They can drive me crazy sometimes, but you know, I think I have some very cute kids!

SNOW!

So, it's snowed a bit yesterday and today. I thought I'd be a good girl and go into work a second day this week. The snow didn't seem that bad, so I thought it would be managable. I shoveled the driveway and, with a little effort, got the car onto the road. The roads were bad, but I thought I would try it and see. Things were slick and I slid not to far from home, but I kept going. I got to the freeway when I chickened out. I was only going about 30 mph and saw a truck slide off the road. At that point I got off the freeway and headed home. Things were ok until I got to 1100 North, where there's a pretty good hill . We bought four new tires a year ago so the tires are, or at least were, in pretty good shape. It took me FOREVER to get back up 1100 North and there were multiple times where I thought I was going to have to walk it home. After some shoveling, some pushing, lots of attempts including Jeff driving around the neighborhood for a different approach, we finally got it in. So, now I'm happily a homebody today and very very greatful that I can work from home.
On a good note, the boys are going to go sledding at the pit instead. At least there's some good to the snow!

Sledding!!!

I'll have to cover Christmas in another post when I have time. We did have a great Christmas and Nate told me a number of times that this was the best Christmas ever. He did tell me that Santa messed up because he wanted a dinosaur race track with a loop-da-loop and he did get a race track with a loop-da-loop, but it wasn't a dinosaur one so he was disappointed. Oh well. Zach asked for water guns from Santa and he got nerf guns instead, so apparently Santa was off his game. However, they did have a fabulous time and I'll cover Christmas later.

So, on a whim today while grocery shopping, we finally bought some sleds for the boys. Why oh why have I not bought sleds before? My yard is full of hills, and some steep ones at that. The boys have had a ball in the snow today. They've sledded down the hills in the backyard, the side yard, and even the driveway. We finally have a use to our hills! They've had a ball and I'm hoping that they'll sleep really well tonight. Anyone up for sledding?

Coughing again

Zach was coughing again and woke up last night on two separate occasions screaming because he couldn't breathe. Thank goodness for nebulizer treatments! He kept coughing this morning so I took him to the earliest doctor's appointment available at 2:30 pm. Doctor heard crackling so we did chest x-rays, again. Thankfully the x-rays didn't look too bad and the diagnosis is bronchial pneumonia. Hopefully we can just treat it with nebulizer treatments and an antibiotic. I feel so bad for my little boy! I hope things get better soon and he's able to enjoy Christmas.

Our Christmas Angels

I meant to do this earlier. We had some Christmas Angels come this year and it was such a neat experience for our family. The did it from December 1st to December 12th and left things on our porch. On the last day, they came to our porch to sing Christmas carols and let us know how it was. It's a very sweet family in our Ward and we were very touched. We were also very impressed with how sneaky they were. On one of the days, they came on a Saturday morning with all of the blinds open and we had no clue who it was. I thought they were so creative that I wanted to list what they did:

1st Day- A patridge in a can of pears (a can of pears)
2nd Day- two Dove candybars
3rd Day- Free french bread
4th Day- a notepad for when the birds call
5th Day- Five glazed donuts (golden rings)
6th Day- six eggs that the geese laid
7th Day- Bubble bath for the swans to swim in
8th Day- Chocolate milk because the maids milked chocolate milk
9th Day- a CD of Christmas music (that the ladies danced too)
10th Day- some heat pads because the Lords that lept all nght needed a little heat for their sore muscles
11th Day- a book because the pipers piped and picked up this book that they were positively pumped about giving to us
12th Day- a calendar with pictures of the Savior on it so we could remember him the whole year through

I was very touched by this family. The are such a sweet family and it meant so much to my boys. They got excited every night when they heard a knock at the door. I hope to do something like this for someone next year.

Dear Santa,

Dear Santa,

We love you.

Love,

The Hillhouse Family

My little Zachie part 2

Ok, so I think my son might have a problem. Zach was over playing at a friend's house today. It was a friend we haven't played with much so I stayed for a couple of minutes until he felt more comfortable before I left. At one point, he turned to the friend's mom and asked "Can I have some of your candy?". I had to laugh, but told him that's not what we do at a friends house because that's rude. I think I have a problem and need to have a talk with my son!

Nathan, on the other hand, informed me last night that he can't have any more treats until January because he's starting to get a little fat. My guess is that they had an assembly in school a couple of months ago about fitness and eating right. He's a child to take everything literally so apparently it stuck. However, he changed his mind that he can have treats until Christmas. I promise this was all on his own and in no way a result of what I said. What a difference between the two

My little Zachie

I swear, Zach has these radars for things. I've thought for a while the he as a "mommy radar". There are many a times where I'll wake up early with the intention of working before anyone else wakes up. There were many a times where I would step out of my bedroom and just a couple moments later Zach would wake up. He's gotten better, but there are still times where he'll do it. He also seems to have a treats radar. This morning, I had some christmas treats hiding in my closet. Zach was in there and said he wanted some chocolate that was in my closet. I thought it was hidden, but apparently he has a sixth sense for treats. I told Jeff the other day that he wanted a treat. Jeff asked him what he wanted and Zach told him he wanted a "daddy treat". Jeff asked him what that is and it's the treats that Daddy eats. Funny Funny boy.

Venting for just a moment. Please ignore. I don't mean to offend anyone. I'm getting really sick of people whining about the jobs that they have and small things about their jobs. I know things may not be perfect and things may be challenging, but at least you have a job! I'm truly sorry for any whining I've done in the past. I'm feeling very very very appreciative of my job and my employer and what a great guy he is. The last time one of us got laid off was when I got laid off fresh out of school, when Jeff and I had only been married 6 weeks. I was upset at the time, but as a result I was able to find this job which ended up in great training, great pay (now) and an amazing employer that lets me be a mom and still earn a paycheck. I'm trying really really hard to look at Jeff's job loss as a blessing and that this is going to get him the job he's supposed to be at. In the meantime, I'm feeling very appreciative for employment and am sick of people whining about the jobs that they have. It may not be the best, but at least it's something!

