The New Pantry

Rhyme Time





When you get this much snow,

and have no place to go....

You put on a show,

and watch the pile grow. (Pantry explosion)

The pantry was awkard and made no sense,

so Josh built a wall with some wood and splints.

Now we can organize all of our food

so we and the boys are in a great mood!

ABC, read to me

I want to start helping Landon learn some basic reading skills.  He loves books and always wants to be read to, but I feel like he is getting to the point that he could start reading a little on his own.  The challenge is taking the time to work with him and keeping him interested.  He knows the alphabet really well - capital letters that is - but forgets the lower case ones sometimes.  I set up a game where he had to find lower case letters around the house and match them up with the capital letters.  Then he had to tell me what sound each letter made.  He really enjoyed it and played 3 times before he was tired and wanted to move on to something else.

Finding the letters

Matching the letters up

Proudly showing off his results

I scream, you scream...

We all scream for snow cream.  We have had so much snow this winter, so I have been trying to find things to keep the boys occupied.  Today we scooped up some clean snow and made snow cream.  It was really good and tasted just like homemade ice cream.

The ingredients...evaporated milk, sugar,

vanilla, and of course SNOW!

The finished product

Brody's first time trying ice cream...

And he LOVED it!  (Not too surprised - he loves anything edible!)

Thank God for Good looking boys!

This is completely superficial and selfish, but I often worried before the boys were born if I would think they were handsome.  Oh of course my #1 concern and prayer was for healthy, happy babies but there was also a part of me that hoped they would be good-looking.  I am not really that superficial, but I can be very critical with myself and in my mind, so I did not want that to be translated to my children.  I remember being so relieved when I saw Landon - and even stated in relief, "Oh, he's cute!"  Well, thank God that it really doesn't matter and all children are beautiful and perfect to our Heavenly Father, but this proud momma is thankful and thinks she has two, I mean three good-looking boys!!

I recently took some pics of the boys in hopes of getting a good photo.  Landon was decked out in a suit outfit that Pops got him for Christmas.  I figured by the time we had an occasion to go to that he'd need to wear it - it would be too small, so we broke it out for church.  Everyone kept telling him he could be in GQ.

Might be getting a big head, but this pic cracked me up!

"Zoolander" pose

My little gentleman takes a bow

I also took some pics for Brody's 1st birthday invitations.....

What an impish look!

Love how blue his eyes look

Those two little teeth crack me up!

The Winning Shot!

Triple Threat

Landon's good buddies - Claire, Delaney, and Tyler - recently had a joint bounce party to celebrate their 4th birthdays.  I can't believe how big they have all gotten in what seems like a blink of an eye! 

Birthday Boy Tyler keeping watch of the 3 and under bounce house.  :)  He makes a great monitor, but I didn't get a great pic because he kept teasing me and running away.  He is so full of life and laughter.  Tyler has always had a smile on his face and is just one of those people you automatically like. 
I love this sweet little boy!

Birthday Girl #1 - Claire  Such a true lady at heart Claire is always full of love and so polite.  Her personality is so sweet and pleasant.  The quinicential little girl!

Birthday girl #2 - Delaney   She is so full of spunk and personality.  You can't help but want to be around her.  What a beautiful little girl inside and out!  Love her!

Delaney does her "model pose"

Pow-wow underneath one of the inflatables

Landon having a blast on the slides

Brody LOVED playing inside the ball pit!

Group pic, but I think Koen's the only one ready :)

All the kid party-goers

Delaney is very concerned that Tyler's candle blew out......

but no worries..Brian comes to the rescue and the birthday kiddos are good to go!

Happy 4th Birthday C, D, and Ty!  Love you all :)

SBE!!!!

SBE are initials for Sarah, Breanne, and Erin; or Sexy Babes' Excursions as we like to call it.  These two girls were my roommates in college and great friends!  I am so thankful that God brought them into my life...not only to become closer to him in college, but also continuing to encourage me in my walk with the Lord.  It's so easy to get busy and miss seeing them, so we are trying to do bi-monthly get-to-gethers with our families.

The boys are excited to see Breanne's little girl Mollie!  She's beautiful just like her mommy!

Breanne and her fam had to get Mollie home, but Sarah and Jarad stayed for a

crazy game of cookie face.  Sarah was the champ!

Great night with some great girls! (and guys...they both found some pretty amazing hubbies!)

Baby Bella

We recently took some dinner to our friends Ryan and Lori and got to meet their newest addition to the family!  Bella is absolutely beautiful and such a sweetie!

Brody checking her out

He was really interested in her binky!

The buddies - Koen and Landon - kept us entertained with their dress-up! 

Magic House

My brother Matt, Kimmie, and Toby came from Wash D.C. to spend part of the holidays with us.  We tried to get a few outings in while they were here and headed to the Magic House.  All the boys loved it and we had a great time!

Brods is pumped about his first visit!

All four boys in the back of the energy-efficient car

Driving the Recycling Truck

Ariel and Dan dress up in some "interesting" outfits

Toby was so brave and climbed the beanstalk all the way to the top.

Foreman Landon operates the bobcat

Answering calls in the oval office

Singing to us in the judge's seat

Brods explores the toddler area

Loving the mirrors

Max's crazy hair

Kimmie's crazy hair and Toby

Brody in shock - literally!