Thursday, September 27, 2012

6 months!

As promised but a week later, I'll post some recent photos.
 This is Embry's 6 month birthday. I wanted to continue the tradition of all 3 boys getting to swing at a park for the first time when they turned 6 months. He seemed to like it!




                                         Here's Collin's first swing at 6 months in January 2011.


                                                  And Ashton in February 2009.



 Before the park visit, we had been to a York family reunion and the boys had a good time in the country visitng Royston and Wes' dad's childhood home.

 This is Ellen who was the flower girl in our wedding almost TEN years ago!!! Now she's holding our third born. How sweet is that!!
 Ellen's siblings, Mary and John who were so sweet with our boys and played with them. CHeck out this awesome wooden swing hanging from a trree.
 Wes' uncle also has a golf cart which my boys adored! They wanted to ride it the entire time.



 This is a random picture from finger painting last week as a reward becuase both boys stayed in their own beds all night without waking up (which seems to be a big deal lately around here). Unfortunately rewards are now expected all the time to do that. They seem to settle for "tattoons" as Ashton calls them. One day I bought them halloween placemats as a reward. The other night Ashton said, "is my treat going to be a toy or food...or another placemat?" too bad. I thought it was an awesome reward.

I love the photo because it shows their personalites so well even though they are also 2 years apart. Ashton was carefully painting the giant train and car stamps in a neat row and Collin was just banging the car over and over on the paper. I will say neither one really loved having the paint all over their hands even after I showed them how to really use their fingers to paint.
 This photo of course shows Embry sitting up which he can do now for a few seconds. Ashton loves watching him sit and then fall to the side.
 He is also loving his exersaucer at 6 months. All 3 boys adored this. I remember Wes groaning when I registered for it saying it was sensory overload.It is but has the most toys of any I could find and they love it!
 look at this adorable grin of his. I just love it!
And for fun, here's Ashton about the same age in it.
 
                                                  Notice carefully playing with the toys
                  And I've always Loved this photo of Collin playing in it at 6 months!
 


Thursday, September 20, 2012

Second Wind

I took a 2 hour nap tonight and now have a second wind to blog for a second while everyone else sleeps. Maybe I could get some stuff done if I did this every night. haha
We are so tired. One of these kiddos wakes up almost every night for SOMETHING! My pediatrician told me it would be like whackamole for awhile and he wasn't joking. Embry is the best one actually. He will wake up rarely when his monitor alarm goes off. (We have the angel monitor)
Collin is sleeping much better after ALL summer of waking up nightly. Ashton now wakes up occasionally with bad dreams about skunks eating him or soldiers or skeletons. I don't know where he gets this stuff except for school?! Who knows. poor guy. It's just wearing us out since we are up so late taking care of house stuff and Wes studying so late anyway. One day we will sleep again but thank God for giving us energy right now to make it through our days!

I did want to blog for each one of the boys because they all have had such milestones lately.
I'll start with Embry this time. He's 6 months old and is now rolling and turning all over the floor! He is such a joy and still so happy all the time! We can't imagine life without him. LAst week we went to a work party for me and my physician told me that your smile can light up a room Embry. You were the hit of the party! Embry got his first 2 teeth last week-you can barely see them but his brothers are always wanting me to stick my fingers in his mouth to show them the teeth. they love it and love him. I can't believe how protective and gentle they are with him. it's so sweet to hear them talk to him as they walk by in a sweet high voice after they have been fighting and yelling at each other. Collin can be hitting Ashton like crazy and then go to Embry and act like an angel. Anyway, Embry is now loving solids. He has had cereal, sweet potatoes and carrots. And Yes, I am making all his food again soo my ice cube trays and handheld blender are back out all the time. I really love making the food though. Just wish it would not create more dishes!

For Embry's 6 month celebration, I insisted we took him swinging because we have taken all 3 as they turned 6 months. We stopped at our park on the way home from a York family reunion for a few minutes just to get this photo on his birthday. I have such a wonderful husband who supports all of my crazy "I have to have this photo" moments. I was determined to make the swing thing happen since it was a tradition!

