To our Grandpa....

It's a birthday miracle that I got Landon to sit still long enough to take a picture. He must really love his Grandpa Shumate!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!!

Blue & Gold

Last week Brayden has his first Blue and Gold Banquet. He was so excited about it. He was excited because he was getting his Bobcat, and he got to make a cake, and the skit... oh the skit was a highly anticipated event of the night!

The theme for the night and the cakes was "Resourcefulness". WHAT?!?! That is what I said too. This is all new to me, so I was like, I gotta make a cake for this thing??

So this is what we came up with. Brayden was pretty happy with the end result...so that is all that matters. But lets just say, I have done better cakes in my day. The frosting was pretty runny and so it looked like it was oozing off the cake, but boys don't care about that kind of stuff, so I didn't stress about it too much. 

 I pretty much raided my pantry to find things that we could use to make a camping scene. We only had to but a few things.... how RESOURCEFUL of us!!   :)

 I thought the Fruit Roll-Up as the fire was a nice touch!

Look at that handsome little Cub Scout!!!!

So proud of his cake!

 It turned out pretty good!!

Just have to say that one of my favorite cakes was from my friend Lindsey and it was made to look like Duct Tape, after all, what IS more resourceful then duct tape?!?!  haha!! Very clever!!

Brayden also got his Bobcat that night. He was so excited, especially since he was actually suppose to get it at Pack Meeting last month, but ended up with the stomach flu that day, and wasn't able to go. 

 He really didn't know what to do once he was upside down. I had no idea this was a "tradition" to hold the kid upside down to pin the award on their mom... he was laughing too hard to do much of anything...

 ...He needed a bit to help!  

It was a good night, and Brayden loved everything about it. 

Congrats Brayden on all your work so far in Scouts. He has loved every second of it!

Grandpa Oranges

Every one loves Grandpa's! They are always so great! 

My Grandpa Shumate is one of those awesome Grandpa's. He is now 90 years old, with his health failing, he is still giving to his grandkids. 

Every year, for as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed "Grandpa Oranges".

Each winter, my Grandpa gets these amazing yummy oranges from an orchard near his house in Arizona. When I was growing up, we always got several boxes a year from him, as well as lemons and tangerines from his trees in his back yard. Even once I moved away to college, he mailed a bag of oranges to me. Then once I got married, it evolved into a small box of oranges. Now that we have a team of boys to help eat those oranges, we get a huge box full of yummy juicy oranges on our doorstep from the good ol' UPS man. My boys now call them "Grandpa Oranges". He sends them to all of his grandchildren every winter. 

This year I'm cherishing the oranges a little more. They are SO GOOD, but with the knowledge that my Grandpa may not be around next winter to send them makes them even sweeter! He is a great man, always making sure everyone in his family is being taken care of. Even with the simplest act of sending a box of dang good oranges, that is his way of letting us know that he loves us. Our family is super duper lucky to have him... and our immune systems get an added boost with all the extra Vitamin C!!!!  :)

Grandpa's are GREAT!

Chopped!

A few weeks ago I suddenly got in the mood to chop off my hair. 

5 year ago, after Conner was born, I started growing it out. It has never been as long as it was the past few years. I have had short hair most my life. I really liked my long hair, but was just ready to do something different. 

So I found a picture online of a really cute short hair style. After debating about it for several days, I finally chopped off my hair yesterday. 

Before....

 After....

That is some MAJOR inches off there!!

Totally different, but I love it! It's a little stacked in the back (almost a-line) and choppy and textured and so super fun and easy to do.

I liked my long hair, but this will be a great change. I'm loving it so far.... so is Patrick!  :)

Stairs of Doom

Really, who knew that 8 stairs could be such a game changer.

Really??? 8 Stairs???

Two days before Christmas Patrick fell down the first section of our stairs, 8 stairs... doing back flips all the way down and banging into the wall at the bottom. Scared the *#$! outta me!!!! He was really sore and dizzy at first, but nothing too serious was obvious, so we just hoped that a little rest and ibuprofen would get everything back to normal. So we waited. But instead of getting better, he just kept getting worse. Remember Brayden's baptism on New Years Day, well Patrick was hardly able to stand or walk that day. I still have no idea how he actually was able to baptize him when his body was in such bad shape, but he did.

So finally once we realized that he was just getting worse and worse as days went by, we decided it was time to go see a Dr. So we decided that a medical Dr. would only give him mild pain killers that wouldn't help much and we would be out a ton of money for nothing. So we found a Chiropractor to go to. I did some looking on the internet and found one that was pretty close to us, and did the first visit for free. Free is good when you are without an income or health insurance. We went, and so our journey began. 

