Home again...

Just got home from my girls weekend in Utah. We shopped and crafted and celebrated my sister Ali and her new little baby due later this month and ate out and of course ate way too much junk food. Needless to say that I had a great time. Thanks everyone for making time to hang out with me. But now I am very happy to he home with all my boys. I missed them. While I was enjoying some quality "me" time I finished this fabulous book. Check it out!


Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I just finished this book over the weekend and I absolutely loved it! I couldn't put it down. I fell in love with the characters and now I can't wait for the second book (Forge) to come out! Great historical fiction for kids! I highly recommend this book and I can't wait to read other books written by Laurie Halse Anderson.

View all my reviews >>

A little visitor...

showed up in our flower garden today. The boys were out on the new picnic table having a little snack when this little guy showed up. Cameron came running inside and told Brett that he was being attacked by a big, yellow butterfly. Brett said "They won't hurt you." to which Cameron replied "but they have big spikes on their back."

So here he is our little garden friend spikes and all.


Cameron quickly decided that he like the butterfly, after all he is the bug boy (too bad he was too big to fit in Cam's bug house). Of course we had to do a little research to find out what kind of butterfly this is and we discovered that he is a Western Tiger Swallowtail butterfly.




Pretty fun to see him fluttering around our flowers.

*Based on the look of this butterfly and info we found on the internet, we decided that this is a boy butterfly...of course it is, would you expect anything different at our house?

A name and a blessing...

For little Ethan Charles.
August 9, 2009


We had a great day in honor of our little man. Thanks to Jed and Kathy and Lynda for sharing this day with us.




Our family....
Take 1:



Take 2:


Lovin' the eye roll Erik.

And finally, 6 takes later...


Good enough!

A little weekend project...

The boys love picnics, and for the past 6 years that we have lived here, we have talked about getting a table so that we could enjoy eating outside. But, we never got around to it and outdoor furniture can get pretty pricey. So, I had a great idea (if I do say so myself). I found some instructions online, and luckily I am married to a pretty handy guy with a pretty handy father and they were able to construct the cutest picnic table ever! They built it with a little help from the boys (in 100+ degree heat no less) and the following weekend the whole family trekked out to the patio armed with paint brushes and we painted that little table. I love it! I love that it is homemade and that everyone worked on it together. We have already had 2 picnics on it (which would have been great if it weren't for those darn flies, but that's another story) and the boys had dessert out there the other night! I love that I can send them oustide with their sticky, messy treats! Thanks Brett and Jed and boys....it really turned out great! Now who's ready for a picnic?!


Primed...


and painted!
Maybe someday we'll actually put the paint tarp away!

JOY....

Baby's first smiles! Look at those dimples!

My little Ethan is 8 weeks old already! He is such a sweet little guy and without a doubt, he has brought so much joy into our home!

Challenge

I love to watch the cake challenges on the Food Network! Secretly I wish that I could create awesome cakes just like they do...but I can't, so I just enjoy watching others who can. Anyway, today they were creating Sesame Street cakes and I made the boys watch it with me. They grumbled a little at first and reminded me that they are too old for Sesame Street (when did that happen?), but they watched it anyway and truth be told they liked it. We all made a guess to see who would win and Cameron picked the winning, Big Bird cake. After the show, the boys thought that it would be fun to have a Lego challenge. It was quickly decided that I would be the judge. So, I gave them three categories to build from and off they went to create their masterpieces. The categories were: Hot Rods, Space ships or Robots. Here are the entries:

Erik's hot rod



Cam's robot



and

Austin's Spaceship loaded with mini figures (so Austin)



Each boy won first prize in their category (because that's the way it works when mom is the judge) They were all awesome!

So, what did they win you ask?

COOKIES!!!

The birthday boy

It was a weekend celebration in honor of Austin. On Sunday (July 19), this little man turned three years old!

The cake...

Austin loves Lego mini figures, so it is only fitting that his cake should be decorated with a brand new set just for him. Erik and Cameron were in charge of assembling the mini figure set and decorating the cake...good job guys!

Blowing out the candles...

One by one!

The presents...
A package from Grandma and Grandpa M



A specially wrapped present from Grandpa Jed and Kathy



A water table from Mom and Dad



3 things I love about Austin...

*Your sweet smile. You are the happiest boy. You always have a smile on your sweet face.

*Our little conversations. Austin you say some of the cutest, funniest things.

*You are so helpful to me. You help me out with Ethan, you help me clean and I love that every time I get the vaccum out, you pull out your popper to push along side me.

I love you Austin and I am so glad that you are in our family!