Happy Fall Front Porch Decor

I fell in love with this Huge Front Porch Welcome Sign I found on Pinterest recently, so I decided to create my own welcome sign and use it as the focal point for my fall front porch decor. I found the witch sign at JoAnn's and felt that it was quite appropriate for my house of monsters! I also created a Candy Corn Burlap Banner, stacked some straw bales, and placed the pumpkins along the straw bales to welcome our guests. I love the way the porch turned out, and the welcome sign was so popular that I received requests from my family to create signs for their front porches!

April the Pony

A few weeks ago, Matthew, Peter, Toby, Mary, and Steve went to Jordan Valley to help Uncle Tim brand his calves. While they were there, they bought a pony from Lauretta. Lauretta's grandchildren have grown to large for the pony, so they thought that William, and eventually Joseph, would enjoy riding April the pony! Matthew and Peter were so excited to show William his new pony. They saddled her, led her up to the house, and helped William ride her around the yard. As you can see from the photos, William loves April!

Fishing

Now that the weather has improved, we have been spending most of our time outside. One evening last week, we all went to a nearby pond and fished. This was William's first time fishing, and he absolutely loved it! We bought him a Spiderman fishing pole, and he is fairly certain he is an expert fisherman. Throughout the evening, William (and Toby) caught two fish! As William puts it, he has "two fishies in the bucket!" Matthew did not have much luck, as he did not catch a single fish. However, Peter did very well with a couple of catches. Peter also caught the largest fish of the evening! Joseph and I did not fish, but we had a lot of fun taking pictures and watching the boys fish! I am sure that there will be many more evenings spent by the pond (as soon as baseball season is over)!

Easter

We had such a nice Easter Sunday with our family. Mom, Dan, Greg, Nykole, Tiffany, Chad, and our family all attended the Easter Sunday Brunch at the Ontario Elks. The Elks had a delicious selection of made-to-order omelets, waffles, fruit, bacon, biscuits and gravy, and more! There was something for everyone. If you are looking for a place to go on Mother's Day, I highly recommend the Ontario Elks. They serve the same delicious brunch on Mother's Day, and we will be attending. After brunch, we went to Mom and Dan's house for an Easter egg hunt and dessert. The dessert was so good, but we did not eat a lot of it because everyone was still so full from breakfast! Then, we all took a drive to Adrian to get the grand tour of the property Tiffany and Chad recently purchased. We are so excited for them, and it was wonderful to finally get to see the property that they had described. On the way home, our family took a very scenic and enjoyable drive through country that we had never seen.

We were so blessed this year with a gorgeous Easter Sunday. I always buy the boys coordinating outfits for Easter Sunday, and on occasion I have purchased shorts with polo shirts and ended up regretting it because it was so cold. This year, I decided to play it safe and buy slacks, long sleeve shirts, and sweaters for the little boys. Wouldn't you know it, Easter Sunday was so beautiful that the boys could have worn shorts and polos! It is never that nice in Eastern Oregon on March 31st! After taking some pictures to document the event, I did allow the boys to change into cooler outfits.

We could not have asked for a more enjoyable Easter Sunday!

Joseph Stephen - 10 Months Old

Dear Joseph,

Wow! You are such a busy boy right now! I am not exaggerating when I say that you are into everything. You have learned how to open cabinets, so when I am making dinner you can often be found going from cabinet to cabinet opening and closing the doors and taking items out. You also LOVE the dishwasher. If the dishwasher is open, you are climbing in or taking dishes out of the machine. It has gotten to the point that I cannot do the dishes unless you are in your high chair or your dad is holding you! You are also quite skilled at removing practically every toy from the toy box. The toys at the bottom of the toy box present a challenge though. The other day, you reached so far into the toy box that you fell in!

Your vocabulary has continued to develop, as you have added Dada and Papa to the list of words you know. In addition, you have had your two top teeth break through this month. Even though your two bottom teeth seemed to give you a lot of problems, the two top teeth broke through very easily. We did not even realize that you were teething until one day the first tooth top tooth broke through!

We cannot believe how much you eat! It seems as if you are a bottomless pit. You are not a picky eater at all, and will eat anything that we put on your plate. You will even eat food that your brothers will not touch. It does not matter if it is a fruit, vegetable, meat, or grain, you will eat it and you typically request seconds and even thirds! Despite the fact that you eat all of the time, you have only gained one pound this month. Currently, you weigh 22 pounds and are wearing 12 month clothes.

I believe that you are not gaining a lot of weight because you are so active. You are cruising along the furniture and are so close to walking. On occasion, you can even stand on your own for a couple of seconds. It will not be long before we have a walker in the house! You have changed the way you crawl yet again. Instead of crawling on your hands and knees, you can often be found bear crawling with your hands and feet on the floor and you bottom up in the air. I am amazed by your strength because it cannot be easy to crawl like a bear!

