Mother's Day!

Jeff is always so good at spoiling me for Mother's Day.  

He let me sleep in then I came downstairs to see this cute wall full of loving notes:

And homemade kneaders french toast. The best. mmmm

We went to church and afterwards had a relaxing afternoon together.  We took the boys for a walk.

My heart was full as I watched these boys with their daddy..how can I ever thank my Heavenly Father enough for giving them all to me. 

I am truly so blessed.

Our little Callen took his first steps this weekend.  SO EXCITING and an awesome Mother's Day gift!

Delicious dessert. mmmmm...

Motherhood has changed me. It has stretched every bit of me and is continuing to mold me into the best version of myself. I am so grateful for this opportunity to learn from and grow with these wonderful, amazing boys. 

My sweet West always wants a picture with me:

I love you too, boys. 

With all my heart.

January Everyday Moments

January passed by so quickly!! 

We spent lots and lots of time inside since outside looked like this:

We worked on lots of art projects and did some canvases together for our art wall.  The boys LOVED these and we had so much fun being creative together:

Jeff is crazy and is taking way too  many credits than any sane person should.  He's working 30+ hours a week at his regular job and then taking 18 credits for his doctorate degree. 

To say it's been hard would be an understatement...but we can do hard things and at least we know the end is in sight! (April, we are counting the days!!!) 

The kiddos are in heaven when they get a minute with Dad:

My good friend, Rachel came over for a playdate. She has a boy to match every one of mine and these two guys are only a few weeks apart, SO FUN!  

Ryder loves climbing in Callen's toy...I find him in here daily. So funny:

This little guy is getting *this* close to crawling. We keep thinking it'll happen any day and he keeps just scooting around!  He gets up on all fours, though, and then usually goes to the plank position. Oh how we love our Callen!

Weston celebrated 100 days of school!  He had to wear a shirt with 100 things on it...so he made a flash shirt.  He's so proud of it!

 These boys.  They sure have my heart.  Tave is mia because he hates pictures lately. But every morning everyone climbs into my bed for hugs and snuggles.  

The boys each got lego hero factory guys for Christmas and they LOOOOOVE them.  They play with these daily for hours and love to take them apart and put them back together. Tave told me that putting it together is the coolest part. ;)  Then, of course, they need a photo shoot!

As much as Tave hates the camera, that's how much Ryder loves it!  He is always saying cheese and telling me to 'take my picture, mom!' He just hit 2 1/2 years and I feel like this 1/2 year step is such a big one. He is talking so much and understands tons. He is starting to listen a little better and has the sweetest, kindest heart.  We love our Ryder!

November's Everyday Moments

November passed quickly due to all of our visitors. We absolutely LOVED having people come visit. It was made especially sweet since we are in our new home and have so much space to share.  

(Anyone is welcome, anytime..please come see us!)

In between the cleaning and getting things ready, I tried to do some fun projects with the kids. And also to just enjoy the sweet, simple moments with them.  It was definitely a fun month!

Noteworthy:  my first bun. Yup- ever.  I was excited:

Callen- snuggle time after his bath. Oh this boy melts my  heart:

The boys are in love with him too.  Tave tells me every day how much he loves Callen and that he is the 'cutest baby we've ever had': 

 He loves to jump in his jumper:

One of the activities the boys loooove to help with is baking. 

I've tried baking with them more often since it's a great boredom buster and we get a yummy treat out of it. win/win:

I let them do most of the work, so our cookies are usually pretty funky shapes after they are rolled in the cinnamon! It just makes them taste extra delicious!

I love that these boys love to bake:

"mom, take my picture while 'm dumping this in" you got it, buddy!

Tave-man, ready to get cookin!

Ryder's favorite job: 

He insisted on wearing my apron:

mmmmm....

Another thing we've been working on a lot more is ART.  I want to encourage the boys to use their creativity in expressing themselves.  Allowing them to do hands on projects where they get messy, dirty, and experiment with colors, paints, crayons, and a variety of mediums is something that I think is extremely important. I have a goal of doing some kind of art every day and then doing more in-depth art projects once a week with a lesson on an artist.  I have yet to do the lesson part, but, well, we're all a work in progress, right?!  

Here's our watercolor with salts and glue (project idea found here)

West & Tave worked on one canvas:

and Ryder & I did the other:

He picked all the colors and I just filled in where he wanted:

The boys were on their own with theirs. 

I looooove how they turned out. But more importantly, the boys LOVE it. 

And they think it is so cool that we have them hanging in our house:

And just a few cute moments.  

We find Ryder sleeping in the funniest positions. Sometimes he's halfway off the bed even. So funny:

And the Tave-man saying "Have a great day, friends!"

June's Everyday Moments

June was pretty full. New baby. Packing. Adorable boys.

The boys absolutely adore Callen. No sibling jealousy going on here...we feel so lucky. They all take turns holding him, singing to him, and loving him. 

Ryder, especially, LOVES to sit by him and watch him. It is so sweet to see our crazy, busy boy taking the time to be a good big brother:

Ryder resting on my bed while I pack:

Joe & Amanda sent us such a fun Congrats package after we had Callen. 

They were delicious and we enjoyed every bite (THANKS!!!):

Lots of snuggling going on at our house:

Story time with these cute guys is always exciting:

Heading out for a walk with the littlest man: