Random January

I think it goes without saying that if you have three little boys in a row, there's going to be contests & competitions, in a good way most of the time. They love to have races in many areas, see how fast they can run, and a favorite lately has been to see how many push-ups and sit-ups they can do. Even daddy gets in on these competitions!

The boys have enjoyed playing together with toys they got from Christmas & birthdays. This 'color-changer' car station has been a big favorite for them (and me! since it allows me to get things done too!)

We did a fun Family Home Evening on putting on the whole armor of God. The boys loved it, probably partly because they got to play with a sword and wear armor. It's great for getting a good message across though.

Matthew has had a big fascination with wearing baseball caps lately. He loves to run around with them on, forwards, backwards, you name it. We just think he's cute!

Surprise Party

Jacob and his good friend Colin have birthdays a day apart. I wanted to do a party for Jacob this year, and my good friend Jordan came up with a fun idea to have a combined surprise birthday party for them with all of the boys in their class.

It was fun to plan the details and put everything together. The best part was that neither Jacob nor Colin had any idea that it was going to happen. All 12 boys in their class were invited and every single one of them ended up coming, plus an extra brother, and each of our 2 extra boys. It’s a good thing Ben & Jordan have a little extra space in their apartment because we sure needed it with the 17 boys & 4 adults that we there! Jordan and I were a little outnumbered that night! It was definitely crazy, but a lot of fun too.

Colin & Ben had picked up Jacob to go get some pizza and come over to play. As soon as they left, I loaded up the car and we headed over. It was fun to watch Jacob and Colin walk in and have everyone yell “Surprise!”

We had a fun and yummy dinner, played some games, sang happy birthday, had a lego cake that I made, and mostly tried to manage the fun chaos. I’ll tell you what, 5-6 year old boys are crazy! It was a wild, but fun and memorable night. I’m glad that both Colin and Jacob had a fun surprise birthday party!

33 Weeks

I’m officially 33 weeks in the pregnancy. It really has gone by fast! I had a dr’s visit yesterday, and got the usual lecture since I haven't gained much weight and when they take the fundal height measurement, I only measure 28 weeks. (What do they expect? When you lay down of course everything is going to sink in!) So the doctor is sending me in for another ultrasound to make sure all the measurements look good. I’m right where I’ve always been, I feel good and I’m definitely eating healthy & exercising. The only bummer is that with this news, I’m afraid my chances of being induced early if needed are slim. I really don’t mind being pregnant & I don’t mind if a baby comes closer to their due date rather than super early, I would just really like my husband to be there with me during the labor & delivery!

Happy Birthday Jacob

Jacob turned 6 years old today! He’s really getting into the birthdays and loved making food plans down to the last detail. I guess for a 6-year old boy the food details are some of the most important! For breakfast we enjoyed crepes with strawberries & whipped cream- we had to get up a little earlier to still be on time for school, but it was worth it! We took cupcakes to school to share with his class, and after school we took him to get his free birthday ice cream cone. For dinner we had his requested fish (pan seared tilapia- thanks Teresa!), homemade mashed potatoes & gravy, and vegetables.

Without me knowing, Jacob had invited a bunch of his friends to come over that night to celebrate; but without Jacob knowing, we were planning a surprise birthday party the next night so I had to explain that his friends couldn’t come over because it was a school night.

We had a little celebration that night with our family. Jacob opened his presents and was excited with his new telescope, missile launcher, movie, shirt, book, and BYU jersey- that was a favorite and it sure made Jeff happy! The boys even braved the 15 degree weather that night to go try out the telescope outside.

After making cupcakes for his class that day, and knowing that I was making a cake the next day for the surprise party, I didn’t really want to make another cake just for our family- most likely it would just go to waste so I was glad when Jacob agreed that donuts sounded like a fun alternative. He picked out 6 donuts and we put them in the shape of a 6 with candles in them for him to blow out. It was perfect & we didn’t have to worry about a bunch of leftover cake.

It’s hard to believe that our Jacob is already 6. When he woke up his first words were, “I’m almost 7!” I hope he’ll slow down and just enjoy being 6 for a little while! He’s grown up so much and is such a great oldest child. He’s a great example to his younger brothers and we’re so grateful for him!*

Carseat...Check

One thing we knew we would have to get with our new baby is a car seat. Our previous one was used for all three boys and well...it was pretty much done for it. Despite the wear & use, we might have been able to use it again, had it not been that it had been stored in our trailer and due to the heat, the plastic had warped out of shape.

After having three little boys, I was really excited at first to get a really girly-looking car seat. However, after a lot of looking around, I decided that I didn't really love the 'girl' looking car seats and decided to just go for a classic, gender neutral one.

Regardless of colors and themes, car seats are expensive and I wasn't looking forward to dishing out a bunch of money, but a car seat is definitely a necessity, and I agree with advice of not buying a used car seat from someone I don't know.

One day while looking around on Kohls.com for a going-home outfit (early, yes... but can you blame me?) I discovered that Kohls.com carries baby gear, including carseats! One of the greatest things I love about Kohls is their sales; especially when they're combined with promotional deals. Well, it just so happened that they were having a sale on all their baby items & also having a promotional deal that if you used a Kohl's card you could save an additional 15, 20 or 30% off your purchase. We use cash for our purchases, so it was fine to use our Kohl's card and then pay it right off with the cash set aside for the car seat anyway.

