Love these!

So, 4 little men is a fun blog to read. Seriously, fun! Anyway, she is doing a give away on her blog today for some beautiful Amber jewelry. (I love amber!) If you want to check out her giveaway, go here.

Long Lost Pictures

I had made the goal to break out my camera more often. Not just my regular camera, but my good one. Yeah, it is heavier and bulkier, but it takes amazing pictures. Only problem? I couldn't download the pictures. Sadness. The reason? Well, my program was on my computer that refuses to start up.

I have been looking all over for the stupid cd that came with my camera when I bought it over 5 years ago. That was 5 moves ago to be exact, plus a trip to London. I should note that the cd didn't go with me to London, but that trip did cause a move.

Tonight, I got to thinking about where else it could possibly be...and there it was! Yeah! So, here is a little highlight of some of the pictures that I pulled off of my camera.

E loves the bathroom. Why? I cannot figure it out. If you do not make sure the door is firmly closed behind you, little feet are sure to follow you in. Even if you are not in the bathroom, if the door is open or the gate is down, you are sure to find him in there if he is missing. I heard a noise, I followed it, and this is what I found. Somebody was climbing into the tub, made it, and spent some time playing. Water? Don't need it! At least the brand new roll of toilet paper stayed on the roll this time!E inherited a toy zebra. It is really cool. It is just the perfect size to climb aboard twist and spin and bounce. He loves it! I love his wild eyes as he bounces and spins and laughs. Do you think this little man has a future as a rodeo cowboy? Possibly, after all, the zebra has bucked him off and without complaint, he climbed back on and kept bouncing and spinning!Before it got too cold, we took E to Adventure Park. In the beginning, he was overwhelmed. But, he warmed up and decided he loved it! He chilled in the swing. He just hunched over and spent the time checking out the ground as it flew underneath him. He decided he loved the park, and the blocks he could spin, and the swings, and the slide, but not the beehive you could climb in. That E decided he would have nothing to do with.

Enjoy some additional pictures of E with the ducks from a couple of weeks ago!When we went to pick pumpkins at Grandma & Grandpa Proctor's, the corn stalks were covered with grasshoppers. It was cool looking. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from this. Now, I must go and put somebody to bed as Mike is sure E should fall asleep in our bed rather than his own. I gotta make sure that doesn't happen. Night all!

kjh

This is Love

Seriously, this is love. My sweet little family that is so dear to me. My husband, who I am thankful for. My little guy who is so adorable. We are good together. We are happy together. We laugh together. We play together. We work together. We love each other.

Happy Halloween!

I never realized how much more fun Halloween can be when you have a little one to dress up. Last year, E was so tiny, barely coming in at 6 weeks, and with going back to work just that week and closing on a house, Halloween snuck up on us. This year, oh, we had FUN!

I think we should have purchased stock in pumpkins this year. We had so many! And carving them turned out to be so much fun! We used 2 pumpkins to carve one, a waste you say? Wait until you see the results. We had parents of trick-or-treaters coming back with cameras to take pictures of it. We had a traditional carved pumpkin that may or may not have resembled Mater and then E's pumpkin was...a rubber ducky! This seems to be the running theme around here after all.

For work, we had a cubicle decorating contest. I went all out and made brick walls and, geez, if they did a better job at cleaning, I wouldn't have had so many spiders! Seriously though, standing on the desk of the cubicle to put spider web on the ceiling, kinda scary, but I won first place!
I dressed up as a ghost. Not as cool as when you see the Red Queen that came to work also! Her costume was SWEET! And, as I was not a traditional ghost, people seemed to not always know what I was supposed to be. But it was fun.The best costume? A pirate! We had a rascally pirate with a hoop earring and a patch over the eye (yeah, for about 2 seconds for each.) E really showed that R.E.A.L. men can wear ruffles. He was freaking adorable! (I know, I may be biased, but he was!)Due to the unfortunate situation of E getting sick on Halloween, our day's festivities changed drastically. They got way toned down and ended up trick-or-treating at Grandma Proctor's house, Granny Lew's house, Aunt Beth's house (gotta get the play-doh she handed out after all) and then the evening consisted of getting poked in the eye by a little girl's umbrella, seriously ouch, and trying to keep a little one from escaping when we handed out candy. Despite the sickness that hit, Halloween ended up being fun!

