Monday, November 7, 2011

Birthday Boy!

This little guy turned one.  I can't believe how fast the time has gone.  One year ago M was out of the country and this guy decided he just couldn't wait to get here.  We all love him so much!


He loves food.  Really any food except cottage cheese.  And he knows when he is missing out on a treat.

He can really throw a hilarious tantrum.  He lays down on his stomach and cries.  Luckily they don't last long. 

We all get some seriously good hugs and snuggles from him.
This was taken on his birthday, he likes to attack the camera.

He can wrestle with the big boys.

Says "hi, bye, dad" and makes a dog sound. 

Did I mention he loves dogs?

Woke up on his birthday and decided to stand on his own like a professional.  Started taking his first steps a week later.
Charms everyone with his enormous smile.

Has a kind of low gravely voice.

Love to point out balloons, lights, etc.

Really enjoyed his birthday cupcake.






Halloween

Here they are in all their glory.  I hope you can figure out what they all are...
Black Ninja (B-man explained the leader ninja wears the cape.)  He would sometimes also say he was Zorro.  Hot air balloon, and a Ferrari race car driver.



We thought about this costume for a minute, but we didn't think it would work well with the cold weather.  Do you get it?



October 30, 2011


October 30, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a great week.  Lots of fun things to do and celebrate.  The week started out pretty slow.  J and RM were still sick, and seemed a little worse.  I had an internal debate about whether I should take them into the doctor.  I decided not to since they didn’t have fevers.  I also knew I had a “well-child” visit for both of them that week, and I really just wanted to wait for that if I could.  Monday night M took the boys to soccer and I went with a woman that I visit teach to a school board meeting about changing school boundaries.  They are building a new school in the area, and it will be affecting a lot of the schools in our town.  We just wanted to go and make sure that nothing crazy was going to happen.  Mostly it was people from the town commenting. We still have no idea what they are thinking or planning.

Tuesday was a quiet day.  Not a lot going on.  The boys were sick still.  Wednesday was RM’s birthday.  It was such a great day.  First of all he woke up seeming to feel a little better and was in a much better/less clingy mood.  Then he spent a lot of his time practicing standing up by himself.  It was like he decided that he needed to learn a new trick… and fast!  It was adorable.  Sadly we were pretty busy that day, so not a lot of celebrating happened for the birthday boy outside of family singing to him.  He did get to video chat with both grandparents which made for an even better day.  That night I took B-man to soccer.  Then M got the boys ready for bed and I met him with the little boys at the church for mutual.  Then M stayed for mutual and we all drove home and the boys went to bed.

Thursday morning I took the boys for their one year old and two year old checkups.  Turns out that RM has an ear infection, a pretty bad one.  No wonder he was so cranky.  He really didn’t have a fever, so I felt very bad that I had missed it.  No shots for RM since he was sick, but J got a few.  He wasn’t that happy about it, but he cheered up quickly when I brought out the gum.  We spent the rest of the morning at Costco to get the medicine and then home for naps. 





Friday M was home from work.  It was great to have him around.  We worked on some things around the house, and ran some errands, and then in the middle of the day I watched the children of a woman I visit teach while she went to the doctor.  RM and J were excited to have some friends over to play with. Mostly J missed it while he took a nap.  The rest of the day was a big fat party.  When B-man got home we carved pumpkins, and then we celebrated RM’s birthday.  We had calzones for dinner and then opened presents up.  RM had a lot of helpers from J and B-man.  He would get really into figuring out his new toy and be totally unaware of the other packages until his brothers started to open them for him.  J is convinced that most of RM’s new toys are really his.  After presents we had “cake.”  Since he doesn’t have an opinion yet I decided to make pumpkin muffins and frost them with some chocolate frosting I had made recently.  RM really went to town on his cupcake.  J loved blowing out the candles when we did our wishes.  It was a great party.  Once the boys were in bed and the kitchen clean M and I watched an episode of “Foyle’s War” and then went to bed.
Our snowy jack-o-lanterns.

