Christmas times a comin'

Colton getting the tree ready. Someday I will get a real tree for Christmas, but for now I will go with the kid-friendly, non-vacuuming needles, not-thinking-about-fire-hazard-because-I-forget-to-water... plastic tree.

These last two were taken with the camera on my phone. Sorry that they are all pixelated, I forgot my camera!

Christopher checking out Santa. Jesse says, "There's only one fat guy bringing presents to our house and he isn't wearing a red suit." Thankfully Colton doesn't get what he is saying, but laughs anyway.

Colton putting in his "order" to Santa.

Dear Lord, please let us find a Bumblebee Transformer. Amen

County Roads, take me home...

So really I took a plane, but there are a lot of country roads here in the midwest. On a whim (and cheap $250 tickets), Colton, Christopher and I hopped on a plane to visit my family in the midwest for Thanksgiving and to give a proper send off to my *baby* brother. This weekend he is leaving the nest and moving into his first apartment. Today we went to thrift stores to see what kind of stuff we could find to fill his one bedroom bachelor pad. John is venturing out into the true workforce as a police officer for a little town in Iowa.
Congratulations John, we're proud of you!

And of course I couldn't do a blog without a couple of funny pictures of the boys! Hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving!

1. No sleep the night prior
2. Some animal tearing apart trash and slewing it all over the yard.
3. Possibly eating $250-500 in a remodeling issue
4. Cell phone possibly(probably) stolen, being used by someone else.
5. Teething baby
6. Fight with husband where I act like a crazy person and take all frustration out on him. (In which he is responsible for none of it and doesn't deserve.)
7. Crying in front of the contractor. (Thankfully he is a good friend and had some good advice)
8. Teacher conferences.
9. Deep and sincere apologies to husband (most likely to include and back or foot massage).
10. Puffy, tired eyes and headache.

Dear blog friends,
I truly hope that you don't take my ranting as mere whining (because truly that's what it is). So I apologize to you if you were looking for cute kid pictures and my witty banter. But here is hope and wisdom:

The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. Lamentations 3:22-23 NLT

Or as Scarlett O'Hara said, "Tomorrow is another day"

May the force be with you

Just a quick post to share our halloween costumes and pumpkin carving. We stopped at a few neighbors and co-workers and then had a great time at the Fall Famtastic.

Baby YodaI can believe I am wearing this. I will get my parents back someday.

Boba Fett (Star Wars)Sampson and Delilah

This wig is just way too funny. I love you Jesse for doing this for me!

The pre-halloween outfit. I didn't figure I could get away with him wearing it any other day!Colton loved scooping out the "brains"Christopher just wanted to chew on it!

Eggs and GARbage

I know, I know it has been a few weeks since we got back from Yellowstone, but I had to share. This is the first time I have uploaded a video, so I hope it works!

As you know my husband is so cool, and now everyone will know how awesome he is! He was nominated for a prestigious award that they only give out every 3-7 years. It was a complete surprise for him, he thought he was assisting in a presentation! I am very proud of myself also for KEEPING the secret! He had no clue and I wish I could've got a picture of his jaw on the floor when he finally realized what was going on! They presented it to him at breakfast and then we had the rest of the day to play in Yellowstone! In order to stay discreet, I couldn't video the presentation, but you know I whipped out the camera as soon as they announced his name!
Here are the pics:

Me and Jesse (pic taken by Colton)

Yeehaw!Bill Mercer and Marcia Hurd presenting Jesse with award.

Jesse and Colton checking out a bison.

(Funny story: Right after this picture was taken, the bison started trotting our direction. Jesse bolts for the car saying "get in the car, Get In The Car, GET IN THE CAR!". As we are zipping toward the car, an Asian man carries his toddler girl TOWARD the bison and sets her down on the log in front of Jesse to snap a picture! AAaaaah!
Can we say culture differences! [I can imagine LB laughing and nodding right now!])
Mom and her boys!

New brain

If I only had a brain...

We finally got sick of our computer randomly turning off and I am sitting at a new computer. I haven't had a new computer in over 6 years! I love it! New gadgets and things to do! Here are a few pics since I had to try out the cool memory card slot right on the front of the PC! Yea! Oh, pardon me while I wipe the smoochie marks off of the screen so I can post this!

Yum. BK is great fuel for soccer, right?

Jackie enjoying the game!