Just a few more pictures of a cute little guy to enjoy. Mike introduced E to a favorite...bread and ranch dressing. I am not sure if E like the ranch more or the bread. He has discovered that he really loves dipping things, sucking off the dip, and redipping. Gotta love his little ranch beard here.
I still think there is nothing more precious than watching a sleeping baby. I have a hard time not thinking of my little man as a baby, even though he is most definitely no longer a baby. I love going in and smoothing his hair (and yes, checking to make sure he is breathing) while he sleeps. I love when I go in and he has forgone his warm blanket to snuggle with the soft blanket he got from his aunty. It gives me a chance to re-tuck him in.
What else do you do with pumpkin stickers that you got for Halloween? Put them all over you! E has decided he really likes stickers. He will put them on and pull them off and put them on me and pull them off and they get crumpled but he still tries to get them to stick to things. I love watching him play with stickers. They can most definitely entertain him.

Whew

We have been busy. We have done a lot and my blog has fallen behind. Way behind.

I have been inspired. I need to take more pictures. With BOTH of my cameras. Since I got my little point and shoot digital that fits so nicely in my purse/diaper bag, I don't take my SLR out very much. Well, go here to see somebody who does. She takes pictures of EVERYTHING! So, I have carted both of my cameras with me over the weekend. Sadly, my computer that has my software to download my SLR is broken, as in it turns on, but doesn't start up. So, while I have a TON of awesomely, cool pictures, I can't share them currently. But, I will figure it out (I also need to figure out how to get the 48 scrap book pages I have done off the broken computer...)

First, I want to show this video. Mike's mom saved some of Mike's old cowboy boots. She gave them to E. I tried them on the other day. They are still too big, and he really struggled in walking in them, but this video is just way too much fun. He was so proud of himself!

E loves tomatoes. He has been caught stealing them directly out of the bowl when we make tacos, stealing them off plants if he sees them, and making himself comfortable in our garden eating a slightly green tomato. Notice his totally cute outfit that Aunt Amy gave him for his birthday covered in tomato guts from the tomato he is thoroughly enjoying? I am already finding my little man making mischief. E was enjoying his breakfast. He LOVES cereal. I ate with him and he was still eating, so I started doing some other things. I heard him start playing with his bowl against the table, signaling that he is done. I delayed. I figured he could stay in his highchair for a moment while I finished what I was doing. Well, I discovered I can no longer just leave him in his highchair. This is where I found him. I had to get my camera to document this. E decided he wanted more cereal and climbed out of his highchair, onto the table to get it. He is turning into a little monkey!Gotta see how my little baby boy no longer looks like a baby but a little boy? Here is the proof as he is totally lounging, just chillaxing. Gosh, does time ever slow down? I thought time went fast before, but when you have kids, I swear it speeds up. We are pretty lucky to have had access to LOTS of pumpkins this year. Grandma Proctor, in addition to her LOTS of patty-pan squash (which E does not like,) zucchini (which E does like if it is baked in the oven with Parmesan cheese,) summer squash, peas, tomatoes and green beans, there were lots of pumpkins. Unfortunately, somebody forgot (oops) E's shoes and so he couldn't go into the garden and actually pick out his own pumpkin. He had to deal with the one mommy and daddy picked out and held up to him. He was ok with it though. He was more fascinated with the stem than the actual pumpkin. E's favorite thing to do? Play with daddy. When he isn't playing with daddy, he is chillaxing with daddy on the bed. Seriously so cute. He cuddles right up to Mike and is perfectly content to stay there, for a couple of minutes at least. Then, he decides to play and will crawl up on Mike's stomach and bounce up and down.So, a little bit ago, we took the Proctor Family pictures. Maria is an awesome photographer and has taken all of our family pictures since E joined our family. While she was snapping away at groups, E and J were hanging out. E was fascinated over J's hair/head, which J did not appreciate. It led to a breakdown and if J could talk, I am sure it would have sounded something like this, "Mo-om, E is touching me! Please make him stop touching me!" I am sure that having cousins so close in age, this is something we may hear often as they are growing up. Hopefully, we will hear more laughter and giggles, hoping that they are best of friends.

