Josh's Birthday Bash

So I'm pretty sure I wrote a little about Josh's birthday parties earlier, but here are the pictures. His friend birthday party I think there was 14 kids all total. It was crazy, but a lot of fun. Thank you Carmel and Cassie!! Cassie did all the decorating and they both kept me sane. Little kids are SO much fun!

Pin the beak on the penguin.

The igloo tent was very popular.

Penguin cupcakes made with nilla wafers, gummi orange slices and sprinkles. :)

Josh's party with the family. Marshmallow igloos on top. They slightly resemble pom poms, but it was fun, hehe.

And of course, my little mountain man helping me with the cake. I look up and he has taken some liberties with the spoon I gave him to lick. Haha. I LOVE my little four year old guy!

Happy Birthday Josh! I'm so glad you have been with us now for so long, waking us up early every day, talking our ears off, making us laugh like crazy at your insane comments and being such a protective big brother. Not to mention an incredible helper and wanting to learn everything about everything. We learn so much from you! LOVE YOU! Love, Mama (and Daddy too)

You Gotta Watch

Lyrics: "happy birthday to you" with a mash up of "wish away," however I don't know where that song comes from. :)

Prayers and Persuasion

Tyson and I love to read together and the most current book we are reading is "Inheritance," the last book in the Eragon series. It is a lot of fun to read it with Tyson because he can read really fast during the action parts and it makes it exciting. We don't get to read together a whole lot because Tyson is taking classes right now and the only time he can work on homework is after the kids are in bed. And since he is taking two classes right now, he does homework until really late. (Only a week and a half left until he is done, hooray!)

Well, so, the night before last we read a few chapters after he is done with his homework for the evening and I fall asleep listening to Tyson read. I remember very little of this, but Tyson says he woke me up so I would go to bed and I shot up and sped walked to the back, got under the covers then shot up, ran back to the dining room and unplugged the laptop (I remember thinking in my head it was going to start a fire and I thought I had saved us all, haha, who knows I guess). Then I dove back into bed. Tyson asked me to say the prayer and apparently I prayed for Eragon to be safe, I prayed that Matthew would be safe from Galbatorix and yes, I said I was SO thankful for Alegesia (I don't remember the correct spelling for that). Pretty funny huh? Tyson was dying laughing and I was so embarressed when he told me what I had said. Guess I like the book more than I realized. Hehe

So the next morning I wake up and I feel sicker than ever (I have had a cold, and lost my voice, nothing serious). I can't stop coughing and I needed to take Josh to preschool and go grocery shopping, something I didn't feel like doing in the rain, coughing up a storm and dragging the two little ones with me who for sure would start crying or throwing fits I was sure.

So I tried to convince Tyson, as I do every day, that I want him to stay home with me. He, like he always does, says "that would be nice wouldn't it?" And I think "um, yes, it would. Do you really need to work? Um, no, I don't think so. One day off won't hurt anyone." But I don't say anything, because that isn't nice. I am really thankful he does work so hard and he is dependable and doesn't let me be a wimp. So I do my best to quench my cranky thoughts and try to prepare myself to take care of three little kids and run my errands like I'm not sick.

So Tyson gets all ready for work, kisses me and the kids and walks out the door in the rain. I watch him walk away, allow myself 10 seconds of self pity, then put the kids in the bath and get their clothes ready. Suddenly in walks Tyson and he says "would you mind if I stayed home and took care of you this morning?" He is wearing this totally confident grin that he gets when he knows he has done something amazing and surprised me to boot. (I have a severe addiction to surprises, I LOVE them).

Yes, I hugged him super tight and cried because it was so nice to know I wouldn't be alone. And there is no one I would rather be with than him. It would have been even more perfect if we didn't need to go grocery shopping and take Josh to preschool because then he would have been with me the whole time. But it was SO nice to take a shower without worrying about the kids and to just sleep/relax with little Matthew. It is so weird to think that 4 years ago that was my life, just one little guy.

So here is my shout out to my husband for putting up with my craziness and letting me persuade him to take the morning off of work to take care of me. Hooray for my handsome hunk of a husband!

Been Too Long

I didn't realize just how busy being a mother of three is. I need to make more time to write though, there is so much I will forget and already have. I love my three little boys, the are just so stinking hilarious.

I need to download pictures, but Josh just turned 4 on Tuesday. He had his first friend birthday party and it was awesome! I think we had 13 kids total (including my 3), which was crazy so luckily I had Cassie and Carmel here to help. They saved my life for sure. We played pin the beak on the penguin and a few other games with ice and goldfish. It was pretty fun. I can't believe Josh is 4 already, it makes me feel old. Most days I don't even feel like a mom, like I just have a permanent babysitting job or something.

