My Three Sons

Christmas Cards 2010

2010-12-06T16:22:00.003-06:00

I have ordered pictures from Shutterfly quite a few times with great results and super fast service. I am always pleased when the big, bulky envelope comes in the mail! My pictures always look so great and I never have to leave my house!

And while I have never ordered my Christmas cards from Shutterfly, I have to say that I am REALLY, REALLY excited about ordering them this year. I like to include pictures in my cards. Mostly because that's the kind of cards I like to get myself. I love seeing how my friends and family's kids have grown. And it is so much fun to go back and look at how small my babies were too. The reason I usually do not order my cards is because I really LOVE to create my own cards, but listen...I have 3 boys (ages 4, 6 and 8) and I'm halfway done cooking another baby! So seriously folks, I just don't have the time or the energy! :) And to be completely honest, I look to Shutterfly for inspiration. They have the cutest stuff!

Go here to create your own unique photo cards for this year's Christmas card!

In the past, I've given calendars as fun gifts and received them too. So fun! It truly is the gift that keeps on giving All Year Long!

And I can't help myself from looking at these adorable birthday invites. I am going to have a 1 year old again next year! Oh, I just love planning that party! Can't wait!

Ridemakerz Giveaway on Aim's blog!

2009-07-14T16:09:00.003-05:00

My sister is doing an AWESOME giveaway on her blog. Click here to read all about it and enter!

Sledding!!!

2009-01-12T10:33:00.003-06:00

I love that we have 4 seasons but some I enjoy from indoors. I do not like being cold. I haven't been sledding since before Jon and I got married, but yesterday was FUN!!! More fun than I could have imagined. We went with Aimee and Ryan and their kids. And I wasn't cold AT ALL! Well, at the end of the day, my face was kinda frozen (into a permanent smile) and my fingers started to get a bit cold! We had an absolute blast! Here are some pics of our day...

Buzz, Jack and a green frog...

2008-11-07T11:29:00.004-06:00

Well...here ya go! One week later. Not bad!

Halloween 2008Talon was the frog that Ben was 2 years ago. Gotta love a costume that was $1.97 and 2 kids WANTED to wear it!

Bennett was Captain Jack Sparrow...and he LOVED every minute of it!

Simon was Buzz Lightyear. His wings even had lights. I tried to get a picture of it but they flashed...so it was nearly impossible.

Ben, my non-picture taking boy, insisted on this one. I couldn't believe it!

Me and my love - thank you Simon!Waiting for more trick-or-treaters...we didn't have many after we got home.This is my favorite picture! I love their faces.

Why I Love Fire Prevention Week

2008-10-11T13:50:00.005-05:00

by Melanie J. Stevens

Really, I do. Why, you ask? LOTS of reasons!!! :) One of the main reasons is the Fire House Open House. Our town goes all out and it's just such a fun day! We look forward to this so much. The kids LOVE it!

We get to go for a ride on the antique fire truck with a siren blaring!

The boys get to slide down a real fire pole,

pretend to drive and rush off to a huge fire,

sit in the jump seat and pretend to talk to the other fire fighters, squirt the fire hose,

and watch the real fire fighters use the jaws of life! I think that was Ben's favorite.

"Thanks you fire fighters. We love you!"

(from Elmo Visits the Firehouse, for those of you that don't know!)

It's Not All Baby Rides Anymore!

2008-09-29T13:10:00.008-05:00

Yesterday, we went to a carnival in Dyer. We had so much fun! Ben and Simon are now tall enough to go on some of the bigger rides.

Look how excited Ben is. He thought he wasn't tall enough and he was so sad...then he found out he actually WAS tall enough and jumped into his seat - right next to Mom!

Unfortunately, for me, the operator decided that since the boys were so excited, he'd let them have another go. I was so relieved when it started slowing down, then the guy with one tooth said "One more time!" I was pretty queasy after that. :)

Simon's first bumper car ride - all by himself.

You can tell that he's s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g to reach the pedal but he did GREAT and had an absolute blast!
Talon loved this motorcycle ride. It did wheelies! On his second turn we could tell he was making motorcycle sounds. So cute!
Tal was cracking up on the dragon roller coaster. He loved it so much!
Ahhh, the fun slide. I think they went down this thing at least 20 times!
Our last ride. The Super Shot! I've been on the Giant Drop at Great America but this actually scared me more than that. I think because I heard this clicking sound and thought it reached the top but we were already at the top and it was actually dropping us. It was crazy!Simon did NOT like it - at all!

Big Wheel 500

2008-09-23T13:13:00.004-05:00

How about that - a post from an event that happened less than 3 days ago!

The Big Wheel 500!

Ben got 2nd place in the 4 year olds division

with a time of 2 minutes and 4 seconds.

He had to go around the track once - a quarter mile.

Simon got 3rd in the 6 year olds division with a time of 4 minutes and 7 seconds. He had to go around the track twice - half a mile. And his crazy mother didn't insist on shoes so his flip-flops kept falling off.

We can't forget Talon. He didn't have a nap so he was EXHAUSTED!

My winning boys - they were so proud! I'm so proud!!

Well Hello There!

2008-09-16T13:35:00.004-05:00

Okay, I know I'm a terrible blogger.

But today, I present some new photos for my mommy (who I don't see enough), sister-in-law Tara (who checks my blog often and finds nothing), Mike and Penny (who we miss so much), my sister Leanne (who informed me that she checks my blog EVERY MORNING to see if I've posted anything) and anyone else who still checks in on my blog from time to time! Me and the boys were messing with the timer on my camera.

The boys in their "tent".

Talon at our church's Labor Day picnic.

Love you guys! I'll try to post more often.

Water, Water...EVERYWHERE!

2008-09-15T17:48:00.004-05:00

Not in our basement though - thank you Jesus!

Here's the view from our porch.

and from the corner of our block

This is Broadmoor - Target is just past that light.

On the left is Simon's school - a block and a half from our house.

As if the water isn't bad enough, this afternoon there was a garage fire.

The fire trucks couldn't even get to it.

So many milestones...so little time to blog it all!

2008-05-15T21:56:00.007-05:00

Yes, my friends. Here I am. Trying to post about my crazy, insane life! But we've had so many blog-worthy things going on so I thought I'd share a few. If for no one else but the grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins (you get the point!) that haven't seen the boys in ages.

Okay, so I guess I'll start with the fact that my baby turned 2 years old on April 8. WHAT?!?!! I know. I can't believe it either. He talks to me all.day.long and sometimes I just stare at him and wonder where the time has gone.

Here are a few pics from his Elmo birthday party. What a fabulous day! It was so sunny and warm. Perfect when you have 30 people at your house - most of which are kids!!!

Happy Birthday Talon Jonathan Peter. We love you so much! At to all those who know the Jonathan and Peter for whom he was named after, I will just say that we surely named him right! Penny will understand! :) I think I just felt another gray hair pop out on the top of my head just thinking about it!

And now I will move on to my first baby...

Here he is lookin' all cute for Terry and Heather's wedding on April 12. He had the exact tux as the groom and it was just too cute and very pimpin'! :)

And he now rides a two-wheeler - like a mad man, at that!

This is his first time out. He did awesome. Pretty much just decided it was time and he was off!

And he lost his very first tooth. (Well, not including the ones he had to have pulled when he was almost 4, those don't count!) In one week he learned how to ride his bike and lost his first tooth. When he realized it was loose and showed me I started to cry. I couldn't handle it - at least not both in one week!!! What on earth am I going to be like when he starts to drive or goes to Prom? I can't even begin to imagine!

And now some news about Bennett James (as he likes to call himself but it's more like Bennett Dwames). He is becoming quite the gardener. It helps when you have an excellent gardener living right next door who loves your kids like an extra grandpa! Soooo great because our grandpas are far away a lot of the time. :( So, a few weeks ago, Talon and Ben "helped" our neighbor Jim plant a new tree in his yard.

Last week they planted a little garden behind our garage. Jim is the sweetest thing. He prepared the soil and got it all ready for Ben to plant tomatoes and corn. The best part was that he was teaching Ben things along the way.

More coming soon!

Ladies & Gentleman, Boys & Girls...

2008-03-10T10:45:00.009-05:00

IT'S A NEW POST!!!

To be honest, I don't feel like posting :) but apparently there are a handful of people that still read my blog. So here we are the last few months...

Contrary to what you may have heard, we have not been sitting at the computer playing Webkinz. Well, that's not ALL we've been doing.

I tried to take a nice picture for Valentine's Day. This is the best one I got. Simon was chewing gum. Talon wiggled the whole time and Ben cried most of the time. I wont post the 274 pictures where at least one is making a funny face or crying or whining. Not fun!

We've gone to Uncle Pete & Auntie Kath's for a visit...

Simon being a bear with their faux fur blanket. So cozy!!

Uncle Peter got these cupcakes especially for our boys. You guys are so much fun for our kids. We all enjoyed our time together so much!

Simon and Ben started having sleep-overs at "Simon's house" (Simon's room) on the weekends. This is their first one. They have had many more since and both of them totally love it. It's so sweet to stand at the door and listen to them. They are truly becoming friends! The best part is that when they wake up they start playing and don't wake everyone else up! Gotta love that!!! One morning I heard Ben say "Come on Simon. Wet's (lets) go watch Tom and Jerry!" :)

Notice Smokey and Harry in the middle. Smokey is Simon's and Harry is Ben's. They were having a sleep-over too! :)

Talon's learned to climb the drawers in the bathroom and get access to the water...

This is where I find him numerous times a day!

Simon has learned to do cartwheels and flips which he practices every single day. I need to get that kid in a gymnastics class.

Spent some time in the 50...which is about to be sold to a US soldier leaving Afghanistan this weekend. :(

Had a nice visit with Grandpa Mike. He's out of the country again now until JULY! :( We'll see Grandma Penny next week and we are all very excited!!!

We went to Quaker Steak and Lube. The kids love that place! The night we went with Grandpa they had a balloon animal lady. As you can see, the were very excited!

Ben made this fort which he called a fire house. I'm not exactly sure what all of my small appliances have to do with a fire house but I'm glad he's got such a great imagination!