Here is a pic that I snapped of E. He was hanging out on this cool, old firetruck and he just looked up at me and smiled. Man, I love my handsome little man! I can't wait until we get the pictures from Maria. She was getting a cousin picture and we were all jumping up and down, screaming and clapping, trying to get all the kids looking at us and smiling. E just couldn't stay where he was. He had to jump up and run toward us, laughing and clapping. I think I spent more time running to put him back. I can't wait to see them!E is generally pretty happy. Yes, he does have his moments when he isn't, but he is a HAPPY little boy. He loves getting into his pajamas and then playing with mommy and daddy. We love getting him to laugh by getting all his ticklish spots. Moments before the finger attack comes on.......moments after the finger attack. Love, Love, Love his belly laugh, his squeals of delight, and his smile!
Saturday, we went to the Red Barn down in Santaquin. They offer a hayride for $3 a person (under 2 ride free.) The hay ride ends at a pumpkin patch with a maze and lots of cool picture opportunity places. E wasn't too sure about the hayride in the beginning. He was in this wagon that had a TON of strangers and it moved. This is the look I kept getting as it started. "Mom, what are you making me do?"By the time we neared the pumpkin patch, E was totally into it. We were supposed to sit during the ride, but I figured it was OK for E to stand. He decided he LOVED looking out the wagon watching everything go past.
This time, the shoes were not forgotten and E got to actually wander around in the pumpkin patch. He had issues with the rough terrain and kept falling, but he loved seeing the pumpkins so close up. We let him pick a pumpkin (carefully guided by mom and dad) and he left with a pumpkin that he could carry all by himself (if only for about 10 seconds.) He did try to eat the stem, so his fascination with stems did not go away.E really liked the maze. He walked all the way through it. Whenever he walked into a dead-end, he kept looking for the hole in the wall that would let him keep going. He loved chasing Mike around and I loved that he could walk freely with limited options on where to go.

E really liked the John Deere tractor they had. He was a bit far from the steering wheel, but that didn't stop him from trying to drive it. The only thing missing? E's John Deere blanket that his Grandma Proctor made him! I definitely have a through and through boy. We have had fun doing all of our little activities lately. We have truly been blessed in this last year having our little man join our family. Seriously, what did we do for fun before we had E? He keeps us entertained and running around.

First Birthday

It is Sunday afternoon. I wish I were sleeping. That is what Mike and E are doing. But I can't. I have a visiting teaching appointment and if I fall asleep, I will sleep right through it.

So, I have some time to spend. I should do a load of dishes and straighten up my house that got a little destroyed with 3 extra boys last night. That is what I should do, nut I'm not going to.

I am going to finally blog about E's first birthday. At 8:10 PM on September 14th, my little guy turned 1. I don't ever think I blogged about his birth story, but I was in labor for 23 hours. It didn't get intense until they started me on pitocin (sp?) at 7:30 in the AM, but it was a long 23 hours. I begged for the epidural at 10:00 AM. It didn't take. I finally got one that took around 12:40. Blessed epidural, why did I want to try labor without you? At 6 PM, they told me not to expect my little guy until after 10 PM (yes, it was discouraging) but then things kicked into high gear and at 7 PM I was suddenly ready to push. Well, they tried to get me to wait an hour, but I couldn't. So, I pushed for an hour. It was exhausting. But, when they put E on my stomach, those 23 hours (and the 41 weeks prior) were like they went by in the blink of an eye. I remember seeing my little guy, running my fingers over his hands, his face, his arms, his hair. I was so overwhelmed by the feelings of joy and gratitude and love (did I ever realize love could be that overpowering?) that I forgot to count his fingers and toes. When I looked at my little E all I saw was perfection. Preciousness. Mike and I relished in the 30-40 minutes we had with just us and our new little bundle before they had to rush him to the nursery. (I had a fever when E was born and as a result, he was born hot, and his body temperature wasn't going down so they had to rush him to get him a bath to get his temperature back to normal.)