You absolutely love your brothers and they adore you! All three boys are encouraging you as you learn to walk and are trying to get you to walk by holding your hands and helping you walk across the room. William has even started to help you. He will drive his little Thomas the Train tricycle next to you, prompt you to grab the back of the bike and start driving. As he drives, you walk along behind holding on to the back of the seat. It is quite entertaining to watch; you and William seem to love the game, as you both giggle the whole time!

I cannot believe how quickly the last 10 months has flown by Joseph. I can remember the day you were born and the events that led up to your delivery like it was yesterday. On April 16th, it will be one year since I collapsed at work and had to be placed on bed rest until you were born. As I reflect on the last year, I am reminded of how blessed we are that we have such a healthy, beautiful, happy baby boy. We love you so much Joseph!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

It is getting increasingly difficult to keep your month sticker in place as you get older.
As soon as I place the sticker on your shirt, you begin trying to peel it off!

We are working on learning to wave at people!

Rest in Peace Sweet Dixie

Yesterday, Dixie was involved in an accident and had to be put down. It would not have been fair to Dixie to try to repair her injuries, as she would have simply suffered too much. It was a very sad day at our house, as Dixie was the most loyal, sweetest, lovable dog we have ever had. She was so good with the boys and was gentle and kind enough that all of the boys could play with her and love on her. The highlight of Dixie's day was always going with Toby. She would sleep on the seat of the Ranger parked in front of the house to make sure that Toby did not leave without her knowing. Toby could not leave the house on a four-wheeler, Ranger, or in a feeding pickup without Dixie riding with him or following close behind. We will miss you sweet Dixie!

William and his "Soup"

William likes to eat soup. However, his "soup" may not be the soup you are accustomed to eating. For some reason, William calls Nesquik chocolate milk mix soup. We cannot figure out how he associated Nesquik with soup, but to try to convince him that it is not soup would be ridiculous. He simply will not believe you! So, every evening when we get his milk for bed, he requests that we get the "soup" and add it to his milk. When he was at Mema and Papa Dan's a few weeks ago, William kept talking about soup. Mom could not figure out why a two year old would want soup so badly and why, when she fixed him soup he was not satisfied. For anyone that might watch William for us in the future, soup = Nesquik! As you can see from the photo, William also likes his soup straight from the can so you have to watch him carefully or he will just cut out the milk and have straight soup!

Steer Weigh-in 2013

February 23 was weigh-in day for the Malheur County Fair steer projects. Matthew decided to weigh and tag two steers and will make the final decision regarding which steer to take to the fair later in the summer. The Black Angus steer (Lloyd) was raised by Papa Mike and the Hereford steer (Harry) was raised by us. To be eligible for the Malheur County Fair, the steers had to weigh less than 900 pounds. Lloyd was the larger of the two and weighed 855 pounds, while Harry weighed 745 pounds. Let the fun begin!

Lloyd

Harry

Daisy

This year, we had the pleasure of attending the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation banquet in Ontario. This is an amazing fundraiser for the foundation. It consists of a very nice dinner, raffles, games, and auctions. The local banquet is very well organized and fun to attend. During the past couple of years, we have taken Matthew and Peter with us, and they have had a wonderful time. The games are fun for the kids, and the foundation even has a gun donated that is given away to a youth in attendance.

This year, one of the auction items was a seven week old golden retriever/yellow lab puppy. From the moment we walked in the door, Peter fell in love. The puppy was one of the last items to be auctioned off after dinner, so Peter spent much of the evening sitting next to the puppy's kennel talking to her and petting her. Throughout the night, Toby would ask Matthew and Peter if they wanted to play games or buy tickets for raffle items. Their responses were always the same - "No, we would like you to save all of your money for the puppy." At one point during the auction, Toby began bidding on an item that he thought the boys might like, and I thought they were going to cut his arm off so he would stop bidding! They were furious that he would even consider buying anything for them other than the puppy!

Finally, the time came when it was time to auction off "Sage." Toby did not tell the boys that he was going to buy the puppy. Instead, he Toby them that he would have to wait and see. As the bidding began, Toby raised his hand and was in the lead. However, as the price got higher, he decided to stop bidding. At this point, Peter, who was sitting next to Toby, placed his head in his hands on the table. I could tell that he was crying, but did not want anyone else to see. It was so sad that I almost started crying! It obviously affected Toby too because he started bidding again. Peter's head was in his hands though, so he did not know that Toby was back in the lead. Finally, Toby was determined the highest bidder and won the puppy! He leaned over and whispered to Peter that the puppy was his. Peter raised head up and was astonished. He was sure that Toby had stopped bidding early in the auction. When he realized that Toby was telling the truth, he leaned over and gave Toby the biggest, longest bear hug  I think Toby has ever received. Then, I was in tears! It was such a happy moment!

Obviously, Peter spent the rest of the evening with his puppy who he renamed "Daisy." She is such a sweet and adorable puppy and has adapted quite well to our crazy home full of boys! 