Mean mom

I have to make this quick, but I had to write this down. Apparently I was a mean mom today. The boys got to play at a friend's house and when I picked them up, I told them we were going to the doctor's office to get shot. My doctor's office finally had an ample supply of the swine flu shot. In hindsight, it was a very bad idea to tell them. Nathan was already tired and a little out of control. He ended up whining/crying for the entire 10 minutes to get to the doctor's office. I told them we'd get ice cream afterwards, but it still took until we got to the doctor's office before he calmed down. We made it into the office ok and they handled everything well up until the time for the shot came. I got mine first and did just fine. The nurse asked who's next and Zach raised his hand and said "Me!". He was just fine with everything and climbed up on my lap. However, he didn't handle the shot itself well and had big alligator tears running down his cheeks. We told Nathan he was next and he wanted nothing to do with the shot, even though I had explained multiple times about why we were getting them. Nate climbed up on the stool he was sitting on and held on for dear life. I tried to pick him up and ended up picking the stool up as well since he had a death grip on it. I was finally able to pry his fingers off of the stool and sat him on my lap. However, he had a long sleeved shirt on and I had to then try to take his shirt off of that arm and he, once again, wanted nothing to do with that. We were finally able to give him the shot and he wailed about that for a while. So, I ended up with the two boys crying while Addison sat in her car seat, smiling away at the nurse. No worries, she has her 6 month vaccinations on New Years Eve so I guess I get to be mean mom then as well.
In the end, after fruit snacks and the promise of ice cream, they calmed down and we were able to leave. I did take them to Macey's to get ice cream and now all is right with the world again. I told Jeff my tale and he felt sorry for the boys. He absolutely hates needles and said there was one time when he was 6 or 7 that he hid under a chair in the waiting room because they were supposed to give him a shot. I'm supposed to take the boys in for a booster in a month, so don't give Nate any ideas or I might have to pull him out from under a chair as well.

Thankful for family and friends

I don't have time to put as much into this post as I should, but I needed to write down a thought or two quickly. . I am so thankful for loving and amazing family and friends. I'm touched by my family members and all that they do for me. I am so grateful to have them in my life. I'm so touched by all that they do. Even the small, simple things mean so much to me. I am so thankful for our friends. We truly live in an amazing neighborhood and I am grateful for the friends we have here. Thank you to all of those who have touched my life. I means so much to me. I hope to write down my thoughts more completely when I have time later.

Jeff lost his job today. There is just something about this year. So, how many more days in 2009, because I'm REALLY ready for this year to be over!

I know I am so far behind on this blog and when I get some free time I'll get it updated. First off, I have to say that my baby girl is adorable. I just love her to pieces and she's just a very happy, smiley baby. She's rolling around now and starting to get mobile. I love that she's so interactive, but it also makes me sad that she's getting older. I love her so much and I'm so happy she's a part of our family.

Zach has loved gymnastics and I think he's really pretty good at it. He was really hesitant at first to do any of the stretching in the beginning of the class, but now he'll get in there and try, to the best of his ability, to do all the stretching and everything. He has a huge grin on his face throughout gymnastics. I'm starting to think this is a really good thing for him, especially with his asthmatic tendencies. However, I hope and pray that he will outgrow the asthmatic tendencies and be able to do all sports without any problems

So, out of the blue today Nate told me, "Jasmine is going to marry me". I was a bit confused, especially since we have a dog named Jasmine. It took a couple of questions, but I found out that its the Jasmine in his Kindergarten class who said she is doing to marry Nate. I had to look at the school picture to remember who she is. It turns out she's a VERY cute girl in her class. I had a neighbor say she's probably one of the cutest in his class. We'll have to see what happens, but it put a smile on his face that a little Kindergarten girl wants to marry my little boy. Granted, I'm sure I'll feel much differently when he gets older, but for now it makes me smile.

I am so ready for this year to be over.

medical stuff

More whining, please ignore. It's been a weird year. I'm normally a pretty healthy person but there is something about this year. Maybe it's because I turned 30. I had some persistent low back back on the right side. I thought it was a kidney infection because of where the pain was and that, when I had pneumonia, I had a kidney infection as well. I went to be seen since you're not supposed to ignore kidney infections. After two doctor's visits, it was determined it was a kidney infection. He gave me a shot and medication and it still hurt to move yesterday.I've been walking like an old lady. The good news is that the shot seemed to work and I feel better in regards to my kidneys, but the shot HURTS and I' still having a hard time walking because of the injection site. Grr. I know understand how my kids, particularly Addison, feel after vaccinations because it hurts! Hopefully I'll be back to normal soon.

oh, and now Zach is coughing, again. He told me today he is super sick

My little engineers

My boys have decided that they love to color, cut, and tape just about anything they can get their hands on. It's very common for them to have our coffee table absolutely covered in papers that they are working on. It just amazes me at their creations. Nate LOVES to cut and color. He'll find old boxes and cut and tape them into creations. he had a "car house" or something where he made a roof for his cars out of tape. He recently made a spider web on a piece of paper with tape. He's constantly creating things and Zach follows suit. I'm impressed with how well Zach can cut now. Tonight, our fridge is covered with colored turkey's since it's Thanksgiving next week. The boys have also decorated the wall in their room next to their beds with coloring pages and the like. Since they have bunk beds and Nate can reach the ceiling, he also has the ceiling above his bed covered with papers. I'm going to redecorate their room soon and I'm trying to come up with ideas to show off their work and keep it manageable. It constantly amazes me on what creations they come up with. My little artists/engineers

Bits

My boys have become such good friends. They, for the most part, play together so well. I've been really touched when Nate asks his friends if Zach can play too. The other day, they were playing and Nate was outside. Zach was asking me where Nate was and told me "Nate is my best friend". They are cute together. I just hope they stay good friends forever.
Addison has a new trick. She's become a total wiggly worm. I'll get her from her bed and she's in a totally different position than she was before. She has rolled from her tummy to her back as well as her back to her tummy, though she doesn't do it all of the time.
She is a very smiley, happy girl. I've gotten comments on her smiles and she'll smile at anyone that will pay attention to her. I love having a baby girl!!! I recently painted her room pink, which my parents laughed at because I hated pink as a teenager and couldn't believe my parents had painted my room all pink. I dress Addison in pink quite often as well. I told my parents I finally get it with having a girl after two boys. I love my boys with all my heart, but I realized that I can do to chick flicks, and mommy daughter dates and that kind of stuff when she gets older. I love having a girl!
Nate told me I'm magic the other day. When it's bedtime, I have them go potty a couple of times. Nate told me that I'm magic because he doesn't have to go potty until I tell him too and then, when I say to go to the bathroom, he magically has to. Hence, I'm magic!
The boys were "helping" Jeff fix his four-wheeler the other day. Jeff was working on it in the garage and the boys decided to help him. They both had screw drivers trying to screw anything they could it into. Nathan had a pair of pliers and was pinching the chain, brake caliper, and anything else he could get his hands on.

getting on track

There has been something about this year. We're excited because it's November, which means that 2009 is almost over! I don't think I've ever been so excited for a year to be over. I know it's silly, but we're really hoping that next year will bring us more luck and be better all around. We did get Addison this year which is a huge blessing and I wouldn't trade her for the world. I adore her and she brings such a light to our life. Zach started gymnastics and loves it. He also started preschool and has had a lot of fun with it. Nate started Kindergarten and loves that as well. There have been a lot of good things about this year, but we're ready for a new start, we hope.
So, when Addison was born it felt like a lost track of life as a whole. We had our computer die and we lost some documents and things seemed to get out of control with a couple of things. Now that Addison is getting a little older, I'm starting to feel like I'm getting back on track with a couple of things. We've found and/or recreated some of the documents we lost like our budget, and I'm trying to get back into a routine with a couple of things. Its amazing how the little everyday things you do can make such a big difference overall. Though life is still crazy and I'm not caught up in any way, I feel like I'm getting back on track with the small things and getting back under control. It's amazing what a huge difference it makes.