Talon decided that he would like to be a police man. The day of this picture anyway! :)

And yes, we still love our Webkinz!

Here's Talon with June.

This is Simba and Harry going for a ride in their new car!

And here we have Scruffy, Smokey and Coal heading out in the dump truck! :)

And for the record...if Blogger didn't take so long to upload images (and Webkinz wasn't so much fun), I'd be a lot more excited about posting. But I will try to do better. It really has been totally crazy lately. We've got 3 more crafts to do with MOPS as well as a TON of invites for various parties we're working on, not to mention taking care of my Webkinz garden. It just all takes away from blog time!

A Sneak Peek at our new addition!

2008-02-07T16:40:00.000-06:00

It's far from being new. And it's definitely not a baby...

It's our 1950 Ford Custom!

We didn't get any pictures before all of this snow. So you'll have to use your imagination...

Yes, it's faded maroon which looks exactly like purple, but that's just for the time being. One day it will be a better color. And who knows, we might even be able to all squeeze in for a nice cruise one Sunday afternoon.........

Big Foot Tries Again!

2008-02-04T10:22:00.000-06:00

It seems like a really long time ago, but really it was only a few weeks ago that Jon took Simon to a Monster Truck & Motorcross Show where he got to see Big Foot! They were both so excited about the time they got to spend together. They got home after 11:00 p.m. and Simon's face was black from his red and blue slush. :)

Here's the amazing Big Foot - in all his glory!!!

Yeah, he broke down before even getting into the mud!!!

Where I've Been...

2008-01-25T14:21:00.000-06:00

To say that I can't post because every time I think of poor little Slimey, wouldn't be truthful. Though I am still pretty upset about it. We had to tell Simon last week. It was awful. He didn't believe us. But finally he did and actually cried. :(

So anyway, you guys won't believe where I've been.

Simon got a Webkinz from Grandma Betty for Christmas. Ben got one last weekend and me, the mommy, I am totally addicted to it! I mean really. It's BAD! But the kids LOVE it and and are having such a blast spending the Webkinz dollars I win for them playing the games. Not to mention feeding their pets (Simon's is a black lab named Smokey and Ben's is a "hippotominous" names Harry), making sure they sleep, checking on their gardens, etc........ So much fun. But that's where we are. We're in Webkinz World.

Uncle Peter, I promised you the pics and videos of the Monster Truck Show and I will post them soon. Really, I will. Maybe after one more game of Cash Cow.........

It's a...

2008-01-07T16:09:00.001-06:00

MOTH!

Yes, I checked on little Slimey today after probably more than a week and found this.

He's not alive anymore. I'm having a really hard time with this. I am a horrible caterpillar keeper. I can't believe he came out of his cocoon and we didn't know about it. I just feel so sad. Like it was just a waste of time.

When I showed the boys Simon said, "So when is it going to turn into a butterfly?" I had to explain it to him that this caterpillar was made to be a moth, not a butterfly. So sweet though. :) I didn't have the heart to tell him that the moth was actually dead. Maybe tomorrow - or IF he asks about it another day.

So the Slimey Stats are over........and I'm really sad about it. I'd be a lot less sad if we were able to let him go in the gorgeous January weather. Oh well!

Ralphie & Randy

2008-01-03T14:22:00.000-06:00

The boys got to watch A Christmas Story this year for the 1st time and LOVED it! Ben actually says "look, there's me!" when Randy comes on the screen. Could they look any more like those 2 though??

We had a really nice low-key Christmas! I'm not sure if I will ever post about it. I'm so over it now. The tree was out the door on the 26th! Please don't get me wrong. We had many fun parties and many very relaxing days but I am really glad it's all over! The stinkin' advent calendar just about drove me nutty! :) And our family parties were split up all over December so now that it's over, I'm not sure I can go back. Okay, maybe I'll post a few.....just so you guys don't think I'm a big old scrooge and we didn't have any fun for the holidays!

Making cookies!

I had such a fun time with Talon under the tree one night. The needles kept falling off on our faces and we were cracking up. He was shhhhing me and telling me about the train he heard outside and all kinds of other things. :)

I have MANY pictures of the kids opening their presents. They were so much fun to buy presents for and getting them all ready was just as fun. Thanks Auntie Susie for all your helping wrapping!!! It would have taken me days to get them all done.

Here's Ben opening up his cleaning set from Auntie Kristin and Uncle Paul and their kids. He wanted this so bad. Kristin felt bad buying him cleaning supplies but I assured her that he would be ecstatic and he was! He actually kissed the box...

then Dana started crying!

We love you Dane. You have a heart of gold! Ben is next to me right now and said, "Ohhh, there's Dana. She's crying because I kissed it." Then he kissed my arm. I love you Ben!
Then Ben started crying because Talon (apparently not getting any attention at that moment) decided it would be nice to go and lay on Ben's favorite thing. Real nice Tal! :) Not nice at all, but totally funny!

Look what I made...

2007-12-20T13:06:00.000-06:00

I didn't actually make the stocking but I did stitch the names. They turned out so cute, if I do say so myself!

And it was totally therapeutic to do it. I enjoyed it so much I think I'm going to make bags for my mom to use for our stockings next year. Every year she says she isn't going to do much but every year we have our stocking and a bag next to it filled with stuff that she lovingly chose and wrapped! I love you Mommy! Yes, that would be 25 bags I have to stitch. But I have a whole year to do it so that's a whole year of therapy - for free!

Cowboy Ben

2007-12-19T18:58:00.000-06:00

I love Ben. Of course, I love all of my boys. But they are soooo different and I love that! Ben is a riot! Hilarious. He gets me laughing so much throughout the day. I think the Lord knows I need that on a daily basis.
And check out Simon in the background. Moments like these are why I'm NOT crazy. I just have to laugh.

Dance Party USA

2007-12-16T14:05:00.000-06:00

Okay, who remembers this? Get past the talking and get ready for some awesome 80's fashion and dancing! :) Right!

Yeah, well, we had our own Dance Party USA in the kitchen the other day. Which, I'm not ashamed to admit, happens quite often. :) First we were rocking to Hi-5's Christmas CD. Then we switched over to Angels & Airwaves. I was in the middle of making dinner (of course that's why I'm wearing my apron and Talon's wearing his pajamas!!!) and Bennett had the camera and he was quite happy snapping pics of us. Some I didn't even know about until I uploaded them. Too funny...

Day 12...a Rock Star and a Recap!

2007-12-14T14:21:00.000-06:00

On the 12th day of December my mommy gave to me...

Push Pops with Ornaments!

Simon put his ornament on the tree right away.

Talon couldn't eat his fast enough! They were rainbow sherbet flavored. Can you blame him? YUM!
Ben turned his push pop into a microphone. :)

Here he is doing his "rock star"... (sorry it's sideways. i didn't think about that.)

And since it's the 12th, let's have a recap...I know you've all been singing along since I started posting these. Be honest! :)

On the 12th day of December my mommy gave to me

Push Pops with ornaments

Christmas shaped sponges

Chocolate Christmas characters

Shiny silver slinkeys

Peppermint candies
Red & green rice krispie treats

Spiderman cars

Chocolate golden coins
Baby bottle pops

Nutcracker ornaments
Yummy candy necklaces

and a Cars Movie bouncy ball

I love December! I love my advent calendar. And I love my boys! :)

the 10th and the 11th!

2007-12-12T23:21:00.000-06:00

On the 10th day of December my mommy gave to me...

Chocolate Christmas Characters!

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And on the 11th day of December my mommy gave to me...

Christmas shaped sponges!
And amazingly enough it fit in the advent calendar - just barely. :)

Simon got a Christmas tree, Ben got a candy cane and Talon got a snowflake.

Oh the fun they had in the bath with these! Ben washed himself thoroughly. That's basically all he did except when it was time to wash the truck (the walls). The imaginations on these boys!
For the first time ever, Talon was "swimming" in the bath. You know, when the water is going out so it's really shallow. He was on his belly pretending to swim. It was adorable! Hard to get pics of it though since he's such a mover!

the 9th

2007-12-11T10:41:00.000-06:00

On the 9th day of December my true love gave to me...

A brand new front door!

Out with the old...

In with the new!

The finished product! Oh, I am so excited!!!!!

Last week Jon got locked out of the house. He had to get in the house somehow, sooooooo he broke down the front door! He tried getting in every other way but nothing worked. We have needed a new front door since the day we moved in. We weren't too fond of the "hockey stick and pucks" design on our old one. Can you blame us really? :)

Thank you so much Jon! I love our new door and I love you!

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What an exciting day the 9th was! Because on the 9th day of December my mommy gave to me...

Shiny Silver Slinkeys!

I think I take too many pictures. I can't ever decide which one to use so I just use them all. Sorry for all the long posts lately guys! :)

Stevens Family Christmas Celebration

2007-12-10T14:25:00.000-06:00

Saturday was a busy day. But a great day, for sure! We went to Grandma & Grandpa's house in Ottawa for our Stevens Family Christmas. Grandma made so much wonderful food. I have the rest of the braandy buttah. I allow myself a spoonful each night. I can't sit with the bowl and a spoon or I'll eat it all. It is that good! Mike and Penny are off to England for Christmas with Grandma Martina. They won't be back in the states until February. We miss you guys already! :(

Here are some pictures of our lovely day!

Paper crowns from the traditional English crackers.

Ben & Caleb

I don't love this picture of myself but I do love seeing Talon in the bottom corner. I didn't notice it until I uploaded it to my computer. He is such a scavenger! Whatever he can reach, he'll eat or drink! He was eating off of people's plates all day. And at the end of the day as he was eating some more chips Nicole (or Auntie Cole, how cute is that?!) said to me, "He has been eating all day!" And literally, he was!

Talon seeks out Mike throughout the day and gives him his hand for "Round and Round the Garden".

Zac was carrying Ben around the house saying "Who wants to buy Ben?!!" Ben had a blast!!!

Present Time!!!

Waiting patiently...

and not so patiently.

