Christmas 2013

We FINALLY got our Christmas pictures taken - just in time!! 

We have the new house all decorated and the tree is up - a day after Thanksgiving tradition.

Unfortunately, we don't have a mantle on either of our fireplaces, so we had to improvise.

I found this super cute idea on the internet - thank you internet! 

Houses on both sides of us are being gutted right now. The contractor on the right has let me take WHATEVER I wanted. I got some kitchen cabinet doors. 

David painted the middle of this one, and cleaned it up. He drilled our extra cabinet knobs for stocking holders for me.

My friend Alisha helped me work out the red wording on her Cricut, and her sister helped me stick them on.

David suspended it from the ceiling tonight. 

I really didn't do anything but find the idea. . . 

But, I surround myself with supportive and creative people - that has to count for something right?

Halloween

There are so many things to catch up on - like Carter's first day of preschool, and Beckett crawling, and Beckett's first words, and I am so behind. I figured I'd start somewhere though. Halloween. 

We all got a pumpkin to decorate that we grew in our garden. They all made it to orange!!

Carter had so much trouble deciding what to be for Halloween. He has so many dress-up costumes that he loves, it was hard to chose. 

First, he wanted to be an Auto Shop Teacher. I happened to have his costume from when he was 2, so I dug it out:

It still fits him 2 years later! (just a little short)

Or, should he be an astronaut?

What about Charlie Brown?

He ended up choosing to be a BYU Football player at the church Trunk-Or-Treat.

And and astronaut when we went to the mall to get candy there:

Beckett was a Cabbage Patch doll:

I recently found out that I was able to wear last year's costume again this year. I figured, why not get my money's worth out of it huh?

Squeeze Pouches

For Christmas last year, David got me the Infantino Fresh Squeezed system. I have not been able to use it until now. But, I love it. 

Disclaimer: It is not without mess!!!! 

I harvested my Asian Pear Tree this year and borrowed an apple saucer - The Victorio Strainer - from a friend at church. It made my saucing go SO MUCH EASIER than last year where I did it by hand!!! And, Carter got to help. (Ignore the too small jammie top and the falling down shorts - I didn't want him to get his clothes apple saucy, and he chose this...

We got 18.5 quarts of sauce out of our tree this year. I mixed up our sauce in two batches. I made Broccoli/Kale and Spinach/Kale. I cooked the Broccoli, Spinach, and Kale. Then, I threw them in the food processor that David got me for Christmas the year Carter was born, and pureed the heck out of it. I poured them in the little cups and squeezed it into the pouches. 

David wanted me to try the stuff out on Carter before I filled all these pouches. "What if he hates it?" he asked. So, I poured some in a little bowl and handed him a spoon. NO WAY. He absolutely refused. I got one bite in him after a while, and he said it was yucky. I turned around and handed him the same batch in a pouch, and he ate 3. I think it is all about delivery. EVEN THOUGH THE POUCH IS CLEAR. He could still see that it looked the same in the bowl as it did in the pouch. Silly boy.

The caps on the right are Broccoli/Kale/Asian Pear and the left are Spinach/Kale/Asian Pear. 

I have 175 in the freezer. I didn't count the number of pouches Carter ate while I was squeezing them. Probably 8 or so.

They have spots to mark on them what they are. Do that BEFORE you fill them. If there is any wetness or perspiration on the package, the marker won't stick. 

Also, they say that these pouches are NOT reusable. They are very durable, and thick. The reason they are not reusable is because there is no way to get them dry after cleaning. There could be bacteria that gets in, that you can't fully clean out or dry off. I am on the fence about this. When I let Carter eat them during the process, I just kept filling the same pouch over and over. I looked into the reusable ones, and they were 10 TIMES MORE EXPENSIVE. They come in packages of 2. I couldn't bring myself to do it. I do my baby food with too much volume to buy them 2 pouches at a time. 

Beckett signs and sits.

Beckett has really picked up on signs. He is very food motivated. He signs "Food" and "More" and "All Done". He is also a screamer. When I am not feeding him fast enough, or I put the spoon down, he will shriek like a banshee. We have been trying to ignore the screaming, but it is really hard because he is relentless. I finally turned to him and very sternly said "That is not how you get food. How do you ask?" He frantically started signing "More". I was caught off guard at his response. He repeated it again today. He just turned 10 months, and is showing a good grasp of language.

Beckett is 10 months now, but can only sit for short periods of time before falling over. He fatigues very easily and is not able to remain sitting once he begins to fall over. Carter had the same problem, but I never had him sit on the hardwood floor when I left him to sit for long periods of time. So, when he fell, it was on a soft surface. I didn't think much of it - he reached all the appropriate milestones, just a little slower than his peers.

