to Baby #4: I pop a Baby Einstein DVD in for Nathan before hopping in the shower and again see the "Repeat Play" option.  "Sweet!"  I think.  And that is the option I select while wondering why more children's movies don't have that option available.  It's sad how my standards for the quantity of T.V. watching along with so many other things have slipped to very low levels these days.

Another Trip To See The Elk

 It all started because of this guy!  Jacob loves deer, elk, moose, anything with antlers!  He's been looking forward to another trip to Hardware Ranch for months!  There wasn't much snow this year so there weren't many elk.  And our sleigh ride turned into a wagon ride, but we still had fun!

 At the beginning of the ride the driver/guide gave specific instructions to hold on to your personal items because anything that falls out of the wagon is gone for good.  It's not safe for people to walk around where the elk are.  We hadn't even made it to the elk when Nathan threw his mitten over the side.  Brandon made a valiant attempt to grab it, but missed.  Oh well.  Only one little hand got to stay warm.  Luckily the guide was a pretty nice guy and very understanding.  After seeing the elk and as we headed back he spotted the mitten, made the horses circle around for another pass, and Brandon leaned out of the wagon and grabbed the mitten.  Nathan, as cute as he is, was a royal pain on the ride.  He wanted to walk around and do his thing.  With all the jerking of the horses, that wasn't possible.  So the nice guide had to yell over Nathan's screams while we held him tightly.  It wasn't fun for anyone.  That's yet another example of why I'm ready to be out of the baby stage!

 Look at me?  Would you be brave enough to get this close to a giant bull elk?

 After the wagon ride we went up to the museum to look around.  They have all kinds of furs, beaver dams, stuffed dead animals, and antlers for the kids to touch and explore.  Here's Papa and Jacob holding up some antlers on their heads.  That sure would give me a headache carrying that around all of the time!

 Jonah determining his wing span!

Sarah and Mommy by the bull elk.

We had a wonderful day, and I needed to take more pictures.  After Hardware Ranch Nanny and Papa took us to lunch at their favorite old college pizzeria, Frederico's.  Yum!  It was good!   Then we took our own little family over to visit my Grandpa.  Poor man!  My kids descended upon his home like vultures looking for all the sweets they know Grandpa loves and keeps around in plentiful supply.  Jacob grilled Grandpa about his younger days and the hunts he went on, Nathan did his best to locate all of the remote controls in Grandpa's house, and Jonah could hardly bare to leave the fun, older toys in the basement when it was time to go.  It was a wonderful family day, and something we should probably try to do more often.  But I'll tell you what, after all that togetherness and missing naps, Brandon and I were sure happy for the peace and quiet an in-car DVD player provides for the ride home!

Valentine's Day

 We had a fun Valentine's Day at our house this year - nothing spectacular, just fun.  The night before Valentine's I went into Sarah's room to quietly put away some laundry while she was asleep and this is what I found.  She has been so excited for Valentine's.  She asked permission to wear a church outfit so she could dress up, and even remembered to ask in advance if I would curl her hair so she would be cute for her school party!  I just love Sarah!  She's so girly and fun!  I love how she even laid out her necklace and tucked the ends into her shirt so she would know just how it would look.  I had found a little heart bracelet on clearance, so I left that on her shirt sleeve for her to find in the morning.  She was so excited!

 We needed more sweets around here like we needed a bullet to the head, but I just had to make my little darlings SOMETHING!  Kiss cookies were a hit . . . a hit to my diet too.  Oh well!  Tomorrow I'll be better.  You need a good cheat day every once-in-awhile!

 I get my kids books and their own little box of chocolates for their Valentine's.  It's become a fun tradition they look forward to and have been talking about it for weeks!

 Jacob got the 1st Great Brain book and a Mad Libs (I loved those as a kid).  I made a Shutterfly book for Sarah so she could see herself growing up.  Of all my kids Sarah probably gets the least amount of attention, and while she is independent and takes care of herself a lot, I can see that she needs a little extra love sometimes.  I knew that this book would mean a lot to Sarah and would make her feel special.  She loves the book and looks through it all the time.  I'm so glad!  For Jonah I decided to make a Shutterfly book of some behaviors and social skills we're working on using pictures of him, our family, and his friends.  He loves it, and really likes to see himself in the pictures making good and bad choices.  Nathan got a tactile book on trucks.  For someone who use to pour over books he's going through an anti-book stage.  He won't even let us read to him at night anymore!  That's one of my favorite things to do with little kids, so it's killing me.  I thought maybe he'd sit in my lap long enough to make it through this short book where his hands will be busy touching stuff.  We'll see . . .

And lucky for me I have one romantic husband!  Unfortunately he had a meeting on Valentine's night (bummer, huh?  What Scrooge plans meetings on Valentine's?), so he wouldn't be home for dinner.  But he surprised me by coming home for lunch with roses, a SMALL box of chocolates (he's so good to support my diet because he knows I have little to no self control when it comes to chocolate), and this necklace!  I'm SO practically minded and not at all sentimental, but there's just something about jewelery that's so romantic to me.  It's not diamonds or pearls, but he thought of me and I know he spent time at the jewelery counter agonizing over what to choose.  I love what he chose.  It's simple, didn't cost to much (that causes me stress), and is so sweet!  Thanks, Honey!  I love you!

Happy 4th Birthday, Jonah!!!

Our little Jonah turned 4 years old last week!  Wow!  I can't believe it's been four years since his dramatic entry into the world in the front seat of my mini van!  It seems like the drama has never stopped with him.  From being a very difficult baby to breast feed, to the worries about his sleep, development and behavior, to being diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder this last summer, Jonah has always demanded a lot from us.  Brandon and I have definitely grown in our patience and understanding.  He is one of my refiners fires.  But with all of that comes intense joy from his successes.  We are so happy to have him in our family!  Jonah was SO excited for his birthday!  He's been talking about it since his 3 year old birthday last year!  We had a fun extended family party planned, but due to sickness and busy schedules we ended up celebrating with just our little family.  For Jonah it was perfect.  There wasn't all the chaos and noise that usually sets him off.  He was so excited about celebrating his birthday and insisted that we put up streamers and balloons in his favorite color green with the happy birthday sign.

 Jonah wanted a race car cake.  I have to say it was one of the easier cakes I've made!

 The kids all love party hats and blowers!

 Jonah got a tool bench with real projects from our family.  I forgot to take a picture but Grandma and Grandpa gave him a Play Mobile race car set.  It was a simple birthday, and yet it was all he needed.  The last thing we need around here is more boy toys!

After presents, cake and ice cream, and celebrating, Jonah was eager to help Daddy assemble his tool bench.  Brandon is so patient in allowing the kids to help with his projects, no matter how much extra time it takes him to complete them with extra "help."

Happy Birthday, Jonah!  We love you so much!  Jonah loves Wild Kratts, building train tracks, Legos, riding his bike, playing outside with his siblings, and most of all anything that includes his Daddy.  He is making great strides in his preschool class this year.  I can see that the consistency of 4 days a week in a situation where he feels successful makes him want to feel successful in other areas of his life.  He is trying hard to make good choices and be more independent.  I'm so proud of him in his efforts.