Being me

Once again, a post just for me. My feelings today are I'm just trying to be the best me. Granted, I may not feel like this tomorrow, but I'm thinking positive today. I'm not the most articulate person, but here goes: I know that I don't have the best house, I'm not an interior designer, my house isn't always as clean as others, I'm not a supermodel, I'm not the most educated person or always do things the right way. The list goes on and on. However, Heavenly Father knows me and has provided me with challenges that are meant for me and for my own personal growth. I am here to learn who I am and become the best person I can be. Life is not perfect, but I feel blessed for the things that I have. All I have to do is look next door to realize how blessed I have been. I may not be the best at so many things, but I can be the best "me" and that's what matters. As long as I am trying my best, I know that my Father in Heaven will help me through the trials that I have to face and I'll become a better person because of it. I hope that makes sense. For today, I'll try my hardest to be the best "me" I can be.

Applesauce!

I'm feeling productive today. My neighbor, Jenni, came over this morning to make applesauce. I was able to borrow a very amazing useful food strainer and it has made making applesause SSSOOO much easier. there is still quite a bit of work involved, but I'm slowly claiming my house back. I have had bags and bags of apples on my countertop, in my fridge upstairs, in the fridge downstairs, and in a wheelbarrow downstairs. I can't tell you how many apples we've had to throw away so far and I still have apples on my trees!!!! However, I am working on claiming my house back. If I'm lucky, I'll have my countertop back today. We'll see what happens. I do feel very blessed that we have trees and that I have been able to make applesauce this year. Nathan ate every last jar of the stuff I bottled last year and turned down store bought applesauce for mine a couple of weeks ago. So, I guess I need to get to work to finish the rest of it!

4 Months!

I can't believe my baby is four months old already! She's been a sweetheart and we are so glad she's part of our family. I took her to the doctor's this week for a well baby check. She is in the 25% in weight and the 90-95% in height! She's my tallest baby percentage wise so far. She recently "found" her hands and love to stare at them. She also recently found her feet and have discovered that she can chew on her toes! She has been teething off and on for the last couple of months and has been known to chew on her fist quite often. She can be pretty vocal when she wants to be, but will also cuddle with me at times. She does great with holding her head up, and has recently gained the coordination to grab toys, which promptly go to her mouth. She's my sweet baby girl.
We did the following pictures in blessing dresses recently and I love them! One is a dress that Jeff's mom made for her blessing. The other was my mom's blessing dress that I was recently given:

My sweet boys

Nate came home from school with a treat both yesterday and today. Zach was sad yesterday because he wanted a treat and Nate, all on his own, broke the treat in half to share with Zach. Today, Nate opened his treat and, all on his own, broke the treat in half so that Zach could have some too. I was really touched. They really are very sweet boys. A lot of the times they will play with their baby sister on their own. Nate just asked Zach to stay with Addison so she wouldn't be sad.

Word of the day: overwhelmed

Guest Speaker

So, I went back to UVSC, or now UVU, tonight. When I was at UVSC, one of the classes I took was law society. I guess it's more of a club, but it's a one credit class where they have guest speakers come and talk about various aspects of the law. The professor said he wanted a paralegal to come and speak. A neighbor is taking law society and asked me to come and speak about being a paralegal. SO, I was a UVU last night telling them about my job. Those poor people! I told Jeff beforehand that I didn't know if I could talk for 45 minutes. He told me, after years of listening to me ramble on about my job, that I would have no problem filling the time. Well, he was right and I did run out of time. Hopefully I didn't bore them to death, but I did get a few questions and people seemed pretty attentive, so I think it went well. They've had and ICE agent (immigrations) and a DNA expert come and speak so I'm not that cool, but I think it went well. Me, a guest speaker. Kinda crazy!

reflections

I've thought a bit about life this year and about being a parent. Every once in a while, it still amazes me that I'm a parent to three wonderful children whom I can't imagine life without. They make me laugh, cry, giggle, and full of joy, among other things. It's also made me reflect back about my parents and all that they have done for me. Granted, my childhood wasn't perfect, but whose is. However, being on this side of the fence, I realize that parenthood is not easy. I'm always guessing at what I'm doing and just trying to do the best I can to get through the day. Nate is starting to realize that I'm not so perfect either. It's made me have a better appreciation as to all that my parents have done for me and the sacrifices they made so I could have a happy childhood. I'm so grateful for the childhood I had and the values that I was taught. As I try to teach my children, I hope and pray that they will make wise decisions and choices and just become the best people they can. I fear for them with the crazy world around us. I hope and pray that I will be the type of parent they need to make it in this world. To my parents, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have done, and still do, so much for me.

random thoughts

Jeff went four wheeling this past weekend and had a pretty good time, though all three guys had some mechanical problems with their four-wheelers. His brother had to get a new battery and Jeff has to get new hubs on his bike. Even with the problems, they still had a pretty good time.
While he was away, I tried to get caught up on stuff. I wasn't able to get everything I wanted to done, but I was able to get through all the peaches from our tree. I cut them up and have them in freezer bags. We love to make peach smoothies throughout the year with them. Ok, so I've made it through the apricot tree, the plum tree, and now the peach tree. That just leaves the two apple trees. I've got one fridge full of apples and the other half full. Anyone want apples???? I still have to pick a bunch, but hopefully I'll get through it soon. Jeff's mom offered me grapes so I think I'm making grape juice again this year. Fruit trees are great, but my goodness they can be overwhelming. If you're in the area I'm happy to share!
Finally, this may seem silly but I'm quite proud of myself. While Jeff was gone, I had the car and the truck. Our garage is a two car deep, one car wide. That means we can only pull one car out at at time. While Jeff was gone I had planned on driving the car since it gets much better gas mileage. However, the battery decided to die on the car. Our sweet neighbor was able to take Nate to school (thanks David!) since I was stranded. After Nate got off to school, I was able to put the car in neutral and push it out of the driveway and down by the plum tree so I could get the truck out. Granted, its a small car, but it's still heavy and I felt pretty empowered. Go me! The battery got charged when Jeff got home and it's running, so hopefully he'll get it replaced today and we'll be all good.
Finally, Nate went on his first school field trip on Friday. They went to Hew Haw's farm/pumpkin patch and had a great time. He had been SOOO excited for it, partly because he got to ride a school bus for the first time. They got to pick a pumpkin from the patch and really enjoyed it. We've been to this pumpkin patch in the past with the joy schools I've done for Nate's age, but he thought this was extra special because of the school bus. He loves school and has had a ton of fun with it. He's made Mini-books at school and he loves to read them. We love school!!!

