Cool names

Today West & I had a little conversation as I was making lunch:

W- Hey mom, I like the name Spy.
Me- Spy? Like Spy for a name?
W- Yeah, I like cool names like Spy & Ryder.
Me- Those are cool names.
W- Yeah, we should name our baby Spy.
Me- Hmm..that's....really neat. You're good at thinking of names.
I also like Ryder. Let's name him Ryder.
W- No. I want his name to be Spy.
Me- What happened to Ryder, that is a very cool name.
W- Spy is cooler. Our baby's name is Spy.
Me- silence..............those are both really great names. Let's see when he gets here.
W- Yeah, cause Spy is really super cool.

SO folks, what do you think- Spy Drysdale. It has a nice ring to it, no? ;)

Loving this

I am in love with this collection. I know I don't need all three pieces, but part of this will be beautifying my home quite soon. Now I just have to decide which!

via here

Let Freedom Ring!!

We celebrated the 4th of Juy with our usual traditions:

The Balloon Fest! We LOVE going to this, even though it is early EARLY in the morning. This year we were smarter and brought blankets and donuts. So fun and so perfect. It was a little bittersweet knowing this was our last balloon fest with Shar & Trav.

The kiddos were pretty exhausted after their early morning, but we HAD to head over the parade. It was tons of fun and we loved a lot of the floats. The only bummer was that we were at the end of the route...so no candy. Weston kept asking why they weren't throwing any so we had to throw him some at home. :)

We love our country and we love celebrating those who have helped to make it what it is.
Thank you!

Happy Birthday to Us!

Shar & I FINALLY went out for our girls day...it was only a year late!

We had fun shopping sans kiddos and then enjoyed a delicious dinner at Brick Oven. Thanks EmSco for joining us!! It was definitely too short, so we'll have to make sure we go again soon!

I can't even begin to say how much I love my sister. I am very much in denial over their move. Pretty much I just pretend it's not happening and that means it won't, right? Riiiiiight....

Happy Birthday Chelsea!

July 3rd- My little sister turned 27!

We celebrated at their house with delicious food and lots of fun for the kiddos.

Happy Birthday Chelsea!

Weston's Birthday Date (finally) !!!

After a few weeks of waiting oh-so-patiently, Weston finally got his Birthday date with me & Jeff!! He had wanted to go see How to Train Your Dragon at the movies, which we thought would be great since it would probably be at the dollar theater by his birthday. Nope!! It was in between theaters apparently, so he had to wait 2 1/2 weeks for it!! But he did great and it was well worth the wait!

It was SO much fun to take him out and see his excitement. First, we went to the store to try out bikes and pick one. We didn't end up finding THE bike, but after West trying out tons and tons (and having a blast!) we figured out the perfect size and luckily found the PERFECT bike (for much cheaper) online. It just got here so we'll be posting pics as soon as we put it together!

After bike shopping, we headed to the movie. Which was awesome! We all loved it!!

Then we let West pick his favorite place to eat: Cafe Rio. (yes, we train him well!!)

It was such an awesome awesome date with our little man. I am so glad we're starting this tradition. It is so fun for the boys and even more fun for Jeff & I!!

Happy Birthday (again) to our sweet, wonderful West!

June's Favorite Faces!

Weston:

Tave:


Best Brothers:

I just love all of the trouble and FuN they get into together. They make us laugh every single day. It's the best!

37 weeks!

Well here I am at 37 weeks!

This was taken last week, but it's the last official pregnancy shot I'm taking, so here you go:

I'm feeling pretty good, just very very squished. B3 moves a TON! So I get all sorts of kicks and nudges and dancing going on in there. It can be quite painful at times, but I love having the connection with our little guy, so I'll take it!

I'm not sleeping very well anymore, hence the very tired state I'm in in this photo. Overall, though, things are great. I'm cleaning, crafting, and organizing like mad and hope to have everything checked off my list before he makes his appearance. (anyone want to babysit so I can get it all done?? seriously.)