Alex and Shelby entertaining themselves with Stackers!

GO MUSTANGS!!! Hurray for Coach Ashby!

Imagine that.

Turn off TV + turn off computer = clean house

We are finally seeing the final steps of the inside of our house being finished. Tomorrow we have our bedroom set being delivered. I am so excited to have "grown up" furniture, you know an actual set that matches and is not hand-me-down or yard sale treasures (don't think that I am opposed to either)! We still have some trim work and painting as a result of the windows, but it really feels like this house has come together. Dare I say that we love it. Now we get to attack the debt that is a result of our home improvements!

I don't know why I am kind of rambling, sorry.

Anyway, for those within driving distance:
For all Stay At Home Moms/Wife (or if you just have the day off!)
Tuesday Oct. 9th
Playgroup at my house
10:30 to ?
Build your own tacos and other various mexican food will be served.

Hope to see you there!

He may not be Einstein...

But he shares another similarity! This picture of Christopher just cracks me up!

Have a great weekend!

Happy from my Nappy!

My very good friend left some tips on her blog last week on how to acheive the perfect nap, so I decided to attack this Monday with a nap! Sorry, Amber, I'm an under-the-covers napper, but the rest of the tips worked great! Now I am ready to summit Mt. Laundry!

Friday Update

Ok, so even though summer is not officially over, the weather has definitely changed to fall here. So why am I still just as busy?

Here is an update on what has been going on around here:

1. Visited Jesse in Cutbank last weekend since he had to stay there and needed some company. Plus we spent all of Saturday in Glacier! It was beautiful!


2. Christopher had his first pool experience at the hotel! He liked it even though the water was freezing!


2. Dentist Check up (Why is it, that the only time I floss is right before I go to the dentist? Like I get extra points for "catching up", or something! Does anyone else do that? Whatever, liars!)

3. Colton started soccer. There is nothing more amusing than watching 3 on 3 Five year olds try to remember which goal is theirs, to have good sportsmanship when the other team scores, and remember to pass to your teammates! He is having a great time and you all can officially call me a Soccer Mom! (He's the one with black shorts and black socks)


4. At 4:00 today I will be stopping by Walgreens to pick up 412 pictures that I ordered. Why? Oh, Laura Beth, Katie, and I will be joining forces for a Scrap-A-thon til midnight (or later). I am sooooo excited! The last thing that I scrapbooked was Colton's 2nd birthday!


5. Christopher and I went to the Ladies Garden Tea Party on Tuesday to honor Abby K. and I could not find a fancy hat for any thing. My solution... put the garden in my hair! It was fun getting dressed up (I know Rachel M. is laughing out loud right now), and getting together with a bunch of women. It was really nice to honor Abby, we will miss her!

My "hollywood" pose!

6. Don't get fitted with contacts when you are pregnant and not order them until after. Your eyes change, and not a little bit, but pretty drastically. My glasses broke (huh, imagine that. Again) and so until they could be replaced, I ordered contacts from my last exam (pregnant). I put them on (not pregnant), tried to drive around and had to cut my errands short because these things were making my vision absolutely backwards! I think I would've been better without any in! So I have an appt. for a new fitting.

7. Christopher got his 4 month check up on Tues. 17 pounds(74%) and 27 inches long(93%). Him and his carrier/car seat together weigh 27.8 lbs. I am getting some sweet biceps!


8. Colton has been making this wheezy, gurgly sound when he breathes for the past three days. Which I thought might just be Colton being Colton. But yesterday it sounded pretty bad, so again we went to the dr. and he has a bronchial infection. Opps, well chalk it up to the times that I took him right away and it was a case of the sniffly sneezes.



9. I am anxiously awaiting a text from Rachel M. (to be exact, Kris, her husband) to find out what they had, what they named it, how big it is! She was enduced at 5 am this morning!!!

10. Jesse just walked in the door. Carrying a little bag from the Pita Pit. It is sooo yummy and any new restaurant in GF is reason to celebrate!

Our "bible"

So Jesse was probably one of those kids that pretended to pay attention at church and so I shouldn't have been surprised when he handed me the outline (giggling) this sunday with his "notes". Bold items are to be replaced with what is in parentheses.