Susie had just told Ben that he wasn't going to open his present or something like that. He put on his "mad pace" and said, "Yes I am!"

This was his first present of the day. He ripped the corner off and peeked in. Then tore into it!

2 big construction trucks! Thanks Auntie Sue!!!

Talon enjoyed opening his presents too. He's a wanderer too so he opened his presents with whoever he was with when it was his turn.

Simon got this aweome remote control truck. He wanted to play with it right away but of course it had to be charged. We charged it for him when we got home that night so it was all ready for him in the morning. He has had so much fun with it. Thank you Uncle Sam and Auntie Heidi!

Ben has been wanting this vacuum cleaner for months! When asked what he wants for Christmas he says "I want a mini vacuum cleaner and a yo yo ball".

Yes, he is HUGGING his mini vacuum cleaner! Needless to say, he was so excited when he opened it and said "I've wanted this ALL DAY!" We strategically put it on the bottom of his stack or else he wouldn't have wanted to open anything else. Thanks Uncle Peter & Auntie Kathryn! Ben also got this really cool Viewmaster Projector that all 3 boys just love. Yesterday I took them to Target to get some reels for it. They're special ones with little inserts that have the sound clips on them. Ben came out holding it and said, "I just wuv dees movies!" So thanks to Auntie Nicole & Uncle Paul too! Ben has had a fabulous Christmas so far!

After presents all the kids went sledding - except Talon - with all the brothers, Susie & Grandpa. TaloHe stayed with his Grandma, Aunties, Raquelle and me. He really liked this pirate ship puzzle.

Uncle Sam.

Heidi was a little freaked out at the glimpse of her husband when he gets older. It was hilarious!

And here's what little Benny looked like after sledding. He started going down the hill alone FAST and Jon ran after him, lost his footing and accidentally kicked Ben in the face. Jon felt so horrible about it!These last 2 were from the next day. He was so out of it. I think his body was fighting off some sort of infection from it or something. After some meds and a nap he was much better. And it's just a yucky scab now. Good thing my Christmas cards are already done, right?

Thank you Mike & Penny for such a great day! It was so good to be with everyone and so relaxing. Thanks too for all of the wonderful presents. We love you!!!

8th Day of December...

2007-12-09T22:39:00.000-06:00

On the 8th day of December my mommy gave to me...

Peppermint Candies!

Apparently, Ben doesn't like these and I thought he did. Didn't he love them last year Mommy? Oh well! Simon and Talon enjoyed them... Beb wasn't feeling too good yesterday though, maybe that was the problem...details to follow!

6th & 7th

2007-12-09T20:35:00.000-06:00

On the 6th day of December my mommy gave to me...

Spiderman Cars!

Ben's actually has The Sandman from the Spiderman3 movie. He thanked Jesus for his "sandy car" tonight before dinner. He wanted me to take this picture. :)

I couldn't get him to stop (nor did I really want to since he was having so much fun!) racing his car for a picture. It was so cute. All 3 were running around making hot rod noises. Oh my boys.....

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On the 7th day of December my mommy gave to me...

Red & Green Rice Krispie Treats!

When Tal took his first bite he said "yum".

Yum! Ben wanted me to take these pictures (gasp!!!) of him taking huge bites. Then Simon joined in. And of course Talon.

Then they were off to get haircuts and baths. We had our Stevens Family Christmas yesterday so I'll post some pics of that tomorrow! It was a great day! We spent the whole day over at Grandma & Grandpa's. Braandy Buttah! Oh yeah baby! Happy Christmas everyone! :)

20 months ago I had a tiny baby...

2007-12-07T22:20:00.004-06:00

Now I have this nearly 2 year old kid who says candy cane and Christmas tree numerous times a day. In his own little way of course. And says "cheese" every time he sees a camera. You can hear him when the video first starts. :) I'm glad I finally got it on video. I just did it with my camera because it was right there...and I can't figure out how to upload from our video camera anyway. I really need to do that.

I took these pictures tonight. I was doing my daily Christmas tree needle vacuum (man, does our tree lose the needles this year! :( 2 and a half more weeks!!!) and Talon was "helping" me. When we were done I put him under the tree so he could look up at all the lights. He didn't want his pajamas on yet (could my boys be any more different???) so here he is looking like a fat baby under the tree. :) He just looks so young to me...

until I see these, that is! :)

Then reality hits that he is no longer a tiny baby.

Didya quit? Nope, just takin' a short pause!

2007-12-05T22:50:00.000-06:00

What movie? 100 points to whoever gets it right! :) I was going to say 100 bucks but my sister got one right the other day so technically, I owe her 100 bucks already! I hope she never collects. But I was really proud of her for remembering!

I know you've all been on the edge of your seat waiting to see what was in the advent calendar on the 3rd, 4th & 5th! Heheee! So, here you go! I'll try to do better!

On the 3rd day of December my mommy gave to me...

Tiny Nutcracker Ornaments.

As you can see, and as we all know...Ben did not want his picture taken. Oh, what fun!

Talon and Simon's ornaments are nicely hanging from a lovely branch on our tree. Bennett's got lost very soon after trying to take pictures. I think he threw it! Still can't find it.

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On the 4th day of December my mommy gave to me...

It's too big to fit in the actual calendar...wonder what it is?

Baby Bottle Pops!

The picture taking saga continues with my dear little Bennett... Got them all organized and took this picture, then realized he didn't have a shirt on! Seriously, did I just say that? Did I really not realize he didn't have a shirt on? YES! The answer is yes!

Better! And he's smiling!!! Gotta love that!

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On the 5th day of December my mommy gave to me...

Chocolate Golden Coins!

Pajama boy strikes again...refusing to look at the camera. Talon is putting his wrapper on Ben's head. That's what you get Benny!!! :)

It's the 2nd!

2007-12-02T19:24:00.000-06:00

On the 2nd day of December, my mommy gave to me...
Yummy, candy necklaces!

Boys don't wear necklaces!!!

Not properly anyway. :)
Just so you all know that Ben does not live in his pajamas! We all know that he actually loves to be dressed in anything but clothes...wearing silly shoes or hats, even gloves. But he LOVES his pajamas - all of them. So he changes into them daily, usually before dinner. Then takes them off before bed. That is why he has the same ones on in yesterdays pictures, because he wears them in the morning when he wakes up before he gets dressed for the day, then decides it's time to go back to the p.j.'s for a bit in the evening. Funny boy! :)

The 25 Days of December...the 1st!

2007-12-01T21:10:00.000-06:00

I realize that the song is only set for 12 days, but my very special advent calendar is for all 25 days of December! I wanted this advent calendar so bad last year but couldn't pay full price so I waited until it went on clearance after Christmas. Yeah, they were all gone. :( So when I saw the exact same one this year I called Jon from Target and asked him if I could get it. He knew how much I wanted it last year so of course his answer was yes! I could not wait for December 1st! Neither could Simon. He woke up at 6:14 a.m. ready to see what was behind the little #1 door. We were able to hold him off until 8:04 though.On the 1st day of December , my mommy gave to me...
A bouncy Cars Movie ball!

We decided after this morning that we would open the little door after dinner each night, so Simon doesn't feel the need to wake up at the crack of dawn!

Happy December!

Slimey Stats - Day 61

2007-11-30T20:11:00.000-06:00

Yes, it's been that long since I posted about our dear friend sitting on a jar on my kitchen counter. And yes, he's been sitting there for 61 days now! So, here's what's been going on since day 21 back in October...

About a month ago, I could actually see some eye buds. Pretty amazing.

About 2 weeks ago, Ben was standing on a chair "helping" me do the dishes. He said to me, "Mom, I want to see Slimey." My hands were all wet so I told him to wait and I'd show him in a few minutes. Apparently, that was too long to wait because without me knowing, he picked up the jar and was checking Slimey out all by himself. I went to grab the jar and noticed that it was upside-down. I completely freaked out! Now let me just tell you that I was a little extra emotional at this time, if you know what I mean. Thinking back now, I realize that it's just a caterpillar. I ran down the stairs screaming to show Jon the jar. Neither one of us could see poor little Slimey. I took it back upstairs where Ben has this terrified look on his face because of how I reacted. He said, "I just wanted to play with my pet!" Hugs, kisses, apologies.....and I'm back to trying to find Slimey. I mean everything we had in there was all over the place. I did finally find the chrysalis out of the cocoon in some grass. The cocoon was made in the grass, if you'll remember and that was amazingly still in tact. So I was able to get him back into his cocoon (without touching it, mind you) and there he sits.

I look in on him all the time and he still looks the same. Jon keeps saying he's dead but I don't think so. Wouldn't it be all shriveled up by now? And it's still shiny. Wouldn't he be all dull if he was dead? Here's hoping for a spring butterfly or moth......

O-Mazing Grace!

2007-11-29T21:55:00.000-06:00

Sometimes the sound isn't so sweet...

Oh Christmas Tree!

2007-11-26T19:07:00.000-06:00

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,

How are thy leaves so verdant!

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,

Much pleasure doth thou bring me!

For every year the Christmas tree

Brings to us all both joy and glee.

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,

Much pleasure doth thou bring me!

I am NOT singing the nice happy tune O Christmas Tree, sung to honor the lovely Christmas tree. I'm saying it more groan-like, with a nice big heavy sigh! The "Stevens sigh", if you will.

"Much pleasure doth thou bring me!" "Joy and glee." Give me a break!!!!!!! It is verdant though. Yes, it is definitely green.

The Christmas tree getting process started out wonderful! My friend Stephanie was visiting from Oklahoma so she came with us to good old Lowe's!

We chose a tree in about 2 minutes. I handed Stephanie the camera and asked her to take a picture of us with our tree. Somewhere between wiping snot off of Talon's face and getting Ben to look at the camera, Talon got loose. Jon ran off to get him while I stood in front of our lovely tree with Simon and Ben. After Jon grabbed Talon he lifts this other tree up and says "Hey, what about this one?!" Stephanie and I were both like, "Ooohh, I love that one. That one is much better! It's such a nice shade of green!" So off we go to get our picture taken with the new tree.

