Happy Birthday!!

Trav's birthday was Sunday and I am a complete slacker! I feel terrible for not posting something to let him know just how much I love him.

Here are the top 8 things that I love about Trav:

1. He is a wonderful husband. He is the best! Not only is he willing to change the dirty diapers while he is at home but he recently offered to do all the laundry....need I say more??

2. He is a wonderful father. I tried to find some pictures of just him, but I really couldn't find many. I guess that is because he actually likes to be around his kids, and the boys LOVE to be around him. I love to watch how he plays and wrestles with them. He is a wonderful example for them.

3. He has a great sense of humor. I guess that was one of my criteria when I was looking for that right fella, and Travis definately fits the bill. He is always trying to get me to laugh and I think that is why so many people are drawn to him. He always has a smile on his face and it is hard not to smile back.

4. I have to put this one on because this is definately something that I love about him: HE'S SO HOT! I think that every wife would put this about their husbands but I really feel that my guy is a definate 10!

5. His love and knowledge of the gospel. He is amazing when it comes to quotes of scripture references; he remembers everything! I am always blown away when we start talking about a gospel topic because his grasp of so many different topics is staggering. I look to him in so many ways to teach me, and I definatly learn a ton!

6. He is so hard working! I don't think that I have ever talked to any of his former co-workers that hasn't just loved working with or for Trav. He has an inate ability to work with any type of personality. He provides for our family so that I don't have to work outside of the home and I appreciate that so much.

7. The fact that he loves sports! I had to have a guy that wasn't somebody that just read books or wanted to play video games all the time. I love that we can sit down and watch a game together or go out and play baseball or basketball or whatever. We have so much fun camping, hiking, and fishing.

8. I love the way that he loves me. He is such a wonderful guy and I can't imagine my life without him in it. I love his smile and the sweet way that he makes me feel like the prettiest woman alive....every day!

Thanks for being mine Trav and Happy Birthday!

You know you're tired

I was looking through pictures today and totally forgot about these. Shane and Jace had refused to take naps when I knew that they were totally tired. I could feel my blood pressure rising so I decided to just let them come in my room and watch a show while I folded clothes. This is how Jace and Shane fell asleep. I guess it gives a whole new meaning on dead on your feet. :) Jace's legs didn't even buckle or anything. After taking the pictures I did take him into bed. Shane fell asleep listening to music on the MP3 player. I KNEW they were tired.

Brett is 5 months!

I can't believe how fast time flies. He was 5 months over the weekend and I failed to realize it. I did however take a few pictures. He is such a joy to be around....he is always happy and smiling. He is totally digging the fact that he is getting solids now and sobs between bites. (I guess I am not getting it there fast enough for him.) He rolled himself over the other day and totally freaked himself out. He loves to push himself around his crib so I always find him in a totally different place after his naps. I am afraid that he is trying to teeth, and this is totally too soon (Shane and Jace were around 10 months when they got thier first tooth). Shane is always calling him a "drooling machine" which is totally true because he always has a drenched shirt from his drool (YUMMY!) I can't wait until he can run around with his brothers and get into mischief (wait what am I saying??? :))

Aren't They Great?

So last night Allie had to go over to the church for a cub scouts meeting, and I saw it as a great opportunity to go looking (again) for something for Mother's Day. So I packed up the boys in the car and we headed over to Wal-Mart.

We got there and went in (on the side by the pharmacy, cards, etc.), and I immediately bypassed the greeting cards section because to my thinking there was no way I was going to be able to keep 3 boys happy and entertained without at least 2 of them grabbing every card they could reach! :) Anyway, we were already past that part of the store when Shane looked back and said, "Dad, we have to get Mom a birthday card!" (I guess at that age they're all birthday cards...)

Reluctantly I turned the shopping cart around and headed to the cards, telling myself we were only going to stay there a minute or 2 and that I'd just try to find a card some other time when I was alone. Shane hopped out of the cart and walked over to the birthday card section (completely bypassing the Mother's Day section), and then almost instantly his face lit up and he said, "Dad, this one is GREAT! This one would be perfect for Mom!" Then he turned the card so I could see it, and it was a big Thomas the Tank Engine card...and it was even shaped like Thomas. :) I couldn't help but smile and say that maybe we should get a different card, and he immedately responded by showing me 2 or 3 similarly-themed cards. The great part was that with each card that he picked out, his face lit up and he was totally smiling when he showed them to me.