Thanksgiving point gardens

One of the things we did this year was take the boys to Thanksgiving Point Gardens for the first time and it was great. Nate was all about the map and wanting to check on where we were going. Jeff had fun with photos and I just had fun watching my family. Addison was a good girl, but she usually is. Here are a couple of photos:

Boating

In a previous post, I mentioned that we became owners of 1/2 of a boat this year. It's an older boat, but we had fun with it this year. We got it half way through the summer and spent some time at Deer Creek this year. Ok, so Addie and I didn't do a whole lot and, when we did go, she usually sat on the shore, sleeping most of the time. But it's all good. We'll get more adventurous as she gets older. The boys had a lot of fun and are slowly getting braver. It took Nate a while to trust his life jacket, but by the end of the summer he loved swimming around with his life jacket. Zach, on the other hand,is not quite ready to go swimming with a life jacket. He's a boy who likes to be able to touch the ground with his feet. We're hoping next year he'll be more into swimming. Anyhow, here are a couple of photos from one of our first outings.







To date, Jeff is stil the only one who has gotten up on the ski's. Try as I might, I have not yet. Granted I've only been water skiing like 3 times in my entire life, but I'm hoping next year is my year.

3 months

My baby is three months this week. I'm amazed that the time has gone by already. I'm excited that she's getting older and more responsive, but also sad that she's growing up so fast. She was really "talking" to us last night and it was hilarious. She's become very vocal. She also loves to blow bubbles and will have a mouth full of bubbles. I still get comments on her red hair, though she's lost a ton of it. We'll have to see if it grows in red. She's also started teething and drooling a little because of teething, though I think we're a ways from a tooth. She likes to be part of the action
She adores her big brothers and they are very sweet to her. Nathan in particular is very sweet and protective of his baby sister. We were driving in the truck the other day and the boys were talking about Halloween costumes. We have them all picked out and Addison has a dress she's going to wear. Here's the conversation:
Nate: I know what Addison is going to be for Halloween. She's going to be a princess!
Zach: But Addison is already a princess.
Nate: No, she's not, that's just what we call her. She's going to dress like a princess for Halloween

Or it was something like that. I thought it was sweet. They all do call her princess, mainly because Jeff does. Here's a recent photo of our little princess:

Savannah's baby blessing

Addison may never have a little sister, but she has two cousin's close to her age which could be even better. Eden is a year older and Savannah is about two months younger. We got to go to Savannah's blessing on Sunday. Their Uncle Jacob was very cute and played with my boys at the luncheon after. They had a telescope that their Uncle Chris let them use and Jacob helped figure it out. Below is a photo of Addie with her cousin and Grandma. Eden wasn't there or we would have her in the photo as well:

and more photos:

More photos

I'm trying to get caught up with the major summer events, the most important being Addie being born. I love this photo of her. It was taken right after she had a bath, shortly after being born. Jeff was there during her bath and when he came in before they brought Addison back, he told me she looked gorgeous. She had him wrapped around her finger shortly after she was born:


And here's more:

Monkey boy

Zach is a total monkey. I think I showed on a prior post how he likes to hang upside down, feet straight in the air, from our tree. It's his "trick". My son, who just turned 3, can do a front flip on the trampoline. Granted, he lands on his back instead of his feet, but it's a true front flip. He loves doing somersaults, climbing, and he'll do these half handstands all the time where he'll be on his hands and kick his legs in the air. Its a constant thing with him. Last night, at the neighbor's swingset, he was hanging onto the monkey bars and then then pulled his feet up to the bars as well. He was probably 6-7 feet off the ground doing this. Each time I told him to get down he would, but he did it at least 3 times. His recent thing is that he'll be next to a wall in the house, be on all fours, and then use his legs to climb up the wall so he's kind of doing a handstand. These are things he'll do all on his own. These are the other two things he came up with yesterday.





For this one, Zach told me, "look Mom, I'm a monkey!". I told him that's great, took a picture, and then told him don't do it again.

Because he's such a monkey, I put him in gymnastics in the community center. He's been twice and loves it, though he's been a bit shy in the beginning. He's hillarous with it and loves it. He usually has a big grin on his face. If this is his thing, then we'll stick with it.

Photos

My sweet hubby surprised me this week. I've been bugging him about getting photos of the kids. I went to work on Wednesday. When I work, I usually have Jeff pick up the kids by 3:00 p.m.. When he got the kids, he decided he'd do a photo shoot with them. He took them up to a spot by the Great Salt Lake and took photos. It was supposed to be a surprise, but the boys told me about it. Jeff told me that I owe him and he's not planning on doing it again anytime soon. There aren't any of Addison below, though he did take some of all the kids. This was just a difficult location for someone Addie's age. We did some recent photos of her I'll have to post. However, he still has to do another photo shoot with her. Anyhow, I liked these and thought I'd share:

Jasmine

We moved into our house in 2002. Its crazy it's been that long! Jeff was really excited to get a dog after we bought a house. Within a month of moving in, Jeff's brother told us about some puppies. If I remember right, Jasmine was born June 15, 2002. She's a complete mutt. She's part golden lab, black lab, Dalmatian, Huskie, and I don't know what else since she's not as big as any of those breeds. She has very unusual coloring that I've had a lot of people comment on. When she was a puppy, she was completely white and adorable. We named her Jasmine after the white flower.
We brought her home when she was about six weeks old and recently weened. She was a pain at night in the beginning where she would cry for a most of the night. She got better fast and and was a pretty sweet dog. She would give us these cute puppy grins. As she got bigger, she started to develop spots like a Dalmatian, but they were tan. She was also a VERY active little puppy and got excited when she was around people. She loved people. She used to jump up on people, but we quickly tried to curb that and she hasn't for a long time.
As mentioned, we got her shortly after we moved into the ward. We hadn't had her for that long when the bishop of the ward at that time and his sweet wife stopped buy to say hi and bring us a treat. Jasmine, being the excited puppy she was, ran over to say hi. The sweet bishop's wife picked her up and held for a minute at our door while they said hi. However, when Jasmine was a puppy and got really excited she would sometimes pee because she was just couldn't hold it in. Unfortunately, she peed all over the poor bishop's wife. This sweet lady, who I won't name names, was really sweet and good natured about it. I, however, was completely embarrassed.
Our first Halloween here, Jeff decided he wanted to dye Jasmine's fur because it was Halloween. He used red koolaid since we've heard of people doing that. It worked really well on her light colored fur. However, it worked a little too well and, though I gave her lots and lots of baths, she stayed pink for about a month.
The Owns lived next to us when we first moved in. Shelby Owens, who a just loved, would come into our yard to play with Jasmine quite a bit that first and second summer. I remember Shelby would come to our door and ask if she could play with Jasmine. I miss Shelby.
I think Jasmine was still a puppy when I first had an idea she was deaf. She was asleep on the floor and I put the vacuum right up to her without her budging. We've later realized that she can here very loud noises, but can't here most anything else. She can't here me whistle, but can hear Jeff. We came up with some very basic signs for things like come, sit down, and lay down and have managed fairly well.
We had Jasmine for about 2 1/2 years before Nathan was born. We took her camping and hiking with us. She wasn't great at that kind of stuff. She barked, likely due to her hearing. After Nate was born, she didn't want that much to do with him, but was always really good with him. As the boys have gotten older, she'll have a little more to do with them and has been really good natured, but usually just ignores them.
We bought a laser pen at one point and Jasmine would love to chase it around. Jeff's mom would usually use the laser pen with Jasmine anytime she came over. It got to the point were Jasmine got really excited any time she saw Jeff's mom since that meant play time.
Jasmine isn't a big fan of the neighbor dogs that are in our yard quite often. The neighbor boy down the street said Jasmine saved him this summer. The other dogs were in our yard when Ethan came to our house to play while we were gone. The dogs did something to make Ethan scared. He climbed into our apple tree and said that Jasmine barked at the other dogs to get them to go away. I don't know what really happened, but yeah for Jasmine!
Jasmine is still a sweet, good dog, though she barks at people she doesn't know. She's getting old and we think she's developed arthritis in her hips. Within the last month or two, we think she's lost most of her sight as well. She may have cataracts or something since I think she has some peripheral vision and can still see light. However, I think most of her vision is gone because she's been running into things, including our legs and furniture.
I feel so bad for her. Though she's been a pain at times, she really has been a good dog. I've never had to worry about her with my kids or any of the neighbors with the exception of barking. I have locked her away if there are kids that come over that don't like dogs, but I've never been concerned about her hurting anyone. She's been a good dog. I just don't know how much longer she's going to last. My poor deaf, blind dog.

Thankful

It's been a rough year. I think we're very excited to have 2009, and the recession, over and done with. However, we have had a lot of blessings. First off, we have been blessed with a sweet baby girl who brings joy to our lives. We've been blessed with sweet boys who have been great with their little sister and who make me smile and laugh on a constant basis. Though we've had some health issues, we've been blessed with good healthcare that has helped. We've also been blessed with family and friends who have shown their love for us by bringing in meals and kind words. Though we've had to pay a chunk of medical bills, we've been blessed that our health insurance is better than it has been in the past. Though we've had some car problems, we've been blessed that it hasn't been as bad as it could be. We've had friends and family who have been there to love and support us when we needed it. Though the recession has affected us quite a bit, we still both have jobs and the ability to pay our bills. I'm so greatful for my boss who allows me to be a mom and fit work in around my family. The list goes on and on. I'm so greatful for the prophet's counsel about food storage and financial reserves. We've had a LOT of extra expenses this year. I'm so grateful to have an emergency fund that has helped with issues with car repairs, a new furance, and other expenses that have come up this year. I'm greatful to have food storage to rely upon and give me a sense of security. Though it's been a challenging year, I am so thankful for the blessings we have had. There are so many of them. Thank you to those who have shown their love and support.

The beloved castle

For Zach's birthday, he was given a HUGE inflatable castle/mini trampoline thing from Grandma and Grandpa that they got a killer deal on. Its been a well loved, and well used, gift. It's also been stuck in my living room for the last month because its too big to fit anywhere else. The boys, and their friends, have had a blast with it. My boys, being the active boys they are, like to run from across the room as fast as they can and dive into the opening while shouting "CANNONBALL!!!!". They also decided it would be great fun to jump off the arm of the couch into the middle of the castle as well. I know, I know. My boys have worn me down and it just isn't a big deal anymore. They've fallen backwards into the castle from the couch or coffee table and have just had a ball with it. They've also been very rough with it as well and I kept telling them that they had to be careful or it would pop. Well, sadly, the castle walls crumbled today due to a small leak. I'm pretty sure it's repairable, but since the castle has been a VERY prominent part of our living room for the past month, we have decided to put it away for a while. One day soon, it will be resurrected. Until then, it's amazing how much more space I seem to have in my living room!
Anyhow, Jeff wanted to take photos of the boys the other day and these are a couple of shots of the boys jumping off the arm of the couch into the castle. I thought they were great and wanted to share.....






Oh, and if you can't tell, my boys are all boy....

Love it!

I'll have to do a real post later, but for right now, I just want to express my new found love of Lake Powell. Sigh.

My sweet baby

More random notes just for me:
I had to take my little girl to the doctor's today for a rash under her arm. Even though it looked horrible, it'll hopefully not be a big deal. However, I did find out she is now 23 1/2 inches long and is, I think 11 lbs 4 oz. Still growing like a weed. I'm sad to see how she's growing up so fast, but excited at the same time. Time just goes by way to fast. She's a sweet baby. She has decided she's pretty social and likes to be around people as much as possible. There are times where I'll lay her on a blanket in the boy's room while they're playing and she's just happy to listen and watch them. I'm sure she's anxious to get up and around as soon as she can. She loves to kick her legs and move her arms. Over the last week or so she's started to grasp onto things as much as possible. More often than not, she'll hold onto her shirt when she's sitting in the swing or a car seat. She also loves to smile and has been "talking" or cooing a lot over the last few weeks. She loves to get smiles from people and loves to talk to them. There are times where I'm feeding her and she'll stop and just want to smile and talk. Of course, her smiles melt my heart. The other day she was asleep in my arms. Every time I'd say her name or talk to her, she'd get a big smile on he face, even though she was asleep. Love it!
Ever since she was born, Jeff has called her "princess". It's stuck and the boys have called her that as well. I usually call her my sweet baby as well as Addie, etc. She also learned a new trick from Silly Grandma as well as Jeff recently. She's been "blowing bubbles". She's found how to make small bubbles in her mouth and gave me a tiny bubble grin today. The boys have been really good with her and try to look after her. Nate has chewed me out on multiple occasions telling me she's upset and I need to feed her. I love my sweet kids and am lucky to have them.

Thoughts from Kindergarten

I was asking Nate about Kindergarten. He's made it through four days now. I asked him if he liked his teacher and that she's very nice. He did make it all the way across the monkey bars on his own on the 2nd day of kindergarten. I was pretty impressed. He likes recess and played tag with friends. They've been writing their names in school lately. I'm a mean mom and over the summer I would try to make him write his name 10 times to practice. On the second or third day of kindergarten, he told me his teacher was so nice because she only made him write his name three times. Apparently I really am a mean mom. He went to the computer lab yesterday and he thought that was cool. They went to the library today and he thought that was so cool. I was worried about my son being shy because he has shy moments here and there, but apparently he's over most of his shyness. I taught preschool for Zach today and would have been late to pick him up from school. I told him he might go home with his friend's aunt after school. When he was in line for his class, the friend's aunt came up to the line. She told me Nate walked right up to her and told her he thought he was coming home with her. I'm glad he's over his shyness because it was as challenge for me at times as a kid.
We decided to have Nate join the book club at school as well. We read his book club book last night and he thought that was so awesome. He has been SO excited about book club (way to go Meredith!). He was really excited to read his library book and book club book tonight. He was also excited to do his homework. I'm hoping that lasts as he gets older.