As Jon's tying the tree onto the van I say to Stephanie, "This is usually one of our biggest fights of the year!" She says, "It's my presence!" I said, "You're coming every year from now on!" Okay, it's all tied on and we head out for dinner. We ended up at Red Robin and had great food. The kids were really good too. And the raspberry limeade was awesome!!!

So we head home and Jon goes to get the tree ready for the stand. We have this stand that has a big spike in the bottom of it. Then when you choose your tree at the tree farm, they drill a hole in the bottom of it for you. You come home and slide it on and it's done! We used to get our tree at the tree farm like my sister and her family but decided that Lowe's is now our place of choice - much closer, much easier and less time and money. Anyway, Jon decided that he would make the hole a little smaller and hammer the stand on so it wouldn't wobble. The second the tree was up we all knew that it was completely crooked. Not the stand. The tree. Then I realized that he forgot to put the water bucket thingy on before he hammered the stand into our tree. So he hammered the stand out, put the bucket on and re-hammered it onto our tree. But he accidentally put the hammer through the plastic water bucket. Oh fabulous! He started to take the stand off and accidentally hit the wall with the hammer. At this point, Jon is about to lose it! He picks up the whole thing and carries it to the porch where he is successful at removing the now broken tree stand.

He quietly heads to Target to get a new stand. Gets the new one installed properly, adds water and it begins to drip all over the place. As he was screwing the tree into the stand it cracked up the whole side. I head to Target to get a new, bigger one. (Maybe that's the problem...who knows?!!) I get home and start getting the new stand ready and Jon walks into the room and sees I'm about to start crying. He comes to give me a hug and offer me some nice tea. He puts on the Christmas music and we sip our tea. Ahh, better! Back to the pain in my side. Er, I mean tree. This time I go under it to screw the huge screws in. I come out and we let go and....

Tah-Dah!!!!!!!!!! It's straight (almost) and it looks so good! I think the Lord fixed the top of our tree somehow while I was at Target or something because that thing was crooked!!! And I am loving my new star. Since we got married nearly 8 years ago we've had the same grapevine star, which I still like, but I happened upon this one at OTP and had to have it!

I'm not even going to post about the ornament process. I won't put anyone through that whole ordeal. But here are a few pictures that look like everyone is happy and enjoying themselves. Let's just say for the record, they were not. Neither was I. I actually had to leave the house at one point. Oh What Fun!!!

But the bottom line is...the tree is up and relatively straight. We're ready to start the Christmas season...again!

Life is Full of Firsts!

2007-11-21T13:01:00.000-06:00

Well, Simon and Bennett had their very first look around the

Does that make me a bad mom that they've never even been inside of the Disney Store?

Well, regardless, I took Simon and Ben to the mall on Sunday afternoon. No daddy. No Talon.

We had such a fun time together. And I wasn't a sweaty mess as we were leaving because I was dealing with all of the kids at the same time. Usually it's just too much! But Simon and Ben are a lot more self sufficient these days so it was really great. We had lunch in the food court. Bought gumballs. Rode the elevator twice. Rode the escalator twice. Rode the carousel once - a.) I wasn't going to spend another 4 bucks and b.) I was so dizzy I just about threw up.

Thanks for a great day boys! I love hanging out with you.

And I got a really cute Buzz Lightyear costume for Halloween next year for 10 bucks! Gotta love that!

A Family of Stickers

2007-11-20T02:34:00.000-06:00

Simon got some free stickers in the mail. He proceeded to hand them out to the entire family - choosing their favorite color, which I thought was really sweet.

Then he said he wanted to have one for each person in our family up on the fridge. Here we are!

I'm Thankful and Going To the Bright Side!

2007-11-16T13:52:00.000-06:00

Salvation Army bells started ringing the day after Halloween around here. Christmas candy was being put out next to the Halloween stuff - before Halloween. There is a whole holiday in the middle, people! Have we forgotten about Thanksgiving??? I mean, are we in that much of a hurry to get to Christmas that we can't stop to be thankful!? I love Thanksgiving! It's my mom's holiday. Back in the day we would have the grandmas, all of my aunts, uncles and cousins from both sides of the family over at our house for the whole day! Ahhhh, I remember it well...Aimee and I would be setting one of the 6 tables we had set up, while watching the Thanksgiving Day parade, keeping track of the floaty balloons going by and waiting for our favorites. My mom would be making food all morning long. She had already stocked the fridge and freezer with all of our traditional favorites. Ham and Turkey of course. Butter with mashed potatoes! :) Pickles and olives. Peppermint ice cream. Those creamy pastel mints with the white sprinkles on the bottom. Our Thanksgiving traditions have changed a bit since but we still get together with the whole Riddering clan! And we have some things that have become new traditions. I'm a very nostalgic person so change is not fun for me. But a lot is changing with the coming holidays. And guess what? I've learned to embrace the changes as part of the fun!

So, after saying all of that...I am usually the person who despises, well maybe not despises let's just say, doesn't like, Christmas music and decorations before Thanksgiving. (Sorry Kate!)

But not this year! I don't know what it is. It's definitely not the weather. Bright and sunny today. Cold though. But I am excited this year! I will wait to put up my tree and lights and decorations but I can't seem to help but listen to the Christmas music. We listened to it at "cards" the other night and that was it. It was like something clicked in me. I actually had it playing this morning while I was doing my dishes. It made for such a nice chore. Christmas is coming! I'm excited for the shopping, the wrapping, the cooking and cleaning - All Of It! Can't wait!!!

Now, if we could just have some snow...yeah, that would be good!

Oh Talon...

2007-11-12T18:24:00.000-06:00

you are my favorite son of the day!

My latest issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray was on the kitchen table. I put Talon in his booster seat for dinner. I went to grab the magazine to put it away. Talon spotted it and immediately pointed and said "Mama! Mama!" She looks totally hot on the cover of that magazine.....and that is why Talon is my favorite son of the day!

Love you Tal! You made my day!

I Love Fall!

2007-11-11T14:19:00.000-06:00

Make a slide show, scrapbook or ecard

My Spidey Senses are Tingling.

2007-11-09T14:07:00.000-06:00

2 Sundays ago, we went to the "Spiderman Park". (Named by my nephew Cameron years ago and it just sort of stuck.) Anyway, it has this huge web-like climing thing in the middle of it (hence the name!) that my boys just love! All FOUR of them...though Talon prefers the small jungle gym!

Could they look anymore alike??? I mean seriously!
Ben calls this tube thing his "jump seat". You know, like in fire trucks. There's a little fire truck next to it with a steering wheel and stuff that he loves to play in!
And Talon basically just loves life!
The park was closed almost all summer so when it finally opened again a few weeks ago we were so excited! Candi, we need to hit this park next spring!!!

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And since were on the subject of super heroes, I wanted to show you all my super heroes, complete with capes (well, 2 towels and an apron).

Talon would not stop so let's just say his are "action shots"!

On the subject of Spiderman...5 Minutes for Mom is hosting another great giveaway. Click here to check it out!

Wedding Bells!!!!!

2007-11-08T09:44:00.000-06:00

CONGRATULATIONS

MELISSA & DAVID!

My niece Melissa (my sister Leanne's daughter) got engaged over the weekend! This is just too exciting. I hope she doesn't mind me posting these pictures of the gorgeous ring...
And, guess who gets to be the flowergirl and ringbearer...

SIMON AND CHLOE!!!
I am so excited! Aimee and I have talked about this since they were born. Hoping...wondering...if maybe they would be able to be flowergirl and ringbearer together and now it's happening.

So after she called yesterday I was talking to Simon about it and Ben said, "I want to go too!" I said, "Yeah! We're all going. And you'll get to be all dressed up and everything!" He said, all excited, "I know! I'll wear my dragon!!!!"

My niece is getting married! And my son is going to be her ringbearer. This is just too much!

A Fire Breathing Dragon, A Very Cute Policeman and a Buzzy Bumble Bee

2007-11-07T15:09:00.000-06:00

My boys all dressed up and all smiles! Yes, even Ben.

We saw a few police officers driving around the neighborhood throughout the night but the 1st one we saw recognized us I think (from various community events) and smiled, waved and said to Simon, "Hey, I like your costume!" Simon was beaming after that.
Ben making his dragon face. He really took the whole dragon thing seriously.Talon's first look at all the candy. He had no idea!
Our neighbor's dog, Stanley, was a bumble bee as well. Too cute!
What a great night! The kids really enjoyed themselves. It was so nice that it was still light out. And it wasn't too cold either. There were sooo many kids around our neighborhood. It was great!

Talon got sick of it after a while so Jon took him home. I stayed out with Simon and Ben - until they got sick of it too. Here they are trick-or-treating with Wylie, the skunk. :)There was still time for others to trick-or-treat when we got home so Simon set up his post on the stoop. I couldn't figure out how he kept running out of candy when I watched him give each person a huge handful. So we were able to get rid of everything we didn't like. Very nice!

Pumpkins!!!

2007-11-05T13:56:00.000-06:00

Well, we have had our fair share of pumpkins this year!

I took the boys to Vandergriend's 2 weeks ago to pick out their pumpkins. We chose little ones to paint and big ones to carve.

This is the only good shot I got of all 3 before my batteries died...again!

They never die at home when I'm taking some unimportant picture - only when I'm out somewhere doing something good. Anyway, they had an inflatable pumpkin filled with balloons that flew around and an inflatable haunted house. I didn't want them to do the haunted house because, well.....it's pretty obvious but they (Simon & Talon) wanted to go so bad, so I walked through it first and it was really just a maze with blacklights. They loved it. I had to literally push Ben into it. Once he was in, he had a blast! I had to drag them out of it. And Talon was a maniac in the pumpkin filled with balloons. I have some video of that. Maybe I can try to figure that out one day...

Here they are getting ready to paint their pumpkins.

I think Ben feels sorry for the battered and bruised pumpkins. Those are always the ones he leans towards. It's really kind of sweet. He picked Talon's and yes, it has marks all over it too. :)

Talon couldn't believe we were letting him do it. He laughed and smiled the whole time.

Simon created this masterpiece.

Once side is day...

and the other side is night.