I was finally able to drag him away from the cards so we could resume our trek through Wal-Mart, and a minute or 2 later we rounded a corner to head towards the back of the store. Of course, there, right in the middle of the aisle, was one of those big bins where they store those oversized balls (you know, the ones that are usually 2-3' in diameter?). Shane immediately ran over to the balls, and, reaching into the bin and grabbing a ball said with pure joy and excitement on his face, "Dad--we should get Mom her own special ball!!"

Well, we didn't get Mom her own special ball. I mean, something that special would probably be better saved for her birthday instead of Mother's Day, right? :) But after our trip to Wal-Mart (when I was done cat herding and could finally relax) I got to thinking about Shane's suggestions for things to get for Allie...

Aren't kids just the greatest? I mean, think about it: here was Shane--finding and thinking about things that he just LOVES and that get him totally excited. In his mind, if he loves things this much, everyone else must love them just as much, so why not give them to a person he loves so that that person can be just as happy as he is? What a pure, tender, sweet, innocent love kids have. It's impossible not to notice it and be touched by it. In his mind he was getting the things that he could get to MOST show Mom how much he loves her and how special she is to him. It's no wonder the Savior taught us to be more like our kids...

We sure have some special boys. Every day we thank our Heavenly Father for the family we have and the sweet spirits that He has brought into our lives. They sure keep us on our toes and there's no doubt in my mind that they've taught me a lot more about being a good father then I've taught them about being good sons. Sorry for getting a little sentimental...I just love my boys and am sure proud of them! They're the greatest!

Good Health!

I don't think you truly appreciate something until it is gone. Over the past week I have been fighting a recurring fever, chills, nausea etc. I just thought it was a terrible case of the flu and that it would eventually go away, but it didn't. After much persuasion, I did call the doctor and eventually found myself in the emergency room with an IV in my arm getting fluids, antibiotics, and pain killers for a kidney infection. I am a moron I know, but I did just think that it was the flu and that I would be able to kick it. There is nothing I hate more than to go to the doctor and they make you feel like a complete fool because it really isn't anything major. I am feeling better now though and thankfully I have a wonderful husband that was willing to take care of me and the boys.

Travis got home last week from his trip in Hawaii (the big island). We haven't really even had time to look through the pictures that he took so when he does I will have him post some. I wish that we all could've gone but with the cost of tickets and the fact that we have a ton of stuff that we want to do this summer it really wasn't very practical. The crazy boy twisted his ankle hiking (by himself) in Volcano National Park. Not only was he alone but it was getting dark. Crazy boy!!

The kitchen is almost complete. I am really happy with how it turned out, but I don't think that I will be doing any big projects like that for a while. I didn't realize just how much work it was. However, when you have two very eager helpers it does make things just a little bit harder. I was considering getting all new pulls for the cabinets but ended up seeing what they would look like if I just spray painted them. They look great! That saved a ton of money. Don't ever try to do something that requires thinking late at night though because it will never work out. I think that an ordinary person would've been o.k., but since I am lacking in the common sense department I made much more work for myself. I referring to my total inability to tape my tile backsplash so that I could paint it. I wanted to leave the grout the color that it was, so I got to taping and painting and it looked great until I peeled the tape off and there was not one tile that was completely painted. AHHHH!!! I am such a fool. Maybe I wanted it a different color anyway :).

We survived!

Travis and I had a rare moment of creativity and came up with some "truck themed" games for Shane's party on Saturday, and what do the kids want to do? What every kid wants to do when they come over to my house: crank up the keyboard and run like crazy! It was so much fun though and I think that the kids had a good time playing bean bag throw into the dump truck, pin the wheel on the truck, the hokey-pokey, and car, car, car, truck (duck, duck, goose :)). We had great weather so the kids ran around outside for the most part. Shane invited Lily (his cousin) and 6 of his friends from pre-school and church. I found Jace double fisting it into the cake when I came back in the house. That kids loves his sugar and man is he sneaky. A couple of weeks ago we hosted a party for the final game of the NCAA men's basketball tournament and someone had brought over a plate of cookies to share. I wonder how many cookies that kid had because I was constantly taking a new one away from him. One of my friends caught him behind the counter and asked him, "Are you hiding from your mom?" He looked up at her with a new cookie in his hand, smiled, and said, "YES!"