We have it narrowed down to three names. Pretty much the ones we've liked forever and then a new one added to the list. We'll see if he ends up with any of them. We're getting a new niece on Friday, so that should keep us busy until we get to hold our own sweet boy.

Cannot wait.

We love you little guy!

Leaving the Nest

I honestly just cannot get enough of these darling birds. I am finding any excuse to make another one. I've decided they are too cute not to name. Names can (and probably will) be changed once they are in their new little nests, but while they are with me they get a name.

These two have been called Henry and Tula.

Tweet tweet.

Carseat Canopy!!!

B3's carseat came yesterday!!

We (okay, I'll admit- I) have been SO excited for it to get here. We've had some hand me down carseats with the other two boys, so this one was very very fun to pick out. I already had the fabric for my carseat canopy so when I saw this carseat, it was just perfect. Plus, it will be lasting us through the rest of babyhood- so I like that's it's gender neutral just in case. ;)

The boys had to make sure and break it in for him. They are so excited for when he gets to ride in it!!! (or maybe again that's just me!)

And on to the canopy~

I fell in love with this gray trellis fabric that my mom and I found in CA. I originally had a different inside fabric, but when I spotted the giraffes for my burp cloths, I decided it was a MUST for this as well. What baby wouldn't love some adorable giraffes to look at and enjoy...and it's an added bonus that it, too, could go for either gender.

I think it turned out pretty darn cute. It was simple to make and a lot of fun with my cute little pin helpers. I followed this pattern here. She has great photos and easy to understand directions.

Now that B3's projects are done I can move on to finishing up a bunch of other projects that have been lying around. Not to mention baby laundry, keeping up with the house, last minute family of four outings, and work. Oh and somewhere in there we need to officially decide on a name. Crazy crazy. Only 3 weeks left to get it all done!

Baby Wearing Help!!!

Hi friends!!

I need your help. We have been looking at purchasing a carrier/sling for B3. In addition to the benefits of baby wearing, I just know it will help to be able to have my hands free with two other guys to take care of and play with.

However, I can't decide between these two:

The Ergo Baby Carrier

The Moby sling

We have a baby bjorn that we have really liked but it really really hurts my back after awhile. (like 30 minutes tops). So we want something that will be great on our backs and comfy for baby.

Both of these can go from infant up to 30-40 lbs. (which technically means I could carry West around in either. haha. can you imagine?!)
They are both designed to fit a lot of sizes, so Jeff and I could both wear them.
They both have amazing reviews and people love them.
They are quite different in price. ($105 vs $40)
But I want something that will last and something I will really use.

SO...have any of you every used one of these? Or better yet, have any of you used both??? What do you think????
I would appreciate any and all thoughts. Like right now. Go leave me a comment. I have to make this purchase tonight before our 30 day free Amazon prime trial runs out. (I hate paying shipping)

Thanks in advance.

Getting ready for B3!!

As I approach the 36 week mark, I'm starting to realize that we only have a few weekends left without baby. That means I'm kicking it up and some serious nesting is going on over here.

First things first, however. Before getting to all the cleaning and laundry, I had to get some projects for baby done!!

This was first on my agenda:

This adorable birdy rattle was so fun to make and I think B3 is going to love it. His two brothers sure do and keep requesting ones in different colors. I just love holding it and imagining all the love it's going to get in just a few months. Baby slobber, here we come!

Next on the list was a few of these bad boys:

I think with 10 burp cloths we have a good start. (after going through 2 kiddos, our others are pretty hashed) Although, I am sure I'll have to whip out a few more just for fun. I really loved making these, especially because I had two of the most adorable helpers. West & Tave were fascinated with the entire sewing process and were great pinn helpers!

If you are interested, I used this tutorial. I only cut my fabric 6 inches wide, though. And I also couldn't find 4-ply diapers anywhere...so I had to go with 3-ply. Basically, though, if it was planning on holding pee, I think it can deal with spit up.

