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!"

Giving Thanks

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving!!

Jeff's parents have made it a tradition to come visit us for the Holiday and we LOVE that they do.

We have so much fun with them and the kids just absolutely adore their grandparents.  

This year, Jonathan & Rachel came with them, which made it extra fun!

We had a fun week of celebrating with a trip to the zoo, play time at the mall, lots of yummy food, restaurants, and plenty of fun.  

Here are the highlights from the actual Thanksgiving day:

The food:

Desserts:

The guests:

(ignore our art wall, it's a work in progress with the kids)

The cute kiddos:

Watching the game while the ladies took the kids to the movies:

Callen's first Thanksgiving.  

I am so thankful to have this little guy in our lives:

He met Uncle Johnny & Aunt Rachel for the first time:

Mckenon came down from BYU-I. The kids LOVE to wrestle with him:

The kiddos got to open their Christmas pjs that night:

The pjs were a hit:

Mckenon, Shar, Trav, Kapria, & Mila

The sibs:

Grandma & Rachel read the boys their bedtime stories.  The kids sure love guests at our house!

So sweet:

We are so grateful for the wonderful family we are blessed with.

We truly have so much to be thankful for.

Callen: 6 months

Wow! 6 months have flown by.  Here's our little guy's growth month by month:

Happy half-birthday little man!!!

Oh this boy is such a joy- we all just absolutely adore him!  

It is so fun to see his fun personality emerge.

Callen's stats:

Height: 27 inches

Weight: 17 lbs 2 oz. 

 (officially our chunkiest baby- we LOVE those rolls!!!)

Takes 3 naps/day. Each 1-2 hours long

Sleeps 12ish hours straight through the night. (awesome!)

Solely breastfeeding- about to start solids

Callen at 6 months:

LOVES babbling. He talks to us constantly and gives the best, hugest grins.

He's been rolling from his back to his tummy, but he hated being on his tummy. This month he started really enjoying being there and is pushing himself up with his arms. He also  wiggles around to try to get the toys he wants. So cute.

He loves jumping in the bouncer.

Met his Aunt Amanda for the first time.

He is such a cuddle bug and loves to be held and sung to.

Enjoys massage/lotion time at nights.

One of his most awesome accomplishments is going to bed ...we NEVER had to do a 'cry it out' time.  We just put him to bed around 8ish and we don't hear a peep until morning!

Is such a trooper with his bros.  He really lets them hug and love on him without getting too fussy.

Is super ticklish on his tummy, chest, & neck.

Loves snuggling with his monkey blankie to go to sleep.

He is such a happy, content baby. He really just loves being around all of us and watching the happenings!!

Dear Callen,

We love you so much, our sweet boy. You are the calm in our day and definitely a joy to all of us.  

You light up the minute you see any of us and give us the best smiles.

You laugh at your brothers and love to be around them. We got out the bouncer this month for you.. you weren't quite sure what to think at first, but now you are a pro. You love turning yourself around in it to see the different toys and bouncing as high as you can!  And oh the sound of your laugh- it is pure happiness!  If any of your brothers are grumpy, I just have to ask if they want to hold you and the grumpies melt away. They answer an enthusiastic YES and race to the couch to hold you in their arms. You hold that magic, my sweet sweet boy. You make our days brighter and better. We are so glad you are part of our family.

Love love love you, little man.

Love, 

Mommy, Daddy, & the bros.

Amdanda's Visit!

My wonderful sister in law, Amanda, came to visit.  

This visit was extra special because she came to see just us & to meet our cute Callen!  

Usually there is a family vacation planned, a reunion, a wedding, general conference, or other family members here to visit. But this time, it was all US. 

And I couldn't be happier. 

We had so much fun just hanging out, snuggling on Callen, playing with the boys, freezing in the snow (since it decided to DUMP on us while she was here), watching movies, having a girl's day of shopping and fun, painting toes, making smoothies, talking, laughing, and loving being together. 

I love this girl.

More than I could ever say.

Thank you for coming to visit.  I miss you. SO. MUCH.

Sadly, I didn't pull out my camera the whole trip. 

But we had a blast.  

I know that without many pictures to show for it! :)

Halloween!

The boys decided months ago what they wanted to be for Halloween. Since they had picked Avengers characters, and there were now 6 of us, I figured it'd be easy to form the whole team.   We had so much fun at our old neighborhood trick or treat lane.  It was so fun to see our friends. 

Black Widow & Hawkeye

I didn't want to buy or sew mine and Jeff's costumes, so it was all about the accessories.  You can't see behind him, but he has on a pretty sweet quiver of arrows I made out of a mail tube. I also painted the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on his shirt.  I spray painted some of the boys toy guns for me and made a bracelet of bullets and then also my black widow belt buckle. Oh, and I've been wanting to go a little red for awhile, so I saved it for now.  I'm liking how it turned out. The boys love it and Weston asked me to keep it awhile. I think I will. :)  

Weston, aka, Captain America & his buddy!

Tave or HULK

Ryder:  Iron Man!

West had so much fun with his friend, Jaron. They sure miss hanging out daily!

Since the boys have missed each other, my friend, Rachel came trick or treating with us in our neighborhood. It was such a GORGEOUS day and the boys had a blast. I'm so glad we all hung out!

I love these kids!  

The two babies are missing from this pic, I can't believe we have 8 boys between the two of us!

Cute Callen hung out in his seat while the boys ran door to door.  He was so happy to talk to us, and have his Thor stuff off!

Happy Haunting everyone!