Gingerbread Train

On Christmas Day Zach, Grandma H and I took on the project of making a Gingerbread Train. We were a bit apprehensive of it at first. Not sure how it would all turn out.

Then Zach started to really get into the whole decorating process. He really took the lead and spearheaded the whole operation.
I think the Gumball roof decor was his crowning achievement.
Though the careful application of candy to the caboose was also meticulously performed.
Grandma and Zach were pretty excited about their final product.
Wait a second! There's a wheel missing already!
Zach was also pretty insistent that the caboose be filled with cargo.
Ah Ha! There's the missing wheel!
I was kinda surprised but my uber-picky child actually really enjoyed eating the gingerbread. He kept going back for more.

Christmas Morning

Everything the boys had hoped for and more!

My little elf was more than happy to play with all the paper lying around, and his toes of course.
The ONE think Zach asked Santa for, repeatedly, was a new Emily train. Santa did not disappoint.
Grandpa Haymond also surprised Zach with a train, a bit more life sized train.

He obviously enjoyed it.
Other highlights were a new purse for me, a router for Jason, a annoyingly noisy toy for Kyle and a TAG reading system for Zach (from Grandma Haymond) He's actually "reading" a book to himself as we speak.

Jason worked the night shift for Christmas eve so he got home just in time for all of the present festivities. My mom got to come and visit for a few days which was perfect because I wasn't too excited to spend Christmas eve by myself. All in all, it was a fairly low key, but also enjoyable day. Thanks so much to all of those who sent us gifts. We loved them all!

Christmas Eve

Santa came and the space under our tree was filled with goodies. The snow started falling as it got to be evening. It was that perfect kind of snowfall. Big, Fat, Slow flakes that just floated to the ground. It looked like a dream! Our neighborhood has a tradition of lighting luminaries along each house's driveway. I just had to run outside to take a picture of our first Christmas in our new home.

I just thought it was very Thomas Kinkade- especially the Narnia style lamp. Love it!

Once there was a Snowman!

I know I've been pretty awful with updating recently so here's some catching up.

Christmas Eve was a bit weird because of Jason's schedule but it actually ended up working out pretty well. He worked that night so during the day we got to play. There wasn't a ton of snow so Jason shoveled a patch of our backyard together to get just enough for Zach's first snowman.
He had a carrot for his nose.
Look! They're practically twins!
Jason even managed to find some coal from a burned up piece of wood in our backyard. PERFECT for the eyes!

My Kitchen at this moment...

Ugh!

Yes, the refrigerator and the oven are in the middle of the kitchen. It's going to be a long couple of days while Jason puts everything back together again.

Attitude of Gratitude: Prayer

Today's lesson in Relief Society was on Prayer and I just couldn't NOT put it up as my thankful post for today. I really am so so so grateful for the power of prayer and the knowledge that I have that I can speak with my father in Heaven when I need him.

I have always had a strong testimony of prayer. So much so that I think I almost take it for granted... if that makes any sense at all. I just always think, "oh I'll just pray about it" without really thinking about how very amazing that is. Whether it's a deep need for comfort during a hard time, or requesting guidance on making a decision, I always know I can turn to my Heavenly Father. I'm never alone, even if all I need is a little reassurance that I'm on the right track. The last few nights have been pretty tough as we are trying to teach Kyle some better sleep habits. I was pretty exhausted last night and as I prepared to transition him into his bed at 3 a.m. I was fully expecting him to wake back up and stay awake for at least two hours. That's what he did the last few nights anyway! But before I made the move I said a quick prayer asking for sleep, knowing we would need to wake up early for church and worrying that Kyle would wake up Jason as well. He slept! Some might say that it was a coincidence or that the sleep training of the previous few nights was working. I say, prayer works. Sometimes not the way you expect or want, but it works.

Now, since that was a little on the serious side, here's a little comic relief.

Kyle as Hanna Montana! (the little green toy is actually supposed to be a microphone if you couldn't tell)

Blonds do have more fun after all.

Attitude of Gratitude: Friends from the Past

This picture is a bit of a blast from the past (the warmer days of October long past) but I don't think I posted it and I really do like this picture.
On finding out we were moving to Springfield we also found out that we were not alone in this new adventure. We were going to be joined by some friends from waaaaaay back in Rexburg. We actually hadn't really talked to them since we moved away to Milwaukee for school. Not only that but the Moss family even had a little boy that was only a month older than Zach. Perfect!

Jason has been good friends with Jake since high school. I get along great with Mandi, a fellow crafter/party-er/reader/twilight fan, and now our boys have begun to strike up a great friendship. They have their rocky moments, as do most any nearly-three year olds with interests in the same toys. (We're still working on sharing) But once and a while we catch little moments like this one. Zach asks to play with Kempton daily and though our schedule won't quite allow for daily play-dates, we really do have a lot of fun together.

Jake, Mandi, and Kempton: We're sure glad you came to Springfield and we're even more glad that you're our friends!

