UH-OH Cooper

Last night when I went into check on the boys as I was heading to bed I came upon a little Baby Powder DISASTER ZONE! About 6 months ago Spencer had a few incidents with baby powder but I thought he was past it! GUESS NOT! The baby powder was all over the room! It looked like they had had A LOT of fun with it! I laughed to myself took a few pictures and figured I would talk to him in the morning!When he woke up I asked him to come in to this room and tell me what happened... he looked at me and said something like "Cooper is busted!" I told him he wouldn't be in trouble if he told me the truth about what happened and WHO dumped the powder all over! He held to his story and said Cooper sprayed it all over and then he added "Uh-Oh Cooper its time to go to a time out!" He helped me clean it up and promised NOT to let Cooper play with it again! It was SO SO funny! Boys will be Boys, so the once again I will start putting the baby powder in the bathroom instead of in the bedroom! :)
The sleeping culprits! They look SO innocent! They have SO much room in their new beds they just roll around! It is pretty cute! And yes that is a little ghost next to Coopers head, he climbs out of bed and puts toys all around him! They both love to sleep with as much stuff as possible!

Kids do the Funniest Things!

After breakfast this morning I went into the living room to find Spencer in what he called his "New Race Car Bed!" He played in the laundry basket for at least 30 minutes! He brought a blanket, pillow, sippy cup and of course his puppy! He is already a planner! Cooper thought it was the best idea so we had to go get one for him too! Laundry baskets have so many uses! I cant believe how much fun the kids have had just playing in laundry baskets lately!I just need to voice my COMPLETE hate for vacuuming, and moping! This will only take a minute but I really have to get it off my chest! I have been trying SO hard since the move to keep the house clean! Or at a level of clean where I wouldn't be embarrassed if someone stopped by! And I think I've been doing a decent job, except when it comes to vacuuming and mopping! I mean how many times do I have to vacuum in a day?
I vacuumed last night before we had company over and then AS soon as I sat down for breakfast I noticed JUNK all over the floor and then Cooper dropped his bowl of Life all over! It is just never ending! So I vacuumed in the morning and then when I was cleaning up before bed I noticed the floor needed to be vacuumed AGAIN! AGGhhh! This is CRAZINESS! How often do I have to do this? I am wondering if I should just get over it? I really don't want to, but maybe its time! How often do you all vacuum?

FHE on Consequences

Tonight I did a really SIMPLE FHE based on consequences! Spencer has been having a hard time being obedient lately. I kinda feel at a loss on how to discipline him! So we made this handy little chart to set up a FEW boundries and lay out CLEAR consequences if he breaks those boundries!
I have really been feeling like I spend all my time saying "NO" and I dont want to be that way! SO I am going to try and say "YES" as much as possible and stick to our boundries chart when discipline has to be kicked in! He helped me pick out the consequences and now when he is about to do something naughty or has done something I am going to try and say "hey what happens when you do that? Go look at the chart!" And hopefully it will be a little less PAINFUL!

I am going to make a chart with GOOD things he can do and their consequences too, so its not all negative! IF you have ANY ideas, PLEASE I am SO SO open to them!

SUNDAY COOKIES!

Today we had some friends over for dinner, Trever and Marita, and she wanted to bring something to do with the kids! They are both going to school right now and so they don't have kids yet! But she is SO understanding and cute with mine! So she BROUGHT over sugar cookie dough, frosting and cookie cutters! How great is she?
The boys were so excited! Spencer was really good at helping and was amazed at how you could cut out the shapes! It has been FOREVER since I have made sugar cookies with them, I think its time to do it again! He had a blast!
After we were done cutting them all out he kept a little bit of dough and was working on his SPECIAL Superman cookie! He just kept rolling it around and playing with it till it was a little nasty! But he had a great time working real hard on it!

Cooper was a little TOO excited! He wanted to run his fingers through the dough and tear it up! SO BJ was on Cooper watch! He did manage to sneak off with a few fist fulls of dough, so he was happy! After the cookies were all done he got the first one since he had to off limits through the rest of the excitement! And as you can tell that was MORE than enough for him!He got covered in flour and frosting! It was incredible how dirty he got especially since he wasn't supposed to he helping!! :)

BJ's 10 Year High School Reunion!