Saturday we woke up to snow!!! It had been fore casted so we weren’t too surprised, but it was still a shock to the system to see snow in October.  It was very wet slushy snow, but it stuck around all day, and continued to snow all day.  Believe it or not we still found a few garage sales to go to despite the weather.  The boys got a huge bin of new random cars, trucks, animals, etc to play with.  M meticulously went through all of the woman’s toys to pick out the best ones that we would take home with us.  We ran a few errands in the afternoon and then came back home to finish preparations for our ward party.  Before the ward party our neighborhood was also having a party.  We wanted to try and make it to both of the parties if we could.  M dropped us off at our neighborhood party and after running home for something and coming back he realized that I needed a lot of help.  It was really too cold to be outside on the bouncy slides and things they had rented, and doing the food for the boys by myself was a bit of a logistical nightmare.  He decided to stay and we hurried to eat so we could get him to the church to help with the set-up.  We dropped him off at the church and then I ran home to get the rest of our costume things.  Then we went back to the church and got everyone dressed and ready to go.  The party was a lot of fun.  B-man loved roaming around with his friends, and J thought he was in heaven being able to walk around and find candy and snacks at his level.  He didn’t appreciate a father that was dressed as Darth Maul, it really freaked him out.  But other than that it was a great night.  We were just happy he kept his costume on.  Three hours before we weren’t even sure if he would put it on, let alone keep it on!  After games and things we had the trunk or treat.  It was moved inside because of the foul weather, but people still had a good time.  We then booked it out of there to get home.  Once home we hurried to get people ready for bed.  I then went and picked up the babysitter for a party that we were going to that night.  We had a pretty quick turn around, and made it to the party at a decent time.  M and I had fairly easy costumes that didn’t require a lot of make-up. The party was very fun, especially the games that the teams played together.  It’s amazing how fun very simple games can be when people are willing to try.  After a fun night we made it home and were happy to go to bed after such a fun full day.


Today has been a great day.  M had no meetings and it made for a nice leisurely morning.  Church is getting crazier with J and RM, but we made it through somehow.  During the second and third hours M filled in for a nursery teacher that was gone, and the whole Primary was together singing and practicing for the program.  It was crazy, but we made it through.  We then came home for pot roast dinner, ran some errands to return items to friends, and then got our very tired boys in bed.  To be honest I am excited to go to bed myself.

We love you all!

The C Crew

October 23, 2011


October 23, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday was our normal routine.   We did shopping on Monday and then for FHE we took all the kids to soccer practice.  We try to sing primary songs or talk about something gospel related to make it a little more like a real FHE. 

The rest of the week is kind of a blur.  We have had a lot of things looming over our heads.  We were prepping for talks, trying to get other projects done around the house, and then the usual home things.  J and RM started getting sick towards the end of the week. 

J did this to the bread.  I am trying to figure out if he was hungry or frustrated.  Maybe both?
Friday morning one of my friends came over for a little just to break up the monotony.  We had a good time and I showed her my finished bookcase project.  That night for our family party we had pizza and then watched more episodes of “The Pink Panther.”  It’s a hit at our house.

I love seeing all four of these heads together.  I'm sure B-man would have been on M's lap if he could too.
Saturday was a busy day.  I was out early looking for things at garage sales.  It was a quick day but productive.  I headed back early so that I could make it to B-man’s soccer game.  It was a cold day and since RM was sick he stayed in the car with M.  Eventually he took J and RM home while I finished the game.  B-man wasn’t playing the last quarter anyway.  After soccer we went home and B-man rode his bike to a birthday party for some friends in the neighborhood.  He was so excited that he could ride his bike there.  While he was gone I hit a few more garage sales and then M and I took turns working on our talks.  We also managed to clean up the garage a little, plant a bunch of bulbs, and enjoy being outside a little. 