We found that when he fell down the stairs, he compressed the vertebrae in his lower back so much so that his nerves were pinched to the point that he had no feeling in his feet and legs and they were at times cut off so much that they couldn't even send the "messages" that his brain was sending them to move...making it pretty much impossible to walk, drive, or even stand for any length of time. Not to mention the rest of the damage to his spine, you could literally see in the x-rays how his spine looked like a snake, all curvy and back an forth instead of straight and in line like it should be. So the Dr. set up a treatment plan to "decompress" his spine and relieve the pressure from those nerves that are being cut off. We were so blessed that we happened to end up at a Dr. that specializes in spinal compression injuries...seriously a huge blessing since we didn't even know that was what his injury was!

So for the first 3 weeks, he was in "intense therapy" meaning that he went to the Dr. and Physical Therapy everyday, Monday through Friday, for 3 weeks. They were not kidding when they say intense. It was all that and some! Through this whole time, he was pretty much down for the count, on bedrest sort of, and not able to do much, including finding a job.

Last week he went in for his re-evaluation. The Dr. was hoping that he would've made a 10-15% improvement. Patrick was at 38% improvement. While that is FANTASTIC news that he had made so much more progress then the Dr. was hoping for, he still is only functioning at 38% of what he "normally" was. (I have no idea how or what makes up those numbers, I just was happy to hear there were improvements being made!)  So while this is a great stride in recovery, there is still a long way to go. He has good days and bad days. He "graduated" from everyday therapy to 3 times a week therapy. Spinal injuries like this apparently take a long time to heal.

As we have gone through this, it is absolutely amazing to us how much we have been blessed and watched over by a loving Heavenly Father. 

First, who would've thought that being unemployed would be a blessing, but it has! Had Patrick had a job during this, it would have been so super stressful because he would not have been able to work and with the kind of job he had, the stress of NOT being at the office would have killed him! 

Second, our families have been so supportive of us and helped us any way they can. Especially my sister has been such a huge support for me over the past several weeks...always knowing what to say to help me through that day.

And our ward and friends (near and far) have been amazing!!! Several times I have gotten random calls form people offering to bring dinner that night for our family, and it was always on a night that it was a lifesaver! Neighbors and friends taking my kids while I had to take Patrick to his therapy appointments or picking them up after school for me. Random phone calls, emails, or texts checking in on us to see how we are doing. The Bishop and Stake Presidency have kept a close eye on us and given words of comfort and encouragement that we so needed. The help and love we have felt has been overwhelming and most definitely an answer to prayers each and every time!

Patrick has been able to make it to Sacrament meeting for the past 2 weeks and is currently practicing driving. He pretty much has to re-teach himself to drive, but since he is getting feeling back in his right foot again, he is able to move his foot and push the pedals. So far it's just trips around the block, through the neighborhood, or to Circle K for drinks, but as we are learning, even small steps in the right direction is a good thing. 

And as blessed as we have been, I really can not wait to get our normal boring life back!! :)

Come What May and LOVE It. That is our new motto in our house!

Funny Stuff...

So since Patrick has not had a job, we have obviously had to cut back on things. One of those things is taking the boys to get haircuts. 3 boys getting haircuts gets pretty pricy. So around Christmas time, I found a fairly cheap set of clippers and we cut our boys hair for the first time EVER on our own. It didn't turn out too bad!!

This was our first time around. We tried to tell Brayden this was what his new hair style would be. It was pretty funny. No worries... we finished the other side too!

This past weekend it was time to cut their hair again. Last time, I thought we did Landon's hair too short, so this time I wanted to leave it a a little longer. So Patrick told me to use the #4 guard. So I look through the guards, find one that has a 4 on the back, ask my hubby is this is the one I use... he says yes (apparently without even looking), snap it on and start cuttin Landon's hair. As I'm doing it, I tell Patrick it seems really short. He assures me it is longer then it was last time. So I finish his hair and move onto Conner's hair. Patrick tells me again to use the #4 on the sides of Conner's hair and a #6 on top.... that is what we did last time I guess... and it turned out pretty good. Well as I was doing Conner's hair, I just couldn't get rid of the "line" in the middle. Frustrated, I decide to try another guard. That is when I realized what I THOUGHT was a #4 guard (because it said 4 on the back) was ACTUALLY a #2, which was clearly printed on the FRONT of the guard. It took some work, but we were able to salvage Conner's hair without buzzing it all down super short. But poor little Landon was a lost cause. His whole head had been buzzed even shorter then it was the last time. Dang it!!! At least is grows back quickly!!! 

And note to self..... the numbers on the BACK of the guards are not what you need to look at. Those are on the FRONT. 