Ben used every color paint we had. The stem was so mushy from all the paint! He was still sitting at the table painting long after everyone else was done. He enjoyed it so much.

And here's Talon's....

As if painting wasn't enough...we decided to carve some pumpkins this year too.

We sprayed them with this clear sealer stuff and it made them virtually squirrel proof. Not to mention rotten pumpkin proof. They still look perfect.

And as you can see...neither one of us wanted to carve Talon's pumpkin. It's just fine without a face. Talon didn't seem to mind a bit! :)

Trick or Treating post is next!

Simon Says...

2007-11-01T22:36:00.000-05:00

Me: [to Simon] What did you have for a snack today at school?

Simon: Those rectangle crackers.

Me: Graham crackers?

Simon: No, not those... You know...

Me: The buttery and salty ones?

Simon: No....Actually they weren't rectangles. They were those little hexagon ones.

Me: Ohhhh, you mean oyster crackers.

Simon: Yes!!!! It was stuck under my tongue and I couldn't get it out. I knew what I meant.

A New Retro Pedal Car

2007-11-01T09:36:00.000-05:00

Okay, I would really love to win one of these cute pedal cars from this website called pedalcarsandretro.com. 5 minutes for mom is hosting this great giveaway and tons of others too. Check it out!

Early Halloween Treat

2007-10-26T18:18:00.000-05:00

I'm not a huge fan of Halloween but this is totally hilarious...especially if you know the guys. Thanks for brightening my day Pete! I laughed so hard!

Pizza Night

2007-10-26T12:22:00.000-05:00

Last week we let the boys make their own pizzas. They had an absolute blast!

Ben made this flower design with his pepperoni all by himself. I was so surprised!

Simon put so much pepperoni on his that I made him take some of it off or else the cheese wouldn't have melted! This is after he took the extra 2 layers of pepperoni off.

Talon was very happy eating the cheese and pepperoni.

Though it looks good, it was totally disgusting. :(

Oh well...it was fun and that's what matters.

Throwback Thursday! April 2006

2007-10-25T15:06:00.000-05:00

Tiny Talon "praying" - at 2 weeks!

This is Talon - my youngest, who is already 18 months old. It's crazy how fast the time goes. If I close my eyes really tight I can almost feel his little body in my arms; see him looking up at me while I nurse him. Oh, those moments are just so precious to me. He's just so big now. Saying "no" for absolutely everything. Hey Talon, it's time for bed. nooo. Hey Talon, do you want some cake? nooo.

But man do I love him!

For more Throwback Thursdays visit Pinks & Blues.

Wordless Wednesday: A Parade for the Animals

2007-10-24T13:36:00.000-05:00

This is my very first Wordless Wednesday...just one question, is Wordless Wednesday supposed to be only 1 picture. Well, if it is...I'm breaking the rules this time. This is too cute not to. :)

For more Wordless Wednesdays visit 5 minutes for mom.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

2007-10-23T13:42:00.000-05:00

I have an aunt who is a breast cancer survivor but her sister unfortunately was not. A friend of a friend of a friend was collecting bras for a hospital. They were donating $1 for each bra received to Breast Cancer Awareness - then giving all the bras to a women's shelter. How cool is that!?

And Five Minutes for Mom is giving away a really cute pink camera to help promote breast cancer awareness.

Off to do my self-exam! : )

I Love "Indian Summer"

2007-10-22T15:08:00.000-05:00

Last week we had some pretty nice days! We're going to be lost this winter. We're with our neighbors most days - even for a little while. And the days we aren't, the boys are asking for each other. Such good friends - most of the time, right Angie! :)

Here are some cute pics of my boys and Wylie having a snack on the bench in the backyard. I'm sorry but how cute it Talon in the background! And thank you Ben for not opening your eyes for the pictures - again!

And later that afternoon, Simon and Wylie were playing with the cozy coupes.

Angie and I were like, "What is Simon doing?" Wylie said, "Simon's dead. This is the ambulance." Such imaginations! I love it.

New Markers

2007-10-19T13:31:00.000-05:00

Jon came home with some new workbooks and markers for the boys the other day. He had very good intentions, I know this - but I KNOW how Talon is when there are markers around. Talon cannot even be in the same house when the other boys are using markers because he literally flips out! Seriously, he needs to have the markers when he sees them. It's crazy!

So Simon and Ben were happily doing their books. To stop the whining, I thought I'd let Talon use the markers with a huge piece of paper and sit right next to me.

Here's my mistake...I left the room for ONE MINUTE for some reason (I can't even remember what it was!) and when I got back, this is what I saw...

And don't even get me started about the brand new crayons Jon bought - that Talon ate already! Oh well, I'm just glad they were washable!

Slimey Stats - Day 21

2007-10-18T14:07:00.000-05:00

Okay, so Slimey has been a chrysalis for almost 16 days - since October 2nd I think. We've had him in a jar on our kitchen counter for 21 days.

I looked in on him a few times a day. I'm a little obsessed, I know.

Yesterday I held up the jar and the brown chrysalis moved. I freaked out!!! But it was really just me moving the jar. Rats! It's never going to come out of there, is it?

Anyway, it looks to me like it's getting a bit fatter and the wings are really formed under there now. Still pretty amazing. I'll keep ya posted.

Open House Means Open House

2007-10-17T20:31:00.000-05:00

This was supposed to be Wordless Wednesday but Blogger wouldn't let me load the picture. So I'll do it next week!

So anyway, it's kind of a funny story. Last year the Fire Department Open House was on the same day as Owen's birthday party. We thought we could fit them both in. And we had plenty of time since Owen's party wasn't until late afternoon. We drove to the station that had the huge sign out front telling us when the open house would be but all of the fire trucks were gone! We drove around to some nearby parks thinking maybe it would be somewhere else there but we couldn't fint it. We finally saw a police officer and asked him. He said, "Oh, that's at Station #2" Jon said, "Where's Station #2?" He told us how to get there but by this time...we were out of time. Simon was so upset!

My niece Dana, who seriously should have been the homecoming queen, was over a few days after this mishap and Simon had to tell her all about it. He said something like, "We were at Station #1 and there wasn't even one fire truck there. I mean, Open House means Open House!" Dana and I cracked up! We still say it!!

So this year, needless to say...we found the Fire House Open House! We were ready. We knew what time it started. We knew what station it was at! And we had a great time!!!

Ben loved how these coats and boots were all lined up and wanted me to take a picture. :)

We got to have a ride on the classic firetruck. So fun! It was a perfect, crisp, fall day.

Simon got to slide down a real fire pole. He loved it! Ben didn't want anything to do with it.

They got to use the hoses which was really cool.

Simon was trying to get me wet - WITH A FIRE HOSE! Crazy boy!

It was just about to be Ben's turn when my camera battery died. Arrgghhh!

Anyway, the fire fighters (and police officers too) were amazing. So patient and kind and good with the kids. Not just mine - all of the kids. And there were A LOT of them! One of the trucks had all of the tools laid out for everyone to see...saws, axes, etc. Ben walked over to check it out and says, "Mom...look! It's the jaws of life!" It really was the jaws of life. I couldn't believe that he knew that. Then, as if I wasn't amazed enough, he said, "Those help people stuck in cars." Wow Ben!

So I guess this year Open House really does mean Open House!!!

You know your baby isn't a baby anymore when...

2007-10-16T10:07:00.001-05:00

...you snuggle him and say, "Ohhh, are you my tiny baby?" He gets all cozy and acts all cute. I'm relishing this moment. I say, "Hi baby!" He looks at me and says, "hiiee!!"

Yeah, babies don't say HI back!!! I feel like crying like a baby...

Apple Juice

2007-10-15T12:48:00.000-05:00

Simon wanted a blueberry waffle for lunch today. Ben and Talon wanted chicken nuggets. Okay, fine. No problem. Except for the fact that Ben hates when anything is hot. So I blew on it. Waved air on it. Finally, they were cold enough to eat. Thank goodness!

So Ben loves apple juice. And we all know that Ben likes things his way, right away. Such fun, I tell ya! Anyway, he was going on and on because the juice I gave him was actually blueberry-pomegranate, which they all love...yeah, well, not today.

Ben: I want apple juice.

Me: Sorry Ben. We don't have apple right now.

Ben: I really want apple juice.

Me: Ben, we don't have any apple juice. This is blueberry. You love blueberry.

:heavy sigh: I'm really want to say...does this kid think i'm lying? does he want me to produce apple juice out of thin air. we don't have any frickin' apple juice. i'm sorry. i'm a horrible mother, i know. just drink the blueberry..........of course i didn't say any of that...just thought it in the kitchen. :)

Ben: I really, really want apple juice.

Simon: Look Ben, we match. You have blueberry juice and I have a blueberry waffle.

Ben: I don't want blueberry. I want apple.

Simon: You know Ben, sometimes change is good.

I start cracking up in the kitchen.

Simon: Right Mom?

Me: Right Simon. :) Sometimes change IS good!

Jon's 30th Birthday!

2007-10-14T12:39:00.000-05:00

HAPPY 30TH JON!

Yea!!! My husband is officially in his 30's - like me! That feels so nice!

Friday was Jon's birthday. I tried really hard to give him a surprise party but it didn't really work out for me, for a number of reasons. I think he was kind-of surprise at where the party was. But we had a really great time anyway!

Me and Jon after the "surprise".

Jon and Pete
Birthday Toast. I LOVE my mom's face in this one. Jon and Phil. Thanks for being there Phil - it meant so much to both of us! We miss you!!!

Me, Jon, Phil and Susie - so like old times!!
Bobby and Jon
Susie and Penny

Aimee, Amy, Katie & Mary

The cake - before.
Our friends Bobby and Angie had this great idea that Jon should take a bite out of his cake. While he was taking a bite Bobby leans over to me and says "push his face into it"

Okay!

My sister thought that Jon looked really annoyed about it so she decided to grab some cake and smash it on MY face! Look at my friends and my mom in the background. Oh yeah, real funny! My face was so sticky and sugary. Good thing the cake was good, I guess. Thanks Aim! :)

Jon, I love you so much. You are truly my very best friend. You are a fabulous husband and the most amazing father. I remember my vows on our wedding day. I said that I was so glad that God gave me you because it couldn't be anyone but you! I still believe that today and I always will. I am so blessed to have you. I love you Jonnie Stevens!