I did find another tutorial here that I think would work great since it doesn't cover as much of the diaper. Of course I found it after I was finished. But I love how mine look and I can always burp the baby on the inside if there are any issues. Either way, I just wanted to make something I will be using every day for the next year look a little cuter. I'm happy!

My next project is currently under way. I will post pics as soon as it's finished!

Father's Day!

I am so very grateful for the father's in my life~

For my own wonderful and amazing dad who continues to teach me so much about patience, love, and sacrifice.

For my incredible father-in-law who's humor, love, and kindness show me just how my husband turned out to be so great.

And for my fantastic husband. You are the father to our boys that I always dreamed I would find.

They are so lucky to have you.

And for all of the unbelievable and wonderful men and father's who touch our lives daily- we love you.

Happy Father's Day!!

We had an awesome father's day. (I'm pretty sure Jeff feels that way, I'll double check and make sure to delete that line if he says no...haha)

We had a nice morning full of church. Then took long naps while the boys napped also.

Afterwards we HAD to bust out the boys' new game -

Hungry Hippos!!!

They LOOOVED it and we had such a fun time. Finally, a game we could ALL play (and enjoy)together!

After the game we had a delicious dinner of Chicken bundles...Jeff's choice of course. And then we went on a long walk. It was perfect.

The boys were SOOOO excited to give Daddy the frame we made him. We had tons of fun gathering rocks, painting them, and then THEY placed them exactly where they wanted them on the frame. I just did the glueing. It was great and best of all- Jeff really loves it.

So remember how I gave Jeff this quilt last year for father's day... um, yeah. It took me an entire year to finish. But he really truly loves it and I love that my first quilt ever was

made especially for my wonderful, fabulous hubby.The boys thought the game of hide n seek in daddy's new quilt was pretty darn awesome.

I think seeing my guys have so much fun together is just that.

Happy Father's day, Babe!

We love you!

Happy Happy Birthday Weston!!

4 years old!!

Our little man has gone from this:

Brand new!



1 year

2 years

3 years

To this:

4 years!

Weston's highlights from his 4th year:

Attended his first year of preschool (joyschool) and absolutely loved it.

He loves to learn and asks questions all the time!

Can sing his ABC's, recognize letters, and numbers, and is working on writing them.

Knows his letter sounds.

LOVES to be outside.

Loves to wrestle with Tave and Daddy.

Became a sunbeam and started going to primary at church.

He loves music and singing. He always wants to listen to his primary songs cd.

Enjoys any kind of hands-on art project.

Loves coloring and drawing.

Enjoys anything with a ball (ie, t-ball, basketball, football)

Talks and talks and talks. (we love talking with him)

Loves to make people laugh and is so goofy and fun.

He is very sensitive and loves to give hugs.

He really loves getting backrubs from mom & dad.

He has started liking board games.

His favorites: calzones, ice-cream, ALL fruits, carrots, (not big on sweets), singing, playing, anything Superhero, movies, playing with his brother, racing, his grandmas and grandpas, cousins, blankies, reading, and much much more!

He is so much fun!

Dear Weston,

Happy Happy Birthday little man! We have loved every single minute of the past 4 years with you. You make being a mom & dad so fun and exciting. We are incredibley blessed to have you in our family. We love learning and growing with you and love watching you become the person you are. You are such an amazing boy and a fantastic brother.

We love you,

Mom & Dad

We love to celebrate...especially on the day of your birthday.

Here's what we did with West on his birthday:

We had saved a present from us for him to open (Mousetrap the game) as well as all of his birthday cards that came in the mail. He is starting to understand that money buys things and he was SO excited to find some in his cards!! Thank you thank you, family!

We had more cake ...mmm...

and then after Tave went to bed West had a special game date with mom & dad.

It was such a fun day with our special guy.

(we are still continuing the birthday date with mom & dad, but the movie he picked to go to is currently in between theatres. So we will go pick his new bike and see How to Train Your Dragon as soon as it gets to the dollar theater in a few weeks!)