The Allen Family

my not so little baby

2012-01-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

I still can't believe how old Brock is. He is less than 4 months away from his first birthday! I know!! I'm in denial too.

He still is pretty much the perfect baby. Sometimes I wonder if we maybe should've had one more as long as I could be guaranteed they'd be just as good and then I take all 5 boys to any store and realize that has got to be the most insane thought I've ever had. I don't know what gets into my boys once we step into a store, but no matter how good (or bad ;) they've been beforehand, they suddenly become fighting, hiding, screaming ninjas who think the store is their playground.

P.S. I don't really wonder if we should have one more baby. I'm totally still happy and at peace with our decision to be done. :)

showing off his smile

He is definitely a curious little boy. Notice the destruction he left behind him. I pick that mess up multiple times a day and if I had a different place to put all that stuff, I would surely move it. Yes, I know they make nifty little things to childproof doors, not sure why I don't invest in some.

Oh how we love this little guy!!

chocolate kisses

2012-01-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

what happens when a 4 year old eats a very chocolatey chocolate chip cookie and then sees his baby brother anywhere near by.

"But don't worry mom. I tried cleaning it good."

self portraits

2012-01-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

Peyton has recently become very interested in taking pictures of himself.

can you blame him?

christmas morning

2012-01-02T23:56:00.000-07:00

Another fun, typical Christmas morning around here. Although I think if it hadn't been Brock's first Christmas, I may have forgotten the camera all together. :(

Trey, that really is a smile

giving hugs

twins :)

opening his very first present

although this is how he was for most of the morning, crawling off to find something more exciting

temple square

2012-01-02T23:46:00.000-07:00

So I'm not sure why I suddenly stopped blogging... but I today decided to prove that we were indeed alive in December.

So here's some pictures of our trip to Temple Square.

So my boys were being so funny and asked me to take tons of pictures of them. "Take a picture mom!" "Now take one of me here!" "Now right here mom!"

That was definitely not normal, but I'll take all the help I can get.

We met my brother and his family there, which is always fun! :)

(I'm borrowing this picture from their blog, because apparently I only take pictures when my boys ask me.)

All of us, minus the picture taking Seth

My BIG family. :) I'm sad Brock's face isn't even showing but he had totally just passed out. As in one minute he was looking all around and then suddenly his head just smacked into my shoulder and he was 'gone'.

1st annual cousins gingerbread party

2012-01-02T23:26:00.001-07:00

Late in December I decided it would be super fun to get my boys together with their cousins to make gingerbread houses. It was super fun and I'm sure it will only get more fun as they all get a little older.

(right now their cousins are 20 months, 7 months and 5 months :), although the 5 month old couldn't make it, but we forgave him ;)

Apparently my camera (which actually used to by my sister's) had a dirty smudge on it and I didn't notice. Bummer.

On a side note, Seth completely spoiled me (and shocked me, although the shock came a few days early when I accidentally discovered the present) for Christmas with a crazy, nice camera. I'm still in the reading the instruction manual phase, but hopefully soon my picture quality will greatly improve.

How Trey was most of the night

Oldest cousin Ty trying to finish his delicious dinner :)

Cole took these pictures days later of a couple of their masterpieces

The whole group

halloween around here

2011-11-09T23:47:00.000-07:00

A puppy (what ALL my boys have been their first Halloween)

Harry Potter

Superman

The Mario Brothers

Our 5 Crazy Boys!

Pumpkins Pancakes. With real pumpkin, yes we're healthy breakfast eaters! :)

Our Halloween Dinner. Done on Saturday since the day of always ends up being too hectic.

Jello Worms. Totally messed up the coloring. Oh well. Now I know for next year.

Spiders in our ice

Goblin Toes

Mummy Dogs and Mummy Pizzaa

Trey enjoying the candy corn jello

We had a fabulous Halloween and I'm still eating too much candy. On a side note, my camera has totally broken. Like turns on and does NOTHING else, so I'm on the search for a good new one. Which will then motivate me to take better pictures and learn how to edit them to look spectacular. ;) And it must be done soon before I have no pictures of Brock at this age.

a little randomness

2011-10-12T23:06:00.000-06:00

So a few (or more) times the past couple weeks, I've thought I need to write a new post, but I have NOTHING exciting or even semi-interesting to write about. We've certainly been keeping super busy, but just with boring school and house stuff.

