The Treehouse...

I mentioned in an earlier post how Brig is always coming up with ideas. Well, his big idea of the summer was to build a treehouse. He even started a little one in a small tree by trying to wedge a board between some branches and using a pulley to hoist up buckets filled with all sorts of boyish wonders. Cory promised that as soon as our giant farm project was over that he would build a real treehouse. And he certainly delivered! He built the coolest treehouse any kid has ever had. In fact, it is so neat that as soon as it was built Cory worried that it was too nice and too much of a tree house. It is amazing!

Looking Snazzy For Church...

We don't get dressed up very often but it sure makes Sunday's even more special. I love those rare occasions where we are ready early enough for church that I can snap a picture...here are a few. Hopefully now that we have church later there will be more!

Jase started Sunbeams this year and did really well. Better than we were expecting! He even participated and helped another kid. When we asked him about it he said that he helped a kid climb a mountain...he didn't really get what we were asking apparently...but we were still proud.

The above picture is what these brothers look like quite often. Oh Boy, Oh Boy.

^^This picture is from when we took our family photo for Christmas. I love this picture.

^^Just another Sunday that we were able to get ready fast enough to snap a little picture. A few things to notice...Jase wears the same thing every week. Why change something that is so good;)

We usually are ready early enough for a picture on the Sunday's that Cory has meetings...figure that one out!

^^Pretty real.

^^This is a really old picture but this sweet girl is just golden.

^^And this picture is from our little trip to see Grandma and Grandpa in Las Vegas last fall but I just barely got it off my phone. I sure love these four beautiful people.

Our Only Camping Trip of the Year...

We bought a camping trailer this year...for a really, really good deal. We managed to take it camping one time. The weekend right before school started. But it was a fun time;)

We drove for 2 1/2 hours even though the camping spot we settled on was only about an hour away from us...we were rather indecisive in choosing a location which resulted in a longer drive and leaving our watermelon in the creek after we unpacked and parked the trailer and then decided to move to a different location. The kids absolutely loved it. And while fishing the next morning, Brig climbed up on a huge rock overhanging the creek and caught a fish- which Cory claims to be one of his favorite moments of the summer. Besides our location incident there were a few little mishaps...like our menu was completely thrown off since we found out that even though we were told we could have a campfire...we weren't allowed to...so we improvised a lot of our food- and it worked! It wasn't very warm and the water that the kids swam in was frigid but they loved it! And sleeping with a young baby while camping isn't really ideal...the older kids slept super well though!  It's amazing how much work camping over night can be but equally amazing is how magical it is to children!

Dear November...

Dear November, 

I'm terribly sorry to have neglected you. It's not like I didn't love you- I mean you were so good to us- warm fall days and then below freezing winter wonderlands, not to mention Thanksgiving and all the fun we had. But what's done is done and we have moved on. We are quite into December now. Maybe we can give it another shot next year. Until then...

-Yours truly  

Utah Trip {Part 3}...

This was the day that we headed home. And it was just us. We went to Scheels and then drove home.  Nothing too exciting.  But sometimes after a lot of hustle and bustle and being surrounded by tons of people...just us is just what we like!

 

 

This girl.

She just cracks me up.

Just for the record...she is just dying over how cute and tiny one of the little animals is.

That face!

 

Ok. I am pretty sure that Ellie and Brig could go on a road trip all over the country as long as they could just watch movies.  I'm not really over the moon about this fact and I think that next time I am going to do a little more prep work and try to cut the movie time down. I want them to read books, color, talk, sing and look out the window.  That may be a little idealistic...but it's my goal.  We'll see how it pans out...because that DVD player is just so handy! 

In fact...this is slightly embarrassing but when we were on our way to Utah (2 1/2 hours into the trip...)our DVD player broke. DON"T WORRY though! We pulled right over in the next town and walked right into Walmart and bought a new one.  I know.  Pathetic.

As much as they love road trips and watching movie after movie...Jase is not as fond.  We made sure to time our driving during naps and then we pulled our secret Jase weapons...apples and French fries.  He did pretty well...but let us know he was ready to be home for the last hour of our trip.

 

Them Apples...

Yep. Apples are delicious no matter what you look like!

 

Entrepreneurial Spirit...

Cory is quite the entrepreneur.  Always has been, always will be.  I'll get into that a little more soon...but it deserves its own post. So just try to imagine how proud he was when he walked in the front door to see this...

 

 

It was all them.  I got the juicer out and wrote the sign (after they told me their price...it was spendy juice!) They did the rest themselves...they even decorated (that was my favorite part). The lemonade was quite tart but thanks to some supportive grandparents they did quite well.

Cory took it one step further and told them that they could take some of their profit and use it to buy more lemons to make more juice! They thought that was a pretty great idea and each took $1 to Wal-Mart and picked out their own lemons and limes to make even more. It was so cute and they had a pretty good experience. And I had one sticky kitchen!

 

 

Thumbs Up Knuckles...

You know when something is just so cool that it's "double awesome" and deserves a little more than just the hum drum knuckles...

like for example, maybe the fact that you get turkey sandwiches with cucumbers, watermelon and chocolate milk for lunch...

that's when Brig and Ellie break out

Thumbs Up Knuckles.

