ALL the Stockings Were Hung......

We are ready for Christmas, FINALLY!!!

The little boys are very excited to go to Grandma Rosie's tonight. Carter cannot wait to see what Santa brings his since all he asked for was a big bag of toys. This year the boys are getting four gifts each, something they want, something they need, something they read, and something to wear. Christmas shopping can be a little over whelming with these boys. They have all the boy toys they could possibly want so finding something that is thoughtful and that will not be in the goodwill box in 6 months is a little challenging. Even with them each just getting 4 things that is 20 gifts I have to come up with, but I am ready and think I did a pretty good job. These little white wreaths were my project this year and were super easy. I got the idea from one of my favorite blogs:

Nesting Place.

Just two super cheap straw wreaths, furry fabric, and a glue gun. This is one of those projects that I love because it is almost impossible to mess it up. They turned out very cute and I think I will keep them up all winter.

The little boys stockings are hung.

I am too cheap to buy Logan a stocking until after Christmas because the one I want for him is too expensive for me to pay full price. Preston was feeling bad that Logan did not have a stocking so he took matters into his own hands and made Logan a stocking. Logan is lucky to have all these brothers to look out for him:)Of course we are trying to remember the true meaning of Christmas and keep the birth of our Savior in the front of our minds. We hope that all of you have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy spending time with those you love.

Merry Christmas!!!

Logan's 8 Months Old

Logan is 8 months old today!!!

Can we believe it, NO!! As I have said before, I am not ready for this little boy to grow up, but the wheels of time keep turning so I just enjoy every moment I have with him. He is growing like crazy and at last check he was 29 inches long and 17 lbs. He is still so tall and is now above the 100th percentile so he is officially off the charts for height. He loves to scoot around the house and try to climb the stairs. Now we are constantly watching him because he has also tried to go down the stairs by himself a couple of times. OUCH!! Logan loves to play under the bench with the basket of fake apples. It is funny because sometimes we can't find Logan and he is always under the bench. You can also see his two new teeth in this picture. Lots of drool went into getting those babies threw!!!Sometimes we bonk our head on the bench because we try to stand up under there.More under the bench pictures.Logan's second home. Aidan loved those apples when he was a baby too. Once a bunch of those apples went missing and I could not find them anywhere. Brian found them one day when he was packing his lunch for work. Aidan had put them in the fruit drawer in the fridge:)!! We tried to get Logan to smile but these days Logan's thumb spends most of its time in his mouth exercising those new teeth. Logan bit his own finger the other day and was a little upset that it actually hurt when he bit that finger with those sharp little baby teeth.

Of course he is still my little angle baby and is so fun to play with every day. His brothers still think he is the greatest thing and do fight over who gets to hold him. We also have to hold the brothers off every morning because Logan likes to sleep in we have to keep them out of his room and tell them they cannot go get him until he is actually awake! But even if they do wake him up he is happy as can be. Logan is also learning to love his food. We had a little bit of a rough go with Logan when we introduced cereal and thought he might have some food allergies like Austin did but all testing showed that he was free of allergies. Just has a sensitive digestive system and eczema not related to allergies just dry skin from our lovely Colorado climate. I can't wait to see what the next months bring and will probably cry when he turns one! Oh the joys!!!!

Sweet Insight!!

Little Carter the insightful old man came up to me today and said:

Carter: Mom I told you Jesus could be in other peoples heart.

Mom: Why do you say that Carter?

Carter: Because I heard the Gloria song (Angles We Have Heard On High) at the doctor's office.

Yes, sweet Carter, Jesus is in other peoples heart!! It's the most wonderful time of the year!!

Angles We Have Heard On High is the little boys favorite Christmas song. I think it is their favorite song all year long. We sing it every family night and the boys know all the words to the first verse by heart. I love to hear their sweet little voices singing "Gloria" all year round, a little bit of Christmas cheer for me all year long!!

Wogan!!!

Wogan or Wogan boy is what Aidan likes to call little Logan. I just have to post a little about this baby. He is almost 8 months old and that is making me very sad because I want him to stay a little baby forever (of course getting potty trained) but still staying my little sweet baby who just melts my heart. Logan has decided that he can scoot around the house and that is all he wants to do. He gets up on his hands a knees to crawl and then plops down to scoot. Logan is still not sitting up but he thinks he can climb the stairs. All of these things have come as quite a surprise to me and are happening a little too fast! I also find him pulling himself up on things and standing and playing. He thinks that he is a big boy and wants to go where ever his brothers are. Oh please, please stop growing up so fast!!!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!!