This Saturday was BJ's 10 Year High School Reunion! He was really looking forward to it and we ended up having a great time! In the morning they had a family pancake breakfast at a local park! It was amazing to see all the kids that everyone had! (there were TONS!) BJ had a great time going around and talking to everyone and catching up! Unfortunately I didn't get a lot of pictures because I was running around after the kids!I only got a shot of all of us as we were leaving for breakfast! :(

In the evening they had a dinner for the adults and a small program! There were a lot of BJ's good friends from High School that came with their spouses and we all ate dinner together! It was really neat to see what everyone has been up to and all the different jobs and things they have done! They had a fun video slide show from their senior year and had a few trivia games to play! It was a fun night and I think he is already looking forward to his 20 year!
All the guys were a little too proud to get together for a bunch of pictures, bummer I know! So I only got a photo of BJ and I!

Our New Baby in 3-D

This weekend I was able to use the gift certificate from my Midwife to go to get a free 3-D ultrasound! It was my first one and I was BLOWN away by how much you could see! It made me feel really excited to meet this little guy! And now I feel a little guilty we don't have a name for him yet!
We are open to name suggestions, by the way!
New baby Holm was very photogenic and apparently loves to rest his arms on his head! Hopefully you will be able to understand the photos, they are a lot clearer then normal ultrasounds! I hope its easy for you to recognize what you are looking at! But I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
In this photo you are looking down on the top of his head and his hand is resting on his cheek!
In this photo you are looking at him from the side and his hand is right in front of his face, kinda like he is rubbing his cheek! Look at how cute and chubby he looks! It is so different then a normal ultra sound photo!
This is a profile of him! Look at how cute he looks already!
And these are his little feet! His heels are touching and his toes are all fanned out! How cute is that?
I had a great time at the appointment the lady who runs the business was SO friendly and made me really comfortable! She was just as excited about seeing him as I was so it was a really fun time! If you live in southern Utah you should check her out! The name of her business is Pre-Natal Treasures and her this is the link to her website!

Strong Enough?????

I feel very overwhelmed tonight! BJ works a swing shift on Fridays so he is gone all afternoon and evening until LATE! And the boys miss having him home around dinner time to WEAR THEM OUT before bed!

As they were running around me at about 7:45 ramming into each other, yelling and crying it reminded me of what the Relief Society President said to me when I told her the new baby is a boy!
She said
"You must be a strong woman to be blessed with 3 boys! Not every Mom can handle that!"
As I thought back on her comment and the chaos around me was getting LOUDER AND LOUDER I imagined holding a new baby. And I wondered how strong I really am? Tonight I feel pretty weak! Their energy never seems to let up and they are always finding new ways to beat on each other (I am giggling in my seat right now because it just amazes me!)

I truly HOPE for some HUGE INCREASE of inner strength and loads and loads of PATIENCE when the new baby gets here! It really feels like I am having a 3rd boy on purpose, it cant just be by chance! I just hope I can rise to the challenge!

After bed time I am heading straight for the
BUBBLE BATH!!
Tomorrow we have BJ's 10 year HIGH SCHOOL REUNION! I am hoping the bubbles will melt away a few of these pounds! I really wish I could walk in there 110 pounds NOT 7 months pregnant! But.... here we go ANYWAY!
WISH ME LUCK.... with EVERYTHING!

Super Steps

Thursday we working in the kitchen and the kids were fighting over the step stool! So I thought it was the perfect time to work on the step stool project we started back in August. Home Depot has free classes the first Saturday of every month where you can come and make different wood projects! They had a booth at Peach Days and so we made a step stool! But we never finished painting it! I picked up an extra one for Cooper at the fair so we started out by making his stool!

We got out our AWESOME aprons they gave us at the fair and got to work! Both the boys were REALLY excited to use Daddy's BIG hammer! Spencer was really good at hitting the nail on the head! Cooper was struggling with how heavy the hammer was, but he sure gave it his best effort!

Spencer decided he wanted his stool to be a SUPERMAN stool (no surprise there) and Coopers stool was going to have a sports theme! So we picked our colors and started painting! After we finished painting it was nap time! We let the paint dry and then I promised after nap time we would pick out our pictures to put on the stools!

Spencer picked out a very tough looking super man for the top, and I found a few different sports balls for the top of Coopers! I TRIED to paint the words on to make them cute and then we slapped a little Modge Podge on top! I hope these little benches lead to a more peaceful time in the kitchen!! Time will tell...