Now Collin-Since turning 2 you have had some big changes. You are now the big man at daycare. Without living in your brother's shadow there, Linda says you have become more of a leader and are getting into less trouble. Oh, except for the day you insisted on climbing her bookshelf and knocked it down and got a black eye. You told me you wanted the Thomas ABC book and Ashton just nodded like he understood. Apparently, that's on the top shelf. Ashton did tell you, "Collin, you should NOT do that. It is sooooo dangerous!" I guess he used to protect you at daycare. Now you're on your own but you seem to be adjusting. Miss Linda also gives you a lot of dairy treats now that your big bro isn't there. Every Tuesday I pick you up late due to daddy's band practice and you are usually eating an icecream sandwich or klondike bar! I'm glad you get to experience these things that we don't eat at home! You are so sweet to cuddle with. I love the moments right before bed when you pray! You were the first one to feel comfortable praying out loud and that got Ashton more comfortable too. It's so sweet to hear your soft voice say, thank you for this day. Thank you for Jesus. One day you said, "Thank you for birthdays and Julia" (your favorite daycare friend)

And now Ashton's big milestone of course is starting school. You are absolutely loving it! I wish you would tell me more details about your day but I'm learning that that's going to just be how life is with boys! You do share little bits with me throughout our days together. I am so thankful that I have another year with you two days a week before you start school for real. I am trying not to think about how big you are but you are so grown up! You sometimes act like 4 going on 40! You have been enjoying Tuesdays when Denny picks you up from school while daddy has band practice. You have enjoyed going to bass pro shop and playing putt putt and lots of time in the basement and outside. Your new favorite thing to do in the basement with daddy and your brothers is to build a box tower and then taking turns being the one to knock it down while you try to protect it by throwing balls at the person and covering them with a blanket. Yesterday you showed denny how to play and were very specific in your instructions! I love hearing your squeal with your daddy and Collin. Soon Embry will be in on this game as well! I love how your mind is working these days. You are asking questions like, "why do we want to be with Jesus in heaven" and " Jesus must have a big car to take so many people to heaven!" You also tell your brother, "Collin, don't get mad. the Bible says don't do that" It's so great that your little mind is starting to think about spiritual things and I can see God working in your life. I also love how you are able to work things out in your mind. SOmetimes the questions you ask are amazing. You like to check up on us a lot. I think you think you're smarter than us sometimes by asking me, "Are Sally's lights on?" meaning our Mazda (since you have named all 3 cars names from the Cars movie) and mommy, you need to feed Embry because he is really crying! You definitely keep track of all going on in this family!

Thank you 3 boys for making our life so amazing. We had so much fun celebrating denny and daddy's birthdays at Sesame street live with you last weekend. You (all 3!) loved it and we just love experiencing life through you! I'll try to post more recent photos tomorrow.