Today was also Zach's first day of preschool. I ended up teaching today. We're doing a neighborhood preschool this year, and I'll probably do more of a formal preschool next year. We have a really fun lesson plan and materials and he seemed to have a lot of fun with it. I was really impressed about how well Zach sat and listened and participated today. He's the youngest in the group and I was a little worried about it, but I think he'll do great. He did great today. I just hope he's as good at everyone else's house. He listened and participated and colored. He can't quite write his name on his own, but he does recognize the letters in his name. He was adorable today and he was so excited to do school too. I think he'll have a great year. He told me again today that his favorite color is orange. I asked him what his favorite animal was and he told me a horse and a dog and a sheep and a pig and a cat. I think he would have kept going.

Just so Addison is included as well, she is growing like a weed. She's still a very good girl, but I think she's learning the power of her voice and that if she squawks, they will come. She's adorable and loves to smile and talk to people. I have gotten TONS of comments on her red hair. It's a lot redder than I thought it would be. She has recently, thanks to Grandma and Daddy, learned how to blow spit bubbles as well and is very good at it. She's a very sweet girl and loves her big brothers very much. She's become much more social and doesn't like to be alone. She's much happier to be with the crowd. I'm sure she'll want to do everything she can to keep up with her big brothers as she gets older.

I feel very lucky and very blessed to be the mom to such wonderful kids.

"Sorrows come not single spies, but in battalions"- Hamlet/Shakespeare

The Lake

So, there's a story behind it, but to keep it simple, we went on a boat with Jeff's sister and her husband this summer. Its an older boat and not THAT exciting, but since we've never really been boating, it's been a fun addition. It's been out on Deer Creek multiple times this summer. Jeff recently learned how to go fishing while trolling the boat, so he's also been out to Scofield recently and had a ton of fun fishing. Four people caught 60-80 fish in one day, so it was pretty successful. Thankfully they only kept five of those fish. Anyhow, my boys didn't know what to except in the beginning about the boat, but they've had a lot of fun. We have a two person tube and they've been able to ride in the tube, albeit always with an adult so far. They don't like to go very fast, but they do like to go boating. I haven't been a ton because of Addison, but I have been able to go a couple times.
We had a major break though the last time Nate and Zach went out at Deer Creek. My boys are chickens in the water and not big swimmers yet. They haven't really trusted that their life jackets will keep them up in the water. However, the last couple of times, Nate's been more prone to do swimming with his life jacket. The last time he went, he swam all the way from the boat to the shore and back, in his life jacket, without any problems. I think Zach might have, but the water was too cold at that point. Hopefully he'll get the hang of it soon.
Anyhow it's been a lot of fun. The boys love to just ride in the boat. When I asked Zach what he wanted to do the other day he told me he wanted to go boating. Hopefully we'll have fun with it for a while. I don't think anyone in Jeff's family has had a boat. My dad had a boat growing up, but I think I'd only been boating a couple of times before this. It's been a fun addition this summer and hopefully we'll have a lot of fun with it next summer as well.

Zach's b-day

My baby boy turned three last week. I made him pancakes in the morning and put candles in them to blow out. He thought that was pretty cool. He also got a two wheel scooter like his big brother and he thought that was awesome. He's dragged his scooter everywhere with him and man, he can ride that thing well. Great balance. We went to dinner for his birthday that night and the boys were great. Addison was great too. She was a happy girl who just smiled and kicked away while siting in her car seat.
On Sunday, we had cake and ice cream at our house for anyone who wanted to come. I am always touched about our sweet and loving family members who come to these things to celebrate my boys birthdays. Thank you for being the sweet people you are. It means so much to have such support. Anyhow, Zach had a great time. He loved spending time with our extended family, loved opening presents, and loved the chocolate cake and ice cream. I hope I can always remember how he says chocolate. It's adorable. I need to have it videotaped. He got a fishing pole, which he's excited about and tried to cast inside the house (not a good idea), a baseball and a bat (which he loved practicing with), a fishing game (which he loves), motorcycles, a monster truck and missionary money (fabulous!). He got a set of Lego's, which the next morning Nathan put the set together all by himself (we were impressed) and Zach had played with those and dragged them all over. We went to the store and he put them in a bag to take with him. I let him with the understanding they were to be left in the store. Zach also loved his birthday cards which are proudly sitting on his dresser.
For Zach's birthday, Grandma and Grandpa he also got this inflatable castle (on clearance for a KILLER deal) which is massive, and now sitting in my living room/kitchen area. The boys have had a ball with it and will run into it shouting "cannonball!!!". It came with two inflatable swords to "protect the castle" and are now being used as light sabers. It also came with 25 balls. It's crazy and massive (relatively speaking), but the boys have had a ball with it. They had a couple of friends over today and at one point, I had five kids sitting inside the castle eating pretzels and just hanging out.
I also promised the boys I would take them to the dinosaur museum or Zach's birthday, since with the discount it would only be $6 to get me and the kids in. However, everyone else loved the idea of a discount as well, so we sat in line for about 45 minutes before we were able to get in. Crazy. I asked the boys if they really wanted to stay in line and they said yes, of course. So we waited. And waited. When we were able to get in, they had a great time and really seemed to enjoy it. Addison slept for the most part and overall it was a fun morning. I'm glad they had a lot of fun.
So, it was the birthday that kept going on. And on. But we all had a great time. It's crazy to think that my baby boy is already three. In no time he'll be off to kindergarten as well. Sigh.

First Day of Kindergarten

Today was the first day of Kindergarten for Nate and I survived. He's been excited about it for a while. I asked him a while ago if he was nervous at all and he said he was a little bit. We met with his teacher last week to do a one on one assessment. When we first got there, he gave his teacher a big hug. I've been trying to build up Kindergarten for a while and he did great at the assessment. He told me afterward that he thought his teacher, Mrs. Herman, was nice and he wished school would start the next day since she was so nice. It made me feel better. I've been the nervous one for a while.
Anyhow, last night I put him to bed without any complaints. We had him take a bath, lay out clothes for the morning, etc. This morning, I had to wake him up. He got up great and told me, "Thanks Mom for waking me up so I can go to school". Nice change from some mornings. He immediately got dressed and got ready for the day. I took pictures (we'll see if they ever get posted) and he posed and did goofy smiles in tons of them. We also had Dad give him a back to school blessing. Zach was jealous and, since he's starting preschool next week, he got a blessing as well. Nate also told me this morning, that he thinks his teacher will like him because he's awesome.