I know you think I mean Christmas (which I do love), but what I really mean is BASKETBALL SEASON.As in little boys basketball. Austin and Preston are playing basketball this winter so Brian is coaching both of their teams. This works out well because Brian sets up practice times so their practices don't overlap and since he is the coach of both teams their games don't overlap either. But best of all Wednesday night is practice night, so Brian, Austin, Preston, and the special assistant coach Carter left at 5:45 and won't be back until 9:00!! It is 6:30 and dinner is done I am watching Entertainment Tonight and playing on the computer.
What are the two little boys doing?

That's right they are asleep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(this is not an illusion:)

Give the little boys a few minutes of quiet away from the big boys and they are asleep for the night. I have hours of freedom and it is not even 8:00 yet. I have received this little gift every Wednesday for the last 3 weeks, ever since basketball practice started and I have enjoyed it so much!! Brian even gets the 3 big boys in bed when he gets home. What is a girl to do but enjoy all the shows I NEVER get to watch and eat some of the hidden chocolate stash.

Happy Holidays!!!!

Preston the Pride Award Winner

A few weeks ago Preston got a PRIDE award at school. This was a very big deal because there is only one Pride award winner per class per month so Preston was very excited. A Pride award winner is someone who is Positive Respectful Inclusive Dedicated and Excellent.

Preston is kind of a superstar student, I know my opinion is biased but this kid really does shine. At his teacher conference his teacher was literally gushing about what a good student and friend this little boy is.

He has always been very intelligent, when he was about 9 months old he was crawling around the house with one sock on and I casually said to him "Baby, where is your sock?" he looked at me and crawled away, a few minutes later he showed up by my side with his sock in his little baby hand. I know it is crazy but his genius was already showing:) Once again biased mother speaking here.

But what really makes me and his teacher proud is how sweet and compassionate Preston is. There are a few special needs kids in Preston's class and one little girl named Lily is Preston's special friend. He talks about Lily every day and makes pictures for her. He goes out of his way to play with her at recess every day and sometimes when Lily has to go to Special Ed during recess Preston gladly gives up his recess to go play games in Special Ed with Lily. He brings little toys to school for Lily to play with and he tells me that he does not even mind when Lily gets a little drool on them. I knew he was friends with Lily but when his teacher told me the full extent of his devotion to Lily it brought a little tear to my eye.

It made me remember what a sweet little soul Preston is and how grateful I am to have him in my life. He has always been my Mama's boy, and that is OK with me, but sometimes I think I take my children for granted. I live with this little boy everyday and sometimes forget what an extraordinary spirit he has. Well done Preston, Well done!!!

Carter Says The Funniest Things

My little Carter is quite a funny, little guy, but don't tell him that. To Carter everything that is says is perfectly serious and not funny. When Carter was little it took him a while to start talking but I remember thinking when he does start talking I think he will be very funny. I was right but I can never laugh at anything that Carter says because that will start Carter on a rant about how he is not funny and why does everybody think he is so funny. I just wanted to remember some of Carter's funny, random sayings:

For some reason Carter calls Pirates Cove (the water park) Diet Coke. He always asks me when it will be summer again so we can go to Diet Coke.

Old Navy to Carter is Old Lady. "Why do we have to go to Old Lady again?!!"

Today Carter asked me if "Holy Crack" is a bad word. I thought he meant Holy Crap but he told me "No Mom, I mean CRACK!!!" Of course the whole family got a huge laugh out of this one, (sometimes it is too hard not to laugh). Of course this sent Carter on a tirade which ended with Carter having a time out. I asked Carter where he heard that and he said "I made it up myself"

Seven Months!!!!

NOVEMBER 24, 2008

Seven Months flies by too fast.......

Logan is 7 months old and I want to freeze time right now. He is such a fun, happy baby. Logan loves to give hugs and snuggle with Mommy. He is one happy laid back kid, Brian asked me the other day why the baby is being so quiet and then I had to remind him that he is always quite. Maybe I got one calm one, but being around the other 4 I am afraid their high energy is rubbing off on Logan a bit. But not too much, Brian and I are still amazed at how happy this baby is who truly only cries when he is hungry or needs a little Mommy love! Logan has started scooting around and is very happy to be able to move around and explore all the fun things in the house. His favorite thing is anything made of paper that he can rip apart into a million little pieces. The little boys are also learning to keep the LEGOS off the floor. This is Logan at the end of a long day, he was not too happy to take pictures

Logan tried to be happy but.......