Friday, September 7, 2012

gotta love marching season

My night was so awful I had to write about it. Fridays are superlong as it is but this one has to be a record. This morning we all went to get haircuts. the boys were so good and the ladies just kept commenting on how well behaved they were so on the way home I had to stop at the park. They were good there too and we actually had a good time and I'm thinking that I am finally getting the hang of having all 3 of them out. But tonight was awful. I was already feeling tired and needing a break. The boys were eating spaghetti and Embry was starting to get a little fussy from being tired, but then Igot a phonecall. A children's  director called me from a church we are visiting so we could discuss how to handle snack time and Ashton's allergies. I couldn't hear him so I went upstairs to talk. While up there I could hear a lot of giggling and squeals so i knew something was up. At the end of the conversation, Ashton came up and said, "Mommy Collin just got spaghetti all over the side of the table...but I did NOT do it." I came downstairs and there was spaghetti everywhere. Collin was a mess of course but spaghetti was all over his highchair, the side of our kitchen table, and all over the floor and blinds and window beside his chair. He was really quiet when I came down and as soon as he saw my face he said quietly, "I need a napkin mommy."
 By this time Embry who had been on a blanket for a while was really fussy so he had to be helped first. I took Collin's bowl and tray off his highchair and wiped his hands so he couldn't get food on his clothes and then he said, "can I get down mommy?"
Ashton who is big tonight said, "I don't know what Collin's gonna get!"
I told him as I do several times a day, "Ashton this is between mommy and Collin."
"Time out mommy?" COllin says.
"Yes Collin, you have time out in this chair for a long time." I just turned his highchair away from Ashton and took Embry upstairs to get him ready for bed.
Collin was screaming and yelling in his chair for mommy and daddy and then GG and Pop which are my grandparents.That was pretty funny I admit.
Ashton yells up, "Mommy I have to poop now but I am not done eating. I am going to finish all my dinner so I can have dessert. Collin really wants to get down."
Nope, not yet, I say while nursing Embry.
Ashton, "not yet Collin."Collin screams louder.
I get Embry in bed and then go downstairs to deal with Collin. I gave him a bath and a talk. By now I am really glad I made time to read my Bible today as I actually read about being loving before confronting punishment so I felt good about the way I handled Collin and he could actually tell me why he was in trouble.
Then I come down to have dessert with Ashton who is so proud that he did not get into trouble. But then Collin wakes up twice and then wakes Embry up. Meanwhile I still have to bathe Ashton and deal with all his little ways to stall for bedtime including asking for "cream" three times for different bug bites or itchy spots on his arm. SO it is now after 9:30 and he finally is in bed and Embry, who I finally ended up feeding again just to calm him down, is also quiet.
By the way while I was nursing Embry again Ashton did tell me he would help Collin if he got out of bed again since I was so busy feeding Embry. I really hope Collin doesn't get up tonight. He is finally sleeping through the night again. So now after I finish this, I have to tackle the kitchen. I know I am so blessed and my life is so easy compared to a lot of people in this world, but tonight was hard for me and every day like this that I experience I have more and more respect for single mothers and by the way I really hope this is not a playoff season for the football team. Sorry but you would say the same if you were in my shoes.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Kazillion Pictures from our FUN FUN FUN Sesame (York) Street Birthday Party...



Brought to you by the numebrs 2 and 4

getting ready for party day the week before! This took a lot of prep and planning this year! I had some help from the grandparents though as you'll see. My mother in law helped me cut SS pictures the boys had colored and we had them on all the doors. I had lots of SS trivia placed around the basement too. This was such a FUN theme!!
marshmallow kabobs

jolly rancher lollipops which we gave as Abby's fairy wand favors


woo hoo!! Party day is here! ready to go in their sesame shirts


I had so much fun wearing my shirt as well! Representin' the street!
Monster footprints leading to the door

Awesome balloon wreath my parents made. i found the idea and loved it so they offered to make it for me since I have a latex allergy! It's beautiful!

My mother-in-law and mom helped with these veggie trays. Here's Oscar

Elmo of course

My parents-the professional wreath makers!
The wonderful cake in a box cake which is our tradition. I love Trenise who owns this home based bakery where she only sells to allergy kids! It was awesome!


Love these sweet girls which hae been my friends forever!

My dad and his dad!

Wes' parents gave the boys this awesome picnic table for their b'day. they LOVE it! Ashton loves to dine al fresco! Notice the cute elmo face my talented mom made!

Our older neighbors Jackson and Cole who are so sweet to my boys!
Pretty Pregnant Kate!

Little Tykes at the party Eason and Embry 6 wks apart!

Our neighbor Maggie

Amanda looking so cute in her glasses
Cake Time!

Dads were on balloon duty


Embry loved hanging with our friend Meg, also our talented photographer! She knows our boys well now!

George got the party started blowing balloons and letting them fly.

Collin was the only one who played Oscar's trash toss



opening gifts after everyone left

My mom and her mom having a water table fight!

Collin excited about his new truck

tennis rackets!





Grand parents were really into the water table!
Pop enjoying a sprinkled marshmallow

Little E was a champ as usual!

One tired boy!!