Lunch Break

BJ has a crazy schedule his last 2 semesters! He is working the graveyard shift so that he has time for classes and homework! On Monday Wednesday and Friday he only has one class in the morning so he takes the afternoon to sleep! Tuesdays and Thursdays he has 5 classes! But he has a hour and half break in the middle!

Oh how the kids look forward to him coming home to play! Today as 11:30 got closer and closer I reminded Spencer that Dad was on his way and the first thing he said was
"Do you think he will wrestle with me?"
I couldn't help smiling and telling him I was SURE he would love to play! As soon as he walked in the door the boys were jumping all over him! I had to make another wrestling video because it so so obvious to me what a GREAT Dad BJ is! I want the kids to be able to look back and remember all the fun they had with him! And all the time their Daddy MAKES for them even though he is SO busy!
WE LOVE YOU BJ!

Spidy Craft

Today was the first day I was ready to go for a Halloween craft! I have been seeing ideas for weeks but I haven't wanted to start too soon and have Spencer begging for Halloween weeks in advance!
BUT... I couldn't wait any longer! I LOVE LOVE LOVE holiday traditions and crafts!

So today we did this simple SPIDER craft I saw at Roberts! All you need is: small oval paper mache boxes (I found them at Roberts, they were really cheap), paint, pipe cleaners, hot glue and googly eyes!
First we painted our oval boxes. Spencer wanted to do different color spiders so we had a rainbow of spiders! Then we matched our pipe cleaners to the spiders (Spencer has almost got his colors 100%!) I used 2 pipe cleaners for each spider and cut them in half! He counted out 3 pipe cleaner pieces and we tied them together and spread them out so they looked like spider legs!
I hot glued them onto the bottom of the box! Spencer was REALLY scared of the hot glue gun! Once they dried he helped me put the eyes on and draw different expressions on each one!
We did have one SMALL accident with the hot glue while we were sticking the eyes on! It really frightened him! He screamed and screamed! We got a band aid but it was a soar spot for a while! He even asked me to take a picture! Kind of a cheese ball! It turned out to be so fun! The kids had spider wars after they were all done! And I think they turned out REALLY cute! Here we go Halloween.....

Playing Around!

We tried to kick back today! Stay around the house and have fun! The boys played and played on the bunk beds while I worked on getting everything put away! One of these days I am going to hang pictures and shelves! Not today though!

We did get dressed earlier but Spencer wanted to change back into his jammies and Coopers pants were a little big today so they kept falling off! It was pretty funny though cause he kept bringing them to me with this helpless look that said, I don't know what to do with these pants!
Cooper loves to just hang out at the top of the ladder! It is a little scary but he is super cautious and thinks its really neat to just sit at what must seem like the TOP of his little world!
We had some quiet calm down time in the late afternoon (as I was running out of ideas!) So Spencer and I worked on his numbers and shapes! I really like these dry erase books! He loves to write and wipe everything off! And he gets so excited as he learns to trace the letters and numbers!

Then when Dad woke up it was time to get tough! The boys wrestled and wrestled until they were so tired Spencer begged to go to bed after dinner! YEA!

It is so funny to see the difference between the two boys! Spencer loves to play for as long and as hard as his little body will let him! Cooper on the other hand will get in there and play but once he has had enough he is content to just cuddle and relax! Which was nice for me because even though to day wasn't as busy as yesterday I was SO tired by the end of the night!

Busy Day Full of Yummy Food and Old Friends

Today turned out to be really busy! I spent the morning TRYING to reorganize the boys room and the new baby room! (While the kids played around me, pulling everything out of each drawer and off each shelf:)

I made a "QUICK" afternoon run to Walmart (If there is such a thing as fast at Wally World) while BJ was home for lunch! I really want to try and go shopping without the kids! I was on a time crunch and it was STILL less stressful then with the kids!
(Once I finish I'll put up some pictures!)

Spencer and I made PUMPKIN COOKIES WITH BUTTERSCOTH CHIPS while Cooper was sleeping! Amber gave me this really yummy recipe! It is a new take on pumpkin cookies! Not the same old spice cake mix cookie (which is good) but this one.... hmmmm SO YUMMY! Spencer did worry when we were adding the pumpkin, he kept asking me if I was putting baby food in the cookies? He would smell it and look at it with a concerned squint... and ask me again! It was really funny and very observant! When BJ got home from his afternoon class he had some exciting news! He had run into some old friends from our last stay in Cedar! We all lived in the same apartments then and guess what, they moved back to the same apartments too! HURRAY!

