November

Ephraim is really into containers and their lids lately.  It occupies him while I make dinner so I like it!

This was our last nice Saturday, we spent it raking up all the leaves, the weather has turned super cold!

I'm sad I'm not a food photographer, these cranberry/orange biscuits were a lot better than they look!  Thanksgiving was very non-traditional.  We had BBQ pork riblets and baked potatoes and only stuffing because I had a box I got for free :)  Sometimes life just needs to be easy though!

I missed Halloween!

What is October without Halloween?

And, I threw in this little gem of Madelyn sleeping with a stuffed puppy stuffed in her PJ's :)

Ladybug, in case it wasn't obvious...

Indian Princess, not to be confused with Pocahontas

Candy Corn, don't you just want to eat him!

Thaddeus was MIA when I took pictures, I'll have to have him dress up, again, and take a picture.  He was a policeman.

We just went trick or treating around our neighborhood.  We got plenty of candy, in fact I haven't even let them dip into it much because they all have cough's and runny noses and I want them to get better so we can go visit family soon!

October

Grace loves to read.  She is reading the Boxcar Children series and is on book 15 or so.

Thaddeus is trying to become Ephraim's favorite person.  Some days he hugs and plays too hard, but he's working on it :)

Madelyn is still as cool as can be!  

We painted our house, that may have been in September though, I can't remember.

Ephraim can now see out the front window.  He loves it and if you can't find him, chances are he's there.  He also broke two more teeth through for a grand total of 8, I love when teeth break through in pairs, it seems that they cry just as much but did twice the work!!

Things they say...

This afternoon at lunch Thaddeus was telling Madelyn, "Mommies are scary" and I said, "Yes they are, ARGHH!" and he said, "No, the ones that walk and have the white stuff wrapped around them", me: "Oh, Mummies", him:"Yeah"

Grace Learning Piano

To get Grace excited about practicing, I have been taping her play her song when she is good enough, leave a positive comment I can share with her!

July

July was busy!  We went camping with Grant's family in McCall, beautiful!  We biked and swam and ate yummy food, thanks Grandma!

 

 A hike my niece took us on.  The kids were troopers though!  They led the way.

 

 Someone carved a heart into this water tower just for us!

 

 

Grandma bought all of us patriotic shirts so we had to take pictures!

 

Madelyn fell in an old fire while camping that apparently still had very hot coals, yes, that is a huge blister on her pinky.  We sorta hoped it would remove her fingerprint so she could rob a bank for us, no such luck.  Her hand is fine now, almost no scars at all.

We discovered our local state park and with our state parks pass we can get in for free and enjoy the river whenever we want!!

 

Ephraim started to crawl, really crawl, not just army crawl or the famous move the arms and drag the legs :)  He has already begun his reign of terror on the kids' stuff ;)

 

We made mud with cornstarch and water.

 

Madelyn feared her hair would go blonde like Grace's in the sun so she decided to use the spray sunscreen to save her beautiful brunette locks... (1/2 cup of baby shampoo later, it finally came out)

 

I helped Ephraim discover the joy of the plastic-ware cupboard, now I can get things done in the kitchen...

I got some vacuuming done without him screaming, and he got a nap.

 

I found out I don't feed this child enough :)

 

And Madelyn potty trained, herself, with my guidance and direction :)  Down to just one in diapers again, my wallet thanks her!!

Life this past month

 

Ephraim likes to swing, we like that he naps in it :)

 

5 months old!  Now, almost 6...

 

Grace and TD sleeping at Grandma's, how cute!

 

We put her hair up in rags, she had very bouncy locks.

 

Madelyn found a life-size Elmo at Grandma's!

 

Madelyn falling asleep reading.

 

They made a tower using all the blocks, and it touches the ceiling (with the aid of a car)

Definitely in need of a diaper change when it hangs lower than your skirt...

 



 

Ephraim chewing on a watermelon rind, he also likes apples, celery and cucumbers, and normal stuff like rice cereal.  He thinks he needs to eat every time you put him in his high chair.

 

Grace's chalk art.  Can you make out the words?  Starting at the top and going clockwise: Church, Temple, Sacrament and Baptism with her on the world in the middle.  She is creative!

May 18, 2014

This is a little video I would like to entitle, "Too much love"  Madelyn loves Ephraim, a little too much.  And she tries really hard to keep him from crying so she can hold him longer :)  She'll make a great mom someday!

  Ephraim got both his bottom teeth, in 3 days!  Crazy, my 4 1/2 month old has teeth.  He was a trooper though.  The only thing he did differently was drool like crazy, like drool running down his hand and arm from his mouth and just dripping crazy and he woke up one extra time at night to nurse.  What a great kid!

Grace and Thaddeus spoiled me for mother's day with a whole table of goodies from them, all homemade, my favorite!  Two paper plate fans, a Lego M, two homemade cards and a tile coaster Grace made at school.  They also helped make me breakfast.  They also decorated our white board and helped dad make a Mother's Day Poster that stayed up until if fell down, a week later :)

 

Those two also know how to empty a dishwasher, and one morning they paused to make a cup family.  Grant, me, The kids, Grandma Call and her dog Barney :)  I'll let you guess who is who :)

 

Ephraim got the chance to be a baby model for a friend of mine.  She has a product line called, "Bundled" you can find it on facebook.  This is one of the pictures they took (he wasn't wearing one of her hats)

 

A tender mercy

Today has been a tender mercy of sorts.  Heavenly Father has a way of swooping in just at the right moment to give us a break.  I've been sleep deprived since before Madelyn was born, just recently a little more so because I had been letting Ephraim cry a little at night instead of going and feeding him.  Last night I stayed out until 10pm at a little going away party for a friend here.  Madelyn woke up at 11:30pm and didn't go back to sleep until about 12:15am.  Needless to say, I was a little tired this morning.  So, here is the blessing: I nursed Ephraim at 10pm when I got home and he didn't wake up again until 3am, then not again until 6:30am.  Then, he went down for a nap at 10:30am (and is still asleep at 1:30pm) and Madelyn (who has been having troubles napping lately) went down at 11ish and slept until 5 minutes ago.  I laid down at 11:30 and told Thaddeus it was naptime :)  He laid down on the chair and fell asleep.  I was woken up by a phone call at 11:30, laid back down and got up at 12:30.  Then I made a menu and grocery list, cleaned the kitchen and threw in a load of laundry.  Thanks for today.  It is days like today that make me wonder how people can believe that God isn't real and if He is real, He doesn't care about us.  I know He cares about me!  (and I would still know, even if He hadn't given me a nice break today!)

 

Look at those adorable pigtails!

 

I got him smiling the other day.  Why is it that we derive so much joy from making our children smile?  I like it!  He will laugh on occasion, for Grant....

The rest of March

 

One of only 3 pictures I took of Madelyn's 2nd Birthday (Mom Fail).  She got her own flashlight.

 

Grace made a fort with branches dad cut from the plum tree.

 

Our form of free fun, stuff your kid in a plastic store bag and swing him around.

 



 

Ephraim's blessing day.  He was almost too big for the blessing outfit!

 

He has become a social smiler!  We enjoy it, a LOT!

 

 

3 Months old!  He weights approx. 13.2 pounds. (Madelyn weighs 25.6lbs :))

 

Grace loves to read, Thaddeus loves to be read to.  So cute!

 

Madelyn standing on Dad's belt.

Thaddeus and Grace morphed into butterflies!