So I decided to just share a couple pics and stories.

Peyton (the 4 year old) can now ride a two wheeler. It's so cute to see him zipping all over the place. Makes me want to get him a new awesome bike, instead of the lame bike I bought at a garage sale and then Seth spray painted all black. I was trying to be a good thrifter (or whatever you want to call it) and it's only discouraged me from trying again.

We're still working on Cole. He can go down hill just fine. Up hill is another story. He just doesn't seem to have the leg muscles for it. I'm also constantly having to assure him the bike does not have a mind of it's own. Hopefully I'll be able to update that he can do it before the first snowfall.

One morning, I got out some bread for the boys to have toast or something for breakfast. I then had to go upstairs to do some motherly job. When I came back downstairs, I found Trey had made his own breakfast sandwich. 4 or 5 pieces of bread. Nothing else. Such an independent little guy.

Brock is almost 6 months old! (AH! I just realized he's 2 days away from being 6 months! Here I've been thinking it was more like 2 weeks. AHHH!) He's still such a fabulously perfect little guy. When he does cry, it's pretty quiet and still calm. He sleeps SO well at night. I'm often woken up more by the other boys. Blankets that don't stay on. Nightmares (or what they call nightmares). Drinks. I just have to keep telling myself that someday I'm going to desperately wish those were the only things keeping us up at night.

Anyways, back to Brock. For like the past 3 weeks, he's been getting up on his hands and knees like he's ready to take off crawling. He doesn't know quite what to do and then just topples over and bonks his head.

I just love these pictures I took of him one cold afternoon watching his brothers practice bike riding.

In an outfit my old roommate gave me for Easton. Yep, over 8 years old and still looks fabulous. (I'm going to go back and find a picture of each boy wearing it to compare. :)

Puckering up. :)

In other news, regarding our future dog as a pet score - we are back to Mom-6 and Dad-1. (I've had a deal with Seth that we can get a dog when I am outnumbered.) Recently, thanks to friendly, well-behaved friends' dogs, Easton and Cole, and occasionally Peyt have sided with Seth. Luckily our fence is falling apart so any dog plans are on hold. But on our walk on Sunday, all boys came back to my dark side.

Let me share the sad, yet occasionally hilarious facts of our Sunday walk.

I asked the boys if they wanted to go on a walk.

Seth was at a fireside for the YM/YW.

Easton, Peyton and Trey wanted to ride bikes.

Cole wanted to walk.

I was pushing Brock in our single stroller.

At the end of our street, Trey wanted to walk with Cole, so I put his bike on top of the stroller.

The walk was going well.

Easton and Cole started getting ahead of the younger boys and I.

I hear little dogs barking and start looking around for where they're coming from.

I look up and see 4 little dogs barking, running straight for Easton and Cole.

They start screaming like girls. Screaming.

East jumps off his bike and takes off running towards me. Screaming.

Cole follows right behind him. Screaming.

Cole's shoe flies off. He continues running. Screaming.

Screaming. Screaming. Screaming.

Dogs get scared by the screaming and don't even make it to the sidewalk the boys were on, before turning around to their owner.

Boys continue running and screaming.

Cole arrives with a bunch of prickly thingies stuck in his sock.

Easton loudly announces "I HATE dogs!!!!"

Peyton and Trey are now very concerned and nervous as well.

I pull all the pokies out of Cole's sock, pricking my fingers many times.

Easton and Cole are staying right by my side.

Peyton and Trey follow behind me and their still very upset older brothers.

I hear more barking.

Peyton starts crying.

A big dog, behind a chain link fence ran up to him.

I go grab him when the dog starts barking again and Trey begins to cry.

That same dog had ran over to Trey and terrified him.

Trey won't let me put him down.

I am now holding Trey, pushing Brock, along with Trey's bike.

Easton finally attempts to ride his bike, instead of walk and falls over trying to go over a big bump.

Easton announces he will never ride a bike again.

Such a wonderful, relaxing Sunday stroll.

baby brock

2011-09-22T23:11:00.001-06:00

Just wanted to share a little update of the best baby ever. ;)

He continues to be ADORED by all his brothers, specifically Trey

He is already very interested in what is going on around him. I put him in his crib to run downstairs to do something (the only place he is safe - from tackling brothers or rolling and banging his head on things - when I'm not around) and came up to this. SO cute. He had pulled down on the bumper lots so he could see what was going on.

