Here we are

We're alive!  What a doozy this past month has been!  Want some advice?   Don't move!  Ever!  Just don't do it!  It's just too much work!  Just kidding...kind of.

Actually we are enjoying what our new house has to offer, but we're still in the "figuring out where things should go" mode and it's starting to drive us a little nuts.  :)  We moved just a month ago when the first of the cold weather started here and it was raining all that weekend.  We rushed to get things settled as much as possible before Christmas.  Luckily we had our Christmas shopping done (thank you Amazon!) before we even planned on moving.  Christmas was so fun with our boys.  Grant really got into it all this year.  He had so much fun leaving cookies and milk out for Santa.  Hearing his voice squeal with delight on Christmas morning as we listened to him from our warm bed was priceless.  Two days later we welcomed my sister and her family to our house for a 2 week stay.  It was going to be so much fun.  And then THE FLU HIT!!!!!  I've never had a kid throw up before (just some serious spit up), but I had my fair share of it all during those 2 weeks.  We all got it and we all helped take care of each other. I feel like my boys flu shots were a waste of money this year!  So we didn't do much with our Christmas vacation.  Grant started at a new preschool after his recovery (I think he had it the worst).  His new school is great and we love his new teacher.  Keith went back to work after being home for Christmas break.  I was so glad he was home during all the mess.  Then Keith went out of town for a week and my sister and her family went home.  Let's just say, I'm exhausted.  Grant and I miss our "little house," but probably only because it's been a rough start here.

We are hoping for warmer weather soon and good health so we can feel more settled here.  We are so grateful that we were able to move into a bigger home with a yard.  As much as we liked our "little house" it was time to move on.  It has been really nice to have a yard to play in and we've loved our grapefruit tree.  We have lots of little projects to get started around here and as soon as I get more space on my computer I'll upload my pictures and show you more of what we've been up to.

A Christmas Wreath

Last year I found some fun sparkly paper at Hobby Lobby and I knew I had to make something with it.  I thought and thought and then I came up with the idea of making paper wreaths with my kids hands.  Well, last year my hands were a little too full with a newborn so it didn't happen until this year.  I love how they turned out and it was so easy to do.  I just traced a hand from each of my boys and then used that as a pattern to cut out a bunch more.  I cut out a circle from a 12x12 piece of card stock and then lined the hands up around it till it looked good.  Then I glued it together, added the berries and a nice red bow.  Whalah!  We gave one to each set of grandparents.  They loved it!

On a windy day a few weeks ago

We had a lovely windy day a few weekends ago and luckily we had our fish kite in the car with us.  So we went to the park and flew that thing.  Grant always begs to go fly the kite, but really it's hardly ever windy enough here.  He was so excited!  Brett thought it was pretty cool too.

We went all out and even rode the train afterwards.  I love Grant's crooked little smile.  It's so him.  I probably have a hundred pictures of him making that face.  He's such a goof ball.  And Brett.  I probably have a hundred pictures of him sucking that thumb!

We had such a nice day together.  I just love it when we can spend a whole Saturday together as a family.

Sunday and today

This past Sunday Keith & Grant dressed like twins.  Aren't they cute?  They went to regional conference while Brett & I stayed home.  Brett had woken up Sunday morning with a burning fever.

Today Grant was so cute before he went to school.  I just had to take some pictures.  Isn't he looking so grown up?!

Today we were supposed to have our family pictures taken, but this is Brett:

Still sick, and not very photogenic today (Plus it looks like his hand is missing.  Oh dear!).  I took him to the doctor last night and he has an ear infection.  That explains the high fevers.  He started a prescription last night and this morning I accidentally spilled the whole thing all over my kitchen floor.  Oh boy, we are both ready for a new day.  Until then, we will continue with lots of snuggles and lots of other things not getting done around here.  And we will have our pictures taken next week.

Pumpkin Pancakes

For Halloween dinner we enjoyed some yummy pumpkin pancakes under our spooky bat light.  We topped them with pure maple syrup and roasted pecans.  They were so good!  Here's the recipe if you feel like trying it.

Pumpkin Pancakes

2 cups flour

3 TBS packed brown sugar

1 TBS baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1-2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 3/4 cups milk

3 eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 cup canned pumpkin

1/4 cup cooking oil (I used coconut oil and it was really good!)

1. In large bowl combine flour and other dry ingredients.  In a second bowl combine eggs and remaining ingredients.  Stir milk mixture into flour mixture until slightly lumpy.
2. Heat a lightly greased griddle or heavy skillet over medium heat.  Pour batter in circles onto griddle.  Cook until golden; turn when tops are bubbly and edges are slightly dry (1-2 minutes per side).

Halloween 2012

We started off this years festivities in style.  Last Friday night we went to a costume party at Keith's sister's house.  Keith repeated his Man In The Yellow Hat costume from last year.  Grant was Super Why, thanks to this birthday party he went to in August.  Brett was an adorable turtle just like Grant was when he was a baby.  And I was a hippy/70's sort of person.  I wore my mom's dress that she actually made in high school and wore to her senior dance.  So cool Mom!  With the super long wig, super long eyelashes and cream colored lipgloss I was set.

Here's a better shot of Grant since he's kind of cut off above:

It was way too hard to try to catch our cute little turtle holding still, so here are some action shots:

 Keith got 3rd place in the costume contest.  I'll have you know that he actually made everything about his costume except the tie.  He got the clothes and dyed them himself and spray painted the hat.  So proud of him!  Aren't those other costumes great?  The caveman won and Cruella Deville was the runner up.

On Halloween day Brett was so excited to go trick-or-treating that he was climbing the walls.  Literally.  This goober has been climbing everything lately.  I found him standing on top after he moved the seat over there himself.

Handsome Halloweeners ready to go trick-or treating.  Grant decided at the last minute to be this cute Dalmatian.  He loved having his nose painted black.  My mom made this costume for my sister when she was a little girl.  So glad it's still around and glad we got to use it before we send it to my sister!

I was so excited for our pumpkins this year.  We usually carve them really quick at the last minute, or sometimes not at all.  This year we carved them for Family Home Evening so they were ready to go.  The funny part was that Grant just didn't understand why we put them outside.  He was so concerned about them, and he kept wanting to blow out the candles.  

It was really fun to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood area this year.  We sure walked a lot!  After visiting my parents we went to Keith's parents.  Grant went straight to this fun train table that Grandma Jackson just got.  He couldn't get enough of it.

Little Brett still isn't feeling so well and staying up late last night didn't help.  He was so tired when I went to run errands this morning with my mom.  He fell asleep on the way home and took a really long nap when we got home.  And then Grant got home from school and he was tired too.  I convinced him to take a nap too (which hardly ever happens) and then ran to my bed and took a nap too!  Oh those precious and few naps that I get!  It was great!

Hope you had a fun Halloween to!