Thanks Little Bill's Dad!

2007-10-12T14:37:00.000-05:00

One little loop

What do you do?
Wrap the lace around

And pull it through.

It's official...Simon can tie his shoes!

This picture is actually the very first time he got it right.

He's still perfecting it but it's good timing now that flip flops are out.

I'm so proud of you buddy!

Throwback Thursday

2007-10-11T12:02:00.000-05:00

I found this picture in our garage the other day (along with others that I will never put on my blog!)

It's my sister Aimee and I at my bachelorette party in 2000. Oh yeah.....party girls out on the town! Young and skinny with no children or stretch marks. Those were the days! : )

For more Throwback Thursdays visit Pinks & Blues.

Crazy Benny

2007-10-10T14:19:00.000-05:00

Ben decided to wash his feet in the sink the other day - WITH HIS PANTS ON!!! I can't remember if that was before or after Talon put an entire roll of toilet paper and 2 toothbrushes in the toilet. Oh the joys. I have to laugh or I'll cry! Really, I'm laughing. I promise. Cracking up!!! : )

Slimey Stats - Day 11

2007-10-08T09:57:00.000-05:00

Here's the scoop on our little friend Slimey...

He burrowed under the grass and was busy rounding out a little area for himself that first week. Every day more was done and he changed almost before our eyes. He was once a pretty big (probably almost 2 inches long) bright green caterpillar and now he is less than an inch long and totally brown. We can actually see wings forming under the brown shiny "skin". Unbelieveable!!!

It's so exciting! There won't be much more to show or tell - until he starts to emerge. I need to research when that might be...

Dinner with the Fam!

2007-10-06T19:47:00.001-05:00

As some of you may have already read at my sister's blog - we had dinner with my dad AND mom on Wednesday night. It was such a nice, relaxing evening. The food was great! The kids played so nice together - thanks to the balls of dough the restaurant gave them and the play-doh we brought with us! We really have a fun time when we get together. We missed the sister's in law and Dana - and the Floridians of course! But seriously, I have the funniest brothers ever. (And brothers-in law too, now that I think about it...)

Anyway, here are a few pics from the night. You can see the rest at Aim's blog if you want to.

Grandma & Talon. Talon was such a happy boy and so easy going, that's why there's a ton of pictures of him. And Auntie has a crush, I think. :)

Grandpa & Talon.

Thanks for a great night Dad! It was great to be with you!

Silly Simon and Crazy Chloe :)

Uncle Lenny's debut on my blog. (I think I'm the only one who thinks they look alike, but I'm sorry...they do!)

My own little family. Not a bad pic considering Ben wanted to just play with the Play-doh. But hey, he's smiling at least!

Talon the Great! He sat with that cup for ages.

Such a fun night! : ) Aim - have we turned a corner again!?

Aimee's Giveaway!

2007-10-04T22:28:00.000-05:00

I should not would not want to win...but I do! And it's a totally random drawing so being that I'm Aimee's sister doesn't give me an advantage whatsoever!

That said....go check out Aimee's blog for your chance to win some MomSpit. Yummy! Seriously though it sounds pretty cool.

Slimey Stats - Day 5

2007-10-02T10:05:00.000-05:00

Okay, so this is the most amazing thing since a child came out of my own body!

Our little Slimey is in fact creating his cocoon but there's a little more to it...

He's creating the cocoon on the side of the jar. So that means we can still see him (or her). How cool is that?

This is so exciting!

Yeah, I'm a Mom...

2007-10-02T09:52:00.000-05:00

Is it wrong that I have been

eating Flavor Blasted Goldfish

out of a bucket because

that's where Talon dumped the whole bag?

I couldn't just throw them away...

they're way too good!

A Cocoon of My Own

2007-10-01T10:25:00.000-05:00

A rare moment for Mommy.

Yes, I am taking a nap! In my bed! Alone!

I didn't want to mess up the blankets because I had already made my bed so I found a sheet. It just so happened to be a fitted one so I had to "cocoon" myself. :)

So very nice though. Thanks J...love you!

Hey, after the basement project could we get some paint on our walls?? :)

Sad Story followed by Big News

2007-09-30T13:03:00.000-05:00

DON'T SCROLL DOWN TO THE BIG NEWS...PLEASE READ THE SAD STORY FIRST!

Last week Ben, Talon and I were leaving to pick up Simon from school. I was buckling Talon into his carseat when Ben yells "Mom! There's a caterpillar!" "Okay Ben. I'll be right there." Not believing him really.

There was indeed a caterpillar. Right where I was going to drive down the driveway. Ben was so excited. For a split-second I thought about getting jar and poking holes in the top. Ben didn't mention keeping it so I decided to get a stick and a cup - slid the caterpillar into the cup with the stick and put it in the grass. The caterpillar curled up and I thought died. So I put the cup next to it to see if it was still there when we got home.

We got home a few minutes later and I checked it immediately. Gone! Oh yea, I thought, it was fine! I looked around to see if I could find it - I was sure it hadn't gotten very far.

It didn't get very far at all - it was flattened by our dear neighbor Jim's car. I didn't tell Jim. He would have been so upset. I felt horrible enough for both of us I'm sure. I kept thinking that I should have just relented and kept it but I really didn't want a caterpillar in a jar on my kitchen counter. Now the caterpillar was dead and it was all my fault.

And now...on to the BIG NEWS!

Thursday, while I was with Simon at the eye doctor, Jon and Ben found a new caterpillar! And don't you know that as soon as I got home I found a jar and poked some holes in the lid. And now we have a green caterpillar - who has now been named Slimey (thanks Angie!) - happily munching on leaves and grass in a jar on my kitchen counter. I was not going to let this one get smashed by our neighbor's car. No sir...not on my watch!

So I guess we officially have our first pet! That's our big news! You can't see it in these pictures, but it's in there! I could actually hear it crunching when I checked on it for the 20th time today - that's what made me think to take some pictures of it.

And since I wrote this post, we thought it was dead. But really it was just resting from all of it's hard work making a chrysalis! YES! It's making a cocoon right there in a jar on my kitchen counter!!!

Kindergarten Boy!

2007-09-29T07:01:00.000-05:00

Here's Simon's school pic.

He's doing really well in school so far. Every day when I ask how school was he says, "Oh, it was great!" He's making some new friends and really enjoying it. He's growing up so fast!

Good Ol' Jim

2007-09-28T13:27:00.000-05:00

Okay, so who remembers this?

My boys just love our neighbor Jim. Last week we were having a few more minutes outside after everyone was ready for bed. Jim was taking his garbage out with his wagon and of course Talon wanted to get in on the way back. Then Simon got in too. Ben was a little nervous about it.

He did get in for these pictures. You can tell he's nervous. Not Talon though. He's having a blast!

Ben got out when he decided it would be better if he was in charge and pulled the others around.

Then Simon wanted to pull it and nearly flipped it over - with Talon still inside!

The end.

Good Night!

Finally...The Big Wheel 500!

2007-09-27T13:21:00.000-05:00

The weather was perfect. The kids were so excited and happy. I just got back from our MOPS Steering retreat where I only got 4 hours (if that!) of sleep but we still had a great day!

Our neighbor Wylie's group went first. He had the most determined look on his face when he took off. He was 1st and didn't stop. His mom was like Wylie STOP! He looked at her like she was nuts, said "why?" and continued pedaling like a mad man! She said, "Wylie Stop! You won!" He finally stopped and said "I did!?!?!" Man, he is so cute!

Ben doesn't have a big wheel. He wanted to take his tricycle and for some reason, he thought he was racing too. Here he is thinking he's getting ready for the big race!

When we told him he wasn't he started crying. He was so upset. The people in charge let him pretend he was racing. (How nice is that?!) He started just like the other kids and pedaled his little heart out (after waving at me, of course)

until he was about a quarter of the way around and stopped and said, "hey, there's the park!" and made a beeline for it. That was enough for him!

So, we had been practicing with Simon once around the track but when we got there we found out that he actually had to go around TWICE....that's a 1/2 mile!On your marks... Get set...GO! Simon did not win, but he was an amazing sport. There were a few kids bawling when they didn't win - and there were a few very cocky kids that did win but weren't very good sports about it. Simon finished the race nearly last and said "Man, that was so fun!" My heart was so happy - because you can talk about it for days on end and you really never know how it's going to end up. So needless to say I was so proud of my boy!

In Training

2007-09-14T10:00:00.000-05:00

Simon is "in training" for the Big Wheel 500 to be held in THIS Saturday! I love that his "training" is doing something he loves to do anyway. He's really excited about it. I hope it doesn't rain!

All loaded up and ready to go. Ben had to take his tricycle along too. These pics are from a couple weeks ago. We went last night too - and there was competition there! We had to talk Simon into asking them to race. He did really well. His only problem is waving to us and giving us thumbs up at the end! :)

Ben likes to "race" with Simon. His legs aren't long enough for the Big Wheel...yet! Simon always wins. Poor Benny. He doesn't mind too much, not yet anyway!

All Talon wanted to do was jump in this puddle. He actually screamed and threw himself on the ground when I tried to get him away from it to go to the park. The PARK Talon! It's much better than this muddy old puddle. Apparently not to him though.

Seriously, I've never seen a kid pedal like Simon so in my opinion...he has a good chance! He'll definitely have fun, that's for sure.

Photos from the big day coming soon. I promise!

Tag - I'M it!

2007-09-13T12:49:00.000-05:00

My sister Aimee nominated me for the Nice Award! As I was reading her blog I thought, funnily enough, "How nice!" Then I noticed that she tagged ME! Awwww, how nice!

"This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world.”

Well, thanks sister!

And I now need to give this award to 3 other people, so I will pick...Kristin, Kathy and Candi!

And my darling sister also tagged me for The Middle Name Meme! Oh the fun I'm having today!!!

Post these rules before you give the facts.