Rolling under the bed

Don't worry - not stuck! :)

Trey must always join in when he sees me taking any picture

Happy, happy boy!

Tried baby food a couple times - and seems to find it disgusting. This is really the face he makes when I try and feed him (and I've only tried oatmeal and apple sauce, nothing actually gross), I am NOT gagging him with the spoon or anything. Promise. He just does not seem to like it. At all.

At the end of a feeding, clearly not happy

What he'd rather be doing

Still a perfect baby in every way.

great to be eight

2011-09-06T11:06:00.001-06:00

So my baby turned 8! It still seems insane to me that he is that old, although sometimes he acts so much older. :)

We've decided for big birthdays (8 and 12) we won't spend money on a friend birthday party and get them an extra big present. (Although I'm still trying to decide how exactly we want to do birthday parties... doing 5 most summers just seems like PURE MADNESS! My sister-in-law gave me a great idea that her family used to do (each year the child could choose between a big friend birthday party OR a night out with just the parents and pick a few presents together), but Seth doesn't seem convinced of it yet. So if anyone else has great ideas, let me know. :)

Anyways... the reason I explained that is because since there was no official birthday party, I don't hardly have any pictures of Easton and his birthday.

Birthday Breakfast (Yes, that is a doughnut. Krispy Kreme to be exact. Hey, what the birthday boy wants, the birthday boy gets.)

Then a week later we had his baptism. It was a beautiful and perfect afternoon. Despite being late, (I won't blame anyone, but will say that it was not my fault :) and not getting a picture of Easton and Seth before. :( Seth got one on his phone but we're still figuring out how to email them.

and no, Seth is not going bald. He just shaved his hair with the shortest clippers and this picture makes him look bald. :)

And I will share this tip for all those who have future 8 year olds ;)-

I got some cardstock in a couple shades of blue and cut them into about 5x7, then while Easton and Seth were changing after the baptism, I asked everyone to write down thoughts and/or their testimony for Easton to keep. And my sister Mandie played music during this time. The next morning Easton and I read them together and it was so special. I loved reading all the encouraging words, advice, testimonies and everything else. And he just couldn't wipe the grin off his face while reading them too. So special and I'm so glad I did it!

Happy Birthday my Baby Boy!!

st. george

2011-09-05T07:44:00.000-06:00

The weekend before school started we went to St. George with my sister Ginger and her husband. It was way too short but relaxing (as relaxing as life can be with 5 little boys) and super fun.

See that tiny little opening behind us? The boys and I climbed up thru there. Crazy! Good thing I'm not too claustrophobic. :)

We also went swimming and Ginger and Curtiss let us go out to dinner one night, and we even we able to leave Brock! Fun. Fun. Fun. Can't wait to do it again when the boys will have a cousin to play with too. :)

1st and 2nd

2011-08-28T23:12:00.001-06:00

The older boys started school last Monday. They are now both going for the full day! Crazy! They both seem to enjoy it enough. Easton's teacher is a yeller, like a mom heard her yelling on the first day :(. However, when I asked him about it, he said "Yeah, she yells. But just at Kaden and the bad kids." So I guess she won't be yelling at him. ;)

Cole doesn't really tell me much about whether he likes or doesn't like things. He just tells me facts... so I guess we'll see when he finally reveals his emotions about it.

Here's some pictures of them on the first day-

some summer fun, part 2

2011-08-17T00:03:00.001-06:00

Here's another little update of recent life around our house.

Not only has this adorable little guy continued to be the best baby ever, but he has started rolling over like crazy! I put him down on his back and he is immediately on his tummy. He pushes up with his arms and starts to look around, like he's ready to take off crawling any minute. I can already tell he's going to keep me on my toes for the next 18 years. :)

A couple weekends ago, the boys and I went to Snowbird where my Aunt Martha had rented a condo for family to go spend time with my Abuelito. It was tons of fun! However, with Seth gone at a camp with young men, that left me to do all the fun activities (Alpine Slide, Huge Bouncy Tramps, Mechanical Bull) with the boys so I couldn't take any pictures. So here are the only pictures I took.

Brock with cousin Levi (my brother's son)

Future best friends and college roommates :)

(Levi is about 2 months younger than Brock.)

Trey could not stay away from the camera

We had a baby shower for my little sister Ginger (the sister who I still sometimes think of as 16! I can't imagine what it will be like when my youngest sister is becoming a mom. AGGHH!!)