After looking around, I found a car seat on their site that I loved! The colors are perfect, the design was great, and it's gotten great reviews. The best part of all, the car seat was normally $130, but it was on sale for $116. After using the 30% off coupon, I was able to get the car seat for about $80! You really can't beat that for a nice, brand new car seat. I've already gotten the car seat and I love, love it! It really is one of the most comfortable, high quality car seats I've seen & I love the special extra features like the extra removable padding for newborns, and extra length so babies can use it longer before outgrowing the height requirement.

As an added bonus, the 30% off coupon also applied to the cute going-home outfit that I found which made it cost about $10 (which is more than I usually like to pay for an outfit, but you only get to choose one going-home outfit & I figured it was worth it). Since the total amount was over $75, I got free shipping as well. I love it when you can find great deals! I still have a lot more to do & things to get before we'll be ready for a baby, but it's nice to know that a few things are taken care of!

1st Lost Tooth

Somehow amid the craziness of the holidays, I forgot to write about Jacob. He lost his first tooth on December 23^rd. He told me about a week beforehand that he had a loose tooth, but I didn’t think it could really be loose yet. Sure enough though, his bottom tooth was loose and the new one was already coming in. One night when the boys were brushing their teeth, Jeff asked to see it and just pulled it out real quick. Jacob was pretty excited, especially because he got a little visit from the tooth fairy that night. I can’t believe he’s lost a tooth already! Now one of his top front teeth is also loose and I imagine it won’t be too long before we have a boy with a cute toothless smile. I guess with him turning 6 this month that probably goes right along with the schedule. It was just another reminder of how quickly our kids are growing up, even if we’re not quite ready for it!

Showing off the new bottom tooth!

Warm Winter Day Fun

After weeks of high temperatures in the mid 20’s, we got lucky with a beautiful holiday Monday on the 18th. It was sunny, beautiful & almost warm at 54 degrees! The boys didn't even need their big coats, a jacket worked great. Of course the perfect way to spend the day is enjoying being outside!

The boys were able to get out their roller blades & bikes and spent a couple hours playing outside. One of their favorite things was to hold onto Jeff’s hands while he ran as fast as he could through the parking lot. They also liked going to the top of the hill in the parking lot and riding down to the sidewalks. Even Matthew is a little speed demon- he would chase after the boys on his little tractor bike as fast as he could go & also loved going to the top of the hill to ride down as fast as the bike would carry him. I’m glad he didn’t ever tip over because that could have been a bit painful! He just really thinks he’s one of the big boys and loves to do whatever they’re doing.

It was so fun to see them having a great time together outside. Jacob and Caleb were only sad when I told them we had to stop so they could go to their swimming lessons. I’m hoping we get to enjoy many more days like this one this winter!

High Priest Group Dinner

On Friday, the 15^th, Jeff headed up the annual high priest dinner. It was a nice evening with members of the high priest group. I guess that’s pretty much self-explanatory, but at the end of the night I just couldn’t help but feel for gratitude and love for these wonderful people in our ward. We missed some people who weren’t able to be there Friday night. There are some truly remarkable people with amazing stories. I feel so grateful to be able to be surrounded by them. At one point we were playing a game, sharing little bits of information/stories about ourselves with the group. Brother Davis bore a very sweet & sincere testimony during his turn that nearly brought me to tears. I just can’t help but feel so grateful for these sweet people and so touched by their faith and strong testimonies of the gospel. We are really going to miss so many people, and are so grateful we’ve had the chance to spend nearly 8 years, our whole married lives, in such a place as this!*

The Tolleys

The Chappell Family & Sister Green

Brother Heiffit & Trevor Griffits

Kayla & Ernie Williams

Caleb & Brother Davis

Marc Tolley & Ron Lee

Things I Love

A few things that I love that make my life easier!

Back in 2007 we were getting ready for baby #3, and I wanted better organization and simplification, so I made up these charts & have used them ever since.

Call me silly, but I love having my very own personal chore chart. It's laminated and hangs on my fridge. Maybe it's the fact that I can cross off my jobs with a dry erase marker when I'm done, or maybe it's because I can do a few things every day and the house stays organized & clean without me feeling like I'm cleaning all the time! Every day I know what I need to do, and once the jobs are done, I have no problem feeling like I can spend the rest of the day doing what I'd like to do. The jobs change from time to time & place to place, it's easy to make a new sheet. Obviously I'm not perfect all the time, but it works great for me.

(It's also great for when your husband says he doesn't know what to do, or asks what to do, just check the list. :)

This one is pretty self-explanatory too. For some reason, just knowing what's for dinner can make life so much easier and less stressful! (For me anyways) I like having it planned out a month in advance, and then I can go shopping at the beginning of every week and I have everything I need for the dinners for that week. I switch things around if I want, but it's so nice knowing dinner ideas in advance. I don't laminate this one, I like to print out a new sheet each month to write on. The kids can give their input for meal ideas too.

Love these!

Last of all, with the beginning of a new year, we decided to try a new alternative to our normal Excel worksheet budgeting. I do the budget every Tuesday, and would find myself dragging about the time to enter all the information on the worksheets. With many recommendations from friends & family members (thanks Tom & Kristie!) We decided to try Mint.com. Have you heard of it? If you haven't, look it up!

It was designed by the same people who created TurboTax. We haven't used it an extremely long time, but for the time we have, we've loved it. I find myself wanting to do the budget a couple times a week! It's quick & easy and allows you to see everything at a glance. We'll even be able to add student loans to the mix when we start paying them off. (Well...maybe it won't be so great to stare at those numbers every time we budget...) Just another great little thing that I love that makes life easier!