My question is though, why is there a number on the back anyways, it's way too confusing for rookies like me!

I Occasionally Make Stuff!

Really I do! And once in a while it turns out semi good. 

Last week, my sister added this little cutie to her family....

(Please note... I had NO PART in making this.... just to be clear!)  :)

Sweet little Baby Carter can't hardly wait to meet his (sure to be fav) Auntie Melis!! 

She was on bedrest for the last few weeks of her pregnancy, so as she was surfing the internet one day, (she discovered the awesomeness of craft and food blogs during her down time!! Yay!) she came across several blogs that gave tutorials on how to make a car seat canopy. She really wanted one. But they are ridiculously expensive online, so as we were chatting one day I was like... dude... I'll totally make you one and mail it to you! So I did! I really wanted one when I had Landon, but just never got around to making one. Now that I have made one, I'm so bummed I didn't make one for him. It was so super simple and I made it in just a few hours one evening after the boys went to bed. I fell in LOVE with this fabric that I found too. (same as what was on the picture in the tutorial!)  Here's how it turned out....

I found the tutorial here.

And I had a bit of the super duper cute fabric left over so I made some cute burp clothes to send to her as well. 

Also... for some reason last week, I suddenly had an urge to try to make home made cinnamon rolls. Now, to really understand what a huge accomplishment this was, you must first know that I'm NOT the worlds best bread maker. In fact, I have rarely make home made bread, rolls, or anything yeast-y well. I followed some suggestions from friends and got some new yeast (apparently it doesn't last forever in my cupboard, never realized that! ha!!) and used bread flour. Maybe that is what made the difference, I always used to use all-purpose. I have never braved the beloved cinnamon roll though... ever. But I have had my eye on this one for a while now, and I finally decided to try it. I even pulled out my bread maker and used it. (possibly another reason for it's success, the bread machine did all the work, therefore I couldn't mess it up!) I haven't used that bad boy for YEARS!!!! But I quickly remembered how awesome bread makers are! Here was the finished product. 

So dang yummy!!! Patrick was even impressed with my skills!! He told me they may possibly be the best thing I have ever baked. Nice!

I always have a list of "stuff" I wanna make, rather it's something to sew, cook, or craft.... I just wish I had more time to do it. But when I do find that time, it's so fun!

Cub Scouts and 15 month olds...

With Brayden turning 8, that meant the beginning of Cub Scouts. Which also meant the beginning of an era... I now sew patches onto a scout uniform. Having 3 boys... I dare say that I will quickly become and expert at sewing on scout patches over the next several years.

He was so excited to start scouts. He has loved it so far. 

Doesn't he make a cute little Cub Scout?!?!?!

In other news around our house, Landon has turned 15 months old. He is just growing up way to fast for my liking, but is such a dang cute little guy that I might forgive him for that. 

Some things about him right now...

-he says exactly one word, "hi" but it sounds more like "eyyyyyyyiiiiiiii" when he says it.

-he loves to throw stuff in the trash can

-he gets very excited if you ask him if he wants to go bye-bye, he will run to the garage door. If you ask if he wants to go upstairs, he will run and climb onto the first step.

-he is a little tornado, destroying everything in his path. If he can reach it, he wants it on the floor.

-he likes to pick his own snacks from the pantry. And if by chance the pantry door gets left open by his older brothers... well, it's a free for all as far as he's concerned!!!

-he's still very much a momma's boy!

-he has the cutest little run

-he is still super ticklish on his ribs and will laugh and laugh if you tickle him there.

-loves to wear and hold Daddy's hats

-is already starting the terrible 2's... this should be fun!

-loves to play in his big brother's room and find each and every Lego, Bakugan, or Beyblade part that they didn't get picked up. He's super helpful that way!

-doesn't like us to feed him, he wants to do it himself. Another independent child...

-his favorite foods are apple juice, Nurta-Grain Bars, Nilla Wafers, bananas, and granola bars.

-he will bring me a diaper if I ask him if he has poops

-he is scared to try to go down the stairs by himself

-he really hates it when you tell him "no" and gets either a super sad face that makes me laugh, or a super mad crying face that makes me roll my eyes.

-he has 10 teeth, two of which are his top molars he just got before Christmas.

-he has a crazy obsession with remotes and phones. He does anything and everything he can to get one in his hot little hands!

-if you ask him for "loves" he'll come and put his head on you... it's his version of a hug I guess, but it's super cute... especially when he does it to his brothers after accidently hurting them or something. So sweet!

-he loves to play try to play catch with any ball he sees
-I don't have too many good (at least as good as I'd like) pictures of him right now because the kids just doesn't sit still! Such is the life of a busy little boy!!