Because of his delayed gross motor skills, Beckett qualifies for services in our county's early intervention program. He is seeing a physical therapist weekly to strengthen his muscles. We had our second appointment today and he is doing well. He is able to sit up, and hold himself standing now - where he couldn't before. However, he is still not staying up for any longer amount of time. Hopefully, that will come soon.

We moved

We moved. I know that is a horrible excuse for not updating my blog sooner. A couple of things that have slowed me down: Lack of reliable internet, and the movement of Beckett into the office to sleep not in my room. As soon as he's sleeping through the night, we'll move him in with Carter. 

Pros and Cons of the new house:

+ Space. The new house is just over 3200 Square Feet. (Well over twice our Kent house)
+ Basement - a requirement for David
+ Cool spiral staircase
+ Granite slab counter tops
+ 3 Bathrooms
+ 5 bedrooms
+ Storage Space
+ Large Garage
+ Good sized lot (shy third of an acre, just a bit smaller than what we had)
+ Nice neighborhood
+ Close to the lake
+ Covered play area for the boys to play outside
+ The opportunity to make it our own
+ Hardwood floors throughout

+ Not having to change congregations at church

- Not having everything finished

- No sidewalks (Which I am actually wondering if that is a bad thing. Walking 2 dogs, pushing a stroller, and keeping a little boy on a bike on the 4 feet you get on a sidewalk is proving to be quite difficult)

- Smaller kitchen

- Walk through kitchen (We wanted to avoid the racetrack layout, where the kids run through the kitchen and around the living room while you're making dinner)

- 3 Bathrooms to clean

- Stairs

- Close to the lake

- The hardwood they put in is really nice, but REALLY hard to keep clean!!

- The work that it has needed and will need

- Not being in the school district we wanted

- Having a second kitchen/wet bar in the basement can get a little boy in trouble frequently

- Sliding glass doors!! And having 4 of them!!
- Not on a cul-de-sac

- Losing the best neighbor anyone could ever have

Kitchen

Kitchen again

 Dining Room

Living Room

The boy's room 

The office

The Master

My new bedroom colors - of course I didn't get a picture of the finished project. I found these on my phone from when I was painting. (it is brown and teal, not neon blue - I promise)

Media Room

Lovely purple bathroom

Last time we ditched the pink. We are so keeping the purple...

We all wanted to live on a cul-de-sac, but it didn't work out. Carter calls this 400 Square-Foot covered porch his "Quarter Sack"

We have had our share of catastrophes since we moved in. There was a major gas leak at the fire place. The gas company came and shut the gas off, leaving us without heat until we could get it fixed. That was a challenge!

The down spouts are clogged, so the water from the roof was not able to drain properly. It was flowing over our foundation and into the basement. David redirected them away from the house, but I need to get someone out to fix them.

The roof leaked (I still have a leak in the front porch, but that is not a priority), right into my living room. David had to take a couple days off work to fix the roof.

The florescent lights in the kitchen broke while on - filling the house with noxious gas and smoke. Luckily it was after the boys went to bed. I had to open all the doors and windows and turn the fan on. With no heat, that proved to be not so fun, but not deadly!

The bathrooms haven't been used in quite a while, so the seals are bad in many fixtures. The toilets are all fine, but the faucets all leak. We are currently going to the basement to shower. So, if I am stinky it is because I was too cold to hike myself down stairs for a shower. I have become very used to having a bathroom in my bedroom!! Hopefully we will get the master bath fixed soon!!

So excited to have our forever home. I still hope we can continue to add rentals - as that is the only way I can see us having money for retirement!!

Keep following for updated pictures of how we have improved.

Well, put it away....

I was looking for Carter, and couldn't find him. I called his name. He replies: I'm in my room, but you can't come in because I'm naked. I have my penis out. Nobody else is here, so I can have my penis out." He was trying to dress up in his costumes, and we have a very strict Keep-Your-Clothes-On-When-You-Wear-Costumes rule in our house, so we aren't getting naked in front of our friends. Well, someone understood the meaning behind the rule...

Beckett fell asleep in the car and Carter starts to sing very loudly. Before I could ask him to be quiet, he stops singing and says "My quiet voice ran away. I don't know where it went. So, I don't know how to be quiet, since it ran away. So, I just have to sing really loud."

Funny kid.

Mooooooooooooo

Carter's reading has really taken off. David randomly asked Carter what "C-O-W" spelled. Carter thinks about it in his head. I asked him to sound it out so we could figure it out together. He looks up at me and shouts "MOO! I mean, Cow!!