Halloween

I am a fan of Halloween!  The candy.  The costumes.  So much fun!

The ward had a trunk r treat on the Friday before Halloween and since Paul was gone doing scouting stuff, my mom came with me to help with the boys.  It was a lot of fun.

Christian was a cowboy and horse

Brian was Mario

Aaron was Luigi

On Halloween though, some friends come over to trick or treat with the kids.  Both events were a lot of fun and I was sad to put away the Halloween decorations when it was over.

The candy is almost gone too.  Oh well, Christmas candy is just around the corner!

Gratitude Thursday 2

Here we go again with 5 things I’m grateful for today

1.  This handsome boy

Christian turned 2 yesterday and is my main companion during each day.  He doesn’t talk much, but he is amazing!  He loves to play with balls and cars, say “HI”, give kisses, have me read to him, and has quite a shoe fetish!  He goes to sleep easily and still takes great naps most days which allows me to get something done.  He cracks me up and I’m so glad that I get to spend each day with him. 

2.  My Freezer

I got an extra freezer about a year and a half ago and LOVE it!  I am currently trying to do “something” for the freezer each week.  Last week was egg rolls, this week I handled 40 lbs of chicken.  Next week I’m going to attempt homemade gogurt (including homemade yogurt in the crockpot).  Freezer meals rock and this makes it SO much easier!

3. www.lds.org

I LOVE our church website.  They are constantly updating the content on it.  So much information and so helpful.  I use it almost daily.  Whether I’m studying my scriptures, looking up phone numbers, or reading about my responsibilities in the Relief Society, it’s fabulous.  If you aren’t using it regularly, I highly recommend it!

4.  My Kitchen Aid

I got this for Christmas about 2 years a go and LOVE it!  Today I shredded cooked chicken in it.  (It was seriously SO EASY)  I love to make cookies and banana bread in it.  As I mentioned last week, I make bread in it now.  Technology is awesome!

5.  My sister

I remember growing up and NOT being grateful for my sister.  We were not always the best of friends.  (Remember those fights driving to school…the hair pulling and everything?)  But now that we’re both moms we talk to each other almost every day.  Often multiple times a day.  She is one of my best friends and I’m so grateful that even though we live over 1600 miles apart we are so close.  (I can’t wait to see you at Christmas Sissy)

I’m so grateful for so many things, it’s hard to pick 5 each week.  Maybe I’ll keep doing this ALWAYS! (maybe not!)

Gratitude Thursday

My friend Anna often does Gratitude Tuesday and I’ve been saying I’ll do it too, but I never do.  Today my friend Brittany did a Thankful Thursday.  I think I’ll take her lead and try to post 5 things each Thursday that I’m grateful for.  And I’m going to post this on both of my blogs!

1.  This guy slept through the night last night!

Now I’m under no illusions that he will sleep through the night again tonight, and in fact yesterday evening he had a really rough time and both Paul and I paced the floor with him trying to help him finally fall asleep.  But a good night sleep feels WONDERFUL and I’m grateful that he did sleep well last night!

2.  Yeast

My sister told me recently that she’s afraid of yeast, and I used to be also, but I bought a large container of dry active yeast and now I’m using it!  I have a recipe that makes ONE loaf of bread.  It’s perfect for doing something special for dinner.  Tuesday I tried THIS RECIPE that makes 12 rolls and tonight I’m going to try to make THESE breadbowls to make with THIS soup.  I haven’t gotten any of theses recipes to turn out as perfectly as I expected yet, but I’m trying.  I have a friend teaching a class on making bread in a few weeks, so maybe he can help my bread turn out better!

3.  Good books

I love to read and always have.  I’m in 2 book clubs which both had their discussions last week.  We read The Woman In White and To Kill A Mockingbird.  Both totally different from each other, but I really enjoyed reading them both.  I’m currently trying to get ready to teach Relief Society on Sunday, and I’m using Daughters in My Kingdom as my text, so I’ve been pouring through it again.  I’m very grateful for books that inspire me.

4.  Electricity

From the TV that’s entertaining my 2yo while I write this to the computer I’m writing this on, I am very grateful electricity.  I’m glad I was born in this day and age of modern conveniences.  I’m glad I can see in the dark.  I’m glad I can talk to my sister in New Jersey almost every day.  I’m glad electricity exists and that we know how to harness and use it to make our lives easier. 

5.  My amazing husband

Not only does he support our family financially allowing me to stay home with our children, but he is an amazing support to us spiritually and socially.  He loves spending time with us.  He treats me wonderfully.  He’s everything I ever hoped to have in a husband.   He’s smart.  He’s funny.  He’s a great dad.  He’s athletic.  He’s handy.  Right now he’s in the middle of woodworking, making a Christmas present which I won’t talk more about so it can stay a surprise.  Now I’m not saying he’s perfect, but I feel so lucky to have him.

I love the feeling I’ve had this morning as I composed this post.  I should write about what I’m grateful for more often.  I look forward to doing it next week!

Update on David

I’m sure it has to do with him being the 4th, but I just haven’t taken very many pictures of David.  I’ll try to do better.