I love this age. So many fun things to watch as they learn and discover their little world. He just cracks me up on a daily basis. And lately, on the tough days when my world around me gets too much, his little "loves" or smile make all the difference!!!

He constantly is doing something funny...
The other day I was making lunch for him and Conner, and I hear him start screaming like something has happened. I search around for where the screams are coming from and I find him trapped in the diaper box. He'd tried to sit on it, but it was almost empty, so he fell in. I just laughed and ran to get the camera before I helped him out. I'm a great Mom like that!!

At Thanksgiving... one night we decided to get some ice cream cones. He was VERY upset that we all got one and he didn't. And he let us know of his strong opinion on the matter. So we shared to make it up to him. 

Brayden's Baptism

This has been a few weeks of celebrating Brayden! 

On New Years Day he got baptized!!!!! That should be an easy date to remember... 1/1/11.

His grandparents, cousins, and friends came to watch him get baptized and officially become a member of our church. He was SO excited to get baptized!! He got his very own set of black scriptures and a black carrying case, just like his Dad's.... just as he had requested. He got his own small Hymn book and a new white shirt, belt, and tie for the big day!

It was quite surreal to watch my own child get baptized. I guess I'm still in denial that he's that old! On our way home from the church, I asked him how he felt now that he was baptized and he answered with a very enthusiastic "HAPPY!! SO HAPPY!" I love it! It makes my heart so happy that he was so happy to get baptized and to become part of this gospel that we love so much and to be such a great example to his little brothers.

We went home and enjoyed a great dinner with our family and some friends that had traveled so far and in horrible weather to be with him on his baptism day. We ate good food, laughed, and visited while the kids ran around and played and had a great time. 

Thank you to all who came from near and far. We all appreciated it. It was a wonderful day that I will always remember!

Christmas at our house....

We had a great Christmas this year!! We must have had some very good little boys around here, because Santa brought them some pretty good things!

There were Lego's, Tech Decks and Ramps, games (board games and DS), all sorts of things that were on their lists... and a few surprises! They were also pretty spoiled by their grandparents.

Landon also loved finding the Candy Canes that Santa had left for everyone in their stockings and on the tree. It didn't take him long to figure out that if he broke them where they bend, he could open them and eat them. There were many Candy Cane casualties on Christmas morning!

We had our traditional Christmas breakfast of scones. So yummy!!! Then we played and played all morning with all the new toys, games, and Lego's. It was so funny to watch how intense Brayden was as he was putting together his new Harry Potter Lego set that Santa brought him. Landon enjoyed his new Giraffe toy, but the ball popper may have been his favorite. He kept running back and forth with it. He also loved to stand on any and all boxes he could find. We spent the whole day in our PJ's and just relaxed and had a yummy Christmas dinner.

(Someone was VERY fascinated with the tree this year and loved to bring mommy all the ornaments he could reach!)

We are so grateful for this time of year to celebrate the birth of our Savior. We have been so blessed recently and we are so thankful for our Savior and our family!

It was a fabulous Christmas!

Brayden turns 8!!!

I don't believe that my little boy has turned 8! 

How did that happen??? How has it already been 8 years since we became parents?? 

Brayden was the first of our crazy cute little boys and he was a great way to start off our little family. 

He is an energetic, opinionated, loving, smart, funny little boy. He thinks he's a teenager or something sometimes and can make me laugh and drive me mad all in the same day! 

 We started off his big day by opening up his presents. He got some great stuff! 

He got this Lego Harry Potter game from mom and dad.....

We all had fun playing it together later that afternoon. Brayden won!

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid books from his Grandparents....

He's already read one book and is onto the next one.

And this huge crazy remote control car from his Grandpa Patton...

Can you see Brayden???

I'm not sure who had more fun with this remote control car... Brayden, Landon, or Daddy! Landon thought it was the funniest thing to chase the car around and try to catch it. He just giggled and giggled as he ran after it or as it zoomed passed him.

He also got a Bakugan Wii game and a Harry Potter Lego set from his brothers. (Does anyone else see a Harry Potter and Lego obsession going on here?!?! Just wait until you see what Santa brought him the next day!!)

After presents, Brayden chose to have cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We went all out and had Taco Bell for lunch (again his choice!) and his favorite dinner of Fideo. 

Since he had already had a cake at his party the week before, he decided to have his favorite, Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, after dinner with a candle and we all sang to him and enjoyed the minty chocolaty goodness before bed.

It was a great day! We all played together and laughed and had a fun time celebrating Brayden's 8 years in our family! When the day was over, we put out cookies and Dr. Pepper for Santa (that's what he likes at our house!) and some carrots for the Reindeer. I attempted to get a picture of the 3 boys in front of the Christmas tree....

