Joseph Stephen - Four Months Old

Dear Joseph,

It is truly amazing how much you changed during this last month. You are growing so quickly! You currently weigh 17 1/2 pounds and are wearing six month clothes. It seems as if we can see you grow right before our eyes.

During the past month, you have tried and tried to roll over from your back to your front. You will turn your head, flip your legs around, and get onto your side only to have your darn arm in the way. It is so frustrating for you because you just cannot figure out how to move that arm. So, instead of rolling over, you move around in a circle. When laying on the floor, you wiggle and squirm so much that you eventually end up off the blanket and typically facing the opposite direction! It is probably best that you have not learned how to roll over though because you still hate being on your stomach. You can lay on the floor for 30 minutes and be so happy on your back, but you typically don't last 5 minutes on your stomach. As strong and active as you are though, I know it won't be long before you are rolling all over!


This is what I do when I am on my stomach too long!

You have recently started sitting in the walker for short periods of time and absolutely love it! You can even maneuver the walker enough to move around a little. You seem to like the walker so much because you can see everyone and be involved in the action. It is somewhat nerve wracking though when William decides that you need to go for a ride in the walker! We watch him very carefully. You are also getting strong enough to sit up; however, you are a little top heavy so eventually you start to topple over!

You continue to be the happiest baby! You always wake up with a smile and very rarely cry. You have even started laughing out loud recently; it is so adorable! We have also noticed that you are very ticklish, especially around your neck and armpits. Each time we change your clothes you crack up laughing. In addition to laughing, you are jabbering all of the time. Even though you are the youngest, you make it a point to be heard. Your jabbering is very loud, but we all enjoy listening to you!

All of this growing and activity has made you very tired. You continue to sleep through the night and take very good naps during the day. It also appears that you might be teething. Everything goes into your mouth. Your little hands work so diligently to grasp objects and get them to your mouth so you can gum them. I would not be surprised at all to find that you have teeth breaking through soon.

We love you so much!

Mommy and Daddy

 

 

Whoa! I am not very stable when I am sitting up yet!

Matthew's Zip Line Accident

On Monday, September 10, Matthew had an unfortunate encounter with a zip line. Matthew was waiting for Toby to pick him up from a friend's house after football practice while I was at a P.E.O. meeting in Vale. The nearby barn had a zip line installed in it, and the boys decided to play on it while waiting for Toby. What 10 year old boy wouldn't think a zip line was awesome! Unfortunately, during Matthew's final trip down the zip line, the line became unattached from the wall causing Matthew to crash to the cement floor with his momentum still propelling him forward.

I do not take my cell phone into meetings, so I did not know about the accident. As my mom, sister, and I were saying good-bye after the meeting, Toby pulled up. I was surprised to see his pickup, and as soon as I saw Matthew's face I knew something was wrong. Toby and Matthew frantically tried to tell us what had happened, and as we evaluated his injuries, I knew that he needed to go to the hospital. Matthew had facial injuries and had also chipped his two front (permanent) teeth. Matthew really did not know at that point how bad his injuries were, so we tried to make it sound like a few simple stitches would fix him right up! We quickly transferred Matthew to my car and drove to Ontario. My mom and Tiffany were in Tiffany's pickup, so in an effort not to scare Matthew, they called our dentist on the way and asked him what to do about the teeth. Our dentist is Rhett Tipton, and let me just say, he is amazing! He met us at his office at 9:30 at night! He is so good with kids and did an excellent job of calming Matthew down. While there, we found out that although the teeth were chipped, Matthew should not lose them completely. There was a small fracture in the root of one of the teeth, but Dr. Tipton was pretty confident that the fracture would heal. We did discover; however, that Matthew would have a long road ahead of him to fix the two front teeth.

After the exam by Dr. Tipton, we went on to the E.R. in Ontario. We were there until after 1:00 in the morning! Fortunately, the scans and x-rays revealed that he did not have any broken bones. Originally, they were concerned that his thumb and jaw were fractured, but he was very lucky! On the downside, Matthew received 20 stitches to sew up the two gashes on his face. He was very tough, but was also glad when it was finally time for us to go home. Matthew was quite sore and could not eat very easily, so he stayed home from school the rest of the week. The accident also cut his football season short, as Matthew was not able to play again due to the possibility of re-injuring himself.

Considering how bad the injuries could have been, Matthew was a very lucky boy. Hopefully, this will be our last visit to the E.R. for a while!

The Bench T

The Bench T is not only our cattle and horse brand, it is now the name of my Etsy shop! The shop tag line is "Rustic Wood Creations for Every Occasion" and that pretty much explains the products. They are adorable block sets to place in the home. You can visit www.etsy.com/shop/thebencht to view the products I have available, and I will be adding more designs all of the time. In addition, I take custom orders. You can also Like my page on Facebook to receive a 10% off coupon which is good through the month of October. Below is a sampling of a few of my favorite designs so far:

Did you notice my amazing logo? My step-sister Jodi McCauley is the owner of Greenhouse Studio in Frisco, Texas and she designed the logo and accompanying marketing materials for me. I would highly recommend her work! You can visit her Etsy shop at www.etsy.com/shop/GreenhouseStudioLLC or her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/GreenhouseStudioLLC. We did everything through email communication and it was so simple. She also does website design. Check out the school website she designed for me http://mycurriculumcorner.com/!