She's due in less than a month now with a boy. Yes, that will make 8 grandsons for my parents and 0 granddaughters. Crazy! (And get this, Seth's parents have 9 grandsons and 0 granddaughters! What?!)

What a gorgeous mom-to-be she is!

My sister-in-law, Tara and youngest sis, Linda. Beautiful, right?

Trey showing off the little favors

And here's my boys showing off the extra favors.

By the time I grabbed my camera, Easton had eaten a lot so he said he'd make it look like a goatee. :)

Can't believe school starts in less than a week!! Crazy!

some summer fun

2011-08-02T00:37:00.002-06:00

I still can't believe it's August! The summer has flown by and I haven't done near as many things as I was planning on. My poor boys. Next year when I don't have such a small {nursing} baby, I am totally making it up to them.

Here's a little bit of the few things we've been up to:

Baseball. Baseball. And more baseball. In May and June, both Easton and Cole were in baseball so we had games every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night. Can't even imagine how it will be in a few more years.

Waiting for homemade baked donuts to bake. First recipe I tried was a complete failure - on the recipe's part, not mine. :) Second was actually quite yummy. Not as good as real ones, but anything is better fried, so I wasn't expecting anything TOO great.

Lighting and watching fireworks

Seven Peaks. Many times. (Thanks to our Pass of All Passes. :)

Yes, I realize there are no pictures of Cole. I only remembered my camera one time and it happened to be the same day Cole was tripped (by someone who shall remain nameless) and got scraped up so he spent most the time out with me.

Loving the Best. Baby. Ever. He is 3.5 months and already sleeping from 8:30 til at least 5, sometimes 6. So crazy to me. My other boys weren't doing that til at least 6 months, sometimes much later. And he just did it all on his own. I did nothing to try and help that happen, except maybe pray a lot. ;)

Peyton finally got to play some baseball. He was always asking me when he'd get to play and I was able to find a Start Smart Baseball for 3 year olds. He loved it.

Playing a whole lot together. We haven't turned the Wii on all summer long (except the first week when I decided I was not going to let the whole summer be like that) and I've loved seeing their imaginations go crazy. :) They've invented so many games and done so many things together that weren't happening when the Wii was on. Surprisingly there has also been a whole lot less fighting. I love everything about taking the Wii away. :) It is now just something we will only turn on when we're all playing together. Mario Kart anyone?
This is Trey's idea of playing with Brock. So sweet of Trey to include him.

I'm really hoping to take full advantage of the last 3 weeks we have before school starts and have lots more fun.

am I four yet?

2011-07-22T10:43:00.001-06:00

The whole day before Peyton's birthday he kept asking "Am I four yet?". The next day his brothers informed him he wasn't 4 right when he woke up, cause it had to be the exact time he was born. So then he had to wait til 3 p.m. But once he saw the clock after 3 p.m., he would shout "I"m 4! I'm 4!"

Birthday Breakfast Crepes

Opening up presents (Yes, in pajamas. He had his first baseball practice and then we went to dinner and between the two places he got filthy, so the boys had to shower before presents and dessert.)

Birthday Whoopie Pies :) (I knew I'd be making a cake for his friend party and wanted to do something different.)

Caterpillar Birthday Cake for his friend party

On a side note, and for anyone with future 4 year olds, but mostly for me so I remember for Trey and Brock.... 4 year old's don't need planned activities for a party. All they want to do is play. Any future parties I throw for 4 year olds will be a swimming party or bouncy house.

I planned fun bug activities - like

-'kill' the bugs with silly string

-search for bugs (I had scattered big plastic bugs) in the backyard and put them in jars with grass and sticks

-keep the balloon bugs in the air

-make a caterpillar magnet

Between those, cake and presents I thought that would last the 2 hours. We were done in about 1 hour and 15 minutes. :) But then they got to play - just what they wanted to do. (I did have a couple back up games planned but since I knew they really just wanted to play, I was totally okay just sitting back and being done.)

Happy Birthday to our amazing Peyton! He sure is quite the spunky, handful - but we wouldn't have him any other way!

longest weekend (and post) of my life

2011-07-07T01:00:00.002-06:00

On Friday, Brock wasn't acting like his normal self. He was sleeping a lot and crying out in pain at random times. When he had a fever at like 5 p.m., I decided to call the doctor.