This was the best I got. Landon was not exactly willing to sit still.... I mean after all, it was Christmas Eve... so much excitement, and one year olds pretty much never ever sit still.

Happy Birthday Brayden.... thank you for choosing to come to our family 8 years ago and for making us your parents!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!!

Harry Potter Party!!!!

This year... I think it's safe to say that Brayden is a bit obsessed with Harry Potter. So it was not surprising at all that he wanted to have a Harry Potter birthday party. I am not at all a "party planner" kinda mom. I do not enjoy planning parties for my kids. It stresses me out. BIG time. And having tons of kids in my house running around and being crazy loud... well not really my idea of fun. But it's all for my kids, so I gotta do it... right. 

A while ago, my neighbor threw her son a birthday party and only spent $10 on it, and it was awesome!! I was pretty sure I was unable to be THAT good and figure out how to only spend $10 on it, but I was pretty impressed how many things I came up with that I already had supplies for. Food storage and my craft supply came in pretty handy!!! 

So first... I asked a friend of mine how to make some cute invitations like she has made for her kids parties. With her suggestions, I came up with these that I made on Picasa, and had them printed up for super cheap at Wal-Mart.

Next was to make our house a little Hogwarts-like.

I mostly used balloons and streamers I had left over from past birthday's. Even though my kids don't get a friend's party every year, we always decorate a little for them. So I had a good stash to get stuff from.

"Forbidden Forrest    A Warning: Peril Await all who enter!!!"

I hung up this sign I made just for fun and because I didn't want kids running up and down the stairs. I wanted to contain the craziness if you will. But I soon found this was just as good as an invitation to the kids to try and sneak into the "Forbidden Forrest".  They tried every chance they could.

 The kitchen/dining room turned into the "Great Hall" The kids were served "Pumpkin Juice" (aka Orange Soda), Pizza, and Cake!!

Each guest got one of these badges. I made them up on my computer and had these badge covers in my craft box. Brayden was "Head Boy", Patrick and I were "Headmasters", and all the rest of the kids were Hogwarts "Honorary Guests".

The boys were so excited to get to use their Halloween costumes again.

We were ready to PARTY!!!!

First up, everyone knows that a proper wizard needs a wand. So first was Wand Making class. Every one got a dowel to paint and decorate. This got messy. I'm glad I made sure it was washable paint, because it was all over clothes, my table, chairs, and the floors. But they made some fun looking wands.

Next up was Quidditch Practice where we made our own Golden Snitch's. I made some salt dough balls ahead of time and they all painted their Snitch's with gold paint and glued feathers on the side. 

Next was Levitation Class. 

The kids sat in a circle and had to keep the balloons off the ground for as long as they could using the spell "wingardium leviosa". This gave us time to set up for the next class....

Potions class! This was a favorite! It was kinda fun to see the kids try to guess what was really in the cups. We had green jello for "lizard slime",  gummy worms were "bloodworms", brown sugar was "fairy soil", "Unicorn Nectar" was apple juice,  "Basilisk Venom" was red jello, "bat liver" was chopped up olives, "Goblin Nails" were chocolate sprinkles, then the last ingredients we added were baking soda as "Essence of Newt" and vinegar as "Stink Pond Water" so it would fizzle and bubble up.

 Each child got a cup to mix their "potions" in and a straw to stir it with. They all loved watching it change colors, fizz, stink, and bubble up.  They had successfully made Polyjuice Potion!

 Next was Dueling Class. We had each child duel off in a "tournament"  and the winner won a Golden Coin from Gringotts Bank. 

 Then it was back to the Great Hall for Pizza and Pumpkin Juice. Then we all sang to the Head Boy and he blew out his candle and opened presents.

 This was the best shot I got of all the kids together. Don't mind the dead looking child... I promise there were no children harmed in the making of this party!

When each child left, they took home a bag filled with their wand and snitch's they made, a Gringotts Golden Coin (they were chocolate coin candy things) and these home made goodies:

 (aka Muddy Buddy Chex Mix)

(aka Monster Munch Popcorn which is pretty much just popcorn, peanuts, Rice Krispies covered in Peanut Butter and white chocolate)

It was a fun party. There were a total of 15 kids (including my 2 boys... Landon just sat back and watched the craziness). My voice was almost gone by the end from trying to talk over everyone and I was exhausted!!! It was so much work, and lots of internet searching to find ideas, but all in all I think it turned out really well, and Brayden had a great time. 

Which that was the whole point, so I guess my mission was accomplished!!!