We are THANKFUL...

I got this idea from a blog post that the most wonderful Becky Higgins did. As most of you know, I love ALL things Becky Higgins! In fact, she just came out with her new Project Life kit last week. (I prefer the turquoise design). I am seriously contemplating trying it one of these years! (I'm adding it to my Santa list although my list is already quite long!) Since I have decided that I no longer have time to scrapbook, I think it would be a great compromise to still capturing our family life.

Becky's family used the word 'grateful' and talked about gratitude but her kids are a bit older than mine are. I decided to stick with the much simpler version and discuss 'Thankful.' I made this poster (it's not hung just yet, but will be tonight - just need to pick up some 3M picture hanging strips - one of the best inventions ever!)

Anyway, back to the project. The boys and I talked about Thanksgiving and all the things that we had to be thankful for and then I told them that all week they could write down things that they were thankful for and either write the word or draw the picture. They had a lot of fun with it and we had some good discussion about how lucky we are as a family. I'll post a picture next week on Thanksgiving to show all the things that we came up with that we are blessed with. Don't worry, we already have tv and computer on there - that took Reid about 10 minutes. We also added "food" for baby Ross and Ryan drew a couple of 'abstract' images :)

It's Official!

We have a toddler! Ross is walking and taking steps now. Russ was home on Veteran's Day and our daycare was closed so he had Ryan and Ross with him. I got a text at work that said "My baby boy just up and walked 10 feet or so on his own." Even Hockey Ross was there and got to witness it... SO... I sat around for about 30 minutes longer wishing I was at home and then I left work. I had to run by Sam's club to grab some milk, gatorade, etc and by the time I got home he was down for a nap.

Eventually he showed off his new skill for me (video above) and he's been taking steps here and there since then. He usually attempts walking as his first means of travel and then when he loses his balance he finishes crawling to wherever he was trying to go.

Lego Saturday

Small snippets of perfect this Saturday...

The picture is of poor quality because I took it with my phone as I cuddled up on the couch with my book that I can't seem to put down. Russ was in the basement watching the Tigers play and I had just laid Ross down for a nap. The older boys played legos "TOGETHER" for almost two hours. They sorted, "found" good pieces, organized, made a good guy vs. bad guy castle, etc. They had a few moments of bickering where I had to remind them that the baby was asleep right at the top of the stairs that they had decided to set up camp on, but for the most part they played like best friends for the longest time. Me - I read a ton of my book, dozed off for a bit in between "mom" questions and just thoroughly enjoyed watching them play so well together.

Not sure that this is exactly "blog-worthy" but I wanted to post it to document the good time.

Whhheeeee

A HUGE thank you to Grandpa & Grandma Sharp and Grandpa & Grandma McDowell. Ross' birthday kind of came and went quickly with him being sick. I know I mentioned that he got a slide from his grandparents and my hope was to have it in the house over the winter to give the boys something to get some exercise on. So far, my hopes are being met completley. Our main living room looks like a toy store and book store collided at the moment (please excuse the mess) but the boys have really been playing hard. I wonder when I'll stop using that excuse - when the last one is 18? Anyway, Ross has now basically mastered getting up the slide and going down it without help. He still stumbles down the ladder here and there and it's much easier for him to do without pants on which is why he lost the jeans in the last few videos. But here are more videos than anyone but those grandparents will want to see...

Two front teeth...

When I was in Louisiana last week for work, Reid lost one of his front teeth. The tooth fairy visited and left him his standard gold dollar and regular dollar but I had failed to get a picture of his new smile. We captured a few pictures last night:

At least we know something Reid needs for Christmas now :)

Catching Up - Halloween

I know, I've gotten way behind on blogging lately but I do have a bunch of great excuses if anyone wants to hear them. I'm going to do a random blog here of everything that's been going on to get everyone caught up.

1. Halloween. The boys had a great Halloween! I wanted Halloween to come and be done with so I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have but I did like that the boys had fun. Never again will I schedule a week long business trip for the day after Halloween!

Russ let the boys pick out pictures for the jack o lanterns so he certainly had a challenge but they had a good time and we got lots of compliments on our cool jack o' lanterns.

Reid was a white ninja (second costume I had to buy as the first was the "wrong" kind of cop. I bought a policeman uniform but he wanted to be a SWAT guy, thankfully it could be returned). Ryan was a fireman. He never wavered once after he decided that was what he wanted. The costume was a great quality and looked so cute on him. I've never "re-used" a costume but this is one I might actually save for Ross. Ross was a dalmation. The costume was a 2T but wasn't really that big and it was nice, fluffy and warm which came in handy Halloween night.

Oh, and Russ and I got in on a little of fun too - we went to an adult party on Saturday night. The party was a lot of fun and we had a great time! The boys had a fabulous time with their babysitter too. We had Trey, our daycare lady's son, watch the boys. They had a huge dart gun fight and the boys were still talking about it the next day. Male babysitters are the best when you have three rambuctious boys. And guess what - he cleaned up the toys/living room, dinner mess, read books and put all three in bed...

Ross' First Birthday and the party that didn't happen

Ross got up several times during the night Friday night. I knew one time he felt really warm but I never got the thermometer out. Each time I just put him back to bed. When he woke up on Saturday morning he still felt really warm and I took his temp... 102 degrees. I gave him some Ibuprofen and it went down but it was back up even before the six hours was up. He was miserable. I told him that we were going to have to cancel his birthday party for the next day.

We stayed inside all day Saturday and Ross was pretty crabby most of the day. Luckily on Saturday night, he did sleep through the night. When he woke up Sunday morning he was fever free and in a pretty good mood... for a while. Luckily we got some pics of his 1st birthday outfit right when he got dressed because it didn't stay clean for long.

Ross really did not need anything for his birthday. He has all the common toys a one year old needs - coupe car, wagon, Tonka truck, Kangaroo Climber - you get my drift. He does really enjoy slides when we go to the park so his grandparents (Grandpa Steve, Grandma Linda, Grandpa Jerry, and Grandma Cella) went together and got him a new slide. I plan to keep the slide in the house during the winter and then take it out back next summer. It's a bit big for Ross to do by himself right now but big enough that he can share with his brothers too!

Ross says "wheeee" when he wants to go down the slide...




We still had a couple of visitors on Sunday even though the party was cancelled. Cheri, Scott, and Caits swung by for a while and had some lunch with us and gave Ross a toy and some money for his savings account - thanks Cashiers!!! In the afternoon Carol, Alyssa and Taylor Zimmerman swung by and gave Ross a set of keys with multiple buttons (noises and a flashlight) and a helicopter with four balls that has several activities on it. He loves them both... and so does Ryan. We have had to remind Ryan that they are Ross' toys. Thanks Zimmerman gals!! It was really nice to see you all again.

While the Zimmerman girls were there we decided to do Ross' birthday cake. Hockey Ross and our visiting hockey player, Tyler, were home also. We all sat around and watched Ross basically destroy his cake by playing in it... but I don't think he ever really took a bite of it.

Before:

After:

That evening before bed all three boys actually played on the slide for about 20 minutes so I had to get some pics of it.