Crock Pot Freezer Meals

It is no secret that I hate to cook. I would really like it if somehow dinner would just magically appear on our table each night, but that does not happen. It used to happen when my mom lived in Willowcreek. She loves to cook, so she would just call and say "There is homemade macaroni and cheese in my refrigerator. Stop by and get it and put in in your oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees." Or even better - "Why don't you come down for dinner?" This was heaven for me! But, after eight years, I have to come to terms with the fact that my mom is not moving back to Willowcreek. So instead, my brother gets those phone calls!

My problem is not so much that I despise cooking, but I hate planning, shopping, cooking, and cleaning up after getting up at 5:45 a.m. and working all day. It is just exhausting. I would much rather be spending time with my family, sewing, or crafting. Too often, we get home, I get everyone settled, and I finally sit down and think "Shit, now I have to cook dinner!" Don't laugh, that is really what I think! So, I have a few go-to meals. Recently, those have been tacos, hamburgers, or pancakes (I love breakfast for dinner). I get into a rut and cook the same dinners over and over. Luckily, the boys don't seem to mind, but I feel bad and know that I need to provide a more diverse menu.

Recently, I have noticed many recipes on Pinterest for crock pot freezer meals. With the recent change in the weather (it is finally beginning to feel like fall), I have been inspired to get my crock pot out. I really enjoy cooking in my crock pot - I actually have four of them! It does not feel like cooking though because I can just throw a few ingredients into the crock pot, turn it on and forget about it for the rest of the day. Then, the house starts to smell delicious and when dinnertime rolls around, I feel like super mom! After falling into my cooking rut, I decided that crock pot freezer meals might work well for us. So, I gathered some recipes from Six Sisters' Stuff a recipe from Gooseberry Patch and one recipe from Amy our babysitter. When I picked up the two little boys the other day, her house smelled so good that it was all I could do not to invite myself to stay for dinner. She must have seen the drool falling from my mouth, because she offered me the recipe!

On Friday, I made my shopping list and went to the grocery store. I was pleased to see that many ingredients were consistent among the recipes which made shopping easier. When I arrived home, I didn't even put my groceries away. Instead, I took them out of the bags and left them on the counter. Then, I began chopping and bagging according to the recipes. Although the Six Sisters' Stuff post said that it only took an hour, it took me a little longer. However, if I was to do it a second time and be more familiar with the recipes, I think I could probably complete the process in one hour. While I was in the groove, I added the ingredients for the Black Bean Chili into the crockpot for dinner that evening.

I ended up with:

• BBQ Spareribs
• Chicken Broccoli Alfredo
• Chicken Cacciatore
• Hearty Beef Stew
• Maple Dijon Glazed Chicken
• Beef, Tomato and Tortellini Casserole
• Cilantro Lime Chicken with Corn and Black Beans (I made two bags because it smelled so good!)

With about an hour of preparation, I had dinner in the crock pot and EIGHT more meals ready to go. In addition to having future meals planned, there were other benefits to this process. First, I only ended up with a couple of grocery items to put away. Everything else was used in a recipe. Second, I had so few dishes! Instead of using the cutting board, knife, measuring spoons, measuring cup, etc. eight different times for eight different meals, I was able to using all of the dishes over and over with each recipe. After I was finished, I ended up with less than one load of dishes to load into the dishwasher! I am totally doing this again!

We ate the Black Bean Chili on Friday and I cooked the Chicken Broccoli Alfredo on Saturday. They were both amazing! Just a side note, I added a little more meat than each of the recipes called for because my family eats so much! Both nights, I ended up with just enough leftovers for one lunch which is perfect for me to take to school! I will let you know how the other recipes turn out, and if you have any amazing crock pot freezer meal ideas, send them my way!

Aunt Tiffany

Aunt Tiffany

Aunt Tiffany, or Aunt Tissy as William likes to call her, by far my boys' favorite aunt. And that is not just because she is their only aunt. She is amazing and would be their favorite aunt even if they had 100 aunts. Aunt Tiffany is perfect in every way; she takes the boys to sporting events, she takes them fishing/hunting, she buys them University of Oregon gear. She is just plain AWESOME!. I mean, who wouldn't love Aunt Tiffany? I know I do!

However, sometimes Aunt Tiffany can be just a bit too awesome. Today Matthew's class was playing a game as a reward. The game was structured so that there were multiple cups arranged in a triangle. Then, the students had to throw a ping pong ball into the cups to earn points. Does this game sound familiar? Well, Matthew recognized it and announced to the entire class - "THIS IS JUST LIKE BEER PONG!" When Tiffany was attending University of Oregon, she brought a large group of sorority sisters to Willowcreek for an Eastern Oregon experience. During that trip, the ping pong table was set up for a Beer Pong Tournament. Matthew and Peter were also involved in the tournament (don't worry they did not drink the beer). So, Aunt Tiffany can also take credit for teaching Matthew and Peter how to play Beer Pong. Isn't she awesome!

Luckily, Matthew's teacher just laughed. We absolutely love Aunt Tiffany, but sometimes she can be a little too awesome!

I Help!

William can be such a sweet and helpful little boy. Now that he is two going on ten, he thinks that he should get to help with everything! It isn't all bad though and his intentions are good. He helps pick up toys (while singing the clean up song), he helps with the laundry, he puts things in the garbage, etc. However, sometimes his help can be a little much. Recently, he has started "helping" bathe Joseph each evening . . .

 

Joseph looks a little concerned that I am letting William help during bath time!