I feel so accomplished

I am just dying to tell Tyson all about what I have done this evening, because he is who I tell everything to. But alas, he is at bishopric meeting and unable to take my call if I was to call him. I think the main reason I was able to get anything done is because he is not here and the kids are asleep. :) So let me just tell you about what I did this evening:

-first I went to our neighbor, Becca's house because Josh was dying to go there. He put on his hat, coat and boots, brought me my shoes and walked outside saying "Mama, go." So after being social (a big accomplishment for me) and eating Becca's yummy sweets and pizza, we came back home.

-I got the boys ready for bed all on my own and put them in bed...in the same room. This is Caleb's first night in the crib and surprisingly is going well. I don't know about later, but for now, it is not just good, but amazing. I have been worrying about putting him in there for weeks.

-I cleaned the bathroom.

-I balanced the checking account, something I have never in my life done before but have always needed and wanted to.

-Found the vacuum manual.

-Read the whole thing (not the french half).

-Found out why the vacuum was broken.

-Felt dumb because it actually wasn't broken, it had just shut off so it didn't get overheated. I went and turned on the contraption and sure enough, it runs.

-Now I am relaxing and hoping my husband comes home soon, if not, I might be sleeping.

-Realized that I woke up Josh in the vacuum-turning on process and listening to him babble about the baby guy and snowmen.

Minus the last bullet, I think I did pretty good this evening. I hope Tyson isn't gone this much anymore, but it was sure nice to get so much done. I think I am still like a little kid that wants to show their mom what they did. "Mommy look, I made my bed aren't you proud of me?" Ah, well, someday maybe I will grow up. :)

An Actual Conversation

So Josh has been talking a lot more since Tommy started coming to play everyday. And now Tommy is finally not just talking in front of me (a big step, he refused to speak in my presence for days, I think I scared him) but he talks to me too. What I love though is when Josh and Tommy talk to each other. This is my favorite conversation thus far.

(They are both hovering over Caleb)

Tommy: "Hi Caleb! So cute, Caleb, so cute."

Josh: "Hi Baby Guy, Haha, oh Baby Guy."

Tommy: "No, Josh, its Caleb."

Josh: "No, its Baby Guy."

Tommy: "No, its Caleb."

By this point I am laughing and they both look at me rather confused and wondering why I burst out in laughter at random moments of the day. If only they knew how funny they are.

Midnight Poetry

I have been reading "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio" which is full of little jingles and poems. So little rhymes have been popping into my head lately. Last night, Caleb kept waking up for some reason, not because he was hungry, apparently he just wanted to say hello. So, I wrote this at 4am. Evelyn Ryan (the lady in the book) is much better at poetry than me, but I hope you enjoy.

"My Darling, Dearest Caleb friend,
This waking up at night must end.

These cooing sounds sure are sweet,
But honestly kid, I am beat.

Close those little eyes my dear,
And rest well knowing that I am near.

Don't even try to fight,
I will turn off this light.

I need to get more rest,
So stop being a cute pest.

We are only a room apart.
Goodnight, AGAIN, little sweetheart."

3 Months

Oh Caleb, how do you keep growing up so fast. It goes by like a blink. Caleb turned 3 months old today and he is so cute. He still doesn't sleep through the night, although he should be, but he does sleep a lot and he is so happy. He hardly ever cries and loves to smile and laugh. It is so precious. How did we get so lucky to have such cute little boys? Although sometimes it is frustrating to be in a house with so many boys and no other girls, I think I like it that way. I am the queen. :) Little Caleb sure makes me happy. He coos and blows raspberries for hours. He LOVES his Daddy. He gets the biggest smiles for him and he will not eat if he can hear Tyson talking, which drives me crazy. His eyes are still a beautiful starlike blue, almost silver around the pupil. He is losing his hair though, the back of his head is totally bald, poor kid. :) But yeah, he is adorable, but I am pretty partial. I love having kids. Josh still loves Caleb, refuses to say Caleb, still calling him "baby." The Lord has blessed us so much. Caleb, I love you. Happy 3 Month Day!

Hi! :)

So I think I watched this video like five times already and all times I was dying laughing. Kids are the best entertainment ever!

Two Sets of Twins

So this past week I have been watching my friend, Emilie's, kids. Each of her boys are just a month and a half older than mine so I felt like there were two sets of twins. I am so thankful the Lord hasn't given me twins, I don't know how it is possible to take care of them. Watching them was a lot of fun, but really exhausting. Josh and Tommy just love each other, which is really cute. They come up with fun games together, mostly it consists of just chasing each other around, but it is fun to watch. Then both the babies usually switch off sleeping and just wanting to be held. It is nice that almost always there is at least one kid sleeping. But I took this pictures in a brief moment when they were all awake. It was so cute, Jack and Caleb kept tipping over and Tommy and Josh kept trying to push them back up which got dangerous, but funny. :) So yeah, that is what I have been up to. Experiencing the life of having twins, twice the exhaustion, but twice the fun. :)

Christmas-time!

So for Christmas and for Zuri's birth, my whole family came out here. Not just my Mom and Dad and the kids still at home, but my older brothers and their wives, and my grandpa, Papo. It was soooo much fun! I miss them all. It was such a fun reunion. I loved it. Carmel, my little sister, stayed with us while the rest of my family stayed at a cabin nearby. Okay, sorry, these are all kind of jumbled, but that was how are Christmas was, so I guess it works. It was such a fun day, totally crazy, but a ton of fun! Kimmy and little Caleb totally bonded and she got him to sleep like no one else. He got her to sleep too. :)

My Dad and Josh bonded over the Cootie game. Josh calls him Pop now. To which my Dad replies "Pop goes my heart." If anyone has seen Music and Lyrics, this is funny. Well, it is funny if anyone knows my dad. :)

Carmel was Josh's favorite, this is her carrying him around. We miss her.

Papo, Courtney and Mom in the kitchen cooking such scrumptious things...

KJ had a Hitler mustache in honor of the Risk game they were all playing. Pretty hilarious.

Risk. All the brothers having a grand time. Chris would have been here, but he was in the hospital being a good husband and dad. By the way, Tyson knew I was taking the picture and so he was making a funny face. He is so funny.

My love and I on Christmas day.

Papo and Kimmy made Papo's award winning divinity. Jeepers it was yummy.

Little Caleb on Christmas morning.

Our little home after the wirlwind of Christmas morning and opening presents. It was so much fun, I love having kids! It was so much fun having Carmel there with us too. Oh and Tyson got me a CD player or "boombox" as the cover says. It is awesome and we jammed to Taylor Swift for the next week.

Our Christmas card wall.

The tree, note that all the ornaments are only on the top half so Josh can't reach. They got higher and higher the whole month. :)

Josh was fabulous at ripping open his presents. His birthday gave him good practice I guess.

And this is just random but after it snowed there was a red cardinal up in the tree and it looked so pretty against all the snow. Sorry you can't see it very well, but I thought it was pretty.

Merry Christmas!

A video for your enjoyment. :)

Zuri Rose

sweet hair huh?

Okay, so I have a little niece and she is pretty freaking (sorry Dad, I know you hate that word) adorable. Kenni had her on the 23rd of December. Chris and Kenni are perfect parents, like they have been for their whole lives or something. It is so weird to see Bunk with a baby of her own. How odd it is that we are all growing up and having kids of our own. I can't wait to see her again, I haven't seen her for three days and it feels like forever. :) Congrats Bunk and Chris!