 

That is how awesome we are in this family.

Double Awesome.

A Thousand Words Plus Caption...

I love what this picture encapsulates...

And I don't want to forget the teeny tiny details even the ones in the clothes they wear...

Like how I made Brig wear a collared shirt this day and five seconds after he put it on he was complaining about how it itches...just like his dad. 

Like how as long as something has pink in it- I can usually convince Ellie to wear it. Unless its a day where she wants to try to dress exactly like her brother. 

Like how Ellie has decided that one green croc and one flip flop are the way to go. 

Like how Brig rocks his cowboys boots with any outfit.

Like how Ellie only wants to wear "shirts that hold up" aka short sleeve shirts. 

Like how I tried to let things go as Ellie dribbled purple Popsicle down her white top and let her be little. 

Like how when I ask them to smile for a picture they automatically wrap their arms around each other. 

Like how I have to bop my self on the head to get a real smile out of Brig because his is now so rehearsed. 

Like how these two fight...but really they are best buddies.

Our Three Kid Groove...

Having three kids was a huge adjustment for me.  It was difficult.  Emotionally and just plain busy! I knew that people had said 3 kids was rough...and I had tried to prepare myself...but it still gave me quite a run for my money.  Early in my pregnancy with Jase I had read an article that stated that moms with three kids are more stressed out than moms with four or even five kids.  I also had several friends that were "concerned" for me since they remember their third kid was difficult for them.

I thought that I would be ready. But that little bundle of joy was born and the whirlwind began!!!

 

I felt like things could go from calm to chaos in a moment.  It was nuts! I was grouchier than I had ever been with my kids, particularly Brig and was so tired.  Jase had acid reflux and so he was a pretty fussy newborn until we got some medicine for him- but until then it made things ultra hard. He also wanted to eat every two hours...that is not very conducive to having two other busy toddlers running around the house. 

 

In my journal I wrote:

"Sometimes it feels like I'm drowning in diapers and dirty dishes, legos and laundry and that I'm constantly feeding someone and then picking up mess after mess.  I literally shower twice a week and get ready and dressed maybe four times a week."

 

I think I may have even had a little post partum from the stress.  Then one day I was pretty thrashed from lack of sleep and the whole parenting gig and we were having some people come over for family home evening (and they were bringing us dinner- so that was nice) and my mom had stopped by for a little while.  She noticed that not only was I not ready for the day (at 4:00 pm) but that my house was pretty messy...I was not ready for guests at all! So she quietly took the kids in their room and cleaned up their room and then took them downstairs and cleaned that up and helped me pull myself together (ok that might be a little bit of an exaggeration but that is what it felt like on the inside!) That was my turning point.  I started to get the hang of things...

 

I still feel like I am much crabbier than I usually am...but I think that will start to improve as Jase sleeps better.  And our house still gets super messy super quickly.  I still don't really get very many showers and most of the time it is after lunch but before dinner that I get ready. And it still goes from calm to chaos in a moment...

BUT

I have realized a lot of good can happen in a moment. 

The moment when the house is quiet except for the hum of the dishwasher and Cory is reading the older kids a bedtime story and I am holding Jase as he sleeps. Good moment.

Or when we are eating dinner and everyone is laughing hysterically as Ellie and Brig crack "jokes." Good moment.

When all three of the kids are getting along and talking and cooing at each other. Good moment.

When we have nice weather and we go for a walk and everyone is just content.  Good moment.

So- all in all. Yes, three kids is crazy. But I love it. I love being a mom and despite all of the chaos there are moments that completely outweigh it all. And Elder Neal A. Maxwell said,

"Moments are the molecules that make up eternity."

 

We are finding our three kid groove one moment at a time!

 

C A T C H U P....

It seems like I didn't blog very much of our fall...so here are a few pictures that I found on my phone.

Catch up begins now....

 

Brig is in a co-op preschool again and we got to check out and ride some really big tractors.  That is an important part of education when you live in the country:)

 

 

My parents moved and the kids have really liked visiting them in their new house. 

 

 

We have been reading more chapter books and one of them was about Knights.  We read it at the same time as our cousins so Aunt Christy did a really fun Family Home Evening where they got to pretend to be knights and put on "the Whole Armor of God."

So cute!

 

 

I can't believe that Brig is getting so big. He got to participate in the primary program for our church for the first time this year.  His part was short and sweet- but he did SUCH a great job. He was so confident.  When I went to pick him up from their practice party the day before I had to snap a picture...he looks so big hanging out and just chatting with his buddies!

 

 

They are just cute...

 

 

Hunting season is always...exciting...around our house.  It is the one time of year that I can't really tell Brig to stop pretending to hunt animals. Lots and lots of pretending.  I can't tell him no because he sees his dad hunting and just thinks he is so awesome! I would have to agree...

 

 

Ellie likes to pretend with Brig when he is playing hunting but she wasn't as fond of the real thing.  I agree with that too...

 

 

We took another quick trip to visit some friends of ours and went on a little hike to this waterfall.  They say it is way bigger usually...we will just have to go back! We sure love the Barker Family!

 

 

I am sure there is so much more that I didn't even capture.  But we had a pretty good fall and are looking forward to all the fun that winter has in store!