He’ll be 2 months old at the end of this week and is doing great.  He is still a super nurser, loves to be held, and has started smiling and cooing at us all the time!  He holds his head up great and stares at the ceiling smiling enthusiastically. 

Not only do his parents and grandparents think he’s wonderful, but his brothers love him a lot and are really great helpers.  Brian and Christian both love to give him kisses and hugs and Aaron can help pick him up and carry him if asked. 

Since I’m still nursing him once and often twice or three times overnight I’m still pretty tired, but I know someday (soon?) he’ll sleep through the night.  I can survive a little longer since I know this stage will pass. 

We really have a great family and are especially glad David has joined our family.

Grandma Thomas with David at 2 weeks

Paul with David at 2 weeks

Paul and I with David at 2 weeks

Brian loves just being with him

David chilling in the bobby at 3 weeks

Christian giving him a hug (basically laying his head on top of David)

Grandma Fuller with David at 6 weeks

David smiling for the camera at 7 weeks

Looking super cute!

C and D side by side on the floor.

Christian giving him a kiss!

Can life really get much better?

David’s Baby Blessing

When David was 2 weeks old we were lucky to have Paul’s parents and his brother Andrew and sister in law Michelle come visit.  Most of the time we just stayed at home and hung out and passed around the baby. 

Paul and his dad and brother drove to Austin on Saturday for the BYU v UT football game and had a great time spending time together.

That Sunday Paul was able to give David a name and a blessing at church with his father and brother and some other family friends assisting him in the priesthood circle.  It was a wonderful day and I’m glad they were able to share it with us. 

Coincidentally, Monday was Grandparents day at the elementary school so they got to go to lunch with both Aaron and Brian at school!  I’m really glad it worked out that way.

Anyway, now for a few pictures!

Our family with Grandma and Grandpa Thomas

David Thomas with David Thomas!

Michelle and Andrew Thomas

Dave and Kathe with their newest grandson

Lastly, some pictures of my cute baby when he was 2 weeks old.

Paul’s Birthday

Paul’s birthday was this month and since I threw a baby shower on his actual birthday, we celebrated the next day by going out to dinner then on Sunday with a family dinner and opening of presents. 

Christian helping him open a puzzle

Yogurt covered pretzels

DIY book for the house

I don’t exactly know what a reciprocating saw is, but he wanted it!

He continued to get other presents later in the week as several things were ordered and arrived late.  I hope he had a good birthday and knows how lucky we each feel to have him in our family!

My 2 sets of boys

At times I feel like I have 2 sets of kids. My older boys and my younger boys.

First we have Aaron with Brian then fast forward a few years and we have Christian with David.  Same outfits.  Same chair (it’s been recovered though).  Different, but similar.  Totally cute!

What we’ve been up to lately

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks and I know I fell way behind in blogging over the past few months, and while it’s understandable with a new baby, I really need to document our life while he’s so little!  So I’m working on it and have SEVERAL posts half written.  (David’s baby blessing, Paul’s birthday, an update on David and some other general posts)  I hope I can finish them all this weekend.

Other than the posts I already mentioned, here are some of the things we’ve been up to lately.

I already blogged about this on my other blog, but I’m still so excited that we have Bountiful Baskets here in Houston now.  We’re still only getting baskets every other week, but we’ve gotten them 3 times now.  Here are pictures of what we’ve gotten in our baskets!  Can you believe it’s only $16.50 for all this!

The day after David was born, Paul bought our family a new TV.  We had previously just had a 27” for our main TV, but Paul decided it was time to upgrade!  And we upgraded to HD service just in time for college football.  When BYU played against USU we had a fun family night.  This summer when we went to Utah we made sure our boys had t-shirts from both schools (we try to brainwash them equally).  Before the game we let each kids choose which school they wanted to root for.  Here’s the results!

It really was a good game, despite the fact that BYU got lucky and won at the end!

Despite the sleep deprivation I am proud that I’ve kept my house in pretty good shape.  Mostly because I’ve made sure that I’ve had reasons to keep the house clean.  I threw a baby shower for my friend Haylie.  (she’s the one in the pink on the left)

I  invited some friends over for a turkey dinner to help clean out my freezer. We ended up with 8 adults, 3 2yos, 1 4yo, 2 5yos, 3 7yos and 1 8yo. I think the kid table had as much fun as the adult table!

I babysat for my friend Julie’s twins.  4 kids under the age of 2…was a little crazy, but it was only for a few hours.  I honestly don’t know how she manages her twins and 2 year old!

This week our Relief Society had a Provident Living cooking class.  I taught everyone what to do with pumpkins.  We cooked up 2 pumpkins and I ended up with 9 cups of pumpkin pulp for to make pumpkin cookies and other goodies!  I also got a cup of pumpkin seeds which I roasted and already ate!  So yummy.

 

Aaron and Brian have had a lot of fun lately too.  Now that they both go to the same elementary school they spend more time together.  Not only do they ride the bus together but they share a room too.  Aaron has the top bunk and his own light to read at night.  Brian has finally gotten interested in reading too and we will often find them both reading late at night well after we’ve told them to go to bed.  Hard to get mad at them though!

Life has definitely been busy, but busy is good.  It makes us tired, but we will survive! 

I wonder what will be next!