Wordless Wednesday

At long last!

Weighing in at 10lbs 2oz and 21 in long...... Ethan!  By far our biggest (Zeke 9lbs 2oz and Xander 8lbs 13oz).  He doesn't look like a newborn, doesn't fit the newborn diapers either.  Shan and Ethan are doing great, everything went well.

The week is finally here!  The due date is right around the corner!
The question still remains on whether the bracket will finish before the baby arrives?

The winner of Shannon's bracket is still in?  Which name?  Glenn's, well, not so close.  Xander, everyone knows he is still pulling for Rex.

The voting is to the right ------->>>>>>

Voting for the last few weeks is scheduled as:

Final Match up                            Sept 11 - Sept 17

Due Date                                    Sept 20

Then there were 4

The last of the 16.  Four names remain.
Will the bracket finish before the baby arrives? Does your bracket still match?

The voting is to the right ------->>>>>>

Voting for the last few weeks is scheduled as:


Final 4                                        Sept 4 - 10

Final                                           Sept 11 - Sept 17

Due Date                                    Sept 20

3 Weeks to go!

Only 8 names remain.
Now it gets interesting.  Does your bracket match the above?  Did you pick all the names?


The voting is to the right ------->>>>>>

Voting for the last few weeks is scheduled as:


Elite 8                                         Aug 28 - Sept 3

Final 4                                        Sept 4 - 10

Final                                           Sept 11 - Sept 17

Due Date                                   Sept 20

Baby Bracket - Vote Now

The names are a collaboration of the entire family. Print, pick, and have some fun with us. Our family has made our selections (none were the same).
We'll post what we selected after he's born.

The voting is to the right ------->>>>>>

Voting groups will be posted each week

Sweet 16 (Groups 1-4)          Aug 13 - 20

Sweet 16 (Groups 5-8)          Aug 21 - 27

Elite 8                                         Aug 28 - Sept 3

Final 4                                        Sept 4 - 10

Final                                           Sept 11 - Sept 17

Due Date                                   Sept 20

Happy Everything!

Happy Memorial Day, Happy Father's Day, Happy Birthday, Happy 4th of July, Happy Birthday.....

There really is too much....let me sum up. The end of May we spent in HOT Arizona with Cox family cousins and swam a lot and played a lot and napped a lot. It was fun to actually spend some time in Phoenix and see the area. It's been a while since we've been in the desert and seen real mountains and the boys learned what a cactus is. Thanks for sharing space and time with us guys!

So I have no excuses like morning sickness or too much to do for not taking pictures and not posting. I guess summer is just flying by!

We celebrated Father's Day (no pictures) and Big Daddy's Birthday within a couple of weeks of each other. It's kind of funny because that's always how it was growing up, Dad's B-day and Father's Day kind of lumped together. Sorry babe that it was all kind of lame.

And then the 4th of July we spent in HOT Tennessee celebrating birthdays and freedom and lots more swimming. We had a lot of fun seeing great fireworks and spending time with family. There were some we'd never met before and it was great to get reacquainted and closer to others. Thanks for all the fun!

And we now have a 4 year old! He requested a crab cake. (Huh?) He wanted red frosting and red cake, which was great 'cause it could hide all of my unprofessional cake making lack of skills. I'm just sayin'. But I would say his dad is quite the designer of cakes, wouldn't you? I made the cake, he designed it, and then I frosted it. Come to think of it, that's the best we have worked together on a project, we should open a bakery. Ha ha! It was kind of funny because we worked on it way too late at night and so when the birthday boy woke up he went into the kitchen first thing and saw the finished cake. He then came to me and said, "My cake looks awesome, Mom. Come check it out!" Easy to please. He's happy, I'm happy. Hopefully he had a fun day.

Starting May off with a bang

We celebrated 6 years since this day:

And I was reminded on Sunday how blessed I am to be home with these two all day:

And














we learned that it's going to be another BOY we are adding to the mix!

Decisions, decisions

 We don't take pictures of all four of us very often, can you tell why? Mr. Double chin is at least looking, but Mr. Half-eye was pretty much asleep by the time we got to the river and his dad was carrying him. Anyway, it's all you get since it's our most recent pic of all of us.

So on to my update for any of you who may care. We have made a decision about housing. We were looking at possibly buying something, likely a townhome or a small home. And though the prospect was exciting and looking was kind of fun, we signed another year to keep renting. Crazy!

2 reasons:
prayer + fasting = it just felt right
After reading this guy's book, it changed the way I/we think about a lot of things.

While I don't think we'll adopt or even do all the baby steps he suggests right now (we use credit cards and pay off the balance and we'll not be the 60% or whatever that don't use their airline points. Are you kidding? How else are we going to see family once in a while?!) the things he says just make sense. You know how you find something and you cling to it because it just works and it is true and it's plain and simply logical. Well, that's Dave for you. I'm a fan. Plus, he's a Tennessee guy. How can I not love him? ;)

What do you think? Have you read TMM? Do you like him/hate him? Don't get what all the fuss is about? Just read the reviews and the testimonials. Amazing! 


Here's  a "wonderful" quote I have heard and read several times:

Interest [on debt] never sleeps nor sickens nor dies; it never goes to the hospital; it works on Sundays and holidays; it never takes a vacation; it never visits nor travels; it takes no pleasure; it is never laid off work nor discharged from employment; it never works on reduced hours. ... Once in debt, interest is your companion every minute of the day and night; you cannot shun it or slip away from it; you cannot dismiss it; it yields neither to entreaties, demands, or orders; and whenever you get in its way or cross its course or fail to meet its demands, it crushes you.
J. Reuben Clark Jr. in Conference Report, Apr. 1938:103.

The Wearin' O' the Green

So in Chicago not just the people wear green...

The river does too!

*Update*  Some of you were wondering how they do it. Go here and scroll down to St. Patrick's Day. Pretty interesting stuff. I love wikipedia.



We had weekend guests so we went downtown and saw the really green and really cool river. I thought it was fascinating that the whole river could be such a vibrant color. Totally worth the trip and the cold and rain we all endured that day.

Other fun we had:

Shopping at the mall. Getting more stuff.

Riding the carousel 500 times. It's all about the boys for this one.

Crawling around at the Children's Museum.

Fun had by all???

Yes. Thanks for making the long journey Mom, Dad, Mel and Suze! Sure love ya! Miss ya!

Kiss me, I'm Irish!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Huskies and Dog Sleds

A couple of weeks ago we went to see some Huskies. Knowing that our boys are dog lovers, we thought it would be fun.

The dogs were very friendly. This one is named Sapphire and was all over all three of us that got down on her level. There was going to be dogsledding, so we waited around for the dogs to get going.


It looks like we're having fun, right? Well, it's past nap time and it was pretty cold.  But we got to see the dogs!