Today has been a busy day.  We spent the morning finishing our talks, and I was also working on a jumbo singing time.  Next week we begin practicing in the chapel for our Primary Program.  M also had two meetings to go to.  Once at church we got really nervous.  Neither one of us was very excited to wrangle the boys alone while the other was speaking, but we also weren’t that excited to speak.  It was a no win situation.  I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t pretty but we made it through somehow.  I’m just grateful that I can usually count on B-man to be reverent without much effort.  After church we came home and started working on dinner.  We ate and then went for a post dinner walk.  When we got home we had some friends there that dropped off their daughter so they could go speak at a fireside.  The boys had a great time having her over.  B-man had a little impromptu Sunday school with her.  He read her a chapter in the Book of Mormon, and then made her say various phrases like “I love God.”  And “I’m grateful Jesus made the Earth.”  It was really hilarious.  We chatted with them for a while once they came back and then were grateful for the end of the week!  We are so happy to be done with the talks…

We love you all!
The C Crew

October 16, 2011


October 16, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday was Columbus Day.  B-man was out of school, and so we celebrated by meeting a friend and her kids at a children’s museum in Winchester.  It was a beautiful drive and the museum was in a very quaint historic part of the town.  The museum itself was pretty small, but it had things that all ages loved to do.  We stayed for two hours (all that the parking meter would allow) and then headed back to the car for a picnic.  Our picnic was basically on the street.  I sat in the car with the van door open and fed the younger boys in the stroller while B-man paced the sidewalk with his food.  The boys didn’t seem to mind our lack of convention.  The rest of the day was fairly quiet.  That night after dinner I took B-man to soccer.  The practice went well and the two younger boys were happily and easily entertained.  Once home we started getting ready for bed.  We had some friends that were going to stay with us that night, and so I had to do a bit of shuffling as well.  RM ended up back in our closet.  It felt just like the good old days.  Right after everyone was in bed, and I had managed to pick up the house a little the Mannewitz’ arrived.  I showed them their rooms and then they got their kids in bed.  We chatted for a few minutes once everyone was asleep before heading to bed early ourselves.

The next morning it was great to have someone around to chat with.  It was fun to see their new baby and hear about their life since moving a few hours away.  Too soon they had to leave.  I did some grocery shopping that day and we had a quiet night.

Wednesday it was raining which meant no soccer for B-man.  I am not going to lie… it simplified my life quite a bit.  That morning though I took RM to the eye doctor.  They were doing a follow up exam.  I’m not sure it was really necessary, but they said to come back in six months so I did…  RM was an excellent patient and spent most of the time charming the women in the office.  He was doing a pretty good job.  It is strange to think that it was six months ago that we were there getting him checked the first time.  Time really goes by so quickly.   That night I was up late doing a bunch of baking.  I baked a batch of bread and then a pumpkin cake for book club.

Thursday I spent most of the day trying to get the house cleaned and ready for company.  A friend invited me over for dinner which was very helpful because I didn’t have to clean up a dinner mess.  Once everyone was in bed I rushed around getting everything ready.  I made a pumpkin layer cake, and it was the first time I had made the cake, plus I was changing the recipe. (Swapping out cool whip with whipping cream.)  I was a little nervous, but it was easier to assemble than I thought and turned out delicious!  For book club we discussed Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and had a lively discussion.  It was a very interesting book to read.  I highly recommend it to anyone.  M and many of the other husbands also read the book.  After most of the women had left I got to chat with one of my friends for about an hour before we realized that we had to go to bed or we would be toast the next day.

Friday was a good day. I love Fridays.  We ran a few errands in the morning, and again in the afternoon.  We got pizza for dinner, and everyone was excited.  I love pizza night when M is gone, it is so easy.  That night for our family dinner we watched some old school episodes of “The Pink Panther.”  They were a hit with B-man and J.  J currently loves pink so he was very happy with the selection.

Saturday we were all excited that M was coming home.  We all went garage sale hunting in the morning before and after B-man’s soccer games.  He really wanted a nerf gun, and my friend called me during his soccer game to tell me where one was.  We rushed to the house after the game and sure enough they still had one.   We went home for lunch and naps.  After naps we went to pick up M from the airport.  We were all so excited to see him.  We ran a few errands on the way home.  The rest of the day was pretty quiet.

Today was ward conference.  M was also sustained as Young Men’s President.  Church went reasonably well for us, and our new callings.  I really love working in the Primary.   We came home for dinner and our home teachers came over after.


We love you all!
The C Crew