Because the boys slept in, we didn't have time to walk to school. I drove Nate instead and Zach had to come with. We did more photos, and I watched him line up with his class and walk in the doors to the school. Nate was excited, I was the one who had a really hard time. I've known for a while I would. It's just hard to see him grow up. It's hard to know that one phase of his life is over and we're going to the next. I'm sure he'll do great, but it's just hard. Sad, but great at the same time. I worry about what will happen when I'm not around, and worry that I can't always be there to protect him. I know he gets frustrated with me because he wants to be a big kid, and I don't always want him to have the freedom he thinks he's ready for. I just goes by SO fast.
Anyhow, I cried. The school had a breakfast for the kindergarten parents, which made things slightly easier. I'm just glad I've got two more kids at home because if it weren't for that, I would still be a total mess.
It sounds like he had a fun first day. They read the book "First Day Jitters", which we have. He's excited to make new friends. He liked recess the best. He told me he did the monkey bars at recess. I've always known he's a "monkey boy". He really likes his teacher. I think he'll handle the growing up great. I'm not sure if I will.

Going private

I've decided I'm going to go private on my blog. We'll see if it lasts, but that's the plan for now. If you have any desire to read it, please email me at melhillhouse@hotmail.com and I'll send you an invite.

Sad baby

My baby was so sad today. We did the shots this morning. I had 3 bids planned for a furnace. The first two went ok, though my boys were kind of crazy. The third was planned on 2:00 p.m.. Addison woke up a little before then. I got the boys settled and thought I'd try to feed her. Every time I did, I hit against her leg where the vaccinations were. She was not happy. I tried to give her more Tylenol to see if that would help. The lady came for the bid and I got her started. Addison was really sad so I ran upstairs to get her taken care of and try to feed her. The lady came up a couple of times and Addison started screaming. She was in so much pain because of the vaccinations. The lady did her thing and then came up to talk prices. At that point Addison was screaming. I was told before to try to massage the area to see if that would help. Every time I touched one of her legs around where the vaccination was Addison screamed. Even a light touch hurt her. I told the lady I was going to take her to the doctors, she left, and I called the nurses. They made more suggestions, which included massaging her leg. She is normally such a happy baby and it killed me to see her like this. We did a hot compress (Washcloth), a warm bath, Tylenol, pacifier, etc. The poor thing. I was hart broken. She finally settled down and fell asleep in my arms. I continued to very lightly massage the area. She slept for the next few hours and when I checked on her after dinner, she was back to her normal self. I just broke my heart to see her in so much pain today. Hopefully the four month shots will go much better. Not looking forward to it.
For Zach's b-day, we got him a bat and a ball. I had a lot of fun playing with the boys today. I would pitch, one of them would bat and the other was the catcher. They both did pretty good and we had a lot of fun, until the ball rolled down the driveway and is lost somewhere in the backyard. It was fun while it lasted. We also played soccer for a while and that was a lot of fun as well. Love my boys

2 months!

Addison had her 2 month check up this morning and she is doing great! She weighs in at 10 lbs 8 oz and is 23 inches long. That means she's gained 3 lbs 2 oz and 4 inches in the last 8 weeks!!!! She's at the 50th percentile in weight and 90-95% in height! She has chubby legs which I am very proud of since I usually don't have chubby babies.
She's a very sweet baby and has been such a good girl. Her brother's adore her and will play with her when she's laying on a blanket on the floor. She's got an adorable smile and will "talk" to me as well. She kicks like crazy. She LOVES her pacifier, and has recently found she can suck on her fist as well. She'll usually sleep until 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. most nights so I do get some sleep. We've also gotten tons of comments on her red hair. Both of the boys had red in their hair, but they've darkened at bit as they've gotten older. We'll have to see what happens with her hair. It looks more auburn inside, but does get a bit red in the sunlight.
I am so in love with my baby and can't imagine life without her!
Once again, I'm still working on the quest for being able to get to my photos. Maybe one day soon, I hope.

Questionable timing

We've known for a while that we need a new furnace because of it's age. It turned 20 this year and we knew it would need to be replaced soon, but we haven't had any issues with it. My brother did a home inspection recently and suggested we have it looked at. So, I called and had a company come out to do a bid. The guy went through the bid, gave me some pricing, and I told him I'd let him know what we would do after we got a couple more bids. He was a really nice guy. So, a couple of hours after he left, my thermostat read 88 degrees, very hot. I checked and our central air unit was working, but no air was coming out of the vents. I finally called the guy's cell number to find out if he could have done anything since it was working just fine when he left, and had worked just fine beforehand. He went through a handful of things that I could check, and he finally suggested leaving it off overnight, which we did and used fans to cool things down since it was still pretty hot.
The guy called me at 8:00 a.m. and said he had lost sleep last night trying to think of what was going on and if he could have caused it. He told me he'd come over today, which he did. He did it on his own time and didn't charge me anything. He just wanted to make sure it wasn't his fault. Turns out my air conditioning unit is just fine, no problems whatsoever. However, the motor for the fan on my furnace apparently died within an hour of two of him leaving. He was a really nice guy and said he knew the situation looked fishy and if he were in my position he would really be questioning what was going on, but he figured it was just the age of the furnace. He suggested I get more bids on a new furnace and compare prices and let me know if I want to go with them. Really, he was a nice guy. But seriously, what are the odds of something like this happening????? Either way, looks like I have to get a new furnace. Grrr.

Happy Birthday Zach!!!!

Today is Zach's 3rd Birthday!



He is a wonderful addition to our family and we love him very much! He's a little boy that is always on the go, even from the day he was born. He came 10 days early. The night before he was born, I had a hard time sleeping and was trying to sleep on the couch. It was about 2:00 a.m. and I was awake thinking about the things I still needed to do before he was born. I went through the list in my head, and then literally thought, well, it will be ok if I don't get everything done before he's born. Within about a minute of thinking, that, my water broke. I went upstairs to tell Jeff it was time, and he was in a panic since I had woken him up from a deep sleep and it was 10 days earlier than expected. We went to the hospital and Zach was born at 11:14 a.m.. He also broke my tailbone during the process and I will really enjoy that I can tell him he's literally a pain in the behind when he gets to be a teenager!!! (and yes, I know I'm a nerd). He's my monkey boy and always climbing and on the go. I've got him signed up for gymnastics this fall and we'll see how it goes.