Caleb has out of no where gotten really opinionated and very picky. He throws tantrums and such, but nothing too horrible. He threw one right when we walked into Walmart the other day and I was so scared (my first time with all 3 by myself on a "real" grocery trip). One of the workers, an older lady, distracted him and I wish I had gotten her name, she was such a lifesaver. But for the most part he is a pretty smiley little guy.

Matthew is REALLY smiley. He makes me so happy. He just stares at me and watches me clean or cook or read and just smiles whenever I look at him. He rarely smiled for the first two months of his life, so I just treasure each one like they are worth a million bucks. I can't believe how lucky I am to have my 3 boys. And Tyson, well, every second of every day I have no clue how I got lucky enough to have him. He gets more and more perfect every day, I don't know how that is possible.

Oh, so some good quotes from the boys lately:
Josh:
"I am the king of the United States of America!"
"I'm in my room, thinking about my life. I want a new mom and dad."
(me: "Josh, thanks for putting Matthew's pacifier back in.") Josh: "oh I couldn't find it." Me: "Then why is he quiet?" Josh: "Oh, I put his blanket on his mouth and pushes it down so I couldn't hear him. I don't like the screaming." (scary huh? We had a talk about not covering Matthew's face anymore)
(when I find him in the cupboard) "Mom, close the door, I am a spider and I am going to jump out and eat Caleb."
"This picture is a song of a bird, and this one is the sound of the wind rushing by." (guess what song he learned in primary? :) )

Caleb:
"It's Christmas time! It's present time! It's singing time! Lala la!" (and he spins in a circle)
"It's my birthday too!" (all day on Josh's birthday, Caleb could not comprehend that it wasn't for him too.) :)

My Own Chocolate "Turkey Trot!"

Okay everyone, this is a great and easy way to either get chocolate for yourself, or the perfect chocolate present for family and friends!

Want to earn FREE chocolate? I'm going to host my first "Turkey Trot!" All you need to do is share the Dove Chocolate Discoveries with your friends and family from Nov. 13th-Nov. 27th (when you're already "trotting" around with your family for the holidays), collect $100 in orders and when you turn them into me I'll draw names for some great prizes! That's one $20 order from only 5 people and you can earn great things-no need to host a whole party to get these!! I need 10 friends to participate (out of town and state friends can do this easily too!!) and each person will have the chance to win one of 10 prizes......

1-$75 in FREE chocolate!
2-$50 in FREE chocolate!
3-$25 in FREE chocolate!
4-$25 in FREE chocolate!
5-$25 in FREE chocolate!
6- a half price item and a 6 piece box of caramels
7- a half price item and a 6 piece box of caramels
8- a half price item and a 6 piece box of caramels
9- a half price item and a 6 piece box of caramels
10- Our hostess exclusive Artisan Butter-Almond Toffee and a box of Cinnamon Dusted Almonds

You're sure to win one of these for just a little bit of work, while you're friends and family can get great holiday gifts! Let me know if you're interested!!!

I bet you all wish you had boys like mine... :)

October has been a busy fun one. Caleb is 2 now, and it was a fun birthday bash with lots of family around, eating pound cake in the shape of a train made especially by Oma. Lots of fun presents (including a homemade fishing pond by Grandma Cooper) and of course the day wouldn't be complete without Josh and Caleb running around outside in hats, jeans and slippers (no shirts of course). I didn't get a picture of Josh, but he was super cute too. Hooray for my middle boy turning 2.

I took lots of fun pictures of Matthew. It was funny, all month I kept thinking "ah, I haven't taken any pictures of Matthew." So I would take some, but apparently that happened a lot because we have a lot of pics now. Hooray for my forgetfulness! :)

Josh LOVES preschool and he has learned to write his name (this was the first time I saw it). Yes, it isn't in order, but still, really cute.

A rare smiling moment. LOVE this kid.

Typical Matthew face.

Joshua outside "raking" in Daddy's sweatshirt. Hehe.

We went to Apple Days in Lexington with Carmel, Ammon and Mom. It is so much easier to do anything when they are around, the boys seriously adore them.

Caleb chowing on applesauce. He licked that cup until there wasn't a drop left.

Skyli's birthday party. Baby parking. :)

Josh and Caleb got to be knights, thanks Skyli!

The only picture we got of the bomb threat experience. We saw a car full of cops run out, chase a guy, bring the kid back with them and take him away. The kid ended up cleared from whatever it was. Kind of crazy, but exciting I guess.

Little handsome Matthew

And then Halloween, my little ghost and pumpkin. Matthew was not really dressed up, he was the baby I stole. :)

Cuz I was a gypsy. (Josh took this picture)

Christmas and Chocolate

Thank you everyone for your orders and support for the catalog party! My next step is to have a candy making party fairly soon after Thanksgiving. That way I can get my Pampered Chef double boiler in time. :) There are a ton of little Christmas candies to make and gifting ideas to share. I will post more about it when I finalize a time, hooray for Christmas and chocolate!!