You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.) When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post and then choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

J - Jesus, Jon and Jumping Boys! Yep, that's my life!!!

O - Open. I'm usually pretty open, sometimes outspoken too I guess!

Y - Yum-O! I'm a Rachael Ray freak - and I absolutely LOVE food!

My sister should have tagged 9!!! people but I only have to tag 3. Whew. I'll tag the same as above. So have fun girls and thanks Aim!

40 Years!

2007-09-11T13:04:00.000-05:00

Happy 40th Anniversary

Grandma & Grandpa!

In 40 years, Mike & Penny went from this...

...to this!

When you stop to think about it, it's amazing really. Not to mention all the other things they've accomplished toegther over the last 40 years!

We had a lovely party at their house on Sunday to celebrate. I couldn't resist insisting on a family picture - it's so rare that we're ALL together. And it's also a nice way to remember the day too!

Mike & Penny, you are an inspiration to all of us! We love and appreciate you so much.

All Smooth!

2007-09-10T09:58:00.000-05:00

So the boys found their pretend shavers the other day and wanted to shave before bed.

Ben said "Mom, I'm going to be all smoove!"

Talon thought it was weird that his mommy was putting this stuff on his face. Then he got a taste of it - and he was done!

They were so cute sitting on the vanity together "shaving", trying to be just like daddy.

I guess Jon won't have to teach them much when they actually get hair on their faces. Yikes! I don't even want to think about that!

Simon's First Day

2007-09-07T21:35:00.000-05:00

Simon had his first day of Kindergarten on the 24th of August. I started this post immediately after I dropped him off with every intention to add the photos and post it. But those of you that check my blog (Hi Tara, happy now?!) know that I am not so good at keeping it current.

Anyway, back to the 1st day...

He woke up at the crack of dawn and said "Mom, it's my school day today!"

I didn't get choked up until I was at the school. My baby is going to school (only for a 1/2 day but still). Not Preschool, not Pre-K...but Kindergarten!

He had to line up in the gym with all the other grades - up to 5th! I think that's when I lost it. I went to his line and said bye. That's it! Thank God that a girl from his Pre-K was in the row next to him and she was right across from him so he had someone to talk to.

So here's me - sweating bullets, taking pictures, weaving in and out of other crazy parents (with my stroller no less), biting the inside of my lip to choke back sobs and Ben is screaming "I want to go with Simon!" I explained 3 or 4 times why he couldn't go with Simon then he yelled at the top of his lungs "Mommy, this is really boring!" I guess it helped me in the long run because I wasn't totally focused on Simon standing in a line to go to Kindergarten.

He proudly walked in the line with his new class and his new teacher, gave me a high-five and was gone! Sorry it's blurry but he was so excited and going so fast!

I had to keep myself busy for the next few hours or I'd start sobbing. Why is this so hard for me? I don't think I cried at all when he went to Pre-K last year.

Finally, it was time to pick him up. FINALLY! Imagine if he was in full-day Kindergarten. Man am I dreading 1st grade. There isn't a choice there! Okay, back to picking him up. He spots me, smiles, comes running, my heart swells at the sight of my baby and he says to me..."Oh hey mom. Could you go home? I want to take the bus."

WHAT!?!?!!!! Could I go home? I've been waiting for this morning to be over, watching the clock. Is it time yet? Wondering what he's doing, how he's doing and he says he wants to take the bus?!?! Now I understand that to a 5 year old boy a bus probably means "field trip" but still.
Anyway, he had a great 1st day! And many great days since. :)

A Mouse In My House???

2007-08-19T14:31:00.000-05:00

Take a look at these pictures.

Take a good, close look...

What do you see?

Are those little teeth marks?
Do I have a mouse in my house?

Nope, just Ben!

One cannot leave butter on the counter in my house - EVER! He says, "I Yuv Buyyer!"

Useless Knowledge

2007-08-19T14:29:00.000-05:00

Did you know that according to BizarreAmericanHoliday's website it's National Potato Day? Good thing I planned on making double-baked potatoes with our steaks for dinner tonight! :)

I'm Trying...

2007-08-15T16:01:00.002-05:00

I happened to check out YouthforChrist's daily devos page yesterday (in between cleaning up poop and puke - ick!!) This was 2 days after the pastor at a church we've been visiting preached at me (ever have that?) about almost the same thing. I was pretty amazed because I've been asking the Lord for help in this area. So I guess all I can say is that I'm grateful to God for pointing it out and speaking to my heart - once again!

Here's the part that really spoke to me: "When we feel overwhelmed by a problem, feeling sorry for ourselves will only increase feelings of hopelessness; but crying out to God will turn our attention to the only one who can really help."

Ben's Birthday

2007-07-31T13:58:00.000-05:00

Ben turned 3 on Saturday. What a special day we had! Phone calls from all over the place! He enjoyed the special attention, I think!

Presents!!! A new tow truck. He got a new play tent with a sleeping bag too but somehow I didn't get a pic of it.

And a new tricycle! (The bike he got for Christmas is just too big for him! Luckilly he'll grow into it! :) But in the meantime...he needed this!

He couldn't wait to get it outside!

We let the kids decide where the want to go for dinner on their birthday. Ben decided he wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese. "Are you sure?" I kept asking. Oh yeah, that's where we went alright. I was able to talk him out of eating there though, thank goodness. Their food is nasty!!! So we took Grandma with us and they had a really good time. Then we went to Red Robin for dinner. They LOVE how loud and obnoxious their birthday songs are. Me, not so much. Afterwards, Jon said, "it's just so loud." And it is!

It was Talon's 1st real visit to CEC. He was tiny last time. He LOVED it! But really, what kid wouldn't?

Jon & Ben on some ride/game. I dont' even know what it was. But they enjoyed it!

Simon and Grandma on the virtual roller coaster! I guess my mom was so loud on the thing a guy said to her afterward, "Sounds like you had fun!" :)

Another great celebration! I can't believe it's been 3 years! I remember having him, like it was yesterday! We love you Ben - so much!

Ben the Bully.

2007-07-31T11:26:00.000-05:00

I am so behind in posting. So I'll skip some things and move on to the important ones...

Last week was VBS - it stands for Vacation Bible School but in my house it meant Vacation from Boys being Silly. We went on Monday to drop Simon off and found out that because Ben was potty-trained he was able to go too. I actually said to the registration lady, "Are you serious?" I was so excited. 2 1/2 hours with Talon - no other boys!!?!!!! Nice!

So the boys had a fabulous time - learning new songs, meeting new friends, getting reacquainted with old ones (our old neighbor was there - Simon was so excited!), making crafts. And Talon and I had a wonderful time too. It was just so relaxing to have only 1 child - especially if you really have 3 boys!

Okay, so they had the VBS program on Friday night. We didn't have a babysitter so Jon went with Si & Ben because I had already heard all the songs. Man, did I miss out on some fun. The pictures don't do it justice, I'm sure. And I'll try to explain it my best.....

The program is getting ready to start.
Simon is all ready. Bennett is not so sure.

It looks as though this boy next to Ben is saying "Hey Ben, let's be naughty!"

Ben's reply..."Okay!" (with his hand down his pants. Helllloooo, Peter! Oh man, I am scared!)

Jon assures me that they were having a blast and cracking up the whole time. These pictures does not make me believe that statement. It looks like this kid is about to beat Ben up.

But Ben wasn't having it!

Not knowing what is going on, Simon sings his little heart out.

While Ben has as much fun as he can....not singing the songs.
Here they are jumping off the steps and laying on them.

Apparently the whole church thought this was hilarious. Someone sitting in front of Jon was laughing so hard. She must have seen him taking pictures so she turned around and asked if he knew those kids. He said, "Yeah...one of them is my son." She thought it was so funny. She also thought they were brothers - or at least cousins - the way there were messing around.

I was putting Ben to get after they got home and told me what happened and I said, "Let's go, Bruiser!" He said, "Bwewser. I not Bwewser, I Ben." Oh Benny James, I love you - even if you are a little bruiser and ruin the VBS program. I'm sure it's the first of many.....

Oh yes...another one!

2007-07-30T15:39:00.000-05:00

Okay, I won't do another contest for a while. But I really want one of these that IShould BeFoldingLaundry.com is giving away.

Aimee Has Some Competition

2007-07-20T12:40:00.000-05:00

I'm entering the contest found on adventuresinbabywearing's blog...well, I saw it on Aimee's 1st to be honest. But I want one of those Kone's so bad! I've wanted one for ages and my current dustbuster is not really busting dust anymore - well for about 4 seconds! So, I hope I win!!!

Anyway, my yucky story is as follows:

I found my son Talon digging through the arts and crafts bin one day. I thought, well, that's keeping him busy - nothing dangerous in there. I guess I should go load the dishwasher or something. After a while I realized that he was quiet for too long. I went to find him. There he was still near the bin only he was holding a container of floam. Not only was he digging his fingers into the stuff, he was eating it by the handfull! He whole mouth was full of those little styrofoam balls. I kept wiping more out of his mouth...it just wouldn't end.

>>Fast-forward to the next day.

Talon woke up with a poopy diaper. I opened it up and it was FULL of floam. All different color styrofoam balls covered in poop! So not only did I have to get them all out of his mouth the day before, I had to get them all off of his butt the next day! Nasty!

NOT Dressed & Ready to Go!

2007-07-15T20:28:00.000-05:00

Hey Talon, where are you going?

Did You Know???

2007-07-09T21:16:00.000-05:00

Hey, did you know that Spider-Man likes Spaghetti-o's?

Yeah, well...he does. :)

He usually eats them before he gets into costume. I'm surprised you didn't know that!

I Love a Parade!

2007-07-05T20:09:00.000-05:00

A 4th of July post already??? How great is this? I can't help it. I got so many great pictures of our great day! We went to the Munster parade for the 1st time since we've lived here - it was hot but definitely fun!

It was fun to be at a parade with some different fire trucks. The boys loved that!

My all-american boys! I love this one. I'm actually quite surprised I got the shot since Talon wanted to be in the parade most of the time! Right after I snapped it he was off and running again!