Peter, Daisy, and Matthew

Joseph Stephen - Nine Months

Dear Joseph,

Oh sweet boy, I cannot believe how quickly you are growing! It seems like you have transformed from our baby boy to a toddler overnight.

Gone are the days of having you play on a blanket with your toys. As soon as we set you on the floor, you are gone! This month, your crawling has transitioned from your initial army crawl to a full hands and knees crawl, and boy are you fast! Also this month, you have started to pull yourself up to furniture. I cannot believe that our baby is standing and developing the skills to walk!

You have always been a talkative boy, but this month you learned how to produce actual words. Your first word was Mama and your second was baba. This is really not a surprise because it is evident that you are Mama's boy. You do just fine at daycare and when other people watch you; however, you definitely prefer Mama. I don't mind at all though, as I am savoring every minute of having you as my baby because I know how quickly you will grow! One of my favorite times of the day is rocking you to sleep each evening after everyone else has gone to bed.

You currently weigh 21 pounds and are wearing clothes that are fairly true to size. You are wearing 9-12 month clothes which is a drastic change from each of your brothers. Matthew, Peter, and William were all such big babies that they were wearing clothing sizes that were almost double their age. It has been nice because you have been able to wear each size much longer than your brothers.

We began introducing you to normal food this month, and you love it! It seems as if you actually prefer the food we are eating over the baby food. Even though we are still trying to feed you the remaining baby food that we have, you do not seem interested. Instead, you try to get the food that is on the table. Once you finish the baby food we have, we will transition you to eating only the food that we eat! It will be very easy, as we have not found any food that you will not eat. If we set it on your plate, you eat it. I swear that you are the best eater in the family right now! I am happy to report that even though we have been introducing you to a variety of foods, your eczema has not flared up too much. You continue to have a few spots that appear on your back, but your face continues to be clear!

You are such a delightful and happy boy Joseph. You bring such joy to our lives, and it is so amazing to watch you grow and develop new skills each day!

Love, Mommy and Daddy

Matthew's 11th Birthday

This year, Matthew requested that we have his birthday party at the Willowcreek Store. This worked out well for me because I didn't have to prepare my house for a party! Bev and her staff served up delicious french dip sandwiches, fries, and a salad bar. The food was excellent. We also had red velvet cake, chocolate cake, a cheesecake, and of course Baskin-Robbins ice cream. Matthew had so much fun celebrating his 11th birthday surrounded by family and friends!

Peter, Luke, William, Matthew, Joseph, and Lauren

Opening Presents

What a handsome young man!

Joseph Stephen - Eight Months Old

Dear Joseph,

We have a crawler! You started crawling this month and are so happy that you can now follow your brothers around the house. Your method of crawling is quite unorthodox, as you do not get up on your hands and knees to travel. Instead, your crawl can best be described as an army crawl. Your belly does not leave the floor, you pull with your arms, and push with your legs. You have become quite fast using this method! Here is a video:

Because of your increased activity, you really have not gained any weight this month. You are holding steady at 20 pounds. Instead, your weight has been redistributed, as you have quickly moved into 12 month clothes. As you have gotten older, you have developed a love of food. You will eat anything and must be going through a growth spurt because you seem to constantly be hungry. The bottle does not satisfy you very often; you would much rather have real food. You continue to love your pacifier and require it most evenings to go to sleep.

This month, your first two teeth broke through. It seemed like you were working on those teeth forever! The two bottom, front teeth broke through within days of one another and are very visible when you flash your handsome smile!

Your two bottom teeth are so cute!

At the beginning of the year, you developed a base case of croup. Early in the evening, you acquired a barking cough. It was still early, so I contacted the on-call pediatrician and she advised that if the cough seemed to get worse or if you started having difficulty breathing that we should go to the emergency room. Because all of your brothers have had croup at one time or another, we were familiar with the signs and continued to stay up with you through the night. Your dad and I would take shifts sitting with you wrapped up in a warm blanket outside, as the cold air can help calm the inflamed airway. If we sat outside with you, your breathing seemed to improve; however, within a few minutes of returning to the house your symptoms would worsen. Finally, at 2:30 a.m., I decided to take you to the emergency room. Upon arriving at the emergency room, we were immediately seen and the doctors began administering medication to help improve your breathing. After trying multiple treatment options, we finally found one that worked. Luckily, you were not admitted to the hospital, and we were able to return home late in the morning. It was an exhausting night for everyone!

Joseph, you are the happiest little boy. You are happy from the time you wake up until the time you go to sleep in the evening. You are starting to develop quite the personality and even a little temper. We have found that if you do not get picked up when you want picked up or removed from your high chair when you are done, you throw a little fit! You have also decided that you are too busy to have your diaper changed, as it is a struggle to get you to lay still while we are changing you. You have things to do and people to see! 

We absolutely adore you and your sweet personality and can't believe how quickly the last eight months have gone by!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy