Merry Christmas!

Dashing through this year
With a simple line or two
Describing the chaos
And crazy things we do (ha, ha, ha)
Our family numbers five
Dane was born in June
We’re still in the same house
We’ve filled up all the rooms…


Oh, we have three boys, we step on toys
We need rub-ber walls
Oh, what fun it is to clean
While dodging flying balls
Busy boys, making noise
We need sound proof walls
Oh, what fun it is to hear
When we get phone calls!
A month or two ago
I thought to write a note
This boyhood memory
Is quite the anecdote
While getting food prepared
I called the boy’s inside
I stopped to take a look
And this is what I spied…

Oh, the boys out back, a rock lifted a crack
And reaching underneath
They were picking something out of it
And biting with their teeth
I called them in, to their chagrin,
Fast on their little legs
Then they confirmed, my stomach churned,
They’re snacking on ant’s eggs!
Oh, these boys! They have no poise
Just curiosity
Oh, what fun it is to know
They’ve survival strategy
We love our boys, they are such joys
We can’t, at all, complain
Oh, what fun to watch them grow, they really entertain!

Love all of us!
Lanson
Amy
Gage 5
Cole nearly 3 and
Dane6mo.

"He was Chubby and Plump, a right Jolly ole' Elf..."

(click to enlarge any of the following)

6 mo old and the sweetest little bean. Dane's almost crawling, he sings, " La, la, la..." most of the time these days, and he weighs 19lbs! Yeah, he's an elf all right.

Bert 'n' Ernie...and Rubber Ducky!

Things of note

• Gage turned 5 this month with a super Spiderman party celebrated up in Cascade over General Conference weekend. He road an ATV and we all had a web casting fight.
• Dane started rice cereal this month and loves it!
• Lans went elk hunting. 4:0 Elks. Maybe next year...
• I certified for Zumba 2
• We bought a new family vehicle. If you know anyone whose looking for a used SUV let me know.

End of August and Beginning of September

The Fun we've had lately:

1. Visits from Grandpa (see collage picture. Grandpa just got back from Alaska)

2. Visits from Gigi (we went to Time Out for Women...I highly recommend going)

3. Gage going to co-op preschool

4. Watching Dane grow right before our very eyes it seems. He was 3 mo old on Sept.4 and he weighs 16+ pounds now.

5. The car dying (loads of fun)

6. Back to teaching Boot Camp and a new class called Cardio Definitions

7. Making peach/nectarine freezer jam, spaghetti sauce, dried fruit, Zucchini bread, canning nectarines and grinding hamburger.

8. A girl's night out on the lake

9. Subbing Cole's Nursery Class

10. Harvesting our garden...31 lbs watermelon (see collage picture), corn and beans.

double click to enlarge

Lovely Day(s)

This may come across as a journal entry from a person who routinley writes the tedious mundane daily tasks that happen like what they ate for dinner, (Why are there people out there who always like to tell you what they eat?) to the happenings at the local post office (Why are there people out there that just have to tell you about the perfect stranger in front of them who happens to wear a shirt from the same college you went to?)
Anyway, this weekend has been perfectly lovely...Friday morning (6:50 am) the whole household was up and chipper, so chipper I took a picture to capture such a utopian moment. The boys, my boys, all four of them...ahhhh I thought to myself, "Aren't they just so sweet and mine to enjoy. I'm a lucky lady." I went to Zumba and was complimented on my dancing. That was nice but now I feel a little self conscious. Friday evening we went to an event a friend of mine's church was having. It was sunny, hot with a cool breeze blowing, perfect picnic weather. The kids played in jump houses, we had hot dogs :), and snow cones :)!

Saturday was just as nice outside as Friday. We took a picnic lunch down to the paddle boats. Captain Cole and Captain Gage each road in separate pelican crusers and everytime they passed each other called out, "Ahoy Mattey!" Then we played at the park. Lans and I ate chicken wraps, Gage ate a ham and cheese sandwhich, Cole ate PB and J, Dane had milk.:) I then went to the groccery store while Lans put the boys down for naps. Can I say, you just don't know how to appreciate ALONE time until you have children! So I spent an hour by myself in a very croweded groccery store. The lady in front of me had her son loading the grocceries and he kept dropping the bags of chips :).

When I got home we picked nectarines. Had a BBQ, watched a family movie and just had a restful evening. Today was also just calm and easy. We canned our nectarines, put some in the dryer, enjoyed the company of church and friends...it was a lovely weekend. PS We had pot roast, beans out of the garden and homemade rolls for dinner, yum:)!

Go, Dawg. Go! and other bits of news...

Off to the Races. Lans and five other guys trained for the past six months to compete in a sprint triathlon. They all did well, they finished the race, no injuries, and they were all walking at church the next day. Lans shaved 10 minutes off his last triathlon time. Great Job!



I thought to show our spirit it would be fun to have shirts. They said, "Go, Dawg. Go! But have some fun. Go, Dawg. Go! Swim, bike and run! It was fun to see the Peterson's, our good friends who recently moved to IF. It was also exciting to watch other people we know compete and cheer them on.

Dane's 2mo doctor's apt. was...chaotic. Three boys in a confined space for more than ten minutes is tricky. We managed but it's a good thing we don't go back for another couple months. Dane is in the 90% for weight, 50% for head circumference and length. The doctor noticed he favors holding his head to the right so he said that we needed to stretch his neck muscles the other way, 10X/day, 10 reps each time and hold for 10 sec each rep. Yea, wish me luck.

So here they are my three monkey's. We're getting ready for some schedule changes. Gage getting back into a coop preschool, Cole starting in a coop-preschool, and me teaching at the rec center. Sniff, sniff, fall is in the air and it smells...busy.