Flashback Friday

So that you can see what I meant when I said I didn't think Kyle needed a haircut yet... Here's Zach just before HIS first hair cut at 5 months old.

Attitude of Gratitude: Activities

Since today is Friday we got to attend our bi-monthly music class at the church. It brought to mind for me how grateful I am that we have so many fun activities here to participate in.

This particular activity is run by one of the moms in a different Ward than mine (she's in green in the center of the picture) but she was kind enough to invite the moms in our ward to join their's. We were pretty late this week but Zach still enjoyed it. He is SUCH a singer! Once he feels comfortable with a song (and sometimes, when he doesn't have a clue how it goes) he will sing it out at the top of his lungs. We have fun pictures and rhythm sticks and all kinds of little things to make the whole experience so much fun for the kids. Even Kyle seems to enjoy watching the older kids making music.

This isn't the only activity that we participate in either. We also love to play with the other kids in our neighborhood, (I blogged about them before) and we have joined a MOMS group as well a They have such a full calendar that we actually have to pick and choose what we want to attend. As hard as it is to pass up something that looks like fun, it's pretty great to be in an area where we know there will always be some other new and exciting activity coming up just around the corner.

I took this picture holding the camera over my head, so it's not that great... but I LOVE the little girl in the bottom right corner. SO cute!

First Hair Cut!

This is a little late in being posted but I was still trying to get used to it myself and wasn't quite ready to celebrate. Kyle finally had his first haircut. Jason has been begging me for a long time but I've just not wanted to. I always feel like once they have their first haircut they are no longer a baby and they start becoming more of a kid, a big boy! So, Monday Jason finally put his foot down and cut the poor boy's hair. I still don't think it was THAT long. There was only one section that had started to be more Donald Trump- ish but I was willing to over look that. ; )

Here's before...

See, it may be pretty long but it was still NOTHING compared to Zach's hair when we cut it and he was only 5 months old at the time.
He does look so grown up now though.
Zach, of course, had to jump in the pictures too. This is pretty typical... Zach torturing Kyle and Kyle giggling away like it's the best game ever.

As a side note:

I missed posting my gratefulness yesterday. I actually had one, and I posted it on facebook but just never got to the computer to post it here.

Yesterday I was thankful for After-Holiday sales.

I know, it's a little 'material' but I was pretty excited. We needed an ingredient for my dinner plans yesterday so we headed out early in the morning to pick it up at Target before the day got underway. I was kinda hoping to catch some decent post-Halloween deals but I hadn't expected to catch them at such a perfect time. They had just barely marked down all of the Halloween stuff so it was really low prices but still a good selection. I decided I'd pick out a couple costumes and decorations for next year. As I was hunting I ran into a friend of mine who had her cart packed FULL of costumes. She explained that she was going to put together a costume box for her boys as a Christmas. I decided that was genius so I followed her lead. I ended up finding Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, the Hulk, and a police man, a fireman, a cowboy and a ninja for around $3 each. What a great, low cost, HIGH fun Christmas present!

Attitude of Grattitude: Our Home

I kept putting this post off because I kept wanting everything to look just right. But I have a feeling that isn't going to be for a long time and so, on popular request, I decided to finally do a tour of our home. Especially since our new door has been completed and so I'm feeling especially thankful about it today.

This is the first time in our marriage that I have felt like we live in a "real grown up house". Not an apartment, or a "town-home with it's own walls" as we called our last 850 sq foot house. Here, I feel like we have plenty of room to grow and create a real home for ourselves.

Without further adieu I present... Our Home!

Yes, the grass is quite dead under the tree. Anyone have any idea how to get grass to grow under a large tree? It's been dead since we bought the place, no matter what we do.
The new front door has been an exciting and frustrating process. When we bought the house it actually had what looked like a double entry door but when you walked inside you realized that what had been the second door had been sealed up to create a closet in the entryway. While I was glad for the closet, it created a problem with the front door itself. The previous owners had chosen to just put up a thin, uninsulated wall where the old door was and then install a thin, uninsulated interior door instead of a nice sturdy, SECURE, insulated EXTERIOR door. Basically, it would have been pretty easy for someone to just kick in our front door and rob us blind. So we decided to remedy that issue by taking out the false double storm door and put in one real entry door. The problem was in filling the extra space. I can't tell you how much it bugs me that my door isn't centered!!!! But it's the best we could come up with. SO.... if anyone out there has any decor ideas to make this look a little more welcoming... PLEASE SHARE! (I'm also open to suggestions on paint color as I'm not completely sold on the brown and I need to decide on a color for the shutters that we plan on installing down the road)

Moving on.... Here's our living room.
I LOVE the window! So does Kyle. (you probably know that already from previous posts) The wood we aren't sure about. I'm married to a carpet guy and he really wants to carpet over it but I'm hoping to convince him to just refinish it. It's in pretty rough shape but I still think it's nice to have. I still have a lot of decorating that I need to do, as you'll see in the rest of the house. But, it's not really my strong suit so again, if anyone has any ideas for me... Please Share!

