Happy Valentine's Day

We want to wish each of you a Happy Valentine's day!

I love this holiday. I love the hearts, the love notes, & the colors that this day represents. Okay, lets be honest, I love the chocolate too!

Today is my Grandma Shore's birthday! We hope she had an amazing day! She is truly a blessing in our lives & we are so thankful for her. Happy Birthday Gram!

I woke up to a dozen long stemmed, red roses. They are beautiful & I will enjoy them all week long. Thanks John! The boys loved their parties @ school. I don't even want to know the amount of sweets that have been consumed today. Carter made a sweet Valentine card for us. Mrs. Stevens took pictures of all of them holding a Valentine. It is very sweet. And the note was even better.

We hope you all enjoyed a sweet day with those you love.

Happy Valentine's Day!

My Baby is...

9 months old today! I can't believe how old he is! We are just 3 months away from his 1st birthday, but who's counting! WOW!

At 9 months Brody:
- has his first tooth (bottom, front right one)

-had his 2nd tooth come in on the 24th of Feb..
- weighs 23 lbs. 2 oz.
- wears clothes that are size 18 mo..
- wears a size 3 or 4 diaper depending on the brand.
- can say Mama & Dada.
- knows how to clap.
- is starting to wave.
- enjoys a good game of chase with the brothers.
- loves Garrett, nobody can get him to giggle like Garrett can.
- is still drinking 8 oz. of formula @ each feeding.
- enjoys rice cereal. veggies & some fruits. Just had yogurt for the 1st time today & liked it.
- is starting to stand on his own for about 15 seconds @ a time.
- likes to pull up on everything & then pats around till he can reach something.
- clears the coffe table & printer cabinet off as soon as we put something on it.
- he was away from Mom for the first time over night while Mom went to Dillon Beach.
- takes two good naps a day (one in the morning & one in the afternoon.)
- has an ear infection.
- loves to sit on the trampoline with Dad & watch the older boys play.
- Does not enjoy his breathing treatments for Asthma that is induced by colds.
- loves to look @ board book
- he is a blankie boy. loves to snuggle his blankets.

- he is very hard to photograph. He is always on the move!

Brody is so much fun & is so full of life. He has had a scab on his nose for the last two weeks. This boy is always on the move & is always bumping into something. I am enjoying every second with this sweet baby. He is growing up way too fast & he moves even faster. We have added another nickname to the list. It is Bruiser. Baby bug & bruiser go hand in hand, don't cha think?

HELP & Valentine's Eve

I am asking for your help tonight! I am hoping you each will take a minute & respond. When you hear the words "Small & Simple Things" what is the first thing that comes to your mind? You can sum it up in one word or lay it out there for me (examples are great too)! I'll explain later. Thanks in advance for your help.

On to fun & exciting things! We have been getting ready for Valentine's Day. I baked sugar cookies by the dozen last night. We frosted those sugar cookies today. We have been busy addressing Valentines for classmates, & we have wrapped treats for our neighbors & the people we VT/HT. I found these cute little ceramic heart shaped dishes(in white, pink, & red) @ Michael's. I made sugar cookies that fit right into the heart shaped dish & made a tag to go with them. The boys will love delivering them tomorrow. Tanner & Carter are very excited for their class parties tomorrow. I am sure it will be one big sugar fest.

We hope you enjoy a day that is filled with those you love! Happy Valentine's Day!

Weekend get away!

I am home! I enjoyed a great weekend away. It was a fabulous weekend filled with lots of scrapbooking, girlfriend time, & lack of sleep :). There were 9 of us girls who went this year & we had a blast. We enjoyed music, movies, good food, sunshine, the 1000 piece puzzle, jokes, stories about our families, & staying up way too late. You would not believe the amount of scrapbook stuff that was toted up to the beach. We even had lap tops, printers, scanners & electronic die cut machines. We were high tech @ the beach. Eve & Debby did an amazing job planning all of the details, great & small. There was a scrapbook survival goodie bag @ each of our tables. It was loaded with candy, chapstick (homemade by Eve), band-aids, gum & a cute little quote on how you know you're a scrapbooker when... Then when we went to bed on the first night, there was a cute Valentine bag with a piece of choclate & Valentine candy on everyones night stand. Very sweet & very thoughtful. We had a little check list that was passed out. It had things to complete while scrapbooking. For each item completed (things like creating a page with hot pink on it, completing a Christmas page, scrapbook a page about you & your hubby, help someone learn to use a new tool, etc..) we received a raffle ticket. So through out the weekend, lots of prizes were given away. Denise & I ended up winning the grand prizes. They were cute scrapbooking totes/bags! I was able to complete 15 layouts this weekend. After my page a day in January & a weekend of scrapbooking, I have had my share of scrapbooking for a long while.