Uncle Paulie & Talon

Talon sharing his sucker with Auntie.

Better than the last attempt...

I'll admit, the air force fly-over made me a little nervous but it was really very cool!

Near the end Uncle Paul started dumping water on the kids. They all had such red cheeks and you could feel the heat coming of of them so I know it felt good. They loved it! Ben doesn't like when his clothes are wet though so he stripped down to his diaper in about 15 seconds without me knowing. I don't have a picture of that because I was frantically trying to put his clothes back on. He refused the shirt because it was too wet and cried all the way to the car in his slightly damp shorts. :)

After the parade we had an all-american barbecue. Susie's friend Arvid is from Belgium and he's never been the the US for 4th of July. Yeah, that was all I needed to hear. THEME BBQ coming right up! We had all the american picnic food...hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, pasta salad. Stars, stripes, red, white & blue. I loved it! And I think Arvid enjoyed it too.

Talon and his 1st Stella! Just kidding! He was so mad when I took it away from him. He kept sucking on the top and saying "num". British boy!

Arvid & Ben.

Jonnie & Paul - my brother Paul just told us his hilarious truck stop story. We were all cracking up!

When it finally got dark enough Jon & Paul started the fireworks.

Simon before he started the garbage bag on fire.

Ben has never really seen fireworks. He was a little freaked out at first but he just snuggled with Auntie Sue and he was fine - until his glow necklace leaked into his mouth. Oh the fun never stops does it!? :)

Happy 4th of July!

Crazy Days of Summer

2007-07-02T11:28:00.000-05:00

Simon and Ben with their friend and our neighbor Wylie.

Another one of the cute boys...

My boys before the Lansing Cruise Night. Something they all look forward to all winter long. Ben IS happy about going. He just has to make his "mad pace" for most pictures. :)

I think this is hilarious. I should know something crazy will happen when I put him in this shirt. It says "I tried to be good but I got bored." (Thanks Auntie Katie!) Anyway, he comes walking down the hall looking all proud, holding the plunger. Nice Tal!

Talon Jonathan Peter Stevens

2007-06-27T09:20:00.000-05:00

Can't leave out my baby.......who isn't such a baby anymore. :(

Bennett James Stevens

2007-06-25T19:07:00.000-05:00

As promised...some pics of Ben.

If you don't know already, Ben does not like pictures. Never has. But I was able to get a few of him smiling - imagine that!

Ben's mad "pace" - pretending to be mad for the picture. Lovely.

Talon's pics coming next!!!
I know you're all on the edge of your seats!

Simon Michael Stevens

2007-06-24T11:46:00.000-05:00

A little photo shoot in the backyard.

Yes, that is cheese from Doritos on his face. Didn't notice it until now. So Simon though. :)

Ben's photo shoot coming soon.

Neighbor Jim

2007-06-21T11:40:00.000-05:00

Talon has this wonderful relationship with our 80-something year old neighbor, Jim. When he was a baby he would smile and coo at him. Now he sees him and takes off running. And the waving! Oh my goodness, it the cutest thing. Jim picks him up and Talon proceeds to point at Jim's mouth or eyes and "talk" to him. It's really sweet.

The other day Jim had this garden wagon out and Talon was intrigued. Jim put him inside and gave him a ride. Talon loved it and cried when we took him out.

Failed Attempt

2007-06-18T13:21:00.000-05:00

Here is our failed attempt at a family picture after the party.

Yes, not one good one in the bunch! Thank you Simon for keeping your eyes completely shut for the entire photo shoot. That was so helpful. :)

Uncle Peter saves the day.

2007-06-15T10:20:00.000-05:00

Ben blows out his candles.

Jon pushes his hand into the cake. Ben is not amused.

Jon tries to console him. Ben is still not amused.

Uncle Peter puts some frosting on his nose.

Crying stops. Laughter starts. Fun day continues.

Another Party!

2007-06-14T20:52:00.000-05:00

Oh yeah! Now, those who know me KNOW that I'm not a huge fan of characters. I caved on Bob the Builder because that's all Ben asked for..."I want a Bob party". That and all the stuff was on clearance for a buck or less. We ended up doing Simon and Ben's birthday's together. All you family members can thank me later. If we didn't combine it we would have had a party in April, May and July. Too much. And they both agreed on the Bob theme. We had a perfect day! The food was amazing (Lagestee Family Grilled Marinated Pot Roast - yummmmo!) The weather couldn't have been any better. The kids were all happy. It was a great time! Thanks everyone for all the gifts. The boys were so excited and blessed. We love you.

Notice Ben and Brett dressed up as firefighters. So cute. Brett's getting his own outfit for his birthday next week. I can't wait to give it to him.

Chloe, Jude (Simon's "favorite friend" from school) and Si.

Ben the Builder

2007-06-13T20:52:00.000-05:00

Ben LOVES to dress up as anything! This is the day of their Bob the Builder party. You can see he's all into the theme. It was his idea after all. I just go crazy with it. I love a theme! Jon thinks I'm nuts!

Pictures of the party coming soon.

Friday's

2007-06-12T09:29:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we had a wonderful dinner out with my mom and the kids. We ended up sitting out on the patio at TGI Friday's. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. It felt like we were on vacation. The boys were so happy and the food was great.

Happy Talon.

Silly boys.

Simon and his ribs. He loved them and ate every single one!!!

My 5 Year Old Ring Bearer!

2007-06-11T23:51:00.000-05:00

Simon turned 5 on May 17! I can hardly believe that my baby is 5 years old. It's crazy. I remember rocking and nursing and crying all night long with him when he was born...sometimes all day too! But now he's just such a great little boy. And he's so fun to talk to - especially when there are no other boys around, right before bedtime is the best!

You gotta have a big wheel when you're 5, don't you?? I did. Who remembers making ice cream with theirs flipped over? Jon doesn't. Crazy! He's British though, I guess they didn't do stuff like that! Anyway, I can't wait to teach Simon. He and Ben are always riding around in their cozy coupes pretending to be ice cream men. La, la la,la, la, la, la la!

We love you Simon Michael!

And now, here are a few pictures of Simon's 1st time being a ringbearer. I know Grandma Penny is dying to see these!!! He looked so cute in his little tux with tails. (He's in another wedding in April 2008!)

Simon and Emily with the bride & groom - Brent (our pastor's son) and Sol.

Simon and Emily, the flowergirl.

Better Late Than Never

2007-05-08T22:21:00.000-05:00

Today Talon is 13 months old. He turned 1 on April 8. We had a party on April 14. Not quite a month ago. At least he's not almost 2 before I posted this, right?

He loves my mom's rice krispies - I mean really, who doesn't!?!!
Notice how he's got some in each hand. Don't even think about taking it away.

He loved the cake! Simon wanted him to have chocolate because he would be a huge mess. I'm not sure who picked green frosting.......

Talon loved it and Simon got what he wanted. A huge mess!!!

He loved it until this moment. He was like, I'm all done with this!!!

We love you Talon Jonathan Peter!

Ben's Uncles

2007-05-03T22:41:00.000-05:00

Ben just loves these two. :)

My brother Paul.

Jon's brother Pete.
(I'll get a copy of this one for you Penny!)

I grew up loving my uncles so I'm glad that my boys get to experience that too.
Love you guys!

Fair Oaks Farm

2007-04-27T09:48:00.000-05:00

I can't even remember when we went to Fair Oaks Farm. Wait, it was Spring Break so a few weeks before Easter. Aimee and I are going back - ALONE! All we wanted to do was see a baby cow being born but the kids just wouldn't cooperate. You know how it goes. :)

Ben "milking" the pretend cow.

This whole platform rotated. Ben held on and well...

Talon just marched around.

LOVE this one! (How cute is Chloe's pink hat!) This is on the way to watch the baby cow being born. These guys were excited. Owen and Talon, not so much!

Craziness!

2007-04-26T21:32:00.000-05:00

Yes, we're still here! Crazy busy and I can't find my USB cord for my camera. I think it was used as a hose for one of my firefighters. Arrgghh! So these are just some recent random pictures of my crazy boys!

Where's Beavis?

1st treat of the season from the ice cream girl.
I actually had to throw them in the van and track her down because she went by too fast and they were freaking out because we missed it. Thankfully, we found her on the next block!

Talon's figured out that he just needs to dive in and wrestle back.

More later...........promise!

It's Official!

2007-04-05T19:00:00.000-05:00

Here are a few conversations I've had with Simon lately. He's officially smarter than me, I think. :)

He comes into the kitchen the other day...

Simon: "Mom, can I have some juice, s'il vous plaît?"

Me: What?

Simon: repeats himself and says, "s'il vous plaît means 'please' in French."

Me: What?! When did you learn how to say please in French?

Simon: Oh, I learned it from Noddy. (A show on Sprout)

Me: How do you say it again...sill voo plah?

Simon: No, it's sill voo pleh. Pleh, Mom.

Me: Oh, okay. (Wow, I think to myself. Wow!)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We were leaving the library on Tuesday.

Simon went skipping ahead and I said, "Simon, stop at the lines."

He looks at me and says, "Actually Mom, it's called a 'crosswalk'."

"Okay Simon, just stop there please."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Simon comes into the living room on Monday and says, "Mom, do you know what 'unflappable' means?"

Me: "Um, no."

Simon: "Well, it means that you don't something upset you."

Me: "Well, that makes sense."

Gotta love Pinky Dinky Doo. She's one smart little girl. :)

Under the Table and Dreaming

2007-03-23T09:35:00.000-05:00

Talon loves to be under the table - any table.

Simon and Ben are trying to lure him out with Skittles & Smarties. Yeah, he didn't stay under there for long!

I'll walk into the room and he'll smile and say "haa" - that's his way of saying "hi". It's so cute.

Sometimes Ben joins in.

This is really early one morning though you can't tell by the wide-awake looks on their faces. We were trying to stay quiet so Simon could sleep. When Simon sleeps in, which isn't often, we try to let him sleep as long as his little body needs. He's usually up at the crack of dawn but not this day. Ahhh, only 2 kids! I think he woke up 20 minutes later.