We all really got a long last time and so we decided to have them over for dinner tonight! YEA!! But that meant that I had to go BACK to the store to get more potatoes, (BUMMER) mop the floors ( I cant seem to get this linoleum to stay CLEAN), scrub the bathroom and TRY to get the boys room ORGANIZED before 7:00! WOW!

Of course neither one of the boys were tired in the afternoon and so it turned out to be a very full evening! Somehow I managed to get everything ready without loosing it! BJ even woke up a little early to help vacuum and peal potatoes! What a good man I have! I didn't LOOK cute, AT ALL, no time to get change or get ready!! But all the food was done and the house was clean!

We had one of my favorite dinners, Oven Baked Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes and a tasty salad!! YUMMY! It tastes so much like fried chicken but much better cause you know its not near as bad for you!

I had a very full day, only got 1/2 the phone calls and chores done I had planned on! But we got to re-unite with some old friends and eat some really great food! AND my kitchen is even clean before bed! What else can you ask for?

OTHER THEN A FULL NIGHT OF SLEEP.... PLEASE!!!

Sick Sunday

So this weekend didn't go exactly as planned! I got the flu on Friday night and was sick all day Saturday and most of Sunday! SO no yard saleing for me! BJ got some kind of mild food poisoning on Saturday night and was sick all day Sunday AND Spencer and Cooper both had mild fevers all day Sunday!

WOW! SICK-O's!
Somehow the boys still managed to have a good time! They both love to play on this little bike! So here are a few pictures of them playing their little hearts out!
We had a few crashes, but they were having such a good time playing it was just part of the fun!I was really proud of both of them! They realized early on that they would have more fun if they BOTH played on it TOGETHER, then if they had to take turns! It was a GREAT sharing moment! And so far we haven't had TOO many!
This was the only time I could get both of them to look my way long enough to get a shot! When you are riding and crashing who has time to pose! And YES we were all in our JAMMIES ALL DAY LONG!

HURRAY the BUNK BEDS ARRIVED!

When we moved into this new (much much smaller) apartment we realized we would NEVER be able to fit a new baby in without stacking the kids up! My parents were kind enough to get the boys some INCREDIBLE bunk beds!
THANK YOU THANK YOU!
They were back ordered for a couple weeks and so we have been having a count down until they arrived!

SO I went a little crazy taking pictures of every part of the delivery and set up but how many times do you get new bunk beds? WE ARE ALL SO EXCITED! So I wanted to be able to remember it!
The boys were very excited about the HUGE truck that brought the beds! They were even good about sitting and waiting so they weren't in the way of the "Big Boys" who were unloading it!
Here we are taking it off the pallet, Spencer was so excited to help! Cause he is "SUPERMAN and he is tough enough!"
Spencer started doing a little song and dance as we were checking everything before the driver left! Everything that had bars looked like a ladder! And the Ladder was the part he was MOST excited for!
There was NO way to keep the kids out of everything! They were so caught up in the excitement, and Spencer wanted SO badly to be big enough to be involved! BJ was so good about finding small things for him to do so he felt involved!
Spencer's big task was to unwind all the round things off the screws! I really don't remember their name, SORRY! But he took it very seriously and was extra watchful to make sure Cooper didn't get a hold of ANYTHING!
I did my best to keep Cooper pre-occupied but between helping BJ and taking pictures (which was my main priority) I couldn't keep him out! So the boys played around! They were pretty good listeners and never got in the way.... too much! They had so much fun! Nothing was broken or lost no one got hurt so it all worked out!
What a hard working STUD!
By the time we finished it was nap time! Spencer was SO excited and Cooper, well he wasn't AS excited at first! But after he got up and got a good feel for it he calmed down!
They each had to take turns trying out the LADDER! Spencer was a pro! You can tell HOW much fun he had by the look on his face! Cooper was much more cautious! He would climb up a step and climb back down, climb up two and climb back down one! It took him a while to get to the top, but it was good practice and he was getting comfortable! It is just HIS WAY!
When it was FINALLY time to lay down, Spencer kept changing his mind! He wanted to sleep on the top, then the bottom with Coop, and then back again! Eventually we just laid Cooper down and had Spencer come out for quiet time on the couch! He hasn't been taking naps in his room for about a week! And with all this excitement I knew NEITHER one would get a nap if Spencer was playing on his new FAVORITE toy!