Some highlights & favorite memories/quotes for me during the weekend were:
-Having one of my best friends, Michelle drive up from the Bay Area (she is a wonderful friend & I miss her) it is was great to spend time with her.
- Eve sharing her story about her son & "Busting a Grumpy".
- Hearing about how Matt is related to our new propeht (2nd cousin 3 times removed or something along those lines)
-that Cornflakes can be used as a topping for all foods.
- Green jello with shredded cheese on a bed of lettuce(EEEEWWWWW)
- Denise needs to be a rep for Club Scrap, this girl loves their paper :).
-Homemade Tortillas
-My DJ bling from Eve & Debby. I was in charge of the music last year(keeping the music on & picking Cd's to play) & they brought my DJ bling from the dollar store this year-it was a crack up.
-Michelle was saying her prayers one night (@ about 2 am) & Denise comes in the room & says "what are you doing"? while giggling. Denise was wondering why Michelle was doing Yoga @ 2 am???
-Giggling @ 2 am(& not being able to stop) while listening to text messages that were sent as jokes- "what you doing"? "I'm calling you, ring ring". "I like ponies, do you like ponies"?

I know some of these are things you just had to be there for but I wanted to get them down so I would remember them.

It was an awesome weekend filled with fun, laughter & the things I love to do. I am looking forward to next year. John was amazing & took care of EVERYTHING while I was away. I know it was a crazy weekend for him but I am so grateful that he knows how important it is for me to get breaks from time to time. Thanks sweetie!

Thanks for the Memories girls, you are the best.

Heading Out

I am leaving tomorrow! A little mini vacation is just what I need right about now. I have been running around like a crazy lady trying to get ready for my weekend get away. I taught the VIP 10 Things I Love mini album class @ the scrapbook store tonight. It was a class of 24. One more thing to check off my list.
I am looking forward to getting away & catching up with friends. I will miss my cute little family while I am gone. I am thankful for John. He is amazing. It is nice to know that I can sneak away & all will be well. The boys are looking forward to having him home for the next couple of days. I am sure they will fill his days from sun up to sun down. Have a great weekend!
P.S. The LO is one more that I completed in January for my LOAD challenge.

Weekend Update

Another busy weekend. The big news at our house this weekend is that Carter lost another tooth. He is missing his two front teeth & it looks so cute. This boy let his loose tooth just dangle there for about two days. It drives me bananas. I always offer to pull them. He never takes me up on my offer. We are happy it is out! Now if that forgetful Tooth Fairy will remember to come tonight. She probably forgot because she was just @ our house-eeeekkkkkk!

Tanner & Carter had basketball games this weekend. Both games were rough for both teams. They lost. It was Tanner's teams first loss of the season. The other team we played was very physical & it left the boys on our team frustrated & defeated.

Garrett was playing out in the back on Friday. Tanner & Carter came running in the house saying "Garrett just fell in the mud". He was crying but as soon as he saw my camera he started smiling & giggling. Had to get a picture for the blog - wink! Life with boys!

And Brody....well he is just so fun & cute. He fell asleep during Carter's basketball game. He normally loves to watch the game. His head will move from left to right the entire game. I guess he just wasn't into this game. He loves to play chase with John & the boys. They will get down on all fours & chase him. He giggles the whole time.

John & I attempted to go see a movie for our date night last night. John stood in line to buy tickets. I ran inside to get drinks & popcorn. My line was moving faster. I had paid for everything when John came to find me to tell me that the movie was sold out. We tried to buy tickets to another movie & it was sold out too. We were able to get our money back & leave our treats behind. . We went to Chili's for dessert & then did our grocery shopping. Not quite the date night we had envisioned but it was nice to get out without the kids. So far, we have kept our New Years resolution for our monthly date night.

The countdown is on. 4 days till I leave for the beach. I am so looking forward to my scrapbook weekend. Lots of scrapbooking, good friends, good food, fun music, & lots of chatting. I CAN'T WAIT.

We hope you had a great weekend.

Pinewood Derby

Happy February! I hope it is off to a great start.

We attended the annual Pinewood Derby last night for our Pack. My boys had a great time. Tanner did not win the over all race but he sure did have a great time running his car down the track. As we walked into the house last night, Tanner commented on how much fun he had & that it was okay that he didn't win. That one comment did this Mama's heart proud to know that he knew it was all about having fun & not all about winning. This years theme was Car Show. He drew a pencil sketch of what he wanted. John created the actaul shape for him using the power tools & then Tanner sanded, painted & even put the graphite on the wheels. He was proud of his car & I am proud that he worked on it himself with some guidance from Dad. He received the CLASSIEST CAR AWARD.

There was even a siblings race that Carter participated in. Carter used a car that my Grandpa (his Great Grandpa who passed away before he was even born) had designed for one of my brothers. The car had never been used. It was shaped but that was about it. Carter painted it red(his favorite color). Carter & Daddy added some weights to it. Carter took first place in all of the sibling heats except one. I am so glad they let the siblings participate, it gets them excited about the Scouting program. He was having such a great time. He can't wait to be a Scout next year. Our goal next year is to be working on the cars way before the actual race, right John (WINK- WINK)?