It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well we're finally starting to get settled! I now have one room of the house box free! Since all our decorations were ruined last year we had to get all new ones... Still need a tree skirt and some wrapped presents would be nice...still waiting for amazon to deliver on those... It's finally starting to feel a bit like Christmas though!

Funny boys

We are in the midst of packing, moving day will be Saturday unless the predicted ice storm interferes. Grant has started this silly thing of pulling his socks off or wandering around until he finds a sock, and holding it against his cheek while he drinks his milk. I think it's time to introduce a fuzzy blanket or stuffed animal rather than a smelly sock ;)  The other night I came down to the kitchen and found Joshua curled up alseep on a chair. I don't know how it's possible to sleep like that, but he didn't seem to mind! Well, back to packing... 

Happy Thanksgiving!

The biggest baking day of the year! I live for pies and rolls- check out some of my favorite recipes at my food blog Fabulous Foods!

      

Aside from food, I am also very thankful for my wonderful family, my religion, and that we finally found a house, so we won't be homeless for the holidays! Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Moving...again...at Christmas...

I started to get all excited about Christmas... since all our holiday things got ruined in the flood I get to start from scratch this year. So I had my sister make me a bunch of vinyl to decorate ornaments and this fun charger. But my holiday cheer was dampened by a call from the owner of our house informing us he was going through bankruptcy and could not get financing to keep the house. Meaning, we have to be out by January...

 

 I am so going to miss this house! Yes, it took some adjusting to living in half the space since the basement got flooded out, and the water pressure issue took months to resolve... BUT the backyard was amazing and the playroom enormous. Not much else matters when you have three boys! I'm totally going to miss this setup! I know we won't find a yard like this that's fenced with a massive playset already installed, but hopefully we can still have a big playroom...Wish me luck! I won't be doing many updates for the next few months and won't be sending out cards until we get a new address- so hope they're not too late! If YOU have moved this last year- be sure to email me your new address so I can send you a card once WE move!

Photo Tip: 5 minute photoshoot

I needed to update our photos of the boys and realized I didn't have any current portraits of Joshua. He's two, which means every time I pick up the camera he runs. If I do manage to snap a shot it's of him running or looking away which somehow doesn't look very flattering hanging on your wall.

So thought maybe some of you might need pics to send family for the holidays- here's a photo tip: grab your camera and a bag of fruit snacks or smarties or whatever non-messy treat they like. Give them one treat after they put their clothes on, another one when you get to a nice well-lit area out of direct sunlight, and just start talking to them about something they like (in Joshua's case- trains).

Start snapping as you talk and ask questions or get them to say keywords "daddy wears diapers!" "I love Thomas!" "crazy mommy!" You want them to look natural and relaxed not stiff and posed. Always position their body at an angle never facing straight towards the camera and stand slightly above, never below them. If they don't know what to do with their hands and look uncomfortable, just have them either fold their arms or put their thumbs in their pockets. Toddlers move so fast that you have to keep snapping or you'll get their eyes closed or turned away, they may be a bit off focus but it's better than nothing. When they start to get distracted bribe them with candy.

It really only takes 5 minutes! These image are unedited, with a little cropping and retouching the scratches on his face, they'll look great. Give it a try!

Virginia

We had the opportunity to go with Anthony back to Charlottesville, VA last week. We lived there for 4 months after Ethan was born and have been back several times. It's such a beautiful area and I love going every chance I get. Especially this time of year- the leaves are spectacular and the weather beautiful. I took the boys up to the apple orchard next to Monticello, the views are fabulous and the apple cider donuts divine. They have a new discovery museum at Monticello designed just for kids. They have replicas of Thomas Jefferson's bed, polygraph, desk and other items he had in his home and the kids can touch and climb on anything they want. They played for hours with the architectural blocks (guess that will be their Christmas present this year!) We didn't have much free time in the evenings but our last day we decided we couldn't pass up the chance to go to DC one more time. It was a rainy day and the boys had so much fun splashing in the puddles and getting soaked. We saw the monuments, took Joshua to see his middle name sake (Lincoln). Anyone who's been to DC knows the squirrels are as friendly as dogs, they will eat right out of your hand, the boys had fun chasing them around. And last but not least, one of our favorite places, National Cathedral. It was a long drive, but we love Virginia and can't wait to go back again.

Happy Halloween!

The boys were pirates this year, except Grant, he wore the monkey suit Ethan wore 3 years ago at the same age. I was a witch (not much dressing up to do there). The boys dressed up for music makers on Wednesday, went to a pumpkin farm Thursday, went trick-or-treating to the nursing home Friday, then Saturday we took them on a train ride and went trunk-or-treating at the church.

One!

Grant turned One today! We always do their first sugar initiation when they turn one, he didn't care for the cake one bit, but had lots of fun finger painting! 