In the end the tears won and we had to have some Mommy love!!!!!!

We love this little boy so much and I am so thankful that I was sent such a sweet, happy soul. He has brought so much sunshine into our home and it is hard to put him to bed at night because he is so much fun. He falls asleep on mine or Brian's lap most nights because we squeeze every minute out of Logan that we can. I just wish I could freeze this moment in time and that he would just be my cute, little baby forever!!

Tagged by Ashley so here you go:)

8 shows I watch:

1. The Office

2. ER

3. 30 Rock

4. Top Chef

5. Top Design

6. Project Runway

7. Real Housewives

8. Anything on Food Network

8 places I like to eat:

1. Senor Rics

2. Hacienda Colorado

3. Mimi's

4. Maggianos

5. Olive Garden

6. Taco Bell

7. Sonic (mostly Happy Hour)

8. Panda Express

8 things I have done today:

1. touched up paint in kitchen

2. caulked kitchen sink

3. cleaned kitchen

4. dusted on all my high shelves

5. wash

6. cleaned up 1000 Logan spit ups

7. got little boys off to school with all their homework

8. moved pictures around

8 things on my wish list

1. Logan to out grow spitting up

2. new printer

3. HGTV

4. closet just for my shoes

5. bigger house

6. new van

7. Aidan to have any desire at all to use the toilet

8. Little boys to make it into the toilet (if I could only have one this would be it!)

Whats That Smell?!

Have you ever played this game in your house? You walk in your house and smell something stinky and then have to run around sniffing behind and inside everything. I have found everything from a diaper the someone forgot to throw in the trash to a who knows how old pieces of cheese under the couch.

Or everyone sitting around doing their own thing when suddenly you smell something burning. In our house the little boys are sometimes obsessed with how things burn and why they burn. This is why I do not keep candles in my house and matches are hidden away where it is even hard for me to reach.

One time we were in the family room and I could smell that burning smell coming from Preston and Carter's bedroom. Of course we are searching high and low to find the source before the whole house burns down. After about 10 minutes of searching I found that "someone" (no one would claim responsibility surprise, surprise) had thrown a plastic leaf from the artificial plant in their room onto the light bulb. I don't know how they managed to get it up and over the light fixture, but I have long ago stopped trying to figure out how the little boys accomplish all the naughty things they do.

On Saturday I once again smelled the lovely sent of burning plastic and immediately thought that someone was doing an "experiment". It turned out a plastic lid fell onto the heating element in the dishwasher so all little boys were off the hook.

Sometimes I have a smelly house which drives me crazy, I have always been a smeller and want things to smell good, so with 5 boys this is sometimes hard to accomplish. Fabreze is one of my best friends.

One More Down

This Friday Carter had another eye surgery.

When Carter had his surgery in Michigan this May they put a bubble of silicon oil in his eye to help keep his retina in place. The oil has started to cloud Carter's cornea so it had to come out.

That little Carter is so brave.

He helps his Mommy be brave.

Carter is not too shy about telling people he is having surgery. To him it is no big deal, we go in do the surgery and be done with it. Carter never complains and consistently blows the nurses and doctors away by being so calm and matter of fact when they tell him they have to put "spicy" drops in his eyes or that they need to give him an IV.

Carter's surgery went well and he is back to his normal feisty self.

We love this little boy so much and I am amazed at the resilience of this child who has never once complained that he cannot see out of his eye or that it is sometimes hard for him to see things that the rest of us take for granted. He is strong and he carries on! I could write a book on all the lessons that Carter has taught me so I will stop for now:)

D-egg-saster Avoided

So as I was sitting here checking my e-mail when this little boy came wandering past me with a Cheshire cat grin on his face and his hands stuffed in his pockets. I was not surprised to see this because every morning Carter is hungry for about 4 hours straight and is constantly trying to sneak a snack past mom. Carter told me one day (very matter of factually) that he is always hungry, apparently we never fill the bottomless pit of his stomach. Usually Carter is told he can eat more breakfast and if he is still hungry he can eat as much fruit as he wants. He is usually not happy with this answer because his tummy wants candy, chocolate, and chips. So today as Carter was sneaking by me I was expecting to find some candy or such stuffed in his pockets....so imagine my shock when I pulled out two EGGS!!!! I asked Carter what he was doing with two raw eggs and he said he was just going to do an experiment with them. I cannot imagine what I would have found in the family room if my Mommy radar had not picked up on this. Carter just wanted to know if he could still crack them open if he did it in the kitchen!!! And people wonder why I have a lock on my fridge!