All of this seems like it was yesterday. In the blink of an eye, all of a sudden my little guy has turned 1. He is walking. He is trying to run. He has learned that when you crouch down and say, "I'm gonna get you," he is supposed to run away, not toward you, and that it is much more fun. He loves grapes and yogurt, and eating mommy and daddy's cereal. No more baby food for him. He won't touch it. He loves eating spaghetti. Actually, he picks the noodles up and sucks the sauce off of them and puts the noodles either in his lap or back on the plate. He says mamma and dadda. He screams DaDa until Mike pays attention to him. He LOVES his dad. He says "bye-bye" but not if you want him too. He loves cars, trucks and balls. If it is a ball, it is his preferred toy of choice. He loves books and pointing at everything. He loves watching bigger kids to see what they are doing. He loves his puppies, Jake and Abby. He plays ball with Abby. She will plop on the ground with a ball in her mouth and he will grab it and try to pull it out. It is a game both of them love. He also loves the road, which has created a whole new level of angst.

My favorite thing about my little boy (and sad that he is no longer my baby, but my little boy?) His laugh. I LOVE his laugh. I will do about anything to get it. You don't even have to do anything to him to get him to laugh. All you have to do is laugh yourself and he laughs with you. I love his smile. The sparkle in his eyes. I love his hugs and kisses. Yes, his wide open mouthed kisses. Even the really slobbery ones. I can't even narrow down one favorite thing from my little E.

I started this post because I was going to blog about E's birthday party. Wow, I got sidetracked. Welcome to the story of my life.

E got spiffied up with a faux-hawk for his birthday. I don't generally do his hair, so it was fun to make it different for his party. We had our families there and some close friends who are like family to us. We got together and had a bbq. Ummm...hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad (although Mike reminded me it wasn't Grandma Proctor's potato salad, which is good, and I guess by comparison, mine doesn't measure up,) baked beans and some other sides.
We had a chili pepper pinata for all of the kiddos at the party and I almost got hit numerous times by the stick. Good thing I can move quickly. E had no interest in the pinata, but I figured it would be for his older cousins anyway.

We also had a cake. I like decorating cakes, but haven't done it too often and am by no means professional. Very amateurish actually. I was trying to decide what to do for E's cake when I saw a friend of mine (she really does have talent in the cake decorating area) who did a duck cake for her little girl's birthday. I stole the idea. Made few changes and this is what I ended up with.
I forgot to practice blowing with my little guy before his party. As a result, he made no effort to blow out his candle. Who wants to blow out a candle when you have all these duckies you can steal off the cake? The ducks were a definite hit. I also discovered that I do not have enough hot air (or air period) in me to blow out a candle less than 3 feet away from me. Yep, pretty sad, but in my defense, it has been YEARS since I have blown out the candle of a birthday cake. In fact, the last time I did was probably my 16th or 17th birthday when my friends made me a cake.
If you notice the picture at the beginning of the post, that is E enjoying his cake. While he did use his hands, he generally has to have some type of utensil to help him eat. I LOVE watching him pick his food up, put it on the fork or spoon, and then try to put it in his mouth. A.d.o.r.a.b.l.e.

After cake and ice cream, E got to open some presents. His cousins were much more excited about opening his presents than E was himself and he had LOTS of little helpers ready to lend a hand. E was spoiled and got some awesome gifts. He got some books, an outfit, some blocks, some balls, some cars, and a little pop up toy. He got a really cool plush tool set. He carries the hammer around and tries to hammer everything in our house. He also got a little cart that he can sit on and push. He hasn't quite figured that out but if you push buttons on it you will hear one of two songs. "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," or "Do You Know the Muffin Man." I have heard these songs constantly since his birthday. E loves standing next to the cart, sometimes actually sitting on it and pushing those buttons. I may or may not be secretly hoping the batteries run out soon. Even when they do finally wind their way down to empty, I will probably replace the batteries just because it makes my little guy happy.

It was a good day surrounded by loved ones, celebrating the fact that my little guy has been with us for 1 year. While there are some things that I miss in my little baby (the constant cuddling) I am excited when E moves into a new stage. I love seeing him learn things and figure out how to do lots of stuff.