Travis is out of town this week on business so I get to have the kids all day...all by myself. I love my children but I gotta admit that I really count on the time when Travis comes home and I can have a little "timeout". I am trying to get my kitchen cabinets painted while he is gone. I know that this is quite a project to take on but I have been wanting the color changed since we moved in. Hopefully I won't totally wreck them, but I don't think that they could be much worse. Someday when we are rich, I can redo the kitchen the way that I really want. Someday...

For the curious?

Here is the recipe for the marshmallow fondant. I found the recipe on the Wilton website in their discussion forum if you are curious for the commentary and suggestions by the author.

Marshmallow fondant
1 cup mini marshmallows
1 tbsp water
1 1/2- 1 3/4 cup powder sugar

Place marshmallows in a standard 1 cup measuring cup and push down and pack them in. Place in a microwave safe bowl and add the water. Put in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Just long enough for them to soften and puff up. Take out and stir with a spoon until it is combined well. At this point it looks kind of soupy. Then add the sugar and mix and fold until all is incorporated and it is no longer sticky. I take it out of the bowl when it gets to the point where most of the sugar is incorporated and I knead it in my hands. This takes roughly about 5-7 minutes. Take a fondant roller or a regular rolling pin and roll out just as you would Wilton's fondant. You can get this fondant almost paper thin and it also repairs well. It's cheap, easy to work with, and tastes great too.

You can make a large batch of this fondant as well by doing this:

Large batch of Marshmallow fondant
1- 16 oz bag of mini marshmallows
2 tbsps water
2 lbs powdered sugar (8 cups)

Do the same procedure as above.

We made several small batches because we wanted to use several different colors. I used the gel colors that you can get from Wal-mart for $1.50 or something. It doesn't really take too much color but I always just put a glob in there to make sure that the color is dark. A word to the wise though, use the suggestion and put shortening on your hands (Travis found out the hard way that this was a GREAT suggestion :)). Travis thought that it tasted like circus peanuts candy, and with the cake it really didn't taste all that bad. This can be rolled pretty thin so don't get it too thick (mistake made on the first one). If you have any questions let me know.

Shane's big day!

We celebrated Shane's birthday on Friday by starting with a crepe breakfast. Shane and Jace both love them. I think that this might be because we call them "whipped cream burritos" :) . Shane has been using our camera for the past several months whenever we leave it out to take random pictures of whatever. He has learned to set the timer and loves to pose and take pictures of himself. We decided that because we really didn't want to see our camera broken that we would give him one of his own. They make great cameras for toddlers and this one can do videos, pictures, play games etc. Thanks to the Trav's and my parents, we got him one and he was in heaven for the rest of the day.

The night before I had decided to try my hand at frosting stuff with fondant. I have heard that the regular stuff is awful so I found a recipe that called for just marshmallows and powdered sugar (what kid wouldn't like that frosting). I had found a picture in a book for little monster cakes (left bottom picture). Each monster was an individual cake wrapped in this fondant. I enlisted the help of Travis and we tried to make these little monsters. They were WAY more work than we had anticipated but by the last two or three I had the hang of it. I decided on Friday though that I would make another cake because these little monsters weren't all that great. So the truck cake was constructed hurriedly (literally an hour) before everyone came over for the party. Nothing special by any means but what cracks me up is the kids wanted the monsters and very little of the other cake was eaten. Who would've known??? Jace literally ate nothing BUT the fondant and then gave the cake back to me. The kid loves his sugar.

We ate pizza and the kids played Wii. It is crazy how much noise is made by 9 little kids running around. I didn't realize it until everyone was gone and the house was quiet. :) Shane's official party for all his little pre-school friends will be this Saturday so we will see how that goes. He wants a dump truck themed party so I need to come up with some little games for them to play. I love the internet though because there are so many great ideas out there from people.

Shane and Brett had thier checkups with the doctor yesterday. Brett is approaching 13 pounds (still a little peanut) but is very healthy, and Shane will hopefully be able to come off the inhaler in a couple of months. The doctor informed us that Shane would need shots and I prepared myself for the worst:

Mom: Shane you are going to have to get a couple of shots today. If you are good we can get a special treat afterwards.
Shane: Silence...
Mom: Praying there won't be a tantrum.
Shane: Don't worry mom I'll be brave! Shots are awesome. I won't even cry, don't worry mom.
Mom: (Jaw dropping open)
Shane: Does the doctor have the special treat?
Doctor: We have some cool stickers...smile.
Shane: Frown
Mom: We'll figure something out.