Chicago & Nauvoo

We had a wonderful time in Illinois. Anthony ran in the Chicago 10.10.10. marathon. It was almost exactly a year ago that we visited Chicago for the first time. Ethan's birthday was coming up so we celebrated all week long. We took the boys to Legoland, they had so much fun. 

After Chicago we went to Nauvoo. It's hard to believe the last time we came to Nauvoo was on our move East, eight years ago. This is a beautiful time of year to come, the weather was perfect and there weren't any crowds. The boys enjoyed the oxen and carriage ride and we all enjoyed the evening show. The Nauvoo temple is so beautiful, and the view is absolutely amazing. I took several pictures of the temple, feel free to download them for personal use.

       

    

Happy Birthday!

I can't believe my little boy is four years old! We love you Ethan! More to come from our trip...

Family pics

We had our family pictures taken this weekend (thanks Annmarie!!!).  The downtown area of Elizabethtown has all these fun old buildings with bright colors and I've been dying to get some pictures there. It was sad to realize this will be our last fall in Kentucky! 

freedom...

My baby is growing up! I've finally got him weaned, this is the first time in 4 years I have not been pregnant or breastfeeding and it feels wonderful! I can't believe Grant will be a year old next month! I'm going to miss this stage...of his life I mean...

13.1

I survived! I ran my first half marathon on Saturday- the Air Force Marathon in Dayton, OH. I had not trained very well for it (the furthest I'd run was 7 miles) because our treadmill got flooded out and then I came down with mono so I only had 6 weeks to train. I was planning to walk most of it but was worried about how hot and humid it was going to be.

We stayed with our good friends from law school, the Toronto's. Our boys love playing with their boys and they were kind enough to watch them while we ran. I was secretly hoping Joann would go into labor so I'd have a good excuse to get out of the race..but no such luck ;)

The night before I got about 2 hours of sleep. Joshua was up all night crying because he wasn't in his own bed and Grant woke up around 12:30 in so much pain from his top two teeth coming in. I finally got to sleep from about 2:00-4:30 when Anthony woke me up to get ready. He was doing the full marathon and wanted to be there plenty early. I walked him to his course and then went back to the car and caught another hour or so of sleep (admist the sound of b-52's flying overhead). He hurt his foot a few weeks earlier and I had been complaining about having to run alone, so he was kind enough to run really slow and meet up with me when our tracks merged at my mile 9 (if I made it that far ;)

My original goal was to finish in 3 1/2 hours. I thought based on my training I'd be lucky to finish in 4. I started out better than I expected considering the lack of sleep, and finished 5 miles in just over an hour. I was able to maintain a steady pace and didn't feel tired at all. I started to get hot spots on the pads of my feet so had to stop and put on moleskin, my feet were fine the rest of the run. The weather was absolutely perfect, it wasn't humid at all and there was a nice breeze, I didn't sweat at all.

I got to mile 9 expecting to have some GU's to replenish my electrolytes but all they had were orange slices. Anthony called me and I was ahead of him so I waited for about 10 minutes at mile 9 and he met up with me. By the time we reached mile 11 my calves were really starting to cramp up and there were no other replenishments. Wish I'd brought my own and I would have been able to run the whole way. I stopped and walked for a good mile, mile and a half. Finally the cramping eased up and we ran most of the last mile. I was surprised that I finished in 3:17 especially since I ended up walking quite a bit of the last part (and felt a bit bad that I made Anthony run his slowest marathon ever, but I was grateful not to be alone). I succumbed to the ice bath ritual when we got back to our friends house, it was torture for the first few seconds but after your body goes numb it feels pretty good. It wasn't quite as cold as the ocean in NH but pretty close.

 

So I guess I've passed the runner's initiation. After taking a few ibuprofen I hardly felt sore at all the next day. All in all it wasn't as hard as I expected it to be and if I'd brought my own electrolyte replacement and gotten more than a few hours of sleep I think I would have been able to get in under 3 hours. In fact, in some sick way I kind of enjoyed the pain... We're doing Disney World in January so I've got a few months to train up for my next one...

Chattanooga, TN

We spent a fabulous weekend in Chattanooga. We started out at the Incline Railway. The boys had been looking forward to riding the train. I was surprised how steep it actually was, pretty amazing. The views from Lookout Mountain are breathtaking. You can see for miles.

From there we walked over through the Military Park and learned about the civil war battles that took place there. It's amazing they were able to scale up that mountain with all their gear- it's pretty much straight up and rocky. It is such a beautiful area. We got the boys union & confederate hats so they can reinact civil war battles with their pop guns ;)

Next we went to Ruby Falls. Again, I was not prepared for how awesome it would be. We didn't read much about it before we went, just figured it would be another waterfall. Not only did we go down 160 feet on the elevator to the entrance of the cave and then walked for about 30 minutes through the cave to get to the waterfall. The story about the discovery is really amazing. The falls are quite impressive- located 1,120 ft below the surface.