Who Can Resist This!!!

When you are this cute nobody cares that you smell like sour milk all the time:) Even total strangers think you smell delicious, who knew!! When you are this cute you really can get away with a lot, like spitting up all your milk and belching in public, everyone will just turn and smile.

Being this cute really should be a crime, because you can get away with anything!!!!

Happy Halloween!!!!

Logan's cute Halloween socks and blanket. And the little pumpkin himself.....;)

We had a fun, crazy Halloween, the boys are finally coming down from the sugar high!!! We started the night at Southlands and of course things were crazy for the rest of the night so this is the only picture I got of the 4 boys together, with their backs so me. We had two firemen, one fire chief, and a reluctant Woody who refused to put his hat on! After Southland's we headed over to the church for trunk or treat. We left there with full buckets so the boys were worried they would not have enough room for even more candy when we went to Grandma Rosie's to trick or treat.
At Grandma Rosie's we had our annual chili dinner and then Austin, Preston, Carter, Airis, and Athena went trick or treating in Grandma's neighborhood. There were some pretty scary houses that we went to and then we finally had to come home because they could not shove another piece of candy in their buckets.Brian stayed at Grandma's with Aidan and Logan. Logan was ready for bed and Aidan just wanted to eat all his candy. We had such beautiful weather that I did not mind going out with them at all . They have enough candy to last until Christmas at least. I think the Halloween fairy may have to come take the rest of their candy away!

Fall Break Day 4

We headed to the Denver Z00 last Thursday to enjoy more of the lovely fall weather. I don't know how many more days we will have like this so we tried to do as much outdoor stuff as we could. Austin, Athena, and Carter enjoying their lunch. Preston showing us what he was having for lunch. Grandma and Aidan eating lunch. Carter and Aidan posing with one of their long lost cousins, the monkeys.

Athena having a moment by herself after a long day at the zoo with 5 crazy monkeys (also known as her cousins).

Fall Break Day 3

On Wednesday we took advantage of the beautiful fall weather and went to Cherry Creek Reservoir with my Mom and my niece Athena. It was a beautiful day and the kids thought that it was warm enough to swim so I had to tell them there would be no swimming today, just hiking. The kids had a blast as always because they got to run and be free. Little Aidan was getting over his bout with the stomach flu but he was a trooper and kept a slow pace for us. It was a beautiful day and we had fun just eating lunch and playing.

The kids playing with a football they found in the bushes.

Logan hanging out with Mom.Logan and Grandma Rosie.

We had a fun day, but we missed Austin who had to stay home because he had a little attitude the night before and he was throwing up too:(

Fall Break Day 2

On Tuesday we went to a Halloween party at the church, nobody was throwing up this day(we saved it for the night) so they all got to come. They had fun making Halloween crafts and playing with their friends.

Austin working on his bat.

Preston and Aidan making Pixie stix bats.

Aidan was supposed to be making a ghost with his gum, but we just ate it instead.

Logan with his pumpkin hat, we had a cute little pumpkin bunting but of course the string bean baby was to long to fit into his costume so he just got to wear the hat. Logan was not happy about this either because the hat squished his eyes:(

FALL BREAK!!!

We started off our fall break last weekend with Preston getting the stomach flu!!! So we passed it through the family during the break, someone was throwing up every day this week, but it always seemed to happen when I was gone, so Brain had to clean up all of the mess:) The stomach flu is something that seems to visit our house often, usually it is just Preston who gets it, this week he started it and then ended the week by getting it again on Halloween. Since this is such a regular occurrence in our house we just kept on trekking last week. We started off the week by having Grandma and Grandpa Condie come over and help us carve pumpkins and make homemade root beer. The boys thought the dry ice was awesome!!

This is our pumpkin haul this year, the Turkish Turban is a funny little squash that I got at Nick's, the boys think it looks like and old man wearing a hat.

Here are the finished jack-o-lanterns!!! Preston named his pumpkin Mr. Half Mouth, and then he kept all the cut out pieces in his pumpkin.

Grandma Condie helping Preston get the guts out of his pumpkin.

Dry ice in the root beer!

Even Grandpa Condie helped with the root beer!