The kid was awesome though. He was right he didn't even flinch when the shots were given. He then held Brett's hand and told him that he needed to be brave. What a good big brother. He was rewarded with a vanilla frosty....way to go Shane!

Shane's 4th!

I can't believe that my baby is 4 today! Time really does go by fast....A couple of weeks ago (o.k.I guess it was about a month or so ago) I got "tagged" to write down the top 8 things that I love about each of my children. Today I guess I will do the top 8 things that I love about Shane.
1) The idolization that he has for his dad. Shane absolutely loves Travis. He has since he was very little. Travis could always get him to sleep whenever I was at my wits end. He is always so excited to hear the garage door open when Travis comes home because that means that he gets to play with him for the night. He always says "When I get big like Dad...."

2) The love that he has for music. From a very early age Shane had great rhythm. We would stand in the Walmart parking lot and he would hear a diesel engine and immediately start bouncing to the rhythm of the engine. We have a digital keyboard that has a memory bank of short songs and he will sit for hours playing with it, making up dances to the songs, changing the tempo, or the octave (I don't even know how to do this). Most of the dances involve some sort of running or jumping so I love the fact that they expend ALOT of energy.

3) The love that he has for his brothers. Jace and he can be the best of friends and the worst of enemies, but all in all they love each other. He is such a good example for Jace and I know that they would be lost if the other wasn't around. Jace is always asking when "my brother" is going to be home whenever Shane is at pre-school.

4) The hugs and kisses he so willingly gives. I sometimes get so frustrated at night when I am putting them to bed, and then Shane yells, "Mom, all I want is one more hug and one more kiss." Although frustrating, it also makes me smile. I just hope that he never grows out of this.

5) The way that he is so willing to help with anything. He loves to help me make dinner and he is quite proud to announce to Travis when he has helped me make something. He loves to do the laundry. I know that this will change as time goes by but for now I am grateful/frustrated. He constantly reminds me when it starts piling up that we need to do a load.

6) His love for books. Since he was very small he has loved books. He will sit and look at them for hours. He loves to have stories read to him and it is good for me to just take a step back from the things that I "have to do" and relax with a good book. (He has My Truck is Stuck memorized).

7) His energy. I know that I sometimes get frustrated because it seems like he is constantly in motion, but I would prefer this to a sedate, boring child (what am I saying :) ??) He has boundless energy and is always finding ways to run, skip or jump. Hence the reason that I love the keyboard and our mini trampoline.

8) His love of the gospel. He always reminds us that we need to read scriptures before bed, and I am so grateful that this habit has been formed. I am reminded daily what a special spirit that Heavenly Father has sent to me. He is telling me stories that he has learned at church or from the primary songs (he came and told me the story of Jonah one day). His grasp of how much his Heavenly Father loves him is amazing. I learn from him each and every day.

I love you Shane and I am so grateful that you chose me to be your mom, and that I have the opportunity to be your mom!

Out of the Mouth of Babes

Aren't kids just the greatest? (at times I mean... :) j/k) You just gotta love the total lack of a "filter" from their brains to their mouths...they just say anything that comes to mind...and sometimes it is really cute!

Early this morning I was leaving for work (Brett and Jace were still asleep and I think Allie was in the shower), and Shane must have heard me getting ready to leave. So he came downstairs to tell me he loved me and to give me a hug and kiss good-bye.

Knowing the earliness of the hour, I then (mostly for Allie's sake!) suggested to Shane that he go back upstairs and lay back down. He looked at me with his gravest face, and said (almost in a reproving tone), "Dad, it's daytime. You can't lay back down when it's daytime."

I said that he was right and that I was sorry that I had suggested it. Then, as if to drive home his point, he said, "You only lay down when it's nighttime." I somberly told him that he was absolutely right, and then once again said good-bye and turned (with a huge smile on my face! :)) and left for work.

This was by no means the funniest of these little "instances" when our kids say hilarious things, but it just really made me smile. Man, I wish I could tape-record his words and then play them back to him when he's a teenager and won't get up in the morning! :) (Yeah right...like that'll happen!) Wow--Shane as a teenager... That's a scary thought! :)