I had an appointment scheduled for 7:10. My sister Vannessa (miraculously) happened to be up at my house, hanging out. So she stayed with the other boys while I took Brock in. When I changed his diaper before leaving to the appointment I noticed his belly button was starting to look a little red and kind of bumping out.

Let me give you a couple reasons I was extra nervous for a basic sick baby check:

1) Seth was gone at AP Camp until late Saturday afternoon.

2) An 8 year old girl in our Stake had suddenly passed away Tuesday after having a fever and then some seizures. She was otherwise very healthy and it all happened very quickly. Her exact cause of death is unknown.

I took Brock in. While in the waiting room, he kept giving me the cutest smiles, which he hadn't done all day. I kept having the horrible thought that he was giving me some final smiles to remember him by. I had to constantly wipe away tears and tell myself I was overreacting. It was torture.

I calmed myself down and was told he had an ear infection and an umbilical hernia. I was given a prescription for the ear infection and was told that the hernia would go away and heal on it's own. I felt okay and started getting Brock dressed. Then the P.A. came back in and said he wanted to have the doctor double check his belly. She came in, pressed down on it and said I needed to take him to Primary Children's. It wasn't a hernia but she wasn't sure what it was.

More unknown. More tears.

I texted Vannessa and she immediately said she was fine staying with the boys. She was an angel through it all. Then she called my mom, who immediately drove to the hospital with my dad and sister, Linda. I have the B.E.S.T. family!!

This has already become too long, so if you're still reading it, I'm impressed. I really am trying to condense. But warning - there's still much more...

My dad gave Brock and me a blessing. Such comfort.

Many doctors looked at Brock. Talked with each other. Explained things to us that made no sense. Or maybe I was just too nervous to really pay attention.

It seemed they really didn't know exactly what it was. But they never made it seem like it was something serious. I was still expecting to be going home that night.

Then they started putting IVs in and drawing blood. One in his head that no blood came out of. One in his foot that they were able to get what they needed. Then blood in one of the tubes from that clotted so they needed to redraw some blood. Awful.

Then suddenly one doctor mentioned Brock would be staying in the hospital a couple days while they monitored him and gave him antibiotics to see if that would clear everything up. I was caught off guard.

Lots more tears. I felt like such a baby.

I remembered that on Saturday the parents of the young men up at camp with Seth would be going up. I contacted one of the moms on Facebook with my phone since I had none of their phone numbers. I asked her to call me before leaving up to the camp. That was after midnight. I had little hope she'd get it before having to go up.

Brock and I finished checking in at 2:30. I nursed him and then passed out on the fabulously comfortable pull out bed. He woke up at 6, hungry. While feeding him I noticed my phone's battery symbol was flashing. Now even if the mom did get the message, my phone would be dead and there'd be no way to get in touch with anyone. But she called at 6:45 and my phone worked just great. She was going to give Seth the message. Right after that, I tried calling Vannessa but the call failed cause there was no reception in the room (and I never had it again). And then immediately my phone died. A little miracle so Seth could come down soon.

Seth got the message, left camp early, made the 2.5 hour drive and got to the hospital around 3. All the while Brock's belly button was looking worse and worse. It looked extremely painful but he didn't seem to really be in pain.

The doctors made the decision he needed to have surgery that night to drain it. It wasn't a very invasive surgery and would only last about 30 minutes. But he still needed to have general anesthesia. Terrifying. He's only 2 and a half months old!! That also meant he couldn't eat for over 5 hours beforehand. That was so hard. He's still used to eating every 2-3 hours. Guess that explains the chubby cheeks.

The surgery went excellent. As soon as we were able to go see him he was already waking up. We took him straight up to the room and he finally ate. Or drank, whichever you prefer to call it.

He has a drain tube left sticking out of his belly button to be sure to get rid of any other infection that may continue forming inside before the antibiotics did their thing. He had to continue using strong antibiotics through an IV so we had to stay until Tuesday morning. I was looking and smelling fabulous!

Every single nurse that checked on him, put in an IV or drew blood commented on how incredibly strong he was. It always took at least 2 - sometimes 3 - people to hold him down to do what they needed to. He also moves and wiggles way too much. He kept messing up the IVs. All in all, he had to get an IV in his head, one in right arm, two in left arm and one in each foot. So so sad.

He has a follow up tomorrow with the surgeon to make sure everything is healing well and looking good.

Right now he's just about as good as new.

the terrific two's!!

2011-06-28T23:20:00.001-06:00

Trey turned two. (What is that - an alliteration?)

Sometimes it seems crazy cause he's still like a baby. Other times he seems to be growing up so quickly.

He is saying new words every day. He's definitely learned how to tattle-tale.

He loves Brock so much. Sometimes too much. He gets mad if I take Brock away when he's trying to hug him - or more like smother.

He is so independent already. If there's something he wants, he tries his best to get it on his own. And almost always succeeds.

And he's already learned to whistle. :) (I have got to remember to not talk in videos)

And some pictures from his big day

Birthday Breakfast

Opening Presents

Birthday Dinner

Birthday Dessert Nachos

Allow me to explain - We had Cole's friend party not so long ago and that cake lasted a while.

For Father's Day we had ice cream cake and there was still some in the freezer.

I was all caked out.

I made him a plate of dessert nachos. Yummy cinnamon chips with strawberries on top. Drizzled with chocolate. Normally Trey loves strawberries. But once he tasted the cinnamon and chocolate, he picked off the strawberries and licked the cinnamon and chocolate.

Didn't seem to miss the cake.

Cole's Party

2011-06-28T22:39:00.000-06:00

Cole wanted the easiest party ever. He only wanted to invite 3 friends and go to Chuck E Cheese. So here's two pictures to prove we did it.

We had lunch and cake at our house before.

I'm cheap or frugal. Whatever you want to call it.

Luckily Cole didn't care at all.

The Birthday Crowd

(One of Easton's friends ended up coming as well)

2 months

2011-06-14T09:24:00.001-06:00

:( :( :( :( :(

My baby is two months old.

I don't even know what to say about it. Except feel sad, knowing that if the first two months went by that fast the rest are going to seem even faster.

wood you like to craft - stars

2011-06-13T12:56:00.001-06:00

This month's project was an awesome red, white and blue lantern made with stars. And all the other ideas were just fabulous!! You can check them out here.

However, they changed it up a little. You don't have to make your own version of the project, but they are giving a theme that you can make your own project from. When I saw the patriotic lantern and heard this month's theme was stars I immediately knew I had to make the flag that's been in my mind for months.

I made an extra to be part of my mother-in-law's birthday present. :)

I really like how they turned out. I cut some strips of wood down to the appropriate sizes. Painted. Sanded and banged them up a bit cause I wanted them to look antique-ish. Stained. Sealed.

If you take out the drying time, this was such a quick project.

Super quick, super cute. ;)

Maybe some day I'll make one of the super cute lanterns. :)

kindergarten graduation

2011-06-08T08:54:00.002-06:00

Cole graduated from Kindergarten on May 26th. I can't believe we'll have 2 kids in school full days this year. Talk about feeling old!

squished between two Averies :) Good thing he thinks they're cute. ;)

shaking the principal's hand

the proud graduate

with his cute teacher Mrs. Crookston (talk about making me feel old again - since when am I old enough to be older than teachers?!)

You excelled in kindergarten and we're so proud of you!! Thanks for being such a wonderful example to your brothers, us and everyone else!

Thanks to the family that came up. That was so sweet and made him so happy! (Sorry I didn't get pictures of any of you with Cole. :( I've really got to do better at taking meaningful pictures.)

6 years old!

2011-06-08T08:04:00.001-06:00

My Cole is 6 years old!!

Birthday Breakfast

(Crepes. In case you can't tell and may be weirded out)

Instead of a birthday cake (because we had cake on Sunday and will be having cake for his friend party) I made a Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie. Looked and smelled delicious but nobody liked it. Ridiculous! (So I have half a pie in my fridge if anyone wants to come try it out. :) This one in case you're intrigued.

Such a sweet, loving boy. Always wanting to give everyone kisses and hugs.

Such a smart boy. I'm constantly blown away at the math you can do in your head.

Such a funny boy. Always making your brothers laugh, especially when they are sad.

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

We love you Cole!!

wood you like to craft - tool box

2011-05-13T11:43:00.001-06:00

This month the project was a tool box (which I just loved!! especially filled with the tulips!) and then the other projects were just wonderful too.

I almost made a long one, but as I was thinking of where I would put it, I decided I wanted to make small ones that could be lined up together to look long or separated to go on my kitchen window sill in between herbs (if I really ever get the courage to try growing some) or other decorations. I also wanted to make more than two but I knew I shouldn't push my luck with Brock.

I cut all the wood by myself :) all while Brock was taking his longest nap ever! (Otherwise I don't think I would've completed this even by now.) After putting them together, I painted them all white, sanded some of the paint off (not enough) and then stained over it all. I love how the stain looks darker (you can't even see it in my bad pictures) on the small parts I sanded the paint off. As I keep doing these projects, I keep learning more and more and someday I may actually be able to call myself a 'crafter'. ;)

Yes, this is just another one of my horrible pictures, but I wanted to show where they will actually be going.

easter

2011-04-25T10:55:00.001-06:00

Here's a few pictures of the eggs we decorated

(I know, I know. Super bad picture taking skills. I opened the curtains to let in sunlight while we were decorating and didn't think to close them for pictures, or at least position myself differently. Someday I'm going to pay better attention to the pictures I take.)

I did find lots of new fun ways to decorate the eggs and the boys loved it. Tie Dye. Sprinkling crayon shavings. Using rubber bands to keep white stripes.

I didn't get many of them actually searching for eggs but I did get this one of Trey doing exactly what I thought he'd do. He found about 6 eggs and then promptly sat down to eat the candy, not caring that there were more eggs to find.

For some annoying reason I can't get my pictures to turn anymore. I blame the photo program on our new laptop. But I had to include one of Brock.

My handsome boys in their Easter best

Can you tell he had a mouth full of Easter candy? I didn't until now. (I would've made him spit it out. :)

I can't believe this big group of boys is my family! On Saturday we went out to run a few errands and I could not believe how big of a family we are. I seriously felt like we looked like a zoo. :)

Good thing they're all so good looking.

Don't you just love the matching ties I found for them? I do!!

the arrival of Brock

2011-04-20T22:26:00.002-06:00

My due date was Monday April 11th. That day came and went with no excitement or contractions - unless I was walking briskly. But as soon as I stopped walking, the contractions stopped.

I was trying to hard to be patient because I really disliked being induced with Peyton. With Cole and Trey, I was in the hospital less than 2 hours before having them. With Peyton it was more like 7 hours. I was stuck in bed, could only 'eat' ice and suckers, couldn't get up to go to the restroom. I pretty much call it torture.

But after my due date came and went, I couldn't be patient any longer. I called to schedule the induction and apparently it is very busy season and the best they could go was put me on the waiting list for Thursday. That actually was alright with me because I thought that Brock would decide to arrive on his own before then. But no, he proved me wrong.

The hospital called Wednesday night to say that they'd be calling me anytime between 10 and 2 on Thursday so to eat a small breakfast and just wait. Seth stayed home from work because the nurse sounded confident we'd get in during that time. They didn't call til 3. So pretty much a full day of torture.

They finally started the pitocin and broke my water around 4:30. Absolutely nothing was happening. I arrived at the hospital already dialated to a 3 and by 9 that night I was a 4.

Seth was finally remembering why I kept telling him I didn't want to be induced.

Eventually, and with just one push, Brock was born.

At 11:49 p.m. on April 14th. (Just barely avoided having to share his birthday with Tax Day.) He was 7 lbs 11 oz. 20.5 inches.

One thing that I thought was really cool was Skin-to-Skin contact right after birth. I had never heard of that before. They put him on my chest right after he was born and it was amazing. He just kind of melted on me. :) But I did start to get worried because he wasn't crying or anything. A nurse was right by him the whole time and didn't seem concerned but I thought maybe he wasn't breathing or something because don't all babies scream and cry right after birth? But as soon as they took him off of me, the crying began. It was actually pretty cool.

Definitely not a cute picture but I still had to include it. Makes me laugh.

It took Trey a few days to even acknowledge Brock.

My Basketball Team!

See? Trey is only interested in the stuffed animal he picked out for Brock.

Waiting in the hospital for dad and brothers to come pick us up

First car ride

At home with dad

So far Brock has been by far our best baby! His first night home he went 5 hours between feedings! (I still woke up plenty of times to check on him but I was not about to wake a sleeping baby - something I totally did with Easton. Call me crazy.) Although he has yet to go that long again, he still is sleeping so good. He wakes, eats and goes back to sleep.

We are all so in love with this perfect little boy!