Three Enemies of a Focused Family

1. Selfishness
(bible verses)
2. Slothfulness
Proverbs 24:30-34 I walked by the field (kitchen) of a lazy person, the vineyard (dishes and tupperware) of one lacking sense (were everywhere). I saw that it was overgrown with thorns. (the counter was messy.) It was covered with weeds (sticky stuff), and it's walls were broken down.

Hmmm, after a little discussion and him pleading "I meant this for both of us!", I had to laugh and have a little grace. I am thankful that he keeps things in perspective for me and knows when I need a chuckle. I love him!
But in my defense, Sunday morning I had two children dressed and clean, fresh blueberry pancakes and bacon prepared all before church and the mess from the previous nights' dinner (made by Jesse) taking over the counter.

That's MY man!!!

As I type this, my awesome husband is boarding a plane for Florida. Why, you may ask?
We-he-elllll (as I puff out my chest for my humble hubby), he is being recognized nationally by the AUSA (attorneys) for a child exploitation case that he worked on, that led from a bad guy here to a really bad guy in Florida. He worked with Jon (Wendy's hubby) from the GFPD and another ICE agent out of Florida, who are also being recognized.

He is so cool. Plus really hot!!!! :)

WARNING! Corpse Pics

Mom:1
Mouse:0

Or as Colton says when he plays Lego StarWars
"Oh yea, who's the man? I'm the man, Oh yea!!!"
I disposed of the creature b/f Colton got home from school, but Sierra was very proud of our work and wanted to "play" with it!

Goin' Huntin'

Yesterday with everything that was going on (Jesse going away for a week for work, Colton's first day of kindergarten, and now this) I didn't have time to stop by Ace to pick up anything for this issue. Actually I was secretly hoping it would disappear on its own, but it never works that way! What is my issue (as if the picture didn't give it away)? A mouse.
Cute? Ooooooh, Noooooo! I think diseased, Hanta virus ridden rodent. I think I have it trapped in our old bedroom upstairs since yesterday. Unfortunately that is where all of my clothes are and (as if this is a shocker to my family) and piles of laundry that have not made it to the laundry room and I refuse to bring into my nice, clean new bedroom. So any time that I want to get dressed I have to go into the dreaded room, like pajamas last night and getting dressed this morning. My dog is not a "mouser" so even when I send her in there before me, she won't save me from the mouse.I saw is this morning and screamed so loud, jumped on said pile of laundry and Colton came running in the room, squealing with delight "Yea, I think you saw the mouse!!!" (huh, what was your first clue? He apparently does not realize how horribly disgusting they are.) And now I see what it (hopefully there's only one) has eating... hmm someone left a protein, superbar in their pant pocket. So not only am I just going after a mouse, but a SuperMouse hopped up on protein.

So this is my defense. I am determined to get this little varmint. Why do I feel this is turning into a weird version of Elmer Fudd vs. Tom and Jerry? Wish me luck!!!

The Jack is Back!

My surrogate big sister, who moved away, then recently moved a tiny bit closer, is up and blogging again! Miss you girlie and your little girls too!

Jackie

Diaper-free?

As if we don't have enough pressure on parents to ensure our babies are properly nourished, developing correctly and are happy, here comes THIS! What are your thoughts?

Since DC

Ok, so I know that it has been a while, but a lot has happened and I'll try to catch you up as much as I can. Just about every other day something happens and I think "oh, this will make a great blog", but I get busy and my thoughts and pictures never make it to the computer! So this is only a portion of what has been going on in our house!

1. We got Colton back a week early
2. celebrated my dad's b-day in Helena (with his new puppy Wilma)
3. painted, carpeted and moved into the basement (finally!)
4. Christopher is rolling to his side, discovered his tongue, and experienced his first food!
5. Colton getting ready for school and his first day of kindergarten today (see additional post)

And here are the pictures that accompany these events!

1. Colton is home!!!!

Who says the bouncer is only for 6 to 18 months!___________________________________
2. At Grandpa's house
Wilma (with her dew claw bandages) was supposed to avoid getting them wet or dirty, but within an hour of us being there, she played in the sand pile and water tank with Colton!
___________________________________
3. Painted, carpeted and moved into basement!
(Before/After pics coming soon!)

Loopy on paint fumes!
No rest for the weary___________________________________

4. Christopher's milestones

"So when mom is about to take a picture, just do this! Ok?"
"Ok, phbbbb

First food- Rice cereal with bananaHe makes this face, just before bursting into a full blown cry!