ho ho ho

thanksgiving @ farmers

the whole gang

before they went to church and we drove back to WA

darling picture of the X-man
he was a little bit of a handful in the non-babyproofed house

night games! these crazies played out in the dark and cold (Lauren even had an injury) and they loved it!

our boys before Thanksgiving dinner

Xander's first Thanksgiving

our 6 month old

To celebrate Xander's 1/2 birthday (really our Nation's Independence) we went camping for 3 nights. Xander slept better in the tent then he had been at home. Yeah, his sleep has been a huge change in the past couple months. He wakes up now once around 5am for some milk then back to sleep for a couple hours. But there have been many nights were he as waking a couple times for food and at least once where it was 4 times!!!! Not ok! Last week we started letting him cry it out if he woke before 4:30 or so, the first cry session lasted about 40 minutes :( He is doing better and doesn't cry long if he wakes up at all before the morning snack time.

I wrote the above weeks ago, now today is our last day with a 6 month old. Xander is well into 17lbs. he is growing and happy and so much fun. His sleep is still an issue (mostly for me it doesn't bother anyone else especially not the X-man himself, he gets fed at least once in the night). He is generally super smiley and way easy going. He eats real food and loves it, he started to get mad at us last week when the food ran out or we took something away from him. He sits up pretty well and can get around the living room by rolling and scooting backwards. We love our big boy!!!

remember father's day?

James is the best daddy for our sons! He loves them SO much and they, all 3, adore him. James is all boy so he is perfect dad for boys. While Xander and I were in Utah last month James and the big brothers put their allowance together and bought a couple new sets of legos and spent the weekend putting them together. He loves to rough house with them (all 3) and wrestle, they build sand castles and get dirty outside, and they all love cartoons and video games (even X-man loves his screen time). As boy as they all are James is also raising little gentlemen, he tells them I'm the princess and shows by word and example how to treat me. He is a great teacher and thanks to him our children will be every emotionally healthy. I feel so blessed to have James for the daddy of my kids. I chose well.

before Church we ate breakfast together, baked french toast and sausage

my parents and our friend Jared Heiner came over for dinner, French dip sandwiches and tapioca for dessert

look at the way the baby looks at his daddy!

blogging again

I wish I blogged more. I read other people's blog and think about posting on my own blog and then never do it. That's lame. I'm going to do better.

Something has been on my mind for over a month now. I was visiting a friend in Utah (see my Utah trip should definitely be on this blog) and he was holding Xander and said said to me, "Look at you living your dream!" Wow. That's right. I am living my dream. I always wanted to be a wife and a mother and now I am doing it. Wow. That's cool. After I left him I spent more time thinking about this dream of mine I'm living:

Is this how I saw myself as a wife? Am I the kind of wife I want to be?

What was I like as a mommy in my dream? Am I there?

What can I do better?

What should I change or improve?

Is there anything I need to eliminate?



I kind of think about this often, I feel so blessed to have a family and I want to make sure I am making the most of it. I'm aware how fast time goes and before I know it we'll be empty-nesters. The other day the house was extremely messy, having not really unpacked from a camping trip, being busy teaching summer school for 3 days and feeling lazy. I thought is this my dream? Is this how I saw my living room looking in my dream? Is this how imagined feeling? NO. I don't want a messy house, I don't want to feel annoyed about it all of the time. I got my bum in gear and slowly (feeding and kissing the boys in my life take a lot of time) things are getting back in order.

Today I'm feeling like the woman in my dreams. Laundry is going (although in my dreams I had a maid. All my dreams can't come true. Life isn't that perfect), the house smells like banana chocolate muffins, Xander is happy and well fed rolling all over the vacuumed-just-yesterday floor. I am happy. I feel so blessed.

Thoughts to ponder:

Are you living the life you wanted for yourself?

Is there anything you can change to more fully make your dreams come true?

a few pictures of us

The little man wore his swim trunks for the first time- he loves the hot tub

He can now role from back to stomach and get his arms out from under him

He always finds his "star lollipop" when he plays in his exersaucer

Aidan is now a BIG first grader!

The little Manager

mother's day

I love being a mom, I knew I would. I've been a mother all my life, I was called "mini-mom" when I was younger cause I loved the babies (I always holding other people's babies). I am blessed that I get to be a step-mom, I love that. It isn't much different than being a "real" mom, the boys just aren't here all of the time, so it's kind of like I'm a part-time-mom. I am so happy that I get to be Xander's mommy, what a treat. He is so amazing, I just love the little guy.

Smiley Xander, look how round his face is getting!

Thanks for making me a full-time-mom!

Mother's Day 2011 was perfect. I wasn't feeling well so we stayed home from Church. It was a lazy day with the first part spent in bed, sleeping, eating (James made me a delicious breakfast!), feeding the baby and kissing him and the daddy. I have such a great husband, he helps me be such a good mom! In the afternoon we called James' Mom on the way to see my own. We went a little early to my parents so my mom could play with Xander, they even took a short nap together. All of the husbands made dinner: ham, amazing potatoes, salad and brussel sprouts. Dad even made gluten-free cookies for dessert. All of the husbands also bought the moms a gift certificate at this Chinese foot massage place! What an exciting surprise. James and I took a walk with Xander and the girls. Everyone passed around the babies, it's so fun to hold Henry, he's just so tiny and sweet. I loved mother's day and can't wait for next year!

Leah helped James, these 2 are such good buddies

on our walk, mostly Xander was pushed in his stroller but at the end he got to ride with the big kids