The next day we were supposed to meet friends and tour Rock City together, unfortunately one of their kids got sick so we went alone (sorry we didn't get to see you guys!) Rock City is beautiful. We have driven by the signs probably half a dozen times but never stopped before. It was well worth it. You can see seven states from the top and the rock formations throughout the park are spectacular.  We watched a show about birds of prey and got to see hawks, owls, vultures and an eagle up close. They have a crazy swinging bridge which I had to build up the courage to walk across, a little underground mother goose village with dioramas of all the major fairy tales and little gnomes swinging all over the place. The weather was absolutely perfect and the park was so beautiful. We ate lunch at the top of the rock where a bluegrass band played and sang, they were truly authentic- I've never seen or heard anything quite like it. It was such a fun place. Then we drove around downtown Chattanooga, saw the riverfront. There was a hill at the riverfront park and they were doing something I've never seen done before- sliding down the hill on cardboard boxes. I've seen ice blocking, skimming and sledding, but never cardboarding... Lastly we saw the historic Chattanooga  Choo Choo. The boys enjoyed seeing another train and are already asking to go back to "chagganooga".

Land Between the Lakes

Anthony had laser eye surgery on Monday at Fort Campbell and we had to go back for a follow up appointment later that week, so we went a day early and played at Land Between the Lakes. It's a beautiful area and we went on a nice hike around a lake. The web said it was only 2.2 miles but it felt more like 4 or 5. The boys walked almost the entire way themselves though, they are such good hikers. We also went to their nature center where they got to see all sorts of animals owls, an eagle, red wolves, deer, etc... they loved it and it was a nice break from our weekly routine.  

AHA!Math

You may or may not know that I am homeschooling my overly ambitious three year old who reads at a second grade level, among other things. One of the coolest tools I've been using to teach him math is a website called AHA!Math. Ethan loves to play games on the computer so I was trying to find him more educational games and came across this awesome program.

For $10 a year you can subscribe to their online system- you can assign games based on their learning level (he's in the K-2 program) and they "play". It is an interactive way to learn math.Rather than trying to teach 2+2=4 they have the kids play games to solve the problems- it's visual learning and practical application rather than rote memorization. Ethan loves it and is learning so much. Even if you're just looking for a fun game for your kids to play you can't beat the price or the academic value, check it out!

Custom Vinyl decor

Isn't this the coolest thing ever? It's vinyl. Amazing huh? My sister makes all sorts of vinyl decorations- I've never seen anything like it- she prints all the pieces in different colors then you piece it together like a puzzle so rather than one solid colored shape it looks like the actual character.

She made these Cars ones for the boys, they were so excited running around the room while I put them up.

She also does a ton of Disney princesses and decorative phrases. I've never come across any vinyl before that layers the colors like this, it looks so fabulous on the wall and the possibilites are endless you can put vinyl on just about anything. If anyone's interested in ordering Cars or any of the Disney Princesses or anything else for that matter, just send Mindy an email: mindytaylor@gmail.com  You can buy individual characters or as a set. Her prices are as AMAZING as her creations (seriously- you will never find a better price on vinyl)!

  

Another good read...

My friend loaned me this fictional book series about an Amish girl, and I thought it would be a fun read, but she did not prepare me for how good it really would be! Just more proof that you cannot judge a book by the cover (or the title).  I was hooked from the beginning and read the first book in two days and the next two in two days. It really is a heart wrencher and tear jerker as well as interesting to learn more about the Amish beliefs and lifestyle (especially since in Kentucky we see them driving their buggy's down the road and shopping at walmart). I highly recommend it. Cindy Woodsmall, When the Heart Cries is the first book, the series is called Sisters of the Quilt.

P.S. Make sure you have something to entertain the children and a few frozen dinners on hand because you will be neglecting everything until you're finished with all three books.

P.S.S. Thanks to all who recommended Hunger Games, it took me a while to get into it, but towards the end I couldn't put it down and am looking forward to reading the second book.

July

It's been a miserably hot & humid summer here so we've been keeping cool inside. Here are a few pics from this month. Baby Grant is crawling all over the place and is starting to cut his first tooth. He is constantly eating things off the floor so I have to be vigilant about keeping it clean, not an easy task with two wild kids running around. But we've managed to save him from choking thus far, if we can just make it a few more months until his teeth make it in, we'll be good.

Tuning out...or rather tuning in...

So after reading the talk by Elder Bednar in the June Ensign I had to really stop and think about how much time I really waste on the computer, blogging, emailing, editing pictures, etc...when I could be playing with my three beautiful boys. I don't ever want to look back and wish I'd spent more quality time with them. This is my season for mommyhood and it won't last forever... so if I don't post updates as often and don't email back for a few days- I'm still here, just enjoying my little monkeys before they grow up.