Here's our basement.
The previous owners were Kansas City Chiefs fans- we do plan on painting and re carpeting. In the mean time we love having a space where I can craft (there's even a small craft room off to the side- WAY too messy to show though) and Zach can enjoy spreading his trains out without any lack of space. We recently picked up the train table from a family in our church and Zach has been loving it.

My favorite area of the house has to be the Kitchen!
It's obviously under construction but I think it has a lot of potential. The far wall was pretty beat up and we decided it wasn't salvageable so Jason just tore it down and started fresh. Now we're patching all the rough spots where the drywall wasn't taped very well before and soon we'll be painting. We're also hoping to put in new laminate after our light fiasco left this stuff pretty gouged and scratched over by the sink. I love how open it is. Lots of counter space! Since our last house didn't have enough combined counter space for a microwave, this is exactly what I had hoped for.

Here's Zach's kitchen, garage sale $5. Now I just need to start collecting play food to go with it.
Last but not least, the master bedroom.
Most places we looked at (in our price range anyway) were going to be a tight fit for our king sized bed but this one even had room for a sitting area for when I'm breastfeeding. Yes, my bed is missing a bed skirt. Try to ignore it, it tore and I haven' gotten around to making a new one. My favorite part of this room has to be this funky light/table thing I found at a garage sale a while back. I needed a light and I needed a table... tada! Perfect! I haven't decided if I want to paint it but I definitely want to spruce up the shade a bit. Any ideas??
So that's our home... well most of it anyway. We have two other bedrooms, not much to see though. I would have taken a picture of the boy's room but they were sleeping. Get this... it's Lavender! HA! Yep, it needs some paint too. There's also two bathrooms, one with a blue bathtub and both with a strange I design in the tile.

Yes there's plenty of future projects to do but all in all I love this house!

It just feels like home.

Attitude of Grattitude: Health

Today I've been thinking about how lucky we are to be healthy. Sure, we pick up a bug here and there. But for the most part, we have been really lucky to have missed the bulk of the yuckies that seem to go around periodically.

The other morning Zach woke up at about 3 a.m. crying much more than he usually does. I went to check on him and he started to complain that his neck hurt. I had him show me where and then asked him to look side to side, he did that fine. Then I asked him to look up and down and when he tried he ended up yelping in pain and breaking out into sobs again. My mind immediately went to meningitis and I hurried to get Jason. Jason's thoughts were the same but we were comforted to notice that he didn't have a fever. I still would have run him into the ER with my paranoia but Jason ran a few more tests (he's pretty handy to have around) and cleared him saying that he must have just slept funny. I still took him in to the doctor later that morning just to ease the paranoia that still had me but all I was told was to keep him home for the day, give him Motrin and let them know if he did get a fever. No fever ever came and the next morning he was feeling much better, though he did keep his head slightly cocked to the side for another day or two.

The whole thing just really made me think about how awful it would have been if he HAD been sick and how glad I am that we've been able to avoid those sorts of traumatic experiences. I don't deal too very well when my kids seem to be in pain. I've often been known to shed more tears than they do! So I am SO SO SO very thankful that they are both healthy and strong.

On the subject of health. The mystery of Kyle's sleepless nights has been solved, though it really shouldn't have been too very hard to figure out. Over a period of maybe 3 or 4 days Kyle managed to sprout not one but THREE teeth. He is growing up so fast, I really wish I could pause time a bit once and a while. Here's Kyle sporting a grin with his new pearly whites.
P.S. Kyle also had his first haircut yesterday but I haven't had a chance to take any pictures of him yet. He looks to different! I'm really going to have a hard time getting used to it. Just another bit of evidence that my baby is growing up.

Gratitude: Eternal Families

Today was an easy one to come up with something I'm thankful for. I'm so thankful for the knowledge that families can be forever, that my family has been sealed for time and all eternity and that even though Karlee had to go(seven years ago today) we will see her again someday.

It is such a comfort to know that she is not gone, that she was needed elsewhere, maybe to prepare the way for others. But most of all, that I will get to see her again and spend time with her. I miss her so much, especially as I look at my boys and I see little bits of her in them.
I can't imagine living without this knowledge of eternity. I am so thankful for the peace and hope that it brings me, along with the knowledge that I am also sealed to my wonderful husband and children. Really, I can't express the depth of my gratitude for this!

Trick-Or-Treating (Picture Overload!)

"This is my punkin!"

Kyle was a good sport as mommy tortured him in his giant pumpkin costume.
I loved how Zach RAN to each door and how his tail would swing back and forth as he went. Here our little neighbor was excited to meet him and give him his candy.
I loved the view from behind the stroller as Zach was riding along.
Ahhhh!
Yep, definitely a good sport.


At the end of our excursion Zach decided he was tired of walking and he would just crawl instead. I figured he was just trying to get into character.

After a break at home we rejoined some of our friends for a few more houses.
Has anyone ever managed to get a successful picture of five kids under five?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!