Random - May 2014

Joseph chillin' with his buddy Isaac!

LOVE garage sale finds!  Marble runs make hours of fun!

Best picture with church clothes (LOL!)…getting all in a picture is getting tougher an tougher!

Isaac is getting really good at reading.  Here he is reading a book to Levi!  Precious moment!

Still the sweetest smile!

Again…hard to capture all 3 smiling. :-)

Buddies…again!

Another one who LOVES outside!

Isaac mowing the lawn. :-)

Welcome back big pool with slide and lots of holes.  How long will this last, I wonder!?!

Isaac - practicing piano

Isaac has lots of creative stories lately. His recent stories include coyotes (since we have them out back) and the "old house."

Joseph - 9 months

Height - 27.76" (24.87%ile)
Weight - 18 lbs 6.5 ozs (27.59%ile)
Head Circumference - 43 cm (5%ile)

Joseph still has only 2 bottom teeth in his great big smile! He likes to climb around, but still not crawling.  He will rock on his hands and knees and reach or take a single crawl, but not moving around the room yet (which I'm perfectly ok with at this point!).  He LOVES to eat and will eat pretty much anything we give him.  He enjoys picking up food, especially cooked peas, cheerios, or pieces of bread or pancakes.  He gives the most precious hugs and face-smashing kisses.  He adores the guys in this house, that's for sure.  He still doesn't not sleep through the night (well, now starting to when I finally am getting around to publishing this post), but Mom just needs to break the bad habits and get him sleeping through the night now that the snotty noses and temps are back down.  But I'm sure it will be just in time for the next set of teeth that will keep him awake through the night once again.

Mother's Day 2014

I woke up this Mother's day with a very different appreciation for Mother's Day than I ever had before. Every Mother's Day, I have always thanked my Mom for being the best mom with the "traditional" card and a gift.  And even when I experienced my "own" first Mother' day with Isaac a few years ago, I thought how special it was to have this day to be honored by my son, my very own child, wow!  But, for the first time (3 beautiful sons later), I really thought about all that my own mother has done through the years for her children and grandchildren.  I thought about my mother-in-law, sister-in-laws, and numerous mommy friends that I now appreciate so differently for the sacrifices they have made by becoming mothers and the many sacrifices they will continue to make. I thought about my friends who cannot have children or will not have anymore children and what this day may mean to them.  Maybe once I became more "selfless," I realized how "selfish" I once was.  Or maybe I just didn't truly realize what a blessing motherhood is. I wish it hadn't taken be this long in life to really appreciate all those mothers out there.  And man, I am blessed that God gave me these three amazing boys to teach me these valuable things I'm learning…Every. Single. Day.  Motherhood is a blessing!

One "Sick" April

March was the month of the family stomach bug.  April was the never-ending cold full of fevers, snotty noses and coughs.  It got to the point were we too all kids to the doctor, which resulted in Isaac being put on a nebulizer and antibiotics. Levi and Joseph had the start of ear infections but they are resolving them on their own.  We went through boxes and boxes of kleenex between all of us.  Not. Fun.  A valuable lesson I learned was when sitting in the doctor's office, I was being expected to remember what day each kid had what fever, etc. I thought I knew, but then was getting confused. Yikes!  Since then, I have started a notebook where I can keep important info on each kid so its not jut in this sleep deprive head of mine. :-)

Kinda fun at first watching videos

Not so fun anymore

Joseph - 8 Months

We have spent all of April…sick.  Fevers, snotty noses, coughs, etc. So not too much to report this month.  Joseph still has only his bottom 2 teeth, wakes up 1 - 2 times during the night still, and is pretty much on a  consistent eating/sleeping schedule.  He loves to climb all over you if you are sitting with him on the floor, but has yet to crawl.  He gets in position, then plops on his belly and yells to get picked up.  He screams for attention and really wants Mommy….all the time.  Doesn't like if I leave the room or if he's not with me in the kitchen. He eats anything now and loves to pick up finger foods. He gives awesome hugs and enjoys to snuggle (especially in the morning when he wakes up).  He continues to admire Daddy and his brothers.

Easter - 2014

We spent the day at home enjoying the morning of hunting for Easter Baskets and Eggs.  Isaac started a fever the night before, and it got a lot worse on Sunday.  So, by the afternoon he was on the couch, watching movies and not feeling good at all!

Decorated eggs on Friday (oh…the waiting was just tortuous)...

Searching for Easter Baskets

Having fun

The Boys (Joseph's First Easter)

Easter Egg Hunt

 By lunchtime...

Apex Easter Egg Hunt

We LOVE the location of our home!  Many of the city's activities are in the soccer fields behind the house and are within walking distance for us.  The kite festival was great at first as Daddy and the boys went  early while I stayed home for Joseph's morning nap.  Then Joseph and I met up with the big boys for lunch.  The weather turned cold, we all headed back home, and then Dad and the boys went back later in the afternoon.  Unfortunately, I did not take one single picture.  However, the day before was awesome, we walked out back to the Easter Egg hunt!  They had thousands of eggs sprawled out and with a countdown from 10, the kids all ran into the taped off section for their age group to load up their baskets.  Free games and the neighbor boys made it a blast!!!

Neighbor boys…and great boys to grow up with!!
(Waverly, Levi, Jensen, Clayton and Isaac)

Waverly takes such good care of Levi

The closest these boys would get to the Easter Bunny

Isaac and Levi