Warning: Cuteness Overload

Thanks for all the prayers and kind thoughts. As a whole, we are doing much better. We are still waiting on test results, though, so until we get those, sweet Hosanna has to keep taking the bottle while I pump. So not fun.

Meanwhile, I realized that I had 172 pictures on my phone - apparently I use it a lot more than our actual camera to capture moments around the house, especially of our new addition. Here's a few (okay, more than a few!) pics of little miss Hosanna Joy to show how much she's grown over the past month:

*waiting at the hospital in January to have an ultrasound to test for hip dysplasia*

*first smile at just a month old*

*love this face*

*getting ready for church at one month old*

*playing with Daddy - of course she adores him*

*another church photo (and the lock screen on my phone, I love it so much)*

*she is definitely not a leave-her-in-the-swing-or-bouncy-seat baby - she wants to be with me. all the time. so here she is in the laundry basket...*

*found these antennae at the store on clearance and couldn't resist*

*trying on her piggy hat*

*hooray for the bumbo - she loves to be upright due to her stomach issues so the bumbo works wonders for us*

*just last night, after she screamed for an hour and I couldn't get her to calm down. We finally put her in a warm bath, and this was the instant result.*

I promise not to make every post about the baby; in fact, I'm working on some "interviews" with the other three kids, and maybe I'll worm in something about the Nerd too. Still, these pictures are just too cute to not share with the world, am I right?

Three Little Pumpkins - Soon to Be Four

We made our annual visit to the local pumpkin farm last weekend. The day was cool but surprisingly not rainy; so we had to take advantage of the weather. There are dozens of pumpkin farms to choose from in our area, but we started going to Lee Farms when the Drama Queen was just a year old and have made it a tradition. I love that most of the activities are geared towards younger kids, but let's face it - the real reason we love going to Lee Farms is to eat their phenomenal pumpkin and apple cider donuts!

It just so happened that on that same day, Old Navy was running one of their "one-day-only" sales on their puffy vests. Since the kids needed some new winter wear anyway, we stopped there first and scored cozy vests for the whole family.

The Spud got his tractor fix.

The Drama Queen was sweet and helped her brothers find pumpkins before she chose hers. She is getting so grown-up these days!

The kids eagerly anticipated their apple cider donuts.

I enjoyed waddling all around the grounds, watching the kids excitedly choose pumpkins and run through the hay maze. It will be really fun next year with four kids!

We have the kids pose here every year. Mr. Beast is catching up to the Drama Queen in height and has already passed her in weight. Makes me want to stop time for just a little while. . .

Face painting was a first this year. The Spud decided half-way through that he was finished; so his pumpkin looked a little funny.

And this is my absolute favorite photo of the day. It was such fun to see the Beast enjoy himself without getting overwhelmed or having a meltdown. It is usually really hard to get him to pose for a photo anyway, and I love this candid shot of my little man.

So pumpkin carving will be in the near future for us. We can't do them too far ahead of time because here in rainy Oregon, carved pumpkins rot much more quickly.

Boys

Sometimes mommyhood can be exhausting.

Frustrating.

Stressful.

Especially when you have young boys!

And although they drive me crazy with their shenanigans and mischief, I can still say:

that I love being a mommy of boys!

They fill my life with giggles, hilarious facial expressions, and chaos.

I cannot get enough of their joyous, hold-on-so-tight-I-can-barely-breathe hugs and sloppy kisses!

Life is so much better when I am surrounded by Thomas the Tank Engine toys, scattered Hot Wheels cars, random Lego pieces, and other reminders that my life would not be complete without my boys.

I treasure their exuberance for life and rejoice.

Because - I am a mom of boys.

Summertime. . . and The Livin is Easy

We had the privilege of attending my husband's uncle's wedding this past Saturday. The Nerd himself was out of town on vacation (yeah, we take separate vacations - more about that in a later post. -grin-) I then was in charge in three lovely littles by myself at an outdoor wedding on a very large property. My in-laws were awesome and helped as much as they could, but it was all I could do to sneak a few photos here and there. Here are a few of my favorites:

The Beast: "I am so over this tie. and all the smiling. Can we go now?"
The Drama Queen: "Hmmm...how can I come up with a new way to ask Mom and Dad for a puppy?"

The Spud: "You got to be kidding me, right? I don't see any cheese! What am I supposed to smile about? Now if you had said, 'Say Cookie' or 'Say Mass Destruction', I would have been all over that."

The Spud managed to drink his soda out of the can on his own quite well. Well, if you don't mind several streaks down the uber cute tie and a brown puddle on the porch. (no, it's not beer, people! It's cream soda!)

The Beast paused long enough for a cute shot with the man of the hour . . . and his soda. What can I say? I knew it was going to be a tough gig - allowing the kids to have soda helped me maintain some of my sanity.

Other random facts about the day:
1) please note the Spud's adorable loafers. I found those on sale at Wally World for just $3.
2) the Drama Queen picked out her own dress because it "sorta matched Momma's." (also a great bargain for $6 at Burlington Coat Factory!)
3) the sun and crazy activity had really gotten to me, so naturally I had to stop on the way home and get a Northwest Chocolate Cherry shake with expresso from Burgerville. Have you all noticed they have started printing the nutritional information on your receipt?? My splurge of the day ended up costing me 1100 calories! (guess who didn't eat dinner that night!!)
4) a HUGE thank you to my in-laws, who despite their exhaustion too kindly took the littles off my hands for the night and brought them to church the next morning. ahh sweet no-kid time. It was glorious!

My PeeWee Pirates

I tried to get a cute snapshot of my two oldest, getting ready to head off to their PeeWee Pirates club the other night.

Despite all the hamming it up, (or maybe because of it!), I think I succeeded. The wide grins and attempts at peek-a-boo are priceless! :)

All My Pigs in Their Pen

Every Wednesday evening, I have the privilege of spending some time with some very adorable kids. My husband and I run the PeeWee Pirate club at our church, which is a program for 3 -5 year-olds that teaches them character traits and Bible lessons. They also learn a new verse and song which they all get to perform in a church service each month. I love my PeeWees, although things can be a little hectic with nineteen little ones. And did I mention that two of the rascally crew are my own Drama Queen and Beast?

Last night, the PeeWees sang a hilarious song called "Pigs Don't Live in Houses". (hence the pig noses on some of the children!) Note the smiling blonde all the way in the back corner. Yep, that's my Drama Queen! You may also note the absence of the Beast.

That's because Mr. Beast strutted his stuff right out on stage, turned around, and spotted his grandparents in the audience. He kept shouting "There's Grandma! There's Grandpa!" "Hi, Grandma!" until we had to take him down from the stage so he wouldn't distract from the rest of the song.
Everyone loved it of course, and kept telling me what a little ham he was. The truth is, they were all little hams! Sweet little pigs! :)