Favorite dinner: dinner is a fight, but likes pizza, hot dogs, and peanut butter sandwiches. I just asked him and he said cookies for dinner. This is my little boy that almost a year ago, he dumped what as left on his plate onto my plate when I wasn't looking because I told him he could have a treat when he was plate was empty
Favorite food: Unfortunately almost any kind of junk food. Love cheetos. We really do try to get him to eat healthy and he enjoys lots of stuff, but he loves junk food. Hopefully we can turn him soon...
Favorite color: orange and blue
Favorite sport: t-ball and soccer, badminton, football, golf, and any other sport he has tried. He loves sports. When we've gone to Nate's games, Zach is always practicing with one of us. He loves to play catch
Things he likes to do: ride his bike (especially going really fast down our hill), play legos, jump on the trampoline, read books, work in workbooks and color, climb EVERYTHING, including scaling up my cupboard doors when I'm not looking, up the desk at the library, and anywhere else he can climb.
Best friend: this big brother, Nate. Also likes to play with Kamden, and Nates friends
Special things: he's been very sweet and gentle with his new baby sister. He likes to remind me about how cute she is and that she's so sweet. He has these big puppy dog eyes. He'll come up to family members, look at them with these big brown eyes, and ask if they'll come play with him (anything from in the sand to sports, to anything). He looks just adorable and it's usually too hard to say no. He's also a mommy's boy and usually prefers mom when he's upset or sad. He's a really good boy who likes to remind me about chores that he needs to do, or that they need to work in work books.
He's adorable and we love him very much. Happy birthday Zach!!!

Busy busy day

Ok, so I know I'm WAY behind on my blog, but life has been a little crazy. We're adjusting to three kids and trying to fit things in at the end of summer. I'm trying to fit in some work hours here and there at home, which adds to things. One day I'll update everyting that's happened lately. However, I wanted to do a quick post. Unfortunatley, I still have issues with photos. Jeff, being the "Camera snob" that he is, takes all of his photos in "raw" format because there are larger sizes and he gets more detail, can do more things with photoshop, etc. Since they aren't jpeg's, I can't upload them or open them unless it's in a photoshop program. Since we had to replace our computer hard drive, we've had issues with photoshop and still trying to get that worked out. ANYWHO, I can't upload most of my photos. I'll add to it down the road.
SO, this week has been a busy week. On Sunday, we had a picnic up the canyon with my family. It was a lot of fun, the canyon was great, and my boys had a ton of fun since they got to get dirty, climb rocks, hike up the side of the mountain by our picnic table, and play with their uncles. I am so grateful to have brothers and parents that are willing to play with my boys. They just love them and had a ton of fun. They had fun running around with their uncles and playing frisbee. Overall, they had a lot of fun but were very tired. Zach fell asleep on the short drive home.
On Monday we played with friends all day and they had fun. I was very touched that the last few times Nate has played with one of his friends, he has asked his friend if Zach could play as well. I thought it was so sweet that he cares about his brother and wanted to see if he could play as well. The friend was very nice and has played with Zach the last few times. Sweet boys.
On Tuesday, they played with friends in the morning, and that evening we went to the Gardens in the evening. It was great! It wasn't that crowded and the boys loved it. Jeff took a bunch of photos (of course) and we had fun. They were very excited about the waterfall and really enjoyed it. I think we'll have to go again soon. Nate was hillarious. when we first got there, he had to get a map. We started the trail with him looking at the map. Jeff and I overheard him say "Oh look, there's a waterfall I'd really like to see. But we can't slide down it because they would get mad". He was very concerned about his map and pulled it out multiple times to help us find our way and decide what else we wanted to see. He's such a funny kid. Anyhow, we wore the boys out. On the way home we had to stop to feed Addison and we got home WAY to late and way past bedtime. Overall, they had a lot of fun.
Zach woke up the next morning at 7:00 a.m.. I can't get that kid to sleep in. Anyhow, we eventually got all ready for the day and headed out around 9:30-9:45 or something like that Wednesday morning. We hit the zoo with my parents, who were sweet enough to want to take the boys out while they are on vacation this week. We had a lot of fun and Addison was wonderful and slept through, pretty much all of it. The boys were really good and seemed to really enjoy it. Nate was all about the maps again, until I tried to hide it and Grandpa told him to look at the signs to show us where to go. They had a lot of fun. We got to see the baby giraffe, baby snow lepoard, baby wildcat (I think) and video of the baby elephant. She won't be on display for a couple more weeks though. We got to see part of the bird show and grandma and grandpa were sweet enough to hold the boys up to see it and, in the process, got buzzed by some birds! Anyhow, they had a ton of fun and we really appreciate Grandma and Grandpa!
After the zoo, we headed to Jeff's grandma's house for a visit. She was tickled that we stopped by and the boys loved it. Jeff joined us and we got pictures of this sweet 96 year old lady holding our baby Addison. I love Grandma and she is such a sweetheart! I'm amazed at all she does for being 96 years old! She was thrilled for the visit and so were we.
After Grandma's, we headed out to the Bee's baseball game. We were given tickets through a company that I deal with at work. My boys had fun and Jeff was excited to get more photos. I think my boys favorite part was playing around with one of the sweet attorney's I work it. He was so sweet and I felt bad that my boys were attacking him. I told Jeff to try to get the boys to leave him alone, but he said Scott, the attorney, was the one that started it! The boys ended up playing with Scott's grandkids at the end and they seemed to have a lot of fun. We cut out a little early, but then had to make a pit stop to feed Addison again. By the time we made it home, it was around 11:00 p.m., which made for one VERY long day. The boys were really good, but had their never-ending supply of energy.
Today, our plan is to just catch up. I think I'm more worn out than they are! We'll have to see if we can fit anything else in before Nate starts Kindergarten in a couple of weeks. He's excited, but a little nervous. I think I'm more nervous than he is and I'm sure I'll cry on his first day of school, since I start to tear up every time I think about it!

4 weeks!

It's amazing to me to think that Addison was born 4 weeks ago today. Life has been interesting these past 4 weeks. Addison has been a really sweet baby. She has been really good natured and very sweet. Every once in a while she'll smile at me and talk to me. I feel so blessed to have her as part of our family. The boys have been really sweet with her and very caring. They both care about her a great deal. I'll lay her on a blanket on the floor and the boys are right there next to her talking to her and playing right next to her.
The boys have been pretty good, all things considered. We've had some mishaps in the last month. Things like the trampoline being covered with sand from the sand box, birdseed all over the floor (on accident) and marker on the carpet in the boys room (once again an accident. Thankfully it's washable markers). Overall, it's been a pretty good month. As to the marker incident, the markers are now put in the top of the closet, only to be used with Mom's permission. Zach just told me he needs a marker. He was using crayons and I told him to use the crayons. He told me crayons make him crazy.
Though life has been crazy, I'm so glad Addison is now part of our family. She's been such an angel. So this really isn't the best photo, but I couldn't resist the smile! I think it's official that she's smiling at 4 weeks old

Photos

We learned, shortly after Addison was born, that Nikon's are not bouncy balls. Between issues with the camera and then the hard drive on our computer dying all at the same time, I don't have access to a lot of our pictures yet. We've still managed to take a bunch of photos, but I can't post them yet for various reasons. Anyhow, here is what I've got so far. I'll do more down the road.